the standard - 2015 may 30 - saturday

VOL. XXIX NO. 102 2 Sections 24 Pages P18 SATURDAY : MAY 30, 2015 www.manilastandardtoday.com [email protected]

In happier times. Vice President Jejomar Binay greets Senator Grace Poe at Manila’s North Cemetery last December, during the 10th anniversary of the death of Poe’s father, the actor Fernando Poe Jr. DANNY PATA

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In happier times. Vice President Jejomar Binay greets Senator Grace Poe at Manila’s North Cemetery last December, during the 10th anniversary of the death of Poe’s father, the actor Fernando Poe Jr. DANNY PATA

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POE SAYSEVIDENCEVS BINAYSTRONG

A16 A11

Abas mustresign fromComelec

MeralcoextendsElite’s woes

A3 A4Senate sets2nd deadlineto pass BBL

Noy declaresPH readyfor K-12

Poe: Enough evidencefor Binay plunder rap

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Poe was among the four signa-tories to the draft partial report which also suggested the filing of similar charges against the Vice President’s son, Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay and others, including former and incumbent Makati City officials.

“I have read the subcommittee recommendation and found the same supported by documentary evidence as well as expert and personal testimonies that remain unrebutted by competent evi-dence to the contrary,” said Poe in a text message to reporters.

Poe said she did not have sec-ond thoughts in signing the re-port because it was clear from the over 20 hearings that those in-volved were all liable and should be held accountable.

“As in the PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund)

inquiry, I join my colleagues in seeking further investigation by the Ombudsman of the matter and the consequent filing of the appropriate criminal complaint which in this instance appears to be plunder,” further read the text message.

In a radio interview over dzMM Friday night, Poe said she believed that an infraction was committed. “It’s difficult to believe that it was just a mistake because there was an overprice worth P1 billion,” she said in Filipino.

“I believe this is a very important issue in our country. We need to give an example to our people, whether you are in a position or not-- that we are all equal before the law. And most of all, whether you are a friend or a member of the family... one’s ut-most goal should be geared towards

loyalty to the people who voted for you,” said Poe.

She said she still thought of herself as a friend of the Binays, though they might not feel the same.

She said it was hard for her be-cause the Binays had been loyal to her late father, movie star and failed presidential candidate Fern-ando Poe Jr.

Poe declined to say if she thought Binay was an honest leader, saying it was the wrong time to ask her since she had just signed the com-mittee report against him.

“I know there is a need for loy-alty, but one should also have the courage if one is in the govern-ment,” Poe said.

Poe said she would definitely slug it out with Binay if she decides to seek the presidency.

The Vice President admitted Poe was among the candidates being considered in the UNA (United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) presi-dential slate.

UNA interm secretary general JV Bautista on Thursday warned Poe she would be running with the “tormentors and cheaters” of her late father if she joins the Liberal Party slate.

But Poe took a swipe at Bautista,

saying he should think first before speaking because they have many allies who were the most involved in cheating his late father.

Poe said if she seeks higher of-fice in 2016, she would not team up with Binay.

In a phone interview, however, UNA interim president Toby Tiang-co said Binay never said he was get-ting Poe as his running mate.

“He never said he wanted some-body to be his running mate be-cause he will not say that. There is a search committee tasked to look for a candidate who will run in tandem with him,” Tiangco said.

Tiangco said Binay had set two criteria for his prospective running mate--- one who will work and one who will attend to the poor to al-leviate their standard of living.

Tiangco said the UNA objected to the findings of the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee, which he said was based on lies.

He also said the Senate probe, supposed to be in aid of legislation, was motivated by the desire of some senators to destroy the Vice President.

On Thursday, Bautista said the draft report would probably have the “weight of a toilet paper.”

K-to-12 launching. President Benigno Aquino III addresses government officials at the Philippine International Convention Center to mark the start of the K-to-12 Program. Malacañang Photo Bureau

Grace’ssigningmakes VP sadBy Vito Barcelo and Macon Ramos-Araneta

VICE President Jejomar Binay was saddened by Senator Grace Poe’s decision to sign the Blue Ribbon subcommittee report rec-ommending the filing of plunder charges against him, his spokes-man said Friday.

In a statement, Binay’s spokes-man for political concerns, Rico Quicho, said that Poe should have taken the time to read the sworn statement submitted by the Vice President that was ignored by the subcommittee.

“The Vice President is sad be-cause it looks like Senator Poe is taking the side of the senators who have been on a witch hunt against him and his family and who are bullying innocent people,” Quicho said in Filipino. “We wish she had taken the time to read the Vice President’s affidavit that the sub-committee disregarded.”

In the affidavit, Binay explained why the accusations against him and his family were baseless, Qui-cho said.

Accusations against government officials must be based on credible evidence, not from perjured or pol-luted sources, he added.

“Plunder is a serious charge which must be fully established based on facts and prevailing ju-risprudence before requiring an impeachable official like the Vice President to explain his inno-cence,” he said.

“Otherwise, this one-sided in-quisition does nothing but pro-mote trial by publicity that direct-ly undermines the constitutional rights to due process and brushed aside the presumption of inno-cence. It highlights the senators’ lack of respect for the rule of law,” he added.

“The Vice President remains fo-cused on the task at hand. The biased report of the Senate only makes him more determined to fight for pro-poor policies especially in the areas of universal health care, quality edu-cation and better job opportunities for all. The focus of the upcoming elections should shift from person-alities and mudslinging to executive experience and one’s readiness for the job,” Quicho said.

The Binay camp also said the subcommittee was wrong in say-ing that the Vice President did not reply to the allegations of over-pricing in the construction of the Makati City Hall Building II.

“Vice President Binay submit-ted a notarized affidavit to the subcommittee on Nov. 6, 2014, de-bunking and answering point per point the allegations of his politi-cal opponents. But of course, and as expected, the senators ignored it,” Quicho said.

“It is a validation of our position that the Senate has, from the very start, already prejudged the issue. They have made up their minds even before the hearing started and will not listen, tolerate, or en-tertain statements and facts con-tradicting them,” he added.

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

SENATOR Grace Poe said Friday there is enough evidence to support the Blue Ribbon subcommittee’s recommendation to file plunder charges against Vice President Jejomar Binay over the alleged P2.7 billion overpricing of the Makati City Hall parking building.

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Drilon: BBL passage delayed

US missile cruiser sets Subic visitThe Ticonderoga-class guid-ed missile cruiser USS Shiloh (CG-67) is set to arrive in Subic Bay over weekend for a port visit as part of an ongo-ing patrol in the Pacific theat-er, the United States embassy said on Friday.

The embassy said the rou-tine port visit will permit the ship to replenish supplies, strengthen people-to-people ties through community outreach and will afford the approximately 360-person crew, of which 31 are Filipi-no-Americans, the oppor-tunity to briefly experience Filipino culture.

The cruiser, currently commander by Captain Ku-

rush Morris, was named for the Battle of Shiloh during the American Civil War and is capable of facing threats in the air, at sea or shore.

The warship is also capable of employing two Sh-60 Sea-hawk multi-purpose helicop-ters, used primarily for anti-submarine warfare.

The USS Shiloh is part of the forward-deployed Naval Forces of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, the unified combat command responsible for the overall stability of the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.

Meanwhile , the U.S. embassy also announced its support for 30 outstand-ing youth leaders, aged 18

to 23, from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao to attend the culminating Sea and earth Advocates (SeA) Camp in Coron, Palawan from June 10-14, 2015.

The ten representatives from each region were cho-sen based on the marine and coastal conservation project proposals they pitched to a panel of mentors at the end of each regional SeA Camp.

The Luzon SeA Camp was held in Calatagan, Batangas from April 15-21; the Visa-yas SeA Camp in Siaton, Negros Oriental from April 27-May 3; and the Mind-anao SeA Camp in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi from May 9-15.

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

SENATE President Frank-lin Drilon said he will push to have the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) passed be-fore October, if they cannot meet the June deadline set by the Palace.

In a roundtable discussion with the Business Mirror, dwIZ and CNN Philippines, Drilon said he was not op-timistic that they could hit the June 11 target just before Congress adjourns.

“even if we pass our version of the bill, we still go to bicam. So that is where we are,” Drilon said.

Drilon said he does not know if Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., chair-man of the Senate local government committee, meet the June deadline, since he has yet to finish his panel’s public hearings on the BBL.

Marcos has scheduled hearings for June 2 and 3 to hear from key government agencies and the local government units in the core areas of the proposed Bangsamoro region and its adjacent areas.

Drilon said if it becomes clear that the Marcos committee will miss the June deadline, he would talk to him about the possibility of passing the bill before October, when those run-ning for office in 2016 must file their certificates of candidacy.

“If we do not have a law passed by that time, then the ARMM (Auton-omous Region in Muslim Mindan-ao) would have to be governed by the existing charter, which obviously we want to change... That’s why we have to go back and see what we can do.

Marcos, who has questioned the need to rush the BBL, has said he could not commit to a June dead-line because it was more important to pass a good law than to meet the administration’s political deadline.

On Friday, Marcos said no serious study on the impact of the BBL on business and the economy has been conducted.

he added that it was unclear if the government has been able to assess the impact of a possible labor diaspora.

he said there was also no study on the capacity of local government units to absorb the changes in the Mindanao market or even the busi-ness and credit implications of Is-lamic finance and banking in the affected areas.

Aquino seeks better security ties with JapanBy Sandy Araneta

PReSIDeNT Benigno Aquino III will seek stronger security ties and enhance bilateral relations with Japan during his state visit to that country next week, the Depart-ment of Foreign Affairs said Friday.

Assistant Secretary Minda Cruz said they also expected Aquino to discuss the dispute between the Phil-ippines and China over the South China Sea during his visit from June 2 to 5.

“It will really be a focus on what has been happening from our side what has been or how the Philip-

pines has been developing over the years,” Cruz said.

She said the Philippines and Ja-pan had been cooperating on many regional issues especially regional security issues to maintain stability in the region.

“Both [countries] put impor-tance in the freedom of navigation, the observance of international law particularly the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas and free trade, the movement of free trade,” Cruz said.

“So these are all principles that are commonly shared by the Philippines and Japan. The visit will further en-

hance these relations between the Philippines and Japan.”

Aquino will be welcomed by the emperor Akihito and empress Michiko at the Imperial Palace in To-kyo for the welcome ceremony. The emperor and empress will also host a state banquet in honor of Aquino.

Aquino will also meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss their nations’ strategic partnership and address the Diet. he will also meet Japanese businessmen to invite them to invest in the Philippines and then interact with the Filipino commu-nity in Japan.

“The visit is taking place in an aus-

picious time when we are to celebrate the 60 years of diplomatic relations between our two countries,” Cruz said.

“We look at this visit as a very im-portant visit.”

Cruz said this wouyld be the first time that Aquino will be address-ing the Diet, Japan’s bicameral leg-islature composed of a lower house called the house of Representatives and an upper house called the house of Councilors.

Both houses of the Diet are di-rectly elected under a parallel voting system. In addition to passing laws, the Diet is responsible for selecting the Prime Minister.

New fire trucks. Officials of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines had their newly acquired fire trucks blessed at the CAAP grounds on Friday. ERic Apolonio

New project. Interior Secretary Manuel Rozas III and Acting Police Chief Leonardo Espina view a CCTV monitor during the launching of Project SAFE KAM in Pasay City. lino SAntoS

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Aquino: PH ready for K-12

After several years, congressmen ready to debate FOI bill By Maricel V. CruzTHE Freedom of Information bill will soon be tackled in the plenary of the House of Representatives, as the authors of the measure have expressed hope that the measure that Congress will work double time to have it passed before Congress ad-journs on June 11.

Parañaque Rep. Gus Tambunting, one of the principal authors of the measure, said that there is no way the Lower House will again sit on House Bill 5801, or “An Act Strengthening the Right of Citizens to Information Held by the Government,” after it was transmitted to the committee on rules, which will calendar it for plenary debates.

“Congress has to put in place this sig-nificant piece of legislation that promotes transparency in all government transac-

tions,” Tambunting, member for the ma-jority bloc of the House committee on pub-lic information, said.

Tambunting added that the FOI bill “will help curb anomalous issues that we are confronted with today.”

Even House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. threw his support behind the proposed transparency measure.

“I am for it,” Belmonte said.Misamis Occidemtal Rep. Jorge Al-

momte, chairman of the House committee on public information, said he will con-vince the House leadership to sustain its drive to pass the measure before Congress adjourns sine die on June 11.

“I know it won’t take a miracle to pass this bill,” Almonte said at a news confer-ence.

The FOI bill, if passed into law, will allow access to public documents, such

as the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth, or SALN, of public of-ficials.

Reps. Teddy Baguilat Jr. of Ifugao and Ibarra Gutierrez of Akbayan party-list, in-sisted that all government documents and records that are of public interest, includ-ing the SALNs, should be easily made ac-cessible to the public.

Gutierrez added public interests records concerning the particular agencies are also required to be published regularly on their websites.

Baguilat, for his part, said the FOI bill will set a “single and clear guideline” to government agencies with regard to public documents, such as the SALNs.

The Lower House is having a hard time passing the FOI bill because several law-makers are batting for the inclusion of the RoR provision in the FOI bill.

The RoR requires the media to allot newspaper spaces or air time for the reply of individuals who were allegedly aggrieved for being subjects of news stories.

The bill defines information as “any record, document, paper, report, letters, contract, minutes and transcripts of offi-cial meetings, maps, books, photographs, data, research material, film, sound and video recordings, magnetic or other tapes, electronic data, computer stored data, or any other like or similar data or material recorded, stored or archived in whatever form or format, which are made, received or kept in or under the control and custo-dy of any government agency pursuant to law, executive order, rules and regulations, ordinance or in connection with the per-formance or transaction of official busi-ness by any government agency.”

PRESIDENT Benigno S. Aquino III on Friday declared that the country is ready for the implementation of the K to 12 Basic Education Program, an educational system used world-wide.

The K to 12 program, which adds two years to the present 10-year basic educa-tion program, has been widely criticized but the President believes that under it, students will learn more and enhance their skills.

Aquino made the pledge during the “Sa K to 12, Kayang-Kaya, Sama-Sama” event hosted by the Department of Education at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

An estimated crowd of 3,500, compris-ing of government officials, representatives of the private sector, parents and students, were present to witness the President affix his signature to the Commitment Wall, a symbolic act to celebrate the administra-tion’s commitment to continuously im-prove the state of the country’s basic edu-cation sector.

He noted that the Philippines is the only country in Asia and one of only three countries in the world – the other two be-ing Angola and Djibouti in Africa – with a 10-year basic education.

Aquino said the people should look at the K to 12 program as a chance to improve the country’s educational system, instead of considering it a burden.

Also present at the event were Austral-ian Ambassador to the Philippines Bill Tweddell, Education Secretary Armin Luistro, Social Welfare and Develop-ment Secretary Dinky Soliman, Techni-cal Education and Skills Development Authority Director General Jose Vil-lanueva, and National Youth Commis-sion Commissioner Jose Sixto “Ding-dong” Dantes III.

Those who gave testimonials on the importance of the K to 12 program were Arien Lein Ibardo, an incoming Grade 10 student at Dona Rosario High School in Quezon City; Rowen Dizon, a parent of a senior high school student in Pinyahan, Quezon City; Gina Obierna, a Grade 2 ad-viser at the Don Alejandro Roces Sr. Sci-ence Technology High School; and Love Basillote, executive director of the Philip-pine Business for Education, which is the business community’s response to the need for consensus and sustained advo-cacy in education reform.

The K to 12 Program covers Kindergar-ten and 12 years of basic education -- six years of primary education, four years of Junior High School, and two years of Sen-ior High School.

Teachers slam training venuesBy John Polo BencitoON THE second anniversary on one of the administration’s “greatest reform program”, teacher group Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) and other militant groups hit the Department of Education over alleged “poorly-ventilat-ed teacher training venues.”

In a protest action held at the Philippine International Convention Center, ACT chairman Benjamin Valbuena lamented the alleged “poorly-funded teacher mass trainings

conducted which resulted into four casualties already.”

The group said “trainings are held in poorly-ventilated venues which has four casual-ties already – two of them are still in the intensive care unit and the other one even died.”

The group cited Ms. Mar-lene Mancao, a Grade 10 Mathematics Teacher from Talisay City National High School in Talisay City, Cebu Province who collapsed af-ter her presentation and was rushed to the hospital and died last May 10, 2015 due to

cardiac arrest.Another was Mrs. Helen

Lim of Pura Kalaw Elemen-tary School in Quezon City, who, on May 22, also col-lapsed and was rushed to Villarosa Hospital and later transferred to the ICU of the World Citi Hospital.

Teachers Blesida Urmatam from Recto High School and Apolinaria Santos of V. Mapa High School, both 38 years old collapsed also around 4:00 p.m. last May 26, 2015. Both teachers were rushed to Ma-nila Medical Center. Teacher

Santos is still in the ICU of the hospital.

Despite the fact that these happened while they were dis-charging their duties, the De-partment of Education gave nothing to offset the expenses they incurred citing unavail-ability of funds as reason.

When asked for a reac-tion, DepEd Usecretary Dina Ocampo noted that the mass teacher trainings that she vis-ited were all conducive. The department will also investi-gate the above-mentioned in-cidents.

Please don’t burden us. Concerned parents and their children protest the government’s K-12 program in front of the Supreme Court on Friday ahead of the opening of classes next week. LINO SANTOS

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A MEMBER of the negotiating panel of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) denied Wednesday that the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) was a step toward secession as some

Aquino: PH ready for K-12

11 new Metro judges namedBy Rey E. RequejoMalacañang has named 11 new judges for Metro Manila, according to two separate letters of Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. to chief Justice Maria lourdes aranal-Sereno.

“I am pleased to transmit herewith the ap-pointment letters of the following signed by His Excellency, President Benigno S. aquino III,” Ochoa said, in his letter.

The new judges include nino Delvin E. Embuscado for the Makati city Metropoli-tan Trial court (MeTc) Branch 66; Juliet c. azarraga chonyongco, caloocan city MeTc Branch 53; Maria Ella cecilia D. Dumlao-Escalante, Quezon city MeTc Branch 35; Boomsri S. Rodolfo and Don ace Mariano V. alagar, Quezon city MeTc; Maria lorenza

I. Barias Siosana for MeTc Branch 49.For the Manila city MeTcs, new judges

are Michelle g. Divina -Delfin for Branch 8, Minerva alejandria-Bautista for Branch 16 and Paul a. Flor for Branch 20.

Other appointees are Judge Remiebel Unica Mondia for Pasay city MeTc Branch 45 and Judge Rolando a. De guzman Jr. for MeTc Branch 72 of Pasay city.

The new judges were screened and recom-mended by the Judicial and Bar council (JBc).

The seven-man JBc, which is constitu-tionally mandated to screen and vet nomi-nees to the President for vacant posts in the judiciary and the Offices of the Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsman, is chaired by Ser-eno, with ex-officio members, namely Sena-tor aquilino Pimentel III and Iloilo Rep. niel Tupas and Justice Secretary leila de lima.

By Florante S. Solmerin

PRESIDEnT Benigno aquino III has ap-pointed Major general Edgar Fallorina to the no. 3 position in the armed Forces, miltiary chief of staff general gregorio Pio catapang Jr. confirmed on Friday.

Fallorina, a member of the Philippine Military academy “Matikas” class of 1983, is the new Deputy chief of Staff, a three-star position.

Fallorina, outgoing vice commander of the Philippine air Force, will replace lieutenant general Virgilio Domingo who bowed out of the service after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 56 on Friday.

Domingo, also from the PaF, spent 34 years in the service and is a member of PMa “Dimalupig” class 1981. He was ap-pointed TDcS on november 17, 2013.

Fallorina’s appointment as TDcS trig-gered speculations that one of the gener-als from army would likely be appointed by aquino as the next chief of staff when catapang retires in July.

There are talks that Southern luzon command (SOlcOM) Maj. gen. Ricardo Visaya, Fallorina’s classmate, or PaF chief lt. gen. Jeffrey Delgado (PMa “Sandigan” class 1982) is being considered as cata-pang’s successor.

army chief lt. gen. Hernando Dca Ir-riberi (PMa ’83), a known favorite of De-fense Secretary Voltaire gazmin, is also a candidate, but he is currently facing crimi-nal and administrative charges before the Ombudsman over a defense supply con-tract deal worth P97.8 million.

Both Visaya and Irriberi are members of the Philippine Military academy class of 1983 while Delgado belongs to the PMa class of 1982.

Sources had earlier told The Standa aquino’s top choice is supposedly Delgado, whom he chose to be his senior military as-sistant when he because president in 2010.

Delgado was a member of the Presiden-tial Security group during the administra-tion of the President corazon aquino and was the chief close-in security of presiden-tial sister and television host Kris aquino.

Visaya, on the other hand, is supposedly aquino’s second choice and has served as presidential trouble-shooter on several oc-casions.

“Jeff (Delgado) and Bong (Visaya) unde-niably have the full trust and confidence of the President,” said a senior general staff officer who asked not be named for lack of authority to speak about the matter.

Fallorinaappointedto AFP’sNo. 3 post

Cha-cha easier to passthan BBL, Drilon saysBy Macon Ramos-Araneta

SENATE President Franklin Drilon on Friday agreed with Senator Sergio Osmeña III that the amendment of the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution will be easier to pass in the Senate than the controversial Bangsamoro Basic Law.

“given that Miriam is on medical leave, I’m a little hesi-tant to make any predictions on the timeline, but I support it,” Drilon said in an exclu-sive interview with radio sta-tion dwIZ, referring to Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago.

Drilon said Santiago is the chairperson of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes and her leadership is vital to the measure’s passage.

But Santiago has been on medical leave since July last

year after announcing that she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.

Drilon declined to say if the Senate could pass the measure by December as requested by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., who is the bill’s principal au-thor and advocate in the House of Representatives.

“Many of our colleagues sup-port it,” Drilon said, pledging not to deprive any senator of their right to speak on the very critical issue.

“We will try to [pass the

Barangayan. Former President and Manila Mayor Joseph Ejercito Estrada speaks with village officials about the importance of clearing waterways in Manila during the launching of the “Barangayan” program on Friday. PNA PHOTO

Tourism gem. Albay Governor Joey Salceda shows off Mayon volcano, the principal tourist attraction of his province, during the opening of the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies trade show at the SMX in Pasay City. DANNY PATA

measure by December] with-out depriving them of the op-portunity to debate on this very critical issue. We will push it,” Drilon said, conceding that the measure cannot just breeze through the chamber.

“It really requires more sup-port because two thirds vote is necessary. So we have to get more support for this. But as I have said, I support it,” Drilon repeated.

When quizzed on the Pal-ace’s position on the econom-ic charter change by legisla-tion, Drilon said he does not know.

“That is why I told Speaker Feliciano Belmonte: “ok, we will see. Pass it first if there are enough votes, then that means that Palace will be quietly supporting. To be re-alistic, if the Palace will not support it, it will not get a two-thirds vote in the House.

That’s the reality.” The House of Representa-

tives approved the landmark resolution on second reading last Wednesday.

Osmeña earlier said efforts to amend the economic provi-sions are more likely get mas-sive support at the Senate com-pared than the controversial Bangsamoro Basic law.

at the same time, he called on the public to be more cir-cumspect in dealing with amending the 1987 constitu-tion, especially in opening the country to foreign ownership of businesses.

“I have to read it. But if you are only talking about the eco-nomic provisions, it has a good chance of passing,” Osmeña said over anc’s Headstart.

“We are going on a break on June 11. I am hopeful that we should be able to pass that by December,” Osmeña said.

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NEWSA6 House okays Free Public Wi-Fi ActBy Maricel V. Cruz

THE House of Representatives has transmitted to the Senate a proposed measure that seeks to provide free public wireless in-ternet access in public buildings, terminals, parks and plazas na-tionwide.

This developed as Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, principal author of House Bill 5791, or “The proposed Free Public Wi-Fi Act” expressed hope that senators would give due consideration to the pro-posal that intends to address the country’s problem of inter-connectivity by providing free public access point in all major public places.

HB 5791 titled “An Act provid-ing free public wireless internet access in public buildings, termi-nal, parks and plazas throughout the country.”

The bill mandates the installation of broadband hotspots in the following areas: all national government offices; buildings of state universities and colleges; public parks and plazas; public hospitals and public transportation terminals.

Once enacted, Ridon, said the measure shall mandate that access to the internet connec-tions shall not be restricted with password, except when there is a clear and present security or technical risk.

“Within a period of two years —from effectivity of this Act—once approved into law, all public spaces as stated in this Act shall be ensured a range of broadband hotspots,” Ridon said.

Likewise, the measure pro-vides that the Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO) of the Depart-ment of Science and Technology (DOST) be the lead implement-ing agency of the proposed Act, he said.

Jailed domestics to get help even without OWWA docs

Jennifer Dalquez has been pro-vided a lawyer to help her appeal her case.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Bal-

doz said that under the OWWA rules, migrant workers who do not renew or update their OWWA membership are not

entitled to social benefits. Such social benefits include life insur-ance, education/training assis-tance benefits, and some workers welfare assistance benefits.

Baldoz however said she had instructed the OWWA and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in the UAE to help Dalquez.

“Whether the OFW is regular documented or irregular un-documented, he or she will be provided with free legal advice and in-country assistance, such as the preparation of supporting documentation. They can also

avail of loans under the P2-bil-lion Reintegration Program for OFWs,” Baldoz added.

Dalquez’s case is similar to that of Anita Tonogbanua who was arrested by Canada’s Border Ser-vice Agency last April 27. Tonog-banua was arrested after her em-ployer in Hong Kong filed a theft case against her.

The Labor chief vowed that the government concerned agencies will do everything to help Dalquez and Tonogbanua and their fami-lies while they go through their ordeals.

By Vito Barcelo

THE Department of Labor and Employment on Friday said it will extend assistance to Filipina do-mestic sentenced to death in the United Arab Emir-ates for stabbing to death her employer who tried to rape her, despite her not being an active member of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.

Health Department leads No Tobacco Day observance

Water fun. Children play at a busted water pipeline in Intramuros, Manila. DANNY PATA

A row of meters. Children plays with water meters in Kamias Quezon City. MANNY PALMERO

By Macon Ramos Araneta

HEALTH Secretary Janette Loreto-Garin on Friday asked the public not to waste the coun-try’s gains in the fight against tobacco addiction.

“Let us prevent smoking-related diseases and save more lives,” said Garin as she noted that World No Tobacco Day is an ideal event to raise awareness on the hazards of tobacco use.

According to Garin, approximately 240 Filipinos die daily from smoking-related diseases.

In observance of the World No Tobacco Day tomorrow (May 31), the Department of Health joined the World Health Organi-zation in calling all its member countries to work together to end the illicit trade of tobacco products.

WHO has also been espousing the enforce-

ment of graphic health warnings on tobacco products.

Research shows that picture-based warnings are effective in motivating smokers to quit and in reducing the appeal of tobacco use for people who are not yet addicted to it.

WHO said the global tobacco epidemic kills nearly 6 million people each year, of which more than 600,000 are non-smokers dying from breathing second-hand smoke.

The epidemic is expected to kill more than 8 million people every year by 2030.

More than 80 percent of these preventable deaths will be among people living in low-and middle-income countries.

World No Tobacco Day 2015 aims to raise awareness on the harm to people’s health caused by the illicit trade in tobacco products, especial-ly the youth and low-income groups.

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S AT U R D AY : M AY 3 0 , 2 0 1 5

NEWS A7

Galera council tags Dutch man ‘persona non grata’

Police nab fixers of transport franchisesTWO franchise fixers of the Land Transportation Office and Land Transpor-tation Franchising Regula-tory Board at Polo Field, Pacdal, Baguio City were arrested by police and de-tectives during a manhunt operation in Quezon City on Monday.

Senior Superintendent Jimmy Catanes, regional di-rector of the Criminal Inves-tigation and Detection Unit —North Central Luzon, identified the arrested fran-chise fixers as Marietta Gal-lardo Manipon alias Mari-etta Manipon Andres and Karren Francisco Carreon.

Manipon was arrested in-side the Prince Gregory Hotel, Barangay Socorro, Cubao, Quezon City, by virtue of a warrant issued by Judge Rose-marie R. Molina of the city’s Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 7 for estafa with a rec-ommended bail of P200,000.

Carreon on the other hand was nabbed at 9th Ave, P Tuazon St, Cubao, Quezon City by virtue of a warrant issued by Judge Maria Ligaya V. Itliong-Rivera of the city’s RTC Branch 5 for estafa.

The case against Manipon stemmed from the com-plaints of Orlando S. Willy, Sr. and Jeffrey A. Panilo, both from La Trinidad, Benguet whom she defrauded a total of P 280,000.00 as payment for a taxi franchise sometime in December 2012.

Carreon’s case was from the complaint of spouses Ro-berto and Dominga M. Busilan from Itogon, Benguet whom she duped in the amount of P1.3 million as payment for a taxi franchise. After almost two months, she entered into another transaction with Carlo Mendoza from Baguio City from whom she took P630,000.

Catanes called on individu-als who were duped by the two notorious fixers to visit their office in order to facili-tate the filing of additional cases against them. He added that individuals wanting to own franchises of taxis, jeeps, garage vans and buses must get in touch only with LTO and LTFRB officials.

Keese Koornstra, 61, of northern Holland, also labelled this resort town as “Puerto Basura” in his internet page getting the ire of Puerto Galera munic-ipal officials, headed by Mayor Hub-bert Christopher A. Dolor.

The piles of uncollected garbage contained in black plastic bags, seen with worms crawling on them, were captioned: “PUERTO BASURA - This is the situation in White Beach right now! After I posted 2 months ago pictures of the garbage along the road, only once a week the garbage is collected. Come on people of Puerto Galera and Department of Health,

this is unacceptable,” Koornstra posted in his FB account.”

White Beach a favorite swimming destination of local and foreign tour-ists especially during the summer season.

But the captain of Barangay San Isidro where the beach is located, Eleno Candava, does not agree with the Sangguian’s decision. “I think there is no basis for the declaration. Is it a crime to point out what is hap-pening to Puerto Galera?”

Since the Dutchman’s post, the shorelines of White Beach have been cleared of garbage piles and cleaned

up by the municipal government, Candava said.

Vice-Mayor Robinhood D. Ylagan refused to participate in the crafting of the resolution, saying that “declar-ing a person a persona non-grata is a serious matter that needs a thorough investigation, the reason why such happened, whether or not there’s truth to the issue.”

Ylagan saw the “collapse of Puerto Galera’s tourism industry” if the local government “continues to indiscrimi-nately declare foreign residents and productive visitors who are contribut-ing much of their environmental and social concern, through constructive comments, to the development of Puerto Galera tourism by ostracizing them as unwelcome, unacceptable and personas non-grata.”

The Vice-Mayor also expressed fears that the declaration will only send wrong signals to foreign investors as a climate of fear has already been created among them. “May our foreign friends

not pull out their investments from Puerto Galera,” he added.

Koornstra was credited by resi-dents and local business owners for his environmental concern by first reporting the presence of proposed P66-million landfill and dump proj-ect in sitio Lapantay, Bgy. Villaflor.

The dump project will displace 47 Mangyan families and threaten to contaminate the purity of the spring waters flowing into the 400-foot Tamaraw Falls.

Koornstra told The Standard he was surprised by the municipal reso-lution. “Maybe, declaring me as un-welcome or unacceptable person is a surprise. Or just a joke or a kind of harassment or intimidation to stop me from saying it,” he said.

Koornstra has sailed around the world twice in his own yacht. “Out of the 68 countries I travelled, I chose the Philippines to live in perma-nently. And I chose Puerto Galera to stay,” Koornstra said.

By Robert A. Evora PUERTO GALERA, Oriental Mindoro—A Dutch expa-triate, who posted on his Facebook (FB) page pictures of uncollected plastic bags of garbage along a major shore-line here, was declared a “persona non grata” by the Sang-guniang Bayan of this resort town Wednesday.

Tollways system kicks off Oplan Ligtas Byahe, Balik Eskwela

Different surge. The Yolanda Surge of Hope monument in Tanauan, Leyte reminds residents of the lessons they learned from the super typhoon in November 2013. MEL CASPE

Summer rain. Kids play during a downpour in the summer capital, Baguio City. DAVID CHAN

THE Southern Tollways Sys-tem, composed of Skyway O&M Corp. Manila Toll Expressways Systems, Inc. (MATES) and Star Tollway Corp. (STC), operators of the Skyway System, South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and Star Tollway, respectively, will carry out Oplan Ligtas Biyahe, Balik Eskwela 2015 from May 29 to June 15, 2015 to ensure a safer and more convenient travel on the south toll roads.

SOMCO, MATES and STC expect students and summer va-cationers from nearby provinces return to Metro Manila and vice-versa before public elementary and high schools open on June 2 and private schools and colleges

on June 8. School opening traffic is normally heavy during the first two weeks, which the toll road operators seriously prepare for. Some road improvement and traffic enhancement measures, both short- and long-term, are now in place. In Skyway at-grade section, for instance, where the Bicutan and the Sucat interchanges are perennial choke points, SOMCO opened last March alternative exits for south-bound motorists which have been very effective in declogging the toll plaza traffic. The struc-tural rehabilitation and asphalt re-surfacing of the Alabang Viaduct, a traffic-dense stretch of SLEX, have recently been completed, on top of the re-pavement works

on both directions between Fil-invest and Sta. Rosa, among oth-ers. Meanwhile, at Star Tollway, an entirely new toll plaza at the Lipa-Sto. Toribio opened to traf-fic on April 30, 2015 which now considerably eases traffic in Lipa Citespecially towards the Univer-sity of Lipa and other tourist and recreational destinations as well as industrial parks. The 2-year, the PhP2.3-billion, 2-year road expansion and improvement projects for Star Tollway was completed in December last year.

For assistance, motorists can call the Skyway System hotline at (02) 776-7777; SLEX ho-tline at 0917-OUR-SLEX (687-7539); and STAR emergency numbers at 0917-511-7827.

Miriam Defensor Santiago who found the proposed measure patently infirm.

By conducting the Senate hearing—both in-house and in the hinterlands of the af-fected autonomous region, Marcos got an insight how indigenous people like the Lumads and the heirs of the Sultanate of Sulu were never consulted by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process during the government’s negotiations with the Moro Islamic Lib-eration Front.

Senator Marcos has his eye on history and he’s fully aware the nation is watching

opinion

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

A8

[ EDI TORI A L ]

More of the saMe

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ADELLE chuAe D I t o r

S AT u R D AY : M AY 3 0 , 2 0 1 5

opinion

CYaN MaGeNta YeLLoW BLaCK

CYaN MaGeNta YeLLoW BLaCK

SteerIng the Senate com-mittee on local government which is reviewing the pro-posed Bangsamoro Basic Law is proving to be a de-fining moment for Senator Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. as he served notice there would be

no railroading of the mea-sure under his stewardship. Unless the BBL’s legal infir-mities are removed and the interests of all stakeholders in the proposed autonomous region are taken into ac-count, Marcos does not see the Senate passing the bill before Congress adjourns on June 11.

this is so unlike the in-decent haste with the way the House approved the

measure at the ad hoc com-mittee level chaired by rep rufus rodriguez. A House plenary-approved BBL goes to the Senate for bicameral conference during which the measure will be further examined. But even before the bicam, the BBL already encountered opposition in the Senate when 12 sena-tors signed the committee on constitutional amend-ments report of Senator

A defining moment for SenAtor mArcoS

SenAtOr grace Poe is getting pop-ular by the day. She is growing fast in the public’s eyes from a neophyte lawmaker to a popular presidential candidate for 2016 – thanks to her (and her handlers’) expert manage-ment of statements and positioning on issues.

I no longer remember the issue but I first came to see her potential when I chanced upon a television interview when she was still Chair of the Movie and television review and Classification Board (MtrCB). She came off as not only articulate, her thought processes were also ob-viously logical.

Watching her, one would get the impression that this is a simple yet strong and principled woman. It was one of what would become many impressive interviews. I admit to be-ing pleasantly surprised. She was also among the more visible MtrCB heads, a not-so-significant position in the huge government machinery and thus, not given much attention. People in media must have started to like her.

During the 2010 elections, I had my doubts about Poe’s capacity to be-come a senator. I thought that while she performed very well at MtrCB, she needed more time and experi-ence to make a difference in the war zone called the Senate. I did not vote for her. that was a mistake.

grace Poe surprised everybody, I guess, even herself, when she topped the the senatorial elections. I did not doubt that she would win, but topping the race was another matter. Political analysts of course said that her huge victory was not because of her own merit but because she is the daughter of the very popular and well-loved movie land’s action king Fernando Poe Jr. At that time, the issue of FPJ’s loss to former president gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was still fresh. Many thought (and still believe) that FPJ was cheated out of the presidency. I agreed with this analysis since at that time, the young Poe had yet to prove her mettle.

From then on, I decided to follow her more closely.

As the country reeled because of the still unresolved Maguindanao mas-sacre, napoles scandal, breakdown of infrastructures and services like transport and traffic management, the looming energy crisis, the inadequacy of government response to the Yolanda

The Poe magic

the denouement of this divisive is-sue. He wants peace in Mindanao after four decades of violence and neglect, but he wants peace that is enduring and equitable to all the people in the region.

the young Marcos has been thrust into a role where he is show-ing statesmanship, so unlike those who conceptualized the flawed framework peace agreement that formed the basis of the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

One dimensionalDavao City Mayor rodrigo

Duterte will have to widen his vo-cabulary and not limit himself to the word “kill.” He can’t use the word all the time in dealing with criminality. It makes him look one dimensional. It is not enough to threaten young thugs with grievous bodily harm by saying he would break their bones if they don’t straighten up.

Duterte could strike the right chord if he advocates a return to

the death penalty instead, an issue which has gained resonance with the citizenry and victims of hei-nous crimes. this is a better plat-form for Duterte to stand on than being cop, judge and executioner at the same time. Admitting his links to the dreaded Davao Death Squad, Duterte gave the Department of Justice and the Commission on Hu-man rights reason to revisit these cases that these two agencies had already forgotten. Continued on A11

everYtHIng that happens in government seems motivated by the 2016 elections.

They speak about the elections in terms of continuity of reforms. This would sound perfectly valid if uttered by somebody credible. Alas, even the rhetoric on reform is self-serving, because this ad-ministration always portrays itself as the best thing that ever hap-pened to the country while discrediting all things associated with its political enemies.

Circus aside, various things remain urgent for the Filipino people. These gut issues should be the focus of conversation, not because they would make this politician look good or sound benevolent,but because they matter to ordinary citizens whose living conditions do not take the election calendar into consideration.

Among these are jobs, income and education. These are the things that will guarantee a decent living conditions for the ordinary Fili-pino and will give a measure of hope that his children’s lives will at least be more comfortable than his own.

But what is this administration doing? It rams a law that it has crafted without consulting all stakeholders down the throat of the nation which feels that genuine peace must not be hurried.

It tries to come up with viable combinations for 2016 that would ensure, not the continuity of reforms but the assurance that the President would not be charged and jailed for the various acts he has committed while in office.

It takes credit for a dole system that in no way ensures sustained growth and productivity of citizens.

elections are supposed to be events from one governing period to the next. What happens is that actual terms of office become a way to sit it out until the next campaign. As a result, after all the excitement, nothing really changes for whom change should matter most.

BaCK ChaNNeL

aLeJaNDro DeL rosarIo

PoWer PoINt

eLIZaBethaNGsIoCo

he has been thrust into

a role where he is showing

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

MEMBERPhilippine Press InstituteThe National Association of Philippine NewspapersPPI

can be accessed at:www.manilastandardtoday.comONLINE

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

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

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Continued on A11

happen than in taking the threat of the MILF spokesman seriously - that it would not accept a watered down ver-sion of the BBL.

Having been fed with the daily dosage of wrong information by the mainstream media, our analysis of im-portant issues has been reduced to me-diocrity, and this corrupt government is using the situation to manipulate us. We could not digress from the thought that when Mohagher Iqbal said that the MILF would not accept an amend-ment to the agreement, he was in fact insulting the very person brokering for its passage. On the other hand, if this government has a bit of decency, it should have instantly desisted from campaigning for its passage, for in any event the BBL is passed with some changes made by ei-ther the Senate or Congress, they would reject it, and that could place the government in an awkward position.

Moreover, the US would not recklessly go to war with China on our behalf, or keep the sea lanes open, or con-trol the mineral deposits that have been discovered in the area. The US has to quantify the situation it in terms of defending their own territory or in securing its stra-tegic interest as a world power which is absent under the given situation. It does not even appear that there would be some kind of standoff between China and the

US to serve as a flashpoint leading to actual hostilities. For us to assume the US would to go to war to defend our claim on the Spratly Islands is absurd, much that the US has never gone to war in defense of the interest of other countries, but solely to de-fend its own interest. Its increased military presence is only meant to make our claim of the so-called ag-gressive design of China credible, thereby justifying the zero-sum game of diverting public outcry away from the BBL which incidentally would be to the interest of the US, if approved by Congress.

In fact, the passage of the BBL in the House went on smoothly. PNoy did not encounter much difficulty in

convincing some members of the opposition to toe the line. Rumors had it that those who voted were assured of their DAP and an undisclosed amount of sluice funds to ensure their reelection. Unfortunately, what Congress did was in defiance to public sentiment for the fact that only 28 percent of our people favor the BBL. Bluntly stated, the decision of the majority of the members of Congress was contrary to public sentiment, which is the reason why they are there in the first place.

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OPINIONS AT U R D AY : M AY 3 0 , 2 0 1 5

A10

THE issues about the Bangsamoro Basic Law and our current tension with China may be unrelated. But to those who could understand its impli-

cation, our intensified anti-Chinese stand came as no surprise. Some say our heightened tension with China over those uninhabited islands in the Spratly was pur-posely instigated to neutralize the unprecedented revul-sion by our people over a law that could formally break up the Philippines to give way to the creation of a theo-cratic Islamic state instigated by Malaysia.

Political analysts failed to observe that this pretending-to-be-honest government has applied the devious strate-gy of zero-sum game to purposely bring us to a situation where one or more participants’ gain or loss would be equal to the loss or gain of the other participants. Thus, a gain or loss for one must result in a loss or gain for the other. To make ourselves clear, any issue intended to generate hysterical chauvinism would be most appro-priate if only to match the other. It is a perfect device to break the formidable unity exhibited by our people against the approval of that sellout Agreement. All that is needed is to create an issue that could also incite the same degree of chauvinism and patriotism to effectively neutralize their enthusiasm in opposing the BBL.

This has to be pointed out because both the BBL and our war of words with China elicited from our people the same fervor to fight. Applied to a given situation, they would have the effect of dividing their zeal to either support the unpopular BBL now seen as the hallmark of President Aquino’s treasonous act or to respond to its jingoistic call for a possible war with China. The strat-egy is most effective much that it could divide us in our opposition to the BBL or prepare ourselves for a possible shooting war with China.

Notably, while the BBL puts the blame on President Aquino, the issue on China makes him a hero without our people knowing that the tension with China was artificially generated to coincide with the period when Congress would be debating and voting on a bill that seeks to dismember this nation. It is intended to divert our attention, and for us to give a second thought that this lackluster President is not a wimp. This govern-ment needs a break to soothe the boiling anger of our people for the creation of a Bangsamoro state which, as noted by columnist Francisco Tatad, became a law even before it was passed by Congress.

Maybe China unwittingly played into the hands of the administration, with some even saying that the strategy has the crafty markings of those tacticians in the Penta-gon and the State Department. Creating a tension with China is meant to lessen the critical level of opposition to the BBL, vis-à-vis against the government. They fear that if the floodgate is not opened, opposition to the bill could overwhelm the administration. Fortunately, the reclamation by China in one of the islands gave this corrupt government their best alibi to redirect our ha-tred away from the BBL, with the US and Japan playing the role of accomplice in drumming up our xenopho-bia. The China bogey was so effective that we almost forgot the horrifying carnage of the 44 members of our elite Special Action Force by the same people demanding separation in the name of peace.

The humiliation we suffered as a result of the Mama-sapano massacre was overshadowed by the anti-Chinese hype that had it not happened, it could have triggered a coup d’ etat against the Aquino government. Our sol-diers’ attention was successfully divided between pre-paring themselves for an imaginary war with China and preparing for a real war to prevent this government from handing a part of our national territory to the MILF. In fact, they are the same politicized and agitated people willing to fight to oppose the BBL that have manifested their eagerness to go to war with China. The zero-sum game placed us in a dilemma such that we are now pre-occupied in preparing ourselves for war that may never

PNOY’S ZERO-SUM GAME STRATEGY

CLIMATE CHANGE TALKS IN BONNON Monday, June 1, I will be in Bonn, Germany for the first day of an 11-day conference on climate change hosted by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Once again, representatives from countries all over the world will be gathering at the World Conference Center in Bonn, Germany, to work on the Durban Platform, a process where in Par-ties to the UNFCCC are creating a legal instrument that would contain binding greenhouse gas emissions limits by December, 2015. A big team from the Ateneo School of Government will be attending the Bonn conference, some like me as advisers to the Philippine delegation, others for our international work on climate change. The school is a lead organization in an international coali-tion of citizen organizations working on climate, forest and land issues pushing a rights-based and good gover-nance approach to these issues. We are also a member of a consortium called Agreement on Climate Transforma-tion 2015, or ACT 2015.

ACT 2015 is a consortium of the world’s top climate experts from both developed and developing countries that have come together to formulate and present a well-researched but concise proposal for the global cli-mate agreement. Recognizing the COP’s need for an ac-celerated process of research and consultation in order to meet the December 2015 deadline, ACT 2015 took the initiative of bringing together representatives from governments, NGOs, and business groups in order to create a unified proposal containing balanced views and priorities of different stakeholders. All this work culminated with the consortium’s launch of a legal paper entitled “Getting Specific on the 2015 Climate Change Agreement: Suggestions for the Legal Text with an Explanatory Memorandum” last May 10, 2015.

Headed by the World Resources Institute, a global research institute, and funded by the European Com-mission, the Climate Works Foundation, and the Pros-pect Hill Foundation, ACT 2015 brings together bright minds from E3G (Third Generation Environmental-ism), Ecofys, Energeia, the Institute for European Studies – Vrije Universiteit Brussel, the New Climate Institute, the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assess-ment Agency, Tsinghua University, and South Centre Special Advisor on Sustainable Development Mr. You-ba Sokona.

During the several “convenings” that were held, the primary question that was presented to the members was, “What functions should this Agreement fulfill?” This question is based on the understanding that the adoption of a global climate agreement in Paris will only be the first step to the solution to climate change. The agreement will have to be accepted wholeheartedly by

the different Parties so that it would ac-tually be implemented and low-carbon pathways would be adopted. In order that the Agreement would ultimately achieve a low-carbon and climate-re-silient world, the consensus was that it must fulfill the following core func-

tions: (1) send a clear signal to policy makers, businesses, investors, and the public that the low-carbon, climate-resilient economy is inevitable; (2) link to science with a sense of urgency; (3) connect the global Agreement to the “real economy” and “real people” and enhance sus-tainable development; (4) demonstrate fairness, equity and justice in climate actions and outcomes; (5) provide transparency and accountability for country commit-ments; (6) accelerate the investment shift to low-carbon and climate-resilient economies; (7) protect the most vulnerable; and (8) incentivize action.

Guided by these core functions, ACT 2015 then for-mulated two long-term goals that seek to operational-ize the overall objective of the UNFCCC. This overall objective of the Convention, found on Article 2 of the Convention, is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentra-tion in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system with such level being achieved within a time frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.

These long-term goals will send clear signals to all stakeholders of the urgent need to catalyze climate ac-tion and will provide a clear and steady path for the Parties to follow. The long-term goals of the Agreement are: (1) to ensure that global temperature increase stays below an average of 2C in comparison to preindustrial levels, by implementing a phase-out of all GHG emis-sions to net zero as early as possible in the second half of this century, and (2) to reduce the vulnerability, and build the resilience of communities to climate change impacts, through collective action applicable to all countries, based on their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.

These two long-term goals, independently and combined, will fulfill the functions of the Agreement and will facilitate the way to a low-carbon and climate resilient world.

As we follow the sessions over the next two weeks, we will be imparting more extensively the concepts involved in the ACT 2015 proposal as well giving up-dates of the goings-on during this conference. At this critical time in the climate change war, all hands are on deck in order to achieve climate change justice. This conference in Bonn is just another battle.

BACKBENCHER

ROD P.KAPUNAN

EAGLE EYES

DEAN TONYLA VIÑA

While the BBL puts the blame on President Aquino, the issue on China

makes him a hero.

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SHERIFF ABAS SHOULD RESIGN FROM THE COMELEC

EarliEr this month, the House of rep-resentatives committee deliberating on the Bangsamoro Basic law proposed by Malacañang declared that the BBl need-ed at least 60 amendments to make it conform to the Constitution. That decla-ration suggested that the House was seri-ously studying what is arguably the most controversial, divisive proposed legisla-tion in recent times.

later, after President Benigno aquino iii urged House leaders to approve the BBl in its unaltered form, the House com-mittee changed its mind and approved the BBl with only one or two amendments. By doing so, the House confirmed its sta-tus as a rubber stamp of aquino, with a liberal Party (lP) brand name.

aquino’s intervention in the BBl vote is just one of his many unsound deci-sions of recent vintage. First, aquino ap-pointed former Cavite Governor and lP ally Erineo Maliksi to head the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, an agency with plenty of money to spend for pa-tronage politics. Maliksi’s appointment raised eyebrows because in the past, only non-politicians held the post of PCSO head. Observers suspect that Maliksi, a veteran provincial politician, will use the discretionary funds of the PCSO to favor local politicians running under the lP banner in next year’s elections.

The appointment of alberto lina as head of the Bureau of Customs was an-other bad move. lina has substantial in-vestments in customs brokerage compa-nies, which have pending cases with the BOC. He has been accused of conflict of

interest in numerous instances. recently, lina ordered the release of a shipment brokered by his “former company” which was ordered impounded by his predeces-sor, John Philip Sevilla.

aquino’s appointment of Fluellen Or-tigas to the Martial law Historical advi-sory Committee of the National Histori-cal Commission is flawed. Ortigas was a legislative assistant of the late Senator Benigno “Ninoy” aquino, Jr., the staunch-est critic of the martial law administration of the late President Ferdinand Marcos. His close ties with Ninoy will almost un-doubtedly influence his assessment of the martial law era. How Ortigas will have the objectivity required of a historian, and one paid with public money at that, is a mystery. Moreover, Ortigas is reported to be 68 years old. What happened to the compulsory retirement age of 65 in the civil service?

* * * * * *The decision of President aquino to

appoint Sheriff abas as commissioner of the Commission on Elections indicates how desperate aquino wants the BBl to be in force before he leaves office in 2016. His appointment is suspiciously ill-timed, and it reveals the extent of the influence the Moro islamic liberation Front has on the President.

abas is not known in legal circles as an expert in election law. Whether he has argued enough cases before the Comelec, or has written treatises on election law is a big mystery. Former Comelec Chair-man Sixto Brillantes was a famous name among election lawyers. abas is not.

ll that is known about abas is that he is the nephew of the chief negotiator of the MilF in the transition commission which drafted the controversial BBl. That chief negotiator is Mohagher iqbal, one of many aliases Datukan abas (whoever he really is) admittedly uses in his deal-ings with the Philippine government, and in opening bank accounts in the country in manifest violation of banking laws, the anti-Money laundering act in particu-lar. So far, the anti-Money laundering Council refuses to investigate iqbal. ap-parently, the aMlC is more interested in the bank accounts of Vice President Bi-nay, a political enemy of the current ad-ministration.

in the event that the BBl is approved by Congress, signed into law by the Presi-dent, and survives the judicial scrutiny of the Supreme Court, it will still have to be ratified in a requisite plebiscite. (Earlier this week, this column pointed out that the Senate may actually require a nation-wide plebiscite on the BBl without violat-ing the Constitution.) That plebiscite will be conducted and its results tallied by the Comelec.

another disturbing development is the recent decision of the MilF to apply for party-list accreditation. it seems that the MilF suddenly wants to be a politi-cal party. its corresponding application has been filed with the Comelec, and the Comelec will decide on the application.

This is where Sheriff abas enters the picture. as a commissioner of the Com-elec, he will be one of seven election of-ficials who will conduct the plebiscite on

the BBl, and who will tally the votes cast therein. He will be one of seven who will decide on whether or not the tally will be computerized or conducted manually. likewise, he is one of seven who will act on the application of the MilF for accred-itation in the party-list system.

Since Commissioner abas is from Muslim Mindanao, it is almost inevitable that his colleagues in the Comelec will place him in charge of the plebiscite on the BBl. Even if abas were to play fair as he is expected to, the people will have reason to doubt his impartiality. When that happens, the results of the plebiscite, no matter how reflective of the truth, will always be suspect. in the end, the whole plebiscite will become a useless exercise and a waste of public funds, all because of abas’ ill-timed appointment to the Com-elec.

The same may be said about the afore-said application of the MilF for party-list accreditation. Even if abas does not get involved in any action that may be taken on the application, abas is just too proxi-mate to the decision-making agency that people will find it difficult, if not impos-sible, to think that he had no involvement in any ruling favorable to the MilF. That will be another blow against the credibil-ity of the party-list system, which is al-ready suspected of having been infiltrated by political families and similar private interest groups.

Delicadeza demands that Sheriff abas resign from the Comelec, and wait for a more opportune time to join the poll body.

A11adelle chuaE D I T O R

S aT u R d aY : M aY 3 0 , 2 0 1 5

OPINION

HAIL TO THE CHAIR

VICTOR AVECILLA

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A defining..From A9

“Do i have links with the death squad? True. if i become president the body count will be higher from 1,000 to 100,000 because i’ll kill all the criminals and throw them in Manila Bay to fatten the fish,” said Duterte in one fell swoop of self-destruction. He should know there’s also a law against polluting the waters in the bay. His handlers must be hav-ing a public relations nightmare on how to rein in Duterte who’s turning out to be a loose cannon, or more ap-propriately, a loose firearm.

“Dirty rudy” can learn from an-other mayor known as the local “Dirty Harry” whose presidential bid ended in defeat.

While criminality is a major prob-lem, there are other issues and con-cerns a President must deal with such as foreign affairs, defense and security, the economy, the national budget to fund public works and infrastructure, social services and the salaries of those in the bureaucracy.

Does Duterte have any global out-look at all? We have yet to hear him speak out against Chinese bullying in the West Philippine Sea and on what to do with our damaged ties with Beijing.These are serious problems affecting the security and economic well- being of the republic, concerns that Duterte should start studying soon if he wants to lead the nation.

in fairness, Duterte has a point when he lashed back at the New York-based Human rights Watch which sought his investigation for the extraju-dicial killings of criminals by vigilantes in his city.

“These hypocrites should first look at the human rights violations of rac-ist white policemen against african-americans before they criticize me,” fumed Duterte referring to incidents of black suspects being shot dead by police in Ferguson (Missouri), New York and more recently in Baltimore, Maryland.

AMLC attention caughtMeanwhile, the anti-Money laun-

dering Council which made public the undeclared 242 bank accounts of Bi-nay and his alleged dummies clarified its finding was based on the required monthly reports of large transactions submitted to the aMlC by all the banks. The unusually large movement of money –millions deposited and withdrawn on the same day - attracted the aMlC’s attention so that it asked the Court of appeals to freeze the Bi-nay assets and accounts.

The VP’s nemesis, former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado, present-ed a paper trail of his former boss’ bank transactions handled by alleged Binay bagman Gerry limlingan at Thursday’s continuation of the Senate Blue ribbon committee hearing looking into official malfeasance in Makati.

The Vice President claims only five of those 242 accounts are his. The other accounts are owned by people Binay described as legitimate businessmen. limlingan and Binay’s former secre-tary Ebeng Baloloy cannot be located despite arrest warrants issued on the basis of a Senate subpoena.

it would be interesting to see how the aMlC report would affect the poll rankings of Binay, Poe and Duterte in the next Social Weather Stations and Pulse asia surveys.

The Poe..From A9

devastation, and the Mamasapano tragedy that killed 44 men of our Special action Force, the Filipino people’s level of dissatisfaction and frustration with government has been steadily rising.

These problems implicated many of those occupying high positions in government. Three (3) elected senators are in jail for cor-ruption and many more legislators and public servants are charged in connection with the Napoles issue; the President’s men, Budget Secretary Florencio abad and local Govern-ment Chief Mar roxas suffer from credibility problems, the first because of the Disburse-ment acceleration Program (DaP), and the second because of public perception of being “trapo” and lack of political will; Vice Presi-dent Jejomar Binay and his family are facing corruption allegations; and even the formerly very popular President Benigno Simeon aqui-no iii is now perceived as incapable because of Yolanda and SaF 44 issues.

Out of disenchantment and the fact that the 2016 national elections is coming, people are naturally looking for the best choice for president.

Grace Poe, in discharging her responsibili-ties as a senator, has so far impressed many. Unlike many neophyte senators past and present, Poe obviously seriously studied her roles and learned the ropes fast. She has been consistent in her performance. She chairs her committees in an orderly and firm manner, and does not tolerate grand standing, a fa-vorite hobby of the members of this House of Congress. She is always simple, humble, and calm but also articulate, direct, firm, and prin-cipled.

These attributes have not escaped the pub-lic and political pundits.

She is perceived to be clean. So far, her name has not been entangled in any issue, big or small. Poe is not seen as one with vested interests that she will protect no matter what

unlike the likes of Binay, et al.Her youth is definitely a plus factor con-

tributing to the hope that she will espouse a new kind of politics, one that will contradict the old guys’ “trapo” politics. She will definite-ly attract young voters. Because she is young, people are hoping that she will be progressive in her positioning on issues.

Poe’s being a woman is another plus fac-tor especially if you put her beside the likes of Duterte and lacson. She will be seen as the underdog, and pinoys love the underdog. Her being a woman, as well as her recent pro-nouncements on why we need more women in government is very well-received especially by those who work on women’s issues.

let us not forget the FPJ factor. if she runs, Grace Poe will most possibly get the votes of those who supported her father. and their numbers cannot be ignored.

last week i wrote that if Manila Mayor and former president Joseph Estrada run, Grace Poe will have problems and might slide down to Vice-President. i maintain that but hope that Erap will instead just support Poe. after all, she is his best friend’s daughter.

as early as this time, those who want to run in 2016 are showing signs of being “scared” of Poe. and they should. VP Binay has been tak-ing swipes at her. Questions on her citizenship are being raised. The old “chismis” about her being the daughter of the late dictator Ferdi-nand Marcos is being spread.

and Grace Poe has been handling these is-sues very well. Next, i would like her to ex-pound her position on major issues besetting the country. i hope to learn about the platform that she will espouse. i look forward to this.

if Grace Poe continues with the way she handles things now and if she will not be in-volved in a major scandal, i believe she can win the 2016 elections.

The Poe magic is there.

[email protected] @bethangsioco on Twitter Elizabeth Angsioco on Facebook

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SAT URDAY: MAY 3 0 , 2 0 1 5

SPORTS

PARIS—World number one No-vak Djokovic gave teenage French Open trailblazer Borna Coric a ringing endorsement � ursday by declaring: “He reminds me of me”.

Coric, 18, became the youngest player to reach the third round in Paris since Marat Safin in 1998 when he defeated veteran Spaniard Tommy Ro-bredo, a four-time quarter-finalist, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

“I like Coric and how he approaches matches. He has a very mature mindset for somebody that is only 18,” said Djokovic, 10 years Coric’s senior.

“I practiced with him quite a lot in the last cou-ple of months, and he does remind me of myself a little bit at that age.”

Coric, the world 46, broke into the top 50 on the eve of Roland Garros and has now made the third round of a major for the first time.

The signs of his talent have been in evidence for a few months now -- at Basel in 2014, he defeated childhood idol Rafael Nadal before beating Andy Murray in Dubai earlier this year.

He was the youngest player in the top 100 at the end of 2014 having improved his ranking by 276 places in the world in just 12 months.

Coric also cites former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson as an inspiration, a fact not lost on Djokovic who is in the same quarter of the draw at Roland Garros as the youngster.

“He’s a great fighter, very solid from the base-line, both sides. He’s improving his serve, as I have seen,” said the top seed.

“He does have a very professional, very mature way of approaching, not just matches, but tennis life in general, which is nice to see for somebody his age.

“It’s not that usual to see that. I think he’s going to be very, very good.”

Coric tried to keep a lid on the hype, tweeting: “What a feeling to beat the great #Robredo in 5 sets.”

However, he has already put on record -- or on his flesh to be more precise -- his philosophy, lo-cated just inside his bicep.

“There is nothing worse in life than being ordi-nary,” is his tattooed mantra.

Djokovic isn’t the only man singing Coric’s praises.

Former Wimbledon semi-finalist and country-man Mario Ancic told the ATP website: “He’s very well grounded; a smart guy and has the heart of a champion.”

“I have zero doubt he will be on top of the tennis world. He will be a superstar. He’s a warrior. He will grind, he will bleed; he will find a way to win. These are the intangibles that will lead him really far in his career.” AFP

Sparkling1st roundfor Aussie

DALLAS—Steven Bowditch, an Australian who has made his home in Texas, upstaged native son Jordan Spieth on Thursday, grabbing a two-shot lead in the Byron Nelson Championship with a sparkling 62.

Bowditch, seeking a second victory on the USPGA Tour, had eight birdies in his eight-under effort and a two-stroke lead over American Jimmy Walker, who had seven birdies and a bogey in his six-under 64.

Americans Ryan Palmer and James Hahn shared third on 65, with Tom Gillis, John Merrick and 2011 PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley a fur-ther stroke back on 66.

Spieth, the 21-year-old Mas-ters champion, settled for a one-under 69 that left him tied for 33rd.

Bowditch’s round matched his best ever on the US tour.

He set the tone early, rolling in a 24-foot birdie putt at his opening hole. He drained birdie putts of 30, 29 and 18 feet and said his decision to add a little weight to his putter on Thurs-day had helped him produce the best putting round of his PGA career.

“I typically don’t make a lot of longer putts,” Bowditch said.

Bowditch said keeping it in the fairway was also key on the rain-soaked TPC Four Seasons course. AFP

Ali out to wrestle Fifa from SeppZURICH—As a former wrestler and army officer, Jordan’s Prince Ali bin Hussein is the figure bidding to pry control of football’s governing-body FIFA from current president Sepp Blatter on Friday.

The son of the late King Hussein of Jordan only turns 40 in December, but he is the only candidate opposing Blatter in the presidential election at FIFA’s 65th congress in Zurich.

Several of FIFA’s 209 member associations have said they will vote for the prince, who is expected to get plenty of European support.

But it may not be enough to wrestle power from the 79-year-old Blatter, who can rely on strong support from African, Latin Ameri-can and Asian federations.

Prince Ali has been vice president of FIFA in Asia since 2011 and says Blatter must be denied a fifth term in charge.

“We cannot continue with the crisis in FIFA,” said the prince in a statement after seven top officials were arrested as part of a US investigation into corruption within FIFA

on Wednesday.“FIFA needs leadership that governs,

guides and protects our national associations.“Leadership that accepts responsibility for

its actions and does not pass blame. Leader-ship that restores confidence in the hundreds of millions of football fans around the world.”

With FIFA facing one of the biggest crises of its 111-year history, the US and British-edu-cated army officer is seen as a potential breath of fresh air in FIFA’s corridors of power.

No stranger to the trappings of power and wealth, the father of two has already proved he can bring about change.

He led the campaign which saw FIFA lift the ban on the hijab and other religious head coverings being worn during matches last year.

Last September, the FIFA executive com-mittee member led calls for Michael Garcia’s report into FIFA’s awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup finals to Russia and Qatar respectively to be made public. AFP

Calasiao hosts slalom tourneyRACE Motorsports Club is inviting car enthusiasts to the Slalom Invitationals on Sunday at Robinsons Place Calasiao Parking Lot in Pangasinan.

Registration starts at 7 a.m. and will continue for the whole day, while prac-tice runs are set until 11 a.m., just before the start of the official runs at 11:30 a.m.

A free slalom clinic is offered from 9 to 10 a.m.

Expected to participate are the differ-ent clubs/teams, headed by Baguio Auto Forum, Barftech, Team Kuneho, Corolla Auto Club Baguio, Team Makaluma, Team La Union Greenlight, Wholesome Concepts, Manantan Team, Speedlimits and privateers from Dagupan, Pangasi-

nan, Tarlac and Metro Manila.The 2015 RACE Motorsports Club

Slalom Invitational is sponsored by Shell Helix Motor Oils, Federal Tyres, Outlast Battery, Starbright Body Kits, Auto Transporter, medical team Aer-omed, media partners Stoplight TV and C! Magazine.

This is the second out of four legs of the Slalom Invitationals set for the year.

The next two stages will be held on Aug. 16 and Nov. 8, both at Robinsons Calasiao.

For details, contact Bing Bang Dulce at tel. Nos. 928-6951, 0922-8165344 or 0917-8119337; or e-mail [email protected].

Jhon Guintu of Wholesome Concepts, a team from Baguio City, is one of the top contenders in the Slalom Invitationals.

Ali out to wrestle Fifa from Sepp

Coric remindsme of me, saysno. 1 Djokovic

Croatia’s Borna Coric returns the ball to Spain’s Tommy Robredo during the men’s second round at the Roland Garros 2015 French Tennis Open in Paris. AFP

ROLANDO B. Omampo, out-going project director of the Na-tional Basketball Amateur Ref-erees Organization and a former international arbiter, passed away Thursday after he suffered a heart attack. He was 69 years old.

Omampo, a former Far East-ern University physical education professor, was the tournament commissioner of the annual BEST (Basketball Efficiency Sci-entific Training) competition among young basketball aspir-ants at the time of his death.

Omampo was survived by his sons Rhonald, Rhoderic, Rom-mel and Russel.

His body lies at Funeraria Paz along Araneta Avenue. His cremation will be announced shortly. Mourners are requested to omit flowers.

Cage refereeOmampo dies

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sat ur day: may 3 0 , 2 0 1 5

sports

Cyna seals title romp Thais denyTV5 request

IN AN inexplicable decision, the Thai promoter of the International Box-ing Federation Flyweight title fight between mandatory challenger and former IBF junior flyweight cham-pion Johnreil Casimero and Thai world champion Amnat Ruenroeng has turned down a request of TV 5 for a commentary position for the Philip-pine network’s telecast of the fight.

In response to a query from TV 5’s sports executive Dong Capinpuy-an, Mono 29 TV producer Choopol Sriprai of the Thai network, which is covering the title fight said: “I talk to Mr.Jimmy (Chaichotchuang) box-ing promoter, I’m sorry to inform you that we cannot allow TV 5 to cover live at ringside.”

This raised questions as to what the problem was unless the Thais plan to cover up some shenanigans, which the TV5 panel could spot or the pro-ducer misunderstood the request.

Sammy Gello-ani, Casimero’s co-promoter with well known in-ternational promoter and match-maker Sampson Lewkowicz told The Standard/boxingmirror.com that perhaps the Thais thought TV 5 wanted to cover the fight with their own TV equipment and were not merely asking for a commentary position. Ronnie Nathanielsz

Cero saves day for host Jagna in Cebuana age-group net meet

PH VolleyballAssociation joinsMinda sportsfestTHE Philippine Vol-leyball Federation joins the Davao City Summer Fest 2015 with the staging of the Mindanao Open Invitational Beach Volleyball on May 30 and 31 at the Liza’s and Marites Sea-foods Grill and Res-taurant Sand Court, inside Ties Beach, Ecoland, Davao City.

Twenty teams have signed up for the event held in part-nership with the Davao Volleyball As-sociation, headed by Engr. Daks Yambao and sanctioned by the Philippine Vol-leyball Federation, headed by Edgardo

“Boy” Cantada. The South’s top-

notch players from Tawi Tawi, ARRM Region, Davao Orien-tal, Davao del Norte, Davao Sur, Mati City, Tagum City, General Santos City and host Davao City will see ac-tion in the event, which offers a P200,000 total cash prize put up by the City Government of Davao.

Meanwhile, the Phil-ippine Volleyball Fed-eration is staging the 2015 National Inter-Collegiate Volleyball Championship (Pedro Mendoza, Jr. Memorial Cup) set May 27 to 31 at the University of Cor-dillera in Baguio City.

CYNA Rodriguez posted another dominant win on the ICTSI Ladies Philippine Golf Tour, pulling away with an eagle-spiked frontside 33 and cap-ping her romp with a birdie-birdie finish for a 69 and a six-shot victory over Sarah Ababa in the ICTSI Riviera Ladies Classic at Riviera’s Couples Course in Silang, Cavite yesterday.

Rodriguez pounced on Aba-ba’s bogey start and bested her rival’s birdie on the par-5 No. 2 with an eagle, threatening to blow the field away after taking a two-stroke lead with a 69 Thurs-day. Though Ababa gained a two-shot swing on No. 4 with

another birdie coupled with Ro-driguez’s bogey to move within two again, the reigning back-to-back Order of Merit champion birdied No. 7 and 9 for a 33 and pulled six shots away as Ababa bogeyed Nos. 6 and 9 and made the turn at 37.

It was cruise control for Rod-riguez at the back, making up for her bogey mishaps on Nos. 11 and 13 with back-to-back birdies to close out the tournament, her sec-ond three-under card giving her a 54-hole aggregate of eight-under 208 worth P100,000.

It was actually Rodriguez’s first win in the season after winning half of the eight titles disputed in last year’s second edition of the country’s first ladies pro cir-cuit sponsored by ICTSI. It also atoned for her playoff loss to ama-teur ace Princess Superal in the ICTSI Wack Wack Invitational last month.

Rodriguez struggled to finish

sixth in the kickoff leg at the ICT-SI Ladies Open won by Korean Hwang Ye-nah and finished tied for seventh at ICTSI Splendido topped by Thai Meechai Wicha-nee.

Ababa also carded a second 73 and finished way behind at 214 and took P70,000 for her second runner-up effort after finishing tied with Thai Walailak Satarak at ICTSI Splendido.

Lovelynn Guioguio strung up three straight birdies from No. 6 but could only match Ababa’s 73 as she placed third with a 222 in the P500,000 event organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. Guioguio pocketed P45,000.

LOCAL bet Rucel Cero saved the day for host town Jagna in Bohol at the recent Cebuana Lhuillier Age-Group Championship Series by winning the boys’ 18-under title with an easy 6-0, 6-2 victory over Dumaguete City’s Christian Lagat in the event dominated by visiting players from nearby prov-inces.

Cero almost made it a double victory, but fal-tered in the 16- under finals against double winner Marc Nicole Suson from Cebu.

Suson won, 6-4, 6-2, over Cero, but was extend-ed in the 14-under finals against Sultan Kudarat’s Vince EJ Tugade, before winning, 6-0, 1-6, 10-3, in the event backed by Dunlop Sport.

Carlyn Bless Guarde from Sultan Kudarat extend-ed her winning streak by ruling anew both the girls’ 14-under and 16-under.

Guarde was not threatened in her 6-1, 6-4 victory over Siquijor’s Elaine Rose Bahonsua in the finals of the 14-under, but had a harder time over Shynne Villareal from Cebu, before taking the crown with a 6-4, 6-4 win.

Villareal consoled herself with the 18-under title, which she pocketed at the ex-

pense of Bohol’s Dawn Albert Uy.“The victory of Cero in the boys’ 18-under,

considering he is a new face in the series, proves again that there are young and promising ten-nis talents in the provinces just waiting to be discovered and our Cebuana Lhuillier age group tennis series is giving him and other promising players the opportunity to shine, “ said Philippine Tennis Association Chairman Jean Henri Lhuil-lier, who has been supporting the series for the past 10 years.

In the boys’ 12-under, former 10-below mul-ti-titists Rupert Ohrelle Tortal from Surigao and and Lanao del Norte bet Brent Sigmond Cortes met for the first time this year in the finals, with Tortal winning in three sets, 1- 6, 6-4, 10-8.

Oroquieta City’s Nash Agustines continued his domination of the 10-under unisex group by prevailing over John Christopher Sonsona,

4-1, 1-4, 4-2.Action in the series is ongoing in Bais City.

1st San Juan City Invitational Cup slated FIVE teams have initially signed up to join the first San Juan City Invitational Basketball Tournament.

Tournament director John Usman said this after confirming the participation of DN Steel, Baguio Oil, MAA General As-surance, New Menton Builders and Fronte Motors.

More are joining, according to Usman, and they are still firming the commitments of eight other squads.

The tournament, which will also be known as the Inter-Corporate 6-Feet Below Basket-ball League, is set to begin tentatively on June 28 at the San Juan Knights Gymnasium in N. Domingo.

The cagefest is organized for employees of corporate teams and as its name suggests, will have a height limit of 6-feet.

Usman said they are organizing the cagefest with the support of Organizing Committee Chairperson, Councilor Janella Ejercito Estrada, and the San Juan City Ath-letic Association.

Sendoff. Members of the Philippine athletics’ team going to the Singapore Southeast Asian Games are shown with their spon-sors from Veloci watches during a sendoff party at the Marriott Hotel on Thursday. Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association president Philip Ella Juico said the team is capable of winning eight to 12 gold medals in the biennial meet.

Sultan Kudarat native Carlyn Bless Guarde and Cebu City’s Marc Nicole Suson emerged double winners at the recent Cebuana Lhuillier Age-Group Tennis Championship in Jagna, Bohol. The event, backed by Dunlop Sport as the official ball, is an initiative of PHILTA Chairman Jean Henri Lhuil-lier to discover and nurture young provincial talents through a year-round and nationwide age-group tennis series, now on its 10th year.

A14S AT U R D AY : M AY 3 0 , 2 0 1 5

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Triathlon for beginnersTRIATHLON is an adrenaline-pumping activity that combines swimming, cycling and running in one event. It’s a popular sport in the Philippines, thanks in large part to celebrity triathletes who not only promote the sport to the general public but also make it look easy and fun to do. In reality, however, first-time triathletes need 3 to 6 months of preparation to finish the race without injury or burnout.

“It takes time to improve your endurance and stamina for a triathlon event. Aside from multisport training, you need to make healthy lifestyle choices—good nutrition, regular exercise, adequate rest, and having a positive attitude,” says Dr. Nicky Montoya, president of MediCard Philippines.

The MediCard 24.7 triathlon team shares the following advice for those who are planning to join a triathlon event:

1. Training is serious business. Be physically and mentally prepared.

The way to becoming a triathlete is to live an active and healthy lifestyle all the time and to train harder when the triathlon event approaches. Do not join when you’re not physically and mentally ready

to avoid hurting or exhausting yourself.

“Eating right has always been a conscious effort for me even before I became a triathlete,” said Vanessa Aguirre-Estrada. “When I prepare for a race, training and recovery dictates my nutrition. I don’t have a strict diet but when training season is at its peak, I store more protein in my meals. I reload carbs and hydrate for the whole day.”

2. Train early. On weekdays, assign a sport to do before and after work hours.

“During weekdays, I train for 1-2 hours of swimming, biking, running, or cross-training depending on the assigned sport of the day, in the morning or afternoon depending on my work schedule. On weekends, I wake up at 4:30 a.m. so I can start biking at 6 a.m. and end around lunchtime,” said Timmy Dadia.

3. Train with a buddy for encouragement and support.

Working out and doing multisport activities alone can get boring and lonely. It’s the reason why triathletes typically train with their team or with a loved one who’s also into the sport. “During the weekdays, [my wife] Lyka trains in the gym and me on my own. We

Boxing’srightful place

BOXING is the one sport that has brought our country i n t e r n a t i o n a l honors and earned

for us the respect our nation deserves.All this has been achieved through the

indomitable courage of our young fighters, most of whom have emerged from the ranks of the poorest of the poor and with the help of private individuals.

Never has there been an instance of government support for our fighters except in the perfunctory gestures of congressional recognition and presidential praises and what might be considered token support for the National Sports Association or ABAP.

Indeed, quite regrettably, the Games and Amusements Board, which is the agency under the Office of the President, has done more to harm the sport than to help it.

The undeniable fact is that through the years, the chairmen of the GAB have been political appointees, in a blatant display of politics in sports, which has been an absolute bane.

We recall that during the glory days of the late, great Gabriel “Flash” Elorde and a host of other world champions, the GAB was headed by Justiniano Montano Jr., the son of the powerful congressional leader Justiniano Montano Jr.

The late Jun Montano was probably the best GAB chairman we can remember since making his beloved land our home and immersing ourselves in the sport of boxing.

The advantage Montano enjoyed over the people who followed him was that he had the eminent lawyer and sportsman Rudy Salud as his secretary general, who helped guarantee that our boxers, managers and promoters were protected, provided they did the right thing and that the sport moved forward

with a purpose.It was an era when integrity was non-

negotiable unlike today when just about everything is negotiable.

On Sunday, Manila Time, Milan Melindo of the famed ALA Gym of respected boxing patron Tony Aldeguer gets a second chance at a world title when he faces Mexico’s IBF light flyweight champion Javier Mendoza in

Mendoza’s hometown.Fight fans are well aware of how difficult it is

to win in Mexico, especially if the fight is close and goes to the scorecards of the judges.

We would think that when a Filipino is fighting for a world title, at least a top official of the GAB, chairman Ramon Guanzon or Commissioners Fritz Gaston or Aquilo Tamano should be present to help protect the interests of our boxer.

Regrettably it won’t be the case.Yet, these three gentlemen attended the

recent IBF Convention in Montreal, Canada at taxpayers’ expense in what was clearly a junket.

If there was a need for GAB representation -- and perhaps there was -- then one Commissioner would have sufficed. Besides, chairman Guanzon sits on the board of the World Boxing Council and we feel it was unethical for him to attend the IBF Convention. Surely, there is a conflict somewhere.

There was the recent issue of two Filipino boxers fighting for the vacant WBC International super bantamweight title with Chinese promoter Liu Gang agreeing to accommodate the fight on his card in Kunming, China after matchmaker Brico Santig’s plan to stage the fight in the Phillippines fell through.

Santig claimed that the two boxers, Saulog and Laurel agreed to a measly purse just so the fight could happen. Question is, isn’t the GAB mandated to sign off on fight contracts? How could the GAB approve such scandalous purses of less than $500 which WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman revealed was the purse for a four-round bout in Mexico. And to think this was a WBC International title fight.

We figure it is next to impossible to expect President Aquino to revamp the GAB and place dedicated individuals with a love for boxing and with unsullied integrity at the helm.

We would probably have to wage a concerted campaign with the boxing community and the public to make sure that the next president will shun the cancer of political appointees to the GAB and help ensure that the sport which has brought so much honor and glory is elevated to its rightful place from the abysmal depths to which it has sunk.

Army’s battlecry: StopPLDT Hitters’ ValdezRECOGINIZING Alyssa Valdez’s enormous talent and skills, Army coach Rico de Guzman said he would need three players to neutralize the top PLDT Home Ultera’s hitter when they dispute the hotly contested Shakey’s V-League Season 12 Open crown tomorrow at The Arena in San Juan.

“I need a three-man block squad against Alyssa since I don’t think two players can stop her,” said de Guzman of the Ateneo ace, who uncorked another 26-hit assault to lead the Ultra Fast Hitters to a series-tying 25-16, 25-22, 19-25, 25-16 victory last Sunday.

While they unmasked Valdez and the Ultra Fast Hitters with a

come-from-behind 13-25, 25-23, 27-25, 25-22 victory in the series’ opener last week that foiled PLDT’s ambitious sweep bid in the season-opening conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s, the Lady Troopers failed to put the cuffs again on Valdez in Game Two.

Worse, 6-4 Jaja Santiago,

more of a shot blocker than attacker in the early going of the season, continued to emerge as a potent offensive force for PLDT, unleashing a 13-attack game to complement Valdez’s solid performance the last time out.

Actually, PLDT coach Roger Gorayeb also drew big games from veteans Charo Soriano and former MVP Sue Roces along with Gretchel Soltones, Rysabelle in Game Two. But Valdez remains his biggest weapon against an Army side boasting not only of an equally-star studded crew but also a roster steeped in championship experience.

Army has won two of the

league’s four Opens, including a sweep of Cagayan Valley via 3-0 routs in two games last year. But ranged against a team led by the league’s MVP and easily the best outside hitter in the land today, De Guzman wants to focus on Valdez.

That should mean any three among Gonzaga, Manabat, Mary Jean Balse, Nerissa Bautista and setter Salak will alternate in trying to contain the power-hitting Valdez.

Another cause of concern for De Guzman is the officiating, which he claimed stymied their charge in one stretch in Game Two.

train together on weekends,” said Jamie Leather.

4. Find inspiration to motivate yourself when the training gets difficult.

Lyka Leather advises, “Think about the upcoming race and look forward to enjoy the experience as opposed to the suffering. Picture yourself crossing the line happy, smiling and with no injuries.”

5. Never stop improving.The great thing about triathlons

is that there’s always room for improvement with its three

disciplines to “master.” It’s about one’s personal journey to fitness and sporting excellence. So if the first triathlon event intimidates you, strive to be better next time.

“Try it!” encouraged Aguirre-Estrada. “The community is growing and you can have new friends to ride, run and swim with. Conquer the sport you least like and this can be your biggest challenge and your greatest achievement. Make it your bucket list to finish one race. It only takes one race for you to believe in the triathlon bug.”

Training early is a must for aspiring triathletes.

PLDT’s Alyssa Valdez, shown here destroying the enemy’s defense, will be a marked woman when the Fast Hitters take on the Army Troop-ers in the deciding Game 3 of the Shakey’s V-League Season 12 Open championship tomorrow at The Arena in San Juan.

INSIDE SPORTS

RONNIE NATHANIELSZ

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACKManila

StandardTODAY

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

EXTRAJUDICIAL SETTLEMENT OF THE ESTATEOF THE DECEASED RITA EUCARE, WITH WAIVER OF RIGHTSNotice is hereby given that LOLITA ANG PONIENTE, of legal age, Filipino, married to RODOLFO G. PONIENTE, and with postal address at Blk. 8 Lot 13, 16th Street, Tambo, Parañaque City;

DOMINGO EUCARE ANG, of legal age Filipino, married to MARILYN QUEZON ANG and with postal address at Blk. 5 Lot 10, 16th Street, Puyat Compound, Tambo, Parañaque City;

MARIA MELINA ANG HUNG, of legal age Filipino, married to HUNG YUK KEI and with postal address at #1 Hermoso Compound Dalandanan, Valenzuela City;

ANTONIO EUCARE EGALIN, of legal age Filipino, married to ANGELITA UY EGALIN and with postal address at Blk. 7 Lot 17, Rainbow Drive, Goodwill II Subdivision, Parañaque City;

BELLA EUCARE ANG, of legal age Filipino, single and with postal address at 26E Orchid Tower, Oriental Gardens Makati, Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City;

-and-

RUBEN EUCARE ANG, of legal age Filipino, married to ROWENA CHUA ANG and with postal address at Blk. 5 Lot 10, 16th Street, Puyat Compound, Tambo, Parañaque City;

Hereafter collectively referred to as the HEIRS: executed an extrajudicial settlement of the estate of the deceased RITA EUCARE with waiver of rights over a certain parcel of land located in Bacoor, Cavite covered by TCT#T-224962 of the Register of Deeds of Cavite. That all the HEIRS by virtue of this instrument agreed to divide the said eal Property in equal sharing and that one of the HEIRS namely BELLA E. ANG waives all her rights & interest over the above property in favor of all her abovementioned siblings. As per DOC. NO. 343, PAGE NO. 69, BOOK NO. 77 SERIES OF 2011 before notary public ATTY. SERGRE MARIO C. IYOG( TS - MAY 23 ,30 & JUNE 6 , 2015) (TS-MAY 30, 2015)

Republic of the PhilippinesOFFICE OF THE MUNICIPAL MAYOR

BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEEBinmaley, Pangasinan

INVITATION TO BID The Municipality of Binmaley, through the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) invites Contractors registered with and classified by the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB) to apply for eligibility and if found eligible, to bid for the hereunder project: Name of Project : CONSTRUCTION OF BINMALEY ARCADE (PHASE I)Location : POBLACION, BINMALEY, PANGASINANApproved Budget For the Contract (ABC) : Php 8,300,000.00

Source of Fund : 20% DEVELOPMENT FUNDContract Duration : 90 CD Prospective bidders should possess a valid PCAB License ( Category Small B) which is applicable to the contract, have completed a similar contract with a value of at least 50% of the ABC, and have key personnel and equipment ( listed in the Eligibility Forms) available for the prosecution of the contract. The BAC will use non-discretionary “pass/fail” criteria in the Eligibility Check Screening as well as the Preliminary Examination of Bids. The BAC will conduct post-qualification of the lowest calculated bid. All particulars relative to Eligibility Statement and Screening, Bid Screening , Bid Security, Performance Security, Pre-Bidding Conference(s), Evaluation of Bids, Post Qualification and Award of Contract shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of R.A. 9184 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR). The complete schedule of activities is listed as follows:

BAC Activities Schedule1. Pre-Procurement Conference May 18, 2015- 2PM/Conference Rm.,

Municipal Hall, Binmaley, Pangasinan2. Issuance of Bid Documents May 26, 2015 - June 15, 2015/BAC OFFICE

Municipal Hall, Binmaley, Pangasinan3. Pre - bid Conference June 4, 2015 - 2PM/Conference Rm.,

Municipal Hall, Binmaley, Pangasinan4. Opening of Bids June 16, 2015- 2PM Conference Rm.,

Municipal Hall, Binmaley, PangasinanDeadline for the Submission of Bids is 10:00AM

5. Bid Evaluation June 17, 20156. Post-Qualification June 18, 20157. Notice of Award June 22. 20158. Notice to Proceed June 24, 2015 Bid Documents will be available only to prospective bidders upon payment of a non-refundable amount of Php 10,000.00 at the Office of the Treasurer, Binmaley, Pangasinan. The Municipal Government of Binmaley assumes no responsibility whatsoever to compensate or indemnify bidders for any expenses incurred in the preparation of the bids and reserves the right to reject any or all bids, to waive any formality, informality, and/or defect and to make an award to the bidder whose proposal is most advantageous to the government. CONTACT PERSON: (SGD.) CATALINA R. FLORESBAC SecretariatPoblacion, Binmaley, Pangasinan Tel. No. (075)543-3943

APPROVED BY: (SGD.) FERNANDO B. FERRERBAC Chairman

A15S AT U R D AY : M AY 3 0 , 2 0 1 5

[email protected]

JRU pulls outof cage meetBy Peter Atencio

THE Jose Rizal University Light Bombers will discontinue its campaign in the junior division and have withdrawn from the ongoing FilOil-Flying V cagefest at the Arena in San Juan.

Coach Nat Gregorio confirmed this yesterday, some five days after one of their key players, Carl Jimwell ‘CJ’ Servillon, passed away after losing consciousness during a game with La Salle-Zobel on Friday last week.

University officials agreed with the coaching staff’s recommendation, and Gregorio said this is to give respect to Servillon and his family.

The decision to withdraw came following instructions given by officials of the University.

On the other hand, there is no word yet on the status of the JRU Heavy Bombers in the senior division.

The Light Bombers are supposed to play against the San Beda Red Cubs on Saturday evening.

The 17-year-old Servillon will be interred on Sunday, with members of the team attending his burial.

“Hindi na rin nakapag-practice nang maayos ang mga bata. We are trying to find ways to cope with the situation. Na-traumatize ang mga bata sa nangyari,” said Gregorio.

CJ, whose father Jun is a tricycle

driver, and is survived by mom Azon, and sister KatKat, has spent two years with Team B before he was considered for team A this season.

The family has yet to get a medical certificate from Cardinal Santos Medical Center to determine the cause of death.

It was coach Gregorio, who was among the first who made attempts to revive Servillon due to the absence of medics at the time of the incident.

The family also learned that the ambulance which was supposed to be used to transport the boy to the hospital was not immediately available.

Because of this, family members felt there was negligence on the part of the organizers.

The management of the Filoil Flying V cagefest has promised to take steps to prevent serious health-related incidents from taking place during its tournaments.

Organizers are planning to have a doctor on standby, along with the regular emergency medical teams during games.

ACROSS 1 Fuse together 5 Raines and Fitzgerald 10 Ear cleaner (hyph.) 14 Route for Caesar 15 Jungle vine 16 WWW addresses 17 Command to Fido 18 Take the lid off 19 Bering Sea birds 20 Falls 22 Druid or shaman 24 Wool supplier 25 Mortgage, e.g. 26 Calf neighbors 29 Beefier 33 Churns up 34 Bikini halves 36 Navy noncom 37 First space station 38 Pursuit 39 Debtor’s letters 40 Galleon cargo 41 Bear in the air 42 Watusi or twist 44 Seek old haunts 47 — up

(hands over) 48 Dallas cagers

Saturday, May 30, 2015CROSSWORD PUZZLE

LOTTO RESULTS6/45 00-00-00-00-00-00

4 DIGITS 00-00-00-00

3 DIGITS 00-00-00

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3 00-00-00

4 DIGITS 00-00-00-00

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Estanislao, Vicencio make quarterfinalsDANIEL Estanislao III and Miguel Luis Vicencio flashed top form to ease out their respective rivals in similar fashions as the top two seeds cruised into the quarterfinal round of the boys’ 12-and-under play of the eighth First Gen Juntaphil Metro Age Group Tennis Champi-onship at the Alabang Country Club in Muntin-lupa yesterday.

Estanislao dropped just two games to bundle out Sam Nuguit, 6-1, 6-1, and arrange a Last 8 clash with fifth ranked Marc Andrei Jarata, who posted an impressive 6-0, 6-0 rout of Kidlat Estogero, while Vicencio likewise churned out a shutout 6-0, 6-0 romp over Luis Salvacion in the lower half of the draw.

Vicencio will take on Rafael Liangco next af-

ter the No. 7 bet got past Marcus Gnilo, 6-1, 6-0, while third seed Rupert Tortal held off Wesley Bos in the opening set be-fore pulling off a 6-4, 6-0 win for a quarters duel with No. 6 Edgardo An-gara, who survived Jude Hidalgo, 6-1, 4-6, 10-3, in the annual tourna-ment co-presented by the First Gen Corp. headed by Francis Giles Puno and sponsored by Smart Communications.

No. 4 Sebastien Lhuil-lier also came away with an emphatic 6-0, 6-1 vic-tory over Mico Castillo but will have his hands full in his chase for a semis berth against No. 8 Diego Dayrit, who dominated Prince Sal-vacion 6-1, 6-0, in the event organized by Juntaphil led by president Edward Puno with Technifibre as the of-

49 Muddy track 50 Lit 53 Posers 58 Library sect. 59 Brings up 61 People devourer 62 Sudden impulse 63 Remove a renter 64 Shuttle launch sound 65 Rock concert souvenirs 66 Stall 67 Baja Ms.

DOWN 1 Great Lakes st. 2 Singer — James 3 Open meadows 4 Flashlight battery (2 wds.)

5 Gives the slip 6 County — 7 Insect resins 8 Wheel buy

(2 wds.) 9 Most mawkish 10 Picturesque 11 Exam choice 12 Genres 13 Attention getter 21 Impresses 23 TKO official 25 City of lamaseries 26 Knight’s mail 27 Bete — 28 Bolshoi rival 30 Cupcake topper 31 Time period

32 Womanizers 34 Bacharach and Reynolds 35 Legal matter 38 Shook 42 Gridiron’s — Flutie 43 Royalty recipients 45 Mental pictures 46 Miss Kitty’s barkeep 47 Like good bread 50 Border on 51 Caveman discovery 52 Theater box 53 Follow, as a gumshoe 54 “Free Willy” whale 55 Mr. Stravinsky 56 Latin I verb 57 Vaccines 60 Twilight, to a poet

ficial ball and Caloy Creer as tournament referee.

Top seed Arthur Craig Pantino and No. 3 Jed Jus-tin Labasano also coasted to the quarters of the boys’ 14-U section with the

former whipping Francis dela Rosa, 6-0, 6-0, and the latter thwarting Mat-thew Garcia, 6-4, 6-1. No. 5 Juan Enrique Jugo also advanced with a 6-1, 6-0 rout over Angara.

Tough testfor Tomogdan

PREVIOUS PUZZLE SOLVED

5-30-15 © 2015 UFS, Dist. by Univ. Uclick for UFS

FILIPINO Jerry Tomogdan faces a hard challenge in his World Boxing Council title fight against WBC mini-mum weight champion Wanheng Menayothin of Thai-land in Bangkok on June 2.

The WBC reported that Tomogdan is bound to face a knotty challenge against the WBC champion, who has an undefeated record of 37-0 with 12 knockouts.

Tomgdan, who is just 21 years old, has a record of 17 victories, 9 KO s and 5 losses.

This will be the first time that Tomogdan contests a WBC world title.

The WBC website said Wanheng Menayothin, aged 29, is from Maha Sarakham, Thailand and is a formida-ble Champion who won his last fight defeating Filipino challenger Jeffrey Galero. Ronnie Nathanielsz

S AT U R D AY : M AY 3 0 , 2 0 1 5

A16RIERA U. MALL ARI

E D I T O R

[email protected]

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

By Reuel Vidal

MERALCO Bolts’ Asian import Seiya Ando ripped the net to shreds with his flawless shooting late in the game to tow his team past Blackwater Elite, 87-72, in the 2015 Philippine Basketball Association Governors Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Friday.

TURN TO A14

Army’sbattlecry:StopValdez

Ando unloaded eight of Mer-alco’s 12 points in four blistering minutes at crunch time as the Bolts erected an insurmountable, 83-67, advantage with 3:31 to go in the game.

Meralco protected the lead the rest of the way as the Bolts (3 wins, 3 losses) grabbed solo seventh place.

The Elite (1-5) remained dead last in the standings.

Tied at the top of the standings are the Alaska Aces (4-1) and Barako Bull Energy (4-1). Trail-ing them are the Kia Carnival (3-1), the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters (3-1), the San Miguel Beermen (4-2) and GlobalPort Batang Pier (3-2).

The other teams include Baran-gay Ginebra San Miguel (2-3), the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (1-3), the NLEX Road Warriors (1-4) and

SPORTS

the Star Hotshots (1-4).Meralco’s Gary David finished

with 16 points and five assists to walk away with Player of the Game honors.

The Elite held the early initia-tive, led by as much as 12 points early in the second quarter and even protected a 39-34 halftime advantage.

The Bolts finally grabbed the lead after baskets by veteran Dan-ny Ildefonso, who drilled a pair field goals as Meralco took the ini-tiative, 43-42, with eight minutes to go in the third quarter.

Bolts’ gunner Gary David then took up the chores, scor-ing eight points in the quarter alone as Meralco extended its lead, 63-57.

Meralco coach Norman Black

admitted his team’s lackluster start.

“We lacked energy and spunk at the beginning. We let Blackwater jump all over us. But we had much better balance today offensively with players stepping up includ-ing JD (Jared Dillinger), Ando and David,” said Black.

The scores:MERALCO 87—Emmett 17,

David 16, Dillinger 12, Ando 12, Anthony 10, Nabong 8, Hodge 6, Atkins 2, Ildefonso 2, Ferriols 2.

BLACKWATER 72—Douthit 15, Heruela 12, Gamalinda 8, Laure 8, Erram 7, Acuna 6, Cer-vantes 5, Bulawan 4, Reyes 3, Sal-vacion 3, Golla 1, Timberlake 0.

Quarter scores: 12-22, 34-39, 63-56, 87-72

CHICAGO—Tom Thibodeau was fired as coach of the Chi-cago Bulls on Thursday, unable to bring playoff success despite five winning campaigns with the NBA club.

Thibodeau went 255-139 in his tenure as coach, guiding the Bulls to Central division crowns in 2010-11 and 2011-12. But the Bulls, nagged by injuries to star Derrick Rose during his stay, went only 23-28 in playoff games under him.

“When Tom was hired in 2010, he was right for our team and system at that time, and over the last five years we have had some success with Tom as our head coach,” Bulls general manager Gar Forman said.

“But as we looked ahead and evaluated how we as a team and an organization could continue to grow and improve, we believed a change in approach was needed.”

Thibodeau, 57, was named the NBA Coach of the Year in 2011 when he matched the NBA record for rookie coaches with 62 wins.

He was part of a championship squad as an assistant coach with Boston in 2008 and also had as-sistant’s stints with San Antonio, Minnesota, Philadelphia, New York and Houston over 21 years before landing his first coaching post with the Bulls. AFP

Bulls fire coach Thibs

TURN TO A12

Novak: Coric reminds me of me

Bolts extendElite’s woes

Meralco’s Jared Dillinger drives to the basket, beating the defense of Blackwater’s JP Erram in a PBA game won by the Bolts, 87-72.

RODERICK T. DELA CRUZASSISTANT EDITOR B1

SATURDAY: MAY 30, 2015

[email protected]@gmail.com

RAY S. EÑANOEDITOR

PLDT may revisit GMA offer

PH businessmen more bullish in second quarter

BUSINESS

Bangko Sentral ng PilipinasFriday, May 29, 2015

Foreign exchange rateCurrency Unit US Dollar PesoUnited States Dollar 1.000000 44.6500

Japan Yen 0.008066 0.3601

UK Pound 1.531100 68.3636

Hong Kong Dollar 0.128977 5.7588

Switzerland Franc 1.059547 47.3088

Canada Dollar 0.804117 35.9038

Singapore Dollar 0.741620 33.1133

Australia Dollar 0.763301 34.0814

Bahrain Dinar 2.652520 118.4350

Saudi Arabia Rial 0.266667 11.9067

Brunei Dollar 0.738880 32.9910

Indonesia Rupiah 0.000076 0.0034

Thailand Baht 0.029603 1.3218

UAE Dirham 0.272257 12.1563

Euro Euro 1.094900 48.8873

Korea Won 0.000902 0.0403

China Yuan 0.161259 7.2002

India Rupee 0.015675 0.6999

Malaysia Ringgit 0.274650 12.2631

New Zealand Dollar 0.714694 31.9111

Taiwan Dollar 0.032619 1.4564 Source: PDS Bridge

7,580.4675.43

Closing May 29, 2015PSe comPoSite index

46

45

44

43

42

HIGH P44.520 LOW P44.610 AVERAGE P44.567

Closing MAY 29, 2015PeSo-dollar rate

VOLUME 576.800M

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

oilPriceS today

P500.00-P650.00LPG/11-kg tank

P41.85-P47.20Unleaded Gasoline

P29.35-P32.70Diesel

P34.55-P39.15Kerosene

P23.70-P24.40Auto LPG

todayP29.35-P32.70

P34.55-P39.15

P23.70-P24.40

PP41.85-P47.20

8500

8000

7500

7000

6500

6000

Closing MAY 29, 2015

P44.590CLOSE

B3 Eton investing P28b in 5 years B4 MetroPac mulls over

bank loans for Calax

Citi awards launching. The Citi Micro-entrepreneurship Awards, the annual search for most outstanding micro-entrepreneurs in the country, officially started this year in a recent ceremony held at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in Manila. Shown at the launch are (from left) Monetary Board member Valentin Araneta, Go Negosyo executive director Ramon Lopez, chairpman of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas Secretary Imelda Nicolas, 2014 CMA National Winner Teresita Valdez, Bangko Sentral Governor Amando Tetangco Jr., Citi Philippines chief executive Batara Sianturi and Monetary Board member Armando Suratos.

By Darwin G. Amojelar

PHILIPPINE Long Distance Telephone Co. may reconsider its offer to invest in GMA Network Inc. after talks between with busi-nessman Ramon Ang and the broadcast com-pany hit a snag.

“We are also very open to any-thing,” PLDT chairman Manuel Pangilinan told reporters on the sidelines of the annual stockhold-ers’ meeting Metro Pacific Invest-ment Corp. when he was asked if he was still interested to invest in GMA Network.

GMA chairman and chief ex-ecutive Felipe Gozon said “any-thing is possible” for a revival of talks between the owner of the network and PLDT. The Gozon, Duavit and Jimenez families own a combined 79 percent of the net-work.

“Since, I’m no longer sure [with Ang’s offer], it depends now on the new suitor whether they would like to court us or not,” Gozon had said.

Ang, however, said he would still pursue the acquisition of a minority stake in GMA Network, but cited some new but “small is-sues” that need to be resolved.

“This is [my] personal deal for a minority stake [in GMA]. The talks are ongoing,” Ang told re-porters earlier.

Ang declined to disclose the issues, assuring that he was not running away from the deal.

Ang stressed he was “all set” with the acquisition until he

heard about the issues he felt should be clarified. He added he already made a downpayment for the deal.

Majority owners of the broad-cast network, which airs on Channel 7 on free TV, earlier said they started discussing with a new potential investor.

Gozon clarified there was no fixed deadline on the closure of the transaction with Ang, “but it should be done within a reason-able period which is not defined.”

Ang offered to acquire at least 30 percent of GMA for P10.80 per share. Ang’s offer was higher than the P9 billion offered by the PLDT Group.

The PLDT Group and GMA ended a third round of talks for a 34-percent stake in the broadcast company in February 2014. The talks fell through because of dis-agreement over regulatory risk-sharing.

Gozon earlier said he had re-cent talks with a new prospective investor he declined to identify.

GMA Network is implement-ing a manpower reduction pro-gram. “One thing that we don’t want is to be over staffed. We have to maintain a lean organization. In regional office, [it is finished], but there would be more employ-ees to be laid off in the main of-fice,” Gozon said.

By Julito G. RadaBUSINESSMEN turned more bull-ish in the second quarter amid ro-bust consumer demand and brisk construction activities, results of the quarterly business expectations survey conducted by Bangko Sen-tral ng Pilipinas show.

Bangko Sentral said the over-all confidence index, or the dif-ference between optimistic and pessimistic business respondents, rose to 49.2 percent in the second quarter from 45.2 percent in the

first quarter of 2015.Respondents cited robust con-

sumer demand, graduation and enrollment periods and summer season as some of the reasons for the upbeat outlook.

Other reasons mentioned were the expected increase in activities in the construction sector, particu-larly infrastructure-related proj-ects; expansion of businesses and launch of new products; and con-tinuing confidence in the present administration.

“Their more positive outlook

was further driven by expectations of more favorable macroeconomic conditions in the country, sus-tained foreign direct investments inflows, and the steady stream of overseas Filipino remittances,” the survey said.

Bangko Sentral said the senti-ment of businesses in the Philip-pines mirrored the buoyant busi-ness outlook in the United States, Germany, Korea, and Singapore but was in contrast to the less bull-ish views of those in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and India.

For the third quarter this year, business outlook remained opti-mistic, with the confidence index at 47.3 percent, although this was lower than the 58.2 percent in the previous survey.

Among the reasons for less op-timistic outlook were the interrup-tion of regular business activities during the rainy season; lower out-put during the planting season; and increased market competition with the establishment of new business-es which could hurt existing small and medium-scale businesses.


BUSINESSSATURDAY: MAY 30, 2015

B2

M S T52 Weeks Previous % Net Foreign High Low STOCKS Close High Low Close Change Volume Trade/Buying

MST BuSineSS Daily STockS Review Friday, May 29, 2015

FINANCIAL7.88 2.5 AG Finance 6.55 7 6.55 7 6.87 6,800 47,207.0075.3 66 Asia United Bank 73 74.8 72.3 74.8 2.47 329,600 16,046,123.00124.4 84.6 Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 106.00 110.10 106.40 108.00 1.89 7,548,170 -99,349,743.00104 84.5 Bank of PI 99.00 100.20 98.00 98.00 -1.01 4,373,230 -75,272,313.5063 45.8 China Bank 46.2 46.3 46.1 46.1 -0.22 15,400 199,090.004.2 2.03 Bright Kindle Resources 1.95 1.99 1.81 1.81 -7.18 80,000 18.48 12.02 COL Financial 15.9 16.1 15.8 16.1 1.26 32,400 31.6 23.55 Eastwest Bank 20.95 22 20.95 21.95 4.77 837,000 608,290.009.5 6.3 Filipino Fund Inc. 7.00 7.00 7.00 7.00 0.00 600 0.92 0.74 First Abacus 0.75 0.77 0.77 0.77 2.67 20,000 2.95 1.75 I-Remit Inc. 1.66 1.74 1.74 1.74 4.82 1,000 890 625 Manulife Fin. Corp. 800.00 775.00 750.00 760.00 -5.00 500 1.01 0.225 MEDCO Holdings 0.445 0.445 0.400 0.445 0.00 2,150,000 99.4 78 Metrobank 90 90.35 88.5 89.5 -0.56 7,409,170 -38,633,587.5030.5 18.02 PB Bank 18.00 18.20 18.00 18.20 1.11 11,200 94.95 76.5 Phil. National Bank 71.60 73.45 62.00 62.00 -13.41 344,440 -18,998,333.50137 95 Phil. Savings Bank 94 95.1 93 95.1 1.17 1,070 361.2 276 PSE Inc. 309.8 309 303 307 -0.90 3,770 199,406.0059 45 RCBC À’ 44.1 44.9 41 41 -7.03 403,400 -14,232,465.00174.8 107.6 Security Bank 153.5 157.7 151.6 156 1.63 2,185,830 -206,960,766.00127.9 66 Union Bank 64.00 64.95 64.05 64.90 1.41 10,530 531,187.003.26 2.65 Vantage Equities 3.13 3.13 3.13 3.13 0.00 14,000

INDUSTRIAL47 35.6 Aboitiz Power Corp. 42.45 43.25 42.15 43 1.30 6,233,500 -38,368,275.005 1.6 Agrinurture Inc. 1.59 1.59 1.55 1.55 -2.52 9,000 6,360.001.66 1.04 Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 1.05 1.05 1.04 1.05 0.00 520,000 -34,410.002.36 1.41 Alsons Cons. 2.07 2.11 2.07 2.1 1.45 1,506,000 15.3 7.92 Asiabest Group 10.7 10.8 10.56 10.72 0.19 20,200 -202,752.0020.6 14.6 Century Food 19 19.4 18.9 19 0.00 348,600 -5,478,310.0032 10.08 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 26 27.5 26 27 3.85 238,500 65.8 29.15 Concepcion 57.25 57.5 55.7 55.8 -2.53 545,270 -30,141,155.50 Crown Asia 1.57 1.65 1.51 1.6 1.91 3,582,000 3,040.004.57 1.04 Da Vinci Capital 1.73 1.68 1.68 1.68 -2.89 13,000 23.35 10.72 Del Monte 12.16 12.78 12.16 12.6 3.62 15,000 62,104.0021.6 8.44 DNL Industries Inc. 19.040 19.600 18.98 19.400 1.89 7,018,300 -16,263,254.0012.98 9.79 Emperador 9.98 10.16 9.99 9.99 0.10 2,157,800 -715,013.009.13 5.43 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 7.66 7.99 7.53 7.91 3.26 46,745,100 38,902,433.0012.34 9.54 EEI 10.02 10.10 9.41 9.41 -6.09 2,825,500 -15,121,471.002.89 1.06 Euro-Med Lab 1.88 1.88 1.7 1.72 -8.51 58,000 17 8.61 Federal Res. Inv. Group 11.5 12.18 11.5 12.02 4.52 74,700 31.8 18.06 First Gen Corp. 26 26.95 26 26.95 3.65 5,988,500 -33,424,745.00109 67.9 First Holdings ‘A’ 87.05 89.85 87.1 89.7 3.04 774,470 38,110,521.0020.75 14 Ginebra San Miguel Inc. 15.00 14.98 14.50 14.50 -3.33 4,100 15.3 13.24 Holcim Philippines Inc. 14.40 14.52 14.46 14.52 0.83 4,700 28,940.009.4 3.12 Integ. Micro-Electronics 5.87 5.87 5.81 5.84 -0.51 89,800 241 168 Jollibee Foods Corp. 201.00 204.40 200.00 201.00 0.00 2,073,320 -101,876,772.0012.5 8.65 Lafarge Rep 9.98 10.1 9.92 10.08 1.00 40,900 79 34.1 Liberty Flour 30.00 32.50 32.50 32.50 8.33 300 3.95 2.3 LMG Chemicals 2.21 2.25 2.2 2.2 -0.45 47,000 33.9 24.4 Manila Water Co. Inc. 25.2 25.2 23.5 23.5 -6.75 4,165,500 -44,448,680.0090 16.2 Maxs Group 24.5 25.6 24.4 25 2.04 417,700 -8,141,300.0013.98 7.62 Megawide 6.49 6.9 6.55 6.8 4.78 1,575,900 -5,604,599.00292.4 250.2 Mla. Elect. Co À’ 271.00 283.00 270.00 281.20 3.76 1,573,900 75,402,358.005 3.37 Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp. 4.10 4.22 4.27 4.22 2.93 21,000 5.25 3.87 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 4.33 4.49 4.27 4.27 -1.39 2,121,000 -1,955,970.0013.04 9 Petron Corporation 9.38 9.96 9.31 9.96 6.18 1,948,100 11,835,802.006.8 3.7 Phil H2O 3.93 4 4 4 1.78 3,000 14.5 9.94 Phinma Corporation 11.50 11.60 11.50 11.60 0.87 2,000 7.03 3.03 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 3.80 3.85 3.79 3.85 1.32 254,000 -375,080.003.4 2.22 Phoenix Semiconductor 2.19 2.22 2.19 2.22 1.37 252,000 44,000.004.5 1 Pryce Corp. À’ 2.08 2.16 2.08 2.1 0.96 247,000 -47,080.006.68 4.72 RFM Corporation 4.75 4.71 4.02 4.06 -14.53 16,267,000 -39,308,440.007.86 1.65 Roxas and Co. 1.86 1.9 1.79 1.9 2.15 86,000 253 201.6 San Miguel’Pure Foods `B’ 183.2 183.2 183.2 183.2 0.00 5,750 1,033,248.005.5 4.1 SPC Power Corp. 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 0.00 5,000 3.28 1.67 Splash Corporation 1.62 1.64 1.61 1.62 0.00 107,000 0.315 0.122 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.153 0.158 0.153 0.158 3.27 1,410,000 2.5 1.02 TKC Steel Corp. 1.16 1.17 1.14 1.14 -1.72 87,000 2.68 2.01 Trans-Asia Oil 2.24 2.29 2.25 2.25 0.45 102,000 226.6 143.4 Universal Robina 187 196.7 187 190.8 2.03 4,267,690 -89,641,278.005.5 4.28 Victorias Milling 4.4 4.4 4.4 4.4 0.00 60,000 259,600.001.3 0.670 Vitarich Corp. 0.73 0.75 0.73 0.73 0.00 194,000 26 9.01 Vivant Corp. 20.55 22.50 20.50 22.50 9.49 6,000 2.17 1.39 Vulcan Ind’l. 1.27 1.27 1.26 1.26 -0.79 46,000 47,880.00

HOLDING FIRMS0.7 0.45 Abacus Cons. À’ 0.465 0.465 0.465 0.465 0.00 20,000 59.2 48.1 Aboitiz Equity 56.95 57.80 56.00 56.00 -1.67 4,860,220 -111,827,626.0031.85 20.85 Alliance Global Inc. 23.30 23.50 22.95 22.95 -1.50 10,634,900 26,916,495.007.39 6.62 Anscor À’ 6.98 6.99 6.96 6.99 0.14 3,300 -5,592.003.4 1.4 ATN Holdings A 0.270 0.275 0.265 0.270 0.00 1,360,000 800 600 Ayala Corp À’ 780 803.5 775 790 1.28 536,130 -26,628,245.0011.06 7.390 Cosco Capital 7.77 7.84 7.74 7.77 0.00 6,516,000 5,557,876.0084 14.18 DMCI Holdings 13.20 13.90 13.20 13.20 0.00 25,500,400 -162,849,778.003.35 2.6 F&J Prince ‘A’ 3.56 3.56 3.56 3.56 0.00 4,000 5.14 4.25 Filinvest Dev. Corp. 4.56 4.52 4.52 4.52 -0.88 42,000 189,840.001380 818 GT Capital 1385 1396 1371 1396 0.79 6,603,075 2,559,927,340.006.68 5.3 House of Inv. 6.40 6.45 6.41 6.45 0.78 42,800 93,025.0072.6 46.6 JG Summit Holdings 66.90 68.80 66.95 68.50 2.39 7,301,980 -173,182,687.508.9 4.96 Jolliville Holdings 4.19 3.69 3.68 3.69 -11.93 3,000 5.29 3 Keppel Holdings À’ 5.7 5.13 5 5 -12.28 7,000 6.66 3.52 Keppel Holdings `B’ 5.1 5.15 5.1 5.1 0.00 700 9.25 4.43 Lopez Holdings Corp. 7.38 7.65 7.3 7.5 1.63 4,936,400 -1,917,451.000.9 0.59 Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. 0.72 0.73 0.71 0.72 0.00 507,000 18.9 12 LT Group 13.64 14.1 13.6 13.96 2.35 6,437,800 -1,814,988.000.73 0.580 Mabuhay Holdings À’ 0.67 0.7 0.63 0.63 -5.97 10,930,000 -182,000.005.53 4.22 Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. 4.6 4.62 4.5 4.5 -2.17 38,194,000 -20,648,470.006.55 4.5 Minerales Industrias Corp. 5.1 5.15 5.1 5.1 0.00 100,100 0.84 0.450 Prime Orion 0.980 1.040 0.970 1.020 4.08 3,639,000 -182,420.0087 66.7 San Miguel Corp À’ 64.50 65.40 64.00 65.00 0.78 109,910 8,620.503.5 1.5 Seafront À’ 2.75 2.96 2.96 2.96 7.64 21,000 934 709.5 SM Investments Inc. 872.50 902.50 870.00 880.00 0.86 605,690 -181,522,735.002.2 1.13 Solid Group Inc. 1.25 1.26 1.23 1.24 -0.80 259,000 1.39 0.93 South China Res. Inc. 0.78 0.76 0.73 0.73 -6.41 156,000 156 85.2 Top Frontier 84.000 88.450 82.500 88.450 5.30 1,300 0.710 0.200 Unioil Res. & Hldgs 0.3550 0.3600 0.3500 0.3500 -1.41 2,840,000 0.435 0.173 Wellex Industries 0.2130 0.2110 0.2000 0.2110 -0.94 130,000

P R O P E R T Y10.5 6.01 8990 HLDG 7.600 7.960 7.600 7.890 3.82 367,200 -500,614.0026.95 12 Anchor Land Holdings Inc. 9.00 9.00 8.70 8.90 -1.11 4,000 1.99 0.91 A. Brown Co., Inc. 0.72 0.79 0.71 0.74 2.78 1,217,000 2.07 1.29 Araneta Prop À’ 1.290 1.300 1.300 1.300 0.78 1,000 40 29.1 Ayala Land `B’ 38.70 40.20 38.55 40.05 3.49 16,184,800 42,962,805.006.15 4.1 Belle Corp. À’ 3.69 3.84 3.5 3.5 -5.15 5,836,000 -13,133,870.00

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

Trading SummarySHARES VALUE

FINANCIAL 26,782,416 2,445,314,654.10INDUSTRIAL 118,085,101 3,366,470,604.984HOLDING FIRMS 497,099,113 12,336,802,213.5396PROPERTY 205,338,236 1,834,268,563.60SERVICES 191,415,156 2,755,597,252.18MINING & OIL 736,510,941 765,159,973.118GRAND TOTAL 1,776,791,278 23,520,278,393.8236

FINANCIAL 1,719.58 (DOWN) 4.21INDUSTRIAL 11,674.48 (UP) 148.71HOLDING FIRMS 6,745.48 (UP) 37.66PROPERTY 3,116.20 (UP) 80.97SERVICES 2,093.62 (UP) 0.73MINING & OIL 14,131.12 (UP) 54.38PSEI 7,580.46 (UP) 75.43All Shares Index 4,360.81 (UP) 36.02

Gainers: 106; Losers: 68; Unchanged: 44; Total: 218

STOCKS Close(P)

Change(%)

RFM Corporation 4.06 -14.53

Phil. National Bank 62.00 -13.41

Keppel Holdings À' 5 -12.28

Jolliville Holdings 3.69 -11.93

Euro-Med Lab 1.72 -8.51

Grand Plaza Hotel 24.05 -7.50

Bright Kindle Resources 1.81 -7.18

RCBC À' 41 -7.03

Manila Water Co. Inc. 23.5 -6.75

Keppel Properties 5.05 -6.48

Top LoSerSSTOCKS Close

(P)Change

(%)

Philweb.Com Inc. 22.20 20.52

DFNN Inc. 6.70 15.52

Vivant Corp. 22.50 9.49

Liberty Flour 32.50 8.33

Seafront À' 2.96 7.64

Century Peak Metals Hldgs 1 7.53

Liberty Telecom 2.88 7.46

Manila Mining `B' 0.0150 7.14

AG Finance 7 6.87

TA Petroleum 10.74 6.76

Top gainerS

5.4 4.96 Cebu Holdings 5.2 5.16 5.15 5.16 -0.77 2,300 1.54 0.89 Century Property 0.85 0.86 0.84 0.85 0.00 2,963,000 -608,590.001.48 0.97 Cityland Dev. À’ 1.05 1.18 1.05 1.05 0.00 358,000 53,500.000.201 0.083 Crown Equities Inc. 0.141 0.141 0.138 0.140 -0.71 3,000,000 0.305 0.188 Ever Gotesco 0.185 0.180 0.180 0.180 -2.70 0 14,400.002.25 1.4 Global-Estate 1.22 1.23 1.20 1.22 0.00 10,912,000 -12,094,660.001.87 1.42 Filinvest Land,Inc. 1.85 1.92 1.85 1.86 0.54 31,875,000 2,431,080.001.8 1.19 Interport À’ 1.35 1.42 1.34 1.34 -0.74 658,000 6.34 2.8 Keppel Properties 5.40 6.35 5.05 5.05 -6.48 4,200 4.88 2.75 Megaworld Corp. 4.7 4.82 4.61 4.75 1.06 86,390,000 -37,346,770.000.180 0.090 MRC Allied Ind. 0.120 0.122 0.117 0.121 0.83 790,000 0.470 0.325 Phil. Estates Corp. 0.3100 0.3100 0.3100 0.3100 0.00 210,000 27 23 Phil. Tob. Flue Cur & Redry 24.85 25.50 24.90 25.50 2.62 300 8.54 2.57 Primex Corp. 7.19 7.2 7.18 7.19 0.00 189,500 839,792.0031.8 21.35 Robinson’s Land `B’ 28.70 29.60 28.95 29.50 2.79 2,494,700 52,801,440.002.29 1.64 Rockwell 1.67 1.71 1.68 1.7 1.80 24,000 3.6 3.08 Shang Properties Inc. 3.22 3.26 3.23 3.23 0.31 72,000 20.6 15.08 SM Prime Holdings 18.78 19.70 18.90 19.42 3.41 21,089,700 12,019,638.001.02 0.69 Sta. Lucia Land Inc. 0.73 0.73 0.69 0.71 -2.74 220,000 7.56 3.38 Starmalls 7.14 7.14 7.14 7.14 0.00 4,000 1.96 1 Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. 0.850 0.880 0.870 0.870 2.35 48,000 8.59 5.69 Vista Land & Lifescapes 7.050 7.060 7.030 7.030 -0.28 18,690,000 -35,997,189.00

S E R V I C E S10.5 1.97 2GO Group’ 6.5 6.5 6.39 6.5 0.00 79,800 66 32.5 ABS-CBN 60.9 62 60.8 62 1.81 15,020 1.09 0.6 APC Group, Inc. 0.670 0.700 0.660 0.670 0.00 8,172,000 -100,500.0012.46 10 Asian Terminals Inc. 13.8 13.8 13.8 13.8 0.00 1,000 28.5 18.2 Berjaya Phils. Inc. 27 27 27 27 0.00 300 15.82 9.61 Bloomberry 9.29 9.80 9.31 9.70 4.41 20,112,500 60,799,689.000.1460 0.0770 Boulevard Holdings 0.0950 0.0960 0.0920 0.0960 1.05 6,250,000 4.61 2.95 Calata Corp. 4.3 4.41 4.2 4.3 0.00 966,000 142,700.0099.1 46.55 Cebu Air Inc. (5J) 87.75 89.7 86 86 -1.99 888,100 -34,764,609.502.6 1.6 Discovery World 1.67 1.77 1.67 1.77 5.99 22,000 9 5.88 DFNN Inc. 5.80 6.80 5.65 6.70 15.52 207,500 -670.001700 830 FEUI 987 985 985 985 -0.20 20 2090 1600 Globe Telecom 2630 2650 2550 2550 -3.04 167,140 -125,393,500.008.41 5.95 GMA Network Inc. 6.20 6.25 6.20 6.22 0.32 22,600 33 30 Grand Plaza Hotel 26.00 24.05 24.05 24.05 -7.50 200 1.97 1.36 Harbor Star 1.29 1.39 1.29 1.37 6.20 90,000 119.5 105 I.C.T.S.I. 108.2 110.5 106.5 107 -1.11 1,884,810 -39,720,351.0012.5 8.72 IPeople Inc. À’ 12.14 12.3 11.6 12.3 1.32 11,000 0.8200 0.036 Island Info 0.224 0.231 0.221 0.224 0.00 6,570,000 -77,750.002.2800 1.200 ISM Communications 1.2400 1.2400 1.2000 1.2300 -0.81 229,000 -60,760.005.93 2.34 Jackstones 2.3 2.25 2.25 2.25 -2.17 6,000 12.28 6.5 Leisure & Resorts 9.39 9.63 9.38 9.60 2.24 684,500 6,278,176.002.85 1.69 Liberty Telecom 2.68 2.89 2.68 2.88 7.46 731,000 33,840.005.9 1.05 Manila Broadcasting 51.90 51.70 45.00 51.00 -1.73 2,380 1.97 0.490 Manila Bulletin 0.670 0.670 0.660 0.670 0.00 302,000 2.46 1.8 Manila Jockey 1.99 2 1.99 2 0.50 100,000 -179,100.0015.2 8.7 Melco Crown 8.13 8.39 8.11 8.14 0.12 5,024,400 -7,134,376.000.62 0.34 MG Holdings 0.360 0.355 0.350 0.350 -2.78 1,260,000 224,000.001.040 0.37 NOW Corp. 0.470 0.475 0.475 0.475 1.06 30,000 22.8 14.54 Pacific Online Sys. Corp. 18.1 18.2 18.18 18.18 0.44 5,000 6.41 3 PAL Holdings Inc. 4.50 4.55 4.45 4.55 1.11 30,000 -4,500.004 2.28 Paxys Inc. 3 3 3 3 0.00 9,000 14 4.39 Philweb.Com Inc. 18.42 22.20 18.42 22.20 20.52 5,974,900 71,451,899.003486 2726 PLDT Common 2780.00 2880.00 2780.00 2780.00 0.00 257,245 -257,114,250.000.710 0.380 PremiereHorizon 0.650 0.650 0.640 0.650 0.00 1,862,000 2.28 0.32 Premium Leisure 1.540 1.580 1.490 1.540 0.00 99,844,000 44,095,060.0048.5 31.45 Puregold 38.40 38.40 37.95 38.00 -1.04 3,182,600 -83,230,575.0090.1 60.55 Robinsons RTL 74.00 75.95 74.00 75.00 1.35 5,896,930 -148,323,971.5011.6 7.59 SSI Group 9.83 10.10 9.80 9.98 1.53 16,999,400 34,180,983.000.87 0.63 STI Holdings 0.67 0.67 0.66 0.67 0.00 945,000 2.95 1.71 Transpacific Broadcast 1.73 1.73 1.71 1.71 -1.16 29,000 10.2 6.45 Travellers 5.68 5.99 5.68 5.99 5.46 1,716,200 -293,035.001.6 1.04 Yehey 1.320 1.270 1.260 1.260 -4.55 6,000

MINING & OIL0.0098 0.0043 Abra Mining 0.0050 0.0050 0.0049 0.0049 -2.00 113,000,000 -4,900.0017.24 8.65 Atlas Cons. À’ 7.05 7.10 6.60 6.60 -6.38 2,646,100 -5,664,024.0025 9.43 Atok-Big Wedge À’ 11.50 11.50 11.50 11.50 0.00 300 0.330 0.236 Basic Energy Corp. 0.245 0.245 0.245 0.245 0.00 90,000 12.7 6.5 Benguet Corp À’ 7.4200 7.4300 7.4300 7.4300 0.13 1,400 12.8 6.98 Benguet Corp `B’ 7.7000 8.2000 7.2000 8.2000 6.49 65,100 -150,500.001.2 0.61 Century Peak Metals Hldgs 0.93 1.01 0.93 1 7.53 7,597,000 -141,000.001.73 0.78 Coal Asia 0.82 0.82 0.8 0.81 -1.22 1,532,000 -8,100.0010.98 5.99 Dizon 7.34 7.38 7.22 7.38 0.54 1,100 4.2 1.08 Ferronickel 1.52 1.74 1.55 1.6 5.26 300,940,000 4,221,570.000.48 0.330 Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. 0.330 0.345 0.320 0.320 -3.03 3,600,000 0.455 0.2130 Lepanto À’ 0.236 0.235 0.233 0.233 -1.27 7,610,000 0.475 0.2160 Lepanto `B’ 0.239 0.238 0.238 0.238 -0.42 310,000 0.023 0.014 Manila Mining À’ 0.0140 0.0150 0.0140 0.0140 0.00 85,100,000 0.026 0.014 Manila Mining `B’ 0.0140 0.0150 0.0140 0.0150 7.14 65,000,000 8.2 3.660 Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. 3.86 3.86 3.8 3.8 -1.55 656,000 -865,420.0049.2 20.2 Nickelasia 22.6 23.5 22.35 22.7 0.44 4,895,700 -40,161,930.004.27 2.11 Nihao Mineral Resources 3.75 3.79 3.73 3.77 0.53 611,000 1.030 0.365 Omico 0.6800 0.6900 0.6800 0.6900 1.47 506,000 3.06 1.54 Oriental Peninsula Res. 2.050 2.070 2.040 2.040 -0.49 92,000 6,120.000.020 0.012 Oriental Pet. À’ 0.0120 0.0120 0.0110 0.0120 0.00 91,600,000 7.67 5.4 Petroenergy Res. Corp. 4.39 4.40 4.38 4.38 -0.23 62,000 12.88 7.26 Philex À’ 6.14 6.34 6.19 6.2 0.98 646,200 19,808.0010.42 2.27 PhilexPetroleum 1.93 2.16 1.94 1.98 2.59 7,942,000 1,314,290.000.040 0.015 Philodrill Corp. À’ 0.014 0.015 0.014 0.014 0.00 40,500,000 -15,000.00420 115.9 Semirara Corp. 152.00 155.50 152.00 154.00 1.32 644,260 -13,116,104.009 3.67 TA Petroleum 10.06 10.82 10.12 10.74 6.76 844,900 235,520.00

PREFERRED70 33 ABS-CBN Holdings Corp. 63 63 61.5 61.5 -2.38 322,320 -1,285,333.00553 490 Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ 523 523 523 523 0.00 200 525 500 Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ 525 525 525 525 0.00 20,000 120 101.5 First Gen G 119 120 120 120 0.84 19,990 515 480 GLOBE PREF P 520 520 519 519 -0.19 24,930 12.28 6.5 Leisure and Resort 1.1 1.09 1.08 1.09 -0.91 299,000 111 101 MWIDE PREF 114.7 114.7 111.5 111.5 -2.79 100,200 1047 1011 PF Pref 2 1040 1040 1037 1040 0.00 140 -52,000.0076.9 74.2 SMC Preferred A 75.85 76 75.85 76 0.20 63,160 1,520,000.0078.95 74.5 SMC Preferred B 84.45 81.15 81.15 81.15 -3.91 40,000 84.8 75 SMC Preferred C 86.25 86.5 86 86.5 0.29 53,700 -2,580,000.00

WARRANTS & BONDS6.98 0.8900 LR Warrant 3.890 4.150 3.870 4.000 2.83 179,000

S M E10.96 2.4 Double Dragon 9.38 9.59 9.4 9.43 0.53 576,300 222,779.0015 3.5 Makati Fin. Corp. 6.9 6.8 6 6.59 -4.49 5,700 12.88 5.95 Xurpas 9.69 10 9.65 9.7 0.10 964,000 5,353,360.00

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS130.7 105.6 First Metro ETF 122.5 125.1 122.5 123.6 0.90 14,270 -85,040.00

FOTO 1


BUSINESSSATURDAY: MAY 30, 2015

B3

Eton investing P28b in 5 yearsMoneysupplyrises 9%

Market rebounds on bargain hunting BSP requires big banksto meet 5% leverage ratio

EastWest-Ageas deal. EastWest Bank signed a bancassurance agreement with Belgium’s leading insurer, Ageas Insurance International NV, to establish a new life insurance company to be called EastWest Ageas Life. Sealing the deal are (from left) Ageas managing director for strategy and M&A for Asia Hans Loozekoot, Ageas chief executive for Asia Gary Crist, EastWest chairman Jonathan Gotianun, president and chief executive Antonio Moncupa Jr. and senior executive vice president and chief operating officer Jose Emmanuel Hilado.

By Jenniffer B. Austria

ETON Properties Philippines Inc., a property company controlled by billionaire Lucio Tan, said Friday it will spend P28 billion over the next five years to boost its residential and commercial projects.

By Julito G. Rada

MONEY supply in the financial system grew 9 percent in April to P7.6 trillion from P6.97 trillion a year ago on sustained demand for credit, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Friday.

The year-on-year growth in domestic liquidity in April was faster than the 8.7-percent expansion recorded in March, data showed.

Domestic claims rose 9.3 percent in April, slightly faster than 10.4-percent increase in March as credits to the private sector expanded at a slightly slower pace relative to the previous month.

Net public sector credit contracted by 7.9 percent in April after declining by 8.3 percent a month earlier.

“Domestic liquidity growth accelerated during the month due in part to the decline in the placements of trust entities in the BSP’s special deposit account facility relative to the previous month,” Bangko Sentral said.

“Nonetheless, the broadly slower pace of M3 expansion in April relative to a year ago reflects the gradual normalization of domestic liquidity growth after the operational adjustments involving access of trust entities to the BSP’s SDA facility were completed in November 2013,” it said.

Meanwhile, outstanding loans of commercial banks grew 15.4 percent in April, slower than the 16.1-percent gain in the previous month.

STOCKS rebounded Friday, as investors looked for bargains, following a six-day slump that pulled down the benchmark in-dex to a five-month low.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company bench-mark, climbed 75 points, or 1 percent, to close at 7,580.46 Fri-day. The index was up 4.8 percent since the start of the year.

The heavier index, represent-ing all shares, also advanced 36 points, or 0.8 percent, to settle at 4,360.81, on a value turnover of P7.6 billion. Gainers outnum-bered losers, 107 to 61, while 40 issues were unchanged.

Property developers were the biggest gainers Friday. Mega-world Corp. gained 4.2 percent to P4.77 while Ayala Land Inc. add-ed 3.2 percent to close at P39.95. SM Prime Holdings Inc. rose 2.5 percent to P19.24.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei chalked up an eleventh straight gain Friday as the yen sat around 12-year lows against the dollar,

while Shanghai extended losses following the previous day’s hefty plunge.

The euro continues to face downside pressure over concerns that Greece and its creditors will not reach an agreement on re-forming its bailout, with the head of the IMF warning the crisis could end with the country leav-ing the eurozone.

Tokyo pared most of its early losses but ended marginally high-er, adding 11.69 points to end at 20,563.15 -- the index is now en-joying its best rally since February 1988 at the height of Japan’s stock market bubble.

Sydney jumped 1.12 percent, or 64.10 points, to 5,777.20 and Seoul added 0.19 percent, or 3.91 points, to 2,114.80.

Shanghai plunged four percent at one point, after a 6.5 percent fall on Thursday on concerns about tighter rules for margin trading. However, the index re-covered slightly to sit 1.50 per-cent lower in volatile trade, while

Hong Kong dipped 0.12 percent.Wall Street’s three main markets

ended lower Thursday, spooked by worries about Greece’s long-running debt talks as well as Chi-na’s heavy sell-off.

The Dow dipped 0.20 percent, the S&P 500 shed 0.12 percent and the Nasdaq lost 0.17 percent.

However, Japanese traders brushed off the negative lead, with exporters pushed higher by the continuing weakness of the yen.

The Japanese currency has fallen about 3.5 percent against the dollar this month as the US Federal Reserve prepares to hike interest rates at some point this year, while the Bank of Japan con-siders loosening monetary policy further.

The dollar was at 123.93 yen after touching 124.46 yen at one point in New York, the highest level since December 2002. How-ever, it is still up from 123.70 yen in late Tokyo trade Thursday.

With AFP

THE Monetary Board, the policy-making body of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, approved the guidelines for the implementation of the Basel 3 leverage ratio in the Philippines.

Bangko Sentral said in a statement the new requirement applied to universal and commercial banks as well as their subsidiary banks and quasi-banks.

“The framework is anchored on the international standards issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision known as the Basel 3 reforms,” Bangko Sentral said.

The leverage ratio under the Basel 3 relates the level of a bank’s Tier 1 capital to total on-book and off-book exposure. The Monetary Board approved the ratio to be 5 percent at a minimum.

“This effectively means that the maximum exposures that a bank can keep is 20 times its Tier 1 capital,” Bangko Sentral said.

Under the Basel 3 reform agenda, the leverage ratio needs to be appreciated alongside the capital adequacy ratio.

Both ratios relate a measure of capital against an indicator of bank exposure, providing quantitative guidance on the extent of assets that a bank can carry for a given level of capital.

The approval of the board includes a monitoring period up to end-2016. During this period, sanctions will not be imposed on banks falling below the 5-percent minimum.

However, covered institutions are required to submit periodic reports. Any adjustments to the guidelines will be issued before the requirement takes full effect on Jan. 1, 2017. Julito G. Rada

Eton Properties deputy chief operating officer Josefino Lucas said in an interview at the sidelines of annual stockholders’ meeting the company allocated P9 billion for capital expenditures this year, up from last year’s P4.3 billion.

Lucas said the amount would be used to develop existing projects and launch new developments.

Eton Properties plans to launch a one-hectare mixed-use

development in Makati City that will house a high-end residential development, an office tower catering to the business process outsourcing industry and a boutique mall.

The company will also start developing its fifth BPO office tower in the 12-hectare Eton Centris in Quezon City and will pre-develop its sixth BPO office in Ortigas.

Eton Properties is also set to complete the re-master plan of the

600-hectare Eton City in Sta. Rosa Laguna and will re-conceptualize Aurora Heights Residences in Quezon City to maximize the use of the property.

The company will also start the expansion of Centris Walk, an upscale lifestyle, dining and entertainment destination in Eton Centris.

“We are confident that our rental operations will remain strong in 2015. We are experiencing high occupancy rates in our office buildings given the strong demand from the outsourcing industry and we see this trend continuing,” Lucas said

Eton Properties president Lucio Tan Jr. said in a speech during the stockholders meeting he remained confident the company would sustain its growth after going through a transition period last year.

“As the Philippine economy remains strong, we are confident that investor interest in our new and upcoming projects will be robust. We plan to introduce new concepts and formats to widen our client base. We will also continue to closely study the property landscape to ensure that our pricing strategies and offerings meet market needs,” Tan said.

The company focused primarily on the delivery of its projects and the completion of existing developments last year.

The company ended 2014 with gross revenues of P2.28 billion, down 38 percent from the 2013 figure. Real estate sales accounted for revenues of P1.54 billion, down 52 percent from the previous year as a direct result of the temporary halt in sales activities.

B4

MetroPac mulls overbank loans for Calax

In BrIef

SATURDAY: MAY 30, 2015


Alsons cuts Mindanao power output of unit by half

BUSINESS

SM’s Anvil Awards.SM Investments Corp. and SM

Foundation Inc. won three Silver Anvil Awards during the recent

Public Relations Society of the Philippines’ Gabi ng Parangal

of the 50th Anvil Awards Gold. Shown during the awards night

are (from left) PRSP Anvil Juror Bernie Bagaman; SM Investments

corporate communications supervisor Maan Abarquez; SM

Foundation executive director for health Connie Angeles; SM Foundation executive director

for education Linda Atayde; SM PR consultant Neny Regino; SM

corporate affairs consultant Juris Umali-Soliman; and PRSP Anvil Juror

Lourdes de Guzman.

By Darwin G. Amojelar

METRO Pacific Investments Corp. may bor-row up to P20 billion from local and foreign banks to finance the P55.5-billion Cavite La-guna Expressway project.

MPIC president and chief ex-ecutive Jose Ma. Lim said at the sidelines of the stockholders’ meeting a number of local and foreign banks had approached the company to finance the Ca-lax project.

“We are still discussing the funding plans. [But] it depends on the offer that we get from these banks and our internal re-sources,” Lim said

He added the total amount of borrowings from banks would depend on the projected traffic

of Calax. MPIC chairman Manuel Pan-

gilinan when asked to comment said the bank loans could reach P20 billion.

MPIC unit MPCala Holdings Inc. on Tuesday submitted the higher premium bid of P27.3 bil-lion, compared with P22.2 billion offered by San Miguel Corp.’s Optimal Infrastructure Develop-ment Inc.

Calax, one of the largest pub-lic-private partnership projects, involves the financing, design,

construction, operation and maintenance of a four-lane, 47-kilometer closed-system toll expressway connecting the Cavi-tex and South Luzon Express-way. The P35.4-billion express-way will start from the Cavitex in Kawit, Cavite and end at the SLEX-Mamplasan Interchange in Biñan, Laguna.

Pangilinan said MPIC would still look at other public-private partnership projects that the gov-ernment was bidding out.

“I think from what’s visible to us, we’ll look at the regional air-ports, once they have determined the terms of the bids. There’s an operation and maintenance for LRT Line 2 and the North-South Rail Project,” Pangilianan said.

The JG Summit-Metro Pacific group earlier bought bid docu-ments for the contract to oper-

ate and maintain five regional airports. The P108.2-billion Re-gional Airports public-private partnership project will be bun-dled in two.

The P20.26-billion Bacolod-Si-lay International Airport and the P30.4-billion Ilioilo Internation-al Airport will be bundled as the first package, while the P14.62-billion Laguindingan Airport, P2.34 billion New Bohol (Pan-glao) Airport and P40.57 billion Davao International Airport will packaged as the second.

MPIC also teamed up with Ay-ala Corp. for the operation and maintenance the of LRT Line 2.

The MPIC Group recently se-cured PPP projects namely the P64.9-billion LRT Line Cavite Extension Project and the P1.7-billion Automated Fare Collec-tion System.

By Alena Mae S. Flores

WESTERN Mindanao Power Corp. reduced its power output by half to 50 megawatts staring Friday until fuel supply delivery normalizes.

The move is expected to wors-en power supply situation in Mindanao, which is already reel-ing from a shortage. Mindanao is already short of 33 MW as of Friday, with demand at 1,399 MW against the supply of 1,366 MW.

Alsons Power Group, a unit of Alsons Consolidated Resources

Inc. which owns WMPC, said the reduced output began Fri-day midnight and last until the plant received the fuel scheduled for arrival today. The plant is ex-pected to begin operating at full capacity by Sunday at the latest.

“WMPC deeply regrets the resulting inconvenience to the power consumers of the Mind-anao grid due to PSALM’s delay in fuel supply delivery,” Alsons said in a statement.

Power Sector Assets and Li-abilities Management Corp. informed Alsons that due to “some hitches in [the] procure-

ment process that were beyond [our] control,” fuel deliveries for WMPC’s 100-MW diesel plant had been delayed, resulting in a critical fuel inventory level.

PSALM manages the assets and liabilities of National Power Corp. as stipulated inthe Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001.

PSALM said new fuel supplier “encountered some problems with [the Bureau of] Customs in the release of their product” and that “as a stop gap measure, the supplier resorted to tank truck deliveries which are not enough

to sustain the plant require-ments.”

PSALM said the fuel supplier’s barge was scheduled to arrive at the WMPC port 8 a.m. Saturday.

Under the energy conversion agreement between WMPC and Napocor and PSALM, the gov-ernment has the responsibility of supplying and delivering the fuel required for the operations of the WMPC diesel plant.

The agreement also requires Napocor and PSALM to ensure at all times the availability of the necessary stocks of fuel required by the plant.

Salceda backs tourismPHILIPPINE tourism received a

strong promotional push early this week from Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, the country’s first Tourism Star Phil-ippines awardee, at the launch of the First Asia Premium Travel Mart 2015 at the SMX Convention Cen-ter in Pasay City.

Organized by the Tourism Pro-motions Board and SB Exhibitions to match some 100 local and inter-national buyers, APTM 2015 was the first high end business-to-busi-ness travel and tourism event held in the country.

Salceda made the aggressive marketing pitch in front of buyers from 31 countries and 87 local sell-ers, which included Albay, and as-sured the guests they were “in the right place and at the right time and with the right people.”

TPB and SB Exhibitions invited Salceda to open APTM 2015. At least 62 international and 38 Phil-ippine buyers joined the event.

Balikbayan boxes THE Trade Department Regional Office III reminded families of migrant Filipino workers in Central Luzon to be vigilant in monitoring Balikbayan boxes sent by relatives from abroad.

Trade Region 3 Director Judith Angeles reiterated that families can monitor their Balikbayan boxes through the Internet. The list of accredited and blacklisted freight forwarders is also avail-able at the Trade Department listings page.

Trade has received complaints about the delay in the delivery or loss of Balikbayan boxes sent through unscrupulous freight for-warders.

The department has accredited 56 sea freight forwarding compa-nies as of March 6, 2015.

Data from the Philippine Statisti-cal Authority show that Central Lu-zon has the second highest number of migrant workers at 294,000 as of 2012. Othel V. Campos

Environment driveTHE Environment department

has launched a five-year initiative that aims to boost efforts to pro-tect five of the country’s marine key biodiversity areas.

The project, called “Strength-ening the Marine Protected Areas to Conserve Marine Key Biodiver-sity Areas,” involves the estab-lishment of a more coordinated approach to conservation efforts in the Verde Island Passage, the Lanuza Bay in Surigao Del Sur, the Davao Gulf in Southern Min-danao, the Tañon Strait Protected Seascape in Central Visayas and the West Sulu Sea in Southern Palawan.

They are among the richest in the country in terms of coastal and marine biodiversities and their pro-tection is critical to preserve the fish population in the Southeast Asia. Anna Leah E. Gonzales

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[email protected]

Worst heat wave in 20 years

B5ceSAR bARRioqUinToE D I T O R

Official visit. French President Francois Hollande, right, welcomes Moroccan Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane on May 29 before a meeting in Paris. AFP

Hundreds of mainly poor people die at the height of sum-mer every year in India, but this year’s figures are already nearly double the annual average.

Experts say the official figures likely understate the true impact because heatstroke dispropor-

tionately affects the poor and homeless, who are less likely to die in hospitals.

Most of the confirmed deaths are in the southern states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, where doctors described hospi-tals overflowing with victims of

severe heatstroke.P. Tulsi Rani, special commis-

sioner for disaster management in the state, said the high num-ber of deaths was down to record high temperatures over a longer period that usual.

“So many people died this year because the heat wave is continuing for a longer period than it normally does, and also record temperatures have been recorded in a number of places,” he told AFP.

“It (the heatwave) has been con-tinuing for a longer period, for

about 7 to 8 days now, whereas usually it only lasts for a few days.”

Authorities in Telangana said they were running a television campaign to teach people how to stay cool and recognize the symptoms of heat stroke, which can be fatal if left untreated.

Streets of the state capital Hy-derabad were deserted during the hottest period of the day, with many shops and businesses shut.

Syed Samad, who owns a busi-ness renting out air conditioning units, said trade was better than

ever before.“We provide air conditioners

on rent to people for 50 rupees (80 cents) per day on a monthly contract,” he said.

“Business has been great this year, much better than previous years. All our units have been leased out throughout April and May, which has never happened before.”

Authorities in Delhi, where top temperatures have hit 45 degrees Celsius, ordered hospi-tals to treat heat stroke victims as emergency cases. AFP

Top suspect of Nazi war crimes diesMONTREAL—One of the top suspects of Nazi war crimes during the Second World War has died at the age of 93, the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail reported.

Vladimir Katriuk, a Cana-dian of Ukrainian descent, was listed as the second most wanted Nazi this year by the US-based Simon Wiesenthal Center that focuses on war criminals.

Katriuk died last week, his lawyer Orest Rudzik told the newspaper Thursday.

“Mr. Katriuk has passed away, after years of unwar-ranted harassment, media

not excepted,” Rudzik said.“I’m glad he’s at peace. He’d

been ailing for a long time.”In 1999, the Federal

Court of Canada ruled that Katriuk lied to obtain Ca-nadian citizenship by con-cealing his past collabora-tion with the Nazi regime. But the court found no evidence he had committed atrocities.

Katriuk argued that he was forced to enlist in a Ukrainian battalion respon-sible for crimes against Jews and other civilians from Be-larus and Ukraine between 1942 and 1944. He said his role was limited to protect-

ing villagers and livestock against attacks.

Katriuk said he deserted his battalion during its de-ployment in France in 1944, where he stayed after the war before immigrating to Cana-da in 1951.

The court found he had fal-sified his immigration papers, using the name of his brother.

In 2007, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper decided not to revoke his citizenship.

Katriuk had been living in the Canadian town of Orm-stown near Montreal, where he devoted himself to bee-keeping. AFP

Concert series. Guests attend the Lexus Pop-Up Concert Series powered by Pandora featuring Robert DeLong on May 28 in Los Angeles, California. AFP

HYDERABAD—Indian authorities urged hospitals to treat heatstroke as an emergency as the toll from a long heatwave topped 1,800 on Friday, making it the deadliest in more than two decades.

[email protected]

cesar barrioquintoE D I T O R

s at u r D aY : M aY 3 0 , 2 0 1 5

WORLD

Myanmar rebukes criticsBANGKOK—Myanmar rebuked the UN Friday after being called on to address the cause of the exodus of Rohingya Muslims from its shores, saying it is being “singled out” for criticism at in-ternational talks.

Tensions over Southeast Asia’s migrant crisis were exposed as del-egates from 17 nations gathered to address the flight of thousands of desperate people on boats across the Bay of Bengal, aiming for Ma-laysia and Indonesia.

The crisis unfurled at the start of this month after a Thai crack-down on people smuggling threw the multi-million dollar industry into disarray.

It led gangmasters to abandon their victims on land and at sea, and images of stick-thin, dazed migrants trapped on boats or stumbling onto shores and out of forests shocked the world, heap-ing pressure on Southeast Asian nations to act.

But observers say it is unclear what the one-day meeting, which is not being attended at a minis-terial level, can achieve on an is-sue that has dogged the region for years but gone largely ignored by authorities.

In his opening remarks, Volk-er Turk, UNHCR assistant high commissioner for protection, urged Myanmar to tackle the flow of Rohingya Muslims, who for years have been fleeing perse-cution in western Myanmar.

To address the root causes “will require full assumption of re-sponsibility by Myanmar to all its people,” Turk said.

“Granting of citizenship is the ultimate goal.”

Myanmar denies citizenship to the majority of its 1.3 million Ro-hingya and does not accept them as an official ethnic minority, instead calling them “Bengalis”-shorthand for foreigners from neighboring Bangladesh.

His comments prompted a re-buke from Myanmar’s delegate, Foreign Ministry Director-Gen-eral Htin Lynn, who said “this issue of illegal migration of boat people, you cannot single out my country.” afp

Cairo misses heydey of its park of romanceCAIRO—It was a symbol of a more liberal Egypt where young Muslims and Christians mingled under its leafy canopies, bands played and a young Omar Shar-if wooed the glamorous Faten Hamama in the classic film ro-mance “The River of Love.”

A rare oasis in a metropolis home to eight million people, Merryland park offered respite from Cairo’s dusty, traffic-choked cacophony.

Families sipped lemonade on its terraces and paddle-boated on its lake.

“Merryland was a vent for east-ern Cairo,” said Magdy Badr al-Din, whose balcony overlooks the park.

But for the former civil servant and his neighbors, that storied heyday, and the more tolerant times that went with it, are just a memory and now the park is run-down, a victim of Egypt’s politi-cal upheavals.

Now developers have moved

in to build a car park on part of the gardens, and many of its rare trees, imported from around the world, have been uprooted, causing consternation in the surrounding upscale Heliopolis neighborhood.

Campaigners obtained a court order against the development but as arguments drag on, the park has been closed to the pub-lic and all efforts to rejuvenate its gardens remain on hold.

Merryland was the brainchild of Gamal Abdel Nasser, who came to power after a military coup in 1952 that ended the monarchy and modernized the country.

Nasser returned from a trip to the United States and decided that Cairo should take its place among the great cities of the world by hav-ing a park worthy of its size.

The 50-acre Merryland park was inaugurated in 1963, an event Iman Farrag, a social scien-tist, still remembers. Her father took her there as a child.

“It was a place where people mixed,” she said.

The park became a cultural mainstay in the capital, fittingly for a city that had become the cinematic and musical capital of the Arab world.

Saleh Abdel Magid, a retired army general, married in the park in 1978.

“I just held the ceremony in Mer-ryland. There was a band playing, and one of the most famous belly dancers, Suhair Zaky, would dance there weekly,” he said.

Young men and women, Mus-lims and Christians, mixed in contrast to the increased Islam-ic conservatism seen since the 1980s, Farrag said.

“Boys and girls would hang out, and the girls didn’t wear hijabs. Alcohol was served, and it was hard to tell Muslims and Christians apart.”

But Cairo’s incessant expan-sion squeezed Heliopolis on all sides. Tall apartment blocks now

loom overhead, and above them hangs the ever present smog.

The country itself has faded in the region, no longer the cultural and political beacon it was under Nasser, while the religious and class divides he tried to dispel have grown.

Many Muslim women have ad-opted the hijab, and many Chris-tians have begun sporting small crucifix tattoos on their wrists.

The park was built on the site of a hippodrome, where Arabian horses rumbled around a track before an excited crowd.

The stands where Egyptian roy-alty watched the races have been preserved, a lone reminder of an age before the military took power.

The racetrack itself had been part of Egypt’s cultural heritage, featuring in memorable films in-cluding “The River of Love” in 1960 one of he greatest Egyptian screen love stories starring Sharif and Hamama, his former wife, herself an icon of Arab cinema.afp

‘Blue Nudes.’ The general atmosphere in “Blue Nudes” at De Re Gallery on May 28 in West Hollywood, California. afp

12 Australian women tried to join ISMELBOURNE―At least 12 Australian women from one city have attempted to join the Islamic State group, po-lice said Friday, warning of a trend towards a “romanticized view” of violent jihadists.

More than 100 Austra-lians have left the country to support IS in Syria and Iraq, raising concerns about radi-calization and whether they pose a security threat on return, the authorities have said. At least 30 have been killed overseas.

Victoria Police assistant commissioner Tracy Linford said those attracted to IS were mostly young, isolated people

swayed by slick social media propaganda.

In the case of women, they of-ten had a romantic idea of what life would be like under Islamic State control, she said, adding that at least 12 had attempted to join from Melbourne, Victoria’s capital city.

“We’ve got five [women] that we know are over there,” Linford said, adding that two more were unaccounted for, four were turned back outside Australia and one was stopped at the airport before leaving.

“But we also suspect that there are probably more than 12,” she told reporters.

Linford’s comments came

just days after a Sydney mother reportedly abandoned her two children and fled to Syria for a new life under Islamic State.

“We think that the young women particularly get a ro-manticized view of what ac-tually exists for them if they travel to the conflict zones,” she said.

“There is a reach-back from people who are already in the conflict zone telling them, ‘Come over... you will be well looked after, you will have an important position in growing the caliphate, bearing jihadi children in the future, growing the Is-lamic State’. afp

at the Kremlin. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 28. afp

B7JOEL D. L ACSAMANAE D I T O RPROPERTY

j d l a c s a m a n a @ g m a i l . c o m

Many Filipinos less than 30 years old can now buy a con-do – a phenomenon unheard of 10 years ago. Thus spake

Herbert D. Tuason, BPI Family Savings Bank Vice President who attributes this newfound affluence to the fast-growing economy of the Philippines.

The economy is also one of the reasons why the condominium business in the country is booming. “Drive around the metro, and you can see condominiums sprouting in prime spots that provide homes for starting couples, BPO profes-sionals and enterprising yuppies.

“Many Pinoys can now afford to buy properties,” said Tuason. . You can see young folks buying condominiums. Someone who is less than 30 owns a property in a prime place. That’s unimag-inable 7 or 10 years ago.”

Owning a condo unit for residential or investment purposes is fast and easy through a home loan. Just make sure your cash flow is consistent and smooth since banks offer flexible home loan terms, which they adjust according to your monthly income and needs.

To determine how much loan you can afford, ask help from a bank loan officer, or use a home loan calculator found in BPI’s website.

Tuason said that when applying for a home loan, the bank will look for your 3Cs: collateral, capacity and character. Your fi-nancial records will be reviewed, including any court case and cancelled credit cards that haven’t been settled, and have bal-looned to a certain amount. This informa-tion will reveal your payment behavior.

Do your research before choosing a property. Check the location of the con-

do and determine its accessibility to your office, school, or areas of interest. Tuason recommends Property24.com.ph, which has the highest number of property list-ings in the country. Also check the repu-tation of the developer.

Another tip: Learn enough property jar-gon and home loan terms. The more knowl-edge you have, the more you have the upper hand when buying your condo unit.

Money is affected by the state of the economy. Long-term home loans can of-fer you more security since the interest rate can be fixed for the first 5 years. “It will only re-price after the fifth year. By that time, your income would have gone up. Go for it,” Tuason advised.

Borrowing money to buy a condo unit is a good credit move. You will have a good place to stay plus a profitable investment for the future, said Tuason. Just make sure you

know what you are getting yourself into so you can reap its reward: a secure place for you and your loved ones to dwell.

S AT U R D AY : M AY 3 0 : 2 0 1 5

FFor people who love doing things outdoors, riding a bike, or simply strolling through the rolling hills and valleys of

Nuvali in Sta. Rosa , Laguna, seems just what the doctor ordered.

This mixed-use township of Ayala Land is the country’s first and largest property defined by environmental sustainability.

Spanning the cities of Sta. Rosa and Calamba, and the municipality of Cabuyao in Laguna, Nuvali draws the South together with dynamic commercial centers and gated resi-dential communities. Well-lit, fully paved roads are lined with local trees like balete and mahogany.

Across a 1,860-hectare land-scape are outlet shopping malls, open spaces and fields of green. Carrying forward a legacy of lo-cating families where generations will flourish, Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) already has four residential communities in Nuvali.

Ayala Land said 64 percent of Nu-vali’s total area size has been devel-oped, complete with road networks since its launch eight years ago.

EXPANDING FOOTPRINTNow Ayala Land, through it’s unit Alveo, is opening a new mid-mar-ket subdivision in the township.

And the property giant is ex-pecting robust sales from this subdivision, dubbed Mondia, a company official said this week.

Ayala Land said it could gener-ate up to P3.7 billion in sales from the 642 lots in the project, Paulo Rizaldo Ong, Alveo division man-ager for project development.

In an interview with The Stan-dard, Ong said the company is in-vesting P2.3 billion in the 40-hectare project, which Ong described as among the last developments of Al-veo within the 2,290-hectare Nuvali.

Lot prices in the area will range from P4.8 to P11.8 million, or P18,500 per square meter. This is Alveo’s fifth horizontal develop-ment in Nuvali, where its invest-ments have run up to over P7.4 billion, Ong said.

With communities of Treveia, Venare, Mirala and Lumira, Nuvali now represents 62 percent of Alveo’s 12 horizontal residential projects in Luzon, covering 400 hectares, Ayala Land said in the statement.

About 384 residential lots will be available in Mondia’s first phase of development. The average lot size is around 330 square meters.

Beginning with Treveia in 2007, Alveo has successfully developed varied residential projects in Nu-

vali, with the first three projects nearly all sold out.Since its launch last year, Lumira is already 79 percent sold.

“Each residential community has its own exclusive amenities and fa-cilities, punctuated by parks, open spaces and greenery,” Ong said.

Amenities include a 1.7-hect-are central park for communi-ty gatherings, jogging and bike trails, swimming pools, basketball court, shaded walkways, multi-purpose fields and lawn areas.

The subdivision will have a 1,000-square meter clubhouse designed with a modern look by renowned Architect Ed Calma.

COMPLETION IN 3-4 YEARSOng said the whole Mondia de-velopment will be completed in the next three to four years,

The subdivision will be developed in two phases: Phase 1 to offer 384 residential lots and other amenities to be turned over in the next two years, while the rest of the lots will be handed out in Phase 2, the last devel-opment year for the project.

Aside from Mondia, Ong said commercial retail mall Solenad 3 will be soft-opened in June this year, adding up to the existing So-lenad 1 and 2 in the area. This will

add 40,000 sqm of gross leasable area equivalent to 408 stores, which will also have four cinemas, home and family zone, as well as open outdoor and lifestyle area. ALI has invested P2 billion in Solenad 3.

Other additional openings in Nuvali are the 12,000-sqm S&R Membership Shopping to be com-pleted by the fourth quarter of the year, as well as the 100-bed Qual-iMed hospital having a total land area of 10,000 sqm that will open in the third quarter of 2016.

SITTING STILL, NOT AN OPTIONAlveo programs P10-billion cap-ital spending yearly. This year, it targets P35 billion to P40 billion worth of project launches for the

whole year of 2015, of which six projects out of the planned 10 projects this year will be launched in the first six months of 2015. This target is an increase from the nine projects worth P33 billion launched last year.

To date, Alveo has 36 existing projects in 10 locations, mostly cen-tral business districts in Metro Ma-nila and in Cebu, Davao, Pampan-ga, Cavite, Laguna and Tagaytay.

It is the upscale and high-end residential and commercial offices brand under the Ayala property umbrella, with others being involved in luxury market (Ayala Land Premier), middle market (Avida Land Corp.) and in economic housing (Amaia Land Corp.).

ALVEO EXPANDS NUVALI

PROPERTIES UP FOR GRABS FOR YOUNG, AFFLUENT PINOYS

Thoughtfully designed chill space at the Treveia clubhouse

Lumira clubhouse. Who says ‘green’ can only be found at Taft Avenue?

Condo buyer’s best friend.

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B8 JOEL D. L ACSAMANAE D I T O R

PROPERTY

S AT U R D AY : M AY 3 0 : 2 0 1 5

PH REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY BULLISH

ON ASEAN 2015T

he (ASEAN economic in-tegration in 2015) would require more commercial and residential infrastruc-

ture for highly urbanized cities within the region including key cities of the Philippines, accord-ing to property developers.

Rick Santos, chairman of CBRE Philippines, said he expects the Phil-ippine real estate industry to grow further this year because of the ASE-AN integration. and the region’s in-creasing role in global economy.

Speaking at a forum held in Makati City this week, Santos said the ASEAN integration will change the economic landscape of the whole region, particularly the real estate market.

“Residential, commercial and retail developers, which will be exposed to international mar-ket, will expand their operations and acquire properties inside and outside the country,” he said. “Foreign investors and corporate executives with local operations in the country will look for resi-dential spaces for a place to stay.”

Santos also explained that the elimination of tariffs on goods and services by a single ASEAN economy would drive consumer spending higher.

“The demand for residential spaces adjacent to malls, retail complexes and other recreation-al spaces would go up, and will

likely increase the already healthy real estate market,” Santos said.

The influx of investment and elimination of trade barriers will allow each country in ASEAN to enjoy unimpeded and free flow of goods, services, labor and capital.

SPEED UP REFORMSBut several speakers at the forum reiterated the need to push for rel-evant market reforms in order to remain competitive.

Foreign ownership restrictions, for example, continue to hinder the growth of foreign direct invest-ments, thus the need to improve the business environment in the coun-try in order to attract more investors.

Local real estate investors have also been pushing for the pas-sage of a bill that will consolidate the function and powers of major housing and urban agencies of the government to address the needs of both consumers and developers.

With the upcoming ASEAN in-tegration, property players “should work together to unlock strategic approaches to keep the domestic property sector afloat as multi-national players enter the already stiff competition in the country’s real estate market, according to the organizers of the forum.

STRONG FUNDAMENTALSSantos lauded the local real es-tate market’s continuing growth

momentum in the first quarter of 2015. Strong macroeconomic fundamentals, low inflation envi-ronment, good business climate, and projected increase in govern-ment spending were cited for the industry’s expansion.

“There is no let-up in the growth of the property sector. The supply and demand across the office, residential, retail, and industrial markets remain posi-tive, especially with the upcoming ASEAN integration,” said Santos.

With revenues growing to 18.7 percent from the previous year, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) drove the Philippine office market, resulting in strong office space take-up. The attractiveness of the BPO business environment in the country encouraged foreign investors to expand into the differ-ent business districts, with Manila registering vacancy rates of 3.28 percent, and average lease rates of 1.45 percent quarter-on-quarter.

The growth of the BPO industry likewise beefed up activity in the res-idential sector, as local income rose. Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) remittances helped drive the mar-ket. Metro Manila placed fourth in the residential apartment prospects among the 22 urban centers being considered by the Urban Land Insti-tute in the first quarter.. This led to robust sales of vertical subdivision units. Despite the robust demand,

developers are vigilant on the de-mand and supply movement.

Real estate players are also keen-er on developing mixed-use resi-dences within and in the outskirts of the country’s central business districts. Notable projects include McKinley West by Megaworld and Arca South by Ayala Land.

The industrial sector got a boost from the country’s strong economic growth and robust foreign demand, attracting more manufacturing firms into ex-panding in the Philippines. This growth was riven by lower input costs and cheaper labor, accord-ing to a study released by CBRE Asia Pacific. Profitable operations of manufacturing firms housed in the country also boosted industri-al opportunities and operations.

Efforts from public and pri-vate entities are also encouraging developers to expand their oper-ations in the country. This is ev-idenced by the first quarter entry of foreign-based companies who are either relocating or expanding their manufacturing and assem-bly facilities within the country.

UPBEAT RETAIL SCENEThe retail sector remains one of

the most upbeat markets in Phil-ippine real estate. The expansion of the BPO industry and increase in OFW remittances played a hand in this development. Income

sources particularly local em-ployment and OFW remittances, which are the backbone of con-sumer spending, did not slacken, given the steady expansion of the outsourcing and offshoring sec-tor and the stable increase in the deployment of overseas Filipino workers. These, along with the heightened purchasing power of Filipinos, put the Philippines in the radar of foreign retailers.

Business opportunities encour-aged global brands to set up shop in the country. In response, ex-pansion of malls and the opening of new ones can be seen across business districts.

The emergence of the gaming industry in the Philippines is also opening up more investment op-portunities in the sector. Luxury brands have opened their doors to the market. Meanwhile, the strengthening of the tourism in-dustry is also boosting the activity in the sector.

Overall, the Philippine real es-tate market sustained its growth in the first quarter of the year. So long as this continues, Santos said the sector is all set for the upcom-ing ASEAN integration. “With a strong real estate market, the Philippines will not only be open to more opportunities but ultimately, lead the other ASEAN countries in terms of growth and development,” Santos evinced.

BACK TO SCHOOL, BACK TO READING. Mondelez Philippines, formerly Kraft Foods, recently expanded its remedial reading program to General Vicente Lim elementary school to bump up to six the adopted Joy Schools of the company. Started in 2013, the Joy Schools program is a 3-year adoption with interven-tions for nutrition, teacher training and facilities improvement in partnership with the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP). Its goal is to create centers of learning, and transform the six adopted schools into the Top 10 in their Cities of Manila, Paranaque, Pasay, Pateros, Muntinlupa and Tacloban. Mondelez Philippines provides books, materials and equipment to the adopted schools. to help teachers in the program to conduct reading sessions,

FEEL AT HOME COMMUNITIES. CDC Holdings, Inc., recently launched a new brand campaign that seeks to capture its corporate objectives:“At home with CDC Holdings.” The company unveiled upcoming projects in the pipeline for the rest of 2015. These include residential condominium units in its CDC Millenium property, as well as Sentrale project in Makati. Another project to watch out for is the Lions Park Residences’ Giraffe Tower,a building with the commer-cial space on the ground floor, so residents can do business just below their homes. “At home with CDC Holdings” resonates the company’s promise: to provide Filipinos with quality homes that are worth one’s hard-earned money, allowing them to benefit from innovation through pioneering concepts, and encourage a sense of community in every property,” said Elsie Chua, CDC Holdings president.

Beehive of activity. “No let up.”

BY JOEL LACSAMANA