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SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2017

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor / Roderick dela Cruz, Issue Editor business@thestandard.com.ph

CITI HEAD RECEIVES ASIAN AWARD Scan this icon to view the PDF

Aftab Ahmed (center) is awarded as Outstanding Entrepreneur for the Financial Services Industry by Enterprise Asia chairman Tan Sri Dr. Fong Chan Onn (left) and president Dato’ William Ng.

NEW YEAR.

Traders celebrate during the last day of trading in front of a giant electronic board at the Philippine Stock Exchange in Manila on Dec. 29, 2016. AFP

DUTERTE, TRUMP HEADLINED TOP BUSINESS NEWS IN 2016 T

he election of Rodrigo Duterte and Donald Trump as presidents defined the business news in the Philippines in 2016, as their simple remarks could move markets and cause jitters among investors.

Duterte, the former Davao City mayor who brought his bloody anti-crime campaign to the national scene, shocked the business community when he shifted the country’s economic relations away from the US and towards China.

Trump, who will become the 45th US president on Jan. 20, 2017, vowed to bring back jobs to the US by tightening immigration controls and restricting job outsourcing.

The Philippines, the world’s call center capital, is edgy.

Aside from Duterte and Trump, here are the other top business news in the Philippines last year.

PH GROWS FASTEST IN ASIA The Philippines posted one of the fastest growth rates in Asia in 2016. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show that its gross domestic product expanded 7.1 percent in the third quarter and 7 percent in the first nine months, beating the government’s target of 6 percent to 7 percent for the year.

The World Bank in turn upgraded its 2016 growth forecast for the Philippines to 6.8 percent from the

previous estimate of 6.4 percent.

The Washington-based multilateral lender said it revised upward its projections for the Philippines as a part of its quarterly forecast exercise “considering recent trends.”

“R ecent economic trends illustrate the high confidence among investors and consumers, and provide the foundation for a more optimistic outlook for the remainder of 2016 and for 2017,” said World Bank lead economist for the Philippines Birgit Hansl.

The World Bank also revised upwards its 2017 growth projection for the Philippine economy to 6.9 percent from its October estimate of 6.2 percent. In 2018, the economy is expected to expand 7 percent.

The bank said the growth in capital investment would remain the Philippine economy’s primary growth engine.

The Investor Relations Office of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said the Philippines would remain on a “sweet spot” of high growth and manageable inflation in 2017, as more opportunities open up and outweigh the impact of external headwinds.

The government set an economic growth target of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent and an inflation target of 2 percent to 4 percent in 2017.

DENR SHUTS DOWN MINES Regina Lopez, the staunch environmentalist who was appointed the secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, ordered an audit of mines in the country. The audit resulted in ten mines being shut down while another 20 face suspension.

She also cancelled the environmental permits of three nickel mines and warned that three more producers were at risk of losing theirs.

The Philippines, the world’s top nickel ore supplier is reviewing h u n d re d s o f e nv i ro n m e nt a l compliance certificates, including those granted to mines.

The DENR is expected to come out with a final decision on 30 mining companies. The audit, which started in July 2016, dragged on, hurting the operations of companies.

As a result, the value of mineral production declined 11 percent in the first three quarters from a year ago.

months to more than 300,000 units.

The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. and Truck Manufacturers Association said in a joint report that their members sold a total 32,966 vehicles in November, up from 26,979 units delivered in the same month last year.

“The good sales performance last November was because of enticing promotions and events matched with good demands of our market. With the robust demand, especially this Christmas season, we expect a stable to higher sales

by December,” said Campi president Rommel Gutierrez.

Campi said as of November, automotive sales already surpassed the full-year 2015 sales, with 325,468 units sold. This was 24.3 percent higher over last year’s 11-month sales of 261,930 units.

STOCKS, PESO SLIDE The peso fell 5.7 percent, while local stocks lost 1.6 percent in volatile trading last year, as the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike and Donald Trump’s surprise win in the American election pulled money away from emerging markets such as the Philippines.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, closed at 6,840.64 on Dec. 29, the last trading day of the year.

Car sales exceed 300,000 Meanwhile, the peso ended Sales of motor vehicles in the Philippines climbed 22.2 percent the year at 49.72 against the US year-on-year in November 2016, dollar, still near a decade low. The bringing total sales in the first 11 Turn to C2

GLOBAL banker Aftab Ahmed was recently awarded Outstanding Entrepreneur for the Financial Services Industry at the 2016 Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards held at Dusit Thani Manila.

Now in its third year, APEA recognizes and honors business leaders who have shown outstanding per formance and tenacity in developing successful businesses within the Asia Pacific region.

Over 250 business and community leaders graced the affair, including deputy speaker of the 17th Congress and Cebu Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia and Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. APEA is organized by Enterprise Asia, the region’s leading association for entrepreneurship. Each year, awards are presented to a handful of entrepreneurs across Asia Pacific, with ceremonies held in over fourteen countries.

Nominations to the APEA are only by invitation, either through past or current awardees, a supporting trade association or the executive committee of Enterprise Asia.

Nominees are then subjected to a series of rigorous interviews, which include financial verification by an appointed audit firm and a compulsory physical site audit, culminating with a confidential balloting process by an independent judging panel.

Awardees are expected to be torchbearers of entrepreneurship and business leaders in their respective countries, while adhering to strict standards of personal and business ethics.

In awarding Ahmed, Enterprise Asia president William Ng said: “Being an APEA winner is a testament to your leadership and determination.

We hope that this award plays a part in your business as a beacon of excellence in the industry as you stride forward in all your endeavors.”

Ahmed is currently the chief executive of Citi in the Philippines. As CEO for the largest foreign bank in the country, Ahmed is responsible for one of the very successful Citi Franchises in Asia. He leads a team of nearly 8,000 banking professionals, and is the envy of the industry that continues to look to Citi for quality talent.

Ahmed has worked in 11 countries including the US, Pakistan, Greece, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, Germany, Taiwan, Singapore, Egypt, Hungary and now the Philippines.

He has built his whole career at Citi, starting as an executive trainee.

With his energy and drive, business acumen, and most importantly his passion to learn and contribute, he progressively was given challenging assignments.

“Leaders need to be versatile, agile, and flexible to be able to effectively address different business requirements and situations,” said Ahmed.

BPI LADY BANKER NAMED AMONG 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL GLOBAL FILIPINO WOMEN A DISTINCT brand of leadership continues to build the Bank of the Philippine Islands, as one of its senior executives is recognized for her exemplary leadership and service.

Ma ria Cristina “Ginbee” Layug Go, senior vice president at BPI Family Savings Bank, is one of this year’s 100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the World, receiving honors in the ‘builders’ category from the Filipina Women Network.

FWN’s The 100 Most Influential Filipina Women in theWorld Award recognizes women of Philippine ancestry who are influencing the faceofleadershipintheglobalworkplace,having reached status for outstanding work in their respective fields, industries and communities.

They are recognized for their achievement and contributions to society, femtorship and legacy.

FWN defines buildership to be about “building better organizations, leading organizations to adjust, repair, and realign.”

Go says the award is a summation of her entire experience not just as a banker but as a leader as well. She gives full credit to the openness to new ideas and enterprising spirit that the BPI Group imbues in its employees. “ I a m fo r t u n ate to h ave b e e n recognized. I guess it’s owing to what I’ve done with the bank. I spent 11 years in the payments, during which we transformed the industry,” she says.

“We did a lot of things including the launch of the first EMV chip on credit cards that changed the rewards landscape with instant rewards. We have consolidated our businesses and saw it as an opportunity to go beyond credit cards by which we can promote financial inclusion through debit and prepaid cards,” she says.

Go became the head of BPI’s retail lending group in 2015, which turned out to be another banner year for BPI Family

BPI Family Savings Bank senior vice president Maria Cristina Layug Go

Savings Bank. She now says it’s the result of concerted focus on the true aspirations

of the Filipino.

“Based on our research, we found out that the top three dreams of the Filipino are first, to have a house, second, to have a car and third, to put up their own business.

These dreams are what Filipinos aspire for and I’ve taken it as a personal challenge to educate more of our kababayans and their families that those dreams are within reach,” says Go. The 165-year-old BPI is the first bank in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.

Go is particularly upbeat about targeting BPI Family Bank’s programs to the broad C market. She thinks that the economic progress being experienced right now will rebound to new opportunities for the bank in the middle market.

“You’ll never have enough cash to pay for a house or a car. They’re simply very expensive as a one-time expense. But if you’re paying by

installment, your dreams are within reach.That is what we want Filipinos to think about—that you don’t have to postpone your dreams. The way to make your dreams come true is to act now,” she says.

Go highlights the importance of understanding and addressing the needs of the clients. “We educate the clients on a one-on-one basis. When I look at a client, for instance, I see her as an individual who has her own set of needs, which I should be able to satisfy based on what I know about her,” she says.

Upon receiving her nomination as one of the 100 most influential global Filipinas, Go says she was pleasantly surprised. “It was such a humbling experience to be considered side by side with the other awardees. What they have gone through, the hurdles, the challenges they faced before becoming influential in their fields, is simply amazing,” she says.

Business

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2017 business@thestandard.com.ph

SOPHOS PREDICTS CYBER TRENDS THE year 2016 saw a huge number and variety of cyber attacks, ranging from a high-profile DDoS using hijacked Internet-facing security cameras to the alleged hacking of party officials during the US election. The year also saw a rising tide of data breaches, from organizations big and small, and significant losses of people’s personal information.

With the year almost over, Joergen Jakobsen, regional vice president for Asia-Pacific and Japan at Sophos, looks into his crystal ball to predict the top cyber security trends for 2017: Destructive DDoS IOT attacks will rise. In 2016, Mirai showed the massive destructive potential of DDoS attacks as a result of insecure consumer IoT (Internet of Things) devices.

Shift from exploitation to targeted social attacks. Cybercriminals are getting better at exploiting the ultimate vulnerability - humans. Ever more sophisticated and convincing targeted attacks seek to coax users into compromising themselves.

Financial infrastructure at greater risk of attack. The use of targeted phishing and “whaling” continues to grow. These attacks use detailed information about company executives to trick employees into paying fraudsters or compromising accounts.

Exploitation of the Internet ’s inherently insecure infrastructure.

All Internet users rely on ancient foundational protocols, and their ubiquity makes them nearly impossible to revamp or replace. These archaic protocols that have long been the backbone of the Internet and business networks are sometimes surprisingly flaky.

I ncreased attack complexit y.

Attacks increasingly bring together multiple technical and social elements, and reflect careful, lengthy probing of the victim organization’s network . Attackers compromise multiple servers and workstations long before they start to steal data or act aggressively.

More attacks using built-in admin languages and tools. Jakobsen sees more exploits based on PowerShell, Microsoft’s language for automating administrative tasks. As a scripting language, PowerShell evades countermeasures focused on executables.

DUTERTE,...

From C1 local currency depreciated 5.7 percent in 2016.

JOBLESS RATE, POVERTY EASE Both unemployment rate and poverty incidence eased last year, as the strong economic growth generate thousands of jobs and lifted many people of out poverty.

Results of the Labour Force Survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority show that unemployment rate eased to a record low of 4.7 percent in October from 5.6 percent a year ago.

“This means that the growth of our economy is becoming more inclusive as it engagesmoreandmoreFilipinostoparticipate in the labour market,”said Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia.

Poverty incidence dropped to 21.6 percent of the population in 2015 from 25.2 percent in 2012 and 26.3 percent in 2009, according to PSA. The National Economic and Development Authority said this meant there were 1.8 million less poor Filipinos last year, compared to 2012. This also put the Duterte administration’s goal to reduce poverty rate to 17 percent by 2022 on track.

“We’re confident that it can be reduced so much more, especially now since we are coming from a much lower base which is at 21.6 percent.

And from 2012 to 2015, that’s actually a 3.6-percentage point reduction over a period of three years,” Neda assistant director-general Rosemarie Edillon said.

RESTAURANT DEPOT REINVENTS FOOD SERVICE

By Othel V. Campos

A

YOUNG lady helped launch a new food service store in the Philippines called Restaurant Depot—a one-stop shop for food, equipment and supplies.

Margaret Tieng, the marketing manager of Restaurant Depot, deals with the daily challenges of keeping up with the demands of clients, especially start-up businesses who are still learning the ropes of running a food service business.

“Our target market is anybody involved in home baking, running a canteen or eatery, owns a single restaurant, or has a catering business. Basically these are people who are starting out a business. They want more flexibility in terms of what they require with the budget they have. This is the kind of target market we want to provide convenience and cost savings,” Tieng says.

She says Restaurant Depot gives consumers and clients the advantage of securing their needs under one big roof, instead of them doing the rounds to procure items from different suppliers.

Restaurant Depot is a membership-only warehouse club for people involved in the food service industry—canteens, food stalls, restaurants, caterers, home bakers and chefs.

The membership gives clients access to a large selection of ingredients, food supplies and kitchenware in a convenient shopping format, where buying in bulk translates into big savings.

Restaurant Depot is a unit of Le Professional Food Service Concepts Inc., one of the companies under the Solar Group, owned and managed by the Tieng family.

The store was built from the ground up, two years after the company spotted and eventually bought a 2,0000-square-meter property along Harrison Ave. corner Edsa.

The retail space spans 1,200 square meters of eclectic assortment of food and wares.

Tieng got her degree from Ateneo de Manila University. The eldest of two children, Tieng, despite being soft-spoken and mildmannered, possesses a sharp business acumen, having worked previously in a retail consumer firm, another family-owned business.

She has been very hands-on from the the conceptualization phase, churning out ideas and creatives that will make the depot concept a surefire endeavor.

“In the two years before the Depot

Jack Lam fled from the Philippines after authorities raided his casino operations in Clark Freeport and Fort Ilocandia, after he allegedly offered a bribe to government officials for the release of over 1,000 Chinese workers in his gaming sites.

The resort’s gaming facility in Clark was also shut down due to lack of permits and alleged illegal or unlicensed gaming operations.

VISITOR ARRIVALS HIT NEW RECORD International visitor arrivals in the Philippines rose 12 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of 2016 to hit a record 4.46 million.

With the increase, the Philippines is on track towards reaching its 6 million tourist arrivals target for the year.

South Korea, US, China, Japan and Australia remained the top five source markets of the Philippines, he added.

For the month of September, visitor arrivals reached 422,943, up by 7.5 percent from 393,589 arrivals in the same month last year. It is the first time that visitor volume for the month of September surpassed the 400,000 mark.

Consistent growth was observed throughout the year with double-digit gain from January to July except for the month of May. The biggest volume was recorded in July while the highest growth was registered in the month of February.

BPO SURVIVES TRUMP’S ELECTION T h e I n fo r m a t i o n Te c h n o l o g y and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) expects the continuous growth of the IT and Business Process Management Industry, despite the win of Donald Trump in the US election.

The IT-BPM sector contributes 10 percent to the gross domestic product and provides jobs for over a million Filipinos. IBPAP expects the industry to generate $25 billion this year and over $40 billion by 2022.

ONLINE GAMING SHUT DOWN President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the closure of online gaming operations in the Philippines, saying corruption in the approval of gaming licenses has become rampant.

The country’s gaming regulator earlier refused to renew the license of PhilWeb Corp., an online gaming operator owned by businessman Roberto Ongpin, after he was singled TRADE DEFICIT WIDENS TO $20B out by President Duterte as among The balance of payments (BoP) “oligarchs” that he wanted to destroy.

Meanwhile, Chinese gambling tycoon position of the Philippines reversed to

Restaurant Depot marketing manager Margaret Tieng star ted ,we were curating all these SKUs [stock keeping units], thousands of them, in fact, with a hundred suppliers. We were checking prices, counter-checking them with other suppliers, checking the market, checking with chefs, and restaurants and caterers, to see what are their preferred brands,” she says.

Tieng says the exercise was both exhilarating and tiring.

A survey from target clients also helped the owners in creating the best selection for edibles and non-edibles.

Restaurant Depot, upon opening a few weeks ago, came up with several categories that offers a wide range of choices for buyers.

At the fresh and frozen counter are seafood, meat, chicken and pork products that went through rigorous quality control standards by trusted suppliers and priced competitively while the processed section section carries food fares from frozen dimsum products to processed meat and shabu-shabu ingredients.

Restaurant Depot is also a baker’s

haven with specialized sections for fudges, syrups, flavorings, sprinkles, nuts and chocolates.

It also offers great selection of cooking oil, olive oils and truffle oil; dry goods which are the staple of full service meal from flour, rice, salt to sugar products in bulk sizes; dairy products like big portions of mozzarella, cream cheese and other dairy products.

The dry goods section has various sizes of canned mushrooms, corn, olives, tuna, meat products, pasta and noodles.

Restaurant Depot has an extensive array of spices, with shelves full of choice seasonings and at least 50 popular and rare spices in large packs.

From ready to drink juices, beverage syrups, purees, to economical juice powder packs, Restaurant Depot provides numerous choices of beverage blends for food service needs. The store also has a wide section of alcoholic products— from imported wines, beers and liquor.

The store offers all sor ts

of condiments from ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, soy sauce, fish sauce and vinegar, as it also brings world food cuisine to table tops with everything from Thai to Malaysian to Japanese condiments.

A huge assortment of non-edibles like packaging sets include cupcake liners, pastry and cake boxes; as well as various plastic food storage sizes for take-out needs and disposable party products in bulk.

The Depot also carries cleaning aids from scrubs to sponges and cleaning liquids.

Restaurant Depot has a network of local suppliers from international sources. For 2017, the Depot will start directly importing hard to find goods and products, per request of clients.

“Our objective is to pass on savings for people who are just starting a business. Ours is a depot, so our price everyday is cheaper than most shops. As much as we give premium to better price points, we also want them to save time. With us, clients are always doubly compensated,” Tieng says.

The AIIB will co-finance with the percent (equivalent to 89.2 million liters) Asian Development Bank and the World per year and achieve 79-percent carbon Bank, the P37.76-billion Edsa Bus Rapid dioxide foot print avoidance.

Transit System and the P23.46-billion BANGLADESH HEIST ROCKS Metro Manila flood control project, BANKING SECTOR respectively.

The Anti-Money Laundering Council tightened the regulations on money laundering, 10 months after some $81-million were allegedly stolen from Bangladesh Bank’s account in New York and laundered to a Philippine bank.

Officers of AMLC also filed money laundering charges before the Justice Department against several officials of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. in connection with the$81-million laundering scam that rocked the domestic banking industry in February.

Senate investigations earlier found out that the $81-million fund was stolen by cyber thieves from the account of Bank of Bangladesh in Federal Reserve in New York. The dirty money entered the country’s financial system through an RCBC branch on Jupiter Street in New high-rise buildings are being constructed in Cubao’s commercial district Makati City. in Quezon City, as the area benefits from the expansion of business process Former RCBC president and chief outsourcing industry and real estate sector. executive Lorenzo Tan resigned from his post at the height of Senate investigation into the case. transactions with the rest of the world, Bangko Sentral also imposed a P1GOVT CANCELS E-VEHICLE posted a deficit of US$206 million in billion penalty on RCBC for its alleged PROGRAM January to November, a turnaround The Electric Vehicle Association of the involvement in the scam. from the US$2.136-billion surplus a Philippines is adopting a new roadmap year ago.

GOVT TO TERMINATE ‘ENDO’ The country incurred a record for the domestic e-vehicle industry SCHEME merchandise trade deficit of nearly as it looks to recover from the recent The Employers Confederation of $20 billion in the first 10 months, decision of the Energy Department to as imports continued to outgrow scrap the $500-million electric tricycle the Philippines expressed support to the government’s attempt to end the exports. Merchandise trade is the largest project.

The Energy Department previously practice of labor contractualization or component of BoP. Duterte banks on China investments issued the notice of award to Uzushio end-of-contract (endo).

The Labor Department said that President Rodrigo Duterte asked Electric Co. Ltd. of Japan and local China to invest in the Philippines during partner Bemac Electric Transportation since the start of the government’s his state visit in the world’s second Philippines Inc. for the supply of 3,000 crackdown against endo, over 25,000 contractual workers were accorded units of e-trikes. largest economy.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, with regular status by their employers.

President Duterte’s four-day state visit to China in October healed the bilateral however, said said the e-trike project The agency vowed to end labor-only contractualization by the end of 2017. relations between the two countries proved to be too costly.

The project, largely financed by Several companies, however, expressed which were strained by a maritime the ADB and the Clean Technology concern over the plan. dispute in the South China Sea. S e m i c o n d u c t o r g i a n t Te x a s China-led Asian Infrastructure Fund, was supposed to deploy 100,000 Investment Bank committed to help e-trikes nationwide to replace the same Instruments Philippines Inc. opposed fund President Duterte’s infrastructure number of traditional gasoline-fed measures that would penalize firms which overhaul, which includes two projects tricycles, reduce the transport sector’s hire contractual workers for a limited annual petroleum consumption by 2.8 period. Roderick T. dela Cruz in the capital. a deficit in the first 11 months of 2016, pulling down the value of the peso to a near 10-year low, amid a record trade deficit this year.

Data from the Central Bank show that the BoP, which reflects the country’s

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2017 reuelvidal@yahoo.com

DUTCH FIGHTER WANTS REVENGE

Not even three Mahindra Floodbuster defenders could slow down GlobalPort Batang Pier guard Terrence Romeo (7).

ROMEO GIVES FAJARDO A RUN FOR HIS MONEY

By Reuel Vidal

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ERRENCE Romeo receives the ball from teammate Billy Mamaril who inbounds the ball from the baseline.

Romeo dribbles almost casually until he reaches the midcourt line where a defender confronts him.

He darts forward, dribbles past the three-point line and easily shoulders past his defender.

As Romeo nears the paint a second defender tries to block his way.

Romeo hesitates, switches the ball to his off hand and then back again.

A classic cross over move. Then with the second defender frozen, his long hair trailing in the wind, Romeo glides to the hoop to convert an unguarded layup.

Yes the most exciting player in the league, who is virtually impossible to guard, scores again.

Romeo is playing so well that he leads the Philippine Basketball Association in both points scored (27 points per game) and assists (6.3 apg).

He has earned 230 statistical points or an average of 37.5 which places him second in the chase for the Best Player of the Conference award.

San Miguel Beer center June Mar Fajardo, winner of the past three PBA MVP awards, leads the standings with a 44.2 average SPs. He is second in points scored with 20.2 and is number one in rebounds with an average of 17.2.

Romeo and Fajardo could not be more different from each other in appearance and style.

Romeo is a shade below six feet and relies on skill, speed and an unerring shooting hand to score points or issue assists to teammates.

Fajardo is all of six feet 10 inches who relies on size, length and power to carve a space inside and score near the basket. He also benefits from the sage strategy of SMB coach Leo Austria who surrounds Fajardo with deadly outside shooters to effectively discourage double teams inside the paint.

Fajardo, who has won four BPC awards the latest during the Philippine Cup last season, seems destined to win another. But he will have to contend with the rambunctious Romeo who is the most exciting, most electric performer the PBA has seen in years.

Romeo’s only handicap is the fact that the GlobalPort Batang Pier is doing so poorly despite his stellar play. In contrast San Miguel Beer leads the standings which added to the Won Game Bonus points for Fajardo.

Another beneficiary of San Miguel’s league-leading run is Alex Cabagnot who is third with an aver-

San Miguel Beer center June Mar Fajardo (right) sizes up the defense of Meralco Bolts counterpart Reynel Hugnatan (21).

San Miguel Beer guard Alex Cabagnot (center) dribbles past Meralco Bolts counterpart Chris Newsome (11).

age 34.6 SPs (18.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 4.0 apg, 2.2 spg). Barangy Ginebra big man Japeth Aguilar is fourth with 33.2 SPs (20.0 spg, 8.5 rpg, 1.7 bpg).

Do-everything Mac Belo of Blackwater has an average 33.0 SPs (17.0 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 1.9 apg). The Far Eastern University product deservedly leads the race for the Rookie of the Year honor. He may want more than just the ROY award because at

fifth place he is within reach of the BPC crown.

Former league MVP Arwind Santos is at sixth spot with 31.3 SPs. The veteran SMB forward averages 14.2 points and 7.0 rebounds while relying on his long, wiry arms to lead the league in blocks with 2.3 per game.

Despite playing just four games compared to at least six by other

VINCENT “Magnivincent”Latoel (16-18-2) will be looking for revenge when he fights Filipino Vaughn “The Spawn” Donayre (8-6) at ONE: Quest for Power in Jakarta, Indonesia on January 14.

The 37-year-old kickboxer from Deventer, Netherlands has fought two highly-regarded Filipino competitors in his 36-fight career.

Latoel fought and lost to future ONE Lightweight World Champion Eduard Folayang in December 2013.

He locked horns and bowed to featherweight standout Edward Kelly last August last year.

Although the Dutch-Indonesian fighter fell short on both occasions he had nothing but high regard for the fighters and even expressed admiration for Filipino MMA fighters.

“Filipino fighters are true warriors. I’ve faced Eduard Folayang before he became the ONE Lightweight World Champion.

He was so tough and a gallant competitor.

The same goes with Edward Kelly. He has a big heart,” Latoel said.

“Filipinos fight with their pride and heart. I like these kinds of fighters because I have the same mentality.”

He may not harbor ill feelings for the two Filipino fighters but Latoel is still determined to bounce back from those losses and return to his winning ways when they battle in Jakarta.

“Winning and losing are part of the sport. A true winner is someone who doesn’t give up and learns from his losses.

I have learned from those fights. I am back, more focused and much stronger,” he said.

Latoel expects that his three-round bout with Donayre will have no shortage of firepower as they are both known for their fan-friendly attacking fight styles.

“I expect the fight will be energetic and hard. It will have a lot of action, and I promise everyone that you will see a different Vincent Latoel. I will fight at a high pace for this bout. I know that Donayre is a veteran with a dream. I will prepare for everything,” he said.

The 5-foot-11 Tatsujin Dojo representative is confident that he will walk out of the Jakarta Convention Center with the victory as he believes that his experience will be a vital factor against Donayre.

“My greatest advantage against Donayre is my experience. I have over 30 fights in my career. I hope that I can utilize that advantage in the fight,” he said.

Even if he has a burning determination to beat Donayre, Latoel clarified that he does not hold any grudge against Filipino fighters.

“This is nothing personal, but I am determined to win. I’m fighting a brave Filipino fighter again. I have a lot of respect for Vaughn Donayre, but it’s my time to shine,” he said.

The Dubai-based Cebuano Donayre will be looking to bounce back to a victory after he fell to Singapore’s Amir Khan via submission in ONE: Defending Honor at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Donayre, who was coming in on short notice to replace an injured Samir Mrabet, went up against a much younger opponent in the 22-year-old Khan. But even at 37, he threw powerful punches and kicks and lasted until the last round.

The Singaporean repeatedly shot for takedowns in a skirmish mostly fought on the ground. The Filipino, for his part, was rock-solid until Khan caught him with a rear-naked choke at the 2:22 mark of the final round.

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel big man Japeth Aguilar (25) fires a jumper over the blocking hand of Rain or Shine center Raymond Alamazan.

players Alaska Aces forward Calvin Abueva is at seventh place with 31.0 SPs on averages of 15.3 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 3.0 apg. Abueva is also averaging about 20 minutes of burn, maybe more than 10 minutes less per game than everybody else in the top 10.

At eighth place is Jayson Castro of TNT Katropa. At ninth is Phoenix Petroleum Fuel Masters rookie Matthew Wright. Last season’s rookie of the year Chris Newsome of Meralco is at tenth.

Dutch-Indonesian Vincent Latoel battles Filipino MMA fighter Vaughn Donayre.

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Sports

SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2017 Riera U. Mallari, Editor / Reuel Vidal, Issue Editor sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

ONE LAST OLYMPIC QUEST FOR HIDILYN

For ending the Philippines’ 20-year medal drought in the Olympics, Hidilyn Diaz is Manila Standard’s 2016 Athlete of the Year. AFP

By Peter Atencio

L

IFE has changed for Olympic silver medallist Hidilyn Diaz.

The 25-year-old Diaz said many things in her life changed five months after she earned a silver medal in the 53-kg division of the women’s weightlifting competitions of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

“Nakapag-adjust na rin ako sa mga pagbabago sa buhay ko,” said Diaz during the Christmas party she attended with fellow national athletes.

Hidilyn has accepted a scholarship offer from the College of St. Benilde, through the help of another Olympian, La Salle alumnus Stephen Fernandez, who reached out to her through the Philippine Olympian Association.

Fernandez is best remembered for his bronze medal in the demonstration sport of taekwondo at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain.

“Mag-aaral ako. Tatapusin ko ito,” said Hidilyn, who has enrolled in the school’s business management evening classes.

Diaz formally accepted the offer when she and her parents showed up at the La Salle-University of Santo Tomas game of the 79th University Athletic Association of the

Philippines to watch and cheer the Green Archers on.

Going back to school, according to Diaz will help her get a clearer view of how she will chart her life in the next four years on her journey to compete again in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“Sa gabi ako mag-aral. Sa umaga, gusto ko mag-focus sa training,” said Diaz.

Plans to teach kids who want to learn the sport and her training for many international meets are also in the pipeline.

“Maraming competitions, tapos magkakaroon pa ako ng mga clinics,” remarked Hidilyn.

Most of her training usually takes place at the weightlifting center of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Vito Cruz, just a stone’s throw away from her would-be school.

Blessings

Many blessings have come her way following her silver-medal feat in the Olympics.

Aside from her scholarship offer, a businessman has offered her a property at the Deca Clark Resorts in Bgy. Margot in Angeles, Pampanga.

Her new home was put in a street which was eventually named after her. The house became a gift to her parents.

Diaz has earned more than P7 million from her silver-medal feat in the Olympics, P5 million of which was her incentive as provided by

law. The rest came from President Rodrigo Durterte.

After that, a power generating company, Alsons, has come forward to provide varsity scholarships to her and a number of athletes working out at the small training gym inside their family residence at Bgy. Mampang in Zamboanga City.

Diaz won’t spend much in sprucing up the property as the company promised to also take care of home improvements.

What’s in store in 2017

For now, Diaz is set to compete in next year’s World Weightlifting Championship in Anaheim, California.

It will be Diaz’s third time to join the tournament organized by the International Weightlifting Federation.

The first was in Paris, France in 2011, when she finished sixth. The second was in Houston, Texas last year, when she won the bronze medals in the snatch (96kg), clean and jerk (117kg) and total (213kg) events in the women’s 53kg division.

Diaz’s performance in Houston, the venue of a qualifying tournament in 2015, helped her qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

It turned out also that her Houston sojourn prepared her well for the Olympics.

She also won three golds at the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Phuket, Thailand last year.

Diaz will focus on preparing for

Hidilyn Diaz displays her Olympic silver medal.

the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia as the 2017 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur is now out of her plans since organizers have deleted many women’s events from the calendar.

Both the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Weightlifting Association are extending full support to the Zamboangueña’s bid to qualify for the 2020 Olympics.

Diaz initially said that the Rio games were to be her last Olympic stint, only to have a change of heart.

“Isang laban pa. Sino ba naman ako para tumalikod sa bayan?,” Diaz asked.

(For ending the Philippines’ 20year medal drought in the Olympics, Hidilyn Diaz is Manila Standard’s 2016 Athlete of the Year)

FILIPINO ROWERS TO FOCUS ENERGIES ELSEWHERE WITH rowing competitions not included in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games, the national men’s and women’s teams will have to focus their energies elsewhere.

National head coach Ed Maerina said this after he learned that the sport was not in the final list of events approved last July by the SEA Games Federation Council.

“We have a lot of training scheduled here and abroad. Then, there are competitions around that we can join in,” said Maerina in a radio interview.

This year, plans are now afoot for national rowers to take part in sculls’ competitions slated in Thailand and Japan.

The new leadership of the Philippine Rowing Association, now headed by Quintin Pastrana, are now finalizing their plans for the year, added Maerina.

Locally, the national squads are set to train in Bulacan and in Palawan.

To help strengthen the level of the national team’s performance, they are now coordinating with the Philippine Sports Commission on the acquisition of coaches from Russia, China and Canada.

In the 2015 SEA Games, Filipino rowers placed sixth overall with a silver and bronze.

Nestor Cordova gave the Philippines its lone silver in the 1000-meter single sculls’ event, while Benjamin Tolentino and Edgar Ilas Jr. added a bronze in the 1000-m lightweight double sculls.

Back in 2013, the Philippines was third with a gold and two silvers.

It was Cordova, who delivered the gold in the single sculls.

Last July, the SEA Games Federation Council gave its final approval and endorsed the Local Organizing Committee’s proposal of having a total of 38 sports and 405 events to be contested for the biennial Games.

The final list featured 208 events for men’s competition, 177 for women and 20 for mixed events.

Among the spor ts which were missing in the last Games in Singapore, but will make its appearance in Kuala Lumpur 2017 are cricket track cycling, futsal, ice hockey, ice skating, karate lawn bowl, muay and men’s weightlifting.

Among the sports that were featured in Singapore but were omitted from the Kuala Lumpur list are canoeing, floorball, rowing, softball and traditional boat race.

There are a total of 1,332 medals at stake, with 403 gold medals up for grabs in the games. Peter Atencio

VALDEZ HOPES THAILAND STINT WILL OPEN DOORS TO PH PLAYERS

Alyssa Valdez, shown here scoring on a smash, said playing overseas is a blessing.

FORMER Ateneo star spiker Alyssa Valdez hopes that more Filipino volleyball players can play for club teams in other countries.

Valdez said this after she got an opportunity to join a club team in Thailand.

“I am very excited about this and hope that this opens doors for more Filipino volleyball players to get the chance to play overseas. This is a blessing that has been very timely as we celebrate the Christmas season,” said Valdez in a statement.

The 23-year-old Valdez has dreamed of playing and shining in international meets.

This is why she is thankful and has expressed her gratitude with the Thai

club 3BB Nakornnont, which has asked her to report for practice in two weeks’ time.

“I thank 3BB Nakornnont for giving me the opportunity to join them next year We are still threshing out details as of now,” she added.

She will be flying to Thailand on Jan. 15 to begin preparing for the Women’s Volleyball Thailand League starting Jan. 29.

Four other Filipina players from the Philippine Superliga are being considered by Thai teams.

PSL president Ramon Suzara said invites have been sent Jaja Santiago of Foton, Kim Fajardo and Aby Marano of F2 Logistics and Jovelyn Gonzaga of RC Cola-Army to see action in the Thai-

Denmark Super League in March.

Valdez’s first international stint comes at the end of a five-year collegiate career with Ateneo in the UAAP last April.

After that, she saw action for BaliPure and Bureau of Customs in the Shakey’s V-League.

3BB Nakornnont, which is based in Nonthaburi, Thailand, is the same club where Som Kuthaison and Nic Jaisaen play—Thais who recently were teammates of Valdez at Customs in the V-League Reinforced Conference.

“It’s always been a dream to play internationally and this is a very important step to making it happen. Thank you,” added Valdez. Peter Atencio