The Standard - 2015 September 01 - Tuesday

VOL. XXIX NO. 201 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 TUESday : SEPTEMBER 1, 2015 www.thestandard.com.ph editorial@thestandard.com.ph

NP, PDP jump LP ship for Duterte

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DeaL or No DeaL? INC ends rally after ‘agreement’; palace denies report

By John Paolo Bencito, Sandy araneta, Rio n. araja and Rey E. Requejo

THE Iglesia ni Cristo ended five days of protest in which thousands of its members clogged portions of Edsa and surrounded the Justice Department, following a meeting between the INC and the government, a high-ranking church official said Monday.

“We’d like to inform all our brethren that both the Iglesia and the government have talked already and clarified things between us. All is well,” said INC General Evangelist Bienvenido Santiago in a video message shown to protesters at Edsa Shaw at 9 a.m.

INC spokesman Edwin Zabala, in announcing the end of the pro-

tests, added that “the INC and the government have already reached an understanding” and that the directive came from Executive Minister Eduardo Manalo.

After an emergency meeting Sunday night, the Palace denied that an agreement was reached to end the protests that began Thursday over a Justice Department decision to investigate harassment

and illegal detention charges filed by an ousted minister against church leaders.

“There was no deal struck as some insinuate,” presidential deputy spokeswoman Abigail Valte said shortly after the end of the protest. “The talks gave both sides an opportunity to clarify issues and concerns.”

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End of the rally. Members of the Iglesia ni Cristo cheer as they prepare to leave Shaw and Edsa, which they barricaded for four days to demand the ouster of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

Lino SantoS

Poe camp downplays threat of graft raps

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Labor groups demand ouster of Lina LABOR groups picketed the Bureau of Customs office Monday to demand the resignation of Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina, despite the Palace’s suspension of his muchcriticized plan to conduct random inspections of balikbayan or gift boxes that overseas workers send home to their families.

“For [insinuating] that migrant workers are engaged in technical smuggling and for conducting random checks on their balikbayan boxes, Lina should be removed from his post,” said Leody de Guzman, president of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP).

Partido ng Lakas sa Masa (PLM)

chairman Sonny Melencio added that Lina’s resignation was the only way to “cleanse” the bureau.

Melencio accused Lina of a conflict of interest and trying to “monopolize freight forwarding,” because he owned at least six companies that dealt directly with Next page

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Labor From A1...

Customs before he became commissioner. Melencio also expressed doubts that Lina fully divested himself of these holdings.

De Guzman denounced Lina as an “elitist ingrate” who disregarded the sacrifices of Filipino workers abroad, who keep the economy afloat with billions of dollars in yearly remittances.

The BMP also challenged the Aquino administration to uphold workers’ rights to a living wage and to security of tenure here at home, so they would not have to leave the country in search of decent jobs.

“As an immediate demand, we are calling on the... administration to remove Bert Lina from his post,” De Guzman said.

The Sanlakas coalition also joined Monday’s protest in which demonstrators carried placards calling for Lina to resign for oppressing overseas workers, whom the government has described as “the new heroes.”

In Congress, the leader of the independent minority bloc and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez reiterated his call to the Customs bureau to show compassion for the millions of overseas workers who send their love to their families through balikbayan boxes.

At the same time, Romualdez lauded efforts of Filipinos online for being vigilant on issues affecting overseas workers and ordinary Filipinos.

“Customs should not further inconvenience or burden our OFWs and become another source of corruption. We must do what we can to protect our country but not at the expense of our loved ones abroad and their families,” said Romualdez.

Lina and the bureau drew heavy flak for a plan to randomly open and inspect balikbayan boxes as a way of reducing smuggling. Vito Barcelo, Sandy araneta

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But the lawyer of expelled minister Isaias Samson appealed to the Palace to disclose what it had conceded to get the protests to end.

“The fear now is that given the so-called agreement, a finding of ‘no probable cause’ to make this nightmare go away for the INC’s Sanggunian is a very real possibility,” said lawyer Trixie Cruz-Angeles, in a statement.

“Their leaders have cited an agreement with government. What is the nature of this agreement? What are its conditions and terms? It is our client who had unintentionally set off these events by filing his case, yet somehow we have not been included in this so-called agreement. Assuming of course there is one,” she said.

“It is not accidental that the leaders [who are also respondents in Samson’s case for illegal detention] have been very vocal about this socalled agreement. The idea is to make the public feel that they had flexed their muscles and the government has responded in a manner favorable to them. The idea is to make us feel that in relation to whatever it is they were rallying for [or against], the government has capitulated. And sadly that capitulation may involve trampling on the rights of our client,” Angeles said.

Former Akbayan party-list lawmaker Walden Bello, who broke with the administration in March, also

National Heroes’ Day. President Benigno Aquino III offers a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Fort Bonifacio on National Heroes’ Day on Monday. MalacañaNg PHoto Bureau

Troops pursue Abu Sayyaf bandits seen near mosque GOVERNMENT forces in Sulu were in hot pursuit of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group led by Radullan Sahiron, who was sighted fleeing near a mosque in Sitio, Dundangan, Barangay Kabbon Takas in Patikul, Sulu on Sunday, military officials said Monday.

Brig. Gen. Alan Arrojado, commander of Joint Task Force Sulu (JTFS), said there would be no letup in the military operation until Sahiron, who was involved in the infamous 2001 Dos Palmas kidnapping of 21 tourists, is neu-

tralized.

Abu Sayyaf terrorists in Sulu have been on the run since last week after suffering heavy casualties of 38 dead and over 31 wounded in a series of clashes with Army and Marine troopers,

Arrojado said.

On the government side, 17 troopers were wounded in action, he added.

“The relentless combat operations launched by JTFS troops are badly hurting the Abu Sayyaf,” Arrojado said, adding that the heavy casualties suffered by the terrorist group was confirmed after the wives of five wounded Abu Sayyaf members were monitored buying medicine in various pharmacies in Jolo on Saturday.

Government forces were being

urged the administration of President Benigno Aquino III to reveal the details of its arrangement with the INC. “What has the government said to the INC to be able to convince the latter to end its protestations?” Bello asked at a press conference.

Bello also blasted the government’s handling of the INC protest.

“Is the national government so weak that they cannot ensure public interest and safety?” Bello told The Standard. “I think there’s a very bad precedent where the INC expressed their intention of paralyzing traffic [and]… create public disorder, but the state did not move because it was afraid of them.”

Bello also tore into the Liberal Party candidate for president next year, Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II, for showing “no integrity.”

“Despite his being on top of law enforcement… he allowed Edsa to be paralyzed for four days,” Bello said, noting that Roxas, Vice President Jejomar Binay and Senator Grace Poe—who are all likely to run for president next year—all did the same thing, claiming religious freedom.

“These people on top will lead our country to chaos. The political elite are all bowing to the INC leadership.

Roxas allowed the petulant action of a minority to override the rights of the vast majority.”

Bello said for the religious group to invoke the separation of church and state was a “misrepresentation” and that the INC was in effect getting

special treatment.

“The INC leadership has the country by the throat,” he said.

Angeles urged Aquino and Roxas to be transparent.

“Tell us whether or not you’ve sold our client down the river or tell us if you haven’t. But you need to disclose this to us. A criminal case is not a political pawn. The law provides that it cannot be compromised. The President can grant pardons and issue clemency and amnesty. But you do not have the power to refuse prosecution,” she said.

Angeles also urged the government to guarantee her client a fair hearing at the preliminary investigation at the Justice Department.

She said the reported meeting between the two sides, hidden from the public eye, aroused suspicion.

Samson’s complaint named as respondents members of the Sanggunian, the INC’s highest administrative council—Glicero Santos Jr., Radel Cortez, Bienvenido Santiago Sr., Mathusalem Pareja, Rolando Esguerra, Eraño Codera, Rodelio Cabrerra and Maximo Bularan.

Samson and his family alleged that they were prohibited from leaving their house in Quezon City last July after he was accused of being “Antonio Ebanghelista,” the blogger who had been writing against INC. Samson Jr., former editor-in-chief of INC’s official publication Pasugo, denied the allegation.

Samson also claimed that their relatives were prohibited from visiting them, and that they were not al-

lowed to go to a doctor so his wife, who is suffering from high blood pressure and has a pacemaker, could get a checkup.

He recalled that guards along with other men armed with high-caliber rifles, had constantly prohibited his wife and son from buying groceries or even leaving our house.

He said they escaped after they pretended to attend worship service.

On Monday morning, soon after the decision by the INC leadership was reached, crowds reaching from Edsa Crossing at Shaw all the way to Robinsons Galleria in Quezon City quickly disappeared—leaving heaps of trash collected by wards from the Mandaluyong City government and SCAN, the INC security force.

Traffic returned to normal at 11 a.m.

Mandaluyong Mayor Benhur Abalos had granted the INC an extension of its permit to rally Sunday night, citing “humanitarian reasons.”

While Valte denied that a deal had been struck, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the end of the four-day protest showed the importance of diplomacy “in avoiding unintended consequences.”

Through good will and the convergence of efforts, the rule of law has been upheld, Lacierda said.

“We appreciate the INC leadership’s directives for the withdrawal of their members from their gathering sites,” Lacierda said.

On Sunday night, President Aquino held a crisis meeting with his Cabinet to discuss the INC protest.

supported by 105mm artillery.

Sahiron figured in the Dos Palmas kidnapping of 21 tourists, including three Americans, in Palawan in 2001. Among those killed were Martin Burnham, wife of Gracia Burnham; and Guillermo Sobero, who was beheaded.

The one-armed Abu Sayyaf leader has been behind many atrocities in Sulu for over a decade. His right arm was cut off during a battle against government forces in Mindanao during the 1970s. PNa Presidential Communications Undersecretary Manuel L. Quezon III posted several pictures of the meeting on his Twitter account Sunday night.

The meeting with the President last night started around 8:30 p.m. and ended a little past midnight Monday morning.

At the meeting were Roxas, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Lacierda, Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Soliman, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, National Security Adviser Cesar Garcia, Political Adviser on Political Affairs Ronald Llamas, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr, Quezon, Valte, Philippine National Police Chief Ricardo Marquez, and Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Hernando Iriberri.

Roxas explained in his Twitter account that they discussed the INC protest during the meeting but did not offer any details.

The government has come under fire for allowing the INC to paralyze a large portion of Edsa for four days.

At least 4,000 INC members trooped to the DoJ complex on Thursday to demand De Lima’s resignation over her decision to investigate Samson’s complaint against church officials.

Protesters then moved to the Edsa Shrine on Ortigas Avenue, bringing northbound and southbound traffic on Edsa to a standstill. With Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

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NP, PDP jump Liberal ship for Rody

By Christine F. Herrera

THE ruling Liberal Party of President Benigno Aquino III has lost two allies in the Nacionalista Party (NP) and Partido Demokratikong Pilipino or PDP-Laban after the two parties agreed to bolt the coalition and form an alliance to back Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s presidential bid in the 2016 elections.

Casualties. Heavy rain and rampaging waters from the Nangka River caused these houses to crumble in Marikina City. Lino SantoS

Poe camp downplays graft rap threat THE chief of staff of Senator Grace Poe on Monday contradicted the assertion of a dismissed Iglesia Ni Cristo minister that she could be charged with graft for supporting the religious group’s protest rallies against Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

“Senator Poe did not persuade, induce or influence Secretary De Lima to commit any violation of the law,” Nelson Victorino said in a statement to reporters.

He said there was “no legal and factual bases” to charge Poe for violating the anti-graft law for allegedly backing the

anti-De Lima rallies.

Trixie Cruz-Angeles, the lawyer of dismissed INC minister Isaias Samson Jr., earlier said Poe might have violated the anti-graft law when she backed the INC’s protest rallies against De Lima.

Samson had filed a criminal complaint for serious illegal detention against some Sangguniang members of the INC with the Department of Justice.

Poe earlier said De Lima should face the protesters and explain the situation. She said De Lima should also explain the merits of the INC case to the public and why her de-

partment was handling it.

Angeles said Poe’s statement violated Section 3(a) of the Anti-Graft Law. She said that section considered as a crime the act of “persuading, inducing or influencing another public officer to perform an act constituting a violation of rules and regulations duly promulgated by competent authority or an offense in connection with the official duties of the latter, or allowing himself to be persuaded, induced, or influenced to commit such violation or offense.” Macon Ramos-araneta

The NP-PDP-Laban merger was firmed up Monday night during a three-hour meeting at the Hotel Sofitel, which was attended by the top leadership of both parties and Duterte.

“It’s a done deal. The official announcement of the merger of the two parties with Duterte as the standard-bearer will be made last week of September,” a highly reliable source, who was privy to the meeting, told The Standard.

The two parties will meet again in mid-September to decide on Duterte’s running mate.

“It is a toss-up between Senators [Ferdinand] Bongbong Marcos [II] and Allan Peter Cayetano, both NP stalwarts,” said the source who requested anonymity.

NP president former Senator Manuel Villar and his wife Senator Cynthia Villar clinched the agreement with former Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., and his son and namesake Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, chairman emeritus and president of PDP-Laban, respectively, in the presence of Duterte.

The Villars and Pimentels gave Duterte the option to pick between Marcos and Cayetano as his running mate.

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, also an NP member and who has repeatedly announced his availability to run for a higher office, was not considered.

The Villars and Pimentels have yet to inform President Aquino, the LP chairman, of their decision to leave the administration coalition primarily because they could no longer support the candidacy of the President’s anointed one, Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II. Roxas was endorsed by the President as the LP standard bearer for 2016. He said he had chosen Roxas because he was in the best position

to continue his reform agenda, the much touted “Tuwid na Daan” or straight path.

In the 2013 midterm elections, the NP and PDP-Laban, along with the Nationalist People’s Coalition, National Unity Party, Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino and Akbayan formed the administration alliance that was spearheaded by the LP to bankroll the Team PNoy that won nine of the 12 seats in the Senate.

Cynthia Villar, Cayetano and Trillanes from the NP and the young Pimentel of the PDP-Laban were among those who ran and won under the LP-led Team PNoy. “The NP and PDP-Laban chose to join forces as the latter insisted they wanted someone from Mindanao and Visayan-speaking to be the country’s next President,” the source said.

“They found Duterte to be the strongest contender that could fill the bill.”

The PDP-Laban earlier adopted Duterte as its standard bearer.

Duterte, according to the source, was comfortable being carried by the NP because his father, former Davao Gov. Vicente Duterte, was also an NP stalwart.

Duterte counts as his bailiwicks the Visayan-speaking Mindanao and the Visayas because his father was a native of Danao, Cebu, in the Visayas and his mother, Soledad Roa, was from Agusan and Misamis in Mindanao.

Duterte said he was comfortable working with either Marcos or Cayetano as his running mate.

Marcos counts as his bailiwicks the North as his father, the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., was from Ilocos Norte and his mother and now Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos is a native of Leyte and Samar.

Leila told: Focus on PDAF scam THE camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay on Monday slammed Justice Secretary Leila de Lima for allegedly giving priority to the internal affairs of the Iglesia Ni Cristo instead of getting back the people’s money allegedly stolen by Janet Lim-Napoles and the officials involved in the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam.

Binay spokesman Rico Quicho also took a swipe at Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II for addressing Napoles as “Ma’am Janet” when he and the Palace communications group escorted her to the Makati City jail two years ago.

He also questioned the Justice Department’s apparent unusual interest in the internal problems of the INC instead of giving priority to going after people who had been involved

in siphoning off billions of pesos from the National Treasury and the case of the brutal slaying of 44 police commandos in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

He also criticized De Lima’s earlier statement that the third batch of PDAF cases filed recently were the “final” batch when her department had investigated only those allegedly involved with fund misuse through the non-government organization of Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the PDAF scam.

Quicho said that while De Lima had said her department’s work was done with the filing of the third batch of PDAF cases, she had ordered a probe into the alleged abduction of INC ministers and relatives of INC head Eduardo V. Manalo.

“The Napoles’ alleged net-

work is only one of 80-plus NGOs which were identified as involved in the misuse of the P10-billion PDAF. But the DOJ stopped the investigation.

Why?” Quicho said.

De Lima told media there are “urgent” cases she had to personally attend to.”

“What could be more urgent than filing the cases to get back the funds allegedly stolen and put the perpetrators in jail?

Those billions of pesos can be used for development projects to prop up the economy. Remember the economic growth was pegged at only 5.6 percent in the second quarter of this year,” Quicho said.

“What could be more urgent than hauling to jail those involved the killing of the SAF 44?” Vito Barcelo

Prayer rally. Dumagat tribesmen perform in front of the Chinese consular office in Makati City on Monday during a National Heroes’ Day prayer rally. Ey aCaSio

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PNoy leads Heroes Day rites

By Sandy Araneta

FILIPINOS should unite and continue the fight for which the country’s heroes “stood firm, sacrificed, and offered their lives [for] the people and the nation,” President Benigno Aquino III exhorted the nation during yesterday’s observance of National Heroes Day. Aquino made the call as he led the annual rites at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City, but again made no mention of the 44 police commandos who were killed in a controversial anti-terrorist operation that he himself approved.

“Without doubt: Whenever violence or oppression takes place, there is a perpetrator and there is the victim; and if you are not the abuser, and you are not being abused, then we must ask: what did you do?” Aquino

said in his speech.

“It is in these moments that heroes are needed. It is in these moments that the courage of the heroic few becomes clear, rising above all,” he said.

“Together, as one nation, let us join hands. I have every confidence that now that we have begun something so extraordinary, we will continue to journey to our desired destination; the Filipino people will indeed realize our collective aspirations of a better and brighter future for our beloved Philip-

pines,” he said.

The President said the sacrifices of the national heroes will have no meaning “if we failed to live out the very principles and ideals fought for by the individuals we honor through such structures.”

“On this day, we pay tribute to the sacrifices offered by Philippine heroes. As we honor them, so too are we called to do our part and to continue the battle they began — whether in a small, or a big way — for the betterment of our nation,” he said.

“This must be why the word ‘bayan’ or ‘nation’ forms part of our term for ‘hero’ or ‘bayani’. Each one of us possesses the ability to go beyond ourselves for our countrymen and our flag,” Aquino said.

Whether we are ordinary citizens, or those in the highest echelons of power, each one has the

responsibility and the ability to take part in working for the improvement of wider society—from the simple act of following our rules and laws; to reaching out and helping our fellowmen, especially those most in need; to the readiness to fight for what is right and what is just, whatever the time or situation,” he added.

During the event, President Aquino received the first copy of a book entitled “Ang Mamatay ng Dahil sa ’Yo (To Die for You)” from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. ”This books honors our martyrs and the many Filipino heroes who went up against the dictatorship during Martial Law from the years of 1972 to 1986. They are among those we thank and recognize today,” the President said.

Co-ed interrupted. College sophomore Jastine Salas spruces up merchandise sold at a store in Manila where she is working after being forced to stop school because of financial difficulties. The young lady, however, is intent on going back to school after saving up for her tuition. DANNY PATA

Prelate: Oppose same-sex marriages LEADERS of the Philippines’ dominant Catholic Church have called on individuals and politicians to actively oppose same-sex marriage, after new efforts by activists to have same-sex unions legalized in the conservative nation.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) issued a statement Sunday saying individuals should refuse to take part in ceremonies celebrating same-sex relationships and politicians should resist legalizing marriages of homosexual couples.

“A homosexual union is not and can never be a marriage as properly understood and so-called,” the CBCP said in the statement posted on its website.

“There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and the family.”

It added that Catholic lawmakers have “a moral duty” to express their “opposition clearly and publicly” and to vote against a law.

CBCP president Bishop Socrates Villegas confirmed to AFP on Monday that the statement was the position of the Church, which is followed by more than 80 percent of Filipinos.

The statement comes as activists push to have samesex unions legalized, which would require a law to be passed in the deeply conservative country where divorce and abortion are still illegal largely due to Catholic pressure. AFP

AFP hit for deaths of Manobo farmers

By Christine F. Herrera THE military wanted to have Karapatan secretary-general Cristina Palabay to lecture on human rights in a training session for soldiers of the 401st Infantry Brigade in Agusan del Sur, but were instead accused of killing five Manobo farmers in Bukidnon.

In reply to 401IB commander Col. Alexander Macario’s letter inviting Palabay to be a lecturer during the two-day training, she wrote a scathing letter not only declining the invite but also accusing the military of killing the Manobo farmers on August 18.

She described the AFP’s two-

day training, undertaken jointly with the Commission on Human Rights on August 26 and 27 in Agusan del Sur, as nothing but a “charade” meant to waste public funds.

“We are declining your invitation for one main reason—we vehemently refuse to participate in your charades of human rights training or similar futile exercises meant to waste public funds, either from the Philippines or from other States, over activities that will redound to nothing but more human rights abuses on the marginalized sectors in your respective area of responsibility and elsewhere in the country,” Palabay told Ma-

cario in a two-page letter.

“In fact, on August 18, 2015, your fellow mercenaries from the 1st Special Forces Battalion under the 4th Infantry Division massacred five Manobo farmers in Pangantucan, Bukidnon.

Your fellow soldiers accused them as NPA members during military operations in their community and brutally killed them,” Palabay said as she described to Macario the mangled bodies of the victims.

She said millions of foreign aid and public funds from the nation’s coffers have been spent in so many so-called human rights trainings among State security forces.

Climate justice. Members of the Ecological Justice Interfaith Movement show off their group’s badge during the official launch of their organization at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City on Monday. LINO SANTOS

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Cooking gas price down by P2.25/k

By Alena S. Flores PeTRoN Corp., the country’s biggest oil company, lowered its cooking gas price by P2.25 per kilo or P25 per 11-kilo to reflect the contract price of liquefied petroleum gas in the world market.

“Petron will roll back Gasul and Fiesta Gas prices by P2.25 per kg or nearly P25 per 11-kg household cylinder effective 12:02 a.m. September1,” the company said.

The company said it will likewise reduce the price of its Xtend autoLPG by P1.25 per liter.

LPG costs around P460 to P665 per 11-kilo tank in Metro Manila.

The oil firms earlier cut pump prices by P1.45 per liter for gasoline, P0.90 per liter for kerosene and P0.70 per liter for diesel.

The price cut took effect starting 12:01 a.m.

Sunday.

Phoenix, one of the oil companies, explained that it “will decrease the prices of gasoline by P1.45 per liter and diesel by P0.70 per liter effective 6 a.m. of August 30 to reflect the downward movements of oil prices in the world market.”

According to the latest monitoring report of the energy Department, global oversupply and record stockpile levels have been driving the unabated downtrend in crude oil prices.

It said world oil prices dipped to $40 to $45 per barrel following a report by the US energy Information Administration that crude supplies rose by 2.62 million barrels in the week ending August 14.

Youth movement. Members of the Partido ng mga Mag-Aaral na Nagkakaisa (PAMANA) from various colleges and universities chant slogans during the launching of the AKO AY PILIPINO MOVEMENT which aims to share the thoughts of the Filipino youth on social issues. EY AcASio

Funding for Iglesia stamps legit—CA

By Rey E. Requejo

The Court of Appeals has upheld the legality of the use of public funds to print more than one million postage stamps to commemorate the 100th founding anniversary of Iglesia Ni Cristo last year.

In a 10-page decision, the CA’s Second Division through Associate Justice Remedios SalazarFernando, dismissed the petition filed by taxpayer Renato Peralta seeking the reversal of the order issued by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Manila City on July 25, 2014.

The Manila City RTC had junked Peralta’s complaint for injunction

seeking to enjoin the Philippine Postal Corporation (PhilPost) from paying for the printing of the commemorative stamps and to stop their distribution.

In seeking a reversal of the lower court’s ruling, Peralta stressed that as a taxpayer he is allowed to sue when there is a claim that public funds are illegally disbursed.

The petitioner asserted that

PNP automation paying off—Poe SeNAToR Grace Poe lauded the arrest of an alleged leader of a robbery and car-theft gang in Pasig City, thanks to a computerized records system that alerted police on the identity of the suspect. edgar Tuazon was arrested while he was applying for a police clearance at the Pasig City police station on Aug. 27, when cops noticed that he was the subject of a warrant of arrest issued by the San Juan City Regional Trial Court Branch 10 on Sept. 30, 1996.

Poe said this proved the effectiveness of a computerized system not only in the easy access of information but also in crime prevention.

“Mr. Tuazon was able to elude arrest for almost 19 years but thanks to the vigilance of our policemen and the effectiveness of an automated records system, the law has finally caught up with him,” said Poe, who chairs the Senate Committee on Public order and Dangerous Drugs.

Poe said she expects an even better police database with an informationsharing system being worked out by the Philippine National Police (PNP) with the Bureau of Immigration, Bureau of Customs, and the National Bureau of Investigation.

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the printing and issuance of the INC centennial stamps violated Section 29 (2) Article VI of the Constitution, which bars the use of public funds to support a religious sect.

The commemorative stamps constitute free advertisement for the INC at the expense of taxpayers’ money, he said.

He noted that PhilPost printed a total of 1.2-million stamps although the memorandum of agreement between INC and PhilPost covered only 50,000 pieces.

The production of the commemorative stamps was allowed

by President Benigno S. Aquino III through Presidential Proclamation No. 81 which declared 2014 as the

INC Centennial Year, and directed the Postmaster General to “cause the design, printing and issuance of a special stamp for said purpose.”

In its ruling, however, the appellate court did not give weight to Peralta’s arguments in asking to set aside the Manila RTC’s ruling.

The CA ruled that what Section 29 (2), Article VI of the 1987 Constitution prohibits is the giving of aid to a religious institution and not the mere entering into a transaction or agreement where the State could benefit for itself.

The CA stressed that it is not accurate to say that aid was given to INC since it is the government, which is expected to earn from the sale of the stamps, not the INC.

Miriam trains guns on Army, hits non-delivery of supplies be faulted because it placed the order for the ammunitions two years ago and the government arSeNAToR Miriam Defensor-San- senal should have complied long tiago has questioned the Philippine before Santiago noticed the probArmy for its failure to deliver the lem. Hao said the Army had even bulk of the training ammunitions paid in advance.

The senator said that such failand equipment it was programmed ure to deliver might put Filipino to procure last year.

Santiago, chairman of the Legis- soldiers at risk.

“How can we expect our lative oversight Committee on the troops to defend our sovereignty Visiting Forces Agreement, said she would file a resolution calling for a and territorial integrity when Senate investigation on the non-de- they have no ammunitions or equipment for training? Funds livery of the military supplies.

Army spokesman Colonel Ben- have been disbursed, why were jie Hao said the service cannot supplies not delivered?” she said

By Macon Araneta and Florante Solmerin

in a statement on Monday.

She cited a recently released report of the Commission on Audit (CoA), which showed that despite the P569.6 million the Army released to the Government Arsenal for ammunition, only P42.4 million worth of ammunitions were delivered in 2014.

The same CoA report showed that of the P231.9 million worth of combat clothing and equipment the Army requested through the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management from 2004 to 2011, P786,000 remained undelivered last year.

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Group hits gov’t inaction on LRT THE Transport department’s continued lack of concern for commuters borders on criminal, according to the National Coalition of Filipino Consumers (NCFC). “We shudder at how thickfaced DoTC and LRTA officials are at their continued support for a clearly anomalous deal that will compromise the safety of millions of everyday metro commuters. Do people need to be injured again before we see any positive government action?”

PLDT bags AnviL. After successfully concluding its 85th anniversary celebration last year, leading telecoms and multimedia

service provider PLDT took home a Silver Award for its Facebook-based social media campaign app ‘PLDT & ME’ during the 50th Anvil Awards organized by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP). The online app was part of PLDT’s milestone campaign that complemented the company’s digital and online efforts to its long-standing role in the country’s telecoms and ICT industry, making PLDT a household name and a primary enabler of the digital lifestyle. ‘Connecting people has been PLDT’s core business from the very start. We’d like to thank PRSP for recognizing the values of this campaign where we directly connected with our loyal subscribers and made PLDT’s 85th anniversary more memorable and meaningful,’ said PLDT and Smart Public Affairs head Ramon R. Isberto, APR. Receiving the silver Anvil trophy were, from left, PLDT Public Affairs’ Adrian Elumba, Isberto, Jay-Anne Encarnado, and Sarah Azucena-Reodica.

SC to build 12 new justice halls in 2016

By Rey E. Requejo TWELVE new halls of justice buildings in various parts of the country will be constructed next year as part of the Supreme Court’s effort to improve the delivery of justice.

Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno said of the 12 new hall of justice, one will be constructed in Cebu City and another in Cagayan de Oro City.

The new building in Cebu City will replace the 23-yearold Palace of Justice, which was seriously damaged by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that hit Cebu and Bohol in 2013, while the one in Cagayan de Oro will replace the Hall of Justice building that

was razed by a fire in January this year.

“Twelve projects for the construction of new halls of justice buildings are the priorities in 2016 including the design phase for the halls of justice of Cebu City and Cagayan de Oro and the construction of 10 smaller halls of justice,” the Chief Justice said.

The 10 smaller HOJs will be erected in Laoag, Ilocos Norte, Lallo, Cagayan, Kasibu in Nueva Vizcaya, Tagkawayan, Quezon, Leyte, Kapatagan in Lanao del Norte, Jimenez and Salay in Misamis Oriental, Kumalarang in Zamboanga del Sur and at the Island Garden City of Samal in Davao Del Norte.

Aside from the construction of the 12 new halls of justice, the Chief Justice said she expected the completion of the repair and rehabilitation of 23 HOJs in August, while repair works are ongoing for 10 more buildings.

“The SC is also set to award the contracts for the repair of 19 more HOJs while the bidding for the rehabilitation of 23 HOJs are ongoing,” she said.

Sereno said the the construction of the new Manila HOJ will start in 2017 and will be completed by 2019.

“The bidding process for the detailed architectural and engineering design is almost complete, and the actual de-

sign is expected to be finished in the third quarter of 2016,” Sereno stressed.

The SC’s budget for the long overdue Manila HOJ is P1.865 billion which would cover five phases―pre-design, design, procurement, construction support and postconstruction support.

Once completed, it will house 120 Regional and Metropolitan Trial Courts.

At present, trial courts in Manila are dispersed in the Manila City Hall, in the old building of the Office of the Ombudsman, the old and condemned structure of the GSIS and the former Masagana mall in UN Avenue and in Binondo.

NCFC counsel and spokesperson lawyer Oliver San Antonio made the statement after DoTC Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya and Light Rail Transit Authority officials Honorito Chaneco and Jose Jobel Belarmino appeared bent on awarding the maintenance contract of the Santolan to Recto LRT Line 2 to a bidder found by DoTC’s own engineers to have submitted technically incompatible specs and had merely “cut and paste” the specifications from the Edsa Line MRT. A Technical Working Group (TWG) report submitted last May 25, 2015 noted 12 “non-responsive” bid offers of the prospective service provider BUSAN-EDC for LRT 2. These related to lax maintenance schedules as well as incompatible signaling and running systems.

Despite the finding, the LRTA Bids and Awards Committee (LRTA-BAC) praised the joint venture’s proposal as “advantageous to the government.”

The NCFC filed both graft and administrative cases at the Office of the Ombudsman against Belarmino and nine other

members of the LRTABAC last July for repeatedly violating published bid rules and illegally favoring the Fil-Korean joint venture.

The Ombudsman has given due course to NCFC’s complaint and has since directed the BAC members to answer the charges.

“We need swift and concrete government action. The DoTC Secretary and the President need to directly intervene to clean this bidding mess up, and they should do it now without any further delay.”

President Aquino famously said in 2013 that he and DoTC’s Abaya were “ready to be run over by train” if the rail system’s construction and maintenance deadlines were not met in two years.

“Tourists are falling off holes inside our international airport, Metro Manila traffic takes forever to move.

This is the sad state of transport in the country.

Our metro rail system is a good transport alternative. The commuting public should be vigilant in protecting it against more corruption and inefficiency,” the NCFC lawyer admonished.

Estrada sets Beijing visit

By Vito Barcelo AMID the maritime row between the Philippines and China over conflicting claims to parts of the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea), former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada will attend the grand military parade in Beijing, the highlight of the nation’s celebrations for the 70th anniversary of victory over Japan.

Estrada will attend China’s military parade on Thursday, September 3, but not as a Philippine representative but in his capacity as mayor of Manila, according to Manila City Hall media affairs officer Bambi Purisima.

The Manila mayor was

invited to attend the occasion because Beijing is the sister city of Manila, Purisima said. He will be accompanied by several FilipinoChinese business leaders.

The Chinese military parade is seen as an important diplomatic event for the China, the world’s secondlargest economy.

Estrada also went to Hong Kong without Palace instruction to offer apologies and some compensation to the families of the victims of the hostage crisis at the Luneta grandstand in 2010.

Estrada said that Aquino did not send him to Hong Kong and the national government should not be faulted since it was the responsibil-

ity of his predecessor, former Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim. The Department of Foreign Affairs declined to say if any senior official will represent the country at the parade even though China and the Philippines were invaded by Japan during World War II. Earlier, DFA spokesperson Charles Jose said that the present territorial issue with China would not affect its ties with Beijing, saying “it is not the total sum of our relationship with China”.

Both countries have been strained over their conflicting claims to parts of the South China Sea. Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam also have conflicting claims on the sea.

Against corruption. A renewed campaign to stop corruption in government and end the plunder of public funds highlights the discussion at the ‘Tapatan sa Aristocrat’ news forum in Manila on Monday. From left: whistle-blower Rodolfo ‘Jun’ Lozada; Fr. Atilano ‘Nonong’ Fajardo, minister of public affairs of the Archdiocese of Manila and convenor of the ‘Huwag Kang Magnanakaw’ campaign; and National Press Club president Joel Sy Egco. EY ACASIO

T U E S D AY : S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 5

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NEWS

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Ilocos Norte may remain flooded if dams not repaired

By Christine F. Herrera

In between harvests. A man works in the farm of his friend as a tobacco harvester while he waits for his own farm to bear fruits in Barangay Ane-1 Alaveria, Misamis Oriental. BOBBY LAGSA

Five mountaineers die in Tarlac river mishap

By Francisco Tuyay

FIVE mountaineers were killed and another remains missing after a water current swept them while they were crossing a river in San Jose, Tarlac Sunday afternoon, a disaster official said.

Sharmain Mallari, Central Luzon Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Coun-

cil officer, said the five died while negotiating the Nagsasa Creek in Barangay Iba, San

Jose, Tarlac.

Mallari said the bodies of all the victims have already been recovered. She added that five others were rescued and thirty nine others survived in the said incident.

The mountaineers were heading back to Tarlac after an outreach mission in Zambales organized by Tarlac Gem Nest MC, a

mountaineering club.

“While they were crossing at Nagsasa Creek, a heavy downpour occurred and they were swept by the current,” Mallari said.

The UP Mountaineering Club, however, denied that any of its members participated in said outreach program and said its members only helped coordinate the activity.

FOLLOWING a prolonged dry spell, the province of Ilocos Norte now fears continued major flooding and severe dengue outbreak after typhoon Ineng rendered several towns underwater as the Madongan and Sabo Dams and spillways collapsed.

Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos on Sunday expressed fears that several towns in the eastern part of the province would continue to remain underwater if the dams would not be immediately repaired.

Marcos appealed to the national government to help restore the P2billion damage in infrastructure and farmlands.

On Saturday, Marcos declared the province under a state of calamity after several towns had been isolated when Ineng struck Northern Luzon last August 20.

At least 85 hectares of farmlands were completely destroyed. Damage to agriculture had reached P89 million while the damage to infrastructure now stood at P1.9 billion, according to the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

Marcos said some 546 families or 2,208 individuals, remain at the evacuation centers.

Marcos requested assistance particularly planting materials, including rice seeds, vegetable seeds, and fertilizers, as well as livestock.

The fisheries sector, she added, is also in need of tilapia, bangus and malaga fingerlings.

The province is also in need of building and construction materials such as corrugated GI sheets, nails and local tanguile, she said.

Marcos said some portions of the Sabo Dam in the Solsona and Dingras areas were damaged and subsequently overflowed, triggering the flooding.

1 killed, 2 injured in Baguio transient house shootout

By Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY—A 41-yearold man died while two others, including a police officer, were injured during a shootout inside a transient house at Dangwa Street Cresencia Village here around 10:50 p.m. Sunday.

Senior Supt. Rolando F. Miranda, officer-incharge of the Baguio City Police Office, identified the fatality as Yasser Dimaren H. Macalandap, 41, and a resident of Yap Street, Baguio City.

Injured individuals were named as PO3 Dan Estrada Fermalino, 51, married and a PNP personnel assigned at Bicutan, Taguig, City and

Ismael Datuotto Sandangan, 40 married and a businessman who temporarily resides at Antipolo, Rizal.

Miranda said initial investigation showed Fermalino and Sandangan, together with their families, arrived from Manila around 5 p.m.

Sunday for a vacation. They were reportedly billeted in one of the transient houses in the area.

While inside the house, Macalandap reportedly knocked on the door and when Sandangan opened it, he, without any words, shot Sandangan several times.

Fermalino, who was at the second floor of the house, immediately responded to his companion’s rescue and

had a brief shootout with Macalandap.

After the shooting incident, Macalandap was sprawled dead on the floor of the house while Fermalino and Sandangan were rushed to the Pines City Doctors Hospital for medical treatment.

Responding police personnel and elements of the Scene of the Crime Operative team recovered from the crime scene two empty magazines, nine fired cartridges cases and five fired bullets of a .45 cal. pistol.

Miranda said the motive of the shootout is yet being established by probers; the suspected firearm has yet to be recovered.

Come and get it. A woman sells T-shirts at Barangay Kahupian, Sogod, Southern Leyte.

MANNY PALMERO

T u E S D AY : S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 5

A8

opinion

ADELLE chuA eDItor

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

opinion

eaGle eYes Dean tonY la VIÑa

World day of Prayer for Creation

[ EDI TORI A L ]

Where are the heroes?

ThIS year’s celebration of National heroes’ Day coincided with a dayslong protest by a politically powerful religious sect demanding that the government keep its hands off what it claims are supposed to be internal issues.

Observers, not excluding exasperated commuters and motorists inconvenienced and made unproductive by the traffic the rally caused, had the opportunity to observe their politicians in action. Faced with a sensitive issue that may jeopardize whatever career plans they may have especially given the looming 2016 polls, these officials gave their calculated statements —expressing oneness with the rest of us, calling for sobriety, while taking care not to alienate the sect, known for endorsing candidates and then exhorting its members to vote as a bloc.

We soon concluded that if we are looking for heroes, those volunteering themselves, the coy and the uninhibited, do not just fit the bill. heroes place others first and themselves last. Many of our leaders just try to appear as though they do, by their crafted words and their planned actions.

Take these as a series, however, and you would know is neither consistency nor sincerity. heroes harbor no illusions of grandeur or infallibility. The real ones know they are human. They take the trouble to get to know themselves to have a grip on their strengths and weaknesses. They play up their strengths; it gives them confidence. But they also work on their weaknesses. Acknowledging mistakes and vulnerability does not diminish their worth but allows them to address them. heroes do not ask what’s in it for them. Their self-effacing nature prevents them from seeing everything as a means to gain something, in cash, in kind, or in goodwill.

Finally, heroes do not call themselves heroes, or style themselves as such.

They just do what needs to be done.

Perhaps we are this chaotic and restless and angry and still-unable to reach our potential because we have been desperate for heroes for a long time and nobody has come close.

Or it could be that we fail to recognize the hero in each of us and simply wait for others to rise to the challenge.

The real deal loWDoWn jojo a. robles The deal is simple: Fire Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and dismiss the case of illegal detention filed against members of the Sanggunian of the Iglesia Ni Cristo. Then the edsa rally will end.

The protest action ended at mid-morning yesterday. The INC told its gathered faithful, who had come from all over Luzon, that an agreement

had been reached with the government; they could go home now, because their demands had been met.

Of course, Malacañang Palace has denied agreeing to any quid pro quo. The Aquino administration wants us desperately to believe that the rally on edsa self-dispersed just as fast as it had gathered, for no apparent reason.

But that was certainly not the case. The INC protesters were all set to march back to Manila, to the offices of the Department of Justice along Padre Faura Street,

when word reached them that they could all leave peacefully. had the INC not dispersed, who knows what the endgame would have been? At the very least, had the government not given in, the INC would never have left the area that had been given to them by the Mandaluyong City government, at the junction of Shaw Boulevard and edsa, underneath the MRT station.

Moving forward, it would be interesting to see how the government complies with the INC’s demands. It’s fair

A9

this is what aquino gets for not paying attention—and for freezing once again in the face of a crisis situation.

to expect that De Lima will fight any move to remove her, especially on the behest of the INC. Already, sources at the Justice Department say that De Lima has enough ammunition of her own against the Aquino administration to ensure that she is not removed. And De Lima has been with the administration from the very beginning, dutifully doing everything that Malacañang bid her do, as a “good” justice secretary should.

But in the process, De Lima has compiled an impressive amount of inside information that could be very damaging to

the administration, if it decides to make a move against her. And if Malacañang fires the Justice Secretary, there will be hell to pay from an insider who would make Vice President Jejomar Binay look like a mere chismoso.

This is what President Noynoy Aquino gets for not paying attention— and for freezing once again in the face of a crisis situation. had the President only taken seriously the emissaries sent by the INC to him, who told him that De Lima was wrong to treat the case

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-

as a tool to bludgeon the church into submission ahead of an election, the rally would not even have happened.

But Aquino could not be bothered when the problem was just a threat.

And then he froze, not acting until the rally threatened to spill over from the long weekend and into the workweek, when it could really get ugly.

And if Aquino had only acted right away when the rally started, he still could have defused the situation before it threatened to get out of hand. Now

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

he must pay the piper and deliver De Lima’s head; that’s the deal and it’s always been the deal.

There’s always a chance that Aquino will renege on his promise. But that’s a risk that he will have to take. *** As for De Lima, if she had not been the poster girl for the administration of selective justice under this government, I would actually sympathize with her. But 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

POPe Francis has declared today, September 1, as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. This will be an annual event, a welcome one in my view.

From Bonn, Germany where I am participating in a crucial meeting on climate change, I join Christians from all over the world, in the word of the Pope, to “implore God’s help in protecting creation.”

This will be a difficult week, potentially a make-or-break one for the success of the Paris climate change summit at the end of the year. Most definitely, we need God’s intervention to be able to move forward.

The World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation is also an opportunity to ask God’s forgiveness “for sins committed against the world in which we live.” Recently in the Philippines, we witnessed the killing of Pamana, the Philippine eagle that had been freed from captivity after being nursed to health only to die in the hands of an ignorant, reckless or evil killer. But it’s not just birds and fishes or their habitats in forests and coral reefs that we are killing and destroying in our world; it’s humans, too. here in europe, it’s the issue of refugees, mistakenly described as migrants, that is in the news daily with reports of deaths both distressing and numbing.

This prayer day for Catholics is also a step forward to ecumenical unity. Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople had initiated a similar prayer day for the Orthodox Church in 1989. According to Pope Francis, this day will be a time for individuals and communities to “reaffirm their personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care, and to implore his help for the protection of creation as well as his pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live.”

In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis concluded the encyclical with what he described as his “lengthy reflection which has been both joyful and troubling,” with two prayers: “The first we can share with all who believe in a God who is the allpowerful Creator, while in the other we Christians ask for inspiration to take up the commitment to creation set before us by the Gospel of Jesus.”

For all persons of faith, for those who believe in a God who created the world, 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 : S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 5

A8

opinion

ADELLE chuA eDItor

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

opinion

eaGle eYes Dean tonY la VIÑa

World day of Prayer for Creation

[ EDI TORI A L ]

Where are the heroes?

ThIS year’s celebration of National heroes’ Day coincided with a dayslong protest by a politically powerful religious sect demanding that the government keep its hands off what it claims are supposed to be internal issues.

Observers, not excluding exasperated commuters and motorists inconvenienced and made unproductive by the traffic the rally caused, had the opportunity to observe their politicians in action. Faced with a sensitive issue that may jeopardize whatever career plans they may have especially given the looming 2016 polls, these officials gave their calculated statements —expressing oneness with the rest of us, calling for sobriety, while taking care not to alienate the sect, known for endorsing candidates and then exhorting its members to vote as a bloc.

We soon concluded that if we are looking for heroes, those volunteering themselves, the coy and the uninhibited, do not just fit the bill. heroes place others first and themselves last. Many of our leaders just try to appear as though they do, by their crafted words and their planned actions.

Take these as a series, however, and you would know is neither consistency nor sincerity. heroes harbor no illusions of grandeur or infallibility. The real ones know they are human. They take the trouble to get to know themselves to have a grip on their strengths and weaknesses. They play up their strengths; it gives them confidence. But they also work on their weaknesses. Acknowledging mistakes and vulnerability does not diminish their worth but allows them to address them. heroes do not ask what’s in it for them. Their self-effacing nature prevents them from seeing everything as a means to gain something, in cash, in kind, or in goodwill.

Finally, heroes do not call themselves heroes, or style themselves as such.

They just do what needs to be done.

Perhaps we are this chaotic and restless and angry and still-unable to reach our potential because we have been desperate for heroes for a long time and nobody has come close.

Or it could be that we fail to recognize the hero in each of us and simply wait for others to rise to the challenge.

The real deal loWDoWn jojo a. robles The deal is simple: Fire Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and dismiss the case of illegal detention filed against members of the Sanggunian of the Iglesia Ni Cristo. Then the edsa rally will end.

The protest action ended at mid-morning yesterday. The INC told its gathered faithful, who had come from all over Luzon, that an agreement

had been reached with the government; they could go home now, because their demands had been met.

Of course, Malacañang Palace has denied agreeing to any quid pro quo. The Aquino administration wants us desperately to believe that the rally on edsa self-dispersed just as fast as it had gathered, for no apparent reason.

But that was certainly not the case. The INC protesters were all set to march back to Manila, to the offices of the Department of Justice along Padre Faura Street,

when word reached them that they could all leave peacefully. had the INC not dispersed, who knows what the endgame would have been? At the very least, had the government not given in, the INC would never have left the area that had been given to them by the Mandaluyong City government, at the junction of Shaw Boulevard and edsa, underneath the MRT station.

Moving forward, it would be interesting to see how the government complies with the INC’s demands. It’s fair

A9

this is what aquino gets for not paying attention—and for freezing once again in the face of a crisis situation.

to expect that De Lima will fight any move to remove her, especially on the behest of the INC. Already, sources at the Justice Department say that De Lima has enough ammunition of her own against the Aquino administration to ensure that she is not removed. And De Lima has been with the administration from the very beginning, dutifully doing everything that Malacañang bid her do, as a “good” justice secretary should.

But in the process, De Lima has compiled an impressive amount of inside information that could be very damaging to

the administration, if it decides to make a move against her. And if Malacañang fires the Justice Secretary, there will be hell to pay from an insider who would make Vice President Jejomar Binay look like a mere chismoso.

This is what President Noynoy Aquino gets for not paying attention— and for freezing once again in the face of a crisis situation. had the President only taken seriously the emissaries sent by the INC to him, who told him that De Lima was wrong to treat the case

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-

as a tool to bludgeon the church into submission ahead of an election, the rally would not even have happened.

But Aquino could not be bothered when the problem was just a threat.

And then he froze, not acting until the rally threatened to spill over from the long weekend and into the workweek, when it could really get ugly.

And if Aquino had only acted right away when the rally started, he still could have defused the situation before it threatened to get out of hand. Now

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

he must pay the piper and deliver De Lima’s head; that’s the deal and it’s always been the deal.

There’s always a chance that Aquino will renege on his promise. But that’s a risk that he will have to take. *** As for De Lima, if she had not been the poster girl for the administration of selective justice under this government, I would actually sympathize with her. But 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

POPe Francis has declared today, September 1, as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. This will be an annual event, a welcome one in my view.

From Bonn, Germany where I am participating in a crucial meeting on climate change, I join Christians from all over the world, in the word of the Pope, to “implore God’s help in protecting creation.”

This will be a difficult week, potentially a make-or-break one for the success of the Paris climate change summit at the end of the year. Most definitely, we need God’s intervention to be able to move forward.

The World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation is also an opportunity to ask God’s forgiveness “for sins committed against the world in which we live.” Recently in the Philippines, we witnessed the killing of Pamana, the Philippine eagle that had been freed from captivity after being nursed to health only to die in the hands of an ignorant, reckless or evil killer. But it’s not just birds and fishes or their habitats in forests and coral reefs that we are killing and destroying in our world; it’s humans, too. here in europe, it’s the issue of refugees, mistakenly described as migrants, that is in the news daily with reports of deaths both distressing and numbing.

This prayer day for Catholics is also a step forward to ecumenical unity. Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople had initiated a similar prayer day for the Orthodox Church in 1989. According to Pope Francis, this day will be a time for individuals and communities to “reaffirm their personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care, and to implore his help for the protection of creation as well as his pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live.”

In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis concluded the encyclical with what he described as his “lengthy reflection which has been both joyful and troubling,” with two prayers: “The first we can share with all who believe in a God who is the allpowerful Creator, while in the other we Christians ask for inspiration to take up the commitment to creation set before us by the Gospel of Jesus.”

For all persons of faith, for those who believe in a God who created the world, 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 : S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 5

A10

OPINION lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

TRIPLE WHAMMY VERSUS GRACE POE TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

has reportedly been unable to confirm the DoJ report, and there is no record that the President has ratified the convention with the concurrence of the Senate.

Article VI, specifically provides that “no person shall be a senator unless he is natural-born citizen of the Philippines, and on the day of the election, is at least thirty-five years of age, able to read and write, a registered voter, and a resident of the Philippines for not less than two years immediately preceding the day of the election.” This is clear and precise.

PRESUMPTIVE presidential candidate for 2016 Senator Grace Poe has a lot of explaining to do in connection with her citizenship and residency.

The Senate Electoral Tribunal will be asking questions in the wake of allegations that she is not a natural-born Filipino and that she lacked the residency requirement when she ran for the Senate.

On Grace’s being a foundling left by her biological parents at a church in Jaro, Iloilo, some legal practitioners and so-called experts allege that she This is a complete is natural born misrepresentation. by virtue of Article 2 of the UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, which provides “A foundling found in the The second whammy territory of a Contracting against Grace is that after State shall, in the absence the death of her adopted of proof to the contrary, father, Fernando Poe, she be considered to have returned to the Philipbeen born within the ter- pines and filed a petition ritory of parents possess- “for retention and/or reing the nationality of the acquisition of Philippine State.”

Citizenship under RepubThe United Nations lic Act 9225, known as the adopted this conven- “Citizenship Retention tion in an effort to do and Reacquisition Act of away with statelessness 2003. This law provides of people. However, this that “any provision of the convention did not en- law to the contrary notter into force until 1975, withstanding, naturalwhen Grace Poe, already born citizens of a foreign adopted by Ronald Al- country by region of natlan Kelly Poe, otherwise uralization as citizen of a known as Fernando Poe foreign country are hereJr. or “FPJ,” and Jesusa So- by deemed to for have nora Poe, known as Susan reacquainted Philippine Roces, was already seven citizenship upon taking years old! And according the oath of allegiance to to a memorandum from the Republic.

Department of Justice, In the case of Grace, the country acceded to when she got married to the convention only in her husband, an American 2011 when Grace, whose citizen, she undertook an full name is Grace Poe oath of allegiance to the Llamanzares, was already United States of America. married to an American Thus, she lost her Philipcitizen and gave birth to pine citizenship. It is not American children. known whether or not Records make it worse she also worked under for Grace. The Depart- the US government. Anment of Foreign Affairs other thing, under the

BANGSAMORO GROUP UNHAPPY WITH ‘DAANG MATUWID’ THIS refers to the statement published on Aug. 18, 2015, written

by Rio Araja, entitled “Muslims unhappy with Roxas for not going against BBL.” The One Bangsamoro Movement (1Bangsa) is wary that Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas may just be another President Benigno Aquino III if he gets elected as the next President in 2016. They feel that the President has been deceiving them from the start.

“Feeling namin, nilinlang kami ng Presidente. Parang pina-asa lang kami sa wala.”

1BANGSA is on the frontline of peace advocacy groups and proponent of one million signature campaign in support for the Bangsamoro and the immediate passage of the original version of BBL. The Muslim communities are disappointed at President Aquino for not being true to his word. It has been two years since the signing of the Bangsamoro agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and yet the President has failed to certify the said bill as an urgent bill. President Aquino’s words do not match his actions. “aniya kasama sa pinirmahang CAB na ito’y dapat implementing rules of the Bureau of Immigration, Circular No. AFF-04-01, which provides: “These rules shall apply to former natural-born citizens of the Philippines as defined by Philippine laws and jurisprudence, who have lost their citizenship by reason of naturalization as citizens of a foreign country.’’ The same Circular requires, a former natural-born citizen of Philippines, who was born in the Philippines, shall submit the NSOauthenticated copy of his or her birth certificate as proof of his or her former “natural-born” status. The question now is: Did Grace submit the mandated NSO-authenticated copy of her birth certificate? She must answer this question.

The third whammy, which, to my mind, is the most crucial allegation Grace must explain, is this: In 2006, she filed

MAIL MATTERS

votes in Muslim Mindanao ““at talagang nilamapaso ni Binay icertify agad ng Pangulo as an si Roxas sa mga Muslim area”. urgent bill” We are now once again calling We were also dissatisfied the Muslims scholars (Ulama) to when the President made his issue a FATWA against politicians official announcement on his who are anti-BBL “para magsilbi anointment of Roxas as Liberal itong aral at babala sa mga nationParty’s standard-bearer. Re- al politicians na lantaran iyong gardless of how many Muslim pagkamuhi nila sa Mamamayang leaders and individuals were Bangsamoro” present at Club Filipino, Roxas In preparation for the 2016 nafailed to recognize the pres- tional elections, we are contemence of Muslim leaders and plating implementing a one solid even mentioned BBL, Muslim vote, to help us hasten the passage Mindanao etc. amid mention- of the BBL. Muslims now have ing other groups and key indi- an estimated registered voters of viduals, it was as if they were more than three million. just there for show.

We are against House Bill 5811, We are worried that Roxas the BBL version that is being discould do the same thing for the cussed in Congress right now.

Muslims, and disregard the BBL neither do we prefer the substianew dahil sa pagtahak nito ng tute version of Senator Bongbong daang matuwid ni Pnoy.

Marcos.

This is not the first time that Only BBL based on the Comthe Bangsamoro peace groups prehensive Agreement on the have reacted negatively to Roxas. Bangsamoro is accepted to the In 2008, Roxas was one of those Bangsamoro people. who were against the Memoran1BANGSA is asking Senator dum of Agreement on Ancestral Marcos to reconsider the original Domain (MOA-AD). version of the BBL because it will In the 2010 elections, Mus- just be a waste of time if one of these lim scholars then issued a fatwa versions makes it to the plebiscite. (verdict) against former Presi- The Muslim community will just dent Joseph Estrada, Senator turn it down.

Franklin Drilon and vice presidential candidate Mar Roxas. Maulana “Alan” Balangi The three received the lowest Founding President, 1BANGSA

a notarized petition for retention and/or reacquisition of Philippine citizen under RA 9225. She declared under oath: “I am a natural-born Philippine citizen born on September 3, 1968 at Iloilo City to Ronald Allan Kelly Poe, a Filipino citizen, and Jesusa Sonora Poe, a Filipino citizen; I became an American national on October 18, 2001, thereby lost my Philippine citizenship. Pursuant thereto, I am a holder of a US passport with Passport No. 017037793, issued on Dec. 19, 2001 in Washington.”

My gulay, that’s a complete misrepresentation.

It’s a big lie. She herself had claimed to be a foundling. FPJ and Susan Roces, as far as records show, were childless. Santa Banana, Grace could be guilty of perjury and thus disqualified as a senator and a would-be presidential candidate because she is not natural-born as re-

quired by law.

And when she declared in her Certificate of Candidacy as a senator in the 2013 polls for the Senate, she must have been honest enough to write that her residency was only for six years and six months.

This would disqualify her for the presidency, which requires at least 10 years at the time of the presidential elections in 2016. *** The prolonged rally of members of the Iglesia Ni Cristo along Edsa is definitely a show of force to compel President Aquino to act one way or another.

From the looks of it, the President is now a bind on how to act. If the President supports the case filed against INC council members since, to my mind, illegal detention and abduction are serious criminal offenses and have nothing to do with “Separation of Church and State,” much less “in-

terference of internal affairs” of INC, and consequently, throws support for De Lima as he should to follow the rule of law, the Iglesia becomes his enemy.

What is critical is what the President would do next. It could make or break him.

But as we see it, the President who usually doesn’t hesitate to defend his alter egos, right or wrong, is treating the Iglesia issues with kid gloves. *** I cannot agree with all the criticisms and personal attacks on Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino.

He has been doing everything to the point of wading in floodwater and personally directing traffic at congested areas. I challenge his critics and all those who want Tolentino to resign: Can they do better?

T U E S D AY : S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 5

OPINION lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

A11

COURT OF APPEALS EXEMPTS ADB WORKERS FROM INCOME TAX; NOD FOR UBER, GRABCAR NOT ENOUGH Internet and mobile application-based transportation companies like Uber and GrabCar operate. A commuter who wishes to go somewhere in Metropolitan Manila without using the traditional modes of public transportation can contact these companies through on-line media. The commuter is matched with a motorist headed in that direction.

After the parties agree on the payment scheme, the commuter is picked up by the motorist at a pre-determined location.

Commuters tired of the old system of public transportation welcomed the new service. Operators of existing public utility transportation services, however, complained to the LTFrB that the newcomers were providing a public service without prior government authorization. There were also complaints of passengers waylaid by drivers of vehicles operating under the on-line system.

In the end, the LTFrB simply required the new companies to obtain accreditation, which they eventually got. Unfortunately, there are legal consequences which the LTFrB overlooked.

The public utility transportation business is attended with a very high degree of public interest. After all, the safety of passengers is a serious concern of the state. The Civil Code of the Philippines refers to providers of public utility transportation services as common carriers.

Under the law, common carriers are required to observe “the extraordinary diligence of very cautious persons” whenever they carry passengers. This level of diligence is higher than that required of ordi-

nary businesses. In addition, a passenger who fails to reach his destination safely can sue the common carrier for breach of the contract of carriage.

Since the safety of the passenger is very important, the law further requires that a driver of a common carrier must obtain a professional driver’s license from the Land Transportation Office (LTO). One cannot get this type of license without going through a thorough testing procedure.

Drivers who are not engaged in the business of transporting passengers need only get a non-professional driver’s license, which means less demanding requirements.

The law likewise requires common carriers to obtain a franchise to operate. This way, the state is able to strictly monitor its operations. When the common carrier does not comply with legal requirements, the state can cancel its franchise.

Fares charged by a common carrier are subject to prior state approval. They are also required to observe speed limits, and they must obtain insurance. Their units must be easy to identify for purposes of additional public safety. Any violation of these requirements is sufficient ground for the revocation of its franchise.

Are Uber and GrabCar common carriers? Do their drivers hold professional driver’s licenses? Do they carry insurance? In case of an accident, what standard of diligence applies to their drivers?

The LTFrB cannot just accredit these companies. As a line agency vested with delicate functions involving public safety, the LTFrB must comply with the law, or its officials will be vulnerable to anti-graft raps.

tion. Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth. Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation,to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day. encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace.”

For Christians, the Pope suggests A Christian Prayer In Union With Creation: “Father, we praise you with all your creatures. They came forth from your all-powerful hand; they are yours, filled with your presence and your tender love.

Praise be to you!

Son of God, Jesus, through you all

things were made. You were formed in the womb of Mary our Mother, you became part of this earth, and you gazed upon this world with human eyes. Today you are alive in every creature in your risen glory.

Praise be to you!

Holy Spirit, by your light you guide this world towards the Father’s love and accompany creation as it groans in travail.

You also dwell in our hearts and you inspire us to do what is good. Praise be to you!

Triune Lord, wondrous community of infinite love, teach us to contemplate you in the beauty of the universe, for all things speak of you. Awaken our praise and thankfulness for every being that you have made. Give us the grace to feel pro-

foundly joined to everything that is.

God of love, show us our place in this world as channels of your love for all the creatures of this earth, for not one of them is forgotten in your sight. enlighten those who possess power and money that they may avoid the sin of indifference, that they may love the common good, advance the weak, and care for this world in which we live. The poor and the earth are crying out. O Lord, seize us with your power and light, help us to protect all life, to prepare for a better future, for the coming of your Kingdom of justice, peace, love and beauty. Praise be to you! Amen.”

the Supreme Court to jail former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and refused to prosecute anybody for the Mamasapano Massacre. She has loaned one of her undersecretaries to the Ombudsman just to make sure that the supposedly independent anti-graft prosecutor works hand-in-hand with the executive in going after Aquino’s political enemies.

De Lima has used her powers to file the flimsiest charges against people with the least apparent guilt while refusing

to indict anyone allied to Aquino, or even to throw them in jail after their conviction. Now she wants to perpetrate the supreme insult on the populace by running for the Senate, leveraging the debt of gratitude that Aquino owes her and the fealty of the diminishing Yellow horde that catapulted him to the presidency in 2010.

The INC may have erred in its methods, but that doesn’t make De Lima or her boss look any better. Given the methods employed over five years

by Aquino, De Lima and the other top officials of this administration, they deserve to be pushed back by any means possible.

Are the income and other financial emoluments received by Filipinos employed in international financial organizations like the Asian Development Bank covered by Philippine tax laws? This question was answered in the affirmative in this column back in October 2014.

The Bureau of Internal revenue (BIr) shared the same view and demanded that Filipinos working with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) head office in Mandaluyong City pay the corresponding taxes on their incomes.

Two ADB employees, erwin Salaveria and Portia Gonzales, refused to pay up and sued for relief before the regional Trial Court in Mandaluyong City. After the trial court ruled in their favor, the BIr appealed the case to the Court of Appeals.

Last month, the appellate court dismissed the appeal on the ground that the BIr should have gone directly to the Supreme Court for appropriate relief.

What remedial measures the BIr will pursue in the premises is not yet clear, but it is almost certain that it will not give up without a fight.

Attention is invited to the official documentation on record.

The agreement between the republic of the Philippines and the ADB states that ADB employees are entitled to “exemption from taxation on or in respect of the salaries and emoluments paid by the bank subject to the power of the government to tax its nationals.” This means that while the ADB will not impose any kind of tax on the income of its employees, the Philippine government may impose taxes on the income earned by Filipinos working in the ADB. Considering that the agreement was executed in accordance with

international law, it is legally binding on the Philippines.

Jurisprudence favors the BIr. The Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized the obligation of the Philippine government to observe its treaty commitments (reyes v. Bagatsing, 125 SCrA 553), and has held that tax exemptions must be strictly construed against the taxpayer (Kepco Phils. Corporation v. Commissioner of Internal revenue, 636 SCrA 166).

There is no need for Congress to enact specific legislation to make the ADB agreement binding on the Philippines.

Under international law, the treaty obligations of a state cannot be made to depend on the action or inaction of the legislature of that state. In other words, obligations created under international law cannot depend on the existence of an implementing municipal law. exempting income and other financial emoluments received by Filipinos from the ADB, or from any similar international organization for that matter, may also give rise to a constitutional issue. The equal protection clause of the Constitution means people similarly situated should be treated similarly. If all Filipinos who have a sizeable income, including those working overseas, must pay income taxes, there is no reason why Filipinos employed in international organizations operating in Philippine territory who have a sizeable income should be tax exempt. For this reason alone, the BIr must bring the ADB tax case to the Supreme Court.

By now, almost everybody knows how

WORLd... From A9 Pope Francis offered A Prayer For Our earth: “All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures. You embrace with your tenderness all that exists. Pour out upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty. Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes. Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruc-

THE REAL dEAL From A9 De Lima has never believed that this dispensation should be fair in going after those believed to have committed a crime—not when she stood by when Aquino absolved all his officials in the August 2010 hostage crisis at the rizal Park and not when she refused to charge any of Aquino’s allies in the socalled “third batch” of lawmakers who allegedly stole their pork barrel funds.

In between, De Lima has defied

HAIL TO THE CHAIR VICTOR AVECILLA

Facebook Page: Dean Tony La Vina Twitter: tonylavs

ARE WE THERE YET? BONG C. AUSTERO Mr. Austero’s column will resume soon.

General Conditions of Carriage mean these General Conditions of Carriage.

IATA (International Air Transport Association) means the International Air Transport Association, created in April 1945 in Montreal, the purpose of which is to encourage the development of safe, regular and economical air carriage and to promote air services and study the problems related thereto.

Identification Form means a tag issued by the Carrier for the sole purpose of identifying Checked Baggage and that includes a portion that is affixed to the Baggage (“Baggage Tag’) and another portion that is issued to the Passenger for the identification of said Baggage (“Baggage Check’).

General conditions of carriage for passengers and baggage These General Conditions of Carriage are applicable to all flights, or portions of flights, for which the KLM Designator Code appears in the carrier box of your ticket or of the corresponding Coupon as well as those other situations specified in the General Conditions of Carriage.

You can obtain a copy of the General Conditions of Carriage from KoninklijkeLuchtvaartMaatschappij N.V. (KLM Royal Dutch Airlines) and its Authorised Agents free of charge, they can be viewed at the website www.klm.nl, or they can be sent to you free of charge upon your request.

ARTICLE 1: DEFINITIONS Within these conditions and except as otherwise provided for herein, the following terms are used with the meaning given below: Actual Carrier (or Operating Carrier) means the carrier who actually operates the flight.

Administration Fees means fees charged, where applicable, to the Passenger by the Carrier and/or its Authorised Agent, such as but not limited to in consideration for the modification (“Modification Fees”), reissue (“Reissue Fees”) or refund (“Refund Fees”) of a Ticket. The Passenger shall be informed by the Carrier of the amount of applicable Administration Fees prior to finalisation of their Reservation.

Agreed Stopping Place means a scheduled stop by the Carrier which is located between the Place of Departure and the Place of Destination as shown in the Schedules.

Air Carriage (or Air Travel) means the carriage of a Passenger and their Baggage on an aircraft.

Article means an article of these General Conditions of Carriage.

Authorised Agent means an individual or legal entity that is authorised by the Carrier to represent the Carrier in the sale of Air Carriage tickets for its services or for the services of another Carrier if said agent is so authorized.

Baggage means both Checked Baggage and Unchecked Baggage, unless otherwise specified.

Baggage Allowance means the maximum quantity of Baggage (in terms of number and/or weight and/or dimensions), if any, determined by the Carrier and with which each Passenger may travel whether or not in return for a payment depending on the fare conditions.

Baggage Check means the portion of the Identification Form issued to the Passenger by the Carrier relating to the carriage of Checked Baggage.

Baggage Tag means the portion of Identification Form that is affixed to the Checked Baggage.

Beneficiary means the Passenger or any person who can claim compensation for or on behalf of said Passenger, in accordance with the applicable law.

Cabin Baggage (see Unchecked Baggage) Carrier means KLM and/or any other carrier for which the Designator Code appears on the Ticket, or a Conjunction Ticket.

Chartering means the operation whereby the Carrier having concluded a Contract of Carriage with the Passenger (“Contractual Carrier”) subcontracted to another carrier (“Actual Carrier”) responsibility for performing all or part of the Air Carriage. This also means the operation whereby any other party that has contracted with the Passenger (for example a tour operator) entrusts the Carrier with performing all or part of the Air Carriage in connection with package travel, package holidays and package tours, including under EC directive 90/314.

The “Contractual Carrier” in this respect is the charterer or touroperator who as a principal enters into an agreement for carriage with the Passenger or another person.

Charter Ticket means a ticket, in electronic form or otherwise, issued pursuant to a Charter Contract.

Checked Baggage means Baggage of which the Carrier has taken custody and for which an Identification Form has been issued.

Check-In Deadlines (CID) means the time limit before which Passengers must have carried out their check-in formalities and received their boarding card, and where applicable the Baggage must have been issued at the check in desk in accordance with Article 10.2.

Code Share (see Code Share Flight) Code Share Flight means a flight operated by an Air Carrier that can be either the Carrier with which the Passenger concluded a Contract of Carriage (Contracting Carrier or Contractual Carrier) or another carrier operating the flight (the Actual Carrier) with which the Contracting Carrier has associated its Designator Code.

Conjunction Ticket means a Ticket the issue of which is rendered necessary because of the large number of Coupons for a primary Ticket.

Contingency Plan for lengthy tarmac delays means the contingency plan adopted by the Carrier in the event of a significant delay of the aircraft on the tarmac at an airport located within the U.S. territory, as described by the U.S. Department ofTransportation (DOT).

Contract of Carriage means the declarations and provisions appearing on the Ticket, identified as such and incorporating these General Conditions of Carriage as well as notices to Passengers.

Contracting Carrier or Contractual Carrier means the Carrier with which the Passenger has concluded a Contract of Carriage and for which the Designator Code appears on the Ticket.

Convention means, as applicable: (a) the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules in Warsaw on 12 October 1929; (b) the Hague Protocol of 28 September 1955, which amended the Warsaw Convention; (c) the Guadalajara Supplementary Convention of 18 September 1961. (d) Montreal Protocols 1, 2 and 4 (1975), which amended the Warsaw Convention; (e) a combination of the aforementioned Conventions and Protocols; (f) the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, signed in Montreal on 28 May 1999.

Coupon means a paper Flight Coupon or an Electronic Coupon, each of which bears the name of the Passenger who is to take the flight identified on the Coupon.

Damage includes death, injury to a Passenger, delay, loss, partial loss, or other of whatsoever nature arising out of or in connection with Air Carriage or other services performed by the Carrier incidental thereto.

Interior Flight or Domestic Flight means any flight for which the Place of Departure and Place of Destination are within the same State, within territorial continuity.

International Agreements (IIA and MIA) of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) mean the inter-carrier agreements on the liability of air carriers, signed on 31 October 1995 in Kuala Lumpur (IIA) and on 3 April 1996 in Montreal (MIA), which are applicable to carriers that have been members of the International Air Transport Association (see IATA) since 1 April 1997, and that are included in the legal scope ofthe international sources of law on carrier liabilityreferred to under points (a) to (d) of the term“Convention” defined below.

International Flight means, as defined by the Convention, any flight for which the Place of Departure and Place of Destination and, possibly, the Stopover, are located on the territory of at least two States that are parties to the Convention, notwithstanding Agreed Stopping Places or aircraft changes, or within a single State if a Stopover is scheduled in another State regardless of whether said other State is or is not party to the Convention.

Issue Fees (or Ticketing Fees) means fees charged, where applicable, to the Passenger by the Carrier or its Authorised Agent, in consideration for issuing a Ticket. The amount of said fees is determined by the issues of the Ticket (the Carrier of the Authorised Agent), as appropriate). The Issue Fees charged by KLM, if any, are available from the Carrier and on the KLM Website.

Itinerar y and Receipt (see Travel Memo) KLM means the limited liability company Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V., incorporated under the laws of the Netherlands, having its statutory seat and registered office in (1182 GP) Amstelveen, the Netherlands at the Amsterdamseweg 55, registered under number 33014286 in the trade register of the chamber of commerce and industry, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

KLM website means the website www.klm.com. Package Travel has the same meaning as “Package”as given in Council Directive 90/134/EE of 13 June 1990on package travel, package holidays and package tours.

Passenger means any person, except members of the crew, carried or to be carried and who is in possession of a Ticket.

Passenger Coupon means the portion of the Ticket, issued by the Carrier or in its name, which is identified as such and must be retained by the Passenger.

Passenger with Reduced Mobility means any person whose mobility when using transport is reduced due to any physical disability (sensory or locomotor, permanent or temporary), intellectual disability or impairment, or any other cause of disability, or age, and whose situation needs appropriate attention and the adaptation to his or her particular needs of the service made available to all Passengers.

Pet means a pet, in the cabin or hold, travelling with a Passenger who is either the owner or an individual assuming responsibility on behalf of the owner during the journey.

Place of Departure means the place of departure as shown on the Ticket (for example airport, railway station or such other place of departure shown on the Ticket).

Place of Destination means the place of destination as shown on the Ticket (for example airport, railway station or such other place of destination shown on the Ticket).

Reservation means any request for carriage by aPassenger recorded by the Carrier or its Authorised Agent.

Schedules or Schedule Indicators means the list of departure and arrival times for the flights, as shown in the schedule guides published by the Carrier, or under its authority, and brought to the attention of the public by electronic means.

Schedule Indicators (see Schedules) Special Declaration of Interest means the declaration made by the Passenger when handing over the Baggage to be checked, which specifies a value that is higher than that fixed as a liability limit by the Convention, against payment of a surcharge.

Special Drawing Right (SDR) means a unit of account of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the value of which is periodically defined by the IMF on the basis of the listed prices of several reference currencies.

Stopovers means the points, with the exception of the Place of Departure and Place of Destination, shown on the Ticket or mentioned in the Schedules as stopovers planned on the Passenger’s itinerary.

Taxes means fees, taxes and charges imposed by governments, an airport operator or any other authority as defined in Article 4 below.

Ticket means a document which may be completed by a Baggage Check or an Identification Form for Checked Baggage, or by equivalent means in a dematerialised form, including electronic, that is issued or authorised by the Carrier or its Authorised Agent. The Ticket evidences the Contract of Carriage, includes the Flight Coupons, the Passenger Coupons, notices to passengers and incorporates these General Conditions of Carriage.

Travel Memo (or Itinerary and Receipt) means one or more documents that the Carrier issues to the Passenger, that confirm(s) the issue of an Electronic Ticket that bears his/her name, information on the flight and notices to Passengers.

Unchecked Baggage or “Cabin Baggage” means all Baggage, other than Checked Baggage. This Unchecked Baggage remains in the custody of the Passenger.

ARTICLE 2: SCOPE OF APPLICATION 2.1 General Provisions (a) Except as provided in Article 2.2 and Article 2.4 below, these General Conditions of Carriage apply to all flights, or portions of flights, for which the KLM Designator Code (“KL”) appears on the Ticket or on the corresponding Coupon. (b) These General Conditions of Carriage also apply to free or reduced-fare carriage, except as otherwise provided for in the Contract of Carriage or in any other contractual document that links KLM to the Passenger. (c) All Carriage is subject to the General Conditions of Carriage to the Carriers’ fare regulations in force at the time of the Passenger’s Reservation. (d) These General Conditions of Carriage have been drawn up pursuant to the Montreal Convention of 28 May 1999 and the European law in force. (e) These General Conditions of Carriage are available from KLM and its Authorized Agents and are accessible on the KLM Website.

2.3 The Contingency Plan for lengthy tarmac delays The Contingency Plan for lengthy tarmac delays applicable within the United States is that of the Carrier actually operating the flight (Actual Carrier).

Denied Boarding the refusal of any Passenger to carry on a flight, although the Passenger reported himself prior to boarding according to article 3, paragraph 2 of the EU Regulation 261/2004, without the deny boarding is being based on reasonable grounds that have to do with reasons regarding health, safety or security or inadequate travel documentation.

2.4 Predominance of the Law These General Conditions of Carriage are applicable to the extent that they are not contrary to mandatorily applicable Conventions, Regulation, laws and regulatory requirements or the rules governing public order, in which case, said laws or rules shall prevail. Any invalidation of one or more provisions of these General Conditions of Carriage shall not have any effect on the validity of other provisions, except where the Contract of Carriage could not continue to apply without the provision that has been declared invalid and ineffective.

Electronic Coupon means an electronic Flight Coupon or any other document that has the same value, which is stored in digital format in the Carrier’s computerised reservation system.

Electronic Ticket means the Ticket saved by the Carrier or at its request by a computerised Reservation system and that is evidenced by the Travel Memo (also called the Itinerary and Receipt), the electronic Flight Coupon or any other document that has the same value, issued by the Carrier on its name.

Fares means the fares, charges, levies, costs for a journey charged to the Passenger, for a specified reservation class, for given routes, and, where applicable, flights and dates, and the corresponding fare conditions.

Fare Excluding Tax means the Fare charged to the Passenger, excluding Taxes and Issue Fees.

Fare Including Tax means the Net Fare plus Tax. Flight Coupon means the portion of the Ticket identified as being “valid for carriage’ or, for ElectronicTickets, the Electronic Coupon that shows the exact points between which the Passenger must be carried.

Force Majeure means extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided despite all reasonable due care and attention exercised.

3.3 Force Majeure invoked by a Passenger If a Passenger has a Ticket, as described in Article 3.1 (d) above, which they have not used in whole or in part for reasons of Force Majeure, the Carrier shall provide the Passenger with a credit voucher corresponding to the Fare Including Tax of their non-refundable and/or non-changeable Ticket which is valid for one year, to be used for a subsequent journey on the Carrier’s flights and subject to the applicable Administration Fees, provided that the Passenger informs the Carrier as soon as possible and in any event prior to the date of the flight of such reasons of Force Majeure and provides proof thereof.

3.4 Flight Coupon Order of Use (a) The Fare Including Tax applied on the Ticket issue date is only valid for a Ticket used fully and in the sequential order of Flight Coupons, for the specified journey and on the specified dates.

Any non-compliant use will result in a recalculation of the Fare under the conditions defined below. (b) The Fare, established on the basis of the details, flight dates and routes mentioned on the Ticket, corresponds to a Place of Departure and a Place of Destination, via a Stopover scheduled when the Ticket was purchased and forms integral part of the Contract of Carriage. Any changes herein may lead to changes in the Fare Including Tax. (c) A change of the Place of Departure or a Place of Arrival for the journey by the Passenger (for example, if the Passenger does not use the first Coupon or does not use all the Coupons or if the Coupons are not used in their issue order) will result in a change in the Fare Including Tax initially paid by the Passenger. Many Fares IncludingTax are only valid on the date and for the flights specified on the Ticket. In the event of a change as outlined above,the Fare will be recalculated and the Passenger may, as a consequence of the recalculation, be required to pay an additional Fare [or to be entitled to a refund, as the case may be] equating to the difference between the Fare Including Tax initially paid and the Fare Including Tax that the Passenger should have paid when the Ticket was issued for the journey actually made by the Passenger. In addition, in the event of a change as outlined above, Administration Fees will be applied, where applicable.

When that is the case, the Passenger will be informed thereof when such a change is requested. (d) If the Passenger does not use all their Flight Coupons and prematurely interrupts their journey, the Passenger will be required to pay a fixed amount, in order to be able to retrieve their Checked Baggage.

3.5 Changes Requested by a Passenger Changes that the Passenger wishes to make are subject to the fare conditions attached to their Fare and to payment of the applicable Administration Fees.

3.6 Identification of the Carrier Carrier’s identification may be shown as an abbreviation on the Ticket using its Designator Code (as defined in Article 1). The Carrier’s address is deemed to be that of any one of its registered offices or principal place of business.

ARTICLE 4: FARES, FEES, TAXES AND CHARGES

2.2 Charters and Code Shares (a) Certain flights provided by the Carrier are subject to a Charter or a Code Share Agreement. (b) The Passenger is informed of the identity of the Actual Carrier(s), at the time when the Contract of Carriage is concluded.

Following conclusion of the Contract of Carriage, a Carrier other than the one specified on the Ticket may operate the Air Carriage in question and the Passenger shall be informed of the identity of the Actual Carrier, once it is known. In all cases, the Passenger shall be informed, at the latest during check-in, or in case of a connection without prior check-in, prior to boarding, in accordance with the applicable regulations.

Days means the calendar days that include the seven days of the week, it being understood that in the event of notice being issued, the dispatch day is not included and that, in order to determine the validity of a Ticket, the date of Ticket issue or the flight departure date are not counted.

Designator Code means the code issued by IATA, which identifies each carrier using two or more alphabetical, numerical or alphanumeric characters and that is shown amongst others on the Ticket.

the Coupon that corresponds to the flight concerned and all other unused Coupons, as well as the Passenger Coupon. Moreover, a Ticket that is damaged or has been modified by a person other than the Carrier or one of its Authorized Agents shall not be valid for Carriage. For Electronic Tickets, Passengers must provide proof of identity and shall only be carried on a flight if a valid Electronic Ticket has been issued in their name. (g) In the event of loss of or damage to all or part of the Ticket or nonpresentation of a Ticket containing the Passengers Coupon and all the unused Flight Coupons, the Carrier shall replace all or part of said Ticket on the request of the Passenger. This replacement will be in the form of a newly-issued Ticket, provided that when the request is made, the Carrier has evidence that a valid Ticket was issued for the flight(s) concerned. The Carrier that reissues the Ticket shall charge the Passenger Administration Fees for reissuing their Ticket, unless the loss or damage was due to the negligence of the Carrier, or its Authorised Agent.

If no evidence is provided by the Passenger that a valid Ticket was issued for the flights concerned, the Carrier reissuing the Ticket may require the Passenger to pay the Fare Including Tax of the replacement Ticket. This payment will be refunded when the Carrier has proof that the lost or damaged Ticket was not used during its validity period or, if, during said same period, the Passenger finds the original Ticket and submits it to the Carrier, subject to the reasonable Administration Fees as referred to above. (h) It is the Passenger's responsibility to take all measures which are necessary to ensure that the Ticket is not lost or stolen. (i) If a Passenger benefits from a fare reduction or a Fare that is subject to specific conditions, the Passenger must be able, at all times during their journey, to provide the Carrier's officials or agentswith appropriate supporting documents justifying the granting of this specific Fare, and to prove the validity thereof.

Failing this, a fare readjustment, equating to the difference between the Fare including Tax initially paid and the Fare Including Tax that the Passenger should have paid, will be made or the Passenger will not be allowed to board the aircraft.

3.2 Validity Period (a) Unless otherwise provided for on the Ticket or in these General Conditions of Carriage, and except for Fares that affect the validity period of a Ticket, as stated on the Ticket itself, a Ticket is valid for Carriage: • for one year, as from the date of issue thereof, or, • forone year, as from the date of use of the first Coupon, provided that such use occurs within one year of the date on which the Ticket is issued. (b) If a Passenger in possession of a valid Ticket is unable to travel during the validity period of their Ticket solely on the ground that, when the Passenger requests a Reservation on a flight, the Carrier is not in a position to confirm the Reservation requested by the Passenger: • either the validity of said Ticket shall be extended until the first available flight; • or Fare Including Tax for the Ticket will be refunded, under the conditions provided for in Article 14 (Refunds) below; • or the Passenger will accept a corresponding fare readjustment. (c) If, after having started their journey, a Passenger is prevented, for health reasons, from continuing such journey during the validity period of the Ticket, the Carrier will extend the validity of the Ticket until the date on which the Passenger is once again in theposition to travel or, if later, until the date of the first available flight, upon presentation of an appropriate medical certificate stating the health reasons that prevented the Passenger from continuing their journey and provided that these health reasons were not known when the Reservation was made. Said extension shall only start at the point at which the journey was interrupted and shall be valid for Carriage in the class of the Fare initially paid. The validity of the Ticket shall be extended for not more than three months from the date shown on the medical certificate submitted. In the same way and subject to compliance with the conditions of proof specified above, the Carrier may, on request, extend the validity of Tickets of immediate family members who were accompanying the Passenger at the time such health problems caused the Passenger to discontinue their journey. (d) In the event of the death of a Passenger during a journey, the Tickets of the persons who are accompanying the deceased Passenger shall at written request be changed of such Passengers, either by waiving any minimum stay requirements or by extending the validity period of said Tickets. In the event of the death of an immediate family member of a Passenger whose journey has started, the validity of their Tickets and of those of the members of their immediate family travelling with them shall be changed in the same way. Any change mentioned above may only be made after receipt of a valid death certificate.

The extension mentioned above shall only start at the point at which the journey was interrupted and shall be valid for carriage in the class for which the Fare Including Tax has been paid. Any extension may not exceed forty-five (45) days as from the date of death.

ARTICLE 3: TICKETS 3.1 General Provisions (a) Subject to proof of the contrary, the Ticket evidences the existence, the conclusion and the content of the Contract of Carriage between the Carrier and the Passenger whose name is shown on the Ticket. (b) The Carriage service is only provided to the Passengers named on the Ticket. The Carrier reserves the right to check the identity documents of the Passengers. Passengers must therefore be able to provide the Carrier with proof of their identity, as well as the identity of those for whom they are responsible, at any time during their journey. (c) A Ticket may not be transferred, subject to applicable law and regulations in force, in particular relating to Package Travels. If a person other than the Passenger named on the Ticket presents a Ticket for Carriage or refund purposes, and the Carrier, acting in good faith, carries or refunds the person who presents the Ticket and later on it is established that that person is not the Passenger named on the Ticket, the Carrier shall not be required to carry the Passenger or refund the Passenger and the Carrier shall have no obligation or liability whatsoever towards the Passenger. (d) Certain Tickets, which are sold at specific Fares, are partially or totally non–changeable and/or refundable. It is the Passengers responsibility, when making their Reservation, to consult the conditions applicable to the use of the Fare and, where necessary, to take out appropriate insurance to cover the risks associated therewith. (e) As the Ticket is subject to mandatory formal conditions the Ticket shall at all times remain the property of the issuing Carrier. (f) With the exception of Electronic Tickets, Passengers shall only be carried if they are able to present a valid Ticket that contains

4.1 Fares Except as otherwise provided for, Fares for Tickets apply solely to Carriagefrom the airport at the Place ofDeparture to the airport at Place of Destination. Fares do not include ground carriage between airports or between airports and town terminals. The Fare shall be calculated in accordance with the Fares in force on the Ticket Reservation date, for a journey scheduled on the dates and for the itinerary shown on said Ticket. Any change in itinerary or journey date may have an impact on the applicable Fare.

The applicable Fares are those published by the Carrier or calculated thereby, in accordance with the fare conditions in force for the stated flight(s) from the Place of Departure to the Place of Destination, for the relevant class of carriage, on the Ticket Reservation date. When making a Reservation the Passenger shall be informed of the Fare Including Tax for the Ticket and the Issue Fees as well as the overall Fare of the Ticket (comprising the Fare Including Tax and the Issue Fees.

4.2 Fees, Taxes and Charges All fees, taxes, or charges imposed by governments, by any other authorities or by the airport operator shall be paid by the Passenger.

To the extent possible when making a Reservation for their Ticket, Passengers will be informed of said fees, taxes, or charges, which will be charged in addition to the Fare Excluding Tax and which, in most cases, will be shown separately on the Ticket. These fees, taxes, and charges may be created or increased by a government, another authority, or by an airport operator, after the Ticket Reservation date.

In this case, the Passenger must pay the corresponding amount.

Inversely, if the fees, taxes, and charges are reduced or abolished, the Passenger may be refunded for the reduced or abolished amounts.

4.3 Issue Fees charged by the Carrier The Passenger may be charged Issue Fees in consideration for issuing a Ticket. Issue Fees differdepending on the type of journey, the Fare and the Ticket distribution channel. These Issue Fees are added to the Fare Including Tax. The Issue Fees charged by the Carrier, where applicable, are non-refundable, except where a Ticket is canceled due to an error on the part of the Carrier.

The Passenger shall be informed of the amount of Issue Fees that will be charged by the Carrier prior to finalization of their Reservation.

The Issue Fees charged by KLM, if any, is available from the Carrier and on the KLM Website.

4.4. Payment Currency The Fares Excluding Tax, Taxes, Issue Fees and Administration Fees are payable in the currency of the country where the Ticket was purchased, unless another currency is specified by the Carrier or its Authorised Agent when the Ticket is purchased or beforehand (for example, due to local currency not being convertible).

Moreover, the Carrier may, at its discretion, accept payments in another currency.

ARTICLE 5: RESERVATIONS 5.1 General Provisions Reservations will only be confirmed when they are recorded in the Carrier’s computerized reservation system. On the request of the Passenger, the Carrier shall provide a Reservation confirmation.

5.2 Reservation Requirements Certain Fares are subject to conditions that limit or exclude the possibility of modifying or cancelling Reservations. If a Passenger has not paid all amounts due for the Ticket before the specified ticketing timelimit indicated by the Carrier or its Authorised Agent, the Carrier shall be entitled to cancel the Reservation without notice and to allocate the seat to another Passenger, without having any further obligation towards the relevant Passenger who had not paid and with any liability on the part of the Carrier.

5.3 Seat Allocation The Carrier shall make reasonable efforts to meet seat allocation requests but cannot guarantee the allocation of a given seat, even if the Reservation is confirmed for said seat. The Carrier reserves the right to change the seat allocation at any time, including after boarding, for operating, security or safety reasons, or for reasons of Force Majeure.

5.4 Service on board The Carrier shall make reasonable efforts to meet Passengers’ requirements regarding the services provided on board the aircraft, in particular drinks, special meals, films, seats etc. However, the Carrier may not be held liable if imperatives relating to operating, safety and security or reasons beyond the control of the Carrier do not allow it to provide suitable services, even if such services are confirmed at the time of Reservation.

5.5 Aircraft type The type of aircraft indicated to the Passenger at the time of Ticket Reservation or subsequently is given for their information purposes only. Imperatives related to safety and security, reasons beyond the control of the Carrier or operating constraints may lead the Carrier to modify the type of aircraft without any liability on its part.

ARTICLE 6: PERSONAL DATA 6.1 Passengers shall provide the Carrier, or its Authorised Agent, with their personal information for the purpose of making a Reservation, obtaining complementary services, facilitating immigration formalities and entering the territory of a State. The personal information disclosed to the Carrier in connection with the conclusion and execution of the Contract of Carriage may be subject to data processing. All personal information is collected and processed in accordance with the Dutch Personal Data Protection Act (Wet Bescherming Persoonsgegevens), based on EU Directive 95/46/EC. 6.2 Information provided by the Passengers is primarily used for the purposes of (i) Reservation and purchase of their Ticket, (ii) provision of specific services in associated with the transportation service, (iii) canvassing, retention, guidance and commercial information, and (iv) performance of statistical studies. It may also be used for the purpose of facilitating the completion of administrative formalities relating to immigration and entering a territory, preventing nonpayment and combating fraud, as well as guaranteeing the security and safety of flights.

6.3 Passengers are advised that any incident occurred during the execution of the Contract of Carriage which could possibly jeopardise the safety or security of a flight will be registered in a computerised system and may be disclosed to the appropriate Government Authorities.

Passengers are informed and accept that the provision of certain specific ancillary services like special meals and/or medical assistance may require the Carrier to record in its data base data that is likely to fall in article16 of the Dutch Personal Data Protection Act. This data is only used for the specific additional services requested by the Passenger.

6.4 The data collected may be made accessible to authorised staff of the Carrier, or its partners (Authorised Agents, Carriers as defined in Article 1 above, etc.) or of its ancillary service providers, as part of the fulfillment of the requested services referred to above.

6.5 In accordance with applicable laws and regulations both in the Netherlands and internationally, the Carrier is also occasionally obliged to make personal data available to authorised Dutch or foreign authorities (e.g. customs, police, immigration, etc.), in particular for the purpose of preventing and combating terrorism or other crimes.

It is stipulated that some of the recipients mentioned above may be based outside the European Union and have access to some or all personal data collected by the Carrier (surname, first name, passport number, travel details, etc.), for the performance of the Passenger’s Contract of Carriage or due to a specific legal authorisation. Data transfers conducted outside the European Union are carried out in accordance with the conditions defined in the Dutch Personal Data Protection Act. 6.6 Under the Dutch Personal Data Protection Act, Passengers have rights to access, correct, remove or object to data collected relating to themselves. These rights are to be exercised by sending a letter to the following address: KLM Privacy Office – AMSPI, P.O. Box 7700, 1117ZL Schiphol, theNetherlands.

6.7 Subject to the regulations in force, the Carrier reserves the right to use Passengers data under theconditions and for the purposes specified in this Article. More information regarding the processing of personal data by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines can be found in the Privacy policy on www.klm.com.

6.8 Unless Passengers object either at the time at which their data is gathered or by writing to the aforementioned address, the Carrier reserves the right to use the Passenger’s data or to pass it on to its partners in order to be able to send the Passenger appropriate commercial offers.

6.9 Where required by law (electronic marketing), a Passenger’s data shall not be used for marketing purposes by the Carrier or its partners unless this Passenger has given their approval for such use when providing their personal data. The Passenger may, subsequently, object to its data being used for such purposes by sending a letter to the address mentioned in Article 6.6.

6.10 It is stipulated that the collection of certain personal data is essential to make the Reservation possible and to fulfill the Contract of Carriage. Passengers can exercise their right to object to the collection and processing of their data, but shall be informed that this may result in cancellation of the flight or inability to receive some of the specific requested ancillary services (e.g. special meals, etc.).

It is also specified that, in accordance with applicable laws and regulations in the Netherlands and internationally, the lack of some personal information or the inaccuracy of the supplied information may lead to a decision to deny boarding or entry into a foreign territory. This without the Carrier incurring any liability as a result.

ARTICLE 7: SPECIAL ASSISTANCE 7.1 The carriage of unaccompanied children, Passengers with Reduced Mobility, and persons with illnesses or any otherpersons who require special assistance, may be subject to special conditions.

In certain situations the carriage shall only be performed subject to the Carrier’s prior consent. The Carrier reserves the right to require a medical certificate with regard to particular medical conditions.

Acceptance for carriage of pregnant women may be subject to prior arrangement with Carrier. The special conditions relating to the carriage of Passengers as referred to in this Article 7.1 are available from the Carrier and its Authorised Agents on request and on the KLM Website.

It is advisable for Passengers to inform the Carrier of their disability or of any need for special assistance when making their Reservation.

Should a request for special assistance be made following Reservation or in accordance with the applicable regulations, less than 48 hours prior to departure, the Carrier will do everything in its power to fulfill the request pursuant to the applicable regulations, taking particular account of the time frame and the specific nature of the assistance requested. Should the Passenger, when checking in or boarding, require special assistance for which a request has not timely and in accordance with this Article been made, then the Carrier has the right to refuse the Passenger pursuant to Article 9 (o).

7.2 If a Passenger requires a special meal, they must enquire as to the availability thereof when making the Reservation (and/or changing a Reservation) or within the time limits published by the Carrier for this purpose. Otherwise, the Carrier cannot guarantee the presence of said special meal on board the flight concerned.

7.3 If a Passenger has a medical background or a specific medical condition which may be affected by travelling in a pressurized cabin, it is recommended that the Passenger consults a doctor before taking a flight, particularly a long-haul flight, and take all necessary precautions for their flight to take place without incident.

7.4 If the Passenger fails to inform the Carrier of a mental or physical condition, or incapacity within the meaning of Article 7.1, and in connection with that condition the Carrier diverts the aircraft to an unscheduled place of destination, the Carrier is entitled to recover the reasonable costs of the diversion and other related costs from the Passenger, unless in case of Force Majeure on the side of the Passenger.

ARTICLE 8: CHECK-IN/BOARDING 8.1 Check-In Deadlines (CID) varyfrom one airport to another.

Passengers must imperatively comply with Check-In Deadlines in order to facilitate their journey and avoid their Reservations being cancelled. The Carrier or its Authorised Agent shall provide Passengers with all requisite information on the Check-In Deadline for their first flight with the Carrier. If the Passenger’s journey includes subsequent flights, it is the Passenger’s responsibility to check they are in possession of all the information relating to Checkin Deadlines for these flights.

8.2 Passengers must arrive sufficiently in advance of the flight in order to be able to carry out all necessary formalities for their journey; in any event, they must comply with the Check-In Deadline.

Should the Passenger fail to do so or should the Passenger not present all the documents allowing them to be checked-in and therefore be unable to travel, the Carrier may cancel Passenger’s Reservation and seat reserved for such Passenger, without having any further obligation towards the relevant Passenger and without any liability on the part of the Carrier.

8.3 Passengers must be present at the boarding gate prior to the boarding time specified at check-in. The Carrier shall be entitled to cancel a Passenger’s Reservation and seat reserved for such Passenger if the Passenger is not present at the boarding gate at the latest by the boarding time specified to the Passenger, without having any further obligation towards the relevant Passenger and without any liability on the part of the Carrier.

8.4 The Carrier shall have no obligation (including, without limitation, no obligation to carry or pay a refund) or liability whatsoever towards a Passenger who has not complied with the conditions of this Article.

ARTICLE 9: REFUSAL AND LIMITATION ON CARRIAGE

The Carrier may refuse to transport Passengers and their Baggage, if one or more of the following cases has occurred or is likely to occur: (a) Carrier in its reasonable discretion determines that such action is necessary in order to comply with any applicable laws, regulations or orders of any state or country to be flown from, into or over. (b) The Passenger has expressed himself in such a way or displayed such behaviour that (i) doubt exists with respect to safety and/or (ii) the Carrier, its crew and/or ground staff, its aircraft/assets and/or property, its services (including any loyaltyprogram of the Carrier) or its Passengers has suffered any damage, either direct or indirect. Such expression or behaviour includes the use of threatening, abusive or insulting language towards ground staff or crew and Passengers threatening to endanger or who have already endangered the safety of one or more persons, goods or the aircraft itself (which includes those who make a hoax bomb threat. (c) The Passenger's physical or mental state, including any condition caused by the consumption of alcohol or the use of drugs or medication, could present discomfort, a hazard or risk to themselves, the other Passengers, the crew or property. (d) The Passenger is, or appears to be in the unlawful possession of drugs. (e) The Passenger has compromised security, order and/or discipline when checking in for the flight or, for connecting flights, during a previous flight and the Carrier has reason to believe that such conduct may be repeated. (f) Immigration and/or customs authorities and/or any other government authority informed the Carrier (either orally or in writing) that the Passenger is not allowed to travel and/or the Carrier has notified the Passenger (either orally or in writing) that the Carrier will not carry the Passenger on his flights, for a certain period or forever. This includes situations in which the Carrier has received a negative travel advice regarding the Passenger from such authority, for example in cases where the Passenger is suspected of (intent to) drug smuggling and situations where the authorities have notified the Passenger in writing that the Carrier shall no longer carry the Passenger on its flights. (g) The Carrier itself has decided in its sole discretion, not to carry the Passenger on its flights for a certainperiod due to the Passenger's (criminal) misbehavior against the Carrier, its crew and/or ground staff, its aircraft/ assets and/ or property, its services (including any loyalty program of the Carrier) or its Passengers, and has informed the Passenger thereof either orally or in writing. (h) The Passenger has refused to undergo the security as outlined in particular in Articles 10.1.3 and 18.6 below or has refused to provide proof of his identity. (i) The Passenger is not in a position to prove that they are the person referred to in the box "Passenger name" box on the Ticket. (j) The Passenger (or the person who paid for the Ticket) has not paid the Fare Including Tax in force and/or the applicable Issue Fees and/or Taxes. (k) The Passenger does not appear to be in possession of valid travel documents, may seek or has sought to illegally enter a country through which he may be in transit, or for which he does not have a valid entry document, has destroyed travel documents during the flight, has refused to allow copies thereof to be made and kept by the Carrier, or the Passenger's travel documents have expired, are incomplete in light of the regulations in force, or appear to be fraudulent or otherwise suspicious (for example: identity theft, forgery or counterfeiting of documents). (l) The Ticket presented by the Passenger: • appears to be invalid, or • was acquired unlawfully or purchased from an organisation other than the Carrier or its Authorised Agent, or • has been reported as stolen or lost document, or • has been forged or appears to be counterfeited, fraudulent or otherwise suspicious, orhas a Flight Coupon that has been damaged or modified by someone other than the Carrier or its Authorised Agent. (m) The Passenger refuses to pay an additional fare and/or the Administrative Fees under the conditions specified in Article 3.4 above. (n) The Passenger refuses to pay a surcharge under the conditions specified in Article 10 below. (o) When checking in or boarding, the Passenger requires special assistance that was not requested when the travel Reservation was made, or in accordance with the applicable regulations, at least 48 hours before the announced departure time of the flight, in accordance with Article 7.1.and which the Carrier cannot reasonably provide. (p) The Passenger has not complied with the instructions and regulations relating to security and/or safety. (q) A Passenger benefiting from a fare reduction or a Fare that is subject to specific conditions, is unable to provide the supporting documents required for the allocation of this specific Fare and refuses to pay the Fare readjustment defined in Article 3.1 (i). In cases (i), (k), (l), (m) and (n) above, the Carrier shall be entitled to cancel the Passenger's Ticket. In the cases of (f), (j) and (l) the Carrier has the right to refuse a refund of the Ticket of the Passenger as defined in Article 14.4 (f).

ARTICLE 10: BAGGAGE 10.1 General Provisions 10.1.1 Passenger's Obligations (a) Passengers declare that they are fully aware of the content of all of their Baggage. (b) Passengers undertake not to leave their Baggageunattended from the moment they pack it and not to accept items from another Passenger or from any other person. (c) Passengers undertake not to travel with Baggage entrusted to them by a third party. (d) Passengers are advised not to include perishable or fragile items in their Baggage. If however the Passenger includes such items or objects in their Baggage, they must ensure that that these are properly and securely packed and protected in suitable containers in order not to damage these items and objects as well as Baggage belonging to other Passengers' Baggage or the Carrier's aircraft.

10.1.2 Prohibited Items Passengers shall not include in their Baggage any items for which carriage is prohibited or restricted by the applicable regulations and the law in force in any departure, arrival or transit State or State over which the aircraft flies, including in particular: (a) Items that are liable to endanger the aircraft, the persons or property on board, such as those specified in the Dangerous Goods Regulations of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and in the Carrier's regulations, as applicable (additional information is available upon request from the Carrier); these items include in particular but is not limited to, asbestos, explosives, pressurised gas, oxidising, radioactive or magnetised substances, inflammable substances, toxic or corrosive substances articles, liquids or other substances which are capable of posing a significant risk to health, safety or property when transported by air. (b) Items which in the reasonable opinion of the Carrier are unsuitable for Carriage because of the weight, dimensions, unpleasant odour, configuration orfragile or perishable nature, make them unsuitable for Carriage, in particular in light of the type of aircraft used. Information on these items shall be provided to Passengers, upon request; (c) Firearms and ammunition other than those intended for hunting or sport which, in order to be accepted as cargo or Checked Baggage, must be unloaded and suitably packed and have the safety catch on. The carriage of ammunition is subject to the ICAO and IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations, as stated in paragraph (a) above; (d) Cutting weapons, stabbing weapons and aerosols that may be used as attack or defense weapons, antique weapons, replica of weapons, swords, knives and other weapons of this type. This type of weapon may not be transported in the cabin under any circumstances. They may nevertheless be contained as cargo or Checked Baggage, subject to acceptance by the Carrier. (e) Live animals, except as provided for in the provisions of Article 10.4.

Furthermore, additional information on prohibited items which may not be carried as Unchecked Baggage, including but not limited to carriage liquids and gels as well as pointed/edged weapons and sharp objects, blunt instruments and lighters, are available from the Carrier and on the KLM Website.

10.1.3 Right of Search For security/safety reasons, and/or on the request of the authorities, the Passenger may be asked to undergo for themselves and/or their Baggage, a search or any type of scan (using X-rays or another technique). If a Passenger is not available, their Baggage may be scanned or searched in their absence, with a view to checking, in particular, whether it contains the items referred to in Article 10.1.2 above. If a Passenger refusesto comply with such requests, the Carrier may deny them and their Baggage carriage. If said scans damage the Baggage and the contents thereof or cause Damage, the Carrier shall not be liable, unless the Damage is caused by the Carrier’s gross negligence or willful misconduct.

10.1.4 Right to Refuse Carriage to Carry Baggage (a) The Carrier may, for security and/ or safety reasons, refuse to carry or continue to carry a Passenger’s Baggage if it contains any of the items listed in Article 10.1.2 above or if the Passenger has failed to comply with the obligations of Article 10.1.1(a), (b) and (c). The Carrier has no obligation to take custody of refused Baggage and/or items. (b) The Carrier may, in particular for security, safety, hygiene and/ or operating reasons, refuse to carry any item that is incompatible with Air Carriage because of its dimensions, shape, weight, contents, configuration or nature, or refuse to continue to carry them should they be discovered during a journey. The Carrier has no obligation to take custody of refused Baggage and/or items. (c) The Carrier may refuse to carry Baggage for which the Passenger has refused to pay the surcharge as defined in Article 10.2.2 (b). The Carrier has no obligation to take custody of refused Baggage or items. (d) The Carrier will not agree to carry animals that do not have the documents required by the applicable regulations such as defined in Article 10.4. (e) The Carrier may refuse to carry in the hold Baggage that has not been handed over by the Passenger to the Carrier prior to the Check-in Deadline under the conditions defined in Article 10.2.1 (a).

10.2 Checked Baggage 10.2.1 General Provisions (a) The Passenger must hand over Baggage at the Carrier’s checkin desk or at the self-service drop off point for the purpose of checking in prior to the Check-in Deadline. (b) As soon as Passengers have handed over their Baggage at check-in, under the aforementioned conditions, the Carrier shall take custody thereof and issue Passengers with a Baggage Check, for each item that of Checked Baggage. (c) Passengers must affix their name to their Baggage.

(d)

(e) (f)

(g)

Carrier will try, as much as reasonable possible, to arrange that Checked Baggage is carried on the same aircraft as the Passenger. Amongst others, for operating or security/safety reasons, the Checked Baggage may be carried on another flight.

In this case, the Carrier will deliver the Baggage to the Passenger, unless the applicable regulations require the Passenger to be present for a customs inspection.

Checked Baggage must be able to withstand normal handling and protect its content.

Passengers are advised not to put in their Baggage currency, jewellery, works of art, precious metals, silverware, securities, or other valuables, optical or photographic equipment, computers, electronic and/ or telecommunication equipment or devices, musical instruments, passports and identity documents, keys, business documents, manuscripts or deeds, whether individualized or fungible etc. In this respect, it is specified that in the event of destruction, loss or damage of Checked Baggage, the Carrier will only be liable to the extent defined by the Convention and Article 19 of these General Conditions of Carriage.

Subject to applicable regulations, Passengers are advised not to carry any medication in their Checked Baggage.

10.2.2 Baggage Allowance (a) Where applicable according to fare conditions the Baggage Allowance corresponds to carriage in the hold of a quantity of Baggage per Passenger limited in number and/or weight and/or dimensions, determined on the basis of the destination and the Fare paid and appearing on the Ticket. (b) Passengers may travel with Checked Baggage that exceeds the Baggage Allowance, subject to payment of a surcharge. The conditions relating to this surcharge are available from the Carrier and its Authorised Agents and on the KLM Website. (c) In all cases, the Checked Baggage may not exceed a maximum number per Passenger. Information relating to this maximum number is available from the Carrier and its Authorised Agents and on the KLM Website. (d) Passengers can obtain all relevant information about the applicable Baggage Allowance, if any, from the Carrier or its Authorized Agent and the KLM Website.

10.2.3 Special Declaration of Interest (a) For all Checked Baggage with a value that exceeds the liability limits in the event of destruction, loss, damage or delay, as defined by the Convention, Passengers can either purchase insurance coverage prior to the journey or, when handing over the Baggage to the Carrier, make a Special Declaration of Interest limited to a certain amount. In this case, a surcharge made known upon request, must be paid by the Passenger. Compensation will be paid in accordance with the provisions of Article 19. (b) The Carrier reserves the right to verify the adequacy of the value declared with the value of the Baggage and the contents thereof. (c) All Special Declarations of Interest must be made by the Passenger to the Carrier prior to the Check-in Deadline. The Carrier may refuse any SpecialDeclaration of Interest if a Passenger does not comply with the afore-mentioned time limit. The Carrier also has the option of capping the level of the declarations. The Carrier also reserves the right to prove, in the event of damage, that the amount declared was higher than the Passenger's genuine interest at the time of delivery. (d) Passengers can obtain all the relevant information regarding this Special Declaration of Interest and surcharge specified in Article 10.2.3 above from the Carrier.

10.2.4 Collection and Delivery of Baggage (a) Subject to the provisions of Article 10.2.1 (d), it is the responsibility of Passengers to collect their Checked Baggage as soon as made available to them at the Place of Destination or Stopover.

If a Passenger does not collect Baggage within three months from the Baggage being made available to them, the Carrier may dispose of said Baggage, without being liable to the Passenger in any way. (b) Only the bearer of the Baggage Check is authorised to collect Checked Baggage. (c) If a person claiming Baggage is not in a position to produce the Baggage Check, the Carrier shall only hand over the Baggage to such person on the condition that he/she establishes his/her rights thereto in a satisfactory manner. (d) Receipt of the Baggage by the bearer of the Baggage Check without complaint is prima facie evidence that the same has been delivered in good condition and in accordance with the Contract of Carriage (subject to proof to the contrary by the Passenger). (e) For the collection of Checked Baggage in the event of prematurely interruption of the journey, the provisions under Article 3.4 (d) apply.

10.3 Unchecked Baggage (a) All Tickets allow for carriage in the cabin of a quantity of Unchecked Baggage which is limited by number and/or weight and/or dimension. Should this information not have been specified to the Passenger, a single Unchecked Baggage item will be accepted and Unchecked Baggage must be able to be placed beneath the seat, in front of Passengers or in a locker provided for this purpose. Should the Carrier be required to check Baggage into the hold as a result of a failure on the part of the Passenger to comply with the above conditions, the Passenger may be required, where applicable, to pay a surcharge, as specified in Article 10.2.2 (b).

Certain Baggage which the Passengers wish to take in the cabin, may, for security and/or safety and/or operation or aircraft configuration reasons, at any time prior to the flight departure, be denied cabin access and must be carried as Checked Baggage. (b) The Baggage/items that Passengers do not wish to carry in the hold (such as fragile musical instruments or other items) and that do not comply with the provisions of Article 10.3 (a) above (excess dimensions and/or weight), may only be accepted for cabin carriage if the Carrier has been duly informed thereof by the Passenger prior to check-in and granted authorization. In this case, the carriage of said Baggage may be subject to a charge, in accordance with the Carrier’s fare conditions, which can be obtained from the latter. (c) Passengers are responsible for personal effects and Unchecked Baggage that they take into the cabin. In the event of destruction, theft, loss or damage of personal effects and Unchecked Baggage, the Carrier may only be held liable if wrongdoing on its part, or that of its officials or agents, is proven, said liability being then limited to the amount defined in Article 19 of these General Conditions of Carriage.

10.4 Animals 10.4.1 General Provisions (a) The carriage of animals travelling with Passengers is subject to the Carrier’s prior and explicit acceptance. (b) The number of animals that can be carried is limited per flight and per Passenger. (c) In accordance with the regulations in force, the carriage of certain categories of animals is prohibited. Information relating to these categories is available on request from the Carrier and its Authorised Agent and on the KLM Website. (d) Passengers must be able to provide all valid documents relating to their animal, required by the authorities in the departure, arrival or transit country, including in particular passports, health and vaccination certificates and entry or transit permits. The Carrier will not agree to carry animals that do not have the requisite documents. (e) Depending on the destination, the carriage of animals can be subject to conditions, in particular age, weight, health checks, which the Passenger may obtain from the Carrier. (f) The animal and its container are not included in the Baggage Allowance; the Passenger must pay a surcharge, the conditions of which are available from the Carrier. (g) Guide dogs, service animals, and if applicable their cages, accompanying Passengers with Reduced Mobility will be carried free of charge, in addition to the applicable Baggage Allowance, in accordance with the Carrier’s regulations, which are available on request. (h) In the event of fraud or the absence or invalidity of the required documents or if the container intended for carrying the animal does not comply with the provisions of Article 10.4.3, the Carrier shall notassume any liability for the injury, loss, delay, illness or death of animals carried (in the event that the animal is refused entry into or passage through any country, state or territory), as a result of these failures, unless this is solely caused by gross negligence or willful misconduct of the Carrier. Passengers traveling with animals who fail to comply with the applicable regulations must reimburse the fines, loss, compensation and all costs and damage incurred by Carrier due to such a situation.

The Carrier shall at all times be entitled to set such additional conditions as it deems appropriate in its discretion. (i) Passengers can obtain all the relevant information regarding the carriage of animals and in particular, the surcharge specified in Article 10.4.1 (f) above form the Carrier and its Authorised Agent and on the KLM Website.

10.4.2 Animals travelling in the cabin (a) Pets and their cages will in no event be accepted in the cabin when exceeding a weight fixed by the Carrier. Information relating to the maximum weight is available on request from the Carrier and its Authorised Agent and on the KLM Website. (b) Pets must be placed in container designed for this purpose, which is closed and fully contains the animal and in which the animal is able to stand up, turn around and breathe easily and freely. (c) Passenger undertakes not to remove Pets, even partially from their containers for the entire duration of the flight.

10.4.3 Pets Travelling in the Hold Pets must be placed in a rigid plastic or fibre glass carry cage approved by the IATA (International Air Transport Association).

ARTICLE 11: SCHEDULES 11.1 The flights and flight Schedules listed in the Schedule Indicators are not binding in any way and thus have no contractual value. These are solely intended to inform Passengers of the flights offered by the Carrier. Said Schedule Indicators are not definitive and are liable to be changed after their publication date.

11.2 On the other hand, the flight Schedules printed on the Ticket are deemed, subject to changes for reasons beyond the control of the Carrier, to form an integral part of the Contract of Carriage.

11.3 It the Passenger’s responsibility to provide the Carrier with their contact details so that they can be contacted in the event of a change in the planned flights as they appear on the Ticket.

ARTICLE 12: DELAYS AND CANCELLATION OF FLIGHTS 12.1 The Carrier will take all reasonable measures to avoid delay in carrying the Passenger and their Baggage. In order to prevent a flight cancellation or delay, Carrier may arrange for a flight to be operated on its behalf by an alternative Carrier and/or aircraft and/or other means of transport.

12.2 In the event of a flight cancellation or delay, the Carrier will implement all the provisions of the applicable regulations. Information relating to passenger rights in case of delays and cancellations is available from the Carrier and its Authorised Agents and on the KLM Website.

ARTICLE 13: DENIED BOARDING AND DOWNGRADING

(b)

13.1 In the event the Carrier decides to deny boarding the Passenger, due to overbooking or other reasons, with the result that the Carrier is not in a position to offer a seat to the Passenger, even though the Passenger has a confirmed Reservation, a valid Ticket and has arrived for check-in and boarding in accordance with the required timeframes and conditions, the Carrier shall grant the Passenger the compensation provided for by the relevant applicable regulations, where applicable.

ARTICLE 19: LIABILITY FOR DAMAGE

13.2 In the event that the Passenger is placed in a lower class than that for which the Ticket was purchased, the Carrier will refund the difference in Fares, under the conditions specified by the relevant applicable regulations. Information relating to passenger rights in case of Denied Boarding and downgrading is available from the Carrier and its Authorised Agents and on the KLM Website.

ARTICLE 14: REFUNDS 14.1 The refund of a Ticket, in whole or in part, will take place in accordance with the conditions defined in this Article 14, in accordance with the Ticket’s fare conditions and all circumstances with the relevant applicable regulations.

14.2 A refund, where it is authorized by the Ticket’s fare conditions, will be paid on the basis of Fare Including Tax paid for the Ticket.

14.3. Request for the refund of a Ticket must besubmitted to the issuer of the Ticket (the Carrier or Authorised Agent, as applicable).

14.4 The Carrier shall refuse to grant a refund: (a) For any Ticket, if the request is made after expiry of the Ticket’s validity period. (b) For a Ticket which meets the legislative or regulatory requirement to possess a Ticket that enables the Passenger to leave the country, unless such Passenger provides sufficient proof to establish that they are authorized to reside in said country or that they will leave using another Carrier, or by any other means of carriage. (c) For a Ticket, in case the holder is not admitted by the authorities of the Place of Destination, Agreed Stopping Place or Stopover, and if the Passenger was returned to their boarding point or to any other destination for this reason. (d) For a stolen, forged or counterfeit Ticket. (e) For Passengers who did not comply with the conditions as stated in Article 8. (f) For Passengers that are refused Carriage by the Carrier pursuant to Article 9 (f), (j) and (l).

14.5 Refunds are subject to applicable regulations in the country in which the Ticket was originally purchased and/or to applicable regulations in the country in which the refund must be paid.

ARTICLE 15: CONDUCT ABOARD THE AIRCRAFT 15.1 On board the aircraft, Passengers must not behave in a way that is liable to inconvenience, threaten or endanger one or more persons, property or the aircraft itself. Passengers must not hinder the crewfrom performing their duties and must comply with the crew´s guidance instructions and recommendations in order to ensure the security and safety of the aircraft, the smooth running of the flight and the comfort of the Passengers.

15.2 For security reasons, the Carrier may prohibit or limit the use on board the aircraft of electronic devices, such as cellular telephones, laptop computers, portable recorders, portable radios, electronic games or transmitting devices, as well as all radio-controlled games and walkie-talkies, except for hearing aids and pacemakers.

15.3 Smoking (including conventional cigarettes, electronic- or other artificial forms of smoking) is strictly prohibited on board the aircraft.

15.4 The Carrier may limit or prohibit the consumption of alcohol on board the aircraft. Consumption of any alcoholic beverages carried into the aircraft by Passengers or consumption of any duty free product bought on board the aircraft is prohibited.

15.5 Recording videos and/or taking photographs other than personal videos and photographs is prohibited on board the aircraft.

15.6 If a Passenger fails to comply with the provisions of this Article, the Carrier may take all the necessary appropriate and reasonable measures, pursuant to legislative and regulatory provisions, in order to prevent such behavior from continuing. To this end, the Carrier may use restraining measures, disembark the Passenger, refuse onward carriage of the Passenger at any point and, or report the Passenger to the local authorities.

15.7 If a Passenger does not comply with the provisions of this Article (and with those of Article 9 relating to carriage refusal and limitation) or commits a criminal or reprehensible act on board an aircraft, the Carrier reserves the right to take legal action against said Passenger and claim damages.

15.8 If as a result of Passenger’s behavior, Carrier diverts the aircraft to an unscheduled place of destination, Passenger must pay the Carrier the reasonable costs of such diversion.

ARTICLE 16: PROVISIONS FOR ANCILLARY SERVICES 16.1 If the Carrier, within the scope of the Contract of Carriage and subject to the applicable law, agrees to provide for ancillary services other than carriage by air, or if the Carrier issues a ticket or voucher for carriage or other services, such as, for example, hotel reservations or car hire, the Carrier will only do so as an agent in the name of and for and on behalf of a third party (unless explicitly agreed otherwise) and will not be the Passenger’s counterparty for these services. The carriage or sale conditions that govern the activities of said third parties will be applicable.

16.2 If the Carrier offers a Passenger ground or sea carriage services (train/ bus/ boat etc.), the Carrier is only acting as an agent in the name of and for and on behalf of a third party, even if such carriage is identified under the Designator Code. Different liability systems may apply to said ground or sea carriage. The conditions of carriage and the liability systems are available, upon request, from the party that provides the ground/ sea carriage. The Carrier is not liable forDamage to Passengers and their Baggage during carriage by rail, road or sea.

ARTICLE 17: SUCCESSIVE AIR CARRIERS 17.1 Air Carriage performed by several successive Carriers, under a single Ticket or a Conjunction Ticket, is deemed to constitute a single operation for purposes of determining the application of the Convention to the transportation.

17.2 Where the Carrier has issued the Ticket or is the Carrier designated first on the Ticket or on a Conjunction Ticket issued for successive Carriage, the Carrier shall not be liable for those parts of the journey performed by other carrier(s), except as provided for in paragraph 3 below.

17.3 In the event of the destruction, loss or delay of, or damage to Checked Baggage, Passengers or their beneficiaries can file a claim against the Carrier that performed the carriage during which the destruction, loss, delay or damage occurred. Passengers can also file a claim against the first and last Carrier.

ARTICLE 18: ADMINISTRATIVE FORMALITIES 18.1 General Provisions (a) Passengers are required, under their own responsibility, to procure all the specific documents, visas and permits required for their journey, and where applicable for that of their minor children and/or passengers for who they are responsible and/ or for animals traveling with them, and mustalso comply with all provisions of law (laws, regulations, decisions, requirements and provisions) of the departure, arrival and transit States, as well as with the Carrier's regulations and the instructions relating thereto. (b) The Carrier shall not be liable for the consequences suffered by Passengers in the event of failure to comply with the obligations referred to in Article 18.1 (a).

18.2 Travel Documents (a) Passengers are required to present entry, exit and transit documents, as well as health and other documents required by the applicable regulations (laws, regulations, decisions, requirements and provisions) in the departure, arrival and transit States. Passengers are moreover required to hand over to the Carrier and/or allow the Carrier to make a copy of said documents, if required, or to record information contained therein. (b) The Carrier reserves the right, in accordance with Article 9, to refuse the Carriage if a Passenger fails to comply with the applicable laws and regulations, if the Carrier has doubts as to the validity of the documents presented, or the Passenger does not permit the Carrier to take and retain copies of any documents or otherwise retain data contained in the relevant documents. (c) The Carrier shall not be liable for losses or expenses suffered by Passengers who do not comply with the provisions of this Article.

18.3 Refusal of Entry If a Passenger is refused entry into a territory, they must pay all the charges or fines imposed on the Carrier by the local authorities, as well as the Fare Including Tax for carriage if the Carrier, due to a government order, isrequired to return the Passenger to his/her departure location or elsewhere. The price of the Ticket purchased for carriage to the destination for which entry to the territory was refused shall not be refunded by the Carrier. For reasons of safety and good order the captain and/or the escorting police may hold the relevant travel documents of the Passenger under its custody during the flight to his place of departure or elsewhere.

18.4 Passenger Liability for Fines, Detention Costs, etc.

If the Carrier has to pay or deposit a fine or penalty or incurs expenses of any kind due to the noncompliance, whether voluntary or involuntary, by a Passenger with the law in force in the countries concerned, or due to their failure to present any required document, or the presentation of invalid documents, the Passenger must, at the Carrier’s first request, reimburse the amounts thus paid or consigned and the disbursements incurred. For this purpose, the Carrier may use any amount paid to it for non-performed carriage or any amount belonging to the Passenger that is held by the Carrier.

18.5 Customs Inspections (a) Passengers may be called on to be present at the inspection of their Baggage (delayed, Checked or Unchecked) on the request of customs officers or any other government authority. The Carrier shall not be liable for Damage or losses suffered by Passengers who fail to comply with this provision. (b) Passengers shall indemnify the Carrier if any action, omission or negligence on their part causes Damage to the Carrier, including, without limitation, any failure to comply with the provisions of this Article or to enable the Carrier to inspect their Baggage.

18.6 Security Checks (a) Passengers are required to undergo the security (and safety) checks required by the government or airport authorities, as well as those requested by the Carrier.

The Carrier cannot be held liable for refusing to carry a Passenger, in particular in the event that such refusal is based on the reasonable view that said refusal is warranted by the applicable law, regulations and/or requirements.

19.1 General Provisions The Carrier’s liability shall be determined by the Contractual Carrier’s General Conditions of Carriage, except as otherwise provided for and brought to the Passenger’s attention. If KLM is the Contractual Carrier the following will apply: 19.1.1 Carriage performed under these General Conditions of Carriage is subject to the liability rules laid down by the Montreal Convention of 28 May 1999, and Regulation (EC) No 889/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 May 2002 amending “Council Regulation (EC) No 2027/97 of 9 October 1997 on air carrier liability in the event of accidents, as regards the carriage of passengers and their baggage”.

19.1.2 To the extent that the following provisions do not conflict with the other provisions in these General Conditions of Carriage, and subject to the Convention, the following will apply: (a) The Carrier’s liability is limited to Damage that occurred during Air Carriage for which its Designator Code appears on the Coupon or the Ticket thatcorresponds to the flight. If the Carrier issues a Ticket for a carriage service performed by another Carrier or if the Carrier checks in Baggage on behalf of another Carrier, the Carrier shall only act as an agent in the name and on behalf of said other Carrier. Provisions in respect of liability in case of successive carriage are laid down in Article 17. (b) The Carrier's liability may not exceed the amount of proven direct Damage and the Carrier shall not be liable, in any way, for consequential Damage or any form of non-compensatory Damage. (c) The Carrier is not liable for Damage that results from compliance by the Carrier with any provisions of the law or regulations (laws, regulations, decisions, requirements and provisions) or a failure to comply with said same provisions by the Passenger. (d) The Contract of Carriage, including these General Conditions of Carriage and all the liability exclusions or limitations contained therein, shall apply to and benefit the Carrier's Authorised Agents, the Code Share partners of the Carrier, its officials, its agents, its representatives, servants and the owner of the aircraft used by the Carrier, as well as the said owner's staff, employees and representatives of said owner and agents. The overall amount recoverable from the aforementioned persons may not exceed the amount of the Carrier's liability. (e) If Carrier proves that the Damage was caused or contributed to by the negligence or other wrongful act or omission of the person claiming compensation or whose rights he/she exercises or from whose rights such person derives its right, the Carrier shall be wholly or partially exonerated from its liability to the extent that such negligence or wrongful act or omission caused or contributed to the Damage. This paragraph applies to all the liability provisions in these Conditions of Carriage, including for the sake of clarity Article 19.2.1. (f) Except as expressly otherwise provided for, none of these provisions constitute a waiver of any exclusion or limitation of the liability of the Carrier, the owner whose aircraft is used by the Carrier, their staff, officials, agents or representatives in accordance with the Convention and mandatory and applicable law.

19.2 Provisions Applicable to International and Interior Flights 19.2.1 Bodily Injury (a) Subject to the remainder of this Article 19.2.1 the Carrier is liable for the Damage sustained in the event of the death or bodily injury suffered by a Passenger if caused by an accident that occurred on board the aircraft or in the course of any embarking or disembarking operations as defined by the Montreal Convention. (b) The Carrier shall not be liable for any Damage in the following circumstances: If a Passenger is carried whose age or mental or physical condition involves any hazard or risk to himself, Carrier shall not be liable for personal injuries such as illness, injury, disability or death, or any aggravation of such illness, injury or disability, provided such personal injuries are attributable solely to such condition. (c) For Damages arising under Article 19.2.1 (a) not exceeding 113,100 SDR's for each Passenger, Carrier shall not exclude or limit its liability. However, Carrier shall be entitled to invoke Article 19.2.1 (e). Carrier shall not be liable for Damages under Article 19.2.1 (a) to the extent that they exceed for each Passenger 113,100 SDR's if the Carrier proves that: (1) such Damage was not caused by negligence or any other wrongful act or omission of Carrier or its servants or agents; or (2) such Damage was solely caused by negligenceor other wrongful act or omission of the claimant, the Passenger whose rights are being exercised or from who the rights are being exercised derive or a third party. (d) The Carrier reserves all rights of recourse and subrogation against all third parties. (e) In the event of death or bodily injury resulting from an aircraft accident, as defined by article 28 of the Convention and pursuant to article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 889/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 May 2002 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2027/97 of 19 October 1997, the relevant person(s) referred to herein shall benefit from an advance payment to enable him/her to meet his/ her immediate needs, which advance payment shall be in proportion to the material damage suffered. Said advance shall not be less than the equivalent in euros of 16,000 SDR per Passenger in the event of death. Subject to applicable law, said advance shall be paid within 15 days of the identification of the Beneficiary. Pursuant to article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 889/2002 of 13 May 2002 and article 28 of the Montreal Convention of 28 May 1999, the payment of such advance or any early payment shall not constitute any recognition of liability and said amounts may be offset against any amounts which subsequently become due by the Carrier.

Said advance payment shall not be refundable unless the person who received the advance payment was not the person entitled to compensation or when the damage was caused or contributed to by the negligence or other wrongful act or omission of the person claiming compensation, or the person from whom he or she derives his or her rights.

19.2.2 Damage as a result of Delays (a) Solely proven direct Damage that directly results from a delay is compensable, to the exclusion of all consequential Damage or any other form of Damage other than compensatory Damage.

The Passenger must prove the existence of Damage resulting directly from delay. (b) The liability of Carrier in respect of any Damage caused by delay in the carriage by air of Passengers shall be limited to 4,694 SDR’s for each Passenger. (c) The liability of Carrier in respect of any Damage caused by delay in the carriage by air of Baggage shall be limited to 1,131 SDR’s for each Passenger. To this limit Article 19.2.3 (c) shall be applicable. (d) Notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraphs (b) and (c) of this Article, Carrier shall not be liable for any Damage occasioned by delay if Carrier proves that it and its servants and agents took all measures that could reasonably be required to avoid the Damage, or that it was impossible for it or them to take such measures.

19.2.3 Damage to Baggage (a) In accordance with article 17 of the Montreal Convention, the Carrier is liable for Damage caused by loss of, or damage to Checked Baggage, upon condition only that the event which caused the loss or damage took place on board the aircraft or during any period during which the Carrier had custody of the Checked Baggage. (b) Exclusions of the Carrier’s liability: • The Carrier shall not be liable for Damage to Baggage where said Damage results from the nature of or an inherent defect, quality or vice of the Baggage. If Baggage or property contained therein cause damage to another person or the Carrier, the Passenger mustcompensate the Carrier for all losses suffered and costs incurred as a result.

• The carrier shall not assume any liability, other than that provided for in subparagraph (c) below for any Damage and/ or loss caused to fragile, perishable or valuable items or items that are not adequately packed. (c) Amount of the Compensable Damage: • The Carrier's liability in the event of destruction or loss of or damage to Baggage shall b limited to 1,131 SDR per Passenger. If a higher value was declared in accordance with Article 10.2.3(a) the Carrier's liability shall be limited to the value declared, unless the Carrier can provide proof that said value is higher than the Passenger's genuine interest at the time of delivery.

• For Unchecked Baggage allowed on board, the Carrier can only be held liable in the event of a proven fault by the Carrier, its servants or agents.

ARTICLE 20: TIME LIMIT ON CLAIMS AND LIABILITY ACTION 20.1 Notification of Claims for Baggage (a) The receipt of Checked Baggage without complaint is prima facie evidence that the Baggage was delivered and accepted in good condition and in accordance with the Contract of Carriage, unless the Passenger provides proof to the contrary. All missing Baggage must be declared to the Carrier as soon as the flight arrives. Any declarations made subsequently will not be taken into account.In the same way, any item noted as missing from Baggage must be declared to the Carrier as soon as possible.

Any late declaration will not be taken into account. (b) In the event of damage, the person entitled to delivery must complain to the Carrier forth with after the discovery of the damage, and, at the latest, within 7 days from the date of receipt in the case of Checked Baggage. In the event of delay, the complaint must be made at the latest within 21 days from the date on which the Baggage has been placed at his/her disposal. Every complaint must be made in writing and given or dispatched within the times aforesaid. If no complaint is made within the times aforesaid, no action shall lie against the Carrier, save in the case of fraud on its part.

20.2 Liability Actions by Passengers All claims and rights to damages shall be extinguished if an action is not brought within a period of two years reckoned from the date of arrival at the destination or from the date on which the aircraft ought to have arrived, or from the date on which the Carriage stopped. The method of calculating that period shall be determined by the law of the Court seized of the case.

20.3 Claims and Actions to be Submitted in Writing ALL THE CLAIMS OR ACTIONS MENTIONED IN ARTICLE 20 MUST BE MADE IN WRITING, WITHIN THE TIME LIMITS SPECIFIED.

T UE S DAY : S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 5

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SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

Filipino jin bags bronze in Korea tilt

PSA Forum tackles college meet, bike ride THE 2015 season of the National Athletic Association of Schools, Colleges, and Universities, which opens shop on Sept. 4, will be the subject of discussion in today’s edition of the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at Shakey’s Malate.

On hand at the session aired live over DZSR Sports Radio 918 and presented by San Miguel Corp., Accel, Shakey’s, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., are NAASCU chairman Dr. Jay Adalem, league president Dr. Nilo Rosas of New Era University, and secretarygeneral Dr. Rey Miranda.

Joining them are officials of the Quirino to Quirino Motorbike Ride and the Federation of Touch Football Pilipinas.

Congressman Dax Cua and Governor Junie Cua of Quirino Province, along with Elpidio Quirino Foundation trustee and president Cory Quirino, will come to talk about the road trip commemorating the 125th birth anniversary of former President Quirino.

The Fil-Australian members of the Touch Football Pilipinas, meanwhile, are appearing in the public sports program to tackle the result of their Asian Club Championship campaign.

Wendil Jay Rama (third from left) displays his medal after the award ceremony. Also in picture, from left, are Iran’s Amir Valipour, gold medalist Kang-min Kim of Korea and Uzbekistan’s Jasurbek Zokirov.

Azkals, Palami to ignite football passion in PH THE Philippine Azkals have come a long way in their attempt to boost the country’s stock in football, but the team must rack up more wins not just to qualify for the 2018 World Cup but also to fully popularize the sport in the country.

“We feel the pressure of winning not only to qualify (for the World Cup), but also for awareness of the sport in the country,” said Azkals’ manager Dan Palami. “We help the sport by winning. The more popular the football gets, the more kids play the sport. More players mean more support for the sport and hopefully, the national team.”

Palami’s dream is to ignite a football passion in

the Philippines and to make the sport a national obsession. He also wants to produce homegrown talents, who would inspire more young people to play football and propel country’s pride.

To achieve his dream, Palami needs to show his all-out support and unwavering commitment to the national team, which is beginning to bear fruit, while creating a passionate fan

base to fuel up the sport.

His efforts and those of other football officials have come a long way in football in the last five years.

From struggling to qualify for the group stages of the AFF Suzuki Cup, the Azkals marked up huge wins, including their first two victories in World Cup qualifiers. The Azkals’ big game against Uzbekistan has raised the profile of the sport in the country once again.

Palami has been backing the team since the Long Teng Cup in Taiwan in January 2010. Since then, the Azkals made one major achievement after another, reaching the semifinals of the AFF Suzuki Cup three times.

Palami

The Azkals also came within a whisker of playing in the AFC Asian Cup last year, losing out to Palestine in the Challenge Cup finals that served as the qualifier for the final spot in the tournament.

After impressive wins over Bahrain (2-1) and Yemen (2-0) in their first two outings in World Cup qualifiers, the Azkals also reached their highest FIFA ranking of 124 last July.

What has made this run even more remarkable has been the Azkals’ performance. Showing confidence on the ball and improving their finishing, the Azkals have become attacking threat more than ever.

A win against the Uzbeks on Sept. 8 at the Philippine Sports Stadium, could prove crucial in their bid to reach the third round.

“We need all the support we can get against Uzbekistan. We have to protect our homefield,” Palami said.

Mavelle P. Durian

ANOTHER Meralco/MVP Sports Foundation taekwondo fighter—Wendil Jay Rama —made waves for the Philippines recently by winning a bronze medal in the World Cadet Championships in Muju, Korea.

Rama was impressive in his two elimination matches, outclassing his Brazilian and Palestinian rivals, 13-0 and 10-4, respectively, and in the quarterfinals where he crushed his German foe, 18-8.

But he had to settle for a bronze medal when he dropped a close 5-9 decision to his Iranian opponent, Amir Valipour, in the semifinals.

“He did very well. He made our country proud,” said Philippine delegation head Tem Igor Mella after the semis.

Alvin Taraya and John Paul Lizardo coached the Meralco/MVP SF national Cadet team, which was sponsored by SMART, PLDT, Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee.

The other members were Matthew John Ongtangco, Dineson Wilrej Caneda, Arjan Deandre Calimon, Marco Antonio Rubio, Rohann Josh Mendoza, Ejay Dongbo (male), Royda Jane Ranile, Anne Sharmaine Albarracin, Allysia Louise Caabay, Camille Andrea Miraflores, Josea Dizon, Gilwel Ann Jynamac Irang, Shaira Isabel Garbanzos and Karina Marie Uy (female).

Meanwhile, the Philippine Taekwondo Association announced that taekwondo enthusiasts can now subscribe and view the highlights of the 2015 tournaments such as the Philippine Taekwondo League and national level events via PTA-Yput Tube channel link: https://www. youtube.com/channel/UCtSIU0qAui2LV5h3qRGltrQ. PTA instructors and association members and other taekwondo buffs are invited to view and subscribe. Just click the word subscribe and enter your email address.

Peñalosa bros. now under Dunkin’s wings

By Dennis Principe

Peñalosa brothers Dave and Dodie Boy Jr. display their signed contracts.

CEBU CITY—The long wait is over for boxing brothers Dave and Dodie Boy Peñalosa, Jr. Inactive for more than a year, the progenies of boxing icon Dodie Boy Peñalosa, Sr. recently signed a managerial deal with wellknown American boxing man Cameron Dunkin that will guarantee the duo a sprightly campaign in the United States.

Still undefeated in their respective careers, the Peñalosas last fought July of 2014 in Mandaluyong City,

where both scored knockout victories.

Originally promoted by their uncle and former two-division world champion Gerry Peñalosa, the siblings waited for an offer from the elder Peñalosa regarding their next outing.

Peñalosa, however, informed his brother Dodie Boy that he needed to spend more time with his mother-in-law, who is recovering from an illness in the United States and that promoting fights would be the least of his priorities nowadays.

This forced Dodie Boy

to look for a promoter or even a manager who could give his sons the break they badly need.

“Matagal ko nang killala si Cameron and masuwerte naman kami at nagkaroon ng chance na mag-usap hanggang sa ma-finalize namin na siya na ang magmanage ng mga bata,” revealed Dodie Boy, Sr. Dunkin, meanwhile, wasted no time in adding the Peñalosas to his stable of world champions that also include Terrence Crawford, Randy Caballero and the Filipino Flash Nonito Donaire, Jr.

“I can tell you they are extremely talented and I will be shocked if they both don’t win world titles and become very very special fighters,” said Dunkin “I’m very excited about working with them and getting them over here in the United States and get them started fighting right away and keep them very busy.”

The 24-year-old Dodie Boy, Jr. holds an impressive record of 13-0, 12 by knockouts while younger brother Dave, 23, parades an equally remarkable ring tally of 9-0, 6 by KOs.

T UE S DAY : S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 5

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SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

Altas need a pumped-up Thompson against Pirates

By Peter Atencio

UNIVERSITY of Perpetual Help need all the help it can get from reigning Most Valuable Player Earl Scottie Thompson, when they take on the resurgent Lyceum Pirates to get back on their feet in today’s main offering in the 91st National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball tournament at the San Juan Arena.

Thompson and the rest of the Altas played listlessly against the Mapua Cardinals a week ago in a 65-70 loss and missed a chance to figure in a three-way tie for the solo lead with the San Beda Red Lions and the Letran Knights,

who share a 9-2 card a week into the second round.

Now at no. 2 with a 7-3 card, the Altas are eyeing a win that will give them a firmer grip on second place.

And Altas Coach Aric del Ro-

sario would want nothing but for Thompson, a first-round pick in the recent PBA Draft, to bounce back from from a slump.

In the game against the Cardinals, Thompson missed 13 of his 18 attempts, and scored a fat zero in seven tries from a the threepoint area.

“He (Thompson) told me he’ll bounce back strong,” Del Rosario said.

The Pirates, meanwhile, are still on a high after a hard-earned 71-67 win over the San SebastianStags, 71-67, to improve to 3-7 and remained for a possible Final Four spot.

The Pirates-Altas clash will again highlight the match-up

between Cameroonian Jean Victor Nguidjol of Lyceum against Perpetual’s Nigerian big man Bright Akhuetie, the league’s scoring leader with an average of 22 points, and Prince Eze. In the 2 p.m. match, the Arellano University Chiefs (6-4) will try to put their 112-114 double overtime defeat tp Jose Rizal behind them when they clash against the College of St. Benilde (2-8).

Games today (San Juan Arena) 10 a.m. • Arellano vs St. Benilde (jrs) 12 nn. • Perpetual Help vs Lyceum (jrs) 2 p.m. • Arellano vs St. Benilde (srs) 4 p.m. • Perpetual Help vs Lyceum (srs)

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

Donaire eyes Sta. Cruz next

By Ronnie Nathanielsz FIVE-DIVISION world champion and former World Boxing Organization/World Boxing Council super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire, who at one time said he’d like to fight Abner Mares and Leo Santa Cruz, is eyeing a fight with the latter after he hopefully beats Britain’s Scott Quigg in a World Boxing Association title fight in Manchester City on Nov. 17.

Donaire told The Standard/boxingmirror.com that he didn’t watch the entire Santa Cruz-Mares fight, but from what he saw, he noticed that both fighters were cut.

He also said “the power wasn’t there,” and he feels he could beat Santa Cruz, but to arrange such a fight would be difficult because of the differences between his promoter, Top Rank’s Bob Arum and the handler of Santa Cruz, Al Haymon.

Donaire opens his training camp for the planned Quigg showdown next Thursday once his father/trainer Nonito “Dodong” Donaire Sr. arrives in Las Vegas from the Philippines.

At the same time, Donaire indicated he will not train at the ALA Gym in Cebu like he did for his last fight against European champion Anthony Settoul, whom he stopped in two rounds when the Frenchman’s corner threw in the towel, following a knockdown in Round 2 after he dropped Settoul twice in the opening round.

Chua injured

Co-leader. San Beda’s Arthur de la Cruz drives past College of St. Benilde’s Raphael Nayve (5) and Travis Jonson (4), while (9) Javee

Mocon of SBC screens Christian Fajarito (19) in an NCAA game won by the Lions, 89-63. Dela Cruz led the Lions with 17 points and 10 rebounds as they tied Letran at the top with a 9-2 card. PETER ATENCIO

Upsets mark Cesafi twin-bill

By Mikey Izumi CEBU CITY—Upsets marked the double-header on a surprising Sunday in the 15th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc., as the Southwestern University Cobras finally beat the University of San Carlos Warriors and the Cebu Institute of Technology-University Wildcats surprised the 10-time CESAFI champion University of the Visayas Green Lancers at the Cebu Coliseum.

In the first game, the Wildcats were on fire right in the first period as Joshua Dela Cerna scored 10 of his 28 points to help his team take the lead at the end of the quarter, 23-15. But the Green Lancers clawed back in the second quarter behind Rey

Suerte and Jun Kent Manzo to tie the score at halftime, 46-46.

In the third canto, both teams traded baskets to stayed tied 7272 at the end of the quarter. But the Wildcats finally broke away in the fourth as Dela Cerna, Allan Dimco and unlikely scorer Jose Marlo Pono combined forces to stretch their lead to seven en route to a 93-88 win.

The deadly pari of Dela Cerna and Dimco combined for 56 points and 15 rebounds while Pono, who had his best game of the season, had 17 points as CIT-U improved to 3-4 in the team standings.

Jun Kent Manzo led the Green Lancers with 22 points while Rey Suerte had 17, but their efforts went to naught as UV fell to 5-2.

In the second game, the SWU

Cobras took advantage of the usual sluggish start by the USC Warriors, as the reigning CESAFI MVP Mark Jayven Tallo and Jan Michael Auditor waxed hot as they posted a 21-13 lead in the first period.

But the Warriors clawed back into the game behind Victor Rabat and Import Shooster Olago as they forced a 36-36 deadlock at the half.

The teams exchanged leads four times but USC failed to make headway from the freethrow area, where they missed five of eight tries from the line.

When Olago was called for a 3-second violation with 23 seconds remaining in the game, the Cobras had a a chance to grab the lead and the win.

JUSTIN Chua, the big man of the Meralco Bolts, is feared to have torn his anterior cruciate ligament when he played with the Ateneo alumni last Sunday at the Ateneo gym.

“Honestly, I didn’t see what happened.

He just fell to the floor,” said Bolts’ head coach Norman Black, who immediately brought Chua to the hospital and had him undergo an MRI. Black will send the result to team doctor Raul Canlas for a second opinion on the findings, but he is certain that it is an ACL tear, adding that a “pop” was heard in Chua’s knee when he fell. R. Pangilinan

Eagles overpower Bulldogs, gain no. 1 spot in volleyfest ATENEO braced for a tight finish but in- PLDT Home Ultera.

Marck Espejo pumped in a 12-hit stead cruised to a lopsided triumph as it ripped National U, 25-16, 25-20, 25-17, to game while Rex Intal added eight points, sweep the quarterfinal round and clinch Paul Koyfman chipped in six markers the top seeding in the Final Four of the and five others tossed in at least two hits to underscore the team’s balSpikers’ Turf Season 1-Collegiate anced offensive sock.

Conference at The Arena in San Games tomorrow Bryan Bagunas fired 14 hits for Juan City.

1 p.m. • La Salle vs EAC Joner Polvorosa made all Ea- 3 p.m. • UP vs NCBA NU which also drew a pair of eight points from Fauzi Ismail and Frangles look good with his brilliant playmaking skills, coming through with cis Saura but the Bulldogs fell into a maze of 14 excellent sets, including one when he errors while trying to launch their offensive slipped midway in the third set that still got and wound up with 28 miscues.

Ranged against an equally unbeaten their hitter hammering in a kill that highlighted the Loyola-based squad’s 66-min- squad, Ateneo, which beat NCBA, FEU and Emilio Aguinaldo College via similar ute demolition of its UAAP rival.

The win was Ateneo’s seventh straight, 3-1 routs in the quarters, proved too much counting its sweep of the group stages, and for the Bustillos-based school, racing to big will head as the top team in the semifinal leads early in each set then thwarting every round of the tournament presented by NU fightback the rest of the way.

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T U E S D AY : S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 5

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

Jason Day of Australia hits a pitch shot on the 18th hole during the final round of The Barclays at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, New Jersey. Day romped to a six-stroke victory, firing an eight-under par 62 to seize the lead in the US PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoff chase. AFP

Korean use killer 13-0 bomb to clobber Gilas

By Jeric Lopez

SOUTH Korea put together a pivotal fourth-quarter surge to net its first win and deal Smart Gilas Pilipinas its first loss with a tough 82-70 grinder in the 37th William Jones Cup in Xinchuang Gymnasium, Taipei yesterday.

Down, 56-58, heading into the final nine minutes, the Koreans stepped on the gas pedal pretty hard and hammered the Filipinos on both ends in the crucial stretch midway in the fourth quarter to erect a killer 13-0 blast and take a commanding 69-58 advantage with 4:16 remaining.

They eventually took the game pulling away.

With the win, Korea improved to 1-2, while the Philippines dropped to an even 1-1 slate.

Azkals want to ignite PH football passion TURN TO A14

In that pivotal stretch, Korea held the Philippines scoreless in more than five minutes to take control of the game.

After Calvin Abueva’s jumper with exactly nine minutes left that gave Smart Gilas a slim 58-56 lead, the nationals failed to score until the 3:36 mark of the fourth when Terrence Romeo hit two free throws.

The GlobalPort spitfire followed it up with a triple with 2:59 left to inch Smart Gilas to within five, 64-69, injecting some life back into their campaign.

But Korea scored on an undergoal stab on the other end courtesy of Lee Jong Yun to make it 71-64 cushion.

Overall, Korea outscored the Philippines, 26-12, in the final nine minutes of play.

Throughout the first three quarters until the early part of the fourth, it was a nipand-tuck battle between the two countries before the Koreans overwhelmed Smart Gilas with their fluent offense and suffo-

Altas need pumped-up Thompson against Pirates TURN TO A15

cating defense in the final nine minutes.

Once again, Terrence Romeo sizzled as he spearheaded the Philippines’ charge with a game-high 23 points as his offensive wizardry was once again in full display, while Gary David added 13 points.

Romeo scored 19 of his points in the second half, but didn’t get enough support from his teammates down the stretch in the second half.

The Philippines will next play Russia today at 1 p.m. (Philippine time).

The opening half appeared to be a feelout process for both squads as neither got any significant lead, with Korea taking just a slim 36-34 edge after the second frame.

At the end of three quarters, the game was tied at 54-all.

But unlike its first game against TaipeiA, where it entered the fourth tied as well but came up with the win, the Philippines, this time around, had no answer when Korea made its deciding run.

Day romps to 6-shot victory EDISON—Jason Day romped to a sixstroke victory in the Barclays on Sunday, firing an eight-under par 62 to seize the lead in the US PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoff chase.

The Aussie, who ended a run of major heartbreak with his first Grand Slam title at the PGA Championship this month, backed up that triumph in style.

He fired eight birdies without a bogey en route to a 72-hole total of 19-under 261 at Plainfield Country Club.

Masterful on the greens, Day rolled in birdie putts of 28 feet or more at the 10th, 14th and 15th in a dominant performance in the first of four tournaments in the season-ending playoffs— in which a $10 million bonus will go to the series winner after the Tour Championship in September.

Sweden’s Henrik Stenson was a distant second after a 66 for 267.

Stenson tried to keep things interesting, shaking off an early bogey with three straight birdies starting at the fifth, then trimming Day’s four-shot lead to two after birdies at the 10th, 13th and 14th.

But Day plumped his cushion back to three strokes with a 28-foot birdie bomb at 14, and after Stenson bogeyed the parfive 16th to fall four back it was clear sailing for Day. He didn’t take his foot off the gas, rolling in a 33-foot birdie putt at 15 and draining a 10-foot birdie at the last.

“I’m just trying to improve each and every week,” Day said. “To be able to play the way I did over the weekend here was fantastic. Today was just phenomenal golf.”

Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson was alone in third after a 69 for 269.

Watson overcame a double-bogey with three back-nine birdies, a birdie at the last moving him ahead of British Open champion Zach Johnson and Zac Blair, who shared fourth on 270. AFP

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TUESDAY: SEPTEMBER 1, 2015

RAY S. EÑANO EDITOR

RODERICK T. DELA CRUZ ASSISTANT EDITOR

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

BUSINESS

Cherry Foodarama set to reopen

By Jenniffer B. Austria

CONGLOMERATE SM Investments Corp. plans to re-open newly acquired grocery chain Cherry Foodarama in October, a top executive said over the weekend.

SM Investment president Harley Sy said all three Chery Foodarama outlets would be opened to shoppers next month, in time for the fourth-quarter holiday spending.

SM Investments acquired Cherry Foodarama from the Ong family for an undisclosed amount in June this year. The three stores are currently under renovation.

SM Investments co-vice chairman Teresita Sy-Coson earlier said the company would not re-

brand the three newly-acquired supermarkets and operate them under the name Cherry.

The Ong family, which owns Cherry Foodarama, will also retain a minority interest in the supermarket chain.

Cherry Foodarama has been in the business since the early 1950s and is considered one of the pioneers in the grocery business.

Prior to its acquisition by SM, only two Cherry supermarkets, including Cherry Foodarama Congressional and Cherry

Foodarama Antipolo, were operational.

Cherry Foodarama Shaw was originally scheduled to reopen at its original site also along Shaw Boulevard in May, but it did not push through because of the entry of a new investor, which turned out to be the SM group.

All Cherry supermarkets were closed down on June 25 after it was acquired by SM Investments.

SM group remains the biggest supermarket chain in the country, despite the intensifying competition from other grocery chains such as Puregold Price Club Inc. of tycoon Lucio Co and Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. of the Gokongwei Group.

SM’s retail operations had a total of 289 stores of as end-June, including 51 SM Stores, 41 SM

Supermarkets, 43 SM Hypermarkets, 127 Savemore stores and 27 WalterMart stores.

The conglomerate also teamed up with Alfamart Indonesia to venture into minimart space.

The joint venture partners are currently in the testing phase with 50 branches mostly located south of Metro Manila SM group’s purchase of Cherry Foodarama marked its second acquisition in three years. In 2013, SM Investments signed a 50:50 joint venture with the Waltermart group through its subsidiaries SM Retail Inc. and SM Prime Holdings Inc. SM Investments posted a net profit of P13.5 billion in the first half, up by 10 percent from a year ago, on higher earnings across its core property, banking and retailing businesses.

PSe comPoSite index Closing August 28, 2015

8500 8000 7500 7000 6500 6000

7,098.81 76.72

PeSo-dollar rate

Closing AUGUST 28, 2015 42

P46.735

43

CLOSE

44 45 46

HIGH P46.640 LOW P46.760 AVERAGE P46.704 VOLUME 676.600M

P475.00-P675.00 LPG/11-kg tank P39.10-P45.35 Unleaded Gasoline P25.30-P28.55 Diesel

oPriceS il P today

P34.55-P39.15 Kerosene P23.70-P24.40 Auto LPG Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Friday, August 28, 2015

F oreign e xchange r ate

Texas Instruments expansion.

Clark Development Corp. president and chief executive Arthur Tugade (right) talks to officials of Texas Instruments Philippines Inc. headed by president and managing director Mohammad Yunus (second from right) during the groundbreaking ceremony of the expansion project of TI product distribution center in Clark Freeport. With them is Philippines Economic Zone Authority director general Lilia De Lima (center).

Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

46.7050

Japan

Yen

0.008265

0.3860

UK

Pound

1.540400

71.9444

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.129029

6.0263

Switzerland

Franc

1.036699

48.4190

Canada

Dollar

0.757174

35.3638

Singapore

Dollar

0.714898

33.3893

Australia

Dollar

0.716486

33.4635

Bahrain

Dinar

2.657666

124.1263

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266617

12.4523

Brunei

Dollar

0.712352

33.2704

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000071

0.0033

Thailand

Baht

0.028058

1.3104

UAE

Dirham

0.272287

12.7172

Euro

Euro

1.125300

52.5571

Korea

Won

0.000852

0.0398

China

Yuan

0.156121

7.2916

India

Rupee

0.015155

0.7078

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.236373

11.0398

New Zealand

Dollar

0.646412

30.1907

Taiwan

Dollar

0.031036

1.4495 Source: PDS Bridge

Govt taps British company to manage air traffic in Manila

By Darwin G Amojelar THE Transportation Department awarded a P66-million consulting contract to a British company to manage air traffic at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

The agency said it awarded the Ninoy Aquino International Airport runway optimization project to the joint venture of NATS Services Limited and

Schema Konsult Inc. NATS provides air traffic navigation services to the world’s busiest single- and dual-runway airports, including London Gatwick which handles 53 air traffic movements an hour and over 250,000 flights annually, and London Heathrow which handles 90 ATMs per hour and over 470,000 flights a year.

Under the contract, the joint venture will increase hourly air

traffic movements at Naia from 40 per hour to 60, by determining the optimal configuration for the airport’s intersecting runways over the next 12 months.

NATS is the same group that boosted runway capacity at the Hong Kong International Airport by 30 percent. It also redesigned Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport’s airspace, and is now tasked to increase

ATMs at the Singapore Changi Airport.

“We are excited to work with one of the world’s best firms in the industry towards optimizing Naia’s runway capacity. With NATS – which has worked on the Dubai, Singapore, and Heathrow Airports – we can expect safer, more efficient operations, and much less flight delays and cancellations,” Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said.

NATS will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the airport’s current airspace, runway, and terminal capacities; air traffic and surface operation; runway access points; and AT training in the first six months.

The Manila International Airport Authority and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines will then implement the recommendations over the following six months.

TUESDAY: SEPTEMBER 1, 2015

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

Eni bares ‘largest’ gas find in Egypt

TOKYO—A Japanese businessman walks past a share prices board showing the numbers at the Tokyo Stock Exchange and other regional markets, in Tokyo on August 31, 2015. Japan’s share prices fell 200.75 points to close at 18,935.57 at end of the morning trading session of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, after the US Federal Reserve indicated it may go ahead with an interest rate hike in September despite concern over market turmoil in China.

AFP

Shanghai and Asian stocks volatile again HONG KONG—Chinese stocks sank again Monday as uncertainty over US interest rates revived fears of a broader global economic slowdown that has rocked the world’s financial markets.

Analysts warned of further gyrations following a roller coaster ride last week, with investors shifting into safe-haven assets such as the yen and gold, while oil sagged.

Most bourses in Asia followed Shanghai’s lead after enjoying healthy gains on Friday.

Tokyo stocks fell 1.28 percent to close at 18,890.48, while Hong Kong shed 0.10 percent in the afternoon, paring morning losses and Sydney closed 1.07 percent lower at 5,207.0. Wellington fell 0.44 percent, or 25.02 points,

5,656.24.

But Seoul edged up 0.20 percent, wiping out early losses and Taipei extended a recent rally, adding 1.94 percent by the end.

Manila and Kuala Lumpur were closed for public holidays.

In a bid to settle investors’ nerves, Beijing on Monday paraded a financial journalist “confessing” to causing “great losses” during recent market turbulence.

State broadcaster CCTV showed Wang Xiaolu, a journalist with the respected business magazine Caijing, saying he had sought

to create a stir and catch the eyes of readers with his articles.

The ministry of public security also said at the weekend that 197 people had been punished for “spreading online rumors” on several issues, including the markets and giant deadly blasts in the port of Tianjin two weeks ago, but gave scant details.

But while initial stock market falls of more than three percent were pared, Shanghai slipped 1.25 percent in late trade.

The index plunged more than 16 percent from Monday to Wednesday before bouncing 10 percent in the next two sessions.

The rebound came after Beijing cut the cost of borrowing—its fifth interest rate reduction since November--in a bid to pump up the country’s economy, which is a key driver of global growth.

The swings in China--which has seen Shanghai lose about 40 percent since hitting a June 12 high --have fueled concerns that Beijing is struggling to get a grip on its economic slowdown.

Analysts say China needs to rebalance its economy so that it relies more on consumer demand and less on lavish state spending.

A successful transition is seen as crucial for the worldwide economy, which depends on China as an engine of growth.

On Friday, credit rating agency Moody’s slashed its 2016 growth forecast for leading G20 economies to 2.8 percent from 3.1 percent, predicting contractions in Brazil and Russia and lower demand for manufactured goods in Korea and Japan due to problems in China. AFP

CAIRO, Egypt—Italian energy giant Eni on Sunday announced the discovery of the “largest ever” offshore natural gas field in the Mediterranean, in Egypt’s territorial waters.

The discovery, confirmed

by Egypt’s oil ministry, could hold a potential 30 trillion cubic feet (850 billion cubic meters) of gas in an area of about 100 square kilometers (40 square miles), Eni said in a statement.

The so-called Zohr project is “the largest gas discovery ever made in Egypt and in the Mediterranean Sea,” it said, adding the find would meet Egypt’s own natural gas demands for decades.

The “supergiant” field—potentially one of the world’s largest natural gas finds -- is located at a depth of 4,757 feet (1,450 meters) in the Shorouk Block, Eni said.

The firm said it would “immediately appraise the field with the aim of accelerating a fast track development of the discovery,” giving a timeframe of four years.

It added Eni’s chief executive, Claudio Descalzi, has visited Cairo and discussed the discovery with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab.

“This historic discovery will be able to transform the energy scenario of Egypt,” Descalzi said in the statement.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, in a message to Descalzi, congratulated the oil company for the “extraordinary” discovery.

“A find of this size should be enough to cover a lot of Egypt’s energy gap,” Robin Mills, a Dubai-based analyst at Manaar Energy Consulting, told Bloomberg News. AFP

Crude prices dip after rally; mart still bearish SINGAPORE—Oil prices fell in Asia Monday, coming under pressure as dealers took profits from huge gains in the previous session and tried to gauge the outlook for the US economy and its taste for crude.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for October delivery eased 61 cents to $44.61 while Brent crude for October fell 74 cents to $49.31 in afternoon trade.

WTI jumped $2.66 (6.3 percent) on Friday capping its strongest weekly increase in four and a half years, while Brent surged $2.49 (5.2 percent), after prices plunged on concerns about China’s faltering economy.

Dealers said the rebound was

largely due to news the US economy grew at an annual rate of 3.7 percent in the second quarter, up from a previous estimate of 2.3 percent, stoking hopes of a pickup in demand from the world’s top oil consumer.

“Better-than-expected US GDP numbers and the strong rally of global stock market were some of the contributing factors for the recovery in the price of crude,” said Sanjeev Gupta, head of the Asia-Pacific oil and gas practice at consultancy EY. Oil has been on a roller-coaster ride in recent weeks over fears of a harder-than-expected slowdown in China, the world’s top energy importer, at a time when world markets are awash with supplies.

Slower growth. Indonesian shop keepers wait for customers at a shopping mall in Jakarta on August

31, 2015. Growth in Indonesia fell to a six-year low of 4.7 percent in the second quarter, with the slowdown in China and a dip in commodity prices weighing on the economy. AFP

TUESDAY: SEPTEMBER 1, 2015

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

Big Quezon LNG plant pushed

By Alena Mae S. Flores

ENERGY World Corp. of Australia is pushing ahead with the construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal and a 650-megawatt power plant in Pagbilao, Quezon province despite delays.

Energy World officials disclosed to the Australian Securities Exchange construction at the site “continues at an impressive rate.”

“Generation site formation finished. The unloading jetty is substantially completed and unloading arms are installed,” Michael O’Neille, independent non-executive director and chairman of the audit committee of Energy World, said.

He said two units of LNG regasification had been installed and gas-fired turbine generators erected.

O’Neill said associated pipes, pumps, valves, controls of the Siemens power generator package were under way while support facilities were all in place as part of the project requirements.

He added the local community had been supportive of the project and that strict monitor-

ing of all necessary environmental requirements was being carried out as called for.

“This is undoubtedly a significant stride forward in establishing a world class LNG hub terminal and power station to achieve the company’s goal of delivering an integrated clean energy supply chain providing power, LNG and natural gas to the Philippines,” O’Neill, who visited the Philippines last month, said.

Energy World had planned to complete the first 200-MW capacity and bring it to commercial operations during the dry months this year.

Energy World plans to phase in an additional 250-MW steam turbine package by the end 2015 or early 2016 to bring the

total power plant capacity to 650 MW. The directors of Energy World in March last year agreed on a mandate and term sheet with the Development Bank of the Philippines to finance the LNG facility.

Energy World earlier disclosed that the value of the project debt was equivalent to approximately US$550 million.

DBP will partially underwrite the funding requirement and arrange a syndication among local lenders.

The mandate and term sheet with DBP were signed in Manila on February 28, 2014.

Standard Chartered Bank earlier was hired as financial advisor of the company and for the LNG project.

Environmental commitment. Manila Water Co. Inc. and the Environmental Management Bureau (National Capital Region) renewed

their commitment to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Toka Toka Partnership Program. Toka Toka seeks to enjoin individuals, communities and institutions to do their share in protecting the environment and reviving the river systems in Metro Manila. Shown are Manila Water operations group director Geodino Carpio (third from right), DENR-EMB-NCR regional director Vizminda Osorio (third from left), DENR-NCR OIC regional director Lourdes Wagan (second from left), Manila Water OIC for corporate strategic affairs group and corporate communications head Jeric Sevilla Jr. (second from right) and Manila Water branding and market research head Fernando Busuego.

Tax evasion raps vs. Philip Morris executives urged HEALTH lobbyists and academics in Thailand have renewed their call on the Thai government to have 12 Philip Morris executives face court for the alleged masterminding of a tax evasion scheme worth billions of baht, the Bangkok Post reported.

The case has spanned the past 10 years in which the tobacco giant stands accused of deception by under-declaring the value of its cigarettes and depriving the government of an estimated 68 billion baht in lost tax revenue.

The Thailand Health Promotion Institute, along with academics, appealed to the Office of the Attorney-General to urgently proceed with an indictment of 12 Philip Morris employees, accord-

ing to the daily broadsheet.

Bangkok Post quoted THPI chairman Hatai Chitanondh as saying there had been no serious moves to prosecute, despite past calls from the Department of Special Investigation and the Commerce Ministry.

In October 2013, former attorney-general Julasingh Vasantasingh agreed to indict 12 out of 13 suspects in the case,including four foreigners, just as he retired from office. Julasingh signed the indictments one week before his departure but no progress has been made since.

The decision to bring charges against the company executives came after a six-year battle of wills between the DSI and the OAG.

In 2005, the DSI stepped in to probe allegations against the tobacco giant and found that Philip Morris (Thailand) had underreported the value of its products when declaring them to the Customs Department between 2003 and 2007.

The allegedly misdeclared figures allowed the company to pay lower taxes when importing Marlboro and L&M cigarettes from Philip Morris in the Philippines, where these are manufactured, breaching Thailand’s 1926 Customs Act. While DSI investigators forwarded the probe results to the OAG in 2009, advising them to lodge a complaint against those involved in the deception, the OAG

failed to act for another four years.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Ministry reported to the DSI that Philip Morris (Thailand) allegedly violated the 1999 Foreign Business Act as well.

“This is one of the extraordinary occurrences which take place in Thailand,” Hatai said.

He blamed inaction and the absence of prosecution as a failure of public officials who let the issue drag on.

Hatai said he would petition Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha to look into the case so he could order the state agencies concerned to speed up investigations and bring about potential legal action against the culprits, as state money was involved.

Foreign chambers want rules relaxed

By Othel V . Campos THE Joint Foreign Chambers urged lawmakers to pass the amendments to the Foreign Investment Act and Foreign Investment Negative List Liberalization Act to encourage investments in the Philippines The group noted that aside from amendments to the restrictive provisions in Constitution, there were changes in individual laws in the current Congress that curtailed foreign equity investments The bills are under deliberation by the technical working group of the Senate Economic Affairs Committee and remain pending in the House trade committee.

The JFC sent a letter to Senate President Franklin Drilon recommending the passage of both bills, considering the limited time left in the 16th Congress.

The group also sent a similar letter to House trade committee chairman Rep. Mark Villar requesting hearing on the bills.

The Foreign Investment Negative List Liberalization Act is included in President Benigno Aquino III’s priority legislative measures. It seeks to remove restrictions on adjustment, lending companies and financing companies, and investment houses in the negative list under a single reform measure.

The proposed law is consistent with the banking and financial sector reforms passed in the 15th and 16th Congresses that aim to relax or remove restrictions on foreign equity.

The group said the amendments would facilitate the entry of new investments through foreign equity and trade liberalization.

The Foreign Investment Act amendments, meanwhile, seeks to remove the practice of professions in the negative list and lower the minimum paid-in capital for foreign equity and reduce the foreign investment employment requirement.

The JFC is a coalition of the American, Australian-New Zealand, Canadian, European, Japanese and Korean Chambers in the Philippines and the Philippine Association of Multinational Companies Headquarters, Inc. It represents over 3,000 member-companies engaged in over $230 billion worth of trade and $30 billion worth of investments in the Philippines.

B4 Blink launching.

SM Lifestyle Entertainment Inc. teamed up with Solar Entertainment Corp. for a majority ownership of Omni Digital Media Ventures Inc., which operates Blink, a videoon-demand technology that enables users to watch a variety of movies, TV series, news and other video contents anytime and anywhere, using their gadgets such as mobile phones, tablets, computers and smart television sets.

Shown during the launching of Blink at City of Dreams Manila are (from left) Shopping Center Management Corp. senior vice president for mall operations Steven Tan, SCMC president Annie Garcia, Solar Entertainment Corp. president and chief executive Wilson Tieng, Solar Entertainment Corp. chairman William Tieng, SM Prime Holdings Inc. president Hans Sy, SM Prime executive vice president Jeffrey Lim, SM Lifestyle Entertainment president Edgar Tejerero and SMLEI assistant vice president for video-on-demand and outof-home Nicole Deato.

Tax effort rises to 14% of GDP

By Gabrielle H. Binaday

TAX effort, which measures the government’s efficiency in collecting taxes, improved to 14.09 percent of the gross domestic product in the first half of 2015 from P13.69 percent a year ago, data from the Finance Department show.

Tax effort, or the ratio of state’s tax collection compared to the whole economy, improved by 0.4 percentage point due to tax administration improvement, according to Finance Undersecretary and chief economist Gil Beltran.

Beltran said this was the highest tax effort increment since 1997, excluding periods when new tax measures took effect.

“The expenditure effort rose 16.9 percent, boosting GDP growth by that magnitude, as capital outlays rose by 0.3 per-

centage point,” Beltran said.

The national government posted a budget surplus equivalent to 0.2 percent of GDP in the first half, a reversal from the 0.9-percent deficit in 2014.

The tax-to-GDP ratio improvement was also led by the slower economic growth in the first semester. GDP expanded 5.6 in the second quarter, pulling the first-semester growth at 5.3 percent, below the government’s target of 7 percent to 8 percent.

Data showed government revenues rose 16.3 percent to P1.085 trillion as of end-June.

Bureau of Internal Revenue collections increased 9.7 percent to

P705.9 billion in the six-month period while customs collection dropped 3 percent on lower prices of oil products.

“Net of oil taxes, BOC collections rose by 18 percent, likewise exceeding nominal GDP growth,” said Beltran.

Other offices contributed a 7.5-percent increase in revenues.

Non-tax revenues grew 76.3 percent, following the transfer to the special account in the general fund of proceeds from the privatization of coconut levy-funded assets amounting to P60.1 billion.

Government expenditures grew 8.5 percent to P1.072 trillion in the first six months, but

the revenue growth reversed the budget balance to a surplus of P13.7 billion, equivalent to 0.2 percent of GDP, its first halfyear surplus since 1997.

Debt-to-GDP ratio also improved to 44.9 percent as the combination of high revenues, lower deficit and stable interest rates continued in the first semester.

“The strong fiscal position shall provide adequate fiscal space to enable the economy to push economic growth to higher levels during the remainder of the year, even with the ongoing global financial volatilities and threats of El Niño phenomenon,” said Beltran.

8 credit bureaus seek accreditation EIGHT credit bureaus are seeking accreditation from Credit Information Corp., an executive of the agency said.

CIC president and chief executive Jaime Garchitorena said five foreign and three local credit bureaus or special accessing entities had asked a permit from CIC to formally operate in the country.

The law defines an SAE as “a duly accredited private corporation engaged primarily in the business of providing credit reports, ratings, and other similar credit information products and services.”

CIC is a government-owned and controlled corporation created in 2008 by virtue of Republic Act. No. 9510 or the Credit Information System Act. Garchitorena said despite the strict requirements, none of the applicants withdrew their ap-

plication.

“We laid out the accreditation process for social accessing entities or credit bureaus and nobody backed down or nobody asked too many questions on the requirements. The requirements are fairly high,” Garchitorena said in a news briefing at the Finance Department.

CIC set a P60-million paid up capital requirement for the credit bureau and an additional P120 million in terms of investment .

“Then of course we’ll be running them through other evaluations for best practice of their business in their countries of origin or if their local, we’ll inspect them here,” Garchitorena said.

He said CIC would announce the list of accredited bureaus by the end of the year, after the applicants had submitted and presented their business plans.

Gabrielle H. Binaday

Metro outlet in Calamba. Homegrown retail industry leader Metro Retail Stores Group Inc.

recently opened a Super Metro Hypermarket in Calamba City, Laguna, further cementing the company’s foothold in Luzon. Shown during the inauguration of Super Metro Calamba are (from left) Metro Retail Stores Group chairman and chief executive Frank Gaisano, Calamba City Mayor Justin Marc Chipeco, Laguna Governor Ramil Hernandez and MRSGI president and chief operating officer Arthur Emmanuel.

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

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DM Wenceslao bares projects Mr. Robot and you IT’S difficult to watch Mr. Robot, the surprise hit TV series from USA Network, without feeling a sense of foreboding and unease that your private information isn’t all that private after all.

In case you haven’t watched it yet, the drama-thriller follows the exploits of Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek), a cybersecurity engineer by day and a vigilante hacker by night. Elliot struggles with social anxiety disorder and clinical depression, and connects to people by hacking into their e-mail accounts and Facebook pages. One day, he is recruited by a shadowy group known as “fsociety” led by the mysterious anarchist Mr. Robot (Christian Slater). Their goal is to bring down corporate America—including his employer’s biggest client, E-Corp.

As ambitious as this might sound, the consensus in the tech community is that Mr. Robot is the most technically accurate depiction of hacking and the hacker culture to come out of the movies or television so far.

“Not only does it entertain, with well-crafted, intriguing storytelling and well-developed characters, but it also nails most aspects of infosec, hacking, and the underground Internet culture deadon,” writes Corey Nachreiner in Geekwire.

“In fact, the show gets these thing so right that I think you can actually learn from it,” adds Nachreiner, chief technology officer at Seattle-based WatchGuard Technologies.

“Mr. Robot doesn’t just get hackers right, it also gets hacking right,” writes Kim Zetter in Wired. “The team behind the show is clearly interested in technical authenticity and have made an effort to get the lingo, the tone, and the on-screen code right,” she writes.

There are no crazy GUIs or virtual reality flybys in Mr. Robot, adds Adam Fabio in Hackaday. “In this show, the command line isn’t hidden, it’s celebrated. We see every command the characters type, from netstat to CAN bus dumps.”

The secret behind Mr. Robot’s technical chops is the commitment of the show’s creator, Sam Esmail, to accuracy, and a team of technical assistants led by Michael Bazzell, who worked 10 years for the FBI’s cybercrime task force before signing on with Mr. Robot.

So given its technical accuracy, what can we learn from Mr. Robot?

The virtual private network company IP Vanish lists five cybersecurity lessons from the show: 1) Beware of unprotected public Wi-Fi networks. In the pilot, Elliot exposes a coffee shop manager as an online child pornographer by observing him through the shop’s public Wi-Fi network. “It only takes a little bit of technical know-how and some free online software to intercept people’s activities on open Wi-Fi,” IPVanish warns.

2) Don’t assume Tor will keep you safe from snooping. In the same episode, Elliot tells the purveyor of kiddie porn that just because he was using a Tor network didn’t mean his traffic was private. “What many users don’t know about the Tor network is that the traffic between the exit node and the target server cannot be encrypted. Virtually any exit node can capture the traffic passing through,” the IPVanish post says.

3) Phishing is dangerous. In several instances, Elliot uses phishing techniques to improve his chances of breaking a password. This, IPVanish says, has very little to do with computers and very much to do with human nature. “A phish, which is ultimately a hack, occurs when a user is baited with an email, phone call, or perhaps a text message and tricked into voluntarily responding with information,” the IPVanish post notes.

4) Malware can compromise your privacy. In Mr. Robot, a hacker posing as an aspiring hip-hop artist gives a free demo CD to Elliot’s co-worker, who tries to play it on his laptop. The CD doesn’t hold any music, however, but malicious software that raids private e-mails, banking information and, most notably, uses the laptop’s built-in webcam to spy on the victim and to obtain personal data. Moral of the story: beware of freebies, especially in the digital world.

5) Set a strong password. “If Mr. Robot can teach you but one thing, it should be the importance of a strong password,” IPVanish says. In the show, Elliot hacks into the e-mails, social media accounts, bank records and even dating websites of the people around him through a little social engineering (phishing) and sheer will (trying, trying, and trying again). Weak passwords make it seem almost trivial for Elliot to break into other people’s accounts. That’s why you should always use a complex password-- more than eight characters long, including letters, numbers, and symbols, IPVanish says.It’s also a good idea to use passwords that are not easy to guess, so don’t use information that is publicly available such as your birthday. And don’t use the same password in multiple accounts. That’s just asking for trouble.

By Jenniffer B. Austria

DM Wenceslao & Associates Inc., a construction company planning to go public later this year, said it has 10 projects in the pipeline that will boost revenues over the next five years.

DM Wenceslao said in a regulatory filing said the projects included three residential developments with total gross saleable floor area of 68,384 square meters and seven commercial and office developments with a total gross leasable floor area of 324,264 square meters.

“Our leasing of prime land and commercial buildings provides us with a stable and recurring income source whereas our sales of non-core land plots and residential units allows us to maximize the value of such land and developments,” DM Wenceslao said.

Most of the company’s pipe-

line projects will be constructed on plots from existing land holdings, it said.

DM Wenceslao’s biggest landholdings is the 204-hectare property in Asean City located next to the Entertainment City and Mall of Asia complex in the Manila Bay area.

The property is positioned as the next major mixed-use central business district within Metro Manila, comprising recreational and entertainment outlets, commercial and retail developments, prime office space and residential condominiums.

DM Wenceslao said for residential developments, it was set

to pre-sell its first condominium project called Pixel Residences. Construction will begin in 2017.

Pixel Residences will comprise upscale larger format apartment units, ranging in size from 35 square meters to 85 square meters, which will target the higher mid-end of the consumer market, including middle-class working families, BPO executives, expatriates working at the recreational and casino developments and foreigners looking to invest in Aseana City.

“Demand for housing in the Manila Bay area has been growing as scarcity of land becomes more prevalent in the other more matured major CBDs within Metro Manila. The increasing number of office and retail developments in Aseana City and surrounding areas is expected to lead to a rise in demand for conveniently located residential options,” DM Wenceslao said.

PDMEX exhibition. Philippine Economic Zone Authority director general Lilia De Lima (fourth from left) and Science assistant secretary Robert Sison (fifth from left), along with Philippine Die and Mould Association Inc. president Philip Ang (third from left) and PDMEX steering committee chairman Gregorio Oliveros (third from right), lead the ribbon-cutting ceremony during the opening of Philippine Die and Mould Exhibition 2015 on Aug. 26 at World Trade Center in Pasay City.

Salceda: Infrastructure key to growth LEGAZPI CITY—The country’s next president should start major infrastructure projects to help the poor and create some 15 million middle class families, according to Albay Governor Joey Salceda.

Salceda said this would help lift the country from its present 127th spot in world gross domestic product ranking to at least 99th and in the human development index from 113th to 90th.

Salceda, a respected economist and chairman of the Luzon regional development committee, said implementing economic policies and programs, especially infrastructure development, would create a broad middle class and reduce the vulnerable poor from 11.4 million families (7.2 million poor and 4.2 million near poor) to 5.7 million families.

Salceda said the country need-

ed an infrastructure program that would promote industrial dispersion to the countryside, consolidate physically fragmented market and generate a larger mass market for economies of scale.

He said the next administration should decongest Metro Manila and develop the countryside by connecting islands by RoRo transports and bridges, linking up important development areas such as Leyte-Cebu, Cebu-Bohol, Bohol-Negros, Negros-Panay and Leyte – Surigao.

Salceda said new international gateways should also be put up in Clark and a new expressway constructed to link South Luzon to Lucena, Legazpi and Matnog, Sorsogon, He said a Luzon west coast road could be funded through competitive publicprivate partnership and conces-

sional official development assistance.

Salceda said the government should also start a plan to build a new presidential mansion and national government complex in Lucena City, “as a signal for the new direction towards the countryside.”

An economic adviser to past Philippine presidents, Salceda heads the RDCom that groups all regional development councils in Luzon. RDCom handles the groundworks for government economic planning. The governor also chairs the Bicol RDC. Salceda said coupled with a massive infrastructure build up, the country should utilize its massive domestic savings for wealth-creation and create at least 8 million domestic jobs to reverse the overseas Filipino workers migration trend.

TUESDAY: SEPTEMBER 1, 2015

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

Peso to gain but Fed hike lingers

By Julito G. Rada

THE peso may gain strength against the US dollar in the coming days but the recovery will be short-lived as uncertainties mount on whether or not the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in its meeting in the middle of the month, a bank economist said. “[The] peso-dollar [trade] will take its cue from external developments with all eyes now on the Fed rate hike timing. Investors will be looking to the Jackson Hole conference and the jobs report next Friday from the US for direction,” Nicholas Antonio Mapa, research officer of the Bank of the Philippine Islands’ financial markets and treasury division, told The Standard in an e-mailed message.

“In the few sessions before the Fed meeting on Sept. 16-17, we may see the peso gain some strength but this may be limited as anxiety remains high,” Mapa said.

The peso on Friday declined against the greenback, losing P0.05 to close at 46.73 from 46.68 Thursday. Total volume turnover stood at $676 million, lower than $693 million on Thursday. The market was Manila

Standard

TODAY

closed on Monday due to the celebration of the National Heroes’ Day. On Aug. 24, the peso fell to a new five-year low against the dollar, losing P0.315 to close at 46.815 from 46.50 a day ago, after lackluster Chinese manufacturing data raised investors’ concerns on its possible effects on the global economy. It was the local currency’s weakest level since the 46.83 on June 7, 2010.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said the decline was caused mainly by greater market uncertainty and negative sentiment, aggravated by the general decline in commodity prices and backdropped by the impending lift-off by the US Fed. In an earlier report, Mapa predicted the peso to depreciate further against the dollar at

46.80 by year’s end, as the greenback is expected to be stronger in the aftermath of the imminent interest rates hike in the US this year.

The peso--which has been trading above the 45-a-dollar mark since June 8 this year-breached the 46-a-dollar level on Aug. 12. It closed at 46.26 after the People’s Bank of China reduced the yuan’s value against the dollar for the second day, trimming the reference rate by 1.62 percent and dragging the rest of the region with it.

However, Guinigundo said the government’s exchange rate target average of P43 to P46 to a dollar this year remained realistic despite the volatilities in the global financial markets.

Guinigundo said the Philippines remained a resilient economy with strong growth prospects, lower inflation forecasts and robust external payments position. Guinigundo also ruled out a peso devaluation.

Economists from First Metro Investment Corp. and University of Asia & the Pacific said in a report the peso would depreciate further against the greenback as the US economy continued to recover and the Federal Reserve was expected to increase interest rates this year.

Republic of the Philippines Philippine Rural Development Project Invitation to Bid September 1, 2015

1.

The Government of the Philippines (GoP) has received a Loan from the World Bank Loan No. 8421-PH towards the cost of Philippine Rural Development Project and it intends to apply part of the proceeds of this Loan to payments under the contracts for each the following projects: Name of Project/ Project Identification No. Rehabilitation of NRJ Maria Clara Gabriela Silang FTMR PRDP-IB-R002 QUI-004-000000-2015 Rehabilitation of PRJ-DibibiDingasan FTMR PRDP-IBR002-QUI-005-000-000-2015 Rehabilitation of NRJ-LigayaPagaduan FTMR PRDP-IBR002-QUI-006-000-000-2015 Venue of Procurement Activities

Duration/ Completion of Works

EPC

Bid Security Amount

Purchase of Bid Documents

Pre-bid Conference

Bid Sub.& Opening

Sept. 17,2015 10a.m.

Oct. 1, 2015 10a.m.

281 CD

50,759,000.00

1,016,000.00

Sept.130,2015

230 CD

37,174,000.00

744,000.00

Sept.1-Oct.6, 2015

Sept.24,2015 10a.m.

Oct. 7, 2015 10a.m.

245 CD

46,848,000.00

937,000.00

Sept.1Oct.13, 2015

Sept. 30,2015 10a.m.

Oct. 14, 2015 10a.m.

Special Projects Unit Conference Hall 2nd Floor Capitol Commercial Building Capitol Compound, Cabarroguis, Quirino

2.

The Province of Quirino, implementing partner of the Department of Agriculture, now invites bids for the following projects listed above. Completions of the Works are stated opposite each project. Bidders should have completed, within five (5) years, a contract similar to 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 in accordance with relevant procedures for open competitive bidding as specified in the IRR of RA 9184 (R.A. 9184), with some amendments, as stated in these bidding documents and is open to all bidders from eligible source countries as defined in the applicable procurement guidelines of the World Bank. The contract for each project shall be awarded to the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bidder (LCRB) who was determined as such during post-qualification. The Estimated Project Cost for the following projects is indicated above.

4.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Bids and Awards Committee of the Province of Quirino and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 9:00am to 4:00pm, Mondays to Fridays.

5.

A complete set of Bidding Documents for each project may be purchased by interested Bidders at the dates specified above from the address below and upon payment of a non-refundable fee for each bidding documents in the amount of Five Thousand Pesos (Php 5,000.00).

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the PRDP website (http://www.daprdp.net) provided that bidders shall pay the non-refundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

As part of the transparency measures being instituted by the Department of Agriculture (DA) the bidders can virtually visit the site of the above-described subproject at http://www.daprdp.net where geotagged base photographs on 50 meter interval and track are viewable. The DA, however, requires that all potential contractors who will be awarded contract under the project shall have undergone geotagging training provided by the MRDP2 / PRDP Project Support Office.

6.

The Provincial Government of Quirino will hold a Pre-Bid Conference for the projects on the dates specified for each project above at 10:00AM at the Special Projects Unit, Conference Hall, 2nd Floor, Commercial Bldg., Capitol Compound, Capitol Hills, Cabarroguis, Quirino, which shall be open to all interested parties.

7.

Bids must be delivered on or before the dates specified for each project above at 10:00AM at the Bids and Awards Committee Extension Office, Special Projects Unit, Conference Hall, 2nd Floor, Commercial Bldg., Capitol Compound, Capitol Hills, Cabarroguis, Quirino. All bids must be accompanied by a Bid Securing Declaration or bid security in the amount stated opposite each project in the form of Cash or Cashier’s / Manager’s check or Bank Guarantee issued by a universal or commercial Bank.

Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

8.

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

9.

For further information, please refer to: ENGR. DENCIO A. PAGBILAO Chairman, Bids and Awards Committee Province of Quirino +639275007275 +639177756155

DENCIO A. PAGBILAO Signature of the BAC Chairman or Authorized Representative of the BAC Chairman (TS-SEPT. 1, 2015)

Meralco unit to sign P40-b loan BUENAVENTURA Power Ltd. Co., a unit of Meralco PowerGen Corp., has moved the signing of a P40-billion loan to finance the construction of a 455-megawatt coal plant in Mauban, Quezon to the middle of the month, an official said over the weekend.

“Yes, we’re very near closing. We want to sign midSeptember,” Meralco chief financial officer Betty SiyYap said.

Siy-Yap earlier said San Buenaventura planned to close the financing of the coal project in August. She did not say why the signing was delayed.

“For now, we have five banks but we have to address one last item. If we get that done, then it’s five. If transaction is not done by signing, then it will be four banks,” Siy-Yap said.

Meralco PowerGen is a unit of power distributor Manila Electric Co. Meralco PowerGen owns a majority stake in San Buenaventura.

“The EPC [engineering, procurement and construction contract] has been awarded. Financial close is last because you need EPC price,” Siy-Yap said earlier.

Makati was already bustling in the 1960s

A CLAIM regarding Makati that is repeatedly being made in the course of the current political season has compelled me to write down my recollections of how this country’s financial capital was at the start of the 1960s. That was about the time I started being a resident of the municipality of Makati.

To place things in political perspective, a Nacionalista, Carlos P. Garcia, was the occupant of Malacañang. Thanks to one of the rules of the Philippine electoral system, Filipino voters had elected as Vice President a member of the Liberal Party, Diosdado Macapagal, in the 1959 election. In the same election the voters of Makati had elected Maximo Estrella, a Liberal, to a second four-year term as mayor, along with a majority of the nine-member municipal council. The governor of the province of Rizal, of which Makati was a component, was Isidro Rodriguez, a Nacionalista.

My recollection of the start of the 1960s was that Mayor Estrella conducted himself as the chief executive of the rising star of the Philippine geopolitical landscape. A political giant, Arsenio Lacson, held sway in Manila’s City Hall, and another heavyweight, Norberto Amoranto, ran Quezon City, but Maximo Estrella clearly believed that he and Makati were the mayor and the place, respectively, to watch.

Max Estrella had good reason to feel the way he did, for at the start of the 1960s Makati was already a well-laid-out, classy and rapidly growing municipality, with residential subdivisions and a business district that could stand comparison with similar develCYAN MAGENTA YELL opments in the West. This was entirely the product of the operations of Ayala y Compania, the predecessor of Ayala Corp., which had started planning the development of the vast Ayala estate soon after the end of World War II. The magnificent thoroughfares of today’s Ayala Central Business District--Ayala Avenue, Makati Avenue, Paseo de Roxas and Arnaiz Avenue (formerly Pasay Road)--were already in place at the start of the 1960s.

During the course of that decade the edifices that today line the CBD, thoroughfares began to be constructed, and by the time 1970 came along they were almost completely filled with buildings. Into the beautiful new edifices moved most of the Philippine or regional offices of many of the world’s multinational companies as well as the head offices of the biggest Philippine companies (including San Miguel Corp., before it moved to Pasig). Had the Makati Business Club been in existence then, it would have had a long roster of corporate-elite members.

The 1970s saw the addition of three companion five-star hotels--the Peninsula, the Mandarin and the Dusit Thani group’s Manila Garden--to the Intercontinental, which had opened its doors for business in 1965. Construction of the three new hotels had been encouraged by the government of this country, which was hosting the 1976 annual joint meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Among the corporate establishments that located their principal offices in Makati in the 1960s and the 1970s were some of the nation’s premier financial institutions, led by Development Bank of the Philippines, the Ayala-owned Bank of the Philippine Islands, Land Bank of the Philippines and the Makati Stock Exchange. By the end of the 1970s, Makati truly could be called the financial capital of the Philippines.

It goes without saying that with the decision of many of the nation’s leading business establishments to set up shop in Makati came a sharp increase in the bustling municipality’s revenues. By 1980, Makati was well on the way to becoming what it is today: the second wealthiest locality in this country. Truth to tell, Mayor Max Estrella already could afford, in the mid-1960s, to give the low-income and older residents of Makati the full range of medical and other benefits—including cakes on birthdays—that are being dispensed by the present government of Makati. But Max Estrella had no plans to run for national office, and neither did his successors Jose Luciano and Nemesio Yabut.

Back to the claim regarding Makati that I spoke of at the start of this column.

It is claimed that the development and growth of Makati to where it is today commenced in 1986. That claim is pure, unadulterated nonsense. Thanks to the foresight and efforts of the Ayala interests, Makati was already fully developed and very rich by the time the shots that ushered in the Edsa Revolution were fired.

T U E S D AY : S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 5

WORLD

CESAR BARRIOQUINTO EDITOR

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

B7

‘Journalist confesses to chaos’ BEIJING—China’s main state broadcaster on Monday paraded a financial journalist “confessing” to causing the stock market “great losses” as authorities seek to rein in a rout on the exchanges.

Wang Xiaolu, a journalist with the respected business magazine Caijing, was held after writing a story in July saying the securities regulator was studying plans for government funds to exit the market.

Beijing has launched interventions on a grand scale to try—with little success—to shore up plunging share prices after a debt-fuelled bubble burst in June.

Britain’s Financial Times reported at the weekend that China had decided to stop buying shares in favor of intensifying a crackdown on those “destabilizing” the market, although there was speculation as recently as last Thursday that government funds were acquiring stock.

The ministry of public security also said at the weekend that 197 people had been punished for “spreading online rumors” on several issues, including the markets and the giant deadly blasts in the port of Tianjin on August 12. It gave scant details.

China has unleashed an unprecedented package of support measures, including using state-backed entities

to buy stocks and cracking down on “malicious” short-selling—when investors sell shares they do not own in anticipation of a fall in their price.

But the moves have done little to calm investors and concerns about the health of China’s economy and its ability to manage its finances has infected world markets, sparking one of the worst global sell-offs since the financial crisis on August 24.

Chinese shares continued their slide on Monday, with Shanghai down 1.45 percent in the afternoon, hurt by profit-taking after two sessions of sharp gains and by economic worries before the release of manufacturing data.

State broadcaster CCTV showed Wang saying he had sought to create a stir and catch the eyes of readers with his articles.

“I should not have published a report that heavily and negatively affected the market at such a sensitive time... (I) caused such great losses to the country and to stock investors. I am deeply sorry,” he said. AFP

Fire. A Civil Guard helps villagers during a fire in the village of Cabreiro, some 60 km from Ourense, northwestern Spain, on August 30, 2015. AFP

Lights out for Tokyo’s iconic Hotel Okura TOKYO—Tokyo’s sixties-era modernist masterpiece Hotel Okura, which hosted foreign leaders, royalty, celebrities and even James Bond, turned off the lights Monday, more than a half century after it heralded Japan’s postwar coming out party.

Despite an outcry from preservationists, the prestigious 53-yearold property shut its doors for a four-year makeover that will give way to a gleaming highrise hotel—the latest heritage building to undergo a face-lift in the ultra-modern Japanese megalopolis.

The Okura’s kimonoclad female staff and dated appearance—

highlighted by the smoky Mad Men-style Orchid bar and worn mustard-yellow carpets—harked back to a different time.

Others will remember the “Okura lanterns” lighting up a main lobby outfitted with modernist chairs or the big black buttons on its weathered world time zone map.

James Bond was spotted at the Okura in Ian Fleming’s novel “You Only Live Twice” and the hotel—just across from the US embassy— had put up a string of foreign leaders and US presidents, from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama.

It was also popular with Japan’s political

and cultural elite who were drawn to the Okura’s restaurants and bars,traditional tea ceremonies and tense competitions of the chess-like game “Go”.

But with its outdated trappings and ancient infrastructure, the owners say they need to update the property to keep with its five-star reputation—and prices.

A closing ceremony was to be held later Monday. The Okura’s main building will be torn down next month, although an annex building next door it will remain open.

“It is a destruction of culture—this building is a one and only, which truly integrates Japanese

aesthetics with a Western-style hotel,” said Tadashi Yamane, professor of urban design at Tokyo City University.

The Okura, which was considered an architectural jewel in post-war Japan, opened in 1962, just two years before the Tokyo Olympics.

“I see the tenacity of the Japanese people more than 50 years ago, who were determined to create a hotel that would prove Japan was once again a good member of the world,” Yamane said.

The 510-room new hotel will be set in twin towers—the highest a 41 story glass building—to open in spring 2019, ahead of Tokyo’s

Monkeys deployed for war parade BEIJING—China’s air force has called monkeys and falcons into service to ensure safe skies for a huge military parade this week to mark Japan’s defeat in World War II, reports said.

Almost 200 aircraft will take part Thursday in commemorations for the 70th anniversary of what Beijing calls the “Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War”.

The animals have been deployed at an air force base involved in the parade, which officer Wang Mingzhi said was in a bird migration corridor—with 400 to 500 species present—potentially affecting aircraft safety.

Pictures on news portal Sina

showed a macaque on a red leash standing on its hind legs and mimicking the salute of an officer in a camouflage uniform beside it.

The monkeys had “mastered” the skills to destroy bird nests, Wang was quoted as saying.

“There is no problem doing this,” he said in the report posted Sunday, adding that they had “graduated” after being trained for one month.

The animals take twigs out of nests one by one before shaking the remaining parts down from the tree, Sina said, adding the whole process takes only about a minute.

Shotguns and water cannons were used to get rid of nests be-

fore but were not as efficient or “economical” as the macaques, it said.

The monkeys are rewarded for the efforts with corn, according to reports.

Falcons were also being trained to drive away airborne birds, pictures showed.

Three to four of the raptors were sent into the sky every day to “deter” other flyers, Wang was cited as saying by the Beijing News.

Thursday’s parade, a show of strength which comes as Beijing takes a more assertive stance regionally, will also see 12,000 soldiers and 500 pieces of hardware roll through Tiananmen Square.

AFP

Olympic Games the following year.

Commercial tenants will occupy the upper floors of the property whose lead architect Yoshio Taniguchi is the son of the original hotel’s designer. AFP

MR. JESSOM LABAMSAM Please contact Jennelyn Sales at 0999-4833769 or echo.poon@isshk.org<mailto:echo.poon@isshk.org> For discussion on the welfare of a child born in Hong Kong on 25.6.2014.

MR. ARTHUR TOMAD Please contact Jennelyn Sales at 0999-4833769 or echo.poon@isshk.org<mailto:echo.poon@isshk.org> For discussion on the welfare of a child born in Hong Kong on 22.2.2010.

Doc. No. 0783 Page No. 0163 Book No. 1102 Series of 2015

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cESAR BARRioqUinTo EDITOR

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

world

Legendary director Wes Craven dead at 76 LOS ANGELES—Wes Craven, a master of cinematic horror whose legendary directorial credits include “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Scream”, died Sunday aged 76, his family said.

Craven had been suffering from brain cancer and died at his home in Los Angeles.

“It is with deep sadness we inform you that Wes Craven passed,” a family statement read. “Craven was surrounded by love, in the presence of his family.”

Craven directed 1984’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” whose terrifying scarred villain Freddy Krueger left a defining imprint on the horror genre of that decade and was reprised in a string of sequels and a 2010 remake.

Krueger, who wore a scruffy fedora and had a glove with razor blades attached to the fingers, would visit his victims in their dreams and slash them to death. The first film in the franchise included a character played by a then-unknown Johnny Depp.

“He made nightmares seem real, the things that scare you in your subconscious can harm you, get to you,” said Richard Potter, a movie writer and producer who worked with Craven on the “Scream” franchise.

Craven’s eye for young talent also saw him cast Sharon Stone and Bruce Willis in their first major roles, in the 1981 horror flick “Deadly Blessing” and a 1985 episode of “The Twilight Zone”, respectively.

Craven, who was known also for his writing and television work, directed several episodes of “The Twilight Zone” revival in the 1980s.

During the 1990s he made three films in the hugely popular “Scream” series, with a fourth in 2011.

The first “Scream” movie featured Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette and Drew Barrymore, and told the story of a US high school targeted by a cloaked killer called Ghostface, who wears a ghoulish mask based on “The Scream” painting by Edvard Munch. AFP

Traditional dance. Maidens from Swaziland carry reeds as they sing and dance during the first day of the annual royal reed dance at the Ludzidzini Royal palace on August 30, 2015, in Lobamba, Swaziland. Umhlanga, or Reed Dance ceremony, is an annual Swazi cultural event where tens of thousands of Swazi girls travel from the various chiefdoms to the Ludzidzini Royal Village to participate in the eight-day event. A road accident in Swaziland killed several girls and seriously injured others who had been on their way to the traditional ceremony. The accident happened Friday night when their open truck smashed into a car on the road between the tiny kingdom’s two main cities, Mbabane and Manzini, en route to the traditional Reed Dance. AFP

Tribes use silkworms to get out of poverty BANKA, India—Pointing to a television in her recently built mud and brick home, Indian villager Munia Murmu proudly shows off her new-found wealth, thanks to hundreds of squirming green silkworms.

Like thousands of other tribal villagers in India, Murmu lives in extreme poverty, and until recently could not afford enough food for her and her family.

But the 40-year-old decided to join others in her community rearing wild silkworms in the native forests of her home state of eastern Bihar.

Along with dozens of other women, Murmu nurtures the worms that produce silk threads, which are in high demand in India, Europe and the US for use

in saris and other garments and home furnishings.

The mother of two also sells silkworm eggs to other rearers in this remote corner of India. During the breeding season, which lasts three months of the year, Murmu earns 50,000 rupees ($770)—a relative fortune.

“I used to live in a tiny house with no toilet, no fans, nothing.

Then I started keeping the silkworms and I haven’t looked back since,” a beaming Murmu told AFP, pulling a shiny laptop out of

a huge metal trunk.

Decorated with colorful murals of tribal life on the walls, her home also has a room dedicated to watching TV on the new set, along with two toilets and a water pump in her front yard.

Members of tribal communities, also known as Adivasis, have traditionally been at the bottom of India’s socio-economic ladder, with some of the worst rates for poverty, malnutrition and life expectancy.

They have long reared silkworms in the dense forests of Bihar and neighboring Jharkhand states to make tasar, a copper-colored silk coveted for its unique texture.

But production has increased in recent years, thanks to the adoption of modern techniques, attracting new farmers like Murmu

and handing them a way out of poverty.

The ;ocal NGO Pradan has helped train the farmers in several ways, including how to use microscopes to examine and discount diseased moths.

“We have (also) helped the farmers plant arjuna trees on the wastelands here. These trees serve as hosts to the moths,” said Pradan’s Shamshad Alam.

India is the world’s second largest producer of all types of silk, including tasar, after China, and is its largest consumer.

The thriving industry in Bihar supplements the tribal communities’ traditional rice farming in a region that lacks irrigation and is at the mercy of poor monsoon rains. AFP

Border clampdown to catch smugglers

Sunset in France. The sun sets behind an electric piler near SaintFélix-Lauragais, southwestern France, on August 30, 2015. AFP

VIENNA—EU member state Austria has tightened controls on motorways near the Hungarian border, where an abandoned truck was found last week containing 71 dead migrants, four of them children.

The measure, which was put in place late on Sunday, involves increased controls on traffic in Burgenland state that will be carried out in close collaboration with the Hungarian, Slovakian and German authorities.

“The main aim is to target smuggling gangs. What is happening here are controls conducted by traffic police and security forces —these are not border controls,”

said police spokesman Helmut Marban.

As part of the clampdown on human traffickers, police are stopping every truck, van and car in an effort to catch those trying to make money from people fleeing war and persecution.

Shortly after the checks began at 1830 GMT, officers discovered 12 migrants—nine adults and three children—crammed inside a minivan carrying a French number plate The group was believed to be predominantly from Syria, media reports said.

The driver, whose nationality

was not immediately clear, was arrested.

The new security checks caused a huge buildup of traffic overnight, and by Monday morning, there were tailbacks of up to 30 kilometers along the M1 motorway connecting Budapest to Vienna, Hungarian media reported.

Many migrants picked up in Austria have already trekked on foot through four or five countries before they reach EU member Hungary, where smugglers pack them into vehicles without food or water, promising to transport them to richer European states like Germany or Sweden. AFP

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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

Ronald Ventura, Blindspot Series, 2002, Oil and graphite on canvas, 45 x 30 cm

Arganda, Fernando Zóbel, 1961, Oil on canvas, 130 x 97 cm

GLASHUTTE ORIGINAL A fine Senator Perpetual Calendar Ref. 100-0201-01-04 in rose gold

A very rare AUDEMARS PIGUET Limited Edition Royal Oak Jubilee in Platinum

A fancy ROLEX Jeweled Ladies Watch with diamonds and emeralds, Ref. 69308

El Filibusterismo, Jose Rizal, First Edition

Ivory head on base

Keris ivory knife set

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling, First Edition, First Printing, UK, Paperback

Ang Kiukok, Mother & Child, 1992, Oil on canvas, 60 x 29 cm

BenCab, Untitled (Larawan Series), 2003, Acrylic on canvas, 119.25 x 81.25 cm

SALCEDO AUCTIONS’ THE WELL APPOINTED LIFE

T

here is something about auctions that makes people keep coming back. Aside from the wellcurated pieces and coveted collections, there’s something about the energy of a live auction, the competition and thrill of acquiring a piece that has a very inspiring or interesting story, and the inevitable bang of the gavel announcing a winning bid.

On its second year, from September 19 to 20, Salcedo Auctions runs “The Well Appointed Life” in Rockwell tent, where the collections cater to discerning bidders who enjoy items reflecting their lifestyle and the art of living well. Categories for the collections are Important Philippine art, connoisseur collection, fine jewelry and timepieces, and rare automobiles.

Among the highlights for the Important Philippine Art is Fernando Zobel’s Arganda which would start at P6 Million for the auction. Just imagine how high the bid would get. It’s a 1961 oil on canvas painting, part of his monochrome series with hyperbolic gestural forms, with the influence of calligraphy reminiscent on the piece as it is something that Zobel studied for years. Another piece to covet is Roberto Chabet’s Untitled 42 x 60 inches in size, a large canvas piece from 1974. Chabet worked on only 20 pieces on canvas and most is already on paper so this one is a rare find. Other notable pieces are Vicente Manansala’s Candle Vendors (1977), Jorge Pineda’s Las Buyeras

(1903), The Tempest (1965) – a very rare abstract expressionist oil by Jose Joya, a highly coveted BenCab canvas painting from his celebrated Larawan series, and one of the youngest paintings on the collection from Ronald Ventura.

For collectors who love history, artifacts and rare items, they may check out the Connoisseur Collection.

Last year, the collection covered a first edition of Noli Me Tangere and this year, they offer the first edition for El Filibusterismo published for P1.8 million. Judging from last year’s bid for Noli which started at P350,000 with a final bid at P7 million, the Fili might rake in more than that. Another cool find under the collection is a Swagger stick made from carabao horn with a KKK insignia on it. One of our favorites among the Connoisseur Collection is a diamond hourglass from De Beers which starts at P160,000. Time will literally drop like diamonds in this auction piece. Another book up for auction is the modern day first edition Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, published at P150,000. Other pieces for auction under the category is a 27-inch gilded Sevres vase from the iconic former royal porcelain manufacturer, a signed print from the Catalan Surrealist Joan Miró, and fine china

from Hermes and Limoges published from an affordable P6,000 (something auction noobs could start with).

An additional category for this year is dedicated to Philippine Tribal and Ethnographic Art that includes early 20th century figurative house panel in wood with heavy encrusted patina and a decorative Ifugao warrior figure from the late 19th century representing artifacts that are of importance to the legacy of Filipino culture.

For watch collectors, there are rare pieces like a platinum perpetual calendar Patek Philippe, limited editions from Audemars Piguet, Graff, Richard Mille, and vintage Rolex Daytona Ref. 6263/0. The jewelry collection includes diamond jewelry and pieces from international houses Bulgari, Mauboussin, and Van Cleef & Arpels.

Remember “Eleanor,” the car driven by Nicholas Cage in Gone in 60 Seconds? The Well Appointed Life auction will bid an “Eleanor,” a 1967 Shelby GT 500 in mint condition.

If you want to view the collection, the Kirov Lounge and Model Unit, and the lobby of the new 8 Rockwell Building at Rockwell Center will display the collection from September 5 to 19.

Follow @salcedoauctions on Instagram and Salcedo Auctions on Facebook for more updates on The Well Appointed Life with the hashtag, #TWAL.

Decorative Ifugao Warrior Figure, Late 19th Century, Possibly of the Hapao area

Shelby GT500 Eleanor

Shelby GT500 Eleanor engine

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LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

A breakdancer, Placa del Angel, Barcelona, 1999

@LIFEatStandard

A nude Filipino at noon, Playa de la Barceloneta, Barcelona 1999

The carousel girl, Paris, 1999

THE FILMMAKER FREEZES THE FRAME

BY BERNADETTE LUNAS

I

n 1999, Rafael Manuel Hidalgo Laurel, or Cholo among his peers, was in his late thirties, directing television commercials and depressed. He was doing things commissioned using his talent and skills but he felt that “everything seemed so contrived.” So he left his job, packed his bags, and embarked on a long journey with one goal in mind: To do something artful.

“Alone, I ventured away from my comfort zone to places I’ve never seen because I wanted to do something that did not have to be set up,” shares Laurel.

But apart from going on a sojourn to find something else, he wanted to do something with his journey, and to perhaps take something home with him.

Thus from Portland, Maine in the US, Laurel crossed the Atlantic into Europe with close to a hundred film rolls and a Konica camera, and took snapshots of people everyday for months “with no particular objective but to simply capture real moments.”

Laurel admits, however, that he is not a professional photographer then and still is not today. “I’m just an Instagram user,” he says.

But developing a keen eye for composing still images from his experience with motion pictures and moving narratives, Laurel was able to capture and preserve

The piper, Central Park New York, 1999

little snippets of life that may have evaded other people’s notice. He also went to Manila bookstores and soaked in the “decisive moments” of master photographers, like Henri Cartier-Bresson, to imbibe their sense of curiosity and composition.

It was his first time in the old world, so in Europe he walked the streets of Paris, Barcelona, Madrid and Amsterdam with his journal and his camera – absorbing everything that was around him.

But time was ticking and when his savings ran low, Laurel then decided to come back, taking with him over a thousand still images and a new perspective of seeing

Abuela, Placa del Angel, Barcelona, 1999

the world. Sixteen years ago, Laurel would never have thought of mounting an exhibit for the photographs he took during his 1999 sojourn. “I was hoping to create a book out of them,” and if he weren’t asked to exhibit them by the director of the National Museum of the Philippines, Jeremy Barns, “I really wouldn’t do this.”

Currently on exhibit at the National Museum of Anthropology are 14 of Laurel’s photographs curated by the museum’s assistant director Ana Labrador. Entitled “Still,” the exhibit features black and white travel photographs with moving stories captured in

A lady in black, Toledo, Spain 1999

still images. “It’s also called ‘Still’ because I still do it (photography),” says Laurel with a laugh.

Each photo on exhibit has an inspiring or interesting tale behind it. One such photo is “The carousel girl” he took in Paris. “I was watching her for a long time and kept on taking photos of her because I was wondering why she was enjoying the ride much more than all the other kids. Then I realized when the carousel stopped and her parents got her that she was a blind girl,” relates Laurel.

But if he has to pick a favorite among the 14 photos, he says it has to be “A breakdancer.” For

someone who’s not a professional photographer, Laurel captured the moving performer on the street at the right moment and right smack in the middle of the frame. “I don’t know how it came about,” he admits. “I was trying to center the whole thing and it was centered, it was joyful and it got the whole spirit of the whole thing.”

Following his trip, Laurel went on to further cement his name in the filmmaking industry. In 2005, he swept the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS) awards for co-writing and directing his first feature film, Nasaan Ka Man. Today, he continues to be an independent director and storyteller.

When asked to choose between filmmaking and photography to pursue as an art, Laurel says he prefers telling stories in stills “because it is fulfilling to get the images that I wanted to get and look at them [after].”

This is why when he’s not creating films, Laurel travels with his camera and journal, in search of stories he’s never witnessed and freezing them in a still frame.

Catch “Still: The World Through a Filipino Storyteller’s Eyes” at the Reception Room, National Museum of Anthropology (Old Finance Bldg.), Rizal Park, Manila until October 31. The Artist Talk will be held on September 12, 2 p.m. at the same venue. Visit www.nationalmuseum. gov.ph for more details.

Philippine Cinema Potential Highlighted at first Singapore Dialogue

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Participants to the Singapore Dialogue: Lope Juban Jr., Angel Guerrero, Weijie Lai, Bianca Balbuena, Angel Jacob, Gin Kai Chan, Jessel Monteverde, Joachim Ng and Adrian Kong.

t the first Singapore Dialogue in the Philippines held at Discovery Primea hotel in Makati, the possibility of exporting Filipino media content on the global stage was discussed – a tacit recognition of the depth of talent that abounds in the country.

The dialogue, which comes ahead of the Annual Singapore Media Festival scheduled from November 26 to December 6, saw distinguished media players from the Philippines sharing their insights on Philippine cinema with discussions also focused on the many collaborative opportunities between the Philippines and Singapore, with the latter recognized as a dynamic media hub to further propel Filipino content. The possibility of creating Philippine TV content for international audiences was also broached.

“We believe in promoting the growth of globally competitive media content”, said Adrian Kong, Singapore Tourism Board’s Area Director for the Philippines and Brunei. “We want Singapore to be the stage for regional creators who have a great voice and story to tell.”

Now on its 26th year, the Singapore International Film Festival has become a venue where Filipino filmmakers can showcase their talent. As noted by Joachim Ng, Director of Industry Operations, at the Media Development Authority of Singapore, the event “provides a gateway and access to Asian media content. With a total of 22 Filipino films screened last year at the Singapore International Film Festival, the influence and impact of media players from the Philippines is on the rise and we are keen to showcase more films from the Asian region to the world.”

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LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

ARTS AND CULTURE ROUNDUP What’s on in theaters and galleries this week

EXHIBITS

WORKSHOPS Writing Boot Camp (with Jessica Zafra) Second Floor Function Room, Ayala Museum, Makati City September 3, 10 and 17

EAST MEETS WEST ArtistSpace, Ayala Museum, Makati City Ongoing until September 13 Inspired by the Barnes Foundation Philadelphia, USA, visual artists of L’ Arc en Ciel Atelier (East) and artists of Art Students League of New York (West) meet in a group showcase of outstanding talent in visual arts.

With a unique choreography for the exhibition, L’ Arc en Ciel attempts at appealing to both young and old and bringing a new sense of appreciation for L’ Arc en Ciel and NY artists’ works of classical realism.

Curated by L’ Arc en Ciel president Elaine Herbosa, the group exhibit features Luna Arguelles, JV Calanoc, Jankarlo Cortez, Ram Skyler de Leon, Alfred Galura, Elaine and Nina Herbosa, Stephanie Honrado, Carla Kim, Connie Quirino, Pilar L. Quiros, Alex Sibug, and Margie R. Villonco from the East (L’ Arc) and Mia Herbosa, Mark Kevin Gonzales, Yeemee Lee, and Jennifer Fairbanks from the West (NY).

For inquiries, call (02) 759 8288 or email artistspace@ayalamuseum.org Giyera in the Eyes of Maestro Amorsolo Ground Floor Gallery, Ayala Museum, Makati City Ongoing until October 11 In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of The Battle of Manila, Ayala Museum mounts Fernando Amorsolo’s paintings from the war years (1941-1945).

Witnessing the war from the window of his home on Azcarraga Street, Amorsolo – or “Maestro” to his students and other artists – used his pencil, pen and paintbrush to create art out of the chaos of war. On record, Amorsolo had produced voluminous pencil sketches and drawings of the destruction and characters of war.

For inquiries and reservations, call (02) 759 8288 or email hello@ ayalamuseum.org

If Aristotle Can’t Be Your Teacher, Then You Have To Teach Yourself Galleria Duemila, Pasay City September 5 to 28 Believing that one cannot teach students to be an artist but only show how to be one, 13 contemporary artists display their own digressions from what they learned about art in and outside of the walls of school.

The group exhibition showcases paintings, collages and photographs

by Raena Abella, Juan Alcazaren, Felix Bacolor, Gino Bueza, Monica Delgado, Nilo Ilarde (also the curator), Lubin Nepomuceno, Jonathan Olazo, Michelle Perez, Juni Salvador, Hubert San Juan, Angel Ulama, and Atsuko Yamagata.

For more information on this exhibit, call (02) 831 9990, email gduemila@gmail. com, or visit www.galleriaduemila.com

In this workshop with no homework, Jessica Zafra makes sure that in every session participants will undergo a series of exercises designed to hone their writing skills and strangle the doubts that stop them from writing.

Zafra, who believes that “writer’s block” is just a lame excuse, has proven her expertise through her two collections of short stories and dozens of essays on various topics published here and abroad, among other accomplishments in the creative field.

Workshop fee ranges from P6,120 to P6,800. Dial (02) 759-8288 loc 35 or email education@ayalamuseum. org for inquiries and reservations.

Intermediate Drawing Workshop (with Eleazar “Abe” Orobia) Zobel Room 3, Ayala Museum, Makati City September 5, 12, 19 and October 3 Enhance your drawing skills and explore different drawing techniques with Eleazar “Abe” Orobia – visual artist, art instructor and descendant of great Filipino painter Juan Luna.

Abe, born in Muntinlupa to a family of artists, will also teach participants in this four-day session some techniques on how to render like an Impressionist.

Join this workshop for P6,750 to P7,500. For inquiries and reservations, call (02) 759 8288 loc 35 or email education@ ayalamuseum.org

Intermediate Watercolor Workshop (with Eileen Bondoc-Escueta) Ayala Museum, Makati City September 5, 12, 19 and October 3 Learn from seasoned artist Eileen Bondoc-Escueta how to paint beautifully rendered still life and florals in this four-day workshop.

The instructor has been conducting painting classes and exhibiting watercolor masterpieces at the Ayala Museum since 1994. Her recent and sixth exhibit, Waterdance, at the ArtistSpace featured a collection of her paintings using watercolor.

Learn from a seasoned watercolor painter by enrolling in this workshop for P6,750 to P7,500.

For inquiries and reservations, call (02) 759 8288 loc 35 or email education@ayalamuseum.org

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@LIFEatStandard

Practice Makes Perfect 30x20 2015 Acrylic on Canvas

BALLERINA ART I

’ve known Patti Mallari Kendra, and her other cousins since 2007. The Fine Arts Trina and Nesa. major in Advertising Arts “The Movement series is graduate is a talented inspired by the way the costumes painter but she never really flow when dancers jump. got to pursue her passion ‘Kendra’ and ‘Hope’ are inspired for the arts because work by the blurred photos I shot at my always gets in the way (she cousin’s graduation recital. The THE GIST works in advertising). But she pointe shoe paintings were based

BY ED BIADO does dabble once in a while, on photos I took of actual, old, having been part of two group discarded shoes,” she tells me. exhibitions – “Boxed” in 2006 with college Patti, who has been drawing since she was friends and fellow artists Buen Calubayan and two (“according to my mom”), was born into a J. Pacena II; and the all-female “Regurgitating family with a strong love for the arts. She hails Daisies” in 2013. from Angono, Rizal, the Art Capital of the This year, I’m so happy that Patti finally Philippines and is a descendant of two National mounted her first solo exhibit “En Pointe,” which Artists: Carlos “Botong” V. Francisco for Visual currently runs until Sept. 24 at the A Space Arts, and Lucio D. San Pedro for Music. And Gallery in Makati. The exhibit features nine the ballet inspiration is not random because individual pieces and a diptych (making it 11 Patti is a dancer herself. pieces total) of Patti’s artwork that she created “I took ballet, tap, jazz, and modern between 2005 to 2007 and in 2015. In fact, she dance classes off and on over the course of only finished the piece “Practice Makes Perfect” 20 years, but never wanted to pursue dance the morning of the exhibit itself! professionally,” she says. “Growing up around As the title suggests, “En Pointe” is a cousins who were all professional performers collection of paintings inspired by ballet. or teachers kept me exposed to the art. We Patti’s fascination for painting ballet images even set up a dance school for kids together, began when she attended her cousin Kendra’s Dance Basics, which they continue to operate graduation recital at the Philippine High in Kapitolyo, Pasig.”

School for the Arts. She took pictures during Patti describes her painting style as realism: the performance with an old point-and-shoot “I like texture and metallic paints. I only camera, which all came out blurred. recently got back into painting regularly again That was her lightbulb moment: “These so I’m still trying to figure myself out. But would look interesting if they were paintings,” detailed, realistic paintings seem to be my she thought. So she began to paint a series of strength at the moment.” images based on the blurry photographs. Patti Check out Patti Mallari’s art on pattimallari. then experimented with the opposite: photo- com and on Instagram @artbypattimallari. realistic paintings of ballet shoes, based on the old, worn out and discarded shoes from Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @EdBiado

Hope 42x60 2007 Acrylic and Fabric on Wood

Movement 1 20x30 2015 Acrylic on Canvas

En Pointe 9x12 2005 Acrylic on Canvas

Jollibee art competition highlights Leyte recovery efforts

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lmost two years since the devastating onslaught of super typhoon Yolanda in Leyte, recovery efforts continue with help coming from various sectors.

Jollibee is one of the private entities helping in the recovery with the opening of its 900th store in Palo this October to symbolize the company’s belief that the local economy can get back on its feet. In line with the opening, Jollibee is launching the “900 Reasons to Smile” art competition which will serve as a venue for artists to depict the ways Filipinos find positivity and optimism even in the midst of challenges.

“It has been said that a new Jollibee store is an economic growth indicator in an area, and a sign of positive things to come. And as a brand that promotes the joy of family, we would like to do our part in spreading happiness to the people of Palo,” said Jollibee President Joseph Tanbuntiong.

The art competition is open to all amateur and professional artists. The medium will be paintings in oil, acrylic, or watercolor. Minimum size for an entry is 3x4 feet, while the maximum size is 4x5 feet.

Entries must be signed and properly labeled at the back with the artist’s name, address, contact number, title of the

piece, medium, size and year, and submitted by courier

by September 17 to Strategic Works, Inc. 2F Zaragoza Building, 102 Gamboa St., Legaspi Village, Makati City 1229. The winner will receive P100,000 while another P100,000 will be donated to his/her preferred charity or advocacy group. The wining piece will be unveiled during Jollibee’s 900th store opening.

For more details, interested parties can visit the official Jollibee Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ JollibeePhilippines).

T UES DAY : S EPT EMBER 1 : 2015

SHOWBITZ

ISAH V. RED EDITOR

isahred @ gmail.com

Baltog, Ibalong's first legendary hero

The mythical heroes and characters of Ibalong

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The mythical heroes and creatures of Ibalong

BIcOl ePIc cOmes alIve In IBalOng FesT

F

rom the dustbins of history to the streets of Legazpi City, this is how the saga of Ibalong, Bicol region’s trademark epic given a new lease on life through a festival named after it in Albay’s scenic capital city, unfolds.

Regarded as Bicol’s biggest non-religious festival, Ibalong Festival is based on the indigenous folklore and is perhaps the only cultural event in the country that recreates an epic.

Now in its 24th edition, it is a renaissance of a mid-19th century fragments of 60-stanza epic poem penned by Franciscan friar Bernardino de Melendreras about the ancient civilization of Ibalong or present-day Bicol.

The accounts of Kadunung, a wandering minstrel in Albay, regarded as the bard of Ibalong for being a fountainhead of indigenous folklore, inspired the friar.

Ibalong is about three legendary heroes—Baltog, Handyong and Bantong—who, with their supernatural strengths, rid the land of beasts and helped it attain its golden era.

Arriving at various times in history, these warriors who came from a faraway land, vanquished the dreaded beasts that sowed terror among the people. Among these dreaded beasts were Tandayag (giant wild boar) and Rabot (a half-man, half beast creature).

Another prominent character is the villain-turned-heroine Oryol, a beautiful half woman-half serpent that had a change of heart as she fell in love with Handiong

and joined his forces to defeat the other monsters of the land.

The legendary heroes later cultivated the land; established a government and a justice system and followed by an age of discovery and invention, helping a civilization flourish.

After recounting their heroic exploits, Kadunung suddenly stopped and promised to continue telling the story some other time, but never had the chance.

Scholars noted that while the epic appears to be an unfinished story, it is a living legend where the readers can freely continue the saga with their own interpretations of modern-day heroism.

The public got to know the epic first in 1895 when editor Wenceslao Retana compiled and annotated the fragments of the poem in the book Archivo del Bibliofilo Filipino.

While the original Spanish manuscripts were lost, the extant portions copied by Fray Jose Castaño in Breve Noticia were included in the Bibliofilo of Retana published in Madrid, Spain.

Noted Bicolano essayist Jose Ma. Panganiban, a colleague of Dr. Jose Rizal in the Propaganda Movement, supplied the title “Ibalong” because the original 60 quatrains had no title.

In October 1992, then Mayor Imelda Roces staged the maiden edition of the festival to rescue the epic from the dustbins of history and make it a source of pride for the people of the city and the entire Bicolandia.

And when the Legazpeños

breathed life into the legend, there was an equally legendary celebration with the pomp and pageantry of epic proportions.

Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal said that Ibalong Festival puts to the fore Bicol’s rich heritage and resilient character despite the adversities they encounter in life as can be gleaned from the epic’s unfolding story.

He said that in transforming an almost-forgotten legend into a colorful festival, the city has put a visual touch into the epic to make it more understood by the people. The highlight of the weeklong festivity was on Aug. 29 where the scenes of the legend were acted out in a street theater competition.

Festival activities included celebrity appearances, musical concerts, variety and entertainment shows, sporting tournaments, and socio-cultural events.

He noted that the festivity showcased the city’s strides in economic development, infrastructure, governance and tourism. Dubbed as the “City of Fun and Adventure”, Legazpi is one of the country’s top tourist attractions being the home of the perfect-coned Mayon Volcano, a shortlisted nominee to the Unesco World Heritage Site.

In 2013, Ibalong was adapted for the stage as a dance musical at the Cultural Center of the Philippines by playwright Rody Vera and directed by Tuxqs Rutaquio with Carol Bello’s musical direction, as part of Tanghalang Pilipino’s 26th season. – Photos by Marcus Patrick Encinareal

The people of Ibalong celebrate their golden age

Baltog, Ibalong's first legendary hero

Handiong, Ibalong's second hero

The people of Ibalong celebrate its golden age

Oryol, a villainess turned heroine

IPHOTO

Derek returns to Century tuna

D Derek Ramsay is back as Century Tuna Lite endorser

erek Ramsay is back in Century Tuna’s latest campaign launched recently.

It is titled “100% Pure Tuna” featuring Derek Ramsay and his ripped torso. Ramsay shared his fitness secret. He said a perfect body can be achieved through 70 percent diet and 30 percent workout.

Derek loves the Century Tuna Lite variant made with 100 percent

tuna and has less fat and less salt than regular flakes in oil. It is perfect for those who’d like to reach their fitness goals in no time.

Present during the launch were General Manager of Century Pacific Food Corporation Greg Banzon and Century Tuna Marketing Manager Gela Pecson.

For more diet tips and healthy recipes, visit www.centurytuna.ph or go to www.facebook.com/centurytunasuperbods for more updates

T UES DAY : S EPT EMBER 1 : 2015

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SHOWBITZ isahred @ gmail.com

FROm CUTiE TO HOTTiE

T

eejay Marquez has come a long way from the adorable boy-next-door Candy Cutie for Candy Magazine, to a serious hot young actor on his way to more and bigger projects.

Fresh from his stint inABS-CBN’s Dream Dad, Teejay is attending an art class, focusing on acrylic paint, while waiting for a new project. Of course, he still goes to the gym, attends workshops, has outof-town shows, and events as an ambassador of YSA Skin and Body Experts.

Teejay started out in commercials before he was chosen as a Candy Cutie that opened doors for him. He met talent scouts, young aspiring actors and actresses, and talent managers who all insisted that he try showbiz.

Teejay listened, auditioned for a role in GMA’s Tween Hearts, was accepted, and, as

By ROBBiE PangiLinan

they say, the rest is history.

He has since starred in other TV series and shows including Time of my Life, Ikaw Lang Ang Mamahalin, Walang Tulugan with the Master Showman, Party Pilipinas, Home Sweet Home, Anna Karenina, and Pyra: Ang Babaeng Apoy.

The 2011 PMPC Star Awards for Television’s “Best Male New TV Personality” has learned that he cannot please everyone.

“Just know yourself and with that, no one can bring you down. Dreams do come true. Stay as real as possible, be nice, be respectful always,” says Teejay, who also takes pride in being a Gawad Kabataan Youth Ambassador.

He is always inspired to do his best for his family especially his grandmother.

Teejay is grateful for all the blessings and opportunities and he always prays to thank God. If he finds

Teejay Marquez is YSA's youthful male endorser

time, he visits churches like Baclaran and Padre Pio. Single by choice, Teejay is focused on work. In the future, he wants to have his own business and win a best actor award. Occasionally, Teejay goes out to attend events or birthday parties.

Other than that, he relaxes by watching movies, surfing the Internet, and eating. And he eats a lot! But he manages his diet, drinks more water, always goes to the gym, and visits YSA for his regular maintenance of skin and body.

“I trust YSA because they have the best doctors and the staff and nurses are very nice and friendly. The services they give is 100 percent.

After every visit I feel good about myself,” shares Teejay whose usual treatment is diamond peel. When he has a stressful day or lack sleep, Teejay found out that Glutathione shots refresh him.

HannaH’s Collaborates witH Mutya 2015

H Janela Joy Cuaton, 2nd Runner-up, Brenna Cassandra Gamboa, Mutya ng Hannah's Beach Resort and Convention Center; Hannah Nolasco; Col Ricardo L Nolasco Jr PAF(Ret), owner of Hannah's; Leren Mae Bautista, Best in Long Gown - Mutya ng Pilipinas 2015; Julee Ann Marie Bourgoin, 1st Runner-up

CROSSWORD PUZZLE 39 41 43 44 45 46 48 50 51 54 55

ANSWER FOR PREVIOUS PUZZLE ACROSS 1 From a distance 5 Copy 10 11th-grade exam 14 Car with a bar 15 Fridge maker 16 Lo-cal 17 Toll-booth site 18 Like eggs or bosses, maybe (hyph.)

20 Custom 22 Takes the dais

23 25 26 27 28 32 33 35 36 37 38

Jiffy Hall-of-Famer Ty — Kind of bicycle John — Passos Noted limerick writer Costa — Battery’s “+” end Pale brown Crimson Tide st.

Cheviot mama Sci. room

Muddle or plight Hawks Pig movie Kind of school Website clutter Grave risks Tube trophy Lampoon El — Warning device Not your usual pooches (2 wds.)

57 Did batik 61 Single time 62 Look happy 63 Centurion’s moon 64 Look intently 65 Dinner guest 66 Barely scraped by DOWN 1 Malt brew 2 Rig the fight 3 Left Bank friend 4 Domed building 5 — Gandhi 6 Mind’s-eye view 7 Oats enthusiast 8 Gary’s st.

9 Train follower 10 Springy

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2015

11 12 13 19 21 23 24 25 26 27 29 30 31 34 40 41 42 43 47 49 50 51 52 53 54 56 58 59 60

Fine sediment To — — (exactly) Nugent and Turner Eye or planet “A Boy Named —” Padded envelope Perchance (2 wds.)

Like DNA Knight of the road Swallows Cream puff Rich, as farmland Goldberg et al.

Flat broke Stereo component Split Thinner Kind of cat Hot time in Quebec Dashboard info Move crabwise Cut short Improve an edge Livy’s “Lo!” Nasty mood Ms. Thurman — it up (have some laughs) Helmsman’s dir.

Informal parent

annah’s Beach Resort & Convention Center, dubbed the “Crown Jewel of the North,” and one of the prime tourist destinations in the Philippines, collaborated with Mutya ng Pilipinas, Inc. for the holding of the Best in Long Gown Competition in Hannah’s.

Winner of the Best in Long Gown competition was Leren Mae Bautista.

“It was a great honor for us to collaborate with Mutya ng Pilipinas, Inc. which conducts their annual pageant with emphasis in promoting ‘Beauty Tourism’ within Asia and West Pacific.

Hannah’s shares this thrust in assisting in the promotion of tourism and social

responsibility,” said Col. Ricardo L. Nolasco, Jr. PAF (Ret.), proprietor of Hannah’s, named by Gawad Amerika Foundation as 2014 Most Outstanding Tourist Destination in the Philippines.

Aside from the Best in Long Gown Competition, a Mutya ng Hannah’s Beach Resort & Convention Center was also chosen. Winner was Brenna Cassandra Gamboa. First runner-up was Julee Ann Marie Bourgoin, and second runner-up was Janela Joy Cuaton.

Hannah’s Beach Resort & Convention Center, named after Col. Nolasco’s daughter who is a budding singer and recording artist, is located in Brgy. Balaoi, Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte.

T UES DAY : S EPT EMBER 1 : 2015

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SHOWBITZ isahred @ gmail.com

GMA cArpinG over Sky SubScriberS’ SiGnAl loSS From c8

The AlDub fever is getting nastier with GMA Network and SkyCable now caught in a tiff

Some subscribers of SkyCable, the country’s biggest cable TV operator, have sent a barrage of SMS and posts on the networks social media accounts complaining losing signal on their TV sets during the telecast of the noontime show Eat Bulaga and missing the segment “Juan for All, and All for Juan” in which the love team of AlDub (Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza) is seen.

This prompted the network to file a complaint with the National Telecommunication Commission against SkyCable.

In a letter dated August 25, 2015, GMA, thru its Senior Vice President for Engineering Engr. Elvis B. Ancheta and Vice President for Legal Affairs Lynn P. Delfin, appealed for the immediate action of the NTC for the sake of paying SkyCable subscribers, “who are being short-changed through the irresponsible acts of their service provider.”

GMA said this is a violation of Section 6 of the NTC MC No. 4-08-88 or the Revised Rules and Regulations Governing Cable Television Systems in the Philippines.

In line with the complaint, the Network cited a series of tweets posted from July 19 to Aug. 21, 2015 by viewers from Metro Manila, Cavite, Bacolod, and Iloilo, “who mostly decried the apparent ‘sabotage’ perpetrated by SkyCable” and expressed “disgust” for missing their favorite portion of the country’s longest running noon-time show.

Twitter user @wyne_me posted on Aug. 13, 2015 “OMG! Walang signal ang GMA sa sky cable dito sa Bacolod pero ang iba meron. Nakakabadtrip! Eat Bulaga na mamaya #AlDubHihintayinKita.” Meanwhile, another viewer with the username @floresjenny1214 tweeted on Aug. 20, 2015 “Sky cable naman eh kapag eat bulaga na lagi malabo o mawawala wag ganun #ALDUBKeepTheFaith.”

On Aug. 22, Eat Bulaga registered a household rating of 31.3 percent in NUTAM (National Urban Television Audience Measurement) beating its counterpart program’s 13.7 percent, according to Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.

The episode, which showed the wedding of Yaya Dub to Frankie Arenoli (Jose Manalo), garnered more than two million tweets and was praised by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines

Former Quezon City Councilor Ariel E. Inton guests in Pros & Cons Breakfast Interaction

Ariel inton At Pros & Cons Former Quezon City Councilor Ariel E. Inton, responsible for the reduction of taxes for local movies shown in Quezon City theaters through an ordinance he authored and also a movie producer, will be among the special guests during the “Pros & Cons Breakfast Inter-Action” on Thursday, 9:00-11:00 a. m. at the Aberdeen Court, Quezon Avenue, Quezon City. Journalist and movie director-scriptwriter Nardz Belen hosts and moderates “Pros & Cons.”

Inton, who is now a commissioner of the Land Transportation Franchising & Regulatory Board (LTFRB), also authored a resolution calling Quezon City as the City of Stars and the Entertainment Capital of the Philippines.

Movie director Pablo Vergara, member of the Board of Governors of the Film Academy of the Philippines ((FAP) and head of the Academy’s composers and songwriters guild, is also a guest.

Other special guests during the breakfast Inter-action are Rep. Bong Suntay and Obet Martin (Pasang-Masda). Transportation groups like the Bus Operators Association of the Philippines will also be represented. Subject of the breakfast inter-action affects us all, whether you are a celebrity or a common individual: the hot issue, traffic congestion and the entry of other transportation agencies which have affected the flow of traffic either favorably or rendered it worse.

Until when the country's infatuation with the accidental love team remain?

for promoting Catholic values.

GMA has received from its viewers.

Reacting to the allegations of GMA Instead of merely saying that GMA’s Network, SkyCable, in a press statement, complaint is malicious and without said calling the complaint GMA Net- basis, SkyCable would do well to rework filed with the NTC regarding the fute the specific complaints of GMA’s poor cable signal during the airing of the viewers submitted to the NTC, where noontime show Eat Bulaga, particularly the case is now pending. during the airing of its “Aldub kalye-serThis word war between the Kapuye segment”malicious and without basis. so network and Skycable, which, as SKY Cable Corporation, the coun- everybody knows, is owned by the try’s leading source of cable TV home Kapamilya network, will never end entertainment, said ithas been pro- for so long as programs are ratings viding top-of-the-line services to sub- dependent and advertisers base their scribers for the past 25 years. It has support for programs on the figures always been its primary aim to be at supplied by research firms, in the case par with global standards and inno- of GMA, the National Urban Televivations in bringing world-class enter- sion Audience Measurement, and for tainment to every Filipino home.

ABS-CBN it is the Kantar Media.

The complaint of GMA 7 with the In Albay, where I come from, some National Telecommunications Com- residents there in various towns are dismission (NTC) last August 25, 2015, appointed that they can’t watch Eat Buit furthered, regarding shortchanging laga, not because they have lost cable TV of our SKYCable subscribers via irre- signal too, but there is almost always an sponsible acts, is a malicious accusa- electric service interruption that time. tion and is without basis. If there were Anyway, SkyCable may be saying the service interruptions that inconve- truth that the loss of signal could be isonienced some of our subscribers, these lated cases (I have never lost signal here were isolated and would have affected at my residence, so far), but according to other channels, not only GMA 7. a telecommunications expert I talked to SKY is willing to cooperate with the recently, it could also be possible that the NTC for any investigation they may loss of signal could be purposive. wish to do regarding these incidents. Well, let the NTC decide on the In reply to that, GMA Network point- case. They are there to adjudicate ed out the complaint with the NTC was things like this. We cannot presume based on the numerous complaints what is true or not.

PhotogrAPher bACk on Cnn PhiliPPines See the Philippines through the eyes of renowned photographer Paco Guerrero. Accompany him as he travels the country and captures its places and people in their most beautiful angle. Because of his mastery of light and lens, viewers have much to learn from Guerrero’s adventures.

Guerrero takes you to different destinations around the country and immerses himself in the dynamic cultures of each region. In one of the episodes, he returns to South Cotabato, a place that is exceptionally memorable for him.

“Returning to Lake Sebu and our friends at the T’boli tribe [is a striking experience]. We had such an amazing shoot there for the 1st season and I have always wanted to return, to see how things have changed and to shake hands with old friends.

Paco Guerrero

This time, for Season 3, we returned with a different photographic concept in mind. We wanted to do a fashion shoot with clothes made from indigenous cloths. Lake Sebu was just as magical as I remember. We hope the viewers experience that magic with our first episode,” Guerrero says.

Tag along as Paco Guerrero takes the road less travelled and find out how he takes photos that encapsulate the story of the Filipino.

Catch the 3rd season of What I See, premiering at 7 p.m. on Sept. 19.

T UES DAY : S EPT EMBER 1 : 2015

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ISAH V. RED EDITOR isahred @ gmail.com

SHOWBITZ

The cast of Buena Familia

Kapuso afternoon shows still unbeatable ISAH V. RED GMA Network’s Afternoon Prime block remains the Filipinos’ preferred choice for quality daytime dramas. It remains undefeated with more viewers getting hooked on the programs.

With its undeniable success, The Half Sisters continues to promote love and kindness among family members while Buena Familia shows the value of honesty and integrity. Healing Hearts, on the other hand, encourages the hope to rise above life’s challenges.

The intriguing series The Half Sisters clearly edged out competition and gained ratings stronghold in its timeslot since it launched on June 9 last year. The show also made its presence felt on the Internet as netizens continuously follow and discuss the many twists and turns in the story.

As the story unfolds, viewers can expect more confrontations and revelations and new characters to spice up the remaining days of the series.

Magnolia (Cherie Gil) continues with her evil schemes against Rina (Jean Garcia). She will do everything to convince her mother Elizabeth (Gloria Romero) to make her the rightful heir. She will even bribe Elizabeth’s lawyer to change her last will and testament. Will Magnolia finally succeed in her plans?

Meanwhile, avid viewers of top-rating series will have all the more reason to stay glued on their favorite Afternoon prime soap as Kapuso teen actor Ruru Madrid as Joaquin Castillo joins the cast and brings an interesting twist in the story. What will be Ruru’s role in the series?

A brewing mix of drama and romance is the theme for this week on the Kapuso Afternoon Prime drama

series Buena Familia as Celine (Kylie Padilla) and Darling (Julie Anne San Jose) deepen their relationship with Harry (Martin del Rosario) and Kevin (Jake Vargas). The Buena family continues to struggle due to the plots of revenge by Josephine (Sheryl Cruz) and Quentin (Dino Guevarra), but their hope to surpass the challenges remains strong.

Darling, Celine and Edwin (Julian Trono) have been thrown out of Quentin’s mansion leaving only Bettina (Angelu de Leon) and Faye (Mona Louise Rey).

Darling has not given up her dream to be a well-known singer after she meets a vocal coach that promises to open a lot opportunities for her. Meanwhile, Celine needs to stay the strongest for another problem is yet to arise as Harry’s ex-girlfriend Iris is ready to make her life a lot less bearable.

Under the direction of Roderick Lindayag, Healing Hearts continues to captivate its loyal viewers with its highly emotional scenes. The story about the extraordinary connection between mother and child and how two young lovers fight for their love despite conflicts hounding them provides the audience a special viewing treat every afternoon.

This week, now that Nimfa (Angelika dela Cruz) already knows that Liza (Joyce Ching) is Rachel’s (Mickey Ferriols) missing daughter. She will do anything to keep them apart. And when Nimfa got to confront Rachel, she admits that she has Rachel’s daughter. Will Rachel still be able to see and be reunited with her long-lost daughter? Will Liza get to find out that her mother is Rachel? Will Nimfa’s plan of keeping the two apart succeed?

Catch the exciting episodes of GMA’s Afternoon Prime block starting with The Half Sisters, Buena Familia and Healing Hearts airing weekdays after Eat Bulaga. ➜ Continued on C7

Kristoffer Martin in Healing Hearts

The cast of The Half Sisters

Joyce Ching is the protagonist in Healing Hearts