Manila Standard - 2018 May 23 - Wednesday

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LRT operator seeks P5-P7 fare increase LIGHT Rail Manila Corp., the private sector operator of Light Rail Transit Line 1, is seeking a fare adjustment for Metro Manila’s oldest mass rail transit system.

LRMC president and CEO Juan Alfonso told a news conference in Pasay City on Tuesday that the company had applied for a fare hike last March.

Alfonso said LRMC was asking for an average P5 fare adjustment and P7 hike for end-to-end trip from Baclaran to Roosevelt.

The fare increase is targeted to be implemented on Aug. 1. Next page

VOL. XXXII • NO. 97 • 3 SECTIONS 18 PAGES • P18 • WEDNESDAY,, MAY 23, 2018 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net

Oil tax freeze looms Palace vows to protect consumers from price hikes

$80

ON THE ROLL. Some 1,000 passengers are unloaded Tuesday by the Metro Rail Transit-3 after a door problem is detected—with the passengers able to board the next train after six minutes. The incident coincided with reports that Light Rail Manila Corp. is seeking a fare adjustment for Metro Manila’s oldest mass rail transit system.

PER BARREL

Sexuality doesn’t matter—Pope A SELF-CONFESSED victim of clerical sexual abuse has said that Pope Francis told him that God made him gay and that his sexuality “does not matter.” Next page

Opposition plans to impeach justices

By Maricel V. Cruz and Macon Ramos-Araneta THE members of the opposition in the House of Representatives said Tuesday they will file the impeachment complaint against the eight justices who voted in favor of the quo warranto petition removing Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno if the Supreme Court fails to render its final ruling on the issue.

They made their statement even as former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III on Tuesday rejected the claim his removal from his post was due to his signing the Senate resolution questioning Sereno’s ouster through the quo warranto proceedings.

Pimentel’s successor, Vicente Sotto III, said they could still tackle Sereno’s impeachment on the floor if the House transmits the articles of impeachment to the Senate.

But Sotto said their “hands are tied” as the House has yet to submit to them the articles of impeachment.

“If there are no articles of impeachment that will reach the Senate, there’s nothing we can do,” he said. Next page

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Until I see their bodies, I won’t believe they are dead.

—Marawi siege survivor Alma Tome said of her husband Rowel and the scores of other victims who remain missing a year after the invasion

Palace asserts: No territorial claim on SCS given up

By Rey E. Requejo MALACAÑANG on Tuesday assured the public that the Philippines will not give up any of its territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea amid China’s militarization of the contested area.

“Right now, our position is still the same: whatever happens there, no territory will be given. We will assert our rights and sovereignty on the maritime territory that is part of our exclusive economic zone,” Roque said in a Palace media briefing.

Roque said the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration decision is evi-

dence of the country’s sovereign rights on the islands and its maritime claims within the exclusive economic zone.

The tribunal ruled in 2016 that China’s nine-dash line map, which covers nearly the whole of South China Sea, has no legal basis.

Roque earlier said the Philippines had serious concerns over reports that China has landed combat aircraft, including a long-range H-6K bomber at an airfield of one of its reclaimed island in the South China Sea. China has denied the militarization allegations, saying the movement of the bombers was just part of the normal Chi-

STILL MISSING. In this photo taken on April 2, 2018, Alma Tome, accompanied by her son, shows a photo of her husband who is still missing one year after the Marawi siege, during an interview with AFP in Iligan City. Ten men from the same family vanished after jihadists stormed Marawi City in Lanao del Sur in May 2017— each day since their respective wives have prayed their bones to not lie strewn in some devastated landscape. AFP

nese military training in the South China Sea which Beijing claimed “are Chinese territories.”

Roque said the Philippines, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, is already addressing the deployment of Chinese military assets in the WPS. “I cannot understand why you are saying that we are not doing anything. It is not publicly announced by the DFA but we are doing something [on this issue],” Roque said.

He said the country is “quietly working” with its Association of Southeast Asian Nations neighbors, particularly Next page

Marawi rehab in full swing; Palace satisfied

By Francisco Tuyay and Maricel V. Cruz ON THE eve of the first anniversary of the Marawi siege, Malacañang said it was satisfied with the rate at which the city is being rehabilitated.

“We are satisfied. The President has full trust in General Del Rosario,” said Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque, referring to housing czar Eduardo del Rosario, who heads the task force that oversees the war-torn city’s rehabilitation.

On May 23, 2017, the Islamic Stateinspired Maute group terrorists seized control of areas of Marawi City. Five months later, government troops that led a protracted campaign to battle the terrorists declared they had taken back Next page the city.

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ALACAÑANG on Tuesday assured the public that measures will be in place to protect consumers from the incessant increase in oil prices, including the suspension of the excise tax on fuel once the trigger level of $80 per barrel becomes consistent for three months.

“Excise taxes will be suspended if they [oil prices] reach a certain amount, if I’m not mistaken, $80,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said in a Palace briefing, referring to a provision under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act. Roque made this statement after the local oil industry announced on Monday that it has raised gasoline prices by P1.60 per liter, diesel by P1.15 per liter and kerosene by P1 per liter—the second week in a row when pump prices went up by more than P1 per liter.

Data from the Senate committee on energy showed that from January to May, gasoline prices already increased

by P8.07/liter while diesel went up P8.95/liter.

Noting that Filipinos are already bearing the brunt of the price increases, Senate energy committee chairman Senator Sherwin Gatchalian warned that the administration must plan ahead “in the event that crude prices reach the $100-per-barrel threshold in the global market.”

World oil prices soared due to tight supply levels amid strong demand and geopolitical concerns, including a worsening crisis in Venezuela and worries about the US nuclear deal with Iran and sanctions on Tehran.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said the incessant increases are “being monitored closely” by the Department of Energy as this will impact on consumers’ spending power and will be “financially punishing” for all Filipinos.

On Monday, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia called for the faster processing of financial assistance to the public amid the “abrupt” and rapid rise in oil prices.

Next page

China rejects charges of sea ‘militarization’ BEIJING, China—Beijing hit back Monday at allegations it was “militarizing” the South China Sea after landing bombers at an airbase in the contested waters, accusing Washington instead of raising tensions with its own military footprint.

China on Friday for the first time landed several combat aircraft—including the long-range, nuclear strikecapable H-6K—at an island airfield in the sea, triggering international concern.

The move prompted immediate criticism from the US, with a Pentagon spokesman condemning China’s “continued militarization of disputed features in the South China Sea.” But China rejected concerns that the deployment had raised tensions in a region home to vital global shipping routes.

“The South China Sea islands are Chinese territories,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang told a regular briefing.

Lu said moving the bombers into the area was “part of the normal training for the Chinese military,” and that the US “sending its own warships and planes to the region... poses a danger to other countries.”

Friday’s takeoff and landing drills took place on Woody Island, according to Washington think-tank the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. Next page

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News

WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2018

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Duterte pressed on BBL draft as priority measure MALACAÑANG said Tuesday President Rodrigo Duterte will certify the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law as urgent “anytime soon.”

“The President promised to certify it,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque told reporters.

In other developments: The Senate has again asked Duterte to certify the BBL as urgent.

In a letter to the President, newly elected Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said the Senate intended to pass on third reading Senate Bill 1717, or “An Act Providing for the Basic Law for the Bangsamoro and Abolishing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao” before it goes to sine die adjournment on June 2.

“We are hoping for your usual support as we work for the prompt passage of this law,” Sotto and Zubiri said in the letter.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said Tuesday he was hopeful the controversial issues on the BBL would be resolved to the “satisfaction” of the stakeholders, and that the measure would be passed before Congress takes a break at the end of the month.

Alvarez made the statement after emerging from Tuesday’s closed-door meeting with the Bangsamoro Transition Commission and the government’s peace panel.

“The GRP has proposals and the BTC asked for three days so they can discuss these,” Alvarez said.

An administration lawmaker on Tuesday asked the three committees of the House of Representatives that consolidated and approved the Bangsamoro Basic Law bill to look into constitutional issues on some provisions of the measure.

“We should work together to make sure this bill is as airtight as possible as President Duterte’s administration has put much work and effort into this measure,” House deputy speaker and Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. said.

Roque said there was no assurance if the House of Representatives’ version of the bill would be certified by the President.

“I have not seen the text but if it is in conformity with what was agreed upon, then there should be no problem. The President should certify it,” Roque said.

He said there was no need for the President to meet with the House leaders.

PNA, with Macon Ramos-Araneta and Maricel V. Cruz

China...

From A1 The island is home to China’s largest base in the Paracel Islands, which are also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.

Hanoi slammed the drills and demanded Beijing “immediately cease” its military moves in the area, the foreign ministry said in a statement to AFP Monday.

The exercises “seriously violated Vietnam’s sovereignty... raising tensions (and) destabilizing the region,” it said.

Vietnam has long traded barbs with its communist neighbor over competing claims in the sea but tensions have risen in recent weeks.

Earlier this month Hanoi told Beijing to remove military equipment from the Spratly islands after CNBC reported it had installed anti-ship and surface-to-air missiles.

Soon after, the Vietnamese unit of Russian oil firm Rosneft said it started drilling

LRT...

From A1 Meanwhile, some 1,000 passengers were unloaded by the Metro Rail Transit-3 on Tuesday morning after a door problem was detected, according to private television report.

The southbound passengers were unloaded at the Araneta Center-Cubao station at 9:13 a.m., the Department of Transportation said in a tweet.

The passengers were able to board the next train after six minutes.

The DOTr said the door failure might have been caused by “stress on door components caused by leaning on the door or forcing it open.”

According to Alfonso, the fare increase was subject to public consultation and approval by the Department of Transportation.

Under the concession deal with the government, the fares could be adjusted by 10 percent every two years.

LRT1 fares were last adjusted in January 2015.

Commuters at present pay P15, P20, P30 per trip depending on the number of stations traveled.

Alfonso said the fare increase was for LRMC to “catch up” with the investments it made for the rehabilitation and other service improvements in the LRT1 for the past three years.

According to LRMC, its total capital investment including concession payments to date amounted to P10.5 billion.

If the government rejects the company’s request for fare adjustment, the LRMC chief said other options were laid out in the concession agreement.

Alfonso also cited several improvements LRMC made since it took over the operations and maintenance of LRT1.

The women of Marawi: Hoping against hope

By Ayee Macaraig

LIGAN―Ten men from the same family vanished after jihadists invaded the Marawi City a year ago, and each day since their wives have prayed their bones do not lie in its devastated landscape.

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The women have been told to accept their husbands were likely among the 1,200 killed in the five-month battle that flattened swathes of the city, but they refuse to move on until they know for sure.

“I am hoping he will come home. All of us are hoping they will return. Even if my family says I am crazy, I told them my husband will come back,” Melgie Powao said of her spouse Victor.

One year after the battle, reconstruction work is due to begin and the authorities say jihadists are far from mounting another such attack.

Yet, the families of the scores still missing are the overlooked victims of the Philippines’ deadliest confrontation with Islamists.

The fighting left behind hundreds of corpses, with more likely to be found in the conflict area that has yet to be completely cleared of unexploded bombs.

The Powao men―fathers and brothers, cousins and uncles―from neighboring Iligan city, were in Marawi for construction jobs when the clashes with Islamic State-aligned fighters broke out on May 23 last year.

In the fighting that ensued, government airstrikes on Marawi and house-to-house fighting left neighborhoods in ruins that have been compared to the battlegrounds in Syria or Iraq.

Only one of the Powao group―the 11th man―escaped and it was from him that the wives learned that an airstrike might have killed some of them, while the jihadists herded the others into a van.

“Until I see their bodies, I won’t believe they are dead,” 31-year-old Alma Tome said of her husband Rowel and the others.

The Powaos are among the 78 people officially listed as missing, though possibly

Powao

hundreds more disappeared.

Some families were hesitant to file reports out of fear they could be targeted by authorities hunting for anyone with links to jihadists.

Many of Marawi’s 200,000 residents fled their homes, including more than 10,000 people from the so-called “ground zero.”

However, so many explosives were left behind after the shooting stopped that even a year later thousands of residents have been allowed to visit―but not return to―their shattered homes. AFP

Tribunal probes wet, damaged ballots from CamSur

By Rey E. Requejo THE Supreme Court, acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, has started investigating the circumstances surrounding the wet and damaged ballots found from precincts in Camarines Sur during the ongoing revision of the votes in the vice presidential race in 2016.

The PET has been recounting the votes in the vice presidential race after former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. filed an election protest on June 29, 2016, claiming the camp of Leni Robredo, who won the race, cheated in the automated polls.

Robredo won the vice presidential race with 14,418,817 votes or 263,473 more than Marcos’ 14,155,344 votes.

The PET ordered an explanation from the municipal treasurers of the first four of several towns in Camarines Sur where the questioned ballots came from.

The PET gave the order even as the camp of Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday said

in a part of the sea also claimed by China.

Beijing responded by asserting its sovereignty over the area.

China claims almost all the South China Sea and has built a string of artificial islands in contested areas since 2013, installing an array of airbases, radar systems and naval facilities.

The Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia have competing partial claims.

The Philippines, which has largely backed off from the sea dispute under President Rodrigo Duterte, said Monday said it was taking “appropriate diplomatic action” over the bomber exercises.

Analysts said China’s latest move is a bold power play to bolster its territorial claims while rivals are divided and the US distracted

by North Korea.

The steady buildup of military assets in the waterway—believed to have significant oil and natural gas deposits—allows China to “influence its weaker neighbors in peacetime,” said Bonnie Glaser, a China expert

Marawi...

From A1 President Rodrigo Duterte, who declared martial law in response to the Marawi takeover, is set to visit the city to mark the first anniversary of the siege.

“The good news is that, as far as the residents are concerned, 70 percent of the residents have gone back to their homes. We have provided temporary or permanent homes to 70 percent of them,” Roque said.

This, he added, was good progress.

The spokesman said, however, that it would take more time to rebuild the main battle area, which came under heavy bombardment.

The commemoration of the Marawi siege started May 17 with a medical and dental mission and a peace caravan from the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Col. Romeo Brawner, commander of Joint Task Force Ranao, said the main battle zone is still a controlled area due to unexploded ordnance, but residents were allowed to return to their houses to salvage their personal belongings.

Brawner said about 85 percent of the total

Opposition...

From A1 Pimentel said his stand on Sereno’s removal had nothing to do with his replacement as Senate president.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said the House committee on justice will be compelled to hear their soon-to-be filed impeachment complaint, and that the case they would be filing against the high court justices will be “strong.”

“The only viable remedy and constitutional mode of holding justices accountable for their blunder is to remove them from office by impeachment,” Lagman said.

Magdalo Party-list Rep. Gary Alejano

a Commission on Elections official from Miagao, Iloilo, reported last year that several ballot boxes and their contents were destroyed due to rainwater coming from a hole on the roof of the warehouse where they were stored.

In a statement, the Office of the Vice President said in a report by election officer III Jessie Borro Jr. to Iloilo provincial election supervisor 4 lawyer Elizabeth Doronila, on Sept. 28, 2017, they discovered the gaping hole on the roof on July 15, 2017, while undertaking the transfer of ballot boxes to secure their integrity as ordered by the PET. The PET ordered the municipal treasurers to “explain within 10 days why the ballots were wet or damaged.”

The tribunal cited the reports it received from revisors involving wet and damaged ballots found in 11 clustered precincts in Bato, Sagñay, Garchitorena and Ocampo towns during the first 15 days of the recount from April 2 to April 17.

The PET said that since the wet and damaged ballots were unreadable, the revisors would have

to refer to the decrypted ballot images in counting those votes, but would do so after the revision of all the ballot boxes from the province.

The Tribunal also acknowledged that some ballot boxes were reopened after they were sealed, citing a ballot box found resealed without returning the broken security seal.

This was the first time the PET has confirmed the presence of wet or soiled ballots found in the many ballot boxes from Camarines Sur. The past seven weeks of the PET revision of votes has raised several questions.

Revisors have been finding wet ballot boxes, unused or excess ballots with shaded votes for Robredo, missing audit logs and missing voters’ receipts in Camarines Sur towns.

They also found ballots with what appeared to be cigarette burns on their edges and holes in the middle portion.

The same ballot box did not have accompanying election records like election returns, voter’s receipts and minutes of voting. With Rio N. Araja

at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

“Through the use of a large number of law enforcement ships, for example, it can pressure Vietnam and the Philippines not to unilaterally extract energy in waters that China claims jurisdictional rights,” she said.

“In wartime, China’s military assets on these islands will increase the risk to the US of intervening militarily.”

Despite the rhetoric, experts say little has been done to prevent China from solidifying its vast maritime claims.

Beijing has managed to weaken regional resistance by courting some members of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

While US warships have conducted “freedom of navigation” operations near Chineseclaimed features, they have not deterred Beijing.

The bombers were deployed while US President Donald Trump is focused on preparing for a summit with North Korean leader

Kim Jong Un next month.

“I think there is an obvious political motivation for the timing,” said Euan Graham, director of the international security program at the Australian think tank the Lowy Institute.

“Because the US is mainly engaged in the North Korea files... there is a window of opportunity where the US reaction is likely to be restrained.”

China’s foreign ministry has repeated denials that the region was being militarized, saying the islands belong to Beijing and the bombers were conducting “normal training.”

The latest exercises were “largely symbolic” and not a significant military development, Graham said.

To deploy from Woody Island, China would have to install logistics infrastructure to operate aircraft, refuel them, store weapons and house crews, he said.

“Just landing an aircraft doesn’t make it an operational space,” Graham said. AFP

barangays have already been cleared while military engineers continue to remove an estimated 70 unexploded bombs.

Despite the prevailing peace in Marawi City, Brawner said possible threats will not just vanish amid reports that terrorists were trying to recruit fighters again.

An opposition lawmaker, meanwhile, warned of massive land grabbing and government encroachment of ancestral lands in the reconstruction of Marawi City.

“One year after Marawi City was almost obliterated in the aftermath of the unremitting joint military-police offensive following the controversial declaration of martial law on May 23, 2017, the promised rehabilitation of Marawi has barely started,” Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said.

Lagman said the displaced Maranaos and other residents of Marawi City are mostly still homeless amidst the ruins of an improvident war.

“Maranaos fear that land ownership problems will lead to a) land grabbing; b) appropriation by the State of ancestral lands for government projects; and c) bank foreclosures of mortgaged properties,”

Lagman said. “These problems may further enflame extremism in the area,” he added.

“With the inadequate response of the Duterte administration, the seeds of rebellion and terrorism continue to germinate which gave the government the convenient excuse of imposing a yearlong extension of martial law in Mindanao,” he said.

Akbayan Party-list Rep. Tom Villarin, an oppositionist, echoed Lagman’s view.

He said “some enterprising individuals in cahoots with unscrupulous government officials involved in land titling may be able to have large tracts of land in Marawi City titled to themselves.”

In addition, Villarin said that in its effort to speed up the construction of houses for the displaced Marawi residents, the government may encroach on ancestral lands.

Also on Tuesday, the local governments of Lanao Sur and Marawi City welcomed the US government’s additional assistance package for families displaced by the recent six-month siege that has razed the city’s commercial center into what is now called the “ground zero.” With PNA

said it was the duty of legislators to ensure the checks and balance among the branches of government.

He said the only constitutional mode of holding the justices accountable was through impeachment.

“We strongly believe that the filing of an impeachment complaints against the justices is the only viable remedy to correct this mistake and save the integrity of the Supreme Court before the Filipino people,” Alejano said.

Akbayan Party-list Rep. Tom Villarin accused the eight justices of violating the Constitution and betraying the public trust for granting the quo warranto petition against Sereno, which he said encroached on Congress’ power to remove an impeachable official.

Sexuality...

From A1

Juan Carlos Cruz, a survivor of sexual abuse, spent three days with Pope Francis at the Vatican in April, in which he discussed his sexuality and the abuse he suffered at the hands of a Chilean priest.

Describing his encounter with the Pope to CNN, Cruz quoted the Pontiff as saying: “You know Juan Carlos, that does not matter. God made you like this. God loves you like this. The Pope loves you like this and you should love yourself and not worry about what people say.”

The Pope’s words would amount to a significant departure from the teaching of the

Oil...

From A1 “Unconditional cash transfers have to be more speedily disbursed to the 10 million poorest households and also the Pantawid Pasada,” he said.

Under the said program, the government will provide beneficiaries unconditional transfers worth P200 a month or P2,400 a year. The amount will be increased to P300 a month of P3,600 a year in 2019 and 2020.

The government will also provide jeepney drivers cash cards worth P2,200 a month under the Pantawid Pasada Program which aims to cushion the impact of higher excise taxes on oil products.

With the TRAIN Act in effect, prices of liquefied petroleum gas increased by P1 per liter, diesel by P2.50 per liter, and gasoline

by P2.65 per liter as a result of higher excise taxes.

In the House of Representatives, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the TRAIN was being “unfairly blamed” for the rise in consumer prices, saying it accounted for less than half a percentage point of the inflation rate in April.

This, he told the House committee on ways and means, meant that for every peso increase in prices, only 9 centavos can be attributed to the government’s tax program.

He said the sharp rise in prices can be attributed to higher oil prices as well as changes in currency exchange rates.

For his part, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said Package 2 of TRAIN—which would lower corporate income tax from 30 percent to 25 percent—might not be approved by the House before it goes on a break next week.

Palace...

From A1 those with similar claims like Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei to address the issue.

“We have already a common statement by insisting on Asean statement,” Roque said, referring to the Asean Declaration calling for China to heed on the non-militarization of the WPS. Roque said the Chinese military activities in the disputed territory will also be discussed in the Bilateral Consultative Mechanism meeting between the Philippines and China “probably” in June.

“But at the same time, we are moving on with our bilateral relations in which we can agree on something that is agreeable and set aside contentious issues for now,” he said.

Roque said when China built the artificial islands in the WPS, “we all know that it will be used for military bases and not for tourist attractions.”

He said President Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly said that what is happening in the WPS is a standoff between China and the Philippines’ longstanding ally, the US. “We will not join them but of course, we are concerned because we are also using the sea [WPS] for our livelihood,” Roque said.

Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday called on Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano to file a diplomatic protest against China.

Robredo disputed President Rodrigo Duterte’s view that the deployment of longrange bombers on Wood Island was no threat to the Philippines.

“That is security threat to the Philippines and the entire region because of the continued establishment [of China’s] structures at the islands there. Our Constitution prohibits the presence of any nuclear weapon in any part of the Philippines,” she said.

Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio also called on Malacañang to take action on the increasing militarization of China of the disputed areas in the South China Sea, which was branded as a “creeping invasion.”

In a statement released to the media on Tuesday, Carpio expressed alarm on the reports about the recent deployment by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force of China of H-6K long range bomber that can carry nuclear-armed cruise missiles on Woody Island.

Carpio said that the government must formally protest such action of China that he believed was an “encroachment on its sovereignty and sovereign rights.”

“Failure to formally protest means the Philippines is acquiescing or consenting to the militarization, and worse, to the claim of China that all the islands, waters and resources within the nine-dashed line form part of Chinese territory,” Carpio added.

A spokesman for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Col. Edgard Arevalo, said Philippine maritime and air patrols off the West Philippine Sea were ongoing despite the Chinese buildup.

“We continue to conduct air and maritime patrols in those areas and we feed everything that we monitor to our national leadership,” he said.

Arevalo also assured the public that the military will never renege on its constitutional obligation to help secure and defend the country’s territorial integrity.

With Rio N. Araja, PNA

Roman Catholic Church, which considers homosexuality “objectively disordered” and contrary to God’s law, according to CNN. Vatican spokesman Greg Burke told CNN on Monday: “We do not normally comment on the Pope’s private conversations.”

Fernando Karadima, the man who abused Cruz, was found guilty of abuse by the Vatican in 2011.

Last Friday, all the bishops in Chile offered their resignation to Pope Francis after a three-day emergency summit at the Vatican to discuss Chile’s sex-abuse scandal.

In total, 31 active bishops and three retired bishops announced in a statement that they had offered to resign over the scandal and place the issue “in the hands of the Holy Father so that he might freely decide for each one of us.”

News

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2018 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Boracay waste plants on stream

By Rio Araja

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HE Department of Environment and Natural Resources and major business groups in Aklan’s Boracay Island have partnered on the immediate construction of sewerage treatment plants in the area.

He said they would oblige resort owners and other establishments to address the water quality problem in the world-famous resort island.

The agreement was reached during a meeting between Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu and officials of Boracay Foundation Inc., along with the Boracay Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines and Filipino-Chinese Chamber Federation Iloilo, following the discovery of old drainage and septic tank, and several pipes discharging wastewater into the beach.

Both the DENR and Boracay businesses have committed to the strict implementation of Malay Municipal Ordinance No. 307 requiring establishments with 50 rooms and above to install their own sewerage treatment plants and allow the discharge of wastewater that pass “Class SB” standard to the existing drainage.

Class SB refers to waters that are fit for ecotourism and recreational activities, including swimming, bathing and diving.

Under the arrangement, establishments with 49 rooms and below may opt to construct cluster sewerage treatment plants with their neighboring establishments.

Boracay Island was ordered closed on April 26 for six months due to environmental woes.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources said Boracay Island’s reopening would depend on its water quality.

“Unless the water quality improved and compliant to our standard, I will not allow the reopening of Boracay,” he said.

“The construction of sewerage treatment plant is exempted from the construction moratorium effective May 19, 2018, the date when the agreement was signed,” Cimatu said.

Panel OKs P1.161-b supplemental budget

By Maricel V. Cruz THE House of Representatives’ committee on appropriations on Tuesday approved the proposed P1.161billion supplemental budget intended to provide medical assistance to 900,000 children injected with Dengvaxia vaccines.

At a panel hearing, chaired by Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, the proposed funding contained in House Bill 7449 will assist Dengvaxia patients who need medical care.

“I do not care if it is clinically related to Dengvaxia, for as long as the child is injected with Dengvaxia vaccine even if the illness is not Dengvaxia-related, we

will help them,” Nograles said.

The committee approved the bill after the Department of Health revised its earlier proposal where only a minuscule amount was allocated to the medical care aspect.

Nograles said the supplemental budget would be sourced from unused vials returned by French pharmaceutical company and Dengvaxia manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur to the government through its local distributor Zuellig Pharma.

Of the P1.161-billion budget, P945 million would be allotted to medical assistance program, or the health assistance fund for Dengvaxia vaccinees, including admitted patients in hospitals and outpatients.

According to DA Undersecretary Ariel Cayanan, it was actually Bangko Sentral Deputy Gov. Diwa Guinigundo, a member of the inter-agency NFA Council, who proposed to audit the “acquisition, down to the distribution” of the grain by the NFA. “We are talking here of food and food is a national security issue,” Piñol said, adding that if it was to him, he would not allow traders and middle men to “control” the supply chain.

“Where does the problem lie? Bakit hindi maramdaman ng publiko ang

Authorities intercept P11m worth of shabu

By Joel E. Zurbano

CHIP OFF OLD BLOCK. Three replicas of the ancient Filipino sailboat balangay

are docked at the Manila Yacht Club on Tuesday. The sailboats made history following a successful expedition through the South China Sea from Poro Point in La Union, Philippines to Xiamen, China. The voyage of the balangay to China commemorated the travel 600 years ago of Sultan Paduka Pahala of the Sultanate of Sulu to the Middle Kingdom. Sultan Paduka Pahala sailed to China in 1417 for a tribute mission but he died there and was buried in Shandong, China. Ey Acasio

DoJ chief backs revamp in JBC

By Rey Requejo

JUSTICE Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Tuesday backed the proposal of the consultative committee (Concom) on charter change to reorganize the Judicial and Bar Council.

Guevara, an ex-officio member of the constitutional body mandated to vet nominees to appointive posts in the judiciary and the Ombudsman office, stressed the reforms proposed by the Concom chaired by retired Chief Justice Reynato Puno appeared to be “a good idea.”

“A pro-active search will improve the quality of the men and women who will join our judiciary,” the Justice Secretary said in an interview.

“That would mean more work for the JBC, but with an expanded membership the council can do it,” he added.

Guevarra made the statement in response to the reported proposal of Concom to reorganize the JBC in its draft for a new constitution with a federal form

saganang ani ng Pilipino [Why can’t the public feel the bountiful harvest of Filipinos]? The food supply chain, from the farm to the market, has always been controlled by traders and middle men,” he said.

Piñol said he “commends” the NFA Council’s decision to audit the NFA, the state-run grains authority that is also part of the council.

Pinol said that as of the moment, the Philippines is roughly 96-percent selfsufficient in rice.

The DA chief said that the government is

of government.

A draft of the sub-committee on judiciary section of the constitution showed the proposed increase in membership of JBC from seven to 12.

Under the current constitution, the council has three ex-officio members —chief justice, secretary of justice and alternate terms of the justice committee chairs of the Senate and the House of Representatives—and four regular members from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, private sector, retired justices of the Supreme Court and the academe.

In the proposal of Concom, there will be nine ex-officio members—chief justice of the federal Supreme Court, presiding justice of the federal constitutional court, presiding justice of the federal administrative court, the Ombudsman, court administrator of the SC, representative from Congress, chairman of the Civil Service Commission, chairman of the Commission on Audit and the secretary of Justice.

GOVERNMENT agents reported intercepting another smuggled shipments of shabu worth more than P11 million at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

The two shipments, which the importers described as cabinet and pillow from California, USA, were uncovered based on the profiling of the Bureau of Customs-Naia examiners.

The parcels underwent X-ray examination, K9 dog sweeping, field test using a chemical identifier and reagent which all indicated the presence of illegal drugs.

Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña said the shipments weighing of 2,375.5 grams were estimated to be worth P11.87 million.

In a related development: • The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines declared 16 major airports under its supervision as drug-free facilities.

This, after 2,187 employees of these airports were tested negative during the drug testing conducted by the CAAP Office of the Flight Surgeon and Aviation Medicine from Feb. 7 to May 4 this year.

The agency’s Anti-Illegal Drug Testing Program is based on a March 7, 2013 memorandum which consists of provisions from Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Act of 2002, the Civil Service Commission’s memorandum circular 13 series of 2010 which calls for a drug-free workplace in the bureaucracy, and the Philippine Civil Aviation Regulation on Psychoactive Testing and Reporting.

CAAP spokesperson Eric Apolonio said the random drug tests were also in accordance with the agency’s mission of ensuring a safe, secure, and green Philippine skies.

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Opinion

WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2018

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Mahathir and Soros

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

Jewish-American of Hungarian descent He is known worldwide as a wizard in foreign currency trading where he built his empire and made billions of dollars.

ALEJANDRO He’s part-owner of China’s Hainan Airlines which flies the round trip Budapest DEL ROSARIO to Hainan non-stop route.

Aside from financial holdings in HainTHE return of Mahathir Mohamad as an Air, the 88-year-old Soros has investPrime Minister of Malaysia has to be ments in a thousand other global compaone of the greatest comebacks in po- nies. The list is too long to be included in litical history. Malaysians must know the space of this column. Soros, with a something about age not being a barrier net worth of $8 billion, has investments to national leadership. At age 92, Ma- ranging from banks, financing firms, hathir is back with vengeance. And no, real estate, food and beverage, etc. he’s not going after his enemies mainly I met Mahathir in Kuala Lumpur and for political reasons.

Soros in Budapest in the course of my Mahathir stepped out of retirement diplomatic stint. Both men possess magto implement a scorched-earth policy in netic personalities. cleaning up government corruption in his There are two sides to George Soros the country. The sight of five trucks hauling man. He is seen by many as a selfless phiaway luxury items from a Kuala Lumpur lanthropist but by some as a dangerous libcondominium owned by former Prime eral and a demagogue. From 1979 to 2011, Minister Najib Razak was a sight to behold. Soros donated an estimated $11 billion to Live mainstream coverage fed by Malay- foundations, universities, including a whole sian TV showed luggages and boxes of wing annex to the University of Budapest. luxury goods owned But fund transfers by his wife such as to poor countries jewelry and designer undergoing politihandbags Gucci, cal strife and armed Ferragamo and Birconflicts have raised Both men have kin. questions on Soros’ magnetic personalities.

Razak had been true intent. Is the inthe subject of whisfusion of funds into pered rumors of corthese countries in ruption among the conflict intended to people in a country where gossip is punish- get a foot in the door for his foreign compaable with a stiff penalty of fine and impris- nies? But why not? That’s business acumen to onment. But the truckloads of confiscated get your return on investment when there is expensive items owned by his wife proved blood on the streets. to be the smoking gun. Earlier there were Where does George Soros live? When allegations of Razak dipping his hand into you are fabulously rich you live everythe country’s coffers. The graft charges where. Soros is known to have residences were filed during the time Razak was bro- in the US, Switzerland, Paris, London, kering a peace settlement between former other parts of Europe, the Caribbean and President Noynoy Aquino and the Moro South America. Why not if you can afIslamic Liberation Front in Mindanao. As ford it and fly to these places in your own he was still in power, nothing came of the private jet plane? case against Razak. But for sure it will be a Mahathir had a close relationship different story now with Mahathir back at with former President Fidel V. Ramos. the helm in Malaysia.

The Malaysian-made car Proton was Mahathir was biding his time for his dra- introduced in the country, assembled matic comeback while Malaysians thought and sold here. But unfortunately comhe had quietly settled into retirement. This petition was too much from Japanese is a man known for his resolve in standing and Korean vehicles. up for what he believes in. Mahathir proved More importantly, will the peace neinternational financier George Soros wrong gotiations between the Philippine govin their feud several years back. Mahathir ernment and the MILF be fast-tracked if turned his country’s economy around and Mahathir is the honest broker? This is not Malaysia into a global player despite Soros’ to rule out the passage of the Bangsamdire prediction. oro Basic Law and the Philippine claim Soros, born Georgy Schwaertz, is a to Sabah.

BACK CHANNEL

T

Learning the lesson

HE US industrialist Henry Ford once said the only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing. By this token, the recent firing of a growing number of presidential appointees has given President Rodrigo Duterte ample opportunity to learn. nancial mischief—and the resignation of yet another Duterte supporter, Cesar Montano, from the Tourism Promotions Board.

Montano was at the center of a controversy involving the misuse of P80 million to sponsor a food tourism project called Buhay Carinderia with no concrete results to show.

In other instances, Mr. Duterte had appointed loyalists who were clearly unqualified for their new positions. The many embarrassing blunders emanating from the Presidential Communications Operations Office are proof positive that loyalty does not guarantee competence.

On many recent occasions, the President has expressed disappointment that those he has had to fire over graft and corruption were friends who supported him during the last campaign.

“What is painful, most that I have dismissed are the very same people who urged me [to run] in

The lesson isn’t earthshaking, and it should be apparent to most, but Mr. Duterte, given his unorthodox bent, must have felt that he was somehow exempt from the commonly held truism that patronage politics does not benefit the people.

In his early days in office, Mr. Duterte unabashedly and unapologetically said he aimed to reward friends and allies who had supported him during his presidential campaign by appointing them to key government posts.

That has clearly not worked out all that well.

Earlier this month, Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo, whose family were strong Duterte supporters, resigned after a Commission on Audit report showed that P60 million in her department’s funds went to a TV show produced by her brother, Ben Tulfo.

Teo’s fall from grace and the appointment of a career public servant has uncovered more fi-

the first place. They went back and forth in Davao, to egg me (to run),” the President said.

We were pleased to hear the frank acknowledgement, but puzzled when he again came to the defense of sacked Customs commissioner Nicanor Faeldon, who is facing charges for allowing P6.4 billion worth of shabu to get past Customs. Despite the criminal case pending against him, Faeldon has been reappointed to the Office of the Civil Defense.

Mr. Duterte says he believes Faeldon is honest, and that he was merely hoodwinked by the drug syndicates. That assessment hardly inspires public confidence in Faeldon, as it casts serious doubts on his competence.

The word that has disappeared from public discourse of late is meritocracy, which is government by people selected on the basis of their ability—not who they know or who they supported in the last election.

For all our sakes, we hope the President truly learns from his mistakes, and stops punishing the people with appointees who are corrupt, incompetent or both.

Resistant to what?

Process Secretary Ging Deles.

I was also reliably informed that actor Dantes has opted not to join the prospective opposition slate, and is instead eyeing a congressional seat somewhere.

LITO So too is another name being bandied BANAYO about, QC mayor Herbert Bautista, who has decided to run for a congressional seat instead.

IN our article in this space last May 16 So it is not as if the “opposition” is not entitled “Forming an opposition slate,” without any personalities to form a senawe wrote about the personalities being torial ticket. considered for the senatorial ticket of the But something bothers me about the opposition. name they have tagged their band with: Yesterday, LP President Senator Kiko the “resistance” ticket. So easy to corPangilinan named the first six members rupt. Resistant to change easily comes of their senatorial ticket for 2019: reelec- up. tionist Senator Bam Of course the Aquino, Rep. Gary opposition has deAlejano, former fined their resistQuezon Cong. Erin ance to certain perTañada, DLSU proOf course the ceived “evils” of fessor Chel Diokno, the present adminopposition has defi ned former Akbayan istration, but then Party-list congress- their resistance to again, as things man Barry Gut- certain perceived stand, it looks like ierrez, and if she a great majority of agrees, telenovela ‘evils’ of the present Filipinos believe actress Agot Isidro. administration, but that change has All the names then again, as things come. And while mentioned were certain problems in our May 16 list, stand, it looks like still linger, people which makes my a great majority of are convinced that “reliable” sources these are tempoFilipinos believe that very, very reliable. rary, and that the Of course, we change has come.

President is sinmentioned some cerely doing his other names: former best to resolve the CJ Hilario Davide same. of Cebu, former CJ In any case, the political season is just Meilou Sereno, former DSWD Secre- around the corner. Abangan na lang ang tary Dinky Soliman, former presidential mga susunod na kabanata. spokesman Edwin Lacierda, movie actor Dingdong Dantes, Jim Paredes and *** Leah Navarro, both active in the BlackIn the City of Manila, the mayoralty and-White movement. Possibly Gina tussle next year will be something for Lopez, the DENR secretary-designate the Guinness almanac of the unusual. “dis-appointed” by the Commission on There is the present mayor, former Appointments. And I learned the other President Joseph Ejercito Estrada, who day, Muslim activist Samira Ali Gutoc Turn to A5 who was nominated by former Peace

SO I SEE

My friend Ed VIRTUAL REALITY TONY LOPEZ YESTERDAY, Tuesday, May 22, the longest serving post-1986 senator and the most reformist Filipino legislator, Edgardo J. Angara was laid to rest in his native Baler, Aurora, at rites fit for a national hero. Which he was.

Ed or EdJA improved the social fabric and national welfare in vital areas like education, agriculture, business, the economy, health, home financing,

and senior citizenship with his landmark ra’s signature and vision. pieces of legislation.

He also promoted deeper PhilippineMany of the laws with far-reaching Spain relations, and his Aurora home and profound impact today bear Anga- province as the next major tourism and investment destination.

Ed died on the morning of May 13 at 83, on an apparent heart attack. He woke up at 7 a.m. in his Tagaytay farm house, Many of the laws went back to sleep, and then was found not breathing anymore at 10 a.m. with far-reaching and As a legislator, Angara made his name profound impact today through landmark pieces of legislation on education, agriculture, healthcare bear Angara’s signature and social welfare, culture and the arts, and vision. economy and financial system development, science and technology, and good Turn to A5 Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher

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Opinion The rise(s) CROSSROADS

JONATHAN DE LA CRUZ YES, we are talking here of the visit of President Duterte and senior members of his Cabinet to Casiguran, Aurora to send off our exploration team to the Philippine Rise a.k.a. Benham Rise, the undersea plateau on the Pacific side of the archipelago extending from the tip of Isabela in Northern Luzon to the northern parts of the Bicol region.

The Rise, which has been declared part of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone and is under our full control and sovereignty, is reportedly a trove of resources which, if properly exploited, can provide food, energy, jobs and other benefits not only to us but to the world.

This is why the Duterte administration has taken steps to ensure that The Rise will be properly explored and its development securely maximized—an undertaking which will require the cooperation of all the best minds, technology and capital providers the world can offer.

The good thing about The Rise is there are no other claimants to it. It is securely and internationally recognized as ours. So we can plan and develop it accordingly.

But, as some members of the exploration group advised, we can only hope to maximize such development if we cooperate with other countries to, first, gather all the needed data to determine its potentials and, perhaps more importantly, develop the development cooperation framework within which countries and organizations of goodwill can participate.

That is where the newly created authority manned by key technical personnel of the concerned agencies such as the Departments of Environment and Natural Resources, Agriculture, Energy, Science and Technology and the National Economic and Development Authority among others, together with the best academics we can “coopt” for the purpose will have to come it.

Now that the Duterte administration has taken this course, it is hoped that the critics including the most vociferous ones in the Senate will take heed and ensure that the research and development efforts will not be derailed by unwarranted speculation and baseless accusations.

*** But there is another Rise which the Duterte administration should take special attention to. I refer to the creeping increases being imposed by all kinds of traders and service providers on our already burdened consumers using the just-passed TRAIN Law as the reason. There is the impending increase in gasoline prices which can actually be tempered, if the economic managers are so minded, by having the increase tax take on gasoline products imposed incrementally.

Then there is the expected increase in power rates which the Energy Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy should review before agreeing even to a one centavo increase. As some consumer groups have long advised, these government agencies and, of course, the consumers are being taken for a ride by the power oligarchs who

There are no other claimants to this undersea plateau.

have taken over the power industry both generation to distribution as a result of the rush to privatization implemented by the Aquino (I and II) and Ramos administrations. We will not tackle here the privatizations and other contortions done during the first Aquino and Ramos administrations as the saga of these irregular and immensely anti-people operations have long been chronicled not just in thousands of articles and researches but in the sufferings of millions of our people who have to bear with the billions upon billions of unwarranted increases imposed by the privatization spree during those times.

Those involved in these questionable operations have to deal with the consequences if not at this time perhaps in some other place and time.

Instead, we will take the case of the privatization of the 106-MW Mt. Apo geothermal power plant last 2015 under the Aquino II administration as it was the fruit of a creative but highly irregular and illegal privatization scheme.

First, let us take a look at the energy charge before and after privatization.

Before privatization the energy charge per kilowatt hour was P3. After the privatization, the total power (energy) generation charge passed on to power cooperatives (who, by the way, imposed their own distribution charges thus further burdening consumers which should be another story) skyrocketed to P5 and 18 centavos per kilowatt hour (P5.1827/ kwh). And it was approved by the ERC? Wow! That P5.1827/kwh was arrived at in this manner: energy charge— P3.034/ kwh plus winning bidder’s (Aboitiz) administration fee, P0.1377/kwh (P105.17 million per year) plus winning bidder’s recovery of highest premium, P2.011/kwh or,P128M/mo or P1.5B/yr annual payment to government for a total charge of P5.1827/ kwh. This creative scheme was authorized by ERC on May 11, 2015 in ERC Case No. 2015-035.

Why is it creative, irregular and illegal. First, this was the first privatization which did not require the bidder to put up cash up front as its payment for the government asset it is taking over.

Instead, the ERC approved a scheme where government will be paid out of the increase of the power rate (P2.011/ kwh) per month. In other words, “niluto ng administration para lutuin ang consumers sa sariling mantika/pawis”. The Aboitiz Group managed to take over the facility by just offering this creative bid which, of course, creatively eliminated other potential bidders.

This is the reason why there was really no public bidding at all as the ERC allowed itself through a contemptuous privatization offer (instead of a public bid with publicly advised terms of reference) with Aboitiz presumably coming out with such a creative scheme.

In other words, there was no competitive determination of the lowest service rate to be offered at privatization which should have been, at least, the mode for such an undertaking if the administration at that timer was really intent in protecting the consumer. Which it did not.

And this is just one of hundreds of other deals during the Aquino II regime which now has to be looked into by the Duterte administration if it hopes to bring back consumer confidence in its management of the economy and of the lives of the millions who continue to suffer under this continuing regime of anti-people privatization.

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just turned 81 last April 19, and will be 82 during the campaign. There is returning Mayor Fred Lim, who unless I am wrong by a year or two, should be 90 years old. And Buhay Party-list representative, also a former three-term Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, who will turn 77 by August.

A septuagenarian, an octogenarian, and a nonagenarian.

Nothing wrong with age. Good wine becomes better with age. And think of Malaysia, which just elected into power their 92-year-old former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

But challenging the senior citizens will be former vice mayor Francisco

Domagoso, popularly known as Isko Moreno, his screen name which he adopted as well as political nom de guerre. He should be in his fifties, about the same age, I suppose, as Cesar Montano, the hot-off-the-press resigned Tourism Promotions Board COO. This will be fun. *** President Rodrigo Duterte seems to be in a “firing” mood.

Tapos na ang bayad-utang, Palace sources say.

After that assistant secretary of the Department of Transportation who

was so full of himself, and the Tourism Promotions chief who resigned right after a meeting with the President in Davao City, there will be more. Or so I am reliably told.

One is a lawyer who is being rejected by his entire agency’s career personnel.

“Isinusuka” is the ter m the person nel describe how they loathe him.

There will be lesser officials, defined as below cabinet level and below critical GOCC level. Everyone in government, excepting a very few, are in “tenterhooks,” a word the President likes to use.

Citizens Law is, in fact, known as the Angara Law. About 8 million have graduated from courses offered by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, an Angara brainchild. Combined with free high school, Tesda has become an effective social mobility measure which may partly explain why the Philippines has been so dynamic.

Angara also authored the Agricultural and Food Modernization Act of 1997, the Pag-IBIG Law that finances home purchases, the Data Privacy Act, the Cybercrime Prevention Act, the Biofuels Act, the Renewable Energy Law, the Real Estate Investment Trust Law, the Personal Equity and Retirement Account Act, Credit Information System, repeal of the Central Bank Act, and of course, the APECO Law, among many others.

Because of the Bangko Sentral, the Philippines’ became only two banking systems in the world with a positive credit rating from Moody’s.

To fight graft, Angara authored the Ombudsman Law and the Procurement Reform Law. With the return of democracy in 1986, Angara was first elected into the Senate in 1987, serving for five years till 1992.

He sought reelection and served until 1998. That year, he sought the vice presidency, of Joseph Ejercito Estrada, but lost. He then served in the Estrada

cabinet, first as agriculture secretary, May 1999 to Jan. 5, 2001, and later as executive secretary, Jan. 6 to 20, 2001.

In 1987 when Angara first became senator, he winced at “rampant poverty, illiteracy, crime, and economic stagnation hounded the country, the foremost challenges a renascent Congress had to address head on.”

He served a total of four terms in the Senate—once as Senate president—and some nine years in various other capacities in the Executive Department as well as a term as president of the University of the Philippines. He retired in 2013 elated that “the seeds of reform have borne fruit, and committed leadership is making the yield all the richer.”

EdJA wore many hats in his life—lawyer, educator, farmer, banker, patron of the arts.

But being a lawmaker, he said, allowed him to channel multifaceted interests and experiences toward meaningful work that made a difference in the lives of our countrymen.

On the economic front, Angara also authored the Agricultural and Food Modernization Act of 1997, the PagIBIG Law that finances home purchases, the Data Privacy Act, the Cybercrime Prevention Act, the Biofuels Act, the Renewable Energy Law, the Real Estate Investment Trust Law, the Personal Equity and Retirement Account Act, Credit

WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2018

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mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Wrongful imprisonment sheds light on slow justice in Pakistan

By Ashraf Khan ASMA Nawab spent two decades in jail, wrongfully accused of murdering her family. Finally acquitted, she is seeking a new life, free from whispers and memories, as her plight draws fresh questions over Pakistan’s woeful justice system.

Nawab was just 16 years old when someone slit the throats of her parents and only brother during an attempted robbery at their home in Pakistan’s chaotic port city of Karachi in 1998.

With the killings dominating headlines, prosecutors pushed for swift justice in a 12-day trial that ended with a death sentence handed to Nawab and her then-fiance.

The next 20 years were “very painful,” Nawab, now 36, says tearfully.

At first the other inmates were skeptical at her protests of innocence, but eventually she formed a new “family” of women—some convicted of kidnappings, others of murders.

They supported one another when progress on their cases was poor, or family neglected them.

“We would cry on Eid and other festivals... It was very painful. I would feel it intensely” when relatives failed to visit, she said through sobs. “Only once my uncle came to see me.”

Though her trial was speedy, her appeal moved at a glacial speed through Pakistan’s creaky justice system.

It was not until 2015 that her lawyers petitioned the Supreme Court, which—after a three-year hearing— ordered Nawab released due to lack of evidence last month.

“The verdict of this case was given in 12 days but it took 19 and a half years to dispose of the appeals,” her lawyer Javed Chatari told AFP. Nawab said the acquittal left her stunned. “I really couldn’t believe it,” she told AFP. The verdict left her “perplexed,” she said, and she struggled to understand what would come next. “How would I face the world after living so long in jail?”

Judicial woes Stories like Nawab’s are common in Pakistan, where the judiciary lacks the capacity to cope with the country’s surging population and an expanding case load, resulting in a mammoth backlog.

In 2017 alone, there were more than than 38,000 cases pending in Pakistan’s Supreme Court in addition to hundreds of thousands awaiting trial across the judiciary, according to a Human Rights Commission Pakistan report released in April.

Rampant corruption in Pakistan’s police force also means the wealthy are able to bypass the law, while deep-seated patriarchy means women in particular face an uneven playing field in the justice system.

“Unequal power structures allow for people with advantage—money or power—to rise above the law. For the poor, the system is sluggish and sometimes is so weak that it is safe to label it as almost non-existent,” said lawyer Benazir Jaoti, who specializes in women’s legal and political empowerment in Pakistan.

“Within the system, women are one of the groups of people that are significantly disadvantaged, it being a patriarchal society and a patriarchal system.”

Even when the system finally comes through, as it did with Nawab’s acquittal, that is usually as far as it goes, leaving those whose lives have been dismantled to repair the damage with little or no support.

Going home again Nawab has had little to return to since leaving Karachi’s central prison in early April.

With her loved ones dead, her family house was looted then fell into disrepair.

Any potential compensation from the state will take time to process, her lawyer admits, acknowledging there’s a high chance she will receive nothing. In the meantime, she is unemployed.

During her first visit back to her humbl e family home she quietly wept as her lawyer broke the gate’s lock with a hammer. “(The police) left nothing behind,” she said after walking through the dilapidated house covered in dust and cobwebs.

“I lost my parents and now I see none of their belongings.”

Nearly two decades after being convicted, Nawab still holds the media as much as the courts responsible for her treatment, saying she was unfairly portrayed as the culprit in the murders, including in a TV drama based on the case.

Although she has been exonerated, her release has done little to change the public narrative.

Persecution persists, Nawab says, with people in the streets frequently whispering cold remarks when she walks past.

“Society will not accept the verdict,” agreed Supreme Court lawyer Mohammad Farooq, commenting on the case. “She cannot get rid of this stigma as far as society is concerned.”

But Nawab says she must move on and has plans to finish her studies and find a job.

She has also vowed to raise awareness for other wrongly imprisoned women. Her lawyer says he will help her set up an NGO to give women like her the support she never had.

“I don’t want any other woman to have to endure the ordeal that I lived through,” says Nawab.

“So I will raise their voices for them.” AFP

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governance.

PhilHealth extends free health care to 97 million beneficiaries, (92 percent of the population), enabling Filipinos to enjoy better medical care and more broadly, than Americans under Obamacare.

Free high school education benefits over 7.9 million Filipinos.

The 15th Congress, Angara recalled to me once, “was a watershed for education reform. We provided access to early childhood care and development programs (Early Years Act), created a well-rounded learning environment for Filipino students (Kindergarten Education Act), and started to make basic education on par with the best in the world (Enhanced Basic Education Act or ‘K to 12’).”

As a legislator, Angara endeavored to meet a nation’s aspirations through landmark pieces of legislation on education, agriculture, healthcare and social welfare, culture and the arts, economy and financial system development, science and technology, and good governance.

Angara sought to promote teaching as a profession—a most noble one, in fact—through the Philippine Teachers Professionalization Act. More than seven million senior citizens enjoy tax-free perks on food and many essentials, including free movies, free parking, and exemption from colorcoding in places like Makati. The Senior

Information System, repeal of the Central Bank Act, and of course, the APECO Law, among many others.

In retirement, Ed went back to his first love—Baler, the land of his birth and childhood dreams, and to the land, which had nurtured him as a boy, sent him to school, and jump-started his professional life.

Angara wanted Baler to be famous again, which is what it was originally famous for, as a bustling port servicing the Mexico-Acapulco galleon trade. Baler would be the service city to Casiguran, 115 kms further north.

Casiguran hosts what is called Apeco —Asia Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport.

Apeco is dreamt of as the Gateway to the Pacific.

As a barefoot boy growing up in Baler, on the distant and rugged Pacific coast of Luzon, Angara could not have anticipated these positions he served in and opportunities to serve the people, except in his wildest dreams.

The Angaras had always been a family of farmers and fishermen. An ancestral farm of 20 hectares provided the family their basic needs, rice, coconut, fruits, vegetables. Back in the 1940s-50s, Baler didn’t have a market. So people produced their needs themselves.

Schooling for Ed was difficult. He had to walk miles to school daily. He didn’t

mind the hardship and taught himself the discipline of reading, reading, reading.

Baler had no high school so Ed went to relatives in Marikina and San Juan for his secondary education.

Ed graduated high school valedictorian which enabled him to enter the University of the Philippines. He was the only student from Baler at UP Law. He finished law in 1958. His sister, Bellaflor, five years younger, would follow Ed to UP Law. In 1962, Ed got the one-year DeWitt Law Scholarship at the University of Michigan.

Returning from Michigan in 1964, Ed was recruited by lawyer-technocrat Rafael Salas to help the presidential candidacy of Ferdinand E. Marcos who would be president for 20 years, 14 under martial rule which was good for lawyering.

Ed would be elected delegate to the 1971 Constitutional Convention and set up the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law which would be the largest not only in the Philippines but also in the rest of Asia. At its peak, ACCRA had 150 lawyers. The largest Philippine corporations and foreign multinationals were its top tier clients.

It is politics and legislation that Angara would carve a bigger name and leave a lasting legacy. biznewsasia@gmail.com

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2018 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Budget officer admits he ‘kept’ SAF troopers’ P37-m allowance

IN BRIEF SC issues ruling on writ of amparo

By Macon Ramos-Araneta THE former budget officer of the PNPSpecial Action Force on Tuesday admitted that he kept P37 million of undisbursed additional subsistence allowance of SAF troopers.

In his testimony during the Senate public order commitee hearing on the alleged illegal withholding of SAF allowance, former SAF budget officer Senior Supt. Andre Dizon said the funds remained in his custody even after he was relieved from SAF. "It’s in my custody sir after we were relieved from SAF sir," Dizon said.

Dizon said he carried the money for months alone as the SAF apparently still did not immediately have a replacement for him as a budget officer.

When questioned by Senator Panfilo Lacson whether he asked his superiors before the move, he admitted that he had done it without the instruction of his immediate boss, embattled former SAF chief Director Benjamin Lusad.

Dizon insisted the decision to keep the money in his custody was his discretion because SAF apparently did not have a replacement for him yet.

But Lacson wuld not buy the alibi of Dizon. “It’s hard to believe that you kept in your custody such amount of money,” Lacson told Dizon The senator then asked Dizon why the allowances for February to December 2016 were only released in lump sum in May 2018.

“The committee would like to find out where the P37 million came from.

Kung hindi nagkaroon ng threat, hindi mare-release ’yung lump sum [where did the P37 million come from. If there was no threat, probably the lump sum was not released],” he said.

Lacson said SAF troopers who engage in life-threatening police operations are supposed to receive ASA amounting to P30 per day, which translates to P900 per month.

Former SAF officials, including Dizon and Director Lusad, are facing charges before the Office of the Ombudsman for the alleged misuse of P59.8 million worth of allowances of SAF commandos.

In April, Dizon returned the P37 million, which he said represents the undisbursed allowances from 2016 to 2017.

Lacson asked where did the P37 million come from after he was told that the SAF allowances were used for the organized messing of SAF troopers deployed at the National Bilibid Prison.

HEALTHY LIFESTYLE. The husband and wife-tandem of fitness gurus and PHA Healthy Lifestyle Ambassador Jim and Toni Saret together with PHA officials and members pose for photos during the 49th PHA Annual Convention & Scientific Meeting held at Edsa Shangri-La Hotel,Mandaluyong City. Manny Palmero

CoA flags IA for delayed P18-m branding campaign T

By Rio N. Araja

HE Commission on Audit has chided the Department of Tourism's Intramuros Administration for the delayed implementation of an P18-million branding campaign project dubbed “Promise and Possibilities in Intramuros” in 2016.

In an annual financial audit, CoA said the IA sat on the P18-billion budget for two years.

Calling the attention of the IA, state auditors flagged it twice in 2016 and 2017.

At the end of 2017, only P450,112 out of the P18 million had been utilized by the IA to buy 30 memo pads with the Intramuros logo, six boxes of file envelopes and bond papers with the same Intramuros logo.

A portion of the money was also used to mount an exhibit of El Museo del Prado En Filipinos.

The DoT gave the IA an P18-million budget to fund the project Promise and Possibilities in Intramuros in January 2016 in a bid to attract business operators

to invest in the walled city.

"It is projected that an increase in tourism investments in Intramuros will generate substantial growth in tourism revenues and employment, directly benefiting the local communities, while incentivizing the revitalization of its surrounding environs and the entire City of Manila,” the audit report read.

The branding campaign was supposed to be completed in September 2016, by the end of the year, only 1.97 percent of the total budget was spent on the memo pads and bond papers, one printer, a Christmas display and a printer.

In 2017, the branding campaign was revised with new breakdowns and components.

“It was noted that the creative process on the production of materials and preparation of documents required for the procurement process had just been started on the last quarter of [2017] upon the receipt of the approved revised project components by the Secretary of DoT,” the report stated.

On Oct. 6, 2017, the IA came out with a new blueprint of the branding campaign.

According to CoA, “despite the availability of funds, none of the project components were completed/accomplished as at year-end."

The IA had failed to pursue the project amid CoA's appeal and the availability of the funds.

The audit report showed the project was only able to produce memo pads and bond papers at the end of 2017.

None of the project components— P6.83 million for events and special projects, P4.5 million for branding materials, P3 million for an online campaign, P2 million for walking tour brochures and maps and P765,887.81 for other print materials—were achieved.

Joma, wife to receive P1.2m each as victims of martial law FROM fugitives to millionaires.

Jose Ma. Sison, founder and longtime leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines and wife Julie de Lima, will receive a windfall of P1.2 million, as reparation from the government as human rights victim during the martial law years.

Sison said he was told that he and his wife will receive P1.2 million each for their detention and torture by government agents under the then late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

"The remittance has been made to the bank account of Julie. We are instant peso millionaires. She got P1.2 [million] and I got P1.2 [million]," the 79-year-old Sison said.

Sison has been in exile in The Netherlands since 1987.

"Whatever is the amount, the important thing is that the Philippine government accepted that violations of human

rights occurred," he added.

Reparation is guaranteed under a landmark law in 2013 which “heroism and sacrifices" of human rights victims under Marcos.

But according to Lina Sarmiento, head of the Human Rights Victims' Claims Board, only 14 percent of the total 75,749 claimants will receive reparation because the others failed to prove that they were victims of gross human rights violations.

The money for martial law victims came from the P10-billion Swiss bank deposits recovered from the Marcoses.

Interest from the said amount will be used to put up a museum.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government has recovered P170 billion or about $3.4 billion in ill-gotten wealth including jewelry, art, and other assets from the Marcos family.

INQUIRY. Senator Panfilo Lacson (left), chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, shares a light moment with PNP chief Dir. Gen. Oscar Albayalde and BuCor chief Ronald dela Rosa prior to the start of an inquiry into the alleged illegal Withholding of Daily Subsistence Allowance and Explosive Ordinance Disposal Hazardous Pay alloted to the members of the PNP-Special Action Force troopers amounting to P59.8 million. Ey Acasio

Davao City quizzed on P569.38-m ‘expenditure’

By Rio N. Araja and F. Pearl A. Gajunera THE Commission on Audit has questioned the P569.38-million expenditure of the Davao City government without supporting documents and with inconsistencies with the Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act. In a 2017 annual audit report, state auditors said Davao City's P486.34-million inventory balance was of "doubtful validity."

Based on accounting records, CoA said the book of balances included P124.13 million worth of construction materials inventory and office supplies inventory at P69.5 million.

It added that the city government was not able to submit a summary of supplies and materials issued, authority to drop from the books and complete physical count of inventory items.

"We have observed that most of the account balances were composed of supplies

and materials that were already consumed.

These were mostly in the prior years, which were not dropped from the books due to nonsubmission of SSMIs," the audit report read.

The Commission said 93 percent of the P12.79-million balance in the food supplies inventory were already consumed as early as 2010, while only P6.26 million out of the general fund of the construction materials inventory remained unutilized.

"The foregoing conditions resulted to the overstatement of the Inventory and Equity accounts while understating the corresponding expense accounts, thus affecting the reliability of reported inventory balances in the financial statements," it added.

Sara Duterte-Carpio, presidential daughter, is the mayor of Davao City.

CoA assailed the authenticity of P13.58 million worth of transactions for the procurement of supplies for public elementary and secondary schools in the city for absence of

accomplishment receipts for procurement and distribution list signed by the beneficiaries.

It called the attention of Davao City's local school board for its alleged failure to identify the intended beneficiaries of at least 50 units of air-condition units at P1.46 million and 50 units of projectors at P1.25 million.

"This deficiency encourages a higher susceptibility to bias if the selection of beneficiaries happens only during the implementation stage.

The lack of documentation might also indicate misappropriations of property," CoA said.

Other observations done by CoA were the P10.18-million procurement of 300 Acer Veriton computer units, P400,000 purchase of 50 Epson printers and P212,750 acquisition of of Microsoft Office Home and Student 2016 software that were not delivered to the intended public schools,(P212,750.50) failed to be delivered to its intended public school-beneficiaries, and lack of information on the city government's P69.46million infrastructure projects.

THE Supreme Court has sustained the ruling issued by the Court of Appeals that granted the petition for the issuance of the writs of amparo and habeas data in favor of a human rights lawyer who claimed that he is being tagged as “Red lawyer” by law enforcers.

In a 21-page decision, the SC’s First Division through Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin dismissed the petition filed by officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police seeking the reversal of the appellate court order.

The high court ruled that the appellate court did commit error in giving weight to lawyer Maria Catherine Dannug-Salucon’s proof even if it supposedly consisted of circumstantial evidence and hearsay testimonies.

Salucon, who is a member of the National Union of People’s Lawyer in the province of Isabela, filed a petition for writs of habeas data and amparo in April 2014 before the CA after she received information that she was placed under surveillance by the military and tagged as a “Red lawyer.” Rey E. Requejo

JV warns vs collapse of PH health system SENATOR JV Ejercito, chairman of the Senate health committee, yesterday warned of a collapse of the country’s health system if the apparent financial mismanagement within the agency continues following reports of P8 billion losses.

“We are so dependent [on PhilhHealth]. We have only one source unlike in other countries. In Thailaind, they have three health insurances. But here in our country, we only have one health insurance which is PhilHealth so we have to make sure that our finances are fixed,” explained Ejercito.

Ejercito also raised the possibility of a mafia or a syndicate inside PhilHealth. after it reported an unaudited loss of nearly P9 billion last year.

"The situation in PhilHealth is akin to the housing sector fiasco.

Was there a mafia in PhilHealth? I hope not, but the multi-billion loss is more than a mismanagement issue and lack of leadership," he said.

Macon Ramos-Araneta

Ex-Zambo solon charged with graft THE Ombudsman has filed a graft case against a former lawmaker from Mindanao and several agriculture department officials for their alleged involvement in the fertilizer fund scam in 2004.

The Ombudsman filed one count of violation of Section 3(e) of the Antigraft and Corrupt Practices Act against former Rep. Isidoro Real Jr. of Zamboanga del Sur at the Sandiganbayan.

Charged with Real are then-Department of Agriculture Western Mindanao regional executive director Oscar Parawan, DA regional chief administrative officer Abundio Bernardo Jr., supervising agriculturist Samuel Simbajon, chief accountant Ma. Perlice Socorro Julian, and regional cashier Maribel Abdulbari.

Real and his co-accused allegedly gave unwarranted benefits to Masaganang Ani Para sa Magsasaka Foundation Inc. for the implementation of the former lawmaker's Farm Implements Program.

Maricel V. Cruz

Arraignment of fratmen deferred

By Rey E. Requejo A MANILA City regional trial court has deferred the arraignment of the 10 Aegis Juris fraternity members who had been charged for their involvement in the fatal hazing of law student Horacio "Atio" Castillo III pending the resolution of an appeal filed by at least one of the accused before the Department of Justice.

The accused, clad in orange shirts marking them as detainees at the National Bureau of Investigation, appeared before the Manila City RTC, Branch 20, on Tuesday morning, but will not be formally read of the charges until July 24.

The accused immediately left the court after the court formally announcement the postponement of the arraignment.

Only accused Ralph Trangia has filed a

petition for review before the Office of the Justice Secretary seeking to reverse the resolution of the investigating prosecutors who found probable cause to indict the Aegis fratment in court for violation of the Anti-Hazing Act of 1995.

Castillo's parents and his sister also attended the hearing.

While the arraignment will be delayed, Atio's father, Horacio Jr., said the family was satisfied with the pace of their quest for justice.

"Everybody's here...we're very thankful to the DoJ," Atio’s father said, noting that the DoJ is “in full force for Atio.”

Atio, the 22-year-old freshman law student at the University of Santo Tomas, died of "severe blunt traumatic injuries" after attending the welcoming rites of the Aegis Juris fraternity in September last year.

Sports

A7

WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2018 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Fiery duel looms as PH Masters unwraps today THE local top guns and a slew of foreign aces slug it out beginning today (Wednesday, May 23), all primed up for a hot start and the momentum in what promises to be an explosive launch to the rich ICTSI Villamor Philippine Masters at the Villamor Golf Club.R Reigning Philippine Golf Tour Order of Merit champion Clyde Mondilla sees another wild finish the way it was last year when he charged back from four down to nip Tony Lascuña, Jhonnel Ababa and American Nicholas Paez by one and rule the revival of what used to be one of local version’s golfing majors.

Though Mondilla is coming off a slump with poor finishes in the early going of the PGT season, he remains upbeat of his chances at Villamor, which he likens to Del Monte where he honed his talent and skills.

“Had a bad start in the season but I feel like playing at home here at Villamor… the fairways, grass and the surface are like those at Del Monte,” said Mondilla during yesterday’s pro-am of the P3 million event put up by ICTSI and hosted by VGC. His rivals are also pretty much the same

but more determined to foil his drive for backto-back feat and eager to test not only each other’s shotmaking and putting skills but also the tight, tree-lined layout in pursuit of one of the fabled championships in Philippine golf.

The Villamor layout measures up to 7,000 yards and though it is expected to yield low scores given the current form of the competing field and the good weather condition, it could still pose a challenge with its narrow fairways, thick roughs and unpredictable putting surface.

“Nobody is a sure bet here as Villamor remains a tough course. It is so tricky that a slight mistake off the mound could spell trouble since the fairways are narrow hard,” said Lascuña, a multi-titled winner seeking his first victory this year in the circuit organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. “I think a 10-under card will win.”

Miguel Tabuena and Angelo Que, two of the country’s leading pros, won’t be around to honor previous commitments abroad but the depth of the field remains as tough as ever and the chase for the P550,000 purse is expected to go down to the last shot or putt.

LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers drives to the basket against Marcus Morris of the Boston Celtics in the second half of the 2018 NBA Eastern Conference Finals’ Game 4 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. AFP

Cavs level series with Celtics

C

LEVELAND—LeBron James scored 44 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Boston Celtics 111-102 on Monday, equalizing their NBA Eastern Conference final at two wins each.

James added five rebounds and three assists to his sixth 40-point performance of this year’s playoffs—the most 40-point playoff efforts in a single year since Allen Iverson in 2001.

“I’ve just put a lot of work in,” said James of his scoring heroics at age 33.

“The Man Above has given me some abilities I try to take advantage of. I take care of my body and try to put myself in position to do the best I can.”

The best-of-seven showdown continues Wednesday at Boston, where the Celtics are undefeated in these playoffs, with game six on Friday in Cleveland, where the Cavs have won seven in a row.

“There’s no love in there if you’re not wearing green,” James said. “They are playing extremely confident. If we play like we did in [games] three and four, I think we’ll have a good shot.”

The winner will face either defending

champion Golden State or season wins leader Houston in the NBA Finals starting May 31.

The Celtics never managed to recover from Cleveland’s ferocious start.

James had five points in a 10-0 run that gave the Cavs a 19-10 edge on the way to a 34-18 lead after the first quarter, Cleveland closing the period on a 13-3 run and the Celtics missing three dunks in the opening 12 minutes.

James scored 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting in the first half and Kyle Korver added 14 points off the bench—all in the first half—as the Cavaliers seized a 68-53 half-time advantage.

“He’s the best in the game at evaluating the game and figuring out what he wants

Sentinels turn back Furies in UNTV Cup THE Senate Sentinels nailes their second straight victory after bombarding GSIS Thunder Furies, 97-50, in the UNTV Cup Off Season Executive Face-Off at the Pasig City Sports Center, Sunday.

Sen. Joel Villanueva masterfully led the Sentinels to victory after his 34-point finish, dedicating the game to the late father of teammate Sen. Sonny Angara, the former Sen. Edgardo Angara.

“We are motivated for this game, which we dedicate to the father of Sen. Sonny, [the late] Sen. Ed Angara.” said Senate coach Mike Fermin.

Though they failed in their debut game, the GSIS vowed to step up its training to match the endurance levels of other teams in the League of the Public Servants.

Thunder Furies Coach Reneboy Banzali said: “We need to condition ourselves more in order to run more in the next practices.”

The Ombudsman Graft Busters, meanwhile, fell to the mighty PNP Responders in the second game, 83-58.

The nine-player lineup of the Graft Busters was unable to sustain their firsthalf edge as the well-balanced 13-cager lineup of PNP outplayed them to the hilt.

“At first, we did 1-2-2, then we did a 2-3 zone. Players shot easy baskets so they jumped shot at the corner. Before the third-quarter, we stopped the jump shot for the man-to-man play. The outcome was good and we saw our strength in the man-to-man plays,” said Responders’ coach Alfred Suarez.

Graft Busters’ Head Coach Ricky Alcantara said: “We were really outnumbered, we could not sustain our energy in the first half. We were neck and neck in the first half, and before the first half ended, we got the edge but then later in the third quarter, the players got tired.”

In the third game, the Judiciary Magis exacted sweet revenge on defending champion AFP Cavaliers, 67-66.

It can be recalled that the AFP routed the Magis during the semifinals of last year’s offseason game.

“We physically prepared against their running game strategy. We defended against their 3-point shooters. We also rebounded, then we went straight with our run-and-gun offense,” sais Judiciary coach Warren Ybanez.

and where he wants it,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said of James. “You have to make it as tough on him as possible.”

Although the Celtics trailed by as many as 19 in the second quarter, they trimmed the deficit to 89-76 entering the fourth quarter.

“We cut it back to eight in the fourth.

We had some shots we’d like to have back,” Stevens said. “All I want is for us to take good shots. We’ve got to play better than we did.”

Tristan Thompson added 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavaliers.

Jaylen Brown led Boston with 25 points while Jason Tatum netted 17, Terry Rozier contributed 16 points and 11 assists and Al Horford added 15 points. AFP

PTT’s star Thai drifter Wuttitat “Keng” Pankumnerd (center) is shown with his team after the Thai leg of the King of Nations Asia ProSeries.

PTT Thai racer joins PH drift tournament A THAI racer will see action in the King of Nations Philippines 2018 (KONPH2018), the final round of the King of Nations Asia ProSeries 2018, to be held May 25 to 27, at the Clark International Speedway.

Carrying the flag of Thailand’s PTT RD-2 Drift Team, the 24-year-old Wuttitat “Keng” Pankumnerd came from his recent first runnerup and second runnerup finishes during the Round 3 and 4, respectively, of the Thailand leg of the drifting competition.

Known as “The Little Wizard”, Keng

is known for his passion and aggressive style, traits that brought him to the podium in the Thailand leg using his Retro car Toyota KE30 with a 2JZ turbo engine 700 HP. The PTT drifter is one of the highly anticipated racers to dominate the tarmac in the final leg this weekend.

He will be pitted against some of the world’s best drifters that include Charles Ng of Hong Kong, Daigo Saito, Hirohide Tanaka, Keiichiro Kadekaru, and Toni “HalfBreeds” Arakaki of Japan, and Nasser Almutairi of Kuwait.

Some of the finest professional Filipino talents like the gutsy 19-year-old Luis Gono, veteran David Feliciano, king of bodykits Atoy Llave and Gabe Tayao will also compete in this biggest and most highly anticipated international drifting championship in the world.

Updates on the event will be posted on Facebook account of PTT Philippines and PTT Lubricants PH. For updates about Keng, you may also follow him on PTT Motor Sports Facebook account or at his Instagram kengptt65.

24 PH bets vie in Asian taekwondo championships TWENTY-FOUR well-trained Filipino jins will see action in the Asian Taekwondo championships for kyorugi (free sparring) and poomsae on May 24-28 in Ho Chih Minh City, Vietnam.

Six male and six female fighters will carry the colors of SMART/MVP Sports Foundation national team in the free sparring event while 12 male and female performers will banner PLDT Home Ultera/MVPSF squad in the poomsae competition.

The Filipino campaigners in kyorugi are: Male—Carlo Dominic Dionisio (-54kg), Jenar Torillos (-58kg), Francis Aaron Agojo (-63kg), Arven Alcantara (-68kg), Samuel Thomas Harper Morrison (-80kg), and Kristopher Robert Uy (-87kg).

Female—Veronica Garces (-46kg),Baby Jessica Cannabal (-49kg), Rhezie Aragon (-53kg), Pauline Louie Lopez (-57kg), Darleen Mae Arpon (-62kg), and Kisties Elaine Alora (+73kg).

Competing in poomsae are: Male—Dustin Jacob Mella, Raphael

Enrico Mella, Patrick King Perez, Jeordan Dominguez, Mark Lorenz Balcita and June Ninobla.

Female—Jocel Lyn Ninobla, Rinna Babanto, Juvenile Faye Crisostomo, Claire Therese Gascon, Janna Dominique Oliva and Alileah Dulce Amor Perez.

The team officials are Tem Igor Mella, head; Dindo Simpson, John Paul Lizardo, Kyorgui coaches; Rani Ann Ortega, Edrick Jhaney Galing, Poomsae coaches; Stephen Fernandez, Delegate; and Roland Campos, International referee.

The Filipinos will compete against entries from 35 countries like Korea, Iran, Chinese Taipei, Thailand and Indonesia.

The competition serves as preparation for the Filipinos’ participation in the much-awaited 18th Asian Games in Palembang, Jakarta.

The PH team is supported by PLDT, Meralco, the Philippine Pauline Lopez, shown delivering a head kick, is Sports Commission and the expected to do well in the tough competition.

Philippine Olympic Committee.

Cruz posts 2-win romp in Southwoods FRANCESCA Cruz lived up to her top billing in the girls’ 16-and-under division then stunned the 18-U field as an unranked player to capture the MVP plum in the PPS-PEPP Manila Southwoods regional age-group tennis tournament at the Southwoods Tennis Courts in Carmona, Cavite recently.

Cruz, 16, dropped just seven games in three matches, including a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Melody Dizon in the girls’ singles finals, to dominate her age bracket, then rising star from Pasig City surprised top seed Aubrey Calma, 6-4, 2-6, 10-3, in the 18-U semis and fended off Alaine Obra, 6-4, 6-2, to complete a “twinkill” in the Group 2 tournament sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop ad presented by Dunlop.

Elvin Geluz, meanwhile, toppled second seed Exequiel Jucutan, 6-1, 5-7, 10-5, to snare the boys’ 16-U diadem but the Dasmariñas, Cavite bet retired against Marcus Del Rosario (4-6) in the 18-U finals and missed matching Cruz’s double-title feat in the event backed by Asiatraders Corp.

No. 4 Melody Dizon from Sta. Rosa, Laguna shocked top seed Elise Cruz, 6-1, 6-1, in the semis then routed Shaira Silva, 6-2, 6-0, to run away with the girls’ 14-U title while Jucutan, from Manaoag, Pangasinan, made up for his earlier loss with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over JT Bernardo in the boys’ side.

Bacoor, Cavite’s Alecsa Ilano downed Maxine Favis, 6-3, 6-3, to pocket the girls’ 12-U plum while Andre Colladilla, also an unranked player from Magdalena, Laguna, took the boys’ title with a 6-1, 6-2 triumph over No. 3 Sam Salazar.

Racing...

From A8

replace defective wagering terminals in off-track betting stations.

The horseowners also aired various issues that will be taken up in greater detail by the Philracom and in future industry meetings. *** The Philippine delegates to this year’s Asian Racing Conference held last week in Seoul, Korea are back with interesting stories to tell.

I was given a lot of material to go through and that’ll be for my column next week. Meanwhile, one of the highlights of the conference was its increasing trend toward gender inclusivity and participation.

According to Santa Ana Park racing manager Antonio B. Alcasid Jr., “there were at least six women speakers at the various seminars held during the conference.” He said he was quite impressed by the development. “They were distinguished, knowledgeable experts, and they shared a lot of interesting information.”

He also mentioned that the headmistress of the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s apprentice jockey program is female, something that would have been unusual in decades past.

The Philippines did have a female jockey —Analyn Reloto—but she is now working abroad. There have been at least three female apprentices through the years —I was the first, years ago, followed by another one who didn’t finish the course, then Analyn.

There aren’t any other female jockeys or apprentices in this country not because of limited opportunities, but because of lack of inclination. The Philippine Jockeys Academy is open to all who can make the height, and weight requirements, and have athletic ability.

There’s a lot more to say on gender and racing culture, but that’ll be for some other time. *** Dr. Ortuoste is a writer and communications consultant. Facebook: Gogirl Racing and @DrJennyO, Twitter: @ hoarsewhsprr and @jennyortuoste

Riera U. Mallari, Editor Reuel Vidal, Assistant Editor sports@thestandard.com.ph sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

A8

WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2018

Mindanao leg kicks off PBA All-Star festivities

By Jeric Lopez IT’S that time of the year again when the brightest stars gather as the 2018 Philippine Basketball Association AllStar week kicks off.

The PBA is headed down south for the first leg of the week-long festivities.

The Mindanao All-Stars meet the Gilas Pilipinas National Team in Digos at the Davao del Sur Coliseum at 7:30 p.m. today.

The hometown Mindanao All-Starts will be bannered by starters Mark Barroca, Jio Jalalon and Peter June Simon of Magnolia, Scottie Thompson of Barangay Ginebra and Mac Belo of Blackwater in a guard-heavy line-up.

Joining them as reserves are Baser Amer (Meralco), Rafi Reavis (Magnolia), Cyrus Baguio (NLEX), Sonny Thoss (Alaska), JP Erram (Blackwater), RR Garcia (TNT KaTropa) and Carlo Lastimosa (Columbian Dyip).

They will go head-to-head against a National Team side composed of starters June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel Beer, Japeth Aguilar of Barangay Ginebra, Troy Rosario of TNT KaTropa, Calvin Abueva of Alaska and Terrence Romeo of GlobalPort.

The rest of Gilas membera for this leg are Carl Cruz (Alaska), Gabe Norwood (Rain or Shine), Allein Maliksi (Blackwater), Matthew Wright (Phoenix), Roger Pogoy and Jayson Castro (TNT KaTropa) and Kiefer Ravena (NLEX) The game will also feature a classic coaching encounter between veteran mentors Tim Cone and Norman Black.

Cone will handle the Mindanao AllStars, while Black will do the coaching chores for the Nationals for this leg.

As an added spectacle, a special Legends Shootout will be held prior to the game featuring four sets of tandems.

Allan Caidic will team-up with Secretary Bong Go, Kenneth Duremdes will have Senator Manny Pacquiao on his side, Peter June Simon will be joined

by Presidential Son-in-Law Mans Carpio and Scottie Thompson will be partnered by Major Michale Sabsal.

Davao governor Mark Cagas will be a special guest and is set to handle the ceremonial toss.

THE HOARSE WHISPERER JENNY ORTUOSTE

Racing industry holds summit THE Philippine Thoroughbred horseracing and breeding industry held a meeting last Monday (May 21) with representatives from the horseowners, racing clubs, and government sectors to discuss various industry concerns.

Representing the government side was the Philippine Racing Commission headed by its chairman Andrew C. Sanchez. Philracom is mandated with supervising and regulating the industry.

Also among the attendees were top honchos of the racing clubs: lawyer King Reyno of Manila Jockey Club, Santiago Cualoping of Santa Ana Park, and lawyer Alexander Carandang of Metro Manila Turf Club.

The horseowners sector was well represented by directors and members of the Metropolitan Association of Race Horse Owners, Philippine Thoroughbred and Breeders Organization, Klub Don Juan de Manila, and Thoroughbred Owners of the Philippines/Tuesday Group.

The meeting was hosted by horseowner and lawyer Narciso O. Morales at the Raffles Makati Owners Lounge.

Among the points taken up were concerns related to handicapping, prize money, and racing infrastructure.

Philracom will look into specific points concerning purses, among them the addition of one win per group starting Tuesday (May 29) to last until year end, an additional P20,000 per win in all condition races, and other similar matters.

The racing clubs will consolidate advertising and promotion campaigns that will promote the racing industry, including the showing of anti-bookies ads every race day.

Illegal bookies are an industry scourge, with some intelligence sources claiming that their earnings at least equal, and likely exceed, the industry’s legitimate sales.

The three clubs will also continue to improve racetrack maintenance as well as Turn to A7

Sports Lap winner El Joshua Carino of the Philippine Navy Team pumps his fist as he crosses the finish line, followed by his brother Daniel Ven Carino of the 7 Eleven team at the end of the Le Tour de Filipinas’ Stage 3 in Lingayen, Pangasinan. Lino Santos

Cariño brothers steal Le Tour de Filipinas show

L

INGAYEN, Pangasinan—Blood is thicker than water.

This was proven by the Cariño brothers on Tuesday as Philippine NavyStandard Insurance’s El Joshua and 7-Eleven Cliqq RoadBike Philippines’ Daniel Ven made a historic 1-2 finish in the punishing Stage 3 of the 2018 Le Tour de Filipinas.

The Cariño brothers thrived under sweltering conditions as they made a decisive breakaway in the town of Sta. Barbara, some 30 kilometers from the finish, before they engaged themselves in a mad dash to the finish in front of their fellow Pangasinenses near the Pangasinan Provincial Capitol.

However, it was El Joshua who crossed the finish line first after the taxing 185.20-

km trek that started in Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya, and ran through the crowded roads of the country’s cycling hotbed in four hours, 28 minutes and 56 seconds for his breakthrough lap win in the annual road race co-presented Air21, Cignal and Cargohaus Inc. The impressive performance by the Cariños also caused big changes in the general classifications, with El Joshua, 25, jumping from ninth spot to the top of the general classification with an aggregate time of 8:17:23 that enabled him to wrest the coveted yellow jersey from fellow Navyman Ronald Oranza.

Oranza, the Stage 2 winner, struggled this time and checked in at 15th overall, causing him to slip down to third spot, a minute and 41 seconds off the pace going to the fourth and final stage on Wednesday, a back-breaking 154.65-km trek to Baguio City made tougher by a

Hors Category climb in the treacherous Kennon Road.

Meanwhile, Daniel Ven, 19, remained in strong contention as he moved up from 11th spot to second overall, just four seconds behind El Joshua.

However, the Cariño brothers, who both hail from Mangaldan, some 22kms away from here, already pulled off an astonishing feat by becoming the first Filipino siblings to make a 1-2 finish in the only International Cycling Unionsanctioned road race in the country.

“Gusto namin gumawa ng history sa cycling na magkapatid na nanalo sa UCI,” said El Joshua, savoring the feat in the presence of their father Bienvenido, 78. “Madali sa aming dalawa kasi magkapatid kami. Dream come true kasi history talaga ‘yun.”

Tayao debuts at Asian Drift Series MULTI-AWARDED race driver Gabe Tayao is back in Manila after completing his freshman year in college.

Currently pursuing a business degree in the United States, Tayao is kicking off his summer break by competing in The Federal Tyres King of Nations ProSeries at the Clark International Speedway this week.

Popularly known as the King of Nations Philippines 2018 (KONPH 2018), the event is organized by BackStage Events and sanctioned by the Automobile Association of the Philippines.

With legs held in several countries, the series is known to have the world’s best drifters compete against each other. The Philippine leg will be the last round of the King of Nations Asia ProSeries 2018.

Powered by Car Porn Racing in collaboration with DMF Drift, and backed by Seaoil, Wanli Tires, and DC Shoes, 18-year-old Gabe will be firing up the track in the amateur division. Car Porn Racing previously suited up Tayao’s Toyota GT 86 with top of the line products from Airrex, Accuair and Stoptech.

In preparation for the KONPH 2018 event, Perrin gauges were added to Tayao’s race car. Perrin gauges are currently available at the CPR shop exclusively. On the other hand, DMF Drift pulled off an impressive build by fitting the Toyota GT 86 with a 1JZ engine.

Over 20 drifters are slated to see action in the kick-off event of The King of Nations Philippines 2018. The event is expected to draw in drifting fans who are hoping for heated battles in both the amateur and pro divisions.

As one of, if not, the youngest drifter in the event, Tayao’s entry is highlyanticipated after a brief hiatus from racing. It also marks a significant career milestone, since Gabe will be following in the footsteps of his uncle Kevin, a former drifting champion who initially drove for DMF Drift, and later on for Yellow Cab Drift Team.

Prior to his drift debut, Gabe was a multi-titled karter who started his racing career at 11. He became the first Filipino Formula 4 champion at 16 before moving on to win several podiums in the national autocross scene last year.

Gabe Tayao

Cebu tanker boosts Cebu to top of PNG standings

By Peter Atencio CEBU City—A biology student from University of San Carlos snared to two gold medals in swimming yesterday morning and led host Cebu City’s bid to claim the overall crown in the 9th Philippine National Games Tuesday at the Cebu City Sports Complex here.

Razel Cabajar, a senior at the University of San Carlos, took the gold in the 50-meter butterfly and anchored the 4x100 meter medley relay squad to a first-place finish.

She shared the limelight with Nicole Meah Pamintuan of Sta. Rosa City, after the 18-year-old student from De La Salle Zobel clinched the gold medal in the girls’ 100-meter backstroke.

Pamintuan now has four gold medals after she registered one minute and 9.81 seconds to outpace Andrea Punay of Gen. Santos City and Miles Valdez of Iligan City, who tallied 1:21.70 and 1:23.68 to settle for the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

On the other hand, Cabajar bucked a left-shoulder injury that has been bothering her for weeks. Her performance helped lift Cebu City to the top of the medal standings.

Cebu City took the no. 1 spot with 15 golds, 16 silvers and 16 bronze medals, while Baguio City overtook General Santos City for secons spot with its 8-11-9 gold-silver-bronze tally.

“Hindi po ako gaanong kundisyon. May shoulder injury po ako since last month,” said Cabajar, who also had a silver in the 100-meter butterfly and a bronze in the 100-meter freestyle.

Cabajar clocked 32.48 seconds in the 50-meter butterfly, while Cebu City beat General Santos City in the 4x100 meter medley relay in 5:14.08.

In athletics, national team members Harry Diones, Rhea Joy Sumalpong and Rosie Villarito came up with impressive showings as they got ready to join the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association National Open next month.

Diones cleared 15.94 meters to clinch the gold medal in the senior men’s triple jump, while Sumalpong tallied 40.65 meters to emerge victorious in the senior women’s discus throw event.

Coach D Elite Camp Visits Malaysia

Coach Domeng Unson is shown with his youthful team during their Kuala Lumpur sojourn.

A GROUP of 11-year-old-and-under kids recently visited Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to play a series of games against selected Malaysian Schools.

Headed by Coach Domeng Unson, known more as Coach D, and Harold Ng, a former Adamson Falcon, the kids experienced actual international competition against boys and girls of different ages and cultures. While the mission of the trip was for the kids to gain confidence and exposure from games played in a totally foreign environment, they also gained new friends and unforgettable memories from abroad.

During the trip, the team joined the First Invitational Mini Tournament of the KL Dragons Basketball Academy, where Coach D’s boys landed as the champion.

The tournament was organized by Filipino Coach Lito Vergara, former mentor of the UP Maroons, who is stationed in Malaysia and is currently the head of the KL

Dragons Basketball Academy.

On the final day, a special event was held at the MABA Stadium, home and venue of the Asean Basketball League or ABL. A few games were played after the short session, where Coach D was invited as the guest coach to share his knowledge to some Malaysians along with the players from the schools the team previously played against.

To cap off the event, a special 3-point shootout contest was held, where Jeff Sy and Shaun Haw won.

The Coach D Elite Camp team members are Sean Garcia, Harold Dee, Jeff Sy, Andrew Choa, Jeremy Tan, Allen Te, William Cheng, Shaun Haw, Heintnier Tan, Julio Ejercito and Baron Coyiuto, and was supported by Gong Cha Philippines, Commodore Maritime Solutions Inc., Unicorn Metal Corporation, AXA Philippines, and Urban Concepts.

F OREIGN E XCHANGE R ATE Ban gko Sentral ng Pilipinas Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

52.4100

Japan

Yen

0.009006

0.4720

UK

Pound

1.343300

70.4024

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.127411

6.6776

Switzerland

Franc

1.003009

52.5677

Canada

Dollar

0.782167

40.9934

Singapore

Dollar

0.746491

39.1236

Australia

Dollar

0.758100

39.7320

Bahrain

Dinar

2.648656

138.8161

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266660

13.9757

Brunei

Dollar

0.743716

38.9782

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000071

0.0037

Thailand

Baht

0.031046

1.6271

UAE

Dirham

0.272272

14.2698

Euro

Euro

1.179300

61.8071

Korea

Won

0.000929

0.0487

China

Yuan

0.156718

8.2136

India

Rupee

0.014682

0.7695

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.251383

13.1750

New Zealand

Dollar

0.694400

36.3935

Taiwan

Dollar

0.033469

1.7541

Source: PDS Bridge

Ceza seeking P10b worth of investments to improve infra

By Othel V. Campos THE Cagayan Economic Zone Authority said it needs another P10 billion worth of investments to modernize the facilities at Port of Irene.

Ceza president and chief executive Raul Lambino cited the need to accelerate improvements at the seaport and airport to realize Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport’s massive potential for revenue and jobs generation.

“We’re reviewing the masterplan and existing studies made by the previous administration. For the airport we’re not planning on spending further Ceza money, since we have a private partner for this,” Lambino said during the First Ceza Investment Summit in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.

He said the dredging of Port Irene alone would cost about P2 billion, based on a contract with a Korean group. The construction of more wharves and piers would require another P3 billion.

Lambino said P5 billion would be needed to construct a second breakwater, after the first was partially destroyed.

He said so far, the Freeport spent about P6.9 billion for infrastructure, with the breakwater accounting for the biggest share at P5.4 billion, followed by the airport at P1.5 billion.

Lambino said for the airport project, the plan was to put up an additional taxi way or another strip of runway to make it a world-class international airport that could cater to large commercial planes.

The airport currently serves international tourists who arrive via chartered flights from Macau and Hong Kong and domestic tourists who come via Clark International Airport.

LRT 1 operator plans P7 fare hike in August

By Darwin G. Amojelar LIGHT Rail Manila Corp., the private sector operator of the Light Rail Transit Line 1, plans to increase the average fare by up to P7 in August this year.

LRMC president Juan Alfonso told reporters the company had submitted to the state-run Light Rail Transit Authority a fare adjustment of between P5 and P7 in March 2018.

Alfonso said the fare increase would be subject to public consultation and approval by LRTA. He said the fare increase would allow the company to recoup the investments it made to rehabilitate the elevated mass transit and improve services over the past three years.

Alfonso said that since assuming operations and maintenance of LRT1 in September 2015, LRMC already invested P7.5 billion towards the improvement of operational efficiencies and customer experience on LRT-1.

“We have significantly increased the number of trains and trips, reduced queueing time and travel time, as well as improved the safety, security and cleanliness of the stations,” he said.

LRT-1 had a fleet of 109 cars as of March 2018, which is expected to increase to 121 cars by yearend. The higher number of train cars resulted in a 9.7-percent increase in average daily trips from 505 to 554 trips.

Average daily ridership in the first quarter rose 4 percent to 459,400 over the same period last year.

Business Aboitiz Power selling P3.7-b biomass project A

By Alena Mae S. Flores

SEAGAS Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aboitiz Power Corp., decided to divest out its biomass project in Lian, Batangas which it described as a failed venture.

“We are trying to sell it. That’s something we are trying to sell,” Aboitiz Power president Antonio Moraza said.

Aseagas shut down the 8.8-megawatt biomass power plant in Sitio Hermosa, Barangay Malaruhatan in January this year, after encountering technical problems. The biomass plant uses organic

wastes as fuel.

“Keeping a long-term view in mind, we had to make the difficult decision to cease operations,” Moraza said.

Aboitiz Power said technical issues related to the consistency of the feedstock supply had affected the viability of the business as a whole.

“Everything, the whole thing. What are we gonna do with it? It’s a failed project,” Moraza said, when asked why the company decided to put the facility on sale.

Aseagas suspended the plant’s commissioning in November 2017 because of the unavailability of the supply of organic effluent wastewater from supplier Absolut Distillers Inc., while assessing whether it would make the shutdown permanent.

The plant was designed to convert the organic effluent wastewater from Absolut Distillery’s facility in Lian into pow-

er and other by-products. The biomass plant could supply electricity to 22,000 households.

It was supposed to avail of the feed-in tariff rate given to a renewable energy source under the Renewable Energy Act of 2001.

The Aboitiz Group spent around P3.7 billion for the project. Moraza said potential buyers might become interested in the project if it would be sold at a discount.

“Frankly, I don’t know but obviously they are buying it at a big discount.

Maybe with the discount, they can make it viable,” Moraza said.

Aseagas earlier invested an equity of P3.45 billion in the project on top of the project’s remaining obligations of P250 million. Aseagas is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aboitiz Power, through Aboitiz Renewables Inc., its holding company for renewable energy projects.

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2018

B1

IN BRIEF AUB hikes income by 21% to P797.7m ASIA United Bank, the financial unit of the Rebisco Group of companies, posted a 21-percent increase in consolidated net income in the first quarter of 2018 to P797.7 million year-on-year, fueled by a double-digit growth of the core lending businesses.

AUB said in a statement the firstquarter numbers, which include those of the Cavite United Rural Bank and the Rural Bank of Angeles in Pampanga, translated into a return on assets of 1.7 percent and return on equity of 12.2 percent compared with year-ago ratios of 1.6 percent and 11.4 percent, respectively.

Boosting the group’s bottom line was the 29.4-percent growth in interest income from loans and receivables and a 42.6-percent increase in other operating income.

“We remain confident that we have the momentum to grow the business further as we continue to cater to the needs of corporates and small and medium enterprises,” bank president Manuel Gomez said.

“We are taking advantage of our IT innovation to serve our customers better and faster, particularly in our growing consumer lending business,” he said.

Julito G. Rada

Energy priority status to boost cable—NGCP NATIONAL Grid Corp. of the Philippines is committed to complete the much-anticipated P52 billion MindanaoVisayas Interconnection project by 2020 following the declaration of the cable link as an energy project of national significance under Executive Order No. 30.

“We are thankful for this development. NGCP emphasizes the importance of this milestone project and we are determined to make our 2020 December commitment,” NGCP said.

The grid operator said the declaration would help the company achieve its 2020 completion goal.

The MVIP (formerly Visayas-Mindanao Interconnection Project) recently received a Certificate of Energy Project of National Significance from the Energy Department, the lead agency of EO 30.

“The project is in compliant with the requirements of the Philippine Energy Plan and is in accordance with the policy thrusts and goals of PEP,” the Energy Investment Coordinating Council said.

Alena Mae S. Flores

Madrid Fusión terms should be renegotiated Secretary Raul Lambino (left), administrator and chief executive of Cagayan Economic Zone Authority and acting chairman, and Trade Undersecretary Rowel Barba urge investors and participants in the First Ceza Investment Summit to join the unfolding business opportunities within the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport. The summit was held at the Manila House in Bonifacio Global City on May 22. Joseph Muego

Dominguez asks Congress to pass second Train package

By Julito G. Rada FINANCE Secretary Carlos Dominguez III asked lawmakers Tuesday to approve the second package of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program that aims to reduce the corporate income tax and reform the investment incentives system.

Dominguez, who attended the first hearing called by the House committee on ways and means to discuss House Bill No. 7458, also allayed apprehensions over the impact on prices of the first tax reform package, which he said contributed less than a half-percentage point to April’s inflation rate.

Dominguez said the first package― the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law―accounted for only fourtenths of a percent in April’s inflation rate of 4.5 percent. He said this meant

that for every peso increase in prices, only 9 centavos could be attributed to the Train law.

“Train has been unfairly blamed for the elevated inflation rate we are currently experiencing. By our estimates, fully two-thirds of last April’s 4.5 percent inflation rate is typical of a rapidly expanding economy. The remaining is due mainly to the sharp increases in key imported commodities specifically oil, the realignment of currency exchange rates and a robust increase in domestic demand,” Dominguez said.

“At any rate, the inflationary impact of Train is expected to diminish over the next few months,” Dominguez said.

Rep. Dakila Carlo Cua, the committee chairman, along with deputy speaker Raneo Abu and deputy majority leader Aurelio Gonzales Jr.m filed HB 7458

that aims to cut the corporate income tax and reform the investment incentives system. This measure represents Package 2 of the Duterte administration’s tax reform program.

Dominguez said the overhaul of the corporate tax structure, particularly the system on the grant of investment incentives, were necessary given these defects that prevented the Philippines from attracting more foreign direct investments: Small and medium enterprises are currently paying a CIT rate of 30 percent, the highest in Asean.

Meanwhile, a complicated tax incentive regime with 14 investment promotion agencies and 123 laws outside the tax code grant various forms of investment incentives on large foreign and domestic corporations.

THE Department of Tourism seems to be having a tough time on deciding whether or not to push through with this year’s Madrid Fusión Manila, the annual gastronomy event inspired by Madrid Fusión in Spain.

It would be simple had it not been for a yearly budget of at least P120 million and some alleged irregularities surrounding the original contract signed back in 2015 during the term of then Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez.

Network of Independent Travel and Allied Services president Robert Lim Joseph said the group was determined to get to the bottom of things, starting with a possible re-negotiation of the terms in the contract with Madrid Fusión’s organizers.

“When we had a meeting with the Tourism Promotions Board, I asked if the terms of the contract between Madrid Fusión is being compiled,” former DoT secretary Mina Gabor wrote in an email to Joseph. Gabor said that the terms of the contract were “not compiled.”

No audit was also made of the first two MFMs. The third one, which was staged year, is currently being audited.

Quezon City govt clears right-of-way for seven NGCP transmission towers NATIONAL Grid Corporation of the Philippines, the private sector operator of the power grid, said Tuesday the San Jose Quezon 230 kiloVolt transmission line upgrading project is now on track, after the Quezon City government cleared the right-of-way corridor for seven transmission tower sites in Baesa and Sangandaan.

The San Jose-Quezon 230kV Line 3 is a critical project that aims to widen the power corridor into Metro Manila, and allow supply from power plants to feed the Luzon load center.

It will also relieve the existing transmission line, prevent overloading and ensure that NGCP maintains the line’s N-1 contingency. N-1 refers to the ability of the transmission grid to withstand a major power disturbance through redundancies in the grid system.

The project also involves the expansion of NGCP’s San Jose Quezon substations,

which are crucial facilities that serve the load requirements of Metro Manila.

“Thanks to our good relations with the government of Quezon City, we were able to rehabilitate and upgrade our transmission lines in the city which were previously inaccessible by our transmission line team. Our efforts are now focused on expediting the project’s completion, and seeing a more reliable transmission of power in the country’s biggest load center,” NGCP said in a statement.

Under an agreement signed by NGCP and the Quezon City government in 2017, the latter implemented the relocation of informal settlers living underneath the San Jose-Quezon transmission line in the two barangays and cleared the tower sites of dangerous improvements, helping NGCP secure the ROW clearances of its tower sites within the city. Alena Mae S. Flores

OUTSTANDING BUSINESS LEADER. The Angeles University Foundation confers the Distinguished University Medal of Honor on Dr. Jose Leviste Jr. (third from right) at the AUF Sports and Cultural Center. Leviste, who chairs various companies such as OceanaGold (Philippines) Inc., Constellation Energy Corp., Primex and Enactus Philippines, was recognized for his outstanding achievements in the global enterprise industries, social entrepreneurship and environmental sustainability. With Leviste are (from left) AUF vice president for administration Jose Macapagal, vice president for academic affairs Dr. Archimedes David, the awardee’s spouse Jenniffer Dayrit-Leviste, AUF president Dr. Joseph Angeles and vice president for finance Dr. Maria Loreto Canlas.

B2

Business

WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2018 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market down; Bloomberry, BDO slip

T

HE stock market fell Tuesday in listless trading, with some skepticism over the ChinaUS trade deal seeping in, while oil prices pushed higher after Washington flagged harsh sanctions on key producers Iran and Venezuela.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index slipped 11.85 points, or 0.2 percent, to 7,646.20 on a value turnover of P4.8 billion. Losers beat gainers, 110 to 78, with 45 issues unchanged.

Casino operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp. declined 3.6 percent to P11.80, while SM Prime Holdings Inc. of retail tycoon Henry Sy Sr. lost 1.5

percent to P37.25.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which is into toll roads, water and electricity distribution, power generation and hospitals, fell 2.1 percent to P4.75, while BDO Unibank Inc., the biggest lender in terms of assets, dropped 1.4 percent to P127.60.

Asian investors, meanwhile, stepped back Tuesday after the previous day’s rally.

World markets fizzed Monday after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said they had agreed to pull back from the brink of a potentially damaging trade war.

However, while fears about the tariffs spat had roiled equities for months, investors were unable to kick on as they take a closer look at Sunday’s pact, which offered few details.

Analysts also pointed out the lack of agreement over intellectual proper-

ty—a major stocking point for Donald Trump—as well as several other sectors.

Also tempering the optimism are worries about higher US interest rates and geopolitical issues.

“Markets are going through a bumpy ride,” Bank of Singapore Investment Strategist James Cheo told Bloomberg Television.

“This trade truce is still in the early days. It’s really a ceasefire, it’s not a peace treaty as yet. The implementation details are still unclear. There is still some caution among Asian investors.”

Tokyo finished 0.2 percent off, Sydney slipped 0.7 percent and Taipei shed 0.3 percent. There were also losses in Wellington, Bangkok and Singapore.

Shanghai ended with minor gains.

Hong Kong and Seoul were closed for public holidays.

Oil prices extended Monday’s gains of around one percent as the US unveiled its sanctions plans.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Tehran would be hit with the “strongest sanctions in history” while also warning European firms they were at risk if they continued to work with Iran, toughening up Washington’s policy line leaving the nuclear deal this month.

That came as Venezuela was targeted with fresh measures after the re-election of President Nicolas Maduro, which the US branded a “sham.”

Trump signed an executive order barring Americans from buying debt from Venezuela, cutting off an important source of revenue for the cash-starved regime. The measures did not target the country’s crucial oil exports, though analysts said they would likely be in the firing line at some point.

The moves put upward pressure on crude, which had been drifting after last week’s healthy gains, which have sent prices to highs not seen since late 2014.

With AFP

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2018

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 97.3 927,610 2.9 16,000 127.6 1,233,990 1.45 11,000 34.4 110,800 16.62 1,200 15.44 405,300 3.76 10,000 875 60 0.55 1,664,000 81.5 2,565,300 1.07 382,000 12.78 22,500 20.9 1,000 52 249,030 203 5,520 106 420 38.6 104,100 197.7 571,710 1,975 330 89 17,690 1.2 49,000

90,239,242.50 46,860 158,736,318 15,830 3,797,085 19,824 6,266,814 36,640 52,525 917,410 209,357,344 406,040 275,762 20,850 12,949,484 1,143,732 44,520 4,014,415 113,036,539 647,635 1,574,411 58,410

-30,681,185.50 -34,183,179 -192,255 3,300 -716,106 -440,000 -62,355,325 -21,280 -11,249,160 -131,090.00 -37,515,907 -186,010 -

38.05 14.48 0.59 1.24 20 0.223 2.9 16.04 50 24 56.95 65.95 1.99 5.14 9.7 10.98 16.18 11.7 7.16 5.14 1.78 14.9 62.3 18.7 8.79 16.52 2.25 283 5.04 3.3 17.82 27 13.18 20.8 321.8 0.187 6.6 2.37 4.3 9.5 5.69 7.95 1.41 12.48 49.6 6 2.1 1.83 13.08 66 5.47 0.137 0.99 135.5 3.07 0.81

INDUSTRIAL 38.05 775,300 14.56 738,800 0.6 898,000 1.24 34,000 20.5 11,700 0.23 8,780,000 3.02 13,410,000 16.04 446,200 51 418,650 24.15 11,700 56.95 3,570 67 1,060 2 153,000 5.14 20,000 9.7 3,200 11.04 2,817,100 16.22 1,559,300 11.78 10,900 7.16 158,800 5.2 5,548,200 1.78 2,000 15 102,800 62.3 14,440 19 43,200 8.79 118,400 16.7 869,600 2.35 1,731,000 284 570,700 5.14 168,200 3.42 9,000 17.82 100 27.1 3,223,900 13.18 135,000 21.45 3,714,800 328.4 402,290 0.187 2,120,000 6.6 24,500 2.37 66,000 4.3 56,000 9.58 1,125,900 5.72 20,200 7.95 5,600 1.41 74,000 12.6 99,500 49.95 907,860 6 20,000 2.13 218,000 1.85 47,000 13.1 912,300 66.75 119,130 5.48 438,300 0.137 10,000 0.99 1,000 135.7 730,100 3.1 15,680,000 0.81 1,054,000

29,538,810 10,756,352 536,890 42,160 235,980 2,009,350 40,285,330 7,371,572 21,270,738 284,315 203,464.50 70,226.50 305,280 102,900 31,418 31,237,026 25,325,498 128,442 1,138,225 28,613,713 3,560 1,539,690 902,503.50 820,894 1,048,061 14,580,414 4,021,390 162,154,034 884,133 30,570 1,782 87,767,045 1,787,138 79,256,815 131,741,864 396,490 161,704 156,430 241,260 10,777,654 115,474 44,552 104,760 1,245,718 45,505,378 120,000 464,880 87,040 11,959,858 7,959,154.50 2,398,178 1,370 990 99,104,056 49,175,190 857,890

-13,551,970 -288,610 4,200 -19,359,890 912,954 -25,000 -200,614.50 4,749,420 359,014 95,448.00 -737,088 -604,919 -181,638 -734,238 -3,788 -193,440 -3,317,748 -10,892,542 3,350 9,711,530 68,016 -19,246,270 60,136,078 -144,570 5,502,593 -28,630 -39,690 1,039,364 -11,825,974 48,000 6,390 -9,250 -5,163,912 -2,716,761.50 1,911,805 -22,477,519 140,860 3,280

0.245 62.4 13.1 0.95 0.72 0.72 925 6.34 10.14 7.52 0.211 995 7 58.2 0.61 4.26 21.45 0.57 4.7 0.038 1.11 3.19 144.1 2.56 881 0.85 1.62 532 256.2 0.241

HOLDING FIRMS 0.25 460,000 62.5 721,380 13.1 2,608,400 0.96 162,000 0.74 16,934,000 0.74 2,833,000 954 108,750 6.34 483,600 10.16 3,497,500 7.64 9,300 0.211 40,000 995 75,830 7 2,100 59.35 886,370 0.62 452,000 4.27 1,625,000 21.5 7,591,100 0.59 1,026,000 4.75 29,712,000 0.039 2,000,000 1.14 368,000 3.22 909,000 145 478,820 2.56 159,000 881 204,180 0.85 2,000 1.63 130,000 532 10 263 10,850 0.241 1,680,000

113,100 45,117,638 34,346,648 155,970 12,427,100 2,088,230 102,840,420 3,077,422 35,570,422 70,712 8,440 76,446,820 14,700 52,452,989 275,740 6,955,040 163,802,610 598,870 142,092,600 77,500 411,360 2,918,340 69,403,704 407,040 180,392,565 1,700 211,040 5,320 2,786,454 408,950

-21,119,415.50 -3,744,482 -14,585,035 -356,135 -7,846,962 22,920 -35,799,845 10,500 -6,071,808 5,405,790 -27,317,225 1,180 -37,995,240 613,920 18,671,993 -63,533,850 -1,700 -538,120 -

391,190,422 6,419,760 747,560 191,827,375 4,169,080 6,018,480 331,376 12,320 1,724,600 28,600 224,900 1,617,470 1,895,000 2,781,930 592,440 21,752,990 1,345,170 2,615,360 50,043,630 139,887,240 1,903,750 1,767,570 39,314,070

-61,902,702 -49,604,560 878,270 -1,235,020 -287,868 -27,500 -16,860 489,055 0 -17,403,640 19,000,670 -493,380 96,290

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

BANK PH ISLANDS BDO LEASING BDO UNIBANK BRIGHT KINDLE CHINABANK COL FINANCIAL EAST WEST BANK FERRONOUX HLDG MANULIFE MEDCO HLDG METROBANK NTL REINSURANCE PB BANK PBCOM PHIL NATL BANK PHIL STOCK EXCH PHILTRUST RCBC SECURITY BANK SUN LIFE UNION BANK VANTAGE

97.8 2.97 130 1.41 34.75 16.5 15.42 3.66 875.5 0.56 82.25 1.06 12.2 20.8 52 211 106 37.75 200.8 1,960 89 1.19

97.8 2.97 130.6 1.45 34.75 16.62 15.56 3.76 875.5 0.56 82.25 1.08 12.78 20.9 52 211 106 38.6 202.2 1,975 89.05 1.2

96.4 2.9 127.6 1.41 33.9 16.5 15.4 3.65 875 0.55 81.5 1.06 12.2 20.8 51.95 203 106 37.75 197 1,960 89 1.19

ABOITIZ POWER AGRINURTURE ALLIANCE SELECT ALSONS CONS ASIABEST GROUP BASIC ENERGY CEMEX HLDG CENTURY FOOD CIRTEK HLDG CNTRL AZUCARERA CONCEPCION CONCRETE A CROWN ASIA DAVINCI CAPITAL DEL MONTE DNL INDUS EAGLE CEMENT EEI CORP EMPERADOR ENERGY DEVT EUROMED FIRST GEN FIRST PHIL HLDG GINEBRA HOLCIM INTEGRATED MICR IONICS JOLLIBEE LMG CHEMICALS MABUHAY VINYL MACAY HLDG MANILA WATER MAXS GROUP MEGAWIDE MERALCO MG HLDG PANASONIC PEPSI COLA PETROENERGY PETRON PHIL H2O PHINMA PHINMA ENERGY PHX PETROLEUM PILIPINAS SHELL PRYCE CORP ROXAS AND CO SFA SEMICON SHAKEYS PIZZA SMC FOODANDBEV SPC POWER SWIFT FOODS TKC METALS UNIV ROBINA VITARICH VULCAN INDL

38.15 14.6 0.6 1.24 20.85 0.228 3.02 16.28 50.95 24 57 66.1 1.99 5.15 9.98 11.18 16.22 12 7.19 5.24 1.78 15 62.5 18.96 8.88 16.52 2.29 285 5.3 3.4 17.82 27.3 13.3 21.95 326 0.188 6.61 2.37 4.34 9.5 5.83 7.97 1.41 12.5 51.2 6 2.17 1.86 13.22 66.1 5.48 0.137 0.99 137.9 3.25 0.82

38.75 14.62 0.61 1.24 20.85 0.236 3.08 16.9 51 24.65 57 68 2 5.15 9.98 11.18 16.3 12 7.19 5.24 1.78 15 62.95 19.26 9 16.96 2.35 286 5.4 3.42 17.82 27.3 13.64 22.35 328.4 0.188 6.61 2.38 4.34 9.61 5.83 7.97 1.44 12.6 52 6 2.17 1.86 13.38 68.6 5.48 0.137 0.99 137.9 3.25 0.83

ABACORE CAPITAL ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL ANGLO PHIL HLDG ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B AYALA CORP COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV FORUM PACIFIC GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV PACIFICA PRIME MEDIA PRIME ORION SAN MIGUEL CORP SEAFRONT RES SM INVESTMENTS SOC RESOURCES SOLID GROUP SYNERGY GRID TOP FRONTIER WELLEX INDUS

0.255 62.75 13.16 0.96 0.74 0.74 940 6.4 10.32 7.52 0.211 1,029 7 59 0.62 4.31 21.65 0.59 4.86 0.039 1.15 3.2 144.1 2.56 890 0.85 1.62 532 260 0.245

0.255 63.5 13.34 0.97 0.75 0.74 954 6.4 10.32 7.68 0.211 1,029 7 59.5 0.62 4.31 21.65 0.59 4.89 0.039 1.15 3.24 145.4 2.56 890 0.85 1.63 532 263 0.248

8990 HLDG A BROWN ARTHALAND CORP AYALA LAND BELLE CORP CEB LANDMASTERS CEBU HLDG CEBU PROP A CENTURY PROP CITY AND LAND CITYLAND DEVT CROWN EQUITIES CYBER BAY DOUBLEDRAGON EMPIRE EAST FILINVEST LAND GLOBAL ESTATE IRC PROP MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED PHIL ESTATES PHIL REALTY PRIMEX CORP

7.17 1.07 0.82 42 3.49 4.88 5.96 6.16 0.455 1.1 0.98 0.241 0.435 30.7 0.64 1.64 1.27 1.11 4.59 0.72 0.465 0.54 2.92

7.28 1.07 0.83 42 3.6 4.9 5.96 6.16 0.46 1.1 0.98 0.246 0.44 31 0.65 1.64 1.28 1.14 4.72 0.75 0.465 0.54 2.99

7.11 1.03 0.82 41.1 3.44 4.82 5.96 6.16 0.445 1.1 0.97 0.238 0.42 30.7 0.62 1.57 1.26 1.1 4.59 0.72 0.44 0.52 2.64

VOLUME

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

ROBINSONS LAND ROCKWELL SHANG PROP SM PRIME HLDG STA LUCIA LAND STARMALLS SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND

19.74 2.05 3.3 38.2 1.1 9.7 0.78 6.31

19.74 2.05 3.3 38.2 1.14 9.72 0.78 6.48

19.36 2 3.22 37.2 1.1 9.6 0.78 6.31

19.56 2 3.3 37.25 1.14 9.7 0.78 6.4

2,836,600 546,000 18,000 6,368,000 1,335,000 107,100 203,000 2,463,900

55,404,768 1,093,110 58,600 238,770,370 1,499,880 1,034,379 158,340 15,724,168

-892,708.00 858,000 -11,378,935 -5,808 -156,000 -4,660,062.00

2GO GROUP ABS CBN ACESITE HOTEL APC GROUP APOLLO GLOBAL ASIAN TERMINALS BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY BOULEVARD HLDG CEBU AIR CENTRO ESCOLAR CHELSEA EASYCALL FAR EASTERN U GLOBE TELECOM GMA NETWORK GOLDEN BRIA HARBOR STAR IMPERIAL INTL CONTAINER IPEOPLE ISLAND INFO ISM COMM JACKSTONES LBC EXPRESS LEISURE AND RES LORENZO SHIPPNG MACROASIA MANILA JOCKEY MELCO RESORTS METRO RETAIL NOW CORP PACIFIC ONLINE PAL HLDG PAXYS PHIL SEVEN CORP PHILWEB PLDT PREMIUM LEISURE PRMIERE HORIZON PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL SBS PHIL CORP SSI GROUP STI HLDG TRANSPACIFIC BR TRAVELLERS WATERFRONT WILCON DEPOT

15.8 26.8 1.33 0.46 0.047 13.06 5 12.3 0.056 88.5 8.8 7.54 18.7 940 1,632 5.68 300.4 3.9 2.19 82.8 13.02 0.113 1.38 3.54 15.66 4.64 1.02 26.55 4.21 6.43 2.95 8.7 11.88 9.7 2.9 132.4 5.96 1,367 1.16 0.365 47.6 90 7.16 2.21 1.28 0.445 4.78 0.85 11.52

15.8 26.85 1.33 0.465 0.047 13.06 5 12.42 0.058 89.8 8.89 7.57 18.8 940 1,670 5.68 306 3.93 2.2 83.2 13.02 0.114 1.38 3.7 15.66 4.64 1.03 26.9 4.32 6.66 3.1 8.95 11.88 9.8 2.9 133 5.98 1,380 1.2 0.385 47.9 90 7.17 2.24 1.28 0.45 4.8 0.87 11.52

15.44 26.75 1.33 0.455 0.046 12.8 5 11.54 0.055 87.05 8.8 7.42 17.4 940 1,630 5.6 300.2 3.85 2.04 81.6 13.02 0.113 1.38 3.54 15.5 4.52 1.02 26.55 4.21 6.23 2.93 8.67 11.8 9.4 2.9 132 5.94 1,360 1.09 0.365 47.5 87 7.15 2.21 1.23 0.44 4.72 0.85 11.3

SERVICES 15.5 26.8 1.33 0.455 0.046 12.8 5 11.8 0.057 87.05 8.8 7.42 17.5 940 1,631 5.6 305.8 3.89 2.04 83.2 13.02 0.113 1.38 3.69 15.66 4.52 1.03 26.6 4.3 6.23 2.99 8.8 11.86 9.4 2.9 132.3 5.94 1,370 1.09 0.385 47.65 89.95 7.15 2.21 1.24 0.45 4.77 0.86 11.4

43,800 19,700 5,000 2,370,000 2,200,000 1,600,400 2,000 18,920,600 5,210,000 54,100 26,000 516,600 96,400 220 24,425 159,800 4,260 1,069,000 54,000 2,720,060 100 1,000,000 70,000 78,000 5,400 1,303,000 95,000 399,700 3,000 11,902,800 2,321,000 5,968,600 2,600 2,700 4,000 3,180 270,900 33,400 35,510,000 3,660,000 579,200 70,760 20,900 213,000 1,016,000 7,190,000 1,519,000 610,000 908,600

678,996 528,105 6,650 1,087,900 102,700 20,485,438 10,000 223,407,578 294,420 4,790,227 229,070 3,856,298 1,720,652 206,800 39,911,710 897,966 1,290,960 4,157,140 117,420 225,572,858 1,302 113,020 96,600 281,780 84,452 5,921,350 96,930 10,639,945 12,830 76,509,831 6,973,620 52,540,436 30,718 25,570 11,600 420,612 1,612,155 45,734,490 40,578,140 1,372,500 27,586,795 6,256,136 149,649 472,290 1,265,940 3,180,600 7,241,450 523,240 10,358,364

201,930 55,200 12,151,040 -96,900,972 -1,944,132 -784,430 -17,700 -18,465,235 -54,530 5,342,057 7,830 -214,100 5,555,795 -2,928,368 -2,149,500 -31,770 38,360 596 709,920 -90,470 998,760 -4,893,976 -206,210 -416,570 -434,300 -2,332,370 -860 1,357,020

ABRA MINING APEX MINING ATLAS MINING ATOK CENTURY PEAK DIZON MINES FERRONICKEL GEOGRACE LEPANTO A LEPANTO B NICKEL ASIA NIHAO OMICO CORP ORNTL PENINSULA ORNTL PETROL A PHILODRILL PHINMA PETRO PX MINING PXP ENERGY SEMIRARA MINING

0.0027 1.64 4.21 17.3 1.65 7.77 2.32 0.192 0.139 0.142 4.99 1.21 0.52 0.9 0.013 0.012 2.09 5.39 12.9 29.4

0.0029 1.65 4.23 18.7 1.7 7.77 2.38 0.192 0.14 0.142 5.02 1.21 0.52 0.9 0.013 0.013 2.09 5.4 13 29.4

0.0027 1.62 4.21 17.28 1.64 7.27 2.31 0.189 0.138 0.142 4.84 1.12 0.52 0.88 0.012 0.012 2.09 5.3 12.6 28.65

MINING & OIL 0.0028 396,000,000 1.63 2,021,000 4.23 70,000 18.7 2,400 1.69 8,443,000 7.6 2,500 2.35 2,082,000 0.19 80,000 0.138 940,000 0.142 590,000 4.89 1,582,000 1.2 106,000 0.52 8,000 0.88 280,000 0.012 6,600,000 0.012 41,400,000 2.09 2,000 5.38 544,000 12.62 804,300 28.75 589,900

1,114,700 3,292,550 295,500 42,550 13,951,100 18,298 4,880,740 15,170 131,220 83,780 7,769,440 119,770 4,160 249,020 80,100 500,500 4,180 2,912,202 10,241,262 17,026,785

8,100 -126,700 8,044,740 25,800 -1,650,290.00 1,780 53,900 -573,746.00 -1,274,208 -1,676,880

ABS HLDG PDR AC PREF B1 DD PREF FGEN PREF F GLO PREF P GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF B HOUSE PREF A MWIDE PREF PCOR PREF 2B PNX PREF 3B SMC FB PREF 2 SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

27.1 500 101 103.6 506 5.73 990 100.1 105 1,135 111 990 77 79.9 75.2 75.7 77.9 76.95 77

27.1 501 101 107 506 5.74 990 100.1 105 1,135 111 990 77 79.9 75.2 75.7 77.9 77 78

27 495 100.3 103.6 506 5.5 987 100 104 1,120 111 990 77 78.6 75.15 75.6 76.5 76.95 77

PREFERRED 27 4,600 495 370 100.3 20,040 107 7,080 506 10 5.5 218,100 987 3,810 100 350 104 430 1,120 20 111 150 990 1,000 77 10,000 78.6 20,100 75.15 14,800 75.6 5,800 76.5 7,300 77 197,910 78 123,680

124,510 185,000 2,013,640 733,794 5,060 1,248,259 3,760,800 35,001 45,020 22,615 16,650 990,000 770,000 1,580,023 1,112,221.50 438,800 564,456 15,238,065 9,523,660

-40,500 -83,170 -

LR WARRANT

2.7

2.7

2.62

WARRANTS 2.67 222,000

590,330

-2,670

ITALPINAS XURPAS

5.16 3.28

5.16 3.32

5.11 3.18

5.14 3.18

1,412,713 5,220,700

-35,947 -95,190

FIRST METRO ETF

118.1

119

117.7

660,046

-

USD DMPL A1 USD TECH B2

10 1.02

10 1.02

10 1.02

50,000 15,300

-

MS

PROPERTY 7.21 1.03 0.82 41.95 3.44 4.88 5.96 6.16 0.46 1.1 0.97 0.239 0.42 31 0.65 1.6 1.27 1.14 4.68 0.74 0.44 0.53 2.65

54,188,300 6,177,000 911,000 4,611,200 1,183,000 1,232,000 55,600 2,000 3,810,000 26,000 230,000 6,740,000 4,440,000 90,200 919,000 13,621,000 1,062,000 2,322,000 10,701,000 189,913,000 4,280,000 3,375,000 14,053,000

TRADING SUMMARY

SHARES

FINANCIAL

8,348,898

INDUSTRIAL

73,757,857

HOLDING FIRMS

75,565,844

PROPERTY

337,871,907

SERVICES

110,360,370

MINING & OIL

462,250,832

GRAND TOTAL

1,070,066,035

SME

275,200 1,628,000

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 118.1 5,580 10 1.02

DDS

5,000 15,000

VALUE 1,880.51 (down) -15.24 603,674,792 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 10,946.98 (up) 49.97 1,123,922,004.69 HOLDING FIRMS 7,513.22 (down) -0.94 968,753,807.75 PROPERTY 3,804.78 (down) -15.8 SERVICES 1,523.39 (down) -3.25 1,184,070,882.72 MINING & OIL 9,986.28 (down) -161.26 831,499,309.18 PSEI 7,646.2 (down) -11.85 62,753,323.4 All Shares Index 4,652.46 (down) -10.27 4,781,972,629.78 Gainers:78; Losers: 110; Unchanged: 45; Total: 232

San Miguel bares plan to offer notes worth P10b

By Jenniffer B. Austria CONGLOMERATE San Miguel Corp. plans to issue P10 billion of two-year corporate notes at a yearly interest rate of 5.25 percent.

San Miguel said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it would offer the corporate notes to qualified buyers.

“The offering of the two-year, fixedrate notes is pursuant to the authority of the board of directors of the company to issue peso-denominated fixedrate corporate notes up to P20 billion,” San Miguel said.

San Miguel will issue the two-year notes and list them with Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. on May 25.

BDO Capital Investments Corp. and BPI Capital Corp. are the joint underwriters and issue managers of the transaction, while Development Bank of the Philippines, RCBC Capital Corp. and SB Capital Corp. are the co-lead managers.

San Miguel said it would use proceeds from the fund raising to refinance loan and US dollar denominated obligations and invest in subsidiaries.

The conglomerate has been refinancing dollar-denominated loans due to rising interest rates and the depreciation of the peso against the dollar.

San Miguel April also raised P20 billion from the issuance of fixed rate bonds due 2023, 2025 and 2028.

The bond sale represents the third tranche of the company’s P60-billion shelf registration approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

San Miguel earlier said net income in the first quarter of 2018 increased 13 percent to P15.6 billion from P13.82 billion year-on-year, boosted by the strong performance of its liquor business.

Recurring net income, which excluded one-off items, rose 31 percent to P19.36 billion from P14.83 billion a year ago.

First-quarter net sales climbed 20 percent to P234.3 billion from last year’s P195.7 billion, while income from operations increased 19 percent to P32.68 billion.

PSBank board approves P15b in debt paper

By Julito G. Rada PHILIPPINE Savings Bank, the thrift bank unit of the Metrobank Group, will issue up to P15 billion worth of long-term negotiable certificates of time deposits to pursue the expansion of the consumer banking business.

The bank said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Tuesday its board approved the issue in a meeting held on Monday.

The bank plans to issue the longterm negotiable certificates of time deposits in two or more tranches over a period of one year and with a tenor of 5.5 years.

“The issuance of LTNCTDs will give PSBank an opportunity to access long-term funding as the bank further expands its consumer banking business,” it said.

The issuance is subject to the approval of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, while the final terms, including the offering period and interest rate, will depend on market conditions. The LTNCTDs would be listed in an accredited exchange, PSBank said.

LTNCDs are products offered to investors looking for a relatively safe investment asset with a higher interest rate compared to a regular savings account or short-term time deposit.

As an investment instrument, LTNCDs are very similar to time deposits and bonds but differ with regard to several features.

PSBank said net income in the first quarter of 2018 jumped 25 percent to P641.1 million from P511.1 million a year ago on strong net interest margin and other operating profits.

PSBank posted a double-digit growth of 15 percent in total operating income year-on-year to P3.7 billion from P3.2 billion.

Total loan portfolio rose 11.7 percent to P149.2 billion, driven by the bank’s consumer loan business. Total resources expanded to P224.8 billion, up 9.4 percent year-on-year, while deposits climbed 9.2 percent to P186 billion.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK Manila

World

Standard

TODAY

IN BRIEF Reporters to watch nuke site destruction BEIJING—Foreign journalists headed to North Korea on Tuesday to witness the promised destruction of its nuclear test site, a move seen as a goodwill gesture before a planned summit with the United States.

Dozens of reporters from China, the United States and Russia departed on a charter flight from Beijing, according to Chinese state broadcaster CGTN which is part of the contingent. It showed the journalists board a small plane emblazoned with the North’s flag.

The journalists will cover the demolition of the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site inside a mountain in the northeast of the country, which is scheduled to take place between Wednesday and Friday.

Agence France-Presse and some other major media organizations were not invited to cover the event.

The North has staged all six of its nuclear tests there beginning in 2006. The latest and by far the most powerful in September last year was said by Pyongyang to have been a hydrogen bomb. AFP

B3

WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2018 CESAR BARRIOQUINTO, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Najib questioned over scandal P UTRAJAYA―Former Malaysian leader Najib Razak was questioned by anti-corruption authorities Tuesday after his shock election loss, as the top graft fighter revealed he faced threats and a bullet in the post when the old regime suppressed a probe into a massive corruption scandal.

Najib’s coalition suffered a defeat at the May 9 poll, beaten by a reformist alliance led by Mahathir Mohamad, which broke their six-decade stranglehold on power.

Mahathir, who first served as premier from 1981-2003 and came out of retirement aged 92 to take on Najib, campaigned on claims that the former leader and his cronies looted sovereign wealth fund 1MDB. Billions of dollars were allegedly stolen from the fund in a sophisticated fraud, and used to buy everything from artworks to high-end real estate.

Najib and his reviled, luxury-loving wife Rosmah Mansor have had a swift fall from grace. They have been barred

from leaving the country, and police have seized handbags, jewels and cash during raids on properties linked to the couple.

Public disgust at the corruption allegations swirling around them at a time middle-class Malaysians were suffering due to rising living costs and stagnant salaries was seen as a major factor in Najib’s defeat.

The ousted leader pushed through a huge media scrum as he arrived at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters in the administrative capital of Putrajaya to be quizzed about 1MDB money allegedly ending up in his personal bank accounts.

He left after about five hours looking exhausted, and told waiting reporters that

officials had “acted professionally” as they took his statement and that the process would continue on Wednesday.

The toppled regime went to great lengths to put a halt to scrutiny of the problems surrounding 1MDB, closing down domestic probes, sacking critics from government, jailing those who spoke out, and muzzling the media.

New MACC chief Shukri Abdull, a long-time senior figure in the agency who retired but has been brought back by Mahathir, shed tears at a press conference as he told how he came under “tremendous pressure” during an earlier probe into a 1MDB subsidiary.

He recounted how witnesses were intimidated, authorities tried to push him into early retirement, and that he even received a bullet in the post.

Shukri said the harassment reached a “very frightening” level and at one point he briefly fled to the United States as he feared arrest.

“Our witnesses were abducted. Some of them were questioned by others as to what they revealed to us,” he said.

“I received a bullet at my home,” he added. “I did not even tell my wife and my family, I did not lodge a police report.”

As pressure mounted, Shukri decided to retire in 2016.

Najib was summoned by the anticorruption body to give a statement over SRC International, an energy company that was originally a subsidiary of 1MDB. According to an investigation by the Wall Street Journal, 42 million ringgit ($10.6 million) originating from SRC was transferred to Najib’s personal bank accounts.

It is just one small part in the graft scandal, which is being investigated in several countries.

Hundreds of millions of dollars from 1MDB allegedly ended up in Najib’s accounts but the ex-leader and the investment vehicle have denied any wrongdoing.

Mahathir has vowed to fully investigate the financial scandal and on Monday the new government set up a task force headed by high-ranking current and former officials to probe the controversy. AFP

Five dead as virus fears spread in India NEW DELHI—A deadly virus carried by fruit bats has killed at least five people in southern India and more than 90 people are in quarantine, a top health official said Tuesday.

Other deaths are suspected to have been caused by Nipah virus and authorities have ordered emergency measures to control the outbreak.

“We can confirm that five people have died from the Nipah virus,” Kerala state health surveillance officer K.J. Reena told AFP. Media reports said 10 people had died but officials told AFP final tests had not been completed on other suspicious deaths.

Nine people have been admitted to hospital with symptoms resembling the virus, which the World Health Organization says is fatal in 70 percent of cases, Reena added.

One of the nine has tested positive for Nipah.

“We also traced 94 people who had come in contact with the ones who died and they have been quarantined as a precaution,” Reena added. AFP

US warns of strong sanctions on Iran WASHINGTON—US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday warned Tehran would be hit with the“strongest sanctions in history” and cautioned European firms against continuing to do business with it, toughening up Washington’s policy line after its withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.

In his first major foreign policy address since moving to the State Department from the CIA, the longtime Iran hawk and ardent opponent of the 2015 nuclear pact outlined an aggressive series of moves designed to counter Tehran, which he called the world’s top sponsor of terror.

“We will apply unprecedented financial pressure on the Iranian regime. The leaders in Tehran will have no doubt about our seriousness,” Pompeo said in a speech at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank.

“This sting of sanctions will be painful if the regime does not change its course from the unacceptable and unproductive path it has chosen to one that rejoins the league of nations.” AFP

Protest greets fourth year of Thai junta rule BANGKOK—Thai police blocked antijunta protesters from marching to Government House on Tuesday to mark four years of military rule, one of the largest acts of dissent since the army grabbed power.

Hundreds of student activists and middle-aged ‘Red Shirt’ supporters of the toppled civilian government wielded banners, Thai flags and fans with a cartoon of the premier mocked-up as “Pinocchio”, as they massed at a police blockade obstructing their progress to the seat of government in Bangkok.

Disquiet with the junta is simmering in Thailand, despite a ban on political gatherings since a coup toppled the elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra on May 22, 2014.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-OCha, who as army chief booted Yingluck’s administration from power, has suggested elections will be held in February next year.

But the timetable for a return to democracy has frequently slipped and patience with his junta is wearing thin among many sections of Thai society. AFP

INVITATION TO BID No. 13-2018 The National Irrigation Administration (NIA), Region 8, Marasbaras, Tacloban City through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), hereby invites Domestic Contractors, registered with and classified by the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB), to bid for the hereunder contracts. Bids received in excess of ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

Item/Description

Approved Budget for Contract (Php)

Duration

Cost of Bid Docs

1. Calbiga IP Contract No. 01-2018– Construction of Canal Lining, Canal Structures and Terminal Facilities of Calbiga Irrigation Project, Calbiga, Samar

63,262,616.44

330 cd

50,000.00

2. Calbiga IP Contract No. 02-2018–Construction of Canal Lining, Canal Structures, Terminal and Project Facilities of Calbiga Irrigation Project, Calbiga, Samar

60,880,904.81

330 cd

50,000.00

The Prospective Bidders should have completed, within five (5) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project whose value must be at least fifty percent (50%) of the ABC. Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of republic Act 9184 (R.A. 9184), otherwise known as the “Government procurement Reform Act”.

A CROSS FOR CHRISTOPHER. People visit a cross for Christopher Stone at a memorial for the victims of the Santa Fe High School shooting on May 21, 2018, in Santa Fe, Texas. AFP

Prospective Bidders are not allowed to participate if they have negative slippage in their on-going contracts. Individuals with Special Power of Attorney (SPA) are not allowed to transact and participate in the procurement utilizing another construction firm.

The schedule of BAC activities are as follows: BAC Activities

Families remember bombing victims LONDON―Prime Minister Theresa May and Prince William will on Tuesday join the families of the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing at a commemoration ceremony in the city on the first anniversary of the tragedy.

They will attend the service at Manchester Cathedral alongside first responders, civic leaders and some of the scores injured in the suicide attack on May 22 last year, which killed 22 people.

Salman Abedi, a British man of Libyan heritage, blew himself up outside the venue, which had been hosting a concert by teen pop idol Ariana Grande.

“The targeting of the young and innocent as they enjoyed a carefree night out... was an act of sickening cowardice,” Theresa May wrote in the city’s local paper the Manchester Evening News.

“It was designed to strike at the heart of our values and our way of life in one of our most vibrant cities, with the aim of breaking our resolve and dividing us. It failed.”

The prime minister said that “such appalling acts of wickedness” would strengthen Britain’s resolve “to defeat such twisted ideologies and beliefs.”

The remembrance service will be shown on a

big screen in nearby Cathedral Gardens, as well as at churches in York, Liverpool and Glasgow.

It will incorporate a minute of silence at 2.30 pm (1330 GMT), which will also be marked at British government buildings nationwide.

More than 3,000 singers from local choirs, including a group who were at the arena on the night, will join forces later Tuesday at a “Manchester together” event in a city center square featuring half an hour of communal singing.

Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, told BBC Radio that all those impacted would be “at the very forefront of our minds” during the day.

“We’re stronger than we were, we’re more together and there is a more palpable sense of community spirit, but underneath the scars are very real and they’re very deep,” he said.

“We’re a city in recovery and we’ve still got a long way to go.”

Grande, who had just finished performing when the bomber struck outside, shared a message of support for those affected.

“I love you with all of me and am sending you all of the light and warmth I have to offer on this challenging day,” she wrote. AFP

Tibetan-language advocate gets five years BEIJING―A Tibetan who has campaigned to preserve his region’s ancestral language was jailed for five years in China on Tuesday for “inciting separatism” in a case Amnesty International denounced as “beyond absurd”.

Tashi Wangchuk was featured in a New York Times documentary that followed him on a trip to Beijing, where he attempted to get Chinese state media and courts to address what he describes as the diminishing use of the Tibetan language.

A court in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the northwestern province of Qinghai sentenced him on Tuesday morning, according to his lawyer.

The court could not be reached for comment.

Tashi had been detained in his home town of Yushu without access to his family since January 2016, not long after the New York Times published its story and documentary video about his activism.

“Tashi plans to appeal. I believe he committed no crime and we do not accept the verdict,” lawyer Liang Xiaojun told AFP. Tashi had pleaded not guilty at his trial in January.

But nearly every case that goes to trial in China―especially on sensitive state security issues―ends with a guilty verdict.

Liang told AFP the short documentary was the main evidence used by the prosecution.

In the video, Tashi complained of a “systematic slaughter of our culture”.

In the New York Times stories Tashi notably said he wanted to use Chinese law to build his case and praised President Xi Jinping.

Beijing says it “peacefully liberated” Tibet in 1951 and insists it has brought development to a previously backward region. AFP

Schedule

Time

1. Issuance of Bid Documents

Starting May 7, 2018

8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

2. Pre-bid Conference

May 14, 2018

2:00 p.m.

3. Receipt and Opening of Bids

May 25, 2018

10:00 a.m.

The BAC will issue a complete set of Bidding Documents to eligible bidders upon payment of non-refundable amount of the Bid Documents to the Cashier.

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

(SGD.) ESTELITA S. SUMILE BAC Chairman Noted: (SGD.) FERMINA B. ALING Acting Regional Manager (MS-MAY 23, 2018)

Republic of the Philippines Department of Health CENTRAL OFFICE BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE INVITATION TO BID FOR THE PROCUREMENT OF VARIOUS GOODS 1.

The Department of Health (DOH), through the General Appropriations Act of 2018 intends to procure the following projects listed below: IB No.

Name of Contract

ABC (PHP)

Cost of Bidding Documents (Php)

2018-107

Supply, Delivery, Installation and Commissioning of Giant LED TV Billboard (Collapsible Outdoor LED Display and LED Display Outdoor Fixed Installation)

55,000,000.00

50,000.00

2018-258

Procurement of Printers

19,600,000.00

25,000.00

2.

The DOH now invites Bids from eligible Bidders for the procurement of the above-captioned projects. Delivery of the Goods is required within period specified under Section VI. Schedule of Requirements. Bidders should have completed contracts similar to the cited projects as stated in the ITB. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

3.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183.

4.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the COBAC Secretariat, G/F, Bldg.

6, Department of Health, San Lazaro Compound and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given above during 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Monday to Friday.

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS), provided that Bidders who interested to participate shall pay the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

5.

The DOH will hold a Pre-Bid Conference and the Submission and Opening of Bids at the COBAC Conference Room, Ground Floor, Bldg. 6, Department of Health, Sta. Cruz, Manila, on the schedule given below: Activity (Date & Time) IB No.

NOTICE TO STOCKHOLDERS OF Harbor Star Shipping Services, Inc. TO ALL STOCKHOLDERS In connection with the Company’s Annual Stockholders’ Meeting to be held on 30 May 2018, the Company’s latest Interim Unaudited Financial Statements with Management’s Discussion and Analysis for the period ended 31 March 2018 (SEC Form 17-Q) have been posted on its website and can be accessed and downloaded at: http://www.harborstar.com.ph/ investors/pse_disclosures.

The Company shall likewise provide the stockholders, upon request, a hard copy of SEC Form 17-Q for the period ended 31 March 2018.

For this purpose, stockholders may contact Ms. Kath Castro at (+632) 886-3703.

6.

Name of Contract

2018-107

Supply, Delivery, Installation and Commissioning of Giant LED TV Billboard (Collapsible Outdoor LED Display and LED Display Outdoor Fixed Installation)

2018-258

Procurement of Printers

Pre-bidding Conference

Submission and Opening of Bids

30 May 2018; 10:00 A.M.

13 June 2018; 9:00 A.M.

Bids must be duly received by the COBAC Secretariat at the address below on or before the date given above. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

Bid opening shall be at the COBAC Conference Room, Ground Floor, Bldg. 6, Department of Health, Sta. Cruz, Manila. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address above. Late bids shall not be accepted.

7.

The DOH reserves the right to reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

8.

For further information, please refer to: COBAC-B Secretariat Department of Health San Lazaro Compound Sta. Cruz, Manila Tel. Nos. 651-7800 local 1625 to 1627; 1650 to 52 Facsimile No.: 741-9775; 740-6830

(Original Signed) IGNATIUS A. RODRIGUEZ Corporate Secretary

(signed) MARIA ROSARIO S. VERGEIRE, MD, MPH, CESO IV

Assistant Secretary of Health Chairperson, COBAC-B (MS-MAY 23, 2018)

(MS-MAY 23 , 2018)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

LGUs

Jimbo Owen Gulle, Editor lgu@manilastandard.net editor.lgustandard@gmail.com

B4

wednesday, may 23, 2018

Masbate decrees Itself ‘coal-free,’ nixes coal-fired power plants

LocaL government units

READY FOR SCHOOL. A student of Maximo Estrella Elementary School in Barangay Carmona, Makati shows off the free school supplies and new pair of black shoes she received Monday while participating in the annual Brigada Eskwela program. Makati Mayor Abby Binay has ordered the distribution of school supplies and uniforms to be done simultaneously with the activity to ensure that students will come to class in proper uniform and with the things they need when schools open on June 4. This year, the city allocated P700 million for Project FREE (Free Relevant Excellent Education), which provides school supplies and gear to Makati public school students, from preschool to senior high.

By Alena Mae S. Flores THE provincial board of Masbate has issued a resolution declaring the province as coal-free by prohibiting local government offices in Masbate City from issuing any permits to coal projects.

With Provincial Resolution no. 096-18, Masbate now joins Guimaras, Sorsogon, ilocos norte, and negros Oriental as provinces promoting a coal-free environment.

“Further, to prohibit all local government instrumentalities in Masbate City from issuing any permit, authorization, endorsement, or any expression of support to the development and operation of coal-fired power plant facilities,” the resolution stated.

The resolution declared Masbate City as an “eco-friendly city” and in line with the Renewable Energy act of 2008, Masbate encourages the development and utilization of renewable energy to protect and reduce harmful emissions to the environment. “a coal plant operation threatens the natural beauty and pristine ecosystem of Masbate City such as the Buntod Marine sanctuary, which is one of the most resilient coral reefs in the Philippines,” it said.

The declaration is in accordance with the Philippine Clean air act, which acknowledges the adverse impact of coal combustion, not only to the environment, but also to the health of the citizens.

The provincial board has banned the use of coal throughout the province as it threatens the natural beauty and pristine ecosystem of Masbate City.

Masbate envisions a brighter future ahead as more provinces aim to support the country’s tourism-based economic development. last month, the Office of the Governor of negros Oriental also declared the province as an environment-friendly and clean-energy province with the issuance of an executive order.

EO no. 9, signed by Governor Roel Degamo, said the province shall “adopt a policy that all offices and local government instrumentalities in the province of negros Oriental shall not issue any permit, authorization, endorsement or any expression of support to the development of coal-fired power plants in the province.” negros Oriental has also opted to utilize clean and renewable energy in its 19 municipalities and six cities to support economic growth and to deviate from activities harmful for the environment.

“Consistent with this direction, the province of negros Oriental shall, on the other hand, strive to develop and utilize clean and renewable energy to support economic growth, and on the other hand, veer away from activities that are destructive to the environment and harmful of the negrenses’ health and livelihood such as the operation of coal-fired power plants,” the EO said.

Cotabato bombing plot foiled, then hushed up

By Nash B. Maulana

C

OTABATO CITY—City officials have asked state authorities in a martial law anti-terrorism operation to disclose the circumstances of an unidentified suspect arrested in a foiled bomb attack, designed to yield a series of explosions in Barangay Kalanganan ii here.

City Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi said Tuesday she appealed to the police, the military and to Defense Secretary Delfin lorenzana that more information about the arrested man should be made available to local authorities.

On Monday, Guiani-Sayadi also implicitly confirmed the arrest, saying: “if it wasn’t for the prompt action of the [composite personnel of] CiDG [Criminal investigation and Detection Group], the City PnP [Philippine national Police] and the aFP [armed Forces of the Philippines], several lives could have

been lost, had the bomb exploded.”

But residents said local police have remained mum even a week after the authorities subjected the man to a warrantless arrest—as a terror suspect— which is part of the state’s martial law powers in effect in Mindanao.

The suspect had reportedly planted packs of improvised explosive devices in the fishing village of Kalanganan ii, one of the hotly contested barangays in the recent barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.

Human rights advocates, among them

SUlTan KUDaRaT, Maguindanao—local and national officials have unveiled efforts to help improve agriculture production here and turn areas harmed by armed conflict in the past into development grounds at par with other communities.

Department of agriculture officials joined a dialogue here and engaged farmers together with representatives of the Department of agriculture and Fisheries of the autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

DaF-aRMM assistant Regional Secretary Eugene Strong said three more projects worth P12 million were added to the 20-hectare aRMM integrated area Research Center Complex here.

Strong represented both aRMM Governor Mujiv Hataman and DaF-aRMM Regional Secretary alexander alonto Jr. in the open-field dialogue with farmers.

Director Esmael S. Satol of the Research and Development Program said aRMM is far behind other regions in terms of agriculture research and development, and that adding facilities in the aRMMiaRC Complex is the way forward for the region’s agriculture-based economy.

Strong said the regional government has been grateful for the Duterte administration’s support to aRMM’s agricultural development, through agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol.

Piñol, the former Cotabato governor, also opened to local farmers the newly completed aRMMiaRC’s Food Product Development Center, worth P2 million.

Raymond Patrick Cabrera of the Da’s Bureau of agricultural Research said P3 million has been allocated for the construction of a Multipurpose Research and Development Facility, which will also cater to meetings, seminars and social events for up to 700 persons, also at the at the aRMMiaRC Complex.

Cabrera and Strong opened to public the groundbreaking ceremonies for the P3-million Multipurpose Research and Development Facility here, together with Recarte Castro, the area coordinator of the Da’s Communitybased Participatory action Research.

Tong abas, manager of the aRMMiaRC, said P7 million has been prior earmarked for the development of CPaR in three pilot municipalities in Maguindanao—Datu Paglas, Mamasapano and Datu Odin Sinsuat. nasrullah Dilangalen, agriculture and fishery information officer, said officials have rarely held direct community engagements with farmers, exchanging on their requests to improve agricultural production, and the outright answers of commitment to deliver—or decline—the requested assistance, on the part of government representatives. Nash B. Maulana

Estrada releases midyear bonus of Manila city workers this week

Ex-mayor loses to truck driver in village polls STa. MaRia, Pangasinan—a stunning upset in the recent barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections happened in this agricultural municipality when a truck driver outvoted a former municipal mayor by 29 votes.

The driver, Segundino “Jojo” Esquijo, 50, married and father of one, defeated former mayor Pinky Odero Ginez in barangay San Mariano here.

Esquijo, who ran with no political machinery except a painstaking house-to-house campaign with a vow to render round-the-clock work to the village, was in tears when the election tally showed him the clear winner. although tacitly supported by incumbent Mayor Teddy Ramos, Esquijo still polled 228 votes to Ginez’s 199.

Elected councilors with him were Erwin Mendillo, Benjie Surrel, Danilo Cardenas, Servillano dela Cruz, Renato Rey, Ferdinand Orbillo and Elizabeth Pasion.

Ginez is the wife of former mayor Choi Ginez and together had ruled the town for more than 20 years.

Their political leadership of Sta. Maria ended when Ramos ran and defeated reelectionist mayor Choi Ginez in 2010.

Christian clerics comparing the present martial law with the one during the Marcos era, have opposed President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of martial law, which he even extended twice in less than a year.

Most locals, however, have said they felt relatively safe with the new martial law.

The arrest has remained mysterious, as the man’s name, his circumstances and whereabouts had not been disclosed yet, while being under interrogation. authorities traced the suspect from police leads provided by his alleged cohort, who had earlier surrendered to village authorities and admitted to being part of a plan to terrorize the barangay and SK polls last May 14 by planting bombs on specific points in that village. it was not known if the suspects were hired by any candidate to perpetrate the crime.

Agri execs want ARMM at par with other areas without war

Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada meets with National Capital Region Police Office Chief Director Camilo Pancratius ‘Picoy’ Cascolan, who paid a courtesy call to the mayor at city hall on Monday. Estrada urged Cascolan to intensify the police anti-criminality campaign, especially the war against illegal drugs, to maintain peace and order in the city.

Manila City Hall employees will receive their midyear bonus this week after Mayor Joseph Estrada ordered the city’s budget department to release the fund in compliance with the directive of the national government.

Estrada announced the release of all city government workers’ mid-year bonus during the flag raising ceremony at the city hall quadrangle, saying the fund went through legal process to ensure that proper guidelines were met under the Commission on audit’s rules and regulations.

“We need to follow the legal procedure before we could release the money for your mid-year bonus. This is for your hard work and good service to the public,” the city chief executive said.

The midyear bonus is equivalent to one month of their basic salaries.

The mayor said that Manila City hall employees deserve the bonus for extending public service to the city’s

constituents, and a well-deserved incentive and a motivation for them to work hard.

“We have already paid our debts.

Because of your help, Manila is now debt-free. While i made enemies because of many tax reforms i implemented, we are now making improvements to regain the lost glory of Manila,” Estrada said.

“We should also be thankful that all of Manila’s debts have been paid, so you have many benefits,” the mayor added.

The former President also announced that the first and second tranche of the salary and allowances of teachers, police and barangay officials have been released.

Estrada likewise assured Manileños that various programs, including free education, medical, employment, and housing, will reach his constituents, especially the underprivileged.

Belmonte lauds ‘close friend’ Romulo-Puyat in new Tourism job

By Rio N. Araja QUEZOn City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte on Tuesday lauded newly appointed Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat for her record in public service.

She said Puyat, daughter of former senator, executive secretary, finance secretary and foreign affairs secretary alberto Romulo, is a person with a reputable character that makes her the best choice for the Cabinet post.

Belmonte said Puyat’s public service is “very clean” and her credentials “perfect”—being a professor, magna cum laude graduate, and a longtime public servant.

“The thing about her is that, she has

no bad track record. She’s very credible, so when she voices things out, people believe her, and people are rallying behind her,” she said.

“She’s very close to me. Berna is one of my closest friends even before,” the vice mayor added. it is through Puyat’s help, when she was undersecretary at the Department of agriculture, that Belmonte managed to kick off her Joy of Urban Farming program, she noted.

The tourism chief “can be a voice of inspiration for future leaders” as the vice mayor hopes it inspires President Rodrigo Duterte “to put in more people like her, purely professional, willing to call out when something is wrong.”

Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte (right) and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte exchange framed artworks as a symbol of their sister-city partnership.

Belmonte is spearheading efforts to renew the QC’s sister city ties with Davao to cement the long-term partnership of the city government with the hometown of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Manny Palmero

Life

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

fashion and beauty

Manilacaba totes are a nod to our jeepneys

@MStandardLIFE wEdnESday, May 23, 2018

C1

Louboutin’s

jeepney-inspired bags M

anILa’s traffic has inarguably killed many Filipinos’ productive hours—time better spent on much worthwhile endeavors than on idly awaiting for the vehicles to move, even if for a few meters. But this daily struggle of citizens in the Philippine capital has sparked an idea in international French designer Christian Louboutin to create bags that capture our vibrant culture and heritage.

Early this month, the luxury leather goods label unveiled ManILaCaBa, its latest bag design that’s part of the limited edition collection of tote bags, dubbed “Treasure Totes.” according to a statement, Christian Louboutin, stuck in Manila traffic jam, was stunned by the expansive joy flowing around. our colorful and shiny jeepneys caught his attention; it is said the designer related to the joyful style and vibrant decorations of these public transport vehicles.

ManILaCaBa celebrates this lighthearted atmosphere. on the front of the tote, sequins and cotton threads are embroidered into a playful wink to the crowded jeepneys,

which are also referenced on the lining of the bag in an eye-popping pattern that transcribes Manila’s passionate lifestyle.

Inside, Christian designed small jeepneys with different destinations, like Manila and Makati. symmetrical patterns of interwoven colors rekindle the joyful brightness of Filipino designs while the designer’s name delicately stands at the center of artful vegetal embroideries, distinctive of traditional costumes. around the central red frame, iridescent sequins are sewn into an eye-catching arrangement recalling the radiance of the Philippines’ Mother of Pearl. The Caba’s handles carry Christian Louboutin’s signature spikes, add-

ing a bold statement to the bag.

ManILaCaBa is available in two limited edition versions: Denim Blue and Black satin.

Louboutin’s ManILaCaBa was created in partnership with GrEaT (Gender responsive Economic action for the Transformation of Women) Women in asean. It is made of indigenous textiles and other materials, and features traditional weaving techniques done by women artisans and weavers in small communities and tribes.

“Designing the side panels with Christian was a rich experience,” shared Jeannie Javelosa, co-founder of the GrEaT Women in asean initiative. she continued, “The pattern Christian elaborated for them was new for the artisans who were used to weaving traditional motifs with this technique. But when we saw the encounter of tradition and creativity happened on the fabric, we thought: how interesting, we should have done this before!”

French designer Christian Louboutin was inspired by the vibrant and diverse culture and heritage of the Philippines

Turn to C2

iphoto

Mothers hunt for codes to win a car

Christian Louboutin with GREAT Women partners

Happy moms hunt for codes at SM Masinag, SM Rosales, and SM East Ortigas as SM Supermalls extends the celebration of #NationalSuperMomsDay2018 with Mother’s Month Car Promo. SM shoppers simply need to look for and scan #SuperMoms Code stickers scattered around participating SM malls until May 31. Upon scanning, shoppers can register to earn e-raffle entries for a chance to win a Suzuki Celerio. Deadline for registration is until May 31 at 9:00 p.m.

Fashion brand launches debut resort wear collection

The tomas maier and uniqlo Resort Collection consists of swimwear, lounge wear, and casual cover-ups.

For its first foray into resort wear, Japanese fashion brand Uniqlo has teamed up with German designer Tomas Maier. The colleccollec tion, launched May 18 in select Uniqlo stores, consists of swimwear, lounge wear, and casual cover-ups.

The collaboration fuses tomas maier’s “time off” and “escape” philosophy with Uniqlo’s commitment to create high quality, comfortable clothing for everyone.

“We have been delighted to collaborate with Tomas Maier in creating this exciting new LifeWear range,” enthused Yuki Katsuta, group senior vice president of Fast retailing and head of Global r&D. “I am sure people will love mixing and matching pieces from our first re resort wear collection, adding a splash of summer fun to everyday living, weekends, and vacation travel.”

The tomas maier and uniqlo resort Collection features orange, yellow, and other hues inspired by the sun-kissed splendor of Florida, where toto mas maier originated, as well as the brand’s iconic palm tree motif. The women’s line includes dresses, camisoles, a polo sweater, and swimwear that are practical and at the same time stylish. Featuring navy, black, and khaki, the men’s range, on the other hand, offers coordination flexibility with a range of jackets, T-shirts, polo shirts, and easy pants that double as smart swimwear. “our new collection is designed to work in many different ways. Beach “o attire can turn into lounge wear, casual cover-ups paired with polo shirts can easily be worn in town—this is the concept of my brand,” said Maier.

“Things work in many ways. Even if bought for a special trip or occasion the customer will soon discover these garments adapt to a year-round life.”

Orange, yellow, and other hues inspired by the sun-kissed splendor of Florida are highlighted in the collection.

Life

C2

wednesday, may 23, 2018 manilastandardlife@gmail.com

A

The stars shine bright in Tiffany

MONG the grand and outrageous ensembles that complied with theme “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” of this year’s Met Gala were the lovely pieces from Tiffany & Co. Actress and singer Zendaya and model Kendall Jenner debuted pieces from Tiffany’s newest collection, Tiffany Paper Flowers. Hip-hop artist A$AP Ferg, meanwhile, completed his look with the iconic Tiffany & Co. Schlumberger Bird on a Rock brooch.

Rapper Nicki Minaj did make sure she would shine bright on the red carpet of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art as she accented her

sultry, bright red Oscar de la Renta gown and bejeweled headpiece with nearly $1 million worth of Tiffany diamond bracelets and rings.

Other stars who donned Tiffany jewelry on the red carpet were Jennifer Lopez, Selena Gomez, Hailey Baldwin, Brooke Shields, Tessa Thompson, and Greta Gerwig.

Tiffany & Co. is exclusively available at Rustan’s Makati and Rustan’s Shangri-La.

Jennifer Lopez

Brooke Shields

Hailey Baldwin

Aussie swimwear brand expands presence in Manila AuSTRALIA’S largest and most recognized swimwear brand, Seafolly, opens another store in the country, further expanding its presence in the Philippines.

The new concept store sits in a brightly-lit 28-square meter space on the second floor of Rustan’s Makati.

“As part of our global expansion strategy, opening Seafolly brand anchors internationally is key. Seafolly has a strong international wholesale business that has delivered healthy year on year growth,

Key Hole Bralette Bikini

Nicki Minaj

Selena Gomez

however we see significant opportunities to expand on this business and become a market leader reflective of our position in our home market, Australia,” shared Seafolly chief executive officer Paul Kotraba.

In the Philippines, Seafolly is available in Rustan’s Shangri-La, Rustan’s Alabang, Rustan’s Cebu, and recently at Rustan’s Makati. The brand is sold in 2,700 doors across 41 countries, through its own channels, leading retailers, and major online sites.

The Rustan’s stores carry pieces from the newest Seafolly collection.

The collection perfectly balances the brand’s signature silhouettes inspired by current on-trend designs to deliver an all-encompassing range for the beach, the gym, and beyond.

Modern, yet luxurious, High Summer’s color palette is enriched with warm earthy tones of burnt amber and olive. Most momentously are the energy-enhancing prints which span across swim, active, and effortless apparel styles.

Love Bird combines old world charm and romance through reimagining chintzy furnishing floral in blue on white or black on peach. Inka Stripe, on the other hand, reinvents the much loved nautical trend with an update on the brand’s popular rib base in a French monochromatic pinstripe. Finally, Dusk to Dawn brings lingerie trends, particularly velvet, to its swimwear.

va n i t y c o r n er INSPIRED by the successful turn-out of last year’s Fashioning the Terno mentoring program for regional designers, the Cultural Center of the Philippines and local fashion brand Bench team up once again for the second phase this year, entitled TERNOCON, a terno making convention and contest for regional designers.

TERNOCON aims to encourage the use of the terno as a popular form of formal dress; to connect the knowledge and skills from Fashioning the Terno to a contemporary application in terno making; and to inspire and motivate regional designers to create ternos that are at par with the construction skills of senior fashion designers.

A total of 30 regional designers were chosen from the 2017 phase 1 participants who come from 17 provinces and local communities nationwide. Each finalist must design, create, and execute one cocktail balintawak terno and one formal terno. The finalists went through preparatory workshops from May 8 to10 at the CCP Main Theater Lobby. They were mentored by some of the county’s top professional designers, including Inno Sotto, JC Buendia, Cary Santiago, and Len Cabili.

The Fashion and Cultural Showcase will be held at the CCP Main Theater

Louboutin’s...

From C1 “I have always been captivated by the Philippines’ beauty: the perfect combination of sparkles, Mother of Pearl, and shells. But this project really started to make sense to me when I discovered the

Naturally Fresh dowN there

Convention to preserve terno Ternos made by Visayas participants

stage on November 10. A select team of experts will judge the entries based on adherence to tradition and competition guidelines, craftsmanship/execution of design, creativity, and wearability/ functionality. The winners will receive cash prizes and citations.

The CCP Cultural Exchange Department and Bench jointly implemented

the 2017 Mentoring Program held in the cities of Vigan, Bacolod, and General Santos in July, August, and December.

A total of 43 local designers, artists, educators, and cultural workers involved in theater, dance, and heritage conservation from 24 provinces and communities nationwide participated in the program.

richness and the quality of craftsmanship the GREAT Women in Asean artisans were able to develop,” enthused Christian Louboutin.

The MANILACABA is available on Christian Louboutin website for $1,590.

For every bag purchased, 10 percent will be donated to the GREAT Women in Asean initiative.

The French designer also created a limited edition Piloutin clutch, inspired by the natural wonders of the Philippine seas. The clutch bags are made with brilliant Swarovski crystals and pearlescent shells. He also designed Artemistrap that goes with the Piloutin. Only 10 Piloutin bags and 10 Artemistraps are available worldwide.

Keep your nether regions clean and fresh sans chemicals and synthetic fragrances with the help of this range of all-natural feminine wash.

Human Nature Natural Feminine Wash Odor Protect is powered by a blend of Odor Protect actives made from mangosteen extract, non-drying plant-derived agents, and skin-soothing aloe vera.

It is free of PEGs, sulfates, paraben, and colorants.

The Natural Feminine Wash Protection for Red Days helps provide anti-bacterial protection using tea tree oil, especially when the vagina’s pH level spikes due to menstrual blood. Finally, the Feminine Wash in Chamomile Cool and Natural Feminine Wash in Chamomile Fresh are gentle cleansers suitable for daily use.

These feminine products are available in all Human Nature stores nationwide and via www.humanheartnature.com.

Natural

light sCeNts oF summer Light, fresh scents are best worn during the warm season.

The Flora Collection of Blackwater consists of four delicately blended scents perfect for everyday use.

Calm Heart blends mandarin blossoms with pink pepper and ginger for a sexy hint of spice that reminds of a playful summer. Tender Smile has a powdery baby smell and keeps the stench of perspiration at bay, ideal for a carefree day at the beach. Meanwhile, Pearl Beauty is a tropical scent featuring a mix of honeyed oranges and wild berries, perfect for a warm day stroll. Finally, Love Blues is a sweet and delicate blend of violet floral with a refreshing fruity twist, best for attracting a vibrant feeling this season.

These fragrances are available at Ever Bilena counters in drugstores and supermarkets nationwide.

Entertainment Simply Red...

From C4

ABS-CBN won a Bronze World Medal in the 2018 New York Festivals World’s Best TV & Films (NYF) for its “To Love and To Serve” campaign in the Station/ Image Promotion category of the prestigious international award-giving body.

The TV spot created by ABS-CBN Creative Communication Management (CCM) expressed ABS-CBN’s gratitude for the honor to be part of the gestures of love in the Filipino family.

The two and a half minute film showed many heartwarming vignettes. Among them were about a tricycle driver proudly bringing home a second-hand TV set to his family, a domestic helper loading pasalubong for loved ones in a balikbayan box, a father admiring his son’s design sketch for a gown, and Muslims and Christians setting aside differences in faith to pack relief goods for calamity victims.

“To Love and To Serve” was conceptualized and produced by Christine Daria Estabillo, Maria Lourdes Parawan, and Raywin Tome, and directed by Paolo Ramos.

ABS-CBN also won a Gold World Medal for the documentary “’Di Ka Pasisiil,” while ANC, the ABS-CBN News Channel, won a Silver World Medal for “Bandurria,” the pilot episode of the documentary series “Local Legends.” *** Actor Richard Gutierrez and singer KZ Tandingan signed their respective exclusive two-year contracts with ABSCBN recently.

Fans of Richard can expect the actor to star in a Star Cinema film and is set to do a TV project. KZ’s followers, on the other hand, will continuously see her in the Sunday noontime variety show ASAP. She is also busy preparing for her major concert entitled Supreme KZ Tandingan.

“I am very excited and very thankful for the trust and the opportunities that will come my way as a Kapamilya,” shared former La Luna Sangre star Richard when asked how he felt upon signing the contract.

Meanwhile, KZ, who recently made headlines with her participation in the Chinese singing competition Singer 2018, felt overwhelmed with the new blessing in her life. “I’m just really happy after everything I’ve been through. Ito ‘yung parang culmination ng lahat ng pinagdaanan ko sa buhay ko.”

Present in the signing were ABS-CBN president and chief executive officer Carlo Katigbak, ABS-CBN COO of broadcast Cory Vidanes, Head of finance for broadcast and news and current affairs Cat Lopez, and Star Magic Head Johnny Manahan. They were joined by Richard’s mother and manager Annabelle Rama and KZ’s manager and President of Cornerstone Entertainment Erickson Raymundo.

DVD Throwback I recently visited Chen Kaige’s Ba wang bei ji (Farewell, My Concubine), the 1993 Chinese film adapted from the novel by Lilian Lee with Leslie Cheung, Zhang Fengyi and Gong Li. After watching it several times, I still found it a very compelling narrative of how politics could affect the lives of people, and in this case two men, Dieyi (Cheug) and Xiaolou (Zhang), both opera stars prior to the Cultural Revolution in China in the 1970s.

Dieyi, a son of a whore, was given to the care of an opera teacher. There he becomes attached to Xiaolou who would be his friend and stage brother. Their relationship is rattled when Juxian (Gong Li) comes between them.

It is a lengthy film, but Chen keeps his lens focused on the two major characters and how they were able to weather the unrest that rocked mainland China, from the Japanese invation to the communist takeover.

Cheung, who has become a gay icon since, died by suicide in April 2003 by jumping off the 24th floor of the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Hong Kong. A suicide note left by Cheung stated that he had been suffering from depression.

The film received the highest honors in Cannes in May 1993 with the Palm d’Or and also voted by the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as Golden Globe’s Best Foreign Film in February 1994.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2018

C3

nickie.standard@gmail.com

American film director Wes Anderson uses handmade miniature models where possible in his movies rather than computergenerated effects.

WES ANDERSON

on stellar cast of ‘Isle of Dogs’

Y

EARS after captivating audiences with The Royal Tenenbaums and Fantastic Mr. Fox, acclaimed director Wes Anderson has again begun wowing audiences in his latest masterpiece Isle of Dogs starring some of Hollywood’s biggest stars.

Led by an all-star voice cast such as Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Scarlett Johansson (Lucy), Yoko Ono, Bill Murray (Ghostbusters), Frances McDormand (Three Billboards in Ebbing Missouri) and Liev Shreiber (X-Men), Isle of Dogs details the story of Atari Kobayashi, when an outbreak of the canine flu spreads in Japan.

By Executive Decree, all the canine pets of Megasaki City are exiled to a vast garbage-dump. A scrappy pack of exiled dogs who’ve banded together to survive makes an amazing discovery: the crashlanding of a little human pilot who will

take them on a life-changing journey.

Atari sets off alone in a miniature Junior-Turbo Prop and flies to Trash Island in search of his bodyguard-dog, Spots. There, with the assistance of a pack of newly-found mongrel friends, he begins an epic journey that will decide the fate and future of the entire Prefecture.

Also written by Anderson, he detailed the writing process of the film and said that coming up with Isle of Dogs was a continuous process.

“It’s just always changing and once we reach the end, we start reworking it,” he said.

Considered to be more complex than Anderson’s first foray into stop-motion animation with the 2009 hit, Fantastic Mr. Fox., many consider Isle of Dogs as an ambitious film.

“It’s an even more ambitious film than Fantastic Mr. Fox and it doesn’t look like anything else you’ve seen. The animation is wild and the amount of detail packed into every frame is astonishing,” composer Alexandre Desplat, who marks his 4th time working with Anderson, said of the film.

The film features other Hollywood’s biggest names such as Edward Norton (The Incredible Hulk), Bob Balaban (Moonrise Kingdom), Jeff Goldbum (Thor: Ragnarok), Tilda Swinton (Doctor Strange), Harvel Keitel (Pulp Fiction) and Ken Watanabe (Inception).

From 20th Century Fox, catch Wes Anderson’s newest animation masterpiece in select Ayala Malls Cinemas starting May 30.

A splash-tastic Cartoon Network summer Kapamilya stars Richard Gutierrez and KZ Tandingan

SM Cinema celebrates SM’s 60 years with ‘Cinema Surprises’ SM CINEMA as it marks SM’s 60th anniversary, celebrates the occasion with exciting activities for its patrons across the country starting this May. Today, SM Cinema is the largest film exhibitor in the country with a total of 361 screens in 62 SM Cinema branches and 6 WM Cinemas nationwide. It also brought the latest innovations in the local cinema industry with eight (8) IMAX theatres, nine (9) Director’s Club Cinemas and three (3) Mega Screen Cinemas, fully expanding their theater portfolio that will give the total movie experience for all movie patrons.

In line with the 60th year celebration, SM Cinema launches Cinema Surprises, a set of exciting activities and fantastic treats for movie goers that will allow them to enjoy even more real-to-reel experiences during this milestone occasion.

At the start of Cinema Surprises,

SM Cinema presents the “60-minute Cinema Blitz”, a 60-minute period in the SM Cinema website where 200 lucky customers can get a PhP 60 discount for every ticket bought during the set happy celebration hour. Stay tuned on SM Cinema Facebook page for details!

Select SM Cinema branches will also be giving away free movie items for group purchases of movie tickets on upcoming movie offerings, such as Solo: A Star Wars Story and Crazy Rich Asians, in their respective ticket sale periods.

For more exciting offers and ticket bookings, visit the SM Cinema website, www.smcinema.com or for an even more convenient experience, download the SM Cinema app through the App Store and Google Play. You may also follow /SMCinema on facebook and @SM_Cinema on Instagram for more information and updates.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Wednesday, May 23, 2018

ACROSS 1 Standing 5 Caviar source 9 Hanker after 14 Poet’s black 15 Lunar phenomenon 16 Overhead 17 Show vexation 18 Gets ripe 19 Lugs along 20 Furtiveness 22 Most gross 24 Quench 26 That guy’s 27 Hoopsters 30 Sparkling 35 Got wind of 36 Sorority member 37 Mumble 38 Coffee server 39 Less bland 42 401(k) cousin 43 Outfits 45 Daily Planet reporter 46 Pile up 48 Savings (2 wds.)

50 Hems and haws 51 NW state 52 Stirred up 54 More flaky 58 Quits 62 In the air 63 Palm reader, maybe

65 Leave the dock 66 Buying frenzy 67 Chimney 68 1977 whale movie 69 Miser’s cache 70 D.C. figure 71 Putin’s refusal DOWN 1 TKO officials 2 Meet edge to edge 3 Iditarod terminus 4 Dough worker 5 Kind of symbol 6 Fair-weather systems 7 Citrus drink 8 Mr. Arnaz of “I Love Lucy” 9 Willow bloom 10 Woodwind players 11 Show of hands 12 Holiday times 13 Critical evaluation 21 Serfs’ masters 23 Reprimand 25 Conceit 27 Mass-produce, slangily 28 Cliffside refuge 29 Packs 31 Fragrant necklaces

32 Epic of Troy 33 Nanny 34 Lawn planting 36 Folk-dance shoe 40 Seaweeds 41 Speaks wildly 44 More rigid 47 Wisconsin capital 49 Revised 50 Tries extra hard 53 “Good night” girl 54 100-meter event 55 Puppy-chow

brand 56 Town meetings 57 Host’s request 59 Steel town near Chicago 60 Riviera resort 61 Venetian-blind component 64 Poet’s always

KIDS and their moms celebrated Mother’s Day with their favorite Cartoon Network characters at this year’s Cartoon Network Summer Splash held two Sundays ago at the Trinoma Activity Center.

With some of Cartoon Network’s iconic characters from The Powerpuff Girls, Adventure Time, Ben 10, We Bare Bears, and OK K.O Let’s Be Heroes!. Kids and kids-at-heart spent a funfilled afternoon going through different kinds of booths and gimmicks that made the event as enjoyable and interactive as possible.

The kids embarked on their journey to find their favorite Cartoon Network friends inside the venue, earning goodies, freebies, and the undeniable enjoyment of having a chance to meet their all-time childhood Cartoon Network characters along the way.

Kids had the once in a lifetime experience flying with The Powerpuff Girls at the Summersonic Flight Trampoline, then on to the quest of saving the We Bare Bear’s three bear brothers by riding an inflatable raft, got to ride a Jake Banana Boat as Finn in the Adventure Time booth and got to channel their inner heroes and conquered the obstacles at the OK K.O! Let’s be Heroes coast course.

In lieu with Mother’s Day, the Cartoon Network Summer Splash prepared a surprise treat for all the moms who gave their time to spend the day with their kids at the Mom’s Glamcamp wherein they get to pamper themselves and recharge after a long day.

There were also clips of the featured characters that were shown in the venue to keep everyone occupied and tuned in while waiting in line. The kids also got a surprise guest on stage – Cartoon Network’s very own the three lovable brothers from We Bare Bears’ Grizz, Panda and Ice Bear for a photo opportunity with the kids.

Not only did the booths made the kids enjoy the event, there

Kids having a splash-tastic time at the Cartoon Network Summer Splash.

were also a raffle held featuring the limited-edition Cartoon Network merchandise and other novelty items to be received by some lucky winners.

The Summer Splash 2018 arrives to an end with an AllStar Dance Performance, leaving each kid and their respective mothers happy and refreshed after the event.

For more information and news on upcoming Cartoon Network events, like and follow facebook.com/CartoonNetworkAsia or watch Cartoon Network on TV or through the Cartoon Network Watch and Play app. Louise Lizan

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

C4

WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2018

Entertainment

Music draws crowds to Las Piñas for 4th chorale competition

Sen. Cynthia Villar with the winners of 4th Las Piñas Chorale competition.

MUSIC lovers flocked to Las Piñas City to enjoy the symphony of voices from all over the country in the 4th Las Piñas Chorale competition sponsored by the Villar SIPAG (Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance).

Amid the day’s melodies and tunes, Sen. Cynthia A. Villar expressed delight over the animated participation of choral groups nationwide in the annual competition, where seven groups showcased their talents in singing.

“My heart is filled with pleasure over the successful turnout of this event. In a nation where technology has been the raging trend, it is heartwarming to see so many people immensely enjoying the music of these choral groups. This is a rare but welcoming sight,” said Villar, Managing Director of Villar SIPAG. Villar said the annual event seeks to continually reconnect the people to the gone days where everything was simple, easy and convenient; and to the era when music calms the mind and the soul.

The crowd at the Santuario de San Ezekiel Moreno in Las Pinas City cheered to the singing of the Alab Vocal Ensemble from Parañaque City, Quorista from Muntinlupa City, Chorus Vocales Philippines from Makati City, Tarlac Chamber Choir from Tarlac City, Philippine Normal University Chorale from Manila, The Summerwind Choir from Dasmariñas in Cavite, and Kawit Singing Ambassadors from Kawit, also in Cavite.

From among the seven groups, the Philippine Normal University Chorale lorded the competition ISAH V. RED and won the Grand Champion trophy and a cash prize of P60, 000; Chorus Vocales Philippines was the first runner-up (trophy and a P40, 000 cash prize); and Alab Vocal Ensemble, second runner-up (trophy and P25, 000 cash prize).

The rest of the groups got P10, 000 each as consolation winners.

Each group was judged according to their Songs Interpretation (manner in which the piece is internalized and presented)–30 percent; Delivery (quality of voice, fluency, pronunciation, blending and harmony)–30 percent; Stage Presence (stage poise, eye contact and audience impact)–20 percent; Costume & Sounds (attire is related to concept, sound production, mixed voices)–10 percent; and Mastery of piece–10 percent.

The groups performed the Villar SIPAG hymn “Sandata” as contest piece (70 percent), and side piece themed on inspiration and love (30 percent).

The performances were judged by composer, conductor and director Jerry Dadap; Gregorio Asilo, Jr., Corporate Accounting of Savers Appliance Depot, the major event partner of Villar SIPAG for the 4th Las Piñas Chorale Festival; and Jack Uy. The 4th Las Pinas Chorale Festival is an annual event held in honor of St. Ezekiel Moreno, who was beatified by Pope Paul VI in 1975 and canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1992.

Continued on C3

Actor Arjo Atayde is the celebrity endorser of The Origin Series, BeauteDerm's latest fragrance collection for men.

ARJO ATAYDE’s

fragrant promise HOLLYWOOD

‘Deadpool’ sequel surges to box office lead

RISING STAR

Jayda releases debut single TEEN singer Jayda debuted her first single “Text” along with its youthful music video recently under Star Music.

This is the first major project of the 14-year-old singer, Star Music’s newest prodigy who just joined the record label’s wide roster of talented musical artists.

During the music video launch of “Text,” Jayda revealed that she wrote the songs when she was only 12 years old.

“I’ve been waiting for this for so long. It’s like a dream come true for me,” she shared.

Star Music’s audio content head and music producer Jonathan Manalo gushed on how he was in awe of Jayda.

“If she could write songs of this quality at only 12, how much more when she turns 15 or 17? I’m really blown away by the quality of her songwriting and craftsmanship,” expressed Jonathan.

The single, “Text,” is part of Jayda’s upcoming EP entitled In My Room, which con-

tains five original tracks, all written, performed, and co-produced by the young singer herself.

Jayda’s first single “Text” is now available for download via Spotify, iTunes, and Amazon, while her music video is up on Star Music’s official YouTube page.

Teen singer Jayda is following in the footsteps of her parents Jessa Zaragoza and Dingdong Avanzado.

Arjo Atayde with BeauteDerm's Rhea Anicoche-Tan during the launch of The Origin Series.

By Nickie Wang

A

LTHOUGH he is one of the rising stars in today’s generation of actors, Arjo Atayde’s path to stardom wasn’t any easy one. He also had to start from the ground playing supporting characters.

It was not surprising though, that in a short period of time, Arjo was able to make a name for himself garnering several starring roles and even winning an award. He won “Best Male New TV Personality” in the 2012 PMPC Star Awards for Television for his performance in a Maalala Mo Kaya episode.

In 2013, he starred as Rafael de Lara in the daytime television series Dugong Buhay. Then, he went on to star in the 2014 local adaptation of Pure Love. A year later, he was given his biggest role to date as Joaquin Tuazon, the main antagonist in Ang Probinsyano.

Arjo is definitely a diligent actor, not to mention a versatile one. Now, after taking his talent to a new level, which made way to bigger opportunities on and off screen, the 27-yearold actor is thinking of taking a short break from showbiz. He wanted to review his career graph after subsequent projects.

“Imagine, I was taping for Ang Probinsyano for two and a half years then came Hanggang Saan, which lasted for five months. I just wanted to recharge. That would give me time to concentrate on the new movie I’m shooting,” he explains.

So, the break he’s asking for doesn’t

mean he’s going to be out of the limelight completely. He just wanted some ample time (at least two months) to prepare because he believes actors should study their characters well if they are open to experimenting with diverse roles.

This is the very same reason why by Rhea Anicoche-Tan of BeauteDerm took Arjo’s service as their company’s endorser. The actor now headlines the brand’s new line of perfume called, “The Origin Series.”

“I’m happy to be part of the Beautederm family. My mom (Sylvia Sanchez) is also one of its original endorsers so I’m glad I was hand-picked to be its latest model,” he says.

According to him each perfume scent that he endorses is carefully crafted and mixed with imported oils from France to ensure a long-lasting effect. He further says that Beautederm is a local brand from Angeles, Pampanga founded in 2009. It started as a small family business that sells whitening soap and lotion, facial care kits, and other bleaching items.

“Unlike other perfumes, it’s light, non-sticky and doesn’t leave a stain on your clothes, with skin friendly composition, the promise of long lasting scents are still fulfilled,” he ends.

ANOTHER weekend, another $100-million-plus superhero opening: This time it was 20th Century Fox’s Deadpool 2, with an estimated $125 million take in North American theaters and a huge debut overseas, box office tracker Exhibitor Relations said Sunday.

The Marvel Comics film netted $176 million abroad, the biggest foreign debut ever for an R-rated title, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The movie features Ryan Reynolds playing the foul-mouthed and irreverent title character as he forms an X-Force team to protect a young mutant from the evil Cable (Josh Brolin).

For an uber-bad guy, Brolin is having a very good week. He also plays world-destroying villain Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, which led North American ticket sales before Deadpool bumped it off.

Still packing a decent punch, Avengers—starring Robert Downey Jr., Benedict Cumberbatch, Scarlett Johansson and Chris Hemsworth— took in $28.7 million over the three-day weekend, pushing its global take past $1.8 billion.

Third in theaters was Paramount’s new rom-com Book Club, at $12.5 million. The film stars Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen as aging friends who decide to read the steamy Fifty Shades of Grey and find it, um, expanding their literary and personal horizons.

In fourth was Life of the Party, a Warner Bros. comedy, at $7.7 million.

Melissa McCarthy, who co-wrote the script with director Ben Falcone, plays a newly divorced mother who returns to college, only to find herself in class with her (deeply embarrassed) daughter.

And in fifth was Universal’s thriller Breaking In, at $6.5 million. Review website Rotten Tomatoes dismissed the film as a “disposable action thriller” but praised Gabrielle Union’s performance as a mother trying to protect her children from hostage-takers. AFP

Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool in the American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. (Photo from GQ)