Saturday, May 25, 2013 H H 12 sections / Vol. 28 / No. 166 P18 Radyo Inquirer DZIQ 990AMTwitter: @dzIQ990

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WHAT’S INSIDE

PHOTOGENIC A colorful kite flutters over Marlboro Hill in this breathtaking land and sea scape in Batanes province, a favorite destination of photographers and nature lovers. According to American photographer andenvironmentalist Ansel Adams: You don’t make a photograph with just a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.

ACTIVISTS in hazmat (hazardous material) suits from the environmentalist group Greenpeaceuproot genetically engineered Bt eggplant, locally known as ‘‘talong,” from a field trial site in BayLaguna province, in this 2011 photo. ARNOLD ALMACEN

LIFESTYLEYou can’t sink in the Dead Sea / D5

NEWS

Dick tellsComelec: Don’tremove PCOS / A2

METRO

DOH batsfor ‘SEX’ in callcenters / A19

ENTERTAINMENTStars’ ‘shameful’ secrets revealed / F3

NEWS

BongRevilla backsdown / A2

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14 party-lists win seatsOFW, mutineers’ groups are House first-timers

By Philip C. Tubeza

A CONTROVERSIAL group representing overseasFilipino workers (OFW) and another formed byformer military mutineers yesterday made it to thefirst batch of winners of the party-list election.

In a two-page resolution, theCommission on Elections (Com-elec) proclaimed OFW FamilyClub Inc. (OFW), whose firstnominee is former AmbassadorRoy V. Señeres, and the Magda-lo Para sa Pilipino (Magdalo),headed by Sen. Antonio Tril-lanes IV, winners of the May 13party-list election along with 12other groups.

The Comelec said the 14groups were guaranteed oneseat each in the House of Repre-sentatives, as each of them gar-nered at least 2 percent of allthe votes cast in the party-listelection.

Besides OFW and Magdalo,

the other groups winners pro-claimed were Buhay HayaangYumabong (Buhay), Advocacyfor Teacher EmpowermentThrough Action Cooperationand Harmony Toward Educa-tional Reforms (A-Teacher),Bayan Muna, 1st Consumers Al-liance for Rural Energy (1-Care),Akbayan Citizens’ Action Party(Akbayan), Ako Bicol PoliticalParty (AKB), Abono Party-List(Abono), Gabriela, Cooperative

experts called attention to thesupposed returns pattern onWednesday, though they madeclear they were not suggesting amanipulation of the May 13vote, which the administrationTeam PNoy dominated, win-ning nine of the 12 Senate seatsat stake.

Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco,secretary general andspokesperson for UNA, yester-day said that even before the

By Christian V. Esguerra

INSTEAD of telling the opposi-tion to concede defeat in thesenatorial election, the admin-istration should ask the Com-mission on Elections (Comelec)to investigate the supposed“60-30-10” pattern in the re-turns so the public will knowwhat really happened, the Unit-ed Nationalist Alliance (UNA)said yesterday.

Information technology (IT)

UNA wants explanationof ‘60-30-10’ pattern

14 PARTY-LISTS/ A6

UNA WANTS / A6

Of 6 incumbents, Cayetano,Trillanes, Pimentel are the

biggest gainers / A6

In a 26-page decision datedMay 17 but released only yes-terday, the appellate courtgranted the petition sought byGreenpeace and other groupsagainst the planting of Bt (Bacil-lus thuringiensis) talong (egg-plant). Bt is a soil bacterium in-serted into crops to develop in-secticidal properties.

The trials were being jointlyconducted by the University of

the Philippines in Los Bañosand various government andprivate agencies.

At the time of the filing ofthe suit, field testing had al-ready been done in Pangasi-nan, Laguna and CamarinesSur provinces while otherswere still being conducted inKabacan, North Cotabatoprovince.

Kin of slainfishermanunaware ofPH apologyBy Nancy C. Carvajal

PINGTUNG, Taiwan—The cap-tain of a Taiwanese fishing boatwhose father was shot andkilled by the Philippine CoastGuard in disputed watersclaimed yesterday he and hismen were fired upon withoutprovocation, and his family ac-cused the Filipinos of murder.

Denying that his boat had en-croached on Philippine waters,Hung Yue-chien, 39, insisted ata press conference here that theMay 9 incident occurred in a“public fishing area.”

In Manila, Justice SecretaryLeila de Lima said National Bu-reau of Investigation (NBI)agents assigned to go to Taiwanto help in the investigation saidthe group was ready to “leaveanytime” as soon as arrange-

COURT/ A15

By DJ Yap and Jerome Aning

GREENPEACE SoutheastAsia (Philippines) yesterdaywelcomed a ruling issued bythe Court of Appeals (CA) topermanently put a stop tothe field trials of geneticallymodified eggplant, whichthe environmentalist groupbelieves is harmful to hu-mans and the environment.

Court of Appeals stops field trialsof genetically modified eggplantKIN OF/ A15

GRAPEVINE, TEXAS—The BoyScouts of America scores for gayrights.

The largest youth organiza-tion in the United States votedon Thursday to lift a century-old ban on openly gay scouts inwhat is considered a major vic-tory for gay rights activists.

But the decision means a seaof change for an organizationthat depends heavily on faith-based groups.

More than 60 percent of thegroup’s National Council, com-prised of some 1,400 delegates,

voted in favor of ending theban, effective Jan. 1, 2014, thegroup said in a statement. Aprohibition on openly gay adultleaders remains in place.

The decision followed weeksof intense lobbying by gayrights activists and members ofconservative organizations,many of them church groupsthat have traditionally formedthe backbone of one of the na-tion’s largest youth organiza-tions.

“I’m a happy camper,” saidMike Harrison, 71, a former

Boy Scouts now open to gay scouts

BOY SCOUTS/ A15

chair of California’s OrangeCounty Boy Scout Council whovoted to end the ban. “The pro-cess was a very civil debate ...There wasn’t any uncivilizedbehavior. People stated theircase, passionately and frommany different angles.”

He said that by Thursday ithad become clear that therewas a generation change in theorganization and that “theyounger generation of scoutingjust don’t see it the way the oldguard did.”

Here’s whycockroaches

won’t go away

HERE’S / A14

NEW YORK—People have beengetting rid of cockroaches fordecades by setting out bait mixedwith poison. But in the late 1980s,in an apartment test kitchen inFlorida, something went verywrong.

A killer product stopped work-ing. Cockroach populations therekept rising. Mystified researcherstested and discarded theory aftertheory until they finally hit on theexplanation: In a remarkably rapid

SATURDAY, MAY 25, 2013 A15

PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

NEWS

lifting the ban.But the Boy Scouts’ top leader-

ship had endorsed the change andencouraged delegates to supportit. BSA president Wayne Perry saidin a webcast: “It was never our in-tent to prevent young people frombeing part of this organization.”

Zach Wahls, an Eagle Scoutraised by two lesbians, said thetime has come for change.

“There is nothing Scout-likeabout exclusion of other people,and there is nothing Scout-likeabout putting your own religiousbeliefs before someone else’s,”Wahls, founder of Scouts forEquality, told a news conferenceon Wednesday.

Battle of petitionsGay rights advocates gathered

petitions with more than 1.8 mil-lion signatures in support of end-ing the ban while opponents col-lected about 250,000 signaturesurging delegates to vote down thechange.

Intel Corp., one of the largestcorporate sponsors of the BoyScouts, announced last Septem-ber that it would stop supportingtroops that continue to ban gayscouts. Intel donated about$700,000 in 2009, according tothe American Independent maga-zine.

That announcement followedpressure from gay groups wholaunched a nationwide campaignon Change.org, urging Intel towithdraw its support. United Par-cel Service Inc., another majorsponsor, followed suit in Novem-ber, as did Merck & Co., accordingto the Gay and Lesbian AllianceAgainst Defamation. Reuters

policy to research attitudes to-ward admitting gays.

Faith-based groupsAbout 70 percent of the group’s

100,000 Boy Scout units are char-tered by faith-based organiza-tions, according to Boy Scoutsmembership data. Some 22 per-cent of the units nationwide arechartered by civic organizations,and 7 percent are chartered by ed-ucational groups.

One of the major turning pointsin the debate came earlier thisyear when the Mormonchurch—the largest sponsor ofscouting troops nationwide—ex-pressed support for ending theban. The Mormon church chartersnearly 38,000 scout troops repre-senting nearly a quarter millionscouts.

The next largest faith-basedsponsor is the United MethodistChurch, which charters about11,000 scout troops representingabout 363,000 scouts. They, too,issued a statement supporting anend to the ban. The CatholicChurch, which sponsors about8,400 troops, has taken no officialposition on the controversy.

While national polls show agrowing acceptance of gay rights,an online survey of about 200,000BSA members, parents and lead-ers indicated strong support formaintaining the ban, by a marginof almost 2-1.

‘They’re not listening’“The Boy Scouts are not listen-

ing to us,” said John Stemberger,an Orlando lawyer, Eagle Scout,former scoutmaster and founderof an organization that opposes

The Boy Scouts’ long-standingban on gay scouts had become apolarizing issue at the center ofthe debate on gay rights in theUnited States, where gay sol-diers may now serve openly inthe military and where gay cou-ples can wed in a number ofstates.

Emotionally chargedFor months, the Boy Scouts

have been caught between twosides in an emotionally chargeddebate that has seen both sup-porters and opponents of liftingthe ban threatening to withdrawsupport.

The Boy Scouts have facedheavy pressure on one side fromgay rights supporters and some ofthe major corporate sponsors whoprovide much of the group’s annu-al funding, and on the other by avariety of major national churchgroups, who sponsor and supportthe large majority of troops na-tionwide.

“I just resigned from my troop,”said Chris Collier, 41, a formertroop leader in Alabama andFlorida who said he would sendhis Eagle Scout award back to theorganization’s national office.

“My grandfather earned his ea-gle award in 1938. I earned minein 1990. I was hoping my soncould earn his when he grew up.I’m sad, but this is their cross tobear. I’m no longer part of the or-ganization. I’ll move in a differentdirection.”

Thursday’s vote came aboutthree months after the organiza-tion’s leadership delayed a deci-sion on changing its membership

From page A1

Boy Scouts now open to gay scouts

Court of Appeals stops field ...The respondents in the case were: the en-

vironment department’s EnvironmentalManagement Bureau; the agriculture de-partment’s Bureau of Plant Industry and Fer-tilizer and Pesticide Authority; the Universi-ty of the Philippines Los Baños FoundationInc.; the UP Mindanao Foundation Inc.; andthe International Service for the Acquisitionof Agri-biotech Applications-Southeast AsiaCenter.

Protect, preserveThe court directed the respondents to

“protect, preserve, rehabilitate and restorethe environment in accordance with theforegoing judgment of the court.”

“It is clear that there is no full scientificcertainty yet as to the effects of the Bt ta-long field trials on the environment and thehealth of the people,” said the appellatecourt’s Special 13th Division, speakingthrough Associate Justice Isaias P. Dicdican.

“Consequently, the field trials of Bt talongcould not be declared by this Court as safe forhuman health and our ecology, with full scien-tific certainty, being an alteration of an other-wise natural state of affairs in our ecology.”

Appellate Associate Justices Myra V. Gar-cia-Fernandez and Nina G. Antonio-Valen-zuela concurred in the decision.

The court said even the local and foreignexperts presented by proponents of the pur-portedly pest-resistant eggplants all agreedthat aside from the fact that there are nolaws regulating the field testing of geneti-cally modified plants, their safety cannotfully be guaranteed.

“We commend the Court of Appeals forliving up to its constitutionally mandatedrole as protector of constitutional rights,”said Daniel Ocampo, Greenpeace SoutheastAsia’s sustainable agriculture campaigner.

“This landmark decision reflects thatthere are indeed flaws and lapses in the cur-rent regulatory process for geneticallymodified organisms (GMOs) such as Bteggplant which exposes our environmentand health to unknown long-term conse-quences and does not establish their safetyin any way,” he said in a statement.

Damages to man, natureIn its petition, Greenpeace claimed the Bt

eggplants could endanger consumers as itwas found to cause damages to internal or-gans. With its built-in insect-resistancegene, Bt eggplants can also create aggres-sive weeds that may wreak havoc to localagriculture and natural habitats.

The group was joined by former senatorOrlando Mercado, Puerto Princesa CityMayor Edward Hagedorn, Bayan Muna Rep.Teddy Casiño, lawyers Harry Roque andMaria de la Paz, singer Noel Cabangon andvarious farmers and agricultural scientistsunder the Magsasaka and Siyentipiko saPagpapaunlad ng Agrikultura (Masipag).

The groups brought the suit on April 26last year before the Supreme Court underits new environmental protection proce-dures. The writ of kalikasan is a legal reme-dy under the new rules of procedure for en-vironmental cases.

The Supreme Court issued the writ of ka-likasan on May 2, 2012, directing the re-spondents to answer the petition.

The petitioners were represented in thesuit by lawyers from the Roque and Bu-tuyan Law Offices.

Greenpeace lauded the CA for ruling in fa-

vor of the petitioners based on compellinggrounds, including the “irreversibility” of re-leasing GMOs into the environment evenduring field trials, and the fact that currentfield-testing protocols “look at efficacy andagricultural performance and not safety forhuman consumption or environment.”

Lawyer Zelda DT Soriano, GreenpeaceSoutheast Asia’s regional political advisor,said the respondents were unable to showthat the benefits of conducting the field tri-als outweighed the risks.

“The respondents could not prove wrongthe fact that Bt talong field testing is an envi-ronmental case where scientific evidence as tothe health, environmental and socioeconomicsafety is insufficient, inconclusive or uncertainand preliminary evaluation indicates thatthere are reasonable grounds for concern, thatthere are potentially dangerous effects on theenvironment and human health,” she said.

Ocampo said the CA decision would havea resounding impact on the future of agri-culture in the Philippines and on how foodproduction was being done in our country.

He added that the court’s decision was anaffirmation of what Greenpeace has beensaying for years about the flaws in GMOregulations in the country.

Constitutional violations“These flaws in the government regula-

tions have led to the sad state we are in—62GMOS are imported and fed to Filipinoswithout their knowledge and consent.While the environment and our farmers areexposed to eight kinds of GMOs that are al-lowed for propagation without knowingtheir long-term impacts,” Ocampo said.

The petition argued that the field trialsviolated the constitutional right of the peo-ple to a balanced and healthful ecology be-cause of the danger of contamination thetechnology posed to indigenous genetic re-sources of the country.

The petitioners cited results of the 90-day laboratory tests conducted by propo-nents of genetically modified organisms onmice fed with the new Bt eggplant, whichshowed signs of toxicity in the liver and kid-neys of the test subjects.

In 2002, the Bureau of Plant Industry be-gan approving GMOs for importation asfood, feed and processing as well as forpropagation. The proposals for GMO ap-provals used studies conducted by the GMOproponents themselves, instead of indepen-dent risk assessments.

Greenpeace claimed GMOs have neverbeen proven safe, which is why they are high-ly regulated and even banned in many coun-tries and regions. It urged government regu-lators to instead focus on sustainable agricul-ture instead of loosely allowing the conductof field trials and commercialization of suchcrops for eventual human consumption.

It would be recalled that in December2010, the Davao City government uprootedBt eggplant from the field where they werebeing tested by the UP Mindanao Foundation.

Experts presented by the respondents, in-cluding some of the country’s top scientists atthe University of the Philippines in Los Baños,argued that the Bt talong technology is safeand does not cause harm to the environment.

However, on questioning by the court,they admitted that the overall safety of theBt talong remains to be unknown. Thecourt also found that other than adminis-trative issuances, there is no law that regu-lates field testing of GMOs in the country.

With a report by Jerome Aning

A GREENPEACE activist places genetically engineered Bt eggplants uprooted from a fieldtrial site in Laguna into a hazardous material (hazmat) container to prevent contamination ofneighboring fields and the environment. This photo was taken in 2011. ARNOLD ALMACEN

From page A1

Kin of slain fisherman ...ments had been finalized throughthe Manila Economic and CulturalOffice (Meco).

Meco is the office in charge ofhandling relations between Manilaand Taipei, which have no diplo-matic ties.

Meco representative AntonioBasilio told the INQUIRER by phonethat it was just a matter of time be-fore the NBI team leaves for Taiwan.

“There are technical details—technical but important de-tails—that are still being sortedout,” Basilio said.

8-man NBI teamThe eight-member NBI team is

expected to leave this weekend,said an NBI source, who asked notto be identified because of a gag or-der issued by the Department ofJustice.

Hung, the captain of the GuangTa Shin 28, denied the Taiwaneseboat had tried to ram into thePhilippine vessel belonging to theBureau of Fisheries and AquaticResources anti-illegal fishingsurveillance group. He said theywere fired upon by the Filipinoswithout provocation.

Hung, speaking in Mandarin,which was translated into Englishby an official of the Taiwan Min-istry of Foreign Affairs, is the sonof the slain fisherman. He spokeat a news conference attended byTaiwanese reporters in the fami-ly’s house on Liouciou island inPingtung county.

Hung said he was not aware thatthe Philippine government had is-

sued an apology and that this wasrejected by Taipei.

“No, I did not know about theapology,” Hung said. He also said hedid not know that some Filipinoshad been the target of “attacks” byTaiwanese “gangsters” as a result ofthe shooting incident.

On autopilotHung said he and his men did not

often fish in the area where theshooting occurred and insisted itwas a public fishing zone.

“We were traveling slowly atnorth territorial waters about 19degrees and in the east about 129[degrees] when we heard gun-shots,” Hung said. He said thatbefore he ran and hid in theboat’s cabin, “I put the boat onautopilot.”

He said that aside from his father,his crew included another Tai-wanese and an Indonesian.

But the other crew memberswere not present during the pressconference.

Compensation demandHung said his father was in the

engine room when the gunfirestarted and “was hit when helooked out.”

Hung’s sister, Hung Tzu-chien,who was also at the news confer-ence, said her family was not angrywith the Filipino people but wouldask for compensation. She said thedeath of her father was “murder.”

The daughter pressed for the re-lease of a video of the incident sup-posedly taken by the PhilippineCoast Guard (PCG). She also saidher father had a previous Filipino

employee whom they described as a“good person.”

The sister insisted that the Philip-pine government should call for an“international” press conferenceand apologize for the death of herfather.

She also said her family wouldnot allow an NBI team of investiga-tors to conduct a “reautopsy” of herfather’s remains.

Meco clearanceAn NBI source said the eight-man

team that will conduct its ownprobe of what happened would in-clude NBI–Foreign Liaison Officehead agent Daniel Deganzo, teamleader James Castro, medico-legalofficer Dr. Ruperto Sombilon, ballis-tics expert Hiyasmin Abarrioentos,agent Eduardo Ramos and artistLigaya Banawan.

The group has been divided intofour teams. “Each team has a specif-ic task,” the source said.

The source did not say whetherthe Taiwanese request for a copy ofthe video of the supposed en-counter between PCG and the Tai-wanese boat would be met.

De Lima said the NBI probe teamwas only waiting for clearance fromMeco to leave for Taiwan. “I have astanding clearance for the NBI teamto leave anytime once all the need-ed arrangements have been madethrough Meco,” she said.

De Lima said Manila was stand-ing by its position that the incidenthappened in Philippine waters andthis would be included in the finalNBI report. With reports fromJerome Aning, Norman Bordado-ra and Erika Sauler

From page A1

GRIEVINGDAUGHTER HungTzu-chien, daughterof slain Taiwanesefisher Hung Shih-chien, says her familywas not angry withthe Filipino peoplebut would ask forcompensation. Shesaid the death of herfather was“murder.” Herbrother, Hung Yue-chien, skipper of theill-fated boat, saysthe family is unawareof the Philippinegovernment’sapology to the family.

NANCY CARVAJAL

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Radyo Inquirer DZIQ 990AMTwitter: @dzIQ990

www.inquirer.netTwitter: @inquirerdotnetMobile Alert: Text INQ ON BREAKING to 4467Sunday, May 26, 2013 H H 12 sections / Vol. 28 / No. 167 P20

WHAT’S INSIDE

BREAKING THE RECORD Thousands of youths release sky lanterns—15,185 of them—within 10 minutes at the Universityof the Philippines Visayas campus in Miag-ao in Iloilo City to call for world peace through inner peace. This breaks theGuinness World Record of 12,749 sky lanterns released in a single event, according to organizers. (Story on Page A8)

Mt. Pulag revisited: Quo vadis?

READ-ALONG Ambassadors read their oath. They are (from left)2007 Bb. Pilipinas Anna Theresa Licaros, actress Jasmine Curtis-Smith,Miss Earth official Cathy Untalan, broadcasters Karen Davila and KimAtienza, INQUIRER chair Marixi Prieto and singer Nikki Gil. ARNOLD ALMACEN

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SPORTS •Pacers trip Heat, gain homecourtadvantage LIFESTYLE •FF Cruz: A life welllived •Katrina Razon–out of the shadow of herbillionaire father ENTERTAINMENT •Juday:Violence against women unacceptable

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Taiwan has new termsDeparture of NBI probers delayed anewBy Nancy C. Carvajal

TAIPEI—The govern-ment of Taiwan on Sat-urday imposed newconditions that wouldfurther delay the Philip-pines’ investigation ofthe fatal shooting of aTaiwanese fishermanby Filipino coast guardsthree weeks ago.

Amadeo R. Perez, chair of theManila Economic and CulturalOffice (Meco), the Philippines’de facto embassy in Taiwan,said previous problems hadbeen solved and eight agents ofthe National Bureau of Investi-gation had been issued visas bythe Taipei Economic and Cul-tural Office (Teco) in Manila.

“But this morning, we re-ceived new conditions, whichwe forwarded to the Depart-ment of Justice (DOJ) for deci-sion,” Perez told the INQUIRER byphone.

By Myk MiguelContributor

(Editor’s Note: Myk Miguel, amember of Zeta MountaineeringGroup of the Zeta Phi Sigma fra-ternity, first conquered Mount Pu-lag in 1978. A professional pho-tographer, he takes shots whilediscovering the beauty of thecountry’s highest peaks on foot.)

THERE ain’t no mountain highenough for these “nature trip-pers,” who have scaled theheights of the country’s highestpeaks.

But in all its conquests, thetrekkers of Zeta Mountaineer-ing Group of Zeta Phi Sigmafraternity have found a favoritein Mount Pulag—Luzon’s high-est summit.

So revisit the majestic peakthe mountaineers did when thefraternity recently celebratedits 39th year. A member whowas away for 30 years flew allthe way from New York to jointhe reunion climb, along withthis author, senior citizen card-bearing members and youthfulrecruits.

MT. PULAG/ A20

Triangle of light: Mercury,Jupiter, Venus align todayBy DJ Yap

IN A RARE treat for stargazers,the planets Jupiter, Mercuryand Venus will appear close to-gether across the skies today,the astronomy division of theweather bureau said.

Typically, Venus, the second-closest planet to the sun, and

Jupiter, which orbits beyondMars, are tens of millions ofmiles apart. But they have beencycling together while movingever closer to each other thismonth, joined by the inner-most planet, Mercury.

The celestial show peaks to-day, when the trio will appearTAIWAN’S/ A19

TRIANGLE/ A19

Church revenge: Buhaysays Catholic vote was keyBy Christian V. Esguerraand Philip C. Tubeza

A GROUP of dejected Catholicsfiled out of the plenary hall ofthe House of Representativesone early morning last Decem-ber. The legislators had justpassed the controversial repro-ductive health (RH) bill on sec-ond reading, the beginning ofthe end for the faithful followersof the Catholic Church, whofought the proposal for 10 years.

The bill would eventually

clear both houses of Congressand would be signed into lawby President Aquino four daysbefore Christmas.

But Church leaders and theirfollowers vowed revenge: Thelegislators who voted for thebill and who would run for re-election or other offices in theMay midterm elections wouldfall at the polls.

The supporters of the billscoffed at the threat. There wasno such thing as a “Catholic

CHURCH/ A13

Read-Along at 6 pickscelebs as ambassadorsBy the Inquirer Read-Along Team

THE INQUIRER Read-Alongyesterday marked its sixth yearby training master storytellersand honoring celebrity readersin a daylong affair that gatheredchildren ages 7 to 12 at the IN-QUIRER office in Makati City.

The celebration’s main eventwas twofold: coaching the firstbatch of “champions” to be-come Read-Along storytellers

and organizers in their commu-nities; and introducing the pro-gram’s first “ambassadors”—celebrity readers who have re-galed children in the past withtheir engaging storytelling.

The activity started with atraining session on interactivestorytelling facilitated by Read-Along veterans Rich Rodriguezand Posh Develos, followed by areading session featuring

It’s Furlough Fridayfor federal workers

WASHINGTON—More than 100,000federal workers are having a three-dayweekend, but not all of them are enjoy-ing it.

The first day of US government fur-loughs imposed by a budget crunch saw

READ-ALONG / A18

IT’S FURLOUGH / A18

SUNDAY, MAY 26, 2013 A19

PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

NEWS

Taiwan’s new demands further delay departure of NBI probersHe declined to disclose the

new conditions.“We referred them to the

DOJ. They alone have the au-thority to reveal the new condi-tions,” he said.

According to Perez, the jus-tice department had approvedTaiwan’s request for access to avideo of an encounter betweena Philippine coastal patrol ves-sel and a Taiwanese fishing boatoff Balintang Island in northernPhilippines on May 9.

Taiwanese fisherman HungShih-chen was shot dead by Fil-ipino coast guards in that inci-dent, sparking public anger inTaiwan and new tensions be-tween the two countries.

Taiwan rejected an apologyfrom President Aquino and tookretaliatory measures againstthe Philippines, including freez-ing new jobs in Taiwan for Fil-ipino migrant workers.

Taipei demanded, amongother things, a sincere apologyfrom the Philippine govern-ment, compensation for Hung’sfamily, the arrest and punish-ment of the coast guards in-volved, and a joint investigationof the incident.

CooperationBut as the Philippines’ one-

China policy does not allow ajoint investigation, the twocountries agreed to give eachother’s investigators access toevidence and witnesses in sepa-rate probes aimed at determin-ing the circumstances surround-ing the shooting death of Hung.

The NBI wants to examineHung’s boat, the Guang Ta Hsin28, which Taiwanese investiga-tors said had taken 45 hits, 24of them on the cabin.

The NBI also wants to inter-

From page A1

as a bright triangle of light inthe western sky beginningabout 30 minutes after sunset.

The Philippine Atmospheric,Geophysical and AstronomicalServices Administration (Pagasa)described the celestial phe-nomenon as “a spectacular seriesof conjunctions in the eveningtwilight.”

In its astronomical diary forMay, Pagasa said the three plan-ets would form a tight groupingafter sunset in a celestial showthat would be visible to thenaked eye.

“Jupiter, Mercury and Venuswill make a spectacular series ofconjunctions in the evening twi-light from the middle of themonth and onward,” it said inthe astronomical diary pre-pared by Pagasa officer incharge Vicente Malano.

Triple conjunctions are rela-tively rare, according to the Na-tional Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration. The last onewas in May 2011 and the nextone will not occur until October2015.

“This is especially good be-cause it involves the threebrightest planets in May’s nightsky,” the US space agency saidon its website.

The formation should be visi-ble even in places with brightcity lights, though a clear viewof the western horizon is amust.

Like approaching airplanesAstronomers suggest sky-

watchers let Venus andJupiter be their guide. As thesky darkens, the planets will

be visible to the naked eye.“They really do shine so

brightly that you might mistakethem for one or two approach-ing airplanes with their landinglights turned on,” the Universityof Texas’ StarDate magazinewrote on its website.

On Sunday, Mercury formsthe top of the triangle. By Mon-day, Venus and Jupiter will beside by side, less than 1 degreeapart.

“After that, Venus and Mer-cury will continue to climbhigher into the evening skywhile Jupiter drops toward thesun,” said StarDate.

Pagasa added that Saturnwill be visible in the evening skythroughout the month abovethe east southeastern horizon.

“Viewing through a tele-scope, the ringed planet willshow its disk at 18.83 secondsof an arc in diameter across theequator,” it added.

Titan, Saturn’s largest satel-lite, can also be seen easilythrough any optical instru-ments, Pagasa said.

Titan orbits Saturn once ev-ery 16 days.

Neptune and Uranus will bevisible before dawn during themonth, Pagasa said.

The two planets will be locat-ed “among the backgroundstars of the constellationsPisces, the Fish, and Aquarius,the Water-Bearer.” A modest-sized binocular or a telescopeand star map will be needed inobserving both planets, itadded.

Due to its proximity to the sun,Mars will be difficult to observeduring the month, Pagasa said.

With a report from Reuters

Triangle of light: Mercury,Jupiter, Venus align todayFrom page A1

Taipei welcomes start of fisheries talksTAIPEI—The Ministry of For-eign Affairs (Mofa) on Fridaysaid it welcomed remarks madeby a Philippine official thatManila and Taipei were likely todiscuss a possible fishery agree-ment soon, probably by June orJuly this year.

“We welcome such a positiveresponse by Manila,” Anna Kao,a spokesperson for Mofa, said.

The opening of fishery talks isone of four demands Taiwan is-sued to the Philippines follow-

ing the fatal shooting of a Tai-wanese fisherman, Hung Shih-chen, by Philippine coastguards on May 9.

Launching bilateral fisherytalks would help establish afishery management mecha-nism for overlapping watersand significantly improve thechances of preventing such atragedy from happening again,Kao said.

She did not confirm whetherthe proposed meeting will be

held next month or in July.

Fishery accordAccording to Philippine news

reports, Agriculture SecretaryProceso Alcala said that a tech-nical working group composedof fisheries officials from bothcountries will soon meet to dis-cuss key issues that should betackled for the creation of afisheries agreement.

“The meeting may be heldpossibly by June but perhaps it

would be better by July,” Alcalatold reporters.

One of the key issues to bediscussed, Alcala said, is the de-lineation of territorial waters ofthe Philippines and Taiwan.

Hung was killed by gunfirefrom a Philippine state vessel onMay 9 when his boat strayed in-to overlapping Philippine andTaiwanese waters.

The incident sparked a heat-ed diplomatic row between thetwo countries.

Taipei has also demanded thatManila issue a formal apology,apprehend the perpetrators andcompensate Hung’s family.

Kao made the remarks whenasked to comment on a state-ment reportedly made by Alcalain Manila on Thursday.

Philippine proposalAsked about the date for a

possible meeting, FisheriesAgency Director General JamesSha said the Philippines had

proposed the talks be held assoon as possible, “but no exactdate has been touched so far.”

Related details are being dis-cussed by officials of both coun-tries, Sha added.

President Aquino said earlierlast week that his governmentwas open “to discussing a fish-eries agreement with its neigh-boring countries” after resolvingthe diplomatic row with Taiwantriggered by the shooting. ChinaPost/ANN

view the fishing boat’s crew anddo a new autopsy to determinehow Hung died.

Video access OKdTaiwan requested round-the-

clock protection for its investiga-tors during their stay in Manila,which the Philippine govern-ment immediately approved.

But the DOJ initially rejectedTaiwan’s request for access tothe Philippine Coast Guardvideo of the incident that Jus-tice Secretary Leila de Lima haddescribed as “very revealing.”

Its request for a copy of thevideo denied, Taiwan onWednesday “declined for thetime being” the Philippine re-quest for legal assistance.

The DOJ relented on Fridayand approved the sharing of thevideo with the Taiwanese inves-tigators, which was all that Tecowas waiting for to release thevisas for the members of theNBI’s investigative team.

But the new conditions camedown on Saturday, delaying theNBI team’s departure for Taiwan.

“Unless the new terms areimmediately acted upon, thedeparture of the NBI will againbe delayed,” Perez said.

Calming downPerez reported an improve-

ment in the security situation of

Filipino workers in Taiwan.“The situation has improved

and new new attacks on Filipinoshave been reported,” he said.

“But for their security, we ad-vise Filipino workers here not togo out unless necessary,” headded.

Borcia Talal, a Filipino wom-an married to a Taiwanese wholives in Taichung City, which hasa large concentration of Filipinomigrant workers, said the Tai-wanese there had “calmeddown.”

“Their anger has eased, but

we are still a bit afraid. We hopethis will be resolved soon,” Talalsaid.

The Filipino community hereis planning a “vigil” at St.Christopher Church on Chung-shan North Road for a speedyresolution of the crisis.

TAIWANESE ACTIVIST Chu Mei Fong, who identified herself as a former Taiwanese councilor, demandsa public apology from President Aquino in a protest in front of Malacañang on Saturday. Antiriot police(right photo) push back the Taiwanese protesters. REUTERS

H H

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TAIWANESE investigators use a rubber boat in Manila’s South Harbor to inspect the hull of the Bureau ofFisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) ship involved in the shooting death of a Taiwanese fisherman inthe Balintang Channel earlier this month. The Taiwanese are here while NBI investigators are in Taiwanto make a parallel investigation. RAFFY LERMA

COMMANDER IN CHIEF’SRESPECTS President Aquinopays his last respects to theseven Marine soldiers killed inthe May 25 ambush by AbuSayyaf bandits in Sulu asrelatives of a slain soldiercomfort each other during thewake at the Marines’ barracksin Fort Bonifacio. LYN RILLON

SPORTS

Jones Cup snub:PH five ‘will honeup anywhere’ / A19

NEWS

National ArtistEddie Romerodies; 88 / A17

NATION

Appeals court:No to Subic coalplant ECC / A11

SPORTS

‘Old’ Spurstab NBA Finalsberth / A20

WHAT’S INSIDE

Poll discrepancies foundFlaws bared in initialaudit, says Brillantes

After parallel probes, Taiwanto insist on criminal liability

By Philip C. Tubeza

THE INITIAL findings of the random manual audit(RMA) of the May 13 elections showed “discrepan-cies” in some precincts compared with the comput-er-generated tallies, Commission on Elections(Comelec) Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. said yesterday.

Brillantes said the Comelechad received the reports from167 out of the 234 randomlychosen precincts across thecountry but could not immedi-ately state the extent of theproblem.

“There were discrepancies,”Brillantes said in an interview,adding that the questionableresults were being segregated

for review.He said the discrepancies

may have been due to the shad-ing of the ballots. The Comelechas decided to have the precinct

By Nancy C. Carvajal

TAIPEI—Taiwan and the Philip-pines will discuss the results oftheir respective investigationsinto the killing of a Taiwanesefisherman in the northernPhilippine waters on May 9, butTaipei will insist on criminal lia-bility if warranted, according toan official of Taiwan’s Ministryof Justice.

“Each team will come outwith separate reports and incase of major differences, wewill again meet to discuss theresult, but we will insist on thecriminal liability of those whoare guilty,” Chen Wen-chen, di-rector general of the Interna-tional Cross–Straits Legal Af-fairs, told the INQUIRER in an in-terview yesterday. 53 of 58 party-list

seats now filled upBy Philip C. Tubeza

THE COMMISSION on Elec-tions (Comelec) yesterday an-nounced the winners of 53 outof the 58 seats at stake in theHouse of Representatives in theMay 13 party-list balloting.

In a three-page resolution,the Comelec proclaimed 24new winning party-list groups,bringing the total to 38, and an-nounced the distribution of the53 party-list seats.

The remaining five winners

POLL DISCREPANCIES/ A17

53 PARTY-LIST/ A17

AFTER/ A17

Comelec failed to reviewsource code, says poll

watchdog / A17

Palace outraged by NPA ambush of cops

8-year-old leads280 spellersin US contest

MALACAÑANG yesterday ex-pressed outrage over the killingof eight policemen by a rebellandmine in Cagayan on Mon-day, saying this was a violationof international humanitarianlaw and treaty, and the conven-tion banning the use of the ex-plosive devices.

“It’s very clear. It was a viola-tion or against the law on theuse of landmines,” PresidentAquino’s deputy spokesperson,Abigail Valte, said during apress briefing.

The policemen—all belong-ing to the Special ActionForce—were killed when a

mine planted by the commu-nist New People’s Army (NPA)blew up in Allacapan town inCagayan.

They were in “athletic uni-form,” not in combat fatigues,as they were on their way for amedical checkup, Valte said.“We couldn’t make sense of

WASHINGTON—The 86th annual NationalSpelling Bee kicks off on Tuesday with an 8-year-old speller from Kentucky leading 280youngsters from eight nations in testing theirability to spell some of the most obscure wordsin the English language.

Sponsored by the Scripps media group, thethree-day competition at Gaylord National Re-sort outside Washington is an American institu-

their (rebels’) reason for justify-ing (the attack),” she said.

Luis Jalandoni, chief peacenegotiator of the communist-led National Democratic Front

PALACE/ A18

8-YEAR-OLD/ A18

The ‘devils’ tookher son away / A18

Centenarian Act vetoedfor being ‘oppressive’By Michael Lim Ubacand Leila B. Salaverria

ABOUT 7,000 Filipinos aged100 years old and above willhave to hang on a little bitlonger before they get addition-al benefits after PresidentAquino vetoed the proposedCentenarian Act that would

have earned them each aP100,000 bonus, plus discountson purchases.

Mr. Aquino vetoed the mea-sure for being “excessive (and)unreasonable” and for being“patently oppressive.”

What caught the attention ofthe President was a provision in

CENTENARIAN / A6

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013 A17

PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

NEWS

the 1,809,653 votes that 12disqualified party-list groupsreceived. It said these voteswould be considered “stray.”

One of the groups disquali-fied was Senior Citizens, whichgot 677,642 votes and, accord-ing to Brillantes, would havesecured two seats if it was notdisqualified. Senior Citizensand three other disqualifiedparty-list groups have ap-pealed the Comelec decision tothe Supreme Court.

“We will follow whateverthe Supreme Court says,” Bril-lantes said. “You can be as-sured that we will not wait un-til June 30 to finish.”

nees include former ManilaMayor Lito Atienza.

Securing two seats eachwere A-Teacher, Bayan Muna,1-Care, Akbayan, Abono,AKB, OFW Family, Gabriela,Coop-Natcco, Agap, Cibac,Magdalo, and An Waray.

Abamin, Act Teachers, Butil,Amin, ACT-CIS, Kalinga,LPGMA, TUCP, Yacap, Agri,Angkla, ABS, Diwa, Kabataan,Anakpawis, Alay Buhay, Aam-bis-Owa, 1-Sagip, Ave, AtongKoop, 1-BAP, Abakada, Ama,and Ang Nars snagged one seateach.

The Comelec said that it didnot include in its tabulation

will be announced once the es-timated 36,000 uncanvassedvotes from a special election infive precincts in Lanao delNorte province and otherprecincts are finally tallied lat-er this week, said ComelecChair Sixto Brillantes Jr.

“We’re just making sure thatwe will not be proclaimingany party-list that will still beaffected by the remainingvotes uncanvassed,” he said.

Buhay, which got 1,265,992of the 26,722,131 party-listvotes canvassed, got threeHouse seats. Its three nomi-

53 party-list seats filled upPoll discrepancies foundcount optical scan (PCOS) ma-chines count as votes even theovals in the ballot paper thatwere only “20 percent” shaded.

“They know that we had low-ered our threshold to 20 per-cent from 50 percent (in2010),” Brillantes said.

He said those with 10 dis-crepancies and below were dis-regarded while PCOS machinesthat had more than 10 discrep-ancies were brought to theComelec central office in Intra-muros, Manila, together withtheir ballot boxes.

Brillantes could not say howmany precincts had registered

more than 10 discrepancies,adding that CommissionerChristian Robert Lim, who ishandling the RMA, had yet tomake an initial report.

Former Ambassador to theVatican Henrietta de Villa, headof the Comelec random manualaudit committee, said many“clerical errors” were uncov-ered that could not be consid-ered discrepancies.

When asked if these could beconsidered “discrepancies,” DeVilla said: “Not yet. In the senseof the word that there’s a differ-ence between the electronicand the manual count.”

“We cannot say that at thispoint because these are mostly

clerical errors. There are manylike that which we have to cleanup. That is why we are forward-ing this to the NSO (NationalStatistics Office),” De Villa said.

She said the NSO had re-viewed cases of precincts thathad “10 or more variances.”

When asked how many of the234 randomly chosen precinctshad “variances,” De Villa said:“There were many. Many.”

But she declined to give anexact figure, saying the commit-tee was still waiting for reportsfrom the field.

“It’s not good to do that sincewe don’t have all the reports.That could lead to speculation. Itwon’t be helpful,” De Villa said.

After parallel probes, Taiwan to insist on criminal liabilityShe also said she expected no

“major difference in the find-ings because we are looking atthe same evidence.”

“There is no deadline and theinvestigators will bring here theevidence they collected, like theslugs. The investigation willtake time,” she said.

Investigators from bothcountries started their parallelinvestigation on Monday intothe killing of a Taiwanese fish-erman by the Philippine CoastGuard off Balintang Island atthe northernmost part of thePhilippines.

Asked About Taiwan’s sus-pension of the hiring of Filipinoworkers imposed following theMay 9 incident, she said, “Our

demands remain the same andwe insist on the punishment ofthose who shot the boat.”

Pingtung County inquiryIn an earlier interview, labor

attaché Rey Conferido of ManilaEconomic and Cultural Office ex-pressed confidence that the crisiswould be over by July when mostof the Filipino workers were torenew their contracts.

During the inquiry in Ping-tung County yesterday presidedby local chief prosecutor ChoiZong Zong, a team of the Na-tional Bureau of Investigationquestioned the three crewmembers of the Taiwanese fish-ing boat allegedly fired on bythe Philippine Coast Guard.

Based on accounts of an infor-mant who had access to the in-

vestigation room of the countyjustice hall where the probe wasbeing conducted, the NBI teamwas seated near the door facingChoi, who was seated in an ele-vated area, just like court judges.

In the middle of the roomwere the family of the slain fish-erman and the three crew mem-bers, including and the Indone-sian fisherman identified asImam Buchaeri, 35. It was thefirst time the Indonesian wasseen by media.

The inquiry started past2 p.m. and as of press time noone had come out from the in-vestigation room.

The NBI team headed bylawyer Daniel Daganzo arrived atthe Pingtung County ProsecutorsOffice before noon and immedi-ately met with the prosecutors.

Based on an earlier accounton Friday, the captain of the Tai-wanese fishing boat whose fa-ther was shot and killed in theMay 9 shooting claimed that heand his men were fired uponwithout provocation, and hisfamily accused the Filipinos ofmurder.

Denying that his boat had en-croached on Philippine waters,the fishing vessel’s captain,Hung Yue-chien, 39, insisted ata press conference that the inci-dent occurred in a “public fish-ing area.”

Probe in ManilaIn Manila yesterday, mem-

bers of the Taiwanese investiga-tive team watched a two-hourvideo of the incident.

NBI officials later accompa-

From page A1

From page A1 From page A1

Comelec failed to review source code, says poll watchdogBy Jerome Aning

A POLL watchdog yesterday al-leged that the Commission onElections (Comelec) in con-ducting the May 13 automatedballoting illegally relied on anofficial certification of thesource code for the computermachines used in the 2010polling and the aborted 2011balloting in Mindanao.

Nelson Celis of the AESWatch bared a violation of theAutomated Election Systems(AES) Law (Republic Act No.9369) with the Comelec’s tech-nical evaluation committee un-able to review the source codeof the precinct count opticalscan (PCOS) machines used inthis month’s balloting.

Celis said in a statement thatunder Section 11 of RA 9369,the technical committee mustcertify that the automated elec-tion systems, including its hard-ware and software components,were operating properly at leastthree months before the polling.

Such a certification should bemade on documented results,such as the successful completionof a source code review and theaudit on the accuracy, functionaland security controls of the AESsoftware, among others.

“Unfortunately, there was nomore time for the technical com-mittee to check the source code,which was delivered by [soft-ware owner] Dominion VotingSystems three days before theelections, [when the] machines[had] been deployed nation-wide. Too late,” Celis said.

He said the committee’s certi-fications were based on thesource code used in the 2010elections and the source codeintended for the aborted 2011elections in Autonomous Re-gion in Muslim Mindanao.

The source code is a softwareor program which instructs thePCOS machine how to read, tal-

ly and transmit votes after scan-ning and storing the images ofballots fed into it.

After senatorial candidateRichard Gordon filed in theSupreme Court a suit seeking tocompel Comelec to disclose thesource code, Dominion and theindependent third-party re-viewer, SLI Global Solutions,turned over the source code toComelec Chair Sixto BrillantesJr. who ordered the code deliv-ered for safekeeping to theBangko Sentral ng Pilipinas asrequired by law.

The technical committee, com-posed of representatives from theDepartment of Science and Tech-nology and the Comelec’s infor-mation technology (IT) depart-ment, certified the AES onFeb. 12, 2013. This was affirmedby the Comelec in Resolution No.9641 issued three days later.

Critics of the PCOS machineshave pointed out that the lackof a review of the source codecould be used in electronic rig-ging of votes through hackingthe software.

Mysterious patternSpeculations about vote-rig-

ging turned up a few days afterthe elections when the canvass-ing of votes by the Comelec re-vealed a mysterious “60-30-10”pattern of votes, wherein ad-ministration, opposition and in-dependent senatorial candi-dates consistently obtained 60percent, 30 percent and 10 per-cent of votes in the province tal-lies received by the Comelec.

In his Facebook account, ITexpert and AES Watch convenerPablo Manalastas suggestedthat citizens who had reason todoubt the Comelec count, could

do their own tally by download-ing the computer records of thecanvassing on the poll body’swebsite (http://2013election-results.comelec.gov.ph) com-paring them with ‘borrowed’election return (ER) printoutsheld by the political parties andthe accredited citizens’ arm,Parish Pastoral Council for Re-sponsible Voting.

Manalastas, a retired mathprofessor at Ateneo de ManilaUniversity, suggested using thesimple Excel program to conducta minicanvass by comparing thecomputer and hard copy results.

“If this check yields canvassresults that are wildly differentfrom the results that were usedby Comelec to declare winners,then the citizens group has rea-son to complain and file an elec-toral protest, and can use theprinted ERs and Excel files as

nied the team to the port area toinspect Bureau of Fisheries andAquatic Resources (BFAR) vesselmanned by PCG personnel thatwas involved in the incident.

The Taiwanese probers com-pleted the ballistics test onMonday, firing the weapons forcross matching, according toNBI deputy director VirgilioMendez.

“I think it’s helpful, of course,for both sides,” Andrew Lin ofthe Taiwan Economic and Cul-tural Office later told reporters.He added that he could notcomment further because theinvestigation was continuing.

He said the inspection of thevessel was a technical issue andthe investigators would dependon the assistance of the NBI andthe Coast Guard.

It took the investigators 80minutes to investigate the BFARvessel. They were escorted byCommodore Eduardo Guingona,PCG fleet commander.

The Taiwanese investigatorswere also scheduled to inter-view BFAR and Coast Guardpersonnel today.

The slugs and shells will bematched with those recoveredfrom the Taiwanese vessel todetermine if the firearmsturned over by the Coast Guardto NBI are the same weaponsused in the May 9 incident.

The NBI team in Taiwan alsobrought samples of the slugsbut the results of the compari-son cannot be divulged at themoment, Mendez said. With re-ports from Erika Sauler andJerry E. Esplanada in Manila

documentary proof to supporttheir protest,” he said.

Manalastas said there wereother ways to do a ‘citizens’ re-count but they all involved us-ing the images of the ballotsstored in the compact flash cardof each PCOS machine, or theoriginal ballots themselves.This, however, may not be read-ily allowed by Comelec.

Law of large numbersManalastas earlier theorized

that the “60-30-10” pattern maybe explained by the “law oflarge numbers,” a rule in statis-tics which basically means thatas more and more votes are ran-domly counted over time, theresults will tend to average outand follow an expected pattern.

However, former diplomatAdo Paglinawan, a US-basedpolitical activist and consultant,

dismissed the application of thelaw of large numbers theory.

Writing on his blog(http://pedestrianobserv-er.blogspot.com), Paglinawansaid the law was inapplicable inthe Comelec canvassing for theSenate race because the resultswere coming from groups ofprovinces that did not representthe Philippines as a whole.

He claimed the certificates ofcanvass (COCs) from provinces,chartered cities and overseasabsentee voting centers re-ceived by Comelec came frombatches that did not represent arandom national count.

Paglinawan pointed out the14th canvass report which onlycontained results from Davao delNorte, North Cotabato and Tawi-Tawi; the 15th which containedCOCs from Marinduque andSamar, and the 16th which onlycontained Lanao del Norte re-sults.

Revenge of the machinesPaglinawan elaborated on

two theories about how elec-tronic cheating could have hap-pened. One states that therewere “strategically inserted de-fault mechanisms” in the AESthat favored nine administrationand three opposition candidatesand locked all 33 candidates in“pre-determined rankings.”

His second theory, which hedubbed “the revenge of the ma-chines,” states that the insertionof default mechanisms just“overheated” the AES and“scrambled on its own to de-fault into a 60-30-10 templateon the national level.”

“The PCOS was just meant toscan and read the ballot, countthe returns and transmit its tally.Brought about by Comelec’s end-less improvisations and collaps-ing of the minimum requiredsafeguards in the AES law, it hasvirtually opened the system tohacking and fraud,” he said.

COMELECCommissionersLucenito Tagleand Elias Yusoph(right) andChair SixtoBrillantes Jr.discuss a pointduringyesterday’ssession whichdeclared 53 of58 party-listseats occupiedby at least 24party-listgroups.

NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

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National Artist for Film Eddie Romero dies at 88By Bayani San Diego Jr.

NATIONAL Artist for Film EddieRomero passed away at 9 p.m.yesterday, son and fellow direc-tor Joey Romero said.

He was 88.Romero directed such ac-

claimed films as “Ganito KamiNoon, Paano Kayo Ngayon,”“Aguila,” “Banta ng Kahapon”and “Kamakalawa.”

In a phone interview with the

INQUIRER yesterday, the youngerRomero said that the veteran di-rector “fell into a coma” whileconfined in a hospital.

“The doctor told us that hehad a blood clot on the rightside of the brain,” said theyounger Romero.

He had been in and out of thehospital for the past few weeks.

Romero was confined fromMay 18 to 19 and returned tothe hospital on May 23 because

of “health complications.”“He died peacefully,” said his

son. “The last time we talked,he said he wanted to go home.”

The family plans to hold thewake at Arlington MemorialChapels on Araneta Avenue,Quezon City.

Romero started out as a short-story writer and was “persuaded”to write scripts by another Nation-al Artist for Film, Gerardo de Leon.

He began directing at age 23.

In a 2005 interview, the Nation-al Artist described himself as“an old hand in the movies” bythe time he was in his 20s.

“The interesting thing was, Idirected my first seven moviesby oido,” he told the INQUIRER in2005.

Raised in Dumaguete City,Negros Oriental province, hedidn’t speak a word of Filipinothen. “I wrote most of thescreenplays in English and these

would be translated on the set.”He considered himself an in-

dependent filmmaker. In 1952,he directed his first indie film,“Buhay Alamang,” which top-billed screen legends Mona Lisaand Anita Linda.

“I preferred not to be under amajor studio,” he said.

He also made Hollywoodmovies in the late 1950s andthroughout the 1960s and1970s.

“My period of Americaniza-tion,” he said in jest.

He was the overall Philippinecoordinator for Francis FordCoppola’s 1979 Vietnam Warfilm, “Apocalypse Now.”

In 2007 and 2008, he madehis last two movies, “Faces ofLove” and “Teach Me to Love.”

Romero is survived by wifeCarolina Gonzalez, sons Joey,Ancel and Leo John and 12grandchildren.

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Blast probe focuses on condo tenant

WHAT’S INSIDE

BLASTED This is the aftermath of the blast that ripped through Unit 501B of Two Serendra atBonifacio Global City on Friday night (top photo). From the same angle on Saturday morning,Interior Secretary Mar Roxas is shown inspecting the damage (lower photo). RAFFY LERMA/RICHARD REYES

UNDERWATER GARDEN The water had been unusually warm—30 degrees Celsius—this summer in the Tubbataha Reef. The big fish had gone deeper. No matter, the reef has been as colorful as ever. YVETTE LEE/CONTRIBUTOR

INQSNAP thispage (not just the

logo) to view morephotos!

SPORTS •Federer, Nadal, Serena march on •LeBron says Heat ‘desperate’ tofinish off Pacers LIFESTYLE •A night with ‘Draybers,’ feeling likeroyalty SUNDAY BIZ • ‘Oui,’ PH products can have a market inFrance ENTERTAINMENT •Girlfriend warns hunk vs handsome

costar NEWS •Inequality in PH education •COA: Cebu City overspent by P1B

By Michael Lim Ubacand Nikko Dizon

THE INVESTIGATION ofthe explosion that rippedthrough a posh apartmentbuilding in Taguig City on Fri-day night yesterday began tocenter on the renter of the unitwhere the blast occurred, asPresident Aquino orderedprobers to find out what causedthe explosion that killed threepeople and injured five others.

The blast blew out the wallsof an apartment on the fifthfloor of Two Serendra in Bonifa-cio Global City, sending a slab ofconcrete flying onto the streetbelow and smashing into a pass-ing delivery van.

The van’s driver and two ofhis crew were crushed to death.

Five others, including anAmerican and a 9-year-old,were injured.

The National Disaster RiskReduction and Management

BLAST/ A18

They laughed while firingVideo of sea incident‘embarrassing’ for PH

By Anselmo RoqueInquirer Central Luzon

SCIENCE CITY OF MUÑOZ—Summer isabout to end, but the lingering imagetourists bring home from this corner of Lu-zon is that of carabaos being treated ascelebrities.

The country’s food growers would feel

With summer ending,image of carabao asfiesta star lingers

By Nancy C. Carvajal

IT LOOKED like hoot, with six coast guards laugh-ing as they fired at the Taiwanese fishing boat.

“The video showed the sol-diers acted unprofessionally.They were laughing while theywere shooting the boat,” asource who had seen the videoof the Philippine Coast Guardshooting of fishing boat GuangTa Hsin 28 three weeks ago saidyesterday.

“It is disturbing and embar-rassing for Philippine law en-forcers,” the source, who spokeon condition of anonymity, toldthe INQUIRER in an interview.

Taiwanese fisherman HungShih-chen, 65, was hit andkilled in the shooting, whichhappened during a high-speedchase in waters off Balintang Is-land in northern Philippines onMay 9.

The source said the CoastGuard submitted the video to

For poll winners, grouphas good governance tipsBy Tina Arceo-Dumlao

THE VOTES have been countedand the winners of the electoralcontests proclaimed.

Now, the real work begins,when the victors assume theirposts on July 1.

For those who want to be-

come effective local chief exec-utives, the Galing Pook Founda-tion offers some suggestionsbased on the lessons learnedfrom the best local governmentprograms in the Philippines thatit has recognized since 1993.

The foundation was one ofFOR POLL/ A17

WITH SUMMER/ A19

THEY/ A19

No special talksto help OFWs losing

their jobs in Taiwan / A19

Asteroid flyby a ‘closeshave,’ says stargazerCAPE CANAVERAL, Florida—Alarge asteroid accompanied byits own small moon, measuringnearly 2.7 kilometers, has flownpast Earth, the latest in a stringof celestial visitors drawing at-tention to the potential dangersof objects in space.

Asteroid 1998 QE2—which isnot named for the Britishmonarch—is so large it is orbit-ed by its own moon and is aboutnine times as long as the QueenElizabeth II ocean liner.

It is far bigger than the small

By Fe Zamora,Kate Pedrosoand Sara Pacia

WORKING on an island resort“in a most beautiful place” wasfar from Kiali-i Chaluyan’s mindwhen she updated her resumeon LinkedIn.com, a social net-

working site for job seekersand employers, in mid-2012.

Chaluyan, 28, a journalismgraduate of the University ofthe Philippines in Diliman, hadbeen working for some years inManila when certain unfavor-able events occurred. Instead

Apply online: Jobhunting goes social

ASTEROID/ A8

APPLY/ A8

SUNDAY, JUNE 2, 2013 A19

PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

NEWS

the carabao-carroza festivalqueen.

Crossbreed capitalGearing to become the

“carabao crossbreed capital ofthe Philippines,” San Agustintown in Isabela holds the NuangFestival every Sept. 28 on theoccasion of its founding anniver-sary. Nuang is an Ilocano termfor carabaos.

The raising of crossbredcarabaos and propagation ofcarabao-based enterpriseshave been the town’s main pre-occupation since 2005. Thetown has now more than 1,500dairy carabaos. In Angono,Rizal, the art capital of thePhilippines, replicas ofcarabaos are included in theparade of papier-mâché giantswhich are featured in its Hi-gantes Festival.

runs away.The first Turogpo Festival was

held 400 years ago. It was thenconsidered a form of protest be-cause it subtly depicted commu-nity resistance to the Spanishcolonizer.

In Vigan City, the Karbo Festi-val acknowledges the carabaos’contribution to the city’s agricul-ture industry. Karbo is from thewords karabaw (carabao) andbokel or seed. During the festi-val, carabaos become a livingcanvass for artists who expressthrough paintings the theme ofthe festivities.

The Carabao-Carroza Festivalis held every third of May. It dis-plays a barangay’s teamwork asresidents collaborate to put to-gether the most gaily decoratedcarabao-carroza (carabao-drawncarriages), compete in acarabao-carroza race, and vie for

pull sleds filled with the commu-nity’s best produce.

On the occasion of its foundinganniversary, Catigbian in Bohol isnot the tigbi (Job’s tears grass) ortigbaw (caves) from which itsname was derived. Instead, ithonors the carabao as the centerof the festival by making themkings and queens for a day.

The festival features 22 kingor queen carabaos, each repre-senting the town’s villages.

Carabaos are also the stars ofthe Turogpo Festival, which isheld every Black Saturday in thefarming village of Camansi inLeyte.

Animal joustTurogpo is a joust of two

carabaos to test their en-durance. The competing ani-mals are made to lock hornsuntil one animal drops off and

less of a farmer without thecarabao by their side, even in to-day’s technological world.

So the farm festivals of variousregions always have a place of hon-or for carabaos, according to adocumentary being prepared by thePhilippine Carabao Center (PCC).

Tourists have been entertainedby carabaos feted at the KneelingCarabao Festival in Pulilan, Bula-can; at the Pahiyas Festival inLucban, Quezon; KatigbawanFestival in Catigbian, Bohol; Tur-ogpo Festival in Barangay Ca-mansi in Carigara, Leyte; KarboFestival in Vigan City in IlocosSur; the Carabao-Carroza Festivalin Pavia, Iloilo; and the NuangFestival in San Agustin, Isabela.

Every 14th day of May, hun-dreds of carabaos parade on thestreets of Pulilan, adorned withcapes and body paint or shinyhorns and hooves. As the paradepasses by the Church, the carabaosare made to kneel one by one.

Carabao royaltyAs the 15th day of May opens

in Lucban, the town’s skylinebursts with different hues of kip-ing (decor) made of rice dough,vegetables, fruits, rice grains,coconuts, cottage products likebuntal hats, meat products likesausages, chandeliers andminiature sets.

But the festival highlight isstill the carabao grand parade,where the animals are made to

With summer ending, image of carabao ...

They laughed while firing; video ‘embarrassing’ for PHthe National Bureau of Investi-gation (NBI) after PresidentAquino ordered an investiga-tion of the fatal shooting ofHung, which sparked a majordiplomatic row between Tai-wan and the Philippines.

It was the video that JusticeSecretary Leila de Lima de-scribed two weeks ago as “veryrevealing,” but did not discloseits contents.

But that it was very revealingwas probably why the Depart-ment of Justice initially refusedto share the video with Tai-wanese investigators, delayingclearance from Taipei for anNBI team to travel to Taiwan toinvestigate the fatal shootingof Hung.

Not until De Lima allowedthe video to be seen by Tai-wanese investigators did theTaipei Economic and CulturalOffice (Teco), Taiwan’s de factoembassy in Manila, give visasto the eight members of theNBI team.

The source said the videoshowed the fishing boat, aftersailing side by side with theMCS-3001, a patrol vesselowned by the Bureau of Fish-eries and Aquatic Resourcesbut manned by coast guards,peeled away and moved in“circles, as if daring the(Coast Guard vessel to comeafter it.”

Not raked with gunfireContrary to reports, the

source said, the coast guardsdid not rake the fishing boatwith gunfire.

“They did not spray it withbullets, but they were laughingas they fired at the fishingboat,” the source said.

The coast guards aimed forwhat they thought was the en-gine room to stop the boat, thesource said.

But the NBI inspection of thefishing boat at the dockyard onPingtung Island, southern Tai-wan, showed no bullet holes onany part of the engine room.

“There were no bullet holeson the engine room probablybecause (the coast guards) didnot know its location,” thesource said.

Two other sources who hadseen the video confirmed thestatements of the first source.

According to the Coast Guardreport on the incident, Cmdr.Arnold de la Cruz, the patrolvessel’s commander, “orderedhis men to fire at the fishing ves-sel when it did not stop afterseveral warnings.”

Philippine watersOne of the two other sources

who had seen the video said theshooting happened on thePhilippine side, not on the Tai-wan side, of overlapping terri-torial waters between the twocountries.

The NBI and Taiwanese in-vestigators ended their parallelprobes of the incident on Fri-day, with the NBI team sayingits report would be ready in a“day or two.”

De Lima said the govern-ment’s next step would dependon the NBI report, which wouldcontain recommendations.

She said Philippine lawswould be followed should theNBI recommend the prosecu-tion of the coast guards in-volved in the shooting.

Murder chargesThe fisherman’s daughter,

Hung Tzu-chen, filed murdercharges, but did not name any-one in her complaint.

Taiwanese investigators tolda news conference on Fridaythat they could identify thecoast guard who fired the bul-let that killed Hung throughthe results of the ballistic testson the firearms submitted forthe probe.

The Taiwanese investiga-tive team returned to Taipeion Friday.

The NBI team, headed byDaniel Daganzo, chief of thebureau’s foreign liaison divi-sion, returned to Manila on thesame day.

From page A1 PAINTEDCARABAO Thisbeast of burden,hired by the citygovernment forP1,500, serves as acanvas for localartists in ViganCity as part of thecity’s Viva ViganBinatbatanFestival’s carabao-painting contest.

RICHARD BALONGLONG

From page A1

No special talksto help OFWs losingtheir jobs in TaiwanBy Nancy C. Carvajal

THERE are no special talks tohelp Filipinos who are losingtheir jobs in Taiwan after thekilling of a Taiwanese fisher-man by Filipino coast guardsthree weeks ago.

Arthur Abiera, Manila Eco-nomic and Cultural Office(Meco) representative, told anews conference on Thursdaythat negotiations with Tai-wanese authorities involvedgeneral matters for therestoration of good relationsbetween the Philippines andTaiwan.

Labor issues are only part ofthe talks, he said.

Taiwan froze new jobs forFilipino migrant workers andTaiwanese employers are notrenewing contracts in retalia-tion for the shooting death offisherman Hung Shih-chen onMay 9.

Many of the 87,000 Filipinomigrant workers in Taiwan areaffected by the retaliatorymeasure but Abiera said Mecocould not do anything aboutit.

“That’s the Taiwanese gov-ernment’s decision,” Abierasaid. “We are trying to ad-dress all issues. It’s sad that

they will be affected.”

Why us?“Why should we suffer for

what other Filipinos had done?”asked Maryanne, a Filipino mi-grant worker in Taiwan whoasked that her last name bewithheld.

“What happens to us if ourcontracts are not renewed?” shesaid.

Benedict Ray Balondo, a mi-grant worker from BatangasCity, said at least 50 Filipinoswere affected by the retaliatorymeasure in the tools factory inTaichung City where heworked.

Abiera said he understoodthe migrant workers’ situationbut Meco could not go for spe-cial negotiations on their be-half.

“We cannot act piecemeal,”he said.

Roy Patoy, a migrant workerfrom Quezon City, said he be-lieved the freeze on Filipinojobs would not last long.

“Taiwan’s economy will be af-fected if they will not hire Fil-ipinos,” Patoy said.

“Almost all factory workers inTaiwan are Filipinos. If thereare no Filipino factory workers,there is no production,” he said.

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Radyo Inquirer DZIQ 990AMTwitter: @dzIQ990

www.inquirer.netTwitter: @inquirerdotnetMobile Alert: Text INQ ON BREAKING to 4467Wednesday, June 12, 2013 H H 9 sections / Vol. 28 / No. 184 P18

WHAT’S INSIDE

INDEPENDENCEDAY Philippineflags flutter in thewind near thestatue of Gen.Emilio Aguinaldo,the Presidentof the firstPhilippineRepublic, at theAguinaldo Shrinein Kawit, Cavite,as the countrycelebrates todayits 115th year ofindependence.

JOAN BONDOC

UP BY A NOTCH University of the Philippines now ranks 67th.

Supermanbegins

/ E1

ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESSPeso weakensto 43.20 to adollar / B1

LIFESTYLE54-year-oldBarbie still younggirls’ favorite / C2

SPORTSHeat, Spurseye crucialwin / A17

WORLDUS to seekextradition ofSnowden / A22

RAFF

YLE

RMA

Expert says PH can’trely on US vs ChinaBy TJ Burgonio

IN ITS territorial dispute withChina in the West PhilippineSea (South China Sea), thePhilippines has tended to lookto the United States for help, amindset that, according to ananalyst, it should be “emanci-pated” from if it is to assert itsindependence.

When more Chinese vesselssailed into the disputed watersin the last 13 months, not a fewofficials invoked the Mutual De-

fense Treaty with the UnitedStates to argue for American in-tervention, but then US Secre-tary of State Hillary Clinton saidlast year the United Stateswould be neutral.

“Part of the fact that we’re notthat independent is that we stillbelieve . . . America will come toour rescue on the issue of con-tested territories. We have

EXPERT / A15

PH security concerns shiftingto external threat / A15

NBI: Coast guards liableRaps poised in Taiwanese fisher’s slay

P-Noy inaugurates new,safer C de Oro airport

Unemployment rate rises to 7.5%By Michelle V. Remoand Michael Lim Ubac

THE COUNTRY’S unemployment ratejumped in April despite a high-growth mo-mentum as adverse weather conditions ledto a loss of jobs in the agriculture sector, ac-cording to the National Statistics Office(NSO).

Some 3.086 million Filipinos were un-employed from a total labor force of 40.9million, the NSO said. It said the unemploy-ment rate swelled to 7.5 percent in Aprilfrom 6.9 percent in the same month lastyear, even higher than the 7.1-percent job-less rate reported this January.

The relatively high figure, led by jobless-ness in agriculture, is being blamed for the

still serious poverty problem in the Philip-pines. In June last year, poverty incidencestood at 27.9 percent, one of the highestamong emerging Asian economies.

“Jobs were lost in the agriculture sectordue to modified planting calendars thatfarmers had to observe [because of the] in-tense heat and inadequate water supply,”

By Bobby LagsaInquirer Mindanao

LAGUINDINGAN, Misamis Ori-ental—Barely three days beforeits commercial operation, theP7.9-billion Laguindingan Air-port is already in need of expan-sion to meet the expected influxof air passengers in NorthernMindanao.

Despite the lack of several

precision instruments to guidelanding aircraft, the new air-port, located some 50 kilome-ters from the old Lumbia airportin Cagayan de Oro City, was in-augurated yesterday, with Pres-ident Aquino and other top gov-ernment officials attending. Itwill be open to commercialflights on June 15.

Mr. Aquino affirmed the air-

A source, who has knowledgeof the investigation of the inci-dent but asked not to be identi-fied because he has no authorityto speak on the matter, declinedto say whether murder or homi-cide charges had been recom-mended.

But the source said there wasa debate on whether to bringmurder charges against the

coast guards, as “superiorstrength” was used “against anunarmed civilian,” or homicide,as the shooting death of fisher-man Hung Shih-chen was “notpremeditated.”

The source said the NBI reporton the investigation of Hung’sdeath had been submitted toJustice Secretary Leila de Lima.

By Nancy C. Carvajal

THE NATIONAL Bureau of Investigation has rec-ommended the filing of criminal charges againstthe Filipino coast guards involved in the shoot-ing death of a Taiwanese fisherman in northernPhilippine waters last month, the INQUIRERlearned yesterday.

UNEMPLOYMENT/ A10

P-NOY/ A10

EXORCIST / A10ONLY / A10

Exorcist givestips on how toward off evil

By Jocelyn R. Uy

WANT TO ward off nightmares orstrange occurrences at home? Goback to the basic sacramentals,like wearing a scapular or usingholy water and exorcised oil andsalt.

A Rome-based theologian andexorcist, Fr. Joseph Iannuzzi, ad-vised Filipino Catholics that thesewere some objects present-day be-lievers could use to protect them-selves from evil that usually goesunnoticed but is too common.

Only 5 in PH make listof Asia’s top universitiesBy Dona Z. Pazzibugan

ONLY FIVE of the country’s universi-ties, led by the University of the Philip-pines (UP), made it to this year’s list oftop 300 Asian universities ranked byQuacquarelli Symonds (QS).

This was the lowest number ofPhilippine universities to make the cutsince QS began ranking universities inAsia in 2009.

Last year, 14 of the country’s ownmade it to the list of Asia’s top univer-sities, according to QS.

There were 15 Philippine universi-ties on the 2011 list, 18 in 2010 and 16in 2009.

UP’s ranking went up by anotch—to 67th—in the 2013 QS Uni-versity Rankings for Asia released onTuesday.

It was ranked 68th last year, 62nd in2011, 78th in 2010 and 63rd in 2009.

This year Ateneo de Manila Univer-sity was ranked 109th, down from its

NBI: COAST/ A10

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013A10

PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

NEWS

NBI: Coast guards liable; raps poised in fisher’s slay

Unemployment rate risesRosemarie Edillon, assistant director gen-eral at the National Economic and Develop-ment Authority (Neda), said in a pressbriefing.

Around 624,000 jobs were lost in agri-culture in April, Edillon said. However, shesaid, the industry and services sectors wereable to absorb those who lost their jobs be-cause of increased investments.

The Neda official said the country’s netyear-on-year job loss in April stood at21,000.

Delayed plantingPresident Aquino said in an interview

following the inauguration of Laguindin-gan Airport in Misamis Oriental yesterdaythat the delayed planting season last sum-mer led to the loss of jobs in April. He cit-ed results of a survey conducted by theBureau of Agricultural Statistics duringthe month.

He explained that farmers noted “intenseheat (aside from other) unfavorable weath-er conditions” that discouraged early plant-ing of rice and other crops. “As you know,farmers will always want—will have theweather dictating their planting cycles,” hesaid, without elaborating.

Quoting a report submitted by Socioeco-nomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Bal-isacan, Mr. Aquino said: “The decline in em-ployed persons was accounted for by agri-cultural workers, especially unpaid familyworkers.”

The release of the latest unemploymentfigure came after the government reportedthat the economy, measured in terms ofgross domestic product, grew by 7.8 per-cent in the first quarter from a year ago.This was the fastest growth rate in Asia forthe period, surpassing even China’s 7.7 per-cent.

Government officials said the Philippineswas poised to sustain the high-growth mo-mentum.

Nonetheless, Edillon said the unemploy-ment rate still increased due to naturalcauses and the fact that a significant por-tion of the country’s labor force belonged tothe agriculture sector, which contributedless to the economy compared with the in-dustry and services sectors.

Temporary?Edillon said the government was hopeful

that the jobless trend would be temporary.“We are targeting the unemployment rateto improve, potentially to 6.5 percent by2016,” she said.

The official said job-creation projects inthe pipeline included investments in co-conut production and processing, linkageof farmers to agriculture-based industriesand skills training.

In a statement, Labor Secretary Rosalin-da Baldoz said the results of the NSO sur-vey pointed to a continuing challenge forthe government and the private sector tocreate more decent jobs amid a growingeconomy.

“What is very encouraging in the resultsis the fact that the overall quality of em-ployment continues to improve consider-ably, with persons in full-time employmentgrowing by 15.3 percent, or 3.194 million,and persons in part-time employment de-creasing by 18.9 percent, or 3.063 million,”she said.

“As a consequence, the mean hours ofwork have vastly improved from 39.2 hoursa year ago to 41.8 hours in April 2013,” saidBaldoz, who is attending the 102nd Inter-national Labor Conference in Geneva.

“Wage and salary employment duringthe quarter was up by 2.9 percent(619,000) and down among the self-em-ployed (143,000) and unpaid family work-ers (398,000), she said.

“Structurally, the biggest growth remainsin the service sector but growth momentumin industry and manufacturing is high andneeds to be sustained,” she added. With areport from Tina G. Santos

P-Noy inaugurates new, safer airportport’s high safety assessment dur-ing a press forum, saying it was safeto land there even during badweather. Three times bigger thanLumbia, it could accommodate fivewide-bodied planes at a time, hesaid.

Also known as Cagayan de OroAirport, Lumbia was considered thesecond busiest airport in Mindanaoafter Francisco Bangoy Internation-al Airport in Davao City. Located ona hilltop where visibility is usuallyaffected by fog, it serves Cagayande Oro and nearby areas in north-ern Mindanao.

Currently, there are 25 dailyflights at Lumbia.

3-km runwayLaguindingan Airport sits on a

400-hectare property donated byAyala Corp. It has a three-kilometerrunway and a terminal with a floorarea of 7,184 square meters.

The safety issue persists as itlacks the Instrument Landing Sys-tems, a vital piece of ground equip-ment that tells aircraft the preciseposition of the runway; VHF omni-directional radio range (VOR); theDistance Measuring Equipment(DME), Meteorological ObservingSystem; Precision Approach Light-

ing System-Category 1; and the Pre-cision Approach Path Indicator.

Several groups led by the Ca-gayan de Oro Chamber of Com-merce and Industry have asked todefer the opening of the new airport,pointing out that the absence of airnavigation and systems support fa-cilities and the pilots’ reliance on thevisual-flight rule would reduce thenumber of flights.

“The sunrise-to-sunset operationwhich will greatly affect our cam-paign to entice airline companies toinvest in the city. Most significantly,such a move will jeopardize publicsafety and the integrity of the multi-billion-peso project,” the Chambersaid.

Lt. Gen. William Hotchkiss III, di-rector general of the Civil AviationAuthority of the Philippines(CAAP), said that despite the ab-sence of several guiding instru-ments, planes could take off andland more safely at the airport thanat the older and aging Lumbia.

Test flightsIn April, two test flight landings

of a Cessna and Pilatus PC-12 air-craft were conducted as part of theairport’s “dry run” activities. Maj.Gen. Artemio Orozco, CAAP chief ofstaff, had said the pilots would as-sess wind conditions for landing

and that a probing flight for passen-ger airlines would also be sched-uled in the coming weeks.

One of the pilots said he was im-pressed with the new airport’s run-way and that even without naviga-tional lighting, it was safer thanLumbia.

The construction of the airportwas started in 2008 although theproject was conceptualized duringthe administration of PresidentCorazon Aquino in the late 1980sand approved by then President Fi-del V. Ramos. During the term ofPresident Joseph Estrada, only P375million was allocated for the project.

Under the administration of thenPresident Gloria Macapagal-Ar-royo, the airport’s construction wasput on hold until 2006 when theLaguindingan Airport DevelopmentProject was inaugurated, with Ar-royo herself leading the ground-breaking ceremony.

The opening of LaguindinganAirport was moved from April toJune 15 on the request of airlines,which found it difficult to rearrangeflight schedules of affected passen-gers.

Transportation Secretary JosephEmilio Abaya, who was present dur-ing yesterday’s ceremony, said thenumber of air passengers was pro-jected at 1.6 million per year.

“It is a thin report, because the an-nexes have yet to be forwarded to[Secretary De Lima],” the source said.

The report, according to the source,includes the identities of the coastguards who fired their rifles at Hung’sfishing boat in waters off Balintang Is-land on May 9.

Shooter identifiedIt also contains the identity of the

coast guard who fired the bullet thatkilled Hung, the source said.

The shooter was identified througha cross-match between the slug recov-ered from Hung’s body during autopsy

and the signature of the coast guard’sM14 rifle.

The shooting happened in Philip-pine waters, as the Philippine CoastGuard stated in its report on the inci-dent submitted to the NBI, the sourcesaid.

The source said the incident tookplace within 79.2 kilometers of Philip-pine territory and 316.8 km from Tai-wanese territory.

No attempt to ramBut the Coast Guard’s claim that the

the fishing boat Guan Ta Hsin 28 triedto ram the coastal patrol vessel MCS-3001 was disproved, the source said.

The Coast Guard claimed that the

fishing boat’s hostile move was the rea-son for its officers’ firing at the vessel,aiming for the engine to make it stop.

But the NBI report says the results ofthe ballistic tests and trajectory exami-nation on the fishing boat showed theshooters did not know where the en-gine was, the source said.

Diplomatic rowHung’s family has brought murder

charges against the Philippine CoastGuard in Pingtung County District At-torney’s Office in southern Taiwan andwith the NBI team of investigators whotraveled there last month for thePhilippine probe of Hung’s death.

The shooting death of the fisherman

sparked a major diplomatic row be-tween Taiwan and the Philippines.

Taiwan demanded an official apolo-gy from the Philippine government,compensation for Hung’s family andpunishment for the shooters.

To pressure the Philippines intocomplying, Taiwan froze new jobs inTaiwan for Filipino migrant workersand suspended tourist travel to thePhilippines and trade and culturalexchanges between the two coun-tries.

President Aquino apologized forthe shooting death of Hung, but Tai-wan rejected his apology because ofhis description of the killing as “un-intended” and an “unfortunate loss

of life.”

CooperateThe two countries, however, agreed

to cooperate in the investigation ofHung’s death.

A team of Taiwanese investigatorstraveled to Manila to examine thecoast guards’ weapons, interviewthem, and see their own video of thechase between their vessel and Hung’sfishing boat.

An NBI team traveled to Taiwan, ex-amined Hung’s boat, interviewed itscrew, and studied the Taiwanese coro-ner’s autopsy report.

The two teams agreed to releasetheir findings separately.

From page A1

From page A1

PRESIDENT Aquino walks on the tarmac of the new Laguindingan International Airport in Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental,on Tuesday for a final inspection of the airport that will replace Lumbia airport. MALACAÑANG PHOTO

Exorcist gives tips

From page A1

“The devil has been able to roam un-detected even to the point that we don’tbelieve he exists,” the CBCPNews, theofficial news service of the CatholicBishops’ Conference of the Philippines(CBCP), quoted Iannuzzi as saying.

The Italian priest, who has been as-sisting for years Fr. Gabriel Amorth,one of the chief exorcists in the dio-cese of Rome, gave a series of talks toFilipino audiences during his visit tothe country over the weekend.

Iannuzzi of the Gregorian PontificalUniversity of Rome, also gave a theo-logical presentation on the triumph ofthe Immaculate Heart of Mary during anationwide consecration to the Virginheld on Saturday in different churches.

Someone to devourIannuzzi explained how diabolical

activities were more commonplace

than people liked to believe.“Any sense of fear or anxiety is an

evil spirit... As St. Peter said in his let-ter, the devil roams the earth, lookingfor someone to devour,” the theolo-gian said, noting that even nightmaresmight be the doing of the devil.

Stressing how potent sacramentalscan be, Iannuzzi said these ob-jects—such as holy water, exorcisedoil and salt, scapulars and the Bene-dictine cross—should be used forprotection against evil.

The Catholic Church defines sacra-mentals as sacred objects, actions orblessings that communicate grace tobelievers through the prayers of theChurch. Exorcised salt and oil are spe-cial sacramentals blessed with exor-cism prayers by a priest.

Weapon vs nightmaresIannuzzi advised Catholics to sprin-

kle their homes with holy water

should they experience “strange hap-penings.” The holy water—availablein churches—is also powerful tocombat nightmares, he said, advisingthe faithful to bless themselves with itbefore going to bed.

Iannuzzi also recommended usingexorcised oil, whose effects lastlonger. But only olive oil can be usedfor such purpose, he pointed out.

But Iannuzzi was quick to add thatthe faithful must not overdo theseholy practices. “I am not saying bescrupulous, [like] if anyone bothersyou, throw [holy water] in theirfaces,” he explained.

For those who have been using thesacramentals to ward off evil, they mustnot complain if they don’t feel any dif-ferently, Iannuzzi said.

“Often, the proof is precisely thatnothing happens,” he said. “This iswhat is keeping your family safe, be-lieve it or not.”

Only 5 in PH make listof Asia’s top universities86th ranking last year.

The University of Santo Tomas (UST)was ranked 150th, compared to 148th lastyear.

De La Salle University was ranked in the151-160th range, down from its 142ndrank last year.

The University of Southeastern Philip-pines remained in the 251-300 range,where it was last year.

UP, Ateneo, La Salle and UST have consis-tently made it to the QS list of top Asianuniversities since the rankings began in2009.

Missed the cutThe nine Philippine universities that

were on last year’s list but did not makethe cut this year were Silliman Universi-ty, Xavier University, Saint Louis Uni-versity, University of San Carlos, Ate-neo de Davao University, Adamson Uni-versity, Central Mindanao University,Mapua Institute of Technology and thePolytechnic University of the Philip-pines.

They were in the 301-plus rank last year.These universities were among the Philip-

pine universities that were consistently in-

cluded in the QS ranking since 2009.

9 indicatorsQS ranks universities worldwide accord-

ing to nine indicators, mainly based on rep-utation and research citations.

The indicators are academic reputation,employer reputation, faculty and student pop-ulation, citations per paper, international fac-ulty, international students, papers per faculty,inbound exchange and outbound exchange.

QS started the ranking among Asian uni-versities in 2009. From 2009 to 2011, itranked the 200 top universities in the re-gion. Last year it expanded the ranking tocover the top 300 Asian universities.

QS said it used a “slightly different”methodology from the one it used for theannual QS World University Rankings to“reflect the region’s different priorities.”

Top universitiesThis year’s top Asian universities were

the same as last year.Hong Kong University of Science and

Technology once more topped the QS rank-ing. Once again it was followed by NationalUniversity of Singapore, University of HongKong and Seoul National University.

Last year’s sixth-ranked Peking Universi-ty rounded up the top five this year.

From page A1

From page A1

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