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Poe mayreopenSAF 44slay probe

Abad: No quick fixes for traffic jams

Army, paramilitary groups eyed in Lumad deaths

Flash flood. Schoolgirls navigate the flooded intersection of Taft Avenue and United Nations Avenue in Manila following a heavy downpour on Thursday. Danny Pata

‘Probe killingS’

VOL. XXIX � NO. 211 � 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 � FRIday : SEPTEMBER 11, 2015 � www.thestandard.com.ph � editorial@thestandard.com.ph

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binay suesTrillanes, Mercadoonce again

By Sandy araneta, Joel E. Zurbano and Francisco tuyay

PEOPLE should not expect traffic congestion in Metro Manila to be solved soon because the solutions needed are long-term, Budget Secre-tary Florencio Abad said  Thursday.

“We will not be able to solve this in the short term because the response to this really needs a long- term solution. But in the meantime, we are looking at ways by which we can mitigate the prob-lem,” Abad said on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Coop-eration Finance Ministers’ Meeting in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu.

Abad said the administration was making an effort to address “a complex problem” and said negli-gence in the past allowed the situa-tion to deteriorate.

He also said construction and repairs have added to the problem.

“We are growing faster than we can cope with it. We are repairing

Reps. Fernando Hicap of Anakpawis, Antonio Tinio of ACT Teachers, Neri Colmena-res and Isagani Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna, Emmi de Jesus and Luz Ilagan of Gabriela, and Terry Ridon of Kabataan filed a resolution directing the House committee on human rights to

conduct an investigation into the killing of Lumad teacher Emerito Samarca and Manobol leader Dionel Campos and his cousin Aurelio Sinzo in Lianga, Surigao del Sur.

The lawmakers identified the suspects as members of the Army and the paramilitary group Maha-

gat-Bagani Forces.Legarda, chairman of the Sen-

ate committee on cultural com-munities, filed Senate Resolution 1575 expressing concern over the spate of killings of Lumad leaders and other reports about the harass-ment of indigenous communities in Mindanao.

By Christine F. Herrera and John Paolo Bencito

THE leftist Makabayan bloc in the House joined Sen-ator Loren Legarda  Thursday  in seeking an investiga-tion into the killing of a Lumad teacher and members of the Manobo tribe, allegedly at the hands of the mili-tary and a paramilitary group on Sept. 1. Next page

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AbadFrom A1...

Poe may reopen SAF 44 probe

roads that have caused some narrow-ing of pathways,” Abad said.

The administration, he said, now put addressing the traffic problem high on its list of priorities.

Abad played down the likelihood that Liberal Party candidates in next year’s elections, particularly Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, would be hurt by public anger at the worsening traffic conditions.

“I am sure the opposition is going to raise that [issue on traffic] but I think the government and the administra-tion will be able to present an explana-tion, acknowledging the problem and at the same time presenting measures by which we can mitigate it in the short term and address it in the long term,” Abad said.

“You go to every growing metropolis in any capital of the world and they are confronted with— especially in emerg-ing markets —with these problem... You have more container vans out there bringing in raw materials, you know. In 2010, we were not selling more than 100,000 vehicles a year. This year, we may just hit 300,000 because we have hit 151,000 end of June,” said Abad.

“I mean people will understand why there is such congestion happening but of course we cannot simply say that is enough. So I think with urgency, the government is doing its best to try to mitigate that problem and find solu-tions in the very short term,” he said.

He dismissed Vice President Jejo-mar Binay’s description of the problem as a crisis.

“They see a crisis in everything that government does. So, maybe that’s their perspective,” he said.

Like Palace officials, Abad sought the public’s patience and cooperation.

“The call for just simply obeying traffic rules—not parking on thor-oughfares. I think, that’s part of the so-lution there and they want an answer to this, they are also part of the solu-tion,” Abad said.

While President Benigno Aquino III has appointed key Cabinet officials to deal with the problem, Abad said there are other concerns as well, including the onset of the El Niño.

“There are many things that the Presi-

dent has to be concerned with. But as I said, that is not to say that this is not im-portant for the President,” said Abad.

Abad said he does not think the people will blame Roxas for the traffic situation in Metro Manila.

“All it needs is for the administration to explain where this problem is com-ing from and what the government is doing to try to make it easier for the public to deal with this phenomenon,” he said.

The Palace  on Thursday  said the government is addressing the traffic problem even as flooding has made matters worse.

“Government is aware that the traf-fic problem is complex and is address-ing it in a comprehensive manner,” said Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. in a text message.

The Palace  on Wednesday  appealed for public understanding over the traf-fic mess in Metro Manila and said it would seek ways to avoid  Tuesday’s  gridlock that tied motorists and com-muters up in traffic for more than five years.

Those affected by the gridlock took to social media to complain about the congestion along Edsa and other Met-ro Manila roads  Tuesday  night.

The Philippine National Police-High-way Patrol Group, which took over traffic management of Edsa starting  Monday, admitted that they were caught off guard by the heavy downpour.

Beleaguered Metro Manila Develop-ment Authority chairman Francis Tolen-tino, under fire for failing to ease traffic in his five years in office, arrived an hour late  Thursday  for a morning TV news show because of traffic along Edsa.

Tolentino was stuck in traffic be-tween  7 a.m. and 9 a.m., despite the police takeover at Edsa.

ANC Headstart said Tolentino was late for the  8 a.m.  show because a road accident near Santolan tied him up in traffic.

When asked about  Tuesday  night’s traffic gridlock, Tolentino said: “I was stuck in traffic myself for four hours, [and] I noticed there was no MMDA traffic aide in Guadalupe. I was order-ing MMDA flood control to send over pumps to ease the flooding,” he said.

Tolentino also denied that the MMDA was a failure under his watch, and said it was he who suggested that the police take over traffic manage-

ment on Edsa.He said this was an act of “organiza-

tional humility” and not weakness.“I did everything and I did my best,

I gave my life 24/7 to MMDA but we cannot solve traffic alone,” he said.

But former MMDA Transport and Traffic Management Office chief An-gelito Vergel de Dios tore through To-lentino’s statement.

“This is a big insult for the MMDA. If you give your work to somebody else, that means you can’t handle it,” he said.

De Dios also brushed aside the claim of MMDA officials that the number of vehicles was the reason of the worsen-ing traffic problem. The truth is, he said, the MMDA failed to clear all the obstructions on the roads.

“Traffic will flow if there are no ob-structions on the road,” De Dios said.

Highway Patrol Group director Chief Supt. Arnold Gunnacao said his men were unprepared to handle the massive gridlock on Edsa  Tuesday  night.

He added the patrol group was not able to deal with scenarios of heavy rain and flooding as it lacked informa-tion on flood-prone areas on the major thoroughfare.

“We requested a list of areas that might be affected by flooding from the MMDA. Unfortunately, our request was late and we were not able to get the feedback immediately,” Gunnacao said.

Also on Thursday, Coloma said a proposal to impose carpooling on Edsa needed further study.

“We don’t want to end up in a situ-ation that instead of getting coopera-tion, indignation will be the response from our people,” he said.

On Tuesday, Public Works and Highways Secretary Virgilio Singson told the Senate finance committee that carpooling was one of his suggestions to get traffic moving during rush hours.

Under his proposal, private cars with fewer than three people on board will not be allowed to pass through Edsa during rush hour.

Singson  on Thursday  blamed the MMDA for failing to get its pumping stations working fast enough  on Tues-day  night.

“The way we look at it, the pumping stations were put in operation late, lead-ing to flash floods and traffic jams,” Sing-son said in a radio interview. With PNA

“I am interested to hear what this alternative version is all about and allow the men and officers involved to give their own assessments,” said Poe, whose panel had found the President “ultimately responsible” for the deaths of the 44 police com-mandos who were sent on a covert mission to neutralize Malaysian terrorist Zukifli bin Hir alias Mar-wan and his henchman, bomb maker Basit Usman.

As chairman of the Senate com-mittee on public order, Poe led the Senate investigation into the botched Oplan Exodus, in which the police commandos were killed by Muslim rebels, including mem-bers of the Moro Islamic Libera-tion Front, which has been holding peace talks with the government.

“All of us, including those who were left behind by the slain police-men and civilians only want one thing—justice,” Poe said.

Poe submitted her report on the Mamasapano massacre to the Of-fice of the Ombudsman.

To support her assertion on the President’s liability, Poe said he or-dered his close friend, Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisi-ma, then suspended on corruption charges, to participate in Oplan Exodus.

She said the President must bear responsibility for consenting to and failing to prevent the unlawful ex-ercise of official functions by Puri-sima.

“While the President was fully aware that Purisima was preven-tively suspended by the Ombuds-man on Dec. 4, 2014, and that Director Leonardo Espina was de-signed PNP OIC, still, he allowed Purisima to join the  Jan. 9, 2016  meeting at Bahay Pangarap where

a sensitive and classified PNP op-eration was being discussed and in-structed him to coordinate with the AFP,” Poe said in her report.

While the Ombudsman did not include the President among those it recommended to be charged, Poe stood pat on her panel’s findings.

The President earlier said there is an “alternative version of events that happened there which is un-dergoing intense scrutiny.”

“We are looking for witnesses who will prove or disprove certain observations,” he added.

But Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa declined to answer queries from Bayan Muna partylist Rep. Neri Colmenares about the new leads mentioned by the President.

Appearing before the House ap-propriations committee during the budget hearing, Ochoa invoked the confidentiality of communication with the President.

Ochoa said he cannot give any comment on the questions raised by Colmenares about new develop-ments in the Mamasapano tragedy because these were confidential.

Ochoa also said he still needs to secure authority from the President to disclose the new leads.

“Any comment I make will be a violation of confidentiality,” he said.

Senate President Franklin Drilon said a reopening of the investiga-tion would require a vote by the entire plenary.

He said the matter was outside the jurisdiction of Poe’s commit-tee, since it has already submitted its report.

“It is in the calendar for ordinary business of the Senate as a whole. To bring it back to the committee will require the vote of the plenary,” Drilon said.

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

SENATOR Grace Poe said  Thursday  she is consid-ering reopening the Senate inquiry into the Mamasa-pano massacre to investigate claims by President Be-nigno Aquino III of “an alternative version of events” that he said was being “undergoing intense scrutiny.”

“This situation of Lumads being ha-rassed, killed and displaced will turn into a humanitarian crisis, if the national gov-ernment does not intervene. I seek justice for the death of our Lumad leaders. Ha-rassment of indigenous communities in Mindanao must stop,” Legarda said.

Hicap said there was a need to shed light on the killings.

“This should be exposed across the country and even in the international community, as it appears that it is the Aquino government itself that has car-ried out the massacre, a brutal act that was just part of a series of military atroci-ties in the island, coming less than two weeks after the 1st Special Forces Battal-ion of the Philippine Army was reported to have massacred five Manobo Lumads, all farmers, in Pangantucan town, Bukid-non,” he said.

The lawmakers said Samarca, 54, mar-ried with four children, was the execu-tive director of the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development, a self-initiated school for the Lumad in Sitio Han-ayan, Barangay Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur and founded in 2004.

Samarca also worked for a Lumad support institution in CARAGA, from 1990 to 1998, and a local peasant organi-

zation affiliated with the Kilusang Mag-bubukid ng Pilipinas before that.

Campos was the chairperson of Mala-hutayong Pakigbisog Alang sa Sumusu-nod (Persevering Struggle for the Next Generation) or MAPASU, they said.

Sinzo belonged to the same group.They said the Karapatan human rights

group reported that on the morning of Sept. 1, Samarca was found dead with a stab wound and a slit throat inside one of the classrooms of his school.

On the same day some three kilome-ters away from Sitio Han-ayan, Campos and his cousin Sinzo were, according to witnesses cited in the Karapatan report, shot to death by members of the Maha-gat-Bagani Force, a paramilitary group allegedly taking orders from the Army.

At the time of the shooting, they said, Campos and Sinzo were with an AL-CADEV staff member, Belen Itallo, who was wounded but escaped death.

“Workers of ALCADEV and mem-bers of MAPASU identified the armed perpetrators as elements of the Mahagat-Bagani Force and the 36th Infantry Batal-lion of the Philippine Army,” the Mak-abayan lawmakers said.

On Aug. 30, 2015, citing the fact-finding mission report of Karapatan, the lawmakers said before the killing, about 40 soldiers of the 36 Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army, 75th IB-PA, Special Forces, and members of the Mahagat-Bagani Force associated with a known

military asset, Marcos Bocales, occupied the school grounds and the function hall of ALCADEV.

The troops and the Bocales group threatened the school’s faculty members, staff, and ordinary residents, saying that if they did not leave in two days, they would be massacred.

The soldiers also asked community members about the whereabouts of AL-CADEV and other organizations.

“The armed men confiscated the cell- phones and cameras of the residents, ALCADEV staff and visitors of the com-munity,” they said.

On Aug. 31, the community coopera-tive store of MAPASU was burned down by the Mahagat-Bagani Force as soldiers fired their weapons indiscriminately around the community, causing resi-dents to flee their homes.

Late in the afternoon, half of the sol-ders were seen leaving Han-ayan and headed for Km. 16.

As residents and teachers were leav-ing Sitio Han-ayan, 25 soldiers of the 75th IB-PA and three to five members of the Mahagat-Bagani Force, all described to be in full battle gear, remained in the community.

“Residents who were evacuating the area saw how the military and para-mili-tary elements brought Samarca, who was then already tied around the neck, hands and feet, inside one of the classrooms in the ALCADEV compound,” the law-

makers said in the resolution.By the evening of Aug. 31, ALCADEV

faculty members and most of the resi-dents were already in Km. 16.

At  4 a.m.  on Sept. 1, soldiers went from house to house ordering residents to come out.

Members of the Mahagat-Bagani Force ordered Belen Itallo to sit beside Campos, after which, known member of the para-military group Bobby Tejero and his brother Loloy Tejero shot Cam-pos in the head, killing him instantly.

Some 20 armed men fired indiscrimi-nately at Campos, Sinzo and Itallo, leav-ing Sinzo dead and Itallo wounded.

“Later in the morning, the commu-nity members who went back to the AL-CADEV campus found Samarca’s dead body, with a gaping cut in the throat that ran practically from ear to ear, his face bruised and almost unrecognizable,” the Makabayan lawmakers said in the reso-lution.

“The incident [forced] around 307 families or about 2,000 individuals to evacuate to Tandag City where they brought the remains of Samarca, Cam-pos and Sinzo,” they said.

They demanded justice for the victims and are calling for the immediate stop to the escalating killings and the massive militarization in entire Mindanao.

In Surigao del Sur, outgoing Inte-rior Secretary Manuel Roxas II defended the Armed Forces against comlaints of

Manobo evacuees.In an interview with Surigao media,

Roxas echoed the police line, saying that the perpetrators of the massacre were not members of the Armed Forces.

Asked about the repeated claim by Su-rigao del Sur Gov. Johnny Pimentel that the Mahagat-Bagani force was created by the military, Roxas said “the matter should be left with the Philippine Na-tional Police” which is already conduct-ing an investigation.

In a video posted on social media net-works, Roxas and Pimentel are shown visit-ing a provincial sports center where about 3,000 Manobos have sought refuge from the paramilitary operations in their homes.

In the video, Roxas is seen making the rounds with Pimentel and a cam-era crew, when he unexpectedly turned around and proceeded to a small tent. There he asked an evacuee why he had not returned to his home in the town of Liang yet.

“Because there are still soldiers there, sir,” came a swift reply in Visayan from one evacuee.

“So, aren’t soldiers supposed to protect you?” Roxas said.

“What protection? They [soldiers] are the ones killing our families there,” the Manobo woman replied.

Roxas again asked, “Soldiers?” to which the woman immediately asked back: “Who else? Bagani and the sol-diers.” With Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

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Meeting down south. President Benigno Aquino III addresses a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group at the Shangri-La Mactan Resort and Spa in Lapu-Lapu City on Thursday. Malacañang Photo Bureau

Picket. Members of the group Bayan Muna slammed what they called the poor management of the LRT 1 line in a picket at the Monumento station on Thursday. JoJo raBulan

Poe to attend citizenship hearing

Roxas denouncesfake P500 notes

Mercado, Trillanes sued again

SENATOR Grace Poe has confirmed she will attend the first hearing of the dis-qualification case ques-tioning her citizenship and qualification to run for the Senate in the May 2013 elec-tions, Senator Vicente Sotto III said Thursday.

Poe’s chief of staff also said Poe will appear in to-day’s preliminary confer-ence at the Supreme Court’s Session Hall.

“As of today yes, she will,” Nelson Victorino said in a text message.”

A closed-door prelimi-nary conference will be held before the hearing by the Senate Electoral Tribunal led by Senior Associate Jus-tice Antonio Carpio.

The other members of the tribunal are Supreme Court Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-De Castro and Arturo Brion and Senators Sotto, Bam Aquino, Loren

Legarda, Pia Cayetano, Cynthia Villar and Nancy Binay.

“Yes, both petitioner and the respondent are expected to attend [the hearing],” Sotto said in a text message. He was referring to Poe and her accuser, losing senatori-al candidate Rizalito David.

David had earlier filed a petition with the tribu-nal seeking to unseat Poe for being “stateless” and a foundling.

But in a 107-page reply she submitted to the tribunal, Poe insisted she is a Filipino citizen and that she is ready to prove it in any forum.

Poe maintains she was born in the country and was qualified when she ran for the Senate.

Lawyer Katrina Legarda, a women’s and children’s rights advocate, says the disqualification case against Poe is a form of discrimi-

nation against abandoned children.

“If a foundling is not pre-sumed natural-born, then no abandoned child can ever aspire for national of-fice,” Legarda said.

“You cannot have one law for abandoned children whose parents are known and for those whose parents are not known. This is discriminatory and violative of the equal pro-tection of the law.”

Sotto said he would first hear the presentation of Poe and David before coming out with a decision.

He said he needed to hear both parties before deciding what to do with the disquali-fication case against his col-league. He said many members of his party, the Nationalist People’s Coalition, wanted Poe and Senator Francis Escudero to run in next year’s presiden-tial elections. Macon ramos-araneta

OUTGOING Interior Secretary and Liberal Party standard-bearer Manuel Roxas II on Thursday denounced the fake 500-peso bills bear-ing his face and contained inside envelops with ac-companying fliers, which were found circulating among the reporters cov-ering the House of Repre-sentatives.

“Well, obviously that is a fake,” Roxas told reporters at the Pinagdadapun Festi-val in Quirino Province.

“We don’t have any knowledge of that. Obvi-ously, that’s the working of our enemies in politics, and I believe no one will believe them.”

The fliers were con-

tained in white envelopes and sent via postal mail to the House of Repre-sentatives’ Media Office Affairs.

The fliers bore the message “SALAPI PA MORE!!! Ibulsa ang pera, iboto ang kursonada” and bore the return address “HTA Inc., New Manila, Quezon City.”

The envelopes reached their recipients Thurs-day morning, when the House finished the dis-cussions on the 2016 budget of the Office of the Vice President. Vice President Jejomar Binay is one of the con-tenders in the presiden-tial elections in May 2016. John Paolo Bencito

VICE President Je-jomar Binay on Thurs-day filed separate libel cases against former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado and Senator Antonio Tril-lanes in Makati in con-nection with their ac-cusations against him.

The case against Mercado is in connection with a Boy Scouts transaction with Al-phaland, while the case against Trillanes is in connec-tion with Makati’s senior citi-zens program, Binay’s spokes-

man Joey Salgado said.“The vice president believes

in our criminal justice system and is abiding by the rule of law in order to prove that his accusers are liars and political opportunists,” Salgado said.

He made his statement even as suspended Makati Mayor Junjun Binay said Senator An-tonio Trillanes may not invoke parliamentary immunity in the libel case he filed against him for accusing him of brib-ing the justices of the Court of Appeals in exchange for a tem-porary restraining order stop-ping his suspension by the Of-fice of the Ombudsman.

Junjun Binay, who appeared at the Department of Justice

on Thursday for the continu-ation of the preliminary in-vestigation hearing where he submitted his reply-affidavit, said he decided to pursue the criminal charges against Tril-lanes since Trillanes had failed to prove his charges.

“That [the lack of witnesses or pieces of evidence] is the reason that we have to file this case,” Binay said.

“We are also waiting if he would be able to really present the supposed evidence, but there’s none. That’s why we are here. It is not right to make baseless accusations that can-not be supported by evidence.”

The suspended Makati City mayor expressed hope the De-

partment of Justice would be fair in resolving his complaint as he had withdrawn his mo-tion questioning the transfer of his case from the Makati City prosecutor’s office.

He said he would again run for mayor of Makati in next year’s elections.

Jejomar Binay said the latest corruption charges filed against him before the Ombudsman were recycled “lies.” which were part of the continuing demolition job against him by his political opponents.

Lawyer Renato Bondal had filed another plunder com-plaint against the vice Presi-dent, and this time over the

alleged illegal use of a public lot in Makati City. But Binay told a radio interview that the charges were dismissed by the Ombudsman and the Depart-ment of Environment and nat-ural Resources 10 years ago.

Binay, the United Nation-alist Alliance’s standard bearer in the 2016 presiden-tial elections, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said the long-running Senate hearings over his case were meant to derail his bid for the presidency.

He said Bondal had part-nered with Mercado to hatch dirty tricks against him and his family. Vito Barcelo and rey e. requejo

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NPO will still print ballots

Binay: Remove PNP from DILGBy Vito Barcelo

THE Philippine National Police should be removed from the jurisdiction of the Department of Interior and Local Government and instead be placed under the direct control of the Office of the President, Vice President Jejomar Binay proposed on Thursday.

“The responsibility of managing the PNP should be taken from Interior Secretary Mar Roxas so that he can be more pro-ductive in the govern-ment,” Binay said in a ra-dio interview.

Binay explained the DILG can no longer per-form well in fighting criminality because it is pre-occupied with projects that are not within its core mandate and competency, thus neglecting to over-see the problem in keep-ing peace and order in the country.

Binay said the crime rate continues to rise despite the 30.2-percent increase in the budget allocated to the DILG.

He said the budget of the DILG secretary has soared from P2.8 billion in 2010 to P16 billion in 2015, but the money is used in political projects that have little to do with fighting crime.

Removing the PNP from the supervision of the DILG can also help stem criminality, which has steadily increased is the solution to the continuous rise of crime in the coun-try, which the PNP has failed to curb.

Records from the PNP reported an increase in total crime volume in the first six months of the year compared to the same pe-riod in 2014.

The PNP records showed a total of 885,445

crimes reported from Jan-uary to June, higher than the 603,085 incidents dur-ing the same period last year.

The National Capital Regional Police Office data showed that reported crimes went up from 25 percent compared to the previous year.

Crimes involving motor-cycle-riding criminals have also increased to 389 for the same period compared to 359 last year.

The Volunteers against Crime and Corruption es-timates that from January-June 2015, there were 40 cases of murder per day and 36 cases of homicide daily.

Even the Catholic Bish-ops Conference of the Philippines raised concern over rising criminality with CBCP president and Lingayen-Dagupan Arch-bishop Socrates Villegas asking who would not be concerned about rising crimes when “a crime is an offense versus human dig-nity.”

Villegas called on all Filipinos, not just the gov-ernment, to fight crime by starting the effort at home and in school.

“Fighting crime is not just the duty of one sector of society, fighting crime is the duty of every hu-man being, starting with parents [and the] family… we all have a duty in main-taining order in the com-munity,” he said.

By Sara Susanne D. FabunanDESPITE a contract that was award-ed to the Smartmatic-Total Informa-tion Management consortium, the Commission on Elections clarified on Thursday that the National Print-ing Office will still be primarily re-sponsible for printing the ballots for the 2016 elections.

“In our terms of reference, we re-quired the prospective bidders to co-ordinate with the NPO and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Under the law, it is still required that the NPO or BSP do the printing,” said Comelec Com-missioner Christian Robert Lim.

He said the poll body crafted the project’s TOR so that the contracted service will be “bundled” with win-ning bidder being required to coordi-nate with the NPO for the printing of ballots.

Smartmatic-TIM was awarded the contract aside from manufacturing the more than 93,000 optical ma-chine readers that will also be used in the elections.

“When we bidded it out, the serv-ices were already bundled. We didn’t know who will be the winning bid-der. We do not know a special type of paper will be required or certain type of printing will be needed,” he explained.

“That’s why we had it bundled be-cause we want the paper, we want the ballot be extremely compatible with the machine,” Lim pointed out.

If the NPO or the BSP refuses to print the ballots, only then can Smartmatic print the ballots.

“It is only when the NPO or the BSP issues a certification that they cannot handle the printing will we go out. The vendor is still tied to us

and will have to print the ballots for 2016,” he added.

Lim said, by next week, they will be meeting with the NPO officials to discuss the printing of the ballots and whether the agency can actually print millions of ballots suitable for use with the Smartmatic machines.

“Basically, if the machines that we will use is the old one, we have no issues on this, since the machines are new, we have to find out the specifications of the ballots we need,” he said.

Lim recalled that during the 2010 presidential polls, the NPO had no digital printers yet, so the Smartmat-ic-TIM had to provide the printers for the ballots.

Comelec chariman Andres Bautis-ta for his part said that the Smartmat-ic, base from the TOR, will be the one to provide the paraphernalia, such as the ink and paper, among others.

Comelec: More debates setASIDE from presidential debates, the Commission on Elections will also hold debates for vice presidential and local can-didates to give the voters more opportu-nity to know better the candidates in the 2016 national and local elections.

During the Senate finance committee deliberations on the Comelec’s proposed P15.6-billion budget for 2016, Comelec chairman Andy Bautista assured that de-bates will be held for the upcoming elec-tions.

Bautista informed Senate finance com-mittee chairperson Loren Legarda that the commission had allotted budget for the holding of the presidential debates, which will be held in Luzon, Visayas and Mind-anao.

The Comelec chief said he had already instructed their provincial, city and mu-nicipal election officers to set debates for local positions.

Legarda recommended that Comelec should make sure that debates will be witnessed by majority of the electorate.

Bautista said a technical working group had been coordinating with the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipi-nas to air live, through radio and televi-sion, the presidential and vice presiden-tial debates.

“It is time to change the king of poli-tics in our country. The voters should learn how to choose candidates based on their platforms of government,” Bautista said.

The last time the Comelec held de-bates for presidential candidates was in the 1992 national elections.

It would be the third time the Philip-pines will be holding automated elections. The first was in 2010 when President Be-nigno Aquino III was elected as the 15th president of the Republic. PNA

Speaking from experience. Rep. Lito Atienza, a former mayor of Manila, recalls his experience in traffic management during a media forum in Quezon City on Thursday. Beside Atienza is lawyer Larry Gadon who spoke about the condition of his client, former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. LINO SANTOS

Exhausted. Public Attorney’s Office chief Persida Acosta faints after explaining why dismissed Philippine Military Academy cadet Aldrin Jeff Cudia cannot go to the University of the Philippines because of documents that are being delayed at the Philippine Military Academy. DANNY PATA

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Belmonte insists: 2015 budget not PNoy’s pork By Maricel V. Cruz

House speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.  on Thursday  expressed readiness to de-fend before the supreme Court its case against al-legations that the 2015 national budget contained provisions allowing the use of the “illegal” priority de-velopment assistance fund. 

The House leadership will comply with the sC order directing the ex-ecutive and the Legislative branches of government to explain within 10 days those allegations, Belmon-te said.

“We will file our com-ment and comply with the order of the supreme Court,” Belmonte said.

Belmonte maintained that the national budget this year has complied with the Constitution and the sC ruling.

“everything is in order and complies with the sC decision regarding nation-al budget,” Belmonte said.

The high court had earlier asked the execu-tive and the Legislative branches of government to comment on the peti-tion filed by several anti-corruption groups led by former national treasurer Leonor Briones of the so-cial Watch Philippines that PDAF does still exist in this year’s national budget.

However, the sC did not issue a temporary restraining order that would stop the executive department from imple-menting the challenged provisions in the 2015 na-tional budget.

The petition said that sections 70 and 73 of the 2015 General Appropria-tions Act, including Na-tional Budget Circular No. 559 and some provisions under the special Purpose Fund.

Noy’s office hikes budget to P2.8b; OVP gets P230m

Appearing before the House com-mittee on appropriations, executive secretary Paquito ochoa Jr. pre-sented to lawmakers the agency’s proposed P2.825 billion for 2016.    Last year, the oP was allocated a to-tal of P2.567 billion.

specifically, ochoa said the proposed funding for oP’s Main-tenance and other operating ex-penses (Mooe) is higher by 2 per-cent, or P46.6 million, to P1.957 billion, from the current year’s ap-propriation.

The provision for Capital out-lay , meanwhile, has been raised to P96.9 million, by 76.9 million, for 2016 to fund continuing improve-

ments being undertaken within the oP facilities, ochoa said.

The proposed budget for Per-sonnel services is higher by 21 percent, or P134.67 million, to P771.67 million, compared to the previous spending package, in or-der to meet the actual salaries and other compensation benefits of all oP personnel as of Dec. 31, 2014, including retirement and life in-surance premiums.

At least 71 percent of the P2.825-billion budget would be earmarked for operations, while 29 percent will be spent for gen-eral administration and support services, according to ochoa.

By Maricel V. Cruz  

The Office of the President has increased its budget for 2016 by 10 percent taking into account the higher funding requirement for personnel services and capital outlays, a Palace official said  on Thursday.

ochoa said the oP provides ex-ecutive, technical and management services, advisory services, legal services and Presidential executive staff services to the President of the country in the exercise of his func-tions as head of state, chief executive and commander-in-chief.

As this developed, the House ap-propriations committee approved the P230-million proposed budget for the office of the Vice President without fanfare and questions asked.

undersecretary Benjamin Martinez attended the budget hearing presided by the panel chair, Davao City Rep. Isidro ungab who declared that the budget for the oVP “is hereby approved and to be endorsed for plenary deliberations.”

Martinez said the oVP’s pro-posed budget for 2016 is 3.54 per-cent higher than the office’s 2015 budget of P222.623 million.

Martinez clarified that the pro-

posed budget for the agency is not intended to advance the presiden-tial ambition of Vice President Je-jomar Binay, who has made public his plans to run for the presidency in 2016.

“The proposed budget is not in-tended to finance the 2016 campaign of the current vice president. It is in-tended to finance basic operations and to provide administrative and technical support to the vice presi-dent,” Martinez told lawmakers.

The oVP budget, Martinez said is “not solely dedicated to Vice President Binay” but also “to en-sure that the next vice president will have enough budget to func-tion well.

Martinez, in his budget presenta-tion said, that of the total P222.623 million of the oVP, P179.722 mil-lion will be allotted to Mooe to finance the programs and projects of the oVP as well for the office’s upcoming International standard operation accreditation.

Ideas positive. Members of Team Blueprint celebrate after being named among five winning teams in the Ideas Positive competition, a nationwide contest for innovative ideas from those belonging to the 15-25 age bracket of the population which when carried out can solve an identified health problem of a community. The other teams are Catalyst, MAMAsitters, Transformer v2.0 and Y-Care.

PDP waits for Duterte’s final answerBy Macon AranetaPARTIDo ng Demokratikong Pilipino PDP-Laban will not endorse a presidential candidate until December because  it will wait  for   Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to reconsider his decision on run-ning in next year’s elections, said the par-ty’s president senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III.

Duterte earlier announced   he was with-drawing from the presidential race, but this was met   with skepticism by his critics.

They said Duterte is still going around the country in the guise of a listening tour, and promoting federalism as a tool to ad-dress the decades-old peace problems in the Mindanao region. 

They also cited his ongoing television advertisements   depicting his accomplish-ments as     Davao mayor.

“We will never give up,” said Pimentel, president of PDP- Laban.

He also said   the  oct. 16  deadline

for the filing of certificates of candidacy is not actually the final deadline, but an “initial” deadline. He said Comelec allows the   substitution of candidates   until De-cember.

“oct. 16  actually is not the final deadline because the rules of the Comelec allow the substitution by a political party of the can-didates up to sometime in December. I am clarifying that there’s an initial deadline but that’s not actually the absolute deadline to decide,” explained the senator.

He said said PDP-Laban will also take the risk of not endorsing any candidate for president until December.

But Pimentel said Duterte’s pronounce-ment would not stop his supporters from giving up the fight.

“We will continue to convince him, to plead with him na [to] please listen to the [clamor of the people]. I can feel the clamor of a big segment of society for him to run for president so I will just beg him to listen to that clamor,” he said.

Inmates’ database. Justice Secretary Leila M. De Lima delivers her inspirational message during the launching of the first-ever electronic Inmate Management Information System in the country. De Lima says that with IMIS in place, “there will be no more overstaying prisoners in state penitentiaries due to lost records or inaccurate computation of inmate service of sentence.”

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

newsA6f r i d ay : s e p t e m b e r 1 1 , 2 0 1 5

Ex-PCGG men indictedfor 1987 property dealBy Rio N. Araja

THE Office of the Ombudsman on Thursday  indicted former Presidential Commission on Good Government com-missioners Magtanggol Gunigundo, Rey-naldo Guiao, Hermilo Rosal, Julieta Ber-tuben and Herminio Mendoza  over an allegedly fraudulent compromise agree-ment in connection with a forfeiture case of ill-gotten wealth filed against a former Muntinlupa City mayor.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales ordered the filing of violation Section 3(g) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act against the ex-PCGG officials before the

Sandiganbayan.Also indicted was former

director Mauro Estrada.The case rooted from a July

1987 petition for forfeiture of ill-gotten wealth filed against former Muntinlupa mayor

Ynares belies fund misuse

Maximino Argana.   During the trial, Argana’s

heirs offered the govern-ment a compromise settle-ment of 361.92 hectares of their property represent-ing 75 percent of the total 481.78 hectares.

Argana’s kin would re-tain the remaining 199.86 hectares or 25 percent of the disputed land in Famy and Pangil in Laguna.

In July 1998, the San-diganbayan approved the compromise agreement. 

Sometime in October 1998, the PCGG and the Office of the Solicitor General under new officials filed a motion to rescind compromise agree-ment and to set aside judg-ment by compromise on the ground of fraud and insidious

misrepresentation.  Two years later, the anti-graft

court’s Third Division promul-gated a resolution granting the motion to rescind.

An investigation by the field investigation office showed there was fraud and misrepresentation in the transaction wherein the par-ties deliberately omitted to disclose the property values.

The parcel of property was actually valued at only P3.62 million based on the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program valuation of P10,000 per hectare, while the market value of the property retained by the Argana heirs located in the urban area was valued at P2.4 billion based on the market valuation of P2,000

per square meter.The agreement “is patent-

ly unfair” as it is “a virtual sell-out,” Morales said.

“Due to the pronounced inequity in the distribution of properties between the government and the heirs under the agreement, the government stood to suffer substantial loss, hence, the contract was grossly and manifestly disadvantageous to the government,” the res-olution read.

Section 3(g) of RA 3019 prohibits the act of enter-ing, on behalf of the govern-ment, into any contract or transaction manifestly and grossly disadvantageous to the same, whether or not the public officer profited or will profit thereby.

Comelec budget. Elections Chairman Andres Bautista (right), and Commissioner Maria Rowena Amelia Guanzon take turns explaining the proposed 2016 budget of the Commission on Elections before the Senate Thursday in Pasay City. EY ACASIO

Ousted cadet renews petition for diplomaBy Rey E. Requejo    DISMISSED Cadet 1st  Class Aldrin Jeff Cudia on Thursday pleaded the Supreme Court to accord him humanitarian con-sideration by reversing its earlier decision sustaining his dismissal from the Philippine  Military Academy last year for lying.

Chief public attorney Persida Rueda Acosta, counsel of Cudia and his parents in the SC case, filed  a  motion for reconsidera-tion before the high tribunal and insisted on  their appeal for the release of the cadet’s diploma or certificate of  completion of aca-demic requirements and tran-script of records.

Cudia had asked the SC to order the PMA to release the requirements  when he was supposed to enroll in the Uni-

versity of the Philippines  Col-lege of Law after passing the entrance exam. But the tribu-nal dismissed his petition with finality last April.

Acosta invoked humanitar-ian consideration and revealed that Cudia’s  father Renato has already been bedridden after suffering a stroke last  January. 

“They already killed Mang Re-nato’s dreams for Aldrin. They no longer  allowed Aldrin to become a soldier, and now they also won’t let him to  become a lawyer,” Acos-ta said, in a press conference. 

“We are begging to the Su-preme Court to take a second look at our case  and listen to our plea. All we are asking is the release of the  diploma and tran-script of records of Aldrin. He has the right to  finish his educa-tion,” the PAO chief added.

FORMER Rizal gover-nor Casimiro “Ito” Ynares Jr. on Thursday expressed confidence that he will be vindicated of charges that he and members of the Provincial Bids and Awards Committee were allegedly involved in the fraudulent bidding and purchase of 2,455 bottles of liquid fer-tilizer in 2004 amounting to P3,682,500.00 as charged by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales.

“I welcome the move of our Ombudsman to finally resolve the investigation of said case,” Ynares said in a statement. 

“I believe that this will give us the opportunity to bring out the truth at the proper forum. Soon, we will have the chance to prove that the public funds in question have been properly used and accounted for, and that there never was any intention on the part of the provincial government to misuse the said funds,” he added. 

Carpio-Morales on Wednes-day  said that Ynaresauthorized the procurement of the fertil-izers through direct contract-ing—notwithstanding the pres-ence of other suitable suppliers.

Records showed that on April 19, 2004, the province of Rizal represented by Ynares entered into a MOA with the Department of Agriculture Region IV-A and received the amount of P5,000,000.00 from Feshan under the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani program of the DA.

“The failure of the public respondents to conduct a public bidding and their ad-herence to Bio Nature Liquid Fertilizer violated procure-ment laws leading to a lost opportunity to get the most advantageous deal for the government,” Morales said. John Paolo Bencito

The Office of the Ombudsman this week issued a series of resolutions charging several public officials with violations of the anti-graft law.

A7editorial@thestandard.com.ph

f r i d ay : s e p t e m b e r 1 1 , 2 0 1 5

news

El Niño to have adverse effect on Mindanao power

Former Basilan vice mayor faces graft charges over gas expenses

Ombudsman junks murder raps vs mayor, barangay chief

Energy Department officer-in-charge Zenaida Monsada said that while the agency is still finalizing new estimates on the effect of El Niño on power supply, Mindanao will likely bear the brunt of the impact.

“DoE is finalizing new esti-

mates on effect of El Niño be-cause we still have rains and some hydro dams are filled up. For Luzon, there might not be too much impact on power sup-ply due to El Niño but the worst [affected] will be Mindanao in the fourth quarter and first quarter 2016, on initial esti-

By Ferdie G. DomingoGAPAN CITY, Nueva Ecija—The Office of the Ombudsman has dis-missed charges of murder and grave misconduct against the incumbent mayor of this city and a barangay chairman in connection with the cold-blooded massacre two years ago of four persons, including a rookie policeman assigned as the bodyguard of her late father’s political rival.

In a 13-page consolidated joint resolution recommended by Assistant Special Prosecutor Maria Janina J. Hidalgo, which was approved by Om-budsman Conchita Carpio Morales on Aug. 28 and made public Tuesday, Mayor Maricel Natividad-Nagaño and Montaño C. Barlis, barangay chairman of Sta. Cruz here were cleared of the charges for lack of probable cause and for lack of substantial evidence.

The charges against Natividad-Nagaño and Barlis stemmed from the reported ambush-attempt on Emerson Pascual, barangay chair-man of Pambuan at Sizzlers Haus restaurant along Tinio St., Barangay San Lorenzo on Aug. 13, 2013.

The attack led to the deaths of Pascual’s security escort, PO2 Jeffer-son Lim, his driver Rufino Vendivel, civilian Consuelo Manse and King Jasper Juvinal. They all died from multiple gunshot wounds.

Pascual is the son of businessman Rodrigo Pascual who ran for mayor but lost to Natividad-Nagaño’s late father, Ernesto Natividad, in the 2007 mayoral elections.

Affidavits of two witnesses—Mal-gapo and Ronald Abaño alleged that three gunmen alighted from a white Toyota Fortuner which when verified with the Land Transportation Office, was verified to be owned by Nativi-dad-Nagaño.

In her counter-affidavit, Nativ-idad-Nagaño denied involvement in the attack. As proof, she submit-ted three compact disks containing closed circuit television footages of her compound in the said dates.

The Ombudsman also said there is no evidence that either Natividad-Nagaño or Barlis directly participat-ed in the incident.

“Neither could they be said to have acted in conspiracy with the uniden-tified gunmen,” it added.

The Ombudsman said that while it laments the loss of lives and injuries from the tragedy on Aug. 13, 2013, “still, cases must be resolved on the basis of law and evidence, and not speculation, sympathy or emotion.”

By Rio N. Araja

A FORMER vice mayor in Lami-tan City, Basilan is facing mul-tiple counts of graft raps for gas expenses.

The Office of the Ombudsman indicted ex-vice mayor Arleigh Eisma over the unlawful disburse-ment of funds to cover gas payment for a gasoline station he owned.

In an eight-page resolution, Om-budsman Conchita Carpio Morales directed the filing of several sets of information for violation of Sec-tions 3 (b), (e) and (h) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and

Corrupt Practices Act, Section 89 (1) of Republic Act No. 7160 (Lo-cal Government Code), and Sec-tion 7(a) of RA 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

According to investigation, Eisma facilitated and approved gasoline expenses for his private service vehicles of P1,964,921.25 from January 2012 to July 2012.

All trip tickets, purchase re-quests, purchase orders, inspection and acceptance reports, checks and disbursement vouchers were approved by Eisma alone.

“Respondent monopolized al-

most every aspect of the process, from requisition, to accepting the delivery, and up to approving the same,” the resolution read.

In addition, the requirements of competitive bidding or nego-tiated procurement for supplies were not observed and in the process, Morales said.

“Eisma allowed his privately owned Shell Station to benefit from the supply transactions undertaken, approved and inter-vened by his public office in an apparent conflict of interest and breach of public trust reposed on him,” the decision read.

mates,” Monsada said.Monsada said “overall supply

including reserves can meet de-mand” but Mindanao may be af-fected because of its dependence on hydropower plants.

The Agus-Pulangi hydro-power complex owned by Na-tional Power Corp. supplies about 55 percent of Mindanao’s power needs.

She said that for Luzon, the Malampaya consortium has confirmed that the facility, which supplies around 40 per-cent of Luzon’s power require-ments, is expected to be in ser-vice during summer.

“Mindanao can be [affected]

by El Niño due to dependence on hydro. Despite El Niño, Luzon and Visayas will be okay,” Mon-sada said.

Former Energy Secretary Car-los Jericho Petilla, for his part, said close coordination among stakeholders is need to help en-sure availability of supply.

He said government should also make sure that the new power plants come on line as scheduled.

Petilla also urged the depart-ment to review existing con-tracts of electric cooperatives and distribution utilities “and see if their contracts will be af-fected by El Niño.”

By Alena Mae S. Flores

The energy Department is concerned that the el Niño weather phenomenon, which would begin to-ward the end of this year and would last until sum-mer next year, would have an adverse impact on the power supply in Mindanao.

Makeshift roofs. The cogon grass roofing of makeshift classrooms in South Upi, Maguindanao is not enough to shield students from heavy rain. RENATO ARAGON

Sea turtle. Fishermen in Libas, Merida, Leyte marvel at this adult green sea turtle which turned up at their shore. The turtle, 50 inches long and 33 inches wide, weighs 80 kilograms. MEL CASPE

A8

[ EDI TORI A L ]

A FAILURE IN GOVERNANCETUESDAY’S mammoth traffic jam in Metro Manila demonstrated government’s help-lessness in dealing with the urban problem. The five-hour traffic snarl was also a failure in governance on the part of local and na-tional authorities.

A late heavy downpour clogged peren-nial flood-prone areas in Metro Manila, stalling vehicles for hours as they were un-able to navigate the knee-deep water. The Metro Manila Development Authority was supposed to pump out the water from the flooded portions of major thoroughfares to ease traffic. MMDA obviously did not do its job Tuesday night.

Building more roads and providing al-ternative transportation modes in the me-tropolis are the long-term solution to the traffic woes but these will take time. In the meantime, an effective traffic enforcement is needed and authorities so far have failed to control the situation.

Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras suggested a “whole-of-government ap-proach” involving the Public Works and Highways, Interior and Local Government and Transportation and Communications departments to ease traffic congestion. The Cabinet official should have added that basic enforcement of the traffic and public trans-portation regulations was the first step in ad-dressing the traffic mess.

The Philippine National Police High-way Patrol Group has deployed personnel in chokepoints along Edsa and other major roads to decongest traffic. Police personnel, however, literally stationed themselves in just one place to man the critical areas. They should extend their job 100 meters or more before the chokepoints, where the logjam ac-tually begins.

Public utility buses and even taxicabs, meanwhile, are known to violate traffic rules. They load and unload when they please in the middle of the road and get away with it because no authority, police or MMDA personnel bother to give them a citation or ticket for violating traffic rules.

The traffic situation in Metro Manila will get worse as the Christmas season nears. The traffic nightmare last Tuesday will be replicated many times, unless the government starts effectively using its police powers to clean up the streets and discipline motorists.

LOWDOWN

JOJO A. ROBLES

ADELLE CHUAE D I T O R

THE END OF THE PARTIES

TODAY, Senator Grace Poe will formally con-front the questions hurled against her before the Senate Electoral Tribunal in the Supreme Court. But my reservations about Poe, while they will be eased somewhat by the resolution of these serious issues in her favor before the proper fora, go beyond the legal controversies.

Maybe it’s just me, but the burgeoning popular-ity of Poe and, to a lesser extent, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte doesn’t seem to augur well for the country’s political ma-turity. Their current ap-peal seems based on the politics of personality that traces its roots to the elec-tion of Cory Aquino in 1986 and returned with a vengeance in 2010 with the election of Cory’s son Noynoy.

My fear is that Poe, in particular, when (not if ) she decides to run for President, will hammer

the last nail into the coffin of multi-party electoral democracy. The senator seems to be running en-tirely on the basis of per-sonal popularity, with no clear policy agenda de-spite the impressive voter preference numbers that are forcing what is left of our political parties to woo her assiduously.

This is the tail wag-ging the dog. The parties, which once vetted and winnowed possible candi-dates, are now fighting for relevance and their very survival by seeking out the most winnable of the wan-nabes, instead of making sure that they conform to the ideological, moral and other standards that the party sets.

But a strong party sys-tem, political scientists tell us, is the antidote to the politics of personal-ity. To a large extent, the inordinate obsession of the Filipino electorate with personal narratives, together with the collapse of the political party system, has stunted our growth as a nation and given us leaders chosen on the basis of emotion,

instead of competence and track records.

A party system aggre-gates various interests and transforms them into pol-icy (not personality) al-ternatives the voters may choose from. In between elections, the party sys-tem is a mechanism for enfranchising citizens and reflecting their views.

The system also func-tions as a check on elected officials, ensuring they re-

main within the bounds of what the party represents. Otherwise, the elected leaders will become ac-countable to no one.

* * *The Philippines’ expe-

rience with dictatorship is widely believed to have sabotaged the develop-ment of a mature politi-cal party system in the Philippines. The Marcos regime consolidated its hold on power by destroy-ing the system of competi-tive parties and installing one-party rule; we have not fully recovered from that destructive episode and its effects continue to undermine the viability of our electoral democracy.

When Cory Aquino was drafted as the candi-date of the unified opposi-tion for the snap elections of 1986, she did not be-long to any political party. Because of her unique role as a unifying personality in an abnormal time, she never understood nor re-spected the need to devel-op a strong party system.

She cultivated a deep disdain for party politics because she saw herself as

Poe, when (not if) she

decides to run for President, may hammer the last nail

into the coffin of multi-party

electoral democracy.

OPINIONF R I D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 1 , 2 0 1 5

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Continued on A11

OPINIONF R I D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 1 , 2 0 1 5

A10

TWO weeks back, the Asean Intergovernmental Com-mission on Human Rights convened representatives of advocacy and cause-orient-ed groups in the Philippines and called on international law professors to talk about drawing up human rights in-struments for Asean.  I was called upon as a professor of international law.

Many of the precepts on human rights are now part of the corpus of custom-ary international law, and that may just be the place to start.  Asean is not go-ing to reinvent the wheel.  It is not building from the ground up.  And rather than devising instruments that always entail the chal-lenge of enforceability and enforcement, it might be the far more prudent option with what is, under the cur-rent state of international law, already obligatory on all nations.  The prohibi-tion of torture, for example, is considered by many to be “jus cogens,” one of those pe-remptory norms embodying fundamental values of the international community that allow of no derogation.  Torture is, by no means, an idle topic in the Asean re-gion.

One of the issues of in-ternational law is invariably that of enforcement: “supe-riores non recognoscentes”....States recognize no sover-eignty over them.  And so, really, the only enforcement scheme available is “hori-zontal enforcement,” the en-forcement of and by peers— other sovereign states in the community of nations.  This obviously limits the options available, but it also under-scores the fallacy of deal-ing with international law as some globalized form of domestic law.  I suggested, echoing several contempo-rary authorities of inter-national law, that regional laws like Asean law is best enforced by domestic op-erators rather than regional structures and mechanisms.  In consequence of this real-ization, what Asean can do is to formulate regional cov-

enants that member-states of Asean would then be bound, as a matter of treaty obliga-tion, to enact in their re-spective jurisdictions.  The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Conven-tion on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women provide ready examples—and amply demonstrate the “doability” of the proposal.

Human rights are univer-sal.  They apply whenever you deal with a human being, and while there can be de-bate over “natural law,” there will hardly be debate over the fact that “human dig-nity” does make certain de-mands.  Undoubtedly, how-ever, there are human rights issues—or clusters of issues —peculiar to the Asean re-gion.  When we recall that there are military regimes in this part of the world, then

such issues as state respon-sibility, command responsi-bility in respect to enforced disappearances, detentions and even extra-judicial ex-ecutions, the obligations of armed, rebel, and belliger-ency groups, the rights of displaced persons and the obligations of states towards refugees—all these should be addressed in their par-ticularity by regional instru-ments.

Then, in view of Asean integration, human rights should not take a back seat to economic and trade inte-gration.  It makes very little sense to promote the free mobility of professionals and of skilled labor if the rights of laborers in some countries of the region can-

A HUMAN RIGHTS DOCUMENT FOR ASEAN

A WANG-WANG SOLUTIONIN THE past, powerful poli-ticians and government offi-cials who wanted to have the road for themselves needed only to sound out the loud sirens of their flashy and luxury vehicles. They would then clear the street, over-take other vehicles, and travel faster.

The sound of these si-rens—which President Aquino mockingly calls “wang-wang”—gets him eas-ily irritated but not if it came from those authorized by law to use these sirens such as “the President, the Vice President, the Senate Presi-dent, the Speaker, the Chief Justice, and police vehicles, fire trucks, and ambulances.”

In fact, PNoy “had to en-dure being rudely shoved aside by the siren-blaring escorts of those who love to display their position and power,” an experience so un-forgettable for him that he narrated it in opening his inaugural speech as presi-dent on June 30, 2010 at the Quirino Grandstand.

We sympathize with him because we also get irritated whenever we hear the loud sound of sirens from donat-ed barangay vehicles that are camouflaged as ambulances but carry only barangay of-ficials and their friends on their way to out-of-town pic-nics.

But we disagree with PNoy when he said in his second State of the Nation Address that “the wang-wang had come to symbolize abuse of authority.”

Because for us, the sin-gular symbol of abuse of authority is Janet Napoles. The way she facilitated the releases from PNoy’s Bud-get Department of hundreds of billions of pesos of pork barrel funds for ghost proj-ects of her politician-accom-plices is the most arrogant display of abuse of author-ity. Until now, in fact, she remains unconvicted of her crimes while similar pork barrel funds continue to be released.

We also disagree with his declaration in his sixth and last SONA that—

“More than five years have passed since we put a stop to the culture of wang-wang, not only in our streets, but in soci-ety at large; since we formally took an oath to fight corrup-tion to eradicate poverty.”

As far as we know, neither corruption nor the arro-gant display of authority has stopped. Poverty has wors-ened instead of being eradi-cated or reduced.

The culture of wang-wang may have stopped but that is all. If PNoy wants, he could consider it as one of the rare accomplishments of his ad-ministration.

But while the sound of wang-wang is now seldom heard, it is not because our politicians and barangays officials are heeding PNoy’s wish. Their sirens have sim-ply become useless amidst our often gridlocked traffic conditions.

For instance, take Edsa which has become our most important highway in terms of economic and social con-siderations. The trip along it between Quezon City and Makati City that hundreds of thousands of our workers and businessmen must take daily now lasts 2-3 hours rain or shine whether they ride the bus or drive their car. As in what happened last Tues-day night, our traffic miseries reach hellish proportions at the slightest pouring of rain.

We had been crying out loudly for some time now for its resolution.

In fact, our economists have already placed a price tag to the cost of our traf-fic mess: P2.4 billion daily, which would escalate to P6 billion by 2030 if left unre-solved.

But PNoy has refused—and still refuses—to anoint a traf-fic czar. Instead, he had opted to merely appoint his buddy cabinet officials to an inter-agency traffic coordinating committee. Perhaps, he is still gathering the guts to declare

himself the traffic czar.Meantime, as if he has

mastered traffic management 101, PNoy simple-mindedly called the Highway Patrol Group to take control of Edsa and replace Metro Manila Development Authority’s un-dertrained traffic enforcers.

PNoy thus made it appear that enforcement is the main traffic solution while under-estimating the roles that edu-cation and engineering play in the traffic solution.

Much of reporting the problems and educating the public are nonetheless be-ing performed by our media networks, but the engineer-ing component can only be delivered by his government.

But where have all the HPG personnel been all this time? Have they not been disbanded already?

Three days after HPG’s de-ployment, I have experienced nothing but horrendous traf-fic jams at Edsa’s southern end along President Dios-dado Macapagal Avenue, just a few kilometers before the Cavite coastal road of Trans-portation Secretary Emilio Abaya.

Nobody mans its traffic af-ter 5 p.m., not even Parañaque City policemen. MMDA per-sonnel who used to man the traffic —behaving as if they have been scorned—have elected to disappear mysteri-ously instead of augmenting the HPG personnel.

This early, an HPG “ko-tong” cop had already ex-torted P500 from a naïve friend of mine in lieu of attending a three-day road safety seminar after he un-intentionally ignored a par-tially blocked traffic red light along the old Tramo Road near the airport.

Stopping the culture of wang-wang is hardly the real solution for eliminating the arrogant display of author-ity. Similarly, HPG would barely make a dent in resolv-ing Edsa’s traffic mess.

Only the army and its en-gineering brigade—which a President Digong Duterte would likely deputize—could cut this Gordian knot of a traffic problem.

PENSEES

FR. RANHILIO CALLANGAN

AQUINO

FILIPINOPENSIONER

HORACETEMPLO

Human rights should not take a back

seat to economic and trade

integration.

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

not be guaranteed!  Then, too, a system of reportage and monitoring has proven effective.  It would be useful, for one, to grant the AICHR the power to receive reports and complaints even from individuals, and to be able to refer these to the State

involved.  Coupled with periodic reports on compli-ance by member-states with human rights obligations, as well as noting egregious violations and recording complaints as well as govern-ment response, some benign but no less effective version

of “praising and shaming” may yet prove to be helpful to the cause of an Asean that is exemplarily respectful of the rights of the human person.

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

F R I D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 1 , 2 0 1 5

OPINIONlettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

CHONG ARDIVILLA#FAILOCRACY

VIRTUAL REALITY

TONYLOPEZ

HENRY SY SR. IS ON A ROLLHENRY Sy Sr., 90, remains the undisputed richest Filipino. His wealth is estimated by Forbes magazine at $14.5 bil-lion. My BizNewsAsia maga-zine reckons Tatang Henry’s wealth is $11 billion. He is on a roll, with his businesses ex-panding at an unprecedented pace, thanks to robust con-sumer spending that now ac-counts for 71 percent of the economy which in turn is boosted by $25 billion or P1.15 trillion of annual remittances.

This same P1.15 trillion can pay for twice the total annual payroll of two million gov-ernment personnel. This is a government that disappears after an hour of downpour, like what happened in Metro Manila from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 7. Our govern-ment people are just not worth the money taxpayers pay them. We can fire two-thirds of them and there won’t be any differ-ence. Government is absent nearly all the time in our lives, anyway, except when it comes to collecting taxes, 40 percent of which is routinely stolen.

Per BizNewsAsia, the bil-lionaire Filipinos are: 1. Henry Sy $11 billion; 2. John Gokon-gwei Jr. $7.4 billion; 3. Iñigo Zobel $6 billion; 4. Ramon S. Ang $5 billion; 5. Jon Ramon Aboitiz family $4.5 billion; 6. Lucio Tan $4.4 billion; 7. Enrique Razon $3.9 billion;

8. George Ty $3.2 billion; 9. Andrew Tan $2.7 billion; 10. Jaime Zobel de Ayala family $2.5 billion;

11. Tony Tan Caktiong $2.5 billion; 12. David Consunji $2.1 billion; 13. Lucio Co $1.3 billion; 14. Alfredo Yao $1.06 billion; 15. Oscar Lopez $1 bil-lion; 16. Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. $1 billion; and 17. Manuel Villar $1 billion.

Henry Sy’s $11-billion wealth is based on the market capital-ization of his holding company where he is chair emeritus, SM Investments Corp.—P710.7 bil-lion. He owns about 67 percent of that, P476.2 billion or $10.6 billion. The stock price hit a high P974 a share on April 10, this year and has lost only 10 percent in value.

Tatang Henry is the Phil-ippines’ biggest retailer (by end-2015, he would have 55 malls in the Philippines and six in China with an estimat-ed combined gross floor area of 8.3 million square meters), the biggest banker (BDO and China Bank which, com-bined, have P2.34 trillion as-sets or 23 percent of the total resources of the commercial banking system, P1.9 trillion or 23.5 percent of the system; and loans of P1.43 trillion or 26.5 percent of the system); the most prolific and prof-itable condo developer (30 projects plus six expansion

this year), and the leading mall developer.

BDO financed Lucio Tan’s $1-billion buyback of 49 per-cent of Philippine Airlines in 2014. If Kapitan defaults on this loan, Henry Sy can end up own-ing not just PAL but also the crown jewels of LT’s businesses.

Sy opened the first Shoe-mart store in 1958. The group is now in five businesses—shopping malls, retail, bank-ing, real estate, tourism, hotel and conventions.

About 73 percent of revenue comes from retail, 23 percent from property, and 4 percent from banks. On net income basis, banks are the biggest moneymaker, 41 percent, fol-lowed closely by property, 38 percent, and retail, 21 percent.

Sy Sr. seems to have worked out his succession. Eldest child and daughter Teresita Sy-Coson, 64, is chair of flag-ship BDO bank and vice chair of the holding company SMIC. Eldest son Henry Jr., 61, han-dles real estate and is chair of China Bank and of SM Prime, vice chair of SMIC, and presi-dent of National Grid Corp. The other siblings each head an operating unit.

The group is on a roll. Prof-its in 2014 amounted to P28.4 billion, up from P27.5 billion in 2013.

First half profit so far is P13.5 billion, up 9.6 percent.

At this growth rate, net in-come could reach a record P31 billion on revenues of P278 billion for the whole of 2015.

As of June 30, 2015, Sy’s SM Retail had 289 stores na-tionwide, namely: 51 SM Stores, 41 SM Supermarkets, 127 SaveMore stores, 43 SM Hypermarkets and 27 Wal-terMart stores.

For the rest of 2015, SM Prime will open four new malls, located in SM Seaside City, Cebu; Sangandaan, Calo-ocan; and Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija in the Philippines and Zibo in China, and complete the expansion of SM City Il-oilo and SM City Lipa.

SM Megacenter Cabanatu-an in Nueva Ecija was also re-launched last April 2015. By yearend, SM Prime will have 55 malls in the Philippines and six in China with an estimated combined gross floor area of 8.3 million square meters.

For 2015, SMDC plans to launch at least five new condo-miniums consisting of about 12,000–15,000 units in the cit-ies of Taguig, Quezon, Man-daluyong, Tagaytay, Las Piñas, Parañaque, and Pasay at the Mall of Asia Complex.

The 347-room Conrad Ho-tel Manila in the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay and Park Inn by Radison Clark in Pam-panga are expected to open in the last quarter of 2015. At

end-2014, SM had four hotels and four convention centers.

For the rest of 2015, the re-tail group will be opening two SM Stores, three SM Super-markets, 10 SaveMore, one SM Hypermarket and five Wal-terMart stores.

The group is aggressively ex-panding into resorts and mining as well as power distribution.

****Speaking of banks, Filipino

expats should demand from their banks to lower the fee they charge for handling re-mittances to the Philippines. Commercial banks charge among the most extortionate fees on remittances, from 10 percent to 12 percent, or about $20 for every $200, the average amount per remittance. The fee should only be 5 percent or $10 for every $200 remittance, according to the World Bank..

The World Bank is forcing all remitting countries in the world to lower their remit-tance fee—to about 5 percent of the amount remitted. The average cost of sending mon-ey to Southeast Asia is 7.92 percent. The average to send money to China 10.49 percent, India 5.97 percent and to Mex-ico 4.48 percent. China, India, Mexico and the Philippines are the world’s largest recipi-ents of remittances.

biznewsasia@gmail.com

A11

The end..From A8

standing above them, with no obligation to submit to collec-tive wisdom.

And when the time came for her to endorse a successor, she repudiated her own party’s se-lection process and chose a can-didate independently. In doing so, she put personalities above party politics, pushing our elec-toral democracy further down

the road of personality-orient-ed elections.

Her son Noynoy, despite his personal preference for par-tisanship, did not assume the presidency on the back of strong party-based politics, either. He was a sentimental candidate chosen for the most sentimental reasons: the death of his mother.

As the owner of the Aquino brand, he overran the Liberal Party and virtually forced its

candidate to step down. He won the votes not the basis of any definable personal achievement but on the reflected popularity of his deceased parents.

As President, Noynoy lorded it over his own party, insisting on his right of personal en-dorsement instead of an inclu-sive party selection process. His anointing of Mar Roxas reflects the dangers of exclusionary leadership when the political

party system is weak.Poe, in the same manner, ben-

efits from the name recall and branding of her late father. The strength of that branding sur-prised everybody when she topped the 2013 senatorial contest.

The same power now pro-pels her to defy the party sys-tem and seek the highest office in the land without having to work within the framework of party politics. (Strong per-

sonal branding, by the way, is the same dynamic driving the Duterte phenomenon.)

A weak party system, such as the one that characterized the Weimar Republic in Germany after World War I, carries the risk of electing irresponsible political adventurers who foist populist agendas on the people and rule without predictability. Adolf Hitler was that infamous adventurer.

A12sports@thestandard.com.ph

FR I DAY: SEPT EMB ER 1 1 , 2 0 1 5

SPORTS

GruelingsemifinalV-Leagueduels seenATENEO, National University, Far Eastern University and University of Santo Tomas brace for a back-breaking weekend as they slug it out in back-to-back matches for berths in the finals in the Shakey’s V-League Sea-son 12-Collegiate Conference at The Arena in San Juan City.

The Final Four kicks off tomor-row, with the top seeded Lady Eagles taking on the No. 4 Tigresses at 12:45 p.m. and the No. 2 Lady Bull-dogs facing off with the third ranked Lady Tams at 3 p.m. in matches tipped to go down-to-the-wire.

They switch times on Sunday with the decider, if necessary, set on Sept. 16. The finals, also a best-of-three affair, starts Sept. 20.

Ateneo and NU beat UST and FEU, respective-ly, in the group stages of the mid-season conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s and presented by PLDT Home Ultera. But the top two seeded squads expect the Tigresses and the Lady Tams to be in their best form, ensuring a spirited battle for the cov-eted spots in the finals.

Premium will also be on stamina as the four teams try to endure the rigors of

playing two straight games expected to go down-to-the-wire.

Still, At-eneo and NU remain the favorites to mix it up for the coveted crown in the league backed by Mikasa and Accel owing to their deep rosters with the Lady Eagles boasting of the league’s scoring lead-er Alyssa Valdez, Amy Ahomiro, Jhoanna Mara-guinot, Kim Gequillana, Bea de Leon and setter Gi-zelle Tan.

NU, on the other hand, will rely again on Jaja San-tiago, Myla Pablo, Aiko Urdas, Joy Doromal and skipper Jorelle Singh with coach Roger Gorayeb toughening up the squad by tapping many-time best setter awardee Rubie de Leon.

They, however, will miss the services of Dindin San-tiago, who joined the na-tional team competing in an Asian club tournament in Vietnam.

Top seeds prevail in Cebuana tiltTHE top-seeded players lived up to ex-pectations at the recent Surigao City leg of the 2015 Cebuana Lhuillier Age-Group Tennis Championship series that resumed after a break due to the rainy season.

Hosted by the DPWH Tennis Club and supported by Asiatraders Corp. that pro-vides the official ball Dunlop, the event attracted 90 entries from the host prov-ince and nearby regions.

“This is a continuing commitment on our part to support Philippine tennis by providing provincial players the op-portunity to play competitive tennis to hone their games in a year-round series in different places,” said Cebuana Lhuil-lier President/Chief Executive Officer Jean Henri Lhuillier, himself a tennis player and team manager of the Philippine Da-vis Cup team.

Cagayan de Oro’s Mary Aubrey Calma led the charge by winning both the 18-under and 16-under girls’ age groups. She swept Butuan City’s Angeli Esguerra, 6-0, 6-4, in the 18-under, and beat town-mate Gennifer Lysandra Pagente, 4-6, 6- 3, 10-3 in the 16-under finals.

John Ernest Sonsona and John Chris-topher Sonsona from Tubod, Lanao del Norte, joined her among the winners as John Ernest took the 18-under boys’ title at the expense of CDO’s Matt Steve Pala-san, 6-2, 6-3, while the younger Sonsona went home with the 10-under unisex crown after whipping another Tubod native Kurt Bandolis, 4-1, 4-1.

In a meeting of multi-titlists, Brent Sig-mond Cortes, also representing Tubod, beat local bet Rupert Ohrelle Tortal, 4-6, 7-6, 10-5 for the 12-under boys’ title. The girls’ side had Surigao City’s Nichole Bonilla winning the crown with a 6- 4, 5-7, 11-9 victory over Cabadbaran City’s Yna Monteclaro.

Another local player, Vaughn Spencer Codilla was extended to three sets by John Steven Sonsona before prevailing, 6-4 , 6-7, 14-12, for the 14-under boys’ crown, while Pagente emerged champi-on in the girls’ side, with an easy 6-2, 6-1 win over Surigao del Norte’s Regine Entoc. Perennial champion Jose Maria Pague scored a straight set victory, 7-5, 6-4 over 18-under champion Palasan in the 16-under boys’ finale.

2 BMX champs to explore Manila

FLATLAND BMX champions and Red Bull athletes Jorge “Viki” Gómez from Spain and Matthias Dandois from France are expected to wow Manila fans with their stunts on two wheels.

FLATLAND BMX champions and Red Bull athletes Jorge “Viki” Gómez from Spain and Matthias Dandois from France are slated to welcome biking enthusiasts at the PhilBike Expo 2015 and a series of activations from Sept. 30 to Oct. 5..

Gómez, who turned professional back in 2000 at age 19, is a two-time World Championship Series win-ner who defines flatland biking as a “fight between mind, gravity, and physics combined with movement inertia; a way of surpassing the limits of your imagination.”

Throughout his 15-year career, the Spaniard has gained global recognition by claiming multiple championships at some of the most prestigious Flatland competitions: European X Games, Asia Champi-onship, and the Red Bull Circle of Balance – styled as the sport’s ver-sion of the Superbowl. His partici-pation in competitions and exhibi-

tions has brought him to more than 45 countries in Europe, Asia, and North America.

Born in Paris, France, Dandois has been involved in the sport since 2002. Back then as a 13-year-old, he was first into street riding until he saw another biker practicing f lat-land at his local skate park. Interest piqued, he decided to shift to the new discipline. Six years later, he was declared the best f latlander in the world.

Since then, the Red Bull athlete has added his signature touch to BMX by blurring the lines between street and flatland riding. His attempts to push the boundaries of the sport have been rightly rewarded with titles from some of the best gatherings of international BMX talent: the Dew Tour Ocean City, VANS rebeljam, FISE World Montpellier, Arnette O’Marisquiño III, and BMX World Championships.

The PhilBike Expo opens to trade and media visitors on Oct. 2 and to the public on Oct. 3 and 4 at the SMX Convention Center, Halls 2-4. Aside from gathering favorite cycling brands, the three-day event will also feature several competitions and ac-tivities for beginners and advanced riders alike.

To be judged by Gómez and Dan-dois and sanctioned by the Asian Ex-treme Sports Federation of the Phil-ippines, the winner of the National BMX Freestyle Championships – ad-vanced category will get the chance to represent the country in interna-tional competitions.

Other events include: MANILA FIXED GEAR Harabas Criterium; Mountain Bike Time Trial and Tricks; Pinoy Mt. Biker Rat Race; Fastest Fold; and bike lessons hosted by the National Bicycle Organiza-tion. Cash prizes and special items await contest winners.

PVF grassroots program. Philippine Volleyball Federation Regional Director for Davao D’Artagnan Yambao receives volleyball equipment and balls from PVF President Edgardo “Tito Boy” Cantada for PVF’s grassroots program in Davao provinces. Witnessing the turn-over are PVF Deputy Secretsry General Gerard Cantada, PVF VP for Mindanao Dr. Arnel Hajan, PVF VP for Visayas Roger Banzuela, PVF Secretary General Karl Chan and PVF Manag-ing Director Otie Camangian. The grassroots program is supported by Tanduay.

Games tomorrow(Semifinals)

12:45 p.m. – Ateneo vs UST3 p.m. – NU vs FEU

A13sports@thestandard.com.ph

FR I DAY: SEPT EMB ER 1 1 , 2 0 1 5

SPORTS

More PSC support for athletes sought

Tough task awaitsPetron volley betsHOPES are high as reigning Philippine Superliga Grand Prix champion Petron leaves today to rep-resent the country in the 16th AVC Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship at the Ha Nam Competition Hall in Phu Ly, Vietnam starting this weekend.

Fresh from a flawless campaign in the recent PSL All-Filipino Conference, the Blaze Spikers will bring their A-game to the international stage as they battle the finest club teams in Asia in this top-flight tourney that offers a ticket to the FIVB World Women’s Club Volleyball Championship next year.

But the Blaze Spikers are expected to have an up-hill battle early in the classification stage as they are stacked in Group B together with Islamic Azad University of Iran, 4.25 Sports Club of North Ko-rea, Zhejiang of China and powerhouse Hisamitsu Seiyaku Springs of Japan -- the two-time champion which will bring back lefty spiker Miyu Nagaoka, Risa Shinabe and Nana Iwasaka.

Group A, meanwhile, consists of Thong Tin Lienvietpostbank of the host country, Taiwan Power of Chinese Taipei, Zhetyssu of Kazakhstan and Southeast Asian favorite Bangkok Glass with Pleumjit Thinkaow, Wilavan Apinyapong, Jara-sporn Bandasak and rising star Pornpon Guedpard setting the plays.

“It’s going to be a tough battle from start to fin-ish,” said Petron coach George Pascua, who is no longer a stranger in big-time competitions after serving as a national player before becoming one of the assistant coaches in the 23rd Southeast Asian Games in Manila in 2005.Spain’s Nikola Mirotic reaches for a long pass during the EuroBasket group B match Spain vs Italy in Berlin. AFP

Big wave surfer Dollar thankful to be aliveLOS ANGELES—World record-holding big wave surfer Shawn Dollar was in hospital on Wednesday with a broken neck af-ter an accident surfing in California, his management company said.

In a statement posted on the Titans of Mavericks surfing con-test’s Facebook page, Dollar was said to be in stable condition af-ter breaking his neck in four places and suffering a concussion while surfing in large waves off of California’s central coast.

“I’m so thankful I’m alive and present today,” Dollar said in the statement. “Being surrounded by my loved ones through this time has been paramount for me.”

Dollar, 34, also thanked the fellow surfers who came to his aid “in my scariest and darkest hour”.

“I’m thankful to learn that even with these severe injuries I will make a full recovery,” he said.

According to the statement, Dollar was surfing on Monday when “a strong south swell reportedly produced strong waves with unfavorable mixed conditions”.

Dollar was put “in a critical scenario that caused him to act ac-cordingly to protect himself,” the statement said.

The San Jose Mercury News reported that Dollar struck his head on a rock.

Dollar was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records after dropping in on a 61-foot (19-metre) wave at the Cortes Bank, 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of San Diego, on December 21, 2012. AFP

ACTION in the Palawan Pawn-shop-Palawan Express Pera Padala regional age group presented by Technifibre resumes today with the leading juniors players and a host of upcoming stars from Mindanao slugging it out for top honors in various divisions at the Gen. San-tos City Tennis Club in Gen. Santos City.

Local aces Klyde Lagarde and Sharyl delos Santos banner the field in the Group 3 tournament sanc-tioned by the Philippine Tennis Association that drew players from Davao, Malita, Kidapawan, Koro-nadal, M’Lang, Sultan Kudarat, Tacurong, Digos, Pikit and Glan.

The four-day event sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop caps the two-week Tunafest tennis series that also saw Johnny Arcilla redeem himself from a failed bid in the Olivarez Open with a victory in the men’s side and Khim Iglupas com-pleting back-to-back title romps in the women’s play.

The young turks, however, take center stage this week with Nicole Bautista from Malita and Davao’s Rachel Velez heading the cast in the premier girls’ section along with Minette Bentillo from Sultan Kuda-rat and Delos Santos.

Jarel Edangga and BG Chatto of Glan, on the other hand, lead the boys’ 18-U cast that also includes Kenneth Belima and Koronadal’s LJ Mangudadatu while Janus Ringia of Koronadal, Vince Tugade, Cyrin Martinez and Ramon Bentillo are tipped to crowd for the 16-U dia-dem.

SENATOR Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero yesterday said nearly two decades of fruitless campaigns in the Olympics should alarm sports leaders and urged the Philippine Sports Commission to grant more support to sports associations, which could present viable programs that could end the country’s hunt for its very first Olympic gold medal.

“At the very least, govern-ment should be at the fore-front of this campaign and reward NSAs (national sports associations) which qualify their athletes in the Olympics through more financial sup-port from the PSC,” Escudero said. “This will give more op-portunities to the NSAs to ex-pose their athletes to more in-ternational competitions and training.”

Escudero said government support to NSAs should be based on their performance.

Weak-performing NSAs, Es-cudero said, should not expect

equal government support compared with NSAs which could send athletes to the Olympics and win medals in the Asian and Southeast Asian Games.

“Sports’ landscape has changed through the years. We have seen the rise of coun-tries we used to beat in the SEA Games and we are fighting hard just to be able to make it in the middle pack,” Escudero said.

“So far, we only have one ath-lete qualified to play in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. But trackster Eric Cray needed to quit his

job in the US and had sought private support just to be able to continue with his Olympic dream. Government, in my opinion, should take more of the burden in our Olympians’ quests.”

Escudero also noted BMX rider Daniel Caluag’s concern about his bid and training for a Rio slot. Caluag, sole gold medal winner for the Phil-ippines in last year’s Asian Games in Incheon, Korea, also expressed the need to take a break from his job as a nurse to concentrate on his Olympic drive.

The Philippines last won an Olympic medal in 1996 in Atlanta courtesy of Mansueto Velasco in boxing. Mansueto’s brother Rhoel, also a boxer, won a bronze medal before him in 1992 in Barcelona.

No Filipino athlete has won a medal in the Summer Games after Atlanta.

Escudero also noted the dwindling number of Filipino

athletes who qualify for the Olympics.

The Philippines has so far collected two silver med-als and seven bronze medals since the country first took part in the Olympics in 1924 in Paris.

The biggest team the Philip-pines had sent to the Summer Games was in 1972 in Munich with 53 athletes.

The last time the Philippines sent a big team to the Olympics was in 1992 in Barcelona with 26 athletes and in 2000 in Syd-ney.

The Philippines only had 16 athletes in Athens (2004), 15 in Beijing (2008) and 11 in Lon-don (2012).

Other NSAs are still work-ing to send their athletes to the 2016 Games by pitting them in international Olympic quali-fiers, including weightlifting, cycling, basketball, fencing, equestrian, golf, gymnastics, tennis, triathlon, judo, canoe-ing, shooting and boxing.

Tunafest jrs’netfest starts

A14F R I D AY : S E P T E M B E R 1 1 , 2 0 1 5

SPORTSsports@thestandard.com.ph

Federer fights Wawrinka in semisNEW YORK—Five-time champion Roger Federer will prepare for his US Open semi-final clash with close friend Stan Wawrinka by sleeping as much as possible.

The 34-year-old Swiss believes napping, as well as the routine of practice and gym work, is just as crucial as he enters his 10th New York semi-final and 20th career clash against his compatriot.

He is so fond of sleep that Federer will look to get in as much as 10 hours a day before Friday’s semi-final, where the winner will face either world number one Novak Djokovic or defend-ing champion Marin Cilic in Sunday’s championship match.

“Sleeping has become quite important,” said Feder-er, the father of two sets of twins.

“I make sure I sleep enough, as well. Like when I went to bed after the John Isner match (in the fourth round) it got quite late and I couldn’t sleep quite as much as I wanted to.

“Because I believe it’s re-ally the sleep that gives you energy again down the road. That’s why the next two days are very important for me in terms of sleeping.”

If the approach for such a high-stakes clash seems risky, then Federer is show-ing no signs of nerves as he moves two wins from an 18th major and his first in more than three years.

He has reached the semi-finals without dropping a

set and has been broken just twice.

On Wednesday, he blitzed French 12th seed Richard Gasquet in just 87 minutes, firing 50 winners, 16 aces and facing just a single break point.

Furthermore, he has a 16-3 record against Wawrinka.

He may have lost their most recent clash in the French Open quarter-finals as Wawrinka swept to the title, but Federer’s three de-feats have all come on clay.

“I think a lot comes through practice for Stan, because he’s worked very hard throughout his career,” said Federer in praise of his Davis Cup winning teammate.

“It took him a while to fig-ure out exactly what his pos-sibilities were. I don’t think he was a guy who always had enough confidence. I al-ways thought he was a better

player than he actually was, but somehow something was holding him back maybe.

“I think only once when he really started to break through and he had some big wins.”

Wawrinka believes he is now the equal of Federer, something he did not quite believe before he won his first major at the 2014 Aus-tralian Open.

“I think now we are both nervous when we enter the court. Before it was only me. I was nervous because I knew I wasn’t at his level,” he said.

“Now I think we can see that he was also nervous eve-ry time we play each other the past few years. That’s a big difference.”

Wawrinka will be playing in his second semi-final after also making the last four in 2013.

Djokovic takes a 13-0 re-

cord over Cilic into his semi-final as he attempts to make the final for the fifth time in six years and sixth in total.

In a rivalry stretching back seven years, the two men have met four times at the Grand Slams but just once at the US Open when Djokovic won in four sets in 2008.

The Serb also swept past the Croatian in straight sets in the Wimbledon quarter-finals this year on his way to a third All England Club title.

Djokovic had cruised through his first three rounds but then dropped a set apiece to Spanish rivals Roberto Bautista Agut and Feliciano Lopez.

Victory over serve-and-volleyer Lopez was his 55th match win in New York.

But despite his strangle-hold over Cilic, the top seed insists that his opponent, on a 12-match win streak at

the tournament, remains the dangerman especially with a serve which has yielded 111 aces.

“That serve gets him out of trouble. I know him very well. I have played with him many, many times. We are great friends. Great guy,” said the Serb.

Cilic has endured a roll-ercoaster ride in his title de-fence as he looks to become the first back-to-back cham-pion since Federer in 2008.

His five-set wins over Mikhail Kukushkin in the third round and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter-finals are two of the three longest matches at the tournament this year.

His 4hr 11min battle with Kukushkin was just seven minutes short of the time it took Kevin Anderson to knock out third seed and 2012 champion Andy Mur-ray in the round of 16. AFP

Pacman to getMRI on shoulder

Romeo, Cabagnot to be honored by PBA scribesTERRENCE Romeo’s offensive explosion and Alex Cabagnot’s return to his old deadly form will be aptly recognized in the annual PBA Press Corps Awards Night on Sept. 16 at the Century Park Hotel.

Romeo is going to be honored as the Scoring Champion, while Cabagnot got the nod of league scribes as recipient of the Wil-liam ‘Bogs’ Adornado Comeback Player of the Year award.

The two make up the list of awardees to be feted on this spe-

cial night for their memorable performance in the season just past.

Highlight of the affair which starts at 7 p.m. is the bestowing of the Virgilio ‘Baby’ Dalupan Coach of the Year and the Dan-ny Floro Executive of the Year awards.

Romeo, the prolific Globalport combo guard, led all players in scoring last sea-son with a 19.7-point aver-age per game to succeed Jason Castro of Talk ‘ N Text as the

league’s new scoring leader.The charismatic Gilas Pilipinas

stalwart was the top local scorers in both the Commissioner’s Cup (20.8 ppg) and Governors’ Cup (22.2 ppg), respectively.

Cabagnot, meanwhile, re-gained back his fiery form with the Beermen following his trade from Globalport midway in the All-Filipino Cup.

The veteran Fil-Am guard be-came a vital piece in the Beermen winning two of the three confer-ence titles at stake, including the

Philippine Cup.Earlier named awardees in the

two-hour celebration tradition-ally held by the PBAPC since 1993 were Rain or Shine’s Paul Lee and members of the All-Rookie team.

Lee is the recipient of the PBAPC-Accel Order of Merit Award, while Pringle leads the five-man All-Rookie squad also composed of Alaska’s Chris Ban-chero, Jake Pascual of Barako Bull, Matt Ganuelas Rosser of Talk ‘N Text and Lee’s Rain or

Shine teammate Jericho Cruz.The rest of the awards to be

given are Defensive Player of the Year and Mr. Quality Minutes. (Sixth Man Award).

League officials, led by presi-dent and Chief Executive Officer Chito Salud and commissioner Chito Narvasa, along with mem-bers of the PBA Board, headed by chairman Robert Non, are ex-pected to join the PBAPC under president Barry Pascua of Ban-dera during the two-hour long celebration.

Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland returns the ball to Kevin Anderson of South Africa during their 2015 US Open Men’s singles quarterfinals match at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. Wawrinka won 6-4, 6-4, 6-0. AFP

By Ronnie Nathanielsz

EIGHT-DIVISION world champion Manny Pacquiao will have an MRI to check on his right shoulder fol-lowing surgery to repair a tear in his rotator cuff last May 7, after he injured it in his May 2 Fight of the Cen-tury against Floyd May-weather Jr.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told The Standard/boxing mirror.com that the MRI results would be sent to

Kerland Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic’s Dr. Neal ElAt-

trache, who under-took the surgery on Pacquiao, to make sure that

“the shoulder is not bothering Manny any-

more.”Depend-

i n g on the doc-tor’s assessment, Pacquiao is likely to return to the ring early next year.

Arum said Pacquiao will have two or three more

fights before he hangs up his gloves.

Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz told The Standard Pacquiao’s shoulder was “progressing very well.”

“He would probably fight in late February or early March,” said Koncz, who was looking at World Box-ing Council welterweight Silver champion Amir Khan and International Boxing Federation cham-pion Kell Brook as possible opponents.

Koncz spoke about a Khan fight, which they had dis-cussed in a trip to London early this year.

“Khan doesn’t have a punch, but he grabs and holds so I don’t like it very much,” said Koncz, who added he tried to make a fight with Danny Gar-cia even before Pacquiao fought Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios, but that there was a problem with Garcia’s management.

“And now that he’s being handled by Al Haymon, it can’t be,” said Koncz.

A15F R I D AY : S E P T E M B E R 1 1 , 2 0 1 5

sports@thestandard.com.ph

Clarkson hopeful he canplay for Gilas 5 someday

SPORTS

CHANCES are, Filipino basketba l l fans will get

to witness during the MVP Cup bas-ketball tournament, the quality of our national team that will compete in the upcoming FIBA Asia championship later this month in China.

Tonight, the international pocket tourna-ment gets going with the intention of giving the Gilas Pilipinas squad a few more actual contests that will fine-tune their game be-fore they proceed to China on Sept. 20.

Joining the tournament are the national teams of Chinese Taipei and New Zealand together with a depleted Talk ‘N Text.

The Texters will be playing in the event without superstars Ranidel De Ocampo, Matt Ganuelas-Rosser and Jayson Castro, who were all named to the Gilas’ final line-up.

However, coach Jong Uichico will have the opportunity to gauge the potentials of their top two rookie picks Moala Tautuaa and Troy Rosario, as both will get to play for the Texters when they face Gilas tonight.

Whatever the format will be, Baldwin assured they will be at their best in all three games.

“Estonia really was a warm-up for us, while the Jones Cup was a real learning experience. And now we want to put some of that learning into effect in the MVP Cup,” said Baldwin “We’re playing in front of the home fans and we have no intention of going out there with any motives other than to win in front of our home fans.”

In preparing for FIBA, Gilas Pilipinas campaigned in a pocket tournament in Estonia, where they ended up winless in three games in their European joust.

Last week, Baldwin and his troops settled for the silver in the 37th William Jones Cup won by our Asian opponent Iran.

“The Jones Cup we were purely focused on the selection of the team getting better as a team and as coaching staff gathering all the information that we could in terms of what we need to do better in games,” said Baldwin.

In tonight’s MVP Cup, Baldwin will fi-nally utilize a team that has been finalized and is expected to lessen any experiment on their potential combinations on the floor.

Baldwin, meanwhile, admits that strik-ing out names from his training pool was the most excruciating part of this process.

“One of the responsibilities you’re given as head coach is, in ball-faced term, is to erase the dreams of certain players. They dream about playing for Gilas. They dream about being in the team and liter-ally you take that away from them and I do that with a heavy heart,” said Baldwin.

Among the members of the training pool, who failed to make the cut were in-coming PBA rookie Troy Rosario, Mahi-ndra’s Aldrech Ramos and Gilas veterans Jimmy Alapag and Gary David.

“You have to be professional when you do it but it’s a very personal aspect of the job. But it’s a multi-faceted decision. It’s not just one thing that gets a player se-lected or gets a player left out other than in Jimmy’s case. It was an injury that got him left out,” said Baldwin.

After facing Talk ‘N Text tonight, Gilas will meet New Zealand tomorrow before winding up their campaign against the Taiwanese on Sunday.

P0.0 M+

P0.0 M+

6/49 00-00-00-00-00-00

6/42 00-00-00-00-00-00

6 DIGITS 00-00-00-00-00-00

3 DIGITS 00-00-00

P0.0 M+P0.0 M+P0.0 6/42 00-00-00-00-00-00

3 00-00-00

6 DIGITS 00-00-00-00-00-00

2 EZ2 00-00

LOTTO RESULTSM+M+

All out in MVP Cup

By Jeric Lopez

THOUGH Jordan Clarkson’s name wasn’t included in the 12-man Smart Gilas Pilipinas’ line-up for the upcoming 2015 FIBA-Asia Championship and he still doesn’t have clearance from FIBA, the Samahang Bas-ketball ng Pilipinas is still optimistic that the Los Angeles Lakers’ guard will don the Philippine jersey one day.

According to the SBP, it tried its best to have Clarkson included in the FIBA-Asia line-up, but cir-cumstances didn’t permit the ris-ing Laker guard to be eligible for the coming big tournament.

Hence, the SBP didn’t take any

risks and went on with 12 eligible players to carry the fight for the country in the said tournament.

“Though the doors on the 2015 FIBA Asia meet have been closed, the future of the national team pro-gram is encouraging with Clarkson’s

are, Filipino DENNIS PRINCIPE

basketba l l fans will get

to witness during the MVP Cup bas-

SPORTS CHAT

desire to represent flag and country,’’ said the SBP in an official statement.

Obviously, including Clarkson’s name in the final list and opening up a possibility of competing with only 11 players were risks the SBP didn’t want to take.

However, the hope will always be there for Clarkson to finally be able to suit up for the Philippines in the near future.

“The interest and passion of Jor-dan Clarkson himself, with the full support of his family, to don the Gilas jersey serves as a reason for SBP to be hopeful,” the SBP added.

For now, SBP director Sonny Barrios and his staff will approach Clarkson’s availability for the coun-

try slowly but surely since there will be no more deadline to beat.

The deadline for submission of the final roster for the FIBA-Asia tilt was last Tuesday and up until that point, no clearance was avail-able from FIBA.

Also, while the Los Angeles Lak-ers permitted Clarkson to play for the Philippines, it was with a limit as the elite franchise needs all of its play-ers starting Sept. 28 onwards for the build-up for the coming NBA season.

The FIBA-Asia Championship is scheduled on Sept. 23 until Oct. 3, meaning Clarkson, even if he was cleared by FIBA, will only be able to participate in three games of the team.

Sizzling start propels Gialon to 4-shot leadZANIEBOY Gialon siz-zled with a three-birdie binge start and went on to fire a five-under 67 and storm to a four-stroke clubhouse lead over an equally surging Miguel Tabuena in the rain-sus-pended second round of the P3.5 million ICTSI Open Championship at Wack Wack’s East layout

in Mandaluyong City.Threat of lightning in

driving rains forced the organizing Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. to sus-pend play at 4:30 p.m., leaving nine flights strand-ed, including one that fea-tured Cassius Casas, who had a four-under card with three holes to play for a running one-over total.

But whatever the out-come of the completion of the round early today, Gi-alon is safely ahead of the pack at 139, four ahead of Tabuena, who rallied with a 69 for a 143, with erst-while leader Tony Lascuña dropping to third with a one-over card for an even-par total after 15 holes.

Foiled in his bid the

first time out, Gialon sustained his solid start this time as he regained his putting touch, add-ing three more birdies, including back-to-back from No. 13, to negate a lone bogey mishap on the 11th and seize control of the elite field.

“I also had six birdies in the first round but strug-

gled with my putting. It’s a good thing that my stroke clicked today (yesterday),” said Gialon, who also bird-ied the first two holes at the back in the first round but faltered with four bo-geys and a double-bogey against four more bird-ies and missed joining Tony Lascuña at the helm Wednesday.

Arum...From A16

had been contracted to oversee drug testing for the Mayweath-er-Pacquiao fight, went to Mayweather’s Las Vegas home to conduct a random unan-nounced drug test.

“The collection agents found evidence of an IV being admin-istered to Mayweather. Bob Ben-nett, the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commis-

sion, which had jurisdiction over the fight, says that USADA did not tell the commission whether the IV was actually being ad-ministered when the agents ar-rived. USADA did later advise the NSAC that Mayweather’s medical team told its agents that the IV was administered to ad-dress concerns related to dehy-dration.

Mayweather’s medical team also told the collection agents that the IV consisted of two sep-arate mixes. The first was a mix-

ture of 250 milliliters of saline and multi-vitamins. The second was a 500-milliliter mixture of saline and Vitamin C. Seven hundred and fifty milliliters equals 25.361 ounces, an amount equal to roughly 16 percent of the blood normally present in an average adult male.

“The mixes themselves are not prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which sets the standards that USADA purports to follow. However, their intravenous ad-

ministration is prohibited by WADA.

“Some 18 days after the fight, USADA gave Mayweather a ret-roactive therapeutic use exemp-tion for a procedure that is on the WADA “Prohibited Substances and Methods List.” And because of a loophole in its drug-testing contract, USADA wasn’t obli-gated to notify the Nevada State Athletic Commission or Pacqui-ao camp regarding Mayweath-er’s IV until after the retroactive TUE was granted.”

Zanieboy Gialon watches his putt roll on No. 13

F R I D AY : S E P T E M B E R 1 1 , 2 0 1 5

A16RIERA U. MALL ARI

E D I T O R

sports@thestandard.com.ph

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

By Ronnie Nathanielsz

THE intravenous administration of rehydration substances into Floyd Mayweather Jr. a� er the May 1 weigh-in for his May 2 Fight of the Century against eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao, which the World Anti Doping Agency prohibits, was made known to Top Rank promoter Bob Arum only 18 days a� er it was administered.

TURN TO A14

Federervs Stanin semis

Arum told The Standard./boxingmirror.com that the violation of accepted WADA protocol concerned him very much and branded it “an outrage.”

“It’s disgraceful to allow the

guy (Mayweather) to do what he did and then 20 days after the fight, decree that what you (Mayweather) did was wrong, but we are giving you the ex-ception,” said Arum of the the association, which at the same

Arum outraged by Floyd’s violation of doping rules

time, refused to give Pacquiao permission to get treatment for his aching right shoulder hours before the fight.

“Legally, there is nothing about it,” Arum noted. “Some-times, there are things for which there is no legal redress for and this is one of those situ-ations. I’ve been outraged since I found out about this.”

Asked whether he would raise the issue of the May-weather violation with the Ne-vada State Athletic Commis-sion, Arum replied: “Are you kidding? Are you kidding?”

This meant it was use-less raising the issue with the NSAC.

“I have kept my mouth shut

because what am I supposed to do, shoot out my mouth for what purpose?”Arum said.

In a lengthy and well-docu-mented article, multi awarded author Thomas Hauser ex-posed the irregularities con-doned by the NSAC.

In an article on SB Nation, he reported: “Shortly after 3 p.m. on Friday, May 1, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pac-quiao weighed in for their his-toric encounter that would be contested the following night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Later on Friday afternoon, collection agents for the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which

By Peter Atencio

THE Letran Knights struggled with their defense, but got their bearings back on track in the final pe-riod as they whipped the College of St. Benilde Blazers, 79-69, yester-day at the Arena in San Juan.

Mark Cruz banged in a game-high 20 points to lead the Knights to their 11th win in 13 games in the 91st National Collegiate Ath-letic Association men’s basketball tournament.

His triple that capped a 7-0 run in the last 4:52 allowed the Knights to gain some distance and eventually move ahead in the lead.

Their trapping defense in the remain-ing time later had the Knights grabbing a 10-point edge in the final 2:15, off Cruz’s two charities, 77-67.

“Ang hirap manalo ngayon. We started flat on defense. Kaya ganu’n ang resulta nu’ng first three quarters. We were good on offense. Good thing in the fourth quarter, naka-recov-er kami,” said Letran coach Aldin Ayo.

John Domingo and Jonathan Grey had 14 points apiece for the Blazers, who now have a 3-10 record.

They joined hands for 14 points as the Blazers surprised the Knights by taking a 22-13 spread in the first 10 minutes, before Benilde took the first half, 50-48.

The setback put the Blazers out of con-tention for the Final Four semifinals for the 13th straight season.

The Blazers grabbed back the lead in the third period on baskets from Gray and Raphael Nayve in the last two minutes, 55-58.

Knightswhip Blazersfor 11th win

TURN TO A15

Clarksonhopeful he can play for PH someday

SPORTS

Floyd Mayweather Jr. (left) faces off with Andre Berto during a press conference at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Mayweather will defend his WBC/WBA welterweight titles against Andre Berto on Sept. 12 at the MGM Grand. AFP

Continued on A15

Games Today (The Arena in San Juan)8 a.m. JRU vs EAC-ICA(jrs)10 a.m. Mapua vs LPU(jrs)

12 a.m. JRU vs EAC (srs)2 p.m. Mapua vs LPU (srs)

4 p.m. Arellano vs San Sebastian (srs)6 p.m. Arellano vs San Sebastian (jrs)

RODERICK T. DELA CRUZASSISTANT EDITOR B1

FRIDAY: SEPTEMBER 11, 2015

business@thestandard.com.phextrastory2000@gmail.com

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

RAY S. EÑANOEDITOR

Exports fell 1.8%to $5.32b in July

BUSINESS

Bangko Sentral ng PilipinasThursday, September 10, 2015

Foreign exchange rateCurrency Unit US Dollar PesoUnited States Dollar 1.000000 46.8150

Japan Yen 0.008302 0.3887

UK Pound 1.537300 71.9687

Hong Kong Dollar 0.129017 6.0399

Switzerland Franc 1.025431 48.0056

Canada Dollar 0.755458 35.3668

Singapore Dollar 0.705916 33.0475

Australia Dollar 0.703284 32.9242

Bahrain Dinar 2.657666 124.4186

Saudi Arabia Rial 0.266795 12.4900

Brunei Dollar 0.703433 32.9312

Indonesia Rupiah 0.000070 0.0033

Thailand Baht 0.027739 1.2986

UAE Dirham 0.272301 12.7478

Euro Euro 1.120500 52.4562

Korea Won 0.000843 0.0395

China Yuan 0.156794 7.3403

India Rupee 0.015049 0.7045

Malaysia Ringgit 0.231321 10.8293

New Zealand Dollar 0.641519 30.0327

Taiwan Dollar 0.030806 1.4422 Source: PDS Bridge

6,893.5448.93

Closing September 10, 2015PSe comPoSite index

43.50

44.60

45.40

46.20

47.00

HIGH P46.850 LOW P46.970 AVERAGE P46.926

Closing SEPTEMBER 10, 2015PeSo-dollar rate

VOLUME 483.300M

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

oilPriceS today

P435.00-P640.00LPG/11-kg tank

P36.00-P43.95Unleaded Gasoline

P25.05-P28.40Diesel

P34.55-P39.15Kerosene

P20.75-P21.75Auto LPG

todayP25.05-P28.40

P34.55-P39.15

P20.75-P21.75

PP36.00-P43.95

8000

7700

7400

7100

6800

6500

P46.850CLOSE

Apec finance chiefs wary of growth risks

Apec roadmap. Finance ministers and heads of delegations from member economies of the Asia-Pacifi c Economic Cooperation, led by Philippines’ Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima (front row, center), gather at Shangri-La Hotel in Mactan, Cebu on Sept. 10 to 11. The delegates conduct fi nal deliberations on the Cebu Action Plan to formally launch it as a non-binding development roadmap that may guide Apec member economies in their policy making over the medium to long term.

By Gabrielle H. Binaday

EXPORTS fell for the fourth straight month in July, as the double-digit drop in agriculture and mineral products o� set the rebound in electronic shipments, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show.

� e PSA said merchandise ex-ports declined 1.8 percent to $5.32 billion in July from $5.42 billion a year ago. “� e lower value of out-ward shipments can be traced to reduced exports of total agro-based products and mineral products, but was moderated by sustained strong performances recorded from man-ufactured goods, most notably elec-tronics and petroleum,” said Eco-nomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan.

Total shipments in the � rst seven months also contracted 4.1 percent to $34.214 billion from $35.659 billion in the same period a year ago.

Data showed that exports of mineral products shrank 47.5 percent in July to $228.7 million while shipments of agro-based items also fell 24.5 percent to $322.23 million. � e PSA record-ed lower shipments of banana, co-conut products, sugar and other agro-based products.

“Although agro-based exports account for only 5 percent of the Philippines’ total exports, its im-plication to the domestic econo-my is signi� cant as the agricultur-al sector hosts a sizeable portion of the country’s work force,” Bali-sacan said.

“Measures to mitigate the im-pact of El Niño remain important in the near-term, which should

include crop and/or work substi-tution programs,” he said.

Exports of electronic products jumped 34.6 percent to $2.81 billion in July, on higher shipments of semi-conductors. Shipments of petroleum products surged 140.7 percent to $78.61 million, as shipments to Ma-laysia, South Korea and India signi� -cantly increased from a year ago.

“Easing commodity prices worldwide could dampen export revenue prospects in the near term, and the outlook for semi-conductor exports remains on the downside. Exports of semi-conductors are expected to slow down in the fourth quarter of the year owing to weak orders from the EU, China and Japan,” Bali-sacan said.

DBS Bank of Singapore said it now expected Philippine exports to contract 2 percent this year, a reversal of the 9-percent expan-sion a year ago.

“We expect full-year export growth to be around -2 percent at best,” DBS said in a report, prior to the release of July exports data.

“While high base e� ects had led us to expect a slowdown in export growth this year, the pace in the year-to-date has exceeded our ex-pectations. � e drag on export growth comes from commodities, including food products,” DBS said.

With Julito G. Rada

By Karl Lester M. Yap

ASIA-PACIFIC Economic Cooperation � nance ministers gathering in the Philippines this week are wary of risks to growth from � nan-cial-market turmoil, underscoring the faltering outlook that has led to economic forecasts being cut by ratings companies and analysts.

“Disruptions in the � nancial markets and weaker long-term growth prospects are key challenges,” Apec � nance ministers meet-ing in Cebu this week said in the dra� of a statement obtained by Bloomberg News.

Growth remains moderate and uneven, while risks remain on the downside “amidst uncertainties and � nancial market volatility,” the ministers said.

� e dra� is subject to change before a � nal statement is released Fri-day, and the version obtained by Bloomberg News shows US suggestions to include commitments to move toward more market-determined ex-change rate systems and exchange rate � exibility to re� ect underlying fundamentals, and avoid persistent exchange rate misalignments.

“We will refrain from competitive devaluations, and resist all forms of protectionism,” the US suggested adding to the dra� .

� e world’s largest economy is also proposing to add to the state-ment that while there is strengthening economic activity in some Apec economies, regional growth falls short of expectations.

It also suggested saying that while monetary policies will continue to support economic activity, “monetary policy alone cannot lead to balanced growth,” the dra� shows.

“In line with the improving economic outlook, monetary policy tightening is more likely in some advanced economies,” the US sug-gested adding in the dra� .

Apec � nance ministers are also set to pledge to move toward more liberalized � nancial services and capital accounts across Apec econo-mies, the dra� shows.

Apec is “committed to enhance our � nancial resilience in the APEC region through the maintenance of su� cient � scal space and building deeper � nancial markets to better absorb economic shocks,” accord-ing to the dra� .

The group is also committed to continue macroeconomic coop-eration including the sharing of experiences in macroprudential policy framework and resilience to external capital flow volatility, it said. Bloomberg

business@thestandard.com.phextrastory2000@gmail.com

BUSINESSFRIDAY: SEPTEMBER 11, 2015

B2

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

The STandard BuSineSS daily STockS review Thursday, sepTember 10, 2015

FINANCIAL7.88 2.5 AG Finance 2.98 3.3 2.93 2.94 -1.34 242,000 75.3 66 Asia United Bank 68.3 68.4 67.8 68.3 0.00 24,360 948,671.00124.4 88.05 Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 94.65 96.95 94.55 96.95 2.43 3,008,520 -18,932,269107 88.1 Bank of PI 85.95 86.00 83.00 84.20 -2.04 1,085,470 -27,989,793.5056.5 45.45 China Bank 42.25 42.9 42 42.5 0.59 286,000 10,573,585.002.49 1.97 BDO Leasing & Fin. INc. 2.17 2.40 2.40 2.40 10.60 59,000 17 12.02 COL Financial 15.6 15.7 15.3 15.6 0.00 8,600 30.45 19.6 Eastwest Bank 20.3 20.3 20 20.15 -0.74 85,500 -241,725.0010.4 6.12 Filipino Fund Inc. 7.32 7.32 7.20 7.21 -1.50 7,300 1.01 0.225 MEDCO Holdings 0.360 0.430 0.370 0.420 16.67 2,930,000 -162,500.00100 78 Metrobank 81.85 81.8 80.7 80.95 -1.10 4,412,780 -23,416,039.0030.5 17.8 PB Bank 14.56 14.82 14.00 14.70 0.96 268,400 -3,192,824.0075 58 Phil Bank of Comm 27.75 27.80 24.25 27.05 -2.52 700 91.5 62 Phil. National Bank 57.10 58.00 57.00 57.15 0.09 28,540 -1,214,933.50137 88.35 Phil. Savings Bank 93.5 93.5 93.5 93.5 0.00 30 361.2 276 PSE Inc. 299.2 302 299 300 0.27 45,690 2,041,112.0057 41 RCBC `A’ 32.1 33 32.15 32.2 0.31 66,000 -1,468,010180 118.2 Security Bank 135 135.1 134.5 135 0.00 901,550 -2,481,304.00124 59 Union Bank 52.00 52.85 52.00 52.00 0.00 38,260

INDUSTRIAL47 35.9 Aboitiz Power Corp. 43.25 43.5 43.15 43.15 -0.23 1,346,600 -7,113,020.001.46 1.01 Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 0.95 0.93 0.92 0.93 -2.11 16,000 2.36 1.86 Alsons Cons. 1.59 1.65 1.58 1.63 2.52 50,000 15.3 7.92 Asiabest Group 9.51 9.51 9.26 9.3 -2.21 600 148 32 C. Azuc De Tarlac 98.00 80.85 80.85 80.85 -17.50 10 20.6 15.32 Century Food 17.02 17.04 16.98 16.98 -0.24 24,300 114,158.0036 10.08 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 26.95 26.95 25.95 26.5 -1.67 437,800 65.8 29.15 Concepcion 41.95 42 41.95 42 0.12 12,100 482,9002.97 1.5 Crown Asia 2.64 2.67 2.55 2.58 -2.27 302,000 12,880.004.14 1.5 Da Vinci Capital 1.25 1.29 1.22 1.28 2.40 161,000 21.5 10.72 Del Monte 10.2 10.2 10.08 10.08 -1.18 25,600 -142,962.0021.6 9.55 DNL Industries Inc. 10.820 11.060 10.82 10.860 0.37 6,178,100 18,658,768.0011.96 9.04 Emperador 8.12 8.15 8.03 8.04 -0.99 1,232,900 9.13 6.02 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 5.51 5.58 5.25 5.25 -4.72 24,281,200 -76,089,853.0011.8 8.86 EEI 7.73 7.82 7.72 7.79 0.78 88,600 -254,625.002.89 1.06 Euro-Med Lab 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.6 0.00 8,000 17 8.61 Federal Res. Inv. Group 13.76 14.2 13.72 14.2 3.20 3,400 31.8 20.2 First Gen Corp. 23.4 23.5 22.4 22.45 -4.06 1,512,400 -20,838,140.00109 71.5 First Holdings ‘A’ 67.1 68.9 65.95 65.95 -1.71 340,170 -12,251,672.5020.75 13.86 Ginebra San Miguel Inc. 13.50 13.00 13.00 13.00 -3.70 500 15.3 13.24 Holcim Philippines Inc. 13.50 13.80 13.50 13.80 2.22 2,100 9.4 5.34 Integ. Micro-Electronics 5.67 5.67 5.62 5.64 -0.53 119,200 0.98 0.395 Ionics Inc 0.810 0.870 0.740 0.740 -8.64 27,121,000 142,100.00241 173 Jollibee Foods Corp. 191.00 188.40 186.50 187.10 -2.04 229,270 -26,463,070.0012.5 8.65 Lafarge Rep 9.01 9.48 8.79 8.79 -2.44 74,300 -299,901.003.95 2.3 LMG Chemicals 1.98 1.93 1.92 1.92 -3.03 14,000 4 1.63 Mabuhay Vinyl 1.61 1.61 1.61 1.61 0.00 2,000 33.9 23.35 Manila Water Co. Inc. 21.35 21.5 20 20 -6.32 2,297,300 -24,730,350.0090 17.3 Maxs Group 20.95 20.85 20.2 20.8 -0.72 52,100 13.26 5.88 Megawide 5.62 5.6 5.5 5.5 -2.14 1,461,800 290,115.00293 250.2 Mla. Elect. Co `A’ 276.80 285.80 277.00 283.00 2.24 510,330 24,670,732.005.25 3.87 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 4.06 4.09 4.03 4.05 -0.25 1,494,000 4,549,510.0012.98 8.45 Petron Corporation 7.30 7.45 7.24 7.28 -0.27 806,300 428,171.0015 10.04 Phinma Corporation 11.40 11.30 10.80 11.30 -0.88 5,000 7.03 3.03 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 3.20 3.20 3.15 3.20 0.00 322,000 -800,000.003.4 1.95 Phoenix Semiconductor 2.00 2.01 1.99 2.00 0.00 195,000 4.5 1 Pryce Corp. `A’ 2.38 2.35 2.28 2.32 -2.52 230,000 6.3 4.02 RFM Corporation 4.01 4.02 4.00 4.00 -0.25 2,981,000 4,028,930.007.86 1.65 Roxas and Co. 1.89 2 1.89 2 5.82 157,000 7.34 5.9 Roxas Holdings 5.46 5 5 5 -8.42 2,000 238 161 San Miguel’Pure Foods `B’ 149.9 149 145 145 -3.27 90 3.28 1.55 Splash Corporation 1.94 1.95 1.85 1.93 -0.52 412,000 -6,030.000.315 0.138 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.133 0.133 0.133 0.133 0.00 100,000 2.18 1.02 TKC Steel Corp. 0.85 0.90 0.90 0.90 5.88 1,000 2.65 2.09 Trans-Asia Oil 1.74 1.75 1.71 1.72 -1.15 687,000 713,410.00234 152 Universal Robina 190.9 192.5 188 190 -0.47 1,749,270 -13,585,405.005.28 4.28 Victorias Milling 4.77 4.77 4.6 4.6 -3.56 14,000 1.3 0.640 Vitarich Corp. 0.65 0.65 0.63 0.65 0.00 185,000 2.17 1.2 Vulcan Ind’l. 1.05 1.09 1.09 1.09 3.81 1,000

HOLDING FIRMS0.59 0.44 Abacus Cons. `A’ 0.435 0.425 0.410 0.425 -2.30 90,000 59.2 48.1 Aboitiz Equity 57.2500 58.0000 56.0000 58.0000 1.31 2,171,110 -12,300,654.5030.05 20.85 Alliance Global Inc. 19.80 20.15 19.78 19.88 0.40 7,255,400 27,252,373.007.39 6.62 Anscor `A’ 6.60 6.60 6.60 6.60 0.00 20,000 3.4 0.23 ATN Holdings A 0.230 0.235 0.230 0.235 2.17 200,000 3.35 0.23 ATN Holdings B 0.220 0.23 0.230 0.230 4.55 21,000 823.5 634.5 Ayala Corp `A’ 742 748 726 730 -1.62 214,171,795 10.2 7.390 Cosco Capital 6.79 6.8 6.72 6.74 -0.74 2,028,800 2,119,190.0084 12.8 DMCI Holdings 11.56 11.68 11.32 11.68 1.04 2,750,100 -730,824.003.35 2.6 F&J Prince ‘A’ 3.35 3.49 3.03 3.35 0.00 208,000 4.92 2.26 Filinvest Dev. Corp. 4.13 4.30 4.15 4.15 0.48 12,000 0.66 0.152 Forum Pacific 0.192 0.180 0.174 0.180 -6.25 70,000 1455 837 GT Capital 1249 1265 1241 1255 0.48 389,880 -91,790,605.007.5 5.3 House of Inv. 5.95 5.95 5.95 5.95 0.00 23,700 89,250.0076 49.55 JG Summit Holdings 67.60 67.85 67.00 67.40 -0.30 1,267,190 -4,596,917.509.25 4.84 Lopez Holdings Corp. 6.47 6.69 6.32 6.47 0.00 2,760,400 429,709.000.85 0.59 Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. 0.54 0.58 0.54 0.55 1.85 109,000 17.3 12 LT Group 12.5 12.56 12.46 12.5 0.00 1,987,200 -3,021,702.000.71 0.580 Mabuhay Holdings `A’ 0.53 0.55 0.54 0.54 1.89 160,000 5.53 4.2 Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. 5 4.98 4.88 4.95 -1.00 33,952,900 -3,288,593.006.55 4.5 Minerales Industrias Corp. 7.31 7.49 7.28 7.49 2.46 1,446,100 0.0670 0.030 Pacifica `A’ 0.0370 0.0370 0.0340 0.0350 -5.41 68,200,000 72,000.001.61 0.550 Prime Orion 1.750 1.760 1.680 1.690 -3.43 1,660,000 2.99 2.26 Republic Glass ‘A’ 2.61 2.6 2.6 2.6 -0.38 7,000 84.9 59.3 San Miguel Corp `A’ 48.90 49.20 48.75 49.05 0.31 94,800 -2,174,130.00974 751 SM Investments Inc. 845.00 851.50 840.50 845.00 0.00 267,840 64,910,935.001.66 1.13 Solid Group Inc. 1.18 1.19 1.16 1.16 -1.69 208,000 1.39 0.93 South China Res. Inc. 0.75 0.75 0.62 0.75 0.00 729,000 390 170 Transgrid 160.00 160.00 160.00 160.00 0.00 70 156 80 Top Frontier 70.000 71.000 67.550 67.650 -3.36 18,990 -1,250,267.500.710 0.211 Unioil Res. & Hldgs 0.2650 0.2900 0.2700 0.2750 3.77 3,130,000 0.435 0.179 Wellex Industries 0.1850 0.1900 0.1850 0.1850 0.00 700,000 0.510 0.310 Zeus Holdings 0.216 0.216 0.216 0.216 0.00 50,000

P R O P E R T Y10.5 6.74 8990 HLDG 7.000 7.000 6.600 6.900 -1.43 146,500 654,645.001.99 0.65 A. Brown Co., Inc. 0.58 0.60 0.56 0.57 -1.72 4,121,000 600.00

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

Trading SummarySHARES VALUE

FINANCIAL 13,499,542 898,912,475.75INDUSTRIAL 77,261,754 965,049,448.82HOLDING FIRMS 142,811,184 1,719,395,036.778PROPERTY 106,818,548 1,044,240,137.58SERVICES 127,425,462 1,253,531,852.135MINING & OIL 2,975,606,098 176,329,547.92GRAND TOTAL 3,444,395,458 6,101,835,392.48

FINANCIAL 1,529.42 (down) 1.48INDUSTRIAL 10,564.09 (down) 130.51HOLDING FIRMS 6,393.29 (down) 6.51PROPERTY 2,804.14 (down) 32.57SERVICES 1,768.66 (down) 31.74MINING & OIL 11,077.30 (down) 101.71PSEI 6,893.54 (down) 48.93All Shares Index 3,954.35 (down) 22.24

Gainers: 58 Losers: 103; Unchanged: 42; Total: 203

STOCKS Close(P)

Change(%)

C. Azuc De Tarlac 80.85 -17.50

IP E-Game Ventures Inc. 0.010 -16.67

Manila Bulletin 0.550 -11.29

Ionics Inc 0.740 -8.64

Roxas Holdings 5 -8.42

Manila Mining `A' 0.011 -8.33

Manila Water Co. Inc. 20 -6.32

Forum Pacific 0.180 -6.25

Nickelasia 7.53 -5.88

DFNN Inc. 4.81 -5.69

Top LoSerSSTOCKS Close

(P)Change

(%)

Abra Mining 0.0056 16.67

MEDCO Holdings 0.420 16.67

Grand Plaza Hotel 19.80 15.12

BDO Leasing & Fin. INc. 2.40 10.60

Benguet Corp `A' 6.2000 10.32

TKC Steel Corp. 0.90 5.88

Roxas and Co. 2 5.82

Waterfront Phils. 0.330 4.76

ATN Holdings B 0.230 4.55

Starmalls 7.59 4.26

Top gainerS

1.75 1.2 Araneta Prop `A’ 1.140 1.140 1.140 1.140 0.00 22,000 41.4 30.05 Ayala Land `B’ 34.20 34.20 33.20 33.65 -1.61 15,143,300 -121,638,550.005.6 3.36 Belle Corp. `A’ 3.08 3.1 3.04 3.04 -1.30 493,000 -326,010.005.59 4.96 Cebu Holdings 4.83 4.81 4.81 4.81 -0.41 20,000 -96,200.001.44 0.79 Century Property 0.63 0.64 0.62 0.63 0.00 1,491,000 -107,360.001.97 1.1 City & Land Dev. 1.03 1.03 1.03 1.03 0.00 1,000 0.201 0.083 Crown Equities Inc. 0.102 0.102 0.100 0.100 -1.96 10,040,000 0.69 0.415 Cyber Bay Corp. 0.410 0.420 0.410 0.415 1.22 540,000 10.96 2.4 Double Dragon 15.6 15.7 15.4 15.7 0.64 1,398,900 -1,262,892.000.97 0.83 Empire East Land 0.770 0.770 0.760 0.770 0.00 354,000 2.22 1.15 Global-Estate 1.03 1.03 1.01 1.02 -0.97 1,373,000 -188,030.002.1 1.42 Filinvest Land,Inc. 1.74 1.74 1.70 1.70 -2.30 11,897,000 -3,798,060.001.8 1.27 Interport `A’ 1.42 1.43 1.39 1.43 0.70 570,000 5.94 4.13 Megaworld 4.31 4.4 4.27 4.3 -0.23 29,828,000 -7,605,050.000.180 0.090 MRC Allied Ind. 0.078 0.084 0.077 0.080 2.56 1,050,000 8.54 2.69 Primex Corp. 7.5 7.5 7.37 7.37 -1.73 20,900 120,144.0031.8 22.15 Robinson’s Land `B’ 28.80 28.90 28.60 28.65 -0.52 2,088,100 37,226,305.002.29 1.6 Rockwell 1.6 1.59 1.56 1.59 -0.63 25,000 4.9 3.1 Shang Properties Inc. 3.20 3.2 3.2 3.2 0.00 1,000 21.35 15.08 SM Prime Holdings 19.50 19.60 19.20 19.46 -0.21 8,328,600 -16,206,970.001.06 0.69 Sta. Lucia Land Inc. 0.72 0.7 0.69 0.7 -2.78 1,010,000 7.56 3.38 Starmalls 7.28 7.59 7.15 7.59 4.26 261,100 1,919,686.001.62 0.83 Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. 0.660 0.660 0.660 0.660 0.00 1,000 8.59 5.73 Vista Land & Lifescapes 5.690 5.660 5.350 5.370 -5.62 15,317,500 -59,042,278.00

S E R V I C E S10.5 1.97 2GO Group’ 8.65 8.65 8.37 8.48 -1.97 171,500 66 35.2 ABS-CBN 60.5 61 60.4 60.6 0.17 22,240 1.09 0.63 APC Group, Inc. 0.520 0.520 0.520 0.520 0.00 59,000 14.88 10.5 Asian Terminals Inc. 11.22 11.58 11.58 11.58 3.21 200 15.82 8.6 Bloomberry 6.55 6.70 6.54 6.59 0.61 1,070,100 313,569.000.1430 0.0770 Boulevard Holdings 0.0660 0.0720 0.0640 0.0650 -1.52 83,800,000 5.06 2.95 Calata Corp. 3.9 3.75 3.75 3.75 -3.85 1,200,000 99.1 56.1 Cebu Air Inc. (5J) 88.3 88.25 86.2 86.2 -2.38 207,210 -7,231,715.007.67 4.8 DFNN Inc. 5.10 5.10 4.81 4.81 -5.69 12,300 2720 1600 Globe Telecom 2570 2548 2470 2520 -1.95 163,010 -849,810.008.41 5.95 GMA Network Inc. 6.25 6.30 6.25 6.29 0.64 63,000 70.5 17.02 Grand Plaza Hotel 17.20 19.80 19.80 19.80 15.12 200 1.97 1.23 Harbor Star 1.19 1.19 1.19 1.19 0.00 1,000 119.5 102.6 I.C.T.S.I. 88 89.6 88 89 1.14 1,104,430 4,242,405.000.017 0.011 IP E-Game Ventures Inc. 0.012 0.011 0.010 0.010 -16.67 3,900,000 0.8200 0.041 Island Info 0.164 0.164 0.160 0.160 -2.44 1,740,000 2.2800 1.200 ISM Communications 1.3900 1.4500 1.3500 1.4300 2.88 819,000 261,030.005.93 2.34 Jackstones 2.21 2.21 2.21 2.21 0.00 3,000 12.28 6.5 Leisure & Resorts 8.22 8.22 8.19 8.20 -0.24 919,300 5,710,992.003.32 1.91 Liberty Telecom 2.55 2.62 2.42 2.56 0.39 128,000 1 0.650 Manila Bulletin 0.620 0.620 0.550 0.550 -11.29 1,069,000 2.46 1.8 Manila Jockey 2 2 1.97 2 0.00 89,000 15.2 6 Melco Crown 5.15 5.17 5.02 5.16 0.19 958,700 -1,603,960.000.62 0.335 MG Holdings 0.290 0.285 0.285 0.285 -1.72 200,000 1.040 0.37 NOW Corp. 0.410 0.420 0.410 0.420 2.44 30,000 -12,400.0022.8 14.54 Pacific Online Sys. Corp. 19 19 18.8 19 0.00 200 6.41 3 PAL Holdings Inc. 4.50 4.50 4.50 4.50 0.00 5,000 22.9 4.39 Philweb.Com Inc. 18.40 18.40 18.00 18.36 -0.22 42,400 -122,706.003486 2748 PLDT Common 2392.00 2390.00 2304.00 2306.00 -3.60 228,140 -243,706,610.000.760 0.435 PremiereHorizon 0.610 0.600 0.600 0.600 -1.64 150,000 2.28 1.2 Premium Leisure 1.150 1.140 1.090 1.100 -4.35 13,288,000 -632,550.0046.05 31.45 Puregold 31.70 31.95 31.05 31.10 -1.89 2,144,300 -5,790,420.0090.1 60.55 Robinsons RTL 66.00 66.65 65.80 66.65 0.98 138,280 5,229,147.00 SBS Phil. Corp. 5.24 5.33 5.10 5.16 -1.53 3,598,300 46,702.0011.6 7.59 SSI Group 6.35 6.50 6.18 6.24 -1.73 1,222,800 -1,482,993.000.85 0.63 STI Holdings 0.51 0.52 0.50 0.51 0.00 459,000 -73,440.002.95 1.71 Transpacific Broadcast 1.69 1.69 1.69 1.69 0.00 1,000 10 5 Travellers 3.78 3.85 3.75 3.78 0.00 7,476,000 -197,900.000.490 0.315 Waterfront Phils. 0.315 0.330 0.315 0.330 4.76 20,000 1.9 1.14 Yehey 2.440 2.430 2.310 2.320 -4.92 302,000

MINING & OIL0.0098 0.0043 Abra Mining 0.0048 0.0056 0.0047 0.0056 16.67 2,721,000,000 319,200.0017.24 6.47 Atlas Cons. `A’ 4.51 4.53 4.49 4.51 0.00 577,000 280,480.000.330 0.236 Basic Energy Corp. 0.185 0.185 0.185 0.185 0.00 30,000 12.7 6.5 Benguet Corp `A’ 5.6200 6.2100 6.2000 6.2000 10.32 300 1.62 0.77 Coal Asia 0.63 0.65 0.62 0.65 3.17 2,351,000 9.5 5.99 Dizon 5.91 5.95 5.91 5.95 0.68 200 4.2 1.17 Ferronickel 1.1 1.11 1.08 1.11 0.91 3,002,000 42,090.000.48 0.305 Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. 0.290 0.295 0.290 0.295 1.72 20,000 0.420 0.2130 Lepanto `A’ 0.182 0.183 0.180 0.183 0.55 5,900,000 0.440 0.2160 Lepanto `B’ 0.203 0.203 0.188 0.202 -0.49 110,000 0.022 0.013 Manila Mining `A’ 0.012 0.011 0.011 0.011 -8.33 16,100,000 -2,200.000.023 0.014 Manila Mining `B’ 0.012 0.012 0.011 0.012 0.00 90,200,000 8.2 3.240 Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. 2.11 2.1 2.05 2.05 -2.84 871,000 -1,485,290.0049.2 18.96 Nickelasia 8 7.88 7.47 7.53 -5.88 6,224,200 -4,495,267.004.27 2.11 Nihao Mineral Resources 3.1 3.13 3.03 3.07 -0.97 111,000 -61,000.003.06 1.54 Oriental Peninsula Res. 1.2800 1.2800 1.2700 1.2700 -0.78 191,000 0.020 0.012 Oriental Pet. `A’ 0.0085 0.0085 0.0084 0.0084 -1.18 123,000,000 7.67 5.4 Petroenergy Res. Corp. 3.85 3.82 3.76 3.76 -2.34 51,000 12.88 7.26 Philex `A’ 5.12 5.160 5.060 5.16 0.78 903,400 -247,492.0010.42 2.27 PhilexPetroleum 1.50 1.500 1.470 1.48 -1.33 358,000 -36,910.000.040 0.015 Philodrill Corp. `A’ 0.0100 0.0110 0.0099 0.0099 -1.00 3,700,000 420 115.9 Semirara Corp. 131.00 132.20 128.80 131.60 0.46 731,950 -7,927,375.009 3.67 TA Petroleum 2.55 2.56 2.5 2.56 0.39 76,000 5,000.00

PREFERRED70 33 ABS-CBN Holdings Corp. 60.3 60.5 59.7 59.7 -1.00 158,000 -1,882,487.50553 490 Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ 529.5 528 527 528 -0.28 193,900 525 500 Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ 526 527 526.5 526.5 0.10 300 8.21 5.88 GMA Holdings Inc. 6 6 5.95 6 0.00 8,600 -5,973.0012.28 6.5 Leisure and Resort 1.07 1.07 1.06 1.06 -0.93 357,000 53,500.00111 101 MWIDE PREF 108.5 108.5 108 108 -0.46 12,500 PCOR-Preferred B 1140 1100 1100 1100 -3.51 10 1047 1011 PF Pref 2 1015 1015 1015 1015 0.00 20 20,300.0084.8 75 SMC Preferred C 81 81 81 81 0.00 27,900 81,000.00

WARRANTS & BONDS6.98 0.8900 LR Warrant 3.190 3.140 3.090 3.100 -2.82 83,000

S M E88 13.5 IRipple E-Business Intl 59.4 58.75 58.75 58.75 -1.09 50 12.88 5.95 Xurpas 11.16 11.18 11 11.4 2.15 644,800 431,956.00

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS130.7 105.6 First Metro ETF 114 114.8 113 113 -0.88 328,020 1,133.00

business@thestandard.com.phextrastory2000@gmail.com

BUSINESSFRIDAY: SEPTEMBER 11, 2015

B3

Market falls; PLDT declinesApec

Lighthouse Award.

Trade Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya

(foreground, right) poses with (from left)

Health Undersecretary Kenneth Hartigan-Go, US

Department of Commerce senior trade policy

and Apec Advisor and Business Ethics for Apec

SMEs Initiative Project overseer Lynn Costa as

she holds the 2015 Apec Business Ethics for SMEs

Lighthouse Award during a forum on August 20,

2015 at Sofi tel Philippine Plaza in Pasay City.

The lighthouse award is given in recognition to an individual or an organization that has

worked in propelling a more ethical business

environment.

THE stock market retreated � ursday as re-newed concern over the outlook for higher US interest rates sapped demand for riskier assets.

� e Philippine Stock Exchange Index dropped 48.93 points, or 0.7 percent, to 6,893.54 on a value turnover of P6.1 billion. Losers beat gainers, 103 to 58, with 42 is-sues unchanged.

Philippine Long Distance Tele-phone Co., the biggest telecommu-nications � rm, tumbled 3.6 percent to P2,306, while rival Globe Tele-com Inc. slid 2 percent to P2,520.

Ayala Land Inc. fell 1.6 percent to P33.65, while parent Ayala Corp. declined 1.6 percent to P730.

Energy Development Corp., the largest steam energy produc-er, sank 4.7 percent to P5.25.

Meanwhile, a mixed reading on Chinese in� ation � ursday kept Asian equities traders on edge in fresh volatility � ursday as mar-kets retreated from a two-day ral-

ly, while fears of a US interest rate hike added to the unease.

Investors took their cash o� the table despite Chinese Premier Li Keqiang seeking to shore up con-� dence in the government’s han-dling of an economic crisis that has sent global markets plunging.

A late tumble on Wall Street provided extra reason to run af-ter a report showing a tighter US jobs market increased speculation the Federal Reserve will pull the trigger on a rate rise at next week’s policy meeting.

� ursday’s losses follow thump-ing gains across the world over the previous two days--includ-ing a 7.7 percent jump in Tokyo Wednesday--which were helped by Chinese moves to bolster its economy.

However, Nader Naeimi, head of dynamic asset allocation at AMP Capital Investors Ltd. in Sydney, told Bloomberg News: “Markets will remain volatile un-til the Fed meeting next week.

“Investors are again focusing on the potential US interest rate increase and how it would impact emerging markets.”

In Beijing, o� cial � gures showed the consumer price in-dex rose two percent last month, better than July’s 1.6 percent and beating forecasts of 1.8 percent.

However, the producer price index--a crucial measure of costs for goods at the factory gate and a leading indicator of the trend for consumer prices--slumped at its fastest rate in six years.

� e � gures will do little to ease the struggle authorities have in kickstarting the world’s number two economy and main driver of global growth as it su� ers a painful slowdown. With AFP, Bloomberg

Factory output down in JulyFACTORY production in July fell 0.5 percent for the third consecutive

month from a year ago on weak global demand, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Thursday.

The PSA said in its monthly integrated survey of selected industries the growth in the volume of production index, representing the output of 20 biggest manufacturing sectors, slowed from a 7.6 percent contrac-tion in July last year. The decline was also slower than the 3 percent and 1.6 percent contraction in May and June 2015, respectively.

Six major sectors suffered double-digit decreases. These were basic metals, -31.4 percent; wood and wood products, -24.4 percent; food manufacturing, -20.4 percent; beverages, -17.4 percent; furniture and fi xtures, -10.7 percent; and machinery except electrical, -10.7 percent.

“We must diversify and ensure the quality of our export-oriented products, which is the key to surviving the continuing weak global de-mand and stiffer competition in the global market,” said Economic Plan-ning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan. Gabrielle H. Binaday

EDC signs P5-b loan agreementBAC-MAN Geothermal Inc., a wholly-owned unit of Energy Devel-

opment Corp., has signed a P5-billion loan agreement with three local banks to refi nance the rehabilitation cost of the Bac-Man geothermal plants and other capital expenditures.

EDC disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange Bac-Man Geothermal signed agreements with Bank of the Philippine Islands, BDO Unibank Inc. and Security Bank Corp.

BDO Capital & Investment Corp. acted as sole bookrunner, while BDO Capital & Investment Corp., BPI Capital Corp. and SB Capital Corp. served as joint Lead arrangers of the transaction.

EDC also disclosed the board approved the declaration of a special cash dividend of P0.11 per share to common shareholders of record as of September 23, 2015, payable on or before October 7, 2015.

“We acquired Bacman for $28 million. There were rehab cost incurred since then advanced by EDC. The P5 billion will be used to reimburse some of these costs back to EDC. EDC will then use the money for other capex including Bacman 3,” EDC vice president for corporate fi nance Er-win Avante said. Alena Mae S. Flores

Gardenia Bakeries expands outletsGARDENIA Bakeries (Philippines) Inc. plans to raise as much as P5 bil-

lion in additional revenues in the next fi ve years on top of its core busi-ness, as it enters the branded unpackaged bread segment.

Gardenia president Simplico Umali Jr. said the company had long planned to go into into the unpackaged bread category to increase mar-ket share and earnings.

“With the entry of Big Smile Bread Station and Bakers Maison stores, consumers will now have more and better choices for their classic bread favorites and artisanal breads,” Gardenia president Simplicio Umali Jr. said.

“Our two business units will contribute to the continuous growing bread market in the country, both in packaged and unpackaged seg-ments,” he said. Othel V. Campos

Trade negotiations with EU to proceedNEGOTIATIONS on the proposed free trade agreement with the Euro-

pean Union may proceed anytime soon given the recent approval of the Philippine Competition Act, the EU said Thursday.

EU competition policy expert Tiina Pitakanen said in a speech formal negotiations with the Philippines on the bilateral agreement could be freely pursued as one of the hurdles in trade and investment had been eliminated.

“Our view is this is a big achievement and because this was one of is-sues that we wanted the Philippines to achieve before we can start with the negotiation. So we think we are now there and we can fi nalize our discussion on this part of the FTA,” Pitakanen said in a speech delivered before a dialogue organized by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines at the New World Hotel in Makati. Othel V. Campos

No. 09-01-2015

ALEXANDER A. PADILLA President and CEO

ON-SITE VISITS OF AUTHORIZED PHILHEALTH PERSONNEL

Effective August 21, 2015, authorized PhilHealth personnel shall conduct visits to all private and public employers to inspect their premises including their books and pertinent records.

This Advisory is in line with PhilHealth Circular 017-2015 which reiterates Section 15.e of the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (RIRR) of the National Health Insurance Act of 2013 on the Obligations of the Employers which states that “All government and private employers are required to allow the inspection of its premises including its books and other pertinent record.“

Section 221 of the same RIRR on the Visitorial Powers of PhilHealth further states that “Any representative of the Corporation as duly authorized by the President and CEO or by the concerned Regional Vice President shall have the power to visit, enter and inspect facilities of health care providers and employers during office hours, and where applicable, secure copies of their medical, financial, and other records and data pertinent to the claims, accreditation, premium contribution and that of their patients or employees, who are members of the Program.”

Relative to this, all employers in the government and private sectors are hereby enjoined to recognize and extend all necessary assistance and cooperation with the duly authorized PhilHealth personnel conducting site visits to perform the following activities:

Determine compliance with the regulations and other requirements, particularly in the payment of premium contributions and reportorial requirements• Verifytheaccuracyofsubmittedinformation• Conduct informationeducationanddisseminationofupdateson theNational Health

Insurance Program• Securesoftandhardcopiesofthepayroll

Further clarifications and inquiries on this advisory may be referred to our Action Center at (02) 441-7442 or through any of our Regional Offices

B4

DPWH on the ball

Foreign capital hit $2b in 1st semester

FRIDAY: SEPTEMBER 11, 2015

business@thestandard.com.phextrastory2000@gmail.com

BUSINESS

Uber expanding to other PH cities

HAPPY Hour received feedback from Philip James Maluping of the Traffic Engineering Division of the Department of Public Works and Highways, clarifying that the photo in our Sept. 8 column “Do-nothings in Edsa” (check out this link for reference —http://manilastandardtoday.com/2015/09/08/do-nothings-in-edsa/) showing orange-garbed men and women under the Santolan-Edsa flyover were not MMDA operatives but DPWH personnel from the district office who were deployed to do traffic count, which is why some of them have pen and paper and were sitting under the flyover.

According to Maluping, the traffic count is part of the PNP-HPG’s traffic management scheme along Edsa (since it’s obvious to everyone now except President BS Aquino that MMDA under chairman Francis Tolentino is not up to the job as far as traffic management is concerned).

“The DPWH was instructed to do the technical services particularly the traffic engineering part, i.e. to delineate the yellow bus lanes, to delineate the transition markers at some identified intersections or side streets, to install yellow boxes at big intersections along Edsa, and to modify existing or install new loading and unloading bays for public utility vehicles especially for buses,” Malusing disclosed.

“For us in the DPWH Traffic Engineering Division to come up with a thorough traffic analysis of Edsa, our Secretary [Rogelio] Singson directed all six district engineering offices under DPWH National Capital Region having jurisdiction on Edsa to conduct vehicular and pedestrian counts at almost 30 critical intersections along Edsa from Monumento to Macapagal Avenue,” he explained.

According to Mr. Malusing, the count survey began last Sept. 8 and would end on Tuesday, Sept. 15, at the latest. Owing to the number of intersections along Edsa and the fact that only a limited number of personnel can be deployed, the DPWH-TED is hard pressed to conduct the analysis posthaste. Given the limited resources, Malusing (and we assume the DPWH itself) is hoping that the public will be able to understand the situation.

“The number of deployed personnel for the count survey depends on the number of traffic movements using an intersection and the presence of flyovers and underpasses in the intersection. For example, the at-grade intersection of Edsa Shaw Boulevard has a total of 10 vehicular movements, plus the underpass of 2 movements and the pedestrian movements of 4, with a grand total of 16. Note that the flyover along Shaw Boulevard will not be counted since it will not directly affect Edsa. At 16 movements at Edsa Shaw, we can deploy at least 10 people per shift, with certain personnel handling two movements.

“The duration of the count is 14 hours for two shifts: 6 a.m. to 1 p.m.; and from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m., with a team leader from the respective district office having supervision acting with a counterpart supervisor from the central office to make sure that the personnel conduct the right procedure for the count survey,” said Malusing.

Aside from the traffic count survey, the DPWH is also doing “travel time and delay survey to determine whether the traffic management scheme is effective or not. After all, data have been gathered, the DPWH would analyze the situation with Edsa through a “microscopic simulation software.”

“Along the way and as of writing, we are still doing technical meetings regarding the traffic management of Edsa, wherein we discuss about some improvements or modifications to be done,” Mr. Malusing elaborated.

We get you, Mr. Malusing, and many certainly don’t expect the HPG and DPWH to solve the chaotic traffic situation in Metro Manila in a snap since it took the current MMDA leadership five years to bring us to this mess today.

If you were one of those unfortunate souls who found himself miserably wishing he were at home instead of out on the streets waiting for a ride under the pouring rain and finding out that cursing to high heavens will not make traffic go any faster nor miraculously conjure a taxi willing to take you through the flooded underpass along Edsa-Cubao, then we know that you know what we are saying and why we are saying this: MMDA under the current dispensation should be renamed Makapal Mukha Din Ano.

There are supposed to be 2,000-plus MMDA personnel who work 24/7 but they were nowhere to be found. Sure, the agency was tweeting photos of flooded areas along Edsa—from Shaw Blvd. to Cubao—but why were the pumps not activated at once? Money was allocated for those pumping stations in case you didn’t know? Some HPG men have reportedly complained that the MMDA people did not brief them on flood-prone areas and were left to themselves in last Tuesday’s heavy downpour. It’s like throwing the baby into the pool and expecting it to swim and float on water!

By the way, stoolies claim that the MMDA and the DPWH do not agree on certain traffic management schemes. Let’s put it this way: The MMDA under chairman Tolentino has been “managing” traffic in the last five years. Now here comes the DPWH with certain suggestions on how traffic could be improved. If you were the president and you were to decide whose recommendation to adopt, the answer should be obvious.

•••For comments, reactions, photos, stories and related concerns,

readers may email to happyhourtoday2012@yahoo.com. You may also visit and like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/happyhourmanilastandard. We’d be very happy to hear from you. Cheers!

NOTICE OF ANNUAL STOCKHOLDERS’ MEETING

Notice is hereby given to all stockholders of Fontana Resort & Country Club, Inc. that pursuant to the By-Laws, the Annual Stockholders’ Meeting will be held on 28 September 2015, 10:30 a.m. at the Lily Function Room, Fontana Convention Center, C.M. Recto Highway, Clark Freeport Zone, Clark Field, Pampanga.

1. Call to Order.2. Certification of service of notice and existence of

quorum.3. Approval of the Minutes of the last Stockholders’

Meeting dated September 29, 2014.4. Annual Report of the General Manager including

presentation of the highlights of the Club’s Financial Condition for the period January 2015 to June 2015.

5. Approval of the Chairman’s Annual Report and ratificationofallotheractsandresolutionsoftheBoardofDirectors and Management from the date of the previous Stockholders’ Meeting on September 29, 2014.

6. Election of Five (5) directors, inclusive of two (2) independent directors

7. AppointmentofExternalAuditor8. Other matters9. Adjournment

In registering your attendance, please present a form of identification,suchascompanyI.D.,passport,ordriver’slicense.Registration will start at 9:00 a.m.

Clark Freeport Zone, September 11, 2015.

(SGD) ANTERO JOSE M. CAGANDA Corporate Secretary (TS-SEPT. 11, 2015)

By Julito G. Rada

FOREIGN direct investments in the Philip-pines reached $2 billion in the first six months of the year, data from Bangko Sentral ng Pili-pinas show.

The figure, however, was 40 percent lower than the record $3.373 billion worth of FDI net inflows registered in the same period last year.

Bangko Sentral said net in-flows of foreign capital fell 31per-cent in June to $383 million from $554 million a year ago, on lower reinvestments of earnings and investments in debt instruments.

Reinvestment of earnings fell 11.8 percent in June to $67 mil-lion from $76 million, while in-vestments in debt instruments declined 75 percent to $102 mil-lion from $424 million.

The June net inflow was also lower than $403 million net in-flow recorded in May.

“The bulk of the net inflows during the month was in the form of equity capital invest-ments which amounted to $214

million, almost four times the $54 million net inflows recorded in the previous year,” Bangko Sentral said.

Equity capital placements jumped 293.5 percent in June to $308 million, which offset with-drawals of $94 million.

Most equity capital place-ments came from the United States, Singapore, Germany, Japan and Taiwan. These funds were invested in manufactur-ing, real estate, wholesale and retail trade, administrative and support services and informa-tion and communication activi-ties.

These developments brought FDI net inflows in the first half to $2.019 billion, or 40 percent lower than $3.373 billion a year ago, as all FDI components post-ed lower net inflows.

“In particular, non-residents’ investments in debt instruments fell by 55.6 percent. Net inflows from equity capital investments likewise dropped slightly by 5.7 percent to $654 million during the period,” Bangko Sentral said.

Equity capital placements reached $858 million in the first half, coming mostly from the United States, Germany, Japan, Singapore and the United King-dom.

These were channeled to manufacturing, financial and insurance, real estate, electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply, and wholesale and retail trade activities.

FDI posted a record-high $6.2-billion net inflow in 2014, above the target of $4.4 billion. The 2014 figure was also 65.9 percent higher than $3.737 bil-lion net inflow registered in 2013.

Bangko Sentral’s statistics on foreign direct investments cover actual investment inflows, which could be in the form of equity capital, reinvestment or earn-ings, and borrowings between affiliates.

By Darwin G. Amojelar UBER Technologies Inc., a trans-port solutions provider, said it plans to expand its operations to other cities in the Philippines, in-cluding Davao, Cebu and Baguio within the year.

“We are looking at the larg-

est set of cities. We are looking to bring transportation options where they are needed most and the largest cities that are fairly dense where there is a good smartphone penetration and where there’s good payments options,” Uber regional general manager for Southeast Asia, Aus-

tralia and New Zealand Mike Brown told reporters.

Brown said Cebu, Davao and Baguio would be important cit-ies for Uber expansion outside Metro Manila. “Our goal is to be everywhere,” he said.

Brown said the company was looking at new modes of payment

as not all Filipinos have credit cards.

“We are seriously consider-ing it [opening of new mode of payment], so we are look-ing at other options across Southeast Asia. We don’t have anything to announce yet but we are seriously considering non credit card options,” he said.

Brown also said Uber planned to invest more in the Philippines which is one of the important markets in Southeast Asia.

“It certainly is one of the important markets in South-east Asia. The Filipino people have really responded and the government has been an excellent partner for us. So, we will invest heavily in this market for a long time to come,” Brown said.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. earlier signed a strategic partnership with Uber to introduce free in-car WiFi and special promotions for riders on Smart’s network.

The partnership with Uber will include a number of com-ponents, which will be rolled out over the coming weeks such as free in-car Smart Wifi and special promotions, dis-counts and on-demand expe-riences.

F R I D AY : S E P T E M B E R 1 1 , 2 0 1 5

B5cESAR BARRIoquInToE D I T O R

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Lee sees‘painful’economictransition

Bomb suspect bribed his way into Thailand, say police

For the screening. Italian actress Elisa Sednaoui arrives at the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award 2015 and the screening of the movie “De Palma” during the 72nd Venice International Film Festival on Sept. 9, 2015, at Venice Lido. AFP

worldDenmark shuts rail linkas refugee crisis festers

BEIJING—Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Thursday that change in the world’s second-largest econ-omy is fraught with difficulties and uncertainty, but sought to reas-sure an international audience that the country does not threaten the global economy. 

Chinese leaders are overseeing a transition in the country’s growth model from the emphasis on ex-ports and investment that saw it boom to a more sophisticated one in which consumer spending plays the dominant role.

“This is going to be a painful and treacherous process,” Li said in a speech to a World Economic Forum meeting in the northeast-ern city of Dalian.

“So ups and downs in economic performance are hardly avoidable”, he added, calling that “natural” during a time of change. 

Li’s comments came as Chinese policymakers have come under increasing pressure to reassure global investors concerned over perceptions the country’s eco-nomic growth is slowing precipi-tously, which have helped fuel huge swings in global financial markets. 

“China is not a source of risk for the world economy but a source of strength for global growth,” Li said, stressing that it accounted for about 30 percent of world eco-nomic expansion in the first half of this year.

China’s GDP growth growth stood at 7.0 percent in the first two quarters this year, but on Monday the government lowered its 2014 growth reading to 7.3 percent, from the 7.4 percent announced in January.

Li acknowledged that the econo-my has “come under quite a num-ber of difficulties and downward pressure” but stressed it remained in a “proper range”, a favorite phrase.

But he also stressed that China was being affected by economic troubles elsewhere.

“China is an economy that is closely integrated with the interna-tional market,” he said. 

“Given the weak growth of the global economy, China cannot stay unaffected and the deep-seated problems that have built up over the years are also being exposed.” AFP

RODBY, Denmark—Denmark be-came the latest flash point Thursday in Europe’s migrant crisis, with the continent bitterly spit over how to cope with the vast numbers of refu-gees pouring across its borders.

German generosity has sparked an angry backlash from its eastern neighbors, as another 3,000 migrants crossed the Austrian border from Hungary during the night, and more landed on Greece’s overwhelmed Aegean islands and trudged into Macedonia.

Scandinavia’s busiest ferry crossing to Germany remained shut to trains after a sudden surge of mi-grants trying to reach Sweden on Wednesday led Denmark to suspend cross-border trains and close a motorway for several hours.

Germany is pushing hard for the EU go further than a new plan to accept 160,000 refugees fleeing war in Syria and Iraq as it revealed Thursday that it had already taken in 450,000 since January.

Instead, Berlin wants compulsory long-term EU quotas with no limits on numbers.

But binding quotas are already facing fierce resis-tance, with hard-line Hungary ready to send troops to its border and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico warning Wednesday his country would not bow to Berlin.

“I don’t want to wake up one day and have 50,000 people here about whom we know nothing,” he said as European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker urged the continent to look to its history and ignore populist scaremongering.

“Now is not the time to take fright, it is time for bold, determined action for the European Union,” he told the European Parliament as he unveiled the quota plan on Wednesday.

With Europe strained and divided by the biggest refugee crisis it has faced since World War II, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington was considering resettling more Syrian refugees.

“We are looking hard at the number that we can specifically manage with respect to the crisis in Syria and Europe.”

Denmark’s train operator said Thursday its rail services across the German border would resume after they were shut by a standoff between around 350 migrants and police that also closed the main motorway between the two countries for a time on Wednesday.   

But the ferry crossing at Rodby—one of the busi-est in Scandinavia—would remain closed to trains, the authorities said. AFP

BANGKOK—A key suspect in last month’s deadly Bangkok blast paid a 600-dollar bribe to illegally enter Thailand, police said Thursday, highlighting wide-spread corruption at the king-dom’s borders.

Adem Karadag, one of two for-eigners arrested in connection with the Aug. 17 attack, was de-tained at a flat in eastern Bangkok late last month.

Police say he was found in pos-session of bomb-making materi-als and dozens of fake Turkish passports.

Karadag’s role has not been explained by police, but say they now know more about how he came to be in Thailand.

“The first man [Karadag] said he traveled through Vietnam to a neighboring country where he then paid for transporta-

tion,” police chief Somyot Poompanmoung told reporters, without specifying which neigh-boring country.

“At the Thai border he paid $600 [to cross into Thailand],” he added, without revealing the identity of the official who took the bribe.

A second man, Yusufu Mieraili, was detained two days later on the border with Cambodia.

He was allegedly found in pos-session of a Chinese passport that police believe is genuine.

Police say Mieraili has con-fessed to delivering the backpack bomb to another man who left it at the Erawan Shrine minutes be-fore the explosion.

Thailand is a notorious sanctu-ary for on-the-run foreigners and visa over-stayers, with officials of-ten willing to take a bribe to turn a

blind eye to illegality. In recent days Somyot, himself

a former deputy commander with immigration police, has railed against the ease of buying off bor-der officials.

“I cannot ignore this problem because I feel ashamed,” he told reporters on Wednesday as he called on the junta to help him clamp down on corrupt border officials. AFP

B6 CESAR BARRIOQUINTOE D I T O R

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

F R I D AY : S E P T E M B E R 1 1 , 2 0 1 5

WORLD

Fear fuels unease over refugees

Powers in disarray over confl ict

INVITATION TO APPLY FOR ELIGIBILITY AND TO BID One (1) Unit Surveying Instrument

P.R. No. 2015-08-685

1. The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), through the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for CY 2015 intends to apply the sum of Three Million Pesos (PhP3,000,000.00) being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for One (1) Unit Surveying Instrument. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected duringopening of bids.

2. The MGB now invites bids for One (1) Unit 3-D Laser Scanner.

DeliveryoftheGoodsisrequiredwithinfortyfive(45)calendardaysuponreceipt of Purchase Order (PO). Bidders should have completed, within Five (5) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II (Instructions to Bidders).

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

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

4. InterestedbiddersmayobtainfurtherinformationfromMGB and inspect the BiddingDocumentsat theaddressgivenbelowduringofficehours, from9:00AM to 5:00PM.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders from September 11-25, 2015 at the address below and upon payment of a non- refundable fee for the Bidding Documents in the amount of Two Thousand Five Hundred Pesos (PhP2,500.00).

Preview of specifications can be downloaded from the website of thePhilippine Government Electronic Procurement System (Phil-GEPS).

5 The MGB will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on September 14, 2015, Monday at 2:00PM., at the Office of the Bids and Awards Committee, Mines and Geosciences Bureau, North Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City, which shall be open only to all interested parties who have purchased the Bidding Documents.

Bids must be delivered to the address below not later than September 28, 2015, Monday at 1:30PM. All Bids must be accompanied by a Bid Securing Declaration or any other bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

Bid opening shall be on September 28, 2015, Mondayat 2:00PM, at the OfficeoftheMGB-Bids and Awards Committee. Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend. Late bids shall not be accepted.

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

7. For further information, please refer to:

ENGR. ROBERTO D. CASEROS Head, Secretariat Bids and Awards Committee North Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City Telephone No. 667-6700 loc. 153 E-mail: bacems_minesbureauco@yahoo.com Website: www.mgb.gov.ph (SGD) ENGR.JUANCHO PABLO S. CALVEZ Chairman, BAC

Republic of the PhilippinesDepartment of Environment and Natural ResourcesMines and Geosciences BureauNorth Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City, PhilippinesTel. No. (+63 2) 920-9120/ 920-9130 / 928-8937 Fax No. (+63 2) 920-1635 E-mail: central @ mgb.gov.ph

(TS-SEPT. 11, 2015)

NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC

(TS-AUG. 28, SEPT. 4,11, 2015)

Notice is hereby given to the LESSOR/S of Safe Deposit Box (SDB) Nos. 16 & 18 maintained with the Las Piñas Branch of Security Bank Corporation and Safe Deposit Box (SDB) Nos 1,2,3,6,7,12 & 22 maintained with the Sucat San Isidro Branch of Security Bank Corporation (Formerly Premiere Development Bank), to visit the Branch for the purpose of updating your records and/or to pay any outstanding balance for the use of the safe deposit box, plus daily accrued interest/penalty.

Failure to comply with the aforementioned notice shall result in the force-opening of the safe deposit box pursuant to the SDB Agreement.”

InClassifiedAdssectionmust be brought to our attention the very day the advertisement is published. We will not be responsible for any incorrect ads not reported to us immediately.

ERRORS & OMISSIONS

Republic of the PhilippinesCOMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

Manila

EN BANC

IN RE: MANIFESTATION OF INTENT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PARTY-LIST SYSTEM OF REPRESENTATION IN THE MAY 9, 2016 ELECTIONS.

SPP Case No. 15-199 (PLM)1-UNITED TRANSPORT KOALISYON (1-UTAK), represented by its President, Melencio “BOY” Vargas, Petitioner.x------------------------------------------------x

ORDERActing on the Manifestation of Intent to Participate1filedonMay08,

2015, the Commission en banc hereby directs 1-UNITED TRANSPORT KOALISYON (1-UTAK) to publish at its own expense in two (2) newspapers of general circulation the said manifestation together with the instant Order of the Commission within three days from receipt hereof.

Any interested party may file with the Office of the Clerk of theCommission a verified petition seeking to deny due course to themanifestation of intent to participatewithin five (5) days from the dateof publication pursuant to Comelec Resolution No. 93662, Rule 3, Sec. 7, par. 13.

SO ORDERED.Given this 26th day of August, 2015, in the City of Manila, Philippines

FOR THE COMMISSION

(Sgd.) ANDRES D. BAUTISTA Chairman1 Records,OfficeoftheClerkoftheCommissionCaseFolder,pages1to2.2 Rules and Regulations Governing the: 1) Filing of Petitions for Registration; 2) Filing of Manifestation

ofIntenttoParticipate;3)SubmissionofNamesofNominees;and4)FilingofDisqualificationCasesAgainst Nominees or Party-list Groups or Organizations Participating under the Party-list System of Representation in Connection with the May 13, 2013 National and Local Elections, and Subsequent Elections Thereafter.

3 “SEC 7. Petition to deny due course to a manifestation of intent to participate. - A verified petition seeking to deny due course to a manifestation of intent to participate.”

TS(SEPT. 11, 2015)

petition seeking to deny due course to a manifestation of intent to participate.”

TS(SEPT. 11, 2015)

Republic of the PhilippinesCOMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

Manila

EN BANC

IN RE: MANIFESTATION OF INTENT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PARTY-LIST SYSTEM OF REPRESENTATION IN THE MAY 9, 2016 ELECTIONS.

SPP Case No. 15-126 (PLM)BUHAY HAYAAN YUMABONG represented by its President, Melquiades A. Robles, Petitioner.x------------------------------------------------x

ORDERActing on the Manifestation of Intent to Participate1 filed on May

7, 2015, the Commission en banc hereby directs BUHAY HAYAAN YUMABONG (BUHAY) to publish at its own expense in two (2) newspapers of general circulation the said manifestation together with the instant Order of the Commission within three days from receipt hereof.

Any interested party may file with the Office of the Clerk of theCommission a verified petition seeking to deny due course to themanifestation of intent to participatewithin five (5) days from the dateof publication pursuant to Comelec Resolution No. 93662, Rule 3, Sec. 7, par. 13.

SO ORDERED.Given this 26th day of August, 2015, in the City of Manila, Philippines

FOR THE COMMISSION

(Sgd.) ANDRES D. BAUTISTA Chairman1 Records,OfficeoftheClerkoftheCommissionCaseFolder,pages1to2.2 Rules and Regulations Governing the: 1) Filing of Petitions for Registration; 2) Filing of Manifestation

ofIntenttoParticipate;3)SubmissionofNamesofNominees;and4)FilingofDisqualificationCasesAgainst Nominees or Party-list Groups or Organizations Participating under the Party-list System of Representation in Connection with the May 13, 2013 National and Local Elections, and Subsequent Elections Thereafter.

3 “SEC 7. Petition to deny due course to a manifestation of intent to participate. - A verified petition seeking to deny due course to a manifestation of intent to participate.”

TS(SEPT. 11, 2015)TS(SEPT. 11, 2015)

PARIS—A � ood of desper-ate refugees and images of a toddler lying dead on a beach have thrown Syria’s chaos into stark relief, but the global powers are still far from seeing eye to eye on a solution to the con� ict.

Despite a renewed sense of ur-

gency, major players in the West, Gulf, Russia and Iran are pursuing vastly di� erent military and diplo-matic tactics on the Syrian crisis.

As political pressure mounts over the refugee exodus and the ji-hadist threat posed by the Islamic State group, both France and Australia are planning to extend a bombing campaign against the ji-hadists to Syria.

And a� er killing two British ji-

hadists in a drone attack in Syria, Britain is also mulling air strikes there.

Middle East experts say the nar-row focus on IS is a mistake, and that e� orts should concentrate on dealing with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a� er a four-year civil war that has turned cities to rubble and le� 240,000 dead.

“It is not a problem of capabil-ity, it is a problem of strategy,” said

Emile Hokayem of the International Institute for Strategic StudiesP.

“Adding more British, French, Australian planes will destroy more IS targets but is not going to deal with the fundamental problems of why IS is expanding.”

� e three countries are already bombing IS targets in Iraq but had resisted joining the US, Canada and Gulf allies in doing the same in Syria so as not to provide support to Assad.

More than a year a� er the cam-paign was launched, and thousands of air strikes later, the coalition has failed to stop IS from seizing the key Iraqi city of Ramadi and Syria’s Palmyra, home to a UNESCO-listed world heritage site.

“� e coalition air strikes have changed nothing... we ask ourselves if they are even necessary,” said Claire Talon of the International Federation of Human Rights. AFP

GABCIKOVO, Slovakia—A po-tent mix of fear, ignorance and Islamophobia is fueling wide-spread opposition in eastern Europe to taking in refugees de-spite EU pressure for a new quota system.

In Gabcikovo, a village on Slovakia’s southwestern border with Hungary, locals are on edge ahead of the arrival of some 500 migrants.

� e newcomers are refugees who applied for asylum in neigh-boring Austria and who will only be staying temporarily in a bid to ease the pressure on Vienna, which is struggling to accommo-date record numbers of migrants.

Last month, nearly all of the village’s 5,400 residents voted against establishing the tempo-

rary asylum camp.“We don’t know who’s coming

here,” says local restaurant owner Barnabas Kovacs.

“We’re afraid of terrorism and disease,” he told AFP, echoing the fears expressed by others in this village where most of the people are ethnic Hungarians.

Europe’s eastern � ank has taken the hardest stance against refugees.

Largely homogeneous in terms of race, religion and ethnicity, countries like Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia say they have lim-ited experience in integrating non-Europeans and have raised concerns about a possible back-lash from xenophobes.

Eastern European nations also argue that they are poorer than

their western counterparts, say-ing they know little of the con-� icts in the Middle East and are far better equipped to handle ref-ugees from the ongoing con� ict in Ukraine.

But with the continent struggling to manage its big-gest movement of people since World War II, the European leaders are demanding com-pulsory quotas to ensure a fair distribution of refugees among the 28-member bloc.

“Now is not the time to take fright, it is time for bold, de-termined action,” said EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday as he un-veiled a new plan for the distribu-tion of 160,000 refugees, in a step strongly backed by Germany. AFP

B7mst.daydesk@gmail.com

RAMON L. TOMELDANE D I T O R

F R I D AY : S E P T E M B E R 1 1 , 2 0 1 5

MOTORING

FASTLANEFASTLANEFAST

Rangers on their way to Mt. Mayon

It is worth watching who the characters are, and what the rest of the players will have to offer.

Not to be one-upped by the competition, Ford Group Philippines put its best foot forward. Ford’s 2016 Ranger went under the microscope by way of a ride and drive event in the his-toric and beautiful province

of Bicol. Participants tested its off-road capabilities in a trail near the foot of majes-tic Mt. Mayon Volcano in Albay. To make the experi-ence more memorable, Ford arranged two Seaplanes, which airlifted the motoring media directly from Manila to the Gota Village Resort in Caramoan Island, Cama-rines Sur. Having an awe-

BREMBO, the world’s authority and stand-ard in braking performance, has proven its mettle once again at the recent staging of the Toyota Vios Cup. Held at the Mall of Asia, TRD Vios Cup cars equipped with Brembo brakes traded paint, as race teams competed for precious podium points. “Go-ing down the main straight at full throttle and knowing that the car will stop at the braking point as you flow through the rac-ing line is just what we need to maintain our pace,” says one Vios Cup racer.

Brembo’s range of brake discs and drums is unrivalled in terms of both size and in-novation. Brembo offers affordability along with the quality and performance of the world’s leading braking system manufac-turer to all models of cars.

Brembo recently expanded its lineup with the launch of a dedicated range of Aftermarket integral and composite brake discs (including floating discs). Brembo is now bringing its exclusive expertise as a supplier of top-of-the-range braking sys-tems for the world’s most prestigious cars to the design and manufacture of After-market components for high-end cars. The cutting-edge technology and vast experi-ence of a company that manufactures brak-ing systems for the world’s major automo-tive constructors, combined with absolute control in every stage of the production process, allow Brembo to offer the After-

market professional a more comprehensive and reliable range of spare brake parts that covers over 96 percent of all vehicles on the road today.

Brembo also stands for consistent quality in every component and a comprehensive aftersales service—a choice that is up to any challenge, for any car. AutoPerform-ancePh Inc. is the authorized distributor of BREMBO products in the country, and also distributes high performance and safe-ty gears such as Sabelt, Stilo, HRE and Su-persprint. For details, visit the showroom at 1159 Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City or call Autoperformance PH Office. No.: (02)808-0485 and go online at e-mail: in-for@autoperformance.com.ph and www.autoperformance.com.ph

SOLAR Transport and Automotive Resourc-es Corp. (STAR Corp.), the exclusive dis-tributor of BYD vehicles in the Philippines, expanded its network of dealerships with the recent launching of its dealership in Concep-cion, Batangas, plus an additional showroom in San Pascual, Batangas. “We are looking forward to seeing more and more BYD ve-hicles in the country. With a growing dealer network such as the Areza Group of Compa-nies that has more than 25 years of expertise in automotive, our customers can rest assured that their BYD will always be in great shape,” said Mark Andrew Tieng, STAR Corp. man-aging director.

With the continuous expansion of its dealership network, STAR Corp. strength-ens the reach of BYD in the southern Lu-zon region and enhances its capability to cater to the needs of the market by offering high-quality standards in sales, service, and spare parts for BYD cars.

The Areza Group of Companies, un-der the leadership of its chairman Cesar V. Areza, has been in the automotive and motorcycle business for more than two decades. It is well known as a distributor of automobile and motorcycle products in the provinces of Laguna, Batangas, Quezon

All-new Ranger

some water landing was to say the least, one of the most unforgettable experiences in my life.

Before stepping inside the cockpit, it just couldn’t be missed how the front end of the new Ranger looks rugged. Yes, that is how the new face of the Ford Ranger could best be described. The incorporation of beautiful lines and the chrome ac-cents suits the Ford pick-up. Despite the new Ford Rang-er using the same platform of the previous model, the new Ranger offered a new appearance the brought the Ford Ranger notches higher than its predecessors.

Aside from the physical changes, the suspension was also tweaked offering

a noticeable improvement in ride comfort. Contribut-ing to the better handling of the new Ranger is the electronic power steering that made the hefty truck drive like a compact sedan allowing us to maneuver over the winding, under construction and dirty roads of Caramoan Island. As various road conditions were encountered roaming around the island, the Ford Ranger boasts its new Lane Keeping Alert and Aid that effectively assists driv-ers on paved roads from drifting out of the lane by means of steering wheel vibration and aids though steering torque guide; a feature the new Ranger got from its SUV DNA.

Hitting the trail Though the off-road

trail were primarily ex-clusive to ATVs, the new 4WD Ford Rangers proved to be well built to traverse the rough roads along with the help of its high tech OE equipment such as the Hill Descent feature that allows the truck to safely descend on steep declines on its own. The 200PS of pow-er and 470Nm of torque that the 3.2 Wildtrak has in store under its hood made it easy for us to plow through the loose sand and ash and so wit-ness the how tough can the new Ford Ranger can handle. As we neared the base of the Mayon

Volcano, the Ford Rang-ers were then arranged for the photos showcas-ing the macho aura of the pick-up truck.

Overall, should all this “Pick-Up Wars” be seen as a drama, the Ford Ranger could be labeled as the main star in the unfold-ing story, having to of-fer a lot of stuffs that can be found inside a pick-up truck, more like being the benchmark of the pick-up truck segment. Next month, the new Ranger will be made available in Ford dealerships around the country and with this, the waiting game for what the other characters, rath-er car manufacturers have to offer, begins.

Text and photo by OIson Camacho THE pick-up truck war among car manu-facturers is a great spectacle for those watch-ing in the sidelines. This particular segment has this kind of drama by way of the latest pick-up truck offerings they will showcase, almost like that of a cliffhanger.

At the launching of BYD Batangas are STAR managing director, Mark Andrew Tieng, BYD AUTO senior regional manager, Asia-Pacifi c Auto Sales Division, Benjamin Zhao, Areza Group of Companies VP, Lolita B. Areza and chairman, Cesar V. Areza; Back (from left) Areza Motor Sales president Cesar Gabriel Areza and BYD Batangas General sales manager, Doroteo T. Abiertas.

BYD opensBatangas dealership

Brembo at Vios Cup

and Cavite. “We welcome this partnership with the Areza group, which we hope will contribute to furthering the awareness and acceptance of the BYD brand in territories the Areza Group is present in,” Tieng said.

With its established network of dealerships and allied businesses, the Areza Group will play an important role in increasing sales and, more importantly, expanding the after-sales service reach of BYD outside of Metro Manila, especially in the Calabarzon area and its neighboring provinces.

forays intoMt. Mayon

MOTORING

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B8 RAMON L. TOMELDANE D I T O R

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

CARPOOL: ALL HYPE, WON’T FLY

Text by Dino Ray V. Directo III

THE administration has come up with yet another scheme ostensibly to ease traffi c by imposing a ban on cars that have fewer than four passengers along Edsa during rush hour. In other words, car pooling.

The brainless proposal as described by not a few outraged Netizens refl ects on the ad-ministration’s desperate attempt to fi nd a solution to the traffi c problem which has been the focus of discussion during a recent Cabinet meeting. “What we are proposing which is be-ing seriously considered, is the banning of cars with fewer than three passengers during the peak hours of 7 to 10 in the morning, and at 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Only those who carpool with at least three passengers will be allowed to use Edsa,” said DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson.

Concerned agencies, Singson said, should identify alternate routes that can be used by vehicles with less than three passengers before the proposed measure will be enforced. “This is just one of the recommendations being consid-ered to address the traffi c problem. There is a need to regulate the number of vehicles during peak hours to maximize the Edsa artery. We are in the process of tweaking this proposal and it will be discussed by the end of the week,” says Singson.

The car ban, or car pooling scheme, drew fl ak from not only netizens but also from carmakers and other stakeholders in the auto industry.

Daniel Isla, president of Lexus Manila, and an industry stalwart says that this proposal is short-sighted. “Going this route may even cause more problems in terms of monitoring. To do this, they will probably ban glass tints which could cause discomfort and security problems,” Isla said.

Sam Liuson, a San Juan-based businessman, saw no logic in the Singson proposal. “How can you just declare something that infringes on the people’s basic right to travel?”

Both Isla and Liuson were one in saying that the problem at Edsa is behavioral in nature, the lack of discipline of both the drivers and the general public.

An alternative like the train system (LRT and MRT) may work provided that authorities fi rst resolve the issue hounding these public transport modes.

“We need a more effi cient public transport system. The growing number of cars is an indi-cation of a better economy so this should not be the major issue. We need discipline on the road,” adds Isla.

“If ever government decides to implement this proposal, they might as well ban private vehicle sales,” states Liuson, who was stuck in last Tuesday’s monstrous traffi c jam after a heavy downpour.

The National Economic and Development Authority says the country loses P2.4 billion a day due to the worsening traffi c congestion and lost man-hours and productivity.

Since the � rst model rolled o� the assembly line 42 years ago, the Passat has racked up a staggering 22 million units sold. It was recently named as the 2015 European Car of the Year. “With such a formidable portfolio that comes with the Passat, we at Volkswagen Philippines are con� dent that this luxury midsize sedan will dominate its segment in the Philippine market, and as such bolster Volkswagen’s stature as the top-of-mind premium brand,” adds

Klaus Schadewald, chief operating adviser of Volkswagen Ph.

Designed under the guidance of Marc Lichte, the Passat’s exte-rior is characterized by horizontal lines which makes the car visually sleek and sits low to the ground. Visible upgrades to the 2015 ver-sion are the LED headlamp and rear tail light clusters, a larger grille with generous amounts of chrome, 18’-inch alloy wheels, adaptive chassis control, 12-way

Volkswagen introduces mid-size luxury sedan Text and photos

by Dino Ray V. Directo III

V olkswagen Philippines has launched the eighth generation Passat at the Volkswagen Showroom in Bonifacio Global City. � e mid-

size luxury sedan has set its sights on executives and businessmen who demand � exibility, luxury and prestige. “� e introduction of the award-winning Passat is the biggest product launch of the year for Volkswagen Philippines. � is special press preview for Editors will provide an up close and personal ex-perience on why this car is one of the brand’s top sell-ers,” said John Philip Orbeta, Volkswagen Philippines’ president and CEO.

electric front seats, a navigation system, active information display gauge clusters and perhaps the most dynamic panoramic sunroof in the local market. In Germany, the Passat is o� ered with 10 di� er-ent engines. For the local market, Volkswagen Ph is o� ering the 2.0 TSi engine which generates 220 bhp and mated to a 6-speed dual-clutch Direct Shi� Gearbox (DSG) transmission.

With a sticker price of P2.25 mil-lion for the entry level “Business Edition” and P2.75 for the “High-line” Edition; the Passat is expected to lock horns with the BMW 5-Se-ries, Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Mazda 6, Nissan Altima and the Mercedes Benz E-Class.

Volkswagen Ph o� ers the Passat in exciting exterior/interior color combinations such as: Crimson Red/St. Tropez, Oryx White or Iridium Grey Metallic/Titanium Black, and Deep Black Pearl or Black Oak Brown/Natural Brown. It is now available in Volkswagen dealers around Metro Manila and Cebu City.

Volkswagen executives (left) JP Orbeta, president, and Klaus Schadewald, chief operating adviser, take pride in the new Passat.

The engaging dash layout of the Passat includes an active information and navigation system.

The Passat’s 2.0 TSi engine is both powerful and economical.

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LIFE

TATUM ANCHETAE D I T O R

BING PARELA S S O C I AT E E D I T O R

BERNADETTE LUNASW R I T E R

ST Y L E & BE AU T Y

l i f e @ t h e s t a n d a r d . c o m . p h @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d

SPANISH SARTORIAL

The words “SALE” and “50-70% off ” is starting to change on window displays around the malls and there are so many new styles on display waiting for you to take home. From power coats, sweaters, dresses, to flare pants – inspirations range from the

’70s-era hippies, ’80s romantics even the ’90s grunge scene – cuts and proportions range from oversized to asymmetric. Spanish brands dominate the retail displays and whether you’re gearing up for the cold season or styling yourself for the office or going out at night in bars, there are a lot of personal styles to choose from.

Here are a few of our favorite Spanish brands to visit next time you stroll down the mall:

MINIMALIST BOHOMassimo Dutti offers a lot of modern boho style, minimal and inspired from the ’70s cinema classics. The collection is dominated by camel and brown hues from suede pieces, fringe skirts, leather jackets, and denim pants.

The women’s collection evokes a soft yet powerful woman, ready for her creative work and for hanging out with friends. Dress up in Massimo Dutti skirts, long coats, leather jackets and soft oversize tops. For the men, look elegant in rich brown leather jackets; layer it with grays, whites, and blue polo tops and shirts. Zara is always known for tailored cuts perfect for daily

office wear or dresses for going out at night. This season, the collection leans towards grays, hues of blues, a lot of browns, and abundant styles of lace and jacquard fabrics. You can choose pieces for a.m. wear to p.m. wear. Pants for women have changed from skinny to f lared denims, even bell bottoms are present – very ’70s. Some pieces are tailored and perfect to layer with softer materials to give it that romantic feel. For women, the proportions of the coats borrow from men’s cuts – asymmetric and

oversized. Dresses consist of elegant lace to blouses with delicate f loral prints.

The men’s collection channels the ’70s in rich autumnal hues. Think browns, blues, even orange and red – ideal for stylish work clothes. Suiting up is always an option with sharp suits, lightweight coats, turtleneck knits paired with straight-leg denims. You can go from a suited up executive to boyish street style charm. The Trafaluc collection, made for the younger market, explodes with a lot of denim and gender neutral styles.

Aimed for the younger market, look polished in street style black ensemble from Pull&Bear Black Label for men. Look like a polished college boy in baggy cut-off chinos, regular and skinny fit jeans, and experiment with wool coats and bomber jackets. They also offer accessories to go with the look; shop for clean designed handbags and backpacks and finish the look with stylish rubber shoes.

For the women, Millennial fashion is inspired by fun, carefree and nonconformist dressing. Layer up with oversized sweatshirts, short sleeved shirts, parkas, and knitted tops. The collection screams of comfort and relaxed outdoor wear, especially if paired with slip-on shoes.

URBAN ROCKBomber jackets, military cuts, and cargo pants are dominant in the male section of Bershka. Yes, you got that right – cargo pants! The utilitarian look is in this season and is dominated by blues, camel and natural browns, same as the other Spanish brands.

On the women’s side, inspirations range from Victorian, urban, bohemian, and neomilitary infused with a sexy rock appeal. Think ripped denim, stonewashed jeans, paired with fringe and leathers jackets. Styles range from loose to skinny silhouettes.

SOPHISTICATED STREET STYLE

TAILORED ROMANTIC

LIFE

S p r i n g /S u m m e r trends are great. They’re fantastic all year round in parts of the world where the temperature stays within

the tropical range, like the Philippines. Autumn/Winter trends, on the other hand, are not that compatible with our climate because they’re almost always thicker, longer and darker. However, there are specific styles and items that are not as extreme as the others, and those are what we have for you today. Here, we picked out five of the season’s hottest trends that are 30-degree-Celsius-appropriate for the pleasure of style-seeking men of the tropics.

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LIFE l i f e @ t h e s t a n d a r d . c o m . p h @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d

THE GISTBY ED BIADO

GEOMETRIC COLOR BLOCKINGColor blocking is back. For menswear, it’s more structured and geometric, as well as in non-clashing color combinations. The best ones we’ve seen are from Valentino, which applied the style on every wardrobe must-have, including tops, bottoms and bags.

Theory Wellardon Lunsford overcoat in winter sand

AMI tan-striped buttondown shirt

Reiss printed T-shirt Topman cropped pants

United Colors of Benetton sweater with high zip neck

Valentino color blocked sweater

Reiss patterned pants

Alexander McQueen outfit in beige tones

Valentino color blocked backpack

American Apparel slouch turtleneck

Zara overcoat and cropped pants in beige tones

5 AUTUMN TRENDS IN MENSWEAR THAT YOU CAN WEAR IN THE TROPICS

CROPPED PANTSThe cropped-pant trend continues this season so you can continue to use the ones you have in your closet. If you need an update, check out popular high-street brands Topman and Zara. But be careful when wearing this trend because the pants need to fit impeccably for the deliberate crop to be apparent. Otherwise, it’s just going to look like you’re not wearing the right size.

MUTED PRINTS AND PATTERNSThe printed and patterned pieces from Reiss are absolutely on-trend because they employ the season’s key style: toning it down. The prints and patterns are intricate, but also in colors very close to their background, making them almost invisible.

BEIGESTan, khaki, creams and all forms of beige are in demand this season. While not claiming to be the new black, the beige spectrum is a fantastic base color for coordinating or drawing attention to a different accent color. Theory has an overcoat in a version of beige they call winter sand while AMI has a sleek button down in stripes of white and tan. Alexander McQueen has a variety of options as well.

TURTLENECKA perennial fall favorite, turtlenecks are not for the tropics at all. But there are variations of the style that you can actually get away with. Examples include the slouch turtleneck and the high zip neck – styles that are available from American Apparel and United Colors of Benetton respectively.

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @EdBiado

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In the business of extracting the wonders of nature to help bring out the beauty in our skin, one of the strong contenders is French cosmetology label Nuxe.Fascinated by the amazing power of plants,

founder and chief executive officer Aliza Jabès poured her knowledge as a research pharmacist to build a brand that offers skin care products that are derived from nature – innovative, effective, accessible, and a pleasure to use. Two decades after its inception, Nuxe has built a sterling reputation as a leader in skin rejuvenation and body care known for its pioneering use of plant extracts and botanical ingredients like passionflower, peony and porcelain rose, among others, in order to improve and address various skin concerns as well as maintain healthy and even complexion.

Nuxe Laboratory is committed in choosing ingredients of natural origin wherever possible. The ingredients in each face or body product is skillfully extracted and combined with other active ingredients to create formulations that deeply nourish. And aside from making their product in a manner that shows respect to nature, the packaging is also environment-friendly.

Nuxe’s facial products are all non-comedogenic (does not result in the

appearance of blemishes), and are formulated without paraben, mineral oils (ingredients of petrochemical origin) and animal-origin ingredients.

To date, 69 countries have benefitted from the natural wonders of Nuxe whose products have finally come to the Philippine shores.

Nuxe brand ambassador Nikki Gil attests to the effects of Nuxe as she shares her account of rediscovering radiant, youthful skin. For Nikki, achieving and maintaining a flawless complexion has been a lifelong ordeal, as she suffered from acne during her adolescence. Though the severity of her acne has reduced over time, the 27-year-old singer-actress is not immune from the occasional break out.

“As an actress/host/singer who has to pile on makeup everyday on TV, I’m very careful with the products I use on my skin, as it’s very sensitive. Not everything works on me so finding the right skin care has been trial and error,” she shares. “But after discovering Nuxe, I’m super excited to share it with everyone.”

To maintain her healthy, radiant glow and flawless complexion, Nikki follows the daily regimen as prescribed by the Nuxe skin care system. “Even after a hectic day of shooting, I make sure never to sleep with makeup on. No matter how tired I am, I religiously follow the ritual of cleansing, exfoliation, toning and moisturizing,” she says.

“Thanks to the gentle formulations, I don’t feel that my skin is overwhelmed. It’s super mild but it does all the work,” enthuses Nikki, adding that a little amount of the product goes a long way.

Nuxe is now available at Beauty Bar, Rustan’s Makati and Rustan’s Shangri-La. For information, follow Nuxe on Facebook (NUXE Philippines) and Instagram (@NuxePH).

Sweet, delicate and dainty are the words that describe the selection of dresses that come in softer shades of pink – from pale blush to delicate tea

and old rose and everything in between – at the Fashion Forum of The SM Store.

There’s every reason to get pretty in pink with designers like Alexander McQueen, Rochas, Michael Kors, Rag & Bone, and Victoria by Victoria Beckham having wholeheartedly embraced this delicate hue with dresses that highlight delicacy and refinement. Fit-and-flare, cinched waists in hourglass silhouettes as well as lovely trapeze and popover dresses are also thrown into this rose-colored mix for more fun, flattering, feminine takes on fashion this season.

These dresses from Fashion Forum look even more charming against the backdrop of the attractively quaint Vanilla Cupcake Bakery, with the ladies looking ever so lovely in clothes of delicate lace, soft chiffon, brocade, and sheer fabrics with the floral prints adding an interesting detail.

Soft shades can be matched with anything and still make the outfit look chic with a fresh but timeless appeal. The colors are surprisingly easy to wear, with every kind of shade to f latter every skin tone – all you have to do is try on a few different hues to find one that complements your complexion.

Fashion Forum is a multi-brand boutique showcasing contemporary

labels from the US. It always has fresh selections from many US brands that include Adrianna Papell, David Meister, Julia Jordan, Donna Morgan, Maggy London, London Times, Miss Couture, and more. This pretty selection of day-to-night pink dresses are available at the Fashion Forum section of select SM Stores. Styles may vary per store.

Fashion Forum is located at the SM Store in SM Megamall, SM Makati, SM Mall of Asia, SM North EDSA, SM City Fairview, SM Las Pinas, SM City Sta. Rosa, SM City Cebu, SM Lanang Premier, SM City Bacolod, and SM Aura Premier.

PRETTY IN PINK AT SM FASHION FORUMPhotos by RG Medestomas of Portfolio StudioHair and makeup by Jet BabasLocation: Vanilla Cupcake Bakery, Mother Ignacia Avenue, Quezon City

Beauty from natureParisian cosmetology brand comes to the Philippines

FRESH PICKS. Taylor flower-print fit-and-flare dress with belt.

IN FULL BLOOM. Maggy London rose-printlightweight chiffon trapeze dress

AMAZING LACE. Maggy London lattice rose lace sheath dress with cap sleeves.

Nikki Gil follows the daily regimen prescribed by the Nuxe skincare system

LA VIE EN ROSE.  Donna Morgan lace dress with removable popover top.

THE MODERN FEMININE. Maggy London illusion yoke crepe sheath dress.

ON A SHEER NOTE. London Times shantung fit-and-flare dress with sheer illusion stripes.

In any profession, be it engineering, medicine, the culinary arts and even makeup artistry, using the right tools and caring for them is as important as the skill set the person has. Most newbie makeup

artists that I encounter often ask me about the basics that they need for their kit. I advise them to start off with using drugstore brands in the beginning and not to break the bank by buying expensive cosmetics to fill their makeup malettes with.

Makeup, after all, is all about skill and precision in application. This is where finding the perfect brushes come into play. Again, the choice of brushes need not always be expensive, but most of the time, brushes that perform better come from pricey brands because of the quality of the brush hairs and its overall durability. I consider myself a collector of brushes as I buy at least one brush in every country I visit, usually basing it on the structure and feel of the brush and not necessarily the brand so they’re not always that expensive. Through the years (over a decade to be exact), I’ve tried and tested many brushes and tools. Here are my picks among my own makeup kit staples and some of my newest recent discoveries for those who want to build a basic brush set for either personal or professional use.

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POP-UP BEAUTYBY JIGS MAYUGA

BRUSH WITH GREATNESS

BEST FOUNDATION BRUSHBOBBI BROWN Full Coverage Face Brush, SM Mall Of AsiaI stopped using flat foundation and stipling brushes to apply foundation years ago because it goes on either too thick or streaky. Round and fluffy brushes buff foundation onto the skin, giving it an almost airbrush finish.

BEST CONTOUR BRUSHESTEE LAUDER Sculpting Foundation Brush, Rustan’s MakatiThis new brush from Estee Lauder is uniquely angled and is ergonomically curved to hug the contours of the face for effortless sculpting and definition. This makes it the perfect tool for contouring with creams and liquids for seamless application.

BEST POWDER BRUSHMAKE UP FOR EVER 124 Kabuki Powder Brush,GreenbeltMade by over 30 artisans using more than 25 steps to perfect this dome and round-shaped brush made with nylon fibers. Best used with HD and loose powders. Dip the brush into the powder then press and roll the product onto the face to buff the powder in place.

BEST BLUSH BRUSHNARS Yachiyo Kabuki Brush, Central SquareWith a hand-spun black wisteria handle that gives this brush a unique and traditional look. Picks up the perfect amount of pigment and is excellent for applying blush and highlighter with its round but slightly tapered shape.

BEST EYESHADOW BRUSHSHU UEMURA Kolinsky Brush 12, Powerplant MallI have to admit this tool is quite pricey but this eye shadow brush has been in my collection since 2005 and I still use it to this day. Kolinsky hairs have the best porosity for application of the most intense and truest form of color. It’s sturdy and flawlessly designed to follow the shape of the lids.

BEST BLENDING BRUSHM.A.C. 224 Tapered

Blending Brush, GloriettaA favorite among many makeup

artists for applying gentle washes of color that blends instantly into

the skin. Use on the socket of the eyes to create a gradation of contour or all over lids for sheer

application of shadow.

BEST BRUSH SHAMPOOCLEAN APOTHECARY Eucalyptus

Spearmint Brush Shampoo, www.dtcmakeup.com

I tried this product recently as some brush cleaners tend to have harsh chemicals that can

ruin brushes, thus damaging your precious investment. This brush shampoo comes in a solid soap form formulated with goat’s milk

oil to whiten brush bristles and olive oil to condition natural hairs. Simply wet the brush, swirl into the soap tub, rinse and then lay flat

on a towel to dry.

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @jigsmayuga

ESTEE LAUDER Sculpting Foundation Brush

M.A.C 224 Tapered Blending Brush

MAKE UP FOR EVER 124 Kabuki Powder Face Brush

BOBBI BROWN Full Coverage Face Brush

CLEAN APOTHECARY Eucalyptus Spearmint Brush Shampoo

SHU UEMURA Kolinsky Brush 11

NARS Yachiyo Kabuku Brush

SHOWBITZi s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

C5ISAH V. REDE D I T O R

ABS-CBN head of Inte-grated Acquisition and International Sales and Distribution Eve-

lyn “Leng” Raymundo was the only Philippine TV network executive invited to be part of a distinct panel of speakers in the recently held “The Singapore Dialogue 2015”at the Discovery Primea in Makati City to dis-cuss how local Filipino content penetrates the global audience.

With the topic “From the Philippines with Love: Creating Television Content for a Global Audience,” Raymundo shared how ABS-CBN, the leading me-dia and entertainment company in the Philippines, successfully broadcasted its dramas to over 50 territories worldwide through its top-caliber content that har-nesses on creative storylines, authentic characters, love, and elevated production qualities.

In 2015 alone, ABS-CBN suc-cessfully sold titles, like The Legal Wife (16 territories), Tomorrow Belongs to Me (11 territories),No Greater Love (8 territories),Got to Believe (7 territories), and

Pure Love (3 territories), across Asia and Africa.

From left, adobo magazine editor in chief Angel Guerrero, The Moving Visuals Co. CEO/creative director Galen Yeo,

Leng Raymundo, Bomanbridge Media Pte Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Sonia Fleck and Direc-tor for Industry Operations of Media Development Authority of Singapore Joachim Ng.

F RIDAY : S EPT EMBER 11 : 2015

i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o mi s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

ABS-CBN exeC oN iNterNAtioNAl FilipiNo CoNteNt diStriButioN

iPhoto

the leading global informa-tion and communications technology solutions pro-vider, Huawei, looks on to

capture the leadership in wearable technology with a couple of smart watches targeted for release before the year ends.

But while the highly anticipated Huawei Watch has yet to find a local release date (it is up for pre-order now on Huawei’s US store and set to ship to US customers on Sept.17) Filipinos can now get their hands on the new Talkband B2.

Formally launched last week, the Talkband B2 immediately sets itself apart from other fitness bands with its elegant design (es-pecially the gold executive ver-sion) that makes it look more like a piece of jewelry.

Complementing the premium look is the genuine leather strap, which has a special dual lock to make sure it stays comfortably in your wrist. If you are more of the sporty type the Talkband B2 also comes in black and white with a TPU strap.

Designed with fashion in mind by the Huawei Aesthetics Center team in Paris, the TalkBand B2 sports a 0.73-inch, 128 x 88 pix-el, mono PMOLED touchscreen. The metal bracket of TalkBand B2 is made of high strength, light weight aviation aluminum.

Free Your hAndsThe main unique feature of the Talkband B2 is that it also doubles as a Bluetooth Earphone, which you can easily pop up from the wristband to answer calls.

“According to our consumer re-search, a lot of people who buy fit-ness trackers easily lose interest after a few months when they become too

busy with work and stop their fit-ness activities, but with the Talkband B2, you will always find a use for the Bluetooth earphone since you probably would be using your phone everyday, this gives it a better value proposition, explained Charles Wu, country head for Consumer Busi-ness Group, Huawei Philippines.

At a time when multitasking has become more of a necessity rather than a skill, the Huawei TalkBand B2 is the perfect com-panion for your busy life allowing you to continue working without having to fumble for your phone and miss that important call.

“With its intuitive touch-and-swipe UI, the TalkBand B2 keeps you informed and updated wher-ever you are and whatever you’re doing, with on-screen notifica-tions, reminders, alarms, track-ing, and monitoring to keep you in touch with all the important things in life.” Wu added.

Whether you are driving, work-ing on your computer, or just playing around with your kids, the TalkBand B2 frees up your hands so you can keep them on the wheel, take down those important notes immediately and continue those conversations comfortably.

The TalkBand B2 is equipped with dual-microphone, noise re-duction technology and quality Bluetooth connectivity. It is also equipped with smart detection to understand whether the Blue-tooth earpiece is on the wristband or not, allowing it to automati-cally push audio (music/call) to the smartphone or B2 bracelet. You can even connect up to two smartphones to the TalkBand B2 so you don’t have to choose which of your phones to pair it with.

huAweibrings on the bling with tAlkbAnd b2

C5ISAH V. REDE D I T O R

Charles Wu, Country Head, Consumer Business Group, Huawei

Huawei TalkBand B2 - 1

Huawei TalkBand B2 - 3

Huawei TalkBand

B2_3

Leng Raymundo

Mitch and Armand Mendoza - Celebrity Fitness Coaches

Nino Carandang - Category Head for MBB and Wearables_ Al Dimapilis - Marketing Director_ Charles Wu - Country Head Consumer Business Group_ Patrick Ru - Product Manager for MBB and Wearables (all from Huawei) with Mitch and Armand Mendoza

Nino Carandang - Category Head for MBB and Wearables_ Charles Wu - Country Head for Consumer Business Group_ Patrick Ru - Product Manager for MBB and Wearables

SHOWBITZC6i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

F RIDAY : S EPT EMBER 11 : 2015

ACROSS 1 Fracture finders (hyph.) 6 Hanging — (on subway) 11 Standing, slangily 14 Maximum 15 The good dishes 16 Garnet or ruby 17 Maudlin 18 Candle or legion 19 Zoologists’ mouths

A N S W E R F O R P R E V I O U S P U Z Z L E

CROSSWORD PUZZLE FRIDAY,

SEPTEMBER 11, 2015

20 In — of 22 Generous one 24 Fissure 28 Claim 30 Enjoy with gusto 31 Early New Zealander 32 Model’s need 33 Departure from the norm 37 Holm or Fleming 38 It may be mounted

39 “A Boy Named —” 40 Like the Ice Age 43 Cheerful tones 45 Like city lots 46 Mirage site 47 Soap 50 Garlic juicers 51 Artist — Matisse 52 Obi-Wan portrayer 53 Et, for Hans 54 Anthony Quinn role 57 Sword handles 62 PBS “Science Guy” 63 Perpendicular 64 George who was a she 65 Traipse 66 No brain surgeon 67 Binge

DOWN 1 Really big tees 2 Narrow inlet 3 Electrical unit 4 Pet shop sound 5 Coiffure pro 6 Landslide result 7 A grand 8 Basketball hoop 9 Santa — winds 10 Spotify rival 11 River in France 12 Latvian money

13 Mellow fruits 21 I, to Fritz 23 What — —? 24 Diet guru Jenny — 25 Fit for a queen 26 Helen, in Spain 27 Coq au — 28 Blacktopped 29 Churn up 31 Asked for milk 33 Impede 34 Specks on a globe 35 Outlandish 36 Wildlife shelters 38 Tarzan’s mate 41 Autocrat 42 Gave a charge to 43 Freeloaders 44 Soyuz destination 46 Rapper Dr. — 47 Connie of TV news 48 Mrs. Kurt Weill 49 Got through 50 Batter’s place 52 What tots are taught 55 Forty-niner’s quest 56 Cartoon Chihuahua 58 Zurich peak 59 Balsam — 60 One of 10 61 Sault — Marie

PEOPLEALDUb NAtiONWe are not going to play like an analyst since it’s so obvious that the entire country is only talking about the main cast of Eat Bulaga’s “Kalyeserye,” Alden Richards and Yaya Dub (Maine Mendoza). Two months since they became the hottest prop-erty on local TV, AlDub has not shown any signs of slowing down. They amaze people ev-ery single day more notable was the record-breaking 5.8 million tweets that elevated AlDub from a fad to a legitimate force to reck-on with.

MARiMARThe second local adaptation of the popular Mexican telenovela registered the highest debut rat-ings of any primetime show year to date according to AGB Niel-sen. Its pilot episode’s rating was even higher than KathNiel’s Pan-gako Sa’Yo debut on primetime. The Megan Young-starrer prime soap, of course didn’t just make ratings record during its pilot telecast, is also consistent being the most watched evening show.

DEREk RAMSAyThe Kapatid star is still a reliable talent either on the small screen or the big screen. The sexy mov-ie called Ex with Benefits, which Derek stars in, sizzled at the box office earning P8 million on its opening day. The reviews from fans and film critics are favorable as well. Now, it doesn’t matter whether Derek plays almost the same characters over and over again, what’s cool is that people don’t get tired of him portraying expected roles.

ASAP 20Why the sudden change in the format? Are they trying to bow down to its rival, which is a new comer to begin with? ASAP is known for its format and seg-ments that reflect global pop culture and trends but with the recent change, the show just looks trying hard. Obvi-ously, Sunday Pinasaya did not just create noise and buzzes, it’s making huge tidal waves enough for ASAP people to feel threatened (very threatened).

titO SOttOIn a recent interview, the poli-tician and showbiz personality said he wouldn’t allow AlDub to be politicized by not allow-ing Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza attend any political sorties including his own. Isn’t his presence in Eat Bulaga al-ready a blatant way of politiciz-ing? Why is he is in the show in the first place. Isn’t he supposed to be in his office doing his job as a public servant?

JULiA bARREttOIs she a baddy in real life? We can only guess. Julia has been a favorite topic on social media for her not so friendly attitude towards other young female stars including her being a snob even to her fans. It doesn’t help that she gets bad press and the fact that she comes from a clan known for bashing their own members. Probably this is the reason why Julia can’t get enough public support for her TV and movie projects.

... AREtALkiNGAbOUt

... ARE

tALkiNGAbOUt

NOt

AlDub fan art

Derek Ramsay

Marimar's Megan Young

ASAP 20 cast

Tito Sotto

Julia Barretto

SHOWBITZ C7i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

F RIDAY : S EPT EMBER 11 : 2015

Alot of good things have been happening to young, up-and-coming singer Edward Benosa.

Since officially launching his eponymous debut album and sin-gle under Star Music early this year, the song “Di Man Lang Nagpaa-lam” (with words and music by Ar-nold Reyes, who is also his manag-er), Edward has seen his popularity grow leaps and bounds.

The song “Di Man Lang Nag-paalam”—a light pop ballad about losing a loved one that disappears without even saying goodbye—has consistently been charting on MOR and other Metro Manila ra-dio stations. It has also been mak-ing a mark on radio countdowns and in sales charts in major cities all over the country, including Davao, Bacolod and Cagayan de Oro, Cotobato, Dagupan.

“Di Man Lang Nagpaalam” spent 11 weeks in the Pinas FM weekly countdown and was ranked number 24 in the Pinoy Top 100 official 2015 mid-year tal-ly by the Philippine Music Charts.

The song’s official music video, uploaded to YouTube, has earned over 500,000 views so far, and is climbing. It has attracted numer-ous comments from fans, includ-ing some who describe it as “a nice song for the broken-hearted” and one that they can relate to.

Prior to this, two of Edward’s songs  “Paglisan”  and  “Ikaw Lang,”  were used in ABS-CBN’s teleserye Moon of Desire.

Edward was also nominated as Best New Artist in the sec-ond MOR Pinoy Music awards. Although he lost to Morissette Amon, he considers it a big hon-or, especially for a newbie like him who‘s just beginning to get noticed in the music biz. When Edward was nominated, he had only been in the business for less than six months. “That time, actually, four months pa lang, ma-nominate na agad, ‘yun pa lang, sobrang bless-ing na,” says Edward, who took it as a sign to keep going. “For me, sign na ‘yon na huwag tumigil, at mag-record pa ng mga nakaka-in-spire na songs.”

Now, because of that, Edward Benosa fan groups have sprung up. Edward is thrilled by the idea of having people who support his music. They’ve become his in-spiration to go on recording and performing. Once before, in his career, Edward tried putting mu-sic out but didn’t get the response he expected (during this time, he auditioned for a spot on The Voice of the Philippines but didn’t make it) and he became so discouraged that he decided to lie low for a while and think about what his next move was going to be.

Now that a second chance has come, and things seem to be go-ing well, he couldn’t be happier.

He wants to thank his support-ers—which includes the people at Star Music, Dannon Clothing and some friends in the busi-ness—for not only welcoming him back, but for giving him a second chance. “Gusto kong sabi-hin sa kanila, salamat sa trust, at sa pagbigay sa akin ng chance na ma-affect  ko sila  through my songs,” says Edward.  “Kung na-i-inspire sila sa music ko, I want them to know  na na-i-inspire din ako,  and that this time, I’m really serious about making it.”

Edward is thankful that “Di Man Lang Nagpaalam” has touched so many people, even becoming a Most Requested Song on MOR. He wasn’t ex-pecting the response that he got, but he intends to use it as a springboard to bigger things.

For him, this is just the start of something better—and this time, he says, he’s really serious. “It’s now or never. Ito na ‘yung second chance ko, kaya kailangan talaga, ibigay ko na lahat for the peo-ple na nagtitiwala sa akin.”

Music is his passion, and he would do it for that, but Ed-ward says that for as long as there are people out there who appreciate his music, he will

keep on going. The fans have become his reason to do all of this. “Siyempre, habang na-a-ap-preciate  ng  fans  ‘yung ginaga-wa ko, lalo akong ginaganah-an. Nawawala ang pagod mo, at saka sobrang saya,”  says the good-looking balladeer.

Edward is looking forward to what he knows will still be com-

ing. There will be shows, and guestings, and all those other things—and he’s very excited. Who knows, there could even be a solo concert in the offing. At the rate things are going, that might just well be in the bag for him. (For bookings and in-quiries, please call Ranjo Isip at 0917-882-2773).

Edward BEnosa finally gEts his BrEaks

The Kapamilya network took home seven trophies at the 2nd Spark Awards for Media Excellence, in-

cluding the Gold award for the Best Media Solution-Integrated Media category for the “Pope Thank You sa Malasakit: A Message From a Grateful Nation” campaign. “Isang Bayan Para Kay Pacman” campaign for the Pacquiao-May-weather megafight, meanwhile, was a silver awardee for both Best Cam-paign by a Media Owner and Best Media Solution-Integrated Media. “ABS-CBN 360 App” also took home the silver award for the Best App by a Media Owner category. Bronze trophies were given to “Book of Thanks” in the Best Me-dia Solution-Social Media, as well as the “Love Is On” campaign in the Best Use of Branded Content by a Media Owner category. Overall, the ABS-CBN Sales and Marketing team was recog-nized as the Best Content Team. The Spark Awards is the first-of-its kind organized by Market-ing Magazine and honors top me-dia owners in the Southeast Asia region, giving them the chance to showcase their value proposition and strength to the industry.

Spark Awards received more than a hundred entries before they were assessed by media pro-fessionals who head some of the most prominent agencies in the region, such as Havas, Mindshare, and ZenithOptimedia and others. Held at The Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel, the gala dinner saw Gold, Silver and Bronze tro-phies being handed out across 24 categories.

HHHHH

The LATe Show wiTh STephen CoLberT RTL CBS Entertainment HD pre-miered The Late Show With Ste-phen Colbert first and exclusive in Asia last night and will air thereft-er at 10:50 p.m. weekenights. Emmy® and Peabody Award-win-ning host Stephen Colbert takes over from David Letterman as the host, executive producer and writer of the show. Best known for his Comedy Central show, The Colbert Report, he is also a best-selling author and accomplished actor, writer, producer and comedian. From its debut, The Colbert Report was a critical and cultural success, win-ning two Peabody Awards and earning 37 Emmy Award nomi-

nations. The series won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Va-riety, Music or Comedy Program in 2008, 2010, 2013 and 2014. Pri-or to hosting The Colbert Report, Colbert spent eight years as the longest-tenured correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Guests appearing on the show’s first episode were Academy Award® winner George Clooney, Republican presidential candidate and former Governor of Florida Jeb Bush and a musical perfor-mance by The Late Show’s band-leader Jon Batiste with his band Stay Human and special guests. During the inaugural week, Colbert will also welcome Scar-lett Johansson, Amy Schumer, Stephen King, Tesla Motors and Space X CEO Elon Musk and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. In addition, the show will feature musical performances by Gram-my® award-winning artists Ken-drick Lamar and Toby Keith, as well as Troubled Waters. The Late Show With Stephen Col-bert will air weeknights at 10:50 p.m. followed by The Late Late Show with James Corden at 11:45 p.m. making RTL CBS Entertainment HD the destination for late night talk.

AbS-Cbn winS 7 SpArk AwArdS

From C8

Spark awardees from ABS-CBN

Stephen Colbert takes over David Letterman for The Late Show

Edward Benosa is grateful for the

second chance given to him as a

recording star

C8 ISAH V. REDE D I T O R

F RIDAY : S EPT EMBER 11 : 2015

SHOWBITZ

The hashtag #AlDubNation is in-deed appropriate for the phenome-non that is AlDub, the love-team-to-be in the country’s longest running noontime show on TV, Eat Bulaga.

Imagine, even in as far away as Al-bay, the province that has long been a Kapamilya country, has turned 180 degrees to become Kapuso, even for just two and half hours.

Albayanos are hooked on the “Kalye Serye” starring AlDub and Lola Nidora and other funny characters that continue to sur-prise audiences across the coun-try and even in other countries.

Alden Richards fanned the flames of AlDub passion in Albay when he graced two of the prov-ince’s festivals in an unprecedent-ed span of four days.

Richards first barnstormed into the municipality of Jovellar, which was celebrating its Quipia Festival that relives the Spanish-era legend on the origins of the town. He then emceed the Mutya ng Quipia and serenaded the pageant contestants.

A concert featuring Silent Sanctuary, which has performed in various cultural events in Al-bay, wrapped up the festival.

Richards also shot some live scenes at the souvenir shops at the Legazpi City terminal were he bought “pasalubong” of Bicol pili nuts for Yaya Dub (Maine Mendoza) as one of Lola Nidora’s challenges for him.

Two days later, he was back, this time as guest of Legazpi City’s 24th Ibalong Festival, the annual cul-tural festivity reliving the pre-colo-nial epic legend of the Bicolandia.

He visited the Cagsawa Ru-ins Park in Daraga town, Bicol’s iconic tourist spot, as part of the unfolding twists and turns of the top-rated “Kalye serye.”

In the evening, Richards serenad-ed the candidates of the Mutya ng Ibalong, one of the region’s top pag-eants whose winners get to repre-sent the city in national beauty tilts. Hosted by GMA Kapuso stars Tom Rodriguez and Bea Binene, the Mutya search drew a jam-packed crowd at the Ibalong Centrum for Recreation, Legazpi’s sports and convention center with the view of the perfect-coned Mayon Volcano.

The festival drew to a close with the street theater presenta-tion reenacting the scenes of the epic legend, which tells about the exploits of the prehistoric heroes of Ibalong, Bicol’s ancient name, who battled the beasts of the land and led it to its golden era.

Joining the street parade was Aaron Villaflor who joined the lead contingent of City officials led by Mayor Noel Rosal and Vice Mayor Bitoy Roces.

Also making celebrity appear-ances are the famed Younghus-band brothers—James and Phil—who held training clinics among collegiate players in Legazpi where football is a fast-emerging sport.

AlDub fever hits AlbAyISAH V. RED

➜ Continued on C7

Alden Richards fanned the

flames of AlDub passion in

Albay when he graced two of the province’s festivals in an

unprecedented span of four

days

Aaron Villaflor with Legazpi City officials at the Ibalong parade

Alden Richards at souvenir shop in LEGAZPI Alden Richards in Albay

Alden joins the Mutya ng Ibalong candidates in another song number

The bedimpled Kapuso actor serenades a Mutya ng Jovellar candidate

Alden Richards serenading Mutya ng Jovellar candidates

Silent Sanctuary at Jovellar Quipia Festival

Tom Rodriguez and Bea Binene emceeing Mutya ng Ibalong

i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m