The Standard - 2016 January 06 - Wednesday

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VOL. XXIX � NO. 328 � 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 � WEDNESDay : JaNUaRy 6, 2016 � www.thestandard.com.ph � [email protected]

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Senatorsto reopenSAF 44slay probe

Poll firmslammedfor partialsurvey

COMELEC SUES FORTIME IN POE CASE

Protest. This photo taken on Dec. 31, 2015, shows Filipino children in a demonstration on Pagasa Island, a remote area being claimed by China. AFP

By Rey E. Requejo and Macon Ramos-Araneta

THE Commission on Elections asked the Supreme Court Tues-day for more time to respond to the petition filed by Senator Grace Poe seeking to overturn the poll body’s decision to dis-qualify her from running for president in 2016.

The request came a day after the Office of the Solicitor General asked the Supreme Court to uphold the Senate Electoral Tri-bunal finding that Poe is a natural-born Filipino citizen, a view diametrically op-posed to the Comelec’s decision to dis-qualify her on the basis of her citizenship and her residency.

In its manifestation to the Court, the Comelec said it received a copy of the Su-preme Court’s temporary restraining order on Dec. 29, 2015, which required it to submit comments on Poe’s petition within 10 days, which expires Jan. 7, 2016.

But on Jan. 4, the OSG filed a manifesta-tion saying it could no longer represent the Comelec.

“Thus, the Comelec seeks the indulgence of the Supreme Court for an additional pe-riod of five days... or until Jan. 12 within which to submit its comment,” the Comelec said.

In a comment Monday, Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, the government’s top lawyer, asked the Supreme Court to sustain the SET ruling that declared Poe a natural-born Fili-pino, saying the electoral tribunal did not commit grave abuse of discretion when it

ruled it her favor.Poe on Tuesday thanked Hilbay and 10

other OSG lawyers for recognizing her sta-tus as a natural-born citizen, describing their stand as “a big deal.”

Poe has filed two petitions with the Su-preme Court to challenge the Comelec’s decision to disqualify her from the 2016 presidential race on the basis of her citizen-ship and alleged failure to meet the 10-year residency requirement.

The Comelec’s First Division cancelled Poe’s Certificate of Candidacy in response

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THE US says China’s recent test of a newly completed runway on one of seven islands Beijing has constructed in the disputed South China Sea raises tensions and threatens regional stability.

State Department spokes-man John Kirby reiterated

Monday a US call for a halt to land reclamation and militarization of outposts in those waters, where China and five other Asian govern-ments have competing terri-torial claims.

“We are concerned by China’s decision to land its aircraft on Fiery Cross Reef

in the South China Sea,” Kirby said.

“To begin flight opera-tions at this new airfield in a disputed area raises tensions and threatens regional sta-bility,” he said.

“We again call for all claimants to halt land rec-lamation, further develop-

ment of new facilities, and the militarization on their outposts, and instead fo-cus on reaching agreement on acceptable behavior in disputed areas. We have made this case clear repeat-edly, and we will continue to make it,” Kirby added.

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Help. Tourist police help a motorcyclist restart his bike that got stuck near the airport’s arrival area on Tuesday. Eric Apolonio

W E D N E S D AY : J A N U A R Y 6 , 2 0 1 6

Saudi roundup nets3 Filipino ‘jihadists’

to petitions filed by former Senator Francisco Tatad, De La Salle University professor Antonio Contreras and University of the East law dean Amado Valdez. The Comelec’s Second Division took the same action based on a petition filed by lawyer Estrella Elamparo.

The Comelec en banc subse-quently upheld both divisions, leading Poe to challenge its deci-sion before the Supreme Court.

“The Comelec placed on Poe the burden of proving that she is a natural-born Filipino instead of placing it on petitioners (Tatad, Contreras, and Valdez),” Poe’s pe-tition said.

Poe, a foundling, was found in a church in Jaro, Iloilo and was adopted by celebrity couple Fern-ando Poe Jr. and Susan Roces.

In her petition, Poe also said the Comelec disregarded internation-al law and international human rights agreements signed by the Philippines that granted found-lings citizenship from the coun-tries in which they were found.

Poe also took the Comelec to task for refusing to consider the evidence that she presented to re-establish her residency in the Phil-ippines as early as May 24, 2005.

Poe also said that “the Comelec acted whimsically and capricious-ly in concluding that Poe’s state-ment in her CoC regarding her residency is false simply because it differed from the entry in her CoC when she ran for senator in 2013.”

Poe, meanwhile, has asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the petition of Rizalito David to over-turn the SET decision in her favor.

In her comment, Poe said the SET did not commit grave abuse of discretion when it said she was a natural-born citizen and there-fore eligible to run for the Senate in 2013.

She said the SET correctly held that she is a natural-born Filipino on the basis of the presumption of descent from a Filipino parent, derived not only from the Rules of Court but also from international law.

She also asked the Court to dis-miss David’s petition for lack of merit, and rejected his argument that she should not be declared a natural-born citizen simply be-cause the 1935 Constitution was silent on the citizenship of chil-dren with unknown parents.

She said the SET correctly con-sidered the generally accepted principles of international law with respect to the citizenship of foundlings, and noted that 60 countries recognize the presump-tion that a foundling is a citizen of the country where he or she was found.

Poe said it would be unconstitu-tional and a violation of the equal protection clause to discriminate among children on the basis of certainty of parentage, adding that children regardless of filiation are inherently equal.

She said this principle is sup-ported by the Universal Declara-tion of Human Rights, the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Child, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Poe said the SET’s reliance on legal provisions supporting

the proposition that a foundling found in the Philippines is pre-sumed born of Filipino citizens is justified not only by law, but the principles of equity and fairness.

She said it was David’s burden to prove that she is not a natural-born Filipino.

Poe also maintained that she validly re-acquired her natural-born citizenship when she took her oath of allegiance to the Phil-ippines. She also said her renun-ciation of US citizenship could not be considered to have been recant-ed because she never used her US passport after her recantation.

Poe said David’s reliance on the dissenting opinion of the three Su-preme Court justices who are SET members was “unavailing.”

The three magistrates—Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo—De Castro and Ar-turo Brion—who voted to grant David’s petition, have already in-hibited themselves from the case that David had filed with the Su-preme Court to question the SET decision.

A spokesman for the adminis-tration’s standard bearer, Manuel Roxas II, said the OSG decision was “not suprising.”

“The SET case became the first to be raised to the Supreme Court, and obviously, the SolGen is duty-bound to defend the SET as a gov-ernment institution,” said Roxas’ spokesman Rep. Barry Gutierrez. “I wouldn’t make too much of it.”

He added that the OSG com-ment showed that government in-stitutions were working.

“We should not put malice or meaning just because the solicitor general is doing its job to defend the SET,” he added.

Gutierrez said, however, that Poe should prepare her defense against the Comelec decisions to disqualify her, saying that these had “a very, very clear constitu-tional basis.”

But Poe said she remained con-fident that the Supreme Court will act fairly as the final arbiter of the law, and said the three justices who voted against her in the SET showed prudence in inhibiting themselves in the review of the case.

Poe’s running mate, Senator Francis Escudero, said the OSG’s position bolsters their belief that the Comelec was wrong and de-cided unfairly against Poe.

He said the OSG comment sub-mitted to the Supreme Court ran contrary to the Comelec’s decision to cancel Poe’s certificate of candi-dacy.

“The solicitor general, the statutorily appointed lawyer of the Philippine government, and 10 other solicitors are of the firm belief that Senator Grace Poe is a natural-born Filipino. This is vin-dication for the majority of the SET, who were criticized by some sectors for deciding supposedly based on political and emotional considerations,” Escudero said.

“No less than the OSG recog-nizes that the Constitution and its framers never wanted to discrimi-nate against foundlings and that foundlings were always meant to be natural-born Filipinos—which is what Senator Grace has been saying all along,” he added.

Poe’s lawyer, George Garcia, urged the three Supreme Court justices in the SET case to inhibit themselves as well in the Comelec cases. With John paolo Bencito

“We’re now coordinating with the DFA [Department of Foreign Affairs]... to identify the report-ed three Filipinos. As of now, we’ve no details yet,” Colonel Restituto Padilla, spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philip-pines, said.

Arab News reported that Saudi security forces launched a series of special operations in December that resulted in the arrest of 44 suspects, “including three Filipi-nos, five Syrians, four Yemenis, a Sudanese and 31 Saudis.”

“The largest number of arrests were made on the first day of the operation, with 10 Saudis and one Yemeni being arrested. Nine suspects, including three Syrians were arrested the following day,” it said.

“Ten suspects were rounded

up on the fifth day of the opera-tion, including seven Saudis, a Yemeni, a Sudanese and a Syr-ian,” it added.

Earlier, reports said that Is-lamic terrorists brandishing the flags of terrorists in Iraq and Syria had been recruiting and training recruits in Mindanao.

Videos and photographs of the alleged training were posted on the Internet.

The military and the Palace, however, have denied the pres-ence of terrorist training camps in Mindanao.

Padilla dismissed the videos and photographs as part of the ter-rorists’ recruitment propaganda.

A high-ranking military in-telligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the three Filipinos arrested were not

By Florante S. Solmerin

THE military said Tuesday it was trying to verify reports that three suspected Filipino jihadists were among 44 people arrested in Saudi Arabia in a weeklong anti-terrorism operation last December.

directly recruited from the Philip-pines, but had probably been in Saudi Arabia for some time.

Provincial police, meanwhile, said an alleged member of the Abu Sayyaf Group involved in several kidnap-pings and the ambush against a vice mayor in December was arrested Monday in Patikul, Sulu.

The police identified the suspect as Jummi Jumala, who was now tempo-rarily detained at the provincial po-lice office.

The Patikul police said they re-ceived information regarding the presence of Jumala, and asked for help from the Alpha Company of the Army’s 35th Infantry Battalion.

Sulu Task Group commander Brig. Gen. Alan Arrojado cleared the re-quest for support and joined the ar-resting team.

Arrojado said Jumala is a “known ASG member” with pending criminal cases filed in court.

Jumala was also being sought for the ambush of Vice Mayor Jun Tar-sum and series of killings in Jolo and Patikul.

Jumala was also involved in several kidnapping operations of the ASG, the police said.

Vietnam last week protested China’s decision to land an aircraft at Fiery Cross Reef, saying it violated Hanoi’s sovereignty, and demanded that China stop such actions. China rejected Hanoi’s protest.

On Monday, the Philippines joined Vietnam in criticizing Chi-na’s move, and said it was also con-sidering a formal protest.

Senator John McCain on Mon-day criticized the White House for delaying any future “freedom of navigation” patrols near artifi-cial islands that China has built in the disputed South China Sea.

McCain, who chairs the Armed Services Committee, said China

was continuing to “pursue its ter-ritorial ambitions” in the region, including by landing a plane on a man-made island in the Spratly Islands on Jan. 2.

In a statement, the senator from Arizona said the US military’s fail-ure to conduct additional patrols last year was “disappointing yet hardly surprising.”

He said the Obama administra-tion was “either unable to manage the complexities of interagency na-tional security decision making or simply too risk averse to do what is necessary to safeguard the rules-based order in the Asia-Pacific.”

In October, the Pentagon be-gan conducting patrols within 12 nautical miles of the man-made islands.

McCain’s complaints come after

Chinese foreign ministry officials confirmed on Saturday that a test flight by a civilian plane landed on one of the islands, the first time Beijing has used a runway in the area, Reuters reported.

The landing was not a surprise, as China has been building run-ways on the artificial islands for over a year.

Washington suspects that the islands may be used as military outposts, while Beijing insists that they will serve primarily a hu-manitarian purpose.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea, through which trillion dollars in trade passes an-nually. However, there are overlap-ping claims from the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. pnA

US...From A1

Comelec...From A1

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News

Poll firm rappedfor partial survey

Estrada: Enough security for Nazarene

Ex-poll chief hitfor chaos warning

Not quite back in school. Students of the Corazon Aquino Elementary School in Tondo, Manila appeared still unwilling to get back to school work after their long holiday break. DANNY PATA

Enough supply. Although the prices of highland vegetables remained high even after the Christmas season, they are almost back to normal at the trading post at La Trinidad in Benguet on Tuesday. DAVID CHAN

By John Paolo Bencito

MEDIA research firm Nielsen Philippines caused acri-mony and confusion instead of public erudition after it released an incomplete survey of the radio and televi-sion advertisement spending of candidates in next year’s elections, the camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay said Tuesday.

By Sandy AranetaMALACAÑANG criticized former Commission on Elections chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. on Tuesday for warning against chaos if the disqualification cases of two presidential candidates and issues with the vote count machines are not immediately resolved.

“We would like to believe the Supreme Court is cognizant of the expectations of the people,” said Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda. “Speculations are not helpful.”

Lacierda made the remark after Brillantes warned of chaos, even a suspension of the May national and local elections, unless the SC acts

swiftly on the disqualification cases on two presidential candidates and the petitions to stop the reuse of precinct count optical scan machines.

Brillantes said the SC should decide on these pending cases because the official campaign period begins on Feb. 9 for national candidates.

“It will be chaotic. We are looking at a scenario where there could be a suspension of elections, but not a no-elections,” Brillantes said.

The Comelec earlier junked the two motions for reconsideration filed by Senator Grace Poe against the previous ruling of the First and Second Divisions canceling her Certificate of Candidacy for president.

By Joel E. Zurbano

MANILA Mayor Joseph Estrada on Tuesday vowed to enforce suf-ficient security measures during the celebration of the Feast of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo this Saturday where more than 13-million people are expected to participate.

“I believe our main role and pri-ority here is to keep peace and order, to ensure the safety of all the people in the procession, ensure that there will be no obstruction, and to main-tain cleanliness of all roads where the procession will pass,” he said.

Estrada tapped Johnny Yu, head of the Manila Disaster Risk Reduc-tion and Management Office, to lead major functions for the occa-sion, especially on crowd control and management.

He also ordered the installa-tion of eight command stations and 33 medical and first aid cen-ters manned by officials and other personnel who were trained and equipped for their functions.

Yu, for his part, said some 600 sanitation volunteers are also being mobilized to be complemented by the thousands who were tasked by the

Quiapo Church to serve as marshals and for other volunteer functions for the occasion.

“The mayor has constantly been checking on the details of the prepa-rations for this special occasion, es-pecially as we expect around 13 to 15-million people that will partici-pate in the feast,” he said.

The city government appealed to the people to cooperate in the pro-cedures prepared and to be imple-mented by the authorities for the feast, especially in maintaining peace, order and cleanliness in the routes and vi-cinity of the occasion.

Joselito Salgado, media affairs head of the office of Vice President Jejomar Binay, questioned why Nielsen released its survey on po-litical advertisements for 2015 when they knew that the results only cov-ered the period January to Novem-ber and could still change with the December data.

But Nielsen Philippines spokes-person Liza Martija explained that the survey was commissioned by private parties and the media firm

itself is covered by non-disclosure agreements with subscribers.

But Salgado, who claimed their camp is a subscriber to the service, said Nielsen did not even bother to clarify its data when the camp of Liberal Party candidate Mar Roxas claimed that the survey named Bi-nay as the top television advertiser in 2015 with television advertise-ments amounting to P595.7 million

Salgado claimed the figure did not include the “tandem ad-

vertisements” of Roxas and his running mate Lenny Robredo although that would change the results of the survey and show Roxas to be the top spender with P774.1 million in radio, newspa-per and television ads in 2015.

Binay was second with ad ex-penditures reaching P695.5 mil-lion and Senator Grace Poe was third with P694.6 million. PDP-Laban candidate Rodrigo Duterte was fourth with P129.5 million .

But the Roxas camp jumped at the opportunity and demanded that Binay explain where he got the money to spend for his televi-sion advertisements.

“As far as I know, VP Binay was named as the top spender in the report, spending more than P600 million. Secretary Mar was a far third with just over P420 million spent,” said spokesman and Ak-bayan Rep. Barry Gutierrez.

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Peace advisers resume their push for BBL

Senators asked to produce P20b

Mamasapano hearings to reopen

Condolences. Vice President Jejomar Binay visits the family of the late migrant worker Joselito Zapanta who was executed recently in Saudi Arabia for failing to pay blood money.

Inspection. Manila Police District Chief Rolando Nana leads the inspection of Quiapo Church in preparation for the feast of the Black Nazarene. Danny Pata

THE House appropriations committee has urged sena-tors to secure P20 billion in extra funding to cover retired military and police person-nel in Salary Standardization Law-4, Davao City Rep. Isid-ro Ungab said Tuesday.

Ungab, the chairman of the committee, said they would wait for the convening of the bicameral conference committee on SSL-4 to ad-dress the matter and to ask the senators to justify includ-ing the retired military and police officials in SSL-4.

Ungab said the P20 billion must be raised because it was not included in this year’s na-tional budget.

“We will have to wait for the bicameral committee to tackle and resolve the issue regarding the AFP and PNP retirees,” he said.

“One of the things to con-

sider would be its funding re-quirement of about P20 billion as the same is not included in the 2016 [budget], as well as the still-unpaid pension differ-entials which should be deter-mined by DBM [Department of Budget and Management].”

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. earlier said it was up to the members of the bicameral con-ference committee to secure the P20-billion funding after the senators said they wanted the retired military and police officers included in SSL-4.

But he said the proposed in-clusion could imperil the pas-sage of SSL-4 because it had no allocation for such addition.

The House and the Sen-ate failed to pass SSL-4 be-fore Congress adjourned last December after the senators decided to reconsider the ap-proval of their own version to include retired military

and police personnel in the planned salary adjustment.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad has said SSL-4 would cost taxpayers P226 billion over four years: P57.906 billion in 2016, P54.393 billion in 2017, P65.976 billion in 2018, and P47.544 billion in 2019.

The nurses who are re-ceiving P24,887 a month under Salary Grade 15 will have their salaries raised to P26,192 this year and to P30,531 in 2019.

The Budget department said the minimum basic salary of civilian government person-nel (Salary Grade 1 or admin-istrative aide) will be raised to P11,068 from P9,000.

Army privates, apprentice seamen and police officers of the lowest rank will have their monthly salaries raised to P16,597 from P14,834. Maricel V. Cruz

THE Office of the Presiden-tial Adviser on the Peace Process on Tuesday re-sumed its push for the pas-sage of Malacañang’s pro-posed Bangsamoro Basic Law despite the uncertain-ties and challenges facing it.

“We should hit the ground running. This last six months are going to move... fast [during which] we will face challenges,” Peace Process adviser Ter-esita Quintos Deles said.

“We are looking forward, working hard and praying hard that we will see the pas-sage of [the] BBL when Con-gress resumes [sessions].”

Deles said the passage of the BBL would ease the talks

during the coming ministe-rial meeting in January in Jeddah on the Tripartite Re-view Process on the imple-mentation of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement between the Government of the Phil-ippines and the Moro Na-tional Liberation Front.

“The House leadership is hopeful that they will be able to muster a quorum and finish the process,” De-les said.

“We should not give up hope and we need to keep pushing for the completion of the most important mile-stone on the peace table.”

As stipulated in the Com-prehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed by

the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, two separate compo-nents will run through its implementation simultane-ously.

The political process will lead to the establishment of the Bangsamoro political entity to replace the Auton-omous Region in Muslim Mindanao through the en-actment of an enabling law, which is the BBL, and the normalization process that seeks to restore the commu-nities affected by the dec-ades-long armed conflict in Mindanao.

Once all provisions in the CAB have been implement-ed, both sides will sign an

exit agreement.Government peace panel

chairwoman Miriam Coro-nel Ferrer said the govern-ment and the MILF would remain steadfast in uphold-ing the ceasefire in pur-suit of lasting peace in the southern Philippines.

“The best thing about the peace process between the Government of the Philip-pines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is that the two parties have not gone back to war,” Ferrer said.

“We are gradually trans-forming the lives of the peo-ple on the ground, nurtur-ing their hopes and dreams for a better future.” Sandy araneta

The two panels are the committee on public or-der and illegal drugs led by Senator Grace Poe and the committee on peace, uni-fication and reconciliation led by Senator Teofisto Gu-ingona III.

Poe led the Senate inves-tigtion into the firefight between police comman-dos and Muslim rebels that found President Benigno Aquino III “ultimately re-sponsible” for the botched operation that resulted in the death of 44 Special Ac-tion Force members.

In ruling on Aquino’s li-ability, Poe said she agreed that suspended PNP Chief Alan Purisima usurped of-ficial functions when he ordered police commandos to launch an operation in Maguindanao to capture Malaysian terrorist Mar-wan. There, the comman-dos had a firefight with Muslim rebels that resulted in the death of 44 of them.

In the House, 1-BAP par-ty-list Rep. Silvestre Bello III on Tuesday urged the com-mittee on public order and safety to finally come out with the final report on the results of its probe into the Mamasapano incident.

Bello warned that the fail-ure of the House to come out with a final report would open itself to accusations of covering up on the matter.

“The committee has to come out with a report to avoid the accusation of a grand coverup, but more importantly to give justice to the victims of the massa-cre,” Bello said.

Parañaque City Rep. Gus

Tambunting shared Bello’s views and urged the lead-ers of the House panels to release their report.

Malacañang on Tuesday said it would recognize what-ever the outcome of the inves-tigation of the Senate into the Mamasapano incident.

“We recognize that it is part of the mandate of the Senate to conduct an inves-tigation in aid of legislation and part of its oversight functions,” Communica-tions Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. told reporters.

Poe said that when the two committees reconvened they would listen to possi-ble new information or evi-dence that might crop up.

Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile had demanded the reo-pening of the Senate probe on the Mamasapano incident fol-lowing his release from jail af-ter posting bail on the plunder charges against him.

“It’s good that the Rules Committee gave a signal that additional hearings can be called in response to Minority Leader Enrile’s re-quest to investigation,” Poe said in a statement.

“The new hearings will not affect or void our ear-lier findings that have been signed by 21 members. There is always an opening if there is new evidence. We will schedule the additional hearings on January 25.”

In another text message, Senator Vicente Sotto III said Enrile might be bring-ing up new issues that the Senate was not able to tack-le. Macon Ramos-araneta, Maricel V. Cruz and Sandy araneta

TWO Senate committees will reconvene on Jan. 25 this year to look for new evidence on the Mamasapano incident—and exactly one year after it happened in Maguindanao and resulted in the death of 44 police commandos.

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NEWS A5

QC rakes it in, nets P1.18-b surplus

11 graft raps vs ex-Finance man junked

Solon urges vigilanceamid warning of chaos

Romualdez, a senatorial aspi-rant, issued the statement amid the warning raised by former elec-tions chairman Sixto Brillantes that the polls might be suspended if the Supreme Court failed to re-solve disqualification cases against two presidential bets.

Romualdez said he was hope-ful the Filipino people will not let chaos mar this year’s elections by merely following the rule of law and the Constitution.

“The electorate will not allow chaos. It is within our hands to prevent turmoil and disarray by simply following the laws of the land and the Constitution,” Ro-mualdez said.

Romualdez said the SC led by

Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno will not let a chaotic conduct of polls, saying the high tribunal will decide on the disqualification cases against two presidential can-didates and other pending similar matters before the elections.

Romualdez said the SC will rule based on the best interest of the country on presidential candidates Senator Grace Poe and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s disquali-fication cases and the petitions to stop the reuse of precinct count optical scan machines in 2016 elections.

“Being the final arbiter of many issues that is dividing the country, I am confident that the Supreme Court will decide for the best in-

By Maricel V. Cruz

HOUSE Independent Bloc leader and Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez on Tuesday urged the Filipino people to exercise vigilance as the country is gearing up for the national and local elections in May.

terest of the nation concerning legal questions raised against two presidential bets and other elec-tion-related matters. The Supreme Court will decide on the interest of the society and for the mainte-nance of good,” Romualdez said in response to former Commis-sion on Elections Chairman Sixto Brillantes, Jr. warning of chaos and even a suspension of the May national and local elections unless the SC acts swiftly on pending matters.

“We hope and pray that it will be peaceful and orderly as we are confident that the SC will resolve the issues promptly,” Romualdez, a shared senatorial candidate of presidential bets Vice President Jejomar Binay and Duterte, added.

Camiguin Rep. Xavier Jesus Romualdo, a 2012 bar topnotcher, agreed with Ro-mualdez that people can save the country from chaos by respecting and abiding the Constitution.

“However, even if such cases won’t be resolved in a timely man-ner, I do not think chaos will en-sue if we just follow the laws and rules in place. There might be chaos, however, if certain groups or persons will sow it and agitate our people. That to me, is the real danger in the coming elections,” Romualdo said.

Boodle fight. Senatorial candidate Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez of Leyte (left) and Barangay Chairman Joe Navarro join the boodle fight with more than 300 residents of Punta Princesa, Cebu City. VER NOVENO

THE Sandiganbayan has dismissed 11 counts of graft and five counts of estafa through falsifica-tion of public documents filed against a former Finance official linked to a P5.3-billion tax credit scam.

The anti-graft court’s First Division granted the motion for quashal of information filed by Uldarico Andutan Jr., former deputy executive director of the Department of Finance.

One of Andutan’s graft suit was dismissed for inordinate delay of the Office of the Ombudsman last month while the Sandiganbayan junked 10 counts of graft and five counts of estafa for the same ground.

Ombudsman prosecutors said the probe suffered

delay due to the voluminous documents, and com-plex and extraordinary issues.

“These will not do… The right to speedy dispo-sition of cases is enshrined in the Bill of Rights, the purpose of which is to protect he people against arbitrary and discriminatory use of po-litical power,” the Sandiganbayan’s order read.

Andutan, along with ex-finance undersecretary Antonio Belicena, was accused of graft and estafa charges.

Andutan and Belicena were sued in the 2009 case involving P73-million tax credits granted to Filstar Textile Industrial Corp. Belicena headed the DoF’s One Stop Shop-Inter Agency Tax Cred-it and Duty Drawback Center. Rio Araja

By Rio N. Araja

THE Quezon City government has ended 2015 with a surplus of P1.180 billion, which is more than its target collection.

“This is the biggest increase over the past years,” city trea-surer Edgar Villanueva said on Tuesday.

Much of the collections came from business tax payments of P 7.56 billion, which grew by P902.54 million or 13.56 per-cent from its level in 2014.

At least P3.75 billion were derived from real-estate taxes, indicating a growth rate of 7.6 percent from that of the previ-ous year.

“Of the real-property tax col-lections, P1.73 billion is the city share, while P698 million is the barangay share, and P1.325 bil-lion goes into the special educa-tion fund as mandated by law,” the city’s Public Affairs and Information Services Office’s statement read.

Among the city’s barangays with the highest share of rev-enue collections were Socorro, Bagumbayan and South Trian-gle because of their dense con-centration of commercial real estate properties.

Under the Local Government Code of 1991, the special educa-tion fund is derived from one percent of the real-estate tax to fund school construction and repair, printing and publication of books, and purchase of teach-ing materials and equipment.

Republic of the Phi l ippinesCommision on Elect ions

Intramuros, Manila

NOTICE TO THE PUBLICAll interested persons are invited

to at tend the public hear ing and consultat ion on the Implement ing Rules and Regulat ions (IRR) for Republic Act No. 9006, other wise known as the Fair Elect ion Act, scheduled on 11 January 2016, Monday, 2:00 P.M. at the Project Management Of f ice (PMO), Ground Floor, Palacio del Gobernador Bui lding, General Luna Street, Intramuros, Mani la.

The draft of the IRR is available at the Education and Information Department of the COMELEC, 3rd Floor, Shipping Centre Building, A. Soriano Avenue, Intramuros, Manila.

Interested persons may send a request for a copy of the IRR to [email protected], using the subject l ine: FEA- IRR.

( TS - JAN. 6 , 2016)

[email protected]

NEWSA6W E D N E S D AY : J A N U A R Y 6 , 2 0 1 6

Noy urged: Sign pension hike bill

Congressmen Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna said time is running out on the en-actment of House Bill 5842 which stands to benefit millions of SSS members and pensioners.

The bill was passed on third reading by the House of Repre-sentatives as early as June 9, 2015, and was adopted by the Senate on Nov. 9, 2015. It was transmitted to Malacañang for the President’s signature mid-December, said the two lawmakers and principal au-thors of the measure.

Zarate said he hoped the President would sign the measure into law be-

fore he steps down on June 30.“An increase in the SSS pension

is long overdue, and, we strongly urge President Aquino to sign the pension hike immediately. The very low minimum pension violates the mandate of the SSS of promoting social justice and provide meaning-ful protection for its members,” Col-menares, a House deputy minority leader, said.

Colmenares authored the same measure in the 15th Congress in 2011 that was co-authored by then congressman Teddy Casiño, also of Bayan Muna.

“Today’s minimum pension of

By Maricel V. Cruz

TWO militant lawmakers on Tuesday urged Presi-dent Benigno Aquino III to sign into law the pro-posed measure providing for the P2,000 across-the-board increase on Social Security System pension.

Delfin Lee wants high courtto void arrest order, estafa caseBy Rey E. RequejoTHE Supreme Court has been prodded to immediately resolve several pending cases assailing the Court of Appeals decisions that dismissed the syndicated estafa case and quashed the arrest order issued by the trial court against Globe Asiatique president Delfin Lee.

In manifestation and motion filed with the high court, Lee said the petitions filed by the Department of Justice and the Home Development Mutual Fund should “be dismissed for utter lack of merit and the as-sailed decisions and resolutions of the various divisions of the CA be affirmed in toto.”

Lee said he has been de-tained at the Pampanga pro-

vincial jail for almost two years now because of an injunction issued by the SC on one of the petitions despite being cleared by the CA which also nullified his arrest order.

Apart from the dismissal of the petitions filed by the DoJ and HDMF, Lee also asked the SC to “directly order the Pro-vincial Warden of the Pampan-ga Provincial Jail (PPJ) to cause the immediate release from de-tention of accused/respondent Delfin S. Lee.”

The syndicated estafa case against Lee was filed by the HDMF on charges that it sus-tained a P6.6-billion damage through a breach of warranty committed by Globe Asiatique in the 2009 memorandum of agree-ment and in the funding com-

mitment agreements the realty firm entered into with HDMF.

Lee, through the law offices of Garay Cruz & Associates, said “this alleged breach of war-ranty allegedly committed by Globe Asiatique was allegedly occasioned by its act of approv-ing the Pag-IBIG housing loan applications of fictitious buy-ers/borrowers and by engaging in double sale of the townhous-es at the Xevera Bacolor and Mabalacat Township Projects, based on the interpretation of the contracts by DoJ that Globe Asiatique is the one approving the Pag-IBIG housing loan ap-plications of the buyers/bor-rowers and its interpretation that Globe Asiatique is not al-lowed to replace the delinquent buyers/borrowers.”

P1,000-1,200, or even the P2,400 for those who contributed for 20 years, is way below the mark of meeting the needs of our senior citizens. It is not enough to buy food, pay bills, or, buy the mainte-nance medicines that most of our seniors need,” Colmenares said.

Colmenares cited the findings of independent think tank Ibon Foundation that said a member of a family of six in NCR needs at least P5,033 a month for its basic needs.

“This P2,000 increase in pen-sion will at least lift the income of our seniors nearer the mark. We cannot overemphasize enough how important this pension in-crease is to our seniors. It is a mat-ter of survival for the 1,528,269 pensioners,” Colmenares added.

Zarate said that the pension hike bill had already surpassed many hurdles before reaching the Malacañang desk.

“Originally, we proposed a P5,000-pension increase believing that this amount is more appropriate consider-ing today’s prices of commodities and the rising cost of basic utilities. Even-tually, it got whittled down to P2,000 after congressional deliberations. Even with this slashed amount, the bill still squeezed through a needle’s eye before making it to the Senate,” Zarate said.

The SSS itself seemed determined to block the bill from passing, claim-ing it would result to the agency’s bankruptcy, Zarate added.

“The SSS leadership became a stumbling block, too, as it raised unfounded bankruptcy claims if the bill passes. The obsession of the SSS to increase its fund life—which is already beyond 14 years—is tram-pling on its mandate to provide social justice and protection for its members. Yet, the people, par-ticularly our senior citizens, cannot be deluded by their scare tactic of bankruptcy,” Zarate added.

Macau-boundwoman had bullet in bag,OTS claims

Hermano Mayor. Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada (2nd from left), who is also the Hermano Mayor during the 2016 Quiapo fiesta, answers questions from media during a press briefing on the Traslacion 2016, the parade of the Black Nazarene, on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016 in the presence of MMDA chairman Emerson Carlos (left), Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno and Msgr. Hernando Coronel, rector, Quiapo Parish. DANNY PATA

Devotion. Vendors sell ‘Traslacion’ shirts outside the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene at Manila’s Quiapo district, four days before the annual procession known as the Traslación, which is a 4.3-kilometer journey from Quirino Grandstand to the Quiapo Church, and is expected to attract millions of Nazarene devotees. EY ACASIO

By Joel E. ZurbanoAIRPORT authorities arrested a female passenger caught with a bullet of a .45 caliber pistol while she was about to board a flight for Macau at the Ninoy Aquino Inter-national Airport Terminal 2.

The Aviation Security Group placed Gina Maliwat, 34, under arrest after they discovered the bullet inside her brown bag while passing through the x-ray machine last Saturday.

Personnel from the Office for Transportation Security took pictures of the x-ray monitor that showed the image of the bullet to avoid suspicion of “bullet planting” by OTS.

Since November, airport authorities have arrested at least 30 passengers with bullets in their bags at Naia Terminals 1, 2 and 3 amid the controversy over the alleged bullet-planting scheme involv-ing some erring personnel.

Avsegroup public information offi-cer Chief Insp. Samuel Hojilla said they continue to apprehend people despite the installation of disposal booths or cubicles serving as passengers’ luggage checking station before they enter se-curity screening checkpoints.

The cubicle dubbed as the “last look booth” would help passengers dispose of items the airport authori-ties prohibit such as gun, bullets, knife and other deadly weapons.

Last month, Avsegroup personnel found a caliber .38 bullet inside the backpack of 20-year-old Chinese na-tional Yueqiang Xu at the Naia Termi-nal 1. The foreigner was placed under police custody but was released later after ballistics test result showed that the bullet found in his posession was not live and unfired.

The alleged bullet-planting scheme prompted Police Director General Ricardo Marquez to order a lifestyle check on airport policemen.

Marquez said a special team was also studying documents regarding the bullets confiscated by both the OTS and Avsegroup personnel.

President Benigno Aquino III had ordered the PNP, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Transportation and Communications to conduct an in-vestigation of the scheme.

[email protected]


NEWS A7

‘Outsiders on DAR’s list of Luisita beneficiaries’By Rio N. Araja

OUTSIDERS and dummies are on the Department of Agrarian Reform’s list of beneficiaries of the 358-hectare Hacienda Luisita that belongs to the clan of President Benigno Aquino III, according to the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas.

Urban expert:Zamboanga akin to Dubai

THE Government Ser-vice Insurance System has earmarked P1.6 billion in emergency loan to mem-bers and pensioners in Oriental Mindoro, Albay and Sorsogon.

According to GSIS presi-dent and general manager Robert G. Vergara, a total of 49,049 members and 9,315 pensioners will be eligible to avail of the emergency loan program in said areas until Jan. 30, 2016.

“Active members working or residing in the declared calamity areas are eligible to borrow if they are not on leave of absence without pay, have no arrears in pay-ing premium contributions, and have no loans in default (no unpaid amortization for more than six months). Pen-

sioners who are residing in the calamity areas are quali-fied to avail of the program,” Vergara said.

The GSIS emergency loan package consists of an in-creased credit limit of P40,000 for active members who have outstanding balance in their existing emergency loan and P20,000 for first-time bor-rowers and pensioners.

“There are 28,980 active members in Oriental Mind-oro, Albay and Sorsogon who may avail of the P40,000 loan, while 20,069 active mem-bers and 9,315 pensioners are qualified to avail of the P20,000 loan,” the pension fund chief explained.

The loan is payable in three years or 36 equal monthly in-stallments at 6 percent inter-est per annum computed in

advance and is covered by a loan redemption insurance, which deems the loan fully paid in case of death of the borrower, provided that the loan repayment is up to date.

Active members may ap-ply using their GSIS eCard or their unified multipur-pose identification card through the GSIS Wireless Automated Processing Sys-tem kiosks located in GSIS offices, provincial capitols, city halls, selected munici-pal offices, large govern-ment agencies such as the Department of Education, 27 Robinsons Malls and SM Super Malls in Manila, Pam-panga, and Cebu.

Pensioners need to person-ally apply in the GSIS offices in the calamity areas and fill out an application form.

“The President’s kin and the DAR are making a barefaced mockery of the Supreme Court decision,” Kilu-sang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas sec-retary general Antonio Flores said.

Citing reports from the Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala), Flores said that out of the over 1,700 po-tential farmer-beneficiaries listed by the DAR, at least 61 individuals

were identified to be from baran-gays Dolores, Maliwalo, Laoang, Ungot, San Miguel, Maligaya in Tarlac City, Barangay Anupul in Bamban town, and as far as Sta. Veronica in Nueva Ecija—all out-side of Hacienda Luisita.

“DAR and the Cojuangcos are at it again,” he added, citing the inclusion of the family’s house help and stable workers by the

By A. Perez Rimando

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Zam-boanga Sibugay—Urban de-velopment planner Felino Palafox Jr. said he sees in this city what he saw in Dubai less than 40 years ago.

Palafox, who recently visited Zamboanga, was involved in the 1977 urban development planning of Dubai, now known as the global city of the United Arab Emirates.

He presented to Zambo-anga City Mayor Ma. Isabelle Climaco-Salazar and other top local officials his pro-posed development plan for Zamboanga which boasts of mushrooming giant business establishments in its com-mercial center and suburban areas.

“I see a lot of development potentials for Zamboanga, from its topography to flora and fauna and natural re-sources that are best for eco-tourism, agri-tourism and even cultural heritage tour-ism,” said Palafox who first came to Zamboanga when he was 20.

He claimed that given all its potentials and at the rate the city is booming, Zam-boanga could be the coun-try’s version of Dubai if his short-term planning propos-als were to be considered by local executives.

“Like Dubai, Zamboanga is port-driven city, but unlike Dubai, Zamboanga is blessed with natural resources that Dubai did not have some three decades ago,” Palafox said.

Dubai has fabricated natu-ral resources, but in Zambo-anga, “everything is avail-able, pristine and untapped for development.”

Palafox noted that Zambo-anga could rightfully claim its new moniker as the only “Latin City in Far East” owing to its one million population’s use of Chavacano, a local ver-sion of the Spanish language.

department in the first “sham” land reform in the 4,099 hectares of Hacienda Luisita where a ben-eficiary was allotted only 6,600 square meters of land.

“Worse, the 6,600-square meter land is not intact but was dispersed in different locations. This tambi-olo land reform in Hacienda Luis-ita is the height of stupidity. DAR’s distribution scheme is designed to displace the farm workers and divide their ranks. For sure, DAR will once again foolishly divide the 358 hectares to the so-called more than 1,700 beneficiaries.”

He called the Hacienda Luisita’s agrarian reform program a “fake land distribution.”

Because of such, the farmer-beneficiaries become easy prey to

dummies of the Cojuangco kin that led to the proliferation of the arriendo system in the hacienda.

Last Dec. 29, DAR posted an announcement and a list of ben-eficiaries in every barangay of Ha-cienda Luisita for the 358-hectare land located in Barangays Balete and Cutcut 2nd.

The KMP said the lands were covered by a notice of coverage belatedly issued by DAR on Dec. 17, 2013.

“The Supreme Court in 2012 reit-erated and ordered the distribution of all agricultural lands in Hacienda Luisita due to the DAR and the Co-juangcos’ maneuver to evade land distribution through the stock dis-tribution option scheme,” Ambala lawyer Jobert Pahilga said.

GSIS grants emergency loans in 3 provinces

Taking things in stride. Horseback riding remains a favorite activity of visitors in Baguio City. DAVID CHAN

How does she do it? A girl watches her mother do the laundry outside their bunk-house in Tacloban City. MEL CASPE

OPINIONA8

[ EDI TORI A L ]

NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

A9ADELLE CHUAE D I T O R

W E D N E S D AY: J A N U A R Y 6 , 2 0 1 6

OPINION

MONEY POLITICS

TWO CHALLENGES FOR THE NEW GOVERNMENT

Continued on A11

WE WERE astounded to hear Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya declare this week that experience and a track record did not matter when it came to the Filipino partners in a Korean-led consortium that was recently awarded a P4.25-billion maintenance contract for the Metro Rail Transit system.

Under fire for approving the contract without the benefit of public bidding, Abaya said a negotiated deal was needed to come to grips with an “emergency situation”—presumably the alarming and rapid deterioration of the urban train system under his watch.

Abaya also said the Department of Transportation and Communications had tried twice to bid out the maintenance contract, but these efforts were unsuc-cessful because of the lack of qualified bidders.

Now since Abaya himself had approved the previous maintenance contract that led to the increasingly poor and unsafe commuter train service, it is fair to say that the secretary used an “emergency” of his own making to justify skirting the procurement law’s requirement of a public bidding.

It is also worth noting that the second of the failed bids had taken place in January 2015 or almost a year before Abaya declared “an emergency” in Decem-ber of the same year. This begs the question: If the need was truly so urgent, and an emergency, no less, why did Abaya wait 11 months before acting?

But Abaya is impervious to accusations that the contract constituted a sweet-heart deal, even though the Korean company, Busan Transportation Corp., just turned 10 years old this January and has no apparent track record in maintaining railway operations outside of its own home country. Nor does it matter, Abaya insists, that Busan’s local partners are into construction, agricultural equipment, trading and plumbing—none of which is likely to prove helpful in maintaining a complex and aging urban rail transit system.

But Abaya had an answer for that, too. The country’s commuter train system, he said, was “relatively young” and no Filipino companies have developed the kind of expertise related to its maintenance.

This claim seemed difficult to believe, given that the LRT began operating in 1984 or 32 years ago, while the MRT began in 1999 or 17 years ago. Abaya’s sug-gestion that no Filipino companies were able to develop an expertise in main-taining either of these commuter systems after all these years certainly reflects poorly on Philippine companies.

But perhaps Abaya’s philosophy in hiring contractors simply mirrors the ad-ministration’s own approach to appointing government officials and Cabinet secretaries, where no experience or track record is required.

Who coughs up money thrown

around so liberally by Roxas

and the other presidential candidates?

LOWDOWN

JOJO A. ROBLES

BACK CHANNEL

ALEJANDRO DEL ROSARIO

THE two related developments that were reported on the first week of the New Year pose a challenge to the incoming admin-istration. The first was the report of the Commission on Population that the num-ber of Filipinos would reach 104 million in 2016. The second is a dire warning from an American Chamber of Commerce offi-cial warning that Metro Manila would be uninhabitable by the year 2020.

The PopCom projection came even after the reproductive health bill came into law two years ago. The bump in the PopCom figures was based on the in-crease of reported teen pregnancies with girls as young as 15 years old already bearing children. The RH law allows fam-ily planning through artificial methods but contraceptives are not readily avail-able to most women in the rural areas.

The grim prospect of the metropolis in paralysis is almost a reality but to say it will be uninhabitable in the next four years is a scary scenario to contemplate. It is real and staring us in the face. Metro Manila may not be a total wasteland but its quality of life could reach an all-time low. John Forbes, senior adviser of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines, provides us with a few hard facts. Car sales will reach 500,000 units by 2020, exceeding the 300,000 units dealers had projected. Car volume consequently increases gas and carbon emissions, pos-ing health hazards particularly to the respiratory system. The world is already witnessing this in Beijing and other major cities in China where residents wearing gauze masks have become a familiar sight.

Clean drinking water will become scarce, not just in poor rural areas but even in the cities with the residential high-rise condominiums competing for the most essential daily need of humans.

Metro Manila has a population of 12 million, a number that swells to 15 mil-lion during week days when workers com-mute from the periphery of the sprawling urban area. Without a mass transit system to move people to and from work, traf-fic could literally come to a standstill, thereby impeding commerce. Forbes said the solution is really in an efficient public railway system and more skyways to ease traffic on the ground. While the govern-ment is currently constructing the sky-way from the Ninoy Aquino Terminal 3 in Pasay to Bulacan, the sheer volume of vehicles has already outpaced the number of roads. The Pasay-to-Bulacan skyway, not even halfway finished, is adding to the heavy traffic in the airport area.

Why the Aquino government started the skyway construction only in the last year and half of its term boggles the mind. Was government under spending programmed for release during the run-up to the 2016 presidential elections? Just asking.

FINALLY, Mar Roxas has ended up on top of the heap in survey not commissioned by his own Liberal Party, even if it’s just in spending for advertising. But you can always argue that Roxas is not getting his money’s worth for what he spent last year in po-litical ads, seeing as how he still lags behind practically everyone in the public opinion surveys.

Media research agency Nielsen, in a report to its sub-

scribers, estimated that Roxas spent P774,192,000 from January to December last year for television and radio adver-tising. Roxas’ spending dwarfs the P695,555,000 in ads spent by United Nationalist Alliance standard-bearer Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is followed closely by independent presi-dential bet Senator Grace Poe, who spent P694,603,000 for the same period.

PDP-Laban candidate and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, a late entry into the presidential race, appears to be no slouch in the spending de-partment, either. Duterte came

in fourth in the advertising derby, bankrolling ads worth P129,599,000 for the entire year.

That’s a lot of moolah, no mat-ter how you look at it. And be-cause political strategists always advise spending for the “air war” of advertising, the numbers can only be expected to go up before the May 9 elections—especially for candidates like Roxas, who desperately needs to go up in the public opinion surveys.

But as the communications strategist Ado Paglinawan said, apropos of the Nielsen survey, you simply can’t squeeze blood from a turnip. The trouble with the Roxas campaign has never

been its lack of resources, of which it seems to have an end-less supply; the problem lies in the product itself, which can’t simply be wrapped in the most expensive packaging in order to fly off the shelves.

Despite having all the money that the Aquino administration can throw at him, the best Roxas can place in the public opinion surveys is a distant third. And it would take a lot more than just an endless supply of money to buy advertising space and time to make Roxas a viable candi-date by May, given the snail-paced progress of his survey numbers.

But I’m not one to recom-mend that Roxas or any of the other candidates scale back on

their spending for their respective cam-paigns. Elections in this country have always caused upticks in the overall economy, after all.

And what better way to “consolidate the gains of the Aquino administra-tion,” as the current propaganda buzz-word in Malacañang Palace goes, than by perking up the economy through election spending? If you believe that candidates are only giving back to the country what they got from the people, then you can’t begrudge them their contributions to improving the lives of

the voters every election year.* * *

I was being facetious, of course. That’s because the more important question is, who really coughs up money thrown around so liberally by Roxas and the other presidential candidates?

It can’t be their own money that they’re spending. After all, it’s safe to say that no one, not even the most ob-sessed politician, will spend hundreds of millions or even billions that he or she already has, even if the intention is to attempt to get it all back by any

means possible as soon as they assume elective office.

It’s no secret that the bulk of the mon-ey spent by candidates comes from con-tributions from businessmen and other “parties of interest,” who will seek some return on investment, plus a whole lot more, if the candidate they bankrolled wins. The more viable the candidate, the more he or she attracts contributions—except perhaps in the case of candidates who have the support of the government in power itself, as seems to be the case with Roxas. Continued on A11

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

MEMBERPhilippine Press InstituteThe National Association of Philippine NewspapersPPI

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to the role of the country’s second highest official of government should play.

Essentially, Leni said that the vice president should not use the position as a leverage to advance ambi-tions to eventually occupy Malacañang. She contends that if the vice president sets aside what could be a consuming desire for the presidency, “your intention (to help) will be pure and your commitment to pro-vide public service will be full.” Leni added that the vice president’s role should be inspirational, “because you will be able to draw a lot of attention to your ad-vocacies which we need to push for our country.”

“I have always said that the vice president should not have an ambition to be president because the mo-ment he or she thinks about it, then that is the end of him or her. Instead of con-centrating on the job of vice president you will just use the position to campaign,” Robredo said. She made that

statement in a recent ap-pearance at the University of the Philippines where she and vice presidential candi-date Senator Chiz Escudero were engaged in what was billed as a debate.

Santa Banana, that state-ment makes me think about the role of the vice president under our Constitution. As far as I know, I think it was only ABS-CBN broadcaster Noli de Castro who did not salivate for the post when he was VP to GMA. In fact, there were attempts on the part of the “Hyatt 10” for De Castro to oust GMA at the height of the “Hello Garci” scandal, but he did not bite.

As a long-time observer of the political scene, I am con-vinced that Robredo, who is a neophyte member of the House of Representatives, cannot be classified as belong-ing to that much-reviled spe-cie called “trapo,” or tradition-al politician. I also believe that she will walk her talk should lady fortune smile on her bid for the vice presidency.

Hers is a truly refreshing

view, a totally new perspec-tive. We need unorthodox ways of looking at things or doing things. I would think Robredo deserves a look as a candidate. Sad to say, be-ing a neophyte congress-woman, she needs more exposure nationwide.

Both Escudero and Alan Peter Cayetano, for instance, have admitted aspiring for the position. And should Senator Bongbong Marcos win, I have no doubt at all he will be running for the Palace post come 2022. He is only 58 now, and will just be 64 by then, compared to Vice President Binay, who is now 73, and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo “Du-dirty” already 70 years old.

Bongbong can count on the support of the Solid North, plus the regional base of the Romualdezes in Eastern Visayas, particular-ly in Leyte, and even among the Ilocanos in Mindanao.

* * *I am surprised that the

government’s top lawyer, Solicitor General Florin

Hilbay, has come out up-holding the Senate Electoral Tribunal ruling that Mrs. Llamanzares is a natural-born Filipino citizen, and is therefore qualified to run for senator in 2013.

The solicitor general is supposed to be speaking and defending government as its top lawyer. But, my gulay, now he is lawyering for Mrs. Llamanzares. He may claim that he is lawyering for the SET, a constitutional body, but in effect, he is defending Mrs. Llamanzares.

Being a lawyer himself, didn’t he read the dissent-ing opinions of the three Supreme justices—SET Chairman Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, and members Associate Justice Arturo Brion and Teresita Leonardo de Castro that in conflict of laws between inter-national and domestic laws, domestic laws prevail? And because she is unable to prove otherwise, Mrs. Llamanzares is not natural born.

I wonder where Hilbay finished his law.

OPINIONW E D N E S D AY: J A N U A R Y 6 , 2 0 1 6

A10

IF YOU are not concerned about a newspaper report that says 90 percent of the P3-trillion budget was ef-fectively released in the first week of 2016, I am.

According to the news story, budget officials are saying that this should have far-reaching impact on the country’s much-delayed “infrastructure program.”

This development, accord-ing to the report, contrasted sharply with last year’s dis-bursement program, in which the release of the equivalent amount of the nation’s monies happened well into the budget year—September, to be specific.

Santa Banana, the Budget Secretary said that this front-loading of the government fund was the result of a new policy at the Department of Budget and Management recognizing that the General Appropriations Act as the release document. The old practice required a Special Allotment Release Order before actual cash is released to a government agency.

Political analysts and ob-servers have said that the only way administration candidate Mar Roxas can win the presidency is for the Aquino administration to flood the country with cash before Election Day. This, or have Comelec resort to the Precinct Count Optical Scan machines’ “hocus PCOS.” This is supposedly how the administration senatorial candidates won in 2013.

With the release, the Aquino administration will be able to make a miracle happen and have Mar win.

The opposition and other sectors, in pursuit of a fair, honest and clean election, should question this move. How could the GAA be-come a release order al-ready? Is this even legal?

My concern is that President Aquino and his clone Budget Secretary Florencio Abad may again be playing around with the peo-ple’s money. Remember how they did so with the Priority Development Assistance Fund and the Disbursement

Acceleration Program?* * *

One of the PR consul-tants of the Mar Roxas-Leni Robredo tandem for next year’s elections showed concern about the inability of Mar to beat the survey ratings of Vice President Jojo Binay and Mrs. Mary Grace Natividad Kelly Poe Llamanzares.

I told him that I am offer-ing some unsolicited advice for Mar, whom I still con-sider a friend (although he may not return the favor).

First, Mar’s handlers should remake his image before the populace. He was made to look like the man of the masses, Mr. Palengke, one who carries a sack of rice or driving a pedicab. The people cannot relate to this because everybody knows Roxas is a rich boy. People also think he is inde-cisive, or a “teka-teka” offi-cial. For many, Mar is a fake.

Second, the handlers should build his image as a man eminently qualified for the presidency. He has had years of experience in both the Executive and Legislative departments.

Third, there must be em-phasis on his honesty and integrity in public office. Mar has never be charged with corruption in all the time he has been in government.

Fourth, and most impor-tantly, Mar should be his own man and not a clone of the President. Why mouth the meaningless “Daang Matuwid” mantra of BS Aquino III? This has be-come a big joke.

In fact, I would go as far as saying that Mar’s associa-tion with President Aquino is the kiss of death.

I am offering this unso-licited advice for Mar as a friend. If he listens to me, he’ll have a big chance of winning the presidency. But, Santa Banana, the question is this: Can Mar disassociate himself from BS Aquino III this late in the game?

* * *A vice president is

known to be just a breath away from the presidency. He or she is a spare tire just in case something happens to the incumbent president.

Thus, an incumbent president doesn’t give a vice president too much impor-tance, often appointing him only as an adviser of sorts. This gives the vice president more time to campaign na-tionwide, knowing full well that after six years, he could seek the presidency next.

This is unlike the vice president of the United States who automatically becomes the president of the Senate. This is something worth considering when we amend the Constitution.

In the current political maneuvering leading to next year’s polls, Mar’s run-ning mate, Liberal Party vice presidential candidate Leni Robredo, has come up with something new with respect

A QUESTIONABLE BUDGET RELEASE

ACTIVISTSTWO deaths devastated me in December 2015.

The long-time editor of The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Letty Jimenez Magsanoc, died on Christmas Eve, December 24, at 7:30 p.m., following a bout with lung cancer that hardly any-one knew she had all along.

On New Year’s Eve, December 31, at 1:22 p.m., Washington DC time, my best friend in college, Rodel Ilagan, died, after a brief bout with a devastating pan-creatic cancer which was discovered in only November 2015. He was 67.

Letty and Rod were both reformists and pursued activism in the best way they knew.

Rod’s cancer, incurable and inoper-able, spread like a massive monster to his liver and lungs, debilitating him as his weight went down in a month from 170 to 120 lbs. His doctors thought that with aggressive chemotherapy that began Dec. 8, he could still live for six months to a year. They were wrong.

I met Rod in my freshman year at the University of Santo Tomas in our philosophy class. Philosophy to him was a passion, while journalism to me was a career course. UST ousted him in his senior year for student ac-tivism and was not allowed to gradu-ate. UST declared me an undesirable student but thankfully allowed me to graduate with honors.

Rod finished his LiA-Com de-gree from a college in Santa Mesa, Manila. He dabbled in appliance deal-ership for nearly 10 years in Manila be-fore I gave him a journalist’s credentials as a correspondent in the United States in 1980, with his family. He settled at balmy Stonecreek Road, in Annapolis, Maryland. A CPA, he finished MBA from Loyola College, Baltimore.

Rod put up businesses that were too far ahead of his time in the 1980s, like organic foods and vegetables, convert-ing x-ray films into silver, and a fast food restaurant. In his later years, he settled down and became the CFO of non-profits, Capital Area Food Bank, and from December 2013, LEDC in Washington DC.

Rod was proud of his professional achievements, growing the operations of the nonprofits. He focused on pro-bono work with the immigrant com-munity, helping his neighbors inte-grate and achieve goals of homeowner-ship and financial independence. Rod found much fulfillment in mentoring

individuals, helping them discover their potential and encouraging them to be successful in school, work, and community life.

Rod’s social justice activism began at UST. Imbued with revolutionary fervor by the Jesuit Jose Blanco, and together with other activists, he sought the overthrow of the Spanish adminis-tration at UST. Outside the university, his group sought the overthrow of the sitting government. UP and the non-sectarian schools had their Maoists who derided the Catholic activists as cleric-fascists. The student rebellion of 1969 to 1970s failed. Marcos declared Martial Law and ruled as a dictator for 14 more years.

Rod’s strong Catholic faith guided his life, combining prayer with action and service to others. Rod and his family were parishioners of St. Mary’s Church, attending services at St. John Neumann.

My friend is survived by his wife, Mercedes Magpantay, a magna cum laude foreign service graduate of UST, their only child, Veda; his sister-in-law Mila, grandchildren Kevin, Anthony, and Leslie; his mother Minerva, and five siblings.

Letty Magsanoc was also an activ-ist. She was a good friend from a dis-tance. With she from Mr. & Ms. and later Inquirer and me at Asiaweek, we covered the tumultuous last three years of the 20-year reign of Ferdinand E. Marcos.

When the strongman was oust-ed by People Power on February 25, 1986 and Corazon Cojuangco Aquino assumed power without the benefit of an election the same day, the Inquirer embraced Cory like a Joan of Arc who saved democracy for the Philippines. The former trea-surer of the largest hacienda north of Manila was also treated as a Mother Teresa. She could do no wrong.

The same hero worship was extend-ed to her only son, Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III, when he sought the presidency in 2010 despite his obvi-ous lack of preparation and riding only on the crest of sympathy from Cory’s

death, by cancer, in August 2009. Until now, despite his failings, his incompe-tence, his vengeful streak, and the cor-ruption of people surrounding him, Noynoy Aquino is considered by the Inquirer as someone who also could do no wrong.

Early on, The Inquirer nitpicked its bête noires, the likes of the Marcoses, Juan Ponce Enrile, Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr., Joseph Estrada, Vice President Jejomar Binay, to name some, and grew devil’s horns in them.

Marcos and JPE allegedly abused human rights and piled up ill-gotten wealth, although more journalists died during the presidencies of Cory and BS Aquino than during FM’s.

Estrada was ousted by People Power II. The Inquirer suspected him order-ing an ad boycott after the president tried to review the sweetheart deal of the Prietos on valuable state-owned Makati property during Cory’s time called the Mile Long.

On the other hand, Cojuangco allegedly used coco levy money to enrich himself. The opposite is true. ECJ gave money to the coco industry and invested on its behalf enormously in growth industries. The Supreme Court thought the gains from the investments came from coco levy because Danding made the mistake of borrowing P9.6 billion from Cocobank, where SMC money from sales of beer and other products, was deposited daily. With the high court’s diktat, Danding converted the investments into preferred shares of the government in San Miguel and in three years redeemed them and handed over the proceeds, P84 billion and rising, to the Aquino administration for the development of the coconut industry. No other crony has done as well. If that is stealing, I don’t know what is not. Today, nobody knows where the P84-billion-plus is. And nobody is moving to develop the moribund coconut industry.

My colleague, Bobi Tiglao reckons that the Inquirer did 44 headline sto-ries on Binay last year to demonize him for alleged corruption. The VP’s rat-ings tanked by mid-2015. Thankfully, by end 2015, Binay had recovered somehow to again lead the presidential race leading into May 2016.

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If reports are accurate,

the Aquino administration will be able to

make a miracle happen and have

Mar win.

TO THE POINT

EMIL P. JURADO

VIRTUAL REALITY

TONYLOPEZ

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A11W E D N E S D AY: J A N U A R Y 6 , 2 0 1 6

OPINION

IS IT ONLY BECAUSE OF DQ?

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CHONG ARDIVILLA#FAILOCRACY

AGAIN, this space tries to ana-lyze the surveys released on the week before Christmas last—this time, after Binay’s numbers, we talk about those of Grace Poe Lllamanzares.

Whichever way we look at the three publicly announced survey results, whether she is number one or two or three, the clear observation is that the lady’s numbers are slipping. For two consecutive quarters, she was Numero Uno. A survey done for private eyes after the Oct. 16 Comelec deadline, where the choices did not include Davao’s maverick non-candidate (at the time), showed her polling as high as the 40s, with Binay, Roxas and Miriam biting her dust.

But the numbers have slipped, and precariously, she is even-steven with Duterte in one, with Roxas in another. The numbers of all, in fact, show, at this stage, a very close contest among the four contenders, as we stated in our Monday article.

Poe and her VP candidate, Chiz Escudero, her spokesman Rex Gatchalian, and their other supporters keep blaming the dis-qualification cases filed against her regarding citizenship status and length of residence as the cause of her poll slippage. There is no denying that such cases, before the SET and then the Comelec, and now up to the high tribunal to finally decide, invari-ably blamed by her camp at Mar first and Binay to a lesser extent,

have created a big dent on her winnability.

But is the possibility of a DQ the only reason for her numbers to go southward? I submit not.

To begin with, the majority of survey respondents parked their “votes” with her because in early 2015, as I have repeatedly stated here, the choices were limited to one who cannot win, and one who should not win. Between one whose appeal was at best, lacklus-ter, and one whose appeal has fad-ed on the weight of so many unsat-isfactorily explained accusations of brigandage of public funds.

Enter Grace Poe, the senator who topped the elections of 2013, adopted daughter of the “cheated” FPJ, erstwhile king of Philippine movies. In her two years in the Senate, she has shown smart and articulate performance. In the public integrity department, there are no skeletons.

And so, between a Roxas and a Binay, many opted for Poe, never mind the relative inexpe-rience at governance compared to the two. She was the “out-lier,” the “bagong mukha.”

But then came Duterte of Davao. He has managerial capa-bility, demonstrated in Davao, the country’s largest city in size, with a population more than double that of Makati in the metropolis, declared one of the world’s safest cities. His human rights creden-tials may be a bit spotty (largely spotty if you are to believe the likes of Leila de Lima), but he has no blemish of corruption. And he has color which neither the bland Mar or the predictably

motherhood-ish Jojo had, owing to his speaking his mind out with no qualms, and the demonstrated political will.

Many of the Poe “parkers” migrated to Duterte. Chiz and Rex, Georgiddi and whoever else blamed the preference migration to the DQ, and only that.

Assuming there was no cloud over her constitutional bona-fide’s, would it be right to assume that she would tower over all the other presidential contenders by now? As in, hey guys, “eat my dust”?

Remember that preference for her came out because one, she has emotional links to the departed FPJ. Two, because she is “clean.” And three, because she had been saying the right things, “safe” though these may have always been. Properly handled, willingly follower of in-the-box advice.

Now look at the demographics. How many of the millennials, who constitute the biggest vote bloc, remember FPJ? How many got to watch his action movies? Of course Coco Martin does a great impersonation in Grace Poe’s ABS-CBN sponsor’s “recu-erdo opus” now airing at prime time, with her adoptive mother, Susan Roces portraying Martin’s doting and protective “lola,” but is there such a strong connect be-tween reel and reality?

Again, given the average Filipino’s short memory, how many recall the Garci and Gloria machinations of 2004, with her adoptive father, FPJ, as the vic-tim? Besides, Gloria is in jail; Garci is in hibernation in the boondocks of Bukidnon; and

PNoy is in charge.Three, are the safe motherhood

statements she has been say-ing, what the voters come May want to hear? In a time of un-certainty, with China bellowing, MILF and BIFF spewing threats of violence, the NPA still alive and kicking, and now, the ten-sion in the Middle East, the first impact of which is to reverse the downward spiral in oil prices, is she the right prescription for the malady the nation is experienc-ing, and will experience even to greater degree in the years to come? This is where the political maverick Duterte excites, while Poe is ho-hum.

Four, real experience. Mar has it, although questions of ef-fectivity, given DoTC and DILG, Yolanda and Zamboanga, hound him. Binay has it, undoubted-ly. Duterte has it as well. Even Miriam has it. Poe has no real experience yet.

And five, glimpses of character. She cocked her guns at PNoy in the Mamasapano hearings. But that was it. Cock, then retreat. Her much-heralded committee re-port has yet to be approved by the Senate in plenum. And it doesn’t seem like she is raring for a fight.

She excoriated against Abaya, still snipes occasionally. But that’s the end of it. Talk.

I won’t write about how she ditched Martin Romualdez out of her senatorial ticket. Or Ping Lacson, and the conversations prior to her decisions. These were told to me in confidence. She talked to Duterte right af-ter Mamasapano somewhere

in Corinthian. She wondered openly if he would consider her for vice president, if he decides to run. He demurred. Then, when she reached Olympian heights in the middle of 2015, as far as SWS and Pulse read, she, through a common friend, asked if he would consider being her Numero Dos. I write about this because Duterte has openly talk-ed about it. Wait until Ping and Martin also confide publicly.

To the survey respondents, glimpses of character may not resonate quickly enough. But to the political “cognoscenti,” they who could tilt a close fight among equally seeded protagonists, the mayors, the governors and other influencers, glimpses of charac-ter, of “palabra” do matter.

Finally, pooh-poohing the moral issue raised by Leni Robredo publicly about her dis-avowing loyalty to the Philippines and hogging America, thence ditching her adopted country when there was convenient gov-ernment post offered to her, will surely be brought up, with in-creased decibels, as the campaign unfolds in earnest. That too is a character issue. It goes to the very heart of loyalty to country. The average Filipino may be pro-American, but there is a strong latent nationalism beneath their moral fiber.

And so, as the contest goes down the wire, the Supreme Court’s final word notwithstand-ing, Senadora Poe’s chances do not look as formidable as they seem. Her protagonists surely know this.

SO I SEE

LITOBANAYO

Two... From A9

A designated railway for al-ternate airport Clark has been suggested so that Central and Northern Luzon residents leav-ing for international flights need not travel all the way to the three congested Naia terminals in Pasay City. The Clark monorail project remains a pipe dream even after

five and a half years of the Aquino administration.

A robust growth in the coun-try’s population should not be as daunting when seen in the light of how other countries were able to harness human resources into engines of economic growth. China with its population of 1.371 billion and India with 1.288 bil-lion prove people can power the

economy and not burden it. Let’s not talk about China with its in-ternal problems and its economy presently in a slump. India is the country to watch. With its average growth rate of 7 percent in the last two decades, India’s GDP grew to 7.3 percent in 2014-2015 and is ex-pected to post a 7.5 to 8.3 percent growth in 2015 to 2016, according to the latest Wikipedia figures.

The surge in India’s economic growth can be traced to its strong service sector. Aside from hefty rev-enues generated by its business pro-cess outsourcing sector, it is a major exporter of information technology and software. These are areas where the Philippines is giving India stiff competition and the country’s hu-man resources ranged against the English-speaking Indians even

have the edge. In the end, it all comes down to

what kind of leaders we are going to elect in May 2016. Will they have the political will and resolve to pull the country together and bring it into the 21st century? A lot also depends on our voters. It is never enough to keep remind-ing our people that we deserve the government we elect.

Money... From A9

And there seems to be no way to stop candidates from spending the scandalous amounts of money they do to get elected, especially before the actual campaign period starts a couple of months before the actual elections. If you ask the

Commission on Elections, for in-stance, why it allows candidates to spend so much for advertising in the year prior to the polls, it will simply say that it cannot act on expenditures made before the for-mal start of the campaign—which is really a cop-out, when you think about it.

Sure, candidates are required to submit a list of how much money they spent for any elec-tion, which is supposed to be limited by an antiquated figure per voter multiplied by the en-tire population. But nobody re-ally bothers losing candidates about their election spending—

and election winners are only scrutinized for campaign profli-gacy if they are out of favor with the government in power.

This is why money and the ability to attract it are always the first requirements of what is adjudged to be a viable candi-dacy. Forget about competence,

integrity or whatever other vir-tue—these can be imagined in campaign ads, anyway, which require money.

Of course, you can spend a fortune in an election and still not get elected. Not that this fact has never stopped people like Mar Roxas from seeking office.

Curry helps Dubs back on trackA12

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Wednesday : January 6 , 2 0 1 6

sports

LOS ANGELES —Stephen Curry se-cured his dominance over his hometown team Monday as the Golden State War-riors stretched their home winning streak to 35 straight with a 111-101 win over the Charlotte Hornets.

Curry, who averages more points against Charlotte than any other NBA player, scored 30 points in 31 min-utes of playing time after having his previous perfor-mance cut short because of a recurring left calf injury.

The Warriors used an ex-plosive third quarter to pull away from the Hornets with the help of Klay Thompson who nailed two clutch bas-kets to spark an 18-4 surge that put them in command for good.

“I was in a good flow and making shots. I tried to be aggressive and stay confi-dent,” Thompson said.

Draymond Green posted his seventh triple-double of the season with 13 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists for the Warriors, who have struggled to close out games recently.

Golden State’s home win streak now stands at 35, including 17 this season as they moved a step closer to Chicago’s record 44-game win streak from 1995-96. They have the fifth longest home win streak in NBA history.

Curry went to Charlotte Christian high school and his father Dell Curry works as a colour commentator on the Hornets’ broadcasts.

Reigning league MVP Curry, who appeared un-likely to play earlier in the day, sank 12-of-21.

Seeking to avoid getting swept in the two-game sea-son series for the second year in a row, the Hornets clung within 66-65 in the fourth minute of the third quarter after an 11-4 run to begin the second half.

Thompson answered with 16- and 28-footers, the latter a three-pointer. He finished with 30 points, a majority of which came on six-of-11 shooting from beyond the arc as the game turned into a long-distance shooting con-test which played into the Warriors’ hands.

Center Marreese Spei-ghts recorded a season-high with 15 points and forward Harrison Barnes, playing for the first time since suffering an ankle injury on November 27, tallied eight points in 18 minutes. AFP

Lady Stags near sweep of volleyball elimsSAN Sebastian leaned on a solid ef-fort of Gretchel Soltones as it waylaid a hapless Letran, 25-11, 25-17, 25-15, yesterday to inch closer to a sweep of the elimination round of the 91st NCAA women’s volleyball tourna-ment at The Arena in San Juan City.

The power-hitting Soltones, the reigning league MVP and a cinch to winning another one this season, drilled in a match-best 13 hits, all coming off kills, as the Lady Stags

nailed their seventh win in row.A sweep would send San Sebas-

tian to the finals outright where it will enjoy a thrice-to-beat edge or a 1-0 lead in a best-of-five series, while sending the next three teams to a stepladder semifinals.

For it to happen, the Lady Stags would need to hurdle the Lyceum of the Philippines University Lady Pi-rates on Friday and St. Benilde Blaz-ers on Sunday.

And that’s what San Sebastian coach Roger Gorayeb wants.

“It will not be easy, but we’ll be aiming for it,” said Gorayeb, cur-rently the national women’s team coach and a winner of the Shakey’s V-League’s first ever Grand Slam last year.

The volleyball competition is implementing a new format similar to basketball wherein the top four teams after the single-round elimi-

nation will advance to the Final Four, with the Nos. 1 and 2 teams enjoying a twice-to-beat advantage against the Nos. 4 and 3 squads, re-spectively.

A sweep though changes every-thing.

Defending champion Arellano University is currently at No. 2 with a 6-1 (win-loss) record, while St. Be-nilde and Perpetual Help are at Nos. 3 and 4 with 5-1 and 4-2 slates.

Carlos scrambles for 73, leads by 1GEN. TRIAS, Cavite—Jobim Carlos birdied No. 17 from close range to salvage a one-over 73 in tough conditions, posting a one-stroke edge over Ira Alido at the start of the Phil-ippine Amateur (Stroke Play) Open Golf Championship at the Eagle Ridge Golf and Country Club here yesterday.

Aidric Chan, Weiwei Gao and Luis Castro carded identical 75s, Koreans Jang Jun Ha and Lee Geon and local bets Carl Corpus and Gen Nagai turned in similar 76s, and Rubert Zaragosa, Korean Jang Yu Bin and Singa-pore’s Jeryl Tan groped for 77s as the Aoki layout, kept in championship form all year, bedeviled the games of the competing field with the wind coming into the play from tee-off, keeping the scores soaring and the play-ers forced to make a 1- or 2-club adjustment.

“Given the wind condition, my game plan was to score an even par,” said Carlos, who struggled off the mound and hit just eight fairways while missing eight greens.

Harmie Constantino bucked a bogey start

with three straight birdies from No. 4 but fum-bled with three bogeys the rest of the way to likewise shoot a 73 and wrest a one-stroke lead over Malaysian Nur Durriyah Damian and Yuka Saso in the women’s side of the event serv-ing as the kickoff leg of this year’s PLDT Group National Amateur Golf Tour sponsored by the MVP Sports Foundation, Smart, PLDT and Metro Pacific Investment Corp.

Saso, who won the Thailand Juniors crown last month, recovered from a 40 start with two late birdies to match Damian’s 74 while Korean Hwang Min Jeong, winner of a local pro tournament last year, stayed in early con-tention despite a 75 in a tie with Jona Magca-layo and Felicia Medalla while LK Go shot a 76, and Korean Lee Ji Hyeon and Genevieve Ling I-Rynn of Malaysia carded identical 77s.

“Aoki is always tournament-ready and the condition is tough year-in and year-out especially in the presence of the wind,” said Eagle Ridge GCC general manager Ray-mund Bunquin. Jobim Carlos checks the contour of the surface on No. 7

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors shoots the ball against the Charlotte Hornets at ORACLE Arena in Oakland, California. AFP

Adidas givesMan United

more pressureBERLIN—German sportswear giant Adidas would like to see Manchester United playing more attractive football, their CEO Herbert Hainer told German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung in an inter-view published on Monday.

The interview could put more pres-sure on under-fire Manchester United manager Dutchman Luis van Gaal, whose charges have been widely accused of being boring this season.

In July 2014 Adidas signed a ten-year kit sponsorship deal with the English Premier League club worth £750 million (1 billion euros, $1.1 billion).

“The business side of things is going very well,” Hainer told the newspaper in reference to massive shirt sales.

“But the current style of play is not ex-actly what we wanted to see,” he added.

The sportswear company also has kit deals with Real Madrid and Bay-ern Munich.

Winners of the Champions League in 2008 and 1999 and its predecessor the European Cup in 1968, United invested heavily in the last close season bringing Anthony Martial, Memphis Depay and Bastian Schweinsteiger into their squad.

But United currently sit outside the Premier League top four, have been knocked out of the Champions League and were even eliminated from the Eng-lish League Cup.

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Wednesday : January 6 , 2 0 1 6

sports

Andy off to flying start

Murray said his form in practice since arriving in Australia had been poor, but the dual Grand Slam winner looked in sparkling touch ahead of this month’s Australian Open as he dis-mantled the 148th-ranked de Schepper in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, in under an hour.

That gave Great Britain the early advantage in its tie with France, but the ledger was squared when Caroline Garcia overcame a gritty Heath Watson to win in three sets, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3, in the women’s singles.

The Brits then clinched

the tie in a match tiebreak in a closely-fought doubles de-cider, 6-2, 5-7, 10-6.

Murray, 28, had barely played since guiding Great Britain to a drought-break-ing Davis Cup win in No-vember, and was pleased to have found form so quickly in the new year.

“I played well and every-thing was working pretty good,” he said.

“I hadn’t been playing well in practice at all, I had been really struggling.

“It’s irrelevant really if I play like that in matches.”

Earlier, women’s world

number one Serena Williams suffered an early season in-jury setback as she withdrew from the United States’ open-ing tie with inf lammation in her knee.

Her withdrawal helped the Ukraine pairing of Elina Svitolina and Alexandr Dol-gopolov record a 2-1 win over the USA.

Williams was replaced by American youngster Vicky Duval, on the comeback trail after being diagnosed with cancer in 2014, and the 20-year-old was no match for the world number 19.

The first set was competitive but Svitolina cruised past the tiring Duval 6-4, 6-1.

Dolgopolov then secured the tie with a comfortable 6-4, 6-2 win over a disappointing Jack Sock.

In the dead mixed doubles rubber, the US pair gained

some consolation by winning 6-2, 6-3.

- “Time to heal” -Williams, 34, was scheduled

to play Svitolina in the wom-en’s singles to open the tie, but withdrew minutes before the start, saying she had pulled up sore after a training session earlier in the day.

The match at the mixed-teams tournament would have launched Williams’s prepara-tions for her title defense at the Australian Open in Mel-bourne later this month.

Williams, who has won 21 Grand Slam singles titles, sat out the tail-end of last season saying she needed “time to heal” after narrowly missing out on a rare calendar-year Grand Slam.

Her coach, Patrick Moura-toglou, conceded Williams’s knees were troubling her in November. AFP

Djokovicclaims 1st

win of season

Andy Murray of Britain hits a return against Kenny de Schepper of France during their fourth session men’s singles match on day two of the Hopman Cup tennis tournament in Perth. AFP

Rookie Loeb speeds to maiden Dakar Rally stage win

World number two Andy Murray blew away his training court cobwebs with a season-opening demolition of Frenchman Kenny de Schepper at the mixed teams Hopman Cup on Monday.

DOHA—Novak Djokovic took just 51 minutes to win his first game of 2016, easily beating Dustin Brown 6-2, 6-2 in the open-ing game of the Qatar Open on Monday.

The world number one was rarely trou-bled by the German and barely raised a sweat, cruising into the second round with an ominous display for rivals looking for any early-season weaknesses from Djokov-ic after his dominant 2015.

“It was a very good start,” Djokovic told reporters afterwards.

He said he was untroubled by the blus-tery and relatively cold weather in Doha, with temperatures reaching 17 degrees Cel-sius (62 Fahrenheit).

“Considering the weather conditions and everything, I think it was a good per-formance from my side.

“I played a player who I never faced before and somebody who is a very char-ismatic guy and very good for tennis, for sport and somebody who is very unpre-dictable.

“He hasn’t served particularly well today, which I think has helped me.”

Djokovic said before the tournament started that he is in Doha to win and not merely play some warm-up matches before the defence of his Australian Open crown later this month.

And he certainly served notice of that, racing to a 5-0 lead in the first set in just 16 minutes.

Brown belatedly rallied, holding his serve for the first time in the sixth game and then breaking the Serb’s serve to make it 5-2.

The world number 118 then had two points to claim a third successive game but double-faulted twice, allowing Djokovic to claim the first set in just 25 minutes.

The second set followed a similar pattern as Djokovic, 28, swatted aside any poten-tial resistance from Brown -- who famously beat Rafael Nadal in the second round at Wimbledon last year -- by breaking serve in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead.

That was pretty much the end of Brown, a qualifier for the tournament, and the contest.

The 31-year-old rarely threatened the Serb’s serve and it ended in sorry fashion as Brown delivered his fourth double fault of the night to end the match. AFP

TERMAS DE RIO HONDO, Argen-tina—Nine-time rally world champion Sebastien Loeb won his first Dakar Rally stage on Monday, the 387km run between Villa Carlos Paz and Termas de Rio Hondo in Argentina.

At the wheel of a Peugeot the 41-year-old Frenchman took 3 hours 45mins and 46sec to complete the sec-ond stage, which had been shortened due to a section being badly effected by heavy overnight rain.

“It was tricky out there and I’m hap-py we came through okay. I’m a little surprised to have clocked the best time of the day,” said Loeb.

“We got lucky on a muddy section where several others ran into trouble. The car is good, up to the job, espe-cially on these narrow winding roads.

“We’ll be first out tomorrow (Tues-day) and that’ll make things easier for us.”

Stephane Peterhansel, a 50-year-old Frenchman, also in a Peugeot and a

multiple Dakar winner, came in sec-ond some 2min 30sec adrift.

Russia’s Vladimir Vasilyev in a Toyota was third while 2015 winner the Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah racing a Mini was 4min 18sec off Loeb’s pace after getting a f lat tyre.

Another Mini driver Mikko Hirvonen, a former world rally rival of Loeb’s, also did well on Monday, rac-ing home in fifth and trailing Loeb in the overall by 3min 05sec.

The 2014 winner, Spain’s Nani Roma could only scramble home in 40th and a full 46 minutes back after get-ting stuck in mud. Argentina’s Orlan-do Terranova got bogged down in the same place and lost a half hour on the race leaders.

The race is something of a leap in the dark for Loeb, who dominated the world rally championship during his long collaboration with Citroen.

He now leads overall from Peterhan-sel and Vasilyev.

Peugeot’s French driver Sebastien Loeb and co-pilot Daniel Elena compete in the 2016 Dakar Rally’s Stage 2 between Villa Carlos Paz and Termas de Rio Hondo in Argentina, on January 4, 2016. Loeb won the stage ahead of Peugeot’s Stephane Peterhansel and Toyota’s Vladimir Vasilyev of Russia. AFP


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Blatche gives Gilas renewed hopeBy Ronnie Nathanielsz

THE decision of former NBA Brooklyn Nets’ standout Andray Blatche to play for Gilas Pilipinas has given hope to the Philippine basketball team that it could qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil later this year.

In a story by Adrian Stewart Co, FIBA.com reported that there is plenty of optimism that the current Gilas squad, coached by Tab Baldwin, will break a 44-year-old drought of failing to qualify for the Olympic Games when it com-petes in one of the three FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tourna-ments with the winners of each six-team event booking a place in the Rio Olympics.

The FIBA story noted that while Asia hasn’t been the powerhouse continent of in-ternational basketball, there is no doubt that the level of play has improved and the Philip-pines is one of the teams that are on the rise.

The Philippines added Blatche to the line-up after he was naturalized by an act of Congress and the American surpassed expectations at the 2014 FIBA World Cup of bas-ketball.

Blatche led the team in points and rebounds and helped the Philippines stay close in its first four games,

before leading Gilas Pilipi-nas to victory over Senegal in their final game.

Although he was clearly out of shape, Blatche quickly buck-led down to work and helped the Philippines reach the finals of the 2015 FIBA Asia Champi-onships, before the PH lost to host China.

Team manager Butch Anto-nio told Panay News that after it was decided to compete for a place in the Rio Olympics’ qual-ifying tournament “we imme-diately informed Andray, who gave the Filipinos the nod that yes, he’s ready to play for the national team. Blatche ‘gave his assurance that he’ll be available and is okay.”

Statistically, it means that the Philippines will get a player who averaged 21.2 points and 13.8 rebounds in the World Cup in Spain and 23.5 points and 9.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists, while play-ing for the Xianjiang Flying Tigers, currently the leading team in the Chinese Basket-ball Association.

German bets risk jail time for dopingBERLIN—German athletes found guilty of doping or in possession of performance-enhancing drugs risk a three-year prison sentence, accord-ing to a new anti-doping law which came into effect in the new year.

German Athletics As-sociation (DLV) president Clemens Prokop said the new anti-doping law was an

“international model” and would be used to “defend and protect” both athletes and sport’s credibility, during a recent interview with Bavar-ian radio.

German Justice Minister Heiko Maas added: “This is a declaration for clean sport and of support for all ath-letes who compete cleanly and fairly.”

According to the new legisla-tion, athletes who test positive for prohibited substances or are caught in possession of dop-ing products are liable to face a punishment of up to three years in prison.

Jail terms can be as much as 10 years for anyone who provides doping products to athletes, such as doctors and coaches. AFP

Pacman...FromA 16

Aside from politics, Pac-quiao has parlayed his ring legend status to a career in movies, television and product endorsements.

He is also a pastor in a born-again Christian group and

credits his renewed faith for transforming him to a devoted family man from a hard-party-ing womaniser.

In a recent television in-terview, Pacquiao said he “prayed to God for guidance” before deciding to concen-trate on politics.

Pacquiao, however, has been criticised for putting his box-

ing training before his duties in parliament. Last year, he at-tended just four of the 70 legis-lative sessions.

In one of the rare times he took the floor in parliament in 2011, he argued against a bill that would provide free condoms for the poor, citing his Christian beliefs. The bill was eventually signed into law.

TPB hypes sports tourism with IPTL. The Tourism Promotions Board hyped tennis fans from all over the world as they boosted sports tourism in the Philippines with the International Premier Tennis league. IPTL is the first city-based professional league in the world and one of the most anticipated events of tennis enthusiasts all over the globe. It brought together current champions, tennis legends, upcoming talents and top-ranking tennis stars to compete in intense and never-before-seen matches. In line with TPB’s Visit the Philippines Year 2015, the IPTL attracted sports enthusiasts and athletes from around the world and increased tourist arrivals in the country. Next year, the Philippines is also expected to host major international sporting events as part of TPB’s Visit the Philippines Again 2016 campaign with the Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship, Asia-Pacific Taekwondo Invitational Championships, Asian Rugby Championships, Le Tour de Filipinas, and Asian Masters Fencing Championship. Photo shows top tennis player Rafael Nadal.

Belingon...From A 16

his much-anticipated crack at the elusive crown against the champion.

Fernandes is one of the most dominant title holders in the ONE Championship.

Considered one of the best fighters in the world and is ranked as one of the top ban-tamweights, Fernandes has

amassed a stellar professional record which hasn’t seen him lose a bout in the last five years. His technical ground game paired with his fluid striking and well-rounded skills have brought him to the top of his division.

Another exciting striker from the Philippines, Roy Doliguez, will see action in the card.

The former professional boxer put up a great fight de-

spite losing to Thai Dejdam-rong Sor Amnuaysirichoke in their ONE Strawweight championship tussle. His impressive, gritty perfor-mance netted him another stint in the promotion, this time against Japanese Riku Shibuya.

Shibuya’s unorthodox and aggressive won the hearts of the fight fans and his outing against Doliguez promises to be an explosive matchup.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACKManila

StandardTODAY

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

INVITATION TO BIDNo. 01-2016

The National Irrigation Administration (NIA), Region 8, Marasbaras, Tacloban City through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), hereby invites Domestic Contractors, registered with and classified by the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB), to bid for the hereunder contracts. Bids received in excess of ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

Item/DescriptionApproved Budget for

Contract (Php)Duration

1. DGMRIS Contract # 05-2016–Construction of downstream Slope Protection works, River Channeling, Repair of Canal Lining and Improvement of River Embankment, Marabong RIS, Julita, Leyte

19,219,926.72 280 cd

2. BIGRIS Contract #07-2016– Repair of Protection Works of Balire North Dam, Balire RIS, Macarthur, Leyte 21,508,582.50 280 cd

3. MPBRIS Contract #15-2016– Repair of Slope Protection of Pongso Diversion Dam and Canal Lining, Pongso RIS, Barugo, Leyte

19,436,270.20 280 cd

4. MPBRIS Contract #16-2016–Bao Diversion Dam Rehabilitation And Slope Protection, Bao RIS, Ormoc City 41,065,383.76 300 cd

5. BTRIS Contract #26-2016– Construction of Canal Lining and Structures, Lower Binahaan RIS, Tanauan, Leyte 22,036,007.52 280 cd

The Prospective Bidders should have completed, within five (5) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project whose value must be at least fifty percent (50%) of the ABC. Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of republic Act 9184 (R.A. 9184), otherwise known as the “Government procurement Reform Act”.

Prospective Bidders are not allowed to participate if they have negative slippage in their on-going contracts. Individuals with Special Power of Attorney (SPA) are not allowed to transact and participate in the procurement utilizing another construction firm. The pre-bid conference shall be open only for those who have purchased the Bid documents.

The schedule of BAC activities are as follows:

BAC Activities Schedule Time1. Issuance of Bid Documents Starting December 21, 2015 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

2. Pre-bid Conference January 5, 2016 2:00 p.m.3. Receipt and Opening of Bids January 18, 2016 2:00 p.m.

The BAC will issue a complete set of Bidding Documents to eligible bidders from the address above and upon payment of non-refundable amount of P25,000.00 to the Cashier.

The NIA reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders. (Sgd.) GLORIA A. SEVILLA BAC ChairmanNoted:

(Sgd.) ROMEO G. QUIZA Regional Manager

Republic of the PhilippinesOffice of the President

NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION(PAMBANSANG PANGASIWAAN NG PATUBIG)

Region 8, Tacloban CityOffice Address: NIA Road, Marasbaras Tacloban City, PhilippinesWebsite: www.nia.gov.ph

Telefax No. (632) 323-7596TIN 000-916-415

(TS-JAN. 6, 2016)


[email protected]

2 EZ2 0-02 2 EZ2 0-0

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6/42 00-00-00-00-00-006 DIGITS 0-0-0-0-0-03 DIGITS 0-0-033 DIGITS 0-0-0

6 6 DIGITS 0-0-0-0-0-0

LOTTO RESULTSP0.0 M+

P0.0 M+

Jarencio, Compton expecta long PBA semifinal seriesBy Jeric Lopez

SHOCKING. � at’s how most people described GlobalPort’s stunning 107-93 victory over favored Alaska in their opening salvo, but the two protagonists are set to go at it again in Game 2 of the 2015-16 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup.

With a 1-0 series lead and momentum on their side, the Batang Pier are looking for an encore as they aim to post a huge 2-0 series lead, but the Aces are determined to get the series back to square one when they collide again in Game 2 today at 7 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Pumped up in his semis debut, Terrence Romeo, the league’s leading scorer, dazzled his way

to a career-high 41 points to power GlobalPort to a surpris-ing 1-0 edge.

The Batang Pier caught the rusty Aces, who had a two-week layoff, off guard and seized the moment to hand themselves a good jumpstart.

A repeat performance in Game 2 tonight will certainly be big for Batang Pier, but Global-Port coach Pido Jarencio, quite aware of the capabilities of the

veteran-laden and talented Alaska quintet, knows that there’s a long way to go.

“Nanalo kami nu’ng Game 1 and first win namin iyon sa semis pero siguradong mahaba pa ito,’’ said Jarencio. “Kailan-gan maging consistent kami. Alaska is a tough team and it’s going to be a long series for sure.’’

Compton agrees with that sentiment and was simply thankful that Game 1 was just the start of the long and wind-ing series.

“Thank God Game 1 wasn’t a knockout game. We came out flat. They (GlobalPort) beat us and they deserve it,’’ he said.

The Aces mentor then cited one key factor that his wards need to do to even the series in

Game 2 and avoid a huge 0-2 hole.

“Our lack of de-fense was huge in

our Game 1 loss and we have to be better defensively to get back into it,’’ Compton added.

GlobalPort has been playing tremendously as it continues to prove that it is certainly a threat and contender, having won seven of their last eight games dating back to the elimination round.

Jarencio credited his team’s aggression and desire as the key components to the Batang Pier’s Game 1 victory.

“Aggressive ‘yung mga play-ers namin. Gusto talaga nilang manalo. I told Terrence (Ro-meo) to just play his game. Full ang tiwala ko sa kanya, kay Stanley (Pringle) and sa buong team,’’ he said.

WELLINGTON—The top two seeds Venus Williams and Ana Iva-novic were shock first round losers in the WTA Auckland Classic on Tuesday.

Williams, 35, the tournament top seed and defending champi-on, was beaten in three sets by 18-year-old Rus-sian Daria Kasatkina, while Ivanovic went down in straight sets to British qualifier Naomi Broady.

On a day when the big names struggled,

another former world number one Caro-line Wozniacki made it through to the sec-ond round but with an unconvincing display against the world num-ber 57 Danka Kovinic.

Williams made an uncharacteristic 73 un-forced errors against Kasatkina and after battling to take the first set 7-6 in a tiebreak she dropped the next two 3-6, 3-6.

In the third set, Wil-liams opened up a 3-1 lead before losing five

straight games to for-mer French Open junior champion Kasatkina.

Broady, who only learned Monday she was in the main draw af-ter coming through the qualifying tournament, fired down 14 aces to overpower Ivanovic 7-5, 6-4, winning the second set and match on a ser-vice break.

Tournament third-seed Wozniacki, who was beaten by Wil-liams in the final last year, moved into the second round with a

straight sets win over Montenegro’s Kovinic.

However, the win was not as comfortable as the 6-4, 6-4 score-line indicated with Wozniacki down four games in the first set before reeling off seven straight games.

When the Dane ap-peared to be in com-mand going into the second set, Kovinic fought back to break her service twice before Wozniacki regained control.

“It wasn’t a great start

for me,” Wozniacki said. “Then I won seven

games in a row and felt like it was getting there, but it’s always tough with the first match of the season.”

Francesca Schia-vone, the 2010 French Open champion was shown an early exit after a marathon three setter against Austria’s Tamira Paszek.

Schiavone made 28 unforced errors and served 12 double faults before going down 7-6, 4-6, 6-3. AFP

Venus, Ivanovic Round 1 losers in Auckland

GlobalPortoutworkedAlaska in

every aspect,says Alas

ALASKA deputy coach Louie Alas believes GlobalPort did nothing exceptional in the opener of their Smart Bro Philippine Basketball As-sociation Philippine Cup semifinal matchup.

But the Aces could find them-selves in trouble in the best-of-seven series if they couldn’t keep up with their determined rivals, he confessed.

The Alaska deputy coach dis-missed comments by jaded observ-ers that the Aces appeared rusty in their 107-93 loss to the Batang Pier Monday.

“Hindi totoo ‘yun. They (Batang Pier) just outworked us in every aspect of the game. Period,” Alas admitted.

As a matter of fact, Alaska knows exactly how GlobalPort would run its plays but the Aces were inexplicably flat in Game 1 and trailed by as much as 18 points early.

GlobalPort is making its first semifinal appearance in the league but it didn’t show in the way the Batang Pier handled the series open-er. With Terrence Romeo putting on a shooting clinic, GlobalPort prac-tically dominated the Aces, whose repeated rallies in the second half went for naught.

The other half of the Batang Pier’s two-headed monster eventually fin-ished with 41 points—a new career-high.

“Hindi naman namin gusto ‘yung nangyari. Talaga lang motivated sila masyado pagkatapos ng panalo nila sa Ginebra. Even our bigs were outwitted by their big men,” Alas observed.

Alas stressed that GlobalPort is no pushover largely because it owns the league’s most explosive back-court duo in Romeo and Stanley Pringle. And the way he looks at it, defense—well-executed team de-fense—remains key to stopping the Batang Pier.

“Hindi mo sila ma-stop ng single coverage. Pero puwede mo sila ma-contain,” said Alas, awed by Romeo’s scoring ability. “Magaling talaga ‘yung bata.”

Still, Alas believes that things would still work in their favor.

“‘Yun ang pinaniniwalaan namin. We still have six games para ma-re-deem namin ‘yung mga sarili namin. We just have to play our game,” Alas noted.

Game Tonight (Game 2, Semifinals - Smart

Araneta Coliseum):7 p.m. - GlobalPort vs. Alaska

GlobalPort’s Stanley Pringle secures the rebound in Game 1 of his team’s semifinal battle with Alaska.

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

TURN TO A15

GENERAL SANTOS—Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao said he would end his legendary career after fighting Timothy Bradley in April to concentrate on his political career, dousing hopes for a rematch with Floyd Mayweather.

Curry,Dubsbounceback

TURN TO A12

Coachesexpecta longseries

Pacman to retire afterfight with Tim Bradley

Belingongets crackat crown


The winner of an unprecedent-ed eight world titles, who has flirted with the idea of running for president, said he was confident of winning a senate seat in the May elections.

Pacquiao is facing Ameri-can welterweight Bradley for the third time on April 9, after losing to his biggest rival May-weather in the sport’s richest

fight in May last year.“I am retiring from boxing to

concentrate on my political career. My fight with Timothy Bradley will be my last,” Pacquiao said in an interview in his mansion late Monday.

The 37-year-old member of parliament dismissed reports that he would not step away from the sport without a re-

Continued to A14

Continued to A14

match with American May-weather, who himself retired after beating Pacquiao.

“I did not say anything like that. Nobody interviewed me about that. I will retire after my April 9 fight,” he said.

Pacquiao lost by unanimous de-cision to his brash arch-rival May-weather, whom he fought with a torn rotator cuff that later required surgery.

He has won 57 fights, includ-ing 38 knockouts, lost six and had two draws in a professional career spanning more than 20 years after being raised in poverty.

Pacquiao is ranked seventh in the race for 12 seats in the nation-

ally-elected senate. He currently represents the southern province of Sarangani in parliament.

The senate is a traditional springboard for future presen-tial campaigns. Three of the last Philippines presidents, including the incumbent Benigno Aquino, were senators before they were elected to the country’s highest office.

“My survey rankings have been consistent and I expect it to im-prove once the campaign starts,” he said.

The former fish vendor is adored by the Filipino masses who are inspired by his rags-to-riches life story.

By Randy Caluag

IGOROT warrior Kevin Belin-gon gets a crack at the ONE bantamweight title when he faces defending titlist Bibiano Fernandes of Brazil on Jan. 23 at the Changsha Stadium in Changsha, China.

ONE Championship Chief Ex-ecutive Officer Victor Cui made the formal announcement of the season-opening fight card dubbed One Wujie: Dynasty of Champions on Monday.

“ONE Championship contin-ues its dedication to cultivating the sport of mixed martial arts in China with another adrenaline-filled night of fights! This is a great way to start 2016 and is just the tip of the iceberg of what’s to come. Our success in Beijing sets the stage for an even better event in Changsha,” said Cui.

Belingon, nicknamed The Si-lencer and one of the most illus-trious members of Team Lakay, is one of the most feared strikers in the division, owing to his high-level wushu background.

His highlight reel of spec-tacular finishes has seen him victorious against the top fight-ers in his division, and he now wants to make the most out of

Boxer Manny Pacquiao speaks to reporters after touring the Asia Society in New York. Pacquiao will return to the ring on April 9 in Las Vegas to take on Timothy Bradley for a third time, promoter Bob Arum told US media. But while Pacquiao has spoken this year of retiring after an April bout to pursue his political career, Arum told the Los Angeles Times and ESPN that he would not market the bout as Pacquiao’s last. AFP

SPORTS

BUSINESSRODERICK T. DELA CRUZASSISTANT EDITOR [email protected]

[email protected]

RAY S. EÑANOEDITOR

December infl ation rose to 1.5%

Bangko Sentral ng PilipinasTuesday, January 5, 2016

Foreign exchange rateCurrency Unit US Dollar PesoUnited States Dollar 1.000000 47.1250

Japan Yen 0.008377 0.3948

UK Pound 1.471800 69.3586

Hong Kong Dollar 0.129011 6.0796

Switzerland Franc 0.997805 47.0216

Canada Dollar 0.717257 33.8007

Singapore Dollar 0.702691 33.1143

Australia Dollar 0.716384 33.7596

Bahrain Dinar 2.657666 125.2425

Saudi Arabia Rial 0.266560 12.5616

Brunei Dollar 0.700231 32.9984

Indonesia Rupiah 0.000072 0.0034

Thailand Baht 0.027670 1.3039

UAE Dirham 0.272272 12.8308

Euro Euro 1.083400 51.0552

Korea Won 0.000839 0.0395

China Yuan 0.153050 7.2125

India Rupee 0.015024 0.7080

Malaysia Ringgit 0.230309 10.8533

New Zealand Dollar 0.672721 31.7020

Taiwan Dollar 0.030181 1.4223 Source: PDS Bridge

6,833.42118.66

Closing January 5, 2016PSe comPoSite index

48.00

46.00

45.00

44.00

43.00

HIGH P47.175 LOW P46.890 AVERAGE P47.045

Closing JANUARY 5, 2016PeSo-dollar rate

VOLUME 768.600M

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

oilPriceS today

P487.00-P682.00LPG/11-kg tank

P35.15-P42.40Unleaded Gasoline

P25.03-P28.48Diesel

P34.55-P39.15Kerosene

todayP35.15-P42.40

P25.03-P28.48

P34.55-P39.15

PP487.00-P682.00

8000

8340

7880

7420

6960

6500

CLOSECLOSECLOSE

Tetangcodownplays tensions in MidEast

WEDNESDAY: JANUARY 6, 2016

By Gabrielle H. Binaday

INFLATION rate climbed to 1.5 percent in December, the fastest in seven months, on up-beat demand for consumer products during the holiday season, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Tuesday.

Preliminary data from PSA showed in� ation rate rose from 1.1 percent in November, on higher prices of alcoholic bev-erages and tobacco. � e � gure brought the average in� ation rate in 2015 to 1.4 percent, slower than 4.1 percent in 2014 and below the

government’s target range of 2 percent to 4 percent for the year.

� e 2015 � gure was also the slowest in� ation rate since 1986, when it averaged 1 percent.

“Price increases were largely due to the upbeat demand dur-ing the holiday season. Inclem-

ent weather conditions, primarily typhoon Nona, also adversely af-fected agricultural areas, hamper-ing the production, delivery, and transport of products, which in turn pushed up prices” said Eco-nomic Planning Secretary Arsen-io Balisacan.

Core in� ation, which excludes selected volatile food and energy prices, also increased to 2.1 per-cent in December 2015 from 1.8 percent in November. Core in� a-tion averaged 2.1 percent in 2015.

“� is indicates stable price in-creases across an extensive range of consumer items,” said Balisacan.

Balisacan, however, said that in

2016, there were still risks of high-er in� ation caused by El Niño dry spell. He said the dry spell might lead to higher in� ation particu-larly for food and power.

El Niño is expected to peak from November 2015 to January 2016, and gradually weaken start-ing February 2016.

Bangko Sentral Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said with the latest in� ation � gure, there was no reason to tweak the cur-rent policy stance.

“As we expected, this is below the government’s target for 2015. But our forecasts for 2016 to 2017 show an in� ation path consistent

with national government target of 2 to 4 percent,” Tetangco said in a text message.

“� e risks remain the same including uneven global growth prospects, oil prices still seen to stay low [on the downside] and a harsher El Niño [on the upside]. � ese still show no strong need to change our stance of policy. Nevertheless we will monitor de-velopments and adjust as needed,” Tetangco said.

Je� Ng, Standard Chartered Bank regional economist for Asia, said that going forward, modest in� ation should continue to hold in 2016.

New trade secretary. Trade Secretary Adrian Cristobal Jr. (right) accepts the DTI fl ag from former secretary Gregory Domingo during a turnover ceremony at the Industry and Investments Building in Makati City. Cristobal said the agency would build on what it has already achieved and further modernize by wel-coming the best recruits and training its people, simplifying processes and embracing new technologies.

By Julito G. RadaBANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said remittances from migrant Fili-pino workers in the Middle East may su� er due to regional tensions but this may be temporary.

“As for overseas Filipino remit-tances, we may see some tempo-rary setback because of logistical di� culties and deployment may slow,” Tetangco said in a text mes-sage Tuesday.

“But based on experiences from past regional con� icts, our over-seas workers are able to � nd ways of sending back money to their families here and also work in other areas that maybe safer from con� ict,” Tetangco said.

� e peso, meanwhile, returned to the 46-a-dollar level Tuesday, gaining P0.23 to close at 46.89 from 47.12 Monday, as Asian currencies strengthened a� er the yuan was � xed higher by the Chi-nese central bank.

It was the local currency’s strongest level in more than one month, or since the 46.97 on Nov. 25, 2015. Total volume traded stood at $768.6 million, signi� -cantly higher than the $459.5 mil-lion a day ago.

“� e peso simply tracked the move of Asian currencies, which were all stronger for the day,” Nich-olas Antonio Mapa, research o� cer of the Bank of the Philippine Is-lands, said in an e-mailed message.

“Asian currencies appreciated a� er seeing the Chinese yuan � xed higher by the cental bank, signaling that the PBOC would want to keep the CNY stable,” Mapa said. Mapa said this move prompted dealers to book gains in long-US dollar posi-tions, a “semi risk-on scenario.”

Tetangco, meanwhile, down-played the possible impact of the tensions on the prices of oil in the global markets because sup-ply continued to be more than enough.

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BUSINESSWEDNESDAY: JANUARY 6, 2016

B2

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

The STandard BuSineSS daily STockS review Tuesday, January 5, 2016

FINANCIAL7.88 2.5 AG Finance 2.8 2.78 2.7 2.71 -3.21 142,000 75.3 66 Asia United Bank 46.15 46.05 45.9 45.95 -0.43 17,300 496,785.00124.4 88.05 Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 101.90 103.60 100.90 103.50 1.57 1,628,820 108,511,765107 88.1 Bank of PI 83.20 83.50 82.80 83.05 -0.18 440,820 -4,254,588.0056.5 45.45 China Bank 37.05 37.15 37.05 37.1 0.13 12,800 4.2 1.68 Bright Kindle Resources 1.29 1.38 1.27 1.37 6.20 10,000 17 12.02 COL Financial 15 15 14.9 14.9 -0.67 8,900 30.45 19.6 Eastwest Bank 18.22 18.88 18.22 18.26 0.22 17,200 10.4 6.12 Filipino Fund Inc. 7.00 6.90 6.90 6.90 -1.43 400 0.92 0.74 First Abacus 0.73 0.71 0.71 0.71 -2.74 10,000 2.6 1.02 I-Remit Inc. 1.85 1.85 1.85 1.85 0.00 15,000 890 625 Manulife Fin. Corp. 695.00 695.00 695.00 695.00 0.00 50 -34,750.001.01 0.225 MEDCO Holdings 0.485 0.500 0.500 0.500 3.09 60,000 100 78 Metrobank 79.5 79.05 77.3 77.7 -2.26 3,823,210 -62,700,751.0030.5 17.8 PB Bank 16.80 16.50 16.50 16.50 -1.79 9,100 75 58 Phil Bank of Comm 22.50 22.50 22.40 22.40 -0.44 300 91.5 62 Phil. National Bank 51.95 51.80 51.00 51.70 -0.48 7,670 101,461.50137 88.35 Phil. Savings Bank 102.9 102.9 102.9 102.9 0.00 30 361.2 276 PSE Inc. 275 276 276 276 0.36 110 57 41 RCBC À’ 32.85 32.85 32.85 32.85 0.00 3,700 121,545180 118.2 Security Bank 143 143.2 138 143.2 0.14 352,490 21,392,387.00124 59 Union Bank 57.20 57.30 57.00 57.00 -0.35 200 -9,741.003.26 2.65 Vantage Equities 1.60 1.89 1.83 1.83 14.38 148,000

INDUSTRIAL47 35.9 Aboitiz Power Corp. 41.2 42.2 40.95 41.9 1.70 3,198,400 10,050,495.005 1.11 Agrinurture Inc. 4.68 4.71 4.61 4.7 0.43 102,000 2.36 1.86 Alsons Cons. 1.38 1.37 1.34 1.37 -0.72 226,000 15.3 7.92 Asiabest Group 10.3 10.28 10.12 10.28 -0.19 1,200 148 32 C. Azuc De Tarlac 99.95 100.00 99.95 100.00 0.05 610 20.6 15.32 Century Food 16.44 16.44 16.32 16.38 -0.36 365,600 3,544,870.0036 10.08 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 20.5 20.4 20.25 20.25 -1.22 109,200 65.8 29.15 Concepcion 43 43.25 43 43.25 0.58 68,700 -4,3252.97 1.5 Crown Asia 2.35 2.36 2.25 2.35 0.00 402,000 4.14 1.5 Da Vinci Capital 1.63 1.86 1.63 1.84 12.88 8,977,000 1,363,330.0021.5 10.72 Del Monte 12.82 12.86 12.62 12.62 -1.56 115,900 -445,480.0021.6 9.55 DNL Industries Inc. 8.900 8.850 8.500 8.550 -3.93 4,621,600 -17,631,337.0011.96 9.04 Emperador 9.00 9.10 8.90 9.05 0.56 244,100 -929,591.009.13 6.02 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 6.06 6.10 5.90 6.00 -0.99 8,142,400 1,686,257.0011.8 8.86 EEI 5.35 5.35 5.20 5.29 -1.12 593,900 2,430,765.0031.8 20.2 First Gen Corp. 22.15 22.4 21.95 22.15 0.00 1,030,500 -8,559,330.00109 71.5 First Holdings ‘A’ 64.9 64.9 63.2 63.8 -1.69 120,310 -2,102,372.5020.75 13.86 Ginebra San Miguel Inc. 12.28 11.70 11.70 11.70 -4.72 400 15.3 13.24 Holcim Philippines Inc. 14.26 14.26 14.00 14.26 0.00 8,400 9.4 5.34 Integ. Micro-Electronics 5.7 5.68 5.6 5.6 -1.75 48,100 -42,423.000.98 0.395 Ionics Inc 2.360 2.450 2.220 2.400 1.69 4,054,000 -149,380.00241 173 Jollibee Foods Corp. 213.40 213.00 209.40 210.00 -1.59 1,279,680 -80,006,770.00 LBC Express 11.88 11.94 11.74 11.76 -1.01 30,000 79 34.1 Liberty Flour 25.75 25.80 25.80 25.80 0.19 100 4 1.63 Mabuhay Vinyl 3.19 3.15 3.15 3.15 -1.25 1,000 74 33 Macay Holdings 41.35 40.00 37.05 40.00 -3.26 1,200 33.9 23.35 Manila Water Co. Inc. 24.8 24.8 24.55 24.8 0.00 91,000 983,975.0090 17.3 Maxs Group 19.48 19.4 18.76 18.8 -3.49 1,171,200 15,662.0013.26 5.88 Megawide 5.98 5.98 5.9 5.98 0.00 31,300 8.00293 250.2 Mla. Elect. Co À’ 316.00 316.00 313.00 315.40 -0.19 58,750 7,999,392.005 3.37 Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp. 3.95 4.00 4.00 4.00 1.27 5,000 5.25 3.87 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 3.87 3.8 3.61 3.64 -5.94 201,000 -208,550.0012.98 8.45 Petron Corporation 6.97 7.00 6.87 6.90 -1.00 942,100 821,668.0015 10.04 Phinma Corporation 11.50 11.70 11.58 11.70 1.74 20,000 -16,380.007.03 3.03 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 3.80 3.85 3.75 3.80 0.00 132,000 3.4 1.95 Phoenix Semiconductor 1.65 1.73 1.60 1.69 2.42 408,000 4.5 1 Pryce Corp. À’ 2.32 2.32 2.25 2.25 -3.02 77,000 6,960.006.3 4.02 RFM Corporation 3.95 3.98 3.97 3.97 0.51 1,405,000 19,850.007.34 5.9 Roxas Holdings 4.1 4.45 4.25 4.35 6.10 69,000 238 161 San Miguel’Pure Foods `B’ 127 125 124 124 -2.36 2,830 -1,249.005.5 4.1 SPC Power Corp. 4.18 4.18 4.18 4.18 0.00 13,000 3.28 1.55 Splash Corporation 2.51 2.65 2.5 2.62 4.38 2,281,000 16,900.000.315 0.138 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.144 0.147 0.145 0.146 1.39 1,620,000 2.18 1.02 TKC Steel Corp. 1.00 0.98 0.95 0.98 -2.00 91,000 2.65 2.09 Trans-Asia Oil 2.16 2.16 2.15 2.15 -0.46 525,000 466,550.00234 152 Universal Robina 187 186.4 184 185 -1.07 1,577,840 13,531,645.005.28 4.28 Victorias Milling 4.7 4.7 4.7 4.7 0.00 1,000 1.3 0.640 Vitarich Corp. 0.59 0.59 0.58 0.59 0.00 31,000 2.17 1.2 Vulcan Ind’l. 1.05 1.08 1.05 1.08 2.86 99,000 3,240.00

HOLDING FIRMS0.59 0.44 Abacus Cons. À’ 0.370 0.375 0.365 0.370 0.00 380,000 59.2 48.1 Aboitiz Equity 57.2000 57.9500 57.2000 57.7500 0.96 1,345,640 22,366,120.0030.05 20.85 Alliance Global Inc. 15.98 16.04 15.94 16.00 0.13 8,207,000 -8,511,154.002.16 1.6 Anglo Holdings A 1.12 1.11 1.11 1.11 -0.89 1,000 3.4 0.23 ATN Holdings A 0.206 0.220 0.210 0.210 1.94 250,000 823.5 634.5 Ayala Corp À’ 756 755.5 741.5 742 -1.85 179,940 -27,935,170.0010.2 7.390 Cosco Capital 8.1 8.1 8 8.06 -0.49 3,767,300 1,291,651.0084 12.8 DMCI Holdings 13.24 13.44 13.20 13.40 1.21 1,925,900 1,139,582.003.35 2.6 F&J Prince ‘A’ 5.55 5.97 5.55 5.88 5.95 41,500 4.92 2.26 Filinvest Dev. Corp. 4.40 4.40 4.10 4.40 0.00 162,000 251,500.001455 837 GT Capital 1320 1351 1314 1342 1.67 165,980 99,389,610.007.5 5.3 House of Inv. 5.50 5.44 5.44 5.44 -1.09 1,000 IPM Holdings 9.87 9.90 9.50 9.89 0.20 2,242,000 76 49.55 JG Summit Holdings 70.30 70.80 69.95 70.15 -0.21 1,883,900 -36,459,559.009.25 4.84 Lopez Holdings Corp. 6.48 6.54 6.4 6.4 -1.23 286,100 1,282,793.000.85 0.59 Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. 0.72 0.75 0.7 0.75 4.17 29,000 17.3 12 LT Group 14.52 14.9 14.3 14.84 2.20 1,965,800 21,902,704.005.53 4.2 Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. 5.24 5.34 5.22 5.28 0.76 30,518,600 85,668,140.000.0670 0.030 Pacifica À’ 0.0310 0.0310 0.0300 0.0310 0.00 50,400,000 240,100.002.31 1.23 Prime Media Hldg 1.200 1.160 1.100 1.100 -8.33 50,000 1.61 0.550 Prime Orion 1.830 1.840 1.790 1.830 0.00 212,000 2.99 2.26 Republic Glass ‘A’ 2.6 2.53 2.53 2.53 -2.69 4,000 84.9 59.3 San Miguel Corp À’ 49.95 51.80 48.10 51.80 3.70 374,800 -1,087,565.00974 751 SM Investments Inc. 841.50 859.00 836.00 850.00 1.01 166,480 -31,297,355.001.66 1.13 Solid Group Inc. 1.13 1.14 1.14 1.14 0.88 7,000 156 80 Top Frontier 67.600 67.000 66.500 66.850 -1.11 2,170 -106,492.000.710 0.211 Unioil Res. & Hldgs 0.2800 0.2900 0.2750 0.2850 1.79 490,000 0.435 0.179 Wellex Industries 0.2100 0.2100 0.1970 0.2100 0.00 650,000 0.510 0.310 Zeus Holdings 0.255 0.250 0.250 0.250 -1.96 80,000

P R O P E R T Y10.5 6.74 8990 HLDG 7.030 7.100 7.050 7.080 0.71 13,800 63,888.001.99 0.65 A. Brown Co., Inc. 0.75 0.77 0.76 0.76 1.33 81,000 0.375 0.192 Arthaland Corp. 0.215 0.220 0.220 0.220 2.33 50,000 41.4 30.05 Ayala Land `B’ 34.100 34.350 33.800 33.950 -0.44 5,335,000 -39,813,795.005.6 3.36 Belle Corp. À’ 2.82 2.85 2.72 2.82 0.00 2,450,000 -649,770.00

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

Trading SummarySHARES VALUE

FINANCIAL 6,708,198 556,458,710.65INDUSTRIAL 44,620,179 928,986,072.88HOLDING FIRMS 105,906,273 1,141,895,243.40PROPERTY 75,809,654 640,683,516.73SERVICES 530,434,585 655,640,435.00MINING & OIL 144,516,053 58,488,663.9521GRAND TOTAL 908,475,712 3,986,822,563.61

FINANCIAL 1,529.79 (down) 1.34INDUSTRIAL 10,854.73 (down) 81.89HOLDING FIRMS 6,514.07 (up) 26.42PROPERTY 2,869.06 (up) 3.74SERVICES 1,488.76 (down) 3.73MINING & OIL 10,175.00 (down) 80.88PSEI 6,835.13 (up) 1.71All Shares Index 3,925.81 (down) 4.98

Gainers: 73; Losers: 97; Unchanged: 40; Total: 210

STOCKS Close(P)

Change(%)

Berjaya Phils. Inc. 20 -29.82

Starmalls 6.05 -13.57

Makati Fin. Corp. 2.57 -9.19

Phil. Realty À' 0.4050 -8.99

Philodrill Corp. À' 0.0110 -8.33

Prime Media Hldg 1.100 -8.33

SMC Preferred D 78 -8.24

MG Holdings 0.265 -7.02

City & Land Dev. 0.91 -6.19

Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 3.64 -5.94

Top LoSerSSTOCKS Close

(P)Change

(%)

IP E-Game Ventures Inc. 0.0110 39.24

Discovery World 1.99 17.06

Vantage Equities 1.83 14.38

Da Vinci Capital 1.84 12.88

Liberty Telecom 4.89 8.19

Lepanto `B' 0.202 8.02

Bright Kindle Resources 1.37 6.20

Roxas Holdings 4.35 6.10

F&J Prince 'A' 5.88 5.95

APC Group, Inc. 0.480 5.49

Top gainerS

5.59 4.96 Cebu Holdings 4.9 5 5 5 2.04 2,000 -5,000.001.44 0.79 Century Property 0.55 0.55 0.54 0.55 0.00 1,879,000 540.001.97 1.1 City & Land Dev. 0.97 0.91 0.91 0.91 -6.19 6,000 1.48 0.97 Cityland Dev. À’ 1.03 1.010 1 1 -2.91 63,000 0.201 0.083 Crown Equities Inc. 0.119 0.120 0.120 0.120 0.84 180,000 0.69 0.415 Cyber Bay Corp. 0.450 0.445 0.440 0.445 -1.11 870,000 10.96 2.4 Double Dragon 24.25 24.25 23.5 23.95 -1.24 963,100 -4,944,835.000.97 0.83 Empire East Land 0.770 0.780 0.770 0.770 0.00 5,000 2.22 1.15 Global-Estate 1.02 1.04 1.01 1.03 0.98 509,000 2.1 1.42 Filinvest Land,Inc. 1.77 1.82 1.77 1.80 1.69 15,867,000 2,021,280.005.94 4.13 Megaworld 4.13 4.2 4.12 4.12 -0.24 27,032,000 -30,369,980.000.180 0.090 MRC Allied Ind. 0.073 0.075 0.074 0.074 1.37 420,000 0.72 0.39 Phil. Realty À’ 0.4450 0.4050 0.4050 0.4050 -8.99 250,000 8.54 2.69 Primex Corp. 8.7 8.7 8.43 8.7 0.00 263,700 511,500.0031.8 22.15 Robinson’s Land `B’ 26.40 27.05 26.00 26.35 -0.19 2,790,300 12,566,230.002.29 1.6 Rockwell 1.4 1.44 1.4 1.4 0.00 4,000 4.9 3.1 Shang Properties Inc. 3.21 3.22 3.22 3.22 0.31 300 21.35 15.08 SM Prime Holdings 21.35 21.85 20.90 21.55 0.94 7,919,700 5,153,080.001.06 0.69 Sta. Lucia Land Inc. 0.8 0.8 0.76 0.79 -1.25 637,000 7.56 3.38 Starmalls 7 6.05 6 6.05 -13.57 15,200 -35,400.001.62 0.83 Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. 0.850 0.850 0.820 0.850 0.00 216,000 8.59 5.73 Vista Land & Lifescapes 5.000 5.010 4.920 5.000 0.00 7,979,500 -2,357,397.00

S E R V I C E S10.5 1.97 2GO Group’ 7 7.19 6.8 6.91 -1.29 42,900 20,650.0066 35.2 ABS-CBN 62.4 62.4 62 62.3 -0.16 7,890 1.09 0.63 APC Group, Inc. 0.455 0.480 0.480 0.480 5.49 10,000 28.5 18.2 Berjaya Phils. Inc. 28.5 20 20 20 -29.82 1,200 15.82 8.6 Bloomberry 4.30 4.42 4.09 4.18 -2.79 7,101,000 -7,316,770.000.1430 0.0770 Boulevard Holdings 0.0400 0.0400 0.0390 0.0400 0.00 15,400,000 40,000.005.06 2.95 Calata Corp. 3.34 3.35 3.2 3.28 -1.80 163,000 99.1 56.1 Cebu Air Inc. (5J) 82.6 82 81.6 81.85 -0.91 97,350 -1,605,919.5012.3 10.14 Centro Esc. Univ. 9.56 9.75 9.56 9.75 1.99 2,700 2.6 1.6 Discovery World 1.7 2.18 1.99 1.99 17.06 18,000 7.67 4.8 DFNN Inc. 5.30 5.59 5.30 5.50 3.77 1,807,700 7,247,220.001700 830 FEUI 955 956 955 955 0.00 1,520 2720 1600 Globe Telecom 1812 1810 1780 1805 -0.39 81,370 -103,057,380.008.41 5.95 GMA Network Inc. 6.75 6.90 6.75 6.86 1.63 21,600 1.97 1.23 Harbor Star 1.16 1.16 1.16 1.16 0.00 33,000 18,560.00119.5 102.6 I.C.T.S.I. 67.6 69 67.4 67.4 -0.30 219,470 -3,689,733.500.017 0.011 IP E-Game Ventures Inc. 0.0079 0.0110 0.0082 0.0110 39.24 397,000,000 -24,600.000.8200 0.041 Island Info 0.151 0.154 0.150 0.152 0.66 660,000 2.2800 1.200 ISM Communications 1.4000 1.4000 1.3700 1.4000 0.00 55,000 1,400.0012.28 6.5 Leisure & Resorts 7.48 7.40 7.30 7.40 -1.07 193,200 30,347.003.32 1.91 Liberty Telecom 4.52 5.20 4.40 4.89 8.19 16,366,000 467,900.002.46 1.8 Manila Jockey 1.95 1.99 1.92 1.99 2.05 70,000 15.2 6 Melco Crown 2.1 2.18 2 2 -4.76 15,335,000 -17,238,140.00 Metro Retail 3.89 3.88 3.80 3.85 -1.03 1,331,000 791,870.000.62 0.335 MG Holdings 0.285 0.280 0.265 0.265 -7.02 300,000 1.040 0.37 NOW Corp. 0.730 0.770 0.690 0.750 2.74 8,806,000 84,100.006.41 3 PAL Holdings Inc. 4.50 4.60 4.60 4.60 2.22 1,000 185 79 Phil. Seven Corp. 100.00 102.00 100.00 100.00 0.00 790 50,000.0022.9 4.39 Philweb.Com Inc. 23.00 22.90 22.00 22.70 -1.30 44,100 -22,790.003486 2748 PLDT Common 2000.00 2008.00 1985.00 2000.00 0.00 112,485 -68,271,285.000.760 0.435 PremiereHorizon 0.485 0.480 0.480 0.480 -1.03 20,000 2.28 1.2 Premium Leisure 0.580 0.580 0.540 0.550 -5.17 48,702,000 379,720.0046.05 31.45 Puregold 34.20 34.10 33.50 33.80 -1.17 399,900 45,580.0090.1 60.55 Robinsons RTL 64.15 65.50 63.90 65.30 1.79 289,300 6,069,422.50 SBS Phil. Corp. 6.00 5.98 5.88 5.95 -0.83 916,300 11.6 7.59 SSI Group 3.37 3.36 3.24 3.28 -2.67 4,165,000 -1,992,590.000.85 0.63 STI Holdings 0.430 0.430 0.420 0.425 -1.16 7,700,000 106,000.0010 5 Travellers 3.98 3.99 3.8 3.98 0.00 367,000 0.490 0.315 Waterfront Phils. 0.340 0.330 0.320 0.330 -2.94 320,000 1.9 1.14 Yehey 4.100 4.120 3.850 4.120 0.49 32,000

MINING & OIL0.0098 0.0043 Abra Mining 0.0049 0.0050 0.0048 0.0048 -2.04 43,000,000 5.45 1.72 Apex À’ 1.89 1.90 1.80 1.89 0.00 86,000 17.24 6.47 Atlas Cons. À’ 4.07 4.07 4.06 4.06 -0.25 17,000 1.19 0.85 Century Peak Metals Hldgs 0.59 0.6 0.59 0.6 1.69 143,000 1.62 0.77 Coal Asia 0.56 0.56 0.54 0.56 0.00 102,000 9.5 5.99 Dizon 7.25 7.55 7.15 7.30 0.69 7,700 4.2 1.17 Ferronickel 0.66 0.67 0.65 0.66 0.00 2,485,000 -7,110.000.48 0.305 Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. 0.275 0.280 0.270 0.280 1.82 350,000 0.420 0.2130 Lepanto À’ 0.171 0.174 0.170 0.170 -0.58 2,240,000 0.440 0.2160 Lepanto `B’ 0.187 0.202 0.188 0.202 8.02 2,050,000 8,080.000.022 0.013 Manila Mining À’ 0.0100 0.0100 0.0100 0.0100 0.00 5,600,000 8.2 3.240 Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. 1.9 1.9 1.83 1.83 -3.68 649,000 55,500.0049.2 18.96 Nickelasia 5.92 5.91 5.73 5.74 -3.04 2,353,300 -2,929,162.004.27 2.11 Nihao Mineral Resources 2.79 2.81 2.73 2.8 0.36 38,000 3.06 1.54 Oriental Peninsula Res. 1.2800 1.2800 1.2500 1.2500 -2.34 684,000 7,560.000.020 0.012 Oriental Pet. À’ 0.0094 0.0094 0.0094 0.0094 0.00 25,000,000 12.88 7.26 Philex À’ 4.35 4.37 4.32 4.37 0.46 248,000 -181,420.0010.42 2.27 PhilexPetroleum 1.28 1.30 1.26 1.26 -1.56 361,000 1,230.000.040 0.015 Philodrill Corp. À’ 0.0120 0.0110 0.0100 0.0110 -8.33 57,400,000 420 115.9 Semirara Corp. 136.50 136.00 134.50 135.00 -1.10 274,080 -3,632,877.000.016 0.0100 United Paragon 0.0072 0.0070 0.0070 0.0070 -2.78 1,000,000 7,000.00

PREFERRED70 33 ABS-CBN Holdings Corp. 64 63.5 63 63 -1.56 31,650 1,271,612.00118 101 First Gen F 120 120 120 120 0.00 20 120 101.5 First Gen G 114 110.1 110.1 110.1 -3.42 3,000 515 480 GLOBE PREF P 526 528 528 528 0.38 100 8.21 5.88 GMA Holdings Inc. 7.2 7 7 7 -2.78 300 12.28 6.5 Leisure and Resort 1.11 1.11 1.11 1.11 0.00 1,000 -1,110.00111 101 MWIDE PREF 107.5 107 107 107 -0.47 100 1060 997 PCOR-Preferred A 1070 1050 1050 1050 -1.87 80 PCOR-Preferred B 1065 1075 1075 1075 0.94 10 PNX PREF 3A 104 103.5 103 103.5 -0.48 1,680 PNX PREF 3B 106.5 106.5 106.5 106.5 0.00 17,500 78.95 74.5 SMC Preferred B 77.4 77.6 77.5 77.5 0.13 700 SMC Preferred D 85 78 78 78 -8.24 4,700 SMC Preferred E 76 78.5 78.4 78.5 3.29 14,520 SMC Preferred F 79.6 80 79.5 80 0.50 95,550

WARRANTS & BONDS6.98 0.8900 LR Warrant 2.140 2.100 2.030 2.040 -4.67 94,000

S M E Alterra Capital 3.29 3.2 3.09 3.1 -5.78 57,000 15 3.5 Makati Fin. Corp. 2.83 2.57 2.57 2.57 -9.19 7,000 Italpinas 2.88 2.97 2.88 2.95 2.43 184,000 57,800.0012.88 5.95 Xurpas 15.62 15.58 15.36 15.52 -0.64 229,300 582,642.00

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS130.7 105.6 First Metro ETF 111.9 112.3 110.6 111.7 -0.18 3,470 1,123.00



B3

DoubleDragon hikes capital

Basic Energy to start geothermal drilling in Batangas

Marketends flat;Liberty,AP climb

Book campaign. Land Bank of the Philippines teams up with the Center for Art, New Ventures and Sustainable Development or Canvas in support of its ‘1 Million Books for 1 Million Filipino Children’ initiative. The program hopes to give away one million books to one million children in the next five to 10 years to improve functional literacy among Filipino children.

By Jenniffer B. Austria

Shareholders of DoubleDragon Properties Inc. on Tuesday approved the increase in the company’s authorized capital stock to P20.5 billion from P500 million, a move that will enable it to raise funds to finance expansion projects.

DoubleDragon chief invest-ment officer Marianna Yulo said in an e-mail the company’s shareholders approved the in-crease in authorized capital, consisting of 5 billion common shares with a par value of P0.10 apiece and the creation of 200 million non-voting preferred shares with a par value of P100

apiece during a special stock-holders meeting.

DoubleDragon said with the creation of 200 million non-vot-ing preferred shares, it planned to issue 100 million worth of pre-ferred shares at an issue price of P100 apiece, or for a total of P10 billion.

Yulo said while details of the offering were being finalized, the company planned to issue the preferred shares in March or April this year.

“On the details of the deal and underwriters, we will have to make the necessary disclosure once everything has been final-ized as we are still in the process of preparing the documentation for filing with the SEC [Securi-ties and Exchange Commission],”

Yulo said.DoubleDragon, a 50:50

joint venture between Injap Investments Inc. of business-man Edgar Sia II and Jollibee Foods Corp.’s chairman Tony Tan Caktiong, aims to be one of the five largest property companies in the Philippines by 2020, by developing 1 mil-lion square meters of leasable space.

The company said to achieve the target, it planned to build 25 community malls under the City-Mall brand every year or a total of 100 by 2020.

DoubleDragon earmarked P24 billion to develop 700,000 square meters of leasable space and 100-branch CityMall portfolio.

It is also developing the

4.8-hectare DD Meridian Park at the corner of Macapagal Ave. and Edsa Extension in Pasay City. Once the entire development is fully completed, DD Merid-ian Park will have over 280,000 square meters of prime leasable space.

DoubleDragon reported a net income of P713.6 million in the first nine months of 2015, up 113 percent from P338.1 million a year ago.

The company said the open-ing of first five CityMalls and the recent launching of Dragon8 Mall-Divisoria started generating rental revenues.

DoubleDragon said it was targeting a net income of P1 billion in 2016 and P4.8 billion by 2020.

STOCKS closed flat amid thin trading Tuesday, after a 1.7-per-cent slide Monday, as investors remained on edge over the glob-al economy and tensions in the Middle East.

The Philippine Stock Ex-change index, the 30-company benchmark, picked up 1 point to close at 6,835.13. The gauge lost 3.9 percent in 2015, after the US Federal Reserve began raising its interest rate.

The heavier index, representing all shares, lost 4 points, or 0.1 per-cent, Tuesday to settle at 3,925.81, on a value turnover of P4 billion.

Losers outnumbered gainers, 97 to 73, while 40 issues were unchanged.

Liberty Telecoms Hold-ings Inc. was the biggest gainer among the 20 most active stocks Monday, as it jumped 8.2 per-cent to P4.89.

Aboitiz Power Corp., one of the country’s largest power plant operators, advanced 1.7 percent to P41.90, while GT Capital Holdings Inc., the investment company of tycoon George Ty, added 1.7 percent to close at P1,342. BDO Unibank Inc., the largest lender, gained 1.6 per-cent to P103.50.

Meanwhile, Asian markets witnessed fresh volatility Tues-day, a day after a global rout that saw trading suspended in Chi-nese markets, and US and Euro-pean equities tank.

In echoes of the summer’s tur-bulence that saw trillions wiped off valuations, most bourses in the region tumbled in the first few minutes before bouncing into positive territory.

The selling on Monday was fuelled by gauges of Chinese fac-tory activity contracting again in December, the latest evidence showing the world’s number-two economy continues to struggle.

The data—combined with the looming expiration of measures brought in to curb last year’s share slump—sent Shanghai stocks crashing almost seven percent.

On Tuesday, Shanghai fell a further three percent at the open but bounced soon after to sit 0.3 percent higher in the afternoon. Hong Kong was 0.4 percent higher, having lost 0.2 percent in the first few minutes, and Tokyo added 0.3 percent—reversing an initial 0.3 percent fall. With AFP

By Alena Mae S. FloresBASIC Energy Corp. is set to start drilling a geothermal well in Batangas province in the first half, a company official said.

“Target spud date for Mabini is first week of May,” Basic Energy senior vice president Anthony Cuaycong said.

He said the Mabini geothermal project drilling in Mabini, Batan-gas would account for the bulk of the company’s capital expenditure this year.

“Cost of drilling for first well [inclusive of right of way and ac-cess road] is pegged at P300 mil-lion, of which 75 percent will be shouldered by Basic,” Cuaycong

said.Basic Energy and partner

Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Devel-opment Corp. signed a joint op-erating agreement for the Mabini geothermal power project in No-vember.

The move followed the ap-proval by the Energy Department of the deed of assignment for the Mabini geothermal service con-tract number 8 of Basic Energy to Trans-Asia.

Basic Energy now owns 75 per-cent of the service contract, while Trans-Asia holds the remaining 25 percent.

The approved arrangement calls for a 75-25 equity and project cost participation be-

tween Basic Energy and Trans-Asia.

Under the terms of the agree-ment, Trans-Asia will shoulder 25-percent undivided participat-ing interest in the rights, interests, privileges, duties and obligations in and under geothermal service contract 8.

Trans-Asia decided to share in the cost of the first explo-ration well committed under sub-phase 3 of the geothermal service contract, after under-taking due diligence on the project, including geophysical work.

This validated previous pro-spective estimates that the project could generate between 20 mega-

watts and 60 MW of energy.Basic Energy was originally

incorporated as Basic Enterprises Inc. on Sept. 19, 1968 and became an oil and gas exploration and de-velopment company on April 26, 1971, when it assumed the name Basic Petroleum and Minerals Inc.

The company evolved from an operating company to a holding company under the corporate name Basic Consoli-dated Inc. It adopted the pres-ent corporate name in 2007 when it engaged in the pro-duction of ethanol and other biofuels and the development of other alternative and renew-able energy sources.

B4

Meralco unit offers contract to build Subic coal-fired power plant

Air talks with threecountriesreadied

Abad expects faster infra spending in Q1

Back in Clark. Emirates Airport services senior regional manager for Asia Jie Zhu (center) discusses preparations for the airline’s return to the Clark International Airport with Clark International Airport Corp. president and chief executive Emigdio Tanjuatco III (right) and CIAC operations officer-in-charge Leandro Aranas II. Emirates is mounting daily Dubai-Cebu-Clark flights starting on March 30, 2016.

By Alena Mae S. Flores

REDONDO Peninsula Energy Inc., a unit of Manila Electric Co., has started the tender pro-cess on the engineering, procure-ment and construction contract for its planned coal-fired power plant in Subic, Zambales.

“We’re negotiating with the EPC contractors and looking at both the 300-MW and 600-MW options,” Meralco chief finance officer Betty Siy-Yap said.

Meralco PowerGen Corp, the power generation unit of Meral-co, owns a majority stake in RP Energy.

RP Energy is studying whether to develop a 300-MW or a 600-MW coal project at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, depending on transmission line constraints.

Siy-Yap did not disclose the identity of the EPC contractors pending the tender process.

She said the Meralco group planned to raise funds to finance

the project construction and had not determined the amount pending the finalization of the EPC tender bidding.

“We’re looking at financing for RP Energy but we will know the amount only after we’ve tendered the EPC contract,” the official said.

Meralco PowerGen is sup-posed to start construction of the long-delayed power project last year following a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court. It faced

new delays because of the trans-mission line and right-of-way constraints.

The company has already in-vested around P1 billion for the civil works of the project.

The Supreme Court dismissed the Writ of Kalikasan case filed by pro-environmentalist groups against the Subic coal plant and upheld the project’s environ-mental compliance certificate as well as its lease and development agreement with the Subic Bay

Metropolitan Authority.Other shareholders of RP En-

ergy are Aboitiz Power Corp. and Taiwan Cogeneration Interna-tional Corp.

The company is working with National Grid Corp. of the Phil-ippines for the transmission line requirements of the plant.

The terms of the project financ-ing agreement are expected to be finalized by the first quarter, with construction to follow. Project completion is expected by 2019.


Infrastructure spending is expected to accel-erate in the first quarter of the year as notices of awards will be awarded earlier to the De-partment of Public Works and Highways, the Budget department said Monday.

By Darwin G. Amojelar

THE Philippines plans to hold air talks with India, Indonesia and Japan this year to expand traffic rights, the Civil Aeronautics Board said Tuesday.

CAB executive director Carme-lo Arcilla said the Philippine air panel would confirm the specific dates for the separate air talks with the three countries.

The Philippine negotiating pan-el is composed of officials from the CAB, Departments of Transporta-tion and Communications, Tour-ism and Foreign Affairs, as well as from Clark International Airport Corp. and representatives of local airline companies.

Arcilla said these markets were impor-tant to the country’s tourism industry.

The Philippines completed air talks with South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Austra-lia, Qatar and Turkey last year.

The government’s air talks are aligned with the priorities of the Department of Tourism to meet the government’s tourist arrivals target of 10 million by 2016.

The Philippines recorded total inbound foreign visitors of 4.39 million in the January-to-October period, up 11.3 percent from 3.96 million year-on-year.

The top markets for the Philip-pines are South Korea with 1.1 million visitors; United States of America with 636,658; Japan, 417,147; China, 415,868; Australia, 188,971; Singapore, 150,405; Ma-laysia, 129,120; United Kingdom, 123,414 and Canada, 120,903.

Other high growth markets include Spain with 19,208; New Zealand, 15,724; France, 37,135; Saudi Arabia, 44,339; Netherlands, 22,620; Hong Kong, 104,075.

The Tourism Department said the Philippines would likely meet its 5.2 million foreign tourist ar-rivals target in 2015 year after the number of visitors grew by double digits in the first 10 months.

Tourism Undersecretary Benito Bengzon Jr. said the government was aiming for six million foreign tour-ists in 2016, lower than the original target of 10 million visitors.

Revenues generated from tourism activities from January to October rose 8.24 percent to P186.89 billion from P172.66 billion last year.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said infrastructure projects said Public Works had aimed an obligation rate of 50 percent or P187.86 billion, within the first quarter of the year.

Public Works said the amount was higher than the actual obliga-tion rate of 39 percent or P111.14 bil-lion from the same period a year ago.

“We can expect 50 percent of infrastructure projects un-der DPWH to be issued notices of award by the first quarter of

2016,” Abad said. Abad said with the improve-

ment in the public spending in the past quarters, economic growth would remain robust un-til the fourth quarter of the year.

“December 2015 spending will continue the momentum that the previous five months demonstrat-ed. In addition, the spending boost for last-minute Christmas sales will further ramp up growth in the last month of the year,” he said.

The government is poised to

complete key infrastructure projects this year, including 98 percent of 364,693 lineal me-ters of bridges and 85 percent of 32,526.50 kilometers of roads.

The government has signifi-cantly increased total infrastruc-ture spending in the last five years, from P175.4 billion in 2011, or 1.8 percent of the gross domestic product, to P766.5 billion this year to achieve the international bench-mark of 5 percent of the GDP.

Abad said the increase in spend-ing was complemented by encour-aging public-private partnerships, improving governance to curb cor-ruption, climate-proofing facilities and better procurement.

The budget agency said of the P1.66-trillion appropriations for departments and agencies this year, P1.49 trillion or 90 percent were al-ready released to the departments

and agencies on Monday, the first working day of the year.

“This huge improvement in the release of allotments is made pos-sible with the new policy of treat-ing the General Appropriations Act as the release document. Once approved and in effect, all disaggregated items in the bud-get of all agencies are deemed ef-fectively released,” Abad said.

“Together with the earlier policy adopted which authorized departments and agencies to ad-vance pre-procurement activities that enable them to bid projects short-of-award, this policy will further accelerate the already much improved pace of govern-ment spending. It will also ensure that most projects will be imple-mented before the beginning of the election ban on March 25,” Abad added.


BUSINESS B5

Batting for seniors


PH population to hit142m in 2045—PSA

MacroAsia set to complete stake sale

There are about seven million senior citizens in this country, or roughly seven percent of our estimated 100 million population. Over the years, a lot of legislation has been passed to uphold their rights, among them Republic Act 9994 (Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010) that grants 20 percent discounts on the purchase of medicine, payment of doctors’ fees, transportation, hotels, restau-rants, theaters and other establishments subject to certain guide-lines, and Republic Act 10645 that provides for the mandatory PhilHealth coverage of all senior citizens.

Some local government units have also initiated activities and programs for the benefit of their elderly residents. Makati for ex-ample (and yes, whether you like him or not, you have to admit that Vice President Jejomar Binay knows how to show respect to his seniors and treats them right) gives a lot of perks to the seniors, like free admission to movie houses (at designated hours), cash gifts and trips outside the city.

However, seniors continue to suffer from discrimination in many aspects, like employment opportunities for example. In other countries, we see actors getting more plum roles when they age. Take James Spader who plays Raymond Reddington in The Blacklist, or Meryl Streep who is in a class all her own. It’s a dif-ferent story here though, because older actors hardly get lead roles after they turn 60.

In other countries, you also see seniors still productive, given work in certain establishments that value their experience. Of course, if the job requires physical stamina—like that of a steve-dore, then it would be understandable to prefer younger candi-dates.

But one of the big sources of discrimination against senior citi-zens comes from the health sector, with private health mainte-nance organizations (HMOs) which either deny coverage or refuse to renew the coverage of individuals aged 60 and above. This is an unfair policy that Pasig City representative and senatorial candi-date Roman Romulo wants to correct with his proposed House Bill 6348, also known as the Anti-Healthcare Age Discrimination Act. If Romulo were to have his way, he would impose administra-tive fines of as much as P300,000 on HMOS that deny coverage to senior individuals.

Calling the practice “totally unfair and simply unacceptable,” Romulo invoked Section 11, Article 13 of the Constitution that mandates government to make essential healthcare services avail-able and affordable to all, especially the elderly. According to the legislator, HMOs provide prepaid health insurance plans to en-rolled members through a network of contracted hospitals and doctors. There are currently 23 HMOs doing business in the coun-try which have a combined four million planholders.

Just recently, the supervision and regulation of HMOs had been transferred from the Department of Health to the Insurance Commission—which is why the senatorial candidate is urging the IC to compel HMOs to “accept senior citizens seeking coverage, or face financial punishment and other administrative sanctions” even without the proposed House Bill.

MPIC wins Cebu-Cordova bridge contract

It looks like a great year ahead for Cebuanos with the awarding of the P27-billion Cebu-Cordova bridge project to the group of businessman Manny Pangilinan, specifically Metro pacific Toll-ways Development Corp., a subsidiary of the Metro Pacific Invest-ments Corp.

For sure, this will not be a bridge to nowhere, with Cebu Rep. Gerald Anthony Gullas hailing the decision of the local govern-ment of Cebu City, saying this will boost the productivity growth and bolster long-term economic efficiency in the province.

The project will be the third bridge between mainland Cebu and Mactan, the country’s most densely populated island. “We are counting on the new bridge to help reduce the cost of produc-ing goods and services, and minimize productivity losses due to traffic congestion,” Gullas, an assistant majority leader, enthused.

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

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

‘Integrity Run.’ Over a hundred Metro Manila based employees of Convergys, the country’s largest private employer, join the Philippine Integrity Initiative’s Integrity Run on December 12 at the CCP Complex in Pasay City. The Convergys contingent was among the 5,000 event participants from various sectors. Convergys is a founding member of the Philippine Integrity Initiative. It is the only BPO in 12 companies in the Philippines that received an ‘Advanced Rating’ for its holistic ethical business practices from the Integrity Initiative’s Validation System.


THE Philippine population is projected to hit 142 million in 2045 with the fastest growth to be recorded in Mindanao, the Philippine Sta-tistics Authority said Tuesday.

“This signifies about 49 million persons added to the country’s population from 2010 to 2045, equivalent to an average annual growth rate of 1.21 percent,” na-tional statistician Lisa Grace Ber-sales said.

“All regions are expected to increase in population but with varying rates of growth,” she added.

The PSA said 10 regions were expected to grow faster than the national average, with five of these in Mindanao.

Of the five regions in Mindan-ao, the Autonomous Region for

Muslim Mindanao is projected to register the highest average an-nual growth rate of 2.12 percent for the 2010-2045 period.

Caraga’s expected popula-tion growth rate of 1.72 percent ranked the second fastest, with SOCCSKSARGEN, Davao Re-gion and Zamboanga Peninsula rounding the top five.

The regions in Luzon that will post the next highest population growth rates are the Cordillera Administrative Region with 1.35 percent; Calabarzon, 1.31 per-cent; Mimaropa,1.58 percent; and Bicol, 1.65 percent.

Eastern Visayas, meanwhile, is projected to grow by an annual average of 1.53 percent.

In terms of number of popu-lation, Calabarzon, comprising the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon will remain the largest by 2040 with 20.1 million, followed by the Na-tional Capital Region and Central Luzon with 14.5 million each.

Western Visayas and Central Visayas are the other regions surpassing the 10-million mark, with 10.4 million each in 2045.

the PSA also said CAR would continue to have the smallest population with 2.6 million in 2045.

The Philippine population stood at 92.34 million as of PSA’s latest data in May 2010.

The population earlier was forecast to reach 104 million at the end of 2015, prompting the Department of Health to express.

By Darwin G. Amojelar MACROASIA Corp. said it ex-pects to complete the transaction to sell a stake in its food catering unit to Singpore’s SATS Ltd. by the end of March.

“As the parties are still in the process of obtaining the relevant regulatory approvals, completion is now expected to take place on or before March 31, 2016,” Mac-roAsia said.

The closing date for the sale of the 13 percent stake in MacroAsia Catering Services Inc. to SATS was earlier scheduled on October 31, 2015, upon receipt of certain relevant regulatory approvals.

The transaction would cut MacroAsia’s shareholdings in MACS to 67 percent from 80 per-cent.

SATS’ shareholdings in MACS,

meanwhile, will increase from 20 percent to 33 percent of the total issued and outstanding capital stock of the catering company.

The company said the transac-tion was a strategic move to fur-ther strengthen the partnership and relationship of SATS and MacroAsia in their food services venture in the Philippines.

Aside from the joint venture in airline catering through MACS, MacroAsia and SATS have formed a new company called MacroAsia SATS Food Industries Corp. as a 100 percent subsidiary of MACS.

The new company is investing in a P300 million new food com-missary located near East Service Road, Sucat, Muntinlupa City to serve the requirements of institu-tional clients like hotels and casi-nos, call centers and other none-

airline clients. MACS is currently operating

in a two-hectare facility inside NAIA and serves airline clients that include Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Etihad, Dragon Air, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, All Nippon, Saudia, Qantas, Qa-tar, China Airlines, Air Niugini, Korean Air and other chartered flights. surpassing the 10-million mark, with 10.4 million each in 2045.

the PSA also said CAR would continue to have the smallest population with 2.6 million in 2045.

The Philippine population stood at 92.34 million as of PSA’s latest data in May 2010.

The population earlier was forecast to reach 104 million at the end of 2015, prompting the Department of Health to express.



B6

Registered firms satisfied with BoI performance—survey

PH to stay resilient in 2016—Tetangco

Sumisetsugets latestISO award

Tsukiji tuna auction. A vendor cuts a tuna at Tsukiji Market in Tokyo, Japan. Tsukiji fish market, the nation’s biggest seafood-trading hub, is scheduled to be relocated to reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay in November. BLOOMBERG

By Julito G. Rada

BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said Tuesday solid mac-ro-economic fundamentals will keep the Phil-ippines resilient in 2016, despite domestic and global risks.

By Othel V. Campos

SUMISETSU Philippines Inc., an affiliate of Sumi-tomo Densetsu Co. Ltd. of Japan, became the first organization in the Philip-pines to achieve the newly-released ISO 9001:2015 cer-tification.

SPI has successfully main-tained its ISO 9001 Quality Management System since its first certificate on Dec. 1, 2003 from certifying body SGS Philippines Inc.

SPI, established in the country in 1990, is an electrical and mechani-cal contractor specializing in design, installation and maintenance services such as electrical and mechanical facilities of buildings and factories.

SPI president Takuro Su-zuki said that SPI identified the addition of risk-based thinking as one of the most valuable changes in new version of the ISO manage-ment system, which helped the SPI team to clearly iden-tify and control both inter-nal and external threats to SPI.

Organizations that are currently ISO 9001:2008 certified have three years, from formal publication of ISO 9001:2015, to transfer to the new version of the standard.

Based on the current pub-lication schedule, the transi-tion period will end in Sep-tember 2018.

SGS is the world’s lead-ing inspection, verification, testing and certification company. It is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity.

SGS, with more than 80,000 employees, oper-ates a network of over 1,650 offices and laboratories around the world.

By Othel V. Campos

REGISTERED companies, pro-spective investors and industry players are generally satisfied with the performance of the Board of Investments, according to the stakeholders’ engagement survey conducted by social re-search group Novo Trends PH.

The survey was conducted in the first half of 2015 among BoI-registered companies; prospec-tive and would-be investors who previously made investment in-

quiries with the agency; and in-dustry groups, associations and chambers.

The stakeholders’ engagement survey measured the satisfac-tion of stakeholders in the deliv-ery by BoI of its services.

The survey looked into the stakeholders’ level of awareness on the services and facilities available at BoI and the stake-holders’ level of satisfaction on various BoI services.

BoI received an excellent net satisfaction rating, representing

about 78 percent or a ratio of eight out of every 10 stakehold-ers.

The survey showed a high level of satisfaction over the agency’s staff, whom three of four respondents described as knowledgeable, helpful and courteous.

“Majority of the stakehold-ers surveyed were also aware of BoI’s functions including in-vestments registration, grant of incentives and investments su-pervision and monitoring,” the

survey said.One of three respondents,

however, said they were not aware of the agency’s invest-ment activities such as busi-ness matching and outbound/inbound missions.

The survey report cited the need to strengthen the agency’s information dissemination ac-tivities in a clear, timely and accurate manner to further in-crease the stakeholders’ aware-ness of BoI’s various services.

The BoI, which serves as the

industry development and in-vestments promotion arm of the Trade Department, com-missioned the services of Novo Trends PH in December 2014 to conduct the survey to provide the agency an accurate feedback from stakeholders on the quality of its functions and services.

Information gathered from the survey will form as valuable inputs in the agency’s continu-ing efforts to be a globally-rec-ognized investments promotion agency by 2020.

Tetangco said sound macro-fundamentals had always served as inherent stabilizers for the Philippine economy.

“For the Philippines, our posi-tive growth prospects and solid macro-fundamentals will be the overriding pull factors to keep the economy steady on its course over the near and medium terms,” Tetangco said in a speech during the Tuesday Club event at Edsa

Shangri-La Hotel.Tetangco said the economy

grew 6 percent in the third quar-ter, one of the fastest in Asia dur-ing the period, as government spending picked up 17.4 percent.

“Consumer spending also re-mained robust supported by a benign inflation environment and improving employment condi-tions in the country,” he said.

Tetangco said the country’s ex-

ternal current account remained in a surplus of $5.6 billion in the first nine months of 2015, or equivalent to 2.6 percent of gross domestic product.

Remittances from overseas Fili-pinos continued to be resilient, with $20.6 billion in the first 10 months, data showed.

International reserves re-mained at a comfortable level of $80.6 billion as of end-Novem-ber 2015, enough to cover 10.3 months of imports.

Tetangco said despite these strengths, local monetary author-ities should always be on their toes, mindful of the threats ahead.

He said among the challenges were the growth prospects in major emerging market econo-mies such as China and advanced

economies such as the United States, EU and Japan.

“Given that these economies are our major trading partners, we are cautious of how their eco-nomic growth paths will evolve in 2016,” Tetangco said.

He said another thing that could cause volatility in the financial mar-kets would be the impact of the speed and magnitude of interest rate adjustments by the US Fed.

The trajectory of oil price path and its impact on oil-exporting economies that host a large num-ber of overseas Filipino workers is also being considered, he said.

Tetangco said on the domestic front, one of the biggest threats to the economy would be the harsher and prolonged El Niño dry spell.

B7cesar barrioquintoE D I T O R

[email protected]

W e D n e s D aY : J a n u a r Y 6 , 2 0 1 6

WORLD

Ice festival opens in Harbin, China

For the dogs. Artist Laurie Anderson plays an electric violin during a concert aimed at dogs in Times Square in New York City on January 4, 2016. Anderson performed a show in a low-frequency sound that is aimed at suiting canine hearing, with humans given headphones to follow along. Dozens of dogs barked or howled to the concert, which accompanied a scene from Andersonís movie, ‘Heart of a Dog’, that was projected on some of Times Square’s famous outdoor screens. AFP

Obama to introducegun-control measures

Iran-Saudi Arabia crisis deepens

N O T I C ENotice is hereby given that CEBU AIR, INC., with

office address at Cebu Pacific Building, Domestic Road, Barangay 191, Zone 20, Pasay City, is applying for registration with the Board of Investments (BOI) as a New Operator of Air Transport Services (A320 # 41) with a capacity of 180 passenger seats on a non-pioneer status with project site located at Manila Domestic Airport, Pasay City.

Any person with valid objections on the above-mentioned project may file his/her objection in writing, under oath, with the BOI within three (3) days from the date of this publication.

(SGD.) RAFAELITO H. TARUC Director(TS-JAN. 6, 2016)

N O T I C E

Notice is hereby given that CEBU AIR, INC., with office address at Cebu Pacific Building, Domestic Road, Barangay 191, Zone 20, Pasay City, is applying for registration with the Board of Investments (BOI) as a New Operator of Air Transport Services (A320 # 40) with a capacity of 180 passenger seats on a non-pioneer status with project site located at Manila Domestic Airport, Pasay City.

Any person with valid objections on the above-mentioned project may file his/her objection in writing, under oath, with the BOI within three (3) days from the date of this publication.

(SGD.) RAFAELITO H. TARUC Director (TS-JAN. 6, 2016)

( TS - JAN. 6 , 2016)

Republic of the PhilippinesProvince of Ilocos Sur

MUNCIPALITY OF SINAIT

OFFICE OF THE BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE (BAC)INVITATION TO BID FOR VARIOUS PROJECTS

January 6, 2016(INFRA)

The Municipal Government of Sinait, through the R.A. 7171- Mun. Share (Congressional) Projects intends to apply the sum specified per Infra Projects below as being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for the following various clustered projects to wit:

Name of Projects LocationApproved Budget

Cost (ABC) Source of Fund Duration of Works

1. CLUSTER XIV – (CONCRETING)

(Concreting of Sallacapo FMR ; Concreting of Cabarambanan FMR ; Concreting of Tapao Barangay Road; Concreting of Quibit-quibit Barangay Road; Concreting of Duyayyat FMR ; Concreting of Teppeng FMR (SitioMadamgis); Concreting of Baracbac FMR; Concreting of Masadag FMR; Concreting & Riprapping of Katipunan FMR; Concreting of Nagongburan FMR; Concreting of Sta Cruz FMR; Concreting of Zapat FMR; Concreting of Paratong FMR; Concreting of Pacis FMR; Concreting of Sapriana FMR; Concreting of Curtin FMR; Concreting of Ubbog Covered Multi-Purpose Pavement and FMR

Brgy. Sallacapo, Cabarambanan, Tapao, Quibit-quibit, Duyayyat, Teppeng, Baracbac, Masadag, Katipunan, Nagongburan, Sta Cruz, Zapat, Paratong, Pacis, Sapriana, Curtin, Ubbog

P 20,500,000.00 R.A. 7171 Mun. Share-

(CongressionalFund)

250cd

2. CLUSTER XV – (BUILDING)Construction of Binacud Multi-Purpose Building; Construction of Jordan Covered Multi-Purpose Building; Construction of Covered Multi-Purpose Building(Baracbac Elem. School); Construction of Battog Covered Multi-Purpose BuildingConstruction of Rang-ay Covered Multi-Purpose Building; Construction of Quimmallogong Covered Multi-Purpose Building; Construction of Covered Dadalaquiten Sur Multi-Purpose Building; Construction of Macabiag Multi-Purpose Building; Construction of Sabangan Multi-Purpose Building; Construction of Cabangtalan Multi-Purpose Building

Brgy. Binacud, Jordan, Baracbac, Battog, Rang-ay, Quimmallogong, Dadalaquiten Sur, Macabiag, Sabangan, Cabangtalan

P 17,653,133.00 R.A. 7171 Mun. Share- (CongressionalFund)

280 cd

Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.The Municipal Government of Sinait now invites bids for the said Projects stated above. Completion of the

Works is required as stated above under Duration of Works. Bidders should have completed, within ten (10) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instruction to Bidders.

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

Interested bidders may obtain further information from Municipal Government of SinaitBAC Office and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.

BAC Office or MPDC Office – Sinait Municipal Hall, Sinait, Ilocos Sur.A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders from the address above and

upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding DocumentsISSUANCE OF BID DOCUMENTS – January 6, 2016-January 26, 2016The Municipal Government of Sinaitthru BAC will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on January 14, 2016 @ 9:30

A.M. at MPDC Office SinaitMun. Hall, Sinait, Ilocos Sur which shall be open to all interested parties.Bids must be delivered to the address above on or before January 26, 2016 @ 9:30 A.M.at SinaitMun. Hall

Main Bldg., Sinait, Ilocos Sur. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

OPENING OF BIDS – JANUARY 26, 2016@ 9:30 A.M. @ SinaitMuncipal Hall, Sinait, IlocosSur..Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives with the Authority of the Signatory who

choose to attend at the address above. Late bids shall not be accepted.The Municipal Government of Sinait reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding

process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.For further information, please refer to:BAC SECRETARIATMPDC OfficeSinaitMun. Hall Main Bldg. (1st floor)Mobile # 09166725419e-mail address: [email protected]

SGD. EMELFA C. INES BAC Chairman

HARBIN—Brave swimmers plunged into freezing waters while other visitors gazed at frozen palaces ahead of the opening ceremony for China’s spec-tacular Harbin Ice and Snow Festival on Tuesday.

The annual festival in the capital of the northeast-ern province of Heilongjiang is expected to draw more than one million visitors to admire castles and cathedrals sculpted out of ice and lit up at night in ethereal colors.

This year’s display is the largest in the festival’s decades-long history, filling a park the size of more than 100 sports fields and using a record amount of ice and snow, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Though temperatures on Tuesday remained a bit-ing -14 degrees Celsius (seven degrees Fahrenheit) even at noon, a number of festival goers took part in an ice-swimming competition, diving bare-chested and head-first into freezing pools of water cut into the ice.

Those not inclined to take the plunge admired a vast expanse of ice block Chinese palaces, Russian churches and European colonnades, with vendors selling gleaming rows of candied fruit.

Visitors sledded and snapped selfies on the eve of the park’s opening ceremony, the translucent pa-godas around them glowing in surreal neon pinks, blues and greens.

Chinese and Dutch designers worked with more than 10,000 workers over three months to build the winter wonderland, according to Xinhua.

The centerpiece is a 15-story tower of ice, thought to be the world’s tallest.

The festival’s schedule includes ice and snow sculpture contests, as well as performances and mu-sical events.

Local authorities hope that the festival can bring much needed tourist dollars to the region, histori-cally one of China’s industrial bases, now hit by an economic slowdown. AFP

RIYADH—Tensions be-tween Saudi Arabia and Iran erupted into a full-blown diplomatic crisis as Riyadh and its Sunni Arab allies cut or reduced ties with Tehran, sparking glob-al concern.

Following angry exchanges over Saudi Arabia’s execution Saturday of prominent Shiite cleric and activist Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, Riyadh and then Bahrain and Sudan severed re-lations with Tehran, the main Shiite power.

European countries and regional power Turkey voiced concerns over the row, while US Secretary of State John Kerry called his Iranian and Saudi counterparts on Monday and Moscow offered to act as an interme-diary.

The UN envoy for Syria headed to Riyadh and Tehran to defuse tensions, and a US official said Washington was “urging calm and de-escalation”.

The crisis has also raised fears of an increase in sectarian violence in the Middle East, including in Iraq where two Sunni mosques were blown up late Monday and two people killed.

Saudi Arabia insisted at the United Nations, however, that the row would not affect the efforts to resolve the conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

“From our side, it should have no effect because we will continue to work very hard to support the peace efforts in Syria and Yemen,” Abdallah al-Mouallimi, Saudi Arabia’s ambas-sador to the UN, told reporters.

He said Riyadh would attend the coming talks on Syria, but took a swipe at Iran’s role in the nearly five-year war there, saying: “They have been taking provocative and negative positions... and I don’t think the break in relations is going to dissuade them from such behavior.”

Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran late on Sunday, giving diplomats 48 hours to leave the kingdom after protesters—responding to Nimr’s execution—set fire to its embassy in Tehran and a consulate in second city Mashhad, an attack strongly con-demned by the UN Security Council.

Bahrain and Sudan followed suit on Monday, and the United Arab Emirates also downgraded its ties, re-calling its envoy from Tehran.

Sunni Arab nations accuse Tehran of repeatedly meddling in their affairs, with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir saying “Iran’s history is full of negative interference and hostility in Arab issues”.

Some 80 Saudis, including diplo-mats and their families, had already left Iran and arrived in Dubai on Monday, diplomatic sources said.

The Saudi civil aviation authority said all flights to and from Iran were also being suspended. AFP


B8 cESAR bARRioqUiNtoE D I T O R

[email protected]

Denmark, Swedentightenborders

Sushi boss pays $117,000 for giant tuna

Endangered. President of sushi restaurant chain Sushi-Zanmai, Kiyoshi Kimura, displays a 200kg bluefin tuna at his main restaurant near Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market on January 5, 2016. The bluefin tuna was traded at $117,000 (14 million yen) at the wholesale market on the first trading day of the new year. Tsukiji market will close its doors after 80 years followed by a new market opening in Toyosu this autumn. AFP

worldObama to introducegun-control measures

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama will introduce a raft of execu-tive actions to try to reduce US gun violence Tuesday, bypassing Congress and launching a bitter 2016 election year fight.

Kicking off his last year in the White House with a defiant show of executive power, Obama will ig-nore Congressional opposition and take a series of unilateral steps to regulate gun sales and curb illicit purchases.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the mea-sures would tighten the rules on who must register as a gun dealer, narrow the “gun show” loophole thats allow buyers to dodge background checks, and a crackdown on “straw purchases” that see weapons purchased through intermediaries.

It would also encourage the Pentagon, with its vast buying power, to procure weapons from man-ufacturers who use “ gun safety technology” such as fingerprint scanners.

Obama will discuss the new measures—which Republicans who control Congress, weapons mak-ers and gun enthusiasts have already lambasted as an infringement of constitutional freedoms-in the East Room of the White House on Tuesday.

Around 30,000 people die in gun violence every year in America, most by suicide.

During Obama’s seven years as president, he has often shown flashes of anger and frustration at Congress’s refusal to tighten gun controls, most notably after the mass slaughter of Connecticut schoolchildren, South Carolina churchgoers and Colorado movie watchers.

The measures will stop well short of introduc-ing universal background checks or registering or collecting some of the more than 300 million guns already thought to be in circulation in the United States, moves that would likely need Congressional approval.

On the eve of the announcement, Obama admit-ted his executive actions were “not going to solve every violent crime in this country. It’s not going to prevent every mass shooting. It’s not going to keep every gun out of the hands of a criminal.”

“It will,” he said, “potentially, save lives in this country” and spare families heartache.

But even in taking limited measures, by acting alone and against the will of Congress, Obama has invited political and legal maelstrom. AFP

KRUSA, Denmark—Denmark im-plemented spot checks on its bor-der with Germany on Monday, in a move that triggered fresh concern for Europe’s cherished Schengen passport-free zone hours after Sweden imposed its own controls on travelers from Denmark.

Alarmed by the restrictions, the latest in a spate of border controls im-posed across Europe in the wake of a massive migrant influx to the conti-nent, Berlin warned the 20-year-old Schengen zone was “in danger”.

The new Swedish measures also mean travelers between Denmark and Sweden will have to show their ID cards for the first time since the late 1950s, when a Nordic agree-ment on passport-free travel came into force.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen cited the Swedish checks to justify his own country’s immediate introduction of random border controls.

“We are simply reacting to a de-cision made in Sweden... This is not a happy moment at all,” he told reporters.

Rasmussen warned that Sweden’s controls could have a domino effect on Denmark, which received just 21,000 asy-lum requests in 2015, compared to Sweden’s 163,000.

“It’s clear the EU is not able to protect its outer borders and other countries are going to be forced to introduce... border controls,” he said, adding: “Europe’s leaders must react to this.”

Under Schengen rules, countries are allowed to re-introduce border checks for up to six months in ex-ceptional circumstances.

German foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer voiced concern over Denmark’s decision, telling reporters: “Freedom of movement is an important prin-ciple—one of the biggest achieve-ments (in the European Union) in recent years.”

“Schengen is very important but it is in danger,” he said.

At the Denmark-Germany border, a group of 20 Syrians, in-cluding several children, en route to Sweden were made to get off a train and escorted by police. AFP

TOKYO—A Japanese sushi boss paid more than $117,000 Tuesday for a giant bluefin tuna as Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market held its last New Year auction ahead of a much-needed modernization move.

Bidding stopped at a whopping 14 million yen for the enormous 200-kilogram fish—a threatened species—that was caught off Japan’s northern coast.

The price was three times higher than last year’s but still far below a record 155.4 million yen paid by the sushi chain operator in 2013—when a Hong Kong restaurant chain weighed in and drove up the bidding—for a slightly larger fish

of similar quality.The New Year auction is a tra-

ditional feature at Tsukiji, where bidders pay way over the odds for the prestige of buying the first fish of the year.

But it came as Japan, the world’s largest consumer of bluefin tuna, faces growing calls for a trade ban on the species, which environmental-ists warn is on its way to extinction.

The population of Pacific bluefin tuna is set to keep declining “even if governments ensure existing man-agement measures are fully imple-mented”, Amanda Nickson, direc-tor of Global Tuna Conservation at the Pew Charitable Trusts, said in

a release. Bluefin is usually the most ex-

pensive fish available at Tsukiji, the biggest fish and wholesale seafood market in the world.

A single piece of “otoro”, or the fish’s fatty underbelly, can cost up to several thousand yen at high-end Tokyo restaurants.

The growing popularity of Japanese sushi worldwide has stoked demand elsewhere.

“Given the already dire state of the population—decimated to just four percent of unfished lev-els—it is of particular concern that the auction price is rising again,” Nickson added. AFP

Restive. A man rides his motorcycle as Mount Soputan spews ash into the air during an eruption near Silian village, Southeast Minahasa district, in Northern Sulawesi on January 5, 2016. Mount Soputan is one of the most active volcanoes in North Sulawesi and last erupted in March 2015. AFP

C1W E D N E S D AY : J A N U A R Y 6 , 2 0 1 6

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

H OME & L I V ING

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

An average person spends about 12 hours a day at home. According to the 2014 American Time Use Survey of the

US Bureau of Labor Statistics, majority of time spent in the comfort of our abode goes to sleeping (8.80 hours) followed by household activities (2.38 hours). As we welcome another year of possibilities, we might as well maximize its potential by starting at the place where we spend half a day.

When it comes to bringing in good luck and harmony, many believe in the ancient art and science of feng shui. On his website, leading feng shui expert Master Hanz Cua says feng shui “deals with the placement of buildings and other objects to accentuate the auspicious positive energies and to minimize those which are negative.”

Many attest to the effectivity of this Chinese practice while some remain skeptical. But there’s no harm in trying, right? In 2016, the Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year) starts on February 8 and feng shui cures should be in place by February 4 (Solar New Year), so here’s a few basic feng shui tips and practical ways to harness the potential of your home’s positive energies in the year of the Fire Monkey.

WELCOME LUCK AT THE FRONT DOORBefore optimizing the luck inside your home, make sure that luck comes inside first. Make sure the

entryway is free of all clutter such as shoes and other personal things on the floor as they disrupt the flow of the energy or chi inside the house.

“Wash, sweep or vacuum the front steps, porch, entry hall, lobby—whatever the entry is in where you live. Make this area clean, well-lit and inviting,” says Susan Levitt (www.susanlevitt.com), a professional tarot card reader, astrologer and feng shui expert in the San Francisco Bay Area. The key is to make sure everything is in its right place and nothing litters the floor. Make use of wall shelves.

To welcome a truly prosperous new year, Levitt adds to “check the entry’s lighting fixtures, make sure the doorbell works, and touch up scuff marks with a fresh coat of paint or add a new rug.”

KEEP THINGS TIDYFire brings a lot of activities so make sure to start the year with an organized home. Start at the area or room first seen from outside, then work your way to the other rooms. This allows the chi to flow freely once it’s inside. “Make sure that the first thing seen in each room is clean and inspiring,” says Levitt,

so piles of paperwork or any type of mess is a big no-no.

FIX EVERYTHING THAT’S BROKENAs with the front door, make sure to fix the things that are broken inside—from the lighting fixtures to the walls and furniture. Experts say the absence of brokenness creates harmony in the house.

PAINT ROOMS ACCORDING TO THE FIVE TAOIST ELEMENTSFire and Metal are two dominant but conflicting elements this year, and

if majority of walls in your home is white (Metal), Levitt says this could lead to arguing and bickering. Hence, paint at least one room with color; best if you paint the room according to its Taoist element (Fire, Earth, Water, Metal and Wood). Living room – FireThe living room is said to be the heart of the home and is best painted with bright and lively Fire colors such as all shades of red or purple. Levitt says vibrant colors and accents help stimulate conversation and activity.Dining room – Earth“The dining room is best in earthen tones of gold, terra cotta or other soft yin colors,” suggests Levitt. Skip painting the dining area red as its stimulating effect makes people eat fast. Bedroom – MetalIn the room where we sleep and breathe deeply, the best colors are white, cream and soft pastels. “Avoid big prints on beddings and drapery, especially in a child’s room” because it’s “too yang” and does not promote restfulness. Bathroom – WaterFor a soothing bath experience, Levitt recommends painting the bathroom with soft, quiet and calm colors such as light blue. Kitchen – Wood“The kitchen must be kept very clean because this is where food is prepared, so white walls are best.” To introduce the Wood element, put plants and/or green accents in safe areas away from fire or anything that is burning.

HOW TO BRING LUCK INTO YOUR HOME THIS 2016

BY BERNADETTE LUNAS

C2W E D N E S D AY : J A N U A R Y 6 , 2 0 1 6

LIFE l i f e @ t h e s t a n d a r d . c o m . p h @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d

The stress inducing preparations for the seemingly endless rounds of parties – from the kids’ Christmas parties in school to the Noche Buena and Media Noche Feasts

is enough to sap the energy of even the most upbeat supermom. With the holidays now over, it’s back to the old grind with regular chores that are challenging to multitasking career women-slash-domestic divas. Help in on hand however, with these 10 practical, energy-and-time saving tips from Electrolux that will make you more efficient this 2016.

1. PLAN AND PREPARE MEALS AND TRIPS TO THE GROCERY.Nothing can be more irritating than to find that you have missed out on an important ingredient for that recipe you’ve been wanting to try. Solution: carefully plan to ensure that you have everything that you need, and when you need it. This saves you from unnecessary trips to and from the supermarket when you forget an ingredient or two. Better still, set your budget – make an inventory, organize your recipes, create your menus, and schedule your shopping.

2. FREEZE YOUR MEALS. Considering the number of people who hardly have enough to eat, food wastage can be troubling to the conscience. So prevent any wastage by storing leftovers properly in a tight lid container, putting a label on them, and freezing them. That way, you do not need to throw away leftovers. Properly frozen meals in an Electrolux NutriFresh™ Refrigerator can last up to two months without losing their taste and texture.

3. MAXIMIZE YOUR RICE COOKER.Many have discovered that the ordinary, humble rice cooker can actually go beyond its initial purpose. Electrolux rice cookers most specially are designed with a 4-in-1 cooking feature that keeps dishes warm, cooks soups and porridge, and steams dishes. If you don’t have the space for a full stove or a large kitchen in your living space, it might be just what you need for your next potluck weekend.

4. MAINTAIN THE QUALITY OF YOUR CARPETS WITH A VACUUM CLEANER.Spills on the carpet are unavoidable with kids running around, not to mention entertaining guests with hearty parties. However, the abrasive rubbing of stains will only cause the fiber to mat. The smart way is to use a wet-dry vacuum cleaner such as the Electrolux Wet and Dry Z931 vacuum cleaner to remove the dirt around the stain. Then try soaking up the stain with a wet towel pressed repeatedly onto it. Repeat the process with a dry towel to ensure that all the liquid has been absorbed.

5. STEAM YOUR CLOTHES FOR A WRINKLE-FREE FINISH.One of the most challenging chores for many is ironing clothes. But did you know that leaving your un-ironed shirt hanging in the

bathroom while you take a hot shower will practically get all the wrinkles out? Or better yet, treat yourself to an Electrolux UltraMix™ Front Load Washing Machine with a Refresh Cycle program that removes creases and folds and naturally de-wrinkles your clothes. Less time for laundry, more time for the family!

6. USE THE FLOSS.Aside from using it to remove bits caught between your teeth, un-waxed dental floss can also be your trusty kitchen helper – as a slicer for cakes and soft cheeses, or to tie-up poultry and rolled meats.

7. RUN NO MORE.Glamming up can be made easier with this little trick: Make your stockings last longer by spritzing a little hairspray to avoid getting runs in them. The sticky residue will hold the

fabric together, and stressful moments with an unsightly gash in your stockings will be the last thing on your mind.

8. UPCYCLE!Turn ordinary moments into fun bonding sessions with the kids through upcycling. With the holidays now over, those used Christmas wrappers can still make for colorful decorations in scrapbooks and school projects. Make handmade dolls from old materials like socks, buttons and hairpins; or upcycle an old dress into a pretty apron. By being creative and resourceful, you will soon learn that the possibilities are endless.

9. CLEAN YOUR REFRIGERATOR WITH SALT.Now is the perfect time to clear the clutter in your refrigerator after the rush of hams, fruitcakes, wines, and all the goodies you needed for the Christmas holiday feasts. A simple but effective way to clean your fridge is by mixing a handful of salt with about three liters of warm water. The mixture is chemical free and gentle on sensitive surfaces.

10. WINE THINGS UP!Make parties and ordinary days special by serving richer wines. How? By freezing some grapes and popping them in glasses to keep the wine cold without watering it down. Better yet, store your wine in the Electrolux Vino Wine Cooler to ensure perfectly served wine any time. You can also freeze leftover wines in ice-cube trays for reuse when preparing meat dishes and spaghetti sauces.

With Electrolux appliances, you can do more with less at home – giving you more time to spend quality time with the family and less time spent for the chores. Plus, you can save more and spend less, and achieve more wellness because there is less stress and worry.

To know more about Electrolux, visit www.electrolux.com.ph or follow @ElectroluxPH on Twitter and Instagram and www.facebook.com/thelittlewhitebook on Facebook.

10 ways to be more efficient this 2016

C3LIFE 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


It is already January and yet we still experience bouts of rain and dewy weather. We even welcomed our New Year’s Eve with drizzles amid the fireworks. At this day and age, you

never know when you can actually have a full sun or a gloomy weather, and it affects most of the stuff we do in and out of our homes.

For many homeowners, this erratic weather makes it hard to do your laundry. You hang your clothes under the rack to dry in the sun yet in the afternoon you keep rushing to bring them in as it starts to drizzle. A good automatic washing machine may just be the perfect New Year’s gift for your home. For independent city dwellers or newlyweds, a washing machine is a good investment for the home. It’s convenient, saves money on laundry service and if you have house help, she will just thank you for it.

There are many options in the appliance center but you might want to consider getting a Midea. One of the largest producers of major appliances in the world, Midea offers a fully automatic front-loading washing machine and dryer that combine the features of high-end washers and dryers at an affordable price.

For condominium dwellers, Midea’s front-loading washer boasts of special features that make it efficient in electricity consumption including water usage. An estimated P2 on electrical cost is what you can consume for your 82 minute-wash usage, while rinse and dry cycle can save 70 percent on water consumption. The machine has 16 wash programs to

optimize the wash cycle depending on the type of clothes and fabrics you intend to clean.

One of the features we need for this weather is an efficient dryer that comes with a humidity sensor to ensure more

accurate drying of clothes. Midea dryer has a temperature sensor to adjust the heat of the dryer drum that prevents clothes from being damaged. It also has variable drying time selectors to give users a customized time for drying their clothes.

Midea’s front-loading washing machine and dryer are available in six kilogram-load models. For more information about Midea’s front-loading washing machine and dryer and other household appliances, visit www.Midea.com.ph or Midea Philippines on Facebook.

Out with the old, in with the new – every time the year starts, this mantra is on everyone’s lips. Just like our closet, sometimes we need to free up stuff at

home that we barely even use. Rule is, if you haven’t touched or used it for a year – get rid of it, sell it online, donate it, or give it to someone else as he might have better use for it.

While going through some stuff on your cupboards, peeking under your sink, or dusting furniture at home, you might uncover some unsightly dust and grime from last year or probably even from the year before (oh so help you God!). This year, your best treat for yourself might be a good vacuum cleaner to suck away all the unwanted dirt that you have accumulated at your home. While there are a lot of brands to choose from in the market, sometimes a vacuum cleaner is an investment in itself, so buy the best one and you may never have to buy again for so many years.

A brand that was on the wish list for so many mothers last year is from British technology firm Dyson. Vacuums from Dyson are not cheap, but they are an investment, the brand supported by over 3,000 engineers which makes it more than

just about vacuum cleaners. Founded by James Dyson over 20 years ago, it all began when he became frustrated by his own home vacuum cleaner, which he ripped into pieces to find the problem – and developed the world’s first cyclonic vacuum cleaner with no loss of suction. After 5,127 prototypes, five years and numerous setbacks, James Dyson succeeded in creating one of the most iconic appliances for homes today. Through the years, the brand has invented bladeless fans air purifiers and cordless vacuum cleaners that perform like corded ones.

HERE ARE SOME OF THE PRODUCTS YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER FOR YOUR HOME INVESTMENT THIS 2016: Dyson Fluffy Stop fussing about the cords that get in the way of your house cleaning. Forget about annoying wires and bulky vacuum cleaners. One of the latest Dyson designs is lightweight, cordless and has as much power as a corded vacuum cleaner. Clean hard to reach ceiling cobwebs or corners of your homes. Price starts at P38,500. Quite an investment, but worth your every cent.

Dyson DC34 When was the last time you cleaned up all the dust mites lurking on your bed? Dirty bed linens and bed cushions are breeding ground for dust mites. What is more disturbing is that people really get dust mite allergies not through bites but through the insect’s feces. Some people get red blotchy skin when they come into contact with dust mites’ excretion, or when these mites crawl up on people while they are sleeping and turn the skin into their own comfort rooms. Yes – that’s a horrid thing to imagine. Dyson DC34 might just be your best friend against these pesky mites. It’s a handheld vacuum powered by the Dyson digital motor which spins at 110,000rpm – five times faster than an F1 engine. It uses powerful suction to get those nasty mites out of your lives.

Dyson machines are available in Century City Mall (Dyson Concept Store), Rustan’s Makati, Rustan’s Shangri-La, Rustan’s Cebu, Rustan’s Gateway, Abenson Ascott, Duty Free Philippines, Anson’s Makati, Robinson’s Appliance Magnolia, True Value Rockwell, True Value Estancia and True Value 8 Forbes.

Laundry days made easier by Midea’s front-loading washer and dryer

Vacuum last year’s grime out of your home Dyson DC34

Dyson Fluffy

C4 LIFE l i f e @ t h e s t a n d a r d . c o m . p h @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d


The sight of new furniture at home can liven up your new year. After consulting your interior designers or your feng shui expert, you might

want to get something new and shiny for the house. Europe’s iconic home design brand Habitat is the perfect haven for your new year home shopping.

Last year, Habitat finally opened its 1,500-square-meter showroom at Bonifacio Global City, its first in Manila. Founded in London by the visionary designer Sir Terence Conran, the brand has been known to offer practical, affordable, yet exquisitely designed furniture and home accessories in Europe for over 50 years.

Visit the showroom today and feast on the featured products that include furniture by the legendary architect Robert Mallet-Stevens, kitchenware designed by Michelin-starred chef Thierry Marx, and other collaborations with some of Europe’s biggest design stars. There are also exclusive European-made furniture and décor created from Habitat’s own Design Studio.

“We are happy to bring these elegant Habitat products to home design lovers in the Philippines,” says Habitat Manila director Walter Lim. “We feel that the brand is perfect for people who, like us, admire the casual chic lifestyles of Paris, London, Madrid, and other modern European cities,” he adds.

Habitat Manila is located at the 3rd Level of Abenson, beside The Ascott Residence, on the corner of 28th Street and 4th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. For news, promos and product features call (63 2) 887 5247 or visit Habitat MNL on Facebook and @ HabitatMNL on Instagram.

Enchanted Kingdom is a popular destination for many Filipinos during the holidays. In fact, the official record of the Santa Rosa, Laguna theme park reveals 23,000 visitors

spent a fun-filled day at EK during the holidays. With many visitors and a festive vibe, the

Yuletide season is likewise special for the theme park. “Christmas is very symbolic for Enchanted Kingdom,” enthused Enchanted Kingdom Inc. chairman and president Mario Mamon. As a proof, during the Christmas season last year, EK launched “EKsperience Magical Christmas,” which featured a number of enchanting and captivating shows.

During the launch of the Christmas season at Enchanted Kingdom, the 20-feet Magical Lantern made by Eric Quiwa from San Fernando, Pampanga was lighted, while a concert at the Midway Boardwalk featuring music artists Kaye Cal, Marcelito Pomoy, JK Labajo, Bryan Termulo, and Liezel Garcia energized guests in the park.

Other enchanting Christmas shows which made the season more special were “Brooklyn Christmas” set in a snowy setting; “Enchante

Christmagic,” a world-class musical play and “Journey of Love & Hope” featuring the story of the Nativity of Jesus Christ.

One could feel the Christmas atmosphere all around the iconic theme park. As one of EK’s guests said, “It was super fun and you can really feel the spirit of Christmas.”

Visitors were all smiles while enjoying the rides and attractions. But the fun was truly felt by the children. “We decided for the whole family to spend our Christmas here at Enchanted Kingdom because this celebration is for kids,” a guest shared.

A fun bonding experience with family and friends is not only exclusive to the holidays. With a number of attractions, including Carousel, Flying Fiesta, Rio Grande Rapids, Bouncing Boulders Mini Drop Tower, Dinosoarus, Anchors Away, EKstreme Tower Ride, and Wheel of Fate, among many others, any day in the park promises to be a magical experience.

“It’s a fun place to be. There’s a lot of rides and we have a lot of things to do with our families and friends,” raved another guest.

UPDATE YOUR HOME WITH

HABITAT MANILA

THE ‘KINGDOM’ FOR ALL SEASONS

Abenson Ventures Inc. Director Walter Lim, Habitat Design International and General Manager of China, Mr. Romain Seiler and Habitat Manila’s General Manager Mark Zwolfer.

Eldar the Wizard leads the lighting ceremony of the 20-feet Magical Lantern at Enchanted Kingdom

Eldar the Wizard (center) poses with guests at the launch of ‘EKsperience Magical Christmas’

Marcelito Pomoy Bryan Termulo Liezel Garcia

Habitat Manila is now open at the 3rd Level of Abenson, Bonifacio Global City

Naoko armchair by designer Naoko Kanehira, Tree floor lamp from Habitat Design Studio, and Galets side table

Metropolitain, Cypraea

Vintage Parisian homes can be updated to look more contemporary, but still retain its classic feel with Habitat furniture designed by the legendary Robert Mallet-Stevens

Teapot and teacups and saucers from the Concetta collection, designed by Concetta Gallo

Italian-made dining chairs and extendable table options at Habitat Manila

SHOWBITZi s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

C5ISAH V. REDE D I T O R

The Kapamilya Network is not yet over with love teams, in fact, the TV station is banking heavily on its ros-ter of on-screen pairings yet again to field its new series this 2016.

The lineup, which the net-work introduced during its trade launch last month, is an interest-ing mix of tried and tested pairs with new love teams thrown into picture to add new flavors and probably some spiced up twists.

At least six new series are set to headline ABS-CBN’s afternoon and primetime blocks in the first quarter of the year. The teasers of the highly anticipated new series have already been released online and sometime shown in various commercial gaps of the Kapamilya channel.

One that’s gaining momentum is Dolce Amore to be top-billed by the love team that made prime-time viewers believe in “forever,” Enrique Gil and Liza Soberano. Dolce amore in Italian literal-ly means “sweet love” in English. Hence, the new series featuring LizQuen can be a promise of Forev-ermore version 2. only that the cen-tral characters are switching social status in the new TV production. In Dolce Amore, Liza plays the role of Serena, a princess who only wants to live a normal and ordinary life. Enrique plays the role of Tenten, an ordinary boy from Manila working hard to provide for his family. As Tenten looks for money to help his father, he comes across Serena. Another established love team is set to resurface on primetime via The Story of Us, which is set to re-place the top-rating JaDine drama On the Wings of Love in February. Starring Kim Chiu and Xian Lim, The Story of Us boasts immensely picturesque scenes partly shot in Palawan. The details of the plot, however, remains the production’s secret but we heard it’s about two young lovers who grow apart and then try to find their way back in each other’s arms (like how passé any Kapamiya shows can be). In speaking of tried and tested on-screen pairs, the Kapamilya network bring real-life couple Er-ich Gonzales and Daniel Matsu-

naga back on the boob tube. The couple’s on- and-off screen ro-mance purportedly blossomed on the set of Two Wives. They are re-united in the afternoon block’s Be My Lady. This soap centers on the romantic journey of a young play-boy from Singapore and a barrio lass who is focused on her dreams for her family (imagine Suddenly It’s Magic sans Mario Maurer). Moving on to the heavyweights, Dreamscape Entertainment brings “another TV masterpiece” (their description of the family drama) featuring an ensemble of “this gen-eration’s biggest” (their description of the cast) stars Piolo Pascual, Toni Gonzaga, Jolina Magdangal, Sarah Lahbati and Sam Milby. The upcoming primetime series is entitled Written In Our Stars and talks about love, life and death, in no particular order. Based on its three-minute trailer, the story looks like a marriage be-tween the Korean series Pure Love and the classic romantic movie, The Ghost. A car accident leads to the death of Piolo’s character, leaving behind Toni’s character and their child. In a twist, Piolo’s character would be handed a chance to guide his family from the afterlife. Meanwhile, returning actress Cristine Reyes stars in an upcom-ing (heavy) drama called Tubig At Langis. In the series, Cristine plays the character of a young single mother who is reluctant to give love another try. She reunites with Zanjoe Marudo, whom she teamed up with in Precious Hearts Romances: Kristine in 2010. They are joined by Isabelle Daza who plays the third wheel in the story. Lastly, newly-signed up Kapam-ilya Elmo Magalona checks in op-posite Janella Salvador in another romantic drama called Born For You. The series is another Dream-scape Entertainment production and is based on the Japanese be-lief on red string of fate where the gods tie an invisible red cord around the ankles of those that are destined to meet one another in a certain situation or help each oth-er in a certain way. So, there. You might or might not want to watch these series in the months ahead but one thing is for sure, all of these programs are gunning for ratings suprema-cy hence they would still get your attention, one way or another.

WEDNES DAY : JA NUA RY 6, 2016

Kapamilya marKs new TV season wiTh fresh program lineup

niCKie wangniCKie wang

LizQuen, from Forevermore to

Dolce Amore

Xian Lim and Kim Chiu reunite

in a romantic primetime drama

Piolo Pascual and Toni Gonzaga in a scene from Written in the Stars

SHOWBITZC6i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m


ACROSS 1 Train for boxing 5 Halloween teeth 10 Benefit, often 14 Hearty companion 15 Kapitan’s command (hyph.) 16 NYSE rival 17 — spumante 18 Columbus’ port 19 District 20 Visible at night 22 Broad-minded

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 WEDNESDAY,

JANUARY 6, 2016

24 Brewery tank 25 Cause a blister 26 Basilica areas 29 Pub. prosecutors 32 Kim of “Vertigo” 36 Meadow murmurs 37 Walloped 39 Tavern 40 Crawl alternative (2 wds.) 43 Yale grad 44 Bayou dweller 45 Mexican pot

46 Hitachi rival 48 Type of whiskey 49 Cleared the dishes 50 Henri’s island 52 — out (relax) 53 Tot’s attire 57 Lucille Ball, e.g. 61 Cause to fall 62 Got back, as a championship 64 Pantyhose hue 65 Pave the way 66 On both feet 67 Lean-to 68 Gin-fizz flavor 69 Cubicle fillers 70 Prepare the salad

DOWN 1 Fraud 2 El —, Texas 3 Low voice 4 Change a portfolio 5 Tempus — (time flies) 6 Help a crook 7 Persona — grata 8 Liverpool poky 9 Series of steps 10 Elegant garden feature 11 Romance, to Pedro 12 Actress — Dunham

13 Eddie’s cop character 21 Refrain syllables 23 Cake-pan type 26 Paris priests 27 Abdul or Prentiss 28 Tuxedo trim 29 Hold off on 30 Brass or bronze 31 Arrange hair 33 Strads 34 It may turn on you 35 Work, as clay 37 Icy remark? 38 WNW opposite 41 Quebec school 42 Bumpiest 47 Hurrah! 49 Futon or bunk 51 Blew it 52 Cracks in volcanos 53 66 and I-80 54 — hygiene 55 Japanese soup 56 Bone-dry 57 Jagger’s genre 58 Nymph who pined away 59 Warmonger of myth 60 Clothing 63 Mr. Craven

The Hollywood Foreign Press will hold the 73rd an-nual Golden Globe Awards on Sunday (Monday

morning in Manila). The Globes is considered the weathervane of the Academy Awards on Feb. 28 (Feb 29 in Manila), the nominations for which will be announced on Jan. 14 (Jan. 15 in Manila).

The Revenant, Steve Jobs and The Big Short, with four nominations each, the big players in this race held annually by members of the Holly-wood Foreign Press Association.

Actors/Actresses in the race in-cludes Bryan Cranton (Trumbo), Leonardo DiCaprio (The Reve-nant), Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs) Eddie Redmayne (The Dan-ish Girl), Cate Blanchett (Carol), Brie Larson (Room) and Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn).

In the Foreign Language race there’s no film from Asia. The race is among Chile, France, Hungary and films co-produced by Bel-gium, France and Lucembourge as well as by Finland, Germany, and Estonia. Sadly, Heneral Luna, the Philippine film that was an-ticipated to make waves in this year’s international awards races failed to make the grade with the foreign journalists covering Hol-lywood and as it is now the Acad-emy Awards as well. Well, it just means Filipino filmmakers have to work harder and not rest on lau-rels given to their films by Filipino critics. The foreign press apparent-ly has different standards in choos-ing their best films outside of the American dream factory.

The Golden Globes this year takes place Jan. 10 at the Beverly Hilton. It will be telecast live on RTL-CBS Entertainment (SkyCa-ble 196 in Metro Manila) 9 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 11.

HHHHH

LiST Of nOminEES(in mOTiOn PiCTURES) fOR ThE 2016 GOLDEn GLObE AWARDS• Best Motion Picture - Drama

Carol, Mad Max: Fury Road The Revenant, Room, Spotlight

• Best Motion Picture - Comedy or MusicalThe Big Short, Joy, The Martian, Spy, Trainwreck

• Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - DramaCate Blanchett, Carol; Brie Larson, Room; Rooney Mara, Carol; Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn; Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

• Best Performance by an Actorin a Motion Picture - DramaBryan Cranton, Trumbo; Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant; Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs;Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl; Will Smith, Concussion

• Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or MusicalJennifer Lawrence, Joy; Melissa McCarthy, Spy ; Amy Schumer, Trainwreck ; Maggie Smith, The Lady in the Van; Lily Tomlin, Grandma

• Best Performance by an Actor

in a Motion Picture - Comedy or MusicalChristian Bale, The Big Short; Steve Carell, The Big Short; Matt Damon, The Martian; Al Pacino, Danny Collins; Mark Ruffalo,Infinitely Polar Bear

• Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion PictureJane Fonda, Youth; Jenni-fer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight; Helen Mirren, Trumbo; Alicia Vikander,Ex Machina; Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

• Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion PicturePaul Dano, Love & Mercy; Id-ris Elba, Beasts of No Na-tion; Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies; Michaeln Shannon, 99 Homes;Sylvester Stallone, Creed

• Best Director - Motion PictureTodd Haynes, Carol; Alejandro G. Inarritu,The Revenant; Tom McCarthy, Spotlight; George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road ; Ridley Scott, The Martian

• Best Foreign-Language FilmThe Brand New Testament(Belgium/France/Luxem-bourg) The Club (Chile)The Fencer (Finland/Germany/Estonia) Mustang (France)Son of Saul (Hungary)

HHHHH

The HFPA also hands awards to outstanding shows and perform-ers on television.

GOLDEn GLObES On SUnDAy

Leonardo DiCaprio in a scene from The Revenant

Room star Brie Larson is nominated Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture category

Cate Blanchett in CarolMichael Fassbender as Steve Jobs

SHOWBITZ C7i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

Ladies and gentlemen, meet can-didate for senator in this year’s elections, Eduardo B. Manzano.

Of course the name is familiar. It sounds like the person we know in the movies and on television. Oh, yes! He’s Edu Manzano. And he is gunning this time for a seat in the nation’s bicameral legisla-ture as senator.

Edu met some members of the press weeks before the holidays last year. No, it wasn’t a press confer-ence, just a small get together with his friends in the showbiz press. Yet, Edu obliged to answer a few ques-tions, specifically his reason for seeking a seat in the Senate.

The TV actor/ host was forth-right in his answers. “I want to be of service to the country and the people. I am not new to politics and after spending time in the private sector as a businessman and actor/TV host on the side, I felt the urge that I can be useful in the public sector,” he said.

Edu Manzano was Chairman of the Optical Media Board and up until today he feels bad that the agency doesn’t seem to have a lead-er that can fight the resurging pira-cy of films. TV shows, and music, not to mention computer software.

“I am just hoping President (Be-nigno) Aquino appoints someone to head the agency as pirates have become even more daring these days, copying illegally certain shows (like the Pacquiao-May-weather fight,” he said.

His successor in the agency, Ron-nie Ricketts, has resigned after fil-ing his certificate of candidacy to

run for congress in Muntinlupa. Last year, the Office of the Ombuds-man has filed a case of graft against Ricketts for allegedly allowing the pull out of seized pirated DVDs that would have served as evidence against suspected counterfeiters. Manzano is optimistic the case will prosper. As a candidate for this year’s elections, he is aligned with the party of Senators Grace Poe and Francis Escudero. “I am going to advance the in-terests of the family,” he said, “if elected to the senate. The fami-ly is the most important aspect in building a strong society. It’s where everything begins – values and morals of everyone. That’s why we need to strengthen the

core of our society.”HHHHH

Rocky MaRciano biopicJeremy Renner will star in a biop-ic about boxer Rocky Marciano. Undefeated: The Rocky Marcia-no Story is produced by Morris S. Levy, and written by Samuel Franco and Evan Kilgore. Levy is seeking a director. His Mega Films own the rights to the life story, as told by his younger brother Lou Marciano. It will be the first authorized bi-opic on Marciano’s life and will fol-low him from childhood to his 1969 death in a plane crash. Marciano re-mains the only heavyweight cham-pion to retire from his professional career undefeated 49-0. Best known for his relentless

style, Marciano held the heavy-weight crown from 1952 to 1956, and defended his title against Jer-sey Joe Walcott, Roland La Star-za, Ezzard Charles, Don Cockell and Archie Moore before retiring at the age of 32.

Renner was last seen in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and he will reprise his role as Hawkeye in Captain America: Civil War in May. Levy’s credits include Seduced and Abandoned and the series Cop Show.


There was no fiasco, no mishap and no horrible mistake, only colorful fireworks greeted the announce-ment of the winner of the last in-ternational beauty title for the year 2015. Mutya ng Pilipinas Asia-Pa-cific International Leren Mae Bautista bested 56 beauties from all parts of the globe for the title of Miss Tourism Queen of the Year International 2015/2016 during the finals held at Putrajaya Marriot Ho-tel Grand Ballroom in Kuala Lum-pur, Malaysia on Dec. 31.

The angelic and be-dimpled beauty from Los Baños, Laguna became the third Filipina to earn the distinction of being crowned on New Year’s Eve after Angeli Dione Gomez in 2013/14 and the late Rizzini Alexis Gomez in 2012/13 when the pair complet-ed a back-to-back victory at the Miss Tourism International pag-eant also held in Kuala Lumpur.

Bautista, a 23-year-old, 5-foot-9, model and marketing manage-ment graduate at Colegio de San

Juan de Letran, also won a sub-sidiary title as Miss KL SOGO Trendsetter.

Miss Uganda Sheila Kirabo was named Miss Tourism Metropol-itan International 2015/16 while Miss Lithuania Irmina Presegala-viciute won as Miss Tourism Glob-

al International 2015/16. Miss Ice-land Tanja Yr Asthorstoddir took the title Miss Tourism Cosmo-politan International 2015/16 and Miss India Chandni Sharma won as Dreamgirl of the Year Interna-tional 2015/16.

Top 12 finalists also included the

contestants from China, Malaysia, Mongolia, Belarus, Bolivia, Portu-gal and Dominican Republic. Oth-er subsidiary awardees were Miss Focus Point Dazzling and Miss Tropicana Lifestyle for Iceland’s Asthorstoddir, Miss IDCC Con-geniality for Mongolia’s Battsetseg

Turbat, Miss GINTELL Wellness for India’s Sharma, Most Creative Selfie for Bosnia and Herzegovi-na’s Iman Karovic and Miss Joy-ful KLIA for Uganda’s Kirabo.Miss Malaysia Janet Fabian was named Miss Friendship while Miss Sweden Olivia Sophia Elis-abeth Asplund was Best in Talent. Miss Indonesia Delvia Wirajayawon Best in National Costume and Miss Thailand won the social media contest.

The Miss Tourism Queen of the Year International, formerly known as Queen of the Year In-ternational, together with the Miss Tourism International pageant, or-ganized by D’Touch International, under its president, Tan Sri Datuk Danny Ooi, also owns the Miss Malaysia Asia Pacific, Miss South East Asia, Miss Queen of Asia, Miss Malaysia Pageant, Miss Ma-laysia Queen of the Year and Miss Malaysia Tourism pageants which aim to help realize the dreams of ordinary people.

PhiliPPines wins last 2015 international beauty titleby Eton b. concEpcion

Edu Manzano sEEks sEnatE sEat

Mutya ng Pilipinas Asia-Pacific International 2015 Leren Mae Bautista wins the Miss Tourism Queen of the Year International in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on New Year’s Eve.

Actor and Former Optical Media Board chairman Edu Manzano joins Senate race under Grace Poe’s ticket

Rocky Marciano and Jeremy Renner

ISAH V. RED

The Standard - 2016 January 06 - Wednesday

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Transcript of The Standard - 2016 January 06 - Wednesday