The Standard - 2015 July 21 - Tuesday

VOL. XXIX NO. 161 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 tueSday : JuLy 21, 2015 www.thestandard.com.ph editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Belmonte: No reply to Reds’ overtures

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BiNay SLapS p200-m SuiT oN 2 SeNaToRS

By Vito Barcelo, Joel E. Zurbano and Macon Ramos-Araneta

VICE President Jejomar Binay filed a P200 million civil suit against his political nemeses Senators Antonio Trillanes and Alan Peter Cayetano, Ombudsman Conchita Caprio-Morales and 11 others before a Makati court Monday, accusing them of maligning his character in an attempt to destroy his presidential bid in 2016.

Erap says he’s torn between Poe, Veep OUSTED President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estradaon Monday admitted he is torn between supporting Vice President Jejomar Binay and Senator Grace Poe in the 2016 elections, but said he would base his decision on the platforms of government they present.

“Whoever has the better platform is the one I will support,” Estrada said in Filipino.

Poe is a daughter of Estrada’s bosom buddy, the late action star Fernando Poe Jr., while the Vice President is Estrada’s long time compadre.

Estrada, who was a no-show at the launch of Binay’s United Nationalist Alliance as a political party, Next page

Others named in the suit were Caloocan City Rep. Edgar Erice; members of the Anti-Money Laundering Council— Amando Tetangco Jr., Emmanuel Dooc, Teresita Herbosa, and Julia BacayAbad; former Makati City vice mayor Ernesto Mercado; engineer Mario Hechanova; losing Makati City mayoral candidate Renato Bondal; and former village official Nicolas Enciso.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer was also included in the complaint.

Next page

Survey finds less hungry Filipinos

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LRT cards cause big losses in revenues

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Platforms, please. Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada said Monday he wanted to hear the platforms of Senator Grace Poe and Vice President Jejomar Binay before he would throw his support behind either of them in the 2016 elections. Ey AcAsio

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Speaker reports no response to Reds’ overtures HOUSE Speaker Feliciano Belmonte said Monday he was surprised to learn from top communist leaders that they had not received any feedback from the presidential adviser on the peace process, Teresita Deles, on feelers about their willingness to resume peace talks.

Libel suit. Vice President Jejomar Binay’s lawyer shows off the P200-million libel suit

that Binay had filed against two senators, government officials and witnesses in Makati on Monday. Ey AcAsio

Binay From A1...

In his complaint, Binay accused the respondents of conniving and colluding with one another to malign and destroy his name and reputation.

In an interview, Binay’s lawyer, Claro Certeza, said the complaint covers all the allegations Binay’s critics made against him since the corruption scandal and Senate inquiry began in 2014.

“Before the courts, both the Vice President and his detractors will be given equal chances to prove all their claims where strict rules on evidence are applied in search for the truth. In court, mere allegations without proof, which is the strategy of detractors, will not be accepted,” he added.

“With the filing of this damage suit, our countrymen will be given the chance to truly determine who is telling the truth. Under the orderly procedure prescribed by the Rules of Court, the Vice President will present evidence to show how his detractors have connived to repeatedly lie to the public about their baseless charges of corruption,” Certeza said.

The lawyer said Binay is seeking P200 million in damages, the same amount that the respondents alleged the Vice President had stolen from government coffers.

He added that they are still studying the possible filing of a criminal case for libel.

The complaint said because Binay is running for president in 2016, he has been the target of de-

famatory statements from the respondents.

It said the political ambitions of the respondents and their disdain and personal animosity toward the Vice President led them to publicly malign his reputation through baseless and fabricated accusations.

The suit identified Cayetano, Trillanes and Erice as the designated “talking heads” who publicly persecute Binay, and described the three as attack dogs of the group.

“Defendants Mercado, Hechanova, Bondal and Enciso are the paid witnesses who maliciously accused Binay of public crimes and defects that are mere fabrications,” the complaint said.

Binay faces multiple plunder complaints and corruption charges over allegedly overpriced infrastructure projects when he was still Makati mayor for 21 years. The Senate, the Ombudsman, and the AMLC are conducting separate investigations.

The Ombudsman suspended his son, Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr, over the allegedly overpriced Makati Science High School.

The AMLC in turn asked for a freeze order on Binays’ bank accounts.

Binay’s suit included the Trillanes’ claim that Binay paid off Court of Appeals jusitces to secure a temporary restraining order on his son’s suspension in April.

“It’s the totality of what he said in media that in reality is baseless and not substantiated by evidence,” Certeza said of Trillanes.

Binay’s lawyer added that Cay-

In an interview, Belmonte said he only learned about the feelers when he had the opportunity to talk with communist leaders Jose Maria Sison and Luis Jalandoni while he was in The Netherlands.

Majority Leader and Mandaluyong City Rep. Neptali Gonzales II, Davo City Rep. Isidro Ungab and Romblon Rep. Eleandro Jesus Madrona were at the same meeting.

“He [Sison] said the spirit of the whole thing is we should continue the talks. He [said] their go-between, which is a lady official, was abreast of what was going on and had communicated with Secretary Deles.

They had not gotten feedback. I told them I’d bring it to the attention of the President,” Belmonte said.

The speaker said he believed that peace negotiations can still be resumed within

etano also made public statements that the Vice President is corrupt.

He said Cayetano merely “parroted the same lines” that Mercado made in the Senate.

“The function of a senator is to enact laws. That’s why he is allowed to investigate. Once he goes out in public, and makes the same accusations, baseless as they are, we believe he becomes liable for libel,” Certeza said.

Morales was included because she showed “extreme bias” against Binay.

“She continues to articulate in public that the evidence against the Vice President is strong. He is a sitting vice president, and only removable by impeachment. In her statements, you really see her obvious bias against the VP,” Certeza said.

Binay also included the AMLC officials, including Tetangco, the governor of the central bank.

“The law states that the AMLC report must be kept confidential, yet the officials supposedly gave advanced copies to Mercado, the senators, and the media,” the complaint said.

Trillanes said the suit showed Binay was “in panic mode.”

He added that Binay was threatening and harassing people who have exposed his anomalous transactions, and added that he would continue to investigate the Vice President because he wants to see him jailed for stealing public funds.

Also on Monday, the Sandiganbayan blocked Mercado from taking the witness stand against the wife of the Vice President, Elenita

the remaining months of the Aquino administration.

“I think the atmosphere is such that it can still be done during this term of the President... He has other assistants. I do hope the festering problem will be solved and it can be solved during the last year in office,” he said.

Belmonte revealed that even before they went to The Hague for the arguments on the West Philippine Sea before a UN tribunal, the meeting with the communist leaders had been arranged through intermediaries.

“Even before I left the Philippines, we had some kind of a contact on my part through friends of Ruth Zumel. She herself is a friend of mine as her husband, Tony Zumel, was a very close friend,” he said.

“Since he died I have become a member of his foundation so it was through Ruth that I got word that they will also like to see me if I go to The Hague,” he added.

The communist delegation had 10 people Belmonte described the meeting at a Japanese restaurant as “friendly.”

Deles earlier said that there must be no preconditions from the communist leaders for the resumption of negotiations.

The communist rebels have demanded that their detained “consultants” be released before talks can be resumed. – PNA

Binay, in connection with a graft suit she is facing before the Fifth Division.

The anti-graft court rejected the request of government prosecutors to present Mercado as a witness in the alleged irregular purchase of office partitions and furniture when Mrs. Binay was then the city mayor, saying they were unable to justify Mercado’s presence as a witness.

“Assuming that the court can be liberal in considering the good cause shown and allows the presentation of Mr. Mercado as a witness for the prosecution, the same does not serve the purpose at this instance if the reason for calling Mr. Mercado to the witness stand is to authenticate and verify the purported original copy of the audit report itself,” the court’s resolution read.

“How he was able to obtain the original copy of the audit report itself, which the Commission on Audit oddly does not even have in its official custody, would only nag the persistent question that it could have come from a dubious source,” the anti-graft court ruled.

It added that Mercado was not the right person to establish the authenticity of the report.

“Mr. Mercado will certainly not be able to fulfill these requirements since he was not a member of the audit team which took part in the audit investigation and in the eventual preparation and submission of the audit report,” it said.

Mrs. Binay was sued for graft for the purchase of P72.06 million worth of office partitions and furniture in 1999. – With Rio N. Araja

Erap

From A1... said party affiliation was not as important to him as who would better look after the interest of the poor.

Estrada’s absence from the UNA launch sparked speculation that he might support Poe, if she decides to run for president.

Estrada, who has said he owes a debt of gratitude to Poe’s father, ran for president in 2010 with Binay as his running mate.

“At the end of the day, I want to look who among them can help the majority, for the greatest good of the greatest number—the masses,” Estrada said.

The Manila mayor admitted that he is torn between Poe and Binay as he is close to both of them.

“I will base my decision on who among them coan present a good platform of government. I owe it to the people of the Philippines.

Not because he my compadre or she a goddaughter,” he said.

Estrada said he will support the candidate whose platform is similar to his.

Binay announced his intention to run for president during the launch of UNA in Makati recently.

Poe, who has topped recent opinion polls for the president, has to decide yet if she will run. – Vito Barcelo

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Defense budget reduced by P2b THE government has slashed to P25 billion the 2016 budget of P27,752,655.774.55 being proposed by the Department of National Defense, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad confirmed on Monday.

He said the appropriation would be used to buy modern equipment for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, one of the weakest in Asia.

The P27.7 billion defense budget for 2016 is part of the proposed Revised AFP Modernization Program dated Oct. 29, 2014, with a total amount of P90,858,912,364.56 including P31,106.003,531.90 in 2015 and P18,589,184,038.45 in 2017.

The Defense Department said that of the P90.8 billion budget for 2014-2017, it had P13,410,026,020.06 allocation in 2014 but it has yet to itemize the money.

The Budget Department must be more transparent in releasing figures because Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, in his letter to President Benigno Aquino III dated March 5, 2015, said it appeared that the P90.8 billion defense budget for 20142017 for 33 projects had further been slashed to P60,143,404,181.90 with 28 projects.

Gazmin said Aquino “approved in principle” 28 projects under the with a total budget of P60.1 billion during a meeting that the latter presided over on Feb. 17, 2015. Abad and all the AFP Major Service commanders, Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras, among others, were also in the meeting.

In his letter, Gazmin said the proposed P60.1 billion budget was for 2015-2017 that he submitted to Abad on Feb. 23, 2015.

Meanwhile, the P25 billion defense budget for 2016 reportedly will be used to buy two frigates, two twin-engine long-range patrol aircraft and three aerial surveillance radars to boost the military’s capability to defend the West Philippine Sea from China’s aggression in the area. Florante S. Solmerin

Survey finds less hungry Filipinos THE number of Filipinos who experienced involuntary hunger dropped to its lowest point in a decade, the latest Social Weather Stations survey revealed on Monday.

The survey said about 2.8 million families or 12.7 percent of all the families in the Philippines experienced hunger at least once during the second quarter of 2015, which was the lowest since the 12-percent hunger rate in May 2005.

SWS said the hunger rate in the second quarter was down 0.8 percent of a point from the first quarter’s 13.5 percent (about 3 million families).

This was the third straight quarter in which the hunger numbers had dropped since 2014’s third quarter, SWS said.

The survey said 10.8 percent or about 2.4 million families experienced “moderate hunger” (experienced hunger “only once” or “a few times”), while 1.9 percent (431,000 families) said they experienced “severe hunger” (experienced hunger “often” or “always”).

“Moderate” and “severe” hunger had eased only slightly from the first quarter, SWS said.

The June 2015 survey

also marked the third quarter of easing after the hunger incidence in the country reached 22 percent in September 2014.

SWS said of those who experienced involuntary hunger, 10.8 percent (2.4 million families) experienced “moderate hunger” while 1.9 percent (431,000 families) experienced “severe hunger.”

The self-rated hunger in Metro Manila in the second quarter was the highest in three quarters at 18.3 percent (about 553,000 families). This was an increase of 5.6 points from the first quarter’s 12.7 percent (about 382,000 families).

In Balance Luzon, hunger dropped to 10.7 percent (about 1.1 million families) from 14.3 percent (about 1.4 million families) in the first quarter.

The hunger in Balance Luzon was at its lowest level since the 9.7 percent registered in 2011’s second quarter.

Hunger in the Visayas increased to 11.7 percent (about 499,000 families) from 11 percent (470,000 families) in March.

In Mindanao, hunger was at 14.3 percent, the same as in March and the lowest since the 13 percent registered in September 2011. Sandy Araneta

Palace hails int’l support for PH position THE Philippines on Sunday hailed what it called growing international support for its efforts to counter China’s claims to most of the South China Sea. The comments from a presidential spokesman came as the US Pacific Fleet released photographs of its commander in a surveillance flight over the sea, where tension is rising between Manila and Beijing.

Herminio Coloma, spokesman for President Benigno Aquino III, said “there are additional voices supporting our move for a peaceful resolution to the debate over... the South China Sea.” He said many nations agreed that the dispute “must go through legal process as signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.” “We welcome the growing support for the position of our country,” Coloma told reporters, citing the European Union, Australia, Japan and fellow mem-

bers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Coloma also cited the recent remarks by leading US senators such as John McCain praising the Philippine efforts to resolve the matter peacefully and calling on the United States to continue to maintain peace in the region.

The Philippines earlier this month argued its case before a UN-backed tribunal in the Hague, challenging China’s claim over most of the resource-rich sea.

China has refused to take part in the proceedings and called on the Philippines to agree to bilateral talks instead.

The Philippines and other countries have also recently raised alarm at China’s reclamation of outcrops in the Sea to create islands that could house military facilities.

China claims most of the South China Sea, even up to the coasts of its neighbors.

The Philippines as well as Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan all have their own claims.

The Philippines, which has one of the region’s weakest militaries, has been improving defense ties with its close ally the United States.

In an apparent sign of the continued alliance, the US Pacific Fleet released photographs on its website on Sunday of its commander, Admiral Scott Swift, aboard a US P-8A Poseidon aircraft, flying a “seven-hour maritime surveillance mission” over the South China Sea on Saturday as part of his recent visit to the Philippines.

It was not stated which parts of the sea the US commander flew over.

The Philippines said Thursday it would reopen a US naval base that was closed more than 20 years ago, stationing its own military hardware at Subic Bay facing the South China Sea. AFP

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Train cards cause big losses

By Christine F. Herrera THE Light Rail Transit Authority stopped selling uncoded tickets last Saturday after the agency belatedly discovered that those tickets could be used unlimitedly and was behind revenue losses that could reach more than P115 million.

Beep card. A commuter shows her new stored-value “beep card” whose pilot test was launched at the Light Rail Transit

Authority’s Legarda station in Manila on Monday. The provider AFP Payment Inc said the ticket prices cost P20 a piece and may be loaded with a minimum of P12 to a maximum of P100 from vending machines in LRT 2 during the trial phase.

DANNY PATA

11 saved off Scarborough

By Johanne Margarette R. Macob and Joel E. Zurbano LINGAYEN – A passing United States Navy ship rescued 11 fishermen from Pangasinan who were reported missing on Monday due to rough waters caused by the prevailing southwest monsoon which also cut off key roads in Luzon and stranded thousands in four provinces.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said the country can expect better weather starting Tuesday with only isolated thunderstorms although the southwest monsoon will continue to affecting the western seaboard of Northern Luzon.

But the regional office of the Office of Civil Defense said thousands of commuters were stranded after a portion of the Marcos Highway and three road links going to Abra, Benguet, Ilocos Norte and Kalinga

were closed due to rock and mud slides brought about by heavy rain.

On Monday, 11 fishermen from Infanta town in Pangasinan were reported missing after they ignored a gale warning and set off for fishing grounds 82 nautical miles off Pangasinan near the disputed Scarborough Shoal.

The fishermen were able to contact the Infanta town police station to report that they were already listing, but their board had already sunk near Scarborough Shoal when they were found by a passing US Navy vessel.

The weather bureau said fishermen and other vessel operators should beware of setting off to sea because moderate to strong winds from the southwest will prevail over Northern and Central Luzon and its coastal waters will be moderate to rough.

“Fishing boats and other small seacrafts are advised not to venture out into the sea while larger sea

vessels are alerted against big waves,” Pagasa said in its latest gale warning.

Meanwhile, travel on certain roads in Abra, Benguet, Ilocos Norte and Kalinga may also be hazardous because of rock and mud slides and the Department of Public Works and Highways dispatched repair teams to the affected areas to normalize land transportation.

Last week, Kennon Road was closed to traffic after landslides occurred at the Uabac section at Camp 6 that killed two women Baguio-bound commuters when hit by a rock cascaded from an eroded flank of the road last July 13.

Aside from Marcos Highway, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said at least four road links going to Benguet were also closed to traffic: the Kapayan-Buguias-Abatan ( one-lane passable due to landslide); Amlimay, Alapang and the Impugong, Buguias due to recurring rock fall.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. made the revelation as the LRTA launched the new automated fare collection system, operated by the Ayala and Metro Pacific consortium and called “beep card,” on Monday.

But Reyes said the LRTA only reported the losses from the old uncoded tickets at P77 million and they did not even know about it for four months, or since March when they sold like “hotcakes.”

“The commuter could buy the uncoded ticket at P30 but he or she can use it as many times as he or she wants. It can be recycled.

It has unlimited use. Like unlimited rice, we call it unlimited train ticket,” an LRTA source explained.

“The ticket can be reused because it did not have a security bar code.”

“Since the tellers, the security guards and the supervisors knew the uncoded tickets could be reused, they wantonly sold uncoded tickets without these being entered into the registry and simply reported in the inventory that these were sold but reused many times since the tickets did not have a security bar code,” the source explained.

“Tickets that had bar codes will be rejected by the machine when someone tries to reuse them [but] the uncoded tickets did not have that kind of capacity to alert authorities,” the source said.

“To keep things quiet,

the LRTA management simply fired the tellers and the security guards and replaced them when they were caught. No supervisors has been penalized,” the source said.

Official LRTA documents, copies of which were furnished The Standard, showed that in March, some 2.42 million uncoded tickets were sold amounting to P72.5 million. The traffic was recorded at 12.85 million.

In April, when the LRT operation was shut down for four days due to the observance of the Holy Week, uncoded tickets sales went down to 226,660 or P6.78 million with the traffic recorded at 10.3 million.

In May, the sale of uncoded tickets was at 1.2 million, half of the March figure, or P36.15 million with the traffic pegged at 11.51 million.

From March to May, the total uncoded tickets sold was 3.84 million amounting to P115.2 million and the LRTA has yet to come up with the report for June and July.

“There is no telling how much losses exactly were recorded because there was no record of how many times the uncoded tickets had been reused. If we presume that the uncoded ticket was reused once by all commuters who bought the uncoded tickets, then that’s a whopping P115.2 million down the drain for three months alone, not counting the months of June and July,” the source said.

Solon urges jobs, not dole

By Maricel V. Cruz INDEPENDENT bloc leader and Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez on Monday urged the Aquino administration to allocate more funds to job creation instead of the its huge Conditional Cash Transfer dole program, or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

Romualdez said President Benigno Aquino III, whose presidency will end in June next year, must exert greater effort in providing decent jobs for the Filipinos.

Romualdez, a lawyer and president of the Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa), said the funds for the dole program should instead be used to train Filipinos in marketable skills, adding the government should continuously provide jobs for the poor.

“As the saying goes: we should not give them fish, we should teach them how to fish. We should teach our people not be

dependent on the government by way of CCT resources,” Romualdez said.

“It is the primary duty of the state to ensure that quality and decent jobs are given to Filipinos. The need for livelihood and jobs are the real concerns now and this is a longterm solution to address the widespread poverty,” Romualdez added.

Abakada party-list Rep. Jonathan de la Cruz also doubted that the CCT program of the government has been effective in uplifting the lives of the poor.

“The budget should instead be used for creating jobs and other important programs and projects of the government intended to uplift the lives of the Filipino people, especially the poor,” de la Cruz, a member of Romualdez’s bloc, said.

Romualdez’s bloc had earlier asked Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman to overhaul portions of its list on cash dole-out scheme for the poor to ensure that intended recipients are benefitting from it.

We can’t do without you. Supporters of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima show their support for the senator who is preparing to run for a seat in the Senate in next year’s elections. LINO SANTOS

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Groups press de Lima for Senate run

By Rey E. Requejo

Justice secretary Leila de Lima remains undecided on her possible bid for the senate in 2016 elections because she is scared of the pressure and the mudslinging in politics.

Nonetheless, De Lima said she was humbled by calls from some sectors urging her to run for senator in next year’s national election.

De Lima was referring to a group led by lawyer Dahlia salamat who formally launched #Lima2016 urging her to run for the senate. salamat said the group was “a voluntary movement of individuals and groups committed to pursue democratic governance and a rights-based reform agenda.”

Alumni of san Beda college of law, among them Nida Lucenario, cynthia Roxas and solomon Hermosura also wanted de Lima to run for the senate. two congressmen based in Quezon city – Alfred Vargas and christopher Belmonte – also joined the call for de Lima to run. “i am still studying if i can withstand the political heat because i am not used to it. i am confident i can do the job of a senator, but i am scared of the environment itself. i would not know if i’m cut out for it,” De Lima said, in a text message when asked for comment on the #Lima2016. she admitted that she is apprehensive of the pressure and the expected mudslinging once she entered the political arena.

Prior to her appointment as Justice secretary, De Lima was a veteran election lawyer and served as head of the commission on Human Rights during the term of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

De Lima clarified that she is not involved in the activity of the group pushing for her to run, but she admitted that some of those behind it are her friends and sorority sisters at san Beda college. “i am aware of their activity, but i have no involvement in the group. it is purely an initiative of volunteers, some of whom i know, friends, sorority sisters, and some i do not know,” she said.

APO marker. President Benigno S. Aquino III unveils the inaugural marker of the APO Production Unit’s high security printing plant at the Lima Technology Center in Malvar, Batangas on Monday, July 20, 2015. Assisting him are APO Production Unit chairperson Milagros Alora, Batangas Governor Vilma Santos-Recto, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. and Batangas 3rd District Representative Nelson Collantes. Inset shows an employee demonstrating the APO plant’s capability to conduct security printing of e-passports, accountable forms, excise stamps and identity documents for the Philippine government.

MAlACAñAng PhOtO BuREAu

Budget, 2016 polls seen eclipsing other crucial bills

By Maricel V. Cruz

Controversial measures filed in Congress, such as the anti-political dynasty, freedom of information (Foi), and economic Charter Change (Cha-cha) will have a hard time getting enacted into law in the 16th Congress due to “lack of material time,” a House official said.

House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales ii of Mandaluyong city said t he House of Representatives will devote much of its time during the resumption of session on the deliberations for the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) and the 2016 General Appropriations Bill (GAB). “the chances of approving these measure (Foi, antipolitical dynasty and economic cha-cha) are becoming slimmer because our hands are full now with the BBL and approving next year’s national budget,”

Gonzales said as congress will open its third Regular session on July 27, 2015.

Gonzales said there is still a chance to have the controversial measures approved.

“But it is really a matter of mustering quorum to have them passed. it has nothing to do with [the nature of those measures being controversial]. it has something to do with the fact that [we don’t have enough time],” Gonzales said. “three years was never enough, particularly for the first termer and third termer who will be running for other

positions because come October, everybody gets busy preparing for 2016 elections,” Gonzales added.

Gonzales said that passing the anti-political dynasty, FOi and economic charter change measures would be a tough job.

Gonzales said quorum would also be a problem during the latter part of the year as many lawmakers will be busy on their respective candidacies

by October.

“Historically, quorum is really a problem in congress.

After we approve the budget on second reading, it really requires a miracle to muster quorum,” Gonzales said.

Palace is expected to submit to the Lower House the proposed P3.002-trillion national budget for 2016 a day after President Aquino iii delivered his sixth and last state of the Nation Address (soNA) on July 27.

Aside from the 2016 GAA, the BBL is among the priority

measures of congress as this has been certified as urgent by Malacanang. the House has approved at the committee level the amended anti-political dynasty measure which limits to two family members from one family that could be both be elected to positions at the national and local levels at the same time. the measure, which is currently pending for third and final reading approval in plenary, provides that a single member of the family could also hold a national position while the other has the right to serve in the local government. in the local positions, it allows two family members to assume office in one province, city or municipality. the same is true for House Bill 5801 or the Freedom of information (Foi) bill and the Resolution of Both Houses No. 1, which was principally authored by speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr.

Senator pushes G2G scheme to curb smuggling

By Macon Ramos-Aranefa seNAtOR cynthia A. Villar, chair of the senate agriculture and food committee, has called on the National Food Authority to implement the government-to-government (G2G) scheme to curb the renewed proliferation of smuggling.

Villar recalled that when G2G was adopted sometime in 2013 after an agreement with the Department of Agriculture and then customs commissioner John Philip sevilla, the incidence of smuggling declined. the agreement was reached at the height of the alleged rice smuggling activities of David Bangayan.

“During our hearing on Bangayan, one of the things we uncovered was the purchase of importation permits allocated to farmer cooperatives by big traders. this is how unscrupulous traders outwit authorities in carrying out smuggling,” Villar said.

“By stopping the issuance of import permits to other parties, they were able to simplify the process because any rice shipment entering the ports and not handled by government was immediately seized and deemed smuggled,” she added. under the G2G scheme, private traders are no longer given the permit to import rice. NFA imports rice through direct purchase from a foreign

government, in this case, Vietnam and thailand However, the scheme was stopped and lifted due to issues on the Philippine international agreements.

“What was overlooked in this policy is the fact that other countries don’t have a smuggling problem and it is easy for them to deal with private traders, unlike the Philippine situation where smugglers are getting more and more creative in smuggling goods into the country,” pointed out Villar.

Just last year, rice smuggling was pegged at P72 billion. she also said that in the same year,

the country produced 12.150 million Mt of rice and imported about 1.7 million Mt. considering the demand and the needed buffer stock, there was an excess of about 900,000 Mt. Villar, concurrent chair of the congressional Oversight committee on Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization, related the case in Zamboanga where rice shipments contained in a big ship anchored in sulu sea enter the country piece by piece through small motor boats. “smuggling impairs government projection on rice supply. this could be one of the reasons why there appears to be an overimportation of rice,” Villar stressed.

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Comelec may tap Pinoy technology

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

THE Commission on Elections is exploring the possibility of using a Filipino technology for the 2016 national and local polls even as it is pressed for time on what system to adopt.

Comelec commissioner Rowena Guanzon said that the poll body’s advisory council will be asked to test a Filipino-made Transparent Election System (TAPAT) being proposed by the Automated Election System Watch.

“It has yet to be tested by the Comelec advisory council and government technology experts,” Guanzon said, adding that Comelec chairman Andres Bautista has already announced that he would like the advisory council to inform the Comelec en banc about the best election system option to choose.

“Well we have not yet awarded any technology. I think the chair announced last meeting he would like the entire Comelec advisory council to advise us,” she said.

Bautista said that given the time constraint, the Comelec was also looking at either refurbishing the 81,896 Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines

Test Run. Students of Pamantasang Lungsod ng Maynila in Intramuros participate in the mock election conducted by AES Watch to demonstrate the capability of a new voting technology. DANNY PATA

or leasing the 70,977 units off Optical Mark Reader. “(The refurbishment of old PCOS machines and the lease of OMR units) are the only (remaining) options that we are looking at for 2016 (elections),” Bautista said at the Kapihan sa Diamond Hotel forum on Monday.

Comelec wanted to conduct a parallel bidding for the two systems, PCOS and OMR, but it was stymied by a series of petitions before the Supreme Court against the two bidding.

Bautista refused to say if the Comelec has a back-up

Jueteng raps vs Iggy, Mikey A. dismissed

By Rey E. Requejo THE Supreme Court has affirmed the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman dismissing the criminal charges filed by former whistleblower Sandra Cam against the late Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo and former party-list Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo for alleged coddling of jueteng operations.

In a decision dated June 29 but released only yesterday, the SC’s First Division denied Cam’s petition for lack of merit.

Instead, the SC upheld the rulings of the anti-graft body on October 9, 2006 and February 13, 2008 dismissing the whistleblower’s complaint for violation of Republic Act No. 9287 (Law on Illegal Numbers Game) for insufficiency of evidence.

Also cleared in the case was retired police Chief Supt.

Restituto Mosqueda.

In ruling against Cam, the SC ruled that the Ombudsman did not commit grave abuse of discretion in clearing the respondents.

It explained that while petitioner accused the respondents of receiving benefits in the form of cash and vehicles in jueteng operations, Cam only presented her testimony and four official receipts covering the purchase of a Toyota Revo in the name of Marlyn Mosqueda, wife of respondent Mosqueda, which cannot be appreciated to prove that the funds used to pay for the vehicle came from jueteng operations.

The SC decision penned by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno noted that Cam was “(given) many opportunities to substantiate her bare allegations. Public respondents Mothalib Onos, Lourdes Padre-Juan and Rosano Oliva of the Ombudsman, even alerted her of the need for more evidence.”

plan in case the parallel bidding was rejected by the Supreme Court.

He said the Comelec was working toward the goal of automating the 2016 polls, stressing that it was trying to avoid going back to manual election.

The poll chief said that the agency is unlikely to consider any new system since it no longer wants to “experiment” with any new technology.

But he said that other options may be considered for the 2019 and the succeeding elections.

TAPAT, which is developed by Filipino IT professionals, is a voting system that uses lotto-style ballots that are being scanned by the voting machine, which provides each voter a verification receipt and conducts automated counting.

The election returns (ERs) it will produce will then be digitally-signed by the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) prior to electronic transmission of the returns.

On Monday, the AES Watch and allied organizations, CenPEG and Trans-

parentElections.Org, conducted a mock election at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) to showcase the system’s capability.

Among the participants were Bautista, Guanz on, and Comelec Spokesman James Jimenez, as well as Manila auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo and students of PLM. While feeding his sample ballot into the equipment, Bautista noted that the voter verification receipt makes the system vulnerable to vote-buying and vote-selling activities.

Framed up for the North.

Top officials engaged in promoting tourism to the North are framed in a giant replica of an instagram slide holder at the photo booth of the “NLEX Tara na sa Norte” Tourism and Travel Fair held over the weekend.

(Fom left: Rodrigo Franco, president of Manila North Tollways Corporatio); lawyer Arthur Tugade, president of Clark Development Corporation; Glennifer Perigo, Ms. Tourism Metropolitan International 2014-2015; and lawyer Arnel Paciano Casanova, president of the Bases Conversion Development Authority. The extravaganza was held at the Glorietta Activity Center, Makati City, dubbed, “the biggest fair so far.”

Metro body expects 5m to take part in quake drill AROUND 5 million people from various sectors in Metro Manila are expected to join the first metro-wide earthquake drill on July 30 as part of the government’s preparation in the event a major disaster hits the National Capital Region.

“For the first time there will be a massive participation. The drill will be based on the MMEIRS (Metro Manila Earthquake Impact Reduction Study) of JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) in 2004,” said Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Francis Tolentino.

He said the one-hour drill from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. will cover 16 cities and one town in Metro Manila and is expected to draw 5 million to 6 million participants from both the government and private sectors.

Tolentino said the blaring of sirens and fire alarms and ringing of church bells will mark the start of the drill. He added the National Telecommunications Commission will also help in the information dissemination by sending text blast to Metro Manila residents to announce the event.

“We already discussed the text blast and the NTC will participate by providing text blast two hours before and two days before the drill. It’s a message from the MMDA to prevent rumors or prank text that there will be (actual) earthquake,” he said.

On Monday, Tolentino also signed an agreement with officers and members of the Philippine Mortuary Association, whom each member, committed to donate 500 body bags in the event an actual earthquake hits the metropolis. Joel E. Zurbano

FVR sets launch of ‘Sermons’ V10 THE Ramos Peace and Development Foundation (RPDEV) and the Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation are set to launch “Giving Back: Service and Legacy”, Volume X in the FVR “Sermons” series, on 21 July 2015 (Tuesday) at the Champagne Salon of the Manila Hotel at 3:30 p.m.

This book is about leadership, citizenship and responsibility—our responsibility to serve our beloved Philippines and to care, share and dare for others, particularly the marginalized. FVR once again reminds all Filipinos of the basic tasks that they have to do to move the country ahead to attain a better life for all: (1) Consolidate the Philippine National team, (2) continue building on the gains, (3) compete to win, and (4) clean up the messy things in government and in Society.

Government officials, diplomats, lawmakers, sectoral convenors, business CEOs, educators, journalists, veterans and other concerned citizens are expected to join the book launch.

t u e s d ay : j u ly 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

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news

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Labor Dept., Semirara to help miners’ families

Durian, anyone? A man decides whether he would buy fresh durian from Davao. DIANA B NOCHE

One hurt in killing try on sugar workers in Negros BACOLOD CITY—A farmer was wounded in an ambush allegedly perpetrated by goons of a local landlord in Salvador Benedicto town, Negros Occidental last Friday, July 17.

Reports received by the national agriworkers federation Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura stated that the victim, Ronel Bariga, was aboard a jeepney when two armed assailants in bonnets shot at the vehicle with caliber 9mm bullets. The driver, Ariel Ceballos, was unharmed.

The attack left the jeepney with seven bullet holes, grazing Bariga on the right side of his body and hitting Ceballos’ shirt.

The incident happened at around 3:00 pm while the victims were on their way to Barangay Igmaya-an to gather wood in a property sold by exMayor Nehemias de la Cruz to Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco.

The National Federation of Sugar Workers, UMA’s local affiliate in Negros, strongly condemned

the attempted extra-judicial killing. UMA and NFSW believe that its local coordinator in Salvador Benedicto town, Alexander Ceballos, Ariel’s father and brother-inlaw of Bariga, could be the original target of the said ambush.

According to UMA Acting Chairperson John Milton Lozande, sugar workers engaged in NFSW’s land cultivation campaign are constant targets of threats, intimidation and violent attacks by landlords with private armies and in cahoots with

armed state forces.

“Alexander Ceballos, who actively leads the land cultivation campaign in Barangay Igmayaan, has been receiving death threats from ex-Mayor dela Cruz’s camp. Dela Cruz is behind landgrabbing attempts involving a 25-hectare area made productive through the efforts of around 50 members of NFSW since 2013. The area is now planted to rice, corn, cassava, and bananas,” Lozande said. Lozande is also the secretary-general of NFSW.

By Vito Barcelo and Alena Mae Flores

The Department of Labor and employment will provide emergency livelihood assistance to more 500 workers of Semirara Coal and Power Corporation after its operation was ordered stopped due a landslide on July 17 that killed seven miners, with two others still missing.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said a team from the DoLE is now at the accident site and has joined the investigation being conducted by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, Department of Energy, Philippine National Police, and the local government unit of Caluya.

“The Department of Energy is on top of the Semirara coal mine investigation,” Baldoz explained.

The DOLE, according to her, ensures that mining companies are compliant with general labor standards and occupational safety and health standards, including the anti-child labor law.

Baldoz said that the coal mining company had been assessed and certified compliant with standards in the first quarter of the year.

Meanwhile, Semirara it has been cooperating fully with government authorities investigating the accident.

The company said the needs of the victims’ families remain a priority. “We have sought the assistance of religious nuns and professional counsellors to help the bereaved cope with their loss,” it said.

“We are facilitating the life and accident insurance claims of the victims. On top of the immediate release of additional funds to cover their transportation costs and other incidental expenses, we are providing P1 million to each of the nine grieving families,” it added.

The company also said it would shoulder education expenses, up to college, of the children of the victims.

A portion of the open mine pit collapsed last July 18 due to heavy rains in the Semirara island. Semirara Island hosts the country’s biggest coal mine located within the Caluya group of islands off northern Antique.

Semirara Mining is a unit of Philippine conglomerate DMCI Holdings and supplies more than 90 percent of the total coal production in the country.

There were nine workers at the site when the accident happened.

In February 2013, the west wall of the open pit mine had also collapsed, burying under mud and debris 13 workers and seven mining equipment of the firm.

Semirara can be reached from the mainland of Antique by boat.

Poorest region wants own senators

By Ronald O. Reyes TACLOBAN CITY—The lack of senators coming from Eastern Visayas is a reason why the region continue to lag behind, according to a newly formed regional group here.

“Eastern Visayas has been deprived, by the fault or otherwise of being not represented in the Upper Chamber. This could have contributed to why our region is one if not the poorest in the country,” said Ray Junia, lead convenor of newly-formed Waray in the Senate Movement.

“Nobody in the Senate has actually championed the cause of our region, while other regions have many,” he added.

According to Junia, it surprising that nobody has won a Senate seat coming from Eastern Visayas when the Waray (locals from the region) “are supposed to be all over the country.”

“There are lots of us, the Waray, in Manila, Mindanao, and across the country. Even Davao mayor Rodrigo Duterte claimed as

coming from Southern Leyte in the region, and even the mother of Manny Pacquiao, is a Waray,” Junia pointed out.

“So if we talk of numbers, yes we have the numbers,” Junia added.

In his analysis, Junia, who is also newspaper publisher, the reason why the region was not able to elect its own senator is because “nobody runs or attempts to run before that we considered winnable.”

“This time and in reports in national media we read interest of Energy Secretary and former Leyte governor Jericho ‘Icot’ Petilla in getting into the line-up of the administration party, and at the other end, our very good Leyte first district congressman Ferdinand Martin ‘FM’ According to Junia, the only problem now is how to push this into reality.

Back in the post-World War II era, the region had its first senator through the war hero Ruperto C. Kangleon of Macrohon, Southern Leyte.

Alternate route. More motorists have been using Marcos Highway after a landslide on Kennon road last week. DAVID CHAN

T U E S D AY : J U LY 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

A8

OPINION

ADELLE CHUA EDITOR

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

OPINION

EAGLE EYES DEAN TONY LA VIÑA

INTERGENERATIONAL EQUITY

[ EDI TORI A L ]

THIS IS NOT AN OBITUARY THE word “Ampatuan” carries a lot of meaning.

It refers to a town in Maguindanao province, a place marred by poverty as it is marked by beauty. It is populated by Muslim Filipinos who, like the rest of us, aspire to put food on the table and contemplate a brighter future for their children.

Ampatuan is also the family name of a man who died last Friday. Andal Ampatuan, Sr. is the patriarch of a political clan that has expanded its reach in Maguindanao and other places, ruling by their power and influence even as he began his career without education and money.

But when most of us hear “Ampatuan,” what comes to mind is a killing that occurred more than five years ago – a dark, dark day in history. Fifty-eight people in a convoy were murdered in broad daylight. Some of the dead were members of political families. Others were journalists and media workers. Others, bystanders who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The killings took place in November 2009, during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. As a result of the outrage over the audacity of the killings, the ruling political party expelled the Ampatuans – the family – as numerous witnesses tagged them as the ones behind the killings. After all, among the dead were the wife and sister of the man who would challenge the family’s grip on the province.

Arrests were made and hearings began, but it seemed inevitable that the case – cases, actually – would drag on for generations. There are almost 200 suspects named, only some of whom have been arrested and arraigned. The hearings continue at a slow pace even as a judge had been dedicated to hear no other cases but the ones related to the massacre.

Even the government’s lawyers, for a time, were wracked by squabbling and accusations of bribery – unfortunate, really, given the daunting task ahead of them and the sheer focus required of all those in the prosecution.

And as if the sorry pace of the case were not enough, impunity continues to instill fear and silence in many places in the country, especially in areas ruled by families thought of as infallible, almighty lords by their constituents. Or by themselves.

On Friday, the terminally ill Ampatuan Sr. suffered a heart attack and slipped into a coma. According to his lawyer, while he could still communicate, he insisted that he was innocent of all the charges against him.

With the Ampatuan patriarch dead, the other meanings of the word do not lose their weight – or baggage. Ampatuan will always be remembered as a dark day when some people believed they were too powerful and too invincible as to have terminated the lives of dozens and not pay for what they had done.

This is not an obituary because obituaries are for the dead and for the fond memories of the life they led. Ampatuan is not dead. It is a dark specter, alive and menacing, hovering above us. Ampatuan will always be remembered as a dark day when some people believed they were above the law, and so powerful that they could snuff out dozens of lives without being called to account for their heinous actions.

RENE’S EJACULATION LOWDOWN JOJO A. ROBLES I’VE always admired former Senator Rene Saguisag, from the time he was a fearless human rights lawyer during the Marcos regime, through the years he served with distinction in government and in his latest incarnation, when he has taken up his pen to write erudite columns in another newspaper. To me, Saguisag

has always embodied traits that have mostly disappeared among our public officials, especially integrity, courage and perspicacity.

But Saguisag’s latest broadside against two congressmen who have filed a case of treason and inciting to sedition against the government officials who crafted and are pushing the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law leaves me cold, for a number of reasons. I may not have Saguisag’s remarkable facility with the English language, but I

shall endeavor to explain, anyway.

First of all, I have a problem with Saguisag not coming out in the open – in both his column and in his formal complaint against party-list Congressmen Lito Atienza and Jonathan dela Cruz – that he is the lawyer of the respondents. Yes, Saguisag has declared before the Manila prosecutor’s office that he is representing Secretary of the Peace Process Teresita Deles, government negotiating panel chairman Miriam Coronel

A9

I wonder if, by attempting to revive interest in the treason and sedition cases, Saguisag is not lawyering again for his clients.

Ferrer, Supreme Court Associate Justice Mario Victor Leonen (who is being charged as the original state representative in the negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front) and the other respondents.

Saguisag has appeared as lawyer twice for Deles et al. before the fiscal’s office, which has appointed a panel of three prosecutors to handle the very serious case filed

by Atienza, Dela Cruz, lawyer Jeremy Gatdula and former Ambassador Jose Romero.

And yet, in his column accusing the complainants of “prosecutorial terrorism,” he

only mentions that he has “no purely personal stake [in] the matter.”

Saguisag said he has also filed a formal complaint before Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. against the two congressmen for taking the government’s peace negotiators to court. I have not had the pleasure of reading the complaint, but nowhere is the fact that Saguisag is the lawyer of Deles and the others mentioned in all the reports on his complaint to the speaker that I have read.

Published Monday to Sunday by Philippine Manila Standard Publishing Inc. at 6/F Universal Re Building, 106 Paseo de Roxas, corner Perea St., Legaspi Village, Makati City.

Telephone numbers 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558 (connecting all departments), (Editorial), 832-5546, (Advertising), 832-

The Saguisag of old never had any qualms about declaring who his clients were, whether they were victims of Ferdinand Marcos’ repressive rule or then-President Joseph Estrada, whom Saguisag defended after the latter was impeached. I wonder why he makes no clear declaration that he has a dog in the current fight, as they say, as well. *** Secondly, I have a problem with Saguisag calling the filing of

5550. P.O. Box 2933, Manila Central Post Office, Manila. Website: www. manilastandardtoday.com E-mail: contact@thestandard.com.ph

MST ONLINE

can be accessed at: www.manilastandardtoday.com

MEMBER

PPI

Philippine Press Institute The National Association of Philippine Newspapers

charges against Deles and the others a case of “prosecutorial terrorism,” which I confess I truly don’t understand. Based on his statements, however, I think what Saguisag means is that Atienza and Dela Cruz should not have gone to court because they are already congressmen and should have merely contented themselves with voting on the measure when the opportunity arises in the House plenary.

Continued on A11

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. Isabel “Gina” P. Verzosa Head, Advertising Solutions Anita F. Grefal Treasury Manager Edgar M. Valmorida Circulation Manager

THIS is the ninth column of my series on the papal encyclical Laudato Si’. In this column, I highlight Pope Francis’ explanation of the importance of the principle of intergenerational equity. In the clearest of language, he says solidarity with future generations is not optional, but rather a basic question of justice.

This is because the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us. Indeed, the idea of the common good extends to future generations.

The truth is that there is no sustainable development without intergenerational solidarity: “Once we start to think about the kind of world we are leaving to future generations, we look at things differently; we realize that the world is a gift which we have freely received and must share with others. Since the world has been given to us, we can no longer view reality in a purely utilitarian way, in which efficiency and productivity are entirely geared to our individual benefit.

Intergenerational solidarity is not optional, but rather a basic question of justice, since the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us.” (LS 159) To elaborate further the principle of intergenerational equity, the Pope asks: “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?” For Pope Francis, this is not just an environment question that can be addressed in isolation or approached piecemeal. According to him: “When we ask ourselves what kind of world we want to leave behind, we think in the first place of its general direction, its meaning and its values. Unless we struggle with these deeper issues, I do not believe that our concern for ecology will produce significant results.

But if these issues are courageously faced, we are led inexorably to ask other pointed questions: What is the purpose of our life in this world?

Why are we here? What is the goal of our work and all our efforts?

What need does the earth have of us? “ (LS 160) Continued on A11

Rolando G. Estabillo Jojo A. Robles Ramonchito L. Tomeldan Chin Wong/Ray S. Eñano Francis Lagniton Joyce Pangco Pañares Adelle Chua Romel J. Mendez Roberto Cabrera

Publisher Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Associate Editors News Editor City Editor Senior Deskman Art Director Chief Photographer

Emil P. Jurado Chairman Emeritus, Editiorial Board

T U E S D AY : J U LY 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

A8

OPINION

ADELLE CHUA EDITOR

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

OPINION

EAGLE EYES DEAN TONY LA VIÑA

INTERGENERATIONAL EQUITY

[ EDI TORI A L ]

THIS IS NOT AN OBITUARY THE word “Ampatuan” carries a lot of meaning.

It refers to a town in Maguindanao province, a place marred by poverty as it is marked by beauty. It is populated by Muslim Filipinos who, like the rest of us, aspire to put food on the table and contemplate a brighter future for their children.

Ampatuan is also the family name of a man who died last Friday. Andal Ampatuan, Sr. is the patriarch of a political clan that has expanded its reach in Maguindanao and other places, ruling by their power and influence even as he began his career without education and money.

But when most of us hear “Ampatuan,” what comes to mind is a killing that occurred more than five years ago – a dark, dark day in history. Fifty-eight people in a convoy were murdered in broad daylight. Some of the dead were members of political families. Others were journalists and media workers. Others, bystanders who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The killings took place in November 2009, during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. As a result of the outrage over the audacity of the killings, the ruling political party expelled the Ampatuans – the family – as numerous witnesses tagged them as the ones behind the killings. After all, among the dead were the wife and sister of the man who would challenge the family’s grip on the province.

Arrests were made and hearings began, but it seemed inevitable that the case – cases, actually – would drag on for generations. There are almost 200 suspects named, only some of whom have been arrested and arraigned. The hearings continue at a slow pace even as a judge had been dedicated to hear no other cases but the ones related to the massacre.

Even the government’s lawyers, for a time, were wracked by squabbling and accusations of bribery – unfortunate, really, given the daunting task ahead of them and the sheer focus required of all those in the prosecution.

And as if the sorry pace of the case were not enough, impunity continues to instill fear and silence in many places in the country, especially in areas ruled by families thought of as infallible, almighty lords by their constituents. Or by themselves.

On Friday, the terminally ill Ampatuan Sr. suffered a heart attack and slipped into a coma. According to his lawyer, while he could still communicate, he insisted that he was innocent of all the charges against him.

With the Ampatuan patriarch dead, the other meanings of the word do not lose their weight – or baggage. Ampatuan will always be remembered as a dark day when some people believed they were too powerful and too invincible as to have terminated the lives of dozens and not pay for what they had done.

This is not an obituary because obituaries are for the dead and for the fond memories of the life they led. Ampatuan is not dead. It is a dark specter, alive and menacing, hovering above us. Ampatuan will always be remembered as a dark day when some people believed they were above the law, and so powerful that they could snuff out dozens of lives without being called to account for their heinous actions.

RENE’S EJACULATION LOWDOWN JOJO A. ROBLES I’VE always admired former Senator Rene Saguisag, from the time he was a fearless human rights lawyer during the Marcos regime, through the years he served with distinction in government and in his latest incarnation, when he has taken up his pen to write erudite columns in another newspaper. To me, Saguisag

has always embodied traits that have mostly disappeared among our public officials, especially integrity, courage and perspicacity.

But Saguisag’s latest broadside against two congressmen who have filed a case of treason and inciting to sedition against the government officials who crafted and are pushing the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law leaves me cold, for a number of reasons. I may not have Saguisag’s remarkable facility with the English language, but I

shall endeavor to explain, anyway.

First of all, I have a problem with Saguisag not coming out in the open – in both his column and in his formal complaint against party-list Congressmen Lito Atienza and Jonathan dela Cruz – that he is the lawyer of the respondents. Yes, Saguisag has declared before the Manila prosecutor’s office that he is representing Secretary of the Peace Process Teresita Deles, government negotiating panel chairman Miriam Coronel

A9

I wonder if, by attempting to revive interest in the treason and sedition cases, Saguisag is not lawyering again for his clients.

Ferrer, Supreme Court Associate Justice Mario Victor Leonen (who is being charged as the original state representative in the negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front) and the other respondents.

Saguisag has appeared as lawyer twice for Deles et al. before the fiscal’s office, which has appointed a panel of three prosecutors to handle the very serious case filed

by Atienza, Dela Cruz, lawyer Jeremy Gatdula and former Ambassador Jose Romero.

And yet, in his column accusing the complainants of “prosecutorial terrorism,” he

only mentions that he has “no purely personal stake [in] the matter.”

Saguisag said he has also filed a formal complaint before Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. against the two congressmen for taking the government’s peace negotiators to court. I have not had the pleasure of reading the complaint, but nowhere is the fact that Saguisag is the lawyer of Deles and the others mentioned in all the reports on his complaint to the speaker that I have read.

Published Monday to Sunday by Philippine Manila Standard Publishing Inc. at 6/F Universal Re Building, 106 Paseo de Roxas, corner Perea St., Legaspi Village, Makati City.

Telephone numbers 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558 (connecting all departments), (Editorial), 832-5546, (Advertising), 832-

The Saguisag of old never had any qualms about declaring who his clients were, whether they were victims of Ferdinand Marcos’ repressive rule or then-President Joseph Estrada, whom Saguisag defended after the latter was impeached. I wonder why he makes no clear declaration that he has a dog in the current fight, as they say, as well. *** Secondly, I have a problem with Saguisag calling the filing of

5550. P.O. Box 2933, Manila Central Post Office, Manila. Website: www. manilastandardtoday.com E-mail: contact@thestandard.com.ph

MST ONLINE

can be accessed at: www.manilastandardtoday.com

MEMBER

PPI

Philippine Press Institute The National Association of Philippine Newspapers

charges against Deles and the others a case of “prosecutorial terrorism,” which I confess I truly don’t understand. Based on his statements, however, I think what Saguisag means is that Atienza and Dela Cruz should not have gone to court because they are already congressmen and should have merely contented themselves with voting on the measure when the opportunity arises in the House plenary.

Continued on A11

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. Isabel “Gina” P. Verzosa Head, Advertising Solutions Anita F. Grefal Treasury Manager Edgar M. Valmorida Circulation Manager

THIS is the ninth column of my series on the papal encyclical Laudato Si’. In this column, I highlight Pope Francis’ explanation of the importance of the principle of intergenerational equity. In the clearest of language, he says solidarity with future generations is not optional, but rather a basic question of justice.

This is because the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us. Indeed, the idea of the common good extends to future generations.

The truth is that there is no sustainable development without intergenerational solidarity: “Once we start to think about the kind of world we are leaving to future generations, we look at things differently; we realize that the world is a gift which we have freely received and must share with others. Since the world has been given to us, we can no longer view reality in a purely utilitarian way, in which efficiency and productivity are entirely geared to our individual benefit.

Intergenerational solidarity is not optional, but rather a basic question of justice, since the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us.” (LS 159) To elaborate further the principle of intergenerational equity, the Pope asks: “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?” For Pope Francis, this is not just an environment question that can be addressed in isolation or approached piecemeal. According to him: “When we ask ourselves what kind of world we want to leave behind, we think in the first place of its general direction, its meaning and its values. Unless we struggle with these deeper issues, I do not believe that our concern for ecology will produce significant results.

But if these issues are courageously faced, we are led inexorably to ask other pointed questions: What is the purpose of our life in this world?

Why are we here? What is the goal of our work and all our efforts?

What need does the earth have of us? “ (LS 160) Continued on A11

Rolando G. Estabillo Jojo A. Robles Ramonchito L. Tomeldan Chin Wong/Ray S. Eñano Francis Lagniton Joyce Pangco Pañares Adelle Chua Romel J. Mendez Roberto Cabrera

Publisher Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Associate Editors News Editor City Editor Senior Deskman Art Director Chief Photographer

Emil P. Jurado Chairman Emeritus, Editiorial Board

T U E S D AY : J U LY 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

A10

OPINION lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

WHAT AQUINO FEARS MOST TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

THERE has been a lot of speculation on the series of meetings between President Aquino and Senator Grace Poe, especially that one with the administration’s presumptive presidential candidate, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, and Senator Francis Escudero.

There is talk that the President tried to make Grace run as Mar’s vice president, or that he dissuaded Poe and Escudero from running as independent candidates, or that the Grace-Chiz tandem would take off since Grace has been doing well in surveys, anyway.

With the headlines saying that no consensus was arrived at after the meetings, now people are saying that the President failed to convince Poe and Escudero, and as a result, the coalition would now be splintered.

If the President is alarmed, I can’t blame him. With Grace and Chiz running as independents, it’s more likely that the Nationalist People’s Coalition would adopt them.

Will Grace and Chiz run as a team and as independents in 2016?

From the looks of it, they will. Why else would they be hitting the road, together, already?

More importantly, the President fears that civil and criminal cases would be brought against him the moment he steps down. I can assure him of that; I know for a fact that well-known legal luminaries (retired justices and constitutional experts) have been meeting regularly to finetune their cases against President Aquino.

These will surely land him in jail.

He could depend on Mar to protest and defend him, but the

prospects of Mar winning in 2016 is nil. And that’s precisely why the President wants Grace to be Mar’s running mate.

Vice President Jejomar Binay said that Malacanang is simply dribbling the news to make it appear that a Mar and Grace tandem will also become unbeatable.

The big question now is, is Grace Poe truly unbeatable?

Like what I said in my earlier columns, to win the presidency in our kind of elections, a candidate must not only be popular. He or she must have grassroots machinery, and money -- lots of it.

He is deathly afraid of going to jail, like what happened to his immediate predecessor.

While I admit that Grace has been popular, it was mainly due to the fact that she chose “Poe” as her name, not her real name (Grace Poe Llamanzares). The fact is that she married a Fil-Am, lived in the United States for some time and carried an American passport she frequently used even while she came back after her adoptive father, FPJ died.

While Grace is perceived to be honest, independent-minded and with integrity, my gulay, that’s not all there is to it in becoming President.

I believe that Grace is not yet ripe for the presidency in 2016. She has seen too much, too soon, and it looks like the adulation of many on her has gone to her head already.

PORK BY ANY OTHER NAME IS there still pork in the national budget?

The question is pretty straightforward so it is reasonable to expect a similarly straight answer.

Unfortunately, what we’ve been given instead are the convoluted explanations about the difference between “post-enactment” and “pre-enactment interventions” as far as the national budget is concerned. All the hemming and hawing only serve to reinforce the general suspicion that something is wrong somewhere.

We do get what the administration and its supporters (notably among them Senator Francis Escudero) have been trying to say, which is that lawmakers are no longer given blanket approval to determine where and how their budget allocations would go during the implementation of the budget. Presumably, legislators must now “make their requests” prior to the approval of the budget and that these “requests” need to be reflected in the respective budgets of the various departments. In short, legislators can still identify pet projects, advance certain advocacies, and maneuver to deliver benefits or advantages to his or her district - exactly what the pork barrel system was about. It’s been camouflaged, sanitized, dressed-up, relabelled, and repackaged, but pork is still there.

In the interest of being truthful, I don’t recall that President B. S. Aquino committed to abolish the pork barrel system. His preference, at least according to Budget Secretary Butch Abad, was to reform the system. It can be recalled that he did put up a great defense of the Disbursement Acceleration Program, which was widely referred to as the biggest pork of all. When the Supreme Court rendered the DAP unconstitutional, he went through the equivalent of a public tantrum. When faced with overwhelming arguments *** There is Senator Bongbong Marcos to reckon with for the Nacionalista Party.

With his stand on the constitutionally-flawed Bangsamoro Basic Law which is a no-no to many Filipinos, the Marcos name has been resurrected.

I’m counting out Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte with the equation. While he is idolized by some sectors with his policy against crime and illegal drugs, there are many who fear

ARE WE THERE YET? BONG C. AUSTERO about how the pork barrel system was inevitably linked to corruption and tended to perpetuate political patronage, the President pulled out the card that has worked well every single time he was in a political bind: He made the issue personal, took the whole issue as an affront on his personal integrity, and accused his critics of trying to sabotage all the good things he has been trying to do for this country.

Based on the revelations of Senators Panfilo Lacson and Serge Osmena, there is a lot of pork in the current budget and even in the 2016 national budget as well. What is even more astonishing is that there are now no limits assigned to specific legislators insofar as the amount of projects they can request for. In the current budget, billions of pesos were allocated for projects endorsed by certain senators. What we can conclude right off is that the executive branch has now been given absolute decisionmaking powers over “requests” of legislators. It’s not far-fetched to imagine a scenario where this power can still be used as leverage to garner a legislator’s support for certain initiatives of the executive branch. And while the money will no longer go through the office of the senators who endorsed the project, the senators can still claim ownership of the projects and can still make political capital out of government money. In short, the new system has not really addressed many of the things that people found objectionable with the pork barrel system!

The kickbacks and commissions that legislators derived

that if he becomes president, he will become a dictator.

When I speak of the need for grassroots following and money, I think of Binay. He has certainly prepared well all these years.

Binay’s long chairmanship of the Boy Scout of the Philippines has made millions of Filipinos aware of who he is. This is what I call grassroots networking.

The battleground in next year’s election will surely be the “masa” who constitute more

from the pork barrel system were objectionable. But these were not the end-all and be-all of the campaign to abolish the pork barrel system. The fact that Janet Napoles or that Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, and Ramon Revilla Jr. are in jail is not enough.

We want the pork barrel system abolished because it nurtures political patronage which is the cancer that gnaws at our political system. The job of legislators is to enact laws. Senators and congressmen have no business spending public money for purposes other than for the creation of laws designed to nurture an enabling environment for all. Legislators should be judged - elected, re-elected, or booted out of office - on the basis of their performance as a maker of laws, and never on their capability to deliver benefits and advantages to their constituents. Otherwise we’ll forever be doomed to the spectacle of watching senators and congressmen make utter fools of themselves as legislators. If we truly want significant changes in this country, let’s begin by electing the right leaders - and we cannot do so until and unless we abolish the system that feeds political patronage.

The pork barrel system breeds both illegitimate and unethical practices. There is clearly something wrong in a system where government projects are linked to political personages. The independence of either branch of government is severely undermined when government projects can be used as leverage in political machinations.

It must be reiterated: If we truly want change in our political system, the pork barrel - in all its forms - must be abolished. Too bad, however, that people seem to be already content with the fact that Napoles and company are already in jail. Continued on A11

than 60 percent of the voters, living in the provinces and rural areas. To them, every election is a personal thing-who can best give them a better life and provide them jobs? They don’t care for national issues, like corruption, growth of the country’s GDP or Gross Domestic Product, or the increasing incursion of China into West Philippine Sea and even the Bangsamoro Basic Law. What the “masa” want from national candidates are answers

to the following: Who can uplift their lives, give them food on the table, and provide them jobs?

Here in Metro Manila, we can argue and debate until kingdom come over the gross incompetence of Transportation Secretary Jun Abaya on poor mass transit system, and over the procurement of vehicle license plates.

But foremost on the minds of the masses are food and employment.

These are issues they can understand.

T U E S D AY : J U LY 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

OPINION lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

HAIL TO THE CHAIR VICTOR AVECILLA EARLIER this month, some 35 Philippine government officials went to The Hague in the Netherlands to attend the hearing of the arbitration case the Philippines lodged against Communist China regarding Beijing’s illegal expansionist activities in the West Philippine Sea. The case was filed with the United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Assisting the country is a panel of five American and British legal experts hired

by Manila.

The entourage includes Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Benjamin Caguioa, and Supreme Court Justices Antonio Carpio and Francis Jardeleza. Also present were House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr., Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Jr., Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra, and deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte.

Since Beijing does not recognize the jurisdiction of the international forum, it did not send any lawyers to the hearing.

Accordingly, the hearings on the Philippine position were relatively brief. Arguments embodied in at least 4,000 pages of documents submitted by Manila to the international arbitration court were underscored, and the judges inquired about matters not taken up thoroughly in the pleadings.

Manila was sufficiently represented by the American and British legal experts it hired for the case – at public expense, of course. Being so, was it important for all those big names in the Philippine political scene to be present at The Hague?

I n t e rg e n e ra t i o n a l . .

From A9 In answering these questions, Pope Francis then observes that it is not sufficient to just state that we should be concerned for future generations: “We need to see that what is at stake is our own dignity. Leaving an inhabitable planet to future generations is, first and foremost, up to us. The issue is one which dramatically affects us, for it has to do with the ultimate meaning of our earthly sojourn.” (LS 160) Laudato Si’ warns that we cannot underestimate the harm we have done to the world and on future generations to whom we are leaving “debris, desolation and filth”.

The encyclical points out how rampant and unbridled consumption and waste are stretching our planet’s capacity; that today’s lifestyle can only result in environmental catastrophes. Thus, Pope Francis calls for decisive action here and now and encourages us to reflect on our accountability to future generations who will have to endure the consequences of our actions.

Pope Francis links our failure to take care of our planet to ethical and cultural decline: “Men and women of

ADELLE CHUA EDITOR

A11

A JUNKET IN HOLLAND AT PUBLIC EXPENSE FOR BELMONTE, OCHOA AND DE LIMA Solicitor General Hilbay is the lawyer of the national government. Since the views of his office are sought in issues relating to treaties, international agreements, and international legal concerns, his presence at the hearing was justified.

He is a bar topnotcher, and he is knowledgeable in the field of International Law, the branch of Law which governs international arbitration.

Secretary del Rosario heads the foreign affairs department of the country, and Secretary Gazmin is in charge of national defense. Since the dispute in the West Philippine Sea involves issues relating to foreign affairs and national defense, their presence at the hearings seems justified.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Caguioa is supposed to be the legal mind of President Benigno Aquino III. Since the President has to know his legal options in the maritime dispute with Beijing, the presence of Caguioa at the hearing appears warranted.

The presence of Justices Carpio and Jardeleza at the hearing is undoubtedly vital to the Philippine cause. Carpio is noted for his extensive legal research on the dispute in the West Philippine Sea. He is also the main man behind the recent documentary film about the illegality of Communist Chinese reclamation activities in the area – a documentary that has angered Beijing. Jardeleza was already deeply involved in the legal aspects of the maritime dispute when he was still solicitor general.

On the other hand, there seems to be no valid reason for the presence of the other government officials.

our postmodern world run the risk of rampant individualism, and many problems of society are connected with today’s self-centred culture of instant gratification. We see this in the crisis of family and social ties and the difficulties of recognizing the other. Parents can be prone to impulsive and wasteful consumption, which then affects their children who find it increasingly difficult to acquire a home of their own and build a family.” In addition, what is preventing us from considering seriously impact of our actions on future generations is because of “our inability to broaden the scope of our present interests and to give consideration to those who remain excluded from development”. In this regard, Pope Francis calls “not only for a fairer sense of intergenerational solidarity there is also an urgent moral need for a renewed sense of intragenerational solidarity” (LS 161) Intergenerational equity is thankfully not a new concept in both international and Philippines law. Edith Brown Weiss, a professor of law in Georgetown University, was one of the first to elaborate the concept in her 1989 book “In Fairness to Future Generations:

What was House Speaker Belmonte doing there? The House has no direct role in international relations. Under the Constitution, treaties are entered into by the President, not the House; treaties require the concurrence of the Senate, not the House; and the validity of treaties is resolved by the Supreme Court, not the House. Belmonte was not needed at the hearing.

Although Belmonte met Filipino communist leaders at a Japanese restaurant in Amsterdam while he was there, and that the meeting created prospects for admittedly useless negotiations between the Aquino regime and local communist leaders, it still does not justify Belmonte’s inclusion in the entourage.

Why were Messrs. Ochoa and Guevarra in The Hague? The executive department was sufficiently represented by Secretaries del Rosario and Gazmin, and by the presidential legal counsel. What information can Ochoa and Guevarra possibly relay to President Aquino that Solicitor General Hilbay, Caguioa, and Secretaries del Rosario and Gazmin will be unable to relay themselves?

There is no immediate connection between Justice Secretary de Lima and the dispute in the West Philippine Sea. De Lima should have remained in Manila to attend to the backlog of cases in her turf.

Belmonte, Ochoa, Guevarra, and de Lima are not publicly known as experts in International Law. Their possible contribution to the legal arguments at the hearing is speculative.

Presidential spokesman Valte was not needed there. Tech-savvy officials like Hilbay and Carpio can send the news to Valte in Manila through cyberspace.

International Law, Common Patrimony, and Intergenerational Equity”. In the Philippines, the 1994 case of Oposa vs. Factoran recognized this principle with the Supreme Court allowing the petitioners, who were minors, to represent their generation as well as generations yet unborn. According to then-Chief Justice Hilario Davide: “We find no difficulty in ruling that they can, for themselves, for others of their generation and for the succeeding generations, file a class suit. Their personality to sue in behalf of the succeeding generations can only be based on the concept of intergenerational responsibility insofar as the right to a balanced and healthful ecology is concerned . . . Needless to say, every generation has a responsibility to the next to preserve that rhythm and harmony for the full enjoyment of a balanced and healthful ecology. Put a little differently, the minors’ assertion of their right to a sound environment constitutes, at the same time, the performance of their obligation to ensure the protection of that right for the generations to come.”

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Rene’s..From A9 I didn’t know that becoming a congressman stopped anyone from going to court, especially when one intends to file a criminal complaint, which is what Atienza and Dela Cruz did. Indeed, if Saguisag’s fear is that having lawmakers as complainants gives Atienza and Dela Cruz undue advantage over the subjects of their complaint, well, Saguisag has also noted that the President himself is pushing the BBL – and the Chief Executive surely has a lot more “juice” than two congressmen who are not even in the palace-friendly majority in the House.

Besides, from my understanding of what Congress does, I agree with Saguisag that its function is to legislate. And that is why, when congressmen want to file a criminal complaint, they should not bring the matter to the House but to the courts.

And when Saguisag asked Belmonte to look into whether two of his House’s members acted ethically by filing the case, “as a guide to future action and prevent a re-

Pork..From A10

*** Senators Grace Poe and Francis Escudero have so far refrained from confirming their plans for 2016, but it doesn’t take a genius to read their behavior. Why would they go through all that trouble to meet with the President in Malacanang, and on several occasions at that, if they didn’t have the intention to run in 2016?

To my mind, a clear indication that Senator Escudero is seriously considering running for any of the top two posts in 2016 is the sudden appearance of anti-Escudero materials in various social networking sites.

He is now a target of political assassination.

I have received in my inbox at least two versions of a white paper that essentially la-

A photograph taken of the Philippine entourage waiting at the courtroom published in the news media, shows many officials either sitting listlessly in the room, or clowning around with unidentified government underlings in the rear. One is seen toying around with his camera.

Other countries which have cases in international tribunals only send one or two ranking officials, and only as many lawyers as are necessary to argue their case in the hearings. This way, responsibility for the handling of the case is easily ascertained, and taxpayers’ money is not wasted. The Philippines should follow this example.

What happened in The Hague is that several Philippine government officials needlessly tagged along on an official mission, and enjoyed a European junket, complete with all the trimmings of diplomatic privilege, at the expense of the Filipino taxpayers. Would these tag-along officials have gone to The Hague if their vacation expenses were to come from their own pockets? It’s easy to spend money when it isn’t yours.

How much public money was wasted by these tourists-officials? That money could have been spent on additional allowances for the Philippine marines guarding the reefs in the West Philippine Sea which are still flying the Philippine flag.

Wasting taxpayers’ money is as bad as stealing it. So before the Aquino administration continues accusing political opposition leaders in the country of any wrongdoing, Malacañang should explain to the people why government officials who were not needed at the hearing in Holland went there at public expense. peat of premature ejaculation, as it were, [by] causing needless [inter-]departmental squabble,” the former senator must not have appreciated the fact the tension that he talked about was precisely being caused by the heavy-handed pressure being applied by Malacanang on Congress to pass the BBL. No wonder two congressmen had decided to go to the extreme measure of asking the judiciary to intervene – a recourse I am sure Saguisag is familiar with, from his days as a lawyer asking the courts to stop a dictator and his rubber-stamp legislature from doing whatever they pleased.

These days, of course, when most people believe that the BBL is already dead in the water, things are way different. And I sincerely wonder if, by attempting to revive interest in the treason and sedition cases, Saguisag is not actually lawyering again for his clients outside of the prosecutor’s office, where he really belongs in this case.

But that would probably mean that Saguisag’s latest ejaculation came way too late.

If BBL is well and truly dead, no amount of copulation with it will do any good. bel Escudero as a traitor, opportunist, and a philandering arrogant boor. Most of the allegations in the white paper are actually dated but the accusations that his ties with Senator Poe is further evidence of his opportunism seems to strike a chord in many.

It is easy to dismiss the allegations as politically-motivated. However, I do think that allegations of treachery is deadly for any political candidate. I think that voters in general will prefer a crook to a traitor, anytime. I have been in a number of occasions where people tended to believe the worst of the senator. If Escudero really intends to run for either president or vice president in 2016, he needs to do something to counter the wallop that he has been dealt with this early.

T UE S DAY : J ULY 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

A12

SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

Amateur Dunne grabs share of lead ST ANDREWS—Irish amateur Paul Dunne will take a share of the lead into the final round of the British Open after taking on and matching the best golfers in the world at St Andrews on Sunday.

The 22-year-old from Greystones, a coastal town south of Dublin, carded a 66 to stun the rest of the field and shock thousands of fans assembled at the Old Course, who wondered who he was.

The last amateur to win the Open title was the legendary Bobby Jones in 1930 when amateur players were common. These days the target is usually just to make the cut.

Now the slightly-built Dunne has the chance of pulling off one of the most extraordinary wins of all time.

He ended the day tied for the lead at 12 under with the last man to win the Open at St Andrews, Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa (67), and Australian shot-maker Jason Day (67).

“It’s surreal I’m leading The Open, but I can easily believe that I shot the three scores that I shot,” he said.

“If we were playing

an amateur event here, I wouldn’t be too surprised by the scores I shot.

“It’s just lucky that it happens to be in the biggest event in the world.

Hopefully I can do it again tomorrow, but whether I do or not, you know, I’ll survive either way.”

Jordan Spieth, meanwhile, fuelled his hopes of becoming just the second player to win the first three majors of the year when he fired a third round sixunder 66.

Only Ben Hogan before him has achieved the feat, in 1953, when he was 40.

Spieth, who won the Masters in April and the US Open last month, is just 21.

The Texan ended the day alone at 11-under par, one shot off the leading trio.

A shot further back came two-time former winner Padraig Harrington of Ireland, who had the day’s second best round of 65. AFP

Bulldogs crush Warriors Home Ultera.

NATIONGames tomorrow Reigning AL Uni1 p.m.- FEU vs EAC versity kept 3 p.m.- Arellano vs La Salle NCAA champion Emilio University 5 p.m.- Mapua vs NCBA Aguinaldo of the East’s College and hitters in check all game as the Bull- National College of Business dogs romped away with a and Arts trail NU with one 25-15, 25-22, 25-11 victory to win apiece while UAAP tiwrest the Group A lead in the tlist Ateneo, University of the Spikers’ Turf Season 1-Col- Philippines and St. Benilde legiate Conference at The lead Group B with one victory each.

Arena in San Juan yesterday.

Kim Malabunga and MadThe Bulldogs sustained their vaunted attacking game zlan Gampong came away they flaunted in dominat- with four blocks each as NU ing the Mapua Cardinal last produced a total of 13 as week but it was their superb against a measly one-block net defense that anchored output by the Warriors. Matheir 62-minute win over the labunga went on to topscore Warriors to stay on track of with 12 hits while Gampong their quarterfinals drive in ended up with 10 markers.

“Our blocking was great,” the country’s first-ever men’s intercollegiate volley tour- said NU coach Dante Alinnament presented by PLDT sunurin.

Ireland’s amateur golfer Paul Dunne lines up his putt on the 8th green during his third round 66, on Day 4 of the 2015 British Open Golf Championship on The Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland. The 22-year-old Dunne from Greystones, a coastal town just south of Dublin, is the first amateur to be at the top of the leaderboard after three rounds since Bobby Jones in 1927. AFP

Clutario paces World Cup ladies’ kegfest FORMER national champion Liza Clutario rolled a 10-game series of 2015 pinfalls last Sunday at Paeng’s Midtown Bowl to tow 33 other pintopplers into the second round of the 2015 Bowling World Cup ladies’ national championship.

Clutario shot high games of 257, 235 and 221 to take a 44-pin lead over last year’s international BWC finalist Liza del Rosario, who fired 236 in the ninth game to wind up with 1971 going into today’s second series of 10 games at Superbowl.

Krizziah Tabora checked in third with 1965, followed by Alexis Sy (1875), Lara Posadas (1859), Myrna Bautista (1791), Farah Onasa (1772), Anne Marie Kiac (1760), Jo Anne Bonifacio (1748) and Luz Lagmay (1737).

Del Rosario also fired another 236 and a 233 to remain within striking distance of Clutario. Posadas shot the day’s high game of 266 in the first

NRG President Josuard I. Gonzales (left) and former national athlete table tennis player and NRG CEO Julius Esposo hand out a cash incentive to Richard Gonzales in recognition of his silvermedal feat in the 2015 SEA Games.

game, but she lost her touch after that.

The top eight lady finishers after today’s action will advance to the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals of the prestigious event on Thursday, July 23 at SM North EDSA. Youthful Kenneth Chua and 33 others were vying in the second set of 12 games in the men’s division at Superbowl at press time yesterday.

The top eight after yesterday’s 12 games will move into the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals on Thursday, July 23 at SM North EDSA. Chua sparkled with a 12-game series of 2758 at the start of the men’s championship last Saturday at Paeng’s Midtown Bowl to pull away from veteran rivals Benshir Layoso (2521), Biboy Rivera (2480) and sixtime world titlist Paeng Nepomuceno (2432).

The men’s and ladies’ champions will represent the Philippines in the

51st BWC international finals slated on November 13 to 20, this year at Sam’s Town in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Del Rosario and Rivera competed in last year’s international finals in Wroclaw, Poland, both finishing in fourth place.

The 24 other lady contenders with their respective scores are: Gina Varilla (1715), Bernadette Ipapo (1686), Abbie Gan (1662), Pure Anselmo (1659), Lilian Teano (1637), Rica Macatula (1613), Nancy Frianeza (1611), Geraldine dela Rosa (1610), Ofelia Iriberri (1609), Tess Eusebio (1609), Leah Plucena (1592), Susan Viray (1587), Arlena Bucao (1578), Leah Naorbe (1577), Jessica Myles Rivera (1573), Alyssa dela Rosa (1554), Sherry Ann Cruz (1510), Silva Yap (1504), April Anne Roxas (1491), Therese Dominique Lopez (1489), Cita Yumul (1470), Cindy Edquilane (1446), Meriam Garcia (1426) and Melshared Luzon (1385).

Filipino tablenetter’s feat recognized SOUTHEAST Asian Games’ silver medalist Richard Gonzales, the country’s oldest national athlete at 44, was recognized by private company NRG as one of the notable Filipino athletes, who performed incredibly during the biennial meet in Singapore.

Gonzales, an army reserve, bagged his second table tennis silver SEAG medal in Singapore last June after winning his first in 2005, when the country hosted the biennial meet. He is a national team member for more than 20 years.

“At NRG (NRG Health and Wealth Corporation), we salute people like Richard. I played for the Philippine table tennis team in the past SEA GAMES, too,” said NRG CEO Julius Esposo. “And I know how our athletes get less than ideal support.”

Esposo added: “Teams not being able to train going to international events even though lacking in budget is not new at all. We want to help change that in our own little way, and recognizing people like Richard is a start for us. You win and you lose based on how much you put in

your training. I think it’s a reflection of how you do other things in life. And in NRG, one of our guiding principles is wanting a better life for people. We put this in consideration when designing compensation programs and creating high quality products for our consumers.”

NRG is a young and progressive company inspired by the will to enable Filipinos to be gainfully productive and financially independent through its distribution of excellent quality and globally competitive products and services.

T UE S DAY : J ULY 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

A13

SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

Messi needs to rest, says coach Enrique LOS ANGELE—The logistics of Barcelona’s North American tour are tough enough, coach Luis Enrique makes no apologies for letting stars including Lionel Messi skip the pre-season excursion.

The Spanish giants landed in Los Angeles on Sunday to begin preparations for a three-match tour that opens with a game against Major League Soccer’s Los Angeles Galaxy at the Rose Bowl on Tuesday.

Enrique and captain Andres Iniesta were fresh off the bus from the airport when they met with the media, the team having been cheered upon arrival at their hotel by a gaggle of Barcelona fans.

Asked if he owed those fans a chance to see players like Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi and Brazilian Neymar, Enrique said his first duty was to get those players some much-needed time off.

“That’s simple to answer,” he said. “We have to give a certain minimum number of days of vacation for players to recover from a season that is seemingly eternal,” said Enrique, who has excused Messi, Neymar, goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, midfielder Javier Mascherano and fullback Dani Alvez from the tour after they competed in the Copa America. AFP

Britain’s Andy Murray celebrates after beating France’s Gilles Simon in a Davis Cup world group quarter-finals singles tennis match at the Queen’s Club in west London. Andy Murray clinched Great Britain’s first Davis Cup semi-final berth for 34 years as the world no. 3’s gritty victory against Gilles Simon gave his country an unassailable 3-1 lead. AFP

Murray fighting for Davis Cup dream LONDON—Andy Murray insists he is willing to put his body on the line again to keep Great Britain on course for Davis Cup glory when they face Australia in the semi-finals.

Murray played through the pain barrier to grind out a 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 6-0 victory over France’s Gilles Simon on Sunday that secured Britain’s first last four appearance since 1981.

The world number three was mentally and physically fatigued after a gruelling period that saw

him reach the Wimbledon semifinals before suffering a crushing defeat against Roger Federer.

Ordinarily, Murray would have taken several weeks off to recover, but his commitment to the British cause convinced him to push himself to the limits against France as he won two singles

matches and the doubles with his brother Jamie over three days at Queen’s Club.

It is the first time two brothers have single-handedly won a World Group tie since 1998, yet Murray will have to repeat his herculean efforts if Britain, who last won the Davis Cup in 1936, are to reach the final for the first time since 1978.

The home showdown with Australia will take place from September 18-20, just a week after the conclusion of the US Open, and Murray is already adamant

he will play even if he makes the latter stages in New York.

“We are in the semi-finals now and every match is going to be extremely important. I think I will find a way (to play),” he said.

“I’ll do it because I believe we can win. Also because I love the team and the people around it.

“I’ve always enjoyed playing Davis Cup but right now we are in the World Group playing in big matches against fantastic players.

It’s hard not to get up for that.

“Obviously it does come at a price. I would have taken 10 days

off after Wimbledon, but the memories of the unbelievable atmosphere you have in the Davis Cup, you don’t get that in other matches.”

- Tenacious win Murray’s respect for the group built by British captain Leon Smith over the last five years inspired him to one of the most tenacious wins of his glittering career.

After finally seeing off world number 11 Simon, Murray collapsed into his chair and wiped away tears of joy. AFP

Blatter meets deputies to discuss vote date Philracom sponsors ZURICH—FIFA leader Sepp Blatter held talks with his vice presidents late Sunday ahead of a meeting to set a date for an election of a new supremo of the scandal tainted world football body.

The group discussed the date, but sources at the talks with top officials from five of the regional confederations, including UEFA’s Michel Platini, would not say if they agreed when

the vote should be held.

Neither Blatter nor Issa Hayatou of the Confederation of African Football, the Asian Football Confederation’s Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, CONCACAF interim chief Alfredo Hawit, Juan Angel Napout of South America’s CONMEBOL and Oceania’s David Chung commented after the talks.

None of the regional leaders are yet

candidates for the election but French football legend Platini, 60, is considering a run.

FIFA’s executive committee is to meet at the world body’s headquarters on Monday to set the election date.

Blatter could also announce reforms he wants to set underway as FIFA reels from the worst corruption crisis in its history. AFP

Attacked by a shark, and living to tell the tale. This

handout picture made and released on July 19, 2015 by the World Surf League shows Australian surfer Mick Fanning competing before he was attacked by a shark during the J-Bay Open final in Jeffreys Bay. Mick Fanning, 34, was competing in the final heat of a world tour event at Jeffreys Bay in the country’s Eastern Cape province when a looming black fin appeared in the water behind him. He fought back against the shark, escaping from the terrifying scene without injury. AFP

Bagatsing racefest

THE Philippine Racing Commission is continuing this year its support of the annual Mayor Ramon D. Bagatsing Memorial Cup racing festival, to be held on Aug. 30 at the Manila Jockey Club’s San Lazaro Leisure Park.

“It’s usually a record-breaking event,” said Philracom Chairman Andrew A. Sanchez, “in terms of sales, and attracts viewer and bettor interest because of the festival’s lineup of top-class entries.”

The event, established by the Bagatsing family and now on its seventh episode, honors the clan patriarch who himself was an avid horseowner and breeder.

Among his many other contributions to the sport, the late Manila mayor helped popularize the annual Gran Copa de Manila races held at the now-defunct MJC San Lazaro Hippodrome in Tayuman, Manila.

This year, Philracom is providing P1.2 million in sponsorship for the event expected to once again draw huge interest from participants and racing fans.

There are two main races, the Mayor RDB Cup Division I and Mayor RDB Cup Division II. According to the late mayor’s son, Manila Rep. Amado S. Bagatsing, both races will be held over 1,750 meters this year, with one open to 4YO and up imports and local-breds, the other to 3YO locals.

“With the generous support of Philracom, “ said Bagatsing, “and our other sponsors, we are offering prize money of P1 million each for the two RDB Cups.”

Also supporting the event are Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, MJC, Resorts World Manila, Solaire Resort and Casino, Midas Hotel, City of Dreams, San Miguel Corporation, Stradcom, and horseowner Eduardo Gonzalez.

In addition to the two main races, there will be trophy races with added prizes, not only for the horseowners but also for the winning grooms, a tradition set by the Bagatsing family.

T UE S DAY : J ULY 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

A14

SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

Knights seek share of NCAA lead LETRAN seeks a share of the lead with Perpetual Help as it goes up against an unpredictable San Sebastian side today in the 91st National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City.

The Knights shocked the San Beda Lions, the reigning five-peat champions, 93-80, last Thursday to remain the second of the two last unbeaten teams in the league with three victories,

one behind the Altas with four.

Letran eyes a win against San Sebastian at 4 p.m. that will catapult it to the top, while continuing its surprise juggernaut after be-

ing ranked low in the preseason.

“We were challenged by people who wrote us down,” said Letran coach Aldin Ayo. Letran’s Big Three, Kevin Racal, Mark Cruz and Rey Nambatac, paced the Knights with 20, 16 and 13 points, respectively, in their giantsized win over the Lions, their arch-rivals.

It was the Knights’ unrelenting full-court pressure

defense that proved key.

“It’s our kind of basketball, to create disorder and disrupt our opponents at every opportunity,” said Ayo. The Knights are facing a Stags team hoping to bounce back from a 7084 defeat to the Perpetual Help Altas Friday, sending them to their second defeat against a win.

San Beda, for its part, hopes to bounce back from its stinging defeat to Letran as it fell from a share of the

lead to fourth spot with 2-1 (win-loss) slate as it tangles with a dangerous Lyceum at 2 p.m.

Lions coach Jamike Jarin blamed himself for the loss.

“Blame me,” said Jarin.

San Beda will be playing minus Baser Amer after suffering from a dislocated right shoulder in the second quarter of its setback to Letran.

Amer is reportedly out three months.

Games Today (July 21) (The Arena, San Juan) 10 a.m.- Lyceum vs San Beda (jrs) 12 nn.- Letran vs San Sebastian (jrs) 2 p.m.- Lyceum vs San Beda (srs) 4 p.m.- Letran vs. San Sebastian (srs) Team Standings Perpetual Help Letran Arellano U San Beda Jose Rizal San Sebastian Lyceum Mapua St. Benilde EAC

W 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 0

L 0 0 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 4

Thais boost ladies’ golf Luisita roster FOUR Thailand aces rejoin the ICTSI Ladies Philippine Golf Tour with Chamchoi Saraporn seeking to finally nail the elusive win in the ICTSI Luisita Ladies Challenge unfolding tomorrow at the Luisita Golf and Country Club.

Chamchoi has posted a pair of joint runner-up finishes at Splendido and Wack Wack last April but is upbeat of her chances this week with a form toughened up by a series of tournaments back home.

Amolkan Phalajivin, who scored a breakthrough win on the country’s premier ladies circuit sponsored by ICTSI at Splendido last year, is also in the fold, raring to end a string of poor finishes along with compatriots Walailak Satarak and Pattaranakrueang Supakchaya.

The Thais are expected to spice the action in the P500,000 tournament or-

ganized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. where Sarah Ababa is gunning for a second straight victory after turning back Chihiro Ikeda to score her maiden win at ICTSI Sherwood last month.

But Ikeda and Riviera leg winner and reigning backto-back Order of Merit champion Cyna Rodriguez will not be around as the duo are still in the US vying in a couple of tournaments.

Still, Ababa and former leg winner Jayvie Agojo, along with Lovelynn Guioguio, Apple Fudolin, Lucy Landicho, Majorie Pulumbarit, Eva Miñoza and Lina de Guzman hope to provide the challenge and foil the Thais’ title bid in the event.

Others seeing action in the 54-hole tournament are Cristina Corpus of the US, England’s Sarah Henderson and Korean Oh Yeji.

Luisita is also expected to test the field’s shotmaking and putting skills the

Chamchoi Saraporn is upbeat of her chances to finally win the big one after runner-up finishes in Splendido and Wack Wack.

way it did to the men of the tour when it marked its return to hosting big-time tournaments last May. The par 72 course has

been in top condition despite the absence of 26 years with new owners, headed

by Martin Lorenzo, undergoing minor repairs to keep

its mystique and make it more challenging.

The course has also matured through the years but it is practically the same—

challenging, unpredictable and the only golf course in the country designed by renowned golf architect Robert Trent Jones Sr.

Fans urged to support Azkals in their fight against Uzbekistan THE Philippine Azkals will face a hardened and experienced Uzbekistan squad on Sept. 8, a game that would test the mettle of the newly-minted and strongest ever roster of overseas- and local-based professional footballers.

“We need the support of Filipino football enthusiasts and even nonfootball fans to fill up the Philippine Sports Stadium in Bocaue, Bulacan, and applaud and inspire our players to give their best for the country,” Team Manager Dan Palami said.

Opened on July 21 last year, the world-class Philippine Sports Stadium is the newest and largest stadium in the Philippines with a maximum football seating capacity of 20,000.

Located within a tourism enterprise zone in Bocaue, it is bordered by the North Luzon Ex-

pressway itself and easily accessible by private or public transport. Travel time is less than an hour from most parts of Metro Manila as the site is just after Marilao and before Bocaue with direct access exit along NLEX. Holding the game at the Philippine Sports Stadium will also allow spectators to experience first-class facilities and ultra modern surroundings and see the 103 x 68 meter football field with natural grass surface, he said.

The much-awaited match, which is part of the Asian qualifiers of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, starts at 8 p.m., giving football aficionados and non-aficionados enough time to catch the first kick.

“There’s no better way to push our Azkals to play at the top of their game, score goals and impose

Members of the Philippine Azkals are introduced to the fans and media.

a high-pressure defense on the opponents than the thunderous applause, encouraging shouts of fans and electric atmosphere in the stadium,” Coach Tom Dooley said.

He said Uzbekistan, which ranks 75th in the

recent FIFA rankings and the highest ranked team in its group, is a formidable opponent and has been burnishing its credentials as genuine title contenders in Asia. The Uzbeks have a good showing in the tough Asian Cup with back-to-

back quarter-final appearances in 2004 and 2007 and a fourth place finish in Qatar in 2011.

Talking about determination to make it to the FIFA World Cup in 2018, Uzbekistan has lots of it since host Russia is just next door and it wants nothing short of qualification for its first ever World Cup. The Azkals, on the other hand, are ranked 124th, so far their highest place in the history of the FIFA rankings. They also dislodged Southeast Asian neighbors Thailand (140th) and Vietnam (143rd) in the recent rankings.

“The team is very motivated to end the qualifying round at the top of the group to be able to move a step closer to the World Cup. It’s an uphill goal but we will do our best to achieve it,” Palami said.

Landing as one of the

four best second place finishers in the qualifying round will likewise enable the team to make the cut to the next round of the World Cup. He believed that the team has assembled the strongest Azkals roster ever with the addition of highly experienced Filipinos playing abroad and some returnees.

The good showing of the Azkals in their first two outings indicated the impressive line-up is living up to its billings. The Azkals defeated Bahrain for the first time, 2-1, at home last June 11 then thrashed Yemen, 2-0, on the road last June 16. A win against Uzbekistan on September 8 will help advance the team to the next round in the World Cup qualifiers and also book an automatic slot in the next AFC Asian Cup.

T UE S DAY : J ULY 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

A15

SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

LOTTO RESULTS 6/55 00-00-00-00-00-00 6/45 00-00-00-00-00-00 4 DIGITS 0-0-0-0 3 DIGITS 0-0-0 2 EZ2 0-0

P0 M+ P0 M

First-time winners recall sweet PBA victory

By Jeric Lopez THE first is always the sweetest.

And for San Miguel Beer players who earned their first championship in the Philippine Basketball Association certainly now know the feeling after the Beermen captured the 2015 Governors’ Cup title in the league’s 40th season.

Best Import awardee Arizona Reid, for instance, needed four years and five conferences to finally be able to hoist up a PBA championship trophy, but this one is certainly worth the wait. ‘’It took me four years and I finally got one,’’ said Reid, who failed to win a championship in his first three tries with former team Rain or Shine and in the Commissioner’s Cup with the Beermen before finally getting over the hump in the Governors’ Cup. ‘’Forget the Best Import award, this is what I came here for and it feels so good to finally win a championship here in the PBA.’’ Reid expressed his gratitude towards the San Miguel Beer management for giving him a chance and putting him in a position to finally win the championship that he’s been chasing since he started being an import in the PBA in 2011. ‘’I’m just so thankful to the San Miguel bosses for giving me this opportunity. I’m blessed to be given this chance and I’m glad we were able to deliver a championship,’’ said the long-haired resident import. ‘’Some people doubted me if I can lead a team to championship here and I just proved them I can.’’

Another Beerman, veteran journeyman Jay-R Reyes, took a longer route – nine years and six teams to be exact – before finally winning a PBA diadem.

When San Miguel won the Philippine Cup early in the season, Reyes wasn’t with the Beermen’s roster, as he was still with Barangay Ginebra. He was shipped to San Miguel midway the Commissioner’s Cup as Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo’s back-up at the slot position.

George...

From A16

During the program, the young athletes tried out Nike’s latest product innovations, and were given access to professional training through coaches and athletes.

George is one of the NBA’s top perimeter defenders and a reliable spotup shooter. Last year, he sustained a serious injury when he landed awkwardly at the base of a basket stanchion in a collision with Team USA teammate James Harden during a Las Vegas scrimmage for the Fiba World Cup in Spain.

George suffered a compound fracture on both bones in his lower right leg and immediately underwent surgery.

He recovered well enough and went back to active duty for the Pacers only last April this year. The Pacers, however, failed to make it to the playoffs.

Nonito Donaire of the Philippines hits France’s Anthony Settoul with a right straight during their super bantamweight boxing fight at the Venetian’s Cotai Arena in Macau. AFP

Donaire vows to train hard for WBA title fight

By Ronnie Nathanielsz

FIVE-DIVISION world champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire, his spirits lifted after a smashing second-round technical knockout victory over former European bantamweight champion Anthony Settoul last Saturday in Macau, plans to take a one-week break before returning to the gym to begin training for a possible World Boxing Association title fight against champion, Britain’s Scott Quigg.

Donaire, wife Rachel and their two kids left for Las Vegas on Sunday night, with the Filipino fighter promising he would train really hard for the Quigg fight, which is likely to take place in November, most probably at the Manchester

Arena in Britain, although Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told The Standard/boxingmirror.com that Dubai is in the running to stage the WBA title fight.

Donaire said would return to the ALA Gym in Cebu to

train because of the excellent facilities and the fact that he is warmly received by renowned boxing patron Tony Aldeguer.

Even more important is the availability of top-class sparring partners in undefeated featherweight Mark “Magnifico” Magsayo and unbeaten Prince Albert Pagara, whose torrid sparring sessions helped push him into devastating form for the Settoul, 10-round, non-title fight last Saturday.

Donaire’s father/trainer Dodong Donaire believes that Nonito has added to his offensive arsenal and no longer relies on his vaunted left hook that disposed of Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., Jeffrey Mathebula, Toshiaki Nishioka and Jorge Arce, en route to being named Fighter of the Year in 2012 and grab-

bing the No. 5 spot on the Ring Magazine pound-for-pound roster.

He cited the counter right hand and the body shots that took care of Settoul and remarked that “Nonito can’t live on the left hook alone,” which Nonito accepted.

Donaire is keen on regaining his stature as a poundfor-pound fighter and a world champion once again and believes a victory over Quigg, whom Nonito recognizes as a “tough opponent,” will help him regain his standing.

The elder Donaire believes that his son “is now 90 percent where he wants to be,” and being such a talented fighter and “very smart inside the ring,” he should be able to handle Quigg nicely.

Top Rank’s Arum blasts ‘irresponsible’ Pacquiao

Arum and Pacquiaos

TOP Rank promoter Bob Arum is getting increasingly disenchanted with eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao over his failure to go to the United States and have his rotator cuff surgery checked on by Dr. ElAttrache of the Kerlan–Jobe Orthopedic Clinic in Los Angeles.

Arum told The Standard/boxingmirror.com that Pacquiao “promised me he was leaving for the US this weekend (July 18). which he’s not.”

He said rotator cuff surgery was a serious operation.

“He’s a professional

athlete. It don’t know what to say. To me, it’s totally irresponsible,” said the Top Rank promoter.

Arum added that Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz informed him that the Filipino ring icon would leave for the US at the end of this month.

In the post-fight press conference after he lost to undefeated pound-forpound king Floyd Mayweather Jr in the “Fight of the Century” at the MGM Grand Garden Arena last May 2, Pacquiao claimed he hurt his right shoulder in the fourth round, which was later diagnosed as a tear in the rotator cuff

of his right shoulder, for which he underwent surgery on May 7.

Arum said with an operation like that, Pacquiao needed to undergo rehab and get the doctor’s advice on the kind of rehab he needs.

He said there is no way he will even consider negotiating a fight for Pacquiao until he checks with Dr.ElAttrache and gets a clean bill of health that the tear has healed perfectly and he could fight again.

Right now, Arum considers Pacquiao an inactive fighter. Ronnie Nathanielsz

T U E S D AY : J U LY 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

A16

RIERA U. MALL ARI EDITOR

REUEL VIDAL A S S I S TA N T E D I T O R

sports@thestandard.com.ph

SPORTS

George experiences PH’s passion for the game

By Peter Atencio ADD Paul George of the Indiana Pacers to the list of National Basketball Association players, who saw first-hand the Filipinos’ passion for basketball.

The 6’9” George arrived Sunday as the Nike ambassador for Rise, the first-ever reality documentary and basketball development program being handled in the Philippines by former national team coach Chot Reyes and ex-national cager Jimmy Alapag.

He was immediately whisked to an open court in Barangay Western Bicutan Tenement to watch 20 kids play the game and later interact with the NBA superstar.

“It was crazy. They were really having a great time. It’s something to tell friends back in the US,” said George during a media briefing held at the House of Rise along Sheridan St. in Mandaluyong City. “They love the game like I love the game. I know they watch us very close.

They have their shots and their game is terrific.”

Nike’s Rise Tour in the country is a six-week basketball program where organizers selected 24 young ballers, divided into 12 male and female cagers, from all over the country. Their ages ranged from 16 to 21.

Continued on A15

Two-time NBA All-Star player Paul George of the Indiana Pacers speaks during an interview with the Philippine media. George is in Manila for a two-day visit and will lead in the launching of a local television basketball clinic reality show. AFP

Pacquiao tells Arum: I’m doing rehab myself GENERAL SANTOS—Manny Pacquiao downplayed criticism from promoter Bob Arum on Monday after the injured Philippine boxing hero missed a doctor’s visit for a shoulder injury, saying he was carrying out his own rehabilitation.

Arum hit out at his own boxer last weekend for missing a rehab visit and said he has no idea when “Pacman” might fight again after his right shoulder was hurt fighting Floyd Mayweather in May. (See related Pacquiao story on A15) “I respect Bob Arum. He’s just like a father to me. I believe he’s just voicing out his concern (for) me and I ap-

Arum blasts Pacman TURN TO A15

preciate it. I don’t take it negatively,” Pacquiao said in a statement.

“But he has nothing to worry about (regarding) my injury. I’m doing the rehab myself. I’m recovering faster than expected.”

Pacquiao had surgery on May 7 to repair a tear to his right rotator cuff sustained in the unanimous points defeat against Mayweather in the

richest fight of all time in Las Vegas.

He cancelled a scheduled checkup with his surgeon Neal ElAttrache at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles on July 4, prompting sharp criticism from the 83-year-old head of Top Rank promotions, who said “he’s not acting very professionally”.

Pacquiao did not say if he was receiving medical advice or treatment from another doctor but said his situation was improving, adding: “I can now raise my right arm.”

The Filipino, winner of an unprecedented eight world titles in separate weight divisions, did not respond to his American promoter’s remark

Donaire to train hard for title fight TURN TO A15

that as far as he was concerned the boxer is “not an active fighter’.

Just days after missing the July 4 appointment, Pacquiao travelled to Indonesia in a much-publicised trip to film a television advertisement and visit a Filipina on death row who is seeking clemency.

Arum insisted that Pacquiao’s first priority should have been his appointment with his LA surgeon to decide on his rehabilitation programme.

“When you have an operation like that you’ve got to get into rehab.

You’ve got to get the doctor to look at it and to guide you as to the kind of rehab that you’ve got to do,” Arum told AFP. AFP

B1

TUESDAY: JULY 21, 2015

RAY S. EÑANO EDITOR

RODERICK T. DELA CRUZ ASSISTANT EDITOR

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

BUSINESS

Resilient peso worries exporters

By Ditas Lopez

IN THE 1990s, Philippine exporters would burn an effigy of the central bank governor when the peso was too strong. While it hasn’t yet come to that, companies say the currency’s resilience is harming their competitiveness.

Supported by ample foreignexchange reserves and remittances from Filipinos living abroad, the peso has weakened only 1.2 percent this year, compared with drops of 3.6 percent for Thailand’s baht, 7.2 percent for Indonesia’s rupiah and 7.9 percent for Malaysia’s ringgit. Philippine shipments trailed estimates to fall 17.4 percent in May from a year earlier, the biggest decline since 2011.

The peso closed at 45.23 against the dollar on Monday.

“It certainly erodes our competitiveness,” said Sergio Ortiz-

Luis, president of the Philippine Exporters’ Confederation, whose membership accounts for about 70 percent of overseas sales. Although the drop in exports can’t be blamed on the peso, “the slump would be mitigated if our exchange rate was competitive,” he said.

The peso’s resilience to the prospect of US interest-rate increases is coming just as signs China’s economy will slow more than expected threatens the exports of countries throughout Asia. Over the last 12 months,

only the Hong Kong and Taiwanese dollars and the Chinese yuan have performed better than the peso among 24 emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg.

The Philippine currency has strengthened 20 percent against the euro, 22 percent against the Australian dollar and 18 percent against the Japanese yen over the same period.

“The dollar value of our exports to those destinations would naturally shrink,” said Emilio Neri, an economist at Bank of the Philippine Islands in Manila. “To some extent, the peso is overvalued.”

While economic growth slowed to a three-year low in the first quarter as government spending faltered, the Philippines saw its current-account surplus double from a year earlier on strong remittances from Filipinos working overseas and call center growth.

Gross domestic product still in-

creased 5.2 percent from a year earlier, compared with 4.71 percent in Indonesia and 3 percent in Thailand.

Business-process outsourcing, which includes call centers, is also making a bigger contribution to the Philippine economy. BPO revenue will rise 18 percent to $21.3 billion this year, according to the IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines.

The peso is in a good position to weather external disturbances, said Leslie Tang, a foreignexchange strategist at Malayan Banking Bhd. in Singapore, “The healthy surpluses in the current account, strong growth fundamentals supported by healthy overseas remittances and ongoing domestic reforms, especially in the fight against corruption and cronyism” are aiding the peso, said Tang.

With Julito G. Rada

PSe comPoSite index Closing July 20, 2015

8500 8000 7500 7000 6500 6000

7,541.17 75.96

PeSo-dollar rate

Closing JULY 20, 2015 42

P45.230

43

CLOSE

44 45 46

HIGH P45.220 LOW P45.300 AVERAGE P45.259 VOLUME 346.200M

P475.00-P675.00 LPG/11-kg tank P40.55-P46.70 Unleaded Gasoline P27.90-P31.15 Diesel

oPriceS il P today

P34.55-P39.15 Kerosene P23.70-P24.40 Auto LPG Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Monday, July 20, 2015

F oreign e xchange r ate

Social challenges. Trade Undersecretary Nora Terrado (second from left) speaks on understanding innovation hubs at Slingshot MNL 2015,

a conference focused on startups, on July 6, 2015 at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City. Terrado said the Trade Department was in search of people that can make a difference, providing a solution to social and environmental problems. Joining her are (from left) Stanford University US-Asia Technology Management Center director Richard Dasher, Science and Technology Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara, Plug and Play co-founder and vice president Jojo Flores, Tianjin TusPark Business Incubator chief executive Song Wei and Ayala Corp. corporate strategy and development group head Paolo Borromeo.

Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

45.2620

Japan

Yen

0.008060

0.3648

UK

Pound

1.560500

70.6314

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.129032

5.8402

Switzerland

Franc

1.040474

47.0939

Canada

Dollar

0.770654

34.8813

Singapore

Dollar

0.731315

33.1008

Australia

Dollar

0.738116

33.4086

Bahrain

Dinar

2.657454

120.2817

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266645

12.0689

Brunei

Dollar

0.728651

32.9802

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000075

0.0034

Thailand

Baht

0.029283

1.3254

UAE

Dirham

0.272257

12.3229

Euro

Euro

1.083100

49.0233

Korea

Won

0.000871

0.0394

China

Yuan

0.161044

7.2892

India

Rupee

0.015762

0.7134

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.262826

11.8960

New Zealand

Dollar

0.653296

29.5695

Taiwan

Dollar

0.032162

1.4557 Source: PDS Bridge

Budget surplus hit P67.3b in May after coco-levy remittance

By Gabrielle H. Binaday THE national government posted a budget surplus of P67.3 billion in May, as the remittance of cocolevy funds boosted revenue collection and public expenditures remained below the target.

Data from the Finance Department showed the budget surplus was nearly five times higher than P11.78 billion recorded in the same month last year. It was also higher than the P52.6-billion surplus seen in April.

This brought the budget bal-

ance in the first five months of the year to a surplus of P86.4 billion, or 10 times the P8.5-billion surplus registered in the same period of 2014.

“Various volatile events in the global landscape serve as stark reminders of the importance of the hard work of reform carefully sustained by prudent fiscal management. We continue to build ample safeguards protecting the country from shocks that pose risks to our upward trajectory. Protecting our fiscal health over time enables everyday

Filipinos to reap the dividends of higher and more durable growth,” said Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima.

Netting out debt interest payments, the government posted a primary balance surplus of P87.9 billion in May and P223.3 billion in the five-month period.

Data showed revenues surged 41 percent year-on-year in May to P242.5 billion from P172.23 billion in the same month last year while government expenditures rose 9 percent to P175.2 billion from P160.45 billion.

Spending in May, however, still fell below the target expenditures of P237.1 billion for the month.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue collected P128.5 billion in May while the Bureau of Treasury added P11 billion. The Bureau of Customs contributed P26.7 billion.

Other offices contributed P76.4 billion in May, reflecting the P60.1 billion coco levy-related remittance to the special account in the general fund.

The said funds were proceeds

from the sale of San Miguel Corp.’s Series 1 preferred shares including interest income, as these were transferred to the BTr in 2012 and held in escrow.

The five-month collections of the Bureau of Internal Revenue rose 9 percent to P596.3 billion while contributions by the Bureau of Customs increased 1 percent to P147.1 billion, despite the 49-percent decrease in weighted average values of imported oil.

Government disbursements in the five-month period increased 6 percent to P835.7 billion.

TUESDAY: JULY 21, 2015

B2

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

The STandard BuSineSS daily STockS review Monday, July 20, 2015

52 Weeks

Previous

High Low 7.88 75.3 124.4 107 56.5 4.2 17 30.45 10.4 2.6 1.01 100 1.46 30.5 75 91.5 137 361.2 57 180 1700 124 3.26 47 5 1.46 2.36 15.3 20.6 36 65.8 2.97 4.14 21.5 21.6 11.96 9.13 11.8 2.89 17 31.8 109 15.3 9.4 241 12.5 79 33.9 90 13.26 293 5.25 12.98 15 7.03 3.4 4.5 6.3 7.86 7.34 238 3.28 0.315 2.65 234 1.3 2.17 0.59 59.2 30.05 7.39 3.4 3.35 823.5 10.2 84 4.92 1455 7.5 76 9.25 0.85 17.3 0.71 5.53 6.55 0.0670 1.61 2.99 84.9 3.5 974 1.66 1.39 390 156 0.710 0.435 0.510 10.5 26.95 1.99 1.75 0.375 41.4 5.6 5.59

STOCKS

Close

High

Low

FINANCIAL 5.44 4.6 73.35 72.8 105.10 103.20 96.50 95.45 45.65 45.5 1.58 1.53 16.18 16 20.7 20.45 6.75 6.75 1.85 1.65 0.415 0.415 91.5 90 0.99 0.97 18.00 17.90 26.30 26.30 63.70 63.25 95 95 310 307.2 38.4 37.6 153 151.2 1470.00 1455.00 60.05 60.00 3.24 3.21 INDUSTRIAL 35.9 Aboitiz Power Corp.

44.65 44.7 43.75 1.11 Agrinurture Inc. 1.36 1.37 1.36 1.01 Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 1.04 1.05 1.03 1.86 Alsons Cons.

1.95 1.95 1.92 7.92 Asiabest Group 10.18 10.5 10.18 15.32 Century Food 18.36 18.4 18.3 10.08 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 26.75 26.85 26 29.15 Concepcion 57 58 57 1.5 Crown Asia 2.45 2.5 2.42 1.5 Da Vinci Capital 1.47 1.47 1.47 10.72 Del Monte 12.28 12.5 12.28 9.55 DNL Industries Inc. 21.250 21.250 20.95 9.04 Emperador 9.00 9.10 8.51 6.02 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 7.45 7.55 7.42 8.86 EEI 9.77 9.91 9.68 1.06 Euro-Med Lab 1.76 1.76 1.7 8.61 Federal Res. Inv. Group 13.78 13.18 13.1 20.2 First Gen Corp.

25.45 25.95 25.5 71.5 First Holdings ‘A’ 79.6 80.5 79.6 13.24 Holcim Philippines Inc. 14.00 13.50 13.50 5.34 Integ. Micro-Electronics 5.9 6.07 5.88 173 Jollibee Foods Corp.

192.60 192.40 189.00 8.65 Lafarge Rep 10.8 11 10.62 34.1 Liberty Flour 28.00 30.00 30.00 23.35 Manila Water Co. Inc. 24.2 24.7 23.85 17.3 Maxs Group 25.9 25.5 24.75 5.88 Megawide 5.8 6.02 5.85 250.2 Mla. Elect. Co `A’ 295.00 293.60 290.20 3.87 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 4.93 4.9 4.7 8.45 Petron Corporation 8.25 8.27 8.15 10.04 Phinma Corporation 11.90 11.90 11.90 3.03 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 3.32 3.34 3.15 1.95 Phoenix Semiconductor 2.35 2.49 2.38 1 Pryce Corp. `A’ 2.76 3.1 2.67 4.02 RFM Corporation 4.05 4.14 4.05 1.65 Roxas and Co. 1.85 1.85 1.82 5.9 Roxas Holdings 6.24 6.2 5.76 161 San Miguel’Pure Foods `B’ 167 167.5 167 1.55 Splash Corporation 1.8 1.8 1.76 0.138 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.150 0.156 0.147 2.09 Trans-Asia Oil 2.14 2.20 2.14 152 Universal Robina 186.1 186.1 181.4 0.640 Vitarich Corp.

0.71 0.73 0.7 1.2 Vulcan Ind’l.

1.24 1.20 1.14 HOLDING FIRMS 0.44 Abacus Cons. `A’ 0.480 0.480 0.470 48.1 Aboitiz Equity 58.5000 58.5000 57.0000 20.85 Alliance Global Inc. 22.90 22.90 22.40 6.62 Anscor `A’ 6.88 6.88 6.86 0.23 ATN Holdings A 0.240 0.249 0.241 0.23 ATN Holdings B 0.240 0.242 0.242 634.5 Ayala Corp `A’ 763 769 755.5 7.390 Cosco Capital 7.61 7.65 7.55 12.8 DMCI Holdings 13.50 13.20 12.42 2.26 Filinvest Dev. Corp.

4.30 4.30 4.30 837 GT Capital 1380 1392 1370 5.3 House of Inv. 6.66 6.66 6.60 49.55 JG Summit Holdings 72.00 72.25 71.40 4.84 Lopez Holdings Corp.

7.3 7.3 7.23 0.59 Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. 0.68 0.68 0.66 12 LT Group 13.34 13.4 13.1 0.580 Mabuhay Holdings `A’ 0.6 0.59 0.57 4.2 Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. 4.78 4.81 4.76 4.5 Minerales Industrias Corp. 7.6 7.61 7.35 0.030 Pacifica `A’ 0.0330 0.0320 0.0320 0.550 Prime Orion 2.020 2.180 2.010 2.26 Republic Glass ‘A’ 2.7 2.75 2.59 59.3 San Miguel Corp `A’ 60.00 60.00 59.00 1.5 Seafront `A’ 2.80 2.66 2.50 751 SM Investments Inc. 915.00 915.00 898.00 1.13 Solid Group Inc. 1.20 1.23 1.18 0.93 South China Res. Inc. 0.70 0.70 0.68 170 Transgrid 190.00 189.00 189.00 80 Top Frontier 76.500 79.900 76.050 0.211 Unioil Res. & Hldgs 0.3200 0.3200 0.3100 0.179 Wellex Industries 0.1980 0.1970 0.1960 0.310 Zeus Holdings 0.285 0.295 0.280 PROPERTY 6.74 8990 HLDG 7.300 7.550 7.240 12 Anchor Land Holdings Inc. 8.35 7.71 7.71 0.65 A. Brown Co., Inc. 0.73 0.73 0.70 1.2 Araneta Prop `A’ 1.260 1.250 1.250 0.192 Arthaland Corp.

0.235 0.235 0.220 30.05 Ayala Land `B’ 38.30 38.30 37.85 3.36 Belle Corp. `A’ 3.38 3.4 3.35 4.96 Cebu Holdings 5.15 5.15 5.08 2.5 66 88.05 88.1 45.45 1.68 12.02 19.6 6.12 1.02 0.225 78 0.9 17.8 58 62 88.35 276 41 118.2 1200 59 2.65

AG Finance Asia United Bank Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. Bank of PI China Bank Bright Kindle Resources COL Financial Eastwest Bank Filipino Fund Inc. I-Remit Inc. MEDCO Holdings Metrobank Natl. Reinsurance Corp.

PB Bank Phil Bank of Comm Phil. National Bank Phil. Savings Bank PSE Inc. RCBC `A’ Security Bank Sun Life Financial Union Bank Vantage Equities

Trading Summary FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL HOLDING FIRMS PROPERTY SERVICES MINING & OIL GRAND TOTAL

SHARES 74,621,979 55,975,225 91,514,899 80,160,826 138,984,854 841,672,738 1,283,372,431

4.6 73 105.00 95.00 45.6 1.53 16 20.5 6.73 1.83 0.420 91.5 0.97 17.90 26.20 63.70 95 307 37.55 152.7 1470.00 60.00 3.24

Close

%

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

5 73.35 103.50 95.85 45.6 1.58 16.04 20.7 6.75 1.80 0.415 90.5 0.97 17.90 26.30 63.50 95 307.4 38.4 152.7 1465.00 60.00 3.21

8.70 0.48 -1.43 0.89 0.00 3.27 0.25 0.98 0.30 -1.64 -1.19 -1.09 0.00 0.00 0.38 -0.31 0.00 0.13 2.26 0.00 -0.34 0.00 -0.93

2,714,310 14,440 69,517,140 731,780 80,100 42,000 25,000 241,900 1,000 25,000 40,000 2,149,990 11,000 288,500 200 98,320 30 400 333,600 455,570 230 16,040 19,000

43.75 1.36 1.04 1.94 10.18 18.36 26.85 58 2.45 1.47 12.5 21.000 8.51 7.50 9.71 1.76 13.1 25.75 79.7 13.50 6.06 189.00 10.78 30.00 24.7 25.5 5.96 290.60 4.8 8.15 11.90 3.30 2.45 3.1 4.05 1.85 5.76 167 1.8 0.151 2.14 182 0.72 1.19

-2.02 0.00 0.00 -0.51 0.00 0.00 0.37 1.75 0.00 0.00 1.79 -1.18 -5.44 0.67 -0.61 0.00 -4.93 1.18 0.13 -3.57 2.71 -1.87 -0.19 7.14 2.07 -1.54 2.76 -1.49 -2.64 -1.21 0.00 -0.60 4.26 12.32 0.00 0.00 -7.69 0.00 0.00 0.67 0.00 -2.20 1.41 -4.03

1,122,600 65,000 185,000 567,000 5,700 75,200 68,500 50,460 1,250,000 7,000 365,200 3,976,700 7,236,300 3,134,900 423,100 15,000 3,500 2,792,500 34,370 101,000 504,700 1,088,350 395,000 300 319,700 106,900 92,900 125,010 532,000 812,000 10,000 505,000 4,196,000 3,080,000 8,479,000 21,000 8,500 500 126,000 5,670,000 2,439,000 2,422,480 557,000 491,000

0.480 58.0000 22.50 6.88 0.249 0.242 758 7.56 12.46 4.30 1375 6.60 72.05 7.3 0.68 13.28 0.57 4.78 7.6 0.0300 2.110 2.7 59.00 2.55 902.00 1.20 0.68 189.00 76.100 0.3150 0.1960 0.295

0.00 -0.85 -1.75 0.00 3.75 0.83 -0.66 -0.66 -7.70 0.00 -0.36 -0.90 0.07 0.00 0.00 -0.45 -5.00 0.00 0.00 -9.09 4.46 0.00 -1.67 -8.93 -1.42 0.00 -2.86 -0.53 -0.52 -1.56 -1.01 3.51

560,000 428,290 3,106,000 45,600 440,000 200,000 555,860 928,800 25,198,400 33,000 176,870 1,700 2,103,840 204,500 3,000 3,370,000 295,000 15,834,000 559,600 14,200,000 20,305,000 95,000 87,800 206,000 204,410 39,000 240,000 50 1,230 770,000 320,000 940,000

7.550 7.71 0.73 1.250 0.235 38.00 3.4 5.08

3.42 -7.66 0.00 -0.79 0.00 -0.78 0.59 -1.36

522,800 700 420,000 53,000 40,000 3,347,000 631,000 112,900

52 Weeks

Previous

High Low

STOCKS

Close

1.44 1.97 1.48 0.201 0.69 10.96 0.97 0.305 2.22 2.1 1.8 4.88 0.180 0.470 8.54 31.8 2.29 21.35 1.06 8.59

0.79 1.1 0.97 0.083 0.415 2.4 0.83 0.188 1.15 1.42 1.27 2.75 0.090 0.290 2.69 22.15 1.6 15.08 0.69 5.73

Century Property City & Land Dev. Cityland Dev. `A’ Crown Equities Inc. Cyber Bay Corp.

Double Dragon Empire East Land Ever Gotesco Global-Estate Filinvest Land,Inc. Interport `A’ Megaworld Corp.

MRC Allied Ind. Phil. Estates Corp.

Primex Corp.

Robinson’s Land `B’ Rockwell SM Prime Holdings Sta. Lucia Land Inc. Vista Land & Lifescapes

10.5 66 1.44 1.09 15.82 0.1430 5.06 99.1 12.3 7.67 2720 8.41 1.97 119.5 12.5 0.017 0.8200 2.2800 12.28 3.32 2.53 3.2 95.5 1 2.46 15.2 0.62 1.040 22.8 6.41 185 22.9 3486 0.760 2.28 46.05 90.1 11.6 0.85 10 0.490 1.9

1.97 35.2 1 0.63 8.6 0.0770 2.95 56.1 10.14 4.8 1600 5.95 1.23 102.6 8.72 0.011 0.041 1.200 6.5 1.91 1.01 1.95 3.1 0.650 1.8 6 0.335 0.37 14.54 3 79 4.39 2748 0.435 1.2 31.45 60.55 7.59 0.63 5 0.315 1.14

2GO Group’ ABS-CBN Acesite Hotel APC Group, Inc. Bloomberry Boulevard Holdings Calata Corp.

Cebu Air Inc. (5J) Centro Esc. Univ.

DFNN Inc. Globe Telecom GMA Network Inc. Harbor Star I.C.T.S.I. IPeople Inc. `A’ IP E-Game Ventures Inc. Island Info ISM Communications Leisure & Resorts Liberty Telecom Lorenzo Shipping Macroasia Corp.

Manila Broadcasting Manila Bulletin Manila Jockey Melco Crown MG Holdings NOW Corp.

Pacific Online Sys. Corp.

PAL Holdings Inc. Phil. Seven Corp.

Philweb.Com Inc. PLDT Common PremiereHorizon Premium Leisure Puregold Robinsons RTL SSI Group STI Holdings Travellers Waterfront Phils.

Yehey

0.0098 5.45 17.24 0.330 12.8 1.19 1.62 9.5 4.2 0.48 0.420 0.440 0.022 0.023 8.2 49.2 4.27 1.030 3.06 0.020 0.021 7.67 12.88 10.42 0.040 420 9

0.0043 1.72 6.47 0.236 5.11 0.85 0.77 5.99 1.17 0.305 0.2130 0.2160 0.013 0.014 3.240 18.96 2.11 0.365 1.54 0.012 0.013 5.4 7.26 2.27 0.015 115.9 3.67

Abra Mining Apex `A’ Atlas Cons. `A’ Basic Energy Corp.

Benguet Corp `B’ Century Peak Metals Hldgs Coal Asia Dizon Ferronickel Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. Lepanto `A’ Lepanto `B’ Manila Mining `A’ Manila Mining `B’ Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. Nickelasia Nihao Mineral Resources Omico Oriental Peninsula Res. Oriental Pet. `A’ Oriental Pet. `B’ Petroenergy Res. Corp.

Philex `A’ PhilexPetroleum Philodrill Corp. `A’ Semirara Corp.

TA Petroleum

-22,822.50

70 553 525 515 8.21 12.28 111

33 490 500 480 5.88 6.5 101

-2,501,415.00

1047 76.9 78.95 84.8

1011 74.2 74.5 75

ABS-CBN Holdings Corp.

Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ GLOBE PREF P GMA Holdings Inc. Leisure and Resort MWIDE PREF PCOR-Preferred B PF Pref 2 SMC Preferred A SMC Preferred B SMC Preferred C

43,300.00

6.98

0.8900 LR Warrant

88 12.88

13.5 5.95

130.7

105.6 First Metro ETF

269,583.50 -44,300,160.00 -12,083,464.00 3,187,225.00 161,608.00 3,626,605.00

-55,800,460.50 -4,744,800.00 1,600,331.50 76,980.00 -4,207,940.00 22,786,886.00 901,200.00 -8,696,960.00 -26,780.00 -749,218.00 309,981.00 -7,350.00 3,980,990.00 19,285,610.00 10,145,195.00 -2,717,685.00 -532,747.00 -6,920.00 -5,460,155.00 -369,443.50 951,596.00 37,001,898.00 2,147,002.00 311,325.00 -633,550.00 -82,289.00 -13,527,328.00 844,500.00 1,096,597.00 -647,450.00 -240,690.00 -63,400.00 -20,908,120.00 21,710.00 -38,750.00 -252,617,806.00 140,000.00

-2,541,691.00 -3,316,915.00 -6,174.00 -187,223,350.00 -554,322.00 -139,902,890.00 92,345,165.00 70,152,036.00 -88,978.00 -11,951,052.00 -28,022,300.00 -35,100.00 109,560.00 -2,647,723.00 -27,863,220.00

-59,547,635.00 76,580.00 -51,194.00

IRipple E-Business Intl Xurpas

High

%

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

0.86 0.85 0.85 1.18 1.16 1.16 1.03 1.01 1.01 0.130 0.129 0.130 0.440 0.435 0.435 10.98 10.58 10.84 0.870 0.870 0.870 0.177 0.173 0.173 1.23 1.20 1.21 2.04 1.96 2.02 1.31 1.29 1.29 4.93 4.82 4.88 0.115 0.105 0.110 0.3000 0.3000 0.3000 7.38 7.37 7.38 28.80 27.90 28.15 1.68 1.65 1.65 21.05 20.75 21.00 0.74 0.74 0.74 7.030 6.920 6.940 SERVICES 6.46 6.7 6.4 6.5 62.75 62.75 62.25 62.3 1.15 1.2 1.15 1.15 0.650 0.650 0.640 0.640 9.50 9.55 9.30 9.41 0.0800 0.0820 0.0800 0.0800 3.49 3.5 3.41 3.46 88.25 89 88 88.6 10.4 10.36 10.36 10.36 6.00 6.20 6.00 6.00 2526 2540 2500 2528 6.38 6.39 6.38 6.38 1.27 1.27 1.23 1.26 112 112.1 110 110.3 12 11.6 11.6 11.6 0.011 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.228 0.230 0.215 0.215 1.3900 1.4700 1.3900 1.4500 9.60 9.66 9.60 9.60 2.88 2.88 2.71 2.80 1.26 1.20 1.20 1.20 2.00 2.35 2.15 2.35 41.00 44.80 37.50 43.40 0.670 0.680 0.660 0.660 2.07 2.01 2.01 2.01 5.9 6.3 5.87 6.3 0.325 0.315 0.300 0.300 0.475 0.465 0.465 0.465 18.88 19.46 19.08 19.46 4.64 4.46 4.46 4.46 114.00 114.90 114.00 114.90 18.90 18.90 18.84 18.86 2936.00 2950.00 2902.00 2948.00 0.650 0.680 0.650 0.670 1.500 1.540 1.460 1.520 35.80 36.20 35.90 36.00 72.75 75.20 73.45 74.60 8.55 8.70 8.44 8.55 0.63 0.66 0.65 0.65 5.2 5.2 5.19 5.2 0.325 0.320 0.315 0.315 2.350 3.200 2.370 2.570 MINING & OIL 0.0062 0.0063 0.0062 0.0062 2.61 2.70 2.70 2.70 5.72 5.80 5.69 5.69 0.225 0.225 0.225 0.225 7.5000 6.88 6.88 6.8800 0.85 0.86 0.84 0.86 0.79 0.79 0.78 0.79 6.59 6.65 6.57 6.57 1.51 1.52 1.41 1.46 0.310 0.320 0.300 0.310 0.218 0.217 0.216 0.217 0.232 0.232 0.228 0.232 0.013 0.013 0.012 0.012 0.014 0.015 0.014 0.015 3.23 3.25 3.1 3.18 11.5 11.72 11 11.5 3.69 3.79 3.69 3.7 0.6600 0.6800 0.6800 0.6800 1.9900 2.0500 1.9800 2.0200 0.0110 0.0110 0.0100 0.0110 0.0110 0.0130 0.0100 0.0120 4.24 4.25 4.20 4.25 5.90 5.900 5.640 5.71 1.72 1.750 1.700 1.73 0.013 0.013 0.012 0.012 143.00 128.70 120.00 123.50 10 11 10.5 10.9 PREFERRED 62.5 62.75 62 62 529 527 526 527 547.5 548 547.5 548 525 525 525 525 6.35 6.35 6.1 6.25 1.09 1.08 1.08 1.08 112 111.5 111.5 111.5 1149 1148 1148 1148 1050 1048 1048 1048 75.4 75.45 75.4 75.45 84.5 85 85 85 88 87.5 87 87.5 WARRANTS & BONDS 3.920 3.950 3.810 3.810 SME 65.4 65.5 60.5 65.5 11.88 11.88 11.68 11.74 EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 123.8 123.9 122.9 123

0.00 2.65 -2.88 0.00 -2.25 3.24 -4.40 -2.26 0.00 3.06 -2.27 0.00 3.77 3.45 0.14 -1.23 -2.94 0.00 0.00 -0.57

5,058,000 4,000 7,000 850,000 260,000 8,898,600 25,000 740,000 2,264,000 33,016,000 78,000 5,611,000 1,910,000 100,000 25,600 2,014,300 395,000 8,363,700 1,000 5,404,200

-93,130.00

0.62 -0.72 0.00 -1.54 -0.95 0.00 -0.86 0.40 -0.38 0.00 0.08 0.00 -0.79 -1.52 -3.33 9.09 -5.70 4.32 0.00 -2.78 -4.76 17.50 5.85 -1.49 -2.90 6.78 -7.69 -2.11 3.07 -3.88 0.79 -0.21 0.41 3.08 1.33 0.56 2.54 0.00 3.17 0.00 -3.08 9.36

114,800 22,340 16,000 319,000 9,470,800 8,160,000 186,000 490,320 100 25,300 222,040 68,800 507,000 325,860 1,600 4,000,000 17,200,000 2,339,000 119,300 503,000 8,000 76,000 2,400 6,000 30,000 12,236,200 800,000 10,000 19,800 1,000 150 47,100 134,085 11,032,000 36,484,000 958,200 408,450 1,943,200 15,878,000 1,016,600 210,000 13,233,000

0.00 3.45 -0.52 0.00 -8.27 1.18 0.00 -0.30 -3.31 0.00 -0.46 0.00 -7.69 7.14 -1.55 0.00 0.27 3.03 1.51 0.00 9.09 0.24 -3.22 0.58 -7.69 -13.64 9.00

627,000,000 37,000 130,800 10,000 700 889,000 792,000 5,900 6,747,000 25,000 2,040,000 100,000 55,700,000 84,300,000 201,000 2,958,300 880,000 8,000 138,000 9,600,000 5,800,000 15,000 256,800 634,000 40,400,000 1,872,850 837,100

-0.80 -0.38 0.09 0.00 -1.57 -0.92 -0.45 -0.09 -0.19 0.07 0.59 -0.57

9,090 4,200 16,850 4,500 58,300 224,000 4,000 4,560 1,635 2,500 5,000 20,800

-2.81

51,000

0.15 -1.18

960 433,800

303,264.00

-0.65

7,150

49,220.00

34,879,608.00 -358,170.00 345,340.00 17,827,880.00

40,255,565.00 -162,960.00 19,101,830.00 -13,733,652.00 9,870.00

-6,024,442.00 -6,950.00 11,444,004.00 -285,564,450.00 24,800.00 -13,231,025.00 101,500.00 77,190.00 1,066,340.00 27,900.00

-726,269.00

49,040.00 -4,078,260.00 3,916,880.00 7,161,625.00 25,587,980.50 -807,243.00 769,100.00 -2,447,429.00 638,730.00 -216,400.00 -272,449.00 -4,816.00

-78,730.00 -11,400.00 -66,150.00 -923,356.00 -2,050.00 -13,000.00 -514,016.00 -39,990.00 -58,032,621.00 -152,770.00 -533,370.00

-178,864.00

T op L oSerS

STOCKS

FINANCIAL 1,684.09 (DOWN) 4.85 INDUSTRIAL 11,239.19 (DOWN) 145.03 HOLDING FIRMS 6,775.95 (DOWN) 75.40 PROPERTY 3,114.48 (DOWN) 9.71 SERVICES 2,132.40 (UP) 3.44 MINING & OIL 12,536.79 (DOWN) 836.36 PSEI 7,541.17 (DOWN) 75.96 All Shares Index 4,308.78 (DOWN) 36.78 Gainers: 68 Losers: 92; Unchanged: 52; Total: 212

Close

0.85 1.13 1.04 0.130 0.445 10.5 0.910 0.177 1.21 1.96 1.32 4.88 0.106 0.2900 7.37 28.50 1.7 21.00 0.74 6.980

T op g ainerS VALUE 7,569,052,988.35 1,242,956,694.62 1,615,262,076.08 603,315,567.37 1,416,025,889.62 302,360,887.743 12,755,017,178.28

Low

Close (P)

Change (%)

STOCKS

Close (P)

Change (%)

Macroasia Corp.

2.35

17.50

Semirara Corp.

123.50

-13.64

Pryce Corp. `A'

3.1

12.32

Pacifica `A'

0.0300

-9.09

Yehey

2.570

9.36

Seafront `A'

2.55

-8.93

IP E-Game Ventures Inc.

0.012

9.09

Benguet Corp `B'

6.8800

-8.27

Oriental Pet. `B'

0.0120

9.09

DMCI Holdings

12.46

-7.70

TA Petroleum

10.9

9.00

MG Holdings

0.300

-7.69

AG Finance

5

8.70

Roxas Holdings

5.76

-7.69

Liberty Flour

30.00

7.14

Philodrill Corp. `A'

0.012

-7.69

Manila Mining `B'

0.015

7.14

Manila Mining `A'

0.012

-7.69

Melco Crown

6.3

6.78

Anchor Land Holdings Inc.

7.71

-7.66

TUESDAY: JULY 21, 2015

B3

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

Lopez gets 2 arbitration ruling nd

By Jenniffer B. Austria

THE International Chamber of Commerce has ordered SunPower Philippines Manufacturing Ltd. to buy out the 74.54 percent stake held by the Lopez Group in the aborted wafer slicing venture for a lower price of $23.2 million.

First Philippine Holdings Corp. said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the arbitral tribunal in a second partial award found it appropriate to reduce the purchase price to be paid

by SPML for the shares of First Philippine Electric Corp. in First Philec Solar Corp. by $7.1 million to $23.2 million from $30.3 million.

First Philec is a wholly-owned subsidiary of FPH.

SPML, meanwhile, is a whollyowned subsidiary of SunPower Corp., a US company focusing on the solar industry and listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.

FPSC is a joint venture company established by First Philec and SPML to slice silicon solar wafers for SPML. The shares in FPSC are currently held by First Philec, 74.54 percent; SPML, 14.49 percent;

and a number of individual shareholders, 10.97 percent.

The arbitration court pegged the lower the buyout price after individual shareholders notified SPML and First Philec that they were willing to accept $7.157 million for their 10.97 percent shareholding in FPSC upon completion of SPML’s purchase.

The ICC, in the previous partial award on January 28, 2015, found SPML in “material anticipatory breach” of its obligations to FPSC under the supply agreement for silicon solar wafering services between FPSC and SPML. It also found SPML in material breach of its obligations to First Philec under the joint venture agreement between First Philec,

SPML and the individual shareholders.

The first partial award ordered SPML to purchase First Philec’s shares in FPSC for the price of $30.3 million within 14 days of the transfer of the shares from First Philec to SPML, pay FPSC the net sum of $25,239,860 representing compensation for wafers not taken by SPML, and for unpaid silicon solar wafering services under the supply agreement.

“The arbitral tribunal will subsequently render a further, final, award dealing with the matter of which party or parties will be responsible for the costs of the arbitration, and any further directions which may be required in completion of implementation arrangements,” FPH said.

Housing program. Social Housing Finance Corp. and Philippine National Bank signed an agreement aimed at solving the problem of illegal and informal settlements in PNB–owned properties. Leading the signing are SHFC officials led by Ma. Ana Oliveros (third from left) and PNB executives headed by president and chief executive Reynaldo Maclang. (fourth from left). The agreement will pave the way for encroached families to enroll in the Community Mortgage Program of SHFC. The PNB has identified 800 properties that can be enrolled through the CMP, including nine priority projects in Valenzuela City, Quezon City, Isabela, and Negros Oriental that will benefit at least 1,500 illegal settlers.

Profriends’ public offering may be delayed again THE P7.7-billion initial public offering of mass housing developer Profriends Inc. may be moved again to next year, according to one of the underwriters handling the deal.

BDO Capital and Investment Corp. president Eduardo Francisco said the maiden offering might be delayed because of some auditing issues with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Profriends initially planned to hold the IPO in early this year.

The validity of the company’s financial statement previously filed with the corporate regulator, however, expired. Profriends must submit an updated financial

statement to the SEC. Profriends president Gerry Choa earlier said the property firm remained interested in having its shares listed with the PSE, but hinted it was also exploring other options to raise funds, including tapping the debt market.

Under the previous IPO application filed with the SEC Profriends, plans to offer up to 385.75 million common shares at a maximum price of P20 apiece.

Profriends plans to allocate up to 70 percent or 270.025 million shares to qualified institutional buyers through its joint lead underwriters and 20 percent or 77.15 million shares to trading participants.

The balance of 38.575 million shares will be sold to local small investors.

Profriends plans to earmark P3.1 billion from an expected proceeds of P7.71 billion to finance real estate projects in Cavite, Iloilo and Cagayan de Oro and P2.5 billion for additional equity investments in Williamton Holdings Inc..

Williamton is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amicus Holdings, which handles the in-house financing requirements of ProFriends homebuyers.

Another P1.24 billion will be allotted for land acquisition, while the balance of P611 million

will be earmarked for other corporate purposes.

Profriends owns a 98.51-percent stake in Property Company of Friends Inc., one of the fastest growing property developers in the Philippines. The unit has built over 26,000 quality and affordable housing units in Cavite and Iloilo since its inception in February 23, 1999.

Pro-Friends has four major estates, namely the 1,435-hectare Lancaster New City in General Trias, Cavite; 110-hectare Bellefort Estates in Bacoor, Cavite; 72-hectare Carmona Estates in Cavite; and 170-hectare Iloilo Estate in Iloilo City.

Jenniffer B. Austria

Market slumps; DMCI tumbles

THE stock market tumbled Monday to end a six-day rally on profit-taking and expectations of a US interest rate rise by the end of the year.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index fell 75.96 points, or 1 percent, to 7,541.17 on a value turnover of P12.8 billion. Losers beat gainers, 92 to 68, with 52 issues unchanged.

BDO Unibank Inc., the biggest lender in terms of assets, lost 1.4 percent to P103.50, while Universal Robina Corp., the largest snack food maker, dropped 2.2 percent to P182.

Semirara Mining and Power Corp. sank 13.6 percent to P123.50, while parent DMCI Holdings Inc. slumped 7.7 percent to P12.46 as nervous investors sold their stocks after nine miners died in a landslide Friday in an open-pit mine in nearby Semirara Island.

The Energy Department ordered the immediate suspension of the company’s coal mining contract on Semirara Island and formed a team to investigate the accident.

The landslide, which occurred in a reclaimed area of the northeastern part of the island, was the second major disaster to hit Semirara, owned by DMCI. In February 2013, seven miners were killed when the west wall of the pit collapsed and trapped 13 miners under it.

Jollibee Foods Corp., the biggest fastfood chain, declined 1.9 percent to P189.

The rest of Asian stocks were mixed Monday, with Sydney and Shanghai rising as concerns eased over Greece and China’s recent market rout.

Shanghai led the gains but was undergoing some fresh volatility as more firms traded again after being suspended at the height of the latest stock crisis that wiped billions off valuations.

The price of gold tumbled to a five-year low as the likelihood of a US rate prompted investors to abandon it in search of better returns.

Shanghai ended 0.88 percent higher, advancing 34.76 points, to 3,992.11, while Sydney added 0.30 percent, or 16.00 points, to close at 5,686.90.

Hong Kong was flat, edging down 10.46 points to 25,404.81, while Seoul closed 0.17 percent lower, giving up 3.48 points to 2,073.31.

Tokyo and Jakarta were closed for public holidays.

Analysts said investors are now beginning to refocus on macroeconomic data after the past few months were dominated by the Greek debt crisis and a more than 30 percent plunge in Chinese stocks. With AFP

B4 Filinvest luxury condo.

The Signature condominium being built

by Filinvest Premiere along A. Bonifacio Ave. in Balintawak, Quezon City is envisioned to be Northern Manila’s first luxury residential mixeduse development.

Shown are Filinvest Land Inc. senior vice president Steve Chien and architect Albert Yu (right) of Asya Design as they inspect the scale model of The Signature.

MANNY PALMERO

PNOC, British eye oil depot

By Alena Mae S. Flores

PNOC Exploration Corp., the oil and gas arm of state-owned Philippine National Oil Co., has signed an agreement with British Petroleum to build an oil depot in the country.

“The discussion with BP is still ongoing. Although we signed an MoA, there are still a lot of things we need to settle,” PNOC Exploration president Pedro Aquino Jr. said.

Aquino earlier said the move would help government’s efforts towards energy security and

provide additional revenues for the company.

British Petroleum is a multinational oil and gas company producing fuel, pertro-chemical products and lubricants.

“We are looking for a tie-up with British Petroleum for the establishment of depot facilities

in the country,” Aquino said.

PNOC Exploration bared plans to put up a strategic oil reserve in 2011. The reserve would help help shield consumers from price volatilities in the international market. The plan, however, did not push through.

Aquino said PNOC Exploration experienced “some hiccups in our operations brought about by the sharp decline in the price of crude.”

Aquino said this did not deter the company from pursuing its mandate to explore and develop new oil and gas sources.

“However, we have to make certain that we continue to grow

and to fund all our existing and future projects. Management is trying its best to alleviate the effects of crude oil price in our declining revenue by looking at other sources that could bring substantial income to the company,” he said.

The official said PNOC Exploration planned to increase international oil and gas trading by appointing trading partners to supply oil and petroleum products in countries that preferred a government to government transaction to help increase revenues.

Aquino said the company also

planned to expand business tieups with Nigeria, China, Oman and Russia to market their products in the Philippines and other countries.

Meanwhile, Aquino said the company would procure the services of a contractor for a drill test on coal operating contract 185 in Zamboanga Sibugay province.

COC 185 (Area 29) coves an area of 2,000 hectares over the municipalities of Buug and Malangas Zamboanga Sibugay.

“The drilling involves core drilling to determine coal reserves,” he said.

SMC unit buys Qatar’s stockholdings in Liberty

By Darwin G. Amojelar CONGLOMERATE San Miguel Corp. said Monday its telecom unit signed an agreement to acquire a substantial stake in its Qatari partner in Liberty Telecom Holdings Inc. San Miguel told the stock exchange unit Vega Telecom Inc. had signed definitive agreements to acquire stakes of Qtel West Bay Holdings S.P.C., wi-tribe Asia Ltd. and White Dawn Solution Holdings in Liberty Telecoms.

“The acquisition by Vega of the LTHI shares shall be subject to closing conditions, inclusive of the conduct and completion by Vega of a tender offer,” San Miguel said.

Qtel West Bay owned 23.36 percent of Liberty while White Dawn Solution and wi-tribe had 18.44-percent and 2.86-percent stakes in the company, respectively, as of end-March.

These shares were valued at P8.37 billion based on the company’s closing share price of P2.88 on Friday.

Vega Telecom held 35.73-percent stake in Liberty Telecom.

Liberty Telecoms, which exited corporate rehabilitation, said it expected to break even a year ahead of schedule.

“The management really wants to have a break even as soon as possible,” Liberty Telecoms president and chief executive Bienvenido Bañas said.

The company, a joint venture of San Miguel and Qatar Telecom, reported a total comprehensive loss of P210.16 million in the first quarter of 2015, lower by 31.68 percent than P307.59-million net loss recorded a year ago.

Beauties on Skyjet. Mutya ng Pilipinas 2015 candidates Martina Fausta Diaz (left) of Antipolo City

and Kiaragiel Gregorio of the UK try the free champagne onboard Skyjet Airlines bound for Puerto Princesa City.

The coronation night will be on Aug. 2, 2015, 7 p.m. at Resorts World Amphitheater ib Pasay City.

T U E S D AY : J U LY 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

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

B5

Anti-monopoly law signed today The case against Flash IF you’re a Firefox user, chances are you’ve already seen this warning: “Firefox has prevented the unsafe plugin Adobe Flash from running on the target URL.” The warning is part of the latest industry backlash against Adobe Flash, software used to play and view animated elements on web pages.

Starting last week, Mozilla began blocking all versions of the Adobe Flash plug-in from automatically playing on Firefox, after the uncovering of new “zero-day” vulnerabilities or flaws in the software that are exploited by malicious hackers before they are patched.

The new flaw was discovered in gigabytes of data and documents stolen from the Italian spyware vendor Hacking Team and released to the public.

The stolen documents showed the Italian company offered software tools to governments that used at least three undocumented flaws in Flash to hack into people’s accounts and take over their computers.

Details of those flaws, now made public, meant they could be used by other hackers and criminals to install malicious software on people’s computers to steal personal details, monitor keystrokes or steal passwords.

Mozilla’s move to disable Flash on its browser came one day after the security chief of Facebook, Alex Stamos, called on Adobe to stop trying to improve Flash and kill it off once and for all.

“It is time for Adobe to announce the end-of-life date for Flash and to ask the browsers to set killbits on the same day,” he said on his Twitter account.

Security firms such as Symantec and Trend Micro also urged users to disable Flash.

The latest revelations about vulnerabilities in Flash also triggered calls among industry watchers to finally lay to rest the multimedia tool and platform that began life almost 20 years ago under Macromedia, a company that Adobe bought in 2005.

“Adobe Flash—that insecure, ubiquitous resource hog everyone hates to need—is under siege, again, and hopefully for the last time,” wrote Brian Barrett in an article unambiguously entitled “Flash Must Die” on the WIRED website.

He then explained why people shouldn’t wait for Flash’s demise but remove it from their devices right away.

“Why would you want to?” Barrett wrote. “Because Flash is a closed, proprietary system on a web that deserves open standards. It’s a popular punching bag for hackers, which puts users at risk over and over again.

And it’s a resource-heavy battery suck that at this point mostly finds its purchase in pop-up ads you didn’t want to see anyway.”

Barrett’s words echoed those written by the late Apple founder Steve Jobs in 2010 when he explained why Flash would have no place in the iPhone or iPad. Jobs objected to Flash for a number of reasons, the first of which was its proprietary nature.

“Adobe’s Flash products are 100 percent proprietary,” Jobs wrote.

“They are only available from Adobe, and Adobe has sole authority as to their future enhancement, pricing, etc. While Adobe’s Flash products are widely available, this does not mean they are open, since they are controlled entirely by Adobe and available only from Adobe.

By almost any definition, Flash is a closed system.

“Apple has many proprietary products too. Though the operating system for the iPhone, iPod and iPad is proprietary, we strongly believe that all standards pertaining to the web should be open. Rather than use Flash, Apple has adopted HTML5, CSS and JavaScript – all open standards.”

Jobs also observed that Flash, which used software to decode video, was a drain on batteries—a crucial point when it came to iPhones and iPads.

“To achieve long battery life when playing video, mobile devices must decode the video in hardware; decoding it in software uses too much power. Many of the chips used in modern mobile devices contain a decoder called H.264 – an industry standard that is used in every Blu-ray DVD player and has been adopted by Apple, Google (YouTube), Vimeo, Netflix and many other companies.

“The difference is striking: on an iPhone, for example, H.264 videos play for up to 10 hours, while videos decoded in software play for less than five hours before the battery is fully drained.”

Perhaps most germane to today’s situation, Jobs also attacked Flash for its lack of security.

“Symantec recently highlighted Flash for having one of the worst security records in 2009. We also know first hand that Flash is the number one reason Macs crash. We have been working with Adobe to fix these problems, but they have persisted for several years now.

We don’t want to reduce the reliability and security of our iPhones, iPods and iPads by adding Flash.”

With the woes surrounding Flash today, Jobs’ words five years ago certainly seem prescient.

Column archives and blog at: http://www.chinwong.com

By Othel V. Campos

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino Jr. will sign today two vital reform measures that aim to attain inclusive economic growth.

The president is set to approve the landmark Philippine Competition Act, which aims to level the playing field for all businesses by penalizing anti-competitive agreements and abuses by dominant players.

President Aquino is also expected to sign into law the Foreign Ships Co-Loading Act, which will now allow foreign ships carrying imported cargoes to dock in multiple ports.

The Philippine Competition Act is considered the longestrunning measure in Congress, taking almost 25 years before it passed legislation.

“The Philippine Competition Act will usher in a new era of doing business in the country,” said Senator Paolo Benigo Aquino,

co-author and principal sponsor of the measure.

Under the law, a Philippine Competition Commission will be established with the president appointing a chairperson, four commissioners and an executive director.

“Businesses, whether big or small, will now be on equal footing as the law penalizes anticompetitive agreements and abuses of dominant players. This will lead to an efficient market economy and a level playing field for all businesses,” said Aquino, adding that cartels would also be eliminated under the law.

As an independent quasi-judicial body, the PCC will look into anti-competitive behaviors, abuses in dominant positions and anti-competitive mergers

and acquisitions.

The PCC can impose administrative penalties of a maximum fine of P100 million for the first offense and P250 million for the second offense for anti-competitive agreements and abuses of dominant position while courts can impose criminal penalties of imprisonment from two to seven years and a maximum penalty of P250 million for anti-competitive agreements done between and among competitors.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Ships Co-Loading Act, another measure sponsored by Aquino, is envisioned to reduce logistics costs for producers, create a more efficient import and export system and lead to lower prices for consumers.

The law will also help in decongesting the major ports in the country.

Last year, the president approved the Go Negosyo Act and the Philippine Lemon Law.

Sustainable fishing. World Wide Fund for Nature has renewed ties with Century Pacific Food Inc., the Philippines’ largest canned food company, to promote artisanal tuna handline fishing in the Davao Gulf. Shown during the renewal of the partnership are (from left) WWF communications and media manager Gregg Yan, corporate relations manager Kim Ang, conservation program vice president Chrisma Salao, WWF-Philippines president and chief executive Joel Palma, Century Pacific vice president and general manager Gregory Banzon, Century Pacific president and chief executive Christopher Po and Century Tuna marketing manager Angela Pecson.

San Carlos to build another solar project

By Alena Mae S. Flores SAN Carlos Solar Energy Inc., a joint venture between Bronzeoak Philippines and European fund manager Thomas Lloyd Group, is building a 70-megawatt solar project in Negros Occidental province.

“We have in the pipeline, 70 megawatts of solar to be put up in Negros also. We can build it already in five to six months because the site is there. It does not need any conversion since it’s already an industrial site,” Bronzeoak director and treasurer Don Mario Dia said.

Dia said the additional 70-MW solar capacity would be on top of the 32-MW solar project in La Carlota City and the 48-MW

plant in Manlapa.

“For our project in La Carlota, it’s ongoing and it should be done by end of this year and commissioning by January next year. The Manlapa project will be finished by February next year. We will include them under the FIT [feed-in tariff] scheme,” he said.

He said Sacasol expected to secure the feed-in tariff rate of P8.69 for the new 70-MW capacity.

The Energy Regulatory Commission approved and adopted a solar feed-in tariff of P8.69 per kilowatt for the additional 450 megawatts of installation target until March 15, 2016.

“We need to financially close the project. We will try to meet

the March FIT rate,” Dia said.

SaCaSol has already completed a 22-MW solar plant in Negros Occidental while another 23 MW is targeted to be operational next month.

Thomas Lloyd confirmed last month that the sale of its shares in Sacasol’s 22-MW existing project and the 23-MW second phase to Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure.

PINAI is a 10-year, closed-end fund, dedicated to equity investments in Philippine infrastructure. The manager of the fund is Macquarie Infrastructure Management (Asia) Pty Limited Singapore Branch, a member of Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets.

TUESDAY: JULY 21, 2015

B6

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

Port congestion fears dismissed THE government allayed fears of a recurrence of congestion at the ports of Manila that slowed down trade and contributed to a weak 6.1-percent economic growth last year.

The sluggish economic expansion failed to meet the low end of the government’s target of a 6.5-percent growth in 2014. Some big business companies in the country indicated receiving reports of a possible recurrence of the 2014 port congestion starting August or September as shipments start to surge for the holiday season.

Port regulator Philippine Ports Authority, however, said the two international ports in Manila had reached optimum ideal capacity that made them ready for the anticipated surge in activity starting the holiday season this year up to next year’s national elections.

The PPA said in a statement the Manila South Harbor and Manila International Container Terminal were operating even better prior to the pre-port congestion level in

February 2014.

PPA general manager Juan Sta. Ana said the two Manila ports were more than ready to handle the anticipated rise in cargo volume in the coming months brought about by the Christmas season and the upcoming national elections. Yard utilization at South Harbor and MICT is now at 55 percent to 59 percent, or about 44,000 to 48,000 twentyfoot equivalent units, according to Sta. Ana. He added port productivity “has really gone up to all-time highs resulting in faster turnaround time for cargoes and vessels to and from the port.”

Industry data in the Port of Manila was even better with the MICT utilization down to 51 percent.

The easing in the situation at

the ports came despite volume in the Port of Manila posting a double-digit growth. Port operators have also taken steps to prevent backlogs at the ports. The MICT engaged 1 Stop of Australia to implement TABS, or Terminal Appointment Booking System, which has targeted September for the system’s first run.

The pullout of containers had also been stepped up as a result of a collaboration among consignees, the Bureau of Customs and International Container Terminal Services Inc. Less storage resulted in more yard space at the ports. Ports suffered from massive backlogs after the Manila city government imposed a daytime truck ban beginning late February 2014. Effects of the congestion were felt long after the ban was temporarily lifted in September.

Sta. Ana said measures put in place by government, terminal operators, and stakeholders had contributed in preparing the two ports for the upcoming peak season.

Cebu property expo. Mediacom Solutions Inc., in partnership with Lamudi Philippines, opened

its gates to thousands of Cebuanos in their first ever venture in a two-day regional expo Property Expo Cebu 2015 at the Cebu Trade Hall, SM City Cebu. Shown at the opening of the export are (from left, front) Heslie Laranas, sales manager of Camella Homes; Erika Madrinan, marketing manager, Lamudi; Doreen Alo, general manager of Collier’s International-Cebu); and Faye Austria, account officer of housing loans and market head and manager of BPI Family Savings-Cebu. At the back are (from left) Rudolf Kotik, founder of Filipino International Franchise Association; David Abrenilla, chairman and chief executive, Mediacom Solutions; and Mike Tuano, head of mass marketing, Habitat for Humanity.

Bangko Sentral cites BDO Unibank ITS consistent leadership in receiving and facilitating the inflow of remittances of migrant Filipino workers to the Philippines has earned BDO Unibank another recognition from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas at the recently-held 2015 BSP Stakeholders Awards.

BDO was named the Commercial Bank that Generated the Largest Overseas Filipino Remittances, an award it previously won in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2014. In between these years, the ank was also given the Hall of Fame award in the same category.

The recognition signifies the role of commercial banks in facilitating workers’ remittances

worldwide. It is given to the top commercial bank that was able to generate the highest volume of cash remittances from the migrant workers and respondent commercial bank for the timely and accurate submission of bank reports to the Bangko Sentral.

Another award, the Outstanding PhilPASS REMIT participant, was also given to BDO for its notable performance in terms of remittance volume sent through the central bank’s Philippine Payments and Settlement System.

The system allows the use of PhilPaSS as a settlement arm for remittances in order to ensure safe and immediate transfer and set-

tlement of remittance funds into beneficiary accounts maintained in another bank.

BDO, through its remittance arm BDO Remit, has offices in Asia, North America, Europe and Middle East. Its expansive network of partners also strengthens its offering of accessible and convenient sending of money from anywhere in the world.

The BSP Stakeholders’ Awards is held annually to recognize outstanding partner institutions for their strong support and contribution to the statistical undertakings, information requirements and advocacy programs of the central bank.

PH rice sufficiency is desirable, attainable IN ARTICLES written in another newspaper, a friend of mine who has worked for both the government and the private sector has written about the issue of whether a policy of self-sufficiency in rice makes economic sense for this country.

My friend’s position is that such a policy, which has been a fixture in successive Philippine development plans, does not make economic sense. By all means government plans should make generous provision for the agricultural sector’s needs, he argued, but Filipino farmers should just do the best thing they can and accept the idea of other countries supplying this country’s annual rice supply shortfall. This country should not be despondent over the fact that Filipino farmers are unable to supply all of the nation’s rice needs and should simply strive to support the most efficient farmers. Rice self-sufficiency, he concluded, should not be regarded as an inviolable goal.

With all due respect I disagree with my friend and colleague.

My inability to agree with him stems not from any obsession with the idea of rice self-sufficiency but from a firm belief that this country has the capability to produce all the rice it needs. It has approximately 3,000,000 hectares devoted to rice and corn cultivation, around 50 significant rivers capable of providing irrigation water, abundant technology—the world’s leading rice research facility, the International Rice Research Institute, is located in this country—a government agricultural extension structure and adequate supplies of basic farm inputs. With all of these availabilities, it is extremely difficult to comprehend the Philippine rice industry’s inability to produce grain sufficient to meet this country’s requirement.

My economist colleague was correct in pointing out that the rice-growing areas of the Philippines are not of equal productive capability and that the same amount of investment will yield a higher output in some rice-growing areas than in others.

An agricultural policy that invests resources in--and expects high outputs from--both premier and marginal rice-growing areas is thus bound, in his view, to result in failure.

Self-sufficiency is attainable, but the rational path to that result is not the unselective expenditure of resources but the concentration of spending on rice-growing areas with the highest yields per unit of investment. These areas have already been identified by government agricultural experts.

They include the Cagayan River valley (especially Isabela), the Bicol River basin, Quezon, Mindoro, Iloilo, Negros Occidental and Central Mindanao. These areas still have fertile soil and are well drained by rivers. They are the best rice-growing areas in the nation.

The concept of the government agricultural planners was that these high-productivity areas would supply the rice needs of the surrounding provinces, viz., Iloilo would take care not only of that province’s needs but also of the needs of all the Panay Island provinces and the Bicol River basin would answer for the needs of the Bicol provinces.

The administration of Ferdinand Marcos has the right approach to maximizing the benefits from foreign assistance to Philippine agriculture. It agreed with the foreign donors that each of them would answer for the investment requirement of a specific rice-growing area. Thus, it was agreed that USAID (the United States Agency for International Development) would answer for the investment requirement of the Bicol River basin, JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) would take care of the financial needs of Central Mindanao, and so on. The Department of Agriculture, with the full support of Neda (National Economic and Development Authority) made certain that the concept would be successfully implemented.

Rice-sufficiency in this country is not pie in the sky. It is achievable. But the way to get there is not by constantly deriding the notion--citing other nations’ thriving rice industries-but by more judicious use of national resources available for Filipino rice farmers.

E-mail: rudyromero777@yahoo.com

t u e s D aY : J u LY 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

WORLD

cesar barrioquinto EDITOR

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

B7

US and Cuba restore relations WASHINGTON—The Cuban flag was raised at the US State Department Monday in a historic gesture to mark renewed diplomatic ties between Havana and Washington as embassies were reestablished in their respective capitals.

Diplomatic relations officially resumed at the stroke of midnight and the Cuban banner was hoisted a few hours later, in a move toward burying decades of enmity between the Cold War foes seeking to normalize relations.

A foreign policy legacy for President Barack Obama, the historic

turnaround between two bitter adversaries has come about at breakneck pace, in just a matter of months since the two sides agreed to bury the hatchet and work together as equals.

The shift came after Washington acknowledged that its policy of trying to affect change in tightly controlled communist Cuba through isolation and trade restrictions had failed, and that engaging Havana directly was a better way to nudge it towards democracy and prosperity.

At about 4:00 am (0800 GMT) the Cuban banner took its place among a row of flags from around the world adorning the State Department’s imposing marble entrance in the US capital as workers hoisted it up a newly installed flag pole, according to an AFP photographer.

The banner took its place between the flags of Croatia to the left and Cyprus to the right.

And for the first time since 1961, the standard—with a white star inside a red triangle against white and blue stripes—will also fly over Havana’s newly upgraded embassy in Washington, just a stone’s throw from the White House.

In yet another historic gesture, US Secretary of State John Kerry will formally receive his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez for talks Monday, before holding a joint press conference around 1:45 pm (1745 GMT).

Ahead of the meeting, Rodriguez will preside over a ceremony to mark the upgrading of the Cuban interests section to a full embassy.

The rapprochement was announced on December 17, as Obama and his Cuban counterpart

Raul Castro agreed to end their countries’ estrangement and put them on track towards a full normalization of ties.

After a series of negotiations in Havana and Washington, the restoration of diplomatic relations has come about just seven months later.

But both nations have cautioned that this is only a beginning, warning that overcoming decades of very bad blood is not easy.

There are “issues that we don’t see eye-to-eye on,” State Department spokesman John Kirby admitted Friday.

The United States “wants to move beyond a Cold War-era approach to one of constructive engagement as a way to support and empower the Cuban people,” analyst Ted Piccone from the Brookings Institution told AFP.

“Cuba needs the United States as an economic engine for its troubled economy and hopes to attract new foreign investment and human capital to update its socialist model, but without undergoing political reform.”

“Building confidence and trust will be critical to the ability to move forward,” he added.

One of the biggest areas of contention remains human rights, with Washington pressing for an improvement in freedoms of expression, religion and the press in the Caribbean island nation.

Some Republicans have been sharply critical of what they see as US haste to cozy up with Cuba.

Senator and 2016 presidential hopeful Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, vowed to end diplomatic ties with an “anti-American communist tyranny.” AFP AFFIDAVITOF CORRECTION

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I, AILEEN PEREZ MEDINA-MIRAFLORES, of legal age, Filipino citizen, married and a resident of 754-D Moret St., Sampaloc, Manila, Philippines, depose and state that the names ALBERTA TOLENTINO PEREZ and ENCLEOFISTA TOLENTINO PEREZ refer to one and same person under Doc. No. 512, Page No. 104, Book No. 259 Series of 2015. Atty.

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Advertising depArtment 832-5547 (DL); 832-5550 (TeleFax) emAiL Us @ advertise@thestandard.com.ph

(TS-JULY 21, 2015)

Republic of the Philippines

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

InvItatIon to BId for tHE UPGradInG of vIdEo and aUdIo ConfErEnCInG for tHE offICE of tHE SECrEtarY fUnCtIon rooM In tHE dEPartMEnt of fInanCE 1.

The DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE (DOF), through the Government of the Philippines under the General Appropriations Act for FY 2015, intends to apply the sum of Eight Million Two Hundred Fifty-Five Thousand Nine Hundred Pesos (PhP8,255,900.00) being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for the Upgrading of Video and Audio Conferencing for the Office of the Secretary Function Room in the Department of Finance (the “Project”). 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 Upgrading of Video and Audio Conferencing for the Office of the Secretary Function Room in the Department of Finance. Bidders should have completed, within three (3) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project which is equivalent to at least fifty percent (50%) of the ABC for the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

3.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (R-IRR) of Republic Act (RA) No. 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

However, only those who have purchased the Bidding Documents shall be allowed to participate in the pre-bid conference, and raise or submit written queries or clarifications.

4.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA No. 5183 and subject to Commonwealth Act No. 138.

5.

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

Blockade. Drivers are caught up in traffic as farmers block the A84 road during a protest in the French town of Breteville-sur-Odon, near Caen, on July 20,. The farmers are protesting against high market prices in the supermarkets and on July 20 began a blockage of the four main access points to the ringroad around the city of Caen, demanding a visit by the minister of Agriculture. AFP

Mitsubishi apologizes to US prisoners LOS ANGELES—Japan’s Mitsubishi Materials made a landmark apology Sunday to US prisoners of war forced to work in its mines during World War II, seven decades after the conflict.

The Japanese government only officially apologized to former American POWs five years ago, and Mitsubishi’s initiative appeared to be the first of its kind by a Japanese corporation.

Senior Mitsubishi executive Hikaru Kimura presented a “most remorseful apology” to 94-year-old James Murphy of California, one of just a few surviving US prisoners forced to work in Japan.

Murphy accepted the “sincere, humble” apology.

“For 70 years since the war ended, the prisoners of war who worked for these Japanese companies have asked for something very simple, they asked for an apology,” he said.

“We hope to extend Mitsubishi’s gracious coming forward at this time to all the other mines and factories who employed American POWs against their

will.”

Kimura and other company representatives met earlier with Murphy and families of other former POWs “to express our most remorseful apology for their being subjected to hard labor during World War II, when they worked in mines operated

by Mitsubishi,” he said.

The sprawling conglomerate, which now makes everything from cement to electronics, forced about 900 POWs to work in hard labor at four mines in Japan.

Thousands of other US prisoners were pushed into slave labor at Japanese firms during the war.

“The working conditions were extremely harsh and the POWs were subjected to severe hardship,” he recognized, vowing to never let such a thing to happen again.

“As the company that succeeded Mitsubishi Mining, we cannot help feeling a deep sense of ethical responsibility for this past tragedy.”

Outside board member Yukio Okamoto said Mitsubishi’s past facilitation of forced labor had

tormented him and his colleagues.

“I entered the room with a heavy heart seeking forgiveness but instead of grievances, I was met with generosity and forgiveness,” he said.

Although it was unclear what prompted the apology, it came as nationalist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prepares to make what he says will be a “forwardlooking” statement on the 70th anniversary of Japan’s WWII defeat this summer.

Abe has said he agrees with previous government pronouncements on the conflict, but does not think it appropriate to continually apologize for events more than seven decades ago.

A third-generation politician whose grandfather was a World War II cabinet member and became a post-war prime minister, Abe has long agitated for revision of the country’s pacifist constitution.

US occupying forces imposed the constitution in the aftermath of World War II, but its warrenouncing Article Nine is held dear by many Japanese. AFP

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on July 21, 2015 at the General Services Division, 7th Floor EDPC Building, BSP Complex, Pablo Ocampo Sr. St., Roxas Blvd., Manila upon payment of a non-refundable fee of Ten Thousand Pesos (PhP10,000.00), not later than the submission of their bids.

The Bidding Documents may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the PhilGEPS and the website of the DOF, provided that the Bidders shall pay the non-refundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

6.

The schedule of bidding activities are as follows:

ACTIVITIES July 21, 2015

Issuance and Availability of Bid Documents

Starting July 21, 2015

Pre-Bid Conference

July 28, 2015, 10:00 a.m.

Request for Clarification

July 31, 2015

Issuance of Supplemental Bid Bulletin

August 3, 2015

Deadline for Submission of Bids

August 10, 2015, 9:45 a.m.

Opening of Bids 7.

Schedules

Posting of Invitation to Bid

August 10, 2015, 10:00 a.m. th

Bids must be delivered to General Services Division, 7 Floor EDPC Building, BSP Complex, Pablo Ocampo Sr. St., Roxas Blvd., Manila on or before August 10, 2015, 9:45 a.m. The bidders shall drop their duly accomplished eligibility requirements, technical and financial proposals in two (2) separate envelopes in the bid box located at the abovementioned address. All the 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 the date indicated above at the DFG Conference Room, 4th Floor DOF Building. Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend.

“LATE BIDS SHALL NOT BE ACCEPTED”

8.

DOF reserves the right to accept or reject any and all bids, 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.

(TS-JULY 21, 2015)

(SGD) GIL S. BELTRAN Undersecretary and DOF-BAC Chairman

T U E S D AY : J U LY 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

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cESAr bArrioqUinTo EDITOR

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

world

New Polish video game enchants the world WARSAW—Poland’s new ambassador is a scar-faced hit man armed with two swords and potions against monsters and dragons. His name is Geralt, hero of a Polish role-playing video game bewitching the world.

“The Witcher” is the brainchild of Warsaw-based CD Project Red, one of a growing number of cutting-edge Polish IT firms out to dominate global gaming.

It sold four million copies of the game worldwide at 60 euros ($67) a piece in the couple of weeks after its May release. The earlier two installments in the Witcher series have sold some eight million copies since hitting the market in 2007 and 2011.

“The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the best games ever made,” said website Gamespot of the game that is the top seller in most of the 109 countries where it was released.

“They created the largest open world in the history of video games and filled it with realistic dialogue and characters that are full of life,” said leading Polish game developer Pawel Miechowski of the game’s creators.

“Plus the graphics are staggering,” the 32-year-old told AFP. The series was even mentioned

by US President Barack Obama during a visit to Warsaw last year, after he received the second installment as a symbolic gift to smash dated stereotypes of Poland as a dreary, gray, ex-Communist country of vodka and horse-drawn carts.

“I confess, I’m not very good at video games, but I’ve been told that it is a great example of Poland’s place in the new global economy,” he said at the time.

CD Project Red co-founder Marcin Iwinski attributes the success of Polish video games to Eastern European sensibility: “We bring something new to the table, a breath of fresh air, creativity.”

The country’s video-game industry is one of the biggest in Europe, according to Daniel Sadowski, co-founder of the Nitreal Games studio and an instructor at the Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology. AFP

Open again. People wait to enter a bank before its opening on July 20 in Athens. Greek banks reopened on July 20 after a shutdown lasting three weeks imposed by the government to avert a crash in the banking system over the country’s debt crisis. However, the capital controls in force since June 29 remain in place, although a daily cash withdrawal limit of 60 euros ($65.03) has now been relaxed to a weekly restriction of 420 euros. AFP

Banks reopen as Greece tries to reboot economy ATHENS—Greek banks reopened Monday after a three-week shutdown imposed to stop a run on ATMs from crashing the financial system, but citizens woke up to widespread price hikes as part of a cash-for-reform deal with the country’s creditors.

The bank shutdown since June 29 is estimated to have cost Greece’s crisis-hit economy 3.0 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in market shortages and export disruption.

Capital controls including a block on key transfers to foreign

banks and a ban on the opening of new accounts remain in force, although a daily cash withdrawal limit of 60 euros ($65) has been relaxed.

Louka Katseli, the head of Greece’s bank association, said Greeks would now be able to withdraw a maximum of 300 euros at once until Friday, when a new weekly limit of 420 euros comes in force.

The government is meanwhile expected to make a 4.2 billion euro payment Monday to the European Central Bank (ECB), made possible by a short-term “bridge” loan of 7.16 billion euros granted by the European Union on Friday.

The loan will also allow the debt-crippled Greek government to make payments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) outstanding since June.

Greece’s radical left government last week agreed to tough reforms—including tax hikes, an overhaul of the ailing pension system and privatizations it had previously opposed—in exchange for a three-year bailout of up to 86 billion euros that it is hoped will stop it crashing out of the eurozone.

Taxes went up in Greece on a wide range of goods and services on Monday—everything from sugar and cocoa to condoms, taxis and funerals—from 13 percent to 23 percent.

On the other hand, the tax on medicines, books and newspapers eased from 6.5 percent to 6.0 percent.

Katseli said some 40 billion euros have been withdrawn from Greek banks since December by customers anxious over the safety of their deposits, seriously damag-

ing the banks’ ability to function normally.

She urged Greeks to bring their savings back to the banks to support the crisis-hit financial system.

“If we take out the money from our safes and our houses—where, in any case, it isn’t safe—and we deposit it in the banks, we will reinforce liquidity,” she told the Mega TV channel.

For the first time in months, technical teams representing the creditors—the European Union, the ECB and the IMF—are expected in Athens in the coming week to assess the state of the economy.

The austerity package caused a mutiny among lawmakers of the ruling radical Syriza party, forcing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to carry out a limited reshuffle on Friday. AFP

Want to speak Australian? Abbreviate!

In attendance. From left, Singers Ally Brooke, Normani Kordei,

Camila Cabello, Lauren Jauregui and Dinah Jane Hansen of Fifth Harmony attend The Players’ Awards presented by BET at the Rio Hotel & Casino on July 19 in Las Vegas, Nevada. AFP

SYDNEY—Traveling to Australia and want to fit in? Or just trying to understand your mates from Down Under? The Sydney pastor behind a video that has gone viral explaining the local lingo might be able to help.

Josh Hawkins put the threeminute clip entitled “How to speak Australian: Abbreviate Everything” on YouTube a week ago and since then it has been viewed more than 130,000 times and even drawn praise from former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard.

Hawkins said Monday the key to speaking Aussie is to shorten words where possible—a practice

that means that even Australia itself is condensed to “Straya”.

“There wasn’t a lot of thought behind it to be honest,” he told AFP of the video.

“I just thought that it would be interesting to see how many abbreviations we could come up with ... that everyday Aussies use.”

Simple words such as football, biscuit and chocolate become “footy”, “biccy” and “choccy”—and the general response has been amazement at how many common words are shortened in everyday use.

“For anyone who’s visiting, an essential is ‘G’day, how ya going?’. You can have a full conversation with

just that,” said Hawkins, a pastor who works with young adults.

Another essential would be understanding what Australians call a pub.

“There’s a few options: you can just call it ‘the local’. So, ‘Heading down to the local for a bevvy’ (that’s a beverage),” said Hawkins.

“But also you can call it the ‘tav’, that’s short for tavern, the ‘bowlo’, that’s short for bowling club, or the ‘arrie’, that’s short for the RSL,” he added in reference to the Returned and Services League of Australia, which has hundreds of establishments around the country that serve the country’s veterans. AFP

T U E S D AY : J U LY 2 1 : 2 0 1 5

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TATUM ANCHETA EDITOR

BING PAREL A S S O C I AT E E D I T O R

BERNADETTE LUNAS

life @ thestandard.com .ph

WRITER

@LIFEatStandard

A RTS, CU LT U RE & T ECH

LIFE

VISUAL SPIRITUALS

Tabi-tabi 36 x 48 inches, acrylic on canvas

Artist-Pastor Rodel Buban finds his inspiration from the heavenly realms

BY STEF JUAN

A

rtists do need to perceive the everyday beyond how they are usually seen and presented, much like faith.

So, perhaps it’s not too big of a stretch for a pastor to be an artist, especially when that pastor has been painting and honing his craft since he was in grade school like Pastor Rodel Buban of River of God Church.

“Painting was one of my talents that I first discovered, aside from singing and playing musical instruments,” he explains. “I started painting when I was in elementary school with the guidance and help of my teacher, Mrs. Ella M. Castro, and Mr. Arthuro Monje, my art mentor in church.”

From winning poster-making contests in grade school and high school, to doing side projects painting backdrops, and giving his paintings away as gifts, Pastor Rodel first sold his artwork out of necessity. “One time, back in 2005, I needed to buy a guitar to use whenever I would lead worship at church. But, I didn’t have a budget for it. I prayed to God, ‘What should I do?’ and He told me to use my talents.

That’s where He was going to bless me.” And true enough, the first painting he sold was for the exact amount that he needed for the guitar!

Now, he has done over a hundred paintings, mostly colorful abstracts or scenery with a particular sense of depth — both visually and spiritually. Being a pastor, he makes sure that each painting has a message.

“My artworks are always inspired by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. For me, painting is a form of worship.” There are paintings that he finishes within a day,

The artist in his studio finishing his painting Peaceful, 7x5 ft, acrylic on canvas, commissioned work for Mrs. Mei Lin

Secret Place 36x 30 inches, acrylic on canvas

When Glory Falls 36 x 48 inches, acrylic on canvas

some it takes him a year, but most of the time, they are just forms of “spontaneous expression, painting while worshipping the Lord,” as he describes them. “I love it because it brings the outward flow of the Spirit through my paintings. We call it ‘prophetic worship’.”

While he confesses that he loves all his paintings the same way, one piece of work does deserve a special mention — “Ebony and Ivory,” a beautiful painting of two zebras locked in a gentle embrace.

Another way that Pastor Rodel shares his craft is by holding basic painting and drawing classes at his house gallery in Quezon City. He teaches children, just like his early mentors did for him back in elementary school days. “My advice for all the kids who are just starting to paint is to keep on practicing and enjoying painting.

More importantly,” he adds, “honor God with your art, because He is the one who gave you your talent.”

Whether you share the same faith as Pastor Rodel or not, it can’t be denied that his paintings are works of art.

You may check out Pastor Rodel Buban’s work on display, and sign up for art classes at his home gallery at 50B Sct. Alcaraz corner D. Tuazon streets, Barangay Maharlika, Quezon City. Some of his paintings are also featured at House of Anza in Podium and Mozaic Living along Pioneer street in Mandaluyong. You can also check out his website at www.rodelbuban.com. He is currently working on his ninth solo exhibit scheduled later this year or early next year.

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LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

We heart Wi-Fi P

Two in three individuals think that lans to make the Philippines a Wi-Fi is so important that they would virtually connected country will change hotels just to get a better Wi-Fi finally turn into reality when experience. Almost one in two consumers the Science and Technology would do the same for airlines and a little Department begins testing its free public under one in four for health clubs.

Wi-Fi service this week on a limited basis A whopping 84 percent claim that “bad” in six hubs in Metro Manila. If all goes Wi-Fi, or an unreliable connection, prevents smoothly, select public areas in close to THE GIST them from getting work done, especially at 1,000 cities and municipalities nationwide

BY ED BIADO the workplace, where “low-quality” Internet will be Wi-Fi-powered by year’s end. access “hinders productivity, and ultimately Wi-Fi is an important aspect of our contemporary globalized life. Modern consumers view cuts into a business’ bottom line.”

A majority of users understand the dangers of the service as a necessity and not merely a nice-tohave as it was just a few years ago. Worldwide Wi-Fi connecting to public Wi-Fi hotspots but most of them deployments reached 4.2 million hotspots in 2013 and don’t really care. According to the study, 79 percent of are expected to exceed seven million this year. Further, users feel that free access is not secure, yet 62 percent analysts say that 2015 could be the year that in-flight log onto them anyway. “The need to connect supersedes security implications,” Xirrus says.

Wi-Fi becomes “ubiquitous.”

The most common online activities among public In its “Where the Wires End: Consumer Opinions and Habits” report, wireless technology hardware and Wi-Fi consumers are using social media (74 percent), software provider Xirrus outlined some key insights getting sporting event updates (67 percent), and and trends on how we use Wi-Fi right now. It found messaging (59 percent).

Estimates say that there will be a total of 4.9 billion that we connect to our own Wi-Fi networks at home the most, with 97 percent of Internet users doing so. connected devices worldwide this year. The demand for Eighty eight percent connect at work while 82 percent secure, reliable and pervasive Wi-Fi available for free to the avail of the service at hotels. Airports and coffee shops public is only bound to get greater as the Internet of Things are popular hubs as well, with 72 percent and 63 scenario takes shape. It is said that in five years’ time, we will be using as many as 25 billion connected “things.” percent respectively.

T EC H TA L K

SMALL, LIGHT AND CONVENIENT:

HERO4 Session packs a big punch!

T

he latest addition to the GoPro family is small, cube-like, and doesn’t require a protective case. For the first time since 2007, GoPro, a California-based manufacturer, is introducing a major redesign of its famous Hero line. Meet GoPro HERO4 Session – the smallest GoPro action cam yet. It has a durable waterproof design that eliminates the need for a separate housing and features simple one-button control to make capturing your experiences more convenient than ever before.

“I’m so excited about the launch of HERO4 Session because now I can finally use mine in public!” said Nicholas Woodman, GoPro founder and CEO. “With HERO4 Session, we challenged ourselves to produce the smallest, lightest, most convenient GoPro possible. HERO4 Session combines the best of our engineering and user-experience know-how to deliver our most convenient life-capture solution, yet.” Woodman adds.

HERO4 Session has the same innovative features found in GoPro’s best-selling HERO4 Black and Silver cameras, including SuperViewTM, Protune and Auto Low Light recording modes. An addition to the design is an expanded set of controls that can be accessed when using the GoPro App or Smart Remote. With enhanced performance for water activities this will greatly capture underwater adventures for professionals or even for active private individuals. The audio performance during water-based activities has been dramatically improved because of the waterproof design that eliminates the need for a separate water housing, which can often muffle sounds.

“At GoPro, sound quality is as important as image quality and we’re very excited about the

stunning audio advancements we’ve made with HERO4 Session during water-based and windy activities. It’s incredible what this little GoPro can capture,” remarked Woodman.

The cube design has a built in system that rotates the framing of the visuals being captured as if it was right side up. You no longer have to worry if you mounted it the other way or took pictures upside down when you’re mountaineering or jumping the highest slope.

Fifty percent smaller and 40 percent lighter than any of the other GoPro cameras, HERO4 Session may be the best GoPro yet. It is compatible with existing GoPro mounts and will retail for P20,990 at authorized GoPro retailers.

GoPro is exclusively distributed by Dan’s (Adventure and Lifestyle Channels) and Moduvi (Consumer Electronics Channels).

For more information, visit www.gopro. com or connect with GoPro on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, or LinkedIn.

‘Where The Wires End’ infographic. Xirrus Wi-Fi network surveyed 270 individuals aged between 18 and 75 on how they use their Wi-Fi (www.xirrus.com).

TUESDAY : J ULY 21 : 2015

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LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

ARTS AND CULTURE ROUNDUP What’s on in theaters and galleries this week EXHIBITS

ABANDONED: Soler Santos Main Gallery, Art Informal, Mandaluyong City Ongoing until August 8

A GLASS OF THE SEA: An Exhibition on the Coral Triangle The Mind Museum, Taguig City Ongoing until July 31

BENCAB IN MULTIPLES: A Print Retrospective Bulwagang Juan Luna, CCP, Manila Ongoing until August 16

Artist Soler Santos finds beauty in ruins and frames these abandoned scenes – a sports club in Manila, a restaurant in a hotel near the shoreline of Baler, a hospital in Mindoro – uniquely in such a way that captures their essence and brings them back to life in their own arranged chaos.

In this exhibit, he creates a sentimental atmosphere by combining poster-sized photographs, which he took for the past three years, and found objects with oil painting on canvas.

Santos, who is known for his paintings of plant leaves and roots rendered photo-realistically, fuses his interest in photography and printmaking skills in his current series of work.

Discover why the marine environment of the Philippines is the most diverse in the world through this exhibition that features the astounding biodiversity of the Coral Triangle, particularly the Verde Island Passage. It showcases stunning underwater footage taken from the expeditions conducted by the California Academy of Sciences (CAS).

This exhibit, created by The Mind Museum in collaboration with CAS and supported by United States Agency for International Development (USAID), will teach viewers about fascinating marine creatures and how to care for marine life through interactive games and art sculptures.

In this retrospective exhibition of prints, viewers will learn how National Artist Benedicto Cabrera, also known as BenCab, pursued and approached different themes and subjects in multiple takes, both in print and in painting, as well as how he contemporized his iconic images and adapted them to personal narratives and issues of the day.

This exhibition, made possible by the Cultural Center of the Philippines and in cooperation with the BenCab Art Foundation and Sureste Properties Inc., is part of the year-long celebration of BenCab 50 Creative Years.

For more information, email exhibitions.artinformal@gmail.com

For more information, visit www.themindmuseum.org

CONCERTS

WORKSHOPS

MCOF 2015 “YOUNG ARTISTS’ SERIES” Ayala Museum, Makati July 28

THE MADONNA PROJECT: Collage Workshop Ayala Museum, Makati City July 22

The Manila Chamber Orchestra Foundation celebrates its 30th year of promoting classical music in the country with a debut concert of one of its promising talents, young soprano Micah David Galang.

Galang, a grand prize winner of the Jovita Fuentes Vocal Competition, will be assisted by pianist Farley Asuncion and guitarist Angelica Vinculada in an exquisite program of Donizetti, Delibes, Rodrigo, Feliciano, San Pedro and Mozart.

Inspired by the second solo art exhibition Women of Curiosity: The Journey is the Destination, Nimfa Ursabia will teach how to deconstruct images into a new visual composition in her collagemaking workshop. This workshop’s goal is to increase the presence of artistic contemplation in the lives of participants by taking images apart to create a rich palette of color, texture, depth and perception.

Everyone, 12 years old and above, is invited to join.

Workshop fee includes one exclusive print artwork by Ursabia herself, one museum admission ticket, basic collage-making materials (images of Madonnas, 5x7.5 inches board and paper, collage materials, glue and scissors/cutter).

For tickets, dial 997-9483 or 782-7164.

For more information, dial 832-1125 to 39 loc 1504/1505 or email ccp.exhibits@gmail.com

For inquiries and reservations, call 759-8288 local 35 or email education@ayalamuseum.org

ADVANCED STORYWRITING FOR WRITERS AND ILLUSTRATORS (with Gabriela Lee) Ayala Museum, Makati City July 27 For aspiring children’s book writers and illustrators, Gabriela Lee, the writer behind the books La-on and The SevenHeaded Dragon, is holding an advanced-level workshop to create and collaborate on a picture book project for child readers. Lee currently teaches creative writing, literature and composition at the English department in UP Diliman.

The workshop fee is inclusive of a certificate, handouts, materials, snacks, one-day admission to the museum and one-day free access to the library.

For inquiries and reservations, call 759-8288 local 35 or email education@ayalamuseum.org

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LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

PUSHING THE ENVELOPE WITH ‘33 VARIATIONS’

Roselyn Perez

Ren Zamora

Ina Fabregas

Franco Chan

Paolo O'Hara

T

Composer and musical director Ejay Yatco

heater aficionados will get to see a new facet to Red Turnip Theater as it opens its third season with “33 Variations” by Moises Kaufman.

Top-billed by theater icons Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino and Teroy Guzman, with theater stalwarts Paolo O’Hara, Rem Zamora, and Roselyn Perez who make up the supporting cast along with fresh faces Ina Fabregas and Franco Chan, “33 Variations” tells the story of renowned musicologist Katherine Brandt who is on a mission to discover why Beethoven composed the Diabelli variations – considered as one of his greatest masterpieces.

Brandt’s daughter, Clara, is also on a mission to find her place in her mother’s world. Together, they maneuver through Beethoven’s colorful life, their own challenging relationship, and somehow find their answers within his music. Shifting between periods and places, the play tackles the relationship between mothers and daughters and the legacies they long to leave behind.

“33 Variations” made its Broadway premiere in 2009, famously marking Jane Fonda’s return to the theater after a 46-year absence in the role of Katherine. It went on to garner several Tony Award nominations, including Best Play and Best Actress for Fonda. It had previously won the Edgerton New American Play Award in 2007 and the Steinberg American Theatre Critics Association Best New Play Award in 2008.

Teroy Guzman

Shamaine Buencamino

“33 Variations” also marks Red Turnip’s first show to incorporate live music. Critical moments in the play are underscored by the Diabelli Variations themselves, played live and on stage by Ejay Yatco (“Sa Wakas,” “Dani Girl,” “The Boy in the Bathroom”). Although he is mostly known as a composer and musical director, the 24-year-old Yatco has also competed at the 2013 World Championship of Performing Arts under the Classical Piano category, where he made it to the final three instrumentalists of the world and took home one gold and three silver medals.

“We had decided on this show almost two years ago.

We knew it was what we had wanted to open the third season with. This play has been simmering in my head since then. ‘33 Variations’ is such an elegant, intricate piece of work and I am excited by the challenge of bringing it to life. I’ve also surrounded myself with a powerhouse cast and a young, energetic production team. I cannot wait for everyone to see what they’ve all brought to the table. It’s going to be unlike anything you’ve seen from Red Turnip so far,” promises Jenny Jamora who makes her directorial debut in “33 Variations.”

“33 Variations” will run weekends starting July 24 to August 23, 2015 at Whitespace, Makati. Red Turnip Theater Season 3 is presented in cooperation with Whitespace, Lyric, FILA, and PLDT. Tickets are available through TicketWorld at 891-9999 or www. ticketworld.com.ph or email Red Turnip Theater at redturniptheater@gmail.com.

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SHOWBITZ

ISAH V. RED EDITOR

isahred @ gmail.com

Jada Pinket Smith is a long-time advocate against human trafficking

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Jada Pinket Smith talking to an expert on human trafficking

ChIldren For Sale: The FIghT To end human TraFFICkIng

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n a CNN Freedom Project special report, actress and longtime advocate Jada Pinkett Smith travels to Atlanta – a trafficking hotspot - to try and unravel the complicated web of human trafficking that’s happening in the United States.

The hour-long special report is a gritty, raw look at the human trafficking industry in the United States, the lives of children caught in its web, and those fighting back against this form of modern-day slavery.

In this powerful report, Pinkett

Smith and CNN delve deep into the heart of this heinous crime, following undercover officers on raids and rescues of underage victims, accompanying aid workers on outreach missions, and spending time with the survivors in shelters as they share their harrowing stories.

“For me, this project is extremely important because I want the world to understand the dangers that every kid in America is susceptible to,” Pinkett Smith says. “Human trafficking is one aspect of the vulnerabilities and obstacles that we are confronted with. People who

sell children are monsters.”

Sex trafficking hit Pinkett Smith head-on when her then pre-teen daughter asked her about the crime in the United States. In disbelief, Pinkett Smith began to research and is now a vocal activist and advocate.

Where does sex trafficking start?

How do girls get manipulated into it? How hard is it for law enforcement and others to save them? And how can communities help protect children from the men and women who prey on their vulnerabilities?

To get answers, Pinkett Smith sits down with survivors who

courageously share their horrifying stories of exploitation and the triumph of their survival.

Pinkett Smith and CNN follow Sergeant Tory Kennedy, head of the Internet Crimes Against Children Division, as he conducts undercover raids to arrest suspected traffickers and rescue underage girls.

Lisa Williams, founder of a safe house and rehabilitation facility for trafficked teens, is featured as Williams counsels the exploited teen highlighted in this special report.

And Pinkett Smith comes face-toface with a convicted female traffick-

er. Viewers will also hear from aid workers and prosecutors who are working to eradicate this crime.

CNN Freedom Project “Children for Sale: The Fight to End Human Trafficking’ was executive produced

by Jennifer Hyde, director of the CNN Documentary Unit, produced

by Senior Producer Ken Shiffman, Producer Tina Matherson, Executive Editor of the CNN Freedom Project Leif Coorlim, and overseen

by Michael Bass, CNN’s executive vice president for Programming.

The special airs 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. tomorrow.

Olivia TaylOr DuDley’s nighTmare

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tarring Olivia Taylor Dudley, Academy Award nominee Djimon Hounsou, Michael Peña, and Dougray Scott, The Vatican Tapes reveals the story of a young ordinary girl Angela (Dudley) as she descends into a series of disturbing events but that which none can figure out the cause. As the events escalate into a terrifying discovery, they soon find out that Angela’s body has been possessed by a demonic force.

The Vatican Tapes director, Mark Neveldine, having gone to Catholic school, had a personal grasp on the world of The Vatican Tapes, and after discussing the project with producers, Tom Rosenberg and Gary Lucchesi, he jumped aboard the project. “I’ve always wanted to do a possession film. Something supernatural, but grounded in reality,” says Neveldine.

Neveldine collaborated with Lakeshore on the script, focusing on how to balance fantastical elements and reality. They found

that equilibrium by developing the main female protagonist, Angela, and her relationship with her father. “Angela is the everyday girl that we all know. While she hasn’t done anything wrong, this possession befell her and as we follow her chilling journey, we are rooting for her to overcome the devil,” explains screenwriter Christopher Borrelli.

Along with incorporating the human emotion to the film, the filmmakers looked for ways to rewrite the rules of the horror-thriller genre. “This is a film about demonic possession that can consume anybody. We don’t try to pull any punches,” says Neveldine. “We’re not trying to look for any jump scares. Instead, I want to get under peoples’ skin.”

“I read the script and it actually gave me a nightmare, which never happens,” recalls Taylor Dudley.

“I read the screenplay at night and the very next day I called up my agents and told them I needed to be a part of this film. It affect-

A priest performs exorcism on Angela (Olivia Taylor Dudley) in a scene from The Vatican Tapes

ed me and made me feel something.” The character Angela begins as a normal, healthy girl, but as the story progresses, she spirals into a possessed and demonic state, requiring Tay-

lor Dudley to challenge herself emotionally and physically.

“The exorcism took us six days to shoot and it was twenty-two pages. It was so physically demanding, especial-

ly being chained to the wall screaming. It was exhausting,” explains Taylor Dudley.

“The Vatican Tapes” opens in theatres nationwide tomorrow from Pioneer Films.

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SHOWBITZ isahred @ gmail.com

Voting for PhilPoP 2015 PeoPle’s ChoiCe AwArd ongoing

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Aegis finally performs in a concert

a rock called aegis By roBBie Pangilinan

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hey have been showcasing the Filipino talent in the last 15 years. The group has a solid fan base here and abroad. Surprisingly, no producer has taken the leap to feature them in a local concert, until OBM came in and did it.

Outbox Media Powerhouse Corporation, led by Queen of Events Rossel Taberna, is the only one that trusted Aegis fully to produce a concert for the trio.

Happening at the Music Museum on July 23 and 24, directed

by Jay Durias of South Border, the Aegis Back in the City concert promises to be “earthshaking,” just as what Aegis is known for.

“Aegis has been here a long time but nobody has ever dared produce a concert for them. My company and I trust them. Hence, this benefit concert,” said Taberna, wife of news anchor Anthony Taberna, in Filipino.

The National Vocational Rehabilitation Center of the Department of

Social Welfare and Development in the National Capital Region is the main beneficiary of the concert of Juliet, Mercy and Ken Sunot.

Outbox Media is on its ninth year of majoring in events and video production. Taberna said that the company will continue to organize charity events to benefit needy people, causes, and organizations.

Viewers will be thrilled to hear the Aegis perform favorites “Luha,” “Halik,” and many others. The concert will also feature The Voice of the Philippines 2 finalists Leah Patricio and Daryl Ong, the G-Force and comedienne-singer K Brosas.

Taberna is also proud of her six-year-old daughter, pop singer Zoey Taberna, who will perform at the concert.

Since it started in year 2000, Aegis has released seven albums that have consistently made the Gold and Platinum marks. The local music industry has hailed Aegis as “the true expression of the Filipino spirit.”

crossword PUZZle 43 44 45 48 49 50 52 57 58 60 61 62 63 64 65 66

ANSWER FOR PREVIOUS PUZZLE ACROSS 1 Bring down the house 5 NFC gridder 8 Shed one’s coat 12 Wooden horse saga 14 Ceremonial fire 15 Cuba, to Castro 16 — Dame 17 Glimpsed 18 Crooked scheme 19 Pub order, maybe

21 23 24 25 26 30 32 33 37 38 39 40 42

Tahini base Wine cask Billiard stick Awesome, dude!

Ski lodge Small jobs Movie with a posse Delphi oracle Online journal Unstable leptons Zero-shaped Noted Corsican Teresa of —

Shopper’s dread Brunch favorite S&L offering Freeway clogger Channel-surf Unkempt Tornado refuge “En garde” weapon Jacket style Wild West show Ricci of fashion Hotfoot it Left off Gouda cousin Continent divider Novice

DOWN 1 Wedding band 2 Felipe or Matty 3 Tubular pasta 4 Accrue interest 5 Farewells 6 Suffix for press 7 Population surveys 8 Hit or — 9 A Muppet 10 Alpaca kin 11 Docile 13 It’s a mile up 14 Furtive whisper 20 Don the feedbag 22 Blondie’s shrieks

he Philippine Popular (Philpop) Music Festival 2015 edition gets even more exciting as Original Pilipino Music (OPM) is made alive with the fresh batch of 12 original compositions by the cream of Filipino songwriters’ crop. The 12 finalists are getting ready for the much-awaited finals night on July 25.

Philpop officially opened the voting period for the Philpop 2015 People’s Choice Award.

Voting started on July 13 at 12:01 a.m. and ends on 12 p.m. ofn July 25, the day of the grand finals. Voting is open to all network subscribers: Globe, TM, SMART, and Sun, providing everyone with an even opportunity to support and give credit to their favorite Philpop 2015 finalist.

To vote, subscribers must text the keyword of their chosen song and send it to 2910. They are allowed to vote as many times as they wish for their song picks from the twelve finalists.

The cost of votes for Globe/TM and SMART is only P2.50 per vote, while for Sun subscribers it is only P2.00 per vote.

All of PhilPop 2015’s 12 finalists are featured in the album produced and released under Viva Records, this year’s Philpop partner. All songs can also be accessed on Spinnr and Spotify. The official music videos of all the finalists are airing on MTV Pinoy.

TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2015

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36 38 41 42 44 45 46 47 49 51 52 53 54 55 56 59

“The — Mutiny” Lee J. — Lunar phenomenon Nefertiti’s god Photocopier setting Quick, steady paces Cook’s need More pristine Worse than bad Ever-popular attraction for consumers Thin board Ball club VIPs Typewriter type size Electrical unit NATO cousin Curie daughter Speedy Booster rocket Big name in Westerns Dogsled pullers — Raton, Fla. — Blanc Whirlpool Not e’en once Hubbub (hyph.)

— kwon do

The songwriters and interpreters of this year's Philpop

Here is THe lisT of THe PHilPoP 2015 finalisTs and THeir corresPonding keywords: PHILPOP1 – “Walang Hanggan” written by Ramiru Matara, interpreted by Donnalyn Bartolome PHILPOP2 – “Musikaw” written by Melchor Magno, Jr., interpreted by James Reid feat. Pio PHILPOP3 – “I Owe You My Heart” written by Melvin Joseph Morallos, interpreted by Anja Aguilar PHILPOP4 – “Triangulo” written by Thyro Alfaro and Yumi Lacsamana, interpreted by Jeric Medina PHILPOP5 – “For the Rest Of My Life” written by Ned Esguerra, interpreted by Side A PHILPOP6 – “Sa Ibang Mundo” written by Mark Villar, interpreted by Kean Cipriano and Nadine Lustre PHILPOP7 – “Kilig” written

by Soc Villanueva, interpreted by Jinky Vidal PHILPOP8 – “Apat Na Buwang Pasko” written by Gino Cruz and Jeff Arcilla, interpreted by Jon Santos PHILPOP9 – “Paratingin

Mo Na Siya” written and interpreted by Davey Langit PHILPOP10 – “Nasaan” written and interpreted by Lara Maigue PHILPOP11 – “Tanging Pag-asa Ko’ written by Paul Armesin and interpreted by The Company PHILPOP12 – “Edge Of The World” written by Johannes Daniel Garcia, interpreted by Josh Padilla and Yassi Pressman The complete list of finalists can also be accessed by texting PHILPOP to 2910. Text the keyword of your favorite Philpop2015 song and send it to 2910 now to show your support.

In addition to the beautifully-crafted Ramon Orlina trophy, this year’s winners will receive cash prizes in the amount of P1million for the grand prize, P500,000 for the first runner-up, and P250,000 for the second runner-up. All finalists will receive P50,000 each.

Philpop is presented by Maynilad and Meralco, co-presented by Smart, Spinnr and accessible through the PLDT home Telpad. iI is also being supported

by NLEX, Metro Pacific Investments, Philex, Sun Cellular, the First Pacofic Leadership Academy, TV5, Vivacom, Interaksyon, MTV Pinoy, pep.ph, Pinas FM, Phil. Star, Radio Republic, Radyo 5, and Viva Records.

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SHOWBITZ isahred @ gmail.com

mar roxas and dIngdong dantes agaInst calamItIes and dIsasters from c8

DILG Secretary Mar Roxas and NYC Chairman Dingdong Dantes agree to cooperate to build resilient communities across the county

a

ctor Dingdong Dantes joined DILG Secretary Mar Roxas, on behalf of National Youth Commission, in formalizing the participation of the youth sector in the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (PDRRM) activities of local government units (LGUs).

This development followed Roxas’ recognition of the role of the youth in building resilient communities against disasters and calamities.

“Kabahagi na natin ang kabataan sa ating paghahanda para sa mga kalamidad dahil hindi natin alam kung ano ang hamon mula sa kalikasan.

Ang importante ay pormal na nating katuwang ang mga kabataan, sa pangunguna ng National Youth Commission, sa paghahanda ng mga LGUs sa oras ng kalamidad,” Mar said at the recent signing ceremony at Philippine School of Business Administration in Quezon City.

In a joint memorandum signed

by DILG and NYC, Dantes gave Roxas his full support for his initiative in uniting provincial governors, city and municipal mayors, and barangay leaders to institutionalize the participation of the youth in calamity prepared-

ness and disaster mitigation.

Dantes said he, as appointed Commissioner of NYC, is glad that Roxas recognizes them as part of the disaster preparedness activities in the local level.

“Ang kalamidad ay isa sa mga issues na majority ng ating kababayan ang naaapektuhan. Sa aming ninanais na makatulong, natutuwa kami dahil nakita ng DILG ang importansya ng kabataan sa paghahanda,” the actor said.

The LGUs are also expected to engage Dingdong’s group as a legitimate member of the Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (LDRRMC) in their respective communities.

NYC will represent the civil society organization in the LDRRMC to help the LGUs in disaster preparedness and other post-disaster activities including counseling of victims of tragedies.

National and local consultations conducted by Dantes’ youth group revealed that prior to the signing of the MOA, the youth sector has already been participating in numerous activities related to disaster risk reduction management including search and rescue efforts, and relief operations among many others.

In ‘FantastIC Four,’ Kate Mara Is sue storM

I

n the highly anticipated superhero film, Fantastic Four (opening on Aug. 5), Kate Mara plays Sue Storm, an independent and brilliant scientist. Along with Reed Richards (Miles Teller), Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell) and Johnny Storm (Michael B. Jordan), Sue’s physical form is forever changed after a journey to an alternative universe. The transformation leaves Sue with the ability to manipulate light and gravity, to become invisible and generate protective force fields.

She becomes known as “Invisible Woman”.

In the following interview, Mara shares her thoughts on superheroes and the family dynamics of the Fantastic Four.

What can We expect from thIs IncarnatIon of the fantastIc four?

Well, I think the great thing about our version is that it is definitely based on the original comic books, but it’s modernized. It’s the origins of these characters, so you get to know them right before they get their powers and the complications that come along with that. So I think that’s different: we haven’t seen that with this specific story before. On a personal level, I’m a total superhero movie nerd, and my favorite kind is always when I get to see the character forming their superpower because you feel so much closer to them – you understand why they got that specific power in the first place. It humanizes them.

WIth orIgIn storIes, you knoW at the outset, ‘they’re goIng to get superpoWers!’ but I guess It’s the journey that’s fun.

Yeah. Then you really root for them. I also love that in our story, you see the struggles that each of us goes through in trying to figure out how to use our powers. You see us first as teenagers, and I feel like the general thing that most teenagers go through is, ‘Who am I and where do I belong?’ The interesting thing about this is seeing each of us handle the ups and the downs of that. I think for me, that was the most exciting aspect.

What are your thoughts on your character, sue storm?

Before she has the power, when she’s just a normal girl, what is it that she’s trying to keep from people? Why does she not show her whole self?

That to me was really interesting because I think everybody has some sort of… not secrets necessarily, but some people take longer in their lives to really show people who they are.

And Sue in this film is adopted. I think that adds to her vulnerability and her not wanting people to see her for who she really is. So when she does get this power, at first it’s terrifying to her. She doesn’t want it; she wants to be normal. But the fact that she can become invisible is actually something that she probably always really wanted. She’s fighting against it now that she has it. So the journey of at first not wanting it and then being able to say, “Okay, well what are the advantages of this and

how can I use it to help people, and to help my family?” To have that arc and that journey with her was really, it was like a growing experience, which was nice. one thIng that the fantastIc four Is probably knoWn for Is IntroducIng a famIly dynamIc. they’re kInd of the fIrst famIly of comIc books.

Before they become the Fantastic Four, there is already that family dynamic beginning to develop because we’re all working together to get to this other dimension. We all have very different personalities, so everyone has their role that they play.

When the accident happens and we all have these powers, there is a very different sort of banter and different relationships form because some people react in different ways than others.

One of the interesting things about the story is how this family finds each other again. And then, what is that dynamic at the end? Which is really the beginning of the Fantastic Four.

Where do we go from here? but What modern themes do you thInk the fIlm may be addressIng? I think a general theme of the movie is: What would you do and how far would you go to protect your family? That doesn’t necessarily mean your blood family. Everybody has someone they love that they would do anything for, that they would go to the ends of the Earth to protect, and that really is what it keeps boiling down to in this film.

Kate Mara is Sue Storm in Fantastic Four

Mara with Miles Teller who plays Reed Richards in the film

Kate Mara made her feature debut in Sydney Pollack’s 1999 film Random Hearts with Harrison Ford.

She had high profile appearances in the TV shows Nip/Tuck (as the bisexual cheerleader Vanessa), 24 (as computer analyst Shari Rothenberg), and American Horror Story (as Hayden McClaine, a student who becomes the dead mistress of Dylan McDermott’s Dr. Ben Harmon).

She received critical acclaim for her supporting role as the daughter of Heath Ledger’s char-

acter in Brokeback Mountain and some of her other notable feature roles include her turns in We Are Marshall starring Matthew McConaughey and Shooter with Mark Wahlberg.

In 2012 she joined the cast of the original Netflix series House of Cards as Zoe Barnes, a reporter from Washington D.C. who becomes involved with Kevin Spacey’s Frank Underwood. The role earned her an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.

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ISAH V. RED EDITOR isahred @ gmail.com

SHOWBITZ Renowned juRoRs to adjudicate choRal Festival in-American conductor to receive the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing (2009, Tour, France) as conductor of the Coro UniverISAH V. RED sidad de Mendoza where she also received the Best Choir Conductor A five-member jury whose mem- Award. Together with the choir, bers come from Africa, North she was given national honor by America, South America, Europe the Senate when they were deand Asia will adjudicate the compe- clared “Ambassadors of the People titions during the Andrea O. Vener- and Province of Mendoza”. acion International Choral Festival.

Jānis Liepiņš, from Riga, Latvia, They are Andre van der Merwe, is the second conductor of Youth Brady Allred, Silvana Vallesi, Ja- choir “Kamēr…” which he leads nis Liepins, and Mark Anthony as its artistic director and chief Carpio. The competitions will be- conductor since 2012. He led the gin tomorrow and ends on July 24. choir to winning its 2nd European Andre van der Merwe from Cape Grand Prix for Choral Singing in Town, South Africa is recognized 2013 (Arezzo, Italy). In recognias conductor of the Stellenbosch tion of this achievement and his University Choir which is ranked successful debuts with several Latno 1 in the list of Interkultur’s top vian orchestras, he was given the 1,000 choirs. The Stellenberg Girls “Great Music Award” by Latvia as Choir, the other choir he conducts, the “Young Artist of 2013”. currently ranks no.7 in the list of Mark Anthony Carpio is actop 1,000 choirs and ranked no. 1 knowledged as one of the top in the list of international youth choral experts among the younger choirs. Composer, conductor and set of conductors. An adjudicator, clinician both nationally and in- choir conductor and clinician at ternationally, he has been invited in-depth workshops all over the to work with universities and com- Philippines and several Asian and panies in USA, Sweden, England, European countries, he has led Greece, Germany, Japan, China the Philippine Madrigal Singers to Austria and Portugal. their winning top prizes in all the Brady Allred from Utah is Artis- competitions they joined since tic Director and Conductor of the he took over, including the 2nd Salt Lake Choral Artists, an orga- European Grand Prix for Choral nization of seven choral ensembles. Singing (Arrezo, Italy, 2007).

Honored as “one of Utah’s Top 25 The participating choirs are Cultural Power Brokers,” he has Gioventu in cantata (Italy), Inggou guest conducted, adjudicated and Victory Children Voices GKPS given master classes in 16 countries (Indonesia), Savditra-Bandung throughout Europe, Asia, South Chamber Singers (Indonesia), America and the Middle East. The Archipelago Singers (IndoHe was a winner of the European nesia), Tuumben Paax (Mexico), Grand Prix for Choral Singing, the Universitas Pelita Harapan Choir competition of winners of the six (Indonesia). most prestigious competitions in Philippine choirs include BoEurope, as conductor of the Uni- scorale, De La Salle University – versity of Utah in 2006.

Dasmarinas Chorale, Koro IlustraSilvana Vallesi from Argentina do, Mandaluyong Children’s Choir, adjudicates prestigious interna- Philippine Vocal Ensemble, The tional competitions in Argentina, Voices of Davao, TIP Choral SoHungary, Germany, Spain, among ciety, University of Baguio Voices many others. She is the first Lat- Chorale, UPLB Choral Ensemble,

Andre van der Merwe from South Africa

Brady Alfred from the USA

Janis Liepins from Riga, Latvia

Mark Anthony Carpio from The Philippines

University of the Visayas Chorale.

The Andrea O. Veneracion International Choral Festival is presented in cooperation with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. All events will be held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo on July 22-25.

Silvana Vallesi from Argentina

The Opening Ceremonies on July 22 at 5 p.m. is free and open to the public. The Festival schedule is as follows: July 22, 2015, 7 p.m., Folk Song Competition; July 23, , 7 p.m., Vocal Ensemble Competition; July 24, 7p.m, Chamber Choir Competition; July 25, 4 p.m., Philippine Madrigal Singers Concert; July 25, 7p.m.

Closing Ceremonies (Free).

A special concert of Youth Choir “Kamēr...“ from Latvia, conducted by Jānis Liepiņš will be held at 5 p.m., July 26 at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo.

For inquiries please contact the CCP Box Office at 832-3704 ➜ continued on c7