the standard - 2016 may 23 - monday

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Duterte slams ‘hypocrites,’ says friends not a priority

IT experts: Servers shipped to Laguna to rig vote

VOL. XXX � NO. 100 � 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 � MONDAY : MAY 23, 2016 � www.thestandard.com.ph � [email protected]

Esperonis newsecurityadviser

DIGONG RIPS INTOCHURCH, QUIBOLOY

Against hypocrites. President-in-waiting Rodrigo Duterte talks to reporters at another late-night briefing at a bar in Davao City on Saturday night. JOHN PAOLO BENCITO

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Concertleaves 5dead inPasay City

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By John Paolo Bencito

DAVAO CITY —President-in-waiting Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday denounced the Catholic Church as “the most hypocritical institu-tion” and brushed aside complaints from his long-time friend and patron, the Christian evangelist Apollo Quiboloy, that he was be-ing shut out of discussions over who should serve in the new Cabinet.

In a press conference here, Du-terte vowed that no religious groups, campaign contributors or friends would affect his decisions in govern-ment.

“Let me be very clear, my loyalty to you as my friend... ends where the interest of the country begins,” Du-terte said. “I would as much as pos-sible make you happy if you are my friend, but I will not allow anybody to [lend] color [to] my decisions in government. From now on, it is al-ways the interest of the people of the Republic of the Philippines that counts, period.”

The statement seemed to be aimed at Quiboloy, whose spokesman had complained that Duterte aides were keeping the pastor away from the mayor.

Quiboloy, one of Duterte’s biggest campaign donors and financiers, questioned the appointment of some individuals to the incoming Cabinet who were not even part of the cam-paign that supported his candidacy.

Quiboloy’s spokesman Mike Abe also accused Duterte’s top aide, Christopher Go, of blocking Qui-boloy’s efforts to reach the mayor, a charge Go denied.

By Christine F. Herrera

A GROUP of information technol-ogy experts hired by the Aquino administration revealed Sunday that at least 30 consolidated count-ing servers that tabulate results to generate the official Certificates of Canvass had been shipped to Sta.

Rosa, Laguna, where these were “fixed” to rig the results.

Some 2.65-million votes were generated for four contested prov-inces, including the vote-rich Davao del Sur and Pangasinan, which could make or break the vice presidential race, the IT ex-perts said.

Calling themselves MM, a group of IT experts assigned to the Comelec National Technical Sup-port Center in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, said the 30 servers were shipped and airlifted to the warehouse starting at 5 p.m. of May 9, shortly after the polls closed.

“Nobody knew where we are.

It was not open to the public. So while everyone wasn’t looking, we have recorded at least 30 CCS serv-ers from different municipalities and provinces that were shipped to us to open them... and intro-duce new scripts because they said these servers failed to boot,” one

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Ex-AFP chief Esperonnew security adviser

“It’s just a work of fiction, it’s a made-up story. How could it be a cordon sanitaire when all commu-nications coming from [Quiboloy’s] lawyer, attorney [Charmalou] Aldevera, are reaching [him] everyday. They may not be talking always but they are reaching him,” Go told The Standard.

Duterte also defended his top aide from the accusa-tions coming from Quiboloy’s camp, saying that it was never in his character to do such things.

“For the life of me, I do not allow people to control me. I do not allow people to put conditions over me. I do not allow people to compromise me,” he said.

Reacting to criticism of his choice of real estate scion and Las Piñas Rep. Mark Villar as his secretary of Public Works and Highways because of possible conflicts of interest, Duterte said he would have Vil-lar draw a map showing where his family’s real estate developments were to “avoid making a road or alley there.”

He said he wanted Villar in the post because he needs a “good organizational man there.”

Duterte also dismissed media complaints that his press secretary once lawyered for members of the Am-patuan clan accused of carrying out the Maguindanao massacre in which 58 people—including 34 journal-ists—were killed.

“He’s a friend of 20 years,” Duterte said, urging crit-ics to accept his decision.

He said his appointees were “experts in their fields, or valedictorians” and were not corrupt.

“I already had these people in mind. That’s why it came easy,” Duterte said.

Duterte says despite the recent developments, he and Quiboloy remain friends.

“Of course. It’s not him but his PR man,” he said, referring to Abe. “I’ll reach out to him.”

Later in the day, Duterte lashed out at the Catholic Church for campaigning against him days before the May 9 elections, despite its “long history of wrongdo-ing.”

Describing his landslide win as a “public referen-dum” between him and the Catholic Bishops Con-ference of the Philippines, which released a pastoral letter urging Catholics not to vote for him, Duterte challenged Catholic prelates to a debate so that he can expose the alleged “sins of the church” before assum-ing office on June 30.

“They campaigned against me, everybody was say-ing ‘Do not vote for Duterte.’ Fine. I said, let this elec-tion be a referendum between me and the Catholic Church.... Look, were you able to stop me?”

“You have been castigating me or criticizing me—you want a debate before I become president? Okay! Let all the bishops rise. I will tell you the sins of the Catholic Church beginning from the time the institu-tion of the papacy was established,” he continued.

“I will lecture until June 29 [about] the sins of the Catholic Church, and whether or not you are still rele-vant. The most hypocritical institution is the Catholic Church,” Duterte said.

Eight days before Election Day, the CBCP urged voters to reject a candidate who takes positions that are “not only politically precarious but worse, morally reprehensible,” in a clear reference to Duterte, then the presidential frontrunner.

In the pastoral letter, the CBCP also dissuaded the public from voting for a candidate who has shown “scant regard” for the rights of others and the teach-ings of the Church.

“There is a fundamental difference between right and wrong, and not everything is fair game in poli-tics. A choice for a candidate who takes positions that are not only politically precarious but worse, morally reprehensible, cannot and should not be made by the Catholic faithful and those who take their allegiance to Christ and his Kingship seriously,” the pastoral let-ter read.

The bishops added that the desire for change is understandable, but this should not push citizens to choose a leader who has no regard for morality and the rights of others.

Saying that the bishops were all hypocrites, Duterte said he could name those who sought favors from then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, including the use of luxury vehicles.

“Some Filipinos were starving and others didn’t have any medicine, but you were enjoying the money of the goddamn people of the Philippines by riding [in those luxury vehicles]. Aren’t you ashamed, you sons of bitches?” he said in Filipino. “That amounts to graft and corruption.”

He also said other bishops have taken mistresses.“If I start to name the bishops who got married or

about the women in their lives, the Catholic Church will explode. Do not think you are the moralizing agents of the society. As long as you are a human be-ing, you are [bound] to fall down... You’re all pageant-ry,” Duterte said.

of the IT experts, who requested anonym-ity, told The Standard in an interview Sun-day.

The IT experts would not say who ben-efited from the rigging, but said incoming president Rodrigo Duterte was “safe” be-cause of his big margin over the other can-didates.

They added, however, that the 2.65-mil-lion votes could affect the vice presidential race, and that there would be a discrepancy between the unofficial count of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting and the statement of votes that make up the official tally of CoCs.

“The result would be crucial for Sena-tor Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who ran as in-dependent, or Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo of the ruling Liberal Party since the vice presidential race remains tight and unresolved,” one of the experts said.

To aggravate the problem, the experts said, there were municipal and provincial canvassing machines that already had votes in them.

“Right after the boot up, the machines displayed there were already votes even though there were no transmissions yet. These were brought to us in Laguna to be reconfigured,” the IT source said.

At the restricted NTSC, the IT source said their group was able to find that the votes during the mock polls undertaken by the Comelec in March and April were car-ried by the consolidated counting servers.

“The mock poll results should have been erased and zeroed out. No. They were there and these were among those that were tabu-lated in addition to the tabulation of elec-tion returns or ERs that were posted on the statement of votes or SOVs that finally gen-

erated an official CoC,” the IT source said.The IT source said the mock polls gener-

ated two-million votes, but the reconfigu-ration did not include the order to “zero out” the mock polls results.

On Wednesday when the House and Sen-ate constitutes itself into a national board of canvassers, the senators and congressmen will find that the total figures from the transparency server “will not match with the official COCs,” the experts said.

“The only way to settle the issue of cheat-ing is to subject these now questionable 30 CCS servers and the automated election system to an independent forensic exami-nation before the national canvassing be-gins on Wednesday,” one of the sources said.

After these servers had been “fixed” in Laguna, these were shipped back to the mu-nicipalities and provinces to enable them to transmit the tabulated results and proclaim winners, they said.

The areas with “problematic” consoli-dated counting servers failed to proclaim winners three hours after the voting closed on May 9, the source said.

“What the Comelec and Smartmatic made us do was irregular and illegal,” the IT expert said.

“While we have signed a non-disclosure agreement, we also did not want to be ac-cessories and party to the crime. If Con-gress would grant us our right against self-incrimination and make possible the waiving of our non-disclosure agreement, we are only too willing to come out in the open and disclose the truth,” the IT expert said.

They said their group was hired as con-tractor by the Comelec and Smartmatic to man the NTSC that was not accessible to the public while the Smartmatic hired contractors nationwide to assist when the Vote Counting Machines or VCMs and the

consolidated counting servers would face trouble.

“We were told that the Smartmatic contractors in various provinces were swamped with complaints of defective VCMs and CCS and so they all walked out because they cannot handle the job,” the IT expert said.

“However, instead of the Comelec releas-ing the standby units, the poll body issued an order to recall the consolidated counting servers and brought them to us in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. We had no choice but to accept them,” the IT expert said.

“The recall order was issued by Comelec lawyer Jose Tolentino,” the source said.

The sources said the crime committed by the Comelec and Smartmatic was electoral sabotage and that they did not want to be party to such a serious crime.

The source explained that under the Comelec en banc resolution, should the consolidated counting servers fail to boot, these would be immediately replaced by standby units readily available in the area.

“The standby units remained intact. They were untouched. The Comelec and Smartmatic went out of their way to mount shipping and airlifting operations that were not only costly but also unnecessary con-sidering the availability of standby units,” the source said.

Of the 30 consolidated counting serv-ers that were allegedly found “defective,” 26 were from municipalities and four were from provinces.

“The consolidated counting servers is a laptop that was turned into a server. The Comelec and Smartmatic told us that the servers failed to boot so these failed to receive the transmission coming from the VCM,” the IT source said. “Who knows what else happened in between those trips for the laptops back and forth.” With Macon Ramos Araneta

But Esperon, who was a former chief of staff of the Armed Forces, said the review doesn’t mean the Internal Peace and Secu-rity Plan (IPSP) Bayanihan would neces-sarily be scrapped as the communists have demanded.

“Why would we [scrap it]? We will re-view if it’s working or not. We have periodic reviews. Bayanihan was tested by a battal-ion in Tarlac and later on it was used by the whole brigade,” he said.

Oplan Bantay Laya 1 and 2 were imple-mented during Esperon’s time until he be-came military chief but failed to eliminate the New People’s Army. Esperon later on changed slogan from “eliminate” to bring to “inconsequential” the number of NPA fighters.

Earlier, the human rights group Kara-patan has challenged Duterte to scrap the IPSP Bayanihan because it claimed the pro-gram worsened the human rights atrocities by government forces against civilians sus-pected to be NPA supporters.

Esperon said he believed Duterte is seri-ous about resolving the communist insur-gency.

In his campaign sorties, Duterte ac-knowledged his friendship with Commu-nist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison.

“You’ve heard President Rody. While he is a leftist, he is not a communist. He is a so-

cialist. So he doesn’t want armed struggle…. There must be only one entity in the Philip-pines that can bear arms and that is the gov-ernment, its Armed Forces and police and its other armed services,” Esperon said.

Esperon seemed to pick his words more carefully.

“The idea is not to decimate but to come into an agreement or a settlement where grievances can be addressed,” he said.

It was during the time of Esperon as chief of staff that the Armed Forces claimed the number of NPA fighters had been reduced to about 4,000 from the peak of 25,000 in the 1980s. The communists claim a strength of 10,000 today.

Externally, Esperon said the Duterte ad-ministration would not allow China to deny Filipino fishermen their livelihood in the disputed waters of the West Philippine Sea.

“Whatever comes within the 200-mile exclusive economic zones should be protect-ed and the benefits [are ours],” Esperon said.

Esperon was among the allies of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo who have joined the Duterte gov-ernment.

1-BAP Rep. Silvestre Bello II will be taking over the Labor and Employment portfolio,and will also reprise his role as ad-viser for the peace process between the gov-ernment and the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front.

By Florante S. Solmerin and John Paolo Bencito

RETIRED General Hermogenes Esperon Jr., the incoming na-tional security adviser, said Sunday the national security cluster of the administration of President-in-waiting Rodrigo Duterte will review the military’s anti-insurgency program against the backdrop of renewed peace talks with the communist rebels.

Another former Arroyo Cabinet appoin-tee is University of the Philippines-School of Economics professor Ernesto Pernia, who will take over his old post at the National Econom-ic and Development Authority.

The Arroyo allies in the Duterte Cabi-net now number eight, including Carlos Dominguez (Finance), Andrea Domingo (the Philippine Amusement and Gam-ing Corp.), Salvador Panelo (Press), Jesus Dureza (Peace Process), and Alfonso Cusi (Energy).

Duterte himself was Arroyo’s presiden-tial consultant on public order.

Duterte also confirmed that his cam-paign manager and former chief of staff—Maribojoc, Bohol Mayor Jun Evasco will be his Secretary to the Cabinet while Col. Rolando Bautista, head of the Joint Task Group Basilan will be task to head the Presidential Security Group.

In the same interview, Duterte confirmed that former Arroyo Defense chief Gilbert Te-odoro and Lyceum of the Philippines Batan-gas and Cavite president Peter Laurel turned down his offer to head the Defense and Edu-cation departments, respectively.

Teodoro denied this, however, saying he is still contemplating the offer.

Duterte said he never offered the Budget position to outgoing Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, and said he is thinking of having Francis Tolentino return to his old post at the Metro Manila Development Authority after the one-year appointment ban for losing candidates lapses. He said he would not re-tain Kim Henares as Internal Revenue chief.

Duterte had earlier announced the in-clusion of his San Beda classmates Salvador Medialdea as his Executive Secretary, Vi-taliano Aguirre as Justice secretary, Arthur Tugade as Transportation and Communi-cations secretary and Perfecto Yasay Jr. as Foreign Affairs chief. With Rio N. Araja

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Duterte administrationto push Charter change

Slow day. A salesgirl arranges school supplies in Carriedo on Sunday. DANNY PATA

Port call. The US guided missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG-53) docked at Pier 15 in the South Harbor in Manila for a routine port call to the Philippines. EY ACASIO

Executivesecretaryis a meanpiano player

Fort acquires new equipmentFORT MAGSAYSAY—This sprawling military camp, the largest Army reservation in the country, is modernizing fast and has recently acquired a fleet of trucks and ambu-lances worth P98.3 million.

The camp has been identi-fied as one of five bases where US troops and supplies could be stationed under a security deal with the US and Philip-pine governments.

The trucks and ambulances were blessed and turned over to the Army’s 7th Infantry Di-vision in ceremonies here on Wednesday.

Maj. Gen. Angelito De Leon, 7th Infantry Division com-manding officer, said the vehi-cles formed part of the modern-ization program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

This camp was one of the five military facilities whose use was allowed by the Philip-pines during the 6th US-Phil-ippines Bilateral Strategic Dia-logue in Washington in March under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.

The Edca grants Washing-ton increased military pres-ence in its former colony, and it’s allowed to park there ships and planes for humanitarian and maritime security opera-tions. It also allows US sol-diers, warships and planes to temporarily base in Filipino military locations.

The Edca was signed by both countries in 2014, but its implementation was held up until the Supreme Court up-held its legality in January.

Also covered under Edca

are the Antonio Bautista air base in Palawan near the South China Sea, Basa air base in Pampanga, Lumbia airport in Cagayan de Oro, and the Mactan-Benito Ebuen air base in Mactan.

Fort Magsaysay has training facilities for airborne and am-phibious operations, jungle sur-vival and guerrilla warfare. US forces already use a small part of the reservation to store weap-ons and equipment needed for the annual Balikatan exercises with the Philippine military.

In a speech during the turnover, De Leon noted that before the AFP Modernization Program and the Army Trans-formation Roadmap were implemented, the Army had lagged behind in capabilities. Ferdie G. Domingo

He will shift from presidential to a federal system of government and push for systemic structural reforms that will be finished in three years, said the source from the Duterte camp.

“The intention is not just to make piecemeal amendments but to vir-tually rewrite the fundamental law of the land. Duterte does not want a Constituent Assembly to rewrite the Constitution.”

The three-way push includes the formation of a Consultative Com-mission, the convening of Constitu-tional Convention and ratification via a plebiscite.

The source said Duterte will first constitute a Consultative Commis-sion composed of people from vari-ous sectors, including retired jurists and academicians, to engage the public in discussions on the merits of shifting from the highly central-ized unitary form of government to a nation composed of federal states or regions.

The public forums will engage the public in open discussions to forge a consensus on how the federal states will be composed.

“One concern, for instance, is the disparity in wealth among the exist-ing 16 administrative regions,” the

THE new administration led by incoming President Rodrigo Duterte is dead-set on a three-step push for Charter change that will “overhaul” the Constitution, a source said Sunday.

source said.He said poor regions like Eastern

Visayas or Caraga might have little to generate enough revenue to be self-sustaining.

The disparities must be ad-dressed when proposing the num-ber of federal states or regions to comprise the union, he said.

Another contentious issue is whether a federal government should adopt a parliamentary form of government or retain the presi-dential system.

Another possibility is adopting a semi-parliamentary form like the French system, where a popularly elected president handles foreign policy, defense, national security and monetary affairs, leaving the day-to-day implementation to a prime min-ister appointed by the president but concurred in by parliament.

“Filipinos have been used to

electing their president, and de-priving them of that right and del-egating the choice of the head of state to members of Congress may not sit well with them,” the source said.

“This is the reason why the president-elect wants to first form a consultative group, so that the draft revisions may be vetted with vari-ous public sectors.”

Meanwhile, Congress will be asked to pass enabling legislation that will call for special elections to choose delegates to the Constitu-tional Convention.

No less than the presumptive Speaker of the House, Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, has expressed full support for a shift to federalism and has been quoted as saying he would push for enabling legislation in the 17th Congress. Christine F. Herrera

LAWYER Salvador Campos Medialdea or Bingbong, the new executive secretary, loves to sing popular classics like presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte and is a mean piano player.

An art and culture aficionado, he was one of the men behind the Manila production of the world-ac-claimed musical Miss Saigon at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in October 2000, an event that presaged Manila becoming a new music capital of Southeast Asia.

Medialdea is not new in the corri-dors of power in Malacañang, having served under the administration of deposed President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada.

During the shortened presidency of Estrada, he tried being in the pub-lic service, first to head Livelihood Corporation for a year (1998-1999) when the GOCC was still under the Office of the President.

When Livecor was transferred to the Department of Agriculture in June 1999, Medialdea stayed in Malacañang and became undersecre-tary in the Office of the Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs, under then Presidential Adviser and Estra-da Cabinet member Angelito Banayo.

He went back to legal practice after the fall of Estrada, and was the per-sonal lawyer, among others, of then Davao City Rep. Rodrigo R. Duterte.

He now heads Medialdea, Ata, Bello, Guevarra and Associates, a law firm with offices in the Ortigas Busi-ness Center in Pasig.

Medialdea is an avid golfer and an all-around sportsman who led in his college days the Letran Economics Society basketball team.

He is married to Betty Dizon, a lawyer and president of one of the country’s largest non-life insurance companies. They have one son.

The Medialdeas have been long-time residents of Davao with roots in Aklan and Ilocos, although Salvador grew up in Davao and studied and later practiced his profession entirely in the nation’s capital.

Medialdea is the son of the late Supreme Court Associate Justice Leo Medialdea, who was Chief State Prosecutor until he was tapped for the High Tribunal in 1999 by then President Corazon Aquino. Christine F. Herrera

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Rights group scores DoJ

“The decision sends a chilling message that those responsible for targeted killings don’t need to fear about being punished for their egregious crimes,” HRW deputy Asia division director Phelim Kine said.

He said the decision sends a chilling message that those respon-sible for targeted killings do not need to fear being accountable for their crimes.

Human Rights Watch reported hundreds of people, including chil-

dren as young 14, became victims of the death squads in Davao City, Tagum City and other places in the Philippines from 2009 to 2014.

Human Rights Watch uncovered compelling evidence that officials and police were directly involved in those crimes.

“The government has obligations under Philippine and international law to bring to justice those respon-sible for the Davao Death Squad, the Tagum Death Squad, and simi-lar criminal operations. They have

By Sandy Araneta

GLOBAL rights watchdog Human Rights Watch scored the Department of Justice for ending its investigation into the Davao Death Squad, saying it shows a disturb-ing failure to address extrajudicial killings across the Philippines allegedly linked to the government.

Oil pricesset to risethis week

Palace defends K-to-12 program

By Alena Mae S. Flores

MOTORISTS will have to brace for an increase in oil prices by more than P1 per liter this week which oil firms claim reflects the uncertain-ties in the Middle East.

The Energy Department estimates the increase at be-tween P0.90 to P1.20 per liter for both diesel and gasoline.

Energy director Melita Obillo told reporters that oil prices are likely to go up this week due to “better overall demand, disruption of sup-ply from Nigeria, production outages in Canada due to the wildfires and political crisis in Venezuela.”

The International Energy Agency previously reported that the global oil market sur-plus will shrink later this year.

IEA, according to the En-ergy Department’s monitor-ing report, sees the oil mar-ket moving further toward balance, predicting a greater drop off in non-Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries supply and global demand growth remain-ing solid in 2016, noting the ramp up in Iran exports in April.

Non-Opec supply is esti-mated to decline this year to 800,000 barrels per day from 700,000 barrels per day.

The department said supply disruptions in Opec members Nigeria, Libya and Venezuela, meanwhile, have collectively knocked out 450,000 barrels per day of output.

IEA projects that oversup-ply will be at 1.3-million bar-rels per day through the first half of this year (down from last month’s projection of 1.5 -million barrels per day), as demand has been stronger than expected from China, India and Russia.

no place in a rights-respecting democratic society,” said Kine.

The government should imme-diately reopen its investigation into the Davao Death Squad and redou-ble its efforts to bring the killers to justice, Kine said.

“Law enforcement officials have a duty to uphold the law and they should demonstrate their determi-nation to do so,” Kine also said.

Acting Justice Secretary Em-manuel Caparas said there was not enough evidence to prove the existence of the so-called Davao Death Squad since the lone witness who had linked President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to the DDS was no longer with the government’s Witness Pro-tection Program.

Caparas had earlier explained the DoJ could do little to prevent the

witness from leaving the WPP be-cause the entire program is volun-tary in nature.

“The affidavit is there, but no more witness. There’s really noth-ing there anymore,” he said, add-ing it was pointless to continue the investigation since there are no other documents in the pos-session of the DoJ.

The witness, a supposed hitman of the Dds, emerged before the campaign for the May 9 national elections.

Meanwhile, Caparas said he would leave to the incoming DoJ secretary a functional DoJ, which is full of challenges, such as to su-pervise the DoJ more efficiently as well as its attached agencies such as the National Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Immigra-tion and Bureau of Corrections.

Baclaran fiesta. Youngsters compete in a parlor game during the annual celebration of the feast of Saint Rita de Cascia at the Baclaran Church in Parañaque City. EY ACASIO

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Cooling down. Children cool down in the sea breeze as they comb the beach of Poro Point in La Union for recyclable materials thrown by bathers. DAVID CHAN

By Sandy Araneta

A PALACE official on Sunday has assured that the imple-mentation of the senior high school program will be subsi-dized by the government.

Presidential Communi-cations Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said he was informed by Education Secretary Ar-min Luisto that the govern-ment subsidy is through the voucher system.

“The senior high school program, which will be of-fered this year, will include a government subsidy through the voucher system.

Around 90 percent of all grade 11 enrollees in private schools, SUCs and LUCs will be voucher beneficiaries,” Coloma said.

“Of course, those that will enroll in the SH program in public schools will not need to pay any fees,” said Coloma quoting the Education secre-tary during a radio interview over Radyo ng Bayan.

He said the objections of parents to the program was mainly because they did not have information or misun-derstood the policy.

“Such concerns may have arisen from lack of informa-tion on and understanding

of the policies and processes put in place by government to ensure a smooth transi-tion into and full imple-mentation of the K to 12 program, particularly on the inception of a senior high school program that will add two years, grades 11 and 12 to the free universal basic education program as man-dated by the Constitution,” explained Coloma.

Coloma said the Depart-ment of Education has al-located a budget of around P12 billion to ensure that all Grade 10 graduates would be able to enter the senior high school program.

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NEWS

LP-UNA teamup for minority looms

Justice airs misgiving about draft UN statement

Draft BBL shelved; federalism catches on

Price rise. A salesgirl arranges notebooks and other school supplies in Quiapo district of Manila where prices of some items have increased as the school opening nears. DANNY PATA

By Christine Herrera

THE once powerful and ruling Liberal Party has been relegated to the minority and may end up joining forces with opposition United Nationalist Alliance of Vice President Jejomar Binay.

By Rey E. Requejo

THE Department of Justice has some reservations about several provisions in the proposed United Nations declaration creating the right to international solidarity, saying that it “imposes negative obligations” on signatories.

In a three-page legal opinion, Justice Secretary Emmanuel Caparas cited Articles 6, 7 and 12 of the Draft Declaration on the Right of Peoples and Individuals to International Solidarity.

The Justice department cited for instance Articles 7 and 12 of the draft that requires signatory-nations not to

adopt free trade agreements or investment treaties.

Such negative obligation “has been subjected to several complaints and accountabilities under different UN mechanisms despite efforts on the part of the government,” the DoJ opinion said.

“In this regard, it is suggested that the DFA [Department of Foreign Affairs] conduct further consultations with relevant government agencies involved in the formulation and implementation of policies involving sustainable development, social development, poverty alleviation, food sustainability, public health, international cooperation,

trade, finance, environmental protection, natural disaster prevention, and climate justice,” the DoJ added.

“In the negative obligation for States not to adopt free trade agreements or investment treaties that would undermine peoples’ livelihoods or other rights, the DFA may wish to also seek the view of the Department of Trade and Industry—Bureau of International Trade and Relations and the Board of Investments, the country’s lead negotiators of bilateral and regional free trade agreements and bilateral and regional investment treaties, respectivey,” it observed.

After two major party meetings in as many weeks, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. announced that the Liberals were no longer keen on the speakership or the mi-nority leadership.

Remnants of the Liberals are aligning themselves with the majority and the minority but will not take the lead role on ei-ther side.

Of the more than 100 Liberals winning the House seats, Belmonte was left with only 20 LP members supporting his speakership bid with more than 80 members jumping

ship to back Pantaleon Alvarez. Belmonte himself said he

would not even try to contest the minority leadership.

UNA president Toby Tiangco or Quezon Rep.-elect Danny Su-arez would slug it out for the mi-nority leadership but has yet to muster enough numbers to bag the minority leadership.

UNA only has 17 members, not enough to beat Belmonte’s numbers.

House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said should the LP-Bel-monte wing choose to align with the

minority, UNA would get the mi-nority leadership because Belmonte will opt for the back seat.

“The Speaker already called “Bebot “Alvarez the incoming Speaker. The speakership issue is really fast to resolve particularly if there is already a presumptive Speaker. The one who’s got the blessing from the incoming presi-dent. Minandohan na, binasbasan na ng Presidente,” Gonzales said over radio dzBB.

Gonzales said just like in the case of Belmonte, when he was presumed to be the anointed of

By Sandy Araneta

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III does not have any more bills to certify as ur-gent before he steps down on June 30, Malacañang said on Sunday.

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said that most of the signifi-cant measures are already lined up for third reading.

“We may not have the time to finish floor deliberations on those that will be brought to the floor for the first time,” Coloma said, quoting a statement from Presidential Legislative Liaison Office Undersecretary Bernardito Sayo.

Among those the Aquino administra-tion is pushing for is the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

The incoming 17th Congress will not tackle the controversial BBL, which out-going lawmakers have tried but failed to pass, Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez said.

Alvarez, who is the top choice for the position of House Speaker under the incoming President Rodrigo Duterte, said the BBL would be subsumed by the planned shift to the federal form of gov-ernment that the Duterte administra-tion would prioritize.

Alvarez said the BBL would give way to federalism “because they are the same concept.”

“While waiting for federalism, the Duterte administration can fully imple-ment the Tripoli Agreement,” he said.

The Tripoli accord led to the estab-lishment of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

President Benigno Aquino III as speaker, the consolidation of forces was fast.

“In fact, even before the term of Speaker Belmonte as mayor of Quezon City ended, every-thing had been set into motion,” Gonzales said.

“As far as I can recall, the day after the elections, the Speaker and I were together. After a few days, I was already talking to the National Unity Party, Nationalist People’s Co-alition and Nacionalista Party and how to distribute the proportional representations of the committee chairman-ships,” Gonzales told dzBB.

Gonzales said Belmonte gave the LP members freedom where to align—to majority or minority without necessarily leaving the party.

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QC bids to keep ‘richest’ tag

THE Bureau of Jail Man-agement and Penology has welcomed the approval of an ordinance author-izing Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista to enter into a usufruct agreement that would give way to the transfer of the overcrowd-ed Quezon City jail in Kamuning.

Chief Supt. Michael Vi-damo, chief of the BJMP-National Capital Region, said the 32-member Que-zon City council has given Bautista the green light to develop a 2.4-hectare property in Barangay Pay-atas in favor of the BJMP.

Despite the approval, the construction of a new jail has yet to materialize, he said.

“There is still no actual turnover of the property,” he told The Standard.

A usufruct agreement was sent to the BJMP, but jail officials wanted it re-vised, he said.

“It was sent back to the city,” he added. “There were several provisions that needed amendment.”

Much as the jail offi-cials would want to build a news facility to decongest the Quezon City jail, the bureau does not have the funds to do so, he said.

“The construction originally costs P200 mil-lion, but because of some delays, the cost could go up to P300 million nowa-days,” Vidamo said.

The budget adjustment would be reverted to the Metro Manila Develop-ment’s Regional Develop-ment Council for the ap-proval of the Department of Budget and Management.

The transfer of the Que-zon City jail situated on Epifanio de los Santos Av-enue in Barangay Kamun-ing has long been planned since 2008.

According to Vidamo, the existing jail facility is too congested, and that there is an urgent need to build a new one.

An isolated portion of Payatas is an ideal site to put up a new jail in terms of location and land area, the city government said. There are at least 3,700 in-mates at the city jail, he said.

“Of the number, 590 of them are female detainees confined at Camp Karin-gal,” he added.

The facility has a capac-ity of 600 detainees only.

The Quezon City jail has a floor area of 563 square meters with a cell area of 129 square meters.Rio N. Araja

Congested jail up for relocation

By Rio N. Araja

THE Quezon City government expects to achieve a 2016 revenue collection target of P16.1 billion, boosted by taxes from large malls, TV networks and factories, according to an official.

In an interview, Basilia Pacis, acting city treasurer, said the city eyes another P1-billion surplus in December not only to be able to maintain and sustain its status as the country’s richest city, but also to be able to provide better services to the residents.

“We have the biggest establishments and corporations that pay huge taxes all throughout these years,” Pacis told The Standard.

“Giant television networks, the SM Prime Holdings and large malls are located here, and they pay taxes religiously,” she said.

Pacis said doing business in Quezon City is now easy since the city government has already addressed red tape “a long time ago.”

With the availability of an online payment option for taxpayers of real estate and business taxes, the city government has projected a P16.1-billion tax target, Pacis said.

“Just last April, Mayor Herbert Bautista and the Land Bank of the Philippines opened an online payment. Taxpayers may now pay their taxes anytime, anywhere,” she noted.

The city government ended 2015 with a P15.66-billion revenue collection, which was P1.159 billion more than its target.

At least P7.56 billion came from business tax payments, which grew by P902.54 million or 13.56 percent from its level in 2014, while P3.75 billion were collected from real property taxes, indicating a growth rate of 7.6 percent from that of the previous year.

Pacis replaced former city treasurer Edgar Villanueva when the Office of the Ombudsman ordered his dismissal from government service and perpetual disqualification over the imposition and assessment of real property taxes against the Manila Seedling Bank Foundation Inc. in 2011.

According to Pacis, the Department of Finance’s Bureau of Local Government enforced the Ombudsman’s order on March 4.

FIVE people, including an American citizen, died after they lost consciousness while attending a jampacked concert Saturday night at an open parking area in Pasay City.

Police identified the fatalities as Eric Anthony Miller, 33, an American; Ariel Leal, 22, of Taft Ave., Manila; Lance Garcia, 36, of Valle Verde, Pasig City; Bianca Fontejon, 18, and Ken Migawa, 18, both residing in Antipolo City, Rizal.

Police Officer 3 Rolando Bantanga of the Pasay City Police Station, investigator on case, said that the victims were among the estimated 14,000 who watched the “Closeup Forever Summer Concert” that began at 3 p.m. Saturday and ended at 3 a.m. Sunday.

Bantanga said that at the height of the concert, the five victims were rushed to two hospitals after they were found unconscious.

He said that Leal, Garcia and Migawa were brought to the San Juan De Dios. Leal and Garcia died before they reached the hospital, while Migawa, who was initially reported in critical condition, eventually died also.

Miller and Fontejon were brought to the

Manila Doctors Hospital where they died, police said.

Bantanga said the American Embassy was informed of Miller’s death.

Cause of the deaths is still undetermined and the case is under investigation, National Capital Region Police Office spokesperson Chief Insp. Kimberly Molitas said. Police noted that during the event, concert goers were allowed to buy and drink liquor from different concessionaires in the area.

In a statement, CloseUp expressed its condolences to the families of the persons who died while attending the concert.

“Closeup and its organizing agency, Activations Advertising, and staging agency, Eventscape, are deeply saddened by the events that transpired in the early hours of May 22, 2016.

“We regret that, despite the very stringent measures and precautions we have put in place to ensure the safety and security of all attendees involved, this incident still transpired. As such, strict protocols were followed to immediately provide medical assistance as well as rush all those involved to the nearest hospital where they can receive emergency care,” the statement read. PNA

5 dead in Closeup concert

Landmark. File photo shows President Benigno S. Aquino III leading the flag-raising ceremony at the Quezon Memorial Shrine on Elliptical Road in Quezon City. MALAcAñANg Photo BuReAu

Chief Supt. Michael Vidamo Sr., BJMP-NCR head. Rio ARAjA

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the standard the standard the st

Bill to develop Nueva Vizcayacave system nears passage

Group commits to help poorest

PH regionBy Ronald O. Reyes

TACLOBAN CITY—Tingog Sinirangan may have failed to get a seat at the House of Representatives in this year’s party-list elections but its officials said they would continue to champion the development of the country’s poorest region, Eastern Visayas, and speak for its people in whatever capacity they can.

“We had hoped for the opportunity to serve our region through the party-list system and lead our people towards a stronger vision of regional development. But while we may have lost this election—we gained much more than we expected—a better understanding of our region and its people, a closer appreciation of the challenges that beset us and a more determined will to do whatever we can to bring change, hope and progress to this region we call home,” said Jude Acidre, Tingog’s first nominee.

“We will never give up and we will continue to fight for you and with you,” he said, referring to the people of Region VIII.

Acidre also expressed his gratitude to outgoing Leyte 1st district Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, for his support to the organization.

He apologized for offending others in the course of a heated campaign.

Tingog’s other nominees are young entrepreneur and sports advocate Daciano David Palami, lawyer and humanitarian worker Sharilee Angela Gaspay-Mauro, pharmacist and cultural worker Alexis Yu, and women’s advocate Lydia Fustanes.

Ex-UN peacekeeper in Haitinow battalion commander

Army Lt. Col. Louie DS Villanueva, previously the battalion commander of the 84th Infantry (Victorious) Battalion, replaced Lt. Col. Joey A. Escanillas during the change

of command ceremonies at the 56th IB’s general headquarters in Barangay Calabuanan in Baler Friday presided by 7th Infantry Division (7th ID) commander, Maj. Gen. Angelito de Leon.

By Ferdie G. Domingo

CAMP BITONG, Aurora—A former member of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti has been named the new commander of the 56th Infantry (Tatag) Battalion based in this town.

During the turnover rites, Villanueva vowed to continue the Army Transformation Roadmap (ATR) implemented in the 56th IB’s jurisdiction by Escanillas who was reassigned as chief of staff at the 4th Infantry Division based in Cagayan de Oro City.

Under Escanillas’ stewardship, the 56th IB—with its best practices and novel concepts— emerged as best battalion for 2015 among the nine infantry battalions of the 7th ID based in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija, the

country’s largest military camp.Villanueva, who was 84th

IB chief since last August, was a member of the elite UN peacekeeping force in Haiti from November 2011 to October 2012.

He started his military career in 1994 and was assigned in Eastern Samar until 2001. From 2001 to 2004, Villanueva was at the Army’s general headquarters in Fort Bonifacio.

He was then transferred to Davao City from 2004 to 2008 and returned to Fort Bonifacio where he stayed up to 2010.

Finding a home. A habitat of wild monkeys in Barangay San Vicente, Hindang, Leyte has become a tourist destination. MEL CASPE

By Maricel V. CruzA HOUSE proposal to develop and conserve the country’s fifth largest cave system, the Capisaan Cave System in the province of Nueva Vizcaya, is about to get Senate plenary approval.

The floor approval of House Bill 4127, principally authored by House deputy speaker and Nueva Vizcaya Lone District Rep. Carlos Padilla, had been endorsed by the Senate committees on environment and natural resources chaired by Senator Francis Escudero, committee on tourism chaired by Senator Manuel Lapid, and committee on finance chaired by Senator Loren Legarda.

The three committees endorsed the plenary passage of the bill, with amendments, in their joint committee report dated Jan. 26, 2016. Escudero subsequently sponsored the measure on the floor on Jan. 27, 2016.

Padilla said the bill aims to improve local tourism in Nueva Vizcaya by highlighting

one of its wonders that is the Capisaan Cave. “Immediate approval of the bill is sought in view of the State policy to enhance tourism in aid of economic development,” said Padilla.

“The proposal mandates the preparation of a comprehensive development plan by the Department of Tourism to include the construction, rehabilitation and installation of appropriate facilities to manage the Capisaan Cave System while ensuring the conservation and protection of its immediate environment,” said Padilla.

Padilla said Capisaan Cave, considered the fifth-largest cave system in the country, is located some 700 to 900 meters above sea level. It is one of the attractions in Nueva Vizcaya and is located in Barangay Capisaan, Municipality of Kasibu.

Also known as the Lion-Alayan Cave, the Capisaan Cave System has two main entry and exit points, which are the Lion and Alayan Caves.

Plantation. Rice is planted on a field in Poblacion Batuan, Bohol, one of the areas hard hit by El Niño. OMAR MANGORSI

opinionA8

[ EDI TORI A L ]

Duterte anD the bishops

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opinion

First, a legal reason. in 2007, after a long period of hesitation, we acceded to the second Optional Protocol to the Covenant on Civil Political rights. This agreement binds state-parties to abolish the death penalty. The Philippines therefore has a treaty-obligation to abolish this form of barbarism. We can, of course, denounce the

treaty but that certainly would mark us out as retrogressive in the very important matter of human rights. The most egregious crimes are those over which the international Criminal Court has jurisdiction—genocide, crimes against humanity, violations of the laws and customs of war. significantly, however, for none of these is the death penalty imposed. Even before the treaty of rome, the statutes of the ad hoc criminal tribunals—the international Criminal tribunal for Former Yugoslavia and

Still no to the death penalty

By Leonid Bershidsky

PErhaPs the most frustrating question about Donald trump’s political success is why people keep voting for him even though his statements often don’t withstand the most basic fact-checking. and it’s not just trump: The austrian presidential candidate Norbert hofer appears to be successful in convincing voters that he’s a moderate, conciliatory candidate though the press has written extensively about his history of extreme nationalist statements and leanings.

Why are people so unwilling to accept factual rebuttals? is it that, as Farhad Manjoo wrote in “true Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact society,” “the creeping partisanship has begun to distort our very perceptions about what is ‘real’ and what isn’t”?

Writing in The Washington Post, anne applebaum blamed the social media for making it “easier for politicians, partisans, computerized ‘bots’ and foreign governments to manipulate news.” Fact-checking websites, such as Politifact.com in the Us or stopfake.org in Ukraine, applebaum wrote, are “one of the best solutions,” but “they work only for people who want them to work, and that number may be shrinking.”

she can say that again; Politifact.com has at times gotten less trafficthan trump’s rather uninformative campaign site. Even in supposedly anti-russian Ukraine, stopfake.org, which sets out to debunk russian propaganda, is far behind the Ukrainian arm of the Kremlin’s “news agency,” ria Novosti. i doubt, however, that the relative lack of interest in the fact-checking sites—and, by inference, in having facts checked—has anything to do with the social networks turning into prime content suppliers.

The internet does provide opportunities for manipulation. The recent dispute opposing Facebook and Us conservatives may or may not be proof of that, depending on which side one believes, but those of us with roots or an interest in totalitarian societies know this for a fact. russia has “troll factories” where people are paid to produce posts and comments praising President Vladimir Putin and assailing his adversaries. China has what a paper published Thursday by Gary King, Jennifer Pan and Margaret roberts

antithesis of justice! at all times it is the vindication of humanity that is the issue: the humanity of the victim, as well as that of the offender. The dehumanization of the offender does not improve the lot of the victim. it is silly, ludicrous even to think that by worsening the lot of the offender, murdering him even, we better the position of the victim, unless of course, we grant that it is ultimately revenge that we are after. in this case, it would be more candid on our part to set aside all talk of justice.

The point is to disrupt the cycle of violence—not to perpetuate it by stylizing it through state-sponsored execution!

The Constitution forbids “cruel and unusual punishment” and past jurisprudence that exempted the execution of the death penalty from the characterization of “cruel” punishment was thoroughly silly and hypocritical. What is cruel does not become any more benign just because it is ordained by the law. and there can be nothing more cruel

than making a doomed man await his execution, dreading the passing of each minute—an experience we all vicariously shared as Mary Jane Veloso awaited the dreaded moment when a volley of shots was to bring an end to life, visiting the agony of impending death not only on her but on the members of her family. There is everything cruel about stigmatizing and branding her children for life as children of an executed man—even if they may have had no part in the

Continued on A10

PRESIDENT-IN-WAITING Rodrigo Duterte minced no words Sunday when he called the Catholic Church the most hypocritical institution and questioned its relevance to Philippine society at a press conference Sunday.

The long-time mayor of Davao City was clearly smarting from a pastoral letter read during mass all over the country before the May 9 elections urging millions of Catholics not to vote for him.

“They campaigned against me, everybody was saying ‘Do not vote for Duterte.’ Fine. I said, let this election be a referendum between me and the Catholic Church... Look, were you able to stop me?” asked Duterte, who enjoyed a 6.2-million vote lead over his closest rival in the unofficial count, despite the last-ditch Church campaign.

Duterte then tore into the Church for what he called a long history of sins, including bishops who took mistresses, or pressured the government during the Arroyo administration into giving bishops luxury vehicles that they enjoyed, while many poor Filipinos went hungry and had no medicine.

“Aren’t you ashamed, you sons of bitches?” he said, addressing the bishops directly in Filipino.

“You asked for that during the time of Arroyo. That is graft and corruption, don’t you know that?”

Duterte also reminded the bishops of the separation of church and state, and promised to lecture them on the sins of the Catholic Church until June 29, one day before he becomes president and must speak more circumspectly.

The mayor’s outburst can be viewed from several perspectives.On the one hand, it suggests there will be change, indeed, as Duterte promised during

his campaign. Where previous presidents have genuflected to the Church and sought its blessings, the incoming 16th president is clearly averse to doing the same.

This has serious implications on how state affairs are conducted in a country where a law that establishes a rational program of reproductive health and population management was held hostage for more than a decade simply because the Catholic Church opposed birth control.

Duterte and the Church are also likely to be on a head-on collision over the death penalty, which he wants reinstated.

It was tempting at times, particularly during the campaign, to dismiss Duterte’s bombastic statements as sound bytes aimed at provoking conflict and drawing public attention to the mayor.

At least one of his remarks on Sunday, however, seemed right on target. If the last election were a referendum between Duterte and the bishops, there is no doubt which side won.

Perhaps things may yet settle down, once Duterte assumes the mantle of the presidency. But if change comes in the form of a truly secular state in which no religion, no matter how powerful or influential, can intrude on state affairs—that is change we can live with.

the international Criminal tribunal for rwanda—defined and punished among the most atrocious acts recorded in history, but for none of them could the death penalty be imposed. Definitely, the persuasion among penal theorists and in progressive legal systems is towards abandoning the death penalty.

The agitation, emanating of course from the presumptive president, to re-start the killing machine is the wrathful, perhaps panicky, reaction to different forms of criminality that stubbornly evade law-

enforcement and, like some protuberant malignancy, know no remission! But this is precisely the reason for distancing ourselves from this dangerous inclination.

an essential dimension of criminal justice is establishing a distance between the atrocity of the criminal act and the infliction of penalty—because retaliation is the

What is cruel does not become any more benign

just because it is ordained by the law.

pensées

fr. ranhiliocallangan

aquino

Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher Jojo A. Robles Editor-in-Chief Ramonchito L. Tomeldan Managing Editor Chin Wong/Ray S. Eñano Associate Editors Francis Lagniton News Editor Joyce Pangco Pañares City Editor Adelle Chua Senior Deskman Romel J. Mendez Art Director Roberto Cabrera Chief Photographer

MEMBERPhilippine Press InstituteThe National Association of Philippine NewspapersPPI

can be accessed at:www.manilastandardtoday.comONLINE

MSTPublished 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-

5550. P.O. Box 2933, Manila Central Post Office, Manila. Website: www.manilastandardtoday.com E-mail: [email protected]

MST Management, Inc. Philip G. Romualdez Chairman Arnold C. Liong President & Chief Executive Officer Former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno Board Member & Chief Legal Adviser Jocelyn F. Domingo Director of Operations Ron Ryan S. Buguis Finance Officer

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Continued on A10

true enough: Some

politicianS are imperviouS to fact-checking

OPINIONM O N D AY : M AY 2 3 , 2 0 1 6

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pastor apollo

quiboloyPastor Quiboloy’s column will resume soon.

true... From A9calls the “50 cent party”—an army that produces an estimated 488 million pro-government social media comments a year. These people—mostly government employees, according to the researchers—don’t get into political arguments: All they do is act as cheerleaders for the Communist Party and its causes to distract ordinary citizens from using the networks to organize protests. It’s a different concept of manipulation than the Russian one, but it distorts the picture, anyway.

Theoretically, a well-funded political campaign could do the same, “seeding” posts and comments to sway public opinion or bully opponents. Yet I doubt that journalist Julia Ioffe, whose profile of Melania Trump profile brought upon her a flood of anti-Semitic messages was targeted by an organized campaign. Moreover, I think the Russian

and Chinese governments are wasting their time by trolling and cheerleading. People have always had strong confirmation biases without having to be manipulated: Once you develop a belief, you start looking for information that supports it. The trolls end up preaching to the converted.

Francis Bacon wrote in 1620:

“The human understanding when it has once adopted an opinion (either as being the received opinion or as being agreeable to itself) draws all things else to support and agree with it. And though there be a greater number and weight of instances to be found on the other side, yet these it either neglects and despises, or else by some distinction sets aside and rejects; in order that by this great and pernicious predetermination the authority of its former conclusions may remain inviolate.”

It still works that way: On the Internet, people seek out—and spend more time on—“attitude-consistent” rather than “attitude-discrepant” messages. And the kind of deliberate manipulation that occurs on the social networks doesn’t form the attitudes—it just feeds biases. A political candidate—say, Trump or Hofer—can impress a voter by a single turn of phrase, a factoid from his biography, a gesture, and then negative information about that candidate will only be received reluctantly or rejected.

I suspect I have my own confirmation biases. When North African and Middle Eastern migrants attacked women at the central station in Cologne on New Year’s Eve, I felt an urge to filter out some of the nastier facts. It took some willpower to absorb them.

My biases certainly predate Facebook. The social networks merely have made journalists

aware of the workings of these confirmation biases, when before Facebook and Twitter, they largely flew blind, not knowing how the audience perceived their reports. Only a very few readers took the trouble to write to newspapers or even comment on news sites. Then everything was suddenly out in the open: A writer could easily get feedback from readers, argue with them, get trolled and abused by them.

I have often been shocked by how many people read things into my columns that I never intended, or never read beyond the headline, or place me squarely into a certain political camp that in fact wouldn’t be happy to have me. I’ve been called a liberal (add your favorite expletive) by US conservatives, a Wall Street flunky by socialists, a Putin supporter by Ukrainian patriots and a traitor by Putinists. Many in my trade can attest to similar

experiences. The effect is to create the impression that the world has changed, become more polarized, perhaps even dumber. That impression is probably false: It’s as if we have put on glasses after years of myopia, and we see in great detail what has always been there.

There’s no point worrying about this too much: I know which of my columns will draw hate mail and angry comments from a particular camp, but I’m secure in the knowledge that I’m not addressing any of these camps. Open-minded people, those with an interest in gathering facts and making a decision, always are a minority. As often as not, they show up in polls as undecided. The finer-tuned messages that media send out, the ones that are not meant to feed pre-existing biases, can only be useful to them. It’s a relatively small audience, but it’s an appreciative one. Bloomberg

Atty. Jimeno’s column will resume soon.

out of the box

rita lindav. jimeno

still no... From A9

commission of the offense.As for the well-worn

argument from its supposedly deterrent effect, two things only need be said. No matter that something may be a deterrent, if it is objectionable and abhorrent, whatever its value may be as a deterrent will not negate the objections to it. Towing boatloads of migrants back to the high seas there to face the cruelty of the elements if not certain death is undoubtedly a deterrent to attempts at illegal migrations, but it is certainly immoral, reprehensible and even criminal to do so! More importantly, the aggressive campaign against smoking should easily show the fallacy of the argument from deterrence. Every possible device has been employed to deter smokers from

indulging in their vice: dire warnings about the health risks, posters with the most revulsive pictures of diseased lungs, very convincing statistics on the incidence of deaths among smokers. Smokers are threatened with death most painful. None of this has really deterred smokers who continue happily puffing away, and breathing on innocent others their lethal fumes. No, the argument from deterrence has never really convinced me. The certainty of being dealt with by the criminal justice system—arrest, prosecution, trial and conviction—is what gives the criminal pause, not the severity of the penalty. It is because the moneyed are convinced that they can bribe their way through the police, prosecutorial and justice systems that impunity is unabated.

But when law-enforcement is thorough, prosecution is relentless and judgments go solely by the evidence adduced, the efficiency and reliability of the system will be a disincentive to crime, in just the same way that the thoroughness of a professor and the mercilessness of graded recitation provide the most effective disincentive to intellectual sloth!

Finally, there is the imperfection of our judicial system. I do not refer principally to the susceptibility of some of our prosecutors and judges to corruption. I am confident

that most of them honestly do their jobs. But there is no fool-proof technique for distinguishing between truth and prevarication, no infallible test of a truthful witness. And many a judge will admit that most of the time (if not all the time), a guilty verdict is more a statement about how the judge appreciates the evidence than any claim about what may or may not have happened! Once more, this is not because of any ill will on the part of judges. It has to do more with the crucial epistemological issue of drawing conclusions about the past from what you

have in the present!We are worn out from

rampant criminality. We are a nation beleaguered by remorseless drug peddlers, war lords, plundered and extortionists. But it will not serve our goal of national renewal to seek umbrage from the false and deceptive security of the law of the talion or to think that our national salvation comes from the macabre shadows of a death chamber!

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chong ardivilla#failocracy

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alejandro del rosario

Ambassador Del Rosario’s column will resume soon.

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sports

Mexican achingto destroy Nietes

Bacchus, Ducati renew partnership

Aces gear up for FDG Cupbadminton tournament

Palestinian teenager Mohammed al-Sheikh, 12, shows his skills in Gaza city. Mohammed al-Sheikh feels trapped in Gaza but he dreams of a Guinness world record for a series of stunning backflips and his almost unbelievable body contortions. Mohammed, just 1.37 metres (four foot, six inches) tall and weighing 29 kilograms (64 pounds), can bend his body in seemingly impossible ways, throwing his feet over his shoulders with reckless abandon or jumping into a spider-like pose. AFP

By Ronnie Nathanielsz

MEXICAN challenger Raul “Rayito” Garcia, who arrives on Monday night for his light flyweight title fight against the longest-reigning Filipino world champion Donnie Nietes at the St. La Salle Coli-seum in Bacolod City on May 28, hopes to end the reign of terror by “Mexican Destroyer.”

Nietes’ record against Mexican opponents is 14-0.

He had a majority draw against Moises Fuentes on March 2, 2013, which Nietes avenged with a rous-ing ninth-round knockout in a rematch, dropping Fuentes three times in the fateful round at the Mall of Asia Arena on May 10, 2014.

Garcia is the identical twin brother of Ramon Garcia Hirales from whom Nietes won the title in the same St. La Salle Coliseum in Bacolod City on Oct. 8, 2011 with a lopsided decision on the scorecards of the judges, although the fight ap-peared closer than the scorecards of the two American judges indicated.

Carlos Ortiz Jr. scored it 117-

THE country’s leading play-ers and rising stars gear up for another four-day battle of skills and wits when the FDG Cup Badminton Championships, one of the country’s premier events, is held June 9-12 at Power Smash Badminton Center in Makati and Robinsons Place Manila.

The tournament has grown in stature and prestige over the years with its high-powered cast and big prizes with the organiz-ers guaranteeing another block-buster staging on its 13th year of providing top-notch badminton action featuring members of the national team, a slew of upcom-ing stars and foreign participants.

Sarah Barredo and Mark Al-cala seek back-to-back champi-onships in their respective sides in the premier Open singles of the annual event held in honor of Robinsons Land Corp. president Frederick D. Go and sanctioned by the Philippine Badminton As-sociation.

As in its past staging, the rank-ing tournament, sponsored by Babolat Philippines, which will provide the official shuttlecocks, will be spiced up by two world-class players raring to showcase their talent and skills before local badminton fans.

“The event has become one of the most sought-after tourna-ments in our badminton calen-dar and we guarantee another four days of top-level action from among our national players and a host of young talents rar-ing to strut their wares,” said Go, a long-time backer of the sport.

Aside from the women’s and men’s singles, the Open class, which has also lured foreign players, also features the men’s and women’s doubles and the mixed doubles with a maximum of 352 players clashing for top honors and cash prizes.

Spicing up the event is the In-vitational division, composed of employees and the invited busi-

BESTSELLING author and mo-tivational speaker Denis Waitley said that the secret to winning is the extra energy required to make another effort or try another ap-proach.

This probably best epitomizes the great partnership between the Philippines’ leading energy drink Bacchus and the award-winning Team Ducati Philippines, which topped all categories in the 2015 Pirelli Cup-Philippine Superbike Championships.

Three years after their first team-up in 2014, Bacchus Energy Drink is determined to continue its support for the sport as it re-news its partnership with Access Plus, the distributor of Ducati mo-torcycles in the country under Toti Alberto, who is also head of the Ducati Philippines motocross rac-ing team. This is a strategic collab-

oration with the aim of energizing the growing interest in motorbike races in the country.

Teamwork for the winCollaboration between Bac-

chus Energy Drink and Ducati has proven its mettle with last year’s PSBK Championships, as the team made a clean sweep of all classes --Novice, Intermediate, Expert, and Master--culminating in the sixth and final race held last year at the Clark International Speedway.

“The year 2015 was a good one for us,” said Toti Alberto, who was 2015 PBSK Master Champi-on. “The race was not just about using the best bike, but also about focus and preparation.”

A veteran in the local motocross scene, he was also the Master class champion in 2014 and in the late 1990s. He is now CEO of Access Plus, the exclusive distributor of

the high-performance motorcy-cles.

Members of his team included his two sons, TJ and Troy, who as of late have proven their mettle even at their young age. At the start of the PSBK this year at the Batangas Race Circuit, TJ Alber-to wowed everyone by clocking the fastest time among all classes and beating other serious con-tenders in the race. His younger brother Troy came in first at the novice category and 4th overall --not bad for a first-timer and the youngest member of Bac-chus-Ducati Team.

Providing the extra energy “Bacchus Energy Drink has al-

ways believed that everyone driven with passion can become a cham-pion as long as they get support,”said Amen Say, president of Dong-A Pharma Philippines, Inc., the exclu-

111, while Lisa Giampa had it 118-110, with Filipino judge Danrex Tapdasan also scoring the fight for Nietes by a much closer 115-113 tally.

Among the victims of Nietes, who headlines the fight card titled “The Making of a Legend,” includes Fran-cisco Rodriguez Jr., Moises Fuentes, Sammy Gutierrez, Gilberto Parra, Mario Rodriguez, Manuel Vargas, Carlos Velarde, Jesus Silvestre, Juan Alejo and “Rayito’s twin brother Ra-mon Garcia Hirales.

Fernando Beltran of Zanfer Pro-motions said that Garcia, who won the IBF minimum weight title with a split decision over Filipino Florante Condes on June 14, 2008, is sure his fighter will surprise Nietes and end the Mexicans’ losing streak.

Gaza Spiderboy eyesGuinness world recordGAZA CITY—Moham-med al-Sheikh is only 12 and feels trapped in Gaza but he dreams of a Guin-ness world record for a se-ries of stunning backflips and his almost unbelievable body contortions.

Mohammed, just 1.37 me-tres (four foot, six inches) tall and weighing 29 kilograms (64 pounds), can bend his body in seemingly impos-sible ways, throwing his feet over his shoulders with reck-less abandon or jumping into a spider-like pose.

His antics earned this young Palestinian from the Gaza Strip the nick-name of “Spiderman,” a mantle which fills him with pride.

Mohammed found fame just after a devastating war in Gaza with Israel that left over 2,000 Palestinians dead in 2014.

Despite the 50-day con-flict interrupting his training,

he appeared on the TV show “Arabs Got Talent” in Leba-non, where his body-bend-ing act won 14 million votes.

Though he didn’t win, he now hopes to writhe his way into the Guinness Book of Records from his home in the Tel al-Hawa area of southern Gaza City.

Mohammed can per-form four acrobatic moves better than anyone else on earth, his coach Moham-med Lubbad, 26, insists.

In an email seen by AFP, Guinness accepted his bid for a record entitled: “Most full body revolu-tions maintaining a chest stand in one minute.”

In the video submitted as evidence, Mohammed lies on the floor with his chest pressed into the ground.

His legs then spin around at 360 degrees—his feet touching the ground at ev-ery angle in a feat of amaz-ing dexterity. AFP

Toti Alberto in action

sive director of Bacchus Energy Drink in the country and a firm believer in collaborations.

“How can you not sponsor a family of winning riders (like the Albertos)? They are all champions [while] at the same time they are partners with Ducati, which are considered the best motorcycles in the world,” he added. “With Bac-chus Energy Drink providing the

extra energy, they are a force to be reckoned with because they have the right formula for winning.”

Bacchus Energy Drink recently renewed its partnership with Access Plus/Ducati Philippines, represented by both Say and Alberto. On hand to witness them seal the agreement are officers of Dong-A Pharma Philip-pines Inc. and Team Ducati members TJ and Toti.

Koepka grabs lead, Spieth still 2nd

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WASHINGTON —Second-ranked Jordan Spieth, trying to rebound from two disappointing efforts, remained second after Saturday’s third round of the PGA Byron Nelson Championship, two strokes back of leader Brooks Koepka.

Reigning US Open Spieth fired a three-under-par 67 in his hometown tournament, taking a bogey at 18 while US compatriot Koepka res-cued a closing par with a 10-foot putt to shoot 65 and seize the 54-hole lead on 16-under 194.

“It’s nice to go into the fi-nal round with a two-shot lead,” Koepka said. “I hit the ball terrible. It wasn’t anything to brag about at all. I felt like throughout the whole round, all 18 holes. It wasn’t very good but I’m putting it so well.”

Spain’s Sergio Garcia and Americans Matt Kuchar and Bud Cauley shared third on 197.

Spieth is trying to pull off a comeback victory af-ter missing the cut in last week’s Players Champion-ship and suffering a last-day meltdown at the Mas-ters, where a back-nine fade cost him a second consecutive green jacket.

“I was in some really tough spots and was a very stressful round of golf to play because I just don’t have confidence over the ball right now,” Spieth said. “It’s very frustrating and (I’m) actually putting incredible to still be in this tournament.”

Spieth sank a 20-foot birdie putt at the par-3 17th to reach 15-under as the hometown crowd that greeted him with a standing ovation roared again with delight.

“That’s a moment that I’ll never forget,” Spieth said. “To be honest, even though it’s Saturday, may or may not have any impact on this tour-nament, that was the coolest roar I’ve ever heard. Fantastic walking up to that green.”

But at 18, Spieth was in the trees right of the fairway off the tee and blasted out through a gap to just short of the green while Koepka went over the green on his approach.

Spieth pitched to nine feet while Koepka’s pitch landed 10 feet shy of the cup. But Koepka sank his par putt to secure the lead and Spieth missed, falling two shots adrift.

“It’s a positive that I’m scoring well,” Spieth said. “It’s very difficult for me to stand up here and not be positive given I’m at 14-un-der and contending, but if you guys knew the kind of stress I felt over the golf ball right now trying to put my swing in the right position, it is a challenge.” afp

DUBLIN—Rory McIlroy will take a three-shot lead into the final round as he seeks to not only end a six-month winless drought but also capture a first Irish Open title.

The current World No. 3 returned to the course at 7.30am local time Sunday to com-plete the last three holes in his third round after two lengthy weather-related stoppag-es late on Saturday at the K. Club course.

McIlroy had been nine under par at the time and then proceeded to par the 16th, 17th and final holes in a bogey-free round of a two-under-par 70 for a nine-under-par tally.

“I’m a little disappointed with how I fin-ished today,” McIlroy said.

“I felt like I had two good opportunities there on 16 and 18 to make birdies and didn’t birdie either of them.”

After shooting his first bogey-free round since a third round 68 at the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral in March, he added: “I am going to have to go out and shoot a solid round of golf this afternoon and hopefully that will be good enough.

“That’s one of my first bogey free rounds in a while so if I can continue that, not make any mistakes and just throw in a few birdies, that will be the game plan and hopefully it works out.

“To be leading going into the final day - I’m standing here a little disappointed it isn’t more - is good. So I will just rest up to try and get myself mentally rested to go out and play another good round.”

The four-time Major winner is hosting the event and looking to capture a first victory anywhere since his triumph last November in the European Tour season-ending DP World Tour Championship. afp

High-security, low-key start for French OpenPARIS—The French Open gets under way at leafy Roland Garros on Sunday with security ramped up in the after-math of the November terror attacks in Paris and with low-key fare on the playing schedule.

Storylines of Novak Djokovic chasing an elusive first title at the gruelling claycourt tournament and Serena Williams looking to equal Steffi Graf’s modern-day record of 22 Grand Slam singles titles will

have to wait.The first challenge for organizers is

to keep the daily crowds of 30,000 fans safe and sound, a task which was fairly straightforward until last year when another of the city’s showpiece sports venues, the Stade de France, was tar-geted by suicide bombers.

“Security is at the heart of our priorities and it will be reinforced,” said Guy Forget, the former player and Davis Cup winner who was ap-

pointed as tournament director only in February.

“There will be a double security perimeter with only three entry points. We cannot afford to take the slightest risk.”

Metal detectors and sniffer dogs will patrol the gates while there will be pat-downs and bag searches.

The authorities have been plagued with security breaches in recent years, although all harmless in the

context of the current era.Last year, a young fan jumped

over the advertising hoardings on Court Philippe Chatrier in an effort to grab a selfie with Roger Federer who was momentarily startled be-fore burly security guards ushered the boy away.

In a previous year, Federer was targeted by a fan who sprinted onto the same court and attempted to place a hat on his head. afp

Long wait over for StanGENEVA—French Open cham-pion Stan Wawrinka clinched his first homeground title on Saturday with a 6-4, 7-6 (13/11) victory over Marin Cilic in the Geneva clay-court final.

It was Wawrinka’s third title of 2016 and first on clay just a day be-fore Roland Garros gets underway in Paris.

“It’s a dream come true to be able to win a title in Switzerland, after all these tournaments,” Wawrinka said.

“To be able to do it here in Ge-neva, in the event’s second year is something special. The fans were great. They made a lot of noise today.”

World number four and top seed Wawrinka broke the 11th-ranked Cilic to take a 2-1 lead on his way to the first set.

Cilic hit back for a 4-1 ad-

vantage in the second set before 31-year-old Wawrinka broke the Croat at 3-5 to get the second set back on serve.

In the tie-break, Cilic squan-dered five set points before Wawrinka took victory on his second match point.

“Marin is a great player,” added Wawrinka. “He really ramped up the pressure toward the end, with those set points, so it was nice to be able to finish off the match.”

Former US Open champion Cilic was playing his first clay-court tournament of the season and his first event since March because of a right knee injury.

“It was an amazing week for me and this was something I was not even expecting,” Cilic said.

“I definitely have great enthusi-asm now for Roland Garros.” afp

Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka reacts after defeating Croatia’s Marin Cilic 6-4, 7-6 (13/11) during the Geneva Open ATP 250 tennis tournament final in Geneva. afp

Brooks Koepka plays his shot from the first tee during Round Three at the AT&T Byron Nelson in Irving, Texas. afp

Rory takes 3-shotedge to final round

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Radio Active rules 1st leg of Philracom’s Triple Crown

The win of the Nestor Manalang-trained Radio Active was worth P1.8 mil-lion to owner SC Stockfarm Inc., which also claimed the P100,000 breeder’s purse, having bred the winning horse from US-breds Lim Expensive Toys (sire) and Lacquaria (dam).

Underwood and Space Needle, both from Stony Horse Farm Inc., placed second and third, worth P675,000 and P375,000, re-spectively. Subterranean River of Wilbert Tan fin-ished third and pocketed P150,000.

The rich three-leg series, the most prestigious in the

country and attracts the best participants of the season, is patterned after the United States’ Triple Crown, with its three legs comprised of the Kentucky Derby, the Preak-ness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes, also with progres-sively longer distances.

Indianpana of Deemark International Trading Corp seized the lead at the start of 1,600-meter race, with favorite Dewey Boulevard of Hermie Esguerra run-ning behind. They are fol-lowed by Space Needle and Radio Active, with the top four horses tightly bunched and each one jockeying for a better position.

At the backstretch, Dewey Boulevard shook off the others and grabbed the lead followed then by Radio Active. Space Needle dropped half a length back to third, with Indianpana sliding to fourth.

Obviously running hot and almost too much to handle for his young rider John Al-vin Guce, Radio Active finally grabbed the front position at the far turn and pulled away from the rest without whip-ping or urging.

Even though he raced wide at the home turn, Radio Active still forged a commanding lead and won by an impressive sev-en lengths, aided only by a few token flicks of the whip close to the finish line.

In his elation over the unex-pected victory, Guce stood up in the irons before reaching the wire and was fined P1,000 by the stewards for grand-standing.

Different winners ruled last year’s Triple Crown, all

longshots, with the first leg being ruled by filly Superv. Court of Honor, another filly, denied Superv of a second-leg win, before the second-to-the-longest shot of all, Miss Brulay, surged past six foes to claim the third leg.

Prior to last year’s Triple Crown staging in 2014, all three legs were won by Emmanuel Santos’s colt Kid Molave (Into Mischief x Unsaid), earning a P500,000 bonus from Philra-com for the rare feat.

The Triple Crown series was launched in 1978, with Native Gift winning the first two legs and Majority Rule denying him the sweep. There have been only ten Tri-ple Crown champions since then: Fair and Square in 1981, Skywalker (1983), Time Mas-ter (1987), Magic Showtime (1988), Sun Dancer (1989), Strong Material (1996), Real Top (1998), Silver Story (2001), Hagdang Bato (2012), and Kid Molave (2014).

Pague makeswaves on Cebuananet meet

FRESH from his twin victories in the tough National Capital Region leg of the nation-wide Cebuana Lhuillier Age-Group Tennis Championship Series, now on its first de-cade of producing young tennis champions, Zamboanga Sibugay native Jose Ma. Pague dominated anew the recent Iligan City leg of the series, where he pocketed two singles’ and one doubles’ titles.

Pague posted easy wins in the finals, beat-ing perennial opponent Marc Nicole Suson from Cebu City, 6-1, 6-2, for the 16-under boys’ crown and duplicated it with a 7-5, 6-1 beating of local bet Allen Manlangit in the boys’ 18-under finals.

He also partnered with Suson for a share of the 18-under boys’ doubles’ crown after the duo defeated Manlangit and Vince Geo Serino, 8-6, in the championship match of the tournament supported by Dunlop Sports as official ball.

Cagayan de Oro’s Mary Aubrey Calma got back to her winning ways as she took home the girls’ 16-under singles’ title with a 2-6, 6-4, 11-9 victory over Cebuana Eliza-beth Abarquez. She then teamed up with Ghylliana Yu for a share of the 18-under girls’ doubles title.

Another double winner in the tourna-ment that attracted more than 200 entries and hosted by the San Miguel Tennis Club was Surigao’s Rupert Ohrelle Tortal, who edged out Brent Sigmond Cortes from La-nao del Norte, 7-5, 7-5 in the 12-under boys’ finals, plus a share of the 14-under boys’ doubles’ crown with Rico Jay as partner.

“Definitely, Pague will be a player to watch in the near future. He has been pretty consistent in the series and he will be playing for the national team sooner than later, “ said Jean Henri Lhuillier, President/CEO of Cebuana Lhuillier Group and current Philippine Tennis As-sociation Chairman, who was cited by the Philippine Sportswriters Association ear-ly this year for his contribution to tennis development in the country.

Other familiar names that won in the Iligan City leg were Zamboana Sibugay’s Sydney Ezra Enriquez, who went home with the 14-under girls’ title after beat-ing Ma. Maxeille Labrador, 6-3, 6-1, in the finals, also sharing the 14-under girls’ title with Elaine Rose Bahonsua; Lanao del Norte’s Richard Bautista, champion in the boys’ 14-under following his 6-4, 6-2 triumph over Uzziel Keane Pepito; and Casey Padilla, who defeated Labrador, 6-3, 6-2, in the girls’ 12-under and also partnered with 10-under unisex titlist and opponent Miguel Iglupas in the 10-under doubles for a share of another title.

Fiery win. Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, races during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina. Logano won the race. AFP

Ledesma steals show in Ubay, Bohol net tourneyUNFANCIED Nilo Ledama

pulled off a rare three-title feat while Bliss Bayking sustained top form in the girls’ side as they dominated the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala regional age-group ten-nis tournament at the Sto. Nino Ten-nis Club in Ubay, Bohol yesterday.

The 14-year-old Ledama eased out second seed Khenz Justiniani, 6-1, 6-0, in the second round then went on to trounce Giulian Bandoquillo, 6-4, 6-2, in the finals to cop the boys’ 14-and-un-der crown in the Group 2 tournament sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and presented by Slazenger.

The unranked rising star from Pagadian National High School, a Palaro gold medalist last year, also took the 16-U plum with a 6-3, 6-3 romp over No. 3 Ibarra Ortega Jr.

then capped his remarkable cam-paign with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Christian Lagat in the 18-U finals of the event backed by Asiatraders Corp., exclusive distributor of Slaz-enger, and sanctioned by the Phil-ippine Tennis Association headed by president and Paranaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez.

“It’s inspiring to see new faces emerge from each tournament and Ledama’s three-title feat spoke well of the caliber of this young player, who, given the proper motivation and exposure, could land a spot in the national pool,” said Palawan Pawnshop president/CEO Bobby Castro.

Bayking, on the other, matched her two-title romp in Dumaguete last week, trampling Alexa Mil-

liam, 6-1, 6-1, for the 14-U crown and whipping Yasmin Garsin, 6-0, 6-1, in the 16-U finals.

Top seed Tracy Llamas, mean-while, atoned for her winless cam-paign in Dumaguete as she cap-tured the girls’ 18-U crown with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Precious Coderos, while fellow La Carlota bet Milliam rebounded from her setback to Bayking by ruling the 12-U class with a 6-0, 6-0 rout of Katrina Siason.

Bukidnon’s Jerecho Otico also shared the spotlight as he snared the boys’ 12-U diadem with a tough 6-7(9), 6-0, 12-10 victory over top seed Justiniani while Chad Cuizon of Cebu bagged another 10-unisex crown with a 4-2, 4-2 victory over KC Miasco.

LONGSHOT colt Radio Active won the first leg of the Philippine Racing Commission Triple Crown series for elite 3YO Thorough-breds by an impressive seven lengths recently at the Santa Ana Park in Naic, Cavite.

Nilo Ledama (second from left) and Bliss Bayking display their trophies as they pose with Philta Regional vice president Tingardz Uy (left) and PPS-PEPP sports program director Bobby Mangunay during awards rites of the PPS-PEPP Bohol age grouper.

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Guce sets pace; Morales pulls awayPetecio’sOlympicdream is over

Bali Pure, Pocari loom as top V-League picks

Shakey’s V-league MVP Alyssa Valdez (left) and Spikers’ Turf MVP Jeffrey Jimenez of Instituto Estetico Manila lead the Oath of Sportsmanship during the opening of the Shakey’s V-League 13th season at The Arena in San Juan yesterday.

BUSINESSMAN-SPORTSMAN Narciso Morales threatened to pull off a repeat landslide victory in winnings, while veteran Jesse Guce took a narrow lead in the jockeys’ division four months into the local horse racing season.

Scoring heavily yet again in the regular races, Morales, a well-respected player in the racing in-dustry, registered 73 wins and a whopping P11,377,898 in prizes as of end-April as he stayed on track of making it back to back in the contest among horseowners.

A report by the Philippine Racing Commission showed the stable of the land and air transportation busi-nessman also garnering 90 second, 80 third and 74 fourth place finishes, well in front of the second running Patrick Uy who had P3,706,130 built around 30 wins.

There was a looming race-to-the-finish among jockeys as Guce, son of the great Jesus

Guce, led Oneal Cortez by a little over P300,000 with P1,553,970 as against the latter’s P1,173,342. Not far behind in third was Mark Alva-rez (P1,122,684).

“Another good month for the stable. We’ll try to sustain it (good

showing).I guess our team is doing its homework well,” said Morales, who similarly won the division last year with 200-plus wins.

Multi-titled Low Profile contin-ued to set the pace among horses with P1,610,529, which included the P800,000 as prize in topping the Commissioner’s Cup in January.

Dewey Boulevard (P1,610,529) moved to second past Space Needle on the strength of his victory in the Gintong Lahi Graduate Stakes Race worth P600,000.

There was no change in the train-ers’ division with the veteran Ruben Tupas still showing the way with P1,220,548 on 74 first, 67 second,55 third and 58 fourth places finishes. Another old hand, Dave dela Cruz, was running second.

Morales is the owner of Spectrum, who was cited by the prestigious Philtobo group recently as one of the best juveniles to grace the racing scene in 2015.

The top 5 as of end-AprilOwners—1. N. Morales

P11,377,898 (73 wins, 90 second, 80 third, 74 fourth finishes); 2. P. Uy P3,704, 130 (30-24-15-24); 3.Stony Rock Horse P3,580,607 (22-20-14-13); 4.J. Lapuz P2,997,946 (22-25-13-17); 5. SC Stockfarm P2,784, 225 (22-14-12-8)

Jockeys—1. JB Guce P1,553,970 (75-61-61-45); 2. OP Cortez, P1,173,342 (58-52-44-56); 3.M. Al-varez, P1,122,684 (48-44-36-28); 4. J. Zarate, P1, 107,732 (57-39-33-22); 5. J. Hernandez, P1,103,410 (55-23-21-30)

Horses—1. Low Profile, 1,653, 891; 2. Dewey Boulevard P1, 610,529; 3. Space Needle P1,236, 249; 4. Wannabe P908,510; 5. Dol-ce Ballerina P889, 717

Trainers—1. R. Tupas P1,220,548 (74-67-55-58; D. Dela Cruz P967, 901 (64-43-39-36) 3. C. Vicente P676,648; 4. AC Sordan P669,113 (36-48-43-43) 5. D. Sordan P587,837 (37-40-32-21)


A HIGHLY question-able decision at the AIBA World Women’s Boxing Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan has ended sixth-seeded f lyweight Nesthy Pe-tecio’s dream of mak-ing it to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro when she lost by a split decision to Morocco’s Zohra Ez Zahraoui on the third day of compe-tition Saturday night.

Petecio, who earned a bye in the first round, was beaten by Zahraoui, who won her opening bout against South Ko-rea’s Nam Eunjin.

Regarded as the best bet for an Olympic berth by the coaching staff as well as ABAP executive director Ed Picson, Pe-tecio was a clear 40-35 winner on the scorecard of judge Thomas Riebe of Germany.

But the two other judges, Armando Villa of Venezuela and Moise Mbemap of Cameroon, who is apparently now an Australian, scored the fight an even 38-38 for the girl from Mo-rocco.

Under the tourna-ment rules, a draw has to be broken by the judges, both of whom picked the Moroc-can fighter Zohra Ez Zahraoui in a decision that stunned the Phil-ippine delegation and many of the fans, who felt the lopsided 40-35 score by one judge, in-cluding a 10-8 margin in the third round in-dicated Petecio’s domi-nance.

However, the 2014 AIBA World silver medalist lost out in the final reckoning, ruin-ing her chances of mak-ing it to Rio.

If it was any consola-tion, junior f lyweight Josie Gabuco defeated Bulgaria’s Sevda Aseno-va by a split decision to advance to the next round against tough Volha Lushchyk of Be-larus on Sunday after Irish Magno dropped out with a loss to Bol-ortuul Tumurkhuyag of Mongolia last Friday.

BOASTING of star-studded rosters, Bali Pure and Pocai Sweat will set out as two of the fa-vorites when the Shakey’s V-League unveils its 13th season next week at The Arena in San Juan with eight teams disputing the Open Conference crown.

The league actually ushered in its new sea-son yesterday in simple rites with the parade of the competing teams with the organizing Sports Vision raving over the continued suc-cess of the league, which put women’s volley back into the mainstream.

“I remember 13 years ago when we first put up the Shakey’s V-League, we’re all just full of hope,” said Palou. “Now, we didn’t expect the Shakey’s V-League to be this big today.”

Actual games will start on May 28, also at The Arena.

Sports Vision also put up the country’s first

indoor men’s volley league last year to com-plement with the women’s tournament with six teams clashing for the Spikers’ Turf open-ing conference also on May 28.

Aside from Bali Pure and Pocari teams, oth-er teams competing are Air Force, Philippine Navy, University of the Philippines, National University, Iriga City and Power Smashers.

Making up the Spikers’ Turf cast are Cig-nal HD TV, Instituto Estetico Manila, Boun-ty Fresh, Navy, Air Force and Team Volley-ball Manila.

Valdez, a two-time league MVP who shared the Athlete of the Year honors with three oth-ers in the 78th UAAP, and IEM’s Jeffrey Ji-menez, a former league Finals MVP, led the oath of sportsmanship yesterday.

Valdez, who arrived Saturday from an exhi-bition game in Doha, Qatar, also left early for

Cavite to lead the training camp she’ll facili-tate in Dasmarias.

But with fellow former Ateneo stars Denden Lazaro, Dzi Gervacio, Mary Mae Tajima, Amy Ahomiro and Bea Tan backstopping Valdez’s squad, Bali Pure has been installed as the early favorite in the upcoming conference.

Charo Soriano, another former Ateneo star and a champion V-League coach, will handle Bali Pure which also features reigning NCAA MVP Gretchel Soltones, Janine Marciano, Alyssa Eroa, Karla Bello and Ivanah Agbayani.

Pocari Sweat is also tipped to crowd Bali Pure for the crown with former La Salle star Michelle Gumabao headlining the squad that includes Myla Pablo, Melissa Gohing, Gyselle Sy, Elaine Kasilag, Rossan Fajardo and Siemens Dadang.

MORALES

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SPORTS

Arum: Pacmanshould not fi ghtin Rio Olympics

Abby Marano of F2 Logistics scores against Aiza Maizo Pontillas of Petron XCS. ROMAN PROSPERO


TOP Rank promoter Bob Arum, who has exerted considerable in� uence over eight-division world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao told � e Standard, “Manny owes and obligation to the people, who elected him to the Senate and needs to ful� ll that obligation.”

Petron XCS spikersreach PSL semifinals

LOTTO RESULTS6/49 00-00-00-00-00-0

3 DIGITS 0-0-02 EZ2 0-0

P16M

3 0-0-02 0-0

LOCKERROOMRANDY

CALUAG

IF you happen to watch Ma-rio Sismundo fight inside the cage, you would have thought Manny Pacquiao is in the wrong arena.

Like his boxing idol Pac-quiao, Sismundo packs a wal-lop in his le� � st. He sports the same hairstyle, beard and mus-tache, body built and height.

He was a former boxer, but was not as fortunate as the eight-division champion.

And Sismundo has found his turf on the MMA cage.

In his three professional MMA � ghts registered by Sher-dog, he won two by knockouts and his only loss came by sub-mission via armbar, in� icted by Miguel Alo in April 2012 at the URCC 21 Warpath.

Sismundo has won all his three MMA � ghts by knock-out, two of them however, were fought in amateur promotions. His most impressive was the

one-punch, 19-second KO win over Rolando Gabriel at the UGB MMA 13 Foreign Inva-sion last January.

“Alam ko na malakas talaga ang kaliwa ko parang kay Man-ny. But now, nag-aaral na din ako ng right stance para mahasa ‘ung kanan ko. Malakas na din ako sumipa,” revealed Sismun-do, who wants to be nicknamed “� e Monster” on the cage.

***His excellent showing on the

cage is entirely di� erent from his early years in the boxing ring.

His boxing matches were far in between. Although he pos-sesses the power that can make him a feared pro boxer, he was young and untested when he had his � rst pro ring � ght as a superfeatherweight in 1999, losing to a veteran Jun Paiman in Pampanga.

A year later, he lost again via a similar unanimous decision. What ultimately convinced him to leave boxing was his return to the ring in 2003, when he was knocked out by Victor Manon in Binangonan, Rizal.

“Naisip ko na noon na hindi yata ako pang boxing kaya tu-migil na ako,” he said.

As he noticed the growth of mixed martial arts in the Philippines, the urge to fight again bugged him no end. Then, he began joining ama-teur MMA fights and has not lost any of them.

Now, the former ring patsy is a monster on the cage. He is ranked 27th by Tapology among 87 active MMA light-weights in Southeast Asia.

On Saturday night, he again put his skills to the test by fighting a younger, bigger op-ponent in kickboxing. For the first two rounds, he was try-ing to use his kicks and ex-perimented in using the right hand stance to put down Nino Mondejar.

But this kid out of Guerrero Muay Thai Gym was tougher than expected. When he final-ly used his left-right combo, Mondejar retired and the ref-eree waved the fight off.

Sismundo said he needs more tune-up � ghts and he’ll be ready for the big time.

Pacquiao was recently proclaimed a senator of the Philippines with over 16 million votes.

Arum expressed the hope that Pacquiao won’t compete in the Olympics.

“He (Pacquiao) has a lot of work to do,” said Arum, referring to Pacquiao’s job in the Senate, unlike his two-term stint in the House of Repre-sentatives, where he was roundly criticized for his habitual non-attendance.

The astute promoter, who helped shape the career of Pacquiao with the help of Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach, said he hopes the Filipino ring icon will focus on his significant role as a senator.

Arum’s position was supported by one of Pac-quiao’s business managers in Eric Pineda, who told The Standard he was confident that the newly elected Senator won’t compete in the Rio Olympics, even as the ABAP announced that the deadline set for Pacquiao to make up his mind is May 27.

Pacquiao made it clear his desire is to try and end the Philippines’ quest for a coveted first Olympic gold medal and had nothing to do with money.

So far, the Philippines has two boxers who have qualified for Rio, lightweight Charly Suarez and light flyweight Rogen Ladon.

The country is likely to send at least three box-ers to the final Olympic Qualifying tournament in Azerbaijan on June 16, led by hard-hitting welter-weight Eumir Marcial and bantamweight Mario Fernandez, along with either Ian Clark Bautista or Roldan Boncales, who put on an impressive perfor-mance despite losing in the last qualifying tourna-ment in Qian’An, China.

The 23-year-old flyweight from General San-tos City impressed the coaching staff with his victory over Vietnamese national champion Tran Van Thao in his opening bout, using effec-tive combinations to counter the spirited efforts of his Vietnamese opponent.

Pacman look-alike making wavesBy Peter Atencio

THE pair of Aiza Maizo-Pontillas and Bang Pineda took control with superb ball-handling to lead Petron XCS to a 21-17, 21-16 upset of defending champion Danika Gendrauli and new partner Aby Marano of F2 Logistics Cargo Moves yesterday at the MOA Sands by the Bay.

� eir well-coordinated plays allowed to them to become the � rst team to reach the semi� nal round of the 2016 Philippine Super Liga Beach Volleyball Challenge Cup.

� ey broke past a 17-all deadlock in the � rst set, taking the last four points, � rst o� Pineda’s drop shot, followed by Maizo-Pontillas’ block on Marano and a long spike to the backline.

Gendrauli’s error at the net then yielded Maizo-Pontillas and Pineda the set point.

“We were focused today. We got it with our serves and receives,” said Pineda, who followed Maizo-Pontillas’ hand signals to send their spikes towards the less-experienced Marano.

Top favorite Jovelyn Gonzaga and Nene Bautista of RC Cola-Army A later joined them in the semis, following a 21-14, 21-12 stopping of

Petron Sprint 4T’s Frances Molina and Maica Morada.

� is put Maizo-Pontillas and Pineda against the fearsome pair of Gonzaga and Bautista.

Maizo-Pontillas and Pineda, teaming up for the � rst time, earlier bounced back from a loss to Cherry Rondina and Patty Orendain of Foton, 21-9, 21-8.

Rondina and Orendain went on to sweep Pool C in the preliminaries.

In the second set, Maizo-Pontillas gave Petron XCS a chance to move ahead, 11-7, off her two aces and drop shot.

In men’s action, Navy B, behind Pajiji Alsali and Moliver Parcon, emerged unbeaten a� er two games, as they moved in contention for semis slots in Group A.

Alsali and Parcon � rst prevailed over University of the East’s Geric Ortega and Ruvince Arbot, 21-13, 21-18, and then won over FEU-A’s F. Cayaban and Francis Camcam, 21-18, 21-10.

Navy-A posted two straight triumphs in Group B when Nuramin Madsairi and Roldan Medino came away with a 21-9, 21-9 win over SM by the Bay’s Daniel and Tim Young.

A season...From A16

In college, student-athletes can play from age 19 up to 25.

Discussions will also tackle the residency of foreign players, which will now be set at one year.

Foreign players included the roster will now be limited to one, instead two.

Tan, on the other hand,

noted that fans are no longer just watching the basketball games.

He said interest in football and volleyball are also growing.

� e league took note of this following an increase in television ratings of audiences, which are now bigger in volleyball.

Meanwhile, graduating Ateneo volleyball star Alyssa

Valdez was named one of four winners of the Athlete of the Year award for UAAP Season 78.

She took her fourth Athlete of the Year plum and shared it with so� ball player Queeny Sabobo of multi-titled Adamson.

Rio De Janeiro Olympian table tennis player Ian Lariba of De La Salle and Ateneo swimmer Jessie Khing Lacuna

also got the honors in the individual sports category for their achievements in the just-concluded season.

This is the first time the UAAP named four winners for the Athlete of the Year plum.

Trackster John Loyd Osorio of University of the East won the Athlete of the Year in the juniors’ division.

[email protected]

MO NDAY : MAY 2 3 , 2 0 1 6

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

A16RIERA U. MALL ARI

E D I T O R

REUEL VIDALA S S I S TA N T E D I T O R

TURN TO A14TURN TO A11

BALI PURE,POCARILOOM ASTOP PICKS

GAZASPIDERBOYEYESRECORD

Raptors snap Cavs’ win runA seasonof changesin UAAP’s79th year

Bismack Biyombo of the Toronto Raptors dunks the ball during the second half against the Cleveland Cavaliers in game three of the Eastern Conference Finals at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada. AFP

Cleveland’s 10-game playoff win streak was snapped one shy of the NBA record but the Cavaliers still lead the best-of-seven Eastern Con-ference finals 2-1 with game four Monday at Toronto.

A Raptors team that was hum-bled twice at Cleveland sent a mes-sage that they were not going to be swept out like the Cavs’ prior foes.

“It says a lot about our guys’ character and resiliency,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said.

“It was aggression. It was a must win for us. We needed it,” DeRo-zan said. “When we play like this,

good things happen.”The series survivor will face ei-

ther defending champion Golden State or Oklahoma City in next month’s NBA Finals.

Democratic Republic of Congo 2.06m centre Biyombo matched Dwight Howard and Hakeem Ola-juwon for the most rebounds in an NBA playoff game since 1984.

“It was amazing, 26 rebounds, protecting the rim -- he was big time. Without him we probably wouldn’t get this win,” DeRozan said.

“Bismack did a great job grab-

bing rebounds and keeping them off the boards. He was a monster. He kept us going. He gave us a chance to get out in transition.”

Biyombo also added seven points and four blocked shots, ig-niting roars from the Canadian crowd as he wagged his finger in the style of retired NBA star Dikembe Mutombo after batting aside Cleveland shots.

“He gives us that confidence and energy and rim protection,” Toronto’s Kyle Lowry said. “He gets the crowd into it. We feed off that energy. There’s no substitute.”

The Cavaliers made only 28-of-79 from the floor, a woeful 35.4 percent, and hit only 14-of-41 3-point attempts while being out-rebounded 54-40 -- much of those troubles stemming from Biyom-

bo’s big night.“Biyombo gave them a big lift.

He came out and played well,” Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said. “He did a great job of protecting the paint, making some great re-bounds and blocking shots. He just had a great game.”

LeBron James led Cleveland with 24 points while J.R. Smith added 22.

“They played an exceptional game,” James said. “We didn’t play our game and they made us pay for it.

“We’ve got to go back to the drawing board, not fix every-thing but a few things, and play better on Monday.”

Cleveland’s Tristan Thompson was humbled by Biyombo inside but Lue was not pointing fingers. AFP

By Peter Atencio

IT WILL be a season of changes in the 79th University Athletic Asso-ciation of the Philippines.

Incoming league president Fr. Ermito de Sagon of the University of Santo Tomas said this follow-ing Saturday evening’s turnover ceremony with University of the Philippines officials, led by Mi-chael Tan.

The league is set to make more changes in its rules,as it adjusts to the new policies being implement-ed because of the-12 program.

“The board will take this up fol-lowing a 3-day planning session and workshop on Monday,” said De Sagon at the end of the two-hour rites at the Bahay ng Alumni Hall inside the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City.

Among the first to be changed is eli-gibility of players, in which players in high school can see action in the junior division from age 13 to 18.

WASHINGTON —DeMar DeRozan scored 32 points and dominating big man Bismack Biyombo grabbed 26 rebounds as the Toronto Raptors ripped the Cleveland Cavaliers 99-84 Saturday in the NBA playoffs.

Turn to A15

RODERICK T. DELA CRUZASSISTANT EDITOR B1

MONDAY: MAY 23, 2016

[email protected]@gmail.com

RAY S. EÑANOEDITOR

ERC wants cap on solar projectsBUSINESS

Davao water company fi nalizing P9-b bank loan Bangko Sentral ng PilipinasFriday, May 20, 2016

Foreign exchange rateCurrency Unit US Dollar PesoUnited States Dollar 1.000000 46.8550

Japan Yen 0.009095 0.4261

UK Pound 1.461700 68.4880

Hong Kong Dollar 0.128747 6.0324

Switzerland Franc 1.009999 47.3235

Canada Dollar 0.763825 35.7890

Singapore Dollar 0.724165 33.9308

Australia Dollar 0.722500 33.8527

Bahrain Dinar 2.655055 124.4026

Saudi Arabia Rial 0.266652 12.4940

Brunei Dollar 0.721553 33.8084

Indonesia Rupiah 0.000074 0.0035

Thailand Baht 0.028019 1.3128

UAE Dirham 0.272309 12.7590

Euro Euro 1.120400 52.4963

Korea Won 0.000843 0.0395

China Yuan 0.152602 7.1502

India Rupee 0.014831 0.6949

Malaysia Ringgit 0.245218 11.4897

New Zealand Dollar 0.673600 31.5615

Taiwan Dollar 0.030530 1.4305 Source: PDS Bridge

7,299.03128.30

Closing May 20, 2016PSe comPoSite index

48.00

46.00

45.00

44.00

43.00

HIGH P46.710 LOW P46.850 AVERAGE P46.772

Closing May 20, 2016PeSo-dollar rate

VOLUME 600.500M

Bangko Sentral ng PilipinasBangko Sentral ng PilipinasBangko Sentral ng PilipinasBangko Sentral ng PilipinasBangko Sentral ng PilipinasBangko Sentral ng PilipinasBangko Sentral ng PilipinasBangko Sentral ng PilipinasBangko Sentral ng PilipinasBangko Sentral ng PilipinasBangko Sentral ng Pilipinas

oilPriceS today

P427.00-P620.00LPG/11-kg tank

P35.15-P42.25Unleaded Gasoline

P23.75-P28.60Diesel

P34.55-P39.15Kerosene

todayP35.15-P42.25

P23.75-P28.60

P34.55-P39.15

PP427.00-P620.00

8300

7840

7380

6920

6460

6000

P46.750CLOSE

Fake cigarettes. Over a million cigarette sticks of fake PMFTC Inc. products valued at P3.08 million were confi scated by the Bureau of Customs at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone led by Port of Subic district collector Ernelito Aquino. PMFTC confi rmed that the cigarettes, found inside an abandoned container van, were counterfeit. The abandoned cargo arrived at the Subic port late last year and was never claimed by the consignee identifi ed as Thunder Birds Trading. Agents of the BOC- Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service headed by Rainier Ragos decided to open the suspicious shipment after this was left unclaimed for over six months following orders from Customs commissioner Alberto Lina to dispose abandoned cargo to decongest the ports.

By Jenniffer B. Austria

APO Agua Infrastructura Inc., a joint venture of Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. and J.V. Angeles Construction Corp., is � nalizing a P9-billion long-term loan facil-ity to � nance a bulk water project in Davao City.

AEV chief � nance o� cer Man-uel Lozano said in a recent in-terview the company was now in talks with � nancial institutions to arrange the term loan facility before the end of the year or � rst quarter of 2017.

“We have a lead bank and prob-ably they will need another two to

three banks to join,” Lozano said.Lozano said the terms for the

loan facility remained to be � nal-ized but the company expected to secure 12- to 15-year loan facility at low interest rates.

� e group wanted to � nalize the funding requirement, as the Apo Agua was set to start devel-oping the country’s largest private bulk water supply facility together with a fully renewable energy-powered water treatment plant worth P12 billion.

“We hope to get all the permits by the third quarter of the year. Our goal is to start construction by the end of the year,” Lozano said.

Under the plan, Apo Agua will supply up to 300 million li-ters per day of potable bulk wa-ter from the Tamugan River to Davao City Water District, which will bene� t more than 1 million people of Davao City.

JVACC is the engineering, pro-curement and construction con-tractor for the entire project.

JVACC is one of the leading contractors in the Philippines with over 48 years of experience in the construction and development of water-related infrastructure.

Its portfolio includes the con-struction of HedcorSibulan’s run-of-river hydropower electric proj-

ect, which provides 42 megawatts of Davao City’s power supply.

JVACC-AEV consortium re-ceived the notice of award from the DCWD to build and operate the Tamugan Surface Water De-velopment Project.

AEV, which has investments in power generation, property devel-opment, banking and agribusiness earlier said it planned to diversify into infrastructure sector to create the conglomerate’s “� � h leg”.

AEV said it planned to bid for more public-private partnership projects as it saw infrastructure development as a key source of growth for its growing business.


THE Energy Regulatory Commission asked the En-ergy Department to limit the solar power projects availing of the feed-in tari� rate at 500 megawatts to lessen the impact on power cost.

“We computed the FiT rate based on 500 MW, so if it’s going to exceed 500 MW, de� nitely we have to adjust the [power] rates,” ERC chairman Jose Vicente Salazar told reporters.

FiT refers to incentives given to renew-able energy developers such as solar proj-ects in the form of � xed, high rate paid by the government for their power output. FiT rates were incorporated in the power bill of consumers and are now known as

FiT allowance.� e regulator earlier approved an FiT-

allowance of P0.124 per kilowatt-hour, to be collected by the National Transmission Corp. and used to pay the renewable energy developers.

“� e position of the commission is to lim-it to 500 MW [the solar capacity] until we determine the impact on the rates consider-ing that our previous approval was for that [P0.124 per kWh],” Salazar said.

� e department approved a 50-MW in-stallation for solar projects under the � rst round of installation targets at a rate of P9.68 per kilowatt-hour. � e installation was in-creased by an additional 450 MW but with a provision that the power projects would be completed by March 15, 2016 to provide ad-ditional capacity for the dry months.

ERC granted a lower rate of P8.69 per kWh for the second wave of installation tar-get covering the balance of 450 MW.

� e Energy Department, however, has yet to come out with the � nal list of solar devel-

opers that were able to beat the feed-in tari� race for the 450-MW solar capacity.

Energy Secretary Zenaida Monsada said as much as 300 MW of solar capacity would not be eligible for the second wave of solar FiT rate.

Monsada earlier said the department would announce the � nal list of the solar projects that quali� ed for the second wave of feed-in tari� for solar once the list was � nalized.

“We are sure that there will be questions, that’s why we want to be transparent,” Mon-sada said.

She said a total of 800 MW of solar power capacity was presently being evaluated by the department.

� e Philippine Solar Power Solar Alliance earlier asked the department to exercise prudence in disqualifying completed solar projects from the FiT availment.

PSPA president Tetchie Capellan said the government should recognize the role of so-lar energy in adding capacity to the national grid and for helping avert possible shortages.

“� e alliance asks the DoE for prudence

in disqualifying completed solar projects. � ese companies poured billions of pesos into solar projects and their possible dis-quali� cation to the RE [renewable energy] incentives not only denies the investors the opportunity to recover their capital. More importantly, it kills the momentum cre-ated by the DoE and erodes investors’ con-� dence,” Capellan said.

She said the government should encourage policymakers in � nding a common ground to recognize solar companies that reached 80 percent electro-mechanical completion and delivered electricity to the grid.”

“� ere is already an admission from na-tional authorities and utility distribution companies on the tightness of supply. Un-deniably, the contribution of 750 MW solar energy in the daytime when demand is at its peak, cannot be ignored - the 750 MW solar provided more security to the grid, averted a possible supply shortage as well as delivered economic bene� ts to the con-sumers and the rural economy,” she said.


BUSINESSMONDAY: MAY 23, 2016

B2

MAY 16-20, 2016 MAY 9-13, 2016STOCKS Close Volume Value Close Volume Value

The STandard BuSineSS Weekly STockS revieW

FINANCIALAG Finance 3.74 6,761,000 25,922,400.00 3.39 901,000 2,931,230.00Asia United Bank 45.95 67,600 3,108,180.00 46 60,900 2,784,380.00Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 102.00 12,461,550 1,298,481,802 104.00 13,473,760 1,369,550,417Bank of PI 92.20 11,797,660 1,096,604,308.00 93.00 5,790,170 538,492,913.00China Bank 38 469,000 18,403,060.00 40 387,800 15,488,575.00BDO Leasing & Fin. Inc. 2.95 141,000 421,790.00 3.00 157,000 470,790.00Bright Kindle Resources 1.54 717,000 1,067,670.00 1.54 696,000 1,097,730.00Citystate Savings 9.5 400 3,800.00 COL Financial 14.3 44,800 636,186.00 14.2 4,069,300 57,780,220.00Eastwest Bank 17 4,135,300 71,603,828.00 16.2 1,042,500 16,677,250.00Filipino Fund Inc. 7.49 28,400 204,267 7.05 700 4,936First Abacus 0.7 1,000 700 0.7 5,000 3,500I-Remit Inc. 1.86 10,864,000 24,184,050.00 1.73 53,000 91,080.00Manulife Fin. Corp. 600.00 630 379,800.00 600.00 950 573,500.00MEDCO Holdings 0.600 2,065,000 1,204,600.00 0.570 2,097,000 1,217,940.00Metrobank 84.4 19,646,430 1,717,282,103.50 87 24,852,060 2,078,627,192.00Natl Reinsurance Corp. 0.97 231,000 219,910.00 0.97 76,000 73,000.00PB Bank 15.00 279,100 4,183,312.00 15.00 267,200 4,010,938.00Phil Bank of Comm 24.00 36,200 871,630.00 24.00 7,000 168,000.00Phil. National Bank 51.00 1,013,140 52,342,821.00 51.80 443,260 22,677,994.50Phil. Savings Bank 102.4 11,630 1,196,697.00 105.9 510 53,518.00Philippine Trust Co. 437 290 123,570.00 356 10 3,560.00PSE Inc. 268 6,090 1,645,420.00 273.4 5,710 1,548,652.00RCBC À’ 31.5 1,281,400 39,585,530 30.05 653,600 19,873,845Security Bank 192.6 462,850,233 1,664,802,342.00 190.5 9,598,290 1,780,165,042.00Sun Life Financial 1370.00 470 643,900.00 1351.00 310 417,845.00Union Bank 64.50 498,390 31,660,510.00 59.00 449,570 26,485,642.00Vantage Equities 1.59 494,000 773,100.00 1.52 56,000 85,410.00

INDUSTRIALAboitiz Power Corp. 45.2 8,022,200 371,668,895.00 47 9,158,300 416,395,435.00Agrinurture Inc. 3.72 4,775,000 17,859,720.00 3.71 3,602,000 13,571,970.00Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 0.91 8,532,000 8,154,890.00 0.91 7,673,000 3,074,643.97Alsons Cons. 1.87 74,293,000 139,025,340.00 1.74 127,947,000 217,736,270.00Asiabest Group 14 171,800 2,597,834.00 14.2 25,700 351,094.00Bogo Medellin 55.6 8,450 552,941.00 56.5 490 27,685.00C. Azuc De Tarlac 200.00 70 14,010.00 193.00 300 61,238.00Century Food 21.3 5,008,800 106,171,480 20.5 6,133,700 123,680,779Conc. Aggr. À’ 195 11,170 2,281,183.00 195 14,470 2,730,020.00Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 18 500,300 8,946,370.00 18 374,800 6,755,260.00Concepcion 46 781,600 36,143,525 46.45 1,733,800 80,220,070Crown Asia 2.21 3,643,000 10,133,760.00 2.27 1,645,000 3,752,900.00Da Vinci Capital 4.62 1,566,000 7,307,910.00 4.79 1,554,300 7,706,905.00Del Monte 10.76 228,900 2,458,784.00 10.6 436,400 4,662,258.00DNL Industries Inc. 9.700 26,650,400 257,172,243.00 9.480 52,939,204 167,048,570.00Emperador 7.40 9,101,800 66,825,150.00 7.60 6,799,300 53,221,371.00Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 5.60 55,111,100 322,767,042.00 5.85 45,853,200 271,448,242.00EEI 7.45 1,413,000 10,446,923.00 7.32 919,100 6,831,886.00Euro-Med Lab. 1.7 5,000 8,490.00 1.7 7,000 12,080.00First Gen Corp. 21.6 18,317,300 401,096,850.00 21.35 10,967,600 230,429,623.00First Holdings ‘A’ 67.1 916,840 63,054,145.50 68 840,190 55,283,319.50Ginebra San Miguel Inc. 12.64 70,600 914,232.00 14.78 24,700 348,342.00Holcim Philippines Inc. 15.10 1,546,200 23,410,230.00 14.58 839,700 12,088,260.00Integ. Micro-Electronics 5.6 2,888,700 16,382,878.00 5.69 872,200 4,890,536.00Ionics Inc 2.300 12,193,000 27,981,990.00 2.390 20,975,000 51,576,370.00Jollibee Foods Corp. 235.00 5,471,900 1,293,375,104.00 234.60 5,398,570 1,250,650,268.00Liberty Flour 39.95 7,200 277,400.00 35.00 300 10,500.00LMG Chemicals 2.16 54,000 115,310.00 2 47,000 92,520.00Mabuhay Vinyl Corp. 3.35 259,000 873,240.00 3.6 115,000 419,420.00Macay Holdings 39.90 16,600 659,035.00 39.50 8,700 323,430.00Manila Water Co. Inc. 27.05 2,975,200 81,773,620.00 28 6,104,800 171,446,605.00Maxs Group 24 2,444,400 58,276,300.00 22.95 3,426,300 77,924,155.00Megawide 6.73 1,458,800 9,815,740.00 6.6 903,300 5,810,521.00Mla. Elect. Co À’ 321.60 2,495,220 825,621,380.00 340.40 862,770 296,812,746.00MG Holdings 0.290 8,270,000 2,437,250.00 0.285 1,660,000 469,300.00Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp. 4.33 31,000 141,200.00 4.67 98,000 419,470.00Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 3.41 9,268,000 32,170,350.00 3.46 15,116,000 51,706,760.00Petron Corporation 11.10 33,719,300 388,249,962.00 11.46 39,919,300 448,773,380.00Phil H2O 3.27 147,000 484,840.00 3.01 27,000 83,120.00Phinma Corporation 11.62 42,400 491,796.00 11.62 11,500 133,156.00Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 5.40 4,779,000 26,245,833.00 5.50 5,384,200 28,271,750.00Phoenix Semiconductor 1.79 11,277,000 19,641,520.00 1.58 1,506,000 2,089,810.00Pryce Corp. À’ 2.74 5,891,000 16,967,110.00 2.8 1,105,000 3,042,360.00RFM Corporation 4.25 5,151,000 21,772,480.00 4.21 818,000 3,399,140.00Roxas and Co. 2.3 68,000 155,370.00 2.54 5,000 12,700.00Roxas Holdings 4.65 40,000 183,700.00 4.4 4,000 17,900.00San Miguel ‘Pure Foods À’ 217 45,770 10,057,534.00 221.6 144,980 31,786,510.00SPC Power Corp. 4.05 60,000 240,750.00 4.1 67,000 269,700.00Splash Corporation 2.5 1,808,000 4,575,490 2.6 847,000 2,168,720Swift Foods, Inc. 0.155 32,450,000 5,113,020.00 0.154 11,560,000 1,770,040.00TKC Steel Corp. 2.08 124,833,000 319,279,240.00 1.20 801,000 947,360.00Trans-Asia Oil 2.50 16,989,000 43,278,040.00 2.63 6,202,000 15,972,380.00Universal Robina 202.6 9,097,680 1,867,068,152.00 206.6 12,148,850 2,512,184,324.00Victorias Milling 4.6 165,000 760,290.00 4.87 109,000 502,820.00Vitarich Corp. 0.88 78,017,000 74,790,240.00 0.96 34,328,000 32,389,930.00Vivant Corp. 31.20 12,400 379,790.00 31.00 5,000 155,485.00Vulcan Ind’l. 1.30 1,645,000 2,197,680.00 1.35 7,252,000 10,033,110.00

HOLDING FIRMSAbacus Cons. À’ 0.430 29,510,000 12,581,700.00 0.405 61,030,000 22,743,350.00Aboitiz Equity 72.00 14,941,820 1,064,321,019.50 70.80 11,244,750 782,852,915.50Alliance Global Inc. 14.22 56,011,200 807,768,394.00 14.60 47,428,400 689,323,534.00Anglo Holdings A 1.22 2,165,000 2,761,670.00 1.23 4,165,000 5,822,650.00Anscor À’ 6.10 60,400 361,555.00 5.95 151,000 905,150.00ATN Holdings A 0.340 133,510,000 53,585,700.00 0.445 319,080,000 158,429,430.00ATN Holdings B 0.335 16,920,000 6,831,600.00 0.450 43,622,000 21,742,295.00Ayala Corp À’ 794 2,548,440 2,108,516,190.00 828 3,194,360 2,541,627,940.00Cosco Capital 7.69 4,091,500 32,398,532.00 7.95 8,175,000 64,397,305.00DMCI Holdings 12.96 60,181,500 777,995,982.00 12.62 26,314,800 328,366,566.00F&J Prince ‘A’ 5.04 18,300 94,850.00 5.07 33,800 171,167.00Filinvest Dev. Corp. 6.28 7,209,100 44,234,493.00 5.88 1,529,400 8,918,558.00Forum Pacific 0.265 2,940,000 774,120.00 0.285 9,730,300 5,396,460.00GT Capital 1380 773,025 1,107,760,230.00 1451 843,670 756,005,340.00House of Inv. 6.30 56,000 355,850.00 6.39 146,800 916,957.00JG Summit Holdings 92.55 21,495,130 2,011,611,597.50 91.10 23,693,580 2,076,476,309.00Keppel Holdings À’ 5.2 16,100 85,818.00 5.33 2,400 12,954.00LT Group 5.35 16,500 89,519.00 6 20,600 121,315.00Keppel Holdings `B’ 7.65 22,301,400 177,340,413.00 7.8 20,515,400 152,405,906.00Lopez Holdings Corp. 0.69 979,000 679,860.00 0.69 4,708,000 3,373,710.00Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. 13.9 19,547,000 270,595,532.00 13.52 39,372,800 543,024,108.00Mabuhay Holdings À’ 0.470 30,000 14,100.00 0.465 50,000 23,650.00Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. 5.9 198,599,600 1,227,433,102.00 6.02 172,128,200 1,018,500,320.00MJCI Investments Inc. 3.69 21,000 70,610.00 3.39 24,000 75,740.00Pacifica À’ 0.0320 162,800,000 5,229,400.00 0.0340 53,800,000 1,770,000.00Prime Media Hldg 1.320 247,000 355,860.00 1.370 357,000 476,620.00Prime Orion 1.780 1,901,000 3,455,430.00 1.840 2,451,000 4,495,130.00Republic Glass ‘A’ 2.62 34,000 88,550.00 2.75 132,000 353,980.00San Miguel Corp À’ 73.40 1,146,190 84,088,510.00 70.50 1,184,090 80,724,969.00Seafront À’ 2.22 9,100 21,740.00 2.15 64,000 137,970.00SM Investments Inc. 955.00 2,120,415 2,098,442,605.00 980.00 1,672,080 1,606,011,935.00Solid Group Inc. 1.20 768,000 907,550.00 1.18 1,764,000 2,068,530.00South China Res. Inc. 0.91 3,918,000 3,634,550.00 0.81 457,000 360,330.00Transgrid 190.00 210 39,900.00 190.00 90 17,100.00Top Frontier 158.000 16,480 2,564,687.00 154.000 6,200 930,055.00Unioil Res. & Hldgs 0.3200 34,720,000 11,409,850.00 0.3200 23,780,000 7,606,300.00Wellex Industries 0.2140 38,720,000 9,112,550.00 0.2330 84,490,000 19,967,970.00Zeus Holdings 0.345 131,630,000 49,596,250.00 0.305 20,380,000 6,574,500.00

P R O P E R T Y8990 HLDG 7.550 2,179,900 16,370,599.00 7.500 18,144,500 135,806,558.00Anchor Land Holdings Inc. 7.20 17,700 128,098.00 7.97 2,100 16,737.00A. Brown Co., Inc. 1.23 27,596,000 35,093,830.00 1.24 31,597,000 38,291,730.00Araneta Prop À’ 2.150 17,943,000 41,511,530.00 2.100 9,244,000 19,714,990.00Arthaland Corp. 0.260 2,380,000 633,250.00 0.265 7,210,000 1,963,200.00Ayala Land `B’ 34.900 85,566,000 3,086,191,025.00 35.500 80,412,800 2,824,285,030.00Belle Corp. À’ 3.14 5,702,000 17,652,340.00 3.06 5,651,000 17,019,250.00Cebu Holdings 5.15 36,200 187,490.00 5.23 171,100 892,698.00Cebu Prop. À’ 5.61 1,000 5,610.00 Centennial City 0.520 12,224,000 6,466,100.00 0.540 20,429,000 10,753,930.00City & Land Dev. 0.98 101,000 101,790.00 0.99 81,000 79,930.00Cityland Dev. À’ 1.000 52,000 51,060.00 0.990 138,000 135,810.00Crown Equities Inc. 0.131 22,230,000 2,968,540.00 0.136 23,880,000 3,190,760.00Cyber Bay Corp. 0.500 67,146,000 35,899,440.00 0.465 7,670,000 3,599,950.00Double Dragon 49 8,011,100 388,393,815.00 49 11,838,500 565,526,715.00Empire East Land 0.810 3,269,000 2,672,400.00 0.850 1,975,000 1,664,510.00Ever Gotesco 0.160 1,770,000 282,780.00 0.158 80,000 12,280.00Global-Estate 0.98 13,059,000 12,998,220.00 1.01 17,018,000 17,059,550.00Filinvest Land,Inc. 1.94 122,073,000 236,169,710.00 1.93 83,153,000 157,327,720.00Interport À’ 1.28 256,000 329,970.00 1.32 130,000 172,080.00Keppel Properties 4.70 26,300 123,580.00 4.90 46,200 226,958.00Megaworld Prop. 4.11 265,165,000 1,141,272,780.00 4.25 367,981,000 1,488,607,650.00MRC Allied Ind. 0.092 18,040,000 1,622,810.00 0.093 27,030,000 2,442,880.00Phil. Estates Corp. 0.2700 3,110,000 910,800.00 0.2900 12,830,000 3,731,100.00

MAY 16-20, 2016 MAY 9-13, 2016STOCKS Close Volume Value Close Volume Value

Phil. Realty À’ 0.460 5,793,000 2,944,745.00 0.520 9,458,000 4,964,100.00Phil. Tob. Flue Cur & Redry 42.00 156,930 9,178,255.00 31.00 21,400 689,535.00Primex Corp. 8.56 8,500 72,555.00 8.6 76,800 653,330.00Robinson’s Land `B’ 28.20 13,658,100 397,529,445.00 29.50 16,516,800 476,202,775.00Rockwell 1.59 1,133,000 1,797,490.00 1.56 617,000 954,080.00Shang Properties Inc. 3.13 15,000 46,660.00 3.12 94,000 287,970.00SM Prime Holdings 23.50 100,591,500 2,457,043,160.00 23.80 153,230,800 3,760,019,820.00Sta. Lucia Land Inc. 0.9 10,185,000 9,158,960.00 0.92 14,237,000 12,933,960.00Starmalls 6.2 94,300 621,330.00 6.59 5,500 35,564.00Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. 1.040 3,140,000 3,304,330.00 1.060 3,625,000 3,862,160.00Vista Land & Lifescapes 5.040 118,751,400 624,101,696.00 4.950 20,219,000 95,210,510.00

S E R V I C E S2GO Group 7.35 376,500 2,816,867.00 7.56 307,800 2,371,068.00ABS-CBN 52.1 1,251,070 66,388,031.00 53.2 1,298,750 69,500,666.00Acesite Hotel 1.3 133,000 174,450.00 1.34 1,163,000 1,590,520.00APC Group, Inc. 0.630 16,169,000 10,372,570.00 0.590 1,292,000 764,520.00Asian Terminals Inc. 11.1 5,200 60,644.00 11.38 31,100 357,974.00Bloomberry 4.25 24,082,000 108,744,590.00 4.72 37,113,000 170,547,940.00Boulevard Holdings 0.0550 102,710,000 5,786,550.00 0.0580 93,120,000 5,250,200.00Calata Corp. 3.08 3,433,000 10,520,650.00 3.1 5,077,000 15,670,330.00Cebu Air Inc. (5J) 92.65 3,020,950 281,966,472.00 92 3,131,430 284,480,255.00Centro Esc. Univ. 9.55 36,800 350,520.00 9.55 20,200 190,280.00Discovery World 1.88 761,000 1,442,840 1.7 95,000 161,540DFNN Inc. 6.95 406,900 2,839,563.00 6.90 285,200 1,939,157.00Easy Call “Common” 2.80 5,000 14,030.00 FEUI 970 1,290 1,243,600.00 Globe Telecom 2160 320,480 714,674,760 2252 349,585 786,804,700GMA Network Inc. 6.58 936,700 6,226,935.00 6.75 422,200 2,859,948.00Grand Plaza Hotel 21.20 3,300 71,600 23.50 3,100 73,075Harbor Star 1.18 629,000 748,240.00 1.20 206,000 242,290.00I.C.T.S.I. 62.3 9,444,090 597,810,869.50 64 3,516,930 223,542,216.50Imperial Res. À’ 16.70 831,200 14,498,484 16.10 391,400 6,468,076Imperial Res. `B’ 198 4,900 899,150 185 2,460 461,371IPeople Inc. À’ 11.54 83,600 964,096.00 12.98 100 1,298.00IP E-Game Ventures Inc. 0.0110 71,200,000 711,460.00 0.0100 46,400,000 458,150.00IPM Holdings 9.69 3,631,900 35,100,131.00 9.65 1,421,400 13,723,996.00Island Info 0.340 298,500,000 104,641,300.00 0.365 351,310,000 130,913,100.00ISM Communications 1.6900 45,184,000 82,401,660.00 1.8800 48,008,000 92,943,200.00Jackstones 2.5 1,816,000 4,535,770.00 2.09 618,000 1,308,490.00LBC Express 10.68 261,700 2,719,168.00 11.3 14,900 163,118.00Leisure & Resorts 7.68 134,700 1,049,463.00 7.74 524,000 3,996,374.00Liberty Telecom 4.17 6,972,000 31,993,690.00 4.50 6,713,000 29,804,540.00Lorenzo Shipping 1.19 60,000 68,470.00 1.28 11,000 13,600.00Macroasia Corp. 2.66 48,000 127,030.00 2.80 2,000 5,600.00Manila Broadcasting 20.00 19,100 388,167 22.20 1,100 24,044Manila Bulletin 0.580 1,354,000 828,840.00 0.580 210,000 121,790.00Manila Jockey 1.98 533,000 1,074,710.00 2 883,000 1,766,120.00Melco Crown 2.23 23,752,000 54,607,250.00 2.38 28,336,000 67,077,710.00Metro Retail 3.93 9,025,000 35,994,020.00 4.06 24,027,000 97,356,710.00NOW Corp. 2.960 79,853,000 236,011,150.00 2.800 96,834,000 232,636,900.00Pacific Online Sys. Corp. 17.1 527,000 9,089,408.00 17.56 5,100 87,798.00PAL Holdings Inc. 4.90 141,200 713,371 5.13 212,100 1,075,199Paxys Inc. 2.41 18,000 43,420.00 Phil. Seven Corp. 114.90 157,790 17,679,260.00 108.50 1,980 214,746.00Philweb.Com Inc. 23.85 271,700 6,414,190.00 23.50 487,100 11,205,980.00PLDT Common 1660.00 746,140 1,277,401,585.00 1726.00 688,105 1,182,803,595.00PremiereHorizon 0.395 17,380,000 7,084,100.00 0.420 2,050,000 828,350.00Premium Leisure 0.880 40,882,000 36,948,780.00 0.930 100,210,000 90,133,990.00Puregold 41.70 23,249,400 975,078,020.00 42.10 31,589,500 1,327,470,480.00Robinsons Retail 77.65 5,621,580 446,932,420.00 82.95 8,929,320 723,828,291.00SBS Phil. Corp. 6.58 8,629,300 55,846,966.00 6.20 1,478,100 9,206,254.00SSI Group 2.84 60,121,000 175,954,640.00 3.16 32,097,000 103,486,710.00STI Holdings 0.580 18,106,000 10,758,410.00 0.600 6,016,000 3,568,760.00Transpacific Broadcast 1.94 272,000 546,540.00 1.98 83,000 155,810.00Travellers 3.37 5,076,000 17,385,650.00 3.43 3,465,000 11,869,430.00Waterfront Phils. 0.350 2,110,000 800,050.00 0.385 5,530,000 2,055,000.00Yehey 7.000 3,080,600 20,891,976.00 5.700 927,900 5,265,650.00

MINING & OILAbra Mining 0.0042 3,546,000,000 15,274,500.00 0.0043 2,696,000,000 11,514,000.00Apex À’ 2.44 21,694,000 61,891,990.00 2.01 177,000 363,460.00Atlas Cons. À’ 4.53 5,175,800 24,834,120.00 4.20 366,000 1,547,690.00Atok-Big Wedge À’ 13.88 6,000 80,980.00 14.00 36,400 468,654.00Basic Energy Corp. 0.240 1,320,000 316,690.00 0.244 220,000 53,010.00Benguet Corp À’ 8.0000 139,400 1,120,417.00 7.8000 101,300 789,939.00Benguet Corp `B’ 7.6500 56,500 436,297.00 7.7500 60,500 468,553.00Century Peak Metals Hldgs 0.67 725,000 506,920.00 0.67 3,574,000 2,445,840.00Coal Asia 0.530 12,402,000 6,676,370.00 0.510 7,739,000 4,085,160.00Dizon 9.00 765,100 7,191,222.00 8.70 807,400 6,921,935.00Ferronickel 0.890 140,075,000 126,558,440.00 0.860 97,812,000 83,891,730.00Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. 0.295 17,280,000 5,356,300.00 0.305 5,200,000 1,540,250.00Lepanto À’ 0.285 970,570,000 276,435,210.00 0.255 130,130,000 32,894,550.00Lepanto `B’ 0.295 53,060,000 16,067,200.00 0.270 5,330,000 1,437,850.00Manila Mining À’ 0.0160 4,850,900,000 76,160,100.00 0.0130 641,600,000 8,331,700.00Manila Mining `B’ 0.0160 1,052,400,000 17,464,700.00 0.0140 214,800,000 2,917,200.00Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. 1.95 2,464,000 4,856,550.00 2.05 1,735,000 3,469,550.00Nickelasia 4.89 18,978,200 94,397,367.00 5 15,097,100 76,078,117.00Nihao Mineral Resources 2.6 8,794,000 23,091,400.00 2.65 2,195,000 5,651,880.00Omico 0.6100 1,565,000 1,009,910.00 0.6000 889,000 521,930.00Oriental Peninsula Res. 1.3500 3,199,000 4,538,330.00 1.3500 1,033,000 1,400,420.00Oriental Pet. À’ 0.0110 248,100,000 2,509,100.00 0.0093 75,000,000 703,300.00Oriental Pet. `B’ 0.0098 12,400,000 126,720.00 0.0095 4,000,000 37,900.00Petroenergy Res. Corp. 3.91 759,000 3,147,550.00 3.95 137,000 524,820.00Philex À’ 7.48 32,845,900 230,079,980.00 6.22 5,904,800 36,522,547.00PhilexPetroleum 4.13 82,157,000 340,317,830.00 3.15 56,504,000 164,513,990.00Philodrill Corp. À’ 0.0140 1,234,300,000 16,183,000.00 0.0130 294,600,000 3,563,000.00Semirara Corp. 127.00 3,218,090 410,548,224.00 127.00 3,074,240 394,911,604.00TA Petroleum 3.9 21,214,000 91,476,200.00 3.53 6,547,000 23,528,660.00United Paragon 0.0130 1,211,700,000 17,631,500.00 0.0160 2,090,300,000 31,705,500.00

PREFERREDABS-CBN Holdings Corp. 51.6 3,197,440 165,224,255.50 50.55 2,963,430 153,717,587.50Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B1’ 525 19,750 10,369,070.00 Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ 535 62,760 33,576,600 535 47,960 25,469,200First Gen F 116.3 1,210 140,723.00 First Gen G 118 145,240 17,117,730.00 116 30,300 3,514,800.00FPH Pref C 510 35,000 17,850,000.00 510 99,870 50,933,700.00GLOBE PREF P 525 28,150 14,811,210.00 530 200 106,000.00GMA Holdings Inc. 6.26 50,000 316,372.00 6.6 216,400 1,413,600.00Leisure & Resort Pref. 1.1 505,000 557,790 1.09 11,000 11,990MWIDE PREF 108.6 122,100 13,310,893.00 109 3,460 379,228.00PCOR-Preferred A 1075 1,665 1,762,995.00 1026 2,180 2,236,690.00PCOR-Preferred B 1050 1,265 1,351,550.00 1085 350 376,900.00PF Pref 2 1020 4,565 4,660,580.00 1022 4,750 4,854,680.00PNX PREF 3A 106 19,240 2,039,095.00 106 550 57,800.00PNX PREF 3B 106.1 4,500 497,288.00 110 1,500 165,000.00SMC Preferred B 79 10,000 790,000.00 78 1,500 117,000.00SMC Preferred C 81 153,690 12,340,204.00 80 64,330 5,151,455.50SMC Preferred D 76.1 2,900 220,560.00 76.15 1,800 137,070.00SMC Preferred E 77.5 13,410 1,039,245.00 76.2 12,500 952,920.00SMC Preferred F 77.3 60,120 4,664,227.00 77.5 6,840 529,413.00SMC Preferred G 78 76,750 5,984,500.00 78 56,260 4,387,884.00SMC Preferred H 75.5 646,160 48,678,536.00 75.5 209,060 15,686,652.50SMC Preferred I 75.8 74,580 5,636,225.00 75.2 235,920 17,740,771.00Swift Pref 3.7 290,000 1,039,970.00

WARRANTS & BONDSLeisure & Resort Warr. 2.880 578,000 1,716,300.00 3.040 889,000 2,694,260.00

S M EAlterra Capital 4.03 86,302,300 665,804,598.00 6.73 4,029,000 22,784,020.00Makati Fin. Corp. 3.94 170,000 633,250.00 4.03 640,000 2,552,130.00Italpinas 3.01 464,000 1,388,180.00 3.07 1,112,000 3,444,550.00Xurpas 17.38 14,795,700 266,528,896.00 17.9 16,514,900 284,930,824.00

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDSFirst Metro ETF 119.8 109,550 13,411,496.00 123 59,540 7,175,299.00

WEEKLY MOST TRADED STOCKS VOLUME

Manila Mining À’ 4,850,900,000Abra Mining 3,546,000,000Philodrill Corp. À’ 1,234,300,000United Paragon 1,211,700,000Manila Mining `B’ 1,052,400,000Lepanto À’ 970,570,000Security Bank 462,850,233Island Info 298,500,000Megaworld Prop. 265,165,000Oriental Pet. À’ 248,100,000

STOCKS VALUE

Ayala Land `B’ 3,086,191,025.00SM Prime Holdings 2,457,043,160.00Ayala Corp À’ 2,108,516,190.00SM Investments Inc. 2,098,442,605.00JG Summit Holdings 2,011,611,597.50Universal Robina 1,867,068,152.00Metrobank 1,717,282,103.50Security Bank 1,664,802,342.00Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 1,298,481,802Jollibee Foods Corp. 1,293,375,104.00



B3

Century Pacific joins MSCI Index

Market likely to dropon US plan to hike rates

Robinsons Land’s award. Property developer Robinsons Land Corp. under the leadership of president Freder-ick Go receives another award, this time for The Radiance Manila Bay which won the Best Residential High-Rise Develop-ment in the Philippines award for 2016-2017 at the prestigious International Property Awards. Located along the historic Roxas Boulevard in Manila, the two-tower residential commu-nity The Radiance Manila Bay is one of RLC’s prime projects under its urban lifestyle brand Robinsons Residences. Shown during the awarding ceremony at Shangri-La Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia are (from left) Stuart Shield of the International Property Awards, RLC business development manager Czarina Lugue, senior vice president for Robinsons Communities, Robin-sons Residences and Robinsons Luxuria Mybelle Aragon-Gobio and Nishant Grover representing Grohe.

STOCKS are expected move side-ways this week with a downward bias on concerns the US Federal Reserve will resume raising interest rates in June.

Analysts said talks of possible in-crease in US interest rates would trig-ger movement of “hot money” away from emerging stocks, including the Philippines, towards developed economies.

RCBC Securities Ralph Christian Bodollo said investors would also continue to monitor pronounce-ments from presumptive president Rodrigo Duterte regarding Cabinet appointments and action plan for his six-year term.

“With most of 1Q results already out, announcements from the in-coming Duterte administration that will add flesh to its action program for the next six years and offshore events would set the tone for next week’s session,” Bodollo said.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, closed lower by 1.9 percent last week to close at 7.299.03 on May 20, while the broader all-share index dropped

0.6 percent to 4,385.98.The local bourse tumbled even

as the government reported strong first-quarter economic growth on May 19.

The government said the first-quarter gross domestic product grew 6.9 percent, its fastest pace in nearly three years, driven by strong consumer spending ahead of the elections.

Except for the mining and oil in-dex, which jumped 5.3 percent, all other major indices ended in the red, led by services, which dropped 4.3 percent, industrial which declined 2 percent and property which lost 1.5 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers last week by P252 million, as total foreign selling reached P24.69 billion while foreign buying amounted to P23.43 billion.

Among top gainers last week were mining firms Manila Mining “A” which climbed 23 percent to P0.016, Apex Mining Co. which jumped 21.4 percent to P2.44 and Philex Mining Corp. which advanced 20.2 percent to P7.48. Jenniffer B. Austria

By Jenniffer B. Austria

CENTURY Pacific Food Inc., the Philippines’ largest canned food company, is set to make its debut on the MSCI Philippine Small Cap Index on May 31.

“We are excited about the pros-pect of attracting more investors to our story,” said Century Pacific chief finance officer Oscar Pobre said in a statement.

The MSCI Philippines Index, de-veloped and monitored by Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc., is a basket of 19 Philippine Stock Ex-change-listed stocks that “measures the performance of the large and mid-cap segments of the Philippine market”. The index covers “about 85 percent” of the entire Philippine stock universe.

Century Pacific said its recent in-

clusion in the MSCI index was a result of a semi-annual review con-ducted by MSCI, the leading pro-vider of stock market indices and investment decision tools to clients worldwide.

Century Pacific would join heavy-weights Manila Water Co. Inc., First Gen. Corp. and Double Dragon Properties Inc. in the closely tracked index.

Other new additions to the Philip-pine small-cap index were gaming resort operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp. and technology firm Xurpas Inc.

“The domestic economy con-tinues to provide growth oppor-tunities for a company like ours and we look forward to growing with our shareholders, as we ex-ecute on our business plans and strategies,” Pobre said.

Century Pacific reported a net income of P 636 million in the first quarter, up 45 percent from a year ago.

Consolidated revenues grew 14 percent year-on-year, with

the company generating P23.32 billion in sales in the first quar-ter from P20.44 billion a year before.

This was on the back of an 18 percent year-on-year expansion in the branded businesses’ top line, offsetting the flat perfor-mancefrom non-branded tuna export.

Sales outside of Metro Manila outperformed as the company’s distribution infrastructure im-

proved and modern retailers pursued aggressive expansion plans.

Growth in the convenience store channel was particularly strong in light of new rollouts.

“So far, 2016 has been show-ing similar trends with good macroeconomic tailwinds, and possibly election-related spend-ing, benefitting us during the first three months of the year,” Pobre said.

B4

iPhone boosts Smart’spostpaid subscribers

Globe’smobile datarevenuessoar 62%

State corporations received P8.2-b subsidies in Q1

PSE-SSS partnership. Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. and the Social Security System sign a memorandum of agreement to undertake cooperation initiatives in the areas of market education and small, medium, emerging board promotion. The agreement is in support of the efforts of the PSE-PCCI Capital Market Development Committee. Shown during the signing of the agreement are (from left) CMDC co-chairman and PSE director Edgardo Lacson, CMDC co-chairman and PSE chief operating officer Roel Refran, PSE president and chief executive Hans Sicat, PSE chairman Jose Pardo, SSS chairman Juan Santos, SSS president and chief executive Emilio De Quiros Jr. and SSS commissioner Diana Pardo-Aguilar.

By Darwin G. Amojelar

SMART Communications Inc., the wireless unit of PLDT Inc., said postpaid subscriber base expanded 25 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, boosted by higher sales of iPhone units.

Smart said it acquired new postpaid subscribers at a much faster rate than rival Globe Telecom Inc.’s 4-percent in-crease.

Smart grew its postpaid sub-scriber base by 322,000 to end the first quarter with 1.6 million/ Globe’s postpaid subscribers stood at 2.5 million.

Smart said postpaid revenues rose 16 percent year-on-year, or more than five times faster than

competition’s 3-percent revenue growth.

Smart added P614 million to its postpaid revenues, ending the quarter with P4.3 billion.

“Smart’s continued postpaid leadership can be attributed to our compelling device offers, improved customer experience, as well as to the groundbreak-ing content partnerships that have enabled us to offer a wid-er array of digital services that

are relevant to our customers,” Smart and PLDT executive vice president and head of consumer business Ariel Fermin said.

Smart achieved all-time high iPhone sales in the first quar-ter, with sales volume up by 60 percent year-on-year. This was recorded after Smart launched postpaid offers for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

Also driving postpaid the growth was the wide breadth of video and digital content made available by partnerships with the world’s content leaders, ac-cording to Smart.

Smart said it also teamed up with Uber to provide passengers with free in-car Smart WiFi – a first in Southeast Asia. With the service, more Filipinos have ex-perienced the Smart Life even

while struck in traffic or breez-ing through the metropolis.

Fermin said Smart’s postpaid growth indicated enhanced con-sumer trust in the company, as it boosted efforts to improve cus-tomer experience.

“We are happy that Filipi-nos trust us to fulfill their vari-ous mobile needs. We value this trust, and we are continuously improving our network so our customers would truly live digi-tal and enjoy a Smart Life,” he said.

PLDT and Smart allocated about P43 billion in capital ex-penditures this year, the bulk of which was budgeted to boost Internet services, including the recently announced initial de-ployment of LTE-Advanced also known as 4.5G.

GLOBE Telecom said mobile data revenues soared 62 percent in the first quarter, amid con-tinuing demand for data servic-es and popularity of data-driven products and applications.

The Ayala-led telco said mobile data revenues hit P9.1 billion in the January-March period, up from P5.6 billion re-ported in the same period last year.

The company said total data revenues, when lumped with home broadband and cor-porate data revenues of P3.5 billion and P2.3 billion, now represented 50 percent of total service revenues, up from 36 percent last year.

Globe said mobile data rev-enues also accounted for 40 percent of total mobile service revenues in the first quarter, up from its 26-percent contribu-tion in the first quarter of 2015.

Globe president and chief ex-ecutive Ernest Cu said mobile data growth drew support from market-relevant data offers, availability of low-priced data capable devices and a strong and reliable data network.

“We believe that the Globe brand is extremely strong in its positioning as the smartphone network of choice and the data growth is reflective of that. As the strategy is to continue to be aggressive in the market, we continue to make investments to enhance our wireless net-work so we have more capac-ity on the ground. We expect to see mobile data business to continue growing,” said Cu.

A steady growth in the company’s mobile customers, reaching 57.3 million at the end of the first quarter from 48.4 million a year ago, also provided support for mobile data, Cu said.

The company’s mobile reve-nues totaled P23.1 billion in the first quarter, up 7 percent from P21.6 billion a year earlier.

This supported consolidated revenues to reach P29.9 billion, or 14 percent higher than P26.2 billion a year earlier. Net profit rose 3 percent to P4.3 billion from P4.2 billion.

Globe said following a suc-cessful network modernization program that saw mobile data exploding in the Philippines, it embarked on another nation-wide infrastructure program to enhance the country’s Internet experience involving capacity expansion for mobile network using different technologies including 3G, LTE and even Wi-Fi.

Mobile data explosion in the country, amid steady growth in smartphone penetration, re-quires more bandwidth than tra-ditional voice and text messag-ing services. Darwin G. Amojelar

By Gabrielle H. Binaday

STATE-OWNED and controlled corporations received P8.24 bil-lion worth of subsidies from the national government to sus-tain their operations in the fist quarter, data from the Bureau of Treasury show.

Subsidies extended by the government to GOCCs swelled from P3.696 billion it spent in the same quarter in 2015.

Bulk of the amount went to the National Irrigation Admin-istration with P2.06 billion,

followed by Subic Bay Metro-politan Authority with P1.467 billion; National Electrification Administration, P1.011 billion; and Philippine Children’s Medi-cal Center, P592 million.

Data showed that in March alone, subsidies jumped 35.9 percent to P3.889 billion from P2.862 billion recorded in the same month in 2015.

The biggest recipient of gov-ernment subsidies in March was NIA with P1.658 billion followed by NEA with P1.011 billion, Bases Conversion De-

velopment Authority with P401 million and Social Housing Fi-nance Corp. with P243 million.

Subsidies given by the govern-ment to GOCCs cover the agen-cies’ operational expenses that are not supported by corporate revenues which may be spent on specific programs and projects.

The government plans to in-crease support for GOCCs in 2016, as the Budget of Expen-ditures and Sources of Financ-ing document for the fiscal year 2016 showed the proposed al-lotment for GOCCs would in-

crease to P127.1 billion from P75 billion in 2015 and P80.3 billion in 2014.

Of the total proposed amount, P96.1 billion would be in the form of subsidies, P31 billion equity and P26.5 million net lending.

Subsidies to GOCCs declined 3 percent last year to P78.01 bil-lion from P80.44 billion in 2014, the biggest annual amount thus far. Philippine Health Insurance Corp. was the biggest recipient of government subsidy last year, with P34.87 billion.


M O N D AY : M AY 2 3 , 2 0 1 6

BUSINESS B5

Petron eyes 12 TPLEx stations

Epson stillbullish onPH business

Govt set to turn over 32-MW power barge to SPC

Resorts World’s Quill award. Resorts World Manila, the country’s premier integrated entertainment and tourism destination, bags its second Philippine Quill Award for the company’s Grand Fiesta Manila yuletide event during a ceremony at the Marriott Grand Ballroom in Pasay City. Show during the awarding ceremony are (from left) Resorts World Manila director for marketing communications Gerald Magtoto, chief operating officer Stephen Reilly, chief integrated marketing officer Martin Paz and director for corporate communications Owen Cammayo.


OIL refiner and distributor Petron Corp. plans to establish 12 retail stations along the 88.5-kilometer, two-lane Tarlac-Pangasin-an-La Union Expressway, a top executive said over the weekend.

Petron president and chief ex-ecutive Ramon Ang told report-ers the TPLEx stations would be a part of the company’s expan-sion program.

“Yes, the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway, we think it has higher volume because it’s long distance. Those who use TPLEx go to Baguio, Ilocos, La Union,” he said.

Ang clarified that before Pe-

tron could put up any station along TPLEx, it would need to get an approval from the Toll Regulatory Board.

“Because of its length, [TPLEx can accommodate] six [stations] going north and six going south,” he said.

Petron’s parent firm San Miguel Corp., through the Pri-vate Infra DevCorp., the con-cessionaire in TPLEx, provides

management services, toll col-lection, traffic safety and se-curity management, toll road maintenance and other related services along the expressway.

TPLEx connects the central and northern Luzon provinces to Manila through the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and the North Luzon Expressway.

Petron targets to put up over 250 new service stations in the Philippines and Malaysia in 2016. There are nearly 2,800 Petron stations combined in the two countries.

Petron expects net income to reach P15 billion to P18 billion this year, up from P6.27 billion in 2015.

Ang said the projected higher net income would largely come

from the recently upgraded 180,000-barrel-per-day refinery.

“Driven by a more efficient oil refinery. The oil refinery has a liquid yield of 60, 66 to 67 percent but with the upgrade, it’s now 92 to 93 percent,” Ang said.

Petron’s $2-billion refinery upgrade started full commercial operation in January with high-er utilization rate and increased production of higher-value fuel. It utilizes cost-efficient heavier and petrochemicals.

He said the company would also continue with a retail ex-pansion program both in the Philippines and in Malaysia.

“In Malaysia, we had a mas-sive gas station network expan-sion. We just completed the re-

branding,” Ang said.He said the company would

also upgrade the Port Dickson refinery in Malaysia. The com-pany rebranded to Petron some 550 stations which it acquired from Exxon Mobil.

Petron reported consolidated net income of P2.8 billion in the first quarter, up from P257 mil-lion over the same period last year.

The company’s strong perfor-mance was boosted by higher sales from local and regional operations.

“We are now experiencing the full benefits of our strategic pro-grams and we are gaining mo-mentum as we reach new levels of growth and profitability,” Ang said.

By Darwin G. Amojelar

EPSON Philippines Corp. re-mains optimistic about its Philip-pine operations, but an executive said the company’s expansion would depend on the policy of the next government.

“[He is] very powerful guy, but I’m not sure with the new policy from the new government, but it depends on the new president direction. If he wants to focus on education in this case we have so many business opportunity for projector but its’ up to the presi-dent’s direction,” Epson Philip-pines president and country manager Toshimitsu Tanaka said, referring to presumptive presi-dent Rodrigo Duterte.

Tanaka said “safety and security” were the two critical points that an international company was looking at a market like the Philippines.

“If he focuses on safety and security to be improved, maybe more international companies will invest in the Philippines,” Tanaka said.

“At this moment, the Philip-pines is the highest-growth coun-try in Asean, so we want to focus on the Philippines but it depends on the new president,” he said.

The Japanese manufacturer of inkjet printer and projector is build-ing a new factory in Batangas, which is expected to be completed next year. Actual operation of the new factory is seen in April or May 2018.

The state-of-the-art facilities are being constructed inside the existing site in Lipa, Batangas.

“We will still produce inkjet and projector not only for local consumption but also for export. We are looking at Asean, Amer-ica, Eastern Europe and China,” Tanaka said.

Tanaka said once the Philippine factory was completed, it would be Epson’s biggest manufacturing plant in the region.

Epson’s factory will increase annual capacity by 1.2 million units of inkjet printers and pro-jectors. The current manufactur-ing plant is producing 6 million units of inkjet printers and pro-jectors annually.

THE government is set to turn over the 32-megawatt Power Barge 104 in Davao City to the winning bidder next month, the top executive of National Power Corp. said over the weekend.

“That’s the tentative schedule,” NPC president Gladys Sta. Rita said.

Napocor operates PB 104 in Davao City, pending the priva-tization of the facility while the Power Sector Assets and Liabili-ties Management Corp. manages the assets and liabilities of NPC as mandated by the Electric Pow-er Industry Reform Act of 2001.

SPC Island Power Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of SPC Power Corp., earlier submitted the highest offer for the negoti-ated sale of PB 104.

“SIPC was declared the negoti-ating party with the highest offer after it bested two other compa-nies with its P218,899,999 pro-posal,” PSALM officer-in-charge Lourdes Alzona said earlier.

Two other companies joined the negotiated sale, includ-ing Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. and D.M. Wenceslao & Associates Inc.

PB 104 was commissioned in

1981 and started operation in 1985. It is located at the Hol-cim Compound in Ilang, Davao City.

PSALM earlier sought the opinion of the Office of the Gov-ernment Corporate Council on whether it could proceed with a negotiated sale of PB 104, after three failed auctions.

The bidding for PB 104 was de-clared a failure in October 2013 after the two bidders did not meet the reserve requirement.

The move to privatize PB 104 followed the successful turn-over of PB 101, 102 and 103

to Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Corp. last year.

PSALM signed an agreement with Trans-Asia for the sale of the three barges for P420 million.

Trans-Asia won the bid after engaging in a negotiated pro-curement with PSALM follow-ing the decision of the highest bidder SPC Power to withdraw its bid.

PBs 101, 102, 103 and 104 are 32-MW barge-mounted diesel generating power stations with four identical Hitachi-Sulzer die-sel generator units rated at 8 MW each. Alena Mae S. Flores



B6

Mitsubishi to buildEuro-4 vehicles for PH

DBS sees economicgrowthat 6.5%

On addressing global warming

JEFFREY FERRERGREEN LIGHT

Asean agriculture meeting. Agriculture assistant secretary Paz Benavidez II (inset) opens the 4th meeting of the Ase-an sanitary and phytosani-tary contact points in Bohol with eight member coun-tries in attendance. The annual ASCP meeting aims to regularly update and dis-cuss regulatory measures to effectively implement policies and complement sanitary and phytosanitary initiatives among Asean member states. Shown are the delegates from Asean members.

By Othel V. Campos

MITSUBISHI Motor Philip-pines Corp. said it will intro-duce Euro-4 compliant mul-tipurpose vehicles in 2018 to replace locally-manufactured Adventure and L-300 vehicles.

MMPC vice president Dante Santos said company engineers and designers in Japan and the Philippines were working together to prepare the new speci� cations for the diesel-fed vehicles.

“We’re trying to cram to be able to � t in the correct model but what we can do is to main-tain the same concept. We’re creating a new engine compliant to Euro-4 standards but we will maintain the concept of family-cum-busi-ness use,” he said.

� e government will enforce Euro-4 stan-dards by Jan. 1, 2018, forcing car companies to stop the production of non-compliant vehicles including Mitsubishi Adventure and L-300 chassis cabs.

Mitsubishi said it was trying to accelerate the design and improve the speci� cations of the new models that would not veer away so much from the original concept of Adventure and L-300.

“We want something like that because that is good for working and we want a family busi-ness thing like the Adventure. We will not go away from those two principles,” said Santos.

� e company is also keen on maintaining the high level of local content for the new models that it achieved for Adventure and L-300 at 67 percent and 61 percent, respectively.

Mitsubishi said it was the only company that was able to have more than 50 percent lo-cal content for locally-assembled vehicles.

Santos said MMPC would still produce Ad-venture and L-300 on calculated volumes until

the retirement of the models by end-2017.� e company said with the new models, it

would infuse additional capital on top of the initial P4.3 billion it announced previously for compliance with the Comprehensive Automo-tive Resurgence Strategy program.

� e program o� ers as much as P27 billion worth of � scal and non-� scal incentives to three approved participants.

MMPC is one of the two car companies that submitted its intention to join the program and plans to enroll the Mitsubishi Mirage as its entry model.

MMPC said with the entry of Mirage into the production line, it expected production volume to increase to over 35,000 units by 2017, or 66 percent higher than expected pro-duction in 2016.

MMPC remains the country’s second big-gest vehicle seller and manufacturer.

It recently celebrated a new milestone at its Sta. Rosa, Laguna plant as production reached 600,000 units in March 2016.

WHAT is global warming? We o� en hear this term and it seems to be a substantial and continu-ous issue for our country, but why can’t we � nd a permanent solution for this? Why can’t we prevent it? Who really created this issue?

Changes in the Earth’s climateGlobal warming is the term

used to describe a gradual in-crease in the average temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere and its oceans, a change that is believed to be permanently changing the Earth’s climate. � e increased volumes of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released by the burning of fossil fuels, land clearing, agriculture and other human activities are be-lieved to be the primary sources

of the global warming that has occurred over the past 50 years.

Global warming threatens the future of the planet and there is both an urgent need and a moral imperative to reduce fossil fuel consumption. I think I can de� ne global warming as a silent killer, endangering our lives and even our planet. Global warming also exacerbates the poverty level among farmers and � shermen and creates new hunger spots. Be-cause of the temperature change, many � sh will die, thus a� ect-ing the � shermen, reducing their catch, a� ecting the amount they can sell and even the food they put on the table for their family.

Farmers will experience sig-ni� cant decrease in crops yields due to either very wet or very dry conditions. As a result of lower yields, together with the pressure of a growing population, food prices will go up, making food less a� ordable for those living in poverty, resulting in increased hunger and malnutrition.

Campaign for awarenessIn the a� ermath of the recent

elections, I would like to raise

this issue to our newly elected o� cials. We can prevent or even lessen global warming by instituting three actions. First is awareness. I think the govern-ment should launch an informa-tion campaign to educate people on global warming and how this a� ects our daily life.

Nowadays, we all live busy lives, trying to earn money, to rise up the corporate ladder, to care for our family that we have no time to read up and educate ourselves on global warming on our own. A strong campaign for awareness must be the � rst action of the government so we will be aware on how directly it a� ects our living and the future genera-tions. With increase awareness, they will be conscious enough on how they act more responsibly, especially when they are driving a car, or having a cigarette, or burning trash in the backyard—those small things that can have a big impact on Earth. It really matters.

Maximize natural resourcesSecond is to maximize our

natural resources. We are blessed

with bountiful resources and we should conserve it and not destroy it. With proper care, we can use these resources wisely. Let’s advocate planting trees. Let’s invest in green jobs and clean energy. Let’s encour-age smart investments in green, job-creating industries.

Investing in clean energy industries, such as wind and solar, as well as enhancing en-ergy efficiency programs and retooling manufacturing plants can lead us out of this crisis and into a new clean energy econo-my. This is a win-win situation because at the same way we will provide a job to the people for the benefit of our country.

Build better communities and transportation systemsLastly, please build better

communities and transporta-tion systems. Shorter drive equates to less pollution. Less time behind the wheel means less money spent on gas—and more time for you. Plus, stud-ies show that a neighborhood where people walk more is healthier, safer and friendlier.

And when people walk to the store, the office, or the movie theater instead of driving, we slow down global warming. Each “smart growth” commu-nity reduces global warming pollution by 20 to 40 percent compared to the norm.

It’s never too late, but we have to start today. We can still save our Mother Earth for today and future generations. It’s a matter of awareness and discipline on how we live and what to live for.

� e author is an MBA student at the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business, De La Salle University. � is essay is part of a journal he kept in ful� llment of the requirements of the course, Lasallian Business Leadership with Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics. Visit his blog at https://o� ciallyje� .wordpress.com/

� e views expressed here are the author’s and do not necessarily re� ect the o� cial position of DLSU, its faculty, and its administrators.

By Julito G. Rada

THE Philippine economy will not likely attain a 7-percent expansion this year, as the strong investment growth is expected to moderate in the coming months, a Singapor-ean bank said over the weekend.

“Given that there has been a front-loading of investment ahead of the May elections, however, we reckon that there will be a mod-eration in growth momentum go-ing forward. � e sharp spike in investment growth over the past two quarters is not sustainable,” DBS Bank said in a report.

It said investment growth aver-aged 24.9 percent in the past two quarters. On a two-quarter average basis, the bank said the � rst quarter to second quarter of 2010 was the only other occasion when invest-ment growth was above 20 percent.

“Not surprisingly, it was also a pre-election period. At this junc-ture, we reckon that full-year GDP growth will be closer to 6.5 percent rather than 7 percent,” DBS said.

It said investment growth was a robust 25.6 percent in the � rst quarter, the strongest in � ve years. Private consumption growth also reached 7 percent, the highest in three years. � is resulted in a GDP growth of 6.9 percent, higher than 5 percent a year ago.

DBS said despite the possibility of not growing by 7 percent in 2016, “as long as the region is concerned, the Philippines remains as one of the fastest-growing economies, up there with India and China.”

Meanwhile, Nomura Group said the Philippine economy had the potential to grow by 6.5 per-cent this year, higher than the revised 5.9 percent in 2015, as the incoming administration of president-elect Rodrigo Duterte was not expected to veer away from the economic reforms of the Aquino administration.

B7CESAR BARRIOQUINTOE D I T O R

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M O N D AY : M AY 2 3 , 2 0 1 6

WORLD

Drone ‘likely killed’ Mansour

Erdoganloyalistnext PMin Turkey

Gala. Singer and songwriter Jordin Sparks performs onstage at Keep Memory Alive’s 20th Annual Power Of Love Gala at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 21 in Las Vegas. AFP

Spain’s British expatriatesworry as Brexit threatens

Cyclone leaves thousands homeless in Bangladesh

ANKARA—Turkey’s Transport Minister Binali Yildirim is set to be appointed head of the ruling party and the country’s new prime minister Sunday, consolidating strongman President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s grip on power.

The 60-year-old replaces in both jobs Ahmet Davutoglu, a former foreign minister who promoted his own ambitious agenda but threw in the towel after a power struggle with Erdogan.

Yildirim—a longstanding and faithful ally of Erdogan—is the only candidate at an extraordinary congress of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) that will choose the party chairman.

In a carefully-choreographed sequence of events, later in the day Erdogan is due to hand Yildirim the mandate of prime minister, with a new government expected to be formed in the next days.

Analysts expect Yildirim to be a more pliant figure for Erdogan than Davutoglu, as the president presses on with his plan to create a presidential system in Turkey to further consolidate his powers.

Transport minister for almost all of the last one-and-a-half decades, Yildirim has been Erdogan’s point-man for the implementation of his grandiose road and rail infrastruc-ture projects.

“There appears to be more har-mony” between Yildirim and the president than in the Davutoglu era, Deniz Zeyrek, the Ankara bu-reau chief of the Hurriyet daily, told AFP at the congress.

“Binali Yildirim is a more tech-nocrat figure and a man of proj-ects,” he said.

Not known for his charisma, Yildirim made a glitzy entrance in front of thousands at the congress, clad in football scarves and throwing car-nations into the crowds to the sound of thumping Turkish pop music.

Divisions between Davutoglu and Erdogan had been boiling for months over a series of issues including Turkey’s battle against Kurdish militants, an accord with the European Union on refugees and the shift from parliamentary to presidential system.

Erdogan’s critics have accused him of authoritarianism, pointing to the growing number of investiga-tions against journalists along with a highly controversial bill adopted by parliament on Friday that would lift immunity for dozens of pro-Kurdish and other MPs and could see them evicted from parliament.

“He [Yildiri]) will only have the role of deputy to Erdogan in the [presidential system] that he wants to put in place,” said political com-mentator Gokhan Bacik.

Another critical task facing the new prime minister will be to ne-gotiate with the European Union on a crunch visa deal, a key plank of an accord aimed at easing the EU’s migrant crisis.

The visa deal has been in jeopardy over Ankara’s reluctance to alter its counter-terror laws, a requirement of the agreement, prompting Erdogan to make a series of critical statements about the EU in recent weeks. AFP

BENALMADENA, Spain—At the aptly-named “Euro Bar” in Spain’s Benalmadena, the outdoor patio is brimming with drinkers basking in the warm afternoon sun, English wafting from the tables in this built-up expa-triate haunt on the Costa del Sol.

Among them is Pauline, a pensioner who moved to the southern Spanish coast in 2011 with her hus-band in search of warmer climes for her arthritis—one of up to one million Britons living in Spain, many eying a potential Brexit with trepidation.

“We’d go back,” says the slim, tanned, 69-year-old from the chilly northern British city of Leeds, sip-ping a pint of beer as she ponders the consequences of Britain leaving the European Union.

Like countless retired British nationals who have swapped the infamous rain back home for the sun of Spain and the lure of cheaper property, Pauline—who refused to give her last name—is most con-cerned about health care.

Apart from arthritis, she suffers from a thyroid condition for which she needs regular injections and other medication, all of which is covered by Spain’s health care system under EU mechanisms that allow her to get the same treatment as locals.

What would happen if Britons voted to leave the European Union in a June 23 referendum is any-one’s guess, as this would be unprecedented in the history of the 28-member bloc.

“One of the most important aspects of the with-drawal negotiations would be determining the ac-quired rights of the two million or so UK citizens living in other member states,” a British parliamen-tary committee concluded earlier this month.

“This would be a complex and daunting task.”Would Britain reach bilateral agreements with

Spain—and the other remaining EU members—about expatriates’ rights, and how long would that take?

Or would British pensioners be forced to resort to private health care or pay into Spain’s social security system—a costly endeavor either way.

“We wouldn’t be able to afford it... It’s all right for the rich, but it won’t be any good for the ordinary voters,” says Pauline, a former supermarket cashier.

It’s the same story for Irene Davies, who lives 80 kilometers inland in a gated mobile home park where lovingly-tendered avenues lead on one side to a bowling green, and on the other to a red tele-phone box.

The 64-year-old has just finished breakfast at her local restaurant on the outskirts of the village of Mollina.

Nearby, mainly British locals stroll through a week-ly market where After Eight mints and Oxo cubes vie for space with old copies of “Take a Break” magazine.

“There are concerns about health. If we do come out of the EU, I think they’ll find a mass exodus,” she says, pointing out that most of the residents in her mobile home park are roughly 60 to 80 years old. AFP

DHAKA—Thousands of Bangladeshis were left homeless on Sunday after Cyclone Roanu battered the impoverished south-ern coastal region, ripping apart flimsy houses and killing at least 24 people.

The storm on Saturday plowed through low-lying villages in the Chittagong and Barisal regions, where residents described seeing meters-high walls of water that caught some unaware.

Authorities evacuated more than 500,000 people to shelters before the cyclone hit with winds of up to 88 kilometers per hour. They later weakened.

But officials said thousands of others along the coast were left stranded in their homes as sea water ripped through dykes and flooded dozens of villages.

“Before we could realize, the whole village was washed away by a huge wall of water,” said Abu Siddique, a councilor from Banshkhali district in Chittagong.

“It came at least six hours early, giving the villagers no time to rush to cyclone shelters. Those who died were caught by a sudden rush of water,” he told AFP.

“They (authorities) said the storm surge would be four-feet high but in some places the water

that hit our shore was as high as ten feet.”

Bangladesh’s disaster manage-ment chief said thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed and 24 people had been killed in total, up from 23 recorded on Saturday.

About half of those who died were from the Chittagong region which bore the brunt of the storm, Disaster Management Department head Reaz Ahmed told AFP.

“Some 80,000 tin-and-mud-built homes were damaged by the storm in the coastal regions including 23,000 homes which were complet-ed knocked down,” Ahmed said.

Authorities were sending relief

supplies including rice and other dry food to affected areas, where many poor residents already have very little and scratch a living as small fishermen or farmers.

Television footage showed vil-lagers sitting helplessly in front of their flattened houses.

“In a moment my home was de-stroyed,” an unnamed villager in Bhola island off the Barisal coast told private Independent televi-sion.

Over 80 villages in Barisal were flooded after a rain-swollen dam burst and forced residents to flee, the Daily Star newspaper said on Sunday. AFP

M O N D AY : M AY 2 3 , 2 0 1 6

B8 CESAR BARRIOQUINTOE D I T O R

[email protected]

Arrival. Mexican actor Diego Luna and US actress Erin Moriarty laugh with US actor Mel Gibson and French director Jean-Francois Richet as they arrive on May 21, 2016, for the screening of the film ‘Blood Father’ at the 69th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. AFP

Color festival. People gesture and dance as they take part in a color festival on May 19, 2016, at Besiktas in Istanbul. AFP

WORLD

Drone ‘likely killed’ MansourKerry hails changesin Myanmar in visit

More bodies pulled out in Sri Lanka

WASHINGTON—An American drone strike target-ed and “likely killed” Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a remote area of Pakistan on Saturday, US officials said, in a major and rare American mili-tary raid in the country.

COLOMBO—Sri Lankan soldiers pulled more bodies from landslides and distributed food and water to hundreds of thousands of residents camped in shelters on Sunday after major floods hit the island.

Floodwaters were receding in the capital Colombo after the heavi-est rains in a quarter of a century pounded the island since last week-end, triggering landslides that have buried victims in tonnes of mud.

Soldiers and other rescuers dis-covered 13 more bodies late on Saturday in the worst-hit district of Kegalle, about 100 kilometers northeast of Colombo, where two

villages were destroyed last week.More than 80 people are known

to have died so far across the is-land amid fears the number could rise -- with 118 people still listed as missing.

“The search will continue for some more time even though we have not found anyone alive during these search operations,” Disaster Management Center spokesman Pradeep Kodippili said of the land-slides in Kegalle, where a total of 48 bodies have been found.

Sri Lanka was receiving inter-national aid for more than half a million people forced to flee their

homes across the island.Soldiers joined relief workers in

distributing essential supplies to around 300,000 people sheltering in state-run centers, Kodippili told AFP.

After bursting its banks last week, the Kelani river running through Colombo was receding slowly. But some 200,000 people living in low-lying areas of the capital were still unable to return home, he said.

“The next big challenge is the clean-up operation, but it can start only in a few days when the waters go down completely.” AFP

The air strike, authorized by President Barack Obama, also killed a second adult male combat-ant as the pair traveled in a vehicle southwest of the town of Ahmad Wal near the Afghan border, a US official said.

“Mansour was the target and was likely killed” by the strikes, which were carried out around 6:00 am (1000 GMT) by multiple unmanned aircraft operated by US Special Operations Forces, the US official added, speaking on condi-tion of anonymity. There were no other known casualties.

In a statement, Pentagon spokes-man Peter Cook said the US mili-tary was still assessing whether Mansour had in fact been killed. The deaths of Taliban leaders have

often been falsely reported, and Mansour himself was rumored to have been killed in December.

The United States informed both Pakistan and Afghanistan shortly after the strike, a senior White House official said.

News of the strike came as US Central Command chief General Joseph Votel made a surprise visit to northern Syria to witness the efforts to build up local forces in the fight against the Islamic State group.

He was the highest-ranking US military official to travel to Syria since its civil conflict began in 2011.

The United States has focused its counter-terrorism efforts on fighting IS in Syria and Iraq, but it

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar—US Secretary of State John Kerry Sunday hailed Myanmar’s transition to a civilian government steered by Aung San Suu Kyi as a “remarkable statement” that furthers the cause of global democracy.

In the first high-level meeting with Suu Kyi and her administra-tion since it took office in March, Kerry told the Nobel laureate her country’s evolution towards de-mocracy after decades under the military served as a beacon of hope.

“Today my message is very, very simple: we strongly support the democratic transition that is taking place here,” he told report-ers at a joint press conference with Suu Kyi in the capital Naypyidaw.

Historic elections in November swept Suu Kyi and her party into

office and effectively ended half a century of military rule.

Kerry applauded the process as a “remarkable statement to people all over the world”, adding that the new government “has already ac-complished extraordinary things.”

Washington last week lifted a host of financial and trade embar-goes, but has kept the backbone of its sanctions as well as a blacklist of cronies and businesses close to the former junta.

“I know that the legacy of more than half a century of military rule has not been completely erased,” Kerry said.

Suu Kyi, a veteran activist whose decades-long struggle against the generals won the world’s admira-tion, has much political capital in Washington. AFP

also is struggling with a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan since most US combat troops withdrew at the end of 2014.

Mansour was “actively involved” with planning attacks across Afghanistan, and presented an “obstacle to peace and reconcili-ation between the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban, pro-hibiting Taliban leaders from par-ticipating in peace talks with the Afghan government that could lead to an end to the conflict,” Cook said.

Mansour was appointed head of the Taliban in July 2015 follow-ing the revelation that the group’s founder Mullah Omar had been dead for two years.

“Since the death of Mullah Omar and Mansour’s assumption of lead-ership, the Taliban have conducted many attacks that have resulted in the death of tens of thousands of Afghan civilians and Afghan se-curity forces as well as numerous US and coalition personnel,” Cook said. AFP

C1monday : may 23, 2016

TaTUm anCHETaE D I T O R

BInG PaRELA S S O C I AT E E D I T O R

BERnadETTE LUnaSW R I T E R

E aT, dRInK , T R aV EL

l i f e @ t h e s t a n d a r d . c o m . p h @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d

LIFE

It was such a breath of fresh air when I left the 51 degree Celsius heat of Manila for the 14-18 degree temperature of Kyoto

late this April. I left for Japan in the aftermath of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Higashi Ward of Kumamoto City in the Kyushu Region, southwest of Japan, and I was a bit wary of aftershocks. I braved Kyoto, and saw that the city was unaffected by the earthquake, with visitors still flocking to all the tourist sights in the area.

During that time, Jetstar Japan, with its 180-seat Airbus A320, had just opened ticket sales for the four new weekly services from Osaka, which complements the existing services scheduled by its sister airline, Jetstar Asia. Known for its low fare flights, Jetstar operates up to 100 services a day and flies to 11 domestic destinations in Japan and two international destinations.

The best hours to travel are certainly in the evening because you’re welcomed by the fresh morning air when you arrive at the airport. I was seated near the emergency exit where legroom is bigger. I loved that the Jetstar flight attendants mean business when they inform you about safety measures during the flight. The male Japanese attendant handed me the emergency exit leaflet. Silly me, I didn’t take him seriously as I was hurrying to take a nap. After a few minutes, I gave him back the leaflet. “Ma’am, if there’s an emergency, do you know what you’ll do and how to open the exit door?” I felt like I had to answer a quiz. I took the emergency leaflet again, laughed and read it thoroughly because I had an important role: Open the exit door if something goes awry, gulp.

I landed in Kansai International Airport and took an airport limousine bus to Kyoto Station that took only 90 minutes, and they were on the dot. Kyoto Station is the highest infrastructure that you’ll see in Kyoto, and probably the most modern one in all of Kyoto as most of the structures there are very provincial, low-rise, to keep the heritage feel of the place. From here, you can

KyOTO PROTOCOl (PART 1)

By TATum AnChETA

navigate through Kyoto with trains, buses or taxis.

From Kyoto Eki (station) there’s already so much to see if you’re a tourist. There are a lot of restaurants in the area where you can eat Japanese or international cuisine. By the way, if you are walking and you are eating a sandwich or a treat you got from Family Mart, then you are marked as a tourist as locals don’t usually do that. Right in front of the station is Kyoto Tower. You can go up on top of the tower for a fee to have a view of Kyoto from above. The tower is illuminated in red and blue light when you visit at night. Inside the station are interconnected hotels, restaurants and departments stores. I love the Sky Garden on the15th floor where you can see most of Kyoto. If you arrive by noon, it gets really hot. If you come

by in the morning, you’ll get to see moms with kids or senior citizens enjoying the view or napping by the benches. On the lower ground, you can check out a cool 4.8-meter long Lego brick replica of the entire station made of 301,584 blocks. If you’re into art, you can visit the Kyoto Eki Museum on the 7th floor. Too bad it was closed during the time I visited and I also didn’t get to see the opening of the Kyoto railway museum just a short stop away from Kyoto station last April 29th where over 50 different trains from the old school steam to the high-tech bullet train, were featured.

Sakura blooms, temples and shrines

Kyoto is known to have the best spots for hanami, also known as “flower viewing” for the country’s

beautiful sakura or cherry blossoms, which are in full bloom starting March until April. I was still hoping to see the majestic blooms during the time that I got there, but I was greeted by greens instead of pink (huhu). I was two weeks late for the sakura blossoms, but the sight of greens and the lines of trees still had me in a trance.

For some reason, I had such bad luck when I went to Japan. Some of the exhibit areas or tourist spots were closed, the sakura season was over, and it was always raining. I visited my relatives living in Kyoto during my stay and they called me Ameonna or rain woman. In Japanese folklore, this is a female spirit, and apparently that’s what you are called when you attract the rain wherever you go.

If you’re planning to visit all the temples and shrines in Kyoto,

good luck. You will need to at least live there for a year, as there is so much to do and so many sights to see, so it’s important to just choose the best ones.

During my stay, I was getting a bit confused on which is a shrine and which is a temple, as these are spiritual places for two different religions. But most of the Japanese patronize both, as they usually have their weddings in shrines and hold funerals in temples.

Shintoism is an old religion in Japan that believes in the spirit of nature and ancestors, and centers on several gods. Once you enter the premises, you’ll see a tori archway and you have to go through a ritual of cleansing your hands and mouth before entering. The illustration on the information sometimes looks like the illustration is drinking

Entrance to UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site Todaiji Temple It is said that those who can squeeze through this opening at the base of the pillar, which is the same size as the Daibutsu's nostril, will be granted enlightenment in their next life

The Fushimi Inari Taisha, where each pillar is inscribed with a name of the donorPeople write their wishes on the wooden plaques that resemble the head of a fox, the symbol that guards the Fushimi Inari shrine

Continued on C2

The Golden Pavilion

C2 LIFE l i f e @ t h e s t a n d a r d . c o m . p h @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d

monday : may 23, 2016

In a bid to highlight friendship between their loyal customers, Nutella launched a campaign wherein the brand gets a “new name” – yours – to recognize the

importance of each individual and to extend the company’s gratitude to people who have been patronizing Nutella over the years.

The #YourNutella event held at the Glorietta 2 Activity Center saw guests and media partners excited at seeing their names printed on the jars of the popular hazelnut spread. Another highlight was the inspiring talk by Nutella regional brand manager Fabian Heymer who acknowledged the importance of an individual’s name.

As a global brand, Heymer recognized that they owe it to the loyal consumers – every single individual in fact – who make that decision to have Nutella for their breakfast.

“This campaign is all about this friendship. The friendship between our fans, the loyal consumers, the loyal Filipinos and our brand,” said Heymer.

While a particular name and the meaning attached to it is important, the executive said it is one’s actions and behavior that will ultimately determine how an individual and his name will be regarded. “The meaning of a name is so personally linked to ourselves, our character, to our personality, (and) that this is what we want to celebrate here.”

Being one of the fastest growing brands in the Philippines, Nutella aims to celebrate the loyalty Filipino customers by allowing them to put their names on their jar as a sign of the bond and friendship that has been forged over the years between the brand and its consumers.

This campaign started in Europe and has since traveled across the world to Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore and now the Philippines. With more than 20 million people already putting their names on the label, Nutella wants to reach out to more people with the launching of this campaign in the Philippines.

Consumers get to put their names on the label of a Nutella 350g jar for only P279.

During the event, kids and adults also enjoyed fun activities such as painting on the Nutella wall and having their photo taken at the photo booth.

For those who missed the chance to have their names on the label during the event, they can log on to YourNutella.com to have a personalized Nutella jar delivered to their address. Tell your Nutella story through Instagram and tag @NutellaSEA with the hashtag #YourNutella. For more details on this campaign, contact Dominguez Marketing at [email protected] or call +02 897 7088. – Eunice Cabuang

From left: Gerald Mendoza, Trade marketing manager, Philippines; Frances Amper Sales, digital media influencer; Fabian Heymer, regional brand manager of Nutella; Evelyn Yap, president of Benby Enterprises; Joyce Owyeong, assistant brand manager of Nutella-SEA; and Tommy del Mar Jr., national business manager of Ferrero Philippines with their own personalized jars that bear their names during the #YourNutella campaign at the Glorietta Activity Center

GEt #yournutELLa jarS pErSonaLIzEd

the water. Well, don’t drink it; just rinse your mouth. People usually go to Shinto shrines to pray for happiness, wealth and good health. I visited Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine, touted as one of the most important shrines in Kyoto. Its gateway of orange painted tori are donated by prominent businesses in Japan, and the letter inscribed on the archway is the name of the corporation that donated it. The the more generous the donation, the bigger the archway.

Every start of the year, people flock to the gates of Fushimi Inari and locals says that during this time, it takes weeks for the caretakers of the shrine to count all the money that comes in. Here, you can write your wishes down on a wooden wishing plaque and hang it by the shrine, ring the bells and clap when you say your wish or prayers. Charms and good luck notes can be bought all over the shrine.

Buddhism originated in India and encompasses traditions and spiritual practices based on the teachings of Buddha. They created temples instead of shrines, and you’ll know if it’s a temple if the name ends with a "ji" (Sensoji,

From C1

Kyoto...

Todaiji or Ninnaji). Unlike shrines where you see tori, here they have pagodas just like what you’ll see in China and India. Instead of washing your hands or mouth, in the temples you’ll find senko or an incense burner and it is used to purify yourself before entering the temple. Prayers are often more silent here but you can also make your wish or have your fortunes told. You can donate money and get your omikuji (fortune written on strips of paper or small bamboo sticks). In Kyoto, if you’re late for the sakura season, the best place to visit is the Ninnaji Temple, known for the late blooming of cherry blossoms.

Unfortunately for me I arrived so late, I just caught a couple or three flowering tiny trees and shrubs.

One of the most beautiful temples to see during any season is the Kinkaku-ji Temple, or the Golden Pavilion. The gold temple is surrounded by a pond with a lot of koi swimming around it. End of April is almost springtime, so the Golden Pavilion is reflected on the water amidst the lush green surroundings. But the best time to go there is during early hanami to see the picturesque reflections in pink or during autumn from September to November when crimson leaves

Deer roams freely outside the Todaji temple in Nara Park

Cleanse yourself on the water stations before you enter the shrines

You can personalize the label for your Nutella

Sky Garden on the 15th floor of Kyoto Eki

envelope the area. During winter, this place looks magical capped in white snow and golden reflections from the temple. During my visit, it was raining and so packed with tourists that you only get to view the pavilion for a few seconds as the guards would usually ask you to move so the others can take their turn to view. No time for selfie with a clear view; it was filled with umbrellas and people!

If you have time to spare, don’t miss the chance to leave Kyoto and head to Nara where the great temple Todaiji is located. From Kyoto Station, you can take the JR Nara Line and the private Kintetsu Kyoto Line trains and they will get you to Nara in less than an hour. Todaiji is one of the powerful Seven Great Temples in Nara and is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site. The temple houses the world’s largest bronze statue of Buddha known to the Japanese as Daibutsu. The Buddha’s height is 49.1-ft. and its nose alone is 1.6-ft. One of the pillars in the hall has a hole in its base the same size as the Buddha's nostril, you’ll see tourists lining up to go inside the tiny hole. It is believed that if you can squeeze through its opening, you will be granted enlightenment in your next life. I didn’t dare try as they might have to call firemen to get me out of it. Outside of

the temple grounds you will see deer, regarded as messengers of the gods and here they can roam freely. You can even touch them and they will not run away from you, but I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. I saw some deer even poking one of the tourist bags; it’s probably looking for food.

Around the temples and shrines, there are a lot of gardens that you can visit, if you’re up for walking and exploring. It’s best if you download a translator app as most of the locals don’t speak English. If there’s one thing I wanted to take home with me during my stay, it’s the flowers and the trees (well, aside from sake and whisky). Japan has such lovely flowers, almost all the doorsteps have a bonsai and flowery pot. Even the weeds that just sprouted in the pavements look beautiful.

Catch the next part of this article as I talk about the colorful stories of Gion, the hot springs in Kyoto, and learn a thing or two about sake in the district of Fushimi and whisky in Yamazaki Distillery.

Jetstar Japan flies to Osaka up to four times a week. For more information and to check availability and prices of tickets, visit www.jetstar.com.

C3LIFE l i f e @ t h e s t a n d a r d . c o m . p h @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d


“. . . Just an old sweet song . . . keeps Georgia on my mind.”

That’s what the late rhythm-and-blues singer Ray Charles says in his song of the same title. Georgia, also known as the Peach State and located in the southeastern section of the United States, is so beautiful that, after your first visit, the memory lingers just like a “last song syndrome.”

I have to admit that I did not have the chance to go around the entire state as I had to be at a conference in Atlanta, the capital, and I barely had enough time to visit my hotel’s environs. But, the ultimate tourist that I am, I managed to squeeze in a peek at a few of the city’s tourist attractions within the limited time I had.

The Centennial Olympic Park is a 21-acre public park in downtown Atlanta, and was part of the infrastructure put up for the 1996 Summer Olympics. It is surrounded by many of the city’s landmarks, notably the Georgia Aquarium, the CNN Center and the World of Coca-Cola.

The Georgia Aquarium has thousands of marine species contained in 10 million gallons of salt water, and is the largest in the Western Hemisphere. It used to be the largest in the world, but in 2012, Singapore opened its Marine Life Park, which is bigger. Aside from gigantic manta rays and beluga whales, the main attraction is the school of whale sharks imported from Taiwan. In fact, the aquarium’s structure was designed around the whale shark exhibit.

The global headquarters of Cable News Network, popularly known as CNN, offers a very interesting tour that takes the visitor to the network’s different studios and, if he’s lucky, he gets to meet some of the broadcast personalities seen on TV. The building also houses an Omni Hotel and a large atrium food court which is very popular among the locals. This atrium has a very interesting structural feature – its escalator, used for the CNN tour – is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest freestanding escalator in the world. It is supported only at each end.

Where I enjoyed most was at the World of Coca-Cola, a museum showcasing the history of my favorite beverage, which houses entertainment areas and attractions, at the 20-acre company headquarters at Pemberton Place, named after John Pemberton, the inventor of Coca-Cola. The store has a vast selection of decorative items, apparel, accessories, and one-of-a-kind art pieces. I spent the whole day browsing around every single nook and cranny of the store, as it has hundreds of

GEorGIa on my mInd

merCury risingBy BoB zozoBrado

yoUr MoNday CHUCKLE:a pizza store clerk reported this phone conversation between him and an angry customer.CUSTomEr: Hey, you careless !*%$!! fool. The pizza I ordered came with no toppings on it, nothing at all¼ it’s just the dough!CLErK: So sorry to hear that. Please¼ (customer cuts him off)CUSTomEr: oh, never mind. I opened the box upside-down!

collectible items. I tried to control myself because I didn’t want to spend so much on non-essentials and pay for excess baggage charges. Nevertheless, I stayed inside that store until closing time, busy taking a closer look at each item, going back and forth to the cashier for every item I considered my “last purchase” only to discover immediately after that there was another nice item I wanted to have. What a tourist bait this store is!

Speaking of my favorite beverage, Coca-Cola Philippines recently announced its STAR (Sari-Sari Store Training and Access to Resources) Program which is part of the company’s global initiative that aims to empower as many as five Million women within its value chain by the year 2020. This Program was actually started five years ago and implemented in 47 locations nationwide and has already made life better for 52,000 women by the end of last year, according to Adel Tamano, Coca-Cola Philippines’ vice president for Public Affairs and Communications.

The Program includes a 12-week Basic Entrepreneurship and Gender Sensitivity Training for women micro-retailers who own sari-sari stores and carinderias or food stalls. With TESDA as partner, this STAR Program has three components: Access to Training, Access to Resources, and Access to Peer Mentoring support.

This latest project of Coca-Cola reminds me of some of the brand’s many taglines throughout the years: The Pause That Refreshes, Things Go Better With Coke, It’s The Real Thing, Open Happiness, etc. I also

remember my younger days, when I fell in love with the brand’s top-rating commercial jingle:

“I’d like to build the world a home, and furnish it with love. Grow apple trees and honeybees, and snow white turtledoves. I’d like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony. I’d like to hold it in my arms and keep it company…”

I can sing the whole jingle over and over again. Small wonder why I will always have Georgia on my mind.

For feedback, I’m at [email protected]

The Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta

Atty. Adel Tamano, VP for Public Affairs and Communication, Coca-Cola Philippines

Inside one of the studios of CNN

One of the whale sharks in the Georgia AquariumA close look at the peaches on the trees in Georgia

C4 LIFE l i f e @ t h e s t a n d a r d . c o m . p h @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d


It is said that, “when in Rome, do what the Romans do.” And according to Italian-Filipino business owner Giulius Ceazar

Iapino, when it comes to eating pasta, we should take a leaf from the Italians: They use the fork, get noodles from the side of the plate and twist them onto the fork.

And when it comes to partaking of pizza, another Italian food favorite, it’s actually unusual for one to use utensils. “Basically, pizza is a finger food, hence you should eat it with your hands,” Iapino told The Standard Life.

But this newly opened Italian-Spanish Resto Pub at Venice Grand Canal Mall in McKinley Hill doesn’t care how you consume your meal. In fact, all it wants you to do is to take your time, having good food shared with good friends, like how Italians do.

Owned by Rigatoni Corp., the same company that operates Parmigiano Ristorante Pizzeria at Newport City in Pasay, Toni & Sergio is an Italian gastropub with a Spanish twist in a casual setting. Iapino is the president of Rigatoni Corp. “We are targeting to expand our market,” he reveals.

“In Parmigiano, we serve business executives and families from the upscale homes. Here, we aim to please the middle class and young professionals who want to unwind and relax while enjoying good food and drinks.”

Iapino says Toni & Sergio is dedicated to his Italian father who

Italy meets spaIn In mcKInley HIllBy Bernadette lunas

Bistecca Alla Toni & Sergio is made of grilled porterhouse or rib eye with golden risotto and creamed greens

Toni & Sergio’s hand tossed brick oven pizza is one of the must-try dishes in the Italian-Spanish restaurant PhoTo By Teddy PelAez

Rigatoni Corp. partners officially open Toni & Sergio Gastro Italiano at Venice Grand Canal Mall in McKinley hill PhoTo By Teddy PelAez

Pizza Gamberetti Con Rocula Paella Nero Con Frito Misto Bolognese

T&S Chicken wings served with spicy aioli bleu cheese and marinara

Pizza Vegetariana is brick oven pizza with tomato, mozzarella, onion, eggplant, bell pepper and artichokes

Spain, it was only apt to build a restaurant offering both Italian and Spanish cuisines.

And since Toni & Sergio is inspired by the food-loving Iapino brothers, the younger Iapino says every dish that comes out of their kitchen is authentic and of high quality. “My dad is very particular with food that’s why although we are serving affordable dishes we make sure we’re not sacrificing the quality in order to achieve authenticity,” explains Iapino.

Speaking of authenticity, the owners share that they import some of the ingredients, such as the noodles used in pasta dishes, to capture the true taste of the European cuisines. “We want our customers to experience how the Europeans eat and enjoy their food,” says operations manager Arnel Due.

Toni & Sergio has 70 Italian and Spanish dishes on its menu. Italian dishes include pizza, pasta and steak, among others, while croquettas, paella and chicken dishes represent Spain.

First time customers are recommended to try the

gastropub’s brick oven pizza made with hand tossed dough. Bar chows like nachos and chicken wings are also available for those who prefer lighter meals. All food menu can be paired with Toni & Sergio’s wide selection of Italian wines, liquors, local and imported beers and signature cocktails. One must not miss, however, the Italian soda on offer that comes in apple, blueberry, strawberry and other flavors.

But while the restaurant offers both Italian and Spanish food, Iapino clarifies that there is no one dish that combines the two European cuisines. “We don’t put them together because we are worried that we might just end up ruining both cuisines,” he says.

He adds that they just want to bring diners to Italy – through the food and the ambiance – and inject a Spanish twist while they’re at it.

Toni & Sergio Gastro Italiano is located at G/F Venice Grand Canal Mall, Upper McKinley Road, McKinley Hill, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.

also happens to be a restaurateur – Antonio “Toni” Carmine – and his uncle, Sergio Candido. “My dad, Toni, has a few restaurants and pubs in Italy while Sergio, the younger brother of my dad, is a well-known TV director in Italy, Spain and Argentina,” shares Iapino.

Rigatoni Corp. partners thought that since Toni has been in the Italian restaurant business for over 50 years and since Sergio (whose filmography includes The Voice Italy, Caramba Che Fortuna and Ola Rafaella) is considered an adopted son of

C5ISAH V. RED

E D I T O RNICKIE WANG

W R I T E RSHOWBITZm oNDAy : m Ay 23, 2016

i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

After two strong decades, Tagaytay Highlands re-mains at the top of its game as one of the coun-

try’s premier mountain resorts that offers themed residential developments, an idyllic environ-ment, and world-class facilities.

Considered as a self-contained leisure community just out-side Metro Manila, it houses a 48-seater Swiss funicular train, two world-class golf courses, the Peak Bart with a 360-degree view of two lakes, Taal volcano, five mountains, and four cities; twen-ty F&B outlets, and a variety of sports and recreational facilities.

On top of that, Tagaytay High-lands also organizes different events to foster good relationships among its members and create a friendlier community. In fact, one of the most exciting events of the Highlands was a success last month. That was Tagaytay High-lands’ recently held Belle Cup 2016, an event that gathered close to 500 golfers at the Highlands’ two world-class golf courses.

Recording the highest number of participants yet, this year’s golf tournament showed that the High-lands is committed to promoting sports and wellness through its topnotch sports and recreational facilities, including the two courses where the tourney was held.

“This is the 16th year of the Belle Cup, which was so designed that members are required to play at two courses—one in the Highlands and one in the Midlands,” Willy Ocier, Tagaytay Highlands found-er, pointed out at the conclusion of the four-day event last April 10.

Presented by Belle Corpora-tion, Belle Cup 2016 required all participating members to play with a guest to foster camarade-rie and promote the golf courses among potential members.

“The Belle Cup is always a certi-fied hit because it’s meant to be a fun tournament. After all, Tagay-tay Highlands is designed to be a fun resort. A variety of activities are in store for participants who all have a good time because they can bring their friends, families, and their potential business part-ners to the Highlands,” Ocier said.

“I had a great time! We always have a great time when it comes to Belle Cup because you get to see all the people here like old friends.

TagayTay HIgHlanDs:yOuR sElf-cOnTaInED lEIsuRE HavEn

The weather is always perfect and great camaraderie [from partici-pants],” veteran singer-actor Ariel Rivera said.

At the event’s 16th edition, where numerous awards and prizes were given, the female power duo of Chesca Imperial and Hannah See took home the Overall Champion crown, and also bagged the championship awards for the categories of Mid-lands Ladies, Highlands Ladies, and Belle Cup Ladies.

Other winners at the twin tourneys included Anthony Tan and Michael Chan for Group I;

Timothy Yang and Lexington Rodriquez for Group II; Jesus Ramos and Romy To for Group III; and Kok Hin Lim and Ricky Alegre for Sponsors’ Champion.

Ocier happily related that this year’s tournament participants only had good things to say about Belle Cup 2016.

“The weather was great and the golf tournament’s fun format took off a lot of pressure from the game. It was all about everybody having fun while trying to win trophies,” Ocier related.

“The new format has been very interesting and very exciting ac-

tually. This new scramble format encouraged a lot more teamwork with my partner,” said Elmer La-peña who joined the Cup for the fourth time.

Each golfer was also deemed a winner not only because of the enjoyable tournament, but also because more than a hundred exciting prizes were raffled off to them. The prizes included thou-sands of cash prizes; casino chips worth Php100,000; an Asian cruise inclusive of round-trip plane tickets to China; two busi-ness class tickets to Hong Kong; hotel accommodations; television

sets; and iPads, among others.With the success of this year’s

Belle Cup, Ocier now looks for-ward to a more exciting event and a bigger crowd next year, encour-aging everyone to sign up as early as possible.

“We urge our members and guests to sign up soon because the slots for the Belle Cup always fill up very fast. We give the best awards and prizes so everyone can go home with something in hand. Plus, they can enjoy the weather, enjoy the bonding with family and friends, and enjoy all the facilities,” Ocier concluded.

Tee-off. Tagaytay Highlands has maintained itself as one of the country’s premier mountain resorts in the country Belle Cup 2016 participants (from left) Susana Dagless, Cathy Neish, Pia Basa, and Genaro Tan

overall Team Champion Chesca Imperial and Hannah See with Golf Director Ray Valencia (far left), TH Founder Willy ocier, Club President Jerry Tiu, and Gen manager Claire Kramer

Peugeot cars, one of Belle Cup’s sponsors, welcome guests at the venue

Belle Cup 2016 Champions with Golf Director Ray Valencia and Club President Jerry Tiu (second and last from right)

Tourney participants Romy To, Ed Las, Leslie Reyes, and Jesus Ramos

Jeric Ang, Emmanuel yu, manuel Santos, and Arnel Lim

C6 ISAH V. REDE D I T O R


m onDAy : m Ay 23, 2016

SHOWBITZ

ACROSS1 Hoopster — O’Neal5 Kind of yoga

10 Linen color14 Ashram leader15 Open-air lobbies16 Shuttle launch

sound17 Leaf source18 Limestone

formation

20 Cut drastically 22 Excitement 23 Lead the

life of — 24 Earth, to Pierre 26 Debate side 27 Looks up to 30 Ripple 34 Uses a pepper mill 35 Flooring piece 36 It may be fragile

37 Called the butler 38 Zestful 40 Early siren 41 Comic — Philips 42 After-dinner wine 43 Hummed along 45 Designate, as

funds 47 Climbs 48 Morn’s

counterpart 49 Pirated 50 Laissez- — 53 Thai neighbor 54 Blue as the sky 58 Seamy side 61 Russian epic hero 62 Tpks. 63 Bridal path? 64 Napoleon’s exile 65 In case 66 Make

— — buck 67 Deli loavesDOWN 1 Barracks offs. 2 Fling 3 Circle size 4 Knight work? 5 Owns, maybe 6 Rose-petal oils 7 Import and export 8 City near Kilauea 9 Battery size

10 Fur of kings 11 Wind into loops 12 Evaluate 13 Heavy hydrogen

discoverer 19 Orchard 21 Rustler’s target 25 Make good as new 26 Cousteau’s ship 27 Tally 28 Stage production 29 Trivial 30 Artificial locks 31 Pick up on 32 Snowy-white bird 33 Warty critters 35 HBO alternative 39 Hot Springs st. 40 Cooler, perhaps 42 Patio stone 44 NCAA Bruins 46 Least 47 Ring-shaped

islands 49 Hot dip 50 Roll tightly 51 Poker stake 52 Fateful day 53 Erik the Red’s son 55 Sea, in a gale 56 Pajama coverer 57 Time periods 59 Pasture sound 60 Even so

answer PreVIOUs PUZZLe

cROsswORD puzzlE MONDAy,MAy 23, 2016

Enveloped by a night full of warmth and zesty vibe, tech titan Acer Philippines, Inc. made the beauteous island

paradise of Boracay sizzle as it cel-ebrated a zest for life and launched its newest line of smartphones, the Acer Liquid Zest.

And not only did it launch its latest line of smartphones, Acer, a

technology company known for breaking barriers between people and technology by offering innova-tive IT products and mobile devic-es, made it clear to the whole island what partying is all about.

Acer also invited some friends from the blogging community to this one-of-a-kind, pump-to-the-beat #TooZesty Boracay beach party and

made them and all the other guests dance and rock the night away to heart-pounding dance music.

But before the rockin’ party, Acer introduced first the Acer Liq-uid Zest and Acer Jade 2 series via product updates with Acer’s trusted and valued partners. With the help of TV host Divine Lee, the media got to see first-hand what these new

AcER mAkES BoRAcAy SIzzlE wItH A #toozESty pARty

Event host Divine lee keeps the crowd alive Australian DJ callum David plays music that become instant hit among partygoers

DJ callum David (first from right, back row) with blogger David Guison (first from right, front row) and his blogger friends

and zesty Acer mobile devices were all about in terms of features and other benefits, especially for the physically and socially young and those whose passion in life is going for the adventure they love.

Then, Acer held a Mobility Part-ners’ recognition ceremony where outstanding channel partners of Acer mobile devices were feted with morale-boosting awards and prizes for their excellent work in spreading the word—and actually selling—these exceptional devices that cater to the young and active crowd of today.

After that, it was all about party-ing all night long, Acer style.

Make no mistake about it be-cause Acer knows how to throw a “mean” party. Celebrating ev-

eryone’s zest for life, Acer flew in world-class DJs, the likes of DJ Cal-lum David from Australia and DJ Romanova to rock the night away amid overflowing drinks, food and unending party beats.

It was a blistering summer night but the Acer #TooZesty party was simply unstoppable as the beach party people had rip-roarin’ fun. As expected, the party lasted till the wee hours of the morning. Every-one was tired and probably would have mean hangovers the morning after, but it was all worth it.

For more about the Acer Liquid Zest and Acer Jade 2 series smart-phones and other Acer products, go to www.acer.com.ph, follow Acer via Twitter (twitter.com/acerphils) or www.Facebook.com/AcerPH.

Acer liquid zest and Acer Jade 2 are the real rockstars of the party

C7ISAH V. REDE D I T O R


m onDAy : m Ay 23, 2016

SHOWBITZ

Director Soxy Topacio with actors (from left) Divine Aucina, Bobby Andrews, Atak, Angelu de Leon and Eugene Domingo

Supportive dad. Gary V shows his all out support to daughter Kinana during the Save my Bag event

TV host and comedienne

Eugene Domingo

GMA Network’s comedy anthology Dear Uge con-tinues to bring happier weekends to every Ka-

puso as it began its second sea-son yesterday.

Award-winning comedienne/actress and TV host Eugene Domingo expressed her hap-piness with the show’s success and the overwhelming support from TV viewers since it first aired on February 14. Dear Uge is all-original, and its stories, characters and plot twists are entertaining and amusing.

“Natutuwa silang lahat sa con-cept, but it’s not easy. You know, very stiff ang competition sa TV. Very understandable naman na

lahat ay conscious ma-maintain yung good ratings so nacha-chal-lenge kami every now and then. That’s why I am happy. Ito yung result ng team work. Kaya sana tumagal pa ang Dear Uge dahil marami pa kaming gustong i-guest na artists at i-share na stories sa ating viewers,” said Eugene.

Yesterday, the celebrity guests were Bobby Andrews, Angelu De Leon and Atak who deliv-ered a true-to-life story about marriage in the episode entitled ‘Mrs. Aning’ under the helm of Soxy Topacio.

Catch the fun and exciting stories on Dear Uge every Sun-day afternoon after Sunday Pi-nasaya on GMA.

Gary Valenciano has always been supportive of his kids with regards to their respective career paths and endeavors. While his two sons Paolo and Gabriel have successfully entered showbiz just like him, his daughter Kiana, Instagram celeb and his unica hija, is steadily carving out a name for her-self—this time in fashion.

After having studied at the Raffles Design Insti-tute and the famous Central Saint Martins in Lon-don, Kiana finally takes the plunge and marks her

fabulous debut in the local fashion scene.Just recently, proud parents Gary, together with

wife Angeli, joined other fashionistas at the open-ing of the Little White Box Pop-Up Store in Mega-mall, for the launch of a bespoke, Save My Bag col-lection, which Kiana took charge of as style curator and creative team captain.

Noted for being the ultimate ‘it’ bag for the cool and fashionable set, Save My Bag is crafted entirely in Bergamo, Italy, and is made from hi-tech Poly-Lycra, making it ultra-lightweight and rain proof.

Joining Kiana as artistic collaborator is award-win-ning illustrator Daryl Feril, whom she hand-picked to turn Save My Bag into a canvas for his one-of-a-kind illustrated artworks, after an initial introduction by eventologist Tim Yap, and a subsequent review of his portfolio, left her immediately impressed.

The highly successful launch provided a glimpse of Kiana’s ability for spotting the latest trends and her fresh, free-spirited yet functional attitude—an embodiment of the ‘cool beyond the rules’ philos-ophy of Save My Bag.

No doubt, Gary and the rest of his family have all the reason to feel blessed and proud of Kiana, who makes an impressive entry into the exciting world of fashion through her stylish and chic Save My Bag collection.

Save My Bag is available at the Little White Box Pop-Up store, the style portal for various interna-tional brands, at the 3rd level of SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City.

Smart Communications (Smart) kicked off an-other year of celebrating rewarding partnerships with its network of retailers via a national conven-tion in Davao City, the first in a series of events exclusively held for the members of its Ka-Partner Rewards Program.

Millions of pesos in cash and other prizes were given away during the convention held recently at the Almendras Gymnasium.

Criselda Martin became an instant millionaire while several other retailers won P100,000 in cash from the quarterly e-raffle, as well as gadgets and home appliances during the games and question-and-answer portions of the program.

Two more instant millionaires will be announced during the succeeding retailer conventions in North Luzon and the Bicol region.

“The Ka-Partner Rewards Program is our way of recognizing the invaluable contribution of our most valued partners—our Smart Load retailers all over the country and the key role they play in our success,” said Kat Luna-Abelarde, Smart’s head of Wireless Consumer Operations.

“With our generous incentives, we hope to en-courage them to keep growing their business and

increase their own profitability,” she added.TNT endorser Jericho Rosales did a special num-

ber to the delight of the crowd. In support of local talent, Smart also invited Asia’s Got Talent Season 1 contestant, beatbox artist Neil Rey Garcia Llanes.

During the retailer convention Smart launched the Ka-Partner mobile app in line with moves to digitize its sales force. The app makes it easier for retailers to send Smart Load to their cus-tomers; save customer lists; load wallet balance alert, and soon, generate sales and profit reports. The Smart Ka-Partner App is now available for Android devices and can be downloaded at the Google Play Store.

Smart holds 30 conventions across the country throughout the year for retailers, who include sari-sari store owners, stay-at-home mothers, students and individuals who wish to augment their income through the loading business.

Under the Smart Ka-Partner Rewards Program, every P100 load sold per day is equivalent to one point. Load retailers can use accumulated points to avail of instant prizes and services or exchange for electronic raffle entries to qualify for the quarterly and annual draws.

‘DEAR UGE’ now on ITS SEconD SEASon

mr. Pure Energy supports daughter’s debut in fashion

TV5 Network Inc. has gained praises and positive feedback from netizens for its 28-hour uninterrupt-ed Bilang Pilipino election coverage, which was a synergy among MVP Group of Companies, was cited by netizens as their preferred network because of its fast and accurate elec-tion results and updates.

News5 Chief Luchi Cruz-Valdes cites TV5’s “Bilang Pilipino Cam-paign” as the most extensive coverage that the network has ever mounted, keeping Filipinos around the world updated to the latest developments concerning the elections through all its broadcast, digital, mobile and so-cial media channels.

TV5’s uninterrupted 28-hour elec-tion coverage ran from 5:00 a.m. of May 9 until 9:00 a.m. of May 10 with its team of reporters deployed to all parts of the country bringing fresh updates from candidates, voters, polling precinct situations, and other election-related issues.

The Bilang Pilipino coverage was a convergence of technology. “This in-depth election coverage was a prod-uct of a right goal, team work, inten-sive planning and preparation,” said TV5 President and CEO Emmanuel C. Lorenzana.

The executive added that since the launch of “Bilang Pilipino Cam-paign,” the entire team has worked hard to prepare for this event.

“We wanted the coverage to provide intensive information made available across all media,” he furthered.

One of the highlights of the cover-age that gained much appreciation from viewers and netizens was how fast information and election results were made available both online and via television.

Mediaquest Chairman Manny V. Pangilinan said that its partnership with PLDT and Smart explains how it was able to get the election results figures from PPCRVs transparency server fast. “We provided the Telco facilities to PPCRV and we were con-nected to their transparency server. We made sure that we had more than adequate computing capability and data analytics which were very important in breaking down the raw data we we’re getting from the trans-parency server,” Pangilinan noted.

With Smart/PLDTs backbone, TV5 reporters were able to go on live broad-cast using only their mobile phones instead of the usual broadcast equip-

ment. Installed to the reporters’ mobile phones was the Aviwest live broadcast platform application that allowed them to immediately air on TV with broad-cast quality and provided them with much faster and seamless communica-tion with the command center. With Telcos PLDT and Smart on board, updates and social media interaction were also made faster and reporters were able to get their stories, photos and videos out in no time.

In an article published by the Cen-ter for Media Freedom and Respon-sibility, TV5’s Bilang Pilipino election coverage was cited as the “clear win-ner” in terms of news and produc-tion value. It noted TV5 to be way ahead its rivals with its innovative efforts to make the coverage stylish, informative and comprehensive. It also took note of the “panoramic” LED screen that served as the studio backdrop where information such as voter demographics, voter prefer-ence, step-by-step procedures in the election process, exit survey figures and other data-driven pieces.

The network’s partnership with SWS propelled its data-driven elec-tion coverage where real time up-dates and questions were addressed. The coverage featured statistical data broken down into graphics like the Heat Maps that showed updates on who was leading or winning on spe-cific provinces and regions, including among others the provinces where presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte got his highest number of votes. The Heat Maps also showed an updated transmittal percentage and voter turnout rate including break-down of votes for candidates from both local and national posts shown through a wide horizontal LED.

After hosting the most talked-about Visayas leg of the PiliPinas Presiden-tial Debates last March, the Kapatid network has gone to prove its Bilang Pilipino campaign’s thrust through its data driven, extensive, and innova-tive election coverage and it remains strong in its commitment for unbiased, comprehensive and credible news and public affairs. The Bilang Pilipino campaign will continue to provide an extensive coverage of the elections to-gether with its partners; PLDT, Smart, Voyager, Talas, News5, News5Every-where, Interaksyon, The Philippine Star and Business World until June 30, the inauguration of presumptive president Rodrigo Duterte.

TV5 clear winner in election coverage

Smart rewards’ partner retailers in mindanao

C8ISAH V. RED

E D I T O RNICKIE WANG

W R I T E R


m oNDAy : m Ay 23, 2016

ISAH V. RED

SHOWBITZ

It is not surprising if the good-looking Juancho Triviño would finally move on to becoming a leading man in a drama series on GMA 7.Beginning today, in the intriguing story

of Magkaibang Mundo in GMA Afternoon Prime, Triviño plays Elfino, and as his name suggests, he is a dwarf.

In fact, this series revolves around the unique friendship between a human and a dwarf. Will this friendship blossom into a strong and everlasting love?

We will find out.Louise Delos Reyes plays Princess,

the heiress of a couple in a shoe business. The sad story is that Princess is orphaned at a young age. She lives a miserable life

now with her wicked aunt and step cous-ins. Then she falls in love with Jeffrey, but she also has special feelings for Elfino, her dwarf friend since she was a little girl.

Bagging this role is a dream come true for Louise. According to her, it has always been her hope to portray a character simi-lar to Cinderella. “From being a princess, she becomes a slave. Dream role ko ito eh. Actually excited ako kay Princess. Kasi very close siya sa akin dahil daddy’s girl din ako. Nakaka-relate ako sa kanya,” she said.

Elfino, at young age, meets Princess. They become friends. He admires her for having a complete family. When Princess’ father died, Elfino becomes her confidant.

Juancho Triviño says he became very excit-ed when he learned that he would be paired with Louise for this project. This is their first team up together and he hopes that viewers would appreciate and support their love team.

“Nang pumasok ako sa industriya, ti-nitingnan ko rin siyempre ‘yung mga posible kong maka-partner, at isa na si Louise doon.

JuanchO TRIvIñO fInally lanDs lEaD ROlE In nEW sERIEs

Sa chemistry part, siguro dahil matagal na kaming magkakilala and comfortable na kami sa isa’t isa kaya nakikitaan na kami ng kilig. I’m very happy to be working with her,” he said.

Joining Louise and Juancho are Assun-ta de Rossi as Amanda, Princess’ mother who will be separated from her; Dion Ig-nacio as Jeffrey, Elfino’s rival for Princess’ heart; Rez Cortez as Jojo, Noreen’s docile husband; and Gina Alajar as Noreen, the greedy step-sister of Princess’ father.

Magkaibang Mundo also features award-winning Kapuso actor Gabby Eigenmann in a special role as Ruben, Princess’ father who loves his family dearly.

Adding star power to this Afternoon Prime series are Maricar de Mesa as Criselda, Jef-frey’s haughty mother; Isabelle de Leon as Sofie, Noreen’s greedy eldest daughter; Mike “Pekto” Nacua as Bombi, Elfino’s en-

ergetic friend who accompanies him in his adventures; Liezl Lopez as Analyn, Noreen’s youngest daughter; Marika Sasaki as Maffi, Princess’ best friend; introducing interna-tional dancing sensation Balang as Dino, the witty dwarf friend of Elfino and Bombi.

Find out how Princess and Elfino will surpass their challenges to an everlasting love. Will Elfino be able to spend the rest of his life with Princess as a human? Will Princess be able to finally fight for Elfino?

Catch the unique and one-of-a-kind sto-ry of Magkaibang Mundo from Monday to Friday, beginning May 23 after Eat Bulaga on GMA Afternoon Prime.

Get the latest updates about Magkaibang Mundo from the official Facebook page of GMA Drama www.facebook.com/GMADrama, twitter account @GMADra-ma and the GMA Network website www.GMANetwork.com.

Rising tandem. GmA stars Juancho Triviño and Louise Delos Reyes play the lead in a new series entitled magkaibang mundo

mike “Pekto” Nacua

Assunta de Rossi

maricar de mesa

Isabelle de Leon

the standard - 2016 may 23 - monday

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