The Standard - 2016 February 21- Sunday

VOL. XXX  NO. 11  3 Sections 24 Pages P18  SUNDAY : FEBRUARY 21, 2016  www.thestandard.com.ph  editorial@thestandard.com.ph

STAGE SET FOR FACE-OFF OF 5 BETS

A8

‘POLL MACHINES NOT HACK-PROOF’

By Maricel V. Cruz and Sara D. Fabunan

CONTRARY to the claim of the company that supplied them, the vote-counting machines that the Commission on Elections will use in the May 9 polls are prone to hacking and manipulation, a telecommunications engineer said Saturday.

Dr. Pelagio Battung Jr., a telecommunications engineer who served as transportation and communication undersecretary during the Ramos administration, said the poll body should be concerned with the VCM’s algorithms rather than their source code.

“Source code? There’s nothing there,” Battung said, adding that the Comelec should have asked the political parties involved in the election to inspect and test the VCM’s algorithm to verify the claim of Comelec supplier Smartmatic-TIM that the machines are not hackable.

“If they will show the algorithm, IT experts of the different political parties can inspect and test the algorithm and verify if that claim is true,” said Battung. I’m very sure the algorithm of the [VCMs] are different from that of the [precinct-count optical scanners].”

He raised his doubts about the VCMs because the Comelec will also be using refurbished PCOS machines that were used in the May 19, 2013 elections when some PCOS machines refused to read the names of some candidates.

“You recognize some of the names and

one of the name was not recognized. That only shows that PCOS machine has a memory,” Battung said.

“How many candidates in the national elections on vice president has the letter M? If the PCOS really carries a memory, I can transverse the candidates with M or the candidates with B from the president up to senator and transfer it to the votes of the higher up,” Battung added.

Battung, however, conceded there may not be enough time for political parties to send in their IT experts to verify the claim Next page of Smartmatic.

ROAD SHOW. In this file photo, workers of the Commission on Elections show how sample vote-counting machines work during a demonstration at the Pope Pius XII Center conference hall in Paco, Manila. LINO SANTOS

HELPING HAND TO SME OWNERS

B1

VIOLENCE STIRS NO-EL FEARS IN SOUTH

By Vito Barcelo THE United Nationalist Alliance condemned the killing of former Banisilan, North Cotabato Mayor Floro Allado on Thursday and warned that the string of election-related killings may be used to pressure the Commission on Elections to suspend elections in

some parts of Mindanao.

“UNA strongly condemns the killing of Mayor Allado. Vice President Jejomar Binay expressed his deep condolences to the family of Mayor Floro,” said UNA spokesperson Mon Ilagan.

UNA also expressed apprehension that the build up of political violence will likely be used as a reason to pressure the

Comelec to invoke its powers to suspend the elections in that region under Section 5 of the Omnibus Election Code.

“We are deeply concerned over the increasing scale of uncontrolled violence in areas that are already identified as ‘hot spots’ by the police and military. It is alarming that such incident occurs during election period,” he said.

Next page

S U N d ay : f e b r U a r y 2 1 , 2 0 1 6

A2

news

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

duterte woos ‘solid north’

By John Paolo Bencito and Vito Barcelo

PRESIDENTIAL candidate and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte started his courtship of the “Solid North” and liberally invoked the name of former President Ferdinand Marcos whose family still commands a substantial number of votes in Ilocano-speaking northern Luzon.

Tagalogs for Marcos. Vice presidential candidate Senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. is swarmed by supporters as he brought his Unity Caravan to Balayan City in Batangas province Saturday.

VIOLENCE...

From A1

Two years ago, Allado survived a grenade attack but two of his cousins were killed, Ilagan recalled.

Chief Inspector Ericson Baniaga, police chief of Wao town in Lanao del Sur, said Allado was attacked by a masked gunman while he was filling his vehicle with gasoline at a station in Barangay Eastern at 12:40 p.m.

Baniaga said Allado, who was seeking to be reelected mayor of Banisilan along with three other candidates, was on his way to Cagayan de Oro City at the time of the incident.

Though wounded, Allado was able to run for cover but he fell in a creek beside the gasoline station where the suspect caught up with him and fired another shot that killed him, Baniaga said.

Ilagan said that under Section 5 of the Omnibus Election Code, the Comelec is vested the power to suspend the elections “in case of violence, terrorism, force majeure, and other analogous causes” that may cause for a failure of election.

Ilagan said that some quarters have resorted to callous acts of terror in order to disrupt the forthcoming elections.

He said that in a span of one week, a number of election-related killings happened, suggesting a pattern of violence in areas where UNA supporters in the provinces are either being threatened or harassed.

Last week, former Sto. Tomas Councilor Damasino “Caloy” Mabilangan Jr. was killed by still unidentified armed men. Mabilangan was an UNA member and fraternity brother of Vice President Binay.

“We reiterate our call to the Comelec to ensure security during the election period. The UNA is appealing to all to make the elections clean, fair and honest and safe,’’ Ilagan said.

‘POLL...

From A1

“We lack time now. If we insist on doing that, we might not have elections. It’s better to have an election.

We’ll talk about that later,” Battung said.

Battung’s doubts reflected those of source code reviewer Dr. Pablo Manalastas, a retired professor of the Ateneo de Manila University Department of Information Systems and Computer Science, who claimed that while the source code is secure, it can still be hacked.

Manalastas told a congressional oversight committee that he cannot discount the possibility of vote rigging and electoral cheating in this year’s general elections.

“They put enough security to make it hard for outsiders to use the system to cheat. But, if they want to cheat, they can do that,” Manalastas told lawmakers.

“The system is secure, but hacking the system can be done through the cooperation of people who are in charge of the data system and who have physical control of machines.

It is possible to cheat with a lot of help from Comelec and Smartmatic,” Manalastas said.

But Smartmatic technology manager Marlon Garcia disputed Manalastas’ claim and claimed no one has access to all the different components of the system.

“There is no way to go inside. There is no way for somebody to manipulate the machines or go into the system and favor a particular candidate,” said Garcia, adding that not even Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista has full access to the system.

Meanwhile, Smartmatic president Cesar Flores disputed Bautista’s claim

that Smartmatic can be held liable for the delay caused by the omission of the People’s Reform Party of presidential aspirant Senator Miriam Santiago in the test ballots printed recently.

Flores stressed that the Commission on Election is responsible in checking “each and every” ballots before the supplier proceed with the printing.

“Ultimately, Comelec has the responsibility to checking each and every one of those ballot faces before proceeding with printing,” Flores said.

On Feb. 15, the Comelec officially started printing at least 57 million official ballots for Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, including at least 1.6 million overseas absentee voters.

However, the printing was temporarily stopped on Feb. 16 due to errors in the ballot where the Comelec has forgot to indicate Santiago’s political party.

Flores said it is normal in every election to have several revisions and correction before it finally implemented.

“It’s normal in every election to have several iterations of the different files until a final approved version is issued,” Flores said.

“As you know, there is not just one ballot face but many different ones.

What happens is that Comelec sends data about candidates and precincts over to Smartmatic, which then generates the different ballot faces,” Flores said.

Flores stressed that the data about the candidates and precincts, as assumed, is already checked and finalized by the Comelec and the detection of the error only proves that the mechanism is working perfectly.

“This is how the mistake was detected and corrected in time. Far from being a cause for concern, this proves that the safety mechanisms are working perfectly,” said Flores, who assured Smartmatic and the National Printing Office can meet the April 25 deadline.

But while Duterte started to woo the Solid North, a favored son of the Ilocos region, Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who is running for vice president, hit the hustings in equally-vote rich Batangas province where he was greeted by thousands of eager supporters.

“I’m no stranger to Ilocos and Ilocanos,” declared Duterte upon his arrival in Laoag City on Friday.

“My father [Gov. Vicente Duterte] was one of only two Mindanao governors who did not abandon the Nacionalista [Party] when [then Senate President Ferdinand Marcos] first ran for president,” Duterte told the crowd that packed the provincial council’s session hall.

Duterte’s father was the last governor of the undivided Davao before it was split into Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental and Davao City. After Marcos won in the election, he rewarded the elder Duterte’s party loyalty by appointing him to the Cabinet as secretary of the Department of General Services.

While Duterte invoked the Marcos name in Laoag, Bongbong was swarmed by supporters in Balayan City where former executive secretary Eduardo Ermita, a kingpin of the region since the Ramos administration, announced his endorsement of Marcos’ vice presidential candidacy.

“Our vice president, Bongbong Marcos, with his long experience in government, fully knows what the Filipino people need,” said Ermita, who has been the party’s regional chairman since 1992.

Ermita said he is confident Marcos will win in the coming May elections because he has maintained his base of voters in Northern Luzon and remains to be a force to reckon with in Mindanao.

“The senator’s base is impregnable.

Northern Luzon at our countrymen in Mindanao. It’s just simple arithmetic. One cake is divided by two, the other half is divided by four and the other is going for the only one coming from northern Luzon, our vice president Marcos,” Ermita said.

Last Friday, Senator Marcos was also endorsed by NPC Pangasinan Chairman Mark Cojuangco during his visit to the province.

In his brief message at the 11th Barangay Health Workers District Congress at the Plaza Enrique Braganza in Alaminos City, where the senator was the guest speaker, Cojuangco said Marcos is the best candidate for the post because of his extensive experience both in his personal life and as public servant.

He said the people should not let this opportunity get away who will unify the country like what he did on the northern part of Luzon. Let us support the candidacy of Bongbong Marcos,” Cojuangco said.

Since the start of the campaign season, Senator Marcos has been getting the support of several political leaders including rivals in the different provinces and cities he had visited namely Ilocos Sur, Abra, La Union, Pangasinan and Pasig City.

In Loving Memory of

BENJAMIN ‘KOKOY’ TRINIDAD ROMUALDEZ Former Ambassador to the United States of America, People’s Republic of China and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Former Governor of the Province of Leyte

On his 4th Death Anniversary February 21, 2016

We, his loving wife, Juliette, children, Daniel, Philip, Martin, Marean and their families invite you to join us in prayer for the eternal repose of his soul.

d

Holy Masses will be celebrated in tHe following cHurcHes:

d

MANILA • Santuario de San Antonio Parish, Forbes Park, Makati City

6:15 AM

LEYTE • Our Lady of Lourdes, V&G Subdivision, Tacloban City

4:30 AM

• Transfiguration Parish, Palo Cathedral, Leyte

7:00 AM

• Sto. Niño Parish, Tacloban City • Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, Tacloban City • St. Michael Archangel, Tolosa, Leyte

11:00 AM 3:30 PM 5:00 AM, 8:00 AM, 5:00 PM

S U N D AY, F E B R U A R Y 2 1 , 2 0 1 6

A4

OPINION

ADELLE CHUA EDITOR

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

OPINION

US SCRAMBLES TO HOLD ANTI-ISLAMIC STATE COALITION TOGETHER

[ EDI TORI A L ]

THE LUCKY ONE

By Eli Lake and Josh Rogin

THE Internet is abuzz with feeds and comments about the 30-year-old commissioner of the Social Security System who rakes in almost P6 million a year at her job.

The commissioner, with a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management, used to be the chief of staff of presidential candidate Manuel Roxas II. No wonder she is seated comfortably between Roxas and his vice presidential candidate, Leni Robredo, inside a private plane during one of their campaign sorties. In that shot, they were flashing the “L” sign of the Liberal Party, all smiles.

If we looked hard enough, we will likely be disappointed that this young woman’s credentials and experience are not as stellar as her compensation package—this, excluding all other perks she enjoys sitting on the board of corporations where the SSS holds significant amount of shares.

Even her bosses do not make as much as she does, it appears from the leaked list of annual salaries of commissioners and top officials of the SSS. The commissioner’s great luck comes amid the misfortune of 2 million SSS retirees whose P2,000 pension increase was vetoed by President Benigno Aquino III last month. Both Houses of Congress had agreed to grant the increase, acknowledging the higher cost of goods and the increased medical requirements of senior citizens.

But no, Mr. Aquino said. The increase would bankrupt the SSS in just a few years’ time. What would benefit 2 million would endanger the future of 30 million members who are counting on the fund’s health when it is their time to reap the benefits of their own contributions, decades from now.

This would have been a good argument, admirable even, had the President shown us his method of arriving at the conclusion that granting the P2,000 increase would be unsound, albeit popular. Actuarial figures would accomplish that purpose, especially if they tell us that they have exhausted all means to keep the fund robust—but failed.

What we see instead is a revolting spreadsheet that details the abhorrent compensation packages of SSS executives—perhaps some too young and clueless to realize the high social and moral cost at which their great fortune comes.

This is once again a preview of the Daang Matuwid: Seemingly upright and virtuous at some points, but scandalous and downright offensive in some. Do we honestly want more of this duplicity in the next six years?

THE ENGAGEMENT CONTINUUM

ONCE upon a time, there was the government on one side and citizens on the other.

Citizens grouped themselves together and intently watched the government as it went about its job. They assumed that government officials would commit wrongdoing when they had the opportunity, believing that they could get away with it.

The citizens proudly conduct-

ed themselves as “watchdogs”— ready to jump on the government upon the first sign of corruption, and ready to run to the media to make the wrongdoing public.

This approach was effective in that it named and shamed those officials who were using their government positions for their personal gain.

Over the years, however, some disadvantages to this approach emerged. Foremost, it created a culture of suspicion and mistrust between the two entities. There was no good faith: the citizens always expected the government to commit anomalies, and the government believed that citizens

There is no right or wrong approach and perhaps these different approaches, taken together, is the best.

organizations are loud and illogical. They would make noises and accusations whether or not these

A5

were founded, and create sweeping generalizations without fully understanding the issues and the processes.

Needless to say, both assumed the worst about each other.

Then came the notion of constructive engagement. This is a process by which citizens and government actually work together for a common goal.

Given their previous biases against each other, it was not easy.

Government, especially officials who were honest and hardworking and who had only the best intentions in mind, was wary that citizen groups would only unfairly tarnish the work they do.

Some politicians were also suspicious that citizens groups working closely with them could be affiliated with their political enemies, sent to spy on them and pin them down on the slightest mistake.

On the other hand, citizens would find it difficult to work with government given their differing culture and orientation. In the course of their work, they are bound to discover big and little things alike that would tell them why the bureaucracy suffers the reputation that it does.

They are also afraid that some of their fellow groups would accuse them of being co-opted by the institution they are supposed to be

criticizing. When you have prided yourself in anti-corruption work, one of the worst things that can be said about you is that you have crossed over to the other side.

But what they call constructive engagement is not exactly crossing over.

It’s a continuum, experts say, and it is not difficult to imagine how. One extreme is being vehemently and rabidly against government, denouncing it for its imperfections and constantly reminding its officials that they must do their jobs without fail because it’s taxpayers who are footing the bill.

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-

On the other extreme is total co-optation, where citizens are there simply to be able to claim that an agency of local government unit has some form of participation, and never mind the quality. Here, the citizens lose their reason for being; they are nothing more than “yes” men or women.

Between these two extremes is the point along the line where most of the relationships between government and citizens exist. Depending on their beliefs and principles, groups can choose to be on the

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

exact middle of this continuum, lean to the left or to the right.

There is no right or wrong approach and perhaps these different approaches, taken together, is the best.

Needless to say, any level of engagement is always better than no engagement at all.

That all the work must be done by the government and that all citizens have to do is wait for services to be delivered, watch the news and make their sentiments felt during elections is just not an option anymore. adellechua@gmail.com

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

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

Anita F. Grefal Treasury Manager Edgar M. Valmorida Circulation Manager

AFTER Wednesday’s deadly bombing in the Turkish capital of Ankara, the US is now scrambling to keep two key allies in its coalition against the Islamic State from going to war with each other.

For several months, the US government has struggled to manage the competing interests of Turkey—a Nato ally bent on removing the Bashar al-Assad regime—and Syrian Kurdish rebels, whose priority is to expand their territory and autonomy within Syria. The American plan is for both to focus their efforts on destroying the Islamic State, but as Turkey has started attacking the Syrian Kurds, the US effort to balance between them is proving untenable.

The first problem for President Barack Obama’s administration is how to deal with the Turkish government, which is increasingly upset about the US program to provide Kurdish fighters with light weapons and ammunition. Within hours of the deadly bombing, Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said one of the attackers was a Syrian member of the US-supported Kurdish fighting group known as the YPG. A senior US diplomat told us that so far the US has not seen any evidence the YPG played a role in the Ankara bombing. The Obama administration is now trying to prevent Turkey from escalating its own war against Kurdish separatists, this diplomat said, and stop Turkish shelling and bombing of Kurdish positions in northern Syria and northern Iraq.

The second problem for the US is how to deal with the YPG itself. Earlier this month, YPG fighters began fighting other Westernbacked Syrian rebels and drove them out of the Menagh air base near Azaz in the north of the country. Even before the bombing in Ankara, the Turks began bombing YPG positions, warning that they were willing to render the air base unusable.

The US diplomat told us that the YPG did not warn the US or the coalition that it would be moving on the air base earlier this month. But since the YPG took the facility, the US has been telling them to stop advancing north toward Turkey.

Meanwhile, Russia has been working to drive a wedge between the US government and the Syrian Kurds. While the US has seen no evidence of direct Russian military support for the Kurdish forces, the YPG has been taking advantage of Russian airstrikes to take territory from other rebels in the north. Russia is also trying to take advantage of Kurdish tensions with Turkey by offering support for the YPG and promising to protect the Kurdish fighters from Turkish air strikes.

Normally, Washington would side with Turkey, a Nato ally, against the YPG, which has roots in the Kurdish separatist movement known as the PKK, still designated as a terrorist organization by the US government. But the YPG is the most effective group of fighters today in Syria against the Islamic State.

On Wednesday, Colonel Steve Warren, the spokesman for the US operation in Syria and Iraq against the Islamic State, pointed to a new offensive launched by Syrian rebels—including the YPG—in Shaddadi, an important border town crucial to the Islamic State’s supply line between Continued on A6 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 U N D AY, F E B R U A R Y 2 1 , 2 0 1 6

A4

OPINION

ADELLE CHUA EDITOR

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

OPINION

US SCRAMBLES TO HOLD ANTI-ISLAMIC STATE COALITION TOGETHER

[ EDI TORI A L ]

THE LUCKY ONE

By Eli Lake and Josh Rogin

THE Internet is abuzz with feeds and comments about the 30-year-old commissioner of the Social Security System who rakes in almost P6 million a year at her job.

The commissioner, with a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management, used to be the chief of staff of presidential candidate Manuel Roxas II. No wonder she is seated comfortably between Roxas and his vice presidential candidate, Leni Robredo, inside a private plane during one of their campaign sorties. In that shot, they were flashing the “L” sign of the Liberal Party, all smiles.

If we looked hard enough, we will likely be disappointed that this young woman’s credentials and experience are not as stellar as her compensation package—this, excluding all other perks she enjoys sitting on the board of corporations where the SSS holds significant amount of shares.

Even her bosses do not make as much as she does, it appears from the leaked list of annual salaries of commissioners and top officials of the SSS. The commissioner’s great luck comes amid the misfortune of 2 million SSS retirees whose P2,000 pension increase was vetoed by President Benigno Aquino III last month. Both Houses of Congress had agreed to grant the increase, acknowledging the higher cost of goods and the increased medical requirements of senior citizens.

But no, Mr. Aquino said. The increase would bankrupt the SSS in just a few years’ time. What would benefit 2 million would endanger the future of 30 million members who are counting on the fund’s health when it is their time to reap the benefits of their own contributions, decades from now.

This would have been a good argument, admirable even, had the President shown us his method of arriving at the conclusion that granting the P2,000 increase would be unsound, albeit popular. Actuarial figures would accomplish that purpose, especially if they tell us that they have exhausted all means to keep the fund robust—but failed.

What we see instead is a revolting spreadsheet that details the abhorrent compensation packages of SSS executives—perhaps some too young and clueless to realize the high social and moral cost at which their great fortune comes.

This is once again a preview of the Daang Matuwid: Seemingly upright and virtuous at some points, but scandalous and downright offensive in some. Do we honestly want more of this duplicity in the next six years?

THE ENGAGEMENT CONTINUUM

ONCE upon a time, there was the government on one side and citizens on the other.

Citizens grouped themselves together and intently watched the government as it went about its job. They assumed that government officials would commit wrongdoing when they had the opportunity, believing that they could get away with it.

The citizens proudly conduct-

ed themselves as “watchdogs”— ready to jump on the government upon the first sign of corruption, and ready to run to the media to make the wrongdoing public.

This approach was effective in that it named and shamed those officials who were using their government positions for their personal gain.

Over the years, however, some disadvantages to this approach emerged. Foremost, it created a culture of suspicion and mistrust between the two entities. There was no good faith: the citizens always expected the government to commit anomalies, and the government believed that citizens

There is no right or wrong approach and perhaps these different approaches, taken together, is the best.

organizations are loud and illogical. They would make noises and accusations whether or not these

A5

were founded, and create sweeping generalizations without fully understanding the issues and the processes.

Needless to say, both assumed the worst about each other.

Then came the notion of constructive engagement. This is a process by which citizens and government actually work together for a common goal.

Given their previous biases against each other, it was not easy.

Government, especially officials who were honest and hardworking and who had only the best intentions in mind, was wary that citizen groups would only unfairly tarnish the work they do.

Some politicians were also suspicious that citizens groups working closely with them could be affiliated with their political enemies, sent to spy on them and pin them down on the slightest mistake.

On the other hand, citizens would find it difficult to work with government given their differing culture and orientation. In the course of their work, they are bound to discover big and little things alike that would tell them why the bureaucracy suffers the reputation that it does.

They are also afraid that some of their fellow groups would accuse them of being co-opted by the institution they are supposed to be

criticizing. When you have prided yourself in anti-corruption work, one of the worst things that can be said about you is that you have crossed over to the other side.

But what they call constructive engagement is not exactly crossing over.

It’s a continuum, experts say, and it is not difficult to imagine how. One extreme is being vehemently and rabidly against government, denouncing it for its imperfections and constantly reminding its officials that they must do their jobs without fail because it’s taxpayers who are footing the bill.

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-

On the other extreme is total co-optation, where citizens are there simply to be able to claim that an agency of local government unit has some form of participation, and never mind the quality. Here, the citizens lose their reason for being; they are nothing more than “yes” men or women.

Between these two extremes is the point along the line where most of the relationships between government and citizens exist. Depending on their beliefs and principles, groups can choose to be on the

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

exact middle of this continuum, lean to the left or to the right.

There is no right or wrong approach and perhaps these different approaches, taken together, is the best.

Needless to say, any level of engagement is always better than no engagement at all.

That all the work must be done by the government and that all citizens have to do is wait for services to be delivered, watch the news and make their sentiments felt during elections is just not an option anymore. adellechua@gmail.com

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

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

Anita F. Grefal Treasury Manager Edgar M. Valmorida Circulation Manager

AFTER Wednesday’s deadly bombing in the Turkish capital of Ankara, the US is now scrambling to keep two key allies in its coalition against the Islamic State from going to war with each other.

For several months, the US government has struggled to manage the competing interests of Turkey—a Nato ally bent on removing the Bashar al-Assad regime—and Syrian Kurdish rebels, whose priority is to expand their territory and autonomy within Syria. The American plan is for both to focus their efforts on destroying the Islamic State, but as Turkey has started attacking the Syrian Kurds, the US effort to balance between them is proving untenable.

The first problem for President Barack Obama’s administration is how to deal with the Turkish government, which is increasingly upset about the US program to provide Kurdish fighters with light weapons and ammunition. Within hours of the deadly bombing, Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said one of the attackers was a Syrian member of the US-supported Kurdish fighting group known as the YPG. A senior US diplomat told us that so far the US has not seen any evidence the YPG played a role in the Ankara bombing. The Obama administration is now trying to prevent Turkey from escalating its own war against Kurdish separatists, this diplomat said, and stop Turkish shelling and bombing of Kurdish positions in northern Syria and northern Iraq.

The second problem for the US is how to deal with the YPG itself. Earlier this month, YPG fighters began fighting other Westernbacked Syrian rebels and drove them out of the Menagh air base near Azaz in the north of the country. Even before the bombing in Ankara, the Turks began bombing YPG positions, warning that they were willing to render the air base unusable.

The US diplomat told us that the YPG did not warn the US or the coalition that it would be moving on the air base earlier this month. But since the YPG took the facility, the US has been telling them to stop advancing north toward Turkey.

Meanwhile, Russia has been working to drive a wedge between the US government and the Syrian Kurds. While the US has seen no evidence of direct Russian military support for the Kurdish forces, the YPG has been taking advantage of Russian airstrikes to take territory from other rebels in the north. Russia is also trying to take advantage of Kurdish tensions with Turkey by offering support for the YPG and promising to protect the Kurdish fighters from Turkish air strikes.

Normally, Washington would side with Turkey, a Nato ally, against the YPG, which has roots in the Kurdish separatist movement known as the PKK, still designated as a terrorist organization by the US government. But the YPG is the most effective group of fighters today in Syria against the Islamic State.

On Wednesday, Colonel Steve Warren, the spokesman for the US operation in Syria and Iraq against the Islamic State, pointed to a new offensive launched by Syrian rebels—including the YPG—in Shaddadi, an important border town crucial to the Islamic State’s supply line between Continued on A6 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 U N D AY, F E B R U A R Y 2 1 , 2 0 1 6

A6

OPINION

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

TRUMP: THE ART OF THE POLITICAL RALLY

By Jennie Matthew MANCHESTER, New Hampshire, US—To many people overseas it defies logic. How can a former reality TV star—best known for making money, a spectacularly ugly divorce in the 1990s and wanting to ban Muslims from entering the United States—ever win the New Hampshire primary?

But go to a Donald Trump rally and it starts to become clear.

The snow was falling thick and fast when I joined the mass of journalists queuing up outside the venue. It was dark, well below freezing and the wind was perishing. Out front, members of the public started arriving more than an hour before the doors opened. By the time we got inside, I could no longer feel my toes and wrenched my boots off in agony to knead them back to life.

By the time Trump finally walked out on stage—half an hour late because of a snowstorm— several thousand people had braved hazardous driving conditions to see their man. It was an extraordinary turnout.

Jeb Bush welcomed a tenth of that number in a school canteen two days earlier. Marco Rubio pulled in around 1,000—lured with promises of a pancake breakfast, which was later downgraded to coffee and muffins.

“I came for some entertainment I guess,” explained one 19-year-old student as he waited for Trump.

“It’ll be phenomenal,” said Brian Carey, who runs a construction company and has installed a custom-made “Make America Great Again!” sign on his barn. “It’s not coming down,” he said.

Opera, Beatles and... Elton John?

The intimate locales favored by his rivals are not for Trump. Never mind that in New Hampshire’s homespun brand of retail politics, the practice is to shake hands and take selfies in diners. Trump simply booked the biggest venue in the state, the 10,000-seat Verizon Wireless Arena. And as the MC pointed out, Mr. Trump was paying out of his own pocket.

While Bush and Rubio begin their town halls with the oath of allegiance, Trump supporters

Trump speaks to a crowd in Manchester.

Feb. 8, 2016.

AFP

shopped for snacks and sodas from concession carts, as if they were going to a basketball game or a rock concert.

As they took their seats, the loudspeakers blasted out the famous Puccini aria “Nessun Dorma,” the Beatles and Elton John —an off choice in the eyes of some hardcore American conservatives.

As one member of the audience put it: “Why do we have to listen to this queer liberal?”

Then the MC advised people not to resort to violence in the event of protests. He appealed for calm and said law enforcement would step in if need be. We were clearly in for a different kind of night.

In Europe, politicians often go to great lengths to pretend they are ordinary Joes. Trump loves nothing more than telling everyone how rich and successful he is. He’s a larger-than-life billionaire who makes people feel that a little bit of his success can rub off on them. It’s all about image. And power.

The stage was dressed in a red, white and blue neon “Make America Great Again!” sign and a presidential looking row of US flags.

Making an entrance The main man’s arrival was heralded by a campaign video that included a picture of his family in a gold-leaf sitting room, his

youngest son astride a stuffed lion. The minute he strode out, the crowd went crazy. The moment he started speaking, the audience was captivated. The more he insulted the countries and people he blames for the ills of modern America, the more the spectators loved him.

Would any other politician call a rival a pussy? Trump did of Ted Cruz, taking his lead from a woman in the audience. “She said he’s a pussy. That’s terrible,” he said, shaking his head in faux outrage as the crowd erupted into wolf whistles and applause.

So well known are his policies, that they have become catchphrases. “Who’s going to pay for the wall?” he shouted. “Mexico,” the arena screamed back. “U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!” Of course it is easy to sneer at the candidate and his supporters. At every step he has broken the rules of electioneering. Yet somehow he is standing at the head of the field through sheer charisma and force of personality.

Why Trump?

While analysts in Washington and New York see America as a patchwork of Democrat states and Republican states, of black voters and blue collar cities, many people are tired of being viewed as vote banks, whose problems are promptly forgotten.

Disenfranchised Americans turn to him because they are turned off politics and in its place he offers celebrity. They are angry: with career politicians, with the mainstream media and with the system. Several members of the audience I approached refused to talk to a journalist. He’s a showman who takes the stage like a rock star, sending fans dizzy with excitement. It’s not really politics, it’s entertainment.

When his speech was over—and he took no questions—he walked past the bleachers, shaking hands and being mobbed by cameras like a movie star tracked by paparazzi.

Trump’s campaign strategy has been to suck up the oxygen from everyone else in the Republican field by dialing into breakfast shows, insulting his rivals or launching attacks on Muslims, Mexicans, women, the disabled or anyone who crosses his path.

His audiences are generally white, hardworking Americans, alarmed by their country’s flagging status in the world. They are out of a job, or struggling to make ends meet. Trump jets in to sprinkle a little stardust that peps them up.

He may be clever enough to have identified the problems and fears facing many Americans. But his many opponents say he has none of the answers. AFP

HARPER LEE CREATED THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO

By Stephen L. Carter SOME years ago, I added “To Kill a Mockingbird” to the syllabus of my course on Ethics in Literature. I teach in a law school, and the students in the seminar were as hard-bitten and hypercritical as one would expect.

Most of the works we read they trashed from one end to the other, often with the easygoing savage hauteur of the young intellectual.

But not “Mockingbird.” They treated the classic with a respect bordering on awe. Prompting them to criticize it was as successful as prompting an Evangelical to criticize the Bible.

Harper Lee, who died Friday at 89, always professed herself astounded at the role of her masterpiece in the lives of so many millions of readers. The story’s images are seared into us. Those who don’t read it in middle school read it in high school. The book is as firmly installed in the popular culture as a novel can be. It’s inspired satires galore—including on “The Simpsons”—and Aaron Sorkin is now adapting it for Broadway.

“Mockingbird” was published in 1960. After the book quickly sold 500,000 copies, Life magazine quoted an ecstatic neighbor who said to Lee: “The next thing you’ll be getting one of those awards from across the water.”

Maybe not—Lee had to settle for a Pulitzer Prize and, later on, a couple of presidential medals—but the book’s influence on generations of schoolchildren can hardly be overstated. The story of Scout Finch’s Alabama childhood and her father’s brave but doomed defense of a black man accused of raping a white woman is not only one of the bestselling novels of all time (estimates run above 40 million copies), but also one of the most loved. As the legal scholar Thomas Shaffer has put it: “The millions of people who like ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ are not analytical about their liking it.” He added: “The story of Atticus Finch appeals in an immediate way to people. ... He is a hero.”

The novel was published at an auspicious moment. Lee, moved by such events as the killing of Emmett Till to reflect upon the racial attitudes of the town where she grew up, at first had trouble shaping the narrative.

But when she finally succeeded, she had written what Oprah Winfrey would call “our national novel” and the writer Jane Smiley would later call “the ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ of the twentieth century.”

The book was part autobiographical—Lee modeled Scout on herself, Atticus on her father, the neighbors in Maycomb on her neighbors in Monroeville—

and even the scorching tale of the trial in the bigoted town was something of a cri de coeur. Her experiences outside the South had redefined her, but she could never quite turn her back on the world that had spawned her.

On initial publication, “Mockingbird” received generally glowing reviews, although the New York Times warned that “some of the scenes suggest that Miss Lee is cocking at least one eye toward Hollywood.” If she was, that was a good thing. The film version is one of the most beloved movies ever, and in 2003, the character of Atticus Finch (portrayed by Gregory Peck, who won the Academy Award) was selected by the American Film Institute as the greatest movie hero of all time.

After the film, however, Lee disappeared.

Not really. She wasn’t a Garboesque recluse. She simply preferred to spend time with friends and neighbors. One of her closest friends was Truman Capote, with whom she had traveled when he was researching “In Cold Blood.” A Capote biographer described their bond as “a common anguish” over childhoods where each felt rejected by parents and peers alike.

Meanwhile, fans waited for her next book. And waited, and waited, and waited. Lee was 34 years old when “Mockingbird”

was published. When “Go Set a Watchman” finally saw the light of day in 2015, she was 88. The new novel, as it turned out, was mostly from an old manuscript, the rough original from which “Mockingbird” derived. “Watchman” was a huge commercial success, but critics were largely unkind. In the New Yorker, Adam Gopnik called it “a failure as a novel,” but nevertheless a “testimony to how appealing a writer Harper Lee can be.” Michiko Kakutani in the Times labeled it “a lumpy tale” and “a distressing narrative filled with characters spouting hate speech.”

Yet I wonder whether behind much of the criticism of “Watchman” there might not lurk a bit of disappointment that the heroic Atticus Finch turned out to be just another bigoted yokel. The anger at the second novel, in other words, might be part of the love for the first.

The Atticus we all met on first reading “To Kill a Mockingbird” back in grade school supplied a hero for all seasons, and we prefer to keep him that way. As Shaffer points out, “An important thing about hero stories is that they appeal from life to life.” That’s what Lee gave us: a hero story we can’t forget. And so one modest young woman earned her place among the literary immortals. Bloomberg

US... From A5 Mosul, Iraq, and Raqqa, Syria.

Nonetheless, Warren said he was aware of the fighting between various anti-Assad rebel factions.

Warren said the US message to the rebels on the ground was to “convince them that focusing on Daesh really is in their best interests,” using the Arabic term for the Islamic State.

Many Syrian rebels are suspect of the Kurds’ true motives.

General Salem Idris, former chief of staff of the Free Syrian Army, told the Voice of America Wednesday, “The YPG is acting as a spoiler, tactically. They say they are not coordinating with the regime, but that is a lie.”

The administration has been stepping up its support to the Syrian Kurds and the YPG since last fall, when the US airdropped 50 tons of small arms and ammunition in northeastern Syria for a group called the Syrian Arab Coalition, most of which ended up in the hands of the YPG. Kurdish officials have said total US military support to the YPG has been at least double that amount, and that the Kurds in October established a group called the Democratic Forces of Syria to coordinate the distribution of US-provided weapons among local forces in the fight against the Islamic State.

For months, the Turkish government has formally complained to the US that the weapons provided to the Democratic Forces of Syria have ended up in the hands of PKK separatists fighting in Turkey. The senior US diplomat told us the US takes these charges seriously, but has not found any evidence that the arms supplied to the Kurds in Syria have wound up across the Turkish border. This official said, however, it was true that some US weaponry seized by the Islamic State in Iraq had found its way into Turkey.

Turkey’s grave worry, however, is that the Kurdish rebels may be too successful inside Syria. The area in-between Kurdish-held territory in northeastern Syria and Kurdish areas near Aleppo in Syria’s northwest is controlled by a mix of rebel groups supported

by Turkey. If the Kurds are able to connect their two holdings, they would achieve what Ankara fears most: a de facto contiguous state that stretches from Lebanon to the Iraq-Iran border.

Turkey’s concerns about this have had diplomatic repercussions.

The Turks, in conjunction with Saudi Arabia, worked to keep the Syrian Kurds out of negotiations between the Syrian opposition and the Assad regime. The US pushed for the YPG’S political entity, called the PYD, to be represented in the High Negotiating Committee that traveled to Geneva earlier this month for peace talks, but the Saudi government objected. The Washington Post reported that the leader of the PYD showed up in Geneva anyway, but was asked to leave by US officials after Turkey threatened to scuttle the talks. The US special representative to the anti-Islamic State coalition, Brett McGurk, then traveled to Rojava, inside Kurdish-controlled Syria, to mend ties.

The hope now for the US is that it can persuade Turkey and the YPG to back off each other and turn their energies to defeating the Islamic State. If that effort fails, then the US may find itself supporting both sides of a Kurdish-Turkish war it has been trying for months to prevent. Bloomberg

S U N D AY : F E B R U A R Y 2 1 , 2 0 1 6

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NEWS

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

SSL IMPASSE DESPITE PNOY EO

By Maricel V. Cruz

THE bicameral conference on the proposed Salary Standardization Law 4 must be able to break the impasse on the measure despite President Benigno Aquino III’s executive order authorizing the release of the first tranche of the proposed government salary increase, a House official said on Saturday.

House Majority Leader and Mandaluyong Rep. Neptali Gonzales II said that while the President’s EO was a welcome development, Congress still

has to pass the bill on SSL to ensure the continuity of the release of funds to the intended beneficiaries.

“While it is a most welcome

development for the 1.3 million civilian government, including military and personnel in uniform, I hope that the bicam is able to resolve the deadlock in so far as the Senate amendment of the indexation of the retirement pay of military personnel,” Gonzales told The Standard.

“If not, then the next Congress has to pass a bill that will make effective the second to the fourth tranche of the SSL,” Gonzales added.

Congressmen Rodolfo Albano III of Isabela, Elpidio Barzaga Jr. of Cavite and

Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar also welcomed the President’s EO on SSL, even as they hope that the congressional deadlock on the proposed measure will be addressed properly.

Albano, House contingent head for the Minority Bloc of the Commission on Appointments, agreed with Gonzales that there must be a continuity on the release of funds as additional benefits for civilian and military and uniformed personnel as mandated by the proposed SSL 4 law.

“An executive order will

do, for now. But Congress has to pass a law for the purpose to also ensure the availability of funds,” Albano, member for the minority bloc of the House committee on appropriations, said.

Barzaga said “anything that will benefit the President’s avowed ‘Bosses’ is a welcome development.”

Evardone, also a member of the House appropriations committee, said that the beneficiaries of the SSL 4 deserve to get the amount provided to them by the government.

Last Friday, President

Aquino signed the Department of Budget and Management-proposed EO modifying the salary schedule and authorizing the grant of additional benefits for both civilian and military and uniformed personnel.

DBM Secretary Florencio Abad, in a statement, said the EO effects compensation adjustments for this year as an interim measure to implement Tranche 1 of the proposed SSL, the full year requirement for which has already been provided in the 2016 national budget.

EX-INC MINISTER SILENT ON RAPS

GLOBAL REACH. INC Executive Minister Eduardo V. Manalo is set to inaugurate this house of worship in Bakersfield, California next month. The new church seats 163 people in its main hall and another 140 in the function hall.

A WEEK after being charged with adultery, expelled Iglesia ni Cristo Minister Lowell Menorca remains tight-lipped and has yet to deny the charges leveled against him by INC member Davis Flores, who alleges that Menorca had an illicit affair with his wife Aedtnavye Juntilla Lazo from 2008 to 2015.

Menorca, who is set to testify at the Court of Appeals today, has refused to issue a statement regarding the charges. Asked to respond to the allegations, Menorca has said that he would “have to talk to my lawyers first.”

Menorca’s lawyer has yet to publicly comment on the complaint filed by Flores.

In his five-page complaint filed at the Manila City Prosecutor’s Office, Flores accused Menorca of having an affair with his estranged wife, Lazo, who Flores introduced to Menorca in 2008.

Flores said he became suspicious of his wife when the latter would show him flirtatious text messages from Menorca that read “Do you have a twin sister locked in a tower somewhere?” and “Davis is lucky to have a

princess like you, too bad for me I don’t.”

Later, Flores recounted how he noticed that Lazo owned a high-end cellphone “which we could not afford” as well as other gifts. Flores also observed “lots of bath soaps, shampoos, and other toiletries from Manila Diamond Hotel, Bayview Park Hotel, and Sogo Hotel” in their bathroom.

Flores was later able to confirm his long-standing suspicions in late 2015, after stumbling upon the blog “D_OWNER_ OF_AJS_HEART” (downerofajsheart.blogspot.com).

“Checking the website, I learned that respondent Menorca maintained a blog where he proudly documented his adulterous affair with respondent Lazo,” according to Flores’ complaint. “AJ” refers to Lazo, while the author handle “Eric” is one of Menorca’s nicknames.

In September 2015, Flores confronted his wife about the illicit relationship, after which Lazo “succumbed to the avalanche of the body of evidence which, when pieced together, conclusively proves a forbidden affair.”

GROUPS PRESS FOR PWDS’ BILL

VARIOUS organizations of persons with disabilities have urged President Benigno Aquino III to sign into law the “malasakit” bill of senatorial candidate Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez exempting PWDs from the payment of 12-percent value-added tax on certain goods and services.

During the national consultation of PWDs on House Bill 1039 of Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez last Thursday, Jocelyn Garcia, chief operating officer of the Tahanang Walang Hagdanan; lawyer Jessica Magbanua, board secretary of Alyansa ng may Kapansanang Pinoy; Cancer Alleviation Network on Care Education and Rehabilitation party-list nominee Emer Rojas; and other groups, appealed to the President’s ‘kind heart’ to benefit the three-million PWDs all over the country.

“The PWDs deserve to have this [tax] privileges as we are not given the chance to work in the mainstream. So I am asking President Aquino to give us a chance,” Garcia, also the sectoral representative of the PWD Basic Sector, said.

Magbanua, a PWD herself, stressed that the tax privileges given to senior citizens should also be given to PWDs. “[By signing this bill] it will show that the government recognizes the plight of PWDs,” Magbanua, also a member of Consultative Advisory Group, Sub-Committee on Accessibility and Telecommunications of the National Council on Disability Affairs, said.

For his part, Rojas said “Congress has finished its ministerial duty of transmitting the PWD bill to Malacañang and we hope President Aquino will sign the measure immediately.”

Romualdez, principal author of HB 1039, said he is optimistic that the President would not veto his pet measure. Maricel V. Cruz

Tr ue to its c ommitment, the Wong Chu K ing Found at ion ( WCK F) is steadfast in its rebuilding of the 4 6 -year- old O ur L ad y of Per p et ual H elp Pa r i sh in N anna r i an, Peña b l anc a , Cag ayan Provinc e to ac c ommodate its growing number of mass goer s and repair the damages it has inc ur red over time. WCK F has c ur rently c ompleted 5 0 perc ent of the c onstr uc tion and is expec ted to be f inished in time for the M ahal na Bi r hen ng Piat Fe st i val on July 2 , 2016.

The projec t will be the f ir st c hapel to be re - erec ted as a par ish c hurc h by Tuguegarao A rc hbishop M ost Rev. Sergio L . Utleg, D.D.

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SUNDAY: FEBRUARY 21, 2016

NEWS editorial@thestandard.com.ph

5 TOP BETS FACE-OFF IN CDO

By Christine F. Herrera

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—A battalion of police and military soldiers will be deployed to secure the five presidential candidates in a “face-off ” during the first round of a series of debates that begins Sunday, according to Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista.

“The premises where the presidential candidates will have to faceoff will be properly secured because they are not just candidates vying for the highest post of the land but currently hold high positions and one of them will become the country’s next president,” Bautista told reporters upon touchdown at the Laguindingan airport.

Among those vying for the presidency are Vice President Jejomar Binay of the United Nationalist Coalition, Senators Miriam Defensor Santiago of the People’s

Reform Party and Grace Poe of Partido Galing at Puso and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

Of the five presidential candidates, only former Interior and Local Governments Secretary Manuel Roxas II of the ruling Liberal Party is not an incumbent.

Bautista said he has requested the leadership of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police to send an appropriate number of men and women in uniform that would provide security before, during

ROTARY TILT DRAWS 10,000 STUDENTS MORE than 10,000 public elementary and high school students yesterday took part in the Rotary Club of Kamuning’s 22nd Alay ng Rotary sa Araw ng Kabataan project, an annual art and cultural development competition that already produced great talents in Quezon City.

In his speech, Rotary Club of Kamuning (RoCK) president Siegfried “Yeye” L. Manaois said the Rotary Alay project has already “produced several talents that are now reaping acclaims here and abroad, like Ms. Koreen Medina who won in Alay’s Vocal Solo competition a few years ago.”

Exposure and confidence gained from the RoCK (R.I. District 3780) victory, Manaois said, helped Medina “bag the 3rd runner-up prize in the Miss Intercontinental Queen of Asia and Oceania 2013 held in Magdeburg, Germany; and grand prize winner of the Coca-Cola Music Talent Search in 2011.”

Guided by the theme “Matalinong Kabataan, Pag-asa ng Bayan,” participants competed in the drum and lyre competition, rondalla competition, vocal solo singing, chorale singing, on the spot painting, and interpretative dancing, among other fields of competition.

The Rotary Alay project is undertaken in cooperation with the Rotary International District 3780, which comprises the whole of Quezon City; the Quezon City Schools, the Department of Education; and the Quezon City Government under Mayor Herbert Bautista, a past president of the RoCK. Private sponsors include Mighty Corp. and Union Bank of the Philippines.

In an interview, Rotary International District 3780 Governor Reynaldo David said Rotary’s projects are geared towards the welfare of the youth.

“Rotary really invests in the youth because we believe the youth is the future. With programs from this, we help the youth direct their energies towards activities promoting arts and culture and for them to keep away from vices,” he said.

Public school students from several barangays in Quezon City perform at the Amoranto Sports Complex during the 22nd ‘Alay ng Rotary sa Araw ng Kabataan’, a yearly competition. MANNY PALMERO

and after the debate.

All five camps will bring with them their guests and respective senatorial bets.

“The AFP and the PNP leadership assured me they would send a battalion of policemen and soldiers. We requested for the security,” Bautista told Manila-based reporters.

As of Saturday, several checkpoints had been set up near the

airport and around the city.

Bautista said the Comelec did not receive any imminent threat.

He allayed fears that the enemies of the state would target the area that would host five big personalities in a single event and in the same venue.

“A battalion of police and soldiers or about 300 to 1,000 of them is not an overkill. We just want to make sure that no un-

toward incident happens in such a big public event. Several senatorial candidates, some of whom are incumbents, congressmen and other officials would also be here,” Bautista said.

The debate will be held at the Mini-Theater Building of the Capitol University in this city. It will be moderated by GMA news anchor Mike Enriquez and Jessica Soho and co-hosted by John Nery.

FVR WEIGHS IN ON FOUNDLINGS

By Melandrew T. Velasco IT WAS a day of learning from a living legend who once occupied the highest post in the land and the rain on that Saturday afternoon, Dec. 19, was not enough to stop it from happening.

It was Senator Grace Poe who arrived first.

The much-anticipated elevator “ding” that echoed through the quiet Ramos Peace and Development Foundation office announced her arrival.

The usual salutation commenced as she shook hands with her over-all campaign adviser former executive secretary and Pangasinan Gov. Oscar M. Orbos, resigned Pagcor president and COO Jorge V. Sarmiento, lawyer Bobby Lucila, her uncle Adonis Samson, and this writer. Waiting in the other conference room was former President Fidel V. Ramos.

After several minutes into conversation, Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero arrived. His father the late Salvador Escudero III served as FVR’s Agriculture secretary from 1996-1998. Chiz just came from his home province of Sorsogon to check on his kababayans who were then devastated by Typhoon ‘Nona’.

A few days before the meeting, FVR announced his stand at the “Pandesal Forum” in Quezon City on the disqualification cases against Poe, stating to “Let the People Decide,” on who they want to lead them. He also chided the ruling administration for its continuing “politics of exclusion and process of elimination.”

In the same forum, FVR reiterated his wish to give the young Filipino leaders like Senators Poe and Chiz the chance to serve the country as he cited the likes of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British PM David Cameron, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau among the young leaders and global political stars who are changing the course of the world history.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that you are a natural-born citizen,” said FVR to Poe. “Given the prevailing peace and order situation at that time, there is no stupid foreigner who would travel all the way to the Philippines—to a rustic town of Jaro, Iloilo—to place her child and leave her in front of the church.”

Addressing Grace sparingly as Madam president, he told her that should she be elected president, the two would share two unique things in common in terms of geographical affiliations.

“You know we have two things in common. I am an Ilonggo by choice on account of my marriage to Madam Ming who is from Iloilo and you are native of Iloilo. And since your father, FPJ, also hailed from San Carlos City, Pangasinan, we are both Pangasinenses. You come from a revolutionary province, where the likes of local heroes Andres Malong and Juan de la Cruz Palaris were born. Stay the course, and go on with your presidential bid,” said FVR. The animated consultation meeting with FVR lasted for more than two hours ranging from serious topics to funny anecdotes from all parties concerned.

Poe, who once worked as a pre-

Former President Ramos and Grace Poe have two things in common. school teacher in the US, was like an Cory Aquino, Jaime Cardinal Sin and ardent student in those moments with Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile, FVR as she religiously took down he knew that he had an unfinished notes and continuously asked ques- mission, or an unfinished revolution tions about governance and other of empowering every Filipino. hallmarks of the Ramos presidency.

In the book “FVR’s Wonder of Both candidates laid down to FVR Words,” that I authored and co-pubthe plans of Gobyernong May Puso lished with the RPDEV in 2014, the for the Filipinos, should they win on former president said: May 9, 2016.

“People empowerment underAs a global statesman who is still scores the role of individuals as stakerespected by world leaders in ma- holders and participants, and necesjor countries like US, China, Japan, sitates a “bottom up” contribution among others, (should they be elect- through self-help and self-reliance. ed) both Senators Grace and Chiz “It‘s my firm belief that empowrequested the former president to ering one individual would give that lend his voice and expertise in nation person the capacity to help or embuilding anchored on UST (Unity, power other people.

Solidarity and Teamwork), and CSD “Once poor people break through (Caring, Sharing and Daring). to sufficient levels of income, health Among the items discussed in the and literacy, they could—on their meeting with the former president own—sustain the gains of developgeared towards ably helping the Poe- ment and become productive citizens.

Escudero administration are related for“It is on lifting up the lives of peoeign policy concerns such as West Phil- ple of our absolutely poor but willingippine Sea, BBL, AFTA, among others to-work families where we as a nathat could best be articulated by PFVR. tion should concentrate our scarce Apart from good governance that resources. marked his six-year administration “This means that we must truly with the landmark passage of 228 empower ordinary Filipinos and give socio-economic reform bills, the two each one a stake in our country’s forsenators vowed the regular conduct tunes.” or convening of the National Security Taking inspiration from this Council, Ledac, inclusive and consul- gem of wisdom on people empowtative governance, enhanced econom- erment, Team Grace and Chiz toic diplomacy as well as intensified se- gether with Orbos, are now fully curity and defense. supporting Project Serendipity—a On one hand, FVR and Sena- noble project that shall petition the tor Escudero were on the same page Supreme Court and call for the autowhen it comes to major flagship matic allocation of 20 percent of the projects and further developing the people’s money for HELPS (Health, agriculture sector. Senator Escudero Education, Livelihood, Pension, and mentioned his plans on agricultural Shelter). modernization and proper resource This project was first initiated by allocation, on building new highways Bishop Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon and dams, and on giving more funds along with seven other bishops in in constructing better farm-to-market the Bicol region. It is now on its way roads so that farmers would be greatly to gathering massive wave of support empowered to produce and market following the speech of Bishop Bastes their products. before the Catholic Bishops ConferBut more than the details of the ence of the Philippines at the start of platform of Gobyernong May Puso, the International Eucharistic Conwhat stood out was the heart of their gress in Cebu City last month. platform—and that is to empower the “I wish I had that kind of program people by giving effective social secu- during my administration and it could rity system and welfare for all. have spelled the difference in empowAnd even if FVR is an icon of ering every Filipino,” concluded FVR. people empowerment during the (Mr. Velasco is official biographer of 1986 Revolution along with President FVR’s family.)

SUNDAY: FEBRUARY 21, 2016

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

BUSINESS

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AMORSOLO’S GREAT GRANDSON LENDS CRAFT TO SME OWNERS GREG Ballesteros Rivera, a 31-year-old great grandson of the late national artist Fernando Amorsolo, is one of the very few private equity investment professionals in the Philippines.

An expert in large business transactions such as financial deals, due diligence, mergers and acquisitions, Rivera senses the need to do more for his country.

So he built the first online exchange for small and medium enterprises.

In November 2015, Rivera and a former classmate at La Salle Greenhills formed EntrepZone International Inc., the company behind EntrepZone.com, a website that helps business owners receive the right value of their enterprises that are up for sale.

EntrepZone.com was born to serve the underserved market, he says. It’s primarily an online marketplace for businesses coupled with features designed for SME entrepreneurs. It also offers advisory services for entrepreneurs and allows users to reach out to a wider but targeted audience.

“Our motivation for EntrepZone.com is to help SME owners in terms of getting the right value if they will sell their business. So far, nobody is doing that. One of the objectives of our website is to give credibility to the business sellers. Instead of just listing the address of the business, we have forms for revenue cash flow, which prospective buyers can evaluate,” Rivera says in an interview at a restaurant in Makati City.

“It is creating a relatively new market. You don’t get expertise in other websites. It is giving SME owners exposure if they want to sell their business. Oftentimes, business owners sell the business at a loss, because they would either migrate to other countries or they are just tired. We hope to give them a platform or exchange in selling an enterprise or business. This is the venue to do just that,” says Rivera.

Rivera says a small business like a restaurant or a beach resort can fill up a form at the website to determine the value of the business, not only on the asset side, but also in terms of cash flow. That way, prospective buyers can have a better appreciation of the business and offer an improved deal, he says.

He says once the website gains a following in the Philippines, he

EntrepZone.com founder Greg Ballesteros Rivera plans to bring it region-wide, or to other Southeast Asian countries, where a similar platform is also lacking. EntrepZone.com can thus become the first Filipino website or mobile app that can make it big internationally, if things go smoothly.

“Our goal is to empower entrepreneurs during the critical stages in the life of their business and to get the most out of it. EntrepZone. com hopes one day to become an important resource for entrepreneurs across the Asean region and help them make better informed business decisions. This is the start of an incredible journey for

us at EntrepZone.com, and we’re excited to help,” says Rivera.

Aside from business listing, Rivera says EntrepZone.com also offers advisory services handled by experts in the field including himself, who is a certified public accountant and auditor.

Rivera, who was born and grew up in Cabanatuan City, finished high school at La Salle Greenhills and graduated with degrees in Economics and Accountancy from De La Salle University in Manila. After passing the CPA board in 2007, he joined SGV in November of the same year, where he handled transaction ad-

visory services, particularly financial due diligence and valuation services for large companies.

“I worked at SGV until June 2010, for roughly two and a half years. Then I was given this opportunity to work in a private equity firm,” he says.

With more than six years in private equity investments, Rivera is involved in deal sourcing, performing due diligence on potential deals, building financial models and deal structures, and portfolio management.

His group acquired large businesses such as a restaurant chain and a hospital which gave him a

chance to sit in the board of those companies. The private equity firm, which has already exited those businesses, now scouts for new investments, with values of $15 million to $20 million.

“Our targets are existing businesses with track record. We invest in businesses such as hospitals and restaurants and we finance acquisitions or IPOs. We also acquire majority stakes, in the hope of taking the company public or selling it to another group within five years,” he says.

He says his group is one of the few private equity firms in the Philippines. “There are also venture capitalists in the country, but their presence remains nascent,” he says.

Rivera, however, says small businesses are not the market of private equity firms. “Our minimum investment is $15 million to $20 million. A lot of times, we are frank in telling SMEs that we cannot make the investment in their businesses, because they are too small,” he says.

In the Philippines, a business is defined as an SME if it has 10 to 200 employees or if it has an asset size of P10 million to P100 million. Any company with less than 10 employees or P10 million asset is classified as a micro enterprise.

“That is the gap I saw in the market. There is a mismatch and a lot of small enterprises need funds. This is why I thought about EntrepZone.com last year. We want to empower the SME market,” says Rivera.

“I find more satisfaction in helping SMEs. They need the funds more.

So whatever I learned from dealing with large businesses, I would like to pass on to SMEs,” says Rivera.

“We can provide advisory services. If you want to have a valuation of your business, or financial model, due diligence, or if you want to buy a business, or if you are merging, we can help,” he says.

“Right now, many SME owners have no access to SGV or PWC,” he says, referring to top auditing firms.

Rivera says his long-term goal is to have qualified service providers nationwide who can provide services to SMEs in their respective areas. At present, he says, advisory services are limited to Metro Manila.

“We want to provide SME owners insights on how to sell a business or how to raise funds.

If we include micro-enterprises, MSMEs account for 99.6 percent of all businesses in the Philippines. There are nearly a million enterprises. But accounting firms TURN TO B2

SUNDAY: FEBRUARY 21, 2016

B2

By Gabrielle H. Binaday

ROBERTSON Chiang, a 40 year-old information technology expert, quit as the president of a leading Internet service provider in 2012 to bet on the future of an online payment gateway. Today, Dragonpay Corp., the company he established, handles more than 20,000 financial transactions a day.

Dragonpay provides innovative payment solutions to help merchants accept or disburse payments online. Customers can purchase goods or services online, and pay for it using cash or check at physical, brick-and-mortar payment counters, ATM’s, mobile wallets or through online bank debit.

It is also the only Platinum PayPal Partner based in the Philippines. Its investors include Japan’s biggest and leading online payment gateway, GMO Payment Gateway, through the Global Payment Gateway Fund managed by GMO Venture Partners Inc. Chiang obtained a degree in Computer Science and graduated with honors from Ateneo de Manila University in 1991. He briefly worked at Citibank Philippines as a systems analyst, before studying for an MBA degree at Babson Graduate School of Business in the US. Back in the Philippines in 1995, he formed and Internet service provider called Planet Internet Corp., which was absorbed by Mozcom Inc. in 1999. Chiang worked at Mozcom as the head of the technology, before becoming its president.

He eventually resigned in 2012 to work full-time on Dragonpay.

“Toward the latter part of 2000, the ISP business was slowly going to the telcos and we were looking for new business models to work on. One of those we looked at is online payment, so we started with the usual, credit card, Paypal and somewhere along the way, I saw the need for a payment gateway which is very specialized that caters to the local market, where there is a very low banking penetration, very low credit card penetration,” Chiang says.

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

HOW A FILIPINO COO BUILT A NEW PAYMENT SYSTEM

The volume is so much larger as compared to retail e-commerce at this point in time,” Chiang says.

Dragonpay is currently working with the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine Overseas and Employment Administration for the payment process in securing NBI clearance or overseas employment certificate.

Chiang says his company has already secured the nod of the Philippine Regulatory Commission and went live a few weeks ago. Dragonpay also indirectly serves the Securities and Exchange Commission as a subcontractor of Pilipinas Teleserv.

“We have been seeing a lot of ini-

he says.

The website is also developing a classifieds section, which would have a listing of all SMEs in the country, including those that are not selling their enterprises.

Rivera says once the website traffic picks up, he will build a larger team and establish an office in Nueva Ecija. “I need to prove first that we have many listings.

At this point, there is a lot of moving parts. If it makes sense to get started with a particular initiative, then we will pursue it,” he says.

EntrepZone.com, he says, is his first actual business outside the private equity firm. His family in Nueva Ecija has a meat shop that caters to restaurants.

Rivera, who still remains a bachelor and lives in Pasig City, says he once thought about opening a restaurant, but he is now more interested in EntrepZone.

com which can serve more people.

On weekends, he finds time to sketch, a craft that he inherited from his artistic family. His grandmother is the eldest daughter of Amorsolo. Among his relatives are painters, interior designers and actors, including Eula Valdes.

While passion fuels artistic masterpieces, Rivera believes that it is not enough in business.

“What I would tell budding entrepreneurs is to know yourself, be realistic and manage your expectations,” he says.

Innovation is important, he says. “Don’t do what others are doing or how they’re doing it.

Learn from others and help others along the way too, but do it your way. This is the key to innovation,” he says.

Rivera says while being op-

timistic is great, it should not amount to wishful thinking, or empty optimism. “Simply put, have something to be optimistic about - say by coming up with a brilliant idea, putting in the work, doing your research, or being prepared,” he says.

Rivera says like true great artists, entrepreneurs should look at the big picture. “Whenever you feel lost, take a step back and see the whole picture, keeping in mind the things you need to prioritize, why you’re doing this in the first place, and how best to go about it. Like painters who focus on certain parts of the canvas, they need to take a step back at times and see how the painting is shaping up. If they need to make changes, they zone in on the details, and then take another step back,” he says.

Roderick T. dela Cruz

Dragonpay Corp. COO Robertson Chiang

“That’s when the idea of Dragonpay started. Eventually, I left Mozcom and focused on Dragonpay. It started really as a family business, with my wife. So for the first four years, we were really entrepreneurs and were running it from our own pockets. Then in late 2014, we got an investment from a big Japanese company,” he says.

Chiang serves as the chief operating officer and chief technology officer of Dragonpay. He says Dragonpay found its mark by providing low transaction fees and better protection against fraud, encouraging consumers without credit cards to do online shopping.

Chiang says through Dragonpay,

AMORSOLO’S.. FROM B1 and investment banks cater only to large companies,” he says.

Rivera says EntrepZone.com is evolving to meet the needs of business owners. “We are going to roll out more features n in the coming weeks for SMEs,” he says.

“Right now, the service is free.

Later on, we are thinking of reasonable fees. We offer business listing. If there is a business you want to sell or if you are looking for investors, you can post your business for free. If you have a commercial property, or equipment that you want to sell or lease, you can list it here,” he says.

The website also has a pitchbook generator that can help SME owners produce a sales book that can be presented to banks for loans. “The pitchbook generator

consumers can pay online shopping bills even at the nearest convenience store. Customers can buy online from e-commerce merchants and fulfill the payment through noncredit card channels, he says.

It handles around 20,000 transactions a day from over a thousand partner merchants and facilitates payment transactions involving several government agencies, which dramatically increased their sales and transactions beginning late 2014.

“Unlike retail, government services are not susceptible to economic downturns. Unlike traditional retail e-commerce, government services are a need and not a want.

tiatives and interest actually from the government to go online as of late,” he says.

Chiang, however, still sees road blocks to further develop partnership with the government. “The problem is usually the tech infrastructure is not yet in place to support all these online applications.

Dragonpay has been working with various system developers to address this problem by offering our service at no cost to the government,” he says.

Chiang says the fact that electronic commerce penetration in the country remains low actually presents opportunities for growth.

“I would say it’s very, very low at this point in time, which in a way is something good. The opportunity is just so wide. It’s like the early days of the gold rush and I think it’s really the best time right now to establish your market and be the market leader. That’s what Dragonpay was hoping to become and has become,” he says.

“We entered the market very early and pretty much we have become the alternative payment industry.

We started the industry and we’re now the better known player focusing on non-credit card payments,” he says.

Chiang says the investment made

by GMO Venture Partners has solidified Dragonpay’s reputation as a payment gateway. “A tough thing to do in online payments is establishing a trusted name, because you are holding money for other people. I guess we have resolved the issue over the long number of years we have in the business,” he says.

“One of the reasons why we brought in a venture capital partner is to increase our trust factor. We are now backed by a publicly listed company. They’ve done their due diligence. We’re hoping that would carry over to the merchants,” he says.

Dragonpay will launch new services in the first quarter of 2016 and aims to double the number of transactions it handles to about 40,000 a day before the end of 2016, as more government agencies show interest in online payments.

“We are hoping to double our growth this year. We are very excited with several projects that we have in the pipeline. It is too early to talk at this point in time, but we’re hoping to double it. I don’t think I would be exaggerating to say that the probability of doubling growth is there. I think it’s true for everybody in this industry. We have grown significantly in the past year,” he says.

makes a user fill out an application form, similar to usual forms.

What would come out is a pitchbook that they have the option to send to our partner banks. That way, our partner banks will know who they are,” he says.

EntrepZone.com is also launching a business valuation calculator, so that SME owners can have an idea on what the value of their business is. “A lot of times, business owners are not aware of those things. SME owners generally do not know these things,” says Rivera.

He says EntrepZone.com will also serve as a business broker.

“In the US, they have business brokers. But here, we have no such profession. This is the practice that I would like to start here,”

SUNDAY: FEBRUARY 21, 2016

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

B3

THE RISE OF CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICERS A NEW position is emerging in the top corporate hierarchy and he or she will lead the company to the digital age.

Chief digital officers are now considered crucial roles in telecommunication companies, and it would not be long before other sectors also appoint similar positions in their management.

Abhay Kumar, the regional vice president for Asia Pacific of global software company Amdocs, believes that chief digital officers or CDOs will drive the growth of industries.

A CDO is a top executive who guides the company’s or organization’s digital transformation and oversees operations in the rapidly changing digital sectors such as as mobile applications, social media and electronic commerce.

“We believe in the importance of an emerging role called chief digital officer.

This person is going to lead the digital strategy for the [telecom] operators,” Kumar says in a news briefing at Discovery Primea in Makati City.

Kumar speaks on behalf of Amdocs, which provides software solutions and services for communications, entertainment and media service providers.

He cites the results of a global survey conducted for Amdocs by research firm IDC, showing that 90 percent of operators in Asia Pacific recognize the importance of having a chief digital officer to lead and drive transformation strategy.

The same survey, however, shows that only 29 percent of the telecom companies have appointed CDOs so far.

“They want it, but they don’t have it,” says Kumar, in explaining the companies piecemeal approach in their digital strategy.

Kumar says a CDO is somebody who understands what is needed to be taken and who drives the execution of the digital strategy. “It is a cross between the CEO [chief executive officer], the CMO [chief marketing officer] and the CIO [chief information officer]. It is somebody who looks at the technology dimension and is able to bridge that gap. It is a very critical function,” says Kumar.

“You have a very strong management person, and a very strong technology person, and they have to get together in one body, and that’s what works. Only 29 percent of operators believe that they have the person,” he says.

Kumar says the CDO’s main role is the digital transformation of telecom companies. The IDC survey shows that service providers in Asia Pacific believe they are not transforming fast enough to meet the demands of today’s digital era.

According to the survey, 47 percent of local C-level and other service provider decision makers predict that it will take their companies more than five years to transform. This is not fast enough according to 76 percent of respondents who believe that the communications industry will be outpaced by other industries.

Kumar says among the factors is the lack of holistic approach, as telco operators take piecemeal strategies. “When you want to offer digital transformation or digital experience to customers, you need to have the ability to look at all the systems that exist in the organization and provide a single, unified view,” he says.

Many operators in the Asia-Pacific region are still in legacy platforms, he says.

The Philippines is a little quicker to adopt digital transformation compared to other countries, as operators catch up with the demand of tech-savvy Filipino subscribers, who are actively engaged in social media, he says.

Kumar says in the Philippines, operators are in different stages of transformation. “I think they have taken piecemeal approach so far, but they are seriously looking, talk-

Amdocs regional vice president for Asia Pacific Abhay Kumar ing about digital right now. They are talking about the big play, so I think they have just started how to go about it, and how to go down that path, but they have not started on the embarkation yet,” he says.

“The advantage of the Philippines is that if you look over the years, the subscribers have become pretty advanced in terms of digital, the way they use smartphones, the way they use e-commerce. You and I as subscribers are going to demand more.

For me [if I were a CEO], I will say let us create a wrapper sooner than later, so that the subscribers will feel a little more comfortable with the service they are getting. I think the journey has started,” says Kumar.

He says it is important for operators to create a holistic digital strategy, look at the big picture and see how to change the whole market.

According to the IDC survey, 33 percent of service providers in Asia Pacific still do not have a digital strategy in place.

Around 85 percent of the industry is still executing digital transformation projects as stand-alone initiatives without alignment to a broader technology roadmap or business strategy.

Results also show that 67 percent of respondents in Asia Pacific believe that the communications industry has strong technology capabilities but will find it difficult to implement and bring to market digital

transformation projects quickly enough.

When asked what factor would most help their companies transform into digital service providers, having the right skills to create and implement digital transformation strategies were ranked first and second; the use of customer experience as a design principle for new products and services was the third most helpful factor. All of these were well ahead of having the necessary financial capital, which ranked sixth.

The study suggests that to deploy new digital capabilities and accelerate the pace of digital transformation, service providers are looking to share the challenge with partners.

In the next 12 months, 43 percent of respondents say they will invest in managed services as part of their transformation in order to enable solutions for new areas.

In general, IT services vendors are ranked as the most valuable partners for the execution of digital transformation projects, ahead of specialist digital consultants. Systems integrators ranked third together with third-party players specializing in standalone digital solutions. Strategy consultants ranked fourth together with managed services vendors and network equipment vendors ranked fifth.

“The majority of service providers today are actively working to deploy digital technologies to improve their businesses, but this

is happening without a unifying top-level vision and strategy. They are also telling us they are struggling to re-align processes and re-train staff at the same time, further delaying real business outcomes,” says Andy Hicks, research director for telecoms and networking at IDC. “They may be able to keep up with other service providers, but they don’t think they can keep up in the broader digital world unless they address gaps in digital strategy, skills and leadership. Our research suggests they will source professional services to bridge some of these gaps.”

Kumar says digital transformation is a critical enabler for capturing digital age opportunities and delivering a new world of customer experience.

“As digital transformation is made up of multiple projects and initiatives, it’s clear from this research that companies in Asia Pacific fear timelines are slipping, and that they have serious concerns as to whether they have enough strategic focus and digital skills to transform fast enough,” he says.

Kumar says Amdocs helps customers accelerate their journey to become digital service providers with a broad range of industry-specific offerings spanning services and tightly integrated software solutions, innovation with partner ecosystem including digital domain experts, and global business process best practices to simplify the complexity involved. Roderick T. dela Cruz

B4

world

vatIcaN: pope Not backINg bIrth coNtrol

Freedom. Libyan men wave their national flag during a demonstration marking the fifth anniversary of the Libyan revolution, which toppled

strongman Moamer Kadhafi, in the city of Benghazi, the 2011 uprising’s birthplace, some 1,000 kilometres east of Tripoli. Unlike the capital Tripoli, celebrations did not reach Benghazi, where war has raged for two years between the Libyan army and armed groups including Islamists. AFP

US BOMBS ISLAMIC STATE TRAInIng CAMp In LIBYA TRIPOLI—A US air strike on a jihadist training camp in Libya killed dozens of people Friday, probably including a senior Islamic State group operative behind attacks in Tunisia, officials said.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said Noureddine Chouchane, also known as “Sabir,” and other jihadists had been planning attacks against American and other Western interests.

“We took this action against Sabir in the training camp after determining that both he and the ISIL fighters at these facilities were planning external attacks on US and other Western interests in the region,” Cook said, without providing specifics.

“We see what’s happening in Iraq and Syria and we believe that these fighters in Libya posed a threat to our national security interests.”

It was the second US air raid in the

violence-wracked North African country targeting the fast-expanding jihadist group in the past three months.

The strike early Friday near the city of Sabratha “likely killed” IS operative Chouchane, a US official said earlier.

Britain’s defense ministry said the strike on the camp was carried out from a Royal Air Force base, RAF Lakenheath.

A jihadist safe house was destroyed in the dawn raid about 70 kilometres (42 miles) west of Tripoli, according to Hussein al-Dawadi, an official in Sabratha near the border with Tunisia.

“The latest toll shows that 49 people were killed,” including up to three women, he told AFP.

“There are also five wounded, some of them are in critical condition.”

“It looks like someone important was in the house, but we cannot confirm that for now,” Dawadi added.

US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that as IS came under pressure in Iraq and Syria it was seeking to establish itself elsewhere, and “Libya has been an area of concern for some time.”

“As we have opportunities we’re gonna carry out airstrikes against those ISIL elements that are operating in Libya,” he said.

‘Four big hits’ Tunisia’s interior ministry issued a picture of Chouchane Friday and a statement saying that he was a “dangerous terrorist” and a wanted man.

The Sabratha Municipal Council’s website said rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons were found in the house, which was rented by foreigners including Tunisians.

It posted pictures of mattresses and blankets among the rubble and a piece of metal bearing the inscription “Islamic State.”

An AFP photographer saw four large holes he said were probably caused by missiles.

“We heard four big hits at around 3 am that shook our houses,” resident Moussaab Kamouka said.

Chouchane is suspected of being behind an attack in July on a beach resort near the Tunisian city of Sousse that killed 38 tourists—including 30 Britons.

He is also accused of involvement in an attack on the National Bardo Museum in Tunis in March that killed 21 tourists and a policeman.

Both assaults were claimed by IS, which Washington is also targeting with air strikes in Syria and Iraq where the group has proclaimed an Islamic “caliphate” and committed widespread atrocities. AFP

THE Vatican on Friday moved swiftly to dampen claims Pope Francis had signaled a significant relaxation of the Catholic Church’s ban on contraception in response to an outbreak of the Zika virus in Latin America.

In an unusually extended explanation of Francis’s comment that contraception was “not an absolute evil,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the pontiff had been talking about the possibility of having recourse to birth control only in “emergency cases.”

“That does not mean that this recourse is accepted and can be used without discernment,” Lombardi told Vatican radio.

Media around the world hailed Francis’s comments, made on his return from Mexico on Thursday, as potentially signaling a new departure on an issue that has long divided Catholics.

“Francis says contraception can be used to slow Zika,” trumpeted the New York Times, while an online headline in Britain’s The Guardian said: “Pope suggests contraception can be condoned in Zika crisis.”

Vatican insiders said such interpretations were wide of the mark.

“You don’t change doctrine with off the cuff remarks,” said Monsignor Octavio Ruiz Arenas, a member of the Vatican department that guides Church teaching.

The Colombian archbishop emphasized that Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical outlawing the pill and other forms of artificial contraception remained the only Church statement that counts on the subject.

A pro-choice lobby within the Church also described Francis’s comments as signaling “little or no change.” AFP

trump leads IN south carolINa; clINtoN eyes Nevada comeback CHARLESTON, United States— White House aspirants face their third test Saturday when Republicans square off in South Carolina, where Donald Trump enjoys a commanding lead, and Democrats battle in Nevada as Hillary Clinton hopes for a comeback.

In South Carolina, Republicans will vote in a primary, while in Nevada, Democrats will caucus— grouping themselves together by candidate to voice their support.

Trump is banking on a big symbolic win ahead of “Super Tuesday”—March 1, when about a dozen states will go to the polls, with a quarter of the nominating delegates up for grabs.

“It’s crunch time, folks,” Trump,

69, told voters at a North Charleston rally, his final pitch before the South Carolina primary.

The real estate billionaire finished second to Texas Senator Ted Cruz in Iowa on February 1, but secured a commanding win in New Hampshire one week later.

Trump urged all of his supporters to troop to the polls.

“I don’t want your money,” said Trump, who is self-funding his campaign. “We want your vote.”

The onetime reality TV star who has upended the political landscape with his brash style and controversial comments has his eye on a particular date: March 15.

After that day, many of the Republican primaries will be winner-takes-

all in terms of delegates. If his five rivals are still in the race at that point, they will be splitting the anti-Trump vote—and increasing his chances of winning the nomination.

On the eve of the primary, Trump led with about 28 percent of likely Republicans voters backing him, according to an NBC-Wall Street Journal poll.

The ultra-conservative Cruz followed with 23 percent. Trailing were Senator Marco Rubio at 15 percent and former Florida governor Jeb Bush at 13 percent.

Rubio and Bush are under intense pressure to fare well Saturday, as is Ohio Governor John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, whose campaign has struggled to gain ground. AFP

No bAckiNg dowN. Pope Francis greets people at Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in Rome after his trip to Zika-infected Mexico, as Vatican officials quelled rumors that the Church relaxed its teaching on contraception. AFP

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B5

WORLD editorial@thestandard.com.ph

China bans foreign online publiCation BEIJING—China is to ban foreign firms from “online publishing” under new rules issued this week, as the country increasingly seeks to minimize Western influence.

Chinese websites are already among the world’s most censored, with Beijing blocking many foreign Internet services with a system known as the “Great Firewall of China.”

Regulations posted on a government website, set to go into force next month, state that foreign firms “are not to engage in online publishing.”

The regulations define online publishing as the provision over the Internet of books, maps, music, cartoons, computer games and “thoughtful text,” as well as other content.

It was unclear how the ban would be enforced or whether it would be

applied to websites hosted on China-based servers or sites aimed at users in China.

The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT), which issued a draft of the rules, could not immediately be contacted by AFP. The regulations say any Chinese publishers cooperating with foreign firms to provide online content would need prior approval from the body.

Chinese publishing expert Xu Yi told AFP that the implications of the rules were unclear.

“I think these regulations provide

a legal basis for the government to manage foreign companies setting up websites in China,” he said.

“I don’t think this means that websites opened by foreigners in China will be forced to close...it all depends on the Chinese government’s intentions.”

Writing on the website Tech In Asia, veteran China watcher Charles Custer said the rules were an attempt by SAPPRFT to play a bigger role in content management, previously seen as the domain of other government agencies.

“SAPPRFT has traditionally been a regulator of offline publications, but it has increasingly been flexing its online muscles over the past decade, and occasionally clashing with other censorship organs,” he said.

“In practice, the new regulation isn’t likely to change much beyond adding another hurdle would-be publishers have to jump through,” he added.

The regulations come at a time of heightened political restrictions in China.

Authorities have proposed a new law to control the activities of foreign non-governmental organizations, while state media have warned of “hostile foreign forces” said to be using them to foment revolution.

In recent years, censors in Beijing have moved to ban certain TV shows and movies from abroad from being shown online and authorities have decried “Western” influence on the country’s educational system. AFP

Lovestruck. Couples celebrate during a mass wedding held by the Unification Church at Cheongshim Peace World Center in Gapyeong, east of Seoul, on Feb. 20, 2016. Hundreds of couples were married at the South Korean headquarters of the Unification Church. The Unification Church, set up by Sun Myung Moon in Seoul in 1954, is one of the world’s most controversial religious organisations, and its devotees are often dubbed ‘Moonies’ after the founder. AFP

us airs concern on ethnic violence YAnGon—The US embassy in Yangon said it was “deeply concerned” over clashes involving ethnic armed groups and the military in northern Myanmar that have displaced thousands of people, warning that the violence threatened to unravel the country’s delicate peace process. heavy bouts of fighting broke out last week in Shan state between two ethnic rebel groups in the region, the Restoration Council for Shan State (RCSS) and the Ta’ang national Liberation Army (TnLA).

The flare-up of violence comes during a complicated political transition from an army-backed government to Aung San Suu Kyi’s prodemocracy party, which dominated historic polls last year.

“The US embassy is deeply concerned about ongoing clashes in Shan State involving the Ta’ang national Liberation Army (TnLA), the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), and the military,” the embassy said in a statement published Friday evening.

“We urge all sides to exercise restraint and recommit to dialogue so that the peace process may remain on track, and those displaced can return to their homes and resume their lives,” it said.

Since the beginning of the month at least 4,300 people have fled their homes seeking refuge from the violence, according to estimates from the United nations’ country office for the Coordination of humanitarian Affairs.

The conflict has exploded in townships in the north of Shan state —a region home to the Palaung ethnic group, whose interests the TnLA says it represents.

The RCSS has previously been based further south.

The TnLA has accused the Myanmar army of assisting the RCSS, which is one of eight groups that participated in government-led peace talks seeking to end decades of civil warfare between the state and the country’s patchwork of ethnic minorities. AFP

nokor rattles sokor anew SeoUL—north Korea fired a few artillery rounds during an apparent military drill near a frontline island on Saturday, a military spokesman from the South said, as tensions run high following nuclear and missile tests by Pyongyang.

The incident also comes days after the South said it would conduct its largest-ever annual joint military exercises with the United States next month, which usually causes a spike in cross-border friction.

“The north Korean army fired a few artillery rounds” at around 07:20 am (2220 GMT Friday) from an artillery battery at Jangsangot promontory on its southern coast near the disputed sea border between the

two Koreas, a defence ministry statement said. “north Korea is believed to have conducted a military drill” north of the sea border, it said.

As a precautionary measure, however, the South urged residents on Baengnyeongdo island to prepare to go into shelters and fishing vessels at sea to return to nearby ports, it said.

Currently, the north Korean army shows no signs of engaging in any further provocative activities, it added.

In 2010, the north shelled Yeonpyeong island near Baengnyeongdo, killing four people, in response to a livefire drill conducted by the South near the disputed sea border. AFP

kAwAii. Some 1,830 ‘cute’ Japanese ornamental dolls, known as hina dolls are displayed on a

7-metre high pyramid-shaped tiered stand at a shopping mall in front of Konosu Station at Konosu, Saitama prefecture. The dolls, donated from across the country are on display to promote the city known as a town of the dolls until March 6. AFP

B6

S U N D AY : F E B R U A R Y 2 1 , 2 0 1 6

SPORTS

REUEL VIDAL EDITOR

sports@thestandard.com.ph

MERALCO BOLTS SHOCK LEAGUE WITH POWERFUL START

Meralco Bolts swingman Jared Dillinger (20) sticks out his tongue while attempting a jumpshot over the blocking hands of Talk N Text Tropang Texters defender Matt Rosser (22).

By Homer Vidal

THE Meralco Bolts have shocked the Philippine Basketball Association with their powerful start this 2016 Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup. Proving how almost evenly-matched the teams in the Philippine Basketball Association are, the Bolts (3 wins, 0 loss) have jumped to the top of the standings just by adding one player in import Arinze Onuaku.

The Phoenix Petroleum Fuel Masters (1-0) trail the Bolts. The other teams include the Blackwater Elite (2-1), the GlobalPort Batang Pier (2-1), the Rain Or Shine Elasto Painters (1-1), the NLEX Road Warriors (1-1) and the Mahindra

Enforcers (1-1).

The rest of the teams include the Mahindra Enforcers (1-1), the Talk N Text Tropang Texters (1-2), the Alaska Aces (0-1), the Star Hotshots (0-2) and the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel (0-2). The San Miguel Beermen have not yet played a game.

The Meralco Bolts equalled their first conference win total right in their first game with a victory over the Star Hotshots who ironically were the only team they beat last conference.

The Bolts, which finished

Meralco Bolts import Arinze Onuaku (left) muscles his way past Rain Or Shine Elasto Painters defender Jewel Ponferada.

at the bottom last conference, leaned on last-minute replacement import Onuaku to propel them to victory.

Onuaku arrived less than 48 hours before the game.

Somehow he still scored 25 points, grabbed 22 rebounds and had three assists.

The big difference for Meralco was the contribution of

the local players. Rookie Chris Newsome finished with 16 points, including 11 in the fourth period. Cliff Hodge tallied 12 markers and grabbed seven rebounds.

“I give credit to my local players who worked hard in the offseason to erase what happened last conference.

Everybody was focused on

trying to get a good start this conference,” said Meralco Bolts coach Norman Black.

The Bolts showed their early victories were no flukes when they beat last year’s Commissioner’s Cup finalists Rain Or Shine Elasto Painters, 98-95, to grab the solo lead.

The win needed some doing though. The Bolts saw an early

26-point advantage evaporate but leaned on Onuaku at crunch time to bail them out of trouble. Onuaku had 31 points and 27 boards as the Bolts extended their unbeaten run.

Meralco had to scramble against a tough Elasto Painters squad who missed import Wayne Chism most of the second half.

“To be quite honest, after coming off a one-ten (winloss) conference, I’ll take any victory I can get. A win is a win,” said Black.

The Bolts handed the Elasto Painters their first loss after starting the conference with a win over Star.

Four days before the start of the conference the Bolts had to replace original import Malcolm Thomas, who suffered a knee injury.

Fortnately, Onuaku was available. He was obviously not at his physical best. But he had enough to lead the Bolts to victory.

“He showed leadership for us, covered a lot of our weaknesses as far as rebounding and interior defense, and he made the big shot down the stretch to win the game,” said Black.

The best trait exhibited by Onuaku was his adaptability.

He had no idea what the offensive and defensive sets of the Bolts. Somehow, with a lot of help from his teammates, he was able to muddle through.

The Bolts feared another trip to the bottom of the standings after the horrendous bad luck of having their import injured. It is proving to be a blessing in disguise as replacement import Onuaku has helped the Bolts to the top of the standings to the shock of the rest of the league.

JRNBA GOES ON SOUTHERN SWING TO BATANGAS

LYCEUM International Maritime Academy in Batangas City was the site of the Feb. 13 school clinic of JrNBA/JrWNBA Presented by Alaska in Southern Luzon.

The school—more known for its flagship courses including Nursing, Medical Technology, Marine Engineering, and Customs Administration as well as its autonomous status from the Commission on Higher Education—graciously lent the use of its huge auditorium for a good cause as hundreds of basketball loving children came to participate.

Children from Southern Luzon picked up new basketball skills and had fun with skills challenges.

Before the Open Clinic in Batangas the JrNBA/JrWNBA Philippines Presented by Alaska went to Our Lady of Perpetual Succor, Marikina, Feb. 9 to share valuable lessons and to bring some basketball fun.

The JrNBA/JrWNBA Cluster Clinic at Cavite School of St. Mark was host to 185 boys and 93 girls in the afternoon session of Feb. 9 as well.

Among the coaches who led the drills was veteran coach John Ramirez. Other coaches

from the Alaska Basketball Power Camp as they taught young basketball hopefuls basic basketball skills.

The more important lessons taught by the coaches were STAR values namely: Sportsmanship, Teamwork, Positive Attitude and Respect. Skills training were taught in preparation for the Regional Selection Camp at the Benguet State University in Baguio on Feb. 20 and 21.

Through the proper nutrition and an active lifestyle, JrNBA and JrWNBA presented by Alaska continues to be an effective platform in implementing Alaska Milk’s NUTRITION. ACTION. CHAMPION program that helps address the issue of overweight and undernourished children in the Philippines.

The program is a collaboration between Alaska Milk and the National Basketball Association. It aims to teach basketball

Hundreds of boys and girls basketball players fill up the huge auditorium of the Lyceum International Maritime Academy in Batangas City during the Feb. 13 school clinic of JrNBA/JrWNBA Presented by Alaska in Southern Luzon.

A young boy enthusiastically dribbles the basketball proving that it’s never too early to start training children to play basketball.

nationwide and provide opportunities for those who want to pursue the sport as a vocation.

The program consists of four stages: skills clinics in schools and communities, Regional Selection Camps, a National Training Camp and an NBA experience trip.

Next up for the program are Regional Selection Camps in Baguio, Davao, Cebu and Metro Manila. The top 50 boys and 24 girls from the Regional Selection Camps will advance

to the National Training Camp in Manila April 22-24.

Ten JrNBA and five JrWNBA All-Stars will be named along with a coach for each squad. They will enjoy an overseas NBA experience trip together with fellow JrNBA AllStars from Southeast Asia. The 2015 JrNBA All-Stars traveled to China to watch the NBA Global Games in Shenzhen featuring the Charlotte Hornets and the L.A. Clippers.

Aspiring athletes may join

Alaska’s sports programs. For general information about JrNBA and JrWNBA Philippines please visit www.playph.com; follow on twitter @PlayPH for more updates. Share your JrNBA and JrWNBA experience through the #JrNBAPH #JrWNBAPH. To register for the Open Clinics, visit http://jrnba.asia/ philippines/ and click on Open Clinic Registration to join.

Registration and participation are free. Homer Vidal

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SPORTS

ARMAN ARMERO EDITOR

sports@thestandard.com.ph

B7

URCC-MMA organizer and WAP head Alvin Aguilar (center) poses with the fighters (from left)” Carlo ‘Samurai’ Laurel, Caloy ‘Badboy’ Galuria, Richie ‘The Cannibal’ Redman, Hideo’Death from Tokyo’ Morikawa, Raydon ‘Red’ Romero, Cris Hoffman, Drey, T-Rex, Zamboanga, CJ Golden Boy de Tomas and Le Mon ‘Prodigy’ Dultra during the the ‘Rebellion’ press conference held at the Resort World, Pasay City recently. MS

A NIGHT OF ‘REBELLION’ MANNY’S IN SHAPE AT THE MARRIOT HOTEL —ROACH

By Eddie Alinea

By Danny Simon

SOME of the world’s most feared mixed martial arts warriors will set the Marriot on fire in a one-night only engagement sure to satisfy sports fans’ passion for pure action.

Highlighting the event is the match pitting United Reality Combat Championship featherweight champion and Filipino pride Red Romero against dangerous challenger Do Gyum-lee of South Korea in the URCC 27

billed as ‘Rebellion’ to be staged at the Grand Ballroom of the posh Marriot Hotel in Pasay City.

The Romero-Do battle is actually one of four title fights and six supporting bouts of the MMA Festival organized by URCC chief Alvin Aguilar.

“The big difference in this year’s presentation is the level of competitions among our best fighters .When MMA started, a lot of participants are weekend warriors .Now we have fighters who are dedicated with patriotism in their career and in the combat zone,” said Aguilar who is also the president of the Wrestling Federation of the Philip-

pines (WFP) and a highly-regarded mentor of jujitsu.

Another Filipino fighter, CJ de Torres, takes on Hideo Morikawa of Japan as they dispute the URCC flyweight crown.

The lightweight title, on the other hand, is at stake in the Will Chope (USA) -Richie Redman (Legacy Gym Boracay) encounter, even as veteran Caloy Badwill of Elorde MMA will stage his comeback fight against Chris Hoffman of Switzerland in a battle of fierce strikers.

“The matches are going to be exciting and interesting because all the protagonists are grizzled veterans and bat-

tle-tested. We presented this fight extravaganza to promote the sport of URCC.For sure ,their skills are a notch higher than what you’ve seen before,” added Aguilar He added that the ‘Rebellion’’event also sends a clear and strong message to those who want to discredit the MMA in the Philippines.

Other supporting bouts featuring Pinoy fighters are those pitting Eddie Estrada against Fritz Biagtas, Andrew Benibe against Drex Zamboanga, Carlo Laurel opposite Alvin Ramirez, Jericho Tomagat against Jet Hermida and Solomon Dultra taking on Jojo Tabang.

SIGMA-26 PRESENTS MUAY THAI, BOXING DUELS AT ELORDE TEN Muay Thai fights, an special amateur boxing bout and other supporting fights will take center stage during the anniversary presentation of S-26 SIGMA (Scientific Integrated Group of Martial Arts) men’s championship at the Function Hall of the Elorde Sports Complex in Sucat, Paranaque on March 26,2016.

SIGMA founding president Master Jaime Ignes said that everything is set for the staging of the group’s initial and biggest muay event this year that will highlight the participation of the top muay thai artists in the country.

“This is SIGMA’S way of propagating the sport of muay thai in the Philippines particularly for the young martial arts enthusiasts from Cotabato in Mindanao down to Capiz and Iloilo, Metro Manila and a goldmine of talents from the Mt. Province” said Ignes who also acknowledged the all-out support of Cavite Rep. Lani Mercado Revilla,Vice Governor Jolo Revilla, Bacoor Mayor Strike Revilla and Senator Ramon’Bong Revilla, Jr., who serves as an adviser for SIGMA. Ignes also expressed his gratitude to Johnny Elorde and wife Liza for providing

the venue for the fights.

Kru Eduardo Espino, the event’s marketing head, said the final match-up of the event that will also highlight the presence of celebrity muay thai enthusiasts will be announced early next week after participating clubs under the SIGMA umbrella formally submit their entries.

For tickets and other details, interested participants may contact Kru John Derrick Ignes (09051189068) and Master Jaime Ignes (09193993437) or may visit SIGMA Center Gym located in South Signal Village, Taguig City. DANNY SIMON

GENERAL SANTOS CITY— Manny Pacquiao’s chief trainer Freddie Roach could now rest easy.

Roach, who flew to this city to prep up Manny Pacquiao for his welterweight fight against WBO champion Timothy Bradley, was surprised to see his prized boxer in great shape.

“Manny’s in great shape when I got here and I thought I can push him a little bit the moment we started preparations in earnest,” Roach said.

Roach was referring to the energy-sapping six-round mittpunching session with Pacquiao upon his arrival here last Monday followed by a more rigorous 10-round skirmish Tuesday.

The five-time trainer of the year had earlier planned to do away with the mitts Wednesday and to just confine the day for lighter rounds with the heavy bag, double end and speed ball, precisely to allow the eightdivision titlist’s tired body a respite.

“He called me this morning (Wednesday) begging me to cancel the whole day training activities. I consented because, for one, as I said, there’s nothing much more to do as far as his physical state is concerned, and second, it’s still too early in preparations,” he pointed out.

“He confessed having to play basketball in a tournament in the evening and I thought giving him that won’t hurt much since we still have seven weeks left building up,” he said.

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REiRA mAllARi EDITOR sports@thestandard.com.ph

sports

HUBERT MINN

GoinG for a unanimous decision

By Randy Caluag

BOXERS, especially the challengers, are always told “not to leave the fight at the hands of the judges.”

It means to go for a knockout, or kiss that win goodbye.

Why is there such a verdict as a split decision in boxing, where judges write down contrasting scores?

Or why is it that judges sometimes score the bout completely opposite the more popular views of the general audience, which had witnessed the same fight?

Major boxing organizations continuously find ways to improve scoring and judging in the sport that is arguably the richest in terms of terms of prize money awarded to an individual athlete.

The World Boxing Council is embarking on a new scoring system that is seen to make an impact in creating a more credible judging process in the sport.

At the forefront of this system is Honolulu-based Hubert Minn, chairman of the World Boxing Council ring officials.

“When I see a bout that reflects scores like 117-111 for (fighter) A, 116-112 for A and 116-112 for B, this is an example where obviously, the officials evaluating the action view the fight in a completely opposite manner and that doesn’t necessar-

ily mean the majority of judges are correct,” observed Minn, an educator and businessman outside of the sport.

Inside it, Minn sat as a judge in more than 50 world title fights and has worked closely with veteran New Zealand referee Bruce Mctavish, now based in Angeles City, Pampanga.

Boxing is the sport close to Minn’s heart as his father, Herbert was also an IBF and WBC referee, judge, trainer, coach manager and promoter, and a Hall of Fame awardee at the University of Hawaii.

The father-and-son tandem promoted at least 10 big fights in Hawaii, hand in hand with the late Filipino promoter Lope “Papa” Sarreal.

Minn was also privileged to witness in person the famous “Thrilla in Manila” fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.

A frequent visitor to the Philippines, Minn will again be in the country as a resource speaker during the Orient Pacific Boxing Federation Convention’s referee-judge seminars for ring officials in March in Bacolod City.

The Standard Sports recently

The 3D Theory, espoused by Hubert Minn, will be implemented by the WBC in judging boxing matches. PHOTO BY POWCAST

Hubert Minn watches—and judges—a boxing match.

talked with Minn and zeroed in on his thoughts about the 3D Theory in judging a boxing bout.

The Standard: How come is a boxing fight is scored differently by judges?

Minn: Because these type of scores in boxing does nothing to help the credibility of the officials. Is it the difficulty of the styles – boxer versus puncher? Or is there some bias with officials or is it the scoring criteria itself that has created much of the variations that need to be examined.

TS: What is Hubert Minn’s 3D Theory in judging a boxing fight?

M: In the world of Quality Management Principles, the term quality factor aligned with an operation definition is usually mandatory for quality standards to succeed. As an example, let’s use the word clean as a quality factor. Now, we need to define the operational definition of clean as your “clean” is different from mine and others.

What I’m alluding to is if you look and review the scoring criteria for the sport of boxing, the definitions are not all the same for all the sanctioning bodies. So, how can we get the consistency in scoring unless the operation definitions are all consistent, clearer, less ambiguous, and easier to understand, thus improving your ability to score a round properly?

TS: Who helped you developed this idea?

M: Along comes Mr. Barry Linderman from North Carolina, USA. With his ideas that uses specific words that reflect the scoring criteria in an easier to understand manner and this was exactly the “software” that was necessary to use in my “hardware,” thus we collaborated and discussed and worked on this for over a year before it became a reality.

TS: The 3D system was recently recognized as the official scoring system by the WBC? How do you feel about this?

M: We carefully rolled out a short version at the 2014 WBC Convention officials seminar in Las Vegas with many Hall of Fame officials attending.

The reaction was great as we had many officials indicate that this was good stuff and they would like to have more information shared with them.

I did more trials with this in the USA, Philippines and China and it seemed to be very popular in helping evaluate the scoring criteria in an easier and understandable manner so we rolled it out its entirety at the 2015 WBC Convention in Kunming, China in November, and with the (WBC) president and the board of governors present, it was very well received by everyone.

As for the WBC recognizing it as its official scoring system, the WBC has always been recognized as one of the top organizations in attempting to constantly improve boxing in various areas.

But I would caution you that this is not a finished product as we constantly and continuously work on improving the product.

TS: Do you think this new system will really work with less variation now in scoring boxing matches?

M: The only way to find out is use it and see the date results over a period of time versus others that don’t.

In the end, it’s the hand that moves the pen, it’s the archer not the bow, it starts from the shaft up.

In other words, the quality and the commitment from the officials himself is what will deter variation, no matter what tool you offer, it’s always going to be the official who’s

the most important factor.

TS: What do you think are the most important features of this system that will really revolutionize boxing’s scoring system?

M: I won’t take much time to go into details regarding the theory other than we simply aligned criteria with new words and definition.

Example is the tradition definition of clean punching defined as “the number of direct, clean punches delivered with the knuckle part of the closed glove on any part of the scoring zone of the opponent’s body above the belt line.” This definition focuses more on “mechanics.”

My proposal for a more detailed definition of “clean punching ” focuses on “Effective Punching.”

The 3D theory is landing punches to the scoring area of your opponent with power, number and accuracy so as to cause DAMAGE, DOMINANCE and DISRUPTION to your opponent.

But also realize that boxing has been and still is one of the traditional sports in the world and it takes a lot of changed rules, etc. But in other sport, if you notice, they are constantly changing things in order to improve and provide more appeal—like the three-point shot in basketball.

We need to consider doing the same and if a new concept will help an official to score the bout properly and more effectively. Why not, especially when this is, I believe, the most difficult sports in the world to judge.

TS:What are the traits or skills set one needs to become an effective boxing judge?

M: Integrity, intelligence, commitment, courage and one thick skin as you better be able to take criticism from everyone.

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TATUM ANCHETA EDITOR

BING PAREL

A S S O C I AT E E D I T O R

BERNADETTE LUNAS

life @ thestandard.com .ph

WRITER

@LIFEatStandard

S U NDAY L IF E

LIFE

LIfeScience office in BGC

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT CAROTID ARTERY

BY TATUM ANCHETA

L

ast year, I went to LifeScience Center for Health and Wellness to check on Food Intolerance Testing since I have been hearing about this from my friends, and my social media feed has been teeming with testimonies on what food they are not allowed to eat or should avoid, etcetera.

“Oh, I can’t eat that, it’s not gluten-free!” “Last week all I ate was tapsilog and it was okay because I’m tolerant to those food.” “Guess what I can’t have anymore – I’m intolerant to MALT!” These are the common things I hear from my friends who have tried FIT. And the last bit of comment alarmed me as I would freak out if I ever find out I’m intolerant to malt, because that means “no more SCOTCH!” Ugh. The thought! I’m already parched!

I have been a pescetarian for almost eight years now, and I always try as much as possible to make my own food at home so I know exactly what it is I put in my mouth. My family would often laugh at my grocery and they already marked the items as “Ate’s food” which to them also equates to “weird food.” It’s just a bunch of leafy greens, cardboard-tastingnon-me at-ing re dients, different colored grains and seeds. I got curious with FIT because I wanted to know

what is good and what to avoid, and for me to stop second-guessing what to eat.

I sat in LifeScience’s clinic last year, finishing an 18-part assessment questionnaire, providing my entire medical history, birth history, family history (that means your entire family’s history down to your aunts and uncles who ever had diabetes, and Alzheimer’s, even depression), social history, and whatever I ate for the past three days. The last part of what felt like a test paper in college was a Toxicity and Symptom screening questionnaire, and my results were over the top! Over the top toxic, that is. An optimal result would be 10 and over 100 means severe toxicity. My result was 119. Yes, I felt like my exes answered the test. “See, you’re toxic!” Sheesh. What’s worse is my Tanita BMI (Body Mass Index) says I’m a skinny obese! I didn’t even know there is such a thing.

Dr. Oyie Balburias, the senior medical consultant at LifeScience, spoke to me for more than an hour to explain the results of that questionnaire. Based on my profile, he answered why for the past couple of years, I never had the same energy I used to have and why I am always lethargic, stressed, irritated, bloated and why my acid reflux acts up all the time.

“So will I get an FIT test?”

I asked. “Why do you need one?” he replied. I got a little confused. I thought that’s what I came to the center for. Food Intolerance Test identifies a person’s allergies or sensitivity to food. But it doesn’t mean that once you take it, the food that you eat for the rest of your

LifeScience offers supplements that you can order by the bottle...

Dr. Oyie Balburias, Senior Medical Consultant at LifeScience

...or you may order a day and night supply tailored for your nutrient needs

Getting my blood samples extracted

life should be based on the FIT. The results only show your intolerance to certain food for the last six months of your intake, plus how your body reacts to certain environmental factors that can be attributable to the results. That means you have to keep taking a certain food every six months to determine if you are still sensitive to that food or not.

And so the path of enlightenment began.

LifeScience is a wellness center that practices functional medicine and creates customized health management for patients. The facility utilizes laboratory tests to determine a person’s need for an optimal

health solution. According to Mitch Genato, LifeScience’ business development consultant, technically the center tries to understand what the person needs before suggesting a particular program or treatment.

“Is there a reason for the person to take the test in the first place? Or are you just curious?” he asks, “because if you want to feel healthy we have to identify and look at the results.”

And with regard to the laboratory tests, he says, “If a person is a website, and we have a site map, it is easier for us to understand if all of these things are in the right place,” he says.

Continued on C3

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LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

Captain Nikolas Christodoulakis and hotel director Srdjan Cetkovic

‘X’ marks the spot. The 294-m Celebrity Millennium is like a floating hotel with luxurious facilities and amenities that offer a wide array of dining, shopping and entertainment options

A FLOATING HOTEL NAMED CELEBRITY MILLENNIUM TEXT AND PHOTOS BY BING PAREL

F

or some people, the thought of being cooped up in a ship with nothing to see but the vast cerulean waters is perhaps something that is not appealing. Unless of course one is onboard the Celebrity Millennium, a luxury cruise liner whose facilities make one think of a grand floating hotel.

We were fortunate to be among the few invited by Royal Caribbean Cruises to take a tour of the Celebrity Millennium when it briefly called at the Port of Manila last January 26.

“Mabuhay, and welcome to the Celebrity Millennium. Magandang bansa ang Pilipinas,” greets its new captain Nikolas Christodoulakis, much to the laughter of our group.

A native of Crete, Captain Nikolas says he has been with Royal Caribbean for 23 years, and has come across thousands of Filipinos who work with the company as well. At the time, there were about

284 Filipinos in the 952-member crew of the ship, taking care of the 2,200 guests on board.

As many as 2,500 guests can be accommodated by the Millennium (considered a mid-range ship since Royal Caribbean also has other classes like the Solstice class that can accommodate 3,500 passengers and more), says hotel director Srdjan Cetkovic, a Serbian whose career with Celebrity Cruises started some 10 years ago.

One of the reasons why Royal Caribbean has become a byword in the industry is the fact that it always tries to innovate and modernize to enhance the experience of the passengers, Srdjan adds.

For instance, the wide range of cuisines offered from the various restaurants located in the different decks of the 294-m French built cruise liner, among them the suite class Luminae that offers modern and eclectic cuisine with a different menu every day, and

Celebrity’s Fortunes Casino offers gaming options from slot machines to high stakes at high seas

the “uniquely unordinary” QSine whose upside down decors can make for a good ice breaker. Even the casual dining area offers a bevy of options that suits varying tastes and preferences. But if you just want coffee and waffles, head to Café Al Bacio & Gelateria for a delightful cup of Lavazza and some freshly baked desserts.

It was also interesting to see passengers lounging on the deck by the Thalassotherapy pool area with “sea water” that has beneficial effects on the skin. What followed was a whirlwind tour of the boutiques and shops, with brands like Bulgari, Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, Clinic, Tag Heuer, Longines, Armani, Versace, Le Vian® Chocolate Diamonds and many others.

Then there’s the Celebrity iLounge which we were told is the first authorized Apple store specialist at sea – with MacBook Pros, iPhones, iPads and other

Broadway-themed shows and groundbreaking productions that blend dance, comedy, musical theater and concert-style performances are staged at the Celebrity Theater

Apple products available for purchase. Best of all, they are tax free and duty free. And if there are smart gadgets on board, it follows that there is WiFi – with the cruise liner offering various data packages so that you can still stay connected even when you are literally in the middle of the sea.

When we came across the Canyon Ranch SpaClub, I suddenly felt like sprawling on the floor so someone could carry me inside and give me a taste of the rejuvenating treatments on offer.

The more active among our group however were curious to try out the equipment in the gym which unfortunately was not open during our tour.

We laughed at seeing the karaoke lounge where guests can perform – and we can just imagine the Filipino passengers (there were 300 of them all based overseas at the time) singing to their hearts’ desire. But

Duty-free and tax-free shopping is a perk that passengers can enjoy onboard the luxury cruise liner

entertainment is not confined to the lounge as the ship also has a theater where Broadway plays are staged. We were informed that down the line, Royal Caribbean will put up its own theater group to mount plays onboard its various luxury liners.

We also peeked inside the Casino (“It’s closed when we are docked,” our gracious guide said) and stopped by the Crush martini bar whose ice-topped display area caught our attention. Then it was off to Cellar Masters, with its Enomatic machine that allows guests to sample different types of wine and select which one suits their taste buds and preference.

All too soon, the tour was coming to an end – with everyone in agreement that a day indeed is not enough to enjoy the luxurious facilities and amenities of Celebrity Millennium – a firstin-class cruise liner that bears the iconic “X” to connote the mark of modern luxury that it has become known for in the industry. But while the excellent facilities and amenities on board can rival some of the best offered by top hotels, what differentiates Celebrity Millennium – and all other cruise liners by Royal Caribbean Cruises – are its crew, majority of whom are Filipino, who give their best effort to make guests feel at home even when they are practically in the middle of the sea.

For cruise destinations, schedules and other information, visit www.celebritycruises.com.

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LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

CAROTID ARTERY From C1

Dr. Oyie asked me when was the last time I felt great, meaning energetic, not binge eating, not feeling sad or irritable, and I was surprised that my answer was actually at least five years ago.

“Functional medicine is not a specialty in medicine, like cardiology. It’s not also a treatment; it’s actually just an approach to a client, that’s why being an approach I can use a lot of modalities,” he explains. “I can use naturopathic treatment, hyperbaric treatment, or conventional medications, because I evaluated you completely as a whole system, not simply based on a particular organ, or I evaluate you only because of a particular symptom. I look at all the symptoms that you have and try to connect the dots,” he adds.

“It’s an integrated system based approach to client, which the main goal is restoration of the system.”

He explained to me that based on all the symptoms that I put on my questionnaire, my lack of energy, my gastrointestinal problems – these are all due to an imbalance in my system. “In your case, I need to add ways in order to restore the balance of your gut,” he explains, “I need to help your body remove the toxic load coming from your pescetarian diet, and your heavy intake of alcohol the past year.” Gulp.

“For doctors with expertise (like cardiology), their main goal is to come up with a diagnosis for a particular disease that could possibly explain the symptoms of a person, or the symptoms that bothers a person,” he explains.

“With regards to managing diseases, it is an excellent approach, but when it comes to managing our health – our body is not only made up of organs, those organs are actually run by a system. We have seven systems that run our body: assimilation, defense and repair, energy, transport, structural integrity, and communication.”

He then used a car as an analogy on how the human system works.

“Parang kotse, umaandar sya kasi

S

The five vials for nutrient test

It is important to know specific vitamins and minerals that your body needs as well as the proper dosage. It is advisable to consult your physician for the safest doses to avoid vitamin and mineral toxicity and potential medical complications

LifeScience extraction room

The Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment (HBOT) room. The treatment supplies your body with 100 percent oxygen in a pressurized chamber

merong sistemang nagpapatakbo – gas, tubig, langis, battery, para umandar. Pag kulang the car will run but not as efficiently as you want it and later on it will break down,” he says. Apparently, in my case, I have a problem with my assimilation. Assimilation is the process affected by everything that we put in our body – what we eat, the air we breathe, even to anything we apply on our skin that gets absorbed by the body is part of this system.

“Everything that you’ve done for the past 34 years of your life hindi yan nagtatapos when you say nangyari yon 10 years ago, kalimutan na yon. All of that have affected the balance in your system,” he explains.

He says that our body requires vitamins, minerals, macro and micronutrients, hormones, antioxidants, and enzymes for the system to function. An imbalanced system is caused by lack of sleep,

exercise, malnutrition, micro organisms, pollutants, and you can even add stress, and relationships.

So even if I eat healthy food, my body doesn’t absorb it because my body is not functioning well.

He says my being a pescetarian is not the problem, it is the fish that I eat that is causing the imbalance.

The way the fish are harvested and fed affects their quality. He presumed that because of this I am probably high in mercury. Usually, mercury can be easily removed by our detoxifying organ which is the liver and the kidneys, but since I have been a pescetarian for a long time and I have been consuming these fish, my body is working twice as hard to detoxify and my alcohol consumption doesn’t help the process but aggravates it instead. I lack energy because everything is used up trying to detoxify in my liver, hence this causes the binging. I eat because my body tells me I need to, the

problem is, even if I keep eating, my body doesn’t convert what I eat into proper energy. Hmmm… what a very stressful system it is.

He recommended I get a comprehensive nutrient and metabolic test to identify the nutrient imbalances in my body and what are being metabolized.

Then he put me on a detox plan for 30 days, which means NO alcohol, no shellfish, no cheese, no butter, no gluten, and so much good stuff down on the red demarcation line. The results of the nutrient test shows that because I eat a lot of fish, I don’t need to drink any Omega 3 oils, but because of my diet, I am indeed high in mercury.

My nutrient test shows I am in need of alpha-lipoic acid, which is an antioxidant made by the body and helps turn glucose into energy. As it turns out, my body produces so little of it and its activity is impaired by my alcohol consumption, and mercury also impairs its function.

I am also deficient in almost all of the B vitamins: B1, B2, B7, B9, and B12, vitamins that help turn my carbohydrates into energy. I am also required to take 4000 IU of

vitamin D, something I’m supposed to get for free from the sun but don’t. Dr. Oyie says that I can get all these nutrients from food but they will not quickly restore my system so supplementation is advised.

“Oh my God, you have been eating dead food! Or else why on earth will you need all those supplements,” says my nutritionist friend when she saw all the tablets I need to take. Dead food – she meant processed food that have low or zero nutrients in them due to the way they are cooked or simply because they are over-preserved food, or because we get malnutrient produce from the market. Dead means waste, so a body that consumed a lot of dead food is a wasteland, or “a cemetery,” as what our associate editor told me.

According to Dr. Oyie, all the food we eat now is not the same 50 years ago. They have changed a lot in terms of preparation, planting, processes, and these have depleted food of their nutrient density. “For our patients here, many of the symptoms they have that have already been investigated by conventional doctors is a manifestation of a potential micronutrient deficiency, because of the way they eat and what they eat,” he explains.

I followed his recommended diet program and have been drinking the supplements he required. My last consult with him last year was in October; it is now February and when I went back to see him, he made me answer the Toxicity test (again).

From 119, I was shocked that I now have 50 on the score sheet – that’s more than 50 percent improvement on my overall wellbeing.

“This practice and the treatments we provide – the ones who will push this are the people, not the doctors, because they feel the effect,” says Dr. Oyie.

PHOTOS OF DR. OYIE, AND LIFESCIENCE FACILITIES ARE TAKEN BY SONNY ESPIRITU

LifeScience is located at ACCRA Law Tower, 8th Floor, 2nd Ave. and 30th St., Bonifacio Global City, 1634 Taguig, Philippines. For more information on LifeScience and the services that they offer, visit lifescience.ph or call +63 2 828-LIFE (5433) / +63 917-525-LIFE (5433).

Follow them on Facebook at LifeScience Center for Health and Wellness and @lifesciencephil at Instagram.

For comments, and topic suggestions, you may email me at tatum@thestandard.com.ph. For my crazy life’s adventures follow me at @tatumancheta on Instagram and Twitter.

OSCAR PEÑARANDA TO CONDUCT MEMOIR WRITING WORKSHOP AT SUNSHINE PLACE

unshine Place will become a busy hub once again with award-winning shortstory writer and educator Oscar Peñaranda conducting a memoir writing workshop starting on February 24. The workshop is for members and non-members of Sunshine Place (Senior Hub) who want to try their hand at writing and discover themselves in the process as they record vignettes of certain events that they may have missed out on because they were busy trying other pursuits in their younger years, like juggling career and motherhood for example.

Also known as “Mr. P,” Peñaranda will be conducting five sessions of two hours each session on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The first classes will consist of introduction, the different types of writing one’s memoir, the purpose of each kind

and the definition of memoir writing.

The second session will delve on birth and childhood, followed by the topic of youth and coming of age.

Then it will be on to turning points in adulthood, marriage or singlehood, and family.

Each session will be composed of various writing assignments, categories, lectures, and discussions of writings from the class.

The final session will have a culminating activity with each participant (along with members of the family and friends) presenting his or her respective writing.

The presentation will be done in various styles like dramatizations, with participants providing their own resources such as scripts, reenactment, speeches, artworks, films, photos and whatever options they may want for the writings produced during the five sessions.

Peñaranda is a recipient of Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas Award, a prestigious award given by the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL). He earned his B.A. in Literature and M. A. in Creative Writing from the San Francisco State University. He helped found the San Francisco Chapter of the Filipino American Historical Society and was its first president.

Sunshine Place (Senior Hub) is a venue for adults to live actively through engaging in classes in arts, writing and many other ageappropraite activtities to keep one’s mind active, boost one’s energy and express one’s soul. It is located at 56 Juper st. Bel-Air, Makati, You may call 856-4144, 8564162, email at seniorhubjupiter@gmail.com or visit www.sunshineplace.com.ph for more information.

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Salome Uy was radiant in Rhett Eala

LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

Sophia Ayson in a classic and signature Pitoy Moreno gown

Nikki Tang was serene in a Marin Bautista creation

Patch Singson

Chit Bautista

UNITY IN ART AND FASHION

#INTHEMOMENT

BY FRANCIS DE LEON PHOTOS BY LORNA LLANES

I

Shelly Lazaro

@LIFEatStandard

remember an instance when a good friend (and confidant) once told me that, “There is strength in numbers,” and that the more people we can rally to join a cause, the better it is to achieve our objectives.

Case in point: Balmain, the French haute couture fashion house, is currently known in popular media for its “Balmain Army.” Its present creative director, Olivier Rousteing, will definitely lose the war over high fashion with the battalion of fiercer and obviously civicminded women (and some gentlemen) during the recently concluded fashion extravaganza held at the Rizal Ballroom of Makati Shangri-La. Just imagine over 60 ladies, in their Philippine fashion best, all united in full support of the Society for Cultural Enrichment, Inc.’s second staging of this glamorous event to promote art and fashion.

Fortunately, I got a personal invitation by one of the ladies who participated in the gala fashion show. I joined the table that “beautypreneur” Nikki Tang hosted for this worthy cause along with other distinguished guests.

The SCEI, headed by its chairman and president Consul Helen Ong, hosted a fundraiser fashion show headlined “When Art Meets Fashion 2.” The

proceeds from the gala dinner will go to various projects of the SCEI that focus on helping public schoolteachers and students.

And judging by the SCEI’s “Fashionable Army” of members who modeled for the show and the huge turnout of their guests, the objective was definitely achieved to help those in need.

Congratulations are in order for this year’s event chairperson and VP for Performing Arts Sheree Chua with her co-chairs, VP for Visual Arts Elaine Villar and treasurer Eni Alba. Together, they formed the organizing committee headed by its chairman and president, Consul Helen Ong, vice chair Dr. Jaime Laya, Consul Betty Chua, Consul Agnes Huibonhua, and secretary Mimi Valerio.

Definitely, their selfless act of duty to unite like-minded individuals for the common good of society is something noteworthy and gives us all a reason to celebrate.

That evening, several outstanding artists were given recognition in their own fields including Lisa Macuja-Elizalde for Dance, Ryan Cayabyab for Music, Ramon Orlina for Sculpture, Jose Tence Ruiz for Visual Arts, Anna Vergel R.S. for most promising painter and Danny Dolor for promotion of traditional Filipino Music.

“We envision gathering more members to spread SCEI’s advocacy of encouraging Filipinos to appreciate and promote art and culture,” expressed Consul Helen Ong during her speech.

Their thrust is for people to appreciate the artistic output of the Filipino by way of educating the public to popularize their art.

“Public appreciation for culture and the arts is complementary to

Anna Sia was stunning in a Zuhair Murad from Lebanon

being one with the SCEI,” added Dr. Jaime Laya.

Truly, the success of the occasion goes beyond the glitz and the bling. The event has achieved a milestone of bringing together Manila’s Fortune 500 to make lives better for those in need.

May Philippine art as exemplified in fashion, and through the efforts of SCEI, continue to touch our hearts and unite those that have the power to make our society a beautiful world to live in.

To the members and patrons of SCEI, bravo!

Follow me on Twitter or Instagram @francis_deleon8 or email: deleon_francis@yahoo.com.

Handsome couple Angelie and BY Ong

Joyce Pilarsky in her own creation

Madame Georgette and Australian consul general Hugh Wilson Dra. Bea Ang, Nini Layug, Consul Betty Chua, and Connie Haw

Beauty runs in the family: Yoli Ayson with daughter Snowie

Gel Cornelisren, Agile Zamora, Becky Garcia, and Yoli Ayson

Consul Betty Chua and Dra. Bea Ang

Members of the SCEI Organizing Committee in their Philippine fashion best during the “When Art Meets Fashion 2” finale – Elaine Villar, Betty Chua, Eni Alba, Consul Helen Ong, Consul Agnes Huibonhua, Mimi Valerio, Marites Pineda, and Sheree Chua

Grace Gobing and Elaine Villar

Dr. Jimmy Laya, Susan and Caesar Macuja, and Dr. George Sarakinis

SunDAy : F EbRuA Ry 2 1, 2016

SHOWBITZ

ISAH V. RED EDITOR

isahred @ gmail.com

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anD abanDOnED haunTED vIllagE

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The Other Side of the Door is a story about a family and about a woman (played by Sarah Wayne Callies) who crosses the line from grief to madness

American actress Sarah Wayne Callies from Prison break to the supernatural horror film The Other Side of the Door

arah Wayne Callies brings another yet indelible impression in the upcoming hair-raising horror movie The Other Side of The Door. She plays Maria, an inconsolable mother, who lost her son in a tragic accident.

Set in mystical India and based on Indian folklore, The Other Side of The Door follows a family who lives an idyllic existence abroad until a tragic accident takes the life of their young son.

Maria learns of an ancient ritual that will bring him back to say a final goodbye. She travels to an ancient temple, where a door serves as a mysterious portal between two worlds. However, when she disobeys a sacred warning about never opening that door, she upsets the balance between life and death.

Writer-director Johannes Roberts had been exploring the concept of a spirit that lived on the other side of a foreboding door. Roberts learned of an abandoned Indian village, Bhangarh, which was rumored to have a haunted temple that warned visitors it was illegal to enter at night. That notion immediately struck a chord with the filmmaker.

It was important that the film’s central character, Maria, be strong and likable. She represents the idealized version of the American middle class woman who has everything, including a devoted husband and two children.

“Sarah brings a real intensity to the character of Maria,” says Roberts. “I really understood her fragility – the cracks in her armor. As the story unfolds, the cracks get bigger and bigger, and I could feel Maria trying to pull her world around her together. Sarah conveys that, beautifully. She also brings a real confidence and delicacy to the role. The movie rests on her shoulders, and she really ran with it.”

The Other Side of The Door is a story about a family and about a woman who crosses the line from grief to madness,” says Callies. “I have never played a character that revolved so completely around loss and the inability to heal. Until that tragedy, Maria had always walked between raindrops.

She’d been so fortunate, and then in the space of an hour it all changes.”

To tap into the intense range of emotions required for the role, Callies kept a book of sonnets about grief in her trailer.

“Grief is a non-linear emotion,” she says. “I’ve been stunned at how fresh grief can be and how much regret and loss can still be buried under the surface.” She elaborates, “Maria feels distant from her husband and daughter because they’re healing from the loss, and she is not. I think she sees herself as being very broken, and starts to think they’d be a lot better off if they didn’t have her to bring them down.”

“By exploring these supernatural elements, Maria is opening a Pandora’s box she cannot close,” adds Callies. “She goes down a slippery slope that is both understandable and frightening to watch. Maria cannot accept her son’s death. She believes she has this chance of talking to him one last time, so she tries to get in touch with his spirit, and that ruins her life.”

The Other Side of The Door opens in cinemas on Feb. 24 from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

ChariCe and Levi’s roCk dinagyang FestivaL

Levi’s holds a celebratory sale at Robinson’s Iloilo during the weeklong festival as a fun treat for all Levi’s lovers in the city.

DJ Ron Poe revved up the energy during the Levi’s night during Dinagyang Festival as everyone danced to his beat, letting the party end on a high note.

Vibrant costumes, lively dances, and high-adrenaline revelers marked this year’s Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo City.

Held annually in late January in honor of the Sto. Niño, Dinagyang featured a week of festivities that had kaleidoscopic hues matching the wildly celebratory mood of the city.

Still, an all-too-familiar color stood out in the midst of the frenzied activities— Levi’s denim blue.

To add star power to one of the country’s most popular festivals, Levi’s Philippines flew in international singer Charice Pempengo and DJ Ron Poe for Levi’s Night, a lively party held at the Prism Night Life on Jan. 23.

The crowd went crazy when Charice performed her covers of a slew of hit songs. Meanwhile, DJ Ron revved up the energy that night as everyone danced to his beat, letting the party end on a high note.

Levi’s likewise held a celebratory sale at Robinson’s Iloilo during the weeklong festival as a fun treat for all Levi’s lovers in the city. To top it all, Levi’s fans with a P2,500.00 single receipt purchase were given two free passes for the Levi’s Night party.

Singer Charice Pempengco adds star power to Dinagyang Festival as she performs a slew of hit cover songs during the event.

“We certainly couldn’t miss one of the biggest festivals in the country and we made sure that the Dinagyang was made extra special for all Levi’s lovers in Iloilo,” said Kaths Laudit, Levi’s Philippines marketing head.

“Levi’s decided to extend its ‘thank you’ to all loyal Levi’s fans in the Visayas by treating them to an epic Levi’s Night and a big sale.”

The brand’s attendance at Iloilo’s premier festival was only the first of the many highprofile events, concerts, and fashion shows in 2016 as Laudit promises a year full of surprises—from the launch of new collections to the holding of big sales.

“The Dinagyang was just our first salvo. Expect bigger events and much bigger sales for the rest of the year,” Laudit enthusiastically declared.

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SHOWBITZ

ISAH V. RED EDITOR

isahred @ gmail.com

‘PILIPINAS DEBATES 2016’ TODAY ON GMA 7 THE time has come for the presidential candidates to face one another and show the voting public who deserves to be the country’s next leader as GMA Network airs the first leg of PiliPinas Debates 2016 today.

The Kapuso Network will show the presidential debate organized by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) as it happens live from 5 to 7 p.m., at the Capitol University in Cagayan de Oro City. It will be simulcast on Super Radyo DZBB and live streamed on GMA News Online.

All the presidential candidates confirmed their attendance : Vice President

Jejomar Binay, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Sen. Grace Poe, and former DILG Sec. Mar Roxas. They will be given the opportunity to discuss some of the most pressing issues facing the nation—peace and order, poverty reduction, and agriculture.

GMA News anchors Mike Enriquez and Jessica Sohowill moderate the debate and the discussions that aim to determine each presidential candidate’s position on crucial government policies and their knowledge on issues affecting Filipinos. John Nery of the Philippine Daily Inquirer is also one of the moderators.

The initial leg of PiliPinas Debates 2016—mounted by GMA Network together with its print media partner, the Philippine Daily Inquirer—will be attended by representatives of the various local sectors in Mindanao, including observers from major media organizations covering Northern and Southern Mindanao.

Aside from Mindanao, the COMELEC is organizing presidential debates in Luzon and Visayas and a vice presidential debate in Manila. The COMELEC has set the debates to allow the voting population to scrutinize the candidates vying for two of the highest offices in the land.

FEBRUARY 21, 2016 D ‘TROLLS’ IN CINEMAS

reamWorks Animation’s Trolls is an irreverent comedy extravaganza with incredible music.

From the genius creators of Shrek, Trolls stars Anna Kendrick as Poppy, the optimistic leader of the Trolls, and her polar opposite, Branch, played by nine-time Grammy and four-time Emmy Award winner Justin Timberlake who is also on board the movie as its executive music producer and performing multiple songs on the soundtrack.

Also starring are The Late Late Show host James Corden as Biggie, comedian Russell Brandas Creek, music superstar Gwen Stefani as DJ Suki, YouTube personality GloZell Green as Grandma Rosiepuff, Kunal Nayyar as Guy Diamond, comedian Ron Funches as Cooper, YouTube personality Meg DeAngelis as Moxie and Swedish electropop duo Icona Pop (Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo) as the Fashionistas.

Together, these unlikely pair of Trolls must embark on an adventure that takes them far beyond the only world they’ve ever known.

Directed by Mike Mitchell, co-directed

by Walt Dohrn, and produced by Gina Shay, the film, for the first time, tells the story behind the beloved Trolls and their gravity defying and colorful manes. Setting out on an epic adventure that takes Poppy and Branch far beyond the only world they have ever known, their quest will test their strength and reveal their true colors – with no shortage of musical mashups along the way.

Anna Kendrick

Glozell

Ron Funches

Gwen Stefani

Justin Timberlake

Kunal Nayyar

James Corden

Russell Brand

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

1 6 10 15 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 32 34 36 37

71 74 75 78 81 82 83 84 86 87 89 93 94 95 96 97 100 102 103 104 108 109 110 111 112 113 115 116 117 ANSWER FOR PREVIOUS PUZZLE 118 120 ACROSS 40 Very, in Veracruz 121 Bar beer 41 Even one 123 Latch onto 42 Not masc.

124 Clear as mud 44 Race by, as clouds 125 Took steps 48 Opposite of “paleo” 127 Old Rome’s emblem 49 Goal 129 Zahn or Abdul 50 10-4 buddy wds.)

Not just some 53 “— — -A-Lula” 131 Ballroom number 55 Iron source 136 Wernher von — 56 Mr. Schwarzenegger name Buenos — 58 Not imaginary 138 Dentist’s request 59 Dork 142 Says decidedly 61 Mountain chain 143 Vassals 63 Handyman’s supply 144 Beauty’s swain 64 In a crazy way 145 Cherries in chocolates 65 Tarzan’s title 146 Faithfulness 66 Sitting Bull’s foe 147 Church feature 67 Like table salt 148 Totality 69 Jack’s companion 149 Capp of the comics 70 Not for 150

“Got it!”(2 wds.)

Si, to Maurice Husked corn Curbed Embroider, maybe Happy-hour letters Stein filler Kind of hog Ms. Hagen of films Cochise was one Bellyaches Lummox Heavy metal Ibsen heroine Play boisterously Walden dweller Pulp tree Moolah Hangouts for hens Hobby knife (hyph.)

Wind-borne silt Caesar’s river Literary miscellanies “—, peel me a grape” Abby’s sister Emulates Galen Black gem Nanny’s charge Einstein’s birthplace Catches some rays Hotfoot it 35mm camera Iota Not defy “— — tree falls . . .”

Cattails Sheep loser of rhyme (2 Tornadoes at sea “The Sound of Music” Chaucer’s month Reflection Puts forth White oak of California March composer Blisters Ms. Zellweger Do the trick Emerson opus Hit the hay

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2016 151 Bobby of Indy fame 152 “Blue Velvet” star 153 Scallions’ kin DOWN 1 Rookie socialites 2 Like blue moons 3 Microbiology gel 4 Downy 5 Like a standoff 6 High spirits 7 Virginia caverns 8 Bullfight bravos 9 Spars on ships 10 Mice and lice 11 Oversized birdcage 12 Whodunit, for one 13 Bear constellation 14 Watches carefully 15 Menotti hero 16 Quibbles 17 Revenuers (hyph.)

18 River near Barcelona 19 Improvised bed 21 Baby food 31 Outdoor disguise 33 Surrounded by 35 Norm 37 Art school subj.

38 Despot who fiddled 39 “First — — harm” 42 Know somehow 43 Diminish 45 Keep on going 46 Press for 47 Moose or elk 49 What is more 50 Surrender territory 51 Loses hair 52 England’s Isle of — 53 “Uncle Miltie” 54 Trimmed the hedge 57 Hodgepodge 58 Approve, as treaties 59 Winter airport need 60 Beat the rap 62 — spumante 64 Pineapple island 66 Wine server 68 Mark a page (hyph.)

69 Plantation drink 71 Crimson Tide st.

72 Shoot from the — 73 “Mystic River” star (2 wds.)

76 Spillane gumshoe 77 Wilts 79 Depot info 80 Male parent 82 Sleep restlessly 85 Thole fillers 88 Mil. ranks 90 Sheiks, usually 91 Tunnel digger 92 Rock-strewn 94 Feast with poi 98 Practical joke 99 Gave the pink slip 100 Urban map 101 Dame — Chaplin 102 Brickmaker’s oven 103 Pantry item 105 Primitive weapon 106 Bedtime story 107 — — aching back!

109 Frat letter 111 Mouthful 114 Important decades 115 Law (abbr.)

116 Ted of “Nightline” 119 Attacks on a castle 121 Lobby furnishing 122 The preferred evil 123 Janis or Scott 124 Lock horns with 126 Sassy 127 Cliff dwellings, now 128 Famed viol.

129 Elephant of kid lit 130 Gauguin’s prop 131 Minn. neighbor 132 Omnia vincit — 133 Rhett’s hangout 134 Amazon source 135 Ominous sign 137 Ramble around 139 Trick 140 Ms. Dinesen 141 Makes a bet

SunDAy : F EbRuA Ry 2 1, 2016

SHOWBITZ isahred @ gmail.com

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teachers, uprooted themselves from the peaceful north to teach children in war zones how to read and write.

He fondly calls them “socialists”.

As a child in the 1960s, Diaz said he and his father would take a bus to the city to spend the entire weekend watching films by Fernando Poe Jr., considered thePhilippines’ John Wayne.

However, when their house was razed to the ground duringa crossfire between Muslim rebels and Christian militia groups, the family moved to a safe enclave while Diaz moved to Manila to study economics.

Diaz worked as a waiter, a book salesman and a petrol pump attendant after college to support his wife and three children, but eventually pursued cinema, his first love.

He started with low-budget skin flicks, including one about a wom-

EDITOR

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MusliM Filipinos For Grace and chiz

FIlIPInO mAEsTRO OF PAInFul FIlm-vIEwIng¼.

iaz, admitted his movies were “so long nobody would buy them” but added, “I am freeing cinema.

My films are not long, they are free. I am not part of convention anymore.”

He recalled a one-hour long scene in his 2006 film Heremias, where the entire shot followed three men getting high while they plot the rape of a woman.

“It was my vision of hell... It questioned God, if you really are God, why did you let these demons rape this beautiful woman?” he said.

Child of war Diaz said his filmmaking perspective was greatly influenced by his tumultuous childhood, growing up in the conflict-wracked southern town of DatuPaglas.

His parents, both public school

ISAH V. RED

an who sleepwalks in the nude, before garnering critical acclaim.

“I am a film addict. I love all kinds of cinema,” he said.

While history and social injustice are running themes in his films, Diaz said the inspiration to start a project could strike anywhere.

A trip to the national library in 1997 spawned Lullaby, after he stumbled upon a decaying handwritten note from Gregoria de Jesus, describing her 30-day search in the mountains.

“I had an epiphany. I told myself: I have to make this film,” he said.

And the inspiration for his next opus could literally be just outside his window.

“You see that girl?” he said pointing to a beggar walking in front of a gleaming shopping mall.

“Why is she poor? Why does society allow her to be poor?” –AFP

A group of Muslim Filipinos endorsed the candidacy of Senators Grace Poe and Francis “Chiz” Escudero for presidency and vice presidency, respectively.

The endorsement of the Muslim Movement for Grace –Chiz (MMGC) moved Poe as she recalls her father’s affection for the Muslims of Mindanao.

“Tuwing ako’y humaharap sa ating mga kababayang Muslim, palagi akong sentimental sapagkat hindi naman po kaila sa inyo kung gaano kayo minahal ng aking ama,” Grace told members of MMGC. “Minahal kayo ng tatay ko at bilib siya sa inyong tapang at pagmamahal sa inyo ng bahay at sa inyong kultura,”added Poe. Grace enumerated the movies his father did about Muslims like Perlas ng Silangan, Muslim Magnum 357, Kahit Butas ng Karayom Papasukin Ko among others.

“Palagi niyang binibigyan ng halaga ang dignidad, kabuhayan, at kultura ng mga taga-Mindanao lalong-lalo na ang mga Muslim,” Grace said.

Poe promises to ensure peace in Muslim Mindano and give Muslims more opportunities for a better life.

“Dapat maglagay din tayo ng Malacañang sa Mindanao. Bakit hindi? Hindi kailangang marangya, basta lamang mayroong kulturang Mindanao na makikita mo. Na ang bawat isa sa inyo ay magsasabi, ‘Ay ang pangulong Pilipinas ay pangulo rin namin, at pinaglalaban kami,’” Grace said.

“Alam mo kelangan gawin ko rin iyon dahil kapag nanalo ako at hindi ko tinulungan ang Mindanao ay baka multuhin ako ng tatay ko,” said FPJ’s daughter.

unusual experiMents in ‘i-BiliB’ i-bilib host Chris Tiu and and guest host Janine Gutierrez

Roadfill together with i-bilib guests

Have you seen floating things on the air? Yes, things that are floating and turning around. Those are what the i-Bilibgang will show you in the classic levitator experiment that is really exciting.

And what is more exciting? It’s the silver egg experiment. I-Bilbers call it super egg-citing, indeed.

Janine will serve fresh fruits that are nice to look at. She will teach how that is achieved.

Watch James and Roadfill as they tell us some sweet trivia about honey. They will also find out how the honeybees produce this sweet wonder of nature.

Ball stop with high speed is what the guys fromdiscover science will show us. Find out how they’d explain a ball stops bouncing or moves forward or backward.

Those are the few things i-Bilib with Chris Tiu offers viewers every Sunday morning on GMA7.

IsRAEl’s RAvID KAhAlAnI AnD PhIlIPPInEs’ nICOlE AsEnsIO In COnCERT Singer, songwriter and producer Ravid Kahalani will bring this year’s IsraelPhilippines Friendship Concert to new heights as he performs Yemen Blues in Manila. Joining the Philippine International Jazz and Arts Festival (Pijazzfest), Kahalani will perform rhythm and blues from Israel at the 12 Monkeys Music Hall and Pub in Century City Mall, Makati City 9 p.m. on Feb. 25.

Filipina musician Nicole Laurel Asensio will join Kahalani in the friendship concert.

Born to a Jewish Yemeni family, Kahalani is an important star in the Israeli music scene. His love for African-American soul and blues, roots music and traditional songs ignited his passion to perform. He has performed in over 150 shows with Yemen Blues, a group that he founded in 2010 with intense musicians Israeli music artist Ravid Khalani and rising recording star nicole Asensio

from Tel Aviv, New York and Uruguay.

Yemen Blues mixes Yemenite, West African and Jazz influences, and creates powerful mambo and North African rhythms with vocals reminiscent of ancient Arabic chants mixed with funk and blues.

The 11th annual Philippine International Jazz Festival includes 16 days of musical performances from more than 50 local and foreign artists. The International Jazz Gala will be on Feb.27 while the Pijazzfest Gala will be on Feb. 28 at the Palasyo de Maynila.

Alongside the Jazz Festival, Kahalani will also bring Israel’s rhythm and blues to young Filipinos through lectureworkshops at Far Eastern University on Feb. 21, the University of the Philippines Diliman on Feb. 22, and University of Santo Tomas on Feb. 23.

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SunDAy : F EbRuA Ry 2 1, 2016

ISAH V. RED EDITOR isahred @ gmail.com

SHOWBITZ James Reid

The Philippine contingent at the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival led by filmmaker Lav Diaz and A-List actors Piolo Pascual and John Lloyd Cruz (first and second from right), and Alessandra De Rossi and Paul Soriano (third and fourth from left).

FIlIpInO maEsTRO OF paInFul FIlm-vIEwInG hEaDs TO bERlIn

by JOEl GuInTO

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(From left) Piolo Pascual, Angel Aquino, Lav Diaz and Cheri Gil

aring Filipino director Lav Diaz brings his movie house of pain to Berlin this week, shooting for the top prize with an eight-hour epic testing human patience and endurance.

Diaz weaves the rich revolutionary history and mythology of his impoverished homeland in A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery, the longest film ever to compete at the Berlinale, but still three hours shorter than his longest work.

“My principle is, the filmmaker shouldn’t struggle by himself...The viewer must struggle with me. Let’s experience this thing together and be immersed in this universe,” the 57-year-old

Diaz told AFP in Manila before he left for Berlin.

Festival organizers have inserted one interval into the epic, but Diaz is relaxed about how audiences will cope.

“I understand the demands on the body, you need to defecate and urinate,” he says.

“You’re free. You can go home and fuck your wife or marry your girlfriend, you come back the film is still rolling. It’s about life.

Ultimately, cinema is about life itself.”

Lullaby chronicles the futile search by Gregoria de Jesus -- one of the few women leaders of the Philippine resistance against Spain -- for the body of her husband, Andres Bonifacio, who was executed on a

sOul cInEma

Scenes on the red carpet at the Berlin International Film Festival

mountain by a rival faction of the rebellion.

Diaz weaves into the narrative the legend of the Filipino Hercules, who is perpetually holding the edges of two mountains to keep them from crashing into each other, and also the Tikbalang, a cigarpuffing monster with the head of a horse and the body of a man.

Another strand in the black and white movie is a retelling of El Filibusterismo, a politically charged novel written during the Spanish period by the country’s national hero, Jose Rizal, to rouse nationalist spirit.

“I combined all these threads, and when you view the film, it is about the search for the Filipino soul,” Diaz said.

Diaz has won numerous international and local awards. One of his most recent works, the four-hour-long Norte, the End of History, was screened at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

This year, a seven-member jury headed by three-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep will select the winner of the Golden Bear, Berlinale’s top honor.

But Diaz said he was not doing films to win awards or make money, but rather to help his countrymen find their national identity after centuries of colonization by Spain and the United States, and more recently, a brutal dictatorship.

“Until now, we’re searching for that soul. I don’t want to make films for the market, I want to contribute to my country,” Diaz said.

Four metallic best picture trophies from the Filipino Critics’ Guild gather dust on his apartment shelf, beside a worn suitcase that has accompanied him on his many travels. continued on c7