The Standard - 2015 April 07 - Tuesday

Paul Georgereturns torout Heat

Flavorsof thePhilippines

VOL. XXIX NO. 51 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 TUESDAY : APRIL 7, 2015 www.manilastandardtoday.com [email protected]

Monitors:No MILF linkto MarwanA3

A16C1

Appeals courtstays Binaysuspension A4

PNOY’S RATINGSSTILL PLUNGING

The gridlock resumes. Traffic builds up on the southbound portion of Edsa in Kamuning on Monday as thousands of motorists return from the Holy Week break. MANNY PALMERO

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news

Boodle fight. Brig. Gen. Andre Magallanes Costales of the PMA, left, an unidentified PMA cadet, and PNP Officer in Charge Leonardo Espina are shown in a boodle fight in Camp Crame where other members of the PMA Class of 2018 attended. Manny PalMero

Escudero:Panel stillspeakingfor MILF

New poll shows PNoy’sratings still going down

The drop, to a net satisfaction rating of 11 percent (percent satis-fied minus percent dissatisfied), represented a steep 28-point decline from 39 percent in December, and was attributed to the Jan. 25 Mama-sapano incident in which 44 police commandos were killed in a covert operation gone wrong.

The survey showed that 47 per-cent were satisfied (down 16 points from the December survey) with Aquino’s performance; 36 percent were dissatisfied (up 12 points); and 17 percent (up three points) were undecided.

SWS said the March 2015 survey was conducted from March 20 to 23, 2015 using face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults nationwide, 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent for national percentages and plus or minus 6 percent for the regional findings.

The survey showed that satisfac-tion ratings of the President dropped across geographical areas, led by areas in Luzon outside Metro Manila.

The survey also found that most respondents opposed calls for Aqui-no to resign. Half disagreed that Aquino should resign while 32 per-cent said he should. Some 18 percent was undecided.

Aquino’s rating also fell across socio-economic classes, by 43

points among those in class ABC, and 27 points among those in classes D and E.

A Palace spokesman sought to put a positive spin on the drop by saying the SWS approval rating was higher than the President’s standing in a Pulse Asia survey conducted three weeks earlier.

“While there has been a decline in the President’s satisfaction rat-ing (down to 47 percent from 63 percent), it is evident that a higher number of Filipinos --- (50 percent who oppose his resignation; and 47 percent who expressed satisfaction) --- affirm their belief in his leader-ship and outnumber those who are dissatisfied (36 percent) or prefer that he resign from office (32 per-cent),” said Communications Secre-tary Herminio Coloma.

Coloma also pointed out that a significant segment of the respond-ents were undecided about the Pres-ident’s performance (17 percent) and about his resignation (18 per-cent), representing an opportunity for the administration to reach out and eventually win them over.

Coloma said the SWS survey was taken from March 20 to 23, three weeks after Pulse Asia’s public opinion survey conducted from March 1 to 7.

“It is possible that, having gath-ered more information about cur-rent events—and having been able to know and understand better the

By Sandy araneta

THE public satisfaction rating of President Benigno Aquino III plunged to its lowest level during the first quarter of 2015, the latest survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) shows.

President’s position on the Mama-sapano incident—the people gave the President a higher satisfaction rating in the SWS survey (47 percent) than the performance approval rating that he obtained in the Pulse Asia survey (38 percent),” Coloma said.

Despite the drop in ratings, Co-loma assured the public that the government remains focused on its priority programs, such as in-frastructure development, employ-ment generation, poverty reduction, and improved social protection.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda admitted, during a press briefing in Malacanang, that the Mamasapano incident may have taken its toll.

“Very clearly the events in Ma-masapano have influenced the po-litical landscape when the survey was taken. We recognize that. And moving forward, we will continue to do what is good for the Filipino people,” Lacierda said.

“We know that there are a number of things that we need to do, a number of concerns that we continue to address. And we will certainly perform our duties --- the President as well as the administra-tion. We still have several hundred days left,” Lacierda said.

Earlier, Pulse Asia had reported that the President’s approval and trust ratings plummeted to their lowest levels since 2010 follow the public out-rage over the Mamasapano debacle.

“This is the first time the Presi-dent has posted non-majority na-tional approval and trust ratings in Ulat ng Bayan surveys since he was first rated as president by survey re-spondents back in October 2010,” Pulse Asia said.

Aquino’s approval rating fell to

38 percent in March 2015 from 59 percent in November 2014, while his trust rating dropped to 36 percent from 56 percent for the same period.

The Pulse Asia survey, conducted from March 1 to 7 with 1,200 Filipi-no adults, also showed a significant rise in the disapproval and distrust towards Aquino.

The number of respondents who expressed disapproval toward the President rose from 11 percent in November to 23 percent, while those who did not trust Aquino increased to 27 percent up from 13 percent in the last quarter of 2014.

Pulse Asia said a notable increase in the President’s disapproval rat-ing was seen in the National Capital Region, up by 24 percentage points (from 17 percent in November 2014 to 41 percent in March).

Among the geographical areas, the rise in distrust was also highest in NCR, up 26 percentage points ( from 17 percent to 43 percent for the same period).

Pulse Asia said this means that one in every four Filipinos “is criti-cal of presidential performance and distrusts him.”

An ally of the President, Senator Francis Escudero, said he believed the President can still redeem him-self and recover the trust of Filipinos but warned him against dismissing the latest findings.

“Take it under advisement, move forward and keep on working to im-prove peace and order, the economy and the quality of life of the people,” Escudero said.

Another ally, Senator Anto-nio Trillanes IV, said “time and good governance will help heal the wounds of distrust.” – With Macon ramos-araneta

By Macon r. araneta and Maricel V. Cruz

SENATOR Francis Escudero on Monday blasted the government’s chief negotia-tor Miriam Coronel-Ferrer for speaking again on behalf of the Moro Islamic Liber-ation Front (MILF) in connection with the International Monitoring Team’s report on the Mamasapano incident in which 44 police commandos were killed by Muslim rebels, including fighters from the MILF.

“Why is Prof. Coronel speaking for the MILF?” Escudero asked in a text message.

Escudero and Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano have accused Ferrer and presidential adviser on peace process Teresita Deles of being mouthpieces for the MILF, with which the government is negotiating.

Ferrer and Deles, the two senators said, are pushing the agenda of the MILF instead of the government, and have called on Presi-dent Benigno Aquino III to replace them, a demand the President has ignored.

In a news conference Monday, Ferrer presented the report of the International Montoring Team, which conducted its own investigation of the Mamasapano in-cident, in which 18 MILF fighters and five civilians were also killed.

Quoting the report, Ferrer said the MILF, as an organization, did not provide sanctuary for Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan and Filipino bomb maker Basit Usman.

Marwan was killed during the execu-tion of Operation Exodus, the covert po-lice operation to serve his warrant of ar-rest, but Usman escaped.

But the IMT report also said some members of the MILF might have had knowledge about the whereabouts of Mar-wan and Usman.

The IMT is a multinational body head-ed by Malaysia, the peace talks’ facilitator, tasked with monitoring the implementa-tion of the peace agreements between the government and the MILF.

But Escudero said he would like to first see the IMT report before commenting on its findings.

Opposition Senator JV Ejercito rejected the IMT conclusion that the MILF did not coddle Marwan.

“That is very hard to believe! That is ri-diculous!” he said.

He noted that Marwan’s hut was situ-ated a few meters away from the house of the MILF commander and the mosque.

He also called into question the role of Malaysia, which has supported the MILF.

A Senate investigation earlier conclud-ed that the MILF had protected Marwan and Usman.

In the House, a member of the inde-pendent minority bloc said no amount of media hype and spin would overcome the constitutional infirmities of the Bang-samoro Basic Law (BBL), the lynchpin in the government’s peace agreeent with the MILF.

Abakada party-list Rep. Jonathan de la Cruz said mass actions and propagan-da tricks, including the mobilization of known Aquino supporters in the private sector, would not make the BBL in its cur-rent form conform to the Constitution, even if so-called peace-oriented groups mount a thousand peace summits.

“They have been on a PR (public rela-tions) blitz for some time and it appears that the peace council or summit is the lat-est peg to push the BBL,” De la Cruz said.

De la Cruz said what the Palace was do-ing was a tacit admission that the BBL was indeed a “bad product.”

“As PR practitioners say, the best way to dump a bad product is to promote it – and BBL is one such product,” De la Cruz said.

Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III, a member of the minority bloc, agreed that no amount of spin would make a bad law good.

“The fate of the BBL is a legislative act. It is dependent on how both chambers of Congress would be dissecting, amend-ing or revising the proposed BBL so that all provisions which are offensive to and execrable to the Constitution are excised from the measure,” Albano said.

1-BAP party-list Rep. Silvstre Bello III and Zamboanga Rep. Celso Lobregat said the BBL in its present form will not pass the test of constitutionality.

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LTO: No delay in issuing license plates

Appeals court upholds Junjun

Against privatization. Coconut farmers from Bicol and Southern Tagalog picket at the Chino Roces Bridge in Mendiola, Manila, to protest against the privatization of the coconut levy fund. Ey AcAsio

By Rio N. ArajaTHE Land Transportation Office denied on Monday that it had been negligent in the release of license plates for newly registered vehicles.

“To us, all registrations have been issued plates. I think even if you talk to (car) dealers, they tell you that once they file the appli-cations, within seven days, they could already get their

official receipts, certificate of registration and plate,” LTO chief Alfonso Tan Jr. said in a television interview.

“The plates are always available and our registra-tion processing is fast,” Tan said in reaction to mounting crticism against the LTO’s no-plate no-travel policy that was implemented on April 1.

Tan said auto dealers could also be blamed for the delay in the submission of

applications for registration of plates of vehicles bought from them. “At that point in time that one has bought a car, one should have asked the dealer if the registration is ready,” he said.

According to Tan, dealers must not use as an alibi the lack of certificate of stock re-port from car importers and manufacturers.

Under the new LTO poli-cy, owner of the unregistered

vehicle will be fined with P10,000.A separate P1,000 fine will also be meted out to those who will be caught driving the unregistered ve-hicle.

If the car owner or driver will be able to present a Cer-tificate of Registration and an Official Receipt (OR) to prove that the vehicle is duly registered, he will still be fined of P5,000 for failure toattach the vehicle’s plate.

By Rey E. Requejo

THE Court of Appeals on Monday issued a writ of preliminary injunction that indefinitely stops the Office of the Ombudsman from carrying out the sus-pension of Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. and 15 other officials for their alleged role in the overpricing of the Makati City Hall Building II.

In a 15-page resolution written by As-sociate Justice Jose Reyes Jr., the CA’s Sixth Division granted Binay’s plea for the issu-ance of a writ of preliminary injunction

enjoining respondents OmbudsmanConchita Carpio-Morales and the

Department of Interior and Local Gov-ernment from implementing Binay’s suspension order issued on March 10.

The appellate court also directed the par-ties to preserve the status quo before the issu-ance of the Ombudsman’s joint order.

But the CA also ordered Binay to file a bond amounting to P500,000 to answer for whatever damages might result from the preliminary injunction, in case it is finally decided that he is not entitled to the remedy.

The CA earlier issued a 60-day tempo-rary restraining order against Binay’s sus-pension, but the Ombudsman and the DILG refused to respect it, saying it was rendered moot and academic when Vice Mayor Kid Peña was sworn in as acting mayor.

This prompted the camp of Binay to file contempt charges against Morales, Interior and Local Government Secre-tary Manuel Roxas II, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and several police officials for defying the court order.

De Lima on Monday asked the court to dismiss Binay’s motion to cite her in

contempt.“Contempt involves disobedience,

defiance that tries to undermine the processes of the court. In the first place, the TRO was not directed at me – I’m not a party to the case – so how can I be ac-cused of disobedience of defiance?” De Lima said in an interview.

She added that her legal opinion that the CA’s TRO was moot and academic was advisory in nature and was not le-gally binding on any party.

In ruling against the Ombudsman and DILG, the CA said: “While public office is a public trust and there is no vested right to hold public office, still it is the policy of the Court to exercise ut-most scrutiny in reviewing suspension orders brought before its jurisdiction by reason of jurisprudential aversion to-wards preventive measure,” the CA said.

Contrary to the Ombudsman’s claim, the court added, there was no concrete evidence of Binay’s particiaption in the alleged payments to Hillmarc’s Con-struction Corp. or Mana Architecture and Design Co., for the building. – With Joel E. Zurbano

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news

Key issuesunsettled,lawmakerstell PNoy

No evidence MILF coddledMarwan—truce monitors

File your case, Bulacan guv toldBy Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

A COMMISSION on Elections official on Monday dared the camp of Bulacan Gov-ernor Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado to file an impeachment case against its acting chief Christian Robert Lim for allegedly “rail-roading the recall proceedings.”

“Let him threaten. We refuse to respond to any such threat,” Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said.

He was reacting to a statement made by Alvarado’s lawyers at the weekend threaten-ing to impeach Lim for allegedly railroading Alvarado’s case.

Lim will be acting Comelec chairman un-til President Benigno Aquino III appoints the successor of retired Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes.

Jimenez believes that Alvarado’s camp will not file an impeachment case against Lim, but he urged Alvarado to wait for the result of the verification process that ended last week.

“I think it is best to wait for the result of the verification,” Jimenez said.

“You never know if his mandate will be re-freshed, so let’s just wait for that to happen.”

Alvarado’s lawyers were accusing Lim that they heard that he granted an ex-parte motion of petitioner Perlita Mendoza, sister of former governor and now Rep. Jonjon Mendoza seek-ing to terminate the validation of the signa-tures and thumb marks of petitioners in the recall proceedings. The decision was supposed to be made by the commission en banc.

“The motion that Mendoza filed only on March 30 is not only illegal but deprived us of basic due process to be given the simple chance to comment on the matter. Secondly, ex-parte motions are only allowed in the trial courts where only a single judge decides by virtue of his discretionary powers,” Al-varado’s lawyers said.

A copy of the Comelec order given to The Standard showed that only Commissioner Lim in his acting capacity as chairman signed the Order, the dispositive portion of which reads: “the Commission en banc hereby GRANTS the aforementioned Motion ending the verifi-cation of signatures by the Election Officers at 5:00 p.m. today, 31 March, 2015.”

By Florante S. Solmerin and Maricel V. Cruz

THE International Monitoring Team (IMT) acknowledged that some members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front may have coddled Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, but there is no proof to show that the group as a whole backed terrorists, said government peace negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer.

Ferrer said the Malaysia-led and dominated IMT made the acknowledgment in its “Mamasapano Verifi-cation Report” that was pre-sented in a press briefing in Pasig City on Monday.

“Maybe some [MILF] members may have known the whereabouts of Mar-wan and Usman but not the MILF as an organization,” Ferrer said, quoting from the report which she re-ceived on Sunday.

“The encounter site is ac-cepted to be an MILF con-trolled area particularly in Tukanalipao which under the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces,” Ferrer said, quoting from the report which she re-ceived on Sunday.

According to the report, the IMT saw five possible vi-olations committed by both forces: the MILF providing sanctuary to criminals; the PNP-SAF failed to coordi-nate its law enforcement op-

eration that led to the fire-fight; the aggressive actions of both sides for committing actions such as ambush, ter-rorist acts like summary ex-ecutions and other possible ceasefire violations, and un-justified massing of troops or massive deployment.

The IMT also complained that its probers were not granted access to the site where the firefight occurred due to security issues, par-ticularly in Barangay Tukan-alipao.”

The IMT also was also not able interview any of the SAF men involved in “Oplan Exodus” that was planned and implemented by the sacked SAF director, Getulio Napenas, and then suspended and now resigned Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Alan Puri-sima and duly approved by Aquino.

“They relied mostly on the proceedings and documents

from the eharng made by Congress, the PNP’s Board of Inquiry and the MILF re-port,” Ferrer said.

At the same time, Ferrer dismissed speculations that the briefing was called to set the tone for the investigative hearing that the House of Representatives will resume today [Tuesday].

The Independent Bloc in the House of Representa-tives, led by Leyte Rep. Fer-dinand Martin Romualdez, said it has several questions to ask of President Benigno Aquino III through his rep-resentatives when the joint congressional panel re-sumes.

Palace officials, heads of the peace panel and top Na-tional police officials will be the resource persons in the House committees on public order and peace, reconcili-ation and unity hearing on the Mamasapano massacre which involved the killing of

44 police commandos.At least 30 lawmakers

are lined-up to ask ques-tions to resource persons. Each of them will be given five minutes to convey their thoughts on the debacle and seek response from the gov-ernment official being asked to shed light on the issue.

Among those invited for the hearings were Inte-rior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, government peace negotiating panel chairper-son Miriam Coronel Ferrer, peace process adviser Sec-retary Teresita Deles, and Moro Islamic Liberation Front peace panel chairper-son Mohagher Igbal.

The joint panel resumed its probe on the Mamasapano incident after more than 100 lawmakers signed a resolu-tion asking the House leader-ship to proceed with the con-gressional investigation.

By Maricel V. Cruz

THE Independent Minority Bloc will have major ques-tions for President Aquino through his duly-authorized representative when the House of Representatives resumes its investigations into the Mamasapano mas-sacre today.

Bloc leader and Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Ro-mualdez and Bloc member ABAKADA Rep. Jonathan de la Cruz said all the other government, military and police officials who were supposed have had a role in the Mamasapano operation will also hav a lot of explain-ing to do.

Romualdez pointed out that Mr Aquino had de-bunked the findings of the PNP/Board of Inquiry (BOI) and the Senate on the Mamasapano Massacre as, among others, inaccu-rate, incomplete, unfounded and speculative. But Mala-canang has not reacted in the same way to the MILF report on the slaughter.

”So does this mean that President Aquino agrees more with the contents, nar-ration of facts and conclu-sions of the 35-page MILF? Which, then, among the PNP-BOI, Senate and MILF reports does the President find as closer to the truth on what really happened in Mamasapano,” Romualdez and De la Cruz noted.

Romualdez noted that in referring to both the BOI and Senate reports in his speech before graduating cadets of the Philippine National Olice Academy, the President said those who prepared the reports chose to speculate and that how can guesswork, in-stead of facts, help clarify this issue?

Pushing hard. Chief government peace negotiators Miriam Coronel-Ferrer answers questions from journalists regarding the report released by the International Monitoring Team on the Mamasapano incident. Ferrer was accompanied by (from left) ceasefire panel members Carlos Sol and Senen Bacani and Brig. Gen.Manolito Orense during press briefing in Pasig City. MANNY PALMERO

Act of God. Thankful for their Easter blessing, a farmer’s son harvests tomatoes spared by Typhoon Chedeng which later dissipated upon hitting land during the weekend. DAVID CHAN

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Palace: It’s up to courtsto decide onArroyo’s caseBy Sandy Araneta and Rio N. Araja

FORMER President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo must be prosecuted if there is evidence against her, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Monday.

He made the statement in a press briefing in response to the cases pending against Aquino during the Aquino administration.

He cited the plunder case filed by the Ombudsman against Arroyo and another case filed against her by the Commission on Elections over an alleged election offense.

“The bottom line is, if there is evidence, prosecute,” Lacierda said.

“If there is evidence, it is up to the courts to decide the outcome of a case. It’s not within our province to decide the fate of an accused. The fate is decided by a judge or justices.”

Arroyo turned 68 on Easter Sunday, and all she wanted as a birthday gift was to be released from the Veterans Memorial Medical Center, said her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo.

Arroyo celebrated her birthday at the hospital at 11 am, and only relatives and close friends came to visit her.

“She wished that one day she’d finally be free,” Jose Miguel said.

COA to Ched: P3.6-b school funds missingBy Rio Araja

At least 100 state universities and colleges have yet to account for P3.683 billion in Disbursement Acceleration Program funds, according to a 2013 report posted last week on the Commission on Audit’s website.

The Commission on Higher Education told CoA that it had already sent letters to 110 government-owned schools on June 27 last year, requiring the submission of liquidation reports.

CoA said CHEd received P4.063 billion from the Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Social Welfare and Development and Philippine Institute for Development Studies in December 2011.

At least P3.825 billion was

transferred to the SUCs between July 2012 and December 2013.

The amount of P238 million was retained for administrative and other expenses.

Of the amount transferred to state-owned schools, P3.638 billion or 95.11 percent remained unliquidated as of December 31, 2013 in violation of the rules under CoA Circular No. 94-013 issued on Dec. 31, 1994 and the memoranda of agreement entered into among CHEd, SUCs and other source agencies.

CoA recognized that SUCs had been faced with two major challenges – the need to provide access to quality higher education and to generate, adapt or transfer technologies that would efficiently and effectively enhance productivity, alleviate poverty and improve the country’s state of competitiveness.

To arrest such issues would require substantial investments and the national government’s assistance to CHEd through DAP funds for a roadmap for reforms for public higher education, it said.

Funds from the DPWH were intended for infrastructure and facilities’ upgrade and modernization, while those from the DSWD and PIDS were for the implementation of student grants-in-aid for poverty alleviation, among others.

After the audit of CHEd’s financial records, CoA said recipient SUCs failed to submit the verified liquidation reports and status of project implementation for the DAP-funded projects.

“To ensure that the DAP Funds are properly utilized for the intended purpose/s, it is incumbent upon CHEd to regularly monitor, as a good management practice, the projects being undertaken by SUCs,including the periodic submission of the required progress/financial reports,” its report stated.

Apart from sending letters to the 110 SUCs, CHEd said they also forwarded the status of the DAP funds as of June 30, 2014 and that a consolidated liquidation report was already being prepared.

‘Guarding Dimaporo beyond cops’ task’By Vito Barcelo

CITING lack of manpower and dwindling resources, the San Juan City Police on Monday asked the Ombudsman to file a motion before the Sandiganbayan committing Lanao Del Norte Representative Abdullah Dimaporo to the PNP Custodial Center.

San Juan Police acting chief Senior Supt. Ariel Arcinas said Dimaporo’s well-being as a detainee should be, by law, a responsibility of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.

The motion was filed by

former city police chief, Chief Superintendent Joselito Daniel in January last year.

He said guarding Dimaporo, who is under hospital arrest at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center, is draining the force who should be doing police-related tasks like going after criminals.

The police said BJMP personnel are better-equipped and trained to look after Dimaporo.

Under the law, BJMP is mandated to take charge of detention prisoners for safekeeping and transport during court proceedings.

Tutubi stamps. Philpost Chairman Cesar Sarino and Postmaster General Josephine dela Cruz launch the ‘Tutubi’ (dragonfly) stamps marking the 23rd founding anniversary of the postal agency. They in the same event also unveiled 50 new vans under the agency’s modernization program. EY ACASIO

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news

Bases agency dunnedfor P1.4-b award

AFP Medical chief named;18 more get new posts

Solar-powered PNP sees hefty cut in electricity bill

Catch of the day. A fisherman struts home contented with his fresh catch in Lake Rosario, Brgy. Kapatagan Digos in Davao Del Sur on Monday. ROLAND JUMAWAN

President Aquino has appointed Air Force Colonel Joseph Acosta as acting chief of the AFP Medical Center at V. Luna in Quezon City as well as 18 other appointees in vari-ous government offices.

Acosta, former chief of the AFP Medical Corps, replaces Air Force Brig. Gen. normando sta. Ana Jr. who bowed out of service as he reached mandatory age of 56.

the other new appointees were Corazon C. davis, Assistant secretary of the department of environment and natural re-sources; Fidelis F. Canada, as Acting director ii, Office of Civil defense; Amante r. Caluya Jr. , Captain of Hydrography Branch, national Mapping and resource information Authority, denr; Josefina M. rico, director ii, national Meat inspection service, department of Agriculture; Ariel t. Cayanan, Acting executive director iii, Philippine Coun-cil for Agriculture and Fisheries; Marcial C. Amaro Jr., Assistant secretary of denr; danielle Marie s. rieza, Acting Assistant secretary of Finance; Arthur C. Abamonga, register of deeds ii, Land registration Authority, department of Justice; Julie Mae Monique M. Abela, register of deeds ii; Casiano C. Arcillas, register of deeds ii; Consuelo F. Filog, register of deeds ii; din-na M. Lao, register of deeds ii; Maria elnora d. Puday, register of deeds ii; roman M. Jumawan, director iV of the department of transportation and Commu-nications; Josie B. Perez, deputy national statistician for Censuses and technical Coordination Of-fice, Philippine statistics Au-thority, national economic and development Authority (nedA); estela t. de Guzman, deputy national statistician for Civil registration and Central sup-port Office, Philippine statistics Authority, nedA; raul Fajardo Marcelo, Member, representing the private sector in the Board of directors subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (sBMA); and Jose J. suan, Member, representing the labor sector, Board of directors, Zamboanga City special eco-nomic Zone Authority. Florante Solmerin, Sandy Araneta

By Francisco TuyaytHe Philippine national Police is expected to save P5 million in its energy consumption yearly with the use of solar power at its headquarters in Camp Crame.

this developed after the PnP sealed a memorandum of agree-ment with the department of energy on the installation of a solar power generation system.

the agreement was signed by PnP Officer-in-charge dep-uty director General Leonardo espina and energy secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla.

“this is one of the biggest solar power installations in gov-ernment,” Petilla said as he dis-closed that policemen could also

benefit from the renewable ener-gy source in the soonest possible time without having to pay for the installation in their homes.

espina, for his part, said the solar energy “will benefit us for a very, very long time because our consumption would dramati-cally decrease.”

the solar generation system will be funded by a donation from the Japan internation-al Corporation system with neWJeC as consultant of the project.

the solar panels will be in-stalled at the PnP sports Center and at the Center for Law enforce-ment studies.

the dOe said that the two solar facilities would generate

600,000 Kwh per year and would have a sustained power for ten years from the date of commis-sioning.

At present, the PnP has an average monthly consumption of P12, 398,096.72 or P8.88 per kilowatt.

With the expected commis-sioning of the solar Generation system, the PnP could save about P5,330,309.33 yearly or P444,192.44 per month.

Government is pursuing the use of renewable energy like solar power as mandated by republic Act no. 9513. the law provides for incentives on those who promote and use efficient and cost- effective re-newable energy.

the company’s chief operating officer Alfredo Yniguez stressed that the company has been aware of BCdA’s attempts to rouse the ex-isting locators and sub-Lessees into filing suit against the developer as a result of the PdrCi’s favorable award to CJHdeVCO.

“the Arbitral Award of the PdrCi ordered CJHdeVCO to return to BCdA the Camp upon return to CJHdeVCO of the P7.4 billion rentals paid by CJHdeV-CO,” said Yniguez. “But the Arbi-tral Award did nOt Order that the Camp be returned to BCdA,

Free And CLeAr OF its LO-CAtOrs, Lessees, tenAnts, “ he clarified.

“thus, the Arbitral tribunal, including the BCdA president Casanova, who is a lawyer by pro-fession, is well aware that the law protects third parties in good faith in the event of mutual rescission of the lease agreement over the Camp,” Yniguez added.

“it is clear Casanova does not want the return of the Camp with its existing locators, lessees and tenants. He wants to evict them and his wish is for CJHdeVCO

By Rey Requejo

Camp John Hay’s developer CJH Development Cor-poration on monday tagged as pathetic the latest at-tempt of Bases Conversion Development authority to evade the payment to CJHDEVCO of the p1.4 billion- award by the philippine Dispute Resolution Center Inc.

to pay the costs of eviction of the existing locators, lessees and ten-ants,” he said. “We want our loca-tors, lessees and tenants to stay in the Camp. so why would they sue CJHdeVCO?” said Yniguez.

“it is not CJHdeVCO who wants to evict them from the Camp, it is BCdA who wants to evict them. Hence, if there is any party who the locators, lessees and tenants should sue is BCdA should BCdA not honor their rights to their proper-ties and possessions in the Camp,” said Mr. Yniguez.

nonetheless, the CJHdeVCO official assured that the company would provide legal services to protect the rights of all third party locators, lessees and tenants.

the CJHdeVCO official said the BCdA wants to evade payment of the P1.4 billion money award by rousing the existing locators, Les-sees and tenants to lay claim to the P1.4 billion rentals BCdA is sup-

posed to pay back to CJHdeVCO.“Mr. Casanova wants the locators,

lessees and tenants to lay claim on the money award to CJHdeVCO to save BCdA from paying CJHdeV-CO the P1.4 billion money award,” Mr. Yniquez commented.

“in fact, the BCdA has sent writ-ten proposals to our locators, les-sees and tenants, that if they assign their rights to lay claims against CJHdeVCO, BCdA shal1 not evict them but reward them with continuing lease over their prop-erties under the original period agreed upon with CJHdeVCO, “ said Mr. Yniguez.

“the proposal of Casanova clearly exposes the parties con-cerned to graft and corruption since once the properties of loca-tors, lessees and tenants are re-turned BCdA, BCdA cannot dis-pose of them without the proper public bidding to these properties,” Yniguez said.

New chief. Colonel Joseph Acosta (left), awardee of the Ten Outstanding Philippine Soldiers in 2004, receives the symbol of authority from Lt. General Virgilio Domingo, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, in a turnover ceremony on April 6, 2015. Acosta replaces Brig. Gen. Normando Sta. Ana Jr. who reached the mandatory retirement age of 56.

[email protected]

t u e s d ay : a p r i l 7, 2 0 1 5

news A7

Butuan residents ask Court to stop P500-m water deal

P15-billion coal plant to rise in Negros

No jets at Tacloban airport as repair continues

Parched. Butuan City residents line up for water in this file photo from January, when the city council declared a State of Water Crisis. ALVIN T. GUANZON

All dolled up. Dancers smile during the opening of the month-long Daragang Magayon festival in Legazpi City, Albay. DANNY PATA

The BCWD had inked a 25-year agreement with Twin Peak Hydro Re-sources Corporation to build Sabo Dam and other facilities. When the dam is

finished, Twin Peak’s sub-sidiary, Taguibo Aquat-ech Solutions Corpora-tion, would sell the water in bulk to the city, which would in turn sell the wa-

ter to more than 100,000 residential, commercial and industrial water con-cessionaires.

According to the pe-titioners represented by lawyer Froilan Montero, the project is “too ex-pensive” at P500 million, there was no consultation done among the people, and one of the incorpo-rators of Twin Peak is Tubay, Agusan del Norte

Vice Mayor Jimmy Beray —a nephew of BCWD general manager, engi-neer Anselmo Sangtian.

The petitioners also cited that Twin Peak was incorporated in February 2013, barely two months before it entered into the agreement with the water district.

The Butuan residents also want the BCWD to ex-plain what happened to the

P1- billion loan it obtained from the LWUA between 2008 and 2011.

The same results could be obtained, they said, by constructing a sedimentation pond for P20 million.

The petition comes after a month-long water crisis in Butuan City, when the city council was forced to declare a State of Water Crisis. Alvin T. Guanzon

SeVeNTeeN residents of Butuan City have asked the Supreme Court to stop the Bulk Water Supply and Treatment Project of the Butuan City Water District for numerous irregularities.

TACLOBAN CITY—Jets will not be allowed to use Tacloban Airport from April 14 to 30 as the government proceeds with the repair of the 338-meter portion of the runway.

The Civil Aviation Author-ity of the Philippines (CAAP) has issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) informing airline companies of a new round of aircraft restrictions for the Daniel Z. Romualdez (DZR) Airport. These dates had been agreed upon by the govern-ment and airlines.

CAAP Tacloban area man-ager Antonio Alfonso said the runway will be closed to Airbus planes as the Depart-ment of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) has to repave it.

“Once the resurfacing work starts, only 1,440 meters of the runway will be used, just enough for propeller-driven aircraft. The repair is badly needed for the safety of travel-lers,” Alfonso told reporters.

Still under way is the paving of 300 meters at the northernmost part of the runway, which is up for com-pletion on April 13.

The airport’s runway has not been used after sunset since the third week of February.

It was scheduled for com-pletion early March, but the timeline has been adjusted due to logistical hurdles and short-age of paving materials supply.

From Sept. 3 to Dec. 23, 2014, the airport was closed to Airbus planes due to mas-sive repairs on the runway. Only turbo-propeller aircraft were allowed. Repaving run-way was delayed due to bad weather and shortage of as-phalt overlay.

The DOTC temporarily stopped the massive repair due to influx of travelers for last year’s Christmas and Pope Francis’ visit to Leyte on Jan. 17. PNA

BACOLOD CITY—A P15.5-billion, 150-megawatt coal-fired power plant has been proposed in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental. Construction will start in the last quarter of the year.

“We need more base load power plants in Negros Island to augment the geothermal power plants in Negros Oriental and to supply the island’s base load and intermedi-ate load power requirements 24/7,” Frank Carbon, president of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Com-merce and Industry, said.

Power investors are welcome so long as they comply with the regu-latory requirements.

Carbon added: “We need more diesel and blended fuel power plants for the island’s peak and reserve power requirements. We

have to have embedded power plants for base load and peak load power requirements of Negros so that we will have reliable, quality and affordable power.”

On March 30, consortium Asia Pacific energy Resources Ventures Inc.(APeRVI)-Sparkling Capital signed three contracts with energy earth Public Company Ltd. for the realization of the power generation project.

These include a memorandum of understanding for the establish-ment of the joint venture for the plant construction, a long-term coal supply agreement, and a joint venture for mine operation in In-donesia.

Ceasar Ibañez Lao-as, presi-dent and chief executive officer of APeRVI, said the construction

phase of the project is expected to generate about 2,000 jobs.

APeRVI is a Bacolod-based mining construction and energy producer company, while Spar-kling Capital is a French power and investment firm.

The consortium, through its subsidiary North Negros energy Power Corp. (NNePC), is develop-ing the 150-MW coal-fired power plant in Barangay Banquerohan, Cadiz City.

energy earth Public Co. Ltd. is a Thailand-based multinational company with dual listing in Thai-land Stock exchange and Frank-furt Stock exchange.

APeRVI-Sparkling Capital will represent energy earth in all coal supply transactions within the Philippines. PNA

opinionA8

[ EDI TORI A L ]

His undoing

A9ADELLE chuAE d i T o R

T u E S D AY : A P R I L 7, 2 0 1 5

opinion

President noynoy Aqui-no, in his easter sunday message, proudly compared the supposed gains of his administration to the resur-rection of Christ. After the latest survey results on the people’s satisfaction with government were released yesterday, i think it’s safe to say that Aquino’s admin-istration hasn’t even com-

pleted its descent into the hell of unpopularity and ir-relevance yet.

And the results of the so-cial Weather stations sur-vey are even damning than the last poll conducted by its main polling rival, Pulse Asia. Using sWs’ method of subtracting the polled disapproval from the ap-proval to come up with a net rating, Aquino’s satis-faction rating has already hit an all-time low of plus-11 percent; this compares to the net plus-15 percent approval rating polled by

Still plunging

“And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher.” the stone was not rolled away for Him to come out. He did not have any need for that. We find, later on, in the ac-counts of His appearances, that at one point the disciples were hidden away in a room where the windows and doors were closed and locked and Jesus Christ just walked right in. He needed no door. no wall could hold Him out. the stone was rolled away in order for us to see for our-selves that the tomb was empty and that He rose from the dead. it still stands as evidence that Jesus is not dead, that the bonds of death could not hold Him. He is alive today.

He is alive! And thus the reason we celebrate easter sunday also called Pasch or resurrection sunday. eas-ter sunday is preceded by the season of Lent, a 40-day period of fasting and repentance culminating in Holy Week and followed by a 50-day eas-ter season that stretches from easter to Pentecost.

the new testament states that the resurrection of Jesus, which eas-ter celebrates, is a foundation of the Christian faith. the resurrection es-tablished Jesus as the powerful son of God and is cited as proof that God will judge the world in righteous-ness. God has given Christians “a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”. Christians, through faith in the working of God, are spiritually resurrected with Jesus so that they may walk in a new way of life.

the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the centerpiece of the Christian faith, according to the Apostle Paul, who even says that if Jesus Christ has not been resurrected then the Chris-tian faith is worthless and futile (1 Cor. 15:14-17). therefore, without easter there is no Christianity. the power of resurrection is so strong that even death has no power over him. the power of resurrection is so strong that all the power of darkness could not stop it. the resurrection is the miracle of all miracles! there is no other religion on earth except the Christian religion that claims God has died and came back to life. What differentiates it from other religions is its declaration that Christ literally

‘The large sTone

moved’

so stupid that they will believe whatever the media tells them, and two, that this government, supposedly the most media-savvy that we’ve seen in decades, does not have media assets way be-yond the humongous resources that the palace already has in-house.

the inconvenient and increas-ingly incontrovertible truth of the matter seems to be that Aquino has lost his grip on what his bosses

want. And that if he continues on listening only to his closest ad-visers and his own uniformed in-stincts, then he will lose whatever connection with the people that he has left.

Only then can Aquino and his administration claim to have risen from the dead. For the moment, the plunge continues.

* * *speaking of the pits, the Land

transportation Office has abso-

lutely no right to impose rules supposedly to fix a problem when it caused the problem in the first place. i know that LtO now claims that it has not been remiss in mak-ing license plates available to car owners who want them; the real-ity, as any car owner will tell you, is way different.

the truth is, the release of car plates – as well as sticker tags, drivers’ licenses and all the other

Continued on A11 Continued on A11

tHe results of the latest survey by the social Weather stations are hardly surprising. they show President Benigno Aquino iii’s approval ratings are at their lowest following the Mamasapano tragedy.

the survey, conducted from March 20 to March 23 this year, said Aquino obtained a net satisfaction rating of +11 (moderate), a steep decline from the +39 (good) he obtained just this december.

it was an even sharper drop from the +47 registered during the same period last year. The drop took place in all geographic areas and across all socio-economic classes.

The sWs figures corroborate a similar finding by Pulse Asia released in March, which also showed the President’s approval numbers taking a beating in the first quarter this year.

the perennially optimistic, “glass-half-full” spokesman of the Palace, however, makes a distinction between the findings of the two poll firms. secretary Herminio Coloma says that the sWs survey, which was taken after the results of Pulse Asia were released in March, was higher, showing that the people have been made to understand the President’s position on the matter.

the presidential adviser on the peace process was more combative. secretary teresita deles told a group of evangelical Christians on Monday that Mr. Aquino’s critics were spreading lies and misinformation to discredit the peace process and drag down the President’s popularity.

deles heads the agency that is talking with the Moro islamic Liberation Front to establish a Bangsamoro entity in Mindanao. Curiously, it was in MiLF “territory” where a Malaysian terrorist had been hiding for years. Members of the elite special Action Force killed the Malaysian but 44 of them were killed by fighters from the MiLF and Bangsamoro islamic Freedom Fighters as they were retreating. no support from the Philippine military came to rescue them.

deles is wrong. the critics may be doing what they are known for doing, but it is Mr. Aquino who has done a much better job of pulling down his numbers.

He must be beside himself to see his popularity figures slipping. this was a man, after all, who stumbled into the presidency by popular mandate—sympathy vote, some say—soon after the death of his mother. Mr. Aquino rode the popular clamor for transparency and good governance, capitalizing on the people’s hunger for genuine change.

Outwardly he grumbled that the presidency took such a big toll on his personal life. We know now, however, that Mr. Aquino relished the ego boost that his popularity brought, fancying himself infallible and feeding the Filipinos the lie that one is simply either good or bad, with him or against him. And for a time, the people believed him – until he began to unravel.

nowhere is his state of mind more apparent than when he defends himself and his friends, passing on the blame to others outside of his circle while continuing to extoll the supposed virtues of “daang Matuwid.”

these succeeding months until June 2016, President Aquino will have more reminders that his opinion of himself is scandalously out of touch with the people’s—even the opinion of those who voted for and believed in him five years ago.

One may ask: What business does a genuine leader have, anyway, bothering with popularity ratings, finding excuses for lower approval numbers and blasting critics for not applauding his every move? Then again, we only have a president here—not a genuine leader.

The increasingly incontrovertible

truth of the matter seems to

be that Aquino has lost his

grip on what his bosses want.

EAgLE EYEs

dEAn TonYLA ViÑA

Lowdown

jojo A. RobLEs

CYAn MAgEnTA YELLow bLACK

[email protected]

ManilaStandardTODAY

MEMBERPhilippine Press InstituteThe National Association of Philippine NewspapersPPI

can be accessed at:www.manilastandardtoday.comONLINE

MSTPublished Monday to Sunday by Kamahalan Publishing Corporation at 2nd Floor PJI Building, Railroad corner 20th Streets, Port Area, Manila. Telephone numbers 521-8507 (connecting all departments), (Editorial), 521-5581, (Editorial Fax) 521-7381 (Advertising), 521-8507 (MIS) 521-5591 (Sales and Distribution/Subscription) and

527-2057 (Credit and Collection). Fax numbers: 521-8340 (Advertising) and 527-6406 (Subscription). 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

Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher Jojo A. Robles Editor-in-Chief Ramonchito L. Tomeldan Managing Editor Chin Wong/Ray S. Eñano Associate Editors Joel P. Palacios News Editor Francis Lagniton City Editor Arman Armero Senior Deskman Leo A. Estonilo Senior Deskman Romel J. Mendez Art Director Roberto Cabrera Chief PhotographerMa. Editha D. Angeles Advertising Manager Anita F. Grefal Treasury Manager Edgar M. Valmorida Circulation Manager

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



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]

Pulse Asia, which released the results of its poll in the middle of last month.

the confirmation pro-vided by sWs has foreclosed any attempt by the Aqui-no administration to spin its flagging popularity by downgrading the latest poll as a glitch, a “snapshot” of its popularity at a most un-fortunate – and unrepresen-tative – time. in other words, Aquino and his propaganda geniuses can no longer take refuge in the defense that the President’s popularity is not on a downward spiral; because, quite simply, it is.

so Malacanang decided to line up the usual suspects

and – to no one’s surprise, really – it decided to blame the media. And because the latest surveys were also taken in the aftermath of the Mapasapano Massacre and the wrongheaded insis-tence by the administration of pursuing the Bangsamoro Basic Law that will grant vir-tual self-rule to the killers of the 44 slain PnP comman-dos, its peace negotiators have also joined the chorus of heaping the blame on the press.

it all lines up quite nicely for the Aquino administra-tion, except for two minor things. One, the theory as-sumes that the people are

opinionA8

[ EDI TORI A L ]

His undoing

A9ADELLE chuAE d i T o R

T u E S D AY : A P R I L 7, 2 0 1 5

opinion

President noynoy Aqui-no, in his easter sunday message, proudly compared the supposed gains of his administration to the resur-rection of Christ. After the latest survey results on the people’s satisfaction with government were released yesterday, i think it’s safe to say that Aquino’s admin-istration hasn’t even com-

pleted its descent into the hell of unpopularity and ir-relevance yet.

And the results of the so-cial Weather stations sur-vey are even damning than the last poll conducted by its main polling rival, Pulse Asia. Using sWs’ method of subtracting the polled disapproval from the ap-proval to come up with a net rating, Aquino’s satis-faction rating has already hit an all-time low of plus-11 percent; this compares to the net plus-15 percent approval rating polled by

Still plunging

“And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher.” the stone was not rolled away for Him to come out. He did not have any need for that. We find, later on, in the ac-counts of His appearances, that at one point the disciples were hidden away in a room where the windows and doors were closed and locked and Jesus Christ just walked right in. He needed no door. no wall could hold Him out. the stone was rolled away in order for us to see for our-selves that the tomb was empty and that He rose from the dead. it still stands as evidence that Jesus is not dead, that the bonds of death could not hold Him. He is alive today.

He is alive! And thus the reason we celebrate easter sunday also called Pasch or resurrection sunday. eas-ter sunday is preceded by the season of Lent, a 40-day period of fasting and repentance culminating in Holy Week and followed by a 50-day eas-ter season that stretches from easter to Pentecost.

the new testament states that the resurrection of Jesus, which eas-ter celebrates, is a foundation of the Christian faith. the resurrection es-tablished Jesus as the powerful son of God and is cited as proof that God will judge the world in righteous-ness. God has given Christians “a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”. Christians, through faith in the working of God, are spiritually resurrected with Jesus so that they may walk in a new way of life.

the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the centerpiece of the Christian faith, according to the Apostle Paul, who even says that if Jesus Christ has not been resurrected then the Chris-tian faith is worthless and futile (1 Cor. 15:14-17). therefore, without easter there is no Christianity. the power of resurrection is so strong that even death has no power over him. the power of resurrection is so strong that all the power of darkness could not stop it. the resurrection is the miracle of all miracles! there is no other religion on earth except the Christian religion that claims God has died and came back to life. What differentiates it from other religions is its declaration that Christ literally

‘The large sTone

moved’

so stupid that they will believe whatever the media tells them, and two, that this government, supposedly the most media-savvy that we’ve seen in decades, does not have media assets way be-yond the humongous resources that the palace already has in-house.

the inconvenient and increas-ingly incontrovertible truth of the matter seems to be that Aquino has lost his grip on what his bosses

want. And that if he continues on listening only to his closest ad-visers and his own uniformed in-stincts, then he will lose whatever connection with the people that he has left.

Only then can Aquino and his administration claim to have risen from the dead. For the moment, the plunge continues.

* * *speaking of the pits, the Land

transportation Office has abso-

lutely no right to impose rules supposedly to fix a problem when it caused the problem in the first place. i know that LtO now claims that it has not been remiss in mak-ing license plates available to car owners who want them; the real-ity, as any car owner will tell you, is way different.

the truth is, the release of car plates – as well as sticker tags, drivers’ licenses and all the other

Continued on A11 Continued on A11

tHe results of the latest survey by the social Weather stations are hardly surprising. they show President Benigno Aquino iii’s approval ratings are at their lowest following the Mamasapano tragedy.

the survey, conducted from March 20 to March 23 this year, said Aquino obtained a net satisfaction rating of +11 (moderate), a steep decline from the +39 (good) he obtained just this december.

it was an even sharper drop from the +47 registered during the same period last year. The drop took place in all geographic areas and across all socio-economic classes.

The sWs figures corroborate a similar finding by Pulse Asia released in March, which also showed the President’s approval numbers taking a beating in the first quarter this year.

the perennially optimistic, “glass-half-full” spokesman of the Palace, however, makes a distinction between the findings of the two poll firms. secretary Herminio Coloma says that the sWs survey, which was taken after the results of Pulse Asia were released in March, was higher, showing that the people have been made to understand the President’s position on the matter.

the presidential adviser on the peace process was more combative. secretary teresita deles told a group of evangelical Christians on Monday that Mr. Aquino’s critics were spreading lies and misinformation to discredit the peace process and drag down the President’s popularity.

deles heads the agency that is talking with the Moro islamic Liberation Front to establish a Bangsamoro entity in Mindanao. Curiously, it was in MiLF “territory” where a Malaysian terrorist had been hiding for years. Members of the elite special Action Force killed the Malaysian but 44 of them were killed by fighters from the MiLF and Bangsamoro islamic Freedom Fighters as they were retreating. no support from the Philippine military came to rescue them.

deles is wrong. the critics may be doing what they are known for doing, but it is Mr. Aquino who has done a much better job of pulling down his numbers.

He must be beside himself to see his popularity figures slipping. this was a man, after all, who stumbled into the presidency by popular mandate—sympathy vote, some say—soon after the death of his mother. Mr. Aquino rode the popular clamor for transparency and good governance, capitalizing on the people’s hunger for genuine change.

Outwardly he grumbled that the presidency took such a big toll on his personal life. We know now, however, that Mr. Aquino relished the ego boost that his popularity brought, fancying himself infallible and feeding the Filipinos the lie that one is simply either good or bad, with him or against him. And for a time, the people believed him – until he began to unravel.

nowhere is his state of mind more apparent than when he defends himself and his friends, passing on the blame to others outside of his circle while continuing to extoll the supposed virtues of “daang Matuwid.”

these succeeding months until June 2016, President Aquino will have more reminders that his opinion of himself is scandalously out of touch with the people’s—even the opinion of those who voted for and believed in him five years ago.

One may ask: What business does a genuine leader have, anyway, bothering with popularity ratings, finding excuses for lower approval numbers and blasting critics for not applauding his every move? Then again, we only have a president here—not a genuine leader.

The increasingly incontrovertible

truth of the matter seems to

be that Aquino has lost his

grip on what his bosses want.

EAgLE EYEs

dEAn TonYLA ViÑA

Lowdown

jojo A. RobLEs

CYAn MAgEnTA YELLow bLACK

[email protected]

ManilaStandardTODAY



MSTPublished Monday to Sunday by Kamahalan Publishing Corporation at 2nd Floor PJI Building, Railroad corner 20th Streets, Port Area, Manila. Telephone numbers 521-8507 (connecting all departments), (Editorial), 521-5581, (Editorial Fax) 521-7381 (Advertising), 521-8507 (MIS) 521-5591 (Sales and Distribution/Subscription) and

527-2057 (Credit and Collection). Fax numbers: 521-8340 (Advertising) and 527-6406 (Subscription). 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

Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher Jojo A. Robles Editor-in-Chief Ramonchito L. Tomeldan Managing Editor Chin Wong/Ray S. Eñano Associate Editors Joel P. Palacios News Editor Francis Lagniton City Editor Arman Armero Senior Deskman Leo A. Estonilo Senior Deskman Romel J. Mendez Art Director Roberto Cabrera Chief PhotographerMa. Editha D. Angeles Advertising Manager Anita F. Grefal Treasury Manager Edgar M. Valmorida Circulation Manager

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



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]

Pulse Asia, which released the results of its poll in the middle of last month.

the confirmation pro-vided by sWs has foreclosed any attempt by the Aqui-no administration to spin its flagging popularity by downgrading the latest poll as a glitch, a “snapshot” of its popularity at a most un-fortunate – and unrepresen-tative – time. in other words, Aquino and his propaganda geniuses can no longer take refuge in the defense that the President’s popularity is not on a downward spiral; because, quite simply, it is.

so Malacanang decided to line up the usual suspects

and – to no one’s surprise, really – it decided to blame the media. And because the latest surveys were also taken in the aftermath of the Mapasapano Massacre and the wrongheaded insis-tence by the administration of pursuing the Bangsamoro Basic Law that will grant vir-tual self-rule to the killers of the 44 slain PnP comman-dos, its peace negotiators have also joined the chorus of heaping the blame on the press.

it all lines up quite nicely for the Aquino administra-tion, except for two minor things. One, the theory as-sumes that the people are

The creation of a citizen council was precisely aimed at soliciting people’s support for the peace process.

In the first place, whatever this council proposes or advo-cates will still undergo scrutiny by both the House of Representa-tives and the Senate. The Council cannot legislate. In fact, it usurps the function of Congress.

The people, especially Mindanaoans, have been found by the latest poll survey as against the BBL. They do not believe that the BBL is not the final solu-tion for peace and development. In other words, the Citizens’ Council is just a waste of time and effort.

I’m not totally sold over the peace process with the MILF. The MILF has shown duplicity in nego-tiating peace with government. The Mamasapano slaughter of the Fallen 44 clearly shows that the Moro rebels cannot be trusted anymore.

I’m no war freak. I know what war is about since in my teens, I grew up among the guerilla fight-ers in the North. I know what it was to hide in

the mountains. I have seen the worst of men during the gue-rilla days.

But, peace, lasting peace, must encompass all the stake-holders in Mindanao, not only the MILF.

* * *The extremely low percent-

age of Bar examination passers (18 percent) calls for an honest-

to-goodness review of the annual Bar exams. Why do so many candidates fail?

There’s need to review the format of the Bar ex-aminations. Originally, it used to be an essay type of answers, but it’s now multiple choice, which does not show the comprehension of the Bar ques-tion and how it should be answered.

Another thing is that many of law graduates cannot express themselves in English, much less comprehend questions. I know this because I was once a law professor.

To be truthful, the quality of law graduates and even those who pass the Bar is below average.

OPINIONT U E S D AY : A P R I L 7, 2 0 1 5

A10

A TELEvISION network has ex-posed what is hap-pening with the bounty for wanted criminals and reb-

els. The funds are supposed to be shared to infor-mants alone but are shared with certain members of the police force.

I have heard about this many years back, but it has not been reported on until now.

The Tv show said that the bounty, which can go to the millions of pesos, is split three ways among the informant, the handler (who deals di-rectly with the informant), and the superior of the handler.

If the bounty is big enough, other members of the police force and alleged witnesses also get their cuts.

Santa Banana, no less than a retired chief of the CIDG or Criminal Investigation Detection Group said over television that he also had a share over the arrest of wanted criminals.

The police and even reporters covering Camp Crame are aware of this kind of corruption. Some covering kidnapping for ransom by the Abu Sayy-af Group and other Moro rebels also attest to the fact that when ransom is paid to the kidnappers, the money is also shared by certain elements of the police or the military .

Why this has never been investigated puzzles me. * * *

I admit I’m a movie freak. I wonder, however, how the Movie and Television Review and Clas-sification Board rates movies and television pro-grams. At times, there is excesive violence that sometimes viewers are led to believe that killing people is part of normal life.

Explicit sex is anothe thing. A man and a wom-an meet for the first time, and the next thing I see is that they are doing it as if sex outside marriage were the most normal thing to do.

Why is the MTRCB allowing these?Because of this, I would now like to ask: Do we

still a need for the MTRCB at all?Other countries no longer have censorship

boards like we have. The money being appropri-ated for its members can be used elsewhere. Be-sides, political patronage rules in the appoint-ment of MTRCB members.

Aside from this, distribution of movies from Hollywood and elsewhere is cornered by two big Chinese syndicates so much so that owners and operators of shopping malls have to kowtow and “deal” with these two syndicates.

I know this for a fact since at one time, my late good friend Ka Imon Cuevas who owned a shop-ping mall in Bacoor and Imus towns in Cavite complained to me that he could not show first-run movies in his malls unless he made some kind of “deal” with the two syndicates.

This explains why some movies are never shown in shopping malls although they are shown elsewhere.

* * *When President Aquino formed the Council

for Peace Summit composed of well-known peace advocates, he got it all wrong.

What the people want is a Bangsamoro Ba-sic Law that can stand scrutiny by the Supreme Court.

Abolish the censors boArd

it’s snAfu timeWE know the Lent-en Season has ex-pired, and with it all our resolve to be better Christians, because everyone

has resumed a fighting stance and everything seems back to usual.

The newspapers yesterday carried a token pic-ture and a story about Christ’s resurrection, but 99 percent of the news was already about politi-cal conflict and the usual litanies of what doesn’t work in this country.

The House of Representatives announced the resumption of hearings on the Mamasapano mas-sacre amid strong warnings from the so-called Makabayan bloc that they would not drop moves to make the President of the country answer-able for the Mamasapano massacre. Legislators started positioning themselves on both sides of the Bangsamoro Basic Law debate. Senator Alan Peter Cayetano accused Mindanao Peace advo-cate and actor Robin Padilla of being a political assassin of the Tingas – his family’s political ri-val in the fiefdom called the Taguig-Pateros area. The finger-pointing has returned along with the resumption of the recurring blackouts in Mind-anao and other places. Some educators and yes, certain legislators who need to get media mileage in the runup to 2016, renewed their call to scrap the K+12 program. This is unbelievable but yes, they are still at it despite all the massive prepa-rations to greenlight the program. Meanwhile, the key cities of Makati and Iligan continued to have the absurd spectacle of having two mayors each.

Yes, we’re back to normal, which basically means living in a country where leaders behave like children.

The pissing contest that happened between the Land Transportation Commission and the Metro Manila Development Authority last week was a classic illustration of the kind of problems we have in this country. On Holy Wednesday last week, the LTO implemented its “No Plate, No Travel” Policy – it being April 1, 2015. No, it wasn’t because it was April Fools Day, although the timing certainly looked appropriate; it was simply because that was the date when the LTO’s policy was supposed to have taken effect. LTO spokesperson Jason Salva-dor insisted, in various reports, that they were just “implementing the law.”

My problem with catch-all justifications such

as “we’re just doing our jobs” or “we’re just fol-lowing orders” is that they negate the fact that officials, particularly those in leadership posi-tions, are being paid to think and act like rational people and not as mindless robots. Salvador also conveniently left out a very important context: The implementation of the very law he was de-fending had already been deferred and postponed many times when the LTO was still having major problems with the production of the new license plates for vehicles. In short, they arbitrarily post-poned implementation in the past when it suited them but immediately went ahead with the strict implementation when they were finally ready - other stakeholders be damned.

MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino was justi-fied in branding LTO’s move last week as “cruel.” Why implement it at a time people embarked on a massive exodus from Manila? I am not sure To-lentino’s claim of “unconstitutionality” was valid although it sounded like music to the ears – a high-ranking government official finally taking up the cudgels for ordinary citizens and going against another government agency! We really should be challenging more actions of govern-ment for the way they encroach on human and civil rights.

Of course we want the LTO to implement laws and to set high benchmarks in terms of opera-tional efficiency. If their claims of having ze-roed out their backlog in the delivery of plates is indeed true, then they deserve commendation. Lest we forget, the backlog was epic. The thing is, the LTO is not the only stakeholder in the matter. It needs to collaborate pro-actively with everyone else including car distributors, policy agencies, and yes, the MMDA, precisely because they don’t even have the manpower to apprehend violators of the “no plate, no travel” policy. In this context, the implementation of the policy was not workable on many levels. The MMDA refused to implement it, car distributors blamed everyone else, and as usual, ordinary citizens suf-fered the effects of the snafu.

Thus, what could have been a wonderful bit of news (the LTO finally doing something right!) ended up as a snafu simply because many of our leaders just don’t know how to work together with others, or for that matter, to make things really work. By the way, in case you don’t know the word snafu was supposed to have derived its origins as an abbreviation for “situation normal, all things f****d up.”

There is no need for it anymore.

ARE WE THERE YET?

BONG C. AUSTERO

TO THE pOiNT

Emil p. jURAdO

[email protected]

A11adelle chuaE D I T O R

T u e S d aY : a P R I l 7, 2 0 1 5

OPINION

HAIL TO THE CHAIR

VICTOR AVECILLA

Aquino’s BBL review pAneL is useLess

The legal experts have spoken. Re-tired Supreme Court Justices Vicente Mendoza and Florentino Feliciano, former Solicitor General estelito Mendoza, and Senator Miriam De-fensor-Santiago, all noted experts in Constitutional Law, are among the many high-caliber legal minds who maintain that the Bangsamoro Ba-sic Law (BBL) has numerous provi-sions which violate the Constitution. The BBL embodies the controversial peace deal President Benigno Aqui-no III brokered with the Moro Islam-ic Liberation Front, and is pending approval by Congress.

Faced with this overwhelming le-gal obstacle, Congress should have no choice but to remove or modify the objectionable parts of the BBL. Of course, if the unconstitutional features of the BBL were removed or modified, the final product will be a far cry from the original draft.

So far, house Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr., a staunch Malacañang ally, wants the lower house to ap-prove the BBL. In the Senate, howev-er, the future of the BBL is in limbo, thanks to opposition from Senators Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and Alan Peter Cayetano.

In addition, the BBL must hurdle an expected judicial obstacle. It is now certain that once the BBL is en-acted into law, many sectors of soci-ety will challenge its validity before the SC.

At the end of the day, the congres-sional approval of the BBL and its chances of surviving judicial scru-tiny depend on legal considerations. Since the legal vulnerability of the

BBL lies in its numerous unconsti-tutional features, the legal issues must be squarely addressed. Popu-list statements like “give the BBL a chance,” “do not let the Mamasa-pano massacre derail the peace pro-cess,” and “the BBL is the last hope for peace in Mindanao” are imper-tinent because they do not have any legal foundation, and because they are mere endorsements of a very risky experiment where the odds are against the Filipino people.

President Aquino must be really desperate to get the BBL enacted into law that on March 27, 2015, he created a panel that will “review” the BBL. By Aquino’s own admission, however, this panel will work for the passage of the BBL. In other words, the peace panel will sanitize the BBL enough to get a misinformed public to support it.

According to the president, the panel will be composed of Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, former Chief Justice hilario Davide, Jr., businessman Jaime Au-gusto Zobel de Ayala, retired envoy howard Dee, and youth leader Ro-haniza Sumndad-Usman. Aquino likewise said that the panel will lead a so-called “national peace summit.”

evidently, the creation of this peace panel is going to be an exer-cise in futility, and will be a waste of public funds.

It appears that other than Davide, nobody among the peace panel may be considered an expert in Consti-tutional Law. If they are to address the legal aspects of the BBL, they will almost surely end up merely echoing

the legal opinions of hired lawyers. Where is the credibility in that?

Davide may be a retired magistrate of the highest court in the land but he must contend with the formidable legal opinions of more than one for-mer magistrate of the SC. This is not to say that Davide has lost out on the legal arguments. It’s just that Davide will end up the dominant figure of the peace panel, and that its view will only reflect the views of Davide.

Moreover, Davide’s very close polit-ical association with President Aquino will dilute whatever arguments Da-vide may have for the BBL. It will be recalled that in December 2010, the Philippine Truth Commission created under executive Order No. 1 issued by Aquino was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Biraogo v. Philippine Truth Commission. Aqui-no handpicked Davide to head that truth commission.

even the creation of the peace panel itself may give rise to a consti-tutional issue. Under the Constitu-tion, the power to create a public of-fice belongs exclusively to Congress. One exception to this fundamental rule is when the President needs to create a body to ensure that the laws are faithfully executed, as mandated likewise by the charter. Since the peace panel is a public office, its cre-ation by the President is presumed unconstitutional, unless Malacañang can show that its creation was for the purpose of helping the president monitor that the laws are faithfully executed.

The question that necessar-ily arises then is – what laws is the

peace panel supposed to be moni-toring for the President in the first place? There is none. It cannot be the Framework Agreement of the Bangsamoro because this is not a law but a mere executive act. It can-not be the BBL, either, because the BBL is not a law but a mere draft of one. In fact, the only applicable law in point here is the Organic Act of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Since Congress has not repealed this organic act, it remains a valid law which President Aquino is constitutionally obligated to enforce. Ironically, the approval of the BBL will mean the demise of the ARMM organic act.

By creating this peace panel “to work for the approval of the BBL,” Aquino not only abandoned his con-stitutional obligation to enforce the law; he is urging the violation of an existing law, and at public expense at that. he may be impeached for this.

As pointed out in past essays, one reason the BBL will fail is because the group which drafted it does not in-clude a member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). The AFP has an interest in the peace process because in a war, the soldier does the dying. Since the peace panel creat-ed by Aquino has no representation from the AFP, it faces the same fate of the very BBL it is expected to pro-mote.

The people named to the peace panel should refuse the invitation for them to hoodwink the Filipino people into supporting a law that is unprecedented in its disregard for the Constitution.

[email protected]

The Large..From A9

rose from the grave. There have always been those who have sought to debunk the resurrection of Christ, but whatever arguments offered have failed miser-ably.

St. Paul made it clear in the twenty-fourth chapter of Acts. he said: Be-cause Jesus rose, everybody will rise. Through the power of Christ’s resur-rection, we are assured God has accepted Christ’s sacrifice for our sins. It is the ultimate sacrifice which was pleasing to God the Father because it was performed by his very own son. In his infinite perfection, no other sac-rifice would have been satisfactory to God other than the sacrifice of his son.

The resurrection of Christ assures us that life transcends the here and now; that there is life after death; that there is an entity, which we call soul, that subsists even after death. The resurrection of Christ also assures us that we have an advocate in heaven who lives to stand at the bar of God to plead our case for all the sins com-mitted after conversion. Satan’s accusations and lies cannot withstand the truth of Jesus’s resurrection, that he came back to life and prevailed over the power of death. After his resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven to take his rightful place of authority at the right hand of God. But before leaving his disciples, an angel declared to them that the Christ of the resurrection would also be the Christ of returning glory. We believe that even after his resurrection, he will come again to judge the living and the dead. To a lot of extent, this dogma of the resurrection and final judgment teach us that God is a merciful but a just God. Through his son’s death we have been redeemed. Yet we are free to accept him or not because of our own free will. In the end of time, we are thus made accountable to God for every-thing we do. In short, life on earth is fleeting and transient. We are but pilgrims on earth who are destined to be judged by the ever Just and Merciful God, and as the scripture says, to be destined to heaven or eternal fire.

Many of us have stones, large and small, in our lives. May today’s feast give us the certainty that they will not be there forever and, yes, they can be moved.

Facebook page: Dean Tony La Vina Twitter: tonylav

Still..From A9

things that one requires from LTO – have never been as delayed as they have been under this government. And that’s because LTO, for reasons that only LTO knows, cannot seem to do its job.

Now LTO says it will arrest driv-ers using vehicles with no license plates and slap them and the vehi-cles’ owners with hefty penalties for doing so. Left unmentioned is that fact that people have been driving cars that were once new but which are almost about to break down without even having been issued plates.

Of course, the law says that no ve-hicle should be allowed on the road without license plates. But what do you do if the reason why your car has no plates – or even LTO official receipts or certificates of registra-tion – is because the government still hasn’t issued them to you?

By the way, the two-tiered pen-alty LTO wants to impose on plate-less vehicles is so ridiculous that it should win an award. I’m talking

about the P10,000 fine LTO wants to collect from the owners of cars with no plates, which will be reduced to P5,000 if they are able to produce copies of the OR-CR; in what uni-verse is it right for government to collect fines because it has been incompetent – and then to collect lesser fines because, in some cases, it was actually less incompetent than usual?

And before I forget, why does LTO want to change all existing li-cense plates with the new, ugly white ones (at the motorists’ expense, nat-urally) that it is proffering? Previous administrations came up with their own versions of vehicular plates, yes – but they never touched the old ones, allowing their owners to wear them as long as their vehicles were in use.

Perhaps the P450 fee charged by LTO for new plates for all the mil-lions of motor vehicles in the coun-try has something to do with this. All those billions are enough to make anyone’s head spin and defend the indefensible – which is what LTO is doing right now.

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T UESday : apri l 7 , 2 0 1 5

sports

Novak tryingto stay on topwhile he canMIAMI—Novak Djokovic, entering the 141st week of his career at number one in the world and fresh off a milestone fifth Miami Masters title, just wants to keep up the pace as long as he can.

“I’m trying to enjoy the moment and also utilize this time of my career. I’m feeling confident and physically fit,” Djokovic said Sunday after a gritty three-set triumph over Andy Murray in the Miami final.

“I’m trying to use that. That’s what I’m thinking about right now,” added the 27-year-old Serb, who goes into the European claycourt season high-

lighted by the French Open hav-ing won the three biggest tour-naments of the first quarter of the year: the Australian Open

and both the Indian Wells and Miami Masters.

“I am aware that this cannot go forever,” Djokovic said. “There is going to be eventually a change of generations, some players that are going to start playing better and be stronger.

“But until that time comes, I’m going to try to stay as long as I can on the top and fight for the biggest titles.”

With 4,000 points separating him from Federer at number two in the world, Djokovic is poised to finish at number one in the world for the fourth time in five years.

His 22nd ATP Masters victory is just one short of Roger Federer’s 23 on a list led by Rafael Nadal’s 27.

Djokovic became the first player to sweep the back-to-back titles at Indian Wells and Miami for a third time.

It’s the kind of achievement that he says fuels his ambition.

“Of course I do pay attention of that,” he said. “Any kind of achieve-

ment that goes into history books I’m hugely proud of and I appreciate it very much, because I work hard for it and I do cherish it.”

Djokovic’s victory in Melbourne was his eighth Grand Slam triumph and his first since becoming a father and husband last year.

He says having a family had add-ed a new dimension to his successes on court.

- Calmness and self-belief -A rigorous fitness regime allows

him to play at a high level tourna-ment after tournament, while coach Boris Becker has helped him hone his mental game.

He needed all of his physical re-serves in punishing heat and hu-midity against Murray.

But after a second-set dip in his energy level he roared back for a 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-0 triumph -- his sev-enth straight win against the Scot.

“I managed to, again, rely on the energy supply that I have in my legs and my fitness to basically hold on and make it all the way through the match (to) play the third set the way I have played, like I haven’t re-ally been exhausted too much even though we played over two and a half hours.”

But fitness isn’t everything, Djok-ovic said, especially on the game’s biggest stages.

“Obviously tennis is an individual and very complex sport,” he said. “It requires a right balance between the physical preparation and mental strength and emotional, I would say, calmness and self-belief. AFP

Coach E cage clinicsslated in 8 venuesCOACHES, who have worked diligently sharing their knowledge on the fundamentals of basketball were given recognition by Coach E Basketball School recently during its coaches workshop.

Among those coaches who were cited in a three-day workshop were Ricky Santos, Dino Ponce Enrile, Regina Clemente, Eric Al-tamirano, Mark Sy, and Xavier Nunag.

As this developed, the school opened its Summer FunDamental Camp on eight venues.

Classes on the following venues are slated as follows: The Zone, Makati, April 7 to May 31, Tuesday and Fri-day (10 a.m. to 12 noon); Mother Goose Nursery, San Juan, April 7 to May 31,

Tuesday and Friday (10 a.m. to 12 noon.); Xavier School High School gym, Gate 9, San Juan, April 7 to May 31, Tuesday and Thursday (10 a.m. to 12 noon); Gato-rade Hoops Center, Manda-luyong, April 7 to May 31, Tuesday and Friday (3 to 5 p.m.), Celebrity Sports Pla-za, QC, April 8 to May 31, Wednesday and Saturday (10 a.m. to 12 noon) and Ateneo College Covered Courts, QC, April 8 to May 31, Wednesday and Satur-day (2 to 4 p.m.)

Parents of aspiring stu-dents who are hoping to get their kids’ game to the next level can contact tel nos. 631-1195/668 4347 and mobile no, 09088846947. You can pay online via Paypal though our website, www.coach-e.com

AN ITU Level-1 Technical Offi-ciating course will be held at the Subic Bay Freeport as part of the main activities of the Subic Bay ASTC Asian Triathlon Cup co-presented by the Philippine Sports Commission and SPEEDO.

Set on April 22 and 23 at the Subic Traveler’s Hotel, the course will be facilitated by Malaysia’s noted race organizer Melody Tan, Triathlon Associa-tion of the Philippines secretary

general Ramon Marchan and one of the five Level-3 Asian technical officials emphasizing the dynamics and responsibili-ties in technical officiating to varied triathlon officials from the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh and Indo-nesia.

At the same time, the activ-ity will highlight the status as a developed federation in Asia on technical officiating and coach-

ing. For its part, the Bangladesh Federation’s participation in the activity is part of its plan to have the South Asian Cup triathlon series next month.

Supported by New Balance, Gatorade, Standard Insurance, Philippine Sports Commission, Subic Bay Metropolitan Author-ity Tourism Department, Cen-tury Tuna, Harbor Point Mall, Asian Center for Insulation, 2Go, East West Building Tech-

nology Inc., Ocean Adventure, Adventure Beach, Camayan Resort, The Lighthouse Marina Resort, Seafood Island, OGIO, Omega Pain Killer Pro, Race-Day, SBR.ph, Multisport, Pinoy Fitness.com, XPS TV, Spin.ph and Sports Radio, the Subic Asia Cup continues to be a popular destination for Asian and young up and coming elites.

“We need to conduct a race that meets ITU standards and

having this technical official’s course will help achieve that. Our Secretary (Marchan) is the head official in the 2015 Asian Triathlon Championships this coming June 12 to 14. Filipino TOs have distinguished them-selves in Olympic and World Cup races. Rachel Ribo will be the Technical Delegate of the Singapore SEA Games Triathlon in June,” said TRAP President Tom Carrasco.

Triathlon technical officiating course in Subic on April 22, 23

PSA Forum tackles touchfootball, little league todayTHE Philippine Sportswriters As-sociation Forum will resume today with Philippine Sports Commis-sioner Jolly Gomez as the main guest at Shakey’s Malate.

Gomez will discuss the upcom-ing Little League Baseball Philip-pine Series on April 20-26 in Iloilo City.

Joining Gomez in the 10:30 a.m. forum aired live over DZSR Sports

Radio 918 and presented by Smart, the Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corporation and Shakey’s, are officials from Federation of Touch Football Pilipinas led by Bi-anca Arco.

Touch Football officials will talk about the chances of the mixed na-tional development team in the up-coming tournament in Taipei next week.

Navy seeksV-League leadNAVY braces for a tough outing against fancied Meralco as it guns for the solo lead even as Army opens its title reten-tion drive against Fourbees-Perpetual in the Shakey’s V-League Season 12-Open Conference elims at The Arena in San Juan City today.

The Lady Sailors shook off a wob-bly start and went on to sweep Coast Guard, 26-24, 25-14, 25-18, and join ti-tle favorite Cagayan Valley in the early lead of the season-opening conference of the league presented by PLDT Home Ultera and sponsored by Shakey’s last Sunday.

But they face an uphill battle against Meralco, a team backstopped by former La Salle stars Aby Maraño and Steph-anie Mercado along with Maica Morada, April Hingpit, Zharmaine Velez, Angel-ica Legacion and former Ateneo stalwart Fille Cainglet-Cayetano.

Navy mentor Edgardo Rusit, however, hopes his wards will be able to match the Power Spikers’ firepower in their 2 p.m. match behind Hezzymie Acuna, Pauline Genido, Lilet Mabbayad, Carissa Mar-tinez and Norie Diaz.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia poses with his championship throphy at Crandon Park after winning the Men’s Final of the Miami Open presented by Itau. Djokovic defeated Andy Murray of Great Brittain in the finals held at the Crandon Park Tennis Center in Key Biscayne, Florida. AFP

MEMBERS of the national pool showed their readiness for the coming Southeast Asian Games as Team Philippines ended its campaign by snatching second place overall at the close of the 77th Singapore Open Track and Field Championships at the Singapore Sports Hub on Sunday.

Edgardo Alejan claimed his second gold medal in the 4x400-meter relays, while steeplechaser Christopher Ulboc and pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena got one apiece with clockings better than their personal bests.

This enabled to the Philippines to haul in six golds, four silvers and three bronze medals for second spot at the end of the two-day meet, which serves as a run-up to the 2015 Southeast Asian Games, also to be hosted by Singapore.

Overall, Indonesia ruled the

meet with its 8-5-5 gold-silver-bronze haul, with Thailand coming in third (5-2-1) and Malaysia (4-6-2), fourth.

Alejan, who ruled the 400-meter run the other day, joined hands with Joan Caido, Cid and Archand Christian Bagsit in taking 4x400 meter relays in three

minutes, 11.14 seconds.Their clocking was above

the bronze-medal time of the Malaysian squad which saw action in the 2013 SEA Games (3:15.06), and is 2 seconds close to the Team Philippines’ 3:09.11 gold-medal performance two years ago.

Ulboc topped the 3000-meter steeplechase in 8:56.8, some 5 seconds off the 9:01.59 feat he took during his gold-medal run in the Myanmar Games.

Obiena came near the Philippine record he

set last year when he cleared 5.2

meters in the men’s

p o l e

vault. It was higher than the 5.15

meters, which Thai rival Kreeta Sintawacheewa submitted when he won the SEA Games gold in 2013.Sintawacheewa was around and settled for third with his 4.8 meter feat, with compatriot Purachong Porranot taking the silver in 5.1 meters.

In other results, Junrey Bano, was fourth in the 400-meter hurdles in 53.003 seconds, with Taiwanese Chen Chieh and Yu Chiah Hsuan taking a 1-2 finish in 51.4 and 52.04 seconds, respectively.

Bano’s SEA Games foe, Andrian of Indonesia, took the bronze in 52.96 seconds.

Harry Diones earned a silver in the triple jump with a 16.11-meter clearance, with Kongnil Varunyoo of Thailand winning the gold in 16.16 meters. Peter Atencio

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t uesday : apri l 7 , 2 0 1 5

sports

ICTSI jungolf interclub fires off at Mt. MalarayatPRADERA-LUBAO makes its debut in formal competition when it joins powerhouse Aguinaldo and six other clubs in the ICTSI-JGFP Inter-club golf championships today and tomorrow at the Mt. Malarayat Golf and Country Club in Lipa, Batangas.

Pradera-Lubao, part of a sprawling theme park set to open this year, will be competing in Division 1 and Division 2 where it will compete against Aguinaldo, Orchard, Eastridge, Valley, Philippine Navy, host Mt. Malarayat and the lone club out of Luzon, Apo of Davao.

National team mainstays Rupert Zaragosa and Kristoff Arevalo banner the bid of Aguinaldo, which is expected to dominate the Division 1 play of the tourney serving as the

second leg of the summer circuit organized by the Junior Golf Foundation of the Philippines and backed by the International Container Terminal Services, Inc.

They will be backed by Luis Castro and Harmie Constantino as solid favorites with the stiffest challenger expected to come from Valley’s Lanz Uy, Aidric Chan, Carl Corpus and Ashia Nocum and Orchard’s Steven Ferrer, Liam Cully, Chris Popp and Riane Casquejo.

Division 2 of the tourney also sponsored by the Philippine Golf Foundation, Martin Lorenzo, Crystal Catx, Golf Depot and Inquirer Golf is also expected to be closely fought with Aguinaldo’s Pierre Ticzon, Perry Bucay, David Guangko and Leandro

Bagtas slightly favored over Pradera-Lubao (Josh Jorge, Garreth Nolasco, Annika Cayabyab and Sam Dizon).

Navy (Andrew Chua, Bianca Macatangay, Rolly Duran and Charles Serdenia) and Orchard (Vince and Venice Tiamsic and Emilio Thelmo) will dispute Division 3.

Team and individual awards will be disputed over 36 holes in a competition, where the Apo and Eastridge kids are out to spoil the party for the traditional favorites.

The battle for the individual titles in all three divisions is also expected to be intense, with Zaragosa seeking to add another to his collection early in the season.

Wesley climbs to 2nd in US tiltFILIPINO grandmaster Wesley So came up with a 42-move win over GM Timur Gareev in the fifth round of the 2015 US Open Chess championship in St. Louis, Missouri.

Playing the black pieces, So defied the French Defense opening of Gareev.

He climbed from third to second place with his third victory, against a draw and a loss. GM Hikaru Nakamura is in the solo lead with four points.

GM Gata Kamsky and Ray Robson shared third with similar three points.

Although he was two pawns down, So forced Gareev to quit with his knight to the queenside. Peter Atencio

PH tracksters 2ndat Singapore Open

Smart backsPacman in his biggest fightHIS punch is so powerful that it has united a nation. And now that Manny Pacquiao is embarking on the biggest boxing fight in history—the May 3rd battle royale with Floyd Mayweather, Jr.—Smart Communications, Inc. is leading the call for Filipinos to let the whole world see, hear, and feel the country’s support for the people’s champion.

“Some boxers fight for personal glory, others fight for fortune. But since the beginning, Manny Pacquiao has also fought for his countrymen. Now, more than ever, we Filipinos should let him know that we are proud of him and are with him all the way,” said Smart executive vice president and wireless consumer business head Charles A. Lim.

“Their (Filipinos) Smart-powered mobile devices will enable them to be part of the digital historical account of this once-in-a-lifetime fight. With these devices they can express their support for Pacquiao, join inspiring conversations with fellow fans, watch the fight as it unfolds, and get immersed in a shared, national experience,” he said.

Smart encourages Filipinos to express their support for Pacquiao on Twitter using the hashtag #SugodManny, to make sure their ring hero could read their messages. They can also use the hashtag when posting their knockout moves on Instagram, for a chance to win Manny Pacquiao-autographed boxing gloves and t-shirts.

The company also launched a web page dedicated to the Pacquiao-Mayweather battle, (smart.com.ph/sugodmanny) where people can get blow-by-blow updates about the fight, as well as information about the various Smart services that will enhance their Pacquiao experience.

PH-Aussiecagefest onT W O Aust ra l i an teams are set to battle four of the country’s top c o l l e g i a t e teams as the first Philippines-Australia Goodwill Basketball Invitational fires off today at the Philsports Arena.

A selection from Perth and Sydney composed of Fil-Australians and Australians will play reigning UAAP champion National University, NCAA runners-up Arellano, Ateneo de Manila and San Sebastian College in the week-long tournament organized by Sports Vision Management Group Inc.

Smart encourages Filipinos to express their support for Manny Pacquiao, shown here training with Hall of Famer coach Freddie Roach, on Twitter using the hashtag #SugodManny, to make sure their ring hero could read their messages.

Games today (Philsports Arena)

1 p.m. – Opening Ceremonies2 p.m. – NU vs San Sebastan

4 p.m. – Perth vs. Ateneo6 p.m. – Sydney vs. Arellano

SO

InvItatIon to BId for the Supply and delIvery of BIngo dauBerS

under ItB no. 03-38-2015The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) is inviting all interested bidders in its forthcoming public bidding for the Supply and Delivery of Bingo Daubers under ITB No. 03-38-2015.

Brief Description Supply and Delivery of One Hundred Twenty-Thousand Five Hundred Twenty-Eight (120,528) Bottles of Bingo Dauber/Marker• Quick Drying, non-smearing ink• Color: Blue, Teal, Pink, Purple• Size: 5 ½ “ height• Content: At least ninety (90) ml• Color defines thru screw cap ink color• At least twenty-four (24) mm circumference applicator foam felt tip• Sculpture easy to handle plastic ink bottle

Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC), Vat Exclusive, Zero Rated Transaction)

Two Million Seven Hundred Eleven Thousand Eight Hundred Eighty Pesos (PhP2,711,880.00), VAT Exclusive Zero Rated Transaction.

Delivery Schedule The complete schedule of deliveries is provided in Section VI (Schedule of Requirements) of the Bidding Documents which will commence starting from the contract effectivity date specified in the Notice To Proceed.

Source of Funds Internally Funded

Bidders should have completed, within the last three (3) years before 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, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders. 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.

All particulars relative to Pre-Bid Conference, Detailed Evaluation of Bids, Post-Qualification and Award of Contract shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of R.A. 9184 and its IRR.

The schedule of activities is listed, as follows:

Activities Schedule1. Issuance of the Bidding Documents April 7 to April 27, 20152. Pre-Bid Conference April 14, 2015, 2:00 p.m.3. Deadline for the Submission and Receipt of Bids April 27, 2015, 2:00 p.m.4. Opening and Preliminary Examination of Bids April 27, 2015, 2:00 p.m. onwards

Complete details of the project are indicated in the bidding documents which will be available to prospective bidders at the Bids and Awards Services Department (BASD), upon payment of the non-refundable bidding fee in the amount of Five Thousand Pesos (PhP 5,000.00).

Prospective bidders may also download the Bidding Documents free of charge from the following websites: www.pagcor.ph and www.philgeps.gov.ph and may be allowed to submit bids provided that bidders shall pay the non-refundable bidding fee not later than the date of the submission of bids. The Pre-bid Conference is open to all prospective bidders. Prospective bidders should present to PAGCOR’s Cashier located at the Sixth (6th) Floor, PAGCOR Corporate Office, Hyatt Hotel and Casino Manila, M.H. del Pilar Street corner Pedro Gil Street, Malate, Manila either the Bidding Fee Slip which may be secured from the BASD or a copy of this ITB in effecting payment for the Bidding Documents. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

PAGCOR assumes no responsibility whatsoever to compensate or indemnify bidders for any expenses incurred in the preparation of their bids.

In accordance with Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) Circular 06-2005 - Tie-Breaking Method, the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) 4 shall use a non-discretionary and non-discriminatory measure based on sheer luck or chance, which is “DRAW LOTS,” in the event that two or more bidders have been post-qualified and determined as the bidder having the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bid (LCRB) to determine the final LCRB, based on the following procedures:

1. In alphabetical order, the bidders shall pick one rolled paper.2. The lucky bidder who would pick the paper with a “CONGRATULATIONS” remark shall be declared as the

final bidder having the LCRB and recommended for award of the contract.

PAGCOR reserves the right to accept or reject any Bid, and to annul the bidding process and reject all Bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

Please address all communications to the Bids and Awards Committee thru the BASD, Room 203, Second (2nd) Floor, PAGCOR House, 1330 Roxas Boulevard, Ermita, Manila, Tel No.: 524-3911, 521-1542 local 223/571.

(SGD) RODERICK R. CONSOLACION ChairpersonBids and awards Committee (BaC) 4

(ts-aPr. 7, 2015)

InvItatIon to BId for the

NO. NAME OF PROJECT AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION IMPLEMENTING OFFICE

APPROVED BUDGET FOR THE CONTRACT (ABC)

1 Supply of Gasoline, Diesel, LPG, Oil, Lubricants and minor maintenance services for year 2015 GSD P62,616,333.33

2Building Maintenance Management Services including Maintenance of Chiller Units at Ospitalng Makati for year 2015

GSD P6,561,318.40

3

Building Maintenance Management Services including Maintenance of Chiller Units at University of Makati Nursing Building, Administration Building, Academic Building and University Track Oval for year 2015

GSD P6,670,376.53

4Water Treatment of Chiller and Cistern Tank Treatment and Cleaning Services at University of Makati for year 2015

GSD P2,210,682.88

5 Annual Medical Examination for Teachers and Non-Teaching Personnel of Dep-Ed Makati DEP-ED P3,251,000.00

6Close Combat Optic and Mounts and other equipment for the use of Makati City Police Station Special Reaction Unit (SRU)

OM P2,058,030.00

7Science and Mathematical Skills Enhancement and Assessment Program for the use of various schools of Dep-Ed Makati

DEP-ED P15,227,100.00

8 Tarpaulin Cover for Public Assistance and other government affairs within the vicinity of Makati City OM P3,304,899.00

9Supply and Installation of Elevator Variable Voltage Regulator and Power Filter System for Makati City Hall Building I Elevators

DEPW P2,520,000.00

10Glucose and other laboratory supplies for Laboratory Services of the Makati Health Department

MHD P2,039,278.10

1. The MAKATI CITY GOVERNMENT, through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), invites interested bidders to apply for eligibility and to bid for the above projects, with Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) indicated, inclusive of all taxes, such as, but not limited to, value added tax (VAT), income tax, local taxes and other fiscal levies.

Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at Bid Opening.

2. 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”.

3. 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. A complete set of Bidding Documents will be available one (1) day after posting / publication of the above projects up to Closing Date (before the deadline of the submission of bids),weekdays only from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. from the address below and upon payment of a non-refundable fee for the Bidding Documents in the amount stated on the issued order of payment to the City Government of Makati Cashier.

5. The BAC will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on April 14, 2015 (02:00 P.M.) at BAC Conference Room, 9th floor, New Makati City Hall Building, F. Zobel Street, Brgy. Poblacion, Makati City to discuss Eligibility Requirements and the Technical and Financial Components of these projects. However, only those interested Bidders who have purchased the Bidding Documents are allowed to raise and submit queries or clarifications regarding the Bidding Documents.

6. Deadline of Submission of Bids shall be on or before April 28, 2015 (02:00 P.M.), atBAC Conference Room, 9th floor, New Makati City Hall Building, F. Zobel Street, Brgy. Poblacion, Makati City.

Opening of Bids shall be on April 28, 2015 (02:00 P.M.), at BAC Conference Room, 9th floor, New Makati City Hall Building, F. Zobel Street, Brgy. Poblacion, Makati City.

7. Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the said address. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18. Late bids shall not be accepted.

8. The MAKATI CITY GOVERNMENT reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, or to reduce the corresponding ABC and Terms of Reference (TOR), without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

For further information, please visit or contact: BAC SECRETARIAT OFFICE Makati City Government 9th Floor, New Makati City Hall Building F. Zobel Street, Brgy.Poblacion, Makati City Tel. No. 870-1000 loc. 1331; Fax No. 899-8988 website: www.makati.gov.ph

(SGD.) MS. VISSIA MARIE P. ALDONChairperson

(TS-APR. 7, 2015)

Bids and Awards Committee

J.P. Rizal St. corner F. Zobel St., Makati CityTel. No. 870-1000 Fax No. 899-8988

www.makati.gov.ph

INVITATION TO BID

REPUBLIKA NG PILIPINAS LUNGSOD NG MAKATI

A14T U E S D AY : A P R I L 7, 2 0 1 5

[email protected]

By Jeric Lopez

A MARCH back to the � nals. Rain or Shine’s eyes are on that as

it attempts to move forward to the � nale and dispatch Meralco when the two squads resume their best-of-three semi� nal series in the 2015 Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup.

Leading, 2-0, and just a win away from another finals appearance, the Elasto Painters are looking to finish the job when they clash with the desperate Bolts in Game 3 today at 7 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

But even if his team has a commanding lead, Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao wants no room for complacency, telling his wards to wrap things up the soonest.

“It will be another hard game, that’s for sure, but we’re hoping to close it out in Game 3,’’ said Guiao. ‘’It will be too dangerous for us if we allow the series to be longer, so we’ll do our best. Meralco is a very dangerous and talented team to deal with.’’

The Elasto Painters shot the lights out in Game 2 as they hit an amazing 19 treys, shooting 50 percent from downtown on their way to a 92-82 victory over the Bolts.

Painters vow to finish off BoltsShould it win again and sweep Meralco,

Rain or Shine will be heading to its third finals appearance in the last five conferences. It made the finals twice last season—the Philippine Cup and in the Governor’s Cup—but settled for a runner-up finish to eventual Grand Slam champion San Mig Coffee, now Purefoods.

So far in the series, the Elasto Painters’ advantage in the experience department is making a huge difference as the upstart but less-experienced Bolts are having a hard time closing games out.

In Game 2, Meralco was ahead 14 points early in the first half, but it quickly lost grip on the lead and became stagnant as the calm and poised demeanor of Rain or Shine took over. The Painters emphatically grabbed the game and the win away for this sizeable lead.

Paul Lee, a strong contender for the Best Player of the Conference award, continues to lead Rain or Shine with his steady play. In Game 2, he tallied 23 points with five triples as his offense once

again proved vital for the Elasto Painters.He is expected to once again backstop Rain

or Shine along with Wayne Chism, while Josh Davis and Gary David will need more support from their teammates if Meralco wants to extend the series and fight for another day.

Meanwhile, over at the other side of the fence, Purefoods is currently trying to wrest a 2-0 lead of its own against Talk ‘N Text in their own Game 2 as of this writing.

Thai aceseekingladies’golf titleTHAILAND’S Amol-kan Phalajivin hopes to shake off poor form coming off a long lay-off and rebound from a mediocre performance the last time out as she shoots for back-to-back in the ICTSI Splen-dido Ladies Invitational which unfolds tomor-row at Splendido Taal Golf Club in Tagaytay.

Phalajivin put on a strong finishing kick to get back at Cyna Rod-riguez after two blow-out losses and rule this event last year for her first championship on the ICTSI Ladies Philip-pine Golf Tour. But she groped for form in the kickoff leg of the 2015 circuit, finishing way down in joint 44th in last month’s ICTSI La-dies Open, which fea-tured the Taiwan LPGA Tour campaigners.

The comely Thai shot-maker, however, will be coming into the P500,000 event all primed up, rar-ing to atone for her for-gettable performance at Southlinks and make a successful defense of her crown in the fledg-ling circuit organized by Pilipinas Golf Tourna-ments, Inc.

Antipolo leg. Sen. Antonio Trillanes is shown with Barangay Captain Pablo Oldan of Mayamot, Antipolo City, which will host the 3rd Luzon Visayas Min-danao Barkadahan Basketbolista ni Senador Trillanes (Antipolo leg) on April 8 at 8 a.m. at the Mayamot Elementary School. Supporting the event are Joe Boxer, Felenitas Sardines, Cloudburst and Present Trading Co., J & E Interna-tional Freight Forwarding, Burlington Socks, Fronte Motors, Firm Builders Inc., Grandsports and David Ong.

Game Today (Semifinals’ Game 3, Smart

Araneta Coliseum)7 p.m. Rain or Shine vs. Meralco

A15T U E S D AY : A P R I L 7, 2 0 1 5

[email protected]

Blaze Spikers stormto 3rd straight victoryBy Peter Atencio

A TWEAK in their rotation worked wonders for the Petron Blaze Spikers as they battled the Shopinas Lady Clickers to a � ve-set 21-25, 20-25, 25-21, 25-16, 15-9 verdict yesterday at the Cuneta Astrodome.

The Blaze Spikers bounced back from two sets down and relied on the big plays of Carmine Aganon to keep the Lady Clickers at bay and pull off their third straight win in the Philippine Super Liga All Fili-pino Conference 2015.

Dindin Santiago-Manabat fired 22 points, while Abby Marano had 12 for the Blaze Spikers, who moved up into the solo lead.

Aganon, who replaced Fille Cainglet-Cayetano as an opposite hitter, rattled the Lady Clickers’ floor defense right after she came

into the game midway in the third set.

The Lady Clickers, who were ahead, 17-13, crumbled into a maze of errors but forced two deadlocks, before a pair of kills from Marano and Cayetano allowed Petron to take the third set.

Aganon’s ace and Mary Grace Masangkay’s drop shot in the third enabled Petron to cap a 7-2 run and take charge, 10-4.

Santiago then struck with four straight points with her attacks at the frontline, 16-8, as Petron forced a de-

BASKETBALL fans, who cheered and supported the Gilas Pilipinas basketball team in different parts of the world, had experienced the thrill of watching The Mighty Mouse Jimmy Alapag launch treys from way beyond the three-point arc and make them with consistency; of Gabe Norwood posterizing NBA center Luis Scola; Andray Blatche showing his all-around skills, and Paul Lee and Jayson Castro blowing by bigger defenders to come up with big plays.

That was the Gilas team everybody knew.

Meet the other Gilas—the Batang Gilas national team—composed of players 16-and-under, who will represent the country in the coming Southeast Asia Basketball Association tournament.

The team will be backstopped by Sam Josef Belangel, a big-time scorer from Tay Tung High School, where two-time PBA Most Valuable Player James Yap suited up.

Belangel is smaller than Yap, but he is described by Batang Gilas current coach Michael Oliver as “a boy in a man’s body.”

But what’s more intriguing with Belangel is the fact that he can shoot the lights out more than what Yap did when he was still a high school star. The kid once scored 99 points during a game in Bacolod much to the amazement Yap himself.

It’s too early to make a comparison now, but the fact that Belangel possesses a lot of potential means this current group of Batang Gilas he heads is worth the attention.

Aside from Belangel, the other vital cogs of the team, according to Oliver, are Gian Mamuyac of Ateneo and Will Gozum of University of the Philippines.

Mamuyac, just like Belangel, is another promising guard. He was a prized find in one of the Jr. NBA camps and for Oliver, the kid is already a proven talent having played for Ateneo in the UAAP.

“Subok na kasi natin si Mamuyac,” added Oliver. “With Mamuyac and Belangel plus the other guards in the line up, you can expect a fast-paced, pressing and hardworking team.”

Gozum, on the other hand, is a 6-foot-5 big man, who owns a decent touch from the perimeter.

The other members of the squad are Jed Colonia, Ralph Escalona, Juan Gomez de Liano, Gillian Flores, Rhayyan Amsali, Shaun Ildefonso, Romulo Berjay, Jonas Tibayan and Kris Harvey Pagsanjan.

The Batang Gilas team is set to showcase their skills in front of the Visayan crowd in the tournament to be hosted by Cagayan de Oro at the Xavier University gym in the event presented by SMART and MVP Sports Foundation and co-hosted by Mayor Oscar Moreno.

Under-16 teams from Brunei, Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia have already confirmed participation.

At stake in the tournament aside from continuing our legacy as champions of this tournament is a berth in the FIBA under-16 Championship.

Belangel vowed his team will do whatever it takes to give glory to the country and just like his idol from the Gilas team—Alapag and LA Tenorio—said he would make sure he will keep a hold the fort for the team until they reach their goal of winning the gold.

The other Gilas team

REY JOBLE

BASKETBALL fans, who cheered

THE LINK

cisive fifth set in the ensuing play.“Pinalitan ko ang rotation ko sa

paglagay ko kay Aganon sa right sa right side. Nawala ang diskarte nila,” said Petron coach George Pascua.

Shopinas fell behind on a pair of errors at the net as Petron picked its way out of a 4-all tie.

Aganon’s ace followed by two

kills from Rachel Anne Daquis gave Petron a chance to widen their lead, 10-5.

Cha Cruz led Shopinas’ cause with 17 points.

Shopinas moved away in the second set, after Cruz unleashed a pair of attacks, which pulled them out of an 18-all tie and into a 22-19 edge.

Guevarra ready to defend title vs PH boxerBy Ronnie Nathanielsz

THE World Boxing Council said light flyweight champion Pedro Guevara from Sinaloa, Mexico is poised to defend his title this April 11 at the Multiple Uses Center of Mazatlan against unde-feated challenger Richard “Explosive” Claveras of the Philippines.

The WBC website reported that Guevara, who conquered the vacant WBC Crown last December, defeating two-time former world champion, Akira Yaegashi, “is ripped and ready.”

The report also said both boxers passed the seven-days’ weigh in, which is a WBC rule spe-cifically designed to monitor gradual and safe weight loss.

Guevara weighed 111 lbs, while Claveras tipped the scales at 113 pounds.

On paper, the fight appears to be a mismatch as Claveras, who is undefeated in 12 fights with 12 knockouts and 2 draws, is ranked No. 26 by the WBC, which reflects the fact that the record of Claveras is misleading because the caliber of opponents he beat was nowhere near the oppo-nents that Pedro Guevara faced.

Guevara, the champion, has a record of 24 wins against only 1 defeat and 1 draw, with 16 knockouts—far more impressive than that of Claveras.

Claveras was scheduled to leave for Mexico yesterday, long with British trainer Warren Evi-son, who is with the United International Pro-

motions outfit of Japan’s Ryoku Kato and Edgar De Castro.

Even Evison appeared surprised when they learned about the title shot offered the compara-tively inexperienced Claveras, who is 25 years old and nicknamed “explosive.”

The Standard called WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman last week to check on what happened and said that the two boxers scheduled to fight Guevara had backed out for one reason or an-other and the WBC Asian Boxing Council had recommended Claveras.

In his last fight on January 31, Claveras scored a first-round knockout over Indone-sia’s Demsi Manufoe at the Mandaluyong City Gymnasium.

Maica Morada of Petron attacks the defense of Shopinas’ Steph Mercado (left) and Kim Dy in a PSL game won by the Blaze Spikers, 25, 20-25, 25-21, 25-16, 15-9. ROMAN PROSPERO

Lim...From A16

“Even if we have a long con-tract, say, five year-contract and they decide to cut you after the first year, ganoon din ang suma nu’n,” said Lim. “Coaches are hired to get fired. Kahit saan naman ganyan eh. Hopefully these guys will respond well to

me and we’ll make things a lot better here sa Ginebra.”

When asked about what would be the appropriate greet-ing between ‘congratulations” or “good luck” he would like to get for landing the Ginebra coaching job, Lim still gave a seemingly confident choice.

“It’s an honor to coach this team so I think it’s congratula-tions,” said Lim.

T U E S D AY : A P R I L 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

SPORTS

PG13 is back, liftsPacers past Heat

The playoff hungry Pacers welcomed back with open arms George who missed the first 76 games of the season after break-ing his right leg in August in a gruesome accident while playing for the US national team.

“Welcoming me back into the game was probably the greatest moment that I’ve had. It was so hard to not get caught up in the moment,” said George, whose ar-rival comes just in time for the playoff stretch run.

George, or PG13, was initially not expected back this NBA sea-son. The all-star forward sped up his recovery in time to rejoin an Indiana club that is sitting one game behind Boston for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

“Right now he’s working him-self in, trying to get his con-fidence. His vision is to be as good as he can be next year, but he looked pretty good tonight,” Heat guard Dwyane Wade said.

Luis Scola finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds off the bench, Solomon Hill chipped in with 19 points and C.J. Miles added 17 in the win.

Wade’s 27 points were not enough for the slumping Heat to snap a three-game losing streak.

In Oklahoma City, James Harden scored 41 points and the Houston Rockets withstood a tri-ple-double by Russell Westbrook to edge Oklahoma City 115-112 in an NBA thriller on Sunday.

The contest at the Thunder’s Chesapeake Energy Arena had plenty of plotlines: Houston’s race for the Southwest Division title and Oklahoma City’s bid for the last Western Conference playoff spot as well as the bat-tle between Harden and West-brook for the regular-season scoring title.

Westbrook, who came into the game virtually tied with Harden for the scoring lead with an average 27.5 points per game, almost brought the Thunder back from a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit.

His three-pointer with 3:12 to play knotted the score at 100-100, but Harden answered with a per-sonal 8-1 scoring run to help the Rockets notch their seventh win in eight games. AFP

INDIANAPOLIS—Paul George stood out in his much-anticipated return to Indiana, scoring 13 points in under 15 minutes of playing time as the Pac-ers routed the Miami Heat 112-89 on Sunday night.

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Lim tells Gin Kings: Shape up, or ship outBy Dennis Principe

GINEBRA players must shape up, or ship out.

This in essence was the initial, but stern message of newly appoint-ed head coach Frankie Lim, who held his first practice session with the PBA’s crowd darlings Monday morning at the CCF gym in Ortigas.

In fact, Lim’s first day as head guru was marked by a major

tweak in their line-up

when they acquired third-year cent-er Dave Marcelo from Barako Bull for longtime enforcer Billy Mamaril.

“I’m going to recruit players to make this team stronger. We should not be afraid of change, kasi if we are going to stick with the same players, I think the team is not strong with regards to firepower and in other spots in the team,” said Lim.

While Marcelo has been man-ning the post during his entire time with Barako, Lim said his former ward has been known also for

his quickness when they were still together with San Beda.

“Actually mabilis tumakbo si Dave. He even outsprinted our guards back when we were with San Beda,” said Lim who led the Red Lions to four NCAA titles with Marcelo as one of his centers.

With regards to the system he plans to instill, Lim said his play-ers need to be in the best shape of their lives because under his watch, there will be lots of running especially on offense.

“I want everybody to be in good shape. I want them stronger and faster. Sayang if we cannot run kasi we can dominate the boards. We have to maximize ‘yung advantage namin sa rebounding,” said Lim.

The 55-year-old Lim, who played for seven teams in his 15-year playing career in the PBA, seems unaffected by the seemingly short lifespan of the head coaching job with Ginebra, a team which had five coaching changes the last six conferences. Turn to A15

Paul George (right) of the Indiana Pacers attacks the lane during a game against the Miami Heat at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. George, who played his fi rst game of the season, scored 13 points and helped the Pacers crush the Heat, 112-89. AFP

PH bets 2nd in

SingaporeOpenNovak trying

to stay on topTURN TO A12

TURN TO A13

RODERICK T. DELA CRUZASSISTANT EDITOR B1

TUESDAY: APRIL 7, 2015

[email protected]@gmail.com

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

RAY S. EÑANOEDITOR

SMC joins mobile business

Stocks rise above 8,000 points

B3Foreign firms lose $200m to congestionB4

BUSINESS

Govt raises P14.46b despite higher T-bill rates

Bangko Sentral ng PilipinasMonday, April 6, 2015

Foreign exchange rateCurrency Unit US Dollar PesoUnited States Dollar 1.000000 44.6230

Japan Yen 0.008404 0.3750

UK Pound 1.492100 66.5820

Hong Kong Dollar 0.129007 5.7567

Switzerland Franc 1.049538 46.8335

Canada Dollar 0.801089 35.7470

Singapore Dollar 0.740850 33.0589

Australia Dollar 0.765990 34.1808

Bahrain Dinar 2.652520 118.3634

Saudi Arabia Rial 0.266603 11.8966

Brunei Dollar 0.738116 32.9370

Indonesia Rupiah 0.000077 0.0034

Thailand Baht 0.030774 1.3732

UAE Dirham 0.272257 12.1489

Euro Euro 1.097200 48.9604

Korea Won 0.000921 0.0411

China Yuan 0.161368 7.2007

India Rupee 0.016132 0.7199

Malaysia Ringgit 0.272628 12.1655

New Zealand Dollar 0.759994 33.9132

Taiwan Dollar 0.032415 1.4465 Source: PDS Bridge

8,053.7460.65

Closing April 6, 2015PSe comPoSite index

46

45

44

43

42

HIGH P44.370 LOW P44.450 AVERAGE P44.399

Closing APRIL 6, 2015PeSo-dollar rate

VOLUME 654.100M

oilPriceS today

P508.00-P728.00LPG/11-kg tank

P37.27-P42.82Unleaded Gasoline

P27.40-P31.70Diesel

P35.40-P39.15Kerosene

P23.70-P24.40Auto LPG

todayP27.40-P31.70

P35.40-P39.15

P23.70-P24.40

PP37.27-P42.82

8500

8000

7500

7000

6500

6000

Closing APRIL 6, 2015

P44.390CLOSE

Above 8,000. Traders rejoice after the Philippine Stock Exchange index closed above the 8,000-point mark for the first time, ending Monday’s session at 8,053.74 and eclipsing the previous record of 7,993.09 set on April 1, 2015. Story on B3.

By Darwin G. Amojelar

CONGLOMERATE San Miguel Corp. will soon enter the mobile phone business, becoming the fourth operator in the country, after a unit it acquired in 2010 began rolling out its mobile infrastructure ahead of commercial operation by January 2016.

Bell Telecommunication Philippines Inc., now a unit of San Miguel, said in a filing with the National Telecommunications Commission it concluded agreements with contractors and suppliers for the supply of various services, equipment and software related to the construction,

operation and maintenance of a mobile telecommunications network.

BellTel said it was undertaking the rollout of its mobile network. BellTel would become the fourth player in the mobile phone industry, after the PLDT Group (Smart and Sun Cellular), Globe

Telecom and ABS-CBN Mobile.San Miguel also owns Liberty

Telecoms Holdings Inc. and Eastern Telecommunications Philippines Inc. Liberty, through its subsidiary wi-tribe Telecoms Inc., provides data communications services, while Eastern Telecom renders Internet and data services.

BellTel said it integrated 197 base transceiver stations in the National Capital Region to its mobile telecommunication network. Of the integrated BTS, the NTC issued 191 radio station licenses.

“Belltell wil be applying for additional RSLs as soon as more BTS are integrated into its mobile network and will launch

services as soon as sufficient coverage for a commercial launch is achieved,” the telco unit of San Miguel said.

“Belltel has to date expended considerable capital in relation to the acquisition and construction of sites as well as the acquisition and installation of core and radio access network equipment and software,” it said.

San Miguel president Ramon Ang said BellTel planned to launch the mobile broadband service in January next year. In 2010, San Miguel’s Vega Telecom Inc. acquired BellTel that would give the latter entry into the wireless voice, data and video connectivity business.

By Jennifer Ambanta

THE Bureau of Treasury on Monday partially awarded P14.46 billion worth of government debt paper out of the original offer of P20 billion, as investors demanded higher interest rates across three tenors.

The agency raised P8 billion from the sale of 91-day debt instruments, P3.75 billion from 182-day paper and P2.71 billion from 364-day paper.

Interest rate on 91-day or three-month debt facilities settled at 1.655 percent, or 25.8 basis

points higher than the previous rate of 1.397 percent. Tender for the three-month papers reached P19.607 billion, or more than twice the original offer of P8 billion.

“Tenders for the 182-day and 364-day tenors were partially accepted to help ease the re-pricing of benchmark rates in the secondary market without compromising the government’s interest cost objective,” the Treasury said in a statement.

The 182-day rates reached 2.054 percent, before the Treasury decided to award the bills to lower

bids at 2 percent. Average rate stood at 1.918 percent, or 21.9 basis points higher than 1.948 percent recorded in the previous auction.

The Treasury accepted P3.75 billion out of the P10.850 billion tenders received. The original

offer was P6 billion.Meanwhile, the 364-day

government debt fetched an average rate of 2 percent, or 10 basis points higher than 1.948 percent registered in the previous auction.


BUSINESSTUESDAY: APRIL 7, 2015

B2

M S T52 Weeks Previous % Net Foreign High Low STOCKS Close High Low Close Change Volume Trade/Buying

MST BuSineSS Daily STockS Review Monday, april 6, 2015

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

Trading SummarySHARES VALUE

FINANCIAL 10,872,738 1,176,485,150.49INDUSTRIAL 92,027,265 1,344,469,514.36HOLDING FIRMS 69,552,997 1,472,047,277.37PROPERTY 122,742,539 749,852,267.80SERVICES 184,938,650 1,356,773,553.16MINING & OIL 1,866,093,967 396,525,346.859GRAND TOTAL 2,341,070,429 6,546,424,286.29

FINANCIAL 1,876.31 (down) 0.76INDUSTRIAL 12,844.38 (up) 38.12HOLDING FIRMS 7,175.72 (up) 70.59PROPERTY 3,251.03 (up) 5.52SERVICES 2,146.30 (up) 35.49MINING & OIL 15,553.67 (up) 210.94PSEI 8,053.74 (up) 60.65All Shares Index 4,607.08 (up) 30.87

Gainers: 92; Losers: 81; Unchanged: 47; Total: 220

STOCKS Close(P)

Change(%)

Natl. Reinsurance Corp. 0.96 -13.51

IRipple E-Business Intl 68.8 -10.59

Euro-Med Lab 2.2 -10.20

Federal Res. Inv. Group 19.28 -8.19

Manila Mining À' 0.0140 -6.67

Concepcion 59.1 -6.64

Asia Amalgamated A 1.80 -6.25

TKC Steel Corp. 1.23 -6.11

EEI 9.45 -4.83

Zeus Holdings 0.315 -4.55

Top LoSerSSTOCKS Close

(P)Change

(%)

Chemphil 150 50.00

Ferronickel 2.09 10.00

Transpacific Broadcast 2.03 8.56

Phil. Realty À' 0.5300 8.16

Manila Mining `B' 0.0160 6.67

ATN Holdings B 3 6.38

Petroenergy Res. Corp. 5.86 5.97

Bloomberry 11.20 4.87

Mabuhay Holdings À' 0.66 4.76

Nihao Mineral Resources 3.98 4.74

Top gainerS

FINANCIAL2.7 1.55 AG Finance 7.2 7.44 7 7.02 -2.50 20,100 75.3 63.5 Asia United Bank 71 71.35 69.85 71.3 0.42 5,970 247,178.0099.4 67.5 Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 123.00 123.00 120.60 121.00 -1.63 2,861,040 -23,155,731.00105.2 82.5 Bank of PI 102.40 103.00 101.40 102.30 -0.10 842,410 38,137,141.0063 50 China Bank 46.5 46.65 46.65 46.65 0.32 102,800 46,650.002.3 1.9 BDO Leasing & Fin. INc. 2.33 2.33 2.33 2.33 0.00 4,000 4.2 1.1 Bright Kindle Resources 2.25 2.25 2.25 2.25 0.00 36,000 19.6 14.5 COL Financial 16.6 16.6 16.5 16.5 -0.60 92,000 413,738.0031.6 23.2 Eastwest Bank 24.7 24.9 24.5 24.5 -0.81 489,600 -2,130,715.0022.5 6.84 Filipino Fund Inc. 8.88 9.07 8.88 9.07 2.14 1,300 -1,8142.95 1.75 I-Remit Inc. 1.69 1.78 1.71 1.71 1.18 10,000 1.01 0.175 MEDCO Holdings 0.440 0.440 0.430 0.440 0.00 50,000 -4,400.0092.9 69.35 Metrobank 99 100 98.55 99.8 0.81 3,762,690 115,299,068.001.65 1.2 Natl. Reinsurance Corp. 1.11 1.1 0.96 0.96 -13.51 128,000 30.5 20.45 PB Bank 18.50 18.40 18.40 18.40 -0.54 5,500 99 76 Phil. National Bank 77.05 77.10 76.15 76.15 -1.17 645,100 -41,591,011.00140 119 Phil. Savings Bank 95.50 95.50 95.45 95.45 -0.05 210 392 276 PSE Inc. 317 325 318.8 324.6 2.40 4,230 972,236.0059 41.5 RCBC À’ 45.3 45.55 45.2 45.2 -0.22 125,000 -36,240.00146.8 105.1 Security Bank 173 178 169.2 177 2.31 1,627,960 -37,522,565.001700 1281 Sun Life Financial 1386.00 1386.00 1385.00 1385.00 -0.07 95 130 116 Union Bank 69.15 69.45 69.00 69.45 0.43 58,080 25,552.00

INDUSTRIAL42.6 31.75 Aboitiz Power Corp. 44.75 44.85 44.65 44.75 0.00 739,200 2,296,395.006.1 2.51 Agrinurture Inc. 1.69 1.72 1.65 1.65 -2.37 17,000 6,600.001.66 0.88 Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 1.1 1.1 1.08 1.1 0.00 162,000 2.3 1.25 Alsons Cons. 2.06 2.11 2.03 2.03 -1.46 13,000,000 17.98 9.58 Asiabest Group 12.08 12.46 12 12.02 -0.50 36,300 249,200.00148 15 C. Azuc De Tarlac 86.05 87.05 87.05 87.05 1.16 110 17.2 14.6 Century Food 20 20.35 19.98 20 0.00 121,000 -1,014,900.00125 62.5 Chemphil 100 150 90 150 50.00 1,110 15.8 9.82 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 31 31.15 30 31.1 0.32 298,700 56.8 21.5 Concepcion 63.3 63.3 58 59.1 -6.64 52,640 0.004.57 0.82 Da Vinci Capital 1.78 1.8 1.78 1.79 0.56 113,000 39.5 17.3 Del Monte 11.84 11.86 11.62 11.68 -1.35 83,500 251,240.0014 5.98 DNL Industries Inc. 20.350 20.400 20.15 20.150 -0.98 820,800 2,244,280.0012.98 9.05 Emperador 11.50 11.72 11.42 11.62 1.04 6,913,300 13,683,556.008.15 4.25 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 8.29 8.35 8.20 8.29 0.00 39,945,000 -183,926,618.0012.34 8.68 EEI 9.93 9.94 8.86 9.45 -4.83 777,400 -539,289.002.5 1.01 Euro-Med Lab 2.45 2.63 2.2 2.2 -10.20 322,000 14,100.0017 8.61 Federal Res. Inv. Group 21 20.5 19.24 19.28 -8.19 194,000 20,500.0027.1 12.2 First Gen Corp. 30.95 31.3 30.05 30.95 0.00 5,286,800 9,416,715.0090.5 48.9 First Holdings ‘A’ 95.25 98 95.25 96.5 1.31 371,260 17,802,164.0027 16 Ginebra San Miguel Inc. 14.98 14.96 14.02 14.96 -0.13 3,700 0.014 0.0097 Greenergy 0.4700 0.4700 0.4500 0.4600 -2.13 330,000 9,000.0015.74 12.8 Holcim Philippines Inc. 14.50 14.50 14.50 14.50 0.00 24,100 -290,000.009.4 2.05 Integ. Micro-Electronics 6.57 6.57 6.51 6.53 -0.61 497,500 51,002.000.98 0.32 Ionics Inc 0.620 0.640 0.610 0.640 3.23 389,000 -230,580.00199.8 150.8 Jollibee Foods Corp. 222.40 222.40 219.20 220.00 -1.08 295,020 -14,258,622.0010.98 8.55 Lafarge Rep 9.23 9.25 9.2 9.23 0.00 599,700 79 48.5 Liberty Flour 35.00 34.05 33.20 33.50 -4.29 6,800 5.2 2.8 LMG Chemicals 2.53 2.67 2.55 2.57 1.58 1,900 30 20.35 Manila Water Co. Inc. 27.1 27.1 26.6 27.1 0.00 932,000 -2,627,685.0090 12 Maxs Group 26.85 27.35 25.8 26.3 -2.05 1,247,300 -668,540.0014.7 10.1 Megawide 8.130 8.100 7.680 7.850 -3.44 38,300 -25,120.00317 246 Mla. Elect. Co À’ 264.00 267.20 264.20 266.00 0.76 215,040 -8,696,720.005.37 4 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 4.18 4.18 4.06 4.1 -1.91 115,000 14.48 11.56 Petron Corporation 9.90 9.95 9.80 9.88 -0.20 1,368,300 348,131.007.5 5 Phil H2O 5.25 5.15 5.15 5.15 -1.90 500 14.5 9.94 Phinma Corporation 11.60 11.50 11.48 11.48 -1.03 39,200 7.03 4.33 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 4.13 4.13 4.03 4.13 0.00 184,000 Phoenix Semiconductor 2.60 2.60 2.52 2.55 -1.92 660,000 25,600.00 Pryce Corp. À’ 3.75 3.87 3.5 3.6 -4.00 3,140,000 6.68 4.88 RFM Corporation 5.15 5.15 5.12 5.13 -0.39 133,300 -368,582.00275 210 San Miguel’Pure Foods `B’ 208.6 209 203.2 203.4 -2.49 2,850 -574,098.002.25 1.7 Splash Corporation 1.68 1.75 1.67 1.7 1.19 263,000 0.191 0.102 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.175 0.176 0.172 0.172 -1.71 3,420,000 -21,120.002.5 1.6 TKC Steel Corp. 1.31 1.31 1.23 1.23 -6.11 49,000 2.68 1.37 Trans-Asia Oil 2.22 2.24 2.22 2.24 0.90 561,000 188.6 111.3 Universal Robina 226 234 227.2 230 1.77 1,620,100 197,595,990.005.5 1.58 Victorias Milling 4.6 4.6 4.5 4.5 -2.17 51,000 126,000.001.3 0.550 Vitarich Corp. 0.69 0.72 0.7 0.7 1.45 1,067,000 481,630.002.17 1.33 Vulcan Ind’l. 1.48 1.51 1.46 1.46 -1.35 5,460,000

HOLDING FIRMS0.7 0.46 Abacus Cons. À’ 0.470 0.475 0.450 0.470 0.00 70,000 61.6 45.75 Aboitiz Equity 57.50 58.05 56.85 58.05 0.96 2,217,150 108,934,639.0031.85 21.95 Alliance Global Inc. 27.00 27.20 26.80 27.00 0.00 5,824,600 -5,801,875.002.16 1.6 Anglo Holdings A 1.40 1.43 1.43 1.43 2.14 6,000 -7,000.007.39 6.3 Anscor À’ 7.00 7.10 7.10 7.10 1.43 31,500 2.7 1.550 Asia Amalgamated A 1.92 2.11 1.78 1.80 -6.25 458,000 3.29 1.8 ATN Holdings A 2.87 3.05 2.87 3.00 4.53 2,071,000 2.05 1.04 ATN Holdings B 2.82 3.06 2.92 3 6.38 626,000 650.00747 508 Ayala Corp À’ 799 803.5 795 800 0.13 482,440 -11,894,755.0011.34 7.470 Cosco Capital 8.79 8.86 8.76 8.78 -0.11 5,559,200 35,004,818.0084 47.25 DMCI Holdings 15.44 15.70 15.36 15.60 1.04 3,525,100 3,763,124.005.34 4 Filinvest Dev. Corp. 4.50 4.50 4.47 4.47 -0.67 6,000 0.23 0.144 Forum Pacific 0.320 0.335 0.320 0.320 0.00 2,110,000 1060 706 GT Capital 1380 1390 1378 1380 0.00 99,765 28,801,135.0059.8 36.7 JG Summit Holdings 72.50 74.20 72.10 73.75 1.72 2,700,370 119,242,136.006.55 3.95 Lopez Holdings Corp. 8.38 8.55 8.38 8.54 1.91 599,200 532,365.000.9 0.58 Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. 0.78 0.82 0.76 0.79 1.28 2,154,000 19.9 12.96 LT Group 16.32 16.38 16.3 16.38 0.37 1,095,200 -614,188.000.75 0.580 Mabuhay Holdings À’ 0.63 0.67 0.63 0.66 4.76 555,000 5.4 4.06 Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. 4.85 4.92 4.82 4.83 -0.41 11,146,000 -8,195,410.005.35 4.5 Minerales Industrias Corp. 5.2 5.15 5 5.05 -2.88 122,600 0.84 0.355 Prime Orion 0.750 0.800 0.750 0.780 4.00 11,707,000 153,000.0088 54.5 San Miguel Corp À’ 67.00 68.90 67.00 68.00 1.49 286,570 -9,709,820.50866 680 SM Investments Inc. 905.00 625.00 900.00 924.00 2.10 245,020 153,481,940.002.2 1.04 Solid Group Inc. 1.21 1.20 1.20 1.20 -0.83 200,000 -240,000.001.39 0.85 South China Res. Inc. 0.93 0.93 0.93 0.93 0.00 103,000 390 170 Transgrid 263.20 263.20 263.20 263.20 0.00 150 156 58.05 Top Frontier 103.00 102.00 101.70 101.70 -1.26 940 0.285 0.158 Unioil Res. & Hldgs 0.4150 0.4350 0.4100 0.4150 0.00 10,580,000 0.245 0.150 Wellex Industries 0.2430 0.2450 0.2310 0.2380 -2.06 4,860,000 232,000.000.510 0.295 Zeus Holdings 0.330 0.315 0.315 0.315 -4.55 10,000

P R O P E R T Y9.03 5.51 8990 HLDG 8.410 8.800 8.400 8.700 3.45 3,315,500 -8,935,695.001.99 0.99 A. Brown Co., Inc. 0.94 1.03 0.93 0.94 0.00 7,153,000 67,600.002.07 1 Araneta Prop À’ 1.320 1.320 1.320 1.320 0.00 4,000 0.375 0.185 Arthaland Corp. 0.245 0.250 0.250 0.250 2.04 200,000 35.3 23.7 Ayala Land `B’ 40.00 40.20 39.00 39.65 -0.88 4,875,700 -17,171,455.006.15 4.41 Belle Corp. À’ 4.22 4.25 4.2 4.2 -0.47 2,037,000 -2,593,150.006.1 5 Cebu Holdings 5.1 5.18 5 5.1 0.00 173,600 -611,598.002 1.22 Century Property 0.95 0.95 0.94 0.94 -1.05 1,197,000 -60,900.002.51 1.21 City & Land Dev. 1.22 1.22 1.21 1.21 -0.82 44,000 8,540.001.5 0.97 Cityland Dev. À’ 1.01 1.01 1.00 1.01 0.00 36,000

0.201 0.068 Crown Equities Inc. 0.150 0.153 0.150 0.151 0.67 3,760,000 -7,650.000.98 0.47 Cyber Bay Corp. 0.455 0.450 0.450 0.450 -1.10 10,000 1.09 0.87 Empire East Land 0.890 0.900 0.890 0.900 1.12 735,000 0.370 0.175 Ever Gotesco 0.207 0.207 0.207 0.207 0.00 570,000 2.25 1.22 Global-Estate 1.45 1.52 1.46 1.50 3.45 5,840,000 -6,768,910.001.77 1.18 Filinvest Land,Inc. 1.82 1.88 1.82 1.88 3.30 28,452,000 29,946,730.001.6 1.19 Interport À’ 1.48 1.49 1.48 1.49 0.68 134,000 5.3 3.12 Megaworld 5.5 5.65 5.53 5.59 1.64 27,492,100 30,345,838.000.180 0.070 MRC Allied Ind. 0.123 0.129 0.122 0.128 4.07 63,800 697,450.000.74 0.4 Phil. Realty À’ 0.4900 0.5600 0.5000 0.5300 8.16 330,000 4.45 2.5 Primex Corp. 7.88 7.94 7.8 7.8 -1.02 276,200 24.8 18.72 Robinson’s Land `B’ 30.10 30.10 29.70 30.05 -0.17 1,367,900 -28,749,910.002.06 1.45 Rockwell 1.76 1.78 1.75 1.76 0.00 367,000 336,000.003.6 2.9 Shang Properties Inc. 3.28 3.33 3.21 3.33 1.52 124,000 -391,620.0019.62 14.1 SM Prime Holdings 20.10 20.65 20.10 20.40 1.49 8,515,800 60,678,120.001.02 0.58 Sta. Lucia Land Inc. 0.81 0.83 0.82 0.83 2.47 475,000 6.66 3.05 Starmalls 7.41 7.45 7.45 7.45 0.54 1,100 1.96 0.87 Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. 1.090 1.100 1.050 1.090 0.00 105,000 4,240.006.5 4.37 Vista Land & Lifescapes 8.420 8.430 8.220 8.290 -1.54 8,755,700 -34,630,839.00

S E R V I C E S3.25 1.55 2GO Group’ 7 7.18 6.8 6.99 -0.14 237,500 43.7 27 ABS-CBN 61.5 61.75 61.4 61.45 -0.08 22,290 1.43 0.92 Acesite Hotel 1.12 1.12 1.12 1.12 0.00 35,000 1.09 0.59 APC Group, Inc. 0.690 0.700 0.680 0.700 1.45 370,000 -13,800.0012.46 10 Asian Terminals Inc. 14 14.04 14 14 0.00 232,100 2,984,440.0014 8.28 Bloomberry 10.68 11.20 10.76 11.20 4.87 19,908,900 79,458,740.000.1640 0.0960 Boulevard Holdings 0.1140 0.1190 0.1140 0.1150 0.88 85,060,000 -406,200.004.05 2.97 Calata Corp. 3.77 3.8 3.72 3.8 0.80 226,000 71 44.8 Cebu Air Inc. (5J) 85.5 86 85.45 85.5 0.00 974,400 -52,864,448.5012.3 10.14 Centro Esc. Univ. 10.02 10.02 10.02 10.02 0.00 200 9 4 DFNN Inc. 6.95 7.01 6.97 6.97 0.29 2,000 1700 1080 FEUI 980 981 980 981 0.10 1,410 2008 1580 Globe Telecom 2062 2140 2060 2140 3.78 45,680 11,410,620.009.04 7.12 GMA Network Inc. 6.71 6.80 6.74 6.77 0.89 90,300 2.02 1.2 Harbor Star 1.54 1.54 1.54 1.54 0.00 38,000 118.9 94.4 I.C.T.S.I. 110 110 107 107.6 -2.18 988,800 648,549.0012.5 8.72 IPeople Inc. À’ 11.82 11.8 11.02 11.8 -0.17 1,100 0.017 0.012 IP E-Game Ventures Inc. 0.014 0.014 0.014 0.014 0.00 8,300,000 0.0653 0.026 Island Info 0.242 0.245 0.241 0.241 -0.41 4,140,000 21,780.002.2800 1.560 ISM Communications 1.2200 1.2900 1.2200 1.2300 0.82 158,000 6.99 1.95 Jackstones 3 3.07 2.8 2.92 -2.67 31,000 9.67 5.82 Leisure & Resorts 8.50 8.87 8.50 8.60 1.18 2,512,100 -5,911,492.002.85 1.15 Liberty Telecom 2.10 2.10 2.03 2.05 -2.38 78,000 2.2 1.1 Lorenzo Shipping 1.41 1.47 1.45 1.45 2.84 3,000 1.97 0.485 Manila Bulletin 0.690 0.680 0.680 0.680 -1.45 10,000 14.46 10.14 Melco Crown 9.44 9.69 9.45 9.62 1.91 1,893,200 -12,334,334.000.62 0.35 MG Holdings 0.360 0.360 0.360 0.360 0.00 340,000 1.040 0.36 NOW Corp. 0.495 0.500 0.470 0.500 1.01 30,000 22.8 14.54 Pacific Online Sys. Corp. 18.38 18.38 18.14 18.38 0.00 51,700 -90,700.006.6 5.2 PAL Holdings Inc. 4.50 4.50 4.50 4.50 0.00 7,000 2.85 1.85 Paxys Inc. 3.04 3.06 3.04 3.04 0.00 106,000 18 8.8 Phil. Racing Club 9.2 9.11 9 9.01 -2.07 34,100 9,911.00107 81 Phil. Seven Corp. 110.00 111.00 110.00 111.00 0.91 3,980 263,800.0011.3 4.39 Philweb.Com Inc. 13.56 13.56 13.50 13.56 0.00 143,400 3486 2572 PLDT Common 2840.00 2938.00 2882.00 2928.00 3.10 113,440 134,826,850.000.710 0.250 PremiereHorizon 0.590 0.600 0.590 0.600 1.69 1,258,000 2.01 0.26 Premium Leisure 1.560 1.630 1.540 1.620 3.85 47,610,000 386,760.0048.5 32.2 Puregold 41.40 42.00 41.35 41.45 0.12 2,773,900 -59,767,625.0074 48 Robinsons RTL 84.50 84.50 84.00 84.20 -0.36 791,990 13,568,586.50 SSI Group 10.20 10.22 10.14 10.14 -0.59 2,335,000 -17,295,760.000.87 0.59 STI Holdings 0.70 0.70 0.69 0.69 -1.43 172,000 2.95 1.68 Transpacific Broadcast 1.87 2.03 2.03 2.03 8.56 20,000 11.46 7.78 Travellers 6.46 6.72 6.45 6.45 -0.15 2,644,500 -12,428,357.000.435 0.305 Waterfront Phils. 0.350 0.365 0.340 0.360 2.86 740,000 1.6 1.04 Yehey 1.420 1.410 1.320 1.410 -0.70 37,000

MINING & OIL0.0086 0.0028 Abra Mining 0.0055 0.0057 0.0056 0.0056 1.82 81,000,000 112,000.005.45 1.72 Apex À’ 2.80 2.90 2.78 2.80 0.00 4,939,000 -1,008,220.0017.24 11.48 Atlas Cons. À’ 8.71 8.84 8.66 8.75 0.46 205,500 -26,385.000.325 0.225 Basic Energy Corp. 0.255 0.260 0.255 0.260 1.96 2,320,000 -28,050.0012.8 6.2 Benguet Corp À’ 7.3600 7.1700 7.16 7.1600 -2.72 200 12.7 6 Benguet Corp `B’ 6.9800 6.9800 6.98 6.9800 0.00 112,000 1.2 0.5 Century Peak Metals Hldgs 1.07 1.12 1.07 1.07 0.00 1,164,000 1.73 0.76 Coal Asia 0.92 0.93 0.92 0.92 0.00 865,000 10.98 4.93 Dizon 8.10 8.10 8.01 8.08 -0.25 87,100 -2,406.00 Ferronickel 1.9 2.1 1.92 2.09 10.00 24,900,000 -2,845,390.000.46 0.385 Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. 0.375 0.390 0.365 0.380 1.33 4,240,000 0.455 0.3000 Lepanto À’ 0.228 0.234 0.228 0.231 1.32 10,160,000 0.730 0.2950 Lepanto `B’ 0.240 0.243 0.234 0.243 1.25 100,000 0.024 0.012 Manila Mining À’ 0.0150 0.0140 0.0140 0.0140 -6.67 65,400,000 0.026 0.014 Manila Mining `B’ 0.0150 0.0160 0.0160 0.0160 6.67 100,000 8.2 1.960 Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. 4.9 4.93 4.9 4.92 0.41 301,000 140.0048.85 14.22 Nickelasia 23.5 23.95 23.3 23.85 1.49 6,865,500 -33,021,995.003.35 1.47 Nihao Mineral Resources 3.8 4.03 3.86 3.98 4.74 9,488,000 -3,229,390.001.030 0.220 Omico 0.7300 0.7400 0.7300 0.7400 1.37 56,000 -10,950.003.06 1.24 Oriental Peninsula Res. 2.150 2.210 2.150 2.200 2.33 680,000 0.021 0.016 Oriental Pet. À’ 0.0130 0.0130 0.0120 0.0130 0.00 2,200,000 0.023 0.017 Oriental Pet. `B’ 0.0140 0.0140 0.0140 0.0140 0.00 4,400,000 7.67 4.02 Petroenergy Res. Corp. 5.53 5.86 5.53 5.86 5.97 9,300 -29,309.0012.88 7.8 Philex À’ 7.43 7.5 7.26 7.29 -1.88 643,400 -2,137,370.0010.42 6.5 PhilexPetroleum 2.43 2.46 2.4 2.44 0.41 99,000 -2,400.000.042 0.031 Philodrill Corp. À’ 0.016 0.016 0.015 0.016 0.00 40,900,000 97,500.00420 123 Semirara Corp. 163.90 169.20 163.90 168.00 2.50 571,870 -2,065,635.009 4.3 TA Petroleum 4.1 4.1 4.06 4.08 -0.49 6,000 0.016 0.0087 United Paragon 0.0110 0.0110 0.0100 0.0110 0.00 1,604,300,000

PREFERRED44.1 26.3 ABS-CBN Holdings Corp. 62.6 62 61.5 62 -0.96 4,610 94,230.00540 504 Ayala Corp. Pref À’ 528 515 510 515 -2.46 8,550 511 480 GLOBE PREF P 506.5 513 507 507 0.10 10,010 9.04 6.76 GMA Holdings Inc. 6.4 6.45 6.45 6.45 0.78 8,000 MWIDE PREF 108.9 108.8 108.8 108.8 -0.09 3,000 PF Pref 2 1046 1046 1043 1046 0.00 22,795 -52,150.0077.3 74.2 SMC Preferred A 76.05 76.05 75.9 75.9 -0.20 65,310 -3,920,705.0078.95 74.5 SMC Preferred B 83 83 83 83 0.00 5,000 81.85 75 SMC Preferred C 84.5 84.8 84.8 84.8 0.36 70

WARRANTS & BONDS2.42 0.0010 LR Warrant 3.850 4.020 3.760 3.820 -0.78 287,000

SME10.96 2.4 Double Dragon 8.8 9.02 8.7 8.85 0.57 1,475,100 -43,950.0035 7.74 IRipple E-Business Intl 76.95 77.95 68.8 68.8 -10.59 66,470 Xurpas 9.99 9.98 9.5 9.65 -3.40 3,297,400 5,468,972.00

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS119.6 94 First Metro ETF 129.7 130.7 130 130.7 0.77 3,230



B3

Stocks rise above 8,000 pointsPhiliPPine Stock exchange index

2014 2015

Year-on-Year

THE consortium operating the Malampaya field and Philippine National Oil Co. have started the biding process for the joint sale of the banked gas from the reservoir.

Shell Philippines Exploration B.V., Chevron Malampaya LLC, PNOC Exploration Corp. and PNOC set the pre-qualification conference for the sale of the banked gas on April 16.

Energy Undersecretary

Zenaida Monsada said the actual auction date would be known after the conference.

“Based on the invitation, the initial delivery of the banked gas will be first quarter next year,” she said, adding the gas should be used for power generation.

The invitation said Spex, Chevron, PNOC Exploration and PNOC as sellers started the process of jointly tendering

their respective gas volume entitlements under service contract 38 in northwest Palawan.

“The quantity of gas available is up to 227.995 petajoules and average daily quantity of up to 78.1 terajoules..., available for delivery as early as January 1, 2016 and up to February 23, 2024.

It said interested parties must submit a letter of interest by April 10.

Energy Secretary Carlos

Jericho Petilla earlier said the banked gas could fire up to 400 MW of power plant.

Petilla earlier estimated the banked gas was capable of fueling 150 MW of power projects for Spex and PNOC Exploration and that the capacity could be slightly higher.

Spex, as lead contractor of the Malampaya gas-to-power project, has its own banked gas.

The other banked gas, stored in the Malampaya reservoir, is owned by the state-owned PNOC. PNOC bought the banked gas from the department several years ago for P14 billion.

It was contracted, paid for by the government and reserved for future use. The banked gas, however, has accumulated in the past several years.

Alena Mae S. Flores

THE stock market surged past the 8,000-point mark at the close of trading Monday as weak US jobs data spurred bets that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates low.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index gained 60.65 points, or 0.8 percent, to a new record high of 8,053.74 on a value turnover of P6.5 billion. The index ended above the 8,000-point level for the first time, after piercing the mark in previous intra-day sessions. The index also posted its seventh day of gains.

Gainers beat losers, 92 to 81, with 47 issues unchanged.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., the biggest telecommunications firm, led the rally, advancing 3.1 percent to P2,928.

Universal Robina Corp., the largest snack food maker, rose 1.8 percent to P230, while Security Bank Corp., the eighth biggest lender, climbed 2.3 percent to P177.

SM Investments Corp. of retail tycoon Henry Sy Sr. added 2.1 percent to P924, while

unit SM Prime Holdings Corp., the largest property company, gained 1.5 percent to P20.40.

Bloomberry Resorts Corp., which operates a casino on a reclaimed part of Manila Bay, jumped 4.9 percent to P11.20, while Nickel Asia Corp., the biggest nickel miner, rallied 1.5 percent to P23.85.

Tokyo shares, meanwhile, ended lower Monday while the yen climbed against the dollar following a worse than expected US jobs report seen as making an early US rate rise more unlikely.

Oil prices rose on expectations that any new exports from Iran would not likely come on the market for some time, despite the initial nuclear agreement.

With several major markets shut for public holidays and Wall Street closed Friday, trading was thin with

few catalysts to spur business.Tokyo fell 0.19 percent, or 37.10

points, to 19,397.98 and Seoul was flat, edging up 1.01 points to close at 2,046.43. In late trade Singapore was marginally higher.

Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Taipei, Sydney and Wellington were closed.

The US Labor Department’s

monthly non-farm payrolls report on Friday showed just 126,000 new jobs were created in March, half of what was expected and the weakest growth since December 2013.

The figures hinted at a possible slowdown in the world’s top economy and will make it highly unlikely the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates earlier than

September.Analysts put the weak figures down

to the impact of a strong dollar, cold weather and falling oil prices. The news weighed on the dollar, which has been rallying in recent weeks on expectations the Fed would increase rates by the summer.

The dollar fell to 119.03 yen Monday from 119.62 yen in Tokyo on Friday, while the euro climbed to $1.0971 from $1.0879. The single currency was at 130.57 yen from 130.16 yen.

A pick-up in the yen pushed shares in Japanese exporters down as it makes their goods more expensive abroad.

“We should see a correction in Japanese stocks as the stronger yen pushes down exporters,” Shoji Hirakawa, chief equity strategist at Okasan Securities Co. in Tokyo, told Bloomberg News.

“The US economy has hit a soft patch due to the stronger dollar and weaker oil. First-quarter earnings and gross domestic product probably won’t be good.” With AFP, Bloomberg

Mindanao’s blackouttraced to aging deviceBy Alena Mae S. Flores

A BREAKDOWN of an aging transformer caused the seven-hour Mindanao blackout on Sun-day, the Energy Department said Monday, adding there was no in-dication of a sabotage

Energy Secretary Carlos Jeri-cho Petilla told reporters a team led by National Transmission Corp. had been formed to inves-tigate the cause of the Mindanao blackout and prevent it from hap-pening again.

“The initial findings showed that the CVT [capacitor voltage trans-former]... got detached. The equip-ment is old, it was installed in 1975 so it’s 40 years old,” Petilla said.

Initial findings showed the conductor connecting the CVT of the Agus switchyard detached. TransCo has not determined why the conductor was detached, al-though it was thought to be due to the extremely hot temperature and state of deterioration.

“What caused the failure, that’s what [TransCo] will investigate... I instructed TransCo to coordi-nate with NGCP [National Grid

Corp. of the Philippines] to pre-vent it from happening again,” Petilla said.

He said the connection asset is owned by National Power Corp and managed by National Grid.

Petilla said the problem was electro-mechanical in nature and there was no indication that it would fail.

“This equipment has a 50 years lifesplan but the chances of elec-tro-mechanical failure, we cannot predict,” he said.

He added the Mindanao grid suffered a power imbalance due to the disconnection of connector of the CVT leading to the massive blackout.

“But it would not have hap-pened [blackout] if we had enough reserves,” Petilla said.

TransCo president Rolando Bacani said result of the investi-gation would come out by April 15.

“The detached conductor af-fected the CVT, so there was a flashover, that caused the initial fault but why the whole of Min-danao was affected, that’s what we will look at,” he said.

Malampaya consortium, PNOC prepare auction of banked gas

Lighting display. Trade Secre-tary Gregory Domingo (right) with (from left) Undersecretary Ponciano Mana-lo Jr., Center for International Trade Exposi-tions and Mis-sions executive director Rosario Virginia Gaetos and Domingo’s wife Rowena pose with multi-awarded designer Ken-neth Cobonpue and his pieces displayed at the Manila FAME on March 13, 2015 at the SMX Con-vention Center in Pasay City. Behind them is one of Cobon-pue’s circus design concept using lighting in his products.

BUSINESSB4

Bank economist sees March inflation rate setting at 2.5%

Foreignfirms lose$200m to congestion

San Miguel buying back $283m in bonds

SM awards. Yazhou Zhoukan, a leading Chinese business magazine, gives SM Investments Corp. an award for ‘The Global Chinese Business 1000 Awards—Oustanding Performance.’ Shown receiving the awards in Hong Kong from Francis Tiong (left), group chief executive and executive director of YZZ parent company Media Chinese International Ltd., is SMIC executive vice president and chief finance officer Jose Sio.

By Othel V. Campos

MULTINATIONAL companies operating in the Philippines incurred $200 million in com-bined losses due to Manila port congestion last year.

By Julito G. Rada

INFLATION rate in March likely settled at 2.5 percent, moderated by falling oil prices and slower increases in food items, a bank economist said Monday.

“We see a sideways, if not a slight uptick from the February print. Decline in petroleum prod-uct prices combined with mod-est increases in food prices could lead to a 2.5-percent print for March,” Bank of the Philippine Is-lands lead economist Emilio Neri Jr. said in a text message.

“Our official March [inflation]

estimate is 2.5 percent,” Neri said.The Philippine Statistics Au-

thority is scheduled to release the March inflation data today.

Inflation rate inched up to 2.5 percent in February from 2.4 percent in January, due to move-ments in the annual growths among the commodity groups during the month.

This brought average inflation in the first two months of the year to 2.5 percent, within the Central Bank’s target range of 2 percent to 4 percent.

ING Bank chief economist for Asia Tim Condon said

inflation this year could fall within the target range, as “lower global oil prices mean lower electricity tariffs and lower gasoline prices, which make it cheaper to transport food from farm to market.”

“Barring supply shocks, we ex-pect inflation to remain near the low end of the [Central Bank’s] 2 to 4 percent target for 2015,” Con-don said.

Condon cited the previous statement of the policy-setting Monetary Board of the Central Bank in its second meeting for the year on March 26 that “the risks

to the inflation outlook continue to be broadly balanced.”

Condon said the fall in inflation from its recent peak of 4.9 percent in August 2014 had come in from the food, housing and utilities and transport components.

Bangko Sentral Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said infla-tion was likely to remain man-ageable in the coming months, despite the increase in consumer prices in February to 2.5 percent from 2.4 percent in January.

Tetangco said March inflation likely settled between 2.1 and 2.9 percent due to lower oil prices

and electricity rates. Tetangco’s March inflation forecast was low-er than his estimate of 2.2 percent to 3 percent for February.

The Land Transportation Fran-chising and Regulatory Board said the rollback reduced the pre-vious P40 flag-down rate to P30.

Oil firms cut pump prices by as much as P1.10 per liter effective March 24 to reflect the falling oil prices in the global markets.

Bangko Sentral set an inflation rate target of 2 percent to 4 per-cent for 2015 to 2018. These tar-gets were lower than the 2014 goal of 3 percent to 5 percent.

By Jenniffer B. Austria

CONGLOMERATE San Miguel Corp. said Monday it agreed to buy back $283.624 million of 4.875 percent US dollar bonds due 2023.

San Miguel said in disclosure to the stock exchange a total of $283.624 million in principal amount was validly tendered and accepted by the company for pur-chase at end of the offer period on April 1.

San Miguel initially planned to redeem $400 million, or half of the $800 million notes due 2023, via tender offer.

The settlement date for the ten-der offer is expected to be no later than April 10.

After completion of the ten-der offer, some $516.376 million in aggregate principal amount of the notes will remain out-standing.

San Miguel earlier tapped Aus-tralia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. to act as the sole deal-er manager for the tender offer

San Miguel issued $800 mil-lion bonds in 2013, becoming the largest issuance of dollar-de-nominated bonds by a Philippine company.

San Miguel said it would re-is-sue 279 million series 1 preferred

shares through private placement at P75 per share to raise as much as P20.1 billion in proceeds.

The preferred shares to be is-sued to Ginoog Holdings Corp., Lucena Holdings Corp. and Me-troplex Holdings Corp. carry a dividend rate of 5.635 per annum.

San Miguel is a food, beverage and packaging company estab-lished in 1890 initially as a single-product brewery.

The conglomerate has trans-formed itself into a diversified conglomerate with market-lead-ing businesses and investments in the fuel and oil, energy, infra-structure, telecommunications, mining and banking.

The Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines said while the situation at the ports had im-proved, slow cargo movements and high cost of moving ship-ments remained serious prob-lems.

“The big issue among majority of people is that it’s the low sea-son. Nothing’s changed so when we get busy it’s going to get back to worse, so we need to be doing something,” American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines executive director Ebb Hinchliffe said.

Hinchliffe said a good number of ships had refused to dock in Manila for fear of delay, as addi-tional expenses and overall hassle related to port congestion bur-dened shipping companies.

“Even when we’re saying the ports in Manila are back to nor-mal, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Sin-gapore still say they cannot afford to ship to Manila,” he said.

Hinchliffe said while govern-ment officials kept on saying the situation was “back to normal”, the situation had not really gone down to pre-port congestion level.

Members of foreign chambers, he said, were worried about the next peak season, as “they still think that nothing has changed especially the issue with trucks.”

An ongoing study commis-sioned by consumer goods manu-facturer Procter & Gamble seeks to determine the cost of port con-gestion on foreign companies.

“What sort of preparation they [government] are making, com-ing from a low season. Members are talking about the truck-ban hours. Extending it by an hour can make more roundtrips a day for truckers instead of one trip a day,” said Hinchliffe.

He said foreign companies ex-pected the Metro Manila Devel-opment Authority to address the concerns of business group by talking with truckers and chang-ing the registration of trucks so that it would not coincide with the truck ban.

“But on top of it all, I think these people are more concerned how a mayor of a city can impose a rule that has a national effect,” he said, referring to Manila May-or Joseph Estrada’s order impos-ing the truck ban last year.


T U E S D AY : A P R I L 7, 2 0 1 5

BUSINESS B5

CHIN WONG

Digital life

Megaworld raisesspending to P286b

Metrobank completes P32-b offering

Defending our rights online

THE widespread use of the Internet and social media has done much to pro-mote personal and political freedoms, but our most basic human rights are also at risk as governments move to curtail what we can say online and work to put every aspect of our digital lives under surveillance.

These were among the concerns raised at the RightCon Southeast Asia Summit last month, as 600 delegates from over 50 countries gath-ered in Manila to focus on protecting human rights online and fighting for an open Internet.

In a session on Defending Internet Freedom, human rights lawyer Harry Roque talked about the dangers of the Cybercrime Prevention Act, which was unsuccessfully challenged before the Supreme Court.

Jon Ungphakorn, director of iLaw in Thailand, cited lèse majesté pro-visions in Thai law as a serious curtailment of free speech rights. Under these provisions, anyone who defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir-apparent or the regent can be sent to prison for three to 15 years—more serious than rape or murder. Worse, these provisions have been used to eliminate the political opposition, he said.

Ungphakorn also cited the Thailand Computer Crimes Act of 2007, which can send a person to jail for up to five years for broadly defined offenses, and subjects service providers to the same penalties.

“All of our draconian laws come about from periods of military dicta-torship,” Ungphakorn said, noting that the Computer Crimes Act came one year after the 2006 coup.

Under the military dictatorship established after the 2014 coup, 10 new cyber laws have been passed, including a draconian Cyber Security Law that gives the government the right to preempt what could be a se-curity threat, Ungphakorn added.

Under the current regime, he said, 699 people have been summoned to military camps for interrogation, 399 have been arrested and taken to military camps, 146 have been arrested in peaceful demonstrations, and 43 people have been charged under the lèse majesté law.

Edmund Bon of the Malaysian Centre for Constitutionalism and Hu-man Rights, said that while Malaysia has no lèse majesté laws, it does have the Multimedia and Communications Act, which is similar to the Philippines’ Cybercrime Prevention Act, as well as an old law against blasphemy that are open to abuse.

In a separate session “Postcards from Around the World,” activists from India, Pakistan, Egypt, Tunisia, Iran, Nigeria and Peru talked about how the Internet and social media platforms have been used to advance human rights, but how these same tools can also be used by governments to suppress these rights.

Activists in India are celebrating the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down problematic provisions in the IT Act that could send a per-son to jail for three years for simply sending a message online that could be deemed “annoying or inconvenient,” said Shagun Belwal, counsel for the Software Freedom Law Centre. Her organization also successfully challenged a provision in the law that made intermediaries liable to the same penalties.

Abir Brahem, security incident handler at Access, recalled how the government in Tunisia had imposed massive censorship on the Internet before it was overthrown in the Arab Spring revolution four years ago.

Now, while censorship has been lifted, the new government has cre-ated a telecommunications agency that could, under the pretext of coun-ter-terrorism, set up a massive system of online surveillance that could be misused for political reasons, Brahem said.

Tarek Shalaby, media specialist with The Planet, said the Internet and social media have also affected the political landscape in Egypt.

“We were very inspired by the Tunisians. We celebrated their inde-pendence like it was ours,” Shalaby said. “And it was incredible that lead-ing up to the revolution, the [President Hosni] Mubarak’s son, who was one of the leading figures in the national democratic party, had a press conference and someone from the audience asked what are you going to do about the young kids on Facebook and these young revolutionary movements? And then he laughed it off and the whole room was laugh-ing for a few minutes. And then a few months later, it was those youth who supposedly brought down the regime.”

The Mubarak government had built up the Internet infrastructure as a way of attracting international investors to Egypt, but did not see this as a threat and as a way to give voice to the people, Shalaby said.

But soon enough, the military took over Egypt again, and this time, the authorities are more aware of how the Internet and social media can be used to advance their agenda.

Activists can’t get access to traditional media, which are controlled by businessmen, the government or the military, but can use social media, he said.

“We have 25 million users in Egypt on Facebook,” he said. “The next president of Egypt can win the elections purely by Facebook campaigns. We’ve lost the struggle to control any sort of media, however, alternative media is the one tool that we can use... [But] we need to work together because the counter-revolution is using it just as much. All the minis-tries have Facebook pages, the army, the president, they all have Face-book pages and they’re very active on them. We as political groups and as activists and revolutionaries need to be using that to reach out to the people and say, ‘To hell with the army, let’s talk about your rights and talk about moving forward with this.’”

Column archives and blog at:http://www.chinwong.com

Business registration. Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo (second from left) poses with (from left) Bureau of Domestic Trade Promotion director Rhodora Leaño, Knowledge Management and Information Service director-in-charge Patricia May Abejo, Trade Undersecretary for management services Group Nora Terrado and Project Management Team for business registration document specialist Theoperr Ian Empis on March 25, 2015 at the Philippine Business Registry booth during the Sikat Pinoy National Trade Fair in SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City. The Trade Department continues to promote online business name registration as part of its effort to provide an enabling environment for micro, small, and medium enterprises to flourish in the countryside.


PROPERTY developer Megaworld Corp. said Monday it increased its five-year programmed capital spending to P285.8 billion from the ini-tial estimate of P230 billion, as it plans to launch new townships and expand existing mixed-use developments.

METROPOLITAN Bank & Trust Company, the country’s second largest lender, said it completed its P32-billion stock rights offer-ing, after the offer period closed on March 27.

“The offer to eligible share-holders of 435,371,720 common shares was priced at P73.50 per share,” it said.

Metrobank said the offering was taken up entirely by existing shareholders, with broad support seen across the shareholder base resulting in a substantial over-subscription.

The bank said the success of the offering represented a strong vote of confidence from investors.

The price of the bank’s shares has risen 21 percent since the start of 2015, compared to the overall Philippines Stock Exchange in-dex’s increase of 9.5 percent over the same period.

“The continued strengthen-ing of the Philippine economy, a growing middle class, and low credit penetration create sustain-able attractive growth opportu-nities for the banking sector in general,” Metrobank said in a statement.

Metrobank said it saw oppor-tunities not only in the large cap business segment, but especially in core franchise, the middle-market and small to medium en-

terprises segments, as well as in the growing consumer space.

The capital raising exercise is expected to enable the bank to further pursue business pros-pects and support growth mo-mentum.

Metrobank’s total assets ex-panded 16 percent in 2014 to P1.6 trillion. Loan growth was bet-ter-than-expected at 24 percent to P759 billion, on the back of a 17-percent growth in deposits to P1.2 trillion.

The bank said it planned to use its expanded capital base for ca-pacity building by increasing its sales coverage and distribution network.

Megaworld said it would spend P65 billion in 2015 to build more residential and hotel projects, of-fice buildings, malls and commer-cial centers inside integrated urban townships.

It said at least 74 percent of capi-tal spending for the year would go to development projects, mostly in townships, while 26 percent would be for land acquisition and prop-erty investments.

“We have adjusted our capital spending to pave the way for the expansion of offerings in our ex-isting townships and for the new

additional township projects that we recently announced,” Mega-world senior vice president and corporate information officer Francisco Canuto said in a state-ment.

The Megaworld Group, which also includes subsidiaries Suntrust Properties Inc., Empire East Land Holdings Inc. and Global-Estate Resorts, Inc., is set to launch 22 residential projects in Metro Ma-nila, Laguna, Batangas, Boracay, Iloilo and Bacolod.

The group will also launch three hotel towers in Boracay Newcoast,

10 office towers in McKinley West, McKinley Hill, Eastwood City, Woodside City, Davao Park Dis-trict and Southwoods City; and three malls and commercial cen-ters across its townships all over the country.

It said for township develop-ments, it would launch five new de-velopments to add to the existing 15. Of the five new townships, two are in Bacolod City, including the 34-hectare lot used to be owned by Bacolod-Murcia Milling Co. and the 50-hectare property along the new Circumferential Road on the boundary of Talisay City and Ba-colod City.

Megaworld’s existing town-ship developments include the 18.5-hectare Eastwood City in Quezon City, the 25-hectare Newport City in Pasay City, the 50-hectare McKinley Hill, the 35.4-hectare McKinley West and the 28.8-hectare Mactan New-town in Cebu.

AS NEWS of higher power rates this summer puts a spotlight on the country’s long-standing energy woes, a think tank cautioned the government against applying what it describes as merely “band-aid solutions.”

A paper by the Stratbase ADR Institute on Strategic and International Studies said while the interruptible load program could potentially avert the much-feared rotating brownouts in Luzon, the bigger picture required a more long-term energy security plan.

“Augmenting the supply is the only long-term and viable solution to these persistent woes, a direction that requires both enabling policy and political will,” the paper said. “While Congress and the executive scramble to find band-aid solutions to avoid this looming power crisis, it does little to even begin solving the country’s power woes beyond 2015.”

“The government needs to be serious in implementing a more strategic solution to this problem, which has plagued the economy

for more than a decade now,” Stratbase founder-managing director Victor Andres Manhit said. “No economy in the world has achieved true and lasting development without a secure and competitive energy sector.”

The price of energy in the

country, one of the highest in the region, has been cited as a barrier to attracting more foreign investments, seen as key to job creation and, in turn, inclusive

growth and poverty reduction.According to the paper, entitled

“Beyond Band-Aid Solutions and Emergency Powers: The Need for a Long-Term Energy Security Plan,” one path to energy security is by attracting more investments in the power sector, which will only take place if such investments make economic sense.

As it is, the lack of power players currently defeats the objectives of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the paper said.

“Increasing the supply of dependable power and therefore the competition in the generation side of the industry will also lower prices in the long term. The best way to do this is to attract more investments into generation.”

Manhit added the state of the country’s power plants and the frequent shutdowns reflected the urgent need to revisit the technology used in the plants and, if possible, facilitate the construction of plants that utilize updated technologies that are more reliable and environment friendly.

1



B6

Govt cautioned against band-aid

solutions to address power woes.

RUDY ROMERO

BUSINESS CLASS

Agrarian reform, si; another CARPER, no

Ayala invests in Malaysia

PH needs long-term energy plan

IN RECENT months a number of bills have been filed in the two houses of Congress seeking an extension of the government’s agrarian reform program. The administration of President Corazon Aquino had obtained Congressional approval for a 20-year Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, and when CARP expired in 2008, CARPER (CARP With Reforms) was enacted into law. CARPER expired in 2013.

Predictably, the argument that is being advanced in support of the bills currently before Congress is that the agrarian reform program needs a little more time--five years is the period being sought--to complete the job of redistributing this country’s tenanted agricultural lands. The last figure I saw for the still-unredistributed land was four hundred thousand hectares.

Being supportive of agrarian reform is not necessarily the same thing as being against the bills seeking an extension of the agrarian reform program. I believe in agrarian reform per se, but I am against the bills that are being presented to this country’s legislators. In my view, CARPER should be allowed to die a quiet and natural death. These are my reasons:

First, given Filipino culture and the mindset of the administrators of this country’s affairs, another extension, if granted, will almost certainly be frittered away by the staff of the Department of Agrarian Reform, so that at the time the new extension period draws to an end, the remaining land redistribution work is again likely to remain uncompleted.

If, after 25 years of official existence, the government’s agrarian reform job has not been completed, is it really reasonable to expect that DAR will be able to redistribute the remaining unreformed land over a period of, say, another five years? I don’t think so.

Second, enacting another law in the mold of CARP and CARPER is not the only means available to the government for completing its agrarian reform agenda. The Supreme Court could be requested to create special courts to adjudicate agrarian reform cases. This would make sense because most of the remaining four hundred thousand unredistributed hectares of land involve, by the DAR’s account, are the lands facing the fiercest opposition from the landowners. The issues raised by both the government and the landowners--social, economic and political issues--could be thoroughly litigated by the specially created courts. With the shift in the focus of DAR work away from the administrative and the legal to the economic and the technical, a large chunk of DAR’s budget would be redirected towards where it should be in a sound and rationale agrarian reform program. I am referring to what agricultural development experts call a system of production support facilities. That system includes credit, fertilizer and pesticides, technical assistance and marketing guidance.

In this country, agrarian reform has always been an essentially socio-political exercise. There has been little pretense about its being an economic exercise as well, with the breakup of large agricultural holdings and their redistribution being intended to raise agricultural yields, increased farmer incomes and generally enhance the agricultural sector’s contribution to the national economy. The interest, mainly, has been in making landowners out of tenants rather than in making efficient agricultural producers out of mere farmworkers. There has been insufficient efforts to drive home to the land reform beneficiaries the point that the ‘reform’ connotes improved agricultural performance.

Anyone who thinks that DAR can complete the nation’s agrarian reform agenda if given an extension is a dreamer. That is not going to happen. Five years--or whatever extension period is granted--from now DAR and its usual Congressional allies will be back to ask for still more time.

Let the agrarian reform program go on. But let CARPER die a quiet and dignified death. The courts will complete the job.

Agrarian reform, si; another CARPER, no.

E-mail: [email protected]

Resorts World partner. Resorts World Manila is teaming up with Prudence Foundation for the public service program SAFE STEPS that aims to disseminate information about disaster preparedness and awareness, especially in a calamity-prone country like the Philippines. SAFE STEPS is developed by Prudence, the arm of Prudential Corp. Asia, in partnership with the National Geographic Channel. Shown signing the partnership are (from left) Pru Life UK chief marketing officer and senior vice president Belle Tiongco, Prudence executive director Marc-Xavier Fancy, Resorts World Manila chief operating officer Stephen Reilly and corporate communications director Owne Cammayo.


AYALA Land Inc., one of the largest property companies in the Philippines, acquired a 9.16-percent interest in GW Plastics Holdings Bhd. of Malaysia through a private placement amounting to $43 million (P1.9 billion).

The stake in the Malaysian company, to be renamed MCT Bhd., marked Ayala Land’s first significant investment in Southeast Asia.

Ayala Land president and chief executive Bernard Vincent Dy said in an interview after the annual stockholders’ meeting the company was keen on expanding within Southeast Asia, one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

“Asean is the fastest growing region and we feel that there are also other opportunities in the region that we could possibly participate in. One of those countries that is experiencing fairly food growth rates not only this year but also in the previous two to three decades is Malaysia,” Dy said.

“We feel Malaysia is a market that shows a lot of opportunities for us to participate in,” he said.

Ayala Land will have one board seat in MCT.

Established in 1999 as a construction company, MCT is a property development company specializing in mixed-use projects that include retail, office, hotel and mid- to affordable residential units.

MCT, listed under the main market of Bursa Malaysia, has several ongoing projects in OneCitySubang Jaya and Cyberjaya, as well as a land bank in Dengkil, 1.5 kilometers away south of Cyberjaya, all located in the Klang Valley in Malaysia.

By teaming up with a company such as MCT Bhd., Ayala Land will be expanding its footprint in Southeast Asia in line with diversification goals.

The investment will allow Ayala Land to enter the Malaysian market with an experienced team, benefit from synergies

of the partnership and further add value to MCT over the long term to enable it to become a key player in the Malaysian real estate market, the company said.

Aside from Malaysia, Ayala Land is also looking at investment opportunities in Vietnam, Indonesia and Myanmar.

Meanwhile, Ayala Land chief finance officer Jaime Ysmael said the company was raising P7 billion from the issuance of seven-year retail bonds by the end of the month.

The property firm hired BPI Capital Corp., PNB Capital, China Bank and Hongkong Shanghai Banking Corp. as underwriters for the offering.

Ayala Land plans to use proceeds from the fund raising activity to partially finance the company’s P100-billion programmed capital spending this year.

B7cesar barrioquintoE D I T O R

[email protected]

t u e s D aY : a P r i L 7, 2 0 1 5

WORLD

Apology for discredited storyDeath row Austalians’ appeal rejected

Japan mascots face cull, combinationIndia to measure air quality in most polluted capital

Festival highlight. Fireworks are shown during the Capital One JamFest at the NCAA March Madness Music Festival - Day 3 at White River State Park on April 5 in Indianapolis, Indiana. AFP

WASHINGTON—Roll-ing Stone magazine withdrew and apolo-gized for a discredited story about a gang rape on a US college campus Sunday, publishing a re-view of the debacle that found “avoidable” fail-ures in basic journalism practices.

An 8,000-word report into the article by the Columbia Journalism Review found lapses in journalism standards at the pop-culture maga-zine from start to finish of the pur-ported expose on rape that prompted a police investigation and sparked public outcry when first published in November.

Investigators probing the allega-tions said last month they found no evidence to support the explosive claims of a violent gang rape at a col-lege fraternity in Virginia.

Questions were raised almost im-mediately after the article was pub-lished and Rolling Stone had all but retracted its story after apologizing in December.

The magazine that has a reputa-tion for its investigative work said it was wrong to have trusted the alleged victim’s version of what happened in September 2012 at a University of Vir-ginia frat house.

Despite the shrinking editorial staff at Rolling Stone, the review found the failures for the article were ones of judgment and not due to a shortage of resources.

The article’s reporting is “a story of journalistic failure that was avoidable. The failure encompassed reporting, editing, editorial supervision and fact-checking,” the review said.

Journalists at Rolling Stone failed to identify problems and discuss them at the magazine, according to the review.

The controversial article attempted to show a dramatic example of sexual assault on a college campus and the struggles victims face afterwards, a problem at universities across the United States.

But reporters and editors were so focused on publishing the harrowing example that “basic, even routine” re-porting standards were not followed, according to the report.

They also failed to fully check claims made by the alleged victim, who was not identified in the story, it added.

With the publication of the harsh review of the handling of the article on its website, Rolling Stone said it has of-ficially retracted the controversial story.

“This report was painful reading, to me personally and to all of us at Roll-ing Stone,” a note from Rolling Stone Managing Editor Will Dana said at the top of the review.

Despite the sharp criticism of those involved in the story, Dana told the New York Times that no one would be fired.

“Dana said that the report was pun-ishment enough for those involved,” the paper wrote.

The report “was not the result of patterns in the work of these people,” he told the paper.

Published on November 19, the story prompted student protests and the sus-pension of fraternities at the college and sparked a national debate about sexual violence on US campuses.

Police in Charlottesville, Virginia said last month that the purported victim, whom Rolling Stone called “Jackie”, had met several times with investigators, but did not discuss the alleged gang rape. AFP

JAKARTA—An Indonesian court Monday dismissed the latest appeal by two Australian drug smugglers facing imminent execution, taking them a step closer to the firing squad.

The State Administrative Court in Jakarta said it did not have the author-ity to hear the challenge to President Joko Widodo’s decision to reject their mercy pleas, upholding its own ruling handed down in February.

Andrew Chan and Myuran Suku-maran, the ringleaders of the so-called “Bali Nine” drug trafficking gang, were sentenced to death in 2006 for trying to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia.

Widodo recently rejected their pleas for presidential clemency, typi-cally the final chance to avoid execu-tion. They are expected to be executed soon with other drug convicts, includ-ing foreigners from France, Brazil, the Philippines, Nigeria and Ghana.

Jakarta has said it will wait for all legal appeals to be resolved before putting the group to death at the same time. Some other convicts have lodged Supreme Court appeals, which could take weeks to resolve.

The men’s legal team have mounted several attempts to halt the execu-tions. In their latest, they called for the State Administrative Court to hear an appeal against Widodo’s clemency re-jection, saying that he failed to prop-erly assess their rehabilitation or give reasons for his decision.

The court refused to accept the ap-plication in February, and the Austral-ians’ lawyers appealed that decision.

But at a hearing on Monday, presid-ing judge Ujang Abdullah upheld the original decision that the court does not have jurisdiction to rule on the matter.

Ruling on Chan’s case, he told the court: “The appeal by the challenger is rejected.”

It was not immediately clear wheth-er the Australians’ lawyers would pur-sue other legal avenues.

Jakarta originally planned to carry out the executions in February, but fol-lowing an international outcry agreed to let legal appeals run their course.

A Filipina among the group recently lost an appeal to the Supreme Court, while a Frenchman and Ghanaian last week lodged appeals with the court.

Australia, Indonesia’s neighbor and traditionally a key ally, has mounted a sustained diplomatic campaign to try to stop its citizens being put to death, while France and Brazil have also stepped up diplo-matic pressure on Jakarta. AFP

NEW DELHI—India’s government launched a new air quality index on Monday, under intense pressure to act after the World Health Organization declared New Delhi the world’s most polluted capital.

Environment Minister Prakash Ja-vadekar said the government would publish air quality data for 10 cities, amid growing public concern over the impact of air pollution on the health of India’s 1.2 billion people.

The government’s website with the index went live on Monday morning but could not be accessed.

“The Air Quality Index may prove to be a major impetus to improving air

quality in urban areas, as it will improve public awareness in cities to take steps for air pollution mitigation,” Javadekar said as he launched the index at a con-ference on the environment.

But he gave little indication of what the government would do to improve air quality, except to say it would in-troduce new rules on disposing of construction waste.

The dust from India’s thousands of industrial and construction sites adds to the fumes from millions of vehicles to create the toxic cocktail that urban Indians breathe.

At least 3,000 people die prema-turely every year in India’s capital

because of high exposure to air pollu-tion, according to a joint study by Bos-ton-based Health Effects Institute and Delhi’s Energy Resources Institute.

A World Health Organization study of 1,600 cities released last year showed Delhi had the world’s highest annual average concentration of small airborne particles known as PM2.5—higher even than the Chinese capital Beijing.

These extremely fine particles of less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter are linked with increased rates of chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease as they penetrate deep into the lungs and can pass into the bloodstream.

India disputed the WHO’s asser-

tion, but has conceded that air pollu-tion in the capital is comparable with that of Beijing.

The government said the new index would initially cover 10 cities—Delhi, Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Faridabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Ban-galore and Hyderabad—each of which would have monitoring stations with Air Quality Index display boards.

The aim is to eventually cover 66 cities.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi used Monday’s conference to defend India’s record on pollution, saying his country had a strong tradition of pro-tecting the environment. AFP

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Islamist to hang within daysHeading heading heading heading heading Gunman in massacre

a Somali law graduate

Japan mascots face cull, combination

Maysak at close range. This closeup of the eye of the category 5 Typhoon Maysak (hurricane status on the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale) was captured by astronauts on board the International Space Station on March 31. AFP

Sunset in Kashmir. A Kashmiri fisherman paddles his boat on Dal Lake during sunset in Srinagar on April 5. The sun shone in Kashmir valley after weeks of wet weather, which had brought a flood-like situation in Kashmir while National Highway 1A, the only key road connecting Kashmir to the rest of the world, opened after a week. AFP

DHAKA—A Bangla-deshi Islamist leader lost his final appeal Monday against a death sentence for overseeing a massa-cre during the 1971 inde-pendence war, sparking protests by his support-ers that left one dead.

Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, the third most senior figure in the Jamaat-e-Islami party, could now be hanged within days for the slaughter at the so-called “Village of Widows”.

Police opened fire on around a doz-en Jamaat supporters in the southern coastal town of Noakhali after they took to the streets to protest at the decision.

“We fired in self-defence after they hurled rocks at us,” local police chief Anwar Hossain told AFP, saying one protester was killed during the live fir-ing and another injured.

In a brief session at the Supreme Court in Dhaka, Chief Justice S.K.

Sinha ruled that a review petition filed by Kamaruzzaman’s lawyers had been dismissed and a death sentence passed in 2013 should stand.

The 62-year-old’s only chance of avoiding the gallows will be if he is granted clemency by President Abdul Hamid.

But analysts say this prospect is re-mote because the ruling effectively con-firms allegations that he was one of the chief organizers of a pro-Pakistan mili-tia which killed thousands of people.

A controversial domestic war crimes tribunal convicted Kamaruz-zaman in May 2013 on charges of torture, abduction and mass killings in his role as a leader of the al-Badr militia during the war.

The conflict led to the creation of an independent Bangladesh from what was then East Pakistan.

Prosecutors said he presided over the massacre of at least 120 unarmed farmers who were lined up and gunned down in the remote northern village of Sohagpur.

Three women who lost their hus-bands in the massacre testified against Kamaruzzaman in one of the most

emotive of all the war crimes trials.Kamaruzzaman’s lawyers had tried

to convince the Supreme Court there were “serious discrepancies” in the witness testimonies.

Kamaruzzaman would be only the second Islamist so far to be hanged for war crimes if the sentence is carried out. Another Jamaat leader, Abdul Quader Molla, was executed in December 2013.

Defence attorney Shishir Monir said relatives of Kamaruzzaman would meet him later Monday to de-termine whether to seek clemency.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told AFP that prison authorities would also now ask Kamaruzzaman whether he would seek clemency from the president.

“If he refuses, he could be hanged any moment,” he said.

Molla was executed just hours after his review petition was rejected by the Supreme Court.

Jamaat, the country’s largest Islamist party, is an ally of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), whose leader Khaleda Zia is trying to topple Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s secular government. AFP

TOKYO—Japan’s swollen ranks of cuddly mascots, once de rigueur for every local government and commer-cial brand, are coming under increas-ing threat, with some being culled and others combined.

The move comes after the finance ministry last year ordered authori-ties nationwide to cut back on the use of life-size “yuru-kyara” (“laid-back characters”), saying many of them are a waste of public money.

In the major metropolis of Osaka, officials have stamped down on the wild proliferation of mascots, whose number had swelled to 92, including special creations for everything from tax payment campaigns to childcare support services.

“We have decided to select Mozuy-an, our oldest one, following doubts about the public relations impact of having too many characters,” an Os-aka official told AFP.

“The number has now fallen to 69 and there is no plan to create any new ones,” she said, in a move local media described as “virtual restruc-turing”.

Their choice of mascot is perhaps emblematic of the brutal fate await-ing many yuru-kyara: Mozuyan’s head is modelled on the shrike, a carnivorous bird known for impal-ing prey on thorns before consum-ing it, like a medieval monarch dis-playing the decapitated head of an enemy.

Meanwhile, in the remote district of Rumoi, on northernmost Hokkai-do, a patchwork character made up of different elements of eight extant mas-cots was being rolled out.

“Ororon Robo Mebius”, which re-sembles the gigantic humanoid ro-bot from the “Mobile Suit Gundam” animation franchise, has legs, arms, a face and a body that all came from different yuru-kyara representing dif-ferent communities.

“We have concluded that it’s better to join forces rather than each of them working individually,” said Rumoi of-ficial Mayuko Miyaji.

With a population of just 53,000, Rumoi had one mascot for every 6,500 people. AFP

NAIROBI—Kenya authorities have named one of the gunmen who killed 148 people in a university mas-sacre as an ethnic Somali Kenyan na-tional and law graduate, highlighting the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab’s ability to recruit within the country.

Interior ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka said high-flying Ab-dirahim Abdullahi was “a univer-sity of Nairobi law graduate and de-scribed by a person who knows him well as a brilliant upcoming lawyer”.

The spokesman said Abdullahi’s father, a local official in the north-eastern county of Mandera, had “re-ported to the authorities that his son had gone missing and suspected the boy had gone to Somalia”.

Describing Abdullahi as an A-grade student, Njoka said it was “critical that parents whose children go missing or show tendencies of

having been exposed to violent ex-tremism report to authorities”.

Kenya entered the second of three days of national mourning on Monday for those killed in last week’s massacre, the vast majority of whom were students.

Hundreds had packed Nairobi’s Anglican cathedral on Sunday, where Archbishop Eliud Wabukala said Easter services were overshad-owed by “great and terrible evil” as police patrolled outside.

“These terrorists want to cause divisions in our society, but we shall tell them, ‘You will never prevail’,” the archbishop said.

Somalia’s Shebab militants at-tacked the university in the north-eastern town of Garissa at dawn on Thursday, lining up non-Muslim students for execution in what Presi-dent Uhuru Kenyatta described as a “barbaric medieval slaughter”. AFP

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‘FLAVORS OF THE PHILIPPINES’Round up all ye foodies as the tastiest and most gastronomic event is just around the corner!

Mounted by the Department of Tourism (DOT), ‘’Flavors of the Philippines’’is set from April 1 to 30 and is happening simultaneously in Luzon, Visayas, and Min-danao., serving as a prelude to the Madrid Fusion Manila 2015, The nationwide food festival will feature various activities ranging from food markets to featured food and menus in hundreds of venues, aiming to posi-

tion the country as the heart of culinary interest worldwide and to showcase the rich and deli-cious culinary encounter between Spanish and Filipino chefs. Also included are tapas festivals, food tours and tastings, agricultural fairs, bazaars, food festivals in restaurant and hotels, gourmet meals and special dinners by celebrity chefs in select restaurants and hotel outlets, mall based- activities and events, food trucks, concert and music festivals and finally, food features in museums, galleries, theaters and malls.

Continued on C2

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LIFE

‘FLAVORS OF THE PHILIPPINES’

From C1

With 2015 dubbed as the Visit the Phil-ippines Year, the country proudly hosts Madrid Fusion-Manila, Spain’s famed cu-linary event and leading international gas-tronomic gathering. The Madrid Fusion Manila 2015 brings elite chefs and culinary experts in one venue to discuss important culinary issues such as evolution of tastes, trends in food, and new food habits.

“Madrid Fusion-Manila is the Philippine version of this culinary gathering to which the DOT has earned the right to jointly or-ganize with no less than President Benigno Aquino as witness,” Ramon R. Jimenez, DOT secretary shares. ‘’To make the Filipi-no public share in this honor and celebrate the 300 years of shared history between Spain and the Philippines, Flavors of the Philippines gathers major food and hos-pitality establishments to put up their own events in line with Madrid Fusion-Manila.’’

Offering special Spanish menu are res-taurants like Cibo, Casa Marcos, X046 Philippines, Tapeo, Lusso, Aracama Fili-pino Cuisine, Cirkulo, Cyma, Grace Park, Alta Restaurant, Spiral, Marco Polo Cebu, Alba, Bistro Eleven, La Casa Agua in Hotel H20. Food courts in Greenbelt, Ayala Malls

The Hotel and Restaurant Association of the Philippines (HRAP) will feature Span-ish origin or Spanish-influenced menus. Participating HRAP members are The LIC Restaurant Group, The Manila Hotel, Sofi-tel, The Heritage Hotel, Acacia Hotel Ma-nila, Bayview Park Hotel Manila, Diamond Hotel, Garden Orchid Hotel, Ilustrado Res-taurant, Hotel Jen Manila (Latitude).

On April 11, ‘’Tapas Night’’will be held at Green Sun Hotel in Makati to feature seven best Spanish chefs based in the Philippines- Chef José Luis “Chele” Gonzalez and Chef Ivan Saiz (VASK Gallery and ArroZeria), Chef Juan Carlos de Terry (Terry´s), Chef Pepe López (Ramblas), Chef Carlos Garcia (The Black Pig), Chef Nicolas Diaz (Bar-cino) and Chef Pablo López (Donosti)who will prepare a selection of innovative and traditional tapas representing the best of the of the different culinary regions of Spain. The tapas will be served with a wide selection of wines, cava and other liquors from Spain.

‘’CocinasViajeras’’, a stylized food truck festival featuring Manila’s top chefs and premier restaurants, will be mounted in Ayala Malls. On April 11, at 9th Ave., BGC, featured are Chefs JP Anglo, Rob Pengson and Noel dela Rama; at Level 4, Trinoma, Chef Myrna Segismundo takes centerstage; on April 8, at Glorietta 3 Park, featured are ChefsChele Gonzales and GaitaFores; while on April 24 in Ayala Centrio Mall in Cagayan de Oro, featured is Chef Sau Del RosarioOn April 18, at Greenbelt 5, the Festival de la Paella Gigante III will showcase a nine-foot diameter Paella Valencianawhich will be cooked the traditional way over char-coal and firewood by chefs Mikel Arrie of Punta Fuego, J Gamboa of Cirkulo, Fer-nando Aracama of Aracama Filipino, Carlo Miguel of 71 Grammercy, Jerome Valencia of Tambai, Gilbert Pangilinan ofCervece-ria, SitoSenn of The Country Club. It will be for the benefit of the Sociedad Española de BeneficenciaSelect SM Supermalls (premiere malls and regional malls) and Ayala Malls will also feature Spanish-inspired featured menus in their food courts and in participating res-taurants.

For full calendar of events, visit www.madridfusionmanila.com.

School vacations are fun, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn anything new over the summer. At the Exploreum, at the Mall

of Asia, students of all ages are encour-aged to come and explore the world of science and have fun doing it. There is a host of activities on offer all year-round, plus additional summer programs, in-cluding 118 child-friendly all new inter-active exhibits replete with interesting nuggets of information spread out over eight major galleries - Natural World, Human Adventure, Zoom, Connect, Cy-berville, Space Camp, the Living Earth, and Science Park.

The range of topics covers life on earth and the fundamental nature of the cos-mos, exposing kids to bold science and fun-learning experiments and experi-ences in an environment that makes use of 3D holograms, realistic wax mod-els, virtual reality simulations, optical illusions, detailed replicas, entertaining games, and audiovisual presentations.

Children are naturally curious and science provides a good opportunity to satisfy this curiosity. Realizing that kids’ attention spans are short, but eas-ily stimulated by visuals and inter-active

programs, Exploreum employs ad-vanced technology to hook the kids and keep them interested.

Take one of the main attractions of the place, the Science on a Sphere or the SOS, the first of its kind in the country. It is a room-sized digital globe that projects in real time dynamic images of the planet, climate changes, ocean temperature, even air traffic, with a tablet allowing a kid to control the face of the sphere.

Then there is the Dome Theater, for-merly known as the Planetarium. This is the only one in the Philippines which boasts a 180 degree digital screen and advanced audio-visual system, and this 158-sea theater promises a photo-real-istic experience through clear-cut pro-jections and a surround sound system that takes movie-watching to another dimension.

In the Natural World, children will discover the connection between all life forms, amid amazing flora and fauna, carnivorous plants, the world’s small-est animal, and how insects talk to one another. Enter Zoom and kids will learn how mankind has flown, soared, chugged, and sped throughout the years. The Human Adventure enables children

to human body and its different systems. Connect is all about the process of com-munication from the olden times to the present. Kids will definitely enjoy the Sci-ence Park & Laboratory where they can learn through play, engaging their natural curiousity and encourages exploration.

Cyberville features robots, solar-pow-ered devices, and local inventions. The Living Earth allows students to learn how the earth was formed, its entire geological evolution, peeling back time like layers to discover new things about our planet.. Kids can also experience the cosmos with out of this world experi-ences, while at The Discovery Room, young scientists can get hands-on with science and experiment with the differ-ent properties of matter.

For an even more personalized expe-rience this summer, kids from 4 to 12 year olds can join the Exploreum Sum-mer Camp 2015 set from May 8 to 10. In addition, SM Lifestyle Entertainment will be hosting its first ever Science Quiz Bee, a nationwide inter-school compe-tition from July 2015 to February 2016, featuring weekly, monthly, and quarterly competitions with a P1M prize awaiting the winning school and students.

ATTENTION YOUNG EXPLORERS!

EXPLOREUM MAKES LEARNING SCIENCE FUN THIS SUMMERBY LITO CINCO

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STAYCATION CHRONICLES: GOOD FRIDAYBY ED BIADO

I love the metropolis during vacation season. Traffic is incredibly light and it’s actually enjoyable to roam the streets, walking at your own sweet pace. It’s like the city is all yours and you’re tasked with watching it while everyone else is busy exploring different places. The only downside is the lack of establishments that are open for business, but that is easily solved by going on a staycation at a local hotel. Last Good Friday, I opted to stay at City Garden Grand Hotel on the cor-ner of Makati and Kalayann Avenues. I don’t know a lot about the property so I looked it up on the Internet first. Ap-parently, it’s a four-star luxury business hotel with really good reviews online. I also looked for pictures of the room I was booked at—the Junior Suite—and found some on the hotel’s Web site. Of course, I was skeptical that it would be that nice and, upon checking in, I was in for a very pleasant surprise because the one-bedroom suite was indeed as pretty as advertised. The site says that this spe-cific guestroom configuration provides one of the best views of Makati. I agree. My 30th-floor suite was facing Gil Puyat Avenue and being a corner room, the spectacular view extended to Manila Bay! The room is spacious, perfect for a slumber party. So I asked a few friends who didn’t have Holy Week plans to come along. We obviously had a won-derful time, chatting and laughing the night away.

Food choices at the hotel are on the limited side, but it makes up for it by be-ing hassle-free. There are no complicated additional charges on the published buffet prices, which is really good if you’re some-one who’s sticking to a budget. The P800 breakfast buffet was sufficient, though I would have appreciated if it had a wider selection because breakfast buffets are my favorite part of a hotel stay. The barbecue buffet for dinner at the bar and restaurant on the topmost floor (the 32nd, where the pool is situated as well) was likewise not that varied. But it was afford-able enough that you do get your money’s worth. You start by choosing your meat, which prices start at P495. Options include sausages, steaks and fish. Then you’re free to get anything from the modest buffet table—salads, rice, pasta and other sides. My only concern is that the distinc-tion between City Garden Grand Hotel and City Garden Makati Hotel is quite fuzzy. Not only are they in the same city, they’re diagonally across from each other on Makati Avenue. I actually went to the “Makati” property first, only to be told that they couldn’t find my name and that may-be I was booked at the “Grand” property across the road. My bad, but still. City Garden Grand Hotel has plenty of promotions. One of which is the Weekend Staycation Package for Two (P6,488 net), inclusive of an overnight stay at the Deluxe Room, buffet brunch and couple massage. Go to www.grand.citygardenhotels.com for more information.

TEA ANY ONE?Many nice things could happen “over a cup of tea”, like a friendly tete-a-tete light busi-ness talk, love or romance (remember the movie “Tea and Sympathy? or, the song ‘Tea for Two’). It has to be a special ‘brand of tea! Radisson Blue launched the first Dilmah-T-Bar, yes, 21 single origin teas, a unique tea lifestyle emerging from Sri Lanka, Chi-na, Japan and South Africa. Hmmm… we were to fine dining of tea-inspired dishes with flavored green and black teas and in-fusions like mango and strawberry, beef and tuna, among others. The launch was led by Merril J. Fernan-do and son Dilhan Fernando (founders), Radisson Blu GM Nishan Silva, SM Hotels and Conventions Corporation’s Senior VP, Peggy Angeles and SM- VP Marissa Fernan. Radisson’s F & B guru Ramon Makilan, who with Nishan Silva were trained at the Dilmah School of Tea, prepared a delightful tea-infused dinner for media and selected guests. Catch, Radissons TEA GRASTONOMY, daily, 3-5 PM at the hotels’ lower lobby.

AH CEBU BY DR. MILA C. ESPINA

SP Communication Kit: How good conver-sationalist are you? Lights topics make dining conversations wholesome. Issues about poli-tics, religions, crimes and other gory subjects are stressful and could lead to heated argu-ments, than “indigestion”. Do you fall under the “Breeze and I”? Conversationalist (I, I did this, my family; I believe, etc) or are you the “silent bore”? Well, think of less of yourself, and be a flexible group conversationalist.

MUSIC & BIRTHDAYS

Songs make birthdays jolly. At PINO, selected

singing old-time bud-dies from the Cebu Jay-

cees, Lions, We Care, CCCI and relatives

cheered Sonny Espina on his birthday. At Pino. Ben Yaojoco,, Juliet and Nestor Chua, David Chan, MCE, Raul del Mar, Vince Colina and

Ramon Sebastian At right, friends way back 60s, Lydia and Boni Sia.

Singing Ladies. Sonny sings Pat Boone’s hit (seated) with Lucille Colina, Tess Chan, Cely Chiongbian, Amparito Lhuillier, Tina Ebrada & MCE.

Singing Family. Sonny (seated) with brothers Dovy and Emm and first cousin, singing RTC Judge Bing Saniel/ sing, Trini Lopez, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley.

1 FOUNDERS OF DILMAH. Merril and son, Dillan Fernando 2 ‘DILMAH’ LAUNCH PARTNERS. Radisson GM Nishan Silva and SM’s Marissa Fernan 3 LOVELY GUESTS. Rosebud Sala, Amparito Lhuillier and Susan Sala 4 AT DILMAL TEA-INSPIRED DINNER. Radisson’s Anna Olalo with guests Teresin Mendezona and Elvira Luym 5 AT RADISSON. Ed Alegrado, Consul Jose Sala and Consul John Domingo

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IKEBANA SAPPHIRE ANNIVERSARYThe Ikebana International Cebu Chapter 145 celebrated its 45th (Sapphire) Anniversary on March 20-22, 2015 at the SM Atrium North Wing. The three-day exhibit saw 34 floral designs, freestyle and cre-ative, by its of-ficers and members led by president Marilou Hyden. There were also a lecture on classical and freestyle arrangement and demo open to the public. Well, “say with flowers!”

Viewdeck bar and restaurant on the 32nd floor

Junior Suite living room Junior Suite bedroom

Presidential Suite living room

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HAVE A FLAVORFUL SUMMER FEAST AT CASA ROCES

Get into a festive vibe this summer with Casa Roces’ summer offerings. Whether you’re celebrating a graduation in the family or just want to have a weekend of

good Spanish-Filipino fare, Casa Roces has some-thing for you.

FIESTA DE PAELLAS WEEKENDS Casa Roces’ “Fiesta de Paellas” will surely please your celebratory mood and satiate your appetite with unlimited servings of their special paella for just P450 per person every Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 3pm. “Filipinos like their paella with a lot of toppings so our version of the paella was made to be more appealing to the Filipino palate,” says Casa Roces’ Consultant Restaurant Manager Chef Luis Minguez, who hails from the Spanish city of Valencia where paella originated. Enjoy the paella feast with a refreshing glass of sangria, a per-fect complement to the paella’s richness in flavor and texture.

GRADUATION PACKAGESTreat your graduates to a family-style meal with Casa Roces’ set menus for the graduation season. There are 4 sets to choose from which includes soup, salad and a variety of entrées that Casa Roces is known for. Each set is good for 10 people with prices ranging from P8,500++ to P12,000.

Set A features a comforting Sopa Molo Castillana and Mixed Greens with Fruits and Nuts in a light vinaigrette dressing for starters. The Fideos with Spanish Chorizo will appeal to discerning pasta lov-ers while entrées include the ultra-tender Lengua in

Mushroom Cognac Sauce, Grilled Lemongrass-fla-vored Chicken Quarters with Annatto Oil, and Pan-Fried Ocean Dory Fillets with butter, fresh parsley and capers. For dessert, enjoy a piece or two of the Turon with Ube filling and Langka Sauce.

Set B features Baked Fish Fillet with Roasted Garlic and Shallots, Barbecued Marinated Pork Belly and Chicken Adobo Confit as entrées while Set C has Iberico Chicken, Callos and Fettucine with Blue Cheese and Roasted Mushrooms with a serving of Leche Flan for a sweet ending. Finally, Set D features Beef Salpicao, Chicken Galantina, Roasted Vegetable Gratin and Paella Valenciana. All sets come with a serving of steamed Pandan Rice (except Set D) and Sangria Te.

COCKTAILS AND MOCKTAILS FOR THE SEASONCasa Roces also has a selection of summer cool-ers and desserts. Latin cocktails take center stage for the sweltering season – creamy Piña Colada, citrusy Mojito with Calamansi and the explosive Watermelon Chili Mojito.

Filipino desserts are given a twist and trans-formed to dessert drinks. Sip on a glass of Halo-halo Mocktail or enjoy the Buko Pandan Mocktail to cool down and give you that much-needed dose of sweetness.

For celebrations that require an equally festive spread, come to Casa Roces!

Casa Roces is located at 1153 J.P. Laurel corner Aguado Sts., San Miguel, Manila. Contact (02) 735-5896, 488-1929 or 0917-5509743. [email protected] or visit www.casaroces.com

Curiosity led us to this hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Marikina City. Beeffalo first opened its doors last October 2013. Then, Louie Abad, his wife Girlie Cosio-Abad and

friend Caren Diaz had just closed down Hot Rocks, a bar-restaurant that started at Auto Camp Ortigas Center in 2004 and then later moved to ClubSixFifty on Libis. “Back when we were still building the res-taurant, some advised us that it was a busi-ness suicide, telling us that the residents of Marikina would often avoid this road unless they needed a shortcut. It was not a busy thor-oughfare, so they thought business would be slow,” shared Louie. But the well-intended piece of advice seemed to be all for naught as proven by the number of cars parked out front and the line of people waiting to be seated. Lunch here is not too busy, but dinner is a totally different scenario; it is always full house, particularly on weekends and special occasions. Louie shared that the name came from their friend Chie Lago. “When we were still think-ing of a name, we called Chie and asked for suggestions. She mentioned Beeffalo, and we like it instantly. It rolled off the tongue easily and has a good recall. It combines two words: beef and buffalo (from the popular chicken dish). The funny thing was Chie suggested it thinking we would be serving buffalo wings. But that time, we didn’t include it on the menu. After we made our mind to use Beeffa-lo, we had to put buffalo wings on the menu.” The Beeffalo Wings, which comes in spicy or sweet variant. Word of advice: The spicy Beeffalo Wings is not for the faint of heart. The word “Hot” beside the buffalo wings on the menu is not there for decoration. When

ordering it, the waiter will double (or triple) check if one is really up to the challenge. It is spicy to the truest sense of the word. But you can still have a taste of their wings, just order the sweet ones. And oh, the fiery red color doesn’t spell spicy. After several minutes, our waitress came back with the “lead actors” on the plates. The smokey aroma of grilled meat that flooded our senses signaled the start of the main event. The porterhouse steak was soft and chewy, and grilled to medium rare perfection. With the juice oozing out from the meat, it was definitely not dry. True, the meat has gristle but that is under-standable because the the beef is locally sourced. A raw meat is usually composed of four com-ponents: the muscle tissue, the fat, the collagen and the elastin. The part we usually eat comes from the muscle tissue. The fat usually melts as the meat is cooked, giving the muscles tissue its flavor. A connective tissue, collagen is usually initially tough but breaks down under heat. It gives the meat that tender, smooth texture. Gristle or not, the juicy goodness filled our mouth that we couldn’t help but chase the ten-der little bits hidden between the fat and bone. Beeffalo’s Baby Back Ribs is a delight. The meat is soft and easily falls off the bone. The meat closest to the bone was smooth and sweet. We even forgot that it came with a BBQ steak sauce, we were just so happy to gnaw until the bone was stripped naked, sauce or no sauce. By the time we finished the slab, our hands and face were covered with satisfying layer of grease. Our dining epilogue came in the form of Brazo de Mercedes, Turtle Pie and Dulce de Leche Cheesecake. They are definitely spoon-fuls of sweet endings.

STEAK YOUR CLAIMBY MA. GLAIZA LEE

Porterhouse Steak

Beeffalo Burger

Quesadilla Croquettes

Pan-fried Ocean Dory fillets with butter, fresh parsley and capers

Casa Roces Paella

Grilled lemon grass-flavored chicken quarters

with annatto oil Lengua in Mushroom Cognac Sauce

Buko Pandan and Halo Halo

Sopa Molo Castiliana

Cheesy Chops with Buttered Pasta

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i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

SHOWBITZ

It was a shining moment for Philippine independent cin-ema when members of the diplomatic community, film-makers, cast members, and film lovers got together for the recent launch of the first Sinag Maynila at the Skypark of SM Aura Premier.

Sinag Maynila, the country’s newest independent film festival, showcased quality and thought-provoking movies from young, non-mainstream Filipino filmmakers at selected SM Cinemas. The line up for the first year included Imbisibol, a film by Lawrence Fajardo, which garnered most of the awards; Balut Country by Paul Sta. Ana; Bambanti by Zig Dulay; Swap by Remton Zuasola; and Ninja Party by Jim Libiran. Conceptualized and spearheaded by CEO and Founder Wilson Tieng, together with world-renowned and interna-tionally acclaimed film director Brillante Mendoza as Festi-val Director, Sinag Maynila gives grants to independent film-makers so they can develop their individual material to a full length film for public exhibition. As a festival that seeks to inspire, educate, and enlighten the viewing public, Sinag Maynila will feature films that re-flect Filipino culture, while presenting social issues deserving of discussion among audiences here and abroad. “We don’t want just to produce films,” says Mendoza. “We want to produce good films. Gusto naming panonoorin ninyo hindi lang isa kundi lahat ng limang pelikula.” For Tieng, the festival “does not only up the ante. Work-ing with Brillante Mendoza, we hope to give our homegrown filmmakers the chance to tell the stories of Filipinos in the most compelling visual narrative possible.” Sinag Maynila is a partnership between Solar Entertain-ment and Centerstage Productions with support from SM Cinema and SM Aura Premier. Event sponsors include Gine-bra San Miguel.

LINE, the world’s leading mobile messenger app and life platform with 181 million monthly active

users globally, has just wrapped up their party of the year with the country’s hottest celebrities Daniel Matsunaga, Yeng Con-stantino, and Ellen Adarna, fans, and media friends during #LINEPartyPH at 71 Gramercy. Check out what happened dur-ing the #LINEPartyPH, where LINE ambassadors and today’s trending stars Matsunaga, Con-stantino, and Adarna partied with their fans and followers. They got closer to their fans through their Official Accounts on LINE where they hosted vari-ous events and games including Lucky Chance and LIVEChat with their fans. Finally, the win-ners were be able to meet and

party with the stars in a rockin’ night! Senior Manager of LINE Plus Corporation Stephan Kang opened the short program before the festivities with his opening remarks. “Kumquats!” he said in Filipino, much to the audience’s amusement. “LINE is sobrang saya,” shared Stephan as he welcomed LINE fans and media friends. “Tonight, it is extra special to celebrate and bring LINE closer to Filipinos be-cause today is also known as the International Happiness Day.” “LINE is committed to en-able all our users to connect to their friends, families, and loved ones in a fun way. We are excited to take the LINE experience to another level through various local partnerships with favorite brands, celebrities and more.”

LINE’S SPECIAL NIGHT DANIEL MATSUNAGA, YENG CONSTANTINO, AND ELLEN ADARNA

Daniel Mtsunaga Yeng Constantino Ellen Adarna

SINAG MAYNILA

LAUNCH AT SM AURA PREMIER

1 National Artist & Sinag Maynila juror Bienvenido Lumbera 2 Sinag Maynila jurors multi-awarded film writer Armando Lao, FDCP’s John Badalu, international festival programer Paolo Bertolin, National Artist F. Sionil Jose & Manunuri’s Tito Valiente 3 Japan Foundation Program officer Roland Samson, Sinag Maynila Festival Director Brillante Mendoza, French Embassy Audiovisual Attaché Martin Macalintal ,and Sinag Maynila CEO & Founder Wilson Tieng 4 Sinag Maynila Festival Director Brillante Mendoza and Nora Aunor 5 Japan Foundation’s Assistant Director Tetsuya Koide, Embassy of Japan’s Japan Information and Culture Center Director Tatsuo Kitagawa, Brillante Mendoza & SM Senior Vice President for Marketing Communications Millie Dizon 6 Imbisibol, a film by Lawrence Fajardo, garnered most of the awards, including Best Picture and Best Director

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ACROSS 1 Amble 5 Big black dog 8 Curly cabbage 12 Something to lend (2 wds.) 14 Rock’s Bon — 15 Get better 16 Ridiculous 17 Hairy animals 18 — spumante 19 Presage 21 Went by water

23 Pilot’s dir. 24 Sunbeam 25 Opposite of post- 26 Christie detective 30 Danny or Peter 32 Not quite right 33 Snoozed a bit 37 “Cheerio!” (hyph.) 38 Danish islands 39 Earthenware jar 40 Less deep 42 Coral reef locale

43 Imitated Bossy 44 Flammable gas 45 Part of GPA 48 “— take forever!” 49 Quid pro — 50 Square-dance attire 52 A Leo 57 Helm position 58 Cajun veggie 60 Unfettered 61 Holly tree 62 Must have 63 Spew lava 64 Scream and shout 65 Muffle 66 Ocean-going bird

DOWN 1 Very thin model 2 Livy’s year 3 Nonsense writer 4 Carol of “Taxi” 5 Easy gait 6 Hail, to Caesar 7 Miami’s — Bay 8 Genghis — 9 Early moralist 10 Afterward 11 Slur together 13 Won’t go along 14 Greenish gem 20 Countdown number 22 Jean Auel heroine

24 Machine part 26 Tatamis 27 Memsahib’s nanny 28 Ms. Moreno 29 Choir selection 30 Revealed 31 Historical period 33 Quoth, like a raven 34 Courtroom bargain 35 Panache 36 Guy like Hamlet 38 Kind of hot dog 41 Burglar’s “key” 42 Filmdom’s Lawrence 44 U.K. locale 45 Robin of balladry 46 Pancho — 47 In leaf 49 Dorm view 51 Immediately following 52 Remnant 53 Geologic sample 54 Rush — 55 NFL broadcaster 56 Solar plexus 59 Large parrot

C6 ISAH V. REDE D I T O R

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SHOWBITZ

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 TUESDAY,

APRIL 7, 2015

Brother International Philip-pines Corporation (Brother Philippines), a leading pro-vider of home and business IT peripherals in the Philippines, participates once more in the Relay for Life 2015 organized annually by the Philippine Cancer Society (PCS), a non-profit organization that advo-cates cancer prevention and control. This is the fourth con-secutive year that the company became a part of Relay for Life to provide moral support to cancer patients and survivors while providing a venue for volunteerism among its em-ployees and partners.

About two-hundred em-ployees and partners of Broth-er Philippines led by President Glenn P. Hocson and Deputy General Manager for Sales and Marketing Masao Kasagi walked around the Relay for Life 2015 venue around the

track oval of the Amoranto Stadium in Quezon City. Hocson said, “Our com-pany’s participation in activi-ties like the Relay for Life 2015 has been one of the reasons why our employee engagement is high. They are happy that Brother is supporting a very worthy cause – that of creating awareness for the fight against cancer.”

PCS Executive Director Dr. Rachel Rosario said that the support of Brother Philippines and other private and public entities is invaluable as it tells cancer patients and survivors and their families that they are not alone. Dr. Rosario said, “The mes-sage of love from Brother and the other participants of this year’s vigil resonates and

cheers on the cancer sufferers to continue the fight. They are not alone,” said Dr. Rosario. Since 2011, the Brother Group has been globally pro-moting participation in Relay for Life as part of social contri-bution activities involving em-ployees that the Brother Group Global Charter encourages. The initiative is dubbed the “Golden Ring Project,” as different local offices of Brother that partici-pates in Relay for Life in their respective countries form a ring around the globe. As a symbol of this global initiative, a sash embroidered with the flag of each of the participating countries us-ing Brother’s Entrepreneur® Pro PR1000e 10-needle home embroidery machine is be-ing routed yearly where each country adds its latest year of participation in the embroi-dery work.

What do Manila’s “IT” couple, Di-vine Lee and Victor Basa, and Phil-ippine National Rugby Team players, Andrew Wolff, Harry Morris, Gaz Holgate and Chris Everingham, have in common? Well, they are all fit and active, live the go-lifestyle, and tall look abso-lutely stunning. But that’s not all—they get the ultimate skin protection from harmful UV rays, thanks to Flawless’ new daily skincare essen-tial, Skin Protect Mist with SPF70. Skin Protect Mist was recently launched at 71 Gramercy in Makati City, and the celebrity endorsers ex-pressed their admiration for Flawless and its innovative products. “Flawless is such a good brand to represent because it’s powered by skin professionals, and I love its new-est product, Skin Protect Mist with SPF 70,” said Divine. “It’s super effec-tive, it’s fuss-free, water-resistant and it has a nice scent that I just can’t get enough of!” Victor quipped, “It’s great that I can get my skin protected despite my busy

schedule. What I like about Skin Pro-tect Mist is that it’s so easy to use—just one spray of this fine mist and I get a large portion of my skin protected with its fast-absorbent formula. So it’s defi-nitely perfect for me!” “I am glad that I’m Alagang Flaw-less. Outside sports, I have a business to run, and I have events and enter-tainment commitments, too. That is why I have to look presentable all the time,” shared Andrew. “With Flawless’ help, I’ve gained more con-fidence and I’ve become more com-fortable in my own skin.” Andrew also said that his daughter is a fan of Skin Protect Mist. “We’ve been out for a few beach getaways now and I’m glad that Adrianna gets the best sun protection with this paraben-free, to-tally safe for children sunscreen spray.” Just in time for summer, Flaw-less Skin Protect Mist with SPF 70 (Php450.00) is now available in all Flawless clinics nationwide and Flaw-less’ online shop, www.flawless.com.ph/shop, and select Watson stores in Metro Manila.

SKYJET SPONSORS ‘YOUR MY BOSS MOVIE’ Coco Martin and Toni Gonzaga, stars of Your My Boss were in Batanes rece-nyly to shoot scenes for the movie with Antoinette Jadaone who directed the film for Star Cinema of ABS-CBN. In the photo the stars as seen deplan-ing from a Skyjet Airlines plane along with Skyjet Airlines President Dino Reyes-Chua (middle) at the tarmac of Batanes airport before the shooting of the film in the Island Paradise of Batanes recently. Your My Boss is now showing in all cinema nationwide.

CNN PHILIPPINES’ ‘STORIES’ FEATURES ‘RESCUE IN THE PHILIPPINES’Did you know that former President Manuel L. Quezon played a major part in saving over 1,000 Jews during the pre-war era? He provided visas and shelter to those who were facing execu-tion by the Nazis. Get to know more about this part of history that many Filipinos may not be aware of. Who would’ve thought that a group of men in power and smoking cigars while playing high-stake poker games would make a huge impact in the lives of the Jews? On April 11, 8 p.m., catch the Phil-ippine Television premiere of CNN Philippines’ Stories: Rescue in the Phil-ippines. A one-hour documentary that shows how the Frieder brothers, cigar makers from Cincinnati; Manuel L. Quezon, the charismatic first president of the Republic of the Philippines; Paul McNutt, the U.S. High Commissioner and Dwight Eisenhower, future presi-dent of the United States saved more than a 1,000 Jews from the Nazis.

Coco Martin, Toni Gonzaga, and SkyJet’s Dino Reyes-Chua arrive in Batanes to shoot Your My Boss

BROTHER PHILIPPINES PROMOTES CANCER AWARENESS

FLAWLESS SUMMER

Philippine Volcanoes’ Harry Morris, Chris Everingham, Gaz Holgate, and Andrew Wolff

Victor Basa

Divine Lee

Employees of Bother Philippines join Relay for Life 2015 in support of cancer awareness

C7ISAH V. REDE D I T O RSHOWBITZ

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Carla Abellana hosts new drama anthology on GMA

Maserati cars transported officials at Baselworld

Haden Kho hosts a medical talk show on TV5

Gelli de Belen co-hosts an advice

program

� roughout 2015, CNN will air stories that uncover and expose modern-day slavery including human tra� cking, child labour and the sex trade. � ere will be a focus on turning engagement with CNN Freedom Project into action, with an emphasis on education and harnessing the passion of young people to make a di� erence. � e aim of CNN Freedom Project is to bring greater global awareness to the prob-lem of modern-day slavery and translate this awareness into real concrete action by donor countries, international organ-isations, NGOs and private foundations. � rough passionate storytelling, inves-tigative journalism, documentaries, live events, and viewer involvement, the CNN Freedom Project helps educate, motivate, and unravel the complicated tangle of criminal enterprises trading in human life. A number of projects for 2015 are al-ready in production, and this week CNN begins this year’s CNN Freedom Project programming by revisiting some of its previous 400 stories since CNN began the initiative in 2010. � e latest reports are available on the CNN Freedom Project microsite.

Since it was founded, CNN Freedom Proj-ect has provided documented evidence lead-ing to the rescue of over 1,000 people world-wide, sparked over $24 million in donations to anti-tra� cking organisations, changed laws and corporate policy and inspired NGOs and campaigns around the world. � e project has won dozens of journalism and human rights awards, including a � nal nomination for the Sakharov Prize, Euro-pean Parliament’s most prestigious human rights honour, and most recently a Gracie Allen award for “Every Day in Cambodia: A CNN Freedom Project Documentary”. “CNN Freedom Project is one of the - if not the most - important initiatives on CNN today,” said Tony Maddox, manag-ing editor and executive vice-president, CNN International. “While I am sickened by the continued stain that modern-day slavery has on our world, I’m proud that CNN can raise awareness, generate en-gagement and action, and ultimately in-stigate change around issues of human tra� cking, child labour and the sex trade. CNN is uniquely placed to both tell stories from all corners of the globe about mod-ern-day slavery and have the platform to

encourage those in power and people from around the world to take action.” CNN Freedom Project has also attracted the support of � e Essam & Dalal Obaid Foundation, which shares the same values of the initiative and a commitment to pur-sue peace and remedy injustices in areas such as human tra� cking. EDOF wants to provide another voice to amplify the global issue of modern day slavery, raise aware-ness of what credible organisations are do-ing to end human tra� cking, and publicly support the CNN Freedom Project by in-creasing global awareness among the busi-ness community. To this end, EDOF will work with CNN to support all the investigations of the Freedom Project and create a sixty second ad for an awareness campaign on CNN International that will educate the general public as well as target thought-leaders and decision-makers who have the power, through legislation and reform, to drastically reduce the exploitation of people in their countries and companies with whom they do business. EDOF’s anti-slavery messages will appear on all the CNN media platforms and will be seen by tens of millions of viewers across the world.

It may be the greatest gi� one could have, but as beautiful as love is, relation-ships that are

romantic in nature also have their share of trials. GMA News and Public A� airs proudly pres-ents Karelasyon—the newest drama anthology that explores th real nature of relationships. � e stories are based upon true-to-life experiences of people who have faced di� erent ordeals in tring to keep the love of their lives. Since not all love stories speak of warmth, hearts, and butter� ies, Karelasyon sheds light on situations that comes with choosing to be with someone, for example extramarital relations; secret identity; ex-treme jealousy, ambition, and vices; family or work-related issues; obsession with sex, money, and even material possessions. Each story, brought to life by Kapuso stars, de-picts the di� culty, pain, controversy, and even trag-edy that a Filipino deals with the moment he falls in love and chooses to be attached to someone. Karelasyon is hosted by Carla Abellana and airs every Saturday beginning April 11 on GMA.

★★★★★Maserati was the o� cial car partner for the World Watch and Jewellery Show, BASELWORLD, the sector’s largest event - bringing together every year about 122,000 visitors and more than 1,400 exhibitors, including some of the world’s most prestigious and renowned brands. As the event’s o� cial vehicle supplier, Maserati provided a � eet of 20 Maserati: 9 Quattroporte and 11 Ghibli used from March 19 to 26 to trans-port the VIP guests between the various exhibi-tion stands and locations in Basel. Baselworld also o� ered the perfect opportunity to present its clients and all a� cionados the exclu-sivity of Maserati. During the fair, the renowned brand with the trident logo invited all visitors into the Maserati lounge, located between Hall 1 and Hall 5, to explore not only the vehicles but also the new merchandising line. Today, Maserati is undergoing a great growth, present in more than 60 markets, and an interna-tional ambassador for the excellent engineering and cra� smanship that Italy is known for, with its unique and exclusive automotive products. � e Maserati Quattroporte, a luxurious � agship, brings together space that ranks with the best in the segment and a high level of comfort, a look of unprecedented elegance and a distinct sporty character. � e Quattroporte is available with 3-litre 275 HP Diesel (with rear-wheel-

LOVE’S MANY FACETS IN ‘KARELASYON’

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blurb: Since it was

CNN FREEDOM PROJECT

TO EXPOSE MODERN-

DAY SLAVERY

SIMPLYRED

SIMPLYRED

ISAH V. RED

drive) and 410 HP V6 Twin Turbo petrol engine (with both rear-wheel-drive and the four-wheel-drive system S Q4). At the top of its range is the GTS version, which is equipped with the mighty 3.8-litre 530 HP V8 Twin Turbo petrol engine. Another star in Basel is the Maserati Ghibli, the � rst model in the history of Maserati to compete in the Premium Executive E segment. � e Ghibli is available with 3-litre Diesel V6 Turbo engine with 275 HP and with 3-litre V6 Twin Turbo pet-rol engines with 330 and 410 HP (all with rear-wheel-drive), the latter also available with four-wheel drive in the top-of-the-range S Q4 version.

★★★★★Summer fun is on and TV5 opened the season with new epidodes on its morning block pro-grams, back-to-back with the launch of Philippine TV’s newest showbiz program, starting yesterday. Equally-famous wives of the country’s most popular gentlemen share tips and personal secrets on what makes their lives ‘happy’ in the all new season of Happy Wife Happy Life, airing 10 a.m. weekday mornings. Naturopathy expert Dr. Edinell Calvario and Western medicine’s Dr. Hayden Kho team up for another season of Healing Galing sa TV5, in which the two give free and valuable health advice covering both alternative and Western medicinal approaches 10:30 a.m. every Monday and Friday. Meanwhile, the supportive trio of Gelli de Belen, Arnell Ignacio and lawyer Mel Sta. Maria contin-ues to give solutions and meaningful guidance to common practical and legal dilemmas faced by Fili-pinos in Advice Center Ng Bayan Solved Na Solved, 10”30 a.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and � ursday. Capping the mornings is a daily dose of the latest showbiz news delivered in an upbeat, informative and fresh way that’s perfect to tease the viewers’ appetite just before lunchtime. Hosted by the fun and fearless trio of Bianca King (the fresh voice of showbiz opinions), IC Mendoza (the heir ap-parent and royalty of showbiz intrigues), and MJ Marfori (the face of investigative showbiz news), TV5’s newest showbiz-oriented magazine show ‘Showbiz Konek Na Konek’ will make sure you’re connected with the latest happenings in showbiz. And to make sure you don’t miss out on anything, ‘Showbiz Konek Na Konek’ also gives you the latest scoops on the hottest issues via Viber public chat, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. � e show airs from Monday to Friday at 11:00AM. With back-to-back morning programs that are guaranteed to give fresh information and positive vibes from Monday to Friday, summer is de� nitely more fun with the Philippine’s Happy Network, TV5.

SHOWBITZi s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

C8 ISAH V. REDE D I T O R

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From his TalkTV days to Talentadong Pi-noy, Picture! Picture and as part of your regular lunchtime Dabarkads in Eat Bu-laga, Ryan Agoncillo has established himself as one the most versatile hosts in

the local entertainment industry. � e other half of Judy Ann Santos has also proven his acting chops in the TV series and movies he’s been in. When he’s not in the spotlight, Ryan is also an avid photographer, motorcycle and dri� ing en-thusiast, and an active participant in the Xterra triathlon. But all those, he says, takes a backseat for the most important role in his life, being a father to daughter Johanna Louis (Yohan) and Juan Luis (Lucho). “Hosting, that’s my job, yung running, photog-raphy, motorsports, those are my hobbies, apart from being a son, apart from being a husband, I am a dad, and that is my most important task,” he told � e New Standard a� er being introduced as the endorser of paracetamol Panadol recently. “� ere’s this Facebook community page I came across recently that is called “Dad is a Son’s First Hero and a Daughter’s First Love, and that kind of struck me, so the � rst thing I think of when I wake up is how I could be a good dad, and my last thought before I go to sleep was how I was as a dad.” Ryan says it is one of the reasons why he ac-cepted the endorsement as it also serves as sort of an advocacy for him to encourage parents not to let headache and pain get in the way of those “super moments.” “Yung headache, wala yata akong matandaang araw mula nung college ako na hindi ako nagka-roon ng sakit ng ulo. Sometimes it’s because of my eye problem, minsan it’s the heat, or stress, ang dami! Kahit yung mga ilaw sa studio, kalaban ko, e,” he admitted. “Pero the show must go on. No excuses.” It is the same principle he practices as a dad. “Yung mga anak natin, ang pinakamahalagang masi-share natin sa kanila yung oras natin. So no matter how tired you are, no matter how puyat you are, hindi naman nila alam puyat ka. Kapag tinalunan ka sa kama niyan at ginising ka, ban-gon ka, dapat makipaglaro ka.” “Pag uuwi, you had a bad day at work, hindi naman nila alam yun, pero pag niyaya ka nilang makipaghabulan o play tag, you gotta be there as a parent. Hindi puwedeng half-baked yung paki-kipaglaro mo sa anak mo. � ey wait for you to come home the entire day, so I don’t wanna fail them in that, even if its just half an hour or even 15 minutes, as long as you spend those quality and super moments with them.” Ryan and Lucho also star in the new Panadol TV commercial, which shows them having fun and playing superheroes.

Ryan says the commer-cial is very much like their everyday bonding moments at home. “I’d like to spend as much time with Lucho, carrying him and all that as long as I can because they grow up so fast.” Fast is also one thing he liked about his endorsement Panadol, because it’s “� ve times faster” in relieving pains. “So wala nang problema if masakit ulo mo o masakit katawan mo. Gusto kong lumakas…Gus-to kong buhatin si Lucho hanggang kaya, maging game ako sa habulan, superhero, lipad-lipad, ga-nun sa commercial namin. Kasi, you know, konti na lang baka hindi ko na mabuhat. Kaya I don’t want down time just because of headaches or body pain. “Fortunately, there’s Panadol. It o� ers fast re-lief to make my super moments with my family pain-free! Indeed, when pain is gone, life takes its place,” Ryan shared.

FIVE TIMES FASTER � is year, GSK furthers its commitment to im-proving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer with (paracetamol) Panadol. As the world’s trusted pain reliever, sold in more than 85 coun-tries Panadol focuses on helping take away the pain for faster recovery and more super mo-ments with the ones you love. “Like Ryan, 7 out of 10 Filipinos su� er from regular headaches, the time wasted on dealing with this kind of pain should have been bet-ter spent on more important things like quality time with the family,” says Jeo� rey Yulo, general manager – Consumer Healthcare, of GSK Phil-ippines. “� is dilemma encourages GSK to con-tinue providing a fast and e� ective solution like Panadol to pain su� erers. Panadol with Optizorb is a type of paracetamol caplet that works � ve times faster than regular formulation. It contains the same amount of paracetamol (500 mg) found in Panadol, so you can feel con� dent in its ability to relieve pain such as headache and fever. What makes Panadol with Optizorb® tru-ly di� erent from other branded and generic paracetamol products is that it is the only product to contain Optizorb®, which has revolutionized the way paracetamol tablets are dispersed in the body, so it allows paracetamol to reach the blood-stream more quickly and be carried to where it acts to � ght pain, � ve times faster,” Yulo explained. (Paracetamol) Panadol® with Optizorb® comes in 36 x 10s dispenser box and a 10s pack. Each tablet has an SRP of PHP 4.00 and is available at all leading drugstores nationwide.

SHOWBITZi s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

From his TalkTV TalkTV days to Talentadong Pi-noy, Picture! PicturePicture! Picture and as part of your regular lunchtime Dabarkads in regular lunchtime Dabarkads in Eat Bu-laga, Ryan AgoncilloRyan Agoncillo has established has established himself as one the most versatile hosts in himself as one the most versatile hosts in

the local entertainment industry. � e other half of the local entertainment industry. � e other half of Judy Ann Santos has also proven his acting chops has also proven his acting chops in the TV series and movies he’s been in. When he’s not in the spotlight, Ryan is also an avid photographer, motorcycle and dri� ing en-thusiast, and an active participant in the Xterra triathlon. But all those, he says, takes a backseat for the most important role in his life, being a father to daughter Johanna Louis (Yohan) and Juan Luis (Lucho). “Hosting, that’s my job, yung running, photog-yung running, photog-yungraphy, motorsports, those are my hobbies, apart from being a son, apart from being a husband, I am a dad, and that is my most important task,” he told � e New Standard a� er being introduced as � e New Standard a� er being introduced as � e New Standardthe endorser of paracetamol Panadol recently. “� ere’s this Facebook community page I came across recently that is called “Dad is a Son’s First Hero and a Daughter’s First Love, and that kind of struck me, so the � rst thing I think of when I wake up is how I could be a good dad, and my last thought before I go to sleep was how I was as a dad.” Ryan says it is one of the reasons why he ac-cepted the endorsement as it also serves as sort of an advocacy for him to encourage parents not to let headache and pain get in the way of those

Ryan says the commer-cial is very much like their everyday bonding moments at home. “I’d like to spend as much time with Lucho, carrying him and all that as long as I can because they grow up so fast.” Fast is also one thing he liked about his endorsement Panadol, because it’s “� ve times his endorsement Panadol, because it’s “� ve times faster” in relieving pains.faster” in relieving pains. “So wala nang problemawala nang problema if masakit ulo mo o masakit katawan momasakit katawan mo. Gusto kong lumakas…Gus-to kong buhatin si Lucho Lucho hanggang kaya, maginghanggang kaya, maginggame ako sa habulan, superhero, lipad-lipad, ga-lipad-lipad, ga-nun sa commercial namin. Kasi, you know, konti na lang baka hindi ko na mabuhat. Kaya I don’t want down time just because of headaches or body pain. “Fortunately, there’s Panadol. It o� ers fast re-lief to make my super moments with my family pain-free! Indeed, when pain is gone, life takes its place,” Ryan shared.

FIVE TIMES FASTER � is year, GSK furthers its commitment to im-proving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer with (paracetamol) Panadol. As the world’s trusted pain reliever, sold in more than 85 coun-tries Panadol focuses on helping take away the pain for faster recovery and more super mo-ments with the ones you love.

Agoncillo with Jeoffrey Yulo of GSK and Dr, Joy Luat-Inciong

Ryan Agoncillo and son Lucho are

the new faces of Pandadol

Hosting, that’s my job, yung running,

photography, motorsports, those are my hobbies, apart from being a son, apart from being a husband, I am a dad, and that is my most important task

– Ryan Agoncillo

RYAN AGONCILLO, THE DABARKADS IS A SUPERDADBY ED UY