The Standard - 2016 April 23 - Saturday

VOL. XXX  NO. 70  3 Sections 32 Pages P18  SATURDAY : APRIL 23, 2016  www.thestandard.com.ph  editorial@thestandard.com.ph

GET A SHRINK, DIGONG TOLD

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PALACE SHARING STOLEN DATABASE

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan and Maricel V. Cruz

THE Palace came under fire Friday after internet users said they found proof that it was spreading hacked data containing the personal information of millions of registered voters.

A lawyer specializing in media law, Marlon Anthony Tonson, posted a screenshot on his Twitter account that showed a server used by the Palace, mail.malacanang.gov.ph, was among those seeding the hacked Commission on Elections database.

“Now who’s the idiot from Malacañang seeding the internet with the private information of registered voters from the #COMELEAK large-scale data breach?,” he posted.

On Thursday, unknown hackers created a website with a search engine to make the stolen voter data easily accessible—and

searchable—by anyone with internet access.

The hacked database—including a 312-gigabyte archive file—is now available through BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer filesharing system in which people downloading huge files are also making them available to others at the same time, in a process called seeding.

The screenshot posted by Tonson showed that the Palace mail server was among the seeders of the stolen database.

Another Twitter user posted a similar screenshot.

“The government, while obtaining a

copy for themselves, contributes to the sharing, making it more accessible,” Edward Victor Tan said in his Twitter account, Earlier, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the site set up by the group LulzSec Pilipinas that was hosted in Russia had already been taken down.

But security experts said this was too late, as copies of the database had already been exposed and circulated in that time.

Militant lawmakers, meanwhile, denounced the Comelec’s “lackadaisical” response to the massive voter data leak that leaves millions of registered voters vulnerable to identity theft and that could jeopardize the integrity of the May 9 elections.

“The massive data breach has manifold ramifications to all affected voters, yet the most insidious among these is the fact that unscrupulous groups—especially those currently in power—can use the data trove to commit automated electoral fraud of a scale unparalleled since the advent of automated Next page

AQUINO BLAMES RALLY ORGANIZERS FOR KIDAPAWAN

By Sandy Araneta and Maricel V. Cruz LEFTIST groups lambasted President Benigno Aquino III Friday for blaming protest organizers for the April 1 dispersal in Kidapawan City in which police shot dead two farmers, and said unrest would spread among those suffering from drought because of his apathy and ineptitude.

In an interview with reporters in Lipa City, Batangas, Aquino said he was still awaiting the results of an investigation into the incident, but said it appeared that an organized group duped people from different places into believing that they would receive rice from the government by joining the mass action.

“It seems that somebody organized this to a create violence. That is what we need to investigate,” President Aquino said. “They did this to exploit the people.”

He said the Justice department would set free those who were duped into joining the rally, but said he felt it was not justified for the hungry farmers to block the main highway or to attack the police when they tried to disperse them.

The actions of authorities to disperse the protesters were lawful since the activists did not secure permits for the rally, he said—but did not comment on why police at the rally were carrying M-16 rifles in violation of standard crowd control procedures.

Aquino’s remarks triggered outrage among leftist lawmakers and militant groups.

“After three weeks of having no definitive statement on the Kidapawan issue, Aquino is now presenting a monstrous lie that washes blood off the hands of the police, the North Cotabato government and the national government itself who are

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COMELEC SCORED ON DAANG MATUWID

Who is responsible? Bayan Muna members picket the Commission on Elections office in Intramuros, Manila to demand accountability for the hacking of the poll body’s database of the personal information of voters. LINO SANTOS

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US JETS, CHOPPERS PATROL PH WATERS

FOUR US A-10C “Thunderbolt” II and two HH-60G “Pave Hawk” aircraft flew out of the former American air base in Clark, Pampanga on April 19 on what the US Embassy in Manila called their first “maritime situational awareness flight.”

The aircraft, part of the US Pacific Command’s Air Contingent deployed to Clark, stayed behind in the Philippines after participating in this year’s Balikatan joint military exercises.

Their mission will include conducting operations such as air and maritime domain awareness, personnel recovery, combating piracy, and helping to assure that all nations have access to air and sea domains throughout the region in accordance with international law, the US Embassy said Friday.

The operation took the aircraft through international airspace to the west of Luzon to promote transparency and safety of movement in international waters and airspace, and showcase US commitment to allies and partners as well as to the region’s continued

stability, it added.

The embassy did not specifically mention the West Philippine Sea, however, which is the focus of a simmering territorial dispute between China and the Philippines.

“Inter-operability with the Philippine military is at the forefront of our mission,” Air Contingent head Col. Larry Card said. “The standup of the Air Contingent promotes this collective focus as we build upon our already strong alliance, and reaffirm our commitment to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.”

All personnel in this deployment are airmen assigned to various Pacific Air Forces bases, and include aircrew, maintainers, logistics and support personnel, the embassy said.

The announcement came as China defend-

ed as “normal” its test firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile Thursday.

The US media site Washington Free Beacon, citing unidentified Pentagon officials, reported that China had carried out a test of its DF-41 long-range missile on April 12.

The report linked the tests to tensions between Washington and Beijing over the South China Sea, noting that it came three days before a visit by US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter.

The DF-41 missile has a range of some 14,000 kilometers and could, according to some experts, carry up to 10 nuclear warheads.

In a brief response, China’s defense ministry did not deny a test had been carried out, but dismissed media reports of a specific location as “pure speculation.”

“It is normal for us to carry out scientific research tests in our own territory, according to our plans, and they are not aimed at any specific nations or targets,” said a statement on its website. PNA, AFP

Tiempo muerto. Kidapawan massacre survivors join sugar workers under the Unyon ng mga Mangagawa sa Agrikultura in demanding that the government extend aid in the ‘dead time’ brought about by the ongoing drought in many parts of the country. LINO SANTOS

Aquino...

From A1

otherwise the ones being held variously accountable by strong public opinion and evidence culled from at least one national fact finding mission and the ongoing Senate investigation,” said Anakpawis party-list Rep. Fernando Hicap.

Hicap joined the militant farmers group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas in a protest in front of Aquino’s residence on Times Street, Quezon City, to denounce the Aquino administration’s poor handling of the Kidapawan incident.

Hicap said that contrary to the President’s statement, “by all factual, moral and historical accounting, it is the Aquino regime itself that should be held responsible for the bloody police dispersal of farmers in Kidapawan.”

Hicap said Aquino’s statement not only absolves the PNP and the North Cotabato government but strongly suggests an impending crackdown against efforts of peasant and civil

society groups.

“The public should condemn Aquino’s lies that are desperately intended to save his administration from any culpability in the Kidapawan massacre and to justify and escalate the government’s attacks against the rights of the peasants and the people,” Hicap said.

The Times Street protest also coincided with the fourth year anniversary of the Supreme Court decision to distribute to the farmers the Cojuangco-Aquino owned and controlled Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, which Anakpawis asserts has not yet been carried out.

“The image of Aquino’s bloody hands in the Kidapawan massacre becomes even more stark especially as we remember that his CojuangcoAquino clan still controls thousands of hectares of land in Tarlac and continues to harass farm workers there and that there has not yet been a single perpetrator of the 2004 Hacienda Luisita massacre punished,” Hicap said.

Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes also denounced the President’s statements.

“By laying the blame for the Kidapawan vio-

lence on the protesting farmers, Noynoy Aquino has officially sanctioned the grand cover up of the massive human rights violations that took place before and during April 1,” he said. “By presidential pronouncement, Aquino has absolved the entire government, including the PNP and the North Cotabato LGU from any wrongdoing.

Aquino is now sending the message to his officials that tampering with evidence, producing false witnesses and harassing farmer survivors is acceptable. Aquino has made it crystal clear that justice cannot be achieved under a haciendero regime. The landlord president has zero sympathy for farmers. For him, Kidapawan and Luisita are just about the same.”

The KMP, citing escalating protests in Mindanao, attacked the administration’s record.

More than 3,000 farmers held a protest at the Department of Agriculture Region 12 Sub Office in Koronadal City in South Cotabato, more than 2,000 farmers are in Cagayan De Oro, and 5,000 more joined mass actions in Bukidnon in Northern Mindanao, said KMP chairman Rafael Mariano.

Palace...

From A1 polls,” Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said as he joined several leftist groups who picketed the Comelec head office in Intramuros to denounce the data breach.

“With… sensitive personal information of [millions of] voters now uploaded on the internet and even searchable through a new search engine that sprouted recently, we cannot emphasize enough how the so-called ‘Comeleaks’ totally compromises the integrity of the upcoming elections,” Ridon said.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares hit the Comelec for its criminal neglect and incompetence, which allowed a massive leak of its voter database. The data stolen—then later posted by the hackers on a public website—included sensitive information on registered voters, including their home addresses, birthdates, and passport numbers.

Colmenares slammed the Comelec for the security breach.

“Not only was the Comelec website easily hacked, the culled data was also uploaded to a website and exposed the sensitive and personal information of millions of Filipino voters to identity thieves and other predators. All cases of identity theft now could be blamed on the Comelec,” Colmenares said.

“The Comelec has utterly failed in its obligation to protect the fundamental human right of privacy of the Filipino people. The situation endangers the security, life and property of each one of us,” Colmenares added.

Under the Data Privacy Act or RA 10173, Colmenares said it is the responsibility of the head of the agency to ensure that sensitive and personal information it maintains remain secure, using the most appropriate ICT standards.

“Under the same law, negligence of the agency resulting in a large-scale breach is punishable by imprisonment of up to six years, fine and disqualification to hold public office.

The agency must also be held accountable for concealment of this security breach, which is likewise punishable by imprisonment, fine and disqualification,” Colmenares said.

“The extent of the data breach is in the hundreds of thousands at the least so the maximum penalty may be meted to those responsible. I would not be surprised if the Comelec would face a lot of lawsuits after this,” Colmenares said.

A group identifying itself as Anonymous Philippines defaced the Comelc website on March 27 to call on the poll body to implement security features in the vote-counting machines that will be used in the May 9 elections.

Another group, LulzSec Pilipinas, then uploaded what it claimed to be the Comelec’s whole database consisting of 340 gigabytes of data.

While the Comelec earlier downplayed the effects of the data leak, internet security software company Trend Micro said that about 1.3 million records of overseas Filipino voters.

The cybersecurity firm also warned that the data dump may also include—albeit in encrypted format—personal data of the 55million registered voters in the Philippines, possibly making the leak one of the “biggest government-related data breaches in history,” surpassing the hack of the US Office of Personnel Management in 2015.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the website containing the leaked data had been taken down less than 24 hours after it went online.

“As soon as we found out about that website, we referred it to [the] NBI to take [it] down,” Jimenez told GMA News.

He said the website had been hosted on a server in Russia, but the government was able to contact the hosting company and have them take the site offline with some help from US authorities. With Joel E. Zurbano, Sandy Araneta and John Paolo Bencito

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Duterte called ‘abnormal’ ALAMINOS CITY—Vice President Jejomar Binay on Friday called rival presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte “abnormal” for insulting and antagonizing allied countries United States and Australia, senior citizens, women and children.

He dared Davao City Mayor Duterte to undergo physical and psychological checkup for free in Makati, saying the stress of the campaign could be taking its toll on Duterte’s mental and physical health.

“Hinihikayat ko si Mister Duterte na magpatingin na agad sa psychiatrist. Mukhang sobra na siyang naaapektuhan ng stress sa kampanya,” Binay said.

“I also urge him to undergo as

well a full physical examination, at siya mismo ang nagsabi na siya ay may malubhang sakit.”

Binay said he hoped Duterte’s mental and physical conditions had not worsened “because of the stress of dealing with reality.”

He said it was “most unfortunate” for Duterte to say he would sever the Philippines’ ties with the US and Australia if he won the presidency after the ambassadors

of the two countries assailed his comment that he should have been the first to rape Australian missionary Jacquelin Hamill who was raped and killed by prison inmates.

Binay also chided Duterte for belittling senior citizens and making fun of those who had been paralyzed by a stroke.

“No God-fearing person wishes harm on another person even his political enemies,” Binay said.

Duterte’s confused reply to the charges filed against him by women’s rights advocates could be a sign of deteriorating mental health.

Binay said he could not understand why Duterte, a lawyer and a former fiscal, was “apparently con-

fused about the concept of freedom.”

“This could be due to his psychological condition,” Binay said, referring to the “Antisocial Narcissistic Personality Disorder” Duterte is reportedly suffering from as revealed in a psychological report conducted and submitted as evidence during the annulment of his marriage to his wife Elizabeth Zimmerman.

“For all his wrongdoings, he tends to rationalize and feel justified. Hence, he seldom feels a sense of guilt or remorse,” the assessment said of Duterte.

Binay slammed Duterte for invoking his freedom of speech to defend his “slurs against women and his comments about raping a

dead Australian missionary,” saying “freedom comes with responsibility and accountability.”

“May kalayaan daw siyang insultuhin ang kababaihan at pagtawanan ang panggagahasa. Anong klaseng salita ‘yan?” Binay said.

“Mister Duterte should know that freedom comes with responsibility and accountability. It is not freedom from responsibility and accountability, especially when you not only demean women but violate their rights.”

Binay said Duterte should assure the people that he was of sound mind and body, especially if he was to become president. Christine F. Herrera and Vito Barcelo

Dagupan City final debate site

DAGUPAN CITY—Some 7,000 policemen and soldiers will secure the final Presidential Debate on April 24 at the Phinma University of Pangasinan starting at 6 p.m., Dagupan City Police Chief Christopher Abrahano said Friday.

He said there will be maximum security at the debate site and only those with clearance will be allowed to enter the debate hall.

He made his statement even as Senator Grace Poe on Friday appealed to her fellow presidential candidates to refrain from mudslinging and name-calling during the final Presidential Debate on Sunday.

“I am urging all candidates not to resort to namecalling because after this, we will be back to who we are,” Poe said.

Abrahano said only 1,100 people would be allowed in the debate hall.

The general audience could enter the university only from Nable Street where the gate would be open at 1 a.m. and closed at 3 p.m.

The presidential candidates are expected to arrive at 4 p.m.

The Commission on Elections said those without the pre-issued entry access would not be allowed in but could watch the debate on television. PNA, with Macon Ramos-Araneta

Campaigning in Pangasinan. United Nationalist Alliance presidential candidate Jejomar Binay meets residents of Alaminos City in Pangasinan.

Govt must not instill fear—Poe PRESIDENTIAL aspirant Grace Poe said Friday the government must be careful not to instill fear among its citizens or to threaten hard-won democratic rights when fighting crime and corruption.

Speaking before a crowd of 30,000 in Palawan, Poe said measures must be done to ensure that people would not be afraid of being victimized by criminals, but they should also not be afraid of their government.

“Bakit natin isusuko ang ating kalayaan na mabuhay nang hindi takot? Mga kababayan, ang gobyerno ang dapat matakot sa inyo at hindi kayo ang dapat matakot sa gobyerno. Dapat kami ang mananagot sa inyo, hindi namin kayo dapat binu-bully,” Poe said in Puerto Princesa City.

The senator, who vowed to address poverty in her campaign against criminality, said violence should not be used to fight violence.

“Ayoko namang basta sabihin ‘papatayin ko,’ sapagkat kung nagkamali at isang buhay na inosente ang nawala, maghihigantihan tayong lahat. Hindi na ‘yan matatapos at nakakatakot ‘yan,” Poe said.

“Pero maniwala kayo, ‘pag gumawa kayo ng kalokohan sa aking gobyerno, kaibigan man kita o kaaway, ipapakulong kita.”

In her campaign sorties across the country, Poe, the first foundling to run for president, has often highlighted the strength and compassion of women leaders like her.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

R e n ov a t i o n a n d E x t e n s i o n . A s p a r t o f i t s a p o s t o l i c m i s s i o n , t h e Wo n g C h u K i n g Fo u n d a t i o n ( W C K F ) t u r n e d ove r t h e O u r L a d y o f P i a t c h a p e l ex t e n s i o n i n s i d e C a m p T i r s o G a d o r, P r ov i n c i a l Po l i c e H e a d q u a r t e r s , Tu g u e g a r a o C i t y, C a g ay a n , a s p a r t o f i t s 2 6 t h a n n i ve r s a r y c e l e b r a t i o n . T h e c h a p e l w i l l s e r ve a s a n ex t e n s i o n o f t h e M i r a c u l o u s O u r L a d y o f P i a t w h e r e m o s t p o l i c e m e n a r e d evo u t f o l l o w e r s . I n P h o t o ( L- R) J a m e s V i n c e n t N ava r r e t e ( W C K F G e n e r a l M a n a g e r), P S U P T R o b e r t o B u c a d , P S U P T M a r i o S i n o c r u z , P D i r. R o d r i g o d e G r a c i a ( R e t .), P D i r. J a m e s M e l a d ( R e t .), P D i r. R o b e r t o O l ay, M r. A l ex a n d e r Wo n g c h u k i n g ( W C K F E xe c u t i ve D i r e c t o r), P D i r. E r d w i n E r n i e ( R e t .), P D i r. H e n r y L o s a n e s ( R e t .) t o g e t h e r w i t h o t h e r P r ov i n c i a l O f f i c i a l s .

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‘Daang Matuwid’ signs hit

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan and John Paolo Bencito

AN electioN watchdog on Friday asked the commission on elections to order the removal of all government signages bearing the words “Daang Matuwid” because they are supposedly illegal campaign materials giving undue advantage to liberal Party candidates.

In a complaint filed before the Comelec, the group Kontra Daya said the poll body committed a grave abuse of discretion in allowing LP standard bearer Manuel Roxas II and his running mate Leni Robredo to use the name “Daang Matuwid” as their nicknames.

“It is obvious that the names appearing in the official ballot

pertaining to these candidates violate several election laws,” the group, through its convener Danny Arao, said.

They said the Comelec violates Rule II Section 4, 5 and 7 of the Comelec Resolution No. 9984.

“Daang Matuwid is not these candidates’ nicknames or the names they are generally or

popularly known,” the group said.

“It is of public knowledge that the present administration, headed by no less than the President of the Philippines, has been using the tagline ‘daang matuwid’ or ‘tuwid na daan’ everywhere, in every project announcement or advertisement,” it added.

Arao said both Roxas and Robredo, as bets of the present administration, have deliberately used the “Daang Matuwid” slogan as their nicknames and the Aquino administration has purposely allowed them to do so “to give said pair the added but unfair and illegal advantage of the use of an attempt to deliberately mislead and misinform the voters.”

The group also said that with Roxas and Robredo using the slogan “Daang Matuwid” as nickname, it has become clear, as of Feb. 12, 2016, that all issuances of the Aquino Adminsitration, from posters and billboards announcing government projects to television advertisements to issued documents containing “Daang Matuwid,” paid for or otherwise produced using public funds and resources, have become political advertisement or election propaganda.

Former Comelec commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal had earlier raised the same complaint and also urged the government to take down all public materials bearing Daang Matuwid.

He cited the Section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code

which provides individuals that may be guilty of an election offense.

But Roxas’ spokesperson Rep. Barry Gutierrez, defended the administration bets, saying that it was the Comelec’s decision to allow them to adopt the nickname.

“It was the Comelec’s decision to allow it. We will abide by the Comelec’s process. If groups and individuals that are affiliated with one of our rival candidates insist on using this issue to attempt to score political points, that it is their choice,” Gutierrez said.

The group said Robredo also exceeded the “30-character limitation, which includes spaces and g( ) h, as specified

by Section 7.

Miranda is acting military chief

By Florante S. Solmerin PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III has opted not to name a regular Armed Force chief purportedly to prevent a recurrence of the trouble in the military hierarchy after he bypassed the next general in line when he assumed office in 2010.

Consequently, AFP vice chief of staff Lieutenant General Glorioso Miranda assumed the military’s top post in an acting capacity replacing General Hernando Irriberi who reached his mandatory retirement age of 56 on Friday.

“The next president of the country will likely be the one to appoint whoever he feels should be named to key AFP posts,” said one general who is privy to the succession process.

The general said it was only proper for Miranda to assume in an acting capacity to avoid the acrimony that Aquino caused in 2010 when he refused to recognize the appointment of the late AFP chief of staff General Deflin Bangit and forcing him to retire early.

Bangit still had a year remaining in service when Aquino assumed office and he was forced him to retirement because he was appointed by former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, an honorary member of Bangit’s PMA “Makatarungan” Class ’78, in her last days in office.

Aquino attended Irriberi’s retirement parade at the AFP’s Camp Aguinaldo headquarters, and over the turn over of command from Irriberi to Miranda, who both belong to PMA Class of 1983.

Change of command. President Benigno S. Aquino III presides over the change of command of the AFP from General Hernando Iriberri to newly appointed Lt. Gen. Glorioso Miranda. MALACAÑANG PHOTO

US, UK advisories out

By Vito Barcelo

Fatal accident. Commuters and Red Cross personnel gather at the scene of an accident

after the driver of a speeding passenger bus lost control and hit several commuters waiting for a ride on Commonwealth and Mindanao avenues in Quezon City on Friday. Two people died while 12 others were injured. MANNY PALMERO

THE United States and Britain embassies in Manila have warned their citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to Mindanao due to continued terrorist threats, insurgent activities and kidnappings.

In its advisory issued Friday, the US Department of State warned US citizens to defer non-essential travel to the Sulu Archipelago, due to the high threat of kidnapping, increased threat of maritime kidnappings and violence linked to insurgency and terrorism there.

“Avoid travelling to the southern Sulu Sea region from the southern tip of Palawan, along the coast of Sabah, Malaysia and the islands of the Sulu Archipelago, up to Zamboanga City, Mindanao. Terrorist and insurgent groups based in the Sulu Archipelago continue to target foreigners for kidnapping in the Eastern Sabah province of Malaysia and in the southern Sulu Sea area,” the US advisory said.

The British government issued a similar travel warning, adding that Abu Sayyaf militants have been suspected of seizing 18 Indonesian and Malaysian crewmen in separate attacks on three slow-moving tugboats, sparking a security alarm in the volatile region.

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Misamis leaders join Poe coalition

By Macon Araneta AN ALLY of Liberal Party standard bearer Mar Roxas bolted the ruling party and endorsed the presidential bid of Senator Grace Poe during a political rally in Cagayan de Oro. Even before the rally, LP congressional bet Rolando Uy of the city’s first district already endorsed Poe before some 300 barangay leaders and asked for their support to Poe’s presidential bid.

The announcement of Uy came as a surprise to his party mates since he has remained mum about it. His son, Rainier Joaquin, remains the ruling party’s vice mayoral candidate.

The elder Uy also said reelectionist Oscar Moreno is still LP’s candidate for mayor.

He noted that being from Mindanao does not necessarily mean he would go for a Mindanaoan presidential candidate.

He was alluding to Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who had drew flak for his “rape joke” in connection with the rape slay of a pretty Australian lay minister in 1989.

The elder Uy refused to confirm reports that he abandoned Roxas due to reports that LP standard bearer is supporting his rival, Candy Darimbang.

He merely said he wanted to help Poe. There were reports that the LP leadership picked Uy as its official candidate, but it is however giving its logistical support to Darimbang, who is also an LP member and outgoing city councilor.

After brainstorming the city, Poe also gained the support of two other congressmen— Rogelio Neil Pepito Roque of Bukidnon’s fourth district and Rep. Juliette Uy of Misamis Oriental’s second district.

Poe also obtained the backing of Villanueva Mayor Julio Uy, the husband of Misamis Oriental representative.

Farmers’ protest.

Members of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and Anakpawis picket in front of the residence of President Benigno Aquino III on Times Street in Quezon City on Friday to condemn the conversion of agricultural lands in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.

MANNY PALMERO

All for the earth. Miss Earth candidates join Senator Cynthia Villar in cleaning up the Freedom Island in Las Piñas as part of the celebration of the 46th World Earth Day on Friday. LINO SANTOS

Ilocanos out to prove ‘there is a Solid North’

By Christine F. Herrera ALAMINOS CITY, Pangasinan— It’s Binay-Marcos in Alaminos to prove there is a “Solid North.”

It was most awkward for the camp of opposition United Nationalist Alliance presidential candidate Vice President Jejomar Binay to see the vice president delivering a speech on stage with a huge Binay-Marcos tarpaulin as backdrop.

However, Marcos’ tarpaulin with Binay and reelectionist Pangasinan Rep. Jesus Celeste, who hosted the rally, was all over the rally site at Plaza Braganza covered court.

Conspicuously absent in the campaign rally here was Binay’s running mate Senator Gregorio Honasan even if Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was also not present.

Except for retired Special Action Force chief Getulio Napeñas, who is from La Union and is backed by the Solid North, the rest of UNA candidates did not go up on

stage in deference to Honasan.

“We want to prove there is a Solid North and even in Congress, I am a member of the Northern Alliance, a group of lawmakers who are all from the North and we vote as a bloc. In this case, the Solid North will also vote as a bloc,” Celeste explained.

Binay addressed the 5,000 audience clad in blue shirts chanting the words “Binay, Bongbong [Marcos], Boying [Celeste].”

Posters of their names and faces were also set up around the stage during the campaign rally.

Celeste and other local officials wore polo shirts with embroidered words on the chest “President Binay, Vice President Marcos” emblazoned on a Philippine flag badge in front, and the words “Solid North” at the back.

In an interview with reporters after the rally, Binay said he respected Celeste and the local government’s decision to support Marcos instead of Honasan.

“Let’s see if that is what the people want.

In an honest and peaceful election, we will have to respect it,” Binay said.

Celeste said the local officials in his district support Marcos because the latter is a fellow Ilocano.

Marcos’ father and namesake, the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, hails from Ilocos Norte.

“Bongbong Marcos is an Ilocano. He is one of our friends. [Binay] is also Ilocano, we also speak in Ilocano. So long as you’re Ilocano, the rapport is just there. That is the Solid North and we will prove there is a Solid North,” Celeste said.

Marcos has been leading the vice presidential surveys, despite controversies of human rights violations hounding his family for the past 30 years.

Binay’s Pangasinan sortie was the most hectic so far with three rallies in Alaminos, Dagupan and Binmaley in Pangasinan.

The Binay camp, which left Manila as early as 5 a.m., started doing the motorcades and rallies at 10 a.m. and ended the sorties past 7 p.m.

Binay will take a break on Saturday to prepare for the last presidential debate on Sunday.

‘Comelec hack alarming’ BAGUMBAYAN senatorial bet Richard J. Gordon called on the Commission on Elections to ensure that all the hackers involved in the recent defacement and leak of data from the Comelec’s official website are arrested and to take extra precautions to assure the country that the results of the upcoming presidential elections will not be manipulated by hackers and cheaters.

Gordon issued the call following the arrest of one of the alleged hackers responsible for the defacement of the Comelec website and after an independent site launched a searchable database of alleged voter data from the poll body.

“The confluence of events is alarming. This involves the very essence of democracy—the registered voters who will elect the next leaders of our country, their records are hacked with impunity. It is important that the Comelec must be serious in making sure that they catch all these hackers. That the Comelec assures the country that there would be no cheating on May 9,” the former senator said.

“The hacking itself is very disturbing but even more disturbing is the cavalier way the Comelec is treating it. This is the records of the people—their addresses, their numbers, their family, etc. The Comelec is treating it like it is nothing to worry about. If the system is hacked like that, there is a possibility that people can later on vote for those who have not voted. They can hack into the system and interfere with the transmission of the election results.

The Comelec has to assure the public that the whole system is hack-proof and cheat-proof,” he reiterated.

s at u r D aY : a p r i l 2 3 , 2 0 1 6

A6

NEWS

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Cebu Pacific says CAAP can resolve conflict soon

By Joel E. Zurbano and Eric Apolonio

Cebu Pacific Airlines is confident that the conflict between the management and employees of Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines will be resolved diplomatically and would not affect the country’s present status as an emergent international aviation hub.

The statement came on the heels of the warning from Philippine Airlines officials that a long-drawn conflict on the issue of salaries and other benefits of CAAP employees will paint a negative picture of the country’s aviation industry.

“As we aim to strengthen our linkages with neighboring countries, we hope that our collective efforts in es-

tablishing the Philippines’ status as an emergent global aviation hub will not be jeopardized,” the airline management said in a statement.

Cebu Pacific said it considers CAAP an important partner in the advancement of the country’s aviation industry.

CAAP employees held a nationwide protest and asked President Benigno Aquino III to overrule the

disallowance of bonuses and salary increases they have already received.

The labor union is peacefully protesting the recent suspension of their salary increases and bonuses, specifically for technical staff.

Streamers bearing the sign “Mayday” are now up on 23 air control towers all over the country.

“We share a common goal to provide seamless air transportation in delivering quality service to travelers across the Philippines, and are both committed to safeguarding the welfare of our passengers,” it said.

“Through the contributions of our partners in the industry, Philippine carriers are able to operate flights to more destinations and serve more passengers in the

country and abroad.”

“CEB has been made aware of the ongoing CAAP employees’ silent protest with the display of distress streamers at several air traffic control towers nationwide. However, CEB is confident that the labor issue will be resolved diplomatically for the benefit of all parties at the soonest possible time.”

The airline recognized CAAP personnel for their professionalism and dedication by ensuring that there is no disruption in air transport operations despite the silent protest.

“We likewise trust that services for air passengers will remain a priority, and will not be compromised.

CEB fully shares the optimism of fellow airlines in anticipation of an immedi-

ate and amicable resolution of the issue.”

The agency has 81 airports nationwide, 44 of them handling commercial operations.

There are about 3,500 regular workers, most of whom are technical personnel involved in air traffic management.

CAAP Employees’ Union president Valiant Sucion who led protesting employees at the entrance gate of the agency’s main office in Pasay City said: “We are not asking for more than we deserve. We are demoralized because after working so hard to achieve the President’s marching orders, the GCG [Governance Commission on Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations] disapproves the CAAP’s present salary structure and bonuses.”

Two lolas. Noontime show hosts Wally Bayola and Jose Manalo receive the Students’ Choice award at the Plaza Mayor at the University of Santo Tomas. DANNY PATA

PAL set to begin flights to Saipan FlAG carrier Philippine Airlines will launch its inaugural Manila to Saipan flight on June 15 to serve the needs of Filipinos working in Mariana Islands.

Saipan is the latest addition to PAl’s route network, which recently included Doha, Jeddah and Kuwait this year, as well as Port Moresby, Cairns, Aukland, Jinjiang and New York last year.

PAl has also introduced the newest link to the US mainland via its Cebu - los Angeles service which commenced last March 15, coinciding with the airlines’ 75th year.

“The [Saipan] service is much awaited by our countrymen working in the island territory in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, “ said PAl president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista in a press conference at the Century Park Hotel.

He added “With Filipinos comprising close to 36 percent or 22,000 of the population, the planned flights will provide them a convenient link to their home country. When they take a PAl flight, they will experience the brand of experience that heartfelt service marked

by Filipino warmth, charm and hospitality.”

The forthcoming service, according to Bautista, will serve as a most convenient route from Saipan to Manila and 29 other domestic and 43 international destinations where the flag carrier flies to.

Saipan, with more than 58,000 population, is known for its resorts, beaches and dive spots, and is popular among tourists who are into water sports and nature adventure.

“Travelers from Manila can fly Saipan and enjoy its beaches for some sun and sea as well as various forms of nature adventure. On the other hand, Saipan dwellers may now experience the PAl brand of service and enjoy the Capital City [Manila] for a few days before flying to other parts of the archipelago or to other points within PAl’s wide international network,” Bautista said.

Lawmaker resumes talks with PWDs

By Maricel V. Cruz lEYTE Rep. Martin Romualdez on Friday resumed nationwide consultations with persons with disabilities in Pampanga to ensure that all concerned establishments religiouasly comply with the law exempting them from the payment of 12-percent value added tax on certain goods and services.

Romualdez is the principal author of Republic Act 10754 signed by President Benigno Aquino III on March 23.

Romualdez, leader of the House independent bloc, said the battle for the immediate implementation has just started .

“The fight has just begun.

Our task now is to ensure and guarantee that all beneficiaries will fully enjoy the assistance that the law has been offering.”

Romualdez said there are at least 1.5-million PWD beneficiaries.

“We will work now for the immediate implementation of the law and make sure that all provisions are strictly followed,” Romualdez stressed.

Romualdez met with PWD beneficiaries in separate forums at lubao Gym in lubao and in one of the ancestral houses in Mabalacat to address their concerns on the scope of the benefits that the newly signed law will provide them.

Romualdez said the VAT exemption coverage of the law shall apply to the following: medical

and dental services; purchase of medicines in all drugstores; public railways, skyways and bus fare; admission fees charged by theaters, cinema houses, concert halls, circuses, carnivals and other places of culture, leisure and amusement; and all services in hotels and similar lodging establishments, restaurants, and recreation centers.

The PWD law would also allow the relatives, up to the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or affinity, taking care of handicapped to claim a tax deduction of P25,000 in their income tax.

The law added funeral services and burial expenses to the list of assistance to be given to PWDs.

I feel you. Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez talks to more than 2,000 persons with disabilities in Lubao, Pampanga.

s at u r D aY : a p r i l 2 3 , 2 0 1 6

A7

NEWS

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Batangas bus mishap kills 6, injures 38 teachers

By Francisco Tuyay

Kids at work. Children are busy at their summer art workshop organized by United Architects at Mall of Alnor, Cotabato City. OMAR MANGORSI

Mindoro police arrest recruiters with fake IDs

By Robert A. Evora

ROXAS, Oriental Mindoro—Local police arrested three women for illegal recruitment using fake Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program identification cards.

Detained in the town jail upon orders of Provincial Prosecutor Josephine Carranzo-Olivar are Cynthia Belarmino, Rebecca Reyes and Ma. Bella Franciso, residents of Metro Manila and all employees of Fully Guaranteed Research Corp., of Pasig City, and Datamix Research Inc., of Mandaluyong City.

The three suspects will be charged with attempted human trafficking, illegal recruitment and falsification of public documents, Olivar said.

One of their victims informed the municipal link coordinator, Suzette Delen, of the Department of Social Welfare and Development about the ongoing recruit-

ment being done by Belarmino, Reyes and Francisco.

Maridel Rodriguez, Oriental Mindoro 4Ps provincial link coordinator, informed the Roxas police, headed by police chief Danny Pilayan, about the illegal recruitment activities of the three suspects.

A joint entrapment operation of the DSWD and the Philippine National Police was conducted in the LYF Hotel and Restaurant where they found the three suspects and eight of their 17 victims from barangays Paclasan and Cantil.

The eight victims from

Bgy. Paclasan told the police that they were given 4Ps IDs, signed by former DSWD Secretary Esperanza Cabral.

They were told they would be brought to San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, for a seminar.

The 17 residents are legitimate partner-beneficiaries of the DSWD’s 4Ps program.

The first batch from Bgy. Paclasan was just awaiting the arrival of another nine victims from Bgy. Cantil when the Roxas policemen and DSWD personnel arrived.

Paclasan Bgy. Chairman Eric B. de Castro said the eight victims from his village, namely, Anastacia

Adap, Stephanie Malubay, Sharon del Mundo, Reanna Recto, Melzie Almazan, Marie Eloize Galvez, Mahalia Insigne and Jojo de la Peña told him that they were instructed to pretend as if they did not know each other upon their arrival in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro.

Roxas Mayor Jackson Cinco Dy was puzzled behind the modus operandi of the three suspects of requiring their 17 victims to travel incognito and pretend not to know each other. “This, when in fact, they live in the same barangays and they know each other fully.”

SIx elementary school teachers were killed while 38 others were injured after the tourist bus they were riding crashed into a tree along the national highway in Mataas na Kahoy in Batangas Friday afternoon.

Police Insp. Mary Anne Crester Torres, Officerin-Charge of Batangas Provincial Public Information Office identified the fatalities as Zenaida Bautista, Sabniano Virgina, Karina Untalan, Evangeline Sibal, Christina Cariman and one other individual.

All the victims were teachers from the Angono Rizal Elementary School in Angono, Rizal.

The injured teachers are currently undergoing treatment in San Jose District Hospital in San Jose, Batangas, Lipa Medix and Mary Mediatrix Medical Center in Lipa City.

Torres said the teacher were heading to Shercon Resort in Mataas na Kahoy for a team building activity when the incident occurred.

Torres reported that the bus with plate number DWx 480 was being driven by Christopher Plando, 39, a resident of Las Piñas City. Forty-nine teachers were on board.

Witnesses said the bus was traversing a descending zigzag road in Mataas na Kahoy when the driver slipped into an open canal. He lost control of the vehicle which then crashed into a tree.

Responding policemen and residents brought the victims to different hospitals; two of them were declared dead upon arrival.

Ex-lawmaker, daughter face graft charges over PDAF

By Rio N. Araja FORMER Albay representative Edcel Lagman and his daughter are facing charges of graft and malversation of public funds before the Office of the Ombudsman for alleged misuse of his Priority Development Assistance Funds close to P200 million.

The complainants—Hernando Bruce, a bishop of the Jesus Miracle Crusade and Roberto Barcela, Barangay Bonga chairman in Bacacay, Albaya—accused Lagman and his daughter, ex-Tabaco

mayor Cielo Krisel LagmanLuistro of violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for alleged misuse of his pork barrel fund.

Bruce and Barcela alleged Lagman diverted his PDAF for the development of areas “outside” his legislative district.

“Sometime between the years 2007 and 2009, Respondent Lagman diverted his Priority Disbursement Assistance Fund for various projects, even if such projects were located OUT-

SIDE his legislative district, [Quezon City, Pampanga and Nueva Ecija] in the amount of P86 million,” the complaint read.

Also, Lagman allegedly funded projects constructed on private properties in Quezon City at P18.56 million, including construction repairs on a clubhouse inside a private subdivision.

“Lagman funded projects located in Tabaco City that unduly benefited private entities and suppliers of dubious nature,” the complaint stated.

Ready soon. Farmers in Tuba, Benguet arrange their crops, ready to be harvested soon, on trellises. DAVID CHAN

S AT U R D AY : A P R I L 2 3 , 2 0 1 6

A8

OPINION

ADELLE CHUA EDITOR

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

OPINION

HAIL TO THE CHAIR VICTOR AVECILLA

THE DEFENSE SECRETARY SHOULD NOT SUE FOR LIBEL

[ EDI TORI A L ]

A LONG-DELAYED PROJECT A PRIVATE company finally broke ground Wednesday for a mass rail transit that will stretch from North Avenue in Quezon City to San Jose del Monte, Bulacan province.

The 23-kilometer elevated railway will cut the travel time of commuters from both ends of the railway to just 30 minutes from the usual two hours. The project, according to proponent San Miguel Corp., will be completed in three to four years and interconnect with the MRT 3 and LRT 1 that are serving millions of commuters.

But the new rail project would have been completed much earlier had the government did not dilly-dallied on a commitment to guarantee some financial aspects of the MRT 7.

The original proponent of the project, which San Miguel eventually took over, submitted a proposal to build the railway eight years ago.

That company failed to obtain a so-called performance undertaking from the Finance Department. This temporarily killed the project.

A performance undertaking is a recognition of obligation by the Philippine government through the Transportation Department. It essentially commits the government under the concession agreement to pay the contractor for its expenses in building and funding the project.

The arrangement carries risk on the part of the government. The state could assume the multi-billion-peso debts or earmark a portion from the national budget to service the obligations of the proponent, depending on the terms of the concession agreement.

Eight years to iron out the details of the concession agreement, however, is a long time and an opportunity loss on the part of commuters, who have been struggling with Metro Manila’s monstrous traffic jam. Commuters who ply the heavily congested Commonwealth Avenue area for work and school on a daily basis have long suffered because of the financial impasse.

The next government should be creative in business negotiations to avoid such deadlocks and push hard to complete vital infrastructure projects like the MRT 7. Inflation will eventually catch up with major projects and make the commuters pay more through higher fares.

NO TO DUTERTE POWER POINT ELIZABETH ANGSIOCO ‘I WAS gang-raped. I was fourteen. I was the leader of my youth organization in my neighborhood and we were all friends. It was the birthday of one of our members and we had a small party. I was not used to alcohol but in the spirit of fun I had some, not a lot, with my friends. I got dizzy so I said I would sleep a while. I was in a small room when four of my

‘friends’ raped me. It was not a nightmare. There was evil laughter, loud and very scary. I was sure I was going to die.’

This is a real story. This happened more than 10 years ago but I vividly remember these words in between sobs, sometimes hysterical crying, from this pretty, smart girl. She was with her mother and my group’s help was sought by our members because they were poor.

Hers was a single mom trying to raise three kids on her own.

And this happened.

We assisted them with the case. Two of her rapists—they

were all minors except for one who just turned eighteen— escaped. Because they went to court, the family, especially the girl, was harassed, threatened, and ridiculed by neighborhood thugs and relatives of her rapists. The place was abuzz with all sorts of gossip against her and her family. In the eyes of many, she was at fault because, according to the chismis, she was wearing shorts and drank with the boys. Therefore, she was asking for it.

We made her undergo regular counseling. Still, her ordeal was becoming too much that we had

A9

Duterte’s manner against women should be condemned in the strongest of terms.

to get her out of the neighborhood to save her from all the threats and nasty talk. She was determined to fight, and fight, she did.

It took several years before the court decided in her favor.

One of those who escaped was arrested and is now in jail with the other two. The girl is now a woman with a job and family of her own.

Hers was just one of the rape cases we helped. We were not always successful because of the many difficult challenges that needed to be overcome. There were more instances when rapists could not be located despite the warrants. Some families were forced to give up because of abject poverty

or direct assaults against them. There were rape survivors who could not take the way they were treated by the legal system. We are familiar with how difficult it is to fight for justice for rape victims, but can only imagine the hell these survivors go through.

The passage of the present anti-RH law was not a walk in the park. It took us, women’s groups and our champion legislators foremost of whom were former senators Leticia Shahani and Nikki Coseteng, a decade of non-stop hard work to pass.

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-

We had to struggle against very archaic notions about women, our rights, and rape itself among legislators. Many, especially the male lawmakers, were boxed in the thinking that rape is a crime against chastity and not the person; that rape is only penile penetration; and that women do things that cause them to be raped.

Through the many years of advocacy, numerous women had to publicly break their silence, relive the horrors of their rape experience to make Congress and people understand the ordeal

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

they experienced in the hands of their abusers, lawyers, the court, and even their families and communities. These women braved public exposure, which, in not a few cases, was followed by ridicule. They spoke up so other women will be protected.

These experiences together with data on rape became the rationale for the need passage of a more progressive, though not perfect anti-rape law.

We rejoiced when the law was passed.

Then, we saw this as a major triumph 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 Anita F. Grefal Treasury Manager

Chairman President & Chief Executive Officer Board Member & Chief Legal Adviser Director of Operations Finance Officer Edgar M. Valmorida Circulation Manager

DEFENSE Secretary Voltaire Gazmin is a close ally of the Aquino family. As the head of the Presidential Security Group, Gazmin was in charge of protecting President Corazon Aquino during her incumbency. Gazmin was chosen for the job because he is said to have secretly provided the late Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. with food and drink when the latter was detained at Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija during the early months of Martial aw. Ninoy refused to eat the regular rations given to him because he suspected the rations had poison, and not because he was being starved as claimed by Aquino biographers.

As the detachment commander in Nueva Ecija, Gazmin was able to give Ninoy wafers and milk when nobody was looking. Actually, Gazmin managed to persuade Ninoy to eat and drink because Ninoy was his wedding sponsor.

Gazmin became the Defense secretary under President Benigno Aquino III. When he assumed the top post in the Department of National Defense in 2010, Gazmin was aware that the Philippine Navy did not have enough warships, and that the Philippine Air Force was all air and no force.

Despite his close ties with the commander-in-chief, Gazmin did little to beef up the fighting capacity of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. During his watch from 2010 to 2016, the AFP bought a few refitted planes from South Korea, and received a couple of used light warships from the United States.

It was also during Gazmin’s watch when Communist China began its intrusive activities in the West Philippine Sea. Because the AFP was in a sorry state of affairs and, thus, unable to stand to the Red Chinese aggression, all that Gazmin could do was to watch helplessly as Beijing’s sailors and engineers constructed one naval station after another in the disputed maritime area.

Instead of focusing his attention on improving the fighting capability of the AFP, Gazmin sent a peace-keeping contingent of Filipino soldiers to Syria. Despite the extraordinary valor displayed by the Filipino troops in Syria, their incompetent and egotistical Indian commander had bad things to say about them. Fortunately, none of the Filipino soldiers were killed or injured.

Surprisingly, while Gazmin readily sent troops to fight in Syria, his DND was unable to contain the aggression of local Muslim separatist groups in Mindanao.

As a result, 44 elite policemen were killed in a bungled military and police operation to arrest a Malaysian terrorist hiding in Mamasapano in Maguindanao.

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

S AT U R D AY : A P R I L 2 3 , 2 0 1 6

A8

OPINION

ADELLE CHUA EDITOR

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

OPINION

HAIL TO THE CHAIR VICTOR AVECILLA

THE DEFENSE SECRETARY SHOULD NOT SUE FOR LIBEL

[ EDI TORI A L ]

A LONG-DELAYED PROJECT A PRIVATE company finally broke ground Wednesday for a mass rail transit that will stretch from North Avenue in Quezon City to San Jose del Monte, Bulacan province.

The 23-kilometer elevated railway will cut the travel time of commuters from both ends of the railway to just 30 minutes from the usual two hours. The project, according to proponent San Miguel Corp., will be completed in three to four years and interconnect with the MRT 3 and LRT 1 that are serving millions of commuters.

But the new rail project would have been completed much earlier had the government did not dilly-dallied on a commitment to guarantee some financial aspects of the MRT 7.

The original proponent of the project, which San Miguel eventually took over, submitted a proposal to build the railway eight years ago.

That company failed to obtain a so-called performance undertaking from the Finance Department. This temporarily killed the project.

A performance undertaking is a recognition of obligation by the Philippine government through the Transportation Department. It essentially commits the government under the concession agreement to pay the contractor for its expenses in building and funding the project.

The arrangement carries risk on the part of the government. The state could assume the multi-billion-peso debts or earmark a portion from the national budget to service the obligations of the proponent, depending on the terms of the concession agreement.

Eight years to iron out the details of the concession agreement, however, is a long time and an opportunity loss on the part of commuters, who have been struggling with Metro Manila’s monstrous traffic jam. Commuters who ply the heavily congested Commonwealth Avenue area for work and school on a daily basis have long suffered because of the financial impasse.

The next government should be creative in business negotiations to avoid such deadlocks and push hard to complete vital infrastructure projects like the MRT 7. Inflation will eventually catch up with major projects and make the commuters pay more through higher fares.

NO TO DUTERTE POWER POINT ELIZABETH ANGSIOCO ‘I WAS gang-raped. I was fourteen. I was the leader of my youth organization in my neighborhood and we were all friends. It was the birthday of one of our members and we had a small party. I was not used to alcohol but in the spirit of fun I had some, not a lot, with my friends. I got dizzy so I said I would sleep a while. I was in a small room when four of my

‘friends’ raped me. It was not a nightmare. There was evil laughter, loud and very scary. I was sure I was going to die.’

This is a real story. This happened more than 10 years ago but I vividly remember these words in between sobs, sometimes hysterical crying, from this pretty, smart girl. She was with her mother and my group’s help was sought by our members because they were poor.

Hers was a single mom trying to raise three kids on her own.

And this happened.

We assisted them with the case. Two of her rapists—they

were all minors except for one who just turned eighteen— escaped. Because they went to court, the family, especially the girl, was harassed, threatened, and ridiculed by neighborhood thugs and relatives of her rapists. The place was abuzz with all sorts of gossip against her and her family. In the eyes of many, she was at fault because, according to the chismis, she was wearing shorts and drank with the boys. Therefore, she was asking for it.

We made her undergo regular counseling. Still, her ordeal was becoming too much that we had

A9

Duterte’s manner against women should be condemned in the strongest of terms.

to get her out of the neighborhood to save her from all the threats and nasty talk. She was determined to fight, and fight, she did.

It took several years before the court decided in her favor.

One of those who escaped was arrested and is now in jail with the other two. The girl is now a woman with a job and family of her own.

Hers was just one of the rape cases we helped. We were not always successful because of the many difficult challenges that needed to be overcome. There were more instances when rapists could not be located despite the warrants. Some families were forced to give up because of abject poverty

or direct assaults against them. There were rape survivors who could not take the way they were treated by the legal system. We are familiar with how difficult it is to fight for justice for rape victims, but can only imagine the hell these survivors go through.

The passage of the present anti-RH law was not a walk in the park. It took us, women’s groups and our champion legislators foremost of whom were former senators Leticia Shahani and Nikki Coseteng, a decade of non-stop hard work to pass.

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-

We had to struggle against very archaic notions about women, our rights, and rape itself among legislators. Many, especially the male lawmakers, were boxed in the thinking that rape is a crime against chastity and not the person; that rape is only penile penetration; and that women do things that cause them to be raped.

Through the many years of advocacy, numerous women had to publicly break their silence, relive the horrors of their rape experience to make Congress and people understand the ordeal

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

they experienced in the hands of their abusers, lawyers, the court, and even their families and communities. These women braved public exposure, which, in not a few cases, was followed by ridicule. They spoke up so other women will be protected.

These experiences together with data on rape became the rationale for the need passage of a more progressive, though not perfect anti-rape law.

We rejoiced when the law was passed.

Then, we saw this as a major triumph 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 Anita F. Grefal Treasury Manager

Chairman President & Chief Executive Officer Board Member & Chief Legal Adviser Director of Operations Finance Officer Edgar M. Valmorida Circulation Manager

DEFENSE Secretary Voltaire Gazmin is a close ally of the Aquino family. As the head of the Presidential Security Group, Gazmin was in charge of protecting President Corazon Aquino during her incumbency. Gazmin was chosen for the job because he is said to have secretly provided the late Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. with food and drink when the latter was detained at Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija during the early months of Martial aw. Ninoy refused to eat the regular rations given to him because he suspected the rations had poison, and not because he was being starved as claimed by Aquino biographers.

As the detachment commander in Nueva Ecija, Gazmin was able to give Ninoy wafers and milk when nobody was looking. Actually, Gazmin managed to persuade Ninoy to eat and drink because Ninoy was his wedding sponsor.

Gazmin became the Defense secretary under President Benigno Aquino III. When he assumed the top post in the Department of National Defense in 2010, Gazmin was aware that the Philippine Navy did not have enough warships, and that the Philippine Air Force was all air and no force.

Despite his close ties with the commander-in-chief, Gazmin did little to beef up the fighting capacity of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. During his watch from 2010 to 2016, the AFP bought a few refitted planes from South Korea, and received a couple of used light warships from the United States.

It was also during Gazmin’s watch when Communist China began its intrusive activities in the West Philippine Sea. Because the AFP was in a sorry state of affairs and, thus, unable to stand to the Red Chinese aggression, all that Gazmin could do was to watch helplessly as Beijing’s sailors and engineers constructed one naval station after another in the disputed maritime area.

Instead of focusing his attention on improving the fighting capability of the AFP, Gazmin sent a peace-keeping contingent of Filipino soldiers to Syria. Despite the extraordinary valor displayed by the Filipino troops in Syria, their incompetent and egotistical Indian commander had bad things to say about them. Fortunately, none of the Filipino soldiers were killed or injured.

Surprisingly, while Gazmin readily sent troops to fight in Syria, his DND was unable to contain the aggression of local Muslim separatist groups in Mindanao.

As a result, 44 elite policemen were killed in a bungled military and police operation to arrest a Malaysian terrorist hiding in Mamasapano in Maguindanao.

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

A10

S AT U R D AY : A P R I L 2 3 , 2 0 1 6

OPINION

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

IDEOLOGICAL GANGRENE BACK­ BENCHER ROD P. KAPUNAN IN HANDLING contradiction, traditional Maoist ideologues begin with class analysis to determine who their enemies are, and who from among them can be their potential allies. They sort out which one of the various “classenemies” is least antagonistic to their cause. They have to differentiate those they consider antagonistic, seeing their interest as indivisible to US imperialism, which is their principal enemy. They pay much attention to this process to advance their cause.

But when local Maoists stonewall the possibility of peacefully resolving contradiction, chances are they would not be able to cement an alliance to advance their cause. Their persistence on the purity of their dogma only ends up with them degenerating to a regressive force.

Often they suffer a backlash because they are blinded by ideological superiority until they end up engaging in political cannibalism exemplified by the horrors to eliminate their own kind typified by the bloody episodes called Operation Cadena de Amor, Operation Missing Link and Operation Ahos.

In fact, many of them suffered more casualties and torture in the hands of their mentors than as a direct result of Martial Law. What these so-called hankering “human rights victims” should do is educate the electorate whom to vote for by identifying those who are sympathetic to their ideology, by examining the candidates’ platform of government, or asking what they have accomplished if they already served as elected public servants before.

Rather, they raised ludicrous issues that betray their deep psychological insecurity fearing that Bongbong Marcos’ election would finally declare the ideology of this socalled “caused-oriented group,” now moonlighting as political bouncer for this brazenly pro-US imperialist regime, officially dead. They fear that the people, by their sovereign, will dump their ideology.

To begin with, no sane person would make an apology for the alleged crimes committed by his father who was neither charged nor convicted.

It would be the greatest desecration one could do to defame the memory of a dead person because there

is no way he could refute those charges. Worse, they want this macabre humiliation to be carried over to his son, hoping it would help retrieve their long-lost credibility. They become political pariah often treated like lepers and misfits by those who could still determine the boundary between sanity and insanity.

The so-called “progressive middle class,” corralled by the Maoist Left, are shouting Never Again to justify their campaign against Bongbong Marcos. Their conduct to disrupt meetings spells out an omen that given the chance, these rascals, who style themselves as lovers of freedom and democracy, would not allow any group advocating a

They are tolerated by this pretendingto-be-honest government because they continue to serve the purpose of misleading our people by their distortion of the past.

contrary ideology to exercise their freedom. Their chanting of “Marcos dictatorship” has backfired because of their violent attempt to disrupt Bongbong has antagonized the audience who want to hear from the son of the former President who has accomplished much for this country.

Nobody can deny a historical fact; that Martial Law came about not as a fancy but as the result of violent street demonstrations characterized by bombing and arson. The Maoists bombed Plaza Miranda to discredit the Marcos government; attempted to land arms in Isabela; and intensified their ambuscades and assassinations of public officials carried out by the newly formed New People’s Army under the guidance of the Communist Party of the Philippines. The freedom of the people had to be curtailed because these hankering lovers of freedom were the ones who hijacked our freedom to freely slander

EAGLE EYES DEAN TONY LA VIÑA YESTERDAY, April 22, was a good day. It was Earth Day, which is always a good time to celebrate the beauty of our planet and the urgency to protect what we have been graced with. And this year’s celebration is especially meaningful, with high-level government officials gathering in New York City at the United Nations Headquarters for the signing of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

As I have written before, the world celebrates Earth Day annually. It is now a global ritual to remind us of the importance of caring for our environment.

For the Philippines, endowed with rich natural resources and magnificent landscapes and seascapes, it is a necessary reminder. Environmental degradation threatens our country through loss of forest cover and fertile agricultural lands, depleted fish stocks, contaminated water supplies and breathing air, increased vulnerability to natural disasters, and energy insecurity, leading to catastrophic economic and social dislocations. It is not an exaggeration to say that our people will lose income, livelihood, health, and sustenance because of a failure of environmental management. We are losing our last great places because of this failure.

In an earlier column, I reflected on the distincthe government that guaranteed them.

These so-called human rights victims claimed that many of them were detained during Martial Law. But did it not cross their mind that they were arrested because of their membership with the subversive organizations, and the government was honest enough to impose national emergency as a defense? While some were killed, they died not inside the Church doing their final act of contrition or were resting in bed, but they were armed combatants. Some were glorified as heroes because they came from the upper and middle class of society or from the elite schools and universities, and their being killed have propaganda value as victims of the so-called “Marcos repression.”

Again, have these criers of Never Again ever bothered to look back that many of them were killed during the Cory Aquino admin-

EARTH DAY AND THE PARIS AGREEMENT tion philosopher Martin Heidegger made between how man viewed nature then, almost with a view towards art and philosophy; and how we view nature—or natural resources—now, as instrumental, exploitable, and often without consideration for sustainability or ecological preservation. We do not need to fear nature, as though it were a vengeful force, and neither can we continue to view Mother Earth in purely utilitarian terms. We need to combine the old and new ways of looking at the environment, learning to understand and respect nature.

We need to, as an astrologer might suggest, understand the balance of the elements of nature, and master this balance, as the key to the health, wealth, harmony, and happiness of families, communities, and nations alike.

Pope Francis said as much, in Laudato Sii, now considered one of the most important environmental writings, when he proposed the concept of integral ecology and encouraged us to practice an ecology of daily life.

The greatest challenge of course to living the Laudato Sii ecology, one based on a dual and simultaneous commitment to the poor and the planet, is climate change. This is true globally and for our country. Indeed, for 21 years, the Philippines istration when supposedly freedom and democracy have been restored? Did these so-called victims of human right violation ever realize that their revolutionary movement holds the bloody record in having slaughtered more of their members because of paranoia they were surrounded by deep penetration agents?

These are facts they continue to deny just as they deny it was the US and their local henchmen that murdered Ninoy Aquino to create hysteria of hatred against Marcos.

Do these so-called progressive Left understand that it was Marcos who introduced welfare to our economy when he created the various state-owned enterprises like Petron, chemical plant, fertilizer plant, integrated steel mill, geothermal plants, etc. that could have lead us to full industrialization? They could not even digress the thought that Marcos put some socialistic strands to protect

has vigilantly pursued global efforts to come up with a legally-binding agreement that will guard the current and next generations against climate change. This is a mission I have been honored to have participated in from its inception. It is defined by a collective hope to learn from the loss of lives of and livelihoods that our people experience on a yearly basis.

On Dec.12, 2015, after more than two decades, we finally saw a landmark agreement come to life in the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris, France. The Philippines is one of the 195 countries that worked hard to come up with a new climate deal that is equitable and ambitious. The agreement mandates both developed and developing countries to do their part in charting a low-carbon development.

Nations from all over the world should now do their best to limit global temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius and up until 1.5 degrees Celsius to keep us from suffering from the dangerous impacts of climate change.

We are actually quite late in doing so, something made stark to us by the record levels of heat and global temperature that the world and the Philippines has been experiencing in recent weeks.

It is worth highlighting that this crucial endeavor

will be done within the context of protecting our human rights and ensuring ecosystem integrity.

This is our contribution to the Paris Agreement because it was the Philippines that led efforts and steered alliances to ensure that the agreement would provide guidance on how climate actions could be done properly and sustainably and veers away from making the agreement carbon-centric.

Valuing rights and ecosystems gives the Paris agreement a holistic perspective, one that we need in avoiding “wrong” climate actions. In particular, its preamble states that countries should, “respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on human rights, the right to health, the rights of indigenous peoples, local communities, migrants, children, persons with disabilities and people in vulnerable situations and the right to development, as well as gender equality, empowerment of women and intergenerational equity.” It also recognized the “importance of the conservation and enhancement, as appropriate, of sinks and reservoirs of the greenhouse gases referred to in the Convention” and “noted the importance of ensuring the integrity of all ecosystems, including oceans, and the protection of biodiversity.”

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our people by controlling and regulating the cost of electricity, water, rent, fuel oil, transportation, basic and essential commodities and tuition fees. They ignore the truth that the Pag-IBIG Home Program allowed lowly employees to own their modest homes; built several specialized hospitals such as the Philippine Heart Center, the Lung Center of the Philippines, the National Kidney Institute; the Children’s Hospital; the East Avenue or Bagong Lipunan Hospital, renovated the PGH, etc.; and created the Food Market Terminal to serve as wholesale buying station for products from the provinces and distributed to the consumers at affordable prices through the various Kadiwa outlets.

These ideological loonies are even ignorant that it was Marcos who enunciated the principle that our foreign policy should solely be guided by our national interest

and keeping our sovereignty intact. They even refused to admit that this present good-for-nothing government treats them as for-hire and disposable political hecklers, is an unabashed lackey of US imperialism. As loonies, they could not reconcile the thought that it was Marcos who terminated the US military bases only to be insulted by this present dispensation by converting the entire country a US military base; that it was Marcos who finally put to an end the so-called Parity Rights Agreement; refused to drag our country in the US war of aggression in Vietnam; opened diplomatic relations with the socialist bloc, specifically with the then-Soviet Union and China; restored peace in Mindanao by creating autonomy for our Muslims brothers; and realigned our foreign policy towards nonalignment by our membership with the Group of 77.

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OPINION

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

Earth... From A10

The defense... From A9 parts, made it to many

In yesterday’s event hosted by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje was expected to sign for the Philippines. Climate Change Commission (CCC) Vice-Chair Secretary Emmanuel de Guzman, with his colleagues Commissioners Noel Gaerlan and Veronica Victorio, will also be there.

There were other diplomats and officials too, including CCC legal chief Atty. Railla Puno.

I like that our relevant climate change officials went to New York in full force, with global resolve and political will. The Paris Agreement is imperfect; we must now work hard to improve it even as we finalize the rules for its implementation with the expectation that the Agreement will take effect by 2018 or earlier. Domestically, we must comply with our commitment, subject to support of development partners, to reduce our emissions by 70 percent relative to business-asusual levels by 2030. We must adopt a mandatory energy mix that caps coal power, build clean and low-emission transportation systems, and effectively protect our forests and ecosystems. Adaptation efforts must also be scaled up so that our people and communities become more resilient.

Senator Grace Poe, in her statement on Earth Day, is right in thanking President Aquino for positioning the Philippine as a leader in climate change. If elected President, Poe has committed to comply with our Paris commitments, pledging: “With political will and with the dreams and hopes of our children in mind, we will spare no efforts in honoring our word.”

In my environmental writing, I frequently quote Rainier Maria Rilke, the great German poet. One he said: “Everything is far and long gone by. I think that the star glittering above me has been dead for a million years. I would like to step out of my heart and go walking beneath the enormous sky. I would like to pray. And surely of all the stars that perished long ago, one still exists. I think that I know which one it is.”

It is my hope, that because we cared and took action, centuries from now, our descendants too would come out and walk beneath the sky and say: our planet still exists. Yesterday, for the first time in the many Earth Days I have celebrated, I felt that maybe we will win this fight.

Fortunately for Gazmin, the US sent some of its troops and warships in the recent joint PhilippineAmerican military exercises in the West Philippine Sea. While the bilateral activity was ostensibly a military exercise authorized under a defense agreement between Manila and Washington, D.C., the conspicuous American military presence in the area was meant to discourage any further maritime expansion Beijing may have at the moment.

Sadly, whatever propaganda advantage was realized in that joint military exercise was quickly dissipated by Malacañang spokesman Manuel Quezon III when the latter practically apologized to an angry Beijing, apparently with the tacit approval of Gazmin.

At the end of the military exercises, the photograph of Gazmin, Foreign Affairs Secretary Jose Almendras, and AFP chief Hernando Iriberri linking arms with their American counter-

Facebook: tonylavs5 or Dean Tony La Viña Twitter: tonylavs

Ideological... From A10 As these hecklers continue to deny the glorious moment that was achieved by Marcos, they metamorphose to become political gangrene in our society. They are tolerated by this pretending-to-be-honest government because they continue to serve the purpose of misleading our people by their distortion of the past, while ignoring that the neoliberal economic policy of privatization, deregulation and free trade created a deep social wedge in our society with many of the poor scrounging for anything to keep body and soul intact. rpkapunan@gmail.com

#FAILOCRACY

newspapers. From the way he posed, Gazmin looked pleased that the US saved him from possible public criticism (for his inaction in the China conflict) as the end of his term approaches.

There is, however, one glitch to Gazmin’s anticipated departure from the DND. Months ago, after Gazmin authorized the purchase of several helicopters to augment the aging ones of the air force, a whistleblower exposed that the purchase was anomalous in that the helicopters were substandard, and were acquired at unconscionably high prices.

It was also revealed many of the helicopters purchased did not run, and that their operating manuals were in a foreign language not known to AFP personnel.

The whistleblower later filed anti-graft charges against Gazmin and other AFP officials involved in the purchase. As a counter-measure, Gazmin filed a criminal case for libel against the whistleblower.

Political analysts and

No to... From A9 for the Filipino women. At least there is a law that is more attuned to the realities and needs of rape victims and survivors.

As expected, rape culture did not stop because of the law. Victim-blaming is still strong. Violence against women (VAW) remains a major problem that our country confronts day in and day out. Many things remain undone to really address VAW. And now comes presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte, who, from the start of the campaign, has been consistently disrespecting women, portraying them as “sex toys” to be used as he desires. His attitude, actions, and words in the campaign trail reeks of machismo, of the sexism that the women’s movement has been struggling against. He makes women the laughingstock of his sorties while extolling his masculinity.

commentators quickly saw through the Gazmin plan and denounced it as a strategy to harrass the whistleblower.

Other observers said that the libel suit was intended as a leverage against the whistleblower, and as a way of discouraging other whistleblowers from exposing other possible irregularities in the AFP committed under Gazmin’s incumbency.

Perhaps Gazmin is unaware that the allegations against him recited in the pertinent complaint-affidavit and accompanying documents filed by the whistleblower with the authorities are in the nature of absolute privileged communication.

Under the Revised Penal Code, when allegations partake of absolute privileged communication, the person who made the allegations cannot be sued, much less convicted of, libel.

Inasmuch as he is a public officer, and a high-ranking one at that, Gazmin must be aware that his official acts are always subject to scrutiny and criticism by the me-

The straw that broke the camel’s back was the video of him on the gang rape of an Australian missionary. He said the woman was very beautiful and he, as the mayor, should have been first and not the rapists. This gross statement coming from someone who wants to, and can be president of this country, cannot be justified.

Duterte stated that he said those not as a joke and I believe him. He is really like that. What he fails to recognize I think is, words have power, especially from someone as popular as himself.

He was sending a message that it is ok to rape women. He is telling the world that women are inferior beings that can be abused.

Check the reactions of some of Duterte’s supporters. There have been threats of rape against women who criticize their idol. It is very much like a cult that is being led by Duterte.

Rape is not, and can never be a joke.

dia and the general public.

Therefore, if his libel case against the whistleblower is given due course by the prosecution office, then the constitutional right of the media and the general public to scrutinize and criticize the official acts of public officers will be rendered illusory. Any investigating prosecutor who knows his libel law will throw out Gazmin’s complaint outright.

Since Gazmin professes to the news media that the helicopter purchase was above-board, then he should proceed to defend himself in the appropriate court proceedings, where he should present the evidence necessary to exculpate him.

In the end, if the anti-graft complaint filed against Gazmin is proved false and prompted solely by malice, then he can sue the whistleblower back for perjury and damages. Right now, suing the whistleblower for libel will not help Gazmin, and will only give the impression that he is out to harass his critics because he has something to hide.

Rape is a violation of human rights, and the entire personhood of the victim. Rape’s impact is often felt for many years. Some women are unable to fully recover from it.

Duterte’s manner against women should be condemned in the strongest of terms. Someone who does nor respect human rights, particularly, women’s rights cannot be president.

He told women leaders who lodged a complaint against him with the Commission on Human Rights to go to hell. Indeed, it will be hell-like for women if he wins the presidency.

Whatever gains have been made by the Filipino women’s movement will be put at risk.

Women, and men who value human rights should vote against Duterte. #NoToDuterte! bethangsioco@gmail.com @bethangsioco on Twitter Elizabeth Angsioco on Facebook

CHONG ARDIVILLA

SATURDAY: APRIL 23, 2016

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SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

China’s anti-doping lab suspended THE World Anti-Doping Agency suspended the accreditation of China’s national anti-doping laboratory on Thursday, just months out from the Olympics and weeks after a drugs controversy in Chinese swimming.

The suspension for a maximum of four months means China’s National Anti-Doping Laboratory is barred from carrying out WADA-related tests such as blood and urine analysis.

“During the period of suspension, samples are required to be transported securely to another WADA-accredited laboratory,” Montreal-based WADA said in a statement.

China has become a leading Olympic power, topping the medals table at the Beijing 2008 Games and finishing second behind the United States in 2004

and 2012.

China was also second in the swimming events at London 2012 after distance specialist Sun Yang -- who secretly served a brief drugs ban in 2014 -- and medley sensation Ye Shiwen led them to five gold medals.

WADA said China can appeal the suspension and can also apply for reinstatement if it takes five unspecified “remedial steps” and addresses its “nonconformities”.

No one from the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) was available to comment when contacted by AFP

on Friday. An official at China’s General Administration of Sport said it also had no reaction yet.

The battle against doping has intensified in the run-up to Rio, with Kenya threatened with being barred from the Games after a string of failed tests.

Russia is also fighting to overturn a ban on its track and field athletes after a WADA independent commission found evidence of state-sponsored doping.

Last Friday, WADA revoked the accreditation of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, which was suspended in November after an independent investigation found its director had ordered nearly 1,500 samples to be destroyed.

The Beijing laboratory is the only WADA-accredited facility in China, according to WADA’s website.

Its suspension, less than four months from the start of the Olympics in Rio, comes after three Chinese swimmers tested positive for clenbuterol, with two, neither of them well known, let off with warnings in late March.

China’s national swimming body also said three other unidentified swimmers had tested positive for a banned diuretic and were awaiting hearings.

That announcement came after whistleblowers told Britain’s The Times newspaper that five positive drug tests had been covered up by Chinese authorities.

Chinese sport has periodically been embroiled in controversy, with coach Ma Junren notoriously attributing the stunning performances of his women distance runners in the 1990s to turtle blood.

Chinese swimming has an especially chequered history, with a rash of cases throughout the 1990s. Seven Chinese swimmers tested positive for steroids at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima.

In 1998, swimmer Yuan Yuan was banned after Australian customs officers discovered a large stash of human growth hormone in her bags at the World Championships in Perth.

And in 2014, double Olympic champion Sun, the 1,500 metres world record-holder, served a three-month ban after he tested positive for the banned stimulant trimetazidine.

Sun’s ban was only announced after he had already returned to competition and won three gold medals at that year’s Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. AFP

FIFA chief to monitor 2022 Qatar World Cup GIANNI Infantino announced Friday FIFA will establish a body to monitor working conditions for labourers at Qatar’s 2022 World Cup stadiums and insisted the tournament would stay in the Gulf.

Speaking during his first visit to Doha as president of world football’s governing body, Infantino said FIFA would act on criticisms it has done little to protect those building venues for its showcase tournament in six years’ time.

“We will not just sit and wait,” he told journalists at a press conference.

“FIFA will step up its efforts in overseeing -- in particular the set-up by the (Qatar) Supreme Committee -- in order to ensure the protection of the workers’ rights in the construction of the FIFA World Cup sites.”

He added that proposal had been welcomed by the “highest Qatari authorities”.

The body would monitor systems in place to ensure decent working conditions, and would be independent, added Infantino.

It is not yet clear who will sit on the committee but Infantino said he wanted it to be “put in place very, very soon.”

He added: “FIFA is not the world welfare agency... our job is to govern football, but of course we are aware of our responsibilities.”

The initiative was announced after recent criticism suggesting FIFA had done little on the contentious issue of workers welfare.

A recent Amnesty International report, which alleged labour abuses at a World Cup site in Qatar, said FIFA had shown a “lack of meaningful action” on the issue.

Infantino also said on Friday that the 2022 tournament would remain in Qatar.

He denied allegations over workers abuse and an ongoing investigation in Switzerland over corruption claims would see the tournament played elsewhere.

“Of course the World Cup will take place in Qatar in 2022,” he said. AFP

FIFA President Gianni Infantino (right) watches a workers football cup match ahead of a press conference in the Qatari capital Doha. Infantino announced that a new independent committee would be set up to monitor conditions for laborers working to build a stadia for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Speaking during his first visit to Doha as head of world football’s governing body, Infantino said he was “confident we are on the right track” after a string of alleged rights violations during the tournament’s construction phase. He said the new committee “shows that the mechanisms in place are working related to FIFA World Cup”. AFP

Bolt, Curry, Spieth make Time’s ‘influential’ list Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors has been named as among the 100 Most Influential People by the Time Magazine.

Also in the list published last Thursday are sprint star Usain Bolt and golfer Jordan Spieth.

SPORTS figures including Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt and NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry pepper Time magazine’s 2016 “100 Most Influential People” list published Thursday.

US golfer Jordan Spieth, Britain’s Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton, UFC great Ronda Rousey and American swimmer Katie Ledecky also made the list.

So did Indian tennis player Sania Mirza, ranked number one in the world in doubles who

was praised as an inspiration to a generation of Indians in a tribute written by cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.

Ziggy Marley writes on Bolt, calling him a “unifying force” in Jamaica, while ballerina Misty Copeland writes in appreciation of Golden State Warriors star Curry.

Other names with sporting links to make the list include Caitlyn Jenner—the former Olympic decathlon champion turned transgender icon.

SATURDAY: APRIL 23, 2016

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SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

Zapanta fastest in triathlon USING all the strength he had left in the crucial stage of running, Benjie Zapanta of Team One Triathlon outclassed his opponents and emerged victorious in the first-ever Age-Group Select competition of the recent NTT-ASTC Subic Bay International Triathlon (SuBIT) 2016 held at the sprawling Subic Bay1 Freeport.

During the Standard Distance (1.5 Km swim - 40 Km bike - 10 Km run) race organized by the Triathlon Association of the Philippines, in cooperation with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and presented by the SBMA Tourism Department, with solid support from the Philippine Olympic Committee and the Philippine Sports Commission, Zapanta entered the run leg more than a minute behind Neil Adrian Aynera.

He eventually overtook him and finished first with a total time of 2 hours, 15 minutes and 47 seconds.

Right at the finish line, Jethro Karl Ramos narrowly edged Aynera, 2:17:51.49 to 2:17:51.76, to win the silver medal.

The Age Group Select competition was the first of its kind in the long history of the event supported by Century Tuna, Standard Insurance, Gatorade, Asian Center for Insulation, Subic Holiday Villas, ACEA Subic Bay, Enervon, Biker’s Cafe, The Lighthouse Marina Resort and media partners Solar Sports, Philippine Star, Kikay Runner and PinoyFitness.com as participants used the same race course as the Elite and drafted freely.

Carrasco eyes Olympics for wards

By Lito Cinco

Football for peace. Meralco’s social development arm One Meralco Foundation and football club Loyola Meralco

Sparks have teamed up once again with the Philippine Marine Corps for the annual Football for Peace Festival happening in Metro Manila from April 23 to May 1. In photo during the sports event kick-off attended by members of the Philippine Sportswriters Association are One Meralco Foundation President Jeffrey Tarayao (center) with (from left) PMC Capt. Ryan Lacuesta, PMC Capt. Ryan Gandeza, Football for Peace co-founder Rookie Nagtalon, Loyola Meralco Sparks Coach Simon McMenemy, Team Captain James Younghusband and Goalkeeper Ricardo Padilla. The advocacy, which was started by PMC in 2011 in Sulu, utilizes football as a tool to instill peace-loving values of sportsmanship, camaraderie, teamwork and discipline in the minds of young athletes, especially those living in conflict areas in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.

Etheridge’s goalkeeping school lives on

By Peter Atencio AZKALS’ starting goalkeeper Neil Etheridge is continuing his goalkeeping school in the Philippines.

Now on its second year, Etheridge’s project lives on as he resumes his teaching and coaching efforts on June 9 at the Manila Polo Club in Makati.

A one-of-a-kind football school, the Neil Etheridge School of Goalkeeping is where students can learn different aspects of goalkeeping,

A new...

From A15

his boyhood days, but never forgetting his Filipino heritage of which he speaks with pride.

He will carry our national colors with pride and glory for a few more years, while young champions of the future like Mark “Magnifico” Magsayo may well

straight from Neil himself.

“I want to give back as much as I can, because I’ve been the national team goalkeeper now since 2008. It’s been a long time,” said Etheridge, in a statement, on his motivations for starting the school.

Etheridge had the opportunity to work with the likes of Fulham’s Mark Schwarzer and FIFA World Cup finalist Martin Stekelenburg.

Because of this, he is keen on sharing to his students what he has learned

live up to his name when he battles the talented and cocky Chris Avalos.

Magsayo’s foe derisively claimed that his fight is a clash between a man and a boy and that Mark is weak.

Let’s find out whether Avalos will feel the same way after Mark connects with his rapid-fire punches tonight in what could well turn out to be one of the best fights of an exciting card put

over the course of his young career.

In the NE1 Goalkeeping School, students will learn not just the art of stopping shots.

They will also be kicking and executing different saves—from the low ones and the high ones, as well as cross taking, positioning and angled shots.

“There are so many things the goalkeeper has to do, and he has to be an outfield player as well as a goalie. You’re asked to do so much” said Neil.

together by lead promoter Top Rank, in cooperation with the renowned ALA Promotions and the giant broadcast network ABSCBN, whose coverage of sports has won the gratitude and admiration of millions of Filipino sports fans.

Carlos Suarez, the extremely likeable manager of the Cebu Grand Hotel, which is always our home when we visit Cebu because

of its wonderful ambiance and clean and simple but classy facilities, is one of many who are keen on watching “It’s About Time” due primarily to the possibilities of a classic between Magsayo, the magnificent and the hitman Avalos.

They are, we believe, perfectly right, although the Donaire-Bedak title fight should be a thriller as long as it lasts.

EVEN as the the dust has barely settled in the recent Subic Bay International Triathlon, Triathlon Association of the Philippines President Tom Carrasco Jr. is already looking into the future of his wards and is eyeing both the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina and the 2020 Olympic Games in Japan, where he hopes to qualify his triathletes.

“That has been my dream from way back--to have a Filipino triathlete qualify in the regular Olympic Games. We have already accomplished that with Vicky Deldio in the Youth Olympic Games, but have yet to do it for the Summer Olympics,” said Carrasco in an interview in Subic.

Carrasco also expressed satisfaction at the way local triathletes performed in Subic, particularly in the women’s side, where Filipinas, led by Kim Mangrobang and FilAm Kim Kilgroe took the first two places against foreign opposition.

Another Filipina, SEA Games gold medalist Ma. Claire Adorna, missed a podium finish as she settled for fourth place behind Hong Kong’s Kate Rutherford. Adorna was still bothered by her foot injury.

“I believe that triathlon in the Philippines has grown so much that it has enabled us to identify more talents. At the same time, we are now focused more on the training of the national team, the national age-group series, our grassroots program for year and SuBIT. The Batang Pinoy and the Philippine National Games have also helped us validate the performance of our talent pool,” said Carrasco, adding that TRAP’s long-term preparations are all in place, including regular highperformance training camp and international exposure to national triathletes.

Spain’s Real Madrid back in PH

Real Madrid Foundation coaches Manuel Aguado (left) and Rodrigo Robles Blanco (right) pose for a photo with young football aspirants during the club’s football clinics in Subic, Olongapo City.

SPAIN’S renowned football club Real Madrid is back in the Philippines to continue its football program for the underprivileged kids, who dream of becoming the next Cristiano Ronaldo someday.

The club, through the Real Madrid Foundation, returns to conduct another series of football clinics in select football hotbeds across the country, an undertaking led by the Alliance Global Group, Inc. and PinoySports Foundation in partnership with the Philippine Football Federation and the Department of Education.

The Real Madrid Foundation Football Clinics Philippines kicked off for the first time last October 2015

and benefited hundreds of young football aspirants and coaches from Metro Manila and the province of Aurora.

The ‘rolling football clinic’, modeled after the training programs held by Real Madrid Foundation in other Asian countries such as Japan and China, returns this year with a bigger number of clinics and over 480 young football aspirants and 48 coaches joining its Manila and regional legs. Training sessions began on April 18 until the 22nd, and will resume on April 25 to 29 at the world-class McKinley Hill Stadium in McKinley Hill, Fort Bonifacio.

Joining the clinics, facilitated by Real Madrid Foundation coaches Manuel

Aguado and Rodrigo Blanco Robles, are Metro Manila – based underprivileged and self-sustaining clubs including Dream Big Pilipinas, Western Bicutan, Payatas, Gawad Kalinga and San Pedro Football Clubs.

“We at Alliance Global are proud to be at the forefront of football development in the country. We are going all out in support of this advocacy and we are once again bringing the world’s best football club to the country to help train our next generation of football stars. This underscores our strong commitment to growing and promoting the sport of football in the Philippines,” said Kevin L. Tan, Executive Director of Alliance Global.

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SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

Thai storms to 4-shot lead with a 64 TRECE MARTIREZ, Cavite—Thai Kasidit Lepkurte put on a brilliant, bogey-free eight-under 64 to storm to a four-stroke lead over erstwhile leader Danny Masrin and two others, threatening to turn what had been billed as a wild finish into a runaway triumph in the ICTSI Sherwood Hills Classic here yesterday.

Five birdies at the front proved enough for the hot-putting Lepkurte to overhaul a three-stroke deficit and jump from joint fifth to the top of the heap, then pulled away from the pack by gunning down three more birdies coming home to complete a rare bogey-free round of 31-33 at the Sherwood Hills Golf Club, which finally took some beating from the elite foreign players despite windy condition after holding its ground in the first two days.

With a nine-under 207 total,

Lepkurte moved four shots clear off Masrin, who blew a 34 start with a 37 for a 71 and dropped to joint second with Swede Oscar Zetterwall and Japanese Toru Nakajima, who both fired 68s, at 211.

“I played pretty good, everything – from putting, irons and my shots were simply good,” said Lepkurte, who hardly figured in the mix in the early going with a 71 and 72 but birdied three of the first four holes in the third round inside 15 feet and closed out his frontside stint with back-

to-back birdies from 18 feet to move on top. He made it three straight with another birdie on the 10th then rammed in two more at 15 and 18, the last a 20foot uphill feat to take complete control.

His 64, however, fell two strokes short off Cassius Casas’ record feat in the 2001 First Gentleman’s Cup. “I have to play steady and avoid getting into trouble,” said Lepkurte, 18 holes away from nailing his first victory here and duplicating compatriot Itthipat Buranatanyarat’s victory last year in this $60,000 event sponsored by International Container Terminal Services, Inc. Zetterwell and Nakajima also sneaked from behind to assume the challenger’s role with the former spiking his 35-33 card with four birdies. He actually gunned down an eagle on the par-5 eighth but yielded the

strokes right on the next with a double bogey.

Nakajima, a former leg winner on the ICTSI Philippine Golf Tour, reeled farther back with a bogey on No. 3 but got back into the groove by rattling off five birdies in the last 11 holes for a 36-32 card.

Masrin, who took charge in the opener with a 68 and hung tough with a gutsy 72 halfway through the 72-hole championship co-organized by the Asian Development Tour and Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc., failed to keep in step with Lepkurte and company’s charge, hitting five birdies but fumbling with two bogeys and a double bogey for a 34-37.

“I played bad today (yesterday) and committed many mistakes,” rued Masrin. “But I’m still in contention. There are still 18 holes left and anything can happen here.”

Thai Kasidit Lepkurte hacks his drive on the par-5 No. 12 en route to a superb 64

Miller joins Jr. NBA’s pool of PH coaches

By Reuel Vidal

Two-time PBA Most Valuable Player Willy Miller is shown teaching the fundamentals of the game to participants of the JrNBA/JrWNBA National Training Camp at the Don Bosco Technical Institute in Makati, Friday.

Donaire...

From A15

His ability to articulate his thoughts and string together sentences that sparked the imagination made an impact on the hardnosed media people present at the press conference.

His words reflected his likable personality and his sound reasoning which, in effect, highlighted his innate ability.

Recent winner of the prestigious Philippine Sportswriters Association’s “Athlete of the Year” award, along with WBO light flyweight king and the longestreigning Filipino world champion Donnie Nietes and young golfing ace Miguel Tabuena, Donaire realized that his lopsided unanimous decision win over Mexico’s

No. 1-ranked Cesar Juarez, whom he dropped twice in the fourth round before the second half of the fight for the vacant title, turned into a brutal affair.

Donaire himself described it as “a helluva fight,” conceding that he was “grateful for what I went through.”

While he admitted he lost many fans after the crushing sixth-round stoppage against the much bigger and stronger Nicholas “Axe Man” Walters after he moved up to featherweight, Donaire rode the fact that after the Juarez fight, fans embraced him once again.

“Fans will know that I will always fight as a courageous Filipino, who will bring pride to our country and I’m not gonna quit no matter what,” he said.

In his first title defense of the

122-pound crown the second time around, Donaire will face world No. 4-ranked former Hungarian Olympian Zsolt Bedak, who whipped Abner Mares in the 2004 Athens Olympics. Mares turned pro and went on to become a world champion, whom Donaire had wanted to fight, but which never materialized.

“He’s (Bedak) got pretty decent power, but he’s more of a technical fighter than anything and one who looks to win on points, but we won’t allow this. We know what we have to do,” said Donaire, never underestimating his foe.

Bedak is a capable fighter and tough as evidenced in his only loss in a world title fight to Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., when he suffered a broken jaw in Round 2, but fought gallantly until Round 10 when the referee stopped the bout.

TWO-TIME Philippine Basketball Association Most Valuable Player and PBA legend Willy Miller said he is happy to give back by mentoring young children aspiring to become good basketball players.

Miller, who won his second MVP after helping the Aces win the 2007 PBA Fiesta Cup championship, said he is grateful for the opportunity to teach the basics of the sport which has been good to him and his family. He joined the pool of coaches during Day One of the JrNBA/ JrWNBA Presented by Alaska National Training Camp at the Don Bosco Technical Institute in Makati, yesterday.

Miller will coach the final aspirants to become members of the JrNBA/JrWNBA Presented

by Alaska All-Star teams. Fifty boys and 24 girls will showcase their dribbling, passing and shooting skills during the threeday camp. Ten boys and five girls will be selected to become members of the all-star teams.

The JrNBA/JrWNBA Presented by Alaska is the league’s global youth basketball participa-

Donaire regards Bedak as “a tough guy, a capable guy,” but said he has faith that with his dad, Dodong Donaire, who is his trainer, they’ll come up with “the best game plan.”

When discussing his lethal left hook and his obvious advantage in power, Donaire quickly conceded that “power is sometimes not enough to beat a guy who moves around. It’s a matter of having the best, most intelligent game-plan and when we follow the game-plan we can beat anybody.”

Donaire, who sometimes in the past slacked off in training, has continued to work hard in the sweltering heat and sparred at the “In This Corner” and “Bebot” Elorde Gyms in Paranaque in the stifling conditions because he is grimly determined to provide a hometown crowd at the Cebu

tion program for boys and girls.

Miller and the other coaches will not only select the members of the JrNBA/JrWNBA all-star squad.

More importantly they will teach the fundamental skills of the sport and teach the children the core values of the game.

They will not only teach the children basketball skills they will also nurture the values and habits of hard work, determination, cooperation and integrity.

Miller is a four-time PBA champion (2001 Commissioner’s, 2002 Commissioner’s, 2007 Fiesta, 2015 Commissioner’s). He is a two-time PBA MVP (2002, 2007), two-time PBA Best Player of the Conference (2005 Fiesta, 2008–09 Philippine Cup), two-time PBA Finals MVP (2002 Commissioner’s, 2007 Fiesta), a nine-time PBA All-Star (2001, 2003–2004, 2006–2011), a three-time PBA Mythical First Team (2002, 2005, 2007) and a two-time PBA Mythical Second Team (2008, 2009).

Miller played for Alaska from 2006 to 2010 and was named by the franchise as one of 30 Greatest Alaska Aces Players of all time.

Sports Center a performance to remember.

“I will be 100 percent ready for this fight. No excuses,” Donaire said.

Donaire and his dad both indicated they would go for a knockout in every round because he is “looking for people to see my potential,” admitting that he learned a lot in 2015 when he gave only 70 percent.

“I am dead set on going beyond that. Sometimes when you feel that you have given everything and when your body is too tired, a little push every time will prove to be better,” Donaire said.

On Saturday he vowed: “We are coming out with all the weapons.

We are going to bring it out.”

“Because to the five-division world champion, Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire, certainly “It’s About Time!”

S AT U R D AY : A P R I L 2 3 , 2 0 1 6

A15

SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

LOTTO RESULTS 6/45 00-00-00-00-00-00 P0.0 M+ 4 DIGITS 00-00-00-00 3 DIGITS 00-00-00 2 EZ2 00-00

SMB, Rain begin duel

By Jeric Lopez

Nonito Donaire: We are coming out with all the weapons. We are going to bring it out.

Donaire: It’s about time

By Ronnie Nathanielsz

WITH most Filipino boxers lying in the shadows of the great eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao, the choice of the title “It’s About Time” for the World Boxing Council super bantamweight showdown between five-division world champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire and No. 4-ranked former Hungarian Olympian Zsolt Bedak strikes us as being most appropriate especially with the announced retirement of the 37-year-old Pacquiao.

While there are those who still believe Pacquiao has it in him to continue fighting based on his lopsided victory in his third fight with Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley, and hangers-on, who pander to him in the hope they can continue to benefit from his kind-hearted ways should he continue his career, there are others who believe it’s time for him to keep his word and hang up his gloves because that’s what his charming wife Jinkee, his mother Dionisia and his five kids want so they could have more time together.

The other aspect of the pressure for Pacquiao to retire is the fact that based on all the recent surveys, he stands a good chance of winning a seat in the senatorial elections in May and a nationwide constituency is certain

to demand his attention and full time, unlike when he won the lone seat in the House of Representatives from the province of Sarangani, where he came under fire for attending only four sessions in Congress.

It’s obvious he cannot follow the same routine in the Senate, which is a far more demanding task.

Beyond, it’s about time that other promising young fighters on the threshold of world championships are given a chance to shine and receive all the attention and support from sponsors and television networks that Pacquiao basked in during his career since he won his first world title beating Thai hero Chatchai Sasakul to grab the World Boxing Council flyweight title with a spectacular eighth-round

A new breed of boxing heroes INSIDE SPORTS RONNIE NATHANIELSZ

THERE couldn’t have been a better time or a better slogan than “It’s About Time” to promote today’s truly exciting, if not intriguing fight card at the sprawling Cebu Sports Center in the charming ambiance of the “Queen City of the South.”

The unbelievably low pay-per-view numbers for the third encounter between eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao and American Timothy “Desert

Storm” Bradley at the MGM Grand Garden Arena last April 9 and the subsequent wailing of Top Rank promoter Bob Arum not only underscored the early – and correct judgment of the media and fight fans, who were never enamored about the trilogy. The numbers quoted by the astute Arum speak for themselves.

Of course, aside from the choice of Bradley when there was a far more interesting storyline and potentially rewarding fight against Britain’s World Boxing Council Silver welterweight champion Amir Khan, or even a somewhat dangerous show-

down with unbeaten light welterweight champion Terence Crawford, who is also handled by Top Rank, it underscored the meaningless trilogy with Bradley, who the whole wide world knows, lost both fights in which he faced Pacquiao despite the horrendous, internationally criticized decision of the judges in their first meeting.

Ultimately we hope, even if we have our doubts, that Manny will hang up his gloves as he said he would and concentrate his time and energy, which he still unquestionably has plenty of, to his demanding task as

knockout on Dec. 3, 1998, on the outskirts of the Thai capital of Bangkok.

While five-division world champion Nonito Donaire has never aspired to be “the next Manny Pacquiao” and has always insisted he wants to be known as the first Nonito Donaire, even at the age of 33, he appears destined to anchor the roster of potential Filipino world champions, believing “It’s About Time.”

Pacquiao has a certain aura about him and his charisma is undeniable. But Donaire has his own particular charm and overall manner that endears him to fans both in the Philippines and in the United States, where he spent many of his youthful years.

Like Manny, Donaire is a fine singer and handles Visayan songs with an emotional touch. Besides, he can dance and knows what it’s like to be an entertainer as evidenced by his recent guest appearance on the top-rated ABSCBN noontime show “Showtime.”

He had arrived early that morning from Los Angeles with wife Rachel and two sons, but he still found the unbridled energy and enthusiasm to perform on “Showtime” and then to be special guest at a press conference at the Executive Dining Room of the network.

It was there that Donaire showed his prowess at answering questions and providing a riveting insight into himself and the sport of boxing.

Turn to A14

a representative of some 100 million Filipinos across our beloved country and find more time for his charming wife Jinkee and their five lovable kids.

The retirement of Manny provides a golden opportunity for a roster of truly talented and promising young Filipino boxers mainly from the famed ALA Gym to step up and by their collective efforts fill the void left by Pacquiao’s retirement.

Of course, the lead fighter in this bid to continue the storied history of Philippine boxing is certainly in the fists of Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire, who we believe will put on a show, as he himself envisions, against former Hungarian Olym-

ANOTHER chapter will be added to the already colorful rivalry of San Miguel Beer and Rain or Shine as their paths cross once again in the 2016 Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup. For the third straight conference, the Beermen and the Elasto Painters go to war against each other in the semifinals and familiarity will certainly play a big part in their best-of-seven affair.

Will San Miguel continue to assert its dominance over Rain or Shine or will the Elasto Painters finally find the anecdote to the Beermen’s poison?

The Beermen have been dominant against the Elasto Painters in the previous two conferences as they stepped it up in the most crucial times to eliminate Rain or Shine in the Round of 4, en route to winning the league’s last two championships.

San Miguel downed Rain or Shine, 3-1, in a best-of-five clash in the 2015 Governors’ Cup, before repeating the act again with a 4-2 win in a best-of-seven showdown last Philippine Cup, where it won the series’ last three games after a 1-2 deficit.

However, this conference, Rain or Shine bested San Miguel in the elimination round in their only encounter, taking it 108-105.

In the quarterfinals, their roads were different.

While the Elasto Painters dispatched Barangay Ginebra with ease with a 2-0 sweep in their best-of-three series, the Beermen had the toughest of times.

San Miguel, despite being the top seed heading the playoffs and armed with a twice-to-beat edge, had its hands full with Star, losing the first game and was taken to a knockout match before overcoming an 11-point, fourth-quarter deficit to advance.

On the other side of the fence, Meralco is still waiting for its dancing partner in the semis.

The Bolts, who were the first team to get to the semis, will either face defending champion Talk ‘N Text or Alaska in the next round.

pian Zsolt Bedak, somewhat of an unknown entity in their WBO super bantamweight showdown tonight, before what is expected to be a sellout crowd, thanks to a committed effort by the city government, headed by Mayor Rama and the police force, to ensure peace and order and as smooth a traffic flow as possible in a city that is fast developing into a traffic nightmare reminiscent of the Metro Manila gridlock.

Nonito Donaire never wanted to be another Pacquiao, he wants to be his own man and carve his own name in the pantheon of Filipino greats, which is as it should be.

While Manny is clearly a

charismatic fighter known for his remarkable humility and generosity, which sometimes is questionable in the manner in which he panders to leeches that abound when there is blood money to be sucked out of this forgiving individual, Nonito has a style and charisma all his own, anchored on his wonderful ability to string together thoughts that emanate from deep within his Filipino heart and put them into words both in English, Tagalog and Cebuano.

His eloquence touches both Filipinos and Americans, mindful that he spent many of his youthful years in the United States and acquired a certain flair from Continued on A13

S AT U R DAY : A P R I L 2 3 , 2 0 16

A16

RIERA U. MALL ARI EDITOR

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

sports@thestandard.com.ph

SPORTS

Harden to the rescue James Harden of the Houston Rockets shoots a three-pointer shot against the Golden State Warriors at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. AFP

MIAMI—James Harden drained the game winner on a turnaround jumper with two seconds left as the Houston Rockets clipped the Stephen Curryless Golden State Warriors 97-96 in a first-round NBA playoff contest.

Harden’s clutch basket Thursday allowed the Rockets to cut the Warriors series lead in the Western Conference tussle to two games to one.

“The last shot was typical of what James does,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “The move, we’ve seen before.

“The finish, we’ve seen before.

You do get spoiled by it at times, but in these biggest of moments, you can’t help but appreciate it.”

The defending champion Warriors were playing without MVP guard Curry, who has an injured

Thai storms to 4-shot golf lead TURN TO A14

right ankle. The Warriors hope to have Curry back in the fold for game four Sunday at the Toyota Center arena.

The Rockets blew a 17-point lead and trailed with 10 seconds left when Trevor Ariza threw away an inbounds pass that resulted in a fastbreak layup by Warriors reserve guard Ian Clark.

That set the stage for Harden’s heroics. He followed with a quick dribble, drove the lane and spun free before nailing the short jump shot.

Golden State forward Draymond Green dribbled the ensuing

inbounds pass off his foot and out of bounds for a turnover with one second left.

Curry was inactive for a second consecutive game as Golden State took a cautious approach with his return, opting against having him suit up following four days of rest.

If Curry participates in threeon-three drills on Friday and fiveon-five Saturday, chances are good that he will return on Sunday.

Shaun Livingston started in place for Curry.

Harden finished with 35 points, eight rebounds and nine assists to pace five Rockets in double figure scoring. Donatas Motiejunas tallied 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Dwight Howard added 13 points and 13 rebounds but missed two key free throws with 3:07 left.

Reserve forward Marreese Speights paced the Warriors

Donaire: It’s about time TURN TO A15

with 22 points.

“We have to play better as a team,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said.

Klay Thompson’s playoff threepoint streak of 31-straight games ended. It was second longest active streak behind Curry’s 41-straight games.

Raptors, Thunder dominate In the other Western Conference contest Thursday night, Kevin Durant scored a game-high 34 points, Russell Westbrook tallied 26 and the Oklahoma City Thunder cruised to a 131-102 first round playoff win over the Dallas Mavericks.

With the victory in front of a crowd of 20,100 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, the Thunder grabbed a 2-1 lead.

Game four is scheduled for Saturday in Dallas. AFP

Big edge for Ateneo

By Peter Atencio THE well-rested Ateneo Lady Eagles are expected to have a big edge when they start their the best-of-three finals’ series with the La Salle Lady Spikers in the 78th University Athletic Association of the Philippines women’s finals.

Meanwhile, the National University Bulldogs fight it out with defending champion Ateneo at 12 noon.

Last Wednesday, the Bulldogs to get past a stubborn Adamson University Soaring Falcons, 19-25, 2520, 25-20, 25-23, in their Final Four rubber match The Lady Eagles will be led in scoring by two-time Most Valuable Player Alyssa Valdez, who is on her final year.

Jho Maraguinot, who is being groomed to replace Valdez next season, will also be deadly with a pair of solid middle spikers in Amy Ahomiro and Bea De Leon.

Playmaker Jia Morado, who has seen action for two national squads, will also add to the team’s potency.

The Lady Spikers are expected to come out smoking, with graduating Ara Galang, Mika Reyes and Cyd Demecillo, setter Kim Fajardo and libero Dawn Macandili leading the way.

SATURDAY: APRIL 23, 2016

RAY S. EÑANO EDITOR

RODERICK T. DELA CRUZ ASSISTANT EDITOR

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

BUSINESS

B1

BDO bullish. BDO Unibank Inc. chairperson Teresita Sy (center) confers with president and chief executive Nestor Tan (left) during the annual stockholders’ meeting in Makati

Shangri-La, Manila hotel in Makati City on Friday. With them is independent director Gilberto Teodoro. BDO said net income dropped 10 percent in the first quarter to P5.5 billion from P6.1 billion a year ago, on lower trading and foreign exchange gains. Despite the lower profit in the January-March period, the bank expects full-year income to rise 4 percent to P26 billion in 2016 from P25 billion in 2015. BOBBY CABRERA

PAL in talks with an investor PSe comPoSite

index

Closing April 22, 2016

8300 7840 7380 6920 6460 6000

7,255.39 2.46

PeSo-dollar rate

Closing April 22, 2016 48.00 46.00 45.00

P46.650

44.00

CLOSE

43.00

HIGH P46.520 LOW P46.680 AVERAGE P46.578 VOLUME 819.300M

P400.00-P620.00 LPG/11-kg tank P30.00-P39.32 Unleaded Gasoline

o

il P PriceS today

P19.25-P22.75 Diesel

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Friday, April 22, 2016

F oreign e xchange r ate Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

46.3840

Japan

Yen

0.009140

0.4239

UK

Pound

1.431900

66.4172

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128919

5.9798

Switzerland

Franc

1.026378

47.6075

Canada

Dollar

0.785669

36.4425

Singapore

Dollar

0.741235

34.3814

Australia

Dollar

0.773600

35.8827

Bahrain

Dinar

2.656889

123.2371

Rial

TALKS are ongoing between Philippine Airlines and a potential strategic investor for a possible investment in the country’s flag carrier, its executive said Thursday night.

PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista confirmed to the reporters the “preliminary talks” with a potential strategic partner, but said “we were not at liberty to give any information.”

He did not disclose the identity of the prospective strategic investor.

PAL, which hired a financial adviser to help select a strategic investor, had planned to get a strategic investor in two years.

In August last year, Bautista said the company was not in a hurry to get a strategic investor because they were focusing on

0.266738

12.3724

Brunei

Dollar

0.738498

34.2545

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000076

0.0035

Thailand

Baht

0.028569

1.3251

UAE

Dirham

0.272287

12.6298

Euro

Euro

1.128700

52.3536

Korea

Won

0.000878

0.0407

China

Yuan

0.154297

7.1569

India

Rupee

0.015043

0.6978

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.257202

11.9301

New Zealand

Dollar

0.690800

32.0421

Taiwan

Dollar

0.030984

1.4372 Source: PDS Bridge

enhancing its valuation.

“I think it will be better for the present shareholders of PAL to make PAL more profitable before talking to a strategic investor, so that the value of the company would be better when we talk to them,” Bautista earlier said.

Bautista said the airline expects to post a higher profit in 2015 compared a year ago.

The airline is set to fly to Saipan by June this year to serve Filipinos working in the island.

Saipan is the latest addition to PAL’s route network, which recently included Doha, Jeddah and Kuwait this year as well as Port Moresby, Cairns, Auckland, Jinjang, and New York last year.

PAL also introduced the newest link to the US mainland via its Cebu-to-Los Angeles service on March 15.

The airline also plans to expand its presence in Europe and is currently studying four areas, such as Amsterdam, in Netherlands; Hamburg in Germany; Rome in Italy; and Paris, France.

PAL earlier signed a deal with Airbus to

acquire six A350-900 jets worth $1.8 billion, with an option to buy six others to support its long-haul operations.

PAL plans to deploy the A350 XWB (extra wide body), which seats more than 300, on new routes to North America and Europe. The first A350 is scheduled to be delivered in 2018.

The flag carrier’s total comprehensive income reached $20.4 million in 2014, breaking a three-year losing streak and setting the airline on a path to sustained growth.

The airline, now wholly-owned by tycoon Lucio Tan after he bought back a 49-percent stake that San Miguel Corp. purchased from him in 2012, posted a comprehensive income of P6.55 billion in the first nine months of 2015, up from P169.1 million in 2014.

PAL Holdings attributed the sharp increase in comprehensive income during the period to strong revenues, which rose 10.8 percent to P81.98 billion from P73.98 billion in 2014.

PAL’s passenger revenues rose 12.5 percent to P68.37 billion in the first nine months of 2015 from P60.78 billion a year earlier.

Jollibee buys out Edgar Sia to take over Mang Inasal

By Jenniffer B. Austria

P34.55-P39.15 Kerosene

Saudi Arabia

By Darwin G. Amojelar

RESTAURANT chain operator Jollibee Foods Corp. said Friday it acquired the remaining 30-percent stake of Injap Investments Inc. in Mang Inasal Philippines Inc. for P2 billion.

Jollibee said with the acquisition, it now owned 100 percent of Mang Inasal. Injap Investments is the holding company of Mang Inasal founder Edgar Sia II. Jollibee said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the acquisition was in line with the terms of the shareholders’ agreement it signed in November 2010 when it first acquired a 70-percent in-

terest in Mang Inasal.

“There will be no changes in business conduct and direction of Mang Inasal resulting from this acquisition except that the board of directors of Mang Inasal Philippines Inc. will henceforth be composed completely of representatives of Mang Inasal,” Jollibee said.

“The JFC Group of Companies will also continue with its strong business relationship with the business group of Mr. Edgar Sia II, primarily DoubleDragon Properties Corp.,” it said.

Jollibee chairman Tony Tan Caktiong and Sia are joint venture partners in property devel-

oper DoubleDragon.

DoubleDragon is currently constructing Jollibee office buildings in Ortigas.

Mang Inasal, a homegrown business, was started as a single proprietorship in December 2003 by Sia in Iloilo City. It became the first barbeque fastfood chain with chicken inasal as flagship product.

Jollibee acquired 70 percent of Mang Inasal for P3 billion in 2010, when the latter was operating 303 stores with revenues of P2.6 billion and system-wide sales of P3.8 billion.

Jollibee was operating 458 Mang Inasal branches nationwide as of end-March 2016.

Jollibee is the country’s leading food service network with 2,493 stores nationwide. Aside from Jollibee and Mang Inasal, it also owns several brands including Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon and Burger King.

It operates 650 stores overseas and owns several brands such as Yonghe King, Hong Zhuang Yuan and San Ping Wang.

Jollibee also has a 50-percent stake in joint ventures for Highlands Coffee (Vietnam, Philippines), Pho24 (Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia and Korea) and 12 Sabu (China).

Share price of Jollibee declined 1.15 percent to close at P223.40 on Friday.

SATURDAY: APRIL 23, 2016

B2

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

The STandard BuSineSS daily STockS review Friday, april 22, 2016

52 Weeks

Previous

High Low 7.88 75.3 124.4 107 56.5 2.49 4.2 17 30.45 890 1.01 100 1.46 30.5 91.5 80 361.2 57 180 1700 124 3.26

2.5 66 88.05 88.1 45.45 1.97 1.68 12.02 19.6 625 0.225 78 0.9 17.8 62 52 276 41 118.2 1200 59 2.65

47 5 1.46 2.36 15.3 89 20.6 85 36 65.8 2.97 4.14 21.5 21.6 11.96 9.13 11.8 2.89 31.8 109 20.75 15.3 9.4 0.98 241

35.9 1.11 1.01 1.86 7.92 40.3 15.32 20.2 10.08 29.15 1.5 1.5 10.72 9.55 9.04 6.02 8.86 1.06 20.2 71.5 13.86 13.24 5.34 0.395 173

3.95 4 33.9 90 13.26 293 5 5.25 12.98 6.75 15 7.03 3.4 4.5 6.3 7.86 1450 5.5 3.28 0.315 2.18 2.65 234 5.28 1.3 2.17

2.3 1.63 23.35 17.3 5.88 250.2 3.37 3.87 8.45 3 10.04 3.03 1.95 1 4.02 1.65 801 4.1 1.55 0.138 1.02 2.09 152 4.28 0.640 1.2

0.59 59.2 30.05 2.16 7.39 3.4 3.35 823.5 10.2 84 3.35 3.68 4.92 1455 7.5

0.44 48.1 20.85 1.6 6.62 0.23 0.23 634.5 7.390 12.8 2.6 1.15 2.26 837 5.3

76 5.29 9.25 0.85 17.3 5.53 9.66 0.0670 1.61 84.9 974 1.66 156 0.710 0.435 0.510

49.55 3 4.84 0.59 12 4.2 3 0.030 0.550 59.3 751 1.13 80 0.211 0.179 0.310

10.5 1.99 1.75 0.375 41.4 5.6 5.59 5.6 1.44 1.48

6.74 0.65 1.2 0.192 30.05 3.36 4.96 2.8 0.79 0.97

STOCKS

High

Low

FINANCIAL 3.14 2.95 46.3 45.2 104.50 103.00 90.50 89.45 39 38.45 3.00 3.00 1.65 1.50 14.2 14.2 16.2 16.08 620.00 600.50 0.620 0.610 84.45 82 1.01 0.96 14.60 14.58 53.85 53.40 395 270 271 270 31.9 31.65 172.4 169 1427.00 1427.00 57.50 57.40 1.57 1.56 INDUSTRIAL Aboitiz Power Corp.

44.15 44.75 44.2 Agrinurture Inc. 4.63 4.65 4.41 Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 0.83 0.83 0.8 Alsons Cons.

1.45 1.45 1.42 Asiabest Group 13.28 13.62 12.94 Bogo Medelin 61 64 61 Century Food 19.18 19 18.9 Conc. Aggr. ‘A’ 206 210 200 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 18.4 18.9 18.22 Concepcion 48.5 48.5 48.3 Crown Asia 2.32 2.35 2.28 Da Vinci Capital 5.56 5.77 5.58 Del Monte 11.16 11.18 11.1 DNL Industries Inc. 9.300 9.320 9.200 Emperador 8.14 8.14 8.05 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 5.85 5.89 5.85 EEI 7.33 7.65 7.24 Euro-Med Lab 1.63 1.67 1.67 First Gen Corp.

21.15 21.15 20.8 First Holdings ‘A’ 70 70 69.5 Ginebra San Miguel Inc. 14.04 14.04 14.04 Holcim Philippines Inc. 14.00 14.00 13.92 Integ. Micro-Electronics 5.75 5.8 5.75 Ionics Inc 2.570 2.590 2.510 Jollibee Foods Corp.

226.00 228.00 223.40 LBC Express 11.82 11.82 11.1 Leisure & Resorts B 7.95 8 7.98 LMG Chemicals 2.01 2.09 1.9 Mabuhay Vinyl 3.68 3.8 3.46 Manila Water Co. Inc. 27.3 27.6 26.9 Maxs Group 21.9 21.9 21.7 Megawide 6.73 6.77 6.63 Mla. Elect. Co `A’ 340.00 339.00 335.00 Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp. 4.49 4.49 4.48 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 3.78 3.81 3.77 Petron Corporation 11.00 11.00 10.78 Phil H2O 3.2 3.18 3.18 Phinma Corporation 11.62 11.64 11.50 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 4.48 4.61 4.40 Phoenix Semiconductor 1.57 1.60 1.58 Pryce Corp. `A’ 2.83 2.83 2.8 RFM Corporation 4.34 4.35 4.33 Roxas and Co. 2.4 2.4 2.4 San Miguel ‘Pure Foods `A’ 215 218 212.6 SPC Power Corp.

4.1 4.1 4.1 Splash Corporation 2.72 2.87 2.68 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.160 0.161 0.157 TKC Steel Corp.

1.23 1.25 1.17 Trans-Asia Oil 2.68 2.69 2.61 Universal Robina 200.8 203.8 200.2 Victorias Milling 4.65 4.9 4.7 Vitarich Corp.

1.12 1.14 1.07 Vulcan Ind’l.

1.33 1.31 1.28 HOLDING FIRMS Abacus Cons. `A’ 0.370 0.365 0.365 Aboitiz Equity 64.00 65.00 63.95 Alliance Global Inc. 16.68 16.60 16.42 Anglo Holdings A 1.12 1.11 1.11 Anscor `A’ 6.06 6.06 6.06 ATN Holdings A 0.295 0.325 0.300 ATN Holdings B 0.285 0.335 0.305 Ayala Corp `A’ 786 791 779.5 Cosco Capital 8.53 8.7 8.46 DMCI Holdings 12.36 12.40 12.32 F&J Prince ‘A’ 5.25 5.35 5.2 F&J Prince ‘B’ 5.11 5.11 5.11 Filinvest Dev. Corp.

5.75 5.75 5.60 GT Capital 1380 1400 1380 House of Inv. 6.49 6.49 6.49 IPM Holdings 9.71 9.73 9.62 JG Summit Holdings 83.00 83.50 82.45 Keppel Holdings `A’ 5.5 5.55 5.51 Lopez Holdings Corp.

7.57 7.65 7.41 Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. 0.7 0.7 0.68 LT Group 15.7 15.7 15.62 Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. 5.77 5.8 5.76 MJCI Investments Inc. 3.4 3.38 3.38 Pacifica `A’ 0.0330 0.0330 0.0330 Prime Orion 1.890 1.910 1.890 San Miguel Corp `A’ 74.80 75.00 74.00 SM Investments Inc. 960.00 960.00 950.50 Solid Group Inc. 1.20 1.22 1.16 Top Frontier 161.000 161.000 160.000 Unioil Res. & Hldgs 0.3150 0.3200 0.3100 Wellex Industries 0.1970 0.2030 0.1900 Zeus Holdings 0.290 0.285 0.285 PROPERTY 8990 HLDG 8.000 8.140 7.820 A. Brown Co., Inc. 1.31 1.32 1.27 Araneta Prop `A’ 1.550 2.320 1.570 Arthaland Corp.

0.270 0.285 0.260 Ayala Land `B’ 35.000 34.900 34.600 Belle Corp. `A’ 3.03 3.04 3.02 Cebu Holdings 5.1 5.2 5.15 Cebu Prop. `A’ 5.51 6 5.99 Century Property 0.560 0.56 0.550 Cityland Dev. `A’ 0.980 1.070 0.970 AG Finance Asia United Bank Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. Bank of PI China Bank BDO Leasing & Fin. INc. Bright Kindle Resources COL Financial Eastwest Bank Manulife Fin. Corp.

MEDCO Holdings Metrobank Natl. Reinsurance Corp.

PB Bank Phil. National Bank Philippine trust Co. PSE Inc. RCBC `A’ Security Bank Sun Life Financial Union Bank Vantage Equities

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

Close

SHARES 13352143 87134240 96217129 132207716 415318275 316177649 1066367577

3.1 46.2 104.00 89.80 38.5 2.95 1.59 14.2 15.98 605.00 0.620 83 0.98 14.60 53.50 274 273.8 31.85 171.5 1395.00 57.40 1.56

Close

%

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

3.14 46.3 103.70 90.00 38.5 3.00 1.53 14.2 16.16 600.50 0.620 84.45 0.96 14.58 53.50 395 270 31.9 169 1427.00 57.50 1.57

1.29 0.22 -0.29 0.22 0.00 1.69 -3.77 0.00 1.13 -0.74 0.00 1.75 -2.04 -0.14 0.00 44.16 -1.39 0.16 -1.46 2.29 0.17 0.64

197,000 10,900 1,530,500 3,094,900 11,900 2,000 335,000 1,200 3,573,800 350 880,000 1,700,980 213,000 319,700 39,690 500 3,640 82,700 1,327,060 5 14,950 12,000

44.75 4.41 0.82 1.42 13.62 61 19 202 18.22 48.5 2.32 5.6 11.16 9.250 8.08 5.88 7.50 1.67 20.9 69.8 14.04 14.00 5.8 2.540 223.40 11.1 7.98 2.09 3.5 27.45 21.9 6.68 337.00 4.49 3.78 10.80 3.18 11.64 4.61 1.58 2.8 4.33 2.4 212.6 4.1 2.77 0.160 1.23 2.62 202.4 4.9 1.09 1.28

1.36 -4.75 -1.20 -2.07 2.56 0.00 -0.94 -1.94 -0.98 0.00 0.00 0.72 0.00 -0.54 -0.74 0.51 2.32 2.45 -1.18 -0.29 0.00 0.00 0.87 -1.17 -1.15 -6.09 0.38 3.98 -4.89 0.55 0.00 -0.74 -0.88 0.00 0.00 -1.82 -0.63 0.17 2.90 0.64 -1.06 -0.23 0.00 -1.12 0.00 1.84 0.00 0.00 -2.24 0.80 5.38 -2.68 -3.76

2,461,000 1,385,000 281,000 1,227,000 57,600 490 26,400 1,960 78,700 160,600 507,000 406,600 11,000 2,053,700 988,000 15,380,500 565,800 5,000 1,328,400 76,530 7,600 182,900 412,300 1,825,000 469,390 28,100 108,300 51,000 7,000 1,485,700 60,300 395,200 155,010 2,000 3,241,000 20,812,400 5,000 21,800 1,030,000 211,000 242,000 2,597,000 2,000 6,130 10,000 1,491,000 4,250,000 261,000 1,758,000 2,028,780 315,000 16,676,000 116,000

0.365 65.00 16.46 1.11 6.06 0.315 0.325 787 8.63 12.36 5.35 5.11 5.61 1381 6.49 9.73 83.40 5.51 7.65 0.7 15.68 5.79 3.38 0.0330 1.890 74.05 955.50 1.17 161.000 0.3200 0.2030 0.285

-1.35 1.56 -1.32 -0.89 0.00 6.78 14.04 0.13 1.17 0.00 1.90 0.00 -2.43 0.07 0.00 0.21 0.48 0.18 1.06 0.00 -0.13 0.35 -0.59 0.00 0.00 -1.00 -0.47 -2.50 0.00 1.59 3.05 -1.72

50,000 886,370 6,436,200 83,000 200 21,940,000 3,160,000 228,590 4,532,900 5,887,300 16,400 1,000 372,700 64,175 26,000 2,479,000 1,041,640 2,200 1,615,500 7,000 3,567,300 27,213,800 13,000 11,800,000 417,000 31,470 68,730 875,000 650 3,240,000 2,270,000 110,000

7.850 1.28 2.320 0.280 34.700 3.03 5.15 6 0.550 1.060

-1.88 -2.29 49.68 3.70 -0.86 0.00 0.98 8.89 -1.79 8.16

289,800 5,314,000 19,526,000 1,060,000 5,904,100 675,000 11,100 4,000 1,310,000 246,000

476,540.00 7,545,202 -638,926.50

-32,441,222.00 31,975.00 18,424,306.50 -4,569,000.00 -1,212,790.50 5,400.00 560,390 -14,428,747.00 -202,330.00 55,372,775.00 179,400.00

-271,334.00 39,290.00 168,950 232,000.00 -720,962.00 -4,188,516.00 51,353,388.00 732,645.00 -15,760,050.00 -1,719,871.00 11,677.00 -102,800.00 -39,394,830.00

19,507,790.00 -54,750.00 -109,500.00 -10,934,594.00 362,880.00 185,048,892.00 -885,620.00 -13,000.00 -91,940.00 79,500.00 -1,319,520.00 -42,821,608.00 1,458,280.00 14,120.00

45,007,218.50 -9,511,012.00

119,300.00 21,693,605.00 -11,236,053.00 -46,489,420.00 1,122,000.00 13,526,390.00 53,486,115.50 -1,740,975.00 10,927,084.00 -42,776,178.00

-1,755,446.50 -19,373,625.00

52 Weeks

Previous

High Low

STOCKS

-46,257,620.00 26,950.00 -126,440.00

High

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

5.69 -1.02 -0.27 -1.19 -1.96 -4.50 1.08 -1.54 21.07 0.24 0.00 2.00 -6.90 -0.88 -0.81 -0.17 -0.62 -1.25 0.88 3.57 0.31 1.77 -0.41

14,400,000 5,320,000 315,100 6,000 310,000 12,665,000 11,083,000 61,000 78,000 23,855,000 2,050,000 10,000 4,486,000 1,100 4,000 3,568,300 123,000 28,000 11,823,800 3,534,000 1,600 2,114,000 540,000

10.5 66 1.44 1.09 15.82 0.1430 5.06 99.1 12.3 2.6 7.67 1700 2720 8.41 70.5 1.97 119.5 7 5.8 12.5 0.8200 2.2800 3.32 3.2 95.5 1 15.2

1.97 35.2 1 0.63 8.6 0.0770 2.95 56.1 10.14 1.6 4.8 830 1600 5.95 17.02 1.23 102.6 3.01 4 8.72 0.041 1.200 1.91 1.95 3.1 0.650 6

1.040 22.8 6.41 185 22.9 3486 0.760 2.28 46.05 90.1

0.37 14.54 3 79 4.39 2748 0.435 1.2 31.45 60.55

11.6 0.85 2.95 10 0.490 1.9

7.59 0.63 1.71 5 0.315 1.14

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

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

Discovery World DFNN Inc. FEUI Globe Telecom GMA Network Inc. Grand Plaza Hotel Harbor Star I.C.T.S.I. Imperial Res. `A’ Imperial Res. `B’ IPeople Inc. `A’ Island Info ISM Communications Liberty Telecom Macroasia Corp.

Manila Broadcasting Manila Bulletin Melco Crown Metro Retail NOW Corp.

Pacific Online Sys. Corp.

PAL Holdings Inc. Phil. Seven Corp.

Philweb.Com Inc. PLDT Common PremiereHorizon Premium Leisure Puregold Robinsons RTL SBS Phil. Corp.

SSI Group STI Holdings Transpacific Broadcast Travellers Waterfront Phils.

Yehey

3.80 0.00 0.00 -3.39 -3.23 -1.69 -1.27 -0.61 2.98 1.16 2.60 0.00 0.55 -0.14 0.00 -1.67 -0.08 -1.93 -17.89 -1.52 6.67 11.83 -0.53 0.72 14.35 -1.67 -5.70 -0.99 5.59 0.00 0.21 -1.79 0.22 -1.90 2.27 0.00 0.24 -0.19 0.16 2.01 -1.56 -0.52 0.00 4.62 1.53

912,300 25,333.00 21,550 27,000 1,103,000 1,059,000 561,320.00 79,040,000 195,940.00 127,000 67,550 3,861,964.00 31,500 19,000 114,600 34,750.00 1,750 22,475 8,900,960.00 209,300 300 92,000 372,640 2,678,435.00 59,200 340 600 184,820,000 1,582,750.00 21,751,000 175,050.00 75,000 2,000 2,400 77,000 22,711,000 -11,764,310.00 1,234,000 -44,000.00 81,767,000 6,965,820.00 1,000,000 6,000 1,050 5,280.00 162,600 -223,000.00 119,830 -99,798,380.00 1,280,000 4,512,000 40,420.00 1,537,000 3,106,850.00 1,441,380 41,687,484.00 900,300 2,840,706.00 2,016,000 1,080,000 3,150.00 49,000 219,000 -252,220.00 30,000 1,708,300 -42,210.00

0.0098 5.45 17.24 0.330 12.7 12.8 1.19 1.62 9.5 4.2 0.48 0.420 0.440 0.022 0.023 8.2 49.2 4.27 1.030 3.06 0.020 7.67 12.88 10.42 0.040 420 9

0.0043 1.72 6.47 0.236 6.5 5.11 0.85 0.77 5.99 1.17 0.305 0.2130 0.2160 0.013 0.014 3.240 18.96 2.11 0.365 1.54 0.012 5.4 7.26 2.27 0.015 115.9 3.67

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

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

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

TA Petroleum

2.44 -0.46 -0.94 2.41 -0.36 0.00 0.00 5.66 4.89 -3.03 0.00 -3.72 -1.60 0.00 0.00 -2.22 -4.66 -3.97 0.00 1.47 -2.04 -3.16 0.00 2.17 0.00 0.00 -5.59

80,000,000 7,000 159,000 20,000 20,900 2,000 2,608,000 1,832,000 75,100 99,205,000 180,000 35,800,000 3,740,000 17,800,000 3,800,000 685,000 6,316,600 418,000 350,000 91,000 7,000,000 73,000 1,288,200 379,000 52,900,000 263,030 907,000

70 525 515 8.21 12.28 111

33 500 480 5.88 6.5 101

78.95 84.8

74.5 75

ABS-CBN Holdings Corp.

Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ GLOBE PREF P GMA Holdings Inc. Leisure and Resort MWIDE PREF PNX PREF 3B SMC Preferred B SMC Preferred C SMC Preferred D SMC Preferred E SMC Preferred F SMC Preferred H SMC Preferred I

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.45 0.19 -0.65 0.12 0.00 -1.18 -0.32 0.00 0.07

574,700 3,430 1,740 34,000 30,000 140 150 15,000 36,240 200 15,000 12,060 132,300 16,060

-1.41

265,000

0.00 9.32 -0.32 -1.61

23,000 128,000 166,000 5,640,700

42,032,810.00

0.17

2,070

-94,960.00

6.98

0.8900 LR Warrant

15

3.5

12.88

5.95

130.7

105.6 First Metro ETF

Alterra Capital Makati Fin. Corp.

Italpinas Xurpas

0.132 0.123 0.130 0.490 0.480 0.485 36.5 36 36.4 0.830 0.830 0.830 0.155 0.150 0.150 1.12 1.05 1.06 1.88 1.85 1.88 1.28 1.28 1.28 5.20 4.20 5.00 4.14 4.08 4.1 0.086 0.083 0.085 0.2550 0.2550 0.2550 0.590 0.520 0.540 28.25 28.00 28.00 8.53 8.53 8.53 29.05 28.85 28.90 1.6 1.57 1.6 3.19 3.07 3.15 22.90 22.05 22.80 0.88 0.84 0.87 6.52 6.3 6.52 1.170 1.120 1.150 4.830 4.800 4.830 SERVICES 7.9 8.41 7.9 8.2 57.2 57.3 57 57.2 1.28 1.28 1.28 1.28 0.590 0.600 0.570 0.570 4.64 4.64 4.49 4.49 0.0590 0.0590 0.0570 0.0580 3.14 3.12 3.08 3.1 90.7 90.9 90 90.15 9.4 9.68 9.5 9.68 1.73 1.75 1.7 1.75 6.91 7.09 6.95 7.09 960 960 960 960 2166 2178 2154 2178 6.94 6.93 6.80 6.93 24.05 24.05 24.05 24.05 1.20 1.18 1.17 1.18 66.65 66.85 66 66.6 15.56 15.58 15.00 15.26 190 180 150 156 11.84 11.84 11.66 11.66 0.300 0.335 0.295 0.320 1.6900 1.8900 1.6700 1.8900 3.79 3.80 3.76 3.77 2.78 2.80 2.78 2.80 20.90 23.90 21.05 23.90 0.600 0.600 0.580 0.590 2.28 2.27 2.15 2.15 4.04 4.07 3.97 4.00 3.220 3.550 3.220 3.400 17.5 17.5 17.5 17.5 4.82 5.05 4.83 4.83 112.00 116.00 105.60 110.00 22.25 22.30 22.00 22.30 1845.00 1859.00 1801.00 1810.00 0.440 0.455 0.435 0.450 0.860 0.870 0.840 0.860 41.20 41.80 40.85 41.30 80.05 80.10 79.45 79.90 6.40 6.60 6.40 6.41 3.48 3.56 3.46 3.55 0.640 0.640 0.620 0.630 1.91 1.9 1.8 1.9 3.6 3.62 3.59 3.6 0.325 0.345 0.340 0.340 5.220 5.800 5.070 5.300 MINING & OIL 0.0041 0.0042 0.0041 0.0042 2.16 2.16 2.03 2.15 4.27 4.28 4.18 4.23 0.249 0.255 0.255 0.255 8.3000 8.3 7.9 8.2700 7.9500 7.9500 7.9500 7.9500 0.75 0.78 0.75 0.75 0.530 0.560 0.520 0.560 8.38 9.00 7.95 8.79 0.990 0.990 0.950 0.960 0.290 0.300 0.290 0.290 0.242 0.241 0.230 0.233 0.250 0.250 0.245 0.246 0.0120 0.0120 0.0110 0.0120 0.0130 0.0130 0.0120 0.0130 2.25 2.3 2.2 2.2 5.8 5.8 5.47 5.53 2.77 2.77 2.66 2.66 0.6700 0.6700 0.6600 0.6700 1.3600 1.4000 1.3600 1.3800 0.0098 0.0099 0.0096 0.0096 3.80 3.85 3.60 3.68 5.85 5.88 5.70 5.85 2.30 2.37 2.29 2.35 0.0120 0.0120 0.0120 0.0120 126.00 126.50 125.90 126.00 3.4 3.4 3.21 3.21 PREFERRED 56.95 57 56.95 56.95 525 525 525 525 520 520 520 520 6.8 6.8 6.8 6.8 1.07 1.07 1.07 1.07 110.5 111 111 111 107 107.2 107.2 107.2 77.5 77 77 77 80 80.1 80 80.1 76 76 76 76 76.5 76 75.6 75.6 77.25 77 76.5 77 75.1 75.1 75.05 75.1 75.05 75.5 75.1 75.1 WARRANTS & BONDS 3.550 3.620 3.500 3.500 SME 4 4.15 4 4 4.29 4.9 4.4 4.69 3.17 3.17 3.08 3.16 18.66 18.96 18.36 18.36 EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 118.5 119.1 118.5 118.7

%

Crown Equities Inc. 0.123 Cyber Bay Corp.

0.490 Double Dragon 36.5 Empire East Land 0.840 Ever Gotesco 0.153 Global-Estate 1.11 Filinvest Land,Inc. 1.86 Interport `A’ 1.30 Keppel Properties 4.13 Megaworld 4.09 MRC Allied Ind. 0.085 Phil. Estates Corp.

0.2500 Phil. Realty `A’ 0.580 Phil. Tob. Flue Cur & Redry 28.25 Primex Corp.

8.6 Robinson’s Land `B’ 28.95 Rockwell 1.61 Shang Properties Inc. 3.19 SM Prime Holdings 22.60 Sta. Lucia Land Inc. 0.84 Starmalls 6.5 Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. 1.130 Vista Land & Lifescapes 4.850

6,150.00 -1,719,340.00

-1,563,060.00 30,838,490.00

19,988,400.00 177,600.00 150,872,070.00 9,450.00 115,590.00

-25,530.00

5,668,100.00 98,400.00 -132,000.00 -11,809,043.00 -52,800.00

90,145.00 -120,210.00 120,000.00 -25,612,152.00 -1,577,403.50 -129,200.00

175,560.00

T op L oSerS

STOCKS

FINANCIAL 1,618.98 (up) 1.93 INDUSTRIAL 11,698.71 (down) 6.75 HOLDING FIRMS 7,208.10 (up) 8.99 PROPERTY 2,978.39 (down) 2.97 SERVICES 1,518.42 (down) 11.76 MINING & OIL 10,775.47 (down) 121.54 PSEI 7,255.39 (down) 2.46 All Shares Index 4,329.41 (up) 40.80 Gainers: 84; Losers: 97; Unchanged: 51; Total: 232

Close

0.083 0.415 2.4 0.83 0.188 1.15 1.42 1.27 3.1 4.13 0.090 0.290 0.39 23 2.69 22.15 1.6 3.1 15.08 0.69 3.38 0.83 5.73

T op g ainerS VALUE 878206996.35 119693621.434 997298604.46 824901616.76 1044696098.03 193773679.4838 5244787174.82

Low

0.201 0.69 10.96 0.97 0.305 2.22 2.1 1.8 8.4 5.94 0.180 0.470 0.72 27 8.54 31.8 2.29 4.9 21.35 1.06 7.56 1.62 8.59

-521,965.00 1,897,630.00

Close

Close (P)

Change (%)

STOCKS

Close (P)

Change (%)

Araneta Prop `A'

2.320

49.68

Imperial Res. `B'

156

-17.89

Philippine trust Co.

395

44.16

Phil. Realty `A'

0.540

-6.90

Keppel Properties

5.00

21.07

LBC Express

11.1

-6.09

Manila Broadcasting

23.90

14.35

Melco Crown

2.15

-5.70

ATN Holdings B

0.325

14.04

TA Petroleum

3.21

-5.59

ISM Communications

1.8900

11.83

Mabuhay Vinyl

3.5

-4.89

Makati Fin. Corp.

4.69

9.32

Agrinurture Inc.

4.41

-4.75

Cebu Prop. `A'

6

8.89

Nickelasia

5.53

-4.66

Cityland Dev. `A'

1.060

8.16

Global-Estate

1.06

-4.50

ATN Holdings A

0.315

6.78

Nihao Mineral Resources

2.66

-3.97

SATURDAY: APRIL 23, 2016

B3

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

Market ends flat; Aboitiz, Now rise STOCKS slightly fell amid thin trading Friday, as investors took profits following losses in New York and Europe, although crude prices rallied again on lingering hopes for a deal to limit output.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index, the 30-company benchmark, shed 2 points to close at 7,255.39 Friday. The bellwether was still up 4.4 percent since the start of the year.

The heavier index, representing all shares, rose 40 points, or 1 percent, to settle at 4,329.41, on a value turnover of P5.2 billion.

Nine of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by technology company Now Corp., which climbed 5.6 percent to P3.40. Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. gained 1.8 percent to P84.45, while Aboitiz Power Corp. rose 1.4 percent to P44.75.

Meanwhile, the losses across trading floors in Asia came at the end of a volatile week that started with sharp selling in response to news of the collapse of talks aimed at addressing a global crude supply glut.

But optimism over the Chinese economy and soothing comments from the US that interest rates will not go up before June have helped push world markets higher to multi-month highs.

On Friday, traders decided to take their cash off the table.

Tokyo was 0.1 percent lower by the break, Hong Kong shed 0.7 percent, Shanghai eased 0.1 percent and Seoul was 0.3 percent off.

Sydney was marginally lower and Singapore gave back 0.6 percent.

On Thursday, European Central Bank boss Mario Draghi sought to reassure markets over the eurozone economy by saying it would unleash further stimulus measures “if warranted” to kick-start growth and inflation.

He also dismissed German criticism that its negative interest rate policy is hurting savers and banks, and insisted its benefits would take time to unfold.

With Bloomberg, AFP

Pru Life’s new branch.

Pru Life UK holds a blessing ceremony for its Diamond Branch at Tower 1 and Exchange Plaza along Ayala Avenue in Makati City, coinciding with the British life insurer’s 20th anniversary in the Philippines.

Shown cutting the ribbon are (from left) Pru Life UK vice president and Metro Manila sector head Marylin Detalla, senior vice president and chief distribution officer Divine Furagganan, Diamond Branch district manager Che Martinez and vice president and national sales director Noel Ellorenco.

BDO’s net income drops 10% to P5.5b

By Julito G. Rada

BDO Unibank Inc., the country’s largest lender controlled by tycoon Henry Sy, said Friday net income dropped 10 percent in the first quarter to P5.5 billion from P6.1 billion a year ago, on lower trading and foreign exchange gains.

The bank said despite the lower profit in the January-March period, it expected full-year income to rise 4 percent to P26 billion in 2016 from P25 billion last year.

BDO president and chief executive Nestor Tan said in a news briefing in Makati City the P26-billion income guidance this year would translate into a 12.5-percent to 13-percent return on equity.

Tan said the bank remained optimistic this year because of the country’s sustained sound

economic fundamentals and good demographics.

“We expect the Philippine economy to continue its growth trajectory this year and we see growth in provincial areas,” he said.

Tan said the two major engines of growth—business process outsourcing and remittances from overseas Filipinos—would continue to expand this year. He also said the consumer sector remained resilient.

He said while loan growth would continue to rise, the growth

would be tempered this year.

BDO said net profit declined in the first quarter on lower trading and foreign exchange gains.

Trading and FX gains in the first three months fell 58 percent to P1.5 billion from P3.4 billion a year earlier.

Net interest income jumped 17 percent to P15.5 billion from P13.3 billion a year ago. Feebased income from payments, transaction banking and asset management services increased 11 percent to P4.8 billion.

The bank’s non-performing loan ratio settled at 1.3 percent, while NPL cover stood at 163 percent with the bank setting aside P827 million as provisions for the quarter.

With a capital base of P204 billion, the bank’s capital adequacy ratio, Tier 1 capital ratio and common equity tier 1 were at 13.4 percent, 11.8 percent,

and 11.4 percent, respectively, above the current regulatory minimum levels under the Basel 3 framework.

Tan said BDO would put up 50 to 100 branches nationwide this year, depending on growth opportunities.

He said the acquisition of the Mindanao-based rural bank One Network Bank would be a good move to seize the opportunities in the south.

“We will continue to grow our network outside the national capital region,” Tan said.

BDO has one of the largest distribution networks, with more than 1,000 operating branches and over 3,000 automated teller machines nationwide. It also has a branch in Hong Kong as well as 27 overseas remittance and representative offices in Asia, Europe, North America, and the Middle East.

SN Aboitiz forms team to monitor new hydro plant in Benguet

By Alena Mae S. Flores SN Aboitiz Power-Magat said Friday it formed an environmental monitoring team for a $47.1-million hydroelectric power plant in Isabela province to comply with the government’s requirement.

SN Aboitiz said the monitoring team for Maris South Canal Hydroelectric Power Plant was formalized after a two-day meeting and an ocular inspection of the project site in Ba-

rangay Ambatali, Ramon, Isabela.

The formation of the team was required before the Environment Department could issue an environmental compliance certificate to the 8.5-megawatt hydroelectric power plant along the Maris Main (South) Canal.

Maris Main South Canal Hydroelectric Power Plant will be developed by SNAP-Magat as a run-of-river plant.

It aims to generate additional

electricity for the Luzon grid by utilizing the irrigation flow from Maris Reservoir into Maris Main (South) Diversion Canal.

The project is expected to be completed in November 2017, with an estimated project cost of $47.1 million.

It is also covered by a memorandum of agreement with the National Irrigation Administration, the government agency that owns and operates Magat dam and Maris re-regulating dam.

The plant will use the same irrigation water released from the Maris Reservoir for the Maris Main (South) Diversion Canal and will not affect the current irrigation water supply.

SNAP-Magat also owns and operates the 360-MW Magat hydro power plant at the border of Isabela and Ifugao. It is a joint venture of SN Power of Norway and Aboitiz Power Corp.

The monitoring team is composed of 11 members from SNAP-Magat, Environment

D e p ar t m e nt - E nv i ron m e nt Management Bureau Region 2, Agriculture Department Region 2, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Region 2, Environment and Natural Resources Office in Isabela, National Irrigation Administration-Magat River Integrated Irrigation System, Cenro-San Isidro, local governments of Ambatali and Ramon, Ambatali Elementary School and RamCor, the Council of Irrigators’ Association.

SATURDAY: APRIL 23, 2016

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

IN BRIEF 4 banks keep ratings

GLOBAL debt watcher Fitch Ratings affirmed the ratings of four major Philippine banks and upgraded another one, mirroring the positive outlook on the country’s sovereign rating.

Fitch affirmed the long-term Issuer default ratings on government-owned banks Development Bank of the Philippines and Land Bank of the Philippines, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., and upgraded the long-term issuer default rating of BDO Unibank Inc., the country’s biggest bank to BBB from BB+ “The IDRs and national ratings of DBP and LBP are driven by Fitch’s expectation of state support for the banks ...,” it said.

Fitch said the sovereign would have a high propensity to provide extraordinary support to the two banks in times of need, in light of their full government ownership and quasi-policy roles as set out in their respective forming charters.

“The probability of state support is considered moderate overall, after taking into account the sovereign’s fiscal flexibility, as indicated by the sovereign IDR of ‘BBB-’,” it said. Julito G. Rada

Sulu Sea drilling up

THE joint venture of Mitra Energy of Malaysia and Total E&P Philippines B.V. plans to drill an exploratory well in service contract 56 covering the South Sulu Sea by next year.

Mitra Energy said in its latest report it identified a portfolio of exploration prospects in addition to the discovered gas fields in SC 56.

“Total is planning an exploration well on the key Halcon prospect [expected to be drilled in 2017], for which Total will carry Mitra’s 25 percent interest up to a gross well cost of US$75 million,” Mitra said.

It said the discovered and future gas resources were expected to be either sold via pipeline to Sabah (Malaysia) or to a liquefied natural gas off-taker, probably through a floating LNG facility to be operated by Total.

Mitra holds a 25 percent interest in SC 56 in partnership with operator Total.

Four wells were earlier drilled in SC 56 by previous operator Exxon, resulting in the Dabakan and Palendag discoveries.

Exxon did not to pursue further development in 2011, claiming the reserves were non-commercial quantity.

Alena Mae S. Flores

8990 securitization

MASS housing developer 8990 Holdings Inc. plans to securitize up to P5 billion worth of receivables, which could be the largest private sector-led securitization since the passage of the Securitization Act in 2004.

8990 Holdings said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it hired China Bank Capital Corp. to arrange and underwrite the securitization of up to P5 billion of contract to sell receivables of 8990’s property development subsidiaries.

Under the proposed plan, 8990’s subsidiaries will sell up to P5 billion worth of contract to sell receivables to a special purpose company of China Bank Capital, which will then issue three tranches of asset-backed securities to investors.

The SPC will use the cash flows from the receivables to make principal and interest payments to the ABS investors until each tranche is completely paid in order of seniority.

“This is a trailblazing moment for 8990 as well as the mass housing sector,” 8990 president and chief executive Januario Jesus Atencio said. Jenniffer B. Austria

Lhuillier advocacy

CEBUANA Lhuillier, the country’s leading microfinancial solutions provider, has officially started the disaster resilience road show in Baguio.

The first road show was held on April 8 at the Citylight Hotel in Baguio City where stakeholders from private and public sectors gathered to discuss key concepts about disaster preparedness and recovery.

Supported by the Insurance Commission and The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, the program featured talks and presentations by Insurance Commission microinsurance division tepresentative Shayne Rose Bulos and by Cebuana Lhuillier Insurance Solutions general manager Jonathan Batangan.

“During the forum in January, we talked about how important collaborative effort is to build a disaster-resilient nation.

We’ve already forged partnerships with various organizations on the national level. This time, through these road shows, we hope to reach out to and tap the local organizations,” Cebuana Lhuillier president and CEO Jean Henri Lhuillier said.

FLI set to invest P5b to redevelop Mimosa

By Jenniffer B. Austria

FILINVEST Land Inc., the property unit of the Gotianun family, said it will spend P5 billion over the next five years to renovate and develop the 201-hectare former Mimosa Leisure Estate owned by state-controlled Clark Development Corp.

Filinvest Land president Josephine Gotianun-Yap said in an interview at the sidelines of the annual stockholders’ meeting the company would build office, residential and retail components within the Mimosa complex in the Clark economic zone.

She said the company would initially renovate villas and other facilities in the area which are now deteriorating.

“We have to make renova-

tions in the area and bring it to a higher standard and level of development. But we plan to have mall, office and residential developments within the area as well,” Gotianun-Yap said.

Filinvest Land in joint venture with parent Filinvest Development Corp. in January this year bagged a long term lease contract for the former Mimosa Leisure Estate.

The Filinvest Group was the lone bidder for the property. It submitted a financial offer of P800 million, which was the minimum acceptable bid.

Gotianun-Yap said the company could immediately develop the Mimosa property after CDC resolved a commercial issue being raised by the creditors of Mimosa.

The former Mimosa Leisure Estate is located in Clark Freeport Zone. The property includes an operating hotel with 303 rooms and 34 villas under the Holiday Inn brand, as well as a 36-hole golf course.

CDC took over Mimosa Leisure Estate during the Estrada administration after former developer Mondragon Leisure Resorts Corp. of former tourism secretary Jose Antonio Gonzales failed to pay its lease rentals and

other financial obligations.

Aside from Mimosa, Filinvest Land is also set to do a master plan on the 228-hectare section of Clark Green City.

The property firm said it would allot at least 100 hectares for industrial estate development and the rest for mixed-use developments, including hotel, residential and office developments.

Filinvest Land this year is set to start developing the 1.1-hectare property in Cubao, which is envisioned to be a mixed-use development with a four-storey mall, several office towers for business process outsourcing industry an a residential tower.

It also plans to transform the former Philcomcen property in Ortigas district into an office building development

Vermosa campus. Ayala

Land Inc. and educational partner De La Salle Santiago Zobel School hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the new DLSZ-Vermosa campus set to open in 2017. Leading the ceremony at the 700-hectare Vermosa estate in Imus, Cavite are ALI chief executive and president Bernard Vincent Dy, ALI senior vice president and strategic landbank management group head Anna Ma. Margarita Dy and DLSZ president Br. Bernard Oca, FSC, and members of the DLSZ board of trustees, president’s council and operations council and the parents’ association. Below is an artist perspective shows the senior high school hall and Spark building, which will rise inside the DLSZVermosa campus.

Panasonic sees PH sales increasing by 30% until 2018

By Othel V. Campos PANASONIC Philippines expects sales in premium durables line to grow by an average of 30 percent annually until 2018 amid the positive outlook of Philippine economy and the increasing purchasing power of the middle class.

“These are aspirational premium products that we want Filipinos to incorporate in their lifestyle,” said Panasonic managing director for appliances in Asia Pacific Yuji Majima during the launch of two of the company’s high end products—the primefresh refrigerator and washing

machine.

The company starting 2018 expects sales to increase 40 percent on all aspirational premium products and plans to continue to market Philippine-made products as well.

It still maintains its Philippine manufacturing operations for entry-level single and twin-tub washing machines, window-type air-conditioners, direct cool, nofrost and inverter technology refrigerators and electric fans.

The company is the second biggest supplier of washing machines in the Philippines with a 20 percent market share and the

second biggest in air-conditioning systems at 22 percent.

Panasonic is also the biggest supplier of refrigerators in the Philippines with an existing market share of 27 percent.

Panasonic Manufacturing Philippines Corp.president Shinichi Hayashi said the Philippines would continue to be an important market for the company.

“The Philippines is expected as a potential market for more premium products and a relevant one, with the economy growing at a fast rate. We are continuously innovating the premium line making them more customer-

oriented for value and long-lasting use,” he said.

The Panasonic premium line includes inverter-technology air-conditioners and refrigerators, fully automatic top-load and front-load washing machines and full HD television sets, all Japanmade.

It has recently transferred its research and development unit to Malaysia, making it closer to home “to respond to consumer needs.”

Sales of premium products comprise about 26 percent of total company sales in 2015. Sales in 2014 reached P7 billion.

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CESAR BARRIOQUINTO EDITOR

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

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WORLD Quake victims desperate KATHMANDU—A year after an earthquake flattened her home in Nepal, Menuka Rokaya still lives in a tent with her husband and nine-monthold baby as they await even a sliver of a $4 billion aid fund.

“We have lived like this with a baby through monsoon and winter,” says Rokaya, one of an estimated four million people who are still homeless.

“The quake spared us, but it is difficult to survive now.

“Earlier, many people used to come here to help us. But... they have all disappeared now,” she told AFP as she nursed her young daughter.

The world rallied to donate money to help the desperately poor Himalayan nation after the 7.8-magnitude quake struck on April 25 last year.

Nearly 9,000 people lost their lives in the disaster while over half a million homes were destroyed.

But while $4 billion in aid has been raised, the wrangling between political parties over control of the funds has meant that most victims have received nothing beyond an initial small payout.

Rokaya, who was six months pregnant when the quake brought down her home, now lives with her family in a tent that offers little protection from the cold and the rain.

“We haven’t heard anything about compensation. We don’t have any money, how can we rebuild?,” said Rokaya, who lives in a camp near Kathmandu airport.

The family has to survive on the $10 that her husband earns a day as a tea-seller and meals are cooked on a stove inside their tent. They have to wash in a communal toilet on the camp site.

An estimated four million people are still living in sub-standard temporary shelters, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Many were living hand-to-mouth even before the quake, which dealt a huge blow to Nepal’s already fragile economy.

To make matters worse, protesters angered by the terms of a new national con-

stitution mounted a blockade at the Indian border the main entry point for fuel and other goods creating crippling shortages that lasted for months.

Tourism also took a nosedive as prospective visitors canceled bookings following dozens of deaths in quake-triggered avalanches at Everest base camp and along the popular Langtang trekking route.

Work has begun on repairing the huge damage done to Nepal’s cultural heritage-a major tourist draw.

The famous royal squares of the Kathmandu Valley reopened to the public last June and masons have begun work on restoring other historic sites including the fifth-century Changu Narayan complex, but officials say it will take years to complete.

After months of bickering, the government finally established a National Reconstruction Authority in December to oversee rebuilding and distribute funds.

Until then, rebuilding had effectively been put on hold because the government had instructed people to follow specific quake-resistant designs to qualify for aid -but had not released the blueprints.

“You had many organizations... willing to support housing reconstruction, but they had to act in a vacuum, a policy vacuum.

So they could not start work,” said Jennifer Duyne, who heads the international and Nepali donor reconstruction effort.

Even aid organizations that had started to rebuild schools and health facilities were told to pause their efforts until the new body could review them, a process that took months.

And while the government promised $2,000 for every home destroyed, fewer than 700 families have received the first installment of $500.

NRA chief Sushil Gyewali said the organization was now “expediting the process” of distributing funds.

But thousands of survivors have chosen to risk losing the government aid, and have instead taken out loans or turned to charities for help.

In Ramechhap district, east of Kathmandu, where 40,000 houses were damaged, Gurkha soldiers have been hard at work breaking rocks and laying down concrete to construct schools and build homes for veterans. AFP

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WORLD

CESAR BARRIOQUINTO EDITOR

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Climate deal signing gets the ball rolling UNITED NATIONS—World leaders gather at the United Nations on Friday to sign the Paris climate deal and get the ball rolling on a quick entry into force to start beating back global warming.

French President Francois Hollande and Canada’s Justin Trudeau will join US Secretary of State John Kerry for the ceremony attended by more than 165 governments, the largest ever one-day signing of an international agreement.

Held on Earth Day, the ceremony comes four months after the hard-won deal was clinched in Paris and marks the first step toward binding countries to the promises they made to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Oscar winner and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio will be on hand to praise the leaders for signing, urge others to do the same and appeal to all to turn their commitments into action.

While the United States, China and India the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters will not be represented at their highest level, there will be some 60 heads of state and government on hand for the signing.

Among those will be the lead-

ers of island states such as Fiji, Tuvalu and Kiribati that face oblivion from rising sea levels.

They will formally present the already-completed ratification by their parliaments.

Moving quickly, 13 countries have so far ratified the agreement, but for many of the signatories, the final approval of the Paris deal could drag on and involve new legislation to parliaments.

Still, there is no time to lose.

Last month was the hottest March in modern history and 2016 is shaping up as a recordbreaking year for rising global temperatures.

This year’s El Niño dubbed “Darth Nino” is wreaking havoc, with droughts, floods, severe

storms and other extreme weather patterns.

The Paris agreement will come into force as soon as the 55 countries responsible for 55 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases have ratified the accord.

The target date for the agreement to begin is 2020.

China and the United States have said they will ratify this year and are pushing for quick ratification so that the agreement becomes operational possibly as early as late 2016 or 2017.

Caught in election-year turmoil, the United States plans to ratify the Paris accord with an executive agreement, bypassing Congress and setting up a complex process for any future presi-

dent wishing to pull out.

The European Union’s 28 countries are expected to take up to about a year and a half, said EU vice president Maros Sefcovic, who will be signing on behalf of the EU. “We definitely want to be in the first wave,” he said.

“Early ratification and entry into force will send a strong signal to governments, businesses and communities that it is time to fast-track climate action,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said earlier this mont.

He said the real challenge can be summed up in one word: “implementation.”

Agreed by 195 nations, the Paris deal sets the goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by moving to clean energy.

It also places an onus on rich nations to help poorer ones make the transition to a low-carbon economy.

The deal was seen as a triumph for Ban who pushed for the deal throughout his tenure and has listed the agreement in Paris as one of his proudest moments as UN chief. AFP

Purple tributes pour in after Prince’s death

Celebration. An impromptu block party is held outside First Avenue nightclub in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to celebrate the life of Prince. Prince died earlier Thursday at his Paisley Park compound at the age of 57. AFP

Japan’s first stealth fighter jet takes off N OTIC E O F LO S S THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT VALLE VERDE COUNTRY CLUB, INC. P R O P R I E TA R Y MEMBERSHIP FEE CERTIFICATE NO. 3660 ISSUED TO MR. QUIRINO KEHYENG WAS LOST. ( T S - A P R . 16 , 2 3 , 3 0 , 2 016)

TOKYO—Japan’s first stealth fighter jet successfully took to the skies on Friday as the country joins a select group of world military powers wielding the radar-dodging technology.

Technological super power Japan, despite strict constitutional constraints on the use of military force imposed after World War II, has one of the world’s most advanced defenSe forces and the development of the stealth fighter

comes as it faces new security challenges in the form of China’s expanding force posture.

The domestically developed X-2 jet took off from Nagoya airport in central Japan on its maiden test flight as dozens of aviation enthusiasts watching the event erupted in applause as it lifted off into the clear morning sky.

Television footage showed the red-and-white aircraft roaring into the air, escorted by two Japa-

nese military fighters that were collecting flight data.

The single-pilot prototype safely landed at Gifu air base, north of Nagoya airport, after a 25-minute flight with “no particular problems,” said an official at the defense ministry’s acquisition agency.

It was an “extremely stable” flight, the pilot was quoted as saying

by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the main contractor. AFP

CHANHASSEN—Tributes poured in from around the world Friday following the sudden death at 57 of superstar Prince, with fans flocking to dance parties to celebrate the life of the “Purple Rain” music legend.

As US authorities sought to shed light on the singer’s mystery death in an elevator at his home in Minnesota, several buildings and websites were colored purple in memory of the performer hailed by President Barack Obama as a “creative icon.”

In his hometown of Minneapolis, a huge crowd gathered outside the First Avenue club, where Prince recorded the film version of “Purple Rain,” as well as outside the secluded compound where he was found dead Thursday.

Fans also gathered in other cities, including New York, where director Spike Lee led a Prince singalong at a packed block party in Brooklyn.

Prince’s death came just a week after the enigmatic Grammy and Oscar winner acclaimed for his guitar skills and soaring falsetto was taken to a hospital with a flu-like illness that he later downplayed.

“It is with profound sadness that I am confirming that the legendary, iconic performer, Prince Rogers Nelson, has died at his Paisley Park residence this morning,” said his spokeswoman, Yvette Noel-Schure.

The Carver County sheriff’s office in Minnesota said that deputies responding to an emergency call found an “unresponsive” Prince in an elevator.

Attempts to resuscitate him failed and he was pronounced dead at 10:07 am (1507 GMT), it said, adding that an investigation had been launched.

The sheriff’s office released a transcript of a 911 call from an unidentified man at the property who was asked if he was with the patient. “Yes it’s Prince,” he replied.

The cause of death remained unclear. A spokeswoman for the Anoka County Midwest Medical Examiner’s office told AFP that authorities would perform an autopsy on Friday.

Entertainment website TMZ, citing multiple unnamed sources, said the musician had been treated for a drug overdose in the week before his death, following a gig in Atlanta.

The singer was taken to hospital after his private jet made an unscheduled landing in Moline, Illinois, amid previous reports that he had been battling flu. AFP

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PROPERTY jdlacsamana@gmail.com

JOEL D. L ACSAMANA EDITOR

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Stress-free living. After two

decades, Tagaytay Highlands has maintained its edge as one of the country’s more inviting mountain resorts, offering themed residential developments, condominiums, and log cabin homes. To wit, Sycamore Heights, Aspenhills, the Woodridge Place, Katsura and Yume, Fairfield, and Nob Hill. Sycamore Heights is a residential haven located at the heart of Tagaytay Midlands, and offers a great view of Taal Lake. The Woodridge Place is a condominium that offers a “lockup-and-leave” convenience for the homeowners. Katsura and Yume are Tagaytay Highlands’ Japaneseinspired residential communities that exude zen-like simplicity.

Tagaytay Highlands is a leisure development of the SM Group of Companies. Shown in the photo is Aspenhills, a Colorado-themed development that offers views of Batangas, Laguna, Canlubang Valley, and Laguna de Bay.

Art of living. Rockwell Land recently launched the Proscenium Residences, a tower of 59

floors designed by Carlos Ott whose creations already dot the skylines of Paris, Toronto, Dubai, and Florida. The Proscenium is the tallest of the five residential towers within the Proscenium enclave and hosts a mix of 100 Studio Units, 122 1-Bedroom Units, 241 2-Bedroom Units, and 100 3-Bedroom Units. Its two-leaf design hews to Ott’s vision that the Proscenium’s design will be unlike any existing Rockwell building. Not far from the tower is the Performing Arts Theater (Shown in photo) that can accommodate over 500 guests, and the Lopez Museum, with its collection of paintings by old masters, Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, as well as works by National Artists including Carlos “Botong” Francisco, Vicente Manansala, H.R. Ocampo, Cesar Legaspi, and Arturo Luz.

Cebu pride. 8 Newtown Boulevard,

Saving the best…for best. Acqua Private Residences (shown in photo), a project of Century Properties Group, recently bagged the best condominium development plum at the 2016 Philippines Property Awards. Acqua snagged the best mid-range condominium award for Metro Manila, competing alongside the projects of Filinvest and Vista Land, while The Residences at Commonwealth, Century’s mid-rise residential community in Quezon City, received the highly commended award in the same category. Acqua advanced to compete with the condominium winners in Davao, Cebu and Metro Manila for the luxury, mid-range and affordable segments, and won the ‘best of the best’ plum for condominium development in the Philippines. It will compete against Asia’s top real estate developments at the 2016 regional Southeast Asia Property Awards in Singapore on November 24. “Our win is a testament to the strength of Century Properties’ projects in the market,” said Marco R. Antonio, the company’s chief operating officer.

Megaworld’s first residential development at the 30-hectare Mactan Newtown, won the “Best Condo Development in Cebu” at the recent 2016 Philippines Property Awards. The four-tower residential cluster also received two “Highly Commended” awards in the Design Category, namely “Best Residential Interior Design” and “Best Landscape Architectural Design”, making it the most awarded residential development in Cebu in this year’s awards. 8 Newtown Boulevard’s awards are among the 17 awards that Megaworld earned, including the most coveted “Best Developer” award this year. “This award shows a glimpse of the kind of exciting, world-class projects that Megaworld is bringing to Mactan Newtown, our first and only township by the beach,” said Noli D. Hernandez, president, Megaworld Cebu Properties, Inc. (Shown in photo receiving the award).

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JOEL D. L ACSAMANA EDITOR jdlacsamana@gmail.com

PROPERTY

QC CITY CENTER

TO RISE WHERE Bee in ALI’s bonnet.

Avida Land promises a middlerange project in its ambitious city center north of Manila.

Going beyond condos. Palm Coast Drive in the Mall of Asia Complex was the scene of lively activity recently as hundreds of runners joined the first SMDC Run. Participants not only had fun beating personal records, but also dressed up for the event (below). The SMDC Run brought families, couples, friends and colleagues together with kids as young as twelve years old, entrepreneurs, students, bank executives, as well as celebrity Rodjun Cruz, donning their sneakers for a bit of pavement-pounding. “SMDC’s business goes beyond just the construction of condominiums, It is also in the business of building healthy communities, ” said SMDC executive vice president Jose Mari Banzon. Photo above shows the top three 21k finishers with Banzon: Masatoshi Uno, Argel Mendoza, Elmo Clarabal and Jan Catherine Sy.

By Joel D. Lacsamana

A

VIDA Land launched earlier this week a P3.8 billion high-rise residence, Avida Towers Sola, as part of its plan to grow in the midrange market in Vertis North, the rising city center in Quezon City aimed at the “mid-affordable” market of families, young professionals and investors.

The project, which succeeds Avida Towers Vita, the first residential endeavour in the master-planned, mixed-use district from Avida’s parent company Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI), rises in area which has long had a problem of informal settlements.

But efforts in recent years by both the government, non-government associations and people organizations have met reasonable success to get rid of professional squatting syndicates in the area, and relocate informal settlers in liveable housing communities outside Metro Manila.

Vertis North, a 46-hectare district which includes bustling Trinoma, will transform the area, courtesy of developments from other Ayala brands including Alveo Land, Ayala Malls, Ayala Land Offices and Seda.

AYALA Land Inc. (ALI) said it expects to start the retail operations of some of its buildings in Vertis North, its property right across the TriNoma Mall in Quezon City, by the end of next year.

Relocation efforts up and running Jay Teodoro, senior division manager for the company’s Strategic Landbank Management Group, said this will happen when the 4,000 informal-settler families living in the 12-hectare property that forms part of Vertis North will, as agreed, voluntarily vacate the area by end of 2017.

The families will relocate to sites either in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, or in Fairview, Quezon City.

“We still have not changed our master plan for the entire property, but we still do not know what kind of development we will put in the areas [still occupied by informal settlers] as we may change the mix of buildings,” Teodoro said.

At the moment, only 18 hectares of Vertis North are being developed, and the rest are still occupied by the informal settlers.

The relocation of the informal settlers is vital to the development of the area.

Central parks Avida Towers Sola will offer units facing Vertis North Gardens.

This two-hectare park is made of wide lawns and greenery and features sloped, terraced gardens for public events.

Avida promises gardens similar to world-class central parks, and offer breathing space in the midst of the district. Infiltration stripes lining the district’s streets and two detention ponds have been integrated into the gardens’ design to prevent flooding. With underground basement parking underneath the commercial development, Vertis North promises a pedestrian-friendly and highly walkable district.

On its other side, Avida Towers Sola faces EDSA and provides residents with the convenience and accessibility of this main thoroughfare. Other main transit points nearby are Quezon Avenue,

‘INFORMAL SETTLERS’ RULED Agham Road and North Avenue.The first tower will have 1,004 residences in a mix of studio, 1-BR and right sized 2-BR, and 3-BR units. Residents will enjoy amenities like a lap pool, kiddie pool, indoor gym and a clubhouse.

Construction of cleared areas of the estate continues steadily with land development now above 90% completion. Utilities, road networks and an innovative Stormwater Management System that runs throughout the district will be completed by December.

Property values rising “Avida Towers Sola is gaining a lot of interest as a mid-affordable high-rise residence in Vertis North, and a last opportunity to gain an Avida residence in the district,” said Raquel Cruz, Avida Land corporate planning group head.

Avida Towers Sola will turn over units of its first tower by 2020.

But Teodoro said Avida will start the operation of at least one tower and its mall, geared for the higher end of the market by the end of this year.

Avida officials claimed prices of Sola will be about P117,000 per square meter, higher compared with about P95,000 per sq m when Vita Towers was launched in 2013.

Prices for Sola’s mix of units (e.g. studio-type of 22 sq m and the 61 sq m for the three-bedroom units) start at P2.6 million, to as much as P7.6 million for the bigger units.

Property values have risen about 8 percent per year in Vertis North since the launch of Avida Towers Vita, the company said.

“We expect values for Avida Towers Sola to rise at about the same rate. Values will rise continually as Vertis North completes development,” said Cruz.

The shopping mall, which will be akin to Makati’s Greenbelt mall, will form part of the three towers of the Vertis North Corporate Center, office spaces for lease targeted toward business-process outsourcing firms locators.

The first of these three towers will be 19 stories high and is also expected to be completed by year-end.

Vertis North Mall will feature four retail clusters. An open air interconnection with lush landscaping and water feature is designed to traverse the entire mall. For entertainment, the mall will have several cinemas including a 400-seater cinema with a balcony fitted with recliner seats.

Seda Vertis North will become Quezon City’s largest hotel, with 438 guest rooms, ballroom, roofdeck bar, five conference suites, gym and swimming pool.

Sola is Avida’s 11th project in Quezon City.

“The first tower was more than 90% sold in three months which triggered the launch of two succeeding towers. All three towers of the development were launched within nine months and are almost sold out in less than three years,” revealed Cruz

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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 WRITER

life @ thestandard.com .ph

@liFEatStandard

p op CU lT U RE

LIFE

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AnyOnE CAn nOW bE A DIgITAl ARTIST

by WEIzEl gulfAn

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here was a time when the computer-rendered art form was a skill very few could master, so much so that Photoshop was almost entirely exclusive to digital media practitioners. Today, the availability of fast loading apps plus the upgrading of tablets and accessories like the Pen can enable even a five-year-old to create digital art. David Bonifacio proves just that with his Strokes and Sketches: Creating Digital Masterpieces workshop.

Being one of the premium resellers of Apple in the country, Beyond the Box launched the Paper App using Apple’s iPad Pro and iPhone 6s with tools like Pencil, which makes sketching, coloring and drawing as easy as tracing. The best thing about creating art in a digital platform is that it makes it easy for you to share them: just click, tap, trace, upload then share-away and before you know it you’ve got views that have turned into likes and re-shares.

Bonifacio is one of the most sought-after digital artists in the country, especially known for creating digital images from scratch and making them resemble a watercolor painting.

“Work pretty much consumes most of my time so every now and then I want to change things up,” he shares. “One of the things I love most about creating art is that it can really change your mood – because it is entertaining. Plus it’s viral. When you create art and people like it, somehow you inspire them to create their own art,” adds the digital artist.

Apple is known for turning the most complicated task into something as easy as tapping a screen icon, and that is exactly what it has done for Digital Art using the new iPad Pro. The latest release of the iPad, whose screen is now almost as big as the Mac Air’s, allows for better viewing with its wide screen feature and also comes with accessories like the Pen which makes sketching, drawing and even painting so much easier compared to using the mouse or God forbid, the track pad.

“You can be inside a plane or taking a jog and get inspiration from the things around you,” Bonifacio tips us.

“These devices allow you to take your art wherever you go, as well as allow you to just keep on working and working and keep on improving without having to think about the cost of producing the art work,” he shares.

Not that Apple products come cheap, but if you factor in the amount of canvas, ink, brushes, stencils and space you will save plus the mobility – the iPad Pro becomes relatively more practical than its more traditional predecessors.

“Another great thing about the iPad Pro and iPhone 6s is that they allow you to switch between interests with ease. With these apps and gadgets, anyone can jump from working to writing songs, working on art, taking photos and writing articles seamlessly, using only a single device,” Bonifacio discloses.

Apple has always rallied with artists since the earlier days of the Apple Lisa wherein its late founder Steve Jobs introduced calligraphy through different font styles and used images instead of text for Icons. And who can forget the advent of the iPod? The original game changer in music, followed by of course the iPhone which, as Jobs liked to say, has put a “ding” in the universe. Beyond the Box stands by Apple in its continued support of artists everywhere including the ones living inside each and everyone of us through the iPhone 6s, the iPad Pro and supporting accessories today.

In a society mobilized by smart phones and tablets, technology has introduced an option to escape tech driven busy schedules by putting mediums that allow users to click and switch from their work to leisure through art easily by clicking an app: Slide, Tap, Create and Draw. It’s really that simple – but no less beautiful.

Apple's iPad Pro and iPhone 6s are loaded with tools that make sketching, drawing and coloring as easy as tracing

David Bonifacio with the digital art challenge winners during the press launch

For more on Apple apps and products, visit beyondthebox.ph.

Beyond the Box supports Apple's initiative to turn everyone into an instant digital artist with gadgets and accessories

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LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

@liFEatStandard

Star Wars inflatable vest Adorable Minnie bikini set for the little swimmers

Disney Princess play pool with sunshade and unique fasteners to protect kids from the harmful rays of the sun

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OUTDOOR FUN WiTH TOY KiNGDOM

espite the heat, no other season can be more inviting for some outdoor fun than summer, the time when kids can make a splash in the pool, lounge under the shade or take joyrides in their bikes and scooters. More so with Toy Kingdom’s collection of amazing toys for the great outdoors, inspired by wellloved characters from Star Wars, Marvel, Frozen, Disney Princess, Minnie, Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol.

Families don’t have to brave through traffic for some water fun, as cool inflatables in colorful fun-filled designs, cute kiddie pools as well as frame pools that are easy to assemble and come in huge sizes for the entire family are available at Toy Kingdom. Throw in swim essentials, floaters, splashers, beach toys, water guns and bubble blasters for a real water fun adventure.

Kids who want to experience an amazing ride can do so with Toy Kingdom’s collection of wheels, pedal toys and cruisers, as well as bikes, trikes and scooters that come in different colors and sizes. For added fun outdoors, there are also play sets and furniture.

Summertime is definitely playtime, and kids will enjoy a lot of action at the Hot Wheels Epic Race Qualifying rounds on April 23 and 24 at SM San Lazaro. The semifinals will be on May 14 while the finals will be on May 15, with both rounds to be held at SM Mall of Asia.

Mallgoers also had a great time with new toy friends like Peppa Pig who had meet-and-greet days at SM Megamall Atrium and at SM North Edsa City Center. Kids also have a chance to meet other characters from Paw Patrol that will have a meet-and-greet activity on April 29 and 30 at SM MOA Music Hall; Power Rangers Dino Charge on April 30 and May 1 at SM MOA Main Mall, and on May 6-8 at the SM Megamall Event Center.

Shopkins Shopville Manila will also have swapkins and dress up activities on May 6-8 at the SM MOA Atrium.

Check out Toy Kingdom Express outlets in SM Stores and Toy Kingdom stores in most SM Supermalls. Also visit www.toykingdom.ph; ToyKingdomPH on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Look out for the hashtag #TKGoOutandPlay.

Spiderman interactive pool with six game balls for fun play Star Wars inflatable swim ring

Minnie Beach Boat that comes with an inflatable sunshade and bottom

Outdoor fun with Paw Patrol patio set

Kinetic Sand Paw Patrol Adventure Bay Beach Playset

How to ‘taste the feeling’ Over 10,000 teens gathered at Circuit Makati recently to create special moments with family and friends in celebration of the newest and biggest Coca-Cola global campaign, Taste the Feeling.

“For us here at Coca-Cola, the simple pleasure of drinking and enjoying a bottle of Coke is always an experience,” said Coca-Cola Philippines vice president for marketing Stephan Czypionka.

He continued, “We bring that experience to life by creating even more special moments with everyone through a one-of-a-kind, exciting Taste the Feeling Festival full of fun activities, music, feels, and, of course, ice-cold Coca-Cola.”

At the Coca-Cola Taste the Feeling Festival, feelings were celebrated through interactive booths, fun activities and entertaining shows.

Thousands of moments were captured in the digital interactive photo booths that allowed festival goers to pose with their squad and choose different “feelters” to edit their shots, which they were able to take home and share online.

Coca-Cola Philippines celebrates all kinds of feelings during the festive and interactive Taste the Feeling festival

Guests also got to express their emotions by feeling creative at the coloring wall and feeling wild with free temporary tattoos and face paint. A number of lucky guests got a chance to feel fantastic while reenacting some of the Taste the Feeling situations with their favorite Coca-Cola ambassadors Enchong Dee, Janella Salvador, Bailey May, Ylona Garcia and Alden Richards. Celebrity guests Nash Aguas, Alexa Ilacad and Grae Fernandez also joined in the fun.

A select few who participated in CocaCola’s digital promo got a chance to meet the ambassadors, win a Coca-Cola Instax and gift certificates from some of the partners.

The venue was filled with good vibes and great music courtesy of Up Dharma Down, Sponge Cola, Autotelic and Cheats. Come nighttime, guests partied with DJ Funk Avy and DJ Nina.

The Coca-Cola Taste the Feeling Festival is only one of the many fun and exciting activities Coca-Cola has lined up this year.

Alden Richards (center) entertains festival goers

The beverage giant will also visit some of the country’s biggest universities, colleges and favorite hangouts, to make everyday moments with teens even more special.

In addition, the Coca-Cola Emoticons pack, which will be available soon, is a cool and fun way of sharing Coke with friends and family.

For more on Taste the Feeling, visit https://tastethefeeling.coca-cola.com/us. Like Coca-Cola Philippines on Facebook and follow @CocaColaPH on Twitter and Instagram.

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LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

ScEnE qUEEnS AnD hIpSTER boIS

A once-Avid clubber looks bAck At the rise And fAll of gAy clubbing culture And AnAlyzes whAt hAs tAken its plAce in this four-pArt essAy. (ThIRD oF A FoUR-pART SERIES)

THE GIST

By ED BIADO here was always a next Saturday to reprise the mating ritual. With a different guy, of course. Maybe it would be successful this time. Maybe not. Either way, it had to be done.

That was how The Scene worked and we foolishly thought that was how it would continue to work. We were wrong.

Perhaps The Scene was a phenomenon of the 2000s, that period before smartphones took over the world. Mankind’s newfound ability to keep eyes and fingers glued to a portable communication device broke all the rules of social engagement. Sure, we had phones in the naughts but texting (or pretending to text) could only take you so far. These days, you have unlimited options. Today’s phones are a bottomless pit of virtual activities that you can waste your time on, make you forget the world around you and help you escape the harsh realities of life, if only for mere moments.

The consumption is mutual: you partake in whatever your little digital screen can offer and it, in turn, consumes you.

Your phone is your cosmos. That’s where you live – that’s what you live. And breathe.

It’s where you meet guys now; through social networking sites, dating services and hookup apps. It’s your safe place. Therein exists your Dorian Gray fantasy: A better, smarter, more interesting, more handsome version of yourself. You know that your reallife self cannot compete with your virtual persona. It is, after all, just an illusion you created, a projection of what you wish you were but can never be, a skillfully crafted identity and image, a superhero alter ego you conjured to rescue your own inner damsel in distress. A not-so-accidental superstar.

That’s what we all are online. Offline, we’re just a bunch of insecure bois who need to feel something. Anything.

In social settings, a phone transforms into an excuse: An excuse to not pay attention, to not mingle, to not make the first move, to not respond to someone else’s first move, and on a really bad date, it’s an excuse to cut the interaction short.

It’s your security blanket, giving the (false) impression that you’re always busy, that you’re in demand, that you have the obligation to be connected. At a coffee shop, you don’t feel sorry for yourself sitting alone because your phone is there to keep

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you company. It’s as if 500 of your closest friends are right there with you. They’re cheering you on, admiring your new beach body, affirming your impeccable taste in music, agreeing with your movie critiques, listening to what you have to say. And why not? You’re smart, witty, interesting. You’re all that and you know it. That screen is your reality now. It’s what’s outside of it that is unreal and needs to shut the hell up.

That is, until you force yourself into an out of body experience and your inflated ego fizzles with the slightest hint of provocation. You stare at your mortal physical self sitting alone at that coffee shop, tinkering with that phone, and realize how stupid you look. Who are you kidding?

You’re still that fragile little boi, hiding behind a stupid screen to mask his pain and insecurities. You’re neither a superhero nor a superstar. You’re just, well, you.

If any of these new bois today were inexplicably thrown into a situation similar to The Scene, he wouldn’t know what to do with himself and his surroundings. Why? Because he’s not nearly as smart and witty and interesting in the physical world as he leads on in the virtual one.

It’s always these young guys who are so confident on Tinder, so aggressive on Grindr, so talkative on Twitter, so daring on Instagram that are so shy and timid in the clubs – if they go clubbing at all. In real life, they’re invisible underneath their Buddy Holly glasses, James Dean hair, graphic tees, skinny jeans and GoPros. They convince themselves that there are perks to being the proverbial wallflower. (Let me let you in on a little secret: There are none.)

They extinguished the flame of The Scene to give way to a new set of habits and behaviors that has yet to be named.

They traded in glow sticks for Wi-Fi access and replaced Deborah Cox’s sassy dancefloor anthems with Sara Bareilles’ woe-isme hashtag fodder. Instead of hitting the clubs at one in the morning, they’re in their bedroom, looking for porn or an “art film” on the Internet or someone to cam with.

Why would a boi like that go out when he has the whole universe at his fingertips?

With a keystroke, a click, a tap or a swipe, he’s transported to another place or time – without needing to spend a cent, hail a cab, pick the right outfit or even take a shower.

It’s a formula that works, so why change it?

The scene has migrated from the club to the social networking website. In the nucosmos, the scene queen has no power. It’s the hipster boi who wears the bejeweled crown and holds the glittering scepter.

While he lacks the social voracity and verve of the scene queen, the hipster boi

The aggressive young guys on dating apps are actually timid hipster bois hiding behind Buddy Holly glasses, graphic tees, skinny jeans and James Dean hair

Your phone is your cosmos. That's where you live—that's what you live—and breathe

is equipped with a specialized set of skills that makes him a purveyor, an influencer, a social media butterfly and an early adopter.

He shunned The Scene and decreed a new code of conduct that can be summed up as a laundry list of millennial attitudes based on John Green books. He has created a carefully curated virtual network of social contacts, venues to “meet” prospects and distractions so that he doesn’t feel the need to go out on a Saturday night.

Really, why would you even bother dressing up to get drunk in hopes of getting laid when you can easily swipe through your online Rolodex of candidates for instant gratification? Everything happens in real time; it’s efficient. Everyone is geo-located; it’s precise. There’s no entrance fee; it’s costeffective. There’s no actual human contact before the meet-up itself; it’s nonthreatening.

Its streamlined simplicity is everything the hipster boi is looking for. Unlike the scene queen, the hipster boi is subtle. He doesn’t stand and bask in the spotlight, not because he doesn’t crave the glow, but because he’s afraid of it. He chooses to remain on the sidelines and exert influence in a more understated manner because he

never had any experience of being at the forefront. He goes about his affairs through the frosted looking glass known as the computer screen. He was never shoved into the scene and forced to adapt and conform and assert his existence. He doesn’t need the scene – a superficial world that magnifies every tiny flaw, where there are no filters to mask the imperfections, in which one is exposed and naked and vulnerable, where everything is spontaneous and doesn’t have an off button to press when it starts getting uncomfortable. All he needs is a reliable Internet connection. He has avoided the intricacies of The Scene all his life and he certainly has no plans to stop avoiding it, especially now that he has found his niche.

His empire of webpages is his home, his safe place. And there’s no place quite like it.

To read the first part of the series, visit w w w. t h e s t an d ard . c o m . p h / li f e s t y l e / pop-culture/203251/scene-queens-andhipster-bois. For part two, check out www.thestandard.com.ph/lifestyle/popculture/203677/scene-queens-and-hipster-bois.

I’m @EdBiado on Twitter and Instagram

Get the music started with pringles

A unique portable device can turn Pringles canisters into party speakers

Once you pop, the music will surely play non-stop as Pringles launches its limited edition Pringles Party Speakers. Following its successful run in the United States, Australia, Japan and Thailand, the highly anticipated Pringles Party Speakers are finally here.

Pringles says, “You don’t just eat ‘em; you party with ‘em.” The Pringles canister can now be converted into a speaker using a unique portable device that easily attaches to the top of any iconic cylindrical Pringles can. Once the portable is set up, just plug in your iPhone, iPad, or any MP3 player or laptop and play continuous music anytime and anywhere and share it with you friends.

The portable speaker surely is a conversation starter. Pop a can, attach the speaker – and impress your friends during a hangout and get together. “At Pringles, music, fun and flavor go hand-in-hand,” says Anoop Abraham, commercial marketing director of Emerging Markets Asia Pacific Snacks. “We believe in bringing individuals, families, friends and communities together for an immersive party experience, enabling spontaneous moments of fun snack time in social occasions.”

The crisp audio of the portable Pringles Party Speakers actually sounds better than in-built laptop speakers. To pump up the party using this speaker,

daisy chain 20 Pringles Party Speakers and amplify the music in any gathering.

Choose from any of three cool designs and attach it to your favorite Pringles flavor canister. Hurry and grab these limited edition speakers as only 25,000 units have been released.

Pringles Party Speakers will be available until May 15. Purchase a Pringles Bundle Pack (2 x 150gm), visit www.pringles.com, look for the Pringles Party Speaker tab, use the unique code inside the Pringles Bundle Pack Box to complete the claim form, pay the P25 delivery fee and the Pringles Party Speaker will be delivered to your doorstep within 60 days.

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LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

MuMBaI MaGIC: pLAcES To SEE In InDIA’S GLAmoRoUS AnD ARTSY mEGA cITY “More dreams are realized and extinguished in Bombay than any other place in India.”

— Gregory David Roberts

I #CoffeeWithKai

By KaI MaGsanOC

Team Jai Ho! Oz Arcilla (left), Noel Escondo (far right), and this columnist with Vinita Shrivastav of Zee TV and television actor Siddhant Karnick at RamDev Film City

ndia is not for the faint of heart.

I say that with a lot of love and affection for a country I consider my second home. I have been coming to India from the first time I ever set foot on it in 2008. I have visited quite a number of cities, too: Bangalore, Goa, Trivandrum, Cochin, New Delhi, Agra and Jaipur.

With India, one cannot say that when you’ve seen one, you’ve seen it all. Each state and city is different from the other; not only in dialect but also in cuisine, traditions, even certain beliefs. What binds them is their overwhelming appeal to the senses: An explosion of colors, a myriad of tastes, and a shindig of scents.

Last April 3, I had the chance to visit Mumbai, the capital of the state of Maharashtra, to cover the launch of vivo Smartphone’s newest models – the

The Taj Mahal Palace

This 5-star hotel – like its namesake in Agra – takes your breath away the moment you see it in real life. It’s one of those landmarks one frequently sees in photos, but they do not do justice to the actual structure. She sits like a queen facing the Arabian Sea in Colaba, South Mumbai, and is a worthy companion to another Mumbai landmark, which is…

The Gateway of India

This arch overlooking Mumbai harbor was built in 1924 mainly to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary. Designed by architect George Whittet, it reportedly took four years to build. Expect to be approached by photographers who will offer to take your picture and print it on the spot. Pay toilets and bottled drink stalls are nearby.

V3 and V3 Max – and to visit friends at Zee TV. I went with two colleagues: Oz Arcilla of Jump Digital and Noel Escondo of Buzz Productions.

It was their first time in Mumbai. I had been to the city once before but very briefly, when my flight from Jaipur to Trivandrum had to be redirected due to heavy fog. Hence, it was my first time to explore the city, too. Oz, Noel, and I did not have a plan set in stone, and we flowed with every challenge and opportunity that each day brought. After a week – lo and behold – we covered more of Mumbai than we ever thought we could, and I loved more about it than I thought I ever would. The pre-colonial architecture, the art, the dining, the history, the shopping – Mumbai was breathtaking.

Here are some of my favorite spots.

Café Mondegar

This café is hailed as one of the oldest and most iconic restaurants in India, along with Café Leopold. The café – which opened in 1932 – is also popular for the murals of Indian artist Mario Miranda whose style is unlike any in the world. We went there on a Saturday evening and the place was packed with families, couples and friends getting ready to watch cricket. Did we have coffee?

Nope. We tried the beer!

Marine Drive

This 3.5-kilometers long boulevard is, for me, Mumbai’s answer to Baywalk and Manila Bay. We got there after a long day of walking, and it was great to just sit and enjoy the breeze while viewing the Mumbai skyline and the lights from the nearby cricket stadium. Behind us was the Oberoi Mumbai, one of India’s most popular hotels.

Elephanta Caves

This UNESCO Heritage Site on Elephanta Island, also known as the Island of Gharapuri, is about an hour’s ferry ride from Mumbai harbor, right in front of the Gateway of India. The caves are dedicated to Shiva, dominated by the seven-meterhigh “Sadashiva,” the sculpture that represents the Hindu god’s three aspects: Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer.

Other places worth visiting

Malls are aplenty in Mumbai: From the high-end Palladium Mall to the mid-level Oberoi Mall. Bargain shoppers will enjoy walking along Ganapatrao Kadam Marg, where one can find super affordable sarees and kurtas (another option is Santacruz).

Mani Bhavan Gandhi Museum

In my last long trip to India in 2014, I visited Rajghat, the cremation site of Mahatma Gandhi in New Delhi. It seemed fitting that I visit his residence in Mumbai, where he lived for 17 years. Entrance was free, and the most memorable areas for me were his room with his bed and spinning wheels, and his letter to Hitler.

Mahatma Gandhi Road

This road is alive with the energy of the Arts, as it’s where you’ll find museums and galleries one after the other. It seems to be Mumbai’s cultural hub, and probably the most relaxed part of the capital city. I enjoyed walking on the sidewalk and marveling at the work of artists who were there to sell. We went inside the Jehangir Art Gallery and the Goethe Institut, until we realized it was time for coffee at…

We chanced upon Bebot, a shop owned by a Filipina married to an Indian. Their shop was near the flat we were staying at in Cumballa Hill, and the moment we introduced ourselves to her as Filipino, the couple immediately served us a cup of hot masala chai.

I’ve never gone on a trip as free-flowing as my Mumbai trip, which led me to experience more than I ever thought I would.

Sometimes it’s good to let go of expectation and control, and just let your feet take you to where they want to go.

Only then will you open yourself to new friends and experiences, which you would not encounter if you approached everything with logic. Sure, practice the necessary precaution; keep your passport and valuables with you at all times.

But it’s also good to trust: Trust in the timing of things and of people, in what the world is ready to show you. and keep your eyes and heart open. This is exactly what I did, and I left India once more, a changed person.

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter for more pictures of Mumbai: @kaimagsanoc

SAt uRDAy : A pRIl 2 3, 2016

SHOWBITZ

ISAH V. RED EDITOR

isahred @ gmail.com

In “Echorsis,” Kristoff, played by John lapus, falls in love with Alex Medina’s character Carlo

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Father Nick, a closeted gay priest, (played by Kean Cipriano) resists the temptation of macho dancing demons

CRITICs lOvE ‘EChORsIs’

he black comedy film, Echorsis: Sabunutan Between Good And Evil, is now on its second week in Metro Manila.

The critically acclaimed horror-comedy film starring John Lapus, Kean Cipriano, and Alex Medina is showing at cinemas in Market! Market!, Festival Mall, Robinsons Galleria, SM North Edsa, SM Manila, and SM Megamall. It’s producer Chris Cahilig of Insight 360 hopes that more cinemas would open its doors to the film since it’s the only Filipino movie screening this week.

“Cinema attendance, including bigbudget Hollywood flicks, was bad last week, perhaps due to the record-high heat. Many still want to watch Echorsis on the big screen that’s why I am happy that at least six theaters are still exhibiting it.

I just hope that others will follow their example,” Cahilig said.

Echorsis, directed by Lemuel Lorca who recently bagged the Best Picture trophy for Ned’s Project in CineFilipino, and penned

by Palanca-winner Jerry Gracio, pleased the critics.

Oggs Crus of Rappler praised Echorsis for doing what it sets out to do which is to entertain while “deliberate(ly) forwarding a pervasive agenda.”

Various online and print reviews and netizens praised Lapus, Cirpriano, and Medina for their sterling performances as the closeted Kristoff, the confused priest Father Nick and the sweet-tongue gigolo Carlo. Echorsis was, likewise, noticed for Gracio’s unpredictable and sensitive screenplay and Sasha Palomares’

Alex Medina as the charming hustler named Carlo

John lapus as Kristoff, the closet gay son of a retired military man

Kristoff (lapus) with his BFFs played by Nico Antonio, Bekimon and Francine Garcia

Kean Cipriano

breathtaking cinematography.

“I hope that more people, particularly the lovers of Philippine cinema, to come out and watch Echorsis despite the summer heat. It’s truly worth their time, effort, and

Francine Garcia, Odette Khan, and 1:43’s Yuki Sakamoto, Anjo Resurreccion, Gold Aquino, and Yheen Valero.

Echorsis is supported by BellaVita Land Corp. and McJim Classic Leather.

money,” Cipriano appealed.

Completing the ensemble cast of Echorsis are Alessandra de Rossi, Chokoleit, Kiray Celis, Mich Liggayu, Ruby Ruiz, Negi Negra, Bekimon, Nico Antonio,

Sarah lahbati, Ejay Falcon in ‘MMK’ How can two people’s affection for each other survive even after their relationship suffered a very painful and bitter breakup?

Kapamilya stars Sarah Lahbati and Ejay Falcon team up for the first time in MMK

tonight to tell a beautiful story about love and friendship.

People around Mia (Sarah) and NJ (Ejay) think they are perfect for each other. Their love story began in college. The two expe-

Ejay Falcon and Sarah lahbati in an “MMK” episode that features marital challenges

A dramatic scene from this week’s episode of “Maalaala Mo Kaya” starring Sarah lahbati

rienced a fantastic first year together, until Mia’s father died and NJ had to undergo a serious back operation.

Although the two did not leave each other’s side and remained strong through these challenges, they started to treat each other critically, and eventually started fighting constantly. Months later, their relationship came to a brutal end.

Until one day, Mia and NJ decided to meet again after a long time.

Will the two be willing to overcome the bitterness of their past to care for

each other again?

Joining this MMK episode are Dante Ponce, Jobelle Salvador, Shey Bustamante, Alexis Navarro, Margo Midwinter, Noemi Oineza, Guji Lorenzana, and Karen Timbol.

Giselle Andres direted the eisode written by Joan Habana.

MMK airs every Saturday on ABS-CBN or ABS-CBN HD (SkyCable ch 167).

Catch latest episodes on iwantv.com. ph or skyondemand.com.ph for Sky subscribers.

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SAt uRDAy : A pRIl 2 3, 2016

SHOWBITZ

ISAH V. RED EDITOR

isahred @ gmail.com

“the lion guard: Return of the Roar” is a television movie that premiered in March on Disney channel

DISnEy’S ‘tHE lIon KIng’ contInuES wItH ‘tHE lIon guARD: REtuRn of tHE RoAR’

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he epic storytelling of Disney’s The Lion King continues with The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar, a television movie event that premiered on March 20 on Disney Channel in Southeast Asia. The movie follows Kion, the secondborn cub of Simba and Nala, as he assumes the role of leader of The Lion Guard, a team of animals tasked with preserving the Pride Lands. The movie leads into The Lion Guard television series, which premiered April 17 also on Disney Channel.

The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar features an all-star voice cast, which includes James Earl Jones and Ernie Sabella re-

prising their memorable roles from The Lion King as Mufasa and Pumbaa, respectively, alongside Rob Lowe as Simba and Gabrielle Union as Nala. Max Charles stars as Kion. The voice cast also includes Joshua Rush as Bunga; Atticus Shaffer as Ono; Diamond White as Fuli; and Dusan Brown as Beshte.

Set in the African Savanna, The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar follows Kion as he assembles the members of the Lion Guard. Traditionally, The Lion Guard comprised of the bravest and strongest lions in the Pride Lands. However, Kion defies tradition by calling upon some of his friends

who typically wouldn’t have made the cut.

From Kion’s best friend Bunga, a fearless honey badger, to Ono, an intellectual egret, to Fuli, a confident cheetah, and to Beshte, a friendly and good-spirited hippo, the newly formed Lion Guard is a rag tag group of unlikely heroes, united in their purpose to protect the Pride Lands. Throughout the movie and the series, the team will learn to utilize each of their unique abilities as they face new adventures in upholding the balance within the Circle of Life.

In anticipation of the movie and series launch, the search is on for kids across Southeast Asia to showcase their very best

lion roars, no matter how big or small, via the “Show Us Your Roar” campaign on the Disney Channel Asia Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/DisneyChannelAsia). Kids who submit their roars stand a chance to have their video aired on Disney Channel during the premiere of “The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar”!

The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar and The Lion Guard series will also air on Disney Junior later on in the year.

Ford Riley (Special Agent Oso) developed the movie and series and serves as executive producer. Howy Parkins (Jake and the Never Land Pirates) is the director.

D5 Studio bares content platforms with ‘press play’ launch One year after being launched as Digital 5, the digital support team of MediaQuest, it has evolved into D5 Studio, a multi-platform, multi-discipline, and multi-channel creation network that produces digital content, innovative tools and experiences.

With the promise of “building and nurturing experiences for the empowered, fluid, and vocal generation,” D5 Studio has vastly expanded its content platforms to three major components.

D5 Studio Originals focuses on producing original digital content on entertainment and music that seeks to connect with audiences by telling the different stories of

the Filipino youth.

“Our D5 Studio Originals showcases a new breed of digital programming that is braving the online content landscape with unconventional show themes and formats,” explains D5 Studio Vice President and Head Lloyd Manaloto.

Another important component of D5 Studio is GG Network, which aims to bring together the country’s top game streamers, local publishers and international game distributors to bring you the best in local and international gaming content and eSports events.

“We take gaming to a whole new level,”

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SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 2016

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Manaloto enthused.

Gamers might be familiar to such networks and gaming portals like PlayPark, Blizzard Entertainment, Garena, XPlay, GameX, XSplit Gamecaster, Mineski, Twitch, Azubu and YouTube.

Finally, there’s uLOLS, the humor platform of D5 Studio that aims to produce relevant and sharable original content (e.g. articles, memes, videos, photos) on Pinoy culture and today’s trends. “uLOLS has some of the most share-able and talked about videos and memes online,” Manaloto exclaimed.

In addition to its three content plat-

forms, D5 Studio is also partnering with Hopscotch, a mobile platform developer for events, sports teams, and brands. “the Hopscotch-powered Sports5 mobile portal created a next-level league for pBA fans, as it provides news and video on demand with behindthe-scenes coverage and game highlights,” Manaloto further shared.

D5 Studio’s diverse new offerings are signs that the platform can only get better in time.

“Content creation is only the beginning.

We will constantly produce and propagate with our audiences in mind as we intend to continue championing their creativity and diversity,” Manaloto concluded.

SAt uRDAy : A pRIl 2 3, 2016

SHOWBITZ

ISAH V. RED EDITOR

isahred @ gmail.com

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pRESIDEnt MAnuEl A. RoxAS HonoRED In AntHony CAStElo’S MuSIC VIDEo Balladeer and composer Anthony Castello

Chiz’s twins turned animal lovers Heart Evangelista’s influence on her husband’s twins – Chesi and Quino – is palpable in their love for animals.

Heart is a spokesman of Philippine Animal Welfare Society or PAWS. Very often, she earns the praise of netizens for adopting dogs and cats and bringing them home and later on she finds individuals willing to take the animals as their own.

“Gusto ko kasi magpulot ng mga pusa.

Eh sa bahay ko po para akong may nursery, marami akong mga alagang kuting na pinapaalagaan ko,” the actress said.

The cats and dogs she found and looking after them have bonded her and the twins closer.

“So, yung mga bata, nung umpisa medyo naiilang sila na may mga pusa, aso ganyan.

Pero ngayon, natuto na rin silang maging animal-lover katulad ko. Kaya para kaming may mga alaga na bata rin na ipinapaadopt namin. So yun nilalaro lang namin yung mga aso, lalo na ngayon na busy si Chiz at ako minsan nasa bahay ako. Kami talaga yung nagbaba-bonding,” Heart said.

Aside from taking care of their pets at home, Chesi and Quino have started liking the idea of cooking, and the three of them love it when they cook.

“Para lang kaming may science project sa kusina kasi first time lang nilang magluto ng lasagna so para rin kaming nag-e-experiment. Ang fun lang,” Heart added.

T

he Philippine’s fifth President, Manuel A. Roxas, and the nation will be honored in singer-composer Anthony Castelo’s upcoming music video entitled “Manuel Roxas, A Prophesy Fulfilled” dedicated to the closing of the State of Israel’s “Thank you, Philippines” celebration on May 4, Israel’s 68th National Day. “It will be recalled that on November 29, 1947, it was the Philippines with Roxas as sitting President plus two other countries, that provided the swing vote that paved the way for the establishment of the State of Israel in the United Nations under U.N. Resolution 181, also known as The Partition of Palestine in

fulfillment of Biblical prophesy of thousands of years ago”, Castelo explained.

“Under extreme pressure from two opposing camps, those for and against Israel, Roxas decided to go God’s way. With this important act and crucial role in helping seal the establishment and birth of the ‘Promise Land’, I believe Roxas and the Philippines have found favor in God’s eyes”, Castelo stressed, citing God’s promise to His original chosen people in Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” Castelo also believes that there’s a spiritual umbilical cord between the Philippines

and Israel. And that God has a clear promise to those like Roxas and the Philippines who have been obedient to Him - that these blessings extend to families, communities and nations – continuing from generation to generation. President Manuel A. Roxas is the father of former Senator Gerry Roxas and grandfather of Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II. With Castelo’s popular recording and composition, “DakilangLahi” as music bed, the singer and his production team will attempt to recapture this dramatic period in world history using photos and films from the 1940’s to complete the music-video produced by DakilangLahi Foundation headed by Castelo himself.

Asia’s Songbird celebrates birthday in ‘Sarap Diva’ Regine Velasquez-Alcasid, also known as Asia’s Songbird or just Songbird, is celebrating her birthday today in her talk/musical/variety show, Sarap Diva.

Guess who is dropping by on the set of the show to give her a special birthday treat?

Marian Rivera-Dantes, that’s who.

Don’t miss the show as it demonstrates how to make Spanish-style tapas following

a vey simple recipe that results to a yummy dish. Audience at home can easily follow this.

Regine’s “beki” friends will also join her for the celebration and offer her a special tribute singing contest.

The children in the primetime series Poor Señorita in which Regine is the lead star will also have a very special participation in the celebration.

“Sarap Diva” host Regine Velasquez with friends

Sarap Diva airs Saturday mornings on GMA 7. Don’t miss it.

‘Barangay love Stories’ now on podcast

lS 97.1’s papa Dudut hosts Barangay love Stories podcast

Reminisce over the captivating real life stories of love and hope anytime, anywhere, as Barangay Love Stories, the no. 1 program on GMA’s flagship FM radio station Barangay LS 97.1, is now on podcast.

Since the show began in 2009, it has put its listeners in the spotlight and has captured the hearts of a nationwide audience with its host and resident storyteller, Papa Dudut, interpreting the letters sent in by listeners.

Each episode brings to life the stories of individuals looking to share their experi-

ences, while also relating life lessons to the show’s avid listeners.

With Barangay Love Stories now available online, the show reaches out to a wider audience who can now relive the joy, the kilig, the heartaches and the lessons from past episodes straight on their mobile phones.

Hear interesting stories and new episodes, 12 noon to 3 p.m. on Sundays on Barangay LS 97.1.

Meanwhile, previously aired stories are available on podcast by searching Barangay Love Stories on podcast apps on both iOS and Android devices.

Hydrate with a refreshing twist

one of the dancers at sexy Brazilian carnivalthemed party at the palace pool Club

Here’s a new way to hydrate this summer: Vita Coco, the no.1 packaged coconut water brand in the US and the world, has launched its newest variant that combines the delightful goodness of pineapple and the healthy benefits of coconut water – Vita Coco Natural Coconut Water with Pineapple.

The new variant was officially launched in a fun and sexy Brazilian carnival-themed party at the Palace Pool Club in Manila. The celebration was attended by celebrities and fashionable people, all looking for the coolest, healthiest and fastest way to rehydrate and quench their thirst.

Guests swear it’s the perfect summer drink that’s bursting with the natural sweetness of pineapple and the refreshing purity of coconut. This low-calorie and fat-free drink is loaded with vitamin C, naturally occurring antioxidants, and valuable electrolytes like potassium, making it an essential to those looking to enjoy those long summer days and hot summer nights. Take it anywhere you go—from fabulous beach parties to mountain peaks with stunning views, or even to the nearest swimming pool.

Born on the beaches of Brazil and sold in the US, Vita Coco is the number one brand of coconut water loved by Hollywood celebrities, athletes, fitness gurus, and beauty experts around the world.

Manufactured and distributed in the Philippines by Century Pa-

officials from Century pacific Food Inc., distributor of Vita Coco pineapple

cific Food Inc., Vita Coco Pineapple is available at leading convenience stores and supermarkets nationwide. For more information, visit www.vitacoco.com/ph or www.facebook.com/VitaCocoPH.

sat urday : a pril 2 3, 2016

C8

isaH V. rEd EDITOR NiCKiE WaNG WRITER

isahred @ gmail.com

SHOWBITZ

in “My Candidate,” iza is Vera Chavez, sonny’s (derek ramsay) erstwhile girlfriend and arch rival in his senatorial bid

Congressman sonny suarez (derek ramsay) and his public speaking coach Billie pono (shaina Madayao)

DEREk, Iza anD ShaIna gIvE ElEcTIOn SEaSOn ROmanTIc TWIST ISAH V. RED

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ctors Derek Ramsay, Iza Calzado, and Shaina Magdayao give the audience a different tale of love and romance this election season via My Candidate, a coproduction between Quantum Films, MJM Productions, Tuko Film Productions and Butchi Boy Films, the same producers of the award- winning and critically-acclaimed romantic-comedy films, English Only, Please and #Walang Forever.

The film is set against a political background and so, it is timely as today’s headlines. Derek plays congressman Sonny Suarez, now seeking a Senate seat. He may be a perfect candidate but is painfully shy and a bit withdrawn.

Iza, meanwhile, is Vera Chavez, Sonny’s erstwhile girlfriend and arch rival in his senatorial bid. She possesses strengths lacking in Sonny. She’s charming as well as engaging but is not able to relate to people from the grassroots.

Shaina is Billie Pono, a life coach and communications trainer. Sonny’s campaign team hires her services to help polish their candidate’s public speaking skill and innate charisma.

Billie succeeds at turning Sonny into the dream candidate and the two become close while at work.

In turn, Sonny is able to unleash some unresolved issues in Billie’s life, including her insecurities thereby making her a better version of herself.

shaina Madgayao in ascene with Ketchup Eusebio

The movie’s teaser immediately earned almost a million views, shares and likes the minute it was posted on My Candidate Facebook page.

Netizens swore by Derek, Iza and Shaina’s outstanding performances. Shaina held her own against Iza in the film, and this may be considered as her biggest break as a lead actress. She gave the role her all, especially in scenes where her character finds herself slowly failing, in love with Sonny.

Take note, Derek and Shaina also register very strong positive vibes on screen. Their romantic scenes are neither hard sell nor put on, so, their pairing is indeed one of today’s freshest, newest romantic comedy tandems.

No wonder, director Quark Henares is satisfied with his three main stars plus the support cast composed of Al Tantay, Nico Antonio, Ketchup Eusebio, Ricci Chan, Jun Sabayton and Tirso Cruz III in a special role.

The movie imparts all these funny situations during election time coupled with the resounding message that it must indeed be “Bayan Muna Bago Puso.”

Also part of the movie is boxoffice director Dan Villegas, who serves as creative producer. Villegas is the man is behind such award-winning and blockbuster films as English Only, Please and #Walang Forever.

His latest hit project is Always Be My Maybe.

Fresh concept. Hilarious story telling. New screen combination, My Candidate gives the election season a romantic twist starting May 11 in theaters nationwide.

iza Calzado

in the film, Madayao and ramsay play the role of unlikely pair

derek ramsay and tirso Cruz iii