Manila Standard - 2021 October 4 - Monday

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VOL. XXXV • NO. 231 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P18 MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2021 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

2.7m minors sked for jabs; 1.8m Pfizer doses arrive By Willie Casas and Macon Ramos-Araneta

COOLING OFF.

Hundreds of people plunge into the cool water of Manila Bay at the breakwater along Macapagal Boulevard in Pasay City near the Senate building amid the coronavirus pandemic. Danny Pata

ANOTHER batch of COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by American pharmaceutical company Pfizer, composed of 1.8 million doses, arrived in the Philippines Sunday. The Pfizer shots, donated by the United States through the sharing platform Next page

DOJ probes 154 cops involved in EJK cases

Criminal culpability eyed for 'misconduct' in drug war ops

2,593,399 13,273

112,008

38,768

112

2,442,623 45,249 (As of 4 PM, OCTOBER 3)

By Rey E. Requejo

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OME 154 policemen involved in 52 anti-illegal drug operations where deaths occurred will be subject to further investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation for possible criminal liability, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said on Sunday. This came after Guevarra held a meet- el on the 52 cases that were turned over ing with the leadership of the Philippine by the panel for review. National Police on Friday to discuss the “Around 154 police officers were Next page findings of the Department of Justice pan-

Sara still mum on Rody's claim, Leni also plays guessing game By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Rio N. Araja

pair with Senator Christopher “Bong” Go under the administration banner – although her father, President Rodrigo DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio Duterte, already said in a video on social on Sunday refused to comment on spec- media that this was “a done deal.” Next page ulation she would run for president and

JAB HERO. A person disguised as ‘Covid Man’ wears spikes and waves a huge syringe as he walks along the CCP Complex in Pasay City on Sunday. He urges joggers and bikers to have their COVID-19 vaccines to get rid of the deadly virus that has killed many people around the world. Danny Pata

Jinggoy, JV reprise 2019 face-off By Macon Ramos-Araneta

MREIT IPO. MREIT Inc., the real estate investment trust sponsored by Megaworld Corp., raises P15.29 billion from its initial public offering. Leading the bell-ringing ceremony to mark the IPO listing of MREIT are (from left) Philippine Stock Exchange head of issuer regulation division Marigel Garcia, MREIT president and chief executive Kevin Tan, Megaworld Corp. chairman and chief executive Dr. Andrew Tan, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, PSE president and chief executive Ramon Monzon, and PSE chief operating officer Roel Refran.

FORMER senator Jinggoy Estrada, who has a pending plunder case, filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) on Sunday, a day after his half-brother, JV Ejercito, also a former senator, filed his own COC at the Harbor Garden Tent in Sofitel Hotel in Pasay City. Estrada led two other senatorial bets, eight party-list groups, and presidential aspirant Tiburcio Marcos in filing their applications for national office on the third day of registrations. Apart from the former movie star, also bidding for the Senate are Najar "Jinggoy Adang" Salih and Luz Next page Aquino.

Neitiviti Studio to give MS website millennial touch MANILA Standard will soon launch its refreshed and improved website, www. manilastandard.net, after signing a development contract with Neitiviti Studio, a full-stack multimedia solution agency. Signing the deal were Standard publisher Next page

RESTORE CUTS TO EDUCATION —MARCOS JR. NEWS / A3

JINGGOY ESTRADA

BANGKO SENTRAL PUSHES LAW VS. COIN HOARDING

New oil price hike at P2.10/l next wk. By Alena Mae S. Flores

Signing the deal are (from left) Priscilla Joyce Pardo, marketing director; Kier Labrador, Neitiviti Studios president, Manila Standard publisher Rolando Estabillo, and treasury manager Anita Grefal. Witnessing are Standard news editor Joyce Panares and MIS chief Feliciano Buscas Jr.

OIL prices will likely go up next week by as much as P2.10 per liter, triggering the sixth consecutive week of price hikes that reflect the movement of prices in the world market. Unioil Petroleum Philippines said Next page

BUSINESS / B4

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2021

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Drilon: Du30 order unconstitutional

DOJ: Witnesses in Jonson case talking to NBI

He said the same officials were also diplomatic secrets were involved. barred from attending the congressional “Stealing is not a national security issue, hearings in case of implication on na- this is also not a military secret and much tional security, and if military as well as more a diplomatic secret,” he added.

Drilon was referring to the Senate v. Ermita (G.R. No. 169777, April 20, 2006) where the Supreme Court ruled that when the inquiry in which Congress requires their appearance is in aid of legislation, the appearance is mandatory. Vice President Leni Robredo also said the Supreme Court ruling "clearly" showed the Chief Executive could not stop his Cabinet officials from attending Senate investigations. It was Drilon, as Senate President in 2005, who brought the case to the Supreme Court after then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued the Executive Order 464 to prevent executive officials, Cabinet members, and military officers from appearing before the Senate inquiry into the

perceived anomalous North Rail Project. In the landmark ruling, the Supreme Court ruled: “(W)hen the inquiry in which Congress requires their appearance is "in aid of legislation" under Section 21, the appearance is mandatory for the same reasons stated in Arnault.” Drilon said the Congress power of inquiry was expressly recognized in Section 21 of Article VI of the Constitution which states that "the Senate or the House of Representatives or any of its respective committees may conduct inquiries in aid of legislation in accordance with its duly published rules of procedure. The rights of persons appearing in or affected by such inquiries shall be respected." (See full story online at manilastandard.net)

Duterte recently said before the United Nations General Assembly that he has instructed the DOJ and PNP to review the conduct of the government’s campaign against illegal drugs and to make accountable those who acted beyond what the law requires. During the meeting, Guevarra informed the PNP that based on the facts gathered by its IAS, the police officers involved in these cases were not just administratively liable. “The existing evidence pointed to their possible criminal liability as well. The DOJ thus informed the PNP that these cases will be endorsed to the NBI for case build-up and filing of criminal complaints if warranted by the evidence,” Guevarra stressed. According to the DOJ chief, if the

NBI will rule that the PNP-IAS findings are enough to establish criminal liability against the police officers, the agency may file the complaints directly. But if the NBI will deem that the evidence available are not sufficient to support the filing of a complaint, the agency will conduct further investigation to gather more evidence. Guevarra said the participation of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in the investigation to be conducted by the NBI may be tapped. Also during the meeting, Guevarra said the PNP and the DOJ through the NBI have agreed to institutionalize cooperation in investigating similar cases in the future, in order to determine simultaneously the administrative and criminal liabilities of those the policemen involved.

“The PNP and the DOJ are one in the belief that the war against drugs could be won without the use of excessive force and unnecessary loss of lives,” the DOJ secretary said. Pending the NBI’s investigation of the 154 policemen, Guevarra said the justice department would focus its attention on the nearly 100 other similar cases undergoing preliminary investigation or court trial involving law enforcers accused of committing crimes during anti-illegal drug operations across the country. In his report before the 44th UN Human Rights Council Session last February, Guevarra said the panel intends to review a total of 5,655 antiillegal drugs operations where deaths occurred.

figure was lower than 0.87 on Thursday -the number of people that one COVID-19 case can infect. David said the country's reproduction number was at 0.91, lower than the 0.98 reported the previous Sunday. NCR's positivity rate, or the percentage of positive test results over the number of conducted tests, also went down to 17 percent, while its seven-day average is at about 3,600. "The decrease is huge because our highest in NCR reached nearly 6,000 cases per day,” said David. But David said NCR's average daily attack rate, or the number of new daily cases per 100,000 population, was still at critical level. The number of COVID-19 admissions at the Philippine General Hospital, the premier referral facility for coronavirus cases, went down, a hospital spokesperson said. However, majority of its remaining cases are severe, said Dr. Jonas del Rosario The end-referral hospital has 228 virus patients or around 80 percent occupancy rate, down from an all-time high of nearly 350 patients, Del Rosario said. On Saturday, the Philippines also received 889,200 doses of Pfizer's vaccine. The latest delivery brings the country's total received vaccine doses to 77,410,640. After vaccinating children with co-

morbidities and those who have access or staying in hospitals in Metro Manila, the government will inoculate children nationwide, Cabotaje said. Cabotaje said the National Children's Hospital and Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City as well as Philippine General Hospital in Manila had announced they would help in vaccination of children. President Rodrigo Duterte revealed last week the government would start the COVID-19 immunization program for children and the general population. Asked about possible side effects of vaccines for children, Cabotaje said they include anaphylaxis, myocarditis, headache, body ache, and allergies, among others. "There are not that many. They are also not that severe," she said. On treating children with side effects from vaccines, Cabotaje told parents: "We have guidelines on where they can treat their children." The Philippine Food and Drug Administration has given an emergency use authorization to Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for use on those aged 12 to 17 years old. More than 20 million Filipinos are already vaccinated against COVID-19, latest government figures showed. Secretary Carlito Galvez, who heads the country's vaccination efforts, said a portion of the Pfizer vaccines would be allotted for those aged to 17. The Pfizer jabs will also be given to

priority groups such as senior citizens and persons with comorbidities, he added. Galvez said the country was expected to receive millions of Pfizer, Moderna and Sinovac vaccines this October. "By the end of October, we project that the country would have received a total of 100 million vaccine doses (since February), which could fully inoculate about 50 million Filipinos," he said. "This brings us closer to our goal of achieving herd immunity or population protection for us to safely exit from this pandemic as soon as possible," he added. The US also donated P1.9 million worth of medical supplies such as ultracold freezers. Following the government’s decision to pilot run the limited reopening of schools in low-risk areas or towns which have zero COVID-19 cases, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian urged the InterAgency Task Force (IATF) to carefully consider easing quarantine restrictions to pave the way for the resumption of many business operations. The Senate Economic Affairs vice chairperson noted a study by the Manilabased Asian Development Bank which said in terms of foregone wages of parents who need to stop working to care for their children, the economic cost would amount to P225 billion, covering 11 percent of the affected workforce during the school year 2020 to 2021.

Neitiviti...

Robredo, a vocal critic of Duterte's controversial drug war, would likely be the only opposition candidate in a crowded field in the May 2022 elections. Her spokesperson Barry Gutierrez said she has not yet accepted the opposition coalition 1Sambayan's nomination and will announce her decision before the filing deadline on Oct. 8. A news report, however, quoted 1Sambayan official Armin Luistro as saying the Vice President has already accepted their nomination. Also, Senator Aquilino Pimentel III on Sunday slammed the PDP-Laban faction led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi for declaring Senator Manny Pacquiao expelled from the ruling party for filing his certificate of candidacy under another party, Promdi. Pimentel, who leads the PDP-Laban faction backing Pacquiao, said Promdi was an alliance partner that had also declared the boxer-senator as its presidential candidate. He said the PDP-Laban National Executive Committee had allowed Pacquiao to file his certificate of candidacy under Promdi to consolidate his support base and alliance partners. Pimentel said Pacquiao is already known and identified with PDP-Laban. Earlier, Melvin Matibag, secretary general of the Cusi faction, said Pacquiao had been automatically expelled from the ruling PDP-Laban, saying that under its charter, the filing by a member of a COC under another political party is grounds for automatic expulsion from the party.

Duterte, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a second term, had declared in August he would run for the vice presidency. But in a surprise announcement Saturday, he said he would retire -- which was met with deep skepticism among analysts. Duterte made a similar announcement in September 2015, saying he "will retire from public life for good" only to declare his presidential bid two months later. Duterte has not named a successor, but indicated his daughter Sara will run alongside his longtime aide Senator Christopher Go. A broadcaster asked him Saturday if it was "clear it will be Sara-Go". Duterte responded: "It's Sara-Go." Surveys have shown Sara Duterte, the son and namesake of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, boxing great Manny Pacquiao and Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso are the frontrunners among potential presidential candidates. Pacquiao and Domagoso have announced they are running, while the other two have yet to confirm. Sara Duterte has not responded to requests for confirmation. Most of the top candidates have supported Duterte's controversial drug war, and political analysts say Robredo could struggle to compete if she decides to run. Filipino voters are willing to elect a female president but they want her to be "feisty," said University of the Philippines political science professor Jean Franco. With AFP

Jinggoy,... The groups ABONO, 1-UTAP, VOICE Philippines, MANIBELA, PATROL, 1A SECAP, ACT ONE and Ilocano Defenders also hope to get partylist slots in the House of Representatives. This will be the second face-off for the two sons of former President Joseph Estrada, who himself was convicted of plunder in 2007. Estrada and Ejercito first slugged it out for the same Senate position in 2019. But both brothers, who were in the 13-candidate slate endorsed by the Hugpong ng Pagbabago, the party led by presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, failed to win election. Estrada almost made it to the "Magic 12" as he landed on the 13th spot while Ejercito was No. 15. During the campaign, they shared the same stage at times, but were several seats apart due to a rift. Estrada said he doesn't mind being adopted by other political parties like the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) to which Ejercito belongs. Estrada, president of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP), said it was a non-issue for him to be on stage with his half-brother. He said it would be an honor for him to be a guest candidate of other political parties. On the possibility of a "split vote," perceived as a major reason for their loss

in their 2019 Senate run, Estrada said he would leave it to the voters to decide. Estrada said being an elder brother, he reached out to Ejercito several times. "We talked personally, face-to-face, around three weeks ago, " Estrada said, but nothing happened. “We talked about plans for this coming election. First, he was thinking of running here in San Juan, but he told me--give me one week to decide, and after one week, I heard from a mutual friend that he is gunning for the Senate again," Estrada said. Estrada said he opted to run again because he wants to help Filipinos who were rendered jobless due the global health crisis that crippled the economy. Also on Sunday, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said police officers should be loyal to the people and the Constitution, not to politicians. In a statement, he ordered PNP personnel to stay away from candidates, both local and national, saying this has always been the stand of the 222,000-strong organization. “I am warning all our personnel not to meddle into political activities or do things that can be misconstrued as expressions of support to any candidate. Those who will do so will be answerable to me," he said. At the same time, Eleazar said he will expose politicians colluding with illegal drugs syndicates to boost their winnability. (See full story online at manilastandard.net)

(LPG) to mitigate a P7.40 per kilo increase in cooking gas to consumers. Petron is implementing the increase in two installments, with P4 per kilo effective 12:01 a.m. last October 1 and P3.40 per kilo effective 12:01 am on October 8. Combined, this translates to P81 per kilo for an 11-kilo tank, one of the highest increases in LPG prices in the past years. The oil firms traditionally adjust LPG prices every first day of the month compared to pump prices which are adjusted weekly.

According to the latest monitoring of the Department of Energy (DOE), crude prices have been going up due to concerns over the prolonged tightness in supply as the US Gulf Coast oil output remains constrained. DOE cited reports that around 16.18% percent of the Gulf’s oil production remains offline as of September 23. Three offshore facilities in the Gulf of Mexico will also likely be offline for the rest of the year due to damage caused by hurricane Ida. However, increasing coronavirus in-

fections and tightening of local restrictions in China, and in Vietnam also remain an ongoing concern. On September 28, the oil raised gasoline prices by P0.55 per liter, P0.90 per liter for diesel and P0.95 per liter for kerosene. These resulted in year-to-date adjustments to stand at a total net increase of P15.10 per liter for gasoline, P12.95 per liter for diesel and P10.65 per liter for kerosene. Petron said it implemented the cooking gas price adjustments to reflect the

increase in the international contract price of LPG for the month of October. This will be the fifth consecutive monthly LPG price increase since June. LPG currently sells from P780 to P972 per 11-kilo tank based on the latest monitoring of the Department of Energy. The company also implemented a staggered increase for auto LPG for a total P4.14 per liter. Petron will raise its autoLPG by P2.24 per liter effective 12:01 am October 1 and P1.90 per liter effective 12:01 am October 8.

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

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RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte's order prohibiting Cabinet and executive officials from attending the Senate investigation in aid of legislation into the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) transactions with Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. is unconstitutional, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said.

DOJ... From A1

involved in these 52 cases,” Guevarra said in a text message to reporters. The cases that were scrutinized by the DOJ panel involve findings of administrative liability by the PNP Internal Affairs Service (IAS) against hundreds of police personnel for alleged misconduct during anti-illegal drug operations. Justice Undersecretary Adrian Sugay, however, clarified that one case that the panel reviewed was not drug-related, while no death occurred in another case. Guevarra earlier said the findings and recommendations of the panel have been submitted by the DOJ to President Rodrigo Duterte.

2.7m... From A1

COVAX, arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 via flight National Airlines N8 523. This dovetails with the country’s plan to vaccinate 12.7 million minors aged 12 to 17 years old against COVID-19, prioritizing children with comorbidities, the Department of Health said Sunday. Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje, in an interview on Dobol B TV, said the national government would prioritize 10 percent of the total minors nationwide for the next two to three months while they monitor the adverse effects of the vaccines. "We will make it a phased approach. We will start with those with comorbidity," Cabotaje said. Meanwhile, the Philippines logged on Sunday 13,273 new cases of coronavirus disease 2019, bringing the total to 2,593,399, the DOH reported. All laboratories were operational, while three laboratories were not able to submit their data on time, the Health Department added. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 reproduction number in the National Capital Region decreased this week to 0.85, the OCTA Research Group said. OCTA fellow Dr. Guido David, in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB, said the

Sara... From A1

Duterte-Carpio said "no comment" in a text message to GMA News Online when asked about the tandem with Go, her father’s longtime aide who has taken President Duterte’s place as vice presidential bet of a faction of the ruling party PDP-Laban. Unconfirmed reports also said the father and daughter are set to travel to Singapore from October 5 to 8 for a medical check-up. Duterte-Carpio has confirmed to the Davao City government that she will be on leave on those dates, without specifying why or where she’s headed. The elder Duterte confirmed the SaraBong tandem in an ambush interview outside the Sofitel Hotel in Pasay City on Saturday after Go filed his Certificate of Candidacy for Vice President. “Sara-Go na 'yan (It’s already Sara-Go [in the 2022 national elections),” Duterte said in a video uploaded on the Facebook page of actress Vivian Velez. Duterte withdrew his nomination as the VP candidate of PDP-Laban and said he will retire from public service when his term ends in June 2022 – something he also said in 2015 before entering the race late as a substitute candidate and becoming the country’s 16th President. Meanwhile, Vice President Leni Robredo will decide this week if she will run for president, her spokesman said Sunday, after her arch-rival and incumbent Rodrigo Duterte declared he was retiring from politics.

New... From A1

consumers can expect fuel prices to go up from October 5 to 11. "Diesel will increase by P2 to P2.10 per liter. Gasoline will increase by P1.40 to P1.50 per liter," the company said over the weekend. This follows on the heels of Petron Corp. saying it will implement a staggered increase in liquefied petroleum gas

From A1

By Rey E. Requejo and Willie Casas JUSTICE Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Sunday said the National Bureau of Investigation is interviewing witnesses who talked to artist Bree Jonson as well as her companion Julian Ongpin prior to her death as part of their parallel investigation into the matter. "The NBI also obtained the sworn statements of those people who were with Bree Jonson and Julian Ongpin the night before Bree Jonson's death," Guevarra said, in an interview with radio DzBB. Guevarra stressed that these will serve as pieces of evidence to determine the circumstances surrounding the death of Jonson. The son of businessman Roberto Ongpin is expected next week to answer the subpoena issued by the NBI in connection with the death of Jonson. According to “24 Oras Weekend,” the subpoena for Julian Ongpin was formally accepted in Baguio City. “We invited Mr. Julian Ongpin to give his statement so his side of the story on what happened in La Union will be heard,” NBI director Eric Distor said. Jonson's body was discovered in the room she shared with Ongpin in a resort in La Union after police responded to a report on a supposed suicide incident last September. She was buried in Davao Memorial Park on September 30.

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Rolando Estabillo and treasury manager Anita Grefal with Neitiviti Studios president Kier Labrador and marketing director Priscilla Joyce Pardo. The website update also allows the Standard to enhance its online reporting and boost its social media presence, while catering more to the tech-savvy and youth who are constantly on the Web. Neitiviti Studios is a multimedia solutions start-up that focuses on creating solutions for any size of business. Their services include mobile and web applications development, website design and development, system development, and video production. Since setting up in 2016 as a freelance business, the company has grown to become a multi-skilled team of young individuals with expertise in IT Development, Design, and Marketing. Neitiviti is a wordplay for Native Creativity and the word “nativity” or the process of being born. Neitiviti Studios aims to extend its services to international clients and showcase the native creative talent of Filipinos on the global stage in the next 3 to 5 years.

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2021 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Restore cuts to education arms – Marcos

Group: PAREX opposition ‘premature’

By Rey E. Requejo

AN ENVIRONMENTAL think-tank says criticisms hurled against the proposed P95-billion Pasig River Expressway (PAREX) are premature. “They seem ready with their guns even if the detailed plan has yet to be presented. Why?” said BenCy Ellorin, an environmentalist and convenor of the Pinoy Aksyon for Governance and the Environment (Pinoy Aksyon). “While we understand the idealism of those who came forward to supposedly oppose the project, issues raised are conjectures, premature,” Ellorin added. The group, he said, would rather engage the project proponent San Miguel Corp. to ensure fulfillment of its plan to integrate mass transport system through the bus rapid transit, bike lanes and the protection and enhancement heritage and historical sites along the project. “There is also no showing yet in any disclosed documents that certain heritage and historical sites would be destroyed. While the issue of the project covering the Pasig River seems a wild claim,” said Ellorin.

FORMER Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Sunday urged Congress to restore the cuts in next year’s budget of the Department of Education and its attached agencies for these institutions to effectively improve the standard of education in the country. Marcos stressed that education is a continuing public expenditure that naturally grows proportionately with the burgeoning population. “Therefore, budgetary allocation for public schools and related facilities, and new alternative learning systems and platforms on account of the pandemic, academic and support personnel compensation, scholarship and related academic entitlements and continuing education for teachers should be spared from budgetary cuts,” he said. “This is the only way Philippine education can keep up with international standards and make Filipino graduates globally competitive,” he added. With the Senate set to deliberate this week on the budget of the Department of Education and its attached agencies, Marcos Jr. appealed to the senators to restore the cuts in the agencies’ budget.

SMUGGLED DRUGS. A Customs officer finishes labeling seized goods as the Port of NAIA detained six shipments from Hong

Kong found to contain 146,640 boxes of Lianhua Qingwen Jiaonang, a traditional Chinese medicine regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with no FDA clearance and with an estimated value of P29.3 million in Paircargo.

Pass bill to double seniors’ P1k pension, Senate urged By Rio N. Araja

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NAKALUSUGAN party-list Rep. Mike Defensor on Sunday urged the Senate to pass a House bill seeking to double to P1,000 the monthly pension of 3.8 million indigent senior citizens.

“The bill is already with the Senate, after the House passed it in July. In fact, no less than Senate President Vicente Sotto III authored the counterpart Senate bill. Now would be a good time for the Senate to pass the bill while we are observing Elderly Filipino Week,” he said. “We have a multitude of elderly Filipinos rearing their grandchildren whose parents have been driven to work overseas in search of greener pastures,” Defensor noted. Meanwhile, at least 7,322 Filipinos who have reached 100 years old have already received their one-time P100,000 cash award from the national government since the passage of the Centenarians Law of 2016, the Anakalu-

sugan lawmaker added. “We in Congress are absolutely committed to sustain the funding for the P100,000 cash gift of all Filipinos who reach the age of 100 years old, whether residing in the Philippines or abroad,” he said. A presidential proclamation designates Oct. 1 to 7 of every year as Elderly Filipino Week in honor of all citizens above 60 years of age. The nation also observes every first Sunday of October for senior citizens under the Centenarians Law or Republic Act No. 10868. Defensor gave credit to the growing role of elderly Filipinos in nation-building. “Countless elderly Filipinos also keep on working not only to support themselves, but also to help pay for the needs of their financially struggling children and grandchildren,” he said. Under House Bill 9459, which has since been transmitted to the Senate, the existing P500 monthly pension for impoverished seniors shall be increased to P1,000.

Grab, Move It to pursue pact for motor taxis GRAB Philippines, along with its partner Move It, has vowed to resume its motorcycle taxi services after the Transportation Department suspended their deal for violating several provisions. “Together with Move It, we are currently engaging with our regulators, and we look forward to resuming our partnership soon,” Arvi Lopez, Grab Philippines communications manager, said in a statement. “Grab is committed to empowering local businesses, and our partnership with MOVE IT is consistent with our ongoing efforts to help everyday entrepreneurs thrive and succeed,” Lopez said. “The partnership will also enable Grab to offer Move It’s safe, reliable, and affordable motorcycle taxi service to our consumers,” he added. Rio N. Araja

5x24.3 (1/4 bw) Panasonic Ad (Manila Standard) “The P500 monthly allowance has been reduced into a pittance by the overall increase in the cost of living,” the party-list lawmaker said. Once the bill is enacted, Defensor said, Congress would be compelled to double to P47 billion the yearly budget for the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s social pension for indigent senior citizens. “In the 2022 national budget, we have provided another P135.8 million in new appropriations to pay for the P100,000 cash bonus of 1,358 Filipinos who are expected to turn 100 years old next year,” the party-list representative said. He said P135.8 million is lodged in the budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development that hands out the cash grant.

Panasonic Presents PGH with Patented nanoeTM and nanoeTM X-equipped Appliances for Use Technology offers solutions that provide cleaner and fresher air for quality air for life

Digital Readiness PH requires people readiness DIGITAL transformation is key to recovering from the pandemic and becoming competitive in the long term, but the strategy to close the digital gap and achieve digital readiness hinges on the empowerment of Filipinos. This is the main takeaway from Digital Readiness PH, a virtual town hall discussion led by think-tank Stratbase ADR Institute, held September 27. Representatives of the public and private sectors spoke on various topics and exchanged views on the need to be digitally ready – and, more importantly, on the manner of getting there.

The speakers were led by Department of Information and Communications Technology Gregorio Honasan, who said access to data and information has become a right and a privilege together with basic needs like food, clothing, shelter, education, health services and of course access to data. “We envision a thriving digital nation wherein our people through complete, accurate, and timely information can make rational, intelligent, and long-term decisions which benefit their personal lives and society as a whole,” he said.

(From Left to Right) Dr. Jonas del Rosario, PGH Spokesperson, Dr. Regina Berba, Hospital Infection Control Unit Head, Dr. Stella Manalo, PGH Deputy Director for Hospital Operations Dr. Gerardo D. Legaspi, PGH Director, Mr. Masaru Toyota, Panasonic Air-Conditioning Philippines President and CEO, Yosuke Tanaka, Life Solutions Group Country Head Manager.

M TEACHERS’ PANTRY. The Quezon City Public School Teachers’ Association (QCPSTA) and

Manila Public School Teachers’ Association (MPSTA) conduct a joint community pantry to extend aid to families in need, days before the celebration of October 5 as World Teachers’ Day (WTD), inside the Magat Salamat Elementary School in Tondo, Manila, on Sunday. Norman Cruz

‘Hasten release of SRA to barangay health workers’ BHW party-list Rep. Angelica Natasha Co on Sunday urged the Department of Health to speed up the release of the special risk allowances to 191,186 eligible local government unit-hired health workers. She called on the House of Representatives leadership “to move her House Bill 10285 forward soon.” Co said HB 10285 is still pending at committee, while the Senate approved its counterpart consolidated bill last Sept. 29. “If a law correcting the loophole in the Magna Carta of Health Workers is not plugged in the com-

ing months, some 218,698 barangay health workers nationwide will continue to be treated as ‘second-class’ health-care workers (HCWs) and miss out on compensation and benefits other HCWs receive,” she noted. Only P66 million representing 42 percent of the special risk allowances due to barangay health workers had been released, she said, citing the DOH. One out of every four barangays does not have barangay health workers, according to Co. Rio N. Araja

ANILA, Philippines – Panasonic, as part of its global campaign to spread advocacy for cleaner and fresher air for life, recently donated to the Philippine General Hospital - nanoeTM air purifiers, nanoeTM X generators, and air conditioners equipped with nanoeTM X that have been verified to have inhibitory effects on the novel coronavirus*0. The turn-over was attended by Panasonic Air-Conditioning Philippines CEO Masaru Toyota, Life Solutions Group Country Head Yosuke Tanaka, PGH Director Dr. Gerardo Legaspi, PGH Spokesperson Dr. Jonas del Rosario, Deputy Director for Hospital Operations Dr. Stella Manalo, and the Hospital Infection Control Unit Head Dr. Regina Berba. In his statement, the Panasonic AirConditioning Philippines CEO Masaru Toyota explained that it has always been the intention of Panasonic, with the introduction of the nanoeTM in 1997 and nanoeTM X in 2016, to provide cleaner and fresher air to improve the quality of life for everyone. Mr. Toyota further explained, “In 2009, with the help of an independent testing organization, Panasonic verified the effect of hydroxyl radicals contained in water against bird flu and new strains of influenza, and in 2012, in collaboration

with an independent testing organization in Germany, we conducted virus clearance testing that showed effectiveness of the technology against highly-resistant viruses and unknown viruses.” *1 “Just last year, again using an independent testing organization, Texcell*2 – France, we have further verified the inhibitory effect of Panasonic’s patented nanoeTM X technology on the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19,” he added. The PGH activity is part of a bigger program of Panasonic in the Philippines to provide air purifying and anti-covid technology of nanoeTM X in selected sites in the National Capital Region to protect medical front liners and Filipinos in vaccination areas and to make them and the public feel safer with the theme “Bring Back the Filipino Smile” in partnership with selected local governments. The Panasonic Philippines CEO said, “It is our aim for our medical front liners to feel they are in safer environment, and for patients to also have a sense of additional protection apart from current mandated hygiene practices like the wearing of masks, the use of face shields, and the use of hand sanitizers.” The PGH Director Dr. Legaspi expressed his appreciation for the Panasonic efforts, “It’s turning out to be a

very auspicious morning for the Philippine General Hospital, being granted this support, which improves our ability to give comfort to our healthcare workers as well as improve protection from aerosolized transmission of the virus.” He added “As a research and training hospital, we in PGH welcome technologies such as these, that we will be able to test and validate as far as their effectiveness in helping us control the transmission of this virus and other infections as well.” Masaru Toyota of Panasonic ended by lauding the efforts of everyone who have tirelessly worked hard and have been affected in the time of the pandemic, “We in Panasonic wish to begin to bring back the smiles of our heroes of the pandemic, those in the front lines against COVID-19 — all of you here at the Philippine General Hospital have been at the forefront against the pandemic since 2019. We appreciate your gallant efforts! Again, it is not just you, our front liners who will benefit from this, but also your patients who are recovering from this disease. You all deserve to feel safer and more secure to smile again.” For more information on Panasonic and its patented technologies, please visit https://www.panasonic.com/ph/nanoe

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2021

Patrimonio to run for Cainta mayor By Rio N. Araja FORMER Philippine Basketball Association player Alvin Patrimonio will run for mayor in Cainta under the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats party of House Majority Leader and Leyte Representative Martin Romualdez. Patrimonio is widely regarded as a “legend” in Philippine basketball and one of the best to ever play in the professional league. On September 30, Patrimonio, and council bets Gian Carlo Cruz and Romina Cassandra were sworn in by Romualdez at the Batasan Complex in Quezon City. “I thank House Majority Leader Martin and the Lakas-CMD for giving us a home in the coming election. Rest assured that we are going to carry the mission of the party, which is to serve our people,” Patrimonio said. The Lakas-CMD party produced two Presidents; Fidel V. Ramos and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Actress-singer Arci Muñoz, whose real name is Ramona Cecilia Datuin Muñoz, also joined the Lakas-CMD and will run as councilor. Veteran politicians Alma Moreno and Teri Onor, both showbiz personalities, also joined Lakas-CMD. “We consider these dedicated public servants as assets of Lakas-CMD. Their decision to join the party is not just proof of their confidence in us but also of the party’s clean and efficient record of public service,” Romualdez said, adding that “knowing that they are onboard makes the party and all its members and officials more inspired to keep working hard. Aside from Cainta, Romualdez further said the party has new members from Parañaque City; Abucay and Samal in Bataan; and Cotabato, Sarangani, and Cavite provinces.

A DAY FOR PETS. A pet lover plays with her puppy at a park in Macapagal Boulevard in Pasay City on Sunday as the Catholic Church commemorates the day of Saint Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan Order and the patron saint of sick animals. (Inset photos) SM City Taytay celebrates World Animal Day by providing a “Drive-Thru Pet Blessing” held at the SM Paw Park, officiated by Rev. Fr. Manuel S. Cuevas. Danny Pata and Norman Cruz

Zamora eyes House comeback

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AVAO de Oro Vice Gov. Maria Carmen Zamora, a threeterm lawmaker and a staunch ally of re-electionist Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte is making a comeback at the House of Representatives. Zamora on Saturday filed her certificate of candidacy (COC) to run as representative of the 1st District of Davao de Oro under the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) party founded by Duterte. Zamora had been the district representative during the 15th, 16th, and 17th Congress

(2010-2019) and was the House Committee on Appropriations OIC at the early part of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s speakership until former Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando “Nonoy” Andaya, Jr. assumed the post. She was the senior vice chairman of the appropriations panel.

“We will continue to deliver the needs of our constituents in this time of COVID-19 pandemic. Our leadership will continue to champion the interest of the people, that is our brand of service,” Zamora said. Davao de Oro Gov. Tyron Uy and board members from his line-up also filed their respective COCs. Davao de Oro 1st District Rep. Manuel “Way Kurat” Zamora, also a member of HNP, will run as mayor of the Municipality of Monkayo.

Oreta seeks Malabon mayoral seat By Macon Ramos-Araneta

COUNCILOR Jose Lorenzo “Enzo” Oreta today filed his Certificate of Candidacy (COC) to run as mayor of Malabon City. After a morning mass, Oreta, 31, filed his COC at the Brgy. Catmon Multi-purpose Hall in Catmon, Malabon together with his vice-mayor tandem Ninong Dela Cruz and reelectionist Rep. Jaye Lacson-Noel. He was accompanied by his brother, incumbent mayor Lenlen Oreta. Oreta was also accompanied by his candidates for the 1st and 2nd district of the city under the banner, “Team Pamilyang Malabonian.” Last September, various sectors from transport, workers, institutional, special needs, and family cluster from the city formed a coalition called “Proud Malabonian Movement” to endorse Oreta’s candidacy. The coalition cited Oreta’s “commendable performance” as a councilor, who is known for advancing projects that will uplift the lives of the people of Malabon.

Davao de Oro Vice Gov. Maria Carmen Zamora (right), a three-term lawmaker, files her candidacy to run as representative for the 1st district of Davao de Oro under Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte’s Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) party.

Isko fields more local poll bets By Rio N. Araja AKSYON Demokratiko, the political party led by Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, is fielding more local candidates to run for various posts in Quezon City in 2022. Joining the party are former Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board member and councilor Ariel Inton; ex-councilor Jaime Borres; ex-councilor and television host Joseph Peter “Jopet” Sison; ex-councilor Dante de Guzman; Apple Francisco, Councilor Allan Butch Francisco’s sister; ex-assistant secretary Rommel Abesamis of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Jun de Leon, Laban TNVS president. James Ibanez, actress Melissa Mendez, and broadcast journalists Doland Castro and Gani Oro also took their oaths as new members of Aksyon Demokratiko. Meanwhile, a source told the Manila Standard that Moreno’s national headquarters for his presidential bid is located within the Victoria Towers on Timog Avenue, Quezon City. The property reportedly belongs to the New San Jose Builders Inc., a bigtime developer believed to be close to a Belmonte scion.

Robredo to grace online forum on poll campaign Lazatin to focus REPRESENTATIVES from the camps of Vice President Leni Robredo, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, and Senator Grace Poe will discuss campaign dynamics and strategies in an online forum to be moderated by Pia Hontiveros of CNN Philippines on October 13. “Kanya-kanyangDiskarte: Campaign Dynamics During the Pandemic,” will be the third webinar under the National Forum on Communication and Democracy: Philippine Elections 2022 series, organized by the Philippines Communication Society (PCS) in cooperation with the University of the Phil-

ippines’ Internet TV Network, TVUP. Barry Gutierrez, spokesperson for Robredo, strategist Lito Banayo, and Jyleazer Dela Rosa, political affairs chief for Poe, will give the public a glimpse of their 2022 plans, just a few days after the end of the filing of certificates of candidacy. Prof. Maria Ela Atienza of UP Political Science Department, Ateneo de Manila University School of Government Dean Ronald Mendoza, and Philippine Political Science Association President Dennis Coronacion, head of the UST political science department, are ex-

pected to talk about how the pandemic has changed the nature of campaigning and how candidates will adjust to the new terrain. The webinar will be held via Zoom and broadcast live on the Facebook pages of PCS and TVUP and TVUP’s YouTube channel at 9 a.m. on October 13. Interested parties have been advised to register for free for the webinar by visitinghttps://tinyurl.com/PCSForum3, and for more information, visit philscomsoc.org, email info@philscomsoc.org, or see the social media pages of PCS.

More assistance for QC teachers By Rio N. Araja

RICE DISTRIBUTION. Residents of Brgy. Mapulang Lupa in Valenzuela City use chairs for rice distribution under the “Handog Butil Pasasalamat” program of Representative Eric Martinez. Andrew Rabulan

THE local government of Quezon City has vowed to give more support to school teachers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte on Sunday said teachers have always played an important role to sustain and maintain the quality of education. “Our teachers have a huge role to maintain the high quality of education, especially at this time of the pandemic. That’s why we are doing our best to respond to their needs from free medical check-ups, gadgets, to allowance,” she stressed. Since the start of the COVID-19 cri-

sis in March last year, the city government has been providing its students and teachers with school supplies, data allowances, tablets, and laptops to support them both in blended and distance learning modalities, she said. The city government has given public school teachers 3,210 laptops and a total of 16,378 prepaid sim cards with a P1,000 monthly load allowance. Moreover, teachers also receive a monthly cash allowance from the city. At least 16,284 teaching and nonteaching personnel in all public elementary and high schools have been provided with free X-ray and urinalysis check-ups.

on Angeles recovery

By Jess Malabanan ANGELES CITY—Mayor Carmelo Lazatin, Jr., who is seeking re-election, has vowed to focus on economic recovery and health amid the COVID-19 health crisis. The health crisis has affected various industries in this city including tourism, hospitality, and creative arts that left hundreds if not thousands jobless. “Once given a fresh mandate, my administration would be aggressive on economic recovery by creating a technical working group that will assess and determine weak points, strengthening support programs not only limited to promotions,” said Lazatin during a press conference in Angeles City. He said the coronavirus pandemic has brought about many changes to the way people do business and that “we would like to make a review of the city Investment Code to adapt to these changes.” Lazatin and his entire team on Friday filed their certificate of candidacies (COCs) before the Commission on Elections.

Opinion

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Save our children THE FIFTH GOSPEL JUDE ACIDRE UNKNOWN to many, the age of sexual consent in the Philippines is 12 years old. That is, according to the country’s Revised Penal Code. That means, it is legally permissible for an elderly man to have sex with a prepubescent girl—and get away with it—by pleadOPEN ing the court that the child “gave consent.” THOUGHTS Imagine this: The current age of sexual consent isORLANDO 12 years. So when a 14 year old girl is raped, all that the defendant needs to OXALES prove is that the sexual act was “consensual”. After the pain and trauma caused by forcible sexual act, the rape victim has to once more endure the shame and pressure of court examination, and to relive again and again the detestable crime that has happened to her.

Never again will a child rape victim be denied justice. In fact, the rape victim may even be forced to admit that she had a consensual relationship with the rapist, and as a result, leaving the judge with no other option but to dismiss the charge of rape, the girl apparently having given consent. After all, proving consent seems to be the default in a defendant’s cross-examination playbook. As a result, few cases are reported, fewer come to court. That is why even when child sexual abuse has almost become prevalent, many people, including the families of the victim themselves, have difficulty admitting that fact, much reporting the crime. Sad to say, child rape is not uncommon in the Philippines. In fact, despite the passage of the Anti-Rape Law of 1997, rape remains the most frequent type of sexual abuse, followed by incest and fondling. More than 70 percent of sexually abused children are between 10 and 18 years old. Among those victims, 20 percent are under 6 years old. Tingog Party-List Rep. Yedda Marie K. Romualdez, also the chairperson of the House Committee of the Welfare of Children, was one of the strongest proponents of the legislative measure to finally increase the age of sexual consent. Not only was she the principal author of House Bill 7836, she also actively steered its passage in the House of Representatives, thanks to the support from like-minded colleagues including Rep. Cheryl Deloso-Montalla and Rep. Lawrence Fortun. At first the prospects of passing of the said bill was not very encouraging. Similar proposals have already been filed in the past, but they all ended up languishing in the legislative mill, not even going past committee approval. But determined as she was to ensure its passage, Rep. Romualdez worked hand-in-hand with child welfare advocates such as the Child

EDITORIAL

Rights Network Philippines and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). In a country where you have to be 17 years old to drive, 15 years to be legally employed and 18 years old to vote - our laws shamelessly presume that you can consent to a sexual act at the tender age of 12 years. On December 1, 2020, the House of Representatives finally approved on third and final reading House Bill 7836 seeking to provide children with stronger protection against rape by raising the age of sexual consent from 12 to 16 years old. But it would take another ten months before the Senate gives its nod to their counterpart measure. Last week, the Senate finally passed on third reading their counterpart version, Senate Bill 2332 paving for the eventual passage of the End Child Rape Bill. The next legislative hurdle is the bicameral conference committee, where conflicting provisions between the House and Senate versions will be reconciled. A cursory examination of both versions would show that the House version is more comprehensive in its breadth, and progressive in perspective—compared to the more conservative approach taken by the Senate. SO Hopefully, both houses would work to proSEE sevide a compromise version thatI would cure the best interest of the Filipino child. There are four non-negotiablesLITO that must BANAYO find their way into the final version of the End Child Rape Bill. First, increasing the age of sexual consent to 16 years. Second, equally applying the crime of rape to both girls and boys. Third, including a “closein-age” exemption of three years for adolescents in a consensual, non-abusive CROSSROADS and non-exploitative sexual relationship. Fourth, eliminating the “forgiveness by J.A. marriage” provision. The passage of the End Child Rape Bill DELA CRUZ cements Tingog Party-List’s longstanding commitment to provide stronger protection to the most vulnerable sectors of our society and to ensure that no single Filipino child is left behind. Never again will a child rape victim whether a girl or a boy - suffer the indignity of what could be a traumatic court proceeding. With the age of sexual consent increased to 16 years, all that the court needs to prove is that the sexual act happened, and establish the age of the rape victim. Never again will a child rape victim be denied justice, by being forced or intimidated, at times even by their own family, to admit that they gave consent to sexual abuse. Increasing the age of sexual consent makes it now a criminal act of statutory rape to have sex with a 16-year-old child or younger. A convicted offender faces a possible sentence of life in prison on the credible testimony of the child victim. This law is a powerful deterrent and provides greater protection for vulnerable children. Hopefully, the new law setting the age of sexual consent at 16 years will be signed into law without further delay. More than 90 years of impunity for child rapists has been long enough. It is high time we corrected this decades-old injustice that makes it legally permissible to sexually abuse a child. This will put an end to impunity of child rapists, strengthen the power of the State to prosecute them and guarantee the full protection of children.

Five things to know about the Nobel prizes SINCE 1901, the Nobel prizes have been awarded to men, women and organizations for work that has led to great advances for humankind, in line with the wishes of inventor Alfred Nobel. Here are five things to know about the prizes and their creator. A misunderstanding? On April 12, 1888, Alfred Nobel’s elder brother Ludvig died in Cannes, France. But newspaper Le Figaro mixed up the brothers and announced Alfred’s death on its front page under a rather inflammatory headline: “A man who can hardly be called a benefactor of humanity died yesterday in Cannes. He is Nobel, inventor of dynamite.” Many credit this slight as the inspiration for Nobel’s creation of the prizes, pointing to the wording in his will that the prizes should go to those who “have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.” “But we can only imagine” because the incident is not mentioned in his correspondence, his biographer Ingrid Carlberg told AFP. As for the visitors who came to offer their condolences at the inventor’s Parisian mansion, they were surprised to be greeted by a very much alive Alfred, as reported by Le Figaro the following day. Older and older discoveries In Nobel’s will, the rewards were to go to those who had served humanity “during the preceding year.” However, from the awards’ inception in 1901 and onwards, this has rarely been imperative. It often takes time for the true impact of

discoveries to become known, and the number of worthy recipients is accumulating. As a result, work that is several decades old is often rewarded. John Goodenough, for example, in 2019 became the oldest person to win a Nobel, at the age of 97. He is now the oldest living Nobel laureate, at 99. The youngest was Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 at 17. Posthumous awards Since 1974, the statutes of the Nobel Foundation stipulate that the award may not be given posthumously. But a person may be awarded the honour if she or he dies between the time of the announcement in October and the formal prize ceremony in December. Before the change, only two people had won a Nobel posthumously. One was Dag Hammarskjold, the Swedish secretary-general of the United Nations who died in a plane crash in 1961 but was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize later the same year. And in 1931, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded posthumously to another Swede, Erik Axel Karlfeldt. In 2011, the medicine prize committee selected Ralph Steinman of Canada, unaware that he had passed away just three days before its announcement. The foundation decided nevertheless to give him the prize. Unlikely peace prize nominations From Adolf Hitler to Michael Jackson via Stalin or Mussolini, the Nobel Peace Prize

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A high-stakes exercise

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HE filing of the certificates of candidacy for the May 2022 elections has started. Since Friday, we have heard announcements as to who is running for what post, who is not running after all, and who intends to keep us all in suspense until the last minute. We should expect more of this until the end of this week. Then, too, election laws provide ample time for candidates to change Set standards their minds even after certificates first, and then have been filed. There is sufficient choose whoever room to be a substitute or be discomes closest. lodged by one. Politicians who go by some kind of playbook also have their timetable for this kind of gimmickry. As those vying for our votes do In the meantime, the public should NAKED the paperwork, let us use this prenot be distracted by the circus that THOUGHT cious time, not to speculate on the has begun. names and faces and the positions V. eventually seek, but to More than ever, we should beCHARLIE they will mindful of the many and great prob- MANALO lay down our personal standards in lems that our nation is facing es- choosing who would eventually get pecially during this pandemic: The our vote. still-uncoordinated response from Instead of being a rapt audience various bodies and agencies, the to those who feel entitled to play deafness to the pleas of THE the overFIFTH mind tricks on the people, let us lay whelmed health care workers, and down, one by one, the attributes and GOSPEL the screaming signs of misuse of qualities that we would like to see in JUDE an official occupying a specific post. public funds pointing to immeasurable greed and entitlement. ACIDRE Let us look at bare minimums that

we would impose on a candidate, below which we would never even give an applicant a second glance. Let us identify the most important and immediate issues that need to be addressed, and set the position taken and actual efforts the ideal candidate needs to have to merit our consideration. Let us be clear, early on, on what the negotiables and non-negotiables are that would influence the way we vote. Is integrity, for instance, negotiable or not? Track record? Personal demeanor? And then when the list is finally out, many weeks from now, we can use these qualifications we have drafted for ourselves to measure whether candidate A or B or C deserves our consideration—or outright rejection. The elections come at an interesting time. If we are not careful, we can easily be drowned in the noise and pageantry—as we have tragically done for decades. We should do things differently if we want to reverse the course of our country. Let’s give the matter the deliberation it deserves. The stakes are just too high.

We should be responsible stewards of our environment OPEN THOUGHTS ORLANDO OXALES WE cannot deny how plastics are an essential element of every aspect of technological innovation, not just in food packaging but as an indispensable material for any manufactured product we have today. Try to look at anything you use, anything you have, and you will realize that plastics had to be applied not just on the finished product but in the complex manufacturing and supply chain that it went through so that you as a consumer can benefit from its use. We also can’t deny that discarded plastics, whether as packaging or in some other form, have become a global concern. Improper disposal has resulted in tons of plastic waste polluting the oceans. The Philippines has been identified by environmental groups as one of the worst sources of this pollution that now threatens to contaminate our food chain. Our pervasive dependence on single-use-plastics has been blamed for this negative reputation. Governments are now responding to this global clamor to act fast on what many scientists say is a looming and irreversible global disaster of climate change that will be far worse than this pandemic. Primarily caused by the destructive effects of pollution on our atmosphere and oceans, the climate-changing effects are now palpable with extreme weather disasters increasing in frequency and intensity. Managing the reality of plastic waste is a major factor in addressing climate change. However, setting the frameworks and goals through policy and regulations must have a holistic approach that must carefully consider the economic dynamics and avoid negative repercussions that always fall on the more vulnerable sectors of society. In our case, our consumption-driven economy, already in deep crisis as it is, cannot afford hasty regulations that would cause has seen its share of improbable, far-fetched or eyebrow-raising candidates in its 120year existence. Hitler was nominated for the peace prize by a Swedish MP in January 1939, on the brink of the bloodiest conflict in history. The proposal, which was meant as sarcasm and aimed at discrediting the nomination of Britain’s Neville Chamberlain after the Munich Agreements, was however withdrawn. Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, later tried for genocide, was also nominated, as was Jules Rimet, the “father” of the football World Cup. Only one in 20 female laureates While their representation among winners has been steadily increasing in the last decades compared to the early years, women still account for about just six percent of winners. Since 2001, 28 women have been award-

Former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno Anita F. Grefal Baldwin R. Felipe Edgar M. Valmorida

any disruptions in the supply chain and more importantly result in higher costs for consumers. Here is where the circular economy approach to solid waste management becomes the most viable strategy. To put it simply, this is a paradigm shift from a linear ecosystem of plastics being produced, distributed to consumers, and then disposed to landfills to a circular ecosystem that integrates technological innovations

Proper waste disposal is a matter of discipline. to make plastics recyclable, adopt an environment-friendly manufacturing process, dispose of waste properly disposal, then recycle and/or repurpose plastic waste back into the ecosystem. Big industries are now embracing this strategy and have already responded by plugging the leaks in their internal operations and expanding to external engagements that affect their host and adopted communities. Enterprises are now going beyond regulatory compliance and are aligning with the ethical values of the Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards that measure a company’s sustainability and social impact. Case in point is the country’s first food grade bottle-to-bottle recycling facility set to start operations by the first quarter of 2022. This is a P1-billion joint venture-investment of Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines and global green technology leader Indorama Ventures envisioned to greatly boost the recycling capacity of the country. This is a good model of “Extended Producer Responsibility” (EPR) that manufacturers can implement. In a recent online forum marking the third year of the Coca-cola Company’s World Without Waste Program, the company stated that they will achieve their goal of making 100 percent of their packaging recyclable by 2025 and will use at ed all prizes combined, almost three times as many as in the previous two decades. In 2009, five women received a Nobel prize, including the first female laureate in economics, American Elinor Ostrom—a record that has yet to be equalled. “Nobel would have been annoyed by this statistic,” Ingrid Carlberg said. “He was a feminist before his time, who defended women’s careers and admired female intellectuals.” Economics has had the fewest women laureates at 2.3 percent, lower than the science prizes combined which have seen 3.7 percent women. While slightly more evenly distributed, literature is still largely a male affair with 13.7 women among laureates, with the peace prize faring slightly better at 15.9 percent. Nevertheless, the first person to win the Nobel prize twice was Marie Curie, in 1903 in physics and in 1911 in chemistry. AFP

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least 50 percent recycled materials for packaging by 2030. Coca-Cola Philippines president Tony del Rosario reported that their Viva mineral water and Sprite 500ml are the first brands in the Philippines to be made from 100-percent recycled plastic. “Our goal is to create closed loop systems, extracting the maximum value from packaging materials and products while in use, then preventing them from becoming waste through recovery, recycling and reuse,” Mr. del Rosario said. Also important is the Coca-cola Foundation’s support for the ‘informal collection’ sector where they will engage in 40 grassroots partnerships in 36 cities and municipalities. The company also announced the phasing out of unrecyclable sachets by next year and will introduce paper straws for its dairy and juice products. Expressing strong support for this initiative were Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources and the Committee on Agriculture and Food Chairperson, Senator Cynthia Villar, and Department of Environment and Natural Resources Undersecretary for Climate Change Service and Mining Concerns, Atty. Analiza Rebuelta-Teh. As politicians start filing their certificates of candidacies, we should elect a new set of leaders that have a rational and science-based perspective of how we should be responsible stewards of our environment and rich natural resources. Our current circumstances, dire and uncertain as they are, are the result of convergent neglect of the environment and the bias for development rationalized by the relentless pursuit of a “better life”—or, probably, more accurately, more profitable objectives. As consumers, we are the weakest link in the circular economy because proper waste disposal is a matter of discipline— individual behavior of which only we as individual stakeholders of this planet have full control. We must all do our part to save our world.

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Fears of ‘election subversion’ as Trump flirts with 2024 bid

W

ASHINGTON—The US presidential election of 2000 hinged on a few votes in Florida and was ultimately decided in the Supreme Court.

The 2020 White House contest gave birth to the “Big Lie” and saw supporters of the losing candidate storm the US Capitol. Just wait and see what 2024 has in store. Donald Trump, the first president in US history to refuse to accept the outcome of an election, is flirting with another White House run in what could be a make-or-break moment for American democracy.

Robert Kagan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, set alarm bells ringing in political circles last week with a chilling doomsday scenario opinion piece in The Washington Post. “The United States is heading into its greatest political and constitutional crisis since the Civil War,” Kagan wrote. The neoconservative scholar warned of a “reasonable chance over the next

three to four years of incidents of mass violence, a breakdown of federal authority, and the division of the country into warring red and blue enclaves.” Polls suggest a majority of Americans share at least some of Kagan’s concerns: 56 percent of the respondents in a recent CNN-SSRS survey said US democracy is under attack. Thirty-seven percent said it is being “tested.” Only six percent said it is in no danger. Trump’s unceasing and unfounded claims that the November 2020 presidential vote was “stolen” by Democrat Joe Biden have seeped into the political

Over 10k march for US abortion women’s rights WASHINGTON—Wearing pink hats and T-shirts and shouting “Hands off my body,” tens of thousands of women took to the streets across the United States on Saturday in protests aimed at countering a conservative drive to restrict access to abortions. In Washington, about 10,000 protesters rallied in a square near the White House under sunny skies before marching to the US Supreme Court, which will have the final say on the contentious issue. The protesters held signs that read “Mind your uterus” and “Make abortion legal,” with several women -- and men -dressed like late Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, America’s iconic women’s rights crusader, who died last year. The perennial fight over the procedure in America has become even more intense since a Texas law went into effect September 1 banning almost all abortions, unleashing a fierce counterattack in the courts and Congress, but with few public demonstrations until now. Two days before the Supreme Court is due to reconvene, the rallies took place in more than 600 cities, according to organizers, who said that hundreds of thousands of people gathered across all 50 states. “Women are humans, we are full humans, and we need to be treated like full humans,” said Laura Bushwitz, a 66-year-old retired Florida teacher protesting in Washington, wearing a dress with portraits of women activists and politicians. “We should be able to have our own choice on what we want to do with our AFP bodies. Period.”

bloodstream. Seventy-eight percent of the Republicans surveyed by CNN-SSRS said they do not believe Biden legitimately won the presidency, a figure in line with the findings of other opinion polls. “It’s a new phenomenon in American elections,” said Edward Foley, a constitutional law professor at The Ohio State University. “There have been fights over hanging chads -- like Bush vs Gore in 2000 -- and there have been recounts for as long as there have been elections in America,” Foley said. AFP

LAVA ON WATER. This picture taken from the port of Tazacorte shows the lava of the Cumbre Vieja volcano falling into the ocean in La Palma on October 2. A new flow of highly liquid lava emerged from the volcano erupting in Spain’s Canary Islands on October 1, authorities said, as a huge magma shelf continues to build on the Atlantic Ocean. AFP

Taliban rally outside Kabul as they consolidate rule KOHDAMAN, Afghanistan—Around 1,000 Taliban supporters attended a rally on Sunday in a vast field to the north of Kabul, in a show of strength as they consolidate their rule of Afghanistan. The crowd, made up only of men and boys, listened to speeches by leading Taliban officials and commanders at Kohdaman township in the hilly outskirts of the capital. The rally was the first of its kind in the capital since the Islamist group seized control of the country seven weeks ago following a lightning offensive. Flanked by white and black Taliban standards and fighters in full combat gear carrying assault

rifles, the speakers addressed an audience sat in rows of chairs under awnings. To kick off proceedings, a procession of fighters carrying flags and weapons —including rocket launchers—paraded around the crowd. Some of the mainly unarmed supporters waved homemade posters, while others sported red or white Taliban headbands. Tribal elders watched on cross-legged from the side of the stage. As people started arriving, music honouring the Taliban’s victories echoed around the site as dozens of heavily armed fighters in military combat fatigues stood guard.

“America is defeated, impossible, impossible—but possible!” one song said. Some chanted pro-Taliban slogans as they were driven down the dusty road on pick-up trucks to the site, as others shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) when they walked into the shaded area in front of the stage. At the turn-off towards the township, about 10 armed fighters lined the road beneath a large banner honouring a deceased Taliban commander and professing the “support of the people of Kohdaman for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in the action of liberating the country”. AFP

North Korea slams Security Council over UN meeting on its missile tests

NO TO JABS. People take part in a protest against anti-COVID-19 restriction and vaccination in Bucharest on October 2. Several thousand people demonstrated, at the call of the far right, against “compulsory vaccination” while Romania recorded a new daily record of COVID-19 cases as they gathered in front of the seat of government. AFP

UN chief: Western Sahara situation ‘significantly deteriorated’ over year UNITED NATIONS—The situation in Western Sahara has “significantly deteriorated” over the past year, the UN Secretary-General has said, citing the resumption of hostilities between Morocco and the Polisario independence movement in the disputed territory. Morocco views Western Sahara as an integral part of its territory, but the Polisario—recognized internationally as the representative of the Sahrawi people—has long sought independence. The “resumption of hostilities between Morocco and Frente POLISARIO is a major setback toward the achievement of a political solution,” Antonio Guterres said in a report submitted to the Security Council. “There remains a clear risk of escalation while hostilities persist,” he added in the report, not yet published, and obtained by AFP on Saturday. “I therefore call on the parties to de-

escalate the situation and immediately cease hostilities.” Guterres said the two sides must agree on the appointment of a UN envoy to restart political dialogue on Western Sahara. The Polisario fought a war of independence with Morocco from 1975 until a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1991. The conflict has continued to simmer, and has been without an emissary since May 2019, with all candidates proposed by Guterres rejected by one side or the other. In his report, Guterres noted that in November 2020, the Polisario had announced—after incidents with Morocco—that it no longer felt committed to the ceasefire. In December 2020, then-president Donald Trump broke with previous US positions and recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over the whole of Western Sahara. AFP

SEOUL—North Korea on Sunday slammed the UN Security Council for holding an emergency meeting over the country’s latest missile tests, accusing the member states of toying with a “time-bomb”. Pyongyang said Friday it had successfully fired an anti-aircraft missile, the latest in a series of tension-raising steps by the nuclear-armed state, which had until recently been biding its time since the change in US administrations in January. In September, it launched what it said was a long-range cruise missile, and earlier this week tested what it described as a hypersonic gliding vehicle, which South Korea’s military said appeared to be in the early stages of development. The tests prompted UN Security Council member states to convene an emergency meeting on North Korea on Friday, called by the United States, Britain, and France. The meeting was originally due to take place on Thursday but was delayed. It lasted just over an hour and

ended without a statement. But it nonetheless angered Pyongyang, which called it a “wanton encroachment” on its sovereignty and a “serious intolerable provocation”. “Demanding that we renounce our right to self-defense means an expression of its intention not to acknowledge the DPRK as a sovereign state,” said Jo Chol Su, director of the Department of International Organizations at the foreign ministry, using the abbreviation for the country’s official name. “I express strong concerns over the fact that the UNSC amused itself with the dangerous ‘time-bomb’ this time,” he added in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency. North Korea has a long history of using weapons tests as part of a carefully calibrated process to try to forward its objectives. On Wednesday, the country’s leader Kim Jong Un decried Washington’s repeated offers of talks without preconditions as a “petty trick”, accusing the Biden administration of continuing the “hostile policy” of its predecessors. AFP

German parties meet, coalition haggling begins BERLIN—German political parties will hold exploratory talks from Sunday as they jostle to form the next government after a close election, with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) battling Angela Merkel’s conservatives for the chancellery. The SPD and its candidate Olaf Scholz narrowly won last week’s vote on 25.7 percent, with Merkel’s CDU-CSU alliance plunging to an all-time low of 24.1 percent as she prepares to leave the stage after 16 years in power. The result leaves the SPD in pole position to form a government, but conservative leader Armin Laschet has also vowed to begin coalition talks in a last-ditch effort to keep the ailing CDU-CSU in power. In the complex calculations for a coalition, the makeup of the next German government essentially hinges on which of the two parties can persuade the Greens and the liberal FDP to sign up for a partnership. First up in what Der Spiegel magazine has described as the “poker game for power” is the SPD, which will huddle with the FDP on Sunday afternoon and the Greens in the evening. Their rivals, the CDU-CSU, will meet with the FDP on Sunday evening and the Greens on Tuesday. - ‘Historic defeat’ In a poll for the ZDF broadcaster on Friday, 59 percent of respondents said they were in favour of an SPDGreens-FDP coalition, also known as the “traffic-light” combination after the parties’ colours. Only 24 percent said they would prefer the combination led by the CDU, a coalition known as “Jamaica” after the colours of that country’s flag. Some 76 percent said they thought Scholz should be the next German chancellor, with just 13 percent backing Laschet. In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine Friday, Scholz said it was “clear from every poll that people don’t want the (CDU-CSU) to be part of the next government”. AFP

’3.2k pedophiles in French Catholic Church since 1950’ PARIS—Thousands of pedophiles have operated inside the French Catholic Church since 1950, the head of an independent commission investigating the scandal told AFP, days ahead of the release of its report. The commission’s research had uncovered between 2,900 and 3,200 pedophile priests or other members of the church, said Jean-Marc Sauve, adding that it was “a minimum estimate”. The commission’s report is due to be released on Tuesday after two and a half years of research based on church, court and police archives, as well as interviews with witnesses. The report, which Sauve said runs to 2,500 pages, will attempt to quantify both the number of offenders and the number of victims. It will also look into “the mechanisms, notably institutional and cultural ones” within the Church which allowed pedophiles to remain, and will offer 45 proposals. The independent commission was set up in 2018 by the French Catholic Church in response to a number of scandals that shook the Church in France and worldwide. Its formation also came after Pope Francis passed a landmark measure obliging those who know about sex abuse in the Catholic Church to report it to their superiors. AFP

PRISON RIOT.

Inmates hold signs while standing atop a roof at the Regional 8 prison, next to the penitentiary, in the outskirts of Guayaquil, Ecuador, on October 2. Inmates fired at police officers this Saturday in the same prison that a riot left at least 118 dead, including six beheaded, earlier this week. AFP

Business PSEi October 1, 2021

TOP GAINERS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

OPM EVER MJIC SOC KPPI APL PTC

LAST PRICE 0.01 0.365 1.31 0.7 3.86 0.109 100

8 9 10

CAT TBGI NI

13.64 0.34 1.06

CHANGE -0.001 -0.025 -0.08 -0.04 -0.22 -0.006 -5

% CHANGE -9.09% -6.41% -5.76% -5.41% -5.39% -5.22% -4.76%

-0.66 -0.015 -0.04

-4.62% -4.23% -3.64%

TOP LOSERS 1 2 3 4 5

MJC IMP REG ROX AXLM

LAST PRICE 1.98 1.47 2.52 1.29 2.53

6 7 8 9 10

SOC GLO SEVN MAC MB

0.65 3000 85 4.27 0.4

CHANGE -0.32 -0.18 -0.24 -0.12 -0.22

% CHANGE -13.91% -10.91% -8.70% -8.51% -8.00%

-0.05 -200 -5.45 -0.25 -0.02

-7.14% -6.25% -6.03% -5.53% -4.76%

B3

MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2021 || extrastory2000@gmail.com

Strict lockdown rules stalling market’s rise to 7,000 points By Jenniffer B. Austria

S

HARE prices are expected to trade sideways this week, weighed down by strict quarantine restrictions that could to delay recovery of the domestic economy.

Philstocks Financial Inc. said the Philippine Stock Exchange Index was struggling to break the 7,000-point level due to weak market participation from both domestic and foreign investors. “The medium-term trend of the market is still sideways with an upwards bias as it forms higher lows. We are seeing a correction after the short-term uptrend of the main index,” the brokerage company said.

Philstocks lowered its PSEi yearend target to the 7,150 to 7,680 level from 7,150 to 7,750 in February due to the impact of the COVID-19 Delta variant. “The reversion of Metro Manila and other key cities to the strictest lockdown measures has adversely hit consumers, businesses, and the economy in general. This negatively affected our market outlook for 2021,” Philstocks said. Philstocks said other sectors, especially laggards like banks and properties, should show signs of recovery in order for the PSEi to breach and sustain its ground above the 7,000 to 7,100 levels. The PSEi last week slipped 0.4 percent to 6,923.60 after the government kept the implementation of alert 4 in Metro Manila until October 15. Sectoral indices ended mixed, with services and and industrials posting 1.3 percent and 0.40 percent week-on-week

increase, respectively. The property index fell 2.1 percent while financials, mining and oil and holding firms declined 1 percent, 0.4 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively. Foreign investors were net sellers during the week by P1.52 billion, while the average daily value traded rose to P12.8 billion from the previous week’s average of P7.2 billion. Weekly top price gainers were Semirara Mining and Power Corp., which advanced 17.7 percent to P22.30; GMA Network Inc., which climbed 13 percent to P15.90; and Universal Robina Corp., which gained 3.1 percent at P136.20. Weekly top price losers were DoubleDragon Properties Corp., which dropped 10 percent to P10.42; Nickel Asia Corp., which fell 9.2 percent to P5.20; and Century Pacific Food Inc., which dipped 5.6 percent to P27.60. With AFP

MOST ACTIVE 1 2 3 4 5 6

MONDE MREIT EMP CNVRG ACEN AC

VOLUME 34,203,200 33,478,300 29,410,900 9,476,400 21,228,300 283,430

7 8 9 10

BDO GLO SM DMC

1,740,810 62,815 184,280 23,909,200

VALUE (PHP) 645,575,178 558,509,022 521,799,844 376,749,325 244,327,532 232,301,275

195,186,978 191,046,370 180,302,715 175,541,486

Shoppers leave a Morrisons supermarket in Southwark, south London on October 02, 2021. A US private equity firm has won an auction for British supermarket group Morrisons, The Takeover Panel, which oversees merger and acquisition deals, said on Saturday. AFP

Mauritius reopens to foreign visitors after virus shutdown PORT LOUIS, Mauritius—Mauritius fully opened its doors to international visitors on Friday, hoping to rebuild its vital tourism industry after long months of isolation because of the COVID pandemic. The move was greeted with a mixture of optimism, relief and some caution in the Indian Ocean paradise. “This reopening is inevitable because 100,000 families depend on tourism to live,” Deputy Prime Minister and Tour-

ism Minister Steven Obeegadoo said at a press conference on Thursday. He said 68 percent of the 1.3 million population had been fully vaccinated and 89 percent had received at least one dose, among the highest rates in the world. The idyllic holiday destination, renowned for its spectacular white sandy beaches and turquoise waters, had partly reopened to vaccinated visitors in July for the first time since the coronavirus

Inclusive roads LET us start with some statistics. The National Capital Region (NCR) occupies a land area of 620 square kilometers. The population is between 12-13 million at night, which balloons by 2-3 million at daytime, mostly from people from the NCR Plus area (Rizal, Bulacan, Cavite and Laguna). They come to the metro to work, study, and transact business, among others, since the metro offers many facilities and activities otherwise unavailable in other regions. Population density is 21,600 per square kilometer. The NCR is the second most populous and the most densely populated region in the country. It is the 9th most populous metropolitan area in Asia and the 5th most populous urban area globally. Now let us put in some statistics about the motor vehicle population in the country. 2019 data showed a total of 4.7 million registered motor vehicles nationwide, with the NCR cornering 1.5 million of them, a significant 32-percent share translating to 2,400 motor vehicles per square kilometer. The NCR has a total public road length of 3,000 kilometers, meaning every kilometer of road supports 500 motor vehicles. It is therefore easy to imagine why the NCR has one of the worst traffic conditions worldwide. It is simply a case of demand for road space being higher than the road supply capacity. There had been a spate of road construction, especially during the incumbency of the current president with its Build, Build, Build mantra. One of the more significant road additions to the NCR was the extension of the existing Skyway system, which initially spanned from Alabang to Buendia, about 20 kilometers. The extension from Buendia to Balintawak, the Skyway stage 3, covers about 20 kilometers as well. The Skyway, end-to-end, covers around 40 kilometers. It is an engineering feat considering it is the only one in the country and is envisioned to alleviate the traffic gridlock in the metro. At this early stage of its operation, it is indeed a welcome alternate route. Still, many motorists are not using it as expected due to the prohibitive toll they will have to pay to use the elevated road. The cheapest toll in the Skyway stage 3 system starting in Buendia going northbound is P105 up to Quirino and Nagtahan, covering a distance of about three kilometers. The total toll to Balintawak is P264. Travel time is cut to just about 20 minutes compared to the two hours it would take at the at-grade level, a significant benefit in terms

pandemic emerged in early 2020. But they had to remain in “resort bubbles” for 14 days before being allowed to venture further afield. The first planeloads of tourists were arriving from Dubai, Paris and London on Friday and will have to meet certain COVIDtesting requirements during their stay. Obeegadoo said the country had “prepared well” for the return of international visitors. AFP

DENNIS L. BERINO, DBA

of savings in time, gasoline, driver well-being and pollution impact. However, for a regular car owner, the toll is a daunting amount to contend with, especially if we consider the round-trip total. Hence, the pricing already has an exclusion factor. But the more significant adverse impact of the Skyway system is it is not an inclusive road system. From the statistics presented above, only about 12.5 percent of the NCR population own a motor vehicle (1.5 million registered motor vehicles divided by 12 million people). Hence, a much more significant percentage of the population will not benefit from this road system. It would have been ideal if, at the design stage, the government and developers agreed to incorporate a mass transport system that will be part of the Skyway’s feature to move people and not only vehicles, which is an ideal situation. The developer has already announced that they are designing a bus rapid transport system in the Skyway to address this concern. That will be a welcome development to offer inclusivity in its use and access. There is news as well of a proposed expressway project that will traverse the Pasig River to be done by the same developer. This early, it has announced that it would be “an inclusive, user-centered infrastructure that will integrate various modes of transportation beyond cars. It will have dedicated bike lanes, walkways, a bus rapid transit system, among others. A lot of interest groups weigh in on their advantages and disadvantages at this point. But a significant breakthrough is the inclusive mindset in its design. With this hope, future traffic infrastructures will be guided with the mindset of moving people, emphasizing mass transport systems, not only moving cars, because this particular perspective will bring better benefits for the greater good.

Green LiGht

US equity firm buying grocery chain Morrisons of UK for $9.5b LONDON—A US private equity firm has won an auction for British supermarket group Morrisons, the Takeover Panel which oversees merger and acquisition deals said on Saturday. The panel said Clayton, Dubilier & Rice bid 287 pence per share, beating private equity giant Fortress, which bid 286 pence, the panel announced in a short statement. The winning bid values the company at about £7.1 billion (nearly $9.5 billion, 8.2 billion euros), Morrisons said. Shareholders will have the final say on whether to accept the offer on October 19. Morrisons, based in Bradford, northern England, began business as an egg and butter merchant in 1899, expanding to become Britain’s fourth-biggest supermarket by market share, after Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda. The company, which employs more than 110,000 staff at nearly 500 stores across Britain, has been at the center of a bidding war for several months. The auction was held because neither Clayton, Dubilier & Rice or Softbank-owned Fortress lodged a final offer on their earlier bids. Morrisons chairman Andrew Higginson said the company’s board had approved CD&R’s final offer and said it represented “excellent value for shareholders while at the same time protecting the fundamental character of Morrisons for all stakeholders.” “CD&R have good retail experience, a strong record of developing and growing the businesses in which they invest, and they share our vision and ambition for Morrisons,” he added in a statement. “We remain confident that CD&R will be a responsible, thoughtful and careful owner of an important British grocery business.” CD&R were advised by former Tesco chief executive Terry Leahy, who welcomed the board’s endorsement and described Morrisons as “an excellent business, with a strong management team, a clear strategy and good prospects.” AFP

In Siberia, a copper mine hopes to become a global energy pivot By Andrea Palasciano UDOKAN, Russia—In 1949, a Soviet expedition in Siberia was looking for uranium to supply the national nuclear arsenal when it stumbled on a vast deposit of copper. More than 70 years later, a mining complex in Russia’s Far East between Lake Baikal and the Pacific Ocean is finally due to launch operations next year. With copper key to the world’s energy transition away from carbon, the hope is it will be a boon for Russia and beyond. “The long-awaited project is a longawaited event in the life of the Far East and the entire mining industry of Russia and the world,” said Valery Kazikayev, chairman of Udokan Copper, the company developing the site. Kazikayev, who makes the ninehour journey by plane from Moscow to the mine twice a month, brought AFP journalists on a tour late September. At an altitude of 2,000 meters (6,500 feet), the heavy snow covering the mine offers a glimpse at the difficulty of rendering it operable. “The Soviet Union wasn’t able to develop these deposits,” Kazikayev, 66, said at the site, where construction began in 2019. The mine is located both in a seismic zone and on permafrost—ground that remains completely frozen all-year round. Temperatures can drop to minus

60 degrees Celsius (minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit) in the winter. These conditions mean developing the site is “difficult,” Kazikayev said, noting as a result that “construction is very expensive.” The new ‘black gold’ The work of harvesting copper ore has begun and workers are busy setting explosives to blow up permafrost so digging can go ahead. Holding more than 26 million tons of copper, the mine, some 6,500 kilometers (4,000 miles) east of Moscow, claims to be the largest untapped deposit in Russia and the third largest in the world. To develop the project, Udokan Copper—which purchased the license in 2008 and is part of billionaire Alisher Usmanov’s USM holding company— raised nearly $3 billion (2.5 billion euros) from Russian banks. The company also took advantage of preferential conditions granted for developing Russia’s Far East, a neglected and isolated region. The substantial investment is expected to bear fruit. The price of copper, dubbed the “new black gold,” soared to historic heights this year—and shows no signs of slowing. “Over the next 15 years, the demand for copper will grow by 30 percent” as the “green economy” grows, said Yulia Buchneva, an analyst at Fitch Ratings in Moscow. AFP

The author teaches Quantitative Methods in the MBA program of the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business, De La Salle University. He can be contacted at dennis. berino@dlsu.edu.ph. The views expressed above are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official position of DLSU, its faculty, and its administrators.

Photograph taken on September 28, 2021 shows a view of the Udokan copper plant under construction in eastern Siberia’s Zabaikalsky region. AFP

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

B4

MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2021

Business

PSE INDEX CLOSING

DICT donation. The

Friday, October 1, 2021

-29.28 PTS. 6,923.60

TOTAL VOLUME TOTAL TRADES

2,324,866,582 85,560

TOTAL VALUE ADVANCES

21,991,058,370.75 103

DECLINES UNCHANGED

86 53

Department of Information and Communications Technology turns over 20 units of laptops to the Department of Education-Schools Division Office in Taytay, Rizal as part of its Digital Education Program and its component expanded Cybersafe Learning Project. Leading the turnover ceremony is DICT Secretary Gregorio Honasan II, together with DepEd assistant schools division superintendent Gloria Roque and education program specialist II Jovelyn Jaqueca.

F oreign e xchange r ate Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2021

Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

50.8790

Japan

Yen

0.008986

0.4572

UK

Pound

1.347500

68.5595

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128442

6.5350

Switzerland

Franc

1.072846

54.5853

Canada

Dollar

0.788706

40.1286

Singapore

Dollar

0.736594

37.4772

Australia

Dollar

0.722700

36.7703

Bahrain

Dinar

2.652731

134.9683

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266645

13.5666

Brunei

Dollar

0.733891

37.3396

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000070

0.0036

Thailand

Baht

0.029533

1.5026

UAE

Dirham

0.272272

13.8529

Euro

Euro

1.158400

58.9382

Korea

Won

0.000844

0.0429

China

Yuan

0.154524

7.8620

India

Rupee

0.013484

0.6861

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.238949

12.1575

New Zealand

Dollar

0.689800

35.0963

Taiwan

Dollar

0.035983

1.8308 Source: BSP

Solar PH offers 10,000 hectares as project sites By Alena Mae S. Flores SOLAR Philippines said over the weekend it formed a new business called Solar Energy Zones Inc. that will be independent from the group’s power plant business and cater to the demand for solar project sites of other players. The company said it was finalizing agreements for 10,000 hectares, mostly near its projects in the provinces of Batangas, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija. “Our aim is no longer to compete with the country’s power companies, but to enable them to build projects, to ensure that solar soon becomes the largest source of new energy in the Philippines,” said Solar Philippines founder Leandro Leviste in a statement. “The problem we need to solve is that, despite there now being significant demand for new solar plants, there is a scarcity of sites. Our SEZ’s will make it easy for any of these power companies that decide to build solar to locate in these zones and start construction that same year,” Leviste said. The company’s SEZs are inspired by the solar parks of India, where companies co-locate solar projects in large shovel-ready sites with common facilities that benefit from economies of scale. The model is helping India lower solar’s barriers to entry and become one of the world’s fastest-growing solar markets. The SEZs will be under a combination of lease and joint venture agreements. “This would not be possible had we not begun the development of these sites six years ago, when others did not believe that large-scale solar would be viable. Now the power industry is convinced that it is, we are making available these sites to help others enter the market,” Leviste said. Solar Philippines will announce over the coming months several projects to be constructed in its zones by other power companies over the next five years. It said the capacity of these projects would be multiple times greater than the country’s total solar output to date, making solar a major contributor to the country’s energy mix. Solar Philippines announced a 500-megawatt solar project from a single development that would augment the country’s need for additional capacity.

DOF asks new PCIC board to stop ‘financial bleeding’ By Julito G. Rada

F

INANCE Secretary Carlos Dominguez III asked the newly-reorganized board of directors and management of Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. to stop the financial bleeding of the state-run agency which received more than P23 billion in subsidies from the national government over the past two decades. This followed PCIC’s transfer from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of Finance, under Executive Order 148, “to ensure that its operations are rationalized and monitored centrally in order that government assets and resources are used effectively, and the government’s exposure to all forms of liabilities, including subsidies is warranted and incurred through prudent measures.” Dominguez, who now chairs the PCIC

board, said the management should present by Oct. 7 the agency’s financial status and contingent liabilities. He said the presentation should include an outline on how the PCIC should be managed and initial ideas about possible reinsurance coverage which PCIC could provide, the expansion of the insurance coverage to include more crops and how PCIC could provide parametric insurance compared to its policies. Dominguez said during the board’s

The board, in the Sept. 24 meeting, appointed lawyer Joyce Briones of the DOF Legal Affairs Office as the new PCIC corporate secretary. The new board is composed of Dominguez as chairman, Agriculture Secretary William Dar as vice chairman and PCIC president Jovy Bernabe, Land Bank of the Philippines president-chief executive Cecilia Borromeo and Macasaet as members. Representatives from the private insurance industry and the subsistence farmers’ sector, preferably representing agrarian reform beneficiaries/cooperatives/ associations, remain to be appointed to complete the composition of the sevenperson body. Given the new composition of the PCIC board of directors, the board also reconstituted its committees on governance and on audit and risk management.

THE Department of Transportation plans to revise its proposed 2022 budget after the bulk of the funding approved by the Department of Budget and Management was allotted for the railway sector, an official said over the weekend. “When the DOTR requested budget from DBM, we requested for all of our sectors, not such for rail but for aviation, maritime and road, but unfortunately most of the budget that was approved by DBM was for railway projects,” Transportation Undersecretary for Railway Timothy John Batan said.

BSP pushes law vs. coin hoarding

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Congress should pass a law against coin hoarding which causes artificial shortage and disrupts the efficient flow of transactions in the financial system. It issued the statement following the seizure of authorities last week of a stockpile of 1-piso coins totaling about P50 million from a warehouse in Barangay Laging Handa, Quezon City. The seizure was a result of joint initiatives of the National Bureau of Investigation, in coordination with the Bureau of Customs, the Philippine Coast Guard and the Bangko Sentral. Upon initial inspection, BSP agents determined that the 1-piso coins are from various design series. Representative samples of the seized coins are now being tested by the BSP to confirm their authenticity. Representatives of Barangay Laging Handa and the lawyer of the alleged co-owner of the items were present during the inspection by law enforcers. “Coin hoarding results in the inefficient circulation of coins and prevents their primary use as medium of exchange,” the BSP said in a statement. Julito G. Rada

Smart fires up first 5G SA sites in Makati

SMART Communications Inc. said it expanded its 5G leadership as it fired up its commercial 5G SA sites in Makati City, powering up one of the first 5G SA networks in the world. “Through the years, PLDT and Smart have been at the forefront of breakthrough innovations in the telco industry, including 5G. With the first batch of our 5G SA sites now fully operational, we are starting to see the true capabilities of 5G which will play a critical role in the advancement of massive IoT, health care and smart cities, delivering customer experience that is truly worldclass,” said PLDT Inc. and Smart Communications president and chief executive Alfredo Panlilio. 5G SA technology paves the way for a variety of new industry applications that utilize 5G’s full features. 5G SA will provide super-fast response times and faster access to higher data rates that are required by cloud gaming or immersive media. This connectivity will also help drive the future-readiness of telco network, creating new business opportunities and enabling new consumer services beyond the mobile phone screens. Darwin G. Amojelar

NEDA identifies economic strategies

ACCELERATING the vaccination roll-out, managing risks better and implementing the economic recovery program are the government’s three key strategies to reach the country’s growth targets for 2021 and 2022, the National Economic and Development Authority said over the weekend. NEDA Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said in a presentation that while the economy contracted 17 percent in the second quarter of 2020, it was no slowly recovering with the latest growth rate of 11.8 percent in the second quarter of 2021. “We can get back up to 4 to 5 percent growth this year and 7 to 9 percent next year by doing three important things. First is accelerating the vaccination program. By next month, this will be opened to the general population and will also include teenagers ages 12 years old and up. This is the most important thing we need to do as soon as the [vaccine] supply comes in. We have seen that our vaccine roll-out has been fast, reaching half a million per day at its peak,” he said.

Meralco sees ‘flat’ power generation charges in October

SM Prime Holdings Inc., one of the leading integrated property developers in Southeast Asia, achieves a new milestone in its sustainability program as the company commits to expand its energy source portfolio gearing towards clean energy across all of its business segments over the medium term. On top of diversifying energy suppliers, the company will also expand the use of solar roof decks in its various properties to partly meet the electricity requirements of its business operations.

SM Prime vows to tap more clean energy for business operations

By Jenniffer B. Austria PROPERTY developer SM Prime Holdings Inc. disclosed its plan over the weekend to increase the share of renewable energy in business operations by more than 50 percent across business segments by the end of 2022. SM Prime said in a statement it was gearing its energy source portfolio towards clean energy through enhanced sustainability program. Aside from diversifying energy suppliers, the SM Prime said it would expand the use of solar roof decks in various properties to partially supply the electricity requirements of businesses. Through the program, the number of facilities using clean energy will be increased

to more than 50, with a combined maximum capacity of 140 megawatts. “Sustainability has always been a part of SM’s strategy and we are continuously exploring ways to promote environmental consciousness in our operations and developments. We are now embarking on a program to utilize more of renewable energy in our business operations to minimize environmental impact,” SM Prime president and chief executive Jeffrey Lim said. The move supports the Department of Energy’s program of moving up the renewable energy supply component of the country to 35 percent by 2030. SM Prime said as of end-June, it had eight facilities under the DOE’s Retail Competition and Open Access scheme

that are utilizing clean energy in operation with a total capacity of 7.7 MW. The company said it is committed to providing affordable and clean energy to tenant-partners, minimizing the carbon footprint emission in its operations. “As we continue to strive for more sustainable operations, SM Prime will keep working towards a future-proofed business by developing proactive solutions through partnership with various public and private entities that can further improve our way of business and reduce the carbon footprints generated in our operations,” Lim said. SM Prime said that along with other environmental care and protection programs, it would also continue to develop other sustainable programs.

DOTR wants to revise 2022 budget proposal for road, airport and seaport projects By Darwin G. Amojelar

IN BRIEF

“We are going to request for budget to be reinstated for the aviation, maritime and the road sector. We intent to rectify that together with our partners in the Congress and the Senate,” he said. Batan, however, cited a need to push for more rail projects and close the gap that was created in the railways sector by decades of compounded underinvestment and to catch up with other countries in terms of railways infrastructure. A survey by the World Bank in 2019 showed the Philippines ranked 119th or at the bottom of the 119 countries surveyed in terms of length of operational railways infra-

structure. The DBM approved P110 billion for the railway sector, while the road sector only received P1 million. The DOTR proposed over P19.8-billion budget to DBM to fund various road transport sector projects nationwide for the year 2022. “We agree that there should be more funds allotted for the road sector. One million would not be enough for the road sector,” Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said. For locally funded projects for the road sector, the DOTR proposed P13.2 bil-

lion, while foreign-assisted projects would amount to P6.61 billion. It said of the total 13.2 billion for local road projects, it allotted P10 billion for service contracting program; P1.5 billion for active transportation infrastructure and related programs; P800.71 million for PUV modernization; P472.97 million for EDSA Busway Project; P125.91 million for Makati-BGC Greenways; P40 million for the feasibility study of Ilocos Norte Transport Hub; P10.71 million for Taguig City Integrated Terminal Exchange; and P100 million for feasibility study of Bataan Bus Rapid Transit.

GENERATION charges of electricity retailer Manila Electric Co. are forecast to remain flat in October because of the peso depreciation, an executive said over the weekend. Lawrence Fernandez, Meralco vice president and head of utility economics, said while the company had not yet received bills from suppliers, “we expect the generation charge to remain flat, or to slightly inch up, mainly due to the continued depreciation of the Philippine peso versus the US dollar.” He said the Philippine peso depreciated to 51 against the greenback last week and would continue to impact charges from the independent power producers, including First Gas-Sta Rita, First GasSan Lorenzo and Quezon Power Philippines Ltd. Supply contracts with these generators are mostly dollar-denominated. Fernandez said Meralco was waiting for the movement of transmission charges that account for around 9 percent of overall rates. “The transmission charge includes wheeling and ancillary service charges of NGCP (National Grid Corp. of the Phiippines). Presently, however, we expect the overall movement to be flattish,” he said. Meralco’s overall rates went up in September by P0.1055 per kilowatt-hour to P9.1091 per kWh from P9.0036 per kWh in August due to higher generation charge. The company attributed the higher generation charge due to the net settlement surplus corrections at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the trading floor of electricity and increased costs from power supply agreements (and IPPs. The generation charge, which makes up about 55 percent of customers’ electricity bills, increased by P0.1117 to P5.0439 per kWh in September from P4.9322 per kWh in August. Alena Mae S. Flores

Sports

Thirdy’s San-en gets back at bro’s Shiga in OT THIRDY Ravena matched his elder brother’s great performance as he unloaded a game-high 27 points for San-En Neophoenix when it got back at the Shiga Lakestars, 101-96, in overtime. Ravena’s big game allowed the Neophoenix to make up for their loss to the Lakestars in their second weekend game at the start of the 2021-22 B.League at the Ukaruchan Arena. “I’m very happy to be on the court with my brother. It was a very good game. Both games were tough. But we both had a good game,” said the 24-year-old Ravena. His triple at the 2:22 mark handed NeoPhoenix an eight-point cushion in the extra period, allowing his team to avenge its loss to the Lakestars on Saturday. Elias Harris added 18 points, with his two freebies in the remaining 4:43 of extra time shattering an 85all regulation deadlock, leading to a 12-3 run in the ensuing time. He earlier forced the overtime when he connected with a jumper in the final 1:26 of regulation. Kiefer Ravena, who powered Shiga with 20 points, tried to force a win in the closing minute, but he bungled one of three Lakestar attempts. “I’m happy we have played against each other in a professional game. So he gets the last laugh. But we’re happy that we came out healthy,” said the elder Ravena. On Saturday, Kiefer came off the bench for the Lakestars, who rallied from 22 points to outplay Thirdy and San-En in the opener, 93-83. In that game, Kiefer tallied 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting, to go with eight assists and three steals with no turnovers. Meanwhile, Juan Gomez de Liano shot 10 points for Earthfriends Tokyo Z, which absorbed an 85100 loss to Kagawa Five Arrows at Temple Municipal Gymnasium in Japan. The Filipino import once again came off the bench and logged 16 minutes on the floor, shooting 2-of-5 from downtown, to go with two rebounds and one steal. The Kobe Paras-led Niigata took a close 81-85 loss at the hands of Kyoto to open its bid at City Hall Plaza Aore. Peter Atencio

Riera U. Mallari, Editor; Randy M. Caluag, Assistant Editor

MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2021

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Magnolia’s Calvin Abueva drives to the basket against Meralco’s John Pinto and Cliff Hodge in a PBA semifinal game won by the Hotshots, 88-79.

Hotshots draw 1st blood in semis duel with Bolts

By Peter Atencio

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HE Magnolia Hotshots found the right moment to take control in the fourth period, pulling off an 88-79 triumph over the Meralco Bolts in Game 1 of their 2021 PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinal series on Sunday. Ian Sangalang and Calvin Abueva asserted themselves in the last 12 minutes of their game at the DHVSU Gym in Bacolor,

Pampanga and their leadership allowed the Hotshots to earn the win and the momentum. Sangalang struck with a gamehigh 18 points, eight rebounds and two assists for the Hotshots,

who fought their way out of a 6164 deficit at the beginning of the fourth period. A foul-troubled Abueva, who had nine points in the final canto, delivered 13 points and seven rebounds, including a freebie and triple in the 8:26 mark, which allowed Hotshots to move within range, 67-69. The Hotshots then forced 69all tie off Paul Lee’s two charities before finally getting the chance to overtake the Bolts. A 13-4 run fueled by Abueva’s fastbreak dunk, floater and assist to Jio Jalalon’s trey with 1:43 left saw

the Hotshots taking a 14-point lead, 88-74, at the 1:43 mark. “They played for 48 minutes and they focused for 48 minutes,” said Hotshots’ coach Chito Victolero. The Bolts pushed ahead in the third period, behind Chris Newsome and Cliff Hodge, who knocked in half of the Bolts’ 24 points, before Sangalang and Abueva teamed up in the fourth to carry the Hotshots home. Bong Quinto banged in 14 points for the Bolts, while Mac Belo and Anjo Caram shot 11 apiece.

Monster debut for Animam Bulacan DF sweeps in Serbian league

Jack Animam

JACK Animam, playing as a Filipina import, debuted with a bang in leading Radnički to a close 78-77 triumph over Proleter 023 in the opening game of 2021-22 First Women’s Basketball League of Serbia on Saturday evening at SBB Hala Jezero in Kragujevac, Serbia. The former National University star struck with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting, to go with 14 rebounds, two steals, two blocks and an assist. With Radnički holding on to a slim lead with 27 ticks left, Animam cleaned up her teammate Andrea Glomazić’s miss with a layup that gave her team a six-point cushion, 76-71. This proved handy for Radnicki, as Tijana Cukić fired a triple afterward to keep Proleter in the thick of the fight, 74-76. But Radnicki kept its advantage and moved ahead after Glomazić scored with two charities in the next play. Milica Inđić added 18 points, seven assists, and three steals for Radnicki, while Marijana Stojanović shot 11 points from off the bench. Animam and Radnicki will seek their second straight win when they face defending champ Crvena Zvezda next Saturday. Peter Atencio

Filipino ‘Skipman’ beats Guinness record RYAN Ong Alonzo displayed extraordinary speed and endurance as he beat the Guinness world record for the double under skips during the Jump to Greater Heights event at Ayala Malls Circuit Makati on Saturday. Fondly called “Skipman,” the 34-yearold father of one bettered the previous high of 20,000 double skips when he made 21,327 double after six hours. In jump rope, a double under means a participant needs to jump up higher than usual while swinging the rope twice under his feet. Despite battling cramps, the son of Kumori Japanese Café owner went on to establish a new world mark of 40,980 skips after six more hours. Pending recognition from the Guinness World Records, Alonzo, trained and mentored by Gadric Chusenfu, was overjoyed by his incredible feat. He almost quit due to vexing cramps, but was cheered on by family members,

Ryan Ong Alonzo (center) poses with trainer-coach Gadric Chusenfu (right) and Benzi Yang after his record-breaking feat.

including La Salle swimming team captain Benzi Yang, who helped him cool down on several occasions. “I’m out of words, it is super overwhelming. Halfway through my legs were cramping. I didn’t expect talaga na maaabot ko pa and when you guys started cheering parang becoming happy lang, suddenly mataas na pala number ko in that hour,” said Alonzo. Julie Alonzo also thanked the people behind her son’s feat, especially Yang, saying: “Thank you so much Benzi for helping Ryan made the feat possible. You came exactly at the right time. You did all the legs shaking, stretching and ice cubes here and there. And all the morale support and encouraging words ‘Go, go, go Uncle Ryan…Ngayon ka pa mag-give up?” Chusenfu said Alonzo trained like a marathoner as he went through strength, speed and endurance workouts just to make sure that he is physically ready for the challenge.

weekend NBL games THE Bulacan DF Republicans defeated the Quezon Barons, 110-96, Sunday to sweep their assignments during the weekend in the Chooks-toGo NBL Chairman’s Cup 2021 at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center in San Fernando, Pampanga. Joseph Celso scored 20 points after converting eight of his 10 field goal attempts as the Republicans ended their weekend games with a 6-1 win-loss record and gave the Barons their first defeat after five matches during the season. Earnest Reyes had 12 points and 11 rebounds to complement Celso’s play as Dominick Fajardo had another fine outing with 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Bulacan led 65-52 after a tight contest behind a 14-2 run, seven points scored by Fajardo, in the third quarter. The Republicans went 2-0 this weekend after it won over Paranaque Aces, 100-81, last Saturday with Fajardo shooting a game-high 19 points. La Union (4-0) is now the lone unbeaten team in the Chairman’s Cup after the Quezon defeat. Last Saturday, the Barons defeated the Taguig Generals in double overtime, 119-108, for their fourth win of the season. Topeng Lagrama scored 26 points and dished out 12 assists, and Alex Ramos added 24 points as the Barons finally built a gap after a 99-99 tie in a thrilling finish to the match-up. Mar Villahermosa scored 24 points for Taguig in the defeat.

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Sports

MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2021

Two MLB playoff slots undecided as Rays win

Batang Pinoy to empower LGUs on technical rules THE Philippine Sports Commission, through its Batang Pinoy and Philippine National Games, continues its mandate of developing athletes in the grassroots despite the pandemic. The two programs are set to conduct the fourth part of a series of webinars in preparation for the reimplementation of the grassroots program. Beginning October 5, local government units are expected to attend the webinar which will share updates on the international sports technical rules. PSC Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez believes that the “joint effort between the LGUs and the PSC will ensure that young aspiring athletes are given enough time and resources to grow and reach their full potential.” With the current trend of younger athletes breaking Olympic records, the sport’s chief feels that it is time to properly manage and secure the future gems of the country. In cooperation with the National Sports Associations and International Federation-accredited Technical Officials of 11 different Sports, the updated standard rules of the sports possible to be played in the games will be discussed. Each Local Government Unit can send three representatives for the said webinar per sport. Sports to be covered are the following: Taekwondo, Table Tennis, Chess, Athletics, Weightlifting, Archery, Karatedo, Cycling, Swimming, Muaythai, and Arnis. Participants from the North Luzon Cluster will be the first group to undergo the training.

Koreans Park, Ko share lead; th Saso tied for 16 Yuka Saso of the Philippines hits her tee shot on the 16th hole during the second round of the ShopRite LPGA Classic on the Bay Course at Seaview Golf Club in Galloway, New Jersey. AFP

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EW YORK— Ko Jin-young and Park In-bee set the stage for a South Korean shootout, firing second-round 65s to share a two-stroke lead heading into Sunday’s final round of the LPGA ShopRite Classic.

World number two Ko made five of her six birdies in the space of six holes in her six-under effort at Seaview Bay in Galloway, New Jersey. Park had seven birdies, bouncing back from a bogey at her penultimate hole, the eighth, with a birdie at the par-five ninth to grab her share of first place on 11-under par 131. They were two strokes in front of Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit, who had six birdies in her six-under 65 for 133. The Philippines’ Yuka Saso was one under and tied for 16th with four others. A victory in the 54-hole tournament would make Ko the LPGA’s second three-time winner of the season after triumphs at Dallas in July and Portland two weeks ago. “I had a lot of good opportunities for birdies,” said Ko, who hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation and needed 27 putts. “I made a lot of really good putts, so I didn’t make a bogey today. That makes me very happy and I can’t wait to play for tomorrow.” She birdied three in a row starting at the par-five third,

then added two more birdies at the seventh and eighth before picking up one more shot with a birdie at the par-four 16th. “My game was perfect on the front nine, but I was thinking, OK, I want to get more birdies on back nine,” Ko said. “But I little nervous when I was thinking about that, but I had pretty good round today. Putting was good -- putting, swinging, everything was good.” A victory on Sunday would also make Ko the fifth South Korean LPGA player with 10 wins, along with Pak Se-ri, Shin Ji-yai, Park and Kim Sei-young. World number three Park, making her first LPGA start in six weeks, opened on 10 and picked up three birdies in her first nine holes. Birdies at the third, fourth and sixth moved her into a tie for the lead with Ko and she bounced back from her lone bogey at the eighth with a clutch birdie at her final hole. Another impressive day on the greens for Park included her 30-foot birdie at the sixth and a six-foot par save at seven. “I remember putting good in Kia and then earlier in the season,” Park said. “And then middle of the season to the end of the season, not as good. I feel like this week is almost back to like where I was putting really good earlier in the season.” She was looking forward to dueling Ko. “Knowing that number two player in the world is hunting for the same thing I am hunting for, definitely need to put some good performance,” she said. “Good motivation to play for.” But neither of the co-leaders could afford to overlook Patty, winner of the ANA Inspiration earlier this year. AFP

NEW YORK—Brandon Lowe smashed three home runs to power the Tampa Bay Rays over the New York Yankees 12-2 on Saturday, keeping Major League Baseball’s last playoff spots up for grabs. On the penultimate day of the sixmonth regular season, New York’s home loss kept the Yankees from clinching one of two undecided American League wildcard playoff berths. The Boston Red Sox hoped to clinch a wildcard spot but needed a victory at Washington and losses by Seattle and Toronto. The Canadian club ensured that wouldn’t happen by thrashing visiting Baltimore 10-1, keeping Toronto in the playoff chase to the final day. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Atlanta and St. Louis have already sealed National League playoff berths while Tampa Bay, Houston and the Chicago White Sox have grabbed AL playoff spots. The Giants-Dodgers race for top spot in the NL West Division will come down to the final day of the season. A Los Angeles loss Saturday night would have clinched the title for the Giants, but the Dodgers routed Milwaukee 8-3 to get within a game of San Francisco. The Giants now control their own destiny. A win over the San Diego Padres on Sunday at Oracle Park and the Giants will finish with a franchise record 107 wins and win the NL West. The Yankees missed a chance when the Rays delivered a blowout defeat at Yankee Stadium. Lowe’s three-run homer to right field gave Tampa Bay a 3-0 lead over the Yankees in the first inning. Anthony Rizzo answered for New York with a solo homer in the first. But Lowe blasted another three-run homer off Yankees starting left-hander Jordan Montgomery in the third inning and Mike Zunino followed with a solo homer for a 7-1 Rays lead and New York replaced Montgomery with lefty reliever Lucas Luetge. AFP

Joyce wants Olympic gold in wake of corruption claims LONDON—British boxer Joe Joyce believes he should be awarded an Olympic gold medal after an independent investigation highlighted his defeat at Rio 2016 was one of more than 10 bouts suspected of being manipulated. The Londoner settled for silver five years ago after being on the wrong end of a split decision to France’s Tony Yoka in their super-heavyweight final, one of several controversial judging decisions at the Games. Now the first stage of an enquiry by Professor Richard McLaren, commissioned by the current leadership team at the International Boxing Associa-

tion (AIBA), has examined how bouts were manipulated for money or as political favours. “I firmly believe that I was the winner of the match with Tony Yoka and deserved the gold medal. But on the day I did not get that decision and at the time I accepted that,” Joyce posted on his social media channels. “If corruption has taken place, and it appears that it has, I trust AIBA and the IOC will ensure the integrity of the sport is upheld and award me the gold medal. “I will be considering the report in detail with my legal team and await the decision of AIBA and the IOC.

Corruption should never be allowed to succeed.” The report found judges were often “preyed upon by those with corrupt motives”. Qualifying events for Rio became the practice ground where manipulation methods were “fine-tuned.” Current AIBA president Umar Kremlev said of the report: “I am determined to ensure that boxers receive a fair fight. This determination is demonstrated by AIBA’s clear commitment to uncovering the truth and acting on it. “We must now carefully examine the report and see what steps are need-

ed to ensure justice. What is important is that we make sure the mechanisms are in place to show that results are above suspicion.” AIBA was suspended and barred from organising the boxing competition at Tokyo 2020 after an International Olympic Committee (IOC) task force review of the sport’s governance, management, refereeing and judging. The IOC directly oversaw the competition in Japan instead. AIBA has been warned boxing’s place at the 2024 Games in Paris is in jeopardy unless shortcomings identified in the review are addressed. AFP

Joe Joyce

As Greece fetes ex-migrant NBA star, others like him suffer ATHENS—The sun was barely out in Greece in July when Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis jumped on Twitter to congratulate newly-crowned GreekNigerian NBA champion Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks. “Incredible Yannis! Greeks everywhere celebrate!” the avid basketball fan tweeted minutes after the final buzzer sounded across the Atlantic, using a lesser used version of the star’s first name. Nicknamed the “Greek Freak” and one of the country’s top global ambassadors, Antetokounmpo has reached the pinnacle of sporting success after overcoming a poverty-stricken childhood familiar to tens of thousands of migrant children growing up in Greece. The son of Nigerian immigrants who arrived in Athens in 1991 seeking a better future, he was born and raised in working-class suburbs of the Greek capital, selling trinkets with his family to make a living. But whereas the two-time NBA Most Valuable Player catapulted out of obscurity, few migrant children in Greece are as fortunate. Onerous paperwork and tough laws make it difficult for many migrants to get nationality and become full members of society. “Under normal circumstances, Giannis would not have received Greek

NBA All-Star and Milwaukee Bucks Greek basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo (2nd L) reacts after crossing the finish line of a 5km charity race along with other runners in Athens. Nicknamed the “Greek Freak”, Antetokounmpo went through an odyssey punctuated by poverty, like most migrant children who grew up in Greece. But while the NBA player, has been able to come out of obscurity, other migrants in Greece are not so lucky.

citizenship,” says Vassilis Papastergiou, an advocacy officer for the Greek Council for Refugees, one of the country’s main rights groups. “He received honorary citizenship when he was drafted” into the NBA by the Bucks, he said.

Greece has for decades run a tight ship on naturalisation and attitudes towards foreigners hardened after the European migrant crisis of 2015, when more than 800,000 asylum seekers— mainly Afghans, Iraqis and Syrians— landed on Greek islands.

Mitsotakis’ conservative government, which came to power in 2019, has further tightened laws and bolstered border patrols in a bid to deter fresh arrivals. In 2020, more than 9,000 children received citizenship, down from more than 21,000 in 2018, according to the interior ministry. Only children born in Greece to at least one parent legally in the country for the previous five years are entitled to citizenship at birth. Otherwise, they have to complete six years of secondary school, or nine years of primary and secondary school, or obtain a Greek university degree. As Antetokounmpo’s parents were in Greece illegally during his childhood, he could only apply after completing school and then wait several years for his application to be examined. “A child arriving from Nigeria today, the next Antetokounmpo, would probably have been stopped at the border, or have its application rejected,” says Papastergiou. ‘Still a migrant’ Nikos-Deji Odubitan was born in Greece to Nigerian parents. Despite growing up here, the 40-year-old founder and manager of Generation 2.0, a non-profit providing legal and career counselling to migrants and refugees, says he is “still considered a migrant”.

Odubitan told AFP he was “theoretically fortunate” to have secured successive one-year residence permits to complete his medical engineering degree. In contrast, his father completed a law degree in Thessaloniki but was never allowed to practice, because he could not get citizenship. “When you reach adulthood you have two options (towards legalisation): study or work. Some have been unable to find either,” said Odubitan, who has been waiting nearly four years for his citizenship application to be processed. ‘Hypocrisy’ In September, Mitsotakis was accused by the leftist opposition Syriza party of “hypocrisy” when he invited Antetokounmpo’s mother and younger brother Alex to his office to receive Greek citizenship. Two days earlier, a lawmaker in the prime minister’s party sparked uproar by re-tweeting a post claiming that the number of children with apparently non-Greek surnames at an Athens nursery was “shockingly” high. Syriza pointed out that Antetokounmpo “could have been among” those names. Mitsotakis was also heavily criticised in August after he appointed as health minister a former far-right lawyer who called for “hellish” deterrents for migrants in Greece. AFP

Entertainment

Nickie Wang, Editor nickie.standard@gmail.com MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2021

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UK’s top ballet stars leap back into spotlight Royal Ballet dancers Fumi Kaneko and William Bracewell rehearse a scene from Kenneth MacMillan’s adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.

AFTER a year of playing to empty houses, Britain’s Royal Ballet dancers William Bracewell and Fumi Kaneko are eager to “celebrate what we do best” when they return to the public stage as Romeo and Juliet. “I haven’t done this, a three-act ballet for ages,” Japanese prima ballerina Kaneko fatold AFP after a rehearsal of the fa mous balcony scene. “To be able to dance with a whole company of ballet dancers is so special.

“Romeo and Juliet is my dream role, I’m enjoying every minute of the rehearsal right now,” she said of the Kenneth McMillan choreographed work, ahead of World Ballet Day on Oct. 19. In one aerial scene, Kaneko is entranced by her Romeo, Bracewell, who twirls her around and draws her closer into an embrace, crowned by a kiss. Bracewell said the return of in-person audiences after more than a year of rolling lockdowns was “what we needed to do, to come back together and celebrate what we do best, which is tell those amazing stories.” Kaneko revealed other problems thrown up by the pandemic, saying “even when we came back to studio

we had to wear masks. “I think we did struggle a lot, this breathing with a mask,” even if it meant they “could do what we want to do.” Britain began lifting its coronavirus lockdown restrictions in July, as a mass vaccination campaign reduced hospital admissions for severe COVID and deaths. Bracewell said now was the time for everyone who has made some sacrifices “to start hopefully getting back to some sort of normality and getting the joyful parts of life as well.” The ballet opens on Oct. 5 at the Royal Opera House. AFP

DARRYL YAP delves into the dark side of catfishing

Darryl Yap’s forthcoming sexy psychological comedy ‘Sarap Mong Patayin’ features Ariella Arida in her first major role opposite actor Kit Thompson and comedian Lassy Marquez.

in new movie ‘Sarap Mong Patayin’ D ECEPTION is rampant on social media and despite numerous warnings, many people still fall victim to it and suffer terrible consequences.

This is the relevant issue that Sarap Mong Patayin would like to tackle. Directed by Darryl Yap, the Vivamax movie centers on the story of a gay guy who connives with a woman to lure men, but when they picked the wrong guy, things turn deadly. A film about “catfishing” — a term which means that someone is pretending to be somebody else online – delves into how perpetrators steal photos and even personal information of others and set up fake profiles that would attract people who are looking for love or a hookup. In the movie, Kit Thompson (#Y, Momol Nights) plays Yael, a 25-year-old guy who works out in a CrossFit gym. His picture is seen on Course, an online dating app where participants can engage in sexual activities. All they have to do is click on “Inter,” if they are ready to meet in person and be physically intimate, or click “Intra,” if it’s all just a digital sexual act. Yael sends a message to his longtime chatmate, and chooses “Inter”. Ariella Arida (The Killer Bride, Gandarrapido: The Revenger Squad) plays Krista, the woman Yael believes to be chatting with and the one he’s fantasizing over. Krista is aware of Yael’s existence, but she is not the only one handling her account.

Beks Battalion’s Lassy Marquez (The Mall The Merrier, Beauty and the Bestie) plays Noel, Krista’s friend and partner in catfishing. Noel is excited about meeting Yael. Together with Krista, he plans their succeeding actions. Noel is in need of funds and if they play their cards right, he and Krista will get what they want. Also written by Darryl Yap, the sexy “pyschomedy” promises to give viewers various emotions. Each character and turn of events will leave viewers scared and thinking about catfishing. “This film is not for everybody. The movie was made to give the audience an idea kung ano ang nararamdaman o nakikita ng isang tao under the influence of prohibited drugs,” Yap stated.

“But if you’re looking for something different, I guarantee you na, ito, walang kagayang ibang pelikula. So I’m really glad that the MTRCB is not into the digital platform kasi, in this movie, I was able to tackle the

THIS month, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), through its Subcommission on Cultural Communities and Traditional Arts (SCCTA), celebrates the National Indigenous Peoples (IP) Month pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 1906 signed in 2009 wherein the constitution mandates the “recognition and protection of the rights of Indigenous Cultural Communities. Serving as anchor to this month-long shindig is Dayaw, which according to its Deputy Festival Director Nestor Horfilla is “a celebration of the many victories of the cultural communities who have prevailed in the preservation and propagation of their respective cultural heritage, which includes chants, dances, songs, languages, food, and many stories, despite all the challenges and threats they face.”

Marion Aunor.

Celebs, TV personalities dominate

Philippine Faces of Success Awards By Eton Conception

A celebration of cultural communities “Dayaw is not just a reminder, or a reintroduction of everyone to the rich culture, beauty and bounty of IPs, it let us all see and realize the importance of understanding, preserving and continuing them because they are valuable to our soul as a nation. These IPs and all cultural communities are bearers of knowledge, traditions that must not be erased or forgotten. We are no longer celebrating Dayaw for awareness and appreciation, we are doing it because it is imperative that we not only safeguard, but value and cultivate what makes us uniquely Filipino,” adds Horfilla. Dayaw’s theme this year is “Katutubong Filipino: Atin ang Tagumpay!” which highlights the ways in which Philippine Indigenous Peoples firmly manifest their optimistic views and practices or their strategies of prevailing in the midst of adversities. The virtual celebration this year will be the coming together of more than a hundred representatives from various Indigenous groups which will be gathered at their communities. What happens in these virtual gatherings are cultural performances, timely discourses notably on the shared cultural values embodied in their responses to the current

evil essence of sex, drugs and the internet. Nandito ‘yun lahat,” he added. Sarap Mong Patayin is available for streaming in Vivamax starting Oct. 15. The theme song was sung by

The virtual celebration this year will be the coming together of more than a hundred representatives from various Indigenous groups.

crisis, which entails the widest dissemination of the Indigenous Peoples’ artistic and cultural ways of living, presenting, and celebrating their diverse cultural heritage, traditional art, and knowledge, and recognizes and appreciates their efforts to safeguard intangible cultural heritage.

Viral sensation Madam Inutz now a recording artist manager, for giving her the big break and an amazINTERNET personality Daisy Lopez, also ing opportunity that not everybody can get espeknown as the viral online seller Madam Inutz, cially at her age. has officially released the much-anticipated mu“There are a lot more younger and talented assic video of her debut song titled “Inutil,” compiring singers out there but here I am, launching posed by Ryan Soto. my debut single,” she said in Tagalog. The official music video was released on her Tolentino has a lot of plans for Madam Inutz YouTube channel on Sept. 23. In the music video, who he described as “very hard-working, responMadam Inutz stunned netizens with her fashionisible, and listens carefully to all of his advice and sta looks in her trending music video. This video instructions.” He plans on making her the official reminded the netizens of Lady Gaga although Brand Ambassador of Online Sellers and he wantMadam Inutz is a big fan of Miley Cyrus. ed her to learn more about entrepreneurship so that Now that she is officially a recording artist, her Rising social media star Daisy raspy voice is perfect for novelty, rap, hip hop or Lopez a.k.a. Madam Inutz launches she can invest and make her business grow while making her way to the entertainment industry. rock “Tunog Kalye” genre just like the Pinoy sing- her debut single. ‘Inutil’ is now available via Spotify, Apple Muers who were known for their own styles like Aegis, sic, Amazon Music, Deezer, Tidal, Vevo, Tiktok, Youtube Music, Sampaguita, or Up Dharma Down. Madam Inutz lists Aegis and Miley Cyrus as musical influences. Beatport, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitch, Shazam, iTunes, Facebook, Her inspiration when it comes to singing are Janine Berdin, Cardi B, iTunesRadio, and other online music streaming sites. For Inquiries & Product endorsement call 09175INUTIL / and Nikki Minaj. Madam Inutz couldn’t be more thankful to Wilbert Tolentino, her 09175468845 or email dlinutil@gmail.com.

District 4 Councilor Hero Bautista. Other awardees are correspondents and editors Fernan De Guzman, Roldan Castro, John Fontanilla, Joy Arguil, Voltaire Tayag, Ameer Gamama, Mama Emma (DZBB), DJ Jaiho, Joey Abacan (GMA 7 TV executive, Cecille Bravo (Business), Armida Polistico Krauss (Youtuber), Ray Christopher Camus Adalem (school administrator), Genesis Gallios, Frankendal Fabroa, and Andrei Javs (Events Management), Marieta Clenista-Nacional (advocate queen), Faye Tangonan, Dr. Melanie Veneracion, Jane Camus Knof (advocate queens), Dr. Joseph Lee (urologist), Raymond Villanueva (fashion), and Dr. Rey Salinel (infectious disease specialist). The Philippine Faces of Success 2021 awards will be presented at Teatrino Greenhills, San Juan City.

THE roster of awardees for Philippine Faces of Success 2021 was announced recently. The recipients here and abroad were chosen in recognition of their success stories in their respective field of excellence and profession. Philippine Faces of Success 2021 Awards is presented by the producers of Model Mom Philippines, Outstanding Men and Women of the year Philippines, Philippine Empowered Men and Women of the year, and Philippines Outstanding Brand of the Year. This year’s Philippine Faces of Success 2021 awardees are role models of determination and perseverance and serve as inspiration to others. Most of the awardees’ success stories started from humble beginnings as most successful Filipinos had. They struggled and faced challenges through trying times before they achieved success. But even with success, they stay grounded and remained focused. Successful Filipinos always proved that success cannot be achieved without hard work and wise decisions. Awardees of Faces of Success 2021 Awardees come from the business, tourism, entertainment and fashion industries, Local Government Units, politics, and medical profession. Among this year’s awardees is businessman Dr. Alvin Sahagun, advocate of Maharlika Party List that promotes the Maharlikan indigenous culture, upholds their basic human rights, equality and freedom. Awardees from the Entertainment sector are led by TV host Boy Abunda, actresses Gina Pareno, Elizabeth Oropesa, Glydel Mercardo, Sanya Lopez, and Teresa Loyzaga, actors like Jak Roberto, Wendell Ramos, Tonton Gutierrez, and William Thio, director Elwood Perez, composer Vehnee Saturno, Mrs. Universe Philippines 2019 Charo Calalo, and pageant organizer Wilbert Tolentino. Honorees from the local government include Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto, Bulakan, Bulacan Mayor Vergel Meneses, San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan Mayor Arthur Robes, and Quezon City This year’s Philippine Faces of Success awardees.

Life

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

C4

FOOD

MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2021

Something hot for cold days By Monica Sanchez

T

HE cold, rainy weather calls for something warm, comforting, and perhaps something with soup and comes in a bowl.

Noodle soup and our very own soup dishes are popular when days are nippy. Pasay’s SM Mall of Asia highlights the restaurants within its premises that serve piping hot bowls of noodles with vegetables and delicious broths with choice cuts from Japan, China, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Japanese restaurants Kimono Ken, Ramen Nagi, and Tsukemen offer their

respective takes on ramen – made with Chinese-style wheat noodles served in a meat or fish-based broth. Kimono Ken (north main mall, level 1) serves, among others, spicy miso-based Negi Ramen with leeks, minced pork, chashu (pork belly), and vegetables. Fukuoka-born restaurant Ramen Nagi (south main mall, level 1) – famous for trailblazing the Omotenashi sheet, a

personalization option that lets guests customize their ramen bowl – lets diners enjoy Butao King, Red King, Black King, or Green King in the comforts of their home with the Ramen To Go takeout boxes. Tsukemen (MOA food hall, level 3) serves ramen with the noodles separate from the broth, giving diners the option to enjoy them together or one at a time. Must-try is Niboshi Ramen. Meanwhile, Hong Kong Little Kitchen, Roasts Chicken Co., Mann Hann, and Masuki bring the tasty diversity of Chinese cuisine’s soup dishes. Hong Kong Little Kitchen (north main mall, level 1) lets customers

Limanpulo’s tasty Nyonya Laksa

choose how they want to enjoy their noodle soup, with regular, spicy, or dry noodles. Roasts Chicken’s (MOA food hall, level 3) bestsellers include Wonton Noodle Soup and Beef Kenchi Noodle Soup. For Fookien specialties, Mann Hann (north main mall, level 1) serves Maki Mi, Green Seafood Soup with Scallops, Batchoy Seaweed Soup, and Seafood Lomi. Masuki (north main mall, level 1), a restaurant John Ma established in Chinatown in the 60s, is popular for its

Antigua Mami served since the 30s. Craving laksa? This spicy coconut soup noodle dish is commonly served in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, southern Thailand, and at Limanpulo (MOA food hall). Manam (south main mall, level 1) specializes in serving Filipino classics with a twist like the hearty Sinigang na Beef Short Rib. The aforementioned soup dishes and more are available for limited dine in, al fresco, takeout, and delivery.

PIPING HOT. Chinese and Japanese noodle soup dishes (from left) Beef Tendon Noodle Soup from Hong Kong Little Kitchen, Wonton Noodle Soup from Roasts Chicken Co., Red King Ramen from Ramen Nagi, and Mami from Masuki.

Foodpanda for dine-in: Pro members get exclusive discounts ON-DEMAND delivery platform foodpanda now offers deals and discounts for dine-in transactions. The dine-in feature is available in Metro Manila, Cebu, and Davao exclusively for pandapro members. The newest pro perk offers discounts of up to 40 percent off on total restaurant bill inclusive of food and drink orders at partner establishments. “We want to give our customers the best benefits from the monthly subscription, which is why we include discounts on restaurant dine-in as part of our perks,” says

Casa Verde’s Raffitas (left) and Motorino’s pizzas

foodpanda Philippines managing director Daniel Marogy. The new feature, Marogy adds, is part of the platform’s commitment to support the f&b industry. Participating restaurants include, among others, Chili’s and Motorino in Manila, Harbour City and Casa Verde in Cebu, and Koi Cafe by Malagos Garden Resort and BBQ Nation in Davao. Pandapro members can redeem the deals on the spot. First, they need to log on to the app to check dine-in deals available; con-

SIP

Great Taste Duo 2-in-1 coffee mix Members of foodpanda’s monthly subscription program pandapro get exclusive dine-in perks from partner restaurants.

firm the discount with the server before placing the order; redeem the selected deal via QR code provided; and pay the bill at the restaurant. Available only via the foodpanda app, pandapro is a monthly subscription program that offers members with exclusive deals and benefits. “With the membership experience, I can always count on foodpanda to give great deals every day, from free delivery on my first five orders each month, extra 5 percent off on pick-up orders, and vouchers with 10 percent off at foodpanda shops,” shares pandapro member Vern Enciso.

Black and sweet

A NEW instant coffee mix hits the sweet spot for those who like their java black and with sugar. Universal Robina Corporation’s new Great Taste Duo is “the first 2-in-1 coffee mix in the market”. It is made with dark roast coffee and brown sugar, and comes in 5-peso sachets for easy preparation. It is available in supermarkets, sari-sari stores, and on URC’s Shopee store.

CRAVINGS DELIVERED

Oktoberfest at home AS OKTOBERFEST revelers have to contend once again with e-numan, Resorts World Manila delivers tasty bites and ice-cold beer for celebrations at home. The beer-pairing package, dubbed October Fiesta Beers and Bites Bundle, includes a 12inch RWM Pizza Hamonado, six pieces crispy chicken wings, three pieces each of signature Tapa Burger and Pinoy Inasal Hotdog, plus six bottles or cans of San Miguel Beer (choice of Light or Pale Pilsen, 0.0 Non-Alcoholic Beer, or Red Horse). The beer and bites bundle is delivered via RWM’s Delishvery for P1,888 net. Vaccinated customers can take advantage of the 30 percent discount under the Good Jab Rewards promo by sending a photo or scan copy of their valid vaccination card upon ordering. Call (02) 7908-8885 or 0917-878-8856 Enjoy ‘Octobeer’ with RWM’s October Fiesta Beer and Bites Bundle. (SMS, Viber, or WhatsApp) to order.

The new Fit ’n Right lineup — Detox, Burn, CTRL

Fit and right

DEL MONTE launches the new and improved version of its low-calorie beverage line made to help people achieve their fitness journey. The new Fit ‘n Right lineup is “tailor-fitted to body’s needs”. The apple-cucumber-flavored Fit ‘n Right Detox is made with 500mg of Curcumin C3 Complex that “may help detoxify the body”. Fit ‘n Right Burn comes in pineapple flavor and with 900 mg L-Carnitine that “may help reduce body fat”. Available in orange-pomegranate flavor, Fit ‘n Right CTRL has 12g of Litesse that “may help you feel full.” The aforementioned beverages are available on Del Monte’s Shopee and Lazada stores.