The Standard - 2015 November 21 - Saturday

VOL. XXIX NO. 282 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 SATURDAY : NOVEMBER 21, 2015 www.thestandard.com.ph [email protected]

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Japan OKsP93-b loanfor railwayto Bulacan

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Leni admitsgovernmentfailures inland reform

Aquino to raise sea row at Asean Summit

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GOVERNOR HITS AFPFOR LUMAD PSY-WAR

By Sandy Araneta

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III is expected to raise the country’s terri-torial dispute with China during the 27th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

“A� er the successful hosting of Apec 2015, we will travel to Kuala Lumpur,

Malaysia this a� ernoon, to participate in the 27th Asean Summit,” said Aqui-no in a speech, delivered in Filipino, minutes before � ying to Malaysia.

“� is gathering to be held this No-vember is very signi� cant because we will launch the Asean Community,” Aquino added, referring to a move to more tightly integrate the regional group by the end of the year.

� e summit will be Aquino’s last as president as he leaves o� ce in June 2016.

In a meeting with Vietnam’s Presi-dent Truong Tan Sang earlier this week, he called for a “full and e� ective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea” and cited the urgent need

Last patrol. Security forces conclude their fi nal patrol along Manila Bay as the delegates to the Asia-Pacifi c Economic Cooperation meetings like United States President Barack Obama (inset) all left Manila and proceeded to Kuala Lumpur for the 27th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. AFP

“It’s possible that they’re adapting this [stance] as [a form of] psychological warfare for them to divert attention but that doesn’t solve the problem we’re fac-ing right now,” Pimentel told � e Stan-dard in an interview.

� e governor’s statement followed the announcement that Maj. Gen. Rey Guer-rero, commander of the 3rd Infantry Di-vision based in Western Visayas, would re-place Eastern Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Aurelio Baladad, who reaches retirement age next week.

� e Panay People’s Organization, a lumad group organized by the mili-tary and led by Renato Casinao, lauded Guerrero “for consistently upholding the rights of the indigenous peoples (IPs) as an advocacy to continuously empower them” and even “adopted” him as a lumad.

Pimentel said if Guerrero truly were part of the lumad, he should side with them.

“He should see what the lumad need. At this point, it’s the Army that can solve

the killings and the problems of the lumad here in our province,” Pimentel said.

Pimentel also slammed the military for presenting Manobo leader Jumar Bucales as a resource speaker before the House committee on indigenous people, where he said other lumadleaders such as Emerito Samarca, the slain executive director of the Alterna-tive Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development Inc., were “poisoning the minds” of the Manobos.

By John Paolo Bencitoand Florante S. Solmerin

SURIGAO del Sur Gov. Johnny Pimentel on Friday denounced the military for projecting themselves as “pro-lumad” despite their inept response to the killing of lumad leaders and the displacement of indigenous people in the province. Next page

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Pimentel said Bucales was actually Marcos Bocales, the leader of the militia responsible for the murders of Samarca, Dionel Campos and Juvello Sinzo.

“The Jumar Bucales presented by the military is, in fact, Marcos Bocales. He’s being used as a resource person of the Army in House inqui-ries and that clearly establishes the link be-tween the Army and the Baghani forces. He’s a rebel leader but they’re claiming that he’s a rebel returnee, making him talk to press con-ferences and say the lumad are linked to the New People’s Army. [Bocales] is why we have internally displaced lumad here in my prov-ince,” Pimentel added.

“Why is it that Jumar Bucales is their resource person… when in fact, he’s the one who ha-

rassed the lumad here in my province? He’s the leader of the Baghani forces. I want him caught but I think it can’t be possible because the mili-tary’s protecting him,” Pimentel said.

“I’m the governor here that’s why I know the problem. They should not say these things, otherwise it seems that we’re fooling each other when we are talking,” he added. “They should be protecting the people, but they’re doing it the other way around. That’s why it’s useless talking to them.”

Pimentel said he has also sought the help of the national government for the lumad who are still encamped at the provincial sports stadium in Tan-dag because they fear returning to their homes.

“The help coming from the DSWD has waned already. There are still 2,500 people in the evacuation centers in Tandag with 98 fami-lies. It’s good that some have already left, but the rest were those communities really affected by the killings,” Pimentel said.

“They want to return to their homes but what’s important is for the perpetrators to get arrested. But I think that’s not possible for now as the Baghani Magahat forces are supported by the Army.”

Also on Friday, the head of the human rights group Karapatan, Cristina Palabay, slammed the military’s “divide-and-rule” tactic and its use of media psy-ops to cover up its role in atrocities perpetrated against the lumad.

Local and international human rights institu-tion have condemned the terrorism perpetrated by the military and its militia groups and also the communist New People’s Army against the lumad tribes.

Until now, the military and police have failed to arrest those behind the Sept. 1 execution of Samarca, Campos and Sinzo.

Suspected soldiers and militiamen from Magahat, Baghani, Alamara, and other groups continue to terrorize lumad tribes with the re-

cent burning of a teacher’s cottage owned by Alcadev.

Palabay said the perpetrators also destroyed books, school supplies, instructional and learn-ing materials, stocks of rice, power generator set, audio-video equipment, sewing machine, kitchen utensils and farm tools.

“The 5,000 banana and abaca seedlings in the school nursery, as well as hardwood and fruit trees were also destroyed. Since September, the 24 schoolchildren and 10 teachers of Alcadev have been staying at the Tandag City Sports Complex, where nearly 2,000 residents from Lianga and San Miguel towns of Surigao del Sur are staying,” she said.

She also took note of the military’s sweep-ing statement against TV personality Maine Mendoza, popularly known as Yaya Dub, singer-composer Aiza Seguerra and other artists as “misled” into supporting the calls of the lumad.

Leni admits failuresin govt land reform

The admission comes weeks after a federa-tion of agricultural workers accused President Benigno Aquino III’s family of using a bogus sale of assets to retain ownership and control of the 6,453-hectare Hacienda Luisita and to frustrate the distribution of land to farm work-ers there.

Robredo, a member of the House commit-tee on agrarian reform, said that many tracts of land intended for distribution were not trans-ferred to the control of farmer-beneficiaries.

“During many of our committee hearings, there were many allegations of corruption insofar as the awarding of lots is concerned,” she said.

Robredo co-authored a bill that seeks to cre-ate an Agrarian Reform Commission to inves-tigate “circumvention and violations” of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.

Robredo said some 1.2 million to 2.7 mil-lion hectares of land that were supposed to be

distributed might not have actually been trans-ferred to farmers.

“The creation of an independent commis-sion would benefit agrarian reform beneficia-ries, since some of them at present were not receiving the lots that were rightly theirs,” she said.

Robredo added that she was in favor of ex-tending the implementation of the Compre-hensive Agrarian Reform Law “so that the land could be distributed once and for all.”

Robredo also said the government must do more than merely distribute land, it must help the farmers.

“If we don’t capacitate them, it’s like we’re just wasting time distributing land. This is why in my opinion, the program should be more com-prehensive,” Robredo said.

“In Mindoro, the creation of farmers’ coop-eratives has been very successful. When you

By John Paolo Bencito

THE ruling Liberal Party candidate for vice president, Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo, admitted Friday that the Aquino administration has failed to distribute land to farmers under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

turn them into cooperatives, this becomes a vehicle so that the lands become more contigu-ous and the cost of development decreases,” she said.

Earlier this month, the Unyon ng mga Mang-gagawa sa Agrikultura disclosed that Aquino’s family sold the Central Azucarera de Tarlac to a businessman, Martin Lorenzo, but the com-pany remains under the control of the family, through the President’s first cousin, Fernando Cojuangco, who is a first cousin of the Presi-dent.

UMA acting chairman John Milton Lozande said the sale was made to avoid paying back farmer-beneficiaries some P1.33 billion in pro-ceeds from the sale of lands in Hacienda Luisita and to abort the distribution of land to farmers and farmworkers.

After the sale last year, Lorenzo named Co-juangco the president and chief operating offi-cer of CAT.

Using CAT, which is within the Hacienda Luisita estate, Cojuangco immediately acquired shares of other Aquino-Cojuangco firms such as the Luisita Realty Corp. and Luisita Industrial Park Co. through the CAT Resource and Asset Holdings Inc. This effectively made the Aquino-Cojuangco family the real owners of Hacienda Luisita, Lozande said.

for parties to conclude negotiations on the Code of Conduct, in view of the rising ten-sion over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

“This is a shared aspiration that we will continue to advance, as I take part in my final Asean summit as President of the Philippines,” Aquino said.

During his visit here for the Asia-Pa-cific Economic Cooperation summit, US President Barack Obama underscored his country’s commitment to defend the Phil-ippines and vowed with Aquino to stop China’s reclamation of land in disputed territories in the South China Sea.

He also pledged increased military assis-tance to the Philippines worth $79 million, including a decommissioned US Coast Guard cutter that will be turned into a new warship.

On Friday, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Obama’s demand that China stop building artificial islands in the South China Sea bolstered the Philippine stand against China’s aggressive expansion in the disputed waters.

“We welcome President Obama’s de-mand as another strong stance against China’s aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea,” said Marcos, referring to the areas of the South China Sea that the Philippines claims.

Marcos also said Manila and Beijing should not let the territorial dispute be-tween the two countries’ define the long history of friendship, mutual respect and cooperation.

Earlier, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the arbitration case the Philippines filed against China in The Hague is a “knot that has impeded the improvement and development of Sino-Philippines relations” and that it is up to Manila “to loosen or open the knot.”

The Arbitration Court has ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear the case, but China rejected the tribunal’s authority.

Also on the sidelines of the Apec this week, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called for a peaceful resolution of territorial disputes in the South China Sea and urged all parties to abide by inter-national law, including the UN Conven-tion on the Law of the Sea.

“Russia is not a party of concern with regards to the West Philippine Sea or South China Sea issue but we call on all the parties involved in the territorial is-sue to exercise self-restraint and resolve the matter through peaceful bilateral talks,” Medvedev said.

He said that Russia supports of peace-ful settlement in accordance with in-ternational law, adding that countries involved in the dispute can still work together to strengthen regional peace and stability. With Vito Barcelo, Macon Ramos-Araneta, AFP

SENATORIAL candidate and Leyte Rep. Martin Ro-mualdez commended the 32,000 security forces, led by Philippine National Po-lice chief Director General Ricardo Marquez, for show-ing “malasakit” [empathy] in the performance of their duties during the just-con-cluded Asia-Pacific Eco-nomic Cooperation Lead-ers’ Meeting.

Romualdez, a lawyer and president of the Philippine Constitution Association, said he is hoping that the great ac-complishment in APEC “would provide continued motivation in making future tasks a suc-cess also,” recalling that the PNP duplicated in APEC its suc-cessful security arrangement in guaranteeing the safety of Pope Francis during his visit in the

Philippines last January.He thanked the organiz-

ers, especially Marquez, for providing security to the world’s most powerful lead-ers amidst global threats of terrorism following the re-cent Paris bloodbath.

“I thank the PNP and all the women and men who showed malasakit in giving their hard work. They did a great job in keeping the peace and order amidst most challenging and trying APEC Leaders’ Summit,” Romualdez, head of the House Independent Bloc, stressed in acknowledging and thanking everyone’s extra effort to ensure the success of APEC.

“They showed excellence in dealing with so many concerns because the country plays a great risk with the presence of world leaders here just after

the worse terrorist attacks in Paris,” Romualdez, the chair-man of the House committee on ethics during the 15th Con-gress, explained.

“Many of our government security men were over-worked and sleepless and not even billeted in hotels. They showed malasakit to the call of their duty to ensure that every-thing would be in order,” said Romualdez.

Romuldez said the hard work and dedication of all people behind the success-ful security for APEC del-egates “showcases that the PNP is a role model despite meager budget for their modernization.”

He expressed strong be-lief that “PNP’s commitment to excellence would inspire and impress the international

community.”“Their brilliance behind the

outstanding work is truly su-perb, above and beyond. The PNP has set a high bar with this one,” Romualdez pointed out in showing his apprecia-tion, gratitude, and commen-dation to them.

The heads of state held se-ries of activities at the Philip-pine International Convention Center complex in Pasay City last Nov. 18 and 19.

The leaders skipped discuss-ing the continued aggressive invasion of China in the dis-puted territories in the West Philippine Sea.

The heads of state of the 21-member economies con-demned all acts of terrorism and called for closer global co-operation in the fight against extremist violence.

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MMDAadmitsfailurein linksBy Joel E. Zurbano

THE head of the Metro Manila Development Authority admitted on Friday that the govern-ment’s lack of effective communication tools caused public confu-sion and disruption during the Asia-Pacific Economic Coopera-tion summit in Manila.

“We need coopera-tion and we must have effective communica-tion tools. Too many advisories caused an overload of infor-mation. We have to simplify the issuance of advisories, in lay-man’s term, one page is enough. It’s all there and there is no need to change the webpage,” said MMDA Chair-man Emerson Carlos.

“Public dissemina-tion and information campaign is important because how many months that we did make announcements, about the impact of the advisory... but still it did not sink-in to the public. They realize it only last Monday, the first day,” he added.

Carlos also offered an apology for the un-announced vehicular traffic adjustment and closure of other main roads in the metrop-olis, saying the gov-ernment made the decision because of the sudden changes in schedule and itin-erary of some heads of economies.

“Last minute, Cavi-tex and Skyway were closed. It was not (in-cluded in the original) plan. We made the sudden closure also because of decisions and as a reaction to sudden schedules of the heads of states,” he explained.

Carlos said the prep-aration for the week-long Apec summit in Manila was more diffi-cult than what they did during the Papal Visit last January.

“This is more dif-ficult because we have 21 heads of states. During the Papal Visit, the Pope wants to see the people, which is not the case this time around. (The event) went smoothly. The people contributed, made sacrifices, but still we made it.”

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Stop band-aid solutions—Binay

Poe detractor urged: Move on

THE Commission on Elections will hold a public hearing in Intramuros, Manila, next week on the proposed satellite voting in the malls during next year’s elections.

The commission says it has set the hearing on the ground f loor of the Palacio del Gobernador Building at 10 a.m. on Nov. 27.

“All interested parties are invited to attend the public hearing on the transfer of polling precincts to identified public malls,” the Comelec said in its Notice to the Public.

The general public and the members of all political parties are welcome to attend the public hearing,

the commission says. “We want to hear the public’s

take on this,” Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said in a previous interview.

The Omnibus Election Code says the designated polling places cannot be changed without prior notice and without a hearing being conducted by the commission.

Bautista has said the Comelec is looking to implement mall voting. He says about 159 privately owned malls nationwide have already expressed interest in hosting the Comelec on Election Day.

Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

Hearing set on mall voting

Back in the streets. Street children were back on Roxas Boulevard in Manila on Friday after several days of being hidden by the government following the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting. Danny Pata

THE lawyer of Senator Grace Poe on Friday told losing sena-torial candidate Rizalito David to move on since the Senate Electoral Tribunal’s decision had clearly established that she, an independent presidential candidate, is a natural-born Filipino citizen.

Voting 5-4, the nine-man tribunal junked Poe’s disqualification case over the issue on her citizenship filed by David.

David had insisted that Poe should be re-moved from the Senate as she failed to meet the requirement that she be natural-born Filipino citizen when she ran for senator in 2013.

Poe’s lawyer George Garcia said David now bore the burden proving the tribunal was wrong.

“Mr. David has been ill-advised for dis-paraging the SET decision. It was not a political decision but a clear-cut judgment based on prevailing jurisprudence,” Garcia said.

David said he will appeal the SET ruling to the Supreme Court as he expressed hope that it would be overturned.

But Garcia maintains that Poe is a nat-ural-born citizen under the 1935 and 1986 Constitutions, and that the senator is pre-sumed a natural-born Filipino because she did not have to do anything to acquire her status.

In the latest Pulse Asia survey on pre-ferred presidential candidates for the May 2016 elections, Poe was way ahead of the other candidates and even led her closest rival, Vice President Jejomar Binay, by 15 percentage points.

Her running mate, Senator Francis Es-cudero, enjoyed a more comfortable of 43 percent.

Meanwhile, Escudero said he was disap-pointed with the Supreme Court justices who voted against Poe.

He noted that the position taken by As-sociate Justices Antonio Carpio, Teresita Leonardo de Castro and Arturo Brion was a clear form of discrimination against found-lings whom they regarded as not natural-born Filipino citizens and thus barred from running for national posts.

“They could have forgotten the basic principle of the law that says that ‘those who have less in life should always have more in law’,” Escudero said.

Macon Ramos-araneta

Recovered loot. Authorities show off recovered pieces of property stolen by a gang of porch climbers in Teachers’ Village during a press conference in Quezon City on Friday. JanSen RoMeRo

VICE President Jejomar Binay on Fri-day urged the government not to resort to “band-aid” solutions but to draw up concrete measures to prevent at least one million rural workers from losing their jobs within the next six months to El Niño.

He said the budget set aside for emer-gency employment programs would only benefit 70,000 rural workers.

He asked if the Aquino administra-tion had any plans to ease the damage expected to be brought by El Niño par-ticularly to the agriculture and indus-trial sectors.

Binay said the loss in the agriculture sector had been pegged at P2.19 billion

in the first half of the year. Yet the administration apparently

had a wrong sense of priorities as it allo-cated P13 billion for irrigation in Metro Manila.

“Metro Manila can hardly be consid-ered an agricultural area, yet the ad-ministration allocated P13 billion for Metro Manila irrigation projects that could have been diverted to other prov-inces,” Binay said.

He said agriculture would be one of the priorities of his administration if he was elected President as that sec-tor would generate jobs for the major-ity of Filipinos who lived in the rural areas.

He vowed to improve the infrastruc-ture and give additional incentives to farmers to increase productivity in the farm sector.

“Under the Binay administration, ag-ricultural funds will be restored to pro-duce good and abundant agricultural harvest which is a key industry,” Binay said.

“We will build new farm-to-market roads that will hasten the transport of products to the market.”

Binay also vowed to build post-har-vest facilities and to cut production costs to raise farmers’ income and lower the prices of agricultural products.

Vito Barcelo

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Poe: GMA to get justice, too

Govt canrecoverApec cost—Palace By Sandy Araneta and Rio N. Araja

THE P10 billion the govern-ment spent for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting can easily be recouped, the Palace said Friday in response to criticism that the money could have fed every hungry Filipino family for 20 days.

“Looking at [the] big picture, losses incurred this week will be recovered eventually in terms of continuing and sustained growth and development of the Philip-pine economy as a favored invest-ment and tourism destination,” said Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr.

The government spent around P10 billion for its year-long host-ing of the economic meetings, held in several areas like Metro Manila, Cebu, Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga, Iloilo, Ta-gaytay, and Boracay Island.

Amidst the criticism, the gov-ernment stressed that economic gains from hosting of the Apec Meetings more than compensate disadvantages experienced by some people.

Coloma quoted Finance Sec-retary Cesar Purisima as saying Apec provided its member-econ-omies a venue to further enhance economic and trade relationships and that has resulted in doubling the combined gross domestic product of Apec members from $15 trillion in 1989.

Trade figures rose seven times to $21 trillion against the $3 tril-lion before Apec.

For the Philippines alone, the country’s exports rose more than 15 times because of stronger tie-up with Apec member-countries.

Coloma made the remark in re-sponse to criticisms that the mon-ey spent for Apec could have been better spent.

“If used to feed the 3.46-million hungry Filipinos, the P10-billion Apec fund could eradicate pov-erty in the country for at least 20 days,” said Gloria Arellano, Kad-amay national chairperson.

Manila, Tokyo agree on P93-B Bulacan rail

That was among the highlights of the bilateral talks the two nations held Thursday after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Summit.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and Japanese Ambassador Kazuhide Ishikawa exchanged notes on a yen loan that will finance the “North-South Commuter Railway Project” amounting to 241.991 billion yen (about P93.457 billion).

The railway project aims to strengthen the transport network and ease serious traffic congestion in Metro Manila by constructing a commuter

railway between Malolos and Tutuban and contribute to a more secure and sustainable economic development through promotion of investments.

Another key agreement focused on coordinating the pension payments of people who live or work in the Philippines and Japan and are covered by their respective social security systems or even another country, Malacañang said.

“The cooperation between Japan and the Philippines has become ever closer,” said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who witnessed the signing of the

By Sandy Araneta

AMID public complaints on transportation and its related infrastructure, the Philippines and Japan agreed to build the P93.457-billion railway from the Tutuban Station in Divisoria, Manila to Malolos, Bulacan.

agreement along with President Benigno Aquino III.

While Aquino had already offered his kind support of the legislation for peace and security, Abe said he took the opportunity to reiterate the position of Japan to make further contributions to the peace and stability of the region and other global communities through “proactive” contributions to peace.

“We welcome the agreement in principle on the transfer of defense equipment and agreed to work together for the early signing of agreement and realization of cooperation in defense equipment,” Abe said.

There was a request from President Aquino regarding the provision of large patrol vessels to the Philippine Coast Guard and Japan would like to consider the specifics of the matter, Abe said.

“I reported to the President Japan’s decision to provide approximately 15-billion yen

to support the agribusiness promotion project in Mindanao upon request from the Philippine government,” Abe said.

“The President and I also had a candid exchange of views on regional peace and stability. We shared deep concerns over unilateral actions to change the status quo such as the large-scale land reclamation and building of outposts in the South China Sea,” Abe said.

“At the same time, we confirmed the importance of partnership in the global community based on the rule of law to protect open, free and peaceful seas,” Abe also said.

“The visit to the Philippines by Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress early next year will be an auspicious event to mark the opening of a series of celebrations for the 60th anniversary of normalization of diplomatic relations between our two nations,” the prime minister said.

Closer ties. President Benigno S. Aquino III and Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hold expanded bilateral talks at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Hotel on Thursday. MALACAÑANG PHOTO

P65-m art work. A woman studies the P65-million painting of the late Nena Saguil now on exhibit at the Galeria de las Islas in Intramuros, Manila. Saguil was one of the female Filipino painters who pioneered abstract painting in the Philippines. DANNY PATA

By Macon Ramos-AranetaIF SHE wins the presidency, Senator Grace Poe vowed to work for the speedy resolution of cases that have been clogging the dockets of the judiciary, including that of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

“What we all want is a swift prosecution of cases because when the process is prolonged, like in the case of GMA and many others who are still in jail with no certainty, that would be unjust,” Poe said in Angeles City following a consultation meeting with residents.

Poe made the remark in response to a quation about Arroyo who has remained under “hospital arrest” at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City with a incurable disease although all her co-respondents have been released on bail.

Arroyo is charged of plunder before the

Sandiganbayan in connection with the alleged misuse of P366 million in Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office intelligence funds for personal gain from 2008 to 2010.

Poe said there can be no justice if one is held in detention for a long time because his or her case is being unjustifiably dragged.

“My prayer for all and for the country is to have an efficient justice system. Those who have committed a crime should be made to pay,” said Poe.

The front runner in all presidential surveys also believes that if the guilt of a person has not yet been proven, he has the right to be free.

“What is just being said is for the speedy disposition of cases, whatever the decision of the court,” she said.

“I don’t believe in kicking a person especially when he or she is already down, especially if that is the situation. Why would I be hostile especially in a situation like that?” she asked.

A6

Another woman gives birth amid metro traffic

By Joel E. Zurbano

STREETS of Metro Manila are fast becoming the instant delivery room for pregnant women who stuck in traffic as a result of road closure.

Advocates denounce free trade in fisheries

Public Works dept earmarks P1.7b for Manila flood control

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Another woman gave birth Friday morning along the Coastal Road in Parañaque City after the public utility bus she and her husband riding encountered heavy traffic on their way to Manila from Tanza in Cavite.

Aileen Butacain, 31, named her baby girl “Coast-aline,” after the name of Coastal Mall where she gave birth around 8 a.m. with the help of a mall vendor who used to work as a midwife.

Butacain and her husband Enrique were on their way to Ospital ng Maynila, where she was supposed to deliver her baby, when the bus they were riding encountered the traffic gridlock be-cause of the road closure enforced by the govern-ment in connection with the Asia-Pacific Eco-nomic Cooperation summit in Manila.

“She was already complaining when we reached Coastal Road and because of the heavy traffic, she gave birth here at the mall,” said Enrique.

Later, personnel of the Metro Manila Devel-opment Authority manning the area rushed the couple and the newly born child to the hospital.

Last Monday, Lorna Justo gave birth on the side-walk of President Diosdado Macapagal Avenue, also in Parañaque City, because of heavy traffic. It was on Monday when authorities first enforced the road closure and tight security for Apec event.

Angel Ramos-Canoy uploaded to her Facebook ac-count a photo showing the woman giving birth to a baby boy while walking near the City of Dreams Ho-tel and Casino. Commuters in the area were forced to walk because of the security measures for Apec.

The woman was seen being assisted by police-women from Quezon City Police District. But Canoy said patrolling policemen refused to let the woman to give birth inside their police mobile.

Canoy said she and other stranded commuters used umbrellas to give the woman some privacy as she gave birth. “All we can do is to give shade through our umbrellas,” she wrote.

Witnesses claimed the policewoman who helped the woman deliver her child was also a midwife while the other man was a trained nurse.

Traffic was heavy in southern part of Metro Manila on Monday, particularly in the areas of World Trade Center, SM Mall of Asia, and the Philippine International Convention Center, all in Pasay City, the official venues of Apec meetings.

By Rio N. Araja

A DAY before the commemoration of World Fisheries Day, climate advocates stormed the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources office in Quezon City to denounce the policy of liberalization and free trade that could worsen the state of small local food producers.

Gerry Arances, national coordi-nator of the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice, spearheaded the rally Friday in front of BFAR to dramatize their opposition against policies removing subsidies for small local fisherfolk and promot-ing stricter, anti-poor policies on fishing.

“Among the most affected in the crisis of climate change are fishing communities whose sources of in-come are depleted due to storms and extreme heat brought about by the warming of the planet and the oceans,” he said.

“And yet, policies on the manage-ment of water resources, promot-ing biodiversity, adaptation and resiliency keep this sector—one of the poorest sectors in the country—away from the coastal areas which are their only source of livelihood.”

Arances cited the issuance of no-build zones in Typhoon “Yolanda” stricken areas in Eastern Visayas in November 2013 to displace fisher-folk and replace their settlements with commercial establishments.

“Removing artisanal fisherfolk from places where they fish is tanta-mount to condemning them to pov-erty and hunger. With 41 percent of fishing communities experiencing extreme hunger, it is unthinkable that the Aquino government’s policy of ‘building back better’ does not in-volve strengthening the livelihood of sectors relying on fishing for sur-vival,” he lamented.

Val Vibal of Aniban ng Mang-gagawa sa Agrikultura, head of PMCJ’s adaptation working group, said the government’s free trade policies are incompatible with the “inclusive growth” for fishing and farming sectors as well as policies on protecting the environment and natural resources in the con-text of climate change.

By Vito Barcelo

THE Department of Public Works and Highways has allotted P1.7 billion worth of flood control projects in Manila for the decades-old problem of flooding that affects the country’s capital city.

Former President and now Manila Mayor Jo-seph Estrada said close coordination by his office with the DPWH Under Secretary Rogelio Singson resulted in Manila getting a windfall of infrastruc-ture projects worth P1,742,775,286.46. Of this amount, P1,086,057,000 went to “flood control and drainage system” projects.

“Since the start of my administration in 2013, I have seen to it that our public works really re-dound to the benefit of the people and directly ad-dress their needs. That is why the bulk of our in-frastructure projects focus on flooding, damaged, outdated or worn-out roads, clogged waterways, lack of classrooms, and other pressing concerns,” Estrada said, lamenting that such problems were not attended to by the past administrations.

Manila City engineer Roberto Bernardo said that the DPWH will work closely with the Manila government in the execution of these projects to avoid any irregularities.

“I believe that our performance in the area of infrastructure is the reason why the DPWH has infused so much infrastructure projects in Manila under this term of Mayor Estrada,” Bernardo said.

He added that the honest and competent imple-mentation of infrastructure projects was among the reasons why Manila was conferred the ‘Most Com-petitive City award’ in the 2015 National Competi-tiveness Council of the Philippines—Cities and Mu-nicipalities Competitiveness Index awards.

Manila was also adjudged No. 1 in infrastruc-ture in the said annual NCC awards co-sponsored by the USAID. This year’s awards program—was headed by Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory Domingo and Co-Chairman Guillermo Luz.

“Before the administration of Mayor Estrada, Manila was a bottom dweller—Number 36—in this competitiveness awards,” Bernardo said.

Look up, baby boy. A child is fascinated with lanterns on display at Central Market in Sta. Cruz, Manila. LINO SANTOS

From Leyte to Tarlac. Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez conveys his appreciation to Tarlac Gov. Victor Yap for the latter’s help to ‘Yolanda’ victims in Tacloban. VER NOVENO

A7SAT UR DAY: NO VEMB ER 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

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The arrested bandit leader was identified as Mhadie Umangkat Sa-hirin alias Madie.

“Our troops from the 64 Infan-try Battalion and policemen col-lared him while he was walking

at 11:40 a.m. He did not resist arrest when he saw our soldiers and policemen who surrounded him. There is no chance of es-cape,” Trinidad said.

Intelligence operatives tracked

Authorities arrest Abu leader in Zamboanga By Florante S. Solmerin

A NOTORIOUS leader of the Abu Sayyaf Group who was arrested by government forces before noon Friday in Barangau Tubungan, Zamboanga City, Navy Captain Roy Trinidad, spokesman of the Joint Task Force “Zam-basulta” (Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi), said.

By Sara D. Fabunan

CATHOLIC bishops have joined the voices of other leaders in condemning the killing of a Malaysian busi-nessman by Abu Sayyaf ter-ror group in Mindanao.

Bishops Martin Jumoad of Isabela in Basilan and Dinu-aldo Gutierrez of Marbel in South Cotabato said acts of terrorism must be deplored in the strongest terms and all available measures be taken to stamp them out.

“This is sad news when life is curtailed because of the failure to pay ransom,” Jumoad said in a statement posted at the CBCP website.

Gutierrez said the behead-ing of Bernard Then, held captive since May by the Al Qaeda-linked group, is “im-moral and inhuman act”.

“When all diplomatic means are exhausted, the government must use the fi-nal option,” Jumoad said.

Then was reportedly killed in Indanan town of Sulu island Wednesday afternoon.

Malaysian Prime Minis-ter Najib Razak said he was “shocked and sickened” at the killing and called on Philippine authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“We will also extend our full cooperation to relevant agencies and authorities in charge on the investigation of this incident,” Razak said on his Facebook page.

Bishops condemn killing of Malaysian

Giant cross to stand on Limasawa IslandBy: Mel Caspe

A 15-METER high cross, with an estimated cost of P10 million, will soon stand on Limasawa Island, Southern Leyte and will serve as a his-torical marker to commemo-rate the spot where the first Christian Mass in the Philip-pines and in Asia was held.

The island was declared a tourism zone on Nov. 18, 1994 by virtue of R.A. 7822, which also declared that the island shall be “accorded pri-ority development by the De-partment of Tourism.”

The Regional Develop-ment Council said the project is consistent with

the local government unit’s National Tourism Devel-opment Plan. “Since it will be constructed on govern-ment property, it is eligible for funding assistance by the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Au-thority.”

Once completed, the his-torical monument is expect-ed to draw more tourists to the region. An improved roll-on, roll-off port and other facilities are up for construc-tion.

On March 16, 1521, Ma-gellan discovered Philip-pines, by anchoring first on Homonhon island of Gui-uan, Eastern Samar.

Sahirin for years.“Madie has long been wanted

by authorities for murder and frustrated murder. The arrest warrant was issued by Judge Danilo Bucoy, 9th Judicial Court of Basilan, Branch 2 on February 14, 2013 for murder of civilians and frustrated murder of soldiers at Barangay Upper Cabengbeng, Sumisip, Basilan," Trinidad said.

Based on military and police recirda, Sahirin is a leader of lawless elements based in Sapah Bulak, Sumisip, Basilan with the strength of more or less 20 fol-lowers.

“Sahirin was a former mem-ber of ASG under Furuji Indama alias Abu Dujana. At present, he is affiliated with the ASG under Indama and lawless element un-der Abas Alam. He has also par-ticipated in the ambush of gov-ernment forces along the Basi-lan Circumferential Road using Improvised Explosive Devices.

Furthermore, Madie is respon-sible for a series of carnapping, bombings and burning of govern-ment construction equipment in the province,” Trinidad said.

He said authorities are investi-gating his presence in the city.

New day. The sun rises at the shore where the Tacloban Astrodome stands. SONNY ESPIRITU

ISO-certified. Star Tollway Corp., operator of the 42-kilo-meter Star Toll-way in Batangas province, has been awarded the Integrated Management System certifi-cates for triple ISO standards. STC president and CEO Manuel Bonoan receives the certificate from TUVRhein-land Philippines COO Tristan Lo-veres. STC chief finance officer Melvin Naza-reno looks on.

of China, Hong Kong, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Chile, Peru, Russian Federation, Vietnam, and Taiwan (although China claims this as its province).

Such a coming together of these economies could have been a good idea if not for a very fundamental concern—the neo-liberal development paradigm Apec (and the world at large) pursues. Neoliberalism, often referred to as globalization is the advanced form of capitalism aided by the rapid technological advances in the fields of commu-nication and transportation.

This neoliberal economic model sees the entire world as a barrier-free marketplace of goods and services. “Free trade” reigns supreme here. Neolib-eralism promised progress and economic advancement by ad-

OPINIONA8

[ EDI TORI A L ]

BURNED

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ADELLE CHUAE D I T O R


OPINION

BY NOW, the biggies, led by US President Barack Obama and #APEChotties Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto have left the country. And we are back to our pre-Apec summit concerns.

Some quarters claim big suc-cess because our government was able to secure bilateral agree-ments that could be beneficial to us in the future. They say that the

P10 billion spent was well worth it because of such gains.

But let us go back to the basics: did Juan and Juana have a chance to really understand what the Asia-Pacific Economic Coop-eration is, and what it stands for? Did people know why they had to walk for several hours, why their wages are cut because of work suspension and restric-tions brought about by hosting this grand meeting in Manila? It came and it went, but what did we learn besides the fact that most heads of Apec members were in the country for a few days? I doubt if many of us now have a better understanding of what just happened.

Apec, as the name implies is an association not of countries, but of economies. Governments are quick to say that this aggru-pation does not tackle political issues and solely deals with eco-nomic and trade concerns. As if the two are mutually exclusive. This is the reason why, according to them, the West Philippine Sea problem could not be an official Apec concern. But I am getting ahead of my story.

Apec is composed of 21 mem-ber economies: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Sin-gapore, Thailand, United States of America, People’s Republic

FAIR, NOT FREE, TRADE

AS POINTED out in the previous col-umn, outgoing Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno, who is running for the Senate under the ticket of independent presi-dential candidate Grace Poe, should re-frain from making untenable statements in defending Poe from the onslaught of disqualification cases filed against the senator before the Commission on Elec-tions (Comelec). If Moreno wants Sen-ator Poe to win in the presidential elec-tions, he ought to shut up on this issue.

Poe’s spokesman, Rex Gatchalian, is no different from Moreno in defending his principal from the series of disquali-fication cases filed in the Comelec.

In an attempt to defend Poe’s long stay in the United States as an American citi-zen, Gatchalian likens the senator to the many overseas Filipino workers and other migrant workers who have decided to set-tle in foreign lands. Gatchalian concludes that like OFWs and migrant workers, it cannot be said that Poe turned her back on the Philippines when she willingly re-nounced her Philippine citizenship to be-come an American citizen years ago.

Gatchalian’s analogy has no basis. The best rebuttal to his analogy comes from pro-administration vice presiden-tial bet Leni Robredo, who said, “Filipi-nos working abroad are not running for president.”

Another baseless analogy peddled by Gatchalian concerns Filipino veterans who fought Japanese invaders during World War II, and who later obtained American citizenship. Once more, Gatch-alian compares Poe to these veterans and concludes that Poe should not be faulted for turning her back earlier on the Philip-pines. Again, Robredo’s reply rebuts this analogy—unlike Poe, the war veterans are not running for president.

Gatchalian also cites Poe’s decision to give birth to her children in the Philip-pines, and implies that this act proves that Poe always considered the Philip-pines as her country. Of course, Gatch-alian assumes that Filipinos are gullible enough to fall for his story. The act of giving birth in the Philippines is hardly a sufficient indication of one’s national-ism. Moreover, under the Constitution, a child born in the Philippines of alien parents is an alien. Obviously, the anal-ogy cited by Gatchalian has no basis.

What should be the focus of Gatchal-ian’s explanations is the fact that Poe’s husband Neil Llamanzares is and re-mains an American citizen. According to Poe, her husband is willing to become a Filipino citizen once she is elected presi-dent. At first impression, Poe’s statement sounds nice. A careful evaluation of it, however, reveals that Mr. Llamanzares is not about to relinquish his American citi-zenship within the next several months

GRACE POE SHOULD

GET A NEW SPOKESMAN

vocating for producers to stick to their “comparative advantage”, or producing only goods and services that they are already good at. This is the way to com-pete, so says neoliberalism.

Free trade sneers at protectionism. Thus, countries can be flooded by goods from other countries produced and marketed at much cheaper price than one’s own. This is what happened to us.

The neoliberal economic model works better for developed countries the prod-ucts and services of which are dictated by the sellers—themselves. Examples of this may be machinery, computers and

mobile phones which have become in-dispensable in our lives. Some parts of these products are made in our country but assembled elsewhere and we import these at prices determined by the sellers. Buyers can hardly negotiate.

On the other hand, on the losing side of the bargain are developing countries that are without the capital and/or tech-nology to produce high end products. Take the case of the Philippines. Our products and/or services are marketed at the buyers’ price. Our comparative advantage significantly lies in the pro-duce of our land and water, and our peo-

ple—our workers. Because our harvest easily spoil, and because the labor we send out are mostly unskilled or semi-skilled, we export them at the buyer’s price. We are not able to negotiate from a position of strength.

Our comparative advantage does not enable us to compete in this globalized market.

Neoliberalism, particularly the re-moval of protection for our industries killed many of our former flagship in-dustries like textile and leather. Why manufacture when our products will

Continued on A11

THE presidential sister’s back got burned in the “just-before-noon heat” as she accompanied the spouses of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders on a historical tour at Fort Santiago Thursday.

She was so affected by this development that she asked her son to take a picture of her back while inside the bathroom and then posted it on Instagram, with a caption that betrays not only her logorrhea but her ruling-class mentality—something she shares with her brother.

One has got to sympathize with Ms. Aquino, who believes karma has caught up with her for her vanity. The vanity is wearing a laced designer Filipiniana dress that precisely exposed her upper back. Sunburn was her comeuppance.

The event was so tragic that Ms. Aquino had the gall to say: “Quits na tayo sa lahat ng nahirapan mag commute these past few days, patas ang mundo, patche patche naman ang balat ko. (To all those who had difficulty commuting these past few days, we’re on the same footing. The world is fair. My skin is uneven.)”

Poor, poor woman.We are not surprised to hear about her tragedy and her view that her pain entitles

her to some kindredness with the masses. Recall how her brother said the same thing to the widows and orphans of the 44 members of the Special Action Force slain in Mamasapano, Maguindanao in January. President Aquino, in talking to the grieving family members, said they were the same. Their loved ones died. His father was also killed. They’re even.

Of course, the death of a loved one is always difficult. In the case of the SAF troopers, however, their own government practically sent them on an errand to meet their end. They died in the line of duty, pursuing terrorists, but were not given reinforcements at the crucial hour. That the pain of loss and betrayal was fresh at that time Mr. Aquino talked about his own loss as he seemed to make light of theirs made the whole exchange ignominious.

That the Aquino siblings appear to believe that their own tragedies enable them to understand the pain of many Filipinos is our tragedy. Born and bred as landowners, dealing with hired help to get by, the Aquinos, like many members of the upper crust, believe that they are a notch above everybody else, conveniently dismissing the truth that all this happened through sheer accident of birth.

This essential disconnect renders them incapable of putting themselves in others’ shoes beyond posturing.

We wonder what the sister might say on social media if she were to visit the poor communities of Payatas, as the wife of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did. Then again, we don’t think we want to go in there. It suffices that we know we’ve been burned by the promise of this family which keeps telling the people they are the boss while being imperious and condescending.

POWER POINT

ELIZABETHANGSIOCO

We need to put people, not markets

at the center of our economic

and development paradigm. Markets

should serve people and not the other

way around.

Continued on A11

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HAIL TO THE CHAIR

VICTOR AVECILLA

have universal application and benefit, but in reality, many of the dos and don’ts would be favorable to the US, to its partners in the European Union and to its multinational corpora-tions. The case of intellec-tual property rights is one contentious issue. Once ratified, the TPP could in-stantly make many prod-ucts—such as medicines and electronics, which have contributed much to advance progress in the last 50 years—prohibitive and costly. It will mean a new mode of imperialism, for many companies in the US and Europe would rake in enormous profits on royalty alone that it might even exceed direct but costly investment. That could make the US perpetually rich and pow-erful with those countries paying their royalties, like vassal states paying tribute to suzerain state for the fact that many of those in-tellectual properties that have been patented are of American origin, not

to say that some of them were originally pirated.

Once ratified, the TPP would then seek to impose prohibition to member-countries from joining other international trade and finance organizations again in the guise that join-ing outside the framework of the US-controlled in-stitutions would be detri-mental to the existence and interests of the TPP. While it may not directly prohibit countries from joining the Chinese-initiated AIIB, and the newly created BRIC Developmental Bank, it could impose sanctions to tighten the financial screw against those states that would attempt to seek “the best of both worlds”; that joining the AIIB or the BRIC Developmental Bank would be in conflict with their membership in the World Bank and ADB. In fact, many suspect that the Philippine decision to back out of joining the AIIB was due to pressure from the US and Japan, fearing that many of the projects fund-

ed by the World Bank and ADB could be imperiled or stalled.

Some political analysts believe that the economic integration based on the holistic principle that all will benefit, and nobody will be left out has been unmasked as more of a theory than realty. De-spite the years of contin-ued economic integration and free trade, it did not result in the member-states’ economic develop-ment. Free trade has only developed the specializa-tion of their exports of specific products for the poor countries. It did not result in tangible progress, but instead exacerbated poverty because trade defi-cit continues to pile up, not to mention that it has re-sulted in the drastic reduc-tion of customs revenues.

Free trade was more of a mirage because whatever increase is realized in the volume and in the price of our exports was readily offset by the steeper depre-ciation in the value of our

currency compounded by the continuing low value in our exports. For that, the Philippines has to con-tinually supplement its annual budget caused by borrowing from the West-ern-controlled financial institutions, otherwise, the country could become a failed state. The neo-lib-erals failed to consider that the mechanism will only work if the trading goods and services are of equal value and for which the other could not produce.

Likewise, free trade should not merely rely on the concept of assured mar-ket and an assured supplier. The US then would merely be developing a global marketing network coyly disguised as free trade. The quest for development could then be sidelined, which is far more impor-tant and lasting to which President Xi Jinping said in gist, that “free trade should compliment development, and not otherwise.”

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OPINIONS AT U R D AY : N O V E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

A10

LEST we fail to understand what the US-initiated Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement is all about, one thing is clear: that it is neither a trade agreement nor an agreement to re-duce the remaining tariff. Rather, it is a series of re-strictions and prohibitions for member-states to com-ply under the proposed trade partnership. There is no incentive that awaits them in exchange for sur-rendering their sovereign-ty. Member-countries like Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Singa-pore, and the United States could no longer exact more like what has been ac-complished under the Asean Free Trade Agree-ment, and the Asia–Pa-cific Eco-nomic Co-operation.

The pro-posed restric-tions and prohibition were all con-ceived by US negotiators, and are now submitted for the ratifica-tion of the member-states. Even if no provision would specifically place the US at an advantaged position, political pundits, nonethe-less, see this move as mea-sures to arrest the continu-ing decline in US economic dominance in Asia that is dangerously pushing its de-fense capability on the prec-ipice. The specter of being economically overtaken by China, Russia and now In-dia, with its host of multina-tional corporations placed on the hinge, could eventu-ally displace the US as the leading economic power in the region. Right now, the technological superiority of the US is slowly being eroded by the advancing technological knowhow of Japan, China, Russia, India, South Korea, Taiwan and even Singapore.

With such interlocking trade agreements entered into under Asean, plus China, Japan, and the US; with Apec and even as far as Nafta and EU, it now becomes clear that what many countries grudg-ingly acceded under the more democratic arrange-ment of the World Trade Organization (WTO)

would now be entrapped once they ratify the mem-bership with TPP. While the emaciated WTO still acknowledges state sover-eignty on matters of eco-nomic policy, their sover-eignty has been abrogated through the years by the various international trade agreements. The creation of the TPP would finalize the withering of the states not to give way to Marx’s prophecy about the uni-versality of communism, but the completion of in-ternational monopoly.

The most favored nation clause (MFNC) became the main mechanism that made most international trade agreements, includ-ing the WTO, success-ful. Under that principle, member-states commit to extend the same tariff rates granted to other countries.

But under the TPP, it would focus in en-forcing a far for stricter MFNC de-signed to c o m p l e t e l y erase the r e m a i n i n g traces of sov-ereignty on how states should run their econo-my. While the US in-sists of being i m p a r t i a l , its negotia-tors, in fact, c o n c e i v e d

the idea and doggedly worked hard to incorpo-rate that new mechanism in the TPP. That now would work in favor of the US. There would no trade package the TPP could of-fer in exchange for mem-bership, similar to that of the Chinese-initiated Asian International Infra-structure Bank.

Rather, the TPP could impose a universal regu-latory system of controls and standards favorable and beneficial to the US and to its multinational corporations. Among the target of the TPP un-der the guise of universal-izing controls and stan-dards is the demand to speed up the abolition of state-owned enterprises which many countries used as their launch pad to achieve full industrial and technological devel-opment; tightening fur-ther intellectual property rights; adjusting labor standards to make pro-duction cost expensive and prohibitive, viz. re-store US competitiveness; impose new rules that would completely liberal-ize trade and investment.

All these proposals of the TPP may appear to

GIVING AWAY OUR

SOVEREIGNTY

CHINA IS TRYING TO WARN TAIWAN VOTERS

By Noah Feldman

THE US and Europe have spent the last week focused on Islamic State, but the possibility of conflict be-tween China and Taiwan is far more dangerous to the world’s security. An im-portant development took place Nov. 7, when Chinese President Xi Jinping met for a historic summit with Tai-wanese leader Ma Ying-jeou.

The meeting has been variously interpreted. But the best read is that it was a warning from China to Taiwanese voters not to move toward indepen-dence. That’s particularly worrisome, because Ma’s nationalist Kuomintang Party is widely expected to lose upcoming elec-tions to the independence-minded Democratic Pro-gressive Party.

Although China and Tai-wan have deep trade ties, this was the first public encounter between the leaders of the two coun-tries since Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek met for talks in 1945. It was therefore calculated on both sides to have maxi-mum public effect. And it matters, in symbolic politi-cal terms at least, that Xi is the heir to Mao’s leadership of the Communist Party while Ma is head of Chi-ang’s KMT.

It’s also crucial to under-stand that while Xi has al-ready consolidated power more than any Chinese leader in 30 years, Ma’s star is on the wane—and the fortunes of the KMT are declining in tandem.

Ma isn’t running for a third term, and KMT can-didates have been strug-gling in opinion polls when

paired against DPP leader Tsai Ing-wen. In mid-Oc-tober, with its candidate polling under 16 percent to Ing-wen’s nearly 47 percent, the KMT switched horses, choosing Eric Chu as its new candidate. But a poll later in the month showed Chu’s numbers pretty close to those of his predecessor. And November’s polling has him improving by only a few points. The presiden-tial election is Jan. 16.

A big part of KMT’s struggles is the appeal of Tsai. Taiwan’s answer to Elizabeth Warren, Tsai is a sophisticated, progres-sive former law professor with graduate degrees from Cornell University and the London School of Eco-nomics. In the 2012 elec-tion, she won 45.6 percent of the vote to Ma’s 51.6 per-cent—impressive for her first national campaign. In local elections a year ago, she led the party to unprec-edented success. If elected, she will be the first female president of Taiwan.

When it comes to na-tional identity, the DPP’s approach has historically differed from that of the KMT. The DPP has pre-viously called for Taiwan to declare independence, which is perceived as a red-line by mainland China. Tsai has also been skepti-cal of deepening trade ties with China.

Should Taiwan declare or even move toward inde-pendence, it could trigger preparations for a Chinese invasion. The US would support Taiwan, and the idea of two great naval fleets confronting in the Taiwan Strait should be frightening far outside the region.

This brings us to the Xi-

Ma meeting, and its po-litical meaning. There’s no doubt that Xi would like to see the more cautious, pro-China KMT win the presidential election. Ma has sought such a meeting in the past, and if it were to give the KMT greater stature in the run-up to the elections, that could only be seen as a bonus from Xi’s perspective.

But Xi and the Chinese leadership are sophisticat-ed enough to realize that the meeting alone is un-likely to turn the election to the KMT, and could even backfire if ordinary Tai-wanese think that it didn’t produce any practical re-sults. There was therefore more to China’s decision than a simple desire to prop up a friendly govern-ment in its hour of need.

Xi was also signaling to Taiwanese voters that he would be prepared to meet respectfully with a govern-ment that preserves the status quo with regard to independence. Xi referred to China and Taiwan as “one family,” and called the coun-tries “brothers who are still connected by our flesh even if our bones are broken.” The ideal of unity resonates strongly for Xi’s domestic audience. And it’s also a mes-sage that Taiwan shouldn’t separate itself by moving to-ward a symbolic declaration of independence.

The message for Tsai and the DPP is clear: Don’t rock the boat. As China expands its regional military influ-ence, its interest in keep-ing Taiwan close is greater than ever. Xi’s increasingly populist, nationalist rheto-ric requires him to keep a close eye on Taiwan.

Thus, by appearing with

Taiwan’s leader two months before Taiwan’s elections, Xi was sending a mes-sage of serious attention to Taiwanese affairs. In his mind, China and Taiwan are brothers, and there’s no doubt who’s the older, dominant member of the family.

Will Tsai listen? The DPP has already moderated its stance on independence as part of its presidential campaign. The party’s sec-ond-in-command, Joseph Wu, has said it wants to “maintain the status quo” of the “current democratic way of life.” In the delicate signaling game of Chinese-Taiwanese relations, this is a way of saying the DPP wants no movement closer to China, and might be prepared to drop its his-toric focus on stating its independence.

That’s probably a wise move. After all, Taiwan’s de facto independence from China depends on implicit US support. But there’s no assurance that, if indepen-dence were declared and a military crisis followed, the US would be there to pro-tect Taiwan. Many Ameri-cans, particularly those outside the military estab-lishment, would be loath to go to war against China to protect Taiwan.

The good news is that Xi doesn’t want military confrontation either. But behind the meeting with the KMT’s Ma is a message that the DPP shouldn’t be too aggressive. If Tsai wins the presidency, expects tensions between the coun-tries to rise—with serious implications for the US de-fense presence in Asia and the future of the cool war.

Bloomberg

BACKBENCHER

ROD P.KAPUNAN

Free trade has only

developed the specialization

of their exports of specific

products for the poor countries.

[email protected]

CONSOLIDATING REFORM AT THE DBM

THE Department of Budget and Management has been in the spotlight in the last two years, no thanks to the Priority Devel-opment Assistance Fund and the Disbursement Acceleration Pro-gram controversies. In most ad-ministrations, the DBM usually prefers to work under the radar even as it plays a critical and all-important role of rationalizing government spending and ensur-ing accountability of public offi-cers and employees over govern-ment resources. Indeed, the DBM guarantees efficient and sound utilization of government funds and revenues to achieve the coun-try’s development goals.

Thus, to be effective and to deliver on its mandate, the country’s budget agency must continually reinvent itself. Re-forms in its processes are need-ed to achieve a budget which Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad promised to the House of Representatives: “We have produced a budget that moved away from the practice of in-cremental and leakage-prone allocation of scarce resources; lump-sum appropriations; and moved towards performance-based outcome budgeting.”

As part of its commitment to deliver efficient public ser-vice, the DBM recently at-tained its department- wide ISO

9001:2008 Certification. Such certification is a big thing. This means that the organization has earned the seal of approval of the international standardiza-tion group measuring the qual-ity of service in terms of qual-ity management, environmental management, social responsi-bility, energy management and risk management.

So far, the DBM is the only Philippine government agency that has achieved this feat. In other words, its management system standards measure up to internationally set and recog-nized standards.

DBM also has made a sig-nificant stride in the field of transparency. This result is to a large measure ascribable to the Bottom-Up Budgeting Program adopted by the government. This program was cited by no less than American ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power at the Open Government Partnership global summit in Mexico City. The program re-quires grassroots participation in the planning and budgeting of poverty-reduction programs in every one of the country’s 1,634 municipal and provincial governments. This results in the increase of citizen partici-pation in the formulation and implementation of government programs allowing for custom-built programs more responsive to local needs.

These improvements are re-flected in the 2015 Open Budget Survey, the world’s only inde-pendent comparable measure of

budget transparency, participa-tion, and oversight. For 2015, the OBS examined the three pillars of budget accountability, namely: transparency, public participation and budget over-sight of 102 countries. The Phil-ippines was one of the few that garnered high marks in three of four pillars of budget account-ability. This, notwithstanding the survey findings indicating that most countries currently provide few opportunities for the public to participate in bud-get processes.

In the survey, the Philippines scored 64 (out of 100) in trans-parency which means that the government provides the public with substantial budget infor-mation. Sixty seven (out of 100) in public participation means that the public is provided ade-quate opportunities to engage in the budget process. In this area, the Philippines outshone most countries as it ranked 4th out of 102 countries surveyed.

Our country achieved a whopping 92 adequacy rating in oversight by the supreme audit due primarily to the Commis-sion on Audit’s constitutional independence.

The weak spot, however, can be found in the oversight by the legislature with very limited participation in the processes of the legislature and the supreme audit institution (SAI; for us, this is the Commission on Audit or CoA), garnering low scores of 47 and 59, respectively.

After languishing in the cel-lar like most countries with lim-

ited budget transparency, the Philippine now belongs to the elite group of 24 countries with substantial or extensive budget transparency. Overtaking 26 other countries, the Philippines now ranks 21st in the world, fourth in Asia, and 1st in South-east Asia when it comes to trans-parency.

The improvement in the coun-try’s Open Budget Index perfor-mance may also be attributed to its being able to publish eight essential budget documents when historically we could only manage to publish three to four of the eight budget documents, particularly the Pre-Budget Statement, the Mid-Year Re-view, the Year-End Report, and the Citizen’s Budget. This year, we are one of only 16 of the 102 countries which published all eight budget documents. In contrast, of the 816 documents that should have been published globally (i.e. eight documents times 102 countries), 267 or about one third are not publicly available.

Despite marked escalation in the overall ratings, the strength of the Philippines budget per-formance remains mixed. Legis-lative oversight remaining weak, while Supreme Audit Institution continued to be adequate. As we have seen, the weakness of the legislative oversight manifested itself when allegations of misuse by several members of Congress of their PDAF (popularly called pork barrel) erupted. But in hindsight, the fact that it came out at all during this adminis-

tration may be an undeniable proof of the improving climate of transparency in the country’s budget processes.

By way of conclusion, the OBS Report for 2015 made a number of important recommendations that may serve as an important guidepost with which this and the next government can take their bearings as they seek to achieve optimal fiscal and bud-getary policy and management. The recommendations include the publication of more infor-mation to boost public aware-ness on budgetary processes; institutionalization of gains in transparency; and providing more opportunities for public participation. The report further suggested the empowerment of oversight institutions by improv-ing legislative capacity to engage with the budget in a meaning-ful way through better access to research and analytical capacity. And finally, the promotion of the development of integrated and accountable budget ecosystems to ensure appropriate checks and balances.

Now that the Apec summit is out of the way, government must now turn to pressing mat-ters. Among the most important of this is the approval of the na-tional budget. I am happy that we have a reformed DBM that is up to this task. Secretary Abad and his DBM colleagues should be credited for bringing the DBM where it is today.

Facebook: Dean Tony La Vina Twitter: tonylavs

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OPINION

EAGLE EYES

DEAN TONYLA VIÑA

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Grace... From A9

prior to the May 2016 elec-tions, and that Mr. Llaman-zares will only think about this option if and only if he becomes the first gentleman of the Philippines. This is op-portunism in its baldest form. It also dilutes any claim to na-tionalism Poe may have, even from the perspective of her devoted spokesman.

Robredo correctly points out that Poe must face the moral issue of her having pre-viously renounced her Phil-ippine citizenship to become an American citizen. Poe’s renunciation of her Philip-pine citizenship undoubtedly reveals that at one point in her life, Poe turned her back on the Philippines. Being so, how can Poe be entrusted with the highest office in the land if she once quit on the Philip-pines and the Filipino people? When the going gets tough, and it is bound to, will Presi-dent Poe leave us once again?

Gatchalian and Moreno are two of the closest political as-sociates of Poe to defend the senator, through legally un-tenable arguments, in the four disqualification cases current-ly pending against her before the Comelec.

Moreno has gone to the ex-tent of attacking the motives of the four petitioners who filed the disqualification cases, not-

withstanding that they acted within their rights as registered voters when they filed those cases. While Moreno claims that a person who stands to benefit from the disqualifica-tion of Poe is behind the cases, he refuses to identify the indi-vidual concerned. Poe’s vice presidential candidate, Senator Chiz Escudero, stands to ben-efit from Poe’s disqualification if he is elected with Poe and the latter is subsequently dis-qualified. Could Escudero be the individual Moreno has in mind?

In addition, Moreno ada-mantly insists that the dis-qualification issue against Poe should be settled by the voters themselves, on the premise that sovereignty resides in the people. Moreno’s suggestion sounds really populist alright, and that should be expected from a traditional politician like him. Still, Moreno’s sug-gestion is a culpable viola-tion of the Constitution. As discussed in the previous column, the Constitution mandates that the President of the Philippines has to be a natural-born citizen of the country, and under a regime of popular sovereignty, con-stitutionalism, and the rule of law, the Constitution must be obeyed by both the gov-ernment and by the sovereign Filipino people. What is the use of having a constitution if

its provisions are ignored?Moreno has revealed himself

as a senatorial candidate who cannot tolerate registered vot-ers who exercise their rights, and one who finds nothing wrong with violating the Con-stitution. This revelation should be enough reason why Moreno has no place in the Senate.

The same observations may be said of Gatchalian. Al-though his boss is not yet in power, Gatchalian already dishes out absurd and mislead-ing statements in a clumsy at-tempt to change what cannot be changed, to undo what can-not be undone, and to use cos-metic arguments to conceal the truth from the Filipino people. In the unlikely event that Poe wins the presidential race, and in the further unlikelihood that Poe is not disqualified from office notwithstanding the fact that she is not a natu-ral-born citizen of the Philip-pines, Gatchalian will probably be the spokesman of the Poe administration. If that night-mare does happen, the people should expect a daily dose of doubletalk and equivocal state-ments from the presidential spokesman.

If Poe knows what’s good for her campaign, she should replace her spokesman imme-diately. His replacement will also be a welcome relief for the public.

Fair... From A9

not be able to compete against cheap imported goods, for in-stance, from China, that floods our markets?

The absence of protection and government support are likewise the reasons why apples, oranges, and grapes are cheaper than our own fruits, and why the best of our harvest is reserved for foreign markets.

Neoliberal policies also resulted in significant changes in employ-ment and livelihood activities. Outside of our unofficial labor export policy (that has affected at least 10 million workers and per-haps the same number of fami-lies), flexibility in employment was also “invented”. This flexibil-ity in employment involves less number of days or hours of work resulting of course in less wages; as well as contractualization. All forms of flexibilization of employ-ment are detrimental to workers and their rights.

The death of our manufacturing industry has resulted in massive loss of jobs. Amid the absence of other employment opportuni-ties, these unemployed joined the burgeoning informal economy. At present, estimates of workers in the informal economy (WIE) run to 25 million workers, a lot more than those formally employed. Yet, these workers, mostly poor, are outside of the ambit of the law’s protection.

From the first Apec Summit in the Philippines almost 20 years ago, poverty has remained signifi-cant. Neoliberal policies have not worked for our people. Looking at the bigger picture, the reverse is true, neoliberalism failed us. The official declaration of Apec 2015 reasserted its adherence to free trade. As we have experienced, this is not what we need.

Thus, despite the bilateral agreements reached outside of the formal Apec summit, the event itself, because of its continuous pursuit of neoliberalism, will con-tinue to fail us.

We need trade to be fair. We need to put people, not markets at the center of our economic and development paradigm. Markets should serve people and not the other way around.

We need production for self-sufficiency, whether it be in terms of food or goods and services we use. We need our workers, formal and informal, protected and their rights upheld. We need our indus-tries to be reinvigorated and sup-ported. We need government to invest in improving our people’s education and skills. We need gainful employment and liveli-hood activities.

These will not be had via free trade. FAIR, not free trade is what we need.

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Djokovic sets up clash with Nadal

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SAT UR DAY: NO VEMB ER 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

SPORTS

LONDON—No-vak Djokovic set up an ATP Tour Finals showdown against Rafael Nadal as the defending cham-pion booked his semi-final berth with a 6-3, 7-5 vic-tory over Tomas Berdych, while Roger Federer de-feated Kei Nishiko-ri to eliminate the Japanese star on Thursday.

After Federer’s 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 win earlier in the day, world number one Djokovic knew he would advance to the last four if he could secure one set against Berdych in his concluding group match at London’s O2 Arena.

The Serb, a winner of three Grand Slam titles this year, wasted little time achieving that goal as he took the first set to ensure he would finish second in the group behind Federer and eventually eased to vic-tory in 89 minutes.

Djokovic’s bid to win the Tour Finals for a record fourth successive year is likely to face a sterner test on Saturday from his old rival Nadal, who looked in fine form while romping to victories over Stan Waw-rinka and Andy Murray to secure top spot in the other group.

“We have played so many times and even a couple of times on this very court,” said Djokovic, who has won seven of his last eight matches with Nadal.

“He has played great in his first couple of matches and hopefully I will be able to play my best. That is what is needed to beat him.”

Federer, who has won the Tour Finals a record six times, will face either Murray or Wawrinka, who clash on Friday, in the semi-finals. AFP

Baguio,CAR teamsamong Bestwinners

TEAMS from Baguio and the Cordillera Adminis-trative Region shared the limelight with the winning squads from the National Capital Region after the final basket was made last weekend in the first Best Center-FIBA 3x3 basketball tournament at the Ateneo Courts.

More than 500 players, who comprised 128 teams in two divisions joined the tournament organized by the Basketball Efficiency and Scientific Training Center, the pioneering Phil-ippine group, which special-izes in teaching kids the ba-sic and advanced rudiments of the sport, in partnership with Milo Ready to Drink and with the support of Freego and Rain or Shine.

The Giants of St. Louis High School in Baguio City surprised the big field by emerging as the first 15-and-Under champions of the new league formed in response to the FIBA (Inter-national Basketball Federa-tion) call to push what was known as ‘street basketball’ into becoming an Olympic sport very soon.

The Giants are composed of Luis Emmanuel Lising, Antonio Abriol, Magnus Ga-briel Ines and Angelo Cashio.

The Meteors of De la Salle-Zobel placed runners-up to the Giants. They are Prince Arthur Gaiser II, Philip Charles Gatmaytan, Ronald Rey Santos and Jude Emmanuel Codinera, the son of former Philippine Basketball Association star Jerry Codinera.

Third were The Force of San Francisco High School students Sebastian Lesley Dominique Dait, Marvin Perin, Isaiah John Banato and Maoi She Vidad, who represented Lamut, Ifugao of CAR.

A win over Canelo enough for CottoLOS ANGELES—Puerto Rican mid-dleweight great Miguel Cotto says he doesn’t need a world title to lend im-portance to his Saturday showdown with Mexico’s Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

“I don’t need a belt to fight Canelo,” said Cotto, who was stripped of his World Boxing Council crown on Tuesday over failure to pay the $300,000 sanc-tioning fee they demanded for a world title bout.

Alvarez and his camp stumped up their $300,000, and the former WBC and World Boxing Association super welterweight world champion can claim the vacant WBC title with a victory.

Cotto said Wednesday he had of-fered the WBC $125,000, but the sanctioning body rejected it. He was unrepentant over failing to pay the $300,000—or a further $800,000 step-aside fee to mandatory challeng-er Gennady Golovkin.

The 34-year-old Puerto Rican, winner of world titles in four weight divisions, takes a record of 40-4 with

33 knockouts into the bout.Trainer Freddie Roach said Cotto

is in as good a shape as he has ever seen him.

“We are going to box a lot in this fight,” Roach said. “We’re not just going out there looking for a knock-out. I want him using his foot speed and his angles. He’s a more complete fighter now than ever.”

But Roach admits he’d love to see Cotto knock out Alvarez—then call out Floyd Mayweather to put his 49-0 record on the line.

“Miguel always tells me that if he had me in his corner when he fought Mayweather he would have knocked him out,” Roach said. “I think Miguel could pull off the strategy I have to beat Mayweather. I think that would be a good fight for him.”

But first there’s the 25-year-old Alvarez, 45-1-1 with 32 knockouts.

The bout is being fought at a 155-pound catchweight, and the Mexican’s power—amply demon-strated in a spectacular knockout of James Kirkland in May—–could

trouble Cotto.“At this particular point, I feel very

solid,” Alvarez said. “I’m ready and I’m going to show it on Saturday.”

On the undercard at Mandalay Bay, Japan’s WBC super feather-weight champion Takashi Miura de-fends his title against unbeaten Fran-cisco Vargas.

“I am motivated because of the streak that Miura has built against other Mexican fighters,” said Var-gas, who brings a record of 22-0-1 with 16 knockouts to his first world title bout.

Miura dethroned Gamaliel Diaz on April 8, 2013 and has since defeat-ed Mexico’s Sergio Thompson, Dante Jardon and Edgar Puerta. He stopped Australia’s Billy Dib in three rounds in Tokyo on May 1 to take his record to 29-2-2 with 22 knockouts.

Former unified junior feather-weight world champion Guillermo Rigondeaux, stripped of his belts be-cause of inactivity, will return to the ring on the undercard against Drian Francisco. AFP

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic returns the ball to Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych during their men’s singles group stage match on day five of the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament in London. AFP

Terrorism top concern at Rio Olympics, says security chiefRIO DE JANEIRO—The risk of a terrorist attack is the main security fear at the Rio Olympics, a top of-ficial said Thursday, with the Paris attacks highlighting the potential for Brazil to be sucked into conflict for the first time with Islamic ex-tremists.

“Terrorism is the number one worry,” Jose Mariano Beltrame, the security chief for the state of Rio de Janeiro, told a news confer-ence. “Brazil does not have a his-tory of terrorism, but always works with this priority.”

With a low profile in interna-tional conflicts and no connection to US and European entangle-ments in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, Brazil has never been tar-geted by Islamist groups.

However, the simple fact of world leaders being present at the Rio Olympics next August, cou-pled with the massive media cover-age, risks pulling Latin America’s biggest country into the crosshairs.

Beltrame said “we receive bul-letins on possible threats..., but we have the means to boost our forces where necessary.”

“We are ready. Every institution knows what to do. We want a gold medal in security.”

A huge number of security per-sonnel will be deployed for the games: between 60-65,000 police officers and soldiers, and another 15,000 in reserve. This doubles the number of security used at the 2012 London Games.

- More training needed -

French police -- with the horror of last week’s massacres by Islam-ist bombers and gunmen in Paris fresh in their minds -- began train-ing elite Brazilian counterparts in crowd control Thursday.

Dozens of Brazilian officers in Rio with state-of-the-art anti-riot gear, including fire-proof balacla-vas, gas masks, stun grenades and tear gas, showed off their tech-niques for subduing violent mobs.

In normal times, a riot would be the worst thing expected to hap-pen at a major sporting event like the Olympics, which open on Au-gust 5.

But in the wake of the Paris at-tacks, including at a France-Ger-many football game, the focus of the long-scheduled session abrupt-

ly switched to a much darker sce-nario.

“There is a real possibility of a terrorist attack due to the high vis-ibility,” said Colonel Andrei Silva, with the Brazilian police force’s Shock Battalion, at their Rio head-quarters.

“We have to prepare more,” he told AFP. “We definitely don’t want this to happen in Brazil.”

Brazil’s police have much expe-rience in fighting well-armed drug traffickers in city favelas, but are often accused of human riots vio-lations, including extrajudicial ex-ecutions.

The French had come to teach them “democratic management of crowds,” Antonio Marcalo, with the CRS, said. “We try to help them

with tactics that are a little more democratic.”

The demonstration exercise involving an assault by about 20 hulking riot police with batons and stun grenades against a lone col-league posing as the supposedly disorderly crowd seemed rather to favor more robust Brazilian meth-ods.

After being gassed, stunned and eventually surrounded, the soli-tary protester was carried away in a horizontal position.

- Change in agenda -France’s Lieutenant Anne-Chris-

tine Poinchon pointed out that the CRS does not have specific anti-ter-rorism expertise and had arrived in Rio on what had been planned as a routine training session. AFP

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SPORTS

Warriors rally from 23 pts to grab 13th victory

Caida securestwice-to-beatcage incentive

40th dayrites set for

sportswriter’slate father

A 40TH day memorial service for Dr. Rafael M. Atencio, the late father of sportswriter Peter Atencio of The Standard, will be held on Saturday.

A mass and eulogical rites for Atencio will be held from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the grotto of the Chapel of the Ascencion in-side the Immaculate Concepcion Parish Cathedral located in Lan-tana St., Cubao, Quezon City.

Atencio passed away last Oct. 17.

Also known by his nickname, “Ralph,” or “Paeng,” Atencio was cremated on Nov. 8 at the Manila North Cemetery cre-matorium.

He was born on July 31,1931 in Manila, survived by his wife Cynthia and five children, Joel, Peter and his wife Angie, Michael and his wife Jules, Rosanne and her husband Da-vid, and Leo.

LOS ANGELES —The Golden State Warriors erased a 23-point first-half deficit to stretch their NBA season-opening win streak to 13 games on Thursday with a 124-117 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.

The reigning NBA champi-ons became just the fifth team in NBA history to open a season 13-0 and continued to close in on the record for the best start to a season of 15-0—achieved by Washington in 1948-49 and the Houston Rockets in 1993-94.

But it was a close-run win, as the pumped-up Clippers raced to a big lead over their Pacific Di-vision rivals, led by point guard Chris Paul.

Paul, back in action after two games sidelined by a groin strain, made his first seven shots, in-

cluding three from three-point range.

He finished the game with 35 points and eight assists in 32 minutes on the floor.

But Golden State, who trailed 55-32 early in the second quarter, battled back, with reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry scoring 13 of his 40 points in the fourth quarter.

“No matter how bad we’re playing, we always feel like we have a shot,” said Curry, who also pulled down 11 rebounds. “It was a hard-fought, gut-wrenching game that everybody stepped up

and played well.”Guard Klay Thompson scored 25

points for the Warriors. Harrison Barnes added 21 and forward Dray-mond Green contributed 19 points and nine assists.

Trailing 91-85 going into the fourth quarter, the Warriors shot 73.3 percent from the field in the final period.

A three-pointer by Thompson gave the Warriors their first lead since the beginning of the first quarter -- 113-112 with 2:43 to play.

The Clippers responded with a three-pointer by Jamal Crawford before Curry drained a three-point-er with 1:47 remaining that gave the Warriors a 116-115 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.

The Warriors out-scored the Clippers 22-5 in the final stretch, but Los Angeles coach Doc Rivers said his team’s problems began long before that.

“I don’t think it started in the

fourth quarter, I really don’t,” Riv-ers said. “I thought right at the end of the second quarter was when we stopped playing with the same force that we played with the first quarter and a half.”

It was the Warriors’ second win of the season over the Clippers, after a 112-108 triumph on No-vember 4.

“Like I said before the game, we know we’re close, but close isn’t good enough,” Rivers said. “You’ve got to finish the games.”

- Cavaliers down Bucks -The Cleveland Cavaliers, the

team Golden State beat in last sea-son’s NBA Finals, ended their two-game skid with a 115-100 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.

LeBron James scored 27 points with nine rebounds and six assists as the Cavaliers gained sole posses-sion of the Eastern Conference lead with their ninth victory of the sea-son. AFP

Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors goes to the basket under pressure from Jamaal Crawford of the Los Angeles Clippers dur-ing their NBA game in Los Angeles, California, where the Warriors defeated the Clippers 124-117. AFP

CAIDA Tiles walloped Sta. Lucia, 90-79, on Thursday night to secure a twice-to-beat ad-vantage heading to the quarterfinal round of the PCBL Founders Cup at the JCSGO Gym.

Foton, on the other hand, notched its first back-to-back victories in the tournament, outlasting Kama Motors in a tightly fought match, 87-84, making the race for the top four more exciting.

The Tile Masters used a telling 15-2 run in the fourth quarter to turn the tables on the Realtors and transform a 64-60 deficit into a 75-66 advantage off a fastbreak basket by Gio Jalalon with still 4:26 left in the fourth period.

But Caida held on down the stretch to pick up its seventh win in nine games with still a game left on its schedule before head-ing into the quarterfinal playoff phase.

Still holding the solo lead, the Tile Mas-ters are already assured of a twice-to-beat edge and head coach Mike Buendia is happy to reach their goal in this tournament sup-ported by Ambucore, Accel, Spalding and Aquabest.

Pantico barges into net semis WILD card Arthur Craig Pantino pulled through in a tight duel with compatriot John Otico, carving out a 6-4, 6-4 decision to crash into the boys’ semifinal round of the PSC-Phinma International Juniors Ten-nis Championships Week 1 at the Manila Polo Club in Makati City yesterday.

Pantino foiled the high-er-ranked Otico with a

solid all-around game as he sustained his charge in the Grade 4 ITF tourna-ment sponsored by Phinma Group of Companies and the Philippine Sports Com-mission after scoring a pair of three-setters early in the tournament.

The slow-starting Pan-tino upended No. 7 C. Wang, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, in the opener then repulsed Viet-

nam’s Nguyen Phuong Van, 2-6, 6-1, 6-0, before subdu-ing Otico to gain a crack at one of the championship berths against second seed Yeongseok Jeong of Korea, who survived James Trot-ter of Japan, 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-1, in the event backed by Mariposa Foundation, Palm Rock Residencs and Dunlop Sport, also the tournament’s distributor of official balls.

Boosting the Jaguars. Jacksonville Jaguars cheerleaders perform during the first half of the game against the Tennessee Titans at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. AFP

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PH Kiao Ching team bound for ChinaTHE Philippine Kiao Ch-ing basketball team is leav-ing for Fuzhou, China on Monday to compete in the 50-years’ division of the 31st World Chinese Basketball Championship.

The Fil-Chinese delega-tion will be headed by Ed-uard Tio, Leoncio Chua, Johnny Chua, Jonathan Go, Daniel Ong and Vicente Ip.

Comprising the team handled by Benito Gan with

Danilo Chua as assistant coach are Rudy Yu, Andrew Ongteco, Ben Ong, Danilo Ching, Robert Sy, Nelson Yao, Ng Yuk Chi, Aris Fran-co, Wilford Chua, Peter Yu, Eugene Tsai, and Joel Yap.

A14S AT U R DAY : N O V E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

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Savchenko stays ahead of packGRANDMASTER Boris Savchenko of Russia scored a win and a draw in the previous two rounds to retain his grip on the solo lead with three rounds remaining in the 2015 Philippine Sports Commission/Puregold International Chess Challenge at the Subic Bay Peninsular Hotel, SBMA, Subic,l Olangapo City.

Standings after seven rounds (Open Division)—Savchenko (RUS) 6,5, Lu (CHN), 5.5 Laylo (PHI), Deepan (IND) 5.0, Dem-chenko (RUS), Sivuk (UKR), Smirnov (RUS), Kotanjian (ARM), Shomoev (RUS), Zubov (UKR) 4.5, Torre (PHI), Rohan (IND), Puranik (IND), Nguyen (VIE), Sunilduth Lyna (IND), Lin (CHN), Belous (RUS), Severino (PHI) 4.0, Dimakiling (PHI), Pi-mentel (PHI), Mozharov (RUS), Garcia (PHI), Aravindh (IND),

Gupta (IND), Nolte (PHI), Liu (SIN), Antonio (PHI) 3.5, Sena-dor (PHI), Sean (INA) Bersam-ina (PHI) 3.0, Abelgas (PHI), Bitoon (PHI), Pascua (PHI), Segarra (PHI), Frayna (PHI), San Diego (PHI), Dela Cruz (PHI), Turqueza (PHI), Suede (PHI), Galas (PHI) 2.5.

The 29-year-old Savchenko defeated fellow Russian GM Mikhail Mozharov in Round 6 late Thursday, but saw his win-

Airmen, HD Spikers beginSpiker’s Turf title showdownAIR Force and Cignal HD kick off their duel for the Spikers’ Turf Season 1 Reinforced Conference crown today with odds just about even between the league’s top spiking teams at The Arena in San Juan.

Though both went through some anxious moments, the twice-to-beat Airmen and the HD Spikers got the job done in the semis just the same, subduing the Navy Sailors, 25-15, 20-25, 29-27, 24-26, 15-12, and the Home Ultera Ultra Fast Hitters, 25-22, 21-25, 25-23, 11-25, 15-8, last week

to seal what promises to be a classic title clash.

Gametime is at 3 p.m.Given both teams’ depth

and talent, a tight, fierce finish is seen in the best-of-three play-off with Air Force to bank on Rodolfo L a b r a d o r , Ruben Inaudito, Reyson Fuentes, Jeffry Malabanan, Abdilla Alnakran, Mike Abria, Edwin Tolentinod, Nino Jeruz and playmaker Jessie Lopez.

Labrador and Fuentes combined for Air Force’s strong finishing kick in

the fifth set as they foiled the Sailors’ upset bid and stayed in the hunt for the crown in the season-ending conference of the

pione er i ng men’s league presented by PLDT Home Ultera.

Air Force rallied to beat

Cignal HD, 25-22, 25-18, 20-25, 25-21, in their elims clash last Oct. 17 but coach Rhovyl Verayo has opted to downplay their chances, insisting its an evenly-matched title series.

“We don’t consider ourselves the favorites be-

cause I think it’s going to be a pretty even match,” said Verayo. “We beat Cignal but anything can happen in the finals.”

Like their rivals, the HD Spikers are equally in fierce form heading to the playoff with the league’s leading hitter Lorenzo Capate Jr. out to flaunt his awesome spiking skills along with Edmar Bonono, Edward Ybanez, Rocky Honrade, Herschel Ramos, the league’s best server Alexis Faytaren, Sandy Montero and set-ter Ralph Diezmo, also the league leader with a norm of 8.90 success per set.

Torres wins inauguralPowerman PilipinasSTANDARD Insurance duathlon athlete Monica Torres proved to be the fastest in her class after winning the inaugural Powerman Pilipinas, par-ticipated in by duathletes and professional athletes from all over the world held in Balanga, Bataan over the weekend.

Torres (3:19:46) nosed out Japan’s Airi Sawada in 3:24:55, with third place taken by another Filipina duathlete in Miscelle Gil-buena in 3:34:14.

Torres, who was with the Standard Insurance top-notch athletes two years ago, celebrated her return to duathlon by ruling the race, finally besting Sawada for the first time after several tries.

She said the bike part was very technical, char-acterized by uphill climbs, descents and turns. But she

banked on her familiarity in the terrain to full advan-tage.

Belgium’s multiple world champion Rob Woestenborghs crossed the finish first, to become the first-ever champion of Powerman men’s elite divi-sion with a time of 2:41:42.

This was the first time the international Power-man series has been hosted in the Philippines and the first in Asia since Malaysia in 2013, attracting 327 ath-letes for the Classic Duath-lon (10km / 60km / 10km), 36 Relay entries and 245 for the Sprint Duathlon (5km / 30km / 5km).

Powerman Pilipinas, the world’s most prestigious duathlon series, will serve as a qualifier for the 2016 Powerman Zofingen. The country will serve as host again for the Powerman se-ries for the succeeding two years.

ning streak snapped by GM Chakkravarthy Deepan of In-dia, who forced a draw after 30 moves of an English Opening in the seventh round.

Despite the draw, the no. 8 seed Savchenko kept his grip on the lead with 6.5 points, a full point ahead of his closest pursuer, GM Shanglei Lu of China, who racked up two straight victories.

Lin, seeded fourth here, topped the newly minted Philippine In-ternational Chess Championship titlist Vitaly Sivuk of Ukraine in the 6th round and followed it up with a 37-move win over Filipino GM Eugene Torre in the seventh in their Ruy Lopez Berlin Defense match.

Liu will challenge Savchenko in the pivotal eighth round, which was still being played

late Friday.GM Darwin Laylo, meanwhile,

remained as the highest Filipino placer after seven rounds, follow-ing a draw and a win in the last two rounds.

Laylo, a two-time Chess Olympian, who is seeded 18th in this tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines and support-ed by PSC, Philippine Olympic Committee, Asia United Bank, Puregold, Burlington Socks and Marc Ventures Mining and Development Corp., split the point with Anton Demchenko of Russia in the 6th round, but bounced back with a win over GM Duc Hoa Nguyen of Vi-etnam after 67 pushes of the King’s Indian Attack. He is now tied with Deepan for 3rd and 4th

places at 5.0 points, and will try to get the upperhand in their 8th round clash Friday.

D e m c h e n k o , m e a n w h i l e , dropped into a big group with 4.5 points each, whcich include Sivuk, fellow Russian GMs Pavel Smirnov and Anton Shomoev, GM Tigran Kotanjian of Arme-nia, and no. 2 seed Alexander Zubov of Ukraine.

In the Challenger Division, top seed Franz Robert Grafil and 20th seed Erickson Ma-rimla agreed to a draw after 44 moves of the Symmetrical English to stay tied for the lead with 5.5 points each, or only a half point ahead of Sherwin Tiu, Rolly Parondo, NM Efren Baga-masbad, Istraelito Rilloraza and Jerich Cajeras, who are tied with 5.5 points each.

By Peter Atencio

RETIRED Olympics and Tour de France veteran Robbie McEwen is enjoying his time off cycling, but still finds time to coach and offer his ad-vice to young cyclists across the globe.

In fact, McEwen is here in the coun-try as a special guest of the third edi-tion of the BGC-CycleAsia, which officially started yesterday and will be held over the next three days.

The event, which is organized by Fred Uytengsu’s Sunrise Events, is being held in partnership with Cycle Asia and BGC. Present during the launch were CycleAsia CEO Chris Robb, BGC executive Marc Buen-camino and Ascott Group’s Norman Lim at the Ascott Hotel.

Over 2,000 riders are joining the BGC CycleAsia bikefest, which of-fers events such as the Tricycle Ride,

the Kids’ Ride the 20-km Commu-nity ride and the 40-km Challenge.

As guest rider, McEwen will lead the much-awaited “Ride with Rob-bie,” a 40-kilometer event which will allow Filipino riders a chance to ride with the former yellow jersey wearer, and three-time Tour de France Green Jersey Sprinters classification winner.

The 43-year-old McEwen said that after retiring from professional racing three years, he has been trave-ling across the globe, offering advice to riders and clubs who need help in improving their skills.

“It was good. My transition from professional athlete to being a coach was pretty easy. Because when I re-tired, I knew what I was going to do after. I stayed and continued work-ing from the other side, working with riders, and giving them techni-cal advise,” said McEwen.

Tour de France veteranto spice up BGC CycleAsia

Games today1 p.m. – PLDT Home Ultera vs Navy (best-of-three for 3rd)

Awards rites3 p.m. – Air Force vs Cignal (best-of-three for crown)

Fighting cholitas. “Rosita” (left) fights with “Comando” during a “cholitas” (Aymara women in skirts) all-in wrestling fight in El Alto, 12 kms from la Paz. The fighting “cholitas” are one of the main attractions in popular neighbourhoods of Bolivia. AFP

Eagles regain men’s judo titleATENEO regained the throne in the men’s di-vision, while University of Santo Tomas retained the women’s champion-ship Thursday night in the UAAP Season 78 judo tournament at the La Salle-Greenhills gym.

The Blue Eagles amassed 61 points to unseat last year’s titlist Growling Tigers, who settled for the runner-up honors with 45 points in the event backed by Im-perium Technology.

Brothers Alfred Benjie (-81 kg) and Jose Ariel Querubin (-100 kg), along with Monch Santiago (-90

kg) delivered the golds in the final day as Ateneo recaptured the title (its seventh overall) it won two years ago.

Santiago was named the season MVP, while Nico Clemente, the other Blue Eagles’ gold medal-ist after winning the -66 kg in last Wednesday’s opener, went home with the Rookie of the Year honors.

De La Salle banked on Keith Reyes’ victory in the +100 kg category to place third with 19 points, nipping University of the Philippines, which has 18.

UST somehow rebound-

ed from the setback suf-fered by the men’s team by dominating the distaff side with 86 points, holding a huge 62-point margin over runner-up University of the East.

Tracy Honorio (-57 kg), Eunice Lucero (-70 kg) and Aislinn Yap (-78 kg) bagged golds for the Tigresses, who won the title—their eighth overall —for the second straight year under coach Gege Arce.

UST’s other gold-medal winners, Khrizzie Pabu-layan (-48 kg) and Miam Salvador (-44 kg) took the tournament MVP and

Rookie of the Year hon-ors, respectively.

The Lady Maroons achieved a podium finish at they wound up third with 20 points.

The Tiger Cubs, be-hind MVP Jefferson Sal-cedo and Rookie of the Year winner Shaine Ar-nel Haber, dethroned the Blue Eaglets in the boys’ division with 53 points. Ateneo had 31 points in second, while De La Salle-Zobel went third with 25 points.

UST also topped the girls’ division, which is played for the first time as a demonstration event.

A15S AT U R DAY : N 0 V E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

[email protected]

Philips Gold,Cignal clash for 3rd place

3-way logjam at topof RW Manila MastersCARMONA, Cavite—South African Jbe Kruger came charging back with two birdies in late windy a� ernoon to shoot a seven-under 65 and force a three-way tie for the lead with Taiwanese Hung Chien-yao and Lee Chieh-po in a crowded leader-board halfway through the $1 million Resorts World Manila Masters at the Manila Southwoods here.

Kruger came out unruffled by the wind that blew from all over, all day yesterday, gunning down five birdies in one of the late flights then hit three more at the back, including the last two to negate a lone bogey mishap on No. 16 and post the tournament-best score in another day of tor-rid scoring.

He pooled a 10-under 134, the same output put in by early starters Hung, who logged a bo-gey-free 67, and Lee, who fired an eagle-spiked 66 as the men of the tour sustained their as-

sault on the Masters layout with 52 breaking par, 12 more than in the first round.

Filipino Rufino Bayron also rallied with three birdies at the back and shot a 66, taking the cudgels for the hosts at 135 in a tie with opening day leader Nicholas Fung of Malaysia, who carded a 69, even as Miguel Tabuena made his move with two eagles for a 68 and a 138, four strokes off the pace.

Japan’s Akinori Tan, Thai Ti-rawat Kaewsiribandit and Paul Peterson of the US all turned in

IMUS CITY—Crushed by their respective set-backs in the semifinals, Philips Gold and Cig-nal gather themselves up and will clash for the consolation third-place trophy in the classi-fication match of the 2015 Philippine Super-liga Grand Prix women’s volleyball tourna-ment today at the Imus Sports Center in this booming city.

Opening serve is set at 1 p.m., while tail-enders RC Cola-Air Force and Meralco collide at 3 p.m. to settle, who will emerge as fifth-placer in this prestigious inter-club tournament presented by Asics and backed by Milo with Senoh, Mueller and Mikasa as technical partners and TV5 as official broadcaster.

No less than Cong. Alex Advincula, Imus City mayor Emmanuel Maliksi, vice mayor Armando Ilano and board member Ony Cantimbuhan will roll out the red car-pet for the members of the four competing teams as well as the entire PSL delegation, led by president Ramon “Tats” Suzara and chairman Philip Ella Juico, who confirmed the use of video challenge system in this pair of highly crucial matches.

ERRATUMFoton player Alyja “Jaja” Daphne Santiago

was mistaken for Petron spiker Aleona Den-ise “Dindin” Santiago-Manabat during The Standard story on Thursday’s semifinal en-counter between Foton and Philips in the on-going Philippine Super Liga Grand Prix 2015 women’s volleyball tournament.

Jaja and and Dindin are twin sisters, who used to play together for National University in the UAAP. They are play-ing on different teams this time around.

After finishing the double-round

eliminations on top of the team stand-ings, Philips Gold found itself stacked against a hungry and well-prepared Fo-ton side in the do-or-die semifinals.

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LOTTO RESULTS

67s for joint sixth at 136 while Indian Rahil Gangjee and Thai Arnond Vongvanij fired identi-cal 66s, Masahiro Kawamura and Korean Jeunghun Wang shot similar 69s and England’s Steve Lewton and local ace Jhon-nel Ababa both logged 68s to join Tabuena at 10th place heading to the weekend play of the coun-try’s richest championship hosed by the Manila Southwoods.

“I wasn’t thinking about lead-ing actually. Maybe that’s why I could play with no pressure out there. I just thought it’s still the second round and there is still a lot more to do,” said Hung, who spiked his flawless round with five scrambling pars.

Lee, 21,, gunned down an ea-gle on the par-5 No. 4 and birdies on Nos. 5, 7, 10, 11 and 18 against a lone bogey on No. 12.

“I didn’t know I was leading un-til the last hole actually but I kind

of knew I am going to be up there because I played really good,” said Lee, an Asian Tour rookie.

Late in the day, Kruger sizzled with eight birdies, including five in the first seven holes, and a tap-in feat on the 18th.

Tabuena, who wavered at the finish and settled for a 70 Thurs-day, put on a sizzling windup this time, birdying all par-5s and closing out with four birdies in the last six holes at the front for a 31-37.

But it was his two eagles that keyed his fightback from a three-over card start at the back, put-ting from 20 feet off the fringe on the par-5 15th off a 3-wood second shot from 255 yards out. He dropped a shot on the next but birdied the second par-5 on the 18th before his wedge shot from 87 yards on the par-4 No. 1 landed two feet past the cup and spun back.

Lee Chieh-po hits his drive on No. 9

Games Today (Imus Sports Center)1 p.m. -- Philips Gold

vs Cignal3 p.m. -- RC Cola-Air

Force vs Meralco

Eagles...From A16

defending champions and 4th seed National University Bull-dogs in their own semis duel, also set at 3:30 p.m. at the Big Dome.

Ateneo,which finished the elimination round with a 9-5card, is taking on an FEU squad fresh from a 71-68 dump-ing of the De La Salle Green Archers to formally clinch the no. 2 seeding.

FEU had beaten Ateneo twice, first with an 88-64 vic-tory in the first round, and a 66-61 decision in the second.

If the Tamaraws win for the third time today, they will go to the finals for the second straight season and into their 10th finals stint since 1994.

But if the Blue Eagles win two in a row, they will make it

to the finals for the 10th time since 1999.

Ateneo is now on its 16th Fi-nal Four appearance while FEU is on its 17th.

Kiefer Ravena, meanwhile, was named Most Valuable Player for the second straight season and was joined in the Mythical Five by Kevin Ferrer and Ed Daquioag of University of Santo Tomas, Alfred Aroga of National University and Jeron Teng of De La Salle. All five were on the top five of the MVP statistical race.

Ravena took his second straight MVP plum after com-piling 69.5 total statistical points, Ferrer was second with 67.3571, while was Aroga finished third with 63.2857 total points, fol-lowed by Teng, with 60.7857.

Daquioag is the second UST player to make it to the Mythi-cal Five as he amassed 60.5714 total Sps.

S AT U R DAY : N O V E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

A16RIERA U. MALL ARI

E D I T O R

[email protected]

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

By Jeric Lopez

AN almost two-week break did Alaska wonders.

Aces rout Batang Pier,grab share of PBA lead

The Aces were back to their winning ways and re-gained a share of first place as they turned an anticipated close game into a one-sided affair, coasting to an easy 123-104 rout of GlobalPort in the 2015 Philippine Basket-ball Association Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.

Eight Aces scored in double-figures, led by Cyrus Baguio, who had a team-high 17 points, while Vic Manuel had 16 mark-ers. Chris Banchero, Sonny Thoss and RJ Jazul each had 14 points off the bench.

Alaska, after having its 3-0 win streak was snapped by Ginebra, vaulted back into the top in a tie with San Miguel

Beer at 4-1, while GlobalPort saw its three-game winning streak snapped and fell to 3-2.

Aces coach Alex Compton credited his team’s defense as the main key for the victory.

“I thought we were solid defensively,’’ said Compton, whose squad withstood Ter-rence Romeo’s 33-point out-burst for GlobalPort. ‘’The guys did it all. Maganda ang ginawa ng mga players. They moved the ball well and played as a team. I like how we shared the ball and how we defended.’’

The other Aces in twin-digits were Eric Menk with 12, Calvin Abueva with 11 and Jvee Casio with 10.

Right from the get-go, the Aces looked fresh and sharp

Eagles need towin twice

WHEN the Ateneo Blue Ea-gles troop to the hard-court today against the Far Eastern University Tamaraws at the start of the Final Four of the 78th University Athletic As-sociation of the Philippines men’s basketball tournament at the Smart-Araneta Colise-um, they will bring with them hard lessons from their losses, especially the one against the University of the East Warriors only a week ago.

The Eagles dropped a 69-74 decision to the Warriors, but the loss thankfully did not make a dent on their chances for the Final Four.

Still, Ateneo coach Bo Pera-sol said the loss served as a wake-up call for the Eagles and reminded them not to take any game lightly, especially now that they are at a disadvantage as the no. 3 seed.

The Blue Eagles take on the no. 2 seed Far Eastern University Tamaraws at 3:30 p.m. and will need to play a more focused game to force a deciding game, and hope-fully make it all the way to the finals.

“Nakadagdag iyung pag-katalo namin kasi para hindi kami maging kampante. On our toes na kami. Tall order for any team beating a team twice,” said Perasol.

On Sunday, top seed University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers battle the

SPORTS

as they raced to a huge 16-point lead, 20-14, after a blistering start in the first 10 min-utes of play.

The juggernaut continued for Alaska as it held on to its double-digit lead at the half, but GlobalPort was still in it though as the distance stood at a manageable 10 points, 60-50.

However, the focused Aces tightened its grip of the con-test in the third period by winning it handily, 34-26, to carry a more comfortably 94-76 spread into the final canto.

From there, it was just about holding on for Alaska as it maintained its huge lead in the fourth to seal the win.

The Aces even led by 22 points, 118-96, twice in the closing minutes.

Although Romeo was fir-ing from all cylinders in the first half, scoring 20 of his total

points in the first 24 minutes, Alaska’s well-balanced at-tack still stood tall as it regained con-trol right away.

Not helping GlobalPort’s cause was the foul trouble that hounded star Stanley Pringle.

Although he still finished with 16 points, Pringle was saddled with four fouls in the first half and that clearly affected the Batang Pier’s ap-proach in its attack.

“Getting Stanley (Pringle) in foul trouble I think worked for us,’’ said Compton.

Abueva fell down hard on his lower back at the 5:28 mark of the opening period after converting on a lay-up while getting fouled.

The do-it-all forward was down for a minute or two be-fore eventually getting up and taking his bonus free throw. He, however, had to leave the

court for some medication but managed to return in second period.

Meanwhile, a rare double-header is slated today as Rain or Shine (3-1) wants to get back on track and also earn a piece of tournament lead when it takes on Blackwater (1-3) at 3 p.m., while inconsistent Star (2-3) clashes with Meralco (0-5) at 5:15 p.m. at the Cuneta Astro-dome in Pasay City.

The scores:Alaska 123—Baguio 17, Ma-

nuel 16, Banchero 14, Thoss 14, JAzul 14, Menk 12, Abueva 11, Casio 10, Baclao 4, Dela Rosa 4, Hontiveros 4, Dela Cruz 3, Ex-ciminiano 0, Racal 0.

Globalport 104—Romeo 33, Pringle 16, Mamaril 13, Kramer 11, Maierhofer 10, Uyloan 6, Washington 6, Yeo 5, Jensen 2, Sumang 2, Pa-niamogan 0, Taha 0.

Quarters: 34-25; 60-50; 94-78; 123-104.

TURN TO A13 TURN TO A15

3-waylogjamfor RWgolf lead

Warriorsnotchlucky winno. 13

Game Today (Final Four, Araneta Coliseum)

3:30 p.m. FEU vs Ateneo

Alaska’s Calvin Abueva (left) whacks a shooting GlobalPort’s Joseph Yeo in a PBA Philippine Cup game won by the Aces, 123-104.

Games Today (Cuneta Astrodome)

3 p.m. - Rain or Shine vs. Blackwater

5:15 p.m. - Meralco vs. Star

Continued on A15

RODERICK T. DELA CRUZASSISTANT EDITOR B1

SATURDAY: NOVEMBER 21, 2015

[email protected]@gmail.com

RAY S. EÑANOEDITOR

Moodys expects 5.8%growth in 3rd quarter

Domingocites gainsafter Apecconference

BUSINESS

What makes a

VISIONARY?

Find out soon.

By Othel V. Campos

TRADE Secretary Gregory Domingo said the Philippine made significant contributions in furthering the objectives of the just-concluded Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Manila.

“Our work has gathered sup-port for member economies to collectively work towards an Asia Pacific region that ad-dresses gaps in economic devel-opment, sustains long-term and inclusive growth, and benefits our micro, small and medium enterprises,” Domingo said.

He said the Philippines had been successful in placing the MSMEs at the “front and center” of the Apec agenda technical and consultative meetings.

The Boracay Action Agenda to Globalize Micro, Small, and Medium enterprises, broadly supported by trade ministers last May, and its implementation plan, endorsed by Apec senior officials during the conclusion of the meeting on November 15, 2015, highlighted the first day of discussions.

The MSME agenda calls for a host of specific, concrete and practical interventions that Apec economies can implement to provide MSMEs wider opportu-nities to participate in the global market.

The Trade Department said the year-long Apec meetings held in various cities of the country resulted in identifying specific actions, practical initia-tives and programs that will en-hance the MSME agenda and its implementation plan.

By Julito G. Radda

THE Philippine economy likely grew 5.8 percent in the third quarter, faster than the 5.6-per-cent expansion in the second quarter, as government spend-ing picked up, Moody’s Analyt-ics, a division of Moody’s Corp., said in a report Friday.

“The Philippines likely grew 5.8 percent year-on-year in the September quarter, up from 5.6 percent in the June quarter. Higher government spending was likely the main driver and provided a further boost to investment over the quarter,” Moody’s said.

“The government stepped up stimulus after weakness earlier in the year threatened the Phil-ippines record of impressive GDP [gross domes-tic product] growth in recent years,” it said.

The government will release the official GDP growth figures on Nov. 26.

The first-quarter growth of 5 percent was dragged down by the government’s anemic fis-cal expenditures, which actually began in the third quarter of 2014.

The government became cautious to spend af-ter the Supreme Court earlier ruled the adminis-tration’s Disbursement Acceleration Program as unconstitutional. The high tribunal,

however, reversed the ruling later.The government vowed to accelerate fiscal

spending at the start of the second quarter. Second-quarter GDP grew 5.6 percent, a re-bound from the sluggish 5 percent a quarter ago, but was still slower than the 6.4-percent expansion in the same quarter of 2014.

This brought the first-half growth to 5.3 per-cent, below the government’s target range of 7 percent to 8 percent for the year.

Moody’s said despite the rosy outlook in

the third quarter, exports remained a “weak point” due to sluggish global demand, espe-cially from China. The world’s second-largest economy is an important trading partner of the Philippines.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authori-ty showed that exports fell 24.7 percent in Sep-

tember, as soft global demand and depressed prices weakened the shipments of all key com-modities.

The PSA said total revenue from Philippine exports fell to $4.4 billion in September 2015 from $5.8 billion recorded in the same period last year.

A woman hangs laundry among slum housing as containers sit stacked in the Port of Manila in the Tondo district of Manila on Nov. 19, 2015. The gross domestic product growth is expected to accelerate in the second half of the fiscal year and the macro-economic situation will remain sound moving forward, said Bangko Sentral Governor Amando Tetangco on Nov. 18. Moody’s Analytics, a division of Moody’s Corp., meanwhile, said in a report Friday the Philippine economy likely grew 5.8 percent in the third quarter, faster than the 5.6-percent expansion in the second quarter, as government spending picked up. BLOOMBERG


BUSINESSSATURDAY: NOVEMBER 21, 2015

B2

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

The STandard BuSineSS daily STockS review Friday, November 20, 2015

FINANCIAL7.88 2.5 AG Finance 2.6 2.55 2.51 2.55 -1.92 17,000 75.3 66 Asia United Bank 49.2 49.2 48.1 49.2 0.00 16,400 777,000.00124.4 88.05 Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 99.50 101.00 99.25 99.25 -0.25 2,395,600 9,929,193107 88.1 Bank of PI 85.00 86.75 85.00 86.75 2.06 1,520,710 18,526,218.5056.5 45.45 China Bank 39.5 39.6 39.4 39.4 -0.25 43,300 -316,000.004.2 1.68 Bright Kindle Resources 1.60 1.60 1.56 1.57 -1.88 30,000 17 12.02 COL Financial 15.7 15.7 15.5 15.6 -0.64 1,800 30.45 19.6 Eastwest Bank 18.88 18.94 18.88 18.92 0.21 23,200 -226,846.0010.4 6.12 Filipino Fund Inc. 7.69 7.70 7.70 7.70 0.13 500 0.92 0.74 First Abacus 0.65 0.65 0.65 0.65 0.00 20,000 2.6 1.02 I-Remit Inc. 1.60 1.62 1.60 1.60 0.00 4,000 890 625 Manulife Fin. Corp. 770.00 750.00 750.00 750.00 -2.60 110 45,000.001.01 0.225 MEDCO Holdings 0.480 0.495 0.490 0.490 2.08 250,000 -24,750.00100 78 Metrobank 81.05 81.9 80.5 81.1 0.06 1,889,970 -46,562,197.001.46 0.9 Natl. Reinsurance Corp. 0.95 0.97 0.94 0.97 2.11 162,000 30.5 17.8 PB Bank 18.00 18.00 17.70 18.00 0.00 60,700 91.5 62 Phil. National Bank 50.50 51.90 51.50 51.90 2.77 18,910 -478,448.50361.2 276 PSE Inc. 299.6 299.6 295 296 -1.20 420 57 41 RCBC À’ 32.3 33 32 33 2.17 54,700 -123,235180 118.2 Security Bank 133 136.5 133 136 2.26 310,580 12,809,102.001700 1200 Sun Life Financial 1515.00 1535.00 1535.00 1535.00 1.32 150 76,750.00124 59 Union Bank 57.00 56.95 56.15 56.90 -0.18 50,890

INDUSTRIAL47 35.9 Aboitiz Power Corp. 41.6 42.2 41.15 42 0.96 5,102,300 83,461,705.005 1.11 Agrinurture Inc. 3.2 3.41 2.85 3.41 6.56 2,490,000 -134,710.001.46 1.01 Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 0.84 0.84 0.84 0.84 0.00 26,000 2.36 1.86 Alsons Cons. 1.55 1.57 1.54 1.54 -0.65 380,000 15.3 7.92 Asiabest Group 10.98 10.98 10.3 10.98 0.00 2,100 148 32 C. Azuc De Tarlac 98.95 98.95 98.95 98.95 0.00 1,000 20.6 15.32 Century Food 17.66 17.7 17.6 17.6 -0.34 275,700 -971,104.0036 10.08 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 21 20.95 20.45 20.75 -1.19 363,200 -1,070,775.0065.8 29.15 Concepcion 41 41.1 41 41 0.00 296,000 -5,215,8502.97 1.5 Crown Asia 2.36 2.4 2.36 2.4 1.69 342,000 4.14 1.5 Da Vinci Capital 1.51 1.56 1.47 1.47 -2.65 453,000 21.5 10.72 Del Monte 9.9 10.08 9.9 9.94 0.40 5,800 21.6 9.55 DNL Industries Inc. 9.270 9.500 9.28 9.500 2.48 6,025,100 14,627,661.0011.96 9.04 Emperador 9.13 9.12 9.03 9.10 -0.33 10,357,400 -64,131,007.009.13 6.02 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 5.82 6.20 5.82 5.85 0.52 11,928,400 5,389,729.0011.8 8.86 EEI 5.53 5.59 5.48 5.53 0.00 606,400 -908,052.002.89 1.06 Euro-Med Lab 1.71 1.71 1.71 1.71 0.00 1,000 31.8 20.2 First Gen Corp. 21.8 22.45 21.9 22.2 1.83 1,528,700 -8,789,215.00109 71.5 First Holdings ‘A’ 68.75 69.8 68.75 68.8 0.07 554,070 -7,244.5020.75 13.86 Ginebra San Miguel Inc. 11.80 11.90 11.88 11.88 0.68 200 15.3 13.24 Holcim Philippines Inc. 14.50 14.62 14.50 14.62 0.83 95,600 1,128,524.009.4 5.34 Integ. Micro-Electronics 5.99 5.99 5.81 5.88 -1.84 93,500 -48,052.000.98 0.395 Ionics Inc 2.360 2.440 2.350 2.370 0.42 1,647,000 1,608,780.00241 173 Jollibee Foods Corp. 195.50 203.80 194.50 200.00 2.30 516,020 6,006,231.00 LBC Express 12.5 12.7 12.14 12.66 1.28 10,800 79 34.1 Liberty Flour 34.00 42.00 42.00 42.00 23.53 1,500 3.95 2.3 LMG Chemicals 1.95 2.03 2.03 2.03 4.10 40,000 33.9 23.35 Manila Water Co. Inc. 24 24.2 24 24 0.00 3,440,900 -5,967,570.0090 17.3 Maxs Group 22.4 23.5 22.4 22.8 1.79 136,900 1,173,950.0013.26 5.88 Megawide 6.34 6.34 6.3 6.3 -0.63 85,000 -7,608.00293 250.2 Mla. Elect. Co À’ 296.20 300.00 295.60 297.80 0.54 549,810 -33,284,194.005 3.37 Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp. 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 0.00 5,000 5.25 3.87 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 4.05 4.06 3.96 3.96 -2.22 1,443,000 -1,926,860.0012.98 8.45 Petron Corporation 7.80 7.87 7.70 7.77 -0.38 320,300 684,106.006.75 3 Phil H2O 3.15 3.18 3.17 3.17 0.63 21,000 15 10.04 Phinma Corporation 11.80 11.80 11.40 11.80 0.00 1,600 7.03 3.03 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 3.70 3.70 3.69 3.69 -0.27 38,000 3.4 1.95 Phoenix Semiconductor 1.87 1.87 1.81 1.83 -2.14 871,000 -387,530.004.5 1 Pryce Corp. À’ 2.36 2.4 2.32 2.35 -0.42 289,000 6.3 4.02 RFM Corporation 4.18 4.30 4.18 4.28 2.39 351,000 320,450.007.86 1.65 Roxas and Co. 2.95 2.8 2.8 2.8 -5.08 2,000 7.34 5.9 Roxas Holdings 5 6.55 6 6 20.00 6,600 238 161 San Miguel’Pure Foods `B’ 134 134 132.5 134 0.00 65,090 -6,006,439.005.5 4.1 SPC Power Corp. 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 0.00 35,000 -122,500.003.28 1.55 Splash Corporation 2.26 2.38 2.3 2.3 1.77 602,000 -122,500.000.315 0.138 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.149 0.148 0.147 0.148 -0.67 630,000 2.18 1.02 TKC Steel Corp. 1.12 1.20 1.15 1.17 4.46 32,000 2.65 2.09 Trans-Asia Oil 2.05 2.10 2.03 2.10 2.44 290,000 234 152 Universal Robina 199.7 200 196 198 -0.85 2,554,070 93,287,340.001.3 0.640 Vitarich Corp. 0.64 0.66 0.63 0.66 3.13 279,000 2.17 1.2 Vulcan Ind’l. 1.21 1.22 1.16 1.16 -4.13 51,000

HOLDING FIRMS0.59 0.44 Abacus Cons. À’ 0.400 0.405 0.405 0.405 1.25 20,000 59.2 48.1 Aboitiz Equity 55.7000 57.8500 55.7000 57.8500 3.86 2,516,560 34,194,585.0030.05 20.85 Alliance Global Inc. 17.76 17.96 17.02 17.90 0.79 3,491,100 -30,206,242.007.39 6.62 Anscor À’ 6.39 6.33 6.33 6.33 -0.94 5,000 3.4 0.23 ATN Holdings A 0.238 0.260 0.245 0.245 2.94 840,000 3.35 0.23 ATN Holdings B 0.250 0.246 0.246 0.246 -1.60 10,000 823.5 634.5 Ayala Corp À’ 755 756 750 756 0.13 462,050 -21,170,075.0010.2 7.390 Cosco Capital 7.55 7.62 7.55 7.59 0.53 1,192,700 3,898,515.0084 12.8 DMCI Holdings 12.88 13.10 12.88 13.00 0.93 22,965,200 -3,639,182.003.35 2.6 F&J Prince ‘A’ 4.81 5.88 5 5.6 16.42 195,000 4.92 2.26 Filinvest Dev. Corp. 3.90 4.55 3.98 4.26 9.23 699,000 2,113,310.000.66 0.152 Forum Pacific 0.260 0.265 0.250 0.260 0.00 160,000 1455 837 GT Capital 1285 1300 1285 1286 0.08 230,590 -65,559,175.007.5 5.3 House of Inv. 5.43 6.00 6.00 6.00 10.50 1,500 76 49.55 JG Summit Holdings 67.80 69.90 67.80 69.90 3.10 1,714,310 19,132,358.509.25 4.84 Lopez Holdings Corp. 7.6 7.74 7.56 7.74 1.84 5,753,200 -1,822,738.000.85 0.59 Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. 0.73 0.74 0.72 0.73 0.00 4,000 17.3 12 LT Group 13.9 14.2 13.92 13.98 0.58 3,477,900 33,189,370.000.71 0.580 Mabuhay Holdings À’ 0.51 0.53 0.53 0.53 3.92 10,000 5.53 4.2 Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. 5.26 5.37 5.27 5.3 0.76 26,381,700 39,199,899.006.55 4.5 Minerales Industrias Corp. 9.68 9.72 9.67 9.72 0.41 608,500 0.0670 0.030 Pacifica À’ 0.0310 0.0330 0.0310 0.0310 0.00 44,400,000 2.31 1.23 Prime Media Hldg 1.270 1.490 1.290 1.460 14.96 259,000 -14,500.001.61 0.550 Prime Orion 1.760 1.830 1.790 1.790 1.70 204,000 84.9 59.3 San Miguel Corp À’ 48.00 48.45 47.65 48.00 0.00 135,300 -1,985,880.003.5 1.5 Seafront À’ 2.68 2.70 2.70 2.70 0.75 2,000 974 751 SM Investments Inc. 840.00 863.00 846.00 862.00 2.62 228,330 -5,009,170.001.66 1.13 Solid Group Inc. 1.12 1.22 1.22 1.22 8.73 15,000 1.39 0.93 South China Res. Inc. 0.72 0.75 0.75 0.75 4.17 105,000 156 80 Top Frontier 76.300 76.550 76.400 76.400 0.13 1,700 -46,668.000.710 0.211 Unioil Res. & Hldgs 0.3200 0.3200 0.3100 0.3200 0.00 760,000 0.435 0.179 Wellex Industries 0.2270 0.2270 0.2180 0.2180 -3.96 260,000 0.510 0.310 Zeus Holdings 0.260 0.310 0.300 0.300 15.38 820,000

P R O P E R T Y10.5 6.74 8990 HLDG 7.150 7.440 7.170 7.330 2.52 1,162,000 2,806,406.001.99 0.65 A. Brown Co., Inc. 0.85 0.88 0.83 0.84 -1.18 1,876,000 1.75 1.2 Araneta Prop À’ 1.190 1.160 1.160 1.160 -2.52 1,000

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

Trading SummarySHARES VALUE

FINANCIAL 7,805,026 651,626,798.879INDUSTRIAL 55,250,565 1,433,959,348.01HOLDING FIRMS 119,873,415 1,768,292,997.10PROPERTY 82,300,094 951,721,593.38SERVICES 85,640,412 1,054,012,746.07MINING & OIL 201,537,786 67,571,086.83GRAND TOTAL 555,069,678 5,975,786,106.269

FINANCIAL 1,545.60 (UP) 11.94INDUSTRIAL 11,028.15 (UP) 43.74HOLDING FIRMS 6,559.75 (UP) 115.49PROPERTY 2,956.67 (UP) 76.57SERVICES 1,555.81 (UP) 25.71MINING & OIL 10,863.58 (DOWN) 126.79PSEI 6,932.81 (UP) 107.43All Shares Index 4,001.22 (UP) 53.78

Gainers: 108; Losers: 60; Unchanged: 47; Total: 215

STOCKS Close(P)

Change(%)

Alterra Capital 3.61 -9.75

Manila Mining À' 0.0100 -9.09

Waterfront Phils. 0.325 -7.14

Roxas and Co. 2.8 -5.08

Vulcan Ind'l. 1.16 -4.13

Wellex Industries 0.2180 -3.96

Nickelasia 6.73 -3.86

MG Holdings 0.260 -3.70

APC Group, Inc. 0.550 -3.51

Jackstones 2 -3.38

Top LoSerSSTOCKS Close

(P)Change(%)

Starmalls 7.89 35.33

Liberty Flour 42.00 23.53

Roxas Holdings 6 20.00

F&J Prince 'A' 5.6 16.42

Zeus Holdings 0.300 15.38

Prime Media Hldg 1.460 14.96

House of Inv. 6.00 10.50

Oriental Pet. À' 0.0110 10.00

Filinvest Dev. Corp. 4.26 9.23

Solid Group Inc. 1.22 8.73

Top gainerS

0.375 0.192 Arthaland Corp. 0.208 0.209 0.209 0.209 0.48 200,000 41.4 30.05 Ayala Land `B’ 33.950 35.200 34.200 35.200 3.68 5,101,100 -6,213,415.005.6 3.36 Belle Corp. À’ 3.13 3.25 3.14 3.2 2.24 1,200,000 -481,010.005.59 4.96 Cebu Holdings 5.1 5.08 5.08 5.08 -0.39 11,000 -50,800.001.44 0.79 Century Property 0.56 0.58 0.56 0.58 3.57 1,447,000 11,400.001.97 1.1 City & Land Dev. 0.92 0.92 0.92 0.92 0.00 6,000 1.48 0.97 Cityland Dev. À’ 1.00 1.05 1.05 1.05 5.00 2,000 0.201 0.083 Crown Equities Inc. 0.135 0.142 0.133 0.138 2.22 5,740,000 -13,700.000.69 0.415 Cyber Bay Corp. 0.465 0.470 0.460 0.465 0.00 970,000 120,900.0010.96 2.4 Double Dragon 22.9 23.6 22.65 23 0.44 2,297,300 1,255,365.000.97 0.83 Empire East Land 0.860 0.850 0.850 0.850 -1.16 141,000 0.305 0.188 Ever Gotesco 0.164 0.165 0.163 0.165 0.61 1,560,000 2.22 1.15 Global-Estate 1.08 1.09 1.08 1.09 0.93 2,126,000 -217,000.002.1 1.42 Filinvest Land,Inc. 1.79 1.80 1.75 1.77 -1.12 11,316,000 12,881,450.001.8 1.27 Interport À’ 1.24 1.22 1.21 1.22 -1.61 66,000 5.94 4.13 Megaworld 4.36 4.53 4.39 4.49 2.98 22,214,000 -30,553,910.000.180 0.090 MRC Allied Ind. 0.081 0.085 0.800 0.082 1.23 1,020,000 0.470 0.290 Phil. Estates Corp. 0.2700 0.2700 0.2550 0.2700 0.00 80,000 0.72 0.39 Phil. Realty À’ 0.4050 0.4050 0.4050 0.4050 0.00 50,000 8.54 2.69 Primex Corp. 8.4 8.45 8.4 8.45 0.60 96,600 210,000.0031.8 22.15 Robinson’s Land `B’ 30.40 30.90 30.00 30.60 0.66 10,874,000 -84,309,510.002.29 1.6 Rockwell 1.47 1.47 1.46 1.47 0.00 41,000 21.35 15.08 SM Prime Holdings 20.45 20.95 20.60 20.90 2.20 8,149,300 -6,072,755.001.06 0.69 Sta. Lucia Land Inc. 0.75 0.74 0.74 0.74 -1.33 55,000 7.56 3.38 Starmalls 5.83 7.98 7.2 7.89 35.33 16,000 -3,164.001.62 0.83 Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. 0.890 0.900 0.870 0.900 1.12 45,000 8.59 5.73 Vista Land & Lifescapes 5.280 5.490 5.360 5.390 2.08 2,488,800 26,329.00

S E R V I C E S10.5 1.97 2GO Group’ 7.2 7.33 7.16 7.29 1.25 228,500 66 35.2 ABS-CBN 62.9 64 63 64 1.75 4,040 1.09 0.63 APC Group, Inc. 0.570 0.560 0.550 0.550 -3.51 254,000 14.88 10.5 Asian Terminals Inc. 11.8 11.8 11.8 11.8 0.00 100 15.82 8.6 Bloomberry 5.05 5.20 5.08 5.11 1.19 3,675,000 -1,761,065.000.1430 0.0770 Boulevard Holdings 0.0500 0.0500 0.0470 0.0490 -2.00 19,590,000 73,500.005.06 2.95 Calata Corp. 3.52 3.6 3.55 3.55 0.85 114,000 99.1 56.1 Cebu Air Inc. (5J) 84.1 84.5 84.1 84.4 0.36 70,840 735,684.507.67 4.8 DFNN Inc. 5.80 5.96 5.65 5.90 1.72 38,600 2720 1600 Globe Telecom 2020 2010 1943 2000 -0.99 145,580 -107,825,280.008.41 5.95 GMA Network Inc. 7.43 7.46 7.38 7.39 -0.54 114,100 1.97 1.23 Harbor Star 1.25 1.27 1.21 1.26 0.80 181,000 70,110.00119.5 102.6 I.C.T.S.I. 67.2 71 67.2 71 5.65 1,256,840 24,453,821.5012.5 8.72 IPeople Inc. À’ 11.4 11.4 11.4 11.4 0.00 20,000 0.8200 0.041 Island Info 0.174 0.174 0.174 0.174 0.00 80,000 2.2800 1.200 ISM Communications 1.3700 1.4100 1.3500 1.4100 2.92 738,000 5.93 2.34 Jackstones 2.07 2.1 2 2 -3.38 81,000 12.28 6.5 Leisure & Resorts 8.65 9.00 8.68 8.98 3.82 665,900 83,519.003.32 1.91 Liberty Telecom 4.31 4.42 4.30 4.32 0.23 1,052,000 327,560.003.2 1.95 Macroasia Corp. 2.34 2.40 2.20 2.40 2.56 24,000 1 0.650 Manila Bulletin 0.610 0.590 0.590 0.590 -3.28 86,000 2.46 1.8 Manila Jockey 2 2 2 2 0.00 2 66,000.0015.2 6 Melco Crown 3.45 3.8 3.61 3.65 5.80 11,245,000 -18,506,620.000.62 0.335 MG Holdings 0.270 0.265 0.250 0.260 -3.70 250,000 1.040 0.37 NOW Corp. 0.700 0.720 0.680 0.680 -2.86 2,199,000 88,400.006.41 3 PAL Holdings Inc. 4.52 4.52 4.52 4.52 0.00 33,000 18 8.8 Phil. Racing Club 9.47 9.47 9.47 9.47 0.00 1,000 185 79 Phil. Seven Corp. 100.30 100.00 100.00 100.00 -0.30 51,660 17,000.0022.9 4.39 Philweb.Com Inc. 20.00 20.15 19.96 20.00 0.00 14,600 30,211.003486 2748 PLDT Common 1965.00 2024.00 1970.00 2000.00 1.78 155,200 25,920,390.002.28 1.2 Premium Leisure 0.970 1.030 1.000 1.000 3.09 14,419,000 754,660.0046.05 31.45 Puregold 31.75 33.00 32.05 32.55 2.52 1,373,600 13,614,970.0090.1 60.55 Robinsons RTL 71.50 71.50 68.15 69.95 -2.17 14,950 -2,151,227.00 SBS Phil. Corp. 5.65 5.70 5.50 5.54 -1.95 2,941,900 -4,247,766.0011.6 7.59 SSI Group 3.62 3.89 3.70 3.76 3.87 20,744,000 -12,891,490.000.85 0.63 STI Holdings 0.425 0.43 0.420 0.430 1.18 2,220,000 -240,800.002.95 1.71 Transpacific Broadcast 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 0.00 20,000 10 5 Travellers 3.95 4 4 4 1.27 130,000 -500,000.000.490 0.315 Waterfront Phils. 0.350 0.325 0.325 0.325 -7.14 110,000 1.9 1.14 Yehey 4.200 4.290 4.120 4.130 -1.67 89,000

MINING & OIL0.0098 0.0043 Abra Mining 0.0050 0.0050 0.0048 0.0050 0.00 64,000,000 5.45 1.72 Apex À’ 2.20 2.20 2.15 2.20 0.00 8,000 17.24 6.47 Atlas Cons. À’ 4.82 4.82 4.75 4.78 -0.83 127,000 -458,460.000.330 0.236 Basic Energy Corp. 0.210 0.210 0.210 0.210 0.00 100,000 12.7 6.5 Benguet Corp À’ 5.7000 5.7 5.7 5.7000 0.00 200 12.8 5.11 Benguet Corp `B’ 5.7100 5.73 5.73 5.7300 0.35 100 1.19 0.85 Century Peak Metals Hldgs 0.67 0.68 0.64 0.65 -2.99 170,000 1.62 0.77 Coal Asia 0.63 0.64 0.62 0.64 1.59 273,000 9.5 5.99 Dizon 8.05 8.06 7.89 8.04 -0.12 32,400 4.2 1.17 Ferronickel 0.8 0.8 0.77 0.79 -1.25 4,083,000 -119,500.000.48 0.305 Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. 0.295 0.300 0.295 0.295 0.00 30,000 0.420 0.2130 Lepanto À’ 0.188 0.190 0.187 0.188 0.00 2,110,000 0.440 0.2160 Lepanto `B’ 0.201 0.204 0.201 0.204 1.49 210,000 0.022 0.013 Manila Mining À’ 0.0110 0.0110 0.0100 0.0100 -9.09 1,200,000 0.023 0.014 Manila Mining `B’ 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.00 6,300,000 8.2 3.240 Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. 2.43 2.39 2.33 2.36 -2.88 353,000 -165,170.0049.2 18.96 Nickelasia 7 7 6.6 6.73 -3.86 2,466,500 -2,109,947.004.27 2.11 Nihao Mineral Resources 3 3.09 2.95 3 0.00 62,000 3.06 1.54 Oriental Peninsula Res. 1.4400 1.4400 1.3800 1.4400 0.00 6,000 0.020 0.012 Oriental Pet. À’ 0.0100 0.0110 0.0100 0.0110 10.00 700,000 12.88 7.26 Philex À’ 5.05 5.120 4.980 5.00 -0.99 538,800 -86,740.0010.42 2.27 PhilexPetroleum 1.44 1.450 1.420 1.44 0.00 95,000 -28,800.000.040 0.015 Philodrill Corp. À’ 0.0120 0.0120 0.0110 0.0120 0.00 118,300,000 420 115.9 Semirara Corp. 135.80 135.60 132.00 134.80 -0.74 299,980 -2,289,065.009 3.67 TA Petroleum 2.27 2.33 2.27 2.33 2.64 63,000

PREFERRED70 33 ABS-CBN Holdings Corp. 62 64.5 63.25 64 3.23 95,820 3,900,774.00553 490 Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ 519.5 520 515 515 -0.87 2,200 120 101.5 First Gen G 116.2 117 117 117 0.69 60 111 101 MWIDE PREF 109 109 109 109 0.00 60 1060 997 PCOR-Preferred A 1060 1050 1050 1050 -0.94 130 1047 1011 PF Pref 2 1018 1020 1020 1020 0.20 1,000 84.8 75 SMC Preferred C 81.7 83.5 81.7 83.5 2.20 28,400 -32,680.00 SMC Preferred D 79.05 79.05 79.05 79.05 0.00 31,000 SMC Preferred E 79.3 79.9 79.8 79.9 0.76 55,900 SMC Preferred F 80.35 80.5 80.35 80.5 0.19 34,200 176,880.00

WARRANTS & BONDS6.98 0.8900 LR Warrant 2.640 2.660 2.650 2.650 0.38 13,000

S M E Alterra Capital 4 3.65 3.27 3.61 -9.75 53,000 12.88 5.95 Xurpas 16.4 16.74 16.5 16.5 0.61 2,555,000 -3,217,104.00

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS130.7 105.6 First Metro ETF 111.5 113.2 112.1 113.2 1.52 53,330


BUSINESSSATURDAY: NOVEMBER 21, 2015

B3

Datem postponesP4.6-b public offer

Marketadvances;Aboitiz,JG climb

Philex Petroleum’s subsidiary quits Peru exploration

CEO summit. Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, chairman and chief executive of Ayala Corp., speaks at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel. The Philippines successfully hosted the Apec Summit with the theme ‘Building Inclusive Economies, Building a Better World.’ BLOOMBERG

By Alena Mae S. Flores

CONSTRUCTION company Datem Inc. said Friday it postponed the P4.65-billion initial public offering it originally planned on Dec. 8 to a later date.

STOCKS rose Friday, as opti-mism the Federal Reserve will take a gradual approach to raising interest rates sent Asian markets toward their biggest weekly gain in more than a month and buoyed the region’s currencies.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company bench-mark, jumped 107 points, or 1.6 percent, to close at 6,932.81. The gauge, however, was still down 4.1 percent since the start of the year.

The heavier index, represent-ing all shares, also advanced 53 points, or 1.4 percent, to settle at 4,001.22, on value turnover of P6 billion.

Gainers outnumbered losers, 108 to 60, while 47 issues were unchanged.

Seventeen of the 20 most ac-tive stocks ended in the green, led by conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., which climbed 3.9 percent to P57.85. Property de-veloper Ayala Land Inc. rose 3.7 percent to P35.20, while JG Sum-mit Holdings Inc. of tycoon John Gokongwei added 3.1 percent to close at P69.90.

Property developer Megaworld Corp. gained 3 percent to P4.49, while SM Investments Corp. of tycoon Henry Sy rose 2.6 percent to P862. Restaurant operator Jol-libee Foods Corp. picked up 2.3 percent to settle at P200.

Meanwhile, the MSCI Asia Pa-cific index rose 0.2 percent, ex-tending Thursday’s 1.9-percent advance, as shares in New Zea-land and Australia climbed with those in emerging markets.

Gold added 0.1 percent and zinc jumped 2.1 percent. Crude in New York traded at $40.43 a barrel. Malaysia’s ringgit strength-ened 1.5 percent, leading Asian currencies higher. Investors showed few signs of unease after the US central bank signaled this week it’s likely to raise interest rates next month.

“The Fed has made it clear that its base case is for a lift-off in De-cember and if they were to break that, it would be a huge, market-moving event,” said Evan Lucas, Melbourne-based strategist at IG Ltd. “It’s been very positive for markets this week, with equities responding favorably to this mac-ro picture.”

The dollar sank against emerg-ing market currencies and the yen in Asia after seeing sharp losses on Wall Street while stocks picked up in later trade to extend the pre-vious day’s rally.

The upbeat performance was a far cry from the start of the week, which was overshadowed by the deadly Paris attacks last Friday, which raised fears about security in Europe and its effect on the economy.

Minutes Wednesday showing Federal Reserve policymakers are confident the US economy is strong enough to withstand a De-cember interest rate hike fuelled buying across global markets and sent the dollar up against its ma-jor rivals. With Bloomberg, AFP

By Alena Mae S. FloresPHILEX Petroleum Corp. said unit Pitkin Petroleum Plc. de-cided to surrender its ownership in an onshore exploration block in Peru.

Philex Petroleum said in a dis-closure to the stock exchange that Pitkin, its 53-percent owned sub-sidiary, did not join sub phase two in Peru Block 27, located onshore of Peru, “and has surrendered said block to the Peruvian govern-ment.”

Company officials did not re-spond to queries regarding the decision to surrender the service

contract. Philex Petroleum, the oil and

gas arm of Philex Mining Corp., has been suffering from losses due to inability to drill service con-tract 72, located offshore north-west Palawan, due to an ongoing territorial dispute with China.

Pitkin Petroleum earlier an-nounced it decided not to pursue its plan to take a 70-percent inter-est in service contract 6 A (Octon Block) in northwest Palawan.

Pitkin reassigned its participat-ing interest back to the farm-out partners after completion of the phase one work program on Dec. 31, 2014.

Pitkin signed a farm in agree-ment with the Octon Block part-ners in 2011 to earn a 70-percent participating interest in exchange for funding a three-phase work program, with the option to exit at the end of each phase.

The department approved the transfer of block operatorship to Pitkin in December 2011. Pitkin proposed to acquire new 3D seis-mic data and started preliminary seismic evaluation of the north-ern section of the block using ex-isting available data as the opera-tor of SC 6 A.

The other consortium hold-ers of the SC 6 A block were The

Philodrill, Alcorn Gold Resources Corp., Anglo-Philippine Holding Corp., Forum Energy Philippines Corp., PetroEnergy Resources Corp., Philex Petroleum and Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Devel-opment Corp.

The Octon Block has been pre-viously estimated to contain up to three million barrels of oil reserves and 34 billion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, of which three billion barrels are recoverable.

The Octon field was discovered in January 1991 and successfully appraised in April 1992. The field has a potential for a low-cost de-velopment.

“Datem Inc., together with BPI Capital Corp. and First Metro Investment Corp., as joint issue coordinators and joint lead un-derwriters and book runners, is deferring the company’s upcom-ing initial public offering to a later date,” the company said in a letter to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Datem said it would advise

the PSE and the Securities and Exchange Commission of the revised timetable as soon as pos-sible.

“In this connection, the compa-ny reserves the right to adjust the terms of the offer,” it said, without disclosing the reason for the de-lay.

Datem earlier said it planned

to start the offering period for the IPO on Nov. 24, with the end of offer period on Dec. 1.

Datem planned to sell up to 329 million shares, including 257.5 million primary shares, 28.61 million secondary shares and 42.91 million in case of over al-lotment, at an offer price of up to P14.15 apiece.

The company, in its preliminary prospectus, said that based on the offer price of P14.15 per share, it would raise P3.643 billion from the sale of primary shares and P1.012 billion from secondary shares.

Proceeds from the IPO will be used to fund construction, real

estate and water ventures, it said.Datem, incorporated in 1984,

is primarily engaged in the con-struction business. The company recently ventured into real estate, particularly affordable housing projects, and supply and treat-ment of bulk water.

Datem has housing projects in Angono and Cainta in Rizal province and Davao City and plans several projects in Bu-lacan, Iloilo, Laguna and other parts of Rizal.

Datem Water has a 15-year bulk water contract with Metro Kalibo Water District. The company said it was also on the lookout for more contracts in major cities.

B4

Aussie BPO companyexpanding Clark unit

IN BRIEF

SATURDAY: NOVEMBER 21, 2015


SLEx operator increased 9-month income to P2.06b

BUSINESS

Marco Polo partner. Five-star hotel Marco Polo Ortigas Manila keeps its cash management requirements intact with BDO Unibank, which provides the hotel a comprehensive payment solutions. Signing the partnership agreement are (from left) Marco Polo Ortigas Manila fi nance head Renan Cortez, Marco Polo Ortigas Manila general manager Frank Reichenbach, Marco Polo Ortigas Manila president Lily Te-Pedrosa, BDO transaction banking group head Edwin Reyes and BDO TBG account management head Edgardo Marcelo Jr.

By Othel V.Campos

AUSTRALIAN business process outsourcing company Beepo Inc. announced a plan to ex-pand its Philippines operations from 200 to 5,000 workers in the next five years.

Beepo chief executive of-ficer Aimee Engelmann said the company would hire 1,000 personnel every year to help fill the sector’s growing de-mand for talents.

Investing close to Austra-lian $400,000 or approxi-mately P13.2 million in its operations in Clark, Beepo in-creased its personnel to 200 as of October this year from just 15 when the company started operations in April 2014.

“We have a long-term vision to grow and remain in the area [Clark],” said Engelmann.

“I could see an opportunity to combine the fantastic tal-ents here in the Philippines

and paired it up with Austra-lian businesses,” Engelmann added.

She said her company and the state-run Clark Devel-opment Corp. were working closely to invite other Aus-tralian firms to invest in the Clark free port.

“We’ve been working to-gether to find those clients who want to invest long-term in the Philippines,” Engel-mann said.

“A few of our clients have also decided to create their own companies in the Philip-pines as well,” she said.

Engelmann said Clark was the perfect site for a growing

outsourcing company like Beepo.

“I did a lot of research on lo-cations in the Philippines and I believed that Clark has such a bright future because of its facilities and infrastructure,” she said.

She said unlike other out-sourcing companies, Beepo did not put a cap on age. En-gelmann said since Beepo also promoted work live balance, “there is absolutely no age limit as far as hiring is con-cerned.”

“Majority of the shifts at Beepo starts 7 [in the morn-ing]. [They] finish at 4 p.m. and then they can go home with their family,” she said.

Beepo recently issued an advisory to fill up adminis-tration posts, including an HR manager, operations and systems support, team leader, and customer service repre-sentatives.

Two other companies op-

erating in Clark Freeport are hiring more workers as part of their expansion plans.

Catering services provider La Rose Noire Philippines Inc. needs bakers, pastry chef, production manager, supervi-sor warehouse/procurement manager, finance manager, engineering assistant manag-er, engineering supervisor, en-gineering line staff, language translator (Filipino, English and Mandarin) and quality control staff.

Midori Hotel and Casino, the first five-star hotel in Central Luzon, is looking for bar and banquet captain, revenue supervisor, f loor captain, assistant engineer manager, electronic engineer steward shift head, concierge supervisor, front officer su-pervisor and laundry super-visor and general foreman. The hotel is expected to have a soft opening before the end of the year.

By Darwin G. Amojelar

THE operator of South Lu-zon Expressway said Friday net income rose 12 percent to P2.06 billion in the January-to-September period from P1.84 billion year-on-year, driven by higher vehicle traffic.

South Luzon Tollways Corp., a unit of San Miguel Corp., said revenues from toll opera-tions amounted to P3.55 billion in the nine-month period from P3.24 billion on year, after traf-fic volume improved and a rel-atively good weather.

“Majority of the vehicles that utilize SLEx come from the Class 1 category which account for about 80 percent of the total traffic volume, indicating high consumer socio-economic ac-tivity in the south,” South Lu-zon said.

South Luzon’s parent San Miguel earlier earmarked P13.1 billion to extend the SLEx from Sto. Tomas Batangas to Lucena in Quezon province.

The project is divided into five sections. Section 1 cov-ers Sto. Tomas, Batangas to Macban, Laguna (10.58 kms);

Macban, Laguna to San Pablo, Laguna (12.2 kms); San Pablo, Laguna to Tiaong, Quezon (8.1 kms); Tiaong to Candelaria, Quezon (14.4 kms); and Can-delaria to Lucena City, Quezon (12.31 kms).

South Luzon said it planned to complete the first section from Santo Tomas to Macban by mid-2017 and the entire project by 2019.

The four-lane, expressway project is seen to make travel to and from Southern Tagalog provinces such as Batangas, Laguna, Quezon and the Bicol

region faster and safer.The project is expected to cut

travel time between Sto. Tomas and Lucena to just one hour from the usual four hours.

The SLEx-Toll Road 4 is the latest project in San Miguel’s infrastructure portfolio, which already includes the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Express-way, the at-grade and elevated Skyway system and Skyway Stage 3, the Naia Expressway, the existing SLEx and the re-cently upgraded and expand-ed Southern Tagalog Arterial Road, or STAR Tollway.

Globe data sales upGLOBE Telecom Inc. said Friday mo-

bile browsing and other data revenues jumped 48 percent to P15.1 billion in the fi rst nine months of the year from P10.2 billion year-on-year.

Globe Telecom, a unit of conglomer-ate Ayala Corp., said mobile data users grew surged 126 percent, while mobile data traffi c increased 89 perfect from previous year’s level.

“Our mobile data revenues have once again exceeded our expectations, main-taining its robust double-digit growth in revenues and traffi c, as well as triple-digit growth in user base,” Globe Tele-com senior advisor for consumer busi-ness Dan Horan said.

“We are confi dent that we can sustain this growth momentum towards the end of the year as the demand for data con-nectivity during the holidays is expected to soar. This shift to the digital lifestyle is part of our commitment to drive the country’s position as the world’s next so-cial media capital,” he said.

Globe has teamed up with Internet and device providers to give customers a different experience.

Darwin G. Amojelar

Melco invests moreMCE (Philippines) Investments Ltd.,

the majority shareholder of Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corp., is subscrib-ing to an additional 693.5 million shares in the City of Dreams Manila operator at P3.90 per share, or a total of P2.704 billion.

Melco Crown disclosed to the Philip-pine Stock Exchange Friday it signed a a subscription agreement to sell 693.5 mil-lion common shares to MCE (Philippines).

The subscription price was based on the weighted average of Melco’s closing prices over a period of 30 trading days prior to the subscription.

It said the company would apply for the listing of the subscription shares after obtaining the shareholder’s ap-proval.

Melco Crown said MCE (Philippines), as major shareholder, “shows its con-tinuous support to the company and its subsidiaries through the subscription.”

MCE (Philippines) owns 3,306,677,096 shares in the company prior to the transaction represent-ing 64.78 percent. Its shareholding will increase to 69.11 percent with its 3,900,177,096 shares after the transac-tion. Melco rose 5.8 percent Friday to P3.65. Alena Mae S. Flores

NGCP eyes new linkNATIONAL Grid Corp. of the Philip-

pines is seeking provisional authority from the Energy Regulatory Commission to conduct a study on the Visayas-Min-danao Western Route (Cebu-Negros-Zamboanga del Norte) interconnection project.

National Grid said in an application the feasibility study would determine the best and safest route for the cable and landing of the interconnection that would allow the transfer of excess capacity from Mindanao to the Visayas grid.

The company said in a feasibility study it earlier commissioned the proposed Visayas-Mindanao interconnection from Leyte to Surigao would encounter several signifi cant environmental risks and perils. It discovered seismic hazards in the Su-rigao Strait, which may limit the viability of the routes.

National Grid is considering an al-ternate route by exploring the western side for the connection of the Visayas and Mindanao grids. Alena Mae S. Flores

Atlas bares lossesATLAS Consolidated Mining and De-

velopment Corp. reported a consolidat-ed net loss of P1.3 billion in the fi rst nine months of 2015, a reversal from a profi t of P841 million year-on-year.

Atlas attributed the loss in a state-ment to an accounting charge for unre-alized foreign exchange losses and low metal prices.

Atlas’s revenues dropped 33 percent to P8.4 billion from last year’s P12.6 bil-lion, while EBITDa reached P1.9 billion from P4.6 billion on year.

Wholly-owned unit Carmen Copper Corp. produced 73.3 million pounds of copper from 81.4 million pounds last year.

Total volume of copper concentrate shipments fell 9 percent from 132,400 dry metric tons to 121,100 dry metric tons this year.

Atlas said copper prices remained low in the third quarter, with the year-to-date average realized copper price at $2.57 per pound, down 19 percent fronm $3.16 per pound in 2014.

The average realized gold price also decreased 9 percent to $1,171 per ounce from $1,290 per ounce in the previous year.

s at u r d ay : N O V E M B E r 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

B5cEsar BarriOquiNtOE D I T O R

[email protected]

The exodus continues. A migrant girl cries as she crosses the Macedonian-Greek border near Gevgelia on November 20, 2015. Countries along the migrant route through the Balkans have begun tightening restrictions by accepting only those fleeing war, causing a backlog of hundreds of people on November 19 on the Greek-Macedonian border. AFP

Emergency meeting. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, center, and French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira arrive to attend an extraordinary Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting , following the attacks in Paris, at the European Council in Brussels on November 20, 2015. AFP

world

EU asked to counter terrorismRussians urge tougher action against terrorists

19 jihadists killed in attacks in Yemen

“We hope that Europe, which has wasted too much time on a number of urgent is-sues, today takes the decisions that we must take,” Cazeneuve told reporters as he arrived for a meeting with his EU coun-terparts in Brussels.

France proposed the emergen-cy meeting after last week’s sui-cide and gun attacks in Paris that left 129 people dead, the worst such massacre on French soil.

Interior ministers from the 28-nation bloc are set to tighten checks on all travel-ers, including its own citizens, at the external borders of the passport-free Schengen zone, EU officials said.

Schengen has come under scru-tiny following the revelations that some of the Paris attackers came from Belgium, and that alleged

ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud may have come back from fight-ing with IS in Syria to take part.

Most EU citizens enjoy passport-free travel through-out the Schengen zone of 22 EU countries, plus non-EU Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

“There is a clear link between security of the external borders, the EU’s external borders, and se-curity within the EU,” British in-terior minister Theresa May told reporters.

“That’s why it’s important that the measures we have already agreed [like the setting up of mi-grant registration ‘hots pots’] are implemented,” she said.

The EU is deploying teams to Greece and Italy where hundreds of thousands of people have ar-rived by sea this year to help de-

ADEN—Al-Qaeda launched at-tacks on two army positions in southeast Yemen early Friday that left 15 soldiers and 19 jihad-ists dead as well as several civil-ians wounded, army and medical sources said.

An officer said the attacks tar-geted army positions near the town of Shibam in Hadramawt province, a stronghold of Al-Qaeda whose militants control its capital Mukalla.

Twelve soldiers and 19 jihadists were killed, according to the officer, but a medical source later said the army lost 15 men and several civil-

ians were wounded in the attacks.The main attack was staged at

the western entrance to Shibam, which is known as the “Manhattan of the Desert” and listed as a UNESCO world heritage site for its high-rise mud-brick buildings.

Local officials said fierce clashes broke out after Al-Qaeda militants exploded a roadside bomb target-ing an army patrol, while a suicide bomber blew up a car at an army post near a residential area.

“The blast damaged many homes, wounding several civilians,” the medical source said in the near-by town of Seiyun, where the ca-

sualties and the bodies of the dead soldiers were transported.

Army units posted in Hadramawt are loyal to the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in the face of an armed revolt by Shiite Huthi rebels.

Taking advantage of Huthi ad-vances in northern and southern Yemen and the collapse of central authority, Al-Qaeda seized con-trol in April of the port city of Mukalla.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, has imposed a strict version of sharia Islamic law in areas of Yemen under its control. AFP

MOSCOW—Russian lawmak-ers on Friday called for tighter security measures and tougher punishments for terror attacks after the downing of a Russian passenger jet over Egypt and the carnage in Paris.

Legislators from Russia’s two chambers held an extraordi-nary meeting on the issue after Moscow said for the first time this week that the Airbus plane that crashed in Sinai killing 224 people last month was brought down by a bomb.

The gathering in Moscow, which included religious lead-ers, was designed as a show of support for President Vladimir Putin by the Kremlin-loyal dep-uties after he ratcheted up air strikes in Syria in the wake of the confirmation of the bombing.

Valentina Matvienko, the

chairwoman of the upper cham-ber Federation Council, said lawmakers were “proposing to expand the powers” of Russia’s security and law enforcement agencies and “increase criminal responsibility not only for ter-rorist activity, but for its moral, financial, informational and oth-er support”.

Matvienko also called on Russia and its “partners” to create an in-ternational tribunal to “severely punish terrorists and their ac-complices”, while saying the West’s “gross interference” had bred cha-os in the Middle East.

Moscow has not explicitly blamed any one group for the attack on its passenger jet but Putin has pledged to find and “punish” the attackers, while the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility. AFP

BRUSSELS—French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve on Friday urged the EU to take urgent counter-terrorism decisions after having “wasted too much time”, as he entered emergency talks following the Paris attacks.

termine whether new arrivals are refugees fleeing war or persecu-tion, or economic migrants sim-ply seeking a better life.

However, EU sources also con-cede extremists could enter any the EU’s external borders.

One of the draft conclusions for Friday’s meeting calls on Frontex, the EU border agency, to “work closely with Europol and Eurojust, in particular in the context of the hot spots, and ex-change data with Europol” on the exchange of personal data.

France is also pushing for the EU to agree on a US-style Passenger Name Record (PNR) system, which involves collecting EU passenger data, by the end of the year.

The plan is controversial in Europe due to concerns over how to protect personal information while fighting terrorism and seri-ous crime.

The meeting will also focus on the question of firearms security and the reinforcement of controls at external borders. AFP

Republic of the Philippines Province of Kalinga

City of Tabuk

BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE

Date Posted: November 18, 2015

INVITATION TO BIDITB No. GOODS-2015-21

The Local Government Unit of Tabuk through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) invites Manufacturers/Distributors/Suppliers to bid for the hereunder equipment:

Lot Name of Project Location ABC Cost of Bid Documents

1 Procurement of Granulator for Bio Waste & Non Bio Waste Mater ia ls:-capaci ty:4,5 CMH; pr ime mover:4D30 diesel engine; Blades: 1/2”x10cmx1m-12 pcs; gear box reducer: 7hp; gear box dr ive: 7hp; component parts: conveyor plate-stainless steel ; main gear box reducer: 12hp; cyl indr ical tumbler w/ metal t rapping magnets- 1m dia x 2.4 m long; length 14m, height-2.5m; fuel consumption-4l i t /hr, ; segregat ion conveyor-4ply x 60cm x 6m ant i abrasion, oi l , heat & water resistant

CENRO 6,500,000.00 10,000.00

Prospec t ive b idders should have completed a S imi lar cont rac t w i th a va lue of at least 50% of the ABC. The BAC wi l l use non -d isc ret ionar y pass / fa i l c r i te r ia in the e l ig ib i l i t y check /sc reening as wel l as the pre l iminar y examinat ion of b ids. The BAC wi l l conduc t post -qual i f i cat ion of the lowest ca lcu lated b id.

Pre - B id conference wi l l be on November 25, 2015, 9:00AM at the BAC Meet ing Room, Ci t y Engineer ing Of f ice, Tabuk Ci t y Hal l , Dagupan Cent ro, Tabuk Ci t y

B id Documents are avai lab le dur ing of f ice hours s tar t ing November 24, 2015 at the BAC - Secretar ia t , C i t y Engineer ing Of f ice and upon payment of a non - refundable amount of b id documents as s tated above to the LGU Cashier, O f f ice of the Treasurer.

A l l b id proposals should be rece ived by the BAC Chai rman/Secretar ia t on or before December 9, 2015, Wednesday, 9:00AM at the BAC Meet ing Room, Ci t y Engineer ing Of f ice, Tabuk Ci t y Hal l , Dagupan Cent ro, Tabuk Ci t y.

The B ids and Awards Commit tee (BAC) reser ves the r ight to re jec t any and /or a l l b ids or par t thereof, o r to waive fo rmal i t y there in and /or to accept the b ids as may be cons idered most advantageous to the Local Government Uni t o f Tabuk.

Ver y t ru ly yours,

(SGD.) CONSTANTE C. DOCTOR BAC Chai rman( TS - NOV, 21, 2015)

Standard Form Number: SF-INFR-05Revised on: July 29. 2004

Republic of the PhilippinesLocal Government Unit

BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEEGregorio del Pilar, lIocos Sur

INVITATION TO BIDThe Municipality of Gregorio del Pilar , through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), invites contractors registered with and classified by the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB) to apply for eligibility and if found eligible, to bid for the hereunder contract:

Name of Contract : Improvement of Poblacion Loop - Tangaoan Local Core RoadLocation : Gregorio del Pilar, IIocos SurBrief Description : Removal of Structure & Obstruction, Sub-Grade

Preparation, Aggregate Sub-Base Coarse, PCCPApproved Budgetfor the Contract ( ABC) : Php 5,485,246.32 Source of Fund : Trust Fund-GPB FundContract Duration : Eighty (80) C.D.

Prospective bidders should posses a valid PCAB License applicable to the contract, have completed a similar contract with a value of at least 50% of the ABC, and have key personnel and equipment (listed in the Eligibility Formats) available for the prosecution of the contract. The BAC will use non-discretionary pass/fall criteria in the eligibility Check/Screening as well as the Preliminary Examination of Bids. The BAC will conduct post-qualification of the lowest calculated bid.All particulars relative to Eligibility/Statement and Screening, Bid Security, Performance Security, Pre-Bidding Conference, Evaluation of Bids, Post-Qualification and Award of Contract shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of R.A. 9184 and its implementing Rules and Requisition (IRR).The Schedule of BAC activities is as follows:

BAC Activities Schedule1.Issuance of Eligibility Forms & Bid Documents November 9 - November 25, 20152.Pre - Bid Conference November 13,2015 @ 10:00 A.M.

Municipal Hall,G. del Pilar, IIocos Sur3.Receipt and Opening of Bids November 25,2015 @ 10:00 A.M.

Municipal Hall,G. del Pilar, IIocos Sur4.Bid Evaluation December 1, 20155.Post Qualification December 4, 20156.Notice of Award December 9, 20157.Notice to Proceed December 14,2015

Bid Documents shall be available at the BAC Office, Municipal Hall, Gregorio del Pilar, Ilocos Sur upon payment of the prescribed non-refundable fee.The Municipality of Gregorio del Pilar assumes no responsibility whatsoever to compensate or indemnify bidders for any expenses incurred in the preparation of their bids.The Municipality of Gregorio del Pilar reserves the right to reject any or all bids, waive any defects contained therein and accept such as maybe considered most advantageous to the municipal government.

CONTACT PERSON:

(Sgd.) LANI M. TUMBAGA BAC SecretariatMunicipality of Gregorio del Pilar Approved by:

(Sgd.) Eng’r. JAIME A. CONSOLACION BAC Chairman(TS-NOV. 21,2015)

B6 cesar barrioquintoE D I T O R

[email protected]

s at u r d ay : n o V e M b e r 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

WORLD

EU asked to counter terrorism

Koreas set to hold rare talks SEOUL—North and South Korea agreed Friday to hold rare talks next week aimed at setting up a high-level dialogue that might provide the foundation for a sustainable improvement in cross-border ties.

Factorieshit bymassfaintings

In attendance. Guests attend the POLO Ralph Lauren + Athlete Ally Event at POLO Ralph Lauren in Fashion Valley in San Diego, California. AFP

The talks, to be held on November 26 in the border truce village of Panmunjom, will be the first inter-governmental interac-tion since officials met there in August to defuse a crisis that had pushed both sides to the brink of an armed conflict.

That meeting ended with a joint agreement that included a commitment to resume a high-level dialogue, although no pre-cise time line was given.

Seoul’s Unification Ministry said the talks proposals sent to Pyongyang in September and October had failed to garner a response.

Then on Thursday, the North’s official KCNA news agency said the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, which handles relations with the South, had sent Seoul a notice proposing the November 26 meeting.

“We have accepted,” a Unification Ministry official said.

Under the terms of the August agreement, Seoul switched off loudspeakers blasting propaganda

messages across the border after the North expressed regret over recent mine blasts that maimed two South Korean soldiers.

The South interpreted the regret as an “apology” but the North’s powerful National Defense Commission has since stressed that it was meant only as an expression of sympathy.

Next week’s talks come amid diplomatic shifts in the Northeast Asia region that have left North Korea looking more isolated than ever, with Seoul moving closer to Pyongyang’s main diplomatic and econom-ic ally China, and improving strained relations with Tokyo.

Earlier this month, the leaders of South Korea, China and Japan held their first summit for more than three years in Seoul.

Although the focus was on trade and other economic issues, the three declared their “firm opposi-tion” to the development of nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula.

North Korea is already under a raft of UN sanctions imposed af-

ter its three nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

It has also come under increas-ing pressure on the human rights front, following a report pub-lished last year by a UN commis-sion that concluded North Korea was committing human rights violations “without parallel in the contemporary world”.

A UN General Assembly com-mittee on Thursday condemned those “gross” violations in North Korea, in a resolution adopted by a record majority.

The resolution, which will go to the full General Assembly for a vote next month, encourages the Security Council to consid-er referring Pyongyang to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

Such a move would likely be blocked by China, which has veto power in the council.

Last week, South Korean President Park Geun-Hye had reiterated her willingness to hold face-to-face talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un but only if Pyongyang showed some commitment to abandoning its nuclear weapons program.

“There is no reason not to hold an inter-Korean summit if a breakthrough comes in solving the North Korean nuclear issue,” Park said. AFP

PHNOM PENH—Hundreds of work-ers have fainted at Cambodian factories after farmers sprayed in-secticide on nearby rice fields, authorities said Friday, in the latest mass fainting episode to hit the country.

About 250 work-ers vomited and fainted on Friday morning at six garment factories at an economic zone one hour outside the capital Phnom Penh, according to a report circulated by Cheav Bunrith, a spokes-man for the National Social Security Fund, a government agency.

The report said the incident was caused by “poison from insecti-cide farmers sprayed at a rice paddy nearby” the factories.

The victims were taken to health centers to recover.

Another 119 workers fainted at a toy factory in the economic zone on Thursday after they inhaled the insecticide, according to the NSSF.

Mass faintings at Cambodian garment factories are relatively common.

B7JOEL D. L ACSAMANAE D I T O RPROPERTY

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


Condo living. Real estate developer New San Jose Builders recently held a topping off ceremony for its condominium building at Victoria Towers, called Tower D along Mother Ignacia Avenue in Quezon City. The development sits on a three-level commercial center featuring restaurants, coffee shops, various retail shops and a supermarket. The property will be ready for occupancy by mid-2016. With the success of Victoria Towers ABC, Tower D offers the same convenience and ease of condo living to future residents. Victoria Tower D is one of the high-rise residential properties of New San Jose Builders, a contractor known for the development of The Philippine Arena and the country’s first and only heritage resort by the sea, Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar.

Pinoy fiesta. NorthPine Land Inc. (NLI) recently held a Filipino fiesta-inspired open house at its new development, Kahaya Place in Dasmariñas City, Cavite. “A Celebration in October” showcased the lively Filipino spirit, with hundreds of guests, sellers and staff of NLI playing traditional games including palo sebo, pukpok palayok, and pabitin. NLI Executive Vice President Ferdinand Macabanti proudly presented to the guests the residential property. “Kahaya Place is an undertaking we should all be very proud of,” he said. NLI’s projects aside from Kahaya Place, include Greenwoods Village, Wind Crest, Kohana Grove (Cavite), South Hampton (Laguna), Forest Ridge (Antipolo City), and Lexington (Pasig City). Among its shareholders are HongKong Land, BDO, Metrobank, and San Miguel Properties, Inc.

Boom town. Picar Development’s township in General Trias, Cavite, Ara Vista, is attracting a lot of attention these days. Located in a booming economic town with several major industrial estates, among them Gateway Business Park and New Cavite Industrial City, it is a development well suited to be a home base. The master plan for General Trias is to achieve an agro-industrial and residential balance: Ara Vista is in the midst of that expansion. And with homes that offer an array of designs and prices within seven neighborhood phases, Ara Vista is a suburban enclave worth checking out.

Cutting edge. What does it take to become the best office development in the country? With urbanization and climate change, there is a growing need for structures to adapt, or risk falling behind. One company that believes in raising the bar when it comes to incorporating facets of design and function is Daiichi Properties, which recently bagged the Five-Star Best Office Development plum at the Asia Pacific Property Awards. The prize recognizes the finest in property, architecture, and interior design. Daiichi won it for the 27-storey World Plaza, located at the Bonifacio Global City (BGC). The Gensler-designed World Plaza is Daiichi’s second office development that won an international property development award. In 2013, One World Place was recognized for the same accolade by the Asia Pacific Property Awards. Daiichi is responsible for projects such as The Finance Centre Tower, One Global Place, and The Regent Parkway.

Tutuban’s skyline took on a splendid hue recently with the holding of a Christmas tree lighting ceremony of Manila’s tallest yuletide tree. Tutuban Center is the city’s Christmas shopping capital. The giant tree it lit up is 50 feet tall, with materials coming from different provinces around Manila, and designed by Tutuban Properties, Inc. (TPI) personnel. This year’s celebration, held at the Tutuban Center Shopping Plaza, had the theme “Paskong Sulit sa Tutuban Center.” Inset (from left) Kyle Vergara, GMA-7 talent; Atty. Daisy Parker, corporate secretary;, Prime Orion Philippines, Inc.; Councilor Obet Asilo, first district of Manila; Flordeliza Villaseñor, chief tourism operations officer, Manila Tourism and Cultural Affairs Bureau; David Go, president, Tutuban Properties, Inc.; Sylvia Tecson, vice president for marketing and leasing, Tutuban Properties, Inc.; and Devon Seron, former PBB teens contestant.

Christmas tree

light uP

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

B8 JOEL D. L ACSAMANAE D I T O R

As people get older, they tend to start seriously checking out for-sale properies online. Global property website Lamudi Philip-pines (www.lamudi.com.ph) re-cently released data which shows that among 25- to 34-year-old us-ers, 57.3 percent are checking out for-sale properties in the website, compared to 42.7 percent of users who look for for-rent properties. Among 18- to 24-year-olds, La-mudi said there is an equal propor-tion of property hunters looking for for-rent and for-sale properties (50.2 versus 49.8 percent). The preference to buy is even higher in the 35–44, 45–54, and 55–64 age groups; Lamudi data noted that 70.8, 72.6, and 71.1 per-cent of the website’s users, respec-tively, are checking out for-sale properties, while only 29.2, 27.4, and 28.9 percent are looking for for-rent properties, respectively.

Jacqueline van den Ende, La-mudi Philippines managing di-rector said these findings are con-sistent with observations made in Europe and the United States,

where people have the tendency to buy as they get older. “This seems to be the case among Filipinos,” said van den Ende. “Younger people—those aged 18–

24—probably prefer mobility and flexibility, which explains a higher search volume for for-rent proper-ties in the Lamudi website. But this does not mean that they are not planning to buy eventually, she said. “Almost half of searches in this age group are dedicated to for-sale properties, then this tendency significantly increases in the 25–34 and 35–44 age groups: a stage when young people start to have stable jobs, consider getting married, and start families,” she said.

Most PoPular CitiesIn terms of areas, Quezon City remains the Philippines’ most popular place to search a proper-ty, whether to rent or to buy, ac-cording to Lamudi. Twenty-sev-en percent of property hunters looking for for-sale properties are checking Quezon City, followed by Makati (7 percent), Parañaque (5 percent), Tagaytay (5 percent), and Las Piñas (5 percent). Among those looking for for-rent properties, Quezon City is

the most popular as well, repre-senting 28 percent of all searches for rental properties. However, Makati comes in a close second at 20 percent, followed by Man-daluyong, Davao, and Pasig (8, 7, and 6 percent, respectively). According to van den Ende, this is not surprising as Makati, Man-daluyong, and Pasig have high concentrations of condos avail-able. These cities are also homes to Metro Manila’s major central business districts (Makati CBD and Ortigas Center, respectively), which make them popular among employees looking for places to rent where they will be close to their workplaces. On the other hand, Parañaque and Las Piñas have many subdivi-sions or gated communities, and are quite popular as residential suburbs, especially among start-ing families. Tagaytay, in contrast, is a tour-isty area teeming with vacations homes, making it popular among affluent buyers.

Heavy rains and extreme heat are natural enemies of homes in the Philippines.

During the monsoon and ty-phoon seasons, homes that are not weatherproofed, will not be able to continue protecting homeowners from the elements.

Prep your house—especially the exteriors—to withstand the challenges of the rainy season. One of the best ways to do this is to ensure the quality of the mate-rials used inside and outside the structure. James Hardie, an inno-vator in the building materials in-dustry—believes in designing and manufacturing building products of excellent quality. The company’s

products, including the HardieF-lex® brand of fiber cement boards, are one of the Filipino homeown-er’s best allies to ensure the protec-tion of the house and family.

Here are a few steps to protect your home.

insPeCt and PrePare the roofRoofs should be inspected at least twice a year. Repair, or re-

place cracked shingles and roof ridges, and look for rust and holes. If no one in the household can perform this bi-annual in-spection, contact a professional.

Clean gutters regularly to en-sure that rainwater would drain properly. Trim tree branches that hang over the roof to avoid leaves filling the gutters, and to prevent big branches falling on and se-verely damaging the house. Other

unstable structures should also be cleared in the case of strong winds. Damaged eaves can also cause water to seep into the walls. If the eaves show yellow or brown spots, or are showing signs of sag-ging, replace them.

invest in the exterior wallsThe house’s exterior walls are constantly exposed to the ele-ments.

Resist damage caused by mois-ture, fire, and termites by using HardiePlank® Siding. It features a wood grain and smooth profile. These fiber cement siding boards require less maintenance com-pared to wood siding when in-stalled and maintained properly.

weatherProof the interiorsDo a simple inspection of the ceilings, walls, and floors. Dis-colored walls and ceilings, paint bubbles, and dark spots mean that water is already entering the house. Moisture not only ruins

the appearance of the house’s interiors but can also affect ap-pliances, furniture, other house-hold items, and even the health of the residents.

Where possible, seal exterior areas where the leak begins. For parts that need replacement, as-bestos-free HardieFlex® products can be used as flooring, ceiling and walls. These products are re-sistant to moisture damage.

take PreCautions against floodsLiving in a flood-prone area? Help keep floodwaters at bay by piling sandbags around the house. Move appliances, furni-ture, computers, documents, and other such items to a higher or drier part of the house.

Worry less about the changing seasons by keeping your house prepared to weather the heavy rains or the very hot days. Using HardieFlex® products in various parts of the home is a great way to prevent costly repairs, replace-ments, and damages in the future.

PROPERTY


18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+Buy 50.2% 57.3% 70.8% 72.6% 71.1% 65.5%Rent 49.8% 42.7% 29.2% 27.4% 28.9% 34.5%

CITY PERCENTAGEQuezon City 27%Makati 7%Parañaque 5%Tagaytay 5%Las Piñas 4%Cebu 4%Davao 4%Pasig 4%Baguio 3%Taguig 3%

Tips To prepare your home againsT rain

are filiPinos buying or renting? trend to buy growing among filipino online property hunters

Share of people looking for for-rent and for-sale properties by age group

Cities potential buyers are looking at.

Care, and More Care. Even the sturdiest structure will suffer from cracks, water leakage, mildew, mold, and rotting when not looked after.

Breaking Twitter records and posting some of the highest TV ratings for Eat Bulaga, the soap opera parody Kalyeserye is a pop culture phenomenon like no other. Anchored on the popularity of the fictional supercouple AlDub, the noontime show segment employs complicated backstories, plot twists, plot devices, subplots, characterization, exposition, tropes and a lot of different narrative elements that keep the story moving forward.

At its core, Kalyeserye is a classic tale of boy-meets-girl-and-we-all-just-want-to-see-them-live-happily-ever-after. Some say it’s shallow and undeserving of all the attention it’s getting. Some say it says a lot about us as a society, as a culture, as a people. The latter is true, and that’s not meant to be taken negatively.

The beauty of it all lies in the fact that it’s a parody. It pokes fun at and makes light of soap opera cliches. And if you’re gonna tell me that soap operas are already cheap and

cheapening them with a parody does not have any artistic value, I’d have to respectfully ask you to get off your high-and-mighty horse and refer to the glossy critically acclaimed American primetime soap Revenge, which – if you really think about it – runs on the same twists and turns, and storytelling patterns as Kalyeserye, without the requisite laughs.

Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza are sensational, and the characters they portray are a winning formula. He’s the accidental prince charming who personifies all that’s good in a Filipino bachelor. She’s the nanny whom we relate to, the representation of the masses. He’s got that tisoy look that has been all the rage since colonial times and the most adorable dimples to match his dreamy features. She’s the damsel, though not necessarily in distress, in every fairy tale we’re ever known.

We felt all sorts of emotions watching their love story unfold – a love story peppered with obstacles, oppositions, push-and-pulls, conflicts and the satisfyingly frustrating split-screen separation. And let’s not forget the DubSmash-driven soundtrack played in snippets, acting as cues to the kilig moments that we know are about to happen.

The anticipation keeps us thirsty for more. While it all happens live

and seems minimally scripted, the producers of the show certainly know what they’re doing. They’re always walking the line, always staying within the spectrum of accessibility, always teasing and not going too far that we’ll think that it’s a hopeless case. In video game terms, it’s challenging but to the point of a rage quit.

Timing, after all, is everything. And this has been foreshadowed with one of the most popular quotable quotes from the series, “Sa tamang panahon (At the right time).”

There is something to be learned here, whether you’re a soap writer or a stand-up comedian or a video game designer or a marketer – and that is giving your audience what you need to give them when they’ve worked just hard enough to get it. Not one single moment before. Give them what they need, but not what they want.

When the couple finally met in person one fateful Saturday at the

backstage of the Eat Bulaga studios, it really felt like that was it. Was it the right time? Apparently not as a wall suddenly dropped from above, separating our protagonists once again. Film majors, don’t you agree that it was one of the most perfect executions of diabolus ex machina ever?

It reminds us of the struggle, that this tale is far from reaching its supposed happy ending, that it’s not as easy as it seems, that things are not what they appear to be. Another important aspect of this scene, which may have been overshadowed by the tears and heartbreaking frustration, is an important lesson in morals.

If you remember, Wally Bayola’s Lola Nidora made Alden promise not to attempt to see Yaya Dub. But his impatience got the best of him – and that, my friends, led to dire consequences, seemingly taking him back to square one and losing all the pogi points he accumulated over

time. It was at that moment that Lola gave a lecture on trust, honor and being a man of your word. It was especially poignant and marked by gravitas at that time because of the emotional setting, which was a drastic deviation from the usual lighthearted nature of the show.

It was unexpected. It was hard to figure out what was coming next. It all felt real.

To be continued...

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @EdBiado

C1S AT U R D AY : N O V E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

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

P OP CU LT U RE

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

PHENOMENAL!(Part 1 of 2)

AlDub in GMA 7 Christmas station ID

Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza

C2S AT U R D AY : N O V E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 5

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

BOTTOMS DOWN!Wrangler says thanks with P995 pants

Have you written “jeans” or “pants” on your Christmas wish list or gift list? Here's your chance to tick that one item off, as American

jeans label Wrangler celebrates its 40th

anniversary here in the Philippines with a special Thanksgiving promo.

On November 21, all regular-priced Wrangler bottoms will be available for only P995. This includes all fits, sizes and washes of denim or non-denim pants for men and women. Each customer is entitled to purchase one pair of bottoms at any of the brand's stores or boutiques during mall hours.

Wrangler stores are located at TriNoma, Ayala Fairview Terraces, Market! Market!, Glorietta 2, Robinsons Ermita, Robinsons Palawan, Robinsons Santiago, Harbor Point Subic, Ayala Center Cebu, Limketkai Cagayan de Oro, Centrio Cagayan De Oro, Felcris Centrale Davao, Abreeza Davao, Gaisano Mall Davao, Gaisano Mall Tagum, Mindpro Citimall Zamboanga and at other leading department stores nationwide.

This first ever one-day shopping promotion is Wrangler's way of kicking off the holiday season. “This is our way of thanking our loyal customers who patronized us for the last 40 years,” says Magnifico Jeans, Inc. president Daisy Go. MJI is the official licensee of Wrangler in the Philippines.

According to Go, Wrangler has grown from a favorite jeans brand of adult males during its early days in the country to one of the go-to apparel outlets that offers a wide range of choices for both male and female.

“We cater to a diverse market, from young to adult customers.”

As the brand continues to come out with the latest in jeans technology and design, Go says that they're also exploring the potential of e-commerce to offer more jeans to online consumers. Wrangler products are available online through Lazada and Zalora. For more information on this shopping promo and on Wrangler products, visit its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/WranglerPH or follow WranglerPH on Instagram and Twitter.

Wrangler celebrates its 40th year in the Philippines

The one-day Thanksgiving promo includes Wrangler jeans in all fits, styles and washes

Planning on buying pants anytime soon? Head over to Wrangler outlets nationwide for a pair of jeans for only P995.

Give your sexy jeans that street smart look with an awesome accessory – a stylish urban bag that comes with every purchase of Freego’s perfectly fitting jeans.

Every single-receipt purchase of the brand’s regular items worth P3,500 entitles customers to one FREEGO Urban Bag. Sleek, stylish, and spacious, this great accessory in blue with black strap and zipper details is available until December 31. Customers can claim their

items by presenting their receipts to the salesperson where the purchase was made.

Head over to any FREEGO store nationwide to get your hands on this premium giveaway. Promo runs until December 31.

FREEGO is available at leading department stores nationwide. Check out its official Facebook page, online shop freegojeans.com/stores or Twitter @freego_jeans.

SEXY AND STREET SMART WITH FREEGO

Last November 12, I turned 36 years old. I thought, “How can I be 36 and still feel

like I’m 18?!” Yep, there’s a part of us that refuses to grow

up, and perhaps we need that part there. It’s what reminds us to be joyful with simple things, to uncomplicate the obstacles we face, and to remember that no matter how hard life gets, it will go on.

But there’s also that part of us that bears the battle scars of everything we have ever gone through, from a broken heart to a failed marriage to the loss of a parent. This is the part that remains calm when everyone else is panicking, because it knows it can handle and survive anything.

I looked back at my life and thought about the lessons I have learned from the different chapters that comprise it, and thought I’d celebrate my being a mid-30-something in the time of millennials by sharing lessons I have learned.

1. IT’S OKAY TO FORGIVE AND NOT FORGET

Forgiving is necessary because it liberates us from the person and situation that hurt us, but it is a fact that there are people whose main goal is to hurt and harm us. When our instinct tells us to pull back, we listen to it. One can be kind without being a pushover. Draw the line.

2. WE HAVE CONTROL OVER OUR FAITH

Our relationship with God is our own business and nobody else’s. No matter what

religion we are born to or raised in, what works for others – yes, even our own family – may not work for us, and it’s okay. Soul search and find out what works. The result may be even deeper and steadfast.

3. THERE IS A LOVE WORTH GIVING OUR ALL TO

Remember the all-consuming wonder of your first love, when thoughts of him would keep you awake all night? As we grew older, we learned about self-preservation. This keeps us from getting hurt but also keeps us from feeling really alive. I say don’t hold back. Embrace both joy and pain. Laugh and cry your heart out. It’s worth it.

4. BEST FRIENDS COME AND SOME CHOOSE TO GO...

... and we should let them. I’ve had people I called my “BFF” whom I welcomed not only into my deepest thoughts but also into my family, who suddenly disappeared from my life. So I looked to the ones who’ve stayed through the years, through thick and thin. They’re the real thing.

5. NOT ALL GREAT PEOPLE ARE GOOD PEOPLE

Credentials are impressive, but it’s how a person is when nobody else is around that matters. Does she practice what she preaches? Is she sincere? Remember: a lot of oppressors in history were brilliant, but they were selfish and greedy. I’d rather know a simple person with a heart for others.

6. THERE IS A KIND OF SELF-LOVE THAT IS NOT BAD

Self-love is necessary for us to lead a good and happy life without needing to be loved by someone else. It’s what makes us treat ourselves better. It’s what reminds us to send kindness our way. When we love and respect ourselves, we feel and look good, and we demand love and respect from others, too.

7. SELF-TALK IS HEALTHY AND HELPFUL

When I am confused and hurting, I become my own best friend. I allow a part of myself to pull away from my Self, and try to see the situation I am in from a detached and objective perspective. Easier said than done, but it works. I write my internal dialogue in a journal, and by the end of every entry, I always feel better and at peace.

8. IT’S OKAY TO ADMIT TO OURSELVES THAT WE CAN’T DO EVERYTHING

It is natural for us to want to accomplish everything we need to do, not just for ourselves but especially for others. But the mind and body get tired, and when they do,

they need to rest and recover. Don’t feel guilty about this. It is when we are in our best shape that we are also able to do our best work.

At my mid-thirties, I find that there are days when it’s harder for me to “adult.” When this happens, instead of hating myself and going into negative self-talk, I give my self space and allow myself to rest, like I would a friend.

Life’s a never-ending journey of falls and lessons learned. What matters is we get back up each time – even in mid-life.

Can you relate with the lessons I just shared? Let me know your thoughts by emailing [email protected]. Connect with me on Twitter and Instagram @kaimagsanoc and let’s have a conversation.

C3LIFES AT U R D AY : N O V E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 5


#COFFEEWITHKAIBY KAI MAGSANOC

LIFE LESSONS FROM A THIRTY-SOMETHING

Life’s up and downs don’t stop when we become adults, and we should be glad.

C4 LIFES AT U R D AY : N O V E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 5


Japanese global brand Uniqlo combines fashion and functionality by expanding its lineup of fleece outerwear that’s

perfect for cooler days ahead, making highly fashionable coats and functional windproof jackets the outfits du jour.

For the men’s line, Uniqlo offers an expanded range of windproof fleece, with a special film between the inner and outer material to keep out draft. This wind-resistant functionality is incorporated in the soft and comfortable pile lined fleece jacket, the Sherpa fleece jacket in trendy khaki or camouflage colors, and the faux mouton fleece jacket, with the last designed as a Mouton Jacket, rather than a fleece. The windproof film has been improved from last year, making it appropriate as outerwear, and also offering reduced stiffness. Uniqlo also introduced kids’ windproof fleece jackets this year.

Four new types of coats are featured in the women’s line, each with a unique silhouette: a trendy teddy fleece coat, fluffy fleece coat, pile lined fleece coat, and windproof fleece coat suitable for any setting, from fashionable to casual to sporty.

Uniqlo has also grown the extra warm fleece offering to provide 1.5°C greater inner warmth (specific increase in internal warmth varies by wearer), available in parkas and print fleece, as well as women’s fluffy fleece jackets and kids’ print fleece jackets.

The line also includes an expanded range of check and bi-color designs, as well as those from UNIQLO’s MAGIC FOR ALL collaboration with Disney, which launched for Fall Winter 2015.

For more on Uniqlo, you may visit UNIQLO Philippines’ social media accounts including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You may also log on to www.uniqlo.com/ph.

ALL NEW FLEECE CONCEPTS FROM UNIQLO

Uniqlo’s men’s fleece line includes an expanded range of windproof fleece, with a special film between the inner and outer material to keep out drafts and cold-weather blues

Uniqlo’s latest fleece line for women features four new types of coats in fun colors and patterns perfect for any setting or lifestyle

Uniqlo’s latest fleece line for women features four new types of coats in fun colors and patterns perfect for any setting or lifestyle

Look extra warm and polished in this fleece coat with oversized pocket details

This women’s fluffy yarn fleece long sleeved coat is especially warm and comfortable. The fluffy fleece adds extra softness and warmth; while a cocoon silhouette gives it a stylish, feminine look in a classic checkered pattern

Full-zip fleece jacket with pockets

This women’s fleece coat features a bonded windproof material to keep you warm and comfortable in the colder months. The premium fleece lining adds even more soft comfort

Printed, hooded and full-zipped fleece jackets

Windproof Sherpa fleece jacket made with soft, puffy fleece

This printed hooded fleece jackets is part of Uniqlo’s collaboration with Disney

The season’s “it” accessory, the Fleece Blanket, a style must have for the cold weatherHeat insulating full-zip Uniqlo fleece jacket

This innovative fleece jacket incorporates special threads that store thermal energy from the sun for advanced warmth and comfort. Soft, light, and fluffy, it’s a can't miss option for cold-weather casual outfits. A slender cut gives it a slim and stylish look

Fluffy yarn fleece coat for women combines furry fleece and micro fleece for soft, warm comfort

SHOWBITZi s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

C5ISAH V. REDE D I T O R

SAT URDAY : NOV EMBER 21, 2015

iFlix, Southeast Asia’s leading Internet TV service offering subscribers unlimited access to tens of thousands of hours of entertainment for a low monthly price, welcomed Iza Calzado, Jasmine

Curtis-Smith, Ruffa Gutierrez, Raymond Gutier-rez, Richard Gutierrez, JM Rodriguez, and Karyl-le Tatlonghari-Yuzon as shareholders of the com-pany and partners in the business.

This announcement follows a succession of landmark collaborations with industry leaders such as the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), Smart Communications and Samsung Philippines.

From starring roles in the country’s most icon-ic films to thriving music and acting careers, Iza, Jasmine, Ruffa, Raymond, Richard, JM and Ka-rylle are prominent icons of the Philippine enter-tainment industry.

Mark Britt, iflix Group co-founder and CEO, says, “It is a tremendous honor to have exceptional celebrities of such caliber join us as share-holders. Now, along with our advisory board of Hollywood’s most elite executives, we have unquestionably one of the most formidable profiles and stron-gest networks in the entertain-ment industry both in the Phil-ippines and internationally.”

“At iFlix, we are committed to working with the best part-ners in all areas from technol-ogy and content to marketing and distribution. These part-nerships with the Philippines’ leading entertainment icons are a testament of this pledge. We look forward to benefiting from their tremendous experiences and wealth of knowledge about the entertainment industry in their role as our advisors,” Britt added.

Sherwin dela Cruz, iFlix Philippines country manager, added, “We created iFlix to be a new paradigm in entertainment, to change the way people watch TV shows and films. With Iza, Jas-mine, Ruffa, Raymond, Richard, JM and Karyl-le, we believe we are able to take strong, forward

steps down that path together.”As partners in the business, Calzado, Cur-

tis-Smith, Rodriguez and Tatlonghari-Yuzon, and the Gutierrez siblings will also play key roles in jointly developing projects for iFlix original productions, as the company moves forward with its plans for original content with commit-ted budgets and negotiations with independent local producers and studios.

“I am so proud to be a part of the iFlix fam-ily. They are doing an incredible job changing the way people are entertained throughout the Philippines, Asia, and soon - the world,” said award-winning singer and actress Karylle.

Jasmine Curtis-Smith, who stars in a number of films and TV series featured on the service (such as the thriller Jasmine), said, “ iFlix is an extraor-dinary opportunity to be part of a revolutionary change in the way the people of Southeast Asia are

entertained. I am proud to be a part of iFlix and I cannot wait to share my excitement with everyone.”

Now available in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines iFlix will contin-ue to roll out its world-class service to additional key Southeast Asian markets in coming months.

With over 750,000 subscribers five months since launching, iFlix offers con-sumers the largest library of top Asian regional, and local TV shows and movies available in the region. Each subscription allows users to access the service on up to

five devices, including mobiles, tablets, computers, and television sets, for viewing whenever, wherev-er. The service is affordably priced at only P129 per month in the Philippines for unlimited access.

For new subscribers, iFlix offers a compli-mentary 30-day trial with full access to iFlix’s world-class service, features and content, with no credit card or payment details required. Go to www.iflix.com to register.

Top Filipino celebriTies

join Team iFlix

Iza Calzado, Jasmine Curtis-

Smith, Ruffa Gutierrez, Raymond Gutierrez, Richard

Gutierrez, JM Rodriguez, and

Karylle Tatlonghari-Yuzon join iflix as

shareholders and partners

1 (L-R) iflix Celebrity Investors JM Rodriguez, Raymond Gutierrez, Karylle Tatlonghari-Yuzon, Ruffa Gutierrez, Iza Calzado, Jasmine Curtis-Smith, and Patrick Grove Catcha Group CEO 2 (L-R) Sherline Parohinog, Vanessa Balao, Andrea Reyes, Veronica Feleo, Jenell San Antonio, Far Burgos, Monika Cagalingan, Zaya Pono, Sherwin dela Cruz, Roxci de Leon, Monique Suzara, and Joseph Mendoza 3 Patrick Grove and Iza Calzado 4 Annabelle Rama 5 Hayden Kho 6 Iza Calzado 7 Dr. Vicki Belo 8 JM Rodriguez 9 Ruffa Gutierrez 10 Karylle Tatlonghari-Yuzon 11 Jasmine Curtis-Smith 12 Sherwin dela Cruz, iflix Philippines Country Manager and Jasmine Curtis-Smith 13 Raymond Gutierrez and JM Rodriguez 14 Issa Litton

1 2 3

4 5

67

8

9

1011

12 13 14

SHOWBITZC6i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m


ACROSS 1 Rugged cliff 5 San Diego pro 10 Tailless cat 14 Morose 15 Due for payment 16 Malaria symptom 17 Hindu attire 18 Dogie stopper 19 Come down hard 20 Devil-may-care 22 Major artery

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 SATURDAY,

NOVEMBER 21, 2015

23 Lake dwellers 24 — Lincoln, first Tarzan 26 Whinny 28 Peered hard 32 Student’s armload 33 Meandered 34 Shoguns’ capital 35 Nope (hyph.) 36 Gem measure 37 — in the neck 38 Teeth-chattering sound

39 Exit ramp sight 40 Memory joggers 41 Includes 43 Tempos 44 Russian emperor 45 Give the pink slip 46 Sunspot activity 49 Holiday quaff 52 Seine feeder 53 Looks at the headlines 55 Mutant superheroes (hyph.) 57 — Minor 58 Birdbath slime 59 Gutter site 60 Rangy 61 Uses an atomizer 62 Grumpy mood

DOWN 1 DJ’s supply 2 Ocean sound 3 Unseen emanation 4 Melanie of “Working Girl” 5 Spit and — 6 Flooded 7 Roof-top fixture 8 ER staffers 9 “I” trouble 10 Strand 11 Seaweed extract 12 Wee hours in Cannes

13 Lawless role 21 Hollow fruits 22 Among 24 The same 25 Fontanne’s husband 26 Kind of jacket 27 Bedroom community 28 Chafed places 29 Flirt with 30 Prevents errata 31 Oxford tutors 32 Popcorn buys 33 Tend the ferns 36 Comet’s luminous cloud 37 Forty-niners’ gear 39 Reflect on 40 Varnish resins 42 Lightning flash 43 Free tickets 45 Anwar of Egypt 46 Umpire’s call 47 Rome money, formerly 48 Org. 49 Jokesters 50 “— — Old Cowhand” 51 Strauss of blue jeans 53 Chevy rival 54 Yalie 56 After taxes

Year 2006, a group of in-novative mass commu-nication students fear-lessly joined the events

organizing industry. From creat-ing music video as their college final project, they moved on to doing a full service out- of- the- box events management and multimedia production; hence the birth of Outbox Media Pro-duction Agency. Year after year, Rossel Velas-co- Taberna, the frontrunner and managing director of OBM,

doesn’t stop at pwede na. She handpicked a team of hip, young and talented people who always exude the company’s motto: Pas-sion, Dedication and Diversity; treating every event as if it’s their own. OBM assures every client a team made of perfect combina-tion of creative souls with differ-ent passions, interests and back-grounds; people who have proven themselves to be high- flyers in each of the fields they belong to. With Outbox Media Produc-tion Agency, make your event

remarkable and extraordinary; may it be personal or corporate. Evident to this, some renowned companies have been continu-ally getting OBM’s services for their yearlong events. Compa-nies such Royale Business Club, Toshiba, Foton Motors, Wyeth, Amaia Land Corp., Avida have experienced their events the OBM way. The team’s all-encompassing creative work comprise not only a lot of client- commissioned works but also a lot of compa-

ny- produced projects such as concerts of well known OPM singers. But their ingenuity doesn’t end there. In return of the blessings OBM has been re-ceiving, they always give back to different charities. These chari-table works has been established in their almost a decade of exis-tence in the industry. After years of exceptional pas-sion and teamwork, Outbox Media Production Company has expand-ed and launched their new signa-ture in the industry as Outbox Me-

dia Powerhouse Corporation. With the ever changing trends in society, Outbox Media Pow-erhouse Corporation assures clients the utmost satisfaction for a worry- free event with the perfect mixture of teamwork, creativity and fun. Need a quote for an event? Just call (02) 703-4239/(02) 455-2492 and swing by at their newest spot at the 2nd floor of Ka Tunying’s Cafe at 88 Visayas Avenue, Que-zon City. Website Address: www.outboxmediaprod.com

From sChool projeCts to millions worth oF Corporate events

CNN International contin-ues its commitment to the Philippines, announcing a special week of live reports

and feature programming. This week, CNN International will have comprehensive coverage of the APEC summit in Manila with CNN’s Quest Means Business host Richard Quest and Asia-Pa-cific Editor Andrew Stevens broadcasting from APEC. In addition, Andrew Stevens will present Philippines Now, a special five-part series that showcases the people and industries that personi-fy the Philippines. Highlights include:

JEEPnEYS: DRiving thE PhiLiPPinESNothing embodies Filipino culture quite like the iconic, ubiquitous Jeepney – former G.I. jeeps that served one purpose in the Second World War before being trans-formed into a means of mass trans-port and then further elevated to mobile canvasses for local artists. CNN takes you on a ride through Manila to see how Jeepneys are made and designed and how they’ve adapted with the times.

COCOnUtSThe world is having a love affair with all things coconut. Coconut water, oil, flour, flakes and spread are just the tip of the iceberg. The Philippines is the world’s second biggest producer of coconuts but an aging tree population and damage done by natural disasters are creat-ing some challenges. CNN looks at how the coconut industry is evolv-ing and continuing to capitalize on the strong demand for its products.

CORaL REEfSThe Philippines is at the apex of the so-called “Coral Triangle”, a region celebrated as the most diverse ma-rine ecosystem on the planet – not to mention a big draw for tourists. Climate change and destructive fishing practices are threatening the country’s coral reefs, with con-sequences both environmental and economical. CNN follows a group that is trying to protect the reefs and spread awareness.

WOmEn fLYing highTraditionally, women in the Phil-ippines sought work overseas, in many cases making them the breadwinners of their families but

keeping them away from their loved ones. Now there are growing opportunities at home specifical-ly aimed at women. A pilot train-ing academy is at the forefront of getting women into the cockpit, allowing them to reach for the sky.

CEntER StagEThe Philippines is the spiritual home of karaoke. It’s the country’s national pastime: karaoke machines can be found in almost every house-hold and at every occasion and the patent is held by a Filipino. With more casinos being devel-oped, so too are the Vegas-esque performance venues within them, elevating this national pastime from home to the stage. As well as in-depth APEC cov-erage and special Philippines Now programming, Richard Quest will also shoot an episode of Business Traveller. Quest will uncover some of the Philippines’ most exclusive beaches and resorts exploring the issues, trends and lifestyle of the travelling executive. The half-hour Philippines Now airs today, 11a.m. and 8:30 p.m. and on Sunday, 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. and Monday at 12 noon.

Cnn intERnatiOnaL’S SPOtLight On thE PhiLiPPinES

CNN’s Andrew Stevens filming the five-part series Philippines Now

SHOWBITZ C7i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m


The final chapter of The Hunger Games: Mock-ingjay Part 2 brings the film’s expansive cast to-

gether one last time, with a team headed by Jennifer Lawrenceand including Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Har-relson, Elizabeth Banks, Juli-anne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Wil-low Shields, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone, Mahershala Ali and Natalie Dormer. The lineup for Mockingjay – Part 2 also includes Wes Chatham (Castor), Elden Henson (Pollux), Patina Miller(Commander Baylor), Evan Ross(Messalla), Gwendoline Chris-tie (Commander Lyme), and Stef Dawson (Annie Cresta).

Peeta Mellark – the former vic-tor who was to marry Katniss in a Capitol spectacle – is still in a haunting, dangerous fugue state after being brainwashed by Pres-ident Snow during his captivity. Though his body has been freed, his mind struggles against night-marish, instilled thoughts to kill

Katniss, the very same person he once most trusted in the world.

Hutcherson sums up, “Peeta’s going through a kind of rehabilita-tion process, trying to get back to his old self. He’s being held in Dis-trict 13, but he’s still violently psy-chotic and his recovery is clearly going to be a very long, hard road. He has moments of clarity but he kind of goes in and out. With all these memories that were implant-ed in his mind by the Capitol, he has to constantly try to decipher what is real and what has been fed to him – and he has to rely on his peers to help him find that truth.”

For Hutcherson, the film re-quired a 180-degree turn from how he normally approaches the character. “Peeta’s always been known as being the down-to-earth, grounded, honest guy. But now he’s out of his mind, I had to turn that inside out,” he says. “It shows a lot about the real feelings that Katniss has for Peeta that she still fights for him and believes in him even in this state.”

When Peeta is sent by Presi-dent Coin to join Squad 451 –

consisting of Katniss, Gale, Finn-ick, Boggs, Cressida, Messalla, Castor and Pollux – it endan-gers everyone, but helps Katniss break through to him. “Really, he should not be in this envi-ronment,” Hutcherson admits. “It has tons of triggers that could cause him to explode and, and lose control again, which actual-ly happens multiple times.”

Throughout, Peeta’s true feel-ings for Katniss keep surfacing in ways that keep him bonded to her at an unspoken level. For Hutch-erson finding those breakthrough moments with Jennifer Lawrence after the three previous films came organically. “Jennifer has this qui-et strength about her,” he says. “A lot of people might have tried to play up the rebellious side of Kat-niss, but Jennifer saw from the start that’s not who Katniss is. Jen has played Katniss’ reluctance and groundedness so well, it always feels very real to me. It’s one of the reasons why I think Peeta con-nects with her and why so many people have connected with The Hunger Games.”

As for how Peeta has evolved since he first left to represent District 12 in The Hunger Games, Hutcherson concludes, “Peeta always had a very realis-tic view of what was happening around him. He’s more haunted now from having experienced The Hunger Games first-hand, and from witnessing the de-struction that Snow’s dictator-ship can cause. But deep within, his mentality has always been you have to not let yourself be a piece in the game; you have to try to be yourself even as you fight to survive. That’s still what he would say to this day.”

Like Jennifer Lawrence, Hutch-erson says he will miss his char-acter, but he will take a lot from the long and rich experience of playing Peeta. “I definitely will take away great friendships and memories from The Hunger Games,” he says. “I also hope I take away some of Peeta’s values. When you do a project like this, people can get certain ideas about who you should be – and Peeta is a reminder that it’s best to kind of break those expectations and simply be true to yourself.”

The Hunger Games: Mocking-jay Part -2 in cinemas now from Pioneer Films.

Josh hutCherson’s Closing moments

Sam Milby returns to television as he joined the powerhouse cast of the top-rating “Kapamilya Gold” teleserye Doble Kara.

Sam plays the role of Sebastian, a seminarian who has doubts of being a priest. As he searches for his calling, he will meet Kara (Ju-lia Montes) who is currently at her lowest point due to the unre-solved issues of her family. From there, a new kind of friendship will grow between the two.

Now that Sebastian is in the pic-ture, how will the plot of the story be affected? Will his friendship with Kara influence his decision of becoming a priest? Can Sebastian help mend the relationship between Kara and her twin sister Sara?

As he learned that he would be joining the cast, Sam was excited and grateful for the opportunity given to him to pair up with Julia for the first time.

“I am flattered and ‘excited be-cause this will be my first time to work with Julia. My role is also not something that I’m used to so it will be challenging for me,” said Sam.

The hit teleserye Doble Kara is topbilled by the Royal Princess of Drama Julia Montes with Carmi-na Villaroel, Ariel Rivera, Mylene Dizon, Gloria Sevilla, John Lapus,Allen Dizon, and Alora Sasam. Also introduced in the series are Ju-lia’s new leading men Edgar Allan Guzman and Anjo Damiles. It is under the direction of Emmanuel Palo and Jon Villarin.

Doble Kara, airs Monday to Fri-day, after It’s Showtime on ABS-CBN Kapamilya Gold. For more information about the program, visit the official social network-ing site of Dreamscape Enter-tainment Television at Facebook.com/DreamscapePH, Twitter.

com/DreamscapePH, and Insta-aram.com/DreamscapePH.

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‘Hoverboard’ in PePiTo ManaloToGMA’s well-loved family sitcom Pepito Manaloto, Ang Tunay na Kuwento has always been consis-tent in bringing fun and laughter in each episode. And with its im-pressive ratings, it is undeniably the viewers’ preferred program every Saturday night.

Tonight, viewers are set for an-other entertaining episode enti-tled “Hoverboard.”

Pepito (Michael V.) and Elsa’s (Manilyn Reynes) youngest child Clarissa (Angel Satsumi) wants a “hoverboard.” But Elsa doesn’t want

to buy her one because it might end up not being used just like the bi-cycle they bought. Aside from that, Elsa thinks the toy is dangerous. However, looks like everyone else has the high-tech toy, even Chito (Jake Vargas) and Pepito.

Meanwhile, Patrick (John Feir), Baby (Mosang) and Maria (Jan-na Dominguez) also joined the hoverboard craze. And this makes Clarissa more jealous. So Elsa makes a deal with her daughter: Clarissa must learn to ride the bike first before getting a hoverboard.

Will Clarissa be able to get what she wants?

Find out in Pepito Manaloto, Ang Tunay na Kuwento tonight after 24 Oras Weekend on GMA7.

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JaMes surPrises nadine wiTH a wedding ProPosal James Reid (Clark) asks Nadine Lustre’s (Leah) hand in marriage during a weekend family get-away in the top-rating Kapamilya primetime teleserye On the Wings of Love. As Clark and Leah finally go on their dream beach vacation with their families, Clark will rec-reate the memory they had at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Fran-cisco and proposes to Leah for the young sweethearts to start over again and have that one special happy memory they will cherish forever. But is Leah really ready to take their relationship to the next level? Is she willing to become Mrs. Clark Medina for real this time around?

On the Wings of Love airs week-nights after Pangako Sa’Yo on ABS-CBN’s Primetime Bida.

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ToMMy and MiHo bring kilig ToiT’s sHowTiMeBad weather did not stop Tommy Esguerra, PBB 737’s Adult sec-ond big placer, in serenading and showing his love for Miho Nishi-da, the Adult Big Winner.

Tommy sang the OPM hit “Ka-hit Maputi na ang Buhok” that brought smiles both from Miho and from their avid fans who rushed to the “PBB” house despite the heavy rains.

Aside from the tandem of “ToMiho,” the teen stars and also past housemates of PBB 737 Bai-ley May and Ylona Garcia joined the kilig fest in their musical skit with Vice Ganda and Jay-R.

The celebration continued as three families battled it out in the Christmas caroling showdown, “Karoling Galing,” where Garcia family from Laguna was hailed as winner and won P50,000.00.

Talented gays also showed what they got in the weekly fi-nals of “Todo BiGAY.” The groups EMU Cheerdancers, who wowed the madlang people with their death-defying stunts, and Alab Poi Dancers, who impressed the studio audience with their use of laser lights in their performance, were declared winners and won P50,000.00 each.

Meanwhile, the hosts offered a prayer for the victims of Par-is terrorist attacks and for Ja-pan’s safety after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the nation. At least 150 bodies were confirmed dead in the tragedy in Paris while no major damage happened in Japan after being hit by the earth-quake, according to reports from www.abs-cbnnews.com.

saM Milby now in ‘doble kara’ From C8

James Reid

Nadine Lustre

Sam Milby

Josh Hutcherson

C8 ISAH V. REDE D I T O R


SHOWBITZ

The mother-and-daughter tan-dem of Lily and Roselle Mon-teverde strongly believe that to-day’s Darling Teen Princess and latest OPM Pop Sweetheart Janel-la Salvador is rife for stardom.

And so, they tapped her to headline Regal Entertainment, Inc.’s 2015 Metro Manila Film Festival-entry Haunted Mansion with no less than award-winning director, locally and interna-tionally, Jun Lana handling her launching movie.

Among the current generation of young stars, many consider Janella to be a cut above the rest as she is bursting with talent in act-ing, singing, dancing and hosting.

Janella started as a darling of TV commercials at a tender age. Before dipping her hands in showbiz, she was part of the mu-sical play Paul! Paul! at the Meral-co Theater in 2009 for a local food chain. By 2010, she was picked to be part of the ABS-CBN Star Magic Glee Club.

Because of her impressive tal-ent, she landed the role of Nikki in the morning drama Be Care-ful With My Heart from 2012 to 2014. Until she got her biggest break on TV as the lead actress in the inspirational series Oh My G!

Aside from these, she has also appeared in other Kapamilya Net-work shows like Maalaala Mo Kaya?,Wansapanataym and others.

Various award-giving bodies also took notice of the young gem - 17th Gawad Pasado Awards, which named Janella Pinakapasadong Dangal ng Kabataan this year; Most Promising Love team with Jerome Ponce and Most Prom-ising Female Star (2014 Guill-ermo Awards); Candy Reader’s Choice Female Rising Star; Ger-man Moreno Youth Achievement Award , 27th PMPC Best Female Personality and Pop Breakthrough Star of ASAP in 2013.

Of late, Janella has earned her-self a new tag, that of OPM Pop Sweetheart, due to her best-selling self-titled album from Star Music.

As a singer, her rendition of “Mahal Kita Pero” placed third

in the 2014 Himig Handog P-Pop Love Songs and was adjudged Best Music Video on MYX.

Incidentally, Janella is a scholar of the Ryan CayabyabMusmusikwela.

At 17, Janella has indeed ac-complished and achieved a lot of her dreams such that the Mon-teverdes are confident they have a winner in her launching pic, Haunted Mansion.

“She’s very fresh. Modern at sig-uradong papatok sa kabataan ngay-on. At this age of social media, isasi Janelle sa mga binigyan namin ng break sa Regal dahil malakas ang charm niya’t she’s very talented.Malawak na ang fan base niya and I believe that she will be a big name in the industry,” said Mother Lily.

Two of the country’s fast-rising young male idols - Mario Mortel and Jerome Ponce - join Janella in Haunted Mansion. So, watch out for this fresh combination as Regal’s Haunted Mansion hits lo-cal screens nationwide on Christ-mas Day Dec. 25.

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Miss silka finals tonightThe grand finals of Miss Silka Philippines 2015 happens this afternoon, 4 p.m. at the Activity Center of Market! Market! at The Fort, in Taguig.

The event will select the next brand ambassador of Silka, coin-ciding with the brand’s 30th anni-versary. The finals has gathered candidates from all over the Philip-pines who all won at the pageants local and regional eliminations.

PBB Unlimited Big Winner Slater Young and Miss Interna-tional 2013 Bea Rose Santiagoare the pageant’s hosts with Erik Santos as special guest.

The winners will face a panel of judges from the fields of fashion, beauty and the arts.

Miss Silka Philippines 2014 Kathreen Grace Ahorro, 21, from Puerto Princesa in Palawan, will bequeath her title to the next winner who will also receive P120 thousand, and a Silka gift pack and another P100 thousand that she can donate to her chosen charity courtesy of Cosmetique Asia Cor-poration, organizer of the pageant along with Cornerstone Events.

The celebrity endorsers of Sil-ka are Iya Villania and Erich Gonzales.

Janella salvador in ‘haunted Mansion’ on ChristMas day

ISAH V. RED

➜ Continued on C7

Janella Salvador is Regal Entertainment's front liner at the Metro Manila Film Festival in December playing the lead female character in the gothic-inspired Haunted Mansion

i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

The Standard - 2015 November 21 - Saturday

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