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Let lawyers find out if I can run, Duterte declares

VOL. XXIX � NO. 285 � 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 � TUESday : NOVEMBER 24, 2015 � www.thestandard.com.ph � editorial@thestandard.com.ph

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Palace,militarydisagreeon terror

Anti-Poepetitionerasks SETfor review

PNoy: ‘Tanim-bala’ was sensationalized

‘NO BACKING OUT’

Announcement. Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Alan Peter Cayetano announced in Greenhills, San Juan, on Monday that they will run for President and vice president, respectively, in next year’s elections. John PAolo Bencito

By Sandy Araneta

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III insist-ed Sunday that the scandal over a racket that plants bullets in luggage to extort money from travelers passing through the Ninoy Aquino International Airport has been blown out of proportion, as only a handful of 34 million passengers have complained about the scam.

At a “Coffee Meeting with the Media” at the Hotel Inter-Continental in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Aquino said the al-leged victims of the scam were only a small segment of the millions who go through the country’s main gateway.

“For every 10 persons who entered the airport, how many were victim-ized? Two or three? I don’t think so. This was just sensationalized and there

are those benefitted from this being sensationalized,” Aquino said.

Among the 34 million passengers passing through Naia every year, only about 1,200 have been apprehended for carrying bullets, Aquino said.

Among these, only three of the passen-gers have complained that airport officials asked them for money to avoid detention and charges, he added.

By John Paolo Bencito and Macon Ramos-Araneta

THERE’S no turning back for Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Du-terte, who said Monday he will definitely run for President in 2016 with Senator Alan Peter Cayetano as his running mate.

“There’s nothing that would change my mind. I have already crossed the rubicon,” Duterte told reporters Monday after a press conference in Greenhills, San Juan.

“Whether the [Commission on Elec-tions] would accept it or not, I don’t worry. I don’t know how my lawyers would fix the problem but my lawyers will soon sort it out. There should be a proper step on that.”

Duterte again said his disappointment over the Senate Electoral Tribunal decision to dis-miss the disqualification case against Senator

Grace Poe prompted him to run.“As a matter of principle, I can’t accept

that. I don’t want a person who’s half-Ameri-can, half-Filipino [to be the next President],” he said, refusing to acknowledge that Poe, who was a foundling, can be considered a natural-born Filipino citizen, a requirement for being senator or President.

Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal on Wednesday said Duterte’s eventual move to become the substitute presidential candi-date of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-

Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) would face legal challenges.

First, he said, the PDP-Laban candidate, Martin Diño, made an error in his certifi-cate of candidacy, which stated he was run-ning for mayor of Pasay City.

Second, he said, was the Comelec law de-partment’s plan to consider Diño a nuisance candidate.

“Even if he’s saying that he has withdrawn his candidacy, the Comelec has to resolve

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news

Gridlock. Traffic was hardly moving on Edsa and Kamuning in Quezon City early Monday morning. Ey AcAsio

PNoy: ...

‘No...

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Palace, AFP differ on ISIS threat

“Can we say that the probability is high? Three out of 34 million?” Aquino said.

Aquino said the public should await the results of investigation before hastily concluding that the alleged scam is indeed rampant at the Naia.

“We must first find proof, one way or the other, prove what is right. And once it is proven, isn’t it whoever is guilty, the per-son should be punished? If there are innocent peo-ple, the stigma must be removed [from them],” Aquino said.

Aquino also reiterated the need for thorough bag-gage inspection at airports, citing cases were prohibit-ed items were confiscated, including guns, grenades, knives and brass knuckles.

The National Bureau of Investigation has until this week to complete its report on the alleged extortion racket.

The Justice Department earlier designated at least one public prosecutor at the Naia to handle bullet-related complaints.

On Monday, a Catholic bishop joined the growing number of people calling for the ouster of Manila International Airport Au-

thority general manager Jose Angel Honrado, a close associate of the Presi-dent, over the bullet-plant-ing scandal.

“People that are in-competent need to be re-placed. There are many reasons why the Naia has been judged as the world’s worst airport. Now, isn’t that enough proof of in-competence?” said Ma-nila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo in a message posted in the of-ficial website of the Cath-olic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

On Friday, the bishop also signed a petition on the global online platform Change.org calling on the President to fire Honrado and put an end to the “tan-im-bala” scam.

The petition by Filipino migrants’ rights watchdog Migrante International blasted Honrado’s failure to resolve the scam which has victimized many trave-lers, including tourists and overseas Filipino workers.

The group added that airport chief ’s dismal per-formance also resulted in the poor maintenance of airport facilities, clogged runways, and the lack of surveillance equipment.

To date, the three-week-old petition has already gathered around 11,870 signatories. With sara susanne Fabunan

The military, however, played down the threat, saying they did not receive any information that terrorist groups, including ISIS, were planning to launch attacks in the country.

Presidential Spokesman Edwin Laci-erda on Sunday urged the public to avoid malls and other areas where large crowds gather and to report any suspi-cious activities to the authorities. The statement was issued after President Benigno Aquino III ordered the mili-tary to intensify operations against the Abu Sayyaf and other terror cells in the wake of the beheading of a Malaysian national in Mindanao and the terrorist attacks in Paris.

An intelligence source said at least two jihadists left Sulu last Oct. 29 for Manila at the height of the intensive security preparations for the conduct of the Asia-Pacific Economic Coopera-tion meeting.

The source also disclosed the myste-rious entry of three Syrians in the coun-try who were spotted in Cararao com-plex in Lanao province in recent weeks.

But the chief of the Public Affairs Of-fice of the Armed Forces of the Philip-pines, Col. Noel Detoyato, said they have no validated reports of an im-pending terrorist threat.

“We have not received any report

pertaining to the presence of ISIS ele-ments or sympathizers in the country. There is no authentic link or relation-ship between the ISIS and the ASG in Mindanao,” he said.

But he supported Lacierda’s call for the public to be vigilant and watchful against terror attacks.

“We enjoin the people to cooperate with us in preventing any untoward in-cident related to terrorism by reporting to authorities suspicious situations or behaviors by persons they believe to be out of the ordinary,” he said.

World leaders condemned the Paris at-tacks in two separate international sum-mits—the Apec and the recently conclud-ed Asean Summit in Kualu Lumpur.

In the Asean Summit, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak con-demned the beheading of his compa-triot electrical engineer Bernard Then, abducted by ASG in Sabah last May 15 and taken to Jolo, Sulu.

US President Barack Obama also vowed to hunt down leaders of ISIS and cut off the group’s financing.

“We will destroy them. We will take back land they are currently in, take out their financing, hunt down leadership, dismantle their networks, supply lines and we will destroy them,” the US presi-dent said.

By Francisco Tuyay

THE Palace advice to stay away from crowded places is a sign of an increased security threat, an intelligence source said Monday after revealing that at least two known jihad-ists were in Metro Manila recruiting for the terrorist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

if Diño is a nuisance candidate’’ Macalintal said.

If he is declared a nuisance candidate, his certificate of can-didacy would be considered null and void, and Duterte would not be able to step in as his substi-tute, the lawyer added.

‘’The existing jurisprudence of Supreme Court says that if the COC would be cancelled or denied due course, the person who denied his COC cannot be replaced,” he said.

Duterte confirmed that Cayetano would be his running mate. Even before the Davao mayor had declared his inten-tion to run, Cayetano support-ers had been putting up posters of the two.

“I would campaign for Duterte whatever happens. It’s only a bo-nus if he wants to work with me. The bigger the sacrifice, the bigger the reward is,” Cayetano said.

He added that he was grateful that Duterte chose him, because this would boost his campaign to be vice president.

PDP-Laban president Sena-tor Aquilino Pimentel III said Duterte would certainly be his party’s candidate for President.

“From what I’ve heard, it’s 100 percent that he will run. As far as I’m concerned, he will not backtrack,” Pimentel said.

Pimentel added that PDP-Laban has already signed a new

certificate of nomination for Duterte, which he will file with the Comelec to substitute the mayor for Diño.

The Comelec allows the sub-stitution of candidates until Dec. 10.

Pimentel also dismissed the error in Diño’s COC as a clerical error, noting that the Comelec has listed him as a presidential candidate.

“There was an effort in the [Comelec] legal department to declare him [Diño] a nuisance candidate for president, [but] that has been overcome. That minor clerical error has been overcome by the Comelec’s own actions,” Pimentel said.

He added there is no problem in Duterte’s choosing Cayetano as his running mate.

Cayetano, who filed his can-didacy for vice president as an independent candidate, has been trying to convince Duterte to run for President.

Poe said she was not surprised by Duterte’s entry into the presi-dential race, saying she believed he had intended to run all along.

Regarding Duterte’s impact on the race, she added: “Any-body entering the race is a game changer.”

Asked if she had ill feeling to-ward Duterte for attacking her citizenship, Poe said that was personal.

“I think a leader, particularly one who is running should fo-cus on what he can do for the country. Whatever our opinion,

we should keep it to ourselves for now. What’s important to me is that I am truthful. My par-ents told me to help others and respect my elders,” Poe said.

Poe also denied Duterte’s claim that she offered to be his vice president during a meeting with him at her Corinthian Gar-den residence in Quezon City earlier this year.

“That’s not true. That never happened,” Poe said.

She said they talked about the last election, when Duterte helped her with her senatorial campaign, and some personal matters.

Poe’s running mate, Senator Francis Escudero said Poe was hurt by the criticism aimed at her, but would be able to face all of these issues because the truth and the law are on her side.

Also on Monday, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. said he wished Duterte “good luck.”

“The message of Mayor Duterte is law and order, run-ning after the guilty, and that certainly resonates with a lot of people, including myself. I wish him luck,” Belmonte told reporters, adding that Duterte’s joining the presidential race will have “some effect on the playing field.”

“I don’t like to use the word game changer, but definitely he will have some effect,” said Bel-monte, who is campaign man-ager of the Liberal Party’s stand-ard-bearer Manuel Roxas II.

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NEWSeditorial@thestandard.com.ph

Aquino arrives from Malaysian meeting

JPE wants PNoy intel budget slashed

Anti-Poe petitioner seeks review

Budget hearing. Senator Loren Legarda debates with Senator Juan Ponce Enrile during the hearing on the budget of the Office of the President on Monday. Lino SantoS

Fire. A fireman trains his hose on a burning warehouse holding plastic products in Roosevelt, Quezon City, on Monday. Ey acaSio

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III arrived early Monday after joining the Asean meetings in Kuala Lumpur and reported such achievements as the signing of the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the establishment of the Asean Com-munity and the Asean Vision 2025.

“Because of this, our interaction in terms of functional cooperation will be strengthened and will be broad—meaning the actions on Asean issues will be tackled more swiftly and will be more focused,” Aquino said.

He said he stressed the impor-tance of peace and stability in the region during the conference.

“It is the responsibility of each country to help out in attaining stability instead of contributing to the tension in our region,” Aquino said in obvious reference to Chi-na, which is reclaiming land and building structures in the disput-ed areas in the South China Sea.

“The majority had agreed to a fair, peaceful and just resolution based on global laws,” Aquino said.

He said the Philippines had come far since it first participated in any Asean meeting.

“Before, there were only a few who contributed to airing their side, but now many have support-ed our call,” Aquino said.

“Even those we first have asked for support now say there must be a Code of Conduct.”

Aquino said his administration’s commitment to good governance had borne fruit and gained the trust of the neighboring countries and the rest of the world.

Aquino said that as he attended his last Asean meetings, he took the opportunity to bid goodbye to his fellow Southeast Asian leaders and thank them for their support and cooperation during his presidency.

“Last week, the country hosted the successful Apec in Manila and now we were met warmly by the Asean Summit in Malaysia,” Aquino said. Sandy araneta

SENATE Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile on Monday sought the removal of the P250-million intelligence fund from the P2.82-billion proposed budget of the Office of the President for 2016, an election year.

Enrile, in Monday’s delibera-tions on the P3.002-trillion budg-et, said the P250-million fund of the Anti-Crime Commission, which is led by Executive Secre-tary Paquito Ochoa, should be deleted from the OP’s budget.

He said “intelligence gather-ing” was not a job of the Office of the President.

Enrile also objected to the P66-million allocation for the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law pending approval by the Senate and the House of Representa-

tives.He also voiced concern over

the block grant that was provided under the BBL, describing it as a “separate financial burden” on the national budget.

Senator Francis Escudero, former finance committee chair-man, said the budget for the block grant was pegged at P10 billion, which was much lower than the P28.4-billion budget for the Autonomous Region in Mus-lim Mindanao.

Senator Loren Legarda, who took over the chairmanship of the finance committee, said the 2016 capital outlay had provided very specific line items that were responsive to the needs of the fishermen in the coastal commu-nities, farmers, rural folks and

indigenous communities. She said they had introduced

amendments that would support municipalities and villages in the country.

She said next year’s budget also deleted all the provisions referring to the budget priori-ties framework that authorizes department heads to reallocate funding “because only Congress has the power to approve fund allocations for government pro-grams.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said that for 2016 Aquino’s last budget, if approved, would be 103 percent bigger than the last budget of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Macon Ramos-araneta

Rizalito David appealed to the nine-member tribunal to overturn its decision last week dumping his petition seeking to declare Poe as ineligible for her Senate post for not being a natural-born Filipino.

He claimed that the five sena-tors in the majority ruling—Vi-cente Sotto III, Loren Legarda, Pia Cayetano, Cynthia Villar and Bam Aquino—committed a grave abuse of discretion in dismissing his petition.

David made his appeal even as other petitioners on Mon-day expressed confidence that their respective cases against presidential aspirant Grace Poe would not be affected by the dismissal of David’s petition against Poe.

De La Salle University profes-sor Antonio Contreras, former University of the East Law Dean Amado Valdez, and former Sena-tor Francisco Tatad said in a separate interviews that the SET ruling would not affect their re-spective cases against Poe.

Valdez said his case against Poe was about her qualification to run as President and not for senator in 2013.

“It [the SET decision] should not [affect my case],” Valdez said.

“That refers only to her quali-fications as a senator, particularly on the ground of residency.’’

David accused the senators of violating the rule on the pri-macy of the Constitution over international laws, saying their votes to dismiss his petition was a “political decision.”

“Petitioner scored the majori-ty for violating the Constitution with its legally infirm decision as well as political votes case to accommodate Respondent Poe,” David’s lawyer Manuelito Luna told reporters.

“The five senator-judges failed to uphold judicial integ-rity in interpreting the Consti-tution and international laws.”

David asked the tribunal to adopt the dissenting opinions of the three Supreme Court jus-tices in the tribunal.

Voting 5-4 on Nov. 17, the SET members declared Poe, the front runner in next year’s presidential race, as a natural-born citizen who was eligible to be elected senator.

The five senators ruled that Poe should be considered a natural-born Filipino despite being a foundling based on cus-tomary international laws. Rey E. Requejo and Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

A LOSING senatorial candidate in the 2013 elections has asked the Senate Electoral Tribunal to reconsider its decision dismissing the disqualification case he had filed against Senator Grace Poe.

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NEWSeditorial@thestandard.com.ph

‘Still no justice after 6 years’By Rio N. Araja

RELATIVES, friends and colleagues of the 58 people, including 32 journalists, who died in the Maguindan-ao massacre assailed the Aquino administration for its lack of concern for justice on the sixth anniversary of what has been called “the single deadliest event for journalists in history.”

Another magistrate assassinatedBy Rey E. Requejo

ONLY two weeks after Bu-lacan Judge Wilfredo Nieves was assassinated last Nov. 11, another judge was killed in an ambush in Northern Samar on Sunday.

The authorities said Municipal Trial Court Judge Reynaldo Espi-nar of Laoang, Northern Samar was shot dead by a lone assas-sin outside a cockpit arena at the nearby Pambujan town.

Espinar died on the spot while the still unidentified killer was also shot dead by his bodyguards.

Espinar already survived an ambush attempt inside his court office last May by three men dis-guised as applicants for court

clearances. He had reportedly been receiving death threats since last year.

Investigators were still deter-mining the motive of the killing, but initial investigation indicated that the suspect was a member of the New People’s Army.

Meanwhile, Arnel Janoras, the principal suspect in the killing of Nieves, was shot dead by police yesterday.

Bulacan provincial director Senior Supt. Ferdinand Divina said Janoras was killed while he was being transported from Malolos City to San Jose Del Monte City at 9:20 a.m.  Monday.

Janoras, who was being brought to the prosecutor’s of-fice for an inquest on another

case, allegedly tried to grab the firearm of one of his escorts in-side the police vehicle.

“A scuffle ensued which led to the death of the suspect when his escort was forced to shoot him,” said the report, which called the incident a “shootout.”

Nieves had just left his courtroom at the Capitol Com-pound and was on board his vehicle, headed home at 5 p.m. last Nov. 11 when still uniden-tified suspects onboard a silver Toyota Innova and a motorcy-cle disembarked from their ve-hicles and started firing on his vehicle.

Nieves died on the spot due to multiple gunshot wounds in dif-ferent parts of his body. 

Dinky only ‘reached out’ to the homeless

Tears in heaven. Maguindanao Gov. Ismael Toto Mangudadatu (in cap looking up) releases balloons after he prayed at the site of the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre at Ampatuan, Maguindanao where he lost his wife and sister. MARK NAVALES

Person of interest. Mugshot shows Arnel Janoras, suspected assassin of Bulacan Regional Trial Court Judge Wilfredo Nieves, after he was arrested for illegal possession of firearms last Nov. 21. Janoras was later shot dead by jail guards after he supposedly tried to grab a firearm while he was on his way to court for an inquest.

Accompanied by relatives of the deceased, the National Press Club of the Philippines, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and other media organizations separately lashed at the Aquino administra-tion’s supposed failure to deliver on its promises of justice.

The NPC picketed the Depart-ment of Justice and later proceeded to Mendiola Street, in the area of Ma-lacañang Palace, to demand justice for the victims and dramatize their disappointment over the snail-paced action on the 58 counts of murder filed against the crime’s alleged per-petrators.

NPC president Joel Sy Egco led members in burning an effigy of the President and branding Aquino as “Pnoy-cchio” because of his sup-posed lies when he vowed to seek jus-tice for the 58 victims when he was still campaigning for President.

The NUJP, also marched to Men-diola Street in San Miguel, Manila, lamented that several, if not all, of “the victims’ families even cam-paigned for him, so much did they believe in his promise of justice.”

“But here we are six years later, and Aquino also on the eve of winding up his own six years, with no justice, no good governance, no FOI, in probably worse straits than when we started,” NUJP president Alwyn Alburo said.

The NUJP criticized that “the trial of the accused is still barely out of the starting gates, with the clan patriarch now beyond the reach of earthly justice, one of his sons out on bail and running for mayor because the prosecution incredulously failed to prove his participation despite his presence at the meeting where the slaughter was decided and planned, and close to half of the suspects still free.”

“It is not encouraging at all, not by any standard. Indeed, the Ampatuan Massacre may well be the symbol of Noynoy Aquino’s term: a rutted, crooked path strewn with broken promises and a trail of blood,” Al-buro said.

“Not because of what he has done but, even worse, because he has done nothing for the simple reason that he simply does not care,” he added.

But Malacañang said it continues to look for closure on the case, but its hands are practically tied with the trial ongoing before the judicial branch.

“It’s already with the judicial branch of government. So what can you expect from us? In the nor-mal course of things, the executive branch is like the ordinary citizen also waiting the outcome of the tri-al,” said Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda.

SOCIAL Welfare and Development Secre-tary Corazon Soliman disputed the claim of a human rights group that hundreds of homeless families were taken off the streets ahead of the arrival of foreign dignitaries during the Asia-Pacific Economic Coopera-tion summit.

But Manila mayor and former President Joseph Estrada said the solution to homeless-ness in Metro Manila should be addressed by the mayors of the metropolis, who are members of the Metro Manila Council.

“We have to sit down together to work out

and implement a permanent solution to the issue of street dwelling families. We have had enough of the band-aid solution to the problem,” Estrada said after he was criticized for fighting the poor instead of combatting poverty.

Soliman, on the other hand, said in a state-ment that the Manila Department of Social Welfare only “reached out” to 77 families so they can be “interviewed and assessed for the provision of appropriate services.”

“What the media saw during the visit at the Boystown were regular residents of the

center who have been reached out much ear-lier than the city wide reach-out operation,” Soliman said after television footage showed people complaining that they were being for-cibly detained at the facility.

The families admitted that they were homeless people living on the streets of Ma-nila and they were forcibly taken by city hall authorities to the Boystown, a facility in Ma-rikina City owned by the City of Manila.

During the assessment, 12 families were assessed to be potential beneficiaries of the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer

Families for Homeless Families and two were qualified under the regular Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, Soliman said.

She said families were provided a com-plete package of assistance, including re-sponsive shelter program, access to social services, and economic opportunities for the improvement of their living conditions.

She said they were also given up to P4,000 per month to help them pay for rental pay-ments, which is paid directly to the lessor and not the families, for six months to one year.

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NEWSeditorial@thestandard.com.ph

By Vito BarceloThe Bureau of Customs has simplified the process of duty-free goods being trans-ferred   to sites authorized by the Philippine economic Zone Authority, to make sure that the shipments   would not be diverted into the domestic market.

“It will guarantee that only duly approved goods are withdrawn/transferred; goods that may have di-verted from the intended destination can be identi-fied; and intended transfer is successfully delivered at the approved destination,” BoC officials said. 

Memorandum order (CMO) 40-2015, signed by Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina, specified Customs’ role to ensure the goods being transferred are adequately secured.

“To simplify the process

of goods transfer between ecozone Logistics Service enterprise Facilities and Partner Peza Locators us-ing the electronic Zone Transfer System, the bu-reau defined its personnel’s specific role in the proc-ess,” Lina said.

Deputy Commissioner Agaton Uvero said that the implementation of the e-ZTS last July  have promot-ed transparency and facili-tated transactions among Peza locators and  will re-duce the cost of doing busi-ness  for the exporters. 

“The eZTS will also al-low both Customs and Peza authorities to moni-tor, real- time, the transfer and movement of tax-and-duty free goods among the ecozones, thereby reducing the possibility of illegal transfers and withdrawals of goods into the domestic market,” Uvero said.

The controversial LTO administrative order AVT-2015-029 was signed on Sept. 22, 2015 by Trans-portation Secretary Joseph emilio Abaya and his dep-uty Alfonso Tan Jr. as chief of the Land Transportation Office.

LTO’s September order

prompted a group of tri-cycle operators to ask the Pasig City Regional Trial Court for a temporary restraining order and/or writ of preliminary injuc-tion nullifying the Abaya-Tan impost. In a 14-page petition, Ariel Lim of the National

By Maricel Cruz and John Paolo Bencito

TransporT operators and lawmakers are up in arms against an order issued by the Land Transportation office im-posing additional requirements on the renewal of professional driver’s license.

Confederation of Tricy-cle Operators and Drivers Association of the Philip-pines questioned before the court the implementation of the LTO order requiring at least two million driv-ers applying for renewal of professional driver’s per-mits and conductor’s per-mit to submit additional requirements such as an NBI and police clearances.

Senatorial candidates Richard Gordon, honey Jacel Kiram, Sandra Cam and Rafael Alunan accom-panied Lim in the filing of the case.

In the house of Rep-

resentatives, a Palace ally demanded that LTO should suspend its new order requiring a driver to obtain NBI and polices clearances as a prerequisite for the renewal of licenses.

Instead of requiring NBI and police clearances, the LTO should reinstate their previous drug testing re-quirement, Iloilo City Rep. Gerry Trenas said at least for those who are applying for professional license, to ensure that public utility drivers are drug-free.

Trenas said that requir-ing NBI and police clear-ance from renewing license

holders and new applicants would only entail unnec-essary cost for applicants, most of whom barely has enough money to pay for their license fees.

This would also cause unnecessary hassle for ap-plicants who would have to waste at least a week of their productive days just to be able to get an NBI and police clearance even before they can even start queuing to apply for their actual driver’s license.

What is only required for one to be able to get a driv-er’s license is to be physi-cally and mentally capable

to drive a vehicle and prop-erly observe traffic rules and therefore, requiring an NBI and police clearance is completely ill-advised and unreasonable.

Trenas said that what is needed  instead is to re-instate the drug test pro-cedure which was part of the medical tests being ad-ministered as pre-licensing requirement.

This is to avoid issuing licenses to drivers who are drug addicts who can pose real danger to their fellow motorists, passengers, pe-destrians  and other peo-ple who are on the road.

New LTO order draws flak

Romualdez vows full support for govt’s salary hike proposalSeNATORIAL candidate and Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez on Monday lauded the passage of a bill at a committee level that will increase the salary of govern-ment workers.

The house committee on appropriations ap-proved the pproposed Salary Standardization Law of 2015 for the benefit of some 1.5-million government employees, which include public school teachers, soldiers and policemen.

The SSL of 2015 or house Bill No. 6268 proposed a P226-million fund for the new round of salary increase for government per-sonnel. The bill, drafted by the Department of Budget and Management, will be imple-mented over a period of fours years begin-ning 2016.

The Leyte lawmaker said the passage of the SSL shows compassion to ordinary Fili-pino workers. “Yan ang tunay na malasakit

sa ordinaryong pilipino, selfless workers who should have long been rewarded,” he said.

Aside from the increase in salary, Romual-dez pushed for the passage of proposed meas-ures that aim to reduce personal and corporate income taxes even as Malacañang has rejected such proposals.

“As lawmakers, we should not stop finding ways on how to help the plight of the workers to show our compassion to them,” said Romual-dez, a lawyer and president of the Philippine Constitution Association.

Another lawmaker sought the reduction of the income tax on individuals based on the consumer price index.

Rep. Raneo Abu proposed the inflation-linked tax cut under house Bill 6258, say-ing that the tax relief will enable taxpayers to cope with rising prices of basic commodities.

Maricel Cruz

Pep talk. Senatorial candidate and Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez delivers his inspirational message during the luncheon meeting with Camarines Sur District 4 Municipal Official and Youth Leaders at Brgy. Abo, Municipality of Tigaon. Ver NoVeNo

Up in arms. Senatorial candidates lend a hand to Ariel P. Lim (center), president of the National Confederation of Tricycle Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines, in filing a court petition before the Pasig RTC against the LTO’s new order. From left : Princess Jacel Kiram, Sandra Cam, Red Cross chairman Richard Gordon, and former Interior Secretary Rafael Alunan III. ANDreW rABULAN

Customs electronic system tracks transfer of goods

NBI, police clearances mean extra burden, say critics

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

newsA6t u e s d ay : n o v e m b e r 24 , 2 0 1 5

MMDA to resume drive vs distracting billboards

By Joel E. Zurbano

The Metro Manila Develop-ment Authority will resume its campaign against billboards and other outdoor commercial displays that pose undue dis-tractions to motorists and may lead to accidents.

Banker testifies vs ex-lawmaker in pork barrel scam

Sister Act. Mayeth and her sister Mercy assemble Christmas lanterns on Sunday, Nov. 22, 2015 to meet the growing demand in Davao City. Lanterns cost from P30 to P500 apiece, depending on the size. OMAR MANGORSI

“Yes, we are ready at anytime to re-sume our campaign. But we must wait first for the final decision on the case,” said MMDA chairman Emerson Carlos.

The Court of Appeals earlier over-turned the decision of a Makati City trial court which stopped the MMDA from regulating the use of billboards and ad-vertising signs along major and secondary thoroughfares in the metropolis.

“This is a welcome development on the part of the MMDA, which is tasked also to clear ads signs and gigantic bill-boards which not only distract motor-ists and serve as eyesores in the Metro Manila skylines but also give subliminal messages,” Carlos said.    

The MMDA, during the watch of chairman Francis Tolentino, drew flak from certain groups when it opened the way “to regulate the billboard industry which fortuitously resisted change in any form whatsoever.”

“If in the process of revamping the industry and entrenched interests bite back, the MMDA will still do what is best for the common good,” Carlos said. “Our campaign is more on public safety.”

Carlos said the agency will meet members of the Metro Manila Council, the policy-making body of the MMDA, to discuss the resumption of anti-bill-board campaign in the National Capital Region, especially along the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue.

Carlos expressed confidence that the CA ruling would set a precedent in the other cases lodged by private companies against the MMDA, questioning the au-thority of the agency in issuing permits for billboards and advertising signs.

We hope that the ruling will also be a precedent in cases against the MMDA, with the courts deciding in favor of the agency,” he said.

In a 21-page decision, the CA dismissed the petition for declaratory relief filed by the three advertising firms—Summit Publishing Co. Inc., Bigboard Advertis-ing Corp. and Sygoo Enterprises—against the MMDA, ruling that the Makati court committed a grave abuse of discretion.

By Rio N. Araja

A PROSECUTION witness  on Monday  maintained before the Sandiganbayan that former con-gressman Edgar Valdez of the Association of Philippine Elec-tric Cooperatives received money from businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles, alleged mastermind in the P10-billion pork barrel fund scam.

AMLC bank investigator Jo-eshias Tambago told the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division that 60 percent to 70 percent of Valdez’s

transactions were related to his Priority Development Assistance Fund.

“The bank transactions mostly involved deposits of money from various non-government organiza-tions allegedly owned by Napoles,” Tambago said during the bail plea hearing of Valdez.

He took into consideration on the dates of entry in the summary of re-bates of whistleblower Benhur Luy and the dates when the money were deposited by the Napoles-linked foundations to Valdez’s bank ac-counts.

Another entry in Luy’s summary of rebates showed P1 million was given to Valdez as rebate on Oct. 10, 2006, Tambago said.

Three days later, P100,000 was deposited to Valdez through his Allied Bank’s savings account, he added.

Luy’s entry also showed P1 mil-lion was given to Valdez on March 27, 2008, while a day later, P500,000 was deposited to his account at Al-lied Bank.

At least four foundations depos-ited P270 million to the bank ac-counts of Napoles’ JLN Corp. and

Jo Chris Trading that also deposited to Valdez’s bank accounts on several occasions, he said.

In a previous testimony, Tambago told the Sandiganbayan that Valdez’s five bank accounts received P51.9 million from some foundations owned by Napoles.

The former representative was charged with plunder, a no bail of-fense, before the anti-graft court for allegedly receiving Valdez P57.78 million in kickbacks from his pork barrel fund siphoned to the Na-poles-linked foundations in 2004 until 2010.

By Macon Araneta

SENATOR Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. ex-pressed his frustrations over the government’s lack of support for Filipino inven-tors citing for instance the case of the maker of the internationally-acclaimed salt-powered lamp.

Marcos said Filipino inventors have been com-plaining in the past that they experience difficulty in trying to avail of incen-tives they are entitled to re-ceive under the law.  This drives them to find sup-port outside the country, he said.

“We should be the first ones to benefit from the innovative creations of our inventors. Unless we give them adequate support we will always lose out from investors abroad who are always on the lookout for promising new products,” he said.

He called on   the government to help the group of Filipina inventor Aisa Mijeno to realize her goal of mass producing the salt-water powered LED lamp.

“It is sad that the gov-ernment has yet to pro-vide support for Mijeno’s invention when both US President Barack Obama and Chinese billionaire Jack Ma of Alibaba had recognized the potential of the invention,” Marcos said.

Mijeno, CEO of SALt (Sustainable Alternative Lighting) shared the stage with Obama and Ma at the Apec CEO Summit where Obama moderated a session after his speech on climate change. She said her group needed funding to produce the lamp on a commercial scale.

“SALt’s invention has gained international atten-tion and earned various awards and it is puzzling why we have not seen any effort from the govern-ment to help bring this product of Filipino ingenu-ity to the market,” Marcos lamented.

The LED lamp can pro-vide 8 hours of light pow-ered only by a solution of water and two tablespoons of salt or plain seawater.

The senator noted that SALt’s invention which will provide a cheap and dependable source of light in many rural ar-eas of the country where there is still no electricity will also give employment if mass produced here in the country.

Inventors wanting in perks,Marcoslaments

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

t u e s d ay : n o v e m b e r 24 , 2 0 1 5

news A7

Miners cut costs to survive drop in global metal prices

54% of Cordillerans aware of region’s autonomy bid

By Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY—Metallic mining companies are now constrained to implement stringent cost-cutting measures for them to survive the serious negative impact of the continuous de-cline of global metal prices while non-metallic companies are reaping the fruits of the gov-ernment’s heavy spending on infrastructure development in the countryside, an official of the Philippine Mine Safety and Environment Association said here recently.

Louie Sarmiento, PM-SEA president, said metal-lic mining companies had been cutting expenses over the past several months to lower the cost of operations

so they could survive the ef-fects of the sudden drop in the world metal prices.

Mining experts predict that the drop in world metal prices will continue

Intel agency: Govt offices should boost their security

BANAUE, Ifugao—Fifty-four percent of Cordillerans are now aware of the renewed pursuit for regional autonomy being spearheaded by the Re-gional Development Council.

Meanwhile, 46 percent of them remain unaware of it, according to the results of the latest pulse survey geared to-wards getting the pulse of the people on the clamor for self-governance.

Milagros A. Rimando, regional director of the Cor-dillera office of the National Economic and Development Authority and RDC-CAR vice chairperson, said the latest pulse survey had a total respondents of 5,558

with 32.9 percent of them coming from rural areas near town centers, 30.8 percent coming from ur-ban and poblacion centers, 18.9 percent coming from rural far-flung areas and 17.5 percent coming from highly urbanized areas.

Based on the 2014 survey recently released by the agen-cy, the number of people who are now aware of the autono-my issue grew by 13 percent from the 41 percent generated during the 2013 similar sur-vey. The yes votes in the 2014 survey, however, dropped to 26 percent from the 28 per-cent yes votes in 2013.

Fifty-nine percent of the

respondents in urban and poblacion  centers claimed they we aware of the renewed pursuit for regional autono-my while 41 percent of them claimed there were not aware of such efforts. In rural areas near town centers, 54 percent were aware while 46 percent were not aware of the clamor for regional autonomy.

In highly urbanized areas, there was a 50-50 split on those who were and were not aware of the autonomy campaign while in the rural far-flung areas, 53 percent were not aware of the autonomy campaign while only 47 percent claimed they knew about the autonomy movement. Dexter A. See

By Mel Caspe

TACLOBAN CITY—The National Intelligence Co-ordinating Agency has re-minded government offices to step up security measures in state-owned facilities.

Speaking to government officials on the sidelines of Regional Development Council’s Development Administration Commit-tee on Monday, NICA as-sistant regional director Eustacio Bacabac noted that most government agencies have no “organic security guards.”

“Most government agen-cies don’t have security pro-gram and no security officer responsible for the security of the office. Some agencies rely on blue guards for the security needs and require-ment,” Bacabac said.

Blue guards, according to NICA official, are not organic and they have lim-ited access to offices.

“They don’t have the right mindset to secure our office since most of them don’t receive just compen-sation,” Bacabac added.

The meeting included an hour-long orientation on the basic concepts on security and Executive Order 608, mandating the establishment of a national security clearance system for government personnel with access to classified matters.

NICA also warned gov-ernment officials against some groups and individ-uals trying to access doc-uments to be their source of intelligence and other relevant information, in order “to accomplish their unlawful objectives.”

NICA urged agencies to launch a good secu-rity program, taking into consideration the per-sonnel, document, com-munication and physical securities.

until 2018 and that the temporary slump in the mineral industry will be over by the middle of 2019 or even later.

“The best thing for min-ing industry stakeholders is reduce unnecessary expen-ditures to be able to reduce their production cost while being able to cope with the projected continuous drop in the world metal prices. The mining industry still remains vibrant amidst the projection of the worst- case scenario,” Sarmiento stressed.

However, the PMSEA of-ficial pointed out the non-metallic companies are in a different situation because they are now the ones gen-

erating income from the government’s heavy spend-ing on infrastructure devel-opment in the countryside.

He added the existence of more development proj-ects in the countryside will definitely sustain the gains of the non-metallic mining companies which are bank-ing on the country’s rich source of raw materials to be able to produce quality infrastructure products used in the lucrative construction industry.

Sarmiento admitted that for the past several years,the non-metallic mining indus-try had not been enjoying a robust growth as what it has been enjoying lately. As a re-sult, most companies have

been posting record-break-ing income following full-blast construction activities.

He commended con-cerned government agencies and local governments for being able to bankroll the implementation of multi-billion infrastructure proj-ects that will significantly contribute in increasing economic activities in the countryside because of good roads and generate employ-ment opportunities for the people as well as uplift their living condition due to the existence of sustainable sources of income.

Sarmiento is optimistic that the metallic mining in-dustry will be able to recover from the slump soon.

Sad day. Members of the Tacloban National Press Club commemorate the sixth anniversary of the Maguindanao massacre where 58 people, including 32 media workers, were killed. MEL CASPE

Big fish. A man carries fresh tuna from the waters of Sarangani Bay. MARCONI NAVALES

A8

[ EDI TORI A L ]

IMPUNITYA BULACAN Regional Trial Court judge was driving home from work November 11 when as-sassins shot at his vehicle. Judge Wilfredo Nieves died instantly. Police say they are looking into the cases Nieves was handling at the time of his death. There were reports he had been receiving threats to his life prior to his slaying.

On September 1, a trial court judge was also killed in Baler, Aurora. Judge Erwin Alaba was on his way to a hearing when his killer shot him six times. Alaba’s wife, who was with him in the car, was injured: a bullet grazed her arm.

These slayings of members of the Judiciary had been condemned by the Supreme Court, by authorities, by lawyers, and by the general pub-lic. Nieves and Alaba were supposed to be part of the group sworn to interpret the law. Their role as judges was to see to it that justice was served.

Their killers and their masterminds, however, had other ideas: make a mockery of justice by si-lencing those sworn to uphold the law.

This insult rings true when we think back to six years ago. In Ampatuan town in Maguindan-ao, 58 people—some part of the convoy that was filing a certificate of candidacy at a Comelec of-fice, some media workers covering the event and some who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time—were killed.

Some arrests have been made and a judge had been assigned to hear all cases related to the mas-sacre exclusively. Until now, however, the cases have hardly moved, bogged down by technicali-ties and obvious attempts at delay. A lawyer esti-mated that because of the complex nature of the cases, resolution could take at least 25 years—an entire generation.

Already, the prime suspect, the patriarch of the Ampatuan clan, had died of sickness this year. Who else knows what could still happen and how those responsible could elude the con-sequences of what they have done in the many years that lie ahead?

Every day that the guilty are not made to pay for their crime is a day too long. We seek to at least have appearances of order. There are ar-rests and incarcerations. There are hearings. In-vestigations. Manhunts and rewards. In the end, what would stop these acts of impunity is the certainty that when you do something wrong, you will be made accountable for it—swiftly.   A weak system where the powerful and the cun-ning know they get away with their deeds does not inspire confidence in our law enforcers and security in our daily routines.

For this administration, down to its last few months, this is not a priority. It did not create this problem, we can imagine its spokesmen saying.   The massacre took place during the previous re-gime. What it would not admit is the fact that the number of extra judicial killings even rose during President Aquino’s term. It even went so far as playing down the killings or blaming those killed.

With leadership like this, small wonder that impunity has worsened. Criminals have become bolder and fiercer—with a contempt for the law that is matched only by this administration’s in-sensitivity to the dangers that this impunity brings.

LOWDOWN

JOJO A. ROBLES

ADELLE CHUAE D I T O R

WHO BENEFITS?

AS A former prosecutor, The Punisher of Davao City must be aware of Ci-cero’s story about a wise Roman judge who was in the habit of asking who stands to benefit from anything that takes place. Asking “Cui bono?”, the judge believed, was a surefire way of discover-ing who was motivated enough to cause some-thing to happen beyond the obvious suspects, who may, in fact, be mere scapegoats.

For now, let’s assume that Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is back in the presidential race and that he will not flake out anymore. As assumptions go, given Duterte’s record of shilly-shallying, that’s not a small one to make.

Even my friend Manny Pinol, one of the biggest boosters of Duterte, ac-cepts that there is already a lot of ground that has been lost in between the mayor’s no-show at the

Commission on Elections at the filing deadline and this weekend, when he once again declared—af-ter a fashion—that he is indeed seeking the presi-dency. Of course, Pinol insists that those who have lost faith in Duterte will return to the fold— but that is by no means a sure thing this late in the day.

But for me, the ques-tion of whether Duterte can still gain traction and win is not as important as two others. And these are:

Who stands to benefit from a Duterte candidacy from among those who are already running? In addition, which candidate would suffer the most if Duterte runs?

In answer to the first question, I think it stands to reason that all of the other candidates would take hits when Duterte runs, for different rea-sons. As for the second, my guess is the candidate or candidates planning on buying or cheating their way to victory in Mindan-ao will be hurt the most.

It’s pretty obvious that

a Duterte candidacy is go-ing to cause all the four current candidates—Sen-ator Grace Poe, Vice Pres-ident Jejomar Binay, ex-Secretary Mar Roxas and Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago—to shed votes. But I also think that more than Binay or Roxas, who have pretty much identi-fied their political bases, it is Poe and Santiago who will lose more votes to Duterte.

Duterte, after all, is ex-pected to get a fair share

of the so-called “reform” and “non-traditional” votes, which currently belong to the two wom-en senators. And while Binay does have a fol-lowing in many of same places where Duterte has a strong survey showing, as well, the Vice President already has his own solid vote base and would not lose as much to Duterte as either Poe or Santiago.

It helps to remember that Duterte has used as his reason for changing his mind his outrage at the recent ruling of the Senate Electoral Tribunal on the citizenship of Poe. To me, this only means that Duterte himself has identified Poe, the consis-tent leader in all credible political surveys, as his main opponent—and the most likely source of his own votes.

* * *As for who will suf-

fer the most because of a Duterte run, my guess is it will be those candidates who are planning to pull a fast one in the tradi-tional hotbeds of election

If Duterte wins back

those who have abandoned

him because of his willy-nilly presidential

quest, he could just pull it off.

OPINIONT U E S D AY : N O V E M B E R 24 , 2 0 1 5

Continued on A11

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

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nations and waited for hours for a ride.

The bilateral agree-ments entered into by the President are all speculative.

As for the pluses—well at least the Philip-pines was on the map again for its hosting of the summit.

I still cannot grasp the logic of holding the Apec meetings in Metro Manila considering the multi-faceted hassles of everyday life here. The summit could have been done in Subic as it was in 1996.

Santa Banana, if any-thing, what the Apec summit showed is the utter incompetence and ineptitude of the Aqui-no administration. Mr. Aquino would not hesi-tate to do anything just to show off.

But did he really be-lieve he could hide the fact that the streets of Metro Manila are home to street dwellers? Did

he think the Apec del-egates had not heard of the awful traffic situa-tion here? BS Aquino III only succeeded in fooling himself.

* * *The four senators—

Loren Legarda, Pia Cayetano, Cynthia Vil-lar and Bam Aquino—who voted as members of the Senate Electoral Tribunal against the disqualification of Sen-ator Grace Poe as a du-ly-elected senator can now go down in history as having disowned the very Constitution they have vowed to protect when they took their oath.

I am particularly dis-appointed at Pia Cayeta-no, a lawyer, who should know her law that Mrs. Llamanzares failed to prove before the SET that she is natural-born. Pia knew, as the other pro-Poe senators also knew, that international or customary laws can-

not prevail against the Constitution.

Pia voted anyway for Poe for sentimental and personal reasons. But not as a lawyer. Her late father, Senator Rene Cayetano, must now be turning in his grave. Rene was my good friend and I know he would have voted to de-fend the Constitution.

I am also disappoint-ed at my friend Loren Legarda, who should have been more circum-spect and independent-minded instead of going with the majority. As for Tito Sotto, oh, well, what can you expect from him since we knew all along how he would vote to protect one of his kind in the enter-tainment industry?

As for Bam Aquino, what can you expect from a puerile mind? Cynthia Villar, for her part, has always said that she would vote for what the people want.

In other words, damn the Constitution so long as the people are given what they want.

So do these sena-tors still expect to be called lawmakers? In my book, the five have lost all their moral as-cendancy in trying to go after wrongdoing in government. They have committed the worse crime of disowning the Constitution.

In declaring that Poe is not natural-born, Su-preme Court Associate Justices Antonio Car-pio, Arturo Brion and Teresita Leonardo de Castro are unanimous in their dissenting opinions that “there is no Philippine law that automatically confers Philippine citizenship to a foundling at birth. Even if there were, some would only result in the foundling being a naturalized Filipino cit-izen, not a natural-born Filipino citizen.”

OPINIONT U E S D AY : N O V E M B E R 24 , 2 0 1 5

A10

THE entry of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte into the 2016 presidential race is no doubt a game changer. It could affect the chances of administration can-didate Mar Roxas and survey frontrunner Grace Poe Llamanzares.

Analysts and politi-cal observers agree on two things: First, that the Mindanao and Vi-sayan votes that could otherwise go for Mar Roxas will now be split between him and Duterte. Still, as far as dislodging Mar Roxas from his ranking as

third place in poll sur-veys, this is a matter of speculation. Despite the Davao mayor’s tough stance against crime and corruption, traf-ficking of illegal drugs and other syndicated crimes, there are also those who are afraid where he can lead the country to.

Duterte’s dislike for Mrs. Llamanzares could also affect the latter’s popularity. He can go on campaigning against “an American Presi-dent” in the wake of at least five disqualifica-tion cases filed against Poe as senator and for President.

Nonetheless, it’s now

a five-way race for the presidency in 2016 be-tween Poe, Vice Presi-dent Jejomar Binay, Roxas, Senator Miriam Santiago and Duterte.

Mrs. Llamanzares may now be the most popular presidentiable candidate, according to poll surveys, but we have seen in past presi-dential elections that popularity is not all there is to it in winning elections. And we can-not discount the grass-roots machineries and all the resources of the administration.

Miriam has the misfortune of being weighed down by can-cer and chronic fatigue syndrome. These pre-vent her from conduct-ing a real nationwide campaign. That is why I am wondering: what prompted her to run for the most backbreaking campaign of any elec-tion?

Duterte also has baggage to carry; he is identified with the Davao Death Squad responsible for many extra-judicial killings in Davao.

Whatever the out-come, the entry of Duterte into the presi-dential race makes the 2016 polls more inter-esting.

* * *Budget Secretary

Florencio “Butch” Abad has promised us that there will be an audit of the P10 billion or so expenses of the gov-ernment for the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit held in Manila.

I hope it will be an honest accounting. This is the people’s money. This is no joke.

Almost immediately, the loss of productive hours cannot be quan-tified right away. Imag-ine, there was almost a week of lockdown of schools, public offices and private companies in Metro Manila.

The lockdown and ensuing traffic gridlock must have caused the country billions of pe-sos. Recall how people walked to their desti-

DUTERTE DECIDES

CLIMATE CHANGE AND OUR SEASLAST week, while the Leaders’ Summit of the Asia-Pacific Eco-nomic Cooperation was meeting in Manila, another important re-gional meeting was going on in Danang City, Vietnam. This was the East Asian Seas Congress 2015, a triennial conference convened by the Partnerships in the Environmental Manage-ment of the Seas of East Asia, a Manila based international or-ganization. This year’s co-hosts were the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam, Vietnam Administra-tion of Seas and Islands, and the People’s Committee of Danang City. As always, the EAS Con-gress this year, with a theme of Global Targets, Local Benefits: Setting the Sustainable Develop-ment Agenda for the Seas of East Asia beyond 2015, was support-ed by the Global Environmental Facility and the United Nations Development Programme.

Indeed, 2015 is a milestone year for the 11 member-coun-tries of Pemsea as it serves as the target year for the commitments set by the East Asian Seas region in line with the implementation of the Sustainable Development Strategy-Seas of East Asia which it adopted in 2003. Among oth-ers, the EAS Congress included the Ministerial Forum which ad-opted an updated SDS-SEA with new targets and schedule that is aligned and more responsive to the emerging needs/concerns of the region while staying com-

mitted to its vision of establish-ing a sustainable East Asian Seas. Recognizing the value of balancing social, environmental and economic aspects to achieve sustainable development, the Fifth Ministerial Forum served as a platform for the Ministers to discuss with key corporate groups and donors in support of the scaling up of SDS-SEA im-plementation.

As my colleague Ryan Whis-nant and I wrote in an online article, the seas of East Asia are important for the region. It reaches out to an area of seven million km2 and spans 235,000 km of coastline. One can find in the East Asian seas over one third of all coral reefs and man-groves and the highest levels of biodiversity for coral reef fish, mollusks, mangroves and sea-grass species. Its coastal areas are very densely populated, with nine of the world’s megacities (with population of more than 10 million), along with another dozen cities of more than five million residents found in the region. Economically, marine and coastal industries including fishing, ports and shipping and coastal tourism comprise 15 to 20 percent of the GDP in some East Asian countries.

Unfortunately, as Whisnant and I pointed out, our current use of coastal and marine resources is outstripping their ability to sus-tainably support our needs, and we’re seeing an overall decline in ocean health at alarming rates. Add to this threat global climate change and we have a potential for disaster. That is why the up-dated SDS-SEA has proposed the adoption of a new strategy, man-dating the East Asian countries to undertake steps to improve their capability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and other man-made and natural hazards, particularly on ocean and coastal systems and coastal communities.

The new ADAPT strategy are anchored on the following con-siderations and principles:

First: “Climate change adapta-tion is a key area of concern in the Seas of East Asia region due to its peculiar vulnerability to climate change, the impacts of which cut across various areas and issues.”

Second: “States shall pri-oritize climate change adapta-tion and disaster risk reduction and management to ensure the achievement of sustainable de-velopment.”

Third: “The integrated coastal management approach is an es-sential mechanism in the sus-tainable development of coastal and marine areas, as well as in preparing for, adapting, and

Continued on A11

Whatever the outcome,

the entry of Duterte

into the presidential race makes

the 2016 polls more

interesting.

TO THE POINT

EMIL P. JURADO

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

EAGLE EYES

DEAN TONYLA VIÑA

A11T U E S D AY : N O V E M B E R 24 , 2 0 1 5

OPINION

HAIL TO THE CHAIR

VICTOR AVECILLA

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE SET RULINGLAST week, the Senate Elec-toral Tribunal ruled that Senator Grace Poe is a natu-ral-born citizen of the Phil-ippines, and dismissed the petition filed against her by election crusader Rizalito Da-vid.  The SET is composed of nine individuals—three jus-tices of the Supreme Court, and six senators, with the most senior justice as its chairman.

Poe won by a slim 5-4 vote.  Senators Paolo Benig-no Aquino IV, Pia Cayetano, Loren Legarda, Vicente Sotto III, and Cynthia Villar sided with Poe.  Justices Antonio Carpio, Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, and Arturo Brion, and Senator Nancy Binay, ruled against her.       

As expected, Poe was happy with the outcome.  Although Poe supporters branded the ruling as a victory for all foundlings in the country, everyone knows that her 5-4 victory stands on thin ice.

David correctly observed that the SET decision was a moral victory for him and for everybody who want to uphold the mandate of the Constitution that only natu-ral-born citizens of the Phil-ippines may be elected Presi-dent.  He has good reason for making that statement—all three learned justices of the SET, arguably among the best legal minds in the country, held that Poe is not a natural-

born citizen of the Philip-pines.  Their collective view is anchored on the Constitu-tion, which reckons natural-born citizenship from birth, and not from any other basis.

Moreover, the Constitution defines a natural-born citizen of the Philippines as one who has not performed any act to acquire or perfect his Philip-pine citizenship.  Since Poe renounced her American citi-zenship years ago so she can claim to be a Filipino again, Poe obviously fails to comply with the definition provided in the Constitution.             

The majority opinion, however, pales in comparison to the pronouncement of the justices.  For the majority, it is unfair to disqualify a found-ling from running for high public office, and that under international law, a foundling is considered a natural-born citizen of the country where the foundling is discovered.  Although the five senators re-lied heavily on international law, it appears that their ap-preciation of the nature of in-ternational conventions is in-correct.  In fact, the majority opinion is devoid of any legal argument which can validly impeach the rationale under-lying the pronouncement of the three justices.               

For one, the premise of the majority opinion—foundlings should not be discriminated against—sounds nice because

it is a motherhood statement.  That premise, however, is not supported by the majority’s subsequent references to in-ternational law.  The main in-ternational covenant cited by the majority has no legal value to the SET case because the Philippines is not a signatory to it.  Other international cov-enants ratified by the Philip-pines may seem favorable for Poe, but these covenants are likewise bereft of legal value to the SET case because they contravene the Constitution, or because the enabling law, required by the covenant, has yet to be enacted by Congress.  Evidently, the majority ruling is legally untenable, and be-comes patently worthless vis-a-vis the legal opinion of the three justices. 

Resolving an issue involv-ing the citizenship of an in-dividual, particularly as to whether or not the individual concerned is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, requires specialized skills in Constitutional Law and Pub-lic International Law—which not all lawyers have.  Four of the five senators who voted for Poe are not lawyers, much less experts in either or both fields.     

This remark should not be taken as an indictment of non-lawyers.  Rather, it is an assertion that when non-lawyers venture into a sensi-tive realm where specialized

legal expertise is very vital, if not absolutely indispensable, their opinions must have sub-stantial legal justification, es-pecially when such opinions differ from the views of the top magistrates of the land.       

Senator Cayetano is the only lawyer among the sena-tors sitting in the SET.  Ob-servers say Cayetano sided with her four colleagues pos-sibly because she is involved in proposed legislation calling for the improvement in the lot of foundlings.  Accord-ingly, Cayetano could not be expected to rule against Poe under such circumstances.

The absence of any sub-stantial legal justification in the majority ruling by the five pro-Poe politicians in the SET, as well as the major-ity ruling’s marked contrast to the pronouncement of the three justices, is explained by the fact that politicians and justices are not alike.  Justices are expected to render judg-ment judiciously, and on the bases of applicable law and jurisrprudence.  On the other hand, almost all politicians resolve issues using populist standards and partisan in-terests, and with almost no regard for constitutionalism and the rule of law. 

Perhaps the majority ruled for Poe because she had be-come a friend in the three years she has been in the Sen-ate.  Maybe they voted for

Poe in order to court the votes of foundlings and naturalized Filipinos who have identified themselves with the senator.  It is also possible that since the losing party is sure to el-evate the ruling of the SET to the Supreme Court anyway, they decided to get on the good side of Poe, which may prove very useful to them in the future if Poe wins as Pres-ident. Any of that qualifies as crass opportunism, but that’s politics.

Although the five pro-Poe senators in the SET are en-titled to vote in the way they see fit in the case, whatever discretion they may have in the adjudication process is necessarily circumscribed by the Constitution and the ap-plicable jurisprudence.  Since each senator has taken an oath to support and defend the Constitution, their vote in the SET cannot impugn or disregard the dictates of the fundamental law of the land. 

Inasmuch as the major-ity ruling cannot be justified in terms of law and jurispru-dence, it is undoubtedly at-tended with grave abuse of discretion.  Being so, David is authorized by the Consti-tution to bring his case to the Supreme Court where, fortu-nately, political considerations are expected to take a back seat to what the Constitution says and, more importantly, what the Constitution means. 

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

Who...From A8

cheating all over Mindanao. And because Roxas and his Lib-eral Party have invested so heav-ily in Mindanao through the le-galized vote-buying scheme that the Aquino administration calls the Conditional Cash Trans-fer program, I’d like to think that the LP and its candidate is banking on Mindanao for the continuation of daang matuwid.

It also makes sense that, be-cause Roxas is definitely lagging behind in Metro Manila, Luzon and the Visayas, he will pay spe-cial attention to Mindanao, espe-cially if there is no strong Mind-anaoan candidate like Duterte to contest the presidency. And be-cause the LP has the biggest war chest of all the candidates, Roxas certainly has the motivation and the wherewithal to try to win by sewing up the South.

Of course, it’s perfectly pos-sible that Duterte could pull off a victory because of his solid Min-danao base, where not even Poe can touch his lead. But I think the true value of a Duterte candi-dacy is that it will make the Min-danaoans themselves jealously guard their votes, in order to secure them for their hometown hero, the mayor of Davao City.

For the first time, because Mindanao has a strong home-

grown presidential bet, voters there will be in a perfect posi-tion to discard their reputation as the playground of national election cheats. If Mindanao goes Duterte, it will prove that it is no longer the corrupt and violent St. Jude of national poli-ticians, where cash and the bar-rel of the gun can snatch victory from the jaws of certain defeat on Election Day.

If only for that, I think

Duterte should run. If he wins—and there are still many who are rooting for him—that will just be a bonus.

If Duterte wins back the sup-porters who have abandoned him because they have grown tired of his willy-nilly presiden-tial quest, he could just pull it off. And then maybe, just may-be, it will be the whole country that will benefit from a national election this time.

Climate...From A10

responding to the impacts of climate change.”

Fourth: “Local governments should carry out inclusive coast-al adaptation measures that take into account the general well-being of communities and, at the same time, allow adequate space for changes to their activi-ties and lifestyle.”

Fifth: “States should institu-tionalize and strengthen disas-ter preparedness and response, as well as use post-disaster re-construction and recovery to reduce future disaster risks.”

The new strategy also has several objectives:

First, climate change adap-tation and disaster risk reduc-tion and management will be incorporated into development policies, plans, and programs at national and local levels. These include strengthening national and local mechanisms to oversee and guide the implementation of programs focused on sustainable development, climate change adaptation, and disaster risk re-duction and management and preventing the creation of new risks, reduce existing risks, and strengthen resilience through

various measures.Second, to strengthen capac-

ity of national and local govern-ments, communities, and other stakeholders to adapt to the impacts of climate change and respond to natural and man-made hazards, which include: promoting regional cooperation among countries in education and training activities related to ICM and climate change adapta-tion and disaster risk reduction and management; Strengthen-ing national and local capacity building programs on climate change adaptation and disas-ter risk reduction and manage-

ment; and, fostering networks and partnerships to plan, coor-dinate and implement climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction and management initiatives at different levels and across different sectors.

Finally, the updated SDS-SEA also aims at having risk-sensi-tive public and private invest-ments supported by innovative sustainable financing mecha-nisms. This means financial and fiscal instruments, including for development projects, must be strengthened. Non-monetary incentives and mechanisms that motivate environment-friendly

and sustainable investments af-fecting oceans, coastal resourc-es and communities would also need to be developed.

Last week, the leaders of Apec came together in Manila, this week the Asean leaders with some of their global colleagues will meet in Kuala Lumpur be-fore gathering again in Paris next week for climate change. It is my hope that one of the issues they will prioritize for the fu-ture is making sure we are doing right by our seas.

Facebook: Dean Tony La Vina Twitter: tonylavs

A12T UESDAY: NO VEMB ER 2 4 , 2 0 1 5

SPORTSsports@thestandard.com.ph

In a post fight interview Rigondeaux said “I feel terrific after the fight. He (Francisco) threw heavy shots but his style was nothing on mine. My style outmatched his.”

He said “I definitely wanted to give the fans a better fight so I need to get back into the gym, get more active to give a better performance . I prom-ise with the tools I have now after signing with Roc Nation that next time I’ll be explosive.”

A disappointed Francisco put it best when he criticized Rigondeaux referring to him as “a runner not a fighter. He is afraid of getting hurt and doesn’t want to fight. I felt pressured into being the aggressor during this fight because he wasn’t fighting, he was running away. He is not a power puncher and won by points. I trained really hard for this fight and I feel like it was a waste of time because I didn’t encounter a fight-er tonight.”

Certainly, the condemnation of his inactiv-ity was also clearly evident in the bout against Francisco, someone who was a last minute choice after Roc Nation signed up Rigondeaux for some $10 million which raises the question of whether it was a good investment consider-ing Rigondeaux’s inability to excite fans and to draw half-decent attendance at his fights.

Rigondeaux faced Francisco after the Cuban had an almost eleven month period of inactiv-ity and although he was fairly sharp using his jab and moving around well, but his tendency to clinch also took something away from his marketability.

In fact, we felt that referee Kenny Bayless should have cautioned Rigondeaux to “get it on”since fight fans paid good money to watch the fights at the Mandalay Bay Events Center where even the main event between Saul “Canelo” Alva-rez, the newly crowned WBC middleweight and Ring Magazine champion overpowered an ageing Miguel Cotto was a relative disappointment and failed to live up to the pre-fight hype but was, in fairness to both boxers, competitive and a test of power versus ring savvy.

By Ronnie Nathanielsz

IN ONE of the most boring fights in recent years where the fans at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, boxing fans booed during the bout and raised it a few decibels when the ten round bout between unde-feated two-time Cuban Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigon-deaux and one-time world title challenger Drian Francisco, ap-peared to justify the World Box-ing Organization decision to strip Rigondeaux of his super bantam-weight title for inactivity.

FIFA ethics probe requests sanctions against Blatter GENEVA—The FIFA ethics com-mittee probing allegations of cor-ruption against suspended presi-dent Sepp Blatter and his would-be successor, Michel Platini, request-ed Saturday that sanctions be lev-elled against both men.

Citing privacy and the presump-tion of innocence, the committee said it would not disclose the na-ture of the punishments requested against the two men who for years were the most powerful figures in world football.

However, the announcement sparked an angry response from Platini’s lawyer, who said that FIFA had “lost all credibility”.

The committee, known as the investigatory chamber of FIFA’s in-dependent ethics watchdog, said it had submitted its final report to the body’s judgement arm, which will weigh up the recommendations.

The fallout from the report

could prove far-reaching for the future of world football’s govern-ing body, including the possibility of permanently derailing Platini’s candidacy to lead FIFA.

Final decision loomingThe investigatory chamber

said in a statement that its final report contained “requests for sanctions against Joseph Blatter and Michel Platini.”

A separate statement from the adjudicatory chamber confirmed that it had received the reports and will study the findings “carefully”.

The judgement chamber said it would “decide in due course about whether to institute formal adjudi-catory proceedings against Joseph S. Blatter and Michel Platini.”

The adjudicatory body has in the past recommended suspen-sions of several years, or even life, but there was no indication as to the severity of the punishments re-

quested against Blatter and Platini.“It is a troubling coincidence!”

Thibaud d’Ales, representing Plat-ini, told AFP on Saturday.

“The day after our appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against Michel Platini’s provisional suspension, the internal FIFA in-vestigation is suddenly finished for Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter, even though the latter has been ac-cused of more things.

“It’s farcical. It would be laugh-able if we were not talking about the future of the biggest non-gov-ernmental institution in the world.

“FIFA has lost all credibility. A decision taken by judges who don’t respect their own rules has no value.”

Both Blatter and Platini were provisionally suspended by the ethics committee in October for 90 days.

The moves came after Swiss

prosecutors opened an investiga-tion into possible criminal mis-management at FIFA during Blat-ter’s tenure, including evidence of a murky $2 million payment made to Platini in 2011, reportedly for work he did a decade earlier.

Aside from the Swiss probe, the United States justice department has charged 14 ex-FIFA officials and sports marketing executives with more than $150 million of bribery and corruption dating back decades.

Those indictments, unsealed in May, uncorked the scandal that has shaken world football and grown seemingly wider each week.

Appeals by both Blatter and Platini against their 90-day sus-pensions were rejected this week, and Platini has taken his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with a decision expected by the end of the month. AFP

Rigondeaux is a runner—Francisco

PH sports forum Set in CebuTHE Philippine Sports Commission is hold-ing a National Sports Stakeholders’ Forum on at the Crown Regen-cy Hotel in Cebu.

This forum is expect-ed to gather around 300 sports stakeholders from local government units across the coun-try and representatives from the Department of Education.

“The idea came di-rectly from our partners in different regions.” PSC Chairman Ricardo Gar-cia said. “There was a clamor from different cli-ent groups to hold discus-sions on the present pro-grams of the Commission

available for LGUs and the academe to adapt or incorporate into their own sports programs.”

The PSC board of commissioners shall be welcoming guests from the Philippine Olympic Committee, Department of Interior and Local Gov-ernment, Department

of Education, and the 300-strong participants from different regions, provinces & municipali-ties. The host city shall be represented by its Mayor Michael Rama.

“The response has been encouraging. We hope that this forum would serve as a good stage to institutionalize some very worthy systems to unify our national efforts for sports development,’ Gar-cia enthused.

The forum was origi-nally slated last Nov. 16 and 17 but was resched-uled to give way to the preparations and ar-rangements for the APEC meetings.

A RECORD 215 aspirants includ-ing 26 Fil-foreign players with as-pirations of making it to the big stage, have made themselves avail-able for the 2015 PBA D-League Rookie Draft.

Fil-American Avery Scharer, an unrestricted NBA free agent, who led the ASEAN Basketball League in assists and steals last season, leads the list of Fil-foreign players hoping be picked in the Draft scheduled on Dec. 1 (2 p.m.) at the PBA Café in Ortigas, Pasig City.

“Wow! This is a huge pool. Cer-tainly, this is an encouraging devel-opment for the league and basketball in general,” said PBA Commissioner Chito Narvasa, visibly surprised by number of candidates joining this year’s Draft.

“With a pool this big, I’m sure there’s a lot of talent out there. And who knows, maybe this batch could

lead to new discoveries for future Gilas pools?” Narvasa added.

The PBA D-League opens its sixth season in January 2016 with seven teams competing in the Aspirants’ Cup. These are Café France, Tan-duay Light, AMA University, Racal/Keramix Mixers, Wangs Basketball, UP-QRS/Jam Liner and Mindanao Aguilas.

“With a lot of new faces, this will be another exciting season for the D-League,” said Narvasa, who raised the eligibility age limit to 30 years old.

Racal/Keramix, which placed ninth in the Aspirants’ Cup and eighth in the Foundation Cup, owns the No.1 pick in the draft. The sec-ond pick belongs to AMA Univer-sity, followed by Tanduay Light, Café France and Wangs Basketball. UP-QRS/Jam Liner and Mindanao Aguilas will determine the sixth and

seventh spot in the drafting order via lottery.

Playing a full season in the PBA D-League is a requirement for play-ers who intend to join next year’s PBA Draft.

The 29-year-old Scharer out of Shoreline Community College in Washington, played for Westports Malaysia Dragons in the Malaysian National Basketball League (MNBL) and the ABL. He joined but went undrafted in the 2010 NBA Draft.

“I want to go back and play in the mother land,” Scharer said during an interview with the Asian Journal, a community paper. His mother hails from Bauang, La Union.

In another interview with Sports editor Ben Goldstein of the Ebb Tide, Scharer said: “My goal in life has always been to make the NBA and playing professionally in the Philippines is just one step closer.”

Record cast in PBA D-League

Garcia

Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico ( (left0 absorbs a hard right from Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez of Mexico (right ) during their middleweight cham-pionship boxing match on November 21, 2015 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Alvarez captured the vacant World Boxing Council middleweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Cotto. AFP

A13T UESDAY: NO VEMB ER 2 4 , 2 0 1 5

SPORTSsports@thestandard.com.ph

Execs told: Implementstricter MMA measures

And for this reason, Senator Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero wants the Philippine Sports Commission and the Games and Amusements Board to conduct stricter monitoring and implement tight regulations on both amateur and professional MMA fights to ensure the safety of athletes now competing in the sport fast emerging as among the most popular sporting events.

Escudero noted that while the

number of underground MMA fights has decreased over the years as local promoters have gone main-stream, the youthful senator said he is alarmed by reports of the increas-ing number of so-called amateur fights being held in gyms and other public sporting venues.

“Mixed martial arts is no joke. Even MMA practitioners will tell you that,” Escudero said. “It is bru-tal, even with the safety precautions

THE worldwide noise created by Holly Holm’s second-round knockout of formerly undefeated Rounda Rousey in their main Ultimate Fighting Championship 193 match several days ago is proof of mixed martial arts’ growing popularity.

ONE Championship has announced the complete fight card for ONE: SPIRIT OF CHAMPIONS, which takes place at the Mall of Asia Arena on Dec. 11, headlined by a spectacu-lar showdown between Brandon “The Truth” Vera and Chi Lewis “Chopper” Parry for the inaugural Heavyweight World Championship.

In addition to the main event, five exciting new bouts featuring local and international MMA athletes have also been announced.

These bouts will include the Lee sib-lings from Singapore, Angela Lee, with her younger brother, Christian Lee making his professional MMA debut. Angela will face Lena Tkhorevska from Poland while Christian meets Austra-lia’s David Meak. Filipino fighters Geje “Gravity” Eustaquio and Eugene To-quero are also on the card and will face Yang Jian Bing and Wu Ze respectively. Bruno Pucci returns to the ONE cage to battle Indonesia-based Dutch fighter, Anthony Engelen.

“Manila has always been one of our favorite cities because the support for ONE Championship and MMA is tre-mendous. We have prepared an amaz-ing lineup of fights for our passionate Filipino fans who are eager to witness our unique brand of world-class MMA. These five additional bouts are guaran-teed to satisfy fans hungry for action as we hold nothing back in our spec-tacular return to the heart of the Philip-pines,” said ONE Championship Chief Executive Officer Victor Cui.

Tickets for ONE: SPIRIT OF CHAMPIONS are available now at www.smtickets.com.

MMA darling Angela “Unstop-pable” Lee was victorious in her last fight, executing a rare Twister sub-mission on her opponent at the re-cently concluded ONE: PRIDE OF LIONS show in Singapore. The win established Lee as the queen of sub-missions in ONE Championship. Known for being a sweetheart who transforms into a formidable con-tender in the cage, Angela ends her fights fast, with her first three bouts ending by first round submission. Angela looks to keep the streak alive when she meets her next opponent, Polish fighter, Lena Tkhorevska.

Realtors grab cage leadSTA. LUCIA Land Inc. broke into the top slot of Group B after trampling the Philippine National Police- Quick Print, 100-64, Sunday night in the 5th DELeague Basketball Tournament at the Marikina Sports Center, Marikina City.

F r a n c i s Munsayac top-scored Sta. Lu-cia Land Inc. with 18 points, four rebounds, and six as-sists followed by teammate and former league Most Valuable Player Francis “Kiko” Adriano, who con-tributed 17 points for the Realtors (3-1) in the league supported by PSBank, Accel Sportswear, PCA-Marival-ley, Angel’s Burger, Mckie’s Construction Equipment Sales and Rentals, Luyong Panciteria, Azucar Bou-langerie and Patisserie, JAJ

Quick Print Advertising, Mall Tile Experts Corpo-ration, Jay Marcelo Tires, Polar Glass and Aluminum Supply, and Mr. and Mrs. Dot Escalona.

John Sta. Cruz, meanwhile, came up with 23 points, 13

rebounds for P N P - Q u i c k Print who con-tinues to fall of a victory.

On the other hand, Far Eastern University-NRMF dominated Mindanao Agilas, 82-70, while Power Innovation beat Macway Travel, 99-87, as the games continued over the weekend.

DELeague returns on Tues-day with Metro Pacific Toll Corporation taking on Our Lady of Fatima University.

Tickets are available at P10 each.

Visit www.sports29.com for game results.

being observed during fights. But we cannot say that all promoters could adhere to the safety require-ments of the sport if they are not properly monitored and regulated.”

The PSC is the government agency in charge of funding and the promotion of amateur sports. The GAB, meanwhile, looks after the professional leagues, including the Philippine Basketball Association, the professional boxing matches and lately, the MMA fights that at-tract thousands of spectators nowa-days.

“In many countries, MMA has become even more popular than the sport of boxing. There are very few names now that our youth would mention as their boxing

idols, but ask them about their fa-vorite MMA fighters and they can churn out a few, if not more names, some of whom have even fought here during events held in high-star hotels,” Escudero said.

“The problem, however, is that we do not have a national sport as-sociation which properly promotes MMA, yet. Most amateur fights be-ing held are not regulated and mon-itored. And the organizers of these fights could circumvent rules by claiming these are amateur matches and do not fall under the regulatory functions of the GAB. Let’s not wait for an accident to happen, or for an athlete to die before we take action to ensure the safety of MMA ath-letes,” Escudero said.

LONDON—Roger Federer has warned Novak Djokov-ic he will find it hard to repeat his incredible 2015 campaign.

Federer was Djokovic’s last victim of the year as the Serb romped to a 6-3, 6-4 victory in the final of the ATP Tour Finals on Sunday.

It was 28-year-old Djokov-ic’s 11th title of a golden year that saw the world number one win 82 of his 88 matches, reach all four Grand Slam finals and win Wimbledon, the Australian Open and the US Open.

But 17-time Grand Slam champion Federer knows just how difficult it will be for Djokovic to emulate his triumphs in 2016.

“It’s hard to play at this pace all the time. You are talking about narrow mar-

gins; a break point here and there can change the whole outcome,” Federer said.

“You can’t always be on the winning side. Margins are very small at the top.

“That is why this year of Novak’s is amazing. I’ve been there, Rafa (Nadal) has been there. We both know how hard it is to back it up year after year.

“It’s not the first good year for Novak. Certainly he’s going into next year with massive confidence. He’s playing great.

“It’s going to be hard for him to have a bad year, but you can’t just repeat a year like this.

“It takes a lot of effort. You’ve got to be in shape physically with no injuries whatsoever. Mentally you have to be at your peak at all times. It’s not as easy as it

seems sometimes.”Federer remains one of

the few players capable of troubling Djokovic, as he showed when he ended the Serb’s 23-match winning run with a straight sets victory in the group stage of this year’s Tour Finals.

While he was unable to re-peat that performance in the final, and also lost the Wim-bledon and US Open finals to Djokovic, the 34-year-old is adamant he doesn’t need to change much in his game to wrestle the major trophies away from the world number one.

Asked if he needed to al-ter hs style of play in a bid to subdue Djokovic, Federer said: “Not really because I feel I need to work on my overall game [and] that is go-ing to have an impact against

most players.“For me Rafa is the unique

player in the field. I used to work more precisely against him.

“With Novak it’s more straightforward. If you don’t play very well you are going to have a hard time. If you play better I know I have my chances with my game.”

Federer will now head off to recharge his batteries and plan a fresh assault on Djokovic in 2016.

As ever, winning another Wimbledon title is high on his list of priorities and he will also target a gold medal at the Rio Olympics.

“Wimbledon is a big one. Rio as well but it’s not my number one priority. It starts with the Australian Open which is just around the cor-ner,” he said.AFP

Game on Tuesday (Nov. 24) Marikina Sports Center

7 p.m. Metro Pacific Toll Corporation vs Our Lady of Fatima University

Lee siblings complete ONE cast

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic holds up the ATP trophy after winning the men’s singles final match against Switzerlandís Roger Federer on day eight of the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament. Inset shows Switzerland’s Roger Federer holding up the runner-up silver salver. AFP

Djokovic’s pace will be hard to repeat

Republic of the PhilippinesDEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

National Capital RegionDENR-NCR Building, National Ecology Center, East Avenue, Quezon City

INVITATION TO BID The DENR-NCR, through the GAA-CY 2016 1 intends to apply the following sum for :

CONTRACT DESCRIPTION ABCContract of Security Services (16 guards) for CY 2016 P5,412,184.80Contract of Janitorial Services (6 Janitors) for CY 2016 1,470,062.80Contract of Service of Repair and Maintenance of Vehicles for CY 2016 P880,000.00

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

The DENR-NCR now invites bids for the above-stated contracts .Delivery of the Goods is required from January to December 2016. Bidders should have completed, within five (5) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents.

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

Interested bidders must submit their Letter of Intent from November 25 to December 17, 2015 and may obtain further information from and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during 8 :00 -5:00 P.M.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders on November 25 to December 17, 2015 from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents in the amount of Five Thousand Pesos (Php5,000.00).

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

The DENR-NCR will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on December 2, 2015 at the Conference Room, 4thFlr., DENR-NCR Bldg., National Ecology Center, East Avenue, Quezon City which shall beopen to all interested parties.

Bids must be delivered to the address below on or before of 8:30 a.m. of December 18, 2015. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in the Bidding Documents.

Office of the ChairpersonBids and Awards Committee2nd Floor, DENR-NCR BuildingNational Ecology CenterEast Avenue, Quezon City

Bid opening shall be at 9 a.m. on December 18, 2015 at the Conference Room, 4thFlr., DENR-NCR Bldg., National Ecology Center, East Avenue, Quezon City. Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

Conference Room, 4thFlr., DENR-NCR Bldg., National Ecology Center, East Avenue, Quezon City

The DENR-NCR 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.

4. For further information, please refer to:

ASST. REG. DIR. SOFIO B. QUINTANA, PhD, CESO IV Chairperson Bids and Awards Committee 2nd Floor, DENR-NCR Building National Ecology Center East Avenue, Quezon City

BAC Secretariat Procurement Section, 3rdFlr, DENR-NCR Bldg. National Ecology Center East Avenue, Quezon City Tel. 3740091

ASST. REG. DIR. SOFIO B. QUINTANA, PhD, CESO IV Chairperson Bids and Awards Committee______________________1 In the case of National Government Agencies, the General Appropriations Act and/or continuing appropriations; in the case of GOCCs, GFIs, and SUCs, the Corporate Budget for the contract approved by the governing Boards; in the case of (LGUs, the Budget for the contract approved by the respective Sanggunian. (Section 5(a), R.A. 9184)

(TS-NOV. 24, 2015)

ERRORS & OMISSIONSIn Classi f ied Ads section must be brought to our attention the very day the advertisement is published. We will not be responsible for any incorrect ads not reported to us immediately.

ERRATUM

There was an omitted paragraph in the ad placement of Municipality of Remedios T. Romualdez, Province of Agusan Del Norte, dated November 11, 2015

The omitted paragraph should have read as follows: f. The bidder must have at least sixteen (16) years of experience of track record in the supply, delivery and servicing of brand new heavy equipment or a similar equipment and the proof of which shall be submitted together with the eligibility requirements.

(TS-NOV. 24, 2015)

BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE – HEAD OFFICE

INVITATION TO BID1. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), through its Bids and Awards Committee

(BAC), invites bidders to apply for eligibility and to bid for the hereunder requirement:Name of Requirement/Brief

DescriptionApproved Budget for the Contract

(ABC), VAT inclusiveOne (1) Lot Supply of Services through Outsourcing of Ten (10) Data Analysts, as per BSP Terms of Reference

Php2,934,927.60

Contract Duration: One (1) Year to commence on the date stipulated in the Notice to Deploy (NTD) to be issued by the International Operations Department (IOD)

2. Bidders should have completed from Y2010 to present a contract similar to the requirement. The Eligibility Check/Screening and Preliminary Examination of Bids shall use non-discretionary “pass/fail” criteria.

3. Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines.

4. All particulars and activities relative to Eligibility of Bidders, Bid Security, Performance Security, Pre-bid Conference(s), Evaluation of Bids, Post-qualification and Award of Contract shall be governed by Republic Act No. 9184 and its revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR).

Activity Schedule Venuea. Issuance of Bid Documents Starting 24 November 2015

(from 9:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. only) Procurement Office, Room 212, 2/F, 5-Storey Bldg., BSP Main Complex, Malate, Manila Tel./ Fax Nos. 306-2832; 708-7115

b. Pre-bid conference 2 December 2015, 11:30 A.M. MR2A Conference Room, 2nd Floor, 5-Storey Bldg., BSP Main Complex, Malate Manila

c. Opening of Bids 14 December 2015, 2:00 P.M.

5. The bidding documents are posted at the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the BSP Website (www.bsp.gov.ph). Prospective bidders may download the bidding documents from any of these websites; provided that bidders shall pay a non-refundable fee in the amount of Php5,000.00 at the address above prior to, or upon submission of their bids.

6. The pre-bid conference shall be open to interested parties. However, only those who have purchased the bidding documents shall be allowed to participate in the pre-bid conference and raise or submit written queries or clarifications. To ensure completeness and compliance of bids, bidders are advised to send not more than two (2) technical and/or administrative representatives who will prepare the bidding documents.

7. The BSP assumes no responsibility whatsoever to compensate or indemnify any bidder for expenses incurred in the preparation of bid.

8. The BSP reserves the right to reject any bid, declare a failure of bidding, not award the contract, annul the bidding process and reject all bids at any time prior to award of contract, without thereby incurring any liability to affected bidders. Further, the BSP reserves the right to waive any minor defects or formality and to accept the proposal most advantageous to the agency.

(SGD) SILVINA Q. MAMARIL-ROXAS Chairperson ( TS - NOV.24, 2015)

S’woods grabs lead in Seniors golf tiltA14

sports@thestandard.com.ph

T UESDAY: NO VEMB ER 2 4 , 2 0 1 5

SPORTS

JANUS Ringia and Pa-tricia Velez lived up to the hype and swept the two premier crowns in their respective sides in the Palawan Pawn-shop-Palawan Express Pera Padala regional age group tennis tour-nament at the Isulan Capitol Tennis Club in Sultan Kudarat yester-day.

� e top seeded Ringia, one of the top players from Koronad-al City, held o� local bet Vince EJ Tugade, 6-2 6-4, to claim the boys’ 16-U plum then as third seed upended No. 2 Lordrenz Pa-checo, 6-1, 6-1, in the semis before scoring a 1-0 (ret.) win over Tu-gade in the 18-U � nals of the event presented by Techni� bre.

As No. 4 Velez up-ended top seed Car-lyn Guarde, 6-3, 6-4, to snare the girls’ 16-U crown then as No. 3, the Davao ace wore down top seed Mary Calma, 7-6(3), 7-6(10) in a thrilling back-and-forth 18-U final that took three hours and 15 minutes to finish.

Ringia, Velez

dominate PPS-PEPP netfest

Russian Grandmaster Boris Savchenko acknowledges the cheers of the crowd after receiing his trophy for ruling the 2015 PSC/Puregold international Chess Challenge held at Subic Bay Peninsular Hotel in Subic. Also in are international Arbiter Gene Poliarco (left0 and National Chess Federation of the Phils’ Red Dumuk.

BAGUIO CITY—Underdog Manila Southwoods turned the table on its more fancied rivals to take a three shot lead in the Seniors Fil-Championship today, Nov. 23, in the 66th Fil-Am Golf Invitational Championship.

Edmund Yee churned in the best performance at the short and tricky Baguio Country Club course when he assembled a two over 63 for 34 points as the Carmona, Cavite team amassed 110 points for a two day total of 214. Southwoods now have a three shot lead on the resurgent defending cham-pion Pugo Adventure as games shi� to the longer Camp John

Hay course on Wednesday.In his � ner games so far at the di� cult BCC course, Yee

turned in two birdies at the 4th and 6th holes against four bo-geys and no pick up to lead the charge of Southwoods which lost two points on day one to penalty that saw them fall to second spot behind overnight leader Camp John Hay which fell to third spot.

“We are the underdogs but we were challenged by that,” said Yee, who got 27 from Bong Sison, 25 from Herminio Maravilla and 24 from Cipriano Abdon.

Yee is referring to Eddie Bagtas of the San Miguel team which, however, was mired at fourth spot with 205 after a 103.

“We got all the good breaks and the team, the members, are pretty consistent. Nobody scored in the extreme,” add-

ed Yee as they now gear for the longer CJH course.A resurgent Pugo submitted the day’s best total of 111

that saw the defending champion climb to second spot from fifth and last.

Physician Ed Montenegro came in with 30 points to pace the 2014 champion which got 29 from Doug-las Puckett, a second 28 from Goodie Ignacio and eight time individual champion Fred Puckett struggling with 24. Romel Gomez did not count for the team with his second 20.

Day one leader CJH fell to third spot a� er a 100 with Jeung Sek Jun leadingwith 28 points a� er failing to count in the � rst day. Bong Mandapat had 26, Baguio mayor Mauricio Do-mogan made 24 and Clyde Cabreros chipped in 22 to count for the former trepeat champion.

A15sports@thestandard.com.ph

T UESDAY: NO VEMB ER 2 4 , 2 0 1 5

SPORTS

‘Turo’ is to teach THERE is no such thing as a free lunch, but thank God, there are things that one can enjoy FOC (free of charge), like the air you breathe, the beauti-ful sunset at the Manila Bay, a child's innocent smile, and countless others which God blesses us mortals every single day.

� ere is also the free basketball clinic and camp organized by former Olympian and champion coach Ar-turo “Turo” Valenzona.

For three weekends now, coach Turo and his sta� , composed mainly of his former players, fellow coaches, former neighbors and friends, have been teaching basketball basics to kids as young as nine years old in a covered court inside the “Paraiso Ng Batang Maynila” park in Malate, Ma-nila.

It is no accident that coach Turo is conducting his clinic right in the area where he grew up, learned how to play basketball and other sports and later even served as a city councilor.

Coach Turo, bless his heart, is not charging a single centavo from the kids' parents, and even digs deep from his pocket to buy bottled water for the nearly 100 young players a� er each session. He said that's all he can a� ord right now.

Needless to say, coach Turo needs all the help he can get to sustain his advocacy.

� e former San Sebastian Col-lege coach, who gave the Stags � ve straight championships in the late 90s (the record was tied by the San Beda College Red Lions last year, but was never broken as the Letran Knights stopped them from posting its sixth straight crown recently), is appeal-ing to would-be sponsors and donors to help him defray the cost of run-ning the camp every weekend. He has already asked help from boxing icon and senatorial aspirant Manny

Pacquiao and presi-dential candidate and Vice President Jojo Binay and his hoping that the two would respond

positively and immediately. But while he continues to

wait for any response from the two politicos, coach Turo continues to give back by sharing his knowledge and skills of the game that made him what he is now.

“Anong malay natin, maka-discover tayo dito sa lugar natin ng isang future PBA player o national player. Sa akin, malaking bagay na 'yun,” said Valenzona.

* * *The Golden Warriors just made

history by he Golden State Warriors by matching the best start to a sea-son, 15-8, in NBA history following their 118-115 victory over the Den-ver Nuggets.

The record was last held by the Houston Rockets in 1993-1994 and before that, by Washington in 1993-94.

� e scary thing about the Warriors' 15th straight win was that Curry � n-ished with “only” 19 points. Four other Warriors, however, scored in double digits—Klay � ompson led with 21 points. Harrison Barnes added 17, Draymond Green scored 13 and Andre Iguodala chipped in 12 o� the bench.

It was a total team e� ort, which makes them very dangerous to play since this means that every player on the Warriors' � oor is a scoring threat.

"To get to 15-0 and tie a record that has been standing for a long time is a huge accomplishment," said Curry, the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player.

� e Warriors will try to break the record when they host the lackluster Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.

For reactioins, e-mail me at arme-ro_23@yahoo.com

Pacquiao and presi-dential candidate and Vice President

ARMAN D. ARMERO

Jojo Binay and his hoping that the two would respond

STEP BACK

FILIPINO li� er Hidilyn Diaz won three bronze medals in the 2015 International Weightli� ing Federation (IWF) World Weightli� ing Championship over the week-end in Houston, Texas to stay in contention for a slot to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olym-pics.Diaz picked up the bronze medals in the snatch, clean and jerk, and total category of the women’s 53kg division, according to re-sults in the tournament’s o� cial website. � e 24-year old Diaz scored a 96 in the snatch, 117 in the clean and jerk for a total of 213 to � nish behind Chinese Taipei’s Hu Shu Chin and China’s Chen Xiaoting, who both totaled 221. Diaz, who had jonied the 2012 London Ol-ympics as a wild card entry, thus became the � rst-ever Filipina to win a medal in the his-tory of the competition.Diaz had earlier joined in the 2012 London Olympics as a wild card entry.

Lifter Diaz stayson track for Rio Aces aim for piece

of lead vs Hotshots By Jeric Lopez

ONCE again, Alaska is looking to keep its smooth campaign intact when it shoots for a piece of tournament lead in the 2015 Philip-pine Basketball Association Philippine Cup as it plunges back to the hardwood.

Completely in sync and playing with a lot of e� ciency, the Aces (4-1), who are cur-rently tied for second, will be tested once more, this time by the Star Hotshots (2-4), who have yet to � nd their groove, at 7 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

In the curtain-raiser, NLEX (3-2) aims to keep its climb going when it � gures in a sibling clash with rejuvenated Meralco (1-5) at 4:15 p.m.

A � � h win for Alaska will get it right back on top with San Miguel Beer (5-1) as they will once again share the tournament lead.

A� er tasting their � rst loss two weeks ago, the Aces didn’t waste any time bouncing back in a big way.

In its last outing, Alaska turned what was supposed to be a highly-contested game into a decisive beatdown, giving GlobalPort a reality check by handing a dominant 123-104 rout last Friday.

Alaska coach Alex Compton was very impressed with his wards, say-ing he was quite satis� ed with how they were able to respond well to the challenges they faced.

‘’Wala akong masabi sa mga players. Ginagawa talaga nila lahat so far for us to win,’’ said Compton. ‘’We’re really moving the ball well and we’re playing as a team. We’d like to sustain this.’’

While last year’s runner-up is continuing to have success this confer-ence, the same can’t be said of the Star Hotshots.

With new coach Jason Webb calling the shots, Star is still adjusting and its inconsistent ways are showing.

Republic of the PhilippinesNational Food Authority

OFFICE OF THE REGIONAL MANAGER Gov. Ramos Ave., Zamboanga City

INVITATION TO BID1. The National Food Authority (NFA) intends to apply the sum total of Php 4,327,781.94 being the Total Approved

Budget (ABC) to payment the contracts under Lot # 1, 2 and Lot # 3 respectively. Bidding will be on per lot basis and bids received in excess of the ABC of the lot being bid out shall be automatically rejected at bid opening. The NFA now invites bids for the following contracts:

Lot # NAME OF CONTRACT /LOCATION Bidding Fee (Php)

APPROVED BUDGET (ABC)

1.RE-ROOFING & REPAIR OF 50TCC WAREHOUSE INCLUDING PROVISION OF WS II OFFICE AND PARTIAL RECONCRETING OF DAMAGED ROADWAY at NFA Compound, Brgy. Taway, Ipil, ZSP

5,000.00 Php 3,700,000.00

2. CONSTRUCTION OF RETAINING WALL BEHIND STORAGE ROOM BUILDING at NFA, Dipolog City 500.00 Php 416,482.94

3. TOTAL REPLACEMENT OF LABOR SCREEN INCLUDING REPAINTING OF 50TCC WHSE AT NFA, ZAMBOANGA CITY 500.00 Php 211,299.00

TOTAL ABC Php 4,327,781.94

2. Bidders should have completed a single contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II, Instruction to Bidders.

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

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

4. Contractors/applicants who are interested in the subject contracts may submit their respective letter of intent together with their application for eligibility and latest Class “A” documents, to the BAC on or before the deadline specified in the Bidding Documents at NFA Compound, Regional Office, Gov. Ramos Ave., Zamboanga City from 8:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M. Any application for eligibility or updates submitted after the deadline for the submission of the letter of intent shall not be considered for the bidding. All submitted eligibility/Class “A” Documents are subject to further post-qualification.

5. Interested bidders may obtain further information from the NFA Regional Office IX, Gov. Ramos Ave., Zamboanga City and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below starting November 23, 2015 from 8:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.

6. A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders at NFA Regional Office IX, Gov. Ramos Ave., Zamboanga City upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents on per lot basis.

7. Bids must be delivered to the address below on or before December 14, 2015 at 10:00 A.M. at NFA Regional Office IX, Gov. Ramos Ave., Zamboanga City. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.1 for the Bidding Documents.

Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

8. For further information, please refer to:GAUDENCIO S. NUEGA, JR.BAC-Chairperson/Asst. Regional DirectorTelephone Number (062) 991-18-28Fax Number (062) 991-13-39

9. The National Food Authority Region IX Office, Gov. Ramos Ave., Zamboanga City reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul 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.

(Sgd.) GAUDENCIO S. NUEGA, JR. Asst. Regional Director BAC Chairman Standard – Nov. 24, 2015

Alaska’s Calvin Abueva, shown here eluding two Talk N’ Text defenders, will be a marked man again when the Aces take on inconsistent Star Tuesday in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

Last Saturday, the Hotshots su� ered an upset defeat at the hands of the Bolts, 87-83, unable to shackle their foes down the stretch.

Following its 2-0 start, NLEX dropped two straight and fell to the middle of the pack. But in their last game, the Road Warriors showed that they are a legitimate dangerous team.

NLEX stunned powerhouse Talk ‘N Text, 107-101, behind the game of Sean Anthony, who scored a career-high 32 points.

NLEX coach Boyet Fernandez is happy that his team is back on track now a� er the skid it encountered.

‘’It’s nice for us to get back on the winning track. I give my players credit for that. Our character was tested and we’re stepping up,’’ he said.Games Tuesday

(Smart Araneta Coliseum):4:15 p.m. - NLEX vs. Meralco

7 p.m. - Star vs. Alaska

T U E S D AY : N O V E M B E R 24 , 2 0 1 5

A16RIERA U. MALL ARI

E D I T O R

sports@thestandard.com.ph

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

LOS ANGELES—The Golden State Warriors de-feated the host Denver Nuggets 118-105 to equal the best start to a season in NBA history with their 15th win of 2015.

TURN TO A15

Alaska aims for piece of lead

The Warriors can tie the record for best start ever on Sunday SB Nation

The reigning NBA champion Warriors matched the record 15-0 opening achieved by Washington in 1948-49 and by the Houston Rockets in 1993-94.

They will try to break the record when they host the lackluster Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.

“To get to 15-0 and tie a record that has been standing for a long time is a huge accomplishment,” said reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry.

“We want to take it to the next level Tuesday back at home,” Curry said. “But to come here

and get this win, with what it all meant, was a huge accomplish-ment for us.”

The Warriors’ wins have run the gamut—from a 119-69 blow-out of the Memphis Grizzlies on November 2 to a rally from a 23-point first-half deficit to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 124-117 on Thursday.

Sunday’s win was their 10th double-digit victory of the season, despite the fact that Curry, who came into the contest averaging 33.6 points per game, delivered fewer than 20 points for the first time this season.

Curry—who took a season-low 16 shots—finished with 19 points

—10 of them in a decisive third quarter in which the Warriors stretched their lead to 91-79.

They led by as many as 21 in the fourth.

Klay Thompson led the War-riors with 21 points. Harrison Barnes added 17, Draymond Green scored 13 and Andre Iguo-dala chipped in 12 off the bench.

“I told the guys it was a great team win tonight,” said Golden State’s interim head coach Luke Walton—who has guided the team all season in place of ailing Steve Kerr.

“Everyone that played scored while they were in and we had 35 assists,” Walton said. “We still had too many turnovers, but just an all-around great team win.”

Curry was on the bench when the game ended, lifting both fists as the clock wound down.

But Walton said the early-season

victory wouldn’t spark a celebra-tion, but more “acknowledgement of how special what these guys are doing is”.

“These guys, they deserve it,” Walton said. “They play the right way. They’re unselfish. They’ve had fun—you see the joy that they have when they play basket-ball.”

The Warriors’ phenomenal start has already sparked suggestions they could surpass the 72 regular-season wins of Michael Jordan’s 1995-96 Chicago Bulls.

Whether that comes to pass or not, the Warriors are no doubt aware that the two other teams to start 15-0 both reached the NBA Finals.

Washington fell in six games to the then-Minneapolis Lakers, while the Rockets of Hakeem Ola-juwon won their first NBA title, beating the New York Knicks in seven games.

Clippers in free fallAs the Warriors go from strength

to strength, one of the teams ex-pected to challenge them in the West—the Los Angeles Clippers, endured their third straight defeat on Sunday, falling 91-80 to Toron-to to fall to 6-7 for the season.

“Pretty frustrating dropping three in a row,” said the Clippers’ Blake Griffin, who was one of three Los Angeles starters who failed to score in the first quarter. “I think that’s pretty normal to be frustrated, but we can’t let that frustration affect us negatively going forward.”

The Dallas Mavericks, third in the West behind Golden State and the San Antonio Spurs, saw their six-game winning streak end with a 117-114 loss to Okla-homa City.

Russell Westbrook scored 31 points to lead six Thunder players in double figures. AFP

SPORTS

TURN TO A13

Djokovic’s pace will be hard to repeat

Warriors match best start in NBAAndre Iguodala (9) of the Golden State Warriors collects a loose ball away from Will Barton of the Denver Nuggets at Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. The Warriors defeated the Nuggets, 118-105, to start the season 15-0. AFP

RODERICK T. DELA CRUZASSISTANT EDITOR B1

TUESDAY: NOVEMBER 24, 2015

business@thestandard.com.phextrastory2000@gmail.com

RAY S. EÑANOEDITOR

PLDT spending record P43bBUSINESS

Bangko Sentral ng PilipinasMonday, November 23, 2015

Foreign exchange rateCurrency Unit US Dollar PesoUnited States Dollar 1.000000 47.1960

Japan Yen 0.008137 0.3840

UK Pound 1.519600 71.7190

Hong Kong Dollar 0.129037 6.0900

Switzerland Franc 0.982125 46.3524

Canada Dollar 0.748895 35.3448

Singapore Dollar 0.707965 33.4131

Australia Dollar 0.723223 34.1332

Bahrain Dinar 2.655478 125.3279

Saudi Arabia Rial 0.266667 12.5856

Brunei Dollar 0.705467 33.2952

Indonesia Rupiah 0.000073 0.0034

Thailand Baht 0.028003 1.3216

UAE Dirham 0.272301 12.8515

Euro Euro 1.065000 50.2637

Korea Won 0.000869 0.0410

China Yuan 0.156617 7.3917

India Rupee 0.015140 0.7145

Malaysia Ringgit 0.233481 11.0194

New Zealand Dollar 0.655609 30.9421

Taiwan Dollar 0.030782 1.4528 Source: PDS Bridge

6,996.1963.38

Closing November 23, 2015PSe comPoSite index

43.50

44.60

45.40

46.20

47.00

HIGH P47.220 LOW P47.000 AVERAGE P47.147

Closing NOVEMBER 23, 2015PeSo-dollar rate

VOLUME 748.000M

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

oilPriceS today

P487.00-P682.00LPG/11-kg tank

P35.15-P42.40Unleaded Gasoline

P25.03-P28.48Diesel

P34.55-P39.15Kerosene

todayP35.15-P42.40

P25.03-P28.48

P34.55-P39.15

PP487.00-P682.00

8000

7700

7400

7100

6800

6500

P47.220CLOSE

Final CARS regulations forwarded to Domingo

PHILIPPINE Long Distance Telephone Co. will keep capital spending at a record level next year as the nation’s biggest carrier tries to fend o� an aggressive domestic rival and pre-pares for the potential entry of Telstra Corp.

PLDT will allocate P43 billion ($915 million) to expand and im-prove its network a� er allotting that amount this year, chairman Manuel Pangilinan said in an in-terview in Manila. PLDT, heading for a third year of declining pro� t, may announce more changes in coming weeks a� er losing almost 3 million mobile-phone subscrib-ers this year.

� e company may appoint a chief executive for its digital op-erations and is reviewing whether

to eliminate one of three mobile brands. PLDT started an overhaul in May, adding a chief strategy of-� cer and chief technology adviser, a� er revenue fell for the � rst time in 13 quarters.

“To some degree, we fell into that trap of complacency because we were the incumbent,” Pang-ilinan said in the Nov. 18 inter-view. “So it’s a lesson for us.”

Pangilinan blamed himself for PLDT’s slow response to apps that allow free calls over the Internet.

“I don’t pretend to be a digital na-tive,” he said.

Globe Telecom Inc., a venture of Singapore Telecommunica-tions Ltd. and Ayala Corp., was quicker to exploit that shi� by bundling traditional services with free Facebook access in October 2013. It took more than a year for PLDT to counter with free mobile Internet access.

Adding to PLDT’s woes is Tel-stra, which is in talks with San Miguel Corp. for a Philippine venture, Telstra Chief Execu-tive O� cer Andy Penn said last month. Pangilinan said the recent challenges were his toughest since a 1998 takeover of the nation’s biggest phone company.

“� e nature of the industry is changing and as we shi� to digi-tal from legacy, the margins are

lower and the cost is higher,” Pan-gilinan said. “It’s a more compli-cated landscape.”

PLDT’s nine-month profit fell about 9 percent from a year earlier, while Globe’s jumped 34 percent. PLDT’s mobile-phone users as of Sept. 30 fell by 2 mil-lion from a year earlier to 67 million. Globe added 7.3 mil-lion in the same period for 50.1 million total.

PLDT wants to add more apps, including in � nance and personal loans, while boosting content through products like iFlix, a vid-eo-streaming service.

PLDT handles about a third of the estimated 300 billion- peso domestic remittance business and is the largest enabler of the gov-ernment’s 16 billion-peso condi-tional cash transfers to the poor,

Pangilinan said. Its mobile-lend-ing venture has extended 6 billion pesos in loans.

� e carrier plans to trim ex-penses, contain debt at current levels and re� nance part of its maturing obligations, Pangilinan said.

PLDT has almost P60 billion of debt due from 2016 through 2018, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Its dividend pay-ment, which in 2014 dropped to 90 percent of pro� t from 100 per-cent in 2007 to 2013, may further decline amid the challenges, he said.

“Sometimes it’s better to be the underdog, better to be the barbar-ians knocking at the gate, rather than being the gatekeepers them-selves,” Pangilinan said.

Bloomberg

By Othel V. Campos

THE Board of Investments has come up with the final draft of the implementing rules and regulations of the Comprehen-sive Automotive Resurgence Strategy program up for sign-ing by Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo.

BoI executive director Corazon Halili-Dichosa said the IRR was submitted to Domingo a week be-fore the culminating week of the Asia-Paci� c Economic Coopera-tion summit in the Philippines.

“But there were holidays and the secretary went to Kuala Lum-pur and now he’s back. We have no con� rmation if the IRR was actually signed,” she said.

She said though that she was not aware of a � nal joint admin-istrative order

“If it is done just like the IRR, it will have to undergo legal scrub-bing. It needs to pass the legal de-partment to guide the secretary if the � nal copy is okay with him,” she said.

Meanwhile, Halili-Dichosa was still waiting for instructions

whether the IRR her group dra� -ed needed further re� nement.

She said she could not reveal yet the important features of the IRR until the copy was presented to the industry.

Car companies like Toyota Mo-tor Philippines Corp., Mitsubishi Motor Philippines and Isuzu Phil-ippines Corp. are eagerly awaiting the release of the guidelines in the hope that their expectations will be met.

The CARS program will give three car manufacturers the proper set of incentives to help

increase vehicle production in the country. Each company will be required to produce at least 200,000 units within six years.

However, an automotive com-pany can avail of the � scal incen-tives once it reaches its 101,000th unit.

� e program o� ers P27 bil-lion worth of limited and perfor-mance-based � scal and non-� scal incentives to support new invest-ments in new parts making op-erations and encourage large scale vehicle assembly.

Top ranking. Ayala Land Inc. is one of the top three publicly-listed companies in the country, and one of the top 50 in Southeast Asia, accord-ing to the Asean Corporate Governance Scorecard. The ranking is an initiative of the Asean Capital Markets Forum, which has been supported by the Asian Development Bank since its inception in 2011. ALI president and chief executive Bernard Vincent Dy (center) and ALI chief fi nance offi cer Jaime Ysmael (right) receive the recognition during the inaugural Asean Corporate Conference Awards held in Manila on November 14.

business@thestandard.com.phextrastory2000@gmail.com

BUSINESSTUESDAY: NOVEMBER 24, 2015

B2

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

The STandard BuSineSS daily STockS review Monday, noveMber 23, 2015

FINANCIAL7.88 2.5 AG Finance 2.55 2.78 2.55 2.78 9.02 8,000 75.3 66 Asia United Bank 49.2 49.2 48.5 49.2 0.00 37,600 99,040.00124.4 88.05 Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 99.25 99.90 99.20 99.30 0.05 2,785,480 -7,170,642107 88.1 Bank of PI 86.75 86.75 85.90 86.05 -0.81 986,750 -34,324,326.0056.5 45.45 China Bank 39.4 39.5 39.3 39.3 -0.25 15,200 4.2 1.68 Bright Kindle Resources 1.57 1.59 1.41 1.48 -5.73 371,000 17 12.02 COL Financial 15.6 15.6 15.5 15.6 0.00 12,700 30.45 19.6 Eastwest Bank 18.92 19 18.92 18.96 0.21 40,500 -62,384.002.6 1.02 I-Remit Inc. 1.60 1.81 1.60 1.77 10.63 32,000 -7,000.00890 625 Manulife Fin. Corp. 750.00 750.00 735.00 750.00 0.00 800 73,750.001.01 0.225 MEDCO Holdings 0.490 0.510 0.470 0.470 -4.08 810,000 -15,550.00100 78 Metrobank 81.1 81.25 80.55 81 -0.12 3,137,160 -59,013,000.471.46 0.9 Natl. Reinsurance Corp. 0.97 0.95 0.93 0.93 -4.12 175,000 30.5 17.8 PB Bank 18.00 17.80 17.70 17.70 -1.67 40,000 91.5 62 Phil. National Bank 51.90 52.10 51.50 51.50 -0.77 27,670 266,090.00361.2 276 PSE Inc. 296 296 295 296 0.00 740 57 41 RCBC `A’ 33 33 32.25 33 0.00 6,800 98,230180 118.2 Security Bank 136 137 135.6 135.6 -0.29 535,610 -18,981,052.00124 59 Union Bank 56.90 57.00 56.15 57.00 0.18 224,180

INDUSTRIAL47 35.9 Aboitiz Power Corp. 42 42.1 41 42.1 0.24 2,016,700 16,766,480.005 1.11 Agrinurture Inc. 3.41 3.5 3.18 3.44 0.88 1,313,000 1.46 1.01 Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 0.84 0.88 0.84 0.85 1.19 28,000 2.36 1.86 Alsons Cons. 1.54 1.57 1.53 1.53 -0.65 357,000 -3,100.0015.3 7.92 Asiabest Group 10.98 10.98 10.5 10.98 0.00 300 20.6 15.32 Century Food 17.6 17.54 17.46 17.52 -0.45 67,000 408,666.0036 10.08 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 20.75 20.75 20.5 20.7 -0.24 637,300 6,180,865.0065.8 29.15 Concepcion 41 43.95 41.5 41.5 1.22 265,700 750,6502.97 1.5 Crown Asia 2.4 2.39 2.33 2.36 -1.67 382,000 4.14 1.5 Da Vinci Capital 1.47 1.5 1.44 1.45 -1.36 308,000 8,700.0021.5 10.72 Del Monte 9.94 10.2 10 10 0.60 7,500 21.6 9.55 DNL Industries Inc. 9.500 9.540 9.27 9.510 0.11 11,289,300 14,612,619.0011.96 9.04 Emperador 9.10 9.11 9.00 9.10 0.00 8,311,400 -5,394,815.009.13 6.02 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 5.85 6.16 5.95 6.12 4.62 10,899,400 318,834.0011.8 8.86 EEI 5.53 5.65 5.54 5.60 1.27 3,888,000 -796,660.002.89 1.06 Euro-Med Lab 1.71 1.67 1.67 1.67 -2.34 7,000 31.8 20.2 First Gen Corp. 22.2 23.4 22.55 23.2 4.50 2,183,000 56,755.00109 71.5 First Holdings ‘A’ 68.8 69.95 68.8 69.2 0.58 125,790 -551,828.0015.3 13.24 Holcim Philippines Inc. 14.62 14.80 14.64 14.80 1.23 129,600 1,405,126.009.4 5.34 Integ. Micro-Electronics 5.88 5.9 5.79 5.8 -1.36 544,500 1,921,485.000.98 0.395 Ionics Inc 2.370 2.370 2.210 2.220 -6.33 2,828,000 -80,300.00241 173 Jollibee Foods Corp. 200.00 203.00 199.40 202.00 1.00 243,680 24,810,656.00 LBC Express 12.66 12.8 12.5 12.5 -1.26 11,000 3.95 2.3 LMG Chemicals 2.03 2 2 2 -1.48 20,000 74 33 Macay Holdings 41.00 40.90 37.20 40.90 -0.24 1,100 33.9 23.35 Manila Water Co. Inc. 24 24.4 24 24.15 0.62 945,000 -804,125.0090 17.3 Maxs Group 22.8 23.6 22.5 22.5 -1.32 1,252,900 15,581,320.0013.26 5.88 Megawide 6.3 6.48 6.1 6.1 -3.17 219,100 293 250.2 Mla. Elect. Co `A’ 297.80 305.00 297.80 303.80 2.01 624,480 Err:5225.25 3.87 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 3.96 4 3.93 3.93 -0.76 1,183,000 -919,950.0012.98 8.45 Petron Corporation 7.77 7.94 7.69 7.69 -1.03 762,600 -1,546,787.007.03 3.03 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 3.69 3.70 3.70 3.70 0.27 10,000 3.4 1.95 Phoenix Semiconductor 1.83 1.90 1.82 1.84 0.55 573,000 -90,620.004.5 1 Pryce Corp. `A’ 2.35 2.41 2.3 2.3 -2.13 200,000 6.3 4.02 RFM Corporation 4.28 4.28 4.18 4.21 -1.64 1,063,000 1,360,880.007.34 5.9 Roxas Holdings 6 5 5 5 -16.67 1,000 238 161 San Miguel’Pure Foods `B’ 134 134 133 134 0.00 31,790 -4,045,444.005.5 4.1 SPC Power Corp. 3.5 3.5 3.41 3.45 -1.43 16,000 -17,500.003.28 1.55 Splash Corporation 2.3 2.35 2.24 2.24 -2.61 283,000 0.315 0.138 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.148 0.150 0.148 0.148 0.00 1,380,000 2.18 1.02 TKC Steel Corp. 1.17 1.16 1.05 1.06 -9.40 143,000 2.65 2.09 Trans-Asia Oil 2.10 2.15 2.10 2.11 0.48 767,000 522,900.00234 152 Universal Robina 198 201.4 198 201 1.52 1,058,950 60,272,182.005.28 4.28 Victorias Milling 4.7 4.55 4.54 4.54 -3.40 20,000 81,720.001.3 0.640 Vitarich Corp. 0.66 0.66 0.65 0.66 0.00 216,000 2.17 1.2 Vulcan Ind’l. 1.16 1.18 1.15 1.15 -0.86 205,000

HOLDING FIRMS0.59 0.44 Abacus Cons. `A’ 0.405 0.405 0.390 0.395 -2.47 130,000 59.2 48.1 Aboitiz Equity 57.8500 57.8500 57.0000 57.8500 0.00 1,068,360 4,484,695.0030.05 20.85 Alliance Global Inc. 17.90 18.20 17.50 17.90 0.00 2,013,900 -9,700,826.007.39 6.62 Anscor `A’ 6.33 6.39 6.33 6.33 0.00 7,000 3.4 0.23 ATN Holdings A 0.245 0.255 0.238 0.245 0.00 1,980,000 3.35 0.23 ATN Holdings B 0.246 0.246 0.246 0.246 0.00 30,000 823.5 634.5 Ayala Corp `A’ 756 766 751 765 1.19 267,100 -81,038,345.0010.2 7.390 Cosco Capital 7.59 7.63 7.43 7.43 -2.11 2,458,500 4,665,210.0084 12.8 DMCI Holdings 13.00 13.24 13.00 13.20 1.54 3,736,800 12,615,226.003.35 2.6 F&J Prince ‘A’ 5.6 7.7 5.8 6.5 16.07 2,563,700 3.68 1.15 F&J Prince ‘B’ 5.24 7.6 5.79 6.57 25.38 236,800 -29,500.004.92 2.26 Filinvest Dev. Corp. 4.26 4.54 4.21 4.25 -0.23 159,000 509,880.000.66 0.152 Forum Pacific 0.260 0.240 0.224 0.240 -7.69 220,000 1455 837 GT Capital 1286 1295 1285 1291 0.39 110,270 -114,941,115.0076 49.55 JG Summit Holdings 69.90 72.25 69.00 72.00 3.00 1,217,250 5,602,802.509.25 4.84 Lopez Holdings Corp. 7.74 7.85 7.65 7.82 1.03 5,333,000 1,057,834.000.85 0.59 Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. 0.73 0.73 0.72 0.73 0.00 4,000 17.3 12 LT Group 13.98 14.2 13.94 14.2 1.57 3,057,000 6,890,074.005.53 4.2 Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. 5.3 5.34 5.2 5.34 0.75 23,243,000 -70,685,873.006.55 4.5 Minerales Industrias Corp. 9.72 9.77 9.7 9.77 0.51 2,724,600 0.0670 0.030 Pacifica `A’ 0.0310 0.0320 0.0310 0.0310 0.00 41,300,000 2.31 1.23 Prime Media Hldg 1.460 1.450 1.290 1.440 -1.37 69,000 1.61 0.550 Prime Orion 1.790 1.830 1.800 1.800 0.56 497,000 2.99 2.26 Republic Glass ‘A’ 2.5 2.51 2.5 2.51 0.40 4,000 84.9 59.3 San Miguel Corp `A’ 48.00 48.30 47.55 47.55 -0.94 109,300 -997,020.00974 751 SM Investments Inc. 862.00 870.00 854.50 870.00 0.93 223,060 -92,523,810.001.66 1.13 Solid Group Inc. 1.22 1.20 1.19 1.20 -1.64 37,000 1.39 0.93 South China Res. Inc. 0.75 0.72 0.71 0.72 -4.00 56,000 156 80 Top Frontier 76.400 76.500 76.000 76.200 -0.26 3,960 -288,713.500.710 0.211 Unioil Res. & Hldgs 0.3200 0.3150 0.3150 0.3150 -1.56 1,190,000 0.435 0.179 Wellex Industries 0.2180 0.2250 0.2160 0.2250 3.21 250,000 0.510 0.310 Zeus Holdings 0.300 0.300 0.260 0.260 -13.33 960,000

P R O P E R T Y10.5 6.74 8990 HLDG 7.330 7.410 7.330 7.370 0.55 499,300 516,450.001.99 0.65 A. Brown Co., Inc. 0.84 0.88 0.82 0.84 0.00 1,749,000 0.375 0.192 Arthaland Corp. 0.209 0.210 0.210 0.210 0.48 60,000 41.4 30.05 Ayala Land `B’ 35.200 35.250 34.800 35.100 -0.28 4,175,400 -33,717,650.005.6 3.36 Belle Corp. `A’ 3.2 3.28 3.2 3.24 1.25 168,000 330,250.005.59 4.96 Cebu Holdings 5.08 5.05 5.05 5.05 -0.59 5,600 1.44 0.79 Century Property 0.58 0.58 0.57 0.57 -1.72 6,877,000

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

Trading SummarySHARES VALUE

FINANCIAL 10,354,632 801,936,430.377INDUSTRIAL 53,528,346 1,005,308,429.35HOLDING FIRMS 96,099,076 1,141,850,113.6125PROPERTY 140,753,549 1,029,324,959.03SERVICES 85,730,912 1,184,280,699.873MINING & OIL 218,698,263 116,852,938.33GRAND TOTAL 606,440,387 5,299,633,885.5725

FINANCIAL 1,541.07 (DOWN) 4.53INDUSTRIAL 11,173.15 (UP) 145.00HOLDING FIRMS 6,627.12 (UP) 67.37PROPERTY 2,986.86 (UP) 30.19SERVICES 1,5569.74 (UP) 13.93MINING & OIL 10,817.79 (DOWN) 45.79PSEI 6,996.19 (UP) 63.38All Shares Index 4,033.34 (UP) 32.12

Gainers: 77; Losers: 86; Unchanged: 43; Total: 206

STOCKS Close(P)

Change(%)

Roxas Holdings 5 -16.67

Zeus Holdings 0.260 -13.33

Alterra Capital 3.2 -11.36

TKC Steel Corp. 1.06 -9.40

Oriental Pet. `A' 0.0100 -9.09

Philodrill Corp. `A' 0.0110 -8.33

Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. 2.17 -8.05

Forum Pacific 0.240 -7.69

SMC Preferred B 78.7 -7.41

PremiereHorizon 0.500 -7.41

Top LoSerSSTOCKS Close

(P)Change

(%)

F&J Prince 'B' 6.57 25.38

Easy Call "Common" 3.49 18.31

F&J Prince 'A' 6.5 16.07

Phil. Realty `A' 0.4500 11.11

Imperial Res. `A' 4.21 10.79

I-Remit Inc. 1.77 10.63

Manila Mining `A' 0.0110 10.00

AG Finance 2.78 9.02

Phil. Seven Corp. 107.90 7.90

Bloomberry 5.49 7.44

Top gainerS

1.48 0.97 Cityland Dev. `A’ 1.05 1.05 1.05 1.05 0.00 25,000 0.201 0.083 Crown Equities Inc. 0.138 0.138 0.131 0.133 -3.62 10,380,000 0.69 0.415 Cyber Bay Corp. 0.465 0.465 0.460 0.465 0.00 630,000 -46,500.0010.96 2.4 Double Dragon 23 23.85 23 23.55 2.39 2,896,300 40,415,270.000.97 0.83 Empire East Land 0.850 0.860 0.850 0.850 0.00 204,000 2.22 1.15 Global-Estate 1.09 1.10 1.08 1.09 0.00 1,291,000 -348,950.002.1 1.42 Filinvest Land,Inc. 1.77 1.86 1.76 1.86 5.08 49,031,000 5,870,330.001.8 1.27 Interport `A’ 1.22 1.22 1.21 1.22 0.00 80,000 8.4 3.1 Keppel Properties 4.50 4.50 4.50 4.50 0.00 1,000 5.94 4.13 Megaworld 4.49 4.68 4.48 4.61 2.67 30,530,000 -28,073,460.000.180 0.090 MRC Allied Ind. 0.082 0.081 0.081 0.081 -1.22 320,000 0.470 0.290 Phil. Estates Corp. 0.2700 0.2600 0.2550 0.2600 -3.70 180,000 0.72 0.39 Phil. Realty `A’ 0.4050 0.4750 0.4500 0.4500 11.11 60,000 27 23 Phil. Tob. Flue Cur & Redry 19.12 19.50 19.50 19.50 1.99 300 8.54 2.69 Primex Corp. 8.45 8.63 8.4 8.59 1.66 375,700 570,837.0031.8 22.15 Robinson’s Land `B’ 30.60 31.25 30.40 30.80 0.65 7,456,100 -96,248,755.002.29 1.6 Rockwell 1.47 1.5 1.45 1.45 -1.36 167,000 30,660.004.9 3.1 Shang Properties Inc. 3.2 3.24 3.2 3.24 1.25 10,000 21.35 15.08 SM Prime Holdings 20.90 21.70 20.60 21.40 2.39 14,483,900 -89,765,745.001.06 0.69 Sta. Lucia Land Inc. 0.74 0.74 0.72 0.74 0.00 39,000 7.56 3.38 Starmalls 7.89 7.89 7.25 7.5 -4.94 33,600 3,945.001.62 0.83 Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. 0.900 1.040 0.900 0.940 4.44 5,083,000 3,250.008.59 5.73 Vista Land & Lifescapes 5.390 5.600 5.330 5.400 0.19 3,922,200 -2,280,531.00

S E R V I C E S10.5 1.97 2GO Group’ 7.29 7.4 7.3 7.3 0.14 200,100 36,530.0066 35.2 ABS-CBN 64 65 64 64 0.00 8,490 1.44 1 Acesite Hotel 1.12 1.25 1.15 1.15 2.68 184,000 1.09 0.63 APC Group, Inc. 0.550 0.550 0.540 0.550 0.00 522,000 15.82 8.6 Bloomberry 5.11 5.50 5.19 5.49 7.44 5,308,800 -8,124,747.000.1430 0.0770 Boulevard Holdings 0.0490 0.0500 0.0470 0.0470 -4.08 21,400,000 47,000.005.06 2.95 Calata Corp. 3.55 3.62 3.5 3.5 -1.41 482,000 99.1 56.1 Cebu Air Inc. (5J) 84.4 85.5 83 85.5 1.30 407,820 -9,833,997.0012.3 10.14 Centro Esc. Univ. 9.92 9.92 9.92 9.92 0.00 1,000 2.6 1.6 Discovery World 1.66 1.66 1.66 1.66 0.00 5,000 7.67 4.8 DFNN Inc. 5.90 5.90 5.60 5.90 0.00 17,800 2,925.004 2.58 Easy Call “Common” 2.95 3.49 3.49 3.49 18.31 3,000 2720 1600 Globe Telecom 2000 2020 1993 1999 -0.05 80,055 -49,050,235.008.41 5.95 GMA Network Inc. 7.39 7.39 7.30 7.39 0.00 89,700 1.97 1.23 Harbor Star 1.26 1.36 1.25 1.25 -0.79 912,000 119.5 102.6 I.C.T.S.I. 71 73.7 70 72.85 2.61 1,540,590 16,975,699.007 3.01 Imperial Res. `A’ 3.80 4.21 4.21 4.21 10.79 1,000 12.5 8.72 IPeople Inc. `A’ 11.4 11.4 11.4 11.4 0.00 300 0.8200 0.041 Island Info 0.174 0.172 0.170 0.171 -1.72 460,000 2.2800 1.200 ISM Communications 1.4100 1.4000 1.3600 1.4000 -0.71 74,000 12.28 6.5 Leisure & Resorts 8.98 9.00 8.80 8.98 0.00 193,000 -269,670.003.32 1.91 Liberty Telecom 4.32 4.35 4.15 4.23 -2.08 1,051,000 -42,100.0095.5 3.1 Manila Broadcasting 24.00 26.00 22.50 24.00 0.00 4,700 1 0.650 Manila Bulletin 0.590 0.590 0.580 0.580 -1.69 10,000 2.46 1.8 Manila Jockey 2 2.02 2 2.02 1.00 13,000 15.2 6 Melco Crown 3.65 3.77 3.68 3.68 0.82 1,470,000 -2,277,280.000.62 0.335 MG Holdings 0.260 0.260 0.250 0.255 -1.92 400,000 1.040 0.37 NOW Corp. 0.680 0.730 0.670 0.680 0.00 5,757,000 24,000.006.41 3 PAL Holdings Inc. 4.52 4.74 4.52 4.74 4.87 12,000 18 8.8 Phil. Racing Club 9.47 9.01 9.01 9.01 -4.86 2,400 185 79 Phil. Seven Corp. 100.00 108.00 107.90 107.90 7.90 350 32,388.0022.9 4.39 Philweb.Com Inc. 20.00 20.05 19.70 20.05 0.25 43,400 107,794.003486 2748 PLDT Common 2000.00 2014.00 1999.00 2000.00 0.00 146,035 -156,195,525.000.760 0.435 PremiereHorizon 0.540 0.510 0.500 0.500 -7.41 1,288,000 -11,730.002.28 1.2 Premium Leisure 1.000 1.020 0.980 0.990 -1.00 9,021,000 -127,100.0046.05 31.45 Puregold 32.55 34.50 32.75 34.05 4.61 4,569,300 66,216,640.0090.1 60.55 Robinsons RTL 69.95 70.40 70.00 70.10 0.21 522,800 -1,642,151.50 SBS Phil. Corp. 5.54 5.55 5.55 5.55 0.18 1,675,800 16,500.0011.6 7.59 SSI Group 3.76 3.95 3.80 3.88 3.19 18,281,000 -6,028,330.000.85 0.63 STI Holdings 0.430 0.43 0.415 0.415 -3.49 6,450,000 -2,118,300.0010 5 Travellers 4 4 3.9 3.9 -2.50 1,255,000 -3,204,400.000.490 0.315 Waterfront Phils. 0.325 0.345 0.330 0.330 1.54 110,000 1.9 1.14 Yehey 4.130 4.540 4.250 4.390 6.30 929,000

MINING & OIL0.0098 0.0043 Abra Mining 0.0050 0.0049 0.0048 0.0048 -4.00 72,000,000 5.45 1.72 Apex `A’ 2.20 2.22 2.22 2.22 0.91 7,000 17.24 6.47 Atlas Cons. `A’ 4.78 5.00 4.79 4.80 0.42 151,000 -712,800.001.19 0.85 Century Peak Metals Hldgs 0.65 0.68 0.64 0.68 4.62 246,000 1.62 0.77 Coal Asia 0.64 0.64 0.61 0.64 0.00 75,000 9.5 5.99 Dizon 8.04 8.08 8.00 8.00 -0.50 300 4.2 1.17 Ferronickel 0.79 0.79 0.76 0.76 -3.80 9,351,000 2,339,190.000.48 0.305 Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. 0.295 0.305 0.290 0.295 0.00 120,000 0.420 0.2130 Lepanto `A’ 0.188 0.190 0.188 0.188 0.00 1,990,000 0.022 0.013 Manila Mining `A’ 0.0100 0.0110 0.0110 0.0110 10.00 100,000 8.2 3.240 Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. 2.36 2.31 2.17 2.17 -8.05 1,211,000 213,850.0049.2 18.96 Nickelasia 6.73 6.72 6.64 6.69 -0.59 5,053,700 -17,326,893.004.27 2.11 Nihao Mineral Resources 3 3 2.91 3 0.00 9,000 3.06 1.54 Oriental Peninsula Res. 1.4400 1.4100 1.3800 1.4000 -2.78 48,000 0.020 0.012 Oriental Pet. `A’ 0.0110 0.0100 0.0100 0.0100 -9.09 900,000 0.021 0.013 Oriental Pet. `B’ 0.0100 0.0100 0.0100 0.0100 0.00 100,000 7.67 5.4 Petroenergy Res. Corp. 3.60 3.60 3.60 3.60 0.00 6,000 12.88 7.26 Philex `A’ 5.00 5.160 4.980 5.00 0.00 118,400 -35,650.0010.42 2.27 PhilexPetroleum 1.44 1.470 1.420 1.42 -1.39 226,000 0.040 0.015 Philodrill Corp. `A’ 0.0120 0.0130 0.0110 0.0110 -8.33 106,300,000 420 115.9 Semirara Corp. 134.80 136.80 134.00 134.80 0.00 510,460 -5,849,740.009 3.67 TA Petroleum 2.33 2.38 2.3 2.3 -1.29 44,000 0.016 0.0100 United Paragon 0.0077 0.0083 0.0073 0.0073 -5.19 20,000,000

PREFERRED70 33 ABS-CBN Holdings Corp. 64 65.8 63.95 63.95 -0.08 36,230 1,959,428.00553 490 Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ 515 530 528.5 530 2.91 3,180 515 480 GLOBE PREF P 520 519 519 519 -0.19 100 8.21 5.88 GMA Holdings Inc. 7.25 7.24 7.24 7.24 -0.14 600 12.28 6.5 Leisure and Resort 1.12 1.13 1.13 1.13 0.89 35,000 PCOR-Preferred B 1129 1072 1072 1072 -5.05 10 78.95 74.5 SMC Preferred B 85 78.7 78.7 78.7 -7.41 1,500 SMC Preferred E 79.9 79.95 79.9 79.95 0.06 32,470 1.34 1 Swift Pref 2.79 2.8 2 2.7 -3.23 9,000

WARRANTS & BONDS6.98 0.8900 LR Warrant 2.650 2.690 2.640 2.640 -0.38 21,000

S M E Alterra Capital 3.61 3.55 3.06 3.2 -11.36 122,000 12.88 5.95 Xurpas 16.5 16.78 16.3 16.4 -0.61 1,146,200 -120,582.00

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS130.7 105.6 First Metro ETF 113.2 114.4 113.2 114.4 1.06 6,150

business@thestandard.com.phextrastory2000@gmail.com

BUSINESSTUESDAY: NOVEMBER 24, 2015

B3

Globe taps Cherry to challenge PLDT

Marketadvances;Puregold,ALI rise

By Ian Sayson and Cecilia Yap

GLOBE Telecom Inc. is taking aim at bigger rival Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. in the prepaid wireless market by teaming up with Cherry Mobile to boost smartphone usage among consumers that can least afford one.

STOCKS rose for the third day, ahead of the release of third-quarter economic data and as in-vestors digested growing signs the Federal Reserve thinks the world’s top economy is strong enough to handle a rate rise next month.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company bench-mark, picked up 63 points, or 0.9 percent, to close at 6,996.19 on Monday. The gauge, however, was still down 3.2 percent since the start of the year.

The heavier index, representing all shares, rose 32 points, or 0.8 percent, to settle at 4,033.34, on a value turnover of P5.3 billion.

Fifteen of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by property developer Ayala Land Inc., which climbed 5.1 percent to P1.86. Retailer Puregold Price Club Inc. rose 4.6 percent to P34.05, while conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc. of tycoon John Gokongwei advanced 3 per-cent to P72.

Property developer Megaworld Corp. gained 2.7 percent to P4.61, while port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. rose 2.6 percent to P72.85.

Meanwhile, growing confi-dence that the US will raise inter-est rates next month boosted the dollar in Asia on Monday, where shares took heart from a rally on Wall Street. With AFP

The alliance with Cherry Mo-bile, the leading smartphone brand in the Philippines, will help the phone company grab more customers in the market’s largest segment, Globe Telecom presi-dent Ernest Cu, 55, said in an in-terview.

“Cherry with Globe produces great proposition for the mass market, a market that can’t afford a smartphone,” Cu said. “Cherry is the strongest phone brand for the mass market and our goal is to help speed the adoption of data. “

Cherry Mobile this month started a prepaid wireless ser-vice powered by Globe’s network, targeting the almost 96 percent of 117.11 million mobile phone users in the country that access services on a pay-as-you-go basis. Cu expects the Cherry service to have two million subscribers in as little as two years as it will ap-peal to those on modest monthly incomes.

“These are those who earn be-tween 8,000 to 10,000 pesos a month: the sales-ladies, security guards who don’t have a smart-phone yet,” he said.

Around a third of mobile phone subscribers in the Philippines have smartphones and that ratio could rise to 90 percent in five years as handset costs go down, according to Cu.

Cherry Mobile, which accord-ing to International Data Corp.

had a 22 percent share of the Phil-ippines smartphone market last year versus Samsung Electronics Co.’s 13 percent, is already selling the cheapest handsets on the mar-ket with phones packaged with Globe services priced at P399 ($8.50) to P1,699 each.

Globe will probably spend a record $850 million in capital expenditure next year as “data growth has been tremendous and we need to keep on building,” Cu said.

As at end-September, Globe had 47.75 million prepaid sub-scribers, trailing dominant Phil-ippine Long Distance’s 64.08 mil-lion. But the gap had narrowed from 35.66 million in September 2013 with Cu moving to exploit the rising popularity of social net-work and communications apps that were cutting into calls and text services.

Globe offered users free access to Facebook in 2013, and in 2015 added messaging service Viber to counter Philippine Long Dis-tance’s move to give free Internet access in the previous year. These moves helped boost the com-pany’s share of mobile data rev-enue to 65 percent and increase its share of wireless revenue to 47 percent, Cu said.

Though Philippine Long Dis-tance, also known as PLDT, has 1.5 times the sales of Globe, the smaller company has grown at

a faster clip. Globe’s revenue grew 62 percent in the five years through 2014 while PLDT post-ed a 16 percent rise in the same

period. Globe’s nine-month profit this year jumped 34 percent while PLDT’s net income slid 9.5 per-cent. Bloomberg

CDC-Robinsons partnership. CDC Holdings, one of the leading property development companies, joins forces with Robinsons Super-market to make it the resident grocery store for its River Green Residences project in Sta. Ana, Manila. Shown sealing the partnership agreement are (from left) Finasia Land & Realty Corp. managing director Manuel Pangilinan, Robinsons Supermarket chief business development adviser Ron-nie Ong, Robinsons Retail Holdings president and chief operating officer Robina Gokongwei-Pe, CDC Holdings president and chief executive Elsie Chua and CDC Holdings chief operating officer Charlene Chua.

B4

Jollibee preparesfor 2 acquisitions

Meralco seeking partners for renewable energy projects

D&L optsto close 1 Chemrezfactory

Ayala donation. WeatherPhilippines Foundation teams up with Ayala Corp. to encourage Filipinos to optimize weather knowledge for socio-economic growth. Ayala committed to become a platinum sponsor by donating P25 million over a 10-year period to WeatherPhilippines. Shown signing the agreement are (from left) WeatherPhilippines president Susan Valdez, chairman Endika Aboitiz and Ayala Corp. head of corporate services John Philip Orbeta.

By Jenniffer B. Austria

LISTED chemical producer D&L Industries Inc. said Monday it shut down one of the manufac-turing plants being operated by unit Chemrez Inc. because of the fumes coming out from the facility.

D&L said in a disclosure to the stock exchange that at about 1:48 p.m. Sunday, vapor generated by the polymeriza-tion process at the polystyrene plant of Chemrez in Bagum-bayan, Quezon City resulted in an unpleasant odor spreading out of the plant site to the sur-rounding areas.

It said the fumes were put un-der control in the immediate vi-cinity as of 6 a.m. Nov. 23.

D&L said the company contin-ued to spray water over the tank to dilute vapor and dissipate the odor.

“In light of recent events, op-erations at this plant [one of the six plants of D&L Industries] are currently suspended, which may likely be extended for two to three days,” D&L said.

“The suspension will affect 35 percent of Chemrez’s production or about 10 percent of D&L In-dustries’ total production. Im-pact on sales is likely negligible,” it said.

Chemrez is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chemrez Technol-ogies, which is one of the wholly-owned subsidiaries of D&L In-dustries.

Chemrez Technologies con-tributed 33 percent and 32 per-cent to D&L revenues and net income, respectively, in the first nine months.

Share price of D&L on Mon-day closed lower by 0.11 percent to P9.51.

D&L is primarily engaged in product customization and spe-cialization for the food, plastics and aerosol industries.

By Alena Mae S. Flores

POWER retailer Manila Elec-tric Co. said Monday it is look-ing for local and international partners to build renewable en-ergy projects.

“Given the global develop-ments on RE and especially so-lar, Meralco is itself interested in exploring partnerships with local and global players. We think that the RE space will grow, and we want to be part of that growth,” Meralco senior vice president for customer re-tail services and corporate com-munications Al Panlilio said.

Panlilio said Meralco want-ed to go into solar projects, but the company was also focused on ensuring safe and reliable operation of the distribution grid.

“We need to understand that the solar installation in a house or business can affect the stability and safety of the distribution grid and may place other nearby cus-tomers at risk. We also recognize that solar photovoltaic installa-tions that are synchronized with the grid are dependent upon the quality of power delivered by the distribution utility,” Panlilio said.

Anne Reodica, Meralco pro-

gram manager for renewables, said there was a need to put in place standards for solar con-tractors to ensure safety.

“Although there are solar PV installation standards mandat-ed by the government, there are unfortunately no standards on the accreditation of solar con-tractors, and equipment stan-dards are still being developed to date,” Reodica said.

Panlilio said the company’s efforts to support solar energy were driven by Meralco chair-man Manuel Pangilinan’s vi-sion to embrace change and in-novation.

“He believes that Meralco should stay ahead of the curve on solar and renewable energy and on point with customers abreast with technology,” he said.

Pangilinan earlier announced plans to venture into renewable energy, noting that “the infra-structure cost of renewables, particularly solar and wind, have been decreasing.”

“We are mindful of techno-logical developments capable of disrupting Meralco’s business model. In that light we are look-ing to participate in the renew-able energy space, particularly

solar and wind,” Pangilinan said.

“We are looking at solar. Par-ticularly, not just utility grade solar but we will start probably with rooftops so for that busi-ness, we need to have a separate subsidiary and separate man-agement,” he said.

Meralco PowerGen is pres-ently developing three coal-fired power plants, including the 1,200-megawatt Atimonan coal plant in Quezon, 45- MW Mauban coal project also in Quezon and RP Energy’s 300-MW to 600-MW coal plant in Subic.

By Jenniffer B. Austria

JOLLIBEE Foods Corp. said Monday it plans to make one or two major acquisitions to become one of the five largest quick service restaurant op-erators in the world.

Jollibee chairman Tony Tan Caktiong said in an interview at the sidelines of a special stockholders’ meeting the acquisitions could be similar or bigger in size than the recent $99-million purchase of US-based burger chain Smashburger.

Jollibee is currently the ninth biggest quick service restaurant operator in the world, a list that is led by McDonalds Corp., Starbucks and Yum Brands, which operates the licensed

brands Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut.Tan Caktiong said aside from acquiring

bigger brands, the company was also looking at buying start-up restaurant brands. “A start-up can be the winning brand in the future,” he said.

Jollibee chief finance officer Ysmael Baysa said the company would also need to raise its net income and system-wide sales growth to become among the top five food chains worldwide.

Jollibee registered a compounded annual growth rate of 16 percent in terms of net in-come and 15 percent in terms of system-wide sales, over the 2004-2014 period.

“If we want to be number 5, we have to make more acquisitions, and we also need to increase our growth rate,” Baysa said.

Baysa said there was a good chance for Jollibee to improve its current ranking and

become top 7 fast-food chain worldwide by 2020.

Jollibee earlier said it would spend P10.4 billion in capital expenditures for 2016 pri-marily to roll out more stores both here and abroad.

The company said of the P10.4-billion pro-grammed spending for 2016, at least P7.5 bil-lion would be used for new store investments and existing store renovations and the rest would be for the commissary expansion.

Jollibee is expanding its global footprint by bringing its flagship brand Jollibee in five new markets next year, including the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Malaysia and Oman.

It also plans to open Jollibee stores in new new markets in 2017, including Australia and Japan.

Share price of Jollibee rose 1 percent to close at P202 on Monday.

business@thestandard.com.phextrastory2000@gmail.com

T U E S D AY : N O V E M B E R 24 , 2 0 1 5

BUSINESS B5

GDP seen rising 6% annually until 2020

Uratex penetrates Australian market

By Julito G. Rada

THE Philippine economy is poised to grow by 6 percent annually over the next five years, below the government’s target of 7 percent to 8 percent, DBS Bank of Singapore said Mon-day.

By Alena Mae S. Flores

URATEX, the Philippines’ lead-ing manufacturer of high-quality mattresses, is going global as it teamed up with Palmerston Fur-niture & Bedding, one of Austra-lia’s furniture companies.

Uratex said in a statement the partnership began when Palm-erston Furniture owner Bernie Kelly saw the potential to tap the market of the growing Filipino community in Darwin, Austra-lia.

As Uratex is a household name among Filipinos, Kelly explored opportunity to bring Filipinos a taste of home in Australia.

Kelly said it was important for the right partners to provide

comfortable mattresses that pro-mote healthy sleep. “Uratex has been recognized for its quality and service,” he said.

Kelly was impressed with the product quality and profession-alism of Uratex when he came to visit the Philippines.

“Not only are their products durable but they also adapt the latest technologies in sleep. There is definitely high-value for money in each Uratex product,” he said.

Certified by Certi-Pur, Uratex uses environment-friendly mate-rials in producing mattresses that are safe for consumers.

Each product undergoes through a rigorous process to en-sure the product is of high- qual-ity.

Through the collaboration, Palmerston now offers a wide ar-ray of mattresses tailored fit for comfort.

“Majority of our customers purchase our high-end mattress-es with sleep innovations. The Uratex Sofabeds are also very popular for its dual function fea-ture,” Kelly said.

Kelly plans to branch out and expand in other areas of Austra-lia as well as explore opportuni-ties in Guam.

Located at Yarrawonga in Aus-tralia, Palmerston Furniture fea-tures quality modern furniture pieces of best value while Uratex is owned by RGC Foam Group founded by businessman Robert Cheng.

“The government seems a little overly optimistic to target GDP growth back at 7 percent in the near-term. At this juncture, we reckon that average GDP growth for the next 3 to 5 years may be circa 6 percent instead,” the bank said.

“How effective the next gov-ernment in continuing Aquino’s infrastructure overhaul will be the key factor that could propel the economy stronger beyond 2016,” it said.

DBS said growth in public con-struction moderated to 4.3-per-cent year-on-year in the first half, after recording a stellar 9.1 per-cent last year.

“Ahead of next year’s elec-

tions, there are concerns that the pace of project completion may slow down. While this re-mains to be seen, it is therefore important to see the robust growth in private sector be-ing sustained into next year,” it said.

DBS said GDP growth likely improved to 6.2 percent in the third quarter. It said while some base effects might have played a part, GDP growth momentum remained pretty strong going into 2016.

It said export growth was dis-appointing in the third quarter, but the main support for the economy would still come from the domestic front.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, for its part, said gov-ernment spending grew 19 percent in the third quarter and was poised to accelerate further. It said the proposed 2016 budget implied strong growth and might resume as a GDP growth driver going for-ward.

“The main reason for the slow-er spending pace may be that the government implemented reforms, particularly in the area of procurement. The government stresses the need for transparen-cy, competitiveness and account-ability when undertaking public works projects or contracting services,” it said.

“[The] 19 percent spending growth in the third quarter of 2015 signals an acceleration,” the bank said.

GDP grew 5 percent in the first quarter, dragged down by the government’s anemic fiscal expenditures. Second-quarter GDP grew 5.6 percent, bringing the first-half average to 5.3 per-cent.

AlkanSSSya units. Six informal sector groups covered by the Social Security System’s Cubao branch with a combined membership of nearly 200 workers receive their own AlkanSSSya units during the 2nd Grand Launching of AlkanSSSya Program on at the Quezon City Memorial Circle Basketball Court. Shown are SSS president and chief executive Emilio de Quiros Jr. (10th from right) and Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte (ninth from right), along with other SSS officials.

“FEWER large companies are run by women than by men named John.”

The quote from econo-mist Justin Wolfers begins the new documentary “Codegirl,” which follows contestants competing in the Technovation Challenge, a global technology and entrepreneurship competition for girls.

This year, more than 5,000 high school girls from 60 countries en-tered the competition.

Working in teams, contestants have three months to develop a mo-bile app that solves a real problem in their community. They learn to code, write a business plan, analyze their competition, produce a prototype and make a pitch video.

In the high school division, some 300 teams managed to complete all these tasks. Of these, only 44 made it to the semi-finals, and only six were chosen for Global Pitch Night in San Francisco, and the chance to win the first prize and $10,000 in funding and support.

The film by Lesley Chilcott, known for her work on “An Inconve-nient Truth,” follows a handful of teams from such diverse locations as Brazil, India, Mexico, Moldova, Nigeria and the United States.

While Technovation seeks to address the yawning gender gap in the technology industry, Chilcott doesn’t beat you on the head with it, but lets the girls and their mentors tell their stories.

Toward the end of documentary on Awards Day, we hear from Tara Chklovski, chief executive of Iridescent, the non-profit group behind the Technovation Challenge.

“Only 7 percent of tech startups are led by women and the number of women who are mobile app developers, [is] only 4 in every 100,” she said. “Technovation is changing these numbers in a very real way. We have the world’s largest pool of young women who know how to launch a tech startup.”

Elsewhere in the film, some of the contestants talk about what it’s like to be in a field dominated by boys.

“Part of being a female programmer is that you feel really lonely,” says Moe Sunami, a member of Team Woco (short for Women who Code), which developed PraisePop, a social app aimed at spreading positivity. “It’s really difficult to want to be what you can’t see be-cause everywhere you look, you don’t really see a lot of girls who get real excited about it in front of other people because they don’t share the same interests.”

She adds that even when there are articles or seminars about girls in technology, these tend to focus on the “cute” factor.

“So every time they would have extraneous elements that detracted from coding or the ability of girls to code,” she says. “It really rein-forced idea that, hey, girls are getting the coding but they’re going to bring cookies into the mix or bring yoga into the mix—sort of like ‘pinkefied’ coding.”

In Mexico, the mentor for Team Tech Voca, Blanca, relates how even some teachers were unwilling to let them talk to the girls about Technovation because they believed that “technology is not for wom-en.”

“When we went to the schools, they didn’t give us even the oppor-tunity to just speak with the girls,” Blanca says. “They say no, because the girls are for cooking, for [fashion designing], and other kinds of roles—for women.”

Earlier this month, YouTube streamed the entire documentary for free for a limited time (Nov. 1-5) before it hit the theaters as a way of promoting the film and changing the perceptions of women and technology.

“The problem of getting girls more interested in tech has many sources, but according to Google’s own research, one of them is optics,” says Susan Wojcicki, YouTube CEO in the official Google blog. “Girls don’t see positive role models of other girls and wom-en in popular culture. In a study of popular films in 11 countries, fewer than 20 percent of computer science or tech roles were held by women.”

Another gap that Codegirl only hints at is the digital divide among income classes. Of the six teams in the finals, three are from the United States, while the three other teams come from Brazil, India and Nigeria. Among the American teams, all the members are afflu-ent white or Asian-American girls.

The girls themselves are aware of this divide. One member from Team Ameka, which developed an app to safeguard against impaired driving, says: “It’s so hard to compete with countries that have real, real big problems.”

A First World problem like drunk or impaired driving, she adds, would pale in comparison with a Third World problem such as find-ing clean water.

“If you have a Third World problem that is more severe or urgent, then that [prize] money should be directed there more than at people here who have their basic necessities,” she notes.

Still, regardless of where the girls came from, their enthusiasm for the challenge and their ability and willingness to do the work was remarkable. As I watched the film, I felt sorry that among the 5,000 girls and 300 teams that joined the Technovation Challenge, not a single one came from the Philippines.

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

Codegirl

business@thestandard.com.phextrastory2000@gmail.com

BUSINESSTUESDAY: NOVEMBER 24, 2015

B6

It’s the Philippines’ tax effort, stupid

Metrobank lends P7.1b to Globe

Mighty cited as ‘corporation of the year’

Butler training. The Asian School of Hospitality Arts teams up with Magnums Butlers International headed by the world’s leading butler-training specialist Josephine Ive (center) in holding a one-day introductory course on seven-star butler service on Nov. 24, 2015 at C3 Events Place on 8 Missouri St., Northeast Greenhills, San Juan City. Ive is shown demonstrating the world-class butler service to students.

By Julito G. Rada

METROPOLITAN Bank & Trust Co., the country’s second largest lender, said Monday it extended P7.1 billion worth of loans to help finance the capital expenditures of Globe Tele-com Inc.

THE Philippine Council of Man-agement Research Institute on Monday officially notified Mighty Corp., the wholly-owned Filipino multi-billion company operating for the past 70 years, that it won the coveted Outstanding Corpo-ration of the Year Award 2015-2016.

PCMRI is a federation of profes-sional and technological societies, management developments, insti-tutions, academe, business enter-prises and professional managers dedicated to the development of management and improvement of its practices in all aspects of the Philippine society.

According to its letter sent to MC president Edilberto Adan, PCMRI through the chairman of the board of judges Pedrito Salvador chose

Mighty from eight other nominees in recognition of its outstanding achievements in the fields of eco-nomics, finance, agriculture, busi-ness and industry;

e-commerce and IT; strate-gic management and economy of scales; leadership and gover-nance; adherence to nationalism and anti-monopolism; and social, cultural and religious activities that impacted on the country and the society.

The company continuously in-spires the lives of about 293,000 families and employees, business and trade partners in the adherence to its mission, vision and core val-ues.

In 1945, Wong Chu King and his partners Ong Lowa, Baa Dy, and Ong Pay set up La Campana Fab-

rica de Tabacos Inc., which had it first factory in Tayabas St., Manila. The second factory was then built in 1948 in Pasong Tamo, Makati, and in 1951, it acquired the present site of its head office.

In 1963, Wong Chu King found-ed the Tobacco Industries of the Philippines in a nine-hectare prop-erty in Barrio Tikay, Malolos, Bu-lacan which became the future site of their manufacturing operations.

The succeeding years became difficult for the company but the ingenious Wong Chu King together with the unwavering support of his family and employees reestablished the company in 1985 to become what is Mighty Corp., which is now one of the country’s largest taxpay-ers and known for its strong sense of ethics.

IN RECENT weeks there has been a great deal of activity in Congress, the business community and the media regarding this country’s tax system. The proposals and opinions have been classified as reformist and have been said to have been offered in the interest of making the Philippine tax system more equitable and competitive with the tax systems of countries in East Asia, particularly Southeast Asia.

The proposed changes differ in objective and approach, but they have one thing in common. They will have the effect of reducing government revenues from the now-taxable activities of Filipinos, whether institutional or individual. Thus, some of the business-directed corporations and the proposals pertaining to individuals would have Congress amend the National Internal Revenue Code so as to lower income tax and value-added tax rates and entirely exempt some incomes from taxes.

The allegedly reformist proposals proceed from two conceptual sources. One, based on equity, suggests that certain individuals who are currently taxable should be made to pay less taxes or should pay no taxes at all. The other conceptual source, which is economics-based, suggests that the government will derive more tax revenues if business establishments – especially corporations – were made to pay reduced taxes or were given tax exemptions.

Undoubtedly, theoretical and empirical bases exist for some–but definitely not all–of the proposals. Will Filipinos whose incomes are currently taxable pay greater magnitudes of taxes? Possibly, there is no certainty of that. With a regionally more competitive tax regime, will Filipino corporations perform better and generate more corpo-rate income tax payments than they now do? They well might, but, again, there is no guarantee of that happening.

The one certainty that exists is a a country’s tax effort. At any given time, every country has a tax-effort score. The Philippines is no ex-ception. And how is a country’s tax effort computed? The method is really very simple. A government’s tax revenue is divided by its gross domestic product. For 2014 the Philippines’ tax effort was computed to be around 14 percent of GDP. The figure is an improvement on the past, when this country’s tax effort seemed to be stuck at 12 percent of GDP.

To whom is knowledge of a country’s tax-effort level important? It should be important, first and foremost, to that country’s govern-ment. Surely, the Aquino administration, with its Daang Matuwid orientation, should want to know how good a job the Department of Finance is doing. The knowledge of how much of a country’s GDP its tax establishment is collecting for the government is likewise impor-tant to that country’s creditors – the multilateral creditors, like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, as well as the bilateral (governments) and commercial creditors. Potential investors, too, will be keen to know how fiscally efficient – and, therefore, economi-cally stable – that country is.

The rationale underlying the desire to know the ratio between a country’s GDP and its government’s revenues is this. A country that is able to generate most of its development financing requirements from internally generated sources has less need to borrow from for-eign creditors and will thereby be more financially stable. In this regard comparisons – especially with other regional countries – is inevitable. The World Bank, ADB and other credit sources are aware that countries like Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia enjoy tax-effort levels of 20 percent and above.

Which brings us back to the current discussions on so-called re-form of the Philippine tax system.

If the management of a country’s tax system were likened to a ball game, the advice that would have to be given to the proponents of, and commentators on, the tax proposals now before Congress is, keep your eye on the ball. That ball is this country’s tax effort. Or, if one were to put it in Bill Clintonesque language, it’s the tax effort, stupid.

E-mail: rudyromero777@yahoo.com

Metrobank said it recently signed a P5-billion, 10-year loan and a $45-million funding agree-ment with a seven-year maturity with Globe, the country’s second largest telecommunications pro-vider.

“These respective 10-year and 7-year term loan facilities are meant to finance Globe’s capital expenditures for additional net-work capacity, which would han-dle the growing data traffic from Globe’s customers’ shift to a digi-tal lifestyle,” Metrobank said.

“Metrobank sees the partner-ship as the bank’s way to support the development of infrastruc-ture that will support the grow-ing need for connectivity in the country to facilitate communica-

tion and exchange of information among Filipinos,” the bank said.

Commercial business is one of Metrobank’s fastest-growing seg-ments and a leading driver of its strong performance.

Earlier this month, Metrobank signed a P5-billion, 10-year loan facility agreement with Smart Communications to partially fi-nance Smart’s capital expendi-tures for service improvement and expansion program as well as to refinance existing debt.

Metrobank also signed in Octo-ber a P7.5-billion loan agreement with Therma Visayas Inc., a joint-venture between Aboitiz Power Corp. and Vivant Corp., for the construction of a new thermal power plant in Toledo City in

Cebu.Metrobank was the biggest

lender among the 10 banks who were part of the deal, as it contrib-uted P7.5 billion to the P31.97-billion term loan facility. First Metro Investment Corp., Metro-bank’s investment banking arm, was the transaction’s lead arrang-er and sole bookrunner.

The amount pooled together with other lender-banks will be used to fund the construction of the 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Barangay Bato, Toledo City, some 49 kilometers west of Cebu City. The plant is expected to be completed and fully operational by the first quarter of 2018.

The thermal power plant is expected to answer the increas-ing power demand in the Cebu and Visayas grid. Of the plant’s expected 300-megawatt output, 150 MW will be utilized by Vi-sayan Electric Co., 30 MW by the Balamban and Mactan Enerzone, and the rest by various industrial and commercial customers in the region.

Metrobank also sealed a P5-

billion 10-year loan agreement with Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. to partially fi-nance PLDT’s capital expendi-tures for service improvement and expansion program as well as to refinance its existing loan obligations.

Metrobank was recently named the strongest bank in the Philip-

pines by The Asian Banker. Me-trobank ranked ninth overall in Asia, marking the first time that a Philippine bank made it to the top ten list.

Metrobank garnered the high-est score in terms of risk profile, which included among other cri-teria, a bank’s capital adequacy ratio.

B7CESAR BARRIOQUINTOE D I T O R

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

T U E S D AY : N O V E M B E R 24 , 2 0 1 5

WORLD

Myanmar landslide toll nowover 100

In attendance. Jennifer Lopez poses in the Press Room at the 2015 American Music Awards in Los Angeles on November 22, 2015. AFPParis attacks fleeing suspect

Mali, neighbors mournas clues found in hotel

Republic of the Philippines Province of Bataan

MUNCIPALITY OF LIMAY

INVITATION TO BID

The Bids and Awards Committee of the Municipality of Limay will be accepting bids for the procurement of the ff;

Name of Project/Contract

Location Source of

FUNDS

Duration Approved Budget

Cost(ABC)

Cost of Bid Doc’s.

1. Supply and Delivery of Drugs and M e d i c i n e s for Limay HealthCenter

Limay, Bataan

GEN FUND

15 Days 3,677,560.00 5,000.00

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

Delivery of Goods shall not exceed thirty (30) calendar days upon winning bidder’s receipt of the Notice to Proceed. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act.” The Bidding Documents is available at the Procurement Office, Ground Floor, Limay Municipal Building, National Road, Barangay Townsite, Limay, Bataan and may be acquired by interested bidders through payment of non refundable fee for the bidding documents.

The schedule of activities is listed, as follows:

ACTIVITIES SCHEDULE VENUEIssuance of the Bidding November 20 - Procurement Office, G/FDocuments December 04, 2015 Limay Municipal Building Pre-Bid Conference November 26, 2015, Multi-Purpose Room 2:00 P.M. G/F Limay Municipal Building

Submission/Opening December 04, 2015, Multi-Purpose Roomof Bids 2:00 P.M. G/F Limay Municipal Building The Pre-Bid Conference shall be open only to all interested parties who have purchased the Bidding Documents. The BAC of the Municipality of Limay reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders. For further information, please contact: MS. RAQUEL A. LEONGSON PROCUREMENT OFFICE Ground Floor, Limay Municipal Building, National Road, Brgy. Townsite, Limay, Bataan Telephone No. 613-8026

(Sgd.) ROMARIO C. PANANGUI Chairman, Bids and Awards Committee (TS-NOV. 24, 2015)

Purchase of GroceriesGOODS 100-15-11-033

1. The Local Government of Dinalupihan, through the General Funds intends to apply the sum of Six Million Pesos (Php6,000,000.00) being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for the Purchase of Groceries. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

2. The Local Government of Dinalupihan now invites bids for the Purchase of Groceries. Delivery of the Goods is required upon receipt of Notice to Proceed. Bidders should have completed, within two (2) from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project equivalent to at least fifty percent (50%) of the ABC. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II Instructions to Bidders.

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

4. Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183 and subject to Commonwealth Act 138.

5. Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Bids and Awards Committee and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during office hours at 8:00 am to 5:00pm.

6. A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders on November 18 to 25, 2015 from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents in the amount of Ten Thousand Pesos (Php10,000.00).

7. A Pre-bid Conference will be on November 24, 2015 at 2:00 in the afternoon at BAC Office 2nd Floor Municipal Building, Municipality of Dinalupihan, Dinalupihan, Bataan.

8. Bids must be delivered to the address below on or before November 27, 2015 at 2:00 in the afternoon. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

9. Bid opening shall be on November 27, 2015 at 2:00 in the afternoon at BAC Office 2nd Floor Municipal Building, Municipality of Dinalupihan, Dinalupihan, Bataan. Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

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

For further information, please refer to:

AMELITA E. PEÑAFLOR BAC Chairman LGU Dinalupihan Dinalupihan, Bataan Telephone No. (047) 636-0060 (SGD)ARCELI M. SAMSON BAC Secretariat LGU Dinalupihan Dinalupihan, Bataan Telephone No. (047) 612-2099

(TS-NOV. 24, 2015)

BAMAKO—Mali Monday start-ed three days of national mourn-ing for the victims of the jihad-ist siege at a luxury hotel that left 19 people dead in the capi-tal Bamako, with neighboring Senegal, Mauritania and Guinea joining in a show of solidarity.

The investigation was “following several lines” with no certainty about the number and nationality of the perpetrators of the at-tacks, which have been claimed by two sepa-rate jihadist groups.

Gunmen went on the rampage at the Radisson Blu hotel from early morning on Friday, shooting in the corridors and taking 170 guests and staff hostage.

The assault, which ended when Malian and international troops stormed the build-ing, left 19 people dead, including 14 for-eigners, as well as two attackers, according to a “definitive” report by the government.

The victims included six Russians, three Chinese, two Belgians, an American, an Israeli, a Senegalese and a member of the Malian special forces. 

The UN peacekeeping force in Mali, MINUSMA, however spoke of 22 fatalities, including two attackers.

Senegal’s President Macky Sall visited Bamako Sunday to show national solidarity and the support of the West African regional bloc ECOWAS which he chairs.

“Mali will never be alone in this fight, we are all committed because we are all in-volved,” he said, announcing that Mali’s neighbours Senegal, Mauritania and Guinea would also observe three days of mourning.

Al-Murabitoun group, an Al-Qaeda affili-ate led by the notorious one-eyed Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The group said Sunday there were only two attackers and suggested they were Malian.

In a recording broadcast by Al-Jazeera, a spokesman identified them as Abdelhakim al-Ansari and Moez al-Ansari, with the term “al-Ansari” indicating they were indigenous jihadists.

A jihadist group from central Mali, the Macina Liberation Front, however claimed the attack in a statement sent to AFP Sunday, say-ing it was carried out by a squad of five, includ-ing “three who came out safe and sound”.

A Malian security source told AFP that the authorities were “actively pursuing” at least three people over the attack in the former French colony.

Another informed source spoke of “three or four accomplices” believed to have aided the “foreign” gunmen who attacked the hotel frequented by businessmen, diplomats and other expatriates. AFP

YANGON—Rescuers were searching for victims of a mine landslide in northern Myanmar Monday as the toll topped 100 in a disaster highlighting the perils of the coun-try’s secretive billion-dollar jade trade.

Authorities in the re-mote town of Hpakant, the epicenter of the world’s production of highly valuable jade, have pulled scores of bodies from the earth since a huge moun-tain of debris col-lapsed onto dozens of flimsy shacks early on Saturday morning.

Those killed are thought to be mainly itinerant workers, who scratch a living pick-ing through the piles of waste left by large-scale industrial mining firms in the hope of stum-bling across a previ-ously missed hunk of jade that will deliver them from poverty.

The landslide is thought to be the dead-liest in recent memory in the hard to reach and impoverished area of northern Kachin state bordering China, with the official toll reaching 104 accord-ing to the Global New Light of Myanmar.

The state-backed newspaper said “many more people are still missing” after the ac-cident, although au-thorities have said they did not know precisely how many people had been living in the area.

“The rescue opera-tion is ongoing today and we are still col-lecting bodies. We have found more than a hundred,” Dashi Naw Lawn, secre-tary of the Kachin Network Development Foundation, a commu-nity group involved in the rescue operation, told AFP.

Myanmar is the source of virtually all of the world’s finest jadeite, a near-translu-cent green stone that is enormously prized in neighboring China, where it is known as the “stone of heaven”.

But while the mining firms—many linked to the junta-era military elite—are thought to be raking in huge sums, local people complain they are shut out from the bounty, instead facing abuses and fre-quent accidents. AFP

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B8 CESAR BARRIOQUINTOE D I T O R

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Lockdown. Belgian troops patrol a street in Brussels on November 23, 2015, as the Belgian capital remains on the highest possible alert level. AFP

Press conference. French Finance Minister Michel Sapin addresses a press conference on the fight against the financing of terrorism on November 23, 2015, in Paris. AFP

WORLD

Paris attacks fleeing suspectDion leads music worldin mourning the dead

At least 12 in Aussie terror watchlist

In an unprecedented security operation for the European capital, schools, universities and the metro were shut in the face of what Prime Minister Charles Michel called a “serious and imminent” threat of attacks similar to those that killed 130 people in France.

In Paris, Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron accompa-nied French President Francois Hollande in a visit to the Bataclan concert hall, where 90 people died in by far the bloodiest of the string of attacks claimed by the Islamic State group.

Cameron said on his Twitter ac-count he stood “shoulder to shoul-der” with Hollande at the venue, where a British man was among the dead on November 13.

Belgian police on Sunday carried out 19 raids in Brussels and three

in the industrial town of Charleroi, detaining 16 people, prosecutors said.

The driver of a car was injured after police fired two shots when the vehicle drove at officers.

“Salah Abdeslam was not caught during the raids,” federal prosecu-tor spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt told reporters just after midnight, meaning Europe’s most wanted man remains at large.

Abdeslam’s elder brother Brahim blew himself up outside a Paris bar in the November 13 attacks and the 26-year-old is suspected of playing a key role in the massacre.

Armed officers and troops pa-trolled the near-deserted streets of the tense Belgian capital all week-end after the government raised the terror alert to the highest level of four in the city.

LOS ANGELES—Celine Dion on Sunday led the music indus-try in an emotional tribute to the victims of the Paris attacks, as the American Music Awards heard appeals for a peaceful world.

The Canadian singer sang Edith Piaf ’s classic “Hymne a l’Amour” (“Hymn to Love”) in French at the star-studded ceremony in Los Angeles, which went ahead barely a week after the assault on a con-cert hall and other civilian targets across Paris.

In front of a screen flashing images of Paris that culminat-ed with the Eiffel Tower in the French flag’s tricolor, Dion sang the song of lost love as some members of the audience were seen in tears.

Dion was introduced by the ac-tor and musician Jared Leto, who recalled playing with his band Thirty Seconds to Mars earlier this year at the historic Bataclan theater that saw the heaviest death toll in the November 13 attacks.

Some 130 people died but “an-other seven billion will forever be scarred by this horrific and sense-less tragedy,” Leto said.

“France matters, Russia mat-ters, Syria matters, Mali matters, the Middle East matters, the United States matters—the entire world matters. And peace is pos-sible,” he said to applause.

Leto also took aim at anti-foreigner sentiment that has emerged in the wake of the Paris attacks, which was claimed by the Islamic State group. AFP

SYDNEY—Australian officials said Monday they were aware of 12 men or boys in the community who they believe could commit an act of terror, as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull convened a national security meeting.

Canberra has become increas-ingly concerned about the prospect of lone-wolf attacks by individuals inspired by groups such as Islamic State, and a tightening of counter-terrorism laws is under way.

Six attacks in Australia have been foiled over the past year, according to the government. But several have not, including a police employee shot dead in Sydney last month by a 15-year-old reportedly shouting reli-

gious slogans.The Australian Federal Police’s

counter-terrorism chief Neil Gaughan told ABC television that a group of 12 men or boys capable of committing an act of terror were be-ing closely watched.

“I think there can be no doubt that there’s a small group in Sydney that are engaged in activity which wants to up-set the Australian way of life,” he said. 

The national broadcaster said the 12 were part of a larger group of 19, seven of whom were in prison.

Some of those under surveillance were subject to orders controlling their movements and communica-tions because police believed there

was an “unacceptable, high risk they will commit a terrorist attack”, Gaughan added.

“Our first point of call in rela-tion to these investigations is where there’s been a criminal offense com-mitted we arrest, charge and pros-ecute,” he said. “If we don’t meet that threshold, the next step we look at is a control order.”

The revelations came as Turnbull met in Canberra with his national se-curity committee to discuss further ways to deal with violent extremism. He had returned from several over-seas summits dominated by terror concerns following the Paris attacks that left 130 dead. AFP

BRUSSELS—Brussels began a third consecutive day in lockdown under a maximum terror alert Monday after Belgian police staged a series of raids but failed to find key Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam.

Early Monday morning, traffic was relatively light in the center of the city and many people opted to cycle to work although most buses were running. 

The Brussels-based European Union and NATO both said they would bolster security and urged non-essential staff to work from home on Monday.

Michel said the Brussels metro system would remain shut and schools and universities would be closed over concerns that jihadists were plotting a repeat of the Paris gun and suicide bombing attacks on November 13.

“What we fear are similar attacks, with several individuals in several places,” Michel told reporters.

“The threat is considered serious and imminent,” he said, adding that the rest of the country, includ-ing Brussels airport, would remain on security alert level three, mean-ing an attack is considered possible and the threat credible.

Officials will review the situa-tion again later Monday. AFP

C1T U E S D AY : N O V E M B E R 24 , 2 0 1 5

A RTS, CU LT U RE & T ECH

TATUM ANCHETAE D I T O RBING PARELA S S O C I AT E E D I T O RBERNADETTE LUNASW R I T E R

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LIFE

Staring at Kelli Maeshiro’s contemporary art feels very nostalgic; a closer look at the titles and you’ll

feel a pang of regret and sadness – “How Did You Keep Yourself Going,” “I Never Took The Time To Get To Know You,” “Next Time... You’ll Be A Completely Different Person,” “The Only Thing I Miss.”

Completing the collection of “I Wonder How You Are” are snippets and juxtaposed images of women the artist met across multiple cities in different parts of the globe.

A Japanese-American born in Japan and raised in Hawaii, the 26-year-old Kelli Maeshiro earned

her Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Art at Willamette University in Oregon and has worked in Tokyo, Boston, and Portland. Her previous experiences in design, photography, and magazine work had a big influence on how she renders her art. Her works in “I Wonder How You Are,” which is her first solo exhibit in Manila (after participating in group exhibits – Art in the Park, Blanc Gallery, Manila; The Love Show, Gallery Big, Manila; Continuum, Ayala Museum ArtistSpace), are colorful, pop but very sentimental – and very much sold out.

Like many artists, the basis of Kelli’s work relies on her personal experiences, relationships, and

reflections on what could have been and “what ifs.” Each piece contains an unsent letter at the back, dedicated to the person to whom she based each canvas. “I am constantly on the move, time and distance widened the proximity to the people I knew,” explained Kelli about her art. “I missed my relationships with the friends I met. My work is about recollections of people I’ve met along my travels. In everyday moments away from home, I found myself writing imaginary letters to the memories of people I once knew. In those letters, I discovered the most honest side of myself. The letters became a

space of reflection where I could reminisce about the mistakes, regrets, and uncertainties in my relationships with people.”

Art gratifies an interested viewer/buyer in terms of desire and Kelli’s works do just that, drawing you in, reeling you in, and making you feel a certain familiarity with the faces and people in her life. “I find myself sentimental about the things or time I miss, and my paintings address that as sentimental self-reflections,” says Kelli. “They are soft and hazy, like distant memories. We recreate memories as we remember them in the present. In our memories, we forget parts of what really happened, and stories become fragmented and then pieced back together with truth and a small dose of fiction.”

The “I Wonder How You Are” collection is available for viewing in Vinyl on Vinyl gallery located at Chino Roces Ave, Makati until December 8.

KELLI MAESHIRO: ‘I Wonder How You Are’

Buzzed And Floods My Senses, Acrylic on Canvas, 48 x 60

Next Time... You'll Be A Completely Different Person, Acrylic on Canvas 36x36

The Only Thing I Miss, Acrylic on Canvas 36x36

I Never Took The Time To Get To Know You, Acrylic on Canvas 14x11

How Did You Keep Yourself Going, Acrylic on Canvas 36x36

Following his trip to the scenic Langkawi, Malaysia for the 2014 Langkawi Art Biennale, visual artist Rick Hernandez returned teeming with inspiration and drive to go back to the basics of drawing. In his fourth solo show he exhibits a collection of gouache drawings not made on an easel but on a table.

The series, according to Hernandez, was made late at night and early in the morning during the past 10 months since he returned from Malaysia. To broaden the folio and not restrict it to simply drawing, some of the works are grouped and arranged in random to create a collage type of an expedition journal. The artist also experimented with the velum paper surface and gouache in order to give the drawings a looseness and accidental quality, while retaining the photographic reference and expanding pictorial conventions.

Catch the final week of this exhibit. For details and inquiries, call (02) 836-8799 or 0917-8887921, or email one_workshop@yahoo.com

In his latest exhibit, Jose Santos III gives life to often unnoticed objects for them to be worthy of someone’s second look. Heaps of rubble are transformed through the process of casting into objects that show the material in all its rawness. This change in perception results in a suspension of judgment, conclusion and recall.

The piece was part of Santos’ solo show, 2hide back in 2014. For this exhibit he decided to present the work in a different configuration, a move that suggests that each composition need not be seen in only one way and that there are no fixed meanings. The idea of highlighting a cycle of change in an everyday object is the very essence of the whole process of “rebuilding” that the show emulates.  

For more information about this exhibit, visit www.artinformal.com

The CeFaM Alumni Association, Inc. stages a fundraising exhibit at an alternative exhibition space featuring the works of more than 20 artists. The group show aims to raise proceeds that will benefit the upcoming projects of CAAI and the Ruben M. Tanseco-Center for Family Ministries.

Currently exhibited and available to be viewed by the public are the works of National Artists for Visual Arts Benedicto “BenCab” Cabrera, Arturo Luz and J. Elizalde Navarro, along with other featured artists including Nunelucio Alvarado, Renz Baluyot, Hans Brumann,  Benjie Cabangis,  Alfredo Esquillo,  Alee Garibay,  Manny Garibay, Vivian Go, Pete Jimenez, Lei Lopez,  Richard Montero,  Jonathan Olazo,  Grace Olores,  Evangeline Pascual,  Edu Perreras,  Jemina Reyes, Frederick Sausa, Alan SyCip, Edwin Wilwayco and Armi Yam.

Email dragongallery@yuchengcomuseum.org for more information on this ongoing exhibit.

A meditation on mythology, nostalgia and transformation, Raena Abella’s current series illustrates the depth of the psyche on a fragile glass. Using the wet plate collodion process, portraits and images of the surreal and self waft on darkened plates showcasing the artist’s vision and narratives.

Wet plate collodion is an alternative and intensive 19th century development technique that requires the photographic material to be coated, sensitized, exposed and developed within the span of 15 minutes. Through this quick and intricate technique, the photographs developed feature an ethereal feel.

Visit www.artinformal.com to know more about this upcoming exhibit.

Local fashion accessories and home decor company Nix Designs mounts a lighting exhibition featuring collections of intricate handmade light fixtures made of local materials. Made by designer Nica Eustaquio, each piece is put together in a way that combines traditional and contemporary design.

To further add life and light to the exhibit are performances by Kat Aggarado of Sinosikat and Mister Marcus +Stefan Lowenstein of Tribomanila. The event will be hosted by Chris Everingham of the Philippine Volcanoes.

To know more about the lighting exhibit launch, visit Nix Designs Manila on Facebook.

Table DrawingsArt Alley, LRI Design Plaza, Makati CityOngoing until November 30

REBUILDING BLOCKS: Jose Santos IIIThe Big Room, Artinformal, Mandaluyong CityNovember 25 to December 28

Sketches of The SpiritDragon Gallery, Yuchengco Museum, Makati CityOngoing until December 5

MYTHAMPORPHOSIS: Raena AbellaThe Inner Room, Artinformal, Mandaluyong CityNovember 25 to December 28

RAY OF LIGHT: A Lighting ExhibitLinea Furniture, A. Arnaiz Avenue, Makati CityNovember 25, 5:30 p.m.

C2TUESDAY : NOVEMBER 24, 2015

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ARTS AND CULTURE ROUNDUPWhat’s on in theaters and galleries this week

EXHIBITS

C3LIFETUESDAY : NOVEMBER 24, 2015

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The Philippines’ participation at the recently concluded 56th Art Venice Biennale 2015 (Biennale d’Arte di Venezia) exhibition

marked a milestone as it was the first time the country participated in the major event after an absence of 50 years. As noted by National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Chairperson Felipe de Leon, Jr., we’ve made it back and this is just the beginning, as the Philippines will be joining the 2017 La Biennale Arte.

The Philippine Pavilion featured curator Patrick Flores’ exhibit “Tie A String Around The World” which recevied accolades from international art critics and writers. The exhibit will be mounted in several venues in

the country, starting with the Jorge Vargas Museum at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City in 2016 following the shipment of the artworks back to the Philippines from Venice.

During the finissage in Italy, the project’s leader, Senator Loren Legarda, remarked that the exhibit is a source of pride to overseas Filipino communities, expressing hope that the Filipinos’ artistry and talent will become globally known.

The concept for the Philippine Pavilion curated by Flores brilliantly links the artworks of four Filipino artists – Manuel Conde and Carlos Francisco for “Genghis Khan,” Manny Montelibano for “A Dashed State,” and Jose Tence Ruiz for “Shoal” – raising the issue

of the disputed West Philippine Sea/South China Sea. Flores however clarified that the exhibit is not limited to this explosive political issue but instead aims to encourage conversation on “what makes a common sea and where lie frontier and edge, melancholy and migration.”

Montelibano’s “A Dashed State,” which is a 20-minute, three-channel video with sound installation, tackles the different levels of bodies, the physical body which is the source of history, the body of land, air and sea, a body of people – and the incursion of other elements that affects our beliefs and traditions, culture, and our world in the making.

Ruiz’s “Shoal,” an impressive installation made of pre-fabricated steel and marsala

red velvet, is an interpretation of BRP Sierra Madre, the vessel where a small detachment of Filipino troops stationed at Ayungin Shoal in the Spratlys are struggling to survive extreme mental and physical desolation.

“The National Pavilion is a global platform, but it should also make sense locally,” Flores said. Explaining that he tried to organize a pavilion that was relevant in the Philippine context as it was responsive to the global conversation. “Tie A String Around the World should not be a singular spectacle in Venice. It should mutate beyond the Venice Biennale; otherwise it becomes export art that merely caters to the expectations of the international audience,” he stated.

UP Vargas Museum to be first exhibit venue in 2016 of the Philippine Pavilion at Venice Biennale

Following the many Spectre 007 premieres, Hooch, a steam-punk speakeasy bar in Salcedo held its post Spectre party celebration together

with Aston Martin – the company that made James Bond’s new Spectre car. The November 21 event, aptly named Race the Spectre, was a fun filled night with overflowing cocktails courtesy of Belvedere Vodka. Special Spectre cocktails lined up the bar – DB5, Double O, Mini Moke, Rasp Spect, XKR and Spectre Martini.

Guests got to ride a special chauffeur driven yellow Aston Martin and a hot red Jaguar all through out the night. At the bar, imbibers where treated to a non-stop film showing of James Bond movies. Over 120 guests had a taste of how it was to be Mr. Bond or a Bond girl for a night.

Hooch is located at G/F 125 V Corporate Center, L.P. Leviste Street, Salcedo Village, Makati. For updates and news on the different events held at the bar, call +63927 375 9467 or follow them at Hooch Ph on Facebook and @HoochPH on Instagram.

RACE THE SPECTREGuests of Race the Spectre get to ride a chauffeur driven Aston Martin and Jaguar from 6pm to 11pm in Hooch.

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Despite the modest celebrations, the 26th anniversary of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) was marked by colorful pageantry that

showcased the richness and diversity of the Bangsamoro culture – as undercored by the series of events revolving around the campaign theme “Breaking Barriers: Journey through Bangsamoro Culture and History towards Peace and Development” which bats for the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

For several centuries, Mindanao has been a separate region, which allowed it to establish its own culture and identity. This territory Mindanao has been the homeland of Muslims ever since Arab trader Karim ul’ Makhdum arrived in the Sulu archipelago in the 14th century. Sultanates were established and maintained their independence even during the Spanish period of colonization. For centuries, Mindanao has been a separate region, which accounts for the enduring culture and identity of the Muslims who resisted colonizers and continued to fight for their independence from the Philippine Republic. In 1989, the ARMM was established by a law that mandated an independent region in Muslim Mindanao.  On November 8, 1990, the ARMM was in Cotabato City which served as the provisional capital.    Festivities for the 26th anniversary started as early as November 6 with a pilgrimage to the Sheikh Makhdum Mosque, the cradle of Islam in the Philippines located in Simunul, Tawi-Tawi. A feast of traditional cuisine was laid out outside the mosque after the prayers.

A culinary contest – the Master Chieftain Competition –among the ARMM tribes, namely Badjao, Tausug, Yakan, Maranao, Maguindanao, Sama, Iranun and Teduray was also held at the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex. Inspired by the reality show “Master Chef,” the competition engaged tribal chieftains and sous chefs from the tribes to present their indigenous cuisine, ranging from appetizer to main course and dessert.  

Native delicacies such as Maguindanaoan pastil, boiled rice topped with chicken slivers and sinina or slices of goat meat drenched in coconut cream, burnt coconut shavings, ginger and pepper and the Tausug pyutu, a grated cassava cake, were presented in innovative ways. 

In the heart of the celebrations were the free medical and dental services extended by regional health officials to children from several orphanages, while farming tools and implements were distributed to peasants by Governor Mujiv Hataman.

The various ethnic groups in ARMM are also distinguished by their traditional dances, like the pangalay, the dance of graceful arms and

hands performed by the Badjaos and Tausug. “Asik,” a slave dance of Maguindanao, features women dancing with their janggay or metal nails. This is the precursor to the iconic “singkil,” the Maranao dance to clapping bamboos.  The Yakans on the other hand are known for their “baila,” the fisherman’s dance, and  “pangsak,” the courtship dance. “Pagapir” on the other hand is a popular dance of the Maranaos that feature dancers walking gracefully as they twirl colorful fans. For the men, “sagayan” is well known as it is the Maguindanao warrior dance.     On  November 29, the Peace Parade and Mindanao Week of Peace (MWOP) will have volunteers, peace advocates and various groups supporting non-violent means to end conflicts in Mindanao.  The Bike for Peace on Nov. 30 enjoins cyclists to travel from Cotabato City and Midsayap in  North Cotabato to  Datu Piyang and  Datu Saudi in  Maguindanao. ARMM’s ethnolinguistic groups will also take center stage in a competition of exotic weaving at the Org Compound.  

One of Governor Hataman’s agenda is to raise people’s awareness on peace as an individual and collective responsibility. Hataman’s administration has been addressing the concerns of all sectors through various programs that include agrarian reform, scholarships and education opportunities for the poor, improving livelihood cooperatives and providing better  opportunities for women. High-risk communities are also educated on disaster preparedness, while medical missions are conducted to control tropical diseases along with injury-prevention programs.

BREAKING BARRIERSARMM marks 26 years

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY AYUNAN G. GUNTING

SEWN AND HEARD: Raffy Napay’s ‘See and Silence’

Fresh from his success at the Florence Biennale, artist Raffy Napay is set to impress again with See and Silence,

an exhibit at ArtistSpace of the Ayala Museum in Makati featuring his large scale works that bring the viewer to “a stark confrontation with the sea and the human heart.”

In his trademark use of threads and employing the act of sewing the acclaimed visual artist further masters his chosen material by imbuing it with a transformative presence. In his latest work, perception has no solid ground on which it can spread its roots but is instead swept and tossed by the waves brushed with the moon’s

benevolent light, which for the artist represents an ennobling spirit.

Napay, who studied Fine Arts at the Eulogio Amang Rodriguez of Science and Technology (EARIST), has been making waves with his works both here and abroad, winning the Grand Prize in the prestigious Ateneo Art Awards in 2013 and receiving a grant for art residencies at the Artesan Gallery in Singapore and the Liverpool Hope University in the United Kingdom. Earlier this year, he joined the Florence Biennale in Italy and bagged 2nd Premio Lorenzo il Magnifico (2nd Prize Lorenzo the Magnificent). His recent exhibit,

“Sanctuary” where barren twigs and a bird’s nest made of colorful thread take center stage, drew inspiration from his time in Liverpool and is symbolic of the search for home while in transit.

See and Silence runs until December 3 at ArtistSpace, located at the Ground Level, Ayala Museum Annex, Makati Avenue corner De La Rosa Street, Greenbelt Park, Makati City. For more information on ArtistSpace, contact Lorraine Datuin, gallery coordinator at (02) 759-8288 or email artistspace@ayalafoundation.org. You may also contact Art Verité at (02) 915-1982 for further details.

The Yakans of Basilan

Anak-Mindanao party list Congresswoman Sitti Djalia Hataman in Tausug attire

ARMM Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman in a Yakan attire

A Yakan weaver. A competition in exotic weaving will be held at the ORG Compound

SKYSHADE 2015Thread on canvasDiptych44 x 116 in

HIDDEN LIGHT, SEA AT NIGHT 2015Thread on canvas70 x 240 in

TRUE LOVE RAINS 2015Diptych48 x 116 in

SHOWBITZi s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

C5ISAH V. REDE D I T O R

T UES DAY : NOV EMBER 24, 2015

ABS-CBN Corporation was recognized as the Most Innovative Net-work in the inaugural

Global City Innovative College (GCIC) awards held recently.

ABS-CBN programs, stars, and personalities won a total of 11 awards during the ceremonies including Most Innovative Tele-vision series for On The Wings Of Love and Most Innovative Sunday Noontime Show for ASAP 20.

Jodi Sta. Maria won the Most Innovative Actress award for her portrayal of Amor Powers in Pangako Sa ‘Yo, and Paulo Aveli-no the Most Innovative Actor for his role as Carlos Antonio in Bridges of Love. 

Citations were also given to Kapamilya personalities Karen Davila as Most Innovative Female Newscaster, Boy Abunda, the Most Innovative Male Television Host, and Kris Aquino, Most In-novative Female Television Host.

News and Current Affairs pro-grams TV Patrol, Matanglawin, and Umagang Kay Ganda were named Most Innovative News Program, Most Innovative Ed-ucational Program, and Most Innovative Morning Program re-spectively.

Organized by Global City In-novative College, the GCIC is awarded to media products in television that are deemed inno-vators in the industry.

Most innovative network

TV writer and book author Noreen Capili, known for her best-selling books, Parang Kayo Pero Hindi and Buti Pa ang Roma May Bagong Papa, is back with her latest

book, The Goodbye Girl. She wrote the screenplay for No Boyfriend Since

Birth or NBSB for Regal Films starring Carla Abel-lana and Tom Rodriguez. The film reunited her with Joey Reyes who directed the film whom she met at ad workshop conducted by the director. This later opened doors for her to write for a TV sitcom then for soap operas.

While her first two books were the result of years of hard work as a blogger, a contributor to a uni-versity-based online community, a love advice col-umnist for a lifestyle magazine, a similar job for a maritime company, and a writer for a local televi-sion network, Capili, also known as Noringai, has to come up with fresh material for her new book, the title of which she got from the hit song “Good-bye Girl” by David Gates of Bread.

Capili explained how different her latest book is from the previous ones, “In the first book, there’s a feeling that ‘Parang Kayo Pero Hindi’ stage is okay than not having any relationship at all. Don’t settle for anything less. In the second, if you’re tired of waiting, still don’t settle. You’ll never know what you might get.” In her third book, she stressed it was time for a more mature outlook. “Time heals everything. Just give time to heal…time to move on,” she revealed.

“All of those I have written in my books are based on real experiences. I neither invented nor imagined them. If they are not my experiences, they are expe-riences of my friends. Maybe that’s why many people can relate to them because they really happen. The stories were not fabricated. Some came from my blog,” Capili shared on why her books became popular.

A BA Creative Writing graduate at the University of the Philippines – Diliman, she wrote This Side UPa column in Peyups.com, the now-defunct online UP community, under her pseudonym Noringai. It gained a cult following so Karl and Mimi de Leon, the website’s husband-and-wife administrators, compiled her articles into a book. However, the plan did not ma-terialize. “When I submitted my book to Anvil, I still asked permission from them. They gave their approv-al. I still own the rights to my articles but I felt I needed to seek their permission,” Capili said.

Anvil used Noringai, her username for blogs and Peyups.com, to give some sense of anonymity. Capili sensed that her publisher initially wanted a female version of Bob Ong, whose identity has still been kept secret to this day. However, her appearances in TV shows to promote her book slowly made her recognizable to her readers. She also had talks and book signing events at the annual Philippine Liter-ary Festival, at the recent Manila International Book

Fair, other events organized by National Book Store, and even school-initiated ones.

When Capili appeared on TV to promote her book, Kris Aquino called her a “love guru.” She has been reluctant to take on the role. “I feel that I am not qualified. Before this, those who sent me messages on Facebook only inquired about how to become actors or how to make it to It’s Showtime or Pinoy Big Broth-er. Now, they share stories about their love life. My high school classmates also ask me who the unnamed people I wrote about in my books were or if ever they were part of them,” she said. She also shared a funny incident when a date she had asked her if she would include him in her next book.

Capili advises young writers not to give up easily. “I was rejected many times when I was just starting out. It’s not easy being a writer. It’s not mechanical. You should read a lot. You need to be curious of what is happening around you. You can get a lot of stories from what you hear. You need to be observant.”

The thirty-something writer, who also went through the same heartaches like her readers, shared this to those who are still heartbroken, “No matter how many times you listen to “Breakeven” by The Script or “Someone Like You,” spend all your mon-ey shopping, munch on a lot of cake, pizza, or any comfort food, or drown yourself with alcohol or anti-depressants, it still hurts. And no matter how many times you were hurt, whether you’re 16 or 31, you never get immune to pain. But you always have a choice how to confront heartache and pain. We can’t stop ourselves from experiencing pain but it’s what we do with the pain that makes the difference. Being hurt is something we can’t stop from happening but being miserable is always our choice,” she said. 

‘The Goodbye Girl’ TeAches how To move on

by seymour bArros sAnchez

Ariel Ureta receives the award for Umagang Kay Ganda

Darla Sauler receives the award for Kris Aquino

Noreen Capili at book signing event

Noreen Capili being interviewed by Kris Aquino

Noreen Capili receiving book award

SHOWBITZC6i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

T UES DAY : NOV EMBER 24, 2015

ACROSS 1 Larger than large 6 Hot soak 10 Invitation ltrs. 14 In the least (2 wds.) 15 Gen. Robert — — 16 Footnote abbr. (2 wds.) 17 Tattered 18 Release (2 wds.) 20 That ship 21 Marlins’ city

A N S W E R F O R P R E V I O U S P U Z Z L E

CROSSWORD PUZZLE TUESDAY,

NOVEMBER 24, 2015

23 Raised the stakes 24 Med. staffers 25 Exist 26 Round Table knight 29 Taken care of 34 Impromptu (2 wds.) 35 Ripe, as a pear 36 Swing off-course 37 Favoritism 38 Hierarchy levels 39 Strongly advise 40 Donne’s “done”

41 Blazers 42 Wry 43 Thugs 45 Whole lot 46 Wabash loc. 47 City near Phoenix 48 Heavy rainfall 51 — Davis of “The Fly” 53 Frat letter 56 Eats in a hurry (2 wds.) 58 Clutches 60 Pakistan’s language 61 Be a party to 62 Marquis’s inferiors 63 Sit-down occasion 64 Leaning tower town 65 Prevent

DOWN 1 Jostles 2 Idaho neighbor 3 Other sock 4 Short lunch? 5 Apollo’s games 6 Test versions 7 Ex-senior 8 Ms. Garr of film 9 Egg producer 10 End a shutdown 11 Pause 12 Flower holder

13 Implored 19 Virginia caverns 22 Motor lodge 24 Far East land 25 Orbit segments 26 Eva or Zsa Zsa 27 Farewell 28 Quay 29 Women with nieces 30 Fixes the fight 31 Greek fast food 32 Aerie builder 33 Live 35 San — Capistrano 38 Line on a map 39 Bear in the sky 41 Movies 42 Harmed 44 Off and on 45 Knock-knock joke 47 Rumormonger 48 Crawled, perhaps 49 Study hard 50 “M*A*S*H” lead 51 Asian desert 52 Farm animals 53 Lemony-tasting 54 Skilled 55 Gorby’s realm 57 Skip stones 59 — Dawn Chong

China has shaken the world of paleontology to its very foundation. Over the past few decades, more dino-

saurs have been discovered there than anywhere else on earth. Chi-nese paleontologists have also prov-en a direct connection between di-nosaurs and birds, rewriting what we know about evolution.

This month’s On China, CNN’s Kristie Lu Stout is at the Paleo-zoological Museum of China with the country’s top dinosaur hunters and the International Editor of Science Magazine to ex-plore the world of dinosaur expe-dition in China, and the unique challenges confronting paleon-tologists today in this country on

the fast track to urbanization. Guests include Xu Xing, and

Zhou Zhonghe, paleontologists at Chinese Academy of Science, and Richard Stone, International News Editor, Science Magazine.

On China airs 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 26 and 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 27, 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 19 and 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 20.

CNN’S ‘ON ChiNa’ fOCUSES ON DiNOSaUR DiSCOvERy

Viewers nationwide tuned in to the premiere of Dance Kids with the first batch of dance artists on stage and tried to impress the pro-gram’s Dance Masters Georcelle Dapat-Sy,Andy Alviz, and Vhong Navarro.

Based on data from Kantar Media, Phil-ippine TV’s first-ever dance competition for kids hit a national TV rating of 32.4 percent on Nov. 14 versus GMA’s Pepito Manaloto’s 24.7. The show also won in the ratings game on the following day when it recorded a national TV rating of 28.4 percent, or ten points higher than GMA’s 24 Oras Weekend.

The first episodes saw the passion and brilliance of the dance artists who went through the try outs, the first stage of the competition where they were screened by the Dance Masters.

Making it to the next level of competition were trio Higher Level Kids, dance sport duo Step Kids, Tahitian group Aloha Girls, young heartthrobs Maximum Groovers, taekwondo duo Richlie and Daniel, and solo dance artists Matt and Joren, who were all given a unanimous decision or three “stomps” by the Dance Masters.

Georcelle, Andy, and Vhong opened the program by showing off their signature moves in an opening number that gave trib-ute to Filipino street games.

Dance Kids airs every Saturday, 6:15 p.m., and 6 p.m. every Sunday.

‘DanCe KiDs’ reCorDs high ratings

From left, Kristie Lu Stout, Zhou Zhonghe, Richard Stone and Xu Xing

Dance Kids Dance Masters Georcelle, Vhong, and Andy during their opening number

Dance Kids Dance Masters Georcelle, Vhong, and Andy

Dance kids hosts Robi and Alex

SHOWBITZ C7i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

Kapamilya stars expressed their gratitude to Filipi-nos whose stories inspire them in their work and in

their personal lives in ABS-CBN’s Christmas Station ID “Thank You for the Love,” which premiered on Nov. 12 in TV Patrol.

Sung by today’s hottest love teams James Reid and Nadine Lustre, Liza Soberano and En-rique Gil, and Kathryn Bernardoand Daniel Padilla, together with Bamboo and The Voice Kids Sea-son 2 grand champion Elha Nym-pha, the “Thank You for the Love” theme highlights how Filipinos never forget genuine and uncon-ditional acts of love and generos-ity and how Filipinos never cease to give back even in simple ways.

Ang Probinsyano star Coco Mar-tin, together with the cast of the top-rating series, gave soldiers from Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal new sets of combat boots and enjoyed a boodle fight feast afterwards.

The Pasion De Amor cast, on the other hand, packed goods at Sangley Point of the Philippine

Navy in Cavite for soldiers who serve as inspirations of strength in Ayungin Shoal.

Gerald Anderson with ABS-CBN Cebu personalities led the surprise homecoming tribute for Pinoy Pride boxers and sports he-roes Donnie Nietes, Mark Mag-sayo, and brothers Jason and Al-bert Pagara, while Piolo Pascualprovided new uniforms to the in-spiring kids of Bayanijuan Futbol Club in Calauan, Laguna.

Meanwhile, Angel Locsin, Mat-teo Guidicelli, Jessy Mendiola, JC De Vera, and Paulo Avelino spent an afternoon with orphans from Meritxell Children’s World Foun-dation in Marikina City.

A roving Christmas Noche Buena table also went to differ-ent places to gather more families together. Be My Lady stars Erich Gonzales and Daniel Matsunagadined with the farmers in Pam-panga; Doble Kara star Julia Mon-tes with the health and birthing station volunteers in Batangas; You’re My Home stars Richard Gomez and Dawn Zulueta with

avid fans in Quezon City, and Kim Chiu and Xian Lim with random people on the streets.

HHHHH

Julia Montes’ grandMa waKes up froM coMaMore surprises come Kara’s (Julia Montes) way as Barbara (Alicia Alonzo) wakes up from coma in the hit afternoon teleserye Doble Kara.

Barbara recovers from coma and undergoes therapy to fully re-cuperate. However, as she wakes up, she blames Kara for intention-ally pushing her leading to her ac-cident. But Yaya Anita (Gloria Se-villa) defends Kara and says that she is with Kara as the accident happens. Laura also reveals that it is Sara, not Kara, who is with Bar-bara before the accident happens.

Is Sara the one who pushed Barbara? Now that Barbara recov-ers from coma, how will Kara put her family back together?

Don’t miss the thrilling scenes in Doble Kara, Monday to Friday, after It’s Showtime on ABS-CBN Kapamilya Gold.

For more information about

the program, visit the official so-cial networking site of Dreams-cape Entertainment Television at Facebook.com/DreamscapePH, Twitter.com/DreamscapePH, and Instagram.com/DreamscapePH.

HHHHH

Mother, son in politicsAlma Moreno, Vanessa Lacsmana in real life, has successfully rein-vented herself as a politician. When she was still married to Joey Mar-quez who was mayor of Parañaque from 1995 to 2004, Moreno was an active first lady of sorts.

In 2004, she ran for mayor after her husband’s last term, but she had

no luck. She lost. Three years later, she run for councilor and was elect-ed, and re-elected twice, in 2010 and 2013. She even became the National Chairperson of the Philip-pine Councilors League until today.

In October this year, she de-clared her intentions to run for Senator, which was once abort-ed in 2012, the first time she an-nounced her plans to run for the position but eventually withdrew citing health reasons.

This time she is aligned with the party of Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Recently, she became the butt of the joke among netizens when she appeared on TV for an interview with Karen Davila of ABS-CBN.

Meanwhile, son Vandolph Quizon (by the late comedian Dolphy) is also gearing up for a chance to be in public service. He will run for councilor for the spot his mother will vacate in 2016. Should he win, he would be the third in Alma Moreno’s family to be in politics, that is counting Joey and his mother.

T UES DAY : NOV EMBER 24, 2015

the Filipino Channel (TFC), the network for Filipinos outside the Philippines, will bring

together overseas Filipinos (OFs) and their kapamilya in a virtu-al get-together via its Christmas offering – Kapamilya Reunion. Inspired by its mission to serve as the link between Filipinos over-seas and their loved ones back in the Philippines, TFC unveiled its gift of Kapamilya Reunion. Fiulipinos can enjoy a virtu-al Christmas get-together with their loved ones in the Philip-pines by just by addressing the line -  “I-kuwento ang iyong most memorable Paskong ‘Pinas with your family? (What is your most memorable Christmas in the Philippines with your family?).

All OFs who are legal residents of or contracted workers in the U.S.A., Canada, UAE, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, and Taiwan can join the promo and send their answers to TFC Face-book pages in these countries.After registering and entering their stories, five winners from the qualified participants will be chosen for each of these countries based on the uniqueness of the story (50 percent) and the over-all impact of the entry (50 percent).Winning participants will then get the chance to bring two fam-ily members to designated areas in their respective countries and chat with their loved ones back home on Dec.6 at the Restaurant 9501 in Quezon City, Philippines.

Their loved ones in the Philippines will be joined by executives of TFC in Manila as well by several Kapam-ilya Stars from widely watched ABS-CBN programs. Like a true reunion, both overseas Filipinos and their Kapamilyas in the Phil-ippines will also receive exchange gifts via balikbayan boxes from TFC and participating sponsors. Through Kapamilya Reunion, TFC will bring the cheer of the holiday season and the company of loved ones for Filipinos who can’t be home for Christmas. Share your “Most Memorable Christmas in the Philippines with your family” and visit www.facebook.com/TF-CUSOfficial, CanadaOfficial, TFC-MiddleEast, TFCEurope, TFCAus-tralia, TFCJapan, TFCHongKong, TFCSingapore and TFCTaiwan1.

TFC makes reunion possible among Filipinos

aBs-cBn’s christMas station id from c8

Piolo Pascual

Mateo Guidicelli with a kid

Sam Milby with Jolina Magdangal and another Kapamilya

Richard Gomez and Dawn Zulueta

Julia Montes

The TFC Kapamilya logo

C8 ISAH V. REDE D I T O R

SHOWBITZ

T UES DAY : NOV EMBER 24, 2015

Director Carl Joseph Papa’s touching animated drama film Manang Biring, the only animat-ed entry in this year’s Cinema One Originals, won Best Film at the 2015 Cinema One Originals.

It also won in two other catego-ries – Best Music and the Cham-pion Bughaw Award.

Papa’s animated film revolves around Manang Biring, a termi-nally ill old lady diagnosed with stage four breast cancer who gets an unexpected letter from a dear loved one who wants to reunite with her for Christmas.

“I just entered Manang Bir-ing in Cinema One Originals because I wanted to fulfill our team’s dream to make a full-length animated film,” Papa said. He elaborated, “I am thankful to Cinema One Originals for giving us a chance to make our project. I hope our film will be screened in more cinemas in the Philippines.”

Meanwhile, director Ralston Jover’s Hamog, a story on the lives of four street children who suddenly get caught in a web of consecutive and unforeseen trag-edies, reaped four recognitions including Best Editing, Best Sup-

porting Actor, Best Actress, and the coveted Jury Award.

Young stars Therese Malvarand Bor Lentejas also caught the crowd’s attention at the awards night when won Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor of the fes-tival, outshining seasoned actors in their respective categories.

The two newcomers from Hamog were speechless. Therese, 15, who cried onstage as she accept-ed her second best actress award in her career, credited Jover for her award-winning performance.

“My role in Hamog is serious. I’m very thankful to direk Ralston for his help and mentorship for me to do well,” Malvar said and added, “I did not expect this at all. I did not even prepare a good speech. I’m just thankful to my manage-ment, my parents, and to God.”

The awards night also paid trib-ute to Rox Lee, Joey Agbayani, Mike and Johnny Alcazaren, Nick Deocampo, and Raymond Red, considered pillars of Philip-pine alternative cinema.

Cinema One Originals is an an-nual film festival that allows talent-ed Filipino storytellers to showcase their stories through film, specifical-ly in the new format – video. It has been going on in the last 11 years. It is a local independent film festi-val of Cinema One, one of the cable channels of Creative Programs, Inc., a subsidiary of ABS-CBN.

HHHHH

2015 Cinema One Originals festival winnersJury Prize winner:

Hamog, Ralston JoverBest Film:

Manang Biring, Carl Joseph Papa

Best Actress: Therese Malvar, Hamog

Best Actor: Dino Patrano, Baka Siguro Yata

Best Supporting Actress: Chai Fonacier, Miss Bulalacao

Best Supporting Actor: Bor Lentejas, Hamog

Best Director: Dayang Asu, Bor Ocampo

Best Screenplay: Miss Bulalacao, Ara Chawdhury

Best Cinematography: Dayang Asu (Albert Banzon)

Audience Choice: Baka Siguro Yata, Joel Ferrer

Best Sound: Bukod Kang Pinagpala(Jess Carlos)

Best Music: Manang Biring(Dinno Christopher Parafina)

Best Editing: Hamog (Charliebebs Gohetia)

Best Production Design: Bukod Kang Pinagpala(Harley Alcasid)

Champion Bughaw Award: Manang Biring

ISAH V. RED

lOne animated film entry wins Best film

Ara Chawdhury accepts the best supporting actress award on behalf of Chai Fonacier from her Cinema One Originals entry Miss Bulalacao

Best actor winner Dino Pastrano from Joel Ferrer's Baka Siguro Yata

Two-Time Best actress winner 15-year-old Therese Malvar cries on stage as she accepts her award

Best Supporting Actor- child star Bor Lentejas from Hamog

Carl Joseph Papa accepts the Jury

prize for best film Manang Biring together with

Erlinda Villalobos who plays the

titular role

Champion Bughaw Award-Carl Joseph Papa's Manang Biring

Cinema One Original's Best Film - Carl Joseph Papa for Manang Biring

➜ Continued on C7

i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m