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M is forMaserati

VOL. XXIX NO. 97 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 MONDAY : MAY 25, 2015 www.manilastandardtoday.com editorial@thestandard.com.ph

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Uninvestigated. Vice President Jejomar Binay is asking why neither Senate President Franklin Drilon (left) nor Budget Secretary Florencio Abad Jr. (above) have been investigated by the Anti-Money Laundering Council.

VP: DRILON, ABADDESERVE PROBE

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Commemoration. Filipinos participate in creating a huge peace sign in an event called “Handshake for Peace” in Manila on May 24. The event commemorated the 70 years since World War II ended to inspire people to condemn war and to crusade for peace. AFP

Plan to turnVP’s friendinto witness‘premature’

Binay: Why aren’t Abad,Drilon probed by AMLC?

Abad was the brains behind the Disbursement Acceleration Pro-gram (DAP), which detained Sena-tor Jinggoy Estrada said was used to bribe members of Congress.

In a privilege speech in 2013, Es-trada revealed that several senators received P50 million to P100 million after the Senate impeachment court voted to convict President Benigno Aquino III’s political enemy, Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Abad said some P10 billion or 7 percent of the P144 billion of savings pooled under DAP went to projects identified or endorsed by senators and congressmen.

Drilon topped the list of senators, getting P100 million from DAP.

The Supreme Court later struck down significant provisions of Abad’s DAP as unconstitutional.

Drilon has also been linked to anomalies over the construction of the P700 million Iloilo Convention Center.

Former Iloilo provincial admin-istrator Manuel Mejorada accused Drilon and the two other Cabinet officials of pocketing public funds from the overpriced construction of the convention center.

Last week, the Office of the Ombudsman junked the plunder and malversation charges against Drilon, Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson and Tourism Secre-tary Ramon Jimenez Jr., saying there was no basis to charge them over the Iloilo convention center.

Interviewed in Mactan, Cebu, Saturday night, Binay question why

AMLC, which he claimed is being used by the administration for po-

litical oppression, is not looking into the accounts of leaders of the Liberal Party, of which President Aquino is the national chairman.

Binay also said that the funds in the bank accounts frozen by the AMLC was hard-earned money that belonged to him and his wife, an ob-stetrician who also served as Makati mayor.

“My acccount that were frozen, in the name of God and the public, that’s clean money. I earned that. I was a practicing lawyer. My wife is a practicing doctor. I was teach-ing and I’m fond of saving money. That’s clean money,” Binay said.

Of the 242 bank accounts the AMLC ordered frozen, only five are under his name, Binay said.

“If I had 242 accounts, I would be even richer than Bill Gates,” Binay said.

Moreover, Binay noted that when a bank account was frozen, it does not automatically mean the owner of the account is guilty of commit-ting an offense.

“Under the law, AMLC must have to look for predicate crime. Where did this money come from?”

“They won’t find anything there, so it’s sad. And they also froze the accounts of my friends, even the accounts of their children, and par-ents. This is too much,” Binay said.

The AMLC obtained an order from the Court of Appeals to freeze 242 bank, insurance and security ac-counts of Binay, his family and alleged dummies, totaling P16 billion. Binay’s frozen assets totaled P600 million.

The freeze order was also based on the findings that Binay’s state-

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

VICE President Jejomar C. Binay blasted the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Sunday for failing to investigate the bank accounts of Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Senate President Frank-lin Drilon and other leaders of the Liberal Party who have been linked to anomalous transactions

ments of assets, liabilities and net worth showed incomes from 2007 to 2013 of the Binays to be “dispro-portionate to the values,

frequency and complexity of their banking transactions.”

The CA order stemmed from the Ombudsman’s investigation of the Makati Parking Building, allegedly overpriced by P1.3 billion, and the Makati Science High School.

The court took note of the AMLC findings that Gerardo Limlingan, Eduviges Baloloy and other alleged dummies withdrew funds from their bank accounts after the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on the alleged anomalies.

The records of the Securities and Exchange Commission also showed probable links of entities, their di-rectors and officers to the Vice Pres-ident and his family, the court said.

The Ombudsman is investigating the allegations after a plunder com-plaint was filed by Renato Bondal and Nicholas Enciso VI against Binay, his son Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Bi-nay Jr. and other city officials.

The Vice President’s lawyer, Claro Certez, fired back at AMLC for mis-leading the CA by deliberately omit-ting and concealing several details about his bank accounts.

This included omitting the fact that Binay received campaign con-tributions of P231 million and in-curred expenses of P218 million, which were all reported in his state-ment of campaign contributions and expenses filed with the Com-mission on Elections.

“The AMLC was also not truthful with the Court of Appeals because it deliberately concealed the fact that Vice President Binay and his wife were earning additional income from their respective businesses in addition to the Vice President’s sal-ary. All these information were duly reported in the income tax returns of the Vice President that span for almost three decades and on file with the Bureau of Internal Rev-enue,” Certeza said.

On Sunday, Binay said he will present himself in the 2016 elections

as a presidential candidate with exec-utive experience and competence, and said a committee within his United Nationalist Alliance party would rec-ommend his running mate.

In an interview in Mactan, Cebu, Saturday night, Binay said he was not referring to anybody when he spoke about his personal view on the need for experience and compe-tence in a presidential candidate.

“When I spoke about these, it was from my personal point of view. That’s how I will present myself... on the issue of experience and com-petence.... I wasn’t alluding to any-body,” he said.

Binay’s remarks were widely seen as being directed at neophyte Sena-tor Grace Poe, who the ruling Lib-eral Party is trying to recruit for the 2016 elections.

Poe, reacting to Binay’s state-ment, said that more than experi-ence and competence, a candidate should have honesty.

She went on to say that Binay has yet to face the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee and address the cor-ruption allegations against him.

Binay on Sunday said the UNA will suggest his vice president after screening potential candidats for the position.

“We are considering a number of people to be my vice president,” he said.

He said Davao City Mayor Rod-rigo Duterte, whom he said has the executive experience and compe-tence, is among those being con-sidered.

Binay said the ruling Liberal Party was attacking him with al-legations of corruption because he consistently topped opinion polls for the 2016 presidential election.

“They attacked me, they per-petrated lies against me because I am a candidate for president, and my ratings are high. If I were not a candidate, or if I did not have high ratings, they will not fabricate lies against me,” he said.

Binay said he would not give up, however, saying surrender was not in his vocabulary.

THE talks on the possibil-ity of making businessman Gerardo Limlingan a state witness to pin down Vice President Jejomar Binay on corruption charges during his stint as mayor of Makati are “still premature,” Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Sunday.

“It’s still premature to talk about that. I think that was just an offer,” De Lima said when asked to comment on the statement of Senator Alan Peter Cayetano that Limlingan could be used as a state witness against Binay.

She said the Senate had not yet sought her department’s assistance on the matter, say-ing her department could not just intervene on the matter.

“We do not know whether they already contacted Mr. Limlingan, so let the Senate attend to that and we will just wait if there will be an appropriate request from the Senate,” De Lima said.

She said the Senate could normally ask her department to cover the personalities in-volved in its inquiry under the witness protection pro-gram, citing the earlier re-quest to place former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Merca-do under the program.

She said there were re-quirements before a respond-ent or accused in a criminal case could qualify as state witness.

She said her department, through the National Bureau of Investigation, was now fo-cused on hunting down Lim-lingan and the other people ordered arrested by the Sen-ate for contempt for not co-operating in the investiga-tion.

“The NBI has reported to me that they have not really seen him. They have traced the addresses of Mr. Lim-lingan but he was not found there,” De Lima said.

She declined to comment on the reported statement of Limlingan—through his lawyers—denying his al-leged role as Binay’s bagman in during his term as mayor of Makati City.

“I don’t think I’m in a po-sition to be expressing my opinion or comments on that because the issue is not with us. The hearings are before the Senate,” De Lima said said.

“We will just wait for what-ever the senate committee would refer to us, and that’s when we can come in.” Rey E. Requejo

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Against the BBL. Members of various organizations protested at the Rizal Park against the Bangsamoro Basic Law on Sunday, saying it will subvert Philippine sovereignty and divide the people. DAnny PAtA

Unsightly connections. Water hoses lie on a narrow street in Philcoa, Quezon City, that are connected to the homes of squatters in the area. MAnny PALMero

‘MRT, LRT safety is govt’s concern’

Marcos sees clash between House, Senate BBL versions

Biden hits Chinese expansionUS Vice President Joe Biden attacked China’s aggressive expansion in the South China Sea, saying Friday that Beijing’s actions raised the potential for conflict in the region.

In the graduation cer-emony at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Biden said Chi-nese actions in the South China Sea were testing the principles of peacefully re-solving territorial disputes and ensuring freedom of navigation in the crucial waterway.

“They’re building air strips, they’re placing oil rigs,” said Biden, the highest ranking American official to date to criticize Beijing.

He also cited China’s uni-lateral ban on fishing, the declaration of air defense zones, and the massive rec-lamation of land in disput-ed territories.

Addressing the graduates from the naval academy, Biden added: “We are go-ing to look to you to uphold these principles wherever they are challenged [and] to strengthen our growing security partnerships and to make good on our un-shakeable commitment to the mutual defense of our allies.”

Biden also said that US policy was shifting toward a stronger presence in the Asia-Pacific region. By 2020, he said, 60 percent of the US naval forces would be in the region.

Biden’s remarks came in the wake of a row with Beijing over US reconnais-sance flights in the region last week.

In a radio interview Sun-day, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the govern-ment should tap Filipino-Chinese taipans who main-tain businesses in China to talk to their friends there while official diplomacy continued.

“So there will be official and unofficial talks with the Chinese,” Marcos said.

He said the government should explore all possible solutions to ease the tension now that the Americans have entered the picture.

“This means the problem is becoming more compli-cated,” Marcos said.

Senator Francis Escudero said he does not see the situ-ation escalating into war.

“China has no interest in a war in this part of the world,” he said. The Ameri-cans, with their huge debts to China, also had no inten-tion to go to war, he added. – Macon ramos-Araneta

THE government is con-tinuing to provide safety and comfort to the riders of the Light Rail Transit and the Metro Rail Transit despite the accident at the LRT's Monu-mento Station on Saturday, Malacañang said Sunday.

“The government does not stop providing safety and comfort to the riding pub-lic of the LRT and MRT,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. told the state-run dzRB radio.

He said the LRT’s manage-ment was still verifying the cause of the collision of two LRT coaches in Caloocan, but LRT spokesman Hern-ando Cabrera said Saturday there had been a power fluc-tuation in the area, and that messed up the communica-tion between the two trains.

Still, he said, the impact of the crash was not too strong as the trains were moving slowly.

But two lawmakers said the riders of the MRT and LRT were being packed like sardines and being squeezed “like corned beef” because of the trains’ continuing dete-rioration.

Neri Colmenares and Car-los Zarate said the Transport Department should be held to account for the billions in public funds that had been allotted to it to maintain the MRT and LRT.

Coloma on Sunday apolo-gized for Saturday’s mishap.

“We are asking an apology from our citizens while the government is fulfilling its duties to improve the serv-ices of the LRT and MRT,” he said.

But Colmenares and Za-rate said two major glitches had caused inconvenience to commuters over the past two days: the reduction of the MRT’s working trains to sev-en from eight on Friday last

week that resulted in lengthy queues, and the collision of two LRT-1 trains in Monu-mento on Saturday morning that hurt at least one rider.

Colmenares said the Transport Department ap-peared to be “playing with people’s lives” because the agency had yet to improve its maintenance of the MRT and LRT even after the de-railment of one of its trains on Taft Avenue in Pasay City last year that left 38 people injured.

He called for a scrutiny of all the contracts involving the MRT and LRT so the public would know how the DOTC was spending the budget allo-cated for train maintenance.

“We need to see and exam-ine all the contracts involving the MRT and LRT because it seems that we are being duped and short-changed,” Colmenares said. Sandy Araneta and rio n. Araja

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

SENATOR Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Sunday he sees a clash between the House-approved Bangsamoro Basic Law—the constitutionally infirm Pal-ace version—and the Senate version of the proposed meas-ure that aims to bring peace to Muslim Mindanao.

While he still could not pre-dict the Senate version, Mar-cos acknowledged a “looming showdown” between the sen-ators and congressmen in the bicameral conference com-mittee hearing on the BBL.

Marcos heads the Senate local government commit-tee that is tackling the public hearings on the BBL.

“From the committee re-port alone of Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, there were big changes. These are findings, knowledge and in-formation obtained from the hearings,” Marcos told DZBB radio.

“If you look at resource persons, they are brilliant and they were right. If you read the committee report, it is clear there were points [in the BBL] that were unconsti-

tutional.”Marcos made his statement

even as the members of civil society groups on Sunday praised the BBL’s approval in the House and expressed hope that the Senate would take its cue from it.

“We welcome the approval of the draft Basic Law in the House Ad Hoc committee,” said Gus Miclat, executive di-rector of the group Initiatives for International Dialogue.

“The BBL responds to the needs and aspirations of our brothers and sisters in the Bangsamoro,” said Dodo Ma-

casaet, executive director of the Caucus of Development NGO Networks.

Alexander Mama-o of the Filipino Alliance for Integ-rity and Reform and Jasmin Nario-Galace, co-convenor of WE ACT 1325, also praised the BBL’s approval.

Among the resource per-sons during Santiago’s Senate committee hearings on the constitutionality of BBL were former Supreme Court Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, Associate Justices Florentino Feliciano and Vicente Men-doza and former UP Law

Dean Merlin Magallona.Santiago said the BBL in its

present form could not be ap-proved by the Senate and the House acting only by them-selves because “it has to be promulgated by nothing less than an amendment to the Constitution.”

Marcos said it was clear that all the constitutional problems and infirmities that the con-gressmen tried to remedy in the BBL were returned to their original version.

“So this [BBL] is really con-stitutionally infirm,” Marcos said. With Sandy Araneta

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With less than a year before the May 2016 elections, politicians planning to run for President are already seeking your vote by trying to outdo each other in a bid to boost their chances of winning – or maybe to convince themselves that they should run.

Of 10 possible presidential contenders, only four have openly declared their plans to join the race. They are Vice President Jejomar Binay, Senate Majority Alan Peter Cayetano, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago and former Senator Panfilo Lacson, who recently quit as rehabilitation czar.

Other presidential contenders are Interior and Local Government Mar Roxas, Senators Grace Poe, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos and Francis “Chiz” Escudero and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

The tenth would-be candidate, detained Senator Bong Revilla, was believed to be all set to join the race, if he had not been charged and incarcerated for his alleged involvement in the multi-billion pork barrel scam.

Binay and Cayetano are frequently at odds in the media thanks to the hearings of the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee on the alleged corruption committed by the Vice President, of which Cayetano is a member.

The subcommittee, chaired by Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, has already conducted 21 hearings on the matter, the longest-ever held by the panel.

Cayetano is among the two

senators at the forefront of the Senate probe on Binay. The other is Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who earlier aired his intention to run for President, but later said Filipinos are “not yet ready” for a Trillanes presidency.

Binay was the earliest candidate to announce his plan to run for President in next year’s election.

While discharging his duties as Vice President and housing czar, distributing land titles to the poor, he is also busy warding off criticisms and charges of anomalies and questionable deals.

Binay has vehemently denied all corruption charges, but he never showed up at the Senate hearings. He insisted he was a mere target of dirty politics after announcing his desire to run for President in the upcoming elections.

Cayetano, in an obvious bid to entice voters, recently aired two political ads on television.

Binay also appeared in a TV ad sometime in 2009. In Binay’s “Ganito Kami Sa Makati,” he described the city “masaya, maunlad at maligaya,” which featured a woman clutching her baby saying the catchphrase “Ganito kami sa Makati, ganito sana sa buong Bayan.”

The Vice President, who was then Makati mayor, talked how residents enjoyed free hospitalization and free medicine, free education until college, and the “loving care” given to the senior citizens, who are given free movies, concerts and trips. During their birthdays, Makati gives them a birthday cake.

Presidential hopefuls, v. 2016By Macon Ramos-AranetaWho will run and who really isn’t in the running?

SPecial rePort

In Cayetano’s first political ad, the senator spelled out the gains of his hometown of Taguig like free education, job assistance and medical benefits. He also talked about low tax rates in Taguig and the city being an “ideal place” for investments.

Cayetano, who got a fresh term in the 2013 elections, ranking third in the Senate polls, declared that corruption is not allowed in Taguig, where his wife is mayor. The commercial said: “Sa Taguig, bawal ang corrupt kaya bigay todo ang biyaya. Masaya ang bawat pamilya!”

He has consistently tagged Binay, the perceived frontrunner in the 2016 presidential elections, as “corrupt.”

Viewers were recently treated to another political ad with the spiel “May pagbabagong tunay sa ating buhay, kapag may Kuya Alan.”

Santiago, for her part, said she wanted to reclaim the presidency that she claims she won in 1992, if she is cured after her battle with stage 4 lung cancer. She insists that former President Fidel Ramos cheated her in the election held 23 years ago.

Months later after revealing that she was stricken with the serious ailment in July last year, Santiago announced she had licked cancer.

“I am now contemplating on running for President as one of several career options,” she said.

Although she does not attend plenary sessions, she has been actively going around the country delivering speeches particularly before youth groups.

Santiago remains on medical leave due to her condition, but her office

says she remains the top-performing senator, having filed a total of 1,007 bills and resolutions from the start of the 16th Congress in June 2013 until the last session day of 2014.

Lacson, meanwhile, has confirmed that he is open to take another shot at seeking the presidency, but said it would still depend on his rankings in election surveys. He is doing consultations in different parts of the country to gauge if his presidential bid would gain ground.

“We are open, but it appears that I have been stuck to the senatorial race. If we are talking about running for senator, our rating is very high – 1 to 2. But [in the] the presidential [race], we are very low,” he said.

In the last nationwide survey, he obtained only one percent among the choices for President.

“I’m not saying that I don’t want to run. If we are talking about my intention, I can tell you directly that I have the intention,” he said.

Lacson ran for president in 2004, but was handily beaten by both former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the late Fernando Poe Jr.

He considers the possibility of a “Ping-Poe” tandem, referring to Senator Grace Poe. But in case Poe runs for President, he is willing to slide down and run for vice president with her instead.

A group of retired military and police officers earlier issued a manifesto urging Lacson and Poe to forge an alliance and run in tandem for higher office in 2016. But Acting Minority Leader Tito Sotto sees him only as a “dark horse” in the race.

Roxas, Poe, Marcos, Escudero and Duterte have been mum about their

presidential plans.Roxas, also the president-on-leave

of the Liberal Party, said he will accept any decision by President Benigno Aquino III and his party on who will be the administration’s presidential bet in the coming elections. .

“I am ready to abide by the decision. The biggest vote would come from the President,” said Roxas, referring to Aquino, the party’s national chairman.

LP members cannot seem to decide yet on the party’s standard bearer since some are pushing for Roxas while others want Poe. The President himself has openly admitted that he is looking for an “alternative candidate” who can continue his “Daang Matuwid” program of good governance and who can win the presidency. He even talked to Poe about her political plans and LP’s search for an alternative candidate to Binay.

The meeting gave the impression that LP might field Poe, also due to her strong showing in voters’ surveys.

While officially undecided about seeking higher office, Poe has shown indications that she might seize the opportunity and run for the presidency.

She even asked Aquino if the ruling LP will support her in case she decides to run, being a non-member of the party.

Poe, whose ascent in the political arena is due to the popularity of her late father, Fernando Poe Jr., was an absolute neophyte when she joined the senatorial eace in 2013. But she garnered the highest number of votes.

(Concluded tomorrow)

FiRst oF two pARts

sAntiAgo poe BinAy RoxAs CAyetAno

DuteRteesCuDeRoMARCoslACson

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Defense chief junksP1.2-b bidding mess

“In view of the allegations of Rhodora Alvarez aired over dzMM, the SND (Secretary of National Defense) categorically states that he has issued strict instructions to all DND officials to avoid acts of impropriety in all their dealings,” Gazmin’s spokesman Peter Paul Galvez said in a statement.

Earlier, Gazmin ordered the termination of the deal because the choppers were defective.

The whistleblower, Alvarez ,has just opened a “pandoras box” of corruption involving “big-ticket items” of the Armed Forces of the Philippine’s (AFP) Capability Upgrade Program and

Modernization Program which are being handled by his department’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC).

The deal originally involved 21 UH1H (Huey) helicopters, one of the multi-billion projects intended for the capability and modernization programs of the Philippine Air Force.

The commander of the Air Force, like the Army and Navy, is only allowed to bid out project worth no more than P25 million and the AFP chief is limited to P50 million worth of project. A project above P50 million is already under the jurisdiction of

the DND-BAC, a source saidBut instead of delivering the

right chopper that was much-delayed and done on a staggered delivery basis, the US-made UH1H was replaced by German-made “D” version of the Huey, the source said.

Alvarez, a director of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, claimed that she informed Gazmin of what she knew about the irregularities on the chopper deal between some members of the DND-Bids and Awards Committee and the joint venture of American Rice Aircraft Services, Inc. and Canadian Eagle Copter.

Marcos weighs in on KentexSENATOR Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Mar-cos Jr. has sought a Sen-ate investigation into the fire that killed 72 workers in Valenzuela City even as unionists lashed out at the Department of Labor and Empoyment’s issuance of a cease and desist order against the recruiter of the factory laborers.

Marcos has filed Senate Resolution 1365 directing the appropriate committee to look into the circumstances that led to the May 13 fire that razed the Kentex Manufac-turing Corporation.

In his resolution, Marcos stressed the need for legisla-

tive measures to enhance and strengthen occupational safety and health standards. Initial re-ports said the slipper factory had violated safety standards and several labor laws.

In the same vein, Senator Cynthia Villar earlier filed Senate Resolution No. 1346 Isaying that the possible vio-lation of OSH standards in the Kentex Factory should be investigated.

She also noted that viola-tion of the Fire Code which requires that a fire inspec-tion of the premises be con-ducted prior to the issuance or renewal of occupancy permit, business permit, or permit to operate, should

also be looked into.DOLE earlier said Kentex

had passed safety and health inspection in September 2014, or 8 months prior to the incident.

“That a factory like Ken-tex could pass the scrutiny of our labor inspectors calls into question how thorough these compliance checks are,” said Marcos.

On the labor front, the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino assailed the DOLE and called its cease and desist order against CJC Manpower a “much-delayed knee-jerk reaction” and a “mere public-ity stunt”. Sandy Araneta and Macon Ramos-Araneta

Balancing act. A motorcycle rider keeps his balance travelling along Edsa despite an overload of baggage. MANNY PALMERO

ID systemleast of Aquino priorities

APEC ministers. Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory Domingo (6th from left) poses for a souvenir shot with APEC 21 members during the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting at the Beach Front Deck, Shangri-la on Boracay, Island , Aklan on Sunday May 24,2015. PNA

By Florante S. Solmerin

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin denied the allega-tions of corruption rocking the Department of National Defense after a whistleblower in fhe P1.2 billion helicop-ter scandal linked him to the mess.

THE proposed National ID System is not on the list of priority bills of the administration of Presi-dent Benigno Aquino III.

“ Right now, we only have the update on the passage of the draft law in Congress, and this needs the corresponding Senate bill,” Communications Sec-retary Herminio Coloma Jr. said over state-run dzRB.

“This (bill) is not in-cluded in the priority bills of the administra-tion, let’s wait for Con-gress’ decision on this,” said Coloma.

Two House commit-tees (Revision of Laws and Appropriations) have endorsed for plena-ry approval the proposed “Filipino Identification System Act” contained in substitute HB 5060.

“The proposed Act shall gradually concert and consolidate all exist-ing Government initiat-ed identification system into one-integrated and efficient identification system,” said Committee of Revision chairperson Marlyn Primicias-Aga-bas and Appropriations chairman Isidro Ungab, in a statement posted on Congress’ website.

HB 5060 substitutes four separate but similar original measures - HB No. 11 authored by Reps. Al Francis Bichara, Elisa T. Kho, Rodel Batocabe, Christopher S. Co. An-thony del Rosario and Ferdinand L. Hernandez; HB 489 filed by Reps. Ro-dolfo Biazon with Co and Batocabe; HB 2243 in-troduced by Reps. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Gavini “Apol” C. Pancho; and HB 2249 by Reps. Ru-fus Rodriguez, Maximo Rodriguez and G. Pancho. Sandy Araneta

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QC judge urged to optout of Harbor dispute

“Yung lawyer kasi ni Reghis Romero ay kaklase ng asawa ni judge kaya nung tinignan naming yung basehan ng desisyon ay napakalayo. Hindi po talaga sa merito. So we call on the judge na kung may conflict of interest ay mag-inhibit na,” said Perfecto Tagalog, secretary-general of Coalition of Filipino Consumers in a radio interview.

The lawyers of Michael Romero earlier asked Judge Bernelito Fernandez, presiding judge of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 79 to inhibit in the case filed by his father Reghis because of his alleged biased judgment.

Tagalog said Fernandez’s wife, San Mateo, Rizal Judge Josephine Zarate-Fernandez, was a classmate of Atty. Cesar

A group credited for exposing the ‘ justice for sale’ scheme in the judiciary on Sunday revealed that the wife of a Quezon City judge handling the controversial ownership case involving the Harbour Center port Terminal Inc. was a classmate of the lawyers of businessman reghis romero.

Villanueva and Atty. Santiago Gabonza Jr., who are both lawyers of Reghis Romero in the case being heard in the Quezon City court.

“This is a basically a conflict of interest for Judge Fernandez as his wife is a classmate of Reghis Romero’s lawyers,” Romero’s lawyers said.

“Hindi naman siguro basehan na kapag nag-inhibit ka na ay guilty ka. Kailangan nating pangalagaan ang integridad ng hudikatura,” Tagalog stressed.

Tagalog said his group was responsible for the cases filed against resigned Philippine National Police Chief Alan Purisima and for exposing the ‘justice for sale’ modus operandi at the Court of Appeals.

“Wala po tayong pakialam sa problema ng pamilya. Ang pinapakialaman natin ay ang suhulan na nangyayari sa hudikatura,” he pointed out.

Tagalog said the next judge who will handle the case of Romeros should have integrity. “Tinignan kasi natin yung mga desisyon na walang pagdududa.”

In an eight-page supplemental motion filed before RTC Branch 79, the younger Romero, through his lawyer E. Hans Santos, is seeking to oust Fernandez from handling the case.

The younger Romero’s lawyers cited the April 29, 2015 and May 19, 2015 hearings held by Fernandez on the injunction filed by his father.

Palace intensifies infodrive amid quake fears

Miriam quizzes CHED on tuitionhikesBy Macon Araneta

SAYING that corrupt officials are threatened by an educated public, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago stressed that making education more accessible to the public should be a priority, right up there, if not taking precedence over the fight against corruption.

Santiago wanted the Senate to investigate the Commission on Higher Education’s recent approval of tuition hikes for some 300 private colleges and universities nationwide.

Santiago, co-author of the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education Bill, said that Congress must consider drafting a legislation to ensure that funds collected from increased school fees are not merely for profit.

“The CHED has issued guidelines for the use of funds derived from tuition increases, but we need to know how they ensure compliance with these rules. Is the submission of documentary requirements enough? Should there be onsite inspections?”

Santiago was referring to CHED Memorandum No. 03, issued in 2012, which states that 70 percent of proceeds from tuition increases should fund salary hikes for teachers and other school staff, while 20 percent should be used to improve buildings, equipment, and facilities.

The memorandum also requires schools to hold public consultations before proposing higher fees.

CHED regional offices have meanwhile been tasked under the issuance to monitor compliance with established policies on tuition increases.

However, Santiago warned the memorandum’s failure to require a clear breakdown of proceeds opens it to abuse.

“A school can always say that it increased the faculty’s wages, renovated a building, or bought new computers, but how does it support such claims?” she said.

Bargain center. Stalls in Baclaran selling school uniforms at prices much less than what shopping malls offer get busy as classes start opening in June. Diana B. Noche

By Sandy Araneta

THE government has embarked on massive preparations for the possible “mega earthquake” that could hit Metro Manila and nearby provinces even as it has also drawn up damage control measures.

Malacañang said the first goal of the government is to give information to the citizens, and what they need to know about strong earthquakes.

“We have experienced this in the different parts of the country, and we know what kind of damage this can bring. And if preparations have not been made, this could bring more damage,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said on on state-run radio dzRB.

“That’s why the government is focused

on the preparations led by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). The prepations being made include those on incidents on earthquakes,” said Coloma.

“What is important here is the knowledge and the preparations. We do not want to create worry. We want to be prepared and make our citizens safe,” said Coloma.

Residents in Metro Manila and nearby provinces should prepare for a “mega earthquake” that could destroy major infrastructure and kill thousands of people, the Philippine Institute for Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) earlier warned.

Phivolcs director Renato Solidum reiterated the warning because of fears the West Valley Fault traversing Metro Manila could trigger massive quake.

Catch of the day. The Tagbanua tribesmen of Coron in Palawan go about their daily livelihood – traditional fishing. DAVID CHAN

A7m o n d ay : m ay 2 5 , 2 0 1 5

NEWSeditorial@thestandard.com.ph

Second ‘The Standard Talks’ tackles conflict in the West Philippine Sea

(Photos by Ey Acasio)

Diplomacy in the West philippine Sea was the topic of second “The Standard Talks” forum held Thursday, may 21, at the Turf Room of the manila polo club.

The forum was organized in cooperation with the Rotary Club of Manila.

The Standard columnist and veteran journalist Tony Lopez moderated the discussions, with panelists lawyer and columnist Harry Roque and Magdalo party-list Rep. Francisco Ashley Acedillo.

Roque and Acedillo first gave presentations on their contrasting positions, with the former saying arbitration is the best way to deal with China even as he suggested exploring alliances with Vietnam and India.

Acedillo, for his part, said we should always prepare “as if no other country will come to our defense.”

The Standard Talks is a monthly forum organized by The Standard to help readers analyze current issues, make informed choices and form intelligent positions. Panelists are experts, if not the leading figures, on the discussion topics.

The first forum, held April 15, was about the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

The Standard Talks is live streamed over The Standard’s Web site so that readers all over the world may listen in on the discussions, join the conversations and express their opinion.

head head head head head

The Standard editor in chief Jojo Robles (L) greets T columnists Harry Roque (C) and Tony Lopez (R) who acted as panelist and moderator, respectively.

Rotarians Ramon Montaño and Babe Romualdez with The Standard president Arnold Liong

Roque, Evaristo and Magdalo Partylist Rep. Francisco Ashley Acedillo

Rotary’s Babe Romualdez, standing left, with fellow Rotarians Domingo Chua, Dong Saludo, Jr. and Justin Ortiz

Rotary Club Manila President Frank Evaristo

The Standard Chairman Phillip Romualdez, right, and Montaño

Rotarians Art Lopez, Vince Carlos and Pepe Rodriguez.

Rotary Club Manila Director and Dean Amado Valdez asks a question.

A8 adelle chuaE D I T O R

M O N d aY, M aY 2 5 , 2 0 1 5

Ma. Editha D. Angeles Advertising Manager Anita F. Grefal Treasury Manager Edgar M. Valmorida Circulation Manager

EvERyThIng ThaT Is wROng[ edI TORI a l ]

IT Is no exaggeration to say that senator Lito Lapid is a slow study.

After 12 years in the senate, Lapid had a eureka moment last week, admitting that didn’t fit the role of a senator because he lacked a college education.

In a rare interview, Lapid said he was happy that the Filipino people elected him as senator, but admitted he was always nervous in the senate.

“Of course you know I [did not complete] formal education. I can’t answer some questions [during sessions and committee hearings], right?” Lapid told reporters.

But the senator, who seldom attends plenary sessions and committee hearings, insisted that he always tried to do his job as senator and that may be the reason he was re-elected.

Despite admitting that he stayed 12 years in a job for which he was unqualified, the senator endorsed his son Mark to replace him in the senate in 2016.

“At least he’s qualified. He studied for the position,” Lapid said, referring to his son who served as governor of Pampanga from 2004 to 2007, and is now chief operating officer of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority.

Lapid himself will run for mayor of Angeles City in Pampanga, presumably because his lack of

education will not be an issue there.The senator also vowed to support senator

Grace Poe, whatever her political plans are for 2016, because he was heavily indebted to her father, the late movie star-turned-failed presidential candidate, Fernando Poe Jr.

Despite the senator’s admitted lack of education, his remarks last week proved educational indeed, highlighting as it did so many of the things that are wrong with Philippine politics.

The most obvious problem is that voters continue to elect into office candidates who are clearly unqualified for the job. Popularity and name recognition always trump educational qualifications, relevant work experience and competence.

In the name of “inclusiveness,” we set no minimum educational requirements for the men and women we elect into high office, even though we require those from applicants for the most menial jobs.

senator Lapid is not only a prime example of this, but also a cautionary tale of what happens when we have leaders who are unqualified.

In his case, we have a person who didn’t even warm his seat in the senate, contributing little to the crafting of laws while drawing an undeserved salary that we, the taxpayers, shoulder. On top of

this, he had the temerity to say that he has always tried to do his job.

someone should explain to senator Lapid that trying to do a job and actually doing it well are two different things.

Lapid’s endorsement of his son is another illustration of what ails our politics. This notion that politics is a family business must stop. Our Constitution demands it, yet the same lawmakers with the same family names continue to defy the constitutional stricture against political dynasties—and we let them.

Finally, Lapid’s blind endorsement of Poe is perfectly illustrative of the primacy of political patronage over public service. Lapid does not say he will support Poe because he believes she is a good leader and will serve the country well. Instead, he cites his debt of honor to her father.

The mention of Lapid is almost always accompanied by a snort or a snicker—an ironic acknowledgement of his utter lack of qualifications and his dismal record in the senate. It is natural to laugh at our own mistakes, but it is painful to realize that we have not learned from them. And, as senator Lapid so unwittingly showed us last week, the joke’s on us.

opinion

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

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OPINIONM O N D AY : M AY 2 5 , 2 0 1 5

A10lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

opposition.  Had television anchors not informed the public beforehand that what they were watching was the vote of the committee on the controversial measure, there was little to distinguish that pathetic spectacle from the raucous scene in cockpits when bets are placed!

Then there was that reckless statement of utter intellectual and moral bankruptcy: Just pass the bill, no matter the serious questions raised, and let the Supreme Court resolve issues of constitutional infirmity.  The Legislature is bound to pass laws in accordance with its delegated authority—for in fact, legislative authority, which by the principle of popular sovereignty rests with the sovereign people, is delegated by the Constitution to the Legislature.  Delegated authority is to be exercised in conformity with the terms of delegation—and the fundamental term of delegation is the Constitution.  And if, under the principles governing appropriation of governmental power, the authority to interpret law is supremely judicial, then the text of the Constitution ultimately is what the Supreme Court says it is—and in respect to the ongoing debate, what the Constitution allows and proscribes have been set forth in some detail in the North Cotabato

cases, more popularly known as the MOA-AD cases.  It seemed that the Rodriguez committee was prepared to throw all caution to the wind, to shirk its responsibility of crafting legislation in accordance with constitutional parameters eager only to please whoever it may have been who barked the order to pass the measure!  Government by judges is not good government, because courts were never meant to govern.  In the French constitutional system, the Constitutional Council passes on legislation before it is passed—so that whatever is passed by the French Legislature is studiously beyond fault!

In this same column, several issues back, I wrote that democracy thrives on some myths: one of these is that the elected representatives of the people truly represent them.  It is this necessary myth that was shamefully busted when the nation was treated to a tasteless show of utter and abject submission, an abdication of legislative power, the truncating of legislative discourse and the betrayal of the principles by which we call ourselves a republic!

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

RuFuS Rodriquez used to be a respected name in legal academia: a law dean, an author of such seminal

treatises as the book he wrote on the World Trade Organization, a sought-after law professor.  To put it in the most benevolent terms possible, I am flabbergasted by the obsequiousness by which he went back on his word to be vigilant about the passage of a Malacañang-backed version of the controversial Bangsamoro Basic Law draft. But Rodriguez, alone, could never have made that shameless charade at the committee level come to pass.  The entire gang that was reportedly wined and dined at Malacañang before a vote was taken on the committee level must answer for having hijacked our republican state.  People elect their r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s in the belief that, on the basis of shared beliefs and values, these r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s will legislate in the interests of the people who elected them to office.  And if there is anything most despicable about what has happened of late, it is the fact that the administration can put on a straight face, swear most loudly about its unswerving dedication to the straight and narrow path while going by the devious way of securing a favorable vote in the Lower House by means both covert and suspicious!  I was asked, together with other resource persons, to prepare analyses, and I foolishly believed that a well-written paper would count.  Nothing less can be said of the likes of Dean Merlyn Magallona, Justice  Vicente Mendoza, Prof. Jemy Gatdula, former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban.  We all researched, argued carefully and prepared our position papers in earnest—in the foolish belief that we were being taken seriously.  We were actually taken for a ride, it now seems clear, because our participation lent the whole charade the semblance of rational discourse, which it was never meant to be.

If anything at all, this sad chapter of our history is something voters should remember in 2016.  It should, in fact, be a key issue in the coming presidential race. We should reject a government that corals the elected representatives of the people and, by various schemes and devices, extracts from them the vote it wishes, and the sentiments of the nation be damned!  unless all of us who have serious reservations to the BBL and who may have even opposed it in its entirety (Dean Magallona, for one, has expressed the view that the very Comprehensive Framework Agreement is infirm)  suffer from some serious intellectual impairment, then there are many doubts about the constitutionality of different—in fact, many—provisions that cosmetic changes, such as revising the title of the bill, will not cure.  But the nation was treated by our television networks to the shameless spectacle of Honorable Representatives obviously enjoying themselves while voting—and voting down all objection and

Hijacking a republican

state

seeing tHe failure of tHe bbl

We should reject a government that corals the elected

representatives of the people and, by various schemes and devices,

extracts from them the vote it wishes, and the sentiments of the

nation be damned!

by Dr. firdausi i.Y. abbas

Concluded from SundayTHe powers of the BTA are reminiscent of the Freedom Constitution of President Corazon Aquino which gave her executive and legislative powers that she  utilized. The political scenario was however very different from what prevails. Those  were then abnormal and extraordinary circumstances which to a certain extent necessi-tated her awesome powers but had she invoked the 1973 Constitution, she would have exercised the same  powers by virtue of Amendment No. Six.

But the present circumstances are different. There is the 1987 Constitution, the branches of government are in operation and so is the ARMM. The premise of the agreement was the transition from revolutionary to po-litical and from mili-tary confrontations to peaceful dialogues on the part of the MILF. In signing the agree-ment with the Phil-ippine government without reservations, the MILF acknowl-edged the Philippine Constitution and sub-mitted to the Philip-pine’s territorial jurisdiction. Thus, there is no apparent legal basis for the creation of the BTA and the grant to it of such awesome powers. In the Jakarta accord inked by the MNLF and the Philippine government in 1996, what was provided was simply an Oversight Committee to monitor the progress of the agreement and the MNLF did not exercise the powers of the ARMM before the election of Nurulagi Misuari.

In the first instance, the present ARMM need not be abolished outright; it could in-stead “caretake” the autonomous government and supervise the transfer of authority to the officials elected under the new political entity. Neither should the title of Regional Governor be changed because this is not inconsistent with the parliamentary form of government.   

It would be perfectly all right if the MILF de-

sires to wield power and run the new govern-ment in the south if it is competent. Clearly, it is not. They should even be ashamed to use the words “Moro” and “Islamic” in their name. They are ignorant of Bangsa Moro history and of the cultural identity of the Moro people. Despite the MILF’s frequent quotations of Surahs in the Holy Quran to emphasize the Islamic path they allege to pursue, they blaspheme Islam in the very law they propose. The very phrase they use —Bangsamoro people is redundant for “Bangsa Moro” means “Moro people” and “Bangsamoro people” means “moro people people.”

Those of the MILF who claim leadership of the Bangsa Moro were never part of the Bang-sa Moro Youth of the mid-sixties who furi-ously marched to Congress in condemnation of the massacre of Moro youth in Corregidor;

who indignantly protested before Malacañang the murder of innocent moro men, women and children by the soldiers; who wrote the Mani-festo demanding among others,  recognition of the Bangsa Moro identity—that of an unconquered people— and re-

jected Article IV of the Philippine Constitu-tion which categorized the Moros as subjects of Spain; the Bangsa Moro youth whose lead-ership was established and recognized by the Christian students on the national level and who eventually gave form and shape to the Bangsa Moro revolutionary movement.

The Muslim Bar does not oppose the BBL based on personal and/or partisan reasons. It was the Muslim Bar that defended pro-bono the MILF officers and argued against state pros-ecutors before the courts in Metro Manila who sought warrants for the arrest of Salamat, Mu-rad, Igbal, Ghazzali etc. as a result of the several bombings in 2000 and succeeded in having thecases dismissed. The officers and members of the

Continued on A11

Despite the MILF’s frequent quotations of Surahs in the Holy Quran

to emphasize the Islamic path they allege to pursue, they blaspheme Islam

in the very law they propose.

penSéeS

Fr. ranHILIocaLLangan

aQuIno

A11ADELLE CHUAE D I T O R

M O N D AY : M AY 2 5 , 2 0 1 5

OPINIONlettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

CHONG ARDIVILLA#FAILOCRACY

SPARE LOBO FROM DESTRUCTION I HAVE written a number of articles in this column about Lobo, that municipality in Batangas, with long

stretches of beautiful beaches, pristine waters and forests that are still home to monkeys, exotic birds, geckos, and other wild animals. And yes, I have said too that Lobo fronts the Verde Island Passage which is the northernmost tip of the center of the world’s marine biodiversity—now declared a protected area by the government. Lobo, as its residents always believed, is � rst and foremost, a paradise for the Filipino people and the world to appreciate and enjoy.

What many do not know is that Lobo is more than just a beautiful, scenic destination. Over a million years ago when most of Batangas , Laguna, Quezon, and Rizal, and all of Metro Manila and Cavite did not yet exist, Lobo highlands already existed, dotting the then-wide watery expanse of South China Sea which separated the Philippine archipelago from the rest of Asia mainland. � e author of the article from which this information was sourced, Dr. Raymundo S. Punongbayan, said that all the land mass that we now know of, as well as Taal Lake, Laguna de Bay and Balayan Bay were the result of explosive volcanic eruptions in the geological past. Lobo, in other words, especially its imposing, beautifully-forested Lobo Mountain, is an ancient site which should have long been declared as a national park. History has it too that it was in the Lobo Mountain where General Miguel Malvar—the last Filipino general to surrender to the Americans in the Philippine American War—hid. He surrendered only because he wanted to end the su� ering of his fellow Batangueños when the Americans employed scorching tactics. Gen. Malvar is considered as the uno� cial second president of the Republic because he took over from the leadership of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo.

Alas, all that Lobo now boasts of, environmentally, geographically and historically, are in grave danger of being destroyed. � e Department of Environment and Natural Resources is now seriously considering the application for gold mining operations in Lobo by Egerton Gold Phils. Inc. It is frightening that the proposed mining in Lobo will cover a vast expanse of land areas: one will have 137.1 hectares while the other, 125.2 hectares. It will impact nearly all of the coastal barangays, as well as the Mabilog na Bundok.

The projects’ fact sheets, albeit couched in sanitized technical terms, cannot conceal alarming facts. The waste types the mining will produce, according to the fact sheets, will affect the soil and water, specifically: “overburdens and waste rocks, domestic waste and garbage construction wastes, debris, tree cuttings, oily waste water from minor oil leaks from equipment, etc.” The major impacts will be: “disturbance of the existing terrestrial flora and fauna, disturbance of the existing access roads or construction of new roads, disturbance of the site topography or landform, discharge of treated waste water to adjacent surface water bodies and potential disturbance of aquifers during ore extraction.”

In laymen’s terms, the impact will mean driving away and eventually killing the wildlife inhabiting the forests of Lobo as trees will be cut and the earth will be destroyed by explosions to extract the minerals. It will also mean that the water resource for the entire community will be diminished as the mining operations will compete for substantial amounts of water for its operations. � e trucks that will carry

heavy equipment to the sites will destroy the roads which took years to build and, in fact, are still in the process of being completed. Worse, it will necessarily destroy the aquifers and poison bodies of water since water containing chemicals used in the processing of the minerals will have to be discharged to the soil, the rivers and creeks. In turn, the poisoned waters will � ow to the sea. What happens next to the coral reefs and the marine life of the touted Verde Island passage—the tip of the center of the world’s marine bio-diversity— is obvious.

� e local government of Lobo, especially its mayor, Gaudioso Manalo, has been promoting and developing Lobo as a prime tourist destination. � is is, perhaps, the biggest challenge he will face. Will he support the mining project that will destroy Lobo in the long term or will he make good his vision of making Lobo a prime tourist destin ation? Mining and tourism cannot co-exist. If employment is the promised bene� t of the project, the fact sheets themselves show that the estimated number of people who will be employed will only be about 125.

� e book “Rich Lands, Poor People,” said, mining in India, contrary to the government’s claims, has done little for the development of the mineral-bearing regions. Chandra Bhushan, one of the authors, said: “Mining has not bene� ted people; instead, it has impoverished local environments and displaced people.” � e book also said, “All state governments justify mining arguing that the sector will provide employment, but this is a chimera.”

Lobo, an ancient town that has a rich history and is still wealthy in flora and fauna, as well as marine biodiversity, must be spared from destruction. It is a fact that mining only enriches the owners of the business. The soil and water are never restored to how they used to be and the people in the disturbed communities are left poorer than they ever were.

Email: ritalindaj@gmail.com Visit: www.jimenolaw.com.ph

OUT OF THE BOX

RITA LINDAV. JIMENO

Mining and tourism cannot co-exist.

Pastor Quiboloy’s column will resume soon.

PLUMBLINE

PASTOR APOLLO

QUIBOLOYMs. Chua’s column will resume soon.

CHASING HAPPY

ADELLECHUA

Muslim Bar as Muslims must uphold Islam, as Mo-ros must uphold the historic Bangsa Moro identity, and as lawyers must uphold the law.

We warned of the failure of R.A. 6734. We knew of the failure of R.A. 9054. We see the failure of the BBL. Until and unless all the Moro sectors which are all stakeholders are given participation in the formulation of the Basic Law for the autonomous region and part of the governance of the region, it

shall always be a bilateral relationship between the Philippine government and a moro armed group - the MNLF before, the MILF now, and another armed group tomorrow. � is very narrow and limited relationship will not and can never provide the solution to the Moro problem. Quot-ing from Peter, Paul and Mary, “when will they ever learn?”

Dr. Firdausi I.Y. Abbas is Sultan of

Lanao and President of the Muslim Bar Association of the Philippines.

SEEING... From A10

A12sports@thestandard.com.ph

mo nday : may 2 5 , 2 0 1 5

sports

Poulter one back of leader Na

The Englishman fired a two-under par 68 in the third round to stand on 10-under after 54 holes, hot on the heels of US standout Na, who fired a 69.

Poulter missed a seven-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole that would have pulled him level with Na entering Sun-day’s last round at Colonial.

Poulter, who has never won a stroke-play event on the United States, was voted along with Rickie Fowler the most “over-rated” players on the PGA Tour in an anonymous poll of players conducted by

Sports Illustrated last month.Fowler answered with a victory two

weeks ago at the Players Championship and Poulter, who has 1.89 million Twitter followers, could respond this week after already taking heat for playing in Texas rather than at Wentworth in a European Tour event in his homeland.

“Do you think I pay a lot of attention to what people think? 1.89 million peo-ple? I mean, seriously. Come on,” Poulter said. “It’s water off a duck’s back. It has ac-tually become quite funny, to be honest,

FORT WORTH—Ian Poulter, taking aim at an “overrated” label tagged on him in an anonymous players poll, moved within a shot of leader Kevin Na on Saturday at the PGA Crowne Plaza Invitational.

Asian ParaTriathlonset in Subic

Pacquiaonegativefor doping

Lorenzo, Kenyans rule 10-MILERGamolo, Go lead PGF Junior Masters winners

FILIPINO paratriathletes Sixto Ducay, Andy Avellana and Godfrey

Taberna will start their quest for glory and possible entry into the 2016 Rio Para-lympic Games as the Subic Bay Freeport Zone hosts the ASTC Asian ParaTriathlon Championships 2015 on Aug. 16 at 6 a.m.

Ducay (2014 APC’s arm disability category), Avellana (above-knee am-putee silver medalist) and Taberna (silver medalist respectively in the below-knee disability) will be competing in their new PT (ParaTriathlon) classifica-tions with other bets from around Asia.

Organized by the Tri-athlon Association of the Philippines under the su-pervision of the technical officials of the International Triathlon Union and the Asian Triathlon Confed-eration, the event will have competitions of paratri-athlon (750 meter swim – 18 Km bike – 5 Km run), Mixed Relay (350 M swim – 9 Km bike – 2.5 Km run) and Sprint (750 M swim – 18 Km bike – 5 Km run).

For all competitions, the race course starts at the Sands of Triboa and end at San Bernardino Street.

By Ronnie Nathanielsz

DESPITE the insinuations by some members of the Floyd Mayweather team and boxer Paulie Malignaggi that eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao was on per-formance-enhancing drugs, the tests conducted by the United States Anti Doping Agency on the Filipino ring icon have all been declared negative.

Mayweather Jr., who also underwent 19 separate, ran-dom-drug tests was himself declared clean, according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Both fighters were tested before and after their May 2 “Fight of the Century” at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, which shattered all existing pay-per-view and attendance records, grossing an estimated $500 million.

Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole said that according to records provided by the NSAC, each fighter gave 11 urine and eight blood samples.

so I take it a little bit tongue-in-cheek.”American Charley Hoffman was

third at 201 with countrymen Brandt Snedeker and Chris Kirk at 202 and com-patriots Kevin Kisner, Brian Harman and George McNeill joined by South African Rory Sabbatini on 203.

A pack on 204 included Australian Adam Scott, Fiji’s Vijay Singh, Canada’s Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor plus world number two Jordan Spieth, the reigning Masters champion.

In Wentworth, United Kingdom, Italy’s Francesco Molinari and South Ko-rean Byeong-hun An share the lead going into Sunday’s final round of the European PGA Championship at Wentworth.

An, 23, sunk back to back birdies late in his third round on Saturday to

match his partner’s 14 under par total, on a day when spectacular shots ignited the old course.

Relatively unknown Englishman Tommy Fleetwood produced the first albatross of his career, and only the third in the tournament’s history, at the par five fourth hole while veteran Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez made the tenth hole-in-one of his European Tour career.

Jimenez, 51, did it at the par three sec-ond hole.

It was the third time he has achieved it in 2015 and he now holds the Euro-pean Tour record for holes-in-one by a single player.

Jimenez finished on 10 under and still in contention for the big prize with seven play-ers within six shots of the leaders. AFP

CINDERELLA Lorenzo annexed the Yakult 16k to her collection of titles and the Kenyans, as expected, swept the first three places of the men’s di-vision in anti-climatic finish Sunday morning in front of the Philippine International Convention Center.

The 22-year-old Lorenzo dominated the race right from the starting gun, clocking 1:07.21 and pocketing P7,000, plus trophy, ahead of second placer Mona Liza Ambasa, who checked in at 1:08.00 and won P5,000.

Criselyn Jaro edged her younger sister Celie in a photo-finish for third place in 1:21.52 and won P4,000 plus trophy.

“Pinaghandaan ko ito. Masaya ako dahil lahat ng sakripisyo ko hindi na-balewala,” said the jubilant Lorenzo after crossing the finish line.

Kenyan Eliud Kering ruled he men’ side in 51 minutes and 29 seconds (worth P7,000), edging countrymen David Kipsang and Elphiz Kiptarus, who came in 53:36 and 55:35 sec-onds, respectively.

The three Kenyan runners negoti-ated the 16-kilometer race in less than an hour, reaffirming their billing as the

best long-distance runners in the 26th edition of the annual footrace.

The absence of Southeast Asian Games-bound reigning marathon king Rafael Poliquit and five-time marathon champion Eduardo Buenavista and other prominent lo-cal long-distance runners made it easier for the Kenyans to dominate the race.

Charles Bitoon Jr. became the best-ranked local male runner, placing fourth in 1:04.08, followed by Roy Dacutanan at 1:04.41.

Junrel Bendoy bagged the men’ 5k in 17 minutes and 16 seconds, edging Diosmar Garcia, who clocked 17.18 seconds.

Victor Gabelo took third in 18.38 seconds, beating Aldin Motoles, who came in 20.09 seconds.

Lyca Sarmiento took the 5K distaff side in 20 minutes and 42 seconds. Rochelle Abanis came in second at 24.03, while Rishane Abellar landed third at 24.04.

Close to 3,000 runners answered the 5:30 a.m. starting gun super-vised by veteran race director Rudy Biscocho.

JELBERT Gamolo and Lois Kaye Go carried the fight for the pro-vincial bets by topping the 15-17 years’ division of the Philippine Golf Foundation Junior Masters match play finals at the Eagle Ridge Golf and Country Club in Gen. Trias, Cavite.

Gamolo, playing out of Del Monte in Mindanao, downed Nathan Kawpeng of Luzon 4&3, while Go, representing Cebu Country Club in the Visayas, edged another Luzon bet An-nika Guangko, 4&2, in the girls’ division of the concluding leg of the series sponsored by the Phil-ippine Golf Foundation.

Luzon entries, however, cornered most of the titles disputed in the event, with Sunshine Burberry Zhang, Annyka Cayabyab winning in the girls’ side and Sean Domi-nique Granada, Josh Jorge and Marc Corrales prevailing in the boys’ competition.

The tourney which forms part

of the ICTSI-JGFP summer cir-cuit also supported by Philippine Airlines, Martin Lorenzo, Golf Depot, Pacsports, HIGDI, IWSI, Cleantech, Cleanpack and Inquir-er Golf, also had Vince Tiamsic, Luis Anton Ballesteros and Bianca Macatangay as winners in the de-velopmental competition.

Granada nipped Francis Lanuza, 3&2, for the 9-10 years’ plum, while Jorge (11-12) and Corrales (13-14) pulled off 1 up wins over Joo Hyung Kim and Russell Bautista.

Cayabyab and Zhang were hardly challenged with similar 6&5 wins over Yvon Bisera and Lesley Icoy in the 11-12 years and 9-10 age brackets, respectively.

Tiamsic topped the boys’ 7-8 years with Santino Pineda, Charles Serdena, Rolly Duran and Rafa Ilas completing the Top 5. Macat-angay beat Gabie Rosca for the girls’ 7-8 crown.

Ballesteros won the boys 6-un-der plum over Rocco Pineda.

Kenyan Eliud Kering (left) checks his time after ruling the 26th Yakult 10 MILER on Sunday at the CCP Complex in Pasay City with a time of 51:29. The distaff side was won by Cinderella Lorenzo (right) in 1:07:21.

A13

Sacrifice pays offfor Filipino boxer

Melindo ready for title fight

Volleyball Clinics. Foton Lady Tornadoes Nicole Tiamson and Patty Jane Orendain were the special guests at the opening ceremonies of Mandaluyong City’s summer volleyball, a program of Mandaluyong Mayor Benhur Abalos to promote sports development and physical fitness among the city’s youth. The six-day clinic held at the covered court of Barangay Vergara and supervised by former councilor Noel Bernardo, is free of charge, with over 200 kids signing up. Mandaluyong City is also holding a summer clinic for basketball and futsal. Photo shows the participants and organizers, together with Tiamzon and Orendain.

By Randy Caluag

FILIPINO Ernesto Saulong is finally reaping the fruits of his sacrifice of fighting for token prize money in his last outing as he will now shoot for the World Boxing Council World Silver bantamweight title when he takes on defending champion Qui Xiao Jun of China on Sept. 7 in Shanghai, China.

monday: may 25, 2 0 1 5

sports@thestandard.com.ph

sports

( T S - M AY 2 5 , 2 015 )

Republic of the PhilippinesCITY OF SAN PEDROProvince of Laguna

BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEEINVITATION TO APPLY FOR ELIGIBILITY AND TO BID

PR No. 2015 – 1063 / 1082 / 1070 / 1108 & 1107 1. The City Government of San Pedro Laguna through the 2015 CDRRMO / CDC / Trust FUND / Budget Approved by Sangguniang

Panglunsod intends to apply the sum of Php 31,100,000.00 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for : a) SupplyandDeliveryof4x2PickupTruckforofficialuseofPNPSanPedro-CityofSanPedro(Php3,750,000.00)Bidding

Documents Php 5,000.00b) SupplyandDeliveryofBackhoeLoaderHeavyEquipmentforofficialuseofCityDisasterRiskReductionManagementOffice

-CityofSanPedro(Php8,000,000.00)BiddingDocumentsPhp10,000.00c) Supply&DeliveryofGarbageHaulingEquipmentforBarangayMagsaysay&DebrisHaulingEquipmentofCDRRMOOffice,

City of San Pedro (Php 2,000,000.00) Bidding Documents Php 5,000.00d) Supply&DeliveryofSportsUtilityVehicle(SUV)forofficialuseofSangguniangPanglunsodofCityofSanPedro,Laguna.

(Php 13,950,000.00) Bidding Documents Php 25,000.00e) Supply&DeliveryofMultipurposeVanforofficialuseofDep-EdDistrictSupervisor&CityHealthOfficeoftheCityofSan

Pedro, Laguna (Php 3,400,000.00) Bidding Documents Php 5,000.00 Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.2. The City Government of San Pedro, Laguna now invites bids for the following :

QTY UNIT DESCRIPTION3 Units 4 x 2 Pickup Truck

Transmission:5-speedmanualtransmissionEngine : 2.5L 4 cylinder, 16 valvePower KW (PS)/rpm : 100kw (136PS)Torque N-m (Kg-m)/rpm : 320Nm (32.6Kgm)Suspension: Front : Independent, high ride, coil spring, gas shock absorber, upper & lower wishbones, stabilizer bar, Rear: Multi-linkcoilsuspension,gasshockabsorbers,stabilizerbarDimension: LxWxH (5,295mmx1,860mmx1,795mm)Gross Vehicle Weight :2,700kgsSteering : Three spoke leather – wrapped with audio controlInteriors: Instrumental Meters : Electroluminescenttypew/MultiinformationdisplayAudioSystem:7”Touch Screen full entertainment system, with navigatorSpeaker : 6-wayspeakersystem,two6x9frontdoor/twofronttweeters/two-mountedexcitersSeats : Front : De Luxe Pad Shape Bucket Seats w/ back pockets, adjustable headrest and convenience hook at drivers seat Rear: 60/40 Split cushion de luxe shape w/ center armrest and 3 adjustable head rest.Exteriors : headlamphalogenprojectortype,multi-reflectorwithfoglamps,centerroofantenna,chromeradiatorgrillandenginehoodgarnish,chromefinishedpowerfoldingandcomfortwithLEDintegratedturnsignalsideviewmirror,onesteptypewithchromeplatingfinisheddoorandtailgatehandls, w/ bed linerComfort & Convenience : Aircon : manual, 3 duak type: full mode control keyless entry, power door locks, power window, power side view mirror, head lamp aim, central door locks, 10 cup holder, 12V power outlet, center console, rear defogger, 1 front town hookSafety & Security : limited slip differential, dual SRS airbags, reverse sensor, ABS w/ EBD w/ G sensor , Seat Belt Front: 3pts ELR x 2, height adjustable Rear : 3pts ELR 2. Height adjustable+middle–fixed3pts ELR, side impact beams, highly rigidly body, large high mount stop lampTires & Wheels:255/65-R-167/Alloy,sparetiresteelrimAdditional : fabricated & installation of collapsible bench type seat L/R pick up bench using angle bar frame&grayleatherettefinish(seat/backrest)w/LEDtypeblinkerw/PublicAddressSystem

1Unit BACKHOE LOADER (HEAVY EQUIPMENT)

Engine Engine : DieselRated Power : 2,200rpmBore: 105mmStroke:127mmDisplacement: 4.4LAxles : Standard all wheel drive. Heavy duty rear axle w/ self adjusting inboard brakes, differential lock andfinaldrivesSteering: Fullhydrostaticsteeringcontrolledbyhand-meteringunitSteering Type : front wheelPower steering : hydrostatic cylinder, One (1) double acting (AWD)Bore : 65mmStroke : 120mmRod Diameter : 36mmTurning Circle:Inner wheel not brakedOutsidefrontwheels:8,180mmOutsidewidestloaderbucket:10,970mmBrakes : fully enclosed boosted, hydraulic, multiple disc.Weights :Operatingweightsrange:8,436–10,269kgs.Service Refill Capacities:Cooling System (w/heater) : 22LFuel Tank : 160LEnginew/oilfilter:8.8LHydraulicSystem:Load-Sensing,ClosedCenterSystemTransmission: Forward:(Power-shuttle):1st-6km/h;2nd-9.7km/h,3rd-20km/h4th-40km/h(auto shift) : 1st – 6km/h, 2nd–9.7km/h,3-rd20km/h,4th-27km/h,5th – 40km/h Reverse:(Power-shuttle)1st-6km/h,2nd-9.7kmhm3rd-20km/h,40km/h(auto-shift)1-st6km/h;2nd -13km/h,3rd-27km/h

1 UnitFor Barangay MagsaysayMINI DUMP TRUCK HIGH SIDE (Remanufactured)

Engine : Diesel Engine Displacement : 4,300cc Fuel Tank Capacity : 100litersTires:7.00x16r Capacity: 3 Cubic Meter Loading Capacity

1 UnitFor CDRRMOMINI DUMP TRUCK HIGH SIDE (Remanufactured)

Engine : Diesel Engine Displacement : 4,300cc Fuel Tank Capacity : 100litersTires:7.00x16r Capacity: 3 Cubic Meter Loading Capacity

9 Units Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV)Engine: 2.5L,In-line4-cylinder,16-valveDirectInjectionDieselEnginePower kW (PS)/rpm: 100kW (136PS)Torque Nm (Kg-m)/rpm: 320Nm (32.6kgm)Suspension: Front: Indipendent, High Ride, Coil Springs, Gas Shock Absorbers, Upper and lower wishbones, Stabilizer BarRear:Multi-linkcoilsuspension,gasshockabsorbers,stabilizerbar.Tires & Wheels: 17x7Aluminumwheels,255/65R17,SpareTireSteelrimExterior:Projectortypew/multi-reflectorheadlampDimension: L=4825mmxW=1860mmxH=1840mm Aluminum Step board with roof railsSeating: 60:40split-fold2ndrowseatswithfoldawaycentrearmrest/50:50split-fold3rdrowseatsInterior: Climate control air conditioning w/ integrated heater/demister, rear cooler, roof mount Monitor for 2nd seatSecurity & Safety: Anti-lockBrakeSystemsw/ElectronicBrakeforceDistribution(DualfrontAirbagsw/Pre-tensionerseatbeltandreardefogger immobilizer, Anti theft alarm system, front fog lamp abd rear wiper.

2 Units Multi-purpose VanEngine: 2.5L,4-cylinder,16-valveDirectInjectionDieselEngineMaximum Power Output: 102HP at 3,600rpmMaximum Torque: 260Nmat1600-2400rpmStep 2 Emision StandardIndependent Double Wishbone w/ StabilizerBrake: Rigid Axle Leaf Spring front / rear suspension.Sterring System: Rack&Pinionw/power-assistTank Capacity: 70ltrsDual (Dr + Ps) SRS AirbagsAnti-lockBrakingSystemSide Impact BeamsFront/Rear SeatbeltsHigh Mount Stop Lamp15"SteelWheelwithfullcaps195/80R15radialTires-Multi-reflectorhalogenheadlampw/integratedclearance and turn lamp,-Frontcolor-keyedbumpers-Chromeradiatorgrill-13-seaterBenchType(Rr1)-BenchType2+1Recliningw/Headrests(Rr2)-BenchType2+1Recliningw/HeadrestsSpaced-up(Rr3)-SlidingDoor-4spokeurethanew/tilt-adjustablesteeringcolumn,consolsebox, tachometer, cup holders, dual A/C System w. rear individual register,2-DINCD/tuner/MP3/DVD/AUX-inplayerw/remotecontrol,4speakers-All-powerfeatures(windows,doorlocks,sideviewmirror)

3. Deliveryofthegoodsisrequiredwithinfifteen(15)daysuponreceiptofNoticetoProceed.Biddersshouldhavecompleted,withinone (1) year from the date of submissions and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

4. Bidding will be conducted through open competitive procedures using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in theImplementingRulesandRegulations(IRR)ofRepublicAct(RA)9184,otherwiseknownasthe“GovernmentProcurementReformAct”.

In addition, bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the lawsorregulationsofwhichgrantrightsorprivilegestoFilipinocitizens,pursuanttoRA5183andsubjecttoCommonwealthAct138.

5. Interested bidders may obtain further information from the City Government of San Pedro, Laguna and inspect the Bidding Documentsattheaddressgivenbelowfrom8:30AMto9:30AMonly.

OfficeoftheBACSecretariat4/f Conference RoomCityAdministrator’sOfficeCity Hall of San Pedro

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders from the date, time and below and upon payment of a non-refundablefeefortheBiddingDocuments

ISSUANCE OF ELIGIBILITY AND BIDDING DOCUMENTS May 25 – June 10, 2015 8:30AM–9:30AM BAC Secretariat 4/f Conference Room CityAdministrator’sOffice City Hall of San Pedro 6. TheCityGovernmentofSanPedroLaguna,willholdaPre-BidConferenceonthedate,timeandaddressspecifiedbelow,which

shall be open only to all interested parties who have purchased the Bidding Documents. PRE-BIDCONFENRENCE May29,2015 10:00 AM BAC Secretariat 4/f Conference Room CityAdministrator’sOffice City Hallof San Pedro7. Bidsmustbedeliveredtotheaddressgivenbelowonorbeforethespecifieddateandtime.Allbidsmustbeaccompaniedbyabid

securityinanyoftheacceptableformandintheamountsatedinITBClause18.DEADLINE OF SUBMSSION OF ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS AND OPENING OF BIDS June 10, 2015 10:00AM BAC Secretariat 4/f Conference Room CityAdministrator’sOffice City Hall of San Pedro

BidopeningshallbeonthedateandtimespecifiedabovefordeadlineofsubmissionofeligibilityrequirementsandsubmissionofbidsandshallbeconductedattheOfficeoftheBACSecretariat.BidswillbeopenedinthepresenceoftheBidders’representativeswho choose to attend at the address given above. Late bids shall not be accepted.

8. TheCityGovernmentofSanPedro,Lagunaassumesnoresponsibilitywhatsoevertocompensateorindemnifybiddersforanyexpenses incurred in the preparation of their bid.

Further, City Government of San Pedro, Laguna, reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annual 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.

9. For Further information, please refer to: Mr. Merlin B. Paala OfficeoftheBACSecretariat City Hall of San Pedro SanPedro,Laguna/TelefaxNo.847-1722

(Sgd.) ENGR. FILEMON I. SIBULOChairmanBids and Awards Committee

Saulong earned the crack at Qui following a unanimous-de-cision win over compatriot Ali Laurel in their WBC Interna-tional Bantamweight class last May 8 in Kunming, China.

Saulong and Laurel, taking advantage of the opportunity at hand, agreed to push through with the fight that was in danger of slipping away and agreed to a measly purse of US$500 each.

For his losing effort, Ali re-ceived an additional incentive of US$1,000 from noted Chi-nese promoter Liu Gang, while Saulong, who improved his fight record to 18 wins (7 KOs), 1 loss and 1 draw, is now look-ing at a big money fight, also courtesy of Liu.

“It was one of those strate-gies that we call one step back-ward and two steps forward. We had to see the bigger picture.

Our sacrifices have paid off,” said matchmaker Brico Santig.

Initially, the token purse of the boxers became a subject of intrigue when an internet blog-ger pursued the case with great interest and came out with a se-ries of tirades on his website.

When WBC President re-ceived a detailed explanation from Santig, he even offered the sanction fee for the fight to be shared with boxers Saulong and Laurel.

“As I agreed with WBC In-ternational chairman (Mauro Betti), the WBC wishes to have the sanction fees collected for such bout to be distributed be-tween the two fighters. I kindly ask Mauro to proceed with such as it will be a good aid to the boxers,” said Sulaiman in his emailed message to matchmak-er Santig.

By Ronnie Nathanielsz

MILAN Melindo, who lost a 12-round decision to tough and talented Mexican Juan Francisco Estrada in a battle for the World Boxing Orga-nization/World Boxing Association flyweight titles in Macau on July 27, 2013, has easily dropped down to light flyweight and earned a crack at International Boxing Federation cham-pion Javier Mendoza in Mexico on May 30.

ALA Promotions’ patron Tony Aldeguer told The Standard/boxingmirror.com that Melindo, who has been training at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles under trainer Edmund Villamor and strength and conditioning coach Nick Cur-son, is in super condition and “better than he’s ever been.”

Aldeguer said Melindo and his team will drive to Tijuana on May 25 with ALA Promo-tions president Michael Aldeguer, who is in the US working on plans for two fights cards in California, set to follow them later.

Melindo is a skillful boxer, who depends on his ring savvy to prevail, but against a puncher like Mendoza, he will have to be at his best since the Mexican will be fighting before a hometown crowd in his first defense of the title he won by a 12-round unanimous decision against former WBO light flyweight champion Ramon Garcia Hirales, who lost his title to Donnie “Ahas” Ni-etes in Bacolod City on October 8, 2011.

Mendoza, who is 24, has a record of 23-2-1 with 19 knockouts, which gives fans an idea of his punching power.

Copies of the emailed mes-sage were also sent to Betti and WBC Asia secretary-general Patrick Cusick and Games and Amusement Board’s boxing di-vision chief Dr. Nasser Cruz.

The decision was in reply by Sulaiman to the email mes-sage of Santig, who explained in detail the recent event where Laurel and Saulong reportedly agreed to receive a measly purse for their fight that was accom-modated in the last-minute by promoter Liu.

Santig said he made a plea to Liu to include the Laurel-Sau-long title fight in his promotion because the fight had to hap-pen, otherwise the right for the title fight will be forfeited and awarded to other boxers.

The Laurel and Saulong fight was originally scheduled in the Philippines, but conflict in schedule and a last-minute withdrawal of a major sponsor caused the fight to be cancelled.

Not wanting to let the big opportunity slip away, Santig suggested to both camps to proceed with the fight despite the lack of funds, offering that they all must work together in raising the needed sanc-tion fees and token individual prize money of US$500 for each boxers. Turn to A15

A14mo nday : may 2 5 , 2 0 1 5

SPORTS

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

sports@thestandard.com.ph

Azkals Schrock, Patiño returning

Lagarde,Velez bagPalawannet crowns

Fast Hitters force deciding Game 3

PLDT’s Alyssa Valdez unleashes a vicious kills against Army’s single coverage by setter Tina Salak as the Ultra Fast Hitters got back at the Lady Troopers in Game 2 to force a sudden death for the Shakey’s V-League Season 12 Open Conference crown at The Arena in San Juan yesterday.

Game May 31 12:45 p.m. – PLDT vs Army

ALYSSA Valdez put on an MVP-like performance as PLDT Home Ultera got back at Army and essayed a 25-16, 25-22, 19-25, 25-16 victory to force a deciding Game Three in the Shakey’s V-League Season 12-Open Conference finals before a jampacked crowd at The Arena in San Juan City yesterday.

Moments after receiving her first-ever Shakey’s V-League MVP plum, Valdez went on a spiking spree and finished with a series-high 26 hits to power the Ultra Fast Lady Spikers to the one-hour, 46-minute victory that avenged their 25-13, 23-25, 25-27, 22-25 setback in the series’ opener Thursday and snapped their 10-game run from the elims to the semis of the league sponsored by Shakey’s.

That loss, which also spoiled PLDT’s sweep bid, only fired up Valdez and the rest of the Ultra Fast Hitters.

“She deserves the MVP award,” said PLDT coach Roger Gorayeb of his prized spiker, also the spearhead of the country’s campaign in the 28th Southeast Asian Games in Singapore next month. “But I told her it would be nicer if she can lead the team to the championship.”

The soft-spoken Valdez knows only too well her responsibility for herself and her team and vowed to deliver the

goods next week.“I’m so thankful and blessed for

this award but this would be nothing if we can’t win the title,” said Valdez, who capped her explosive game with four service aces.

The rubber match will be played next Sunday, giving both coaches one week to re-plot their plays and strategies. The winner-take-all is expected to draw a record crowd after 5,398 paying patrons watched yesterday’s contest at the 5,000-seater venue with the organizing Sports Vision failing to accommodate a few hundreds more.

Jaja Santiago, whose mere 6-4 frame can intimidate an attacker in any given play, continued to flash her spiking prowess, ramming in 13 kills, while coming away with five blocks while veteran Charo Soriano also stepped up to fire eight hits.

Gorayeb said they succeeded in containing the power duo of Jovelyn Gonzaga and Dindin Santiago-Manabat, who came through with 16 apiece in Game One but were limited to just 12 and nine, respectively, yesterday.

Mary Jean Balse, a former league MVP, led the way for Army with 17 markers while Rachel Ann Daquis continued to struggle and finished with four hits in this late, crucial stage of the conference presented by PLDT Home Ultera and backed by Mikasa and Accel.

By Peter Atencio

THE Philippine Azkals national football team is getting ready for the return of star midfielder Stephan Schrock and striker Javier Patiño.

The Azkals, making do with the little preparation they have, will have the two around when they start practice the first week of June.

Schrock and Patino are expected to be around, just in time for the start of the Fifa World Cup Qualifiers in the middle of next

month.“We’re waiting for our first

sessions in June. We have new players. We have Schrock coming back and there’s Patino,” said Azkals coach Thomas Dooley.

The two are among the many players who still have club commitments until the end of the month.

When they arrive, Dooley said local training camp will be organized June 1.

The late availability of players

for the national squad has forced the Philippine Football Federation to scrap plans of a friendly against an available footballing neighbor.

Dooley said they are also waiting for the arrival of new acquisitions Iain Ramsay, Stephen Palla, Luke Woodland and Kevin Ingreso.

Overseas-based bets, including Jerry Lucena, are set to arrive in the first week of June. Palla is expected to arrive at a later date because the Filipino-Austrian defender is getting married on June 6.

FOURTH-RANKED Klyde Lagarde and No. 2 Patricia Velez sustained their top form and dominated their rivals to rule their respec-tive divisions in the Pala-wan Pawnshop Regional age-group tennis circuit-Kidapawan leg at the Kida-pawan Tennis in Cotabato Province yesterday.

Lagarde, playing out of Gen. Santos City, dropped just three games to reach the finals then subdued the top seeded Wilfred Bentillo, 6-3, 6-2, to snare the boys’ 14-and-under crown in the four-day Group 3 tournament present-ed by Technifibre.

Velez, on the other hand, needed three sets to fend off Leah Caorte in the quarters, smothered Diadem Sasota, 6-2, 6-0, in the semis before the top Davao bet trounced top seed Nicole Bautista, 6-2, 6-2, to clinch the girls’ premier 18-U title in the tournament sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop.

Pagente bags 2 titles in Pampanga HEAD tilt

( T S - M AY 2 5 , 2 015 )

Republ ic of the Phi l ippinesNUEVA ECIJA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Cabanatuan CityTelefax No.: (044) 463-0226

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

NOTICE OF SEARCH FOR PRESIDENTThe Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology Board of Regents formal ly

and publ ic ly announces that the Search for President is NOW OPEN.

MINIMUM PERSONAL QUALIFICATIONS 1. Must be a natural-born Fi l ip ino c i t izen.2. Must be of good moral character.3. Must not be less than thir ty- f ive (35) years old and not more than sixty-one (61) years

old at the t ime of appl icat ion for the posi t ion (61 years old shall mean from actual date of birth and not a day older beyond 61 years old) .

4. Must be a holder of an earned relevant doctorate degree from a reputable higher educat ion inst i tut ion.

5. Must have a proven track record as administrator of a ter t iary level inst i tut ion (President, Vice-President, Dean, Campus Administrator, Department Chairman, Academic Director, e.g. Director for Instruct ion, Director for Research, Director for Extension, Director for Product ion, Director of Student Affairs, Director for Planning and Development who reports direct ly to the Vice-President or President) whether in publ ic or pr ivate, for at least f ive (5) years.

6. Must not have been convicted of any administrat ive of fense or of any cr ime involv ing moral turpi tude.

DOCUMENTARY REQUIREMENTSQual i f ied appl icants are requested to submit one (1) set of original and six (6) sets of certif ied photocopies of the fo l lowing documents to the Secretar iat of the Search Commit tee for President (SCP):

1. Formal Appl icat ion Letter addressed to the Chairperson of the Commission on Higher Educat ion (CHED):

HONORABLE PATRICIA B. LICUANAN CHAIRPERSON, COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION 4TH Floor HEDC Bui ld ing, C.P. Garcia Avenue UP Campus, Di l iman, Quezon City 11012. Detai led Curr iculum Vitae (CV), s igned under oath3. Cert i f ied t rue copy of documents in support of the data stated in the CV4. Appl icant ’s proposed Vis ion, Mission and Development Goals for the Universi ty5. Or ig inal Copies of Cert i f icates/Clearances from the fol lowing government agencies,

obtained not more than three (3) months f rom the date of f i l ing of the appl icat ion, indicat ing that the appl icant has not been convicted of any administrat ive and/or cr iminal case:a. Sandiganbayanb. Ombudsmanc. Metropol i tan/Municipal Tr ia l Court /Regional Tr ia l Courtd. Civ i l Service Commission (CSC)e. Nat ional Bureau of Invest igat ion (NBI)f . Inst i tut ion/Company where the appl icant is present ly employed

6. Duly accompl ished CSC Form 212, made under oath7. NSO-authent icated Bir th Cert i f icate or Cert i f icat ion f rom the Local Civ i l Registrar8. Medical Cert i f icate of Physical Fi tness issued by the physic ian f rom a DOH-accredi ted

heal th inst i tut ion but not wi th the same inst i tut ion where the appl icant is present ly employed

9. Resul t of Neuro-psychiatr ic Examinat ion conducted by the physic ian f rom a DOH-accredi ted heal th inst i tut ion but not wi th the same inst i tut ion where the appl icant is present ly employed.The Search Committee reserves the right to verify the results of the examination.

The Search Committee reserves the right to reject any application that is not in conformity with the applicable provisions of R.A. 8292 and its IRR (CMO 03, series 2001) and CMO 16, series 2009, aside from the above enumerated requirements.

An applicant who does not meet ANY of the aforesaid minimum qualifications and FAILSTO SUBMIT a complete set of documentary requirements pertinent to these minimum qualifications on the set

deadline shall be DISQUALIFIED from the Search Process.

SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION AND THE REQUIRED DOCUMENTS SHALL BE RECEIVED BY THE SECRETARIAT

NOT LATER THAN THE DEADLINE, June 26, 2015, 5:00 P.M. (PST)

Submi t app l ica t ions to : HON. RUPERTO S . SANGAL ANG o r DR . FR ANK LI N T. DUMAYASCHED Commiss ioner and Board Secretar y, NEUSTChai rman- Des ignate , N EUST Govern ing Board Gen. T in io S t . , Cabanatuan C i t y4 / F, HEDC Bu i ld ing , C .P. Garc ia AvenueUP Campus , D i l iman, Quezon C i t y

At tent ion:

MS. CARM E JOY ALMODALExecut ive Ass is tan t IVOf f ice o f Commiss ioner Ruper to S . Sanga langMember, SCP Secre tar ia t chedrssanga lang @gmai l .com - (02) 4 41-1173

GENNIFER Pagente snatched two singles’ titles in the 12th leg of Globe 17th HEAD Graphene XT Junior Tennis Satellite Circuit on Sunday after besting her two finals foes at the Del Rosario tennis courts in Angeles, Pampanga.

Pagente won over Mary Aubrey Calma via walkover to bag the girls’ 16-under title before beating Althea Faye Ong, 6-1, 6-2, to claim the girls’ 14-under crown of the annual satellite age-group tennis competition organized by Dynamic Sports.

Andre Tuason captured the boys’ 18-under singles’ title by beating Matt Steven Palasan via walkover, while Matt Steven Palasan bounced back against Jonas Silva, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, to take home the boys’ 16-under singles crown.

Jed Justin Labasano outclassed Rafael Llangco, 6-1, 6-0, to win the boys’ 14-under diadem, while Rafael Llangco ripped Juan Rafael Mendoza, 6-1, 6-1, to clinch the boys’ 12-under trophy. Axi Lajon Gonzaga beat Mike Gamalo, 4-2, 5-4 (3), to bag the 10-under unisex crown.

The competition was sponsored by Globe Telecommunications,

Chris Sports, Head ATP Tennis Balls, Graphene XT, Toalson, Philippine Sports Commission and Philippine Tennis Association, along with Sports Radio 918AM, Home Radio 97.9FM Natural, Boracay Informer, Todo 88.5FM Aklan, Radyo Inquirer 990AM, Power Wheels Magazine, Motorcycle Magazine, Balikbayan The Asian Journal Magazine, Wazzup Pilipinas, Reach Magazine, Oishi and AMAX Inn Makati.

In the other girls’ finals results, Princess Catindig whipped Mary Aubrey Calma, 4-6, 6-3, 3-2 (retired) for the girls’ 18-under crown and Althea Faye Ong copped the girls’ 12-under crown by double default.

PAGEnTE

A15sports@thestandard.com.ph

MO NDAY : MAY 2 5 , 2 0 1 5

SPORTS

Energy Colasstay unbeatenBy Jeric Lopez

STILL unbeaten.Despite trailing by 19 points in the � rst period, Barako Bull slowly but surely fought its way back, before showing poise down the stretch to post a tough 105-99 victory over Meralco in the 2015 Philippine Bas-ketball Association Governors’ Cup yesterday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Joseph Yeo of Barako (left) drives to the lane against Seiya Ando of Meralco.

Games Tuesday (CUNETA ASTRODOME)

4:15 P.M. - KIA VS. BLACKWATER7 P.M. - TALK ‘N TEXT VS. NLEX

Joseph Yeo broke through and played his best game for Barako Bull as he unleashed a team-high 28 points -- including � ve triples and six assists -- to lead the En-ergy Colas.

Import Liam McMorrow was his usual steady self with a double-double of 19 points, on 85 percent shooting, and 23 rebounds.

� e Energy Colas continued to impress and remained the only unbeaten team with a 4-0 record to stay at the top of the heap.

‘’We started slow and allowed Meralco to outhustle us early on but our guys didn’t give up. It’s a sign of the players’ commit-

ment to our success. We want to run more and we’re able to score more,’’ said Barako Bull coach Coy Banal.

With the score knotted at 91-apiece heading into the last � ve minutes of play, Barako Bull kept its composure and hit criti-cal shots to ensure its victory.

Uncorking a key 6-0 run in the next minute and a half, the Energy Colas took the lead, 97-91, a� er RR Garcia’s trey with 3:44 remaining.

Meralco fought back and kept its chances alive a� er an 8-4 run capped by a Cli� Hodge trey with 1:25 le� to make it just a two-point game, 101-99.

But Jake Pascual’s undergoal stab o� an excellent inbounds play made it 103-99 with 1:06 le� . Yeo sealed the win with two more free

throws with 36.9 seconds remain-ing, making it 105-99.

Trailing for the entire � rst half and by 17 points midway through the opening frame, the Energy Colas gathered themselves in the third quarter to turn the tide in their favor as a strong run allowed them to get back in the game.

A 23-8 blast in the third en-abled Barako Bull to snatch the lead for the � rst time, 68-64, a� er JC Intal’s basket. It then settled for a 75-73 advantage heading into the fourth a� er it won the third frame handily, 34-21.

Garcia and Pascual likewise came up big for Barako Bull. Garcia tallied 14 points while Pascual added 12 markers of his own as their crucial shots in crunch time helped their squad’s cause.

( T S - M AY 2 5 , 2 015 )

INVITATION TO BIDRebidding of Supply of Labor and Materials for the Fabrication, Delivery, Installation and Testing of Experimental Prototype of 1

ton/hr minimum input capacity Fluidized Bed Dryer(PHilMech Goods 15-05-05)

1. The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) through its Regular Fund intends to apply the sum of PhP 2,339,564.67 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) as indicated herein to payments under the contract for the Rebidding of Supply of Labñor and Materials for the Fabrication, Delivery, Installation and Testing of Experimental Prototype of 1 ton/hr minimum input capacity Fluidized Bed Dryer. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at Bid opening.

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

ITEMS ABCRebidding of Supply of Labor and Materials

for the Fabrication, Delivery, Installation and Testing of Experimental Prototype of

1 ton/hr minimum input capacity Fluidized Bed Dryer

PhP 2,339,564.67

Total PhP 2,339,564.67 Delivery of the GOODS is required within Ninety (90) calendar days from receipt of

the Notice to Proceed. The description of an eligible Bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents.

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

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

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

6. The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization will hold a Pre-Bid Conference open to all interested parties on June 1, 2015, 10:00am at PHilMech Executive Lounge, CLSU Compound, Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.

7. Bids and eligibility requirements must be delivered to the address below on or before June 15, 2015. All Bids must be accompanied by a Bid security in the form and amount stated in the Bid Data Sheet or an equivalent amount in a freely convertible currency. Late Bids shall not be accepted.

8. Bid opening shall be on June 15, 2015, 10:00am at PHilMech Executive Lounge, CLSU Compound, Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija. Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below.

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

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

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

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

(Sgd.) RAUL R. PAZBAC Chairman

Repub l ic o f the Phi l ipp inesDepar tment of Agr icu l turePhil ippine Center for Por thar vest Development and Mechanizat ionSc ience Ci t y o f Muñoz, Nueva Ec i ja , Ph i l ipp inesw w w.phi lmech.gov.ph

Lyceum jins nail 4golds at SMART meet

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

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LYCEUM of the Philippines University (LPU) fighters stole the show in the recent Meralco/MVPSF New Face of the Year taekwondo championships by bagging four gold medals – two each in the senior men’s and senior women’s (advance) divi-sions.

Flyweight Samuel Pamintuan whipped UP’s Sheraz Hussain and bantamweight Joseph Chua toppled Baguio’s Alfritz Arevalo in the men’s competition while � nweight Louise Gimena beat FEU’s Ma. Beatrice Galvez and � yweight Marielle Ranas topped SCTTC’s Laureena Rodriguez in the women’s group to make LPU the winningest team.

Emilio Aguinaldo College and University of the East also shared tournament honors by taking two

gold medals each.Lightweight Clarice Lausin and

middle/heavyweight Danielle Sacbibit triumphed for EAC while featherweight Troyed Austero and lightweight John Tan produced UE’s golds.

Lausin nipped teammate An-gelica Cabaobo, Sacbibit spilled Mapua’s Bonna Magcalayao, Aus-tero beat LPU’s Bien Corvite and Tan walloped SSCR’s Justine Pre.

� e other senior advance gold medalists were:

Men – Raevid de Leon, FEU-Fern, � nweight; Randolph Mer-cado, Mapua, welterweight; and Vincent Gera Rebancos, Central Gym, heavyweight.

Women – Ma. Jona Bune, FEU. Bantamweight; Jay Cajes, UST, featherweight; and Arianne Ago-jo, Ateneo, welterweight.

From A13...SacrificeLiu even came to the rescue and provided for

their plane tickets, food and hotel accommodation.“In a situation like this, you rely on open-mind-

ed people and big-hearted friends. Mr. Liu Gang came to help. � e handlers of the boxers helped shape up the � ght, the boxers understood and yes, we went on with the � ght. And me as matchmaker didn’t even have to earn from it. I also shelled out personal funds to make it all happen,” said Santig.

After having read the full explanation on the matter, Sulaiman understood and gave his thumbs-up.

“� ank you very much for your kind consider-ation and thorough explanation of the facts con-cerning this matter. It is very clear and I � nd suf-� cient explanation about the reason to have had such as low purse for a WBC title,” said Sulaiman in his email.

� en, he came up with the decision to do-nate the sanction fees to the two boxers.

“We really thank the WBC for the op-portunity to our Filipino boxers and under-standing. We appreciate Mr. Sulaiman and Mr. Betti for their wholehearted support and helping hand,” said Santig.

SPORTSsports@thestandard.com.ph

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

MO NDAY : MAY 2 5 , 2 0 1 5

A16RIERA U. MALL ARI

E D I T O R

Dubs push Rocketsto brink

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

By Peter Atencio

BEING a Filipino-American is a big thing for Jordan Clarkson.

Stephen Curry (center) of the Golden State Warriors goes for a loose ball against Nick Johnson (left) and James Harden of the Houston Rockets in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals of the 2015 NBA PLayoffs at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. AFP

TURN TO A15

BARAKOBULL STAYSUNBEATEN

Clarkson, who is on four-day visit to Manila with Utah Jazz guard Trey Burke and NBA Leg-end Horace Grant to celebrate the NBA Playo� s with Filipino fans, said this as he felt the love and warm welcome of Filipino fans wherever he went.

“I wanna make everybody proud and have opportunities to do great things,” said the 24-year-old Clarkson, a 6’5” rookie com-bo guard of the Los Angeles Lak-ers in the NBA, when he visited the NBA Store at the Glorietta Mall in Makati City with Burke and Grant.

While at Glorietta, Clarkson took time to talk about his aspira-tions, Gilas Pilipinas and how re-tired LA Lakers guard Steve Nash is in� uencing his game along with Kobe Bryant.

“If I have an opportunity, I would love to play for the Philip-pine team,” said Clarkson.

But Clarkson is ineligible to play for Gilas Pilipinas due to a FIBA rule requiring players to acquire citizenship before they turn 16 years old.

Clarkson, who is the � rst Fil-Am player since Raymond Townsend was dra� ed in the NBA in 1978, got to visit the country now that the Los Ange-les Lakers are taking a break with the playo� s under way.

He said he is working hard on improving his game and prepar-ing for the next regular season of the NBA.

Clarkson, who is ranked second among rookies in points per game (11.9) and third in assists per game (3.6), said he never got to play until midway in the season.

When he started playing, Nash and Bryant were able to guide and help him improve his style of play. He added that he found it cool to have Bryant as one of his mentors as well. Nash became his mentor only last January, when he had plenty of time after announcing his retirement.

“Me and Steve go to the gym a lot. We watch a lot of � lm and a lot of games. I appreciate him taking me on with open arms and taking me under his wing,” said Clarkson.

� e � rst thing that Nash and Bryant took notice of was that Clarkson moved too fast.

So they told him to slow down.“Coach (Steve Nash) and Kobe

told me to slow down. So I de-cided, and because this year, its been imprinted in my head, I’ll slow down,” said Clarkson.

Members of the Oklahoma City � under dance team – the � un-der Girls – and Charlotte Hornets mascot Hugo the Hornet also made appearances and interacted with fans.

HOUSTON—NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry delivered a dazzling 40-point display on Saturday as the Golden State Warriors beat Houston 115-80 to push the Rockets to the brink of elimination in the Western Conference finals.

The Warriors lead the best-of-seven series three-games-to-zero, and can book their first trip to the NBA finals since 1975 with a win in game four in Houston on Monday.

The Rockets will fight for their

playoff lives knowing that no NBA team has come back from an 0-3 deficit to win a seven-game series.

Curry connected on 12 of 19 shots from the field, including seven of nine from three-point range.

He scored 19 points in the third quarter, when he was a perfect four-for-four from three-point range.

His stellar shooting helped stem a Rockets rally. They had eaten into a 25-point halftime deficit with a 7-1 scoring run to open the third period.

Curry responded with a three-pointer, scored on two drives to the basket and drained another three-pointer as Golden State rebuilt their lead to 76-50.

- Fearlessness -“Steph was Steph,” Warriors coach

Steve Kerr said. “Just a tremendous performance.

“I don’t think we’ve seen anybody this quick, with the ability to create space ... with this kind of fearlessness and confidence. He’s really something.”

Curry, who broke his 2013 record for the most three-pointers made in a regular season with 286, has now drained the most long-range shots in a single post-season with 64 -- surging past the previous record of 58 set by Reggie Miller in 2000.

But Kerr was even more impressed to see his team leading by 25 at halftime despite lackluster shooting numbers. They shot just 45.1 percent from the field in the first half -- only 45.4 percent for the game.

But the Rockets were a dismal 29.3 percent from the field in the first half -- including making just two of 13 three-point attempts -- and never recovered.

Houston guard James Harden,

who was outstanding in two close-run defeats to open the series on the Warriors’ home court in Oakland, missed seven of eight attempts in the first half.

“The halftime box score was really telling,” Kerr said. “We had one turnover. We defended like crazy. So we were up 25 points with a box score that doesn’t look that impressive from a shooting standpoint.”

Rockets coach Kevin McHale admitted he was surprised his players didn’t seem to come out with much urgency as the series shifted to their home court.

“I thought we’d come out with a little more juice,” said McHale, adding that it was Golden State’s 60-39 superiority in rebounding and their edge in points in the paint that really killed the Rockets. AFP

Clarksonwants toplay forPH but...

KENYANSDOMINATE10-MILER

TURN TO A12

RODERICK T. DELA CRUZASSISTANT EDITOR B1

MONDAY: MAY 25, 2015

business@thestandard.com.phextrastory2000@gmail.com

RAY S. EÑANOEDITOR

SMC bidding for gas pipeline

Moody’s upgrades credit ratings of PNB, RCBC

BUSINESS

Bangko Sentral ng PilipinasFriday, May 22, 2015

Foreign exchange rateCurrency Unit US Dollar PesoUnited States Dollar 1.000000 44.5100

Japan Yen 0.008260 0.3677

UK Pound 1.566300 69.7160

Hong Kong Dollar 0.128982 5.7410

Switzerland Franc 1.067692 47.5230

Canada Dollar 0.819269 36.4657

Singapore Dollar 0.748559 33.3184

Australia Dollar 0.788706 35.1053

Bahrain Dinar 2.652309 118.0543

Saudi Arabia Rial 0.266667 11.8693

Brunei Dollar 0.745768 33.1941

Indonesia Rupiah 0.000076 0.0034

Thailand Baht 0.029931 1.3322

UAE Dirham 0.272257 12.1182

Euro Euro 1.111200 49.4595

Korea Won 0.000915 0.0407

China Yuan 0.161374 7.1828

India Rupee 0.015741 0.7006

Malaysia Ringgit 0.278064 12.3766

New Zealand Dollar 0.731904 32.5770

Taiwan Dollar 0.032852 1.4622 Source: PDS Bridge

7,810.1725.21

Closing May 22, 2015PSe comPoSite index

46

45

44

43

42

HIGH P44.440 LOW P44.560 AVERAGE P44.513

Closing MAY 22, 2015PeSo-dollar rate

VOLUME 465.100M

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 Pilipinas

oilPriceS today

P500.00-P680.00LPG/11-kg tank

P41.45-P46.80Unleaded Gasoline

P29.85-P33.20Diesel

P38.50-P42.30Kerosene

P23.70-P24.40Auto LPG

todayP29.85-P33.20

P38.50-P42.30

P23.70-P24.40

PP41.45-P46.80

8500

8000

7500

7000

6500

6000

Closing MAY 22, 2015

P44.545CLOSE

By Julito G. RadaGLOBAL debt watcher Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded the ratings of two Philippine banks to investment grade, fol-lowing the consistent improve-ment in their credit profiles.

Moody’s said it upgraded the long-term and short-term ratings of Philippine National Bank and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. to Baa3 from Ba2.

Moody’s also assigned a coun-ter-party risk assessment of Baa1 to Bank of the Philippine Islands, BDO Unibank Inc. and Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co.;

Baa2 to Land Bank of the Phil-ippines, PNB and RCBC; and and B1 United Coconut Plant-ers Bank.

Moody’s also affirmed the rat-ings of Metrobank at baa2 for baseline credit assessment and adjusted BCA; Baa2 for long-term and short-term deposit ratings; Baa3 for long-term local currency subordinated debt rat-ing; and Ba2 for foreign currency preferred stock rating.

“The upgrade of the long-term and short-term ratings of PNB and RCBC reflects the consistent improvement in the credit profiles of these banks,

backed by favorable operating conditions in the Philippines,” Moody’s said.

It said the upgrade of the bank’s baseline credit assessments and adjusted BCA to ba1 from ba3 reflected improvements in asset quality profiles during a period in which new non-performing loans formation remained low in the Philippines.

“In addition, the bank’s capital buffers have improved, following PNB’s P11.6 billion in new equity raising in early 2014 and Cathay Life’s P7.95-billion investment in new equity of RCBC, which was completed in April 2015,”

Moody’s said.It said while PNB’s asset quality

remained weaker than the rated Philippine banks average, its high levels of capitalization and loan-loss coverage provided sufficient loss absorption capacity at its current rating levels to withstand systemic stresses over the next 12 to 18 months.

Moody’s said the affirmation of Metrobank’s BCA and Ad-justed BCA of baa2 reflected strong domestic franchise, robust capital and liquidity profiles and improving asset quality, which reflected discipline and prudence in business growth.

By Alena Mae S. Flores

DIVERSIFIED con-glomerate San Miguel Corp. has expressed interest to participate in the bidding for both the Batangas-Manila natural gas pipeline and the Malampaya banked gas as part of efforts to strengthen its position in the en-ergy sector.

San Miguel president Ramon Ang confirmed the company would join the auction for the banked gas of the Malampaya gas project in northwest Palawan.

The Malampaya consortium composed of Shell Philippines Ex-ploration B.V., Chevron Malam-paya LLC and PNOC Exploration Corp. and state-owned Philippine National Oil Co. is jointly offering the banked gas, which can fuel a power plant with a capacity of 400 megawatts.

“For the banked gas, we will bid, for the pipeline, we will also bid. That pipeline... goes all the way to Palawan. Let’s say there is no more gas from the Malampaya gas field, there are other fields out there, so that asset is very impor-tant for the government to sell,” Ang said.

Ang disclosed San Miguel’s in-terest in the BatMan pipeline as early as 2010. San Miguel today has become one of the biggest power generating companies in the Philippines.

San Miguel’s portfolio includes the contracted capacities of the 1,000 MW Sual coal-fired power plant, the 345-MW San Roque multi-purpose dam and the 1,200-MW Ilijan natural gas sta-tion.

San Miguel is also building coal-fired power plants in Bataan and Davao provinces.

The invitation to prospective investors for the banked gas ear-lier said Spex, Chevron, PNOC Exploration and PNOC had start-ed the process of jointly tendering their respective gas volume en-titlements under service contract 38 in northwest Palawan.

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

Spex, as lead contractor of the Malampaya gas-to-power project, has its own banked or stored gas in the Malampaya reservoir. The other banked gas, also stored in the Malampaya reservoir, is owned by the state-owned PNOC.

Best e-commerce site. CashCashPinoy, a privately held Filipino online shopping Web site that sells goods, services and travel at a discounted price, was recently named ‘Best e-Commerce Site’ during the Golden Globe Annual Awards for Business Excellence. Shown receiving the award is CashCashPinoy founder and chief executive Frederic Levy (center).

business@thestandard.com.phextrastory2000@gmail.com

BUSINESSMONDAY: MAY 25, 2015

B2

M S T MAY 18-22, 2015 MAY 11-15, 2015STOCKS Close Volume Value Close Volume Value

MST BuSineSS Weekly STockS RevieW

FINANCIALAG Finance 7.5 390,500 2,850,244.00 7.2 260,700 1,930,532.00Asia United Bank 73.5 333,630 24,307,711.00 71 206,350 14,640,534.00Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 115.90 15,020,700 1,748,743,469.00 115.00 11,091,700 1,255,667,388.00Bank of PI 101.50 11,864,350 1,191,101,514.00 100.00 14,992,010 1,506,093,403.00China Bank 47.1 265,200 12,398,230.00 48.1 661,200 31,816,795.00BDO Leasing & Fin. Inc. 2.44 287,000 709,790.00 2.50 204,000 489,800.00Bright Kindle Resources 2.03 399,000 845,080.00 2.10 426,000 879,600.00Citystate Savings 10 100 1,000.00 10 COL Financial 15.7 93,600 1,323,356.00 15.8 214,400 3,295,382.00Eastwest Bank 21.7 1,999,700 44,744,690.00 23.25 8,648,400 199,480,260.00Filipino Fund Inc. 7.37 72,800 538,770 7.40 48,400 358,299I-Remit Inc. 1.68 6,000 10,080.00 1.68 95,000 162,560.00Manulife Fin. Corp. 795.00 820 651,900.00 846.00 2,920 2,389,560.00MEDCO Holdings 0.425 4,830,000 2,113,050.00 0.435 590,000 273,050.00Metrobank 93.6 15,842,450 1,476,409,247.00 93.75 15,603,810 1,454,513,951.00Natl Reinsurance Corp. 1.07 146,000 150,800.00 1.09 2,089,000 2,180,210.00PB Bank 18.24 94,700 1,723,212.00 18.30 199,500 3,677,514.00Phil Bank of Comm 29.50 7,700 230,215.00 29.00 55,700 1,680,405.00Phil. National Bank 73.85 589,540 43,910,012.00 74.90 209,230 15,706,175.00Phil. Savings Bank 94.5 27,530 2,591,088.00 94 8,150 765,821.00PSE Inc. 313.2 7,060 2,223,260.00 317 96,460 30,667,140.00RCBC `A’ 44.8 258,300 11,834,625.00 45.1 816,100 36,695,210.00Security Bank 168 2,555,260 430,797,771.00 167 1,885,560 315,287,996.00Sun Life Financial 1435.00 970 1,393,780.00 1475.00 665 969,650.00Union Bank 65.30 75,880 4,940,161.00 65.10 101,730 6,623,578.00Vantage Equities 3.15 4,191,000 13,190,250.00 3.12 1,037,000 3,225,330.00

INDUSTRIALAboitiz Power Corp. 43.15 14,897,100 645,949,650.00 42.35 11,362,400 480,742,715.00Agrinurture Inc. 1.4 299,000 411,830.00 1.55 38,002 58,930.00Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 1.08 12,498,000 13,215,840.00 1.08 5,464,000 5,803,730.00Alsons Cons. 2.16 8,574,000 18,468,960.00 2.1 5,062,000 10,509,360.00Asiabest Group 11.6 33,000 382,902.00 11.5 83,600 979,590.00Bogo Medellin 49.25 300 14,775.00 49.25 400 19,702.00C. Azuc De Tarlac 86.50 1,530 132,545.00 88.00 30 2,660.00Century Food 19 3,781,000 72,115,482.00 19.32 3,406,900 65,950,056.00Chemphil 145 250 34,039.00 127 90 11,251.00Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 27.7 1,785,900 50,781,310.00 28 1,306,000 35,798,510.00Concepcion 58 120,240 6,957,415.00 57 880,830 51,235,760.00Crown Asia 1.84 27,701,000 53,003,960.00 2 40,992,000 88,371,590.00Da Vinci Capital 1.76 685,000 1,223,540.00 1.76 1,812,000 3,190,410.00Del Monte 12.7 478,400 6,108,016.00 12.68 603,900 7,684,114.00DNL Industries Inc. 20.100 22,668,800 452,369,270.00 20.300 19,395,800 405,016,870.00Emperador 10.08 9,165,700 96,296,609.00 11.38 8,210,400 93,736,202.00Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 7.85 118,398,200 940,987,270.00 8.02 136,186,500 1,082,026,403.00EEI 10.44 1,581,800 16,445,930.00 10.30 1,251,200 12,710,020.00Euro-Med Lab. 1.7 71,000 127,660.00 1.83 503,000 882,350.00Federal Res. Inv. Group 15.4 676,100 10,714,112.00 14.58 298,500 4,340,430.00First Gen Corp. 27 20,333,200 551,800,375.00 27.8 13,483,700 368,669,470.00First Holdings ‘A’ 89 771,100 68,835,133.00 89.5 2,212,850 198,696,796.00Ginebra San Miguel Inc. 14.10 43,000 607,160.00 14.98 23,000 332,744.00Holcim Philippines Inc. 14.46 143,600 2,065,530.00 13.98 167,300 2,341,800.00Integ. Micro-Electronics 5.9 6,985,000 41,172,726.00 5.9 4,786,800 28,244,707.00Ionics Inc 0.590 2,229,000 1,341,600.00 0.580 483,000 282,770.00Jollibee Foods Corp. 211.00 2,254,210 481,131,438.00 212.00 5,146,310 1,087,446,132.00Lafarge Rep 10.22 5,105,800 52,573,832.00 10.4 7,201,300 74,272,714.00Liberty Flour 32.50 800 26,000.00 32.05 5,600 180,755.00LMG Chemicals 2.6 21,000 59,200.00 2.5 367,000 924,180.00Macay Holdings 52.85 710 36,084.00 52.55 7,900 408,895.00Manila Water Co. Inc. 26.7 10,392,100 274,844,380.00 26 9,829,800 248,675,035.00Maxs Group 26.95 495,300 13,382,910.00 27.95 2,702,300 75,607,990.00Megawide 7.36 749,600 5,544,868.00 7.4 1,129,500 8,458,386.00Mla. Elect. Co `A’ 273.20 1,954,090 534,964,754.00 273.00 1,356,350 362,437,550.00Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp. 3.85 82,000 318,480.00 3.90 186,000 795,900.00Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 4.21 14,815,000 62,369,680.00 4.2 12,611,000 52,931,440.00Petron Corporation 9.75 9,695,500 96,424,715.00 10.02 22,566,300 221,866,444.00Phil H2O 4.28 20,000 83,100.00 4.03 48,000 202,870.00Phinma Corporation 11.56 174,800 2,042,958.00 11.60 157,500 1,825,468.00Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 3.94 1,580,000 6,256,280.00 4.05 2,364,000 9,480,140.00Phoenix Semiconductor 2.34 3,740,000 8,931,920.00 2.35 3,910,000 9,002,830.00Pryce Corp. `A’ 2.24 9,844,000 23,354,980.00 2.32 3,716,000 8,502,730.00RFM Corporation 4.91 6,880,600 34,665,903.00 5.03 10,703,100 53,900,671.00Roxas and Co. 2.25 53,002,000 107,689,040.00 1.93 249,000 475,210.00Roxas Holdings 6.25 47,900 319,575.00 6.2 359,800 2,222,315.00San Miguel’Pure Foods `B’ 186 26,110 4,887,717.00 188 81,320 15,452,617.00SPC Power Corp. 4.5 81,000 364,710.00 4.4 6,000 26,580.00Splash Corporation 1.6 913,000 1,443,020.00 1.59 1,284,000 2,050,720.00Swift Foods, Inc. 0.160 23,280,000 3,820,800.00 0.160 8,340,000 1,341,880.00TKC Steel Corp. 1.25 226,000 281,500.00 1.28 91,000 123,770.00Trans-Asia Oil 2.31 13,230,000 30,667,810.00 2.27 17,363,000 40,209,130.00Universal Robina 201 15,542,220 3,187,059,452.00 210.6 18,912,020 3,870,241,064.00Victorias Milling 4.43 395,000 1,752,750.00 4.46 125,000 559,730.00Vitarich Corp. 0.73 26,533,000 20,231,180.00 0.72 4,963,000 3,468,630.00Vivant Corp. 20.85 3,000 62,550.00 20.80 500 10,400.00Vulcan Ind’l. 1.32 1,469,000 1,916,320.00 1.32 810,000 1,065,890.00

HOLDING FIRMSAbacus Cons. `A’ 0.470 590,000 275,500.00 0.470 920,000 430,300.00Aboitiz Equity 57.45 5,054,540 289,792,613.00 57.65 5,108,420 294,529,612.00Alliance Global Inc. 22.70 99,931,000 2,367,036,005.00 24.40 47,884,300 1,180,747,850.00Anglo Holdings A 1.28 60,000 77,830.00 1.29 Anscor `A’ 7.03 658,800 4,666,342.00 7.00 538,100 3,812,905.00ATN Holdings A 0.285 11,530,000 3,247,100.00 0.285 47,340,000 13,724,850.00ATN Holdings B 0.28 700,000 196,500.00 0.29 6,214,000 1,883,150.00Ayala Corp `A’ 810.5 1,095,160 891,070,815.00 821 1,231,750 1,001,946,535.00Cosco Capital 8.07 11,716,100 96,624,633.00 9.38 4,836,300 40,090,040.00DMCI Holdings 14.94 36,679,500 551,079,438.00 15.10 35,038,600 521,101,840.00F&J Prince ‘A’ 3.75 31,000 114,880.00 3.6 8,000 27,900.00Filinvest Dev. Corp. 4.51 1,019,000 4,599,630.00 4.37 1,062,000 4,636,410.00Forum Pacific 0.240 2,970,000 729,030.00 0.265 3,100,000 815,450.00GT Capital 1428 1,669,505 2,397,103,340.00 1410 2,393,170 3,310,748,910.00House of Inv. 6.40 1,112,300 7,119,176.00 6.36 310,300 1,983,342.00JG Summit Holdings 73.00 7,870,080 575,095,525.00 72.00 7,283,250 525,434,036.00Jolliville Holdings 3.81 141,500 617,113.00 4.2 14,000 59,800.00Keppel Holdings `A’ 5.8 17,100 104,866.00 5.47 1,900 10,411.00LT Group 5.04 300 1,557.00 6.55 8,800 55,650.00Keppel Holdings `B’ 7.61 19,645,100 150,572,279.00 7.71 91,115,900 699,057,153.00Lopez Holdings Corp. 0.74 714,000 512,710.00 0.75 2,690,000 1,989,180.00Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. 14.38 17,847,400 264,477,350.00 15.5 23,077,300 352,912,654.00Mabuhay Holdings `A’ 0.67 7,864,000 5,357,210.00 0.68 754,001 866,150.00Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. 4.77 85,713,000 405,149,910.00 4.73 82,823,000 401,218,930.00Minerales Industrias Corp. 5 227,100 1,141,740.00 5 183,600 918,000.00Pacifica `A’ 0.0370 8,000,000 303,300.00 0.0380 5,000,000 190,000.00Prime Media Hldg 1.300 273,000 357,610.00 1.350 37,001 60,120.00Prime Orion 0.930 29,659,000 30,442,500.00 1.100 27,034,000 29,926,570.00Republic Glass ‘A’ 2.4 333,000 815,620.00 2.42 4,000 9,680.00San Miguel Corp `A’ 65.20 1,091,820 71,853,428.00 66.50 827,760 55,326,045.00Seafront `A’ 2.81 89,000 257,450.00 2.96 42,000 119,000.00SM Investments Inc. 900.00 878,890 793,679,305.00 910.00 1,094,260 986,995,530.00Solid Group Inc. 1.21 4,184,000 769,110.00 1.21 4,280,000 5,657,700.00South China Res. Inc. 0.78 300,000 239,030.00 0.81 1,088,000 929,340.00Top Frontier 84.00 79,090 6,655,529.00 88.10 117,180 10,820,223.00Unioil Res. & Hldgs 0.3750 19,870,000 7,513,750.00 0.3900 54,950,000 21,268,000.00Wellex Industries 0.2180 2,200,000 471,030.00 0.2330 3,570,000 796,070.00Zeus Holdings 0.305 1,340,000 406,300.00 0.310 1,150,000 356,650.00

P R O P E R T Y8990 HLDG 8.340 4,203,100 36,304,461.00 8.790 2,080,000 17,949,532.00Anchor Land Holdings Inc. 9.80 22,300 226,984.00 10.30 4,400 44,066.00A. Brown Co., Inc. 0.79 7,802,000 6,263,550.00 0.84 87,242,000 72,333,980.00Araneta Prop `A’ 1.280 724,000 938,340.00 1.300 559,000 728,360.00Arthaland Corp. 0.230 5,780,000 1,366,600.00 0.240 60,000 14,400.00Ayala Land `B’ 40.00 30,910,000 1,252,723,680.00 40.70 26,124,700 1,053,711,340.00Belle Corp. `A’ 4.03 4,880,000 19,779,230.00 4.1 5,157,000 21,246,240.00Cebu Holdings 5.18 1,320,300 6,858,841.00 5.19 266,100 1,384,790.00Cebu Prop. `A’ 6.4 100 640.00 5.8 800 1,160.00Centennial City 0.88 17,707,000 15,719,710.00 0.88 25,636,000 22,790,260.00City & Land Dev. 1.25 65,000 81,720.00 1.30 367,000 463,430.00Cityland Dev. `A’ 1.05 1,022,000 1,132,440.00 1.19 679,000 772,920.00Crown Equities Inc. 0.151 22,280,000 3,411,550.00 0.156 57,090,000 8,966,980.00Cyber Bay Corp. 0.455 2,430,000 1,092,750.00 0.450 340,000 152,750.00Empire East Land 0.860 122,000 105,180.00 0.850 2,339,000 2,009,010.00Ever Gotesco 0.180 4,030,000 729,500.00 0.180 650,000 118,870.00Global-Estate 1.34 10,046,000 13,662,620.00 1.39 7,447,000 10,246,690.00Filinvest Land,Inc. 1.98 140,159,000 287,855,360.00 2.02 133,215,000 260,954,580.00

MAY 18-22, 2015 MAY 11-15, 2015STOCKS Close Volume Value Close Volume Value

Interport `A’ 1.38 2,163,000 3,030,730.00 1.41 1,983,000 2,764,480.00Keppel Properties 5.97 419,400 2,784,854.00 6.60 65,600 425,769.00Megaworld Corp. 5.2 140,164,400 746,428,535.00 5.25 72,155,700 383,728,206.00Megaworld Prop. 5.19 36,092,700 187,411,926.00 MRC Allied Ind. 0.125 9,390,000 1,142,300.00 0.126 16,880,000 2,092,080.00Phil. Estates Corp. 0.3300 1,240,000 407,600.00 0.3300 1,350,000 442,200.00Phil. Realty `A’ 0.4950 70,000 33,500.00 0.4900 2,660,000 1,229,000.00Phil. Tob. Flue Cur & Redry 26.00 15,000 375,650.00 27.00 178,900 4,839,025.00Primex Corp. 7.28 770,900 5,614,305.00 7.29 332,400 2,423,556.00Robinson’s Land `B’ 28.60 19,374,300 562,063,270.00 30.00 10,125,800 296,295,415.00Rockwell 1.71 1,527,000 2,630,490.00 1.73 3,829,000 6,612,740.00Shang Properties Inc. 3.23 2,526,000 8,289,140.00 3.31 245,000 809,480.00SM Prime Holdings 19.70 73,367,500 1,452,535,973.00 19.70 31,829,100 626,370,424.00Sta. Lucia Land Inc. 0.72 5,489,000 3,837,280.00 0.74 2,752,000 2,063,210.00Starmalls 7.11 20,900 146,295.00 7.1 174,800 1,202,317.00Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. 0.920 4,956,000 4,577,530.00 0.980 778,000 760,430.00Vista Land & Lifescapes 7.250 63,930,500 467,438,991.00 7.450 46,363,900 342,984,050.00

S E R V I C E S2GO Group 6.72 3,894,700 27,345,796.00 6.57 545,300 3,550,982.00ABS-CBN 61.8 35,680 2,213,583.00 61.85 73,820 4,560,655.00Acesite Hotel 1.09 950,000 1,048,110.00 1.06 389,000 425,290.00APC Group, Inc. 0.720 217,203,000 173,424,060.00 0.680 4,314,000 2,936,810.00Asian Terminals Inc. 13.78 2,400 33,098.00 13.66 149,800 2,032,950.00Bloomberry 9.90 67,354,100 1,026,209,744.00 10.00 120,646,300 1,340,314,568.00Boulevard Holdings 0.0950 87,350,000 8,471,050.00 0.0990 60,170,000 5,989,930.00Calata Corp. 4.7 10,912,000 48,368,640.00 4 8,806,000 35,898,850.00Cebu Air Inc. (5J) 90.6 3,392,590 313,455,040.00 91.2 5,781,440 516,932,991.00Centro Esc. Univ. 10 18,200 182,088.00 10 29,700 297,000.00Discovery World 1.67 35,000 58,770 1.69 5,000 8,450DFNN Inc. 6.60 920,800 6,424,246.00 6.90 348,300 2,419,320.00Easy Call “Common” 3.52 320,000 1,104,530.00 2.86 45,000 128,850.00FEUI 987 510 502,850.00 976 1,310 1,259,060.00Globe Telecom 2608 527,935 1,338,667,230.00 2550 264,280 636,850,180.00GMA Network Inc. 6.30 273,700 1,719,963.00 6.31 517,800 3,229,819.00Grand Plaza Hotel 26.00 3,100 95,365.00 27.00 7,800 193,070.00Harbor Star 1.35 1,028,000 1,398,790.00 1.38 4,594,000 6,289,620.00I.C.T.S.I. 111.6 2,547,160 285,525,542.00 111 2,916,510 323,566,261.00Imperial Res. `A’ 5.17 25,400 143,765 6.02 1,200 8,320IPeople Inc. `A’ 12.36 11,600 143,620.00 12.4 16,400 202,860.00IP E-Game Ventures Inc. 0.013 33,800,000 439,300.00 0.013 20,600,000 261,300.00Island Info 0.231 21,360,000 5,045,870.00 0.244 113,720,000 27,193,880.00ISM Communications 1.2500 4,977,000 6,686,990.00 1.2700 1,086,000 1,384,090.00Jackstones 2.36 126,000 300,840.00 2.41 237,000 570,210.00Leisure & Resorts 9.73 3,264,300 31,852,380.00 9.80 12,014,500 118,036,402.00Liberty Telecom 2.65 8,024,000 21,975,090.00 2.05 15,000 31,190.00Lorenzo Shipping 1.36 156,000 190,330.00 1.3 69,000 32,693.00Macroasia Corp. 2.10 106,000 216,520.00 2.14 1,000 2,140.00Manila Broadcasting 56.00 38,000 2,230,929.00 64.00 166,380 8,386,299.00Manila Bulletin 0.680 6,172,000 4,440,120.00 0.680 378,000 252,870.00Manila Jockey 2 168,000 335,280.00 2 269,000 537,220.00Melco Crown 8.38 16,765,400 144,922,121.00 9.5 20,199,300 195,877,703.00MG Holdings 0.365 4,230,000 1,498,850.00 0.365 360,000 128,850.00NOW Corp. 0.440 170,000 75,050.00 0.470 1,450,000 677,350.00Pacific Online Sys. Corp. 18.38 22,700 418,096.00 18.46 81,600 1,508,288.00PAL Holdings Inc. 4.56 101,000 469,200 4.50 122,000 555,790Paxys Inc. 3 38,000 114,500.00 3 12,000 36,200.00Phil. Racing Club 9.49 12,300 110,798.00 9 Phil. Seven Corp. 106.60 4,950 607,023.00 128.00 2,390 322,090.00Philweb.Com Inc. 21.05 2,683,100 55,431,093.00 17.10 1,357,700 21,212,822.00PLDT Common 2860.00 278,795 799,227,970.00 2850.00 413,320 1,170,981,090.00PremiereHorizon 0.660 8,133,000 5,310,340.00 0.660 41,284,000 27,366,920.00Premium Leisure 1.620 87,138,000 146,311,420.00 1.710 195,236,000 332,590,270.00Puregold 39.00 17,549,400 700,697,720.00 39.85 9,519,900 375,006,250.00Robinsons Retail 81.90 3,622,920 305,407,562.00 87.50 4,719,360 399,192,844.00SSI Group 10.52 16,097,600 170,436,644.00 10.70 23,928,700 254,900,906.00STI Holdings 0.67 2,041,000 1,367,620.00 0.67 8,737,000 5,808,980.00Transpacific Broadcast 1.76 24,000 43,030.00 Travellers 6.39 13,483,300 88,829,144.00 6.66 9,883,900 65,911,829.00Waterfront Phils. 0.330 411,276,750 389,400.00 0.325 1,580,000 516,400.00Yehey 1.280 198,000 254,940.00 1.300 1,000 1,300.00

MINING & OILAbra Mining 0.0051 290,000,000 1,487,200.00 0.0053 733,000,000 3,879,800.00Apex `A’ 2.70 281,000 768,120.00 2.71 1,160,000 3,232,500.00Atlas Cons. `A’ 7.50 1,690,200 13,021,921.00 8.07 647,500 5,240,613.00Atok-Big Wedge `A’ 15.50 24,500 379,750.00 15.00 1,800 26,240.00Basic Energy Corp. 0.250 480,000 122,700.00 0.250 3,480,000 872,700.00Benguet Corp `A’ 7.4000 189,200 1,424,649.00 7.3900 160,200 1,144,497.00Benguet Corp `B’ 7.7000 140,400 1,078,632.00 7.3000 15,400 113,040.00Century Peak Metals Hldgs 1 4,405,000 4,492,140.00 1.05 3,818,000 3,976,770.00Coal Asia 0.86 4,714,000 4,020,190.00 0.87 4,332,000 3,742,140.00Dizon 7.47 134,500 1,019,917.00 7.79 80,900 638,110.00Ferronickel 1.58 108,502,000 182,161,390.00 1.81 71,161,000 129,252,680.00Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. 0.340 5,310,000 1,819,100.00 0.345 6,970,000 2,430,350.00Lepanto `A’ 0.237 49,470,000 12,255,040.00 0.247 63,400,000 15,306,650.00Lepanto `B’ 0.247 8,990,000 2,236,110.00 0.249 17,070,000 4,193,840.00Manila Mining `A’ 0.0140 57,030,000 11,094,200.00 0.0150 63,400,000 892,100.00Manila Mining `B’ 0.0140 105,500,000 1,531,000.00 0.0150 72,200,000 1,109,800.00Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. 3.95 2,833,000 11,303,270.00 3.99 3,353,000 13,748,650.00Nickelasia 25.35 20,080,700 513,828,825.00 27.25 18,685,400 447,626,165.00Nihao Mineral Resources 3.85 4,496,000 17,154,040.00 3.8 8,522,000 33,028,620.00Omico 0.6900 1,487,000 1,050,570.00 0.7100 167,000 118,570.00Oriental Peninsula Res. 2.070 964,000 2,007,280.00 2.100 1,136,000 2,388,930.00Oriental Pet. `A’ 0.0130 101,200,000 1,258,000.00 0.0120 97,100,000 1,208,300.00Oriental Pet. `B’ 0.0130 15,600,000 202,800.00 0.0130 17,300,000 225,100.00Petroenergy Res. Corp. 4.41 51,000 224,890.00 4.44 990,000 4,417,030.00Philex `A’ 6.49 4,556,600 30,221,103.00 6.93 2,295,200 16,120,380.00PhilexPetroleum 2.12 82,916,000 190,827,790.00 2.12 95,112,000 226,440,520.00Philodrill Corp. `A’ 0.016 67,300,000 1,020,700.00 0.016 364,800,000 5,831,000.00Semirara Corp. 159.30 6,428,010 387,739,658.00 163.00 3,718,280 595,515,712.00TA Petroleum 10.86 9,702,200 91,725,831.00 7.83 15,532,800 114,887,925.00United Paragon 0.0100 24,700,000 252,500.00 0.0100 24,800,000 258,300.00

PREFERREDABS-CBN Holdings Corp. 63 565,640 35,695,149.00 63 1,099,260 68,838,541.00Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B1’ 522 2,200 1,148,355.00 521.5 23,010 11,968,945.00Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ 526 21,860 11,482,100 525 9,410 4,940,200First Gen F 119 900 107,100.00 First Gen G 119 32,050 3,825,810.00 119 62,020 7,381,093.00GLOBE PREF P 521 8,500 4,423,110.00 520 20,140 10,467,900.00GMA Holdings Inc. 6.4 156,500 969,591.00 6.2 237,500 1,468,089.00Leisure & Resort Pref. 1.1 3,554,000 3,878,920 1.09 3,009,000 3,259,810MWIDE PREF 111.1 30 3,333.00 115 43,500 5,004,455.00PCOR-Preferred B 1095 2,000 2,190,300.00 1170 10,095 11,493,645.00PF Pref 2 1050 2,950 3,096,490.00 1064 30,495 32,161,085.00SMC Preferred A 76.75 527,290 40,457,369.00 76.7 773,970 59,122,687.00SMC Preferred B 84 136,550 11,471,020.00 84 47,570 3,992,880.00SMC Preferred C 86.95 242,510 20,948,827.00 86.9 92,480 7,996,012.00

WARRANTS & BONDSLeisure & Resort Warr. 4.340 2,034,000 8,930,650.00 4.630 10,690,000 49,498,170.00

S M EDouble Dragon 10 6,326,000 63,827,940.00 10.04 12,208,600 121,265,987.00Makati Fin. Corp. 7 105,200 844,231.00 9 137,300 1,194,019.00Ripple E-Business Intl 73 3,700 253,123.00 72.7 7,660 541,276.00Xurpas 10.2 10,928,600 113,641,594.00 10.28 12,767,500 125,744,018.00

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDSFirst Metro ETF 127.2 275,150 35,306,336.00 128.4 53,210 6,765,643.00

WEEKLY MOST TRADED STOCKS VOLUME

Waterfront Phils. 411,276,750Abra Mining 290,000,000APC Group, Inc. 217,203,000Megaworld Corp. 140,164,400Filinvest Land,Inc. 140,159,000Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 118,398,200Ferronickel 108,502,000Manila Mining `B’ 105,500,000Oriental Pet. `A’ 101,200,000Alliance Global Inc. 99,931,000

STOCKS VALUE

Universal Robina 3,187,059,452.00GT Capital 2,397,103,340.00Alliance Global Inc. 2,367,036,005.00Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 1,748,743,469.00Metrobank 1,476,409,247.00SM Prime Holdings 1,452,535,973.00Globe Telecom 1,338,667,230.00Ayala Land `B’ 1,252,723,680.00Bank of PI 1,191,101,514.00Bloomberry 1,026,209,744.00

business@thestandard.com.phextrastory2000@gmail.com

BUSINESSMONDAY: MAY 25, 2015

B3

Toyota Tsusho joins Alsons’ power plant

BCDA remains defiant on Bonifacio lot challenge

GDP growth data seen affecting stock market this week

New ecozone locator. Zhang Jung Metal Finishing Corp. president Sen-jung Lin receives the registration agreement from Philippine Economic Zone Authority director general Lilia de Lima as an ecozone export enterprise to engage in metal finishing processes such as plating and coating of zinc, tin copper, nickel epoxy and other similar in nature at Cavite Economic Zone. With them are (from left) Ma. Ana Cristina Lin (left) and Sen-Jung Lin both from Zhang Jung Lin Corp.

IT HAS been more than two months since the Supreme Court’s third division issued a decision upholding the unsolicited proposal by the SM Group to develop a 33.1-hectare property at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City.

One may expect the state-run Bases Conversion and Development Authority to start preparing the term of reference for the Swiss Challenge for the property, based on SM Group’s unsolicited offer.

But no. What BCDA has done over the past two months was that it filed another motion for reconsideration, this time with the SC en banc.

“We filed the second motion for reconsideration. We filed the petition with the SC en banc,” BCDA president and chief executive Arnel Paciano Casanova told MST Chatter.

The final resolution issued by the high court’s special third division on March 18 affirmed the Jan. 9, 2013 stay order, blocking the BCDA’s plan to discard the process of subjecting the unsolicited proposal to Swiss challenge.

Casanova, a lawyer, said the SC decision was only at the third-division level. So BCDA, which has the mandate to develop former US military facilities in the country, went a step higher and filed the MR before the SC en banc or the whole body of the high tribunal.

Casanova is standing firm on his belief that a competitive bidding, instead of the Swiss Challenge, had the potential to generate more income for the government.

While this latest move of the BCDA did not surprise the SM Group at all, the conglomerate said it was willing to go through all the legal process because it trusted the judiciary.

So who will emerge as the victor in the long standing tussle between SM Group and BCDA’s Casanova? The SC en banc, hopefully, will have the final decision soon. Jenniffer B. Austria

What Ramon Ang cannot standRamon Ang, president of San Miguel Corp., one of the prime movers

in the economy, is not losing sleep when the company loses a bid for a government project. Ang, however, said San Miguel would not take things sitting down when he felt the company was being cheated.

“Whether we lose or win in any bidding, I will not lose sleep, except when we are cheated such as [when] we were disqualified on technicality,” Ang told reporters in bilingual during the recent stockholders’ meeting of Petron Corp., where he also serves as chairman and chief executive.

Ang said San Miguel had joined several biddings conducted by Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. but the company accepted the fact that it did not win.

“We have joined PSALM’s auctions several times, but none was heard from us. But being disqualified on technicality, that was wrong,” he said, apparently referring to a case involving a major infrastructure project.

San Miguel is vying for the contract to build the Cavite Laguna Expressway project together with rival Metro Pacific Investments Corp. of the Salim Group. President Benigno Aquino III earlier decided to rebid the Calax project because of the issues raised by San Miguel.

San Miguel asked President Aquino to set aside the decision of the Public Works Department to disqualify unit Optimal Infrastructure Development Inc. from the bidding on technicality and accept its P20.1-billion bid for Calax, which was P8 billion higher than the P11.7-billion offer by Team Orion of Ayala Corp. and Aboitiz Land Inc., which was declared the highest bidder.

San Miguel’s OIDI submitted an offer of P20.1 billion but was disqualified on technicality.

The Calax project involves a 35-year contract to finance, build and operate a 47-kilometer four-lane toll road between the end of Cavite Expressway in Kawit, Cavite and the South Luzon Expressway-Mamplasan Interchange in Biñan, Laguna.

Construction is scheduled to start by October 2015 and end September 2017. Alena Mae S. Flores

By Alena Mae S. Flores

TOYOTA Tsusho Corp., the trading compa-ny of the Toyota Group of Japan, has agreed to invest in the 105-megawatt San Ramon coal-fired power plant project in Zamboanga City that will be built by Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc., a top executive said over the weekend.

“We always open to receiving other partners…Our interest is to be able to maintain majority, 51 [percent], the balance we are open to considering Toyota or even others,” Alsons chairman and president Tomas Alcantara told reporters.

Alcantara said Toyota Tsusho, the company’s partner in the 210-MW Sarangani coal project, will also take a 25-percent stake in the San Ramon project. Alsons is open to Toyota Tsusho taking a higher in the project, he said.

“Toyota Tsusho is our long-term investor and partner. They have already manifested interest. In San Ramón, they are part of the development group already,” Alcantara said.

The Sarangani coal plant,

meanwhile, will begin commer-cial operations in the fourth quar-ter with an initial capacity of 105 MW while the full capacity will be achieved in 2018.

Alcantara said the start of oper-ations of the Sarangani plant and the continuing income contribu-tion of the 103-MW diesel plant of Mapalad Power Corp. in Iligan City would bring the company’s net income to a record high this year.

Alsons chief finance officer Luis Ymson Jr. said consolidated net income was expected to reach P1.147 billion this year, up 58 per-cent from P727 million in 2014 due to additional revenues from the Mapalad power plant and the start of operations of the Saran-gani coal project.

Revenues are seen rising to P5.323 billion this year from P5.18 billion in 2014 arising from the ad-ditional generation capacities.

Alcantara said net income would continue to go up “because we will put on stream revenue generating and income generat-ing projects.”

The company said net income jumped 13.4 percent in the first quarter to P213.7 million from P188.4 million in the same period last year as revenues rose 5.9 per-cent to P1.2 billion from P1.133 billion.

Alcantara said the company would fortify the power gen-eration business in Mindanao through a an expansion strategy.

“The company is committed to completing the five key project expansion strategy we defined in the previous year--rehabilitation and operation of Mapalad Power, construction and operation of Sa-rangani Energy Corp.’s section 1, San Ramon Power Inc., and Siguil Hydro Power Corp. - as well as en-suring the future competitiveness of Western Mindanao Power Corp. and Southern Philippines Power Corp. as they near the end of their energy conversion agreement with the government,” Alcantara said.

By Jenniffer B. Austria

THE Philippine Stock Exchange index, which failed to break the 8,000-point level last week, is expected to move sideways this week until the release of the gross domestic product data on Thurs-day, which will likely influence trading.

“Strategy for the week is to look for issues which are holding above their short-term averages and his-torical support to make sure they

remain resilient despite expected sideways volatility,”

Regina Capital Development Corp. managing director Luis Limlingan said.

RCBC Securities said the re-lease of first-quarter economic growth figures this week would convince investors that the mar-ket’s current valuation was justi-fied and hence would support buying rather than selling.

The PSEi closed lower by 0.91 percent last week to 7,810.17,

while the broader all-share index lost 1.16 percent to 4,493.54.

RCBC Securities said last week’s trading was rather directionless, with the exception of the negative bias toward Emperador and Alli-ance Global Group Inc.

Except for the financial sector, which gained 0.37 percent, all other major indices were down week-on-week, led by mining and oil (-4.03 percent), indus-trial (-2.05 percent) and property (-1.17 percent).

Foreign investors were net sellers last week week by P2.31 billion, as total overseas selling reached P21.6 billion while to-tal overseas buying amounted to P19.29 billion

Average daily value turnover dropped to P7.5 billion from the previous week’s average of P8.3 billion.

Top gainers last week were Trans-Asia Petroleum Corp., which climbed 38.7 percent to P10.86; Liberty Telecom Holdings Inc.,

which went up by 29.2 percent to P2.65; and Philweb Corp., which gained 26.10 percent to P21.05.

Liberty, the telecom arm of San Miguel Corp., said it exited cor-porate rehabilitation a year ahead of schedule.

Heavy losers last week were Makati Finance Corp., which dropped 22.2 percent to P7; Phil-ippine Seven Corp., which de-clined 16.7 percent to P106.60; and Prime Orion Philippines Inc., which shed 15.4 percent to P0.93.

BUSINESSB4

BCDA wooing rail partners

More relevant immigration bill pushedCebu Pacific bullish, sees18m passengers this year

Puregold partners. Puregold Price Club Inc. acknowledged its VIP partners at the opening of the 12th Sari-Sari Store Convention on May 19, 2015 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City. The partners supported the retail giant’s pioneering program, Tindahan Ni Aling Puring. Shown (from left) are Ashish Pisharodi, Mondelez country head; Albert Francis Fernandez, URC-BCFG vice president for sales; Daniel James Horan, Globe senior advisor for consumer business group; Ram Ramachandra, P&G marketing director; Carl Cruz, Unilever vice president for customer development; Vincent Co, Puregold director; Susan Co, Puregold vice chairman; Lucio Co, Puregold chairman; Suresh Narayanan, Nestle president and chief executive; Leonardo Dayao, Puregold president; Ruffy Tiam-Lee, Monde Nissin Corp. vice president for sales and marketing; Raul Nazareno, San Miguel Purefoods Co. Inc. president; Angie Flaminiano, Nutriasia president and chief operating officer; and Cito Alejandro, Del Monte general manager and COO. Tindahan members in just one year have grown from 300,000 in 2014 to 350,000 this year.

By Jenniffer B. Austria

GOVERNMENT-OWNED Bases Conver-sion Development Authority is looking at Eu-ropean and Japanese railway companies as potential investors for the planned Clark Rail Transit System project.

BCDA president and chief ex-ecutive Arnel Paciano Casanova said the government initially held talks with MTR Corporation Ltd., operator of Hong Kong’s mass railway transit system, over a possible investment in the Clark project.

MRT Corp., which also oper-

ates the Airport Express as well as nine rapid transit lines in Hong Kong, however, has not yet ex-pressed interest in the Clark proj-ect.

“We offered them [MTR] if they are interested to partner with us for the railway. But they have not really made a commitment,”

Casanova said.He said the Philippine govern-

ment in February introduced the project to MTR, which is consid-ered one of the most successful railway companies in the world.

“But we are also looking for other partners. We could be look-ing for European and Japanese who are interested to partner with us,” Casanova added.

The 115-kilometer Clark Rail project was envisioned to be an electric-powered transit system in a double-back track between Malolos and Tarlac City, with 13 stations.

The potential joint venture partner will conduct the final

alignment study. The winning proponent will also have the right to develop and operate a multi-model transport sys-tem within what was touted to become as the country’s first smart, green and disaster-resil-ient metropolis.

Aside from railway develop-ment, Casanova said the Clark rail project would have a real es-tate component to provide addi-tional earnings.

The BCDA will provide 150 hectares of land in Clark Green City for use as transport hub and housing the Clark rail depot.

The bidding is expected to be conducted before the end of the

year.he Clark rail project will con-

nect with the North-South Com-muter Railway project of the Transportation Department.

The National Economic and Development Authority board approved in February two proj-ects under the North-South Rail-way masterplan--phase 1 of the North-South Commuter Railway Project and the North-South Railway Project--South Line.

The commuter rail projects are envisioned to improve the effi-ciency of the land transportation capacity of Metro Manila and provide a more environmentally sustainable mode of transport.

By Othel V. Campos

THE Joint Foreign Chambers has recommended to the House and Senate committees on Justice the exclusion of a provision charging overtime fees to airline compa-nies and shippers under the pro-posed Immigration Act.

The group noted that part of the modernization of immigra-tion services was the ability of the government to match the 24/7 operations of international air-lines, which are major partners in tourism development.

It urged a repeal on the practice of charging overtime fees and pro-viding meals and transportation allowances on the personnel of the Bureau of Immigration. Instead, the foreign businessmen said the the Philippine government should shoulder the additional cost from the national budget.

“This will accord with inter-national practice and the current

policy of the Aquino administra-tion,” the group said.

The JFC requested the House and Senate Justice committees to consider its proposal to support job generation efforts as well as income across export-oriented sectors, especially tourism, which heavily depended on immigration services.

The group sought the deletion of the section that authorizes the immigration commissioner to as-sign employees “to do overtime work or services to be prescribed at rates fixed by the Commission-er of Immigration when the ser-vice rendered is to be paid for by the airline, shipping companies or other persons served.”

The bill also seeks to autho-rize the BI to allocate a percent-age share from income of airlines and shippers to pay for 24/7 op-erations and include any overtime payments in their annual budget.

The JFC supports government

efforts to modernize immigration services through the proposed Philippine Immigration Act and other reforms.

The bill aims to make immi-gration services more enabling to promote tourism and commerce.

“We believe these efforts will help make the Philippine tourism [stay longer], and retirement indus-tries more competitive with the rest of our Asean neighbors and help the country grow twice as fast as recommended in Arangkada Phil-ippines 2010,” JFC said.

The JFC is a coalition of the American, Australian-New Zea-land, Canadian,

European, Japanese, Korean Chambers and Philippine Asso-ciation of Multinational Compa-nies Regional Headquarters Inc. representing over 3,000 member companies engaged in over $230 billion worth of trade and some $30 billion worth of investments in the Philippines.

By Darwin G. Amojelar CEBU Pacific, the country’s largest budget airline, expects to carry 18 mil-lion passengers this year, boosted by domestic and short-haul destinations.

“I think the bulk will be some increases on domestic and short-haul. But, in terms of percentage increase, the greatest increase will be from the long haul because last year we launched the four additional [flights],” Cebu Air Inc. president Lance Gokongwei said.

The airline’s long-haul flights include Dubai, Riyadh, Sydney, Kuwait and Doha. Cebu Pacific in 2014 carried 16.9 million domestic and in-ternational passengers

Combined passenger traffic of Cebu Pacific and Cebgo in the first quarter of 2015 reached 4.3 million, up 13 percent from 3.8 million year-on-year.

Cebu Pacific’s net income jumped 1,255 percent to P2.23 billion in the January-to-March period from P164.16 million on year.

Revenues grew 21 percent to P14.2 billion in the first quarter from P11.764 billion on year.

The passenger business earned P10.81 billion, up 22 percent from P8.85 billion in the first quarter last year. Cargo revenues grew 13.6 per-cent to P772.55 million from P679.82 million last year.

The number of flights increased 14.3 percent as the group added more aircraft to its fleet, especially with the acquisition of wide-bodied Airbus A330 aircraft with a configuration of more than 400 all-econo-my class seats.

THE life of a law student is never easy. What with all those cases you have to read, the endless reci-tations punctuated by insults or ridicule by your almighty profes-sors if you did not know the an-swer, if you try to make a pathetic attempt to formulate an answer that sadly reveals your ignorance or your utter lack of preparation. In law school, both ignorance and unpreparedness should be avoid-ed like the plague.

Etched on the walls of the Mal-colm Hall of the UP College of Law is a powerful quotation from the great United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Oliver Wen-dell Holmes Jr. that has been a source of strength and inspiration:

“The business of a law school is not sufficiently described when you merely say that is to teach law, or to make lawyers. It is to teach law in the grand manner, and to make great lawyers.”

 It comes as no surprise therefore that former Senate President Ed An-gara chose “In The Grand Manner” as the title of his biography written by the multi-awarded literary giant Butch Dalisay.

Angara has always conducted his life in a grand manner: as a boy in Baler, Aurora; a college student in UP; a Constitutional Convention delegate; UP Presi-dent; Senator; Senate President; Agriculture Secretary and Ex-ecutive Secretary. 

 As senator, he authored many landmark bills that made a key difference in the lives of millions of Filipinos—among them the Senior Citizens Act, PhilHealth, the Generics Act, Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization, the Free High School Act, the cre-ation of CHED and TESDA and of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and a host of financial and educational re-forms.

Because of all these and more, many Filipinos are convinced that former Senate president Edgardo J. Angara is the best president this country never had.

MIKE ABOUT TOWN

MIKE T. TOLEDO

business@thestandard.com.phextrastory2000@gmail.com

M O N D AY : M AY 2 5 , 2 0 1 5

BUSINESS B5 The man who could have been president

Senator Edgardo J. Angara responds to the heartwarming reception of his book

Hosting the book launch with PeopleAsia magazine editor-in-chief Joanne Rae Ramirez.

The subject with author Jose ‘Butch’ Dalisay Jr. (left) and publisher/UP Press director Dr. J. Neil Garcia.

UP Law professor Atty. Popo Lotilla (left) and former DPWH Secretary Gregorio Vigilar

National Artist for Literature Frank Sionil Jose

2015 BoP surplus goal raised to $2b

GT Capital’s income to increase 20%

Urban agriculture. The local government of Muntinlupa, through the Department of Agriculture-Extension Services Office, shifts to integrated urban agriculture aimed at promoting local food production and organic crop growing in Metro Manila. Mayor Jaime Fresnedi (left) and Rep. Rodolfo Biazon (fourth from left) supported the ceremonial planting and distribution of composting facility at the Green House in Padilla St. corner Araneta, Katarungan Village, Poblacion, Muntinlupa City. With them are (from left) ABC president and Councilor Celso Dioko, Lake Management Office chief Ting Niefes, and City Administrator Allan Cachuela.

By Julito G. Rada

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas increased the target on the balance of payments surplus this year to $2 billion from the previous esti-mate of $1 billion made in October last year.

Bangko Sentral Deputy Gov-ernor Diwa Guinigundo said the central bank made the adjustment amid a strong current account sur-plus following the downward revi-sion in international oil prices.

“This was a reversal from the shortfall [deficit] recorded in 2014 of $2.9 billion,” Guinigundo said over the weekend. The $2.9-billion deficit last year was the biggest on record, driven primarily by the nor-malization of the monetary policy in the United States.

“As a result, year-end gross in-ternational reserves are expected to be around $81.6 billion, an improvement from $79.5 billion posted in 2014. At this level, the

GIR remains ample, covering 10 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and income,” Guinigundo said.

He said the current account, one of the major components of the balance of payments, was seen to post a surplus of $14.2 billion this year, significantly higher than the assumption of $6.8 billion made in October last year. The $14.2-billion surplus would be equivalent to 4.4 percent of the gross domestic product. The cur-rent account has been in surplus since 2003.

“The current account is expected to be supported by strong overseas Filipino remittances and robust

receipts from business process out-sourcing and tourism. A narrowing merchandise trade deficit is also expected to prop up the current ac-count,” Guinigundo said.

Remittances this year are ex-pected to reach a record $25.6 billion, slightly higher than $25.4 billion in 2014.

The BoP summarizes the coun-try’s economic transactions with the rest of the world, with a deficit indicating that foreign exchange payments outstripping receipts and a surplus the reverse.

Persistent surpluses help build up the country’s gross interna-tional reserves, an ample supply of which helps prop up the peso against the US dollar and keep do-mestic inflation at bay.

In April this year, the BoP re-mained in surplus at $380 mil-lion, a sharp reversal from the $19-million deficit a year ago, due to foreign currency deposits and the Bangko Sentral’s income from investments abroad.

By Jenniffer B. AustriaCONGLOMERATE GT Capital Holdings Inc. of tycoon George Ty expects net income in 2015 to rise at least 20 percent on the sustained strong performance of the automotive and banking units and the recovery of property and power businesses.

GT Capital chief finance officer Francisco Suarez said while the group’s first-quarter net income jumped 61 percent to P2.8 bil-lion from P1.7 billion year-on-year, the growth rate would not be sustained for the remaining three quarters because of a one-time non-recurring income registered in the first three months of the year.

“The 61 percent growth in the first quarter we feel that is not sustainable because there are were several one-time gains in the first quarter,” Suarez said.

“So for our guidance, our net income growth could grow by low 20s to mid 20s,” Suarez said.

He said the growth this year would continue to be led by auto-motive unit Toyota Motor Philip-pines Corp., insurance unit Philip-pine Axa Life Insurance Corp. and Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co.

The conglomerate’s property unit Federal Land is expected to recover toward the remaining quarters of the year, as it speeds up the construction of existing projects and launch new ones in the pipeline.

GT Capital’s power generation subsidiary Global Business Power Corp. is also expected to post a rebound in the coming quarters after completing the five-month preventive maintenance shut-down of five plants in February.

Meanwhile, GT Capital said it had no immediate plans to raise funds this year unless there was investment opportunities for the units.

Shareholders during the last annual meeting approved the creation of perpetual preferred shares.

Suarez said creation of a per-petual preferred shares would provide the company with flex-ibility in case of investment op-portunities within the core busi-nesses of the group.

Ecozone exports climb 6.6% business@manilastandardtoday.com

extrastory2000@gmail.com

BUSINESSMONDAY: MAY 25, 2015

B6

ERC approves new P3.3-b power line

Strategy, execution, and culture

REYNALDO C. LUGTU JR.

Green LiGht

I RECENTLY attended the Telco Strategies 2015 confer-ence held in Ja-karta, attended by hundreds of telco execu-tives from around the globe. The first night was a glorious one, as I accepted the Best Emerging Market Operator award on behalf of Globe Telecom—a deserving one having finished 2014 with a record performance and ending the first quarter this year with 25-percent growth.

Growing the cloud businessThe following day, I shared an operator case study about grow-

ing the cloud business. This is a hot topic these days as telco opera-tors all over scramble to find new revenue streams amid the com-moditization of the traditional telco services such as connectivity and voice. Cloud services are seen as a logical source of new rev-enue streams as it uses the Internet to deliver the various services, such as storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of your computer’s hard drive or the company’s dedicated server.

I shared my experience in leading and growing the business of IT Enabled Services Group, a two-year old business unit under Globe Business, which is tasked to lead the information and com-munications industry to develop and provide cloud services, apart from the traditional datacenter services, to enterprise, and small and medium business clients.

Our trajectory says we are. Our business results in 2014 indi-cate a cloud infrastructure growth of 63 percent while the busi-ness applications cloud grew 288 percent compared to previous year. Overall, IG grew 18.7 percent year-on-year which includes our datacenter business. This is far outperforming the IT industry growth of 11 percent in 2014.

Leading the marketSo how are we leading this market? I shared to the audience

three critical components to scale a new business like cloud ser-vices - strategy, execution and culture.

My group’s strategy comes from the direction of our CEO, which is cascaded to all business units. IG’s strategy is summed up in understanding the markets we serve, may it be enterprise or SMB, and developing cloud products that suit various industries and segments. Key to our strategy is to partner with world-class cloud business applications, such as Google Apps, Microsoft O365 and Canvas for digital forms.

Our cloud infrastructure offering (also known as virtual private cloud or VPC) is developed for business customers interested in taking advantage of the benefits of cloud computing but who have concerns over certain aspects of the cloud. Since VPC is provided within our data centers and is provisioned for private use by a sin-gle business user, it addresses concerns on data security.

Execution is also important in scaling a cloud business. This in-volves having the right structure in place, the right people with the right skills to communicate the benefits of cloud to business buyers and a set of customer-centric processes such as provision and billing.

Having the right cultureLastly, and most importantly, is having the right culture to sup-

port a sound strategy and execution. This is Globe’s competitive advantage. Our culture is not simply making things possible for customers and pushing its employees towards common goals; but also a culture of happiness at work as fun activities and gatherings are organized by the company, guided by work-life balance and a fun environment. The logic here is that happy employees leads to happy customers which results in happy shareholders; hence the Circle of Happiness.

My talk ended with a lot of attestations from the audience that, indeed, Globe is leading the ICT industry in the Philippines.

The author is the Vice President for IT Enabled Services, Globe Telecom. He also teaches management and marketing courses in the MBA Program of De La Salle University, Ramon V. del Ro-sario College of Business. He may be e-mailed at rlugtu2002@yahoo.com, or visit his blog at http://rlugtu.blogspot.com.

The views expressed here are the author’s and do not necessar-ily reflect the official position of DLSU, its faculty, and its admin-istrators.

FWD hub. FWD Life Insurance Corp. is expanding its operations in the Philippines with the opening of its first business hub in Cagayan de Oro City. The hub will provide access to FWD Life’s insurance products to more than four million Cagayanos and residents of neighboring cities in Northern Mindanao. Shown during the ribbon cutting ceremony at Limketkai Center are (from left) FWD Life chief human resources officer Ro-zanne Parungo, president and chief executive Peter Grimes, Cagayan De Oro City local economic investment promotions officer Eileen San Juan and Limketkai Sons Inc. executive vice president and chief operating officer Albino Limketkai.

By Othel V. Campos

EXPORTS from special economic zones rose 6.6 percent in the first quarter to $11 billion from $10.32 billion a year ago, on higher ship-ments of electronics, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority said over the weekend.

By Alena Mae S. Flores

THe Energy Regulatory Com-mission approved the P3.3-bil-lion western Luzon 500-kilovolt backbone project of National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, operator of the country’s power transmission network.

ERC said in a decision the project, which involved the construction of the Castille-jos-Hermosa 500 kV trans-mission line, would redound to the the benefit of power customers in terms of reli-able and efficient power sup-ply.

“NGCP is hereby directed to submit a progress report with an indication of any variance in the implementation of the project and time schedule and conduct a competitive bidding

for the purchase of major ma-terials in the implementation of the proposed project,” ERC said

NGCP applied for approval of the project that would cater to the full 600-megawatt capacity of the planned RP Energy plant in Subic and facilitate the de-livery of power to the Hermosa substation.

RP Energy led by Meralco PowerGen Corp., the power generation arm of Manila Elec-tric Co., plans to start construc-tion of the coal plant this year after receiving a favorable rul-ing from the Supreme Court recently.

NGCP said once the Cat-illejos-Hermosa transmission line was completed, the project would be electrically contacted to the RP Energy transmission

line to effect the integration of the coal plant to the Luzon grid through the Hermosa substa-tion.

National Grid said the Her-mosa substation in Bataan was the receiving substation of tow plants, including the 620-MW Mariveles coal plant, the 120-MW Subic-Enron power plant and the planned 600-MW RP Energy coal plant.

“Based on the capacity of the existing outgoing circuits from the Hermosa substation, the al-lowable combined generation of RPE, Subic Enron, Mariv-eles and LImapy plants is about 1,653 MW for the year 2016 sys-tem peak load scenario,” it said.

NGCP proposed the develop-ment of the new Hermosa-San Jose 500 kV line to be initially energized at 230 kV.

Peza said the growth was led by higher exports of electronics, the sector in the manufacturing industry that was least affected by port congestion.

“If not for the semiconductor and electronics industry, our ex-ports will be down. Other com-panies located outside Manila also contributed to the growth like those in Cebu and Batangas. So that really saved the day for us in terms of total exports coming from Peza,” an official of the in-vestment promotion agency said.

He said Peza was encouraging exporters to avail of the Gen-eralized System of Preference Plus, a trade arrangement with the European Union.

The European Union ap-proved and extended in De-cember 2014 the non-reciprocal trade arrangement that would add another 4,000 tariff lines to enter the European market at zero tariff for the next ten years.

GSP+ offers a more gener-ous scheme of preferences and has a larger coverage of 6,274

products.Industries consulted on the

impact of GSP+ expect the pro-gram to create over 200,000 new jobs in both agriculture and manufacturing sectors, mostly in the rural areas.

Among the tariff lines that will benefit most from GSP+ are animal or vegetable fats and oils, prepared foodstuffs, textiles and garments, footwear, headwear, umbrellas and chemical prod-ucts.

“The European market has plenty of needs, like bicycles for one. We have Shimano here. They can also manufacture whatever lines they want here and bring them back to the EU,” he said.

Peza has not yet disclosed the first-quarter investment figure, but “everything is now moving well after port issues.”

B7cesar barrioquintoE D I T O R

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

M o n D aY : M aY 2 5 , 2 0 1 5

WORLD

Under the Nazis in reality TV

Afghan weddings harderto tame

The pose that refreshes. Actress Stefanie Scott poses for a photo at the 26th National Memorial Day Concert Rehearsals on May 23 in Washington, DC. AFP

Sunset in Venice. Gondolas are pictured at sunset with a ferry in the background in front of St. Mark’s square (Piazza San Marco) in Venice on May 23. AFP

South Sudan gets closer to the brink

New law raises fearsfor Rohingya people KABUL—With a burst of confet-

ti, dancers clap and twirl around a garland-bedecked groom as Afghanistan’s wedding season kicks into high gear, but lawmakers pushing for austerity are bent on taming out-of-control guest lists.

Kabul wedding halls with Las Vegas-style razzle dazzle are busy as Afghans rush to get hitched be-fore next month’s Ramadan fasting begins, in a colorful contrast to the Taliban era when musical revelry and dancing were banned.

Hundreds of people—not count-ing the ubiquitous wedding crash-ers—typically attend celebrations in these halls segregated by gender, with a bulging guest list seen both as a social obligation and a totem of affluence.

“In Afghanistan you invite the whole village, the whole tribe, everyone who ever invited you to their wedding—and they bring their own guests,” Akbar Sabawoon said over the din of drumbeats in Qasr-e-Paris (Paris Palace), a neon-spangled hall with a huge replica of the Eiffel Tower in the forecourt.

“If you invite 1,000 people, be ready to entertain 1,500,” the cous-in of the bride told AFP as a tra-ditional Attan folk dance erupted behind him.

But in a hugely contentious move lawmakers recently passed a bill aimed at taming Afghanistan’s Wild West wedding culture, limit-ing the number of guests to 500 and capping the catering bill per head at 400 Afghanis ($7).

The bill seeks to relieve the huge financial strain weddings pose on grooms, who usually pay for ev-erything from the banquet feast to bride price, a kind of reverse dowry presented to the girl’s family in the form of cash, goods or livestock.

Thousands of dollars are typi-cally splurged on weddings, a small fortune in a country wracked by poverty and war, driving families into massive debts and forcing young men to delay marriage, law-makers say. AFP

Desperate Rohingya, togeth-er with Bangladeshi migrants, have been rescued on Southeast Asian shores after harrow-ing boat journeys since a Thai crackdown on human-traffick-ing in early May threw the long-standing trade into chaos.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled Myanmar in recent years, to escape sectarian violence as well as suffocating restric-tions preventing travel and employment.

The new Myanmar legisla-tion would allow regional gov-ernments to introduce family planning regulations to lower birth rates in their states.

The state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper reported on Saturday that President Thein Sein ap-proved the law on May 19.

Under the legislation, lo-cal authorities can survey their regions to determine if “resources are unbalanced because of a high number of migrants in the area, a high population growth rate and a high birth rate”, it said.

They can then ask the cen-tral government to impose laws making it compulsory for women to wait “at least 36 months” after giving birth before having another child, Myanma Alinn said. 

The consequences for breaking the birth-spacing rules are unclear.

Human Rights Watch said the new law clearly targets Muslim Rohingyas who live in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, where they are not rec-ognized as citizens and in-

stead referred to as “Bengalis” or illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

“This will seriously worsen ethnic and religious ten-sions. We fully expect that the Muslim Rohingya in Rakhine state will be target number one of this legislation,” said HRW deputy Asia director Phil Robertson.

The legislation comes de-spite Myanmar facing mount-ing international pressure to stem the deluge of migrants from Rakhine.

The exodus has surged since deadly sectarian violence in Rakhine in 2012 pitted them against local Buddhists, with rights groups saying nation-alists were using the specter of a growing Muslim popula-tion to stoke tensions between communities.

Robertson said the new law defied “the calls for reconcili-ation and respect for rights in Rakhine” that neighboring countries have said “is needed to prevent further boats full of desperate people setting out to sea”.

In an official report follow-ing the 2012 unrest, which left around 200 dead and displaced 140,000, a government com-mission said authorities should encourage family planning in Rohingya communities to limit population growth.

Myanmar has seen surging Buddhist nationalism in recent years and spates of violence tar-geting Muslim minorities have raised doubts over its much vaunted reforms after decades of harsh military rule. AFP

PRAGUE—In a remote mountainside village, a frightened Czech family struggles under the priva-tions of Nazi occupation, with food rationed and Gestapo spies everywhere, as German soldiers patrol the streets.

The scene is not a costume drama, but the first episode of a controversial new Czech TV reality show that features a modern-day family living among actors who play Nazi soldiers and the hamlet’s other residents, in an attempt to rec-reate life under the Nazis dur-ing World War II.

With episode titles such as “Rules of survival” and “With the Gestapo at my back”, three generations of the family eat meager rations, dress in the

style of the era and endure the daily hardship their predeces-sors would have experienced after Hitler’s 1939 invasion of the country.

Recorded over two months in summer 2014 and shown on public broadcast-er CT (Ceska Televize), the eight scheduled episodes of “Holiday in the Protectorate” are set in the majority Czech-ethnic Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, ar-eas of the present-day Czech Republic then ruled by a puppet government estab-lished by the Nazis.

“I spent a long time look-ing for a concept that would allow me to show life in an-other era, while ensuring the highest level of authenticity,” said director Zora Cejnkova.

Unsurprisingly the con-cept has stirred angry reac-tions far beyond the Czech Republic, even by the stan-dards of a television genre rarely noted for its cultural sensitivity.

“Fortunately for the fam-ily, they will not be treated like the 82,309 Jews who lived in the Protectorate and were deported by the Nazis to concentration and death camps, or were killed by Czech collaborators,” one columnist in the Times of Israel wrote.

“Critics ask whether ‘Big Brother Auschwitz’ is next,” read a wry subheading to the column online.

Around 360,000 Czechs and Slovaks perished during World War II. AFP

YANGON—Myanmar has enacted a popu-lation law that rights groups said Sunday targets persecuted Rohingya Muslims, a mi-nority group at the center of a migration cri-sis that has seen thousands flee the country.

M O N D AY : M AY 2 5 , 2 0 1 5

B8 cesAr bArriOquiNtOE D I T O R

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

British designer growing trees into furniture

Cannesreadiesclosingceremony

Heading heading heading heading

Goodbye, B.B. King. Singer/songwriter Orianthi Panagaris leaves a funeral for blues musician B.B. King at Palm Downtown Mortuary & Cemetery on May 23 in Las Vegas, Nevada. King died on May 14 in Las Vegas at age 89. AFP

worldSouth Sudan gets closer to the brink

CANNES—After nearly two weeks of showing stirring, sleek and thought-provoking movies—and a couple of duds—the Cannes Film Festival ends Sunday with an awards night to declare the winner of its coveted Palme d’Or.

US directing duo the Coen brothers head a jury of top actors and filmmakers chosen to de-cide which of the 19 competition entries will walk away with the 20,000-euro ($24,000) gold-and-crystal trophy.

Two runner-up films will also get prizes, along with awards for best director, actor, actress and screenplay.

Critics have hailed this year’s crop, which revealed a remarkably strong contingent from Italy, two noted Chinese-language pictures, a couple of American features seemingly destined for Oscar ac-claim, a raw Holocaust movie and a mixed bag of French fare.

Standouts include “Carol”, an American lesbian drama starring the stunningly versatile Australian actress Cate Blanchett; “Son of Saul”, a first feature from a Hungarian director set in the Auschwitz exter-mination camp; and “My Mother”, a touching Italian movie about a di-rector’s crisis and loss.

Others were “Youth,” another Italian-directed movie but filmed in English with Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel and Jane Fonda; and “The Lobster,” a weird but funny Greek-directed movie starring Colin Farrell.

“The Assassin”, a slow-moving Taiwanese martial arts movie starring actress Shu Qi, won over art-house re-viewers for its rich aesthetics.

Which way the jury will jump is anyone’s guess. 

Joel and Ethan Coen, the mak-ers of Oscar-winner “No Country for Old Men” and the 1991 Palme d’Or winner “Barton Fink,” could be swayed by movies with menace, or oddball humor, or extraordi-nary production values.

But the opinions of the other members of the panel also have to be taken into account—for in-stance, Mexican director Guillermo del Toro (known for fantasies such as “Pan’s Labyrinth), Canadian wunderkind filmmaker Xavier Dolan, and actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Sienna Miller. AFP

JUBA, South Sudan—Soaring inflation and a likely currency collapse are adding to South Sudan’s woes after 17 months of civil war characterised by brutal attacks on civilians.

The latest battles between govern-ment and rebel forces have centered on the country’s last remaining func-tional oil fields.

Oil dollars once accounted for over 90 percent of government revenue in the four-year old nation, which con-tains sub-Saharan Africa’s third largest reserves—making it one of the world’s most oil-dependent economies.

Now, with the UN reporting over half of the country’s 12 million people needing assistance and some areas on the brink of famine, South Sudan is also one of the most aid-dependent states.

Fighting broke out in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir ac-cused former deputy Riek Machar of attempting a coup, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings across the country.

Amid reports of massacres, rape and the systematic destruction of towns, international sanctions have been repeatedly threatened.

Government forces last month at-tacked rebel positions in the northern state of Unity, where oil production halted last year, as well as in the east-ern state of Jonglei.

Last week rebels launched a major counter-attack, including an assault on Malakal, capital of northeastern Upper Nile state and the gateway to the country’s last operating oil fields.

Now rebels say they are trying to capture Palouch, the processing point for all remaining oil production where crude is pumped northwards to Sudan. Its loss would be a crippling blow to an already struggling economy.

“Palouch is the chokepoint of South Sudan’s entire economy,” said Luke Patey, author of “The New Kings of Crude,” a book on oil in Sudan and South Sudan.

“If it was taken and production shut down, the rebels would be em-boldened to either seek an outright military victory or use oil as leverage to negotiate a larger role in a future government.”

State television this week broadcast footage of fighting in Melut, some 35 kilometers west of Palouch, show-ing intense battles as tanks backed by helicopter gunships—believed to be from Uganda, which is a staunch ally of Kiir—pounded rebels in the town.

Oil production has slumped by some 40 percent from around 240,000 barrels per day before fighting began. AFP

WIRKSWORTH, United Kingdom—Deep in the English countryside, there’s a bizarre sight: rows of trees being grown into upside-down chairs, slowly taking shape over years of careful nurtur-ing.

Around 150 armchairs, 100 lampshades and other items in-cluding mirror frames are be-ing grown out of the ground in a highly unusual adventure in fur-niture design.

The brainchild of Gavin Munro, his Full Grown company has pro-

duced some early prototypes, with each item one solid, joinless piece of wood.

“It’s a bit like a vineyard. You’ve got a few years to get everything up and growing,” he told AFP.

And it is not simply a case of planting the trees and leaving them to it. There’s plenty of give and take between Munro and his plantation.

“They don’t grow into chairs on their own. At the same time, you can’t force them to do anything they don’t want to do otherwise

they die back,” he said.The 2.5-acre (one hectare) plot

of rented farmland is situated in the rolling grassy fields outside the market town of Wirksworth in rural Derbyshire, central England.

On a farm also containing a micro-brewery, a smokery, flower cultivation and plenty of sheep, the rows of trees are growing around blue corrugated plastic frames.

Munro, 40, nurtures them and coaxes them into shape, through years of pruning, coppicing and grafting.

Willow can take four to five years to grow into a chair, whereas oak can take up to nine years.

Munro also works with ash, ha-zel, crab apple and sycamore.

“A lot of the stuff we do is Stone Age. Since we were cavemen, we were cutting trees down at various heights,” he said.

“It’s an extension of the natural rhythm. Everything we do is based on what happens anyway and making the subtlest twist to that. Early on I was torturing them and ultimately it doesn’t work.” AFP

g l w e e ke n d @ g m a i l . c o m

C1M O N D AY : M AY 2 5 : 2 0 1 5

BAMBINA OLIVARES WISEE D I T O RBING PARELA S S O C I AT E E D I T O R

Massimo Bottura gets his new Maserati Ghibli S Q4 at Maserati headquarters

LIFE

T R A N S P O R T

M is also for Massimo, as in Massimo Bottura, the famed Modena-based Italian chef who is also the new Maserati Brand Ambassador.

A champion of the “slow food” movement, Massimo’s restaurant, Osteria Francescan in Modena, is currently regarded as the third best in the world and boasts three Michelin stars.

“Slow food” and “fast car” may seem like strange bedfellows, but for Maserati and Chef Massimo, it’s a marriage that makes perfect sense.

The partnership unites the excellence of the Italian luxury car brand with the acclaimed gastronomic virtuosity

represented by Modena’s premier chef. At the Maserati general headquarters

in Modena, Chef Massimo picked up his sporty new black Ghibli S Q4, distinguished by its dynamic, futuristic finishing touches, custom-designed to his personal specifications down to the last detail.

“This initiative represents a tasty collaboration,” explained a Maserati spokesman, “marking a genuine convergence of excellence, celebrating the unique value of two Italian enterprises enjoying worldwide fame.”The Maserati showroom in Manila is at the Formula Sports, Inc. in Bonifacio Global City.

M IS fOR MASERATI

Maserati Trident award for Massimo Bottura

C2MONDAY : MAY 25 : 2015

glweekend@gmai l .com

LIFEBAMBINA OLIVARES WISE

E D I T O RBING PAREL

A S S O C I AT E E D I T O R

THE RIGHT FITSamsung Appliances Offers Families Value and Performance

BEAT THE ODDSAn online education tool imoroves UPCAT passing rate

Being in the business of “bettering everyday experiences,” Samsung Electronics recently launched its latest digital appliances line-up designed to offer convenience, space solution, and energy efficiency.

Washing clothes need not be a tedious and Herculean task with the help of the new Samsung Top Load Fully Automatic Washing Machine with ActivDualWash. Its dedicated sink, washboard, and water jet built right into the washer make pre-treating laundry more convenient. Common laundry problems will be a thing of the past as this new fully automatic washing machine features Wobble Technology that creates powerful vertical

wash motions to prevent clothes from tangling; Magic Dispenser that uses a propeller to dissolve detergent in the dispenser and spread it evenly; and Magic Filter that traps lint, fluff, and particles coming out of clothes.

More storage space and efficient cooling system to accommodate large quantities of food and keep them fresh are made possible with Samsung’s wide range of refrigerators whose sizes range from 6.4 to 28.7 cubic feet. The Samsung Food Showcase Refrigerator, for instance, has a revolutionary “fridge within a fridge” design which features two independent areas. The first layer provides clearly defined zones for frequently used food and ingredients,

while the inner case is designated to keep larger items fresh longer. Thanks to FSR’s metal cooling door, the temperature in the fridge is restored faster than a conventional door.

Durable and efficient, Samsung AR7000 air conditioner promises to withstand the sweltering heat of summer and all-year-round use. This new air conditioning unit features a triangular design enabling quicker and wider cooling. Its energy-efficient capability will let consumers enjoy a powerful and optimized cooling system, without increasing electricity usage and expense.For more details about these latest products, visit http://www.samsung.com/ph

Time was when not a single senior from Culiat High School in Quezon City would even pass the University of the Philippines College Admissions Test (UPCAT).

Last year the public high school was part of a pilot program to introduce Quipper School, an educational platform developed in Japan and designed as a free supplemental tool for homework administered online.

This year, Culiat High School’s Irene Canon proudly announced that seven of the school’s students passed the most recent UPCAT. And many others have performed brilliantly in interschool academic competitions. 

Educators numbering close to 600, with some coming from as far as Mountain Province to Davao City – shared similar experiences during the recent National

Principals Conference organized by Quipper School. Through QS, teachers assign students homework that can be accessed free of charge through its webpage. The homework is “gamified” – making it fun for students and easy to use for teachers.

Creating, sending and monitoring homework completion is as easy as using any social media site.  QS is lightweight and its content is always available online, making it easy for students to access their homework any time of the day on any kind of computer, whether a PC, tablet or mobile phone. Likewise, the program is aligned with the K-12 curriculum currently being implemented by the Department of Education.

According to QS Philippines general manager Yuki Nataori, the Philippines was chosen for implementation of the program

since for its high potential owing to its a growing population and the widespread use of computers and mobile devices nationwide.

Since the e-learning platform’s introduction in January 2014, public schools in Quezon City, Manila, Pasay City, Marikina, Caloocan, and Muntinlupa in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Bacolod City and Silay City in Negros Occidental and Dasmariñas in Cavite have adopted the program.

A total of 50,000 schoolteachers signed up for the service, while 500,000 students are registered into the program.

A study conducted by Dr. Ferdinand Blancaflor Pitagan, DepEd educational technology consultant, found that the use of QS contributed to high test scores, attendance rate and assignment submissions of Grade 7 students in learning Mathematics.  The study found that students who received full exposure to QS recorded significant improvement in quiz scores, submission of assignments, class participation and attendance compared to those taught in a traditional setting. 

Dr. Romulo B. Rocena, DepEd Manila Assistant Division Schools Superintendent, analyzing feedback and measurable results provided by public school teachers, noted that “the students are now more motivated in class. They are more participative and have improved attendance. The students are also excited to see the new lessons on Quipper School.”

Rocena recommends the implementation of QS across all Manila public schools.

“We want to bring the benefits of Quipper School to educators and students all over the Philippines. The early results are very encouraging, and we want to work with more schools, more teachers, and more students to make it even better. The best thing is, it’s so easy to sign up and try it for yourself, as a lot of our early users have done. Just visit quipperschool.com for teachers to see for yourself how effective this platform is in helping you educate our youth better,” QS business development officer Ryan Guerrero concluded.

Department of Education educational technology consultant Dr. Ferdinand Blancaflor Pitagan talks at the conference

From left: Nataori, QS chief executive officer Masa

Watanabe, and Dr. Pitagan

QS General manager Yuki Nataori, during his opening

remarks at the conference.

C3LIFEMONDAY : MAY 25 : 2015

glweekend@gmai l .com

BAMBINA OLIVARES WISEE D I T O R

BING PARELA S S O C I AT E E D I T O R

“Start spreading the news, I’m leaving today. I want to be a part of it, New York, New York,” goes one of Frank Sinatra’s greatest hits. The song fittingly blared from the speakers at the PAL New York New York Run where global payments giant MasterCard joined Philippine Airlines (PAL) in introducing its newest route.

Gathering over 1,600 participants at the BGC Grounds, the run took place as part of a series of events promoting the airline’s new flight destination, New York. The country’s flag carrier began flying to New York on March 15; it now boasts four flights a week to the Big Apple.

The PAL New York New York Run was led by PAL Senior Vice President David Lim, VP for Ancillary Business Kevin Hartigan-Go, Treasurer Stewart Lim, OIC VP for Marketing Ria Domingo, Director Joseph Chua, and Manager Eric Tan. Joining them were MasterCard VP Jo-Ann Camacho, PNB SVP and Head of Credit Cards Annie Umali, PNB Product Development Manager Sheila Caeg-Bilog, PNB Product Development Specialist Gab Garcia.

Two round-trip PAL tickets to New York were raffled off to the race participants, in addition to PAL tickets to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, and Singapore, B77 model airplanes, Timex watches, wines by Manny O, and many other prizes.

Hosted by Dyan Castillejo, the run featured 3K, 5K, 10K, and 16K races.

Gracing the event were the lovely ladies of Binibining Pilipinas 2014 Laura Lehmann, Parul Shah, Kris Janson, Yvethe Santiago, and Bianca Guidotti. Also spotted were Kim Atienza and celebrity couple Karylle and Yael Yuzon.

More exciting perks await MasterCard cardholders when they use their card to book their tickets with Philippine Airlines. To learn more, visit www.mastercard.com.ph/privileges.

MasterCard joins PaL in

new York run

ThE wORlD’S mOST wEARAblE CAmERA

by ED bIADO

Memoto, a small mountable surveillance camera that was developed a couple of years ago, has apparently changed its name

to Narrative Clip because the original name, a portmanteau of the words “memory” and “automatic,” sounds a lot like it’s a Motorola product. And with the introduction of its second generation, it’s now positioning itself as “the world’s most wearable camera.”

Unlike most cameras in the market, the Narrative Clip gives you no control whatsoever and snaps pictures every 30 seconds, chronicling all your activities from the mundane to the exciting, from the boring to the embarrassing. It’s made for life-logging, or the practice of documenting daily life on film or in the form of a visual diary.

The new Clip 2 – in black, white and red versions – integrates wireless connectivity and Bluetooth for

easy access of photos, a 90-degree lens that captures 8-megapixel shots, and improved light sensitivity for low-light settings. It also includes a modular clip that provides versatile wearing options, such as mounted on a necklace or pinned on a jacket.

The Narrative mobile app also has a few updates, including the advancement of its social sharing feature, Public Moments, which allows users to share with others candid moments captured by the Clip. According to a statement released by the company, this has “changed the fundamental view of what Narrative is, from a private photo journal to a social photo tool.”

It adds, “The beauty behind Narrative’s community is that it’s built around exploring unfiltered point-of-view experiences, as users are able to share real stories with sequences of photos, instead of a single image. People without a Clip can now register for a free Narrative

account to browse, like and comment on the moments that users are sharing as well.”

Additional feature upgrades include the ability to tag friends in moments captured by the Clip cameras. The tagged photos are then included in the friend’s private timeline. Narrative has also integrated a noise-reduction feature, which further enhances image quality.

Together with the Clip 2, pre-order customers get an exclusive skin to customize their camera for free. And by answering the question, “Who would you like to reconnect with and why?”, they also get the chance to win a “Golden Ticket,” which Narrative says is a round-trip ticket to visit a loved one.You can pre-order the Narrative Clip 2 for $199 on www.getnarrative.com until May 31. It ships to selected territories (including the Philippines) starting September.

The release of Plattan by Urbanears in 2009 transformed headphones into colorful fashion accessories, paving the way for a new wave of electronics where form is just as important as function.

Urbanears is changing the game once again with the release of the new Plattan ADV. Taking the iconic design and reinventing it for a new generation, the Urbanears Plattan ADV sports a classy design packed with the following new features: 3D Hinge technology that automatically adjusts to a user’s ears and head for a soft and comfortable fit; interchangeable cable that allows users to wear it on either the left or right side; detachable fabric headband that can be washed to keep it looking new.

Plattan ADV also comes with handy features such as the ZoundPlug, collapsible structure, 3.5 mm stereo plug, microphone, and remote.

The flexible hinge and soft ear cushions also provide an acoustically tight fit that translates to good sound isolation and helps deliver really deep bass all the way down to 10Hz, with lots of power due to low acoustic leakage. The excellent dynamics between the high and low frequencies create clear sound that improves the music listening experience whether you go for emphatic beats, heavy metal, or smooth jazz.

The Urbanears Plattan ADV retails for P3,250 at Beyond the Box, Digital Walker, Astrovision, Astroplus, iStudio, and Mobile 1.

URbAnEARS PlATTAn ADV

a classic redefined for a new generation

C4g l w e e ke n d @ g m a i l . c o m

LIFEM O N D AY : M AY 2 5 : 2 0 1 5

FOR PARTY ANIMALS

ONLY

BoB ZoZoBrado

Two salesmen were going door-to-door, and knocked on the house of a woman who was not happy to see them. She told them in no uncertain terms that she did not want to hear their offer and slammed the door in their faces. To her surprise, however, the door bounced back open. She slammed the door again but it bounced back open again. Convinced that these salesmen were probably sticking their foot in the door, she reared back to use all her force to finally slam the door shut and teach them a lesson, when one of the men said: “Ma’am, before you do that again, you need to remove your cat.”

For feedback, I’m at bobzozobrado@gmail.com

YOUR MONDAY CHUCKLE

:-d

1at the entrance to a world of great adventure 2 Batman’s The ride, a roller coaster that moves backwards 3 (L-r) dellova, robertson Urbano, me and LPU Liaison officer Idol Bisda 4 Jade Marasigan showing off her five awards Tickets for being Most Friendly 5 The Batmobile used in many movies 6 Parachuting from a 250-foot tower 7 The daredevil dive doubles the thrill of a Bungee Jump 8 a trio of daintily clad amish teenagers, exploring the Park 9 Jennifer Bilenky, Program Coordinator of United Work and Travel, our host at the park 10 our students – “Service Superstar” Maver don Verdan, Brian aldwin Mayor, “Most Friendly” Jade Marasigan, Eriz Lopez and Ed Vincent amores pose with LPU director rovena dellova (center) 11 Marco Noah Condecido, who’s now on his second stint at the park 12 The Sling Shot throws you 220 feet in the sky 13 (From left) rovena dellova, “Employee of the Week” Nina Babasa and Grace Llamazares (now both supervisors), and Jade Marasigan 14 The Skull Mountain will scare the wits out of anyone

At my age, going to an amusement park would definitely not be in my “to-do” list, but I found myself doing just that, as an extension of my US travel. At first, I was hesitant to do it because I knew it would entail a lot of walk-ing and probably getting a lot of pressure from my travelling companions for me to try those popular daredevil rides. But, then again, I am already here in the US, so I decided to toughen up and prepare myself to embark on what is expected to be a physically draining endeavor.

A GREAT ADVENTURE

BAMBINA OLIVARES WISEE D I T O R

BING PARELA S S O C I AT E E D I T O R

We have a little over a dozen students doing their on-the-job training (OJT) at Six Flags Great Adventure and Safari, the world’s larg-est theme park, which is located in Jackson,

New Jersey. So, arrangements were made for me to visit the students and check on their progress and housing conditions as well as solicit feedback from their superiors.

Opened in 1974, the 210-hectare park complex offers all kinds of rides, classified as Family Rides, Children’s Rides and Thrill Rides. Of course, they also have doz-ens of game booths, restaurants, a big shopping area and various types of entertainment. My cautious colleagues and I were limiting our choices to only the Children’s Rides and the Family Rides but, guess where we eventu-ally ended up in?

We started our visit at the park’s welcome center where we were briefed by the Human Resources Di-rector on the procedures involved in deploying our students to the different areas of the park. We were also given a brief report on how our students are do-ing and how happy their superiors have been with their performance. Jade Marasigan won a total of five “Most Friendly” awards, and Maver Don Verdan received the Service Superstar Award, both recognitions based on feedback from guests and their Supervisors. They re-ceived Awards Tickets and, as an incentive, could be used to get items from shops or restaurants for free.

We were then escorted to the employees’ housing, where our students are billeted for the duration of their OJT. This is located immediately behind the park, mak-ing it very convenient for the students to go to their as-signed areas, even in the dead of winter. Built like an army barracks, each unit houses two bedrooms good for four people, a small dining area complete with refrigera-tor and kitchen facilities, and its own toilet and bath. It’s comfortable and cozy, perfect for our students as they really use it only to sleep in because most of the day, they

are either at work or out gallivanting, discovering more of the areas nearby. On their days off, they are either out shopping or travelling to nearby cities.

Our next activity was touring the entire park on foot, to see the students doing their assigned tasks as cashiers, receptionists, food and beverage servers, barkers in game booths, housekeeping attendants, etc. Having talked to each of them, I “distilled” their feedback into one com-mon sentiment – they no longer want to go back home. They are very happy where they are because they get to see many nice places and, at the same time, have been able to save money. Of course, their contract with the US visa sponsor requires them to go back home, then graduate, after which, if their OJT performance is exem-plary, they may be re-hired by the park as an employee, receiving full benefits as those of other full-time em-ployees. This is what happened to three of our gradu-ates who were on OJT at the Park last year – Marco Con-decido, Nina Babasa and Grace Llamazares. They were consistently exceeding expectations in the performance of their assigned tasks, so they were re-hired by the park and are now employees. In fact, Babasa and Llamazares have already been promoted to supervisors, and the for-mer was recently proclaimed “Employee of the Week.”

It warms my heart listening to our students’ success stories. And that would have been the best way to end my day. But, as fate would have it, I still had to yield to the consistent nagging of my colleagues. Thus started my “great adventure.” While we were queuing up for those daredevil rides, I thought to myself – well, why not? I’m already here. Besides, that’s what it said at the entrance – Six Flags Great Adventure and Safari. So, I took a deep breath and allowed myself to bounce back and forth into what felt like intergalactic threshold... many, many times over in the various rides we tried out. After gathering my senses, I had to admit with a twinkle in my eye, that this “wonderland” must be in everyone’s “must visit” list.

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M ONDAY : M AY 25 : 2015

When it comes to instantly uniting Filipinos from all walks of life, nothing else has come close to what recent sports and our most-loved local athletes have achieved. And with what is arguably considered as the re-gion’s most prestigious sporting event just around the corner, TV5 is all set to re-ignite our countrymen’s shared passion for sports and competition as it exclusively airs the highly an-ticipated 28th South East Asian (SEA) Games from June 5 – 16.   

As the Philippines’ official Olympic broadcaster, TV5 is once again at the forefront of giving all Kapatids front row seats to the biennial, regional event. Viewers and netizens alike will be able to close-ly follow the journey of the 400+ strong athletes of the Philippine delegation who will be competing in Singa-pore against 11 neighboring countries in 46 sports, across a total of 402 events.  

Kapatids all over the coun-try will surely be glued to TV5 as they enjoy cheering for some of their most favor-ite idols and athletes who are set to represent the country, such as volleyball superstar Alyssa Valdez (who has also been named by the Philip-pine Olympic Committee as the Philippine flag bearer), basketball standouts Marcus Douthit and Kiefer Ravena, world champion Billiards players Efren “Bata” Reyesand Rubilen Amit, world-class boxing pugs Eumir Mar-ical and Josie Gabuco, and the tenacious and revamped “Azkals” Men’s Football Team.   

TV5’s exclusive coverage of the 28th SEA Games will kick off with the telecast of the event’s grand opening ceremo-nies as it happens live in Singa-pore’s newly built National Sta-dium on June 5, airing live via Aksyon TV and www.Sports5.ph.  The sporting festivities will be highlighted with live air-ing of the games of Men’s and Women’s Basketball, and Men’s and Women’s Volleyball (both via TV5, Aksyon TV and www.Sports5.ph); and Men’s Football (via Aksyon TV and www.Sports5.ph).  

Aside from these, TV5 will likewise be putting the spot-light on our brave local ath-letes who will be competing against the region’s very best in Boxing, Wushu, Billiards, Athletics, Swimming, Cycling, Softball, Shooting, and Netball.

Injecting new twist on the se-rial killer movie genre, ac-claimed graphic novelist Mar-jane Satrapi helms The Voices

with a perfectly pitched cast led by Ryan Reynolds along with Gemma Arterton and Anna Kendrick in a story so unique about a misfit who walks on a very thin line between being the protagonist and antagonist.     In The Voices, Reynolds stars as Jerry Hickfang who works at a bath-tub factory and attempts to walk the straight-and-narrow, in spite of his talking pet dog and cat trying to influence him. When he acciden-tally kills an attractive woman from accounting (Arterton), he hastily tries to cover his tracks. But Jerry is beyond the reach of his well-mean-ing psychiatrist Dr. Warren (Jacki Weaver) and Lisa (Anna Kendrick), the only woman he ever truly loved, and spirals into a world of violence where he ultimately finds salvation. Director Marjane Satrapi typ-ically only works on pieces she has written, but “I just couldn’t put the script down,” she recalls. “I thought that it was an extreme-ly ambiguous, very unique story. This crazy world of Jerry’s was one of the best descriptions of schizo-phrenia that I ever read. I don’t like so much to film reality because I live in reality. I prefer, when I have the opportunity, to create a whole world around something.” “What Jerry wants in life is to be accepted and to be seen by people as a good person, some-body worthy of their friendship, but ultimately he is one of the loneliest guys on earth,” explains Ryan Reynolds of his charac-ter, who has no family and lives

above a derelict bowling alley at the edge of a small town in Mich-igan. “He is something of a misfit and throughout the course of the movie we find he has a lot of de-mons and a lot of baggage that he carries around with him all day. ” “I was attracted to the idea that Jerry has these dual natures, the proverbial angel and devil on his shoulders,” continues Reynolds. “Mr. Whiskers, who is kind of a Scottish mercenary and the voice of destruction and violence, and Bosco, who sounds a bit like a dim southern gentlemen that voices kindness and compassion, are Jerry’s cat and dog, his dueling natures, he listens to each of them. I don’t think he particularly likes the cat, but Mr. Whiskers serves a purpose in his life and Jerry’s warped mind keeps him safe.” Producer Adam Stone further enthuses on the film’s uniqueness, “It’s not just a thriller, or just a com-edy or just a fantasy,” whose Man-dalay Vision focused on the script when it appeared on The Holly-wood Black List three years ago. “It’s a completely original screen-play that’s not formulaic; you don’t know if you should laugh or cry, and I love that!” Adds producer Matthew Rhodes, “I love psycho-logical thrillers and THE VOIC-ES is unique in that it makes you think, really makes you feel, as we follow Jerry down the rabbit hole and discover he is not the person he thought he was. He struggles be-cause he doesn’t want to be evil.” “The Voices” opens on June 3 exclusively at Ayala Malls Cine-mas nationwide.  Visit www.sure-seats.com for schedules and more exciting news and promos.

RYAN REYNOLDS TRIES TO

FIT IN DESPITE BEING A MISFIT

28TH SEA GAMES ON TV5

Ryan Reynolds stars as a misfit in The Voices and the English lady, Fiona, (Gemma Arterton) he meets

Is Ryan the typical serial killer? That’s the role he plays in the new film

SHOWBITZC6 ISAH V. REDE D I T O R

i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

M ONDAY : M AY 25 : 2015

ACROSS 1 Cartographer’s book 6 Ski lift (hyph.) 10 Erupt 14 Auto option 15 Relieve 16 Younger Guthrie 17 Comedian — Kovacs 18 By Jove! 19 Cruise-ship deck 20 Botanical activity 22 Out of the sun 24 Georgetown athlete

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 MONDAY,

MAY 25, 2015

25 Where to get down 26 Price tag 30 FBI agent (hyph.) 32 Take — — 33 Circle size 35 — all she wrote! 40 Due to 42 Presupposes 44 Gravy spot 45 Fill a pipe 47 Advance 48 Loaf end 50 Waker-uppers

52 Dinosaur bone 56 Rick’s old flame 58 Leggy swimmers 59 Meet by chance (2 wds.) 64 Teri of “Tootsie” 65 Zoologist — Fossey 67 Prow opposite 68 Great merriment 69 Place of exile 70 Like a wolf’s howl 71 Open wide 72 Precious 73 Hazy conditions

DOWN 1 Shake — —! 2 Part of NWT 3 Singer — Del Rey 4 Get real! (2 wds.) 5 Do a slow burn 6 Ant-sized 7 Skycap’s tote 8 Quiet — — mouse 9 Suez Canal end (2 wds.) 10 Greens course 11 Bwana’s sighting 12 Tribal adviser 13 Pine source

21 Wee bits 23 Gives a clue 26 File labels 27 Cynical rejoinder (2 wds.) 28 TV’s Imogene 29 War movie river 31 Lady’s honorific 34 Solar plexus 36 Luau entertainment 37 Love in Baja 38 Dogsled pullers 39 Tax-form IDs 41 Not with-it 43 Charley horse 46 “Open sesame” guy (2 wds.) 49 “Forgot” a letter 51 Expires 52 Socked in 53 Florida town 54 Scatter around 55 Philosopher — Kierkegaard 57 Type of eclipse 60 Gossip tidbit 61 First-century emperor 62 Math cls. 63 Change for a five 66 Percent ending

The Cultural Center of the Phil-ippines (CCP) is accepting appli-cations for a music director and principal conductor for its res-ident orchestra, the  Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) until June 15.  

The new conductor will take over from Maestro Olivier Ochanine who will be conclud-ing his tenure by April 30. 

A Search Committee will be formed by CCP management to screen candidates for the position.

The CCP will announce the PPO’s new music director in January 2016. 

The new director will hold the post for the next  3  years, start-ing in June 2016.

The new PPO director must exemplify solid musicianship, strong sense of leadership, ar-tistic discipline and respect of peers, extensive program reper-toire and orchestral rapport.

He will be responsible for the preparation and implementation of the PPO’s thrusts, programs, concert season, training of mu-

sicians and other related activ-ities.  He is expected to conduct at least twenty performances per year, including the regular PPO season, Outreach tours, Young People’s  concert and other spe-cial events of CCP.  He will also be in charge of a Development Program for members of the PPO and ensure that the level of musicianship and artistic quality meet the highest standards.

CCP Vice President and Artis-tic Director Chris Millado said, “As we conduct this search for the new music director, we are also thankful for the contribution of outgoing conductor Maestro Ol-ivier Ochanine. Through the five

years he has been with the or-chestra, he has taken the effort to make the orchestra and its music closer to its audiences especially the young people. He has made time to listen and immerse him-self in the local music scene and this has made his tenure with the PPO a special one. This is a quality that I hope the next mu-sic director shall also possess --- a commitment to excellence and the desire to share this excellence with the broadest publics.”

Interested conductors are re-quested to submit their application packet by June 15, 2015.  Required documents are the following: cur-riculum vitae with photo, letter of

intent stating the applicant’s vision for the PPO, symphonic reper-toire, sample souvenir program of performances, press releases, link to performances on YouTube, re-ferrals from other orchestras, pho-tocopy of the first page of passport (for foreigners only) and letter of endorsement.

The application packet may be emailed to  ppomd2016@ya-hoo.com  or mailed to the PPO Search Committee, PPO, Lower Basement, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Roxas Blvd., Pasay City, 1300 Philippines.

Information on the PPO may be obtained from the CCP web-site at www.culturalcenter.gov.ph

SEARCH FOR NEW PPO

MUSIC DIRECTOR

She recently turned 26 and surprising-ly, Kris Bernal’s birthday wish was not for herself, but more for her family. “That’s right! Apart from my career, it’s my family that takes the top spot in my wish list. I want them to be happy, healthy and safe all the time especially at this point when I’m not with them physically. Every day, that’s my prayer for them,” she reveals.

A loving and dutiful daughter, the petite actress is actually is having a house built for her family this year.

“Yes, the construction will offi-cially start this year. It’s my dream house for them. Personally, I don’t feel that I already need to build my dream house since I’m still young. But this one is really for my family. Admittedly, it’s a very costly project but I don’t mind as long as it would make them comfortable and happy!”

When it comes to her personal state, Kris says she is now open to go-ing out on dates after her “Of course,” she says. “And as much as possible, I

want it to be with non-showbiz guys this time. I believe it will be more peaceful since he doesn’t hug the limelight the same thing I do plus, coming from outside the circle, he will understand me better.” Until now, many supporters of her love team with Aljur Abrenica are hoping that their on screen romance will transcend into real life. “Well, let’s just say that I’m not clos-ing my doors to any possibility what-soever. We’ve known each other for a long time now. But at present, I appre-ciate the friendship that we share. Let’s leave it at that first. If it’s bound to de-velop, then, let nature take its course. “And of course, it depends on Al-jur! I’m not the one who’s going to court, right? Ha-ha-ha! Even if I say for example, that he’s got a big chance, but he’s not making any move, I don’t think things will prosper.” Lastly, the pretty Kapuso star remains unfazed with the negative remarks she receives because of her thin built. “Some say it’s already alarming, others even utter harsh comments, but I just don’t let myself be affected. In the first place, it’s my body and I know perfectly. I never became fat even as a kid. I just have small bones. Even if I add on extra weight, I would

still appear this way,” ends Kris.HHHHH

Ella Cruz is happy and proud to ap-pear in TV 5’s recent Wattpad edi-tion titled Hot and Cold in which she was paired with Brett Jackson. “I enjoyed my experience doing the show. For one, it’s a breather from all of my previous works. Everyone knows that I’m more associated with the drama genre. But deep inside, I also wanted to try a romantic com-edy for a change. It’s good Wattpad offered me this one,” she states. It was her maiden team-up with Brett. “Yes, and it proved to be okay. At first, I thought we won’t click pri-marily because we don’t know each other. But as it turned out, we have chemistry. I’m glad we were able to deliver. Brett is such a fun and friendly bloke. I hope we’ll be able to work again in another project!” Does this mean she’s now a free-lance? “Oh, no! I’m still very much with Star Magic. I was just borrowed by TV 5. I’m happy with ABS-CBN’s Aryana and Bagito. I’m already okay that they allow me to do projects outside like this Wattpad edition. That’S some-thing I’m really thankful for,” says Ella.

JOSEPH PETER GONZALES

KRIS BERNAL WISHES FAMILY HAPPINESS, GOOD HEALTH, AND SAFETY

Ella Cruz

Brett Jackson

Kris Bernal

Carl Guevarra

SHOWBITZ C7ISAH V. REDE D I T O R

i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

M ONDAY : M AY 25 : 2015

CNN is launching Trad-ers, a new feature strand that tells the stories of extraordinary

individuals who make the world go round by trading goods and services across borders.

In Traders, CNN will cover the stories behind the global import and export markets by meeting characters that passionately be-lieve in their business to trade products and services overseas. In each report, CNN audiences will also gain valuable business information to put each story in context of international trade and commerce. 

Traders is a fortnightly seg-ment that runs in CNN Inter-national’s The Business Viewwith Nina Dos Santos, 6 p.m. Monday to Friday.

The opening ‘Traders’ report on May 19 focused on Ellis Hunt, the third generation president of Hunt Bros. – a citrus growing and packing company in central Florida. Through Hunt Bros’s

story, CNN audiences will gain an insight into how the com-pany exports nearly 10 percent of its fresh fruits to Japan, and in the process overcomes nu-merous challenges such as bad weather, citrus diseases and in-dustry changes. 

“Traders is a content strand that makes sense of the drivers behind international trade in the context of globalised, con-nected business,” said Ellana Lee, senior vice president, CNN International. “By telling the sto-ries of the passionate, innovative people working in global trade, CNN will bring import/export markets to life and show why this affects us all. Traders will add an intriguing angle to our wider business programming.” 

A special ‘Traders’ microsite hosted on CNN.com will com-plement the on-air programming by featuring additional interac-tive and informative elements. ‘Traders’ on-air and online con-tent is sponsored by DHL. 

Former Valenzuela City Councilor Kate Cos-eteng and Tacloban City Councilor Cristina Gonzales-Romualdez are both excited in the movie that is already in the negotiation process.

They are the best of friends. Both are poli-ticians’ wives, mothers, TV hosts, and public servants. And soon they are starring in an inde-pendent film.

The film aims to edu-cate, entertain, and inspire moviegoers to explore what they really believe about God, igniting im-

portant conversations and life-changing decisions. Gorio Vicuna will direct it. The international Fili-pino director was based in Hollywood for 10 years.

“It’s been a long, long time since I have done

any movie,” said Ro-mualdez, known in the big screen in the ‘90s as Kring-Kring Gonzales, one of the  sexiest stars and one of the most beautiful actresses of her time.

Kate, who was a model and TV host of her own talk show Kate TalkActive in 2012, is doing a movie for the first time and said she is quite nervous.

The film will also be the first onscreen ap-pearance of the Secretary general of the Philip-pine National Red Cross Gwendolyn Pang, ANC host Janeena Chan and Gemmalyn Crosby, the only IFBB Pro represent-ing the Philippines via the Philippine League of Bodybuilding and Fit-ness. Both will play cru-cial roles in the movie.

CNN’S CROSS-BORDER

TRADING PROGRAM

From C8

CRISTINA GONZALES STARS IN INDIE FILMBY ROBBIE PANGILINAN

Cristina with co-stars Kate Coseteng, Gwendolyn Pang, Janeena Chan, and Gemmalyn Crosby

If Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit (OPM) President Ogie Alcasid would have his way, he would like Ryan Cay-

abyab to be the country’s next National Artist for Music, joining Levi Celério, Felipe Padilla de León, Lucrecia R. Kasilag, Lucio D. San Pedro, and Ramon San-tos, among others. Alcasid explained that Mr. C, as he is fondly called, is very much qualified to receive the Order of the National Artists Award, the highest national honor given to Filipinos with significant contributions to the development of Philippine arts. The award is jointly administered by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and conferred by the President of the Philippines upon the recommenda-tion of both institutions.

The OPM head credits Cayabyab as the man behind the annual Ele-ments Music Camp in Dumaguete and the Philippine Popular Music Festival, a nationwide songwriting competition for amateurs and pro-fessionals, which is now on its fourth year. PhilPop, which has recently announced its 12 finalists covering varying genres and themes, will have its grand finals and awards night on July 25, with the grand prize winner, first runner-up, and second run-ner-up will receive a million persos,

half a million, and a quarter of a mil-lion in cash, respectively.

Cayabyab, also known as The Mae-stro, is recognized for creating works like orchestral and choral pieces, full-length ballets, operas, and theater musicals. He has worked with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra and the Manila Chamber Orchestra. In addition, he also served as Execu-tive and Artistic Director of the San Miguel Foundation for the Perform-ing Arts for several years and he was the conductor of the now disbanded San Miguel Philharmonic Orchestra (SMPO) and the San Miguel Master Chorale (SMMC).   One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines in 1978, Cayabyab also won the grand prize of the first Metro Manila Popular Music Festival or Metro Pop on the same year for the song “Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika.” He bagged international Grand Prix awards from the Seoul Song Fes-tival in Korea, the Voice of Asia Song Festival in the former USSR, and the Tokyo Music Festival and a Bronze Award at the New York Film and Television Awards.

In 1996, Cayabyab received the first Antonio C. Barreiro Achieve-ment Award for his contributions to Filipino music and a Lifetime Achievement Award from Awit Awards. The UP Alumni Associa-tion honored him with the Profes-

sional Award in music in 1998 and he was one of the 100 awardees of the CCP Centennial Honors for the Arts in 1999.

The Maestro was the only Asian winner of the Onassis Internation-al Cultural Competitions in Greece in 2001. He was awarded the Ga-wad CCP Award for Music in 2004. He was conferred the MYX Magna Award in 2012 by the local music channel for his significant con-tributions to the music industry. He also received the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice from Pope Francis in 2013. Last April 11, the Pampeli-kulang Samahan ng mga Dalub-guro (PASADO) gave him another Lifetime Achievement Award or the Natatanging Gawad PASADO. Despite these awards and recogni-tions, OPM’s campaign to put Cay-abyab in the elite group of National Artists for Music might still face opposition from purists who believe that “serious” or classical musicians deserve the award better than him.

Still, one would argue that some of our National Artists had also worked on popular projects before. Although Cayabyab is also a qual-ity teacher, organizer, and mentor, apart from being an album produc-er, the campaign for him to become a National Artist should focus more on his creative and artistic output, which are significant enough to merit anyone’s attention.

OPM PUSHES FOR CAYABYAB TO BE NATIONAL ARTIST

BY SEYMOUR BARROS SANCHEZ

The Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit is pushing for Ryan Cayabyab to be the next National Artist for Music

C8 ISAH V. REDE D I T O R

SHOWBITZ

M ONDAY : M AY 25 : 2015

SHOWBITZSHOWBITZSHOWBITZ

GMA PINOY TV’S 10TH ANNIVERSARY WITH AI-AI DELAS ALAS

Philippine Comedy Queen and returning Ka-puso Ai-Ai delas Alas promises to bring the fun to Kapuso audiences abroad as she head-lines GMA Pinoy TV’s Kapusong Pinoy in Vancouver, Canda and Anaheim, California.

Christian Bautista, Alden Richards, Jonalyn Viray and Betong Sumaya will join Delas Alas in the kick off for a year-long celebration for GMA International’s 10th anniversary.

Organized by GMA’s flagship internation-al channel GMA Pinoy TV, in association with Unit Blue Design & Media Production Services, Kapusong Pinoy Vancouver will be held on May 29 at The Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver, Canada. 

Meanwhile, GMA Pinoy TV, in association with Polaris Media & Marketing, will stage Ka-pusong Pinoy Anaheim on May 31 at the City National Grove of Anaheim in California.

The multi-talented actress, comedienne and TV host, who made her Kapuso come-back in the series Let the Love Begin that pre-miered this month, is raring to elicit endless laughter from her fellow Kapuso abroad.

“Handa na ba kayo mga Kapuso? Ako po, handang-handa nang magbigay ng saya, tawa-nan at kasiyahan sa ating mga kababayan diyan sa Vancouver at Anaheim!” she exclaims.

As the Network’s international business unit celebrates its 10th anniversary, it pays tribute to its loyal audience and partners overseas.

“We are grateful to our friends, partners, and subscribers who have journeyed with GMA Pinoy TV in the past 10 years,” says GMA Vice President for International Oper-ations Joseph T. Francia. 

“Following the success of our Kapu-song Pinoy events in various parts of the world, our concerts in Vancouver and Ana-heim are only the first of many gifts that we are offering this year in keeping with our promise of bringing global Filipinos closer to home,” he reveals.

Other members of the Kapusong Pinoy cast also give credit to the years of service that GMA International has imparted to Ka-puso audiences all over the world.

Kapusong Pinoy Vancouver on May 29 at 7 p.m. For tickets, please call (604) 365-6068 in Vancouver, (778) 713-0376 in New Westminster, (778) 829-4489 in Tri-cities, (604) 588-6397 in Surrey, and (604) 504-5991 in Fraser Valley. 

Kapusong Pinoy Anaheim on May 31 at the City National Grove of Anaheim on 2200 East Katella Avenue, Anaheim, CA. Gates open at 6:30 PM. For tickets, please call 310-989-4523 or 310-986-1665.

HHHHH

MORE GUESTS IN DARREN’S BIRTHDAY CONCERT

It will surely be a fun night as more guests will join Darren Espanto in his first major concert Darren Espanto D Birthday Con-cert on May 29 at the Mall of Asia Arena. TV Host Robi Domingo, G-Force and Asia’s Got Talent Grand Winner El Gamma Pen-umbra will join The Voice of the PhilippinesSeason 1 Champion Mitoy Yonting, The Voice of the Philippines Season 2 Champion Jason Dy and runner-up Alisah Bonaobra.

“I am so happy that Kuya Robi, G-Force and El Gamma Penumbra will be able to join me on this very special event,” Darren said. “I know you want to find out what we will do during the show but all I can say right now is I’m sure you will enjoy our number if you will watch my concert.”

Robi Domingo is a VJ, actor, dancer, and host. He first gained popularity as a reality show contestant by joining and ending up as the first runner up of the hit television show Pinoy Big Brother Teen Edition Plus in 2008.

G-Force is a dance group described as in-novative, hip, and fresh. The group regularly performs in A.S.A.P and other special proj-ects of ABS-CBN.

El Gamma Penumbra is a shadow play group recently declared winner in Asia’s Got Talent. The group not only impressed the judg-es: Grammy-winning producer/composer Da-vid Foster, Spice Girl Melanie C, Taiwanese star Vaness Wu and Indonesian singer Anggun but was also voted by the audience all over Asia as the first winner of the said contest.

If you are eager on what to expect during the show, then head on to the Mall of Asia Arena on May 29. Showtime is 8 p.m.

Tickets at P4,230 for VIP, P3,700 for Patron, P2,640 for Lower Box, P1,270 for Upper Box and P430 for General Admission are available at SM Tickets (4702222 or smtickets.com).

ISAH V. RED

Following the success of our Kapusong Pinoy events in various parts

of the world, our concerts in Vancouver and Anaheim are only the first of many gifts

that we are offering this year in keeping with our promise of

bringing global Filipinos closer

to home

– Joseph T. Francia, GMA VP for International

Operations ➜ Continued on C7

Philippine Comedy

Queen Ai-Ai delas Alas

Kapuso actor-

comedian Betong

Sumaya

One of GMA’s top leading men Alden

Richards

Fearless Diva Jonalyn Viray

Asia’s Romantic Balladeer Christian Bautista

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