Manila Standard - 2022 February 22 - Tuesday

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GOV’T TO GIVE CASH AID TO COVID-INFECTED PINOY WORKERS IN HK

By Vito Barcelo, Macon Ramos-Araneta and Maricel V. Cruz

FILIPINO workers in Hong Kong who test positive for COVID-19 will receive US$200 or more than P10,000 cash aid from the government, Malacanang said Monday.

Acting presidential spokesman and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the cash assistance will be coursed through the Philippine Overseas Labor Of-

VOL. XXXV • NO. 12 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P18 •TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2022 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Advocacy poll posters in private areas OK’d

Story on A3 fice (POLO) to overseas Filipino workers infected by the virus to help them while they recuperate.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, meanwhile, denied reports that Filipino domestics were being laid off as a result of COVID-19, saying the POLO in Next page

SISTER DEFENDS ‘NPA’ DR. CASTRO NEWS / A3

TUCP BACKS BBM, SARA FOR POLLS

Comelec lifts tarp size limits

By Vito Barcelo, Alena Mae Flores, and Joel E. Zurbano

EX-VP BINAY TO GOV’T: EXTEND AID TO OFWS

NEWS / A4

READY FOR EDSA DAY.

T

HE Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Monday it will not pull down election materials paid for by private individuals and displayed in private properties if they are based on advocacy.

Workers clean the statues at the Peoples Power Monument along EDSA in Quezon City in preparation for the 36th People Power Anniversary on Friday, February 25. Manny Palmero

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez, however, said the poll body will continue its “Oplan Baklas” even after it drew flak from critics who claim that the commission is violating Filipinos’ constitutional right to free expression.

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Dr. Willie Ong

Sara Duterte-Carpio

Ong told to skip sortie, Sara sticks with BBM LGUs need 80% vaxxed seniors, ill persons for Alert Level 1

By Maricel V. Cruz

By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Othel V. Campos

AKSYON Demokratiko vice-presidential candidate Dr. Willie Ong admitted Monday he was “hurt” by being asked to skip his running mate Manila Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso’s first sortie in Mindanao, as the latter’s campaign team said it was the bailiwick of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, one of the cardiologist’s rivals.

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LOCAL government units need to vaccinate at least 80 percent of eligible senior citizens and persons with disability in their respective areas to trigger a de-escalation to the loosest COVID-19 community quarantine, Alert Level 1.

“Before deescalating to Alert Level 1, 80 per-

cent of the eligible A2 [seniors] and A3 [people with comorbidities] population must be vaccinated. If this metric is not met, we cannot deescalate to Alert Level 1,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said late Monday evening.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said a vaccination rate of at least 70 percent of the total eligible population will also be a requirement for a shift to Alert Level 1.

Meanwhile, the country logged 1,427 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, the lowest daily tally so far this year, bringing the total case count to 3,653,526, the Department of Health reported.

The positivity rate was at 7.5 percent, based on 25,000 people tested for COVID-19 on February 19.

In the City of Manila, 693 beds in the local government’s 12 quarantine facilities are unoccupied Next page

DOH pushes for hiked inoculation of elderly, Muslims in Bangsamoro

By Willie Casas

CHOPPER DOWN. In these pictures courtesy of the Philippine National Police, a police officer waits for medical aid inside the wreck of the H-125 Airbus helicopter that crashed in Real, Quezon on Monday, while another gets treatment for a broken leg and a third is carried away on a makeshift hammock by rescuers (inset photos). The chopper was on its way to pick up PNP Chief Gen. Dionardo Carlos, who was vacationing at the Balesin resort over the weekend with his family. PNP/Peewee C. Bacuño (See story on A2)

GOVERNMENT needs to ramp up vaccination of the elderly, of which 70 percent are fully vaccinated and 68 percent have received an initial dose, the official heading the program said Monday.

According to Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje, head of the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC), the government fell short of its target of 5 million inoculated individuals during the third round of the National Vaccination Days (NVDs).

Some 3.447 million persons or 68.94 percent of the target were administered COVID-19 jabs during the third “Bayanihan Bakunahan” Program, Cabotaje said.

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3,653,526 1,427

58,657

55,763

79

3,539,106

3,269

(As of 4 PM, February 21)

PH consular team sets evacuation plan of Filipinos

By Rey E. Requejo WITH Western powers warning of imminent invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces, the Department of Foreign Affairs through the Philippine Embassy in Warsaw, Poland dispatched a consular

team to Lviv, Ukraine last February 17, to enable faster coordination with the Filipino community and relevant authorities in the country, for possible evacuation and repatriation.

This was after Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart

Joe Biden have agreed to a summit -- to be held only if Moscow does not invade Ukraine, France announced Monday following a frantic new round of diplomacy to avert an all-out war (see full story in World, page B2 -- Editors).

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FREE JABS HERE. A worker of the Light Rail Transit Line 1 flashes an invitation to

passenger for free vaccination against COVID-19 on Monday at the LRT Central station in Manila. Norman Cruz

A2

News

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2022

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

1 dead, 2 hurt in PNP chopper crash A

POLICEMAN died while two others were injured after the helicopter they were riding in crashed Monday morning in Real, Quezon, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said.

The chopper that crashed in the mountains of Real had been on its way to pick up PNP Chief General Dionardo Carlos.

The pilot and co-pilot, Police Lieutenant Colonels Dexter Vitug and Michael Melloria, were brought to Claro M. Recto Hospital in Infanta, Quezon, while crewman Police Patrolman Allen Noel Ona was identified as the lone fatality.

According to a report on 24 Oras, the PNP said the H-125 Airbus helicopter took off from the Manila Domestic Airport in Pasay City at 6:17 a.m. for Balesin, Quezon, where Carlos had been staying with his family.

The helicopter was later declared missing, and the crash site was located at 8:05 a.m. Rescue teams from the police, local government, and Bureau of Fire Protection reached the crash site in

DOH...

From A1

Advocacy...

From A1

“It’s not because of vaccine hesitancy, some elderly don’t want to get vaccinated because they are close to dying. They don’t understand that if they get infected it would also affect their family,” Cabotaje said in a televised briefing.

“We need to make the process easier...the vaccination faster and its site closer to them. Some find it difficult to go to vaccination sites,” she said.

Cabotaje said around 3 million of the 5-million target were supposedly booster shots, but people do not realize the “urgency” to get the additional dose.

The next rounds of NVDs will be adjusted “by area and by sector” to accommodate workers, she added.

“They don’t want to miss a day’s work or if they experience side effects they will also miss work. We’re looking at possible arrangements,” she said.

Government is also looking into how to ramp up vaccination among the Muslims, particularly in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Cabotaje said.

“It increased during NVDs, so a festive mood might be needed. They say there’s hesitancy because of religious beliefs. If Malaysia and Indonesia, which are Muslim countries, have a high vaccination rate, what can we do in Bangsamoro?” she said.

“Kingdom of Saudi and UAE are among those with highest vaccination rates, these are Muslim countries...

We’ve been talking with the imams, minister of health, officials of BARMM, local chief executives,” she said.

Meanwhile, Cabotaje said about 2.4 million senior citizens nationwide were not yet vaccinated against the coronavirus disease 2019.

Earlier, some local government units conducted door-to-door COVID-19 vaccination and arranged transportation to inoculation sites for senior citizens.

Currently, the NVOC is planning to bring the vaccination centers closer to senior citizens, especially in areas where the inoculation rate of this target population is low.

To focus on areas needing attention, Cabotaje guaranteed the NVOC will work more closely with the senior citizen groups and the LGUs. “Our senior citizens are important because they are most at-risk and most vulnerable and when they get sick they will occupy the hospitals and have serious disease and are at big risk to die,” she said.

At the same time, Cabotaje said the government would change its strategies to strengthen its national vaccination program against the coronavirus disease 2019.

This, after the third edition of the “Bayanihan, Bakunahan” COVID-19 vaccination drive which ran from February 10 to 18 failed to reach its 5 million target population.

The third wave of the national vaccination drive aims to provide booster shorts for over 3 million individuals or two-thirds of the target population.

He also clarified to the Standard in a text message that advocacy posters can be of any size, but campaign posters are limited to 2x3 portions.

Jimenez clarified that oversized posters inside private properties will still be removed because the poll body has set rules that campaign posters’ sizes should be two feet by three feet.

If people want to file a case against Oplan Baklas, the Comelec welcomes it, he said.

“Based on our interpretation of the law and the Supreme Court jurisprudence, we can regulate the size of campaign materials in private properties, not the posting itself or the volume of materials to be posted,” Jimenez said.

The poll official also said critics of the Oplan Baklas can file charges if they think there was abuse in the Comelec rules, including the taking down of oversized posters in private properties.

Critics have pointed out that the Comelec operation defies the Supreme Court ruling in the case of The Diocese of Bacolod vs. the Comelec, which allowed the diocese to continue displaying large-thanlife posters classifying the year 2013 Senate bets as Team Patay (Pro-Reproductive Health bill) and Team Buhay (Anti-Reproductive Health bill).

However, Jimenez said displaying posters depends on the material being used.

“If you are mounting the campaign posters of candidates, that is simple political campaigning that we can regulate as provided by the Supreme Court ruling,” he said.

He said the commission has the right to regulate oversized posters in private premises.

Meanwhile, Jimenez said the printing of official ballots to be used in the

LGUs...

From A1 as COVID-19 cases continue to decrease, and advocates for reopening the economy said it was another sign for the government to ease pandemic restrictions at least in Metro Manila.

The independent OCTA Research Group also said COVID-19 cases were declining in nine cities in Metro Manila.

OCTA fellow Guido David said Metro Manila’s COVID growth rate slowed down to minus-33 percent from minus-38 percent on Feb. 19.

Also on Monday, presidential adviser

Ong...

From A1 “Siyempre na-hurt ako, ‘di ba? Masakit ‘yun. Pero hindi ko na iniisip eh.

Bahala na ‘yung tao. [Of course I was hurt. That’s painful. But I choose not to think about it. The people can decide],” Ong said in a statement.

At the same time, the Lakas Christian Muslim Democrats welcomed Monday the support from political groups for the candidacy of its vice presidential candidate Duterte-Carpio, who has gone through political rallies in northern Philippines and Metro Manila.

But the group stressed: “We do not condone, however, efforts of certain groups to pair Mayor Inday Sara with other [residential candidates. LakasCMD has entered into an alliance with the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas for the May 2022 elections, and we are committed to honor it.”

The Lakas-CMD emphasized that “our candidate for President is Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr.” Aksyon Demokratiko standardbearer Domagoso and the party’s three senatorial candidates joined a motorcade and attended a jampacked sortie in Maguindanao, organized by the camp of Rep. Esmael Mangudadatu, a key

for entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion urged the government and businesses to go full speed ahead in the reopening of all business sectors without neglecting any industries, however small they are.

He said he agrees with the Department of Finance (DOF) that much is needed to get the economy going at a 100 percent rate especially when the country has a huge debt to settle.

“We need to catch up. It will take awhile for us to pay the debt if our economy will be sluggish. That’s why we are pushing for all sectors to open up. It’s about time.

I believe 2022 is the year (for recovery),” he said at the regular Pandesal Forum in Kamuning Bakery, Quezon City.

Gov’t...

From A1

Barangay Pandan in Real and evacuated the crew.

The PNP said it received reports that indicate that the area in Real was experiencing rainy weather at the time of the crash.

The police has grounded its entire fleet of H125 Airbus Police helicopters as authorities continue to investigate the crash.

The two survivors were airlifted to the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

This is the second time in two years a PNP chopper has crashed. In 2020, a Bell 429 chopper carrying then-PNP

Chief Archie Gamboa crashed in Laguna, injuring six people onboard and killing one cop.

The PNP said that the flight was considered an administrative mission flight.

“The Chief PNP was in Quezon for the weekend for some private time with his family,” PNP spokesperson Police Lieutenant Colonel Jean Fajardo said.

Fajardo said the commercial flight that was supposed to pick up Carlos and was slated to arrive in the afternoon became unavailable. The PNP air unit then said two of its helicopters were available for the police chief’s disposal, to which Carlos agreed.

May 9 national and local polls is going on smoothly.

“We are on track with the printing of ballots, in fact, we are past the 17 million ballots we have printed, and it is still a bit early to calculate. Our printing is doing well, we are about to reach the peak of the printing capacity. When we reach that point, the printing capacity may exceed 1 million (ballots) a day,” Jimenez said.

A total of 65,721,230 million ballots will be printed for the May polls. The printing is currently ongoing at the National Printing Office in Quezon City.

Also, Jimenez said they have delivered elections materials to different areas in the country in connection with the May 9 polls.

A demonstration activity of the votecounting machines (VCMs) in localities has also started as part of their voter’s information campaign.

“Our vote counting machine road show demo is also starting. This means that all across the country, our officers bring VCMs to various communities so that the public can see what the machine looks like, how it works, and how they will use it on election day. So that’s going on and we expect more roadshow demos,” he added.

There are more than 97,000 VCMs to be used in the upcoming elections.

An official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Monday said the Church remains non-partisan in the May 9 polls but will stand firm in its position on various issues affecting the electorate.

“The CBCP Social Action Network remains non-partisan because that is the mandate we have received from the entirety of the CBCP,” Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo, chair of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Social Action, Justice and Peace, said in an interview with the

Church-owned Radio Veritas.

“We do not endorse candidates but that does not mean that we are neutral on our burning issues such as issues on social justice, human rights, on ecology, we have a bias in what is right and according to the social teachings of the church,” he added.

Bagaforo said the endorsement of Sangguniang Layko ng Pilipinas (SLP) of presidential aspirant Vice President Leni Robredo was the decision of the group of laity and does not reflect the position of the CBCP. The Kidapawan prelate, however, said he respects the SLP’s endorsement because it is their right as Christians to actively participate in the election.

He said as a legal and independent council, the group is free to choose a candidate to support in the upcoming elections, but this does not mean the Church’s adherence to partisan politics.

Also on Monday, the National Electrification Administration (NEA) warned electric cooperatives (ECs) against endorsing political candidates and pledging votes and urged them to focus on rural electrification.

“Given the nearing presidential elections on May 9, 2022, NEA however, emphasizes that ECs are to deliver the best of their services regardless of political leanings and allegiances of officers, GMs and employees in the exercise of their personal rights enshrined in the Constitution,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday.

It said activities such as endorsing political candidates and engaging in agreements to pledge votes using the EC as platform are prohibited practices.

The National Capital Region Police Office, meanwhile, has arrested more than 400 people in Metro Manila since it started enforcing the election gun ban last month.

Moro politician expected to command votes in the Bangsamoro region.

Several groups, especially from Mindanao, have committed to backing Domagoso’s presidential bid, but are rooting for Duterte-Carpio, Aksyon Demokratiko chairman Ernest Ramel said in a recent press conference.

The party’s caravan, again without Ong, then proceeded to Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato One Cebu, the ruling party in the Philippines’ most vote-rich province, has endorsed President Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter for vice president and is considering endorsing Domagoso for president.

Aksyon’s allies in several areas have their own reasons, but the party stands by its candidates, Ramel said when asked why the party was seemingly abandoning the 58-year-old Ong in several campaigns.

Ong said he did not bring up the issue with Domagoso, adding he saw no reason in harboring resentment towards other politicians.

Ong said: “I don’t think about it anymore.

Let the people do what they want, I did not do anything wrong. I’ll just do it straight.

“I’ll play it straight because that’s what the mayor asked of me so I want to show you and everyone that I am loyal.”

While his presence has been limited in Cebu and Mindanao events, Ong has

been a steady presence in Domagoso’s motorcades in Luzon.

Ong, a popular health vlogger who has 16 million followers on Facebook, would also deliver speeches in several sorties, where he underscores how his medical background can help aid the Philippine health care system during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I don’t have funds, I don’t have the name... I am really at a disadvantage but I have no choice,” he said, noting that he had refused to accept campaign donations from several camps to maintain his no-strings-attached policy.

Domagoso earlier denied he was abandoning his campaign with Ong as several local politicians continue to pair him with Duterte-Carpio for the May 9, 2022 elections.

“Isko-Doc Willie ako. Period,” he told ABS-CBN News in a text message.

In a statement, the Lakas-CMD said “we extend our fraternal greetings to all political groups that have come out in the open to express their support to our Vice Presidential candidate, Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte.

“Your dedicated service to the Vice Presidential campaign of Mayor Inday Sara truly warms our heart, and inspires all of us to work harder in order to secure an overwhelming victory for our candidate.”

Hong Kong has sent no such reports to the department.

However, Bello said in an ABSCBN television report the Philippine government will blacklist the HK employers who are proven to have driven out and terminated their contracts with their COVID-positive Filipino workers, and even the foreign recruitment agency that brought in the OFWs. In the same report, Dolores Pelaez, chairperson of the United Filipinos Migrante HK, said more than 20 Filipino household help were dismissed for contracting COVID, the same with Indonesian domestic workers.

On Monday, Senate Labor Committee chairman Senator Joel Villanueva called on the Department of Foreign (DFA), the OWWA and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to immediately attend to the OFWs in Hong Kong who were reportedly laid off after testing positive for COVID-19.

He said the government should be proactive and monitor the news reports.

“Many lives are at stake here. The government should focus on the repatriation of those who will be rendered jobless,” he said.

At the same time, he said, employers who humiliate, mistreat or abandon the workers should be held liable.

Villanueva said a Department of Migrant Workers, which he is pushing, would be read with an immediate and appropriate response to situations such as this.

Villanueva is the sponsor and principal author of the Republic Act 11641 creating the Department of Migrant Workers.

Another politician seeking re-election, Senator Leila M. de Lima, urged authorities to urgently look into reports alleging that some Filipino domestic helpers in Hong Kong had been fired by their employers after testing positive for COVID-19.

She said they should swiftly investigate the report.

“It is unfortunate to hear reports about our overseas workers, who work day and night to be able to provide better opportunities for their families, being allegedly subjected to unjust treatment,” she said.

“If we really care about our workers abroad, then we cannot just let this issue pass,” she added.

“Many of our OFWs have already endured months or even years away from their loved ones. We should not let them carry any more burden because we refuse to proactively assist them,” she said.

The DOLE said at least 41 OFWs in Hong Kong have been infected with COVID-19 since the surge caused by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus began.

DOLE International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB) director Alice Visperas said in an online press briefing that of the 41 OFWs, two are in the hospital while the rest are staying in quarantine facilities.

She also clarified that they were not terminated from the jobs since most of the infected OFWs finished their contracts and were supposed to return to the Philippines.

“The requirement of the Philippine government is to present a negative result of a COVID-19 test taken 48 hours prior to departure. So, what others do is they would undergo testing in a government facility to save money. While the result is still pending, they would already head to the airport. Once at the airport, it would turn out they are COVID positive,” she said.

Senator Richard J. Gordon on Monday called on the government to take speedy action on the plight of Filipino workers in Hong Kong.

“I am appealing to our government, especially the OWWA, DOLE and DFA to immediately resolve this problem of our OFWs in Hong Kong,” Gordon said.

He noted that many OFWs in Hong Kong do not have their own rooms and sleep in one corner in the house of their employers.

Lviv is a city in the western part of Ukraine, close to the Polish border.

Two personnel from the Embassy, composed of a Consul and an ATN Officer, in coordination with the Philippine Honorary Consulate General in Kyiv, arrived in Lviv last Thursday.

The Embassy team immediately established an emergency contact base.

The two are also directed to monitor the situation in Ukraine as well as connect with the Filipinos in the country who have registered with the embassy.

On the first day of the mission, the Embassy team sent off two Filipino nationals on their repatriation flight from Lviv to Manila.

It also met with two groups of kababayans who temporarily relocated to the Lviv area from Kyiv as a precautionary measure.

Another group of Filipino nationals temporarily relocated to the IvanoFrankivsk area from Kyiv was also met by the Embassy team.

The Philippine Embassy in Warsaw keeps close coordination with the DFA-Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs and the Philippine Honorary Consulate General in Kyiv in arranging the repatriation of Filipinos who have chosen to avail of the Philippine government’s voluntary repatriation program from Ukraine.

PH...

From A1 In a statement Monday, the DFA stressed that the move was necessary to guarantee immediate assistance to Filipino nationals for their possible repatriation.

As of June 2019, there were 342 Filipinos in Ukraine and the Philippines has been actively attending to its nationals and promoting the country’s interests through the Honorary Consulate in Kiev.

As of March 2020, around 200 Ukrainians are residing in the Philippines.

Today, the Philippine Embassy in Warsaw exercises jurisdiction over Ukraine.

News Ex-rebel says Dr. Castro is Red recruiter, fundraiser DR. MARIA Natividad Castro, “alias Ka Yammy/Ka Ami/Dok”, is an active member, recruiter, trainer and fundraiser of the Communist Party of the Philippines - New People’s Army - National Democratic Front (CPP NPA NDF), a former member said.

According to former CPP-NPA-NDF member Gleceria Balangiao, aka KaInday, Liaison Officer of the Rural Missionary of the Philippines - Northern Mindanao Region, during yesterday’s virtual press briefing of the National Task Force to End Local Communists Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), she personally met Castro several times between 2006 to 2009 during meetings and trainings of NPA fighters on ‘first aid’ treatment for wounded terrorists.

She said she first met the lady doctor in Cagayan de Oro, where Castro was said to give training and “recruiting health professionals” to join the terrorist movement as “medics.”

Balangiao claimed that Castro has the innate ability to lead and organize. As finance officer then, she said she saw how Castro took part in preparing ‘project proposals’ on how to carry out trainings for first aiders and to seek international funding.

She also said she witnessed how the funds from a European Union organization were being channeled to the Communist Terrorist Groups (CTGs).

She said 60 percent of the fund will go to the “partidong komunista” while 40 percent of the money will go to the unit that will implement the project.

Undersecretary Lorraine Marie Badoy, the Task Force’s Spokesperson on Sectoral Concerns, said that Castro is an enemy of the state, as far as the NTF-ELCAC is concerned, explaining that the doctor “is not a simple member of a terrorist organization which is a serious crime in and of itself, but actually “a Central Committee member” of the CPP NPA NDF - “an organization that has been designated by the Anti Terrorism Council as a terrorist organization.”

Police Major Dorothy Tumulak, Public Information Officer of Police Regional Office 13 (CARAGA), on the other hand, belied reports of left-leaning groups that Castro was not accorded properly when she was arrested.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2022 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

‘My sister is not a CPP-NPA member’

D

R. MARIA Natividad Marian Castro is not a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines–New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), Castro’s sister said.

Menchi Castro, in an interview, also said Castro’s family does not believe the allegations against her, and that Castro is a “doctor for the masses.”

Menchi said Castro lives in Butuan and is a health worker serving the less fortunate.

In a statement, police said Castro was arrested in San Juan on Friday over charges of kidnapping and serious illegal detention. Castro was also identified as a member of the central committee member and head of the CPP-NPA national health bureau in Barangay Libertad, Butuan City.

Police said.

Menchi said arresting officers presented

an arrest warrant against Castro “but refused to identify themselves.” Menchi also said Castro was also “manhandled.”

The Commission on Human Rights on Monday raised concern over the arrest of a health worker.

“With adherence to the principle of independence, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has consistently spoken out against abuses whether perpetrated by those in differing ideological spheres or those serving in government. It is a job that often places the CHR in conflict with those being investigated,” it stated.

Authorities claimed she was a highranking communist official.

The CHR noted that it was only after significant media coverage, national attention and messages of support from members of the public did the Philippine National Police finally decide to reveal the whereabouts of the accused to her legal counsel and to CHR investigators.

This incident sends a chilling effect not only to community workers, but also to doctors serving in rural areas engaged in development work, in line with their Hippocratic Oath, to do what’s best for their patients,” it added.

Castro, an alumna of the University of the Philippines Manila College of Medicine Class of 1995, served as a community physician for indigenous people, helping set-up community health centers and programs in the rural areas of Agusan in Mindanao.

FORMER Vice President Jejomar Binay urged concerned government agencies to extend immediate assistance to Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) affected by the surge in COVID-19 cases in their host countries.

Binay, who served as presidential adviser for OFW Concerns during his term as vice president, issued the appeal following media reports of foreign domestic workers being abandoned or neglected by employers in Hong Kong.

The CHR said it “is concerned with the manner of arrest, particularly in the alleged lapses in procedure by the PNP in serving the warrant of arrest and likewise the red-tagging of Dr. Castro for her work as a human rights defender and development worker. At the time of her arrest, the arresting officers declined to show proper identification, denied the accused her access to counsel, and refused to divulge to her family where they intended to bring her.”

Under the PNP’s 2021 revised Police Operational Procedure, arresting officers are duty-bound to identify themselves and show proper identification; deliver without delay the accused to the nearest police station and ensure that the person arrested is informed of his/her rights to counsel.

With Rio N. Araja

Nograles says PH is ‘acting on rights issues’

IN SUPPORT OF DOC NATY. The Health Action for Human Rights held a press conference and protest action in front of Philippine General Hospital to condemn the alleged illegal arrest of Dr. Naty Castro. Dr. Castro, a program coordinator of CommunityBased Health Program, Butuan, Inc., was arrested on February 18 by police at her residence in San Juan City for multiple kidnappings and serious illegal detention. Norman Cruz

Binay: Extend immediate aid to OFWs affected by COVID-19

By Joel E. Zurbano

A3

Reports showed that foreign domestic workers have not been allowed by their employers to leave their homes, and those who tested positive for the virus are being denied treatment.

Binay, who is running for senator in the May 9 elections, cited a statement from a group of recruiters that around 4,000 OFWs bound for Hong Kong are stranded as a result of travel restrictions.

“This is a disturbing development that needs to be addressed immediately. Aside from Hong Kong, there are also surges in other countries in Europe. Authorities

should know the conditions of our countrymen and extend immediate assistance,” he said.

Binay also said OFWs who may not be able to travel to Hong Kong should be given aid such as cash and food, and their tickets should also be rebooked, as well as assist them in work visa renewal.

Binay said if needed, the funds of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) should be replenished so it can extend help for its OFW members.

“The OWWA Fund is a trust fund. It is funded by the OFWs through their con-

tributions, similar to the SSS and GSIS. But last year, OWWA officials have raised concerns that the fund could be depleted,” he said.

Binay added that the OWWA fund would be needed to help OFWs who have lost their jobs because of the pandemic through livelihood assistance and other services covered by the agency’s reintegration program.

Last year, labor officials had asked the national government to replenish the OWWA funds after the agency repatriated OFWs from countries hit by the pandemic.

DOJ starts ‘Bloody Sunday’ probe

By Rey E. Requejo

‘NO’ TO SIM CARD REGISTRATION. Advocates of Science and Technology for the People and the Computer Professional’s Union held a protest action in front of the Department of Information and Communication Technology in Quezon City to condemn the alleged railroading of the SIM Card Registration Act. Manny Palmero

THE Department of Justice (DOJ) will start today its preliminary investigation of the murder complaint filed against 17 policemen for their alleged involvement in the killings of activists Ariel Evangelista and his wife Ana Mariz during the so-called “Bloody Sunday” operations conducted in Southern Tagalog on March 7, 2021.

This came after the DOJ panel of prosecutors earlier issued a subpoena to the 17 policemen who were commanded to appear on February 22 and March 1, 2022, both at 2:00 p.m. during the preliminary investigation of complaint at the DOJ in Manila.

Named respondents in the complaint were PLt.Col. Joseph Nandu Jr., PLt. Arjay Santos, PMSg. Rafael Roque, PMSg. Mark Tolentino, PSSg. Elvern Cacatian, PSSg. Rodel Sillacay, PSSg. Edgar Bri-

nas, Pcpl. Aldrin Gabrillo, PCpl. Allen Lugue, Pat. Julio Bautista, Pat. Ray Boom Boom Dalingay, Pat. Grizzly Paras, Pat. Rogelio Ninolla, Pat. Ruel Tenoso, Pat. Rich John Melniel Tumacder, Pat. Renzo Santos, and Pat. Mark Lester Padul.

They are all members of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) in Region IV-A, Southern Tagalog region.

The National Bureau of InvestigationDeath Investigation Division filed the complaint against the policemen before the DOJ last Jan. 14.

The “Bloody Sunday” incident is being investigated by the NBI on orders from the Administrative Order 35 (AO 35) Inter-Agency Committee on ExtraLegal Killings, Enforced Disappearances, Torture and Other Grave Violations of the Right to Life, Liberty and Security of Persons.

‘Permaculture’ housing rises in Baguio

By Rio N. Araja THE Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) is supporting the first-ever socialized permaculture housing project in Baguio City.

Secretary Eduardo del Rosario said more informal settler families (ISFs) in the city stand to benefit from a housing project jointly undertaken by the national and local government.

He led the groundbreaking for the Luna Terraces Permaculture Community in Barangay Irisan, the first-ever socialized permaculture housing community in Baguio City.

The housing project to benefit 273 ISFs is designed to be sustainable with livelihood programs in permaculture incorporated for the residents.

According to Del Rosario, the project em-

bodies DHSUD’s “exact vision” in establishing decent, resilient, and sustainable housing communities through its 20-year National Housing and Urban Development Sector Plan.

“This is exactly our vision in the housing roadmap wherein we create decent living spaces in resilient and sustainable communities,” he said.

Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong expressed his deepest gratitude to Del Rosario and the entire DHSUD team for the realization of the project.

The project, being developed by the National Housing Authority in a 1.8-hectare land, would use developers’ incentivized compliance to the balanced housing program.

The condominium-type housing facility would feature 10 buildings with the initial two slated to have 62 units.

EARTHQUAKE. Workers from an ongoing rehabilitation of a hotel along United Nations Avenue in Manila go out of the construction area after an earthquake was felt. The 5.3-magnitude earthquake’s epicenter is at Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro. Danny Pata

THE Philippines is already acting on alleged human rights abuses in the country, Malacañang said Monday.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, acting presidential spokesperson, made this remark after the European Union (EU) Parliament renewed its call to the Philippines to address human rights abuses or else lose trade privileges under the Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+).

He echoed the statement released by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) condemning the resolution saying it is a “misguided attempt” to interfere in the national electoral process.

“We wish to reiterate that the government has already taken steps to address the concerns raised by the European Union (EU) Parliament––issues that we believe are being used by the detractors of the Duterte Administration to color the perceptions of Filipino voters who in May will choose the country’s next leaders,” he said in a Palace press statement.

Citing the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez, Nograles said there is an existing dialogue mechanism between the Philippines and EU Parliament that allows discussion and clarification of the human rights situation and other concerns.

“It bears stressing that an existing dialogue mechanism with the EU is already in place, and we have expressed in numerous occasions our willingness to work and cooperate with the EU in order to shed light on the concerns they have raised,” he said.

Nograles pointed out that the actions taken by the government are “a clear demonstration of our compliance with conventions on human rights, labor, and good governance, among others.”

Despite challenges brought by the pandemic, he said President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is poised to end his term in June with the highest satisfaction, approval, and trust ratings of any post-Edsa chief executive.

AFP reports 5 dead in clash in Maguindanao THE Armed Forces of the Philippines reported that five alleged members of a lawless group were killed following a clash in Ampatuan, Maguindanao over the weekend.

In a statement, the Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command (WestMinCom) said the troops recovered the bodies of the suspects, who were killed during a firefight on Saturday.

According to WestMinCom commander Lieutenant General Alfredo Rosario Jr., troops from the 40th Infantry Battalion received a report of a robbery hold-up incident in Barangay Kauran. Elements of the 40IB and Civilian Active Auxiliary (CAA),at a checkpoint at Kauran Patrol Base, then encountered armed men on board a minivan, leading to a firefight.

Recovered from the encounter were two caliber 45 pistols, two empty magazines for caliber 45, and one minivan.

United States Army Pacific (USARPAC) commander Gen. Charles Flynn meanwhile met with Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Andres Centino to discuss matters of mutual concern between the two services.

The meeting took place at AFP headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City on Monday.

“The two military leaders discussed cooperation on capability development, joint training, and security matters of mutual concern,” AFP public affairs office chief, Col. Jerry Baclor said in a statement.

News

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2022 E-mail: mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Bangsamoro chief calls Isko next president BANGSAMORO Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Interim Chief Minister Murad Ebrahim virtually endorsed presidential candidate Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso when he described him as “our incoming president” during a courtesy call on Monday.

“Greetings to Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, our incoming president, welcome to the Bangsamoro government,” Ebrahim said.

Ebrahim, who is also the chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said he is looking forward to working with Domagoso as BARMM faces the challenging task of sustaining the momentum of the peace process in Mindanao.

He underscored the need to continue the programs and reforms uplifting the plight of the Bangsamoro people, especially during the extended transition period, to honor the sacrifices and services of the Bangsamoro people who went through so much pain and suffering in their struggle for justice.

Last October 28, President Rodrigo Duterte enacted Republic Act 11593 which reset the first election in the BARMM to May 2025, effectively extending the Bangsamoro transition period from June 30, 2022 to June 30, 2025.

“It is a challenging task because we ourselves are transforming from a revolutionary government bureaucracy,” Ebrahim said.

Besides the many challenges of operating a ministerial parliamentary government under a presidential unitary system, he said a more challenging task ahead is the period of “normalization.”

“As you can see, there is much more to be done, because this transition is not only for the government, but also there is another track which is more challenging, which is the normalization track,” Ebrahim said.

Under the “normalization period,” MILF combatants will be decommissioned along with their weapons. Recognized MILF camps will also be transformed into productive economic zones.

“So, on behalf of our government, the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, we welcome you Sir, and your party, here at BARRM, and we look forward to working with you,” Ebrahim said.

Domagoso said he was very grateful for Ebrahim’s show of support and confidence in his candidacy.

Rey E. Requejo

UNITY MESSAGE. UniTeam presidential aspirant Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr and his running mate, Lakas-CMD vice presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, deliver their messages to thousands of supporters at the Bren Guiao Convention Center in San Fernando, Pampanga. Ver Noveno

CITES ‘OVERWHELMING’ DECISION OF VARIOUS LABOR GROUPS

TUCP to support Marcos, Sara in May 9 elections

By Rey E. Requejo

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HE country’s largest labor group, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), has endorsed the tandem of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and his running mate. Davao City Mayor Sara DuterteCarpio, in the upcoming May 9 national elections.

TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said there was an overwhelming response from their 1.2 million-strong members to support the UniTeam tandem.

“The vote advantage of Mr. Marcos and Ms. Duterte-Carpio and with those

four other pairs of presidential and vicepresidential aspirants was very wide. It was an overwhelmingly majority decision in all caucuses held differently in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao,” Tanjusay said.

TUCP President Raymond Mendoza said their group would make the formal announcement anytime this week.

Founded in 1975 by 23 labor federations, TUCP is currently the Philippines’ largest alliance of labor groups. Most of its members come from major industries such as service, agriculture, and manufacturing from across the country.

As part of its COVID-19 pandemic recovery plan, the UniTeam tandem has pledged to revive the agriculture sector and continue President Rodrigo Duterte’s Build, Build, Build infrastructure program to generate jobs and jumpstart the country’s economy.

LISTENING TOUR. Partido Reporma standard-bearer Panfilo ‘Ping’ Lacson and running mate Senate President Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III hold a dialogue with some 400 tricycle drivers and operators Sunday afternoon in Pangasinan. The tandem discussed the recurring problem of fuel price hikes that affect the transport sector the most amid the pandemic.

Sara to DSWD: Study pension for all senior citizens

By Maricel V. Cruz LAKAS-CMD vice presidential candidate Sara Duterte-Carpio has cited the need for the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to explore the possibility of giving pension to all senior citizens.

“We need to talk to the DSWD and make them understand that we need a system that will give pension to all senior citizens,” Duterte-Carpio said before a crowd of 3,000 senior citizens in Barangay Aningway Sacatihan in Subic, Zambales late Sunday.

Duterte said pension for senior citizens has been a common challenge for local government units, including Davao City.

The Davao City government has already intervened to resolve the issue by creating an ordinance providing fair pension benefits to senior citizens since they cannot overrule a national law.

Lucita Enalobo, 81 and a resident of Barangay Calapandayan, expressed her happiness over Duterte-Carpio’s understanding of their plight.

Enalobo has been a pensioner since 2001, but said the P2,000 monthly financial support is not enough for her monthly needs as she is under medication for high blood pressure and has been recently diagnosed with a kidney problem.

Duterte-Carpio, since the start of her campaign, has been highlighting her advocacy for equality among Filipinos.

She was in Zambales for the 20th day of the Mahalin Natin ang Pilipinas Ride (MNPR).

Panelo hits solon for mocking children with special needs PDP-Laban Senatorial candidate Salvador Panelo on Monday expressed dismay over a legislator’s alleged use of disability slurs to ridicule a political rival.

“I was saddened and pained to hear that my friend, Congressman Pantaleon Alvarez, used the words “autistic” and “special child” to mock a political rival,” Panelo said in a statement sent to

the media covering Congress.

Panelo, the former chief legal counsel and spokesperson of President Rodrigo Duterte, was referring to Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez of Davao del Norte’s first district.

As of press time, Alvarez has yet to issue a comment on the matter.

Panelo said what Alvarez did was “is an affront to all children with special needs, and offensive to the sensibilities

of their parents, including myself.”

“Those terms and any term that refers to a child with special needs should only be used in the context of describing how they are angels living among us,” he said.

Panelo’s son, Salvador Carlo III, had Down syndrome and passed away in 2017 due to heart complications.

Maricel V. Cruz

4 ex-senators endorse Leni’s presidential bid

By Vito Barcelo VICE President Leni Robredo’s presidential bid received further boost yesterday as four former senators and 12 retired senior government officials endorsed her bid and urged the Filipino electorate to vote for her as the next President of the country.

The endorsers included former Senator and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Rodolfo Biazon, Ramon Magsaysay Jr., Sergio Osmeña III, and Wigberto “Bobby” Tañada, along with other senior lawmakers, Cabinet secretaries, and heads of government agencies and government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs).

“We strongly believe that VP Leni is the most qualified and trustworthy presidential candidate who has the political will to rebuild our sordid past, engender hope and inspiration among our people regardless of social standing, and bring about change that has long eluded us,” they said in a statement.

The signatories also cited Robredo’s fearless, action-oriented, inclusive, and decisive leadership, adding that the country needs a leader “who puts great premium on transparency, accountability, and collaboration.”

The statement also specified the timely, efficient, and innovative implementation of Robredo’s pandemic response plan, which included the Vaccine Express, the free testing Swab Cab service, and the Bayanihan E-Konsulta telemedicine platform.

The endorsement is the latest in a series of declarations of support from various sectors in the past weeks that include a group of more than 600 Catholic bishops, priests, deacons, and nuns; more than 100 artists including National Artist Ben Cab; 137 economists, including several ex-NEDA chiefs; over 200 former officers and staff of various United Nations agencies; and women indigenous people leaders.

Lacson, Sotto seek ‘paluwagan’ fund for MSMEs

By Macon Ramos-Araneta PARTIDO Reporma presidential candidate Sen. Panfilo Lacson and his running mate Senate President Vicente Sotto III proposed that the government institute a “paluwagan” (rotating savings and credit association) system for MSMEs and agricultural workers to unburden them of loans with interest payments.

The duo said small businessmen, farmers, and fishermen need this lifeline especially since as the economy is still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Lacson-Sotto tandem committed that under their administration, MSMEs and agricultural workers can expect more help from the government, especially in terms of financial and technical support.

The two held dialogues with MSME representatives and members of the agricultural sector as they toured Northern Luzon from Baguio City, Pangasinan, to Nueva Ecija over the weekend.

“It would be best for us to have credit institutions that are together with a particular sector, it would be great because they would then help each other. Haven’t we all grown up to a ‘paluwagan,’ or a small community financial group? They won’t even have to pay interest on it,” said Lacson.

The presidential bet stressed the importance of the ‘paluwagan’ system as an informal way of saving and lending that is easy to join and often has interest-free loans.

DOE told: Hasten oil reserve study A LEGISLATOR on Monday slammed the Department of Energy for acting at a “seemingly snail’s pace’ on its long-planned national strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) to ensure an adequate inventory of fuel in the domestic market.

Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte made the statement as global oil supply hitches have led to the 8th upward weekly adjustment this year alone in the local pump prices of gasoline, diesel and other petroleum products.

‘It’s rather disgusting that years after the SPR has been considered by the government as an option, the best that energy officials can say at this time of skyrocketing fuel prices is that they are set to study it,” Villafuerte said.

Villafuerte said he, for years now, has been prodding the energy department to put up such a national oil reserve to

shield Filipino consumers from unabated price surges.

Fuel prices are expected to continue going up as the international benchmark Brent crude rose to $93 per barrel last week and Dubai crude—the reference for pricing in Asian markets—settled at $91.

Villafuerte’s statement came as Rodela Romero, director of the DOE Oil Industry Management Bureau, told a public briefing at the Palace last week that her office had proposed the crafting of a law that will grant DOE the power to put up an SPR, either for commercial or for strategic reasons to address supply disruptions.

According to Romero, the DOE is reviewing new terms of reference (TOR) for a rebidding for the procurement of a consultancy service that will conduct the study. Maricel V. Cruz

AYUDA. San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora leads the distribution of food packs in various barangays as part of the local government’s COVID-19 response program.

Opinion Dependence on coal must end (Part 2) IN MY column last Friday, I wanted to cite the reasons why we should discontinue dependence on coal.

Natural gas carbon emissions are much lower than coal.

Experts see a post lock-down world bouncing back to life where demand for power would soar. This could also impact the explosive economic expansion in regions like Asia, where electricity demand is seen to increase by 4 percent in 2022, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says 50 percent of this increase will be provided by fossil fuels, pushed partly by the developing world’s dependence on coal.

Europe and other developed regions have long understood the flexibility of gas as a bridging fuel. Energy-hungry countries like China and India are slowly switching from coal to cleaner natural gas. This is a welcome development for the planet as natural gas produces roughly half the CO2 emissions of coal when combusted, my gulay.

Natural gas supplies power when renewables cannot.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), “renewables like wind farms and solar installations provide some of the cheapest electricity available, but only generate when there is sufficient sunshine or wind.”

While surplus energy from renewables can be transformed into hydrogen or stored in batteries, most emissions-free sources generate on a use-it-or-lose-it basis. Natural gas can overcome the intermittency issues inherent in renewables, fueling a stable electricity supply that can be easily switched on and off to stabilize the grid.

And while renewable generating capacity is growing fast, it is not growing fast enough. At the global level, renewables, including wind, solar and hydropower are set to increase by more than 8 percent in 2021 and 6 percent the following year, but this robust growth will only meet half of the projected growth in energy demand over this two-year period, according to the IEA. Natural gas will be needed to bridge the gap.

Natural gas offers multiple applications.

Natural gas is a flexible fuel. In addition to supporting the growth of renewables for power generation, unlike wind and solar, it also has heating, industrial, commercial and transport applications.

Continued innovation in the gas sector could ensure a long-term future for natural gas.

What happens in the future is of course uncertain, which could leave potential investors nervous about commissioning new natural gas power stations - which need a 20-40-year lifes-

pan to maximize returns. But new technologies offer a solution where it is possible to look for a hydrogen future by developing dual-fuel power plant turbines capable of combusting both natural gas and hydrogen.

My gulay, this means power plant operators can use the same turbines with natural gas today and hydrogen tomorrow. As these turbines can be fueled with clean hydrogen transformed by surplus renewables, they are both good for the environment and also help meet the growing future global demand for energy.

Here are reasons why we have to change.

••• The late PulseAsia survey confirmed the fact that the Bongbong Marcos-Sara Duterte-Carpio tandem still maintains their lead. BBM got 63 percent while Sara got 50 percent.

The second placer, Vice President Leni Robredo is far distant with only 16 percent of those surveyed. If the other prestigious and credible poll surveyor, the SWS or Social Weather Stations, affirms what PulseAsia found, well that’s it, with Bongbong and Sara as the next President and Vice President.

The next question now is, can the runaway lead of BBM still change? Of course they can, poll surveys are just snapshots of a specific point in time.

But, it could be next to impossible to overcome the difference between Bongbong and Leni.

What we should watch out for are surveys from Pulse Asia and SWS in April, the month before Election Day on May 9, 2022.

If Bongbong maintains his runaway lead over the other aspirants as found out by all surveys, then we will have a majority president. He could have the full support of both Houses or chambers of Congress.

From my experience as a journalist for over seven decades now, the presidential aspirant who gets the “masa” votes wins. Now, if the BBM-Sara tandem gets the percentage of what they are getting, well, that’s it. The game is over, Santa Banana!

••• At long last, thanks to God, we are now getting mostly good news from the government on COVID-19. Many areas are now classified as low risk.

The IATF or the Inter-Agency for Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases is even proud that by next month, the National Capital Region could be under Alert Level 1. If it’s God’s will, it will happen that the COVID-19 pandemic will end this year.

With the Philippines almost categorized as “low risk” with foreign tourists coming in, the country will jumpstart full economic recovery.

The scenario looks good. This only means that the jobless could find jobs again.

Keep Dr. Naty safe

IT MUST have been a surprise to the authorities concerned when various communities, institutions, and government agencies, as well as members of the public, raised an outcry over the exaggeratedly harsh and chilling arrest of healthcare worker Dr. Ma. Natividad “Naty” Castro last Feb. 18.

Men in plainclothes, who refused to identify themselves, barged into the Castro family home in San Juan City and took Dr. Naty, who was dressed only in house clothes. They didn’t even let her put on shoes. They did not inform family members where they were taking their barefoot captive. Their warrant, laughably, had the wrong name on it – nevertheless, they insisted it was enough to take the good doctor away.

It was only after a frantic 24-hour search by various communities and the Commission on Human Rights that Dr. Naty was found in Bayugan, Agusan del Sur. In a statement on Feb. 19, the CHR expressed their “grave concern” over the manner of Dr. Naty’s arrest.

“Dra. Naty had been red-tagged for her work as a human rights and development worker,” they wrote, adding that a motu proprio investigation is underway on the reports of “possible violation of the Philippine National Police rules of procedure, among other issues.”

Members of Dr. Naty’s alma maters, St. Scholastica’s College and the University of the Philippines, as well as her friends and family, attested to her hard work in public health and hu-

man rights among marginalized communities.

In a statement, the UP College of Medicine Class of 2004 also said that Dr. Naty “embodies all that our alma mater aims to achieve – leadership and excellence in community-oriented medical education directed to the underserved – isang tunay na doktor ng bayan.”

I spoke yesterday to Dr. Naty’s brother Jun, after he attended a presser at the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH). With him there were, among others, Sr. M. Christine Pinto, OSB, St. Scholastica’s College president, and Dr. Gerardo Legaspi, UP-PGH director.

Regarding the presser, Jun said Dr. Legaspi spoke about what it is to be a doctor from UP, while Sr. Christine explained about SSC’s motto, “ora et labora” – pray and work. Service to others is a large part of the ethos of both schools, and this became Dr. Naty’s purpose in life. Instead of choosing wealth and comfort as a private doctor, she took the difficult path of a community healthcare worker.

Jun added that the family is holding up, thanks in a large part to the support of family, friends, and the communities that have rallied around them.

All the family wants, he said, is for Dr. Naty to be safe and undergo due process. “We want to ensure her physical safety,” he said. “We want her to be treated well and afforded the proper process.” They fear that she may be taken away again and her whereabouts undisclosed to her family.

The ruthless manner of Dr. Naty’s arrest sustains the atmosphere of fear that hangs over this administration. When a loved one is taken barefoot by authorities and “disappeared,” that stirs up emotions of terror and helpless anger.

All these negative emotions were exacer-

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Protesting too much free privileges for Philippine exports while there is no substantial improvement on the human rights front.

Among all the points raised by the European Parliament, however, the DFA seemed most perturbed by its concern over the coming elections, and the hope that these would lead to “a new democratic government which uphold human rights, investigates and prosecutes past human rights violations and rejoins the Rome Statute” that would restore the country’s membership in the International Criminal Court.

“We condemn the misguided attempt of the European Parliament to interfere in the Philippine electoral process through its resolution raising already discredited allegations of human rights violations in the thin hope of heavily influencing the outcome in favor of its choice,” the DFA said.

The DFA also claimed that the resolution was pushed by European supporters of “libelous journalists and bitter critics of the current administration.”

In our current red-tagging milieau, we are surprised the DFA did not also blame “communists and terrorists.”

HERE was a hollow ring to the government’s denunciation of a recent European Parliament resolution on human rights abuses in the Philippines.

Certainly, the strongly worded denial from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) would have been far more credible, had it not come in the wake of the arrest and detention of Dr. Maria Natividad Castro, who was whisked away by police and military agents from home in San Juan City over the weekend and flown to Agusan del Sur without the knowledge of her lawyers or her family.

Castro, 53, a well-regarded doctor who helped poor communities in Mindanao and championed human rights, was accused of kidnapping, but neither she nor her lawyers have been given the particulars of her case.

But the police allege that Castro is a ranking official of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), an allegation that her lawyers and members of her family have denied.

While the police claim they followed

protocol and that her rights were “protected,” it is clear that Castro was the victim of red-tagging, an insidious practice in which critics of the government are routinely accused of being communists and terrorists. The practice has grown more common with the passage of the draconian Anti-Terrorism Act and the formation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.

The practice has grown common.

Red-tagging was just one of some 18 examples of human rights abuses cited by the European Parliament in its 2,700-word resolution that also called on the European Commission to temporarily withdraw duty-

The Ukraine issue

By Amb. Albert del Rosario Chair, Stratbase ADR Institute WE CALL on Russia to respect the sovereignty of Ukraine and the sovereign right and will of its people to decide for themselves the course and fate of their nation. We also call on Russia to respect international law as we all live in one community of nations.

Sovereignty is a core norm of that community, and rule of law is the tie that binds all of us in that unity. A violation in one part of the body causes pain in another. We are all intertwined in that one precarious community.

Whatever happens in the Baltics would have consequential implications in Asia.

While the sovereign equality of States principle obligates all member-States to respect the independence of each sovereign entity, nonetheless, the same principle likewise allows and even encourages its members to articulate on any violations against fully established norms of international law under the concept of international solidarity.

Keeping a deliberate blind eye on these violations or threats to fundamental principles of international law including respect for the sovereignty of another, regardless of wher-

ever they occur, serves only to undermine the very fabric and architecture of the community that we all live in. It will eventually reduce that community into a precarious association of the mighty and powerful governed by the law of the jungle where might is right. In this scenario, small Power-States would have no relevance.

It is therefore the duty and obligation of every State-component of that community to respect the rule of law that has arguably preserved world peace since the last world war.

It may not be perfect, but it is the optimal best that we have for now.

De Lima’s reelection, a moral imperative FEBRUARY 24 is the fifth year of Senator Leila De Lima’s imprisonment. Recall that on this day De Lima turned herself in after a local court pressed drug-related charges against her and a Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court issued an arrest warrant against her for allegedly violating the drug trafficking law.

Since then, De Lima has remained in detention despite calls from various local and international human rights groups for her release.

Dubbed as a “prisoner of conscience,” De Lima continues to discharge her duties as a senator as a fiscalizer for what she believes are excesses by the Duterte administration and abusive public officials, particularly in connection with the administrations’s murderous drug campaign.

Senator De Lima has gone through a lot as a person and as a public official. Her ordeal started when in 2009 she, as then Commission on Human Rights chairperson, investigated the extrajudicial killings being carried out by the Davao DeathSquad (DDS) in Davao City under then-Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who has reported links to the vigilante group.

When Duterte was elected to the highest post, the EJKs increased and accelerated unabated. It was then that as president, Duterte started harping on De Lima’s investigation and her supposed arrogance during this investigation. In his public pronouncements, Duterte has shown his obsession to get even with De Lima and put her in jail. In 2016, De Lima was also elected senator of the Republic.

During her stint in the upper chamber, De Lima led the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights which conducted an investigation into the EJKs in aid of legislation. In response, Duterte started his public demolition of the good senator with almost daily accusations of being a drug queen as well as slut-shaming, bated by the statements released today by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

The ruthless manner of Dr. Naty’s arrest sustains the atmosphere of fear that hangs over this administration.

According to a post on the SMNI News Channel, one of the agency’s spokespersons, Undersecretary

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

using her past relationship with her former personal driver/ security aide as her supposed link to the Bilibid Drug Trade. She has since been acquitted in one of three drug related cases.

There is reason to believe that the remaining cases against her will crumble like a house of cards because the accusations rest on flimsy foundations of falsehoods and calumny, borne as they are from the thirst for vengeance and malice.

All throughout her ordeal, she has consistently demonstrated personal courage and maintained composure under the most intense fire.

De Lima is not one to brood in self pity and languish in utter helplessness and resignation.

She has continuously discharged her duties and responsibilities as elected senator of the Republic even in detention. She remains at the thick of every fight involving issues that affect the Filipino people, be it on justice and human rights, foreign policy, social inequality, climate change, electoral system, peace in Mindanao and a lot more.

The bars of prison do not prevent her, if circumstances would allow, from being heard and from taking active part in Senate deliberations, hearings and investigations . Her sense of duty is exemplary in stark contrast to a lot of public officials who run only to pursue the perks and privileges of the office they seek.

In her latest dispatch from Camp Crame, as reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the good senator highlighted her situation as a PDL Lorraine Badoy, claimed that Dr. Naty is “ in the inner sanctum of this terrorist organization [rights group Karapatan] and is one of the chief architects of some of the most atrocious crimes committed on the most helpless among us: human trafficking, recruitment, radicalization, kidnapping, murder, homicide, terrorist financing, sexual abuse, child abuse, slavery, etc.”

Really? These claims sound far-fetched and hard to swallow. I await Dr. Naty’s day in court – I would like to see what evidence the government has for saying all of this.

Even the Department of Health expressed concern for Dr. Naty in a statement sent out on Feb. 19 about the “arrest of a medical doctor,” no name given.

Board Member & Chief Legal Adviser Treasury Manager Head—Ad Solutions Circulation Manager

(person deprived of liberty), observing that her reelection bid “is, in real and palpable terms, handicapped or disadvantaged.” She then said: “That’s why I’m hoping that through my surrogates or proxies in the sorties, pre-recorded video messages, and of course, dispatches from Crame, I would be able to communicate to voters my advocacies and platforms).”

In the same note, De Lima also thanked her volunteers and supporters:“I cannot emphasize enough how much you all have fueled even further the burning desire in my heart to keep fighting the good fight for all of us,” she said.

“Let us not be afraid. Let us stand and fight and fight more. For our beloved country. For your future and the next generation. Together, we will fight.”

As they say, experience is the best teacher. And on this, Leila De Lima is never lacking. She has gone through every possible persecution and public humiliation. She has been pilloried, unfairly accused and imprisoned. She experienced first hand what persecution is all about, how painful injustice is, and how demeaning and dehumanizing one feels when one’s human rights are trampled upon and steamrolled.

Still, all throughout her ordeal, she has consistently demonstrated personal courage and maintained composure under the most intense fire. With all the adversities she has gone through, De Lima has acquitted herself with utmost excellence by her mettle, intelligence, passion and iron resolve to fight for her convictions If once again reelected in the Senate, she, as in the past, will show that one’s voice can be restored if one only has the courage and determination fight for one’s beliefs and convictions.

For this, reelecting De Lima to the Senate is nothing short of a moral imperative and a public necessity.

Website: tonylavina.com Facebook: deantonylavs Twitter: tonylavs It is quite revealing of the tight clutch of this administration that DOH was unable to mention Dr. Naty’s name, but I commend their bravery for still coming out to say that “All our citizens, health workers included, enjoy the constitutional guarantees of due process and presumption of innocence until proven guilty. We trust our authorities to uphold these rights.”

The eyes of the country and the world are on Dr. Naty and the handling of this case. The public is monitoring the authorities’ next move, even as prayers are offered for the good doctor’s health and safety while in their hands. *** FB and Twitter: @DrJennyO

Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher Ramonchito L. Tomeldan Chin Wong/Ray S. Eñano Joyce Pangco Pañares

Managing Editor Associate Editors News Editor

Jimbo Owen Gulle City Editor Honor Blanco Cabie Night Editor Lino M. Santos Chief Photographer

Emil P. Jurado Chairman Emeritus, Editorial Board

B2

World

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2022 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Johnson to scrap all UK COVID legal curbs as criticism mounts LONDON -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set Monday to announce an end to all pandemic legal curbs in England, insisting it is time to move on despite political opposition and unease from the UN’s health agency.

Two years after Covid-19 sparked the worst health crisis in generations, Johnson will address parliament to outline his plan, pressing ahead despite news on Sunday that Queen Elizabeth II had tested positive for the first time.

However, he stands accused by opposition parties of seeking to distract public attention, with his premiership in peril as police investigate a series of lockdown-breaching parties in Downing Street.

“Today (Monday) will mark a moment of pride after one of the most difficult periods in our country’s history as we begin to learn to live with Covid,” Johnson said in a Downing Street statement.

“The pandemic is not over, but thanks to the incredible vaccine rollout we are

now one step closer towards a return to normality and finally giving people back their freedoms while continuing to protect ourselves and others.”

Under the “living with Covid” plan, the government says it intends this week to end a legal requirement for people to self-isolate when infected with the coronavirus.

It says local authorities will be required to manage further outbreaks with pre-existing legal powers, and is expected to phase out free Covid testing for the general public.

The NHS Confederation, which represents senior managers in the state-run National Health Service, said internal polling showed a large majority of its members were opposed to ending selfisolation and free tests.

Matthew Taylor, the confederation’s chief executive, acknowledged that the government’s mass vaccination programme and the emergence of new Covid treatments offered “real hope.” AFP

UNDER ONE FLAG. A child runs under the Ukrainian flag as people gather for a Day of Solidarity with Ukraine at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, on February 20. The eighth annual commemoration and vigil was held to honor those who died in the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity. AFP

FRANCE SETS US-RUSSIA GAB ‘SANS INVASION’

Putin, Biden agree to Ukraine summit

K

YIV—Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden have agreed to a summit —to be held only if Moscow does not invade Ukraine, France announced Monday following a frantic new round of diplomacy to avert an all-out war.

Both leaders have said yes in principle to the summit, proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron, his office said, with the White House confirming Biden’s willingness, though it was notably cautious.

A senior administration official told AFP: “Timing to be determined. Format to be determined so it’s all completely notional.”

The Elysee added that the summit will be expanded to “relevant stakeholders” and that preparations would start between Russia and the United States on Thursday.

The possible breakthrough came after Washington warned of an imminent invasion and Ukraine and Russia blamed each other for a spike in shellings on the

front line separating Kyiv’s forces from Moscow-backed separatists.

The bombardments have sent Ukrainians fleeing to cellars and other shelters, while some civilians have been evacuated.

In its own statement, the White House warned that it was still ready “to impose swift and severe consequences” should Russia invade.

“And currently, Russia appears to be continuing preparations for a full-scale assault on Ukraine very soon,” US press secretary Jen Psaki said.

Washington and other Western capitals say that Russia has massed more than 150,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders and

is ready to launch a full-scale assault.

Moscow denies any intention to invade its neighbour, but has demanded that the NATO alliance permanently rule out Ukraine’s bid for membership and called for the withdrawal of Western forces deployed in eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War. The announcement of the summit came moments after Macron held his second marathon call with Putin of the day.

During their first, 105-minute discussion, Putin blamed the increase in violence on the front line on “provocations carried out by the Ukrainian security forces”, according to a Kremlin statement. AFP

Police reclaim Ottawa as siege of truckers ends

OTTAWA—The last big rigs were towed Sunday out of Canada’s capital, where the streets were quiet for the first time in almost a month after a massive police operation ended a drawn-out siege by protesters opposing Covid health rules.

A major clean-up was underway in Ottawa’s snowy downtown, where police in riot gear had faced off with trucker-led demonstrators for two full days, finally driving them out of their protest hub outside parliament.

“I’m very happy to have my city THE HAGUE—Myanmar’s junta is set to reIn its “preliminary objections” on Monback,” Jeff Lindley, who lives and place Aung San Suu Kyi at the UN’s top court day, Myanmar will argue that the court Monday as it seeks to dismiss a case over the has no jurisdiction over the case, and must works downtown, told AFP. “It’s so alleged genocide of Rohingya Muslims. throw it out before it moves on to substanmuch better today, calmer and quieter Suu Kyi personally presented Myan- tive hearings. without the ominous presence of all mar’s arguments at the International Local Myanmar media said the junta the trucks and protesters.”

Court of Justice (ICJ) when the case was has a new delegation led by Ko Ko HlaOttawa interim police Chief Steve first heard in December 2019, but was ing, international cooperation minister, CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK Bell told a news conference “many of ousted as civilian leader in a military coup and Thida Oo, attorney general, who will Manila the unlawful protesters are gone.” last year. attend virtually.

NOTICE Standard But he added, “We’re not done this The Nobel Both have been hit with US sanctions Notice is TODAY hereby given laureate, over the coup. that the estate of peace operation yet,” explaining that auMrs. Rosario Gabriel who faced critiThe case brought by the mainly Musthorities were on watch to “make sure Coronel was extrajudicially settled by cism from rights lim African nation of The Gambia accusthat nobody returns to occupy our her heirs per the Extra groups for her in- es predominantly Buddhist Myanmar of streets again.”

Judicial Settlement of volvement in the genocide against the Rohingya minority A few protesters stayed late into the Intestate Estate of case, is now un- over a bloody 2017 military crackdown.

Mrs. Rosario Gabriel Saturday night, singing ‘80s protest der house arrest The ICJ made a provisional order in Coronel under Doc. No. anthems and setting off fireworks out150, Page No. 32, Book and trial by the January 2020 that Myanmar must take FERRY FATALITY. This handout photo taken and released on February 20 by the No. 2, Series of 2016 same generals she “all measures” to prevent the alleged side a hastily erected four–meter-high Hellenic (Greek) Fire Service shows firefighers transporting a body from the burned before Notary Public (13-foot) security fence surrounding burned Italian-flagged Euroferry Olympia, off the coast of the Ionian island of Corfu.

Atty. Rafael T. Durian of defended in The genocide of the Rohingya while the yearsHague. long proceedings are underway. AFP Manila. the parliamentary precinct.

The body was of a trucker from his charred vehicle, the first confirmed fatality. AFP But the last gasp protest-turnedstreet-party fizzled as a deep freeze REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES gripped the city.

REGIONAL TRIAL COURT NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION Early Sunday, police were manBRANCH 105, QUEZON CITY ning checkpoints restricting access to Email: rtc2qzn@judiciary.gov.ph Tel. No. 8-568-5773 Weather chaos continued to batter change.

RIO DE JANEIRO—The death toll a 500-acre (200-hectare) downtown PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, In the past three months, at least 219 from torrential rains that triggered Brazil as more violent rains lashed the Plaintiffs, area, while a sizable force remained flash floods and landslides in the sce- southeastern state of Espirito Santo people have died in severe rainstorms, -versusCRIM. CASE NO. Q-06-139580 on standby to defend the ground remainly in the southeastern state of Sao nic Brazilian city of Petropolis has ris- Sunday.

MARI BUENA AMON, claimed from the truckers.

The new storms killed at least two Paulo and the northeastern state of en to 165, authorities said Sunday, as Accused. more violent storms killed two people people, said emergency officials in Es- Bahia, as well as Petropolis and now An AFP journalist saw only a handx--------------------------------------------------x NOTICE OF SHERIFF’S SALE pirito Santo, which borders Rio de Ja- Espirito Santo. in another region nearby. ful of protesters in the area, testing (Real Property) Pope Francis sent his latest message Rescue workers and residents neiro state, where Petropolis is located. the perimeter.

WHEREAS, by virtue of the Writ of Execution dated December 1, 2020, One person was crushed by a collaps- of condolences Sunday following his searching for their missing relatives issued by the Hon. Gerlyn S. Turingan - De Los Reyes, Acting Presiding Judge One who gave his name only as of Regional Trial Court, Branch 105, Quezon City in the above-entitled case, for continued digging through moun- ing wall and killed in the city of Alegre, Angelus prayer at Saint Peter’s Square the recovery by the plaintiff Ronie R. Bauto from the accused Mari Buena Amon John said he was packing it in after the sum of Php 310 000.00 as actual damages (representing the balance of the tains of mud and rubble in Petropolis, and another swept away trying to re- in the Vatican. wandering for hours with a Canadian jewelry sold by the accused plus interest thereon at 6% per annum computed “I express my closeness to those which President Jair Bolsonaro said trieve a car from severe flooding in the from 22 February 2005 (date of last demand), until the principal obligation is fully flag in hand. paid, all in Philippine Currency, LEVY was made on execution on December people hit in previous days by natuFriday looked like it had been through city of Nova Venecia, officials said.

17, 2020 by the undersigned Sheriff upon all the rights, titles, interests and “It’s pretty locked down, all I see is participations which the accused has or might have in and over the following real The storms forced more than 1,200 ral calamities,” he said, mentioning a “war.” property, which is more particularly described as follows, to wit: cops everywhere,” he told AFP. It is unclear how high the steadily people to evacuate their homes and “devastated” Petropolis as well as TCT No. T -45166 Ottawa police issued a reminder rising death toll will go. It is unlikely destroyed another 43 people’s houses, Madagascar, hit recently by deadly ”IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that certain land situated in the Bo. of Bato, Mp. that the core area remains off-limits of Palauig, Province of Zambales, more particularly bounded and described as cyclones. they said. any more survivors will be found befollows: except to local residents and workers, They are the latest in a series of neath the wreckage, authorities say.

“Lord, welcome the dead in peace, Lot 1194, Cad. 364-D Beginning at a point marked “1” of Lot No. 1194, Cad. 364-D, being S. 22-36 and advised any remaining protesters The dead include at least 28 chil- deadly storms to hit Brazil, which ex- comfort the family members and supE., 3244.22 m. from BLLM No. Cad. 364-D, thence S.16-58 E., 20.21 m. to point perts say are made worse by climate port those who offer aid,” he said. AFP dren, police said. to leave or risk arrest. AFP 2; S 48 -54 E., 71.80 m. to point 3; S. 25-30 W., 54.36 m. to point 4; S 74- 08 W.,

Myanmar to contest ICJ Rohingya case without jailed leader Suu Kyi

(MS-FEB. 22/ Mar. 1 & 8 2022)

Death toll from Brazil storm, flood, landslides up to 165

84.20 m. to point 5; N. 45-01 W., 42.80 m to point 6; N. 05-10 W., 68.30 m. to point 7; N. 89-48 W., 28.66 m. to point 8; DUE WEST 5.19 m. to point 9; N. 08-51 W., 66.24 m. to point 10; N. 25-23 E., 3.92 m. to point 11; N. 14-04 W., 24.27 m. to point 12; N. 5-10 E., 72.58 m. to point 13; N. 62-14 E., 72.36 m to point 14; N.42.14 E., 18.43 m. to point 15; S. 47-58 E., 152.10 m. to point 16; S. 81-40 W., 34.04 m. to point 17; S. 40-20 W., 38.06 m. to point 18; S. 31-55 W., 40.07 m. to point 1; point of beginning Containing an area of THIRTY SEVEN THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FOUR (37,774) SQUARE METERS.” NOW THEREFORE, by virtue of the said Writ of Execution and in accordance with the provisions of Sec. 15, Rule 39 of the Rules of Civil Procedure of the Philippines, the undersigned Sheriff, hereby gives notice to all interested parties and announces to the public in general that on the March 31, 2022 at 10:00 o’ clock in the morning or soon thereafter at the Lobby Main Entrance (inside of the waiting area) of the Hall of Justice Bldg., Annex, Diliman, Quezon City, he will sell at public auction to the highest bidder for CASH and in Philippine Currency, the above-described real property including improvements existing thereon, if any, in order to partially or fully satisfy the said writ of execution, together with the lawful fes and expenses in connection with this sale.

The Notice of Sheriff’s Sale will be published in the “Manila Standard”, a newspaper of general circulation in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, once a week for two (2) consecutive weeks, the first publication to take place at least twenty (20) days before the date of auction sale.

Prospective bidders or buyers are hereby enjoined to investigate for themselves the Transfer Certificate of Title No. T-45166 of the Registry of Deeds, Zambales, situated in the Bo. of Bato, Mp. of Palauig, Province of Zambales of the said real estate property and the encumbrance thereon, if any there be.

Quezon City, Philippines, February 2, 2022.

(Sgd.) FERDINAND M. PERALTA Sheriff IV WARNING: It is absolutely prohibited to remove, deface or destroy this Notice of Sheriffs Sale on or before the date of Auction Sale under penalty of the law.

Copy furnished: ATTY. JOSE MAÑACOP Mission Garden Condominium 59 Scout Ybardolaza Street, South Triangle, Quezon City

ATTY. FRANCIS M. EGENIAS 3F Adamson Centre 121 Leviste Street, Salcedo Village, Makati City (MStandard - Feb. 15, & 22, 2022)

Anti-vaxxers hurled human waste, say NZ cops in pre-dawn operation WELLINGTON—New Zealand police accused anti-vaccine demonstrators of throwing human waste at them Monday, during a pre-dawn operation to place roadblocks around a protest camp outside Wellington’s parliament building.

The protesters took control of the parliamentary grounds and surrounding streets almost two weeks ago, setting up a camp that continues to grow despite police appeals to move on.

The number of vehicles clogging downtown roads almost doubled to 800 over the weekend as more protesters joined the action, inspired by Canada’s “Freedom Convoy” trucker protest.

In a bid to prevent further expansion, about 300 police deployed at 3:30am escorting forklifts which were used to

place concrete barricades on key roads.

Police said “a large number of vocal protesters were present” and eight arrests were made.

“Seven officers sustained injuries during the operation, ranging from scratches to an ankle injury,” they said in statement.

“Some officers also had human waste thrown over them by protesters.”

Police said they would “hold to account” those responsible, pointing out that attempting to deliberately infect someone with a disease can attract a 14-year jail term.

Police have largely taken a hands-off approach to the protest, saying attempts to forcibly clear the camp from parliament would result in violence. AFP

STORM WAVES. Pedestrians looks at high waves crashing over the beach in Saint-Benoit, on the east of the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, ahead of the passage of the cyclone Emnati on February 20. The cyclone will pass more than 300 km north of the coast, but the storm is expected on February 20 in the early evening. AFP

Business

B3

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2022 || extrastory2000@gmail.com

Stock market down again; DITO jumps TOP GAINERS T PSEi February 21, 2022

1 DITO 2 PHR 3 IPO

LAST PRICE CHANGE 6.61 0.81 1.03 0.11 7.29 0.49

% CHANGE 13.97% 11.96% 7.21%

4 5 6

SBS HVN NIKL

4.25 634 7.25

0.25 34 0.36

6.25% 5.67% 5.22%

7

PRF3B

1130

54

5.02%

8 9 10

FOOD RCR SMPH

0.63 7.94 39.9

0.03 0.36 1.7

5.00% 4.75% 4.45%

HE stock market declined Monday as investors continued to cash in from last week’s gains amid the Russia-Ukraine tensions.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index slipped 46.54 points, or 0.6 percent, to 7,372.25 on a value turnover of P9.1 billion. Losers beat gainers, 129 to 72, with 46 issues unchanged.

Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corp., which is building the biggest solar farm in Southeast Asia, slumped 9.3 percent to P1.86, while SM Investments Corp. of the Sy Group sank 6.6 percent to P860.

Noodles maker Monde Nissin Corp. fell 3.4 percent to P15.52, but DITO CME Holdings Corp., the third major mobile phone players, jumped 14 per-

cent to P6.61.

The rest of Asian equities were mixed Monday while oil prices eased after presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin agreed in principle to hold a summit to try to find a way out of the Ukraine crisis.

Warnings from US officials that Russia could invade its neighbor imminently have sent markets spiraling in the past week and sent crude surging towards $100 a barrel as traders fret over already tight supplies.

The crisis has compounded worries about inflation, which is sitting at

a 40-year high and putting pressure on the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates with investors speculating over how fast and hard it will move.

Monday’s session started on a negative note, with markets suffering hefty falls but the losses were reduced after the US and Russian leaders said they would hold talks on Ukraine, as long as Putin does not invade.

The United States is “committed to pursuing diplomacy until the moment an invasion begins,” Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.

“President Biden accepted in principle a meeting with President Putin... if an invasion hasn’t happened.”

“We are also ready to impose swift and severe consequences should Rus-

Ukraine tiff casts shadow over Qatar gas summit

TOP LOSERS

1 TECHW 2 SPNEC 3 MAB

LAST PRICE CHANGE 0.86 -0.09 1.86 -0.19 0.01 -0.001

% CHANGE -9.47% -9.27% -9.09%

4 5 6 7

LR OPMB ALHI ATN

1.42 0.012 5.71 0.65

-0.13 -0.001 -0.47 -0.05

-8.39% -7.69% -7.61% -7.14%

8

IMI

8.2

-0.6

-6.82%

9 10

SM PHA

860 0.72

-61 -0.05

-6.62% -6.49%

MOST ACTIVE

1 SM 2 SPNEC

VOLUME VALUE (PHP) 1,588,390 1,366,423,960 523,375,000 1,019,222,470

3 4

SMPH ALI

12,883,100 12,116,400

502,932,805 476,773,335

5

DITO

68,585,800

431,108,266

6 7 8 9

BDO MONDE GLO CNVRG

2,482,990 18,641,100 96,740 8,148,800

334,415,301 292,803,698 259,373,710 219,305,915

10

TEL

100,615

178,944,610

Australia’s largest power firm rejects green takeover bid SYDNEY, Australia—Australia’s largest energy firm and biggest carbon emitter AGL on Monday rejected a takeover bid from green-minded tech billionaire Mike Cannon Brookes, who planned to shutter the firm’s coalfired power plants.

Atlassian co-founder Cannon Brookes had teamed up with Brookfield Asset Management to offer US$5.8 billion for the electricity production and distribution firm with a view to shutting major coal power plants 15 years early.

Cannon Brookes has long been vocal in his criticism of the Australian government’s pro-coal policies and the energy industry’s lack of ambitious climate goals.

The bid would have seen AGL move much more rapidly to decarbonization, including by shutting coal power plants by 2030—rather than 2045 as currently planned.

But AGL’s board decided the unsolicited offer, which priced the firm at 4.7 percent more than Friday’s closing stock price of AUS$7.16, undervalued the company and was “not in the best interests” of shareholders.

Cannon Brookes said that decision was “disappointing” but he vowed to press ahead with efforts to acquire the firm.

“I’ve long said that decarbonization is the greatest economic opportunity facing Australia, but it requires vision and action,” he told public broadcaster ABC. He said the takeover could benefit AGL’s 4.5 million customers and the environment.

“We strongly believe it will result in lower bills for consumers, we can fund this transition ourselves and we can build out the replacement capacity,” he said. AFP

sia instead choose war. And currently, Russia appears to be continuing preparations for a full-scale assault on Ukraine very soon.”

The news raised hopes for a peaceful conclusion to the standoff, though traders remain on edge.

Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei and Bangkok were in the red, though Sydney, Mumbai, Singapore, Wellington and Jakarta edged up slightly. Shanghai was flat.

Gold, a safe-haven asset in times of turmoil, slipped.

Warren Patterson, of ING Groep NV, said: “A proposed summit does offer some relief to the market, as it suggests that both sides are still possibly open to dialogue. With AFP

TOFU SLOWDOWN. A worker cuts tofu at a factory in Surabaya on February 21, 2022, amid a slowdown of production in the country due to soaring prices of soybean in world markets. AFP

Icahn boosts campaign vs. McDonald’s pig farm methods NEW YORK, United States—Billionaire Carl Icahn has nominated two allies to the board of McDonald’s, the company confirmed Sunday, part of the activist investor’s campaign against pig-farming practices used in the fast-food giant’s supply chains.

“Carl Icahn has nominated Leslie Samuelrich and Maisie Ganzler for the 2022 election,” McDonald’s said in a statement, adding that the board would “evaluate the nominees as it would any other candidates proposed to it.”

Icahn’s “stated focus in making this nomination relates to a narrow issue regarding the Company’s pork commitment,” it added, in a reference to the use of so-called gestation crates.

According to the Humane Society, the metal enclosures—used to contain

sows for almost all of a pregnancy— are so small that the animal cannot turn around, and can lead to health issues such as infection or anatomical problems.

Icahn is known for taking stakes in companies to ask for radical measures before reaping huge profits, but he has said animal welfare concerns are behind his intervention.

“I really do feel emotional about these animals and the unnecessary suffering,” he told Bloomberg.

He said he had worked with the Humane Society a decade ago on the use of the crates, winning an agreement from McDonald’s that it would stop buying from suppliers using the cages within 10 years.

McDonald’s “did a little something but never delivered,” Icahn said.

But the fast-food giant has said that, since its 2012 commitment, “McDonald’s has led the industry, and today an estimated 30–35 percent of US pork production has moved to group housing systems.”

“By the end of 2022, the Company expects to source 85 percent to 90 percent of its US pork volumes from sows not housed in gestation crates during pregnancy,” it added.

The company noted that Icahn, “who states that he holds 200 shares of McDonald’s stock, is the majority owner of Viskase, a company that produces and supplies packaging for the pork and poultry industry.”

“It’s noteworthy that Mr. Icahn has not publicly called on Viskase to adopt commitments similar to those of McDonald’s 2012 commitment.” AFP

DOHA, Qatar—Major natural gas exporting nations on Sunday began meetings in Doha to discuss how to meet skyrocketing world demand as tensions surrounding Ukraine stoke fears in Europe about gas supplies from Russia.

Experts from the 11-member Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) started meetings in the Qatari capital, ahead of ministerial level talks on Monday and heads of state and government on Tuesday.

Member states include Russia, Qatar, Iran, Libya, Algeria and Nigeria— who together account for more than 70 percent of proven gas reserves—and the meetings opened as Ukraine complained of “new provocative shelling” on the frontline between its forces and Russian-backed rebels.

With Europe’s fears growing that Russia will invade Ukraine, natural gas prices are at close to double the level they traded at in late 2020.

European nations are frantically seeking alternative supplies to Russian gas, which feeds 40 percent of the European market.

They have looked in large part to Australia and the United States, which are not forum members, and Qatar, but most producing nations say they have little spare capacity to fill the gap.

Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani is set to meet with leaders from fellow GECF member states on Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was invited but is not expected in Doha.

But Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, who has rarely left his country since taking office, Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Keith Rowley are all due to take part in the summit.

GECF member states are focusing on ways to increase output in the medium term. Qatar, a major producer of liquefied natural gas, has embarked on a huge project to increase production by 50 percent by 2027. AFP

With weak lira, Turkey starts to woo European companies

By Remi Banet ISTANBUL, Turkey—There is a silver lining to Turkey’s currency crisis and the global supply chain crunch: The country is becoming an attractive alternative at the gates of Europe for foreign firms.

Turkey is seizing on its geographic advantage to woo companies as the skyrocketing cost of sea freight and pandemic-related disruptions to supply chains push some European companies to reduce their dependence on Asia.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose policies have contributed to the lira’s plunge, has promoted a new slogan for exports: “Made in Turkiye,” using the country’s language instead of the internationally-known “Made in Turkey.”

But his vision must overcome concerns about Ankara’s complicated relationship with the European Union, the independence of the judiciary and political uncertainty ahead of elections next year.

Nevertheless, Turkey’s exports reached a record $225.4 billion last year, with a target of $300 billion in 2023.

“Many international companies are taking action to supply more from Turkey,” Burak Daglioglu, head of the Turkish presidency’s investment office, told AFP. He said the country offers automakers or textile companies a “competitive talent pool, sophisticated industrial competencies, well-developed services industries, perfect geographic location and state-of-the-art logistic infrastructure.”

Ikea announced last year it wanted to move part of its production to Turkey.

The Italian clothing group Benetton told AFP it wants to “increase its produc-

This picture taken on February 18, 2022 at Kadikoy in Istanbul shows containers at Haydarpasaa port. With record exports in 2021, Turkey dreams of being the ‘world’s factory’ at the gates of Europe, helped by a weak currency and multinational companies seeking to bring production closer to their markets. AFP

tion volumes in countries closer to Europe, including Turkey.”

Peter Wolters, vice chairman of the Netherlands-Turkey Chamber of Commerce, said the business group received “requests from the household and garden sector, textile and fashion and also yacht building industry who search for new partners in Turkey”.

Soaring freight costs It has become extremely expensive to ship goods from Asia.

As a result of container shortages, the cost of freight between China and northern Europe has increased ninefold since February 2020, according to the Freightos Baltic Index.

While a cargo ship can take weeks to

travel from Asia to Europe, Turkey is only three days away by truck.

A study by the McKinsey consulting group published in November placed Turkey in third position among countries with the best potential for textile supplies by 2025, behind Bangladesh and Vietnam but ahead of Indonesia and China.

“Apparel companies are also looking to change their sourcing-country mix... to secure the supply chain,” the global report’s authors wrote.

The report said Turkey offers “cheaper production costs due to a declining lira.”

The lira has fallen by 44 percent against dollar since 2021 as the central bank— prodded by Erdogan—cut interest rates even though inflation was rising.

Turkey’s new net minimum wage is now equivalent to $315—an amount barely higher than that of Malaysia.

Erdogan, who has been in power for two decades and seeks re-election in 2023, is betting on a weak lira to boost exports and growth, according to some observers, even if it destroys Turks’ purchasing power.

Europe, ‘friend’ and ‘enemy’ The collapse of the lira is also problematic for several industries due to the country’s dependence on imports for energy and raw materials.

“It’s not like Russia, for example, which has extensive raw materials,” said Roger Kelly, leading regional economist covering Turkey and Russia at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

He said Turkey also faces competition from countries within the EU. “I don’t think we should ignore those countries in southeast Europe like Romania or Bulgaria, which are actually in the EU—which helps them to a certain degree—and also have low production costs and strong production bases as well.”

Erdal Yalcin, professor of international economics at Germany’s Konstanz University of Applied Sciences, said uncertainty over Turkey’s judiciary and institutions is also a concern.

“We don’t see big investments, even though Turkey from a purely economic perspective would be the perfect place to bring production closer to Europe,” Yalcin said.

Another issue is Turkey’s difficult ties with the EU, with Yalcin noting that in the rhetoric of Turkish leaders, “one day Europe is a friendly nation, the other day it’s an enemy.” AFP

IN BRIEF

PT&T vows to expand broadband connectivity PT&T Corp. said Monday it is committed to providing broadband connectivity to all customers nationwide.

“As we contribute to nation-building, we will remain a trusted government partner in empowering the long-term success of the Philippine telco and IT industries,” said PT&T president and chief executive James Velasquez.

“We are fully committed to bringing connectivity access and cutting-edge IT solutions to all our customers,” he said.

The company caters to corporate, small/medium business and residential segments across the Philippines. It continues to specialize in adapting its services to the needs of enterprise and institutional end users.

PT&T’s business activities are categorized into two major businesses: connectivity and IT services. It gained international recognition with two prestigious titles under the technology awards category at the highly coveted The Global Economic Awards 2021.

Darwin G. Amojelar

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

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2022

Business RCBC’s issue of ASEAN bonds raises P14.75b

By Julito G. Rada

Manulife PH launches flexible insurance plan MANULIFE Philippines, a subsidiary of leading international financial services provider Manulife, said Monday it launched a flexible insurance plan called FutureBoost that includes life and financial protection in one plan.

FutureBoost offers a number of key benefits, including potential income through a premium bonus equivalent to 5 percent of their basic premium, if paid on time; an additional bonus equivalent to 2 percent of the basic premium, if they opt to add to their premium by extending the number of years they put funds into their policy; and, an annual loyalty bonus equivalent to either 0.5 percent or 0.75 percent of their account values upon completion of their policy’s 10th year.

There are no upfront premium charges, and payments are automatically invested in the customers’ chosen funds, allowing them to start building their investments quickly. ​​Richard Bates, president and chief executive of Manulife Philippines, said FutureBoost offers Filipinos a flexible life insurance plan with built-in investments. “Through this product offering, we hope to help more customers secure every stage of their life journey, accelerate growth in their finances and achieve their financial goals quicker,” he said.

Julito G. Rada

Robinsons REIT unit posts P1.68-b income RL COMMERCIAL REIT Inc., the real estate investment trust company of Robinsons Land Corp., said Monday net income in 2021 reached P1.68 billion on stable revenue stream and operational efficiency.

RCR said in a disclosure to the stock exchange revenues in 2021 amounted to P2.09 billion as its 14 assets continued to enjoy higher occupancy.

The 2021 net income and revenue figures are both higher than its REIT plan projection.

The board of RCR earlier approved the declaration of cash dividends for the fourth quarter of 2021 equivalent to P0.092 per outstanding common share. This brings its total declared dividends to P0.154 per share in 2021.

Based on RCR’s initial public offering price, this is equivalent to an annualized yield of 5.73 percent, slightly higher than RCR’s dividend yield projection of 5.57 percent for 2021.

The fourth quarter dividends will be payable on Feb. 28 to stockholders on record as Feb. 18. Jenniffer B. Austria

PH-UAE TALKS. The Philippines seeks stronger economic relations with the United Arab of Emirates as they conclude negotiations over an investment promotion and protection agreement and announce the start of negotiations for the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. Heading the delegations during the conclusion of the IPPA at the Ministry of Finance Dubai office are Board of Investments Governor Marjorie Ramos-Samaniego (left) and economic expert Dr. Hamed Nasr Abdulqader.

SM Prime’s profit grew by 21% to P21.8b in 2021

By Jenniffer B. Austria

S

M PRIME Holdings Inc. said Monday consolidated net income rose 21 percent in 2021 to P21.8 billion from P18 billion in 2020 despite flat sales.

SM Prime said in a disclosure to the stock exchange consolidated sales stood at P82.3 billion last year, nearly at the same level in 2020.

Operating income, however, increased 11 percent in 2021 to P32.4 billion from P29.1 billion in 2020.

“As we begin to see the results of joint

efforts by the government and private organizations to manage the pandemic, SM Prime is set to pursue business expansions with broader funding options available locally and internationally. We will continue to work with the government in helping the nation rebound from the challenges in the past two years,” said SM Prime president Jeffrey Lim. SM Prime said it posted P6.2 billion in consolidated net income in the fourth quarter as revenues improved 20 percent to P25.5 billion from P21.2 billion a year ago. Consolidated operating income also increased 67 percent in the fourth quarter to P10.8 billion from P6.5 billion a year earlier.

SM Prime said its residential business unit led by SM Development Corp. recorded P45.9 billion revenues in 2021

on continued launches. Reservation sales amounted to P98.9 billion last year.

SMDC launched eight high-rise and mid-rise condominium buildings and house-and-lot residential projects across the country in 2021.

Meanwhile, the group’s mall business continued to improve on the further easing of mobility restrictions in most key areas.

Its Philippine mall business reported P24.1 billion in revenues in 2021, up 2.1 percent from P23.6 billion in 2020. Rent income improved 6 percent to P23.0 billion in 2021 from P21.8 billion in 2020, despite the three-month pre-pandemic period in 2020 and two enhanced community quarantine restrictions implemented in 2021.

RIZAL Commercial Banking Corp., one of the biggest universal banks in the country, said Monday it raised P14.75 billion from the issuance of ASEAN sustainability bonds amid strong demand from investors.

RCBC said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it listed the P14,756,260,000 Series E ASEAN Sustainability Bonds due 2024 on Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. on Monday. The bonds carry a coupon of 3 percent per annum.

Strong demand from investors resulted in an order book almost five times its announced minimum issue size of P3 billion. The bank concluded the offering on Feb. 11, 2022.

“The proceeds from the offer will be used to support asset growth, refinance maturing liabilities and other general funding purposes in line with the bank’s Sustainable Finance Framework,” it said.

The bonds formed part of RCBC’s P100-billion bond and commercial paper program. The offering marked the seventh time that the bank tapped the peso bond market which brought the total amount raised by RCBC from all bond issuances since 2019 to P86.80 billion—a record amount demonstrating investors’ confidence in the various initiatives RCBC has taken to fuel its growth.

The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. was the sole lead arranger and bookrunner, together with RCBC Capital Corp. as the financial advisor for the transaction. Selling agents were HSBC and RCBC. RCBC is a leading financial services provider in the Philippines, offering a wide range of banking and financial products and services. It is engaged in all aspects of traditional banking, investment banking, microfinance, retail financing (auto, mortgage and housing loans, and credit cards), remittance, leasing, foreign exchange and stock brokering.

Treasury adds P1.9-t worth of gov’t properties in national registry system THE Bureau of the Treasury added around P1.9 trillion worth of non-financial government properties that include roads, hospitals, power plants and irrigation facilities in the National Asset Registry System as of end-December 2021.

It said in a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, the new entries to the consolidated database of non-financial, strategically important state assets involved 5,819 properties, mostly from the Department of Transportation’s attached agencies, with a combined value of P361 billion.

“We will continue to expand the coverage of the NARS to improve the oversight and management of non-financial public assets,” National Treasurer Rosalia De Leon said in the report.

De Leon said as that of Dec. 31, 2021, the P1.9 trillion worth of government properties on the NARS list covered 380,817 properties. These include roads, bridges, school buildings, power plants, towers, hospitals and irrigation facilities.

The BTr launched the NARS in 2017

to maintain a reliable inventory of the national government’s non-financial assets and help in the monitoring, inspection and validation and management of assets under custody by the government.

The Treasury said it continues to enhance the registry system to include more functionalities with the help of development partners such as the World Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Among the uses of the NARS data is to support the National Indemnity Insurance Program, which was one of the recommendations of the Interagency Committee on Government Property Insurance composed of the Treasury, the Government Service Insurance System, the Department of Budget and Management and the Insurance Commission.

The NIIP aims to provide adequate and comprehensive insurance protection to socio-economically important government assets against perils such as typhoons, floods, storm surges, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Julito G. Rada

AC Energy switches on energy storage project

By Alena Mae S. Flores AC ENERGY Corp., the listed energy platform of the Ayala Group, said Monday it switched on its pilot 40-megawatt energy storage project in Alaminos, Laguna, becoming the first hybrid solar and energy storage project in the country.

ACEN said in a statement the energy storage project would allow the company to evaluate opportunities to store energy more effectively across ACEN’s portfolio, with the aim to provide a sustainable and reliable energy source for the country.

“We are delighted to start the operations of ACEN’s very first battery energy storage project. We will be looking to increase our investments in storage as the technology increases its viability and competitiveness,” said ACEN president and chief executive Eric Francia.

The two by 20-MW energy storage facility is adjacent to ACEN’s 120-MW Alaminos solar farm and is configured to help manage internal electricity demands, store electricity when the solar plant is generating power but demand is low and provide rapid power

charging when the demand is high.

It will also provide ancillary services to the national grid.

The facility holds 24 battery containers with SAFT 2.5 MWh lithium-ion batteries, enough to power about 20,000 homes and avoid 35.87 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions a year.

“We are taking advantage of battery storage technology’s fast response, scalability and ease of integration into our renewable projects,” said ACEN chief development officer Jose Maria Zabaleta.

“With the Alaminos Energy Storage project, we can harness renewable energy more effectively amidst its variability while improving the operating capabilities of the grid and ensuring high reliability,” Zabaleta said.

The company said the energy storage is an important initiative that would help it achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, on its way to becoming the largest listed renewables platform in Southeast Asia.

ACEN aims to have 5,000 MW of renewables capacity by 2025.

Sports

Smart kicks off PH hosting of FIBA Basketball World Cup ‘23 THE highly-anticipated partnership between Smart Communications, Inc. and the International Basketball Federation has been announced as Smart kicks off coverage of the upcoming FIBA games as the official global brand partner of FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.

Smart is the official global partner of FIBA for the World Cup and is the only telco partner worldwide of FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.

Smart has been championing basketball through the years and has courted destiny to host a basketball event of this magnitude to bring subscribers closer to a passion that is deeply ingrained in the Filipino battle cry “PUSO”.

FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 will be jointly hosted by the Philippines, along with Japan and Indonesia. Events in the World Cup’s group phase will be held at the Smart Araneta Coliseum and the Mall of Asia Arena in 2023. FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 will also hold its final phase here in the Philippines in August 2023.

Filipinos will once again experience hardcourt action and drama up close as Smart will give away free tickets to FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 events and tournament windows scheduled in the Philippines, as well as stream the games live on Smart’s GigaPlay App, powered by the Philippines’ fastest 5G mobile network.

“This partnership is special on so many levels because it has been a long time since the country hosted an international basketball event. Since the pandemic, an event as massive as this will likely spark hope in the country that things are getting better.

And what better way to feel hope than cheering for our own Gilas Pilipinas team right in our homecourt once again,” said Alfredo S. Panlilio, Smart President and CEO and President of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.

“We are happy and honored to be able to work closely with FIBA in bringing the game back home to the Philippines.

At Smart, we’re not just here to witness basketball history unfold again right before our very eyes. We’re also here to make sure Filipinos get to experience the games and root for Team Philippines. We’re also excited to welcome the best of the best from teams representing other countries. There’s only world-class basketball to expect and experience with the games being held here in a truly Basketball-loving counTurn to C2 try,” he added.

TUESDAY, FEBUARY 22, 2022

C1

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

Dwight Ramos and the Gilas Pilipinas basketball team try to keep Philippine pride soaring in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Asian Qualifiers Windows 1 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

GAB: Professional sports tilts off-limits to poll candidates

By Randy Caluag

T

HE Games and Amusements Board has called on promoters and organizers of sanctioned professional events to avoid accepting sponsorship from any political candidate or party-list groups during the election period.

In a memorandum addressed to league organizers, teams, professional athletes, managers and other sports officials and signed by GAB chairman Abraham Kahlil Mitra and commissioner Eduard Trinidad, the GAB reminded that accepting sponsorship from a candidate of any kind is an election offense Comelec rules.

“While we understand that sponsorship is important in staging sports

events, particularly during this time of the pandemic, we still need to follow the law and Comelec’s orders,” said Mitra, who made the reminder following the Commission on Election’s response to GAB’s letter last month.

Last January 14, the GAB sent Comelec a letter inquiring whether a sponsorship from a political candidate and/or party-list group to a professional league or sports promoter is considered a prohibited do-

nation or contribution.

The Comelec’s reply cited Section 104 of the Omnibus Election Code that says “no candidate, his or her spouse or any relative within the second civil degree of consanguinity or affinity, or his campaign manager, agent or representative shall, during the campaign period, on the day before and on the day of the election, directly or indirectly, make any donation, contribution or gift in cash or in-kind.”

The Comelec has defined political sponsorship as “an act of supporting a person, organization, or activity by giving money, encouragement or other help.”

It also explained that sponsorship might result in possible election offenses such as vote-selling, vote-buying, among others.

“We want to help our leagues and

LBC Ronda PH hits road on March 11 THE LBC Ronda Pilipinas will hold its 11th edition with 13 teams seeing action in the 10-stage race unfurling in Sorsogon City on March 11 and concluding in mountaintop Baguio on March 22.

George Oconer will spearhead heavy favorite Navy Standard Insurance and defend the title he won in the 10th anniversary edition of this annual cycling spectacle two years ago.

Ronald Oranza, the 2019 champion, will skipper the loaded Navy squad that is also composed of El Joshua Carino, Ronald Lomotos, Junrey Navarra, John Mark Camingao, Esteve Hora and Jeremy Lizardo.

Other teams to watch out for are Go for Gold, which will be spearheaded by Dominic Perez, Jonel Carcueva and Boots Ryan Cayubit, and Excellent Noodles, which will be bannered by Santy Barnachea and Jan Paul Mo-

Bing targets 40 meters in freediving.

By Lito Cinco A WOMAN of adventures is certainly an apt way to describe multi-sports athlete Lakambini “Bing” Alto-La Rocque.

She has been involved in sports at an early age, pushed and influenced by her father Bangaw Alto, with basketball as her first competitive sport in high school at Jose Abad Santos Memorial School playing in the Women’s National Collegiate Athletic Association and in college, she was in the varsity team of University of the Philippines that placed second to La Salle at one time.

And even while playing college basketball, she also competed in track and field, but the best was yet to come as she opted to go to sports rather than become a metallurgical engineer.

Her father, who was also into triathlon, got her into the same sport. Bing took to it like duck to the water, winning sprint triathlon events in UP and even making it all the way to being a member of the national triathlon team from 2000 to 2003, the same time she was into varsity basketball and track and field.

rales, who have won a combined five Ronda crowns.

Also seeing action are Philippine Army, Team Nueva Ecija, Dreyna, Eagle Cement, Champ Café, Bike Kings Laguna, Vantage Ilocos Norte, VPharma, Team Quezon Province and Team Ilocos Sur. A total of P3.5 million will be given away as cash prizes with P1 million going to the overall individual champion, P400,000 to the runner-up and P200,000 to the second runner-up.

The team champion gets P200,000 in this race presented by LBC Express, Inc. and supported by MVP Sports Foundation, Quad X, Twin Cycle Gear, Standard Insurance, Print2Go, Elves Bicycles, Elitewheels, Orome, Maynilad and Garmin.

Petron Boy Kanin, Green Planet Bikeshop, Prolite, Black Mamba, Lightwater and LBC Foundation are

also backing the event along with the PhilCycling and Games and Amusements Board.

Ronda will unfold with a Stage One Individual Time Trial and Team Time Trial on March 11 in Sorsogon followed by the 163-kilometer Sorsogon-Legazpi City Stage Three on March 12 and 189.1km Legazpi-Daet Stage Four on March 13.

It will be followed by the 212km Daet-Lucena Stage Five on March 14 and 157.4km Lucena-Tagaytay Stage Six on March 15.

After a one-day break, the race will wind up with the 180.4km Tarlac-Baler Stage Seven on March 17, 174.4km Baler-Echgue, Isabela Stage Eight on March 18, 193.2km Santiago, Isabela-Baguio Stage Nine on March 19 and Baguio City Stage 10 criterium on March 20.

A woman of many adventures It was not her only stint with a national team, though, as she also made it to the cycling team that competed in the SEA Games in 2003 and 2005. Two years later, she donned the national colors anew in the 2007 SEAG. But it was not the end as she continued her life in sports, this time with more adventurous disciplines as she joined the national team in the South East Asian Freediving competitions, a year after she became a free-diving instructor in Boracay, where she settled down.

Bing held the previous national record in the sport, reaching a depth of 38 meters before losing it. She is aiming to reclaim it, targetting 40 meters this time, as she has already done it in practice.

On top of this, Bing is also into kiteboarding, describing it as her fun sport, which she says she would rather be doing than teaching it, as she does with freediving.

Not bad at all for a 42-year-old mother of two and a former Bb. Pilipinas Top 12 finisher in her younger years, something that she recalled was an accidental one.

“It should have been Sandra (Araullo, her teammate and future national triathlon champion), but her agent convinced me to audition and I made it to the last 25. He encouraged me to go all the way. I was not comfortable because I get nervous before crowds,” she said.

On the question of why she chose the more demanding and adventurous disciplines, she said: “I guess it was really my father who was responsible for that, particularly in becoming a triathlete, I was still small when he enrolled me at the MILO Best. And I found out I enjoy sports. I would not have been happy being a metallurgical engineer.”

The more challenging a sport, the more Bing likes it.

“That is where I get satisfaction,” she declared.

Now that life is returning to near normal, Bing is happy that triathlon is one of the first to be back, maybe because it is outdoor and not a contact sport.

She is also looking back for freediving to return so she can

resume her work.

“Before the pandemic, freediving, which is already popular in Bohol, Puerto Galera and Batangas, I was teaching a lot of people, mostly foreigners, and now there is just a trickle of them going back to Boracay, but it is a matter of time I guess,” she said.

Will she be staying for good in the island Paradise of Boracay?

“I enjoy the simple life here, it is a small place with no traffic, you just walk going to practically everywhere. My only concern is for the future education of my two sons as educational opportunities are limited here. But for the meantime, I will simply enjoy our time here,” she concluded.

No argument there.

Kite-boarding is Lakambini “Bing” Alto-La Rocque’s fun sport.

boxing promoters to bounce back, get good publicity, and secure large audience turnout. However, we want to remind them to avoid politicking in sports,” Mitra added.

However, it is not discussed if media coverage firms like television networks and digital media can accept political advertisements since they fall under media advertisements allowable to political candidates.

In the amateur sports scene, there were no words yet from the Philippine Sports Commission or the Philippine Olympic Committee if National Sports Associations are prohibited from having their events backed up by political candidates.

In several associations, it’s difficult to do away from political sponsorship because they are headed by sportsmenpoliticians.

Loman keeps close eye on Bibiano’s fight with Lineker TO say that Stephen “The Sniper” Loman is paying close attention to the fight between reigning ONE Bantamweight World Champion Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes and John “Hands of Stone” Lineker is a massive understatement.

For sure, Bibiano knows that Lineker packs power in those punches. I expect him to come up with a gameplan to take the match to the ground. I think there’s a huge possibility that he can submit Lineker,” Loman said.

“On the flipside, the key to Lineker is finding his distance and striking at the right time. If he can find his range, and pick his shots from a distance, there’s also a chance that he knocks out Bibiano. He’s a veteran in the game as well. I guess we’ll see what gives.”

Loman, after making that supernova leap in the contender’s list, should no longer be considered as a newcomer in ONE Championship, and instead, should be treated with more respect as he primes himself for a potential future title shot.

The 30-year-old certainly proved that he belongs inside the Circle with his impressive promotional debut at ONE: WINTER WARRIORS II last December, clobbering and eventually knocking Yusup “Maestro” Saadulaev out in the first round to not just emphatically announce his arrival but also take the Russian’s spot in the division rankings.

It’s a humbling achievement on his part, but it also gave a glimpse to the fans that the Igorot warrior was indeed for real. And Loman understands with that memorable win, he has set the standard for himself to continue knocking down the hurdles thrown his way.

“I feel happy and proud that I was able to crack the rankings and join the elite names in the division,” Loman said.

“But more than that, it motivated me to work even harder cause I know that I’m close to the top, I could be fighting for the title soon, so I have to maintain my focus even more and be ready.”

C2

Sports

TUESDAY, FEBUARY 22, 2022

PSA Forum to discuss programs of PATAFA

Howard faces suspension for slapping deputy Wisconsin coach LOS ANGELES—Former NBA player Juwan Howard is likely facing a suspension after the University of Michigan head coach slapped a University of Wisconsin coach on the side of the face during the post game handshake line on Sunday.

The Wolverine’s coach reached into a crowd of players and coaches and escalated an already heated shoving match by taking a swipe at assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft.

NCAA officials said in a statement that they are investigating the melee and will “take swift and appropriate disciplinary action when it completes its review.”

Johnny Davis scored 25 points as Wisconsin broke open a close game late en route to a 79-66 victory.

Howard said he was angry about a late timeout called by Wisconsin. He had words with Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard in the handshake line and then others joined in.

“I thought it was not necessary at the moment, especially being a large lead,” Howard said.

Video of the fracas also appeared to show Michigan player Moussa Diabate and Wisconsin’s Jahcobi Neath throw a punch at each other.

No one appeared to be seriously hurt and the scrum was eventually broken up with the help of arena security.

Howard played in the NBA from 1994 to 2013 after the Washington Bullets -- now the Wizards -- made him the fifth overall pick in the 1994 draft. He is a twotime NBA champion having won the title in 2012 and 2013 with the Miami Heat.

He retired as a player in 2013 and was named head coach of Michigan in 2019. AFP

Stephen Curry of Team LeBron holds the Kobe Bryant Trophy after being named MVP during the 2022 NBA All-Star Game at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio. AFP

Curry wins MVP with 16 threes in 50-point all-star performance

L

OS ANGELES—Somebody forgot to tell Stephen Curry that the three-point contest was Saturday as the Golden State Warriors superstar put on a shooting clinic to lead Team LeBron to victory in the 2022 NBA All-Star Game.

LeBron James sank the game-winning basket as his side edged Team Durant 163160, giving James his fifth straight all-star win as team captain.

But Curry was the brightest shooting star, winning the MVP award with a 50-point performance that included a record 16 threes in front of a crowd of 19,400 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio.

He finished just two shy of Anthony Davis’ single-game scoring record of 52 points but shattered Paul George’s previous record of nine threes in 2016.

“I tried, I tried,” said Curry of flirting with the single-game scoring record, held

by Los Angeles Lakers’ Davis who scored 52 points in 2017.

“When I get going the energy picks up.

It is pretty special being back in Ohio.

“Obviously this trophy has very special meaning. I am very humbled, very blessed and I appreciate it.”

The All-Star Game was preceded by the three-point shooting contest on Saturday, a competition Curry won in 2021 in Chicago. Karl-Anthony Towns won this year’s contest, which Curry did not enter.

Curry was booed during the introductions because of the three titles he won over the Cleveland Cavaliers with the Warriors.

Ohio-born local hero James nailed the winning shot with a fadeaway jumper to elevate Team LeBron to the target score of 163.

“I could not have dreamed of that moment, any better than the actuality that just happened,” James said.

The 37-year-old was playing in his 18th all-star game, which ties him with the late Kobe Bryant and moves him to one shy of the record held by Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

James was one of two captains, the other being Brooklyn Nets star Kevin

Durant, who did not attend the game due to the death earlier Sunday of his grandmother.

Memphis Grizzlies rising star Ja Morant scored six points and was one of seven players making their all-star debut.

The other first-time all-stars were the Charlotte Hornets’ LaMelo Ball, Cleveland Cavaliers duo Jarrett Allen and Darius Garland, the Golden State Warriors’ Andrew Wiggins, the San Antonio Spurs’ Dejounte Murray and the Toronto Raptors’ Fred VanVleet.

During Saturday’s halftime, the league honored the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team with players from every decade of the league’s existence in attendance for the diamond anniversary.

The 76 players who made up the anniversary team—including six 2022 all-stars—have combined for 736 allstar selections.

“I was like a kid in a candy store just watching all the greats, all the legends,” said Curry of meeting his boyhood heroes. “That helped me in the third quarter because I just let loose and had fun.

“You walk around talking to the best of the best, it brings out the best in you.” AFP

After Aussie Open controversy, Djokovic starts season in Dubai DUBAI—Novak Djokovic’s season, derailed in January when he was deported from Australia, finally starts on Monday in Dubai with the world number one insisting players in the locker room “have been positive and welcoming” on his return.

Djokovic missed the chance to win a 10th Australian Open, and 21st Grand Slam, due to the cancellation of his visa in Melbourne and eventual deportation as a result of not being vaccinated.

He returns to the tour this week in the Emirates, where he will be competing for the first time since the Davis Cup Finals in Madrid last December.

Ahead of his opening round against Italian wildcard Lorenzo Musetti, Djokovic spoke to reporters on Sunday night about how it feels to be back on the tennis circuit, and whether there has been any negative reaction from his peers.

“So far here most of the players that I’ve seen have been positive and welcoming. It’s nice to see obviously. I can’t say that was the case in Australia. It was a little bit strange. But here it’s well so far,”

A handout picture made available by the press office of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship on February 20, 2022 shows Serbian Tennis player Novak Djokovic holding a press conference ahead of the ATP Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship in the Gulf emirate of Dubai.

the 34-year-old Serb said.

Dubai organisers have dubbed the first day of the ATP event ‘Magnificent Monday’ and a couple of other marquee entrants, Marin Cilic and Andy Murray, will also be in action.

But all eyes will be on Djokovic who last played in Serbia’s Davis Cup semi-final defeat by Croatia.

Djokovic, who saw Rafael Nadal win in Australia to claim a 21st major, is able to play in Dubai as a coronavirus vaccine is not a requirement to enter the United Arab Emirates.

The Serbian is a five-time winner in Dubai and he finally starts his season with a point to prove and his number one ranking under threat.

Even if he wins in Dubai, Djokovic could lose the top spot, which he has held since February 2020, to Daniil Medvedev, who is in action this week almost 15,000km away in Acapulco.

Even if Djokovic defends his status this week, his refusal to get vaccinated could cause problems and cost him ranking

THE virtual Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum holds an extra session on Tuesday featuring the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association.

Patafa president Philip ‘Ella’ Juico bares the plans and programs of the association for the rest of the year including the campaign of the Filipino tracksters in the coming Hanoi Southeast Asian Games and the Hangzhou Asian Games, as well as other foreign meets where the country will participate.

The session starts at 10 a.m.

The weekly Forum is presented by San Miguel Corporation, MILO, Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, Amelie Hotel Manila, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.

The session will be the last for the PSA as it prepares for its coming Annual Awards Night set on March 14 at the Diamond Hotel.

Smart...

From C1

“For a country that prides itself in its unmatched love for the sport, Smart has always been at the forefront of supporting the game locally and internationally. There’s no better way to experience the fast-paced and intense international basketball action of FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 than by streaming it on the GigaPlay App— powered by our Smart 5G mobile network. We guarantee that Filipino fans will catch every play in high definition when they watch the games with Smart,” said Jane J. Basas, SVP and Head of Consumer Wireless Business at Smart.

The Philippines’ Gilas Pilipinas Men’s National Team resumes flagon-jersey duties on Feb. 24 to 28 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Gilas Pilipinas renews its rivalry with South Korea while New Zealand battles India on Feb. 24. The following day on Feb. 25, Gilas takes on India while New Zealand faces-off against South Korea.

There will be a one-day break before the Feb. 27 (New Zealand vs Philippines and India vs South Korea) and Feb. 28 (India vs New Zealand and Philippines vs Korea) games. points, particularly with two Masters tournaments coming up in the United States.

‘Follow the rules’ He is on the entry list at Indian Wells from March 7 to 20, even though it is currently restricted to vaccinated players. That is followed by the Miami Open from March 21 to April 3.

“I just have to follow the rules. Whatever tournament that I’m able to play, I’ll be trying to get to that country and play the tournament,” Djokovic said Sunday.

“I really can’t choose right now. It’s really about where I can go and play. Wherever I have an opportunity, I’ll be using probably that opportunity and going to play because this is what I do, it’s what I love to do still.”

There are still three more Grand Slam tournaments to play -- French Open,, Wimbledon and the US Open.

Djokovic is the defending champion at Roland Garros and the All England Club.

“We all hope that the health crisis will evolve in a positive direction, but if that does not change, he will need a vaccination pass and therefore Novak Djokovic will not be with us,” at the French Open, French Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu told RTL radio on Sunday. AFP

Beijing Olympics closes after golden moments, doping storm BEIJING—The Beijing Winter Olympics have closed with IOC chief Thomas Bach hailing a smoothly run event and a “safe Games” in the midst of the Covid pandemic, but the gold medals were overshadowed by a doping controversy.

The Games ended on Sunday in the “Bird’s Nest” stadium, just as they had when the Chinese capital hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics, in a snowflake-themed closing ceremony attended by President Xi Jinping and a sociallydistanced crowd.

As he declared the Games over and handed over to 2026 hosts Milano-Cortina, the International Olympic Committee president Bach hailed an “unforgettable Olympic experience”.

The Games produced bright new stars including China’s Californian-born freestyle skier Eileen Gu, who won two gold medals to cement her huge popularity in the host nation.

The future of 15-year-old Russian figure skating prodigy Kamila Valieva is less certain after she failed a drugs test but was allowed to continue competing.

Then, after a week of intense pressure, she fell

apart in an error-strewn performance that will go down as one of the saddest in Olympic history.

Chinese organizers will be quick to hail the success of the vast Covid-secure “bubble” that enveloped the Games, with up to 70,000 people sealed off.

There was no mass outbreak of Covid at the Games or in the wider Chinese capital, but Bach said: “If we want to finally overcome this pandemic, we must be faster, we must aim higher, we must be stronger— we must stand together.

“In this Olympic spirit of solidarity, we call on the international community: give equal access to vaccines for everybody around the world.”

With tensions rising between Russia and Ukraine, Bach said the athletes had “given peace a chance”.

“May the political leaders around the world be inspired by your example of solidarity and peace,” he said.

China and its ruling Communist Party will look back on a soft-power success.

The Global Times, a Chinese nationalist staterun tabloid, said on Monday the Olympics had shown the ‘true nature’ of China.

“The unexpected global popularity of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games declared the complete failure of the so-called diplomatic boycott, smashed the malicious slander of some Western media, and demonstrated the enduring charm of human resilience and unity,” it said.

Echoing that theme, fireworks lit up the night sky at the ceremony, spelling out “ONE WORLD”.

Valieva’s case dominated Gu, the 18-year-old who was born in California but switched to China in 2019, gave the hosts a significant medal bump, helping them finish third in the medals table with nine golds.

That was easily China’s best performance at a Winter Games, a place ahead of chief geopolitical rival the United States, who claimed eight golds.

For the second Games in a row, Norway topped the medals table, with 16 golds, mainly thanks to their peerless cross-country skiers. Germany were second on 12.

A new men’s figure skating champion emerged in 22-year-old Nathan Chen of the United States, who dethroned two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu, in what could be the Japanese legend’s

People watch a screen with live footage of the closing ceremony of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Games, at a bar in Beijing. AFP

final Games appearance.

Shaun White, the American who has defined snowboarding, bowed out after finishing without a medal. The 35-year-old three-time Olympic champion called the sport “the love of my life”. AFP

Entertainment

Nickie Wang, Editor nickie.standard@gmail.com TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2022

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Tom Holland’s ‘Uncharted’ debuts atop box office charts

Mark Wahlberg (left) and Tom Holland in a scene from ‘Uncharted’

NEW Sony adventure film Uncharted jumped to the top of the North American box office this weekend in the year’s biggest opening so far, industry watchers reported Sunday.

The movie starring Tom Holland took in an estimated $44.2 million for the Fridayto-Sunday period and a projection of $51 million when Monday — a holiday in the US — is included, Exhibitor Relations said.

Based on a PlayStation video game and faring better among viewers than critics, Uncharted features Holland as a

bartender-turned-treasure hunter who, along with Mark Wahlberg, goes looking for a fortune allegedly lost by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan 500 years ago.

Another new release, Metro Goldwyn Mayer’s buddy comedy Dog, also enjoyed a healthy debut, scratching up $15.1 million for the three-day period and $18.1 million for four.

Tom Holland, and Sony, had a particularly good weekend, also grabbing the third spot with the enduring success of

blockbuster Spider-Man: No Way Home.

It took in $7.2 million for three days ($8.8 million for four), and is the thirdhighest grossing domestic release ever.

Slipping three spots from last weekend, when it topped the box office, was 20th Century’s murder mystery Death on the Nile, based on a 1937 Agatha Christie novel.

And in fifth spot was Paramount’s Jackass Forever, which took in $5.2 million ($6.2 million), slipping from second spot last weekend. AFP

Power of Bong’s amulet activated

The cast of ‘Love at the End of the World’

‘Love at the End of the World’

I

according to Shandii Bacolod

F FILM director Mark Shandii Bacolod had only a week to live, with the world also facing its demise, as a storyteller, he would want to share a personal story that he feels everyone can resonate with.

“I want to talk about my first love, the one that got away. This man became the figure why I had to come out. I lost him along the way, I don’t know where he is right now. I even forgot his last name. It’s a love story that I wanted to talk about,” Bacolod told Manila Standard Entertainment in an exclusive interview.

Bacolod has been vocal about treating every work he does as a passion project.

He pours not just his physical efforts, but also his emotions and personal experiences into his work to give it a more authentic feel.

“I direct my film based on how I wrote it,” he said adding that “I only became a perfectionist because of the frustration to realize my vision as a director.”

As a testament to his passion for art and his willingness to share his “personal truth,” his latest digital series Love at the End of the World showcases a piece of him as a person who had loved, got hurt, and decided to believe that another love will come his way.

“It’s my love letter to the prude because the series wanted to talk about sex openly. Let’s admit it, everybody has raging lust, malilibog tayo.

It’s just how we carry ourselves in public makes all the

difference,” Bacolod said of the series.

“This series features stories of men who have become part of my life and the people close to me. Because of the pandemic, namiss ko sila, this series is dedicated to the people who are suffering from crisis right now, those who are experiencing selfdoubt. I wanted to tell them, ‘we hear you.’

That’s the main message of the series,” he added.

Under Temporary Insanity Pictures & MSB Entertainment Production, Love at the End of the World explores the lives of four couples as they navigate through love, pain, forgiveness, and redemption.

After reports from NASA confirm that an asteroid is set to hit Earth in seven days resulting in global catastrophe, priorities quickly change and panic ensues. Although the stories of each couple are quite tragic, the audience gains closure by the last episode as love truly becomes the driving force in the lasting moments of Earth’s existence.

The starry cast ensemble includes Kristof Garcia (Bidaman Ampalaya Chronicles), Rex Lantano (Daddy Love, MMK), Nico Locco (Culion, Sabado), Mike Liwag (Culion, Unlocked), Elijah Filamor (Alpha: The Right to Kill), Yam Mercado (Culion), Khalid Ruiz and Markki Stroem (Slumber Party, Unlocked), with Gold Azeron (Metamorphosis, Unlocked), Arrian Labios (Kid Kulafu, Babae at Baril), and Irma Adlawan (Oro, Transit).

Filmed in different locations in the Philippines, the erotic suspense drama series elevates the boys’ love subgenre with its ambitious and film-like production filming from the beautiful beach in Mindoro to the mountaineer’s destination in Tanay.

Given the series’ theme and provocative scenes, Bacolod believes that receiving criticism is just normal and part of his profession as a

The erotic suspense drama series is filmed in some of the picturesque locations in the country

IT IS easy to understand why Agimat ng Agila is loved as a weekend family viewing habit.

Seeing the first episode of its second season just reinforced the fact that even advertisers love the program topbilled by actor and politician Bong Revilla.

A tragedy story arc hooks the loyal televiewers with Major Gabriel Labrador (Revilla) of Task Force Kalikasan, going to the motion of his existence sans his wife.

Gabriel’s moving on does not come trouble-free as the pain of losing the ones he loved the most still throbs and the departure of Maya (Sanya Lopez) adds another layer of hurt.

As he carries on to fulfill his duties as a cop, danger forever lurks with the death of the people dearest to him becoming collateral damages.

Lopez’s dramatic demise to this amuletcentric T V s h o w w a s truly a riveting

Film director Mark Shandii Bacolod

filmmaker. In fact, he’s learned to brush off any negative comments about his films and screen projects.

“As a filmmaker, I believe that once we do an art form, it becomes public. In this industry, we are considered public figures and we should allow ourselves to be scrutinized or criticized. Before I’d easily get offended when someone criticize my work by just like what RuPaul said, “Unless they gonna pay your bills, pay them bitches no mind.”

But Bacolod clarified that Love at the End of the World is far from being perfect but he’s glad about the final product, and he’s more than proud to share it with the world.

“I am happy with this series. Is it perfect?

No. It’s far from perfect but it’s my truth.

People may not like it or believe but they are entitled to their own opinions.

For parting message, Bacolod wanted to convey that beyond the steamy scenes and salacious encounters between the characters in the series, Love at the End of the World has more to offer.

“My point is, even in the darkest moment there’s hope, there’s love. Today you may be suffering, experiencing something painful, but tomorrow is going to be different, there’s hope, and that we should look forward to that,” Bacolod said.

“Without pain, we are numb, there is always hope in pain, pain and sadness mean hope,” he concluded showing a quote by film director Ingmar Bergman tattooed on his right forearm.

ingredient. It pulled the heartstrings because the manner that Revilla displayed the loss and sorrow that Gabriel experiences, was agonizing to witness.

Revilla was successful to show viewers Gabriel’s vulnerable side.

In the second season, Labrador’s main objective is to retrieve an ancient evil amulet, which power defies science and the natural way of things.

Adding more intrigue and thrill is the character of the oh-so-cutey Kim de Leon as Jumong, the unknowing young man who Gabriel will take as a ward.

Gabriel’s latest antagonist is Gardo Verzoza as Zeus Limjoco, an affluent businessman whose wealth comes from business shenanigans.

It seems like Zeus is not only aware but also covets the talisman. And for sure, the upcoming amazing race between Gabriel and Zeus in retrieving it makes for a compelling watch.

Agimat ng Agila is an impressive TV production because aside from the fact that it offers a curious take on a talisman with superlative powers, it offers never-before-seen action sequences on local TV. Its narrative that weaves perfectly cosmopolitan truths and magical elements, and the acting performances make the show a true stand out.

It is refreshing to watch Bong Revilla as a protagonist, who despite his special powers, gets to cry, express hurt, and bewilderment. Revilla shows his protective and caring side, a macho man still but is loving. Revilla looks fit and truly telegenic.

Kudos as well to the great Elizabeth Oropesa, who with her platinum hair, strikes as a mysterious female power.

It’s obvious how Oropesa made an emotional investment in the character assigned to her.

And this Kim De Leon, his presence screams star and heartthrob. There is something about Kim that pushes your imagination to scenes of cuddling and spooning with him.

Rabiya Mateo appears in the succeeding episode and based on the teaser, promising is the adjective that best suits her.

Engrossing storyline, check.

The narrative that makes people all the more curious about what happens next, double-check.

Well executed action sequences, triple check. And the quadruple check, goes to the acting of the cast that gives a high level of emotional commitment and truth to their characters.

Now we all know why Agimat ng Agila is a TV hit.

Senator Bong Revilla Jr. as Major Gabriel Labrador in ‘Agimat ng Agila’

Love at the End of the World streams on GagaOolala.

Restored local classics at the Met ABS-CBN Film Restoration’s Sagip Pelikula continues to celebrate the rich legacy of Philippine cinema by partnering with the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) and the Manila Metropolitan Theater (MET), bringing back restored classics on the big screen through the free public screening event “Mga Hiyas ng Sineng Pilipino.”

The collaborative event’s first leg, which happened on February 20 (Sunday) at the re-opened Metropolitan Theater, featured screenings of beloved Pinoy classic films that have been newly scanned and enhanced using the latest technology for today’s generation of moviegoers to appreciate the beauty of Philippine cinema throughout the years.

Among the films to be shown at the MET is Star Cinema’s 1995 award-winning romantic-

drama hit Sana Maulit Muli, starring the sought-after pairing of Aga Mulach and Lea Salonga, courtesy of Sagip Pelikula.

Alongside Sana Maulit Muli, viewers can also watch other restored classics courtesy of the FDCP and the Philippine Film Archive (PFA), with titles Dalagang Ilocana (1954) starring Gloria Romero, Dolphy, Ric Rodrigo, and Tita de Villa and directed by Olive La Torre; and Pagdating sa Dulo (1971) helmed by National Artist Ishmael Bernal and top-billed by Rita Gomez, Eddie Garcia, Vic Vargas, Rosemarie Gil, and Ronaldo Valdez, among many others.

ABS-CBN Film Restoration celebrated its tenth year of restoring and remastering films from directors and writers of note for today’s viewers to appreciate through its Sagip

Pelikula initiative. These efforts have earned multiple recognitions from award-giving bodies worldwide, including the prestigious Gold Quill Award given by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), Gawad Pedro Bucaneg from Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL), and most recently the Gawad PASADO sa Pagsisinop ng mga De Kalibreng Pelikula distinction from the 23rd Gawad PASADO organized by Pampelikulang Samahan ng mga Dalubguro (PASADO).

For more details on its upcoming film showings, follow ABS-CBN Film Restoration on Facebook (facebook.com/filmrestorationabscbn), Twitter (@ABS_Restoration), and Instagram (@ abscbnfilmrestoration).

‘Sana Maulit Muli’ starring Aga Mulach (left) and Lea Salonga

Life

Nickie Wang, Editor lifeandshow.manilastandard@gmail.com

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2022

Chef Gene Gonzales highlights Filipino cuisine in the innovative online cooking school Rassa

FOODIES CORNER Celebrate every kind of love at Max’s Restaurant KNOWN for its Sarapto-the-Bones Fried Chicken and other signature Filipino dishes, Max’s Restaurant jumped onto the Valentine’s Day bandwagon with two sweet deals that show love for friends, family, co-workers, or a significant other.

Max’s Bound for Love bundles consists of various favorite Filipino dishes from the restaurant. For instance, Bound in Love Bundle 1, which starts at P1,269 for dine-in customers, includes half chicken, medium flavored rice, lumpiang shanghai, two pieces of 350 mL beverages, and a five-inch red

Max’s Bound in Love Bundle 2

velvet mini cake.

On the other hand, Bound in Love Bundle 2, which starts at P1,479 for dine-in guests, receives half chicken, lumpiang shanghai, sinigang na tiyan ng bangus, medium plain rice, two side dishes (eggplant tofu and corn sisig), two pieces of 350 mL beverages, and a five-inch red velvet mini cake.

Dine-in customers may also purchase the red velvet cake separately for P399. Max’s brought back the sumptuous cake, especially for Valentine’s Day. But this time, diners can see a new alluring design for the sweet treat while indulging themselves in moist red velvet cake slathered with a rich cream cheese frosting and topped with a hand-crafted heart gar nish sculpted out of premium dark chocolate.

The bundles can be ordered for dine-in, take-out, and delivery until February 28 only. For more information, visit the official Facebook page at @MaxsRestaurant.

•••

Relive Chinese New Year at SM North EDSA On February 1, Tuesday, Chinese citizens from around the globe welcomed the Year of the Tiger. A common practice among them is spending the day eating good food that symbolizes health, wealth, prosperity, and more.

Yet even though the celebration passed, eager diners don’t need to wait another year to indulge themselves in good Chinese food as SM North EDSA has the solution to their King Chef’s whole Roast Duck achieves perfection cravings. after marinating in 10 herbs and spices, salting, and Tim Ho Wan (GF, roasting City Center), Mann Hann (2F, City Center), King Chef (GF, The Block), Hap Chan (The Block), Fat Fook (GF, City Center), and DECS (SM Supermarket) all offer dumplings that families and groups can share.

Spring rolls are also a good menu item to try. Visit Chowking, David’s Tea House, and Mann Hann to get a fix.

Another favorite Chinese dish is noodles. Get a good plate of this favorite from Hawker Chan or Panda Express.

Chinese delis and bakeries like Eng Bee Tin, Soy and Bean, Salazar Baker y, and Polland Hopia, are also a treasure trove of good food. Diners can f ind both sweet and savor y items in the shops, creating a more in-depth eating experience that will tickle their taste buds.

At SM North EDSA, guests can feast like a tiger any time of the year.

•••

Corner Pizza offers new Detroit-style pizza flavors No matter the occasion, pizza remains a favorite among food enthusiasts everywhere. With the right toppings, sauce, and freshly-baked dough, almost any restaurant can make their diners swoon over the different pizza flavors they’ve concocted.

Yet aside from offering some of the common pizza flavors there are, Corner Pizza is bringing a new experience to their customers with mouthwatering flavors of Detroit Style pizza, Super Hawaiian, and The Everything Pizza.

The Detroit Style pizza has a distinct rectangular shape, cheesy crusted edge, and is layered with both mozzarella and cheddar cheese. It’s baked to perfection to bring out the best and full experience that true pizza lovers long for.

Although there’s still an ongoing debate about whether pineapples belong on pizza, those who are fans of the tropical flavor can enjoy more as Corner Pizza’s Super Hawaiian is baked with 50 percent more cheese and abundantly topped with pineapples, ham, and bacon bits for that sweet and savory flavor.

In the meantime, guests can have every topping they love with The Everything Pizza because it’s generously topped with delicious premium ground beef, ham, bacon bits, sausage, and pepp e r on i to meet every pizza l over’s taste.

Each pizza is at P599 for a box and is available through take-out, pickup, and delivery.

Experience Call 8-555-9000 or a new way of visit www.cornerpizza. eating pizza with Corner com.ph or order via Grab Pizza’s Detroit-style pizza flavors Food and Food Panda.

GENE GONZALEZ

promotes local cuisine on global platform

By Tet Defensor

C

ELEBRATED chef Gene Gonzalez will lead the Filipino cooking classes in Rassa, an innovative online cooking school led by chefs from different parts of the world.

Launched in January, the platform combines the online cooking school approach with an exciting gastronomic travel adventure.

Rassa’s Charles Wells explains, “The platform was born during the lockdown. The founders wanted to support chefs, their main source of income disappeared as brick-and-mortar restaurants shut down. Since then, we’ve talked to hundreds of chefs all helping shape RASSA into what it has become today. A place to help those dedicated to their craft challenge their mindset, and develop their creativity.”

Chef Gonzalez will top bill “The Filipino Kitchen: East Meets West” together with UK-based Filipino chefs Budgie Montoya of Sarap supper club, Rex De Guzman owner of Turo-Turo, and Mark Corbyn of The Adobros supper club. The chefs will take students on a virtual tour of the Philippines complete with the principles of eating Filipino food.

Chef Gene is looking forward to sharing the richness of local cuisine. For the restaurateur, best-selling author, and instructor, the course goes beyond step-by-step preparation.

Like a typical instructor, he passionately shares culinary historical facts complete with his insight on the Filipino’s behavior towards food.

“For instance, why do Filipino eat with their hands? Not because utensils are not available. It’s because it is more enjoy-

able, it promotes camaraderie. Eating with your hands is like removing your shoes, it grounds you, plus you feel the texture of the food,” Gonzalez says.

The chef will also explain the local’s penchant for “sawsawan” or dipping sauce, attributing it to the diner’s participative role in appreciating the dish.

“Some would think, you are ruining the dish when you bring out your own sawsawan. That is not the case. We are actually working with the chef in adjusting the taste to what is acceptable to our tastebuds,” he explains.

Chef Gene has been creating content for his Facebook, YouTube, and Kumu accounts. He enjoys stepping out of the kitchen and taking his followers to interesting places, that can provide substantial culinary information, apart from the basic recipe of the dish he is preparing.

For his stint in Rassa, he will take his virtual students to a calamansi farm in Quezon when he talks about the rich flavor of the Philippine lemon. When he lectures about the rice culture, he will introduce his students to the intricate art of wrapping suman or sticky rice, as demonstrated by the grandmothers and grandfathers in Bulacan.

All courses in Rassa are taught by chefs, but the classes are not exclusive to professionals. Even home cooks will enjoy it especially if they love culinary adventure.

“The story, the culture, and the experience of cooking are what we’re giving to those who sign up for Rassa. This isn’t just a platform for simply following a recipe, it’s a way for people to learn how chefs think, how they can develop their own recipes, and to learn about the historical and cultural context around the food and wider ecosystem of the country,” Wells shares.

The platform’s Filipino segment will highlight the country’s bold flavors and culture. It will begin on February 28.

For details, log on to www.joinrassa.com.

PH chef joins prestigious Elle & Vire Professionnel’s Chef Ambassador Program

By Joyce Pangco Pañares CHEF Josh Boutwood has joined 17 culinary experts from around the world as part of the Chef Ambassador Program of World-renowned French cheese and dairy company Savencia Fromage & Dairy, through its brand Elle & Vire.

The multi-awarded Boutwood is the first chef ambassador from the Philippines.

“It’s a big honor for me to be part of Elle & Vire Professionnel’s Chef Ambassador Program. It will provide me with a platform to share more creative and delectable recipes with professionals, culinary students, and food enthusiasts while imparting the values Elle & Vire Professionnel stand for,” he said.

Boutwood, a pioneer of the producedriven food movement in the country, said he takes pride in “the chance to raise the Philippine flag in the international culinary scene.”

The selected chef ambassadors worldwide are expected to further intensify Elle & Vire Professionnel’s image and bring it closer to the market by conducting pastry and culinary demonstrations either physically or digitally and con-

nect with the public through their own social media platform.

They will also undergo seminars and training at the Elle & Vire headquarters in Normandy, France and immerse themselves in the brand’s standards and shared values – Taste, Origin, Nature, and Excellence.

While Boutwood’s trip to Normandy remains on hold due to the pandemic, he has already begun his virtual training with Michelin-starred Chef Sébastien Faré and Elle & Vire Professionnel Pastry Chef Jonathan Ledger.

“We believe that Chef Josh, with his remarkable contributions to the Philippine culinary scene, would make an exceptional Chef Ambassador for the Philippines,” said Errol Rivera, Country Manager of Savencia Fromage & Dairy.

“He will be an asset to the brand and for the Filipino food enthusiasts. We are excited to share the eight dishes he will create using Elle & Vire Professionnel’s cheese and dairy products,” Rivera added.

For more than 40 years, Elle & Vire Professionnel has been a reliable partner of gastronomy and pastry professionals, top international chefs, and prestigious training establishments such as Institut Paul Bocuse, École Pâtisseries & Gourmandises, and École de Boulangerie et de Pâtisserie de Paris.

The groundbreaking Chef Ambassador Program is the brand’s way to share its rich heritage with its global consumers.

In the Philippines, Savencia Fromage and

ONE WITH THE EXPERTS.

Chef Josh Boutwood, the appointed chef ambassador from the Philippines, joins top culinary experts from around the world in Elle & Vire Professionnel’s Chef Ambassador Program. He will create eight exclusive dishes using various Elle & Vire Professionnel cheese and dairy products.

Dairy’s seal of excellence can be sampled through the Elle & Vire Professionnel butter, creams, mascarpone, French cream cheese, and original American cream cheese. While the Elle & Vire Professionnel roster of products cater to the industrial segment such as restaurants, hotels, and other food businesses, the Elle & Vire brand carries cheese and dairy products available in supermarkets nationwide.

For more information about Elle & Vire Professionnel, visit https://www. elle-et-vire.com/int/en/pro/ Boutwood’s first recipe creation Poached squid, crab fat, and for Elle & Vire Professionnel’s Chef squid ink film – Chef Josh Boutwood’s first recipe creation Ambassador Program can be accessed here https://www.facebook.com/ using Elle & Vire Professionnel cheese and dairy products. watch/?v=1081353032423220