the standard - 2015 august 07 - friday

VOL. XXIX � NO. 178 � 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 � frIday : auguSt 7, 2015 � www.thestandard.com.ph � [email protected]

A3

Japan offers$2 billionfor shelvedrail system

I’m Pinoyby birth, choice, Poedeclares

us vows to keeP chIna sea oPen

Next page

Bilateral meeting. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario stand together before a bilateral meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 6. AFP

“Let me be clear: The United States will not accept restrictions on freedom of navigation and overflight, or other lawful uses of the sea. These are intrinsic rights that we all share,” he said accord-ing to a transcript of his remarks.

Kerry made his comments at a security meeting hosted by the As-sociation of Southeast Asian Na-tions (ASEAN) in Kuala Lumpur.

China has sparked alarm by ex-panding tiny reefs and construct-ing military posts, steps viewed by

WASHINGTON will not tolerate any navigation restrictions in the South China Sea, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday at a regional security meeting dominated by tensions over Beijing’s island building.

some of its neighbors as violating a regional pledge against provoca-tive actions in the area.

The long simmering dispute has flared at the Malaysia meet, at-tended by members of the 10-na-tion regional grouping as well as more than a dozen others includ-ing China, Japan, South Korea and the US.

The US and Southeast Asian nations have called for Beijing to halt both reclamation in the South China Sea and construction on reefs, something Beijing has

staunchly resisted.“I have urged all claimants to

make a joint commitment to halt further land reclamation and con-struction of new facilities or mili-tarization on disputed features,” Kerry told delegates, arguing such a step would “lower tensions”.

ASEAN members were at log-gerheads Thursday over how hard to press China on its contentious efforts to assert control over the South China Sea, with the issue threatening to fray regional unity.

By Vito Barcelo

JAPAN has pledged to the Philippines its biggest official development assistance pack-age worth 240 billion yen (or $2 billion) for the construc-tion of the shelved Northrail project that was once awarded to a Chinese state construction firm.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said the Japanese ODA package is

Next page

[email protected]

f r i d ay : a u g u s t 7, 2 0 1 5

news

End gayspeak use in politicaldiscourse, lawmaker advises

JapanFrom A1...

Transfer. Airport officials said Thursday all international flights operating out of Terminal 4 will transfer to Terminal 3 effective August 15 following the activation of the secondary runway to ease congestion. Eric Apolonio

US VOWSFrom A1...

By Maricel V. cruz

A LAWMAKER on Thursday called to task the spokesmen of Presi-dent Benigno Aquino III and Vice President Jejomar Binay for using “gayspeak” to attack each other.

“It is really a sad commentary on the state of our politics and public discourse, this exchange of statements of the spokesmen,” said Abakada party-list Rep. Jonathan de la Cruz. “There is a need to level up and ensure that we focus on the basics to better serve the public in-terest.”

Earlier, presidential spokesman dismissed Binay’s “True State-of-the-Nation Address” (TSONA) as an example of the “politics of hate” and used a gay term—charot--to suggest Binay was trying to dupe the people.

In response, the Vice President’s spokesman, Joey Salgado, replied: “Imbey ang fez ni Secretarush da-hil trulalu ang spluk ni VP. Pero ang SONA ng pangulo, chaka ever sa madlang pipol dahil hindi tru-lalu.” (The secretary was angered because the speech of the Vice President is truthful. But people saw the SONA of the President as ugly because it is not true.)

Lacierda responded Thursday, saying: “Ha ha! I love it that Vice President Binay is marching to the beat of our drums!”

“The line in the sand has been drawn since Vice President Binay bitterly attacked the President af-ter having failed to secure the en-dorsement of President Aquino. It is ‘Daang Matuwid’ versus ‘Daang Baluktot’,” Lacierda added.

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr., during a press briefing in Malacanang, said the Palace allows “gayspeak” or any form of communication as long as “it speaks the truth.”

This was Coloma’s reaction to Lacierda’s way of handling the Bi-nay camp’s attacks.

In a statement released to the press, Salgado said Lacierda’s re-sponse showed that he would rath-er dwell on the trivial than on the substantive.

“A lot of questions remain unan-swered,” Salgado said.

“The people are waiting for your explanation of why the contract for the MRT maintenance was sud-denly switched in favor of a com-pany connected with the Liberal Party,” he continued in Filipino.

“The people are waiting for his answer as to why the previous Transportaion and Communica-tions secretary allowed this. This is the reason hundreds of thousands of passengers of the MRT suffer.”

Turning to the use of the gay term “charot,” Salgado said he was not fluent in gayspeak, but he consulted someone who was, who came up with his own gay rejoinder.

Diplomatic sources said the Phil-ippines and Vietnam in particular were pushing for stronger language on Chinese land reclamation, which could help shore up Beijing’s disput-ed territorial claims.

But there was pushback from traditional China allies among the ASEAN.

“China’s friends are taking a hard stance,” said one diplomat familiar with the drafting.

The diplomat did not specify which countries were taking a hard line, but Cambodia, Laos and Myan-mar traditionally ally with China within ASEAN.

The tug-of-war raises the specter of a 2012 ASEAN meeting hosted by Cambodia, when the bloc was unable for the first time in its four-decade his-tory to issue a joint statement.

Cambodia was accused of precipi-tating the debacle by refusing to al-low criticism of China over its mari-time territorial assertions.

“China has already figured out how ASEAN works on the South China Sea, it knows how to divide us. Look at what happened in Cam-bodia,” one diplomat at the talks in Kuala Lumpur said.

Envoys from 27 nations -- including the United States and China -- were in Kuala Lumpur for the final day of re-gional security talks dominated by long-running disputes over the strategic sea.

Beijing claims control over nearly the entire South China Sea, a key shipping route thought to hold rich oil and gas reserves.

Vietnam, the Philippines, Malay-

sia and Brunei -- all ASEAN mem-bers -- also have various claims, as does Taiwan, many of which overlap.

Each year the regional bloc, which prides itself on its history of consen-sus diplomacy, releases a joint com-munique after the annual meeting of its foreign ministers, which took place Tuesday.

Singapore Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam told reporters Thurs-day morning that the joint statement was supposed to have been complet-ed the previous day.

“It has not been finalized as of now. There are difficulties,” he said.

“The paragraphs relating to the South China Sea are causing some problems,” he added.

A draft of the communique ob-tained by Agence France-Presse makes no mention of halting reclamation.

Instead it warns that recent devel-opments in the sea “have the very potential of undermining peace, se-curity and stability”.

It adds: “There is an imperative need to urgently address the erosion of trust and corrosion of confidence amongst parties on these matters”.

Delegates said they still hoped to get a final joint statement by the end of the day.

The United States and Southeast Asian nations have called for a halt to further land-reclamation and con-struction.

China had so far refused, but on Wednesday Chinese Foreign Min-ister Wang Yi said land reclamation had “already stopped”.

However some delegates in Kuala Lumpur have played down those claims.

One diplomat told reporters: “They’re not saying they’re stopping construction, nor are they saying

they’ll stop future reclamation.”The Philippines said it would only

be satisfied once Beijing halts con-struction in the disputed sea.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said Thursday that the East Asia Summit should play a major role in crafting the region’s security archi-tecture and it must address all major issues that prevent the creation of a re-gion of peace and cooperation.

Del Rosario made the call during high-level meetings of the ASEAN and East Asia summit in Kuala Lum-pur, and emphasized that recent pro-vocative actions by China constituted an infringement on the rights of the Philippines and other countries un-der the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and a violation of the 2002 ASEAN China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.

The Palace on Thursday said that China’s claims that it has already stopped construction on disputed areas in the South China Sea still needed to be verified.

“Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario had earlier said there must be a halt to reclamation, halt to construction and halt to activities that tend to escalate tensions in the region,” said Communications Sec-retary Herminio Coloma Jr.

Coloma also said there were re-ports that there is a second phase of construction, which he said must also be stopped.

He could not verify, however, re-ports that Japan will provide the Philippines with surveillance planes.

“This must be verified first from the Department of National De-fense,” he said. – AFp, Sandy Ara-neta and Vito Barcelo

intended for Phase One of the North-South Commuter Rail which will replace the Northrail project that was scrapped over legal issues.

The Northrail project was meant to build a rail line to Clark Air Base in Pampanga and was awarded to China National Machinery and In-dustry Corp. in 2003 for an initial $431 million, with China EximBank signing a loan agreement in 2004 to finance $400 million.

The government has already paid a total of $180 million on top of the $50 million outstanding loan, or P9 billion.

But the Supreme Court ruled that the project was not a government-to-government agreement and was therefore invalid because there was no competitive bidding as the law requires.

When the government informed Sinomach of its inability to carry out the agreement, China EximBank de-clared a default.

The incident led President Be-nigno Aquino III to say during a trip to Japan last June that the financial squeeze was part of China’s strategy in asserting its maritime claims in the South China Sea.

“We are unfortunately also pos-sessor of an experience wherein there was a concessional loan which was neither concessional nor helpful to our country,” Aquino said during the Nikkei Conference on the Future of Asia in Tokyo.

The Philippines’ experience with that particular project has led Ma-nila to be “very very cautious” about becoming a member of China’s Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, he said.

The Philippines is concerned that “the economic help that is supposed to be afforded will not be subjected to vagaries of politics.”

“The only thing we can show for the hundred of millions of dollars that we had to pay immediately was about a kilometer of columns and the plans for this project. So that be-hooves us to be very, very cautious whether or not to join the AIIB,” Aquino added.

But in his meeting with Japan State Minister for Foreign Affairs Minoru Kiuchi at the sidelines of the ASEAN Ministerial and Related Meetings in Kuala Lumpur, Malay-sia, Del Rosario the ODA pledge was part of “quality infrastructure” pacts forged during Aquino III’s state visit to Japan.

The North-South Commuter Line will be implemented in three phases. The first phase, which will run from Malolos, Bulacan, to Tutuban station in Divisoria, will be funded by Japan while the two other phases will be funded through public-private part-nerships.

But the details for the last two phases, the Tutuban-to-Calamba, Laguna, phase and the Malolos-to-Clark in Pampanga phase, have yet to be evaluated.

Del Rosario said they also dis-cussed initiatives for closer security cooperation, including the accelera-tion of discussion for an agreement on the transfer of defense equipment and technology.

The North-South Commuter Rail (NSCR) Project, Phase 1 is the sin-gle-biggest ODA yen loan package (US$2 billion) to date that Japan has given any development partner.

The NSCR, which the Depart-ment of Transportation and Com-munication (DOTC) will imple-ment, involves the construction of a 36.7-kilometer narrow-gauge elevated commuter railway from Malolos to Tutuban. – With Sandy Araneta

A3f r i D AY : A u g u s t 7, 2 0 1 5

[email protected]

Petition fee. Losing senatorial candidate Lito David holds up a receipt for the P50,000 he paid to the Senate Electoral Tribunal to file a petition to unseat Senator Grace Poe as a result of her alleged American citizenship. Manny PalMero

new vehicles. E-trikes wait for passengers within Intramuros on Thursday. Danny Pata

Binay considering Miriam as running mate

Roxas in no hurry to find partner

Poe: I’m Pinoy by birth, choice

By John Paolo BencitoA MORE confident Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II said Thursday he was not in a rush to find a running mate for the 2016 elections in which he will be running for president.

The Liberal Party’s standard bearer said he and his allies had not set any deadlines for announcing the party’s vice presidential candidate during the 6th General Assembly of the League of Provinces of the Philippines, where he was guest of honor.

“There’s no deadline whatso-ever,” Roxas said.

“One day, one week, one month before that or near that is not material. What we’re fighting for is the dreams of one-hundred-mil-

lion Filipinos.” On Wednesday, Roxas pub-

licly courted Senator Grace Poe on national television to be his running mate in 2016, saying the administration party had been considering her as its top choice for vice president.

“I mean, we’re not talking here about who will be the co-star, the producer and director. What we’re talking about is the welfare of our nation, of our countrymen,” Roxas said.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said Roxas and Poe were seen to continue the Aquino ad-ministration’s so-called straight path.

“Well, as the President said, both [Roxas and Poe] are im-portant. However, only Secre-tary Roxas has expressed his intention for the presidency and

in fairness, Senator Grace Poe hasn’t,” Abad said.

“I think Senator Grace Poe needs to make a decision right now.”

Roxas has also said he is pre-pared for a Plan B, C, D, E or F should Senator Poe decide to take a separate path.

Since the President’s en-dorsement at Club Filipino on Friday last week, Roxas has seemed more confident and has been smiling a lot and cracking jokes, although he says he “is still the same person.”

He promised more on the coming days.

“We’re ready. We will have a series of policy speeches,” Roxas said.

“The challenges in 2016 are very different from those in the past years.”

VICE President Jejomar Bi-nay, who is still searching for his running mate, said Thursday he was considering Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago to be his running mate in the 2016 elections.

He said he still had no vice president in the coming elec-tions, but he would soon an-nounce who it would be be-fore the filing of candidacies on Oct. 12 to 16.

Binay made his statement even as Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday said the Binay-Marcos tandem was viable but he was also open to teaming up with another Nacionalista Party senator for 2016.

In an interview during yes-terday’s Kapihan sa Senado, Marcos stressed that every-

thing is viable. “As I said, all of them are

possibilities so we are talking about them, we’re thinking about them because they might happen,” Marcos said at the breakfast forum at the Senate.

Asked if the offer to be the vice president of Binay was communicated to him, Marcos said there were discussions on the subject but those were go-ing on with not only one group. He had friends in all other groups and they had been talk-ing about everything.

“That is why I am grateful that I am being considered,” Marcos said.

“The decisions especially in the national level involve a party. So although we have talked about it, Senator Cyn-thia [Villar] and I see each

other every day, and she has asked me if they had already approached me. I told her not everyday but [Navotas Rep.] Toby [Tiangco±] and I often talked... That applies not only to UNA, that also applies to the group of [Davao Mayor Rodrigo] Duterte and to the other groups.”

United nationalist Alliance search committee member and former Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez had earlier said they had discussed the possibility of Santiago be-coming Binay’s running mate with Jun Santiago, the sena-tor’s husband.

However, Suarez said the good senator had yet to decide on it because of her health.

“Whether for President or vice president will be subject to

the clearance of the cancer doc-tor that’s in town,” Suarez said.

Among those being con-sidered as Binay’s running mate are Marcos, former Ma-nila Mayor Lito Atienza, Ba-tangas governor Vilma San-tos, former senator Manny Villar and Teresita Sy-Coson.

Binay confirmed that Ja-cel Kiram, daughter of the late Jamalul Kiram III of the Sultanate of Sulu, and actress and former Parañaque City Councilor Alma Moreno or Vanessa “Ness” Lacsamana in real life would be part of UNA’s senatorial slate.

He said he was still uncer-tain if Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao would be joining their senatorial ticket. Vito Barcelo and Macon ramos-araneta

“Their confidence in me is not misplaced. I remain truthful to our countrymen, said Poe, the first placer in the last senatorial race.

She said she was actual-ly relieved that a petition had been filed so that she could answer the ques-tions on her citizenship.

“It is an opportunity for the truth to come out and for this issue to be resolved once and for all,” Poe said.

Senator Ferdinand Marcos said Poe could take care of herself and did not need help from him because she was tough, but that he was always ready to help her.

Poe earlier said she had all the documents to counter all allega-tions about her citizen-ship and residency. But she would come out with those documents only when ordered by a court.

Poe was reacting to the petition filed before the Senate Electoral Tri-bunal by two-time los-ing senatorial candidate Rizalito David.

David argues that Poe is ineligible to remain the Senate because she is a foundling or a “state-less” being.

“Being a foundling, her parents are not known and cannot be presumed Filipino citi-zens, hence she cannot claim or acquire the status of a natural-born citizen,” said David as he

noted there was no law in the country that gives a natural-born status to a foundling.

He said Poe’s adop-tion by actors Fernando Poe Jr. and Susan Roces did not give the senator the stature of a Filipino citizen.

“It should be empha-sized that [Poe] was a foundling when she was adopted She had no known biological par-ents, having been alleg-edly found in a church in Jaro, Iloilo, and was allegedly taken by a rich woman and later on end-ed up in the hands of the Poe couple,” David said.

Senator Francis Escu-dero described as “funny and irritating” the case filed by David against Poe.

“It’s funny because he was not prepared with what he needed in or-der to file. It’s irritating because why only now?” Escudero said.

“If they want to chal-lenge her citizenship, they should have done it early on.”

Escudero believes Poe can weather this new po-litical storm and that the public can see through David’s motive.

“If there are accusa-tions against you, no matter how bad, if they are not true, you would be able to respond and explain them to the public,” Escudero said. With rio n. araja

By Macon ramos-araneta

SENATOR Grace Poe on Thursday assured the more than 20 million Filipinos who vot-ed for her in the 2013 elections that she is a Filipino by birth and choice.

A4f r i D AY : A u g u s t 7, 2 0 1 5

[email protected]

Coloma:StatuehonorsSAF 44By Sandy Araneta and Vito Barcelo

A STATUE of the 44 police commandos at Camp Mariano Castañeda in Silang, Cavite is enough to honor the slain policemen and Malacañang had nothing to do with the removal of a mural that was made by a group of eminent painters to memorialize the Mamasapano incident.

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. mentioned the statue as he denied President Benigno Aquino III ordered that the mural be removed from the the Philippine National Police Academy “because too many visitors were takings photos or selfies with the mural as backdrop.”

“According to General Ricardo de Leon, president of the Philippine Public Safety College, [which] supervises the Philippine National Police Academy, there is already a statue erected which honors the SAF 44, inside Camp Mariano Castañeda in Silang, Cavite,” Coloma said.

On the other hand, the 26-foot mural of the 44 Special Action Force troopers, who were slain while hunting down two international terrorists in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last January 25, has found a new home in the Coconut Palace where Vice President Jejomar C. Binay holds office.

The mural is now at the ground floor of the Coconut Palace so that all visitors can see the artwork, which was created by a group of artists to remind Filipinos of the SAF 44’s sacrifice and heroism.

The source added the PNPA, instead of putting the mural inside a “bodega,” decided to inform the owner of the mural, Erehwon Artworld Corp., of the President’s order. Erehwon decided to retrieve the mural sometime mid-April.

This was about a month after it was inaugurated by Binay.

It was actually Aquino who was invited to unveil the mural but he did not arrive. Binay, who was invited to attend, unveiled the mural when Aquino snubbed the event, sources said.

The mural called “Tagaligtas 44” and an 18-foot war monument dubbed “Bantayog Tagaligtas: Heroic 44” were installed in the PNPA in Silang, Cavite on March 14, the annual homecoming of the alumni.

Taguig mayor, execrapped for lockdown

Also indicted was city administrator Jose Montales for violation of Article 143 of the Revised Penal Code penalizing “persons who, by force or fraud, prevent or tend to prevent the meetings of local legislative bodies.”

Because of Cayetano’s acts, the city council was forced to

hold their official sessions at a staircase of the city hall on its maiden session and in various venues inside and outside the city hall for the next 14 sessions.

The case arose from the padlocking of the session hall on August 16, 2010 preventing the Sanggunian Panlungsod (SP) from holding its maiden

By Rio N. Araja

THE Ombudsman indicted Taguig City Mayor Laarni “Lani” Cayetano on Thursday for preventing councilors from holding regular legislative sessions in 2010 by padlocking the council’s session hall in 2010.

council session following the 2010 elections.

The complainants headed by former Vice Mayor George Elias and other members of the SP said they were surprised to see that all entrances to the session hall which they used for the previous six years were closed on orders of the respondents without advance notice.

They said the city administrator informed them belatedly that the session hall was closed to start the implementation of “re-engineering and reorganization plan.”

The councilors said the padlocking of the session hall was an act of hostility, premeditated and executed with undue haste,

affording no prior consultation and no prior notice.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales dismissed the explanations of Cayetano and Montales that their act was part of the city’s reengineering and reorganizational plan.

“The documentary evidence as well as respondents’ own admissions belied their claim that any ‘reorganizational or reengineering plan’ with respect to city hall offices actually existed,” Morales said in her resolution.

She also noted there was no plan nor a semblance of a project study that would validate the necessity of effecting immediate change in the layout of the city hall offices.

Tax break for PWDs pushedBy Macon Ramos-AranetaMORE than 1.4 million Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) will be exempted from the 12-percent value added tax (VAT) once Senate Bill 2890 is passed into law, said Senator Sonny Angara.

The Senate ways and means committee, chaired by Angara, reported out on Wedensday the proposed measure, a consolidated version of House Bill 1039 principally authored by Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and similar bills authored by Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto and Senator Bam Aquino.

Senate Bill 2890 seeks to expand the benefits and privileges of PWDs under Republic Act 7277 or the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons.

Based on the 2010 data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, there were over 1.4 million Filipino PWDs or 1.57 percent of the country’s population.

Under RA 7277, disabled persons are those

suffering from restriction or different abilities, as a result of a mental, physical or sensory impairment, to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being.

Angara noted that if the bill is passed into law, it will align the PWD law with that of the Expanded Senior Citizens Act which provides a VAT exemption on top of their 20-percent discount on particular goods and services.

Specifically, PWDs will be exempted from the VAT on land transportation, domestic air and sea travels; on fees and charges for medical and dental services including diagnostic and laboratory fees, and professional fees of attending doctors in all government facilities as well as in all private hospitals and medical facilities; on cost of medicines; on fees and charges in hotels, restaurants and recreation centers; and, on admission fees in theatres, cinema houses, concert halls, and other similar places of culture, leisure and amusement.

Sent home. Four law enforcers from China escort fugitive Wang Bo as he goes to board China Southern Flight No. CZ3078 for Guangzhou, China after he was official deported by the Bureau of Immigration on Thursday.

Report ready. Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Thursday said the Senate committee on local government, which he chairs, is ready to submit its report on the controversial Bangsamoro Basic Law, but declined to commit that the bill could be passed under the Aquino administration. EY ACASIO

[email protected]

Fri day: aug ust 7 , 2 0 1 5

News

Comelec warned: ‘No-el’scenario must not happen

Court upholds case vs fratman in Bar blast

Wang Bo deported

Just a drill. Rescuers immediately respond to a bystander hit by a fallen lamp post during an earthquake, one of the dramatiza-tions held at SM MOA Complex while participating in the Shake Drill spearheaded by MMDA.

By Maricel V. Cruz

House Independent Bloc leader and Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez on Thursday prodded the Commission on Elections to ensure that a “no-election” scenario in 2016 would not occur amid criticism raised by some sectors that the Comelec was not pre-pared to automate the polls.

Chinese crime lord Wang Bo, who allegedly bribed congressmen to pass the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law, has been deported to China, according to the Department of Justice and Bureau of immigration.

immigration spokesperson elaine Tan said that Wang left the ninoy Aquino internatinal Airport at 8:48 am on board China southern Airline flight CZ3078 for Guangzhou .

“The deportation was in compliance with the August 4 resolution from the secretary of Justice directing the immediate implementation of the March 5 summary Deportation Order against Wang,” Tan said.

The Chinese fugitive was escorted by four Chinese police officers and a Filipino immigration agent.

The sDO was also enforced after the national Bureau of investigation said there was no evidence to prove that Wang bribed lawmakers and immigration officials including Justice secretary Leila De Lima.

in a resolution issued Wednesday, De Lima affirmed her June 8, 2015 ruling that reinstated a March 5, 2015 sDO issued by the Bureau of immigration (Bi) against Wang.

The latest resolution stated that Wang “has been amply heard in the deportation and appeal proceedings thru his pleadings with the Bi, the Court of Appeals, and his present motion for reconsideration.”

The resolution also pointed out that there was “no reason to reverse” the June 8 ruling that “the documents presented by the Chinese embassy are sufficient basis to order the deportation of [Wang].”

The June 8 resolution junked a May 21, 2015 resolution of the Bi’s Board of Commissioners that reversed the sDO. The ruling was bolstered by the submission of documents by the Chinese embassy that certified Wang as a fugitive from justice and bearer of a cancelled passport. Vito Barcelo

Romualdez, a lawyer and president of the Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa), said Comelec chair Andres Bautista must exhaust all means to guar-antee that the May 9, 2016 automated polls will push through as scheduled despite the declaration made by the special Bids and Awards Committee-2 of the poll body on a failed second bidding for the contract to refurbish 81,896 precinct count optical scan machines.

“i am confident that the

poll body can carry their mandate and decide on what is best for the interest of the country despite the failed sec-ond bidding in the refurbish-ment of PCOs,” Romualdez said.

“Let us all work for the maintenance of good. i be-lieve the Comelec will not al-low a possible no-election scenario,” he said.

Romualdez made the state-ment as Bautista said the poll body would ensure the suc-cess of a parallel public bid-ding for the refurbishment

Dengue downsHouse speakerhOuse speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. has been suffering from dengue since Monday.

Belmonte confirmed that he is currently confined at st. Luke’s Medical Center along e. Rodriguez Avenue in Quezon City after di-agnosed the illness brought by aedes aegypti mosquito.

“it takes time to study the blood samples taken from me twice a day. As of today it is dengue,” Belmonte told reporters in a text message.

Belmonte said he has been suffering from fever since Monday evening, and so he failed to attend the gathering of local leaders and other officials of the ruling Liberal Party (LP) last Tuesday in san Juan City in support of the presidential bid of interior and Local Government secretary Manuel Roxas ii.

“ i’m sick, might miss it (LP gathering). [i am suffering from] very fever since last (Wednesday) night,” Belmonte said.

But Belmonte said he hopes he would be feeling well by Monday next week so that he would be able to report for work by then. Maricel V. Cruz

and repair of the 81,896 PCOs machines and the purchase of 100,000 Optical Mark Reader (OMR) voting machines for the peaceful conduct of the national elections on May 9, 2016.

speaker Feliciano Belmon-te Jr. said he was confident the Comelec would still be able to address the problem.

“The failed two biddings are very serious concern, but still hoping that the poll body can address this problem,” Belmonte said.

Cavite Rep. elpidio Bar-zaga Jr., a former chair of the house committee on suffrage and electoral reforms, said the Comelec could still lease two batches of brand new 23,000 OMR voting machines and another new batch of 70,977 OMRs.

“i talked to some directors of the Comelec and they as-sured tha leasing new OMR machines based on their time-table is really possible,” Barzaga

said. “These new machines are very reliable unlike repairing the old ones whose success-ful operation cannot be guar-anteed and we cannot even assure that there will be no de-lays,” Barzaga, vice chair of the house committee on suffrage and electoral reforms, said.

Barzaga said the lease will be P2 billion more expen-sive than the refurbishment of the existing PCOs ma-chines.

in separate letters submit-ted to sBAC-2, smartmatic-Total information Manage-ment (TiM) Corp. and Miru systems Co. attributed their decision to withdraw from the P3.1-billion project to the tight timeline imposed by the Comelec.

smartmatic-TiM Corp. said it has “serious doubts and legitimate concerns whether this project is still feasible,” considering that the election day is barely nine months away.

By Rey Requejo

The Court of Appeals has al-lowed the Department of Justice to proceed with the prosecution of a member of the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity for multiple frustrated murder and multiple attempted murder in connec-tion with the grenade explosion outside the De La salle university during the 2010 Bar exams that left at least 50 persons injured.

in a 17-page decision written by Associate Justice Francisco

Acosta, the CA’s special Fourth Division denied the petition filed by Anthony nepomuceno, the alleged grenade-thrower, seeking t to nullify the resolution issued by Prosecution Attorney on April 27, 2011 which found probable cause to file criminal charges against him.

The CA ruled that the DOJ did not commit grave abuse of discretion in recommending the filing of information against nepomuceno.

The appellate court junked

nepomuceno’s defense that the affidavits of the wit-nesses presented by the na-tional Bureau of investiga-tion (nBi) are inconsistent and the positive identifications were questionable, saying those issues should be addressed dur-ing the trial proper.

“Thus, the perceived inconsis-tencies in the statements of the witnesses are not sufficient to de-bunk the investigating prosecutor’s finding of probable cause against nepomuceno,” the CA stressed.

Fake rice. More than a month after “fake rice” was reported in Davao City, a series of test conducted by government agencies showed that it was an isolated case and not a cause for alarm. National Food Authority Administrator Renan Dalisay (left) and Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Mod-ernization Secretary Francis Pangilinan clarify the fake rice issue during a press conference held in Quezon City. MANNY PALMERO

[email protected]

newsA6f r i d ay : a U G U S T 7, 2 0 1 5

John Hay hits out at BCDABy Rey E. Requejo

The Camp John hay Development Corporation has slammed the Bases Conversion and Development Authority for questioning a recent ruling of the Court of Appeals which prevented the eviction of more than 1,600 third party investors and the private developer from the 247-hectare former American recreational facility.

In a memorandum to all Camp John Hay locators and enterprises, CJHDevCo executive vice presi-dent Alfredo Yñiguez III accused the BCDA of trying to mislead and confuse the public in assailing the CA order.

“There is nothing irregular about the July 30 decision of the Court of Appeals which ordered BCDA to re-spect and not to disturb the contracts of third parties occupying the leased premises. In fact, the CA decision

merely affirms the arbitration award, which the BCDA has been trying to illegally modify,” Yñiguez said.

In a 67-page decision penned by Associate Justice Noel Tijam, the CA’s former Special Fifth Division granted the petition for certiorari and prohibition filed by the private developer to stop Baguio City re-gional trial court Branch 6 Judge Cecilia Corazon Dulay-Archog from implementing a writ of execution and notice to vacate against CJH-

DevCo and the third parties occupy-ing the leased property.

“The instant petition for certiorari is granted. Accordingly, public re-spondents are ordered to cease and desist from enforcing the Writ of Ex-ecution dated April 14 and Notice to Vacate dated April 20 against petitioner CJHDevCo until it is fully paid of the amount of P1,421,096,052 as indicated in the Arbitral Award,” the CA said in its ruling.

The appellate court, however, directed CJHDevCo to “promptly vacate and cease its operations on the leased premises upon pay-ment of its claim in the amount of P1,421,096,052 with the Commis-sion on Audit.”

“However, in the interim, CJH-DevCo shall not enter into new contracts with 3rd parties and/or perform any action that would contravene the tenor of the arbitral award before receipt of its payment,” it stressed.

Yñiguez said the CA ruling upheld the position of the property devel-oper that all third parties are also vested rights holders who acted in “good faith” when they entered into contracts with CJHDevCo.

“This clearly shows that third party residents and locators possess rights and cannot simply be evicted by the BCDA,” he said. “The Court of Appeals directed the BCDA to re-spect and not to disturb the various contracts of third parties occupying the premises in Camp John Hay.”

Yñiguez stressed that what the CA found irregular, amounting to grave abuse of discretion, are the acts of Dulay-Archog, the ex-officio sheriff of Baguio City Linda-Montes Loloy, and the sheriff of Baguio RTC-Branch 6 Bobby Galano in enforcing and implementing writ of execution and the notice to vacate against the third parties.

“The Court of Appeals ruled it is so patent and gross as to amount to

an evasion of positive duty for RTC Baguio Court Branch 6 to include petitioner-intervenors (third parties) in the notice to vacate that resulted in the taking of property without due process of law,” he added.

Yñiguez also accused BCDA of being maliciously misleading in claiming that the lease agreement with CJHDevCo “was only for 25 years, subject to renewal for anoth-er 25 years and not an automatic 50 years.”

The CJHDEVCO official said what BCDA failed to include in their state-ment that as per contract, “renewal for another 25 years is at the sole op-tion of CJHDevCo” - something that the property developer has already exercised.

“In fact, the BCDA itself accepted residential units, condotel units and golf shares from CJHDevCo with a term of 50 years, and further, resold one unit for a 75-year lease period,” Yñiguez said.

Over misleading claim on Court of Appeals decision

By Alena Mae S. FloresPOWER rates will decrease for the fourth consecutive month in August because of lower gen-eration charges, distributor Ma-nila Electric Co. said Thursday.

Meralco said in a statement residential customers would see their electricity bill decrease by P0.26 per kilowatt-hour this month to around P9.12 per kWh, the lowest in nearly five years.

This brings the total reduc-tion to P1.56 per kWh over the past four months. The re-duction also marked the sixth time this year that rates went down.

Meralco said a typical house-hold consuming 200 kWh would see their monthly elec-tricity bill go down by P52 in August.

Meralco said that at P9.12 per kWh, the overall electric-ity rate in August was lower by P1.82 than P10.94 per kWh in August 2014 and was the lowest since October 2010.

The utility company attrib-uted the reduction in the over-all rates to the drop in genera-tion charges by P0.19 per kWh to P4.55 per kWh. The August month’s generation charge is also the second lowest since October 2010.

“The generation charge re-duction was largely driven by lower charges from power plants under the independent power producers (IPPs) due to lower fuel costs resulting from the quarterly repricing of natu-ral gas and lower condensate cost due to fewer gas restric-tions requiring these plants to use the higher priced conden-sate,” Meralco said.

The power distributor said charges from the Wholesale Elec-tricity Spot Market, the country’s trading floor of electricity, also registered a reduction.

“This was due to lower de-mand caused by weather dis-turbances that affected several days of the July supply month,” it said.

MMDA bares landslide-prone areas

Supply disruption. Residents of Bacoor, Cavite on Thursday form a line to buy containers with which to stock up water in preparation for the scheduled water service interruption next week. DANNY PATA

By Joel E. Zurbano

TWELVE barangays in Metro Ma-nila, ten of them in Quezon City, were identified as highly susceptible to landslides in the event southwest monsoon struck the National Capital Region on Monday.

The areas are barangays Pansol, Loyola Heights, North Fairview, Greater Lagro, Old Balara, Batasan Hills, Payatas, Commonwealth (Lower Bayanihan), Bagong Silangan and Holy Spirit, all in Quezon City; Barangay Fortune in Marikina City, and Tunasan in Muntinlupa City.

These high risk areas were identi-fied by Mines and Geoscience Bu-reau officials during an emergency meeting with members of the Metro Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and local gov-ernment officials last Thursday.

The meeting, which was presided by Metro Manila Development Authority

chairman Francis Tolentino held at the MMDA central office in Makati City, was made in preparation for the pos-sible heavy rains on Monday.

“These areas are high risk if ever heavy rains comes Monday but it doesnt necessarily mean there will be landslides in these areas,” said Ray-mond Ancog, MGB senior geologist.

Tolentino, for his part, asked lo-cal officials to use public schools in their areas as evacuation centers for residents who would be affected by landslides. He added he already met with Metro Manila mayors on what to do in their respective areas in case of emergency.

The MMDA said during heavy rains, people should:

-Stay indoors and keep calm.-Monitor TV and radio reports.-Keep roads clear for emergen-

cy vehicles.-Go to the nearest designated

evacuation center if your house is

in a flood-prone area.-Have a flashlight and radio han-

dy, with fresh batteries.-Stock up on food, potable water,

kerosene, batteries, and first-aid supplies.

-In case of flooding, turn off the main sources of electricity, gas and water in your home.

-Stack furniture above the ex-pected flood level. Keep appliances, valuables, chemicals, toxic sub-stances, and garbage beyond the reach of floodwaters.

-Avoid low-lying areas, riverbanks, creeks and coastal areas, slopes, cliffs, and foothills. Rain can trigger land-slides, rockslides or mudslides.

-Avoid wading through flooded areas. Do not attempt to cross flow-ing streams.

-Do not operate any electrical equipment during a flood.

-Do not use gas or electrical ap-pliances that have been flooded.

August power rateslowest in five years

Women’s right. Akbayan members led by former party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros express the difficulty of raising families in poverty as they appeal to the Supreme Court justices to once again become the “champion for women’s rights.” Akbayan members are joining forces with the reproductive health advocates network to espouse the rights of women to reproductive health. MANNY PALMERO

[email protected]

f r i d ay : a U G U S T 7, 2 0 1 5

news A7

Hanna brings more rain, flooding to Mindanao

Village chief arrested for killing of6-year-old By Dexter A. See

CAMP DIEGO SILANG, La Union—A barangay chairman wanted for kill-ing a six-year old boy and seriously wounding the boy’s father in a shoot-ing incident in Bangar, La Union last year was arrested Wednesday in Barangay Sto. Nino, Magalang, Pampanga by joint elements of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group here and the La Union police.

Supt. Angeles Genorga Jr, CIDG1 officer-in-charge, identified the suspect as Mar-lou Lucina, 33, chairman and resident of Barangay Quin-tarong, Bangar, La Union.

Genorga said Lucina was arrested based on warrants issued by Judge Manuel R. Aquino of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 21 in Balaoan, La Union.

Lucina was charged with murder and frustrated mur-der without bail for the death of Stephen Nicolai Munio and the wounding of his father, Nazer Munio.

According to the investiga-tion, father and son were sit-ting in front of their house in Barangay Quintarong when the suspect appeared and shot them with a shotgun, target-ing different parts of their body.

The victims were rushed to the Ilocos Training and Regional Medical Center in San Fernando City but the boy was declared dead upon arrival while his fa-ther survived.

Police said the motive of the incident is a personal grudge.

Authorities have declared a state of calamity in Valencia City in the province of Bukidnon.

As of press time, seven minors have died and two remain missing.

According to the National Di-saster Risk Reduction and Man-agement Council, a total of 426 families or 1,085 persons repre-senting residence in four villages

of Valencia City and two areas in Malaybalay in Bukidnon prov-ince were forced to evacuate due to massive flooding.

The severely affected villages in Valencia City were Sugud, Gi-noyuran, Tugaya, Bagong Mataas and Poblacion and sitios and Brgy Jose and Purok 4 in La-nawan Linabo in Malaybalay

Benguet town, electric coop ink deal on mini-hydro plantBUGUIAS, Benguet—Officials of the Benguet Electric Cooperative and the Buguias municipal government re-cently signed a memorandum of agree-ment in relation to the development of the 3-megawatt Man-asok mini-hydro power plant that will be hosted by the town in accordance with existing laws, rules and regulations.

Beneco is currently developing the run of river mini-hydroelectric power plant located in the municipality with an installed capacity of 3 megawatts.

Under the Renewable Energy Act of 2008, the government share on existing and new renewable energy development projects “shall be equal to 1 percent of the gross income of renewable energy re-source developers resulting from the sale of renewable energy produced and such other income incidental to and arising from the renewable energy generation, transmission and sale of electric power.”

Further, the government share as required under the law shall be dis-tributed as follows: 60 percent to the national government and 40 percent

to the local government.Pursuant to Section 292 of RA No.

7160 and Department of Energy Cir-cular No. 2009-05-0008, the allocation and distribution of the local govern-ment share shall be province—20 per-cent, component city or municipality —45 and barangay—35 percent.

Beneco has the obligation of sharing with its host communities a part of income to be derived from the operation of the 3-megawatt mini-hyroelectric power plant, and in consideration of the exploitation, development and utilization of naturally-occurring renewable energy resources within the territory of the municipality.

Based on the agreement, a joint ven-ture or partnership agreement between Beneco and the municipality shall be executed with a 50-50 percent sharing of ownership of the facilities after the 26th year of operation of the mini-hydro plant without any initial financial investment to be cashed out by the municipality.

The agreement was signed by Mayor Melchor Diclas and Beneco Board Pres-ident Peter Busaing. Dexter A. See

Trying his luck. A fisherman in Vigan casts his net, still hoping for some catch as stormy clouds loom over the horizon. DAVID CHAN

Seeking shelter. A child in Kidpawan City tries to stay dry under a stall umbrella amid a downpour. GEONARRI SOLMERANO

By Francisco Tuyay

More families have fled their homes for safety as flood water continued to rise, brought by rain from the southwest monsoon spawned by typhoon Hanna in Mindanao.

town in Bukidnon.Pagasa said typhoon Hanna was

955 kilometers east of Basco Batanes with 175 kph winds near the center and gustiness of 210 kph moving west northwest at 20 kph.

Typhoon Hanna, Pagasa said, has maintained its intensity as it move closer to Batanes area bring-ing moderate and heavy rainfall within a radius of 650 kilometers.

Despite Hanna’s predicted exit on Saturday, monsoon rains will still prevails which may trigger flash floods and landslides to be experienced over Bicol or, Visayas, Mindanao and Palawan while moderate and isolated thunder-storm is expected in Metro Manila,

Calabrzon and Mindoro.Teoveloni Eliaconi, spokesper-

son of Valencia City DRRMO declined to provide the actual amount of the calamity fund to be utilized to finance food for flood victims who were in dif-ferent evacuation centers and re-habilitation of damage dwellings and structures brought by the flooding.

In Kidapawan, incidents of landslides were reported in the three far flung Sitios of Sudsuha-yon, Sayaban and Agco, render-ing the areas temporarily unpass-able due to all kinds of vehicles due to earth debris along its road networks.

in play, like a businessman’s reputation and, by extension, the reputation of his company.

And when the president of a company like San Miguel, the biggest diversified conglomer-ate in the country, sues the head of another large company like GMA 7 for syndicated estafa, you have to wonder if there is not actually cause for investors and future partners and buyers to worry. The charge, after all, is almost exclusively reserved for financial securities scam artists like the shadowy people who sell imaginary gold bars or those who offer fantastic – and equally imaginary – profits in “multi-level marketing” schemes.

It doesn’t help Gozon’s de-fense that Jimenez and Duavit,

opinionA8

[ EDI TORI A L ]

ImmInent US rate hIke

A9ADELLE chuAe D I t O r

F R I D AY, A u G u S T 7, 2 0 1 5

opinion

To pArAphrASe the old trust “smell test,’’ would you buy a car (not to mention a television network) from Fe-lipe Gozon? perhaps some people still would – but they’d be very, very careful when they do from here on in.

I wonder what Gozon, chairman of the giant GMA 7 network, was thinking when he decided not to return the

p1 billion downpayment made by San Miguel Corp. top hon-cho ramon Ang after Ang’s plan to purchase the station fell through. I’ll hazard a guess: Gozon wasn’t thinking about the good of the company, its stockholders – not just his partners Menardo Jimenez and Gualberto Duavit, by the way – and even his own personal reputation as a top business-man and executive.

Because Gozon is a lawyer, I was not surprised to hear his legalistic response to Ang’s fil-ing of a syndicated estafa suit against him for the return of the money recently. Gozon said

that the money paid by Ang was intact and that he will not return it because he intends to sue Ang for damages for uni-laterally aborting the sale.

Gozon’s reply may or may not be legally correct; that is really for the courts to decide. But, ei-ther way, his position does noth-ing to improve his image or that of his company outside of the courts, where the real business of business happens.

After all, it’s perfectly pos-sible, in the world of business, for one to take a strictly legal position and still be wrong, be-cause business is not all about the law. There are other things

A mAtter of reputAtion

Who won the presidential elections of May 2010?

The Commission on elections pro-claimed Liberal party’s Benigno Sime-on Cojuangco Aquino III the duly elected president in 2010. he garnered 15,208,678 votes, 42.08 percent of the total votes cast for president.

on second place was former presi-dent Joseph ejercito estrada of the partido ng Masang pilipino. he got 9,487,837 votes, or 26.25 percent. A distant third was tycoon and former Senate president Manuel B. Villar Jr. of the Nacionalista party, 5,573,535 votes or 15.42 percent. A poor fourth was former Defense Secretary Gilberto Te-odoro of the then ruling Lakas-Kampi party, with 4,095,839 votes or 11.33 percent.

erap celebrates this year his 46th year of distinguished public service – as mayor, senator, vice president, and president, and now mayor again, only this time as Ceo of Manila. he ini-tially lost his first election, in 1967, as mayor of San Juan town. he protested. The case lasted two years and reached the Supreme Court which ordered a manual recount. The recount showed erap won. he assumed office as mayor on August 5, 1969.

This year, estrada got his vindica-tion after losing the 2010 presidential elections. The National Competitive-ness Council declared Manila the most competitive city among cities nation-wide and the city which is No. 1 in in-frastructure, among highly urbanized cities nationwide. The men behind the NCC are men who really don’t like estrada, like the Ayalas of Makati, and Bill Luz himself, the NCC chair. So you can say erap won the best city race this year fairly and squarely.

But did Aquino III really win in the 2010 presidential elections fairly and squarely? That is not clear today. In fact, a growing number of experts and analysts now believe estrada probably won the election in his comeback bid for the presidency five years ago, after having been convicted, politically, he says, for plunder.

Three factors helped Aquino’s vic-tory in 2010:

one, the death of his mother, the beloved former president Corazon Cojuangco Aquino on Aug. 1, 2009. It gave her only son Noynoy sympathy votes in massive numbers.

Two, employment for the first time, on a massive scale, of pCoS – precinct

DiD Erap win thE

2010 racE?

his fellow majority partners in GMA 7, want Ang to get his money back, since the sale didn’t happen. No one has the right to keep money that isn’t his and which was given as a downpayment towards the sale of anything, whether the thing being sold is a second-hand car or 90 percent of a big broadcast-ing network, the total holdings of the three partners that Ang had wanted to purchase originally.

I find it hard to believe that the Gozon bloc seriously believes that it can hang on to Ang’s money because it

wants to sue Ang for opportunity loss-es as a result of the sale falling through. Ang’s complaint, which states that the terms of the aborted sale never in-cluded a provision allowing the with-holding of his downpayment in case the deal didn’t push through, is more believable.

After all, if there is no provision that specifically allows the withholding of Ang’s downpayment as security for fu-ture damage claims, then there is real cause to charge Gozon of attempting to defraud the San Miguel president.

And the law that punishes syndicated estafa, because it is aimed particularly at perpetrators who victimize people who hand over money to them in good faith, is a non-bailable offense.

* * *I’ve been told that Gozon has soft-

ened his earlier position and that he is now open to an out-of-court settle-ment with Ang. This is good news, be-cause the GMA 7 chairman must have realized, however belatedly, that his stand is untenable.

Continued on A11

GLoBAL financial markets are again volatile as investors speculate on the timing of the US interest rate hike. The impending rate increase, a confirmation of the economic recovery in the US, has prompted investors to dump their holdings in the global stock markets in favor of the US dol-lar and other dollar-based instruments, and weakened many currencies, including the peso.

An interest rate hike by the US Federal reserve Board offers better yields to investors who place their bets on the American currency and US treasury bills. As investors flee the yen, euro and other major currencies, the US dollar gets stronger with the increased demand. The yen and euro receive a beating, which may force some economies to also raise their in-terest rates in order to compete with the US currency in drawing foreign funds.

higher interest rates, however, will increase the cost of borrowing and ultimately the production cost of companies.

The peso lately has felt the effects of the imminent US rate increase. The local currency closed at 45.745 to a US dollar Thursday, the weakest level in five years, as foreign funds leave the philippine financial markets in search for higher investment returns.

Foreign fund managers are speculating the record-low inflation rate of 0.8 percent in July will prevent the Bangko Sentral ng pilipinas from fol-lowing the Federal reserve when it raises interest rates.

The peso, thus, is expected to remain weak in the coming months as the central bank keeps local interest rates low. Monetary authorities will rath-er wait and let the peso depreciate amid an extended el Niño and govern-ment’s target to sustain an economic growth rate of at least 6 percent.

The weaker peso will benefit exporters and relatives of migrant Fili-pino workers here. But the philippines will have a difficult time attracting foreign funds in the local financial markets in the face of a stronger US currency.

The government, in the meantime, should start evaluating its trade and economic policies in preparation for a US economic boom.

I wonder if permanent

damage to the reputation of

Gma 7’s owners and that of the company itself

has already been done.

lOwDOwn

jOjO a. rObleS

VIrtUalrealItY

tOnYlOPeZ

Continued on A11

[email protected]

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

Ma. Isabel “Gina” P. Verzosa Head, Advertising Solutions Anita F. Grefal Treasury Manager Edgar M. Valmorida Circulation Manager Emil P. Jurado Chairman Emeritus, Editiorial Board

OPINIONF R I D AY, A U G U S T 7, 2 0 1 5

A10

Anthony taberna has a creditable following. The top-ics he takes up are timely, the guests he invites, generally in-teresting, the exchanges lively, at times, sharp. That is not to say that tunying is always right. no one is -- and that should be a self-evident propo-sition, at least after The Fall.

Lately, however, he has come under fire for what, to some is an astonishing silence on the Iglesia ni Cristo’s internal squabbles. his critics claim that, as an opin-ion-maker, he was supposed to rise above his religious affili-ations and con-victions and to discuss the issue of the expulsion of some key figures in the church and the dissension that has wracked its ranks. This quite clearly raises a question of supreme impor-tance to the ethics of journalism – print, broadcast or internet. Is a commentator, an opinion-maker, obliged to suspend his credal or ideological allegiances to be able to discuss topics that, though offensive or hurtful to his deepest convictions, are nev-ertheless of currency and of na-tional interest?

There is no journalist or col-umnist I know who will accept the proposition that he is under some kind of a professional obli-gation to take up the burning is-sues of the day and to take some stand or other. I furthermore reject the proposition that the ethics of the profession demand that one suspend his personal al-legiances to be “objective”.

In the first place, “objectiv-ity” -- if it means detachment from any subjective consider-ation -- is a myth in the pejo-rative sense. It was a fantasy people indulged it when hu-manity knew no better!

In the second place, it is precisely one’s allegiances and partisanship that allow him to influence public opinion. It is a commentator’s job, a col-umnist’s calling, to provoke debate by taking sides on the basis of his convictions. you read a news report when you want a narration of facts; you read a columnist when you want opinion. And it is pre-

cisely because a commentator has convictions that he firmly holds that he can be interest-ing.

Why should tunying taber-na be under obligation to dis-cuss a topic he is not disposed to talk about? his profession as commentator obligates him to attempt to form public opin-ion on some issues. It is de-manding the impossible to re-quire him to discuss all. And because he must choose, then he will talk about issues that interest him and leave out oth-ers that he believes he should not take up -- and no one can begrudge him this choice with-out seriously compromising

the constitu-tionally guar-anteed freedom of a writer or an opinion-maker.

There is yet another related matter. The re-fusal of a jour-nalist to join in the chorus of condemnation against an ob-ject of popular o p p r o b r i u m

does not, without seriously vi-olating the tenets of rationality, support the conclusion of such a journalist’s collusion with the corrupt or the unrighteous or the ungodly. —If it is his right to comment, it is equally his right not to—and a right would not be one, were a nega-tive conclusion to be drawn from its exercise. “Bayaran” is a commonly used label against one who does not join the bandwagon of condemnation.

Sadly, it is a characterization that ends all debate. one never takes seriously a “bayaran”; af-ter all, he says only what he was paid to say. But why should anyone who takes up an un-popular position be “bayaran”? how can discourse flourish when it is unanimity we want at every turn? I think, that is essentially the trouble: While free speech and expression are jealously guarded rights in this country, we have yet to learn the ways of true discourse. We need that maturity that by which we can seriously enter-tain a contradictory proposi-tion and not dismiss it outright because we have consigned him who maintains what we oppose to the infernal regions of the morally or intellectually bankrupt! [email protected][email protected][email protected]

DID TUNYING TRANSGRESS THE

ETHICS OF HIS PROFESSION?

DETERmINED TO INCREASE CONTRIbUTIONS

For the Social Security Sys-tem, August used to be the fa-vorite month for finalizing the plans to enhance programs and benefits that it would announce on September 1 during its anni-versary celebration.

Pensioners have become accustomed to this tradition that they would second-guess pen-sion announcements and ask:

By how much would SSS increase its pen-sions this time?

Sadly, this tradition was discontinued by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo beginning in 2001 and has been completely forgotten by President Benigno S. Aquino III until today in 2015.

They have made us wonder why. Perhaps, they have not even thought that adjusting pen-sions in keeping with inflation has already be-come a worldwide practice since the proclama-tion of the Universal Declaration of human rights on December 10, 1948.

They must have gotten fixated with the short actuarial life of the SSS, and blamed repeat-edly their predecessors for granting pension increases almost annually without the coun-terpart contribution increases. They were not told, perhaps, that investments in those years yielded high percentages of returns in the 20s and 30s.

Both feared that SSS reserves would be de-pleted in the next 38 years and that by giving pension increases, this depletion would even accelerate. Thus, they gave almost nothing.

PGMA granted two pension increases of ten percent each during her ten-year administra-tion but only because SSS celebrated its golden 50th founding anniversary in 2007. As if agree-ing, Pnoy granted once a 5-percent pension in-crease in the past five years.

Consistently, PGMA shored up SSS funds. Immediately after assuming office, she in-creased, on January 1, 2002 the covered salary or maximum amount that was subject to con-tributions from P12,000 to P15,000. She then increased its rate of contribution by 1 percent of salary credit in 2003 and another 1 percent in 2007. In both, employers shouldered the en-tire additional contributions without the em-ployee sharing any.

Pnoy, on the other hand, increased the con-tribution rate only once at 0.6 percent of salary credit and even made the employer and his em-ployees share this equally at 0.3 percent each. he made this effective on January 1, 2014 to-gether with the increase in covered salary from P15,000 to P16,000.

he probably didn’t plan to increase pensions but his appointed SSS officials awarded them-selves fat bonuses for a performance that we pen-sioners neither felt nor appreciated. Expectedly, they were immediately bombarded with public protests and criticism and a consenting Pnoy - to assuage the irate public - had no choice but to

grant a token 5-percent pension increase effective June 1, 2014.

As of now, we no longer ex-pect anything significant to hap-pen to the SSS pension program during the remainder of his term. It will only continue to de-

teriorate into uselessness and irrelevance. SSS may still trumpet re-posting millions of

contribution records that it had lost; introduce new and creative educational, calamity and sal-ary loan programs; establish small offices in re-mote areas; and register kasambahays, market vendors and tricycle drivers here and there.

It could sweeten up its peripheral programs like the funeral benefit which it had recently in-creased from P20,000 to P40,000. Unfortunate-ly, the amount now depends on the number and amount of contributions of the deceased and maybe, this new formula would encourage more payments before they die.

But it would also mess up the simplicity in determining the amount of funeral benefit of those who die before their contributions were fully accounted for and posted. Funeral ben-efits would then be processed much longer.

Pnoy’s “Daang Matuwid” administration is a bitter lesson from which we can learn how six years of precious time could be squandered by doing nothing.

This August, we should then start contem-plating on how to improve the national pension system that is being administered by SSS.

But first we must agree that an average re-tirement pension of P3,540 - which is way be-low $100 - is simply unacceptable after we have contributed patiently for 30 or 40 years. If it is all that awaits us at retirement, we now must declare that national pension system as a big, big failure.

We have to drastically alter it, and restore it to its original objective of providing adequate pensions.

We must redesign the SSS pension system so that all pensioners would receive at least P5,000 and as much as P50,000 in the next six years, and up to P100,000 in the next 10 years.

Are these impossible dreams? not quite, if we consider that these amounts are now cur-rently being enjoyed by all pensioners of the Government Service Insurance System, the military and police, the judiciary and the Con-stitutional bodies. Moreover, these amounts are just about $100 and $1,000.

We must agree to pay the necessary contri-butions to establish this kind of national pen-sion system for all. Subsidize through general appropriations the unfunded liabilities of pen-sioners who no longer contribute, if we have to, but we must require the employed and their employers to contribute more.

This is the only way. Determined to enforce this out because he

cares for us is the president that we must have for the next six years.

PENSEES

FR. RANHILIO CALLANGAN

AQUINO

FILIPINOPENSIONER

HORACEtEmPLO

If it is his right to comment, it is

equally his right not to.

[email protected]

A mAttER...From A9

There may be a mutually amicable – or at least mutually acceptable – resolution to this whole affair. But I can’t help but wonder if some permanent, irreparable damage to the reputa-tion of GMA 7’s owners and to that of the com-pany itself has already been done.

As the various financial and investment scandals here and abroad teach us, the seem-ingly innate desire to put one over one’s fellow man is not at all confined to sleazy scam artists who seek to take the piddling amounts stashed away by poor and the ignorant. In fact, the only difference between the scams pulled by nickel-and-dime swindlers and those perpetrated by

huge, more outwardly reputable, responsible and established businessmen is the humongous amounts of money involved.

As a media person myself, I’ve always admired GMA 7’s declarations that it aspires to the highest standards of journalism and programming. For the most part, I know that the men and women who work in the network take these goals seriously and strive every day to achieve them.

That’s why Gozon’s actions and statements in the aborted sale of GMA to Ang sound so dis-cordant. And if Gozon knows what really good for him, his partners and investors and the com-pany itself, he won’t allow his problems with Ang’s refusal to go on with his plan to buy GMA 7 to ultimately ruin the network over a “mere” P1 billion.

A11adelle chuaE D I T O R

F R I d aY, a u G u S T 7, 2 0 1 5

[email protected]

chong ardivilla#failocracy

By Adam Minter

The discovery last week of a Boe-ing 777 fragment on reunion is-land in the western indian ocean, and the Malaysian government’s confirmation on Wednesday that it belongs to missing Malaysia airlines flight 370, has kindled hopes that the plane’s wreckage might still be found. But the aus-tralian government, which has been coordinating the search and recovery mission for the plane since its disappearance in March 2014, has so far refused to indulge in sentimentalism. rather than recommit to the search, Warren Truss, australia’s deputy prime minister, said on Monday that -- barring actionable evidence from reunion island about the precise location of the crash -- his gov-ernment won’t extend the mission beyond next year.

That decision might seem brusque, but it’s entirely appro-priate. australia is preparing to abdicate a responsibility that it never should have assumed in the first place. if china and Malaysia, the countries most directly affect-ed by the tragedy, aren’t interested in shouldering the financial and

administrative burden of leading the search, the mystery of flight 370 should probably remain just that.

australia’s connection to flight 370 is tenuous. of the 239 passen-gers and crew lost during the flight, only six were australians. By com-parison, 153 were chinese, and 38 were Malaysians. and Malaysia, in particular, has an economic stake in the tragedy. on Tuesday, chris-toph Mueller, ceo of Malaysia air-lines, said that continued specula-tion over flight 370, especially on social media, hurts the state-owned carrier’s ticket sales.

despite australia’s thin connec-tion to the flight, when suspicions about the plane’s crash site shifted from the South china Sea toward the indian ocean, australia was obligated under agreements that govern the international civil avi-ation organization, the United na-tion’s aviation arm, to take a role in the search mission, which was taking place in its legally defined search and rescue zone.

But when the search and rescue mission transitioned into a search and recovery mission on March 24, 2014, australia’s obligations became much less clear. icao of-

fered no clear guidelines on who should lead such a mission, or for how long.

if the legal situation wasn’t im-mediately clear, however, the prac-tical constraints were. neither Malaysia, with its small navy, nor china, had the ability to initiate a complex search and recovery mis-sion in the remote, kilometers-deep waters in which the plane is pre-dicted to have sunk. So australia, with the agreement of both coun-tries, took on the burden of coordi-nating the search.

it was supposed to be a collab-orative arrangement, and in some ways it was. early on, for example, china contributed a ship to help map seafloor in preparation for an ongoing underwater survey con-ducted by hired vessels.

But when it comes to financing the search, australia has been on its own. Malaysia initially announced that it would split the costs 50-50 with the australian government. Meanwhile, Warren Truss’s office has told australian media that chi-na and Malaysia were asked to “go thirds” in the cost. neither scenario played out. according to Truss’s of-fice, australia has spent 76 million australian dollars ($55.87 million)

on the search, with an additional 14 million australian dollars budget-ed for it, while Malaysia has con-tributed 40 million. as for china, a Truss spokesman noted: “china has not contributed resources or equip-ment to the underwater search.” Truss himself noted that a lack of appropriate boats and technology is no excuse. “We’ve had to hire vessels, as well,” he told the Wall Street Journal.

australia, unsurprisingly, wants to ensure it doesn’t ever find itself in this position again. in febru-ary, it formally requested that the icao draft guidelines to clarify the delegation of responsibility for fu-ture accidents that resemble flight 370.

in the meantime, the australian government should be forgiven for running out of patience. if flight 370 isn’t found in the next year, australia will walk away from the search having led and largely paid for an effort to map the 46,000 miles of ocean floor most likely to contain its wreckage. china and Malaysia are certainly capable of hiring ships to continue that search. But next year they’ll finally be forced to de-cide if it’s truly worth doing so.

Bloomberg

It’s Not AustrAlIA’s JoB to FINd MH370

DID ERAP... From A9

count optical Scan –machines. PcoS machines were supposed to automate the elections. instead, PcoS institu-tionalized large-scale fraud and cheat-ing. The tragedy is that with PcoS be-ing new and esoteric technology, it was not easy to prove digital fraud. There was no paper trail.

Three, the powerful iglesia ni cristo shifted support to aquino, away from estrada, who in previous elections had always been backed by the cult.

inc claims three million voting membership. Plus another one mil-lion in bandwagon effect. assuming three million inc members voted for aquino, that was three million fewer votes for estrada. Thus, if you deduct three million from aquino’s 15.2 million, he ends up with just 12.2 million votes. add the three million

to estrada’s 9.487 million votes, he ends up with 12.487 million votes, which is at least 287,000 more votes than aquino’s 12.2 million. add the one million bandwagon votes (by re-ducing aquino’s 12.2 million to 11.2 million) and estrada’s votes swell to 13.487 million – 2.287 million votes more than aquino’s net votes.

factor in cheating. estrada’s home province is laguna. his hometown is Pagsanjan, in laguna. his nephew, e. r. ejercito campaigned as a newphew of erap. er’s posters showed erap in the background. er won by a land-slide in 2010. his wife won as mayor of Pagsanjan. But erap lost – in Pag-sanjan town, and in laguna province.

estrada had served for 17 years as mayor of San Juan city in Metro Ma-nila. a wife, guia gomez was the in-cumbent mayor in 2010. Their son, Jv ejercito estrada, won as congress-man. The estradas had never lost an

election in San Juan. in 2010, however, erap lost in San Juan for president. he also lost in his own San Juan precinct. When he ran for senator in 1987, vice president in 1992, and president in 1998, estrada carried the vote-rich provinces of Bulacan and nueva ecija handily. he lost in those provinces in 2010.

can that really happen? only with PcoS machines.

The PcoS machines were aided by flawed results of surveys by Pulse asia and Social Weather Station. in March and april 2010, both polling firms showed estrada in third place, when in fact, the former president had already overtaken Manny vil-lar to become aquino’s closest chal-lenger. Because he was made to ap-pear a loser or in a statistical tie with second placer villar (when when in fact he was ahead by at least five percentage points), estrada could

not raise enough campaign logistics in the crucial closing weeks of the campaign. “had the campaign lasted two more weeks,” erap now says, “i would have defeated noynoy.”

To his credit, despite compelling evidence of having been cheated in 2010, estrada gracefully accepted de-feat. he did not protest.

in 2013, erap ran for mayor of Ma-nila, ousting incumbent alfredo lim who was backed to the hilt and fi-nanced by President aquino.

next year, comelec will employ 93,000 brand-new PcoS machines at a cost of more than P12 billion. Until to-day, PcoS has proved a controversial and abstruse technology. That tech-nology could again elect a man – or a woman – who was not really chosen by the people, in a free, transparent, open, and democratic fight.

[email protected]

[email protected]


sports

Visayas teams clash in PSL finals

IT’S going to be an intense and personal battle as two of the best beach volleyball players from the Visayas lock horns tomorrow in the finals of the PLDT Home Ultera Philippine Superliga Beach Volley-ball Challenge Cup 2015, powered by Smart Live More at the Sands By the Bay in SM Mall of Asia.

The pride of Iloilo, Fiola Ceballos of Foton Tornadoes, will renew her ri-valry with Cebu’s best in Danica Gen-drauli of Gilligan’s in the gold-medal match of this tournament organized by Sports Core with Accel as official outfitter, Senoh as technical sponsor, Sands By the Bay as venue partner and Maynilad as official water provider.

PHILADELPHIA—The Atlanta Hawks, fresh off a victory over LeBron James and Cleveland, saw their six-game win streak snapped Saturday by the NBA’s second-worst team, Philadelphia, while the Cavaliers ripped Phoenix.

Softbellesroll overNorthCarolina

Fil-Chineseteams vowto dominateAsean meet

Murray falls to Gavashvili in net tuneupLancers openquest vs Jaguars

DELAWARE – Asia Pa-cific Champion Team Ma-nila–Philippines showed fine form as it rolled over USA Southeast Champion Morganton–North Caro-lina, 5–1, yesterday going into the final day of group competition in the 2015 edition of the World Series Girls Big League Champi-onship at the packed out Layton Field of the Pyles Center in Lower Sussex County here.

Standout pitcher Mary Ann Antolihao again deliv-ered a stellar performance with a total of eight strike outs, six no-run innings, and two fine defensive stops as the 18-year old stunner from the University of Sto. Tomas limited Mor-ganton to just four hits to lead the Manila batters to a semi-finals berth.

But it was at the bot-tom of the second inning when the Big City soft-belles scored five straight runs led by first baseman Florabelle Pabiania off a base hit by catcher Dely-rose Covarrubias, who in turn had a single off a hit by short stop Edna Mae Severino.

BEEFED up by former Philippine Basketball Asso-ciation players, the Filipino-Chinese Veterans Basketball Association hopes to domi-nate the 24th ASEAN Veter-ans Basketball Tournament when the annual seniors’ tournament starts on Tues-day in Kuching, Malaysia.

Out to lead FCVBA’s campaign in the three-division tournament is the 60-and-above division which is eager to reclaim its title it lost two years ago in Indonesia.

Former PBA and La Salle star Kenneth Yap and Uni-versity of the East’s Julio Cruz will backstop the Eduard Tio-mentored 60s along with Rain or Shine’s co-team owner Terry Que, Jimi Lim of Ironcon Builders and Johnny Chua.

Other members of the 60s, which is also supported by Freego, are former Crispa player Bong dela Cruz, Ch-ing Ka Lee, Zotico Tan, James Chua, Antonio Go, Danny Co and Israel Catacutan.

The 50-years-and-above team will be bannered by Andrew Ongteco, Jerry Gonzales, Sonny Cabatu, Bennet Palad. Achit Kaw, Gerry Tee, Robert Cabrera, Lawrence Chongson, Bong Tan, Ng Yuk Chi, Greg Po and Aldo Perez.

The match will be aired live over TV 5 and is expected to attract an-other overflow crowd.

Also expected to generate attention is the title showdown in the men’s divi-sion between Hachaliah Gilbuena and Jade Becaldo of SM By the Bay A and Tippy Tipgos and Marjun Alingasa of Champion Infinity B.

Becaldo, one of the best sand spikers from the University of the Visayas, will again test the mettle of Tipgos, who used to campaign for University of San Jose-Recoletos. Their rivalry in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. continues in Manila when they clash for the

crown and prestige of becoming the tournament’s inaugural men’s divi-sion champion.

A 20-year-old Tourism senior from Central Philippine University, Ceballos is regarded as one of the best young players on the sand. In fact, just few weeks ago, she stole the thunder from a powerhouse field as she emerged as the country’s First Queen of the Sands.

Then, she partnered with another Ilongga in Patty Jane Orendain of Ba-colod to tow the Tornadoes to a pair of victories in the classification round before demolishing their sister team -- Foton Hurricane -- in the semifinals.

Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia returns a shot in the third set against Andy Murray of Great Britain during their singles match at Rock Creek Tennis Center in Washington, DC. AFP

WASHINGTON—British top seed Andy Murray suffered a stunning defeat in his first hardcourt warm-up match for the US Open, losing Wednesday to Teymuraz Gabashvili at the ATP and WTA Washington Open.

The 53rd-ranked Russian outlasted third-ranked Murray 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) over two hours and 42 minutes to reach the third round at the ATP and WTA Washington Open.

Murray, the first Washington top seed to lose his first match since Ivan Lendl in 1993, served for the match in the third set and was two points from victory before Gabashvili broke to 5-5 and the Russian later took the final four tie-breaker points to secure the triumph.

“It was a tough match,” Murray said. “Obviously disappoint-ing not to close out the third set when I had a chance. Struggled with my rhythm early. There were some good rallies. He served well in the big moments, especially in the third set.”

Gabashvili, who was 3-22 against prior top-10 foes, hit 30 winners and only made 15 unforced errors while winning 86 percent of first-serve points in making Murray the highest-ranked victim of his career.

“Anytime you beat Andy Murray 7-6 in the third it’s some-thing special -- 100 percent it’s my best victory,” Gabashvili said.

It was a shocking defeat for the 28-year-old Scotsman, who sparked Britain’s Davis Cup team past France in July after a semi-final run at Wimbledon.

Murray, the 2012 US Open and 2013 Wimbledon champion, has much to work on before the Flushing Meadows fortnight begins August 31.

By Mikey Izumi

CEBU CITY—The University of Visayas Green Lancers opened their quest for the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. title when they faced opening-day win-ners University of San Jose –Recoletos Jaguars in the main game late Thursday.

Regarded as one of the favorites to win the 15th season basketball crown, the Green Lancers boast of a talented and experienced line-up, anchored on the backcourt duo of Franz Arong and Alfred Codilla, while the frontcourt is manned by Gilas Under-18 standout Leonard Santillan, Cameroonian im-port Steve Cedric Akomo, Alwin Aguirre and the returning tandem of Arvie Cabanero and Vincent Mendoza, who failed to make the ros-ter last season due to academic shortcomings.

While the Green Lancers are regarded as favorites, there is no way they can take the Jaguars under veteran coach Jun Noel of Mama’s Love fame lightly, after their big opening day win over the University of Cebu Webmasters.

Japan’s Kaneto Rie competes in a preliminary heat of the women’s 200m breaststroke swimming event at the 2015 FINA World Championships in Kazan on August 6, 2015. AFP

[email protected]


sports

Khan: Floyd has right to choose his opponent

SBP/Passerelle kicks off 30th season

Rivera, Vitaliano clinchWTA Future net berths

Last push. A high-profile Philippine delegation, led by Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Manny Pangilinan (fifth from left) and Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao (sixth from left), is currently in Tokyo to present to the FIBA Central Board its final presentation in its bid to host the 2019 World Cup. The delegation is also composed of (from left) Al Panlilio, Ricky Vargas, former Gilas player Jimmy Alapag, Hollywood actor Lou Diamond Phillips, SBP executive director Sonny Barrios and former Gilas coach Chot Reyes.

Gracing the SBP/Passerelle Twin Tournament are Batang Gilas players and BEST Center graduates Mike and Matt Nieto, leading the ceremonial toss.

By Ronnie Nathanielsz

WORLD Boxing Council welterweight Silver champion Amir Khan expressed disappointment that undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. chose former world champion Andre Berto for what the pound-for-pound king said will be his last fight on Sept. 12 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, bypassing the British star for the third time.

THE SBP/Passerelle Twin Tournament, the country’s most prestigious inter-school basketball competition for kids, officially opened its 30th season at the Xavier School Fr. Rafael Cortina Gym in Greenhills, San Juan.

Organized by the Basketball Efficiency and Scientific Training Center, the tournament will run for three months with kids 9-11 years old playing for the Small Basketeers

Philippines championship and kids 12-14 years old competing for the Passerelle title.

This year’s season promises exciting play-offs with over a thousand players from 150 teams from NCR, Luzon, Visayas and Min-danao competing for the coveted champion-ship trophy.

Defending their titles is Xavier School for the SBP category and the University of Visayas for the Passerelle category.

SHAIRAHope Rivera and Miles Vitaliano dished out top forms to upstage their higher-ranked rivals yesterday, rule their respective divisions in the Olivarez Cup Open 2015 and gain berths in the WTA Future Stars Tournament in Singapore in October.

The third ranked Rivera kept the momentum of her stirring come-from-behind semis win over second seed Rafaella Villanueva, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, as the Moncayo, Davao Del Norte find outplayed No. 1 Monica Therese Cruz, 6-4, 6-1, to capture the girls’ 16-and-under crown in the upset-marred event presented by Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala.

Vitaliano, also ranked No. 3 in the 14-U play, survived Danna Abad in the quarterfinals, 2-6, 6-4, 10-6, eased out second seed Carlyn Bless Guarde, 6-3, 6-3, in the semis before upending No. 1 Mikaela Vicencio, 7-6(5), 6-0, to claim the crown in the Group I tournament sanctioned by the Philippine Tennis Association and backed by Dunlop AllClay Court as the official ball, Stronghold Insurance and Aseana City.

Rivera, a La Salle-Zobel mainstay,

and Vitaliano from Quezon City thus clinched the coveted berths in the WTA Futures where they will slug it out with the top junior players in the Asia-Pacific region from Oct. 20-27.

Philta, through president Edwin Olivarez, designated the Olivarez Cup as the qualifying tournament for the WTA Future Stars, a series of community events featuring U-14 and U-16 tournaments produced in association with the Sport Singapore and Singapore Tennis Association featuring the top junior female talents in Asia-Pacific.

“This is their chance to prove their worth and enhance their promising career and Philta and Palawan Pawnshop are confident Rivera and Vitaliano will be able to hold their own against the top juniors in the WTA Future Stars,” said Olivarez.

“Shaira and Miles have shown tremendous improvement through their campaign in the Palawan Pawnshop circuit and with proper training and motivation, we expect them to do good in WTA Futures,” said Palawan Pawnshop COO Bobby Castro.

Despite his disappointment, Khan told Sky Sports in Britain that he he respects the unbeat-en American’s decision, saying Mayweather has earned the right to fight whoever he wants in what he says will be his 49th and final fight.

However, Khan once again said that Mayweather is scared to fight him, that’s why he picked Berto.

Mayweather is coming off a unanimous 12-pound deci-sion in the Fight of the Century against eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao last

May 2 to take his perfect run to 48-0, one shy of Rocky Mar-ciano’s unblemished record. The American claimed afterwards he would retire after a final bout in September.

Sky Sports reported that Khan appeared to be one of his potential opponents, but May-weather has instead opted to take on the Briton’s stablemate Berto, a two-time welterweight world champion, on Sept. 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

In a statement Khan said: “I’m disappointed not to have got the fight for what is the third time af-

ter having been one of the front-runners. But there are many big fights out there for me and I’m going to continue working hard to establish myself at the top of the welterweight division. Floyd Mayweather has fought the big-gest names throughout his career and has earned the right to face whoever he chooses.”

Khan added: “I wish my stable-mate Andre Berto and trainer Virgil Hunter the very best of luck in the fight. I have seen how hard Andre trains and works and know that he is ready to give Floyd a very tough night.”

A14F R I D AY : A U G U S T 7, 2 0 1 5

[email protected]

Juvic storms ahead with a 62, leads by 1CARMONA, Cavite—Juvic Pagunsan and Pijit Petchkasem put on a pair of brilliant show of shotmaking and putting, churning out second straight bogey-free rounds with the Filipino star barely edging the � ai ace with a nine-under 62 for a one-stroke lead halfway through the Aboitiz Invitational here yesterday.

The smooth-swinging Pag-unsan flaunted the form that made him the top player in Asia in 2011, coming through with near-flawless driving and impec-cable iron shots that set up bird-ies from close range, the last two matching Petchkasem’s equally hot finish at the front for a 30 and an 11-under 131.

Petchkasem, one of seven who shared the first round lead with 66, fired another five-under card and stood just behind Pagunsan at 132 while Zanieboy Gialon took advantage of an early start and shot a 63 to share third place

with Angelo Que, who bucked shaky putting at the back to turn in a bogey-less 67 for 133.

Erstwhile co-leader Janne Kaske of Finland rallied with four bird-ies at the front to save a 68 for solo fifth at 134 while Aussie Paul Do-nahoo and Japanese Masaru Taka-hashi lay a shot farther back at 135s with 66 and 69, respectively.

Malaysian Arie Irawat. Sin-gapore’s Eugene Sim and Swede Malcolm Kokocinski, who also opened with 66s, slowed down with similar 70s and dropped to joint eighth at 136 with Ferdie Aunzo and Indian Himmat Rai,

who carded identical 67s, Thai Nirun Sae-ueng, who made a 69, and Aussie Jake Stirling, who shot another 68.

Forty others made the cut 50-plus cut at 142 with current lo-cal Order of Merit leader Miguel Tabuena barely pulling through with another 71 along with 10 others but ADT OOM pacesetter Hsieh Chi-hsien of Taiwan missed it by one despite a 69 for a 143.

Pagunsan, 37, actually kept a bogey-free round for the first 36 holes of this $100,000 event spon-sored by Aboitiz Equity Ventures although his opening 69 proved to be mediocre by his own standards that put him in joint 24th in a low-scoring start Wednesday.

“I was actually hitting it re-ally well since yesterday (first round). And I focused on hitting the greens and fairways,” said Pagunsan, who complemented his superb all-around game with awesome putting.

By Peter Atencio

ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD Rayya Abellar had a clear picture on her mind the moment she took her first stride and answered the starting gun of the 39th Milo Marathon’s Metro Manila elimi-nations at the Seaside Drive of the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City on July 26.

That picture showed her win-ning her first medal, fueled by her father’s passion for running that had him bringing home two fin-isher’s medals from previous stag-ings of the Milo Marathon 42k.

At the end of the race, 11-year-old Rayya finally had her own piece of shimmering metal, sym-bolizing her 3k triumph in the footrace, with her eight-year-old sister Rishane placing third and a teammate (Elaine Camu) taking runner-up honors.

“Tiwala po ako sa sarili ko, nagdasal po ako bago tumakbo,” said Rayya, a sixth grader from Oranbo Elementary School in Pasig City.

In reaching the finish line with a time of 13 minutes and 19 seconds, Rayya improved on her 10th-place finish (15:46) in the eliminations last year. In the national finals that same year, Rishane and Rayya improved further to seventh and eighth places, respectively, with clock-ings of 14:23 and 14:52.

“Mas confident po kami ngay-on than last year,” said Rayya, who only started taking running seriously just early last year.

The Abellar sisters got inter-ested in the sport after their dad Ronnie ran twice in the 42-km event of the Milo Marathon dur-ing its 36th and 37th editions.

All Ronnie did to encourage the two was show them his fin-isher’s medal.

“They became really interested after touching my medal. Sabi nila, gusto din nila magkaroon

Milo building champs in life

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACKManila

StandardTODAY

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

` INVITATION TO BID

Supply of Labor and Materials for the Fabrication and Delivery of the Drive Mechanism Assembly of the Experimental Prototype

Sugarcane Harvester for Medium Scale(PHilMech Goods 15-08-09)

1. The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) through its Regular Fund intends to apply the sum of PhP 2,947,168.00 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) as indicated herein to payments under the contract for the Supply of Labor and Materials for the Fabrication and Delivery of the Drive Mechanism Assembly of the Experimental Prototype Sugarcane Harvester for Medium Scale. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at Bid opening.

2. The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization now invites Bids from eligible bidders with CNC for the following items:

ITEMS ABCSupply of Labor and Materials for the Fabrication and Delivery of the Drive Mechanism Assembly of the Experimental Prototype Sugarcane Harvester for Medium Scale PhP 2,947,168.00Total PhP 2,947,168.00

Delivery is required within Ninety (90) calendar days from receipt of the Notice to Proceed. The description of an eligible Bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents.

3. Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary pass/fail criteria as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations Part A (IRR-A) of Republic Act 9184 (R.A. 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act,” and is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to Republic Act 5183 (R.A. 5183) and subject to Commonwealth Act 138 (C.A. 138). Only Bids from Bidders who pass the eligibility check will be opened. The process for the eligibility check is described in the Bidding Documents. The bidder with the Lowest Calculated Bid (LCB) shall advance to the post-qualification stage in order to finally determine responsiveness of the bid to technical and financial requirements of the project. The contract shall then be awarded to the Lowest Calculated and Responsive Bidder (LCRB) who was determined as such during the post-qualification procedure.

4. Interested Bidders may obtain further information from the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Only those who have submitted Affidavit of Undertaking shall be allowed to purchase Bidding Documents and participate in the bidding project.

5. A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount of PhP 5,000.00. The method of payment will be in cash. The Bidding Documents shall be received personally by the prospective Bidder or his authorized representative.

6. The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization will hold a Pre-Bid Conference open to all interested parties on August 20, 2015, 10:00am at Executive Lounge, PHilMech Main Office CLSU Compound Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.

7. Bids and eligibility requirements must be delivered to the address below on or before September 1, 2015. All Bids must be accompanied by a Bid security in the form and amount stated in the Bid Data Sheet or an equivalent amount in a freely convertible currency. Late Bids shall not be accepted.

8. Bid opening shall be on September 1, 2015, 10:00am at Executive Lounge, PHilMech Main Office CLSU Compound Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.. Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below.

9. The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization reserves the right to accept or reject any Bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all Bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected Bidder or Bidders.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR POSTHARVEST DEVELOPMENT AND MECHANIZATION(Formerly BUREAU OF POSTHARVEST RESEARCH AND EXTENSION)

Main Office :CLSU Cmpd., Science City of Muñoz, Nueva EcijaTel. No. (044) 4560287 / 4560213 FAX No. (044) 4560110

Liaison Office : 3F ATI Bldg., Elliptical Road, Diliman, Quezon CityTel. No. 9274019 / 9274029 FAX No. 9268159

(SGD) RAUL R. PAZ BAC Chairman

Republic of the PhilippinesDepartment of AgriculturePhilippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippineswww.philmech.gov.ph

(TS-AUGUST 7 & 17, 2015)

Juvic Pagunsan lines up his birdie putt on No. 18

noon,” said Ronnie, an admin-istrative assistant at the Office of Government Corporate Coun-sel, who started going into recre-ational running three years ago, so he can improve on his fitness.

“Nahilig talaga ako sa running at that time,” explained Ron-nie, whose new lifestyle quickly rubbed on to his two kids.

He started teaching them how to run around their home in Novali-ches. But things changed last year when they transferred in Pasig.

Being close to the Philsports oval was the reason why they moved.

“Nakita ko ang potential ng mga bata. Kaya para maturuan sila nang maayos sa takbuhan, lumipat kami ng Pasig dahil nandoon ang oval sa Philsports,” added Ronnie.

His kids had the passion to run, and a track to fulfill this passion. Ronnie figured out, they needed guidance from the pros.

Soon, Ronnie tapped the ser-vices of coach Titus Salazar, a retired Philippine Army 2nd Lt., who has a running program for kids under Team Titus.

With Salazar keeping an

eye on the kids, training intensi-fied with sessions on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Last month, the kids and members of Team Titus were able to join the athletics’ meet of the Batang Pinoy northern Lu-zon regionals, some two weeks before the Milo event.

Since they went into training under Team Titus, the kids have improved, earning podium finish-es in many other races they par-ticipated in, with the Milo event earning Rayya her first title.

The National Milo Finals, of course, is the ultimate target this year. Eventually, the Abel-lars plan to use the sport to enter college through athletic scholarships.

“May kanya-kanyang isip na sila kung saan magka-college at tatakbo. Naging responsible sila, thinking of their future because of these Milo running events na nag-ing part na ng buhay nila for the past two years,” added Ronnie.

Rayya and Rishane may only be in their teens. But their ma-turity is beyond their age, thanks to a running program that builds champions in life.

Rayya Abellar won her first Milo marathon gold medal recently.

A15F R I D AY : A U G U S T 7, 2 0 1 5

[email protected]

Lions solidify hold on 2nd;coaches Ayo, Co suspended

SPORTS

P0.0 M+

P0.0 M+

6/49 00-00-00-00-00-00

6/42 00-00-00-00-00-006 DIGITS 00-00-00-00-00-003 DIGITS 00-00-00

P0.0 M+6/42 00-00-00-00-00-00

3 00-00-00

6 DIGITS 00-00-00-00-00-00

2 EZ2 00-00

LOTTO RESULTSM+M+

HE has already come to terms with being a retired Philip-pine Basketball

Association player, but former Gilas skipper Jimmy Alapag just can’t simply let go of that desire to play competitive basketball.

Months after hanging up his sneakers, Alapag has decided to join 15 other players of the Gilas Pilipinas 3.0 training pool who have committed their readiness to play for flag and country.

Alapag called it a career during the an-nual All-Star week last March in Puerto Princesa in an emotional retirement cere-mony though he played one last time in that event’s All-Star game.

“For anybody who is a competitor, I don’t think that fire completely goes away. You look at someone like (Michael) Jordan, he’s 50 years old and that fire flickers for him a little bit. I was at peace walking away from the game a few months ago,” said Alapag.

Everything, however, gradually changed for Alapag when reports came out regarding some of his former Gilas teammates who would be unavailable for the next batch of our national team.

Alapag’s desire became fervent when he was asked by newly-installed national team coach Tab Baldwin if he could join their practice sessions.

“I thought ‘well, I might be getting back out there’. Coach Tab asked me if I can join practice, I told them if I’m going to prac-tice then I’m going to join practice as if I’m playing,” said Alapag. “It’s not in my DNA to come out here and just be relaxed. If I’m going to be here, I’m going to compete espe-cially wearing the Gilas shirt.”

The 37-year-old Alapag said he is still in playing shape as he is just two pounds over his usual playing weight of 170lbs.

“I train four or five days a week to stay in shape. I could’ve not foreseen that a few months ago but now that we’re here and if coach Tab and the coaching staff feel like I can help the team, I’ll be in. If the call comes, I’ll be ready,” said Alapag.

Regarding his former Gilas teammates, Alapag said he won’t exert any effort to con-vince them to reconsider their decisions.

Of the 16 names released by the PBA who are supposed to be the available players for Gilas, JuneMar Fajardo, LA Tenorio and Marc Pingris have begged off citing personal and health reasons.

“It’s tough to question be it personal or health reasons. LA is my guy, but if you look at his schedule and see what he went through the last four or five years, I don’t think anybody in the PBA has gone through that rigorous of a schedule,” said Alapag.

Gilas Pilipinas is now in the thick of prep-arations for next month’s FIBA Asia cham-pionship to be held in Wuhan, China.

Only the gold winner of the FIBA Asia joust will be qualified to join next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

JONES CUP OPTION. After the team’s training camp Turkey and Lithuania, there’s a big chance the Nationals might compete in the upcoming William Jones Cup in Taipei this month.

A source told Sports Chat there are seri-ous discussions about the team’s possible participation in the annual tournament.

For a while, Baldwin was not that excited about competing in that tournament, noting that the entire training camp for the FIBA Asia joust will be more on knowing the weaknesses of the team and making each player get familiar with his system.

As it is, a Philippine team in the Jones Cup is always expected to win it all, some-thing that seems to be deviating from Bald-win’s idea of a training camp.

Jimmy Alapag has not left the

building

By Peter Atencio

THE defending National Collegiate Athletic Asso-ciation men’s basketball champion San Beda Red Lions beat the Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers, 88-69, yesterday at � e Arena in San Juan.

Things got scary for San Beda when Paolo Pontejos’s triple al-lowed the Heavy Bombers to threaten, 54-56, near the end of the third period.

But Olaide Adeogun’s two charities and Roldan Sara’s bas-kets from inside the paint al-lowed the Red Lions to widen their lead, which sent them on their way to their sixth win in seven games.

“We were hard-headed today.

But, of course, they’re still kids. They’re still learning. But one good thing about this is that we were able to get a win,” said Red Lions coach Jamike Jarin.

The victory allowed the Red Lions to stay in second place behind the unbeaten Letran Knights (7-0).

Meanwhile, Bright Akhuetie scored 31 points to power the University of Perpetual Help Al-tas past the Arellano University

Chiefs, 76-66. This put the Altas (5-2) in solo third.

A 7-0 spurt touched off by Akhuetie, Gab Dangangon and Earl Thompson in the last 6:21 handed the Altas the upperhand, 63-56.

The Chiefs, with Jiovani Jala-lon making 14 points, fell to a share of fourth with the Heavy Bombers.

“Kailangan itong panalo. Kung hindi, pang-lima na kami,” said Altas coach Aric del Rosario.

Meanwhile, Letran Knights coach Aldin Ayo will miss his team’s game against the Emilio Aguinaldo College Generals at 2 p.m. today.

NCAA basketball commis-sioner Bai Cristobal penalized Ayo and Mapua mentor Atoy Co with a one-game suspension. Ayo

resented a referee’s call, which handed Mcjour Luib a fifth foul during their game against Ly-ceum last Tuesday and threw a chair towards the exit.

It was his second infraction. Earlier he took the eyeglasses of an assistant coach and handed it over to a referee during their match against San Sebastian.

During Mapua’s match with Lyceum last Friday, Co took off his shirt to show his resentment over the officiating.

THE 2015 Sum-mer NABC (North American Bridge Championships) will be held in Chi-cago from August 6 to 16, 2015.

I shall monitor the very interesting event: the Sp-ingold teams event

-oOo-Michel Giguere’s thoughts on “modern

bridge”Michel Giguere who was my partner when we

won the National Open pairs championship last July 11, 2015 shared with me his thoughts on ba-sic principles of Roman Control Cuebid.

North Declarer ♠KT8♥Q974♦KQ9♣KT912

West East ♠ ♠ ♥ 3 6 ♥ ♦ ♦ ♣ 19 ♣ South Declarer ♠A5 ♥AKJ86 ♦AJT8 ♣A2

BIDS LEAD K♠WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH 1♣¹ Pass 1♥Pass 2♥² Pass 2♠!³Pass 3♦!⁴ Pass 3♥⁵ Pass 4♦!6 Pass 4NT!⁹Pass 5♣!¹0 Pass 5♦!¹¹Pass 5NT!¹² Pass 6♣!¹³Pass 6♦!¹⁴ Pass 7♥!¹⁵

NORTH1 - Can have only 1 or 2 7 - Ace or Void♣2 - F it m inimum h and 8 - King or singleton ♦3 - Reverse 18 pts. 9 - RKC (3014)4 - No Aces 10- O Keycards5 - Confirmation of Trump suit ♥

11-Do you have Q♥6 - King of singleton ♠ 12-Yes I have Q♥

and I have KQ suited, we know nowthat North have K♠ K♦

13- If it is KQ♣, bid 7¼ 14- I have KQ♦

15- To play North Declarer

♠KQ8 ♥Q974 ♦K93 ♣KT9

13West East ♠ ♠ ♥ 3 6 ♥

♦ ♦ ♣ 19 ♣ South Declarer ♠AT6 ♥AKJ86 ♦AJ ♣A2

BIDS LEAD K♠WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH 1♣¹ Pass 1♥Pass 2♥² Pass 2♠!³Pass 3♦!⁴ Pass 3♥⁵ Pass 4♦!⁶ Pass 4NT!⁹Pass 5♣!¹⁰ Pass 5♦!¹¹Pass 5NT!¹² Pass 6♣!¹²Pass 6♦!¹⁴ Pass Pass

NORTH1-Can have only 1 or 2 7 - Ace or Void♣2-Fit minimum hand 8 - King or singleton ♦3-Reverse 18 pts. 9 - RKC (3014)4-No Aces 10- O Keycards5-Confirmation of Trump suit ♥

11- Do you have Q♥6 - King of singleton ♠ 12- Yes I have Q♥ and

I have KQ suited, we know now that North have K♠ K♦

13- If it is KQ♣, bid 7¼ 14- I have KQ♦ 15- To play

Comments to:

Chicago Summer 2015 NABC

SYLVIA LOPEZ ALEJANDRO

cago from August 6 to 16, 2015.

I shall monitor the very interesting event: the Sp-

American Bridge Championships) SYLVIA LOPEZ

come to terms with being a DENNIS PRINCIPEretired Philip-pine Basketball

Association player, but former Gilas skipper

SPORTS CHAT

Mark Neil Cruz (right) of

JRU sticks to Arthur De La Cruz of SBC like a leech in an NCAA game won

by the Lions, 88-69. SONNY

ESPIRITU

Games Today (The Arena in San Juan)

8 a.m. San Sebastian vs LPU (jrs)10 a.m. EAC vs Letran (jrs)

12 nn San Sebastian vs LPU (srs)2 p.m. EAC vs Letran (srs)4 p.m. Mapua vs CSB (srs)

6 p.m. Mapua vs LSGH (jrs)

F R I D AY : A U G U S T 7, 2 0 1 5

A16RIERA U. MALL ARI

E D I T O R

[email protected]

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

AKRON—Masters and US Open champion Jordan Spieth will be seeking to unseat Rory McIlroy as world number one here � ursday when he tees o� in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

TURN TO A14

Buildingchampsin life

Spieth, still smarting from his agonising failure to win the British Open at St. Andrews last month, headlines the small-field, no-cut tournament which includes 48 of the top 50 players in the world.

“It would be a dream come true,” Spieth said Wednesday of the number-one ranking. “At the beginning of the year I wanted to work my way up the world rankings. I didn’t think I could be in this position or have this opportunity.

“I feel blessed at the way this year has gone .... Obviously we all want Rory back ASAP. It would be really incredible if at the end of the week I was holding the trophy and having that position moving forward.”

The two most recent WGC-

Bridgestone winners, defending champion McIlroy and Tiger Woods, are noticeably absent but there will still be plenty of firepower at the event, the final tune-up before the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.

McIlroy, who held off Sergio Garcia to win last year, suffered a torn ankle ligament in July and eight-time Bridgestone winner Woods wasn’t invited. Woods won in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2013.

Spieth will have a host of challengers standing in his way at the Firestone Country Club, including red-hot Australian Jason Day, fellow American Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott of Australia, England’s Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler, of the US.

Pagara foeoverweight

by 3.8 lbsBy Ronnie Nathanielsz

INTERNATIONAL Boxing Fed-eration Intercontinental super bantamweight champion Prince Albert Pagara’s opponent, Mex-ico’s Jesus “Chito” Rios, was 3.8 pounds over the 122-pound limit at the official weigh-in for “Duel in Dubai II” at the International Trade Center in Dubai yesterday and was given two hours to shed off the excess weight.

Most boxing enthusiasts at the weigh-in indicated Rios would have a hard time making the weight, which means that in the unlikely event he beats Pa-gara, he won’t win the title.

However, Rios’ effort to shed off the 3.8 pounds is expected to take a heavy toll on the Mexican war-rior which would make Prince Albert’s task so much easier.

Pagara himself tipped the scales at 121.4 pounds.

His elder brother Jason “El Nino” Pagara, the light welterweight, who is ranked No. 2 by the World Box-ing Organization, came in at 142.4 pounds, which was below the stipu-lated weight limit of 143 pounds, while his Mexican opponent Ramiro Alcaraz came in a fraction heavier at 142.6 pounds.

Veteran Jimrex “Executioner” Jaca (39-8, 22KOs) will go up against Mexican Pablo Lugo Montiel (21-5, 17KOs) in what is expected to be a regular slugfest, with both fighters weighing in at 139 pounds.

SPORTS

Spieth targetsMcIlroy’s no. 1world ranking

Spieth, 22, leads the PGA Tour with four victories this season. In his last outing he was in contention to claim his third straight major before finishing in a tie for fourth at the Open Championship at St. Andrews.

He ended up one shot shy of getting in a playoff with winner Zach Johnson so he comes into the Bridgestone with a chip on his shoulder.

“I’m hoping to prove that I’ve kind of got a little bit of revenge that I need to get out from having control of the Open Championship with two holes to go and not closing it out,” Spieth said.

“That leaves a bad taste in my mouth, not because of the third in a row, but strictly because you don’t get many opportunities to contend in a major, in an Open at St. Andrews, in your life.

“It was a tough feeling on that flight home, especially with Zach and the [Claret] Jug there. I wish that it was in my possession and not his.”

Spieth finished 49th and failed to break par in any of his rounds in his Bridgestone debut last year.

- ‘Big, meaty course’ -“It’s a big, meaty course,” he

said. “I struggled with it last year. It’s going to take some really strong driving of the golf ball.”

Day, who is coming off his second win this season at the Canadian Open, returns to the Bridgestone where he withdrew two holes into the third round last year with dizziness.

He since was diagnosed with vertigo which flared up again at this year’s US Open in June.

“It’s tough because vertigo, I can’t get rid of, and it will come back whenever it wants to. So I’m just trying to manage it the best I can,” Day said.

Johnson is hoping to add to a strong season that includes seven top-10 finishes and his last two victories came in World Golf Championships -- the 2013 HSBC Champions in China and the Cadillac Championship at Doral in March. AFP

TURN TO A15

Lions solidify hold on 2nd

Jordan Spieth of the United States plays a shot during a practice round for the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club South Course in Akron, Ohio. AFP

RODERICK T. DELA CRUZASSISTANT EDITOR B1

FRIDAY: AUGUST 7, 2015

[email protected]@gmail.com

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

RAY S. EÑANOEDITOR

Govt offers 2nd railhub near SM Annex

BUSINESS

Bangko Sentral ng PilipinasThursday, August 6, 2015

Foreign exchange rateCurrency Unit US Dollar PesoUnited States Dollar 1.000000 45.7380

Japan Yen 0.008010 0.3664

UK Pound 1.560400 71.3696

Hong Kong Dollar 0.129007 5.9005

Switzerland Franc 1.022077 46.7478

Canada Dollar 0.758610 34.6973

Singapore Dollar 0.722857 33.0620

Australia Dollar 0.734808 33.6086

Bahrain Dinar 2.657666 121.5563

Saudi Arabia Rial 0.266695 12.1981

Brunei Dollar 0.720254 32.9430

Indonesia Rupiah 0.000074 0.0034

Thailand Baht 0.028441 1.3008

UAE Dirham 0.272279 12.4535

Euro Euro 1.090600 49.8819

Korea Won 0.000852 0.0390

China Yuan 0.161041 7.3657

India Rupee 0.015691 0.7177

Malaysia Ringgit 0.257958 11.7985

New Zealand Dollar 0.652018 29.8220

Taiwan Dollar 0.031549 1.4430 Source: PDS Bridge

7,589.9572.60

Closing August 6, 2015PSe comPoSite index

42

43

44

45

46

HIGH P45.750 LOW P45.800 AVERAGE P45.782

Closing AUGUST 6, 2015PeSo-dollar rate

VOLUME 521.400M

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 Pilipinas

oilPriceS today

P475.00-P675.00LPG/11-kg tank

P39.10-P45.35Unleaded Gasoline

P25.30-P28.55Diesel

P34.55-P39.15Kerosene

P23.70-P24.40Auto LPG

todayP25.30-P28.55

P34.55-P39.15

P23.70-P24.40

PP39.10-P45.35

8500

8000

7500

7000

6500

6000

Closing AUGUST 6, 2015

P45.790CLOSE Govt expenditures

accelerated in June

SM Investments briefi ng. SM Investments Corp., the holding company of tycoon Henry Sy, reported a 10-percent growth in net income in the fi rst half to P13.5 billion from a year ago, as revenues grew 6 percent to P138.9 billion. Shown during a media and analysts briefi ng at SMX Convention Center in Taguig City are (from left) SMIC senior vice president for fi nance Frank Gomez, executive vice president and chief fi nance offi cer Jose Sio and SM Prime Holdings Inc. executive vice president Jeffrey Lim. BOBBY CABRERA

By Gabrielle H. Binaday

THE government incurred a P72.7-billion budget de� cit in June as public spending accelerated 17 percent from a year ago, the Finance Department said � ursday.

� e agency said the budget shortfall in June was higher by16.3 percent than the P62.5-billion de� cit registered a year ago and reversed the con-secutive surplus posted in April and May. � e June de� cit also surpassed the government’s de� cit target of P29.21 billion.

“As we close out the � rst half of the year, we continue to see robust growth trends across the board--be it from the revenue generating agen-cies or the expenditure side. June shaped up to be a good month for our � scal story as performance at the BIR [Bureau of Internal Revenue] and the BOC [Bureau of Customs] jumped by double digits,” said Finance Sec-retary Cesar Purisima.

� e agency said despite the June de� cit, the government’s budget posi-tion still yielded a surplus of P13.7 billion in the � rst half, in contrast to the P53.97-billion de� cit in the same six-month period last year. � e gov-ernment set a de� cit target of P155.083 in the � rst half and P283.7 billion in the whole 2015.

� e department said the primary balance, which nets out debt inter-est payments, ended with a de� cit of P53.5 billion in June, or 25 percent higher than P42.9-billion de� cit in June last year.

� e government, however, recorded a primary balance surplus of P169.9 billion in the � rst half, up by 61 percent from P105.8 billion a year ago.

Revenue collection increased 18 percent to P163.6 billion in June while expenditures jumped 17 percent to P236.2 billion. Expenditures during the month also exceeded the P190.75-billion target.

“We are seeing a strong showing on the expenditure side as well, with the 17-percent growth posted this month a high water mark for the year. � is re� ects the government’s continued commitment to accelerate the use our ample � scal space for critical investments to our economy and people.” Puri-sima said.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said the improvement in public spending was due to the adoption by government o� ces of new reforms.

By Darwin G. Amojelar

THE government on � ursday o� ered to al-low the construction of a second common sta-tion for Metro Manila’s overhead train system near SM Annex in Quezon City to appease SM Prime Holdings Inc.

“We have dra� ed a compromise agreement. We will send it over to SM. Hopefully, it’s the right version that they want,” Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya told reporters, referring to SM Prime which protested the agency’s plan to build the common station near Tri-noma shopping mall of rival Ayala Land Inc.

Abaya said the government would also submit the compromise agreement to the Supreme Court, which earlier barred the Transpor-tation Department from transfer-ring the common station to Tri-noma mall along Edsa near North Ave.

� e compromise aims to li� the court’s injunction and allow the private sector to take over LRT Line 1, which will be extended to Cavite province.

Under the agreement, the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 will be linked to MRT 7 of San Miguel Corp.’s Uni-versal LRT Corp. while the other common station will link the exist-ing LRT Line 1 and MRT 3.

Abaya said ULC would � nance the construction of the common station near SM Annex.

“So hopefully, once we get the

TRO [temporary restraining order] li� ed, ULC can start their ground-work,” Abaya said.

ULC, however, still needs � nan-cial closure to start works on MRT 7.

� e agency’s new strategy was meant to resolve a con� ict with SM over the common station. SM Prime earlier secured a Supreme Court stay order to stop the transfer of the planned common station to Trinoma Mall.

� e Transportation Department decided to relocate the common station to Trinoma from SM North, because of the alleged P1 billion worth of savings the government would realize from the transfer.

Under an earlier agreement be-tween SM Prime and state-run Light Rail Transit Authority, the common station should be situated beside SM North Edsa. SM Prime also paid the government P200 mil-lion for the naming rights for the proposed station.

Metro Paci� c Investments Corp. chairman Manuel Pangilinan ear-lier said the best solution to resolve the issue was to build the common station between SM North Edsa and Trinoma shopping mall.


BUSINESSFRIDAY: AUGUST 7, 2015

B2

52 Weeks Previous % Net Foreign High Low STOCKS Close High Low Close Change Volume Trade/Buying

The STandard BuSineSS daily STockS review Thursday, augusT 6, 2015

FINANCIAL7.88 2.5 AG Finance 3.5 3.71 3.45 3.64 4.00 122,000 75.3 66 Asia United Bank 73 73.3 73 73 0.00 4,200 277,660.00124.4 88.05 Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 104.00 104.20 102.00 103.60 -0.38 2,911,000 170,909,536.00107 88.1 Bank of PI 95.95 96.00 92.50 92.95 -3.13 1,255,790 -52,764,029.0056.5 45.45 China Bank 47 47.3 47.05 47.1 0.21 93,500 9,440.002.49 1.97 BDO Leasing & Fin. INc. 2.53 2.54 2.45 2.54 0.40 2,000 4.2 1.68 Bright Kindle Resources 1.48 1.47 1.47 1.47 -0.68 18,000 4 8.7 Citystate Savings 10.08 10.04 9.22 10.04 -0.40 2,100 17 12.02 COL Financial 16 16.2 16.16 16.18 1.13 4,700 30.45 19.6 Eastwest Bank 21.3 21.15 20.5 21.1 -0.94 270,900 932,875.0010.4 6.12 Filipino Fund Inc. 7.77 7.82 7.80 7.80 0.39 52,000 2.6 1.02 I-Remit Inc. 1.74 1.75 1.74 1.75 0.57 13,000 890 625 Manulife Fin. Corp. 810.00 810.00 810.00 810.00 0.00 10 100 78 Metrobank 88.1 89.9 88 88 -0.11 3,146,900 -44,854,957.5030.5 17.8 PB Bank 19.00 19.10 19.00 19.00 0.00 90,100 75 58 Phil Bank of Comm 26.00 26.00 26.00 26.00 0.00 6,000 91.5 62 Phil. National Bank 65.00 66.00 65.05 65.05 0.08 26,870 -454,255.00361.2 276 PSE Inc. 307 305.2 305 305 -0.65 22,190 -3,544,100.0057 41 RCBC À’ 39.7 39.75 39.5 39.5 -0.50 106,300 396,775.00180 118.2 Security Bank 148.3 148.1 147 147.3 -0.67 496,310 -41,132,787.001700 1200 Sun Life Financial 1469.00 1435.00 1430.00 1430.00 -2.65 130 124 59 Union Bank 59.85 59.95 59.10 59.90 0.08 10,960 3.26 2.65 Vantage Equities 3.3 3.32 3.22 3.32 0.61 53,000

INDUSTRIAL47 35.9 Aboitiz Power Corp. 43.35 43.85 43.15 43.45 0.23 2,462,000 -9,749,540.005 1.11 Agrinurture Inc. 1.5 1.38 1.34 1.38 -8.00 8,000 6,850.001.46 1.01 Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 1 1 0.92 0.96 -4.00 101,000 -14,400.002.36 1.86 Alsons Cons. 1.88 1.89 1.88 1.88 0.00 327,000 282,000.0015.3 7.92 Asiabest Group 11.1 11.6 11 11.22 1.08 24,900 148 32 C. Azuc De Tarlac 81.05 92.95 92.95 92.95 14.68 110 20.6 15.32 Century Food 18.08 18.7 18.2 18.52 2.43 2,339,800 -21,833,948.0036 10.08 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 25.95 26.3 25.95 26 0.19 380,800 65.8 29.15 Concepcion 55.35 56 54.9 55 -0.63 21,970 -1,119,941.502.97 1.5 Crown Asia 3 3.03 2.92 2.96 -1.33 2,890,000 257,330.004.14 1.5 Da Vinci Capital 1.66 1.7 1.6 1.6 -3.61 691,000 21.5 10.72 Del Monte 12.58 12.78 12.7 12.7 0.95 11,600 21.6 9.55 DNL Industries Inc. 22.750 23.150 22.4 22.850 0.44 6,579,700 59,765,705.0011.96 9.04 Emperador 9.38 9.50 9.37 9.40 0.21 6,695,400 -31,198,221.009.13 6.02 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 7.26 7.34 7.07 7.07 -2.62 20,138,900 -54,089,436.0011.8 8.86 EEI 9.85 9.85 9.75 9.84 -0.10 68,800 -58,949.0031.8 20.2 First Gen Corp. 26.75 26.85 26.1 26.1 -2.43 1,978,200 -23,933,795.00109 71.5 First Holdings ‘A’ 81.9 82 80.3 80.3 -1.95 348,990 2,330,106.5015.3 13.24 Holcim Philippines Inc. 13.88 13.60 13.52 13.60 -2.02 55,300 -751,280.009.4 5.34 Integ. Micro-Electronics 6.04 5.99 5.9 5.97 -1.16 227,600 41,370.00241 173 Jollibee Foods Corp. 192.00 191.00 188.10 188.10 -2.03 656,590 -80,316,447.0012.5 8.65 Lafarge Rep 9.99 10.16 9.95 10.08 0.90 15,780,400 -65,325,013.0079 34.1 Liberty Flour 28.05 28.05 28.05 28.05 0.00 200 3.95 2.3 LMG Chemicals 2.16 2.02 2 2 -7.41 17,000 4 1.63 Mabuhay Vinyl 2.48 2.3 2 2.1 -15.32 332,000 33.9 23.35 Manila Water Co. Inc. 25.05 25.1 24.9 24.9 -0.60 234,800 515,630.0090 17.3 Maxs Group 25.8 26.9 25.5 26.55 2.91 508,500 26,000.0013.26 5.88 Megawide 6.4 6.52 6.4 6.46 0.94 48,200 47,302.00293 250.2 Mla. Elect. Co À’ 303.00 308.00 303.00 303.20 0.07 913,870 40,194,758.005.25 3.87 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 4.7 4.7 4.65 4.7 0.00 533,000 592,100.0012.98 8.45 Petron Corporation 7.72 7.78 7.70 7.72 0.00 2,032,900 2,842,524.0015 10.04 Phinma Corporation 11.80 11.60 11.60 11.60 -1.69 2,000 7.03 3.03 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 3.38 3.45 3.35 3.40 0.59 454,000 380,220.003.4 1.95 Phoenix Semiconductor 2.39 2.41 2.37 2.39 0.00 385,000 4.5 1 Pryce Corp. À’ 3.98 4.05 3.65 3.65 -8.29 7,899,000 -146,000.006.3 4.02 RFM Corporation 4.45 4.72 4.42 4.64 4.27 5,357,000 8,783,640.007.34 5.9 Roxas Holdings 5.7 5.7 5.7 5.7 0.00 45,900 238 161 San Miguel’Pure Foods `B’ 163.6 165.5 162.2 165 0.86 9,540 383,280.003.28 1.55 Splash Corporation 1.76 1.85 1.72 1.85 5.11 1,434,000 0.315 0.138 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.152 0.156 0.150 0.152 0.00 2,970,000 24,320.002.18 1.02 TKC Steel Corp. 1.23 1.20 1.20 1.20 -2.44 24,000 2.65 2.09 Trans-Asia Oil 2.13 2.16 2.12 2.13 0.00 1,532,000 42,600.00234 152 Universal Robina 200 201.8 195 195 -2.50 4,073,990 -202,361,311.005.28 4.28 Victorias Milling 4.4 4.49 4.3 4.49 2.05 65,000 129,000.001.3 0.640 Vitarich Corp. 0.7 0.71 0.69 0.7 0.00 377,000 -16,100.0026 10.02 Vivant Corp. 22.50 22.50 22.50 22.50 0.00 204,000 4,590,000.002.17 1.2 Vulcan Ind’l. 1.18 1.23 1.14 1.14 -3.39 502,000

HOLDING FIRMS0.59 0.44 Abacus Cons. À’ 0.465 0.465 0.465 0.465 0.00 20,000 59.2 48.1 Aboitiz Equity 58.8000 58.8000 57.7000 57.7000 -1.87 1,032,090 -11,966,333.0030.05 20.85 Alliance Global Inc. 23.05 23.30 22.85 22.85 -0.87 11,138,100 72,810,190.002.16 1.6 Anglo Holdings A 1.19 1.20 1.18 1.20 0.84 375,000 7.39 6.62 Anscor À’ 6.99 6.90 6.90 6.90 -1.29 69,900 68,310.003.4 0.23 ATN Holdings A 0.255 0.250 0.248 0.248 -2.75 1,350,000 823.5 634.5 Ayala Corp À’ 794 799 787 789 -0.63 113,850 1,554,090.0010.2 7.390 Cosco Capital 7.41 7.49 7.29 7.29 -1.62 4,208,000 1,126,837.0084 12.8 DMCI Holdings 11.90 12.12 11.86 11.88 -0.17 4,145,500 -5,441,474.003.35 2.6 F&J Prince ‘A’ 3.11 3.2 3.2 3.2 2.89 10,000 4.92 2.26 Filinvest Dev. Corp. 4.22 4.40 4.21 4.40 4.27 4,000 0.66 0.152 Forum Pacific 0.205 0.218 0.205 0.205 0.00 50,000 1455 837 GT Capital 1429 1449 1427 1430 0.07 144,870 59,853,710.007.5 5.3 House of Inv. 6.50 6.55 6.47 6.48 -0.31 4,200 76 49.55 JG Summit Holdings 73.00 74.90 73.00 73.20 0.27 1,646,540 -15,682,983.009.25 4.84 Lopez Holdings Corp. 7.3 7.24 7.13 7.2 -1.37 675,000 -2,876,034.000.85 0.59 Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. 0.65 0.65 0.64 0.65 0.00 2,000 17.3 12 LT Group 15.6 15.96 15.4 15.48 -0.77 3,563,900 1,624,246.000.71 0.580 Mabuhay Holdings À’ 0.57 0.57 0.57 0.57 0.00 102,000 5.53 4.2 Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. 5.03 5.07 4.9 4.98 -0.99 28,441,600 23,401,161.006.55 4.5 Minerales Industrias Corp. 7.5 7.68 7.5 7.68 2.40 797,400 9.66 3 MJCI Investments Inc. 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.6 0.00 3,000 1.61 0.550 Prime Orion 2.060 2.080 2.050 2.060 0.00 877,000 316,690.0084.9 59.3 San Miguel Corp À’ 55.85 56.00 55.60 55.75 -0.18 443,260 -7,294,425.503.5 1.5 Seafront À’ 2.55 2.25 2.23 2.23 -12.55 7,000 974 751 SM Investments Inc. 920.00 920.00 908.00 915.00 -0.54 145,720 32,066,830.001.66 1.13 Solid Group Inc. 1.26 1.26 1.26 1.26 0.00 7,000 156 80 Top Frontier 77.500 78.000 77.600 78.000 0.65 7,700 -512,060.000.710 0.211 Unioil Res. & Hldgs 0.3550 0.3600 0.3400 0.3550 0.00 8,400,000 0.435 0.179 Wellex Industries 0.1920 0.1920 0.1810 0.1880 -2.08 450,000

P R O P E R T Y10.5 6.74 8990 HLDG 7.250 7.390 7.080 7.150 -1.38 2,091,800 -14,119,948.001.99 0.65 A. Brown Co., Inc. 0.72 0.72 0.69 0.72 0.00 176,000 1.75 1.2 Araneta Prop À’ 1.300 1.290 1.280 1.280 -1.54 174,000 129,000.0041.4 30.05 Ayala Land `B’ 37.90 38.65 37.95 38.15 0.66 9,224,700 196,633,005.005.6 3.36 Belle Corp. À’ 3.7 3.75 3.66 3.66 -1.08 1,287,000 2,017,470.005.59 4.96 Cebu Holdings 5.15 5.06 5.06 5.06 -1.75 37,000

52 Weeks Previous % Net ForeignHigh Low STOCKS Close High Low Close Change Volume Trade/Buying

Trading SummarySHARES VALUE

FINANCIAL 9,733,479 894,677,905.66INDUSTRIAL 92,004,628 2,139,486,231.081HOLDING FIRMS 68,289,994 1,193,694,923.72PROPERTY 110,186,143 1,407,265,092.67SERVICES 50,103,949 1,629,920,918.23MINING & OIL 752,190,547 157,378,765.6878GRAND TOTAL 1,082,944,790 7,428,660,136.051

FINANCIAL 1,661.60 (down) 17.28INDUSTRIAL 11,488.40 (down) 166.68HOLDING FIRMS 6,911.03 (down) 41.47PROPERTY 3,157.50 (down) 9.10SERVICES 2,118.28 (down) 23.90MINING & OIL 11,599.17 (down) 164.07PSEI 7,589.95 (down) 72.60All Shares Index 4,347.93 (down) 35.01

Gainers: 58 Losers: 102; Unchanged: 50; Total: 210

STOCKS Close(P)

Change(%)

Mabuhay Vinyl 2.1 -15.32

Seafront À' 2.23 -12.55

Pryce Corp. À' 3.65 -8.29

Agrinurture Inc. 1.38 -8.00

LMG Chemicals 2 -7.41

Acesite Hotel 1.12 -6.67

PAL Holdings Inc. 4.60 -6.12

NOW Corp. 0.440 -5.38

Unioil Res. & Hldgs 0.3550 -4.05

Agrinurture Inc. 1.5 -3.85

Top LoSerSSTOCKS Close

(P)Change

(%)

C. Azuc De Tarlac 92.95 14.68

Calata Corp. 3.44 6.17

Splash Corporation 1.85 5.11

APC Group, Inc. 0.640 4.92

Phil. Racing Club 9 4.41

RFM Corporation 4.64 4.27

Filinvest Dev. Corp. 4.40 4.27

Apex À' 2.50 4.17

AG Finance 3.64 4.00

Macroasia Corp. 2.15 3.37

Top gainerS

1.44 0.79 Century Property 0.83 0.83 0.81 0.82 -1.20 2,697,000 -1,462,570.001.97 1.1 City & Land Dev. 1.06 1.06 1.06 1.06 0.00 5,000 5,300.000.201 0.083 Crown Equities Inc. 0.127 0.127 0.125 0.125 -1.57 1,310,000 0.69 0.415 Cyber Bay Corp. 0.430 0.430 0.430 0.430 0.00 50,000 10.96 2.4 Double Dragon 13.68 13.8 13.3 13.3 -2.78 1,453,100 251,408.002.22 1.15 Global-Estate 1.25 1.26 1.24 1.24 -0.80 1,204,000 -3,750.002.1 1.42 Filinvest Land,Inc. 2.00 2.05 1.95 1.95 -2.50 34,386,000 4,267,740.001.8 1.27 Interport À’ 1.30 1.32 1.31 1.32 1.54 28,000 5.94 4.13 Megaworld 4.92 4.86 4.76 4.77 -3.05 19,747,000 -9,990,080.000.180 0.090 MRC Allied Ind. 0.107 0.108 0.102 0.102 -4.67 1,140,000 8.54 2.69 Primex Corp. 7.65 7.83 7.54 7.54 -1.44 444,000 -131,840.0031.8 22.15 Robinson’s Land `B’ 28.80 28.95 28.50 28.65 -0.52 674,600 -2,074,570.002.29 1.6 Rockwell 1.64 1.65 1.64 1.65 0.61 79,000 -26,400.004.9 3.1 Shang Properties Inc. 3.34 3.34 3.32 3.32 -0.60 14,000 21.35 15.08 SM Prime Holdings 22.00 22.50 21.25 21.80 -0.91 25,225,400 142,307,630.001.06 0.69 Sta. Lucia Land Inc. 0.74 0.75 0.73 0.74 0.00 505,000 7.56 3.38 Starmalls 7.16 7.16 7.16 7.16 0.00 1,200 1.62 0.83 Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. 0.850 0.850 0.820 0.850 0.00 14,000 8.59 5.73 Vista Land & Lifescapes 7.300 7.380 7.170 7.290 -0.14 1,455,300 -994,376.00

S E R V I C E S10.5 1.97 2GO Group’ 8.71 8.99 8.75 8.75 0.46 586,400 -31,220.0066 35.2 ABS-CBN 61.3 61.5 61 61.5 0.33 19,720 1.44 1 Acesite Hotel 1.2 1.12 1.12 1.12 -6.67 1,000 1.09 0.63 APC Group, Inc. 0.610 0.640 0.600 0.640 4.92 981,000 14.88 10.5 Asian Terminals Inc. 13 13 13 13 0.00 330,000 -2,470,000.0015.82 8.6 Bloomberry 9.65 10.00 9.60 9.60 -0.52 3,218,100 7,321,184.000.1430 0.0770 Boulevard Holdings 0.0810 0.0810 0.0790 0.0800 -1.23 7,290,000 5.06 2.95 Calata Corp. 3.24 3.58 3.22 3.44 6.17 554,000 99.1 56.1 Cebu Air Inc. (5J) 97 98.8 96.55 96.55 -0.46 895,850 27,534,821.5012.3 10.14 Centro Esc. Univ. 10.46 10.48 10.46 10.48 0.19 900 2.6 1.6 Discovery World 1.66 1.7 1.66 1.7 2.41 24,000 7.67 4.8 DFNN Inc. 5.44 5.35 5.20 5.35 -1.65 6,800 2720 1600 Globe Telecom 2674 2708 2666 2666 -0.30 123,940 49,661,970.008.41 5.95 GMA Network Inc. 6.36 6.49 6.40 6.49 2.04 66,700 1.97 1.23 Harbor Star 1.28 1.32 1.26 1.26 -1.56 353,000 25,200.00119.5 102.6 I.C.T.S.I. 110 110.1 109.6 110 0.00 1,821,420 59,622,674.000.017 0.011 IP E-Game Ventures Inc. 0.011 0.012 0.011 0.011 0.00 6,600,000 0.8200 0.041 Island Info 0.205 0.206 0.203 0.204 -0.49 1,330,000 2.2800 1.200 ISM Communications 1.3200 1.3200 1.3000 1.3200 0.00 1,526,000 5.93 2.34 Jackstones 2.22 2.25 2.22 2.25 1.35 13,000 12.28 6.5 Leisure & Resorts 9.95 10.00 9.78 9.80 -1.51 407,900 49,750.003.32 1.91 Liberty Telecom 2.15 2.17 2.15 2.16 0.47 316,000 3.2 1.95 Macroasia Corp. 2.08 2.15 2.04 2.15 3.37 41,000 1 0.650 Manila Bulletin 0.680 0.660 0.620 0.650 -4.41 18,000 2.46 1.8 Manila Jockey 2 2 2 2 0.00 1,000 15.2 6 Melco Crown 7.6 7.84 7.3 7.3 -3.95 2,891,500 -2,975,083.000.62 0.335 MG Holdings 0.315 0.315 0.305 0.315 0.00 130,000 1.040 0.37 NOW Corp. 0.465 0.445 0.440 0.440 -5.38 340,000 88,500.0022.8 14.54 Pacific Online Sys. Corp. 20.9 20.9 19.88 19.88 -4.88 137,300 6.41 3 PAL Holdings Inc. 4.90 4.65 4.50 4.60 -6.12 47,000 -27,600.0018 8.8 Phil. Racing Club 8.62 9 9 9 4.41 500,000 185 79 Phil. Seven Corp. 105.50 105.00 103.00 103.00 -2.37 800 -24,150.0022.9 4.39 Philweb.Com Inc. 18.90 18.90 18.60 18.90 0.00 50,700 3486 2748 PLDT Common 2860.00 2850.00 2800.00 2800.00 -2.10 197,560 -243,213,960.000.760 0.435 PremiereHorizon 0.660 0.680 0.650 0.650 -1.52 1,209,000 2.28 1.2 Premium Leisure 1.530 1.560 1.510 1.510 -1.31 6,027,000 98,150.0046.05 31.45 Puregold 38.00 38.35 38.00 38.00 0.00 3,827,900 25,645,305.0090.1 60.55 Robinsons RTL 78.80 78.80 77.00 77.75 -1.33 110,160 -4,739,356.5011.6 7.59 SSI Group 8.64 8.71 8.52 8.52 -1.39 1,497,100 -4,839,003.000.85 0.63 STI Holdings 0.65 0.66 0.64 0.65 0.00 3,606,000 -2,115,850.0010 5 Travellers 5.46 5.55 5.4 5.49 0.55 1,492,000 1,310,510.000.490 0.315 Waterfront Phils. 0.320 0.330 0.320 0.320 0.00 160,000 1.9 1.14 Yehey 2.650 2.660 2.560 2.580 -2.64 1,166,000 44,070.00

MINING & OIL0.0098 0.0043 Abra Mining 0.0058 0.0058 0.0057 0.0057 -1.72 699,000,000 500.005.45 1.72 Apex À’ 2.40 2.50 2.40 2.50 4.17 75,000 -100,000.0017.24 6.47 Atlas Cons. À’ 5.52 5.52 5.45 5.45 -1.27 256,700 -493.000.330 0.236 Basic Energy Corp. 0.220 0.229 0.225 0.225 2.27 30,000 1.19 0.85 Century Peak Metals Hldgs 0.7 0.77 0.7 0.71 1.43 5,134,000 -146,000.001.62 0.77 Coal Asia 0.75 0.77 0.75 0.75 0.00 481,000 9.5 5.99 Dizon 6.90 7.00 6.80 6.81 -1.30 8,700 4.2 1.17 Ferronickel 1.27 1.29 1.24 1.25 -1.57 10,301,000 -371,380.000.48 0.305 Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. 0.300 0.305 0.295 0.300 0.00 180,000 0.420 0.2130 Lepanto À’ 0.201 0.202 0.201 0.202 0.50 390,000 0.440 0.2160 Lepanto `B’ 0.215 0.213 0.213 0.213 -0.93 280,000 0.022 0.013 Manila Mining À’ 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.00 1,100,000 0.023 0.014 Manila Mining `B’ 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.00 6,400,000 8.2 3.240 Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. 2.85 2.88 2.75 2.75 -3.51 991,000 -748,710.0049.2 18.96 Nickelasia 10.2 10.36 10.2 10.28 0.78 1,147,300 3,311,062.004.27 2.11 Nihao Mineral Resources 3.88 3.98 3.87 3.89 0.26 2,044,000 -1,109,140.003.06 1.54 Oriental Peninsula Res. 1.9900 1.9500 1.9200 1.9300 -3.02 134,000 -231,380.000.020 0.012 Oriental Pet. À’ 0.0097 0.0097 0.0097 0.0097 0.00 3,000,000 0.021 0.013 Oriental Pet. `B’ 0.0110 0.0120 0.0110 0.0110 0.00 5,900,000 44,000.007.67 5.4 Petroenergy Res. Corp. 4.15 4.19 4.15 4.19 0.96 10,000 12.88 7.26 Philex À’ 5.36 5.360 5.280 5.29 -1.31 519,100 -120,949.0010.42 2.27 PhilexPetroleum 1.64 1.660 1.620 1.63 -0.61 757,000 -13,040.000.040 0.015 Philodrill Corp. À’ 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.00 12,400,000 420 115.9 Semirara Corp. 118.80 118.80 114.10 115.10 -3.11 904,400 -37,057,277.009 3.67 TA Petroleum 8.84 8.84 8.66 8.7 -1.58 294,100

PREFERRED70 33 ABS-CBN Holdings Corp. 60 61.5 60.05 61 1.67 17,610 1,041,431.00525 500 Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ 535 535 535 535 0.00 210 120 101.5 First Gen G 118 118 116 116 -1.69 3,030 515 480 GLOBE PREF P 520 522 520 520 0.00 16,000 8.21 5.88 GMA Holdings Inc. 6.4 6.4 6.4 6.4 0.00 10,000 -64,000.0012.28 6.5 Leisure and Resort 1.12 1.11 1.11 1.11 -0.89 50,000 111 101 MWIDE PREF 111.5 111.3 111.3 111.3 -0.18 9,560 1,064,028.001060 997 PCOR-Preferred A 1080 1056 1051 1052 -2.59 1,800 PCOR-Preferred B 1091 1090 1090 1090 -0.09 80 1047 1011 PF Pref 2 1020 1020 1018 1020 0.00 4,910 76.9 74.2 SMC Preferred A 75.5 75.55 75.5 75.5 0.00 52,950 3,431,475.0078.95 74.5 SMC Preferred B 80 81 81 81 1.25 200 84.8 75 SMC Preferred C 83.1 83 83 83 -0.12 510

WARRANTS & BONDS6.98 0.8900 LR Warrant 3.950 4.080 3.950 4.050 2.53 31,000

S M E88 13.5 IRipple E-Business Intl 68.5 69.5 68.5 69.5 1.46 100 12.88 5.95 Xurpas 12.3 12.5 12.14 12.2 -0.81 428,100 1,365,276.00

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS130.7 105.6 First Metro ETF 124.8 125 123.6 123.6 -0.96 7,850


BUSINESSFRIDAY: AUGUST 7, 2015

B3

SM Prime borrowingP30b to fund projects

Well and good

Stocks snap 6-day rally; PLDT falls

By Jenniffer B. Austria

SM Prime Holdings Inc., the country’s leading real estate company in the country, plans to raise as much as P30 billion over the next 12 months to partially fund its 2015-2016 capital spending program.

GMA reports. GMA Network Inc. holds a press briefing to announce its financial performance in the first six months of 2015 at the GMA headquarters office in Quezon City. Briefing the journalists are (from right) GMA Network chairman and chief executive Felipe Gozon, president and chief operating officer Gilberto Duavit Jr. and executive vice president and chief financial officer Felipe Yalong. GMA Network reported a net income of P1.099 billion in the first half of 2015, up 89 percent over the same period last year. Revenues during the six-month period increased 15 percent to P6.653 billion. manny palmero

SM Prime executive vice presi-dent Jeffrey Lim said the company would raise P12 billion to P15 bil-lion in the latter part of 2015 and another P15 billion in the first half of 2016.

Lim said it planned to raise the amount through the issuance of retail bonds or through bank bor-rowings.

“We are working on the 2016 plan and we might consider rais-ing funds [before the possible in-terest rate hike and May presiden-tial elections],” Lim said,

“We have not decided yet how to raise the amount. It could be retail bonds or bilateral debts, de-

pending on the cost and alterna-tives presented,” he said.

Lim said the company opted to conduct the fund raising activity in two tranches to reflect a nega-tive carry on the company’s bal-ance sheet.

Meanwhile, SM Prime’s parent SM Investments Corp. reported that net income rose 10 percent to P13.5 billion in the first six months of 2015 on the strong performance of core businesses engaged in the banking, real es-tate and retail sectors.

SM Investments said first-half consolidated revenues increased six percent to P138.9 billion from

P130.9 billion a year ago.“Our core businesses continue

to deliver good revenue and earn-ings growth. Earnings growth in property is now in the mid teens, in line with our medium term goals. The retail group maintained its pace through organic growth and store expansion despite its al-ready significant size and intense competition,” SM Investments president Harley Sy said.

“Our focus on costs across the group resulted in improved operating margins. While we are pleased with the results so far, we are keeping our eyes on the challenges ahead,” Sy added.

The conglomerate’s property business led the growth, increas-ing its share in the consolidated net income to 42 percent. The banking unit followed with 38 percent and retail at 20 percent.

SM Prime said it would acquire properties in China for future landbanking.

THE stock market tumbled Thursday to end a six-day rally after investors took profits on recent gains, and as speculation grew that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates as soon as next month.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index lost 72.60 points, or 1 per-cent, to 7,589.95 on a value turn-over of P7.4 billion. Losers over-whelmed gainers, 102 to 58, with 50 issues unchanged.

The rest of Asian stocks were mixed on Thursday, as gains on Wall Street drove trading in To-kyo but patchy US economic data fed wider uncertainty in the re-gion.

A report showed the fastest US service-sector growth in a decade,

bolstering the case for the Fed to raise the near-zero rates that have buoyed demand for riskier assets. The US reports monthly payrolls Friday that will offer more clues on the rate timing.

“Investors seem to be selling in anticipation of a US rate in-crease that’s expected to happen next month,” said Dang Tran Hai Dang, a Hanoi-based deputy manager of research at Vietin-Bank Securities JSC. Investors should “reduce equity weightings in emerging markets.”

Traders have never been more convinced of a September rate hike by the Fed. The chances of an interest-rate increase next month reached 52 percent Wednesday, up from just 38 percent just two

days earlier.Universal Robina Corp.,

the biggest snack food maker, dropped 2.5 percent to P195, while Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., the largest tele-communications firm, fell 2.1 percent to P2,800.

Manila Electric Co., the biggest electricity retailer, declined 1.6 percent to P303.20, while Energy Development Corp., the largest steam producer, lost 2.6 percent to P7.07.

Tokyo rose 0.24 percent to finish up 50.38 points at 20,664.64, while Seoul lost 0.81 percent, or 16.47 points, on loss-es from technology firms and mobile carriers to end the day at 2,013.29. With Bloomberg,

IT SEEMS self-evident that the job of a manager is to ensure that the or-ganization he works for is successful. But what is the purpose of enter-prise? When executives are faced with this ques-

tion, there will be many answers, but there is one thing they will all agree upon: a successful enterprise makes money. To be specific, a successful business delivers a fair return to the investor. That objective, however, does not exist in a vacuum. Neither is it the only objective. Managers also need to deliver long-term growth and a certain level of predictability in profits.

In the business management classroom, we refer to this as doing well. What many are quick to point out, especially when the discussion in-cludes development managers is that companies should also try to do good; that is, they should also create value for society. In the academic literature, this is often called corporate philanthropy, a topic closely re-lated to corporate social responsibility. They are, however, not the same.

Not always goodCSR has, unfortunately, been too closely linked to charitable activities

such as feeding programs or scholarships. These are, of course, certain-ly laudable acts. However, there are at least two difficulties involved in straight philanthropy.

The first concern is what we would call the “executive wife” syndrome. When we ask executives whether they believe it is acceptable for com-panies to engage in charitable activities, many will say yes. When we be-gin to ask more specific questions, then the answers become much more hesitant.

Let’s tackle just the two most important questions.How much money should be devoted to charitable activities? Is it an

amount that is spent regardless of the company’s results or should it be contingent on making a profit? If the company is making a profit, how much of the profit can be devoted to charitable projects? And here is the acid test: if you are not the owner of the company, is this a decision that you should be making without consulting the owner? Here is a critical ethical dilemma: How can an executive essentially give away money that belongs to someone else? When we take into account the fact that many of these corporate giving activities enable executives to create powerful relationships and valuable venues for raising their individual reputations, there is a clear ethical dilemma involved.

What kind of charitable activities? Sports because the president is an avid basketball fan? A particular sports team because that COO is an alumnus of a certain university? A museum or dance troupe because the chairman’s wife is an avid fan?

When does corporate philanthropy begin to be about utilizing corpo-rate resources in order to further one’s own personal interests?

The second important concern around corporate philanthropy is a practice involving what is often called “greenwashing.” This happens when a company engages in charitable activities but continue to operate their business in a way that is harmful to the environment or their host communities. The hope is that their philanthropic activities will provide enough of a reputation effect to balance harmful behavior. This is corpo-rate hypocrisy.

Being goodCompanies that truly believe in being responsible have a single answer

to what it means to be a responsible business and it is not about “doing good”, although many companies do good, it is about “being good.”

This is a phrase I picked up from Anjan Ghosh of the Intel Corp. It was part of his response to my question of what he thought was the most fundamental requirement for real corporate responsibility.

In the aftermath of the Enron collapse and then again in the depths of the global credit crisis, business schools were criticized about the seem-ing failure to instill ethics in their graduates.

A paper by Mary Kay Copeland examines the plethora of leadership lit-erature and, in particular, values-based leadership, that emerged around the perceived need for improved ethical behavior among leaders. While Copeland’s paper reviews many theories of leadership including servant leadership, stewardship, contextual leadership, shared leadership and spiritual leadership, she focused on three types of leadership that have gained interest from both scholars and practitioners: authentic, ethical and transformational leadership.

Copeland also considers leader effectiveness and proposes a two-by-two matrix with ethical/authentic along one dimension and transfor-mational along the other dimension. Based on this matrix, Copeland proposes four categories of leaders. Ineffective leaders score low in both dimensions and maximizers score high in both dimensions. Copeland classifies under unrealized gains leaders who score high in authenticity and ethics but low on being transformational. Finally, Copeland classi-fies as fakers those who score high on being transformational and low on authenticity/ethics. Copeland hypothesizes that these leadership traits influence follower behavior and through this enterprise performance. The fly in the pudding, of course, is that the interplay of factors has not been tested.

What the literature supports is that ethical leadership lapses in the eth-ics of leaders can have costly organizational consequences (De Hoogh & Den Hartog, 2008) and that ethical leadership is a stronger predictor of leader effectiveness than authenticity or being transformational (Cope-land, 2009).

So yes, companies should do well. But they should also be good. Cor-porate responsibility is ultimately about being good and that begins with managers who are good.

Readers can email Maya at [email protected]. Or visit her site at http://integrations.tumblr.com.

B4

IN BRIEF

FRIDAY: AUGUST 7, 2015


BUSINESS

AEV-CRH buys Lafarge for $1.3b

The picture ain’t as bright as BS painted

“AMAZE with numbers” must have been the marching order of the writers, who spiced up President BS Aquino’s State of the Nation Address with stats and figures to make it appear like the mewling is set to become a roaring tiger. Senator Bongbong Marcos did not mince words when he said he will do some actual fact check to figure our where or how the president conjured the numbers that he cited, or if the success stories that were presented actually reflect the situation of others. Party list representative Carlos Zarate was even more blunt, calling the administration to task for its “duplicity” and callously insulting the intellectual capacity of the people, and lying—repeat—lying with the “out-of-reality figures” presented during the SONA.

It’s not just the figures that are out of reality, even AVPs where people are singing Hosannas to the programs and accomplishments of the administration. All that drumbeating about the K-12 program turned to be such a dud with the Palace covering up the identity of the person responsible for producing that video where a girl claimed to be a graduate of the K-12 program. As usual, the Palace mouthpieces gave a roundabout answer when it was clear that the video was “so exaj” —how can anyone claim to be graduate of the K-12 program that requires 13 years to complete when it was just implemented a few years ago?

But back to the numbers. Jobs, for instance. It’s hard to understand why Filipinos continue to leave the country to look for decent jobs abroad when things are supposed to be so much brighter now than during the previous administration. And when the president started talking about the huge foreign direct investments that have come in, we were almost waiting for a cock to crow in victory or the yellow crowd to go woot! woot! with the requisite closed fist waving and shaking.

Conveniently omitted, of course, is the fact that compared to our Asean neighbors (even those that experienced economic slumps), the Philippines’ $6.2 billion FDI is pathetic. Singapore attracted $67.5; Indonesia had $22.6 billion, Thailand $12.5 billion, Malaysia $10.8 billion, while Vietnam recorded $9. But hey, we beat Cambodia ($1.7 billion) and Myanmar ($946 million, up from the previous $584 million) and Laos with $721 million (up from $427 million)—countries that have just recently opened up and facing big democratic and political challenges.

It’s this weak FDI inflow that has caused a slump in hiring for online jobs, in particular the BPO/IT sector. According to the Monster Employment Index Philippines—a gauge of online job posting activity that records the industries and occupations that show the highest and lowest growth in recruitment activity locally—“slow hiring in the first half of Q2 can be attributed to Philippines’ weak Foreign Direct Investment, where figures have fallen by over 50 percent,” it said. MEI though is positive that the upcoming elections will boost online hiring activities—which come to think of it, is really expected because more election years always spur more economic activities in almost all sectors/industries—from printing to manufacturing (for give-aways or tokens). Even telcos will see more happy days when the campaign period officially begins (especially because MEI says the telecoms/ISP industry remained stagnant at 0 percent year-on-year).

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry has also warned about looming slowdowns in FDI inflows, citing the restrictive policies of the government. According to PCCI president Alfredo Yao, this country is the weakest when it comes to protecting investors. It’s no secret that the wishy-washy policies and the inaction of some government agencies with regard to big-ticket infrastructure projects are turning off investors big-time. Throw in port congestion, confusing tax regulations, poor transport systems and of course the traffic and you have a surefire formula to make potential investors turn tail and look elsewhere – like Vietnam or Myanmar for example. And this administration has the nerve to ask us to elect somebody that would continue what it has started?

•••For comments, reactions, photos, stories and related concerns,

readers may email to [email protected]. You may also visit and like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/happyhourmanilastandard. We’d be very happy to hear from you. Cheers!

PLDT award.Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Smart

Communications were recently honored during the 2015 Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Stakeholders

Awards, an annual celebration of strong

partnerships and successful collaborations. PLDT was

awarded outstanding respondent in the

coordinated portfolio investment survey while

Smart was given the award for outstanding respondent

for transactions coursed through bank accounts

abroad. Shown receiving the award is PLDT group

controller and Smart chief fi nancial offi cer Chaye Cabal-

Revilla from Bangko Sentral Governor Governor Amando

Tetangco Jr. (right) and Monetary Board member

and chairman of the board of judges Juan De Zuñiga Jr.

PAL fl ying from Cebu to LAPHILIPPINE Airlines said Thursday it will launch non-stop fl ights

between Cebu and Los Angeles in March 2016 as part of its expan-sion to the United States.

“Our customers in the Visayas and Mindanao have long clamoured for direct fl ights between Cebu and the US due to the travel convenience this will bring. One can simply take a short hop to Cebu from any point in the Visayas and Mindanao and connect to Los Angeles, instead of fl ying all the way to Manila,” PAL president and chief operating offi cer Jaime Bautista said.

The thrice weekly service will utilize the 254-seater bi-class Air-bus A340 with 36 lie-fl at seats on business class and 218 seats on regular economy.

The fl ag carrier currently operates 35 weekly fl ights to mainland USA and two US territories combined. Darwin G. Amojelar

PH to swap $6.5-b debtTHE Philippines plans to offer as much as P300 billion ($6.5 bil-

lion) of bonds in a debt swap as it seeks to lengthen maturities amid record-low infl ation.

The target is to conduct the exchange before the US starts raising interest rates, Treasurer Roberto Tan said in a phone interview from Manila Thursday.

New 20- or 25-year notes, and possibly 10-year securities, will be of-fered to replace shorter-maturity illiquid debt, he said. Futures show a 50 percent chance the Federal Reserve will tighten policy at the next meeting in September and 75 percent odds before year-end.

“We want to refi nance our short-term maturing obligations while cleaning up the yield curve and taking away illiquid” securi-ties, Tan said. “This is an opportunity for those that would like to move to longer-term debt.”

Consumer prices rose 0.8 percent in July from a year earlier, one of the lowest infl ation rates in Southeast Asia, barring those in the midst of defl ation. Bloomberg

BDO borrows $500mBDO Unibank Inc., the country’s largest lender controlled by ty-

coon Henry Sy, has closed a $500-million three-year syndicated term loan with a diverse group of international banks.

The amount is considered the largest syndicated loan transaction by a Philippine fi nancial institution.

“The facility generated strong interest and was oversubscribed,

prompting BDO to upsize it to $500 million from the initial tranche of $350 million,” BDO said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Thursday.

It said lending commitments were received from various lenders widely distributed across the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

“BDO intends to utilize the facility for refi nancing of an existing term loan and for general banking and corporate purposes,” the bank said.

Lead arrangers and bookrunners were Bank of America, N.A.; Deutsche Bank AG, Singapore branch; The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd.; Mizuho bank, Ltd.; Standard Chartered Bank; and United Overseas Bank Ltd. Julito G. Rada

Gozon seeks settlement with AngGMA Network Inc. chairman and chief executive Felipe Gozon said

he is open to an out-of-court settlement to thresh out issues with businessman Ramon Ang on the botched buy-in talks.

“I don’t know the feelings of Mr. Ang, I can only speak for our-selves that despite all of these we are open to a reasonable, mutually and acceptable settlement,” Gozon told reporters at the sidelines of the company’s fi nancial briefi ng.

Gozon, however, said a revival of negotiations with Ang would no longer push through, after the San Miguel Corp. president fi led an estafa case against the GMA-7 executive.

Ang earlier fi led a estafa case against the Gozon Group for alleg-edly terminating the negotiations and failing to return the P1-billion downpament for a 34-percent stake in GMA Network.

GMA Network reported a net income of P1.099 billion in the fi rst half, up 89 percent from a year ago as revenues rose 15 percent to P6.653 billion.

Bemac qualifi es for e-Trike dealTHE Energy Department said only one group out of the fi ve inter-

ested bidders has passed the bidding requirements for the contract to supply 3,000 electric tricyles funded by the Asian Development Bank.

Uzushio Electric Co. Ltd. of Japan and its local partner Bemac Electric Transportation Philippines Inc. met the requirements of the agency for the e-Trike deal.

Energy Undersecretary Donato Marcos told reporters said four other bidders had submitted “non-responsive bids, meaning the documents required of them were lacking.”

The other bidders were Teco Electric & Machinery Co. Ltd. of Tai-wan, Mulan Electric Vehicle Co. Ltd. of China, local company Camec JCB Corp. and Invenic Inc. and Jiang Siu Hansen of China.

Uzushio and Bemac submitted a fbid of P364.17 million, or the amount that government will pay for the delivery of the e-trikes. Marcos said Uzushio and Bemac’s bid still needed clearance from the ADB prior to award. “The post evaluation of the bid will start next week. It will be up to end of this month. The ADB will still have to clear this,” Marcos said. Alena Mae S. Flores

By Jenniffer B. Austria

AEV CRH Holdings Inc., a 60:40 joint ven-ture between Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. and CRH International of Ireland, is acquir-ing cement manufacturer Lafarge Republic Inc. for $1.3 billion.

AEV chief finance officer Manuel Lozano said in an in-terview at the sidelines of the company’s P24-billion bond list-ing at the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. the company aimed to take over Lafarge Re-public’s operations by September.

Final structure of the AEV CRH Holdings, however, is still being finalized.

“It is being fixed now. But basi-cally, we will co-manage the proj-ect, so we will both have signifi-cant investments in this. Because it’s a group of companies so the

key for us is that we ensure that it meets all the regulatory require-ments… But both of us will be working together,” Lozano said.

AEV CRH said in a regulatory filing it will acquire an 88.85-per-cent interest in Lafarge Republic Inc. for about P53.1 billion.

The joint venture company will acquire 5.174 billion com-mon shares in Lafarge Repub-lic, owned by Lafarge Holdings (Philippines) Inc., Calumboyan Holdings Inc., Round Royal Inc. and Southwestern Cement Ven-tures Inc., at P10.26 per share.

AEV-CRH said it would con-duct a tender offer to acquire the remaining 11.15 percent inter-est in LRI which would require another P6.65 billion in capital spending.

Tender offer period will be from Aug. 11 to Sept. 9, 2015.

AEV-CRH said it planned to delist Lafarge Republic from the Philippines Stock Exchange once it acquired more than 90-percent stake in the local cement com-pany after the tender offer.

“There is a plan to withdraw the registration statement of Lafarge Republic if it no longer meets the requirements for a public corporation,” AEV-CRH said.

Under the PSE rules, a public company should have a mini-mum public float of 10 percent.

AEV earlier said that it planned to invest P24 billion to fund its cement venture.

F R I D AY : A U G U S T 7, 2 0 1 5

B5ceSAR bARRIoqUInToE D I T O R

[email protected]

HK youthreject digitalworld and go analogue

Survivors head to Sicily after horror

A walk in the park. A model walks at Ralph Lauren Children’s Fashion Show at Central Park Zoo on August 5 in New York City. AFP

Strike. Commuters queue for buses as a 24-hour tube strike hits the morning rush hour at Victoria station in central London on August 6. The strike began at 6:30 pm (1730 GMT) on August 5 and will run until Friday morning, causing disruption for millions of commuters and tourists. AFP

worldRussians still strugglingdespite West embargo

HONG KONG—In a city crammed with neon-lit tech stores, smartphone vendors and high-end camera shops, a digital backlash is mounting as young Hong Kongers seek out an old-fashioned ana-logue experience.

Hong Kong is a buzzing market for cutting edge technological offer-ings, with queues around the block for the latest iPhone or tablet.

As consumers focus firmly on the new, there has been little demand for old-school gadgets―retro collectibles are much harder to find in Hong Kong than in other major world cit-ies, where vintage stores have long been a shopping staple.

But interest in the pre-digital era is growing as the city’s younger generations seek out everything from film cameras to vinyl records in response to the hi-tech deluge.

“We are constantly bombarded by an endless stream of advertise-ments for the newest and latest gadgets in our everyday lives, says Sonia Ho, 24, who works at an ar-chitectural design firm.

“The functions of a radio, type-writer or even a light meter can be easily downloaded onto our smart-phones... but we’re losing the idea of how a particular item actually works,” said Ho, who now prefers a second-hand Nikon FE2 film cam-era to the digital models she previ-ously used.

“It’s like being assigned to con-tinue the adventures of the camera from the previous owner and start to capture your own,” Ho said.

A growing number of younger pho-tographers in Hong Kong are experi-menting with old film cameras—some painstakingly scanning their film pho-tos onto a computer to share on social media feed Instagram. Ho shares hers under the handle @soniahyh.

Tinny Kwan, who owns a film processing store popular with young photographers in the resi-dential area of Prince Edward, says they are starting to discover the joys of delayed gratification.

“It’s like the feeling of gambling. There is a sense of excitement right up until you can see the photos... with digital, you can see it immedi-ately, that sense of curiosity is lack-ing,” says Kwan, whose shop is popu-lar with young photographers. AFP

NOVOYE SELTSO, Russia—As she milks a stubborn goat at her farm just outside Moscow, Larisa Sukhanova says she’s worried about the future of her milk business as a year-old em-bargo on Western foodstuffs fails to yield a promised bonanza for local farmers.

While authorities present the embargo enacted in reprisal for Western sanctions over Ukraine as an opportunity to develop the country’s flagging farm-ing sector, analysts say the crippling economic crisis roiling the country, and years of the state’s neglect of agriculture, have seen local producers struggle to make gains.

“The government has been paying more atten-tion to us farmers,” Sukhanova, 68, told AFP as she stroked one of her 120 white goats. “But I can’t say I see much of a difference.”

The authorities have pledged some $3.8 billion (3.5 billion euros) to help Russian farmers bolster their production of substitutes for the long list of embargoed goods, which range from luxury French cheeses to Spanish hams and Polish apples.

But Sukhanova—who produces some 200 li-ters of milk a day—says that a 10-million-ruble ($159,000) grant she was promised in March to ex-pand her farm has yet to materialize.

“I needed that grant money months ago,” she said. “Now I’m afraid I will have nowhere to keep my goats this winter.”

Agriculture is one of the few bright spots in the Russian economy, growing in the first quarter of 2015, despite the economy as a whole sinking into recession on the back of Western sanctions and low oil prices.

Meat production increased by 6.4 percent in comparison to the first quarter of 2014, official sta-tistics show, and producers like Sukhanova added an additional one percent to the country’s milk out-put.

A bullish agriculture minister Alexander Tkachyov has gone as far as to predict that Russian products will have replaced all foreign foods on su-permarket shelves within a decade.

But the increase in production has still fallen well short of filling the gap left by the embargo and ex-perts are doubtful that the ban is spurring genuine improvements in the industry. AFP

ROME—The survivors of a shipwreck off the coast of Libya in which some 200 migrants were feared drowned were be-ing brought to safety in Sicily on Thursday.

Their fishing boat, believed to have been carrying over 600 people, ran into difficulty about 15 nautical miles off Libya on Wednesday and overturned when rescuers neared, after fran-tic migrants rushed to one side in their desperation to be saved.

Irish patrol vessel Niamh, first on the scene of the disaster, was headed to Palermo with 367 sur-

vivors, including 12 women and 13 children, as well as 25 bodies recovered from the sea.

The Italian coastguard told AFP the search for remaining survivors “continued throughout the night and will be carried out all day today”.

Six migrants in need of urgent medical attention, including a feverish one-year-old baby and a man with a broken leg, were transported by helicopter to the Italian island of Lampedusa late Wednesday, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR.

It is not the first time a boat

making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean has overturned because of sudden movement on board when help is in sight.

Many migrants cannot swim, making it a race against time for rescue workers trying to pull them from the water.

“It was a horrific sight, people desperately clinging to lifebelts, boats and anything they could, fighting for their lives, amidst people drowning, and those who had already died,” said Juan Matias, a project coordinator for Doctors Without Borders. AFP

B6 cesar barrioquintoE D I T O R

[email protected]

F r i D aY : a u G u s t 7, 2 0 1 5

WORLD

After the conference. Academy award-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow, left, and her mother, actress Blythe Danner, pause for a photo as they leave a press conference on the importance of GMO labeling and opposing the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015 on August 5 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. AFP

PaperattacksJapanover rites

Bombing of Hiroshima recalled

BEIJING—A Chinese newspaper with close ties to the ruling Communist Party slammed Japan on Thursday for commemo-rating the atomic bomb-ing of Hiroshima without highlighting its own war-time aggression.

The Global Times tab-loid, which is published under the People’s Daily newspaper, the mouth-piece of the Communist Party, conceded in an editorial that it was “un-derstandable” for Japan to recall the bombing.

“But it must be point-ed out that the ceremony directs people’s atten-tion only to the fact that Japan is a victim of atomic bombing, but turns a blind eye to the reason why,” the English-language editorial said.

“Ceremonies like this water down the fact that Japan was also a perpetra-tor of war crimes. This shows how adept Japan is at scheming and calculating.”

The dropping of the bomb—dubbed “Little Boy”—by the US B-29 bomber Enola Gay left an estimated 140,000 people dead, including those who survived the bomb-ing itself but died in the following days, weeks and months. AFP

Bells tolled as a solemn crowd observed a moment of silence at 8:15 am local time (2315 GMT), when the deto-nation turned the bustling city into an inferno, killing thou-sands instantly and leaving others with horrific injuries to die a slow death.

Children, elderly survi-vors and delegates represent-ing 100 countries were in the crowd with many plac-ing flowers in front of the cenotaph at Peace Memorial Park, as doves were released into the air.

American B-29 bomb-er Enola Gay dropped a bomb, dubbed “Little Boy”, on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, in one of the closing chapters of World War II.

Nearly everything around it was incinerated by a wall of heat up to 4,000 degrees Celsius—hot enough to melt steel.

“As the only country ever attacked by an atomic bomb... we have a mission to

create a world without nu-clear arms,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the crowd.

“We have been tasked with conveying the inhumanity of nuclear weapons, across gen-erations and borders.”

Japan plans to submit a fresh resolution to abolish nuclear weapons at the UN general assembly later this year, he said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, at a regional diplo-matic meeting in Malaysia, described the bombing as a “very, very powerful re-minder” of the impact of war.

US ambassador Caroline Kennedy and under-secre-tary for arms control Rose Gottemoeller, the most se-nior Washington official ever sent to the service, attended Thursday’s ceremony.

This year’s memorial comes days ahead of the scheduled restart of a nu-clear reactor in southern Japan -- the first one to go

HIROSHIMA—Tens of thousands gathered in Hiroshima Thursday to mark 70 years since the dropping of the first atomic bomb, with opinion still divided over whether its deadly destruction was justified.

back on line after a two-year hiatus following the tsunami-sparked disaster at Fukushima in 2011.

While Abe has pushed to switch reactors back on, public opposition remains high after the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.

Japan’s nationalist leader has also been criticized for efforts to expand the role of his pacifist country’s Self-Defence Forces, changes that open the door to putting troops into combat for the first time since the war.

In a fresh controversy over the unpopular moves, de-fense minister Gen Nakatani admitted that the new se-curity laws being debated in parliament could -- in theory -- allow for Japan to transport nuclear weapons to allies, but he quickly dis-missed it as unlikely.

Bomb survivors, known as hibakusha, demanded that Abe drop the military plan.

“You must never make Japan a country that repeats the same mistakes (of the past),” Yukio Yoshioka, an 86-year-old, told Abe during a brief meeting on Thursday, local media said. AFP

(TS AUGUST 7, 2015)

For the Supply, Installation, and Commissioning of Fourteen (14) Rack Servers1. The Court of Appeals, through its Continuing Appropriations under Capital Outlay - Information and

Communication Technology Equipment intends to apply the sum of P11,500,000.00 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for the Supply, Installation, and Commissioning of Fourteen (14) Rack Servers. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

2. The Court of Appeals through its Bids and Awards Committee now invites bids for the Supply, Installation, and Commissioning of Fourteen (14) Rack Servers. Project duration is Fifty (50) days from receipt of P.O. The description of work is as follows:

Perform all the necessary operations to complete the supply, installation and commissioning of fourteen (14) servers. These includes but not limited to the following:

• Supply of fourteen (14) rack servers;• Delivery of three (3) servers to CA-Cebu after setup and configuration of MIS

Division personnel;• Delivery of three (3) servers to CA-CDO after setup and configuration of

MIS Division personnel;• Supply of two (2) sets of Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard

Edition with 5 CALs (Government License);• Configure servers for RAID-1, RAID1+0 and RAID-5.

3. Bidders should have completed, within three (3) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act.”

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least

sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183 and subject to Commonwealth Act 138.

4. Interested bidders may obtain further information from the BAC Secretariat, c/o Office of the Clerk of Court and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during office hours.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on August 07, 2015 from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB in the amount of P6,000.00.

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Court of Appeals, provided that Bidders shall pay the nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

5. The Court of Appeals through its Bids and Awards Committee will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on August 19, 2015 at 2:30PM at the Conference Room, Ground Floor, Annex 1 Building, Ma. Orosa St., Ermita, Manila which shall be open only to all interested parties who have purchased the Bidding Documents.

6. Bids must be delivered to the BAC Secretariat, c/o Office of the Clerk of Court, Room 101, Main Building, Ma. Orosa St., Ermita Manila on September 01, 2015, from 8:00AM - 12:00NOON. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security which shall be limited to a Bid Securing Declaration and at least one (1) other form of bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in the BDS and ITB.

Bid opening shall be on September 01, 2015 at 2:30 PM at the Conference room, Ground Floor, Annex

1 Bldg. Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend. Late bids shall not be accepted.

7. The Court of Appeals reserves the right to reject any or all eligibility documents or proposals without offering any reason, waive any defect or formalities contained therein, accept any proposal which is considered most advantageous to the government or annul the bidding process prior to contract award.

8. The Court of Appeals assumes no responsibility whatsoever to compensate or indemnify bidders for any expenses incurred in the preparation of the bid.

9. For further inquiries, contact the BAC Secretariat, c/o Office of the Clerk of Court at 523-21-13 or 524-12-41 loc. 219, 315, telefax 526-58-34.

E-mail add: [email protected].

Approved by:

(Sgd.) EDWIN D. SORONGON Associate Justice Chairperson Bids & Awards Committee on Purchase and Acquisition of Court Facilities, Equipment and Supplies

Republic of the PhilippinesCOURT OF APPEALS

Manila

(TS-AUGUST 7, 2015)

Republic of the PhilippinesPROVINCE OF QUIRINO

Cabarroguis

INVITATION TO BIDThe Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of the Provincial Government of Quirino invites

all interested contractors to apply for eligibility and to tender bids for the following project/s:

1. Contract IDName of Project

::

2015-089Proposed Central Sierra Madre Mountain Range Safari Zoo Park and Adventure Land Complex (Entrance Bldg.)

Location : Aglipay, Quirino

Scope of Work :Proposed Central Sierra Madre Mountain Range Safari Zoo Park and Adventure Land Complex (Entrance Bldg.)

Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC)Source of Fund Duration

:

::

P 19,000,000.00

MOA-TIEZA186 CD

The BAC will conduct the procurement process in accordance with the Revised IRR of R.A 9184. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at the opening of bid.

To bid for this contract, a contractor must submit a letter of Intent (LOI), purchase bid documents and must meet the following major criteria: (a) prior registration/accreditation with Provincial Government, (b) Filipino citizen of 75% Filipino-owned partnership, corporation, cooperative, or joint venture, (c) with PCAB license applicable to the type and cost of this contract, (d) completion of similar contract costing at least 50% of ABC within a period of 10 years, and (e) Net Financial Contracting Capacity at least equal to ABC, or credit line commitment for at least 10% of the ABC. The BAC will use non-discretionary pass/fail criteria in the eligibility check and preliminary examination of bids.

The significant times and deadlines of procurement activities are shown below:

1. Receipt of LOIs from prospective bidders August 7-23, 20152. Issuance of Bid Documents August 7-23, 2015

3. Pre-Bid ConferenceAugust 10, 2015, 3:00PM, Special Projects Unit, Conference Hall, 2nd Floor, Commercial Bldg., Capitol Compound, Capitol Hills, Cabarroguis, Quirino

4. Receipt of BidsAugust 24, 2015, 2:30PM, Special Projects Unit, Conference Hall, 2nd Floor, Commercial Bldg., Capitol Compound, Capitol Hills, Cabarroguis, Quirino

5. Opening of BidsAugust 24, 2015, 3:00PM, Special Projects Unit, Conference Hall, 2nd Floor, Commercial Bldg., Capitol Compound, Capitol Hills, Cabarroguis, Quirino

The BAC will issue hard copies of Bidding Documents at the BAC Secretariat, Capitol

Hills, Cabarroguis, Quirino, upon payment of the applicable non-refundable fee. The Pre-Bid Conference shall open only to interested parties who have purchased the BD’s. Bids must be accompanied by a bid security, in the amount and acceptable form, as stated in Section 27.2 of the Revised IRR.

Prospective bidders shall submit their duly accomplished forms as specified in the BD’s in two (2) separate sealed bid envelopes to the BAC Chairman. The first envelope shall contain the technical component of the bid. The second envelope shall contain the financial component of the bid. Contract will be awarded to the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bid as determined in the bid evaluation and the post-qualification.

The Provincial Government of Quirino reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process at anytime prior Contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder/s.

(SGD) DENCIO A. PAGBILAO Prov’l. Planning & Development Coordinator BAC Chairman

[email protected]

RAMON L. TOMELDANE D I T O R

F R I D AY : A U G U S T 7, 2 0 1 5

MOTORING

FASTLANEFASTLANEFAST

The world’s most versatile compact SUV has landed in the Philippine market as Land Rover Philippines unveils The New Discovery Sport. Wellington Soong (left), chair and president of LRPhils Motors Inc. and British Ambassador Asif Ahmad present the “Discovery Sport” in launching ceremony held at the Axon in Makati City on Tuesday. MANNY PALMERO

As an outsider looking in, it seems that VW is on the right track as reflected by the 47 percent growth in sales and in the number of VW Polo units sold (56 units) since February this year. Competitively priced at just below a million pe-sos at P950k, you get superb Teutonic engineering and a more solid feel compared to its rivals in the domes-tic market. A plus factor of this car is that it looks good too in my opinion. It may not look as dynamic as the Honda Jazz or the Ford Fies-ta, but the Polo looks smart and bit understated. Think of this car as the nerd in the class with a hot body. While it is not exciting to look at, the Polo is radical in its de-sign cues such as the LED blacked headlights, a sharp front fascia with a strip of chrome along the grille de-sign. The tight lines are a sign of quality, the solid feel and that “thump” when you shut the doors are hints of quality that will appeal to a much broader spectrum of the target market.

Inside the Polo is a dy-namically functional dash-board with a meaty flat bot-

tomed three-spoke steering wheel and an infotainment system similar to that of the MkVII Golf. Unlike its com-petitors, particularly the Koreans, the audio system of the Polo is superb and one can enjoy your selection of music to breeze through the frustrating traffic jams. The climate control system will also help you maintain your composure in a cool cabin.

I have driven the diesel powered manual transmis-sion version, and I must ad-mit that I prefer this 1.6 liter 4 cylinder gasoline version which pumps out an ap-propriate 105bhp. The six-speed automatic swayed my loyalty to this hatch version also, which is precise and does not have the “nutty” feel of some test units that have gone through my per-sonal testing.

The new Polo Hatchback provides its patrons with a premium European sub-compact in the competi-tive hatchback segment. It is expected to lock horns with the Honda Jazz, Toyota Vios, Mitsubishi Mirage, Nissan Almera, Mazda 2 and the Hyundai Accent in carving out a profitable slice

DESIGNED for the latest generation of cars where comfort, high-speed stability and safety are the essen-tial requirements, one of America’s most trusted and sought after tire brands Saffiro is letting consumers experience true performance with the SF6000. The Saffiro SF6000 tire suitable for all passenger or sports cars. The unique tread design ensures excellent trac-tion on wet road. Dry tread zone helps enhance han-dling and grip on dry pavement.

The SF6000 includes a technological platform that gives a special footprint (contact patch) making this model a reliable tire, which is secure on wet surfaces when braking, quiet on the road and resistant to all types of road stress. The benefits are more grip and total stability, with less tire fatigue and thus longer mileage. This model reduces fuel consumption and atmospheric pollution.

Saffiro is the only brand in the country today which has a 40,000-Mile Limited Warranty for H-Rated Size vehicles. It has also passed the qualif ications of OEM as the safest choice when replacing your worn out tires, because it fits most stand-ard OEM rims and wheel spec-ifications.

MITSUBISHI Motors Philippines Corporation re-cently turned over a fleet of new Strada pickups to Ma-nila Water Company, Inc. One hundred sixteen units of Strada GL 2WD Manual Transmission were acquired by Manila Wa-ter through MMPC’s authorized dealership Diamond Motor Corp. – Quezon Ave. (DMC-QA). Among other available pickups in the market, Manila Water chose the Strada because of its fuel efficiency, improved fea-tures, and very competitive price. A thorough evalua-tion was conducted by Manila Water to determine the best pickup that will fit their requirements. The cer-emonial turn-over was headed by MMPC’s Assistant Vice President for Vehicle Sales Dante Calma, Manila Water’s Director for Operations Support Services, Es-telita Orodio, and DMC-QA’s Vice President/ Branch Head Eduardo Icasiano. With Manila Water’s nature of business, the all-new Strada is the perfect workhorse for them.

Volkswagen PH ‘hatches’ a winner

Saffi ro SF 6000:safety, comfort

Mitsubishi Strada isManila Water’s choice

From Left: Ronald Gomez –MMPC, Josie Calimag – DMC-QA, Eduardo Icasiano – DMC QA, Dante Calma – MMPC and from Manila Water: Estelita Orodio , Marlene Ferrer, and Jose Cardona

of the domestic market.For a sub million sub-

compact with a special low down payment scheme of just P95,000, you get a list of features which include an Anti-lock braking system, anti-theft with immobilizer and interior monitoring sys-tem, crash-safe body design, front and rear seatbelts, SRS dual front airbags and park distance control are just some of the safety features to ensure a secured and protected driv-ing every day. Also, ISOFIX

Ready Seats are available for the rear seats.

Launched in 1975, the Polo became one of the most suc-cessful cars of VW and is the car to beat as it defends its two-time championship at the gruelling World Rally Championship. Today, VW produces the Polo in Germa-ny, Spain, South Africa, Rus-sia, India and China. Accord-ing to Orbeta, the Polo will be marketed as a practical vehi-cle for young professionals and first time car buyers

Text and photos by Dino Ray V. Directo III

LAUNCHED early this year, the Volkswagen Polo Hatch has a lot to carry on its shoulder because VW Philippines has positioned this variant to be its volume seller. “We are bull-ish this year and the Polo is one of our mod-els that can carry the baton for the brand,” says John Philip Orbeta, president and chief executive of Volkswagen Philippines.

Volkswagen’s pint size wonder feels solid and precise

The dashboard layout is drive-oriented and engineered for functionality

F R I D AY : A U G U S T 7, 2 0 1 5

B8 RAMON L. TOMELDANE D I T O R

[email protected]

MOTORING

T OYOTA Motors Philippines unveiled the latest iteration of its most popular workhorse in grand fashion last week at the Clark Ecozone in Angeles, Pampanga. Heralded by Toyota as the most powerful and daring eighth generation pick-up,

the all new Hi-Lux has a much bigger body, a larger cabin, improved dynamics and a tuned chassis that can handle increased loads and towing capacity. “Toyota raised the level in terms of expectations, the all-new Hilux turns to a new age outperforming its previous generations and even competition. True to its name, the brand is a combination of the words “high” and “luxury,” to underline the vehicle’s competitive edge across other pick-ups,” says Michunobu Sugata, president of TMP.

raises the bar raises the barToyota

Text and photos by Dino Ray V. Directo III

From the front end, the latest version Hilux boasts of a powerful and stylish front fascia suggesting the look of a “next-generation” Pickup truck. Its new thick bum-per contrasts with the thin grille and headlamps achieving both toughness and re� nement. It also now carries the signature Toyota “under-priority and keen look” of-fering its customers a more appeal-ing shape. Moreover, it displays a wider and more stable stance, as seen in its continuous � ow of lines with protruding wheel � ares. Its lower side body is emphasized for a more secure look. � e sleek cabin silhouette also proves that re� ned features can actually pair well with toughness as seen in the all-new Hilux. � e top-of-the-line 4x4 and 4x2 (G Grade) models are equipped with a side step and 17 inch alloy wheels for a sportier look. Its rear design, on the other hand, shows a strong and uni� ed form as seen in its voluminous beltline which continues to the deck and tailgate. Moreover, the pick-up’s contour of the cabin area seamlessly con-nects to the deck area exuding an element of strength. Toughness is further embodied as seen in its large rear combination lamps.

As you step inside the vehicle,

one can immediately notice the perfect balance of style and func-tion throughout the cabin. � e all-new Hilux renders toughness and functionality required for a dependable space combined with ease and convenience enjoyed for private use. � e new generation Hilux securely seats up to 5 pas-sengers. It o� ers greater front seat comfort with larger head room and shoulder room. Moreover, its

rear seat passengers of the all-new Hilux will enjoy the expanded knee room and rear center arm-rest.

Toyota’s workhorse is powered by two di� erent engines, a 2.8 li-ter for the 4x4 version or the base line 2.4 Liter 4 cylinder for the 4x2 version. Both engines have the 16-valve con� guration and armed with a VN Turbo Intercooler diesel GD engines. Toyota’s premier pick-

up provides a maximum output of 174hp/3,400rpm, and maximum torque of 450Nm/1600-2400rpm. Moreover, it is equipped with a 6-speed sequential automatic or 6-speed manual transmission available in the G variant. Aside from performance, the Hi-Lux’s new engine is considerably more re� ned in practical usage condi-tions – vibrations and road noise are well suppressed even on rough terrain. A day a� er the event, event organizers took select members of the media for a drive around the treacherous Segovia river bed for a real-world test drive of their lat-est baby. “it is noteworthy that the Hilux has gained a loyal following since it was � rst introduced in the Philippines in 1993. Registering 56, 417 units for 22 years now… this is a clear indication of how this mod-el has been loved by thousands of our customers and giving it the name “King of Pick-Ups. Truly, the All-new Hilux is tougher than you can imagine. Toyota has rede� ned toughness and comfort as seen in this 8th generation Toyota pick-up, adds Sugata. � e all-new Hilux is o� ered in seven variants with a starting price of P929,000.00. With Olson Camacho

By Sandy Araneta

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III has signed Republic Act No. 10666, which imposes restrictions on mo-torcycles drivers who allow children onboard their vehicles as part of measures to instill safety on the road.

Signed on July 21, 2015, the new law requires children to wear stan-dard protective helmets can com-fortably reach the standard foot peg, and reach around and grasp the waist of the motorcycle driver.

RA 10666 is also known as the “Children’s Safety on Mo-torcycles Act of 2015.” It de� nes motorcycles as any two-wheeled motor vehicle having one or two riding saddles.

� e new law, however, allows a child to be transported onboard a motorcycle if he or she needs im-mediate medical attention.

� e prohibition was particular-ly imposed on public roads with heavy volume of vehicles, high density of fast-moving vehicles or where a speed limit of more than 60 kilometer-per- hour is imposed.

Under the law, public roads refer to roads designed by the na-tional government or local gov-ernment units as roads for public use such as, but not limited to, na-tional highways, provincial roads, city, municipal and barangay streets.

Motorcycle riders who will vio-late the new law face a � ne of P3,000 for the � rst o� ense, P5,000 for the second o� ense, and P10,000 for the third and succeeding o� enses.

The driver’s license will also be au-tomatically revoked if he or she will violate the law beyond the third time.

� e Land Transportation O� ce is authorized to raise the amounts of the � nes once every three years, provided that the hike undergoes public consultation and does not exceed 20 percent of the original amount.

� e new law also states that the LTO is authorized to tap the Phil-ippine National Police (PNP), the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and local

government units to enforce the new law.

“It is the policy of the State to defend the right of children to as-sistance, including proper care and nutrition, and special protection from all forms of neglect, abuse, cruelty, exploitation, and other con-ditions prejudicial to their develop-ment,” RA 10666 stated.

“Towards this end, the State shall pursue a more proactive and preventive approach to secure the safety of passengers, especially chil-dren, by regulating the operation of motorcycles along roads and high-ways,” it also said.

New law sets curbs on motorbike riders

C1F R I D AY : A U G U S T 7 : 2 0 1 5

LIFE

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

ST Y L E & BE AU T Y

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

JC BUENDIAFashion designer

Unusual shapes and handiwork set Filipino design apart. Look at our butterfly sleeves, Kenneth Cobonpue’s wave-like furniture – Filipino

designers usually draw inspiration from nature. Uniquely ours is fine embroidery, hand embroidery using techniques like callado. There is also the technique suksuk which is incorporated in the weaving process.

PROUDLY PINOYFilipino fashion designers share their thoughts on what makes Filipino design a cut above the rest.BY KAI MAGSANOC

To say that Filipinos are making waves in the design industry is an understatement. It would be more apt to say that we are conquering the world – in fashion, interior and furniture design, even digital arts.

We talked to some of today’s successful Filipino designers on their thoughts about what makes Filipino fashion design stand out, and what sets these designers apart from their peers from other countries.

Their answers made us stand up, place our hand on our chest, and affirm that we are – more than ever – proud to be Pinoy!

AMINA ARANAZ-ALUNANDesigner and educator

The Filipino aesthetic is highly intricate and detailed. One will notice a lot of handmade techniques and materials.

We gravitate towards a lot of detail, texture, and material manipulation. [We are] definitely not minimalists but lean towards exuberance.

Continued on C2

JOHN HERRERAWinner, London Emerging Designer (LED) Awards 2015

Our rich culture and history make Filipino design stand out. Our natural resources combined with our influences and our dreams make Filipinos amazing

designers. It is only when we try to become someone other than who we are that we don’t become global. National identity is what defines us and it should drive our passion in design or in any creative human activity.

“Design is design, and people will celebrate creativity if it is authentic, no matter where it comes from. I was tempted to tweak my design sensibility to be more ‘London’ but in the end I decided against it. I would rather not win doing what I love, than to win with a collection that wasn’t me. Winning only comes second to the real triumph here: I showed London what Manila fashion is today.

C2F R I D AY : A U G U S T 7 : 2 0 1 5

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

THE GISTBY ED BIADO

THESE 5 TRENDS FOR MEN ARE OVERIn fashion, a trend reaches its saturation point when you can’t turn a corner without seeing it on someone. When everybody starts wearing the same thing, it’s your cue to stop wearing it. We’re rounding up some of the items for guys that became too huge for their own good that maybe it’s time to hide them at the back of the closet.

DENIM JACKETThis resilient garment comes and goes and the denim jacket’s most recent reincarnation was filled with ‘90s nostalgia. We loved it but there is such a thing as denim overload. After mixing, matching and layering different kinds of denim items for a couple of seasons now, it’s getting a little dated. A hiatus right about now doesn’t seem like a terrible idea.

CHAMBRAY SHIRTTo achieve that all-denim look without really wearing only denim, the chambray shirt was utilized. And it did its job in completing the illusion. But again, the novelty is wearing off because it got too trendy and there are duplicates upon duplicates of the same outfit everywhere at any given time.

LONG CARDIGANYou saw your favorite fashion blogger wearing one so you wanted to wear one. And you did. But you found out that the slouchy long cardigan was also oftentimes lousy. On OOTD posts, it’s sartorial. In real life, not so much. We once heard someone say that it looks like a bathrobe.

JOGGER PANTS AND SWEATSHORTSDon’t hate on us, but we’re kind of over the jogger pants and its cropped cousin, the sweatshort. Not only are these bottoms too locker-roomy for going out, they’re also quite revealing if you have an ample package or if you get a random midday boner (and that happens to every fella). But apparently, that’s the goal for some guys – to show off what they have – which is why joggers have become associated with douchery. So if you’re not a douche, you know what to do.

POCKET SHIRTThe pocket tee, which is a plain T-shirt with a colored and/or patterned pocket, was all the rage in 2013 and it quickly reached its “best before” date. But it spawned the pocket tank top around summer that year and the pocket button-down shirt. Then it all went downhill from there because we recently spotted the pocket polo shirt. Just. No.

PROUDLY PINOYFrom C1

RENCIE SANTOSAccessory designer

What makes us stand out is our sense of adventure. Because the Philippines has many international influences, we have no constraints with ideas. We have abundant and beautiful natural resources that designers can draw from in terms of subject matter, materials, and structure.

ALBERT ANDRADAFashion designer

Filipino design stands out because of its artful aesthetics. The Philippines is a country very rich in culture. From the earlier times, making fabrics from [the] raw has been a part of our rich heritage. We make our own fabric; we weave it and even color it with natural dyes. Art has always been a part of every Filipino.

JOHN ABLAZAInternational eco-couture designer

Filipino designers are world class – very creative, ever-evolving, always re-inventing, and very resourceful. [We are] always on the lookout to create something unique and original. I do fashion not just for the glamour of it; I have advocacies attached to my work. I incorporate natural and highly sustainable materials in my creations. This way, I contribute in preserving nature’s bounty and create livelihood for less fortunate Filipinos.

ERIC DELOS SANTOS Fashion designer

Filipino design stands out because of our workmanship and innate creativity. Our Filipino hospitality also comes out when we deal with our clients, both here and abroad.

TRACY DIZONMilliner

Seeing Filipino creations abroad, what makes our [design] stand out is the human craftsmanship. There’s this sincerity, passion, and human touch or haplos ng pagmamahal innate in Filipinos that translate to our creations. Being a Filipino designer gave me the impetus to be resourceful. As they say, if you can’t find it, make it. This makes us more creative and innovative in transforming nothing into something.

POP-UP BEAUTYBY JIGS MAYUGA

It’s almost September and in the fashion and beauty scene, it means that trend forecasts for Fall 2015’s hair and makeup looks are being rolled out by most major fashion publications and magazines. Autumn/Winter runway shows for 2015 were all about bold color for the lips and eyes, an ode to all things punk and imperfect, and the

celebration of pure, unadulterated but beautiful skin and hair. M.A.C senior makeup artist, John Stapleton (who was recently in Manila for the M.A.C Cosmetics Autumn/Winter 2015 Trends Presentation), demonstrated key looks for fall that every woman can wear. Meanwhile at Aveda, the brand’s artists were the key hairstylists at many major fashion week shows around the world and they predicted the chief hair trends for Fall 2015 that are easy to recreate with the right products and tools.

WAVY CHICBig solid curls are out for fall. Novis designer Jordana Warmflash’s inspiration for the Fall/Winter 2015 collection came from the shapes, patterns, textures, and use of color inspired by the artist Matisse. To complement the bright clothes featuring shapes and cutouts, Aveda guest artist Frank Rizzieri created wearable tousled waves, perfect for a city girl’s afternoon at an art gallery. The look is healthy and fresh with slightly

bended strands and hints of texture. Starting with clean hair, blow dry with a paddle brush. Apply a volume-infusing product on the roots and spots that need a lift once hair is halfway dry for

added body and grip. Focusing on the top layer of hair, build in bends by using a double-barrel curling iron, intermittently wrapping sections of hair around the larger barrel through to the smaller barrel, leaving one or two inches of the ends straight. Finish with a light mist of hair spray. An antithesis to the huge curls we’ve seen on celebrities for so long.KIEHL’S Stylist Series Super Thick Volumizer, Greenbelt 5

C3LIFEF R I D AY : A U G U S T 7 : 2 0 1 5


AUTUMN/WINTER 2015 HAIR AND MAKEUP TRENDS

BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNEDBlack has always been a constant in makeup, and for fall, makeup artists are harnessing the chaotic spirit of dark shades and channeling it into the chic and beautiful. At Giles, models were seen with black lipstick on an almost bare face. Dark brows were the focal point at Missoni. To rock the dark lip trend, the

brave can always wear black but for women who are afraid of inky lips, shades like plum and deep purples are the perfect alternatives.

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Transylvania, SM North Edsa

THE MAKEUP TRENDS

LOVE WORNThe ’90s are back – and if the grunged-out and lived-in makeup on the runways were evidence enough, I’d say it’s back in a big way. At Marco De Vicenzo and Manish Arora, models wore makeup that looked like the girls partied all night. Very rock star. To get this look, play up your eyes with some smudged liner and a bit of smoke with eye shadows in shades of taupe and brown.

MAKE UP FOR EVER Fall Color Artist Shadows 1 Palette, SM Megamall

RED ’70SThis season’s reds veer away from the true, bright reds that were popular in the last few years. Retro brick reds and deep reds in both matte and gloss are must-haves. Shades like rust, bordeaux, wine and burgundy were visible on the runways at Acne Studios and Houghton. Lacquered red lips are my personal favorite. Try a warm red lip color and top

with some clear gloss on the center of the lip.

M.A.C. COSMETICS Lipstick in Chili, Glorietta

M.A.C senior makeup artist John Stapleton

THE HAIR TRENDS

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @jigsmayuga

Racer and fashion designer Mark Bumgarner collaborated with Zalora and Mazda Philippines to launch his new collection – M2 – inspired by

two of the things he loves: cars and fashion.“In Zalora, our love for fashion is what

drives us to bring in the hottest items from the local and international runways straight to our customers’ doorsteps across the region, that is why we are Asia’s online fashion destination,” explains Paolo Campos, co-founder and CEO of Zalora Philippines. Their partnership with Mazda and Mark Bumgarner marks their effort to provide an venue where local designers can showcase their designs.

M2 by Mark Bumgarner is a 100-piece limited edition collection inspired by the KODO “soul of motion” design philosophy of Mazda, which exudes the power and elegance of a wild animal at that instant when it pounces on its prey. M2 handmade pieces are inspired by the imagery and character of Mazda SKYACTIV. Featuring straight lines and minimal as well as elegant in design, the collection showcases the colors white, red,

black and faded bluish gray reminiscent of the Mazda2 SKYACTIV.

“M2 combines two of my first loves – cars and fashion. Being able to find the connection between two opposing worlds was a truly inspiring experience, “ shares Bumgarner.

The limited edition collection is now available for sale in www.zalora.com.

M2 by Mark Bumgarner Zalora and Mazda Philippines launch

limited edition M2 collection by Mark Bumgarner

M2 Collection Zalora Philippines’ pop-up store in EDSA Shangri-La Mall

ROMANTIC PUNKAt Haider Ackermann’s Fall/Winter 2015 collection in Paris, the designer showcased intricate stitching of colorful threads sewn throughout each garment. Wanting to play off these details, Aveda guest artist, Kamo, created a punk rock style

complete with threaded needlework in the hair. To get this look, blow dry hair using the hands to help add volume and texture. Let hair lie with no visible part and mold around face; begin to add dimension with a crimping iron by clamping small sections of hair 2-3 inches apart throughout the head. Start crafting a punk style with the hands and intermittently using hairspray to hold the created shapes. Once the shape is achieved, take small sections of hair on the right side and weave strands with thread going upward, creating haphazard braid-like patterns. Repeat on the other side. AVEDA Control Force Firm Hold Hairspray, SM Makati

Iconic shoe brand Parisian makes style available for everyone with its Parisian Plus collection that has a line for ladies with shoe sizes

from 9.5 to 12, with the styles that are both on-trend and comfortable at the same time.

Ladies need not be embarrassed with their shoe size, and SM’S Parisian Plus allows everyone to step out in style with flattering and fab designs – with wedges and chunky heels that can actually make the feet look smaller as most high heels do. Or how about bows, buckles, lace

overlays and other accents that can make the feet look more petite?

Walk on the wild side with animal printed pumps. Give your look a modern edge with laser cut accents. Step in neutral territory with earth-toned sandals, and slip on ballet flats for those casual days.

Parisian Plus is exclusively available at all SM Stores nationwide. Get connected with Parisian Plus through Parisian Shoes and Bags on Facebook and @SMParisian and @SMShoesandBags on Twitter and Instagram. #SMParisianPlus

STYLE IS FOR EVERY SIZE WITH PARISIAN PLUS

Be fun and fab with Parisian Plus ballet flats.Go into neutral territory with Parisian Plus’ selection of sandals.

This Busy Q u e e n has been seeing a lot of products w i t h fringes in a l m o s t all of the d i s p l a y w i nd ow s

of stores and boutiques she’s gone to around the metro. Fringes in bags, shoes, accessories and in clothes abound aplenty. It looks like this ’70s trend, which started several seasons back, is not slowing down any time soon.

FROM FUNCTION TO FASHIONJust exactly when and how did the use of fringes originate? The American Indians cut the edges of their outerwear to help shed moisture. As the fringes moved back and forth, their clothes dried faster as water fell to the tips more quickly. So back then, the focus was more on function and not fashion. The Apache tribe, however, mimicked nature in their clothing and might have used fringes to simulate feathers and wings. Many years later, in the 1920s, the skirts got shorter, fringed hemlines went swinging and the flapper look was born. But it was the free-spirited ’60s and ’70s that immortalized

the hippie-happy fringe look. Everyone from rock stars to your average Joes and Janes embraced the fringe like they did free love. Four decades later, we now have elite fashion houses such as Miu Miu, Chanel and Gucci breathing new life to the fringe look in their runways and making it a global trend.

INTO THE SWING OF THINGSThis column is all about sharing my fabulous finds. Here, I’ve rounded up products from the affordable to the expensive. I’m quite sure the fashionista in you is more than willing to give this look a try. Just how much you want to embrace the craze is totally up to you.

C4 LIFEF R I D AY : A U G U S T 7 : 2 0 1 5


THE BUSY QUEEN PBY PAULYNE FERMIN

Turn heads and treat yourself to this gorgeous arm candy! After all, Chanel is always a good option.

THE FRINGE FEVER

Burberry fringed scarves and bucket bag from the Autumn/Winter 2015 collection.

Spruce up a solid-colored top with this gold necklace from Penshoppe Accessories (P350). Be sure to hang this during storage to prevent the chains from tangling and also from discoloring.

It was love at first sight for me when I saw this pair. Black suede high heels with ankle wrap fringes and tassels from ZARA (P4500). Guaranteed to add style points to any ensemble. Also comes in cream.

I’m a proud owner of a TALI handmade bag. Women prisoners turned artisans were tapped and taught to make beautiful patterns. This local luxury line empowers the marginalized to afford the basic necessities in life. You can support this socially conscious business model by purchasing their unique products. Shown here is the GINA big chevron tote (P13,800). Made from plastic straw with genuine leather fringes and tassel.

Fringe ETHNIQUE bags

*Fringe (noun) – an ornamental border of threads left loose or formed into tassels or twists that are used to edge clothing or any kind of material.

As I mentioned earlier, the fringe mania is likely to be with us for several seasons more. Be sure to choose pieces that you can mix and match with whatever is in your closet. With that said, go ahead and get caught up in the fringe fever!

With a pocketful of glitter,

Follow me on Twitter, IG and Facebook. Visit http://thebusyqueenp.com/ for more

interesting reads!

SHOWBITZi s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

C5ISAH V. REDE D I T O R

F RIDAY : AUGUST 7 : 2015

On Aug.9, 19 adorable and talented kids will compete in the Grand Finals of SM Little Stars 2015 3 p.m. at

the SM Mall of Asia.Now on its eighth year, SM Little

Stars is a yearly nationwide search for cute, bright and promising kids aged 4-7 in a talent competition. It has also become an avenue for brighter things. Previous SM Little Stars winners are now shining in the field of acting and modelling.

Over P3.5 million worth of prizes await the Grand Prize winners (boy and girl). These include P200,000 worth of cash and shopping money; a five-day and four-night trip to China for two including round-trip tickets, hotel accommodations and tours; and a four-year college scholarship grant from National University. SM’s Little Stars will also receive P15,000 worth of gift certificates from Toy Kingdom, ride-all-you-can passes for one year from Storyland, and an overnight stay for two with complimentary breakfast from Microtel.

The First Runner Up will receive P100,000 worth of cash and shopping money and a four-year college scholarship grant from National University; while the Second and Third Runners Up will get P80,000 and P60,000 worth of cash and shopping money respectively, and tuition fee discounts from National University. Runners up will also each get a five-day and four-night trip to China for two, Toy Kingdom gift certificates, and ride-all-you-can passes for one year from Storyland. The rest of the finalists will each get P8,000 worth of cash and shopping money, and Toy Kingdom gift certificates worth P2,000.

This year’s Grand Finals will be hosted by Jasmine Curtis Smith, and will have an amazing board of judges who will also act as mentors: movie and TV director Mac Alejandre (TV/film acting), Trumpets Playshop President Audie Gemora (voice and theatricality), Gelli De Belen(hosting), Joshua Zamora (dance) and Miss Universe 2010 4th runner up Venus Raj. They will be choosing the winners based on the following

criteria: 40 percent for Star Quality, 20 percent for Personality and 40 percent for Talent.

Who will shine as SM’s Little Stars 2015? Here’s a look at the finalists. In the metro area, SM City Manila’s Sofia Novielle Santos loves to sing, dance and draw, and dreams to be a singer someday; while SM City Bicutan’s Leandro Comia and SM Center Las Piñas’ Aiyana Kailyn Silva enjoy showing their talents in dancing and singing.

SM Center Muntinlupa’s Jeanne Elisha Ventura loves to paint and read books, and Jian Arthur Wills likes to go cycling and playing basketball. SM City North EDSA has a talented duo: Lei Andre Navarro, who is into dancing, acting and modeling; and Annastacia Beatriz Pennywho wants to become either an engineer or a doctor.

In Northern Luzon, SM City Baguio’s Freyjah Jazz Tablizo, SM City San Fernando Downtown’s Aian Kurt Garcia and SM City Marilao’s Kyle Ian Baterna charm the audience with their dancing moves.

Going south, SM City Naga’s Dawn Arione Angela Ilagan and SM City San Pablo’s Johan Jozef Yalong dream to become nurses, while SM City Lucena’s Liam Thaddea Paglicawan wants to be a fashion designer and dentist.

SM Little Stars also drew a lot of star quality from the VisMin region. SM City Cebu’s Yessha Hilkiah De La Calzada dreams to be a professional singer; while SM City Iloilo’s Raphaela Louise Aguila wants to be a doctor. SM City Iloilo’s Arnell Johnn Borrejoined the contest to develop his talent and gain more experience.

SM City Davao’s Seth Levi Salada enjoys playing drums, SM City GenSan’s Ma. Teresa Sagario loves acting, hosting and doing declamations, while SM City Cagayan de Oro’s Leanne Margaret Cajulao likes dancing and acting, and dreams of becoming the President of the Philippines.

SM Little Stars is one of the many exciting events of the SM Supermalls.

WhO Will be SM’S little StarS 2015?Aiyana Kailyn Silva of SM Center Las Piñas

Kyle Ian Baterna of SM City Marilao

Dawn Arione Angela Ilagan of SM City Naga

Arnell Johnn Borre of SM City Iloilo

Jeanne Elisha Ventura of SM Center Muntinlupa

Seth Levi Salada of SM City Davao

Yessha Hilkiah De La Calzada of SM City Cebu

Lei Andre Navarro of

SM City North EDSA

Ma. Teresa Sagario of SM City GenSan

Raphaela Louise Aguila

of SM City Iloilo

SHOWBITZC6i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m


ACROSS 1 Snatch 5 Type of spray 10 Upscale cook 14 “Chantilly —” 15 In-box contents 16 Miner’s quest 17 Slimy vegetable 18 Dainty ornament 19 Try to influence 20 Deciduous tree 22 Ended a layoff 24 Rembrandt works

A N S W E R F O R P R E V I O U S P U Z Z L E

CROSSWORD PUZZLE FRIDAY,

AUGUST 7, 2015

27 Plunder 28 Molar’s job 32 Photographer — Beaton 36 Ooh companion 37 Minneapolis exurb 39 Fountain in Rome 40 Beat a retreat 42 Aussie minerals 44 Lissome 45 Pilot light 47 “Melrose Place” star

49 Writer — Tolstoy 50 Pancake go-with 51 Kind of bun (2 wds.) 53 Zoo denizen 56 Drive away 57 Broke the rules 61 Doses the dog 65 Register 66 Claims 69 Thick fog 70 In that case (2 wds.) 71 Scope 72 Ceramic piece 73 Look curiously 74 Matrix 75 Multitude

DOWN 1 Dollop 2 Casino implement 3 Farm unit 4 Lighthouse light 5 After taxes 6 Fifi’s boyfriend 7 German industrial region 8 Buenos — 9 Andes ruminant 10 Worn-out cars 11 Saddle part 12 Perimeter

13 Alfalfa or oats 21 Conceal 23 No. cruncher 25 Chic beach resort 26 Marsh bird 28 Large fishhooks 29 Market upswing 30 “That’s not what — —!” 31 Show frustration 33 Yo-Yo Ma plays it 34 Leafy vines 35 Luxury cars 38 Low voices 41 PC work-around, maybe 43 Murderer of Osiris 46 DeMille genre 48 Trash hauler 52 They’re often ruled 54 Maureen of the screen 55 On no occasion 57 Object on radar 58 Widespread 59 Latin I verb 60 Precious 62 Churn up 63 Backless slipper 64 Gush forth 67 Onetime electronics co. 68 Not outgoing

PEO

PLE

When 2005 Miss In-ternational Pre-cious Lara Quiga-man stepped into

the world of motherhood, it turned her life upside down.

Straight out of the hospital, she was, for a brief moment, over-whelmed with the new role she was to take in life, along with all the responsibilities that go with caring for her son, Noah Lamar.

So as Lara experienced a new kind of inexplicable joy, new fears were unveiled before her as well.

Aside from the daily stress of caring for her son and thinking of his future, Lara also worries about her own body. Lara, for one, felt bad about the way she looked soon after giving birth. She was not too happy with what she saw in the mirror. At times, she felt sad and frustrated even with constant

assurances from her husband, Marco Alcaraz, that she was as beautiful as ever.

Those self-doubts eventually faded away, however, as Lara re-gained her good figure, coupled with growing confidence in han-dling her role as mother. She also discovered a breakthrough prod-uct that helped address her stretch marks, a common skin problem in women who have just given birth.

This ‘precious little secret’ is Bio-Oil, a combination of essen-tial plant extracts, vitamins, and the innovative ingredient, Pur-Cellin Oil, that improves the ap-pearance of scars, stretch marks, blemishes, and other skin marks. Bio-Oil is also effective against dehydrated and ageing skin and is proven safe for pregnant wom-en (used after the first trimester) for over 20 years.

PreCious little seCret

JUan KaRLOS LabaJOThe talented young singer from The Queen City of the South has just dropped his highly anticipated debut album. Finally, the fans of The Voice Kids finalist will be able to enjoy his music, the very reason why they reli-giously follow the teenager on social media. The record is rather long over-due, nevertheless it’s worth the wait since JK is just one of the few talents that really deserve to have an album.

MaRiEL RODRigUEZIt can be recalled that she was devas-tated when she experienced miscar-riage early this year. This time, she’s expecting twins or even a triplet. Ob-viously Robin Padilla couldn’t con-tain his excitement when he shared an Instagram post to announce that his wife is pregnant again. It’s fun to share good news.

PabEbE giRLSYou know them, of course. The duo also known as ang babaeng utal at ang babaeng walang kilay that ignited intellectual and adult discussions on social media is invading television, too. They now get their chance to be real TV stars after TV 5 cast them in an episode of LolaBasyang.Com fittingly playing wicked stepsisters to Eula Ca-ballero. What’s next for them? Maybe “wala kayong paki-alam” but it’s not everyday that ordinary folks are given such public attention. They can enjoy it while it lasts though.

PinOy big bROthERPerhaps the introduction of new housemates would salvage the dwindling interest of the public in the reality show that is billed “te-leserye ng totoong buhay.” Truth be told, the Kapamilya network needs to realize that it’s time to let go of PBB. People are growing tired of this lazy show that lacks dexterity. Give televiewers a better program, a show that will not just entertain them but will also treat them with intellectual respect.

gERaLD anDERSOnThe Nathaniel star is doing fine now after an awful accident that dislocated his shoulder. In what seemed to be an awkward moment, his ex-girlfriends Maja Salvadorand Kim Chiu shared the camera to report the accident. And people noticed that both girls were neither bothered nor sorry. Gerald may not care, but that’s a big “ouch.”

thE RiChMan’SDaUghtERThe provocative primetime is los-ing steam. After becoming the talk of the town solely for the fact that it deals on an issue long held as ta-boo on local TV, the show’s ratings is sliding down according to AGB Nielsen. Well, the management won’t care any longer. The show will be off the air on Monday.

... aREtaLKingabOUt

... aRE

taLKingabOUt

nOt

Precious Lara Quigaman and son Noah

Juan Karlos Labajo

Mariel Rodriguez

The Pabebe Girls

PBB 737 new

housemate Richard

Juan

Rich Man’s Daughter’s

Glaiza nd Rhian

Gerald Anderson

SHOWBITZ C7i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m


In this year’s Fantastic Four, pioneering filmmakers director Josh Trank and scribe/producer Simon

Kinberg contemporize the re-imagining of Marvel’s orig-inal and longest-running su-perhero team that centers on four young outsiders who tele-port to an alternate and dan-gerous universe, which alters their physical form in shock-ing ways. Set in contemporary New York, this retelling focus-es on the Four before they be-come a team – when they were four young idealistic adven-turers who make a headstrong leap into the unknown.

The new Fantastic Four stars Miles Teller as Reed Richards, Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm, Kate Mara as Sue Storm, and Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm. The film also stars Toby Kebbellas Victor von Doom, a brilliant but rebellious computer pro-grammer and Baxter Institute student; Reg E. Cathey as Dr. Franklin Storm, Johnny and Sue’s father; and Tim Blake Nelson as an unscrupulous

Baxter Institute board member.Director Trank is part of a

generation that grew up with comic books and comic book movie adaptations that pos-sessed an intriguingly dark tone, which would also inspire his concept for a new Fantastic Four. He entered the project with one key mandate: “It starts with the movie I really want to see as a fan,” he says. First, he wanted to show the origins of the Four in their younger years before they become a team. Equally import-ant, he strove to make its tone realistic, emotional and relatable.

Trank placed the story and the characters in a world marked by diversity, reflecting our world today. The story takes place before the team becomes cele-brated around the world. They don’t wear spandex uniforms, and they have yet to adopt their familiar monikers of Mister Fan-tastic, Invisible Woman, The Hu-man Torch and The Thing.

Fantastic Four is showing nationwide from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by War-ner Bros.

‘FantastiC Four’ in Cinemas

Most people, women in particular, would raise hell when they see memes of them-

selves in the social media websites.Not, Senator Nancy Binay who

simply laughed it off and found them more amusing than irritating.

Again, her bashers in Face-book, Twitter, and Instagram had a grand time posting memes of her in the blue terno she wore during President Benigno Aqui-no III’s recent State of the Nation Address (SONA).

“I’m so flattered na ginagawan nila ko ng meme. Mag-research pa sila ng close sa outfit ko. For me, yung pag-aksayahan ka ng one minute of their time makes me wonder, sino ba ko para pagak-sayahan nila ng oras?” Binay said.

She said her favorite among the memes were the ones depict-ing her as the “X-Men” character “Mystique” and “Maleficent.”She said she would even consid-er using the memes as her profile picture on her social media ac-counts. “Siguro, pwede,” she said.

According to Binay, she did not feel alluded to when the President talked about political dynasties in his two-hour speech.

Binay is a daughter of Vice Pres-ident Jejomar Binay and former Makati Mayor Elenita Binay. Her two siblings are also elected offi-cials -- Makati Rep. Abigail Binayand Makati Mayor Junjun Binay.

“For as long as it’s a clean and honest election, why prevent people from running?” the senator said.

She said people should watch out for family members appoint-ed -- not elected -- to various government offices.

She also said she did not feel bad that the President didn’t thank her father.

“We respect the decision of the President not to include his name. Kung baga, prerogative niya yunnot to include it,” she said.

HHHHH

YasMIen KurdIcheats on husband

Yagit stars Paolo Contis, James Blanco, and Yasmien Kurdi are the featured performers in this Saturday’s episode of Karelasyon.

Paolo plays Mark, a husband and father who becomes too absorbed in his business in order to provide a better future for his family. Unfor-tunately, his being workaholic leaves his wife Belen (Yasmien) wanting for his attention and affection.

Then comes Mark’s brother Niño (James) whose arrival seems to be helpful at first. Little did they know that Niño’s closeness to Belen would eventually lead to problems between Mark and his wife.

Niño and Belen let themselves be consumed by temptation caus-ing a rift not only between the married couple but also between Mark and his brother.

Carla Abellana is the narrator in Karelasyon every Saturday, 2:30 p.m. after Eat Bulaga on GMA-7.

HHHHH

MYth or fact ¼ august Is ghost MonthMost of the superstitions handed

down from one generation to an-other are from the Chinese who had lived in the country. Among these superstitious beliefs is that August is a “Ghost Month.”

A Chinese astrologer talks about the precautions people must take to maintain a successful business on this month when bad evil and ghosts supposedly roam the earth?

Watch GMA News TV lifestyle show Gandang Ricky Reyes Todo Na Toh (GRR TNT) this Saturday at 9 o’clock in the morning.

The Philippines’ Karen Carpen-ter voice-alike Claire dela Fuenteis gifted with enviable musical talent and unbelievable business acumen. Ricky Reyes engages the intelligent lady in a one-on-one conversation in the show.

Stay tuned to find out the many progressive business establish-ments the enterprising Claire owns and manages.

GRR TNT visits also the one-stop-shop of an entrepre-neur-like-no-other named Eva who relates how her former carinderia turned into a big store with the motto – “name it we have it.”

When you wake up to a “bad hair day” then worry no more. Visit any branch of Gandang Ricky Reyes Salons and say good-bye to dull, dry and unruly hair via a treatment called “Rego-ld.” You will be amazed at the end result – shiny, bouncy and heathy-looking crowning glory.

GRR TNT is produced by ScriptoVision.

MeMes aMuse senator nancY bInaY

Senator Nancy Binay in her blue terno during the

SONA 2015

Yasmien Kurdi and Paolo Contis in Karelasyon

Kurdi and James Blanco

The Thing

Miles Teller

Kate Mara and Michael B. Jordan

from c8

C8 ISAH V. REDE D I T O R

Remember the time when Richard Gomez and Dawn Zulueta were a hot love team? The two were the stellar attractions in several mov-ies, most popular of those was Hi-hintayin Kita Sa Langit in 1991.

The two became tabloid fodder as well immediately after the film was released. It seems they weren’t meant to be. Richard found the love of his life and married Lucy Torres, a commercial model now a congress-man from Ormoc City, and Dawn went on to marry Anton Lagdameoof Davao, now also a congressman of the his home province.

Yet, the two have remained very good friends, on and off camera. They have starred together in a couple of drama series on ABS-CBN, and now they are starring in The Love Affair, a movie produced by Star Cinema.

No, it’s no longer the movie that fans of the two are waiting to see. In the movie, a third wheel comes in between the couple and it’s go-ing to break their relationship.

Bea Alonzo plays the woman in between.

The Love Affair is a story of three different individuals. Love binds them together. Patricia (Zulueta) is a wife seeking for forgiveness after committing the biggest mis-take of her life. Vince (Gomez), a man who yearns to be the best husband and provider he could be, and is bound to make the most crucial decision in his life. And Adie (Alonzo) is an emotionally broken woman searching for hap-piness after a failed relationship.

The lives of Patricia, Vince,

and Adie will all intersect at the crossroads of their lives as cir-cumstances force them to face the ultimate source of their pain.

The Love Affair marks the re-union of Dawn and Richard. It is also the first time the two will be with Bea Alonzo in a movie.

The love team of Dawn and Richard is one of the most cele-brated and enduring tandems in the history of the industry. Their fans cut across different genera-tions, from 90s to a younger fan

base. The success of their recent projects, like Walang Hanggan and the box-office smash hit She’s Dat-ing The Gangster is proof that the tandem has still a big fan base.

Bea on the other hand, is both a movie and a box-office queen regarded by millions of Filipinos as the perennial heroine. If you’ve seen One More Chance (2007) and The Mistress (2012) among many, you’d know why she is called that. The Love Affair is Bea’s first full-length movie since she appeared

in the commercially successful and critically acclaimed films Four Sisters And A Wedding and She’s The One in 2013.

Find out how a love affair could affect the lives of three people. In the trailer, the movie asks, does getting hurt gives a person the right to hurt others back?

The Love Affair explores how much Patricia, Vince, and Adie are willing to give or give-up, to attain happiness, forgiveness, and healing. Whose love will prevail in The Love Affair, which opens in cinemas nationwide on Aug. 12.


Dawn anD RichaRD in ‘The Love affaiR’

ISAH V. RED

SHOWBITZ

Richard Gomez and Dawn Zulueta are back, but only in a movie for Star Cinema. They play

a beleaguered couple thrown

into the vortex of marital problems

that need to be addressed to by

most couples

➜ continued on c7

Richard Gomez and Dawn Zulueta are back as a couple in The Love Affair

Richard finds himself involved with Bea Alonzo after learning his wife cheated on him

Richard Gomez still a bankable leading man

Dawn Zulueta pretty as ever as a woman who commits a grave mistake in the movie

Bea Alonzo finds comfort in a married man after she breaks up with her boyfriend

i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m