Poll shows Sotto, Recto, Marcos leading Senate race

VOL. XXIX NO. 249 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 MONDAY : OCTOBER 19, 2015 www.thestandard.com.ph editorial@thestandard.com.ph

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Stormy Sunday. Two children frolic at the seawall in Navotas, which on Sunday was slammed by the giant waves created by the winds whipped up by Typhoon ‘Lando.’ ANDREW RABULAN

‘Lando’ kills 5 in devastating passage

By Joyce Pangco Pañares

SENATOR Vicente Sotto III is the first choice of voters for the 2016 sena-torial elections, results of the second The Standard Poll showed.

The survey, conducted by resi-dent pollster Junie Laylo from Sept. 21 to Oct. 1, had 1,500 re-spondents, all of whom are regis-tered voters with biometrics from 76 provinces across the country and the 17 cities in the National Capital Region.

Respondents were asked to choose 12 from a list of likely can-didates for the Senate.

At least 60 percent of the re-spondents said they will vote for

Sotto, a reelectionist and member of the Nationalist People’s Coali-tion.

Sotto was also the top pick of voters across all economic classes, age, gender, religious affiliation and ethnicity.

Another reelectionist, Sena-tor Ralph Recto, took the second spot with 53 percent, followed by Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and

former Senator Panfilo Lacson who were tied at the third and fourth places with 49 percent each.

Rounding up the top 12 are former senators Francis Pangil-inan (48 percent) and Juan Miguel Zubiri (42 percent); Senators Fran-klin Drilon (41 percent) and Sergio Osmeña (40 percent); Justice Sec-retary Leila de Lima and former

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By Francisco Tuyay and Florante S. Solmerin

FIVE PEOPLE were killed and nine others went missing as Typhoon “Lando” (international name Koppu) tore down trees and unleashed landslides and � oods, forcing thousands to � ee as it pum-meled Luzon Sunday, o� cials said.

More than 15,000 people were evacuated from their homes, with more expected to � ee as the slow-moving storm grinds its way northwards across Luzon before it is forecast to leave the coun-try on Wednesday.

“We’ve been hard hit,” said Aurora Gov. Gerar-do Noveras, who said hundreds of residents were

trapped by � ood waters in the village of San Luis.Disaster units backed by military and police

personnel launched massive rescue operations in at least seven towns as � ood waters rose from riv-ers swollen by torrential rain.

Col. Felimon Santos, commander of the Army’s 703rd Infantry Brigade based in Nueva Ecija, said they launched rescue operations in several � ood-ed areas in the province.

Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali told the ANC news channel that the towns of Bongabon and Ga-bldon were under water and isolated.

� e O� ce of Civil Defense said it was still veri-fying the casualties that included a 34-year-old

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news

Duterte’s smear job claims ‘silly,’ LP says

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By John Paolo Bencito and Rio N. Araja

THE ruling Liberal Party on Sunday dismissed as “silly” allegations that ad-ministration standard bearer Manuel Roxas II was behind black propaganda attacks on Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Grace Poe.

“I think that there are no serious and valid issues that can be raised against Secretary Mar [Roxas] so they [resort to] anything... as silly as rumor monger-ing. These are non-issues as far as the presidency is concerned,” said Caloocan Rep. Edgardo Erice, politi-cal affairs chief of the Liberal Party.

Over the weekend, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, a potential candidate for the presidency, lashed out at Rox-as for allegedly spreading the rumor that he had cancer.

On Saturday, Roxas said the LP would not resort to black propaganda to destroy its opponents as Duterte claimed.

“I will never wish it [cancer] to be visited on any one, much more Mayor Digong Duterte who I regard as my friend. My family suffered through two tragedies due to cancer,” said Roxas in a statement.

Another presidential candidate, frontrunner in the opinion polls Senator Grace Poe, blamed the Roxas camp in August of maligning her with rumors that she was “abusive and was an alcoholic who underwent re-habilitation.”

Roxas said that in his long years in politics, he had never engaged in such smear campaigns against his opponents.

“I have always subscribed to the principle that how you campaign is how you will govern. What we are fighting for is for the continuation of the straight path and not to destroy our rivals,” he added.

Akbayan Rep. Barry Gutierrez, a Liberal Party ally, said the Roxas campaign would never resort to tricks and mudslinging.

“I’m actually at a loss to explain why Secretary Mar

is being linked to these rumors. I know for a fact that we have always striven to run an honest, issue-based campaign, and that it is not in Secretary Mar’s charac-ter to engage in such tactics,” he said.

Another spokesman for the Liberals, Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo, said Roxas had already responded to Duterte’s accusation.

“This misunderstanding between Former Secretary Mar Roxas and his long-time friend Davao Mayor Di-gong Duterte is very unfortunate. Even Philip Lustre, the person Mayor Duterte identified as the source of the said rumors has already denied that he is... con-nected to the camp of Secretary Roxas,” he said.

Quimbo also called on all presidential candidates “to elevate the level of debate.”

But the camp of opposition candidate Vice Presi-dent Jejomar Binay said the LP campaign was smear-ing its political enemies to conceal the fact that Roxas was unfit to lead the country.

Joey Salgado, head of the Office of the Vice Presi-dent media affairs, told The Standard that mudsling-ing and character assassination have been the trade-marks of the Roxas camp.

Salgado added that they knew that Roxas’ political operators were behind the year-long Senate investiga-tion into the alleged anomalies in the construction of a Makati City Hall building when Binay was still mayor.

“Now Roxas operators are spreading [the rumor] in the provinces that the vice president will discontinue to the conditional cash transfer program or 4Ps, even if the VP has gone on record that he will continue and even expand the CCT program,” Salgado said.

Frustrated Duterte supporters expressed disap-pointment over the weekend when the Davao mayor failed to file his Certificate of Candidacy for the presi-dency Friday, the last day for the filing of CoCs.

Some still held out for a last-minute substitution in De-cember that would enable Duterte to run for president.

But Duterte remained consistent about his refusal to run.

“When I have already spoken, that will be it. The people know it already, they just refuse to accept it. They should just forget me,” he said.

SENATORIAL PREFERENCES

Senator Jamby Madrigal at 39 percent each; Sarangani Rep. Emannuel Pac-quiao (36 percent) and Las Piñas Rep. Mark Villar (34 percent).

Former Senator Richard Gordon landed in the 13th spot with 33 per-cent, followed by Taguig Rep. Lino Cayetano (31 percent); Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista (30 percent); PhilHealth director Risa Hontiveros (28 percent); Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno (27 percent); Senator Teofisto Guingona III (26 percent); Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo and Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority head Mark Lapid at 26 per-cent each; Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza (24 percent); Leyte Rep. Mar-tin Romualdez (21 percent); broadcast journalist Mike Enriquez (16 percent); and Valenzuela Rep. Sherwin Gatch-alian and former MMDA head Fran-cis Tolentino with 13 percent each.

Marcos and Robredo, however, have already filed their certificates of candidacy for the vice presidency.

Madrigal, Bautista, Moreno, Villar, Atienza, Enriquez, and Cayetano also did not file their CoCs for the senato-rial post.

The Standard Poll has error mar-gins of +/- 2.6 percent for the national results and +/- 6 percent for the re-gional results. All regions were repre-sented in the survey.

Laylo, The Standard’s in-house poll-ster, has 25 years of experience in politi-cal polling and strategic research.

man killed by a falling tree, a six-year-old girl swept away by flood-waters in Barangay Abian, Nueva Vizcaya, two others in Nueva Ecija, and one in Tarlac. Three fishermen went missing in Abu-cay, Bataan. Six other people were also reported missing in Baler and Nueva Ecija.

OCD deputy director for the region Nigel Lontoc said flood waters in Nueva Ecija were chest-high in some areas and still rising as rain dumped by Lando on the Sierra Madre mountains contin-ued to cascade down to low-lying communities in the province.

In Bataan, a foreign passen-ger vessel with an undetermined number of passengers onboard smashed into the port.

As public storm signals went up over Luzon, the Department of Education and various local gov-ernments announced the cancel-lation of classes for Monday.

As of 6 p.m. Sunday, classes in all levels were cancelled in Metro Manila, except for Quezon City, which only called off classes from pre-school to high school.

Classes in all levels were also cancelled in Cainta, Malolos City, Pateros, San Pablo City, Ilagan City, Antipolo City, Baguio City, Malabon City, San Carlos City in Pangasinan and the towns of Ro-driguez and San Mateo, and in the

provinces of Pampanga, Isabela, Bulacan, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, Laguna, Nueva Ecija, Ifugao, Ba-tangas, and Bataan.

Earlier in the day, the head of the National Disaster Risk Reduc-tion Council, Alexander Palma, said there had been no need for major search and rescue opera-tions as a result of Lando.

“I must emphasize that this is just the start. People must remain alert while we try to pick up the pieces in areas already hit,” Palma said.

Lando made landfall before dawn on the coast of Casiguran, a remote fishing town of 31,000 people, remaining near-stationary for seven hours and whipping the area with gusts of up to 210 kilom-eters an hour.

“Lando tore off roofs of homes made of light materials. Rivers overflowed, and the roads to the area are blocked by downed power pylons and trees,” Lontoc said.

ABS-CBN network aired foot-age of a hospital building with its roof ripped off and houses torn down near Baler, the provincial capital that draws surfers from around the world.

Lontoc also said the authorities cancelled a surfing competition in Baler for the weekend and ordered about 2,000 participants to remain indoors.

By late morning the state weather service said the typhoon’s intensity had weakened slightly to gusts of 185 kilometers an hour while moving northwest over the

Pantabangan Dam in the south-ern foothills of the Cordillera, the country’s largest mountain range.

Despite the storm weakening, the authorities warned heavy rains could trigger flash floods and landslides in the region, home to more than 1.6 million people and known for its spectacular rice ter-races carved on the slopes of tow-ering mountains.

“We are strongly recommend-ing forced evacuations in the Cor-dillera administrative region espe-cially villages that are landslide- and flood-prone,” Palma said.

State weather forecaster Alc-zar Aurelio said Lando was ex-pected to weaken further into a severe tropical storm by Tuesday, but would only leave Luzon by Wednesday.

This was a day longer than ear-lier forecast, meaning the area could expect to be soaked with more rain, he added.

The authorities reported wide-spread power and communica-tions disruptions across Luzon, with many roads and bridges also blocked by landslides, floods or fallen trees and power pylons.

Ferry services across Luzon were suspended amid rough seas while commercial aviation was also disrupted with 30 flights can-celled, two of them on interna-tional routes.

Residents of communities in the typhoon’s expected path were hunkering down under darkening skies, said Kate Marshall, part of

an advance reconnaissance team of the International Committee of the Red Cross to the region.

“The rain is bad to intermittent and wind is picking up,” she said.

She said residents of Dupax, near the Pantabangan dam, were heading for the relative safety of schools and government buildings as floodwaters rose.

The weather service has also warned of storm surges, massive typhoon-generated waves smash-ing along coastal areas, but there have been no reports of these as the storm moved inland.

The Philippines is hit by an av-erage of 20 storms each year, many of them deadly.

The deadliest and strongest on record, super typhoon Yolanda, destroyed entire towns in the cen-tral islands in November 2013, leaving more than 7,350 people dead or missing.

The Palace assured the public Sunday that government agencies were coordinating to keep people safe.

“The entire force of the govern-ment is focused on ensuring the safety of our citizens who reside in areas affected by Typhoon Lando,” said Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. in an inter-view over state-run dzRB.

The Trade and Industry Depart-ment said it has ensured that there are adequate supplies in areas that are affected by Lando. With Sandy Araneta, John Paolo Bencito, Alena Mae S. Flores, AFP and PNA

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Ready for Christmas. A store owner at Mega Q-Mart shows a customer cheap Christmas decorations on Sunday. Manny PalMeRo

Guests. Liberal Party standard bearers Manuel Roxas II and Leni Robredo arrive in Koronadal City on Saturday as guests of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, which cited the achievements of the government’s poverty alleviation program. MaRk navales

Binay aide wants bank freeze order lifted

‘Yolanda funds being used for polls’

Analyst: Rody’s loss is Poe’s gain

REP. Arnel Ty on Sunday wondered if crooked local politicians in a number of “Yolanda”-affected areas were using cash from the govern-ment’s emergency shelter as-sistance to raise election cam-paign funds.

He also wondered if some victims of Super Typhoon Yolanda were being deprived of the P10,000 to P30,000 that they were supposed to receive to help them rebuild their homes.

Yolanda, the strongest ty-phoon to hit land in history, slammed into Central Visayas on Nov. 8, 2013, killing more than 7,000 people and leaving hundreds of thousands home-less.

Ty raised his questions amid persistent reports of alleged anomalies at the local level in the distribution of emergency shelter assistance by the De-partment of Social Welfare and

Development.“What really grabbed our

attention was the case of a mu-nicipal social welfare officer in Panay who pretended that the money for the ESA won’t be arriving for months, even if the cash was already there, and then offered the beneficiaries early payment in exchange for a 16-percent cut,” Ty said in a statement.

“In effect, a number of beneficiaries may be getting scammed out of their ESA [emergency shelter assistance] by the individuals directly overseeing the distribution of the money at the local level,” Ty said.

Ty said the erring municipal social welfare officer in Panay visited the beneficiaries, told them a lie that the ESA had been delayed, and then brought in a lender who offered quick cash loans equal to 84 percent of the ESA, so long as the re-

maining 16 percent was with-held as interest payment for the supposed advance.

“It is also fairly possible that ESA-related scams like this involve or have the blessings of higher local officials trying to raise cash to pay for their election campaign-related ex-penses,” Ty said.

“This Panay incident tends to disprove the reports of loan sharks preying on ESA ben-eficiaries. Loan sharks are not needed because in many cases the cash for the ESA may al-ready be there.”

The ESA amounts to P30,000 per family or individ-ual whose house was totally de-stroyed, or P10,000 per family or individual whose dwelling was partially damaged.

Social Welfare said it had so far distributed P14.6 billion worth of ESA to 753,750 fami-lies in the Yolanda-affected communities.

VICE President Jejomar Bi-nay’s alleged trusted aide and financial officer has asked the Court of Appeals to lift a freeze order against 170 bank and fi-nancial accounts supposedly under his name.

In an 88-page urgent motion filed through lawyers, Gerardo Limlingan argued that the An-ti-Money Laundering Council and the covered banks failed to present evidence that would show his accounts were related to unlawful activities.

The freeze order stemmed from a petition of the council, through the Office of the So-licitor General, that was filed on May 7, 2015, and granted by the Court of Appeals on May 11, 2015.

The freeze order was direct-ed against 242 banks accounts of, investments made by, and insurance policies issued to Limlingan, former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado,

Vice President Jejomar Binay, and suspended Makati Mayor Junjun Binay, among others.

The funds in the covered ac-counts were allegedly derived from alleged overpricing in the Makati City Hall Parking Building and Makati City Sci-ence High School Building, as well as the alleged 5-percent share from a joint venture agreement with Alphaland.

In his appeal, Limlingan said he was an established businessman with legitimate businesses and sources of in-come. He said the funds in his accounts came from legitimate sources and were used for le-gitimate purposes.

Limlingan cited the business-es and business partnerships he had been engaged in over the years, saying those were in commodities, food, electronics, furniture, mining and logging industries, among others.

He said he also entered into

partnerships that set up es-tablishments like a renowned Thai restaurant, a shuttle bus company, a popular bar in Ma-nila, and a movie company that produced box -office hits.

He said he also invested money to acquire several companies including cement plants, a cigarette manufac-turing company, and a devel-opment bank in Mindanao. Together with his brother, Limlingan said, he also pur-chased a seat in the Philippine Stock Exchange.

“Notwithstanding the fact that respondent Limlingan’s background are easily and even known to the AMLC, petition-er deliberately refrained from bringing the foregoing matters to the attention of this honor-able court,” Limlingan said in his plea.

“Indeed, none of the forego-ing matters ever surfaced in the Senate, the Office of the

Ombudsman, or this Honor-able Court.”

According to Limlingan, there is a clear intent to lead the appellate court into believing he does not have the financial capacity to maintain bank and investment accounts.

“Limlingan has been un-justifiably pilloried and tarred with numerous despicable and unfortunate description, which have been reiterated in various media outlets and by various media practitioners,” the motion says.

Limlingan criticized the AMLC for being “content to rely on the sweeping and un-substantiated accusation of Ernesto Mercado that he is the supposed ‘bagman,’ ‘hench-man’ or ‘aide’ of Vice President Binay, notwithstanding the fact that Mercado’s convenient testimony is utterly suspect and clearly motivated by ill will and malice.” Rey e. Requejo

Duterte was a no-show at the Comelec’s main office in Intramuros, Manila, at the end of the five-day filing of certificates of candidacy last Friday for those running for President, vice president and senator.

De Vera made his state-ment even as AKO Bicol par-ty-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe on Sunday cautioned the public on a supposed plot by the detractors of Senator Grace Poe to have her excluded in the 2016 presidential elec-tions following the Supreme Court’s disqualification of two mayors from Lanao del Norte and Batanes over the issue of their foreign citizen-ship.

Batocabe did not identify those behind the plot but said there was an ongoing demo-lition job to condition the minds of the voters on Poe’s looming disqualification.

“I think there is a system-atic PR campaign designed to condition the minds of our people that Poe would be disqualified,” said Batocabe, spokesman of the party-list Coalition Foundation Inc.

Speaking before the mem-bers of the Financial Execu-tives of the Philippines and the Center for Philippine Futuristics Studies and Man-agement, De Vera said the Laylo Report showed that in a three-way contest, Poe would pull away with 47 points fol-lowed by Binay and Roxas at 26 points each.

He said the internal sur-veys of other political par-ties and candidates showed a similar trend.

The survey conducted by Laylo from Sept. 21 to Oct. 1, with 1,500 respondents from

76 provinces in the country and 17 cities in the National Capital Region, showed Poe leading the pack of eight pos-sible candidates including Roxas, Binay, Duterte, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, Sena-tors Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Miriam Santiago and former Senator Richard Gordon.

Poe garnered 32 percent while Roxas placed second at 19 percent followed by Binay (14 percent), Duterte (10 per-cent), Estrada (9 percent), Mar-cos (7 percent), Santiago (6 per-cent) and Gordon (1 percent).

Poe also led the survey across all geographic areas, economic classes, gender and age groups.

By ethnicity, Poe was the top choice among the Taga-logs, (29 percent), Cebuanos (35 percent), Ilonggos (36 percent), Ilocanos (30 per-cent), Bicolanos (40 percent) and Muslim groups (27 per-cent). It was only among the Warays that Poe placed sec-ond with 19 percent, with Binay taking the lead at 42 percent.

The most recent Ulat sa Bayan survey of Pulse Asia also showed Poe maintaining her lead over the other presiden-tial candidates in the survey of 2,400 respondents conducted on Sept. 8 to 14 with a rating of 26 percent followed by Roxas (20 percent), Binay (19 percent) and Duterte (16 percent).

De Vera, also President of the Association of Politi-cal Consultants in Asia, said Poe’s espousal of a clean campaign focused on issues and platforms rather than personal attacks was “con-necting her with the voters”. Macon Ramos-araneta and Rio n. araja

CITING the Laylo report and other survey results, UP professor and political analyst Prospero de Vera said Sunday he believes Senator Grace Poe will gain from the decision of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte not to run for President in next year’s elections.

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Back lower taxes, PNoy urged

“To pass this very important mea-sure is the best of all gifts that the gov-ernment can give this Christmas to our ordinary workers,” said Romualdez, a lawyer and the president of the Philip-pine Constitution Association.

The President’s support for the bill would be a big factor in securing its swift approval in Congress, Romual-dez said.

Romualdez filed his certificate of candidacy for the Senate at the Commission on Elections office

in Manila for the upcoming 2016 elections.

The Leyte lawmaker, who earned his law degree at the University of the Philippines after taking his Bachelor of Arts degree at Cornell University, is now on his third term in office.

Romualdez earlier said he wel-comed the plan of House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. to meet with the President during Congress’ re-cess in a last-ditch effort to save the passage of the measure filed by

By Rio N. Araja and Macon Ramos-Araneta

HOUSE independent bloc leader Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez on Sunday urged President Benigno Aquino III to support a proposed law lowering income taxes to show empathy (“malasakit”) to ordinary Filipi-nos this Christmas.

Palace says‘thank you’ to pro-BBLdiplomats

Korina hit for bragging about queueing up

By Sandy Araneta

MALACAÑANG said on Sunday that is elated by foreign diplomats’ show of support for the controversial draft Bangsamoro Basic Law.

Communications Secre-tary Herminio Coloma Jr. thanked the ambassadors for supporting the proposed law.

“We thank our friends from the diplomatic corps who are affirming their soli-darity with our country in building the foundations for enduring peace, as we con-tinue to work with Congress for the timely enactment of the BBL,” Coloma said dur-ing an interview over state-run dzRB.

Foreign ambassadors ear-lier issued a statement urg-ing the Philippine govern-ment and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to remain engaged in the peace pro-cess and expressing con-cern about the delay in the implementation of the Com-prehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro because the draft law has yet to be passed by Congress.

“We call on all concerned to remain engaged in the peace process to give life to the Comprehensive Agree-ment on Bangsamoro, and to the long-term political, economic and social pillars that will bring the peace dividend to the country as a whole,” the ambassadors said in their statement.

“We ask for a continued commitment from all stake-holders to seize this opportu-nity to enable the Bangsam-oro people to form an effec-tive and inclusive, devolved administration as called for in the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsam-oro. To do this will require flexibility on all sides to work within the current Constitu-tion of the Republic and rec-ognition of the aspirations of the people of Bangsamoro,” the ambassadors also said.

Marikina City Rep. Miro Quimbo, chairman of the House committee on ways and means.

Quimbo said Belmonte and Senate President Franklin Drilon could con-vince the President to pass the bill before Christmas.

According to Quimbo, the income tax reform proposal is very much alive and could be approved before the 16th Congress ends.

Romualdez backed Quimbo’s po-sition that Malacañang should forego the projected P30-billion annual rev-enue losses as a result of the reduc-tion in the personal and corporate income tax rates since P44-billion could be generated by two new rev-enue sources.

During a recent meeting at Malaca-ñang, Quimbo explained to the Presi-dent that the government would gen-erate a combined P44 billion in new

income from the P13 billion taxes from the implementation next year of P50.6-billion Salary Standardization Law and P33 billion from a measure seeking the imposition of a 10-per-cent ad valorem tax on soft drinks and other sweetened beverages.

Meanwhile, Senator Chiz Escu-dero on Sunday told voters to make tax reforms an election issue so that more leaders would throw their sup-port behind legislative efforts to amend the Tax Reform Act of 1997.

“Everyone is now singing the same tune, even those who were hesitant to support us in the past. And that’s fine. The important thing is to let this cam-paign for tax reforms gather steam be-cause it is a legitimate issue that begs to be addressed if we want to sustain economic growth,” noted Escudero who is running for vice president in next year’s election.

Yes, she falls in line. This photo from Korina Sanchez-Roxas’ Facebook page shows the wife of presidential aspirant Mar Roxas falling in line to enter Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

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Masskara. Dancers wearing colorful masks and costumes parade during the recent Masskara Festival in Bacolod City. The event is celebrated on the third weekend of October every year. RALPH PIEZAS

BROADCASTER Korina San-chez-Roxas drew flak online for posting a photo of herself falling in line to enter the Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s Terminal 3 on Friday.

Sanchez-Roxas, wife of Liberal Party standard-bearer Manuel Roxas II, was going to Cebu to deliver a speech during a convention of the Integrated Midwives Association of the Philippines Inc.

Sanchez-Roxas posted the photo on her Facebook account (https://www.facebook.com/) with the fol-lowing status message: “On my way to Cebu for a speech. Aba, opo, pumipila po ako haha! [Yes, I do fall in line!]”

Most commenters took her to task for making a big deal out of queueing to enter the airport, which is what all passengers do.

Sanchez-Roxas eventually edited her accompanying message on Oct. 17, to read: “On my way to Cebu for a speech.”

The status message was “liked” 8,150 times and was shared 2,023 times as of 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

Facebook user Hannah Castro Evangelista said in her comment: “In-edit mo pa yung caption!!! [You edited the caption!] Nice. Hahaha-haha.”

Mon Hernandez threatened to throw a pair of slippers at Sanchez-Roxas, while Patrick John Moreno Jose said he has lined up outside NAIA-3 several times but never felt the need to post a photo of himself doing so.

Revned Punzalan said: “Hahah PAKITANG TAO. Sorry… kahit sa MRT rush hour ka pa pumila… de-hins namin boboto si Mar. [Hypo-

crite. Sorry, even if you line up dur-ing the MRT rush hour, we still won’t vote for Mar.]”

Dulay Jennifer Kay said: “Di ko ma-imagine na ikaw magiging First Lady! Walang bakas ng humanity sa’yo. Good luck sa bansa kapag kayo nanalo. [I cannot imagine you as First Lady! You have no sign of humanity. Good luck to our country if you and your husband win.]”

A smaller number of commenters, however, took up the cudgels for Sanchez-Roxas.

Vikki Villaluz said: “If I can vote, the most decent candidate I will vote for is Roxas... I am hoping Ms. Ko-rina would be extra careful in post-ing in media since she’s under every-one’s scrutiny... This kind of posting could be mistaken as ‘too proud of her humility’... Let other people speak of your goodness.”

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CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

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Bill frees teachersfrom election duties

The chairman of the House committee on suffrage and elec-toral reforms, Rep. Fredenil Cas-tro said he and Rep. Isidro Ungab, chairman of the committee on ap-propriations, steered the proposed Election Service Reform Act joint-ly with its principal authors during the series of debates and interpel-lations in the House plenary.

Castro said the House Bill 5412 is the substitute of five separate but similar measures filed earlier by Representatives Antonio Tinio of ACT-Teachers party-list, Regina Ongsiako Reyes of Marinduque, Erlinda Santiago of 1-Sagip party-

list, Eric Olivarez of Parañaque City, Lawrence Lemuel Fortun of Agusan del Norte, vice presiden-tial bet Leni Robredo of Cama-rines Sur, Edgar Erice of Caloocan City, Harlin Abayon of Northern Samar, Nicasio Aliping Jr. of Ba-guio City and   Emmeline Aglipay Villar of Diwa party-list.

The measure is designed “to free school teachers from engag-ing in compulsory election du-ties as currently practiced and to open up election service to other government employees, members of the Commission on Elections-accredited citizen arms and pri-

vate citizens of known probity and competence,” he said.

Under the bill, should there be a lack of teachers willing, available and qualified to serve, Comelec may appoint any registered voter in accordance with and order of preference as provided under the proposed statute.

The order of preference is stated as follows: 1) private school teach-ers, 2) Department of Education’s non-teaching personnel, 3) other national government officials and employees holding regular or permanent positions, excluding members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police, 4) members of the Comelec-accredited citizens arms and other Comelec-accredited civil society organizations and non-gov-ernment organization, and   5) any citizen of known probity and com-

petence who is not involved with any candidate or political party.

The House-approved bill provides that persons rendering election serv-ices should be entitled to honoraria, travel allowance and such other ben-efits as may be granted by the Come-lec, at rates to be determined and ap-proved by the Department of Budget and Management, subject to existing accounting, budgeting and auditing rules and regulations, Castro said.

It also provides for legal assist-ance and an equitable legal indem-nification package and provisions for claims for persons rendering election services.

The initial funding for the pro-posed law shall be charged against the current Comelec appropria-tions and thereafter, such amount necessary to implement the Act shall be included in the General Appropriations Act.

LP veterans jump ship in CebuCEBU CITY—Some long-time leaders of the Liberal Party in Cebu have joined the Nationalist People’s Co-alition after they failed to get the LP’s endorsement for their candidacies in the 2016 elections.

Among them are San Fernando, Cebu Mayor Antonio Canoy and Tal-isay City Vice Mayor Romeo Villarante; Argao, Cebu Mayor Edsel Galeos; and businessman Efrain Pelaez Jr., candidate for mayor in Lapu-Lapu City.

They said they were forced to join the NPC because the LP did not issue the certifi-cate of nomination and ac-

ceptance to them.Canoy filed his certifi-

cate of candidacy for con-gressman in Cebu’s first district during the last day of filing on Friday.

Canoy is running for the second district’s congres-sional seat against reelec-tionist Rep. Gerard Antho-ny Gullas, a member of the Alayon-Nationalista Party, but an LP ally.

Cebu Gov. Hilario Da-vide III, Cebu Province LP chairman, apologized to Canoy, because they were together in the LP in the 2010 and 2013 elections.

Davide said what hap-

pened with Canoy was a reality in politics because it was clear from the pro-nouncement of LP stand-ard bearer Mar Roxas that Gullas was his choice for congressman.

Canoy said he bolted LP because the Gullases worked to kick him out of LP.

In Talisay City, Villarante will run against reelectionist Talisay City Mayor Johnny de los Reyes of LP.

Other LP members who have defected to the NPC are Talisay City Councilor Danny Caballero, who will run for vice mayor, and reelectionist Coun-cilor Aldin Diaz. PNA

Sailing ban. Fishermen inspect their wooden fishing boats as the Coast Guard has banned sailing on Sunday amid the onslaught of Typhoon ‘Lando’ (Koppu). TED ALJIBE

Comelec elated by CoC filing results

Give ‘em shelter. A mother and her son take shelter from the wind and rain brought on by Typhoon ‘Lando’ along Roxas Boulevard in Manila on Oct. 18, 2015. Lando ripped off roofs, tore down trees and unleashed landslides and floods, forcing thousands to flee as it pummelled the northern Luzon, officials said. AFP

By Rio N. Araja

The house of Representatives has transmitted to the Senate a bill making election service non-compulsory for public school teachers.

THE Commission on Elections expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the five-day filing period wherein aspirants for national and local positions in the May 2016 polls sub-mitted their Certificates of Candidacy.

Comelec Chairman Juan Andres Bautista said the event went on smoothly as planned. “Overall we are very pleased with the out-come. I think we were able to preserve the fes-tive atmosphere.”

The Comelec im-proved the setup of the filing process by sepa-rating the venues of the filing of CoCs and the interview of aspir-ants with the members of the media as com-pared from past filing period wherein the fil-ing and interview were conducted in one area —the Project Manage-ment Office located at the ground floor of the Comelec main office at the Palacio del Gober-nador in Intramuros, Manila.

Comelec Spokes-person James Jimenez said that the number of those who filed for the presidential post was a record high.

“It feels like it. I have not yet had a chance to verify. It’s likely a record breaker. If not for any-thing else, then for the position of President. We have 130. That’s a lot,” he said.

Ten candidates of-ficially ran in the 2010 presidential polls, but the poll official cannot give the exact figure on the number of aspirants who filed their CoCs for the post. PNA

A6m o n D AY : o c t o b e r 1 9, 2 0 1 5

NEWSeditorial@thestandard.com.ph

‘GG’ fishing ban proposedBy Rio Araja

BECAUSE of overfishing of mackerel scad, popularly known as galunggong, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources will impose a fishing ban off Northern Palawan within   Sulu Sea from Nov. 15  to January next year.

BFAR director Asis Perez has re-commmended to Agriculture Secre-tary Proceso Alcala an administrative order to enforce a three-month closed season in the area of Northern Pala-wan to ban fishing of galunggong, or “GG” in colloquial term, to preserve and protect its production.

“Definitely, Metro Manila will be affected. But what can we do? Close it [Northern Palawan] now, or you’ll have no galunggong forever,” he told The Standard.

The supply of galunggong is expect-ed to dwindle and that prices in the market will also go up, he said.

At least 90 percent of galunggong in the National Capital Region comes from Northern Palawan, he said.

“It is not true that our galunggong is fished here at the Manila Bay,” he added.

He said those who fish galunggong in Northern Palawan are not the fish-er folks of Palawan, but the fishermen from Navotas City [in Metro Manila].

“We are enforcing a closed season in Palawan because we just want to protect the natural propagation of galunggong, just like what we did in Zamboanga in the past. In fact, Zamboanga was able to double its sardine production compared to last year’s production, and that prices of canned sardines even went down because of enough fish supply and cheaper costs of cans. All these have played a big factor to lower the prices of canned sardines by P1 at the su-permarkets, stores and markets,” he pointed out.

Because of non-regulation of fish-ing of galunggong in Northern Pal-awan, there has been a lesser fish catch and its price has gone up to as high as P100 per kilo when sold out-side Palawan.

“Fresh catch of galunggong is sold here at P30 a kilo, but is sold in the metro markets at P100 a kilo,” Perez said.

Musical play. The Ballet Philippines enlivens a Filipino classic song into a stage play dubbed as ‘Sarong Banggi’ which features new works by Filipino choreographers set to folk songs from around the country, arranged and orchestrated by Ryan Cayabyab at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2015. DANNY PATA

Revillame arrest order upheld

By Macon AranetaSeNAToR Cynthia Villar expressed dis-appointment over the snail-paced filing of charges against alleged smugglers as she welcomed the passage on third reading of the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act at the Senate.

“It is unfortunate that the numerous statements we gathered from resource per-sons in our hearings pointing to these per-sons as the ones responsible for smuggling were not enough for the filing of formal charges,” Villar said.

After two years, the Department of Justice has not filed formal charges against alleged big-time rice smug-glers, who were involved in rice and garlic cartels. Two of the suspects were the focus of the Senate probe into smuggling in 2013.

Villar, chair of the Committee on

Agriculture and Food, is the principal sponsor of Senate Bill No. 2923 or the Anti-Large Scale Agricultural Smug-gling Act. The bill, passed on third reading by the Senate, seeks to declare agricultural smuggling as a no-bailable offense of economic sabotage.

“We are confident that once enacted into law, this will send a strong message that this government is serious in eradi-cating smuggling in our country, and that economic saboteurs will be severely pun-ished for threatening our country’s food security,” she said.

Under the Villar bill, the amount of smuggled agricultural product subject to economic sabotage is equal to or more than P10 million for rice, and equal to or more than P1 million for other agricul-tural products such as sugar, corn, pork, poultry, garlic, onion, carrots, dried fish, and cruciferous vegetables.

Senate OKs anti-smuggling bill

EK’s 20th. Enchanted Kingdom chairman and president Mario Mamon (left) and Mayor Arlene Arcillas of Sta. Rosa City in Laguna lead the opening of the ‘Global Handwashing Day’ along with guests to mark the 20th anniversary celebration of the amusement park in this booming city. EY AcAsio

By Rey E. Requejo

THe Court of Appeals has upheld the ruling of the Que-zon City Regional Trial Court, which found probable cause for the issuance of a warrant of ar-rest against controversial televi-sion host Willie Revillame, in connection with the child abuse and exploitation case filed against him.

In an 11-page decision, the CA’s Thirteenth Divi-sion through Associate Justice Ma. Luisa Quijano-Padilla re-solved that there was no grave abuse of discretion on the part of Quezon City RTC, Branch 86, Presiding Judge Roberto Buenaventura in issuing the ar-rest warrant against Revillame on oct. 4, 2013.

“As a final note, we observe that the resolution of this case had long been delayed because of the petitioner’s refusal to submit to the trial court’s juris-diction and his erroneous invo-cation of the Rules in his favor,” the appellate court stressed.

Associate Justices Normandie Pizarro and Samuel Gaerlan concurred with the ruling.

According to the appellate court, Judge Buenaventura did not arbitrarily issue the war-rant of arrest against petitioner as it was issued after his per-sonal evaluation of the factual circumstances that led him to believe that there was probable cause to apprehend petitioner for his commission of a crimi-nal offense.

The case arose from the con-

troversial incident on March 12, 2011 in his defunct prime time game show “Willing Willie” aired on Associated Broadcast-ing Company (ABC) 5 Network wherein one of the contestants was a six-year-old boy.

Revillame then made the boy perform a dance featur-ing gyrating moves associated with “macho dancers” or male strippers.

The host even encouraged the boy to repeat his dance moves and tried to imitate the child’s dance steps. Revillame then gave the boy P10,000 as his price and allowed the boy to repeat his performance several times.

Several days after the episode, the Department of Social Wel-fare and Development filed

a complaint with the Quezon City Prosecutor’s office for vio-lation of Republic Act 7610 or the Special Protection of Chil-dren Against Abuse, exploita-tion and Discrimination Act.

The DSWD alleged that the episode constituted psychologi-cal abuse, cruelty and emotional maltreatment of the boy and de-based, degraded and demeaned his dignity, thus, constituting child abuse.

Consequently, the QC Pros-ecutor’s office found probable cause to charge Revillame with child abuse case before the QC RTC.

on Sept. 4, 2013, the RTC found probable cause on the crime charged against Revil-lame and issued an arrest war-rant against him.

A7m o n D AY : o c t o b e r 1 9, 2 0 1 5

NEWSeditorial@thestandard.com.ph

By Ferdie G. Domingo

CABANATUAN CITY—For the first time in 56 years, the once-powerful Joson political dynasty in Nueva Ecija is not fielding a family member as gubernatorial candidate in next year’s local elections.

Instead, the family who has ruled the province for a half-century, will act as kingmaker by supporting the candidacy of an ally against an Umali in hopes of ending its nemesis’ decades-long rule at the Capi-tol.

Former four-time governor Tomas Joson III, chairman of the Josons’ Bagong Lakas ng Nueva Ecija (Balane), the party founded by their patriarch, has nominated former three-term congressman Rodolfo Antonino as its gubernatorial standard bearer against outgoing third district Rep. Czarina Umali, wife of outgoing three-term Gov. Aurelio Umali.

Joson said they have decided not to field any Joson for gov-ernor and give others a chance. “Anyway, there is another can-didate running in the person of Congressman Antonino so we will just support him,” he said.

While skipping the governor-ship, at least five Josons are run-ning for elective posts. They are returning former four-time first district congresswoman Josie Manuel-Joson, Tomas III’s son, former vice governor Edward Thomas Joson, reelectionist board member Eduardo Rey Jo-son, reelectionist Quezon May-or Dean Joson and reelectionist Cabanatuan City Councilor EJ Joson.

Manuel-Joson is the wife of Mariano Cristino Joson, a former vice governor and former Quezon mayor. Manuel-Joson is squaring off with reelectionist Rep. Estrellita Suansing who defeated Mariano Cristino in 2013.

Suansing is the wife of former Customs deputy commissioner Horacio Suansing.

Marawi City police chief’s killing stirs outrage, fearBy Ali G. Macabalang

  COTABATO CITY—Government authorities and Marawi City resi-dents are outraged over the killing of the city police chief in an ambush in his own turf Saturday.

The killing of Superintendent Al Abner Wahab Santos was carried out by unidenti-fied armed men suspected to be behind the series of still-unsolved killings and atrocities in the locality.    

“If our own police chief could fall in the hands of still-unpunished criminals, how can we feel safe in our place?” a social sci-ences professor at the Mindanao State Uni-versity main campus in Marawi City asked in a phone interview by The Standard.

The professor, who asked not to be named for his own safety, was referring to the am-bush of the city police chief past  2 p.m. along a road in Marawi City.

The crime scene, known locally as Sari-manok area of the city’s Luks-a-datu village, gained notoriety for being a place where some people were shot dead in recent incidents. Four popcorn vendors and a tricycle driver were killed in the area last  Sept. 3.  

Santos, of mixed Tausog-Visayan descent and a native of Pagadian City, was driving a black Mit-subishi Montero en route to the city when uniden-tified armed men overtook his car and repeatedly shot at it, government authorities said.

The attackers, aboard a similar Montero car, tailed Santos’ vehicle after his half-day long meeting at Kampo Ranao, the base of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade in the city,

less than a kilometer from the ambush site, probers said.    

Santos sustained multiple gunshot wounds on his head from bullets of still unknown kinds of firearms that caused his instant death, initial reports from the police offices of Lanao del Sur and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the 103rd  Infantry Brigade said.

Marawi is the capital of Lanao del Sur and a component of the ARMM.

Col. Roseller Murillo, head of the 103rd Bri-gade, said some of his troops staged an initial pursuit operation but failed to catch up with the ambushers.

Government investigators were still determin-ing the motive and identities of Santos’ killers.

Standard sources said Santos’ ambush-slay could be related to an alleged fatal torture by cops of a “fall guy” they reportedly arrested and pressed for confession to a recent murder in the city.  

Two Liberals to run as ARMM gov COTABATO CITY—Autonomous Re-gion in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Mujiv Hataman faces a challenge in his re-election bid from fellow Liberal Party member Sulu Vice Gov. Abdusakur Tan.

Lawyer Ray Sumalipao, regional elec-tions director for ARMM, said Hataman and Tan have filed their Certificates of Candidacy for regional governor along with two independent aspirants named as Kharis Pamaloy and Faisal Mangon-dato, both from Lanao del Sur.

He said four personalities also filed COCs for ARMM vice governor, nam-ing them as incumbent Regional Vice Gov. Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman, also of the LP, and independent candidates Agakhan Sharief and Mosib Salipada of Lanao del Sur, and Haron Bandila of Maguindanao.

Lucman, the official teammate of Hataman, is also from Lanao del Sur. 

Bandila is a former secretary of the ARMM’s agriculture department and erstwhile chairman of the Muslim Mindanao Business chamber.

Both Hataman and Tan had report-edly met the LP hierarchy and Presi-dent Aquino to seek anointment.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu has said that his fam-ily called off plan to field a candidate for ARMM governor or vice governor because the President was desiring a status quo for the reelection of present ARMM elected officials due to a possi-ble passage this year of the stalled bills of the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

Mangudadatu, provincial LP chair-man in Maguindanao, said the Aquino administration was still hoping for the passage of the BBL, which envisions to establish a Bangsamoro autonomous entity in lieu of the ARMM setup. Ali G. Macabalang

Harvest time. A man in Naguey, Atok, Benguet harvests yam, a cash crop for farmers in the area. DAVID CHAN

Josons not fielding bet for Ecija gov

Show me how. Albay Gov. Joey Salceda gets familiar with making native products like rags and bags from abaca, his province’s produce, during the opening of Manila Fame. DANNY PATA

opinionA8

[ EDI TORI A L ]

To-do lisT

A9lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

ADELLE chuAE d i T o R

M O N D AY : O c T O B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5

opinion

My father, Mr. Justice hilarion Lolarga aquino, will turn 83 on Wednesday, the 21st of the month. he was born while the star spangled banner yet waved over a land that was not so free but definitely the home of the brave! Camiling was the town of the romulos, the  Peñas  and the Kippings.  It was the town of the

composer of “O Naraniag a Bulan,” and it was my father’s town too. But the entire family spoke Pangalatok, besides Ilocano. Lineage went back to Mangaldan, Pangasinan.  So it was that when the Japanese became vicious, the entire family escaped to Pangasinan, only to endure life in the trenches because of the bombardment that accompanied the landing of american forces. That made my paternal grandmother, esperanza, anxious and on edge—a terrible condition at

Like aged wine

Though his life is an open book, and he lives in a glass house, and his state-ments blunt that they don’t have to be parsed for hidden meanings, Digong Duterte can sometimes be “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”

Because of this, no Monday morning quarterbacking or weekend post mor-tem would be able to fully explain why he cancelled his appointment with his-tory. We all know what happened Black Friday—by the time the sun had set, he had broken a million hearts by just ut-tering one word: “No.”

I also belong to the clueless millions. But here’s my theory on why he did not take the leap of faith: The man was not simply consumed by the burning ambi-tion to be President.

others would give an arm, pawn the Republic’s riches, issue Ious to funders for a sliver of hope, even a Chinaman’s chance, to become President, which some of them in fact claim as a birth-right etched in some hidden coat of arms of their clan.

he had everything going for him. Sans TV ads, his poll numbers were rising. Despite being a lone-wolf campaigner —he did not seek refuge in packs other-wise known as political parties—support groups were mushrooming. Instead of soliciting it, he was spurning monetary contributions. he had no rah-rah boys in Congress who can fill an FX van. he only had volunteers who can fill Luneta.

Yet, everything was going for him that the last day of filing in Comelec became a Countdown-for-Duterte show, relegat-ing others to sideshows.

In the checklist for a launch, all the boxes had been crossed out. But he did not press the launch button.

* * *Even as a candidate, Digong was a

renegade. And this charming unconven-tionality is probably his endearing trait.

While other presidential wannabes would couch their statements in safe language, Digong’s statements were nei-ther rehearsed nor filtered by the politi-cal-correctness police.

he wanted to padlock Congress, de-clare a revolutionary government, bring the Reds in as a coalition partner—state-ments which if uttered by others would have led to their being raked over the coals. But for Digong, these only fired up his growing base.

Even his “listening tour” veered away from standard talking points. Review the tapes of all his speeches and this would emerge: he was endorsing all the candidates—Mar, grace, Binay, Miriam —except him. So this could be the basis of his oft-repeated statement that never for one moment did he say that he was

duterte’s aborted

run

Bar. Grief-stricken, daddy was no longer interested in finishing the examination, but mommy, ever so persistent, goaded him to do so. he did, and while he did not make it to the newspapers’ list of the top 10 passers, he notched a place in the first 15 of the roster!

he decided that his family would settle in tuguegarao and, though virtually unknown, he introduced himself to the public by running for public office as a municipal councilor,

soon surprising all by besting natives of tuguegarao, at a time when PCOS machines did not misread results!  I saw him interview clients regularly, and seeing him reading late into the night was rather common. I learned from him the lesson early in my life that it pays to be diligent, studious and earnest. When I started going to school and bringing home report cards with creditable marks, he was not remiss in his appreciation but he emphasized one thing: there could be

no excuse nor pretext for arrogance.  and he lived that precept. he still goes by it.

he entered the service of the judiciary late, because he did not want to be corrupt, and a judge’s pay was hardly enough to send the three of us who had chosen long courses to school. Mine was the most unprofitable economically—the priesthood. It is a course that is investment-intensive with no

Continued on A11

WhoEVER wins the 2016 presidential election will have the daunting task of cleaning up after the Aquino administration, which has left the country’s public service system in shambles. The to-do list is a long one, but the next President could start with this abbreviated list.

1) Restore public accountability of government agencies.This is one area of governance that President Benigno Aquino III completely corrupted. under Mr.

Aquino’s rule, performance in government is measured not by concrete achievements but by personal loyalty and the ability to promise results without actually delivering them. Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala is a prime example, promising early on that the country would achieve rice self-sufficiency but presiding instead over the rampant smuggling of the staple grain and other agricultural commodities. In the process, Secretary Alcala has reaped at least four plunder complaints—but the President has kept him on the job, at best rewarding non-performance, and at worst condoning corruption. This pattern of tolerating corruption and rewarding incompetence has been repeated throughout the Aquino bureaucracy, including but not limited to the Department of Transportation and Communications, the Bureau of Customs, the Philippine National Police and the Metro Manila Development Authority. Clearly, correcting this sad state of affairs would be Job No. 1 for any new president.

2) Restore public services.As an offshoot of Job No. 1, the next President must fire all officials and government employees

behind the failure to deliver basic services—paying close attention to the Land Transportation office. There is no reason motorists must wait a year or more to receive license plates for which they have already paid, or months to claim driver’s licenses that used to be issued on the same day they were renewed. There is also no reason voters who have registered with the Commission on Elections to be told they must wait “years” for their voter’s ID to be ready.

What the Aquino administration has done to the MRT is a crime. For his entire term, President Aquino has allowed a once valuable public transport asset to deteriorate into a public hazard to the detriment of millions of long-suffering commuters.

All this must end. government workers must once again behave like the public servants they are supposed to be, and not the petty tyrants that treat the public with disdain or worse, prey on them for their own illegal gains.

3) Make the tax system equitable.For far too long, low- and middle-income wage earners have borne a disproportionate share of the tax

burden. Filipino workers, in fact, pay the highest taxes in the region, and even the head of the National Economic and Development Authority admits that the tax system is regressive—taking as much as a third of the pay of middle-income earners. Yet the Aquino administration has rejected legislation that would grant them tax relief, saying this would hurt the country’s standing among international credit rating agencies.

It is high time the government paid more attention to Filipino taxpayers, instead of international ratings agencies. It is taxpayers, after all, who pay government salaries. The next President would do well to keep this in mind.

4) Restore confidence in the justice system.under President Aquino, the Justice Department and the office of the ombudsman have become

tools for the persecution of political enemies. This they have done with a sense of urgency that is absent when those accused of wrongdoing are friends or allies of the President.

Also to our national shame, the Philippines has been branded a violator of basic human rights, then dismissed as a mere “opinion” the findings of the uN high Commissioner on human Rights that the government’s detention of former President gloria Arroyo was arbitrary, illegal and politically motivated.

The list is by no means complete, but it is a good place to start for the next President. unless, of course, this turns out to be the administration candidate who promises at every opportunity to continue “the reforms” initiated by President Aquino.

a time that tranquilizers were not easy to come by. 

The Camiling house was a typically huge middle-class residence.  I was born in that house. Daddy’s parents had parcels of land that yielded palay that was more than enough for the family’s needs which is why daddy went to law school, an elder brother became a mechanical engineer, a younger brother, to medical school, one sister finished a degree in commerce and another sister became a teacher and rose through the

ranks of academe. But the Manila schooling of the brood took its toll, and the parcels of land were gradually sold.  My father once told me that one of the reasons he decided to study law was to  take up  the cause  of  the victims of loan sharks and opportunists!

My father met my mother in law school and while both were sitting for the Bar examinations, tragedy struck: dad’s father, my grandfather Melanio, stricken by sarcoma, passed away just before the examination of the third  Sunday  of the

life has had its travails, but on the whole, it has been full of gifts, among the

greatest of these, my father!pEnséEs

fR. Ranhiliocallangan

aquino

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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plumblinE

pasToR apollo

quiboloy

Continued on A10

opinionA8

[ EDI TORI A L ]

To-do lisT

A9lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

ADELLE chuAE d i T o R

M O N D AY : O c T O B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5

opinion

My father, Mr. Justice hilarion Lolarga aquino, will turn 83 on Wednesday, the 21st of the month. he was born while the star spangled banner yet waved over a land that was not so free but definitely the home of the brave! Camiling was the town of the romulos, the  Peñas  and the Kippings.  It was the town of the

composer of “O Naraniag a Bulan,” and it was my father’s town too. But the entire family spoke Pangalatok, besides Ilocano. Lineage went back to Mangaldan, Pangasinan.  So it was that when the Japanese became vicious, the entire family escaped to Pangasinan, only to endure life in the trenches because of the bombardment that accompanied the landing of american forces. That made my paternal grandmother, esperanza, anxious and on edge—a terrible condition at

Like aged wine

Though his life is an open book, and he lives in a glass house, and his state-ments blunt that they don’t have to be parsed for hidden meanings, Digong Duterte can sometimes be “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”

Because of this, no Monday morning quarterbacking or weekend post mor-tem would be able to fully explain why he cancelled his appointment with his-tory. We all know what happened Black Friday—by the time the sun had set, he had broken a million hearts by just ut-tering one word: “No.”

I also belong to the clueless millions. But here’s my theory on why he did not take the leap of faith: The man was not simply consumed by the burning ambi-tion to be President.

others would give an arm, pawn the Republic’s riches, issue Ious to funders for a sliver of hope, even a Chinaman’s chance, to become President, which some of them in fact claim as a birth-right etched in some hidden coat of arms of their clan.

he had everything going for him. Sans TV ads, his poll numbers were rising. Despite being a lone-wolf campaigner —he did not seek refuge in packs other-wise known as political parties—support groups were mushrooming. Instead of soliciting it, he was spurning monetary contributions. he had no rah-rah boys in Congress who can fill an FX van. he only had volunteers who can fill Luneta.

Yet, everything was going for him that the last day of filing in Comelec became a Countdown-for-Duterte show, relegat-ing others to sideshows.

In the checklist for a launch, all the boxes had been crossed out. But he did not press the launch button.

* * *Even as a candidate, Digong was a

renegade. And this charming unconven-tionality is probably his endearing trait.

While other presidential wannabes would couch their statements in safe language, Digong’s statements were nei-ther rehearsed nor filtered by the politi-cal-correctness police.

he wanted to padlock Congress, de-clare a revolutionary government, bring the Reds in as a coalition partner—state-ments which if uttered by others would have led to their being raked over the coals. But for Digong, these only fired up his growing base.

Even his “listening tour” veered away from standard talking points. Review the tapes of all his speeches and this would emerge: he was endorsing all the candidates—Mar, grace, Binay, Miriam —except him. So this could be the basis of his oft-repeated statement that never for one moment did he say that he was

duterte’s aborted

run

Bar. Grief-stricken, daddy was no longer interested in finishing the examination, but mommy, ever so persistent, goaded him to do so. he did, and while he did not make it to the newspapers’ list of the top 10 passers, he notched a place in the first 15 of the roster!

he decided that his family would settle in tuguegarao and, though virtually unknown, he introduced himself to the public by running for public office as a municipal councilor,

soon surprising all by besting natives of tuguegarao, at a time when PCOS machines did not misread results!  I saw him interview clients regularly, and seeing him reading late into the night was rather common. I learned from him the lesson early in my life that it pays to be diligent, studious and earnest. When I started going to school and bringing home report cards with creditable marks, he was not remiss in his appreciation but he emphasized one thing: there could be

no excuse nor pretext for arrogance.  and he lived that precept. he still goes by it.

he entered the service of the judiciary late, because he did not want to be corrupt, and a judge’s pay was hardly enough to send the three of us who had chosen long courses to school. Mine was the most unprofitable economically—the priesthood. It is a course that is investment-intensive with no

Continued on A11

WhoEVER wins the 2016 presidential election will have the daunting task of cleaning up after the Aquino administration, which has left the country’s public service system in shambles. The to-do list is a long one, but the next President could start with this abbreviated list.

1) Restore public accountability of government agencies.This is one area of governance that President Benigno Aquino III completely corrupted. under Mr.

Aquino’s rule, performance in government is measured not by concrete achievements but by personal loyalty and the ability to promise results without actually delivering them. Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala is a prime example, promising early on that the country would achieve rice self-sufficiency but presiding instead over the rampant smuggling of the staple grain and other agricultural commodities. In the process, Secretary Alcala has reaped at least four plunder complaints—but the President has kept him on the job, at best rewarding non-performance, and at worst condoning corruption. This pattern of tolerating corruption and rewarding incompetence has been repeated throughout the Aquino bureaucracy, including but not limited to the Department of Transportation and Communications, the Bureau of Customs, the Philippine National Police and the Metro Manila Development Authority. Clearly, correcting this sad state of affairs would be Job No. 1 for any new president.

2) Restore public services.As an offshoot of Job No. 1, the next President must fire all officials and government employees

behind the failure to deliver basic services—paying close attention to the Land Transportation office. There is no reason motorists must wait a year or more to receive license plates for which they have already paid, or months to claim driver’s licenses that used to be issued on the same day they were renewed. There is also no reason voters who have registered with the Commission on Elections to be told they must wait “years” for their voter’s ID to be ready.

What the Aquino administration has done to the MRT is a crime. For his entire term, President Aquino has allowed a once valuable public transport asset to deteriorate into a public hazard to the detriment of millions of long-suffering commuters.

All this must end. government workers must once again behave like the public servants they are supposed to be, and not the petty tyrants that treat the public with disdain or worse, prey on them for their own illegal gains.

3) Make the tax system equitable.For far too long, low- and middle-income wage earners have borne a disproportionate share of the tax

burden. Filipino workers, in fact, pay the highest taxes in the region, and even the head of the National Economic and Development Authority admits that the tax system is regressive—taking as much as a third of the pay of middle-income earners. Yet the Aquino administration has rejected legislation that would grant them tax relief, saying this would hurt the country’s standing among international credit rating agencies.

It is high time the government paid more attention to Filipino taxpayers, instead of international ratings agencies. It is taxpayers, after all, who pay government salaries. The next President would do well to keep this in mind.

4) Restore confidence in the justice system.under President Aquino, the Justice Department and the office of the ombudsman have become

tools for the persecution of political enemies. This they have done with a sense of urgency that is absent when those accused of wrongdoing are friends or allies of the President.

Also to our national shame, the Philippines has been branded a violator of basic human rights, then dismissed as a mere “opinion” the findings of the uN high Commissioner on human Rights that the government’s detention of former President gloria Arroyo was arbitrary, illegal and politically motivated.

The list is by no means complete, but it is a good place to start for the next President. unless, of course, this turns out to be the administration candidate who promises at every opportunity to continue “the reforms” initiated by President Aquino.

a time that tranquilizers were not easy to come by. 

The Camiling house was a typically huge middle-class residence.  I was born in that house. Daddy’s parents had parcels of land that yielded palay that was more than enough for the family’s needs which is why daddy went to law school, an elder brother became a mechanical engineer, a younger brother, to medical school, one sister finished a degree in commerce and another sister became a teacher and rose through the

ranks of academe. But the Manila schooling of the brood took its toll, and the parcels of land were gradually sold.  My father once told me that one of the reasons he decided to study law was to  take up  the cause  of  the victims of loan sharks and opportunists!

My father met my mother in law school and while both were sitting for the Bar examinations, tragedy struck: dad’s father, my grandfather Melanio, stricken by sarcoma, passed away just before the examination of the third  Sunday  of the

life has had its travails, but on the whole, it has been full of gifts, among the

greatest of these, my father!pEnséEs

fR. Ranhiliocallangan

aquino

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plumblinE

pasToR apollo

quiboloy

Continued on A10

OPINIONM O N D AY : O C T O B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5

A10lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

remind me constantly about how important education is because it is the ticket to a better life. And of course I would do better, perhaps get a scholarship or an overseas training and then come back here to land a solid job—all because of my grit and hard work. I would think, yes, my parents were right, a� er all. And I would bombard my children with the same life lessons.

* * *Many of us decry the unfair advantages of the elite

in this country over the greater bulk to whom daily survival is the norm. It is easy to resort to blame. Blame the poor, for being lazy. Blame the government for not being able to provide opportunities for upward mobility. Blame ourselves for voting into o� ce, if not the same people, then the same families, or the same kind of politicians who believe occupying posts is their birthright.

But blaming is not going to get us anywhere. � ose of us who were fortunate enough to have thrown our crumpled pieces of paper into the bin, however far we were from it to begin with, should not stop there. Let us enjoy the fruits of our hard work—it’s always a good feeling to look back at how far we have come through our own e� orts—but let us also ensure that more people come closer to the bin and are given a fair chance to cast their lot.

In an ideal world, there are no � rst rows and fourth rows, and everybody shoots from the same distance. Since this world is just that—ideal—many things remain to be done. And we don’t all have to be grandstanding megalomaniacs make sure we get closer to the dream.

adellechua@gmail.com

THERE’S a short animation from Buzzfeed currently making the rounds of social media. � e video sums up the ideas of privilege

and social mobility. In just a few minutes, it is able to make an analogy for privilege, for the attitudes of those with and without privilege, and what is asked of those who were fortunate enough to have been born with it.

� e comparison is simple. Imagine a room full of students, seated in di� erent rows. A recycling bin is placed at the front of the room. � e students are asked to crumple a piece of paper and then throw them into the bin.

� e students at the front naturally have a better chance of shooting their crumpled paper into the bin, even as some still do not make it.

By contrast, the students at the back of the room have di� culty shooting their papers, although there are a few who make it. � ose at the back naturally complain that the set-up is unfair, because the people at the front are closer to the bin.

� ose at the front, however, are oblivious of their advantage, or of the unfairness of what is happening. All they can see is the distance between their chairs and the recycling bin— nothing else.

* * *One is either

born with plenty of opportunities —or without. It’s a random accident of birth. We do not choose a family we are born to.

For example, I can be born as a scion of political or business family. � en, I would have a good life even before I get out of my mother’s womb. I would get fed the best baby food and have access to the best pediatric care. I would be able to attend the best school, and be chau� eured going there and back. My friends would be the equally privileged children of my parents’ friends. I would be able to develop an extra-curricular activity like a sport or a musical instrument, and spend my summer vacations in various places in the Philippines, even abroad. I could attend any university I wanted, wherever it was, and however much it cost. Actually, I would not have to worry about “� nding my place in the world”—a career would most likely be imposed on me. I would be the next mayor of the town or the next CEO of the family � rm.

A few of my friends or siblings would fall by the wayside, getting hooked on drugs, but most of my friends and contemporaries would be as “made” as I am.

Then again, with equal likelihood, I could be born as the ninth child of slum dwellers, scavengers for whom every day is a struggle. Early on, I could be roaming the streets for whatever I can get. If, by sheer luck, I manage to consistently attend the public school near my house, even with an empty stomach and even I have no money for a jeepney ride, I could perhaps snag a scholarship at a university. There it would be another battle, as would be the days I begin finding a job and eventually building a career. I would be aware that I am the exception rather than the rule among my friends and siblings.

Or, through no fault or virtue of my own, I could be born somewhere in between. Perhaps my parents, academics or journalists or government employees, would be renting an apartment and trying everything within their means to send me to school. � ey would

FROM THE BACK OF THE ROOM

MYANMAR NEEDS PEACE BEFORE ELECTIONS

The privileged are usually oblivious of their advantages.

Bloomberg editorial

IN MYANMAR next month, elections are expected to produce the country’s � rst democratically elected parliament since 1960. Ideally, that government would inherit a country uni� ed and at peace a� er decades of battling ethnic insurgencies. For that to happen, however, Myanmar needs to consolidate a nationwide cease-� re agreement and ensure that all parts of the country get to vote. 

� ese goals  just became more challenging, a� er only eight of the 15 rebel groups involved in negotiations with the government  agreed to sign  a comprehensive cease� re deal. � is raises the threat of renewed violence, as well as fears that the polls may not go ahead in contested areas. � e government could  suspend voting  in several places due to security concerns, as it did in 2010 and 2012 elections, undermining the credibility of the outcome.

A continuing civil war would in turn hamper any new government’s ability to attract investment, tap natural resources and weaken the military’s grip on power.

Authorities have indicated that the holdouts can always  change their minds  later and join in political negotiations that are meant to commence now. In reality, any new government will

take months to get established and appoint a new negotiating team; the parliament won’t even choose a  new president  until next February.

Even then, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, widely expected to dominate the polls, is unlikely to be able to o� er ethnic groups a deal more attractive than the one now on the table, given the party’s fraught relations with the military. � e chances of a comprehensive deal aren’t going to improve over time.

If the international community wants to ensure that Myanmar’s fragile transition stays on track, it cannot merely sit back and monitor the November vote. It needs to do more to improve the prospects for a cease� re now. China, for one, has  in� uence  over the biggest holdout, the United Wa State Army, as well as three rebel groups still � ghting along the Chinese border. Beijing could greatly improve its reputation within Myanmar by bringing the Wa into the fold and cutting o� any support the others may be receiving on its side of the border.

� e UN and Western countries should provide their own  public assurances  to the other rebel groups, promising to monitor compliance with the peace deal and to hold the Burmese military to its side of the bargain. � e US

has especially strong leverage now that the Burmese army is seeking equipment and a closer military-to-military relationship. � ese countries should also be much more speci� c about the � nancial and technical aid that will � ow to ethnic areas included within the agreement.

Suu Kyi herself, who remains the most popular � gure in the country, � nds herself in a di� cult position. Naturally reluctant to grant the ruling military-backed party a public-relations  victory ahead of the vote, she has  warned  ethnic rebels not to rush into a bad deal. But continued � ghting would only reinforce the military’s argument that it alone can guarantee the nation’s unity and sovereignty. If Suu Kyi is to maximize her party’s in� uence a� er the elections, she needs Myanmar to be at peace.

Quietly at least, she should make clear that the remaining holdouts would be wise to sign now, so that a new government can take the country forward and stop � ghting the battles of the past. 

Atty. Jimeno’s column will resume next week.

OUT OF THE BOX

RITA LINDAV. JIMENO

prospect of economic return.  But when my father finally accepted appointment to the judgeship, he conducted himself as he continues to lecture today’s judges: with dignity, but without conceit, with becoming distance without aloofness, with respect without obsequiousness!  And he was respected by all.  Winning the twin awards of Outstanding Trial Court Judge and Outstanding Decision in Remedial Law, he was appointed to the Court of Appeals.  But by the time he reached the court of penultimate appeal, he  brought

with him a wealth of experience as trial lawyer, trial judge and law professor.  He loved teaching and still does.  He was an examiner in the Bar twice, but he was not one out to display brilliance in questions that befuddle and confound.  His were the reasonable questions of a wise pedagogue!  His teaching experience, he put to good use as Chairman of the Legal Education Board, a position he continues to hold today on a hold-over capacity.

Old age has taken its toll on him.  But when I think of him, I think of my young daddy running a� er a kite he had made for us that

had cut free of the twine; I think of him fashioning a work of art of a lantern for Christmas; I think of him teaching me how to drive a lumbering Chevrolet and seeing his expression of exasperation because I could not quite get the art of stepping on the accelerator and releasing the clutch pedal in sync, I think of him cracking his jokes, sometimes corny, but always amusing.

Life has had its travails, but on the whole, it has been full of gi� s, among the greatest of these, my father!

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

LIKE... From A9

CHASING HAPPY

ADELLECHUA

A11M O N D AY : O C T O B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5

OPINIONlettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

chong ardivilla#failocracy

A11

gunning for the presidency.yes, he went on a roadshow,

but to pitch for federalism and not himself.

Even his sorties were un-conventional. There were no bused-in crowds to give canned applause on cue. There were no twerking curtain-raisers. While others would dwell on light stuff for fear that they would give their audience a “nosebleed,” digong was lecturing like the law professor that he once was.

for him, there was no low common denominator that he should stoop down to. So

he talked about the otherwise bland topic of federalism for hours and it did not bore his audience. only he can get away with marathon teach-ins.

Maoists have spent half a cen-tury preaching about “isms” with little traction. digong needed only months to preach about federalism and he was able to make converts out of millions.

* * *This is the duterte paradox.

he has left the race, but his in-fluence lingers. he has aban-doned his ambition, but he has implanted his cause. he had exited the stage, but he has en-

trenched his presence even more.

he has left a residue that will affect the campaign and the can-didates. What duterte did was to write the agenda for 2016. he has listed the job qualifications of the next president. he has drafted a what-is-to-be-done memo to the country. These, to many, is the benefit of an abort-ed duterte run.

first, he’s telling us to use performance as a benchmark in selecting our leaders, to eschew sound bites, cute memes, or staff-generated quotable quotes, for the boring prose of real track record. he has davao to tout

as Exhibit a of his managerial acumen. i wonder what others would show for.

Second, he is putting Min-danao on the agenda. When presidencies are won or lost by a couple of hundred thousand votes, those who want to win should nail Mindanao, with its 13 million votes, as a major plank in his platform.

Third, he is echoing the con-cerns of local governments. federalism is power to the peo-ple, phrased otherwise.

fourth, he’s telling candi-dates not to ignore the Bisaya-speaking peoples. Whoever sits in Malacañang next must first

excite this part of the country as well as duterte does.

fifth, duterte’s image as a law-and-order executive will ensure that curbing criminality will be main topic of the forth-coming presidential derby. This issue is on the front burner.

Sixth, duterte has said that the next President should be secure and mature enough to crowdsource talent, reach out to adversaries, and even cobble together a government from competitors, some sort of a “team of rivals” in the lin-coln mold.

The next President should make a mental note of this.

duterte’s... From A9

Tipping is sTrange, and sTrangely hard To geT rid ofBy Megan McardleRestauRateuR Danny Meyer is planning to  eliminate tips  at his restaurant group’s 13 restaurants by the end of next year. among other things, the New York Times suggests this will lower the disparity in pay between the back of the house, which makes an average of around $12 an hour, and the servers, who pull in considerably more than that.

Meyer is part of a small but interesting movement among restaurants and bars. a bar without tips just opened near my house in Washington; New York has a few places that no longer support tipping. Prices will naturally have to rise to reflect increased labor costs. Meyer says that servers’ incomes will not fall, but I am skeptical on this point. But it will certainly be interesting to see if Meyer manages to slay tipping—and if so, whether other restaurants will follow suit.

to get a sense of whether this is likely to work, it seems worth asking: Why do we tip? tipping is, after all, a rather strange custom. We tell ourselves that it exists to  ensure good service, but in fact, most people are very reluctant to undertip even when the service has been appalling. They follow the norms of tipping even when they are never going to see that waiter again, and therefore don’t need to worry about retaliation. Meanwhile, all sorts of things seem to affect tipping that have nothing to do with the quality of the service, like the race of the server and whether they

put a smiley face on your check (though apparently this only works for female servers).

It’s evidently possible to run a service industry without lavish tips, because  many places in europe don’t tip, or don’t tip on anything like the american scale. I’ll never forget the evening that a German acquaintance, in possession of a lavish financial-industry bonus and an impromptu ticket to New York, took me on a tour of the city’s more luxurious hotspots. It was only at the end of the night, when he didn’t tip the coat-check girl, that I realized that we must have left a trail of fury behind us all evening. another friend claims that in sweden, a lovely teenage server once ran out of a restaurant and chased him down—because he’d forgotten his money on the table.

so if it’s not about rewarding good service, why do we tip? Notice that we do it in some circumstances, but not others. We tip the bellhop, but not the clerk at reception. The waitress, but not the person behind the target checkout counter. These disparities offer our first clue to the mystery: We tip people who are providing the services that used to be performed by household servants, but not the people who do the jobs of tradesmen or retail clerks. It’s possible that this grew out of the old tradition of tipping servants when you went to stay at someone’s house.

But that only gets us so far, because it doesn’t explain what purpose this ritual serves. The most promising theories of tipping are as follows:

It is about envy. In a 1972  paper  titled “The anatomy of envy,” anthropologist George Foster argues that tipping functions the same way that gift exchanges worked among our hunter-gatherer ancestors. In small communities, people who have better fortune or success than others are targets of envy. The targets of envy use gifts to mitigate those feelings, lest their neighbors decide to destroy the object of their covetousness. This may explain why the custom seems confined to relatively intimate services, which maximize the discomfort of having more than someone else.

It exploits pricing irrationality. The true cost of a meal is the price of the food and drink, plus the tip you will feel honor bound to leave. But people aren’t necessarily so good at doing those calculations. In the same way that airlines lure you in with a cheap fare and then pile on costs for baggage and food, restaurants may maximize their revenue by declaring a lower cost for the meal, and then having customers pay the wait staff separately. This is why restaurateurs are afraid to move away from the tipping model; they’re afraid they’ll lose customers who do not view a $20 meal with a $4 tip the same way they do a $24 meal.

It’s tax arbitrage. tip income is supposed to be declared on your taxes, but—I know this will shock many of you—it often isn’t. This saves restaurateurs their portion of the payroll tax, and allows servers to enjoy a healthy dose of tax-free income. The benefits of this tax

arbitrage have been disappearing as credit card tipping has become ubiquitous, and this theory would predict that the rarer cash tips become, the more we’ll see a move away from tipping.

It gives servers higher average incomes, at the cost of more volatility. serving is somewhat feast or famine. at an ordinary restaurant, the difference between what you make on your slowest night and your best could run 100 percent. In general, you have to pay people to accept more income volatility, which may explain why wait staff make so much more than people in the back of the house. For young people without a lot of fixed expenses, this is a relatively attractive deal.

Given these theories, what should we expect from a move away from tips? The obvious one is that prices will go up somewhat, while I’d expect server income to fall, especially after taxes are taken into account.

Now, a very successful restaura-teur like Meyer, who fills his tables pretty easily, may be able to nego-tiate that transition. He’ll have a decent margin to increase server wages, and many of his custom-ers probably aren’t terrifically price sensitive. He may even attract customers who prefer not to think about tipping, and servers who prefer a steadier wage.

But across the industry, this transition will be harder. Many people make a habit of checking menu prices before they book a restaurant; they may not notice that the price includes service, and may therefore decide to go somewhere

else. entrenched customs represent a social equilibrium, and moving away from that equilibrium is difficult to do on your own.

Waiting tables will probably become a somewhat less attractive job as taxes rise and wages fall. and I would expect the quality of service to decline somewhat, because tips are (very slightly) related to the customer’s experience. Waiting tables is a job that’s easy to do badly and comparatively difficult for managers to monitor. There’s a reason that those sorts of jobs frequently pay on commission.

Many people argue that tipping is inefficient and offensively paternalistic. But even if you agree—heck, even if a majority of your society agrees—that doesn’t mean it will be easy to switch to a better model. Doing so will require resetting a lot of expectations all at once.

entrepreneurs do occasionally succeed in changing industry business models, even ones as ubiquitous as tipping. But this is bigger than a business model. Others have tried before to change powerful social equilibria. Few have managed to, er, tip the scale.

Bloomberg

Mr. Banayo’s column will resume this week.

so I see

LItobanayo

A12sports@thestandard.com.ph

mo nday: o cto b er 1 9 , 2 0 1 5

sports

Royals grab 2-0 lead over Jays

With a berth in Major League Baseball’s World Series on the line in the best-of-seven set, the Royals were trailing 3-0 when they finally got to Toronto starting pitcher David Price in the bottom of the seventh.

Price had retired 18 straight batters—a Blue Jays playoff club re-cord—including striking out three in the sixth.

But the Royals launched a rally with Ben Zobrist’s shallow fly to right field.

Blue Jays second baseman Ryan Goins, running back, appeared to call for the ball and outfielder Jose Bautista slowed his run toward it.

But neither caught it, and Zobrist had the Royals’ first hit since the first inning.

“We just needed to catch a break, and I felt like Zobrist’s ball was it and then we started rolling,” said Royals outfielder Alex Gordon, whose double in the inning scored the go-ahead run.

Goins took responsibility.“I put my glove up and pretty

much was saying ‘I’m going to make this play,’ and then I didn’t make the play, so it’s on me,” he said.

“I put my glove up. That’s pretty much our sign. It means for the out-fielder to back off. Nothing can be

KANSAS CITY—The Kansas City Royals rallied with five runs in the seventh inning to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-3 Saturday to take a 2-0 lead in the American League Championship Series.

Mets takeGame 1

Lancers forcesudden death

Caida eyes 3rd victoryBonanza openerreset for Tuesday

NEW YORK—Matt Harvey pitched well into the eighth and made a few fielding gems as the New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs 4-2 Satur-day in game one of the NL Championship Series.

Second baseman Daniel Murphy and Travis d’Arnaud belted solo home runs and Murphy capped off another brilliant performance with a diving snag on a hot ground-er before throwing to first for the final out of the contest.

“I found it early and kept with it. I was able to mix pitches up,” Harvey said.

“I wanted to go out there and get strikes, mix things up and not get into a routine. And the guys made all the plays behind me.”

Harvey, who faced the Cubs just once in 2015 and went seven scoreless innings, struck out nine, allowed four hits and walked two in 7 2/3 innings.

Murphy has now hit hom-ers in a career-high three straight games for the Mets, who are playing in their first Major League baseball playoff semi-final series since 2006.

The winner of the series will face either the Kansas City Royals or the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series.

Game two is Sunday in New York before the series shifts to Chicago on Tuesday for game three. Mets rookie right-hander Noah Synder-gaard will take the mound against Cubs ace right-hander Jake Arrieta on Sunday. AFP

By Mikey Izumi

CEBU CITY—Ten-time Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation collegiate league champion Uni-versity of Visayas Green Lancers displayed their championship heritage by forcing a sudden-death showdown against the University of San Carlos War-riors with a 60-52 victory before a huge crowd at the Cebu Coli-seum on Saturday.

For the fifth year in a row, the intense rivalry forced a fifth game after the Green Lancers rallied in the fourth quarter to score a come-from-behind vic-tory against the Warriors.

USC missed its chance to clinch the series.

The Warriors led, 30-22, at the half behind their three-point shooting. They overcame the foul trouble ofCameroo-nian import Shooster Olago, who played limited minutes and could only score two points in the first half.

A scintillating 11-0 run in the third quarter, behind the deadly duo of Jun Kent Manzo and Franz Arong, who combined for 15 points in the period, allowed UV to cut the Warriors’ lead to three points, 44-41, going into the payoff quarter.

said about it. I didn’t make the play.”Lorenzo Cain then singled to

right, Eric Hosmer singled to score Zobrist, Kendrys Morales grounded out to score Cain and Mike Mousta-kas snapped an 0-for-13 skid with a run-scoring single to tie it.

After Price struck out Salvador Perez, Gordon worked the count full before belting a double that scored Morales and chased Price.

Price insisted Zobrist’s hit “abso-lutely” did not impact him.

“I stay in the present,” Price said. “I don’t worry about what hap-pened in the past. I focused on Cain and the next guys. It just didn’t work out.”

Alex Rios singled in one more run off Blue Jays reliever Aaron Sanchez for a 5-3 Royals lead.

The outburst recalled the Roy-als’ five-run eighth inning in their

game-four win over the Houston Astros in the previous round of the playoffs, as well as their rally from a four-run deficit in the eighth inning of last season’s wild card game.

“Once you do it once, you kind of get used to it,” Gordon said of the Royals’ ability to rally. “We just battle and never give up.”

They padded their lead with an-other run in the eighth, leaving the Blue Jays hoping a shift to To-ronto for games three and four on Monday and Tuesday will signal a change in fortunes.

After getting on the board with a run in the third, Toronto added two more in the sixth when desig-nated hitter Edwin Encarnacion’s single drove in third baseman Josh Donaldson and Bautista, who had walked, scored on a double from Troy Tulowitzki. AFP

Leader. Brendan Steele plays a shot on the 17th hole during the third round of the Frys.com Open. Steele fired a three-under par 69 on Saturday and will take a one-shot lead into the final round of the Frys.com Open in search of a wire-to-wire win. World number three Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland struggled with his putter for the third straight day. His 71 left him eight shots adrift in a tie for 39th. AFP

LEAGUE-LEADING Caida Tiles tries to continue its winning streak when it shoots for its third straight win when it plays sister team Racal Kama Motors in the PCBL Founders Cup at the Filoil Flying V Arena.

The two teams square off at 4 p.m. in this tournament supported by Spalding, Accel, Aquabest and Ambucore.

Fresh from their 94-82 win over Jumbo Plastic, the Tile Masters are favored to win against the Jing Ruiz-mentored Kama Motors, who have ex-pros JR Cawaling and Rudy Ling-ganay in the line up.

But for Caida Tiles coach Mike Buendia, rebounding and turnovers are his main concerns, hoping they could address it right away at this early stage of the tournament.

“This is a strong tournament and it’s too early to tell (on our chances), but it’s clear we have sev-eral lapses we need to work on and that’s rebounding and turnovers,” said Buendia, an assistant coach of

Rain or Shine head mentor Yeng Guiao in the PBA.

If there’s one aspect the Tile Masters should continue working on, it’s their fast breaking game. Against Jumbo Plastic, they scored 19 points off transition.

Sta. Lucia and Foton Toplander collide in the main game at 6 p.m.

The Realtors finally barged their way to the win column, but not af-ter another endgame collapse that nearly cost them the game against Supremo Lex.

“It’s something we need to ad-dress. We have a tendency to cel-ebrate early and that nearly cost us the match. It goes to show that despite our talented team, we still lack maturity,” said Sta. Lucia coach Bonni Garcia.

DUE to inclement weather spawned by Typhoon Lando, the organizing EventKing Corp. cancelled today’s scheduled opening of the 2015 Bingo Bonanza National Open badminton tournament at the Rizal Memorial Badminton Hall.

The opening matches, featuring two men’s singles, four men’s doubles and one mixed doubles, will instead be held tomorrow (Tuesday) starting at 9 a.m. after the 8 a.m. team managers and coaches meeting,

Top notch badminton action re-sumes at 1 p.m. with eight explosive women’s Open singles matches to be followed by 16 men’s Open singles games in the tournament sanctioned by the Philippine Badminton Associa-tion headed by Vice President Jejomar Binay and sec-gen Rep. Albee Benitez and organized by EventKing Corp. and sponsored by Gatorade, Glorietta, Smash Pilipinas and the Philippine Olympic Committee. AFP

Games today (The Arena)

4 p.m. – Racal Kama Motorsvs Caida Tiles

6 p.m. – Foton Toplander vs Sta. Lucia

Eric Hosmer (35) of the Kansas City Royals scores a run as Russell Martin (55) of the Toronto Blue Jays is unable to make the tag in the seventh inning dur-ing game two of the American League Championship Series at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. AFP

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sports

Centro Escolar 5,St. Paul near titles

Macalalad tops SuperTriKids at Anvaya Cove

Book on coach Dalupanlaunched today in Ateneo

Navy’s Lilet Mabbayad (11) scores on an attack point against Coast Guard’s Melissa Ogana during their Shakey’s V-League Sea-son 12 Reinforced Conference at The Arena in San Juan City.

Run Against Dengue. Tempra and Subterranean Ideas have again joined forces to hold the fourth Tempra Run Against Dengue-Family Run slated on Nov. 14 (Saturday) at the Quirino Grandstand. Shown display-ing the event’s race poster are (from left) Cleo Roda Nodado, Marketing Manager of Taisho; Tito Tolentino, Country Manager of Taisho Pharma-ceutical (Philippines); Ma. Eric Pablo Lejano, Business Unit Director; and Subterranean Ideas’ managing director Randy Caluag.

CENTRO Escolar University moved to within a win shy of its fifth straight seniors’ crown while St. Paul College Pasig and Chiang Kai Shek College likewise prevailed in their finals opener in the 46th WNCAA basketball tournament last Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

The CEU Lady Scorpions, drawing 24 points from two-time Most Valuable Player Janine Pontejos, turned back Rizal Technological University, 64-55.

Opeyemi Lawan and Cristine Caranto chipped in 12 points each for CEU which remained undefeated after sweeping all its seven elimination games and beating San Beda College Ala-bang in the semifinals.

In the midgets’ finals, St. Paul outlasted De La Salle Zobel, 42-

36, with Rafaella Maxine Almeda leading all scorers with 18 points.

Carly Kaye Monreal led DLSZ, which is likewise eyeing a fifth straight championship, with 13 points.

CKSC also took Game 1 of its juniors finals clash against DLSZ, 63-50.

Caila Galamiton fired 26 points for CKSC, the champion two years ago but yielded the title to La Salle College Anti-polo last year in the league be-ing supported by Gosen, Mi-

SHOWING better form this time around, 12-year-old Everly Janarie Macalalad topped her age-group to lead winners in the eighth Anvaya Cove Beach and Nature Club SuperTriKids in Morong, Bataan.

The youngest among five siblings, who dream to follow the footsteps of elder brother and national junior team member Edward Jared, Everly Janarie timed 19 minutes and 44 seconds in the 11-12 age category, disputed at a 300-m swim, 4-km bike and 2-km run distance last Saturday. Her time was re-markable since it was faster even against the boy’s champion Clifford Pusing, who clocked at 20:31.

“This is the second time I’ve competed here. Last year, I only came third. But this time, I’m more focused and prepared for this race and I’m happy I won,” said Macalalad, who is a Grade 6 student at Colegio San Agustin in Binan, Laguna.

Finishing second to Macalalad in this two-day race supported by Ayala Premier, Globe Busi-ness, Standard Insurance, Gatorade and Philip-pine Olympic Committee was Alison Ann Noble at 20:58, while the bronze medal went to Erica Maive Bulatao at 22:53.

Samuel Compton and Daniel Nazarro came second and third behind Pusing at 20:59 and 21:20. Mark Grist (11:11), and brothers Jose Ma-ria (12:18) and Juan Miguel Tayag (12:20), along with Ariel Feuermann (13:29), Justicia Mariearl Tan (13:59) and Calista Felise Silamor (20:51) took the Top 3 places in the boys’ and girls’ 9-10 age group (200m swim-2km bike-1-km run), while Sebastian Thomas Tunaya (1:48), Yuan Al-dridge Dela Rosa (1:49), Sky Xander Guevarra (1:55) and Ma. Sabino Magsanoc (1:36), Dylan Ealizah Canlas (2:05) and Jazmine Fay Borja (3:01) won medals in the

Under 8 aquathlon event (25-m swim, 200-m run).The elite race yesterday pushed through, but

the participants were able to display only their running prowess as the organizers decided to shelve the swim and bike disciplines due to the huge waves and slippery routes brought by Ty-phoon Lando.

Competitors were all satisfied because the event was conducted in a well-organized man-ner, with employees from the first-class Anvaya Cove Beach & Nature Club and selected Aetas

‘Lando’ washes outV-League, Spiker’sTHE organizing Sports Vision yesterday cancelled all games in the Shakey’s V-League Season 12 and Spikers’ Turf Season 1 Reinforced Conferences scheduled at The Arena in San Juan City due to inclement weather.

The matches, pitting Army against UP and PLDT versus Kia Forte in the Shakey’s V-League, and Navy against Instituto Estetico Manila in the Spikers’ Turf, will instead be played on Nov. 15.

Meanwhile, Air Force bounced back from a third set defeat to repulse Cignal HD, 25-22, 25-18, 20-25, 25-21, late Satur-day to seize the solo lead in the Spikers’ Turf with a 2-0 slate .

Cignal, which also dropped a straight-set defeat to PLDT, fell to

0-2 and in danger of missing the semis in the season-ending confer-ence of the inaugural men’s league presented by PLDT Home Ultera.

Earlier, Sta. Elena pounced on erratic PLDT Home Ultera side to fash-ion out a shock 25-22, 25-21, 14-25, 29-27 victory for a 1-1 card.

Arjay Ona and Myco Antonio unloaded 17 and 12 hits, including 15 and nine attack points, respec-tively, while skipper Rocky Honrade came through with four blocks to help seal the Wrecking Balls’ victory after dropping a 21-25, 25-21, 19- 25, 18-25 decision to the Navy Sailors last week.

Games Oct. 243 pm -. Sta Elena vs

Cignal5 pm - PLDT vs IEM

kasa, Molten, Goody, Converse, Colgate, Sonak Trading, MJC Printing Press and media part-ners Inquirer, Bulletin, Philip-pine Star, Sports5, Magic 89.9 and Chalk Magazine.

CEU, St. Paul and CKSC will go for the clincher next Satur-day after yesterday’s matches were postponed due to Typhoon Lando. If neeeded, Game 3 will be played the following day.

The Senior scores:CEU 64-Pontejos 24, Lawan

12, Caranto 12, Dologue 6, Galco 4, Ventura 4, Lacson 2, Solis 0.

RTU 55-Duazo 26, inoferio 13, Jaberto 8, Santos 4, Mantos 2, Mier 2, Orillana 0, Castillano 0, Pocallan 0, Ybañez 0, Dioniso 0, Halawig 0, Canelas 0.

Quarters: 16-9, 32-19, 44-39, 64-55

By Eddie Alinea

FILIPINO coaching legend Vir-gilio “Baby” Dalupan, who has a record 49 title victories, the most by any of his peers both here and abroad, will be depicted in a book titled “The Maestro of Phil-ippine Baskeball.”

Weather permitting, the book will be launched tonight in a meaningful ceremony with Baby himself, his wife Nenang or Lourdes in real life (nee Gaston) and their children in attendance to greet their guests.

The affair starts at 6 p.m. at the Mariano R. Singson Jr. Hall Grade School Campus inside the Ateneo campus, where Dalupan started his career as a basketball and football player and a be-medalled sprinter.

“Sana naman huminto na ang bagyo bukas para hindi na ma-postpone,” said Cecille, Dalupan’s only daughter who inherited her

father’s athletic prowess having been a gymnast, who represent-ed the country in several interna-tional competitions.

The bulk of Dalupan’s champi-onship collection came as men-tor of the University of the East, the school founded by his father, Francisco Dalupan. He gifted UE with 18 trophies, 12 in the UAAP, seven of them in non-stop fash-ion, and six intercollegiate plums.

He also owns a pair of NCAA titles with he Ateneo Blue Eagles, who he guided to titles back-to-back in the 1975-1976 and 1976-1977 seasons.

With Crispa Redmanizers and in partnership with his kumpadre Danny Floro, Dalupan took home all there was to win in the pre-PBA era for a total 13 titles in the MI-CAA Open, MICAA All-Filipino, Nagional Open, National Seniors, Meropolitan Open, Palarong Pili-pino, Tournament of Champions and National Invitational.

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CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

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Languido, Tabal win Milo race in GenSan

Lopez-Perez tops PCA singles;Alcantara-Arcilla bags doubles

Nepal admits game-fixing vs Azkals

TOP SEED Enrique Lopez-Perez of Spain got over his finals’ jitters in the first set and stormed through the second against third pick Kento Takeuchi of Japan, 7-6 (4), 6-4, to clinch the singles’ title in the 34th Philippine Co-lumbian Association Open-Cebuana Lhuillier ITF Men’s Futures 2 yesterday at the PCA clay courts in Paco, Manila.

Hitting a spate of double faults in a match that took al-most two hours, Lopez-Perez was able to revive his game with killer baseline attack and better court coverage.

“I lost my confidence in the first set that resulted to a close game. But I just decided to play my game and run. He’s [Takeu-chi] really good, he also likes to

fight until the last point but I think he likes hard court better than clay court,” said Lopez-Perez, who took home his sec-ond ITF title for the year. The first was in Chandigarh, India in March.

It was a sweet victory for the 24-year-old Spaniard, who was ousted by Takeuchi in the semifinals of the Manila ITF Men’s Futures 1 two week-ends ago via another grueling match, 6-2, 1-6, 4-6.

Aside from the prestigious crown, Lopez-Perez also bagged $2,160, while Takeu-chi settled for the runner-up purse of $1,272 in the tourna-ment supported by Cebuana Lhuillier, Puma, Dunlop, The Philippine Star, Head, Babolat,

Compass/IMOSTI and Saran-gani Rep. Manny Pacquiao.

Earlier, local standouts Francis Casey Alcantara and eight-time PCA Open titlist Johnny Arcilla took home the doubles’ crown in the event sponsored by Whilpool/Fu-jidenzo, Broadway Motor Sales Corp. Coca-Cola Femsa Philippines, Tyrecorp Incor-porated, Pearl Garden Hotel, Metro Global Holdings Cor-poration, Avida, PVL Restau-rant, Mary Grace Foods, Inc., Seno Hardware and Wire Rope Corporation.

The quick-fire tandem of Alcantara and Arcilla pulled off a stunning upset against top seeds Katsuki Nagao and Hiro-masa Oku of Japan, 6-2, 6-2.

Young sprinters dash under the fair weather during the 39th National MILO Marathon in General Santos City.

According to news reports from Nepal, arrests were made following efforts made the Asian Foot-ball Confederation and the Nepal police to inves-tigate suspected incidences of game-fixing.

Among those arrested were team captain Sagar Thapa, Sandip Rai, Ritesh Thapa, Bikash Singh Chhetri and Anjan KC. They were allegedly in-volved in match-fixing since 2008.

According to investigators, former national coach Graham Roberts admitted there was match fixing during a friendly game with the Philippine Azkals in 2011.

The Azkals won their game against Nepal, 4-0, at the Rizal Football Stadium in Manila.

Robert told probers that he was informed by a bookie from Singapore that the match against the Philippines was fixed and his players are involved.

This was the reason why he replaced Sagar in the first 18 minutes.

The bookie, according to probers and Roberts, asked Nepal to concede four goals. They did.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY– Reigning Mara-thon Queen and Southeast Asian Games medalist Mary Joy Tabal and Marathon veter-an Juneil Languido breezed through the run-ning routes at the National MILO Marathon qualifying leg in General Santos on Sunday.

About 9,000 runners joined the race, mak-ing this year’s Marathon the biggest fun run in General Santos, to date.

Languido and Tabal each took home the top prize of P10,000 in cash and a trophy; and earned their slots to the National Marathon Finals.

The finals will be held in Angeles on Dec. 6, where they will meet the nation’s elite runners in a heated grand finale to claim the MILO Marathon King and Queen titles.

To provide another level of prestige to the competition and incentive for the runners, this year’s King and Queen will be sent by MILO to the USA on all-expense paid trips, for a chance to run in the prestigious 2016 Boston Marathon.

Languido posted a time of 01:14:04, over-

coming his rivals Elmer Bartolo (01:16:47) and Gilbert Maluyo (01:20:42) who finished in second and third place, respectively. In the distaff side, Tabal ruled with a time of 01:21:42, relegating Mona Liza Ambasa (01:35:03) to second place and Noemu Andrea Galeos (01:52:44) in third.

The 31-year-old farms watchman has been running in the Marathon for four years now, consistently winning in the regional legs. Last year, he placed first in Cagayan De Oro. This is his third time to win in General Santos. “My training for this race has not been that good, so I have to improve for the National Finals. My goal is to get into the top 10,” shared Lan-guido. “It would be a great achievement if I could accomplish it, because the MILO Mara-thon is where the best and the strongest run-ners compete.”

Fresh from guiding her grassroots students who competed in the Marathon Cebu leg, it was Tabal’s turn to showcase her prowess on the race routes. It is the 26-year-old Cebuana

sixth time to join the Marathon, and she aims to defend her title in the National Finals.

“It’s my first time to race in GenSan, and it’s a good experience for me to experience the other regional legs in Visayas in Mindanao,” shared Tabal. “I joined this race as part of my training for the finals, to test my progress. So far, I’m on track in my training, but I’m continuously working on my conditioning to have a better chance of retaining my crown.”

The National Marathon is not only a breeding ground for local talents but also a program that empowers underserved children nationwide.

With the support of the Department of Ed-ucation and the National Marathon runners, MILO’s Help Gives Shoes advocacy will pro-vide 10,000 underprivileged youth with brand new running shoes this year. MILO is work-ing with DepEd in the selection of deserving public school student beneficiaries.

The race will resume in in Davao on Nov, 8, before heading to Butuan (Nov. 15) and Ca-gayan De Oro (Nov. 22).

By Peter Atencio

FIVE former and current members of the Nepal national football team have been arrested on suspicion they were involved in game-fixing, which in-cludes a friendly game with the Philip-pine Azkals in 2011.

By Peter Atencio

VETERAN strategist Aric del Rosario will step down as head coach of the University of Perpetual Help Altas.

Lester Del Rosario, son of coach Del Rosario and who also serves as one of his assistant coaches, broke the news which was confirmed by Jeff Tamayo, who is the school’s representative to the board of the Na-tional Collegiate Athletic Association.

Tamayo said Del Rosario, who has handled the Altas for the last four years, deserves a break and will instead take on the job of consultant of the team.

School officials decided to replace Del Rosa-rio after the Altas failed to advance to the Final Four of the 91st NCAA men’s basketball tour-nament.

The Altas had a good chance of making it to the Final Four. But three straight losses at the end of elimination round knocked them out of conten-tion. They finished at sixth place with an 11-7 re-cord including a crucial, 64-93, loss to the Letran Knights last Oct. 9.

Altas lookingfor a new coach

PBA season opener reset for WednesdayBy Jeric LopezCONCERNED for the safety of the public, the Philippine Bas-ketball Association postponed the Sunday opening of its 41st season to avoid the wrath of Ty-phoon Lando.

The opening of the league pitting powerhouses Rain or Shine and Star will now take place on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, instead of the Smart Ara-neta Coliseum.

The opening ceremony and

parade shall be conducted prior to the initial game of the season to officially kick off the league’s 41st edition.

The league announced the postponement of its opening day with a statement from the commissioner’s office yesterday

morning.Metro Manila was put under

signal No. 2 yesterday due to heavy rainfall and strong winds caused by the typhoon.

This is the first time in league history that an opening playdate was postponed.

Doubles’ champion Johnny Arcilla and Francis Casey Alcantara display their trophies.

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SPORTS

Djokovic poundsTsonga for crown

University of Santo Tomas’ Kevin Ferrer (left) scores against National University’s Alfred Aroga in a National Collegiate Athletic Association game won by the Tigers, 65-57. BROSI GONZALES

SHANGHAI—Novak Djokovic handed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga a 6-2, 6-4 beating on Sunday as the world number one claimed his third Shanghai Masters title to brutally reinforce his reign over men’s tennis.

National University celebrates after winning another UAAP men’s badminton crown.

Bulldogs hammer Archers, keep badminton plum

Tamaraw spikersadvance to finals

NATIONAL University hammered out a 3-1 win over a gritty De La Salle side to cap-ture its second straight men’s badminton crown in the UAAP Season 78 Saturday.

Roslee Pedrosa and Paul Gonzales found brothers Kenneth and Prince Monterubio a tough nut to crack before escaping with a 18-21, 21-15, 22-20 decision in the second doubles, which turned out to be the win-ning moment for the Bulldogs at the Rizal Memorial Badminton Hall.

Unbeaten in 18 ties since last season, NU has won three titles in the last four years, cementing its status as the league’s new power in men’s badminton.

For the second straight season, the Green Archers bagged second place and the Bull-dogs’ MVP Peter Magnaye credited their vanquished foes for giving a hard � ght in Game 2.

“Masaya kami dahil nagbunga lahat ng pinaghirapan namin,” said the 23-year-old

Magnaye, who bade goodbye to his colle-giate career. “Sobrang ganda ng inilaro ng La Salle, hindi sila bumigay.”

NU drew � rst blood a� er Roslee Pedrosa downed Anton Cayanan in the opening singles, 21-11, 21-18.

Kenneth Monterubio gave the Archers their � rst win in the Finals series a� er defeating Keeyan Gabuelo, 21-18, 20-22, 21-19, in the second singles for a 1-1 stando� .

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

3 DIGITS 0-0-02 EZ2 0-0

P16M

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Games today(Sands SM By The Bay)8 a.m. - ADMU vs DLSU

(Women Semis)8:30 a.m. - ADMU vs UST

(Men Finals, Game 1)9 a.m. - FEU vs ADMU/DLSU

(Women Finals, Game 1)

By Peter Atencio

THE Far Eastern University pair of Bernadeth Pons and Kyla Atienza toppled Adamson’s Myla Paat and Jessica Galanza, 21-13, 21-19, in their Final Four showdown in the women’s division of the 78th University Athletic Assocation of the Philippines beach volleyball tournament Saturday at the Sands of the Mall of Asia.

� e Lady Tamaraws, who topped the eliminations with a 6-1 record, became the � rst team to advance to the � nals.

� ey now await the winner of the semi� nal encounter between the Ateneo Lady Eagles and De La Salle University.

� e pair of Alyssa Valdez and Bea Tan kept Ateneo’s championship hopes alive a� er they prevailed over La Salle’s Kim Fajardo and Cyd Demecillo, 21-16, 24-22, to extend

their Final Four duel to a sudden-death match.

If weather permits, the two teams will meet for the last time in a do-or-die match at 8 a.m. today.

� e Lady Eagles are gunning for their � rst Finals’ appearance since 2011, while the Lady Spikers are eyeing their second consecutive stint in the championship.

In men’s action, University of Santo Tomas, behind Roy Guzman and Anthony Arbasto, upset National University’s Madz Gampong and Bryan Bagunas, 21-14, 17-21, 15-11, in their rubber match in the rain-delayed step-ladder semi� nals.

� is placed UST in a � nals duel with thrice-to-beat Ateneo.

� e third-ranked Growling Tigers earlier posted a 21-14, 17-21, 15-11, decision in their � rst encounter.

� e Blue Eagles’ Marck Espejo and Ysay Marasigan, will take on the Tigers in the Finals opener at 8:30 a.m.

� e league rescheduled its semi� nals and � nals matches which was supposed to be played yesterday, to Sunday because of typhoon Lando.

� e one-sided win in one hour, 18 minutes at the Qi Zhong Sta-dium gave Serbia’s Djokovic his ninth title of a season in which he also won three out of the four Grand Slam � nals.

Djokovic’s serve was broken once but he broke the � ounder-ing Tsonga four times as he col-lected his 10th title in China on the back of a 17-match winning streak including 22 straight sets.

Djokovic was similarly domi-nant over Andy Murray in the semi-� nals and he has looked un-touchable in both Shanghai and Beijing, where he won his sixth China Open last week.

A� er a rock-star welcome complete with dry ice and ear-splitting music, Tsonga was quickly in trouble and he ner-vously netted on break points in the � rst and third games to go 3-0 down.

Some rare Djokovic errors gave Tsonga a break of his own but he immediately handed back the initiative to the Serb, who calmly served out to love for 6-3 and a one-set lead.

Tsonga hammered his second ace of the a� ernoon to get o� the mark in the second set, and then two service winners and two more aces helped him neutralise a break

point and go 2-1 ahead.Djokovic held his � rst three

service games to love, ramping up pressure on the Frenchman, but Tsonga held � rm and he unleashed a crunching forehand to stay in front 4-3.

� e Frenchman bravely stared down � ve break points in the sec-ond set but on the sixth, he � nally cracked with a double fault to put Djokovic 5-4 ahead and serving for the match.

And the Serb did not need ask-ing twice, grabbing the � rst match point when Tsonga put a lob long, and then soaking up the acclaim from the early evening crowd.

LeBron to miss rest of pre-seasonCLEVEL AND—C le ve land Cavaliers star LeBron James might not play the remainder of the NBA pre-season, coach David Blatt said, due to back pain that reportedly prompted James to have an anti-in� ammatory injection.

James missed his second game in a row � ursday when the Cavaliers lost to Indiana 107-85 and ESPN reported Friday that the star player, who missed several games last season with back issues, received an injection as a precaution ahead of a planned rest period before

the team opens the season October 27 against Chicago.

“We’re really happy with how LeBron came into camp. Came in great shape,” Blatt said.

“We want to take good care of him for the start of the season. As you know in his great and storied career, he has amassed a lot of miles. We’re trying to keep those pre-season miles to a minimum.”

Cleveland has two more pre-season games and a week between the last one and the opener.

“I certainly don’t expect him to play both games and I don’t

know if he’ll even play one,” Blatt said. “We’ll see.”

James, 30, enters his 13th NBA season averaging 11.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists in two pre-season games with a Cavaliers team that has few healthy starters.

� e Cleveland injury list includes Kyrie Irving (knee surgery), Iman Shumpert (wrist surgery), Kevin Love (shoulder surgery), J.R. Smith (hamstring), Australian Matthew Dellavedova (sore ankle) and Russian Timofey Mozgov (knee surgery).

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FIL-AM cager Jordan Clarkson scored 17 points, while Julius Randle added 14 markers to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to an 85-70 win over the the defending champions Golden State Warriors Saturday night (Sunday, Manila time) in a preseason game of the National Basketball Association.

Clarkson leads Lakers past Dubs

Pound-for-poundno. 1 mauls ViloriaBy Ronnie Nathanielsz

FOR all his gallantry and incredible courage, for-mer two-division world champion Brian Viloria succumbed to the power and the relentless aggres-sion of undefeated World Boxing Council flyweight champion and pound-for-pound No. 1 Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez of Nicaragua at the famed Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday.

In a classic double-header anchored by the mid-dleweight unification title fight between Kazakh-stan’s Gennady Golovkin and Canadian David Lemieux on a fight card telecast by TV5, Viloria, who had trained hard for the biggest fight of his ca-reer started off well, rushing out of his corner at the opening bell and connected with an overhand right as he kept up the pressure, before Gonzalez coun-tered with a late flurry to end the round.

Viloria tried to go toe-to-toe with Gonzalez as his trainer Marvin Somodio had predicted, but Gonzalez cracked Viloria with a deadly short right and dropped him for the first time, although the game Filipino-American survived.

Viloria, displaying courage Filipino fighters are known for, engaged Gonzalez who out-gunned him and by the seventh round, it appeared to be only a matter of time before Gonzalez would end proceedings and reinforce his stature as the Ring Magazine’s pound-for-pound king.

Prior to the start of the ninth round, the ring doctor visited Viloria in his corner to check on his condition considering the number of big shots he had absorbed. That gesture somehow seemed to suggest that unless a minor miracle happened and Viloria was able turn things around, the ref-eree would likely call a halt.

And that’s exactly what happened as Viloria wilted after taking a couple of thunderous body shots and referee Benjy Esteves decided to stop the fight at 2:53 of the ninth round.

Jordan Clarkson (6) of the Los Angeles Lakers drives to the basket against the Golden State Warriors during a preseason game at Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, California. AFP

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The contest was halted late in the third quarter due to unplayable conditions on the court.

The rest of the game was called off with 2:16 left in the third when moisture spots, caused by ice below the court at the Valley View Casino Center, made portions of the playing court too slippery to play in.

Stephen Curry took charge with 19 points and had four assists while Festus Ezeli tallied 10 points and nine rebounds.

Rookie guard D’Angelo Russell, who was the Lakers’ top pick, started after he missed two games with a bruised glute. He had two points.

On the other hand, Kobe Bryant was not around because of a bruised left leg.

Curry had 14 first-half points on 4-for-8 shooting on three-pointers.

Nick Young hit three consecutive three-pointers for the Lakers in less than two minutes in the second quarter.

He was fouled after converting his third triple. He also made his free throw for a four-point play.

RODERICK T. DELA CRUZASSISTANT EDITOR B1

MONDAY: OCTOBER 19, 2015

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RAY S. EÑANOEDITOR

Income tax holiday stays—MBC

Bangko Sentral ng PilipinasFriday, October 16, 2015

Foreign exchange rateCurrency Unit US Dollar PesoUnited States Dollar 1.000000 45.7960

Japan Yen 0.008412 0.3852

UK Pound 1.549000 70.9380

Hong Kong Dollar 0.129034 5.9092

Switzerland Franc 1.052410 48.1962

Canada Dollar 0.778392 35.6472

Singapore Dollar 0.725374 33.2192

Australia Dollar 0.732225 33.5330

Bahrain Dinar 2.656254 121.6458

Saudi Arabia Rial 0.266738 12.2155

Brunei Dollar 0.722752 33.0992

Indonesia Rupiah 0.000074 0.0034

Thailand Baht 0.028393 1.3003

UAE Dirham 0.272301 12.4703

Euro Euro 1.138100 52.1204

Korea Won 0.000891 0.0408

China Yuan 0.157580 7.2165

India Rupee 0.242718 11.1155

Malaysia Ringgit 0.685401 31.3886

New Zealand Dollar 0.031306 1.4337

Taiwan Dollar 0.030761 1.4145 Source: PDS Bridge

7,055.7410.34

Closing October 16, 2015PSe comPoSite index

43.50

44.60

45.40

46.20

47.00

HIGH P45.900 LOW P46.050 AVERAGE P45.975

Closing OCTOBER 16, 2015PeSo-dollar rate

VOLUME 740.800M

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

oilPriceS today

P417.00-P640.00LPG/11-kg tank

P35.85-P43.35Unleaded Gasoline

P24.55-P28.00Diesel

P34.55-P39.15Kerosene

P20.75-P21.75Auto LPG

todayP24.55-P28.00

P34.55-P39.15

P20.75-P21.75

PP35.85-P43.35

8000

7700

7400

7100

6800

6500

P46.050CLOSE

BUSINESS

Indra seeking business opportunities in SE Asia

Best commercial bank. Land Bank of the Philippines bags three major awards at the International Banker Banking Awards ceremony in London, including the Best Commercial Bank. LandBank president and chief executive Gilda Pico (second from right) receives the award from Simon Hughes of International Banker at the London Stock Exchange. With them are (from left) Smart–Voyager e-Money innovations and emerging payments head Lito Villanueva and LandBank executive vice president and branch banking sector head Jocelyn Cabreza. The bank is recognized for providing much-needed capital for economic growth, innovation to improve security and effi ciency and intelligent investing to maximize profi ts and shareholder value.

By Darwin G Amojelar

INFORMATION technology company Indra Philippines Inc. is scouting for business oppor-tunities in Southeast Asia, es-pecially in avionics and air de-fense radar systems.

Metro Paci� c Investments Corp. chairman Manuel Pang-ilinan said Indra Philippines was looking at a “larger opportunity” in Southeast Asia.

“� ey are very strong in IT and in defense related business-es—radar and avionics,” Pang-ilinan said.

He added Indra Philippines

planned to team up with the Salim Group in Indonesia and Manila Electric Co. and MPIC in Manila.

Meralco last week sold its 24.95-percent stake or half of its shareholdings in Indra Philip-pines Inc. to MPIC for P326.525 million.

“Considering that MPIC and Meralco are related entities, the purchase price consideration was determined a� er a valuation process conducted by Credit Ly-onnais Securities Asia as an in-dependent third party apprais-er,” Meralco said.

Indra, a joint venture between Meralco and Indra Sistemas S.A.

of Spain, is one of the leading IT service providers in the country o� ering customers comprehen-sive management solutions, from consultancy to project develop-ment, integration and implemen-tation and IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing.

MPIC earlier reported a net income of P5.6 billion in the � rst half of the year, up 31 percent year-on-year. � e company’s core net income increased 27 percent to P5.9 billion from P4.6 billion on-year.

MPIC expects to post P10 billion in core net income this year, up 18 percent from P8.5

billion in 2014.Metro Paci� c president Jose

Ma. Lim attributed the increase in core net income to strong tra� c growth on all toll roads owned by unit Metro Paci� c Tollways Corp., increased share-holdings in MPTC and growth in billed volume of Maynilad Water Services Inc.

� e company’s higher stake in Manila Electric Co. and growth in the hospital group also con-tributed to the core net income.

Consolidated revenues in the � rst six months of the year rose six percent to P17.6 billion from P16.6 billion a year ago.

By Othel V. Campos

TAX incentives enjoyed by companies are likely to stay, a� er the business groups and the Aquino Cabinet agreed in principle to shelve the proposed bill removing the income tax holiday and reforming the � scal incentives, an industry group said over the weekend.

Makati Business Club executive director Peter Angelo Perfecto told reporters Friday the govern-ment agreed to keep the status quo on the current � scal incen-tives regime to prevent the ero-sion of the country’s competitive-

ness as an investment destination.Perfecto said the Philippine

Business Group and Joint For-eign Chambers reached a con-sensus with the economic cluster of the Aquino Cabinet on putting the � scal incentives rational-

ization bill and other proposed amendments to incentives laws at the back burner.

Perfecto said while the three business-related bills, including the Customs Modernization Tar-i� Act, Right of Way and the bill creating the Department of ICT, might see passage under the cur-rent administration, Congress would not likely pass the � scal in-centives rationalization bill.

“We can wait for the next ad-ministration rather than rush a bill where we lose our competi-tiveness. So we’d rather stay [sta-tus quo],” Perfecto said, adding the business groups supported the position of the Philippine

Economic Zone Authority.� e � scal incentives rational-

ization bill aims to harmonize the incentives enjoyed by Peza, Board of Investments and other incen-tive-giving bodies and replace the income tax holidays with reduced corporate income taxes. It also seeks to avoid double compensation or double availment of incentives.

“Peza director general Lilia De Lima said that if in any way, it will a� ect our competitiveness then we would rather not push for it. � ere are some in business who share that position. It has to im-prove our competitiveness, not the other way around,” Perfecto said, referring to the � scal incen-

tives rationalization bill, which is being pushed by the International Monetary Fund.

� e Finance Department has been pushing for the removal of the income tax holiday in lieu of reduced corporate income tax.

Proponents of the � scal incen-tives rationalization bill claimed that the government lost P148 bil-lion in potential revenues in 2013 due to various � scal incentives.

� e Board of Investments, an attached agency of the Trade Department, already agreed to a 15- percent corporate income tax over a period of 15 years, but Peza said this would make the coun-try’s incentives less competitive.

business@thestandard.com.phextrastory2000@gmail.com

BUSINESSMONDAY: OCTOBER 19, 2015

B2

OCTOBER 12-16, 2015 OCTOBER 5-9, 2015STOCKS Close Volume Value Close Volume Value

The STandard BuSineSS Weekly STockS revieW

FINANCIALAG Finance 2.74 224,000 598,420.00 2.6 288,000 751,130.00Asia United Bank 69.45 63,630 4,385,744.00 69.45 79,950 5,511,875.00Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 103.10 9,360,660 976,762,411 108.50 10,236,190 1,100,532,362Bank of PI 82.90 8,086,180 670,855,666.00 83.50 8,037,590 749,230,017.00China Bank 40.8 510,300 20,906,305.00 41.1 394,900 16,287,980.00BDO Leasing & Fin. Inc. 2.52 669,000 1,395,830.00 2.45 58,000 139,810.00Bright Kindle Resources 1.32 562,000 756,860.00 1.24 93,000 118,240.00Citystate Savings 10.1 100 1,010.00 COL Financial 15.5 12,800 199,034.00 15.6 232,000 3,601,354.00Eastwest Bank 19.88 534,300 10,457,938.00 19.64 2,556,325 13,561,235.00Filipino Fund Inc. 7.70 7,000 53,930 8.00 9,000 69,788First Abacus 0.65 55,000 35,750 I-Remit Inc. 1.76 365,000 647,420.00 1.84 1,890,000 3,782,240.00MEDCO Holdings 0.630 31,812,000 21,426,650.00 0.630 23,821,000 14,937,850.00Metrobank 84 11,468,050 960,718,725.00 83.85 13,361,070 1,122,772,178.50Natl Reinsurance Corp. 0.96 53,000 50,880.00 0.96 41,000 38,550.00PB Bank 18.24 3,278,700 59,697,965.00 18.50 5,209,400 94,406,846.00Phil Bank of Comm 24.00 18,000 437,190.00 25.60 13,400 325,560.00Phil. National Bank 53.10 1,440,820 75,409,367.00 54.20 1,302,390 67,419,766.50Phil. Savings Bank 108.1 13,880 1,499,764.00 108.1 25,550 2,730,664.00Philippine Trust Co. 122 40 4,940.00 122 40 4,860.00PSE Inc. 296 5,870 1,738,250.00 296 2,300,679,036 582,258.00RCBC `A’ 29.25 1,349,000 40,416,855 30.45 1,494,300 45,291,130Security Bank 145.6 2,359,570 342,367,519.00 144.2 3,367,900 476,705,317.00Sun Life Financial 1495.00 395 595,940.00 1510.00 1,040 1,555,225.00Union Bank 57.00 15,810 880,925.00 55.50 106,280 5,485,692.50Vantage Equities 3.15 1,000 3,150.00 2.99 15,000 44,870.00

INDUSTRIALAboitiz Power Corp. 40.85 17,661,200 737,020,955.00 43.5 7,731,500 336,063,005.00Agrinurture Inc. 1.46 15,000 22,180.00 1.53 150,000 227,780.00Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 0.93 897,000 809,200.00 0.9 1,217,000 1,103,980.00Alsons Cons. 1.64 3,902,000 1,945,710.00 1.67 2,991,000 4,706,780.00Asiabest Group 11.9 54,400 687,380.00 12.2 98,200 1,149,834.00Bogo Medellin 50 1,840 93,856.00 51.2 700 35,867.50C. Azuc De Tarlac 83.20 6,440 538,844.00 Century Food 16.76 4,776,500 80,014,796 16.82 4,375,700 73,210,726Chemphil 106 40 4,220.00 97.05 180 16,978.50Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 25.95 2,028,200 52,575,755.00 25.1 3,805,900 98,845,310.00Concepcion 41.2 2,954,800 122,810,830 42 2,459,800 104,651,160Crown Asia 2.44 2,366,000 5,746,690.00 2.39 9,138,000 22,102,280.00Da Vinci Capital 1.75 44,795,000 87,362,360.00 2 85,109,000 194,976,360.00Del Monte 9.99 1,865,400 18,669,619.00 10.2 1,228,300 11,743,719.00DNL Industries Inc. 9.300 90,659,900 871,983,524.00 10.300 22,842,900 236,586,034.00Emperador 7.49 5,976,800 44,050,972.00 7.50 18,551,000 132,980,619.00Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 6.65 106,165,700 682,674,015.00 6.10 100,437,700 599,045,236.00EEI 7.91 1,399,500 11,023,716.00 7.85 1,580,700 12,180,655.00Euro-Med Lab. 1.7 74,000 126,720.00 1.82 335,000 623,290.00Federal Res. Inv. Group 11.8 117,100 1,384,976.00 12 1,217,200 14,622,316.00First Gen Corp. 24.55 15,636,200 378,815,215.00 23.4 15,250,400 356,015,785.00First Holdings ‘A’ 69 619,150 42,052,706.00 67 1,531,400 101,975,571.50Ginebra San Miguel Inc. 11.50 51,800 570,742.00 11.70 2,800 31,766.00Holcim Philippines Inc. 13.58 42,800 554,228.00 13.00 361,700 4,696,660.00Integ. Micro-Electronics 5.89 1,299,300 7,883,854.00 5.98 3,838,300 22,178,205.00Ionics Inc 2.740 130,538,000 349,367,660.00 2.660 88,075,000 253,246,260.00Jollibee Foods Corp. 205.40 4,336,480 881,409,298.00 197.40 2,816,610 554,143,763.00Liberty Flour 34.65 2,500 82,490.00 31.25 100 3,125.00LMG Chemicals 2 101,000 201,510.00 2.1 120,000 252,960.00Mabuhay Vinyl Corp. 4.2 433,000 1,731,620.00 3.05 170,000 641,070.00Macay Holdings 46.40 24,800 1,133,985.00 46.85 1,800 81,010.00Manila Water Co. Inc. 23.9 12,042,600 279,220,620.00 23 7,353,800 167,407,055.00Maxs Group 23.45 2,796,800 63,897,415.00 22.5 916,700 20,000,740.00Megawide 6 407,900 2,396,571.00 5.53 5,265,400 29,607,653.00Mla. Elect. Co `A’ 309.80 2,350,630 720,160,782.00 301.20 2,724,600 822,442,200.00Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp. 3.86 23,000 89,680.00 3.93 60,000 235,320.00Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 4.28 842,600 3,891,610.00 4.34 6,041,000 24,919,560.00Petron Corporation 7.34 10,866,200 78,201,873.00 7.10 11,254,900 78,472,469.00Phil H2O 4.35 15,000 62,150.00 Phinma Corporation 11.50 5,300 60,950.00 11.50 24,100 275,230.00Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 3.58 566,000 1,989,270.00 3.55 1,439,000 4,980,300.00Phoenix Semiconductor 2.00 2,002,000 4,035,400.00 2.12 2,200,000 4,540,880.00Pryce Corp. `A’ 2.35 1,220,000 2,793,480.00 2.35 12,643,000 28,138,440.00RFM Corporation 4.01 8,614,000 34,553,400.00 4.01 12,343,000 49,350,430.00Roxas and Co. 2.86 190,000 548,850.00 3.1 657,000 1,955,610.00Roxas Holdings 5.01 49,600 249,276.00 San Miguel’Pure Foods `B’ 140 92,140 12,898,917.00 140 21,120 2,955,819.00Splash Corporation 2.21 3,142,000 7,163,860.00 2.3 26,728,000 67,363,310.00Swift Foods, Inc. 0.148 12,870,000 1,920,760.00 0.149 67,830,000 10,606,710.00TKC Steel Corp. 1.38 3,627,000 5,163,860.00 1.38 21,384,000 38,382,650.00Trans-Asia Oil 2.15 35,568,000 74,502,860.00 1.93 7,800,000 15,394,340.00Universal Robina 193.9 5,533,200 1,064,215,601.00 195 12,085,510 2,333,898,275.00Victorias Milling 4.58 132,000 614,790.00 4.77 1,177,000 5,521,180.00Vitarich Corp. 0.68 5,838,000 4,122,380.00 0.68 5,443,000 3,721,900.00Vulcan Ind’l. 1.22 2,073,000 2,605,130.00 1.28 4,769,000 5,906,140.00

HOLDING FIRMSAbacus Cons. `A’ 0.410 12,500,000 5,179,950.00 0.420 1,260,000 506,650.00Aboitiz Equity 57.0000 9,401,860 533,648,816.50 57.5000 9,006,510 518,947,715.50Alliance Global Inc. 18.26 43,599,600 793,908,196.00 18.46 64,103,200 1,072,866,434.00Anglo Holdings A 1.05 66,000 70,590.00 1.12 12,000 13,090.00Anscor `A’ 6.60 760,000 4,939,221.00 6.60 26,900 179,038.00ATN Holdings A 0.260 11,660,000 2,967,470.00 0.250 15,990,000 4,088,080.00ATN Holdings B 0.260 1,660,000 432,350.00 0.260 600,000 159,300.00Ayala Corp `A’ 751.5 761,395 874,867,940.00 775 2,016,670 1,551,025,775.00Cosco Capital 7.2 8,042,100 57,942,494.00 7.23 9,381,200 66,309,900.00DMCI Holdings 12.50 30,130,000 385,255,232.00 12.60 33,137,700 416,216,234.00F&J Prince ‘A’ 3.73 397,000 1,558,230.00 3.5 504,000 1,645,890.00F&J Prince ‘B’ 3.8 66,000 260,570.00 Filinvest Dev. Corp. 3.99 1,140,000 4,467,400.00 4.08 47,000 188,190.00Forum Pacific 0.270 20,180,000 5,908,600.00 0.260 5,360,000 1,459,900.00GT Capital 1296 890,275 1,168,314,865.00 1371 1,266,490 1,706,665,445.00House of Inv. 5.80 973,300 5,643,018.00 5.78 2,766,700 16,214,321.00JG Summit Holdings 71.80 11,820,040 834,738,444.00 70.50 13,008,120 923,265,479.00Jolliville Holdings 3.14 15,000 58,160.00 LT Group 4.99 10,000 49,900.00 Keppel Holdings `B’ 6.16 11,816,300 72,492,402.00 5.95 34,484,700 197,892,214.00Lopez Holdings Corp. 0.88 8,258,000 7,192,810.00 0.83 14,135,000 11,623,020.00Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. 11.32 14,332,700 162,354,268.00 11.58 63,907,500 694,891,961.00Mabuhay Holdings `A’ 0.56 588,000 327,980.00 0.52 55,000 28,800.00Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. 5.06 93,258,200 476,979,442.00 5.21 181,803,400 927,410,755.00Minerales Industrias Corp. 8.58 5,774,200 48,991,658.00 8.65 8,434,100 71,779,807.00MJCI Investments Inc. 2.6 3,000 7,800.00 Pacifica `A’ 0.0360 799,400,000 29,118,600.00 0.0370 1,272,000,000 52,063,700.00Prime Media Hldg 1.200 86,000 108,180.00 1.250 33,000 37,400.00Prime Orion 1.980 9,332,000 18,315,620.00 1.940 40,457,000 80,132,990.00Republic Glass ‘A’ 2.84 47,000 132,150.00 2.83 10,000 28,300.00San Miguel Corp `A’ 48.00 1,512,600 70,628,835.00 49.95 913,930 44,599,161.50Seafront `A’ 2.70 16,000 43,240.00 2.86 76,000 206,580.00SM Investments Inc. 871.50 1,215,950 1,064,062,990.00 879.00 1,575,120 1,388,224,060.00Solid Group Inc. 1.21 2,008,000 2,488,540.00 1.22 3,447,000 4,073,480.00South China Res. Inc. 0.77 319,000 244,690.00 0.75 737,000 535,800.00Transgrid 188.00 60 11,280.00 188.00 10 1,880.00Top Frontier 104.400 230,240 22,470,594.50 90.600 161,940 13,785,182.50Unioil Res. & Hldgs 0.3450 112,670,000 42,601,750.00 0.3400 31,440,000 10,405,950.00Wellex Industries 0.2310 19,720,000 4,821,700.00 0.2170 1,380,000 308,330.00Zeus Holdings 0.310 68,660,000 22,216,040.00 0.250 5,250,000 1,272,110.00

P R O P E R T Y8990 HLDG 6.330 2,435,000 15,524,187.00 6.430 2,021,000 13,058,901.00A. Brown Co., Inc. 0.78 25,689,000 19,924,920.00 0.67 7,332,000 5,037,050.00Araneta Prop `A’ 1.150 384,000 430,010.00 1.150 50,000 55,640.00Arthaland Corp. 0.225 110,000 24,850.00 0.240 1,160,000 265,450.00Ayala Land `B’ 35.700 41,430,100 1,492,112,060.00 37.600 61,167,100 2,175,281,925.00Belle Corp. `A’ 3.28 24,321,000 75,581,810.00 3.06 14,621,000 44,409,860.00Cebu Holdings 5.02 246,100 1,238,751.00 5 185,700 927,483.00Centennial City 0.61 13,801,000 8,532,790.00 0.63 30,026,000 18,344,050.00City & Land Dev. 0.94 18,000 16,920.00 0.94 177,000 165,500.00Cityland Dev. `A’ 1.01 29,000 29,580.00 1.07 73,000 76,480.00Crown Equities Inc. 0.131 113,760,000 13,542,730.00 0.112 37,980,000 4,161,280.00Cyber Bay Corp. 0.600 269,470,000 160,018,550.00 0.430 1,380,000 582,350.00Double Dragon 19.92 4,887,100 78,531,014.00 19.98 6,022,400 123,341,557.00Empire East Land 0.910 24,578,000 22,389,810.00 0.930 82,780,000 78,150,820.00Ever Gotesco 0.172 250,000 41,760.00 0.163 50,000 8,150.00Global-Estate 1.18 39,261,000 47,924,350.00 1.17 112,169,000 141,866,840.00

OCTOBER 12-16, 2015 OCTOBER 5-9, 2015STOCKS Close Volume Value Close Volume Value

Filinvest Land,Inc. 1.69 42,172,000 73,503,230.00 1.78 62,413,000 107,411,710.00Interport `A’ 1.32 2,242,000 2,901,750.00 1.28 1,294,000 1,666,490.00Megaworld Prop. 4.41 143,928,000 651,704,850.00 4.75 145,710,000 675,311,660.00MRC Allied Ind. 0.089 2,740,000 230,330.00 0.085 4,160,000 358,500.00Phil. Estates Corp. 0.3000 1,430,000 432,350.00 0.3050 320,000 97,300.00Phil. Realty `A’ 0.4800 360,000 166,100.00 0.3850 50,000 19,250.00Primex Corp. 8.2 846,100 6,784,428.00 7.7 794,900 6,157,730.00Robinson’s Land `B’ 28.95 18,787,800 544,123,430.00 29.00 21,033,400 609,162,615.00Rockwell 1.61 1,274,000 2,030,750.00 1.6 1,200,000 1,886,580.00Shang Properties Inc. 3.05 150,000 459,800.00 3.18 659,000 2,044,640.00SM Prime Holdings 21.50 79,794,900 1,718,424,500.00 21.65 68,717,500 1,469,277,590.00Sta. Lucia Land Inc. 0.72 3,137,000 2,269,420.00 0.73 10,934,000 7,738,430.00Starmalls 8.17 28,100 225,885.00 8.17 54,300 430,426.00Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. 1.190 63,684,000 79,322,790.00 1.300 191,553,000 268,608,950.00Vista Land & Lifescapes 5.400 39,349,200 214,390,465.00 5.180 49,305,700 258,136,814.00

S E R V I C E S2GO Group 8.06 1,929,200 16,077,765.00 7.75 326,800 2,531,393.00ABS-CBN 63 302,430 19,251,696.50 63 96,860 6,051,293.50Acesite Hotel 1.1 237,000 271,810.00 1.1 67,000 76,070.00APC Group, Inc. 0.600 8,193,000 4,924,620.00 0.600 22,100,000 12,924,450.00Asian Terminals Inc. 11.8 1,000 11,800.00 11.24 1,000 11,240.00Berjaya Phils. Inc. 29 31,600 826,400 29 11,500 315,200Bloomberry 6.64 78,650,400 488,746,913.00 5.95 83,722,900 477,724,145.00Boulevard Holdings 0.0540 397,260,000 21,396,760.00 0.0570 366,790,000 22,314,390.00Calata Corp. 3.89 4,764,000 18,549,740.00 3.8 1,018,000 3,883,890.00Cebu Air Inc. (5J) 82.9 1,551,260 131,099,892.00 84.6 2,534,350 218,196,502.50Centro Esc. Univ. 9.66 56,000 538,504.00 9.82 8,100 79,560.00Discovery World 1.66 15,000 26,070 DFNN Inc. 5.31 1,621,400 8,506,051.00 5.49 3,405,800 17,647,641.00FEUI 955 2,350 2,254,250.00 974 40 38,955.00Globe Telecom 2294 318,645 716,080,670 2242 550,970 1,277,869,160GMA Network Inc. 6.63 482,900 3,162,762.00 6.56 757,900 4,952,367.00Grand Plaza Hotel 21.00 100 2,100 16.90 1,500 25,350Harbor Star 1.25 496,000 608,600.00 1.21 166,000 209,330.00I.C.T.S.I. 78 7,554,110 591,339,032.00 77.7 15,874,270 1,221,324,632.50Imperial Res. `A’ 4.70 9,400 44,104 5.79 14,000 68,250IPeople Inc. `A’ 12.5 55,600 669,812.00 11.86 22,200 263,064.00IP E-Game Ventures Inc. 0.011 56,800,000 625,100.00 0.010 36,600,000 401,500.00Island Info 0.181 46,820,000 8,728,820.00 0.180 17,820,000 3,207,920.00ISM Communications 1.4200 3,438,000 4,947,660.00 1.4400 5,703,000 8,370,140.00Jackstones 2.25 49,000 110,540.00 2.15 38,000 80,920.00Leisure & Resorts 8.54 2,985,900 25,159,892.00 8.36 1,613,000 16,864,105.00Liberty Telecom 3.80 6,987,000 26,664,160.00 3.98 12,998,000 51,510,850.00Lorenzo Shipping 1.25 39,000 48,030.00 1.14 8,000 9,120.00Macroasia Corp. 2.30 47,000 103,540.00 2.26 21,000 46,340.00Manila Broadcasting 34.00 2,900 80,935.00 Manila Bulletin 0.610 429,000 266,420.00 0.620 716,000 438,000.00Manila Jockey 2 131,000 262,650.00 2 83,000 166,250.00Melco Crown 4.08 68,142,000 273,807,640.00 3.88 54,617,000 210,952,060.00MG Holdings 0.315 93,950,000 31,641,350.00 0.320 1,860,000 544,000.00NOW Corp. 1.010 510,233,000 493,765,420.00 0.570 14,852,000 8,383,390.00Pacific Online Sys. Corp. 19 12,638,600 240,113,348.00 18.7 5,900 109,880.00PAL Holdings Inc. 4.50 65,000 294,890 4.58 23,000 107,870Paxys Inc. 2.9 22,000 63,800.00 2.89 16,000 46,130.00Phil. Seven Corp. 97.00 35,570 3,420,410.00 97.00 205,530 18,178,593.00Philweb.Com Inc. 19.04 1,665,100 31,426,784.00 18.92 504,500 9,510,148.00PLDT Common 2260.00 578,870 1,289,399,460.00 2260.00 876,255 2,016,553,100.00PremiereHorizon 0.570 8,498,000 4,882,110.00 0.580 2,096,000 1,188,090.00Premium Leisure 1.180 125,743,000 141,700,680.00 1.080 83,234,000 88,335,280.00Puregold 32.80 8,141,200 271,520,045.00 32.65 8,135,700 262,348,260.00Robinsons Retail 72.00 2,283,530 169,136,257.50 75.00 2,994,680 225,917,854.50SBS Phil. Corp. 6.61 24,761,900 171,144,435.00 7.03 29,559,600 200,377,335.00SSI Group 5.45 42,150,400 236,571,055.00 5.70 69,321,100 395,783,333.00STI Holdings 0.47 109,220,000 51,448,000.00 0.47 38,770,000 18,606,650.00Transpacific Broadcast 1.5 58,000 87,110.00 1.5 104,000 157,780.00Travellers 4.05 36,307,000 141,914,820.00 3.51 10,691,000 36,599,820.00Waterfront Phils. 0.370 2,600,000 931,900.00 0.360 1,620,000 578,300.00Yehey 4.470 8,986,000 38,140,740.00 3.650 6,695,000 24,209,600.00

MINING & OILAbra Mining 0.0049 850,000,000 4,131,600.00 0.0048 3,892,000,000 22,901,800.00Apex `A’ 2.20 341,000 788,200.00 2.15 188,000 409,710.00Atlas Cons. `A’ 5.88 5,029,900 26,043,932.00 4.89 678,000 3,276,500.00Atok-Big Wedge `A’ 11.96 1,900 19,982.00 10.58 4,200 40,436.00Basic Energy Corp. 0.210 4,270,000 885,040.00 0.189 170,000 31,800.00Benguet Corp `A’ 5.8000 13,600 80,632.00 5.8000 43,800 252,025.00Century Peak Metals Hldgs 0.72 1,097,000 791,500.00 0.72 787,000 578,330.00Coal Asia 0.65 882,000 588,740.00 0.65 1,162,000 760,060.00Dizon 9.03 559,700 4,915,066.00 8.36 506,600 4,213,704.00Ferronickel 1.12 226,938,000 265,559,020.00 0.93 35,935,000 32,718,800.00Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. 0.295 20,520,000 6,205,100.00 0.290 1,330,000 387,300.00Lepanto `A’ 0.196 68,840,000 13,258,660.00 0.183 28,910,000 5,220,500.00Lepanto `B’ 0.208 8,100,000 1,674,080.00 0.199 1,710,000 326,520.00Manila Mining `A’ 0.0110 668,400,000 6,693,600.00 0.0097 130,000,000 1,264,300.00Manila Mining `B’ 0.012 206,100,000 2,263,900.00 0.011 12,000,000 125,900.00Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. 2.26 7,036,000 16,132,600.00 1.99 2,627,000 5,056,860.00Nickelasia 7.23 40,716,600 291,217,143.00 6.87 45,523,000 297,696,931.00Nihao Mineral Resources 2.8 1,527,000 4,354,090.00 2.77 4,817,000 13,425,500.00Omico 0.6300 1,151,000 735,830.00 0.5900 605,000 354,560.00Oriental Peninsula Res. 1.3700 3,875,000 5,697,000.00 1.3600 696,000 924,990.00Oriental Pet. `A’ 0.0098 183,500,000 1,854,610.00 0.0094 88,000,000 795,900.00Oriental Pet. `B’ 0.0099 11,000,000 108,100.00 0.0090 4,000,000 36,900.00Petroenergy Res. Corp. 4.04 42,000 166,990.00 3.89 332,000 1,270,760.00Philex `A’ 5.30 6,271,300 33,102,890.00 4.96 2,653,000 12,876,440.00PhilexPetroleum 1.36 2,588,000 3,613,600.00 1.37 2,124,000 2,917,890.00Philodrill Corp. `A’ 0.0130 1,415,400,000 18,519,100.00 0.0120 905,900,000 10,386,700.00Semirara Corp. 130.00 5,797,220 764,254,476.00 139.80 3,446,310 482,171,522.00TA Petroleum 2.35 1,208,000 2,890,760.00 2.4 1,466,000 3,602,380.00United Paragon 0.0084 48,000,000 365,800.00 0.0070 17,000,000 119,000.00

PREFERREDABS-CBN Holdings Corp. 66.95 3,064,920 204,188,331.50 65 2,388,380 148,980,151.00Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B1’ 530 18,430 9,572,260.00 532 8,760 4,650,320.00Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ 526 320 168,600 525 8,280 4,364,305First Gen G 118 50,000 5,820,000.00 GLOBE PREF P 520 15,270 7,957,400.00 520 12,790 6,662,715.00GMA Holdings Inc. 6.4 3,762,800 23,950,683.00 6.4 2,750,000 17,376,376.00Leisure & Resort Pref. 1.11 501,000 556,420 1.12 122,000 136,240MWIDE PREF 109 65,060 7,105,015.00 110 31,640 3,533,320.00PCOR-Preferred A 1065 1,115 1,187,475.00 1080 9,780 10,562,360.00PCOR-Preferred B 1130 1,170 1,322,100.00 1141 755 861,205.00PF Pref 2 1019 20,540 20,974,815.00 1028 7,160 7,376,320.00SMC Preferred B 78.2 70,000 5,485,645.00 78.9 2,000 157,800.00SMC Preferred C 82.1 307,090 25,237,220.00 82 190,360 15,652,360.50SMC Preferred D 79 204,420 16,152,069.00 79 387,940 30,614,978.00SMC Preferred E 79 461,590 36,473,256.00 78.6 588,240 46,270,168.00SMC Preferred F 79.95 1,967,280 156,969,988.50 79.95 1,703,420 136,074,819.00

WARRANTS & BONDSLeisure & Resort Warr. 2.910 641,000 1,876,550.00 2.880 1,361,000 3,994,160.00

S M EMakati Fin. Corp. 3.09 168,000 520,700.00 3.22 71,000 227,120.00Ripple E-Business Intl 63 12,990 826,045.50 64.5 27,730 1,814,121.50Xurpas 14.4 6,931,000 101,940,480.00 15.34 18,649,000 277,860,002.00

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDSFirst Metro ETF 115.5 69,670 7,972,917.00 117.1 195,000 22,469,242.00

WEEKLY MOST TRADED STOCKS VOLUME

Philodrill Corp. `A’ 1,415,400,000Abra Mining 850,000,000Pacifica `A’ 799,400,000Manila Mining `A’ 668,400,000NOW Corp. 510,233,000Boulevard Holdings 397,260,000Cyber Bay Corp. 269,470,000Ferronickel 226,938,000Manila Mining `B’ 206,100,000Oriental Pet. `A’ 183,500,000

STOCKS VALUE

SM Prime Holdings 1,718,424,500.00Ayala Land `B’ 1,492,112,060.00PLDT Common 1,289,399,460.00GT Capital 1,168,314,865.00Universal Robina 1,064,215,601.00SM Investments Inc. 1,064,062,990.00Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 976,762,411.00Metrobank 960,718,725.00Jollibee Foods Corp. 881,409,298.00Ayala Corp `A’ 874,867,940.00

business@thestandard.com.phextrastory2000@gmail.com

BUSINESSMONDAY: OCTOBER 19, 2015

B3

Ayala bullish on power business

New potential buyer of Bank of Commerce

Stocks likely to move sideways this week

WTO session. The Philippine Mission to the WTO holds a public forum a working session on ‘Fostering the Participation of MSMEs in Regional and Global Markets.’ The session is the WTO’s largest annual out-reach event, which provides a platform for participants to discuss the latest developments in world trade and propose ways of enhancing the multilateral trading system. The working session brings together (from left) United Nations Conference on Trade and Development deputy director general Joakim Reiter, International Trade Center executive director Arancha Gonzalez, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo, World Bank senior direc-tor for trade and competitiveness Anabel Gonzalez, WTO deputy director general Ziaozhun Yi and PMWTO permanent representative Esteban Conejos Jr.

MIZUHO Financial Group of Japan recently ended talks on the possible acquisition of San Miguel Corp.’s controlling interest in Bank of Commerce reportedly due to disagreement over the price.

San Miguel, however, is not worried because it may have attracted a new potential buyer for its bank.

Sources said San Miguel and the new potential buyer had a one-on-one meeting during the recent Forbes Global CEO Forum at Solaire Resort & Casino in Parañaque City.

The new potential buyer was reportedly keen on acquiring a bank and San Miguel informed the potential buyer that it owns a bank (Bank of Commerce) which the conglomerate was interested in selling. As the say-ing goes when one door closes, another door opens. Jenniffer B. Austria

Questions arise on who built MRT trainsWho built the light rail vehicles used in Metro Rail Transit Line 3 is now

a question that may affect the outcome of an emergency procurement for the three-year maintenance contract of the 16.9-kilometer line that serves nearly 600,000 passengers a day.

The confusion was caused by the privatization of state-owned CKD Tatra of the Czech Republic in 2002. CKD built and supplied the 73 light rail ve-hicles used by MRT 3, many of which now require rehabilitation.

Local rail maintenance firm Comm Builders & Technology Philippines said it recently signed a cooperation agreement with tram manufacturer SKD Trade A.S., a successor company to CKD Tatra. CB&T president and chief executive Roehl Bacar said SKD’s top executives would be in Manila by the fourth week of October to invoke the fact that they are the real suc-cessor-firm to CKD, not Inekon or Pragoimex, which are also Czech firms.

“We are proud to announce that we have signed this partnership agree-ment with SKD. We have learned that SKD’s factory, which was the factory of the old CKD, has all the spare parts available of the train model that we have now at the MRT so this means we solve any problem or concerns on availability of spare parts or obsolesence,” Bacar said.

The Transportation Department will soon choose three-year service provider that will take over the maintenance of MRT 3 from the current seven multi-discipline contractors with six-month contracts ending Janu-ary 2016. The new contract includes the rehabilitation of 43 trains of MRT.

Some 48 brand-new light rail vehicles are also expected to arrive from Dalian, China starting next year as a part of the refleeting of MRT trains, but it remains to be seen whether they are compatible with MRT train con-figuration. Roderick T. dela Cruz

MVP prays for the right president Businessman Manuel Pangilinan, who decided not to run as president

for the 2016 national elections despite the clamor of several groups, said he is praying that God will give the Philippines “the right president.”

“My prayer is that the good Lord gives us the right president whoever he/she might be,” Pangilinan said.

When asked who the right president is, Pangilinan said: “I don’t know. He decides.”

The country’s next president is critical to the companies led by Pan-gilinan, as most of them are affected by the regulation and policy of the government. Pangilinan leads the PLDT and MPIC conglomerates which have business interests in telecommunication, power, water distribution, toll roads, mining, hospitals and infrastructure.

The toll road and water businesses of the Pangilinan group are asking the government for tariff adjustment under their concession agreement.

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, who filed her certificate of candi-dacy to run as president, earlier endorsed Pangilinan to run for the highest position in the country, while Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is also running for president, earlier indicated he wanted Pangilinan to be his run-ning mate. Darwin G. Amojelar

Sycip deserves exemption from age limitVeteran stockbroker Wilson Sy said he will personally file a petition

before the corporate regulators to grant the highly esteemed accounting guru Washington Sycip an exemption from the proposed rules setting an age limit on independent directors.

Sy, during a recent PSE-SEC Corporate Governance Forum, defended the 94-year-old Sycip, saying his wisdom and his contribution as an independent director of PhilEquity Management Inc. are very important.

“He is like an icon. He is known and his name is beyond material matters. He will say what he thinks, whatever is right or wrong in any company,” Sy said.

Sy recalled that before the 2008 collapse of the Lehman Bothers, Sycip already predicted that a major US investment bank was going to collapse. Sycip also mentioned last year that China would not be able to sustain seven percent growth rate until 2020.

Sycip currently sits as an independent director for various companies such as Belle Corp., First Philippine Holdings Corp. and Lopez Holdings Corp.

The Finance Department earlier released a list of “ideal” qualifications for directors of insurance and listed companies to improve governance in these firms. One provision states that an independent director must be be-low 80 years old, unless otherwise found fit. Jenniffer B. Austria

By Alena Mae S. Flores

AYALA Corp. expects to see stable earnings from its power business through wholly-owned subsidiary AC Energy Holdings Inc., an executive said over the weekend.

By Jenniffer B. Austria

STOCKS are expected to move sideways this week, as investors will likely look overseas develop-ments for guidance, analysts said over the weekend.

F. Yap Securities investment analyst Jason Escartin said one of the biggest sentiment drivers this week would be the release of Chi-na’s third-quarter gross domestic product report.

“Ultimately, any indication that China’s industrial might is waning would adversely impact local eq-uities, as well as stocks across the region, primarily because of its im-portance to trade,” Escartin said.

Regina Capital Development Corp. managing director Luis Lim-

lingan said he expected the market to consolidate between its weekly high and low as the index struggled to breach the 7,200 resistance level.

“With the reaction lows starting to slope upwards, the bias for the week is slightly bullish. However, note that index is still not out of the woods yet so to keep a close watch on support,” Limlingan said.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index last week dropped 1.17 percent to close at 7,055.74 on Friday, as the weak China September economic numbers triggered profit taking. The broader all-shares index also posted a week-on-week drop of 0.60 percent.

Weekly performances of ma-jor sub-indices were mixed as the mining and oil, industrial and ser-vices posted weekly gains of 1.35

percent, 1.17 percent and 0.74 percent, respectively. On the other hand, financials, holding firms and property registered weekly de-clines of 1.53 percent, 1.31 percent and 2.84 percent, respectively.

Foreign investors were net sell-ers last week by P1.91 billion, as to-tal overseas selling reached P18.04 billion, while total overseas buying amounted to P16.12 billion.

The average daily turnover dropped to P6.5 billion from the previous week’s average of P8.7 billion.

Top gainers were Now Corp., which climbed 77.2 percent to P1.01; Cyber Bay Corp., which advanced 39.5 percent to P0.60; and Mabuhay Vinyl Corp., which rose 37.7percent to P4.20.

“It’s going to take a little bit of time. Around two-thirds of our portfolio, our assets just started operations. It takes a couple of years before your assets stabilize,” AC Energy president John Eric Francia told reporters.

Francia, however, said he ex-pected the power business to start contributing to the Ayala Group’s revenues and net income this year.

“I can’t give you an indication [whether double-digit]. But giv-en that a lot of our assets are al-ready operational, obviously that helps,” he said.

“It takes time to get at a steady state. For this set of assets, GN Mindanao will be the last one in this 700-megawatt attributable equity. That’s the only one under construction, and the solar by next year it will be operational,” Francia said.

He said the second 135-MW unit of South Luzon Thermal En-

ergy Corp.’s 270-MW coal plant, AC Energy’s joint venture with Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Devel-opment Corp., was set to be com-missioned soon. The first 135-MW unit started operations in June.

AC Energy is also putting up a 540-MW coal-fired power plant in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte in Mindanao.

The Mindanao power plant is developed by GN Power Kaus-wagan Ltd. Co., a limited part-nership among AC Energy, the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure fund and Power Partners Ltd. Co.

“Once GN Mindanao stabilizes, call it 2018 to 2019, hopefully soon-er, given that we hope to start in 2017, then you’ll be able to see sta-ble earnings by 2019,” Francia said.

He said the power business was currently contributing around 10 percent to the Ayala Group’s bot-tom-line.

AC Energy earlier announced it teamed up with Bronzeoak Phil-ippines Inc. for the development, construction and operation of a solar power farm in Bais City, Ne-gros Oriental.

The solar project will be owned and operated by Monte Solar En-ergy Inc., a special purpose vehi-cle company, and shall be under-taken in two phases.

The first phase is for an 18-MW solar power plant with a total project cost of P1.3 billion and is targeted for completion by March 2016. The second phase is for the expansion of the initial 18-MW solar power plant up to 40 MW.

AC Energy also owns a 36-per-cent stake in North Luzon Renew-able Energy Corp., which owns and operates the 81-MW wind farm in Barangay Caparispisan, Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte.

AC Energy has a stake in the 52-MW wind project of North-wind Power Development Corp. in Bangui, Ilocos Norte.

The company is also involved in the development of a 1,200-MW power plant in Bataan beside the existing GN Power Mariveles plant.

AC Energy expects to have 1,000 MW of attributable capacity by 2016.

B4

LT Group expandsrenewable portfolio

Gaisanoslining upnew condo buildings

AES signs power supply deals with seven co-ops

Communications solution. Wordtext Systems Inc. president Jauna Chua (fourth from left) shakes hands with Unify Asean managing director Daniel Mountstephen after signing a partnership distribution deal. Joining them are (from left) WSI product manager Jeffrey Garay, senior product manager Reina Putong and vice president for solutions division Jing Laurente; Unify Asean distribution Keith Tay and pre-sales director Charles Chow; and Unify Philippines country manager Edwin Concepcion. Unify’s OpenScape Business is a total UC solution for SMEs and big companies that enhances productivity and cuts communication costs.

By Alena Mae S. Flores

LT Group Inc. of tobacco and airline tycoon Lucio Tan will expand investments in the renewable energy sector, after completing the bioethanol plant of unit Absolut Distill-ers Inc. with a 30-million liter capacity a year in Lian, Batangas.

Absolut Distillers is set to for-mally open the bioethanol project this week.

Bioethanol is used as an alter-native fuel to gasoline. A Philip-pine law mandated a 10 percent bioethanol mix for gasoline.

A government source said the newly-completed facility was utilizing molasses to produce bioethanol and would expand the plant using sugarcane by next year.

“Yes, it’s 30 million liters with-out power generation capacity as

it will be operating as molasses-based. The second plant will be cane based, most likely next year,” the source said.

Absolut Distillers earlier com-pleted a P189-million, two mega-watt solar power plant in Lian.

“This 2-MW solar power gen-eration facility is only the begin-ning. From here, we see even greater possibilities,” Tan earlier said in a statement.

Tan, one of the country’s billion-aires, stressed his intent to further invest in the renewable energy.

“We are committed in pull-ing our resources to bring better alternatives to help in the gov-ernment’s efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change. We do these to reduce our carbon foot-print as we aim towards a green economy,” he said.

Absolut generation manager and Tanduay Distrillers Inc. vice

president for distillery operations Gerardo Tee said the company would sell power generated by the plant to the Batangas Electric Cooperative for P9.68 per kilo-watt-hour, the rate approved by the Energy Regulatory Commis-sion for solar power companies under the feed-in tariff scheme.

The solar project is the first ven-ture of the LT Group in renewable energy, although Absolut Distill-ers has been advocating sustain-able energy since the 1990s.

The facility is composed of 8,160 panels and occupies about 27,000 square meters within an industrial area, where the 17-hectare Absolut plant in Ba-rangay Malaruhatan, Lian, Batan-gas is located.

Some 150 technical staff and construction personnel were commissioned to finish the proj-ect within two months since its groundbreaking in January this year.

TAN

By Othel V. Campos

TAFT Property Ventures De-velopment Corp. of the Gaisano Group plans to build more com-pact condominium units as its an-chor development project, saying it was bullish on the company’s growth forecast.

The company said it was on track to meet its forecast of P2 billion in reservation sales this year and might double the target to P4 billion in 2016.

“We’re three-fourths to reach-ing that goal for 2015. As mid-level player in the industry, we need to be quick in our innova-tions. The thrust of Taft is to dif-ferentiate ourselves, so we need to be more aggressive in innova-tion,” said Taft Property presi-dent and chief operating officer Christopher Narciso.

The company, he said, was moving toward building more affordable vertical housing de-velopment, noting the changing lifestyle of Filipinos.

The development of compact condominiums will drive compa-ny revenues to hit its double-digit growth in the near term and help address the country’s 4 million housing backlog.

Narciso said the housing back-log was rising with an estimated 300,000 units adding to the 4 mil-lion unserved demand annually.

The company’s innovative compact condominium concept may rise to about 500,000 units to fill in the unserved demand.

Taft Property’s units measure 20 square meters in floor area costing P1.5 million to P1.7 mil-lion per unit.

The company is currently con-structing four buildings and one housing development. Six new projects will rise on 2016, mostly in the Visayas while pocket de-velopments will be launched in Metro Manila.

“With the right resources we can afford to be quick in our innova-tions. We observe a very practical approach to developing a project that we find very beneficial to end-users. Comfort by design, that’s our philosophy,” said Narciso.

The company opened its first affordable compact condomini-um building in Guadalupe Cebu, which will be followed by a simi-lar development for launching by February 2016, also in Cebu.

Taft Property is funding all projects with a mix of internal capital and debt.

Taft Properties recently launched that first phase of the Mandani Bay project, the company’s first wa-terfront township development in partnership with Hong Kong Land Holdings Limited.

Taft Properties, is a wholly-owned unit of the Viscal Devel-opment Corp., which in turn is held by the Gaisano Group.

HT Land Philippines, the joint venture company of the Metro Gaisano Group’s Taft Property and Hong Kong Land Ltd., is spending P4.5 billion to develop the first phase of the Mandani Bay township.

AES Philippines signed agree-ments with seven electric coop-eratives to supply 92 megawatts of base load power for 20 years starting in 2019.

AES Philippines signed the agreement with electric coopera-tives from Region 1 and the Cor-dillera Administrative Region (collectively, the R1 +CAR ECs) last week.

The company said in a state-ment released over the weekend it would supply 92 MW from the 300-MW expansion project of the 630-MW Masinloc power plant in Zambales province.

The R1+CAR Ecs—which are composed of Abra Electric Cooperative Inc., Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative, Ilocos Sur Electric Cooperative, Kalinga Electric Cooperative, La Union

Electric Cooperative, Mountain Province Electric Cooperative Inc. and Pangasinan III Electric Cooperative—decided in 2014 to combine their requirements and conduct a competitive selec-tion process to buy power from a new facility.

Several generators qualified for the selection process but AES Philippines won the bidding by providing the most competitive long-term rate from the planned expansion of its Masinloc plant.

“We are excited to add the R1+CAR ECs to our list of cus-tomers. We applaud their vision and initiative in organizing this aggregation. The design, evalua-tion, and execution of the entire bid process was competitive, transparent, fair, and conducted with integrity,” said AES manag-

ing director for the Philippines Neeraj Bhat

“As a result, these ECs and their customers will enjoy the most competitive generation rate ever signed for a new power plant in the Philippines,” he said.

Ilocos Sur Electric Coopera-tive general manager and Region 1 Electric Cooperatives Associa-tion president Egdon Sabio said the coops pursued aggregation “because individually we are small and weak, but as a group, we are strong.”

“The objectives of the ag-gregation are to secure the sup-ply of electricity for our captive customers, achieve the least-cost price of power through CSP to benefit our consumers, and man-age our market risks. Today, we accomplished all these objec-

tives,” Sabio said.“Based on the study of our

transaction adviser, the PSAs we signed will result in up to 20 to 30 percent reduction in the retail and generation rates for around 3.5 million people in our service areas,” he said.

The 300-MW expansion of the Masinloc power plant secured all key permits to start construction. Talks with lenders and engineer-ing, procurement and construc-tion contractors are under way, commissioning expected in 2019.

The Masinloc power plant expansion signed power supply agreements with other customers and was actively marketing its remaining open capacity to addi-tional electric cooperatives, dis-tribution utilities and contestable customers. Alena Mae S. Flores

WITH the deadline for the filing of cer-tificates of candidacy having come to a close, the Filipino voting public will be subjecting the presidentiables to a very close scrutiny. In this day and age when information technology has made voters very much aware of issues, motherhood statements will no longer work. People want specific policies, platforms and ideas on how the candidates plan to ad-dress the problems that the nation face.

This is precisely what Go Negosyo seeks to achieve with Negosyo Talks: Meet the Presidentiables Series—a three-part round-table forum that aims to give the business community a chance to meet the top presi-dentiables who will share their vision and platform particularly on economic and en-trepreneurship development.

Go Negosyo partnered with PLDT SME Nation, TV5 and Bilang Pilipino in mounting the series that hopefully can help the electorate into becoming informed participants in the democratic exercise in May 2016.

The series started off with Vice Presi-dent Jejomar Binay who articulated his platform of governance, with poverty alleviation as among his priorities. The Vice President handled questions—in-cluding the corruption allegatiosn that

have been hurled against him—from my fellow panelists that included business-man and naturalized Filipino HareshHi-ranand who is engaged in the garments export industry; Manila Overseas Press Club president Babe Romualdez; Ster-ling Group of Companies chairman and CEO Henry Lim Bon Liongwho is also the vice president of the Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry; “doctor to the stars” Vicky Belo of the Belo Medical Group; and Ramon Lopez, executive director of the Philippine Cen-ter for Entrepreneurship-Go Negosyo. TV5’s Luchi Cruz Valdez was the mod-erator during the roundtable discussion that was not only interesting but enlight-ening as well.

Definitely, it is important for all of us to know the mindset of those seeking to lead us, and know how they intend to steer this country towards progress and development.

business@thestandard.com.phextrastory2000@gmail.com

M O N D AY : O C T O B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5

BUSINESS B5

Go Negosyo’s first presidentiables series

PH banks healthy, to weather shocks

Vista Land bares 23 big projects

Vice President Jejomar Binay explains his platform of governance to the audience.

This columnist was one of the panelists during the first installment of the Negosyo Talks: Meet the Presidentiables Series.

With panelists (seated from left) Haresh Hiranand, Dr. Vicky Belo,Babe Romualdez and Henry Lim Bon Liong. Behind us are Go Negosyo’s Ramon Lopez and Joey Concepcion.

TV5 news and public affairs headLuchi Cruz Valdes with VP Jejomar Binay.

The Vice President listens

intently to a question by

Babe Romualdez (right) while

Ramon Lopez looks on.

Economic might. A jeepney passes by a mall run by SM, the largest shopping mall and retail operator in the Philippines, in Marikina City on October 11, 2015. Philippine companies are on an unprecedented global shopping spree, spending billions on everything from vineyards to food manufacturers and casinos, reflecting the nation’s recent economic rise. AFP

By Julito G. Rada

THE Philippine banking system will weather the impact of external shocks because it remains well capitalized, profitable, well managed and very liquid, global debt watcher Moody’s Investors Service said in a report over the weekend.

“The banking system is virtually im-mune to contagion from external shocks. It is largely deposit-funded—aided in part by the steady flow of remittances—and exhibits a lack of dependence on external funding and low exposure to the export sector,” Moody’s said.

“Even foreign currency lending is ful-ly backed by onshore sources of foreign currency financing, primarily deposits. The banking system is a source of credit strength to the sovereign in two ways: the lack of contingent risks to the gov-ernment’s balance sheet; and as a stable source of financing for government debt,” it said.

It said the domestic banking system had carried a positive outlook since December 2012. Since then, several Philippine banks

have received upgrades and the average standalone credit rating for Moody’s-rated banks—which together comprise 70 percent of system loans as of end-2014—had risen to investment grade.

The banking system’s total assets as of June 2015 accounted for about 86 percent of the gross domestic product, with total loans accounting for 53 percent.

The Philippine banking system is small relative to other rated Asean countries—with the exception of Indonesia—and large Baa-rated emerging market peers, such as Brazil, India, South Africa and Turkey.

Moody’s also backed the recent move of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to pro-actively manage risks on a systemic level in response to some evidence of a run-up in real estate prices through the intro-duction of an array of preemptive macro-prudential measures in 2014.

“These measures, including a cap on in-dividual banks’ total loans to the real estate sector, have contributed to a slowing in over-all credit growth in recent quarters. Never-theless, credit growth remains high, but not excessive, reflecting the continued robust-ness of domestic demand,” Moody’s said.

It said stringent oversight by the Bang-ko Sentral was reflected by the manner by which it adopted international regulatory standards, such as requiring all the coun-try’s universal and commercial banks to comply with the capital adequacy stan-dards under Basel III by the beginning of 2014—without a phase-in period.

By Jenniffer B. Austria

THE Villar Group plans to launch 23 large real estate developments dubbed “commu-nicities” over the next five years.

Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc. chair-man Manuel Villar said the capital spending for the projects could reach over several billions of pesos Com-municities are integrated mixed-use developments that will have several components, including residential, commercial, as well as office and educa-tion and healthcare facilities.

Villar said most of these communici-ties had existing Vista Land residential projects. To transform these areas into mixed-use developments, the company plans to acquire adjacent land of the

properties or form joint venture partner-ships with the landowners.

Vista Land last month said earmarked P40 billion to develop a 500-hectare prop-erty in Iloilo into a mixed-use township development.

The company said Vista City Iloilo would be the company’s flagship develop-ment in Visayas featuring several real es-tate components, including malls, hotels, office buildings for the business process outsourcing industry and hospitals.

“Communicities are innovative master-planned city developments designed to be completely self-contained, with vast properties that offer facilities, amenities, community structures and commercial establishments closer to a city than a mere residential village,” Vista Land said.

business@manilastandardtoday.comextrastory2000@gmail.com

BUSINESSMONDAY: OCTOBER 19, 2015

B6

P132b alloted for climate changeStarting all over again

Puregold set to hold food convention

HERMON V. ABAYA

GREEN LIGHT

ZIG Ziglar said that it is not how far you fall, but how high you bounce that counts. � ese words of wis-dom inspired me to bounce back and move forward a� er encountering failures in my � rst attempted business venture. I realized that even if failures are greatly a� ecting, I should not stop believing that I can still rise and be back on track again. � is crucial event in my life serves as my strength and helps me to visualize the future outcomes of my decisions.

Near closure experienceSad as it may sound, the health of a business is not guaranteed

forever. � ere are times when entrepreneurs will face the daunting task of managing the recovery of a dying business. � ere is a pos-sibility that during the course of the business’ existence, the owner will encounter a near closure situation. � is is a period character-ized by harsh business conditions: low sales, low morale, low cash, low market share and low innovation. Some recover from this and bounce back stronger than before, but some never.

� ere are many factors responsible for this near closure experi-ence. It can be due to internal barriers like, incompetent manage-ment or poor � nancial control. It can also be externally driven like by government intervention, economic recessions, the presence of low-cost competitors or natural disasters.

Bouncing back� e sustainability and success of an enterprise greatly depend

on managing internal and external forces. Neglecting them can spell doom for any business regardless of size. I know that it’s not impossible for a � rm to bounce back from business downturns, corporate scandal or faulty product issues. In fact, we can learn to respond to competition in rational ways and adopt reasonable methods to evaluate and implement appropriate strategies. Devel-oping new skills and getting everyone to work together can help turn a failing company back into normal.

Our failures drive us to discover new things in life and disregard those traditional ones that are unnecessary. I hold on to my faith of believing that I can survive in the long run of my business and with these I was able determine my formula of bouncing back.

Turnaround strategiesHere are seven turnaround strategies from Naijapreneur

(2014) that I adopted, which helped my failed business be back on track.

· Re-Evaluate: Situation. � e � rst place to start if your business is dying or failing is to look within the company. You have to know what the situation is, what the problem is, and its causes. When you already know the circumstances, you can now take appropri-ate actions.

· Re-De� ne: Strategy. Re-evaluation reveals what’s wrong with your business and re-de� nition is putting the business back on track. � is is where you go back to the drawing board to set the overall direction for the company. � is is where you create the turnaround game-plan.

· Re-Employ: People. People make or break your business. To resurrect a dying business, get the right people on board and get the wrong people o� .

· Re-Innovate: Product. It is impossible for a business to remain relevant in the market if it fails to introduce new products/ser-vices. People change, market change, technology change and so must your business. If you refuse to change, by constantly innovat-ing your products/services, you are doomed. To bring your dying business back to life, do something new!

· Re-Brand: Marketing. One of the consequences of a dying busi-ness is the negative impact it has on the brand. Your customers begin to lose trust in the brand as their satisfaction level declines. Negative word of mouth marketing starts to spread and the brand is no longer known, liked or trusted in the market. To correct this negative association with the brand, you have to kill the old brand and create a new one!

· Re-Finance: Money. One of the most obvious signs of a dying business is lack of money. You are almost out of business because you are running out of cash. So to get your business back to life, you need to pay close attention to � nance.

· Re-Work: Execution. You need to bring your dying business back to life. And not just as you have always done before, you need to re-work the way you used to work by focusing on performance-driven work or goal-oriented work.

Lastly, I believe our success depends on our determination and courage to � ght the hardships we encounter. � us, one should think not to surrender but � nd ways how to start all over again.

Hermon V. Abaya is an Assistant Professor at the College of Busi-ness, La Salle University, Ozamis.

Professional school. Manuel L. Quezon University launches the MLQU School for Professional Ad-vancement and Continuing Education at the second fl oor of Victoria Sports Tower on Edsa, Quezon City. With the acquisition of MLQU in October 2014 by the New San Jose Builders Inc., the university’s plans for upgrad-ing both the academe and the school facilities have taken tremendous success. Shown during the launching ceremony are (from left) Commission on Higher Education executive director Julito Vitriolo, Gen. Jaime delos Santos, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., NSJBI co-chairman and MLQU president Isagani Germar, lawyer Gwen de Vera and V inci Nicolas Villasenor.

By Gabrielle H. Binaday

THE government is allocating P132 billion next year to support climate change-related projects to address the impact of extreme weather, the Budget Department said over the weekend.

RETAIL giant Puregold is set to hold its second KAINdus-triya Convention this month to help the country’s neighbor-hood chefs move their business forward and cook up their own recipe for success.

� e Puregold KAINdustriya Food Biz Convention 2015 on Oct. 20 and 21 at the World Trade Center is expected to draw at least 10,000 “KAINtrepreneurs” from small- to medium-sized food en-terprises across the country for two packed days of entertaining and informative activities.

“We were very much inspired by the attendance that our in-augural KAINdustriya event at-tracted last year, and so we really

made sure that we will be o� ering something new and something better this year,” said Puregold president Vincent Co.

“� is is one of those events where we hope to give back to those who drive our business,” he said.

� e KAINdustriya Convention targets a rising market segment—from neighborhood karinderyas, canteens and food stalls to cater-ers, restaurants and hotels—who are members of Puregold’s � ag-ship loyalty program, the Tinda-han ni Aling Puring.

Co said the event was tailor-made for the KAINtrepreneurs, giving them the opportunity to mingle with their peers, share best practices and learn about innova-

tions in food preparation and the business-side of the industry.

“At KAINdustriya, our neigh-borhood chefs will learn about modern trends in the food busi-ness, including new products available at Puregold that will boost their enterprise. Altogether, we hope to help them take their business to a new level,” Co said.

“And they will do all that in two fun-� lled days at the Conven-tion,” he said.

KAINdustriya is expected to go big time right at the opening day, with powerhouse television hosts Ruby Rodriguez and Jose Manalo of top-rating noontime show Eat Bulaga toasting the start of the two-day a� air.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said the amount would be used to build the resilience of vulnerable communities against the devastating impact of climate change.

“With the help of the World Bank, our ongoing audit of the P3.002-trillion budget for next year has tagged P132-billion worth of projects that represent climate expenditures,” he said.

Abad said the huge investment was a lesson learned from the catastrophic e� ects of typhoon Yolanda in November 2013.

“We have been working on in-creasing the budget to address cli-mate change since 2011,” he said.

Abad said the priority on cli-mate change re� ected the govern-ment’s major support for enhanc-ing disaster preparedness and

resilience in vulnerable commu-nities.

Data showed that of the total climate expenditure in the 2016 proposed budget, P72.2 billion were allotted to the Public Works Department for � ood control protection projects.

� e construction of � ood con-trol facilities covering 18 major river basins and principal rivers and watersheds is expected to cost P59.8 billion.

� e Environment Department will get P10.2 billion for reforesta-tion of 1.5 million hectares under the national greening program while the Agriculture Depart-ment will receive P12.9 billion for farm-to-market roads construc-tion.

Meanwhile, the Philippines pledged its support for adoption

of United Nation’s Sustainable De-velopment Goals and pushed for urgent action to combat climate change and its impact.

“If we are to achieve our de-velopment goals, we need to take urgent action to combat climate change,” said Economic Plan-ning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan during the closing session of the 70th UN General Assembly on Sept. 27 at the UN Headquarters in New York.

Balisacan said as the lead coun-try in the recently held “Vulner-able 20” forum in Lima, Peru, the Philippines would also work in the upcoming Paris Conference to ensure adoption of a new legally binding climate agreement.

Balisacan cited the need to put in place climate change adapta-tion and mitigation measures particularly in the local levels and increase investments towards a climate resilient economy.

“We have seen extreme weather disturbances occurring with great-er frequency and intensity. � ese calamities can negate our gains in reducing poverty, and even push back development,” he said.

B7cesar barrioquintoE D I T O R

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

M o n D aY : o c t o b e r 1 9, 2 0 1 5

WORLD

‘Konbini’stores openand stackedall the time

This picture taken on Oct. 17, 2015, shows a model displaying a creation by Japanese heavy-metal rocker and kimono designer Yoshiki (left, playing the piano) at the YOSHIKIMONO first collection during the finale of the Tokyo Fashion Week in Tokyo. Tokyo Fashion Week drew to a close at the weekend showcasing a sexy new twist on the kimono as the Japanese classic makes a quiet comeback into women’s wardrobes. AFP

Fears for migrants in France

Tokyo Fashion Weekfeatures the kimono

Fuel crisis halts aid supplies to quake-hit Nepalis

TOKYO—Stocking anything from shirts to face masks, 24-7 conve-nience stores have become  an in-dispensable part of Japanese daily life, with the sector now worth more than Sri Lanka’s economy. Their secret? Constant renewal.

A staggering 1.5 billion people pass through “konbini” stores—a Japanese abbreviation of the English word convenience—every month, with some 55,000 outlets throughout the country, including more than 7,000 in Tokyo alone.

Competition is fierce, with two of its biggest players, Family Mart and Uny Group, announcing days ago a merger to battle market lead-er 7-Eleven for a bigger slice of an industry that marketing newspaper Nikkei MJ values at some 10 tril-lion yen ($84 billion).

That is comfortably more than the economic output of some en-tire nations, including Sri Lanka, Belarus and Azerbaijan.

“In our 40 years of experience, we understand that our purpose must be to offer something new all the time,” explains Minoru Matsumoto, a spokesman for 7-Eleven, Japan’s largest chain with 18,000 stores.

“Every time we extend what’s on offer, we are creating new custom-ers rather than taking away cus-tomers from somewhere else.”

Despite being so ubiquitous, the sector has yet to show any sign of reaching saturation point, with the number of shops—which are run on a franchise system—rising five percent from the previous year in 2014.

According to the Japan Franchise Association, the average Japanese person visits a konbini store 11 times a month and the average out-let serves around 1,000 customers a day.

While such stores are common across Asia, experts say the key to their success in Japan is their finely tuned supply chains that can moni-tor stock down to a single tooth-brush, allowing them to sell an un-paralleled array of goods.

As well as the usual drinks and snacks, visitors in konbini are con-fronted with a smorgasbord of use-ful items such as hygiene products, batteries, umbrellas, face masks, memory cards and phone chargers.

TOKYO—Tokyo fashion week drew to a close at the weekend showcasing a sexy new twist on the kimono, as the Japanese classic makes a quiet comeback into women’s wardrobes.

In a departure from the heavy silk usually used to make the traditional garb, designers are turning to other fabrics such as jersey, wool and even denim to reinvent the kimono. 

“The kimono is fashion... it shouldn’t be presented as old-fash-ioned,” said celebrated designer Jotaro Saito. 

“I want to spread the message that kimono can be worn every day, it’s something people can wear like they wear modern clothes, not... something that makes them feel like they are in a costume,” Saito told AFP. 

Kimono, which translates as “something to wear”, was origi-nally an umbrella term that cov-ered a range of garments worn by Japanese men and women for cen-turies, but has now come to signify an outer robe tied with a wide sash known as an obi. 

The kimono’s decline dates back to the late 1800s when Japan’s rulers opened up the country to modern influences after hundreds of years of self-imposed seclusion, signaling a shift that would see future genera-tions embrace western clothing.

The garment never quite recov-ered its popularity thanks to a pro-hibitively high cost that can run into the thousands of dollars, com-pelling many brides to rent rather than purchase kimono for their weddings.

While kimono-clad women are still a regular sight in major urban centers, the complicated garment tends to be reserved for special oc-casions rather than daily use.

A key reason is that wearers have to master a complex sequence of knots to tie the kimono tightly, which intimidates many curious women into either taking lessons for months or opting for simpler western garb. 

The downturn has prompted government officials keen to pre-serve traditional culture to come up with schemes like Kyoto’s “ki-mono passport” which gives wear-ers discounts at stores and restau-rants in the ancient capital. 

But observers said the fashion industry’s renewed interest may do more to ensure its survival. 

Designer Saito, born into a family of kimono-dyeing artists in Kyoto, has worked with the garment for two decades and believes change is criti-cal to its future in fashion. 

“What we need to do now is evolve the kimono. We cannot just do what previous generations have already done,” Saito said.

“We need to respond to the street... to alter traditional designs and make something which suits women’s lives today without losing the traditional appeal.” AFP

KATHMANDU—After months in makeshift shelters, earthquake victim Bhim Bahadur Gurung is desperate to start rebuilding his house ahead of Nepal’s biting winter, but a fuel blockade has left him unable to obtain vital construction supplies.

Nearly six months after a 7.8-magnitude quake killed almost 8,900 people and destroyed about half a million homes, thousands of survivors are still living in tents and other temporary shelters, de-pendent on aid.

But the three-week blockade of a major border checkpoint by protesters who reject Nepal’s new

constitution has sparked a fuel shortage and nationwide rationing, with vital supplies unable to get through.

“No cement, no rods, no roofs... how can I build my home?” 43-year-old farmer Gurung said from his village in Sindhupalchowk district, one of the areas worst hit by the devastating quake in April.

“The villagers are all living in temporary shelters right now, this won’t be enough when it starts snowing,” Gurung said.

Aid organizations say the fuel crisis has severely hampered their operations and the continued shortage could cut off relief sup-

plies to communities in far-flung areas of the country.

The World Food Program said it had been forced to halt distribution of relief goods and shelter supplies to 224,000 quake victims because of the shortage.

“Because of the fuel crisis we’ve only been able to deliver 40 percent of the actual needs,” said Seetashma Thapa, communications officer for WFP, which coordinates logistics for nearly 130 other humanitarian organizations.

“The situation is particularly critical as we are in a race against time to reach 84,000 people with vital food and supplies before the

snow sets in,” she said of those in the most remote areas. 

The WFP’s helicopter operations have only a week of fuel left, she said.

For three weeks, hundreds of protesters have blocked a bridge crossing in the town of Birgunj, 90 kilometers south of Kathmandu, through which 60 percent of the country’s petroleum imports pass.

The protesters, from the eth-nic Madhesi minority in Nepal’s southern plains, are incensed about the planned division of the country into several federal provinces un-der the constitution introduced last month. AFP

M O N D AY : O C T O B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5

B8 CEsAR BARRiOquiNTOE D I T O R

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Mass. Nuns attend a canonization mass for Vincenzo Grossi, an Italian priest and founder of the Institute of the Daughters of the Oratory, Maria of the Immaculate Conception, a Spanish superior general of the Sisters of the Company of the Cross, French couple Louis and Zelie Martin, parents of St Therese de Lisieux, on Oct. 18, 2015, at St Peter’s Square in the Vatican. Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, were canonized while the Synod on the Family was under way in Rome. The Martins were the first married couple in the history of the Church to be declared saints at the same time. The Pope had recognized a miracle attributed to the couple on March 18, 2015. AFP

First day of school. Syrian refugee students attend the first day of school in Lebanon’s northern port city of Tripoli on Oct. 18, 2015. Lebanon, a country of four million people, hosts more than 1.1 million Syrian refugees, including at least 400,000 school-aged children, according to the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR. AFP

Fears for migrants in FranceContinued US presencea lifeline to Afghanistan

Africa hosting its biggest beer festival

Nighttime temperatures have dropped to around five degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit) in the “New Jungle” camp, located next to the Calais ring road, and will keep falling in the coming months.

The sound of hammers echoes through the camp’s winding slum-like alleys as migrants try to rein-force crude shelters made of wood and salvaged material against the creeping cold.

“I have nothing to insulate it with,” says Abdulilah, an Afghan in his fifties who is building a shack. “I’ll wear an extra sweater provided by the organizations”.

The changing weather and un-certainty surrounding a new crisis center announced by the govern-ment this summer has alarmed the area’s humanitarian organizations.

“We trudge through the mud,” said Francois Guennoc, a camp volunteer with the aid group L’Auberge des Migrants. “There are places where water pools and it gets very difficult.” 

“We are buffeted by the wind, the rain, and the cold. It’s even worse than the previous ‘jungles’,” he added.

Since September, illegal cross-ings to England from the port or the Eurotunnel—they were up to 150 per day in August—have slowed amid tighter security.

But migrants and refugees keep coming and, predictably, the “New Jungle” has swelled.

The number of residents is now estimated to hover between 4,000 and 6,000 people, up from 2,500 in early June.

“We are on the brink of collapse,”

JOHANNESBURG—Africa is hosting its biggest beer festi-val: a 14-date marathon tour of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban serving more than 35,000 drinkers four different types of beer —all of them made by SABMiller.

The annual Bierfest is just one example of SABMiller’s strong presence in Africa, which is seen as a key driver of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s planned takeover of the brewing giant.

Festival drinkers are encouraged to book tables of at least six people, and bring friends, family and work colleagues to enjoy sausages and

live music washed down with beer served by a “dedicated Fraulein”.

“We want to bring beer culture to all parts of society,” Jon Monsoon, one of Bierfest’s organizers, told AFP. “More and more people come to the festival every year.

“We are serving beers from the No. 3 Fransen Street brewery and the Newlands Spring brewery—both of which are owned by SABMiller.

“There is such enthusiasm to discover more about beer.”

Africa is the world’s fastest-growing beer market, expanding at a predicted rate of five percent a year between 2013 and 2017, ac-

cording to Canadean, a London-based research company special-izing in the drinks industry.

That growth rate outstrips four percent for Asia and three percent for Latin America.

“Africa has seen inflation fall, foreign debt shrink and GDP rise in the last few years,” Kevin Baker, account director at Canadean, said in a report released this year.

“Population growth—once feared as a major contributor to poverty—is now perceived as an asset, with the working age popu-lation set to outgrow that of China and India.” AFP

KABUL—The United States’ decision to extend its military presence in Afghanistan be-yond 2016 has thrown the war-ravaged country’s government a much needed lifeline even as its dysfunctionality, blamed for the Taliban’s revival, shows no signs of abating.

It has been just over a year since Ashraf Ghani was sworn in as president as part of a US-brokered unity government with his main election rival, former anti-Soviet fighter Abdullah Abdullah, as chief executive.

While the deal was hailed as a breakthrough that had averted a possible ethnic civil war, experts blame the political deadlock it created for allowing the Taliban to regain momentum and unleash

a wave of violence not been seen for years.

The insurgents’ seizure of the northern regional capital Kunduz last month, though brief, was a stinging blow to Western-trained Afghan forces as they struggle to maintain security after the end of NATO’s mission in December.

US President Barack Obama’s decision to keep 5,500 troops be-yond 2016 has therefore been met with widespread relief by officials and residents, who hope it will prevent the country from becom-ing a regional hub of terror and violence like Syria.

“The announcement is an im-portant boost to the Afghan army morale, it shows that the world is not leaving them alone,” said retired general Atiqullah Amarkhil. AFP

CALAIS—Winter is coming to France’s port town of Calais, raising fears among aid groups about the wors-ening conditions for the thousands of migrants living in a makeshift camp.

said Jean-Francois Corty, head of the French division of Doctors Without Borders. “The social wel-fare system is inadequate and so are the delays to process asylum applications”.

“It is unacceptable for a country, the sixth biggest world economic power, to support that,” he added.

Another volunteer, from the SALAM charity organization who preferred to stay anonymous, went so far as to invoke a “concentration camp”.

About 630,000 migrants have entered Europe illegally since the beginning of the year and Calais is, for some, the last hurdle before reaching England, their dream destination.

Increasing asylum applications have led to more and more make-shift camps popping up around France. 

The Calais town hall says there are between 125 and 150 asylum applications per week now, most-ly from Sudanese and Eritreans. AFP

world

C1M O N D AY : O C T O B E R 1 9 : 2 0 1 5

E AT, DRINK , T R AV EL

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

l i f e @ t h e s t a n d a r d . c o m . p h @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d

LIFE

At the heart of this city resort hotel that is Edsa Shangri-La Manila is a happy place called HEAT Restaurant.

Even from its rotunda-like entrance, you can hear the cheerful sounds of breakfast, lunch, or dinner echoing amidst the chatter, the laughter, and the clinking of cutlery against fine china.

HEAT is popular, too, with families and friends who prefer to celebrate their milestones and special occasions here. Evidence of that delicious choice is the happy birthday song that regularly punctuates the lunch crowd. HEAT even has its own birthday song, much to the delight of celebrants who can now enjoy a new tune, refreshingly different from other renditions sung ubiquitously enough in other restos, bars, and franchises.

Of course, HEAT offers not only the warmth of a family atmosphere. This all-day dining restaurant serves up an eclectic array of global cuisine that takes your palate on a literal taste trip.

Some diners usually make a beeline for the Japanese section, where sushi and sashimi and maki and nigirireside beside seafood resting on ice. The European appetizers, wheels of cheese, pates, and salad greens line up the remaining space of the center counter.

By the main entrance, Chinese, Filipino, Thai, and Malaysian comfort food beckon to sample the familiar; the tandoori section lights up its own little corner with the rich aroma of spices, curries, skewered meats, samosa, and breads.

Heads up at the carving station, where prime cuts of beef, lamb, turkey, and the iconic Pinoy lechon reign supreme. And don’t forget the heady laksa, simmering and bubbling at the soup station, enticing lovers of this Malaysian favorite to sip on the spicy broth, bite into plump shrimps, chewy egg noodles, and chunks of vegetables. Leave room for dessert, though. That sinful array of sweets can tempt you off your resolve with rows and rows of cakes, cookies, candies, chocolates, and even local delicacies.

HEATING UP THE KITCHENNow, if those selections were not enough, HEAT rises to greater culinary heights as the hotel’s international chefs show off their signature dishes in its lunch and dinner buffets.

Edsa Shangri-La’s Director of Food and Beverage, Nicola Coccia, explains this novel concept of HEAT. “Many hotels in the city have chefs from different nationalities. But those chefs would only focus on their own restaurants. So what we have done here, we’ve actually put the chefs of the restaurants in charge of some of the dishes in the buffet. By holding them accountable, we asked them to create a dish especially for HEAT.”

Coccia emphasizes that all the dishes were created specifically for HEAT. “For example,” he continues, “the dumpling is not available at Summer Palace, where the chef is the resident chef of that restaurant. He

does not have that dish in his menu. We wanted to make sure that we don’t steal the business from the restaurant, from Summer Palace into HEAT; but at the same time, we wanted to have a different cover here.”

THE PROOF OF THE PROVERBIAL PUDDINGSo you say “prove it!” And that is why, the chefs of Edsa Shangri-La snapped their aprons on, rolled up their sleeves, and cooked off an enticing sampling. The tasting was an international culinary tour that everyone at the table was most eager to take.

Chef Andy Liu’s Curry Seafood Dimsum started the ball rolling. Similar to a xiao long bao, it nurses hot laksa broth, defining “heat” in two dimensions: best enjoyed piping hot, while chilies prick the taste buds, but with just enough teasing for you to want some more.

Following on the dimsum’s heels were Japanese Chef Yusuke Hino’s signature Maki and Magic Cube Roll. Like a checkerboard lying on a banana leaf carpet, the roll dipped in wasabi-laced soy sauce echoes the spicy theme but on a more savory note. After enjoying the last bite, don’t be surprised when fluent Tagalog speaking Chef Hino inquires: “Masarap?”

From the other side of the globe, German heritage is highlighted by the Cheese Spätzle and Curry Sausage of the hotel’s new Executive Chef, Tobias Unger. Trust a German chef to show off his skills with cheese, sausage, and yes, pasta! And trust a German chef to do it so scrumptiously well!

But wait, the Italian Executive Chef Marco Ghezzi has his own pasta dish with which to dazzle diners. He takes fresh, juicy clams and snuggles them into al dente spaghetti’s embrace to create a simple yet hearty Spaghetti alle Vongole, reminiscent of simple rustic Italian cooking. Tear off some bread and sop off those clam juices, quick!

Now, back to Asia, as Indian Chef Fanishwar carries in some sizzling chicken Tangdi kabab, still on the long spear on which it was grilled. With effortless aplomb, he relieves the long metal stick off its load and plates the chicken meat flavored with select spices. Applause was definitely called for, and given.

Executive Chinese Chef Tony Sum took a swing at Singapore’s favorite coffee spareribs – and hit a home run. The sweetish caramelized coating of the pork was gently balanced by the bitterness of the coffee, each flavor alternately taking center stage without stealing the thunder from each other.

Executive Sous Chef Roxanne Castillo may be the lone woman on the hotel’s international chefs lineup, but she is actually the Boss in the kitchen. Coaxing out those sophisticated flavors while keeping a tight ship, she presented her masterpiece: Adobo Marinated Prime Rib with Garlic Yorkshire, Roasted Tagaytay Vegetables and Adobo Beef Jus. Such a mouthful to say, quite the tender and succulent meat that melts in the same mouth. All around the table, the only sound was “Hmmm…”

But wait, there’s one more dish to taste. It may be the last, but certainly

not the least. Pastry Chef Martin Frowd’s Raspberry Molted Brownie Double Shot Vodka Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce was greeted with “ooohs” and “aahs” for its delicate and aesthetically pleasing presentation. At first, no one wanted to ruin the artwork on a plate. But a reminder that dessert is for eating and not for ogling at relieved everyone from the guilt of taking a spoon and attacking the cheesecake and all its components with much gusto.

While recovering from this gustatory exploration, Coccia’s words recall the mood, the preparation, and dedication of the chefs: “It’s very nice to see before the service starts, before 11:30, all those chefs from the Chinese, Japanese, Italian restaurants, they all come down here to check, mise en place (put in place or set up), to check on the buffet. I think that’s what makes the restaurant different from all other restaurants in the city at the moment. We really have the commitment from a specialty chef.”

HEAT has a seating capacity of 426 people, including two outdoor patios that offer garden and pool views. It also has four private rooms for exclusive groups, named after weather gauges: Celsius, Kelvin, Rankine and Fahrenheit. For inquiries or reservations, contact Edsa Shangri-La Restaurant Reservations and Information Center through call (63 2) 633 8888 ext. 2740 / 2741 or email heat.esl@shangri-la.com. Visit www.shangri-la.com/manila/edsashangrila or stay connected, like Facebook.com/edsashangrila, follow @edsashangrila on Twitter and @edsashangrila on Instagram.

The HEAT of the MatterBY MALOU E. ROSAL

PHOTOS BY SONNY ESPIRITU

Raspberry Molted Brownie Double Shot Vodka Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce Maki and Magic Cube Roll

Coffee Spareribs Chicken Tangdi KababSpaghetti alle Vongole

Cheese Spätzle and Curry Sausage

Adobo Marinated Prime Rib with Garlic Yorkshire, Roasted Tagaytay Vegetables and Adobo Beef Jus

Edsa Shangri-La Manila F&B director Nicola Coccia

Edsa Shangri-La Manila's International Chefs

C2MONDAY : OCTOBER 19 : 2015

LIFE l i f e @ t h e s t a n d a r d . c o m . p h @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d

She walks in a bar and orders a “Belvedere Martini” and exclaims, “Shaken, not stirred!” The bar tender looks at her and drops a bottle cap in

an ice bucket, and all of a sudden a series of contraptions appears – ice falls from a bucket and fills up a shaker; Belvedere Vodka pours in with another bottle spraying white Vermouth and instead of the bar tender shaking the shaker, lime starts to fall from above and shakes the entire concoction, with the shaker doing a perfect somersault. Bar tender then opens the shaker and pours in the muddled liquid in a martini glass and ends with another contraption slicing lemon by the bar and voila! Straight up dry Belvedere Martini with a lemon twist. “Excellent choice Mr. Bond,” she ends. Catch the 45-minute cool Bond experience featuring the first Mexican Bond girl and the latest star in Belvedere vodka’s campaign, Stephanie Sigman.

An excellent choice indeed, and in celebration of the highly anticipated premiere of SPECTRE, the latest 007 film, Belvedere Vodka launched the Belvedere 007 SPECTRE special edition bottle (70cl) featuring the iconic gun barrel and 007 gun logo. This is the first time Belvedere has been featured as a product in a Bond movie. “James Bond is recognized as the most admired and influential tastemaker in the world. We’re delighted that Belvedere is partnering with SPECTRE, our largest global partnership to date, ” says president of Belvedere Vodka Charles Gibb.

In the Philippines, Belvedere Vodka hosted a James Bond-themed VIP martini party at the Palace Pool Club co-hosted by JM Rodriguez and graced by Belvedere Brand Ambassador for Asia-Pacific, Marev Vojcarcik. They featured four different SPECTRE-themed cocktails – the Belvedere 007 Martini, Belvedere Spectre 007 Classic, Belvedere Double O, and long drink Belvedere Spectre 007.

If you want to create your own Spectre 007 Martini, prepare 60 ml (2 oz) Belvedere Vodka, 10 ml (1/3 oz) dry Vermouth, 1 Sicilian green olive, 5ml (1/6 oz) Sicilian green olive brine. Gently muddle the olive in mixing glass, add all the other ingredients and shake hard with ice. Now if you want to taste what Stephanie Sigman ordered, here’s the other recipe – Belvedere 007 Martini, prepare 60 ml (2 oz) Belvedere Vodka, add 10 ml (1/3 oz)

dry Vermouth, shake with ice, again do not stir, then garnish with a lemon twist.SPECTRE, starring Daniel Craig, is set to open in Philippine theaters on its worldwide release on November 6, 2015. The Belvedere 007 SPECTRE special edition bottle is available in retailers worldwide and is released in 70cl, 75cl, 1L. and 1.75L. For updates on Belvedere Vodka Philippines follow @belvedereph on Instagram and like their Facebook page on Belvedere Vodka PH.

“Blood, sweat, and tears will get you there. But joy, will take

you further,” says Jude Law in Johnnie Walker’s latest “Joy Will Take You Further” ad campaign. Watching the video makes you look at the way you live your life and inspires how you can achieve more with happiness.

Among the global ambassadors who joined the campaign aside from award-winning actor Jude Law are Formula One World Champion and McLaren Honda driver Jenson Button and American alternative rock band OK Go –whose understanding of success and progress align with the results from a growing body of scientific research into the power of happiness. US-based psychologist and scientist Dr. Matt Killingsworth, who studies human happiness, acted as a consultant for the latest Johnnie Walker campaign and he says, “People sometimes think of happiness as a far-off, distant prize only to be won by their years of hard work or when they achieve conventional markers

of success, like a higher income or a bigger house. But there is a growing body of evidence that enjoying happiness along the way makes success more likely.”

“As a brand, Johnnie Walker has always stood for progress – it’s been the story of our whisky since our founder John Walker started it all nearly 200 years ago. What two centuries of experience have taught us is that progress doesn’t have to be an endless uphill journey – we can enjoy the steps we take and the more happiness we find in them the more likely we are to achieve our goal. Evidence is confirming a conviction that sits at the heart of our brand: Joy Will Take You Further,” says Diageo Philippines general manager Jon Good.

In the Philippines, Johnnie Walker centers the attention of the campaign upon the real life successes of people who credit the power of joy with taking them further. Mountaineer Romi Garduce and musician, actress and blogger Saab Magalona jumped on board the new global campaign. These two proud Pinoys epitomize

a way of thinking that happiness actually helps people achieve more in life, and joy is the key to meaningful progress.

Garduce is the Philippines’ first global ambassador for Johnnie Walker and is notably featured in the global campaign. “Mountaineering is at least 80 percent mental approach. You don’t entertain doubt – it’s the instinct of believing ‘I can do this.’ It’s positive thinking. Most of the time, climbing is challenging but afterwards there is, what I call ‘undefined fulfillment’ – a memory that is there forever,” Garduce shares. For a guy who has conquered the seven highest summits on all continents, he indeed proves that “joy” can take you further.

Johnnie Walker is one of the many brands under the company Diageo (the global leader in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of brands across spirits, beer and wine categories). For more information about Diageo, and their brands, visit www.diageo.com. 

KNOW THE DIFFERENCE: BELVEDERE VODKA CELEBRATES SPECTRE 007 PARTNERSHIP

LET 'JOY' TAKE YOU FURTHERJohnnie Walker launches it's new campaign

Belvedere 007 SPECTRE limited edition bottle with Belvedere SPECTRE 007 martini

The Belvebear is out tonight The first Mexican Bond girl Stephanie Sigman with her Belvedere 007 Martini

Trina Ching-Ramos, Air Asia Group CEO Tony Fernandes and Olga Azarcon

Marek Vojcarcik, Belvedere Brand Ambassador for Asia PacificJM Rodriguez enjoying his Belvedere Spectre cocktail

Diageo Philippines general manager Jon Good flanked by Johnnie Walker brand ambassadors Romi Garduce and Saab Magalona

Cheats with their vocalist Saab Magalona performing at The Way I Walk event

Unveiling Johnnie Walker’s latest Joy Will Take You Further campaign at The Way I Walk event at The Eye at Green Sun, Makati

Jude Law in Johnnie Walker's 'Joy Will Take You Further' ad campaign

We pick up w here we left off from last week’s column where I shared three whisky tasting experiences: Bruichladdich, Glenmorangie, and Monkey

Shoulder. Each brand has its own process, style, and feel, which translated to each of their events. They all had their own flavor, their own flair – and their brand ambassadors, who hosted the events, set the tone for how the experience was going to be. This week, I’ll tell you all about the two most recent tasting events I went to.

Wild Turkey brought in Global Brand Ambassador Mr. Robin Coupar (Scottish), who has dedicated more than 21 years of his life to the industry. This special tasting was done at Hooch Bar, Salcedo Village. He was eloquent and charming, he commanded respect, a man full of firsthand knowledge. He presented seven whiskies from the Wild Turkey brand, plus the Single Malt Glen Grant. He went through the whole motion of teaching how to appreciate bourbon whisky and what the differences are between bourbon and whisky (all bourbon is whisky, but not all whisky is bourbon). He also had inside information about the distilleries – firsthand information you don’t learn by just reading about the brand. We were lucky to have been there because they opened the very first bottle of Wild Turkey 17-year-old Master’s Keep in Southeast Asia! This was not only a treat, it easily became one of my favorites. This one-off batch was kept in a stone warehouse, where it’s damper and cooler, which makes the whisky take longer to mature. He told us to put a

little bit of it in our hands, rub them together and take a whiff, to release the aromas. It has layers of smoke, leather, and wood, owing its earthiness to the dampness in the natural environment. I was thrilled to learn that Wild Turkey was bringing in Wild Turkey Rye. This is the only second rye brand in Manila. And being a rye fan (love it for its spiciness and the sexiness it adds to cocktails), here are the other brands he presented: Wild Turkey 81, Wild Turkey 101, Wild Turkey Forgiven (the happy accident of mixing their high proof ryes and bourbon blends, one of my favorites!), Russel Reserve 10-y-o, Russel Reserve Single Barrel and Glen Grant. Glen Grant is a Scotch whisky that I will definitely be recommending to first time whisky drinkers. It’s like alcoholic apple juice with grace and finesse.

The latest whisky tasting event I attended in Smith Butcher & Grillroom was for The Balvenie. Just when I thought this was going to be just another tasting presentation where the highlight was Balvenie’s great lineup of Scotch whiskies, I was so wrong. I was present in a room with not just one, but two Balvenie ambassadors: the Southeast Asia Regional Brand Ambassador Neil Strachan and the Global Brand Ambassador Samuel Simmons (who is working closely with Balvenie’s Malt Master, “The” David Stewart. This guy is a living legend in the whisky world!). We were treated to a presentation on the history and tradition of this premium single malt. Hearing about the tradition of passing on the skills of a malt master down to his successor, teaching not just the production process of the whisky, but the taste and aroma of what it should be, is inspiring. These people have dedicated their lives in preserving and continuing the tradition by sense of taste and smell. There is a certain romance to it, a passion that is contagious! I couldn’t help but feel moved by that story. This tasting was such a treat!

It was great seeing them in tandem. Neil, being a sort of newbie, was full of passion at getting his dream job, though a little nervous presenting with the global brand ambassador. Sam on the other hand was cool and humble, and seemed to have transferred some confidence during the presentation to Neil. It was beautiful to witness – like a new teacher being mentored by a master teacher. In the same line of Scotch knowledge being passed on from one generation to the next, it seemed like I saw this in action during the event, and felt privileged to have been there. It was genuine and did not feel intimidating at all. We were also given a special bottle of unaged whisky, which was just the icing on the cake.

The featured whiskies were The Balvenie Portwood 21-y-o, The Balvenie Doublewood 12-y-o, The Balvenie Single Barrel 15-y-o, and The Balvenie Doublewood 17-y-o. I particularly enjoyed The Balvenie 15 which was paired perfectly with oysters. When I had it, it was as if there were fireworks. It was an absolute match. The next time I have oysters, I would automatically want The Balvenie 15 (and vice versa). They are forever linked now.

Whew! That was a lot of whisky. I sort of feel bad about not finishing the samples! But you can’t fully appreciate the last (which they save the best for) if you’re pretty wasted. With the elevating landscape of the bar and alcohol scene in the Philippines, there will definitely be more of these tasting events coming, with all kinds of liquor. I strongly urge you to go to one (or all) if you can get yourself in or are able to afford it. It is certainly a great way to spend your time (and money). As consumers, it is our duty to know what we’re buying and consuming. As imbibers, these tasting events are a great way to learn more about the spirits we love, and are curious about. Plus, you’ll be among like-minded people who enjoy what you enjoy: booze. It’s like a learning community of sorts. And where else can you take a class where you can drink the lesson?

For people who are interested in attending tasting events and being in the know, you can drop me a line at tippletales@gmail.com, follow me on Twitter (@tipple_tales) and Instagram (@sanvicentegirl) and I’ll keep you guys posted. Cheers!

C3LIFEMONDAY : OCTOBER 19 : 2015

l i f e @ t h e s t a n d a r d . c o m . p h @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d

TIPPLE TALESBY ICY MARIÑAS

Making your kids drink Nido 3+ is not only healthier, is it also more rewarding with the NIDO

3+ Amazing Raffle Promo!By simply purchasing a specially

marked NIDO 3+ 1.2kg or 1.6kg pack from participating Mercury Drug stores nationwide, you can have the chance to win an all-expense paid trip for four to Osaka, Japan with the travel prize is inclusive of airfare, accommodation,

tickets to a world-class theme park and pocket money.

It’s all so easy. Just look for the unique code on the inside of the pack sticker, then send the unique code by texting NIDO 3+ <PROMO CODE> to 5656, after which you will receive an automatic reply requiring validation of entry. To make the entry official, follow the next steps stated in the message. Only one name per mobile number is allowed, but a user may register his or her name using several

mobile numbers. Keep the sticker and the actual pack for the duration of the promo as these will be required for redemption of prizes.

All Suki Card members of Mercury Drug will also receive additional 70 Suki points when they present their cards upon purchase of the specially marked NIDO 3+ 1.2kg or 1.6kg packs.

Promo runs until December 31, 2015 only. For the full mechanics, visit www.lakingamazing.ph.

TASTE TEST(Part 2)

WIN AN ALL-EXPENSE PAID TRIP TO JAPAN WITH NIDO 3+AMAZING RAFFLE PROMO

The very first bottle of Wild Turkey 17-year-old Master’s Keep in Southeast Asia

The Balvenie Portwood 21-y-o, The Balvenie Doublewood 12-y-o, The Balvenie Single Barrel 15-y-o, and The Balvenie Doublewood 17-y-o.

Alright, I have to admit that I wanted the titles of all my columns this October to sound different. I made the others alliterative, while this one is melodious. In fact, I had to make myself a nice tuna-and-egg sandwich while writing this column because the title made me hungry, as it reminded me of a basic sandwich ingredient. But, that’s digressing from my topic. This week, I actually want to showcase a most respected Indian tribe.

The Mayans were regarded as one of the more intelligent tribes in the Americas’ pre-Spanish era. Historical records show that they excelled at mathematics, and were the first ones to use the number “0” as a mathematical value in computations. They were superior in agriculture, hieroglyphics, and built many temples with impressive architecture adorned with symbolic artwork. Their medical practices were quite advanced; they used human hair to suture wounds and even made prosthesis. They also had saunas or, at least, what functioned as one, to rid their bodies of external and internal impurities.

But, what’s interesting is that, although their civilization is respected by anthropologists and archaeologists alike, what was learned of their nobility raised not a few eyebrows. They were discovered to have altered their physical appearance resulting in not too pleasant images. Parents would flatten their babies’ forehead by pressing a board on it. They also dangled objects in front of their babies’ eyes until the baby became cross-eyed, as flat forehead and crossed-eyes were considered desirable features of nobility. The bridge of the nose of a nobleman was tweaked to look like a beak and his teeth were inlaid with jade. Goodness gracious! I’ve always equated nobility with dignified countenance, but this?

A stellar achievement of the Mayans was the very detailed Long-Count calendar which is highly sophisticated because it even records lunar and solar cycles, eclipses and movements of planets with great accuracy. However, the calendar never predicted the end of the world. It’s just that it has 13 cycles totaling 2,880,000 days which ended on December 21, 2012. Another 13 cycles started the day after, which is why you and I are still around. I bought myself a sample of this Mayan calendar because, even if I don’t know how to read it, it makes for a very attractive wall décor. It has been eliciting

praises and admiration from my office visitors since I returned from my Mexican sojourn.

But what stands out among the valuable legacy from the Mayan civilization is the Kukulcan Pyramid, also known as El Castillo, at Chichen Itza, in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. It is one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. Named after the Feathered Serpent Deity of that civilization, the pyramid has 91 steps on each of the four sides. On top of the pyramid, there is a small temple perched on a platform. All the steps on the four sides, counting the top platform as the final “step,” totals 365.

Here’s what makes this pyramid the “ace” among Mayan structures. A sculpture of the head of a serpent is found at the bottom of the stairs on the front side of the pyramid. During the Spring Equinox (around March 20 or 21) and Autumn Equinox (around September 22-24), the late afternoon sun strikes off the front corner of the pyramid and casts a chain of

demi-elliptical shadows against the front side steps, connecting to the sculptured serpent’s head at the bottom, creating the illusion of a giant snake “crawling” down the pyramid. This unique solar-umbral display on these two dates in the year attracts tens of thousands of visitors to Chichen

Itza, making the Kukulcan Pyramid the most recognized and widely visited pre-Spanish structure in present-day Mexico.

In fact, I agree with those researchers who believe that this pyramid is not only a tribute to the ingenuity of the Mayans, but is also the reason why everybody thought the world would end when the cycles in the Mayan calendar ended. Why? The pyramid was built with bare hands, without the use of sophisticated measuring instruments. The Mayans must have been so intelligent and gifted with almost superhuman mental skills and engineering acumen. They were able to perfectly position the pyramid, and the stone carvings all around it, for the sun to hit at a certain angle at a particular time of the year, creating those shadows that would “frame” the snake’s “body”

and connect to its head at the bottom of the stairs.

The common belief is that, if the Mayans knew how to build something as “perfect” as that, they probably also knew when the world would end through their calendar which, people believed, counted the days of our planet’s existence. Thank goodness, we were all wrong on this one.

There are still millions of Mayan descendants living in Central America today. They probably are still as smart as their ancestors. Maybe I should seek them out and befriend some of them. Who knows, their superhuman intelligence could still rub off on me. It’s never too late for anything.

Meantime, the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes beckon the curious traveler to witness the spectacular umbral-solar display at the Kukulcan Pyramid. If you prefer to go any time of the year, daily flights are available from Manila to Cancun, Mexico, which is only a two-hour drive to Chichen Itza. Entonces, estás listo para presenciar algo mágico? (So, are you ready to witness something magical?)

For feedback, I’m at bobzozobrado@gmail.com

C4 LIFEM O N D AY : O C T O B E R 1 9 : 2 0 1 5

l i f e @ t h e s t a n d a r d . c o m . p h @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d

MERCURY RISINGBY BOB ZOZOBRADO

MAYAN ACE

Prospects for the tourism industry in the Philippines continues to be upbeat,

with more tourists now looking at the country as a great place to experience tropical adventures. A big contributor to the overall travel experience are local tourist guides from whom visitors can better learn and appreciate the beauty of this island paradise.

Primer Group of Companies – a retail and distribution outfit

for premium consumer brands in outdoor, urban lifestyle and travel – embarked on a sustainable tourism entrepreneurship program to help guides become more credible in their jobs. Through its Center for Outdoor Recreation and Expedition, Primer Group touched base with local tourist guides in Baler, Sagada and Palawan to identify and develop feasible tourism opportunities tailor-made for every local community.

“Our tour guides are the face of local tourism in the Philippines. To make them more credible, it is important for them to be knowledgeable about safety and customer engagement to keep customers coming back,” program manager Kristine Villaflor emphasized.

Since 2010, CORE has been supporting fisher folk across 10 different sites by training them as reef rangers (snorkeling guides) for alternative livelihood. CORE

distributed rashguard uniforms, snorkeling equipment and official IDs that will serve as certification.

For Baler, CORE brought its expedition team to explore the community and identify three different adventure activities: trekking, camping and biking. In Sagada, CORE linked up

with local organization guides to organize a three-day “High Angle Rescue Training” to promote safety of guides and guests.

The Philippines has become a magnet for action-packed tourists, with tons of exciting outdoor adventures waiting in store for visitors.

LOCAL GUIDES LEARN ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAMS FROM PRIMER GROUP

YOUR MONDAY CHUCKLE:Boy: “I got an F in Arithmetic.” Father: “Why?” Boy: “The teacher asked ‘How much is 2×3?’ and I said ‘6’” Father: “But that’s right!” Boy: “Then she asked me ‘How much is 3×2?’” Father: “What’s the fucking difference?” Boy: “That’s exactly what I said!”

The spectacular Spring Equinox demi-elliptical shadow “carving” the body of the snake connected to the head at the bottom

The majestic Kukulcan Pyramid in Chichen Itza, a Mayan masterpiece

The colorful Mayan Long-Count calendar perking up my office wall

SHOWBITZi s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

C5ISAH V. REDE D I T O R

M ONDAY : OCTOBER 19 : 2015

Knock Knock is a psy-chosexual thriller not intended for the faint of heart and easily dis-

turbed.  In the upcoming Kea-nu Reeves starrer, critically ac-claimed horror director Eli Rothtakes fear several notches higher as he pits a married man Evan (Reeves) against two irresistible seductresses Genesis (Lorenza Izzo) and Bel (Ana de Armas) who initially knocked on his door for help on a rainy night eventually turning his dark fan-tasies into his worst nightmare and his life a living hell. 

The movie comes in a world where everyone has seen every-thing and nothing shocks any-more, an entire generation of kids strive for attention and validation through social media, each one trying to get more likes than the next.  Evan, a devoted father and husband was left alone for one weekend with nary an idea that he is being stalked by unlikely pred-ators waiting for the perfect time and pin him down at his loneliest. 

“With Knock Knock, I wanted to show just how fragile the world we spend a lifetime building actually

is. What if you did everything right – you went to a good school, you dated nice people until you met the right person, you settled down, you built a good life for yourself…and still, you have the sinking feeling you’re missing out on something.

“What if you wanted to tempt fate just for one night thinking you could get away with it? I wanted the audience to sympathize with Evan, our main character, and to secretly make the same choices he would make. Evan tries to do the right thing, and yet, he can’t ever truly say no to these girls who show up at his door and seduce him. Evan constantly thinks he’s in control, and that’s his fatal flaw.

“People in their 40’s have no idea the damage one can cause with social media, because they’ve never had to think defensive-ly in that way. Teenagers today have grown up with the threat of someone ruining your life over a picture or a text message, so as a result they know how to destroy someone. It’s a skill you have to develop as a teenager today, but it’s not one that would even be in a character like Evan’s conscious-ness,” says director Roth.    

Artwork plays a major role in the film. The director’s mother, being an artist, grew up with her paintings all over their house. 

Roth shared, “I’ve seen first-hand how difficult it is to create, and what it takes to fill an empty canvas with imagination and soul.  In fact, my mother in many ways is my biggest influence on my own career as a writer/director. Yet art, at the core of it, might simply be a concept that does not exist.

“Proving the existence of art is like proving the existence of God. The evidence is everywhere, yet it only exists because someone labels it as art.  To one person a sculpture might be a priceless work of art, yet to another it might just be colored plaster. I am well aware of my reputation for bodily harm and dismemberment, and with Knock Knock wanted to sub-stitute chopping off the sculpture’s limbs for a human’s.

“I find the destruction of art much more painful, because the idea that no matter what we create it’s completely worthless to another person is a very real and terrifying one. Everything we find sacred in a work of art

Fatal attraCtion in the age oF soCial media

White is most definite-ly in.And to further ce-ment the fact, there

is a new and pleasurable type of white in town. One that is most indulgent and mouth-watering. It’s none other than new Magnum White Chocolate Almond.

Hosted by Magnum’s resident ambassadors Raymond Gutier-rez and Georgina Wilson, the launch was made more exciting with the presence of Magnum’s new faces Sarah Lahbati, BJ Pas-cual and Kelsey Merritt. Mag-num’s ambassadors showcase talent, and international acclaim in art and fashion. They all work hard, but also know how to in-

dulge and reward themselves. “Magnum has always been

about celebrating pleasure and in-dulging yourself after a hard day’s work. With the launch of Mag-num White Chocolate Almond, Magnum once again presents its pleasure seekers a new way to re-ward themselves – an indulgent flavor that is just so different from our current range,” said Magnum Brand Manager Andrea Huang.

Finally in the Philippines, Mag-num introduces its newest and finest Belgian chocolate creation that’s made of rich vanilla ice cream covered in thick cracking white chocolate and almond piec-es. Magnum, once again, elevates its Belgian chocolate credentials

with an entirely different chocolate flavor that’s in a league of its own.

Magnum heralds the arrival of the country’s first white Bel-gian chocolate ice cream creation through the biggest white takeover the metro has seen. Known to host the hottest events, Magnum kicked off the celebrations recently with a White Party attended by the Philip-pines’ top celebrities and influenc-ers. It also featured international fashion DJs GG from Australia and DJ Willy Monfret – Justin Bieber’s DJ, who just recently spun at Kylie Jenner’s 18th birthday party.

Magnum White Chocolate Al-mond is available nationwide in all leading supermarkets and con-venience stores.

NeW faces eNdorse MagNuM White

could mean absolutely noth-ing to a complete stranger, who would destroy it all with a swing of the hammer without a second thought. I saw the artwork as a metaphor for Evan’s relationship,

for his family, for the life he built, and once he lets in a dangerous force, he risks losing everything.”

Knock Knock opens Oct. 21 in theatres nationwide from Oc-toArts Films International.

Ana de ArmasKeanu Reeves_

Lorenza Izzo

Anton del Rosario and Sam Richelle

Denise Buencamino and Frank Magalona

Duane Santos, Sam Concepcion, and Peachy Concepcion

International DJs Willy

Monfret and DJ GG

Kelsey Merritt, Georgina Wilson, Raymond Gutierrez, Sarah Lahbati, and BJ Pascual

SHOWBITZC6i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

Because of the success of On the Wings of Love, many say that the screen tandem of Nadine Lustre and James Reid is the perfect match to the phenomenal AlDub pair-ing of Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza. To this, Nadine reacts, “Wow! I’m surprised. Actu-ally, it’s my first time to hear that observation. But to be honest, we’re not competing with them.” Since they started airing, her tender and sweet moments with James always register high trending on social media sites like Twitter. The show’s mer-

chandise items easily get sold out as well, prompting people to pit them against AlDub. “We’re thankful that the viewers support us. It’s sim-ply heart-warming. We’re overwhelmed by their sup-port. But as I’ve said earlier, James and I are not compet-ing with AlDub. We don’t look at it as such. “Actually, we’re just the same. We belong to the same generation here in the ‘biz. Competition is not in our vo-cabulary. We’re here to work, to entertain the public. In the future, we want our follow-ers to feel satisfied with what we’ve offered them!” Speaking of James, some quarters are curious if the charming lass is affected by the issue that the former is being linked with other girls, the reason why he receive

flaks from bashers of late. “I’m not! Yes, believe it or not. I know James. He tells me everything. If ever there’s some truth in the rumor, he will relay it to me, but he hasn’t yet. So, at this point, I can say there’s no cause for alarm!” avers Nadine. As the other half of the fa-mous JaDine love team, the tal-ented Viva star admits she and James have to sacrifice when it comes to their personal state.

“That’s expected since we’re a screen tandem. It’s part of the package.” Does this mean she can’t accept suitors, off-cam as of now? “Well, it’s not really like that. Ha-ha-ha! I just don’t have time for matters of the heart consid-ering my hectic schedule.” Of course, their fans want her and James to end up to-gether eventually. “When it comes to that, I

would just let nature take its course. What’s important is that the two of us are not un-der pressure to give in to their wish at this point. We can work freely,” ends Nadine.

HHHHH

Former Ilocos Sur Governor Luis “Chavit” Singson sheds light on the hot issue that he and Sarangani Congressman and boxing champ Manny Pacquiao are buying shares of giant network GMA-7. “Oh, not yet!” he says. “But we have plans in the future. We have to make some huge loan first in order to push through with it. So, he better win more boxing matches in the coming days. Ha-ha-ha!” According to the grapevine, the official contract-signing between their camp and the Kapuso management’s is hap-pening very soon. “Not true at all! As I’ve said, we have to come up with a big amount of money first, along with our partners. Yes, we have other fellow investors in this venture. It’s not that easy. That’s why I always kid him to win more and more in his fu-

ture boxing bouts.” Some say that his assets combined with Manny’s are already enough to put up a network instead of buying an existing one. “It’s not easy. To build your own network, you need fre-quency. Majority of it is al-ready taken by the others.” The popular political fig-ure-businessman confirmed as well his non-interest to run for public office again. “Let’s just leave it to the younger generation. For one, they are very aggressive. Maybe, they’ll have better ideas on how to run things. And how will you know it if you’ll not give way, right? I will just guide and support them,” avers Gov. Singson.

Next to Christmas—and probably their birthday, Halloween is the most exciting time of the year for kids (let’s not mention the kids at heart). It’s when they get to dress up in cool cos-tumes, go trick-or-treating (and stuff their faces with sweets before they’re even halfway home), and spook each other with silly, scary stories. It’s a fun, festive holiday that brings a lot of laughs—and candies, and nobody is more excited to get everyone into the Halloween spirit than the channel for kids, Nickelodeon. Get ready to have a frightfully good time as Nick takes you on a ghostly adventure with its spooktacular Hal-loween event, Takotown: Twisted Tales. This year, Nickelodeon gives the celebration a fun Pinoy flavor by

bringing in some of the most notori-ous Philippine mythical creatures to join the party. Rub elbows with your friendly neighborhood kapre (who says they only hang out on balete

trees?), the good ol’ white lady (it gets boring in deserted streets, waiting for cars to pass by, you know), and the tiny little duwendes (they can’t wait to burst out of those mounds sitting in your backyard!). Discover the mysteries of Ta-kotown: Twisted Tales on Oct. 31 at Hall 3 of the SMX Convention Center Manila, and hang out with the scary—but friendly under-world creatures from 2pm to 6pm. Nickelodeon is sure to pull out all the stops to make your adventure totally unforgettable. Enjoy the interactive activities on ground and the exciting give-aways, from the trick-or-treat bas-kets filled with goodies from the event sponsors, to stage games,

amazing performances, game booths, meet-and-greet with Nick-elodeon characters, and the ulti-mate Halo-Halo-ween costume contest. So don’t forget to come in your Halloween best to bring home the coolest prizes. If you’re up for a spooky chal-lenge, you can also enter the “Gu-bat ng Lagim” and brave the misty forest with all its creepy creatures and terrifying tombstones scat-tered all over the place. It’s a great way test your navigation skills, and of course your courage. Let’s see if you can find your way out (cue evil laugh). Don’t worry, a photo wall is waiting for you at the other end of the forest to immortalize your hor-ror—we mean your bravery.

Now if you’re faint hearted, then we suggest you stick to the Toy Kingdom’s “Balon ng Undin.” Undin might make an appearance, but not to pull you in or eat you, but to give candies to those who are able to summon the courage to take a peek inside. But of course, to get into Takotown, you’re going to need a ticket. So if you’re 7-10 years old, log on to Nick-Asia.com to score tickets for you and your family and friends. Register on-line and answer the question, “What is the scariest story you’ve heard of?” 50 kids with the best answers get four tickets each. Remember that the deadline for submitting entries is on Oct. 25 at 6 p.m., so hurry and tell us your scary story now.

M ONDAY : OCTOBER 19 : 2015

ACROSS 1 Golly! 4 Gourmet mushrooms 8 Cyclist — LeMond 12 Felt boots 13 Jai — 14 Kind of rocket 16 Impolite sound 17 Good news for Aspen (2 wds.) 19 Miner’s trough 21 Villain — Luthor

A N S W E R F O R P R E V I O U S P U Z Z L E

CROSSWORD PUZZLE MONDAY,

OCTOBER 19, 2015

22 Acorn droppers 23 Countess’s spouse 25 The “Elephant Boy” 27 Doubt 31 Cave art 35 Einstein’s hometown 36 Beginning 38 Toss out 39 24-hr. tellers 41 Bicycle parts 43 Omani title

44 Thin pancake 46 Makes a move 48 Cinnabar, e.g. 49 Dojo activity 51 Kind of town (hyph.) 53 Shankar the sitarist 55 Rostrum 56 Exec degrees 59 MS readers 61 Flairs 65 Improbable wishes (2 wds.) 68 People, informally 69 Fresco base 70 Baseball family name 71 Raison d’ — 72 Hockey goals 73 Bounce along 74 Shark habitat

DOWN 1 Ancient France 2 Tan shade 3 Glimpses 4 Frisking about 5 “Xanadu” gp. 6 Ratchet bar 7 Agrees with 8 Canine warning 9 Asset 10 Sight from Messina 11 Feel empathy

12 “NOVA” channel 15 Cries of pain 18 Academic hurdle 20 Roman censor 24 Fails to place 26 Urban transport 27 Phony doc 28 Extremely 29 Wheat variety 30 Cool! 32 Armadillo’s protection 33 Dens 34 Binge 37 Gallup finding 40 Most meager 42 Talks louder (2 wds.) 45 Depot info 47 Climb a pole 50 Even once 52 Inedible oranges 54 Hunches 56 Auto info 57 Well, to Yves 58 Cathedral part 60 Polio vaccine inventor 62 Winsome 63 Sedgwick of film 64 NNW opposite 66 Two, in Tijuana 67 Miss Piggy’s word

NiCkelodeoN TakoTowN TwisTed Tales oN oC. 31

PERfECt tanDEm tO DEfUSE aLDUb

JOSEPh PEtER GOnZaLES

Chavit Singson

Nadine Lustre and James Reid

SHOWBITZ C7i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

In its commitment to deliv-er the most comprehensive all-media coverage of next year’s presidential elections,

Eleksyon 2016, GMA Network forges ties with the biggest names in the fields of media, telecommunications, education, business, and public service.

During the Eleksyon 2016 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing held on Oct. 8 at GMA Network Center in Que-zon City, network Chairman and CEO Atty. Felipe L. Gozon high-lighted the importance of next year’s presidential elections.

In his speech, Gozon said “In seven months, we will choose leaders who will serve our coun-try in the next three to six years.

Sa tamang panahon, or more spe-cifically, in the fullness of time, through our votes, we will give them the great power and respon-sibility to lead our nation. Wheth-er our country will become a bet-ter place for us and our children to live in and grow greatly de-pends on whom we elect.”

And while Gozon acknowl-edged the more dynamic, freer and faster flow of information expected during Eleksyon 2016, he underscored the commitment of GMA Network and its part-ners “to cover the elections with no spins, no personal agenda, truthfully, accurately, compre-hensively and driven only by the calling towards public service.”

Led by Atty. Gozon and GMA

Network President and COO Gil-berto R. Duavit, Jr., the Kapuso Network showcases a formidable line-up of internal partners that include GMA News TV, GMA Kapuso Foundation, GMA New Media Inc., GMA News Online, GMA News Social Media, Radio GMA (DZBB and DWLS-FM), and GMA International (GMA Pinoy TV, GMA Life TV and GMA News TV-International.)

Joining forces with GMA Net-work for Eleksyon 2016 are part-ners from the Commission on

Elections (COMELEC); PLDT-Smart Communications; Philip-pine Daily Inquirer (PDI); Phil-ippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ); Inquirer.net; Catholic Media Network (CMN); Parish Pastoral Council for Re-sponsible Voting (PPCRV); and National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL).

Completing the Eleksyon 2016 partners are University of the Philippines (UP); Polytech-nic University of the Philippines (PUP); Ateneo de Manila Univer-

sity (ADMU); De La Salle Univer-sity (DLSU); University of Santo Tomas (UST); AMA Education System; Waze; Viber; Youth Vote Philippines; Philippine Entertain-ment Portal (PEP); Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine Is-lands (CCPI); and the Philippine Bar Association (PBA). 

With the said partnership, Eleksyon 2016 seeks to deliver a more efficient, in-depth, and credible coverage of the upcom-ing presidential elections—no less than what the public deserves.

M ONDAY : OCTOBER 19 : 2015

This month, EVE gives you everything for you to become a happier person: eating your way

back into proper health, learning a thing or two about some good ‘ol clog dancing and getting that one-of-a-kind relationship goal.

Watch how food can be turned into a kind of medical treat-ment on Food Hospital, a place where medical issues are solved by proper dieting and nutrition. Come and see how patients are treated with the use of healthy food and how they eat their way back into shape on Food Hospi-tal, which airs 8: 10 every Friday

Looking for a bit of dancing with a unique little twist?

Add in an age-old rivalry just to spice things up a bit. Find all that and more in Down South Dance as the show follows rival dance groups: Chip Harrison’s Team Sapphire and Sarah Dar-by’s Team Synergy.

Watch as these two longtime ri-vals turn their dance group into the best Southern Clog dancing team before battling in the R2K. With a feud that has started as old as time, trash talking and intense clogging, Down South Dance is sure to make your evenings more exciting at 8:10 p.m. every Monday.

Ever wondered how much a relationship could change in just 90 days? Watch as six non-Amer-icans equipped with unique fian-cé visas travel to the US to live with their partners for the first time on 90 Day Fiancé.

In just three months, these international couples must over-come culture shock, language barriers and the lack of support from loved ones as they journey towards the altar or be sent flying back to their home lands. Will these couples find their happily ever green card? Find out on 90 Day Fiancé, 9 p.m., every Mon-days on EVE.

DanCing, loving anD some gooD-for-you eating

stronger ties, WiDer sCope for eleksyon 2016

Senator Chiz Escudero admits that it is easier to teach history if there’s a visual reference and not

just text in a book. This is his reaction to some stu-

dents’ question why Apolinario Mabini was always seated in Jer-rold Tarog’s film Heneral Luna.

He’d like the local film industry to produce more films about the country’s national heroes apart from General Antonio Luna.

“This is my wish and I am ask-ing the producers to invest not only money but also time in craft-ing films like Heneral Luna and other subjects in relation to the history of the Philippines. What-ever other people say, people learn easily about history when they are watching the events on screen,” the senator said.

“We’re not discounting the im-portance of textbooks, but films and other visual media can help in expanding the youth’s knowl-edge of the history of the country,”

the Seantor added.In relation to that, Escudero said that one of the plans of his and Senator Grace Poe’s administra-tion if they’d get elected – he as vice president and Poe as presi-dent is to start digitizing educa-tion in the country for teachers to teach effectively.         

“Our aim is to go digital at DepED. We should give every teacher a laptop or tablet as in-struction material so that the stu-dents are able to understand the lessons,” says Chiz.

HHHHH

The PreNuP PoSTS P8 mIl-lIoN fIrST-day groSSRegal Entertainment, Inc.’s roman-tic-comedy The PreNup starring Jennylyn Mercado and Sam Mil-by grossed P8 million on its open-ing day, Wednesday last week.

Directed by award-winning Jun Lana, the movie succeeded in its goal to present the advan-tages and disadvantages of having a pre-nuptial agreement in a fun

and entertaining way.Positive reviews about the film

now flood social media -- Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Netizens continue to pass on the good word that The PreNup is a must-see movie.They rave about Jen and Sam’s rap-port and chemistry, especially in the movie’s kilig scenes, most of which were shot in New York City.           The male audience swooned at Jennylyn’s vampy appeal on screen while the female crowd swore by Sam’s handsome features. Both fit their roles to a “T.”Equally praised for their perfor-mances were the supporting cast that include Melai Cantiveros, who tackles the part of Jen’s sister, and Jaclyn Jose, who plays Sam’s aristocratic mom.Also notable were Gardo Versoza and Dominic Ochoa’s appear-ance as Jen’s parents.The PreNup was graded B by the Cinema Evaluation Board with a Parental Guidance classification from the MTRCB.

eScudero waNTS more fIlmS lIke ‘heNeral luNa’

from c8

GMA Network led by Chairman and CEO Atty. Felipe L. Gozon and President and COO Gilberto R. Duavit, Jr. join hands with partners representing the biggest names in various fields to bring a comprehensive, accurate, and credible Eleksyon 2016 coverage

The Food Hospital

John Arcilla as Heneral Luna

Chiz Escudero Jennyllyn Mercado and Sam Milby

C8 ISAH V. REDE D I T O R

SHOWBITZ

M ONDAY : OCTOBER 19 : 2015

First they conquered the big screen – in fact, not just once, not twice, but three times. Then they conquered the music charts with a string of hit duets, alongside individual hit songs. Now they’re conquering the small screen, too – in a big, big way.

They’re James Reid and Nadine Lustre and they could very well be considered the first (and only) super-star multi-media love team of their generation.

The Viva young stars, who rose to fame via last year’s surprise block-buster movie Diary Ng Panget, have struck TV gold and are currently soar-ing on the wings of their hit primetime teleserye, On The Wings Of Love. It’s not only the most-watched show on its time slot, it’s one of the most trending shows in all of TV, setting social media sites on fire almost every single day.

Viewers instantly fell in love with the show and are deeply hooked, main-ly because James and Nadine fit their roles perfectly and have incredible onscreen chemistry. It’s the very same qualities that made all of their movies blockbuster hits at the box-office.

What’s new in On The Wings is the maturity that both James and Nadine are displaying in their acting, noticed by fans and critics alike, and this promises to be what will keep the viewers glued to the show until the end.

The dynamic duo is also visible on TV outside of On The Wings as two of the most in-demand young endorsers in the country. Whether solo or in tandem, James and Nadine continue to be a fa-vorite of youth-oriented lifestyle brands not only because of their looks and pop-ularity but their wholesome image too.

Music-wise, the two have just scored their biggest achievement in their re-cording careers so far. They both re-ceived individual nominations as Best Southeast Asia Act in the 2015 MTV Europe Music Awards. This is on the strength of their recent solo albums, Nadine Lustre and Reid Alert, both of which have spawned a string of chart-topping hits.

On the movie front, the duo will be gracing the big screens this Christ-mas season via the comedy Beauty and the Bestie from blockbuster direc-tor Wenn Deramas. The movie stars Vice Ganda, Coco Martin, and child wonder, and fellow Viva artist, Alonzo Muhlach and is an entry in this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival.

JaDine Flying HigH

HHHHH

Life LessonsViewers were all praises for the life lessons shared by the story of the hit teleserye Nasaan Ka Nang Kail-angan Kita, which ended on Friday.

Bravery is one thing that emanates in Cecilia (Vina Morales) and Cor-rine’s (Jane Oineza) character. Cecilia tried to win back her husband (Chris-tian Vasquez) from its mistress. But as she realized that she’s all on her own, she empowered herself by having a successful career and focused in tak-ing care of her kids. Corrine, on the other hand, got pregnant in an ear-ly age but kept her baby and bravely faced people’s judgments. Meanwhile, Bea symbolizes a traditional Filipina that prioritizes education and waits for the right time to love. While Toni made wrong decisions in the past, she learned not to be selfish and give way for other’s happiness.

The series also showed how lov-ing of a mother Cecilia is to her children. In her early years, Cecilia was abandoned by her father Pacia-no (Dominic Ochoa), which hurt her so much. With this, she gave so much love and protection for Cor-rine and Bea and made sure that her experience would not happen to her two daughters.

Love also prevailed in the lives of the lead characters. Cecilia, Cor-rine, Bea, Leandro, and Toni made amends due to the overflowing love that they have for one another. They learned to accept each other’s fault and picked up the pieces to make themselves whole once again.

Since it aired in January, Nasaan Ka Nang Kailangan Kita consis-tently won in the ratings game as it charmed the viewers with its life lessons and thrilling episodes.

ISAH V. RED

James Reid and Nadine Lustre, otherwise known as JaDine; JaDine, observes say, is the only tandem that rivals the phenomenal AlDub

Cast of Nasaan Ka Nang Kailangan Kita

➜ Continued on C7

i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m