The Standard - 2016 May 31 - Tuesday

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‘Roxas, Robredo, Drilon beneficiaries of cheating’

Without Digong, Congress proclaims Leni

VOL. XXX � NO. 108 � 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 � TUESDAY : MAY 31, 2016 � www.thestandard.com.ph � [email protected]

Driloncouldretaintop post

Only halfof 30 postsin Cabinetfilled up

WITNESSES TELLOF QUEZON SCAM

Whistleblowers. Three men claiming that the Liberal Party orchestrated a massive cheating operation during the May 9 elections talk to reporters at the Senate in Pasay City on Monday. LINO SANTOS

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CONGRESS on Monday proclaimed Rodrigo Duterte the nation’s next pres-ident following his landslide election win this month, but he snubbed the high-profile event.

A joint session of the House of Representatives and the Senate in Manila endorsed the official count of the ballots, which saw Duterte win by more than six million votes. Du-

terte declined to attend, remaining instead in his southern hometown of Davao.

Duterte’s refusal to attend broke tradition and disappointed even some of his supporters, reinforcing the foul-mouthed politician’s reputation as a maverick who is happy to offend the political establishment.

“I am not attending the proclama-

tion. I’ve never attended any proclama-tion all my life,” Duterte told reporters on the weekend in Davao, a city that he has ruled as mayor for most of the past two decades.

Duterte, who won largely due to an incendiary law-and-order platform headlined by a vow to wipe out crime within six months, is due to be sworn in on June 30.

By Macon Ramos-Araneta, Christine F. Herrera and Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

ASIDE from administra-tion standard bearer Ma-nuel Roxas II and his run-ning mate Leni Robredo, Senator-elect Franklin Drilon was the biggest beneficiary of vote manip-ulation orchestrated by the Liberal Party in the May 9 elections, three whistle-blowers from Quezon province said Monday.

Concealing their faces behind scarves and sunglasses, the three witnesses told a press conference at the Senate that they participated directly in the rigging of election re-sults upon the order of a top LP of-ficial, whom they declined to name.

At the start of the press confer-ence, a man who described himself as a logistic supervisor, said they faced the media and sought the help of Council on Philippine Affairs (Copa) secretary-general Pastor Saycon to expose the whole truth.

He also said they wanted to reveal all the circumstances around the manipulation and cheating that oc-curred in the counting of votes.

Saycon, who earlier questioned the Comelec’s refusal to conduct a manual audit of votes, joined the witnesses dur-ing a press conference at the Senate.

He underscored the need to look into the votes from Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat.

He also said they have testimo-ny to back up their assertions that there was vote buying and disen-franchisement of voters in the May 9 election. Next page

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Duterte fills up only half of 30 Cabinet-level posts

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Duterte pledged to give secu-rity forces shoot-to-kill orders, and vowed that tens of thousands of criminals would die. Since the election Duterte has repeatedly encouraged police to kill drug suspects, and said he would bring back the death penalty.

Also on the campaign trail, he variously denied and acknowl-edged links to vigilante death squads in Davao.

Duterte has promised to stay in Davao until his term starts, and has been holding midnight news con-ferences at various hotels. This has forced politicians, power brokers, business leaders and courtiers to fly from Manila for an audience.

He has also begun forming his Cabinet from Davao, naming many regional politicians to key posts. He has also met with communist and Muslim guerrilla emissaries ahead of planned peace talks.

Duterte has said he wants to stay in Davao because he is com-fortable there. He has also repeat-edly expressed his disdain for spending time in Manila, which he described last week as a “dead city” that is overrun by slums.

At Monday’s congressional ses-sion, Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo was declared the winner of the vice president election, nar-rowly edging out Ferdinand Mar-cos Jr., the son and namesake of the late strongman.

Robredo, a member of outgoing President Benigno Aquino III’s Lib-eral Party, attended the event along with her family and supporters.

Highlighting the importance of the event to many in the Philip-pines, the ceremonies were broad-cast live on national television.

Outgoing Senate President Franklin Drilon said Duterte was the first president to be pro-claimed in absentia. He and other congressional leaders noted that his absence would have no legal effect on his proclamation.

The leader of the independent minority bloc in the House, Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, said he believed Duterte would be able to heal the divisions in the country that were aggravated by a ranco-rous presidential election.

“My best wishes for the success of President-elect Rody, let us rally behind to support his administra-tion for the betterment of Filipi-nos,” Romualdez said.

“President-elect Rody has a clear vision for the country and has a great ability to get the job done. We look forward to a productive government that will heal political bickering, continue to inspire and influence many Filipinos to work for the inclusive growth in the countryside,” Romualdez added.

The proclamation was briefly disrupted by a congressman who questioned his removal from the congressional roster.

Immediately after the joint ses-sion of Congress proclaimed Du-terte and Robredo, former North-ern Samar congressman Harlin Abayon questioned his exclusion from the roster.

Abayon had earlier been re-placed by Rep. Raul Daza, after the House of Representatives Elec-toral Tribunal decided an election protest in his favor.

When Abayon refused to back down, the sergeant at arms es-corted him out of the session hall. Maricel V. Cruz, Macon Ramos-Araneta, AFP

In a radio interview Monday, former national treasurer Leonor Briones said she has accepted Duterte’s invitation to be his Education secretary, heading the biggest department in the bureaucracy.

Briones, who was in Davao City to discuss her appointment with Duterte, said she still needs to ask him if she can retain her posts as chairman of the board of trustees at Siliman University and chairman-designate of the Univer-sidad de Manila.

Duterte earlier said that her first task would be to address the problems caused by the implementation of the K-12 program.

“She’s very quite familiar with the problem that we are facing because of the implementation of K-12. There are lot of students who will be marginalized and a good number of teachers also who lost their positions,” Duterte said.

The incoming president earlier said, he now favors the K-12 program.

Aside from Defense and the DILG, top-level Cabinet posts that have yet to be filled are the departments of Health, Science and Technology, Trade and Industry, Tourism, and Energy, the Commission on Higher Education,

the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, and the newly formed Department of Information and Communications Technology.

Acknowledging that the Defense and DILG portfolios were the hardest to fill, Duterte had earlier offered the first to former Defense chief Gilbert Teodoro, who turned down the offer.

Duterte said he has also talked to a retired military man who is in the United States for the Defense post, but is still awaiting his reply.

At the same time, Duterte said he has changed his mind about naming his campaign manager and former Maribojoc mayor Leoncio Evasco as Interior chief.

“I had a change of mind, Evasco is a former rebel soldier, a political prisoner and he will head the police. The police may not follow his orders,” Duterte said.

Evasco instead will be offered the post of Cabinet secretary.

Duterte said he wanted Health and Science and Technology to be headed by career officials.

Other vacancies are the head of the Presidential Management Staff,

By John Paolo Bencito

DAVAO CITY—President-elect Rodrigo Duterte has already filled 16 of the 30 Cabinet posts a month be-fore he assumes the presidency, but he has yet to name secretaries to head two key posts—the Defense De-parnment and the Department of the Interior and Lo-cal Government.

the Metro Manila Development Au-thority, the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, the Mindanao De-velopment Authority and the National Anti-Poverty Commission.

Duterte said he will be strict, par-ticularly with corrupt agencies such as the Bureau of Customs, the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Land Trans-portation Office, which he said would be assigned to former military men.

He said he had offered the BIR to one of the most honest men he knew—Rear Admiral Guillermo—but he turned down the job.

Duterte’s personal lawyer, Salvador Medialdea, will serve as the incoming president’s executive secretary and is part of the transition team.

Medialdea previously served under the Estrada administration as under-secretary in the Office of the Presiden-tial Adviser for Political Affairs.

Duterte’s long-time confidante, Salvador Panelo, has been designated as press secretary, replacing the three-headed communications group under the Aquino administration.

Panelo’s appointment was criticized by members of the press, because he was the lawyer of the Ampatuan clan, which was accused of the Maguin-danao Massacre in which more than 30 journalists were killed.

In response, Duterte said Panelo’s appointment would be “temporary.”

Others named to the Duterte Cabi-net are:

Carlos Dominguez III, former Agri-culture secretary, to head the Finance Department;

Former Budget secretary Benjamin Diokno to the same post;

Ernesto Pernia of the UP School of Economics, to head the National Eco-nomic and Development Authority;

Former Justice secretary Silvestre Bello III, Labor and Employment;

Former Press secretary Jesus Dureza to head the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process;

Former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Perfecto Yasay Jr. as acting Foreign Affairs secretary;

Duterte’s law school fraternity brother, Vitaliano Aguirre II, as Justice secretary;

Former North Cotabato governor Emmanuel Piñol, Agriculture secretary;

Las Piñas Rep. Mark Villar, Public Works and Highways;

Former lawmaker and peasant lead-er Rafael Mariano, Agrarian Reform;

Former Clark Development Corp. President Arthur Tugade, Department of Transportation; and

Former Armed Forces chief Her-mogenes Esperon as National Security Adviser

Both Yasay and Aguirre were dorm mates of Duterte at the YMCA hostel in Manila while they were studying.

The incoming president said he will also appoint former Immigration chief Andrea Domingo as head of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation and Jose Calida as Solicitor-General.

Duterte earlier offered four Cabinet positions to the Communist Party of the Philippines—Agrarian Reform, Environment and Natural Resources, Labor and Employment and Social Welfare and Development. With Junex Doronio

“We decided to show up because we witnessed and were used in this incident [poll cheating],” said the lo-gistic supervisor.

He said the manipulation of votes was done in a privately owned build-ing where computers and counting machines were used. He said Smart-matic personnel were also there to help in the operations.

He said the fraud affected the votes in Quezon province, which has over 1 million registered voters.

“The counted votes from the municipalities were transmitted to us so we could manipulate the numbers and put them in their favored candidates. After receiv-ing the votes, we transmitted them to our accomplices on the second and third floors who control the Smartmatic machines which trans-mit votes to corresponding servers. They manipulated the numbers and put them in favored candidates,” the logistic supervisor said.

Since he is not an information technology (IT) expert, the witness said he and his companions were taught how to manipulate the re-sults. His other accomplices, he said, were the ones who encoded the re-sults transmitted from the munici-palities.

He insisted they were not aware they would have a role in the cheat-ing until Election Day. He said they initially thought their training for 10 days to two weeks were just given so that they would be knowledgea-ble about the computers being used.

When reporters inquired on who had ordered them to manipulate the

votes, the logistics officer replied in Filipino: “A high-ranking official of the government.....in particular—from the LP.” He refused again to identify the official, however.

When asked which candidates benefitted most from the manipula-tion, the witness said the votes were added to Roxas and Robredo.

He said Robredo’s closest rival, outgoing Senator Ferdinand Mar-cos Jr., had lost about 200,000 votes in (Quezon) province alone while Robredo allegedly received addi-tional 300,000 votes.

He said at least 300,000 votes taken from other vice presidential candidates were added to the tally for Robredo.

The witnesses also said most of the shaved votes came from win-ning presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte.

Some 400,000 of these votes, they added, went to Roxas instead.

The witness said there was vote manipulation in the senatorial race as well, but declined to name those that benefitted, except for Dilon.

“It’s difficult to name names be-cause there were many candidates,” the logistics supervisor said.

Saycon said they are still prepar-ing the affidavits of the witnesses who belong to the Iglesia Ni Cristo, but were given clearance by the reli-gious group to speak out.

He said they still will not bring the matter to the Comelec, which would only cover it up.

The two other witnesses did not speak in the press conference. Say-con said the three witnesses were scheduled to meet Senators Teofisto Guingona III, Sergio Osmeña III, Vicente Sotto III and Nancy Binay to expose the cheating.

Robredo on Monday refused to answer allegations that she benefit-ted from the cheating, and asked her lawyer instead to respond.

Robredo, who won over Marcos by 263,000, held a press conference shortly after her proclamation in Congress but answered questions related only to what she plans to do as vice president.

At the press conference, the ques-tion of cheating was the only one she refused to answer.

Robredo’s lawyer Romulo Ma-calintal described the allegations of fraud as a “figment of the imagina-tion.”

“It is impossible for Smartmatic or the Comelec to allow other peo-ple they don’t trust to witness their illegal acts if indeed cheating was done,” he said.

Macalintal, an election lawyer, challenged Marcos to present as evidence —even a single election re-turn that would not match the result that reflected in the Certificate of Canvass.

He also said it would take a long time for an electoral protest to pros-per.

“Senator Marcos would prob-ably spend some P100 million for the electoral protest and it would be deemed moot and academic by the time the next election comes in three years and he runs for senator again just like in the case of Sena-tor Miriam Defensor Santiago when she filed an electoral protest against her rival for President Fidel V. Ra-mos. The case did not push through and was deemed moot and academ-ic because Senator Miriam ran for the Senate,” Macalintal said.

Macalintal also said it would have been impossible for the whistle-

blower to claim that some 200,000 votes had been shaved from the votes obtained by Marcos and added to Robredo’s votes.

“How is that possible that hun-dreds of thousands of votes were shaved from other candidates when the total surpassed the number of votes cast. It is simply impossible,” Macalintal said.

The Marcos camp said Monday it hoped the Comelec and a Manila prosecutor’s office would decide fa-vorably on the case they filed against Comelec employees and Smartmatic officials headed by project director Marlon Garcia, for violation of the Automation Election Law.

Marcos’ campaign adviser, Jona-than dela Cruz of Abakada party-list, said Garcia and his cohorts in the Smartmatic and concerned em-ployees of the poll body have com-mitted “illegal acts” for their “unau-thorized change” in the script of the transparency server of the Comelec.

Earlier, the Marcos camp, through lawyer Jose Amor Amo-rado, filed cases, respectively, with the Comelec for violation of the automation law; and Manila City Prosecutors Office for violation of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2010 against Smartmatic executives Marlon Garcia and Elie Moreno, project director Neil Banigued, and Mauricio Herrera, a member of the technical support team.

Comelec Commissioner Luie Guia on Monday said the poll body welcomed any complaints and ran-domly audits such irregularities.

In a forum, Guia, however, said the Random Manual Audit team is ready to physically and manually audit some provinces with vote dis-crepancies. With Maricel V. Cruz

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Drilon could retain Senate post

Proclamation. Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. proclaim Vice President-elect Leni Robredo during the joint session of Congress on Monday. REVOLI CORTEZ

Website. Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Emerson Carlos leads the launching of the Metro Manila ShakeDrill Website #MMShake Drill, which aims to raise awareness of the 2nd Metro Manila Shake Drill on June 22. Among the features of the site are downloadable topics such as earthquake tips and how to organize drills. DANNY PATA

Court ordered to submit records of Arroyo case

Rody rejects postponementof Barangay, SK electionDAVAO CITY—President-elect Rodrigo Duterte has rejected a proposal from the Commission on Elections to defer the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elec-tions scheduled in October. “I’m not in favor. The law says that when you end there, you end there,” Duterte told reporters at a hotel here on Sunday. He said a postponement of the polls would only mean that the sit-ting officials would remain in their posts beyond their terms. The Comelec had cited “election fatigue as the reason to postpone the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to a later date.’’ In April, Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said it was not practical for the poll body to hold another voting exercise in October given that the national and local

elections had just ended. He added it would be “costly” for them to conduct a manual elec-tion in over 420,000 villages in the country. “We have this so-called election fatigue. We don’t want to have too many elections in the country,” Bautista said. “Aside from fatigue, holding elections is expensive and mainly because we have to pay more teach-ers who will serve as Board of Elec-tion Tellers.” Although he had no any idea when it would be best to hold the Barangay and SK elections, Bautis-ta said they would be asking Con-gress to consider deferring them. A bill filed by Pasay Rep. Emmy Calixto-Rubiano calling for a de-ferment of the polls is pending in Congress. John Paolo Bencito

THE Supreme Court has or-dered the Sandiganbayan to submit the records of the plunder case against former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo over her alleged illegal use of P366 million in funds from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

In an order she issued on May 25, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno required the anti-graft court to forward to

her the complete records of the case “immediately” upon receipt of it.

The ailing Arroyo, who was reelected representative of Pampanga in the May 9 elec-tions, had earlier sought an urgent resolution of her plea for house arrest pending a de-cision on her bail petition.

She said the high court had yet to resolve her plea for house arrest that she filed in

December last year.She reiterated her plea to be

transferred from “hospital ar-rest” at the Veterans Memori-al Medical Center in Quezon City to “house arrest” in her residence at the La Vista Sub-division in the same city.

Arroyo’s latest appeal came after the high court granted her pleas for several furloughs.

In December last year, the high court allowed her to

spend Christmas and New Year with her family in La Vista. And in March, the Court allowed her to celebrate her 69th birthday on April 5 with her family at the same residence.

The high court also allowed her to vote in her home prov-ince in Pampanga on May 9, and to be treated by her dentist in her clinic in Makati City for four days. Rey E. Requejo

SENATE President Franklin Drilon will likely retain his grip on the chamber if Senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Aquilino Pi-mentel III fail to settle who of them should represent PDP-Laban in the race for the Senate presidency.

Drilon, who emerged No. 1 in the May 9 elections, is serving his third term as Senate president.

Cayetano, the defeated running mate of new-ly-proclaimed President Rodrigo Duterte, and Pimentel are both staunch allies of the outgoing mayor of Davao City.

Both are eying the Senate presidency along with Drilon and Senate Deputy Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III.

Duterte has said he is leaving it up to Cayetano and Pimentel to contest the Senate presidency.

Pimentel, the president of PDP-Laban, says his edge over the other senators vying for the Senate presidency position is that he knows the personal agenda of Duterte, the party’s chairman.

He says he has knowledge of the personal pledges made by Duterte since they were togeth-er during the election campaign sorties. He says Sotto belongs to the well-organized Nationalist People’s Coalition while Drilon has six to eight senators under the Liberal Party.

Cayetano, the outgoing majority leader, says at least 15 senators have already committed to support him.

“If the election were held today there are more than 15 that have committed but the election is not today,” Cayetano said.

The Nacionalista Party senator says some of the senators have already signed a resolution backing him as Senate president, while the oth-ers have given their commitment pending per-mission from their respective parties.

When asked how many have signed the resolu-tion supporting him, Cayetano said: “I don’t want it to be a game of numbers at this point. And as I said, others signed while others gave their com-mitment but they still need to ask permission.

“Until the final day that we get elected, noth-ing is 100 percent.”

Sotto showed reporters a photo of Senator-elect Manny Pacquiao holding Cayetano’s reso-lution with no signature from the other senators.

Drilon said he would yield his position to whoever had the vote of 13 senators including Cayetano.

“I have always said that whoever has 13 sig-natures electing Senator XYZ to lead the 17th Congress, I am willing to yield the Senate presi-dency,” Drilon said.

“As I have said, those who have 13 signatures, just present to me the resolution and there’s no problem.” Macon Ramos-Araneta

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54 jihadists slain in Lanao Sur

Westmincom spokesman Major Filemon Tan said the fighting in Butig, Lanao del Sur, which first broke out last February, resumed on May 26.

“The series of encounters result-ed in two killed-in-action and nine wounded-in-action for the govern-ment side while 54 [terrorists] were killed,” Tan said. “The troops con-tinue to advance towards the ene-my stronghold and defeat the LTGs in the area.”

“This terrorist group was respon-sible for the beheading of two civil-

ians in the area,” he added.The fighting has so far affected

more than a thousand civilians in six villages of Butig town, said La-nao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr., identifying the affected baran-gays as Coloyan, Samer, Bayabao, Raya Timbab, Sandab and Ragayan.

Adiong said a total of 1,517 villag-ers were affected by the fighting and are now housed in evacuation centers in the nearby barangays of Crossing Samer, Sandig and Malungon.

Tan said the extremists belong to the group of Abdullah Maute, who

By Florante S. Solmerin

THE military claimed on Monday to have killed 54 members of a Maranao jihadist group in Lanao del Sur that had harbored an Indonesian terrorist who had been training local extremists in making bombs, according to the Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command.

Duterteeyes newroadmapto peace

New Westcom chief named


DAVAO CITY—The Duterte administration will follow a different “road-map” in resolving the long-standing conflict with Moro secessionists and commu-nist insurgents, but stake-holders will be properly consulted in the process, veteran peace negotiator Jesus Dureza said Monday.

Dureza, whom Duterte has named as his presiden-tial adviser on the peace process, said the incom-ing Duterte administration is looking at new ways to reach peace in Mindanao, including the possibility of ditching the controversial Bangsamoro Basic Law which was defeated in the 16th Congress.

“We are working on our own, possible roadmap from here onwards. We will be doing a lot of con-sultations and, of course, we will get our direc-tions directly from Mayor Duterte,” Dureza told The Standard in an interview.

Dureza noted that while the BBL was a by-product of the Comprehensive Agree-ment on the Bangsamoro that was signed by the gov-ernment and the Moro Is-lamic Liberation Front on March 27, 2014, it failed to get congressional approval because of perceived consti-tutional infirmities.

“For the CAB, we will have to see what are the re-sults, the possible lay-out of the roadmap,” Dureza said.

But Dureza declined to predict how the roadmap would take shape because he and designated peace negotiator with the com-munists, Silvestre Bello III, have yet to assume office.

inherited leadership of the group after his brother Omar was killed by a military offensive last February.

Omar is believed to have been killed last Feb. 25 when the military unleashed a ground and air offensive after it was learned that the group was harboring Indonesian and Malaysian jihadists who fled to Mindanao after they were hunted down by lawmen in their homelands.

The group included Indonesian terrorist Mohammad Muktar, who was killed in the clashes at Butig.

Muktar is believed to have been part of a group that included Sala-hudin Hassan, a member of the Al Khobar group supporting the Jemaah Islamiyah, and Mumanda Ali, alias Mauwiya, a former military officer from Singapore, who took part in the 2001 bomb attack in Bali, Indonesia.

The foreign jihadists were the ones who trained the group of 100 extremists in bomb making some-

where in Liguasan Marsh near Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat, the mili-tary said.

As part of their training, the local extremists planted ex-plosive devices in the towns of Datu Odin Sinsuat, Guindu-lungan, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Datu Hofer and Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao and in Pikit and Aleosan towns in North Cota-bato, the source added.

The military had earlier reported that at least 18 government sol-diers were injured by these bombs. Five civilians, including the town treasurer of Datu Salibo, were also among the casualties of the bombs planted by the extremist group ear-lier this year.

Tan said the military will con-tinue intensified operations, in-volving troops of the 103rdn Infantry Brigade, the police and Philippine Air Force.

Brigada Eskwela. Teachers and parents help fix classroom chairs as the Nippon Paint company launched its adopt-a-school program at the Pamplona Elementary School in Las Piñas City on Monday. EY ACASIO

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Jail Noynoy. Student activists stage a protest at the Mendiola Bridge in San Miguel, Manila to demand the prosecution and detention of President Benigno Aquino III for his involvement in the misuse of public monies through the pork barrel system, neglect of disaster victims and the wrongful deaths of government troops. DANNY PATA

By Florante S. Solmerin

PHILIPPINE Fleet command-er Rear Adm. Ronald Joseph Mercado was installed com-mander of the Western Com-mand on Monday with the principal task of protecting the West Philippine Sea, particularly the Kalayaan Island Group.

Mercado, a member of the Philippine Military Academy “Matikas” Class 1983, replaced Vice Adm. Alexander Lopez (PMA “Sandigan” Class ’82) who retired April 29, but will remain fleet commander until his successor is named.

Marine Brig. Gen. Elvin

Hermogino, who assumed the Westcom post after Lopez’ re-tirement, will re-assume his earlier position of vice West-Com chief.

Both Mercado and Hermo-gino are from Philippine Mili-tary Academy “Matikas” Class of 1983.

Mercado, who was Philippine Fleet commander before he was assigned to Westcom, will keep his position at the Philippine Fleet in a concurrent capacity until his replacement is named.

Outgoing acting AFP chief of staff Lieutenant General Glo-rioso Miranda presided over the change of command ceremony at WestCom.

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Labor blasts SSS execs’ perks

Tight supply jacking up pump prices

Fresh grads gain fee exemption

By Alena Mae S. Flores

Oil prices went up by as much as P0.55 per liter amid tight world supply, ac-cording to the Energy Department.

The oil f irms increased the price of kerosene by P0.55 per liter, gasoline by P0.40 per liter and diesel by P0.35 per liter.

“Seaoil oil will adjust its pump prices per liter effective 6 a.m., May 31 as fol-lows: gasoline, increase of P0.35 per lit-er, diesel, increase of P0.40 per liter and kerosene, increase of P0.55 per liter,” the company said.

The oil firms said the price increase

“ref lect the movement in the internation-al petroleum market.”

Energy director Melita Obillo said the increase in oil prices was due to the re-cent wildfires which curbed production in Canada and rebel attacks disrupting exports from Nigeria, improved demand in the US.

Among the companies that issued price advisories as of press time are Seaoil, Un-ioil Philippines, PTT Philippines, Phoe-nix Petroleum and Eastern Petroleum.

According to the latest report of the En-ergy Department, oil prices slightly went up recently after Goldman Sachs disclosed a short-term supply deficit in the market

brought about by production outages.The department said a better overall

demand coupled with the disruption of supply in Nigeria reportedly created a surprising supply crunch in the short run.

Production outages in Canada due to wildfires and a political crisis in Venezue-la is expected to suppress output.

The department also said that Platts has reported that the glut of cargoes in Asia was said to be gradually clearing.

A slowdown in arbitrage cargoes from Europe and the US, typically the case over the summer as demand for gasoline in the US spikes, has also capped the supply sur-plus in the region.

TUCP described the benefits as “pabaon” or send-off money simi-lar to that extended to former mili-tary generals who retired from the service.

The SSS-proposed Compensa-tion and Position Classification System covers all government-owned and -controlled corporations and government financial institu-tions. Under the scheme, De Qui-ros, for instance, stands to receive an increase of P500,000 from SSS coffers in his monthly salary alone.

De Quiros, Santos and other SSS officials were all Aquino appoint-ees, the TUCP said.

Once the proposed changes take effect, De Quiros will get an addi-tional P300,000 more out of work-ers’ blood money in the form of more benefits and privileges. How-ever, around 1,000 rank-and-file workers will not get any increase, TUCP said.

“In the light of very recent veto action of President Aquino to the proposed P2,000 pension increase for 2.4-million pensioners, we strongly oppose the plan to increase the salaries and benefits of SSS top executives including De Quiros and SSS chairman Juan Santos. As paying members and as representa-tives of the millions of SSS paying members, we demand that Mr. De Quiros and Mr. Santos be severed from SSS in order for the plan to be stopped,” the TUCP-Nagkaisa coa-lition said.

“It is unjust for De Quiros and Santos to tinker with it to enrich their selves at the expense of work-ers’ blood money,” the group added.

By Maricel V. Cruz

THE House of Representatives has ap-proved on third and final reading a bill that seeks to exempt fresh graduates from government charges and fees.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares, one of the authors of House Bill 6416, said the waiver on government fees and charges would enhance the youth’s access to employment.

The bill mandates all government agencies and instrumentalities, in-cluding government-owned and- controlled corporations and local government units to refrain from collecting fees or charges from new graduates in relation to documentary requirements for employment.

These include fees and charges paid in connection with the application for and granting of licenses, proofs of

identification, clearances, certificates, or other documents usually required in the course of employment.

The bill states that the application for such license, proof of identifica-tion, clearance, certificate, or other documents is submitted within one year after graduating from high school, college or any vocational or technical course.

To avail of the waiver on govern-ment fees and charges, the bill said the new graduate should submit a copy of his/her diploma or a certifi-cation from the concerned academic, vocational or technical institution that the said graduate has success-fully completed the course required.

The diploma or certification should clearly state the date of graduation or completion of the degree earned, and should be signed by the institution’s duly authorized representative.

BLT Award. President Benigno S. Aquino III presents the Busog, Lusog, Talino (BLT) Grand Excellence Award to Francisco Laya Memorial Integrated School represented by FLMIS principal Susan Pirante during the 2nd BLT Excellence Awards at the Edsa Shangri-La Manila in Mandaluyong City on Monday. Looking on is Jollibee Group Foundation chairman Tony Tan Caktiong. Malacañang Photo Bureau

Non-toxic. Volunteers use lead-free, non-toxic paint to renovate classrooms during the week long ‘Brigada Eskwela’ at the Sto. Cristo Elementary School in Bago Bantay, Quezon City. MANNY PALMERO

By Vito Barcelo

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa on Monday condemned the granting of ‘midnight perks and benefits’ to Social Security System executives including its president and chief executive officer emilio De Quiros, its chairman Juan Santos and other managers under a thinly disguised restructuring scheme.

A6T U E S D AY : M AY 3 1 , 2 0 1 6

[email protected]

MMDA: Brace for ‘Big Shake’

Senate bill seeks to stoptext-and-drive practice By Macon AranetaTHE rising incidence of vehicular acci-dents due to motorists’ use of cellphones or other mobile equipment while driving is sought to be stopped under a proposed law that has passed the third and final reading in the Senate.

The proposed measure is premised on the findings of the World Health Organization which said that “drivers using a mobile phone are approximately four times more likely to be involved in a crash than when a driver does not use a phone.”

The agency noted that using mobile phones can cause drivers to take their eyes off the road, their hands off the steering wheel, and their minds off the road and the surrounding situation.

“Evidence shows that the distraction caused by mobile phones can impair driv-ing performance in a number of ways, e.g. longer reaction times, impaired ability to keep in the correct lane, and shorter fol-lowing distances,” also said WHO.

Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Ejercito Estrada, principal author of Senate Bill 3211, says there is a need to regulate use of electronic devices among drivers, impose discipline among motorists, and proscribe distracted driving in order to promote road safety.

The chamber’s passage of the bill coincides with the observance of the Land Transporta-tion Safety and Accident Prevention Month this May in accordance with Presidential Proclamation 115-A (1966).

The legislative proposal declares the fol-lowing acts in a moving vehicle, whether dip-lomatic, public or private, as unlawful: 1) use of mobile communications device, including cellular phones, wireless telephones, two-way radio transceivers, pagers, among others, to write, send, or read a text-based communica-tion or to make or receive calls; and 2) using an electronic entertainment or computing device, including laptop computers, tablets, video game consoles, among others, to play games, watch movies, surf the internet, com-pose messages, read e-books, perform calcu-lations and other similar acts.

By Joel E. Zurbano

CHAIRMAN Emerson Carlos of the Metro Manila Development Authority on Monday urged various sectors in the National Capital Region to join the second earthquake drill scheduled on June 22 for the people to prepare in case of a major earthquake.

sible for command and con-trol, and search and rescue operations if the Big One jolts Metro Manila.

“You can also see here [website] the staging ar-eas and evacuation areas for different local government units. The local disaster risk reduction management offices will have their own evacuation sites. You can see in the website a map of those evacuation areas near you, as well as hospitals and field hospitals,” he added. “We are encouraging every-body now to use not only the website but also the hashtag #MMShakedrill.”

Last week, the MMDA conducted a series of meet-ings with members of the Association of Barangay Chairmen in the 16 cities and one municipality in

Metro Manila to encourage more people to participate in the event.

“This time, we are tar-geting residents because last year school children and business communities joined the event. We want residents to join, it is highly possible that the quake will happen inside the house,” Carlos said.

The event was organized in close coordination with lo-cal and regional disaster risk reduction management offic-ers, public information offic-ers in Metro Manila, and dif-ferent media organizations.

To ensure maximum public participation, the website will feature the in-structions on how to sign up as participants, whether by individual or by group, in the 2nd Metro Manila

ShakeDrill, according to Carlos.

MMDA officials, along with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Man-agement Council and the Philippine Institute of Vol-canology and Seismology, have already been sitting down with various govern-ment agencies and different sectors of society for the re-view of the 1st Metro Ma-nila ShakeDrill held July 30 last year.

During the series of coor-dination meeting, MMDA executives also encouraged participants to simulate a more realistic and new scenarios to challenge the disaster preparedness and response of every group.

The MMDA earlier ad-vised motorists and com-muters to brace for traffic

along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue where participants will hold a scenario wherein the Guadalupe Bridge in Makati City will collapse.

The scene will also fea-ture the quick arrival of rescuers at the site to save the victims from drowning while others scour the water for survivors.

“With the success of the first Metro Manila Shake Drill last year, we would like to challenge ourselves to do better and be better prepared in the event of a catastrophic earthquake,” said Carlos.

During the simulation of the Guadalupe Bridge col-lapse scenarios, the MMDA chief said traffic on the out-ermost northbound lane of Edsa will be at a standstill for approximately an hour.

“Six million [participants last year] is not enough. We need all sectors of our soci-ety to participate. We need to engage the 14 million res-idents of Metro Manila. We need to engage the residents of Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal and Laguna,” said Carlos.

The MMDA on Mon-day officially launched www:mmshakedr il l .ph , where the public will get ba-sic, but very vital, survival

tips and list of evacuation centers in the event of the 7.2-magnitude earthquake.

“What is the purpose of this website? To minimize the victims. They will be able to get all the answers that they need here. All the procedures that we are go-ing to do and all other data like Oplan Metro Yakal,” said Carlos.

Under the Metro Yakal Plus, the MMDA is respon-

Kapihan topics. Congressman Rodel Batocabe (right) of the Party-lists Coalition takes up President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s legislative agenda while Joel Tovera, chief of the NBI anti-illegal drugs unit, is all ears during the Samahang Plaridel’s Kapihan Sa Manila Hotel Media Forum. LINO SANTOS

Poll recount. Supporters of Senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos stage a protest in front of the Senate office in Pasay City demanding a recount of votes and denouncing the Comelec and Smartmatic for the alleged cheating in the May 9 elections. LINO SANTOS

AN ANTI-NARCOTICS police-man who was arrested in Manila last week on drug charges has ac-cused agents of the National Bureau of Investigation of extortion and planting of evidence.

In his counter-affidavit submit-ted before the Department of Jus-tice, Police Officer 2 Jolly Aliangan claimed that NBI agents asked him to give them P6.9 million in ex-change for the dropping of the case against him and his wife, Rosalie, who was also arrested by the NBI during a raid in his house.

Aliangan asked Assistant State Prosecutor Jocelyn Dugay during the preliminary investigation to dismiss the complaint against them. The NBI opted not to respond to the counter-affidavit.

The Aliangan couple and a cer-tain Jeffrey Flores Gutierrez were charged before the DoJ for viola-tion of Republic Act 9165 or the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, Il-legal Possession of Firearms and Ammunitions and Obstruction of Justice. Rey Requejo

Caparas posts bail for tax casesFILM director Carlo J. Caparas on Monday posted a bail of P80,000 before the Court of Tax Appeals for the four counts of tax evasion cases filed against him by the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

The tax court’s First Division has set Caparas’ arraignment on June 22 for one count of tax case, while the arraignment for three counts of tax evasion is set on June 8 at the Second Division.

Last May 17, the Court of Tax Appeals issued an arrest warrant on the movie director after the Depart-ment of Justice filed the new set of tax evasion charges in April for his non-filing of his income tax return in 2008 to 2009.

The tax court indicted Caparas for violation of the National Inter-nal Revenue Code.

Caparas was also accused of failing to declare his earnings for producing the “Ang Pangarap Kong Jackpot” television drama of the Philippine Charity Sweep-stakes Office. Rio Araja

Cop in drug raps accuses NBI men

[email protected]

T U E S D AY : M AY 3 1 , 2 0 1 6

NEWS

Cops foil blast tryon Basilan bridge

Storm, quakevictims fromPNP to receiveP86.7-m help

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Police have foiled an at-tempt to blow up a bridge by lawless elements in Lamitan City, Basilan province.


A TOTAL of P86.7 million will be disbursed to more than 3,225 employees of the Philip-pine National Police that were affected by Ty-phoon “Yolanda” and the Bohol earthquake, the Interior Department said Monday.

Interior Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento in a statement said that the amount is the first of two tranches to be donated by the President’s Social Fund through the De-partment of the Interior and Local Govern-ment to PNP employees whose houses were either partially, heavily or totally damaged in the two worst calamities that hit the country in recent years.

The tranche for PNP employees is part and parcel of the total amount of P218.380-million financial assistance allocated by the OP for 4,176 calamity-affected employees of the DILG and its attached agencies (PNP, BFP, BJMP).

DILG Undersecretary for Operations Ed-win Enrile said that the release of the first tranche was somewhat delayed because the Comelec informed the DILG that the pro-gram of giving calamity assistance in the form of donation to the calamity victims may fall within the purview of the prohibi-tion against fund releases during the cam-paign period.

“Therefore, in order to be prudent about the matter, we delayed release of funds until after the election,” Enrile added.

Beneficiaries with totally or heavily dam-aged houses can avail of as much as P100,000 to defray the cost of repair or reconstruction of their own housing units. Beneficiaries with partially damaged houses, on the other hand, can reimburse up to P30,000 for the rehabili-tation of their housing units.

A Deed of Donation was executed between the PNP as ‘Donee,’ represented by PNP Chief Director General Ricardo Marquez, and the DILG as ‘Donor,’ represented by secretary of the Interior and Local Government.

Under the Deed of Donation, the donor, which in this case would be the DILG, shall have the right to monitor the implementa-tion and to conduct a financial and physical performance evaluation in order to deter-mine the compliance of the donee or the PNP with the terms of the deed.

The PNP, on the other hand, shall have the responsibility of monitoring the utiliza-tion of the financial assistance by the ben-eficiaries, and submit a report and liquida-tion of fund utilization.

Senior Insp. Gean Gal-lardo, Lamitan City police chief, said this came about after they recovered an im-provised explosive device that was placed under the bridge in Barangay Balag-tasan in that city.

Gallardo said the IED was recovered around 3:34 p.m. Sunday after they received information that an aban-doned backpack was seen under the bridge in Balag-tasan, Lamitan City.

Gallardo said they imme-

diately cordoned the place and coordinated with the explosive ordnance demoli-tion of the 54th Special Ac-tion Company.

He said the EOD personnel conducted disruption proce-dure after it was confirmed that the backpack’s content was an IED.

He said the IED, which is cellphone triggered, con-sisted of an 81-mm mortar

round as the main charge of the explosive, blasting cap, an electronic circuit board and a nine-volt battery.

He said investigation continues in a bid to iden-tify the suspects behind the attempt to blow up the bridge.

The bridge in Balagtasan links Isabela City, the capital of Basilan province, to Lamitan City. PNA

DoST refurbishes Region 8early warning systems

TACLOBAN CITY—The Department of Science and Technology is rehabilitating 128 early warning systems in Eastern Visayas in prepara-tion for the expected heavy rainfall towards the second half of this year.

DoST Regional Director Edgardo Esperancilla said 60 percent of these facilities have been repaired as of this week. The target is to complete the re-habilitation works next month.

“In preparation for La Niña, we have to fix warning systems to ensure more accurate, inte-grated, and responsive disas-ter prevention and mitigation system, especially in high-risk areas,” Esperancilla said.

Of the 128 early warning systems, 102 of these are hy-drometeorological (hydromet) devices set up in 2012 and 26 are disaster early warning sys-tem installed in 2014.

Hydromet include the au-tomated weather station, au-tomated rain gauge and the water level monitoring system produce data that enhance lo-cal disaster management.

The AWS measures wind speed direction, air tempera-ture, humidity, pressure and the amount of rainfall, its duration and intensity. The ARG, on the other hand, gathers the amount of rainfall incident in an area.

Another device, the WLMS,

measures the rate by which the water level rises within the river system or bodies of water.

“All three devices automati-cally send data to a central base station on a pre-determined interval. The data gathered from these stations are being used by government agencies for further risk evaluation and hazard analysis,” Esperancilla explained.

The 26 units of disaster early warning systems were set up in major river basins in the region’s six provinces. A major component of the proj-ect is the community-based flood early warning system piloted in Binahaan River in central Leyte. PNASendoff. Four-hundred men of the 19th Infantry Battalion based in Barangay Aquiting, Ormoc

City get ready for deployment to North Cotabato. MEL CASPE

All in the family. Children in Buguias, Benguet help out in the family’s farm chores during the last days of summer break. DAVID CHAN

there is a vacancy in the Office of the Vice President during the term for which he was elected, the President shall nominate a Vice President from among the Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives who shall assume office upon confir-mation by a majority vote of all the Members of both Houses of the Congress, voting separately.” This was how Guingona as-sumed the vice presidency from among a field of six senators at the time (Guingona, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Senators Franklin Drilon, Ramon Magsaysay Jr. and Loren Legarda) who were short-listed by Arroyo as her replacement as VP after she assumed Estrada’s post.

OPINIONA8

[ EDI TORI A L ]

COMFORT ZONES

A9ADELLE CHUAE D I T O R

T U E S D AY : M AY 3 1 , 2 0 1 6

OPINION

IF I were Leni Robredo, a top political operative told me last weekend, I’d take the cheat-ing charges against her very, very seriously—or any charges that may be filed against her, for that matter. Now that she’s been proclaimed vice presi-dent by Congress, she may be in for a wild ride that could, this guy told me, culminate in the installation of none other than Alan Peter Cayetano to

the second-highest post in the land, just like Cayetano always wanted.

Forget about Robredo being Plan B of the Aquino admin-istration, the Trojan horse left behind by Noynoy as a “gift” to Rodrigo Duterte, to take over and preside over a Yellow res-toration in case “The Punisher” is somehow unable to finish his term. The newest plot purport-edly being batted around in the smoke-filled rooms of political conspirators is “Plan C,” the im-peachment not of Digong but of Leni, in order to reunite Cayet-ano with his wildly popular and victorious running mate by the

backdoor.If the supposed template for

Duterte’s ouster is the impeach-ment of Joseph Estrada, the re-moval of Robredo has its roots in the takeover of Teofisto Gu-ingona Jr. as vice president of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in January 2001, after she replaced Erap. That was when, by opera-tion of an obscure provision of the 1987 Constitution, Arroyo chose Guingona (the elder, not his son TG, who just lost in the May 9 elections) to be her vice president after her assumption to the presidency.

Article 7 Section 9 of the char-ter provides that “[w]henever

PLAN CAYETANO

YESTERDAY was a big day for the coun-try. With the proclamation of Rodrigo Duterte and Leni Robredo as winners of the 2016 elections, the official transition period to a new administration begins. It has been a tough and divisive campaign but the process has culminated and the country must now come together.

There will be elections again in the future, opportunities for renewed politi-cal combat. But for now, lets stand down and work together. People should stop attacking each other: for the victors to be magnanimous and humble, for the losers to accept defeat without rancor, and for everyone to forgive and offer their other cheek to each other.

As for Duterte’s Cabinet appoint-ments, let’s cut him some slack. Under our system, the President alone is ac-countable for the executive department. He must have a Cabinet he trusts and can work with. In many ways, President-elect Duterte is similar to outgoing President Aquino—they both have a small circle of colleagues from which to choose their Cabinet. Other former presidents had wider pools to choose from because of their longer engagement in national politics or governance. Thus Gloria Ma-capagal Arroyo, Fidel V. Ramos and Jo-seph Estrada had Cabinet members with diverse backgrounds. They had appoin-tees coming from the political elite, the bureaucracy, the military and the private sector.

Eventually, presidents do widen their circles. One saw this in President Aqui-no’s excellent appointments to the Ju-diciary and the constitutional commis-sions, where he went beyond the usual suspects, the so-called KKK of class-mates, friends, and gun-hobby and other buddies.

President-elect Duterte actually is al-ready bold in opening his Cabinet to the nominees of the National Democratic Front. One wishes Duterte would also be as bold in the role he would give the vice president-elect, a competent and excep-tionally trustworthy woman. It could ac-tually work for us to have a president and vice president who are both lawyers, the former with a prosecutorial background and the latter with experience in human rights and alternative law. In any case, that is within Duterte’s discretion—what he will assign Robredo to do—and his decision must be respected.

For sure, we will have an interesting next six years. A president who thinks out of the box and whose work hours are from 1pm to early morning, one who talks freely and in visceral language, will surely surprise us. Personally, I can live with such a presidential style. All the other presidents we have had did have their own quirks. Soon, even the

TRANSITIONS BIG AND SMALL

Guingona was basically rammed down Arroyo’s throat by the anti-Es-trada crowd as a result of the senator’s role in the impeachment trial of Erap. That was because Guingona delivered his “J’accuse” speech against the sins of Estrada—even if Guingona soon fell out of favor with Gloria and was replaced in the 2004 ticket by broad-caster Noli de Castro.

Hey, it could happen, my friend told me. And all it takes is to get Robredo impeached by the Duterte-controlled House and ousted by the Cayetano-

controlled Senate (assuming he be-comes Senate president) on any im-peachable charge, not just cheating in the last elections.

* * *So I asked my friend, wouldn’t Sen-

ator Ferdinand Marcos be the benefi-ciary of the ouster of Robredo on the charge of cheating and by rights re-place her? Why would it be Cayetano instead of Marcos who becomes VP?

“You are talking about the elec-tion protest that Bongbong will soon file,” he explained. “I’m talking about

impeachment—and Leni could be impeached on other charges, not just cheating, which is why she should watch her back.”

According to my friend, even Mar-cos understands that an election pro-test may take years to resolve, maybe the entire six years of Robredo’s term. “And if Bongbong runs for the Senate in 2019, as I predict he will, in order to prepare for a run at the presidency in 2022, his protest against Robredo will fall under the Loren ruling,” he added.

Continued on A11

DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Rep. Leni Robredo, who were proclaimed president and vice president, respectively, on Monday, both said they were not keen on governing from the places traditionally used by their predecessors.

Duterte said he did not want to live in Malacañang because there were ghosts there—of what kind, he did not explain. In fact, the President-elect said he would like to come home to his native city every day, and would plan his schedule around the earliest and the last flights he could take shuttling between the capital and his hometown.

“My bed is here, and so is my comfort zone,” said Duterte, who stayed in Davao on the day of his proclamation. He said he could begin his work day at one in the afternoon and stretch it until the night.

By his proposal, Duterte may take the meaning of “commuting to work” to another level. While remaining visible down South may lessen the sense of Metro Manila being the imperial capital, the arrangements may present practical difficulties to the people he is expected to interact with regularly.

Of course, the President-elect can easily say he spoke on a whim and would further study the arrangements under which he could best govern.

On the other hand, Ms. Robredo said she found the P500,000 monthly rental of the Coconut Palace too high. Her team had started scouting for cheaper of-fice space. She would much rather spend that money on satellite offices and other items.

Robredo, widow of the late Interior and Local Governments Secretary, was proclaimed winner of the vice presidential race despite a pending protest from her rival, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who claims the counting was electroni-cally rigged to take his legitimate votes from him. Robredo is said to have won by the slimmest of margins.

Robredo, of course, may feel the need to be consistent with the image she has portrayed of herself—a humble official who takes public transportation and who champions the interest of the marginalized.

That Duterte and Robredo have expressed their workplace preferences is no different from ordinary workers having a liking for specific working conditions under which they feel they would be at their best.

Duterte’s and Robredo’s reasons, while different, will boil down to the same question once they actually begin to hold office—wherever that may be. Are the arrangements conducive enough for them to discharge their duties effectively?

If they utter these to be cute, they should be reminded that the campaign sea-son is over. What the people expect is work accomplished, without excuses, from wherever it is best performed.

‘Plan C’ involves the

impeachment of Leni, in order to

get Cayetano the vice presidency

via the backdoor.

EAGLE EYES

DEAN TONYLA VIÑA

LOWDOWN

JOJO A. ROBLES

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Continued on A11

him. I will miss him be-cause of his vindictiveness, incompetence, lack of em-pathy and compassion for the poor. I will miss his se-lective justice and the abuse and misuse of public funds.

BS Aquino gave me more than enough material for this column. Can you imagine if he did well dur-ing his six years in office? I would have ended up prais-ing him and singing paeans to him all the time. I would have forgotten the essence of democracy—that assent and dissent are primordial.

I admit that BS Aquino was honest in a way that he did not profit from his position. Still, he was men-tally dishonest. He betrayed the public trust given him. He defended members of his Cabinet he knew to be corrupt. He misused public funds.

My gulay, that massacre of the 44 police comman-

dos in Maguindanao was the litmus test of his leader-ship. He failed as president, chief executive, command-er-in-chief and top cop.

To top it all, he wanted to hand, on a silver platter, a portion of Mindanao to one separatist movement—the Moro Islamic Liberation Front—even as this territo-ry belonged to the republic, at all costs. All in the name of “peace.” To me, this is treason.

BS Aquino may not real-ize it, but he was 90 percent the reason why we now have Duterte, supposedly in the name of change. The May 9 polls was actually a referen-dum on the Aquino admin-istration by the people who longed for real change.

Now, whether or not that change will come is another thing. As for me, I have drawn the line against some of the things Du30 said he would do. I have lowered my

expectations of him.Still, I am ever the opti-

mist who sees the glass half-full rather than half-empty. After all, as I have been saying, whether or not we voted for Du30, we are all on the same boat. We either sink or swim with him.

* * *I have been talking

to some Palace reporters and they told me, gener-ally speaking, they have reservations about lawyer Salvador Panelo as press secretary and presidential spokesman.

This reservation springs from the fact that tradition-ally, a press secretary should always come from the ranks of present and past mem-bers of media. It’s a crucial position, to speak on behalf of the President.

I have been a Palace re-porter myself. I know that a press secretary and spokes-man must always be ap-

proachable. Members of the media must consider him a friend. I understand Panelo is a square peg in a round hole insofar as the press is concerned. It’s for this rea-son that Du30 should ap-point somebody else.

Another Du30 appoint-ment where a lot of people, even businessman in real estate and construction, have reservations about is that of Mark Villar as public works secretary. Given that the Villar family is both in housing and construction, Villar’s appointment is sus-pect. That’s truly a conflict of interest.

The Villars may have aligned themselves with the PDP-Laban of Du30. But should a crucial de-partment, where the Villars have interest, be given to them on a silver platter?

Duterte has enough time to appoint another secre-tary to this department.

OPINIONT U E S D AY : M AY 3 1 , 2 0 1 6

A10

IF THERE’s one legacy that the nation can remem-ber BS Aquino for, it’s the fraudulent May 9, 2016 elections. This was not only committed by the “Little Garcis” at the Commis-sion on Elections but by the minions of President Aqui-no, the Liberal Party, work-ing with Smartmatic and the Comelec as a whole.

The nation had hoped that the “hocus-PCOS” that took place in 2010 and 2013 would not be repeat-ed. But those who com-mitted it this time around were too brazen that it seemed Malacañang took us all for fools.

My gulay, cheating oc-curred nationwide in the form of what is called “un-dervoting.” Votes for the rivals of administration candidates Mar Roxas and Leni Robredo in fact came from their rivals. Ballots were pre-shaded and then the votes were shaved, re-sulting in “bawas-dagdag” or “dagdag-bawas.”

In the case of the presi-dential race, the more than 16 million votes of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte was too big a mar-gin. Mar had to settle for being No. 2, beating Sena-tor Grace Poe and Vice President Jojo Binay even in their own bailiwicks.

The case of independent Senator Bongbong Marcos was much easier to man-age. His rival, Rep. Leni Robredo, was leading only by over 200,000 votes, ac-cording to the count of the congressional Board of Canvassers. This was enough to proclaim her as vice president.

Well, BS Aquino got his wish that “anybody but Marcos” should be elected vice president. It is said that his Plan B has Leni becom-ing president after Duterte is impeached and ousted. Leni is, indeed, the Cinder-ella of politics.

What is tragic is that the Comelec itself appears involved in the conspiracy to frustrate the will of the people. The Comelec is an agency mandated by the Constitution to ensure free, honest and clean elections.

Its commissioners de-nied the call of Marcos—and of his many IT experts and supporters—for a sys-tems audit before anybody could be proclaimed. Why?

Simply because a systems audit would show the par-ticipation of Comelec in frustrating the people’s will and making the May 9 polls a mockery.

Instances of election fraud are made public ev-ery day. Transmission of votes from the precinct level to the municipality is hijacked by fraudsters.

Cheating has been re-corded not only in the Lanao provinces, Maguin-danao, and Sulu. It was also observed in provinces near Metro Manila, like Quezon and Laguna.

After that Venezuelan project director of Smart-matic interfered with the hash code of the transpar-ency server, the adminis-tration fraudsters went to town.

Comelec chairman Andy Bautista, whom I had earlier thought was a man of honesty and integ-rity, branded the interfer-ence as cosmetic change. What was worse was that the chairperson of the Par-ish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting agreed with Bautista.

The fight of Marcos against cheating may not be over, but it’s Leni, the ben-eficiary of the fraud, who will now sit as vice presi-dent. I guess eventually, this fight of Bongbong will end up at the Presidential Electoral Tribunal where all the Supreme Court justices sit as members.

It’s a tragedy for Bong-bong because he was de-prived of the chance to sit as vice president by a vengeful BS Aquino, who is so desperate to save his skin after he steps down on June 30.

* * *When BS Aquino hands

over the reins of govern-ment to Rodrigo Duterte on June 30, we the people would likely give a sigh of relief that the worst presi-dent the country has ever had would finally be gone.

As for me—as a con-cerned citizen, journalist and columnist—I will miss

I WILL MISS PNOY

UNRESOLVED CASES DUTERTE SHOULD ORDER RESOLVED

CHANGE will come. That was in-coming President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign slogan in the recently concluded elections. It is also a statement against the corruption and incompetence characterizing the administration of President Be-nigno Aquino III.

Duterte also promised to act on cases against pro-Aquino officials which the investigation and pros-ecution agencies of the Aquino ad-ministration conveniently ignored or deliberately left unacted upon. That promise is an indictment that the Aquino administration actu-ally implements a selective system of justice designed to protect pal-ace allies and to persecute palace enemies.

It will be recalled that politi-cal personalities considered hostile by the Aquino regime have been quickly dealt with by the govern-ment. Examples include ex-Makati City Mayor Jun-Jun Binay, who was unseated from city hall, and in-cumbent Senators Juan Ponce En-rile, Jinggoy Estrada, and Ramon Revilla, Jr., who were detained and prevented from attending sessions in the Senate.

Having been elected to the presi-dency by an overwhelming major-ity, Duterte must make good on his campaign promises.

For starters, Duterte should look into the many graft cases filed against Aquino Cabinet members and staunch political allies years ago, but which remain pending or unacted upon in the Office of the Ombudsman or related agencies.

Take the case of ex-Makati City vice mayor Ernesto Mercado, an Aquino ally who provided evidence against Vice President Jejomar Bi-nay and his son, then Makati City Mayor Jun-Jun Binay, in a Senate in-vestigation concerning the contro-versial, overpriced parking building constructed near the Makati City

Hall. Mercado testified that com-missions were illegally given to key city officials, including the two Bi-nays, by the contractor of the park-ing building. In addition, Mercado categorically admitted that he had received an estimated P80 million as his share of the bribe money al-lotted for the construction project.

Criminal cases were eventually filed against the Binays and several officials of Makati. Surprisingly, however, Mercado was not charged, despite his admission of having re-ceived bribe money.

In view of the unwarranted spe-cial treatment extended to Merca-do, public interest advocate Louis “Barok” Biraogo filed a separate case for plunder against Mercado before the Ombudsman. That was more than two years ago. Biraogo revealed that as of this writing, he has not received any notice or reso-lution from the Ombudsman re-garding the plunder case.

Back in 2013, it was discovered in a Senate investigation that P136 bil-lion in the Malampaya natural gas find was missing. Then-National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon, together with Finance Secretary Cesar Puri-sima and Budget Secretary Flor-encio Abad, testified that the said amount could not be specifically accounted for. Armed with a tran-script of their testimonies, Biraogo filed criminal charges against the three officials before the Ombuds-man in January 2014.

It appears that Biraogo’s com-plaint was later referred to the Commission on Audit for appropri-ate action, but as of this writing, the CoA has not yet acted on the case.

Equally disturbing is the case in-volving Negros Oriental Represen-tative Jocelyn Limkaichong of the pro-Aquino Liberal Party. In 2013, two complainants filed plunder raps against Limkaichong and her hus-band Lawrence Limkaichong, who was the mayor of the municipality of La Libertad of the same province. According to the complaint, Jocelyn Limkaichong illegally channeled her pork barrel funds to La Liber-tad, and that measures were taken to enable her husband to spend the funds likewise illegally.

Documents accompanying the complaint indicate that from 2007 up to 2013, some P220 million was released by the Department of Budget and Management to La Libertad, and that the money was distributed among different barangay captains outside of La Libertad but within the Limkaichong congressional district.

It is also alleged that the checks given to the barangay captains were payable to the officials themselves, and not to the barangay, and that one barangay captain used his share to buy a vehicle which he registered in his name. Another allegation has it that the funds were used to purchase vehicles for the barangays, but the vehicles turned out to be used ones which were passed off as brand new.

The plunder case against the Limkaichongs were filed in the Vi-sayas office of the Ombudsman. According to the complainants, the case remains unacted upon by a cer-tain Paul Clemente, an alleged ap-pointee of President Aquino.

So far, the complainants are op-timistic that under the Duterte ad-ministration, the plunder case will be resolved once and for all. Their only fear is that if the Limkaichongs join or affiliate themselves with the PDP Laban, the plunder case may remain unresolved.

HAIL TO THE CHAIR

VICTOR AVECILLA

He gave me more than

enough material for this column.

TO THE POINT

EMIL P. JURADO

[email protected]

Continued on A11

A11T U E S D AY : M AY 3 1 , 2 0 1 6

OPINION

LESSONS FROM A BANK HEISTBloomberg editorial

SWIFT can’t do it alone.The Society for World-

wide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, an organization that enables money transfers worldwide, has come under fire after a rash of bank hackings —some of which bear fin-gerprints of nation-states including North Korea. In response, it announced this week a series of new mea-sures aimed at protecting the global financial system from cybercrime.

These steps can’t hurt. They’ll probably help. But the more urgent security

problem rests with the banks, not with the mes-saging system they use.

The story began in Feb-ruary, when Bangladesh’s central bank fell victim to an $81-million heist. Hack-ers used the Swift network to access the bank’s ac-count at the Federal Re-serve Bank of New York and transfer funds to ac-counts in the Philippines, from which they vanished. Similar breaches have hap-pened at banks in Vietnam and Ecuador, and possibly elsewhere.

Troubling as the heists may be, it’s important to put a few things in perspective. While

$81 million is nothing to sniff at, it’s small in comparison to the hundreds of billions of dollars in transfers that the system facilitates every day. What’s more, Swift itself did not fail, any more than a tele-phone fails if somebody uses it to commit fraud. The net-work passes messages among banks, which then move money on their own. Hackers were able to impersonate the banks thanks to weaknesses in the systems they used to connect to Swift. This gave the hackers access only to the compromised banks’ funds, not to the funds of the thou-sands of other institutions that use Swift.

Nevertheless, the breaches are a big deal for an organization founded on trust: For the system to work smoothly, banks must be able to assume that the messages they receive are legitimate. To that end, Swift has wisely offered to take on more responsibil-ity for the security practic-es of its members. It plans, for example, to toughen software requirements, ex-pand the use of two-factor authentication (which pro-vides an added identity check), monitor compli-ance more rigorously, and facilitate sharing of fraud-detection know-how.

Ultimately, though, Swift can only do so much. The network is fast and efficient because it’s neutral and passive—a feature that any major effort to police some 11,000 member institutions could impair. The real so-lution must come where the failure happened: at the banks. If institutions in de-veloping nations somehow prove unable to defend against state-sponsored at-tacks, some assistance from the developed world might be in order. That said, keeping their money safe is something banks them-selves should have the re-sources and expertise to do.

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midnight press conference of the incoming president will become boring as people real-ize that more important than what he says to the press are the documents he signs and the orders he issues to the people in government.

More critical is the fact that we have a president and vice president who come from provincial cities. I support Duterte and Ro-bredo going home regularly to Davao and Naga; it would be good for them to be al-ways to draw strength from their roots and to be given feedback by those who have known them the longest.

I am of course worried about the tran-sition to a government that is stronger on crime by disregarding human rights. At the same time, I look forward to big steps for-ward on federalism and the peace processes with both the Moro revolutionary organiza-tions and the National Democratic Front.

* * *While these big transitions in govern-

ment are happening, I will be undergoing a major change myself. Today—May 31, 2016—I step down as the Dean of the At-eneo School of Government.

Thanks to Fr. Ben Nebres SJ and Fr. Jett Villarin SJ, presidents of Ateneo de Manila University during my 10-year tenure as dean, I was given four terms (the last one was just for a year) to lead ASoG. I pass the baton now, with excitement, to Dr. Ronald Mendoza, a colleague from a different gen-eration, and whose work experience and academic discipline are also different from mine. If there is a perfect transition, this is it, as I know ASoG is in good hands.

From a school of around 50 students and an average of five to 10 graduates a year, our student population now hovers at 300 and we graduate 75-100 Masters in Public Man-agement a year. This year, we also expect to graduate our first batch of PHD in leader-ship graduates.

Our most successful executive educa-tion initiative is the Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship program for overseas Filipino workers and other global Filipi-nos. Implemented with partners, we are in 14 cities worldwide—Rome, Naples, Milan, Florence, Turin, Brussels, The Hague, Par-is, Madrid, Barcelona, Dubai, Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore, and have more than 1000 alumni and students.

ASoG pioneered new approaches to gov-ernance and development. We promoted social accountability, social entrepreneur-ship, a base of the pyramid approach, and

inclusive mobility. These are now widely accepted.

ASoG convened and supported diverse and vibrant communities of practice in governance and development, working par-ticularly with reform constituencies. We also incubated independent organizations like the Affiliated Network for Social Ac-countability, the University Network for Inclusive Development, the Inclusive Mo-bility Network, the Institute for Social En-trepreneurship in Asia, and the Kaya Natin Movement for Good Governance. Finally, we also assisted Ashoka: Innovators for the Public Interest, the largest network of social entrepreneurs in the world, set up shop in the Philippines.

On climate change, ASoG played a lead-ership role in enabling a broad global move-ment of citizen organizations that success-fully lobbied for the integration of human rights, indigenous people’s rights, ecosys-tem in integrity and good governance in the Paris Agreement. Our team also provided critical negotiation and communication support to the Philippine delegation in the climate negotiations.

As I leave the deanship of ASoG, I will take a sabbatical from political commen-tary. I owe it to my successor to yield the platform I have used extensively in the last 10 years. I also find the current atmosphere very toxic and want to disengage from that for now.

I will continue to teach in ASoG, the Loyola Schools of ADMU, and several law schools. For the first time in 25 years, I will not have a leadership position for an orga-nization or institution. I hope its stays like that for a while. But if duty calls again, I will probably say yes if there is a contribution to make.

I just came from Turin, Italy to preside over an LSE graduation ceremony. There, I challenged our LSE graduates to become nation builders. Many of them believe that change is coming. I told them that was good but reminded them, that if change does not come, they should not be blaming Duterte nor any one else. Instead, it should make them work harder to build a better Philip-pines.

I will follow my own advice. As a pri-vate citizen, as a teacher and writer, I will continue to help build this country. I truly believe: another Philippines, a much better one, is possible.

Facebook: tonylavs5 or Dean Tony La Viña Twitter: tonylavs

Duterte also promised to look into anomalies possibly commit-ted by key officials of the Aquino administration. He can start with Senator-elect Leila de Lima, who has been repeatedly critical of a Duterte presidency.

When De Lima was the secretary of Justice, it was discovered that the drug lords in the New Bilibid Prison were given extraordinarily special treatment and privileges, consisting of catered restaurant food, air-con-ditioned quarters, sauna facilities, access to computers and telephones, and many others.

Likewise, De Lima should be investigated for joining the gov-ernment junket to The Hague, in Holland, to attend the hearing in the arbitration case the Philippines lodged against Communist China

for the latter’s expansionist activi-ties in the West Philippine Sea. De Lima obviously had no role in that hearing because the country was already sufficiently represented by lawyers with acknowledged exper-tise in Public International Law. As the secretary of Justice, De Lima had no involvement in what was ob-viously the exclusive concern of the foreign affairs and national defense departments of the Philippine gov-ernment.

The CoA also reported that under De Lima, the Department of Justice spent public funds earmarked for a particular project, for another pur-pose.

Before De Lima decides to hit Duterte again, she should engage in some introspect and explain to the public why numerous anoma-lies took place in the DoJ during her watch.

Transitions... From A9 Unresolved... From A10

“Bongbong will have been deemed to have abandoned his protest, just like Loren was deemed to have done to her case against Noli de Castro after she ran again for the Senate.”

In an impeachment case, my source said, the people who want Ro-bredo out will not have to wait for the resolution of an election pro-test. They will only attempt to impeach her in the House as soon as it is possible to do so and to elevate the case to the Senate, which will convene as an impeachment court.

Sounds pretty complicated to me, I said. My friend disagreed.“All it takes is political determination, as Noynoy Aquino showed

us,” he said. “You didn’t think it was possible to impeach Chief Justice Renato Corona in the beginning, as I recall.”

Oh, but I said, seeing an opening of my own, your whole plot will depend on Cayetano convincing Duterte to buy into it. It’s not going to happen if Digong puts his foot down and rains a torrent of invec-tives on Alan’s head.

“But you are now discounting Cayetano’s deviousness and persis-tence,” was my friend’s retort. “Remember how Alan basically stalked Duterte to get chosen as Digong’s running mate—and how he is now blocking all attempts to get people identified with “AlDub” [the in-formal but very popular Duterte-Marcos pairing] appointed to high office?”

Then I remembered how one AlDub adherent named by Digong to a lucrative post recently suddenly became the subject of seven white papers explaining why she was not fit for the post. And the white papers, people in the Duterte camp tell me, have all been traced to Cayetano and his minions.

In the end, I had to agree: Leni Robredo should watch her back. Or as they say back in Naga City, “Loay-loay sana, manay.”

Plan... From A9

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T uesday : May 3 1 , 2 0 1 6

sports

Spieth birdies last 3 to win Carlosseekspayback

Aussie eyesRegent 5150repeat win

Moreno, Mendiola, Ortizfastest in Phoenix slalom

Jevoy Moreno of AF Racing Team steers his car to both the overall and front wheel best time of 47.04 seconds in the Phoenix National Slalom Series.

Volley queens. The RC Cola-Army A tandem of Nene Bautista (left, back row) and Jovelyn Gonzaga (right, back row) are shown after being declared the women’s division champions of the 2016 Philippine Superliga Challenge Cup beach volleyball tournament on Sunday at the SM By the Bay sand court at the Mall of Asia. PSL President Ramon Suzara (right, front row) presented the award, along with Accel representative Dang Navarro. ROMAN PROSPERO

WASHINGTON—Shaking off a Masters melt-down as he prepares to defend his US Open crown, world number two Jordan Spieth bird-ied the last three holes Sunday to win the Dean and Deluca Invitational.

The 22-year-old Texan won his first home-state US PGA title in astonishing fashion, firing a five-under par 65 final round at Colonial to finish on 17-under 263 for a three-stroke victory.

Spieth led last month’s Masters with nine holes remaining and appeared set for a second consecu-tive wire-to-wire victory at Augusta National, only to collapse on the back nine and hand England’s Danny Willett the green jacket, literally doing so at the award ceremony with a grim facial expression.

“I knew it was going to be tough to put the Mas-ters behind me,” Spieth said. “I don’t wish that

on anybody. It’s no fun out there when you hear people yelling, ‘Remember the Masters.’

“To get over that hurdle in our third tourna-ment back says a lot about our character out there.”

Since his major stumble, Spieth has battled back in May, missing the cut at the Players Champion-ship and falling out of the hunt with a last-day fade at last week’s Byron Nelson Championship only to save his best for last at Fort Worth.

“As much as you play it off, that’s a tough hump to get over, after Augusta,” Spieth said.

Spieth, who defends his US Open title next month at Oakmont, curled in a 20-foot birdie putt at the par-3 16th Sunday to seize the lead for good, pumping his right fist with excitement.

At 17, Spieth found the rough on his first two shots but chipped his third into the cup, a stun-

ning 42-foot pitch that brought a shocked smile to his face.

To complete his closing hat trick, Spieth dropped a 34-foot birdie putt at 18 and raised in arms in celebration.

“It was difficult to stay patient but that’s the thing we told ourselves to do,” Spieth said.

Harris English fired a 66 to finish second on 266 with Ryan Palmer and Webb Simpson on 267 and Kyle Reifers fifth on 268.

The only non-US player in the top 10 was India’s Anirban Lahiri, who shared sixth on 271 after a 68.

Next week will see Spieth face top-ranked Jason Day of Australia and third-ranked Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland at the Jack Nicklaus-hosted Memorial tournament. All three have built con-fidence with recent wins. AFP

GEN. TRIAS, Cavite—Rook-ie pro Jobim Carlos returns to resume his hunt not only for a breakthrough victory but also for a payback against the hottest player on the Philip-pine Golf Tour as the ICTSI Eagle Ridge Invitational un-folds today (Tuesday, May 31) at the Eagle Ridge Golf and Country Club’s Aoki course here.

Carlos, who missed scor-ing his maiden win with a playoff setback to Clyde Mondilla at Eastridge three weeks ago, skipped the last leg at Calatagan, also ruled by Mondilla, but is con-fident of his chances this week over a course that re-quires length, accuracy and steady putting.

“The course seems to fit my eye well,” said Car-los, who closed out with 67 and 69 here to finish fourth in the PGT Q-School last December.

The former national champion drew a pair of long-hitting pros in Marvin Dumandan and Rufino Bay-ron in the 7:50 a.m. flight on No. 10 but if he plays true to form, he is expected to face Mondilla again in the last two rounds of the 72-hole cham-pionship sponsored by Inter-national Container Terminal Services, Inc.

TOWERING Aussie champ Sam Betten banners a crack field racing for top honors when 2016 Regent 5150 Tri-athlon – the local version of the world’s largest Olympic dis-tance triathlon series – fires off June 5 in Subic.

The 6-foot-4 Betten sets out to retain the male pro crown against compatriots Mitch Rob-ins, winner of the first Safeguard 5150, and Dan Brown and Slo-vakia’s Michal Bucek in the race organized by Sunrise Events, Inc. in partnership with the country’s leading snack manufacturing company, Regent Foods.

Australia’s 2015 runner-up Dimity-Lee Duke aims to strike gold this time as she battles Kiwi Amelia Rose Wat-kinson and Aussie Michelle Duffield for the female pro crown, which is now an open race following the retirement of champ Belinda Granger from pro racing.

Competitors in the Fili-pino elite male and female divisions and age-groupers also showcase their compet-itive spirit and skills in tack-ling the 1.5km open-water swim at the Acea Beach, 40km bike and 10km run along the undulating and hot roads of Subic Bay.

JEVOY Moreno of AF Racing Team ruled the 2016 RACE Motorsports Club Phoenix National Slalom Se-ries’ fifth leg Sunday at Malolos Sports and Convention Center.

Moreno captured both the overall and front wheel best time of 47.04, with Dr. Peewee Mendiola placing second overall after suffering from a broken axle of his race car and had to use his teammate’s car. Mendiola also grabbed the rear wheel produc-tion best time of 47.44.

Abet Reyes of Team Big Chill placed third with a time of 48.24, with Paolo Santos (48.78) and Dion Ortiz (49.20) finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.

Ortiz of AF Racing Team bagged the novice best Time of the day .

Winners of the fourth leg got their awards while all class winners received four liters of Phoenix Ac-celerate fully synthetic motor oil.

The 2016 Phoenix National Sla-

lom Series is powered by Phoenix Premium 98 and Phoenix Acceler-ate fully synthetic oil and co-spon-sored by Federal Tyres, the official tires of the slalom series, Outlast Battery and Robinsons Malls.

The event is also supported by Starbright Body Kits, Auto Trans-porter and Aeromed, media part-ners Stoplight TV, Inside Motoring, DZRJ-Am, Pinoy Speed sa mga Pa-hayagan and Spin.Ph Sports Inter-active Network and C! Magazine, Ride and Drive Philippines, Targa Pilipinas and Auto Industriya.

All events are sanctioned and af-filiated by the Automobile Club of the Philippines.

The sixth leg for the year will be on June 5 at Robinsons Sta Rosa.

For details, contact Bing Bang Dulce at 09178119337 or email at [email protected], like our FB page racemotorsportsclub and phoenixpetroleum.

Former WBOchamp stopsPinoy boxerBy Ronnie Nathanielsz

FORMER World Boxing Organiza-tion minimum weight champion Kosei Tanaka scored a sixth-round technical knockout over the Philippines’ Rene Patilano in a 10-round non-title bout at the International Conference Hall in Nagoya, Japan.

Boxing man Joe Koizumi, who once managed two-division world champion Luisito Espinosa, reported that Tanaka was “too fast and too ferocious” for Patali-no, who is ranked No. 10 by the IBF, de-molishing him at 2:23 of the sixth round.

But it was by no means an easy fight as Patalino displayed a courageous heart in retaliating with some solid combina-tions against the fast-moving and swift punching former world champion Tanaka, who recently relinquished his 105-lb belt as he could no longer make the weight.

Patalino was reportedly frustrated by the sharper jabs of Tanaka, which forced the Filipino to back pedal. How-ever, at the start of Round 5, Patalino went for broke but Tanaka responded quickly and in the fatal sixth round, Tanaka swarmed all over the rapidly fading Filipino with a flurry of punches that sent him to the canvas on the seat of his trunks for the count.

All event pictures can be viewed at FB page of racemotors-portsclub.

Official Results:Novice Modified A: 1st Dion Or-

tiz 49.20; 2nd Reden Dizon 50.86; 3rd Adriel Pacis 54.98

Novice Modified B: 1st Dion Or-tiz 49.92; 2nd Reden Dizon 50.78;

3rd John Carlo Alvarez 54.80; 4th Ino Ortega 61.10

Novice Modified C: 1st Dion Or-tiz 49.72; 2nd Reden Dizon 50.78; 3rd John Carlos Alvarez 53.70

Pro Stock A: 1st Dr. Peewee Mendiola 48.18; 2nd Abet Reyes; 48.24 3rd Richard Gallardo 49.22

NOTICE TO THE PUBLICPlease be informed that the following accountable forms of INVESTORS ASSURANCE

CORPORATION (IAC) have been lost: TYPE OF POLICY SERIES FROM SERIES TO

C(11) - General Bond for Customs Bonded Warehouse 201 205 C(12)A - General Warehousing Bond for Raw Materials 241 245 CAR - Contractor’s All Risk 1829 1830 2322 2323 2328 2336 3741 3741 3752 3753 3809 3813 3911 3911 3913 3914 3920 3920 3948 3972 4299 4300 4311 4332 4473 4500 4501 4532 5121 5130 CE - Casualty Endorsement 3051 3051 3309 3309 3330 3330 3339 3340 CGI - Group PA Certificate of Cover 27451 27475 29901 30000 30201 30250 CGL - Public Liability 12402 12450 13576 13600 13807 13850 13851 13900 14101 14101 15158 15159 15161 15161 15676 15676 COCL - LTO Certificate of Cover 128406 128409 128411 128425 128448 128450 128477 128482 128531 128531 128533 128534 128538 128543 128545 128545 146903 146910 146919 146950 149846 149850 149865 149866 149870 149873 1037851 1038100 1049301 1049350 1049351 1049450 6007061 6007065 6020755 6020755 6020757 6020758 6020761 6020775 6020777 6020779 6020781 6020781 6020794 6020794 6020796 6020800 6020801 6020804 6020816 6020817 6020819 6020819 6020827 6020827 6020832 6020834 6020843 6020850 6021644 6021650 6021653 6021654 6021656 6021660 6021683 6021684 6021687 6021689 6021957 6021957 6021959 6021963 6021965 6021966 6025201 6025205 6025207 6025208 6025210 6025212 6025224 6025235 6025243 6025243 6025247 6025247 6025262 6025269 6025275 6025277 6025288 6025288 6025298 6025300 6026173 6026178 6026453 6026454 6026456 6026456 6026461 6026467 6026471 6026500 6026719 6026719 6026729 6026730 6026735 6026735 6026737 6026737 6026741 6026743 6026746 6026746 6026752 6026752 6026757 6026761 6026777 6026781 6026786 6026786 6026804 6026804 6026808 6026813 6026821 6026821 6026825 6026825 6026827 6026828 6026830 6026832 6026849 6026850 6027952 6027962 6027964 6027964 6027967 6027977 6027979 6027982 6027992 6027992 6027994 6027996 6028001 6028051 6028062 6028079 6028130 6028143 6028153 6028159 6028166 6028178 6028200 6028200 6028308 6028320 6028328 6028334 6028338 6028350 6028359 6028361 6028363 6028371 6028373 6028395 6028398 6028400 6028451 6028452 6028454 6028454 6028458 6028459 6028470 6028471 6028485 6028486 6028490 6028491 6028493 6028501 6028503 6028560 6028562 6028700 6029076 6029076 6029203 6029203 COCM - CCO Non-LTO Certificate of Cover for MC Use 149201 149202 149251 149277 149279 149350 149451 149500 149501 149700 149801 150000 150351 150500 150501 150700 150751 150850 153091 153340 153401 153490 153591 153640 COCN - Non-LTO Certificate of Cover 2180501 2180502 2180601 2180750 2180901 2180904 2180906 2180913 2180915 2180925 2180927 2180930 2180933 2180936 2180938 2181000 2181001 2181100 2181201 2181300 2181301 2181350 2181601 2181650 2181701 2181850 2181901 2182000 2186201 2186325 2186326 2186400 2186851 2186925 2187426 2187450 2187451 2187500 2207292 2207391 5072012 5072031 5072035 5072050 5072601 5072610 5072614 5072627 5072629 5072641 5072643 5072660 5072702 5072702 5072709 5072709 5072721 5072721 5072952 5072953 5072956 5072957 5072966 5072968 5072972 5072972

5072981 5072991 5072993 5072996 5072999 5073000 5073022 5073022 5073032 5073033 5073036 5073036 5073067 5073067 5073069 5073070 5073074 5073074 5073076 5073091 5073094 5073094 5073097 5073099 5073176 5073176 5073185 5073185 5073194 5073195 5073199 5073200 5073316 5073316 5073390 5073390 5073393 5073393 5073872 5073890 5074029 5074031 5074037 5074038 5074040 5074040 5074046 5074051 5074052 5074062 5074089 5074096 5074137 5074137 5074146 5074147 5074184 5074185 5076608 5076609 5076734 5076734 5076737 5076737 5076739 5076739 5076751 5076751 5076772 5076772 5076785 5076785 5076851 5076851 5076857 5076857 5076871 5076872 5076882 5076882 5076889 5076889 5076891 5076891 5076896 5076896 5078578 5078579 5078586 5078586 5078592 5078593 5078597 5078600 5081801 5081801 5081812 5081812 5081821 5081821 5081826 5081827 5082401 5082401 5082403 5082404 5082412 5082412 5082416 5082416 5082423 5082425 5082427 5082431 5082433 5082433 5082436 5082443 5082446 5082449 5084865 5084865 5084877 5084877 5084880 5084882 5084884 5084887 5084889 5084889 5085561 5085561 5085564 5085565 5085580 5085580 5085594 5085594 5086961 5086962 5086981 5086981 5087001 5087020 5087022 5087050 5087054 5087054 5087059 5087059 5087063 5087063 5087070 5087070 5087077 5087100 5087116 5087118 5087151 5087169 5087211 5087211 5087255 5087258 5087273 5087273 5087284 5087284 5087288 5087288 5087292 5087292 5087297 5087298 5087300 5087300 5087313 5087314 5087326 5087326 5087330 5087331 5087339 5087339 5087342 5087348 5087350 5087350 5087358 5087400 5087402 5087402 5087405 5087405 5087414 5087416 5087424 5087430 5087455 5087455 5087466 5087466 5087651 5087664 5087668 5087670 5087674 5087675 5087696 5087696 5087703 5087703 5087706 5087706 5087708 5087709 5087719 5087719 5087735 5087736 5087752 5087762 5087822 5087822 5087828 5087828 5087839 5087840 5087854 5087854 5087866 5087866 5087869 5087869 5087888 5087888 5087931 5087931 5087936 5087937 5087950 5087950 5087961 5088015 5088017 5088018 5088020 5088025 5088027 5088039 5088041 5088049 5088060 5088060 5088062 5088062 5088067 5088071 5088074 5088074 5088087 5088088 5088095 5088096 5088098 5088100 5088116 5088116 5088120 5088120 5088122 5088122 5088133 5088133 5088146 5088146 5088152 5088152 5088176 5088180 5088183 5088183 5088204 5088204 5088208 5088208 5088210 5088210 5088229 5088229 5088235 5088235 5088244 5088244 5088257 5088257 5088268 5088270 5088287 5088289 5088330 5088330 5088337 5088337 5090651 5090652 5090655 5090655 5090659 5090659 5090664 5090664 5090677 5090681 5090685 5090685 5090687 5090689 5091162 5091168 5091173 5091176 5091178 5091178 5091180 5091181 5091184 5091185 5091187 5091191 5091193 5091193 5091195 5091198 5091201 5091201 5091203 5091207 5091210 5091216 5091219 5091221 5091225 5091225 5091227 5091231 5091243 5091245 5092711 5092714 5092717 5092717 5092721 5092722 5092725 5092726 5092751 5092751 5092756 5092769 5092773 5092777 5092779 5092782 5092789 5092789 5092801 5092801 5092803 5092803 5092811 5092812 5092814 5092814 5092821 5092821 5092838 5092838 5092869 5092869 5092871 5092871 5092886 5092887 5092890 5092890 5092894 5092894 5092898 5092898 5092913 5092915 5092922 5092922 5092946 5092946 5092956 5092956 5092960 5092960 5092963 5092963

5092981 5092981 5092989 5092989 5092991 5092991 5092996 5092996 5093005 5093005 5093015 5093015 5093020 5093020 5093024 5093024 5093026 5093026 5093037 5093037 5093060 5093061 5093072 5093072 5093089 5093091 5093117 5093117 5093153 5093158 5093160 5093171 5093180 5093186 5093191 5093200 5093215 5093216 5093230 5093232 5093235 5093236 5093243 5093243 5093247 5093248 5093702 5093702 5093709 5093710 5093712 5093716 5093722 5093751 5093753 5093753 5093755 5093800 5094146 5094146 5094564 5094564 5094568 5094600 5094604 5094614 5094617 5094617 5094654 5094661 5094671 5094671 5094673 5094673 5094675 5094675 5094677 5094677 5094679 5094683 5094687 5094687 5094691 5094692 5094698 5094698 5094708 5094709 5094733 5094742 5094744 5094744 5094746 5094753 5094801 5094821 5094823 5094860 5094864 5094876 5094878 5094891 5094894 5094894 5094905 5094919 5094922 5094925 5094928 5094931 5094933 5094936 5094938 5094940 5094946 5094974 5094982 5094983 5094996 5095016 5095023 5095048 5095050 5095050 5095051 5095101 5095105 5095105 5095109 5095109 5095112 5095112 5095116 5095121 5095131 5095134 5095145 5095150 5095153 5095177 5095179 5095185 5095190 5095191 5095199 5095200 5095205 5095207 5095232 5095232 5095250 5095251 5095257 5095259 5095288 5095292 5095294 5095294 5095296 5095296 5095298 5095299 5095301 5095350 5095354 5095358 5095360 5095390 5095392 5095392 5095400 5095401 5095403 5095404 5095409 5095432 5095437 5095450 5095801 5096000 5096501 5096600 5096603 5096750 5096801 5096850 5097013 5097013 5097040 5097040 5097043 5097043 5097046 5097046 5097049 5097049 5097052 5097052 5097055 5097056 5097066 5097066 5097071 5097073 5097075 5097075 5097337 5097337 5097576 5097578 5097580 5097580 5097876 5097910 5098180 5098180 5098225 5098225 CTPLCV - Commercial Vehicle CTPL Policy 14065 14066 14069 14069 14071 14075 14072 14075 14078 14083 14085 14094 14098 14098 14100 14100 14108 14149 14192 14192 14356 14360 14394 14394 14405 14441 14443 14450 15182 15186 15616 15616 15621 15630 15633 15633 15635 15637 15639 15640 17903 17911 17914 17922 17923 17923 17925 17950 18581 18586 18588 18589 18601 18610 18613 18613 18616 18650 18651 18715 18717 18800 18803 18803 18806 18950 19501 19550 19601 19700 19901 19907 20551 20650 20751 20755 20760 20800 21026 21029 21051 21060 35110 35110 35117 35117 35120 35120 CTPLEND - CTPL Endorsement 10152 10200 10302 10302 14501 14520 14521 14525 CTPLLTO - Land Transpo Oprtr CTPL Policy 22664 22666 22668 22670 22672 22674 35154 35154 35156 35160 35162 35163 35166 35180 35182 35184 35186 35186 35199 35199 35201 35205 35208 35208 35212 35218 35220 35224 35226 35226 35232 35238 35242 35242 35244 35250 36401 36415 36801 36809 38651 38651 38657 38700 39418 39422 39432 39441 39444 39450 39460 39460 39480 39481 39486 39500 39604 39604 39609 39617 39629 39635 39645 39650 39803 39812 39815 39817 39820 39824 39829 39835 39837 39837 39841 39842

39841 39842 39844 39845 39847 39900 39954 39959 39961 40000 40105 40600 41602 41607 41609 41651 41653 41700 139412 139416 CTPLMC - Motorcyle CTPL Policy 15349 15350 15353 15357 15360 15400 18186 18195 18200 18200 18201 18201 18203 18203 18205 18214 18217 18254 18281 18285 58229 58229 58231 58231 58251 58269 58273 58274 58277 58277 58279 58281 58283 58283 58289 58289 59213 59213 59215 59215 59218 59220 59227 59232 59234 59237 59241 59241 59246 59250 59612 59630 59657 59657 59738 59747 59748 59750 63334 63337 63339 63339 63342 63350 64101 64118 64120 64120 64128 64128 64132 64141 64143 64147 64151 64160 64162 64162 64174 64174 64177 64200 64203 64203 64211 64212 64214 64214 64220 64220 64234 64255 64299 64299 64305 64306 64311 64312 64314 64320 64322 64340 64342 64350 64379 64380 64415 64418 64420 64420 64423 64427 64437 64439 64451 64451 64466 64471 64474 64474 64478 64478 64481 64481 64491 64494 64499 64499 64501 64550 64558 64558 64562 64562 64565 64566 64569 64600 64602 64700 66153 66176 66190 66203 66205 66250 66651 66850 67455 67463 68451 68475 68827 68828 68927 68951 CTPLPC - Private Car CTPL Policy 60921 60925 60927 60931 60935 60935 60937 60939 60945 60946 61258 61258 61262 61263 61267 61274 61276 61276 61278 61280 61282 61282 61285 61285 61287 61288 61290 61290 61292 61293 61295 61295 61297 61297 61324 61341 61344 61346 61348 61350 61459 61459 61463 61463 61466 61473 61476 61500 61539 61541 62219 62219 62557 62564 62619 62619 66631 66631 66633 66633 66635 66650 66651 66665 66669 66670 66676 66677 66696 66696 66701 66721 66723 66723 66725 66728 66730 66731 66733 66744 66752 66756 66765 66767 66769 66769 66777 66777 66780 66783 66790 66800 66803 66850 70351 70366 70379 70380 70398 70398 70400 70400 71004 71053 71058 71179 71182 71194 71199 71200 71208 71208 71214 71218 71224 71224 71283 71284 71346 71346 71551 71751 71764 71764 71798 71798 71804 71804 71825 71825 71852 71865 71870 71870 71889 71889 71893 71893 71899 71899 71901 72000 72101 72250 72272 72272 72284 72288 72290 72435 72451 72451 72453 72453 72459 72497 72542 72550 72824 72826 72851 73350 73651 73675 73776 73825 74001 74024 74051 74053 613389 613400 CV - Commercial Vehicle Comprehensive 6085 6085 6100 6100 10351 10353 10599 10599 10626 10650 12201 12202 12209 12209 12213 12213 12258 12260 12319 12320 12360 12362 12365 12366 12368 12376 12379 12380 12382 12382 12385 12387 12389 12401 12405 12405 12452 12465 12489 12500

12551 1256112563 1258112583 1260012893 12893

E1 - Fire Invoice

4402 4411

E3 - Casualty Invoice 4639 46404643 46456812 68127303 73037305 73068404 84048951 90509158 91589160 91849251 92579259 92609276 92789280 92859288 92919293 92969316 93409558 95589560 95969651 96559658 96619663 96899701 9710

10014 1001810023 10050

E4 - Bond Invoice

32719 3272032729 3272935052 3505235054 3505436737 3673736951 3695336955 3695639187 3918739190 3919042678 4267942689 4269443856 4385643900 4390045308 4530846765 4676546861 4686147675 4768747807 4785047853 4787547876 4788947959 4795947961 4796147964 4796447975 4797547978 4797847997 4799748001 4804948201 4825048287 4828748289 4828948515 4852348600 4860048651 4865248800 4880048881 4888148902 4890249238 4923849271 4927149355 4935549510 4951049511 4952249529 4952949532 4953249540 4954049620 4962049623 4962349627 4962849642 4965049881 4988349885 4988550230 5023050240 5024050264 5026450267 5026750281 5028150285 5028550290 5029051027 5102751161 5116151181 5118151193 5119451197 5120751209 5121651218 5121851220 5122351225 5123151265 5126651271 5127251281 5128351286 5129551297 5135051410 5141051458 5145951470 5147051479 5147951500 5150051533 5153351713 5171353941 5394653951 5398453990 5399053998 5400054027 5402854034 5405054091 5409254101 5415054295 5429554320 5432354326 5432854347 5434754923 5492354924 5495055201 55247

F - Fire Policy Set

14361 14370

FEND - Fire Endorsement 2451 2451

FID(1) - Fidelity Bond

3101 3110

G(13) - Performance Bond 14075 1407614804 1480416194 1619516251 1625116254 1625416281 1628116501 1650216600 1660016601 1660516609 1662816631 1663116633 1663416637 1665016701 1673816751 1680016955 1695516996 1700017101 1711517124 1712417140 1714117145 1714717150 1715017152 1715217481 1748117758 1775817776 1777917788 1778817800 1780417813 1781317817 1782917926 1795018099 1809918100 1810018111 1811218114 1811918314 1831418324 1832418954 1895419072 1907519093 1909419127 1912719131 1913119142 1914219148 1915019151 1920019229 1923319235 1925019301 1931519317 1932519522 1952221251 2125121553 2155323745 2374524502 24502

G(16) - Surety Bond

14054 1405417457 1745718454 1845418842 1884219158 19158

19322 1932419375 1937519616 1961619624 1962419628 1962820107 2010920913 2091321704 2170521711 2171121716 2171621719 2171921736 2173621741 2174121743 2175021760 2176021901 2190521909 2191021914 2191421916 2191621921 2192121924 2192721932 2193221934 2193421937 2193721973 2197421976 2197621986 2198621993 2199321999 2200022045 2204522047 2204822523 2252322555 2255722742 2274222757 2276122770 2277022772 2277222783 2278322785 2278822792 2279222795 2279522901 2290222905 2290522911 2292122945 2296023051 2310023193 2319323198 2319823202 2332723747 2374823808 2380824174 2417424187 2418724190 2419024199 2419924220 2422024454 2445424457 2445724459 2445925147 2514725164 2516425188 2518825380 2538025383 2538325385 2538525400 2540025431 2545025453 2545725461 2546125471 2550025504 2550625519 2552026265 2626526739 2673927054 2705427070 27070

G(2) - Bidder’s Bond

15897 1589717086 1708617093 1709320165 2016820497 2049820519 2051920810 2081020901 2090520922 2092220951 2095120953 2099120993 2100021033 2103321035 2103821042 2104721229 2124821261 2126121278 2127921290 2129021456 2145621782 2178221784 2178421802 2180221840 2184021850 2185021857 2187922026 2203222076 2207622079 2207922081 2208122086 2208622373 2237422379 2238722391 2239322862 2286222865 2290022901 2300023051 2305923156 2315623170 23170

GPA - Group PA Insurance Policy

2176 21852196 2205

JCL(7) - Heir’s Bond (Two Years)

674 700

JCR(2) - Personal Bail Bond 13579 13579

MCEND - Motor Car Endorsement

5104 51045106 51085124 51335134 51345151 52005527 55505701 57205828 5828

MCY - Motorcycle Comprehensive

4209 42506502 6502

ORGA - Official Receipt (for TPL Use Only)

177401 177404178051 178550179701 179850179851 180300180601 181050181801 182400182401 182800182901 182950191141 191665191666 191815192266 192440192941 193115193616 193690

ORHO - Official Receipt (for General Use)

218771 218771218902 218906218908 218909218915 218915218918 218918218927 218928218930 218930218946 218946218949 218950218960 218964218967 218968218973 218973218994 218995218999 218999220053 220053220065 220065220109 220112220116 220116220127 220127220166 220166220170 220170220205 220207220235 220235221491 221491222155 222156222162 222162222177 222177222206 222206222209 222209222212 222213222217 222217222229 222229222232 222234222236 222239222243 222243222245 222245222247 222247222250 222252222255 222379222382 222400222751 222751222753 222753

A15T UESDAY: MAY 31, 2016

[email protected]

Tabal makes Riogames cut, but...By Peter Atencio

CEBUANA runner Mary Joy Tabal, who quit the national team last December to train on her own, made the cut to the 2016 Rio de Ja-neiro Olympics.

P0 M+

P0 M

6/55 00-00-00-00-00-00

6/45 00-00-00-00-00-004 DIGITS 0-0-0-03 DIGITS 0-0-0

P0 M6/45 00-00-00-00-00-00

3 DIGITS 0-0-0

4 DIGITS 0-0-0-0

2 EZ2 0-0

LOTTO RESULTS

FILIPINO-AMERICAN Treat Huey and Belarusian Max Mirnyi reached the third round of the 2016 French Open doubles’ competition at the Stade Ro-land Garros in Paris, France.

� e 10th-seeded Huey and Mirnyi then fell to a 4-6, 4-6 setback to French duo Julien Benneteau and Ed-ouard Roger Vasselin.

Earlier, they whipped Ricardas Berankis of Lithu-ania and Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic in a 6-3, 6-4 win in the second round.

Earlier, Huey and Slovenian partner Andreja Klepac prevailed in their � rst partnership in the mixed dou-bles, stopping Oksana Kalashnikova of Georgia and veteran Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands, 6-4, 6-4.

� ey are set to face � � h seeds Bruno Soares of Bra-zil and Elena Vesnina of Russia, who pulled of a 6-4, 6-2 win over American Abigail Spears and Colombian Juan Sebastian.Huey and Klepac are also assured of 8,500 Euros.

Peter Atencio

Tabal, representing Cebu City, clocked two hours, 43 minutes and 31 seconds, to � nish eighth overall in the women’s division of the 2016 Scotia Bank Marathon in Ottawa last Sunday(Monday morning in Manila).

She became the second Filipino trackster to hit the Olympic quali-fying standard, which was reset from 2:42 to 2:45 last December.

� e 26-year-old Tabal sur-passed the national record which Jhoann Banayag set in the 2007 Southeast Asian Games at 2:44.2.

Her e� orts surprised the Phil-ippine Athletics Track and Field

Association, and Tabal will need to seek reinstatement with the na-tional team to be able to make it the Olympiad.

PATAFA president Philip Ella Juico congratulated Tabal for her performance, saying they are now in the process of verifying her time with tournament o� cials. � ey will also inform the Interna-tional Amateur Athletic Federa-tion of this development.

Juico added that Tabal needs to follow the proper procedure to be able to join the national contin-gent to the Rio Games.

“She has nothing to represent.

Cignal turns back B Fresh in 5

Huey, partner fall in quarterfinals

Game tomorrow1 p.m. • Sta. Elena vs Air Force

CIGNAL leaned on the hard-spiking duo of Ysay Marasigan and Raymark Woo as it outhit Bounty Fresh in the decider to pull o� a 25-18, 23-25, 21-25, 25-20, 15-10 victory yesterday to join Instituto Estetico Manila in the early lead in the Spiker’s Turf Season 2 Open Conference at � e Arena in San Juan City.

Marasigan and Woo, former collegiate rivals for Ateneo and La Salle, respectively, took turns on the � ring end and � nished with 20 and 14 hits, respectively, including a com-bined 28 on kills to help propel the HD Spikers to the victory while setting in motion their bid for a second straight title a� er winning the Reinforced Conference late last year.

Marasigan and Woo also

anchored Cignal’s net defense as they combined for six of the team’s 12 blocks, four times more than their rivals.

“I’m happy they’ve played well together even though they were rivals in college,” said Cig-nal coach Michael Carino, who also drew 13 and 11 points from Herschel Ramos and Edmar Bonono, respectively.

Carino also made mention of his squad’s need to mini-mize their errors a� er the HD Spikers ended up with 41 as against the Fresh Spikers’ 34.

“It almost cost us this game and we really need to do some-thing about it,” said Carino.

Four players also churned out double-digit scores for Bounty Fresh with Jason Sara-bia and Romnick Rico put-ting in 15 hits apiece and Jeric Gacutan and Michael Bagalay backing them up with 13 and 10 points, respectively.

222785 222786 223401 223500 223854 223854 223863 223863 223875 223875 224003 224004 224010 224010 224013 224013 224015 224015 224020 224020 224028 224028 224031 224031 224038 224038 224041 224041 224047 224080 224082 224083 224085 224086 224090 224090 224092 224093 224095 224100 224220 224220 224258 224259 224309 224309 224347 224347 224412 224412 224417 224417 224434 224434 224438 224438 224442 224444 224503 224504 224513 224514 224651 224652 224670 224671 224684 224700 224751 224800 224815 224815 224836 224836 224867 224868 224883 224883 224892 224892 224897 224897 224900 224901 224906 224906 224911 224911 224929 224929 224937 224937 224942 224942 225251 225300 225368 225375 225378 225385 225387 225400 225501 225550 226404 226404 226406 226406 226437 226437 226713 226713 226753 226753 226756 226756 226759 226759 226767 226768 226773 226774 226776 226776 226794 226794 226797 226797 227023 227050 227058 227109 227112 227125 227129 227129 227132 227150 227166 227166 227177 227177 227182 227182 227184 227184 227186 227186 227190 227192 227194 227196 227659 227659 227682 227682 227703 227703 227722 227722 227730 227730 227737 227737 228548 228548 228587 228587 228594 228594 228751 228850 229357 229358 229364 229364 229370 229375 229377 229380 229385 229385 229388 229391 229394 229400 229714 229714 229719 229723 229725 229725 229733 229735 229742 229745 229748 229750 229768 229769 229771 229772 229787 229789 229797 229800 230001 230050 230401 230403 230406 230410 230412 230417 230424 230425 230432 230432 230443 230443 230449 230449 230465 230465 230485 230485 230751 230752 230754 230754 230772 230772 230777 230777 230781 230781 230785 230801 230807 230850 231306 231306 231314 231314 231316 231316 231319 231319 231329 231329 231751 231805 231807 231850 231851 231900 232852 232854 232856 232856 232858 232858 232862 232871 232874 232900 233351 233375 233377 233380 233388 233400 233601 233601 233933 233933 233934 233934 234503 234503 245410 245410 245412 245413 245415 245415 245417 245417 245419 245419 245423 245426 245425 245425 245430 245431 245435 245435 245437 245445 ORHOMOR - Official Receipt (MOR) 218860 219065 219070 219071 219076 219109 PA - Personal Accident 3651 3700 3761 3780 5041 5050 5101 5115 5713 5716 13850 13850 PC - Private Car Comprehensive 1309 1312 8576 8577 8597 8600 8651 8652 10614 10615 11318 11321 11326 11330 11333 11333 11336 11352 11356 11361 11364 11378 11382 11400 11552 11554 11555 11556 13106 13105 13107 13116 13118 13118 13120 13120 13125 13130 13132 13135 13137 13150 13812 13814 13817 13821 13858 13860 13873 13890 13956 13980 14059 14080

Should you have any of the foregoing IAC forms in your possession, please coordinate with our office immediately and bring the said form/s to our office within thirty (30) days from the date of this publication, for possible replacement of the

form/s or reimbursement of payments, if warranted. IAC reserves the right to require presentation of other adequate proof of issuance and/or payment in addition to the presentation of the original form/s.

INVESTORS ASSURANCE CORPORATIONUnit 1/20th Floor, BDO Plaza, Paseo de Roxas near cor. Makati Avenue, Makati City 1200

Tel Nos.: (632) 822-4000 / 822-5000 / 891-0994 / 891-0996 / 891-0976(TS-MAY 31, 2016)

She is not part of the national team because she resigned last December. So she has to write a letter to us and apply for rein-statement,” said Juico.

Tabal joined sprinter Eric Cray as the only other legitimate quali-� er to the Games.

� is also put in doubt long jumper Marestella Torres-Suna-ng’s own bid to go to the Games.

Juico explained that Torres-Sunang’s named was entered under the presumption that there was no other quali� er in the women’s division.

“Mag-iiba na naman. I don’t know what will happen (to Mar-estella) and what we can do in one and a half month’s time,” added Juico.

Tabal’s feat comes some 13 days before the � nal quali� ca-tion date for the Rio Games, which ends on July 11.

Romero at PSA ForumNEWLY elected party list representative Mikee Romero will dis-cuss his platforms and programs when he appears as the special guest today in the weekly Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at Shakey’s Malate.

� e team owner of the Globalport franchise in the PBA, Rome-ro was the no. 1 nominee of the party list One Patriotic Coalition of Marginalized Nationals or 1-Pacman, which received 1,637, 795 votes in the last national elections.

Romero has long been advocating for the creation of a Depart-ment of Sports.

� e opening half of the session aired live over DZSR Sports Radio 918 and presented by San Miguel Corp., Accel, Shakey’s, and the Phil-ippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., features the national karate team, which recently competed in the Vietnam Open.

Air Force’s Joy Cases (12) soars for a kill against BaliPure’s Janine Marciano dur-ing their Shakey’s V-League showdown at The Arena.

T U E S DAY : M AY 3 1 , 2 0 16

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

PARIS—World number two Andy Murray and defending champion Stan Wawrinka reached the French Open quarter-� nals Sunday as Richard Gasquet kept alive hopes of a � rst home triumph in 33 years by knocking out Japan’s Kei Nishikori.

Murray made the last-eight for the sixth time with a 7-6 (11/9), 6-4, 6-3 win over John Isner of the United States.

The 29-year-old, a three-time semi-finalist, will face Gasquet, the last French player standing, in the last-eight.

Murray has a 7-3 career lead over the 29-year-old Gasquet, in-cluding wins at Roland Garros in 2010 and 2012.

Gasquet outplayed fifth seed Ni-shikori 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.

The ninth seed had trailed Ni-shikori 2-4 early in the first set, but after an hour-long rain delay, he won nine out of the next 10 games to turn the match on its head.

“I started badly, but everyone helped me and it was difficult for Nishikori to play against that,” he said.

“He re-started badly (after the rain) and that gave me confi-dence to play my game and go for my shots.”

The last French winner of the men’s singles title at Roland Garros

was Yannick Noah in 1983.Murray will be playing in his

20th quarter-final at the last 21 majors after braving an Isner storm in the first set where he faced down three set points in the tie-breaker.

Isner was bidding to become the first American man in the last-eight in Paris since Andre Agassi in 2003.

Rain delayHaving not allowed Murray a

single break point, the 31-year-old squandered the three set points before the British star pounced to pocket the opener.

Rain forced the pair off Suzanne Lenglen court for an hour with Murray 2-1 ahead in the second set before Isner was broken for the first time in the 10th game.

Murray broke for 3-1 in the

third while Isner clung on sav-ing two more break points in the sixth game.

But the world number two wrapped up victory—and his sixth win in six clashes with the big American—with his ninth ace of the tie.

Isner was undone by Murray’s superior returning which contrib-uted to his 57 unforced errors.

Murray said he had wanted the match halted earlier as the rain made conditions dangerous.

“I know it’s difficult sometimes when the right time to stop is, but I think on clay courts that the play-ers really need to be the ones that kind of decide that,” he said.

“If they don’t feel comfortable then you have to stop, because it’s a surface if you get that wrong you can hurt yourself.”

Wawrinka, the third seed, saw off Serbia’s Viktor Troicki 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (7/9), 6-3, 6-2 for his 11th straight win in the year’s second Grand Slam.

He will next face a Spanish left-hander who isn’t named Ra-fael Nadal after unheralded Al-bert Ramos-Vinolas reached his first Grand Slam last-eight with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Canadian eighth seed Milos Raonic.

Sunday was a fifth win in five meetings for Wawrinka over Serbia’s Troicki whose chal-lenge fizzled out following a right thigh injury at 4-1 down in the third set.

“It was far from easy with tough conditions—heavy and cold, but I am happy to have come through it,” 31-year-old Wawrinka said. AFP

By Homer Vidal

THE 20th Alaska Football Power Camps, for boys and girls 3 to 18 years old, con-cluded over the weekend at the Alabang Country Club Fields with the Alaska Sum-mer Football Festival.

Boys and girls from all over Metro Manila and nearby provinces—including stu-dents of Sampaloc National High School in Tanay, Rizal and other public schools— joined the camps. They had a fun-filled and productive summer learning the most important aspects of the sport.

Over 500 participants from the camps competed against players of their age-group and skill level during the festival.

Blen Fernando, Alaska Milk Marketing Director said the Alaska Football Power camp teaches par-ticipants the basics of foot-ball and also instills the value of discipline, perse-verance, teamwork and de-termination.

“Our Alaska Football Power Camp furthers our commitment to nation building through profes-sionally run programs which help the youth de-

velop physically, emotion-ally and adopt proper values such as hard work and in-tegrity,” said Fernando.

Former Real Madrid pro-fessional Spanish football player and founder-director of Makati Football School Tomas Lozano led a compe-tent team of football coach-es in teaching the most im-portant aspects of the sport during the camps held April and May.

There were five Alaska Football Power Camps, hosted by the Makati Foot-ball School and Alabang Football School, held the past summer.

Football festival luresover 500 participants Maria

Esmeralda Mendoza (left) bursts past two defenders on her way to another goal. Mendoza, incoming Grade 10 student at La Salle Zobel, was named Most Valuable Player for girls during the festival.

Murray,Wawrinkamake last 8

Britain’s Andy Murray returns the ball to US player John Isner during their men’s fourth round match at the Roland Garros 2016 French Tennis Open in Paris. AFP

SPORTS

RODERICK T. DELA CRUZASSISTANT EDITOR B1

TUESDAY: MAY 31, 2016

[email protected]@gmail.com

RAY S. EÑANOEDITOR

San Miguel fetchesP70b for telco assets

BUSINESSPLDT sells25% stake in Meralco

By Darwin G. Amojelar

SAN Miguel Corp. fetched P70 billion for its telecommunication assets which it sold to the duopoly of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Globe Telecom Inc.

PLDT and Globe said Monday they jointly acquired 100-percent equity interest in San Miguel’s Vega Telecom Inc. for P52.08 billion and the assumption of P17.02 billion of liabilities.

Vega owns an 87-percent stake in Liberty Telecom Holdings Inc., the unit formed by San Miguel. Vega also owns direct and indirect stakes in companies including Bell Telecommunication Philippines Inc., Eastern Telecom Philippines Inc., Express Telecom and Tori Spectrum. They will pay P897 million more for New Century Telecoms Inc. and eTelco, Inc.

PLDT and Globe are each taking a 50-percent stake in the business and saw their shares soar after the announcement. PLDT’s share price jumped 9.1 percent to P1,901 Monday, while Globe Telecom Inc. climbed 5.6 percent to P2,310. San Miguel Corp. advanced 5.8 percent to P80.30, while unit Liberty Telecom Holdings plunged 19.6 percent to P3.62.

San Miguel president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang said the company decided to sell its telecom business after the collapse of talks with Telstra Corp. of Australia due to commercial and legal risks.

“This is a sacrifice we have to make to finally unlock the full potential of our high-quality mobile, mobile broadband spectrum faster and allow consumers to its benefits through the combined resources, network and expertise of the two carriers,” Ang said.

San Miguel earlier said it would offer very fast mobile broadband service in the Philippines this year, using the 700-megahertz bandwidth, which both PLDT and Globe also took interest in.

PLDT and Globe would have a 50-50 ownership structure of Vega Telecom and other telecom assets of San Miguel. The equity portion will be paid in three tranches, with the first payment of 50 percent made upon signing and the second payment of 25 percent six months later. The final 25 percent would be paid 12 months after first payment. The liabilities of P17.5 billion will be assumed by PLDT and Globe upon signing.

PLDT and Globe will fund the accession through debt and internal cash. “San Miguel wanted to divest from telco business while we were keen on acquiring it. It was just mutual,” PLDT chairman Manuel Pangilinan told reporters in a news briefing in Makati City.

Pangilinan said the transaction offered a breakthrough opportunity not only for the companies involved but also for the industry and the country. “This will enable existing operators to provide significantly improved Internet and data services to the public and to our customers in the shortest possible time,” he said.

Pangilinan said he expected to improve the company’s mobile broadband service in six months as PLDT could now access much-needed frequencies, especially the 700 megahertz.

“For us, we will make it affordable pricing,” he said.

Globe president and chief executive Ernest Cu said

the company signed the deal as a solution to harmonize the spectrum assets in the county and immediately unlock the benefits of the underutilized frequencies.

PHILIPPINE Long Distance Tele-phone Co. on Monday revised up-ward its core income guidance this year after selling some of its stake in Beacon Electric Assets Holdings.

“We are prepared to revise our core income for 2016 to P30 billion from P28 billion [because] there will be some gains from Beacon transac-tions,” PLDT chairman Manuel Pan-gilinan told reporters Monday.

PLDT Communications and En-ergy Ventures Inc. and Metro Pa-cific Investments Corp. on Monday signed a sales purchase agreement for the latter to acquire a further 25 per-cent stake in Beacon for P26.2 billion.

Beacon owns 35 percent of Ma-nila Electric Co. and 56 percent of Global Business Power Corp., a unit of GT Capital Holdings Inc. of ty-coon Geroge Ty.

The purchase will be settled in a cash payment of P17 billion, with the balance of P9 billion to be paid over the next four years.

Upon completion of the pur-chase, MPIC will continue to own a direct 15 percent interest in Meral-co and through its 75-percent inter-est in Beacon, a further 26 percent, thereby taking its effective owner-ship interest in Meralco to 41.2 per-cent and in Global Power to 42 per-cent directly and about 9.1 percent indirectly through Meralco.

PCEV’s interest in Meralco will be reduced to an effective interest of 8.7 percent.

There will be no change in the aggregate interest of MPIC, PCEV and Beacon in Meralco, which re-mains at 49.96 percent.

Darwin G. Amojelar

PLDT chairman Manuel Pangilinan (left) and head of regulatory affairs Ray Espinosa talk to reporters in a news briefing in Makati City regarding the acquisition of San Miguel’s telecom business. PLDT and Globe Telecom are each taking a 50-percent stake in San Miguel’s Vega Telecom Inc. in a deal valued at P70 billion.


BUSINESSTUESDAY: MAY 31, 2016

B2

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

The STandard BuSineSS daily STockS review Monday, May 30, 2016

FINANCIAL7.88 2.5 AG Finance 3.81 3.94 3.66 3.66 -3.94 252,000 75.3 66 Asia United Bank 46.2 46.05 45 45 -2.60 76,400 2,517,520.00124.4 88.05 Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 104.00 104.20 100.70 102.70 -1.25 1,630,810 6,174,853107 88.1 Bank of PI 95.00 95.00 94.50 94.90 -0.11 793,180 -23,961,162.5056.5 45.45 China Bank 38.2 38.4 38 38.2 0.00 44,200 -183,360.002.49 1.97 BDO Leasing & Fin. INc. 2.95 2.92 2.92 2.92 -1.02 1,000 4.2 1.68 Bright Kindle Resources 1.43 1.50 1.43 1.48 3.50 94,000 17 12.02 COL Financial 14.26 14.3 14.26 14.26 0.00 1,300 30.45 19.6 Eastwest Bank 17.3 17.34 17.1 17.14 -0.92 80,900 -178,000.000.92 0.74 First Abacus 0.7 0.73 0.73 0.73 4.29 1,000 2.6 1.02 I-Remit Inc. 1.83 1.84 1.83 1.83 0.00 17,000 890 625 Manulife Fin. Corp. 607.00 607.00 607.00 607.00 0.00 240 1.01 0.225 MEDCO Holdings 0.570 0.570 0.550 0.550 -3.51 483,000 100 78 Metrobank 85 86 84.6 86 1.18 2,917,380 -51,920,293.001.46 0.9 Natl. Reinsurance Corp. 0.96 0.94 0.94 0.94 -2.08 63,000 30.5 17.8 PB Bank 14.90 14.90 14.90 14.90 0.00 33,200 91.5 62 Phil. National Bank 50.25 50.00 49.70 49.85 -0.80 192,360 -8,760,213.50137 88.35 Phil. Savings Bank 102.3 102.3 96.4 102 -0.29 2,260 14,460.00361.2 276 PSE Inc. 262 262 260.6 260.6 -0.53 1,390 -65,450.0057 41 RCBC À’ 31.8 31.85 31.6 31.8 0.00 47,000 12,735180 118.2 Security Bank 196.6 200 194.7 196 -0.31 3,602,640 367,338,410.001700 1200 Sun Life Financial 1410.00 1401.00 1400.00 1400.00 -0.71 565 -294,000.00124 59 Union Bank 64.15 64.50 64.15 64.30 0.23 20,900 3.26 2.65 Vantage Equities 1.56 1.54 1.54 1.54 -1.28 35,000

INDUSTRIAL47 35.9 Aboitiz Power Corp. 45.45 47 45.45 46.5 2.31 3,768,600 63,792,645.005 1.11 Agrinurture Inc. 3.4 3.49 3.35 3.38 -0.59 685,000 1.46 1.01 Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 0.9 0.9 0.89 0.89 -1.11 12,000 2.36 1.86 Alsons Cons. 1.91 1.99 1.88 1.99 4.19 88,070,000 7,973,400.0015.3 7.92 Asiabest Group 12.38 12.38 11.96 12.1 -2.26 12,100 148 32 C. Azuc De Tarlac 200.00 200.00 200.00 200.00 0.00 50 20.6 15.32 Century Food 21.8 21.95 21 21.35 -2.06 358,000 -948,905.0085 20.2 Conc. Aggr. ‘A’ 190 200 189 198.9 4.68 510 36 10.08 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 17.48 17.3 16.9 16.9 -3.32 302,600 2.97 1.5 Crown Asia 2.18 2.19 2.15 2.16 -0.92 697,000 4.14 1.5 Da Vinci Capital 4.62 4.77 4.62 4.76 3.03 325,000 50,370.0021.5 10.72 Del Monte 10.78 10.84 10.78 10.82 0.37 11,900 21.6 9.55 DNL Industries Inc. 9.600 9.760 9.580 9.750 1.56 1,817,400 7,909,176.0011.96 9.04 Emperador 7.39 7.46 7.21 7.45 0.81 993,100 -2,742,226.009.13 6.02 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 5.66 5.73 5.60 5.65 -0.18 24,740,000 -6,320,163.0011.8 8.86 EEI 7.40 7.40 7.28 7.32 -1.08 72,300 10.0031.8 20.2 First Gen Corp. 22.45 23.1 22.5 23 2.45 5,329,900 50,054,360.00109 71.5 First Holdings ‘A’ 68 68.7 67.7 68 0.00 39,420 -392,335.0020.75 13.86 Ginebra San Miguel Inc. 12.50 12.50 12.50 12.50 0.00 3,000 15.3 13.24 Holcim Philippines Inc. 15.04 15.24 14.98 15.10 0.40 179,700 9.4 5.34 Integ. Micro-Electronics 5.75 5.75 5.7 5.75 0.00 100,700 -377,980.000.98 0.395 Ionics Inc 2.260 2.260 2.150 2.190 -3.10 3,683,000 -3,050.00241 173 Jollibee Foods Corp. 236.60 238.20 236.80 237.60 0.42 245,260 14,593,328.0079 34.1 Liberty Flour 43.00 43.90 43.90 43.90 2.09 100 4 1.63 Mabuhay Vinyl 3.3 3.38 3.2 3.38 2.42 34,000 33.9 23.35 Manila Water Co. Inc. 27.2 27.85 27 27.15 -0.18 877,800 -14,384,145.0090 17.3 Maxs Group 24.5 26.65 23.95 26.5 8.16 1,328,400 11,221,300.0013.26 5.88 Megawide 6.67 6.71 6.65 6.65 -0.30 204,800 -360,133.00293 250.2 Mla. Elect. Co À’ 301.80 307.00 300.20 301.00 -0.27 699,050 57,273,190.000.62 0.335 MG Holdings 0.280 0.275 0.275 0.275 -1.79 50,000 5.25 3.87 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 3.39 3.48 3.39 3.39 0.00 302,000 3,400.0012.98 8.45 Petron Corporation 11.50 11.50 11.40 11.50 0.00 1,970,600 238,868.006.75 3 Phil H2O 3.07 3.07 3.07 3.07 0.00 3,000 15 10.04 Phinma Corporation 11.62 11.64 11.52 11.64 0.17 800 7.03 3.03 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 5.21 5.21 5.03 5.20 -0.19 485,800 -184,600.003.4 1.95 Phoenix Semiconductor 1.63 1.72 1.63 1.69 3.68 568,000 -50,560.004.5 1 Pryce Corp. À’ 2.7 2.79 2.68 2.68 -0.74 110,000 6.3 4.02 RFM Corporation 4.25 4.25 4.20 4.20 -1.18 99,000 -106,180.007.86 1.65 Roxas and Co. 2.3 2.31 2.31 2.31 0.43 170,000 7.34 5.9 Roxas Holdings 4.49 4.42 4.42 4.42 -1.56 14,000 1450 801 San Miguel ‘Pure Foods À’ 220 217 216.4 217 -1.36 560 3.28 1.55 Splash Corporation 2.5 2.53 2.5 2.5 0.00 25,000 0.315 0.138 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.153 0.153 0.151 0.152 -0.65 1,170,000 2.18 1.02 TKC Steel Corp. 2.00 2.08 1.81 1.88 -6.00 5,117,000 258,190.002.65 2.09 Trans-Asia Oil 2.52 2.53 2.48 2.52 0.00 346,000 124,000.00234 152 Universal Robina 201.8 201.8 194.6 198.5 -1.64 2,384,320 -170,730,018.001.3 0.640 Vitarich Corp. 0.9 0.91 0.88 0.9 0.00 1,936,000 43,000.002.17 1.2 Vulcan Ind’l. 1.26 1.26 1.25 1.25 -0.79 356,000

HOLDING FIRMS0.59 0.44 Abacus Cons. À’ 0.425 0.430 0.410 0.420 -1.18 1,910,000 59.2 48.1 Aboitiz Equity 75.90 78.00 75.90 78.00 2.77 1,727,010 32,213,276.5030.05 20.85 Alliance Global Inc. 15.30 15.80 15.24 15.50 1.31 6,309,900 2,058,240.002.16 1.6 Anglo Holdings A 1.12 1.19 1.13 1.18 5.36 35,000 3.4 0.23 ATN Holdings A 0.380 0.390 0.370 0.380 0.00 5,740,000 3.35 0.23 ATN Holdings B 0.380 0.380 0.370 0.380 0.00 11,190,000 823.5 634.5 Ayala Corp À’ 831 836 825.5 830.5 -0.06 355,520 8,272,610.0010.2 7.390 Cosco Capital 7.75 7.8 7.7 7.7 -0.65 243,300 246,924.0084 12.8 DMCI Holdings 12.60 12.82 12.60 12.66 0.48 3,773,200 -5,289,624.003.35 2.6 F&J Prince ‘A’ 5.1 5.1 5.1 5.1 0.00 200 4.92 2.26 Filinvest Dev. Corp. 6.40 6.40 6.33 6.40 0.00 76,800 103,900.000.66 0.152 Forum Pacific 0.231 0.245 0.231 0.245 6.06 150,000 1455 837 GT Capital 1440 1454 1430 1450 0.69 68,365 -7,148,890.0076 49.55 JG Summit Holdings 82.70 83.80 82.70 83.15 0.54 4,877,570 -82,959,245.506.5 3.43 Jolliville Holdings 4 4.45 4.45 4.45 11.25 10,000 5.29 3 Keppel Holdings À’ 5.2 5.2 5.2 5.2 0.00 9,400 9.25 4.84 Lopez Holdings Corp. 7.94 7.94 7.8 7.89 -0.63 779,800 -807,198.000.85 0.59 Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. 0.69 0.7 0.69 0.69 0.00 152,000 17.3 12 LT Group 14.06 14.24 13.9 14.2 1.00 1,712,200 686,772.005.53 4.2 Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. 5.99 6.22 6 6.05 1.00 41,942,900 33,056,967.000.0670 0.030 Pacifica À’ 0.0320 0.0320 0.0320 0.0320 0.00 9,600,000 278,400.002.31 1.23 Prime Media Hldg 1.290 1.310 1.280 1.280 -0.78 16,000 1.61 0.550 Prime Orion 1.820 1.870 1.790 1.800 -1.10 627,000 -135,000.002.99 2.26 Republic Glass ‘A’ 2.65 2.66 2.66 2.66 0.38 2,000 84.9 59.3 San Miguel Corp À’ 75.90 80.70 75.90 80.30 5.80 2,128,260 -22,163,177.503.5 1.5 Seafront À’ 2.25 2.24 2.14 2.24 -0.44 12,000 974 751 SM Investments Inc. 966.00 966.50 950.00 950.00 -1.66 257,300 1,790,600.001.66 1.13 Solid Group Inc. 1.19 1.20 1.18 1.19 0.00 81,000 1.39 0.93 South China Res. Inc. 0.90 0.83 0.80 0.83 -7.78 34,000 156 80 Top Frontier 166.000 182.000 166.000 180.000 8.43 25,910 -8,794.000.710 0.211 Unioil Res. & Hldgs 0.3200 0.3200 0.3150 0.3150 -1.56 2,580,000 0.435 0.179 Wellex Industries 0.2030 0.2140 0.2030 0.2120 4.43 410,000 0.510 0.310 Zeus Holdings 0.340 0.340 0.325 0.330 -2.94 4,930,000

P R O P E R T Y10.5 6.74 8990 HLDG 7.800 7.950 7.800 7.930 1.67 127,000 228,065.0026.95 12 Anchor Land Holdings Inc. 7.01 6.70 6.70 6.70 -4.42 3,000 -20,100.001.99 0.65 A. Brown Co., Inc. 1.19 1.18 1.16 1.16 -2.52 656,000 1.75 1.2 Araneta Prop À’ 2.400 2.740 2.400 2.520 5.00 16,046,000 -1,564,960.000.375 0.192 Arthaland Corp. 0.270 0.260 0.255 0.255 -5.56 1,700,000 41.4 30.05 Ayala Land `B’ 36.850 37.100 36.650 36.800 -0.14 6,766,900 -22,234,930.005.6 3.36 Belle Corp. À’ 3.32 3.31 3.2 3.2 -3.61 3,267,000 1,970,210.001.44 0.79 Century Property 0.520 0.52 0.500 0.520 0.00 3,796,000 -107,610.001.97 1.1 City & Land Dev. 0.98 0.98 0.98 0.98 0.00 17,000 1.48 0.97 Cityland Dev. À’ 1.010 1.000 0.990 1.000 -0.99 21,000 0.201 0.083 Crown Equities Inc. 0.129 0.136 0.129 0.134 3.88 10,550,000 -104,800.000.69 0.415 Cyber Bay Corp. 0.520 0.540 0.510 0.540 3.85 3,027,000 -1,080.0010.96 2.4 Double Dragon 53 52.95 52.15 52.45 -1.04 1,277,140 2,572,408.50

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

Trading SummarySHARES VALUE

FINANCIAL 12,045,991 1,395,677,796.262INDUSTRIAL 152,367,429 1,578,692,033.32HOLDING FIRMS 1,403,367,429 9,847,682,256.82PROPERTY 97,172,135 725,482,132.555SERVICES 127,785,939 1,647,042,900.9685MINING & OIL 885,665,699 115,012,817.0084GRAND TOTAL 2,684,046,500 15,385,769,318.4305

FINANCIAL 1,687.47 (DOWN) 3.54INDUSTRIAL 11,691.28 (DOWN) 2.04HOLDING FIRMS 7,443.19 (UP) 29.32PROPERTY 3,191.44 (DOWN) 13.76SERVICES 1,530.53 (UP) 67.41MINING & OIL 11,120.45 (DOWN) 62.45PSEI 7,464.34 (UP) 52.66All Shares Index 4,459.81 (UP) 24.62

Gainers: 85; Losers: 104; Unchanged: 45; Total: 234

STOCKS Close(P)

Change(%)

Liberty Telecom 3.62 -19.56

Manila Mining `B' 0.0140 -12.50

NOW Corp. 3.180 -10.42

South China Res. Inc. 0.83 -7.78

Swift Pref 2.45 -6.13

TKC Steel Corp. 1.88 -6.00

GMA Holdings Inc. 6.13 -5.69

Arthaland Corp. 0.255 -5.56

Waterfront Phils. 0.340 -5.56

Jackstones 2.43 -5.08

Top LoSerSSTOCKS Close

(P)Change(%)

Easy Call "Common" 4.42 13.92

Jolliville Holdings 4.45 11.25

PLDT Common 1901.00 9.13

United Paragon 0.0120 9.09

Top Frontier 180.000 8.43

Maxs Group 26.5 8.16

Philodrill Corp. À' 0.0140 7.69

LBC Express 12.3 7.14

Forum Pacific 0.245 6.06

San Miguel Corp À' 80.30 5.80

Top gainerS

0.97 0.83 Empire East Land 0.810 0.810 0.800 0.800 -1.23 418,000 2.22 1.15 Global-Estate 0.97 1.00 0.96 0.99 2.06 2,270,000 2.1 1.42 Filinvest Land,Inc. 1.94 1.95 1.91 1.95 0.52 11,972,000 -13,193,850.001.8 1.27 Interport À’ 1.27 1.29 1.27 1.28 0.79 396,000 -435,200.005.94 4.13 Megaworld 4.4 4.42 4.3 4.34 -1.36 16,680,000 -27,804,980.000.180 0.090 MRC Allied Ind. 0.094 0.096 0.092 0.094 0.00 890,000 0.470 0.290 Phil. Estates Corp. 0.2900 0.2900 0.2600 0.2900 0.00 60,000 0.72 0.39 Phil. Realty À’ 0.460 0.465 0.465 0.465 1.09 60,000 27 23 Phil. Tob. Flue Cur & Redry 48.00 53.00 44.00 47.50 -1.04 41,400 8.54 2.69 Primex Corp. 8.5 8.59 8.53 8.59 1.06 94,100 31.8 22.15 Robinson’s Land `B’ 29.00 29.00 28.60 28.90 -0.34 1,815,000 -25,511,020.002.29 1.6 Rockwell 1.59 1.6 1.52 1.54 -3.14 59,000 25,240.004.9 3.1 Shang Properties Inc. 3.13 3.14 3.07 3.14 0.32 107,000 21.35 15.08 SM Prime Holdings 24.80 24.80 24.25 24.60 -0.81 6,702,400 -67,136,270.001.06 0.69 Sta. Lucia Land Inc. 0.9 0.93 0.9 0.93 3.33 2,065,000 7.56 3.38 Starmalls 6.4 6.4 6 6.4 0.00 4,600 1.62 0.83 Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. 1.040 1.030 1.010 1.010 -2.88 501,000 20,200.008.59 5.73 Vista Land & Lifescapes 4.960 5.080 4.960 5.050 1.81 5,762,000 1,406,830.00

S E R V I C E S10.5 1.97 2GO Group’ 7.31 7.49 7.31 7.31 0.00 43,200 66 35.2 ABS-CBN 50.95 51.4 50.9 50.95 0.00 109,550 1.44 1 Acesite Hotel 1.28 1.29 1.29 1.29 0.78 62,000 1.09 0.63 APC Group, Inc. 0.620 0.630 0.610 0.630 1.61 518,000 14.88 10.5 Asian Terminals Inc. 11.42 11.1 11 11 -3.68 76,100 520,520.0015.82 8.6 Bloomberry 4.16 4.23 4.12 4.23 1.68 2,553,000 3,255,950.000.1430 0.0770 Boulevard Holdings 0.0530 0.0530 0.0520 0.0530 0.00 10,410,000 5.06 2.95 Calata Corp. 3.01 3.05 3 3.03 0.66 493,000 18,050.0099.1 56.1 Cebu Air Inc. (5J) 94.85 96 93 94 -0.90 603,950 15,672,176.0012.3 10.14 Centro Esc. Univ. 9.55 9.55 9.18 9.55 0.00 4,400 2.6 1.6 Discovery World 1.82 1.8 1.8 1.8 -1.10 26,000 7.67 4.8 DFNN Inc. 6.70 7.05 6.85 6.95 3.73 382,900 -1,194,561.004 2.58 Easy Call “Common” 3.88 4.60 3.88 4.42 13.92 89,000 2720 1600 Globe Telecom 2188 2330 2212 2310 5.58 72,795 11,321,140.008.41 5.95 GMA Network Inc. 6.59 6.55 6.45 6.54 -0.76 121,000 1.97 1.23 Harbor Star 1.18 1.20 1.13 1.13 -4.24 267,000 119.5 102.6 I.C.T.S.I. 58.5 60.8 58.55 60.25 2.99 1,026,130 15,366,383.007 3.01 Imperial Res. À’ 15.04 15.80 14.80 15.30 1.73 45,300 12.5 8.72 IPeople Inc. À’ 11.98 11.56 11.52 11.56 -3.51 10,100 0.017 0.011 IP E-Game Ventures Inc. 0.0100 0.0100 0.0100 0.0100 0.00 7,000,000 IPM Holdings 9.62 9.65 9.50 9.64 0.21 750,000 4,818,167.000.8200 0.041 Island Info 0.340 0.340 0.325 0.325 -4.41 24,560,000 60,050.002.2800 1.200 ISM Communications 1.7000 1.7100 1.6600 1.6600 -2.35 1,800,000 1,670.005.93 2.34 Jackstones 2.56 2.45 2.43 2.43 -5.08 52,000 LBC Express 11.48 12.5 11.22 12.3 7.14 175,400 -86,100.0012.28 6.5 Leisure & Resorts 7.74 7.74 7.53 7.70 -0.52 64,700 3.32 1.91 Liberty Telecom 4.50 5.05 3.60 3.62 -19.56 27,365,000 6,375,710.002.53 1.01 Lorenzo Shipping 1.12 1.15 1.12 1.15 2.68 21,000 3.2 1.95 Macroasia Corp. 2.73 2.71 2.50 2.71 -0.73 759,000 95.5 3.1 Manila Broadcasting 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 0.00 600 1 0.650 Manila Bulletin 0.580 0.590 0.560 0.590 1.72 11,000 15.2 6 Melco Crown 2.36 2.42 2.36 2.39 1.27 2,599,000 2,843,710.00 Metro Retail 3.95 3.97 3.88 3.96 0.25 940,000 -162,090.001.040 0.37 NOW Corp. 3.550 3.600 3.140 3.180 -10.42 32,997,000 -10,666,500.0022.8 14.54 Pacific Online Sys. Corp. 17.48 17.5 17.5 17.5 0.11 3,100 6.41 3 PAL Holdings Inc. 5.05 5.00 5.00 5.00 -0.99 2,900 4 2.28 Paxys Inc. 2.42 2.41 2.41 2.41 -0.41 80,000 -192,800.00185 79 Phil. Seven Corp. 124.00 124.50 124.00 124.00 0.00 8,870 184,740.0022.9 4.39 Philweb.Com Inc. 23.90 23.90 23.55 23.90 0.00 58,200 -9,480.003486 2748 PLDT Common 1742.00 1940.00 1836.00 1901.00 9.13 507,435 371,568,525.000.760 0.435 PremiereHorizon 0.390 0.405 0.390 0.400 2.56 420,000 2.28 1.2 Premium Leisure 0.890 0.890 0.870 0.890 0.00 4,706,000 -3,480.0046.05 31.45 Puregold 41.95 42.20 41.80 42.20 0.60 424,200 13,109,080.0090.1 60.55 Robinsons RTL 79.25 80.00 79.00 79.25 0.00 239,560 577,169.50 SBS Phil. Corp. 6.30 6.30 6.25 6.25 -0.79 164,500 11.6 7.59 SSI Group 2.76 2.82 2.76 2.80 1.45 3,714,000 -2,477,940.000.85 0.63 STI Holdings 0.580 0.590 0.580 0.590 1.72 355,000 10 5 Travellers 3.36 3.43 3.31 3.32 -1.19 292,000 36,180.000.490 0.315 Waterfront Phils. 0.360 0.340 0.340 0.340 -5.56 340,000 112,200.001.9 1.14 Yehey 6.830 6.850 6.700 6.700 -1.90 22,200

MINING & OIL0.0098 0.0043 Abra Mining 0.0042 0.0043 0.0041 0.0043 2.38 715,000,000 -58,800.005.45 1.72 Apex À’ 2.31 2.39 2.22 2.30 -0.43 99,000 17.24 6.47 Atlas Cons. À’ 4.42 4.48 4.40 4.40 -0.45 49,000 -8,800.0025 9.43 Atok-Big Wedge À’ 12.96 12.80 12.02 12.80 -1.23 3,500 0.330 0.236 Basic Energy Corp. 0.233 0.234 0.234 0.234 0.43 90,000 12.7 6.5 Benguet Corp À’ 8.0000 7.8 7.65 7.8000 -2.50 15,500 1.19 0.85 Century Peak Metals Hldgs 0.68 0.68 0.66 0.66 -2.94 121,000 1.62 0.77 Coal Asia 0.520 0.520 0.500 0.510 -1.92 256,000 -32,000.009.5 5.99 Dizon 9.10 9.18 8.32 9.12 0.22 2,700 4.2 1.17 Ferronickel 0.900 0.920 0.880 0.890 -1.11 10,354,000 391,060.000.48 0.305 Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. 0.300 0.300 0.295 0.300 0.00 70,000 0.420 0.2130 Lepanto À’ 0.260 0.255 0.249 0.249 -4.23 38,470,000 0.440 0.2160 Lepanto `B’ 0.270 0.275 0.265 0.275 1.85 1,020,000 0.022 0.013 Manila Mining À’ 0.0140 0.0140 0.0130 0.0140 0.00 15,200,000 0.023 0.014 Manila Mining `B’ 0.0160 0.0150 0.0140 0.0140 -12.50 57,100,000 45,000.008.2 3.240 Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. 1.9 1.9 1.87 1.88 -1.05 773,000 49.2 18.96 Nickelasia 4.48 4.54 4.38 4.5 0.45 3,526,000 -3,167,390.004.27 2.11 Nihao Mineral Resources 2.63 2.65 2.53 2.57 -2.28 58,000 3.06 1.54 Oriental Peninsula Res. 1.3000 1.3000 1.2500 1.3000 0.00 76,000 30,480.000.020 0.012 Oriental Pet. À’ 0.0110 0.0110 0.0100 0.0110 0.00 5,400,000 0.021 0.013 Oriental Pet. `B’ 0.0098 0.0110 0.0100 0.0100 2.04 12,000,000 12.88 7.26 Philex À’ 7.25 7.04 6.96 6.99 -3.59 810,300 42,000.0010.42 2.27 PhilexPetroleum 3.88 4.00 3.83 3.95 1.80 2,511,000 153,330.000.040 0.015 Philodrill Corp. À’ 0.0130 0.0140 0.0130 0.0140 7.69 1,200,000 420 115.9 Semirara Corp. 128.40 129.80 128.60 129.40 0.78 430,540 -5,696,674.009 3.67 TA Petroleum 3.99 4.03 3.92 4 0.25 486,000 0.016 0.0100 United Paragon 0.0110 0.0120 0.0110 0.0120 9.09 20,400,000

PREFERRED70 33 ABS-CBN Holdings Corp. 50.85 51.2 50.5 50.5 -0.69 303,610 -6,033,747.00553 490 Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ 533 530 530 530 -0.56 5,900 525 500 Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ 535 535 535 535 0.00 1,250 118 101 First Gen F 116.4 115 115 115 -1.20 80 120 101.5 First Gen G 118 119.5 119.4 119.4 1.19 72,600 -23,890.008.21 5.88 GMA Holdings Inc. 6.5 6.13 6.13 6.13 -5.69 10,000 111 101 MWIDE PREF 108 108.2 108.2 108.2 0.19 1,000 1060 997 PCOR-Preferred A 1050 1032 1032 1032 -1.71 100 PCOR-Preferred B 1070 1075 1075 1075 0.47 20 1047 1011 PF Pref 2 1027 1026 1026 1026 -0.10 100 PNX PREF 3A 107 106.5 106.5 106.5 -0.47 4,000 PNX PREF 3B 112 112 112 112 0.00 5,000 78.95 74.5 SMC Preferred B 79 78.5 78.5 78.5 -0.63 500 84.8 75 SMC Preferred C 81 81 81 81 0.00 22,850 SMC Preferred H 76 76.1 76.05 76.1 0.13 41,000 1.34 1 Swift Pref 2.61 2.56 2.1 2.45 -6.13 23,000 -22,000.00

WARRANTS & BONDS6.98 0.8900 LR Warrant 2.940 2.940 2.900 2.900 -1.36 69,000

S M E Alterra Capital 4.24 4.35 4.15 4.18 -1.42 2,340,000 46,050.00 Italpinas 2.95 2.92 2.8 2.92 -1.02 72,000 12.88 5.95 Xurpas 17.52 18.12 17.52 18 2.74 2,970,200 -7,057,882.00

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS130.7 105.6 First Metro ETF 122 122.6 122 122.6 0.49 103,770 -1,220.00



B3

BDO declares cashdividends of P1.09b

MayniladspendingP42b forexpansion

Market climbs; PLDT, Globe Telecom advance

Toyota suppliers. Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. holds its 2016 Toyota Supplier Conference and 16th Toyota Suppliers Club General Assembly at the Marriott Hotel Manila in Pasay City. TMP president Satoru Suzuki thanked and lauded all Toyota suppliers for helping TMP attain important milestones, such as the achievement of the one million cumulative sales mark and 14th consecutive Triple Crown in 2015, as well as the successful launch of the All-New Innova earlier this year.

By Julito G. Rada

BDO Unibank Inc., the country’s biggest lender controlled by retail tycoon Henry Sy, is paying P1.094 billion in cash dividends to stockholders of record as of June 15, 2016.

BDO said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Monday the source of the dividend payment would come from the surplus profits of the bank.

The bank said the board in a meeting Saturday approved the declaration of cash dividends in the amount of P0.30 per common share, or approximately P1.094 billion, to be paid to all

stockholders of record as of June 15, 2016 and payable on June 27, 2016.

It said the payment of cash dividend was subject to the approval of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

BDO posted a record P25-billion net income in 2015, a 10-percent increase over 2014, matching the earnings guidance

for the year.The bank attributed the

solid expansion to all business segments and the contribution of One Network Bank, the biggest rural bank in Mindanao, which it acquired in July 2015.

BDO’s net profit in the first quarter of 2016 declined 11 percent to P5.5 billion from P6.1 billion year-on-year, due mainly to lower trading and foreign exchange gains. Trading and FX gains in the first three months declined 58 percent to P1.5 billion from P3.4 billion on year.

BDO is aiming for a minimal 4-percent growth in net income to P26 billion this year from P25 billion a year ago due mainly

to election uncertainties and weakness in global economies.

Bank president and chief executive Nestor Tan said in an earlier briefing the P26-billion income guidance this year would translate into a 12.5 percent to 13 percent return on equity.

BDO remained the country’s biggest universal and commercial bank in terms of assets, capital, loans and deposits as of end-2015.

Data from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed BDO had total assets of P1.943 trillion as of Dec. 31 last year. It was followed by Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. at P1.461 trillion, and Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands with P1.241 trillion.

By Anna Leah E. Gonzales

MAYNILAD Water Services Inc. said Monday it alloted P42 bil-lion for capital expenditure from 2016 to 2018.

The concessionaire of the west zone of Metro Manila said it would use the amount to improve and expand water and wastewater services to customers.

Maynilad plans to spend P22 billion for service expansion, management of water losses or non-revenue water, operational support programs such as the upgrade of pumping stations, and the development of new wa-ter sources.

Maynilad said it would spend about P20 billion for sewerage and sanitation program.

This covers the construction of sewage treatment plants, laying of conveyance systems, acquisition of lots for new wastewater facilities, and maintenance of the existing wastewater infrastructure.

The company said funding for infrastructure investments would come from local and in-ternational bank loans and inter-nally generated funds.

“Through this three-year capex program, we hope to ramp up our massive investments by accelerat-ing the completion of new projects so we can meet our service obli-gations to our customers and the government,” said Maynilad presi-dent and chief executive Ramon-cito Fernandez.

Maynilad provides water services to certain portions of Manila, Quezon City, Makati, Caloocan, Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, Navotas and Malabon.

THE stock market advanced Mon-day, led by PLDT and Globel Tele-com Inc., after San Miguel Corp. agreed to a $1.5-billion deal to sell its telecommunication assets.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index rose 52.66 points, or 0.7 percent, to 7,464.34 on a value turnover of P15.4 billion. Losers, however, beat gainers, 104 to 85, with 45 issues unchanged.

Philippine Long Distance Tele-phone Co., the biggest telecommuni-cations company, jumped 9.1 percent to P1,901, while rival Globe climbed 5.6 percent to P2,310.

San Miguel gained 5.8 percent to P80.30.

PLDT and Globe acquired the telecommunications business of San Miguel for about P70 billion, including debt, according to state-ments from the companies Mon-day. PLDT and Globe are each

taking a 50 percent stake in the business and saw their shares soar after the announcement.

San Miguel is selling its tele-communication business two months after it ended talks with Telstra Corp. for a joint invest-ment in a new mobile network in the Philippines after they failed to agree on terms.

Liberty Telecoms Holdings Inc., part of the assets sold by San Miguel, plunged 19.6 percent to P3.62.

Tokyo stocks, meanwhile, led Asia higher Monday, boosted by hopes the government will delay a sales tax hike and by a weaker yen after Federal Reserve boss Janet Yellen hinted that a US interest rate increase was looming.

Tokyo ended up 1.4 percent and above 17,000 points for the first time in a month as the dollar surged against the yen. Hopes the

government would delay a con-sumption tax hike also powered shares higher.

Hong Kong rose 0.3 percent, while Shanghai and Sydney were flat. Seoul shed 0.1 percent, but Jakarta and Taipei gained 0.5 and 0.9 percent, respectively.

“There has been a deliberate move on the part of the Fed to steer the market toward pros-pects of near-term tightening,” Philip Borkin, a senior economist at ANZ Bank New Zealand Ltd., said in a client note according to Bloomberg News.

“The Fed will probably be rea-sonably chuffed at the way the mar-ket is absorbing that message.”

Yellen said Friday she believed growth and the strengthening of the labor market would contin-ue, and in that case, “probably in the coming months such a move

would be appropriate”.That timeframe, which other

Fed policymakers have also re-ferred to in recent weeks, would put the Fed’s action at its June 14-15 or July 26-27 meeting.

The US central bank has repeat-edly stated its intention to continue raising rates this year after Decem-ber’s first hike in nine years.

“Janet Yellen’s remarks on Fri-day confirm that at least one in-crease in the Fed rate is likely this year,” Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said in an email commentary.

“Traders will take confidence from the fact that stock markets are firm in the face of this confir-mation. As far as the markets are concerned, the timing of the next Fed increase now becomes the central issue.”

With Bloomberg and AFP

B4

Ayala’s QualiMed set to open in 5 new sites

Koreanbank buysPH lender

Ten rural banks agree to participate in consolidation program

Discounted prices. The Trade Department National Capital Region Office and the local government of Mandaluyong City hold the Diskwento Caravan Balik-Eskwela Edition at the City Hall Grounds in Maysilo Circle in Mandaluyong City. The caravan provides consumers access to basic and prime commodities, particularly school supplies, at discounted prices. Shown are DTI-NCRO officials led by officer-in-charge director Emma Asusano (right), DTI-NCRO Area 3 division chief Elma Viray (2nd from right) and DTI-Negosyo Center Mandaluyong City manager Lily Flor Alejandro (extreme left) together with Mandaluyong City councilor Charisse Marie Abalos (center).

By Jenniffer B. Austria

QUALIMED Hospital, a network of health-care facilities owned and operated by Ayala Land Inc. and Mercado General Hospital, identified five new sites for expansion.

By Julito G. Rada

BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipi-nas approved the application of Woori Bank, South Korea’s sec-ond-largest, to take over Wealth Development Bank, the finan-cial arm of the Gaisano family’s Viscal Development Corp.

A news article posted on The Korea Times website quoted Woori Bank as saying it got an approval from the “Central Bank of the Philippines to pur-chase a 51-percent stake in the Wealth Development Bank.”

Woori Bank said it planned to complete the transaction in the first half of 2016.

Wealth Bank was established in 2002 and boasts of $170 mil-lion in assets, with 16 branches that employ 300 employees.

“Following the deal, Woori Bank now has 225 networks overseas. Through our custom-ized overseas strategy, we aim to expand the number of networks to 400 by the end of this year,” the South Korean lender said.

Bangko Sentral Deputy Gov-ernor Nestor Espenilla Jr. did not make any official announcement on the approval, only telling The Standard through a text message to “check out announcement in Korea Times today.”

Available information on its Web site said that Woori Bank is a bank headquartered in Seoul, South Korea and a subsidiary of the parent company Woori Financial Group. The bank was established in 1899, originally called Daehan Cheon-il Bank, and renamed Joseon Sangup Bank in 1911, then Commercial Bank of Korea in 1950s.

The Monetary Board’s approval of Woori Bank’s application to ex-pand in the Philippines was the first approval given to a foreign bank this year. Espenilla earlier said the board was evaluating the applica-tions of three foreign banks eyeing to locate in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, WealthBank, which was established in 2002, has 16 branches nationwide, in-cluding seven in Metro Cebu, four in Visayas-Mindanao and five in Metro Manila and Luzon.

Most branches are located at Ayala Malls where Metro Stores are the anchor tenants or in Pa-cific Malls which are owned by Viscal Development.

TWO groups involving 10 ru-ral banks have applied for the Consolidation Program for Ru-ral Banks, a bank strengthening program that aims to bring about a stronger and less fragmented banking system, state-run Phil-ippine Deposit Insurance Corp. said Monday.

PDIC said in a statement the program would provide oppor-tunities to enhance rural banks’ business prospects and ability to face increased competition.

CPRB, a tripartite program of PDIC, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipi-nas and Land Bank of the Phil-

ippines was launched in August 2015 to encourage consolidation among rural banks to improve financial strength and enhance their viability.

PDIC president Cristina Que Orbeta expressed optimism that more rural banks would soon avail of the CPRB and maximize its benefits for expansion and in-stitutional strengthening.

“I trust that more banks will see CPRB as a beneficial program for the whole rural banking in-dustry and will therefore take advantage of this opportunity,” she said.

PDIC assured the depositing public that consolidation among banks would be beneficial to the industry and would strengthen the banking system.

Consolidation reduces the number of operating banks and ensures that the remaining con-solidated banks are financially stronger with higher capital base and equipped to provide improved services to depositors in terms of upgraded facilities, expanded banking products and enhanced management and gov-ernance.

The applications from the

rural banks signify their rec-ognition of the advantages to be gained from CPRB in im-proving their business capa-bilities and diversifying their respective markets, according to PDIC.

Rural banks that avail of CPRB will receive assistance in financial advisory, business pro-cess improvement and capacity building. These include train-ing on credit evaluation and ad-ministration, audit and internal control, personnel management, accounting/record keeping, trea-sury, information technology

and governance. Equity participation may

also be provided by the Land-Bank, while the BSP will ob-serve full f lexibility in the grant of incentives to partici-pating banks.

Proponent banks that com-prise a group of at least five rural banks with head offices or majority of branches located within the same region or area are eligible to avail of the CPRB. A rural bank with head office in a nearby region may also avail, provided that all program ob-jectives are met.

QualiMed president and chief executive Edwin Mercado said in a news briefing during the open-ing of the 105-bed Qualimed Hospital in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan the company was look-ing at Davao, Cebu, Cavite, Balintawak and Arca South as potential sites for hospital ex-pansion in line with the target to have 10 hospitals by 2020.

Mercado said the group was

eyeing to build a 200-room to 300-room QualiMed Hospital in Balintawak, which would be its base hospital in the northern part of Metro Manila and anoth-er 200-room to 300-room Qual-imed Hospital in Arca South, which would be the group’s base hospital in the south of Metro Manila.

“By 2020, we target to have 10 hospitals that will be in various

stages of development and 10 clinics” Mercado said.

QualiMed’s network of health-care facilities include parent hos-pital Daniel O. Mercado Medical Center in Tanauan City, Batan-gas; QualiMed Clinics in Makati; TriNoma and UP Town Center in Quezon City; QualiMed Surgery Centers in Manila and Fairview Terraces; QualiMed Hospital in Mandurriao, Iloilo City; and the newly opened QualiMed Hospi-tal in San Jose Del Monte, Bu-lacan.

QualiMed said for the rest of the year, the group was set to open QualiMed Hospital in Sta. Rosa, Laguna; QualiMed Clinic in Cebu IT Park, Cebu City; QualiMed Clinic in Bonifacio

Global City, Taguig; QualiMed Clinic Alabang Town Center and QualiMed Hospital Bacolod.

QualiMed Hospital – San Jose Del Monte, a 105-bed level 2 gen-eral hospital, is strategically lo-cated within the 100-hectare Al-taraza Town Center in Bulacan.

“QualiMed Hospital – San Jose Del Monte in Altaraza has the quality service, ambience and medical capabilities of a premier city hospital, but at a more afford-able price point. The presence of QualiMed Hospital supports the comprehensive and sustainable lifestyle offerings in the Altaraza estate and will greatly benefit the surrounding community as well,” said Alfonso Javier Reyes, head of ALI Capital Corp.


T U E S D AY : M AY 3 1 , 2 0 1 6

BUSINESS B5

Govt readies thirdround of FiT rates

Microsoft’s $11-b mistake

Loyola set to pay P27m to policyholders

Earth Day. Employees of construction solutions company Holcim Philippines participate nationwide in various community initiatives for the environment such as a tree planting activity along Davao City’s Ilang River in celebration of Earth Day.

By Alena Mae S. Flores

THE National Renewable Energy Board sub-mitted to the Energy Department the pro-posed third round of feed-in tariff rates for solar and wind power projects.

By Gabrielle H. Binaday

THE Insurance Commission said Monday Loyola Plans Consolidat-ed Inc. is set to pay an additional P27 million to affected plan hold-ers in the next two weeks.

IC said Loyola Plans submitted a detailed action plan with spe-cific timeline relative to the pay-ment of the unsettled outstanding claims of plan holders.

Loyola Plans said in a letter ad-dressed to Insurance commissioner Emmanuel Dooc payment to “plan holders would be based on the ‘first in-first out basis’ principle.” This means plan holders whose plan ma-tured first would be paid first.

Loyola Plans chairman and pres-ident Jesusa Concepcion said the

company already paid P82 million since April to settle the outstanding claims of plan holders.

Concepcion said in the next two weeks, the company was expected to generate additional P27 million to settle the remaining obliga-tions.

Concepcion said that “our as-sets are of good quality thus liq-uidating them is not too difficult.”

Loyola Plans offered last month to infuse non-cash assets consist-ing of real properties to fully cover up the deficiency in the trust fund.

Loyola Plans offered about P1.8 billion worth of non-cash assets to IC for liquidation to fund its P238-million trust fund deficiency.

Data showed of the 464 claims endorsed by IC to Loyola Plans,

only 287 accounts were verified and 25 were removed from the list due to the duplication of entries.

The remaining 152 accounts are pending verification due to lack to supporting documents submitted to the company.

Plan holders are required to submit complete documents in-cluding original certificate of full payment, duly signed and filled up time plan benefit avail-ment request form and photo-copy of valid ID with signature and picture.

Dooc advised the plan holders of Loyola Plans with matured and availing benefits to submit the complete documentary require-ments in order to avoid any delay in the processing of claims.

NREB chairman Pete Maniego did not disclose the additional installation targets, pending a final resolution from the depart-ment.

“Yes, next round of FIT. We don’t want to preempt DoE by announc-ing the installation targets before their approval,” Maneigo said.

Maniego said NREB submit-ted the recommendations based on the feedback from the depart-ment, which was expected to come out with a final report on those who qualified for the second wave of solar feed-in tariff.

The feed-in tariff is provided by the government as incentives to re-newable energy developers under the Renewable Energy Law of 2008.

Among the renewable energy tech-

nologies, wind and solar power proj-ects were already oversubscribed.

The entire 400-megawatt ca-pacity for the wind installation target was fully taken up while the department has yet to release the final list of those who qualified for the 450-MW second wave of solar installation targets.

Energy Secretary Zenaida Monsada said there were 750 MW to 800 MW of total capacity of solar projects, pending before the department.

The 450-MW second wave in-stallation target for solar came with a provision that the power projects would be completed by March 15, 2016 to provide additional capacity for the summer months.

ERC, however, granted a lower

rate of P8.69 per kilowatt-hour for the second wave of installa-tion targets covering 450 MW. The department previously ap-proved a 50-MW installation for solar project under the first round at a feed-in tariff rate of P9.68 per kilowatt-hour.

Sources said the third round of feed-in tariff proposed by the NREB was less than P8 per kilo-watt-hour.

ERC earlier appealed to the de-partment to limit the solar power projects availing of the feed-in tariff rate at 500 MW, pending a study on the impact of additional rates to power consumers.

“We computed the FIT rate based on 500 MW, so if it’s going to exceed 500 MW, definitely we have to ad-just the rates,” ERC chairman Jose Vicente Salazar said.

The regulator earlier approved an FIT-allowance rate of P0.1240 per kilowatt-hour, which is being collected by the National Trans-mission Corp. from all consumers and used to pay the renewable en-ergy developers.

NO matter how you spin it, it’s never a good sign to lay off 1,850 people—even if you’re a software giant called Microsoft.

The official press release called this a “streamlining,” but there was no doubt that this meant the company was getting out of the consumer smart phone business, and that it was going to spend about $950 million—including $200 million in severance pay—to do it.

Most of the lay-offs will come from Finland, where Microsoft had bought the struggling cell phone pioneer Nokia for $7.2 billion in April 2014, in a deal initiated by then chief executive Steve Ballmer.

Barely a year after the deal was closed, in July 2015, Microsoft announced that it was writing off $7.6 billion and laying off 7,800 employees as part of a restructuring of its mobile phone business. The company also booked a restructuring charge of $2.1 billion and $435 million for “integration expenses.”

The announcement last week brings the running total of Microsoft’s costly phone misadventure to at least $11 billion, with current Chief Executive Satya Nadella trying to contain the damage wrought by Ballmer’s ill-advised decision back in 2013 to buy Nokia, which was already struggling because it had chosen to use Windows Phone as the primary operating system for its smart phones.

Nadella’s move to get out of the consumer smart phone business was a no-brainer, given the company’s failure to make a dent in the market.

The market research company Gartner recently reported that while smart phone sales had increased by nearly 4 percent in first quarter this year, Microsoft’s Windows Phone saw its share of the market shrink below 1 percent. Gartner estimated that the company was able to sell only 2.4 million Windows Phones for a market share of 0.7 percent—a decline from its 2.5 percent share in the first quarter of 2015.

In a memo to all employees, the head of Microsoft’s Windows and Devices group Terry Myerson said the company was scaling back but was not out altogether of the phone business. The new direction, he said, was to focus on the enterprise market.

“[O]ur phone success has been limited to companies valuing our commitment to security, manageability, and Continuum, and with consumers who value the same. Thus, we need to be more focused in our phone hardware efforts,” Myerson wrote.

But in the same memo, Myerson said Microsoft would be pragmatic and “embrace other mobile platforms.”

“Regardless of a person’s phone choice, we want everyone to be able to experience what Microsoft has to ofter them,” he added.

Despite a general assurance that the company was still in the game (“we’re scaling back but we’re not out!”), Myerson’s memo was short on specifics on how the company would go about selling more Windows Phones to corporate customers, most of whom are probably already using Apple iPhones or Android smart phones. Nor did the memo lay out any sort of a hardware roadmap for future phone models, or say how the company could grow the business by scaling back.

It is probably also worthwhile to note that another phone company that abandoned the consumer market to focus on the enterprise—BlackBerry—isn’t doing all that well, either.

Ironically, the only one that might gain from Microsoft’s missteps is Nokia, which is looking at a revival of its phone business.

Earlier this month, when Microsoft sold its feature phone business to Taiwan’s Foxconn, Nokia said it has signed a deal to license its brand to HMD Global, a new Finnish company run by ex-Nokia employees to create “a new generation of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets.”

TechCrunch reports that Nokia has already been working with Foxconn on an Android tablet while HMD will have a portfolio of smart phones based on Android.

Turning to Android, in fact, was what Nokia was doing belatedly in an effort to arrest its decline—just before it sold its mobile phone business to Microsoft.

Column archives and blog at:http://www.chinwong.com



B6

A minority behavinglike a majority

Alliance Select to hike UK sales

Trade, Jica push PH automotive sector

Benilde awards. The De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde bags six Awards of Excellence and five Awards of Merit in the recently-concluded concluded Philippine Student Quill Awards. Student representatives from the Benildean yearbook office, stage production operations team-cultural promotions team, and Benildean press corps pose with Carmelita Lazatin, Benilde’s vice president for Lasallian Mission and Student Life (rightmost); Dianne May Torres, head of the student publications office (second from right); Virgilio Castillo Jr., head of the office of culture and arts (leftmost); and Alleyne Julia Enriquez Cristobal, cultural events promotions coordinator of the office of culture and arts (seated third from left).

By Jenniffer B. Austria

ALLIANCE Select Foods Inc. plans to sell more tuna products to the United Kingdom to further expand its presence in the European Union.

Alliance Select said in a state-ment with the Philippines obtain-ing a GSP+ (generalized system of preferences plus) status in 2015, the company would attract more clients because of the competitive price it could offer.

“The UK is one of the leading destinations of processed tuna in the EU and Alliance Select is well-positioned to meet that de-mand,” Alliance Select president Raymond See said.

The European Union is listed as top two in the world in terms of the tuna import market while the UK is among the top five import-ing countries in the EU.

Philippines exports to the EU in 2015 rose 27 percent to €743

million.The UK is the fith biggest ex-

port market of the Philippines. Latest data from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources showed that the Philippines ex-ported 17,324 metric tons of fish-ery products valued at P2.4 billion to the region

About 29 percent of the seafood supplies in the UK is imported, with the top two species con-sumed being salmon and tuna.

Alliance Select earlier said it would focus on improving opera-tions and maintaining financial stability to bring positive financial results for the company in 2016.

The group’s strategy has started to pay off as the company im-

proved its net income by over 2,700 percent in the first quarter of the year to $519,000 driven by an improvement in the firm’s gross profit margins.

The improvement is attributed to new management’s optimiza-tion efforts in 2015, including strategies to secure lower cost raw materials, execution of cost-cutting initiatives across all areas of operations, and improvement of customer relationships.

“We are very encouraged by the company’s first quarter per-formance. The meticulous clean-up and aggressive cost efficiency efforts implemented by new management beginning 2014 are now steadily bearing fruit, and we believe that these efforts will continue to sustain the company as we contend with the coming challenges of 2016 such as the ill-effects of El Niño and anticipated steep increase of fish cost,” See said.

By Othel V. Campos

THE Japan International Coop-eration Agency and the Trade De-partment agreed to aggressively position the Philippine automo-tive industry in the global value chains to create jobs and spur for-eign and domestic investments in the Philippines.

Jica chief representative Susumu Ito and Trade Secretary Adrian Cris-tobal Jr. recently signed a two-year technical cooperation project that will start by July or August 2016.

“Jica remains committed to supporting the Philippines’ in-clusive development agenda by promoting the manufacturing industry and helping create jobs for Filipinos. The GVC is impor-tant because we understand that for private sector, it is a primary element of new industrial policy

for both global and regional pro-duction. We hope that the new project with DTI will help further integrate Philippine automakers in the global value chain,” said Ito.

Through consultation with rel-evant stakeholders, the project will come up with industrial promotion plans for the target industries and eventually be incorporated into the manufacturing industry roadmap.

“As a strong driver for eco-nomic growth and job creation, the automotive industry has been regarded to have substantially multiplier effects on knowledge transfer and linkages creation within the domestic economy,” Trade Undersecretary and Board of Investments managing head Ceferino Rodolfo said.

“This has become the empirical basis for JICA and Trade Depart-ment to target automotive, auto-

parts and auto-electronics as the focused industries for the two year project,” he said.

Rodolfo will be responsible for the overall administration and implementation of the project, while the BoI executive director for industry development mean-while will act as project manager and be responsible for the smooth implementation of the project.

Jica, meanwhile, will give the needed technical guidance and recommenda-tions to the Trade Department.

Jica added that the technical cooperation project with depart-ment complemented the Philip-pines’ Comprehensive Automo-tive Resurgence Strategy program that aimed to provide fiscal sup-port for investments in the manu-facture of whole body large plastic parts and other strategic parts not currently produced locally.

THE things that President-elect Rodrigo Duterte and his spokespersons were declaring, asserting and proclaiming to the nation during the last three weeks have sent me scurrying to Webster’s Dictionary to remind myself of the meaning of ‘minority’ and the significance of being in a minority. And because the word ‘minority’ has a particular application in the corporate world, I consulted my law-school textbook on private corporations.

It turned out that I really didn’t have to go to the dictionary and my law book, because they merely confirmed—as I thought they would—what I had known all along. Given a total of 100, the majority is any number in excess of 50 and the minority is the smaller number. The minority can be made up of more than one number, but the majority must be higher than 50.

My re-reading of the textbook on private corporations likewise confirmed what I already knew, viz., that a majority is any number greater than 50 percent out of 100 percent and that in order to be able to control a corporation, a stockholder must own voting shares representing at least 50 percent of the total outstanding voting shares. This explains why 50 is the magic number in corporate governance; a stockholder deserving to control a corporation must own at least that percentage of the total of outstanding voting shares. In the governance of corporations this rule—50 percent or more controls—is applied strictly.

Thus, there would seem to be a glaring variation between the application of the words ‘majority’ and ‘minority’ in the corporate setting and their application to the situation that this country is facing in the post-2016-election milieu. In the corporate setting a stockholder cannot exercise control over a corporation unless he (or it) owns at least 50 percent of the corporation’s outstanding shares; having less than 50 percent makes a stockholder a minority stockholder and therefore incapable of controlling the corporation.

That, it appears, is not the case with the administration of this country. The formal turnover of governmental power from the Aquino administration to the group of President-elect Duterte has yet to take place—that will take place on June 30—but already the latter is declaring, announcing and proclaiming the policies that will govern this country during the period up to June 30, 2022, some of which are highly controversial.

The people of this country, even those who did not vote for him, have no problem with Rodrigo Duterte and his supporters behaving like a government-in-waiting long before June 30; ater all, in the absence of an Election Code provision on a run-off election, the Davao City mayor is effectively the nation’s next President and his group is the incoming administration. He may be a minority President, but he is the minority President-elect.

What they have a problem with is the fact that Rodrigo Duterte and Co. are behaving like the majority stockholders of the corporation known as the Philippine Duterte did not win a majority in the election: nearly two out of every three Filipinos (62 percent) did not vote for (read: rejected) him. Nor can he be said to have won by a landslide, for he only gathered close to 17 million votes out of 41 million votes cast.

Being a minority President-elect, Rodrigo Duterte should behave the way a minority behaves. He should not be announcing, declaring and proclaiming, the way a majority President-elect does, national policies on such highly deeply-felt and contentious matters as CCP-NDF-NPA inclusion in the Cabinet, the giving of a hero’s burial to former President Ferdinand E. Marcos (the martial-law strongman of 1972-1986), the restoration of the death penalty and extrajudicial punishment of drug-trade participants.

The voters who cast their ballots for Mar Roxas, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Grace Poe and Jejomar Binay—all 23 million of them—very probably do not want Rodrigo Duterte to behave as though he won more than 50 percent of the total votes cast in the recent election. Rodrigo Duterte is a minority President. They don’t want him to behave like a majority President.

E-mail: [email protected]

B7CESAR BARRIOQUINTOE D I T O R

[email protected]

T U E S D AY : M AY 3 1 , 2 0 1 6

WORLD

Rescuers expand search for missing boy

StarvingIraqis riskall to fleecruel IS

Still rocking. Joe Walsh performs during Joe Walsh & Bad Company One Hell Of A Night Tour at Perfect Vodka Amphitheater on May 29, 2016, in West Palm Beach, Florida. AFP

Operation. Israeli soldiers patrol a street in the northern West Bank village of Salem, east of Nablus, during an operation to arrest wanted Palestinians early on May 30, 2016. AFP

Barrier Reef corals dead, dying

Soldiers move to retake jihadist bastion Fallujah

TOKYO—Japanese rescuers on Monday expanded the search for a seven-year-old boy missing for three days after his parents left him in a mountain forest inhab-ited by bears as punishment in a case that has infuriated public opinion.

The parents originally told po-lice the boy got lost on Saturday while they were hiking to gather wild vegetables, but later admit-ted they had left him in the forest to punish him.

The boy, Yamato Tanooka, went missing in the mountains on the northern main island of Hokkaido inhabited by wild bears.

Yamato, his older sister, mother and father came to a park near the forest on Saturday, but the parents became angry as the boy

threw stones at cars and people, Japanese police and media re-ports said.

On the way back home, they made Yamato get out of the car and left him alone in the forest, driving the car about 500 meters away, TV Asahi and other reports said.

“They said they went back to the site immediately but the boy was no longer there,” a local po-lice spokesman earlier told AFP.

Some 180 rescuers and police officers widened the search area on Monday, mobilizing sniffer dogs and horses to go deeper into the woodlands, NTV footage showed.

“I feel very sorry for my child,” the father told an NTV reporter. “I am so sorry for causing trouble for many people.”

Japanese public opinion react-ed with outrage at the actions of the parents.

“This is not punishment but abuse!” one Twitter post read.

“The parents are so stupid that I am speechless,” said another.

Many also worried about the fate of the child in the forest alone and reportedly with no food or water as heavy rain fell overnight.

Mitsuru Wakayama, a spokes-man for the local town of Nanae, said the mountainous area is a place that only local residents pass through occasionally as a short-cut.

“Not many people or cars pass by, and it gets totally dark as there are no lights,” Wakayama said.

“It’s not surprising to encoun-ter bears anywhere in the area.” AFP

AMRIYAT AL-FALLUJAH, Iraq—Eight hands stretch towards the aluminum plate—the first meal of rice this Iraqi family who just es-caped jihadist rule in the Fallujah area has had in two years.

The tent has just been put up, a sheet of bubble wrap strewn on the gravel as a makeshift rug and the heat is searing but Nasra Najm, her daughter and grandchildren have a smile on their face.

“We had been dreaming of this. I wasn’t sure rice existed anymore, so when we saw this plate, we couldn’t believe it,” said the elderly woman with traditional tattoos on her fac

She and her relatives reached the camp in Amriyat al-Fallujah 12 hours earlier, after walking through much of the night to dodge the sur-veillance of the Islamic State group.

Iraqi forces a week ago launched a broad operation aimed at retak-ing the city of Fallujah, one of IS’s most emblematic bastions, in the western province of Anbar.

The progress of pro-government forces has created a window for some civilians to flee from the city’s outlying areas and attempt to reach safety.

The Norwegian Refugee Council, which runs several camps in Amriyat al-Fallujah, south of Fallujah, is providing shelter and assistance to around 3,000 people who fled over the past week.

Their stories give an insight into the dire conditions endured by the estimated 50,000 people still trapped inside a city that has been largely cut off from the rest of Iraq for months.

In Nasra’s tent, Maher Sabih, a tall middle-aged man explained it this way: “Look, I used to weigh 103 kilos (235 pounds), now I’m on 71.”

All the newly-arrived displaced civilians from the Fallujah area have the same stories of being de-prived of rice or bread.

“It was an ordeal over there. We had to grind the stones from the dates to make flour,” said Madiha Khudhair, sitting in her empty tent with her two daughters. AFP

BAGHDAD—Iraqi forces thrust into the city of Fallujah from three direc-tions on Monday, marking a new and perilous urban phase in the week-old operation to retake the jihadist bastion.

Led by the elite counter-terrorism service, Iraq’s best trained and most seasoned fighting unit, the forces pushed in before dawn, commanders said.

“Iraqi forces entered Fallujah under air cover from the international coalition, the Iraqi air force and army aviation, and supported by artillery and tanks,” said Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi, the commander of the operation.

“CTS forces, the Anbar (provincial) police and the Iraqi army, at around 4:00 am (0100 GMT), started moving into Fallujah from three directions,” he said.

“There is resistance from Daesh,” he added, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

CTS spokesman Sabah al-Noman told AFP: “We started early this morning our operations to break into Fallujah.”

The involvement of the elite CTS marks the start of a phase of urban combat in a city where in 2004 US forces fought some of their toughest battles since the Vietnam War.

The week-old operation had previously focused on retaking villages and rural areas around Fallujah, which lies just 50 kilometers west of Baghdad.

Only a few hundred families have managed to slip out of the Fallujah area ahead of the assault on the city, with an estimated 50,000 civilians still trapped inside, sparking fears the jihadists could try to use them as human shields.

The only families who were able to flee so far lived in outlying areas, with the biggest wave of displaced reaching camps on Saturday night.

“Our resources in the camps are now very strained and with many more expected to flee we might not be able to provide enough drinking water for everyone,” said Nasr Muflahi, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Iraq director.

“We expect bigger waves of displacement the fierc-er the fighting gets.”

In Amriyat al-Fallujah, a government-controlled town to the south of the jihadist bastion, civilians trickled in, starving and exhausted after walking through the countryside for hours at night, dodging IS surveillance.

“I just decided to risk everything. I was either go-ing to save my children or die with my children,” said Ahmad Sabih, 40, who reached the NRC-run camp early on Sunday.

Fallujah is one of just two major urban centres in Iraq still held by IS. AFP

T U E S D AY : M AY 3 1 , 2 0 1 6

B8 CESAR BARRIOQUINTOE D I T O R

[email protected]

Sorry sight. This undated handout photo received on May 30, 2016, shows dead coral in shallow waters at Cygnet Bay in Western Australia. At least 35 percent of the corals in the northern and central regions of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef are dead or dying from a mass-bleaching event, scientists said on May 30, 2016. The assessment was made after months of aerial and underwater surveys after the worst bleaching in recorded history first became evident in March as sea temperatures warmed. AFP

WORLD

Barrier Reef corals dead, dying

The assessment was made follow-ing months of aerial and underwater surveys after the worst bleaching in recorded history first became evident in March as sea temperatures rise.

Global warming was wreaking hav-oc on the World Heritage-listed site, said Terry Hughes, director of the Australian Research Council Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at the James Cook University.

“We found on average, that 35 per-cent of the corals are now dead or dy-ing on 84 reefs that we surveyed along the northern and central sections of the Great Barrier Reef, between Townsville and Papua New Guinea,” he said in a statement.

“This is the third time in 18 years that the Great Barrier Reef has expe-rienced mass bleaching due to global warming, and the current event is much more extreme than we’ve mea-sured before.”

At least a decade is needed for the coral to recover, “but it will take much longer to regain the largest and oldest corals that have died”, the joint state-ment from three leading universities said.

The reef is already under pressure from farming run-off, development, the coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish, along with the impacts of cli-mate change.

Researchers from James Cook said in April that 93 percent of the 2,300-kilometer long site—the

world’s biggest coral ecosystem—had been affected by the mass bleaching event.

Bleaching occurs when abnormal environmental conditions, such as warmer sea temperatures, cause cor-als to expel tiny photosynthetic algae, draining them of their color.

The impact was less severe in the southern parts of the reef as the water temperatures were “closer to the nor-mal [southern hemisphere] summer conditions”, the scientists said.

Although fewer corals have died in the south, the stress from bleaching is likely to temporarily slow down their reproduction and growth rates, they added.

The phenomenon has also dam-aged corals off Australia’s west coast, with “extensive and patchy” bleaching and mortality.

“On the Kimberley coast where I work, up to 80 percent of the cor-als are severely bleached, and at least 15 percent have died already,” the University of Western Australia’s Verena Schoepf said.

The Australian Marine Conservation Society urged officials to heed calls to do more to save the reef.

“The federal government must release a climate policy that makes a credible contribution to deliver-ing a healthy future for our natural wonder,” said spokeswoman Imogen Zethoven. AFP

SYDNEY—At least 35 percent of corals in parts of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef are dead or dying from mass bleaching caused by global warming, scientists said Monday.

C1tuesday : may 31, 2016

tatum aNCHetaE D I T O R

BING PaReLA S S O C I AT E E D I T O R

BeRNadet te LuNasW R I T E R

a Rts, Cu Lt uRe & t eCH

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 @ L I F

LIFE

Over 40 years ago, premier kitchen and bath brand Kohler launched its world-renowned art/industry residency program to support

emerging artists in the United States. These promising artists are then invited to the Kohler campus to hone and showcase their talent and to date, more than 500 emerging and established artists have benefited from this initiative.

Just recently, Manila art lovers had an opportunity to view select creations from six Asian artists in an exhibition dubbed as “Kohler Bold. Art. Exhibition.”

The exhibit which ran from May 18 to 24 at The Gallery in Greenbelt 5, Makati showcased the works of Ahadiat Joedawinata from Indonesia, James Seet from Malaysia, Thomas Cheong from Singapore, Sudsiri Pui-Ock from Thailand, Nguyan Ngoc Lam from Vietnam and Hadrian Mendoza of the Philippines.

According to Angel Yang, vice president and general manager for Kitchen & Bath Southeast Asia & Australasia, the exhibit is part of Kohler’s vision to “promote art and put the spotlight on local artists” in the region, with the company passing on the artistic tradition to China in 2010, followed by Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea in 2013-2014, with artists invited to create pieces guided by the theme of “Asian Contemporary Art: Rooted in the Past; Looking Into the Future.”

Each of the 12 pieces featured during the exhibit drew inspiration from each artist’s personal experience and cultural perspective.

Explained Yang, “The theme looks into how each artist, with their diverse backgrounds and experiences, views issues such as continuing urbanization, Asia’s consistent rise to economic power, and the

impact that innovation and technologies are making in today’s society.”

Hadrian Mendoza, PhilippinesCurrently based in the US, this ceramic

artist and founder of SEApots combines cultural undertones with modern expressionism and abstract forms in his works, with the new ones predominantly finished with ash and rutile glazes. For the exhibit, Mendoza has chosen Timethat urges everyone to make drastic changes to save the environment as time is running out. Manunggul, his other piece for the exhibit, is a rendition of the ancient burial jars that carried the deceased’s belongings to the afterlife. Mendoza’s artwork features an empty ring at the center to show that we take nothing in the next life except our good deeds on this earth.

Ahadiat Joedawinata, Indonesia Dr. Joedawinata is known for his ceramic

work and for the exhibit, his creation titled The Process 1 reflect the interaction between heritage and modern global phenomena with the use of old Chinese ceramics and icons found in Indonesian traditional artifacts. The Process 2 communicates the artist’s view of natural ecological phenomena with water being one of the important elements as seen in the six stoneware elements in the basic form of water drops attached onto each other.

James Seet, MalaysiaAn ad agency creative director by

day and an artist by night, Seet creates whimsical sculptures that catch the attention of and interact with people. For the exhibit, Janus Past/Present reveals the artist’s thoughts and how culture and

tradition – past and present – helped shape who he is today, while Janus Present/Future provokes viewers to contemplate the finite and infinite, inviting one to look beyond tradition. For one to live in the now, one must allow his mind to travel beyond, the artist says.

Thomas Cheong, Singapore Graduating with distinction from the

LaSalle College of the Arts in 2002 and Master of Fine Art (Ceramics) from Tainan National University of the Arts in Taiwan, Cheong’s Time Artifacts uses primitive forming and firing techniques to communicate a sense of nostalgia and curiosity on how artifacts were made, and not to take technology for granted. The Shower Experience on the other hand is an installation resembling a modern day showerhead that invites interaction with the viewer in the hope that fond memories of the bathing experience (under the rain or the waterfalls) will be evoked.

Sudsiri Pui-Ock, ThailandThis female contemporary artist from

Chiang Mai uses a variety of techniques including sculptures, interactive media, painting and printmaking to convey her concept about life and existence. In Worldly Wisdom, three hand gestures symbolize different meanings – love, meditation and the search for ultimate truth. World Dweller shows the classical feet form of Buddha statues being deconstructed and reconstructed into a new form that shows the footprint of the main continents: Asia, Europe, Australia and the Americas.

BOlD AnD ARTISTIC: KOHlER CElEBRATES CRAfTSMAnSHIP AnD CREATIvITy

Wisconsin-based global brand features masterpieces in first manila exhibit

From left: Peter Oesch, director of Kohler Kitchen & Bath Asia Pacific; Angel Yang, VP and general manager of Kohler Kitchen & Bath Southeast Asia and Australasia; Hadrian Mendoza, Kohler Bold. Art. Philippine representative and founder of SEApots; and Adam Quek, general manager and commercial director of Kohler Kitchen & Bath Southeast Asia PHOtO BY StAr SABrOSO

Continued on C3

The Tree by Vietnamese artist Nguyen Ngoc Lam Time Artifacts by Singaporean artist thomas Cheong Worldly Wisdom by thai Sudsiri Pui-Ock Manunggul by Filipino artist Hadrian Mendoza

The Process 1 by Indonesian artist Dr. Ahadiat JoedawinataJanus Past/Present by Malaysian artist James Seen

C2 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

tuESday : may 31, 2016

Bacolod-based artists Moreen Austria and Peter James Fantinalgo present their respective sculptures and installations that illustrate the uniqueness of the Negros and Panay relationship as shaped by their past and reflected by the vitality of their present.

The exhibit, whose title is the Hiligaynon word that means umbilical cord, probes into the historical and cultural connection between the two neighboring provinces in the Visayas region. Through the artworks on display, Austria and Fantinalgo create a venue to re-evaluate the transformations that have happened in the two provinces and in the entire region.

Contact CCP’s Visual Arts and Museum Division, Production and Exhibition Department at (02) 832-1125 local 1504 and 1505 or email [email protected] for inquiries and more details.

This Larry Kramer-written autobiographical play is set to pierce through the hearts of the audience on its three-day run here in the Philippines. The story follows the life of Ned Weeks, a passionate writer in New York City in

the early 1980s, as he rallies for recognition and cure of HIV/AIDS that was plaguing his community.

For its second showing here in the country – the first one was staged in July 2015 – Bart Guingona, who’s also directing, plays the lead character while Richard Cunanan portrays Ben Weeks, Topper Fabregas as Felix Turner and TJ Trinidad as Bruce Niles. Joining the cast are Roselyn Perez, Red Concepcion, Nor Domingo and Jef Flores.

Ticket prices for the play range from P500 to P1,200. For ticket reservations, log on to

www.ticketworld.com.ph or call the PETA Theater Center office at (02) 725-6244 local 23.

Travel and lifestyle photographer Paco Guerrero will help shed light on how photography can become a powerful narrative tool through the form of photo essay in this two-day workshop. Participants will look back at the origins of the first documentary photographs by studying W. Eugene Smith and his work for Life magazine.

Using this working knowledge of the photo essay, participants will be given a chance to work on their own image sets by embedding at several locations around Makati City. The objective is to give them a taste of the challenges involved in shooting a short photo essay.

The P5,500 workshop fee is inclusive of materials, handouts, snacks and one day free access to the Ayala Museum and Filipinas Heritage Library. Call (02) 759-8288 local 35 or email [email protected] or visit www.ayalamuseum.org for inquiries and more details.

LawigBulwagang Fernando Amorsolo, Cultural Center of the Philippines, ManilaOngoing until July 3

Surviving the Burning FieldsArtistSpace, Ayala Museum, Makati CityJune 2 to 15

The Normal HeartPETA Theater, Quezon CityJune 3 to 5

Photographic EssayAyala Museum, Makati CityJune 4 and 11

LoomArtInformal, Mandaluyong CityOngoing until June 25

ARTS AND CULTURE ROUNDUPWhat’s on in theaters and galleries this week

ExhibiTS

ThEATER PLAyS

wORkShOPS

CONCERTS

Contemporary visual artist Zean Cabangis turns views of familiar landscapes into astonishing works of art using different medium in his latest solo exhibition. Being a constant traveler, Cabangis continues to gain new ground while seeing new sceneries, which he then turns into collage and paintings featuring fields and vistas that take form as reconstructed realities.

The University of the Philippines Fine Arts graduate combines photography, acrylic paint and his technique of using emulsion transfers along with other interventions to give way to visions of structures that seem like they are sitting on the horizon.

To know more about this ongoing solo show, visit www.artinformal.com.

Visual artist Tristram Miravelles conjures a world that is in perpetual melee by painting strange, dissonant and corrupt images that impress on the futility of finding life’s meaning. The struggle of his characters in finding a place and meaning in an irrational world is evident in each piece.

Miravelles’ current series is a product of his observations on the chaos that besieged him and of his trepidations regarding his position on the subject. By surveying the themes of life and death, human conditions and limitations, freedom and volitions, it’s apparent that the exhibit locates itself in the immediate reality.

Apart from a showcase of creativity, the exhibition also serves as a fundraiser for the Art Beat project of the Rotary Club of Makati West. Art Beat raises funds in conjunction with the Gift of Life to provide free medical attention to children suffering from congenital heart disease.

For more information on the exhibit, contact Ysobel Art Gallery at (02) 576-4758 or email [email protected].

LIED Duo Knut Schoch and Carsten Linck are coming to the country for one night of German guitar music in this concert staged by Ayala Museum and Independent Philippine Art Ventures, Inc.

The duo’s captivating concert appearances, enhanced by short introductions to the works and their respective composers, give an unforgettable insight into rarely heard but exciting repertoires. Their usual repertoires include both original compositions from the 1800s and original arrangements of works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Johannes Brahms. For the show, Linck will play a 19th century guitar replica by Johann Georg Staufer which is said to have a very similar sound to a fortepiano (the earlier version of the piano).

Ticket prices range from P300 to P700. Call (02) 759-8288 local 31 or email [email protected] for inquiries and reservations.

Liederabend: A Night of German SongsGround floor, Ayala Museum, Makati CityJune 2, 6:30 p.m.

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


Broadway fans will surely enjoy the repertoire from American performing group Citrus Singers as they stage “The Best of Broadway” on June 11 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Main Theater.

A top college performing group in the United States, the Citrus Singers is internationally renowned and universally admired, often mentioned in the same breath as performing groups at New York University and Yale. Founded in 1968 by Ben D. Bollinger, the group’s aim is to cultivate, refine, and develop talents who could become the next performers on stage and screen, ascending to the top of the music industry.

For their performance in Manila, the Citrus Singers will sing popular Broadway songs from the time of Irving Berlin to this year’s Tony winners, with 40 of the most familiar songs of the Great White

Way to be performed by 40 young stars of stage and screen.

Alumni of Citrus Singers have performed in many places across the globe while some are already on Broadway, in Las Vegas, at Disney and Universal theme parks worldwide, in concert halls and in theaters across the United States and Europe.

The Best of Broadway is made possible by KMP Artists, a management firm and production company for the live performing arts since 2004 that also provides publicity support and tour management services. The successful international company tours multiple genres including theater, music, circus and dance, and acts as executive producer for other producers.

For more details, contact CCP at 832-3704 or email Domer Balao-as of KMP Artists at

[email protected].

Since 2006, Cine Central, Calcutta – the largest film society in India – has been holding the International Children’s Film Festival aimed at reaching underprivileged children by hosting film showing for kids in city slums, suburbs and districts. With the support of various NGOs, Nandan, the West Bengal Film Centre and UNICEF, the organization created the program to help the children of India become familiar with various cultures around the globe.

This year, CCC is inviting Filipino filmmakers to participate in the 16th International Children’s Film Festival to

be held from July 1 to September 30 in Calcutta and other districts of the West Bengal state. Interested participants may submit short stories or animated films that are appropriate for children aged six to 15. The entry should not exceed 100 minutes and should be submitted in DVD or Blu-ray format containing the film title, synopsis, production credits and running time.

Last year, Cine Central, Calcutta received 35 films across 14 countries and shown to children in various districts of West Bengal. Films have a profound effect on the younger generation, with

the help of talented film makers around the globe, the International Children’s Film Festival hopes to bring joy and spark inspiration among unprivileged children in impoverished areas.

Entries should be mailed not later than June 10 and addressed to Parimal Mukherjee, General Secretary of Cine Central, Calcutta 2, Chowringhee Road, Calcutta - 700 013.

CCC has been conducting film festivals, film sessions, seminars, and exhibitions on a non-commercial basis for over 50 years. For more information about the Festival, visit www.cinecentralcalcutta.org.

Filipino filmmakers invited to send entries to International Children’s Film Festival

Every year, the International Children’s Film Festival schedules film showings for kids in city slums, suburbs and districts

Last year, Cine Central, Calcutta received 35 films across 14 countries that were shown to children in various districts of West Bengal

thE BESt oF Broadway From CItruS SIngErSAmerican performing group takes center stage at the CCP via KMP artists

Citrus Singers continue to cultivate, refine, and develop talents who could eventually become the next performers on stage and screen, ascending to the top of the music industry

For their show in Manila, the Citrus Singers will perform popular Broadway songs from the time of Irving Berlin to this year’s Tony winners

Nguyen Ngoc Lam, VietnamA pioneer of contemporary sculpture

in Vietnam who obtained his master’s degree from the Vietnam University of Fine Arts, Ngoc Lam sees art as the language of dreams, with his sculptural artworks inspired by turning dreams into reality. For the exhibit, the artist features The Seeds – brass treated through high temperature and poured into mixed clay and chaff mold. Through the piece, the artist expresses humankind’s origins and the transformation toward the future. The Tree meantime uses carving and sculptural techniques to create the tree from metal, resulting in a sculptural piece that explores the tree or human being as the bridge that connects the sky with the earth.

“It’s truly an honor to be part of this and I’m even happier that the show is here in the Philippines. It’s a great way for Asian artists to get exposure on an international scale,” Mendoza shares.

“Moving forward, we hope to partner with more artists, and collaborate with more organizations who share our vision of bringing the arts closer and more accessible to the public,” Yang promised.

For more information on the Kohler Bold. Art. Exhibition,

visit blog.kohlerboldart.com/about.php.

BoLd and artIStIC...From C1

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


Because the recent elections was too much for Filipinos to bear, the favorite chocolate that “melts in your mouth, not in your hand”

created a funny twist to the polls by asking people to vote for their favorite color of M&M’S.

For almost a month, the beloved M&M’s have been rallying social media fans to cast their vote. Last April 22, Red, Yellow, and Green, tried to get the crowd’s attention with their cute version of a miting de avance. Last May 20, M&M announced the people’s choice – and the winner is… Red!

Garnering 10,243 posts or 47 percent of the total votes, Red has been heralded as the undisputed M&M leader. Maybe it’s the color, or maybe its Red’s appealing charm – but people say they voted for him because he looks tough and brave. Hmm… does it sound like our president-elect?

With 21,762 valid entries from more than 30,000 responses across social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, this chocolaty electoral campaign sure lightened up the heated political content in our social media feeds. Twenty participants who joined in the voting won P5,000 each while 50 participants winners won cool merchandise from M&M.

One insight from the campaign shows that color does have a profound effect on people. Red has always been a powerful color, perceived as something physical and exudes courage, excitement and energy. At the same time, the negative correlation is aggression or defiance. Yellow on the other hand is something that stimulates the emotion; it either lifts a spirit or shows optimism but its a downside is that it can be construed as giving rise to fear or anxiety. Green meanwhile possesses a

Whether she’s a cat, a little girl, or just a cartoon character, people don’t seem to care as nothing is stopping them from turning Hello Kitty’s version of Fujifilm Instax mini camera in a pink bow into one of the best selling Instax cameras in town.

We’re honestly not sure who is buying them but boy, the appeal of this anthropomorphic white Japanese bobtail cat seems to be timeless. Ever since it said “Hello” to the world in 1974, Hello Kitty has been a favorite collectible item among kids and kids-at-heart.

Since Sanrio opened the licensing of Hello Kitty for different items, this endearing cat has been popping up in different forms – in this case a crowd favorite, the Fujifilm Instax mini camera.

The Hello Kitty Instax camera has been in the market for a couple of years and this year, they are launching the original color version of ‘lil Ms. Kitty in a red bow. Nothing much has been changed on the specs, it’s just that she’s now back in her old stylish ribbon. The camera still has the best features of the classic Instax Mini 8 camera such as auto

focus, auto flash, a brightness adjustment dial and a Fujinon lens that captures vibrant pictures even in low lighting. The best part is that it is still in its cute compact design and takes instant credit card-sized photos that everyone can enjoy.

The new look is already up for grabs, so it might be a good birthday gift for a person in love with Hello Kitty, a friend or a kid – or who knows, maybe even your brother. We ain’t judgin’.

For more information, visit www.instax.ph/dealers.

M&M’s Red wins the PeoPle’s Vote

Fujifilm’s Instax mini Hello Kitty’s new look

refreshing and balancing effect. Nature has taught us that where there is green, there is life.

Second placer Green which received 6,972 or 32 percent of the votes was perceived as charismatic, inspirational, and someone who sets a good example for the team. The Yellow one came in last with 21 percent of the votes or 4,547 social media posts. The color was preferred by people who perceived the character as down-to-earth with a service-oriented style of leadership.

To see the posts of the polls on social media, check out the hashtags #mmsred, #mmsyellow and #mmsgreen. For more fun activities from M&M’S visit M&M’S Philippines Facebook.For almost a month, the beloved M&M’s have been rallying social media fans to cast their vote

The Hello Kitty Instax camera still comes in its compact design The Hello Kitty Instax camera design now comes in its original color version of ‘lil Ms. Kitty in a red bow

Garnering 47 percent of the total votes, Red has been heralded as the undisputed M&M leader

C5ISAH V. REDE D I T O RSHOWBITZ

t uES DAy : m Ay 31, 2016

i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

We were part of the group that trooped to this city over the weekend, this beautiful city that finds itself on global spotlight

nowadays, but not to have a meet and greet session with President-elect Rody Duterte.

We were there to witness the festive oc-casion of SmartBro, the country’s No. 1 mobile broadband, and the launch of its SmartBro 888 for the Davaoeños. The city was filled with much excitement as they meet up close and personal their very own Bb. Pilipinas-Universe and proud Mind-anaoan MJ Lastimosa and TV personality and celebrity-athlete Gretchen Ho, who are but two of the nationwide caravan’s Bro-ka-das touring the country for this great news of connectivity.

The beautiful ladies upped the ante when Smart Bro toured the city in color-ful motorcade, visited the stores that offer this amazing deal of a SmartBro 4G pocket wi-fi for only P888 (with free 350mb per month for three months) so they can enjoy fast and reliable connectivity of up to 10 gadgets. The good news is, this worthwhile endeavor is not unique to Davao only.

Smart’s Consumer Broadband Market-ing Head and concurrent PLDT VP and HOME Marketing Director Gary Dujali tells us that the Davao leg was just one of the many caravans being held all over the country. “These events are in full swing, the Smart Bro-kadas are invading cities and spreading great fun to Bro-kadas nation-

wide. This is the best time to own a Smart-Bro Pocket Wi-fi with our best price offer-ing ever,” he said.

The star-studded Smart Bro 888 cara-van started in Cagayan de Oro, came in full force here in Davao, while it was held simultaneously in Pampanga and other parts of Metro Manila joined by popu-lar balladeer Michael Pangilinan and beauty queen Bea Rose. On June 4, it will be coming to Cebu to replicate the same excitement and extravaganza, and then onward it marches to the different major cities nationwide.

The Smart Bro 4G Pocket WiFi offers fast and reliable mobile connectivity for up to 10 gadgets, making it the perfect companion for sharing online fun with the barkada – from streaming videos and music, playing online games, to shar-ing files and photos wherever the whole barkada goes.

With its best deal ever, Smart Bro in-vites everyone to experience firsthand its fast and reliable mobile broadband service as the country’s unrivaled mobile services leader continues to boost its coverage and connectivity experience in key areas across the country, including the Davao region, with the latest network technologies.

For more of Smart Bro’s awesome offers, visit www.smart.com.ph/bro and follow Smart’s official accounts on Facebook (www.facebook.com.ph/SmartCommunications), Twitter and Instagram (@LiveSmart).

Instituto Cervantes and the Embassy of Spain, in cooperation with the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), present the film cycle “Spanish Thrillers”, a series of Spanish movies to be shown every Saturday in June at the FDCP Cinematheque.

With the arrival of the Democracy to Spain in 1976, these thrillers reflect a fresh outlook brought about by a new generation of filmmakers. Thanks to their intriguing storyline, out-of-the-box concepts combined with clever acting and direction as well as a perfect execu-tion, Spanish thrillers have won popular-ity worldwide. This film cycle is an op-portunity to enjoy four gems of a genre that is booming in Spanish cinema.

The film series kicks-off June 4 June 4 p.m. with Tesis, a disturbing thriller about the depiction of violence by the media.

Angela is a university student prepar-ing a thesis on media violence. To com-plement her work, her adviser agrees to search the reserved area of the university library for material, but the next day he is found dead. Angela meets Chema, a fel-low student and expert of gore and porn films, and Bosco, a strange boy and close friend of a young woman who was mur-dered in a snuff movie. Released in 1996, the opera prima of Spanish filmmaker Alejandro Amenábar garnered seven Goya Awards (Best Film and Best Script among them), and has become over the years a classic of the genre.

Enrique Urbizu’s La caja 507 (Box 507) will be the second installment of this film cycle. The movie, to be shown on June 11, at 4 p.m., is a gripping thriller with a social message, as well as a prime example of the film quality Spain is known for.

Modesto, an honest and responsible professional, is a manager of a small bank branch in the Costa del Sol. His daugh-ter dies in a forest fire that is believed to be accidental. One day due to a robbery that takes place in the bank several safety-deposit boxes are pried open. Modesto mistakenly looks into one of the deposit boxes and stumbles across documents that prove that his daughter’s death was not an accident. From that day on, he sets on a personal crusade for justice. A movie that is well-directed and acted, La caja 507 won several awards both in Spain and abroad, and enjoyed a very successful career at film festivals around the world.

Also directed by Enrique Urbizu, who has become a master of the genre, is No habrá paz para los malvados (No Rest for the Wicked). This film will be shown on June 18, at 4 p.m. The film, produced in 2011, tells the story of Santos Trinidad (played by José Coronado), a cop with an outstanding record but was rel-egated after an obscure incident that ruined his career and turned him into an alcoholic and angry loner. One night Santos finds him-self implicated in a triple homicide in an af-ter-hours club.

José Coronado’s monumental per-formance rewarded him several acting awards, as did Urbizu’s fine directing win him two Goyas as the Best Director and Best Screenplay.

Directed by Jaume Balagueró in 2011, Mientras duermes (Sleep Tight) will close the film series on the 25th of June at 4 p.m. César works as a doorman in an apart-ment building in Barcelona. He goes about his day-to-day work mainly unnoticed by the residents of the building yet he pays close attention to them. He knows all the intimate details of their lives, everything

STaRS alIgnED fOR SmaRTBRO POckETWI-fI P888’S maSSIvE naTIOnWIDE TOuR

Enjoy Spanish thrillers at the FDCP

Cinematheque

Celebrity Smart Bro-kadas lending fun and adventure, glitter and glam to SmartBro pocket wifi 888’s nationwide tour. Shown (clockwise from top right) are celebrity athlete Gretchen Ho, Smart’s top gun Gary Dujali, beauty queen mJ Lastimosa, miss International 2013 Bea Rose Santiago, volleyball superstar michele Gumabao and balladeer michael Pangilinan invading Davao City and Pampanga, respectively

about them and one in particular --Clara, a happy-go-lucky young woman, who al-ways looks on the positive side of things, and whose cheery attitude to life makes Cesar’ skin crawl. In Clara he has found the perfect target, and he will go to extreme lengths to make her life miserable. An ar-tistic and commercial success, Mientras duermes enjoyed quite a success in film festivals worldwide, receiving more than 30 awards and nominations.

All films will be shown in original ver-sion in Spanish with English subtitles. The screenings will take place at the Cinema-theque of FDCP, at 855 T. M. Kalaw Street, Ermita, Manila. Starting at 4 p.m. and ad-mission is free on a first-come, first-served basis.

For further information please log on to Instituto Cervantes’ website www.manila.cervantes.es or www.facebook.com/Insti-tutoCervantesManila, or call 526-1482.

“No habrá paz para los malvados” is a 2011 multi-awarded Spanish thriller

“tesis” is a Spanish thriller film that features debut of director Alejandro Amenábar

“mientras duermes” is a Spanish horror thriller film directed by Jaume Balagueró and stars marta Etura

C6 ISAH V. REDE D I T O R



SHOWBITZ

ACROSS1 Bud holder5 Goalie’s feat9 Minty quaff

14 Commodious ships15 Noted groundhog16 All kidding —17 One pursued by a

rake (2 wds.)19 Raise reason20 This — — stickup!

21 It may be raw 22 Officer wannabe 23 Flooded 25 Left the plane 26 Enlightened

Chinese dynasty 27 Coffee additive 30 Chain mail 33 Brahma, Vishnu

and — 34 Belly dance

instrument 36 Wordy Webster 37 Open-eyed 38 Friendly 39 “Car Talk” network 40 Bete — 41 Unwieldy 42 Quote 44 Director’s shout 45 Troubadour prop 46 Yuletide quaff 50 Persona non — 52 Sash filler 53 Merkel of “Destry

Rides Again” 54 Romance in France 55 One lion to another

(3 wds.) 57 Zesty dip 58 He played Obi-Wan 59 Tarzan, really 60 Pay homage 61 Job benefit 62 Whodunit terrierDOWN 1 Logically sound 2 Popped up 3 Cheers! 4 Hairpin curve 5 Internal organ 6 Winning 7 Mini-bottle 8 Brownie 9 Reggae’s island 10 Did, once

(2 wds.) 11 Milan money, once 12 Proofread 13 Favorite 18 Psychic — Cayce 22 Cussler of

“Sahara” 24 Oops! (hyph.) 25 Take — —! 27 Horoscope 28 Make cloudy 29 Ick! 30 Abby’s sister 31 Snare a steer 32 Harpo or Chico 33 Lift, slangily 35 “L.A. Law” star 37 Main artery 38 Sundae topping 40 Idling gear 41 Urban transport 43 Will provision 44 Vancouver

puckster 46 Ice, actually 47 Mystiques 48 Sluggish 49 Clapton tune 50 FBI agent (hyph.) 51 Audition hope 52 Soccer star 54 Get nosy 55 Lick 56 Edible seed

answer PreVIOUs PUZZLe

cROsswORD puzzlE TUESDAY,MAY 31, 2016

When Ryan Yllana finally ap-peared at the Parañaque City Hall (which is later than his usual ar-rival in the office) with his brother District 1 Councilor Jomari Ylla-na, the people seemed surprised to see two celebrity brothers to-gether. They couldn’t avoid star-ing at them.

Inside Ryan’s yellow-and-green-painted-office were a couple of people, presumably assisting him. And since waiting for him took me almost five hours - well, two at SM Sucat and three inside his of-fice, I was able to observe the kind of councilor that the residents of Parañaque re-elected.

Ryan seemed to be as cheerful in the office as he is in showbiz. “His presence stirs up a comic at-mosphere inside this office,” one employee said. However, the time Ryan spends in his office some-times gives way to his work as a celebrity. He said that he still ac-cept offers from GMA although refuses to work in soap operas.

In 2005, Ryan became active in the entertainment industry. Aside from doing hosting, he also starred in movies under GMA films. But during the 2010 elec-tions, Ryan surprised the public when he announced that he’s run-ning for councilor in Parañaque’s 2nd District.

“It was like a call to public ser-vice. And since this is something shared among the family, I de-cided to run as politician as well,” shared Ryan in an interview with The Standard.

Despite the more operational and complex challenges now ac-counted to him, the La Salle alum-nus decided not to leave showbiz industry. In fact, he was able to make movies with GMA during his first two terms as councilor.

“I don’t see any outright con-flict of interest in being a celeb-rity politician”, Ryan said. “It comes with proper setting of priorities. I’m not that active in my career as celebrity since I en-

gaged in politics because public service is still at the top of my priorities,” he explained.

The actor admits that he can-not quit showbiz permanently since the industry is his first love. Furthermore, he asserted that it wouldn’t undermine his political career as long as he gets his pri-orities straight.

Ryan, as far as his office is con-cerned, is very open to people who seek financial assistance. As a matter of fact, there was a woman who came to his office asking for P20 because she had no money left to go back to her family. And there also came an-other who asked if Ryan could actually sponsor her for her out-ing with friends.

While a councilor giving finan-cial support may not sound new to us, it must be clear that their job is beyond those entertaining and accommodating people. The seats they have are dedicated to a higher level of service.

Politicians may be known as bearers of bad tidings. So, for an-other celebrity to engage in poli-tics, we may argue that reputation matters, but not so much as when translated into action. Perhaps it’s not only prestige but unblemished record that helped Ryan secured a second term. And if he plays his cards right, and not get marred by any controversy, he might as well find his place running for a higher post in the next elections to come.

Being a public figure takes an extraordinary display of prow-ess and appealing character. And in order to secure this kind of superiority or elite status, one must afford to give satisfaction to the general public. For an actor-turned-politician like re-elected Councilor Ryan Yllana, this is something readily taken advantage of.

(Angelica Cruz is an incoming senior at Colegio de San Juan de Letran majoring in communica-tion arts.)

HAS RyAn yllAnA founD HIS tRuE cAllIng?By AngElIcA cRuz

Whether you are a dog lover or a certified cat person, there is one thing all pet owners can agree on: pets are part of the family, and we will do every-thing to love and care for them. This June, celebrate the univer-sal love we have for the furriest members of our household with Pet Week, which airs from June 6 to 10 on Animal Planet.

We consider these furry com-panions part of our families, our best friends and confidants, but how much do we really know about the secret lives they lead? In The Secret of Life of Pets, find out that while we think we may know the meaning of each sul-try purr or excitable slobber, the reality is that we actually under-stand very little. Our pets are animals with their own agendas. Once we leave the house, close the cage or turn the lights off and

go to bed, our pets continue their remarkable stories away from prying human eyes. This Pet Week special brings you a collec-tion of heart-warming, informa-tive and often hilarious tales that reveal not only the astonishing truth about our pets’ behaviour, but also shed a light on what that behaviour really means. The Se-cret Life of Pets airs 8 p.m. from June 6 to 9, Monday to Thursday.

Pet Week is not complete with-out a celebration of man’s best friend. Which breed was JFK Ju-nior’s best friend? Which spaniel is known for clearing counters? Which herding dog climbs on the backs of sheep? Which is the only breed native to Argentina? Find out the answers on this epi-sode of Dogs 101. We’ll meet the Briard, the Canaan dog, the Dogo Argentino, the Japanese Chin, the Clumber Spaniel, and the Austra-

lian Kelpie. This special episode of Dogs 101 airs 9 p.m. June 6.

Besides being the furriest, with-out a doubt, pets are also the cut-est members of the family. See all these adorable creatures in Amer-ica’s Cutest. From talking kitties and slumbering cats to danc-ing dogs and dogs that doze, we count down the cutest clips in the web-o-sphere to crown America’s Cutest Cat and America’s Cutest Dog. This special presentation of America’s Cutest airs 9 p.m. June 7 and 8.

And to culminate Pet Week, the cuteness competition contin-ues as Animal Planet’s GEICO Stadium hosts the 12th annual championship battle for cuteness – Puppy Bowl XII. Tune in as for the second straight year, Team Ruff meets Team Fluff for brag-ging rights. Puppy Bowl XII airs 8 p.m. June 10.

All about pets on Animal Planet

comedian Ryan yllana wins a re-election as councilor in Parañaque

It’s “Pet Week” on Animal channel featuring shows like “the Secret life of Pets,” “America’s cutest,” and “Dogs 101”

C7ISAH V. REDE D I T O R



SHOWBITZ

Followers of the new soap on GMA 7 are happy that its lead stars Dennis Trillo and Heart Evangelista have an indubi-

table chemistry.The rom-com Juan Happy Love

Story is emerging to be the top choice of prime time viewers as they say it leaves them with a happy heart be-fore finally going to bed.

The show’s funny dialog makes it the perfect late night show for those who have gotten tired of crying with the characters.

Heart says she is very happy that the audience is enjoying her new show. Dennis, meanwhile, is grateful to everyone who stays up later than usual to watch him and Heart in this romantic comedy,

The actor says, “Masaya ako dahil iba’t iba yung proyektong binibigay sa amin ng GMA lalo na ngayon, may time kami para mag-experiment. Kaya lahat kami masaya dahil na-kakagawa kami ng bago and may mapapakita kaming kakaiba sa pro-gramang ito.”

Juan Happy Love Story airs week-nights after Once Again on the Ka-puso network.

GMA News TV’s documen-tary program Reel Time was recognized as Best Program in “Promoting Children’s Rights” under the Humanity category at this year’s Asia-Pacific Insti-tute for Broadcasting Develop-ment (AIBD)’s World Television Awards, besting entries sent by producers from all over the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Africa, and North and South America.

The awarding ceremony was held on May 25 in Incheon, South Korea.

Reel Time’s winning epi-sode, “Isang Paa sa Hukay (The Price of Gold),” tells the story of small-scale mining in Cama-rines Norte, where children risk their lives diving down narrow shafts with only an air compres-sor to support their breathing, in search of very little pieces of gold. It was written and directed by the show’s executive produc-er, Jayson Bernard Santos.

Earlier this year, the same episode earned the bronze award in the Human Concerns category at the prestigious New York Festivals.

“Reel Time, being one of the

youngest documentary programs on Philippine television today, is grateful for the numerous inter-national and local recognitions it has received, so far. May our documentaries serve not only as eye-openers but also as vehicles for experimental solutions to be determined to address the ills of our society,” Santos said.

This is the second time that GMA brought home an award from AIBD. Last year, the Net-work won the Best Documen-tary citation under the “Hu-manity Category Dealing with Natural Disaster” for its “Pag-bangon” documentary about the recovery and rehabilitation efforts for the survivors of su-per typhoon Yolanda.

The World TV Awards was initiated by AIBD in 2004 with the objective of recognizing the critical role played by media in promoting the awareness of the audience on major issues such as cultural diversity, religious un-derstanding, tolerance, natural disasters, and children’s rights. The award is open to broadcasters worldwide from public, private sector and freelance producers.

Investment banker Jojo Dispo doesn’t consider his initial foray into scripting and producing a movie a gamble. Magtanggol, the first offering of Felix and Bert Film Produc-tions, is an undertaking fueled by passion and compassion.

Directed by Sigfreid Barros Sanchez and conceptualized by Jojo Dispo, it tackles the issue of abuses committed against Over-seas Filipino Workers (OFWs) by their employers. “I’ve traveled to a lot of places with high concentra-tion of OFWs,” Dispo discloses. “I’ve talked to many ambassadors around the world about them, have had first hand exposure with many OFWs. I’ve heard their sto-ries. I want to help.”

Magtanggol dares to ask the question “Sino ang bayani ng mga bagong bayani?” It zeroes in on Senator Juan Magtanggol, a mem-ber of the powerful Magtang-gol political clan, who is one day thrust into the limelight for being a suspect for the spate of killings of international employers of Fili-pino OFWs victimized by abuse.

Tom Rodriguez, who plays Senator Juan Magtanggol, consid-ers Magtanggol his first venture in the political thriller genre, an eye-opener. “I didn’t realize the grav-ity of violence committed against our kababayans who only want to improve the plight of their re-spective families. Leaving your family behind to work overseas is already painful.”

Tom relishes working on this indie project. “Ibinalot ‘yung peli-kula sa isang masayang panoorin na kuwento pero nakatago rin doon ‘yung larawan ng totoong sinasapit minsan ng mga kapatid nating OFWs,” shares the Kapuso leading man. “The production people and the director, grabe! Pinag-iisipan nila lahat ng shots. I’ve learned so much from all the

GmA News tV’s “Reel time” bested entries sent by producers from all over the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Africa, and North and South America

‘magtanggol’ champions OFWs

GmA News tV’s ‘Reel time’ wins Best Program in

World tV Awards

DENNIS AND HEARt DISPlAy GOOD cHEmIStRy

Skyjet Airlines, manila’s boutique airline, introduced recently its brand ambassadors. they are troy montero, Aubrey miles and Phoemela Baranda.

Skyjet gave each a plaque of appreciation. Skyjet Airline President Dino Reyes chua and Joaquin Po, chief operating officer, awarded the plaque during the first appreciation night held on may 26 at Bar 360 at Resorts World Hotel, Pasay city. With them is. mia mancio, marketing manager, Skyjet Airline.

Skyjet Airlines’ brand envoys

i p h O T O

Reel time Executive Producer Jayson Bernard Santos (3rd from left) receiving the award during the Asia media Summit 2016 in Incheon, South Korea.

other projects I’ve done in the past. I’m learning so much more just being here. How they com-pose the shots. How they color and light the scenes. There is a reason behind everything.”

Seasoned actress Dina Bonn-evie who plays the second wife of the Magtanggol patriarch (played by Joonee Gamboa) says that the movie is call to action. “It is very timely in light of the upcoming elections. If you have discontent over the way the government is running the country, then you have to speak up.”

Playing a very challenging role

is emerging young actor Ejay Falcon. “It is an honor for me na makasama sa project na ito.”

Magtanggol also stars Yam Concepcion, Kim Domingo, Al-bie Casino, and Denise Laurel.

Like everyone who experiences hardships, OFWs need all the help and assistance they can get. One way of doing that is by watching “Magtanggol” when it opens on June 8 in theaters nationwide be-cause whatever the movie earns sue will be used to fund projects to promote the welfare of OFWs.

In our own little way, we too can become heroes.

Dennis trillo and Heart

Evangelista reunite in

“Juan “Happy love Story

“magtanggol” is a film that centers on the life of OFWs

A scene from “magtanggol” featuring tom Rodriguez, EJ Falcon and Albie casino

C8ISAH V. RED

E D I T O RNICKIE WANG

W R I T E R



SHOWBITZ

On its seventh year, Star Magic artists and person-nel have once again de-voted a day in their busy

schedules to get on the courts and don their sports hats.

For the second year in a row, the Star Magic Games carried the title Sun vs. Stars title in lieu of its retained partnership with Sun Life Financial Financial.

The friendly star-studded sporting event held at the Celeb-rity Sports Plaza on May 22 once again paved the way for the stars to showcase their sporty sides.

Love teams were also seen at the venue like Kathryn Ber-nardo and Daniel Padilla, Erich Gonzales and Daniel Matsu-naga, Ylona Garcia and Bailey May, Loisa Andalio and Joshua Garcia, Alexa Ilacad and Nash Aguas, Janella Salvador and Elmo Magalona, among others.

Teen stars Jane Oineza, So-fia Andres, Marco Gumabao, Maris Racal, Marlo Mortel, Inigo Pascual, Julia Barreto, Andrea Brillantes, Darren Es-panto, Xyriel Manabat and Zaijian Jaranilla were also in attendance, as well as members of Gimme 5 and It’s Showtime’s Hashtags and GirlTrends.

This year the four teams were named after superheroes. There was the Black Widow team led by Daniel, Blue Captain America team led by Hashtags member Ronnie Alonte, Yellow Wolver-ine team led by comedian Eric Nicolas, Green Hulk team led by Jairus Aquino and Star Magic’s Red Iron Man Dream Team led by Xian Lim.

The day started with the parade of the participating teams with their respective muses. Black Wid-ow team had rising stars Heaven Peralejo and Ysabel Ortega while the Blue Captain America team had Chienna Filomeno and Alexa Ilacad. Meanwhile, the Green Hulk team had Andrea Brillantes and Loisa Andalio. While the Yellow Wolverine team had GirlTrends member Kelley Day, Red Iron Man Team had GirlTrends member Mica Rivera. The Sun Life Finan-cial team, meanwhile, was led by Maja Salvador.

BIg STaRS In 7Th STaR MagIc gaMES

The program began with Ange-line Quinto leading the singing of the national anthem, which was immediately followed by Xian’s opening prayer. Sun Life Financial ambassador Piolo Pascual gave the opening remarks after which Ger-ald Anderson initiated the Oath of Sportsmanship. The actual event began after the Teen King Dan-iel Padilla lighted the torch. Robi Domingo, Erika Abello and Eric Nicolas hosted this year’s sports event. Kitkat ,Tippy Dos Santos and Drei Felix also served as side hosts that day.

Sun Life Financial participants dominated the swimming relay but Zonia Mejia and Erika Abello placed second while newbie Kira Balinger and Enchong Dee were among the runners up.

Under the volleyball category, the Yellow Wolverine team won against the Black Widow team. While the Blue Captain America team beat

the Green Hulk team. Budding star Ashley Colet bagged volleyball’s Most Valuable Player and Mythi-cal six award, while Gretchen Ho, Marco Gumabao, Joseph Marco, Jed Montero and Julia Barretto are the Mythical six awardees.

Star Magic kids and teens par-ticipated in the fun games which also revolved around the superhero concept. Among them were Boost Your Boosts, Shield of Justice, Sav-ing Earth, and Slam N’ Jam.

Under the badminton sport, Green Hulk’s Heaven Peralejo and Hatima Bien won in the women’s category while Black Widow’s Neil Coleta and Inigo Pascual won in the men’s category. Neil Coleta took home the Best Male Player award. Piolo was eventu-ally declared as the Overall Most Valuable Player in the badminton category. OPM Sweetheart Janella Salvador and Teen Queen Kath-ryn Bernardo played for the first

time in women’s badminton. In the teen’s basketball division,

the Green Hulk team of Jairus Aquino, Bugoy Carino, and Zai-jian Jaranilla beat the Blue Cap-tain America team of Nash Aguas with the score of 36-27. The Green Hulk team of Robi Domingo and Jerome Ponce, meanwhile, con-tinued their winning streak in the mixed adults division.

Eventually Jairus Aquino was named teen division’s Most Valuable Player while Bugoy Cariño took home the Rookie of the Year award.

The much-awaited adult bas-ketball division game of the annu-al Star Magic Games saw the face off between Daniel Padilla’s Black Widow team and Hashtag Ronnie Alonte’s Blue Captain America team for the first time. Touted as the Royalty Teams, the intense game ended with the score of 70-69 in favor of Black Widow team.

Teen King Daniel eventually bagged the Most Valuable Player award for the third time. His first two MVP awards were for the ju-nior division in 2015 and 2013, respectively.

Ronnie, who was a first-timer at the Star Magic Games, took home the Rookie of the Year Award un-der the exhibition game division where he also participated in. The adult division’s Rookie of the Year award, meanwhile, was bagged by Doble Kara star Anjo Damiles.

Star Magic’s Red Iron Man Dream Team lead by Xian Lim, JC De Vera, Rayver Cruz and Gerald Anderson competed with Sun Life Financial Team in the basketball exhibition game. Six points win in favor of Sun Life Financial.

The day ended with a smile as all, especially Star Magic celeb-rities, were able to meet old and make new friends in the annual Star Magic Games.

competitive. (from left) Kapamilya celebrities Gretchen Ho, Piolo Pascual, Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla, and Daniel matsunaga and Erich Gonzales

#SunVsStar. Daniel Padilla (third from left) flanked by Hashtags members Elmo magalona (rightmost) Cagers for a day: (From left) Aaron Villaflor, Gerald Anderson, young JV, Xian Lim, JC de Vera and a Gerald Acao

Kapamilya darling Julia Barretto (center) with an official from one of the event sponsorsComedienne Kitkat with kid participants

The Standard - 2016 May 31 - Tuesday

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