The Standard - 2015 April 12 - Sunday

VOL. XXIX  NO. 56  3 Sections  24 Pages P18  SUNDAY : APRIL 12, 2015  www.manilastandardtoday.com  editorial@thestandard.com.ph

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HOW A BATANES LASS TRAVELS THE WORLD

A7

AFP, NPA OPEN NEW WAR FRONT

EL NIÑO DESTROYS MINDANAO FARMS STATE OF CALAMITY IN 4 PROVINCES

Next page

Street feast. Street children from various areas in Manila celebrate the International Day For Street Children at the Quirino Grandstand where they participated in several activities

such as playing indigenous games, flying kites and partaking of the free lunch provided by the organizing National Council of Social Development Foundation of the Philippines. (Inset) Kids play in front of a mural entitled “Edukasyon Para sa Lahat (Education For All). DANNY PATA, JAY DIRECTO

GATEWAY TO THE GETAWAY

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CLINTON LAUNCHES 2016 BID

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s u n d ay : a p r i l 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

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news

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

BEIJING SLAMS OBAMA REMARKS

Riding with raftsmen. Bamboo raftsmen ferry a young lady across Sunlang Lake in Camalig, Albay which is becoming a favorite tourist spot because of its photogenic view of Mayon Volcano. DANNY PATA

60,000 HECTARES HIT, p450-m CROpS LOST MORE than 60,000 hectares of farmland have already been affected by the El Niño drought in Mindanao and caused the loss of P450 million in crops since January, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said after visiting stricken areas in Central Mindanao and adjoining Moro provinces.

Alcala said the affected area includes the four provinces of North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Sarangani and local officials are worried that thousands of families might not earn enough to for the school expenses of their children in June if the dry spell will continue until May. “I heard that some of the badly affected-areas have been placed under the state of calamity due to the dry spell and fighting that forced poor families to abandon their farms,” Alcala said on Saturday.

The drought developed while the military clashed with the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters at the end of February, but farmers who evacuated be-

cause of the fighting have opted to remain in evacuation sites in seven Maguindanao towns because of the dry spell.

Last March 11, the state weather bureau announced the onset of El Niño, the Pacific Ocean phenomenon that causes reduced rainfall and higher temperatures in some parts of the country.

Although Alcala said the “dry spell” is very light compared to previous years, the North Cotabato towns of M’lang and Kabacan have already been placed under a state of calamity after respectively losing P40 million and P21 million in crops.

Rice and corn fields in M’lang have dried up, forcing farmers to shift to heat resistant crops but these

will take time to grow while rubber and banana, the town’s next most important products, have also been severely affected.

In Kabacan, Mayor Herlo Guzman Jr. said the town was placed under a state of calamity after farmland planted to rice, corn, banana and rubber plantation dried up even as grass fires threatened the crops that are still salvageable.

North Cotabato provincial agriculturist Dr. Eliseo Mangliwan said the province has already lost P230 million worth of crops and recommended cloud seeding operations in the province which has not had rain since January and that is expected to last until June.

“The extent of damages to crops could even go higher and we don’t have any immediate solution yet in sight,” Mangliwan said.

But the Department of Agriculture regional office said cloud seeding cannot be carried out right away because there are no “seedable clouds.”

Thick clouds have been rare in the province, even over the country’s highest

peak and North Cotabato’s rain forest, Mangliwan said.

Mangliwan said the irrigation system of North Cotabato was also affected by the three-month dry spell and the National Irrigation Administration confirmed that the water level of all irrigation systems in the province have been cut by about 50 percent.

But the DA cannot just seed clouds, said Alcala, because the measure could destroy other standing crops such as mangoes that are about to bear fruit.

Alcala advised farmers of corn crops that if there is already no chance to save their crops, they better harvest it and then sell it as feeds or food for farm animals.

Officials of neighboring South Cotabato are also studying to declare a state of calamity after the province sustained crop damage amounting to about P78.8 million as of April 9.

South Cotabato agriculturist Justina Navarrete said almost all the 10 towns have suffered heavy losses of agricultural products.

“You can see our forests, corn and rice fields and even plantations have turned from green to color brown,” Navarrete said.

She said corn products have suffered the biggest loss with an estimated P67 million worth while palay losses have amounted to P11 million.

Navarette said the drought has dried up 1,379 hectares of corn fields in 31 villages and affected more than 930 farmers.

Polomolok, situated at the foot of Mt. Matutum, was the hardest hit with 880 hectares affected followed by Tantangan which has 280 hectares in 20 villages affected.

Navarette said the amount of damages could even go higher as there is no rain in sight in the next few weeks.

The agriculture officer said her office has recommended to South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Avance Fuentes to place the province under state of calamity to help farmers cope up with the calamity and allow the use of calamity fund by the provincial government.

THE United States is like a “thief crying ‘stop, thief ’” in asserting that China is using its “sheer size and muscle” to bully smaller claimants such as the Philippines and Vietnam in the South China Sea, Beijing said through state new agency Xinhua on Saturday.

“The world’s leading superpower, which believes policing the world is its destiny, sometimes however seems to have a penchant for playing the trick of thief crying ‘stop, thief ’,” the state news agency said in a commentary without a byline.

“Such finger-pointing laid bare again the mind-boggling hypocrisy of the United States, which takes habitual tactics of standing facts on their heads as well as blame-shifting.

“Arbitrarily exercising its mighty military power, the United States is the real bully in the world who has rarely missed an opportunity to stoke tensions between China and its neighbors,” the commentary added.

The article said China is “elbowing aside” no one by carrying out construction and maintenance work on some islands and reefs in the Nansha Islands, which fall entirely within its sovereignty.

It is the United States that has been busy elbowing countries like the Philippines into deliberate and serious provocations against China, triggering conflicts and undercutting regional stability, it added.

But Malacañang said the Philippines has broad international support in its maritime dispute with China because of the peaceful approach it is taking.

“The country’s position, when it comes to this maritime dispute in the West Philippine Sea, as you can see, has received broad international support because it’s... We have adopted the peaceful track,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a radio interview.

“We have committed to pursuing our cause through recognized fora, and that we continue to adopt the rulesbased approach,” she added.

s u n D AY : A p r i l 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

A3

NEWS

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

milf backers meet in davao

By Maricel V. Cruz

AFTER a member of the Maranao royal family questioned their legitimacy, the leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front announced on Saturday that about 300 datus [traditional village leaders] along with three Maguindanao royal families will gather on Sunday for a show of support for the rebel group.

In time of drought and war. A Moro woman from Barangay Tukanalipao in Mamasapano, Maguindanao appears uninterested in the military vehicles rumbling behind her and her two young companions as the province reels from a drought that has already affected 60,000 hectares in Mindanao. MARK NAVALES

legiSlATorS iqBAl: CATholiC ChurCh BACkS BBl Sara Susanne D. PuSh houSe By Fabunan ArreST for jAiled gMA TWO opposition lawmakers expressed confidence that former president and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s wish for a house arrest will be granted by the Sandiganbayan.

1-BAP party-list Rep. Silvestre Bello III, a member of the House minority bloc, stressed that Arroyo, who just turned 68 last April 5, badly need a medical attention and so placing her under house arrest would help her a lot improve her debilitating medical condition.

“Former president Arroyo is still very sick and frail,” Bello said, describing how the former leader was doing at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City during his visit at the hospital on her birthday.

Bello also said that the presence of former Cabinet members of Arroyo and other visitors lifted her spirit.

“Many of her former cabinet members were there and although their presence lifted her spirit, I could feel her loneliness,” Bello, who held various government posts, including Cabinet Secretary and Presidential Adviser on Government Centers, during the Arroyo administration.

He said he remains hopeful that Arroyo would be finally allowed soon to stay at her residence at La Vista Subdivision in Quezon City or in Lubao, Pampanga pending the resolution of her plunder case.

Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III, also a member of the minority bloc, also rallied behind Bello’s appeal for the former president to be granted house arrest out of humanitarian consideration.

Bello authored House Resolution 1908 that seeks to express the sense of the House to allow Arroyo house arrest due to her debilitating medical conditions as per advised of her doctors. – Maricel V. Cruz

ALTHOUGH “the real battle now is in Congress,” MILF chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said even the Catholic Church supports the controversial Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) that has been criticized as being unconstitutional by lawmakers.

“The Catholic church is supportive of the BBL, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, Ateneo de Davao President Joel Tabora, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle, Cotabato Archbishop Orlando B. Cardinal Quevedo at Cagayan de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, Jr. [support it],” Iqbal was quoted by a news item on the CBCP website.

“There is an overwhelming support from Moro groups including traditional leaders, politicians and ordinary people,” Iqbal also added.

Despite this, however, Iqbal said there is a need to increase and strengthen the support base for the

BBL pending at both Houses of Congress, saying “the real battle now is in Congress.”

Speaking before the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines last week, Iqbal said BBL supporters need to be identified thoroughly and ways have to be found to strengthen and consolidate partnerships with them.

He went on to describe international support for the BBL as “very strong.”

Iqbal said he looks forward to developing close relations with the business community such as the Makati Business Clun and the Mindanao Business Council.

Iqbal said there should be a massive information campaign on the salient provisions of the proposed BBL and the “need for peace in the country.”

He added more often than not, “the attitude of politicians are conditioned by the pulse of their electorates.”

“We have to rally educational institutions and academicians behind the BBL’s passage,” he stressed add-

ing that there are future engagements with 18 surviving members of the 1987 Constitutional Commission.

Iqbal likewise cited the challenge of engaging those who are against the BBL’s passage, including the “majority of media practitioners”, especially after the Mamasapano incident.

He said some politicians and opposition groups are using the BBL as “tool of politics”, while majority of the Filipinos have not read nor studied the draft law.

He bewailed the fact there still lies anti-Moro biases and prejudices which he described as “very strong in Luzon and the Visayas as there are hostile opinion-makers, columnists, talk show hosts and a lot more.”

Should the BBL fail to pass, the MILF’s clout, popularity and effectiveness will sink to the lowest level as there will no longer be decommissioning of its weapons and combatants and no Exit Agreement will be signed.

He candidly said the radicals “will have greater say on how the situation develops in Mindanao.”

Getting there. Water-borne heavy equipment help deliver and install components of the third stage of the Skyway at the Maligaya Creek in Pasay City. MANNY PALMERO

The Maguindanao leaders will gather at the Waterfront Insular Hotel in Davao City along with mebers of the MILF Central Committee, including MILF Vice Charmain Ghazali Jaafar, according to the media advisory.

The event is apparently part of a nation-wide campaign to gather support for the Bangsamoro Basic Law, which embodies the peace agreement the MILF reached with the government but is now being deliberated in Congress amid questions on the rebels’ sincerity.

Jaafar, who warned last month that the MILF would resume fighting if the BBL is “watered-down,” will make his first public appearance after a respected member of a Maranao royal family, lawyer Firdausi Abbas, questioned the legitimacy of the MILF leadership.

Abbas claimed that the current officials of the MILF wrested leadership of the rebel group from MILF leader Abdul Asiz, now deceased, who was the designated successor of MILF founder Hashim Salamat.

Abbas, whose family was deeply involved in the original Bangsamoro movement, criticized the MILF leaders as lawmakers questioned why the MILF leaders had to use fictitious names in seeking a historic agreement with the Philippine government.

The use of aliases by MILF chairman Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim, Jaafar and chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal has stirred a legal controversy dividing leaders of the House of Representatives.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. defended its legality and said their use of aliases does not invalidate the peace agreement the MILF signed with the government.

“I wouldn’t make a big thing out of it. As long as we all know who we are talking to. We in fact have many public officials elected and serving under aliases,” Belmonte said without naming names.

Deputy Speaker and Isabela Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao said Iqbal’s use of pseudonym was not an issue.

“There’s too much ado about nothing in the case of Iqbal’s use of an alias. The Catholic priest assumes an alias in becoming a pontiff. And he signs documents and state papers under that alias,” Aggabao said.

“Why would that be different from someone who assumes an alias in becoming a rebel. We are engaged in nitpicking,” he added.

He also cleared Secretary Teresita Deles, presidential adviser on the peace process and professor Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, the government peace panel chair, of any legal liability over the fact that they know Iqbal has been hiding his true identity. “I think. Deles and Ferrer have no liability whatsoever,” Aggabao said.

S U N D AY, A P R I L 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

A4

OPINION

ADELLE CHUA EDITOR

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

OPINION

A5

CHASING HAPPY ADELLE CHUA

WAITLISTED

[ EDI TORI A L ]

DEATH

BY TAXES APRIL 15 is an important day for law-abiding Filipinos.

This marks the deadline for the filing of tax returns—a proof that despite our grumbling, most of us ordinary workers and property owners still entrust a considerable percentage of our income and/or assets to the government.

And since we are average people with average means, we do not have the capability to hire shrewd accountants to wield magic on our tax figures, nor engage topnotch lawyers to defend us in court.

No, we instead plod through day after day, earning our keep, stretching our budgets and hoping we could stash away a few thousands after taxes and all expenses have been deducted from our take-home pay.

We could certainly identify with that television advertisement of the Bureau of Internal Revenue where each taxpayer carries a block, containing his or her identification number, that in turn is used to build bridges and roads, hospitals and schools.

While we wish we could see more of our hard-earned taxes in action, instead of being pocketed by our officials, we pay anyway. It’s our bit for the country, and we don’t want the BIR running after us. It has its hands full with high-profile tax evaders.

Given all these, we welcomed the BIR’s move to make filing tax returns easy for us. The idea was to use the electronic filing system so that people would no longer flock to bureau’s offices or overwhelm its personnel with last-minute filings.

What happened, however, was that the electronic system would not work as intended, even as taxpayers still face penalties if they fail to file under the new system.

The new regulation was issued barely a month ago, which gave the public less than enough time to prepare for the new scheme, and BIR personnel themselves not enough preparation to handle the volume of inquiries and to issue practical instructions.

We taxpayers completely understand the government’s drive to collect taxes more aggressively. It needs to amass enough revenue to support thousands of projects from the national to the local levels, to deliver basic social services, generate jobs and narrow the gap between the rich and the poor.

We are ready to cooperate and eager to see our modest contributions make a difference.

The least the government could do is to acknowledge our willingness and not burden us with difficulty in fulfilling our duty as citizens.

GOING DIGITAL ARE WE THERE YET? BONG C. AUSTERO WE finally gave in to Sarah Geronimo. We believed her claim, done through caterwauling and lots of gyrating, that buying that darned magic black box would improve our lives dramatically.

As it turned out, we were not the only gullible people in this country. The first two stores in the Mall of Asia

that we went to had already sold all their stock. We got ours from a computer store.

As promised, the contraption did improve the quality of the images and the sound emanating from the TV set; we are now able to examine closely the intricate patterns of Kabayan Noli de Castro’s tie or appreciate the sophisticated lighting designs of the soap operas of ABS-CBN. Television in this country has gone digital.

The black box came with its own antennae and, not

surprisingly, its own ABSCBN cellular SIM card. We understood why when we switched on the black box and got connected. Certain services can be had by texting a specific number and keying in a specific number that appeared on the television set. In short, it’s just a matter of time before other services become available on demand or by request.

Does this mean we will finally be able to let go of cable television? Not immediately, but I hope eventually. Not

The inescapable conclusion is that there really is no such thing as a free lunch. Digital TV is being offered for free now (we just have to pay for the gadget), but we all know it’s not going to stay that way forever.

that it will really make a lot of difference in terms of choice of service provider since the number one cable TV provider also happens to be a sister company of the media network that has pioneered digital TV, so it will just be like changing the pocket to which we deposit our money into. But hopefully, we get better choices and better value for money.

There was a time when cable TV

Standard TODAY Manila

delivered all – as in all – the available television channels as part of the basic subscription. Two decades ago, cable TV offered anyone with a subscription (or a hacked account which could be done so easily by connecting a splitter to someone’s valid cable connection) a window to a hundred television channels from all over the world. It was admittedly wasteful. I know there are people out there who think heaven

527-2057 (Credit and Collection). Fax numbers: 521-8340 (Advertising) 5275550. P.O. Box 2933, Manilaand Central 6406 P.O. Box 2933, Manila Post(Subscription).

Office, Manila.

Website: www.

Central Post Office, Manila.

Website: www. manilastandardtoday.com E-mail: manilastandardtoday.com E-mail: mst@ contact@thestandard.com.ph PublishedMonday MondaytotoSunday Sundaybyby Philippine manilastandardtoday.com Published Kamahalan ndInc. at 6/F Manila Standard Publishing Publishing Corporation at 2 Floor PJI canbe beaccessed accessedat: at: Universal Re Building, 106 Paseo Roxas, can Building, Railroad corner 20th de Streets, www.manilastandardtoday.com ONLINE www.manilastandardtoday.com corner PereaManila.

St., Legaspi Village, Makati City. ONLINE Port Area, Telephone numbers MEMBER Telephone(connecting numbers 832-5554, 832-5556, MEMBER 521-8507 all departments), Philippine Press Institute 832-5558521-5581, (connecting all departments), (Editorial), (Editorial Fax) 521-7381 Philippine Press Institute The National Association (Advertising), 521-8507(Advertising), (MIS) 521-5591 (Editorial), 832-5546, 832The National Association of Philippine Newspapers of Philippine Newspapers (Sales and Distribution/Subscription) and

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PPI PPI

is having the option to watch an Indian or Thai soap opera, assuming they could work through the language barrier, but we humans have unfortunately been wired to have only one processor and could only watch one show at a time.

My problem, however, with the cable TV provider is that they have shifted to bundling cable channels.

The basic bundle, unfortunately, Continued on A6

MST Management, Inc. Philip G. Romualdez Arnold C. Liong Former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno Jocelyn F. Domingo Ron Ryan S. Buguis

Chairman President & Chief Executive Officer Board Member & Chief Legal Adviser Director of Operations Finance Officer

Ma. Editha D. Angeles Advertising Manager Anita F. Grefal Treasury Manager Edgar M. Valmorida Circulation Manager

I WAS on a bus one morning in February when we got the news that my 12-yearold son had not been admitted to the arts high school he had applied to.

He was home sick that morning while I was away on an errand, attending to other, as I felt then, more pressing things. But I remembered results should have been released at that time so I called the school and I was advised to check the Web site for the names of the passers.

I chatted the boy up on Facebook and told him to go to the site. After a while he sent me screen shots in succession— the name of the six passers to the music track, out of the 36 from all over the country from all other art fields, who made it.

His name was not one of those. The last post was an emoji—a sad face—and this from a boy who very rarely resorts to emojis.

Over the next few days we tried to make sense of the disappointing news. I had been so confident he would pass. I was with him when he went for auditions last December. I saw him check out YouTube clips of the school facilities, its students and alumni, and I heard him practice his violin even to the wee hours of the morning. We had been imagining his life in boarding school—academics in the morning, a rather long lunch break, and then violin lessons from the country’s best for the rest of the afternoon.

With a routine like this, who would not be a virtuoso?

In the end I concluded that the opportunity must not have been meant for him, that perhaps this was his education —wanting something so bad and not getting it. I thought, perhaps, he needed to gain more maturity and discipline. After all, as a kid, he was not a model straightA student. I felt he could be doing better given his innate talent, but I did not push him. I was devising ways instead to make him push himself.

I treated the boy to pizza and explained to him that there might be other plans for him, and he could still be an orchestra member one day even if he did not go to that prestigious government high school.

I, the perennial stage mother and number one cheerleader, became resigned to the fact and moved on.

The following day the boy asked if I could call the school and ask why he failed. He wanted to know whether it was in the audition or the IQ test that he did badly. He also asked me to ask the school if there were any other way we could try to get in. Perhaps he could Continued on A6 Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher Jojo A. Robles Editor-in-Chief Jojo A. Robles Editor-in-Chief Ramonchito L. Tomeldan Managing Editor Ramonchito L. Tomeldan Managing Editor Chin Wong/Ray S. Eñano Associate Editors Chin Wong/Ray S. Eñano Associate Editors P. Palacios News Editor FrancisJoel Lagniton News Editor Francis Lagniton Editor Joyce Pangco Pañares CityCity Editor Arman Armero Senior Deskman Adelle Chua Senior Deskman Leo A. Estonilo Senior Deskman Romel J. Mendez Art Director Romel J. Mendez ArtPhotographer Director Roberto Cabrera Chief Roberto Cabrera Chief Photographer

S U N D AY, A P R I L 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

A4

OPINION

ADELLE CHUA EDITOR

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

OPINION

A5

CHASING HAPPY ADELLE CHUA

WAITLISTED

[ EDI TORI A L ]

DEATH

BY TAXES APRIL 15 is an important day for law-abiding Filipinos.

This marks the deadline for the filing of tax returns—a proof that despite our grumbling, most of us ordinary workers and property owners still entrust a considerable percentage of our income and/or assets to the government.

And since we are average people with average means, we do not have the capability to hire shrewd accountants to wield magic on our tax figures, nor engage topnotch lawyers to defend us in court.

No, we instead plod through day after day, earning our keep, stretching our budgets and hoping we could stash away a few thousands after taxes and all expenses have been deducted from our take-home pay.

We could certainly identify with that television advertisement of the Bureau of Internal Revenue where each taxpayer carries a block, containing his or her identification number, that in turn is used to build bridges and roads, hospitals and schools.

While we wish we could see more of our hard-earned taxes in action, instead of being pocketed by our officials, we pay anyway. It’s our bit for the country, and we don’t want the BIR running after us. It has its hands full with high-profile tax evaders.

Given all these, we welcomed the BIR’s move to make filing tax returns easy for us. The idea was to use the electronic filing system so that people would no longer flock to bureau’s offices or overwhelm its personnel with last-minute filings.

What happened, however, was that the electronic system would not work as intended, even as taxpayers still face penalties if they fail to file under the new system.

The new regulation was issued barely a month ago, which gave the public less than enough time to prepare for the new scheme, and BIR personnel themselves not enough preparation to handle the volume of inquiries and to issue practical instructions.

We taxpayers completely understand the government’s drive to collect taxes more aggressively. It needs to amass enough revenue to support thousands of projects from the national to the local levels, to deliver basic social services, generate jobs and narrow the gap between the rich and the poor.

We are ready to cooperate and eager to see our modest contributions make a difference.

The least the government could do is to acknowledge our willingness and not burden us with difficulty in fulfilling our duty as citizens.

GOING DIGITAL ARE WE THERE YET? BONG C. AUSTERO WE finally gave in to Sarah Geronimo. We believed her claim, done through caterwauling and lots of gyrating, that buying that darned magic black box would improve our lives dramatically.

As it turned out, we were not the only gullible people in this country. The first two stores in the Mall of Asia

that we went to had already sold all their stock. We got ours from a computer store.

As promised, the contraption did improve the quality of the images and the sound emanating from the TV set; we are now able to examine closely the intricate patterns of Kabayan Noli de Castro’s tie or appreciate the sophisticated lighting designs of the soap operas of ABS-CBN. Television in this country has gone digital.

The black box came with its own antennae and, not

surprisingly, its own ABSCBN cellular SIM card. We understood why when we switched on the black box and got connected. Certain services can be had by texting a specific number and keying in a specific number that appeared on the television set. In short, it’s just a matter of time before other services become available on demand or by request.

Does this mean we will finally be able to let go of cable television? Not immediately, but I hope eventually. Not

The inescapable conclusion is that there really is no such thing as a free lunch. Digital TV is being offered for free now (we just have to pay for the gadget), but we all know it’s not going to stay that way forever.

that it will really make a lot of difference in terms of choice of service provider since the number one cable TV provider also happens to be a sister company of the media network that has pioneered digital TV, so it will just be like changing the pocket to which we deposit our money into. But hopefully, we get better choices and better value for money.

There was a time when cable TV

Standard TODAY Manila

delivered all – as in all – the available television channels as part of the basic subscription. Two decades ago, cable TV offered anyone with a subscription (or a hacked account which could be done so easily by connecting a splitter to someone’s valid cable connection) a window to a hundred television channels from all over the world. It was admittedly wasteful. I know there are people out there who think heaven

527-2057 (Credit and Collection). Fax numbers: 521-8340 (Advertising) 5275550. P.O. Box 2933, Manilaand Central 6406 P.O. Box 2933, Manila Post(Subscription).

Office, Manila.

Website: www.

Central Post Office, Manila.

Website: www. manilastandardtoday.com E-mail: manilastandardtoday.com E-mail: mst@ contact@thestandard.com.ph PublishedMonday MondaytotoSunday Sundaybyby Philippine manilastandardtoday.com Published Kamahalan ndInc. at 6/F Manila Standard Publishing Publishing Corporation at 2 Floor PJI canbe beaccessed accessedat: at: Universal Re Building, 106 Paseo Roxas, can Building, Railroad corner 20th de Streets, www.manilastandardtoday.com ONLINE www.manilastandardtoday.com corner PereaManila.

St., Legaspi Village, Makati City. ONLINE Port Area, Telephone numbers MEMBER Telephone(connecting numbers 832-5554, 832-5556, MEMBER 521-8507 all departments), Philippine Press Institute 832-5558521-5581, (connecting all departments), (Editorial), (Editorial Fax) 521-7381 Philippine Press Institute The National Association (Advertising), 521-8507(Advertising), (MIS) 521-5591 (Editorial), 832-5546, 832The National Association of Philippine Newspapers of Philippine Newspapers (Sales and Distribution/Subscription) and

MST MST

PPI PPI

is having the option to watch an Indian or Thai soap opera, assuming they could work through the language barrier, but we humans have unfortunately been wired to have only one processor and could only watch one show at a time.

My problem, however, with the cable TV provider is that they have shifted to bundling cable channels.

The basic bundle, unfortunately, Continued on A6

MST Management, Inc. Philip G. Romualdez Arnold C. Liong Former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno Jocelyn F. Domingo Ron Ryan S. Buguis

Chairman President & Chief Executive Officer Board Member & Chief Legal Adviser Director of Operations Finance Officer

Ma. Editha D. Angeles Advertising Manager Anita F. Grefal Treasury Manager Edgar M. Valmorida Circulation Manager

I WAS on a bus one morning in February when we got the news that my 12-yearold son had not been admitted to the arts high school he had applied to.

He was home sick that morning while I was away on an errand, attending to other, as I felt then, more pressing things. But I remembered results should have been released at that time so I called the school and I was advised to check the Web site for the names of the passers.

I chatted the boy up on Facebook and told him to go to the site. After a while he sent me screen shots in succession— the name of the six passers to the music track, out of the 36 from all over the country from all other art fields, who made it.

His name was not one of those. The last post was an emoji—a sad face—and this from a boy who very rarely resorts to emojis.

Over the next few days we tried to make sense of the disappointing news. I had been so confident he would pass. I was with him when he went for auditions last December. I saw him check out YouTube clips of the school facilities, its students and alumni, and I heard him practice his violin even to the wee hours of the morning. We had been imagining his life in boarding school—academics in the morning, a rather long lunch break, and then violin lessons from the country’s best for the rest of the afternoon.

With a routine like this, who would not be a virtuoso?

In the end I concluded that the opportunity must not have been meant for him, that perhaps this was his education —wanting something so bad and not getting it. I thought, perhaps, he needed to gain more maturity and discipline. After all, as a kid, he was not a model straightA student. I felt he could be doing better given his innate talent, but I did not push him. I was devising ways instead to make him push himself.

I treated the boy to pizza and explained to him that there might be other plans for him, and he could still be an orchestra member one day even if he did not go to that prestigious government high school.

I, the perennial stage mother and number one cheerleader, became resigned to the fact and moved on.

The following day the boy asked if I could call the school and ask why he failed. He wanted to know whether it was in the audition or the IQ test that he did badly. He also asked me to ask the school if there were any other way we could try to get in. Perhaps he could Continued on A6 Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher Jojo A. Robles Editor-in-Chief Jojo A. Robles Editor-in-Chief Ramonchito L. Tomeldan Managing Editor Ramonchito L. Tomeldan Managing Editor Chin Wong/Ray S. Eñano Associate Editors Chin Wong/Ray S. Eñano Associate Editors P. Palacios News Editor FrancisJoel Lagniton News Editor Francis Lagniton Editor Joyce Pangco Pañares CityCity Editor Arman Armero Senior Deskman Adelle Chua Senior Deskman Leo A. Estonilo Senior Deskman Romel J. Mendez Art Director Romel J. Mendez ArtPhotographer Director Roberto Cabrera Chief Roberto Cabrera Chief Photographer

S U N D AY, A P R I L 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

A6

OPINION

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

2016 ElEctions Hillary clinton, GEnEric candidatE

By Jonathan Bernstein

As Hillary Clinton gets ready to announce Sunday —or rather as she gets ready to finally admit she’s been running for president more or less since the day after she conceded the 2008 nomination—we need to accept an important truth about presidential candidates.

For all practical purposes, there’s simply no such thing as a strong general-election candidate.

There are strong candidates for a presidential nomination, and Clinton is about the strongest in modern times. There can be weak general-election candidates, too. Those perceived as ideological outliers (Barry Goldwater in 1964, George McGovern in 1972, and possibly Ronald Reagan in 1980) can cost their party a few percentage points beyond what a generic Democrat or Republican would have received. It’s also possible to imagine a candidate so inept that he or she forfeits votes a generic candidate might have won -- McGovern, with a mismanaged convention and a botched running-mate selection, might qualify.

But candidates who are so wonderful, whose appeal to swing voters is so strong, that they override the basic conditions of the election—the economy, war and peace, the popularity of the president, how long the incumbent party has held the White House? In the entire survey research era, the only presidential candidate who can plausibly make that claim is Dwight Eisenhower, and he just may have benefited from too many consecutive DemocratWaitlisted..From A5

audition again this year; he would not mind “wasting” one year. Getting in would be worth it.

I heeded his request and sent an email. I asked where we might have been inadequate so that we may improve on it. I did not expect to get a reply. But they did—we were on the waitlist! Apparently, some slots do not get filled; we just needed to hang on for a few more weeks.

Those next few weeks were, as any other spent in waiting, excruciating. Sometimes life takes over and you forget about it; at other times you wish there was something you

ic terms in office.

Everything done by campaigns serves to build a superhumanly wonderful portrait of the candidate. There are those who are inclined to vote for that candidate anyway —partisans who always vote for their party, or swing voters reacting to the economy or other fundamentals. Those not inclined to do so probably won’t believe the hype, no matter how gushing. It may feel as if we’re drawn to vote for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney because we like them.

In fact, we’re just very receptive to liking candidates who we are (more or less rationally) likely to support in the first place.

Consider Obama. In 2008, it certainly seemed that he was a once-in-ageneration political force, a candidate who could truly bring new voters to the polls and shake up the status quo.

And yet his final results looked a lot like what would happen if the 2004 electoral map were just shifted to the Democrats to account for Iraq and a deep recession—just as predicted by political science models that know

could do to get closer to the answers. But there was nothing to do but wait. *** The news came Tuesday after Easter. That morning, a friend asked what had happened to the application and I even grumbled about the suspense. I was in a cab, stuck in traffic and late for a meeting, when I got the text from the school: They had sent the scholarship documents the previous day. I felt like alighting from the cab and dancing in the middle of Congressional Avenue.

The next 24 hours were in a frenzy. Now that the news had kicked in, really kicked in, and now that I had sent back

nothing about the candidates.

Even the downside of nominating a dud candidate is much less than it seems. By the time a candidate advances to the general election, he or she has been thoroughly vetted by the press and by the party, so there’s a limit to how bad he or she can really be.

Granted, there’s always the possibility something unprecedented will occur; we only have a very limited number of presidential elections to test for effects. It’s not impossible, for example, that the chance to elect the first woman president will matter. But it’s not especially likely, either.

The harsh truth is that especially in a partisan age, the candidates themselves aren’t that big a factor in presidential general elections. Democrats may be wasting a lot of time and energy worrying what they would do if something happened to Clinton, but the truth is that they would do about as well with most replacements.

And the odds are that the same will be true on the Republican side, too.

Bloomberg

the letter of acceptance, I am beginning to imagine how different the next few months would be.

The boy is the youngest, always the one to get picked on, get ordered around, but also smothered with hugs and kisses much to his disgust. He technically should be staying at his older brother’s room but stays in mine because of the aircon. Every summer all of us stay up late and do our own things , but together in the living room. Needless to say, we are a close-knit bunch and now there’s going to be a void in our day-to-day affairs.

When the boy goes to boarding school in Makiling, we would only be seeing him

every other weekend. There he would live on his own, learn how to pick up after himself, spend time with others and learn so much about music and about life in general.

I am thrilled at the possibilities; the next few years may just be the best, most formative ones for him. We will miss Bunsoy, sure, but you just do not stand in the way of these opportunities.

It will be another round of waiting: Waiting to see to what kind of musician/student/person he would become. I can’t wait for the results of that one. adellechua@gmail.com

Going..From A5 does not include the channels that I happen to watch more often so we ended up paying more for the additional channels such as certain sports and lifestyle channels. In short, they’ve found ways to squeeze more money from subscribers. The marketing strategy is ingenious but quite basic. First, entice people to buy by offering the whole package and once people are hooked, slowly shift to a system where people pay more for services that are customized to their needs.

This is pretty much how the telecom companies fleeced people. They initially offered unlimited broadband and then forced people to upgrade to gain more speed or go for customized packages that have different pricing schemes. Thus, when a certain telecom company announced that it was offering free Internet with their SIM cards, I knew there was going to be a catch eventually.

The inescapable conclusion is that there really is no such thing as a free lunch.

Digital TV is being offered for free now (we just have to pay for the gadget), but we all know it’s not going to stay that way forever.

We can all take consolation, however, from the fact that we’re not really totally at the mercy of big business. If one is not in a hurry, all the television shows are eventually made available for free in the Internet anyway. Or if one so wishes, one can buy the DVD and watch the shows at one’s leisure. The discs can be bought from legitimate or not-so-legitimate sources, but that’s another column altogether. And then there’s this whole new frontier in the Internet– Apple, Netflix, and others are working on apps that will make TV freely available through the Internet. Television sets will no longer be needed to watch TV shows. So eventually, even the magic box will be rendered obsolete, unless of course it evolves into something else... and I’m sure ABS-CBN has already that part fully covered. I am sure they have thought through the various options even before they launched the product.

There’s just one headache though. Internet connectivity will be critical. Unfortunately, we do have one of the slowest and most expensive Internet connectivity in the world. The world is advancing by leaps and bounds and everyone is moving at hyperspeed. We run the risk of being left behind simply because our leaders are not as proactive or strategic, and big business is just focused on making quick money.

S U N D AY : A p r i l 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

NEWS editorial@thestandard.com.ph

afp, npa open new war front

By Alvin T. Guanzon

BUTUAN CITY – The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the communist New People’s Army have resorted to issuing press statements of their own in their heightened propaganda war.

This developed as the NPA has claimed that at least three government soldiers belonging to the 30th infantry brigade were killed and six others wounded when a team of NPA rebels attacked the state troopers in Surigao City on Saturday, April 10, 2015.

In a press statement, NPA’s Kumander Jhared, a battalion commander of the Agusan-Surigao area said the encounter between government troopers and his men took place at 10:30 a.m. April 10, 2015. “Fully armed NPA rebels in an advantage position encountered the patrolling 30th IB Philippine Army soldiers in area,” Jhared said.

Jhared said the soldiers-casualties

were brought to Barangay Ema in Sison town, Surigao del Norte which was six kilometers away from the encounter site.

“Residents in Barangay Ema saw three cadavers of soldiers belonging to 30th IB placed in body bags while the six wounded government troopers were brought to hospitals in Surigao del Norte for treatment” Jhared said.

But Army spokesman Major Christian Uy said there was indeed such an encounter but it took place in Barangay Anomar in Surigao City and not in Barangay Tongonon which is near Barangay Mat-I, a known NPA lair.

“While there was (an) encounter between some six NPA rebels and the

30th IB government troopers it lasted only for ten minutes and the NPA rebels scampered away. There (were) no casualties on the government side but a lot onf the NPA rebels side,” Uy said citing report from 30th Infantry Battalion of the 4th Infantry Division.

The Surigao City Police confirmed there were skirmishes between NPA rebels and government troopers within Surigao City areas but couldn’t confirm whether it was in Barangay Anomar or in Barangay Tongonon.

Surigao City investigators said that they received report from the military about the encounter but did not state where exactly it happened.

But Jhared in text messages insisted the firefight took place in Tongonon.

Last April 9, soldiers belonging tothe 29th infantry and the NPA rebels engaged in a brief firefightr in Sitio Tagkiling, Barangay Anticala, Butuan City.

No casualties from both sides, both military and NPA rebels claimed.

BReAsTfeediNG is BesT. A breastfeeding mother reads a leaflet on safe practices, which was provided by Philippine Business for Social Progress during the “Safe Motherhood Event”, which serves as an eye opener for pregnant women held in Marikina City. MANNY PALMeRO

pangasinan history book launChed LINGAYEN—In line with the provincial government’s thrust to preserve and promote cultural heritage, Pangasinan launched its history book titled “Pinablin Dalin” during the commemorative program of the 435th Agew na Pangasinan (Pangasinan founding anniversary) on April 10 at the Capitol Plaza.

The book traces the historical journey and cultural roots of the province and its people.

“Pinablin Dalin” was prepared and edited by the Pangasinan Historical and Cultural Commission group of writers and researchers headed by Dr. Gonzalo Duque.

It was also based on the re-

search study by a group headed

by Dr. Perla Legaspi, a former Vice-Chancellor of UP Diliman.

The book is seen to be the main resource material for the integration of Pangasinan study in the education curriculum.

“Today, we just witnessed the formal launching and presentation of this important history book, to be used, among others, as the basic reference for mandatory classes in Pangasinan History in all elementary and high schools in Pangasinan,” said Governor Amado Espino Jr. He also encouraged everyone to buy their own copies of the book.

Also launched during the event was the “Kurit Panlunggaring”

anthology book 1 which contains the winning entries of the 20122014 Pangasinan literary awards.

Winners in the different categories-poetry, essay, short story, and children story writing- of this year’s Kurit Panlunggaring were also awarded with trophies and cash prizes.

Launched in 2011, Kurit Panlunggaring is the Pangasinan equivalent of the Palanca Literary Awards, “designed to encourage budding young writers to use Pangasinan as a medium of literary expression,” Espino said.

Espino noted that Pangasinan became the first in the country to have its own local language orthography or the formal sys-

tem of spelling and correct usage of words in particular language.

The Pangasinan Orthography was officially adopted by the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (KWF) in April 2012.

Meanwhile, Espino urged the Pangasinenses to develop deeper love for their province’s heritage.

“It is most important for us to realize, that in this present global village, where modern technology has defied the barriers of time and space, each of us needs to know, and to develop a deeper sense of, our uniqueness as a people, and to feel secure and confident in that distinct cultural identity,” he said. Johanne Margarette R. Macob

A7 Court trials aired live pushed A PROPOSED law which allows live media coverage of court proceedings in the country has been put forward in the House of Representatives with lawmakers hoping to speed up the process.

Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City and party-list Rep. Maximo Rodriguez Jr. authored the “Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2014” or HB 4236 which has been referred to the committee on justice for its consideration.

“While it may be true that there are disadvantages to having live media coverage, it is also true that the benefits definitely outweigh them,” Rodriguez stressed.

The Constitution provides the accused the right to a speedy, impartial and public trial, and anyone interested in observing the proceedings may do so subject only to certain limitations, the authors said.

“The right to a public trial is given to the accused in order to prevent abuses that may be committed by the court to the prejudice of the defendant, while also entitled to the support of his friends and relatives,” they added.

Rodriguez, who is also chairman of the House special committee on the Bangsamoro Basic Law, explained that the problem of accommodation in the country’s small-sized courtrooms could be addressed by allowing such live coverage to ensure that the parties in the proceeding are answerable to the public in general and minimize the use of underhanded trick or tactics that would prejudice any of the parties.

“Also, by allowing such live coverage, the public itself could get first-hand information on what is happening or how the trial is proceeding, aside from having another form of documentation on the proceedings of the trial which may help the appellate courts if ever the case is appealed,” the authors pointed out. PNA

A8

SUNDAY: APRIL 12, 2015

editorial@the standard.com.ph

AngArA clAn sets return to cApitol

By Ferdie g.Domingo

tangerine sky. the panoramic view of the sunset over Boracay on thursday, April 9, 2015 is awe-inspiring. OMar MangOrsi

COA issues red flAg On AurOrA purChAse

By Ferdie g. Domingo

BALER, Aurora—The Commission on Audit has uncovered alleged irregularities in the purchase by the provincial government of heavy equipment obtained without the supporting documents.

In an audit observation memorandum, COA warned Capitol officials the practice could lead to the possible filing of criminal and administrative charges against them. A copy of the two-page Audit memo was furnished to Gov. Gerardo A. Noveras.

COA audit team leader Maruel B. Aguila and supervising auditor Emilia M. Dukha pointed out the deficiencies and irregularities in the provincial government’s purchase of a unit of Komatsu loader through a debit account with the Development Bank of the Philippines.

The AOM called the attention of provincial accountant Wilfredo C. Saturno, provincial budget officer Norma R. Clemente and provincial treasurer Norberto G. Herminigildo.

It said that the transaction was made without the supporting documents contrary to Section 4.6 of Presidential Decree 1445, which provides that claims against government funds shall be supported with complete documentation, thus, “casting doubt on the regularity of the transaction.”

It added that Section 344 of Republic Act 7160, also known as the Local Government Code, provides that no money shall be disbursed unless the local budget officer certifies to the existence of appropriation that has been legally made for the purpose, that the local accountant has obligated such appropriation and the local treasurer certifies to the availability of funds for the purpose.

“Vouchers and payroll shall be certified to and approved by the head of the department or office who has administrative control of the fund concerned, as to the validity, propriety

and legality of the claim involved,” it said.

The subject of the AOM was the DBP statement of account covering the period July 1 to 31,2014 for account no. 520-015355-031 with a debit memo of P8.5 million for the loader transferring the amount to the DBP account of the Marubeni Corporation.

However, an obligation request by the provincial government signed by Noveras and Clemente showed that the amount was paid to Maxima Machineries, Inc. based in Quezon Avenue, Quezon City instead of Marubeni Corporation. Maxima Machineries won the bid to supply the loader despite being the second lowest bidder.

Dukha and Aguila said verification of the supporting documents covering the transaction showed that only the authority to debit account signed by provincial administrator Simeon De Castro and Herminigildo and a billing statement from the DBP were the basis of the fund transfer, making the transaction an irregular expenditure under Section 3 of COA Circular 2012-2013.

BALER, Aurora—Some 13 months ahead of the May 2016 elections, the battlelines have been drawn in the province of Aurora.

Former three-term governor and now Rep. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo indicated her interest to run for governor anew to reclaim the clan’s hold on the Capitol against incumbent Gov. Gerardo Noveras.

Speaking to reporters last Thursday, the aunt of Senator Juan Edgardo Angara and Vice Gov. Rommel Rico Teh Angara, admitted that she was considering the governorship following mounting calls for her to return.

“Yes I am open to the governorship,” she said when asked about her political plans.

It was the first time she publicly stated her intention to seek Noveras’ post.

She served as governor from 2004 to 2013 where Noveras took over after beating her brother, former six-term Baler mayor Arthur Angara by a landslide.

If plans push through, it will mark a battle between lawyers Angara-Castillo and Noveras.

Angara-Castillo said arriving at a political decision has been very difficult for her over the past several months because she is made to choose between spending more quality time with her family and acceding to the calls of her political supporters. She said she has also neglected her law firm because of politics.

She said her decision to return would also help her vindicate her name from allegations the provincial government incurred a P127-million deficit and a P350-million loan based on a report of the Commission on Audit.

She dismissed the allegations as brazen lies.

A PARTNERSHIP BRINGS HEALTHCARE FACILITIES TO BENGUET

SM and BDO Foundation officials visit the LTMHC.

La Trinidad, Benguet -- The La Trinidad Main Health Center in Benguet which caters to 16 barangays has been renovated & accredited with PhilHealth for its out-patient benefit package. This means that the 21,425 households comprising these barangays can now avail of treatment in the Health Center. SM Foundation and BDO Foundation undertook the complete renovation, making sure quality health service is brought to these communities.

In the past, the Rural Health Unit of La Trinidad (RHU-La Trinidad), the principal workplace of the present-day Municipal Health Services Office was formerly called the La Trinidad Dispensary located in Poblacion, La Trinidad, Benguet, Mt. Province. Benguet was formerly a sub-province of Mt. Province until June 18, 1966, with the enactment of RA 4695, creating the provinces of Benguet, Mountain

Province, Ifugao and Kalinga-Apayao.

In July 16, 1990, the Rural Health Unit was devastated by an earthquake that rocked the whole of Luzon. RHU services continued at temporary tents installed at the Provincial Capitol grounds. Soon, reconstruction was promptly undertaken in 1991. Due to the need to further renovate the building, the clinic was temporarily transferred to the La Trinidad Central School (Home Economics Building). The RHU had been enlarged and refurbished several times from 1997 to 1998 Today, the renovated Center which serves 100 patients a day now has a laboratory , dental room, treatment area, consultation area, Family planning room, prenatal/postnatal room, immunization area, cold chain storage area, an FTS Wellness Center for Children and the Elderly.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK SUNDAY: APRIL 12, 2015

Roderick T. dela Cruz EDITOR business@thestandard.com.ph extrastory2000@gmail.com

BUSINESS

B1

Aileen Adalid in Chiang Mai, Thailand

HOW A BATANES LASS TRAVELS THE WORLD

A PRETTY lass from Batanes province quit her high-profile job in an investment bank two years ago to pursue her dream of travelling the world.

Today, Aileen Adalid is a 23-yearold blogger and entrepreneur who hops from one continent to another, using proceeds from her online businesses.

“At the young age of 21, I quit my corporate job in 2013 to go after my ‘real’ dream which was to lead a sustainable traveling lifestyle. I first started out as a digital nomad, offering my services online in order to fund my travels. After a year of work and travel, jumping from one continent to another, one of the jobs that I did had inspired the business that I own now,” Adalid says in an email message, while she is on a European tour.

Adalid, who describes herself as a digital nomad and owns e-commerce website AdalidGear. com and travel blog Iamaileen. com, says her experience shows that “a non-rich Filipina can travel the world sustainably with only a third-world passport.”

“No matter the age, a big life change is possible,” she says.

Adalid grew up in Basco, Batanes and stayed there until she was 15. In 2006, she won a local beauty pageant as Miss Basco Princess. Her parents then sent her to study in a top

university in Manila.

She obtained a degree in Business Management with specialization in Applied Corporate Management from De La Salle University in Manila. “I actually hold a business degree specialized for the corporate setting and it is totally unrelated to the profession that I wanted to do which was online marketing and graphic design,” she says.

“I started working at the age of 19, and at 21, I quit my job and started a travel lifestyle,” she says.

She says in 2013, her future looked bright while working at Deutsche Bank Group, where she emerged as the best performer in the team. “I was earning enough money to live by myself. I had a looming promotion, and an overseas transfer was expected too,” she says.

Adalid was recognized “employee of the month,” making her parents beam with pride.

“People would even often think that I have it ‘all’ especially since I was doing really well in my career despite being a fresh graduate.

But what they didn’t know was that I was terribly uninspired and miserable,” she says.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Adalid and her boyfriend Jonas van Baelen

Adalid says she clung to that job to follow the natural ‘linear’ order of life wherein everyone is expected to get a stable 9-to-5 career after graduation in order to secure the future.

She, however, wants something else in life. “It has always been my dream to travel the world while working for no one else but myself.

However, I ended up fusing myself with society’s conventions and concepts of security, so after graduation, I went into the 9-to-

A non-rich Filipina can travel the world sustainably with only a thirdworld passport.

5 grind. I thought that would be the ‘final plan’ for me, but then I gradually realized that I was terribly miserable with a career and life that wasn’t really what I wished for,” she says.

“Certainly, not being able to do what I really wanted in life had burned me out; but other than that, the overall ‘office setting’ or lifestyle made me wonder a lot…

Is this all there is to it? What good is in this ‘secure’ job if I am this CONTINUED ON B3

SUNDAY: APRIL 12, 2015

B2 YOUNG professionals in the business process outsourcing industry have the opportunity to become chief executives, according to a co-founder of call center company TaskUs Philippines.

Bryce Maddock, chief executive and cofounder of TaskUs Philippines, speaks from his experience. He says TaskUs started as a virtual personal assistant company with a core group of five and grew to an international workforce of more than 1,500 “ridiculously” talented individuals.

“Inspired by the Philippines’ promising growth, we gambled to expand our business in the country after our first start-up year.

Turns out, the decision gave us a rewarding outsourcing experience,” Maddock says.

His partnership with TaskUs cofounder Jaspar Weir resulted in a budding organization that many of the world’s most innovative and disruptive companies in the world trust today. TaskUs was listed as one of the Los Angeles Business Journal’s 100 fastest growing private companies in 2014.

“Growth is always earned, but the real reward is not growth itself—it is the number of lives we changed, starting from our employees right down to their families.

Now, we’re more than ready to share our secret with ambitious young entrepreneurs who would like to embark on this same venture,” says Maddock.

For a successful outsourcing business, Maddock cites seven major factors— experience, location, accent, redundancy and disaster planning, security, technology and client portfolio—all of which can launch an aspiring BPO professional’s career.

Experience Getting experience within an international BPO firm is essential for success, according to Maddock, but he also advises aspiring BPO professionals to be selective when it comes to where they work.

“Not all BPOs operate the same way.

Most of the big, traditional BPO firms have large workforces and a lot of bureaucracy.

This type of environment won’t permit you to learn the business from the inside out,” he says.

Smaller, more modern BPOs like TaskUs, on the other hand, emphasize career development and are more likely to give employees the ability to have an impact and get hands-on experience, says Maddock.

Location The Philippines’ edge over other countries is its capacity to offer lower office rates. In fact, office rental rates in the Philippines remain the lowest in Asia, costing $29 per square feet per annum.

Maddock says, “Choosing a strategic location will affect many other aspects of your decision.” Therefore, starters should consider the country’s exchange rate, stability of government infrastructure, the nation’s culture and environment, as well as its economic landscape.

Accent “For a successful call center, you’ll need a team of highly qualified people with accents that are easy for your customers to understand,” says Maddock. He says accent is important because you want the transition from in-house customer support to a call center to be as seamless and undetectable to your customers as possible, and utilizing a call center with minimal or undetectable accents allows you to streamline your business without harming your brand image.

Redundancy Any successful business has redundancy

BUSINESS business@thestandard.com.ph extrastory2000@gmail.com

TaskUs Philippines co-founder Bryce Madlock (right) and Jaspar Weir

HOW TO BECOME A CALL CENTER CEO

and disaster plans. A call center needs to have an adequate planning for emergencies as determined by the American Express to provide uninterrupted service to the company in any emergency situation.

For this, a call center needs to have back-up plans for situations such as power failures, Internet outages, transportation allowance for your employees during storms, and the like.

Security Extensive security measures are also important in maintaining the company’s physical and technological security. Having a call center should never jeopardize any of proprietary data, and one way to do this is to have round-the-clock security guards and the necessary information security

All it takes is a little creativity, patience, and determination to turn nothing into something. technology in place.

“Prioritize your employees’ safety as well

as your company’s data to provide the best outcome,” he says.

Technology Maddocks says in today’s digital environment technology is a critical factor.

Aspiring BPO professionals must make sure their call center has leading edge technology and the capability to meet the needs of both the company and its clients.

“To check whether you are on the right track, deliberate on your center’s capability of handling the type of outsourcing service you need, your experience in utilizing the software, and whether or not a technical consultant is highly called for,” he says.

Portfolio of clients Maddocks says a call center needs to look at the roster of companies it is working with and check if they are a good fit for the business.

Doing so will help one get a better understanding of what their offerings are and what companies they best suit.

On a personal note, Maddock says the company’s Philippine workforce can deliver unparalleled outsourcing services to their customers worldwide, and it’s an advantage for any business to thrive in the country’s outsourcing milieu.

“All it takes is a little creativity, patience, and determination to turn nothing into something.

That’s where we started— and that’s where you should, too,” he says.

SUNDAY: APRIL 12, 2015

B3

BUSINESS business@thestandard.com.ph extrastory2000@gmail.com

HOW A BATANES LASS TRAVELS THE WORLD miserable? If I am counting every hour until I could get home? If I am calculating the days until it’s the weekend? If I am always waiting for vacation, holidays, or long weekends?

If I always have to ask someone for permission just to have a ‘break’? If I am wasting almost 5 hours of my day in traffic?

If I am plagued by overtimes and unnecessary meetings?” she says.

Her life-changing decision came when she met a group of backpackers in Manila. “It [corporate life] definitely wasn’t the kind of life that I wanted, and when I started to meet backpackers, nomads, and entrepreneurs who were passing through Manila, my whole world was turned upside down.”

“Here were these individuals who abandoned society’s conventions because they chose to do what they really love to do, no matter how unusual of a thing it was and they were not only successful but they were happy too,” she says.

“That was the moment when I knew that it was time for me to take the ‘leap’. I didn’t want to waste my 20s anymore, nor did I want to settle and slave myself for a corporation just to fit myself into society’s concept of security,” says Adalid.

She says after a bit of preparation and discussions with her parents, she left her corporate job to go after her real passion in life, which is to travel the world while working for herself.

Her parents now live with her oldest brother in Canada, while an older sister is now married and has a child. “I am the youngest in the family,” she says.

“I really like traveling because I am hungry for life experiences and I want to gain a deeper appreciation and understanding of everyone and everything in this world,” she says.

Adalid says she had no regrets after taking the leap into her new lifestyle. “I am slowly learning and I am absolutely enjoying this kind of lifestyle! Traveling really helped me step out of my comfort zone and as I keep on seeing how vast the world is, I am continually humbled by it all, and that feeling of exact humility is so priceless that I wish others would take the chance to experience it themselves,” she says.

Adalid says she also met her boyfriend in one of her early travels. “I am still single and unmarried, but I have a boyfriend, Jonas Van Baelen, who is traveling with me as he is a ‘traveling nomad’ like me too,” he says. “We both met at the time that I was starting a life of travel. Also, he’s my business partner too in the business I’ve set up--Adalid Gear,” she says.

“It has been almost two years now, and since then, I’ve flown around the French Alps as a paraglider, played around with elephants in Thailand, experienced peculiar customs in Europe, and so much more! Plus, as I hopped from one country to another, I had even managed to set up an online business that led me to live a more sustainable travel lifestyle today,” she says.

Adalid says she plans to sustain her travel lifestyle and explore more parts of the planet. “I am actually the kind of traveler that doesn’t plan too far ahead, since I often like to travel in a flexible and spontaneous manner. But I guess, what I am really sure of is that in the next five years, I will continue to travel to other destinations. New Zealand, Japan, Africa, Antartica, Brazil [or South America as a whole] are on the top of my list! I will try to prove to others that it is

absolutely possible to travel the world even if I’m not rich and even if I only have a third world passport,” she says.

She says others can follow her footsteps into their desired destinations, irrespective of their status in life. “Do I have rich parents or family members to back me up? No. Do I have some sort of inheritance enabling me to travel the world and to set up a company? No. Do I have someone giving me money? No. I actually got to where I am now through my own hard work. I alone had made this lifestyle happen and you can do the same,” she says.

Adalid says the Internet opened opportunities for her.

“I didn’t let my prior education hinder me from doing the things that I enjoyed. For two months, I scoured the internet for tutorials in order to learn what I needed to know, and when I was confident with my knowledge, I started to offer my services to different clients online,” she says.

I have built my own dream, and you can do it too.

“I had to start small at first, but then I slowly gained more recognition and I even bagged a contract for an online brand that paid me double than what I earned before. I eventually earned quadruple more when they promoted me to higher positions and this happened because they saw that I was good in what I was doing,” she says.

Her online work involved developing and promoting websites for clients. She found these jobs through freelance website oDesk.

“I first started out with oDesk to offer my services of graphic design, web design, SEO [search engine optimization] management, and marketing. Mind you that I didn’t know much about these areas at first. My course in college was about business anyways and none about marketing, design, or SEO,” she says.

“I just learned these skills by myself online which you can do too. There’s just so many free resources on the internet that there’s no need to really enrol yourself to a school. With the work I’ve done in oDesk, I controlled my time and I accepted/applied for paid projects that I wanted right in the comfort of my own apartment or in some beach or resort in Asia,” she says.

Adalid eventually landed a stable high-paying online job with a Swedish brand and that went on for almost a year. She started as one of the company’s customer service staff, before advancing to being the product line supervisor and eventually head marketing and social media manager. The job lasted for a year, after which she and her boyfriend decided to establish their own e-commerce business.

“After a bit of preparation and a bit of guidance from the CEO of the said Swedish company, Jonas and I set up our own online Amazon business: Adalid Gear. Even after resigning from the Swedish company, it still made me a

FROM B1

‘digital nomad’ apart from being an ‘entrepreneur’—because the kind of business that we had was still online and we can work anytime, anywhere,” she says.

When Adalid and her boyfriend decided to move from Hong Kong to Belgium, Adalid Gear officially became a Belgian company. The brand became famous, because “Adalid” means “champion” in Spanish. Adalid Gear sells the best gear and accessories available in the market.

“Things were going really good, especially since while I was doing all that work online. I was also traveling at the same time — I was in full control of my time. How was I? Happy, fulfilled and contented!” she says.

“It was then that I learned that doing the means to achieve the lifestyle and career that I want is always the best choice; it will be hard at first — of course it would be — but for as long as I work hard, which becomes second nature to me because I enjoyed doing it anyway, things will always bear fruit,” she says.

The strategy, she says, is to create one’s own sense of security. “We are often bound to our office jobs because it’s the typically perceived way of securing our future. However, that’s not entirely true, because there will be a time that you might get laid off or fired — you are working for someone else anyway,” she says.

“It is for that reason that we should always create our own sense of security which is usually in the form of making a profession or a business that you would personally own and control. ‘Always think long term’ was my mantra and this kind of outlook helped a lot in making me into the entrepreneur that I am today,” she says.

Adalid says by dealing with different clients, she had it in mind to think of more sustainable ways to support herself.

“I was always open to whatever opportunity that could come my way, and an opportunity surely came when I was inspired by one of the online clients that I was working for.

They had a really good business and after learning almost all the processes that they had, I just knew that I can do it too. So after a bit of preparation, I along with my partner, decided to adopt their idea and launch the online company: Adalid Gear,” she says.

“Today, I am no longer working for anyone else… I am now working for myself, and the way I see it, I have truly secured my own future. I have built my own dream, and you can do it too,” she says.

She says her traveling lifestyle truly helped in her entrepreneurial journey, as she is constantly encountering not only new experiences but new people who are also building their dreams with their own abilities.

“All those things really helped push me into aspiring for my own. But above all, I think that what this ultimately boils down to is the thought that for as long as you abandon conventions and embrace fear as you go after your true passion in life, great things will always happen. It can be a fast process, though most of the time it can be slow; but like everything else, it’s not a race but a journey and you are going to enjoy it!” she says.

Adalid is currently traveling around Europe. She was featured and mentioned in articles published by Lonely Planet, the Department of Tourism in the Philippines, Travel Pulse, Kansas News and other media outlets.

Roderick T. dela Cruz

B4

world

obama-castro talks on as us, cuba set to bury decades of animosity

Hours after shaking hands, us President Barack obama and Cuban leader raul Castro head into historic talks in Panama on saturday in their efforts to bury decades of animosity.

Taking their bid to restore diplomatic ties to a new level, Obama and Castro will have a discussion on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in Panama City, according to US officials.

The two leaders already said hello late Friday, greeting each other and shaking hands—a gesture rich in symbolism —as UN chief Ban Ki-moon and other leaders looked

on, before the 35-nation summit’s inauguration.

They shook hands only once before, at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service in 2013.

The face-to-face talks will be the climax of their surprise announcement on December 17 that, after 18 months of secret negotiations, they would seek to normalize relations between the United States

and Cuba that broke off in 1961.

The last time US and Cuban leaders met was in 1956, three years before Fidel Castro came to power.

“We’re in new territory here,” said senior Obama advisor Ben Rhodes, referring to the flurry of diplomacy that included Thursday the first meeting between US and Cuban foreign ministers since 1958.

“This is not just about two leaders sitting down together,” he said, citing Obama’s decision to ease trade and travel restrictions with communist Cuba.

“It’s about fundamentally changing how the United States engages Cuba—its government,

its people, its civil society.”

Terror list hurdle The format of the meeting has yet to be confirmed, but Rhodes said the two leaders would likely talk about the negotiations to restore diplomatic ties as well as lingering disagreements.

“As we move toward the process of normalization, we’ll have our differences, government to government, with Cuba on many issues,” Obama told a regional civil society forum on Friday. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Cuba has demanded to be removed from a US list of state sponsors of terrorism before em-

bassies can reopen, noting that this has blocked the country’s access to bank credit.

The White House indicated that Obama was not yet ready to decide whether to remove Havana from the blacklist, but that it could not rule out an announcement in Panama.

“The potential removal from the list will represent the current US-Cuba relationship becoming more pragmatic,” said Diego MoyaOcampos, Americas analyst at US consultancy IHS Country Risk.

“This is a limited but significant step,” he said. “But overall engagement will still be limited by the US embargo.” AFP

gay french envoy sparks row

THRee months after appointing an openly gay diplomat as France’s ambassador to the Vatican, Paris is still waiting for the green light from Rome.

With Pope Francis entering his third year in the post, some activists see the Vatican’s silence as a test of the depth of reform in the Catholic Church.

While the Vatican usually declares it has accepted a candidate around a month after an appointment is made, it makes no public statements at all if the answer is no.

Paris appears determined to stick with seasoned candidate Laurent Stefanini, a 55-year-old practising Catholic whom the foreign ministry described as “one of our best diplomats”.

“That’s why we appointed him. We are waiting for a reply to our request,” it said.

Sources close to President Francois Hollande said his appointment was “the wish of the president” and the cabinet of ministers.

The French cabinet approved Stefanini’s appointment on January 5 but has not yet received a reply.

“A delay of three months like this is not normal,” a well-informed source in Rome told AFP. “The reply normally doesn’t take more than a month, a month and a half,” this source added.

If there is a refusal, “the Vatican doesn’t reply, doesn’t offer an explanation and it’s up to the country concerned to interpret this lack of a reply.” AFP

panama’s president Juan carlos varela (right) shakes hands with us president barack obama during a bilateral meeting in the framework of the vii americas summit, at a hotel in panama city on april 10, 2015. us president barack obama and cuba’s raul castro will break bread with other americas leaders at a historic summit friday, a potent symbol of their efforts to end decades of animosity. AFP

hillary clinton to launch white house bid

new york, ny -- (left to right) first lady of new york city chirlane Mccray, former secretary of state hillary clinton and deputy Mayor of new york city richard buery attend a round table conversation and press conference announcing a childhood development initiative with on april 1, 2015 in new york city. the initiative is between new york city children’s cabinet and too small to fail. AFP

HILLARy Clinton is poised to officially launch her 2016 presidential campaign this weekend, setting the stage for a bruising election battle as she bids to become the first woman elected to the White House.

Several US media reports citing sources in Clinton’s campaign team said the 67-year-old was likely to announce her candidacy for the Democratic nomination on Sunday.

The former first lady is expected to be the clear Democratic frontrunner in the race to succeed Barack Obama, who pipped her for the nomination in a protracted battle in 2008.

Clinton is expected to announce her candidacy via social media and a video message, several reports said, followed by a low-key campaign swing through key state Iowa.

Spokespeople for Clinton and the Ready for Hillary organization did

not comment.

The wife of former president Bill Clinton leads opinion polls among Democrats, some 60 percent of whom say they would vote for her in the primaries, according to the website RealClearPolitics.

Two other potential candidates— Senator elizabeth Warren and Vice President Joe Biden—have not yet said they intend to run.

On the Republican side, Senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz have already thrown their hats into the ring, with more candidates likely to follow—including Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, brother to president George W. Bush and son of president George H.W. Bush.

A series of polls this year have consistently placed Clinton ahead of every one of her potential Republican challengers, although the gap has narrowed in recent weeks. AFP

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WORLD

ArMAN ArMErO EDITOR

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

red cross plane flies more aid into yemen A RED Cross plane loaded with medical aid landed in Sanaa on Saturday, the second successive day of such deliveries to the capital of conflict-hit Yemen, a spokeswoman said.

The aircraft was carrying supplies the International Committee of the Red Cross says are urgently needed to treat the wounded after intense fighting between Shiite rebels and loyalists of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

“The new cargo is 35.6 tonnes, of which 32 tonnes is medical aid and the rest water purifying equipment, electric power generators and tents,” said ICRC spokeswoman Marie Claire Feghali.

The ICRC and UN each sent planes to Sanaa on Friday carrying 16 tonnes of medicine and equipment, the first aid supplies to reach the capital since a Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes against the rebels late last month.

The United Nations has since called for a daily “humanitarian pause” of a few hours required to deliver aid shipments to the conflict-ravaged country.

On Wednesday two humanitarian aid boats arrived in the main southern city of Aden carrying supplies and personnel destined for people trapped by and wounded in ongoing battles.

The Iran-backed Huthi Shiite rebels have seized swathes of territory in Yemen since they entered Sanaa last September, forcing the government to flee.

Yemen has slid deeper into turmoil since the Saudi-led air campaign began on March 26 to push back the rebels’ advance after they forced President Hadi to flee the Arabian Peninsula country. AFP

B5

(from left) chinese s hailong Wu, french foreign minister laurent fabius, german foreign minister frank Walter steinmeier, european union high representative federica mogherini, iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif, russian deputy political director alexey Karpov, British foreign secretary Philip Hammond and US Secretary of State John Kerry arrive the Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne after Iran nuclear program talks finished with extended sessions april 2, 2015 in lausanne, switzerland. AFP

US downplayS iran’S warning on nUke deal The White house on Friday played down warnings

by Iran’s leaders that they may not sign a final deal of a framework accord on their nuclear program with international negotiators.

“The test of whether or not that framework can be memorialized in a deal is not going to be a comment made... by a particular Iranian leader,” senior White House advisor Ben Rhodes said.

“The test is going to be whether at the end of June we have a document that is agreed to” and meets “our core objective, preventing

Iran from getting a nuclear weapon,” Rhodes told reporters on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in Panama.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final word on all matters of state, warned on Thursday that “what has been done so far does not guarantee an agreement, nor its contents, nor

even that the negotiations will continue.”

Separately, President Hassan Rouhani said Iran would not sign a final agreement unless “all economic sanctions are totally lifted on the same day.”

Rhodes reiterated that the sanctions relief would be a gradual process. He said Iran had reacted similarly following a joint action plan in 2013.

“We have been through this before, where the Iranians will want to highlight certain aspects for their own public. They have their

own hardliners who are skeptical of this deal,” he said.

On April 2, after months of grueling negotiations, Tehran and six world powers agreed on the broad outline of a deal to impose tighter controls on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting economic sanctions.

The P5+1 powers and Tehran have given themselves until June to finalize a detailed accord, but Washington has released fact sheets outlining steps it says Tehran has already agreed to take. AFP

Kerry urges china to free five detained feminists

united states secretary of state John Kerry gestures during a press conference in panama city on april 09, 2015. us secretary of state John Kerry arrived in panama hours before obama and was expected to meet with cuban foreign minister Bruno rodriguez, which would mark the highest-level talks in decades. AFP

US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Beijing on Friday to immediately release five feminists who were detained ahead of International Women’s Day. The arrests last month appeared to be an effort by China to head off public protest linked to the March 8 holiday.

Li Tingting, a young activist known for staging demonstrations in men’s lavatories to call for an increase in the number of public toilets for women, was taken from her home in Beijing on March 7, according to her lawyer Yan Xin. “Each and every one of us has the right to speak out against sexual harassment and the many other injustices that millions of women and girls suffer around the world each and every day,” Kerry said in a statement.

“We strongly support the efforts of these activists to make progress on these challenging issues, and

we believe that Chinese authorities should also support them, not silence them.”

Li, who goes by the pseudonym Li Maizi, organized protests in Beijing and the southern metropolis of Guangzhou three years ago in which she and other women “occupied” men’s toilets. She frequently spoke out for gender equality.

Another Chinese activist had said that Li was planning to hold a demonstration to protest sexual harassment of women aboard public transportation before she was arrested.

Feminist campaigner Zheng Churan was also taken away from her home in Guangzhou.

The other three women were named as Wu Rongrong, Wei Tingting and Wang Man. The United State regularly criticizes China’s record on human rights and political and religious freedom. AFP

B6

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SPORTS

REUEL VIDAL EDITOR

sports@thestandard.com.ph

LOCAL JIUJITSU

FIGHTERS TAKE FATE INTO OWN HANDS

Aldo Vergel De Dios (left) crosses his feet as he tries to lock a rear mount on his opponent. De Dios joins a group of local Brazilian Jiujitsu fighters who will fly to Long Beach, California on May 27 to compete in the world championships of Brazilian Jiujitsu to be held at the California State University.

JR Rulloda (left) faces off against a much larger opponent in an open weight match. Rulloda joins a group of local Brazilian Jiujitsu fighters who will fly to Long Beach, California on May 27 to compete in the world championships of Brazilian Jiujitsu to be held at the California State University.

posure to winning a championship in competitive martial arts and served as a turning point when he decided to dedicate his life to competing. Since then, OCAL Brazilian Jiujitsu fight- he focused all of his training and effort on Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and has won several championships in the ers, who will represent the coun- national scene at various belt levels.

The public may help fund his trip to the world try in the coming World Jiujitsu championships through contributions by visitChampionship, are not about to let a ing the Website http://makeachamp.com/aldolittle thing like absence of government vergeldedios.

Ramirez is a 24-year-old Judo black belt and BJJ blue belt of John Baylon Clube De Jiu Jitsu. She startsupport stop them from competing. ed judo at 15. She was invited to join the Philippine National Judo Team where she met her Judo/BJJ They are fighters after all and they plan to fly Coach John Baylon. Ramirez has been dominating to Long Beach, California on May 27 to com- national and regional competitions in both Judo and pete in the world championships of Brazilian BJJ since. Last year, she won gold in the Asian Beach Jiujitsu to be held at the California State Uni- Games for Jiujitsu. versity no matter what.

The public may help fund her trip to the world The fighters include Meggie Ochoa, Eros Bal- championships through contributions by visiting uyot, Aldo Vergel de Dios, JR Rulloda and Annie the Website http://makeachamp.com/annieramirez.

Ramirez. They will rely on Rulloda is a 25-year-old crowdfunding to finance their blue belt from team DEFTAC. campaign for the 2015 world Being a sports enthusiast championships. since childhood, he took inOchoa is a 24-year-old Braterest in Brazilian Jiujitsu zilian Jiujitsu blue belt from when he chanced upon a reTeam Atos Philippines. Her cruitment poster in his colgoal is to become a world lege days at DLSU. He gave it champion at every belt level. a shot in 2008 and fell in love Aside from BJJ, she also runs with the sport instantly. Since prooPH inc, a startup aiming then, Rulloda has been conto show proof of Philippine sistently competing and wingreatness through tourism. ning championships nationLast year, she began a shared ally against competitors from journey through crowdthe country and the region. funding and earned the gold The public may help fund his medal as a white belt in the trip to the world championships IBJJF (International Brazilthrough contributions by visitian Jiujitsu Federation) World ing the Website http://makeachChampionships 2014. She amp.com/theinfamous. was then promoted to blue Although these five athbelt and last November won letes belong to different teams, the gold medal in the Asian Meggie Ochoa (right) tries to put on when it comes to international Open in Nagoya, Japan. competitions, they all aim to her kimono jacket, which was ripped The public may help fund her off during intense action in her match. show the world what Filipinos trip to the world championships are capable of, and hope to through contributions by visiting the Website http:// bring pride back glory to our Motherland. makeachamp.com/meggieochoa.

Brazilian Jiujitsu is a martial art that focuses on Baluyot is a purple belt from Team Atos Phil- grappling and ground fighting. It was formed from ippines. Being a full-time athlete, his goal is to Kodokan Judo ground fighting fundamentals that win gold medals in international competitions at were taught to Carlos Gracie and Luiz França by every belt level. He’s won gold in the IBJJF World Mitsuyo Maeda and Soshihiro Satake. Brazilian Championships as a white belt and as a blue belt Jiujitsu eventually came to be its own art. and placed in the Pan American Championships It promotes the concept that a smaller, weaker and the Abu Dhabi World Pro and other interna- person can successfully defeat a bigger, stronger tional competitions. opponent by using proper technique, leverage, The public may help fund his trip to the world and most notably, taking the fight to the ground, championships through contributions by visiting and then applying joint-locks and chokeholds to the Website https://www.rallyme.com/rallies/1549. defeat the opponent.

De Dios is a Purple belt from Team Atos PhilipMore than any other combat sport it is especially pines who’s been training in BJJ since 2005. In 2008, appropriate for Filipinos who may be short on stathe won gold and the MVP award at the UAAP Judo ure, musculature and strength but not on courage, Juniors Tournament. That gave him his first ex- determination and technique.

By Raymond Pedracio

Republic of the Philippines

DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE Roxas Boulevard Corner Pablo Ocampo, Sr. Street Manila 1004

INVITATION TO BID FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF DOF ROOF DECK CANTEEN ITB No. 2015-2-I 1.

The Department of Finance (DOF), through the General Appropriations Act for CY 2015, intends to apply the sum of SEVEN MILLION FIVE HUNDRED SEVENTY SEVEN THOUSAND FIFTY PESOS (Php 7,577,050.00) being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for the Construction of DOF Roof Deck Canteen. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

2.

The DOF, through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), now invites Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) registered contractors to apply for eligibility and to bid for the bids for the Construction of DOF Roof Deck Canteen. Completion of the Works is sixty (60) calendar days.

Bidders with valid PCAB License: Small B License Category C and D should have completed a contract similar to the Project which is equivalent to fifty percent (50%) of the ABC. 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 non-discretionary “pass/ fail” criterion as specified in the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least seventy five percent (75%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines.

4.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the BAC Secretariat and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during office hours.

5.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on April 12, 2015 up to May 4, 2015 8:45 AM from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount of Ten Thousand Pesos (Php 10,000.00).

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the DOF website, provided that bidders shall pay the fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

6.

The DOF will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on April 20, 2015, 11:00 a.m. at the DFG Conference Room, which shall be open only to all interested parties who have purchased the Bidding Documents.

7.

Bids must be delivered to the BAC Secretariat, General Services Division 7th Floor EDPC Building, BSP Complex P. Ocampo Sr., Street corner Roxas Boulevard, Manila on or before May 4, 2015 at 8:45 a.m. 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 on May 4, 2015, 10:00 a.m. at the DFG Conference Room, 4th Floor, DOF Building. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidder’s representatives who choose to attend at the address below. “LATE BIDS SHALL NOT BE ACCEPTED.”

8.

The schedule of bidding activities are as follows: ACTIVITIES

9.

10.

SCHEDULE

Advertisement/Posting of Invitation to Bid

April 12, 2015

Issuance and Availability of Bid Documents

April 12, 2015

Pre-Bid Conference

April 20, 2015, 11:00 a.m.

Request for Clarification

April 24, 2015 (thru Email)

Issuance of Supplemental Bid Bulletin

April 27, 2015

Deadline for Submission of Bids

May 4, 2015, 8:45 a.m.

Opening of Bids

May 4, 2015, 10:00 a.m.

The DOF 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.

For further information, please refer to: Lilia R. Tan, Head- BAC Secretariat Department of Finance BAC Secretariat, General Services Division 7th Floor EDPC Building, BSP Complex P. Ocampo Sr., Street corner Roxas Boulevard, Manila Telephone N.: 526-8475 Telefax No.: 525-4227 Email Address: ltan@dof.gov.ph/rudrez928@gmail.com (SGD.) GIL S. BELTRAN Undersecretary and DOF-BAC Chairman

(TS-APR. 12, 2015)

L

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SPORTS

ARMAN ARMERO EDITOR

sports@thestandard.com.ph

B7

By Jim SLATER

J

ORDAN Spieth completed the greatest 36hole start in Masters history Friday, firing a six-under par 66 at Augusta National that matched him for the lowest halfway total in any major.

The 21-year-old American stood on 14-under 130 after two rounds, a bogey-free Friday giving Spieth a Masters midpoint record-matching five-stroke lead over compatriot Charley Hoffman.

“Any time you can set a record here is pretty awesome,” Spieth said. “I’m really excited about how I played.”

Fourth-ranked Spieth broke the Masters 36-hole low of 13-under 131 set by Ray Floyd in 1976 and nearly broke the low two-round major start of 130.

Spieth missed a seven-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole that would have put him on 129, settling for par to join the 130 group that includes England’s Nick Faldo from the 1992 British Open at Muirfield, American Brandt Snedeker from the 2002 British Open at Lytham and German Martin Kaymer at the 2014 US Open at Pinehurst.

“Didn’t know what any of these scores meant in history or anything like that,” Spieth said. “I just knew I had a good look at birdie and had a good read on it, and it was just barely off.”

Spieth, seeking his first major title after a runner-up Masters debut last year, shared the biggest 36-hole lead mark with Floyd in 1976, Jack Nicklaus in 1975 and Herman Keiser in 1946, after Hoffman closed a round of 68 with his lone bogey.

“I’m happy with the way I played,” Hoffman said. “I was going for a bogey-free round and unfortunately I didn’t close it out.”

Spieth pitched from 50 feet to inches from the cup to set up a birdie at the par-five second, sank an 18-foot birdie putt at the fifth and birdied eight after finding a

TIGER-ESQUE SPIETH REWRITES MASTERS RECORD BOOK

Jordan Spieth of the US waves to patrons at the 18th hole during Round 2 of the 79th Masters Golf Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 10, 2015, in Augusta, Georgia. Below, Spieth and his caddie Michael Grellerline up a putt on the 18th green during the second round. AFP

fairway bunker. Spieth made an 18-foot birdie putt at 10 and sank eight-footers for birdie at the par-5 13th and 15th.

Spieth’s 36-hole domination, with 15 birdies against one bogey, evoked memories of Tiger Woods’ record-setting 1997 Masters romp for his first major title. Woods will remain the youngest Masters champion by about five months even if Spieth wins this year.

“There’s a pretty big separation right there,” Woods said.

“He has played beautifully.”

The record 36-hole Masters comeback to win is eight strokes

by Jack Burke in 1956 but there are only five rivals to Spieth in that range, Hoffman plus American Dustin Johnson and England’s Justin Rose and Paul Casey on 137 and treble Masters winner

Phil Mickelson on 138.

Johnson fired a 67 that included a Masters one-round record of three eagles, coming at the second, eighth and 15th par-five holes.

“I made a lot of great shots and then holed some putts,” Johnson said.

World number one Rory McIlroy and Woods, a 14-time major champion back after a two-month layoff to work on his game, were on 142, sharing 19th and 12 adrift.

“I’m very proud of what I’ve done, to be able to dig it out the way I have,” Woods said after shooting 69.

Woods, 39, has not won a Masters since 2005, has not won a major since the 2008 US Open and has not won any title since the 2013 WGC at Firestone.

McIlroy, 25, was expected to battle for a third major win in a row that would complete his career Grand Slam, but he flirted with the cut line before a fiveunder back nine put him on 71.

“I’m really proud of myself the way I fought back,” McIlroy said.

Spieth, the hottest player in golf over the past month, won his second US PGA title at the Valspar Championship last month, then took second at the Texas Open and Houston Open and opened with a 64 Thursday to become the youngest firstround leader in Masters history.

Before green jacket fittings start, however, Spieth needs to close out the victory, something he could not do last year after leading Sunday on the front nine. AFP

HAMILTON SNATCHES POLE FOR MERCEDES IN CHINA WORLD champion Lewis Hamilton roared to pole position in Saturday’s qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, just pipping Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who stunned the Silver Arrows to win in Malaysia two weeks ago, will start from third on the grid for Sunday’s race alongside the Williams of Felipe Massa.

Hamilton, who won in Shanghai for the third time last year, clocked the quickest time of one minute, 35.782 seconds to maintain his perfect qualifying record at the season’s first three races.

“We have a tough race ahead of us,” Hamilton told reporters. “The Ferraris are strong on long-run pace so it’s not over by any means.”

Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team’s British driver Lewis Hamilton takes his car in for a pit-stop during the qualifying session of the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai on April 11, 2015. AFP

Rosberg lapped just four hundredths slower than the Briton, and when informed he had just missed out on pole, he yelled over the radio: “Oh come on, guys!”

Clearly irritated, the German shook hands with countryman Vettel but blanked Hamilton as the top three posed for photographs in the pit lane.

“The lap is never 100 percent perfect, but four hundredths is the blink of an eye so that’s even more annoying,” fumed Rosberg.

“It was very, very close but I think I’ve still got a decent chance tomorrow.”

Hamilton has dominated all weekend, his only real discomfort coming from an overheating cockpit on Saturday, but Rosberg’s pace should make for an absorbing battle in China between the two Mercedes, who feuded bitterly last season.

Vettel clocked 1:36.687 ahead of Massa and the second Williams of Valtteri

Bottas as Ferrari failed to get both cars on the second row, Kimi Raikkonen only sixth fastest in smoggy conditions.

“We knew it would be tough in qualifying to be really, really close,” said Vettel.

“But we are fairly happy to be right behind them. Obviously we want to close the gap tomorrow but for now we can be reasonably happy.”

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Romain Grosjean’s Lotus were next and the Saubers of Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top 10.

However, there was more disappointment for McLaren as Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso languished back on the ninth row, 17th and 18th respectively.

Alonso, who ground to a halt in the morning’s practice with smoke pouring from his car, stormed past mechanics and into the garage after his latest setback, while McLaren boss Ron Dennis stared grimly at his pit screen. AFP

B8

SUNDAY: ApRil 12, 2015

Riera U. Mallari EDITOR

SportS sports@thestandard.com.ph

Megan Nelson (inset, in a Brent uniform) plays touch football with in a recent match with her Brent International school teammates. The 16-year old athlete has been picked as part of the national team that will represent the country in the Touch Football World Cup scheduled in August in Australia.

MEGAN NElsoN

YOU cAN’T TOUch hER

By Arman D. Armero

What’s fast, very athletic and oh-so-pretty?

Megan poses for the camera during a break at the PSA Forum last week, where she and her teammates were guests. SONNY ESPIRITU

In the world of athletics, several female athletes come to mind, including former track star and 3-time gold medalist Gail Devers of the United States, long distance runner Joanne Fenn of the UK and sprinter Christine Aaron, the world’s fourth fastest female sprinter, among others.

They are fast, very athletic, and very easy on the eyes.

You can include Fil-American Megan Nelson on that list.

Megan isn’t a track star, although she did try the sport for a while.

But she was into other sports such as softball and volleyball as an athlete for Brent International School. As if playing these equally-grueling sports weren’t enough, Megan is now into touch football, and has become so good at it that its local federation, the Touch Football Pilipinas, has picked her to join the team that would see action in the World Cup in Australia in August.

(According to wikipedia, touch football or touch rugby, is a variant of American football in which the basic rules are similar to those of the mainstream game (called “tackle football” for contrast), but instead of tackling players to the ground, the person carrying the ball need only be touched by a member of the opposite team to end a down).

Only 16 years old and quite tall and athletic for her age, Megan’s said that her biggest asset is her speed.

“I’m quite fast. And my coaches think that I improved a lot since joining the team, said Megan, the youngest of four children of an American and a Pinay from Angeles, Pampanga.

As one of two wingers (a winger is a player who is positioned in either the extreme right or extreme left, a term used for football) for the team, Megan needed to be quick on her feet, because she is relied to carry the ball and escape being “touched” to be able to score.

Megan said that even at a very young age, she was quite athletic, perhaps because her older siblings were into some sports or another.

“I grew up very athletic because

my brothers and sisters were also into sports,” she said.

Megan also grew into a charming young lady – a heady mix of athleticism and femininity, the kind of beauty fit for a magazine cover, the fashion ramp, or even the movies.

But Megan shrugged off suggestions that she could be in either of those, saying that her focus at the moment is to excel in her new sport.

As for the constant attention that she would get now that she has become more visible as part of the national team, Megan thinks that she’ll be able to handle it.

“It’s okay. I don’t really mind. I’ll get used to it,” she said.

What Megan minds at the moment is the preparation and her first stint as a touch football player in the world stage, starting with the team’s stint in Australia.

“It’s going to be very tough and hard. I feel a little nervous but also very excited,” Megan said.

But with her quick feet and athleticism, Megan should do well in Australia in scoring big for Philippine touch football.

Touch her if you can.

S U N D AY : A P R I L 1 2 : 2 0 1 5

C1

BAMBINA OLIVARES WISE EDITOR

g l w e e ke n d @ g m a i l . c o m

LIFE

From Dumaguete to Siquijor

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Long a favorite of students, Dumaguete made it big in 2014, when it ranked 5th in the list of best places in the world to retire, according to Forbes magazine.

The City of Gentle People, though, is more known as a university town. But just because school’s out, doesn’t mean that this bayside city is dead. If you find yourself in Dumaguete, make sure you’ve got an appetite, because good food is pretty much a given in this picturesque Visayan city. Continued on C2

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C2

LIFE

BAMBINA OLIVARES WISE E D I TOR

glweekend @ gmail.com

THE GATEWAY TO THE GETAWAY From C1

Dumaguete is usually the first stop to Siquijor as flights from Manila, Cebu and Davao land here. This university town, known for Silliman University, now has a wide range of cafés, eateries and restaurants to choose from. We’d pick any place, for example, along Rizal Boulevard, which is lined with a row of majestic old-growth Acacia trees and has a soothing view of the sea.

In a perfect world, Manila’s Roxas Boulevard would’ve looked, and felt, like this. And yes, there are no fast food chains on Rizal Boulevard. We’re hoping it stays that way.

But, there are places all over this small city, like the very famous Sans Rival House, which was a garage bakeshop back in 1977, became a little café on #3 San Jose Street, and had since expanded into a huge bistro and bar right on Rizal Boulevard with two dining areas: indoors, which has both ala carte and cafeteria-style dining; and al fresco, where the bar is.

Already iconic in Dumaguete, thanks to their famous Silvanas – a frozen cookie of butter cream, meringue, and wafers – we won’t even write about them here. Yet, the locals believe that you haven’t been to Dumaguete if you haven’t gone to Sans Rival House.

Sans Rival House

Crispy, buttery silvanas. PHOTO FROM (@DSILVANAS)

RIZAL BOULEVARD

If you want to eat where the locals do, just head toward the left-most end of Rizal Boulevard, if you’re facing the sea, and you’ll find a section of stalls serving Dumaguete-style street food.

Located right across Silliman University’s Centennial House, the temporary dining spot, complete with low tables and chairs, are set up before sunset. Local favorites include balot, or boiled duck embryo, and penoy, or unfertilized duck egg, with vinegar.

The most popular food served here, though, is tempura, which, in this particular part of Dumaguete, simply means that everything everything is deep-fried in, or without, batter. Tempura fish balls, squid rolls, and kikiam skewers are all the rage.

They all taste as good as anything deepfried. They don’t call this section Tempura Lane for nothing.

Prices are the same in all the stalls, so it’s simply a race to get the best table.

THE COASTAL TOUR Strangely, it’s his tattoo that you first see, a picture of the crucified Christ, on his calf.

It’s odd, because the last thing one could ever do upon arriving at Siquijor island is to look down.

The stunning cleanliness of the port, and the beautiful white sand beach beside it, provides a visual lock, a pleasant state of temporary blindness that would only be broken by, well, a horde of drivers hawking their transport services.

It used to be far worse.

Drivers used to run toward the ferries to find passengers, until the government provided some form of control. They are now barred from entering the port area, overcharging (there’s now one fixed rate for all), and not wearing their ID. The provincial tourism office, in fact, plans to further screen the drivers to weed out the not-sogood ones.

Aipee Dongon, 31, the driver with the crucified Christ tattoo, was part of that change.

Coastal promenade

“We saw how difficult it was for tourists who come here to have to deal with the drivers, so we asked the provincial tourism office to lay down some rules. The good thing is, they listened. I’ve been a tour guide for 12 years,” he said, though Dongon is definitely more than that. He is driver, tour guide, and concierge all rolled into one.

As a driver, Dongon rules Siquijor’s 75km of glorious road, passing by 6 towns, some with stunning views of the coast. A stop at Tignaw, for example, which is a part of the town of Lazi, allows you to see part of the island that looks like a crocodile getting into the water.

“Not many drivers know of this point,” he boasted.

The point was named, unimaginably, Crocodile View.

For those who fear motorbikes, Dongon hardly goes beyond 50 kph.

As a tour guide, he not only provides historic information of the sites, he also weaves in his own experiences of his life on the island.

He knows everything about Lugnason Falls, for example, which isn’t on the regular Siquijor tourist map. He can take you there, guide you through a dirt path, and tell you that it was discovered only in 2012, that the one who keeps the place clean is also the head of the barangay, and that he used to work as a bartender.

He can talk about the Cang-alwang airport, which is waiting for a massive facelift,

and how Siquijor remains easily accessible from Tagbilaran in Bohol, or from nearby Dumaguete, which takes all of 45 minutes courtesy of two companies: the Delta Fast Ferry and Weesam Fast Ferry. There is also the much bigger Montenegro Lines a.k.a. the RORO (roll-on, roll-off). He knows when to take them, when they leave, and even who to text as far as tickets are concerned.

He’ll warn you that by 6pm it’ll be hard to find tricycles on the island; and that by the time teleseryes finish by 9pm, it’ll be lights out for many households.

As a concierge, he can get you massage therapists, tattoo artists, and even the occasional healer, if necessary. Dongon is a staunch believer in the healing arts, a collection of practices based on natural, metaphysical and spiritual energies, having experienced what it was like to be cursed and healed.

He knows where to get the best lechon manok in the town of Lazi or the best pizza on the island, which is in the recentlyopened Baja Bar in Meite. The Siquijor Island Pizza, for example, which is served in 8, 12 or 16 inched-sizes, is a mozzarellagooey, thin-crusted mix of crabmeat, baby shrimp, sea urchin, tuna flakes, onions, olives, bell peppers, and parsley.

He is a wellspring of information.

Since 1996, tourism in Siquijor has been on the increase. Barangay Solangon has mostly foreign-owned beachside resorts.

Dongon knows when some of them opened.

The Dilaab Festival, held yearly on October, got its name from dilaab, or firefly in the native dialect, Bisaya, a reference to the name the Spanish gave Siquijor, Isla del Fuego, because of its resident fireflies. To see the fireflies today, you can visit their sanctuary at the Ambileca Resort in Barangay Meiti.

There are arbularyo, or medicine men, in the mountains of Barangay San Antonio, where 3 families of healers live. The healing art is handed down for generations.

Coco Grove, the island’s biggest and most popular resort, which has 3 swimming pools, was constructing an annex for more rooms.

Dongon can go on and on, answering every question you ask, from estimating shorelines to historic dates. His reviews of fellow drivers, resorts and tourist sites rival that of TripAdvisor. His knowledge of his home island is encyclopedic.

“Of course, I wish that more tourists come to Siquijor, so we can earn a living,” he says, narrating how he had to really save money before the monsoon, low-season from June to September. Having to care for his mother, a senior citizen, takes its toll on his finances. “But never at the expense of this island. We have a healthy respect for nature, for the environment, because that’s what we have, that’s what tourists want to see. I wish that it remains this way.”

The tour guide with the Christ tattoo deserves to have a seat in the provincial tourism office.

SUNDAY : APRIL 12 : 2015

LIFE

BAMBINA OLIVARES WISE E D I TOR

glweekend @ gmail.com

C3

THE TRUTH ABOUT SIQUIJOR

BY TROY BERNARDO / TSS

E

verything you’ve heard about Siquijor is true.

What Filipinos used to fear about the island -- its curses, hexes, and spells, either given directly or delivered through the wind; with fast-acting effects or a delayed, 6-day time-release -are all real.

The fear is legitimate. One of the spells, barang in particular, which is a Visayan term for malicious sorcery, may involve an unexplained swelling of the belly, insects coming out of your mouth, or depending on your punishment level, both. The manifestations, however, aren’t limited to these. A sign to know that you’ve been healed is when you’ve coughed up black phlegm.

This is probably why the country’s spellgivers were exiled to Siquijor by the Spanish friars – Catholics, quite a sinful lot, are taught to fear punishment. Fear of the barang, because this form of sorcery can be felt and seen, packs more of a wallop than that of, say, eternal damnation, which is a concept at best.

It’s probably no coincidence that The Parish Church of San Isidro Labrador in the town of Lazi, which was declared a National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum, is the oldest in Siquijor, while the Lazi Convent across it is the oldest and biggest in Asia. Unable to strike fear in the hearts of Siquijor’s mystic residents, The

Spanish colonizers didn’t want to take any chances when it comes to people with enviable spell-giving skill sets.

Still, we have the friars’ collective fear to thank. Both the church and the convent, which were built from indigenous coral rock back in the late 1800s, still have their molave floors intact, making these sites worth the visit.

Contrary to popular belief, however, the esoteric arts aren’t an island-wide practice.

These usually happen only in a small village, performed by only one family, and only during full moons. And, the cure can be as simple as downing a cup of special herbs.

“This is why Filipinos fear Siquijor,” said Aipee Dongon, 31, a tour guide who has seen people come to his island to find a cure for various illnesses -- real, medical and imagined. “There is some truth to what they hear, but they don’t know the entire story.”

Dongon himself has experienced one of the simpler effects of a hex: nausea, vomiting and a general weakening of the body. For unknown reasons, the family responsible for performing it on him spotted him as he DJ’d for a party in the mountains back when he was 17. Apparently, these gifted families attend town fiestas, where they can practice their skills on random targets, unnoticed.

“I haven’t heard about these things in a long time,” he said. The most recent inci-

dent he had heard about may have been in 2005. Again, it happened in the mountains, done by one family, and the moon was full.

THE FOLK HEALING FESTIVAL

The presence of Catholicism hasn’t stopped the esoteric arts in Siquijor. It may have, in fact, thrived. Unable to take these centuries-old practices away, the local government decided to capitalize on it to attract tourists.

It worked. As early as 1996, tourism in Siquijor began to grow. By 2012, thousands of people would flock to the island province to attend the Folk Healing Festival, where the country’s healers, magicians, shamans and witches of all preferences, gather together to create potions, recharge their healing powers, and perform ritual cures all under the church-approved label: healing.

Healing, aside from talking to the dead and providing spiritual counsel, is one of the most important roles of the country’s ancient shamans, the babaylan.

Today’s version of the babaylan, the mananambals or folk healers, head for the mountains in Cantabon, San Antonio, the dead caves of Ponong, and Cangmatnog, where cameras aren’t allowed -- on Good Friday and Black Saturday, believing that this time of mourning for Catholics, is the best time to harness the metaphysical en-

CANDANAY SUR

(NOT YOUR)

Even this raw, overused beach just outside the Siquijor Power Plant in Candanay Sur, boasts fine white sand, a beautiful shoreline and clear waters. It has, in fact, one of the best beaches to swim in. But, as it is popular with the locals, you’ll have to contend with huts, people, the food they bring, parked motorized bankas and hanging fisherman’s nets. Forget about going there on weekends. And, if you head there on weekdays, the shore may still busy with fishermen.

This isn’t a beach to unwind, relax or sunbathe, but it’s still worth a visit.

BASIC BEACH Some of the country’s best beaches can be found in Siquijor, and we’re hoping that the big hotel chains and real estate developers don’t discover them, ever.

White sand beaches, coves, and even tinier shoreline pockets can be found in the towns of Siquijor, San Juan, Lazi, Maria, Larena and Enrique Villanueva, all reachable by motorbike a.k.a., if it’s used as public transport, habal-habal.

SIQUIJOR BEACH

Even Siquijor Beach, which is right beside the busy pier, has white sand and beautiful, clear waters. It’s the island’s alluring, azure-and-emerald Welcome Mat, if you will, and it does its job so well that many travelers have ditched their clothes right at the port to dive straight into the sea. During the months of June and July, Siquijor Beach has the widest shoreline on the island.

SALAGDOONG BEACH

As for other public beaches, Salagdoong Beach is as public as it gets as it’s a favorite of locals. It, too, has white sand, blue and green water, and a couple of rock formations to jump off from. One rock rises 20 feet over the water, the other, 30. The water beneath both goes from 12 to 15 feet, so discretion is advised. A German tourist nearly broke her neck recently by landing incorrectly.

“I couldn’t breath,” said Neda Prikrylova, 32, a smoker who depends on yoga to make her stop. “The first time I jumped, it was great! The second time... I shouldn’t

ergies of beings, entities and supernatural forces present on earth.

“Whatever non-believers say, the cures of the mananambal are effective,” said Dongon. “I’ve experienced it myself.”

“One of the executives I know in Seattle goes to Siquijor every year to get healed,” said the CEO of a coffee enterprise in Manila. “He found his healer in the mountains, I forget where. But he makes it a point to make that annual trek. And, he’s not that young.”

Noel Torremocha, one of Siquijor’s more famous healers, is proud that a photograph of his father, healer Pedro “Endoy” Tumapon, cooking a potion in a huge cauldron, landed a full page on the Philippine Daily Inquirer back in April 2007.

“My father was 80 at that time,” said Noel. “I owe my healing powers to him. You can’t study healing. You can’t read about it.

You have to be chosen. The learning is experiential. Healing has to be a part of you.”

It wasn’t enough that one is given the opportunity to heal, how one responds to that call is just as crucial. To be a healer, it also takes a certain amount of bravery, courage, daring, and a willingness to face the unexpected and the unknown.

Apparently, similar attributes are required for those who want to visit Siquijor’s shores.

CANDANAY NORTE

have jumped a second time.”

But on weekdays, you can have this perfect little cove to yourself.

There are other beaches in Siquijor, and you don’t have to break a leg, or your wallet, to get to them.

PALITON BEACH

Paliton Beach is hard to find, but well worth the trip. To get there, take a right from the coastal road in the town of San Juan, if you’re coming from the port, then drive toward the beach. A sign pointing to the Paliton Barangay Hall as well as the Paliton Marine Sanctuary will lead you to the shoreline.

Once there, you’ll be confronted with a very public beach, a parking lot for motorized bankas and resting areas for fishermen. Don’t fret. Simply take a left, follow a narrow path, and you’ll see a sign that says: Private Property.

Hop over the fence and you’ll find this little cove.

Climb over some coral stone, and you’ll get to this cove.

Climb over some more coral stone, and you’ll get to this long stretch of beach.

The first cove is best for swimming. The

SCAN THIS ICON TO VIEW PHOTOS OF SIQUIJOR’S BEACHES

second, because of its shape, collects a lot of seaweed. The third, well, you share it with fishermen.

Enjoy this Private Property now before a decision over the land dispute between Coco Grove and an Australian couple is handed down.

SOLANGON BEACH

Stretching for around 4km, spanning Solangon to the town of San Juan, is the busiest of Siquijor’s beaches; because, that cove is home to some 15 resorts, private homes, and long-stay accommodation. Even if the places are fully-booked, like during December and the summer months, the beach never feels crowded. You could, in fact, have some parts all to yourself.

This is Solangon Beach in the height of the December tourist season.

Hotels may be booked solid – many had been out of rooms since last month – but you don’t quite feel the crowds on Solangon Beach.

Candanay Norte is worlds apart from its neighbor, even if they’re only separated by a cove. This 3-kilometer stretch of white beach is home to private beach houses, a public beach, and some exclusive beach resorts like Villamarmarine. Here you can walk, sunbathe and swim to your heart’s content.

At Villamarmarine, you can have your meal al fresco with an ocean view.

The view remains fantastic even during a storm.

KAGUSUAN BEACH

Deserted, secluded and underdeveloped, this beach is a must for adventurers looking for the perfect beach. Getting there can be difficult. It’s located in Minalulan, one of the farthest villages in Siquijor, and there are no road signs that point toward the beach. You’ll know when you’re on the right track when you find a tunnel of trees.

Following that path will get you to a cliff.

Take the concrete steps down, and voila, Kagusuan’s C-shaped shoreline will take your breath away.

A white, albeit rocky beach; beautiful azure waters; and, jagged rock formations that give this empty stretch a bit of mystery, makes Kagusuan a must-visit for any selfrespecting beach bum. Feel free to swim, snorkel and walk around sans clothing, and if you wish, camp overnight.

Kagusuan has trees that jut out into the shore, providing adequate shade, and hiding places as well to give you privacy

S U N D AY : A P R I L 1 2 : 2 0 1 5

C4

CAPILAY SPRING PARK

The town of San Juan has an enviable plaza: the Capilay Spring Park.

Located right in the town center, yes with a couple of provincial-scale intersections alongside it, Capilay Spring Park has 3 refreshing fresh water pools fed from underground springs.

It’s clean, public, free and big enough not to feel crowded.

Akin to having a natural swimming pool on, say, Ayala Avenue, Makati, we can only imagine the joy of having this water feature in the cities we live in.

LIFE

BAMBINA OLIVARES WISE EDITOR

g l w e e ke n d @ g m a i l . c o m

Having clean, running water in the center of town must do something to the entire island, because there’s near-zero crime here. Road accidents, which happen around 10 times in a year, can be blamed on a few drunk drivers, but mostly on crossing dogs and chickens.

Of course, San Juan only has a population of about 14,000, which is probably equal to just a couple of buildings in Makati; while the entire island has about 50,000 people, which is probably the number of employees in, well, Mall of Asia.

ENCHANTED BALETE TREE Smaller, and thus possibly a bit more crowded, is this natural Siquijor landmark: a 400-yearBalete Tree looming over a natural swimming pool filled with tiny fish. Yes, you can allow the tiny fish to nibble at your feet.

Located in Barangay Campalanas in Lazi, the source of this spring is located underneath the tree’s roots. A diver from Cebu, who was said to have entered the underground spring, mentioned that it had a depth of about 60 feet while

its width was as big as a house. There are also 3 big fish, which live there, though locals sometimes see them venture outside.

Balete Trees are believed to house elemental spirits and other supernatural beings. In Philippine mythology, creatures like the giant tobacco-smoking kapre; the half-horse, half-man tikbalang; as well as, elves, faeries, and nymphs all live in the Balete.

The tree changes its leaves twice a year.

LUGNASON FALLS

CAMBUGAHAY FALLS

Drive higher up the mountain from the balete tree and you will get to the Cambugahay Falls, a beautiful three-tier waterfall that can be accessed by going down around 135 steps, which you’ll have to climb up again when you leave. The effort, however, is worth it.

Each tier of the falls, some parts of which are also shaded by trees, has enough small pools to swim in.

The farthest tier usually has the least number of people, and is thus perfect for relaxing and swimming. It also has tiny, shallow pools to lay on.

The second tier also has a shallow pool, perfect for people who don’t know how to swim.

From the second tier, one can jump off a rock into the first tier, a 10-foot drop into about 15 feet of water. The first tier is the most popular for swimmers.

Undeveloped, protected by trees, and reachable only by a muddy, unmarked footpath, the Lugnason Falls in Brgy.

Napo, San Juan, is so quiet, so pristine, that it feels incredibly, deeply sacred. The place has retained so much of its sanctity that locals still believes that a butterfly welcomes chosen guests.

“If a butterfly lands on you, that means Mother Nature favors you,” said Aipee Dongon, 31, a tour guide for 12 years.

“You’re lucky. You’re blessed.”

He also chooses the people he wants to bring to Lugnason, usually only the ones who request for it. Benefiting from the absence of signs that lead to it, not even the expats, who live in Siquijor, know about Lugnason. Though some websites have mentioned the place, Lugnason isn’t on the Siquijor tourist map.

“You really feel Mother Nature here in Lugnason,” said Dongon. “Here, you are in touch with her.”

There are no facilities, just a few wooden benches and a makeshift hut to provide some sort of privacy for bathers who want to change -- made of rattan, you can actually see people through the cracks.

Going for a swim in the pool is said to not only clean up a person’s aura, but it also opens up to receiving blessings.

Really, that isn’t hard to believe.

SUNDAY : APRIL 12 : 2015

LIFE

BAMBINA OLIVARES WISE E D I TOR

SUMMER BREEZIN’

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SHOWBITZ

ISAH V. RED EDITOR

isahred @ gmail.com

BIGGEST K-POP

ICON SEARCH

A multi-million peso recording and management contract in Korea await the champion, and possibly another one from the top 10 finalists of the biggest K-Pop Icon Search (KISPINOY) that will kick off on April 22 at the Mall of Asia (MOA) Music Hall. A free concert by U-Kiss and Laboum will be part of the grand launch.

“We’ve always been amazed by the incredible pool of talents that can be found in the Philippines. All over the world, Filipinos are recognized for their passion in singing and performance. That’s why we’re here. We believe that a Filipino is the next K-Pop idol,” says Matthew Choi, KISPINOY founder and producer.

KISPINOY is a reality-based talent search that aims to discover young and talented Filipino K-Pop performers. To be shown on TV5, the aspiring contestants will battle it out on stage every week to win a coveted stature in the Asian and global music industry. YU&IQ International, Inc., in partnership with YU&IQ Korea and NH Media,

K-Pop search in the Philippines hopes to find talents that can be molded into K-Pop stars like (B-E) Kim Jeung Seo, La Boum, Lim Chang Jung and U Kiss

is the producer of the show. YU&IQ Korea (formerly Ryu’s Entertainment) is a major investor of KISPINOY. The company is the creator of award-winning film and television artists like Suh Young Hee and Lee Mun Sik. NH Media is a South Korean record label and entertainment agency that currently manages U-Kiss, Lim Chang Jung, The Ray, Kim Jeong Seo, and Laboum.

Expect some of Korea’s most prominent artists to be seen as guests and/or judges on the show. They will also mentor the contes-

tants who will eventually become the next K-Pop sensations from a world-class brand.

A three billion-dollar industry in South Korea, K-Pop was the main driver of the Korean Wave, spreading across Asia, to the West and other parts of the world. As described by Time magazine, K-Pop is South Korea’s greatest export, continuously experiencing double-digit growth in terms of revenues since the mid-2000s. In 2011 alone, it clocked in $3.5 billion in gross income.

Some of the K-Pop idols today have Filipino roots: Sandara Park of 2NE1, Cheon Dung of MBLAQ, and Alex Eusebio, former member of U-Kiss.

KISPINOY is open to all Filipinos ages 13 and up. Those interested can record their songs and dance performances in booths that will be set up in designated SM malls nationwide. These recordings will be sent to Korea for screening. The audition dates and venues are as follows: April 22, SM Mall of Asia; April 24-25, SM Pampanga; May 2-4, SM Southmall and SM Davao; May 6-9, SM CDO; May 8-10, SM Megamall; May 12-14, SM North EDSA; May 13-15, SM Cebu; and May 21-23, SM Dasmarinas and SM Bacolod.

EXCLUSIVE AUTOGRAPHED 1D SHIRTS

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nding March with a resounding bang was British boy band sensation, One Direction. The boy band visited the Philippines for their first-ever concert in the country. Known as 1D, the group wooed close to 50 thousand screaming fans even if Zayn Malik didn’t join the rest of the band on their way to Manila.

The two-day concert left fans elated, emotional, and wishing for more. In tribute to the band’s first performance

in the country, SM Lifestyle Entertainment, Inc. and MMI will be giving away free autographed T-shirts, with every single-receipt purchase of 1D World items worth P10,000.

The shirts bear signatures of all five members of the band, who had inked the special batch of souvenirs before traveling to Manila to continue “On the Road Again” concert tour.

Available in all 1D World Pop-up stores across the metro, the authentic signed shirts will give fans a chance

CROSSWORD PUZZLE 80 81 82 83 85 86 87 88 89

ANSWER FOR PREVIOUS PUZZLE ACROSS 1 Go back over 7 Cousteau invention 12 Bundle of grain 17 Nostalgic soft drink brand 21 Beehive 22 Poe’s middle name 23 Pitcher — Martinez 24 Lena of filmdom 25 Minor accident 26 Skeptically (5 wds.)

29 Elev.

30 Fuses 32 Fictional governess 33 Near-homer 34 Gloom’s partner 36 Spa facility 37 Dauntless 38 Robert Urich TV role 39 See eye to eye 41 Portland hrs.

42 In order 43 Attacked 44 Consume

46 47 48 50 51 52 53 57 59 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 70 71 72 73 74 75 78

Volcano goddess Shallow dish Insect resin Parody Smudge Vacation spot Cruise-ship deck Mr. Spock’s mother Summer annual (2 wds.)

Where Ephesus was Mounds Lower jaw Row on a chessboard Ankle opposites Tolstoy heroine Quick-witted Not genuine Scold Busy place, slangily Accepts an invitation “Wellaway!”

Bikini halves Fidel’s friend Courage under fire

92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 102 105 106 107 110 111 112 114 115 116 117 119 120 123 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132

Garlic juicer Form an opinion Platte River tribe Sorry La — tar pits Oater challenge Limestone rock formation D-sharp alias (hyph.)

Prehistoric plant-eater “From — — Eternity” Nearly all Clink glasses “Make” or “break” Diamond stat Huck’s father Push rudely Solar plexus Exert a calming influence Outfit Flour holders Devious Tillers Horde members Rose fruit Calendar rows Charles Lamb’s pen name Hamburger extra Team Burdensome Naval off.

Kind of fight (hyph.)

Frostings Inner portion of an egg Traditional saying Brown bag contents Act the snitch Rightmost column Gulf nation Knight’s gloves Wiped out data

to take hold of what could be the band’s final memento together with Malik.

With the limited signed tops, Directioners may now complete the ultimate 1D collection.

Show some love to the boys and head over to your nearest 1D World Pop-up store to get your own autographed shirt!

1D World Pop-up booths are located at the SM Cinema lobbies of Mall of Asia, SM Megamall, and SM North Edsa. Stores are open during mall hours. For more infor-

Directioner can get signed T-shirts of the boyband from 1D pop stores at SM Malls

mation, visit https://www. smtickets.com/one-direction-signed-shirt-promo For more information, email info@kispinoy.com

FAST BROADBAND AND HD CABLE TV WITH SKYBUNDLES SUPER SAVER PLAN 1299 The most value-packed all-in-one cable TV and Internet plan is finally here. More families nationwide can now enjoy the fast and dependable internet speeds of SKY broadband plus the premium channel line-up of SKY cable with the new SKY bundles Super Saver Plan 1299. In just one super-packed bundle, subscribers can experience 2 mbps fast-speed unlimited Internet and 12 High Definition (HD) and 58 Standard Definition (SD) channels. With a monthly fee of only P1299, it is the best investment for the family’s Internet and entertainment needs.

Interested customers can avail of this great new service package from SKY for a one-time installation fee of only P1,999. Subscribers get a wifi modem, to allow the whole family to experience fast Internet speeds, and a SKY HD Digibox, to access all the great cable TV channels. SKYbundles Super Saver Plan 1299 also includes special access to HBO Go, Fox Movies Play, and iWant TV – giving each subscriber the best ways of enjoying ondemand entertainment on their PC screens.

The whole family can take more pleasure in life with this latest bundle plan from SKY. This latest offering from the provider of the country’s fastest internet and leader in cable TV is especially made for those who want to surf the net, watch their mostloved shows on-demand and catch HD cable TV entertainment in one affordable package. For those on a limited budget, also available is SKYbundles Super Saver Plan 999. The new SKYbundles Super Saver Plans provide you with the best ways to enjoy everything that the Internet and cable TV can offer.

For inquiries and additional information, visit SKY through www.mysky.com.ph or contact their customer service hotlines at 02-381-0000 for Metro Manila, CAMANAVA, and Rizal, 046484-4701 for Cavite, 049-534-1555 for Calamba and Binan, Laguna, 02-520-8560 for San Pedro, Laguna, 044-693-5877 for Bulacan, 032-421-1818 for Cebu, 082-305-5456 for Davao, 074-442-4841 for Baguio, 034-432 0051 for Bacolod, 033-3001210 for Iloilo, 035-225-1010 for Dumaguete, and 083-301-3134 for Gen. Santos City.

SUNDAY, APRIL 12, 2015

DOWN 1 Marriott competitor 2 Afterword (var.)

3 Some books (2 wds.)

4 Open-wide word 5 Mex. matrons 6 Flu shots 7 Carpenter’s sweepings 8 Patron 9 Infra opposite 10 Words from Scrooge 11 Literary compilation 12 Nimbly 13 Eavesdropped 14 Adams or Brickell 15 Comic-strip prince 16 Nature trail 17 Snooping around 18 Fly by 19 Heaped up 20 Entomb 27 Crystal-filled rock 28 Jacques, in song 31 Not get renewed 35 Hubbies 37 Role for Phil Silvers 38 Hut 40 Mild oaths 42 Atlas abbr.

43 Rattle 45 Earth-conscious org.

46 A Beatle 47 Spring bloom 48 Capital of Bolivia (2 wds.)

49 PABA part 51 Like a neat lawn 52 Fake bullet 53 Burglar’s “key” 54 Campers’ need (2 wds.)

55 56 58 59 60 61 63 65 67 68 69 70 72 73

Morse signal Western treaty gp.

PBS funder Ally opposites Gator cousins Rainbow goddess Boo and hiss Pow! — & the Gang Skirt feature Possesses Pilot et al Overabundance — we all!

74 76 77 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 89 90

Shaggy animal Shade-loving plant Bar legally “... to buy — — pig” Not poetry Trounce Rower’s need Sleep phenomenon Sci-fi saucer Cochise’s warrior Take a chance Bandmate of Mick Derrick arms Bakery fixtures

91 92 94 96 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 108

Uses hair rollers Cinemax rival “— Night Football” Chicago columnist Reeked More mature Gumshoes Laugh syllable Circus shooter Oval-nest builder Fills the shelves Commanded Lead astray Join the crowd

109 110 111 112 113 116 117 118 121 122 124

Mouthed off Godzilla’s target Be contingent on Treat unfairly Hotel offering Did the crawl Water, in Baja Injury memento Keats offering HS math Give — — whirl

S U N D AY : A P R I L 1 2 : 2 0 1 5

SHOWBITZ isahred @ gmail.com

ISAH V. RED EDITOR

C7

RYAN AGONCILLO FINDS FULFILLMENT AS HUSBAND, FATHER From C8 Ryan Agoncillo, apart from hosting and acting on TV is into biking, which is his business in the sitcom Ismol Family on GMA 7.

He spends quality time with his kids Yohan and Lucho and wife Judy Ann Santos

Vying to be Reyna ng Aliwan 2015 are Ashanti Shaine Ervas of Quezon, Gazini Ganados of Bantayan, Cebu, Jaymie Lou Palermo of Santiago, Isabela, Lalaine Ilagan of Dumaguete, Stephanie Abellanida of Midsayap, North Cotabato), and Vianca Louise Marcelo of Malolos City

SEARCH FOR

T

o be a good husband and father at the same time requires hard work. But for Ryan Agoncillo, fulfillment and enjoyment as both come naturally. He has been married for six years to Judy Ann Santos and is a doting father to Yohan and Lucho. The Kapuso actor/TV host is making sure he spends quality time with his most prized possessions when not working.

Ryan has always been family-oriented, particularly as a kid growing up. He has looked up to his dad and brother. So, when he is at home, Ryan sees to it that his kids get his full attention and gives family activities top priority.

“There is no such thing as typical weekend at home. But you can be sure it is a merry mix of sweating it out, like running, biking, swimming or maybe all of them, plus great food by the missus. And lots of play and laugh time with the kids. That’s either at home or out of town, whatever the setting, it’s the same banana.”

Ryan won’t trade these priceless moments with his family for anything in the world. After all, his kids, who are “both very funny but with very confident personalities,” are growing up so fast, and he wants to be present and involved in their day-to-day development.

Apart from cohosting Eat Bulaga, Ryan is also seen every Sunday on GMA Network’s family sitcom Ismol Family, now on its 4th season. The program, which airs after Vampire Ang Daddy Ko, has been dominating programs in its timeslot with high TV rat-

ings since its debut last year.

When asked about the secret behind the success of Ismol Family, Ryan says that apart from the relaxed, fun but efficient working style that has been established on the set, it is the storyline that continuously charms viewers each Sunday evening.

“Apart from the good vibes on (the) set, I believe that the writing is just plain crazy and highly imaginative, you know it’s gonna be good when at home you’re laughing alone just reading the script. And also the captain of our ship, director Dominic Zapata, is really the funniest man on the set, whipping everything up to a frenzy,” he says.

In Ismol Family, Ryan plays the role of Jingo, a responsible and loving husband to his pretty and strong-willed wife Majay played by Carla Abellana.

And being a family man, is Jingo’s personality the same as his in real-life? Ryan points out, “Jingo is more of a merry-mix of a couple of dads that I know, some I admire and some I just find flat out funny. There’s not much in common between my real life as a dad and Jingo except maybe his devotion to family and love for bicycles.”

He also reveals that he is very happy to work with Carla in the family sitcom. “Carla is a thinking actress and a sweetheart. It’s always a breeze working with somebody who knows what she’s doing and has a very light touch.”

Ryan will be celebrated his 36th birthday on April 10. And when asked about his birthday wish, the celebrity dad says, “I wish my kind of good vibes on everyone.” He celebrated his natal day and at the same time their 6th wedding anniversary in New Zealand with his family.

Ryan is into mountain biking. And, for his dream role: “I’d love to play a con artist.”

Ryan shares one tidbit about himself that fans hardly know – that he has a “resting heart rate of 58 beats per minute.”

REYNA NG ALIWAN 2015 M

anila Broadcasting Company, the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the cities of Manila and Pasay, have released the list of this year’s candidates for 2015 Reyna ng Aliwan Fiesta.

From Mindanao, 16-year-old Catalina Oralde will herald the beauty of the Zamboanga Hermosa festival, while Jezza Mae Lim carries the colors of General Santos City’s Kalilangan festival. Doll-like Stephanie Joy Abellanida is the Halad festival muse from Midsayap, North Cotabato, and Normina Tomas representing the Shariff Kabunsuan festival of Cotabato.

The Visayan islands are also pitching solidly for the crown. Iloilo will field Dinagyang festival queen Ariane Gabriela and Paraw Regatta’s Angela Yagaya. Camilla Mae Zanisi is representing Bacong,Negros Oriental, with Lalaine Iligan as the Sandurot festival muse of Dumaguete.

First-time Aliwan participant Samar is sending Cyril Valera.

Cebu, which has brought home the Reyna ng Aliwan crown for the past six consecutive years, four of whom went on to win highly prestigious national and international titles, will send Sinulog festival queen Julienne Hazel Penserga together with Gazini Christiana Ganados for the Palawod festival of Bantayan. Both ladies are hoping to tread the same path taken by current Miss Earth Jamie Herrell (2013 Reyna), Bb. Pilipinas Supranational Rogelie Catacutan (2011 Reyna), 2013 Miss Tourism International

Angeli Dione Gomez (2012 Reyna), and 2012 Miss Tourism International Rizzini Alexis Gomez (2010 Reyna).

Luzon has its share of fair ladies this year. Jenny Aito will represent Pasay City. Baguio is fielding Christine Joy Picardal, while the province of Isabela will be represented by Jaymie Lou Palermo. Carrying the colors for Bulacan will be Genesis Jasmine Baul for Guiguinto and Vianca Louise Marcelo for Malolos.

Quezon province is likewise sending two candidates: Ma. Ahtisa Manalo of Candelaria and Ashanti Shane Ervas for Catanauan.

All the candidates, together with 2014 Reyna ng Aliwan Stephani Aberasturi, will ride their respective floats during the grand parade on April 25,which will kick off at the Quirino Grandstand, and traverse Roxas Boulevard en route to the CCP Complex.

This year’s Reyna ng Aliwan Fiesta pageant night, to be hosted by former Miss Earth Karla Henry and MBC’s Val Victa, will be held on April 24 at the outdoor stage in front of the Aliw Theater, with the coronation night following the grand parade on April 25.

Aliwan Fiesta 2015 is a project of Manila Broadcasting Company, Star City and the Cultural Center of the Philippines, in cooperation with the Cities of Manila and Pasay, with support from Globe Telecom, Pride Detergent, Unique Toothpaste, Tanduay Rhum, Dazz Dishwashing Paste, Coca Cola, Dunkin Donuts, My Juiz, M. Lhuillier, Cherry Mobile, Fukuda, and the Atrium Hotel.

C8

S U N D AY : A P R I L 1 2 : 2 0 1 5

ISAH V. RED EDITOR

isahred @ gmail.com

SHOWBITZ

TV5 SHOOTS NEW

‘WATTPAD PRESENTS’ IN HK DISNEYLAND SIMPLY RED ISAH V. RED Very rarely a production on local TV gets the opportunity to shoot in an international facility freely with the support of the organization that runs it.

That’s exactly is what TV5 is proud of after it shot its next Wattpad Presents episode in Hong Kong Disneyland.

The local TV channel is marking a milestone on Philippine television with a partnership with Hong Kong Disneyland in the special romantic-comedy episode of Wattpad Presents. The network says “The Magic in You’” will make viewers’ hearts flutter. It is also a fitting tribute to all Filipinos who are working in Disneyland.

The Happy Network is proud to announce that, for the first time, a Filipino network has been chosen by Hong Kong Disneyland in creating a quality and wholesome entertainment program for the family as part of its 10th anniversary celebration.

TV5’s Wattpad Presents, which broke the traditional nightly drama offering by bringing a weekly romanticcomedy mini-series suited for all ages, was invited to shoot at the “happiest place on earth”, Hong Kong Disneyland. This was the first time that a local television shot almost an entire episode in the theme park.

“The Magic in You”, based upon the online novel originally written by marielicious, brings back the sought-after love team of Artista search alumni Mark Neumann and Shaira Mae. The two give life to the characters of Basti Rivera and Princess Anne Dimla.

This special Wattpad Presents episode tells the story of Princess (Shaira Mae) who, like every girl, grew up with a certain fondness for Disney characters, like Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Cinderella, and Mulan. She, too, believes in the magic of love that comes to all Disney princesses. As if the universe granted her heart’s desire, Princess finally got her wish when she gets to fly to the happiest place on earth, Hong Kong Disneyland, believing that finally, her dream of being a part of Disney family as a songwriter has been granted. Unfortunately though, her heart is crushed the moment she finds out that she has been conned, and she is now facing a grim reality that there is no job waiting for her in Hong Kong Disneyland. To add insult to injury, the most miserable and devastating scenario in her life was captured and posted on YouTube by a boy named Basti (Mark) who recorded her breakdown and made her an overnight online sensation.

She vows to find the culprit who publicized the “Parade Crybaby” video. And Princess eventually meets Basti. In the course of one year, Princess and Basti would cross each other’s paths, finding themselves hating, befriending and helping each other. Find out how Princess and Basti will find “happily ever” after in the magical place of Hong Kong Disneyland.

Wattpad Presents “The Magic in You” airs Monday to Friday, starting April 13, at 9 p.m. on TV5.

Continued on C7

The Happy Network is proud to announce that, for the first time, a Filipino network has been chosen by Hong Kong Disneyland in creating a quality and wholesome entertainment program for the family as part of its 10th anniversary celebration

Mark Neumann and Shaira Mae star in Wattpad Presents “ The Magic In You” shot almost entirely in Hong Kong Disneyland as part of the theme park’s 10th anniversary celebration. The romcom will be seen on TV5