Earlier in the day, Luzon, according to the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), was placed on yellow alert from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

A yellow alert means thin power re-serves. This is issued when power reserves dwindle and fall below 647 megawatts.

TURNING THE PAGESportsBusinessMirror

A8 | SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2016mirror_sports@yahoo.com.phsports@businessmirror.com.phEditor: Jun LomibaoAsst. Editor: Joel Orellana

TURNING THE PAGESports

The assumption is that the Lakers will rely on

their young nucleus of rookie D’Angelo

Russell and second-year players Julius

Randle and Jordan Clarkson. The Lakers’

staff also likes the progress Larry Nance

Jr. and Anthony Brown made in their rookie

seasons.

MONACO—Rafael Nadal was prepared for pain. Roger Federer hoped to avoid pain. They got what they wished for and reached the

Monte Carlo Masters quarterfinals on Thursday. Eight-time champion Nadal saved 15-of-17 break points, scampering all over the clay to retrieve big forehands from Dominic Thiem and beat the Austrian, 7-5, 6-3. Thiem beat Nadal in the semifinals in Buenos Aires en route to the title, the first of two on clay in February. Thiem has the second-most wins on the tour this year, after Novak Djokovic. He made Nadal run and run. “I never gave up in all these tough moments,” Nadal said. “You need matches like this. You need to suffer on court.” Federer was equally pleased to feel no pain in his left knee, two months after arthroscopic surgery for torn cartilage. In his second match since, Federer was unscathed in easing past Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain, 6-2, 6-4, for a fifth straight time. “I’m happy how the body is, that I was able to play two matches already here, and get a chance to play a third,” Federer said. “I’m getting closer to the peak in the sense of maximum movement.”

Federer next faces Jo Wilfried Tsonga in the last eight, leading the Frenchman, 11-5, in head-to-heads. “I like his game. I like his power, his capacity to move forward with his forehand,” Federer said of Tsonga. “I’ve seen wonderful matches of him against the best players, and also against me.” Elsewhere, Andy Murray rallied from a set and 3-0 down to advance along with Stan Wawrinka, the only other former champion left in the field beside Nadal. Nadal faced 16 of the 17 break points against Thiem in the first set. At 4-4, and with each player having dropped serve once, Thiem missed six chances to break Nadal. On the last one, Thiem let a lob go thinking it was going out, and watched it land in. The Spaniard clenched his fist after holding that tough game, and then broke Thiem when the Austrian double-faulted on set point. “Some of the break points he played very well so I didn’t have a chance, but there were also some where I really had some easy shots,” said Thiem, who converted only one of 16 chances on Djokovic’s serve in the third round of the Miami Masters two weeks

ago. “Of course, it’s very frustrating.” After Thiem broke Nadal to love in the third game of the second set for a 2-1 lead, Nadal quickly regained momentum and broke Thiem twice more to set up a quarterfinal against Wawrinka, the 2014 champion. “If you look at the past year, we can see his level has slightly decreased,” Wawrinka, the French Open champion, said of 14-time Grand Slam winner Nadal. “But a champion like him is still able to win big titles.” Murray was relieved to scrape past an erratic Benoit Paire of France, 2-6, 7-5, 7-5. “To win when you’re not playing particularly well, it’s a great effort,” Murray said. “It would have been easy to lose today and get down on myself. But I kept fighting.” Paire had 47 winners among a number of eye-catching shots, but the Frenchman also made 52 unforced errors. He had eight aces and seven double-faults. Paire also lost his composure at key moments, double-faulting when serving for the match and again on match point. “He played a bad game at 3-0 in the second to give me one of the breaks back,” Murray said. “I felt like I was in with a chance then.” AP

B B TLos Angeles Times

 

LOS ANGELES—One day after Kobe Bryant capped his 20-year career, the Los Angeles Lakers had their exit interviews with the team’s brass on Thursday, as the franchise began to turn the page and decide which of

its players will be part of a major rebuilding process. The assumption is that the Lakers will rely on their young nucleus of rookie D’Angelo Russell and second-year players Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson. The Lakers’ staff also likes the progress Larry Nance Jr. and Anthony Brown made in their rookie seasons. Now that group has to take the next step, which is something Bryant suggested to the youngsters, telling them after Wednesday’s season finale that they all need to work together to improve. “I think after this year, we kind of see we have to do it together,” Randle said on Thursday. “I don’t think talent around here and on this team is an issue. It’s just about finding the chemistry and playing for each other and not playing for ourselves.” Russell was the second overall pick in the draft and his rookie season was wildly up and down. He opened the season as a starter, only to be

» KOBE BRYANT tells the young Lakers after his

season finale on Wednesday that they all need to work

together to improve. AP

EIGHT-TIME champion Rafael Nadal saves 15

of 17 break points, scampering all over the clay to retrieve big forehands from Dominic Thiem and

beats the Austrian, 7-5, 6-3. AP

and halting practice for 20 minutes. Pirelli posted on Twitter that Massa’s tire problems were not caused by a puncture, but rather “technical trouble.” There was no immediate word on the cause of Magnussen’s problems. Even Mercedes was not immune from trouble. Hamilton spun twice at the same corner, telling his team over the radio, “I keep having this locking into Turn 11.” And Rosberg was forced to end his session early when he encountered a possible engine issue. AP

Rosberg sets fastest time in practice

they all need to work together to improve.“I think after this year, we kind of see we have

to do it together,” Randle said on Thursday. “I don’t think talent around here and on this team is an issue. It’s just about finding the chemistry and playing for each other and not playing for ourselves.”each other and not playing for ourselves.”

Russell was the second overall pick in the draft and his rookie season was wildly up and down.

He opened the season as a starter, only to be

EIGHT-TIME champion Rafael Nadal saves 15

of 17 break points, scampering all over

and halting practice for 20 minutes.Pirelli posted on Twitter that

Massa’s tire problems were not caused by a puncture, but rather “technical trouble.”

There was no immediate word on the cause of Magnussen’s problems.

Even Mercedes was not immune from trouble. Hamilton spun twice at the same corner, telling his team over the radio, “I keep having this locking into Turn 11.” And Rosberg was forced to end his session early when he encountered a possible engine issue. AP

Rosberg sets fastest time in practiceRosberg sets fastest time in practice

benched by Coach Byron Scott and later went back to starting again. Russell was also involved in a major story off the court when he secretly recorded teammate Nick Young talking about women who were not his fiancée in a video shot earlier this year and leaked to a gossip site this month. The incident left Russell in a bind with his teammates and other players around the National Basketball Association. Through it all, the 20-year-old Russell said he has grown. “Everybody was just thrown into a pot and expecting gold to come out,” said Russell, who plans on playing in the summer league. “We struggled all year trying to figure out roles, just what guys could do. I feel just like it was the warm-up, and I feel like next year we’ll have a better taste of what guys are capable of.” Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak and Scott met with players at their practice facility to give them input on the expectations for next season after the team had a franchise-worst 17-65 record. Clarkson is one of the building blocks, but he’ll be a restricted free agent looking for a big pay raise from the $845,000 he made this season. “I feel confident that I’ll be back here,” Clarkson said. “I want to be here.” Veterans Roy Hibbert, Metta World Peace,

Ryan Kelly and Robert Sacre aren’t as

confident that they’ll return. After the video incident, Russell said he had to apologize to regain his teammates’ trust. On Thursday Russell said he wished he had not made that statement, because “I don’t feel like I lost my teammates’ trust.” “I feel like my teammates have been very supportive,” Russell added. “And Kobe has done a great job of being there for me. I don’t feel like it affected me the way I carried myself.” As for Young, who has two years left on his contract for $11.1 million, he sounded resigned to not being with the Lakers next season. “I just want to play basketball again,” Young said. “I just want to enjoy getting out there and playing the game I love. I know the Lakers are going to make decisions for the Lakers.” Young added, this season was a “tough one” professionally and personally. “I’m glad this season is over. Now I get to go and unwind and clear my head and just have fun,” he said.

SHANGHAI—Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton set the early pace at the Chinese Grand Prix on Friday with the fastest

times in a start-and-stop practice session beset by a number of tire problems. Rosberg had the quickest lap time at one minute and 38.037 seconds, just ahead of his teammate, Hamilton, at 1:38.183. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel had the third-fastest time of the session, a full half-second behind Hamilton. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top 5. It was a frustrating session for Williams driver Felipe Massa and Renault’s Kevin Magnussen, both of whom experienced tire issues that prevented them from setting a time. Massa’s left rear tire came off the rim as he was going into Turn 5, causing him to spin across the track and come to a stop on the shoulder. When he returned a short while later, he encountered another problem with the same tire and was forced to stop again. Magnussen’s left rear tire blew out on the back straight toward the end of the session, bringing the red flag out as debris was cleared from the track

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Erap grants P100K cash gift each to Manila’s 17 centenarians

This is apparent for the partici-pants of the Sunshine Place’s art and painting classes, which, for over a year, have become a nesting ground for artistry both for the old and the young.

These offerings are anchored on a recreation center’s thrust to provide a holistic venue for the therapeutic, educational and recreational ac-tivities that will improve the social, mental and physical health of its members, most of whom are in their twilight years.

“Basically, we are here to provide happiness and wellness for senior adults,” said Cris Moreno-Cruz, mar-keting manager of Senior Members Social Club Inc.

Unlike other art classes that fol-low a specific course, each of the art session is designed to be relaxed and flexible to make it conducive for stu-dents to enhance their prowess, and relive or explore their inclination to the discipline.

“I guess, in most art studios, if you want to learn sea or landscape, that’s what you learn all throughout [the course]. But in this one, we give the students the liberty to choose [which class they want to attend]. So, it’s the teacher who adjusts to the subject,” she said, while citing that they may enroll either for eight sessions or the full course.

Another reason each class is open for attendees is because seniors, more often than not, have mood swings and physical frailties that sometimes hamper their mobility.

“The psyche of our seniors is very much different than that of regular adults. They may want to go to their art class, and then they would shift to other activities, like

the dance aero, etcetera,” she said.For this month, art classes of-

fered include acrylic/oil pastel paint-ing for adults every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, facilitated by master painter and Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) President Fidel Sarmiento.

With a photo of a chosen subject at hand, he teaches the students hands-on techniques in mixing paint, hold-ing a brush, painting styles up to tips of framing the artwork.

Moreno-Cruz said this class is beneficial for the development of senior adults’ motor and analyz-ing skills.

Since Sunshine Place has over time proven itself not only as a recreation hub for its members 50 years old and older, but also an extension of their homes as their children and their grandchildren also spend a day or two here with them, such class is also extended to their little ones.

Dubbed the “Young at Art: Acrylic/Oil Pastel for Kids,” par-ticipants as young as 5 years old can learn acrylic or oil pastel with the supervision of Maria Theresa Buiser, an AAP member.

This is more structured, where students are initially instructed during their first few sessions the basics of drawing, shading, color wheel, holding the medium (the brush) and composition.

Later on, students apply what they’ve learned and allow them to create their own work similar to adult class.

Under the guidance of Caesar Cheng, a professor at Confucius Institute at the Ateneo de Manila University and Maximillian Gal-lery in Quezon City, students may

Artistry rises at Sunshine PlaceART is a form of therapy, but

it’s more stress relieving if practiced.

TimeBusinessMirror

Our

B R L. A | Contributor

Crow tribe elder, historian Joe Medicine Crow dead at 102

Saturday, April 16, 2016 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Eating walnuts keeps weight gain, aging issues at bay

opt to join the Chinese painting class every Monday.

Course syllabus includes mate-rials orientation, holding a brush and painting flowers for the begin-ner’s class.

Other art classes to choose from are drawing or sketching (Thursday); water-color painting (Tuesday); and ceramic painting (Friday).

For those who are interested in working on the crafts, there’s Ikebana and beading workshop on Saturdays.

The former is a Japanese art of flower arranging, which students can apply in their own home.

With Marc Tomas, board mem-ber of Ikebana International Ma-nila Chapter 108 and Sogetsu Po-tential Manila Chapter member, onboard, students can learn how

to choose the materials (new or recycled), balancing the f lower arrangement and its practical ap-plication at home.

“We’re not teaching the entire course; it’s quite long. We’re teach-ing them a hobby version [which is easy and not complicated],” the marketing manager said.

For the four-session bead work-shop, participants can improve their creativity, imagination, artistic ex-pression and hand dexterity.

Here, they can be taught on the basics of design pattern, rhythm, color meaning and psychology, ma-terials to be used, safety and prac-tical application on earrings, neck-lace, pendants and the like.

The art and painting classes have so far attracted most mem-bers of the Sunshine Place, and

even nonmembers, since the es-tablishment’s inception in 2014, Moreno-Cruz said.

While some of the workshop participants are already artists themselves and others already have had interest in art before, most of them actually had no background in painting but were able to produce an artwork per session.

As a showcase of the student’s output, there is an ongoing exhibit of their creations—mostly oil and acrylic paintings—right at The Senior Hub on the second floor of the building.

These art pieces are for sale, the proceeds of which go to the painters themselves and a part to the center.

The Sunshine Place is a project of the Felicidad Tan Sy Foundation.

B4

LONDON—Daily consumption of walnuts may positively impact blood-cholesterol levels without adverse ef-

fects on body weight among older adults, a new study claimed.

“Given walnuts are a high-energy food, a prevailing concern has been that their long-term consumption might be associated with weight gain,” said Emilio Ros from Hospital Clinic of Barcelona in Spain.

“The preliminary results of the Walnuts and Healthy Ageing [Waha] study demon-strates that daily consumption of walnuts for one year by a sizable cohort of aging free-living persons has no adverse effects on body weight,” Ros said. “They also show that the well-known cholesterol-lowering effect of walnut diets works equally well in the elderly and is maintained in the long term,” he added.

Researchers instructed 707 healthy older adults to add daily doses of walnuts (around 15 percent of caloric intake) to their typical diet or to consume their usual diet without nuts.

Participants were not given advice on to-tal calorie and macronutrient intake or food substitution for walnuts. After one year, the study found that both diets had minimal ef-fect on body weight, triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein (HDL or “good”) choles-terol. However, the walnut-diet resulted in significant low-density lipoprotein (LDL or “bad”) cholesterol reductions compared to the control, nut-free diet.

“As we continue the Waha study, we will assess how walnut consumption may affect, among other outcomes, cognitive decline and age-related macular degeneration, condi-tions that were major public health concerns,” Ros said. PNA/PTI

BILLINGS, Montana—Joseph Medi-cine Crow, an acclaimed Native Ameri-can historian and last surviving war

chief of Montana’s Crow Tribe, has died. He was 102.

Medicine Crow died on Sunday, April 3, Bullis Mortuary funeral home director Ter-ry Bullis said. Services will be announced on Monday, he said.

A member of the Crow Tribe’s Whistling Water clan, Medicine Crow was raised by his grandparents in a log house in a rural area of the Crow Reservation near Lodge Grass, Montana.

His Crow name was “High Bird,” and he recalled listening as a child to stories about the Battle of Little Bighorn from those who were there, including his grandmother’s brother, White Man Runs Him, a scout for Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer.

His grandfather, Yellowtail, raised Medi-cine Crow to be a warrior. The training began when Medicine Crow was just 6 or 7, with a punishing physical regimen that included running barefoot in the snow to toughen the boy’s feet and spirit.

Medicine Crow in 1939 became the first of his tribe to receive a master’s degree, in anthropology. He served for decades as a Crow historian, cataloging his people’s no-madic history by collecting firsthand ac-counts of prereservation life from fellow tribal members.

“I always told people, when you meet Joe Medicine Crow, you’re shaking hands with the 19th century,” said Herman Vi-ola, curator emeritus at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Ameri-can Indians.

During World War II, Medicine Crow earned the title of war chief after per-forming a series of daring deeds, including stealing horses from an enemy encamp-ment and hand-to-hand combat with a German soldier whose life Medicine Crow

ultimately spared.“Warfare was our highest art, but Plains

Indian warfare was not about killing. It was about intelligence, leadership, and honor,” Medicine Crow wrote in his 2006 book Counting Coup.

Soon after returning from the European front, Medicine Crow was designated tribal historian by the Crow Tribal Council.

With his prodigious memory, Medicine Crow could accurately recall decades later the names, dates and exploits from the oral history he was exposed to as a child, Viola said. Those included tales told by four of the six Crow scouts who were at Custer’s side at Little Bighorn and who Medicine Crow knew personally.

Yet, Medicine Crow also embraced the

changes that came with the settling of the West, and he worked to bridge his people’s cultural traditions with the opportunities of modern society. His voice became familiar to many outside the region as the narrator for American Indian exhibits in major museums across the country.

“He really wanted to walk in both worlds, the white world and Indian world, and he knew education was a key to success,” said Viola, who first met Medicine Crow in 1972 and collaborated with him on several books.

Gov. Steve Bullock said Medicine Crow was an inspiration to his tribe and others.

“Joe was a Crow war chief, veteran, elder, historian, author, and educator. His legacy will forever serve as an inspiration for all Na-tive Americans—and all Montanans,” he said.

US Sen. Steve Daines said Medicine Crow was a good leader and the first member of the Crow Tribe to attain a master’s degree.

“Medicine Crow’s spirit, humility and life achievements leave a lasting imprint on Mon-tana’s history,” Daines said. President Barack Obama awarded Medi-cine Crow the Presidential Medal of Free-dom in 2009. During the White House ceremony, Obama referred to Medicine Crow as “a good man, a ‘bacheitche’ in Crow.” “[His] life reflects not only the warrior spirit of the Crow people, but America’s highest ide-als,” Obama said. He was nominated for the Congressio-nal Gold Medal and was awarded honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Southern California and Montana’s Rocky Mountain College. In the years leading to his death, Medicine Crow continued to live with his family in Lodge Grass. His wife died in 2009. Even after his hearing and eyesight faded, Medicine Crow continued to lecture into his 90s on the Battle of Little Bighorn and other major events in Crow history. AP

MAYOR Joseph “Erap” Estra-da has awarded centenar-ians in Manila a P100,000

cash gift each, in recognition of their priceless contributions to the city.

The latest to receive the cash gift were Leopolda “Polding” Robble, 103, and Natividad “Nati” Martinez, 100, who were accompanied by their fami-lies when they were invited by Mayor Estrada to his office.

Estrada personally handed the checks to Lola Polding and Lola Nati.

Robble, born on November 19, 1912, is from Barangay 753 in Sin-galong, while Natividad is from Ba-rangay 860 in District 6. She was born on September 8, 1915.

The P100,000 cash gift to the city’s living centenarians, or those who have reached 100 years of age, was made possible through Resolu-tion 131 approved by the City Coun-cil on March 17, which authorized the release of P1.1 million from the Special Activity Fund to finance the cash-award program.

Lola Polding and Lola Nati were the 12th and 13th living centenarians in Manila to receive the P100,000 cash gift. The remaining four are sched-uled to receive theirs in the coming days, according to Herminia Salonga, officer in charge of the Office of the Senior Citizen’s Affairs.

Manila has 17 surviving centenar-ians; eight are male. All in all, there are about 150,000 registered senior citizens in Manila. Aside from the P100,000 cash, every centenarian receives P10,000 each during the yearly celebra-tion of Araw ng Maynila on June 24.

Senior citizens in Manila enjoy free medical checkups, hospitaliza-tion, medicine and other health-care services from the six city-run public hospitals and 59 community health centers. They also receive P500 cash gift on their birthdays. This year the city government has set aside P30 million for this purpose. PNA

IN this August 12, 2009, file photo, President Barack Obama leans away to avoid the headdress, as he presents the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom to Joseph Medicine Crow during ceremonies at the White House in Washington. Medicine Crow, the last surviving war chief for Montana’s Crow Tribe, died on April 3 in a Billings hospice at age 102. Medicine Crow earned the title of war chief and a Bronze Star after stealing enemy horses and other exploits as a US soldier in World War II. AP/J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE, FILE

A STUDENT of an art class at the Sunshine Place, a project of the Felicidad Tan Sy Foundation, paints on a canvas mounted on a wall, part of an exhibit of art work made by students at the center.

S “B,” A

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 46.2560 n JAPAN 0.4228 n UK 65.4661 n HK 5.9639 n CHINA 7.1344 n SINGAPORE 33.9344 n AUSTRALIA 35.5616 n EU 52.1166 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.3386 Source: BSP (15 April 2016 )

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Brownouts stare partsof PHL in the face anew

INSIDE

NGCP PLACES THE COUNTRY ON RED ALERT DUE TO THIN SUPPLY

Remittances grew 9% to $2.1B in Feb

TURNING THE PAGE

ARTISTRY RISES AT SUNSHINE PLACE

C A

SPORTS A8

CHINA ACCUSES U.S.,PHL OF HARBORING‘COLD WAR MENTALITY’

“I DON’T let myself o� the hook. I don’t �nd parts in any of this that makes me feel the slightest bit good about myself.”—Charles Manson cult follower Leslie Van Houten, who was recommended for parole from prison after serving 46 years for participating in the 1969 murder of a wealthy grocer and his wife.

“MY story never changed. Seriously, just stop lying.”—Reporter Michelle Fields’s Twitter response to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump reading aloud a letter by campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who will not be prosecuted on a misdemeanor battery charges after he grabbed her arm at a rally.

“IF the US really wanted to help Haiti, they would focus on serious work improving irrigation and farmers’ access to credit.”—Haitian economist and activist Camille Chalmers, who argues that the US donation to the country of tons of peanuts in food aid is mainly about drawing down the US stockpile and bene�ting American agribusiness. AP

FULL THROTTLE Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala (left), Ayala Corp. chairman and CEO; and Fernando Zobel de Ayala (right), Ayala Corp. president and COO, pose with KTM executives during the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting on Friday. KTM, the largest European maker of “ready to race” on- and off-road motorcycles, will introduce new models in the country. NORIEL DE GUZMAN

A FILIPINO worker drives his tricycle past a US-made Himars (High- Mobility Advanced Rocket System) on a static display, after taking part in the 11-day joint US-Philippines military exercise, dubbed Balikatan 2016 (Shoulder-to-Shoulder 2016), on Thursday in Crow Valley, Tarlac. US Defense Secretary Ash Carter arrived in the country on Wednesday for talks with President Aquino and other top defense and military officials and to visit two military camps, which are being utilized for the exercise under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. AP

RESPONDING to what it says are provocative plans for stepped-up US-Philippines military cooperation, China says it will “resolutely

defend” its interests and accuses the two long- standing allies of militarizing the region and har-boring a “Cold War mentality.”

The ministry’s comments came shortly after Thursday’s announcement that the United States would send troops and planes to the Philippines for more frequent rotations and will increase joint sea and air patrols with Philippine forces in the South China Sea.

In a move likely to further anger Beijing, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter says he will be vis-iting an aircraft carrier—a potent symbol of US military might—in the South China Sea during his current visit to the region, which does not include a stop in China.

“The joint patrols between the United States and the Philippines in the South China Sea are milita-rizing the region and are nonbeneficial to regional peace and stability,” said a statement posted on the ministry’s web site late Thursday. “The Chinese military will pay close attention to the situation, and resolutely defend China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime interests,” the statement said. China claims virtually the entire South China Sea as its territory and is building manmade islands there topped with airstrips and other infrastruc-ture. The Philippines, Vietnam and others also claim territory controlled or claimed by China, and increased military and coast-guard deployments by all sides could increase the potential for conflict.

The ministry’s statement also referenced China’s long-standing opposition to US military alliances in the region. It regards those as a form of unwelcome interference that stymies its desired status as the preeminent military power in Asia Pacific. “Strengthening the US-Philippines military alliance... is a sign of a Cold War mentality that is un-beneficial to peace and stability in the South China Sea,” the statement said. The South China Sea dis-pute also featured in talks between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Malcolm Turnbull, the prime minister

B L L @llectura

SOME parts of the country nearly experienced brownouts on Friday following the

emergency shutdown of several power plants, again demonstrating the precarious power situation in the Philippines due to thin supply.

9,746 MWThe all-time-high peak demand recorded in the Luzon grid on Friday

DEAR Lord, You came, al-though the doors were locked, and You stood in

the midst of the apostles and said, “PEACE BE WITH YOU.” Then You said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see My hands, and bring your hand and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas said to You, “My Lord, and my God” (John 20: 26b-28). How many of us have doubts like Thomas, especially when our wishes are not granted; when our repeated prayers are never answered; when there seem no hope in every struggle we make. Please, send Your Spirit to inspire and deepen our faith, and keep us in the state of grace always. Amen!

Word & Life, Fr. Sal Putzu, SDB and Luisa M. Lacson, HFL

‘PEACE BEWITH YOU’

OUR TIME B4

B B C BcuaresmaBM

DOLLAR remittances by over-seas Filipino workers (OFWs) grew 9.1 percent to $2.1 billion

in February against last year’s figures, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Friday. This is the fastest growth of remit-tances  in eight months since June, when OFW dollar inflows advanced 10.9 percent. The February dollar inflow brought

the total two-month remittance figures to $4.1 billion, up 6.2 percent from the $3.89 billion registered in the same pe-riod last year. ING Bank economist Joey Cuyegkeng

told the BusinessMirror the unexpect-ed surge in OFW remittances in Febru-ary is a manifestation of the Filipino migrants’ resilience.

“Filipino overseas workers are in great demand because of the Filipinos’ extraordinary traits as happy people, hardworking and friendly. Aside from this, the mix of deployment is increas-ingly more for highly skilled workers with higher salaries,” Cuyegkeng said. The BSP said on Friday the growing demand for Filipino workers continues

$4.1BTotal OFW remittances in the first two months of 2016

C A

news@businessmirror.com.ph BusinessMirrorSaturday, April 16, 2016A2

BMReportsChina accuses US, PHL of harboring‘Cold War mentality’Continued from A1

A yellow alert does not necessarily mean power outages or blackouts, but it could turn into a red alert, which means power outages are very likely to occur. Later in the day, the Nation-al Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) issued a red alert for Luzon from 1 to 3 p.m., as peak demand was expected to reach an all-time high of 9,746 MW. The Visayas and Mindanao grids were also placed on red alert from 7 to 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. to 10 p.m., re-spectively. As of press time on Friday, there was no reported incidence of power outage in the Luzon area. Based on NGCP forecast, the

thinnest net reserves for Luzon was projected at 156 MW. It also projected a negative 62 MW of net reserves for the Visayas and nega-tive 154-MW reserves Mindanao. In terms of Meralco share, Spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said there was a deficiency of 30 MW at 1 p.m.; 200 MW to 220 MW at 2 p.m.; and 160 M.W. at 3pm. “We expect to be back to yellow alert after 4 p.m.” The NGCP placed the Luzon grid at yellow alert again at 3:01 pm. As of press time, Meralco was still in close coordination with NGCP to monitor the condition of the grid. “We are also actively appraising our customers of the situation, including giving up-dates through our social-media channels, and are appealing to

households and business to man-age power consumption, particu-larly during the period of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Interruptible Load Program participants have also been con-tacted to prepare for possible ac-tivation in case NGCP instructs distribution utilities to reduce load,” Meralco Utility Economics Head Larry Fernandez said. The following power plants were put on emergency shut-downs: Kalayaan units 3 and 4 (180 MW each); QPPL (289 MW); Malaya1 (130 MW); Botocan2 (10 MW); Pagbilao1 (382 MW); Magat units 3 and 4 (95 MW each). Meanwhile, the capacity output of Calaca 1 (200 MW) and 2 (300 MW) had been limited to 190 MW and 220 MW, respectively.

of close US ally Australia which is trying to balance security needs with its economy’s reliance on the Chinese market. “We’ve always had good and con-structive discussions but our position is that all claimants should settle disputes peacefully and in accordance with international law,” Turnbull told reporters in Beijing on Friday, a day after his meeting with Li. Beijing and Washington have re-peatedly traded accusations over who is responsible for raising tensions in the South China Sea, with the US citing China’s island-building project and efforts to block other disputants from parts of the crucial waterway, through which passes more than $5

trillion in global trade passes each year. China says its island develop-ments are mainly for civilian pur-poses and says US naval activities—especially the sailing of ships close to its newly built islands—threat-ens China’s security. “The US has been taking all kinds of actions to provoke China, forcing it to take counteractions that will result in an escalation of the situation,” Su Hao, an interna-tional relations expert at Beijing’s China Foreign Affairs University, told The Associated Press. “The joint patrols are part of the US plan and now the plan is being implemented,” Su said.

Su added that Beijing antici-pates the US will eventually launch joint patrols with other nations to further challenge China’s position in the South China Sea. Chinese media speculate that could involve Japan, China’s historical nemesis with which it is feuding over own-ership of a string of uninhabited Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea. “The continuous escalation of the situation will offer the US bet-ter excuses and more opportunities to strengthen its military presence in the South China Sea, so as to turn the South China Sea into a region of military confrontation,” Su said. AP

COBRA is the official energy drink part-ner for Under Armour’s Test of Will 2016 event happening on April 16 and 17 at

the Bonifacio High Street, Taguig City. The Un-der Armour Test of Will 2016 is an elite event designed for anyone with the will to train and compete. It will be an action packed two-day event wherein participants will take on a four-minute challenge—60 seconds each of four ex-ercises (burpees, squats, dumbbell presses and

pull ups). Points will be scored for the number of reps completed in the time. The highest scoring two men and two women will earn a free trip to Singapore and will be the official Under Armour athletes representing the Philippines to compete against Malaysia, Sin-gapore and Thailand in the finals to be held at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore on May 28. For more information and to register for free, visit www.testofwill.tripleready.com

COBRA ENERGY DRINK PARTNERS WITH UNDER ARMOUR TEST OF WILL

to keep the dollar inflows healthy amid stormy waters plaguing global economies. “The steady deploy-ment of overseas Filipino workers remained a key driver to the growth of remittance inflows,” the BSP said, citing preliminary reports from the Philippine Overseas Em-ployment Administration (POEA), showing that 31.6 percent of the 160,277 total approved job orders in January and February were already processed. The central bank said processed job orders were intended to fill de-mands in the services, production, professional, technical and related sectors in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qa-tar, Taiwan, and the United Arab

Emirates. Cuyegkeng said if this kind of resilience continues, we are likely to see upward adjustments of assumed growth in remittances this year. The government is projecting 4-percent to 5-percent growth in remittances for 2016. Last year re-mittances posted an annual growth of 4.6 percent, falling from the 7.2- percent annual remittance growth posted in 2014. The economist also said strong remittances could mean a further boost to overall economic growth outlook. “Couple this upside develop-ment with a slightly weaker Phil-ippine Peso exchange rate, and the nominal peso remittance growth  would be higher. This is

what we have seen in January and February,” Cuyegkeng said. On Friday data from the PDS showed the peso gaining traction against the dollar, closing at 46.06 to a dollar from Thursday’s close of 46.23 to a dollar. The total traded volume hit $649 million, slightly lower than the previous day’s $694.5 million. Broken down, cash transfers from both land-based ($3.2 billion) and sea-based ($917 million) workers rose 6.9 percent and 3.7 percent, re-spectively, year-on-year. By source, more than three-fourths of cash remittances came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Singa-pore, Hong Kong, the United King-dom, Canada, Japan and Qatar.Brownouts. . .

Continued from A1

Remittances grew 9% to $2.1B in Feb Continued from A1

MCIA head sees 6% to 7% annual hike in passenger traffic in next 5 to 10 years

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

CONGESTION at the premier international airport in Cebu should be addressed two years

from now, as the operator of the air hub targets to deliver its promised expan-sion amid higher passenger demand. 

But as early as now, the private concessionaire of the Mactan-Ce-bu International Airport (MCIA) should be preparing the plan for the second phase of expansion with passenger traffic at the facility is expected to grow by as much as 7 percent annually. 

“I always say that passenger- growth rate is erratic, but I can conveniently say for the next five to 10 years we will average about 6 percent to 7 percent,” Nigel Paul C. Villarete, the general manager of the MCIA, told the BusinessMirror in an interview. 

The forecast comes after the air-port handled 8 million passengers in 2015, up from 7.2 million passengers in 2014, and way above its 4.5-mil-lion passenger-design capacity. 

“I’ve been handling the airport at overcapacity since 2010, when we reached the 5-million passenger mark,” he said. “We can address the passenger congestion by 2018. But, we are in a point where we have to adjust again.” 

GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. targets to complete the first phase of its modernization program by 2018. This effectively increases the air hub’s passenger capacity to 13 million by the said year. But with passenger volume expected to rise with the demand, the company should start the planning phase as early as 2018, Villarete added.  

“By 2018, we must be on the draw-ing boards already. We must start

the second of the existing terminal,” he added. “Unlike before, the govern-ment has been looking at capacity expansion when they happen. Now it is embedded in the concession agree-ment to [undertake] a review…every five years.”

Passenger traffic, according to GMR-Megawide President Louie B. Ferrer, should “reach about 28 mil-lion by the end of the concession period.”

GMR-Megawide bagged the 25-year concession deal in 2014. 

Since the project was turned over to the private partner, there are various upgrades and chang-es that have been implemented: greener terminal building with new seats, washrooms are being reno-vated, new self-service check-in kiosks have been installed, new im-migration, customs and quarantine counters are in place, among others.

Aviation think tank Center for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa) said given its current growth spurt, Cebu could pass the 10 million an-nual passenger milestone by 2018 and be close to processing 12.5 million passengers at the end of this decade. 

The Cebu airport is well groomed to be an option for airline expansion, given the steady 6-percent to 7-per-cent per-annum economic growth in the Philippines. 

Ferrer said his company is in talks with “several airlines” to market Cebu as a destination. 

PLATE RELEASE Customs Commissioner Alberto D. Lina (seated, right) has officially turned over some 300,000 pairs of motor-vehicle plates to the Land Transportation Office (LTO). LTO Chief Assistant Secretary Roberto Cabrera (seated, left) received the plates and signed the documents of undertaking governing the turnover procedures. With them in photo are Revenue and Collection Monitoring Group Deputy Commissioner  Arturo Lachica and Manila International Container Port Collector Antonio Meliton Pascual.

news@businessmirror.com.ph Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon • Saturday, April 16, 2016 A3BusinessMirrorEconomy

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz  @joveemarie

LAWMAKERS have recently asked the leadership of the House of Representatives to

pass a measure creating the Quezon-Bicol Expressway (QuBEx) when ses-sion resumes on May 23. 

Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Scott Davies S. Lanete of Mas-bate and Lakas Rep. Aleta C. Suarez of Quezon said the proposed “Que-zon-Bicol Expressway Act,” which has been endorsed for plenary approval in February, seeks to provide devel-opment and progress among regions in Southern Luzon.

The measure provides for the creation of the QuBEx, which shall be financed, constructed, operated and maintained by a grantee, offeror, consortium or proponent, under and by virtue of Republic Act (RA) 6957, as amended by RA 7718, otherwise known as the build-operate-transfer law. The expressway shall link the province of Quezon with the Bicol Region starting from Malicboy, Quezon, and terminating in Sor-sogon, according to the bill.

The bill added the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Engineering District con-cerned shall construct the connect road for the purpose of linking the terminus of the South Luzon Ex-pressway (Slex) Toll Road 4 in Lu-cena City and the entrance of the QuBEx in Malicboy.

“The DPWH shall be the lead implementing agency of the act. The amount necessary to defray the cost of undertaking and completing the feasibility study of the project and other activities relative thereto shall be included in the General Appropria-tions Act,” the measure added.

In filing the bill, Lanete said there are only two expressways leading to Southern Luzon—the Slex and the Star Tollway, and with these two combined lead up to Batangas only.

He said the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx), which opened in 2014, is the third express-way built connecting the country’s capital of Manila to the northern areas of Luzon.

Lanete, a vice chairman of the House Committees on Appropria-tions, Poverty Alleviation and Pub-lic Order and Safety, said the TPLEx construction has brought immediate impact in the development of trade and tourism in Northern Luzon.

“It made Baguio City, a popular tourist destination, more accessible. In fact, travel time from Manila to Baguio City had been cut short from seven hours to less than five hours. Thus, Baguio City has experienced an exponential rise in the number of visiting tourists and consequently its revenues also increased signifi-cantly,” Lanete said. “The promising tourist destinations in the southern areas of Luzon have remained stag-nant, untapped and underappreci-ated due to difficulty in access. Along with the underdevelopment of these areas is the slow growth in terms of commerce,” he added.

To pursue optimum opportunity for development among the regions, the lawmaker said there is a need to give attention to Southern Luzon, “by constructing additional express-ways that would make areas, as far as Sorsogon Province, more acces-sible by road, only one result will be achieved, which is progress.” 

Suarez, a member of the Commit-tees on Southern Tagalog Develop-ment, Appropriations, Reforesta-tion, Health and Accounts said the proposed extension of road network from Lucena City to Malicboy, Que-zon, aims to make travel to the Bicol Region faster and more convenient.

“It will decongest traffic within and around the area. As a result, it will improve the mobility of goods and products from Quezon Province and the Bicol Region. The faster and convenient travel would also translate to a growth of the tourism industry in these areas to the benefit of people living therein,” Suarez said.  

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

DESPITE being responsible for providing food for over 100 million Filipinos,

farmers, fishermen and forestry workers remain the country’s least- rewarded workers.

Data released by the Philip-pine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Friday showed farmers and fish-ermen only received an average of P9,520 in bonuses and other benefits in 2013. 

This is a mere pittance, compared to the average of P75,000 received by employees in the financial and insur-ance industry in the same period. 

“The lowest amount was received by employees in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry at less than P10,000 per year,” the PSA said. 

Other least-rewarded workers include those in the construction, accommodation and food-service sectors, and human health and social work, except those in public health. 

Workers in construction re-ceived a total of P11,696, while those on accommodation and food-

service sectors received P12,316 and human health and social work with P14,690 in 2013. 

“Bonuses and gratuities are year-end, seasonal and other one-time bonuses [midyear/Christmas bonus, 13th/14th/15th month pay and the like], profit-sharing bonuses and additional payments in respect of vacation, supplementary to normal vacation pay,” the PSA said. 

PSA data also showed that in 2013, total labor cost during the year was posted at P1.07 trillion for which bonuses and gratuities contributed the second-biggest share at 9.5 per-cent next to direct wages and salaries.

For 2013, the average annual bonuses and gratuities paid by em-ployers amounted to at P24,132 per employee. Apart from workers in the financial and insurance sector, those in the electricity, gas, steam and air- conditioning-supply sector received hefty bonuses worth P70,939 in 2013.  This was followed by workers in information and communications who received total bonuses and gra-tuities of P69,186 in 2013.

“The rest of the industries post-ed annual bonuses and gratuities

ranging from P50,070 to P11,696 per employee,” the PSA said. 

The data was obtained from the results of the 2013 Labor Cost Sur-vey (LCS), one of the modules of the 2013-2014 Integrated Survey on La-bor and Employment (ISLE). 

The ISLE is a nationwide estab-lishment survey conducted by the PSA covering 8,399 agricultural and nonagricultural establishments employing at least 20 workers.

The LCS is intended to provide data that would address the gap in wage statistics, specifically on the evolution of labor cost and its vari-ous components. 

Based on the International Labor Organization’s resolution regard-ing labor cost statistics salaries and wages, bonuses, gratuities, and the cost of food, drink and other pay-ments in kind are part of labor cost. 

Labor cost also includes cost of workers’ housing borne by employ-ers, employers’ social-security ex-penditures, cost to the employer for vocational training, welfare services and miscellaneous items, such as transport of workers, work clothes and recruitment, and taxes.

A FTER eight consecutive months of decline, the growth of the Construc-

tion Materials Retail Price Index (CMRPI) in Metro Manila posted a rebound in March, according to the Philippine Statistics Author-ity (PSA). 

Data showed the CMRPI year-on-year growth was at 0.8 percent in March. It posted a contraction of 0.4 percent in February 2016 and a growth of 0.1 percent during the same month last year.

The PSA explained that the annu-al growth rate was due to the 1.8-per-cent growth in the retail price index of electrical materials and index of masonry materials with a growth of 1.7 percent. 

“Moreover, a higher annual in-crement of 1.2 percent was noted in painting materials and related compounds index,” the PSA added. 

On a monthly basis, the CMRPI in the National Capital Region (NCR) went up 0.6 percent in March 2016. 

From a flat growth last month,

the carpentry materials index inched up by 0.1 percent; electrical materi-als index, 0.7 percent; and painting materials and related compounds index, 0.3 percent.

“Prices of plywood, cement, hol-low blocks, paints, GI [galvanized iron] pipes and corrugated GI sheets were higher dur-ing the month. Lower prices were, however, observed in common wire and finishing nails,” the PSA said.

The indices for masonry materials rose by 1.9 per-cent; plumbing materials, 0.4 percent; and tinsmithry materials, 0.6 percent. On the other hand, mis-cellaneous construction materials index picked up 1.1 percent.

The CMRPI measures the changes in the average retail prices of construction materials.

The market basket of the CMRPI is composed of

102 commodities and classified into seven major groups. 

These are carpentry, electrical, masonry, painting materials and related compounds, plumbing, tin-smithry and miscellaneous con-struction materials. Cai U. Ordinario

GENERAL SANTOS CITY—At least 18 private colleges and universities in parts of Re-

gion 12 are seeking another round of increases in June in their tuition and related fees.

Evelyn Sotes, tuition fee in-charge of the Commission on Higher Edu-cation (CHED) in Region 12, said on Friday the number is based on the to-tal number of applications for the fee increases received by the agency for the coming school year 2016-2017.

She said they are currently evalu-ating the applications based on the guidelines set by their central office.

“We’re mainly checking if they have submitted all the documen-tary requirements and complied with the regulations regarding the fee increases,” she said in a radio interview.

Sotes said six of these institutions are based in Koronadal City, four in this city, three in Cotabato City, two in North Cotabato, two in Sultan Kudarat and one in South Cotabato.

These are the AMA Computer Learning Center; St. Alexius Col-lege; King’s College of Marbel Inc; Notre Dame of Marbel Univer-sity; Ramon Magsaysay Memorial College extension; STI College in Koronadal City; General Santos College Foundation Inc.; Joji In-ternational College; RMMC main; and STI College in this city; Dr. P. Ocampo College; STI College and Notre Dame-RVM College in Cota-bato City; Southern Baptist College

in M’lang and Southern Christian College in Midsayap in North Co-tabato; STI College in Tacurong City and Notre Dame of Salaman College in Lebak; Sultan Kudarat; and Notre Dame Siena College in Polomolok, South Cotabato.

For this year’s tuition increase, Sotes said they have set a ceiling of 6.26 percent, which represents the prevailing inflation rate in the re-gion. The CHED requires that the bulk of the applied increase in tu-ition and other school fees should be allocated to the upgrading of teach-ers’ and school personnel’s benefits, salaries and allowances.

The applying institutions should also include provisions for the im-provement and upgrading of school facilities and equipment.

Sotes said the applicants are also required to consult their students, parents and other concerned groups about their proposed tuition hikes.

The consultations should have proper documentation and must in-clude the minutes of the discussions, attendance sheets and other related documents, she said.

“After our evaluation, we will im-mediately endorse the applications to our central office for further re-view and approval,” she added.

In 2015 a total of 17 colleges and universities in the region imple-mented an average of 5-percent to 7-percent increases in tuition and other matriculation fees as approved by the CHED central office. PNA

Lawmakers aim for May passage of QuBEx Act

Farmers, fishermen top PSA list of least rewarded workers in 2013

18 colleges, universities in Region 12 seek CHED approval for tuition hike

Metro Manila CMRPI posts 0.8% rebound in March

Saturday, April 16, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

OpinionBusinessMirrorA4

The Russian navy is coming to visit

editorial

THE second phase of the Indonesian-sponsored multinational naval activity—Exercise Komodo —is taking place off the coast of West Sumatra. Warships from 35 countries, including all the ma-

jor naval powers, are now in Indonesia. Most nations are sending their ships; others are participating in the talks.

By Oscar De La Hoya|TNS

IN its latest scheme to “revitalize” a sport that remains popular around the world, International Boxing Association (Aiba)—the organization that governs international boxing—has de-

creed that it will hold a vote at the end of May to potentially allow professional boxers to compete in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. But I hope they come to their senses and keep superstars out of the ring.

Keep superstars out of Olympic boxing

Imagine you’re a young amateur boxer and you’ve worked your entire young life with one goal in mind: an Olympic medal. You’ve done hundreds of miles of roadwork; you’ve lived in the gym; you’ve sacrificed youthful indiscre-tions; you’ve missed school; and you’ve counted calories to keep on weight.

If you know you’re up against the best amateurs in the world, that’s hard enough; but if you have to face a super-star like Manny Pacquiao, you’ll wonder if you should even bother competing. An amateur fighter is almost sure to lose against any professional, eliminating his opportunity to launch his career.

It’s true that weight maximums—standard in the Olympics—even the playing field among amateurs; but they hardly guarantee a fair fight when there’s a professional in competition. Professionals skew older and there’s

a significant difference between a 175-pound teenager and a 175-pound twentysomething.

Almost all boxers eventually move up in weight as their bodies fill out. They’re not just getting heavier; they’re attain-ing what I call their “man strength”—their peak form. This tends to happen around a fighter’s 24th or 25th birthday, and it simply doesn’t make sense to pit a fighter who hasn’t yet reached his ideal weight against one who has.

Compare amateur fighter Charles Conwell with professional Amir Khan.

At 18, Conwell is deservedly among the most highly regarded fighters on Team USA and has already qualified for the 2016 Games in the middleweight division. Slick and strong, Conwell is expected to compete for a medal.

At 29, Khan is a British superstar who fought in the 2004 Olympic Games

in Athens, taking home silver in the same 132-pound division where I won gold in 1992. On May 7 Khan will face Canelo Alvarez for the middleweight championship of the world in Las Ve-gas in the biggest boxing event of 2016.

If Conwell were to draw Khan, it would be a total mismatch, and Olympic officials would have to answer for put-ting Conwell into a dangerous situation.

Although Alvarez and Khan are meeting at a 155-pound catch weight and Conwell can come into the Olympics

as heavy as 165, these boxers are not equals. Conwell is still growing into his body. Khan is a man in his prime who has already been to war in the ring on dozens of occasions.

Of course, this isn’t just a matter of brute strength. Experience, as is the case in many other pursuits, is a valu-able commodity for a fighter in the ring. The more rounds that a boxer has fought, the smarter he will fight and the better he will be offensively and defensively.

Nearly a quarter-century ago, when I was just an amateur boxer, I stood atop a podium in Barcelona and was presented with what I still consider the greatest prize of my career—the Olympic gold medal. Had professionals been allowed to participate in the ring that year, I would not have made it so far.

Come this summer, Conwell will hopefully become the first American gold medal winner in the sport of box-ing in a dozen years, while Alvarez and Khan will put on a war for millions of fans in a professional fight.

Meanwhile, the Aiba should focus on its job—improving boxing in a way that draws more young people to the sport and fans to the stands and not subject aspiring Olympians to potential heart-ache, pain and defeat before they even enter the ring.

HOM

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By Paula Dwyer|Bloomberg View

WE found out on Wednesday that five of the biggest US banks couldn’t explain how they could go bankrupt without taking down the financial system with them.

Sanders, Clinton and the war over big banks

No wonder Bernie Sanders wants to break them up! They’re just too damned big to fail.

Or, maybe…. No wonder Hillary Clinton thinks that’s crazy! Tough-minded regulators are putting the heat on bankers to write realistic “living wills,” so why destroy a bank-ing system that’s being remade to work safely?

Bank living wills live at the intersection of arcane banking policy and raw politics. They may be technical, but the candidates’ feelings about them expose one of the biggest fault lines between the Sanders and Clinton wings of the Democratic Party. To understand them is to appreciate the continu-ing impact of the 2008 financial crisis on this year’s campaign.

Sanders is winning points in the debate now, because the living-will failures seem to prove his point that some banks are too big to fail and should be forced to shrink. But Clinton is right to have faith that regulators  could successfully wind down a big bank if it was about to fail—maybe not today but in a few years. Along with living wills, she points to requirements for banks to have more shareholder capital, new rules for transparency in derivatives

trading and other parts of the Dodd-Frank law that were also designed to prevent another 2008 collapse.

Back then, regulators didn’t have a clue about the extent of banks’ in-terconnections. They didn’t know who owed what to whom for deriva-tive instruments like credit-default swaps owned by counterparties in different countries, or even how to value such swaps in a time of panic, when no one wanted to buy and ev-eryone needed to sell.

The inability to value the assets of Lehman Brothers, and other insti-tutions’ reluctance to lend to Lehman when it desperately needed money, caused its collapse and the crisis to spread like a virus around the globe. The 2010 Dodd-Frank law is sup-posed to fix that.

Since then,  progress  has been made, though work also remains. The regulators—the US Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.—now require each bank’s parent holding company to act as a so-called single point of en-try. That entity’s shareholders and unsecured bondholders must take all the losses in a failure. Banks can no longer rely on capital from overseas units, where governments are unlikely to let funds flow across

borders until the dust settles.This setup allows operating units

to stay open so that customers can go to their ATM to get their money, and bank branches can keep making loans. The living will lets regulators pinpoint which of thousands of sub-sidiaries need to be dissolved, sold or merged, depending on what caused the failure.

Banks have also  streamlined  their structures, cutting the number of legal units housing subsidiaries by 20 percent on average, making it easier to untangle a bank in a bankruptcy with fewer courts in-volved, and in fewer jurisdictions. The banks have reduced their bor-rowing levels, in part, by ceasing to trade securities and derivatives for their own profit. And all the banks have increased, on paper at least, their ability to quickly convert as-sets into cash.

The market has played a role, too. Many banks have sold riskier side businesses, such as overseas operations or commodities units, to reduce the need for equity capital, which protects taxpayers by absorb-ing losses but can lower returns and displease investors.

Three of the six largest banks in 2008—Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley—are smaller now than they were before the crisis. Twenty-one global banks also agreed to wait 48 hours before demanding payment from a failing counterparty to a derivatives contract. This pause would give regulators time to move

the contracts to a new, recapitalized entity and reduce the risk of panicky collateral demands.

So it’s a disappointment that, given all these safeguards, the banks can’t show how they can be safely dis-mantled in a crisis. This is the second time regulators have rejected living wills for the largest banks. (This week they flunked JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Bank of New York Mellon and State Street. One of the two regulators found the plans of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to be flawed, but they weren’t rejected like the others. Citigroup won provisional approval from both agencies.) Doesn’t that prove Sand-ers is right and it’s time to bust up the big banks?

Not really. First, smaller banks aren’t necessarily safer. In the 1980s more than 1,000 savings and loans, each one minuscule compared with today’s banks, failed due to self-dealing, speculation and lending at interest rates that were lower than the thrifts’ borrowing costs. Sleepy regulators and political interference were rightly blamed for the debacle, which cost taxpayers more than $100 billion.

Nor is it a given that the big banks can never meet regulatory require-ments for living-will adequacy. The latest rejections contain specific directions for getting to yes, in-cluding winding down derivatives portfolios, further streamlining legal structures and maintaining customer confidence in a crisis.

Presumably, representatives of the Philippine navy are also in the city of Padang, although there does not seem to be any official announcement of that fact. There is also no indication that any Philippine warship is involved. Earlier this year in January, Indonesia also hosted the important Western Pacific Naval Symposium. The WPNS—founded in 1988—is a critical oppor-tunity for member-nations to discuss and solve potential problems. In 2014 an agreement was reached, called the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea, which the Philippines also signed.

The United States and the Philippines have been conducting joint exercises since the beginning of the month. It was announced this past week that the US and the Philippine navy were talking about joint sea patrols in the disputed South China Sea areas.

Both governments have gone out of their way to keep the joint military exercise low key with a “business as usual” attitude, considering these have taken place for years. Certainly, no one wants to raise tensions in the area.

But neither government has mentioned the following.In 2014 Russia and China conducted a joint naval exercise. Nothing un-

usual about that, considering the closer economic ties those two nations have formed in the last years. However, the exercises took place near Shanghai, in the sea corridor between Japan and the disputed islands that both Japan and China claim as theirs.

The Russian deputy defense minister, Anatoly Antonov, announced in June 2015 that Russia and China would conduct a joint naval exercise in May 2016. And where would the exercise take place? You guessed it—the South China Sea.

Wouldn’t it be interesting if, after this exercise, China invited its Russian partner to freely use any of its new artificial islands in the disputed territory any time it wanted to?

What does Russia think of the US and its role in the region? When the Russia/China 2016 naval exercise was announced, Antonov said the US is contaminating the Asia-Pacific region with some of the same “color revo-lutions” it brought to the Middle East. “We are concerned by US policies in the region, especially since every day it becomes increasingly focused on a systemic containment of Russia and China.” The comments, as well as the announcement of the naval exercises, took place at the 15th International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue or Asia Security Sum-mit, which was held in Singapore.

The month of May is certainly going to be exciting for the Philippines.

PACQUIAO

Saturday, April 16, 2016

OpinionA5BusinessMirroropinion@businessmirror.com.ph

By Jonathan Bernstein | Bloomberg View

HILLARY CLINTON has stuck close to President Barack Obama throughout her presidential campaign, but at the Democratic debate in Brooklyn on Thursday night, she practi-

cally dragged a cardboard cutout of the president on stage with her. 

Clinton saves the theatrics for later

port a relatively big minimum-wage increase are concerned that $15 could be too high, too fast). Clinton also supports expanding a liberal plan to expand social security, financed by some form of taxes on rich people, but that idea, too, is likely popular with swing voters, as well as the Democratic base.

Clinton has maintained a steady

lead in New York polling, and a vic-tory there on Tuesday will quiet, for a while, at least, talk of Sanders momentum. In fact, neither candi-date has had much real momentum throughout the race. What has mat-tered most are the demographic pro-files of the electorate in each primary or caucus rather than the effects of the most recent contest or event.

It’s clear Sanders will stick around at least through the final primaries on June 7, although Clinton will have a large enough delegate lead that she should be able to organize the Demo-cratic National Convention whether he endorses her on June 8 or waits until the delegates gather and vote in Philadelphia. We may see more de-bates, too. But this race was settled a long time ago, and it hasn’t done much serious damage to Clinton, beyond whatever liabilities she brought to the campaign in the first place. 

Her performance was par for her course. Strategic: Obama is wildly popular in New York and among Democrats, in general, and he has moved slightly above water in na-tional approval polls among voters. Methodical: She follows her plan to the letter, and if it calls for invoking Obama at every opportunity, she’s not going to miss that chance.

Clinton took no risks at this de-bate, and really hasn’t throughout the campaign. Nor has she shown any sign of leaving even an inch be-tween herself and the bulk of her party. If the Democrats ratchet up

what they believe is possible on mini-mum wage, Clinton shifts with them.

This is positioning guaranteed to frustrate many pundits. But it’s also a good way to win a presidential nomination.

Bernie Sanders continues to push Clinton to take positions moving her further away from the swing voters she’ll need in November, but I see little sign he is succeeding. She has shifted closer to embracing a $15 minimum wage—although she is still vague on the details. It has al-ways been popular with voters (even as many liberal economists who sup-

FORWARD MOVINGJemain Diaz de Rivera

g

Putin tones down his annual reality show

Funny numbers show money leaving China

PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin hosted his annual television call-in show on Thursday. This time, however, his heart didn’t seem to be in it. As in the past, some of his statements failed the test

of basic fact-checking. And he still sounded like a parody of himself —recalling Dr. Evil from the “Austin Powers” film series—but he also read economic statistics from a piece of paper, while previously, he had made a point of demonstrating his impressive memory. 

By Christopher Balding

NEWS that China’s foreign-exchange reserves rose by $10 billion in March rather than declining has quieted doom-sayers. Worries that the reserves could dip to dangerous

levels as soon as this summer—after shrinking by an estimated $1 trillion last year—appear to have been premature. Still, questions linger over exactly how much money is leaving China and why. The true picture may not be as rosy as the headline numbers suggest.

BY now everyone has extended their congratulations to both Davao City and Iloilo City for being elevated from Next Wave Cities (NWCs) to Centers of Excellence. They stand at par

with Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, Metro Clark and Bacolod City as premier information technology and business-process management (IT-BPM) hosts and high-density locations.

The heart of the IT-BPM industry is in emerging cities

The NWCs program spurred development not only for the IT-BPM sector but also for cities outside es-tablished IT-BPM hubs. The NWCs are communities that are ideal hosts for the IT-BPM industry, they are for 2016: Baguio City, Cagayan de Oro City, Dagupan City, Dasmariñas City, Dumaguete City, Lipa City, Malolos City, Naga City, Santa Rosa City in Laguna and Taytay in Rizal.

Deputy Executive Director Mon-chito Ibrahim of the Information and Communications Technology Office of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-ICTO) noted the improvement in the readiness of NWCs to host IT-BPM operations, allowing the spread of economic benefits of this industry to key cities and provinces, where capable talents are abundant.

Recognition was also given to 10 New Emerging Cities (NEC) as they could greatly gain economic benefit if they enable the efficient operations of IT-BPM companies in their com-munity. The top 10 NEC are Balanga City, Batangas City, Iriga City, Laoag City, Legazpi City, Puerto Princesa City, Roxas City, Tarlac City, Tugueg-arao City and Zamboanga City. They are cities that are composed of com-munities and barangays where edu-cated professionals live and dream of building a future for themselves and their family.

There has been tremendous growth in the industry and the ca-reer opportunities are remarkable. Figuratively, New Emerging Cities are at the starting line and they are being ranked based on talent, in-frastructure, cost and business en-vironment, factors in evaluating a city’s ability to enable and support the entry and growth of IT-BPM companies in its area.

To move forward a collaborative

effort is required to help these NEC develop into NWCs and, eventu-ally, Centers of Excellence. This is only feasible with the support of the city’s local government unit, provin-cial or city chamber of commerce, educational institutions found in their communities, their respective information and communications technology (ICT) councils led by the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines, together with the national government and its differ-ent departments, such as the depart-ments of Trade and Industry, Educa-tion and Foreign Affairs; Commis-sion on Higher Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, DOST-ICTO, National Economic and Development Author-ity and Philippine Economic Zone Authority, which are just a few of the key players that come to mind.

There are over a million Filipi-nos directly employed by the IT-BPM industry. There are also many more Filipinos who are part of the government, and other industries working and making it possible for communities to embrace the IT-BPM industry as it sees sustained growth and moves to provinces inspiring development not only in key cities, but in emerging locations, as well.

To all national and local officials who will get a fresh mandate from the electorate in May, it is hoped that they will appreciate the $25-billion revenues and the 1.3 million directly employed by the IT-BPM industry at the end of 2016. This way, they will also feel the hearts of the 3.2 million Fili-pinos indirectly employed by the industry, and the employees in government and non-governmental organizations who invested a lot to help these Filipinos gain skills to qualify for a career that will help them obtain a better quality of life for their respective families and communities. I pray they see the beating hearts that can be found in the IT-BPM industry.

Before the March upturn, capi-tal had been flooding out of China at a rapid clip—an average of $48 billion per month over the previous six months, according to official bank data. The reasons were several. Fearing further declines in the value of the yuan, several companies paid off their dollar loans; others pur-sued  big acquisitions  abroad. Indi-vidual investors sought out higher returns as the Federal Reserve pre-pared to raise rates. The government spent billions to prop up the value of the currency. Some individuals and companies reduced their offshore yuan deposits. Still, others looked to spirit money out of the country to safer havens.

The question is how much money has been leaving for which reasons. Some analysts, including economists at the Bank for International Settle-ments, have argued that the bulk of these outflows are healthy, mostly involving companies paying down their foreign debt. However, the BIS

study, which estimates that such repayments accounted for nearly a quarter of the $163 billion of non-reserve outflows in the third quarter of 2015, focuses on a very narrow slice of time. Foreign debt obliga-tions grew rapidly in late 2014 and the first half of 2015, then shrunk dramatically in the third quarter.

Moreover, what those official figures miss are hidden outflows, disguised primarily as payments for imports, which appear to have created a $71-billion current-account deficit in the same quarter, according to bank payments data. In effect, enterprising Chinese are overpaying massively for the products they’re importing. Chi-nese customs officials reported $1.68 trillion in imports last year. Banks, on the other hand, claimed to have paid $2.2 trillion for those same imports. While the official balance-of-payments records a current ac-count surplus of $331 billion in 2015, banks’ payments and receipts show a $122-billion deficit.

Overpaying for imported goods and services is a clever way for Chi-nese companies and citizens to move money out of the country surrepti-tiously. Let’s say a foreign country exports $1 million worth of goods to China. Chinese customs officials will faithfully record $1 million in imports. But when the importer goes to the bank, he’ll either use fraudulent documentation or bribe a bank official to record a $2 million payment to the foreign counterparty. Presumably, the excess $1 million ends up in a private bank account. While some discrepan-cies are to be expected in data like this, the size and steady increase in the gap since 2012 implies that something shadier is going on.

When Chinese companies pay down debt, or make big acquisitions abroad, they do so openly. These other outflows—which topped half a trillion dollars last year—seem far more likely to be driven by individu-als and companies simply seeking to get their money out of the country.

The timing is also telling. The discrepancy began to grow rapidly in 2012, just as growth peaked and concerns began to rise among afflu-ent Chinese about the economy and a political transition. Since then, fake import payments have grown from $140 billion to $524 billion in 2015.

During that period, growth in Chi-na has slowed, rates of return on in-vestment have declined and surplus

capacity  has exploded. Investment opportunities have shrunk, while state-owned enterprises have crowded out private investors. Cer-tainly, the latter have good reason to seek better returns elsewhere.

At the same time, President Xi Jin-ping’s anticorruption drive has netted tens of thousands of party officials. Naturally, well-to-do Chinese are worried about being caught up in the dragnet even if innocent. They’re also just as concerned as anyone else about their children’s education and health. The demand for real estate abroad—according to one study, two-thirds of high-priced home sales in Vancouver involve Chinese buyers —is only going to grow. Scrutinizing bank payments more closely and tightening capital controls would help slow down out-flows. But just as businessmen discov-ered this new channel to move money offshore, they’re almost certain to find creative ways around any additional limits that are imposed.

The Chinese economy is groan-ing under massive overcapacity, with growth slowing and financial risks rising. Neither a cut in interest rates nor another stimulus package is going to relieve that long-term pessimism. Reform—including le-gal reform—may. If China’s leaders want to prevent capital from leaving the country, they’re going to have to address the reasons for the flight, not just erect roadblocks in its way.

BLOOMBERG VIEWLeonid Bershidsky

The session lasted for three hours and 41 minutes, short by the stan-dards of the last five events (the longest, in 2013, clocked in at 4:47). Putin showed up in the studio with-out a watch, seemingly prepared to answer questions from ordinary Russians—there were more than 3 million, according to the call center —for as long as necessary. 

Worried voters asked about high inflation caused by the ruble’s de-valuation caused by falling oil prices. Putin shrugged off the question. Prices would stabilize, he said, when the market filled with Russian-made goods. An activist in Siberia asked about damaged roads. Putin said it might help if funds allocated for road repairs on a regional level couldn’t be spent on anything else. A farmer asked if a ban on some foreign food imports could be extended, even if Western sanctions against Russia

are lifted. That wouldn’t fly under World Trade Organizations rules, Putin said. 

Two  entrepreneurs  asked Putin to do something about the harass-ment of business by all sorts of gov-ernment inspectors. “We’re working on this but such is the bureaucrats’ mentality,” Putin said. As he spoke, police raided the offices of IKEA out-side Moscow, and the FSB secret po-lice conducted searches at the offices of several companies belonging to the billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov’s Onexim Group.

Putin didn’t even take the bait when asked about geopolitical mat-ters, which yielded colorful answers in the previous two years’ appear-ances. Turkey was a friendly nation, Putin said, not even mentioning that nation’s president by name, as if he and his Turkish counterpart hadn’t become bitter enemies over

Russia’s intervention in Syria. Presi-dent Barack Obama was  “a decent man” unafraid to admit US foreign policy failures. What could he say about Ukraine’s new government headed by Volodymyr Hroisman, who was confirmed by parliament on Thursday? “Nothing,” Putin said. “I know nothing about him.”

Wasn’t Russia surrounded by enemies? “We are not finding our-selves and we won’t find ourselves within a hostile ring.”  Are accusa-tions that Russian athletes used meldonium, a banned drug, politi-cally motivated? “Probably not.” Even when a first-grader quoted her dad as saying that Putin was the only man capable of “overcoming America,” the Russian leader shook his head and said he wasn’t trying to overcome anyone, just to ensure that Russia developed steadily so it could feel “invulnerable.”

This was an uninspiring perfor-mance, with only rare glimpses of Putin’s streetwise sense of humor. Asked whether he would save Erdo-gan or Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko from drowning, the president replied, “If a man has de-cided to drown, he can’t be saved” —but that’s probably just because he couldn’t resist a soft ball.

Putin’s gray and boring style for most of the question and answer may have been intended as calming. He behaved as though Russia wasn’t in the throes of an economic crisis, having lost 3.7 percent of economic output last year, with expectations

of a continued recession, at least into 2017. The Kremlin propaganda ma-chine has spent years whipping citi-zens into a patriotic, anti-Western frenzy, but Putin appeared to keep away from that line. Instead, he tried to convey a sense of business-as-

usual, emphasizing the routine work to keep the huge country running despite some minor economic diffi-culties. The financial crisis of 2008 was much more serious, Putin said.

This was Putin as a calm and ex-perienced manager, not the inter-national rogue and adventurer he has portrayed as he waged wars in Ukraine and Syria, braving ostra-cism by Western leaders and the wariness of Asian ones. “Why do those people hate me?” his harmless manner seemed to ask. 

But Putin is anything but harm-less. Even in the midst of Thursday’s soporific performance, he threw in some fabricated factoids to back up his points. At one point, he said that Russia’s international reserves, at $388 billion, had returned to level of early 2014, even though they were more than $500 billion then. When asked, rather timidly, about the

Panama Papers and the revelations concerning the alleged offshore ac-counts of his friends, Putin said the newspaper that first received the enormous document cache, Germa-ny’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung, was owned by Goldman Sachs—hinting that the leak may have been organized by the US establishment to discredit him. The newspaper, however, belongs to Stuttgart-based Suedwestdeutsche Medien Holding, and isn’t owned by Goldman Sachs.

There has been an eerie discon-nect between Putin’s public perfor-mances and reality throughout his latest term in office. His enemies seemed to belong to an imaginary, paranoid world. His economic pro-nouncements and predictions—of oil bouncing back and  the ruble reversing its losses, for example— were wildly optimistic. And his lack of an economic plan made him seem uncharacteristically helpless or overconfident. 

The disconnect has reached its apogee. Putin is pretending that the stability he had created earlier had been maintained, despite the collapse of oil prices and the an-nexation of Crimea. He still has 82 percent popular support, according to polls. Judging by the questions Putin received, however, Russians don’t quite buy his line of goods. The September election may not be a cakewalk for Putin’s allies: 59 percent of Russian disapprove of the current parliament, which is dominated by his cronies.

PUTIN

CLINTON

Putin didn’t even take the bait when asked about geopolitical matters, which yielded colorful answers in the previous two years’ appearances. Turkey was a friendly nation, Putin said, not even mentioning that nation’s president by name, as if he and his Turkish counterpart hadn’t become bitter enemies over Russia’s intervention in Syria. President Barack Obama was “a decent man” unafraid to admit US foreign policy failures.

NewsBusinessMirror

A6 Saturday, April 16, 2016 • Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo

By Mary Grace Padin _enren

THE Philippines should take advantage of stable price of rice in the international

market and immediately import the 500,000 metric tons (MT) that it needs, an International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) expert said.

This, amid worries that another global food crisis similar to the situation in 2007 and 2008 could possibly occur again soon, owing to declining stocks in the world market.

“It is important for the Philippines to have adequate stocks. It is better to obtain the stocks early than late, particularly if prices are already moving up,” V. Bruce J. Tolentino, IRRI deputy director gen-eral for communication and partnerships, told the BusinessMirror.

However, National Food Authority (NFA) Administrator Renan B. Dalisay said there is no need to panic yet, considering that the price of rice in the world market is still lower than $400 per MT (reaching an average of $370.48 in March) and that the country’s inventory will still be sufficient until the lean months.

“We are monitoring the stocks and prices of rice in the world mar-ket daily. It’s always good to err on the side of caution, but there is no need to panic,” Dalisay said, adding that if the Philippines acts hastily, it might further agitate the already tense situation in the global market.

“It is the Philippines that is usually being watched, [as we are a major importer of rice.] Once we react, everyone else will follow. We do not want to cause panic and cause prices to shoot up,” he added.

But he said the agency is already preparing the groundwork for the procurement of rice so that the country would not be hit badly, if such crisis happens.

“We are already doing all the preparatory work so that in case more developments unfold, we will be able to quickly contract out the volume of rice we would need to import,” Dalisay explained.

He added that should the NFA monitor any wayward movements or behavior in world market prices, the agency should be swiftly prepared to import the 500,000 MT it is considering to procure.

Meanwhile, IRRI’s Social Science Division Head Samarendu Mohanty said in an interview the Philippines importing 500,000 MT of rice would not have an effect on the prices as of the moment.

“At this moment, there is rice available in the market. So if the Philippines decides to import 500,000 MT, there will be no impact,” Mohanty said.

Tolentino agreed, adding that 500,000 MT is not a huge volume that could affect the market. But if it gets bigger than this volume, he said it could cause prices to move up.

Despite the current stability in the rice market, Mohanty said rice-stock levels, particularly from the five major exporting coun-tries (India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan and the United State), have gone down significantly due to El Niño, causing a tight-supply situation in the rice market right now.

“The current El Niño has resulted in lower harvests and irregular planting across several rice-producing countries. Combined with lower stocks in a few key countries, emerging patterns in regional and global grain supply threaten the repeat of the painful rice price crisis in 2007 and 2008,” IRRI said in a statement.

Mohanty said the main cropping seasons (which will start in June) in the major rice producing areas—especially in India—would ultimately decide the future of the rice market.

“The Indian monsoon is the key to what happens to the mar-ket. If harvests during the wet season goes bad, then we may have a crisis,” he said. But good news has surfaced, he said, as the India Meteorological Department projected that monsoon rains in the country would be above average.

“It’s good news. But things can change. We still have two-and-a half months... The threat of a rice price crisis hangs in the air. It all depends on the monsoon,” Mohanty said.

Tolentino added that it would also depend if the drought worsens and affects the harvest of major rice exporters.

“What’s really crucial is that the drought does not worsen in the other parts of Asia, particularly Eastern India, Indonesia and Southern Vietnam. Those are the ones who are sufferring right now. It’s still mild but it can get worse. If it gets worse, then we have a problem,” he said.

The IRRI is calling for a joint action, particularly the Asean + 3 and India, to address or stop such a food crisis from happening.

According to the research institute, improvements in germplasm, agronomic technology and human capacity and three of the key ingredients, which will enable the region to respond effectively to food security crisis.

“New and improved germplasm must be combined with more effective agronomic and cultivation and management techniques to maximize their positive impact on food security. Across all rice-growing countries, extension workers and farmers must be taught ways on how they might extract the best results from new varieties through correct land preparation, water management, and plant nutrition and protection,” IRRI said.

The agency added that Asean plus Three and India should also invest in the Asean Rice Breeding Initiative (Arbi) and the Agricul-ture Innovations and Research and Development Fund (AIRDF).

The Arbi will be a “major, region-wide program of scientific work and capacity-building that will enable the entire region to achieve a rice-based, food -secure future,” according to IRRI.

It will complement Asean’s AIRDF, designed to “build a new gen-eration of Asean rice scientists,” particularly through IRRI’s Rice Science Academy.

IRRI expert: Time to import rice now

Ceres-La Salle takes onGlobal in UFL Cup final

LADY EAGLES EYE FINALS SLOT

SportsA7BusinessMirror Saturday, April 16, 2016mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph | sports@businessmirror.com.ph

JUST how good University of the Philippines (UP) has gone in Season 78 will be tested when the Lady Maroons square off with two-time defending

champion Ateneo Lady Eagles in the first of two Final Four clashes in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) women’s volleyball tournament. The UP-Ateneo clash is set at 4 p.m. at the Mall of Asia Arena. On Sunday, at the same time, the De La Salle Lady Archers and Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws take the floor in the other half of the semifinals. Ateneo is the top seed in the semifinals with 12 wins and two defeats, while De La Salle is No. 2 with an 11-3 card. Both enjoy a twice-to-beat advantage. The men’s Final Four also kick off on Saturday with reigning champion Ateneo, the top seed with a twice-to-beat advantage, taking on UP at 2 p.m. UP got a lock at the semifinals, thanks to De La Salle’s 25-14,

21-25, 25-19, 25-15 ousting of National University on Wednesday. Now the Lady Maroons are in the Final Four for the first time in 13 seasons. “We’ve gotten this far so why stop,” UP team captain Kathy Bersola, playing her first Final Four, told the BusinessMirror. Despite a tall order of toppling the defending champions advantage in the semifinals, Bersola stressed they are confident against the Lady Eagles whom they upset, 19-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-22, in their second round clash on March 6. “We beat them once in the elims and that wasn’t a joke. Pinaghirapan talaga namin ‘yun, so

hindi natin pwede sabihin na walang chance. Hindi porket two-time

champion sila,

hindi na namin sila kayang talunin,” Bersola said. “We’re going into the game confident and with a plan to beat them.” The Jerry Yee-coached squad banks heavily on Bersola and rookies Isa Molde and Diana Carlos, including veterans Nicole Tiamzon and Marian Buitre. But Ateneo wouldn’t want to waste its twice-to-beat incentive, especially two-time UAAP Most Valuable Player Alyssa Valdez, who is playing her farewell season. “It’s really a bonus for us being at the top after the eliminations pero syempre, marami ring responsibilities,” Valdez said. Lance Agcaoili

» ATENEO superstar Alyssa Valdez, seen here beating the defense of De La Salle’s Mika Reyes (3) and Cid Demecillo (18) in their last match, is again expected to mesmerize in the Final Four. STEPHANIE TUMAMPOS

COMPETITION manager Raul Samson (center) addresses Thursday’s press conference for this weekend’s competitions. With Samson are Asian Taekwondo Federation Secretary-General Yi Bong (left) and President Lee Kyu Seol.

ROY DOMINGO

FOUR Filipinos, led by Singapore 2015 Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Samuel Morrison, seek Rio Olympics berths

as the two-day Asian Taekwondo Qualification Tournament kicks off on Saturday at the Marriott Hotel Grand Ballroom in Pasay City. Morrison fights in the men’s -80 kilograms with the hope of towing his teammates—Pauline Louise Lopez (-57 kg), Filipino-American Kristopher Robert Uy (+80 kg) and Kirstie Elaine Alora (+67 kg)—to earning berths in Rio in August. Only the champion and silver medalist will

advance to the Olympics. A total of 150 jins from Iran, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Japan, Iraq, Bahrain, Uzbekistan, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Yemen are competing in the event sponsored by Smart, PLDT, Meralco and MVP Sports Foundation, and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee.  “There’s no other better chance for us but to do it here in front of our hometown crowd,” Philippine Taekwondo Association National Training Director Igor Mella told the BusinessMirror during a press briefing on

Thursday at the Hub of the Marriott Hotel. Mella said it will be a “do-or-die situation” for the Philippines, which failed to qualify a jin in the London 2012 Olympics.  “We prepared well for this. The mission is clear to earn tickets to Rio,” Mella said. The tournament is the last chance for Asian jins to qualify for the Olympics. The Asian Taekwondo Poomsae and Asian Para Taekwondo Open, meanwhile, unfurls on Monday, while the Asian Taekwondo Champion-ships (kyorugi) free sparring is set on Tuesday and Wednesday. Ramon Rafael Bonilla

MORRISON LEADS PINOYS’ CHARGE

JAMYLA LAMBUNAO, the country’s top junior memory athlete, placed first in four of 10 events and finished second in the juniors division at

the  Germany Memory XL Open Championship held recently in Lubeck, Germany. Lambunao, a 14-year-old student at Saint Scholastica’s Academy Marikina who holds a title of International Master of Memory, topped the Spoken Numbers, Speed Numbers, Binary Digits and Speed Cards events in the junior category. The highlight of her performance includes being able to memorize and perfectly recall the order of 224 randomly written digits in five minutes, 510 binary digits in five minutes, a complete shuffled deck of playing cards in 56.03 seconds and 87 spoken numbers en route to bagging the silver medal in the juniors division. Lambunao also placed second in Names and Faces, Historic Dates, 10-Minute Playing Cards, Abstract Images, 15-Minute Marathon Numbers and Random Words. She wound up sixth overall. Germans Tobias Achleitner and Anne Reulke topped the Kids and Junior divisions, respectively. Soren Damtoft of Denmark ruled the Senior Citizen’s Category and former World Memory champion Johannes Mallow of Germany emerged overall titlist.

LIMOS SWEEPS SPRINTS O’TOOLE

TAKESCHARGEAMERICAN John Michael O’Toole held up a bit

after a hot 61 at the resumption of his second round stint but his 3-under 68 proved enough

to shove him to the lead as the erstwhile front-runners tumbled with faltering finishes in the topsy-turvy

third round of the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Manila Southwoods Championship

Asian Developmental Tour (ADT) at the Legends course in Carmona, Cavite, on Friday.

O’Toole birdied the last two holes at the completion of his weather-delayed second round to join fellow American John Jackson, Filipino Mhark Fernando and Thai Pijit Petchkasem at

second behind Malaysian Gavin Green. But the winner of ADT’s PGM Clearwater Masters in Malaysian in February took charge at

13-under 200, as Jackson carded a 72 and dropped to joint ninth at 204 and Fernando fumbled with a 73 fell to a share of 12th at 205.

Petchkasem did cling to joint second with a gutsy 69 for a 201, the same output put in by Thai Suradit Yongcharoenchai, who gunned down four birdies at the back for a 66.

But while Fernando failed to sustain a bogey-free stint after 45 holes and dropped out of the top 10, rookie pro Jobim Carlos took

the cudgels for the local bets with a 5-under 66 to move up to solo fourth at 202.

“I’m happy with the way I’ve been playing after Coach Carito

[Villaroman] made some adjustments on my swing after I missed the cut at Luisita,” said Carlos, who shot a 67 and 69 in the first two rounds, but only got into the mix with a 33 start. “But I have to be consistent, especially with my chipping and putting to stay in the contention.” Just two off the pace, Carlos, one of the best players to have come out of the ranks, is very much in the thick of things, so does Keanu Jahns, who rattled off six birdies at the front before slowing down with a bogey-birdie stint at the back. But his 65 put Jahns in joint fifth at 203 with Poom Saksansin and Donlaphatchai Niyomchon of Thailand, who shot 66 and 67, respectively, and Green, who fended off his pursuers’ attack with a solid 32 at the front but fell back with a closing 40 marred by a double bogey and three bogeys for a 72. That guarantees a wide, open battle for the top $10,500 purse in the $60,000 event, sponsored by ICTSI, with just three strokes separating eight players, three just four back and five more five shots behind, strokes that could be gained or lost at any given time on the bunker-laden layout.

KOREA’S Tom Kim pulled through in a day of soaring scores, carding a five-over 77 and edging Ryan Monsalve by two to snare the boys’ crown, while Yuka Saso ripped the girls’ field with a closing 65 in

the Philippine Junior Amateur Open Golf Championship (Strokeplay) at the Sherwood Hills Golf Club in Trece Martires, Cavite, on Friday. Kim, who yielded a three-stroke lead halfway through and fell by three to Monsalve with a 78 on on Thursday, pounced on his rival’s meltdown in tough conditions and coasted to the win despite a 37-40 output for a 298. Monsalve, who looked headed for a big win after matching par-72 and wresting control in the third round, actually held his ground in the early going but failed to check his skid after a double-bogey-bogey-par-bogey stint from No. 5. He dropped six more strokes at the back and ended up without a birdie to show for a 10-over 82 and a 300. Ira Alida turned in the day’s best 73 but had just too many strokes to recover after three rounds and settled for third at 301, while Lanz Uy shot a 78 and wound up fourth at 306 and Dan Emilio Cruz pooled a 314 after a 76 for fifth in the event, sponsored by the MVP Sports Foundation, Smart, PLDT and Metro Pacific Investments Corp., and hosted by Sherwood Hills Golf Club. But while Kim, playing out of Riviera, completed a come-from-behind win, Saso never gave her rivals a chance to rebound, putting on a backside show of 6-under 30, including four straight birdies to close out her stirring 65. That gave the national team mainstay a 72-hole total of 276 and a whopping 12-stroke victory over first round leader and veteran internationalist Harmie Constantino.

Kim snares boys’ title;Saso claims girls’ tiara

Lambunaobest performer

» CAGAYAN Valley’s Cherry Mae Banatao (above) clinches the girls’ secondary high jump gold medal, and so does National Capital Region’s (NCR) Francis Obiena in secondary boys’ pole vault. NCR’s Ancilla Marie Manzano (at left), on the other hand, poses with her four gold and two silver medals in elementary gymnastics.

NONOY LACZA

By Joel Orellana 

LEGAZPI CITY—Samantha Gem Limos cemented her status as the fastest girl; Mea Gey Ninura proved she is the future of middle-distance running; the National Capital Region (NCR) virtually snatched the overall championship

anew; and the 2016 Palarong Pambansa was rocked with another accident on Friday. The 13-year-old Limos made it a golden double after winning the secondary girls’ 200 meters, as records fell on the final day of the athletics competitions at the Albay Sports and Tourism Complex. The incoming Grade 8 student at University of Cebu clocked 25.55 seconds to bag her second gold in athletics after the 100 meters two days ago. “Unexpected po dahil nag-second lang ako sa trials,” said Limos, referring to her 26.2 time in the heat topped by Jessel Lumapas of Calabarzon. “Kaya masayang-masaya po ako dahil first time ko sa secondary at two gold medals ang nakuha ko.” Lumapas (25.83) settled for the bronze medal, while Lejany Salafania of Western Visayas took the silver medal with 25.80 seconds. Limos said she could have performed better if not for a two-week lull in her training heading to the Palaro. “Nagkaroon po ako ng beke [mumps] noong February, tapos one week din napahinga dahil sa fever kaya two weeks akong walang training,” added Limos, who is being recruited by Saint Francis of Assisi College in Las PIñas City. The Big City athletes continued to pull away in the overall medal standings with 66 gold, 36 silver and 28 bronze medals as of mid-Friday, followed by Calabarzon (30-24-33), Western Visayas (28-25-25) and Northern Mindanao (20-18-31).

The curtains will roll down on Saturday for the Albay Palaro which was struck with a second accident late Thursday when a giant coron, a concrete pot that serves as the games’ cauldron for the symbolic flame, exploded because of overheating. Three people were injured but were out of danger. They suffered minor injuries. Earlier in the week, a special athlete was electrocuted when he touched a steel railing of a Jollibee food truck. She was also declared out of danger. The NCR bets drew strength from  swimming (22 golds), gymnastics (17) and taekwondo (12) to move closer to a 12th straight overall title. Davao Region’s Ninura, meanwhile, shattered another record late Thursday, erasing the old standard in the 1,500 meters set by Jie Ann Calis in 2014 in Santa Cruz, Laguna. The 16-year-old Ninura clocked 4:39.46 seconds and easily erased the 4:44.4 mark of Northern Mindanao’s Calis. Calis failed to defend her title and settled for silver with 4:42.81, her new personal best. Central Visayas’s Jocelyn Cayetano (4:52.67) took the bronze. It was Ninura’s second record-breaking gold-medal performance after the 3,000 meters on Monday. Sharing the limelight were Angel Ann Pranisa of Negros Island Region, Cherry Mae

Banatao of Cagayan Valley, Francis Edward Obiena of NCR and the secondary girls 4x100-relay team of Eastern Visayas. Pranisa erased an eight-year-old record in elementary girls 200 meters with 26.15 seconds, topping the previous 26.7 mark set by NCR’s Maureen Emily Schrijvers in 2008 in Puerto Princesa City. Obiena set a new mark in secondary boys pole vault,

registering 4.06 meters to erase the 4.05 meters of NCR’s Francisco Valdecanas he set in 2010. The Eastern Visayas relay team, composed of

Lenlyn Sanita, Lealyn Sanita, Justine Mae Catindoy and Gemmalyn Pino, also set a new record in the 4x100-meter relay with a tile of 3:56.43 seconds, topping the 4:01.60 mark of Calabarzon in 2002.

CERES-LA SALLE and Global FC square off in a no-tomorrow showdown

for the United Football League (UFL) Cup 2016 title on Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium. The winner-take-all finals match is set at 8:15 p.m. after the battle for third place between Kaya FC and Stallion FC at 5:15 p.m. The plate finals between JP Voltes and Loyola Meralco Sparks will be played at 2:15 p.m. Fresh from taking the top spot in Group E of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup after a 2-1 triumph over Tampines Rovers of Singapore at Panaad Stadium on Tuesday, Ceres now sets its sights for its second UFL  title. “It’s going to be a toe-to-toe battle, but it will go down to momentum and how a team works on that momentum,” Ceres-La Salle Coach Frank Muescan said. “Our schedule has been tight, but we’re doing well, so we just have to continue. We have a positive outlook.” Global, suspended last year because of player eligibility issue, tries to become the most successful club in the league as it tries to add one more trophy to its two championships. “The motivation is that we want to beat Ceres, which we consider our biggest rival,” Global Coach Leigh Manson said. “The games between Global and Ceres have always been close. But we’re confident that we can give Ceres a good game and I’ve always believed in my players.” Global dealt Ceres-La Salle its only loss in the tournament, 2-1, on March 3. Striker Omid Nazari is now cleared for Global after a one-game suspension. The winner a berth for next year’s AFC Cup.

Lance Agcaoili

TURNING THE PAGESportsBusinessMirror

A8 | SAturdAy, April 16, 2016mirror_sports@yahoo.com.phsports@businessmirror.com.phEditor: Jun LomibaoAsst. Editor: Joel Orellana

The assumption is that the Lakers will rely on

their young nucleus of rookie D’Angelo

Russell and second-year players Julius

Randle and Jordan Clarkson. The Lakers’

staff also likes the progress Larry Nance

Jr. and Anthony Brown made in their rookie

seasons.

MONACO—Rafael Nadal was prepared for pain. Roger Federer hoped to avoid pain. They got what they wished for and reached the

Monte Carlo Masters quarterfinals on Thursday. Eight-time champion Nadal saved 15-of-17 break points, scampering all over the clay to retrieve big forehands from Dominic Thiem and beat the Austrian, 7-5, 6-3. Thiem beat Nadal in the semifinals in Buenos Aires en route to the title, the first of two on clay in February. Thiem has the second-most wins on the tour this year, after Novak Djokovic. He made Nadal run and run. “I never gave up in all these tough moments,” Nadal said. “You need matches like this. You need to suffer on court.” Federer was equally pleased to feel no pain in his left knee, two months after arthroscopic surgery for torn cartilage. In his second match since, Federer was unscathed in easing past Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain, 6-2, 6-4, for a fifth straight time. “I’m happy how the body is, that I was able to play two matches already here, and get a chance to play a third,” Federer said. “I’m getting closer to the peak in the sense of maximum movement.”

Federer next faces Jo Wilfried Tsonga in the last eight, leading the Frenchman, 11-5, in head-to-heads. “I like his game. I like his power, his capacity to move forward with his forehand,” Federer said of Tsonga. “I’ve seen wonderful matches of him against the best players, and also against me.” Elsewhere, Andy Murray rallied from a set and 3-0 down to advance along with Stan Wawrinka, the only other former champion left in the field beside Nadal. Nadal faced 16 of the 17 break points against Thiem in the first set. At 4-4, and with each player having dropped serve once, Thiem missed six chances to break Nadal. On the last one, Thiem let a lob go thinking it was going out, and watched it land in. The Spaniard clenched his fist after holding that tough game, and then broke Thiem when the Austrian double-faulted on set point. “Some of the break points he played very well so I didn’t have a chance, but there were also some where I really had some easy shots,” said Thiem, who converted only one of 16 chances on Djokovic’s serve in the third round of the Miami Masters two weeks

ago. “Of course, it’s very frustrating.” After Thiem broke Nadal to love in the third game of the second set for a 2-1 lead, Nadal quickly regained momentum and broke Thiem twice more to set up a quarterfinal against Wawrinka, the 2014 champion. “If you look at the past year, we can see his level has slightly decreased,” Wawrinka, the French Open champion, said of 14-time Grand Slam winner Nadal. “But a champion like him is still able to win big titles.” Murray was relieved to scrape past an erratic Benoit Paire of France, 2-6, 7-5, 7-5. “To win when you’re not playing particularly well, it’s a great effort,” Murray said. “It would have been easy to lose today and get down on myself. But I kept fighting.” Paire had 47 winners among a number of eye-catching shots, but the Frenchman also made 52 unforced errors. He had eight aces and seven double-faults. Paire also lost his composure at key moments, double-faulting when serving for the match and again on match point. “He played a bad game at 3-0 in the second to give me one of the breaks back,” Murray said. “I felt like I was in with a chance then.” AP

By Broderick TurnerLos Angeles Times

 

LOS ANGELES—One day after Kobe Bryant capped his 20-year career, the Los Angeles Lakers had their exit interviews with the team’s brass on Thursday, as the franchise began to turn the page and decide which of

its players will be part of a major rebuilding process. The assumption is that the Lakers will rely on their young nucleus of rookie D’Angelo Russell and second-year players Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson. The Lakers’ staff also likes the progress Larry Nance Jr. and Anthony Brown made in their rookie seasons. Now that group has to take the next step, which is something Bryant suggested to the youngsters, telling them after Wednesday’s season finale that they all need to work together to improve. “I think after this year, we kind of see we have to do it together,” Randle said on Thursday. “I don’t think talent around here and on this team is an issue. It’s just about finding the chemistry and playing for each other and not playing for ourselves.” Russell was the second overall pick in the draft and his rookie season was wildly up and down. He opened the season as a starter, only to be

» KOBE BRYANT tells the young Lakers after his

season finale on Wednesday that they all need to work

together to improve. AP

EIGHT-TIME champion Rafael Nadal saves 15

of 17 break points, scampering all over the clay to retrieve big forehands from Dominic Thiem and

beats the Austrian, 7-5, 6-3. AP

and halting practice for 20 minutes. Pirelli posted on Twitter that Massa’s tire problems were not caused by a puncture, but rather “technical trouble.” There was no immediate word on the cause of Magnussen’s problems. Even Mercedes was not immune from trouble. Hamilton spun twice at the same corner, telling his team over the radio, “I keep having this locking into Turn 11.” And Rosberg was forced to end his session early when he encountered a possible engine issue. AP

Rosberg sets fastest time in practice

benched by Coach Byron Scott and later went back to starting again. Russell was also involved in a major story off the court when he secretly recorded teammate Nick Young talking about women who were not his fiancée in a video shot earlier this year and leaked to a gossip site this month. The incident left Russell in a bind with his teammates and other players around the National Basketball Association. Through it all, the 20-year-old Russell said he has grown. “Everybody was just thrown into a pot and expecting gold to come out,” said Russell, who plans on playing in the summer league. “We struggled all year trying to figure out roles, just what guys could do. I feel just like it was the warm-up, and I feel like next year we’ll have a better taste of what guys are capable of.” Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak and Scott met with players at their practice facility to give them input on the expectations for next season after the team had a franchise-worst 17-65 record. Clarkson is one of the building blocks, but he’ll be a restricted free agent looking for a big pay raise from the $845,000 he made this season. “I feel confident that I’ll be back here,” Clarkson said. “I want to be here.” Veterans Roy Hibbert, Metta World Peace,

Ryan Kelly and Robert Sacre aren’t as

confident that they’ll return. After the video incident, Russell said he had to apologize to regain his teammates’ trust. On Thursday Russell said he wished he had not made that statement, because “I don’t feel like I lost my teammates’ trust.” “I feel like my teammates have been very supportive,” Russell added. “And Kobe has done a great job of being there for me. I don’t feel like it affected me the way I carried myself.” As for Young, who has two years left on his contract for $11.1 million, he sounded resigned to not being with the Lakers next season. “I just want to play basketball again,” Young said. “I just want to enjoy getting out there and playing the game I love. I know the Lakers are going to make decisions for the Lakers.” Young added, this season was a “tough one” professionally and personally. “I’m glad this season is over. Now I get to go and unwind and clear my head and just have fun,” he said.

NADAL REACHES QUARTERS

SHANGHAI—Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton set the early pace at the Chinese Grand Prix on Friday with the fastest

times in a start-and-stop practice session beset by a number of tire problems. Rosberg had the quickest lap time at one minute and 38.037 seconds, just ahead of his teammate, Hamilton, at 1:38.183. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel had the third-fastest time of the session, a full half-second behind Hamilton. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top 5. It was a frustrating session for Williams driver Felipe Massa and Renault’s Kevin Magnussen, both of whom experienced tire issues that prevented them from setting a time. Massa’s left rear tire came off the rim as he was going into Turn 5, causing him to spin across the track and come to a stop on the shoulder. When he returned a short while later, he encountered another problem with the same tire and was forced to stop again. Magnussen’s left rear tire blew out on the back straight toward the end of the session, bringing the red flag out as debris was cleared from the track

news@businessmirror.com.phBusinessMirrorSaturday, April 16, 2016A2

BMReportsChina accuses US, PHL of harboring‘Cold War mentality’C A

A yellow alert does not necessarily mean power outages or blackouts, but it could turn into a red alert, which means power outages are very likely to occur.

Later in the day, the Nation-al Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) issued a red alert for Luzon from 1 to 3 p.m., as peak demand was expected to reach an all-time high of 9,746 MW.

The Visayas and Mindanao grids were also placed on red alert from 7 to 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. to 10 p.m., re-spectively. As of press time on Friday, there was no reported incidence of power outage in the Luzon area.

Based on NGCP forecast, the

thinnest net reserves for Luzon was projected at 156 MW. It also projected a negative 62 MW of net reserves for the Visayas and nega-tive 154-MW reserves Mindanao. In terms of Meralco share, Spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said there was a deficiency of 30 MW at 1 p.m.; 200 MW to 220 MW at 2 p.m.; and 160 M.W. at 3pm. “We expect to be back to yellow alert after 4 p.m.” The NGCP placed the Luzon grid at yellow alert again at 3:01 pm. As of press time, Meralco was still in close coordination with NGCP to monitor the condition of the grid. “We are also actively appraising our customers of the situation, including giving up-dates through our social-media channels, and are appealing to

households and business to man-age power consumption, particu-larly during the period of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Interruptible Load Program participants have also been con-tacted to prepare for possible ac-tivation in case NGCP instructs distribution utilities to reduce load,” Meralco Utility Economics Head Larry Fernandez said. The following power plants were put on emergency shut-downs: Kalayaan units 3 and 4 (180 MW each); QPPL (289 MW); Malaya1 (130 MW); Botocan2 (10 MW); Pagbilao1 (382 MW); Magat units 3 and 4 (95 MW each). Meanwhile, the capacity output of Calaca 1 (200 MW) and 2 (300 MW) had been limited to 190 MW and 220 MW, respectively.

of close US ally Australia which is trying to balance security needs with its economy’s reliance on the Chinese market.

“We’ve always had good and con-structive discussions but our position is that all claimants should settle disputes peacefully and in accordance with international law,” Turnbull told reporters in Beijing on Friday, a day after his meeting with Li.

Beijing and Washington have re-peatedly traded accusations over who is responsible for raising tensions in the South China Sea, with the US citing China’s island-building project and efforts to block other disputants from parts of the crucial waterway, through which passes more than $5

trillion in global trade passes each year.

China says its island develop-ments are mainly for civilian pur-poses and says US naval activities—especially the sailing of ships close to its newly built islands—threat-ens China’s security.

“The US has been taking all kinds of actions to provoke China, forcing it to take counteractions that will result in an escalation of the situation,” Su Hao, an interna-tional relations expert at Beijing’s China Foreign Affairs University, told The Associated Press.

“The joint patrols are part of the US plan and now the plan is being implemented,” Su said.

Su added that Beijing antici-pates the US will eventually launch joint patrols with other nations to further challenge China’s position in the South China Sea. Chinese media speculate that could involve Japan, China’s historical nemesis with which it is feuding over own-ership of a string of uninhabited Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea. “The continuous escalation of the situation will offer the US bet-ter excuses and more opportunities to strengthen its military presence in the South China Sea, so as to turn the South China Sea into a region of military confrontation,” Su said. AP

COBRA is the official energy drink part-ner for Under Armour’s Test of Will 2016 event happening on April 16 and 17 at

the Bonifacio High Street, Taguig City. The Un-der Armour Test of Will 2016 is an elite event designed for anyone with the will to train and compete. It will be an action packed two-day event wherein participants will take on a four-minute challenge—60 seconds each of four ex-ercises (burpees, squats, dumbbell presses and

pull ups). Points will be scored for the number of reps completed in the time. The highest scoring two men and two women will earn a free trip to Singapore and will be the official Under Armour athletes representing the Philippines to compete against Malaysia, Sin-gapore and Thailand in the finals to be held at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore on May 28. For more information and to register for free, visit www.testofwill.tripleready.com

COBRA ENERGY DRINK PARTNERS WITH UNDER ARMOUR TEST OF WILL

to keep the dollar inflows healthy amid stormy waters plaguing global economies. “The steady deploy-ment of overseas Filipino workers remained a key driver to the growth of remittance inflows,” the BSP said, citing preliminary reports from the Philippine Overseas Em-ployment Administration (POEA), showing that 31.6 percent of the 160,277 total approved job orders in January and February were already processed. The central bank said processed job orders were intended to fill de-mands in the services, production, professional, technical and related sectors in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qa-tar, Taiwan, and the United Arab

Emirates. Cuyegkeng said if this kind of resilience continues, we are likely to see upward adjustments of assumed growth in remittances this year. The government is projecting 4-percent to 5-percent growth in remittances for 2016. Last year re-mittances posted an annual growth of 4.6 percent, falling from the 7.2- percent annual remittance growth posted in 2014. The economist also said strong remittances could mean a further boost to overall economic growth outlook. “Couple this upside develop-ment with a slightly weaker Phil-ippine Peso exchange rate, and the nominal peso remittance growth  would be higher. This is

what we have seen in January and February,” Cuyegkeng said. On Friday data from the PDS showed the peso gaining traction against the dollar, closing at 46.06 to a dollar from Thursday’s close of 46.23 to a dollar. The total traded volume hit $649 million, slightly lower than the previous day’s $694.5 million. Broken down, cash transfers from both land-based ($3.2 billion) and sea-based ($917 million) workers rose 6.9 percent and 3.7 percent, re-spectively, year-on-year. By source, more than three-fourths of cash remittances came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Singa-pore, Hong Kong, the United King-dom, Canada, Japan and Qatar.Brownouts. . .

C A

Remittances grew 9% to $2.1B in Feb C A

MCIA head sees 6% to 7% annual hike in passenger traffic in next 5 to 10 years

B L S. M @lorenzmarasigan

CONGESTION at the premier international airport in Cebu should be addressed two years

from now, as the operator of the air hub targets to deliver its promised expan-sion amid higher passenger demand. 

But as early as now, the private concessionaire of the Mactan-Ce-bu International Airport (MCIA) should be preparing the plan for the second phase of expansion with passenger traffic at the facility is expected to grow by as much as 7 percent annually. 

“I always say that passenger- growth rate is erratic, but I can conveniently say for the next five to 10 years we will average about 6 percent to 7 percent,” Nigel Paul C. Villarete, the general manager of the MCIA, told the BusinessMirror in an interview. 

The forecast comes after the air-port handled 8 million passengers in 2015, up from 7.2 million passengers in 2014, and way above its 4.5-mil-lion passenger-design capacity. 

“I’ve been handling the airport at overcapacity since 2010, when we reached the 5-million passenger mark,” he said. “We can address the passenger congestion by 2018. But, we are in a point where we have to adjust again.” 

GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. targets to complete the first phase of its modernization program by 2018. This effectively increases the air hub’s passenger capacity to 13 million by the said year. But with passenger volume expected to rise with the demand, the company should start the planning phase as early as 2018, Villarete added.  

“By 2018, we must be on the draw-ing boards already. We must start

the second of the existing terminal,” he added. “Unlike before, the govern-ment has been looking at capacity expansion when they happen. Now it is embedded in the concession agree-ment to [undertake] a review…every five years.”

Passenger traffic, according to GMR-Megawide President Louie B. Ferrer, should “reach about 28 mil-lion by the end of the concession period.”

GMR-Megawide bagged the 25-year concession deal in 2014. 

Since the project was turned over to the private partner, there are various upgrades and chang-es that have been implemented: greener terminal building with new seats, washrooms are being reno-vated, new self-service check-in kiosks have been installed, new im-migration, customs and quarantine counters are in place, among others.

Aviation think tank Center for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa) said given its current growth spurt, Cebu could pass the 10 million an-nual passenger milestone by 2018 and be close to processing 12.5 million passengers at the end of this decade. 

The Cebu airport is well groomed to be an option for airline expansion, given the steady 6-percent to 7-per-cent per-annum economic growth in the Philippines. 

Ferrer said his company is in talks with “several airlines” to market Cebu as a destination. 

PLATE RELEASE Customs Commissioner Alberto D. Lina (seated, right) has officially turned over some 300,000 pairs of motor-vehicle plates to the Land Transportation Office (LTO). LTO Chief Assistant Secretary Roberto Cabrera (seated, left) received the plates and signed the documents of undertaking governing the turnover procedures. With them in photo are Revenue and Collection Monitoring Group Deputy Commissioner  Arturo Lachica and Manila International Container Port Collector Antonio Meliton Pascual.

news@businessmirror.com.ph Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon • Saturday, April 16, 2016 A3BusinessMirrorEconomy

B J M N. C  @joveemarie

LAWMAKERS have recently asked the leadership of the House of Representatives to

pass a measure creating the Quezon-Bicol Expressway (QuBEx) when ses-sion resumes on May 23. 

Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Scott Davies S. Lanete of Mas-bate and Lakas Rep. Aleta C. Suarez of Quezon said the proposed “Que-zon-Bicol Expressway Act,” which has been endorsed for plenary approval in February, seeks to provide devel-opment and progress among regions in Southern Luzon.

The measure provides for the creation of the QuBEx, which shall be financed, constructed, operated and maintained by a grantee, offeror, consortium or proponent, under and by virtue of Republic Act (RA) 6957, as amended by RA 7718, otherwise known as the build-operate-transfer law. The expressway shall link the province of Quezon with the Bicol Region starting from Malicboy, Quezon, and terminating in Sor-sogon, according to the bill.

The bill added the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Engineering District con-cerned shall construct the connect road for the purpose of linking the terminus of the South Luzon Ex-pressway (Slex) Toll Road 4 in Lu-cena City and the entrance of the QuBEx in Malicboy.

“The DPWH shall be the lead implementing agency of the act. The amount necessary to defray the cost of undertaking and completing the feasibility study of the project and other activities relative thereto shall be included in the General Appropria-tions Act,” the measure added.

In filing the bill, Lanete said there are only two expressways leading to Southern Luzon—the Slex and the Star Tollway, and with these two combined lead up to Batangas only.

He said the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx), which opened in 2014, is the third express-way built connecting the country’s capital of Manila to the northern areas of Luzon.

Lanete, a vice chairman of the House Committees on Appropria-tions, Poverty Alleviation and Pub-lic Order and Safety, said the TPLEx construction has brought immediate impact in the development of trade and tourism in Northern Luzon.

“It made Baguio City, a popular tourist destination, more accessible. In fact, travel time from Manila to Baguio City had been cut short from seven hours to less than five hours. Thus, Baguio City has experienced an exponential rise in the number of visiting tourists and consequently its revenues also increased signifi-cantly,” Lanete said. “The promising tourist destinations in the southern areas of Luzon have remained stag-nant, untapped and underappreci-ated due to difficulty in access. Along with the underdevelopment of these areas is the slow growth in terms of commerce,” he added.

To pursue optimum opportunity for development among the regions, the lawmaker said there is a need to give attention to Southern Luzon, “by constructing additional express-ways that would make areas, as far as Sorsogon Province, more acces-sible by road, only one result will be achieved, which is progress.” 

Suarez, a member of the Commit-tees on Southern Tagalog Develop-ment, Appropriations, Reforesta-tion, Health and Accounts said the proposed extension of road network from Lucena City to Malicboy, Que-zon, aims to make travel to the Bicol Region faster and more convenient.

“It will decongest traffic within and around the area. As a result, it will improve the mobility of goods and products from Quezon Province and the Bicol Region. The faster and convenient travel would also translate to a growth of the tourism industry in these areas to the benefit of people living therein,” Suarez said.  

B C U. O @caiordinario

DESPITE being responsible for providing food for over 100 million Filipinos,

farmers, fishermen and forestry workers remain the country’s least-rewarded workers.

Data released by the Philip-pine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Friday showed farmers and fish-ermen only received an average of P9,520 in bonuses and other benefits in 2013. 

This is a mere pittance, compared to the average of P75,000 received by employees in the financial and insur-ance industry in the same period. 

“The lowest amount was received by employees in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry at less than P10,000 per year,” the PSA said. 

Other least-rewarded workers include those in the construction, accommodation and food-service sectors, and human health and social work, except those in public health. 

Workers in construction re-ceived a total of P11,696, while those on accommodation and food-

service sectors received P12,316 and human health and social work with P14,690 in 2013. 

“Bonuses and gratuities are year-end, seasonal and other one-time bonuses [midyear/Christmas bonus, 13th/14th/15th month pay and the like], profit-sharing bonuses and additional payments in respect of vacation, supplementary to normal vacation pay,” the PSA said. 

PSA data also showed that in 2013, total labor cost during the year was posted at P1.07 trillion for which bonuses and gratuities contributed the second-biggest share at 9.5 per-cent next to direct wages and salaries.

For 2013, the average annual bonuses and gratuities paid by em-ployers amounted to at P24,132 per employee. Apart from workers in the financial and insurance sector, those in the electricity, gas, steam and air- conditioning-supply sector received hefty bonuses worth P70,939 in 2013.  This was followed by workers in information and communications who received total bonuses and gra-tuities of P69,186 in 2013.

“The rest of the industries post-ed annual bonuses and gratuities

ranging from P50,070 to P11,696 per employee,” the PSA said. 

The data was obtained from the results of the 2013 Labor Cost Sur-vey (LCS), one of the modules of the 2013-2014 Integrated Survey on La-bor and Employment (ISLE). 

The ISLE is a nationwide estab-lishment survey conducted by the PSA covering 8,399 agricultural and nonagricultural establishments employing at least 20 workers.

The LCS is intended to provide data that would address the gap in wage statistics, specifically on the evolution of labor cost and its vari-ous components. 

Based on the International Labor Organization’s resolution regard-ing labor cost statistics salaries and wages, bonuses, gratuities, and the cost of food, drink and other pay-ments in kind are part of labor cost. 

Labor cost also includes cost of workers’ housing borne by employ-ers, employers’ social-security ex-penditures, cost to the employer for vocational training, welfare services and miscellaneous items, such as transport of workers, work clothes and recruitment, and taxes.

A FTER eight consecutive months of decline, the growth of the Construc-

tion Materials Retail Price Index (CMRPI) in Metro Manila posted a rebound in March, according to the Philippine Statistics Author-ity (PSA). 

Data showed the CMRPI year-on-year growth was at 0.8 percent in March. It posted a contraction of 0.4 percent in February 2016 and a growth of 0.1 percent during the same month last year.

The PSA explained that the annu-al growth rate was due to the 1.8-per-cent growth in the retail price index of electrical materials and index of masonry materials with a growth of 1.7 percent. 

“Moreover, a higher annual in-crement of 1.2 percent was noted in painting materials and related compounds index,” the PSA added. 

On a monthly basis, the CMRPI in the National Capital Region (NCR) went up 0.6 percent in March 2016. 

From a flat growth last month,

the carpentry materials index inched up by 0.1 percent; electrical materi-als index, 0.7 percent; and painting materials and related compounds index, 0.3 percent.

“Prices of plywood, cement, hol-low blocks, paints, GI [galvanized iron] pipes and corrugated GI sheets were higher dur-ing the month. Lower prices were, however, observed in common wire and finishing nails,” the PSA said.

The indices for masonry materials rose by 1.9 per-cent; plumbing materials, 0.4 percent; and tinsmithry materials, 0.6 percent. On the other hand, mis-cellaneous construction materials index picked up 1.1 percent.

The CMRPI measures the changes in the average retail prices of construction materials.

The market basket of the CMRPI is composed of

102 commodities and classified into seven major groups. 

These are carpentry, electrical, masonry, painting materials and related compounds, plumbing, tin-smithry and miscellaneous con-struction materials. Cai U. Ordinario

GENERAL SANTOS CITY—At least 18 private colleges and universities in parts of Re-

gion 12 are seeking another round of increases in June in their tuition and related fees.

Evelyn Sotes, tuition fee in-charge of the Commission on Higher Edu-cation (CHED) in Region 12, said on Friday the number is based on the to-tal number of applications for the fee increases received by the agency for the coming school year 2016-2017.

She said they are currently evalu-ating the applications based on the guidelines set by their central office.

“We’re mainly checking if they have submitted all the documen-tary requirements and complied with the regulations regarding the fee increases,” she said in a radio interview.

Sotes said six of these institutions are based in Koronadal City, four in this city, three in Cotabato City, two in North Cotabato, two in Sultan Kudarat and one in South Cotabato.

These are the AMA Computer Learning Center; St. Alexius Col-lege; King’s College of Marbel Inc; Notre Dame of Marbel Univer-sity; Ramon Magsaysay Memorial College extension; STI College in Koronadal City; General Santos College Foundation Inc.; Joji In-ternational College; RMMC main; and STI College in this city; Dr. P. Ocampo College; STI College and Notre Dame-RVM College in Cota-bato City; Southern Baptist College

in M’lang and Southern Christian College in Midsayap in North Co-tabato; STI College in Tacurong City and Notre Dame of Salaman College in Lebak; Sultan Kudarat; and Notre Dame Siena College in Polomolok, South Cotabato.

For this year’s tuition increase, Sotes said they have set a ceiling of 6.26 percent, which represents the prevailing inflation rate in the re-gion. The CHED requires that the bulk of the applied increase in tu-ition and other school fees should be allocated to the upgrading of teach-ers’ and school personnel’s benefits, salaries and allowances.

The applying institutions should also include provisions for the im-provement and upgrading of school facilities and equipment.

Sotes said the applicants are also required to consult their students, parents and other concerned groups about their proposed tuition hikes.

The consultations should have proper documentation and must in-clude the minutes of the discussions, attendance sheets and other related documents, she said.

“After our evaluation, we will im-mediately endorse the applications to our central office for further re-view and approval,” she added.

In 2015 a total of 17 colleges and universities in the region imple-mented an average of 5-percent to 7-percent increases in tuition and other matriculation fees as approved by the CHED central office. PNA

Lawmakers aim for May passage of QuBEx Act

Farmers, fishermen top PSA list of least rewarded workers in 2013

18 colleges, universities in Region 12 seek CHED approval for tuition hike

Metro Manila CMRPI posts 0.8% rebound in March

Saturday, April 16, 2016 •Editor: Angel R. Calso

OpinionBusinessMirrorA4

The Russian navy is coming to visit

editorial

THE second phase of the Indonesian-sponsored multinational naval activity—Exercise Komodo —is taking place off the coast of West Sumatra. Warships from 35 countries, including all the ma-

jor naval powers, are now in Indonesia. Most nations are sending their ships; others are participating in the talks.

B O D L H|TNS

IN its latest scheme to “revitalize” a sport that remains popular around the world, International Boxing Association (Aiba)—the organization that governs international boxing—has de-

creed that it will hold a vote at the end of May to potentially allow professional boxers to compete in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. But I hope they come to their senses and keep superstars out of the ring.

Keep superstars out of Olympic boxing

Imagine you’re a young amateur boxer and you’ve worked your entire young life with one goal in mind: an Olympic medal. You’ve done hundreds of miles of roadwork; you’ve lived in the gym; you’ve sacrificed youthful indiscre-tions; you’ve missed school; and you’ve counted calories to keep on weight.

If you know you’re up against the best amateurs in the world, that’s hard enough; but if you have to face a super-star like Manny Pacquiao, you’ll wonder if you should even bother competing. An amateur fighter is almost sure to lose against any professional, eliminating his opportunity to launch his career.

It’s true that weight maximums—standard in the Olympics—even the playing field among amateurs; but they hardly guarantee a fair fight when there’s a professional in competition. Professionals skew older and there’s

a significant difference between a 175-pound teenager and a 175-pound twentysomething.

Almost all boxers eventually move up in weight as their bodies fill out. They’re not just getting heavier; they’re attain-ing what I call their “man strength”—their peak form. This tends to happen around a fighter’s 24th or 25th birthday, and it simply doesn’t make sense to pit a fighter who hasn’t yet reached his ideal weight against one who has.

Compare amateur fighter Charles Conwell with professional Amir Khan.

At 18, Conwell is deservedly among the most highly regarded fighters on Team USA and has already qualified for the 2016 Games in the middleweight division. Slick and strong, Conwell is expected to compete for a medal.

At 29, Khan is a British superstar who fought in the 2004 Olympic Games

in Athens, taking home silver in the same 132-pound division where I won gold in 1992. On May 7 Khan will face Canelo Alvarez for the middleweight championship of the world in Las Ve-gas in the biggest boxing event of 2016.

If Conwell were to draw Khan, it would be a total mismatch, and Olympic officials would have to answer for put-ting Conwell into a dangerous situation.

Although Alvarez and Khan are meeting at a 155-pound catch weight and Conwell can come into the Olympics

as heavy as 165, these boxers are not equals. Conwell is still growing into his body. Khan is a man in his prime who has already been to war in the ring on dozens of occasions.

Of course, this isn’t just a matter of brute strength. Experience, as is the case in many other pursuits, is a valu-able commodity for a fighter in the ring. The more rounds that a boxer has fought, the smarter he will fight and the better he will be offensively and defensively.

Nearly a quarter-century ago, when I was just an amateur boxer, I stood atop a podium in Barcelona and was presented with what I still consider the greatest prize of my career—the Olympic gold medal. Had professionals been allowed to participate in the ring that year, I would not have made it so far.

Come this summer, Conwell will hopefully become the first American gold medal winner in the sport of box-ing in a dozen years, while Alvarez and Khan will put on a war for millions of fans in a professional fight.

Meanwhile, the Aiba should focus on its job—improving boxing in a way that draws more young people to the sport and fans to the stands and not subject aspiring Olympians to potential heart-ache, pain and defeat before they even enter the ring.

HOM

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B P D|Bloomberg View

WE found out on Wednesday that five of the biggest US banks couldn’t explain how they could go bankrupt without taking down the financial system with them.

Sanders, Clinton and the war over big banks

No wonder Bernie Sanders wants to break them up! They’re just too damned big to fail.

Or, maybe…. No wonder Hillary Clinton thinks that’s crazy! Tough-minded regulators are putting the heat on bankers to write realistic “living wills,” so why destroy a bank-ing system that’s being remade to work safely?

Bank living wills live at the intersection of arcane banking policy and raw politics. They may be technical, but the candidates’ feelings about them expose one of the biggest fault lines between the Sanders and Clinton wings of the Democratic Party. To understand them is to appreciate the continu-ing impact of the 2008 financial crisis on this year’s campaign.

Sanders is winning points in the debate now, because the living-will failures seem to prove his point that some banks are too big to fail and should be forced to shrink. But Clinton is right to have faith that regulators  could successfully wind down a big bank if it was about to fail—maybe not today but in a few years. Along with living wills, she points to requirements for banks to have more shareholder capital, new rules for transparency in derivatives

trading and other parts of the Dodd-Frank law that were also designed to prevent another 2008 collapse.

Back then, regulators didn’t have a clue about the extent of banks’ in-terconnections. They didn’t know who owed what to whom for deriva-tive instruments like credit-default swaps owned by counterparties in different countries, or even how to value such swaps in a time of panic, when no one wanted to buy and ev-eryone needed to sell.

The inability to value the assets of Lehman Brothers, and other insti-tutions’ reluctance to lend to Lehman when it desperately needed money, caused its collapse and the crisis to spread like a virus around the globe. The 2010 Dodd-Frank law is sup-posed to fix that.

Since then,  progress  has been made, though work also remains. The regulators—the US Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.—now require each bank’s parent holding company to act as a so-called single point of en-try. That entity’s shareholders and unsecured bondholders must take all the losses in a failure. Banks can no longer rely on capital from overseas units, where governments are unlikely to let funds flow across

borders until the dust settles.This setup allows operating units

to stay open so that customers can go to their ATM to get their money, and bank branches can keep making loans. The living will lets regulators pinpoint which of thousands of sub-sidiaries need to be dissolved, sold or merged, depending on what caused the failure.

Banks have also  streamlined  their structures, cutting the number of legal units housing subsidiaries by 20 percent on average, making it easier to untangle a bank in a bankruptcy with fewer courts in-volved, and in fewer jurisdictions. The banks have reduced their bor-rowing levels, in part, by ceasing to trade securities and derivatives for their own profit. And all the banks have increased, on paper at least, their ability to quickly convert as-sets into cash.

The market has played a role, too. Many banks have sold riskier side businesses, such as overseas operations or commodities units, to reduce the need for equity capital, which protects taxpayers by absorb-ing losses but can lower returns and displease investors.

Three of the six largest banks in 2008—Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley—are smaller now than they were before the crisis. Twenty-one global banks also agreed to wait 48 hours before demanding payment from a failing counterparty to a derivatives contract. This pause would give regulators time to move

the contracts to a new, recapitalized entity and reduce the risk of panicky collateral demands.

So it’s a disappointment that, given all these safeguards, the banks can’t show how they can be safely dis-mantled in a crisis. This is the second time regulators have rejected living wills for the largest banks. (This week they flunked JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Bank of New York Mellon and State Street. One of the two regulators found the plans of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to be flawed, but they weren’t rejected like the others. Citigroup won provisional approval from both agencies.) Doesn’t that prove Sand-ers is right and it’s time to bust up the big banks?

Not really. First, smaller banks aren’t necessarily safer. In the 1980s more than 1,000 savings and loans, each one minuscule compared with today’s banks, failed due to self-dealing, speculation and lending at interest rates that were lower than the thrifts’ borrowing costs. Sleepy regulators and political interference were rightly blamed for the debacle, which cost taxpayers more than $100 billion.

Nor is it a given that the big banks can never meet regulatory require-ments for living-will adequacy. The latest rejections contain specific directions for getting to yes, in-cluding winding down derivatives portfolios, further streamlining legal structures and maintaining customer confidence in a crisis.

Presumably, representatives of the Philippine navy are also in the city of Padang, although there does not seem to be any official announcement of that fact. There is also no indication that any Philippine warship is involved. Earlier this year in January, Indonesia also hosted the important Western Pacific Naval Symposium. The WPNS—founded in 1988—is a critical oppor-tunity for member-nations to discuss and solve potential problems. In 2014 an agreement was reached, called the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea, which the Philippines also signed.

The United States and the Philippines have been conducting joint exercises since the beginning of the month. It was announced this past week that the US and the Philippine navy were talking about joint sea patrols in the disputed South China Sea areas.

Both governments have gone out of their way to keep the joint military exercise low key with a “business as usual” attitude, considering these have taken place for years. Certainly, no one wants to raise tensions in the area.

But neither government has mentioned the following.In 2014 Russia and China conducted a joint naval exercise. Nothing un-

usual about that, considering the closer economic ties those two nations have formed in the last years. However, the exercises took place near Shanghai, in the sea corridor between Japan and the disputed islands that both Japan and China claim as theirs.

The Russian deputy defense minister, Anatoly Antonov, announced in June 2015 that Russia and China would conduct a joint naval exercise in May 2016. And where would the exercise take place? You guessed it—the South China Sea.

Wouldn’t it be interesting if, after this exercise, China invited its Russian partner to freely use any of its new artificial islands in the disputed territory any time it wanted to?

What does Russia think of the US and its role in the region? When the Russia/China 2016 naval exercise was announced, Antonov said the US is contaminating the Asia-Pacific region with some of the same “color revo-lutions” it brought to the Middle East. “We are concerned by US policies in the region, especially since every day it becomes increasingly focused on a systemic containment of Russia and China.” The comments, as well as the announcement of the naval exercises, took place at the 15th International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue or Asia Security Sum-mit, which was held in Singapore.

The month of May is certainly going to be exciting for the Philippines.

PACQUIAO

Saturday, April 16, 2016

OpinionA5BusinessMirroropinion@businessmirror.com.ph

B J B | Bloomberg View

HILLARY CLINTON has stuck close to President Barack Obama throughout her presidential campaign, but at the Democratic debate in Brooklyn on Thursday night, she practi-

cally dragged a cardboard cutout of the president on stage with her. 

Clinton saves the theatrics for later

port a relatively big minimum-wage increase are concerned that $15 could be too high, too fast). Clinton also supports expanding a liberal plan to expand social security, financed by some form of taxes on rich people, but that idea, too, is likely popular with swing voters, as well as the Democratic base.

Clinton has maintained a steady

lead in New York polling, and a vic-tory there on Tuesday will quiet, for a while, at least, talk of Sanders momentum. In fact, neither candi-date has had much real momentum throughout the race. What has mat-tered most are the demographic pro-files of the electorate in each primary or caucus rather than the effects of the most recent contest or event.

It’s clear Sanders will stick around at least through the final primaries on June 7, although Clinton will have a large enough delegate lead that she should be able to organize the Demo-cratic National Convention whether he endorses her on June 8 or waits until the delegates gather and vote in Philadelphia. We may see more de-bates, too. But this race was settled a long time ago, and it hasn’t done much serious damage to Clinton, beyond whatever liabilities she brought to the campaign in the first place. 

Her performance was par for her course. Strategic: Obama is wildly popular in New York and among Democrats, in general, and he has moved slightly above water in na-tional approval polls among voters. Methodical: She follows her plan to the letter, and if it calls for invoking Obama at every opportunity, she’s not going to miss that chance.

Clinton took no risks at this de-bate, and really hasn’t throughout the campaign. Nor has she shown any sign of leaving even an inch be-tween herself and the bulk of her party. If the Democrats ratchet up

what they believe is possible on mini-mum wage, Clinton shifts with them.

This is positioning guaranteed to frustrate many pundits. But it’s also a good way to win a presidential nomination.

Bernie Sanders continues to push Clinton to take positions moving her further away from the swing voters she’ll need in November, but I see little sign he is succeeding. She has shifted closer to embracing a $15 minimum wage—although she is still vague on the details. It has al-ways been popular with voters (even as many liberal economists who sup-

FORWARD MOVINGJemain Diaz de Rivera

g

Putin tones down his annual reality show

Funny numbers show money leaving China

PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin hosted his annual television call-in show on Thursday. This time, however, his heart didn’t seem to be in it. As in the past, some of his statements failed the test

of basic fact-checking. And he still sounded like a parody of himself —recalling Dr. Evil from the “Austin Powers” film series—but he also read economic statistics from a piece of paper, while previously, he had made a point of demonstrating his impressive memory. 

B C B

NEWS that China’s foreign-exchange reserves rose by $10 billion in March rather than declining has quieted doom-sayers. Worries that the reserves could dip to dangerous

levels as soon as this summer—after shrinking by an estimated $1 trillion last year—appear to have been premature. Still, questions linger over exactly how much money is leaving China and why. The true picture may not be as rosy as the headline numbers suggest.

BY now everyone has extended their congratulations to both Davao City and Iloilo City for being elevated from Next Wave Cities (NWCs) to Centers of Excellence. They stand at par

with Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, Metro Clark and Bacolod City as premier information technology and business-process management (IT-BPM) hosts and high-density locations.

The heart of the IT-BPM industry is in emerging cities

The NWCs program spurred development not only for the IT-BPM sector but also for cities outside es-tablished IT-BPM hubs. The NWCs are communities that are ideal hosts for the IT-BPM industry, they are for 2016: Baguio City, Cagayan de Oro City, Dagupan City, Dasmariñas City, Dumaguete City, Lipa City, Malolos City, Naga City, Santa Rosa City in Laguna and Taytay in Rizal.

Deputy Executive Director Mon-chito Ibrahim of the Information and Communications Technology Office of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-ICTO) noted the improvement in the readiness of NWCs to host IT-BPM operations, allowing the spread of economic benefits of this industry to key cities and provinces, where capable talents are abundant.

Recognition was also given to 10 New Emerging Cities (NEC) as they could greatly gain economic benefit if they enable the efficient operations of IT-BPM companies in their com-munity. The top 10 NEC are Balanga City, Batangas City, Iriga City, Laoag City, Legazpi City, Puerto Princesa City, Roxas City, Tarlac City, Tugueg-arao City and Zamboanga City. They are cities that are composed of com-munities and barangays where edu-cated professionals live and dream of building a future for themselves and their family.

There has been tremendous growth in the industry and the ca-reer opportunities are remarkable. Figuratively, New Emerging Cities are at the starting line and they are being ranked based on talent, in-frastructure, cost and business en-vironment, factors in evaluating a city’s ability to enable and support the entry and growth of IT-BPM companies in its area.

To move forward a collaborative

effort is required to help these NEC develop into NWCs and, eventu-ally, Centers of Excellence. This is only feasible with the support of the city’s local government unit, provin-cial or city chamber of commerce, educational institutions found in their communities, their respective information and communications technology (ICT) councils led by the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines, together with the national government and its differ-ent departments, such as the depart-ments of Trade and Industry, Educa-tion and Foreign Affairs; Commis-sion on Higher Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, DOST-ICTO, National Economic and Development Author-ity and Philippine Economic Zone Authority, which are just a few of the key players that come to mind.

There are over a million Filipi-nos directly employed by the IT-BPM industry. There are also many more Filipinos who are part of the government, and other industries working and making it possible for communities to embrace the IT-BPM industry as it sees sustained growth and moves to provinces inspiring development not only in key cities, but in emerging locations, as well.

To all national and local officials who will get a fresh mandate from the electorate in May, it is hoped that they will appreciate the $25-billion revenues and the 1.3 million directly employed by the IT-BPM industry at the end of 2016. This way, they will also feel the hearts of the 3.2 million Fili-pinos indirectly employed by the industry, and the employees in government and non-governmental organizations who invested a lot to help these Filipinos gain skills to qualify for a career that will help them obtain a better quality of life for their respective families and communities. I pray they see the beating hearts that can be found in the IT-BPM industry.

Before the March upturn, capi-tal had been flooding out of China at a rapid clip—an average of $48 billion per month over the previous six months, according to official bank data. The reasons were several. Fearing further declines in the value of the yuan, several companies paid off their dollar loans; others pur-sued  big acquisitions  abroad. Indi-vidual investors sought out higher returns as the Federal Reserve pre-pared to raise rates. The government spent billions to prop up the value of the currency. Some individuals and companies reduced their offshore yuan deposits. Still, others looked to spirit money out of the country to safer havens.

The question is how much money has been leaving for which reasons. Some analysts, including economists at the Bank for International Settle-ments, have argued that the bulk of these outflows are healthy, mostly involving companies paying down their foreign debt. However, the BIS

study, which estimates that such repayments accounted for nearly a quarter of the $163 billion of non-reserve outflows in the third quarter of 2015, focuses on a very narrow slice of time. Foreign debt obliga-tions grew rapidly in late 2014 and the first half of 2015, then shrunk dramatically in the third quarter.

Moreover, what those official figures miss are hidden outflows, disguised primarily as payments for imports, which appear to have created a $71-billion current-account deficit in the same quarter, according to bank payments data. In effect, enterprising Chinese are overpaying massively for the products they’re importing. Chi-nese customs officials reported $1.68 trillion in imports last year. Banks, on the other hand, claimed to have paid $2.2 trillion for those same imports. While the official balance-of-payments records a current ac-count surplus of $331 billion in 2015, banks’ payments and receipts show a $122-billion deficit.

Overpaying for imported goods and services is a clever way for Chi-nese companies and citizens to move money out of the country surrepti-tiously. Let’s say a foreign country exports $1 million worth of goods to China. Chinese customs officials will faithfully record $1 million in imports. But when the importer goes to the bank, he’ll either use fraudulent documentation or bribe a bank official to record a $2 million payment to the foreign counterparty. Presumably, the excess $1 million ends up in a private bank account. While some discrepan-cies are to be expected in data like this, the size and steady increase in the gap since 2012 implies that something shadier is going on.

When Chinese companies pay down debt, or make big acquisitions abroad, they do so openly. These other outflows—which topped half a trillion dollars last year—seem far more likely to be driven by individu-als and companies simply seeking to get their money out of the country.

The timing is also telling. The discrepancy began to grow rapidly in 2012, just as growth peaked and concerns began to rise among afflu-ent Chinese about the economy and a political transition. Since then, fake import payments have grown from $140 billion to $524 billion in 2015.

During that period, growth in Chi-na has slowed, rates of return on in-vestment have declined and surplus

capacity  has exploded. Investment opportunities have shrunk, while state-owned enterprises have crowded out private investors. Cer-tainly, the latter have good reason to seek better returns elsewhere.

At the same time, President Xi Jin-ping’s anticorruption drive has netted tens of thousands of party officials. Naturally, well-to-do Chinese are worried about being caught up in the dragnet even if innocent. They’re also just as concerned as anyone else about their children’s education and health. The demand for real estate abroad—according to one study, two-thirds of high-priced home sales in Vancouver involve Chinese buyers —is only going to grow. Scrutinizing bank payments more closely and tightening capital controls would help slow down out-flows. But just as businessmen discov-ered this new channel to move money offshore, they’re almost certain to find creative ways around any additional limits that are imposed.

The Chinese economy is groan-ing under massive overcapacity, with growth slowing and financial risks rising. Neither a cut in interest rates nor another stimulus package is going to relieve that long-term pessimism. Reform—including le-gal reform—may. If China’s leaders want to prevent capital from leaving the country, they’re going to have to address the reasons for the flight, not just erect roadblocks in its way.

BLOOMBERG VIEWLeonid Bershidsky

The session lasted for three hours and 41 minutes, short by the stan-dards of the last five events (the longest, in 2013, clocked in at 4:47). Putin showed up in the studio with-out a watch, seemingly prepared to answer questions from ordinary Russians—there were more than 3 million, according to the call center —for as long as necessary. 

Worried voters asked about high inflation caused by the ruble’s de-valuation caused by falling oil prices. Putin shrugged off the question. Prices would stabilize, he said, when the market filled with Russian-made goods. An activist in Siberia asked about damaged roads. Putin said it might help if funds allocated for road repairs on a regional level couldn’t be spent on anything else. A farmer asked if a ban on some foreign food imports could be extended, even if Western sanctions against Russia

are lifted. That wouldn’t fly under World Trade Organizations rules, Putin said. 

Two  entrepreneurs  asked Putin to do something about the harass-ment of business by all sorts of gov-ernment inspectors. “We’re working on this but such is the bureaucrats’ mentality,” Putin said. As he spoke, police raided the offices of IKEA out-side Moscow, and the FSB secret po-lice conducted searches at the offices of several companies belonging to the billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov’s Onexim Group.

Putin didn’t even take the bait when asked about geopolitical mat-ters, which yielded colorful answers in the previous two years’ appear-ances. Turkey was a friendly nation, Putin said, not even mentioning that nation’s president by name, as if he and his Turkish counterpart hadn’t become bitter enemies over

Russia’s intervention in Syria. Presi-dent Barack Obama was  “a decent man” unafraid to admit US foreign policy failures. What could he say about Ukraine’s new government headed by Volodymyr Hroisman, who was confirmed by parliament on Thursday? “Nothing,” Putin said. “I know nothing about him.”

Wasn’t Russia surrounded by enemies? “We are not finding our-selves and we won’t find ourselves within a hostile ring.”  Are accusa-tions that Russian athletes used meldonium, a banned drug, politi-cally motivated? “Probably not.” Even when a first-grader quoted her dad as saying that Putin was the only man capable of “overcoming America,” the Russian leader shook his head and said he wasn’t trying to overcome anyone, just to ensure that Russia developed steadily so it could feel “invulnerable.”

This was an uninspiring perfor-mance, with only rare glimpses of Putin’s streetwise sense of humor. Asked whether he would save Erdo-gan or Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko from drowning, the president replied, “If a man has de-cided to drown, he can’t be saved” —but that’s probably just because he couldn’t resist a soft ball.

Putin’s gray and boring style for most of the question and answer may have been intended as calming. He behaved as though Russia wasn’t in the throes of an economic crisis, having lost 3.7 percent of economic output last year, with expectations

of a continued recession, at least into 2017. The Kremlin propaganda ma-chine has spent years whipping citi-zens into a patriotic, anti-Western frenzy, but Putin appeared to keep away from that line. Instead, he tried to convey a sense of business-as-

usual, emphasizing the routine work to keep the huge country running despite some minor economic diffi-culties. The financial crisis of 2008 was much more serious, Putin said.

This was Putin as a calm and ex-perienced manager, not the inter-national rogue and adventurer he has portrayed as he waged wars in Ukraine and Syria, braving ostra-cism by Western leaders and the wariness of Asian ones. “Why do those people hate me?” his harmless manner seemed to ask. 

But Putin is anything but harm-less. Even in the midst of Thursday’s soporific performance, he threw in some fabricated factoids to back up his points. At one point, he said that Russia’s international reserves, at $388 billion, had returned to level of early 2014, even though they were more than $500 billion then. When asked, rather timidly, about the

Panama Papers and the revelations concerning the alleged offshore ac-counts of his friends, Putin said the newspaper that first received the enormous document cache, Germa-ny’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung, was owned by Goldman Sachs—hinting that the leak may have been organized by the US establishment to discredit him. The newspaper, however, belongs to Stuttgart-based Suedwestdeutsche Medien Holding, and isn’t owned by Goldman Sachs.

There has been an eerie discon-nect between Putin’s public perfor-mances and reality throughout his latest term in office. His enemies seemed to belong to an imaginary, paranoid world. His economic pro-nouncements and predictions—of oil bouncing back and  the ruble reversing its losses, for example— were wildly optimistic. And his lack of an economic plan made him seem uncharacteristically helpless or overconfident. 

The disconnect has reached its apogee. Putin is pretending that the stability he had created earlier had been maintained, despite the collapse of oil prices and the an-nexation of Crimea. He still has 82 percent popular support, according to polls. Judging by the questions Putin received, however, Russians don’t quite buy his line of goods. The September election may not be a cakewalk for Putin’s allies: 59 percent of Russian disapprove of the current parliament, which is dominated by his cronies.

PUTIN

CLINTON

Putin didn’t even take the bait when asked about geopolitical matters, which yielded colorful answers in the previous two years’ appearances. Turkey was a friendly nation, Putin said, not even mentioning that nation’s president by name, as if he and his Turkish counterpart hadn’t become bitter enemies over Russia’s intervention in Syria. President Barack Obama was “a decent man” unafraid to admit US foreign policy failures.

NewsBusinessMirror

A6 Saturday, April 16, 2016 • Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo

B M G P _enren

THE Philippines should take advantage of stable price of rice in the international

market and immediately import the 500,000 metric tons (MT) that it needs, an International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) expert said.

This, amid worries that another global food crisis similar to the situation in 2007 and 2008 could possibly occur again soon, owing to declining stocks in the world market.

“It is important for the Philippines to have adequate stocks. It is better to obtain the stocks early than late, particularly if prices are already moving up,” V. Bruce J. Tolentino, IRRI deputy director gen-eral for communication and partnerships, told the BusinessMirror.

However, National Food Authority (NFA) Administrator Renan B. Dalisay said there is no need to panic yet, considering that the price of rice in the world market is still lower than $400 per MT (reaching an average of $370.48 in March) and that the country’s inventory will still be sufficient until the lean months.

“We are monitoring the stocks and prices of rice in the world mar-ket daily. It’s always good to err on the side of caution, but there is no need to panic,” Dalisay said, adding that if the Philippines acts hastily, it might further agitate the already tense situation in the global market.

“It is the Philippines that is usually being watched, [as we are a major importer of rice.] Once we react, everyone else will follow. We do not want to cause panic and cause prices to shoot up,” he added.

But he said the agency is already preparing the groundwork for the procurement of rice so that the country would not be hit badly, if such crisis happens.

“We are already doing all the preparatory work so that in case more developments unfold, we will be able to quickly contract out the volume of rice we would need to import,” Dalisay explained.

He added that should the NFA monitor any wayward movements or behavior in world market prices, the agency should be swiftly prepared to import the 500,000 MT it is considering to procure.

Meanwhile, IRRI’s Social Science Division Head Samarendu Mohanty said in an interview the Philippines importing 500,000 MT of rice would not have an effect on the prices as of the moment.

“At this moment, there is rice available in the market. So if the Philippines decides to import 500,000 MT, there will be no impact,” Mohanty said.

Tolentino agreed, adding that 500,000 MT is not a huge volume that could affect the market. But if it gets bigger than this volume, he said it could cause prices to move up.

Despite the current stability in the rice market, Mohanty said rice-stock levels, particularly from the five major exporting coun-tries (India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan and the United State), have gone down significantly due to El Niño, causing a tight-supply situation in the rice market right now.

“The current El Niño has resulted in lower harvests and irregular planting across several rice-producing countries. Combined with lower stocks in a few key countries, emerging patterns in regional and global grain supply threaten the repeat of the painful rice price crisis in 2007 and 2008,” IRRI said in a statement.

Mohanty said the main cropping seasons (which will start in June) in the major rice producing areas—especially in India—would ultimately decide the future of the rice market.

“The Indian monsoon is the key to what happens to the mar-ket. If harvests during the wet season goes bad, then we may have a crisis,” he said. But good news has surfaced, he said, as the India Meteorological Department projected that monsoon rains in the country would be above average.

“It’s good news. But things can change. We still have two-and-a half months... The threat of a rice price crisis hangs in the air. It all depends on the monsoon,” Mohanty said.

Tolentino added that it would also depend if the drought worsens and affects the harvest of major rice exporters.

“What’s really crucial is that the drought does not worsen in the other parts of Asia, particularly Eastern India, Indonesia and Southern Vietnam. Those are the ones who are sufferring right now. It’s still mild but it can get worse. If it gets worse, then we have a problem,” he said.

The IRRI is calling for a joint action, particularly the Asean + 3 and India, to address or stop such a food crisis from happening.

According to the research institute, improvements in germplasm, agronomic technology and human capacity and three of the key ingredients, which will enable the region to respond effectively to food security crisis.

“New and improved germplasm must be combined with more effective agronomic and cultivation and management techniques to maximize their positive impact on food security. Across all rice-growing countries, extension workers and farmers must be taught ways on how they might extract the best results from new varieties through correct land preparation, water management, and plant nutrition and protection,” IRRI said.

The agency added that Asean plus Three and India should also invest in the Asean Rice Breeding Initiative (Arbi) and the Agricul-ture Innovations and Research and Development Fund (AIRDF).

The Arbi will be a “major, region-wide program of scientific work and capacity-building that will enable the entire region to achieve a rice-based, food -secure future,” according to IRRI.

It will complement Asean’s AIRDF, designed to “build a new gen-eration of Asean rice scientists,” particularly through IRRI’s Rice Science Academy.

IRRI expert: Time to import rice now

Ceres-La Salle takes onGlobal in UFL Cup final

LADY EAGLES EYE FINALS SLOT

SportsA7BusinessMirror Saturday, April 16, 2016mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph | sports@businessmirror.com.ph

JUST how good University of the Philippines (UP) has gone in Season 78 will be tested when the Lady Maroons square off with two-time defending

champion Ateneo Lady Eagles in the first of two Final Four clashes in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) women’s volleyball tournament. The UP-Ateneo clash is set at 4 p.m. at the Mall of Asia Arena. On Sunday, at the same time, the De La Salle Lady Archers and Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws take the floor in the other half of the semifinals. Ateneo is the top seed in the semifinals with 12 wins and two defeats, while De La Salle is No. 2 with an 11-3 card. Both enjoy a twice-to-beat advantage. The men’s Final Four also kick off on Saturday with reigning champion Ateneo, the top seed with a twice-to-beat advantage, taking on UP at 2 p.m. UP got a lock at the semifinals, thanks to De La Salle’s 25-14,

21-25, 25-19, 25-15 ousting of National University on Wednesday. Now the Lady Maroons are in the Final Four for the first time in 13 seasons. “We’ve gotten this far so why stop,” UP team captain Kathy Bersola, playing her first Final Four, told the BUSINESSMIRROR. Despite a tall order of toppling the defending champions advantage in the semifinals, Bersola stressed they are confident against the Lady Eagles whom they upset, 19-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-22, in their second round clash on March 6. “We beat them once in the elims and that wasn’t a joke. Pinaghirapan talaga namin ‘yun, so

hindi natin pwede sabihin na walang chance. Hindi porket two-time

champion sila,

hindi na namin sila kayang talunin,” Bersola said. “We’re going into the game confident and with a plan to beat them.” The Jerry Yee-coached squad banks heavily on Bersola and rookies Isa Molde and Diana Carlos, including veterans Nicole Tiamzon and Marian Buitre. But Ateneo wouldn’t want to waste its twice-to-beat incentive, especially two-time UAAP Most Valuable Player Alyssa Valdez, who is playing her farewell season. “It’s really a bonus for us being at the top after the eliminations pero syempre, marami ring responsibilities,” Valdez said. Lance Agcaoili

» ATENEO superstar Alyssa Valdez, seen here beating the defense of De La Salle’s Mika Reyes (3) and Cid Demecillo (18) in their last match, is again expected to mesmerize in the Final Four. STEPHANIE TUMAMPOS

COMPETITION manager Raul Samson (center) addresses Thursday’s press conference for this weekend’s competitions. With Samson are Asian Taekwondo Federation Secretary-General Yi Bong (left) and President Lee Kyu Seol.

ROY DOMINGO

FOUR Filipinos, led by Singapore 2015 Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Samuel Morrison, seek Rio Olympics berths

as the two-day Asian Taekwondo Qualification Tournament kicks off on Saturday at the Marriott Hotel Grand Ballroom in Pasay City. Morrison fights in the men’s -80 kilograms with the hope of towing his teammates—Pauline Louise Lopez (-57 kg), Filipino-American Kristopher Robert Uy (+80 kg) and Kirstie Elaine Alora (+67 kg)—to earning berths in Rio in August. Only the champion and silver medalist will

advance to the Olympics. A total of 150 jins from Iran, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Japan, Iraq, Bahrain, Uzbekistan, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Yemen are competing in the event sponsored by Smart, PLDT, Meralco and MVP Sports Foundation, and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee.  “There’s no other better chance for us but to do it here in front of our hometown crowd,” Philippine Taekwondo Association National Training Director Igor Mella told the BUSINESSMIRROR during a press briefing on

Thursday at the Hub of the Marriott Hotel. Mella said it will be a “do-or-die situation” for the Philippines, which failed to qualify a jin in the London 2012 Olympics.  “We prepared well for this. The mission is clear to earn tickets to Rio,” Mella said. The tournament is the last chance for Asian jins to qualify for the Olympics. The Asian Taekwondo Poomsae and Asian Para Taekwondo Open, meanwhile, unfurls on Monday, while the Asian Taekwondo Champion-ships (kyorugi) free sparring is set on Tuesday and Wednesday. Ramon Rafael Bonilla

MORRISON LEADS PINOYS’ CHARGE

JAMYLA LAMBUNAO, the country’s top junior memory athlete, placed first in four of 10 events and finished second in the juniors division at

the  Germany Memory XL Open Championship held recently in Lubeck, Germany. Lambunao, a 14-year-old student at Saint Scholastica’s Academy Marikina who holds a title of International Master of Memory, topped the Spoken Numbers, Speed Numbers, Binary Digits and Speed Cards events in the junior category. The highlight of her performance includes being able to memorize and perfectly recall the order of 224 randomly written digits in five minutes, 510 binary digits in five minutes, a complete shuffled deck of playing cards in 56.03 seconds and 87 spoken numbers en route to bagging the silver medal in the juniors division. Lambunao also placed second in Names and Faces, Historic Dates, 10-Minute Playing Cards, Abstract Images, 15-Minute Marathon Numbers and Random Words. She wound up sixth overall. Germans Tobias Achleitner and Anne Reulke topped the Kids and Junior divisions, respectively. Soren Damtoft of Denmark ruled the Senior Citizen’s Category and former World Memory champion Johannes Mallow of Germany emerged overall titlist.

LIMOS SWEEPS SPRINTS O’TOOLE

TAKESCHARGEAMERICAN John Michael O’Toole held up a bit

after a hot 61 at the resumption of his second round stint but his 3-under 68 proved enough

to shove him to the lead as the erstwhile front-runners tumbled with faltering finishes in the topsy-turvy

third round of the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Manila Southwoods Championship

Asian Developmental Tour (ADT) at the Legends course in Carmona, Cavite, on Friday.

O’Toole birdied the last two holes at the completion of his weather-delayed second round to join fellow American John Jackson, Filipino Mhark Fernando and Thai Pijit Petchkasem at

second behind Malaysian Gavin Green. But the winner of ADT’s PGM Clearwater Masters in Malaysian in February took charge at

13-under 200, as Jackson carded a 72 and dropped to joint ninth at 204 and Fernando fumbled with a 73 fell to a share of 12th at 205.

Petchkasem did cling to joint second with a gutsy 69 for a 201, the same output put in by Thai Suradit Yongcharoenchai, who gunned down four birdies at the back for a 66.

But while Fernando failed to sustain a bogey-free stint after 45 holes and dropped out of the top 10, rookie pro Jobim Carlos took

the cudgels for the local bets with a 5-under 66 to move up to solo fourth at 202.

“I’m happy with the way I’ve been playing after Coach Carito

[Villaroman] made some adjustments on my swing after I missed the cut at Luisita,” said Carlos, who shot a 67 and 69 in the first two rounds, but only got into the mix with a 33 start. “But I have to be consistent, especially with my chipping and putting to stay in the contention.” Just two off the pace, Carlos, one of the best players to have come out of the ranks, is very much in the thick of things, so does Keanu Jahns, who rattled off six birdies at the front before slowing down with a bogey-birdie stint at the back. But his 65 put Jahns in joint fifth at 203 with Poom Saksansin and Donlaphatchai Niyomchon of Thailand, who shot 66 and 67, respectively, and Green, who fended off his pursuers’ attack with a solid 32 at the front but fell back with a closing 40 marred by a double bogey and three bogeys for a 72. That guarantees a wide, open battle for the top $10,500 purse in the $60,000 event, sponsored by ICTSI, with just three strokes separating eight players, three just four back and five more five shots behind, strokes that could be gained or lost at any given time on the bunker-laden layout.

KOREA’S Tom Kim pulled through in a day of soaring scores, carding a five-over 77 and edging Ryan Monsalve by two to snare the boys’ crown, while Yuka Saso ripped the girls’ field with a closing 65 in

the Philippine Junior Amateur Open Golf Championship (Strokeplay) at the Sherwood Hills Golf Club in Trece Martires, Cavite, on Friday. Kim, who yielded a three-stroke lead halfway through and fell by three to Monsalve with a 78 on on Thursday, pounced on his rival’s meltdown in tough conditions and coasted to the win despite a 37-40 output for a 298. Monsalve, who looked headed for a big win after matching par-72 and wresting control in the third round, actually held his ground in the early going but failed to check his skid after a double-bogey-bogey-par-bogey stint from No. 5. He dropped six more strokes at the back and ended up without a birdie to show for a 10-over 82 and a 300. Ira Alida turned in the day’s best 73 but had just too many strokes to recover after three rounds and settled for third at 301, while Lanz Uy shot a 78 and wound up fourth at 306 and Dan Emilio Cruz pooled a 314 after a 76 for fifth in the event, sponsored by the MVP Sports Foundation, Smart, PLDT and Metro Pacific Investments Corp., and hosted by Sherwood Hills Golf Club. But while Kim, playing out of Riviera, completed a come-from-behind win, Saso never gave her rivals a chance to rebound, putting on a backside show of 6-under 30, including four straight birdies to close out her stirring 65. That gave the national team mainstay a 72-hole total of 276 and a whopping 12-stroke victory over first round leader and veteran internationalist Harmie Constantino.

Kim snares boys’ title;Saso claims girls’ tiara

Lambunaobest performer

» CAGAYAN Valley’s Cherry Mae Banatao (above) clinches the girls’ secondary high jump gold medal, and so does National Capital Region’s (NCR) Francis Obiena in secondary boys’ pole vault. NCR’s Ancilla Marie Manzano (at left), on the other hand, poses with her four gold and two silver medals in elementary gymnastics.

NONOY LACZA

B J O 

LEGAZPI CITY—Samantha Gem Limos cemented her status as the fastest girl; Mea Gey Ninura proved she is the future of middle-distance running; the National Capital Region (NCR) virtually snatched the overall championship

anew; and the 2016 Palarong Pambansa was rocked with another accident on Friday. The 13-year-old Limos made it a golden double after winning the secondary girls’ 200 meters, as records fell on the final day of the athletics competitions at the Albay Sports and Tourism Complex. The incoming Grade 8 student at University of Cebu clocked 25.55 seconds to bag her second gold in athletics after the 100 meters two days ago. “Unexpected po dahil nag-second lang ako sa trials,” said Limos, referring to her 26.2 time in the heat topped by Jessel Lumapas of Calabarzon. “Kaya masayang-masaya po ako dahil first time ko sa secondary at two gold medals ang nakuha ko.” Lumapas (25.83) settled for the bronze medal, while Lejany Salafania of Western Visayas took the silver medal with 25.80 seconds. Limos said she could have performed better if not for a two-week lull in her training heading to the Palaro. “Nagkaroon po ako ng beke [mumps] noong February, tapos one week din napahinga dahil sa fever kaya two weeks akong walang training,” added Limos, who is being recruited by Saint Francis of Assisi College in Las PIñas City. The Big City athletes continued to pull away in the overall medal standings with 66 gold, 36 silver and 28 bronze medals as of mid-Friday, followed by Calabarzon (30-24-33), Western Visayas (28-25-25) and Northern Mindanao (20-18-31).

The curtains will roll down on Saturday for the Albay Palaro which was struck with a second accident late Thursday when a giant coron, a concrete pot that serves as the games’ cauldron for the symbolic flame, exploded because of overheating. Three people were injured but were out of danger. They suffered minor injuries. Earlier in the week, a special athlete was electrocuted when he touched a steel railing of a Jollibee food truck. She was also declared out of danger. The NCR bets drew strength from  swimming (22 golds), gymnastics (17) and taekwondo (12) to move closer to a 12th straight overall title. Davao Region’s Ninura, meanwhile, shattered another record late Thursday, erasing the old standard in the 1,500 meters set by Jie Ann Calis in 2014 in Santa Cruz, Laguna. The 16-year-old Ninura clocked 4:39.46 seconds and easily erased the 4:44.4 mark of Northern Mindanao’s Calis. Calis failed to defend her title and settled for silver with 4:42.81, her new personal best. Central Visayas’s Jocelyn Cayetano (4:52.67) took the bronze. It was Ninura’s second record-breaking gold-medal performance after the 3,000 meters on Monday. Sharing the limelight were Angel Ann Pranisa of Negros Island Region, Cherry Mae

Banatao of Cagayan Valley, Francis Edward Obiena of NCR and the secondary girls 4x100-relay team of Eastern Visayas. Pranisa erased an eight-year-old record in elementary girls 200 meters with 26.15 seconds, topping the previous 26.7 mark set by NCR’s Maureen Emily Schrijvers in 2008 in Puerto Princesa City. Obiena set a new mark in secondary boys pole vault,

registering 4.06 meters to erase the 4.05 meters of NCR’s Francisco Valdecanas he set in 2010. The Eastern Visayas relay team, composed of

Lenlyn Sanita, Lealyn Sanita, Justine Mae Catindoy and Gemmalyn Pino, also set a new record in the 4x100-meter relay with a tile of 3:56.43 seconds, topping the 4:01.60 mark of Calabarzon in 2002.

CERES-LA SALLE and Global FC square off in a no-tomorrow showdown

for the United Football League (UFL) Cup 2016 title on Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium. The winner-take-all finals match is set at 8:15 p.m. after the battle for third place between Kaya FC and Stallion FC at 5:15 p.m. The plate finals between JP Voltes and Loyola Meralco Sparks will be played at 2:15 p.m. Fresh from taking the top spot in Group E of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup after a 2-1 triumph over Tampines Rovers of Singapore at Panaad Stadium on Tuesday, Ceres now sets its sights for its second UFL  title. “It’s going to be a toe-to-toe battle, but it will go down to momentum and how a team works on that momentum,” Ceres-La Salle Coach Frank Muescan said. “Our schedule has been tight, but we’re doing well, so we just have to continue. We have a positive outlook.” Global, suspended last year because of player eligibility issue, tries to become the most successful club in the league as it tries to add one more trophy to its two championships. “The motivation is that we want to beat Ceres, which we consider our biggest rival,” Global Coach Leigh Manson said. “The games between Global and Ceres have always been close. But we’re confident that we can give Ceres a good game and I’ve always believed in my players.” Global dealt Ceres-La Salle its only loss in the tournament, 2-1, on March 3. Striker Omid Nazari is now cleared for Global after a one-game suspension. The winner a berth for next year’s AFC Cup.

Lance Agcaoili

TURNING THE PAGESportsBusinessMirror

A8 | SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2016mirror_sports@yahoo.com.phsports@businessmirror.com.phEditor: Jun LomibaoAsst. Editor: Joel Orellana

TURNING THE PAGESports

The assumption is that the Lakers will rely on

their young nucleus of rookie D’Angelo

Russell and second-year players Julius

Randle and Jordan Clarkson. The Lakers’

staff also likes the progress Larry Nance

Jr. and Anthony Brown made in their rookie

seasons.

MONACO—Rafael Nadal was prepared for pain. Roger Federer hoped to avoid pain. They got what they wished for and reached the

Monte Carlo Masters quarterfinals on Thursday. Eight-time champion Nadal saved 15-of-17 break points, scampering all over the clay to retrieve big forehands from Dominic Thiem and beat the Austrian, 7-5, 6-3. Thiem beat Nadal in the semifinals in Buenos Aires en route to the title, the first of two on clay in February. Thiem has the second-most wins on the tour this year, after Novak Djokovic. He made Nadal run and run. “I never gave up in all these tough moments,” Nadal said. “You need matches like this. You need to suffer on court.” Federer was equally pleased to feel no pain in his left knee, two months after arthroscopic surgery for torn cartilage. In his second match since, Federer was unscathed in easing past Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain, 6-2, 6-4, for a fifth straight time. “I’m happy how the body is, that I was able to play two matches already here, and get a chance to play a third,” Federer said. “I’m getting closer to the peak in the sense of maximum movement.”

Federer next faces Jo Wilfried Tsonga in the last eight, leading the Frenchman, 11-5, in head-to-heads. “I like his game. I like his power, his capacity to move forward with his forehand,” Federer said of Tsonga. “I’ve seen wonderful matches of him against the best players, and also against me.” Elsewhere, Andy Murray rallied from a set and 3-0 down to advance along with Stan Wawrinka, the only other former champion left in the field beside Nadal. Nadal faced 16 of the 17 break points against Thiem in the first set. At 4-4, and with each player having dropped serve once, Thiem missed six chances to break Nadal. On the last one, Thiem let a lob go thinking it was going out, and watched it land in. The Spaniard clenched his fist after holding that tough game, and then broke Thiem when the Austrian double-faulted on set point. “Some of the break points he played very well so I didn’t have a chance, but there were also some where I really had some easy shots,” said Thiem, who converted only one of 16 chances on Djokovic’s serve in the third round of the Miami Masters two weeks

ago. “Of course, it’s very frustrating.” After Thiem broke Nadal to love in the third game of the second set for a 2-1 lead, Nadal quickly regained momentum and broke Thiem twice more to set up a quarterfinal against Wawrinka, the 2014 champion. “If you look at the past year, we can see his level has slightly decreased,” Wawrinka, the French Open champion, said of 14-time Grand Slam winner Nadal. “But a champion like him is still able to win big titles.” Murray was relieved to scrape past an erratic Benoit Paire of France, 2-6, 7-5, 7-5. “To win when you’re not playing particularly well, it’s a great effort,” Murray said. “It would have been easy to lose today and get down on myself. But I kept fighting.” Paire had 47 winners among a number of eye-catching shots, but the Frenchman also made 52 unforced errors. He had eight aces and seven double-faults. Paire also lost his composure at key moments, double-faulting when serving for the match and again on match point. “He played a bad game at 3-0 in the second to give me one of the breaks back,” Murray said. “I felt like I was in with a chance then.” AP

B B TLos Angeles Times

 

LOS ANGELES—One day after Kobe Bryant capped his 20-year career, the Los Angeles Lakers had their exit interviews with the team’s brass on Thursday, as the franchise began to turn the page and decide which of

its players will be part of a major rebuilding process. The assumption is that the Lakers will rely on their young nucleus of rookie D’Angelo Russell and second-year players Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson. The Lakers’ staff also likes the progress Larry Nance Jr. and Anthony Brown made in their rookie seasons. Now that group has to take the next step, which is something Bryant suggested to the youngsters, telling them after Wednesday’s season finale that they all need to work together to improve. “I think after this year, we kind of see we have to do it together,” Randle said on Thursday. “I don’t think talent around here and on this team is an issue. It’s just about finding the chemistry and playing for each other and not playing for ourselves.” Russell was the second overall pick in the draft and his rookie season was wildly up and down. He opened the season as a starter, only to be

» KOBE BRYANT tells the young Lakers after his

season finale on Wednesday that they all need to work

together to improve. AP

EIGHT-TIME champion Rafael Nadal saves 15

of 17 break points, scampering all over the clay to retrieve big forehands from Dominic Thiem and

beats the Austrian, 7-5, 6-3. AP

and halting practice for 20 minutes. Pirelli posted on Twitter that Massa’s tire problems were not caused by a puncture, but rather “technical trouble.” There was no immediate word on the cause of Magnussen’s problems. Even Mercedes was not immune from trouble. Hamilton spun twice at the same corner, telling his team over the radio, “I keep having this locking into Turn 11.” And Rosberg was forced to end his session early when he encountered a possible engine issue. AP

Rosberg sets fastest time in practice

they all need to work together to improve.“I think after this year, we kind of see we have

to do it together,” Randle said on Thursday. “I don’t think talent around here and on this team is an issue. It’s just about finding the chemistry and playing for each other and not playing for ourselves.”each other and not playing for ourselves.”

Russell was the second overall pick in the draft and his rookie season was wildly up and down.

He opened the season as a starter, only to be

EIGHT-TIME champion Rafael Nadal saves 15

of 17 break points, scampering all over the clay to retrieve big forehands from Dominic Thiem and

beats the Austrian, 7-5, 6-3. AP

and halting practice for 20 minutes.Pirelli posted on Twitter that

Massa’s tire problems were not caused by a puncture, but rather “technical trouble.”

There was no immediate word on the cause of Magnussen’s problems.

Even Mercedes was not immune from trouble. Hamilton spun twice at the same corner, telling his team over the radio, “I keep having this locking into Turn 11.” And Rosberg was forced to end his session early when he encountered a possible engine issue. AP

Rosberg sets fastest time in practiceRosberg sets fastest time in practice

benched by Coach Byron Scott and later went back to starting again. Russell was also involved in a major story off the court when he secretly recorded teammate Nick Young talking about women who were not his fiancée in a video shot earlier this year and leaked to a gossip site this month. The incident left Russell in a bind with his teammates and other players around the National Basketball Association. Through it all, the 20-year-old Russell said he has grown. “Everybody was just thrown into a pot and expecting gold to come out,” said Russell, who plans on playing in the summer league. “We struggled all year trying to figure out roles, just what guys could do. I feel just like it was the warm-up, and I feel like next year we’ll have a better taste of what guys are capable of.” Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak and Scott met with players at their practice facility to give them input on the expectations for next season after the team had a franchise-worst 17-65 record. Clarkson is one of the building blocks, but he’ll be a restricted free agent looking for a big pay raise from the $845,000 he made this season. “I feel confident that I’ll be back here,” Clarkson said. “I want to be here.” Veterans Roy Hibbert, Metta World Peace,

Ryan Kelly and Robert Sacre aren’t as

confident that they’ll return. After the video incident, Russell said he had to apologize to regain his teammates’ trust. On Thursday Russell said he wished he had not made that statement, because “I don’t feel like I lost my teammates’ trust.” “I feel like my teammates have been very supportive,” Russell added. “And Kobe has done a great job of being there for me. I don’t feel like it affected me the way I carried myself.” As for Young, who has two years left on his contract for $11.1 million, he sounded resigned to not being with the Lakers next season. “I just want to play basketball again,” Young said. “I just want to enjoy getting out there and playing the game I love. I know the Lakers are going to make decisions for the Lakers.” Young added, this season was a “tough one” professionally and personally. “I’m glad this season is over. Now I get to go and unwind and clear my head and just have fun,” he said.

NADAL REACHES QUARTERSNADAL REACHES QUARTERSNADAL REACHES QUARTERSNADAL REACHES QUARTERSNADAL REACHES QUARTERSNADAL REACHES QUARTERS

SHANGHAI—Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton set the early pace at the Chinese Grand Prix on Friday with the fastest

times in a start-and-stop practice session beset by a number of tire problems. Rosberg had the quickest lap time at one minute and 38.037 seconds, just ahead of his teammate, Hamilton, at 1:38.183. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel had the third-fastest time of the session, a full half-second behind Hamilton. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top 5. It was a frustrating session for Williams driver Felipe Massa and Renault’s Kevin Magnussen, both of whom experienced tire issues that prevented them from setting a time. Massa’s left rear tire came off the rim as he was going into Turn 5, causing him to spin across the track and come to a stop on the shoulder. When he returned a short while later, he encountered another problem with the same tire and was forced to stop again. Magnussen’s left rear tire blew out on the back straight toward the end of the session, bringing the red flag out as debris was cleared from the track