VOL. XXIX NO. 197 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 FRIDAY : AUGUST 28, 2015 www.thestandard.com.ph editorial@thestandard.com.ph

B1

Aquino eyes ‘odd-even’ to ease traffic

GDP up5.6% insecondquarter

Next page

Next page A4

ActivistsquestionBoC chief’sdivestment

Iglesia protest. Iglesia ni Cristo members gather in front of the Department of Justice building in Manila to demand the resignation of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima over an expelled Iglesia member. DANNY PATA

INC DEMANDSLEILA’S HEAD $14.4 B

$5.5 B

$4.5 B

$4.3 B

$4.1 B

$4 B

$3.6 B

$3.5 B

$3.2 B

$2.2 B

PHILIPPINES’10 RICHEST

HENRY SY

JOHN GOKONGWEI

ANDREWTAN

LUCIOTAN

ENRIQUERAZON, JR.

GEORGETY

ABOITIZFAMILY

JAIME ZOBEL DE AYALA

DAVIDCONSUNJI

TONY TANCAKTIONG

By Sandy Araneta and Macon R. Araneta

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III said  � ursday  the government is considering an odd-even scheme to drastically reduce the volume of traf-� c in Metro Manila by keeping half of

them o� the streets.“� e most radical [proposal to

solve the tra� c problem] for me is to cut into half the number of vehicles traveling—with an alternate travel through an odd and even scheme every week,” Aquino said in a speech before the Rizal Technological Uni-versity.

“Surely, tra� c will ease since half of the vehicles will not be used on the roads. But, surely a lot of people will be angry since they will not be able to use their vehicles.”

Aquino said his administration was determined to solve the lingering problems of tra� c jams and � ooding in Metro Manila.

By Rey E. Requejo and Jaypee Bencito

MORE than 1,000 members of the Iglesia Ni Cristo gathered in front of the Justice Department  Thursday  to demand the resignation of Secre-tary Leila de Lima over her “inor-dinate interest” in a case filed by an ousted minister, Isaias Samson Jr., against church leaders.

Police said the number of protesters gathered before the department’s office on Padre Faura Street in Manila’s Ermita district swelled from a few hundred in the afternoon to more than 1,000 at around  8 p.m., most of them students from the church’s New Era University.

By the early evening, no ranking INC official could be seen on the makeshift stage that the

A2editorial@thestandard.com.ph

F R I d ay : a u g u s t 2 8 , 2 0 1 5

news

Homes for the homeless. President Benigno Aquino III listens to the speech of one of the beneficiaries of the housing units provided to the squatters at the Manggahan Floodway in Pasig City. Malacañang PHoto Bureau

INCFrom A1...

Ozamiz radio broadcaster killedA RADIO broadcaster was shot dead by four unidentified gunmen in northwestern Mindan-ao  Thursday  morning, police said.

Reports said Cosme Maestra-do, 49, from radio dxOC in Oza-miz City was killed by four assail-ants at about  10:10 a.m.

Supt. Jerry Tambis, Ozamiz City Police Director, said the

ambush occurred in front of the Quality Shopping Center along Washington Street and Rizal Street, in Barangay 50.

Tambis said Maestrado was talking to the owner of the estab-lishment when four gunmen, two of whom were riding on a motor-cycle as backup. Two other gun-men walked up casually to the victim and shot him in the head and chest.

Maestrado had 10 gunshot wounds in different parts of the body.

The suspects fled, leaving Mae-strado sprawled on the pavement. He was taken to the nearby Medi-na Hospital but died 40 minutes later.

Investigators said Maestrado, anchor of a program called Rat-sada, was likely killed because he was vocal in reporting illegal activities of some influential per-sonalities in Ozamiz City.

The radio broadcaster had been receiving threats and survived an ambush last year.

The death of Maestrado

brought to 33 the number of journalists killed under the Aqui-no administration, and the 176th  since the People Power uprising in 1986.

The Palace issued a statement condemning the killing.

“The local PNP (Philippine National Police) has been di-rected to identify and arrest those responsible for the killing of Mr. Maestrado,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said.

Ozamiz City is a part of Misa-

mis Occidental, a province about 903 kilometers south of Manila.

Maestrado said the previous at-tempt on his life might have been connected to his criticism of a Misamis congressman.

In the November 2011 attempt on his life, unidentified men on-board several motorcycles sur-rounded his car and fired at him on Maningcol Highway and Ba-colod Street in Gango village. His assailants missed and Maestrado managed to return fire. With Sandy araneta

Based on government data, 22,400 new vehicles and 100,000 motorcycles were sold every month in 2014.

Aquino said the total number of mo-torcycles added last year was about 1.2 million.

The President said some solutions would take years to carry out.

“The ideal situation is to add more bridges and conduct road widening. But, this would take several years and would take several discussions on right of way,” Aquino said.

The President appealed to the public to be patient, because the government was still looking for practical solutions to the traffic problem.

Communications Secretary Hermin-io Coloma Jr. said the President also noted constraints imposed by limited road space and long implementation periods for mass transit and infrastruc-ture projects.

“He appealed for citizen support, saying we need to unite and view the situation with patience and under-standing. With all of us contribut-ing our best efforts, we will certainly share in enjoying the fruits of prog-ress,” Coloma said.

Under the President’s instructions, Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almen-dras has been consulting with various stakeholders to integrate proposals from the Metro Manila Development Authority, the Public Works and Highways Department, the Trans-portation and Communications De-

partment and the Philippine National Police, Coloma said.

Aquino said if he had all the power and resources he needed, he would have already solved the hellish traffic in Metro Manila.

A recent study by the Japan Inter-national Cooperation Agency said the country loses P2.4 million in produc-tivity losses every day due to traffic.

To solve flooding, Aquino said the solution was to have a comprehensive, detailed and systematic flood manage-ment master plan.

He said Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson presented the master plan, which includes the main drainage project in Mandaluyong City, as part of the major flood control projects and drainage improvement works being done in the National Capi-tal Region.

On Thursday, the President also in-spected a relocation site for squatters in Pasig City.

The project, which has a budget al-location of P50 billion, aims to resettle 900 families who have illegally settled at the Manggahan Floodway, and even-tually help solve the flooding in Metro Manila.

The President said the new settle-ment was part of the administration’s principle to Build Back Better.

Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said consistent enforcement of discipline on the roads could go a long way to ease traffic woes in Metro Manila.

“Without consistent enforcement of road discipline, the traffic situation will not improve even if the traffic czar of the metropolis himself acts as a traffic

enforcer,” said Marcos, chairman of the Senate public works committee.

Discipline on the roads has to be imposed because improvements to the country’s mass transport system and road infrastructure have not yet been completed.

“Construction of new roads and fix-ing the trains will take some time, but traffic congestion can at least be partly solved by consistently enforcing disci-pline on our roads,” Marcos said.

He added that it was unfortunate that the country had a light rail system that could help ease traffic, but this was plagued with serious safety and reliabil-ity issues.

“You know that the situation has turned from bad to worse when a Catholic Cardinal, who normally de-votes himself to spiritual concerns, has to call the government’s attention to ad-dress the daily traffic hell,” Marcos said, referring to Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, who urged the government  on Wednesday  put prior-ity on “putting order in the streets.”

On Aug. 14, a payday and a  Fri-day, hundreds missed their flights as monstrous traffic jams were reported on most major roads in Metro Manila especially along Andrews Avenue, Air-port Road and Sucat Road—vital arter-ies leading to the Ninoy Aquino Inter-national Airport.

Department of Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya‘s comment that the traf-fic is “not fatal” infuriated thousands of commuters who endure the daily traffic ordeal, forcing the secretary to make a hasty apology.

NoynoyFrom A1...

group had set up on the street beside a giant LED screen, but the protesters were in a festive mood, chanting “Huwag pa-bebe” and “Kalayaan ng Iglesia, huwag gipitin [Don’t quell the freedom of religion].”

Church officials back-stage declined to com-ment if the rally had been ordered by church leaders, but one of them said the protest was scheduled to last until  Friday  afternoon.

INC officials  on Wednesday  assailed the “extraordinary atten-tion” given by De Lima to the case filed by oust-ed minister Isaias Sam-son Jr., when she has not given the same attention to the case of the 44 po-lice commandos killed in the Mamasapano massacre in January.

Sought for comment, De Lima said she was just doing her job.

An INC member, who requested anonymity, told The Standard that they would be holding a vigil at the Justice De-partment to demand De Lima’s resignation. The vigil protest will likely continue until  Saturday, the source added.

“We want De Lima to step down immediately due to her clear bias against the INC leader-ship,” the source said, adding that the Justice secretary has shown un-due interest in the case.

“We are apprehensive that it might be used for political purposes,” the INC member said, but declined to elaborate.

Police Supt. Albert Barot said 50 policemen were deployed in the area to secure the safety of the INC members gathered there.

He said the protesters had a permit from the

Manila city hall.“We will provide secu-

rity in the area to ensure that no untoward inci-dent will happen dur-ing the vigil. We already deployed 50 policemen, and we will ask for more if the crowd of INC members grows,” Barot said.

At about  5 p.m., the INC members tried to block vehicles leaving the Justice Department compound, changing “bias” against De Lima.

Others shouted for justice for the 44 police commandos who died in Mamasapano.

Sources said De Lima slipped out of the Jus-tice Department build-ing by passing through a door connected to the Supreme Court, where she was escorted out by members of the National Bureau of Investigation.

The stretch of Padre Faura in front of the Justice Department was closed to traffic.

The Palace defended De Lima’s decision to in-vestigate the INC case.

“Cabinet members serve for as long as they enjoy the President’s trust and confidence. Has the Justice secretary committed any action that would seriously un-dermine such trust and confidence?” said Com-munications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr., in a text message to The Standard.

On Wednesday, an INC evangelist Bienvenido C. Santiago questioned De Lima’s real motive af-ter they learned that the secretary was personally attending to the filing of cases by the Samson.

Moreover, he said that the INC had also learned that the DOJ has placed under its custody some of those dismissed by the INC who have been re-sponsible for sowing in-trigues and divisiveness in the organization.

A3F R I D AY : A u g u s t 2 8 , 2 0 1 5

NEWSeditorial@thestandard.com.ph

New guns. An Army officer inspects one of the newly procured carbines in Camp Aguinaldo that will soon be supplied to Army troops. LiNo SaNtoS

aviation tourism Week. Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. checks out the delicacies in the food stalls in Villamor Air Base in Pasay City during the celebration of Aviation Tourism Week. Ey acaSio

Comelec all set to ink dealwith source code reviewer

Quorum lack stymies BBL’s passage

Trillanes-Quichoword war heats up

THE Commission on Elections said Thursday it is set to sign a P35-million contract with a li-censed foreign company to review the source code to be installed in more than 93,000 Optical Mark Reader or OMR machines for the 2016 national and local elections.

Commissioner Christian Rob-ert Lim said the Comelec was scheduled to sign the source code certification contract today, Fri-day, with SLI Global Solutions to review the source code, or the instruction programmed in every machine.

“Hopefully, we can sign it on Friday at 2 p.m.,” Lim said.

“Smartmatic-Total Information Management Corporation will turn over to us the base source code, which we will turn over to Systest Labs.”

Lim made his statement even as the Comelec on Thursday decided to synchronize the schedule of registration in all its field offices from Monday to Friday, or two months before the Oct. 31 regis-tration deadline, instead of from Sunday to Thursday.

SLI Global Solution is the

former Systems Lab Inc., also known as Systest Labs, the for-eign company that reviewed the source code for the Precinct Count Optical Scan or PCOs units in the 2010 presidential elections and the 2013 senatorial voting exercise.

The deal between the Comelec and Systest Labs costs $766,000 or about P35 million, said Lim, who is also the chairman of the Come-lec Steering Committee for the May 2016 elections.

Lim said Systest Labs offered the cheapest price of $80,000 com-pared to the other foreign compa-nies during a limited source bid-ding conducted by the Technical Evaluation Committee.

Comelec chairman Andres Bautista said they also chose Syst-est Labs to do the review since the foreign company was already fa-miliar with the country’s source code given its past dealings with them.

The source code is the human readable instructions that dic-tate what the automated election system will do. Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

By Maricel V. cruz

SPEAKER Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said Thursday the perennial problem of securing a quorum in the House of Representatives was delaying the passage of the Palace-backed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

Even if the House of Repre-sentatives was able to muster a quorum in the past three session days this week, Belmonte said, he was disappointed that the House had failed to resume its plenary debates and discussions on the measure.

“To be very frank, I am a little disappointed that the BBL was not given a chance to be taken up,” Belmonte told reporters.

He made his statement even as Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez backed the passage of a proposed law allowing the live broadcast of all House proceedings in state-owned PTV Channel 4 to promote further transparency.

Romualdez was referring to House Bill 4049 filed by Rep. Lito Atienza, who wants the public to witness how their representatives

are performing in the chamber.“This is a very laudable pro-

posal. The public must witness how members of the House are performing and responding to the call of their legislative duties,” Romualdez said.

Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he was bracing for the expect-ed intense debates on the grants to the Bangsamoro government, which is expected to reach billions of pesos, when the deliberations on the BBL resumes next week.

Minority Leader Juan Ponce En-rile hoped he would be the last to in-terpellate Marcos on his substitute bill that he was still studying follow-ing his release from detention.

Meanwhile, Regional Gov. Mu-jiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao ap-pealed to lawmakers to restore the salient provisions in the original BBL while Moro Islamic Libera-tion Front (MILF) chief negotiator Mohaqher Iqbal said he was un-certain about the fate of the draft law.

However, MILF leaders were convinced the BBL was still alive and remained hopeful.

Hataman issued his appeal as the Senate and House prepared to resume the deliberations on the draft law which, he said, was replaced by an entirely different version.

Belmonte said the quorum problem would be solved by sim-ply reminding the House mem-bers to attend the sessions.

“I think reminding them is enough,” Belmonte said, even as he remained optimistic that the House leadership would be able to meet its deadline in passing a BBL that is “Constitution-compliant.”

“We can’t be divisive,” Belmon-te said.

“The majority has five groups and the minority has two groups. They have the capacity to stand on their own. It is a better strategy to work in harmony.”

Belmonte also said he favored the proposal of Cavite Rep. El-pidio Barzaga Jr. for the House leadership to come up with rules and regulations to address the quorum problem, such as pen-alties or suspension for absen-tee congressmen. With Macon Ramos-araneta and PNa

THE word war between Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and Rico Qui-cho, Vice President Jejomar Binay’s spokesman, continued on Thursday after Quicho chided Trillanes for sup-posedly backtracking on his threat to put him under surveillance by some of his 63 consultants.

According to Senate and Commission on Audit documents, Trillanes spends P1.63 million a month to pay his consultants.

“Senator Trillanes, in an apparent attempt to skirt the unlawful practice of surveillance and the wire-tapping of citizens, back-pedaled and said he is not threatening me but merely giving an ex-ample of the work of his confidential agents. Tell that to the marines, Mr. Senator,” Quicho said. “You thought you could change the issue by your lofty threats. No way intelligence gathering can be considered as a legitimate consultancy work. The in-eptness of your reply exhibits how shallow you treat consultancy work for your personal gain.

“It is time for the Senate to police its ranks and dis-cipline members that engage in wire-tapping, surveil-

lance and other illegal means of obtaining evidence, which Senator Trillanes openly admits.”

Quicho made his statement even as Trillanes said Quicho was not aware of the job of confidential agents because “what he knows is to defend crooks like former Chief Justice [Renato] Corona and Binay.”

He said he was ready to present all his consultants even to Quicho.

Asked if he was worried because he had named his consultants, Trillanes said no.

“Not worried because they will be able to handle themselves... I’m worried about those making allega-tions—very malicious,” Trillanes said.

Quicho reiterated his call for the Senate eth-ics committee to investigate Trillanes for using public funds to pay for his personal expenses. Quicho told Trillanes not to waste people’s money for his surveillance.

Trillanes had threatened Quicho after he asked Trillanes to be investigated by the Senate ethics com-mittee for including his alleged house help in his list of consultants. The house help was reportedly being paid P3,500 a month.

“I can give that mission just to prove a point,” Tril-lanes said in a report.

Quicho also criticized Trillanes for his “overpriced” consultants, saying he was clearly wasting the taxpayers’ money. Vito Barcelo and Macon Ramos-araneta

A4f r i D AY : A u g u s t 2 8 , 2 0 1 5

NEWSeditorial@thestandard.com.ph

BoC chief’sdivestmentin 19 firmsquestioned

By Rio N. ArajaALTHOUGH former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo bypassed him five times during his judicial career, former Sandiganbayan presiding justice Edilberto Sandoval said on Thursday he would have voted to grant the former leader bail if he had been one of the magistrates hearing the case.

“Even if Gloria Arroyo [repeatedly] denied my appointment, I would have voted to grant her bail [if I were still a Sandiganbayan justice],” said Sandoval, who was appointed presiding justice in 2010 by incumbent President Benigno Aquino III and served until 2011.

Although he had been nominated for Sandiganbayan presiding justice five times, Sandoval was bypassed by the appointments of Minita Chico-Nazario in 2002, Teresita Leonardo-de Castro in 2004, Diosdado M. Peralta in 2008, Ma. Cristina Cortez-Estrada in 2009 and

Norberto Geraldez in 2010.“I did not receive any appointment

or promotion five times under Arroyo’s administration,” Sandoval said. “It was only under the Daang Matuwid that I had been appointed.”

Moreover, Sandoval said the Supreme Court’s decision on the case of Senator Juan Ponce Enrile could be applied to Arroyo.

“GMA’s motion for bail has a big chance,” he said. “I believe she could qualify for a bail due to humanitarian considerations, old age and voluntary surrender.”

Sandoval said other Sandiganbayan justices had already ruled to allow Arroyo’s co-conspirators to post bail and that suggests that the evidence was weak, he noted.

“Why is it that her co-conspirators [in the plunder suit] were granted bail, while some were cleared,” he said. “[While] Arroyo’s justification was that she was just a signatory, a ministerial duty of hers.”

Ex-justice: GMA can get bail

Concurring opinion. Retired Sandiganbayan magistrate Edilberto Sandoval explains why he agrees with the Supreme Court ruling allowing Senator Juan Ponce Enrile to post bail during a media forum at the Serye Restaurant in Quezon City. LINO SANTOS

Fifth anniversary. Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada offers a prayer on Thursday during a Buddhist memorial rite at the Quirino Grandstand in remembrance of the eight foreign tourists who were killed during the hostage situation instigated by a disgruntled policeman on Aug. 23, 2010. DANNY PATA

By Sandy Araneta

A LEFTIST political party on Thursday scored Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina as being part of the problem at an agency which it described as being “institutionally corrupt” and a “perfect instrument for cheating and raising funds for the coming elections.”

“As the campaign fever rises by the day, we fear that the probability of holding clean and honest elections also fades by the day,” said Sonny Melencio, chairperson of the socialist Partido Lakas ng Masa, which is affiliated with the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino and Sanlakas.

“It is, however, an open secret that Customs posts are generally awarded to campaign financiers and supporters,” Melencio charged, saying Lina has yet to explain how he divested out of 19 companies under the Lina Group of Companies, which he used to personally head.

Melencio said Lina vowed he would divest himself of all business interests when he was appointed Customs chief in April because of the obvious conflict with his public office “but up to now, no public announcement by concerned agencies have been made on the status of his divestments.”

He said Lina’s companies may have been sold to lesser known associates or even to dummies so that he could buy them back after Aquino’s term ends, similar to what he did in 2005 when he resigned as Customs chief of then President Gloria Arroyo and joined the so-called Hyatt 10.

“Despite Lina’s lion share of the market, the PLM deems that he is going in for the kill—a move to monopolize the entire forwarding industry before President Noynoy Aquino steps down from office,” said Melencio.

Lina, together with his wife Sylvia, is chairman and major stockholder of 19 companies under the Lina group which includes Airfreight 2100 Inc., Air2100 Inc., Cargohaus Inc., U-Freight Philippines Inc., and U-Ocean Inc., all doing business with the Customs bureau, said Melencio.

FOI bill still a priority, Belmonte says By Maricel V. CruzSPEAKER Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said on Thursday the House of Representatives will exert its best effort to pass the proposed transparency measure that has been languishing in Congress for several years.

“The FOI bill is still a priority of the House,” Belmonte said, stressing that there is still time

for pass the law—“a last window of opportunity, to make a greater difference in the lives of our people”—during the third and last session of the 16th Congress.

Earlier, Parañaque Rep. Gus Tambunting, one of the principal authors of the FOI bill in the House, earlier expressed belief that President Aquino III’s renewed urging to Congress to pass the FOI bill would boost its passage in the

16th Congress.“I think the President’s

endorsement will make the FOI bill pass for sure. As one of the principal authors of this bill, I really hope my colleagues will see the value in the FOI bill,” Tambunting told The Standard.

If passed into law, Tambunting said the measure would strengthen the right of citizens to information held by the government as well as

give the public access to information necessary in the exercise of the people’s right to “effective and reasonable participation at all levels of decision making affecting the lives of the Filipinos.”

“Only the corrupt should be afraid of the FOI bill. This is a must for a more transparent government,” Tambunting said.

Misamis Occidental Rep. Jorge Almonte, chair of the House

committee on public information which deliberated on the FOI bill, said he is confident the bill will be passed in the 16th Congress.

“Chances [of the bill’s passage] have improved with the President’s open support to the FOI. Both President Aquino and Speaker Feliciano has given their positive response to the proposed transparency measure. I do not see any reason now why the bill will not pass,” Almonte said.

A5f r i D AY : A u g u s t 2 8 , 2 0 1 5

NEWSeditorial@thestandard.com.ph

House sets curbs on LPG tradeBy Maricel V. Cruz

The house of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a measure establishing a regulatory framework for the safe operations of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) industry.

“A breAth of fresh air in the polluted world of presidential politics.”

this was how batangas rep. Mark Mendoza described presidential frontrunner Senator Grace Poe, who the legislator said was attracting more supporters because of her positivity, intelligence, and charm.

“You could see how the students in the University of San Carlos reacted to Senator Grace when she spoke. that was not a hakot crowd; they were there because they wanted to see her,” said Mendoza, a member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).

According to him, Poe exuded “a genuine warmth that cannot be faked.”

“this is why the students received her so warmly in Cebu. this is why many of

my fellow NPC members are drawn to her. they feel this is what our country needs; someone who can inspire our people, someone who can give our people hope,” said Mendoza.

Mendoza likewise lauded Poe “for taking the higher road, for talking about issues instead of criticizing other candidates.”

the solon added that she and Senator Francis Joseph “Chiz” escudero were “the perfect tandem” as escudero also focused on “programs, not personalities” when approaching important issues.

“Chiz has always been constructive. In Senate hearings you will notice that he is never personal; he attacks problems, not people,” Mendoza said.

Mendoza added that the bicolano senator’s objective “is always to find solutions. he understands that grandstanding is unproductive and doesn’t get anything done, which is why he is always focused on finding answers, not finding fault.”

Although the two senators have yet to formally declare their plans, Mendoza said that NPC members were all expecting Poe and escudero to announce their candidacies soon.

“A picture is worth a thousand words. And the photos in Cebu and their other trips tell us that when Senator Grace and Senator Chiz formally announce their plans to run for president and vice president, this will be welcomed by a lot of people.”

Grace, Chiz: Whiff of fresh air

the Philippine Printing technical Foundation Inc. launched the “history of the Philippine Printing Industry” book at the 48th anniversary and 2nd GMM celebration held on July 23, 2015 at the edsa Shangri-La hotel.

James L. Chiu, author of the history book, is a pioneer printer and stalwart of the printing industry as well as chairman emeritus of the Printing Industry board Foundation, Inc. and former PPtF treasurer. the landmark publication traces the history of the local printing industry from the Spanish era to the present. According to Mr. Chiu, “In the face of the ASeAN integration’s challenges and opportunities, it’s time to chronicle the milestones and give back to our industry the acknowledgment to its many leaders who pioneered the path towards the progress we now enjoy.” Shown with Chiu (left) are lawyer Dominador D. buhain, PPtF president (holding the book) and benito J. brizuela, PPtF president emeritus.

PPtf launches book on Philippine printing history

Malasakit. Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez (second right) is warmly welcomed by hundreds of senior citizen and Single Parent Associations members during his visit at Barangay Capri in Novaliches, Quezon City. Romualdez is attending to the needs and problems of senior citizens as well as the single parents of the barangay as part of his ‘Malasakit’ advocacy. Ver NoVeNo

the house bill 5617 sets standards of conduct and codes of practice for the LPG  industry. It substituted house bill Nos. 396 and 756 authored, respectively, by reps. Susan Yap of tarlac and Arnel ty  of LPGMA party-list.

“the LPG industry has already marked a significant portion in the market due to its high demand.  Operating under a regulated downstream oil industry structure, it allows its market participants to engage in unfair and unsafe trade practices, hurting consumers and to a large extent, causing negative externalities to society,” Yap said.

“the measure will address quality and safety concerns and uphold the right of consumers to freely choose the LPG brand they want to purchase,” Yap added.

Under the measure, ty, a house deputy minority leader, said a regulatory framework for the importation, refining, refilling, transportation, distribution and marketing of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and the manufacture, requalification, exchange and swapping or improvement of LPG cylinders shall be established.

Not later than six months from the effectivity of this measure, an LPG Monitoring and enforcement task Force shall be created, composed of the secretary of DOe as chairperson, secretaries of the DILG and the DtI as members, and as determined by the chairperson, representatives from other government agencies, LPG industry participants, and from the private sector entities to assist the Department of energy (DOe) in monitoring and compliance standards inspection, and in the exercise of other powers and functions necessary to give force and effect to the proposed Act.

the measure, otherwise known as the “LPG Industry regulation and Safety Act,” mandates the DOe to deputize the Department of trade and Industry (DtI) in the processing of the License to Operate for dealers and retailers, subject to the standards set in the proposed Act.

Under the bill, engaging in business without license to operate, engaging in business without accreditation, refusal or obstruction of inspection, failure to post license to operate, failure to submit reportorial requirements, illegal storage, failure to comply with product standards, adulteration, under-filling, illegal refilling, hoarding, unauthorized trading of LPG cylinders are prohibited and fined with a maximum of P500,000 for an individual and P1,000,000 for a corporation.

By Macon Araneta

LIberAL Party Senator Juan edgardo Angara  on thursday  assailed Malacañang’s “lip service” payment on a proposal to lower personal   income tax   as he called on presidentiables and vice presidentiables to make a clear stand   on the bill.

“Malacañang is just saying they are open to it so that nobody will be angry, and they will  not appear “antagonistic,” said Angara, chairman of the ways and means committee.

he noted that if Malacañang outrightly says “we are opposing it,” it would mean “minus pogi points” on their part.

he noted that Malacañang has been saying since March 2014 that they are open to reducing personal income tax.

“they have been open for over a year, but nobody is acting on it,” stressed  the administration senator in yesterday’s “Kapihan sa Senado.”

he cited a press release or a report that the Palace is amenable to income tax reform.

Angara bucks Palace line on income tax

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

NEWSA6F R I D AY : A U G U S T 2 8 , 2 0 1 5

Sugar smuggling foiled

Customs deputy com-missioner for intelligence Jessie Dellosa said that smuggling of sugar, rice and highly taxable items became rampant in the second quarter of 2015, stressing that some Cus-toms officials were linked to the smuggling activities.

Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina, who assumed the bureau’s top post in April this year, is at odds

with Dellosa after the Cus-toms chief transferred law-yer Leonardo Peralta, chief of Investigation Group to the ‘Customs Policy Re-search Office’ (CPRO) at the DOF. Peralta is a close friend of Dellosa.

During the inspection at the Manila International Container Port (MICP), Dellosa vowed to go after smugglers who are known allies of politicians.

The seized imported sugar arrived at the MICP in several batches and con-signed to Global Classe Marketing and Comm. Corporation with business address along FB Harri-son Street, Pasay City. The customs broker who tried to facilitate the shipment’s release from the bureau is identified as Rolando Crave.

Dellosa said that Global Classe and Crave tried to avoid detection of the smuggling attempt by de-claring the sugar as “gen-eral merchandize” con-sisting of various kitchen utensils like table spoon and fork and chopping boards, cutlery and as

various school and office supplies.

The importer and con-signee will be charged with smuggling, according to bureau officials. The sugar would also be auto-matically confiscated for lack of the import permit from the Sugar Regulatory Administration.

Although the shipment was declared to have been shipped on separate occa-sions from Hongkong, the bags containing the highly refined sugar showed they all came from Thailand.

“This is how they tried to evade detection, by first transporting the sugar to another port like Hongkong and then loading them to

another vessel bound for the Philippines,” Dellosa said.

Meanwhile, Sugar Al-liance of the Philippines president Manuel Lamata called on Lina to resign from his post following the confiscation of imported sugar worth P85 million.

In an interview, Lamata said that since Lina as-sumed the post, smug-gling of sugar, rice and other imported merchan-dize increased, to the det-riment of local farmers and producers.

Lamata was with Dellosa during the inspection of 56 container vans of Thai sug-ar. Lina cannot be reached for comment.

By Vito Barcelo

THE Bureau of Customs on Thursday seized smuggled sugar from Thailand valued at P85 million, so far the biggest apprehension   this year in terms of volume and value.

Supplierhas fixed defectiveM4 rifles,says Army

Big bash for senior citizens IBA, Zambales—In its first-ever event of its kind in the province, 45,000 senior citizens are treated to a joint birthday celebrations be-ing organized every month, a high priority project of the provincial government.

Ovido Dabay, president of the Ca-bangan Federation of Senior Citizens, cited the administration’s priority program to pay tribute to the elder-lies, and give them the attention and care they need, and the assistance programs both from the national and provincial governments.

Dabay, a 72-year-old private teach-er, said no other Zambales governors had ever looked after the well-being and welfare of the senior citizens, “but only Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr.”

The increasing number of older people has been assured of their rights and privileges under Re-public Act 9994, or the Expanded

Senior Citizens Act, and the pro-vincial elderly benefit programs as well, he said.

“Zambales is senior citizen-friendly,” said Teodoro Callo, San Narciso Federation of Senior Citi-zens president.

The joint birthday party paves the way for old people to enjoy the company of their peers.

“We all together celebrate our birthdays. The governor has gone the extra mile beyond our nation-ally mandated benefits. All cele-brants are treated to a party, cakes and gifts, the first ever in the his-tory of Zambales,” Callo said.

“This is the only birthday party I ever had in my entire life,” the 92-year-old Agripino Gerardo of San Felipe town said.

A gift of P10, 000 each to those who have reached 100 years old is given out, too.

According to Dabay, Zambales can boast of having a “uniformed senior citizens” building built by only one engineer in each of the 13 municipalities—Sta. Cruz, Candelaria, Masinloc, Palauig, Iba, Botolan, Cabangan, San Feli-pe, San Narciso, San Antonio, San Marcelino, Castillejos and Subic.

“The construction of the facili-ties was the initiative of the gover-nor,” he stressed.

In an effort to give the elders an-other high priority projects and pro-grams, the provincial government has also built a senior citizens ward at the provincial hospital, and even provided seniors who suffer from arthritis, rheumatism and paralysis with free brand-new wheelchairs.

Free eye checkups and cata-ract operations have also been made available for the senior citizens at no cost.

Zambales Gov. Hermo-genes Ebdane Jr. greets the 92-year-old Agripino Ger-ardo (on his wheelchair), a resident of San Felipe municipal-ity, in a joint birthday party of senior citizens celebration for August celebrants recently held at the covered court of San Narciso town. Beside Gerardo is his daughter Jean.

Fueling educators. Teachers (4th-6th in photo) of Caloocan National Science and Technology High School are now equipped with Caltex Fuel Your School STEM tools to fuel learning for their students. Joining them are (from left): Ebb Hinchcliffe, Executive Director of American Chamber of Commerce; Jun Salipsip, Executive Director, American Chamber Foundation Philippines Inc.; Edwin Feist, president of the American Chamber Foundation Philippines Inc.; Dr. Luz Almeda, Department of Education, NCR Director; Raissa Bautista, Manager for Policy, Government, and Public Affairs Chevron Philippines Inc.; and Peter Morris, General Manager for Philippine Products, Chevron Philippines Inc.

By Florante S. Solmerin  THE Philippine Army on Thursday  said its supplier has fixed the M4 assault rifles that were found to be defec-tive. The rifles, acquired from the US-based Remington Outdoor Company, are ready for issuance to different units including the Marines, said Colonel Benjamin Hao, Army public affairs chief.

The rifles were bought for P1.2 billion as part of the AFP modernization program.

Most of the rifles were deliv-ered a year ago by Remington Outdoor Company but the Army’s Technical Inspection and Acceptance Committee found defects with the rifles’ sights and barrel grooves after a series of firing tests.

“Out of this total procure-ment, 44,186 rifles are now on-hand of which 24,300 are now ready for issuance and 19,866 still have to undergo ballistic test for record pur-poses,” Hao said.

He said ballistic tests con-ducted by the Philippine Na-tional Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory use the  Integrat-ed Ballistics Identification System (IBIS).

The IBIS is a computer-based system which has the capability to capture, store, compare and retrieve digital images of cartridge casings (shells) and bullets for the pur-pose of connecting or tracing this to the guns from which these were fired.

“The procurement of new firearms is part of Revised AFP Modernization Act under RA 10349 signed in December 2012 that aims to develop a credible strategic Armed Force and the pro-fessionalization of the AFP.  With these new upgraded weapons, the Philippine Army is on the right track of transforming into a modern Army that our country de-serves to have,” Hao said.

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

news A7f r i d ay : a U G U S T 2 8 , 2 0 1 5

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala led the turn-over of various materials to local officials headed by Gov. Jum Akbar and recipi-

ent farmers and fishermen at the Capitol grounds here. Also present at the turnover were Agriculture Assistant Secretary and national corn

By Brenda Jocson

SANTA ANA, Cagayan—The newly completed P5-billion breakwater project in Barangay Casambalan-gan here stopped Typhoon Ineng-brought tidal surges, saving at least 1,000 resi-dents from flooding.

Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) officials and residents in this coastal town expressed relief after the typhoon did not bring as much damage to the town as expected.

The 1,000 meter-long breakwater, completed last February, was constructed primarily to protect Port Irene in Casambalangan Bay which CEZA officials de-scribed as already structur-ally unsafe and highly vul-nerable to catastrophe.

CEZA Public Relations chief Joyce Marie Jayme-Calimag said the effect of In-eng could have been worse. “This is especially true espe-cially in the coastal areas of Santa Ana town located at the tip of the island on the open sea of Babuyan Channel, a typhoon-prone area with high waves and destructive tidal surges,” Calimag said.

She said that the force of the typhoon created a water mass of at least six meters water mass which exploded upon contact with the breakwater and pushed water to the air.

“It is, however, unfortunate that the prolonged exposure of the breakwater structure from the destructive effect of storm surge caused the armor rocks to move and created an opening at the top level of the structure,” she said.

Calimag said this weakened the structure, causing mis-alignment to some portions of the breakwater, but it stood at its best, strong and reliable. 

Calimag said the break-water is covered by a 15-year warranty. Thus, the contrac-tor will handle the repair of the minor damage with no cost to CEZA.

Basilan gets P15 million for agri, fishery projects

Breakwater protects Cagayan town from storm surge

program coordinator Edil-berto de Luna, Agriculture Region 9 Director Eduardo Holoyohoy, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mind-anao Agriculture Secretary Sangkula Tindick, Bureau of Fisheries Director Asis Perez, and High Value Crops Development Pro-gram Director Jennifer Re-moquillo.

Materials turned over to local officials included P5 million worth of fishery and seaweed production

projects, P5 million for the establishment of rubber nursery to produce qual-ity planting materials, P3 million for coconut seed-lings, salt fertilization, grafted fruit tree seedlings worth P440,000, 400,000 pieces of polyethylene bags, and assorted vege-table seeds for a Barangay Food Terminal project.

Alcala directed Remo-quillo to provide local farmers with cacao and coffee seedlings for trial

planting and encouraged farmers and fisher folk to organize themselves into cooperative so they could qualify and apply for loans and credit assistance with the Land Bank of the Philippines.

He also urged the island’s local government leaders, farmers, fishermen and agri-fishery stakeholders “to craft a five-year agricul-tural and fishery develop-ment plan with the agency’s technical assistance.”

By A. Perez Rimando

ISABELA CITY, Basilan—The Department of Agriculture has allocated over P15 million for agriculture and fishery projects, equip-ment and inputs to uplift the socioeconomic condition of native Yakan farmers and fish-erfolk in this province.

Reg 12 to open Halal lab in 2016

Treasure hunt. Private miners in Itogon, Benguet search for precious gold. DAVID CHAN

Almost new. The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines has completed the rebuilding of the Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport in Tacloban City. ERIC APOLONIO

GENERAL SANTOS CITY—The Department of Science and Technology (DoST) in Region 12 is pushing for the full completion of the Phil-ippine National Halal Laboratory complex in nearby Koronadal City by next year.

Dr. Zenaida Hadji Raof Laidan, DoST-12 re-gional director, said the laboratory will be used to train food manufacturers and build a pool of halal certifiers in the country.

She said it will enable the country to immediately start certifying food manufacturers, especially those that want to tap the growing global halal market.

Halal is Arabic for “permissible” but is also largely referring to food that is allowed for con-sumption among Muslims.

Presently, the global halal market comprises 112 countries with an estimated

population of 1.8 billion.The Regional Development Council (RDC)

of Region 12 (RDC-12) had endorsed the halal laboratory as one of the region’s priority infra-structure and socioeconomic projects.

It was listed as among the top “Kilos Abante” programs and projects under the Competitive Industry and Services Sector of the updated Re-gion 12 or Soccsksargen Regional Development Plan for 2014 to 2016.

The RDC’s regional project monitoring com-mittee visited it recently and witnessed the ma-sonry and finishing works as well as the installa-tion of travertine stone and its steel frames.

The installation of travertine stone is part of the approved program of work under the project’s Phase VII.

A8

[ EDI TORI A L ] ECONOMIC GROWTH STILL ANEMICTHE economy registered a respectable 5.6-percent growth in the second quarter of 2015, but the rate of expansion is not enough for the govern-ment to meet its ambi-tious 7 to 8-percent target this year.

Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Bali-sacan has finally con-ceded the gross domestic product growth goal for 2015 is no longer realistic, with the economy likely to expand by just 6 to 6.5 percent.

The Philippines will be lucky to post the lower growth target, given the

current volatility in the global markets and slower exports, which dropped every month in the sec-ond quarter.

Foreign investment bank Barclays reduced its 2015 growth forecast for the Philippines to 5.5 per-cent after the release of the second-quarter GDP fig-ures Thursday. It warned that government spending had not grown fast enough and that exports had been soft and dragging down economic growth.

The government missed an opportunity in the early part of 2015, when it slowed down on public

spending that contributed much to the anemic 5-per-cent economic growth in the first quarter. The state tried to step up spending in the second quarter of the year to play catch-up, but other factors such as the contraction of the agricultural sec-tor in the April-to-June period, falling exports and the slower-than-ex-pected growth in China, the world’s second largest economy, will likely slow down the expansion for the full year.

Bangko Sentral ng Pili-pinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr., meanwhile,

suggested that while con-sumption in the economy remained strong, it was necessary to find other drivers of growth.

The business process outsourcing business and dollar remittances from migrant Filipino work-ers have been propping up the economy but agri-culture was a disappoint-ment. Tourism revenues have also not contributed much as anticipated by the government. Miser-able airport facilities and the serious traffic prob-lem, especially in the me-tropolis, are driving away potential tourists in the

Philippines.The Philippine econ-

omy may be more resil-ient compared with the rest of Asia. But it is still way behind the rapid strides made by Thailand and Malaysia, two South-east Asian countries that have seriously put up in-frastructure projects to meet the demands of their growing economy.

ADELLE CHUAE D I T O R

OPINIONF R I D AY: A U G U S T 2 8 , 2 0 1 5

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

MEMBERPhilippine Press InstituteThe National Association of Philippine NewspapersPPI

can be accessed at:www.manilastandardtoday.comONLINE

MSTPublished Monday to Sunday by Philippine Manila Standard Publishing Inc. at 6/F Universal Re Building, 106 Paseo de Roxas, corner Perea St., Legaspi Village, Makati City. Telephone numbers 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558 (connecting all departments), (Editorial), 832-5546, (Advertising), 832-

5550. P.O. Box 2933, Manila Central Post Office, Manila. Website: www.manilastandardtoday.com E-mail: contact@thestandard.com.ph

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

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

Mr. Robles’ column will resume next week.

LOWDOWN

JOJO A. ROBLES

OPINIONF R I D AY, A U G U S T 2 8 , 2 0 1 5

A10

VERBA legis...the words of the law are the necessary starting point for all juridical argument. And so we must closely heed the ‘verba’ of Article III of the Con-stitution:

Section 13. All persons, ex-cept those charged with offenses punishable by reclusion perpetua when evidence of guilt is strong, shall, before conviction, be bail-able by sufficient sureties, or be released on recognizance as may be provided by law. The right to bail shall not be impaired even when the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is suspended. Ex-cessive bail shall not be required.

“Shall be bailable by sufficient sureties”—that is what those charged with offenses punishable by ‘reclusion perpetua’ WHEN evidence of guilt is strong are excepted from. “Shall be bailable by sufficient sureties”—which, in effect, is the imposition on the

State of the duty to grant bail. By Hohfeld’s analysis, to say that A has a right to x means, among other things, that A can compel that B give, grant or concede x. For a right to be real, he who claims it must be able to pinpoint another against whom it can be claimed. In this case, the other is clearly the State. And when the crime is punishable by ‘reclusion perpetua’ when evidence of guilt is strong, what then? Then sets in the difficulty with the modal proposition. “Shall” in law, un-less qualified by provisos or conditions, is “must”. “X shall give Y” is the equivalent of “It is necessary that X give Y”. In the square of modal opposition, the contradictory of a neces-sary proposition is a contingent proposition: “X need not give Y”. “The State need not grant bail.” And that is worlds apart from the necessary-negative: “The State shall not grant bail.” Surely, when personal liberty, the com-

pany of one’s loved ones and the comfort of home, no matter how humble, are at stake, a logical excursus of this sort is far from otiose! If “need not be bailable” is taken as the opposite of “shall be bailable”, then when charged with a crime for which ‘reclusion perpetua’ is the penalty decreed and evidence of guilt is strong, it is all up to the agent of the State, the court, to grant or to with-hold what is no longer available as a matter of right. Of course, if “shall not be bailable” is taken to be the opposite of “shall be bail-able” (which is not what logic says is its contradictory), then on those twin conditions, the court must deny bail. I advocate the reading that the contingent properly opposes the necessary, otherwise all reference to “flight-risk” and similar considerations would be impertinent!

The other phrase that bears closer examination is “when evi-dence of guilt is strong”. Pres-ently, it is required that the judge conduct a bail-hearing at which the prosecution is afforded the opportunity to present its evi-dence to determine whether evi-dence of guilt is strong or not. In practice, while this hearing is in progress, the accused is detained. And that is what is truly trouble-some: What is the basis for de-nying bail to the accused when it has not yet been established that evidence of guilt is strong? What we can do, if we are so minded, is to establish, by statute, a different manner of determining whether evidence of guilt is strong or not, besides a full-length bail hear-ing. Justice Roberto Abad’s pro-posal for civil cases, now in the pilot-test stage, for face-to-face hearings might be one option: The principal witness presented by the prosecution is confronted by the rebutting testimony of a defense witness on each material point. This would skirt the long-winded direct and cross exami-nations so beloved to courtroom acrobats, allowing the Court immediate, though tentative, evaluation of the strength or the weakness of the prosecution. All that the Constitution requires, after all, is that there be a deter-mination that the evidence of the prosecution is strong.

The first of the principles Rawls believes by which ratio-nal individuals will want soci-ety organized is to allow each person the widest latitude of liberty possible that is compat-ible with a similar latitude for all others. And while the liber-ty of which Rawls writes is not necessarily the liberty of move-ment, curtailed by detention, it certainly includes that. An undue curtailment of liberty cannot be just!

rannie_aquino@sanbeda.edu.phrannie_aquino@csu.edu.phrannie_aquino@yahoo.com

STILL ON THE RIGHT TO BAIL

A GOOD TIME TO REVIEWTHE end of each year, semester and quarter is usually a good time for profit-oriented com-panies to review their financial performance. If done objec-tively and competently, these financial reviews confirm the companies’ successes and un-mask their failures.

After reviewing emerg-ing opportunities and threats, they then proceed to complete the rest of their targets or start working on other more attain-able objectives.

In addition to these reviews, companies that have become na-tional institutions use their an-niversaries and foundation days, to trace back their roots and ori-gins, and reexamine their rea-sons for being.

For my senior citizen friends and me, we like most the way the United States Social Security Administration celebrated the 75th anniversary—not of its es-tablishment—but of the signing into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the Social Secu-rity Act.

That occasion on Aug. 14, 2010 was used by President Barack Obama to call on all Americans to ensure that they “continue to preserve this pro-gram’s original purpose in the 21st century,” which, he remind-ed, was “to protect ordinary Americans ‘against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age.’”

He narrated that: “Our Nation was entrenched

in the Great Depression. Un-employment neared 20 per-cent, and millions of Ameri-cans struggled to provide for themselves and their families. In the midst of all this, the So-cial Security Act brought hope to some of our most vulner-able citizens, giving elderly Americans income security and bringing us closer to President Roosevelt’s vision of a Nation free from want or fear.”

His rallying message was clear and simple:

“Together, we can give our children and our grandchildren the same protections we have cherished for decades, and in doing so, lead our Nation to a brighter day.”

President Obama—by then two years into his presidency—committed his administration to strengthen America’s “retire-ment system and protecting So-cial Security as a reliable income source for seniors, workers who develop disabilities, and depen-dents.”

He realized that after a life-time of contributing to their country and its economy, “Amer-icans have earned this support.”

He then concluded that:“My Administration is dedi-

cated to safeguarding Social Se-curity’s promise of retirement with dignity and security.”

We could not help but com-pare America’s remarkable experience with our more dif-ficult and unfinished establish-ment of social security.

We have also our champion of social security—President Ramon Magsaysay—who once declared that his “concern for the common man is not merely sentimental or emotional. It is a hard fact that a nation can-not survive without the safe foundation of a prosperous and contented majority of its people.”

He then echoed this by de-claring that:

“We believe what is good for the common man is good for the whole country. Every pol-icy of our administration has therefore been directed to his welfare. We have anchored our national destiny to the common man.”

His birthday—the 108th—would again be observed qui-etly on August 31 and would be highlighted once again with the presentation of an elite group of outstanding Asians who have been selected for their great-ness of spirit and transformative leadership as this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Awardees.

Continued on A11

PENSEES

FR. RANHILIO CALLANGAN

AQUINO

FILIPINOPENSIONER

HORACETEMPLO

What is the basis for denying bail to the accused

when it has not yet been

established that evidence of guilt

is strong?

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

WHERE CHINA GOES FROM HEREBloomberg editorial

FOR years, China’s leaders have wanted the world to acknowl-edge their economy’s leading role in the global system. This week they got their wish. Sadly, the circumstances weren’t ideal.

The crash in global stock markets began with gloom about China’s prospects and muddle over what the authori-ties in Beijing intend. Global markets may be calming down, but the confusion hasn’t gone away. The Chinese government and its critics all need to think a bit more clearly about what is going on.

In the past few days, China has been a whipping boy for everyone from Japan’s  finance minister  to US Republican presidential hopefuls. Its cen-tral bank is accused of waging a currency war with its devalu-ation of the yuan two weeks ago. Before that, critics chided Chinese authorities for perpet-uating a stock-market bubble by intervening extensively  in equities; this week’s sell-off ac-celerated when the government declined to prop them up.

The world doesn’t seem quite sure what it wants from China’s leaders. Critics scold Beijing

for boosting stocks, then panic when they don’t. They insist market forces be allowed to set the yuan, then howl when those forces push it down. They tell China to accept slower growth as the price of rebalancing its economy, then  clamor  for stimulus when the economy slows.

To be sure, there’s confusion in Beijing as well. Leaders have promised to shift the economy onto a more sustainable growth path that’s based less on ex-ports and more on services and domestic demand. But they’ve held to an unreasonably high growth target,  presented con-fusing data  to suggest all is go-ing well,  had difficulty  tack-ling bad debts, and continued to juice the economy with mis-directed public spending.

There’s an underlying ten-sion in that mix: The leadership is sincere about its  desire for markets to allocate capital more efficiently, yet mostly in order to preserve the power and po-sition of the Communist Party. When those two imperatives conflict—as when the stock market’s initial slide threatened to  erode faith  in Beijing’s eco-nomic stewardship—the party’s needs often come first.

That dynamic undermines the progress achieved by genu-ine reforms, such as exposing the yuan to market pressure. China’s long history of holding its currency down, combined with a recent plunge in exports, gave observers every reason to believe that a steeper devalua-tion was in store. The  secrecy  surrounding Chinese policy and data made the situation worse. Many analysts naturally assume the mainland’s woes must be worse than the recent run of bad figures would indi-cate. The devaluation suggested  panic—and encouraged panic in return.

Beijing’s reluctance to sur-render more fully to market discipline is understandable given the daunting list of chal-lenges leaders face. But they’re only storing up problems for the future.

The government is paying the price now for having artifi-cially boosted stocks earlier. The central bank is  thought  to be spending an estimated $40 bil-lion a month to keep the yuan from falling further and pre-vent capital flight. Authorities are reportedly consideringrais-ing  an additional $161 billion

Continued on A11

A11F R I D AY, A U G U S T 2 8 , 2 0 1 5

OPINIONlettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

CHONG ARDIVILLA#FAILOCRACY

‘BOBO’ (STUPID) ECONOMICS

THE Philippine economy is in a slowdown mode.    It expanded by just 5.6 percent in the second quarter this year, down 1.1 per-centage points from the robust 6.7 percent gain in April to June of 2014.    The 5.6 percent, how-ever, is an improvement, from the 5.0 percent growth in the first quarter of this year.

On a per semester basis, the economy expanded by just 5.3 percent in the first half this year, down .9 percent from the 6.2 percent registered in January-June 2014.

In terms of Gross National Income (GNI), that is, includ-ing income from abroad, the slowdown was more dramatic.  GNI grew by just 4.6 percent in the first half of 2015, down 2.1 percentage points from the 6.7 percent GNI growth in the first half of 2014.

Why did the economy slow down? 

Blame Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala.    In at least two State of the Nation Addresses (SONAs), President BS Aquino III bragged about having self-sufficiency in rice.  It was a lie.  The lie was fed to him by Alcala who paid more attention

to smuggling than to honest-to-goodness effort at boost-ing rice production. This is the same Agriculture secretary who BS Aquino thanked in his sixth and last SONA last July.  Alcala and Kiko Pangilinan were sup-posed to have, according to BS Aquino, “sown reforms already bearing fruit in the agriculture sector.”

What reforms?  What fruits?The real score:  Agricultural

production declined by 0.5 per-cent in the second quarter of 2015, a dramatic decline from the 1.1 percent growth in the first quarter of 2015, and from a robust 3.4 percent growth in the second quarter of 2014.    Without the negative growth of agriculture, economic growth during the second quarter this year could have been higher, instead of the listless 5.6 per-cent—all of which was contrib-uted by Industry (2.1 percent-age points) and Services, 3.5 percentage points.

On the expenditure side, aside from services—which is basi-cally retailing, banking, truck-ing and even call centers —con-sumer spending or household consumption contributed 4.1 percentage points  or 73 percent of the 5.6 percent GDP growth.  Government spending contrib-

uted just half a percent (0.5).Strong consumer spending

could mean households received the remittances from their rela-tives abroad (that’s Services) or withdrew their money from the banks (that’s Services), boarded a decrepit train (that’s Services) or hailed a taxi with a fast meter (that’s Services), and went shop-ping in the malls (that’s Ser-vices) or ate in their restaurants (that’s Services) or watched a movie (that’s Services).  During the period, households probably received an early pre-Christmas balikbayan box (that’s Services).

What the strong consumer spending amid a slowing econo-my implies is that Filipinos have a virtually good for nothing gov-ernment.  Daang Matuwid has no meaning for them.  People are being left to their own devices. 

So if any economic growth is taking place at all, it is no thanks to their government.  From 2011 to 2014, the BS Aquino government refused to spend P529 billion, a figure which former Budget Secretary Ben Diokno describes as mind-boggling.

You know the meaning of not spending more than half a trillion pesos?  At P2 million per job, not spending P529 bil-lion is equivalent to not creat-

ing 264,500 jobs.  Also, with that kind of money unspent, the government could have mod-ernized the decrepit MRT3 ten times over and reduce commut-ing time from three hours, one way, to just ten minutes!    That is why the more than 400,000 train commuters of MRT3 should organize themselves and storm Malacañang, the presi-dential palace, because that is where the buck stops.  BS Aqui-no has plenty of money.  He knows it.  And he is not spend-ing it for the good of the people.

Did you now that among the major countries of the Asean (Philippines, Singapore, Ma-laysia, and Thailand), the Phil-ippines has the poorest qual-ity of overall infrastructure, the poorest quality of road infra-structure, the poorest quality of railroad infrastructure, port infrastructure, air transport in-frastructure, as well as the worst quality of electricity and the worst quality of Internet ser-vice. And BS Aquino calls that Daang Matuwid!

People have only themselves to thank for if the economy is moving at all, amid the stupid-ity, the incompetence, the cor-ruption and the lack of vision in this government.

We have actually what I call a

bobo economics.  It is an econ-omy that moves by the sheer gravity of consumer spending, if sometimes mindless spending.

I liken the economy to a mas-sive iceberg in the middle an ocean whose waters are warm-ing and rising—thanks to global warming.

The law of physics demands that the iceberg move itself—because of gravity and inertia in motion.  Because the econo-my is pushing itself, thanks to its size—100 million consum-ers (the 12th  largest on earth); $25 billion in annual remit-tances (the second largest in the world), somehow growth is tak-ing place.

Because growth is taking place, the government starts to think it is responsible for the growth.  It starts bragging.  It starts to lie. 

It’s no different from a rat on top of the iceberg.  The rat no-tices  that the iceberg is moving.  It starts thinking it is the one responsible for the movement and claims credit for it.  The rat thinks he is great.  He tells the nation he is great.  He tells the world he is great.

What BS!  Remember that in 2016.

  biznewsasia@gmail.com

VIRTUAL REALITY

TONYLOPEZ

A good..From A10

It is also the day before the 58th anniversary of the Social Security System, which Presi-dent Magsaysay established when he signed into law on June 18, 1954 Republic Act 1161 or the Social Security Act of 1954.

He was able to enact this law within 6 months after taking his oath of office as president on Dec. 30, 1953. However, before he could fully implement it, the nation’s largest labor unions and employer groups had strongly opposed it.

Ironically, the United States Foreign Operations Adminis-tration Mission in the Philip-pines and the American Cham-ber of Commerce were the ones that led in opposing it, citing

the country’s lack of readiness to implement what they called a premature social security pro-gram.

In their assessment:“In the present stage of eco-

nomic development, such a program would place an undue burden on both employers and workers.”

President Magsaysay had no choice but to defer its full imple-mentation and allowed his SSA of 1954 to be amended first. Unfortunately, he perished in a plane crash on March 17, 1957 before the amended version could be passed into law.

Vice President Carlos P. Gar-cia took over as president and pursued its passage, success-fully signing it into law on June 21, 1957 as Republic Act 1792.

Again, there was clamor to defer once more its implemen-tation but President Garcia was resolute in opening SSS to the public on Sept. 1, 1957.

For unknown reasons, SSS celebrates the day it first opened to the public as its anniversary and neither the date of its estab-lishment nor those of the pas-sage of the two social security legislations.

This unconventional celebra-tion of its anniversary shouldn’t really matter much if only SSS recognize that its reason for be-ing is neither to be the national lending institution nor to be the national funeral benefit fund—but to be the national pension institution without being “an undue burden on both employ-ers and workers.”

Where..From A10

in bonds to fund new infra-structure projects. Some of these may make good sense, but the fact that Beijing is directing the program raises doubts.

What’s to be done? The gov-ernment should continue to pull back gradually from its commanding position in the economy—and as it does so, it should be clearer and  more convincing  about its commit-ment to reform.

Chinese leaders, and their critics just as much, should be clear that the stunning growth rates of the past are gone for good (the “New Normal”), and focus instead on stability

around more modest and realizable ambitions. Beijing should strive for honesty in data—the sine qua non of market confidence. And party leaders should accept sell-offs in stocks, defaults among weak companies and other ordinary events of market-based economies as signs of economic maturity.

More forthrightness now would buy China goodwill from markets when the government really does need to intervene—as the US, Japan and the Euro-pean Union have all repeatedly judged to be necessary. Chinese leaders should remember that the currency that matters most is their credibility.

GENERAL CONDITIONS OF CARRIAGE (PASSENGER AND BAGGAGE) ARTICLE 1- WHAT PARTICULAR EXPRESSIONS MEAN IN THESE CONDITIONS

As you read these conditions, please note that: “We”, “our” “ourselves” and “us” means Thai Airways International “You”, “your” and “yourself”means any person, except members of the crew, carried or to be carried in an aircraft pursuant to a Ticket. (See also definition for “Passenger”). “AGREED STOPPING PLACES” means those places, except the place of departure and the place of destination, set out in the Ticket or shown in our timetables as scheduled stopping places on your route. “AIRLINE DESIGNATOR CODE” means the two-characters or three letters which identify particular air carriers. “AUTHORISED AGENT” means a passenger sales agent who has been appointed by us to represent us in the sale of air transportation on our services. “BAGGAGE” means your personal property accompanying you in connection with your trip. Unless otherwise specified, it consists of both your Checked and Unchecked Baggage. “BAGGAGE CHECK” means those portions of the Ticket which relate to the carriage of your Checked Baggage. “BAGGAGE IDENTIFICATION TAG” means a document issued solely for identification of Checked Baggage. “CARRIER” means an air carrier other than ourselves, whose Airline Designator Code appears on your Ticket or on a Conjunction Ticket. “CHECKED BAGGAGE” means Baggage of which we take custody and for which we have issued a Baggage Check. “CHECK-IN DEADLINE” means the time limit specified by the airline by which you must have completed check-in formalities and received your boarding pass. “CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT” means those statements contained in or delivered with your Ticket or Itinerary/Receipt, identified as such and which incorporate, by reference, these Conditions of Carriage and notices. “CONJUNCTION TICKET” means a Ticket issued to you with relation to another Ticket which together constitute a single contract of carriage. “CONVENTION” means whichever of the following instruments are applicable:

- the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air, signed at Warsaw, 12 October 1929 (hereinafter referred to as the Warsaw Convention);

- the Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague on 28 September 1955; - the Warsaw Convention as amended by Additional Protocol No. 1 of Montreal (1975): - the Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague and by Additional Protocol No. 2 of

Montreal (1975); - the Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague and by Additional Protocol No. 4 of

Montreal (1975); - the Guadalajara supplementary Convention (1961); - the Montreal Convention (1999)

“COUPON” means both a paper Flight Coupon and an Electronic Coupon, each of which entitles the named passenger to travel on the particular flight identified on it. “DAMAGE” includes death, wounding, or bodily injury to a Passenger, loss, partial loss, theft or other damage, arising out of or in connection with carriage or other services incidental thereto performed by us. “DAYS” mean calendar days, including all seven days of the week; provided that, for the purpose of notification, the day upon which notice is dispatched shall not be counted; and provided further that for purposes of determining duration of validity of a Ticket, the day upon which the Ticket is issued, or the flight commenced shall not be counted. “ELECTRONIC COUPON” means an electronic flight coupon or other value document held in our database. “ELECTRONIC TICKET” means the Itinerary/Receipt issued by us or on our behalf, the Electronic Coupons and, if applicable, a boarding document. “FLIGHT COUPON” means that portion of the Ticket that bears the notation “good for passage,” or in the case of an Electronic Ticket, the Electronic Coupon, and indicates the particular places between which you are entitled to be carried. “FORCE MAJEURE” means unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond your control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised. “ITINERARY/RECEIPT” means a document or documents we issue to Passengers travelling on Electronic Tickets that contains the Passenger’s name, flight information and notices. “PASSENGER” means any person, except members of the crew, carried or to be carried in an aircraft pursuant to a Ticket. (See also definition for “you”, “your” and “yourself”). “PASSENGER COUPON” or “PASSENGER RECEIPT” means that portion of the Ticket issued by us or on our behalf, which is so marked and which ultimately is to be retained by you. “SPECIAL DRAWING RIGHTS” are an international unit of account, defined by the International Monetary Fund, based upon the values of several leading currencies. The currency values of theSpecial Drawing Right fluctuate and are re-calculated each banking day. These values are knownto most commercial bankers and are reported regularly in leading financial journals. “STOPOVER” means a scheduled stop on your journey, at a point between the place of departure and the place of destination. “TARIFF” means the published fares, charges and/or related Conditions of Carriage of an airline filed, where required, with the appropriate authorities. “TICKET” means either the document entitled “Passenger Ticket and Baggage Check” or the Electronic Ticket, in each case issued by us or on our behalf, and includes the Conditions of Contract, notices and Coupons. “UNCHECKED BAGGAGE” means any of your Baggage other than Checked Baggage. ARTICLE 2 -APPLICABILITY 2.1 GENERAL Except as provided in Articles 2.2, 2.3, 2.4 and 2.5, our Conditions of Carriage apply

only on those flights, or flight segments, in respect of which we have a potential legal liability to you.

2.2 CHARTER OPERATIONS If carriage is performed pursuant to a charter agreement, these Conditions of Carriage

apply only to the extent they are incorporated by reference or otherwise, in the charter agreement or the Ticket.

2.3 CODE SHARES On some services we may have arrangements with other carriers known as “Code

Shares”. This means that even if you have a reservation with us and hold a Ticket where our name or Airline Designator Code is indicated as the Carrier, another Carrier may operate the aircraft. If in case of a Code Share flight we are indicated as the carrier operating the flight, these Conditions of Carriage also apply to such transportation. If such arrangements apply we will advise you of the Carrier operating the aircraft at the time you make a reservation.

For Code Share services on flights operated by another carrier, we are responsible for

the entirety of the Code Share journey for all obligations to Passengers established in these rules. However, each Code Share partner has rules with respect to the operation of its own flights, which may differ from our rules for flights operated by us. Those rules are incorporated herein by reference and form a part of these Conditions of Carriage. The rules with respect to operations that may differ between us and our Code Share partners include, but are not limited to: • Check-in time limits; • Unaccompanied minors; • Carriage of animals; • Refusal to transport; • Oxygen service; • Irregular operations; • Denied boarding compensation; • Baggage acceptance, allowance and liability

For the rules and regulations of our Code Share partners, we refer you to their websites

or your travel agency. You should review the rules for flights operated by another carrier under a Code Share agreement and familiarize yourself with such things as flight check-in requirements and policies regarding unaccompanied minors, carriage of animals, refusal to transport, oxygen services, irregular operations, denied boarding compensation and baggage acceptance, among others.

For flights arriving at or departing from an airport located in the United States, our Contingency Plan For Extended Tarmac Delays will apply to your flight only if we operate your flight. If a Code Share partner or any other carrier operates your flight, that operating carrier’s tarmac delay plan will apply.

2.4 OVERRIDING LAW These Conditions of Carriage are applicable unless they are inconsistent with our

Tariffs or applicable law in which event such Tariffs or laws shall prevail. If any provision of these Conditions of Carriage is invalid under any applicable law, the

other provisions shall nevertheless remain valid. 2.5 CONDITIONS PREVAIL OVER REGULATIONS Except as provided in these Conditions of Carriage, in the event of inconsistency

between these Conditions of Carriage and any other regulations we may have, dealing with particular subjects, these Conditions of Carriage shall prevail.

ARTICLE 3 - TICKETS 3.1 GENERAL PROVISIONS 3.1.1 We will provide carriage only to the Passenger named in the Ticket, and you may be

required to produce appropriate identification. 3.1.2 A Ticket is not transferable except as required by any locally applicable laws, In

addition and upon request from you, we will issue a new ticket to somebody else to replace your ticket if your ticket has been issued as part of a package to which The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tour Regulations 1992, SI 1992/3288 as amended (the Regulations) apply, and you;

3.1.2.1 wish to transfer your booking under regulation 10 of the Regulations; 3.1.2.2 prove to us that you have satisfied the requirements of regulation 10 of the

Regulations and are entitled to transfer the booking; 3.1.2.3 provide us with reasonable notice of your intention to transfer the booking

before your date of departure; 3.1.2.4 provide us with the full name, address and contact number of the person to

whom the new ticket is to be issued; 3.1.2.5 deliver your existing ticket to us; and 3.1.2.6 pay us a reasonable administration fee for issuing the new ticket.

3.1.3 Some Tickets are sold at discounted fares which may be partially or completely non-refundable. You should choose the fare best suited to your needs. You may also wish to ensure that you have appropriate insurance to cover instances where you have to cancel your Ticket.

3.1.4 If you have a Ticket, as described in Article 3.1.3 above, which is completely unused, and you are prevented from travelling due to Force Majeure, provided that you promptly advise us and furnish evidence of such Force Majeure, we will provide you with a credit of the non-refundable amount of the fare, for future travel on us, subject to deduction

of a reasonable administration fee.

3.1.5 The Ticket is and remains at all times the property of the issuing carrier. 3.1.6 Except in the case of an Electronic Ticket, you shall not be entitled to be carried on a flight

unless you present a valid Ticket containing the Flight Coupon for that flight and all other unused Flight Coupons and the Passenger Coupon. In addition, you shall not be entitled to be carried if the Ticket presented is mutilated or if it has been altered otherwise than by us or our Authorised Agent. In the case of an Electronic Ticket, you shall not be entitled to be carried on a flight unless you provide positive identification and a valid Electronic Ticket has been duly issued in your name.

3.1.7(a) In case of loss or mutilation of a Ticket (or part of it) by you or non-presentation of a

Ticket containing the Passenger Coupon and all unused Flight Coupons, upon your request we will replace such Ticket (or part of it) by issuing a new Ticket, provided there is evidence, readily ascertainable at the time, that a Ticket valid for the flight(s) in question was duly issued and you sign an agreement to reimburse us for any costs and losses, up to the value of the original ticket, which are necessarily and reasonably incurred by us or another carrier for misuse of the Ticket. We will not claim reimbursement from you for any such losses which result from our own negligence. The issuing carrier may charge a reasonable administration fee for this service, unless the loss or mutilation was due to the negligence of the issuing carrier, or its agent.

3.1.7(b) Where such evidence is not available or you do not sign such an agreement, the carrier

issuing the new Ticket may require you to pay up to the full Ticket price for a replacement Ticket, subject to refund if and when the original issuing carrier is satisfied that the lost or mutilated Ticket has not been used before the expiry of its validity. If, upon finding the original Ticket before the expiry of its validity, you surrender it to the carrier issuing the new Ticket, the foregoing refund will be processed at that time.

3.1.8 A ticket is valuable and you should take appropriate measures to safeguard it and ensure

it is not lost or stolen. 3.2 PERIOD OF VALIDITY 3.2.1 Except as otherwise provided in the Ticket, these Conditions, or in applicable Tariffs

(which may limit the validity of a ticket, in which case the limitation will be shown on the Ticket) a Ticket is valid for:

(a) one year from the date of issue; or (b) subject to the first travel occurring within one year from the date of issue, one year from

the date of first travel under the Ticket. 3.2.2 When you are prevented from travelling within the period of validity of the Ticket because

at the time you request reservations we are unable to confirm a reservation,the validity of such Ticket will be extended, or you may be entitled to a refund in accordance with Article 10.

3.2.3 If after having commenced your journey, you are prevented from travelling within the

period of validity of the Ticket by reason of illness, we may extend the period of validity of your Ticket until the date when you become fit to travel or until our first flight after such date, from the point where the journey is resumed on which space is available in the class of service for which the fare has been paid. Such illness must be attested to by a medical certificate. When the flight coupons remaining in the Ticket, or in the case of an Electronic Ticket, the electronic coupon, involve one or more Stopovers, the validity of such Ticket may be extended for not more than three months from the date shown on such certificate. In such circumstances, we will similarly extend the period of validity of Tickets of other members of your immediate family accompanying you.

3.2.4 In the event of death of a Passenger en route, the Tickets of persons accompanying the

Passenger may be modified by waiving the minimum stay or extending the validity. In the event of a death in the immediate family of a Passenger who has commenced travel, the validity of the Passenger’s Tickets and those of his or her immediate family who are accompanying the Passenger may likewise be modified. Any such modification shall be made upon receipt of a valid death certificate and any such extension of validity shall not be for a period longer than forty-five (45) Days from the date of the death.

3.3 COUPON SEQUENCE AND USE 3.3.1 The Ticket you have purchased is valid only for the transportation as shown on the Ticket,

from the place of departure via any Agreed Stopping Places to the final destination. The fare you have paid is based upon our Tariff and is for the transportation as shown on the Ticket. It forms an essential part of our contract with you. The Ticket will not be honoured and will lose its validity if all the Coupons are not used in the sequence provided in the Ticket.

3.3.2 Should you wish to change any aspect of your transportation you must contact us in

advance. The fare for your new transportation will be calculated and you will be given the option of accepting the new price or maintaining your original transportation as ticketed. Should you be required to change any aspect of your transportation due to Force Majeure, you must contact us as soon as practicable and we will use reasonable efforts to transport you to your next Stopover or final destination, without recalculation of the fare.

3.3.3 Should you change your transportation without our agreement, we will assess the correct

price for your actual travel. You will have to pay any difference between the price you have paid and the total price applicable for your revised transportation. We will refund you the difference if the new price is lower but otherwise, your unused Coupons have no value.

3.3.4 Please be aware that while some types of changes will not result in a change of fare,

others, such as changing the place of departure (for example, if you do not fly the first segment) or reversing the direction you travel, can result in an increase in price. Many special fares are valid only on the dates and for the flights shown on the Ticket and may not be changed at all, or only upon payment of an additional fee.

3.3.5 Each Flight Coupon contained in your Ticket will be accepted for transportation in the

class of service on the date and flight for which space has been reserved. When a Ticket is originally issued without a reservation being specified, space may be later reserved subject to our Tariff and the availability of space on the flight requested.

3.3.6 Please be advised that in the event you do not show up for any flight without advising us

in advance, we may cancel your return or onward reservations. However, if you do advise us in advance, we will not cancel your subsequent flight reservations.

3.4 NAME AND ADDRESS OF CARRIER Our name may be abbreviated to our Airline Designator Code, or otherwise, in the Ticket.

Our address is Thai Airways International, Head Office, 89 Vibhavadi Rangsit Road, Chattuchak, Bangkok 10900. Thailand.

ARTICLE 4 –FARES, TAXES, FEES AND CHARGES 4.1 FARES Fares apply only for carriage from the airport at the point of origin to the airport at the point

of destination, unless otherwise expressly stated. Fares do not include ground transport service between airports and between airports and town terminals. Your fare will be calculated in accordance with our Tariff in effect on the date of payment of your ticket for travel on the specific dates and itinerary shown on it. Should you change your itinerary or dates of travel, this may impact the fare to be paid.

4.2 TAXES, FEES AND CHARGES Applicable taxes, fees and charges imposed by government or other authority, or by the

operator of an airport, shall be payable by you. At the time you purchase your Ticket, you will be advised of all applicable taxes, fees and charges not included in the fare, most of which will normally be shown separately on the Ticket. The taxes, fees and charges imposed on air travel are constantly changing and can be imposed after the date of Ticket issuance. If there is an increase in a tax, fee or charge shown on the Ticket, you will be obliged to pay it. Likewise, if a new tax, fee or charge is imposed even after Ticket issuance, you will be obliged to pay it. Similarly, in the event any taxes, fees or charges which you have paid to us at the time of Ticket issuance are abolished or reduced such that they no longer apply to you, or a lesser amount is due, you will be entitled to claim a refund.

4.3 CURRENCY Fares, taxes, fees and charges are payable in the currency of the country in which the

Ticket is issued, unless another currency is indicated by us or our Authorised Agent at or before the time payment is made (for example, because of the non-convertibility of the local currency). We may at our discretion, accept payment in another currency.

ARTICLE 5 - RESERVATIONS 5.1 RESERVATION REQUIREMENTS 5.1.1 We or our Authorised Agent will record your reservation(s). Upon request we will provide

you with written confirmation of your reservation(s). 5.1.2 Certain fares have conditions which limit or exclude your right to change or cancel

reservations. 5.2 TICKETING TIME LIMITS If you have not paid for the Ticket prior to the specified ticketing time limit, as advised by

us or our Authorised Agent, we may cancel your reservation. 5.3 PERSONAL DATA You recognise that personal data has been given to us for the purposes of: making a

reservation, purchasing a Ticket, obtaining ancillary services, developing and providing services, facilitating immigration and entry procedures, and making available such data to government agencies, in connection with your travel. For these purposes, you authorise us to retain and use such data and to transmit it to our own offices, Authorised Agents, government agencies, other Carriers or the providers of the above-mentioned services.

5.4 SEATING We will endeavour to honour advance seating requests. However, we cannot guarantee

any particular seat. We reserve the right to assign or reassign seats at any time, even after boarding of the aircraft. This may be necessary for operational, safety or security reasons.

5.5 RECONFIRMATION OF RESERVATIONS 5.5.1 Onward or return reservations may be subject to the requirement to reconfirm

the reservations within specified time limits. We will advise you when we require reconfirmation, and how and where it should be done. If it is required and you fail to reconfirm, we may cancel your onward or return reservations. However, if you advise us you still wish to travel, and there is space on the flight, we will reinstate your reservations and transport you. If there is no space on the flight we will use reasonable efforts to transport you to your next or final destination.

5.5.2 You should check the reconfirmation requirements of any other Carriers involved in your journey with them. Where it is required, you must reconfirm with the Carrier whose code appears for the flight in question on the Ticket.

5.6 CANCELLATION OF ONWARD RESERVATIONS Please be advised that if you do not show up for any flight without advising us in advance,

we may cancel your return or onward reservations. However, if you do advise us in advance, we will not cancel your subsequent flight reservations.

ARTICLE 6 - CHECK-IN AND BOARDING 6.1 Check-in Deadlines are different at every airport and we recommend that you inform

yourself about these Check-in Deadlines and honour them. Your journey will be smoother if you allow yourself ample time to comply with the Check-in Deadlines. We reserve the right to cancel your reservation if you do not comply with the Check-in Deadlines indicated. We or our Authorised Agents will advise you of the Check-in Deadline for your first flight on us. For any subsequent flights in your journey, you should inform yourself of the Check-in Deadlines. Check-in Deadlines for our flights can be found in our timetable, or may be obtained from us or our Authorised Agents.

6.2 You must be present at the boarding gate not later than the time specified by us when you

check in. 6.3 We may cancel the space reserved for you if you fail to arrive at the boarding gate in time. 6.4 We will not be liable to you for any loss or expense incurred due to your failure to comply

with the provisions of this Article. ARTICLE 7 - REFUSAL AND LIMITATION OF CARRIAGE 7.1 RIGHT TO REFUSE CARRIAGE In the reasonable exercise of our discretion, we may refuse to carry you or your Baggage

if we have notified you in writing that we would not at any time after the date of such notice carry you on our flights. In this circumstance, you will be entitled to a refund. We may also refuse to carry you or your Baggage if one or more of the following have occurred or we reasonably believe may occur:

7.1.1 such action is necessary in order to comply with any applicable government laws,

regulations, or orders; 7.1.2 the carriage of you or your Baggage may endanger or affect the safety, health, or

materially affect the comfort of other passengers or crew; 7.1.3 your mental or physical state including your impairment from alcohol or drugs, presents

a hazard or risk to yourself, to passengers, to crew, or to property; 7.1.4 you have refused to submit to a security check; 7.1.5 you have not paid the applicable fare, taxes, fees or charges; 7.1.6 you do not appear to have valid travel documents, may seek to enter a country through

which you may be in transit, or for which you do not have valid travel documents, destroy your travel documents during flight or refuse to surrender your travel documents to the flight crew, against receipt, when so requested;

7.1.7 you present a Ticket that has been acquired unlawfully, has been purchased from

an entity other than us or our Authorised Agent, or has been reported as being lost or stolen, is a counterfeit, or you cannot prove that you are the person named in the Ticket;

7.1.8 you have failed to comply with the requirements set forth in Article 3.3 above

concerning coupon sequence and use, or you present a Ticket which has been issued or altered in any way, other than by us or our Authorised Agent, or the Ticket is mutilated;

7.1.9 you fail to observe our instructions with respect to safety or security; 7.1.10 you have previously committed one of the acts or omissions referred to above, or

misconduct, on or in connection with a previous flight and we have reason to believe that you may do so again.

7.3 SPECIAL ASSISTANCE Acceptance for carriage of unaccompanied children, incapacitated persons, pregnant

women, persons with illness or other people requiring special assistance is subject to our discretion and prior arrangement with us. Passengers with disabilities who have advised us of any special requirements they may have at the time of ticketing, and been accepted by us, shall not subsequently be refused carriage on the basis of such disability or special requirements.

ARTICLE 8 -BAGGAGE 8.1 FREE BAGGAGE ALLOWANCE You may carry some Baggage, free of charge, subject to our conditions and limitations,

which are available upon request from us or our Authorised Agents and are included in our Handling Manual available in our main offices (Passenger Service Department).

8.2 EXCESS BAGGAGE You will be required to pay a charge for carriage of Baggage in excess of the free

Baggage allowance. These rates are available from us upon request and are included in our Handling Manual available in our main offices (Passenger Service Department).

8.3 ITEMS UNACCEPTABLE AS BAGGAGE 8.3.1 You must not include in your Baggage: 8.3.1.1 items which are likely to endanger the aircraft or persons or property on board the

aircraft, such as those specified in the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Dangerous Goods Regulations, and in our regulations (further information is available from us on request);

8.3.1.2 items the carriage of which is prohibited by the applicable laws, regulations or orders

of any state to be flown from or to; 8.3.1.3 items which are reasonably considered by us to be unsuitable for carriage because

they are dangerous, unsafe or by reason of their weight, size, shape or character, or which are fragile or perishable having regard to, among other things, the type of aircraft being used. Information about unacceptable items is available upon request.

8.3.2 Firearms and ammunition other than for hunting and sporting purposes are prohibited

from carriage as Baggage. Firearms and ammunition for hunting and sporting purposes may be accepted as Checked Baggage. Firearms must be unloaded with the safety catch on, and suitably packed. Carriage of ammunition is subject to ICAO and IATA regulations as specified in Article 8.3.1.1.

8.3.3 Weapons such as antique firearms, swords, knives and similar items may be accepted as

Checked Baggage, at our discretion, but will not be permitted in the cabin of the aircraft. 8.3.4 You must not include in Checked Baggage money, jewellery, precious metals,

computers, personal electronic devices, negotiable papers, securities or other valuables, business documents, passports and other identification documents or samples.

8.3.5 If, despite being prohibited, any items referred to in Articles 8.3.1, 8.3.2 and 8.3.4 are

included in your Baggage, we shall not be responsible for any loss or damage to such items.

8.4 RIGHT TO REFUSE CARRIAGE 8.4.1 Subject to Articles 8.3.2 and 8.3.3, we will refuse to carry as Baggage the items described

in Article 8.3, and we may refuse further carriage of any such items upon discovery. 8.4.2 We may refuse to carry as Baggage any item reasonably considered by us to be

unsuitable for carriage because of its size, shape, weight, content, character, or for safety or operational reasons, or the comfort of other passengers. Information about unacceptable items is available upon request.

8.4.3 We may refuse to accept Baggage for carriage unless it is in our reasonable opinion

properly and securely packed in suitable containers. Information about packing and containers unacceptable to us is available upon request.

8.5 RIGHT OF SEARCH For reasons of safety and security we may request that you permit a search and scan of

your person and a search, scan or x-ray of your Baggage. If you are not available, your Baggage may be searched in your absence for the purpose of determining whether you are in possession of or whether your Baggage contains any item described in Article 8.3.1 or any firearms, ammunition or weapons, which have not been presented to us in accordance with Article 8.3.2 or 8.3.3. If you are unwilling to comply with such request we may refuse to carry you and your Baggage. In the event a search or scan causes Damage to you, or an x-ray or scan causes damage to your Baggage, we shall not be liable for such Damage unless due to our fault or negligence.

8.6 CHECKED BAGGAGE 8.6.1 Upon delivery to us of your Baggage which you wish to check we will take custody of,

and issue a Baggage Identification Tag for, each piece of your Checked Baggage. 8.6.2 Checked Baggage must have your name or other personal identification affixed to it. 8.6.3 Checked Baggage will, whenever possible, be carried on the same aircraft as you,

unless we decide for safety, security or operational reasons to carry it on an alternative flight. If your Checked Baggage is carried on a subsequent flight we will deliver it to you, unless applicable law requires you to be present for customs clearance.

8.7 UNCHECKED BAGGAGE 8.7.1 We may specify maximum dimensions and/or weight for Baggage which you carry on

to the aircraft. If we have not done so, Baggage which you carry onto the aircraft must fit under the seat in front of you or in an enclosed storage compartment in the cabin of the aircraft. If your Baggage cannot be stored in this manner, or is of excessive weight, or is considered unsafe for any reason, it must be carried as Checked Baggage.

8.7.2 Objects not suitable for carriage in the cargo compartment (such as delicate musical

instruments), and which do not meet the requirements in Article 8.7.1 above, will only be accepted for carriage in the cabin compartment if you have given us notice in advance and permission has been granted by us. You may have to pay a separate charge for this service.

8.8 COLLECTION AND DELIVERY OF CHECKED BAGGAGE 8.8.1 Subject to Article 8.6.3, you are required to collect your Checked Baggage as soon as

it is made available at your destination or Stopover. Should you not collect it within a reasonable time, we may charge you a storage fee. Should your Checked Baggage not be claimed within three (3) months of the time it is made available, we may dispose of it without any liability to you.

8.8.2 Only the bearer of the Baggage Check and Baggage Identification Tag is entitled to

delivery of the Checked Baggage. 8.8.3 If a person claiming Checked Baggage is unable to produce the Baggage Check and

identify the Baggage by means of a Baggage Identification Tag, we will deliver the Baggage to such person only on condition that he or she establishes to our satisfaction his or her right to the Baggage.

8.9 ANIMALS If we agree to carry your animals they will be carried subject to the following conditions: 8.9.1 You must ensure that animals such as dogs and cats are properly crated and

accompanied by valid health and vaccination certificates, entry permits, and other documents required by countries of entry or transit failing which, they will not be accepted for carriage. Such carriage may be subject to additional conditions specified by us, which are available on request.

8.9.2 If accepted as Baggage, the animal, together with its container and food, shall not be

included in your free Baggage allowance, but shall constitute excess baggage, for which you will be obliged to pay the applicable rate.

8.9.3 Guide dogs accompanying Passengers with disabilities will be carried free of charge in

addition to the normal free baggage allowance, subject to conditions specified by us, which are available on request.

8.9.4 Where carriage is not subject to the liability rules of the Convention, we are not

responsible for injury to or loss, sickness or death of an animal which we have agreed to carry unless we have been negligent.

8.9.5 We will have no liability in respect of any such animal not having all the necessary exit,

entry, health and other documents with respect to the animal’s entry into or passage through any country, state or territory and the person carrying the animal must reimburse us for any fines, costs, losses or liabilities reasonably imposed or incurred by us as a result.

8.10 ITEMS REMOVED BY AIRPORT SECURITY PERSONNEL We will not be responsible for, or have any liability in respect of, articles removed from

your Baggage by airport security personnel acting in accordance with any applicable regulations.

ARTICLE 9 - SCHEDULES, DELAYS, CANCELLATION OF FLIGHTS

9.1 SCHEDULES 9.1.1 The flight times shown in timetables may change between the date of publication and

the date you actually travel. We do not guarantee them to you and they do not form part of your contract with us.

9.1.2 Before we accept your booking, we will notify you of the scheduled flight time in effect as of that time, and it will be shown on your Ticket. It is possible we may need to change the scheduled flight time subsequent to issuance of your Ticket. If you provide us with contact information, we will endeavour to notify you of any such changes. If, after you purchase your Ticket, we make a significant change to the scheduled flight time, which is not acceptable to you, and we are unable to book you on an alternate flight which is acceptable to you, you will be entitled to a refund in accordance with Article 10.2.

9.2 CANCELLATION, REROUTING, DELAYS, ETC. 9.2.1 We will take all necessary measures to avoid delay in carrying you and your Baggage.

In the exercise of these measures and in order to prevent a flight cancellation, in exceptional circumstances we may arrange for a flight to be operated on our behalf by an alternative carrier and/or aircraft.

A13sports@thestandard.com.ph

FRI DAY: AUG UST 2 8 , 2 0 1 5

SPORTS

Sharapova looks to recapture magicNEW YORK—Ten years after becoming world number one for the first time as a bubbly 18-year-old, Maria Sharapova returns to the US Open, eager to recapture the magic of her 2006 title run.

But the world’s richest sportswoman has a stack of hurdles to overcome at Flushing Meadows—physical, emotional and psychological.

At 28, Sharapova is now the third oldest woman in the top 20 and the grind of the tour has returned to bite her at the most inconvenient time.

An upper leg injury has kept her off tour since her Wimbledon semi-final defeat to nemesis Serena Williams.

She will also be playing her first tournament since the break-up of her two-year romance with men’s tour star Grigor Dimitrov.

Apart from the daily routine of practice, Sharapova has spent the week building up to the season’s final Grand Slam showcasing her business talents.

A Manhattan photoshoot with Nike was followed rapidly by a promotion for her ‘Sugarpova’ candy brand at the city’s iconic Bloomingdale’s store.

But once the commercial side is wrapped up, there will be the serious business of

rekindling her love affair with the US Open, a relationship desperately in need of counselling.

Since her 2006 title win over Justine Henin in the final, Sharapova has failed to return to the championship match.

There have been three third round losses, two in the last-16 and a semi-final run in 2012. She sat out the 2008 and 2013 events through injury.

“I think I will have to take it a match at a time and obviously can’t have too many expectations,” said Sharapova after her leg injury forced her out of the Toronto and Cincinnati warm-up tournaments.

“It’s not the most ideal situation, but it is what it is for this particular year.”

What is also not ideal is seeing long-time rival Serena Williams comfortably bludgeoning her way through the record books.

The American world number one is on the verge of the first calendar Grand Slam since Steffi Graf in 1988. AFP

dsfsadgfsadfasdfsadfsadfsdfasdfsd

Elite cast, imports join PH Superliga GP AN elite cast of past champions, talented spikers and charming but top level imports will hog the spotlight when the 2015 Philippine Superliga Grand Prix unwraps on Oct. 10 at the Alonte Sports Arena in Binan, Laguna.

Bannered by reigning titlist

Petron, this year’s Grand Prix promises to be bigger, more explosive, than ever as six teams have already confirmed to participate while two more conglomerates have expressed strong desire to be part of the country’s premier inter-club women’s volleyball league.

The Blaze Spikers will be challenged by Cignal, Foton, Meralco-DLSU, Philips Gold and RC Cola-Air Force, which is making a return after taking a one-year breather following the mandatory military training of its players.

Tennis player Maria Sharapova speaks at Rally On The River in New York City. AFP

A14F R I D AY : A U G U S T 2 8 , 2 0 1 5

SPORTSsports@thestandard.com.ph

Casimero to resolve breach of contract caseBy Ronnie Nathanielsz

FORMER International Boxing Federation light flyweight champion Johnreil Casimero has returned to the Philippines to resolve the breach of contract case filed against him by his manager Pio Castillo Jr. in the Regional Trial Court of Cebu.

Casimero was charged with signing a contract to fight for the world ti-tle against Thai champion

Amnat Ruenroeng without the knowledge and author-ity of Castillo.

According to the com-

plaint, Castillo said he and Casimero entered into an agreement with SGS Sports and Promotion Services of Sammy Gello-ani as their sole and official boxing promoter. From 2008 to 2013, Casimero fought several times both domes-tically and internationally, but on May 3 last year, he reportedly stopped train-ing at the Omega Gym and also left the housing ac-commodation given him.

Casimero also trained in Las Vegas without inform-ing him.

Casimero lost a foul-infested fight that was a travesty, with referee Larry Doggett failing to prevent or penalize the Thai for a series of fouls which were widely condemned by the international media.

As a result, the IBF re-tained Casimero as the No. 1 contender, but ordered him to face Puerto Rico’s

McWilliams Arroyo in a ti-tle eliminator with the win-ner to face Ruenroeng, who had also beaten Arroyo in a controversial decision.

Filipino promoter Sam-my Gello-ani, who handles Casimero in partnership with international promot-er and matchmaker Sam-son Lewkowicz, told The Standard/boxingmirror.com that the controversial boxer is in his hometown of Ormoc and would re-

turn to Cebu next week. He pointed out that when Casimero fought Ruenro-eng, he used the Omega logo on his trunks.

Gello-ani assured that they are not running away from their obligations to Casimero’s manager and that they hope to resolve the issue soon in order that Casimero could return to Las Vegas and train there for the October eliminator against Arroyo.

Cebu hostsduathlontourney onSept. 12, 13

NBA stars want to witness fans’ passion for the game

CEBU City stakes its repu-tation as one of the coun-try’s top sports destinations, when the National Duathlon Championships 2015 unfold next month.

A big field is expected in this two-day run-bike-run event slated Sept. 12 and 13 in Lantaw South Road Prop-erties, Cebu since the race is open to duathletes from all ages, who will vie for top hon-ors in the different categories and distances.

Organizing the event are the Triathlon Association of the Philippines and the Danao Sports Commission, in co-operation with the Cebu City Government, headed by Mayor Michael Rama, with Fininvest Land, ILCorso and Lantaw as host venues.

Danao Sports Commission Chairman and TRAP board member Boying Durano Rod-riguez is at the helm of the prep-aration in this event sponsored by Diamond Suites and Resi-dences Cebu, Omega Liniment Pro, Island Souvenirs, Cen-tury Tuna, Standard Insurance, Gatorade, Asian Center for In-sulation Philippines and Magic 92.3 Cebu and has expressed the City’s readiness to welcome the competing duathletes.

“We have been organizing triathlon events in various parts of Cebu for a long time. We are looking forward to a suc-cessful staging of the National Duathlon Championships to further cement the Queen City of the South as another center for multi-sports events in the country,” said Rodriquez.

Action opens on Sept. 12 with the SuperTri Kids for participants aged 8-12.

The Elite, Age Groupers, Junior Elite and Mini Sprint to be disputed at the 10k/40k/5k, 5k/20k/2.5k and 2k/10k/2.5k distances, and the Inter-Club competition, will be held the next day.

Registration in still ongoing at the SPEEDO Concept Stores in Ayala Alabang Town Center, SM Mega Mall, Podium, Glo-rietta 4 Makati, and Bonifacio High Street; and in Cebu at Rudy Project Stores (SM Cebu and Ayala Mall), Lantaw SRP, Bikecology (Banilad Town Center), Dan’s Bike Shop and RUNNR (Ayala Mall).

By Peter Atencio

THE Filipino fans’ love and passion for the game of basketball is some-thing to see and behold.

Two visiting NBA athletes, Danny Green Jr. of the San Antonio Spurs and Kenneth Faried of the Denver Nuggets, both said they look forward to seeing how ordinary Filipinos are in love with the game.

They will get to do so when Green and Faried go to the SM Mall of Asia to visit and watch the fes-tivities of the NBA 3x3 Philippines 2015 Championships.

“I expect the craziness. And I think that’s what I gonna get here,” said the 26-year-old Green, a shoot-ing guard who averaged 11.7 points the past NBA season.

Green said he will have fun as he soaks in the spectacle of Filipinos playing and watching the game.

He said he will also have a chance to know what made Spurs’ assist-

ant coach Chip Engelland a legend when he played for the Philippines back in the 1980s.

Green said he is curious why Engelland was known to Filipino fans as “the Machine Gun” for his superb shooting skills.

“He’s legend here for a good rea-son. He’s a pretty good shooter,” added Green.

Engelland started his coaching career in 1993, introducing his bas-ketball camps Chip Shots, with the aim of helping players of all ages improve their shooting skills.

He has been with the Spurs since the 2005–06 season, including the time when the team won the titles in 2007 and 2014.

Faried, on other hand, said mem-

bers of the Nuggets are getting to know their new coach Michael Malone.

“He’s passionate. I watched what he did for Sacramento,” Faried, a 6’8” power forward, who normed 12.6 points and 8.9 rebounds.

He said he’s looking forward to sharing his experience in play-ing the game of 3x3 back in high school, in Newark, New Jersey.

Back then, he and his teammates made it to the finals against a club team from another country.

One of his teammates fouled out, and there were only two of them left. Taking charge, they won the crown, and went home “with BMX bikes as trophies slung on their shoulders.”

And it’s something that he wants the Filipino kids to know about.

“What I can tell them is to never give up. Never count yourself out, keep playing hard until the final point is scored,” said Faried.

Duel of Davaoenos. Jay Bayron, in photo, knocked down a brilliant approach shot for a tap-in birdie on the par-4 18th, sealing a second straight 67 yesterday and thwarting Tony Lascuña’s fiery charge of 63 that set up an exciting duel of Davaoeno aces for the ICTSI Summit Point Classic crown. Bayron warded off the challenge of Korean Park Jun Hyeok and Elmer Salvador with another five-under par card but barely stopped Las-cuña’s assault of the Summit Point layout with a key birdie on the final hole, keeping a one-stroke lead heading to the final 18 holes of the P1.5 million championship sponsored by ICTSI.

GreenFaried

A15F R I D AY : A U G U S T 2 8 , 2 0 1 5

sports@thestandard.com.ph

Lasquety’s free throwslift Bombers past Chiefs

SPORTS

THE PTBA Cup under the auspices of the Philippine Tournament Bridge Association was held at the Manila Elks

Club on August 21 and 22 2015.Competition was keen for this ardous bridge

tourney.The winning teams:

1) Katipunan-Phil Manalang, Nonot Carreon, Albert Quiogue and Jopet Maliwat.2) Manikan Team- Ann de Guzman, Anthony Tacio Martin, Andrew Falcon, Eli Cabonilla, Francis Tan3) Team Forbes-Sylvia Alejandro, Michel Giguere, Justo Manlongat, Harumi Ieda

-oOo-I feature an interesting deal from the Sanya

tournament from the account of Ron Klinger Showdown in Sanya III.

The fi rst deal of the new session was Bord 29 (East-West vulnerable):

West East♠A106 ♠Q43♥A9 ♥KQ1032♦2 ♦A9♣AKQ10865 ♣943There are 12 tricks on top in clubs or notrump.

Auken-Welland and Gawrys-Klukowski bid to six clubs, no swing. Brink-Drijver reached six notrump.

With hearts three-three, Drijver made all the tricks. At the other table:

South West North EastHampson Helgemo Greeco Helness- 2♣ Pass 2♥Pass 3♣ Pass 4♣Pass 4♦* Pass 4♥*Pass 4♠+ Pass 5♣Pass 5NT§ Pass 7♣Pass Pass Pass

*control -bid+key-card-ask for clubs§seven-try

Helness bid seven based on the source of tricks in hearts. Without a diamond lead, this contract will make if hearts are three-three or four-two. Declarer might even survive if North has fi ve hearts to the jack. After, say, a club lead, declarer can draw trumps, test the hearts discarding a spade from hand, cash the spade ace, and run the clubs to generate a double squeeze if South has the king-jack of spades. Even after a diamond lead, seven clubs is a heavy favorite: Hearts will run about half the time, and if an opponent has jack-fourth of hearts, a two-one club break (or a squeeze) will see the contract home. With hearts three-three, the play was not a challenge; 12 imps to Monaco.

Comments to: sylvia.alejandro@yahoo.com

P0.0 M+

P0.0 M+

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

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

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

3 00-00-00

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

2 EZ2 00-00

LOTTO RESULTSM+M+

Katipunan team rules PTBA Cup JOSE Rizal University leaned on Gio Lasquety’s free throws with

1.2 seconds le� as the Bombers edged the Arellano University Chiefs in a protest-marred 114-112 double overtime victory yesterday in the 91st National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament at � e Arena in San Juan City yesterday.

Knowing that they’re trail-ing the Bombers, 112-113, the Chiefs’ Jio Jalalon fouled Lasqu-ety before game officials down-graded the Tey Teodoro triple to just a two-point basket that would have knotted the score at 112-all.

Instead, Lasquety took the free throws, made both to seal the Bombers their sixth win against four defeats, while dragging the Chiefs to the same record.

“It was a massive win for us,” said Jose Rizal coach Vergel Meneses.

But Arellano University had already signed the score sheet protesting the result of the game, according to its board representative Peter Cayco.

Teodoro’s downgraded tri-ple initially gave the Bombers

a 113-109 spread before Jalalon buried a huge triple himself to cut it to 113-112 with 6.4 seconds to go.

And then came Jalalon’s duty foul on Teodoro.

Paolo Pontejos came through with a career-high 32 points, eight assists, four re-

bounds and two steals.Cameroonian Abdoul Poutouochi had

a double-double with 21 points and 17 rebounds while Teodoro added 16 and five assists for the Bombers.

Jockey suspended,MJC stewards finedTHE Philippine Racing Commission suspend-ed last Aug. 5 jockey Fernando M. Raquel Jr. and imposed stiff fines on the Manila Jockey Club Board of Stewards following an untoward incident.

The Commission found that Raquel violated PR (Philippine racing rule) 76 after an “unsat-isfactory performance atop horse Donttouch-thewine” in Race 7 last July 23 at the MJC’s San Lazaro Leisure Park.

Raquel was suspended for 24 racing days for his “lack of interest or for not taking all reasonable and permissible measures throughout the race to ensure that his horse is given full opportunity to obtain the best possible placing.”

The MJC Board of Stewards headed by its chair-man Rafael de las Cagigas were fined P5,000 each for “willful violation of Philracom rules (specifi-cally PR 5, Sec. G), grave abuse of discretion, or gross negligence committed by stewards” in con-nection with this incident.

“We are constantly vigilant,” said Philracom Chairman Andrew A. Sanchez, “in our mission to protect the best interest of the racing public. We will not hesitate to apply and enforce the pertinent laws, rules, and regulations when warranted.”

Philracom’s charter, Presidential Decree No. 420, provides the Commission with powers to hold hearings and conduct investigations related to race conduct and other aspects of the sport.

Games Today (The Arena)8 a.m. • CSB vs San Beda (jrs)

10 a.m. • Lyceum vs San Sebastian (jrs)

12 nn. • CSB vs San Beda (srs)2 p.m. • Lyceum vs San Sebastian (srs)

4 p.m. • EAC vs Letran (srs)6 p.m. • EAC vs Letran (jrs)

Arriving in style. Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrives at the Mayweather Boxing Club in his new $4.8 million Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita car for a media workout in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mayweather will defend his World Boxing Council/World Boxing Association welterweight titles against Andre Berto on Sept. 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. AFP

F R I D AY : A U G U S T 2 8 , 2 0 1 5

A16RIERA U. MALL ARI

E D I T O R

sports@thestandard.com.ph

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

By Eddie G. Alinea

AWESOME. Amazing.Those were the words said by Jordan Clarkson, the

Filipino-American point guard of the Los Angeles Lakers, and his mentor Tim Fuller, in describing their feelings meeting international boxing idol Manny Pacquiao Wednesday night.

TURN TO A14

NBA starswant to see fans’basketballpassion

The duo paid Pacquiao a cour-tesy call at the latter’s Forbes Park residence in Makati City and both were starstruck seeing the eight-division champion in person.

“It was awesome. It’s an honor meeting, shaking hands and talking with him, a respected and adored

sports personality all over the world,” said the 23-year-old Clarkson.

“Amazing,” said Fuller. “He’s (Pacquiao) an internationally ac-claimed person, not only in sports and this occasion, certainly, is a rare privilege for me.”

Clarkson told Pacquiao of his

SPORTS

Clarkson reiterates desireto play for Gilas Pilipinas

desire to play for the Philippine team, promising to cooperate whole-heartedly with the Sama-hang Basketbol ng Pilipinas in its efforts to complete his papers.

The Lakers’ guard, in a way, re-iterated his willingness to play for Gilas Pilipinas should he become eligible, even after his father Mike Clarkson announced that the time might not be right for his son to possibly join the PH team.

The elder Clarkson stated that since his son is entering the final year of his contract with the Lakers in this up-coming NBA season and a lot more is expected out of the sophomore guard, it might not be the best time to join the Philippine team this year.

‘’My father, Mike, has always looked out for my welfare and is only genuinely concerned for my career, my future and my wellbeing-his thoughts are that of a very loving dad,’’ said Clarkson. ‘’I just called him and we agreed we will talk about my playing for Gilas when I get back. Nothing is cast in stone. But I want to assure my Filipino brothers and sisters that, if given the chance and everything can be worked out, I sincerely wish to play for Gilas and contribute to the total team effort for flag and country.’’

Clarkson then concluded his statement that he is thrilled to be back in the country to take part in the activities of Smart Gilas,

whichever way he can at this point.‘’I am observing and familiarizing

myself with the team while I’m here so I can see them compete close up and benefit from the learnings from this experience. I will even follow them in Taipei for the Jones Cup. La-ban Pilipinas! Puso!’’

With Clarkson’s gesture, Pac-quiao thanked him, saying the country really needs him to regain the glory the Philippines once en-joyed in Asian basketball.

Clarkson and Fuller were ac-companied to Pacquiao’s posh residence by SBP’s Patricia Hi-zon, together with Ex Sander and Sean Nichols, an Australian mar-keting man. With Jeric Lopez

TURN TO A13

Sharapovavows torecapturemagic

Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao (right) and the LA Lakers’ Filipino-American point guard Jordan Clarkson play a friendly game of chess at the former’s Forbes Park residence Wednesday night. WENDELL RUPERT ALINEA

RODERICK T. DELA CRUZASSISTANT EDITOR B1

FRIDAY: AUGUST 28, 2015

business@thestandard.com.phextrastory2000@gmail.com

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

RAY S. EÑANOEDITOR

GDP grew 5.6%in second quarter

BUSINESS

Bangko Sentral ng PilipinasThursday, August 27, 2015

Foreign exchange rateCurrency Unit US Dollar PesoUnited States Dollar 1.000000 46.6560

Japan Yen 0.008340 0.3891

UK Pound 1.546500 72.1535

Hong Kong Dollar 0.129011 6.0191

Switzerland Franc 1.047889 48.8903

Canada Dollar 0.750300 35.0060

Singapore Dollar 0.711491 33.1953

Australia Dollar 0.710581 33.1529

Bahrain Dinar 2.652520 123.7560

Saudi Arabia Rial 0.266624 12.4396

Brunei Dollar 0.708968 33.0776

Indonesia Rupiah 0.000071 0.0033

Thailand Baht 0.028074 1.3098

UAE Dirham 0.272264 12.7027

Euro Euro 1.132200 52.8239

Korea Won 0.000844 0.0394

China Yuan 0.155994 7.2781

India Rupee 0.015120 0.7054

Malaysia Ringgit 0.235593 10.9918

New Zealand Dollar 0.643211 30.0097

Taiwan Dollar 0.030874 1.4405 Source: PDS Bridge

7,022.09154.17

Closing August 27, 2015PSe comPoSite index

42

43

44

45

46

HIGH P46.620 LOW P46.810 AVERAGE P46.705

Closing AUGUST 27, 2015PeSo-dollar rate

VOLUME 693.100M

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

oilPriceS today

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

P39.10-P45.35Unleaded Gasoline

P25.30-P28.55Diesel

P34.55-P39.15Kerosene

P23.70-P24.40Auto LPG

todayP25.30-P28.55

P34.55-P39.15

P23.70-P24.40

PP39.10-P45.35

8500

8000

7500

7000

6500

6000

Closing AUGUST 27, 2015

P46.680CLOSE

Sy remains richestFilipino with $14.4b

BDO loan. Foreign lenders band together for the successful closing of BDO Unibank’s $500-million three-year syndicated term loan facility, considered as the largest syndication loan by a Philippine fi nancial institution, to date. Shown is BDO president and chief executive Nestor Tan (seated, fi fth from left) and key representatives of the lead arrangers and bookrunners Bank of America, N.A.; Deutsche Bank AG, Singapore Branch; The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) Limited; Mizuho bank, Ltd.; Standard Chartered Bank; and United Overseas Bank Limited.

By Gabrielle H. Binaday

THE economy expanded 5.6 percent in the second quarter, faster than the 5-percent growth in the � rst quarter, but below the gov-ernment’s 2015 target of 7 percent to 8 per-cent, the Philippine Statistics Authority said � ursday.

By Jenniffer B. Austria

RETAIL magnate Henry Sy Sr. has retained his status as the rich-est Filipino for the eighth straight year, as his net worth increased 13.3 percent this year to $14.4 bil-lion from $12.7 billion in 2014, ac-cording to Forbes magazine’s Phil-ippines 50 richest list.

Forbes said the 90-year-old tycoon became richer, as the values of his listed � rms, SM In-vestments Corp. and SM Prime Holdings Inc., rose 17 percent and 20 percent, respectively over the past year.

“� e companies announced record income from banking and retail businesses and two new mall partnerships in 2014. Its growth plans involve building ‘micro cities’ around some of its existing mall properties with the objective to build 10 mixed-use townships by 2020 as part of an estimated $11 billion expansion,” Forbes said.

Tycoon John Gokongwei moved up to second place with a net worth of $5.5 billion from $4.9 billion in 2014, thanks large-ly to revenue growth in his pet-rochemical businesses and earn-ings from investment in power distributor Manila Electric Com-pany.

Businessman Andrew Tan landed on the third spot, a notch

up from 2014, with a net worth of $4.5 billion, while tycoon Lucio Tan dropped to 4th place from second spot in 2014, with a total net worth of $4.3 billion.

Rounding out the top 10 list are Enrique Razon Jr. of Interna-tional Container Terminal Ser-vices Inc. ($4.1 billion), George Ty of Metrobank ($4 billion), Aboitiz family of Aboitiz Eq-uity Ventures Inc. ($3.6 billion), Jaime August Zobel de Ayala of Ayala Corp. ($3.5 billion), Da-vid Consunji of DMCI Holdings Inc. ($3.2 billion) and Tony Tan Caktiong of Jollibee Foods Corp. ($2.2 billion).

Newcomers to the 50 richest list are Dean Lao of D&L Indus-tries Inc. with a net worth of $1.1 billion, Oscar Lopez of Lopez Holdings Inc. with $1 billion and Fred Elizalde of Manila Broad-casting Company with $260 mil-lion.

Edjar Sia II of DoubleDragon Properties Inc. is the youngest richest Filipino. � e 38-year old businessman who built the coun-try’s second largest chain Mang Inasal before it was sold to Jol-libee Foods Corp., placed 34th with a net worth of $380 million.

Ambassador Bienvenido Tan-toco Sr. is the oldest richest Fili-pino. � e 94-year businessman of the Rustans Group registered a net worth of $480 million.

“� is is an improvement from the 5 percent growth in the pre-vious quarter and re� ects the sig-ni� cant improvement in govern-ment spending, especially public construction,” Economic Plan-ning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said in a news brie� ng in Makati City.

Balisacan said with the gross domestic product growth averag-ing 5.3 percent in the � rst half, even the low-end of the full-year growth target was now “quite chal-lenging” to meet. � e inter-agency Development Budget Coordina-tion Committee will meet soon to revise the working target, he said.

Balisacan said the realistic growth could be 6 percent to 6.5 percent for the whole year. “We are not projecting right now, [but] the realistic scenario is 6 percent to 6.5 percent. � e 7 to 8 [percent target] for full year is already quite challenging,” he said.

� e gross national income, which factors in remittances from other countries, grew 5 percent in the second quarter and 4.6 percent in the � rst half. � e slowdown in workers’ deployment overseas pulled down the growth of net pri-mary income from the rest of the world to 2.2 percent from 7.9 per-cent last year, data showed.

Finance Secretary Cesar Puri-

sima said the Philippines emerged as the third fastest growing econo-my among major Asian countries in the second quarter, “despite heightened concerns on the con-tinuing lackluster performance of the global economy.”

Data showed that services and industry grew 6.2 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively in the second quarter while the agriculture sec-tor declined 0.5 percent.

On the demand side, household consumption contributed 4.1 per-cent while net exports’ contribu-tion plummeted to 3.8 percent.

Public construction bounced from a 24 percent contraction in the � rst quarter to a 20-percent growth in the second quarter.

Makati Business Club executive director Peter Angelo Perfecto said the second-quarter GDP growth of 5.6 percent was in the range of most economists’ projections.

“It is hoped that continued healthy public spending, especially in the context of the coming 2016 elec-tions and stronger holiday spending and OFW remittances, will give our economy enough of a boost to o� set the e� ects of a severe El Niño and the economic weakness of major countries to still allow us to achieve a full year growth of 6 percent to 6.5 percent,” Perfecto said.

With Othel V. Campos

business@thestandard.com.phextrastory2000@gmail.com

BUSINESSFRIDAY: AUGUST 28, 2015

B2

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

The STandard BuSineSS daily STockS review Thursday, augusT 27, 2015

FINANCIAL7.88 2.5 AG Finance 2.57 2.7 2.41 2.41 -6.23 69,000 75.3 66 Asia United Bank 66.2 67.75 64.25 67.5 1.96 10,130 138,087.00124.4 88.05 Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 93.00 97.00 93.50 97.00 4.30 10,117,870 152,884,396.50107 88.1 Bank of PI 85.10 86.75 84.95 85.50 0.47 4,298,290 -66,393,036.5056.5 45.45 China Bank 41 42.55 42 42.5 3.66 164,500 3,790,695.002.49 1.97 BDO Leasing & Fin. INc. 2.41 2.51 2.51 2.51 4.15 1,000 4.2 1.68 Bright Kindle Resources 1.31 1.31 1.31 1.31 0.00 1,000 17 12.02 COL Financial 15.4 15.66 15.3 15.66 1.69 21,200 30.45 19.6 Eastwest Bank 19.4 20 19.5 19.98 2.99 362,900 1,277,450.0010.4 6.12 Filipino Fund Inc. 7.20 7.25 7.22 7.25 0.69 7,000 2.6 1.02 I-Remit Inc. 1.69 1.60 1.60 1.60 -5.33 5,000 1.01 0.225 MEDCO Holdings 0.350 0.355 0.355 0.355 1.43 60,000 100 78 Metrobank 82.5 84.25 82.5 83.55 1.27 3,671,530 -120,719,398.5030.5 17.8 PB Bank 18.50 18.60 18.60 18.60 0.54 310,900 -5,686,020.0075 58 Phil Bank of Comm 25.00 25.75 25.75 25.75 3.00 500 91.5 62 Phil. National Bank 55.20 57.60 55.80 57.00 3.26 135,620 2,702,912.00361.2 276 PSE Inc. 299.8 307.8 299.2 300 0.07 32,190 -9,274,658.0057 41 RCBC `A’ 36.75 37.2 36.8 37 0.68 127,900 -923,240.00180 118.2 Security Bank 127 130.8 125.8 127.1 0.08 564,740 1,630,127.001700 1200 Sun Life Financial 1497.00 1497.00 1400.00 1450.00 -3.14 155 124 59 Union Bank 54.00 54.00 53.80 54.00 0.00 25,880 3.26 2.65 Vantage Equities 2.9 3.1 3 3.1 6.90 60,000

INDUSTRIAL47 35.9 Aboitiz Power Corp. 42.5 42.9 42.05 42.55 0.12 2,936,200 -4,610,225.005 1.11 Agrinurture Inc. 1.45 1.53 1.45 1.53 5.52 13,000 1.46 1.01 Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 0.96 1.02 0.92 0.94 -2.08 8,000 2.36 1.86 Alsons Cons. 1.56 1.72 1.53 1.58 1.28 2,947,000 342,580.0015.3 7.92 Asiabest Group 9.88 10 9.25 9.9 0.20 8,900 20.6 15.32 Century Food 16.9 17.1 16.9 17 0.59 910,900 -9,931,984.0085 20.2 Conc. Aggr. ‘A’ 48 48 48 48 0.00 100 36 10.08 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 26.75 27.25 26.75 27 0.93 345,500 65.8 29.15 Concepcion 44.7 45 44.65 44.7 0.00 642,700 -2,269,3202.97 1.5 Crown Asia 2.55 2.72 2.58 2.68 5.10 2,963,000 46,080.004.14 1.5 Da Vinci Capital 1.23 1.36 1.27 1.27 3.25 85,000 21.5 10.72 Del Monte 11 11.4 10.98 10.98 -0.18 62,100 -3,420.0021.6 9.55 DNL Industries Inc. 10.900 11.240 10.96 11.200 2.75 5,745,600 5,147,334.0011.96 9.04 Emperador 8.50 8.75 8.41 8.41 -1.06 1,548,000 4,184,152.009.13 6.02 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 5.82 6.05 5.79 5.90 1.37 28,996,100 -27,794,891.0011.8 8.86 EEI 7.97 8.18 7.87 8.02 0.63 1,183,000 -5,211,651.002.89 1.06 Euro-Med Lab 1.69 1.71 1.71 1.71 1.18 1,000 17 8.61 Federal Res. Inv. Group 12.98 12.8 12.1 12.8 -1.39 9,200 31.8 20.2 First Gen Corp. 22.9 23.8 23.1 23.35 1.97 2,948,500 7,349,585.00109 71.5 First Holdings ‘A’ 71 73 68 68 -4.23 498,660 1,049,254.0015.3 13.24 Holcim Philippines Inc. 12.98 13.00 12.80 13.00 0.15 65,400 -668,160.009.4 5.34 Integ. Micro-Electronics 5.6 5.8 5.6 5.76 2.86 269,500 0.98 0.395 Ionics Inc 0.475 0.475 0.475 0.475 0.00 50,000 241 173 Jollibee Foods Corp. 182.20 191.40 182.30 191.30 4.99 1,134,580 58,752,039.0012.5 8.65 Lafarge Rep 10.16 10.18 10.14 10.16 0.00 325,400 -5,070.0079 34.1 Liberty Flour 28.00 28.00 28.00 28.00 0.00 1,300 4 1.63 Mabuhay Vinyl 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 0.00 66,000 74 33 Macay Holdings 50.00 51.45 51.45 51.45 2.90 160 33.9 23.35 Manila Water Co. Inc. 21.35 22.6 21.55 22.6 5.85 1,428,800 -11,685,340.0090 17.3 Maxs Group 21.9 22.6 21.9 22 0.46 433,700 -4,513,160.0013.26 5.88 Megawide 5.76 5.99 5.33 5.9 2.43 816,600 3,691,225.00293 250.2 Mla. Elect. Co `A’ 278.60 288.20 282.00 283.00 1.58 2,379,900 372,432,984.005 3.37 Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp. 3.60 3.95 3.95 3.95 9.72 2,000 5.25 3.87 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 4 4.14 4 4.01 0.25 1,522,000 -9,510.0012.98 8.45 Petron Corporation 7.80 7.92 7.60 7.62 -2.31 4,413,500 6,706,842.0015 10.04 Phinma Corporation 10.90 11.00 10.60 10.60 -2.75 6,700 7.03 3.03 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 3.20 3.30 3.08 3.30 3.12 245,000 -13,200.003.4 1.95 Phoenix Semiconductor 2.03 2.15 2.08 2.15 5.91 270,000 -42,400.004.5 1 Pryce Corp. `A’ 2.48 2.58 2.4 2.45 -1.21 1,111,000 6.3 4.02 RFM Corporation 4.11 4.16 4.06 4.10 -0.24 1,919,000 -3,377,150.007.86 1.65 Roxas and Co. 1.78 1.82 1.7 1.7 -4.49 26,000 7.34 5.9 Roxas Holdings 5.7 5.74 5.7 5.74 0.70 10,300 238 161 San Miguel’Pure Foods `B’ 140 154 140 143 2.14 67,450 1,432,790.005.5 4.1 SPC Power Corp. 4 4.25 4.25 4.25 6.25 3,000 3.28 1.55 Splash Corporation 1.8 1.85 1.85 1.85 2.78 14,000 0.315 0.138 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.129 0.136 0.130 0.133 3.10 1,250,000 4,050.002.18 1.02 TKC Steel Corp. 1.16 1.14 1.14 1.14 -1.72 9,000 2.65 2.09 Trans-Asia Oil 1.76 1.82 1.78 1.80 2.27 701,000 234 152 Universal Robina 183 193 183 192.5 5.19 4,986,360 126,263,118.005.28 4.28 Victorias Milling 4.2 4.24 4.22 4.22 0.48 280,000 4,220.001.3 0.640 Vitarich Corp. 0.64 0.65 0.65 0.65 1.56 610,000 2.17 1.2 Vulcan Ind’l. 1.00 1.10 1.00 1.00 0.00 286,000

HOLDING FIRMS0.59 0.44 Abacus Cons. `A’ 0.435 0.425 0.410 0.420 -3.45 230,000 59.2 48.1 Aboitiz Equity 52.8000 53.9000 53.1000 53.5000 1.33 3,114,150 17,589,485.0030.05 20.85 Alliance Global Inc. 19.30 20.00 19.48 19.80 2.59 36,473,300 -49,547,436.002.16 1.6 Anglo Holdings A 1.10 1.10 1.00 1.09 -0.91 161,000 7.39 6.62 Anscor `A’ 6.66 6.70 6.67 6.70 0.60 15,100 3.4 0.23 ATN Holdings A 0.225 0.230 0.225 0.230 2.22 110,000 823.5 634.5 Ayala Corp `A’ 709 730 717 725 2.26 661,950 -43,256,610.0010.2 7.390 Cosco Capital 6.61 6.83 6.75 6.8 2.87 7,156,500 34,707,689.0084 12.8 DMCI Holdings 10.84 11.38 10.86 10.92 0.74 12,526,600 36,802,174.003.35 2.6 F&J Prince ‘A’ 2.85 2.91 2.91 2.91 2.11 170,000 4.92 2.26 Filinvest Dev. Corp. 4.19 4.18 4.18 4.18 -0.24 26,000 1455 837 GT Capital 1190 1243 1190 1230 3.36 562,490 -295,688,975.007.5 5.3 House of Inv. 6.00 60.50 6.00 6.00 0.00 43,200 81,454.0076 49.55 JG Summit Holdings 67.85 69.90 67.85 69.00 1.69 3,011,250 35,822,952.509.25 4.84 Lopez Holdings Corp. 5.9 6.2 5.91 6.05 2.54 2,013,500 -2,292,314.000.85 0.59 Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. 0.59 0.61 0.55 0.57 -3.39 454,000 17.3 12 LT Group 12.66 13.3 12.7 13 2.69 12,505,700 -98,951,708.005.53 4.2 Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. 4.7 5 4.73 4.98 5.96 64,748,000 -25,767,690.006.55 4.5 Minerales Industrias Corp. 7.24 7.45 7.2 7.28 0.55 1,753,200 -738,050.000.0670 0.030 Pacifica `A’ 0.0430 0.0440 0.0390 0.0410 -4.65 255,900,000 40,000.001.61 0.550 Prime Orion 1.830 1.920 1.800 1.800 -1.64 15,150,000 -28,000.002.99 2.26 Republic Glass ‘A’ 2.65 2.78 2.65 2.78 4.91 13,000 84.9 59.3 San Miguel Corp `A’ 51.05 52.15 50.85 50.85 -0.39 467,810 -8,559,311.503.5 1.5 Seafront `A’ 2.20 2.52 2.52 2.52 14.55 9,000 974 751 SM Investments Inc. 859.00 888.00 865.00 870.00 1.28 655,660 -206,636,410.001.66 1.13 Solid Group Inc. 1.19 1.18 1.18 1.18 -0.84 40,000 1.39 0.93 South China Res. Inc. 0.65 0.65 0.65 0.65 0.00 116,000 156 80 Top Frontier 70.300 71.550 70.000 70.050 -0.36 17,090 -431,669.500.710 0.211 Unioil Res. & Hldgs 0.2750 0.2800 0.2700 0.2700 -1.82 2,450,000

P R O P E R T Y10.5 6.74 8990 HLDG 6.200 6.400 6.200 6.300 1.61 2,252,700 -3,095,593.001.99 0.65 A. Brown Co., Inc. 0.65 0.67 0.63 0.67 3.08 88,000 1.75 1.2 Araneta Prop `A’ 1.140 1.170 1.150 1.160 1.75 51,000 41.4 30.05 Ayala Land `B’ 34.40 35.70 346.00 34.80 1.16 28,771,900 123,053,775.005.6 3.36 Belle Corp. `A’ 3.01 3.11 3.05 3.07 1.99 6,777,000 3,424,390.005.59 4.96 Cebu Holdings 4.72 4.9 4.7 4.9 3.81 31,000 5.6 2.8 Cebu Prop. `A’ 6.5 6.5 6.48 6.5 0.00 11,200 1.44 0.79 Century Property 0.66 0.73 0.69 0.72 9.09 4,269,000 631,340.00

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

Trading SummarySHARES VALUE

FINANCIAL 20,567,865 1,807,046,564.72INDUSTRIAL 79,827,353 2,778,046,620.736HOLDING FIRMS 451,580,018 4,413,126,618.7635PROPERTY 281,295,842 2,732,733,719.41SERVICES 118,585,004 2,604,453,102.69MINING & OIL 1,511,622,418 218,051,624.6275GRAND TOTAL 2,466,075,661 14,586,118,538.1235

FINANCIAL 1,543.11 (up) 28.90INDUSTRIAL 10,863.03 (up) 277.94HOLDING FIRMS 6,381.73 (up) 125.48PROPERTY 2,861.86 (up) 54.84SERVICES 1,877.40 (up) 39.50MINING & OIL 10,582.25 (up) 184.15PSEI 7,022.09 (up) 154.17All Shares Index 4,006.37 (up) 74.93

Gainers: 139 Losers: 45; Unchanged: 34; Total: 218

STOCKS Close(P)

Change(%)

Asian Terminals Inc. 11 -14.60

MRC Allied Ind. 0.081 -10.00

AG Finance 2.41 -6.23

Waterfront Phils. 0.310 -6.06

I-Remit Inc. 1.60 -5.33

Pacifica `A' 0.0410 -4.65

Roxas and Co. 1.7 -4.49

First Holdings 'A' 68 -4.23

Swift Pref 1.82 -4.21

Cyber Bay Corp. 0.415 -3.49

Top LoSerSSTOCKS Close

(P)Change

(%)

Seafront `A' 2.52 14.55

DFNN Inc. 4.55 13.75

Oriental Pet. `A' 0.0090 12.50

Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp. 3.95 9.72

Harbor Star 1.26 9.57

Cityland Dev. `A' 1.04 9.47

Century Property 0.72 9.09

Phil. Estates Corp. 0.2600 7.88

SSI Group 7.00 7.69

Vantage Equities 3.1 6.90

Top gainerS

1.97 1.1 City & Land Dev. 0.99 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.01 30,000 1.48 0.97 Cityland Dev. `A’ 0.95 1.04 0.95 1.04 9.47 4,000 1,900.000.201 0.083 Crown Equities Inc. 0.114 0.118 0.107 0.115 0.88 35,380,000 0.69 0.415 Cyber Bay Corp. 0.430 0.415 0.400 0.415 -3.49 1,640,000 40,000.0010.96 2.4 Double Dragon 13.1 13.8 12.86 13.52 3.21 4,920,200 2,058,050.000.97 0.83 Empire East Land 0.790 0.790 0.730 0.790 0.00 238,000 -23,700.000.305 0.188 Ever Gotesco 0.159 0.160 0.160 0.160 0.63 100,000 2.22 1.15 Global-Estate 1.06 1.11 1.07 1.10 3.77 2,300,000 16,200.002.1 1.42 Filinvest Land,Inc. 1.79 1.84 1.77 1.79 0.00 31,194,000 -32,303,360.001.8 1.27 Interport `A’ 1.27 1.36 1.25 1.34 5.51 1,641,000 4.88 2.75 Megaworld Corp. 4.22 4.41 4.23 4.3 1.90 84,318,000 11,828,380.000.180 0.090 MRC Allied Ind. 0.090 0.098 0.081 0.081 -10.00 2,750,000 0.470 0.290 Phil. Estates Corp. 0.2410 0.2600 0.2600 0.2600 7.88 510,000 8.54 2.69 Primex Corp. 7.3 7.41 7.37 7.41 1.51 16,200 31.8 22.15 Robinson’s Land `B’ 28.30 29.10 27.80 28.90 2.12 4,619,200 61,423,000.002.29 1.6 Rockwell 1.5 1.54 1.52 1.54 2.67 14,000 4.9 3.1 Shang Properties Inc. 3.21 3.27 3.20 3.27 1.87 18,000 21.35 15.08 SM Prime Holdings 18.80 19.86 19.04 19.48 3.62 42,865,400 -238,196,956.001.06 0.69 Sta. Lucia Land Inc. 0.7 0.73 0.7 0.72 2.86 225,000 7.56 3.38 Starmalls 7.16 7.16 7.16 7.16 0.00 100 1.62 0.83 Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. 0.690 0.700 0.660 0.700 1.45 211,000 8.59 5.73 Vista Land & Lifescapes 5.950 6.150 5.850 5.950 0.00 23,627,300 -43,366,505.00

S E R V I C E S10.5 1.97 2GO Group’ 9.27 9.9 9.2 9.2 -0.76 918,500 -96,500.0066 35.2 ABS-CBN 59.1 61 59.4 59.5 0.68 244,180 1.09 0.63 APC Group, Inc. 0.510 0.560 0.500 0.500 -1.96 625,000 14.88 10.5 Asian Terminals Inc. 12.88 11.22 11 11 -14.60 58,500 -648,276.0028.5 18.2 Berjaya Phils. Inc. 27 27 27 27 0.00 100 15.82 8.6 Bloomberry 6.59 7.00 6.65 6.99 6.07 20,746,900 16,346,831.000.1430 0.0770 Boulevard Holdings 0.0610 0.0620 0.0590 0.0610 0.00 18,580,000 5.06 2.95 Calata Corp. 3.93 4.1 3.9 3.9 -0.76 198,000 99.1 56.1 Cebu Air Inc. (5J) 88.85 90 88.6 89.5 0.73 1,322,480 -37,805,709.0012.3 10.14 Centro Esc. Univ. 9.5 9.52 9.51 9.51 0.11 1,000 7.67 4.8 DFNN Inc. 4.00 4.55 4.00 4.55 13.75 83,000 1700 830 FEUI 920 920 920 920 0.00 1,210 2720 1600 Globe Telecom 2470 2510 2470 2497 1.09 249,975 -426,296,830.008.41 5.95 GMA Network Inc. 6.35 6.45 6.25 6.30 -0.79 149,000 1.97 1.23 Harbor Star 1.15 1.28 1.10 1.26 9.57 362,000 119.5 102.6 I.C.T.S.I. 94.7 95.05 93 94 -0.74 3,396,750 -24,475,278.500.017 0.011 IP E-Game Ventures Inc. 0.011 0.012 0.011 0.011 0.00 8,900,000 1,200.000.8200 0.041 Island Info 0.168 0.168 0.160 0.166 -1.19 1,260,000 2.2800 1.200 ISM Communications 1.3500 1.3500 1.3300 1.3400 -0.74 112,000 12.28 6.5 Leisure & Resorts 7.35 7.65 7.20 7.45 1.36 729,800 -83,585.003.32 1.91 Liberty Telecom 2.08 2.20 2.08 2.20 5.77 50,000 2.53 1.01 Lorenzo Shipping 1.20 1.27 1.14 1.27 5.83 21,000 3.2 1.95 Macroasia Corp. 2.00 2.10 1.99 2.10 5.00 78,000 95.5 3.1 Manila Broadcasting 35.00 35.00 35.00 35.00 0.00 400 2.46 1.8 Manila Jockey 2 2 2 2 0.00 20,000 15.2 6 Melco Crown 5.75 5.96 5.74 5.82 1.22 1,185,000 1,568,347.001.040 0.37 NOW Corp. 0.410 0.405 0.405 0.405 -1.22 20,000 22.8 14.54 Pacific Online Sys. Corp. 18.78 18.78 18.78 18.78 0.00 12,000 6.41 3 PAL Holdings Inc. 4.40 4.60 4.60 4.60 4.55 9,000 185 79 Phil. Seven Corp. 98.00 100.00 98.00 100.00 2.04 240 -22,020.0022.9 4.39 Philweb.Com Inc. 18.02 18.22 17.80 18.22 1.11 56,200 -331,954.003486 2748 PLDT Common 2464.00 2604.00 2480.00 2552.00 3.57 306,200 152,417,920.000.760 0.435 PremiereHorizon 0.600 0.630 0.600 0.620 3.33 890,000 2.28 1.2 Premium Leisure 1.180 1.250 1.200 1.200 1.69 16,364,000 1,183,170.0046.05 31.45 Puregold 30.70 32.20 31.05 31.30 1.95 2,698,000 -27,597,530.0090.1 60.55 Robinsons RTL 68.00 70.00 69.00 69.75 2.57 4,861,260 -10,893,388.00 SBS Phil. Corp. 4.52 4.90 4.58 4.83 6.86 7,801,000 -379,210.0011.6 7.59 SSI Group 6.50 7.00 6.52 7.00 7.69 5,605,600 -1,187,509.000.85 0.63 STI Holdings 0.58 0.58 0.54 0.56 -3.45 12,256,000 -5,049,560.0010 5 Travellers 3.9 4.1 3.99 4.04 3.59 3,869,000 -8,564,160.000.490 0.315 Waterfront Phils. 0.330 0.310 0.290 0.310 -6.06 230,000 1.9 1.14 Yehey 2.350 2.400 2.340 2.340 -0.43 156,000

MINING & OIL0.0098 0.0043 Abra Mining 0.0046 0.0049 0.0046 0.0047 2.17 1,305,000,000 43,200.0017.24 6.47 Atlas Cons. `A’ 4.23 4.27 4.23 4.26 0.71 574,000 21,700.000.330 0.236 Basic Energy Corp. 0.189 0.200 0.200 0.200 5.82 20,000 12.7 6.5 Benguet Corp `A’ 6.9000 6.6800 3.5000 6.6800 -3.19 41,400 1.19 0.85 Century Peak Metals Hldgs 0.68 0.69 0.67 0.69 1.47 2,587,000 402,000.001.62 0.77 Coal Asia 0.65 0.69 0.65 0.68 4.62 780,000 9.5 5.99 Dizon 5.80 6.05 5.30 5.75 -0.86 63,800 4.2 1.17 Ferronickel 1.09 1.15 1.09 1.11 1.83 10,019,000 1,873,500.000.48 0.305 Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. 0.285 0.300 0.280 0.290 1.75 1,220,000 0.420 0.2130 Lepanto `A’ 0.180 0.184 0.180 0.182 1.11 2,030,000 0.022 0.013 Manila Mining `A’ 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.00 3,000,000 0.023 0.014 Manila Mining `B’ 0.012 0.012 0.011 0.012 0.00 156,400,000 8.2 3.240 Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. 2.15 2.2 2.1 2.12 -1.40 397,000 -64,300.0049.2 18.96 Nickelasia 6.7 7.1 6.53 6.82 1.79 14,372,600 -3,838,879.004.27 2.11 Nihao Mineral Resources 3.24 3.38 3.21 3.26 0.62 795,000 12,920.003.06 1.54 Oriental Peninsula Res. 1.3500 1.4000 1.3100 1.3100 -2.96 360,000 15,260.000.020 0.012 Oriental Pet. `A’ 0.0080 0.0090 0.0087 0.0090 12.50 7,000,000 7.67 5.4 Petroenergy Res. Corp. 3.97 4.02 3.97 4.00 0.76 234,000 12.88 7.26 Philex `A’ 4.98 5.100 5.000 5.00 0.40 480,000 347,070.0010.42 2.27 PhilexPetroleum 1.42 1.440 1.400 1.42 0.00 727,000 420 115.9 Semirara Corp. 121.00 126.00 122.90 124.50 2.89 640,580 -23,407,112.009 3.67 TA Petroleum 2.78 3.1 2.81 2.94 5.76 2,815,000 162,250.000.016 0.0100 United Paragon 0.0080 0.0080 0.0080 0.0080 0.00 1,000,000 -8,000.00

PREFERRED70 33 ABS-CBN Holdings Corp. 57 59.5 57.5 58.4 2.46 167,290 2,149,967.00553 490 Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ 523 523 523 523 0.00 600 525 500 Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ 526.5 526.5 526.5 526.5 0.00 1,200 120 101.5 First Gen G 115.5 116 116 116 0.43 6,000 515 480 GLOBE PREF P 526 526 526 526 0.00 2,650 8.21 5.88 GMA Holdings Inc. 6 6.3 6 6.01 0.17 2,600,000 -1,503,000.0012.28 6.5 Leisure and Resort 1.08 1.11 1.08 1.11 2.78 1,068,000 111 101 MWIDE PREF 108 108 108 108 0.00 20,450 1060 997 PCOR-Preferred A 1040 1040 1040 1040 0.00 2,660 PCOR-Preferred B 1075 1085 1085 1085 0.93 5 1047 1011 PF Pref 2 1018 1020 1010 1020 0.20 1,910 76.9 74.2 SMC Preferred A 75.4 75.5 75.4 75.45 0.07 123,190 -510,287.5078.95 74.5 SMC Preferred B 79 79 78.3 79 0.00 17,510 84.8 75 SMC Preferred C 83 82 80.05 80.5 -3.01 25,010 1.34 1 Swift Pref 1.9 1.82 1.82 1.82 -4.21 4,000

WARRANTS & BONDS6.98 0.8900 LR Warrant 3.250 3.360 3.250 3.350 3.08 314,000

S M E15 3.5 Makati Fin. Corp. 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 0.00 300 88 13.5 IRipple E-Business Intl 55 56.45 56.45 56.45 2.64 150 12.88 5.95 Xurpas 10 10.52 9.99 9.99 -0.10 2,536,500 -5,656,966.00

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS130.7 105.6 First Metro ETF 113.1 116 114 115.5 2.12 60,210 5,780.00

N O T I C ENotice is hereby given that 8990 HOUSING

DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, with office address at 8990 Corporate Center, Negros St., Cebu Business Park, Cebu City is applying for registration with the Board of Investments (BOI) as new Developer of Economic and Low-cost Housing Project (Urban Deca Homes Tisa) with a capacity of 936 economic and lowcost housing units on a non-pioneer status, with project site located at Tisa, Labangon, Cebu City.

Any person with valid objection/s on the above-mentioned project may file his/her objection in writing, under oath, with the BOI within three (3) days from the date of this publication.

(SGD.) RAFAELITO H. TARUC Director Infrastructure and Services Industries Service (TS-AUGUST 28, 2015)

N O T I C ENotice is hereby given that 8990 HOUSING

DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, with office address at 8990 Corporate Center, Negros St., Cebu Business Park, Cebu City is applying for registration with the Board of Investments (BOI) as new Developer of Economic and Low-cost Housing Project (Deca Homes Our Lady of Guadalupe) with a capacity of 323 economic and lowcost housing units on a non-pioneer status, with project site located at Barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City.

Any person with valid objection/s on the above-mentioned project may file his/her objection in writing, under oath, with the BOI within three (3) days from the date of this publication.

(SGD.) RAFAELITO H. TARUC Director Infrastructure and Services Industries Service (TS-AUGUST 28, 2015)

NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC

(TS-AUG. 28, SEPT. 4,11, 2015)

Notice is hereby given to the LESSOR/S of Safe Deposit Box (SDB) Nos. 16 & 18 maintained with the Las Piñas Branch of Security Bank Corporation and Safe Deposit Box (SDB) Nos 1,2,3,6,7,12 & 22 maintained with the Sucat San Isidro Branch of Security Bank Corporation (Formerly Premiere Development Bank), to visit the Branch for the purpose of updating your records and/or to pay any outstanding balance for the use of the safe deposit box, plus daily accrued interest/penalty.

Failure to comply with the aforementioned notice shall result in the force-opening of the safe deposit box pursuant to the SDB Agreement.”

Republic of the PhilippinesProvince of Bataan

City of BalangaBIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE OFFICE

InvItatIon to BIdno. Infra -063- 2015

The Provincial Government of Bataan, through the Special Educational Fund63 intends to apply the below listed project w/ corresponding Approved Budget of the Contract (ABC). Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening. Name of Project Approved Budget of the Contract (ABC)

1. Construction of Two (2) Storey Four (4) Classroom School Building, =P=5,649,963.57 Alas-asin E/S Barangay Alas-asin, Mariveles, Bataan

The Provincial Government of Bataan now invites bids for the above listed Projects. Completion of works is required on or before the maturity date stipulated on contract. Bidders should have completed, at least one (1) contract that is similar to the contract to be bid. 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 non-discretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is open to all interested bidders, whether local or foreign, subject to the conditions for eligibility provided in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from Office of Bataan Bids & Awards Committee and inspect the Bidding Documents from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. at the same office.

Bid documents will be available only to eligible bidders upon payment of a non-refundable amount of using standard rates approved by GPPB as stated on their Resolution No. 04-2012 listed below.

Approved Budget for the Contract Maximum Cost of Bidding Documents (in Philippine Peso)

500,000 and below 500.00

More than 500,000 up to 1 Million 1,000.00

More than 1 Million up to 5 Million 5,000.00

More than 5 Million up to 10 Million 10,000.00

More than 10 Million up to 50 Million 25,000.00

More than 50 Million up to 500 Million 50,000.00

More than 500 Million 75,000.00

The Provincial Government of Bataan will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on September 03, 2015 at 10:00 A.M at Provincial BAC Office, PEO Capitol Compound, Balanga City, Bataan, which shall be open only to all interested parties who have purchased the Bidding Documents.

Bids must be delivered on or before September 16, 2015 at 1:30 p.m. at Provincial BAC Office, PEO Capitol Compound, Balanga City, Bataan. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated on IRR of RA 9184 and Bid Securing Declaration in standard form.

Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend opening of Bids at Bataan BAC Office. Late bids shall not be accepted.

In case of the above dates is declared a special Non-Working Holidays, it will automatically reset on the next working days.

Other necessary information deemed relevant by the Provincial Government of Bataan. Activities Schedule

1. Advertisement/Posting of Invitation to Bid August 27 – September 02, 20152. Eligibility Check Refer to date of Opening of Bids3. Issuance and availability of Bidding Documents August 27 – September 16, 20154. Request for Clarification September 04, 20155. Opening of Bids September 16, 2015

The Provincial Government of Bataan reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

For further information, please refer to:Engr. Josephine R. ValenzuelaProvincial BAC / PEO BataanProvincial BAC / PEO Office, Capitol Compound, Balanga City, Bataan047-237-9316bac@bataan.gov.ph

(SGD) ENRICO T. YUZON BAC Chairman

(TS-AUG. 28, 2015)

APPROXIMATELY two months ago, on June 19, 2015, we discussed the Philippine stock market in this col-umn. At the end of the piece, I mentioned that my favorite investment advisor, Philinvestor, suggested taking a less aggressive position in equities. Less ag-gressive, of course, is investment speak for reducing exposure. On that day, the market closed at 7,601.

For investors, this week opened with some anxiety. Over the three-day weekend, stock markets around the world had tumbled. � ursday this week, the market closed with the PSEi (the key index for the local stock market) closed at 7,022--welcome news for those who saw it dip to its one-year low of 6,603 Tuesday of this week.

� eoryMany questions have been

posed concerning tis recent volatility in markets and they fall into three categories: What is causing this? What will hap-pen next? What should we do now?

To the question of what to do now, one my friends rightly pointed out that if your basic investment theory is sound, a market dip is not necessarily reason to � ee. � is, actually, is good advice in many areas, not just in investments.

In management class and in planning meetings, I of-ten say that at the heart of every strategy is a hypothesis: “If we as a company do this, then this will happen.” � is is true, in fact, of most plans. We decide to take certain paths or directions because we believe they will take us where we wish to go. We believe this because we have a theory about things. So let’s begin with what individual investors would need to think about when they invest.

First, people generally put money in the stock market in order to earn a return. As investing in equities is gener-ally believed to be riskier than putting money in a time deposit or in bonds, the target returns for stock market investments would generally be higher than those on cor-porate bonds. In turn, most corporate bonds have returns higher than rates on government debt. � is week, na-tional Treasurer Roberto Tan told reporters that the gov-ernment plans to issue new debt with rates at a minimum of 3.625 percent for 10-year bonds and 4.625 percent for 25-year bonds. Now, a data set from NYU dated Janu-ary 2015 shows an estimate of the equity risk premium (ERP) in the Philippines to be about 8.6 percent. � e ERP is the amount by which returns on the stock market, on average, outpace returns on government bonds. � is explains why target stock market returns are typically in the double digits.

Second, an investor makes money two ways from investing in the stock market--one is dividends and two is capital gains. In the Philippines, with very few exceptions (e.g. telcos), returns from dividends are generally negligible. What this means is that investors generally look to increases in stock price to drive in-vestment returns. � is means that Filipinos who in-vest in the stock market invest because they believe that the price will go up. � e key to making money in this market is to buy low and sell high.

� e price� is means that the question of what to do is based

solidly on the question of price. One easy way to evaluate price is to look at the ratio

of share price to earnings per share, what is commonly called the PE ratio. � eoretically, the earnings or net income of a corporation belong to the shareholders who are, a� er all, the owners of the corporation. If the company were to pay back all dividends to sharehold-ers then earnings would represent the annual invest-ment return and the PE ratio would be an estimate of the payback period of investment in the stock. Seen from this point of view, all things being equal, a low PE would signify a cheaper stock.

Note that PE is not the only indicator. Consider two companies with the same PE of 10. If one com-pany were not growing at all, then ten years of earn-ings would represent 100 percent of the investment in buying the stock. However, if earnings were growing, clearly payback would be reached at an earlier time. In fact, at 20 percent growth, the investment would pay back in about 6 years. � is explains why most analysts will look at an indicator called PEG, which is the ratio of the PE to annual growth.

� e market� e Philippine market has had its ups and downs.

Prior to the 1997 Asian � nancial crisis, at the end of 1996, the PSEi was at 3,171. At the end of 1997, the PSEi was at 1,869. By the end of 1999, the PSEi climbed to 2,143, only to drop to 1,495 at the end of 2000. Local political volatility plus the dot com crash combined to a steady decline to 1018 at the end of 2003. Finally, by the end of 2003, the market had ris-en to 1,442. Steady increases continued to the end of 2007, which saw the PSEi at 3,622. By the end of 2008, the global credit crisis pushed the PSEi down to 1,873. � e local market quickly recovered and by the end of 2010, the PSEi was at 4,201. In fact, year-end PSEi lev-els have risen steadily since 2008, hitting 7,231 at the

end of 2014 and hitting a historic high of 8,137 in April of this year.

Now, consider that on June 19, when PhilInvestor called for caution, the PSEi was at 7,601 and the mar-ket PE was at 21.6x at prospective 2015 earnings. Recall that the 21.6x pricing of the PSEi in June was called “priced for perfection.” Now let’s look at current rates. Using the closing PSEi for � ursday of this week, the market is trading at 19.5 PE. Assuming that earnings will grow at 14 percent and with no change in prices, the PSEi will be trading at 17x by end of 2016.

By contrast, using Bloomberg estimates, the Shang-hai composite (China) trades at 15x, the Han Seng

(HK) trades at 9x, the Sin-gapore Index trades at 13x, and KLCI (Malaysia) trades at 16x. Of course, JCI (Indo-nesia) trades at 23x, Sensex (India) trades at 21x and the FTSE (UK) trades at 22x. However, we should also re-call that many of these mar-kets are now tumbling.

PhilInvestor declares that a fair price for the local market would be 15x. If that is true, then we are still in high price territory. Major multinational analysts declared in the � rst half of the year called the market “priced for perfection.” What we have been seeing in the last week and this week shows is that the global situ-ation is not perfect.

What remains to be considered is this. What is your story? When you bought the particular stocks you bought, you had some theory. Maybe you be-lieved that the price at which you bought had not taken into account penetration into a new market space. � e key question is this, does that story still hold? Because if not, then the plan needs to change.

Readers can email Maya at integrations_ma-nila@yahoo.com. Or visit her site at http://inte-grations.tumblr.com.

business@thestandard.com.phextrastory2000@gmail.com

BUSINESSFRIDAY: AUGUST 28, 2015

B3

Stocks jump; indexfi nishes above 7,000 PHILIPPINE stocks surged � ursday a� er a Wall Street rally overnight, with bargain-hunters picking up issues that lost consid-erably in this week’s global rout.

� e rest of Asian shares and Shanghai jumped a� er days of wild swings, but dealers cau-tioned that the specter of the slowing Chinese economy meant more turbulence lay ahead.

� e Philippine Stock Exchange Index gained 154.17 points, or 2.2 percent, to 7,022.09 on a value turnover of P14.59 billion. Gain-ers overwhelmed losers, 139 to 45, with 34 issues unchanged.

BDO Unibank Inc., the big-gest lender in terms of assets, ad-vanced 4.3 percent to P97, while sister company SM Prime Hold-ings Inc., the largest property developer, climbed 3.6 percent to P19.48.

Universal Robina Corp., the biggest snack food maker, surged 5.2 percent to P192.50, while

Philippine Long Distance Tele-phone Co., the largest telecom-munications � rm, rose 3.6 per-cent to P2,552.

Metro Paci� c Investments Corp., which is into toll road, wa-ter and electric distribution, and hospitals jumped 6 percent to P4.98, while Jollibee Foods Corp., the biggest fastfood chain, ad-vanced 5 percent to P191.30.

US shares, meanwhile, snapped a six-day losing streak on Wednesday a� er one of the most senior o� cials in the Federal Re-serve said the turmoil that has gripped world � nancial markets had weakened the case for a rate rise in September.

Concerns the US could raise rates as early as next month have been heaping pressure on world markets already nervous about signs China’s economy—the world’s second-larg-est, accounting for some 13 percent of global output—is slowing more than thought. AFP

What’s your story?

B4

Augustinfl ationlikely at 0.2%—BSP

IN BRIEF

FRIDAY: AUGUST 28, 2015

business@thestandard.com.phextrastory2000@gmail.com

BUSINESS

PAL sees profit topping $100m

Philippine Airlines president and chief operating offi cer Jaime Bautista (left) and PAL chief fi nance offi cer Marianne Raymundo brief newsmen during the annual stockholders’ meeting of the airline at the Century Park Hotel in Manila. EY ACASIO

Businessmen less bullishBUSINESS confi dence declined in the third quar-

ter from the previous quarter on expected lower demand during the rainy season and lower crop production caused by El Niño dry spell, results of a survey by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas show.

The business expectations survey showed that business outlook on the economy turned less opti-mistic in the third quarter at 41.4 percent, compared to 49.2 percent in the second quarter.

“This indicates that the number of optimists de-clined but continued to be greater than the number of pessimists during the quarter,” Bangko Sentral said.

Other reasons cited for the less buoyant outlook were the closed fi shing season in Davao Gulf from July to September and lower consumer spending in view of increased expenditures on education.

The sentiment of businessmen in the Philippines mirrored the less buoyant business outlook in the US, but was in contrast to the more bullish views of those in the UK, Germany, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, and India,” Bangko Sentral said.

Julito G. Rada

Healthcare BPO eyes $9.8bTHE Healthcare Information Management Associ-

ation of the Philippines expects revenues to hit $9.8 billion by 2020, with the emergence of new health services.

The group said in a news briefi ng Thursday rev-enue in 2015 was expected to reach $1.9 billion, ahead of the original conservative target of $1.7 bil-lion.

“We released two set of estimates to defi ne our growth path. Conservative estimates, we see are more easily achieved but accelerated estimates we have to work on by staging more aggressive market-ing and promotional campaigns,” HIMAP president Myla Rose Reyes said during the 6th HIMS Confer-

ence 2015 at the Peninsula Hotel in Makati City.The group said employees in the healthcare BPO

sector would reach a high of 122,000 this year and 545,000 by 2020.

Healthcare management information is now the third biggest employer within the broader spectrum of business process outsourcing, next to contact centers and software development.

Reyes said given the industry target, Philippine market share by 2020 is expected to increase by at least 3.16 percent to 5.2 percent of the entire global healthcare business processing market.

Othel V. Campos

BPI takes over Globe BanKOBANK of the Philippine Islands, the country’s

third-largest lender, has assumed full ownership of BPI Globe BanKO, the country’s fi rst mobile phone-based savings bank.

BPI Globe BanKO is a joint venture between Ayala Corp., Globe Telecom Inc. and BPI.

“Globe Telecom Inc., Bank of the Philippine Islands and Ayala Corp. today inked an agreement to turn over full ownership of BPI Globe BanKO to BPI, one of the majority owners of the joint venture,” BPI said in a disclosure to the stock exchange.

BPI said the agreement would result in BPI Globe BanKO becoming a wholly-owned unit of BPI. “Pend-ing completion of regulatory and business require-ments [including the issuance of a fairness opinion on the share valuation], the agreement will result in the country’s fi rst mobile phone-based savings bank becoming a wholly-owned and managed subsidiary of BPI,” it said.

BPI will increase its stake in BanKO by buying the shares of Globe and Ayala Corp. representing 40 percent and 20 percent, respectively. BPI currently owns 40 percent of BanKO. Julito G. Rada

Century borrows for hotel CENTURY Properties Group Inc. said Thursday it

secured a term loan facility that will partly fund the construction of its fi rst hotel project.

Century Properties said in a disclosure to the stock

exchange the fi ve-year term loan facility was ar-ranged by Standard Chartered Bank. No other details were provided.

Century Properties recently launched a hotel de-velopment called Novotel Suites Manila in partner-ship with AccorHotels.’

Novotel Suites Manila at Acqua is a four-star, 310-unit all-suite hotel that will rise within the 2.4 hect-are Acqua Private Residences in Mandaluyong City. The project is expected to be completed by 2019.

The property fi rm said the venture into hotel busi-ness was in line with plans to diversify into the al-lied real estate segments of leisure and tourism to strengthen its portfolio. Jenniffer B. Austria

Oil imports drop 35%THE country’s total oil import import bill dropped

35 percent in the fi rst half to $4.67 billion from $7.256 billion a year ago, pulled down by lower glob-al oil prices.

Net import bill in the fi rst half, referring to total imports less petroleum exports, also went down by 36 percent to $4.254 billion.

“This was attributed to lower import cost [for both crude and petroleum products] although im-port volume increased,” the Energy Department said in a report.

Total import of crude oil reached $2.305 billion, down by 31.6 percent from $3.369 billion in the fi rst half of 2014 as oil price per barrel fell to $60.277 this year from $111.281 a barrel last year.

Total product import cost also went down by 39.2 percent to $2.364 billion at an average cost insur-ance per freight of $66.098 per barrel, from $3.887 billion at an average CIF cost of $116.443 a barrel last year.

Petroleum exports earnings also declined 32.9 percent to $415.6 million in the fi rst half from $619.1 million a year earlier.

“Overall, the country’s fi rst half net oil import bill amounting to $4.254 billion was down by 35.9 percent from fi rst half 2014’s $6.637 billion due to cheaper price per barrel of crude and petroleum products [about 50 percent] vis-à-vis last year,” the Energy Department said. Alena Mae S. Flores

By Alena Mae S. Flores

FLAG carrier Philippine Airlines said Thurs-day it expects full-year net income to reach more than $100 million in 2015, marking its second consecutive year of profitability.

PAL president Jaime Bautista told reporters while net income in the first seven months already reached $138 million, the airline could incur losses during the lean months.

PAL reported a net income of $20.4 million in 2014, snapping a three-year losing streak and rep-resenting a dramatic turnaround

from the huge $229.7-million loss in the period April to December 2013.

“Yes, it’s more than $100 mil-lion,” Bautista said, when asked for full-year projections given the strong performance of the com-pany in the first seven months.

Bautista said full-year net in-come would take into consider-

ation the lean months from Au-gust to November.

“We’re expecting to sustain profitability, although we expect losses during the lean months. Airlines loses money during lean months, but hopefully we will minimize our losses,” he said.

He said the higher income in the seven-month period could be attributed to the “growth in pas-sengers, improvement in yield and cost control program and that cost control measures imple-mented, fuel and maintenance efficiencies of aircraft.”

Bautista said PAL would also deploy Boeing 777-300 carriers to its Manila-New York route. “In

response to growing market and competition, we will start to op-erate 777s [B777-300ERs] to New York…Our refleeting involves the study of airplanes that will replace Airbus 340. We’re evalu-ating two types of aircraft 787-900 or Airbus 350-900,” he said.

He said the new long-bodied aircrafts, which the company planned to take delivery by 2017 or 2018, would be more fuel ef-ficient and result in low-mainte-nance cost for PAL.

Bautista, however, said long-term prospects might be affected by the ongoing air talks between the government and the United Arab Emirates.

The company said if additional flight entitlements were granted to the UAE carriers, it might have destructive consequences on PAL’s investments in launching new routes to the Middle East, Europe and the US east cost.

“Any additional entitlements to the UAE carriers would cre-ate a distortion in the market and could possibly lead to PAL pull-ing out of these routes,” PAL said in a statement.

The flag carrier asked the Philip-pine panel in the air talks “to resist any pressure to grant additional entitlements to UAE carriers and instead challenge them to mount direct flights to airports outside.”

By Julito G. Rada

INFLATION in August likely de-celerated to as low as 0.2 percent from 0.8 percent in July on lower power and oil prices, Bangko Sen-tral ng Pilipinas Governor Aman-do Tetangco Jr. said Thursday.

“August inflation could be within [the] 0.2 percent to 1 percent range, as continued downward adjustments in pow-er rates and domestic oil prices could temper inflation in the month. Base effects could also be at play,” Tetangco said in a text message.

“For next year, however, we see inflation moving up to within target,” Tetangco said.

Bangko Sentral earlier pre-dicted that inflation in 2015 and 2016 would settle within the 2 to 4 percent target range.

The country’s oil companies reduced pump prices for the 10th consecutive week, reflect-ed the movement in the inter-national oil market.

Inflation rate in July reached 0.8 percent, the first time it fell below 1 percent in nearly 20 years. This brought the aver-age inflation in the first seven months to 1.9 percent, below the target range of 2 percent to 4 percent for 2015.

Tetangco also the 5.6-percent gross domestic product growth in the second quarter might compel monetary authorities to keep the current stance steady.

“The higher second-quarter GDP number relative to the first quarter was supported by solid domestic aggregate de-mand, particularly consump-tion and capital formation,” Tetangco said.

“With this outturn, there may be no need for any imme-diate recalibration of monetary policy settings,” he said.

The Philippine Statistics Au-thority said the 5.6- percent growth in the second quarter reflected the significant improve-ment in government spending, especially public construction.

F R I D AY : A U G U S T 2 8 , 2 0 1 5

B5ceSAR bARRIoqUInToE D I T O R

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Studentleaderchargedover rallies

Nigeria marks 500 days since Boko Haram abductions

Showcase. Indian Bollywood actress Gauhar Khan showcases a creation by designer Rinku Sobati during the Lakme Fashion Week Winter/Festival 2015 in Mumbai on August 27. AFP

worldSupportive Belgradersembrace the refugees

HONG KONG—Hong Kong stu-dent leader Joshua Wong slammed police Thursday for what he called a “political prosecution” after he was charged over protests which led to last year’s mass pro-democ-racy street rallies.

Wong, 18, who became the face of the democracy movement, is al-ready due in court Friday for sepa-rate charges of obstructing police at an earlier demonstration.

The teenager and other activ-ists have accused the authori-ties of a witch hunt against those at the forefront of the Umbrella Movement that brought parts of the city to a standstill for more than two months.

Protesters called for fully free elections of the city’s next lead-er, in the face of a contentious Beijing-backed political reform package in which candidates would have been vetted by a loy-alist committee.

That bill was vetoed in June in an unprecedented rebuke to Beijing, leaving the city politically polarized.

Wong was charged Thursday with “unlawful assembly, and in-citing others to take part in an un-lawful assembly”.

The charges, which could re-sult in a sentence of up to five years, relate to a student protest on September 26 last year during which some climbed into a square which is part of the city’s govern-ment complex.

Wong and other activists were arrested, sparking wider demon-strations which exploded two days later when police fired tear gas to disperse the crowds.

Thousands more took to the streets in the wake of what they saw as heavy-handed policing.

“Today... is political prosecu-tion,” said Wong before he en-tered a police station Thursday in the central neighborhood of Wan Chai.

“Being involved in the civic square action is the best mission I have made in the four years I’ve been involved in social student movements,” he said.

“I will not regret it... even if I have to pay the price.”

When they emerged less than two hours later, Wong’s lawyer Michael Vidler confirmed the teen had been charged. AFP

BELGRADE, Serbia—Gordan Paunovic couldn’t sleep the night af-ter he met a Syrian refugee family in a Belgrade park, where hundreds of mi-grants pause for a rest before continu-ing their journey towards EU.

“I wondered all night if I should have invited some of them into my home, to offer them a shower and to spend at least one night in a bed,” he recalls.

The next day he and his wife Susanne Simon-Paunovic went back to the park with a lunch for the family.

“We brought a tablecloth. We didn’t want it to be yet another fast food meal from a plastic bag, but something that would remind them of lunch at home, at least for a moment,” Gordan said.

“We ate together, as a family and friends,” in the park with no name on Karadjordjeva Street, he added.

That was just the beginning of a surge of solidar-ity shown by Belgraders in recent weeks to some of the thousands of migrants passing through the town on their way to what they hope will be a better life in western Europe.

Having endured the horrors of war themselves and hosted hundreds of thousands of refugees during the conflicts that tore Yugoslavia apart in the 1990s, Belgraders have responded with sympathy to the in-flux of migrants, bringing with them all sorts of aid.

Local authorities and human rights organiza-tions have opened an information center, providing all necessary information to refugees in Arab, Urdu and Farsi on where and how they can meet their needs, but also receive medical aid and psychologi-cal help and support.

A taxi association sends drivers free of charge to donors’ homes to pick up donations and to trans-port offered aid collecting centers. 

“People keep coming to the park  bringing clothes, food, even money. They play with the kids and that is re-ally nice, it helps the children for a moment to forget the ordeal we are going through,” 28-year old Hiba said.

Traveling with her sister and three nieces to Germany where her two brothers live, Hiba, a law-yer by training, said she hoped to bring her hus-band and two sons, who have stayed in Damascus, to join her once she gets settled.

“After our ordeal in Macedonia where we spent three days on the border and where police beat peo-ple, we feel welcome in Serbia where even the police at the entrance gave toys to the children,” she told AFP, while waiting in the park for a bus to take her to the north towards EU member Hungary. AFP

ABUJA, Nigeria—Relatives of more than 200 Nigerian school-girls kidnapped by Boko Haram prepared Thursday to mark 500 days since the abductions, with hope dwindling for their rescue despite a renewed push to end the insurgency.

The landmark comes amid a worsening security crisis in the northeast, where Islamists have stepped up deadly attacks since the inauguration of President

Muhammadu Buhari, killing more than 1,000 people in three months.

Boko Haram fighters stormed the Government Secondary School in the remote town of Chibok in Borno state on the eve-ning of April 14 last year, seizing 276 girls who were preparing for end-of-year exams.

Fifty-seven escaped but nothing has been heard of the 219 others since May last year, when about

100 of them appeared in a Boko Haram video, dressed in Muslim attire and reciting the Koran.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has since said they have all converted to Islam and been “married off”.

The Bring Back Our Girls social media and protest campaign has announced a youth march in the capital Abuja to mark the grim an-niversary along with an evening candle-lit vigil.

Spokeswoman Aisha Yesufu said she was hopeful that the “right thing will be done” under the new regime of Buhari, who replaced Goodluck Jonathan on May 29, vowing to crush Boko Haram.

“We have a new government. Yes, we have seen the kind of things he has done, his body lan-guage, what he has said about our girls. He has made them an issue,” she told AFP. 

“He has given his word that he will do all he can to ensure the girls are rescued, not only to their parents, but for them to go back to school and continue with their lives. 

“So we are hopeful that the right things (will) be done but at the same time we Nigerians should understand that the rescue of the Chibok girls is not a privilege... It’s their right as enshrined in the constitution of the federal repub-lic of Nigeria.” AFP

B6 cesar barrioquintoE D I T O R

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

F r i D aY : a u G u s t 2 8 , 2 0 1 5

WORLD

Journalists shot dead on live TV

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACKManila

StandardTODAY

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENTNATIONAL HOUSING AUTHORITY

(TS-AUG. 28, 2015)

The National Housing Authority (NHA), through the Corporate Budget approved by the NHA Board for the year 2015 intends to apply the sum of the Approved Budget for the Contracts (ABCs) to payments for the following contracts:

Ref. No.

Projects ABC/ Source of Funds (P)

Duration(c.d.)

Required PCAB License

Work Description

2015-040

Land Development of Cabid-an Resettlement Project, Phase 1, Brgy. Cabid-an, Sorsogon City, Sorsogon

11,999,738.75/ NG Subsidy

150 Cat. “C & D” & Small “B” for Roads

Land dev’t. & road works

2015-041

Land Development of Juban Resettlement Project, Brgy. Cogon, Juban, Sorsogon

11,999,567.44/ NG Subsidy

150 Cat. “C & D” & Small “B” for

Roads

Land dev’t. & road works

2015-042

Land Development of Heroes Hill Subdivision at Brgy. Veterans Village, Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay (RE-BID)

11,829,466.08/ NG Subsidy

167 Cat. “C & D” & Small “B” for

Roads

Land dev’t. & road works

2015-043

Land Development of Calean Resettlement Project Ph. II, Brgy. Calean, Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat (RE-BID)

9,952,357.02/ NG Subsidy

136 Cat. “C & D” & Small “B” for

Roads

Land dev’t. & road works

2015-044

Land Development of NHA-Butuan City New Villages 4A, Brgy. Taguibo, Butuan City, Agusan del Norte

23,065,000.00/NG Subsidy

329 Cat. “B” & Medium “A” for Roads

Land dev’t. & road works

Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

The NHA now invites bids for the above-cited projects. Completion of the Works is required within the duration herein cited. Bidders should have completed a single contract similar to the Project costing at least fifty percent (50%) of the ABC. 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 non-discretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least seventy five percent (75%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines.

A complete set of Bidding Documents shall be issued only to bidders/authorized official representatives or employees of the Contractor who can show proof of Notarized Authority to secure bid documents for the specific Project and Official Company ID upon submission of a Letter of Intent (LOI), presentation of original PCAB License, Contract Agreement and Certificate of Completion/Acceptance for completed similar project/s and upon Cash Payment of non-refundable fee of P12,500.00 for Ref. Nos. 2015-040 to 042; P10,000.00 for Ref. No. 2015-043; and P20,000.00 for Ref. No. 2015-044 at the Office of the NHA-BAC1 Secretariat, 3rd Floor NHA Main Building, Diliman, Quezon City from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. starting on August 28, 2015. Deadline of submission of LOI is on September 7, 2015. The BAC1 Secretariat may be contacted at Tel/FAX No. 929-80-16.

The NHA will hold a Pre-bid Conference on September 08, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. at the NHA Operations Center, 3rd Floor NHA Main Building, Diliman, Quezon City, which shall be OPEN ONLY to bidders who have purchased the Bidding Documents.

To facilitate the opening of bids, prospective bidders are requested to register with the NHA BAC1. Bidders are reminded that applications for registrations are processed on a “First Come, First Serve” Basis. The BAC1 will only process applications for registration for bidders with complete supporting documents. The registration forms may be downloaded at the NHA website at www.nha.gov.ph.

Bids must be delivered at the NHA Operations Center, 3rd Floor NHA Main Building, Diliman, Quezon City, not later than 9:00 a.m. on September 22, 2015. Bid opening shall follow immediately at the same venue.

All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and amount as stated in Bid Data Sheet (BDS). Bid opening shall follow immediately after the deadline of submission of bids at the same venue. Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

The NHA reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder/s.

(SGD) FROILAN R. KAMPITANAssistant General Manager/Chairperson, Bids and Awards Committee 1 (BAC1)NATIONAL HOUSING AUTHORITYElliptical Road, Diliman, Quezon City

Invitation to Bid

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENTNATIONAL HOUSING AUTHORITY

(TS-AUG. 28, 2015)

The National Housing Authority (NHA), through the Corporate Budget approved by the NHA Board for the year 2015 intends to apply the sum of the Approved Budget for the Contracts (ABCs) to payments for the following contracts:

Ref. No.

Projects ABC/ Source of Funds (P)

Duration(c.d.)

Required PCAB

License

Work Description

2015-045 Construction of 2-Storey Extension Office Building with Roofdeck, NHA Region 10 Compund, Julio Pacana St. Macabalan, Cagayan de Oro

15,500,000.00/ Corp. Receipts

240 Cat. “B” & Medium “A” for

Building

Const. of 2-Storey

Extension Office Bldg.

2015-046 Construction of 1 Unit 3-Storey 15-Classroom School Building (No.1), Norzagaray Homes Resettlement Project, Brgy. Minuyan, Norzagaray, Bulacan

24,005,779.19/NG Subsidy

180 Cat. “B” & Medium “A” for

Building

Const. of 3-Storey School

Bldg.

2015-047 Construction of 1 Unit 2-Storey 8-Classroom School Building, Mont Eagle Ville Subdivision, Block 22, Brgy. Kidawa, Laak, Compostela Valley Province (RE-BID)

11,831,321.30/NG Subsidy

150 Cat. “C & D” & Small “B” for

Building

Const. of 2-Storey School

Bldg.

2015-048 Construction of 1 Unit 2-Storey 8-Classroom School Building, Cateel Housing Proj. – Block 12, Brgy. Taytayan, Cateel, Davao Oriental (RE-BID)

11,831,321.30/NG Subsidy

150 Cat. “C & D” & Small “B” for

Building

Const. of 2-Storey School

Bldg.

Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

The NHA now invites bids for the above-cited projects. Completion of the Works is required within the duration herein cited. Bidders should have completed a single contract similar to the Project costing at least fifty percent (50%) of the ABC. 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 non-discretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least seventy five percent (75%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines.

A complete set of Bidding Documents shall be issued only to bidders/authorized official representatives or employees of the Contractor who can show proof of Notarized Authority to secure bid documents for the specific Project and Official Company ID upon submission of a Letter of Intent (LOI), presentation of original PCAB License, Contract Agreement and Certificate of Completion/Acceptance for completed similar project/s and upon Cash Payment of non-refundable fee of P17,500.00 for Ref. Nos. 2015-045; P20,000.00 for Ref. Nos. 2015-046; P12,500.00 for Ref. Nos. 2015-047 to 48 at the Office of the NHA-BAC1 Secretariat, 3rd Floor NHA Main Building, Diliman, Quezon City from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. starting on August 28, 2015. Deadline of submission of LOI is on September 7, 2015. The BAC1 Secretariat may be contacted at Tel/FAX No. 929-80-16.

The NHA will hold a Pre-bid Conference on September 08, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. at the NHA Operations Center, 3rd Floor NHA Main Building, Diliman, Quezon City, which shall be OPEN ONLY to bidders who have purchased the Bidding Documents.

To facilitate the opening of bids, prospective bidders are requested to register with the NHA BAC1. Bidders are reminded that applications for registrations are processed on a “First Come, First Serve” Basis. The BAC1 will only process applications for registration for bidders with complete supporting documents. The registration forms may be downloaded at the NHA website at www.nha.gov.ph.

Bids must be delivered at the NHA Operations Center, 3rd Floor NHA Main Building, Diliman, Quezon City, not later than 9:00 a.m. on September 23, 2015. Bid opening shall follow immediately at the same venue.

All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and amount as stated in Bid Data Sheet (BDS).Bid opening shall follow immediately after the deadline of submission of bids at the same venue. Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

The NHA reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder/s.

(SGD) FROILAN R. KAMPITANAssistant General Manager/Chairperson, Bids and Awards Committee 1 (BAC1)NATIONAL HOUSING AUTHORITYElliptical Road, Diliman, Quezon City

Invitation to Bid

NOTICE OF DECREASE OF CAPITAL STOCK OF

INNOVE COMMUNICATIONS, INC.Notice is hereby given that the stockholders and Board of Directors of Innove Communications, Inc. (the “Corporation”), a corporation incorporated under the laws of the Philippines, approved the decrease in authorized capital stock of the Corporation from Three Billion Five Hundred Million Pesos (PHP3,500,000,000.00), composed of Two Billion Six Hundred Million (2,600,000,000.00) Common Shares at a par value of One Peso (PHP1.00) each and One Hundred Eighty Million (180,000,000) Preferred Shares at a par value of Five Pesos (PHP5.00) per share to Three Billion One Hundred Million Pesos (PHP3,100,000,000.00), composed of Two Billion Six Hundred Million (2,600,000,000.00) Common Shares at a par value of One Peso (PHP1.00) each and One Hundred Million (100,000,000) Preferred Shares at a par value of Five Pesos (PHP5.00) per share. This was approved at theSpecial Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Corporation, held last 14 May 2015 and at the Annual Stockholders’ Meeting of the Corporation, held last 14 May 2015.

The gunman—Vester Lee Flanagan, 41, also known as Bryce Wi l l i a m s — p o s t e d chilling footage of Wednesday’s murder online.

Reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cam-eraman Adam Ward, 27, were fatally shot at close range while con-ducting an on-air in-terview for WDBJ, a CBS television affiliate in Roanoke, about 385 kilometers southwest of

Washington.It was unclear wheth-

er the shooter even knew Parker before the attack.

Friends, family and the community at large mourned the tragedy, as the incident renewed calls for gun control. Flanagan was said to have bought his gun le-gally.

The killings once again highlighted gun violence in America—prompting a quick

ROANOKE, United States—The for-mer TV reporter who shot two jour-nalists dead during a live broadcast in Virginia before killing himself warned he had been a “human powder keg... just waiting to go BOOM.”

White House call for action—and also raised questions about how the Internet provided a brief but unfiltered window on a horrific crime.

“It breaks my heart every time you read or hear about these kinds of incidents,” President Barack Obama told an ABC affiliate in Philadelphia.

The disturbing video of the deadly on-air shooting—apparently filmed by Flanagan himself—was posted on Twitter and Facebook. The footage was later removed.

“You send people into war zones and into dan-gerous situations, into riots, and you worry that they’re going to get

hurt,” WDBJ general manager Jeffrey Marks told CNN.

“You send somebody out to do a story on tourism, and this—how can you ever expect something like this to happen?”

Parker was interview-ing Vicki Gardner, head of the Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce, at the lake-side Bridgewater Resort in the town of Moneta near Roanoke when the attack occurred.

Several shots were heard, as well as screams, as Ward’s camera fell to the floor, capturing a fuzzy and chilling glimpse of the gunman pointing his weapon at the ground. 

The station then hast-ily cut away to a startled anchorwoman back in the studio.

Later, a video ap-parently posted by Flanagan under the Twitter account @b r y c e _ w i l l i a m s 7 , showed the shooter brandishing a weapon at Parker.

Both she and Ward apparently did not see the shooter.

Multiple shots and screams are then heard, and Parker runs away.

The shooter’s hand is clearly visible. He ap-pears to be wearing a blue checkered shirt.

Gardner, 62, was in stable condition at a Roanoke hospital.

ABC News said it re-ceived a 23-page mani-festo from a man iden-tifying himself as Bryce Williams nearly two hours after the shoot-ing.

A man later called the network and said he had shot two people. He said authorities were “af-ter me” and “all over the place” before hanging up, according to ABC.

In the rambling manifesto, Flanagan—an African American sacked in 2013 by WDBJ—said he was sent over the edge by the June mass shooting of black worshippers at a church in South Carolina.

Describing himself as a “human powder keg... just waiting to go BOOM!!!!,” Flanagan also complained in what he called a “Suicide Note for Friends and Family” of racial discrimination and bullying “for being a gay, black man.”

“Yes, it will sound like I am angry... I am. And I have every right to be. But when I leave this Earth, the only emotion I want to feel is peace,” it said. AFP

B7mst.daydesk@gmail.com

RAMON L. TOMELDANE D I T O R

F R I D AY : A U G U S T 2 8 , 2 0 1 5

MOTORING

TIPS

FASTLANEFASTLANEFAST

Colorado Tracker: Chevy gets tougher

BEFORE hitting the road, make sure that tires are inflated with the correct air pressure. See to it that the tires are not damaged or defec-tive in any way before the car leaves the garage.

Michelin shares how to identify a few tell-tale signs that your car tires need to be replaced:

Tire Puncture.If you see even just one puncture in any part of the tire, install the spare tire to avoid causing further damage to the punctured one. Bring the suspect-ed damaged tire immediately to a professional tire specialist for an accuratetire diagnosis.Running on punctured tiresis very risky espe-cially if you’re already on the road as this can cause the tire pressure to drop rapidly. So, make sure that your spare tire is always in good condition to ensure safe motoring.

Worn tire treads. Tire treadsare like the soles of the feet.They are the only contact that the vehicle makes with the road. The deeper the tread, the better resistance to aq-uaplaning. Michelin recommends changingtires before your tread depth is worn to 1.6mm. (Michelin tires have a tread wear indicator at the base of the grooves that help you check the correct depth of the tire tread.) Don’t risk the chance of careening on the highway due to lack of tire traction. Wet roads are especially dangerous.

Damaged sidewalls.The sidewall is literally the side of the tire — the part you see when you’re looking at your car from the side. Sidewalls can get damaged when the tire hits a curb during a turn, or when the tire hits a hard and sharp object. A puncture or gouge to this area can affect the air pressure inside the tire,affecting the

mileage or fuel efficiency of the car. If your tires have even the slightest damage to the sidewalls, have them inspected right away.

Abnormal wear. Sometimes one tire wears out faster than the others. This is most likely caused by im-proper wheel alignment,leading to abnormal, uneven wear on tires since pressure is not evenly distributed on the wheels. See to it that wheel and tire assembly should always be cor-rectly balanced after mounting new tires or after every vehicle repair. This provides a more comfortable ride and extended tire life.Other ab-normal wear or damage to tires may also occur inside the tire. As much as possible, have your tire inspected by a tire specialist.

Aging. Tires age and deteriorate over time, just like everything else. Constant tire check-up is imperative for motorists, even if no major dam-age like puncture holes or uneven wear is visible.Make sure the treads are still visible because the tire tread is your car’s grip on the road. It has an impact on the distance needed for braking. Hard braking is one of the main causes of excessive wear and tire deterioration. Don’t take the risk of driving on old and worn out tires. Even if they look fine and still usable, Michelin recommends that tires be replaced ten years after their manu-facture date. Don’t wait for them to give out!

Lastly, remember that there is a right type, size and function of tires for your car. Using the right tires will not only keep your trips safe and your car functioning at top capacity, it will also prolong tire life and improve mileage. One way to find the correct size and tire type for your vehicle is to look at the car manual.

Tell-tale signs your car tires need to be replaced

These translate to superior driv-ing performance compared to other locally available pick-up trucks in its class. In addition, the Colorado Tracker’s 1-ton hauling capacity and the 3.5-ton towing capacity plus a 6,000-lb tow hitch with electrical re-ceiver makes for a very able-bodied road companion.

The Tracker Pro is especially equipped with a standard 12,000-lb integrated power winch with re-covery equipment package – critical equipment for serious thrill-seekers enabling the Tracker Pro to free itself from deep mud, sand or gravel or for climbing steep, slippery slopes.

Both the Tracker and Tracker Pro editionsfeature the Chromatic Rear View Mirror with 4.3” LCD Backup Monitor equipped  with Overview Sensing Monitor as standard. To fur-ther enhance the Tracker Pro, Chev-rolet equipped it with a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) that warns the driver if one or more tires are significantly under-inflated. A Dash Camera with 32 GB memory card has also been integrated into the rearview mirror of the Tracker Pro, enabling continuous recording of forward view during the vehicle’s operation.

When the going gets tough, Chevy gets tougher

Developed to be a go-anywhere vehicle, the Colorado has a game-changing combination of power, capability and right-size configura-tion. Built like a rock, it can face any road challenge – from floodwaters to shallow rapids, off-road jungles to scaling steep inclines – this all-terrain capable 4x4 is a must-have for any adventure.

With the Tracker and Tracker Pro, finding new roads are made even easier with a choice between 6-speed manual and automatic transmis-sions. The truck’s 8-crossmember ladder chassis configuration enables the vehicle to withstand high torture torsional stress whenever you go off-road. The Tracker’s suspension has an added 2-inch lift that affords in-creased ground clearance and offers best-in-class 880mm water wading capability while the built-in snorkel intake reduces risk of water intrusion into the engine. These 4x4 variants also feature aesthetic upgrades that enhance its unique and sporty stance. The brawniest looking in the Colora-do bunch, the Trackers look tougher with 17” gunmetal gray wheels with all-terrain tires and aluminum skid

DESIGNED and engi-neered to maximize en-gine output, KDM.Ph de-veloped its hi-power Drift Xhaust with state-of-the art volume control ex-haust system for both tur-bocharged and naturally aspirated applications. “ With our experience in drag and circuit racing, we have incorporated this new competition inspired

BORN to be strong and ready to haul or tow anything with ease, the Colorado Tracker variants are powered by a 2nd generation Duramax diesel engine produc-ing 200horsepower and 500 Newton-meters of torque.

plate that n ot only add to its very ca-pable appeal, but more importantly, protect components from rocks and debris.

Over a century of dependability Backed by over 100 years of leg-

endary truck-building expertise, Chevrolet Philippines assures its customers of a worry-free owner-ship experience. In addition to the brand’s hallmark dependability and high quality, Chevrolet also offers industry-leading warranty coverage for pick-up trucks. The bowtie brand is the onlyautomaker in the local midsize pick-up segment that offers a 5-year warranty as standard. The Chevrolet Colorado offers a special warranty that covers the vehicle for 3 years plus a 2-year extended war-ranty for the powertrain or 100,000 kilometers whichever comes first*. Chevrolet also provides its new cli-ents with free 3-year 24/7 Roadside assistance. By dialing 328-CHEV owners may avail themselves of the following services: vehicle support, personal assistance and information service.

The Colorado Tracker Edition has the versatility and extreme driving capability necessary for the Philip-pines’ challenging road and weather conditions. In preparation for the coming rainy season, Chevrolet offers easy ownership experience through the Truck Month promo which includes a 119k All-in low down payment scheme available for the Chevrolet Colorado 4x2 LT MT.

This all-terrain 4x4 is a must-have for the adventurous.

Engineered for performance

MITSUBISHI Motors Phil-ippines Corporation has launched its Mitsubishi Rainy Day Specials promo, giving free service check-up to own-ers of Montero Sport and Stra-da with units that are already beyond the warranty period. Included in this service promo are Montero Sports sold from September 2008 to December 2012 and Strada sold from Sep-tember 2006 to December 2012. Customers may avail of the free 15-point check-up and special service packages and discounts. Thefree 15-point checkup covers inspection of the vehicle’s interior, exte-rior and engine compartment. This free check-up is conduct-

ed to ensure that the vehicle is in tip top shape and always in roadworthy condition espe-cially during this rainy season. A customer can also avail of a 40% discount on oil change, whether synthetic or mineral oil. Other packages included in this special service promo are: alternator belt/ aircon belt, tim-ing belt replacement, brakes re-placement, clutch replacement, suspension package, interior and exterior lamp replacement, engine cooling system package, steering system package, wiper blade replacement, aircon filter installation and replacement of electrical components. For these packages customers will

be given 30% discount for parts and an additional 10% discount for labor. MMPC encourages cus-tomers with out of warranty Montero Sport and Strada to take advantage of this free checkup and avail of the sav-ings on oil change and fac-tory certified services. The Rainy Day Specials promo is MMPC’s way of providing its valued customers world-class and more affordable services for a worry-free travel. This is also MMPC’s way of thank-ing its valued customers for its continued patronage of the Montero Sport and the Strada making these models among MMPC’ bestselling vehicles.

Out of warranty Montero Sport, Strada: Free service check-up

offset muffler and piping de-sign into a variety of street applications, which offers a greater flow and higher-PRM power gains due to the less restrictive design,” says GM Bugayong of KDM.Ph.

Drift Xhaust with volume control system was devel-oped locally for a variety of applications for Japanese, American, European and Ko-rean high performance sports cars and compact cars. Drift Xhaust systems are made from SUS304 stainless steel muffler and tip assemblies with muffler tips measuring 96mm, 115mm and 120mm in diameter and piping di-ameters ranging from 55mm

to 95mm. It is easy to install and use, just turn the exhaust sound to a minimum vol-ume when passing through a school, village, church or just want to have a meaningful conversation inside the car. 

“This is achieved by elimi-nating unnecessary bends for the straightest exhaust path. For turbocharged applications, the large and smooth exhaust flow allows greater exhaust velocity for better mid-range boost response and high-RPM power. Naturally aspirated ve-hicles also benefit from greater exhaust flow capacity as engine tuning levels increase.” ex-plains GM Bugayong of I Love KDM.Ph.

MOTORING

F R I D AY : A U G U S T 2 8 , 2 0 1 5

B8RAMON L. TOMELDAN

E D I T O R

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

On that note, Hyundai’s Visayan ride and drive commenced with participants � ying into Roxas City, our jump-o� point with the island paradise of Boracay as our destination. With both the local and regional media practitioners divided into groups of two and spread over 25 Tucson units, the Hyundai convoy snaked their way through the towns of Sapian, Al-tavas, the winding roads of Balete up to the ports of Kalibo, where the tired and weary participants rode a ferry to an is-land destination a� er a day of putting the car through its paces.

Bigger and betterIn the case of the 2016 Tucson, big-

ger is de� nitely better. � e current it-eration has grown three inches in length and 1.1 inches in width, while the inte-rior cargo space has gone from 25.7 cu-bic feet in the outgoing model to 31 feet. � e exterior design looks sharp, with the Tucson now sporting the corporate hexagonal grille with repeating horizon-tal lines that complement the horizontal lines of other parts of the front fascia. Hyundai engineers call it the Fluidic Sculpture 2.0, with the headlights hav-ing an angular look as well, while side doors have traded the shabby look of the previous generation for a nicely sculpted concave surface that accen-tuates the sharp character lines at the shoulder and below the sills.  Large fog light housings with LED elements now sit below the headlights, giving the front fascia a top/bottom visual balance as well as a sporty look.

� e result is a more uni� ed and unclut-

tered look, one that succeeds in commu-nicating motion as well as surface tension, with the rear fascia continuing to use an-gular design elements which is fast be-coming a Hyundai trademark. � e wheel arches are sculpted with a distinctive kick in their rear halves, accentuating the sense of motion.

� e new Nu 2.0 MPi (157 bhp) and R 2.0 CRDi (187 bhp) engines of the Tucson are technological marvels that will leave any gear head with a smile across his/her face a� er getting behind the wheel of Hyundai’s new compact SUV. Although the 2.0MPi is relatively good, this writer enjoyed his experience with the CRDi units. � e power delivery is better, accel-eration is phenomenal and both versions have excellent suspension systems that al-lowed us to push the Tucson’s to its limits during long straights and fast corners. It felt like a car than an SUV really.

Second day of Hyundai’s Visayan sojourn was dedicated to CSR activities as the me-dia, joined by HARI and DOST represen-tatives, participated in a coral reforestation project. “We want to rea� rm that Hyundai is a brand that cares for the environment. We initiated the coral reforestation project aligned with the national agenda to save the marine ecosystem, as well as to support eco-tourism in Boracay,” says Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo, president of HARI.

With the previous generation Tucson generating sales of three-million units annually, the latest generation aims to signi� cantly boost and solidify Hyun-dai’s strong presence in the compact SUV segment. � e “King” is de� nitely back in the game.

HARI’SCROWN JEWEL

THE iconic British brand Lotus Cars has flung open its doors for business in the local market and launched the brand in grand fashion at the Lotus showroom in North Greenhills, San Juan. In attendance were Autohub bigwigs led by its president Willy Tee Ten. “We’re pleased to announce this newest and another milestone for Autohub Group, and it is with great plea-sure that we’re given the chance to be part of this revolution to keep pace with the increasing customer demand and deliver the unique Lo-tus Pure Driving Experience here in the Philip-

pines. So expect bigger things to happen in the near future,” said Tee Ten.

� e unveiling of four of the Lotus cars, Elise S Club Racer, Elise 220 Cup, Exige S Roadster, and Evora S Sport Racer, was the high point of the night. Senator JV Ejercito, San Juan City Mayor Guia Gomez, Willy Tee Ten, Autohub Group Chairwoman Benita Tee Ten, Lotus Cars Manila Board of Di-rectors Jessie Tan and Eric Yap, and Lotus Cars Manila General Manager Miguelito Jose were on hand adding glitz and glam-our to the event. Lotus Cars Manila GM Miguelito Jose also revealed some exciting details on the much-anticipated Evora 400. “In the coming months, the new Lotus models Exige S automatic and Evora 400 will be added to the current product o� er available to our customers in the Philip-pines,” he added.

� e three main selling points for Lotus namely speed, handling and sophistication make it a superb standout among its com-petitors. Lotus Cars is the ultimate luxury automobile for every businessman’s need for speed while complementing his up-graded lifestyle.

LOTUS MAKESA SPLASHText and photos by Dino Ray V. Directo III

Text and photos by Dino Ray V. Directo III

FOREGOING with the usual glitz and glamour of a new car launch, Hyundai Automotive Resources Inc (HARI) instead opted for a ride and drive event to highlight the features and capabilities of the all-new Hyundai Tucson. “Hyundai opened the year with news of its most important automobile to date. Today, we indulge you to a � rst-hand

experience of this game changing Compact SUV which had a positive feedback during the Geneva Motor Show. Let us explore the Philippines together with the Tucson,” says Sang Min Park, director/head of Asia-Paci� c Regional HQ’s for Hyundai Motor Company South Korea.

A renaissance church is the perfect backdrop for the modern Tucson.

The sweeping

tail-light clusters

compliment the curves and angles

of the Tucson.

C1F R I D AY : A U G U S T 2 8 : 2 0 1 5

LIFE

TATUM ANCHETAE D I T O R

BING PARELA S S O C I AT E E D I T O R

BERNADETTE LUNASW R I T E R

ST Y L E & BE AU T Y

l i f e @ t h e s t a n d a r d . c o m . p h @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d

Millions of women all over the world c e l e b r a t e d N a t i o n a l Lipstick Day last July 29 by posting selfies on social media sites

wearing their favorite shade of lip color. The success of last month’s Lipstick Festival at The SM Store beauty section was proof that in the Philippines, ladies have become more and more adventurous with lipstick and are not afraid to experiment with new colors and formulas. Having fabulous looking lips doesn’t just happen with a swipe of color from that tube of lipstick. Prep and maintenance is key to making sure lips remain supple and soft throughout the day without sacrificing the color payoff and wear of your lipstick. Here are a few of my picks when it comes to lip care and new lipstick technology, from classic makeup artist staples to more recent, innovative formulas.

1. DIOR ADDICT Lip Maximizer in 001 Pink SM MakatiA high volume lip plumper with active collagen that leaves lips looking full and perfectly defined. Fine lines are filled thanks to “Hyaluronic Filling Spheres” with a menthol-based cooling agent that has a subtle mint and vanilla flavor. Apply before applying lip color as a base to hydrate and plump the lips. Tissue off before applying lip pencil, lipstick and gloss. Also wearable on its own with a translucent, light pink hue.

2. LUCAS' PAPAW OINTMENTwww.dtcmakeup.comA professional makeup artist staple, this signature ointment comes in a handy 25g tube, perfect for your tote or travel bag. It soothes dry and cracked lips almost instantly. Harnessing the power of freshly handpicked and fermented Carica Papaya fruit, this topical treatment soothes a variety of skin complaints, including sunburn, minor cuts and grazes, nappy rash and insect bites.

3. THE LIP SCRUB by Sara Happ in Lemonade Beauty BarA refreshing lip scrub that softens and exfoliates and is ideal for dry, flaky lips. Infused with citrusy lemon notes and formulated with finely grounded Sugar Crystals, Jojoba and Grape Seed Oil to nourish the lips. Massage a generous amount onto the lips using a firm, circular motion and then wipe away with tissue.

4. CLINIQUE Lip Pop in Beige PopSM AuraA rich color lipstick + smoothing primer in one, formulated with Shea and Murumuru butters combined in a flexible polymer blend that provides superior moisture maintenance for the lips. This priming benefit also helps to give a smoothing, velvety spread of color when applied. In addition, the flexible polymers keep the wearable colors vivid and vibrant throughout the day, giving your lips full coverage with a smoother and fuller appearance.

5. MAKE UP STORE Lipstick SealerThe PodiumA clear fluid that prevents your lipstick from bleeding. The fine lines around the lip contour make the lipstick feather. This product prevents color from bleeding and fading. Apply a thin line of the sealer around your lip contour after you have applied your lip pencil and lipstick to keep your lip color in place.

6. LA SPLASH Lip Couture in Goulish www.dtcmakeup.comLip Couture’s rich waterproof shades will leave a velvety, matte finish that never transfers. With bold, high pigmented shades from neutral to solid black, and an innovative formula that glides on as liquid and dries into a solid matte finish. It’s absolutely waterproof. Use the Lip Couture Remover to effortlessly remove the lipstick and leave your lips super moisturized and cushiony soft.

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @jigsmayuga 

Shirts and jeans will always transcend age, gender, size and season. And it’s easy to understand why:

they’re staples that are quite easy to find anywhere. While it’s no trouble to find a shirt that fits right, getting a pair of jeans that hugs its wearer in the right places can be a challenge.

Jeans may be a classic, but, more often than not, instead of enhancing our look, it awfully reveals our flaws. It squeezes too tight on the rear, makes thighs look big, or creates a muffin top on the mid-section. For some, a pair of jeans is a punishment that makes one feel there’s something quite wrong. This is what Japanese fast fashion brand, Uniqlo, wants to change.

In a bid to “unfold a new era in denim history,” Uniqlo offers four new innovative and reinvented jeans backed by advanced clothing technology to make sure each pair flatters different types of body.

“We continue to innovate and develop high-quality products which are focused on our consumers’ everyday needs,” enthuses Uniqlo chief operating officer Katsumi Kubota.

Giving skinny jeans a better and comfortable fit is the Ultra Stretch Jeans. It uses a stretch material with over 50 percent stretch rate and has oversized rear pockets that

create a minimizing effect on the back.

Regular straight fit pants often makes one “feel fat” but an advanced version of this cut, the Smart Shape Jeans, promises to beautify and enhance one’s figure. It is made with a one-of-a-kind fabric that shapes the mid-section for a slim waistline. Its pockets and zipper are made with special materials that help flatten the belly.

The Miracle Air Skinny Fit Jeans truly feels like air as it’s made of soft materials and is 20 percent lighter than regular jeans. Uniqlo uses a special yarn developed by Toray (a global fibers and textiles manufacturer) and Kaihara’s (a denim manufacturer) advanced technology. Miracle Air is flexible and has two-way stretch functionality in various hues and washed finishes.

A man’s jeans, the Stretch Selvedge Slim Fit Jeans is made of high quality Kaihara denim materials that ensure a slim yet comfortable fit. Its button, rivet and stitches match the color of the jeans so it goes well with a casual or formal top.

Visit Uniqlo in malls nationwide to find your perfect pair of jeans. For more information, check out www.uniqlo.com/ph

POP-UP BEAUTYBY JIGS MAYUGA

ALL ABOUT LIPS

The perfect pairBY BERNADETTE LUNAS

Uniqlo unveils four innovative and reinvented jeans that cater to different needs.

Smart Shape Jeans Ultra Stretch Jeans

1 2

3

4

5

6

It was never Jennylyn Mercado’s goal in life to be named the country’s “sexiest woman,” and she admits the title doesn’t quite

sit well with her yet. Like many, she constantly deals with body issues, but she tries her best to accept her perceived flaws and goes out of her way to address them.

“At tapings I make sure that during breaks I squeeze in even a few minutes of workout: I do sit-ups and push-ups,” Jen said when asked how she maintains her figure. For her usual problem, which is bloating, she drinks warm water or green tea.

But for her, the most important solution when one is overwhelmed with body issues is to “be always contented; love yourself, love your body and love the way you are.”

Jennylyn said that after she gave birth to her now six-year-old son Alex Jazz, she has since accepted the flaws that come with pregnancy. “'Eto na 'yun 'e, wala ka nang magagawa, kailangan mo na lang i-embrace yung flaws at mahalin yung sarili mo (This is it, there’s nothing one can do, all you can do is embrace your flaws and love yourself),” she declared.

And it is her positive outlook in life paired with her physical efforts (although she said she doesn’t have a special diet), that made her the fitting choice to be the newest face of Avon Fashions, the intimate apparel brand of the direct-selling company.

Introduced alongside the label’s 2015 fall/winter collection, Jennylyn, according to Avon Philippines’officials, is the perfect package that truly embodies the qualities that define an Avon woman. “She’s a mom, a multi-awarded actress, and a triathlete. She’s very confident with herself and very talented,” said marketing director Jean Reyes.

Reyes added, “On top of those, our survey among consumers and representatives revealed that people could relate to her. [She’s] very approachable and wholesome, so it’s a good fit for us.”

Reyes clarified, however, that Jennylyn’s being the Philippines’ “sexiest woman” was not the reason for Avon’s decision to pick her as the brand’s latest ambassador. In short, they chose her before she received the coveted title. “When we heard about it, we said it was perfect timing because it came up right at the time that we were introducing her,” shared Reyes.

And for Jen, her “body issues” didn’t make her think twice in accepting this new role. “Before they chose me, Avon knew that I’m a mommy so I took comfort in the fact that they’re aware of the changes in a woman’s body.”

So it’s only natural that her favorite in Avon Intimate Apparel’s latest collection is the Lovell bra and panty as they fit her perfectly. “When you’re already a mom your upper body is not the same way as it was before, so I like it because it gives the right lift that I need,” explained Jennylyn.

The right and comfortable fit is important for Jennylyn, too, when it comes to undergarments. “For me, when you’re comfortable in what you’re wearing, you’ll feel beautiful, confident and sexy.”

And the perfect fit, which Avon Fashions mastered in the last 38 years, is just one of their three promises for all Filipinas.

“We strive to offer our consumers intimate apparel that withstands constant wash and wear, the perfect fit for the shape and figure of a Filipina, and the latest styles

and exclusive prints – allowing everyone to enjoy, feel sexy and be confident with the intimate apparel that they wear,” said Avon Philippines general manager Emie Aguilar-Nierves.

Jennylyn will be the face of Avon Fashions Classic line, the range for women aged 25-35, that features pieces in different shades of blue, green and red. The brand also launched fun prints for its Missy line for teens and new styles for its Men’s Club intimate apparel range for men.

C2F R I D AY : A U G U S T 2 8 : 2 0 1 5

LIFE l i f e @ t h e s t a n d a r d . c o m . p h @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d

THE GISTBY ED BIADO

TIMOTHY SCOTCHwww.facebook.com/timothyscotch.phA men’s lifestyle brand that creates stylishly slim shirts, Timothy Scotch was conceived by a guy with a “passion for clothing and having the perfect fit.” The brand aims for a look that’s effortlessly stylish “without being flashy.” The shirts feature contemporary cuts “that you can wear everyday to any occasion.” And of course, it’s all about the fit – “neither very slim nor loose, just tailored clothes that fit perfectly.”

MANILA INDIE BRANDS FOR YOUR STYLE-HUNTING PLEASURE

THISwww.facebook.com/thisexperimentA lifestyle design experiment, THIS “makes use of alternative production and design techniques to come up with unique and comfortable apparel.” Composed of a group of photographers and visual designers, the brand’s “designs have no consistent themes” as the designers simply enjoy turning ideas into actual garments. What are their main inspirations? Think bikes, music, food, travel and crafts, as well as “anything and everything sci-fi, especially robots.”

The allure of independent brands lie in the fact that there is a certain uniqueness to their products (read: NOT mass produced). They’re not the usual trendy stuff you find inside the mall, which almost

guarantees that you won’t be arriving anywhere just to see another person wearing the same thing. There are perhaps hundreds of small fashion brands and startups in the metro. So to help you sort through the mess, let us introduce five of our favorite Manila-based indie brands that are sure to add some spunk to your style.

THE BEACHSTERSwww.facebook.com/TheBeachstersEveryday is a reason to go to the beach, if The Beachsters’ philosophy is to be followed. The brand of T-shirts is “all about the casual, laid-back beach lifestyle.” The statement designs, “inspired by numerous beach trips here, there and everywhere, as well as by people [they] have met along the way,” all feature the quintessential beach vibe that you can wear not only on an island paradise but also on busy city streets.

LULU SWINGwww.facebook.com/luluswingThis footwear brand “transforms classic pieces into fresh, unique statement pieces.” Lulu Swing shoes are said to be designed for the girl who doesn’t care about the of-the-moment trends but rather, “prefers a look that’s creative.” This is why the brand has a lot of ballerina flats and strappy options mostly in neutral shades. And they now have a bag collection, too.

THE KNEUTRAL COLLECTIONwww.facebook.com/Go.KneutralBehind the brand is a design duo who are also sisters “with the heart for fashion.” Accessories from The Kneutral Collection are aplenty, but our favorites are their “wire art” pieces that are fully customizable. Unfortunately, that particular line is currently on hiatus as the girls are in the process of expanding their brand. So stay tuned for something “kneu” and exciting.

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @EdBiado

Getting intimate with Jennylyn MercadoBY BERNADETTE LUNAS

Avon Fashions newest brand ambassador Jennyln Mercado feels more confident when her intimate apparel fits well.

Avon Fashions launched its 2015 fall/winter collection for its Classic line, Missy and Men’s Club in a circus-themed fashion show.

A good all sporty cap usually completes a sporty look. In this season’s runway shows, even high end fashion brands use baseball caps paired with tuxedoes

for a more dressed up do. But whatever look you decide to wear, a cap never seems to be out of season. This year, Filipinos get more access to the world’s most renowned headwear brand and official provider of on-field caps to Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Football League (NFL) as it opened their first store in Manila.

“The brand’s heritage is so rich that it is known in many parts of the world. We are bringing

Filipinos closer to this heritage while providing options for high quality headwear,” says Jonathan Lau, Authentic Caps president and COO. The flagship store carries over 500 cap styles inspired by different sports leagues and iconic characters, including the much celebrated 59FIFTY fitted cap which is considered as the premium cap of choice. A cool highlight of the store is a cap-blocking machine; it reshapes newly bought caps and freshens up worn ones.

The brand has archived a comprehensive collection with design licenses for Marvel, Disney, Star Wars, Looney Tunes, DC Comics, Peanuts, Wu Tang Clan, Flintstones, and Muhammad Ali, while its sports licenses include Major League Baseball (MLB), National Hockey League (NHL), National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Football League (NFL).

New Era also carries apparel, bags, cap care products and other cap accessories. Check out the first store located at the upper ground floor of SM Megamall Building B.

For more information about New Era Philippines, visit their Facebook page at New Era Cap Ph and follow them on Instagram @NewEraCapPH.

C3LIFEF R I D AY : A U G U S T 2 8 : 2 0 1 5

l i f e @ t h e s t a n d a r d . c o m . p h @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d

At the SM Store, global brands like Converse, Pony, Supra, and Vans show how something as

fundamental as hi-top sneakers have transformed into ultra-cool, chic and fashionable wear for men. Incorporating functionality with style, hi-tops have come a long way. From the hard court into the streets, style is evident whether in classic or revised hybrid silhouettes, with fun and coolness in the on-trend designs.

Check out some of the new designs that make hi-tops so hip today:• Show stopping Prints and

Washes! Chuck Taylor’s All Star

has an Aztec pattern design, while its Washed Canvas Hi has a stonewashed upper that gives it a distressed look. Who says hi-tops aren’t hip?

• Going for Gum! Born out of practicality, gum soles were initially developed for hard court sports. Converse Chuck Taylor’s All-Star Tri-Panel Hi has a textured gum rubber toe accent that really makes it cool and gives better grip than plastic soled footwear, while ensuring no marks are left on playing surfaces.

• Getting Textural! Make a bold statement with woven styles and exotic fabrications. Leather

and canvas lead the way in Converse’s Pro Field Hi, while Converse Chuck Taylor’s All Star Tri Panel Hi has a canvas upper with suede accents.

• The Great White Way! As the epitome of minimalist style, white sneakers have been an off-duty wardrobe staple since the days of Newman, Dean, and McQueen. In today’s reboot of the iconic silhouette, white sneakers have found their way into the wardrobes of a whole new generation of cool men.

High-top sneakers are available at the Men’s Shoes Department of all SM Stores

MEN’S HIGH-TOP SNEAKERS GO HIGH IN STYLE AT THE SM STORE

Converse Chuck Taylor’s All Star Tri-Panel Hi has a durable canvas upper with suede accents in a high-top silhouette. Signature Chuck Taylor All Star rubber toe box, textured gum rubber toe bumper, medial-side air-vent portholes and Converse All Star heel patch complete the look.

Chuck Taylor All Star’s Aztec pattern pair

Pony’s Feed the Cat High amps up your style game with its classic skater shoes silhouette. Armed with authenticity, these shoes are inspired by the sports heritage; blending classic and innovative design with relevant performance benefits.

Chuck Taylor’s All Star Washed Canvas Hi has a pigment sprayed and stonewashed upper to go along with a white washed midsole and toecap. The distressed technique gives it an authentic, “been there and done that” appearance.

Supra Vaider has a stylishly designed high top upper on a vulcanized sole that supplies excellent traction and board feel. A padded collar and tongue lining provide superior comfort.

Smart and simple. High-top sneakers are best worn with a simple outfit – think Kanye West – with sneakers not competing with the rest of the look.

Straightforward Style. Let your high-top sneakers do the talking.

Cool and comfy classic high-top sneakers can be the modern guy’s best buddy.

New Era Cap launches first store in Manila

C4 LIFEF R I D AY : A U G U S T 2 8 : 2 0 1 5

l i f e @ t h e s t a n d a r d . c o m . p h @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d

The links between patrimony, tradition, heritage, and contemporary art was evident at the recent

Festival Internationale des Textiles Extra Ordinaires (FITE) fashion presentation at the SM Aura Premier.

A unique platform that promotes textile as a representation of culture and heritage on the international stage, the presentation gathered craftsmen, textile designers, fashion designers, weavers, artists, collections, decorators, and the general public across all continents to show the human, economic, and ecological challenges inherent in extraordinary textiles.

Launched by the HS Projets Association and co-organized by

the city of Clermont-Ferrand and the Bargoin Museum in 2012, FITE travels through five continents, taking place every  even year in Clermont-Ferrand in France.  Every odd year, like this 2015, the event is held outside of France. Through a rich and diverse program, FITE becomes the venue for artists, stylists, and designers to discuss the craft of textiles and gain a different perspective in the world.

A joint project of the Embassy of France in the Philippines, the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, HABI The Philippine Textile Council, and SM Aura Premier, the event is part of the ongoing Renaissance Exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila. Under the patronage of UNESCO, the

exhibit presents a series of textiles that juxtapose diverse heritage pieces and contemporary collections.

During the event, Dr. Kinor Jiang, Fanyu Tsang, Shu Sun, and Guoxiang Yuan from Hong Kong, Diane Sparks from the US, Carmen Rion from Mexico, and our very own Patis Tesoro showcased collections that promote textiles as a representation of culture and heritage.

Dr. Jiang is a former faculty at the Central Academy of Arts and Design and Tsinghua University who specializes in textile design and fashion art, the history and culture of traditional materials and processes, and the utilization of textile to combine aesthetics and functional properties.

Fanyu Tsang on the other hand is a Fashion and Textiles Design student in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Fanyu was a finalist at the 2015 Hong Kong Young Designers’ Contest in Contemporary Day-Wear Group, and the winner of Best Accessories Design Award with his menswear collection – yon. Fanyu set up his own fashion brand, “Tsang Fan Yu,” to develop menswear ready-to-wear and accessories goods.

Diane Sparks is a Professor at the Department of Design & Merchandising at Colorado State University. Her research includes the study of ethnographic textiles, Cross-Cultural Apparel Design and Wearable Art Design. Her studio work integrates Asian surface design techniques. 

Guoxiang Yuan and Shu Sun are both Research Associates at the Institute of Textiles and Clothing at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Yuan’s research focuses on the textile surface treatment in textile and fashion design, and brand management. Sun’s research on the other hand deals on protective clothing and intelligent sportswear.

Carmen Rion for her part works closely with indigenous Mexican women, engaging them in the fashion business and in developing designs.

Patis Tesoro is known as the “Grand Dame of Philippine Fashion” because of her creative and

classic designs using indigenous Filipino materials such as abaca, Mindanao silk, and piña. Ms. Tesoro participated in previous editions of the FITE, most notably at the fashion show at the Hué Museum of Culture in Vietnam.

The FITE Fashion show, supported by Max Factor and the Beauty section of The SM Store, is one of many interesting cultural events that mall goers can enjoy at the SM Aura Premier.

An extraordinary fashion showInternational Festival of Extraordinary Textiles presented at SM AURA

Dr. Kinor Jiang from Hong Kong, Patis Tesoro from the Philippines, Carmen Rion from Mexico, and Fanyu Tsang also from Hong Kong take a bow during the show’s finale

Designer Patis Tesoro, The Plaza’s Maryjo Ferraren, SM’s Millie Dizon, Filipino Heritage Festival, Inc. President Armita Rufino and PTV’s Bridging Borders host Veronica Baluyot-Jimenez.

Accessories designer Carissa Cruz Evangelista (right) with former Cebu Representative Cutie Del Mar

HABI: The Philippine Textile Council President Monserrat David

(From left): Talking global fashion. Fashion Designer Patis Tesoro, architect Augusto Villalon, French Embassy Cultural Attache George Natier, Honorary Consul of Monaco to the Philippines Fortune Ledesma, SM SVP for Marketing and Communications Millie Dizon, Metropolitan Museum of Manila President Tina Colayco and Festival International Des Textiles Extra Ordinaires (FITE) curator Christine Athenor at the FITE Fashion Show at SM Aura Premier

SHOWBITZi s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

C5ISAH V. REDE D I T O R

F RIDAY : AUGUST 28 : 2015

Solar Entertainment Corporation, through its pioneering head Wil-son Tieng and festival director Brillante Mendoza, announced the five official entries for Sinag Maynila 2016. More than 100 en-tries were submitted and screened but only five qualified and each will receive a grant of P2 million.

Dyamper by Mes de Guzman is about Apeng, Poknat and Tinoy. The trio is known as “dyampers” (robbers) preying on rice delivery trucks along the winding roads of Dalton Pass. In one of their op-erations, they discover a batch of potentially dangerous and illegal substances being transported in the guise of legitimate merchan-dise. From crooks, they suddenly transform to a pack of heroes on a dangerous mission.

Expressway by Ato Bautista is a film about Ben, a long-time hand in a big criminal syndicate. He is on a last illicit operation before his retirement from the mob. He is also assigned to mentor his partner Morris, a newbie in the business out to prove his worth as a mem-ber. This “mission”, for the both of them, turns out to be a journey of introspection, self-healing and ul-timate redemption.

Lila by Gino M. Santos focus-es on a young lady at the brink of self-destruction due to a consum-ing past. She decides to live with an understanding and warm land-lady for a chance at a fresh start and atonement for the past. The “house” however has other plans.

MRS by Adolf Alix, Jr. tells of Virginia, an elderly woman of 70 years, living in a house directly on top of an earthquake fault line. When her loyal maid asks for her permission to leave for good, a por-trait of human pathos and emotion-al depth unfolds between a mother and a daughter trying to juggle the unavoidable and sad realities of life.

TPO (Temporary Protection Order) by Joselito Altarejos nar-rates the story of

Teresa, a battered wife, who at-

5 films in sinagmaynila 2016

tempts to obtain relief from her un-bearable circumstances by filing a Temporary Protection Order against her abusive husbad. She unwittingly falls victim again to a corrupt system of the bureaucracy that is full of ne-glect, indifference and ineptness.

Certain entries to the Sinag Maynila Film Festival have been invited to join international film festivals. Among them are Bam-banti (Montreal World Film Festi-val), in Canada until Sept. 7 under Focus on World Cinema (invited

for screening), Imbisibol (Toronto International Film Festival) from Sept. 10 to 20 and also in Canada under Contemporary World Cin-ema Programme (in competition), and also to the Focus on Asia Inter-national Film Festival (Fukuoka, Ja-

pan) from Sept.18 to 25 (invited for screening) and SWAP (San Sebas-tian International Film Festival) in Span from Sept. 18 to 26, Zabalteg! (invited for screening).The 2nd Sinag Maynila Film Festi-val will run in March 2016.

An idealistic group of student activists travel from New York City to the Am-azon to save a vanishing native tribe, but their small plane crashes in the jungle. They are then taken hostage by the very natives they want to protect and find out for themselves that NO GOOD DEED GO UNPUNISHED.

In an interview, film director Eli Roth states his love for this film genre saying ”Cannibal Holocaust is an amazing film, and very much of its time period. You could never repli-cate what Deodato did, or what did in 1981’s Cannibal Ferox, which was another inspiration. They filmed with real indigenous tribes, and we went to a village that was completely cut off from civilization….What I am most proud of is (The Green Inferno) looks and feels authentic, I used to think Cannibal Holocaust was real, even knowing it was a movie, it just looked and felt like these people really exist-ed. That’s what I wanted in the Green

Inferno: The village has to look and feel like a real, functioning society”.

Asked about how he dealt with the challenge of language barrier in mak-ing The Green Inferno in a very remote place in Peru, Roth says, “I learned basic words in Quechua which the older generation spoke and they all learned English, so by the end we all had our own mix of languages we used to communicate.”

Regarding the amount of time it took

to finish the film, Roth candidly re-marks, “I can’t believe how long it’s tak-en. We shot the film in the fall of 2012, premiered it at Toronto Film Festival in 2013, where we sold it to Open Road. However, there was a disagreement with the financier and Open Road, and the deal unraveled… Everyone kept cool, and instead of suing (we) worked together to find a way for (horror stu-dio) Blumhouse/Tilt to release the film theatrically in a wide release, and they all did that for the sake of the fans.”

Director Eli Roth on account of the exposure to the Amazons while film-ing The Green Inferno, is teaming with a campaign to preserve at least 20,000 acres of the Amazon rain forest as part of the promotion for Green Inferno.

Solar Pictures is releasing The Green Inferno in the Philippines. The film stars Lorenza Izzo, Ariel Levy, Aaron Burns, Kirby Bliss Blanton and Daryl Sabara in the lead roles. Showing this September inyour favorite theaters.

‘The Green Inferno’ In SepTember

Poster congratulating the directors of films chosen as official entries to Sinag Maynila 2016

Poster of the film The Green Inferno

A scene from the horror film The Green Inferno

SHOWBITZC6i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

F RIDAY : AUGUST 28 : 2015

ACROSS 1 Grooves 5 Twine 9 El —, Texas 13 Hydrox rival 14 Mid-afternoon 15 Type of rug 16 Ponderosa son 17 Do a double-take 18 Ice palace 19 — uno 21 Mauna —

A N S W E R F O R P R E V I O U S P U Z Z L E

CROSSWORD PUZZLE FRIDAY,

AUGUST 28, 2015

22 Explains further 23 Fumbler’s word 25 Pen points 27 Hassling continuously 31 Set free 35 Aspirin target 36 Amoebas have one 38 Martini garnish 39 Good name for a cook? 40 Hyundai headquarters

42 Toshiba rival 43 Birdcage swing 46 Go postal 47 Name in cheesecake 48 Less fresh 50 Determination 52 Freeway ramp 54 Costa — 55 Dramatic intro (hyph.) 58 Rocket trajectory 60 Conger catchers 64 Type of mitt 65 Eagle’s gripper 67 Thud 68 Hit the ground 69 Take in a stray 70 Madame Bovary 71 Heavy hydrogen discoverer 72 Equinox mo. 73 Take-charge type

DOWN 1 Dappled horse 2 Pakistan’s language 3 Gridiron unit 4 Whoever 5 Amigo of Fidel 6 Ph.D. exam 7 Spy mission 8 Itemize 9 Shade provider

10 Moistureless 11 Email option 12 Shade trees 14 Equatorial zones 20 16.5 feet 24 Dirty look 26 Scary yell 27 Briefcase closers 28 Sonnet stanza 29 “Star Trek” lieutenant 30 Take malicious delight 32 Red Sea peninsula 33 Turn inside out 34 Dental woe 37 German pistol 41 Relaxed 44 Neatly 45 Evil eye 47 Cut too short 49 Dogie catchers 51 The Red Baron, for one 53 Barter 55 Soy product 56 Maintain 57 Edit out 59 Hoofbeat 61 Dagwood’s neighbor boy 62 Chariot race locale 63 Dispute 66 — out (withdraw)

PEO

PLE

ALDUb The phenomenal love team of Al-den Richards and Maine Mendo-za a.k.a. Yaya Dub shows no signs of slowing down. Amid criticism that Eat Bulaga is just using the tandem as the show’s cash cow, fans couldn’t care less. Its last Satur-day’s show set an unexpected 2.15 million tweets with the hashtag #ALDUBAgainstALLODDS. The hashtag also dominated top-trend-ing topics on Twitter Worldwide. Sorry Vice Ganda, but you can no longer use “the trending capital of Philippines” tag.

MEgAn YOUngIt seems that the former Miss World has made a good career move. It’s evident that GMA Network is giving Megan all the exposure she needs. First, the Marimar role was given to her, now she’s chosen to host another talent search. Don’t be surprised if people would call her the face of GMA 7 for being so ubiquitous.

HOnOR THY FATHERThe suspense crime film is among the 60 films added in the 40th To-ronto International Film Festival programming. That means this latest Erik Matti film will be seen by an international audience first before local cinemagoers do. It doesn’t really matter, really, what’s important is that local films are getting noticed. So please, enough of the formula films and give us more like this.

SARAH gEROniMOShe won the 10th Internation-al Singing Competition: The Global Sound. And her fans rejoiced for this recognition. But doing a little research, the competition is just an online poll. So far, it has named 10 singers as winners in a span of three years. So where’s the prestige there? Sorry, it’s not worth the hype.

MARTin niEvERAHe almost put himself in hot water after he raised the ques-tion “What has happened to the noon time shows on Sun-day?” on Twitter. Although he was able to explain what he really meant, people were already given the impression that the aging singer was just afraid to lose his job in the now teen dominated musical variety show. Of course, that was the exact same thing we thought about when we read Martin’s rant.

STARSTRUCkAs if the number of reality searches we have on the telly were not enough, the Kapuso artista search is returning with a new batch of showbiz wan-nabes. But please, we just want to know, is StarStruck still rele-vant? Has it ever produced any stars in its previous edition? Please refresh our memory.

... ARE

TALkingAbOUT

nOT

b

ack-to-back action-packed animé series are back in GMA Astig Authority.At 7:35 a.m,, Hunter X

Hunter returns with the characters Gon, Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio who cross paths while on their way

to pursuing the same dream of be-coming a Hunter. This profession specializes in locating unusual spe-cies, hidden treasures and unlawful people. With each of their personal motives in mind, they get to know one another as they are about to

take the Hunter Examination. Will a brewing friendship help them stand against all the challenges that will come along their way?

Meanwhile, coming in at 8 a.m. is another hunter who lives with big dreams and undeniable physi-

cal strength. In this anime, Toriko is an extraordinary hunter who does not pursue bandits nor hidden jew-els, but unique spices that can im-prove his culinary skills. His dream is to come up with the most unique dish that contains the rarest ingredi-

ents. Working alongside Toriko is a weakly chef named Komatsu, who motivates him in all his endeavors. Will he be able to live out his dream?

Follow these hunters’ journey weekday mornings after Home Foodie on GMA.

‘Hunter X Hunter’ and ‘toriko baCk’ on GMa

... ARETALkingAbOUT

John Lloyd Cruz in Honor Thy Father

Megan Young

Fan made photo of AlDub

Martin Nievera

Sarah Geronimo

Showbiz wannabe joins StarStruck new season

SHOWBITZ C7i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

One of the most successful and influential British bands of the 1980s which shot to internation-al prominence during the New Romantic Era, Spandau Ballet is coming for a one-night-only concert on Sept. 21, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.. Ovation Productions in asso-ciation with Dainty Group Asia is mounting the musical event in Manila as part of the Asian leg of the band’s world tour dubbed Soul Boys of the Western World Live! and in support of its docu-mentary film of the same title. The show brings to Manila all five original members of the iconic group -- Tony Hadley (lead singer), John Keeble (drums), Gary Kemp (guitar), Martin Kemp (bass) and Steve Norman (guitar) -- to per-form live for the first time their smash-hit songs for Filipino fans. Among the band’s greatest hits which have captivated millions worldwide are “True,” “Gold,” “Through the Barricades,” “I’ll Fly For You,” “Lifeline,” “Round And Round,” “Communication,” “Highly Strung” and “Only When You Leave,” and many others. Formed in London in 1976, Spandau Ballet was inspired by the New Romantic movement, a youth cultural phenomenon sweeping the West End at the time, and became one of the most success-ful groups to emerge in the music scene during that period. It evolved from a punk band to a power pop group before its sound and style became more electronic and transformed it into a synthesized dance pop act after it played in such clubs as Billy’s and Blitz where the New Romantic Era was spearheaded. It launched its recording career with the release of its debut single, “To Cut A Long Story Short,” which reached No. 5 in the United King-dom in the late 1980s -- the first of 10 UK Top 20 hits that also includ-

ed a No. 1 single in 1983 with the song, “True,” a No. 2 single, “Gold,” and a No. 3 single, “Only When You Leave,” its last American hit. “True” was Spandau Ballet’s biggest hit after it peaked at No. 1 in the UK singles charts on April 30, 1983 for four weeks to be-come the sixth biggest selling sin-gle of the year and charted highly in 20 other countries. It is also the group’s most-re-membered song in the US, reach-ing No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the autumn of 1983 and topping the adult contemporary chart for one week. In 1984, the band took part in the Band Aid charity single, fol-lowed the next year by its atten-dance at Wembley Stadium as part of Live Aid, during which it gave an inspired performance of “True” before thousands of excited fans. The latest tribute earned by “True” came this year when it was voted by the British public as the nation’s tenth favorite 1980s No. 1 in a poll for television. For over three decades, the band has sold more than 25 mil-lion records worldwide, scored numerous multi-platinum al-bums and amassed 23 hit singles across the globe. After splitting up in 1990, Spandau Ballet reunited in Octo-ber, 2009 with a world tour start-ing with eight play dates across Ireland and the UK, followed by a tour in Australia with Tears for

Fears in April, 2010. In recognition of its successful return to the music and concert scene, Virgin Media honored Spandau Ballet as the Best Come-back Band of 2009 at the Virgin Media Awards. The group got together and hit the road again in 2014 to pro-mote a documentary about its members and the 1980s culture more broadly, Soul Boys of the Western World, which premiered at the Royal Albert Hall. The band also attended South by Southwest (its first public ap-pearance in North America since 1985) and the Cannes Film Festival to drum up support for the film. Its current world tour is taking Spandau Ballet to major cities in the United States, Europe, the Mid-dle East and Australia before mak-ing stops in Asia for shows in Sin-gapore, Manila and Hong Kong.. (“Soul Boys Of The Western World Live!” is presented in Ma-nila by Ovation Productions in association with Dainty Group Asia. It is also supported by Fox Channel, National Geographic, StarWorld, Philippine Star, Ma-nila Bulletin , BusinessWorld , City of Dreams and Nobu Ho-tel. Tickets are priced at P6,750, P5,750, P4,750, P3,750 and P2,750 plus applicable charges. Tickets are available at all SM Tickets outlets and online at www.smtickets.com. For more info, call 02-470-2222 ).

N

ext month, CNN’s Culinary Journeys fea-tures the doy-

enne of French cuisine, Chef Hélène Darroze.

Cooking runs in the blood of Darroze, who says she was “born in a kitchen and grew up in a pan”. She sharpened her culinary skills in the kitchen of maestro Alain Ducasse, at a time when women were few and far between in the world’s great restaurants.

Darroze now divides her time between her Miche-lin-starred restaurants in Paris and London, and was

recently awarded the 2015 Veuve Clicquot World’s Best Female chef title. Her culinary footprint has in-spired a new generation of female cooks – as well as a character in the 2007 Pixar animated film Ratatouille.

In the program, Dar-roze swaps the boulevards of Paris for the gothic al-leyways of Edinburgh, as she embarks on a Cu-linary Journey to Scot-land. Along her journey she joins local chef Tom Kitchin to sample a dish whose name alone stirs Scottish taste buds, but can strike fear into the

faint-hearted: haggis.Culinary Journeys is a

series of monthly half-hour shows on CNN In-ternational, which feature world-renowned chefs on a journey to explore the cuisine of one of the world’s food hotspots. In each ep-isode, the cookery travel-ogue sees a chef leave the bustle of their own kitchen to discover a culinary expe-rience in another country.

It airs on CNN Inter-national on Sept. 4, 11:30 p.m. with replays on Sept. 6, 8:30 a.m., Sept. 8, 5:30 p.m. and 11:30 a.m. on Sept.9.

F RIDAY : AUGUST 28 : 2015

A CulinAry journey with FrenCh CheF helene DArroze

Soul Siren Nina will have a special per-formance at Hard Rock Café (HRC) 9:30 tonight. Hard rockers can look forward to an intimate eve-ning of beauti-ful music as Nina dishes out live a sampling of her great-est hits as well as a selection of today’s hottest chart-top-

pers, party a n t h e m s , and home-grown fa-v o r i t e s . Other fea-tured art-ists at HRC this month are OPM hit-maker

Jinky Vidal back to back with show band Streetbeat (Aug. 29), Part 3 (Aug. 30), and Main Cast (Aug. 31).

NiNa at Hard rock café

 SpAnDAu BAllet in

MAnilA on Sept. 21

Spandau Ballet is made up of Steve Norman, Martin Kemp, Tony Hadley, Gary Kempand John Keeble.

Nina performs her hit songs at Hard Rock Cafe tonight

Jinky Vidal goes on the Hard Rock stage tomorrow night

Chef Helene Darroze with Chef Alain Ducasse

Chef Helene Darroze one of few female chefs At the kitchen with Chef Helene Darroze

C8 ISAH V. REDE D I T O R

F RIDAY : AUGUST 28 : 2015

SHOWBITZ

American singer  Ar-iana Grande  staged a sold out concert at the Mall of Asia Are-

na proving why she is the next big thing on the international music scene. She paid tribute to Whitney Houston and Ma-donna singing their classic hits as if saying that they’re already a thing of the past and she’s the pop star to watch out for. We can encapsulate our ex-perience at  The Honeymoon Tour concert held on Sunday in just three words – surprising, entertaining and deafening. The 22-year-old singer is very well known for her four-octave soprano vocal range, but what is more surprising about the petite chanteuse is her ability to sustain high notes and keep her voice solid and strong amid the difficulty of each number that required her to follow an elabo-rate choreography ( beat that!). The former child star start-ed the show with the bang of Jesse J’s irresistibly catchy “Bang Bang.” In high heels and leg-revealing outfit, she spoke little (which was limited to “I can’t hear you” and “Make some noise, Manila”) and sang a lot, unleashing her powerful vocals that validated (at least to our ears) her outstanding singing ability. And it was un-derstandable; she came here to sing in the first place. It’s also interesting how kissing a dancer, swaying her hips and by just raising her hand could launch the audi-ence into frenzy. Similarly, by looking at how audience responded with loud shrieks, you’ll already get entertained. Imagine even celebrities like  Kim Chiu,  Liza Sober-ano  and  Kathryn Bernar-do  were screaming like any other rabid fans that sported Ariana’s signature cat ears and trooped to the venue. Talk about becoming mere mortals for a night. The show is very entertain-ing, to say the least. Ariana did not need any extravagant stage design – her vocals as her in-

strument and her undeniable stage presence were more than enough to punctuate her Ma-nila tour a resounding success. She did not disappoint the fans. The show featured all the trappings of a big-time pop spectacle, including a top-notch band, athletic dancers, DJ and a string quar-tet, plus cool lighting. Her biggest hits culled from her two multi-platinum records like “Yours Truly,” “My Every-thing,” “Be My Baby,” “Right There,” “The Way,” “Baby-I,” “Tattooed Heart,” “One Last Try,” “Love Me Harder,” “Honeymoon Avenue” and seven other songs, which she sang in quick succession, were all part of the set list. And by the end of the con-cert we could no longer hear ourselves. Perhaps it was the extremely loud sound system and the collective shrieks and screams of thousands of fans that reverberated in the Arena. “I just wanted to say thank you. I love you guys so, so much. I wanted to perform for you guys for such a long time… So I’m finally here. I’m happy to finally see you guys in person. And hopefully I’ll come back soon,” she told her fans before ending the show.

We can encapsulate

our experience at The

Honeymoon Tour concert

held on Sunday in just

three words – surprising, entertaining

and deafening

AriAnA GrAnde BAnG-BAnGS MAnilA

Ariana and her dancers

Ariana did not just showcase her flawless voice, she also flaunted her killer legs

Ariana during the show's encore

Ariana opened the show with Bang Bang number

Ariana with male dancers

Ariana's Honeymoon Tour concert was both visual and vocal spectacle

Soaring high - Ariana was hitting high notes while dancing onstagepHoToS By Nickie WANg

Ariana grande belting out some familiar tunes

BY Nickie WANg

i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m