03 MARCH 2019
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PERFECTION<br />
SUNDAY<br />
ENDING I.S.<br />
WORK AND PLAY<br />
PAGE 14<br />
LIVING SPACES<br />
ECONOMY<br />
SAILS<br />
NORTH<br />
THAT MEDDLING<br />
AUSTRALIAN<br />
PARLIAMENT<br />
PAGE 17 SPORTS<br />
PAGE 9 BUSINESS PAGE 5 COMMENTARY<br />
PAGE 20<br />
Goal is lives<br />
made easier<br />
By Kristina Maralit<br />
WORLD<br />
The flurry of laws President Rodrigo<br />
Duterte has signed was all directed towards<br />
uplifting the conditions of Filipinos who have<br />
less in life, Presidential Communications<br />
Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar<br />
said yesterday.<br />
Turn to page 6<br />
MANILA, PHILIPPINES SUNDAY, 3 <strong>MARCH</strong> <strong>2019</strong><br />
Why skip Noynoy?<br />
So what transpired was<br />
that they purchased<br />
a medicine that was<br />
not needed and is<br />
now banned by the<br />
Department of Health<br />
By Kristina Maralit<br />
and Elmer N. Manuel<br />
What to look for Street dance is the anticipated feature<br />
of the 24th Baguio Flower Festival or “Panagbenga,” the same<br />
way that cold justice should be expected in making public<br />
officials accountable.<br />
ALDWIN QUITASOL<br />
Where is President Benigno<br />
Aquino and former Budget<br />
Secretary Florencio “Butch”<br />
Abad in the criminal complaint<br />
related to the Dengvaxia scandal,<br />
a senator asked the Department<br />
of Justice (DoJ) yesterday.<br />
Gordon, who has been<br />
overseeing the probe on the P3.5<br />
billion purchases of anti-dengue<br />
vaccines, said he was “a bit<br />
disappointed” with the DoJ<br />
complaint.<br />
“The DoJ did not delve into<br />
the aspect of procurement and<br />
the reckless deed there was<br />
that they purchased medicines<br />
that they are not sure of,” the<br />
senator added.<br />
The DoJ resolution<br />
made public Friday<br />
found probable<br />
cause to indict<br />
former health secretary Janette<br />
Garin and several others for<br />
reckless imprudence resulting in<br />
homicide in connection with the<br />
deaths of eight children allegedly<br />
due to the controversial dengue<br />
vaccine.<br />
Gordon, chairman of the<br />
Senate Blue Ribbon Committee,<br />
said the DoJ should have looked<br />
into the “involvement of<br />
(former)<br />
President<br />
Aquino, Abad<br />
and company.”<br />
“If you will<br />
examine that investigation, you’ll<br />
notice that the transaction for<br />
the purchases of Dengvaxia<br />
speeds up whenever Aquino is<br />
present,” he said on radio.<br />
Among the instances Gordon<br />
cited was Aquino’s trip to Paris<br />
to meet with officials from Sanofi<br />
Pasteur, which manufactured<br />
and distributed the vaccine,<br />
just months before the May 2016<br />
presidential elections.<br />
SARO came fast<br />
Gordon noted a Special<br />
Allotment Release Order for the<br />
Turn to page 2<br />
Free zone for stumpers<br />
By Maya M. Padillo<br />
Davao is an open city as far<br />
as candidates for the midterm<br />
elections are concerned, Mayor<br />
Sara Duterte-Carpio said as she<br />
officially opened the 82nd Araw<br />
ng Davao last 1 March.<br />
She added President Rodrigo<br />
Duterte’s hometown is open to<br />
everyone, including candidates<br />
of the opposition Otso Diretso.<br />
Duterte-Carpio, however, took<br />
a break from the Hugpong ng<br />
Pagbabago (HnP) barnstorming<br />
for administration candidates to<br />
celebrate the birthday of her son<br />
Stonefish.<br />
On social media Duterte-Carpio<br />
wrote a message “If our senators<br />
are the sun and HnP is the<br />
moon, you are my brightest star<br />
(Swordfish). I will always be the<br />
cheerleader behind you. I know<br />
your twins Swordfish and Sailfish<br />
Turn to page 2<br />
Humdrum out It used to be patched-up black rubber interior of jeepney tires<br />
but floats now add color to summer fun.<br />
BOB DUNGO JR.<br />
Justice via full effort<br />
By Elmer N. Manuel<br />
and Kristina Maralit<br />
While the Philippines<br />
has improved in its ranking<br />
in a global review called<br />
the <strong>2019</strong> Rule of Law Index,<br />
Malacañang on Saturday<br />
vowed to continue its efforts<br />
to strive for an improved<br />
ranking.<br />
In a statement, Palace<br />
spokesman Salvador Panelo<br />
said Malacañang is elated<br />
with the improvement, from<br />
88 out of 113 countries in<br />
Green grass of throne<br />
Two Filipinos have upstaged the late Emma Bombeck, an<br />
American prolific writer and humorist who achieved great<br />
popularity for her newspaper column that described suburban<br />
home life.<br />
She is also the author of several best seller books, including<br />
2017-2018 to 90 out of 126 in the<br />
2018-<strong>2019</strong> period, but stressed<br />
that there is still more work<br />
to be done.<br />
While the list released<br />
by the World Justice Project<br />
(WJP) last Thursday showed<br />
the Philippines had slipped two<br />
notches, the countries ranked<br />
grew by 13, thus indicating an<br />
actual improvement.<br />
Panelo enjoins every<br />
Filipino, particularly political<br />
and judicial leaders, to step<br />
up efforts in improving the<br />
Turn to page 6<br />
Turn to page 6<br />
ITALIAN Ambassador Giorgio Guglielmino got<br />
hooked on Filipino masterpieces.<br />
Italian<br />
envoy:<br />
Phl art fan<br />
By Jojo G. Silvestre<br />
It has only been a year and<br />
a half since His Excellency,<br />
the Italian Ambassador to the<br />
Philippines, Giorgio Guglielmino,<br />
has been posted to Manila but<br />
already he has made a big dent<br />
in the Philippine art scene.<br />
Just recently, Ambassador<br />
Guglielmino hosted two separate<br />
talks, the first one at the Manila<br />
House where he spoke about “how<br />
one can appreciate and enjoy<br />
contemporary art,” he told the<br />
Daily Tribune in an interview<br />
held at the Italian Embassy in<br />
Legaspi Village, Makati.<br />
“I am deeply convinced that<br />
contemporary art is not as<br />
Turn to page 23<br />
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NEWS<br />
2<br />
Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
Why skip Noynoy?<br />
The DoJ did not delve into the aspect of procurement and the reckless deed there was that they<br />
purchased medicines that they are not sure of<br />
Figure it out Sen. Richard Gordon ponders on reasons for the Department<br />
of Justice to dodge powerful officials and settle for minnows in the Dengvaxia<br />
charges.<br />
From page 1<br />
Dengvaxia purchases was<br />
immediately released<br />
following the Paris<br />
meetings.<br />
“How do you<br />
explain the fact that<br />
the President met with<br />
Sanofi (officials) three<br />
times and if there is a<br />
measure on the speed<br />
of the negotiations, it<br />
always speeds up after<br />
the President’s meeting,”<br />
he said.<br />
“So what transpired was<br />
that they purchased a medicine<br />
that was not needed and is now<br />
banned by the Department of<br />
Health (DoH). Dengvaxia was<br />
not used and furious debates<br />
ensued,” Gordon added.<br />
The senator, however,<br />
admitted there is still no<br />
conclusive scientific evidence<br />
to prove that Dengvaxia was<br />
to blame for the deaths of<br />
those inoculated.<br />
“But, definitely, the<br />
procurement was wrong<br />
and the circumstances<br />
behind it created a<br />
hysteria which was<br />
entirely lamentable,”<br />
he said.<br />
“Spent was P3.5 billion. It<br />
seems that they merely looked<br />
for an excuse to use the money<br />
which resulted in the illegal<br />
procurement,” Gordon added.<br />
If convicted, Garin and her coaccused<br />
could face a penalty of<br />
up to six years of imprisonment.<br />
You’ll notice that the<br />
transaction for the<br />
purchases of Dengvaxia<br />
speeds up whenever Aquino<br />
is present.<br />
Retribution time<br />
In its resolution, the DoJ<br />
said state prosecutors found<br />
Garin and the other respondents<br />
“exhibited ‘inexcusable lack of<br />
precaution and foresight’ when<br />
they facilitated, with undue<br />
haste, ‘the registration and<br />
purchase of Dengvaxia’ and<br />
used the vaccine in implementing<br />
a school-based dengue mass<br />
immunization program.”<br />
“The panel found sufficient<br />
evidence that Garin and the<br />
other respondents circumvented<br />
various regulations in the<br />
purchase of P3.5 billion worth<br />
of Dengvaxia vaccine which<br />
constituted proof of their reckless<br />
imprudence,” the statement said.<br />
The prosecutors also found<br />
cause to charge nine other<br />
officials from the DoH, two<br />
from the Food and Drug<br />
Administration, two from the<br />
Research Institute for Tropical<br />
Medicine and six from vaccine<br />
maker Sanofi Pasteur for the<br />
same offense.<br />
Stop politicization<br />
Following the DoJ complaint,<br />
Malacañang appealed to<br />
involved parties to refrain from<br />
discussing the issue publicly<br />
and just let the legal process<br />
take its course.<br />
“The wheels of justice<br />
have begun to grind for<br />
the victims and families of<br />
children who died allegedly<br />
because of the Dengvaxia<br />
vaccine with the DoJ finding<br />
probable cause to charge<br />
former officials responsible<br />
for the failed immunization<br />
program initiated during<br />
their time,” presidential<br />
spokesman Salvador Panelo<br />
said.<br />
“Now that the legal process<br />
has taken its course, we wish<br />
everyone would finally stop<br />
politicizing the issue in the<br />
court of public opinion, noting<br />
that such exercise has only<br />
caused an unnecessary fear<br />
on the part of parents for<br />
good and creditworthy health<br />
programs of the government<br />
to the detriment of innocent<br />
children,” he added.<br />
“As for the defendants, they<br />
should welcome this latest<br />
development as an opportunity<br />
to clear their names and raise<br />
whatever defense they have in<br />
relation to the matter before a<br />
court of law,” the spokesman<br />
said.<br />
But definitely, the<br />
procurement was wrong<br />
and the circumstances<br />
behind it created a<br />
hysteria which was entirely<br />
lamentable.<br />
“We will not interfere in the<br />
proceedings save for the DoJ<br />
which is mandated by law to<br />
prosecute accused felons,” he<br />
added.<br />
Panelo also called on the<br />
public to stop seeing political<br />
color in the case.<br />
“Now that the legal process has<br />
taken its course, we wish everyone<br />
would finally stop politicizing the<br />
issue in the court of public opinion,<br />
noting that such exercise has only<br />
caused an unnecessary fear on<br />
the part of parents for good and<br />
creditworthy health programs of<br />
the government to the detriment of<br />
innocent children,” Panelo said.<br />
Free zone for stumpers<br />
She said President<br />
Rodrigo Duterte’s<br />
hometown is open to<br />
everyone, including<br />
candidates of the<br />
opposition Otso Diretso<br />
From page 1<br />
are happy for you.<br />
The mayor said since the<br />
opposition slate extended an<br />
invitation to the senatorial bets<br />
of HnP, referring to the debate<br />
challenge, “therefore I am<br />
forced to invite members of Otso<br />
Diretso,” she said in an interview.<br />
If our senators are the<br />
sun and HnP is the moon,<br />
you are my brightest star<br />
(Swordfish).<br />
In her speech she urged<br />
Davaoeños to go out and be<br />
part of the various activities,<br />
particularly to the new events<br />
added for this year.<br />
Hard work feted<br />
“Why celebrate Araw ng Davao<br />
every year? Simple. We need to<br />
celebrate as this is for Davaoeños<br />
in recognition of their hard work,<br />
sacrifices and successes,” she<br />
said.<br />
She added the<br />
celebration also aims<br />
to recognize also the<br />
ordinary city residents<br />
who work hard everyday.<br />
Duterte-Carpio also<br />
emphasized the celebration<br />
is a way to salute traffic<br />
enforcers, garbage collectors,<br />
streetsweepers, teachers, police,<br />
firefighters and military who<br />
keep the city in order.<br />
Celebration is for<br />
Davaoeños in recognition<br />
of their hard work,<br />
sacrifices and successes.<br />
“For every household that<br />
segregates and throws its waste<br />
on time, to the honest taxi<br />
drivers who returned things left<br />
by passengers in their taxis, to<br />
the responsible establishment<br />
owners, to the law abiding and<br />
disciplined Davaoeños who<br />
cross in the pedestrian lanes<br />
and follow the speed limit, no<br />
drunk driving policy — this<br />
Araw ng Davao is for every<br />
Davaoeño, man, woman and<br />
child regardless of cultural<br />
background, religious<br />
belief or gender<br />
identity,” she said.<br />
Best soon to come<br />
She added the best is yet to<br />
come for Davao City. She said if<br />
Davaoeños all work hard enough<br />
and double their efforts, “we<br />
might attain the best during<br />
our lifetime like the eagle flying<br />
towards the sun.”<br />
“Let the celebration all be a way<br />
to learn and honor the past and be<br />
hopeful for the future while always<br />
remaining vigilant,” she said.<br />
We might attain the best<br />
during our lifetime like the<br />
eagle flying towards the<br />
sun.<br />
Apart from the presentation<br />
of the finalists in the annual<br />
beauty search Mutya ng Davao, the<br />
opening was also highlighted with<br />
the presentation of the candidates<br />
of the first ever gay pageant Reyna<br />
Davaoeña <strong>2019</strong> and candidates of<br />
Ginoong Davao.<br />
Rehab no joke Manila Bay clean up goes full-steam as even benches are not spared to rid the area of obstructions<br />
to the path towards the beach.<br />
BOB DUNGO JR.<br />
Water needs saving Lack of rain due to the onset of an El Niño weather episode resulted in La Mesa Dam’s water level to reach a critical point.<br />
ANALY LABOR
Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
PAGE THREE<br />
Media stunt<br />
by Colmenares,<br />
says Palace<br />
By Elmer N. Manuel and Kristina Maralit<br />
Malacañang on Saturday dismissed<br />
the allegations of former Bayan Muna<br />
representative and senatorial aspirant<br />
Neri Colmenares on the Philippines’ loan<br />
agreements with China, as nothing more<br />
than for media mileage.<br />
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo<br />
said Colmenares is merely politicizing<br />
the country’s loan agreement with China<br />
particularly the one intended for irrigation<br />
project in the Cordillera region.<br />
“It is clear that the matter has been<br />
studied at length by our economic managers,<br />
particularly the Department of Finance,<br />
unlike Mr. Colmenares who has only shown<br />
himself to be ignorant of the intricacies<br />
of finance and immature with political<br />
pettiness,” Panelo said.<br />
The project was approved and<br />
reviewed by government agencies.<br />
“Mr. Colmenares is just desperately<br />
seeking media mileage by unduly<br />
compartmentalizing the loan agreements<br />
of the country without the benefit of context<br />
and by maliciously labeling it as a China<br />
issue,” he added.<br />
Colmenares has claimed the Philippines<br />
has entered into an alleged disadvantageous<br />
loan agreement with China for the irrigation<br />
project, saying the “loan agreement for<br />
the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project is<br />
onerous and highly favors China.”<br />
“It is a disaster for the Philippines,” said<br />
Colmenares, who obtained a copy of the document<br />
from a non-government organization.<br />
According to Panelo, the project was<br />
approved and reviewed by government<br />
agencies.<br />
“For the information of Mr. Colmenares,<br />
the Philippines and China signed a $62.09<br />
million agreement last year to help fund<br />
the construction of the Chico River Pump<br />
Irrigation Project, which will provide a stable<br />
supply of water to around 8,700 hectares<br />
of agricultural land, benefit 4,350 farmers<br />
and their families and serve 21 barangays<br />
in the provinces of Kalinga and Cagayan in<br />
Northern Luzon once completed,” Panelo<br />
said.<br />
A suspected communist guerilla<br />
was killed during a clash between<br />
New People’s Army insurgents and<br />
joint police and military elements<br />
in Oriental Mindoro early Saturday<br />
morning.<br />
The firefight erupted at<br />
about 4:45 a.m. in Barangay<br />
Waygan in Mansalay town.<br />
According to initial reports, the<br />
firefight erupted at about 4:45 a.m. in<br />
Barangay Waygan in Mansalay town.<br />
Police officials confirmed the death<br />
By Vernadeth de los Santos<br />
Police reported on Saturday that<br />
six people were killed while nine<br />
others were injured after a V-hire<br />
van collided with a cargo truck in<br />
Barangay Mayabon, Zamboanguita<br />
town in Negros Oriental on Friday<br />
morning.<br />
The casualties — mostly students<br />
from Basay National High School in<br />
“The aforesaid project<br />
has gone through<br />
an Investment<br />
Coordinating<br />
Committee approval<br />
and the loan agreement was<br />
reviewed, negotiated and approved<br />
by the Interagency Committee composed of<br />
the Department of Justice, the Department<br />
of Finance (DoF) and the Bangko Sentral ng<br />
Pilipinas (BSP),” he added.<br />
The Presidential spokesman added<br />
that based on the report of the DoF, China<br />
provided a list of three contractors of good<br />
standing and the implementing agency was<br />
given the opportunity to vet and request for<br />
a replacement, if needed.<br />
He also stressed that the Monetary<br />
Board approved the terms under the loan<br />
agreement for the Chico River Project before<br />
and after signing the agreement.<br />
“On the concessional interest rate,<br />
according to the DoF, if we account for all<br />
salient factors and not just the nominal rate<br />
(e.g., project cost, denomination of loan and<br />
foreign exchange depreciation risk), the<br />
effective interest rates between the recently<br />
signed Japanese and Chinese loan agreements<br />
are actually quite close to each other. With<br />
regard to the interest rate, on the other hand,<br />
our Chinese loans are fixed and not subject<br />
to change over time,” Panelo said.<br />
“For each loan agreement, the DoF<br />
mentions that an arbitration clause is<br />
negotiated. We negotiate to make sure that<br />
the arbitration mechanism protects our<br />
interests. Contrary to what others believe,<br />
project debt to China is but a fraction of our<br />
project debt to Japan. By 2022, project debt<br />
to China is estimated to be at around 4.5<br />
percent of the total debt, while that of Japan<br />
will be at around 9.5 percent,” he added.<br />
With this, Panelo hopes that the “left-leaning<br />
opposition” would perform staff work as the loan<br />
agreement underwent study and review by the DoF.<br />
“We hope the political and left-leaning<br />
opposition would exercise completed staff<br />
work before issuing statements,” Panelo said.<br />
“We find it pitiful that candidate Neri<br />
Colmenares is politicizing our bilateral relations<br />
with China in aid of his senatorial bid by uttering<br />
financial nonsense at the altar of politics,” he<br />
added.<br />
of the NPA cadre, when soldiers and<br />
police in the Mimaropa region began<br />
conducting clearing operations right<br />
after the clash.<br />
Meanwhile, about 20 Communist<br />
Party of the Philippines-New People’s<br />
Army (CPP-NPA) gunmen set fire to<br />
heavy equipment being used in the<br />
construction of a concrete road and<br />
bridge in Barangay Agani, Alcala,<br />
Cagayan.<br />
In a report by the Philippine<br />
Army, the gunmen, who belonged<br />
to the CPP-NPA’s Northern Front,<br />
set fire to three cement mixers,<br />
southern Negros Oriental — were on<br />
their way home from Cebu City after<br />
participating in the Department of<br />
Education’s (DepEd) regional Math<br />
Sayaw dance competition there.<br />
The students who died in the<br />
accident were identified as 17-year-old<br />
sisters Cherry Rose and Cherry Ann<br />
Kadusale, 14-year-old Kevin Aguilar,<br />
17-year-old Christian Buenconsejo and<br />
18-year-old Joshua Busmeon.<br />
Another yet unidentified woman from<br />
Bayawan City was also killed in the accident.<br />
Initial investigation from<br />
Zamboanguita Police showed that<br />
the V-Hire, driven by a JP Sarad, was<br />
allegedly speeding southward along<br />
the Negros South Road early Friday<br />
morning when it started swerving,<br />
By Kathleen Mae Bulquerin<br />
The Philippine Navy on Friday welcomed its new Chief<br />
of Naval Staff Commodore Louemer Bernabe in a simple<br />
change of command ceremony graced by Vice Admiral<br />
Robert Empedrad, Flag Officer in Command<br />
Bernabe replaced Admiral Erick Kagaoan who will now<br />
serve as the new Commander of Naval Forces in Western<br />
Mindanao.<br />
The new Chief of Naval Staff is from Cabanatuan City,<br />
Nueva Ecija. He graduated from the Philippine Military<br />
Academy and is a member of Hinirang Class of 1987.<br />
Empedrad, during his speech, hailed<br />
Kagaoan and thanked him for what he<br />
had done during his stint as the Chief<br />
of Naval Staff.<br />
“I have nothing but praise for his<br />
passion to serve the Philippine<br />
Rebel killed in Mindoro clash<br />
a compactor, a grader, and a<br />
dump truck which was owned by<br />
the Tuguegarao City-based Camia<br />
Construction Company.<br />
Locals reported the attack to<br />
authorities, prompting the 5th Infantry<br />
“Star” Division to make a hot pursuit<br />
of the communist gunmen.<br />
“We condemn this criminal act<br />
committed by the NPA terrorists<br />
against the people of Cagayan. The<br />
burning of the heavy equipment affects<br />
the livelihood of innocent civilians and<br />
delays the delivery of development<br />
projects to those in need,” said 5ID<br />
reportedly due to the slippery road<br />
brought by rain.<br />
Upon seeing the van losing control,<br />
cargo truck driver Elpidio Delos Santos<br />
tried to stop to avoid the incoming<br />
V-hire which was already skidding<br />
down the opposite lane. As a result, the<br />
V-hire’s right side was severely damaged<br />
due to its impact with the truck.<br />
All the passengers were brought to<br />
two hospitals in Dumaguete City for<br />
treatment, but six of them were already<br />
pronounced dead on arrival.<br />
Case investigator Police Master<br />
Sergeant Janice Eluna said the accident<br />
may have been caused by the V-Hire’s<br />
worn rear tires that lost traction with<br />
the wet slippery road, a factor that<br />
Sarad acknowledged.<br />
Commander Brig. Gen. Perfecto<br />
Rimando Jr.<br />
In another development, troops<br />
under the Eastern Mindanao Command<br />
(Eastmincom) recovered firearms<br />
buried by the New People’s Army,<br />
after two former rebels tipped off<br />
their locations in Davao del Norte and<br />
Agusan del Norte.<br />
Col. Ezra Balagtey, Eastmincom<br />
spokesman, said that soldiers<br />
belonging to the 56th Infantry Battalion<br />
recovered four high-powered firearms<br />
in Barangay Dagohoy, Talaingod, Davao<br />
del Norte.<br />
ENManuel<br />
CANDIDATES in this year’s midterm polls ought to focus on the issue of poverty exemplified by these children who wade through tons of trash in a Baseco<br />
shoreline in Tondo in hopes of finding something valuable to sell.<br />
BOB DUNGO JR.<br />
All the passengers were<br />
brought to two hospitals<br />
in Dumaguete City for<br />
treatment, but six of them<br />
were already pronounced<br />
dead on arrival.<br />
Negros vehicle collision claims six<br />
ONE of the early signs of summer is this scene in Pililla, Rizal where motorists stop to check out some local souvenir items<br />
being sold along the roadside.<br />
ROMAN PROSPERO<br />
Navy welcomes new chief<br />
Navy in another capacity. I told him thanks which I believe<br />
is not enough to express my gratitude for all his excellent<br />
service as the Chief of Naval Staff.<br />
Likewise, the Flag Officer in Command expressed<br />
his confidence in working together with Bernabe.<br />
“I have high respects for you<br />
and I am looking at you highly<br />
because of your potential and<br />
capability to lead the office<br />
of CNS,” Empedrad said.<br />
THE clenched fist sign says it all as a hospital patient meets former Cabinet official “Bong” Go who is running for a Senate seat.<br />
Comelec<br />
releases partylist<br />
nominees<br />
By Raymart T. Lolo<br />
THE wrecked V-hire van carrying the victims of the collision.<br />
In a bid to enhance transparency<br />
in the electoral process, the<br />
Commission on Elections<br />
(Comelec) on Saturday released<br />
the official partylist nominees<br />
for<br />
the sake of those voting in this year’s midterm<br />
polls<br />
Jimenez underscored how the list remains as<br />
a significant reference for the voting public.<br />
The list includes 181 names of partylist<br />
nominees bidding for seats in the House of<br />
Representatives.<br />
According to Comelec spokesman James Jimenez,<br />
the release of the names of partylist nominees was<br />
effected to enable voters to make an informed choice.<br />
“While the Comelec maintains that, in a partylist<br />
elections, it is the partylist organization as a<br />
whole that should be evaluated by the electorate,<br />
it cannot be denied that the identities of the<br />
nominees remain a significant reference for<br />
voters,” he said.<br />
Jimenez underscored how the list remain as<br />
a significant reference for the voting public.<br />
The national and local midterm polls are scheduled<br />
on 13 May this year.
COMMENTARY<br />
4 Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
“Rody<br />
said the<br />
Roman<br />
Catholic<br />
Church<br />
will not<br />
survive<br />
long<br />
given the<br />
scandal<br />
that is<br />
engulfing<br />
it.<br />
Daily<br />
Tribune<br />
WITHOUT FEAR • WITHOUT FAVOR<br />
Ninez Cacho-Olivares<br />
Crispin G. Martinez<br />
Chito Lozada<br />
Dinah Ventura<br />
Aldrin Cardona<br />
John Henry Dodson<br />
Jun Vallecera<br />
Jaimes R. C. Sumbilon<br />
Larry Payawal<br />
Komfie Manalo<br />
Patricia Ramos<br />
Board Chair<br />
Willie Fernandez<br />
Publisher and President<br />
Founding Chair<br />
Executive Editor<br />
Managing Editor<br />
Associate Editors<br />
Business Editor<br />
Central Desk<br />
Special Reports<br />
Predators<br />
in robes<br />
A President who holds no fear nor favor from the<br />
Catholic Church and an activist Pope who wanted the<br />
rank of the priesthood cleansed may have emboldened<br />
the faithful in reporting abuses which are getting more<br />
beastly as days go by.<br />
In Negros Occidental, a parish priest was accused of<br />
molesting a four-year-old girl in Cadiz City.<br />
The victim was a pupil of the daycare center in the<br />
parish church where her mother works.<br />
The statement from the bishop said he is “greatly<br />
saddened and shocked that a young child is alleged to<br />
have been molested by one of our clergies.”<br />
He said the priest has been removed from the parish<br />
and that the clergy has offered assistance to the family<br />
of the victim but he added the priest will be presumed<br />
innocent until proven otherwise.<br />
Since the mother is a church worker, the<br />
outcome of the probe to be initiated by the<br />
prelates is too predictable.<br />
The worsening problem of the Church<br />
is seen in the backdrop of Catholic<br />
bishops calling for a Catholic vote in<br />
the midterm polls.<br />
Had there been a Catholic vote<br />
as what the bishops are imagining,<br />
President Rody Duterte would<br />
have not even been a Davao City<br />
mayor.<br />
Rody who had been<br />
consistently giving the Catholic<br />
Church a piece of his mind<br />
recently predicted that the<br />
cover-up of abuses will lead to<br />
demise of the religion in 25<br />
years which is a bold prediction<br />
for a 2,000-year or so institution.<br />
With his usual profanities, Rody said the Roman<br />
Catholic Church will not survive long given the scandal<br />
that is engulfing it.<br />
“When they get horny, the sons of bitches, they go<br />
after nuns. If they’re gay, they go after young boys. Who<br />
needs a religion like that?” he said.<br />
Strangely, when Rody shocked the world with his rants<br />
and rhetorics against the most influential institution in<br />
the country, the Vatican started to pay attention to the<br />
allegations of sexual abuses from prelates.<br />
It is logical for Vatican to deduce that since the abuses<br />
that Rody had brought in the open giving himself as an<br />
example as he claimed to have been abused by a priest<br />
in Catholic school he went to, the incidences would be<br />
presumably widespread.<br />
Rody, however, professed his “highest<br />
esteem and respect” for Pope Francis,<br />
“Bishops<br />
during who he called a reformist for initiating<br />
the 2016 a crackdown on sexual abuses in the<br />
campaigns Church.<br />
called Rody The local bishops, however, are mostly<br />
a “morally<br />
of a different yellow breed who frequently<br />
reprehensible”<br />
upstart. prefers earthly pursuits to spiritual<br />
guidance of their flock.<br />
Church leaders have often said they found disturbing<br />
the lack of strong rejection by many Filipinos of the<br />
daily killings in the country.<br />
“To consent and to keep silent in front of evil is to<br />
be an accomplice to it,” a Catholic Bishops’ Conference<br />
of the Philippines (CBCP) pastoral letter said. “Let us<br />
not allow fear to reign and keep us silent,” it added.<br />
Filipinos, however, have not been silent about their<br />
overwhelming support on Rody which remains well above<br />
his predecessors considering that he is in the final half<br />
of his term.<br />
The letter said if “we consent or allow the killing of<br />
suspected drug addicts, we shall also be responsible<br />
for their deaths.”<br />
Rody due to his abrasive speeches, including those<br />
when he stated that he would like to kill all drug<br />
offenders, is being equated to the actual commission<br />
of a crime but the Palace repeatedly denied that his<br />
administration is behind the extrajudicial killings in<br />
the country.<br />
Bishops during the 2016 campaigns called Rody a<br />
“morally reprehensible” upstart and advised their flock<br />
not to vote for him. He won, convincingly.<br />
“The<br />
rule of<br />
moderation<br />
applies.<br />
“Ali was<br />
going to<br />
reinforce<br />
with<br />
fighting<br />
men his<br />
friend<br />
under<br />
attack.<br />
Devices off the table<br />
Growing up, meal times<br />
were always sacred times with<br />
family members. There were no<br />
cellphones then and landlines<br />
were left to keep ringing if<br />
we were having a meal. If a<br />
household staff answered such a<br />
call, they knew to get the details<br />
of the caller and politely say that<br />
their call would be returned at a<br />
later time as the family was in<br />
the middle of a meal. Nothing<br />
was allowed to disturb the family<br />
bonding time. That was Lolo and<br />
Lola’s rule. It was Mama and<br />
Papa’s rule and, ask my children,<br />
and you’ll know that this is<br />
also my strict rule. On the rare<br />
occasion when a very important<br />
call is expected or hoped for, the<br />
concerned family member may<br />
excuse herself or himself from<br />
the table and take the call.<br />
On school and work days dinner<br />
time was, and still is, the place<br />
and space to catch up on each<br />
other’s goings-on for the day. A<br />
precious opportunity to listen to<br />
and support one another. That is<br />
why I have consciously put my foot<br />
down from day one that there is to<br />
be no device allowed at the table.<br />
My fellow parents and I are<br />
very much aware of the need<br />
to develop these<br />
Last week we<br />
observed the EDSA<br />
revolt with less<br />
fanfare. Many felt<br />
sad because that<br />
was a defining<br />
moment for many<br />
Filipinos deserving<br />
importance. The<br />
public’s waning<br />
enthusiasm,<br />
however, doesn’t<br />
diminish the fact<br />
that the event has inspired<br />
world democracies and, in<br />
fact, has become a template<br />
to some longing a peaceful<br />
regime change through people<br />
empowerment.<br />
Many stories are told relating<br />
to this human drama, like the<br />
one I want to share with readers.<br />
The tale is based on factual<br />
events and had the potential<br />
then of altering the course of<br />
history, although I can’t help<br />
but feel that it is speculative<br />
bordering on farce.<br />
My story starts with the long<br />
friendship between Mohamad Ali<br />
Dimaporo and former President<br />
Ferdinand Marcos. From my<br />
perspective, being a relative<br />
and confidant of Ali the strong<br />
fraternal bond was not for<br />
political expediency although<br />
Ali wore many hats during the<br />
Marcos presidency, as governor,<br />
president of Mindanao State<br />
University (MSU) and member<br />
of the President’s Executive<br />
Council. who delivered the<br />
so-called “command votes”<br />
of Morolandia during the<br />
hustings. No, it was more of<br />
their common experience as<br />
soldiers of war — Ali as the<br />
unsung hero of the Battle of<br />
Fort Corcuera, in Malabang,<br />
Lanao del Sur as recorded in<br />
a US war history and Marcos<br />
with his Maharlika special<br />
forces battling the enemies in<br />
basic rules to support<br />
our growing children’s<br />
learning in this device<br />
and technology-laden<br />
world of ours.<br />
The rule of<br />
moderation applies.<br />
Not too little yet<br />
not too much time<br />
on gadgets such as<br />
cellphones, tablets<br />
and laptops. The trick<br />
lies in finding that<br />
middle ground within the wide<br />
spectrum with deprivation and<br />
overindulgence on opposite ends.<br />
Like it or not,<br />
this is the world<br />
that they and<br />
we will need to<br />
navigate. Much of<br />
what we do can<br />
be communicated,<br />
SOUTHERN VOICES<br />
Macabangkit B. Lanto<br />
marketed, accomplished,<br />
submitted, reviewed, assessed,<br />
tested, edited, completed,<br />
purchased, paid for, delivered and<br />
signed online. Much but never all.<br />
Face-to-face communication,<br />
good old catch-ups and, literally,<br />
seeing each other eye to eye,<br />
trumps most<br />
the hinterlands of<br />
Luzon (I am ready<br />
for brickbats<br />
and slur for this<br />
observation). Their<br />
friendship was<br />
likewise rooted<br />
on their original<br />
lofty desire to<br />
serve the people<br />
faithfully before<br />
its nobility was<br />
corrupted by time<br />
and circumstances.<br />
While Metro Manila was agog<br />
and on tenterhooks during the<br />
EDSA revolt, thanks to live<br />
coverage by trimedia, remote<br />
provinces experienced eerie<br />
calm.<br />
In Marawi<br />
there was no<br />
sign of tumult,<br />
the military and<br />
police did not<br />
show tension or<br />
conduct activity<br />
that was out of<br />
ordinary. In fact<br />
the only time I felt<br />
the seriousness<br />
of the situation<br />
(we were playing<br />
golf at Del Monte<br />
HALF FULL<br />
Lia Andanar Yu<br />
“I have<br />
consciously<br />
put my foot<br />
down from<br />
day one.<br />
An EDSA tale<br />
“My story<br />
starts with<br />
the long<br />
friendship<br />
between<br />
Mohamad<br />
Ali<br />
Dimaporo<br />
and former<br />
President<br />
Ferdinand<br />
Marcos.<br />
golf course in Bukidnon when<br />
the rebellion started) was<br />
when I was asked to attend a<br />
meeting of political leaders and<br />
relatives of Ali at the Summit<br />
Inn, the residence of the<br />
MSU President, where he held<br />
court. I saw that strongman Ali<br />
was in pain and feeling inutile<br />
to help his friend Marcos who<br />
was then teetering on the verge<br />
of being deposed. One scene<br />
on TV that unmasked Marcos’<br />
loses of grip of power was when<br />
in Malacañang while General<br />
Fabian Ver was asking the<br />
President to give him authority<br />
to confront the EDSA crowd, the<br />
government TV station suddenly<br />
relationships built<br />
and solely maintained<br />
online.<br />
Keeping devices<br />
off the dining table<br />
is a tried and tested<br />
way of ensuring<br />
those communication<br />
lines between family<br />
members remain open.<br />
Here are a few of the<br />
helpful tips I recently<br />
got from primary and<br />
junior high school educators at<br />
a parent information session:<br />
a) Focus on quality online<br />
time, b) No double standards. If<br />
children cannot use devices at<br />
mealtimes, neither can you!, c)<br />
Have upfront and honest faceto-face<br />
conversations and, d) All<br />
laptops, computers and mobile<br />
devices should remain and be<br />
charged outside one’s bedroom<br />
at night (Top Ten Tips, Alannah<br />
and Madeline Foundation, amf.<br />
org.au). I have been partially<br />
successful with the latter strategy<br />
because even as I leave my laptop<br />
and tablet in our study room,<br />
my cellphone is always at my<br />
bedside table at the<br />
end of the day. In my<br />
defense, a weak one I<br />
will admit, I need it as<br />
my alarm clock. I have<br />
been using it for that<br />
purpose for at least the<br />
last seven years. Right,<br />
enough of this old and<br />
tired excuse. Time to hit<br />
the shops and find myself<br />
a proper alarm clock. No<br />
more excuses! Cellphones<br />
off the dining and bedside<br />
table. Hmmm, let’s see<br />
how I go with the latter!<br />
went pfft. That was unthinkable<br />
before.<br />
Anyway, during the meeting<br />
of his leaders Ali asked me<br />
to go down to Iligan City to<br />
negotiate with the Philippine<br />
Airlines Office for a charter of<br />
an airplane that will ferry him<br />
and his supporters to Manila. I<br />
thought they were not serious.<br />
But he explained to me that<br />
I was chosen because I was a<br />
close friend of then PAL branch<br />
manager, Rogelio “Boy” Javier,<br />
now deceased, and being a<br />
lawyer equipped with enough<br />
knowledge of the intricacies of<br />
the transaction. Ali was going<br />
to reinforce with fighting men<br />
his friend under attack. He told<br />
his leaders that he is unable to<br />
contact Marcos even when he<br />
went to the Military Camp, now<br />
Kampo Ranao to use military<br />
communication system.<br />
Readers, at that time Ali<br />
was a favorite media copy and<br />
tagged as a fierce warlord<br />
with his dreaded Barracuda of<br />
armed-fighters.<br />
Sensing that Ali and his<br />
leaders were serious about<br />
reinforcing the loyalist troops of<br />
Marcos, I went down to Iligan.<br />
Javier told me that it was not<br />
easy and quick to charter a<br />
plane and will take days to<br />
consummate. He assured me<br />
though that he can block at least<br />
10 seats for every PAL flights<br />
to Manila which I conveyed to<br />
Ali. My greatest fear at that<br />
time was for Ali and his group<br />
trooping to the Cagayan de<br />
Oro Airport to hijack a plane.<br />
Luckily he didn’t pursue the<br />
plan. The rest is history.<br />
What could have happened<br />
if Ali and his armed men<br />
succeeded in chartering a plane<br />
or hijacking one?<br />
Email: amb_mac_lanto@yahoo.com<br />
Published daily by the Daily Tribune Publishing Co., with offices at 3450 Concept Bldg., Florida Street, Makati City • Editorial: (02) 831-0496 • Administration: dailytribune@tribune.net.ph, (02) 833-7085 / (02) 551-5148. To advertise and subscribe: ads@tribune.net.ph, dailytribune@tribune.net.ph, (02) 833-7085 / (02)<br />
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Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
“Such sad<br />
episodes in<br />
this period<br />
of its<br />
existence of<br />
2,000 years<br />
is not only<br />
humbling<br />
but, indeed,<br />
humiliating.<br />
In less than two weeks, two top<br />
leaders of the Catholic Church fell<br />
from the graces of men and laws,<br />
but not necessarily from the grace<br />
of God, for ultimately, it is God<br />
who would judge all of us, sinners.<br />
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick<br />
of the Archdiocese of Washington<br />
was defrocked by no less than the<br />
Pope himself after the Vatican<br />
investigation found him guilty of<br />
sexually abusing altar boys and<br />
seminarians decades ago. The<br />
decision was definitive in nature.<br />
A few days ago, another prominent cleric,<br />
Archbishop George Pell of the Archdiocese<br />
of Melbourne and Sydney in Australia, was<br />
convicted by the court of sexual abuse and<br />
is awaiting sentencing. At the time of his<br />
conviction, he was prefect of the secretariat<br />
for the economy of the Vatican and a member<br />
of the council of Cardinal advisers to the<br />
Pope — both trusted positions in the Roman<br />
Curia, the central government of the church.<br />
Presently, some 120 bishops, mostly<br />
presidents of their respective bishops’<br />
conferences, are cracking their heads and<br />
Last year, Patricia Fox, an elderly Australian nun<br />
who delighted in participating in anti-government<br />
protest activities in the Philippines, was deported.<br />
This year, it’s the Australian parliament that’s<br />
meddling in Philippine domestic affairs.<br />
On 18 February, the Australian<br />
parliament passed a resolution<br />
“Without truly<br />
understanding<br />
what happened<br />
in the De Lima<br />
case, this<br />
Australian<br />
politician dared<br />
to interfere.<br />
“ This<br />
writer<br />
attended<br />
that<br />
ceremony<br />
as a guest<br />
of two<br />
of the<br />
graduates<br />
that year.<br />
calling on the Australian<br />
government to “use all its<br />
diplomatic measures” to urge<br />
the administration of President<br />
Rodrigo Duterte to release<br />
Sen. Leila de Lima from her<br />
detention cell at Camp Crame in<br />
Quezon City. The resolution was<br />
sponsored by Chris Hayes of the<br />
Australian Labor Party who visited the Philippines<br />
last year.<br />
Hayes told the parliament that De Lima is under<br />
detention because of her open criticism of President<br />
Duterte’s unrelenting war on drugs which, Hayes<br />
claimed, led to<br />
the deaths of drug<br />
suspects and small-time<br />
drug pushers. He also<br />
alleged that Philippine law<br />
enforcers used “untested<br />
statements by convicted drug<br />
lords, police officers and<br />
prison officials” to keep De<br />
Lima behind bars.<br />
To justify his interference<br />
in Philippine affairs, Hayes<br />
said an attack on human<br />
rights is an attack on<br />
collective humanity.<br />
Hayes’ accusations<br />
are groundless and<br />
are based on his very<br />
limited appreciation<br />
of why De Lima<br />
was detained by<br />
the Philippine<br />
government. Without<br />
truly understanding<br />
what happened in<br />
the De Lima case, this<br />
Australian politician<br />
dared to interfere in<br />
a local concern of the<br />
Philippines.<br />
The rude and irresponsible<br />
behavior of Hayes is an outright<br />
insult to the sovereignty of the Republic<br />
and Manila should give the Australian<br />
ambassador to the Philippines a dressing down.<br />
From the sweeping generalizations Hayes said to<br />
the Australian parliament, it is obvious that either<br />
he was fed the wrong information, or he did not<br />
bother verifying the information he obtained.<br />
The humiliation of Catholic Church<br />
TABLETS OF STONE<br />
Larry Faraon<br />
Hayes<br />
may have<br />
visited the country<br />
for a brief period,<br />
but unless he<br />
went around<br />
to interview<br />
President<br />
Duterte, the<br />
secretary of<br />
Justice<br />
or the<br />
It should be obvious by now that<br />
Imee Marcos, the eldest daughter<br />
of the late President Ferdinand<br />
Marcos, is running for the Senate<br />
in the coming elections. No less<br />
than President Rodrigo Duterte<br />
himself is campaigning for her.<br />
The surveys consider Imee<br />
Marcos as a likely winner in the<br />
senatorial race, and the Marcos<br />
camp is confident that she will<br />
win in the May polls because of<br />
the longevity of her incumbency<br />
as an elected official.<br />
Imee’s staunch supporters believe she<br />
will win also because the Marcos name has<br />
regained widespread public acceptability,<br />
as demonstrated by the 2010 senatorial<br />
victory of her brother, ex-Sen. Ferdinand<br />
“Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and his near victory<br />
in the vice-presidential derby in 2016.<br />
It cannot also be discounted that their<br />
mother, former First Lady Imelda Romualdez<br />
Marcos, has held elective public office<br />
numerous times since the post-Marcos years.<br />
As in any election, candidates are<br />
vulnerable to issues. For Imee Marcos, the<br />
issue is about her academic credentials.<br />
The news media has created quite a<br />
hearts on how to address the<br />
biggest crisis ever to hit the<br />
Catholic Church since the<br />
Protestant Reformation in the<br />
16th century.<br />
In the words of Cardinal<br />
Blaise Cupich, a member of<br />
the executive committee, the<br />
purpose of the summit would<br />
be to “advance a framework<br />
of protocols for responding to<br />
allegations of clergy sexual abuse,<br />
including identifying concrete<br />
steps required to implement<br />
practices that safeguard children and to bring<br />
justice to victims in a way that is responsible,<br />
accountable and transparent — even in cultures<br />
where law enforcement or the government may<br />
not be reliable partners.”<br />
For the Catholic Church, which is holy, one,<br />
apostolic and universal, such sad episodes in<br />
this period of its existence of 2,000 years is not<br />
only humbling but, indeed, humiliating.<br />
Matters concerning sexual aberrations<br />
inflict a more or less permanent sting than,<br />
for instance, graft and corruption, especially<br />
for persons who are expected to take the<br />
prosecution<br />
witnesses, the<br />
information he got is<br />
one-sided and unreliable.<br />
What Hayes did is sloppy<br />
and reckless research. Just<br />
because he is a politician<br />
from a wealthy and powerful<br />
country does not excuse him<br />
from checking the veracity of<br />
what he was told.<br />
T h i s<br />
“The<br />
information<br />
he got is<br />
one-sided and<br />
unreliable.<br />
politician<br />
conveniently<br />
overlooked<br />
that De Lima was<br />
detained not because<br />
she is a critic of<br />
President Duterte, but<br />
because of the evidence obtained by the<br />
Department of Justice that seriously<br />
implicates her in the illegal drug trade<br />
at the national penitentiary, when she<br />
was still the secretary of Justice under<br />
then President Benigno Aquino III. As<br />
the secretary of Justice, De Lima<br />
had direct authority over the<br />
national penitentiary.<br />
Hayes also failed<br />
to consider that it<br />
was the news<br />
media which<br />
first exposed<br />
the glaring<br />
higher ground of moral ascendancy.<br />
Of course, sexual abuses committed by<br />
the clergy, like those committed by ordinary<br />
people, are private in nature. The Church, like<br />
any other organization, has its own internal<br />
mechanism which includes conviction and<br />
punishment in addressing such problems<br />
between its clergy and the Christian faithful.<br />
Depending on the nature and gravity of<br />
the offense, the punitive actions range from<br />
a simple suspension of ministries to being<br />
defrocked, meaning the permanent deprivation<br />
of one’s priestly ministry.<br />
Of course, romantic<br />
relationships with women,<br />
including paternity issues,<br />
are violations of the priestly<br />
celibacy, but still are<br />
considered within the purview<br />
of the “normal” dispositions of<br />
a healthy male.<br />
“Pedophilia,<br />
however,<br />
is neither<br />
normal nor<br />
outside the<br />
normal.<br />
Sexual relationships with the same sex,<br />
although loathsome, could still be subject to<br />
internal processes and resolutions, but<br />
are considered as “outside the normal”<br />
dispositions of the male kind. Most often,<br />
cessation of the exercise of one’s ministries<br />
Imee Marcos’ UP graduation issue<br />
stir when they questioned<br />
Imee’s announcement<br />
that she graduated from<br />
the University of the<br />
Philippines (UP) College<br />
of Law in April 1983. From<br />
what the news media<br />
have so far gathered,<br />
Imee’s name is not in<br />
the university’s record of<br />
graduates as attested to by<br />
a top official of the state<br />
university.<br />
It is also reported that<br />
although Imee’s name does not appear in<br />
the 1983 yearbook of the UP College of Law,<br />
she is prominently featured in a publication<br />
marking the 25th anniversary of the college’s<br />
graduating class of 1983.<br />
In support of the assertion that Imee<br />
graduated from the UP College of Law,<br />
her camp has shown to the news media<br />
photographs which show that she participated<br />
in a college ceremony held at the Meralco<br />
Theater in the Ortigas Center in Pasig in<br />
April 1983.<br />
This writer attended that ceremony as<br />
a guest of two of the graduates that year.<br />
One was an executive of the Philippine<br />
THE SCRUTINIZER<br />
Victor Avecilla<br />
anomalies in the national penitentiary,<br />
particularly the special treatment detained<br />
drug lords were getting from prison authorities<br />
for extended periods. The special treatment<br />
included air-conditioned accommodations,<br />
catered restaurant food and unbridled<br />
access to mobile phones, laptop computers<br />
and other electronic devices.<br />
A raid subsequently<br />
conducted by prison<br />
National Bank and the other later became a<br />
commissioner of the National Labor Relations<br />
Commission. Another invited guest was my<br />
fellow law student, Dennis Socrates, who is<br />
now the vice governor of Palawan.<br />
President and Mrs. Marcos, together with<br />
Bongbong, were present at the ceremony, and<br />
sat at the front row. The President and his<br />
family arrived in a black limousine.<br />
On the stage throughout the<br />
ceremony was Dean Froilan<br />
Bacungan of the UP College<br />
of Law.<br />
The guest speaker of the<br />
occasion was then Supreme<br />
Court (SC) Associate Justice<br />
Hermogenes Concepcion Jr.,<br />
whose speech was about the<br />
constitutionality of executive<br />
warrants of arrest.<br />
Other important personalities who also<br />
“Honors<br />
were given<br />
to the<br />
outstanding<br />
students<br />
present<br />
at that<br />
ceremony.<br />
sat in the front row were SC Chief Justice<br />
Enrique Fernando and Court of Appeals<br />
Justice Serafin Cuevas.<br />
Every graduate went on stage for the<br />
usual ritual. Honor graduates were given<br />
special acknowledgment on the stage. Imee<br />
was given honors.<br />
The ceremony started around 8 in the<br />
COMMENTARY<br />
5<br />
while undergoing intensive psycho-spiritual<br />
treatment to reorient the cleric is applied more<br />
commonly.<br />
Pedophilia, however, is neither normal nor<br />
outside the normal, but obviously “criminal”<br />
and, therefore, the external recourse to civil<br />
courts would be required. There are already<br />
cases of clerics serving time in jails.<br />
Unfortunately, publicity, mostly negative,<br />
both from the multimedia and social media is<br />
prejudicially maligning and hurting the image<br />
of the Catholic Church and even experts in<br />
damage control are whirling their heads on<br />
how to beat the cracks.<br />
Those who are neutral, biased, judgmental,<br />
vindictive or indifferent over such flagrant issues,<br />
probably are coming from what President Duterte<br />
often says: That the “Catholic Church is the most<br />
hypocritical institution in the world.”<br />
And the humiliation it now faces is welldeserved,<br />
so to speak!<br />
Yet, as in the past, in the midst of such<br />
unfortunate turn of events and trying moments,<br />
the Church which remains as a society of<br />
human beings, subject to weaknesses and<br />
limitations would still come out much better,<br />
for the better.<br />
That meddling Australian parliament<br />
authorities revealed the presence of narcotics,<br />
firearms, gambling equipment, electronic<br />
entertainment devices and plenty of money.<br />
The extent of the special treatment was so<br />
conspicuous that if De Lima conducted unannounced<br />
inspections of the national penitentiary, it would<br />
have been impossible for her not to have noticed<br />
the anomalies.<br />
Law enforcers have linked De Lima to the drug<br />
mess also through different witnesses, including her<br />
own driver, who was allegedly her bag man. The<br />
news media likewise<br />
asserted that<br />
her driver<br />
was<br />
also<br />
her<br />
lover<br />
whom<br />
s h e<br />
showered<br />
with expensive<br />
presents.<br />
Under the<br />
Constitution, bail<br />
is a matter of<br />
right, except when<br />
two conditions<br />
concur — the<br />
crime charged<br />
in not bailable<br />
and the evidence<br />
of guilt is strong.<br />
Serious drug<br />
offenses like the ones De<br />
Lima is facing, are not bailable<br />
under Philippine law. The initial<br />
evidence obtained against De Lima has<br />
been assessed by both the prosecution<br />
and the judiciary as sufficient enough<br />
to pursue anti-narcotics raps against<br />
her. These are the reasons why De Lima<br />
remains detained at Camp Crame and<br />
not those imagined by Hayes.<br />
Instead of recklessly meddling in<br />
Philippine affairs, Hayes should first<br />
do something about the way Australia<br />
treats its own aborigines. These native<br />
Australians are treated like second-class<br />
citizens there.<br />
morning, and ended long after lunch.<br />
President and Mrs. Marcos posed for<br />
photographs for some of the guests.<br />
Withal, the big mystery concerns the<br />
status of Imee Marcos as a graduate of the<br />
UP College of Law Class of 1983.<br />
If Imee Marcos is not in the official<br />
roster of graduates of the UP, why did the<br />
UP College of Law hold a college graduation<br />
ceremony at the Meralco Theater in April<br />
1983, with Imee and the members of her<br />
family, the college dean and the entire<br />
graduating class in attendance?<br />
To repeat, honors were given to the<br />
outstanding students present at that<br />
ceremony. What will be the status of those<br />
honors if the ceremony is bogus?<br />
It isn’t going to be easy for the news media<br />
to assert that Imee is not a graduate of the<br />
UP, because there was a graduation ceremony<br />
held at the Meralco Theater. In the same vein,<br />
Imee will have a difficult time insisting she<br />
is a graduate of the UP because her name is<br />
not in its roster of graduates.<br />
Difficult situations like this allow only<br />
one practical way out. The voters should<br />
decide, not so much as regards the academic<br />
credentials of Imee Marcos, but as to whether<br />
or not they want her as senator.
6 NEWS<br />
Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
Goal is lives<br />
made easier<br />
The POEA was also tasked<br />
to implement an intensified<br />
program against illegal<br />
recruitment<br />
From page 1<br />
and update periodically a handbook on<br />
the rights and responsibilities of migrant<br />
workers as provided by Philippine laws<br />
and the existing labor and social laws of<br />
the receiving country that will protect<br />
and guarantee the rights of migrant<br />
workers.”<br />
Idiotic act Dumped colorum tricycles make for an ugly sight at the Manila seedling bank on lawns and spaces which should have been<br />
used for growing trees.<br />
ANALY LABOR<br />
From page 1<br />
one entitled The Grass is Always<br />
Greener Over the Septic Tank.<br />
But John Barquilla and Carl Jhaziril<br />
have proven her wrong. The two were<br />
arrested Friday night with suspected<br />
drug pusher Marlon Rebucan following a<br />
Justice via full effort<br />
Effective rule of law is the<br />
foundation for communities of<br />
justice, opportunity and peace<br />
From page 1<br />
administration of justice as he said the<br />
Executive cannot do it alone.<br />
“The four universal principles<br />
of the World Justice Project rule<br />
of law framework, which include<br />
accountability, just laws, open<br />
government and accessible and impartial<br />
dispute resolution, require the support<br />
of all branches of the government,”<br />
Panelo said.<br />
“We need the support of Congress<br />
for the enactment of laws under just<br />
laws and open government as well<br />
as the cooperation of the Judicial<br />
Branch for the timely delivery of justice<br />
under accessible and impartial dispute<br />
resolution,” he added.<br />
All Rody advocacies<br />
“The Duterte administration has<br />
been tirelessly working on these since<br />
Day One and we are pleased of the<br />
Philippines’ improved global rank in<br />
<strong>2019</strong> as a result of our initiatives. We<br />
will not rest and continue exerting<br />
efforts on this aspect,” Panelo said.<br />
The country remains among the<br />
bottom three countries, along with<br />
Myanmar and Cambodia, in the East<br />
Asia and Pacific region when it comes<br />
to adherence to the rule of law.<br />
The report noted the rankings were<br />
made based on eight factors — constraints<br />
on government powers; absence of<br />
corruption; open government;<br />
fundamental rights; order and security;<br />
regulatory enforcement; civil justice, and<br />
criminal justice.<br />
Green grass of throne<br />
sting operation. Pictures from Barquilla<br />
and Jhaziril’s cellphones indicated<br />
the two are cultivating marijuana at a<br />
certain location.<br />
In a follow-up operation at a residence<br />
in Barangay Sta. Lucia, Quezon City<br />
authorities found pots in the rooftop of<br />
a house but whatever was planted in<br />
Panelo stressed that the WJP’s<br />
definition of the effective rule of law<br />
is already embodied in the Duterte<br />
administration’s Philippine Development<br />
Plan.<br />
“The World Justice Project defines<br />
effective rule of law as reducing corruption,<br />
combating poverty and disease and<br />
protecting people from injustice large<br />
and small — which are all embodied in<br />
the Duterte administration’s Philippine<br />
Development Plan 2017-2022 with the<br />
following strategic outcomes: enhancing<br />
the social fabric, inequality-reducing<br />
transformation and increasing growth<br />
potential,” Panelo said.<br />
Lags in Asia<br />
The WJP report revealed the<br />
Philippines also placed at the bottom<br />
of the roster for East Asia and the<br />
Pacific region, ranking 13th out of 15,<br />
ahead only of Myanmar and Cambodia.<br />
It ranked 14th out of 30 among lower<br />
middle income countries.<br />
Overall, ranked at the top of the WJP<br />
Rule of Law Index <strong>2019</strong> were Denmark<br />
(1), Norway (2) and Finland (3). The<br />
bottom three were the Democratic<br />
Republic of the Congo (124), Cambodia<br />
(125) and Venezuela (126).<br />
We need the support of Congress<br />
for the enactment of laws under<br />
just laws and open government.<br />
Meanwhile, East Asia and Pacific’s<br />
top performer was New Zealand (8th<br />
out of 126 countries globally), followed<br />
by Australia and Singapore.<br />
“Effective rule of law is the foundation<br />
for communities of justice, opportunity<br />
and peace,” William Neukom, WJP<br />
founder and CEO, said in the report.<br />
“No country has achieved a perfect<br />
realization of the rule of law. The WJP<br />
them were hurriedly taken out.<br />
Further search in an adjacent vacant<br />
lot led to the discovery of marijuana<br />
grown in six old water dippers used as<br />
pots. The raiding team was surprised to<br />
find another marijuana plant, a bigger<br />
one, growing in a toilet bowl filled with<br />
soil.<br />
The suspects are facing charges for<br />
violation of the Comprehensive Drugs<br />
Act. But Barquilla and Jhaziril have at<br />
least proven one thing: the grass grows<br />
greener at the toilet bowl.<br />
There were several laws signed<br />
last week, the rice tariffication, then<br />
the expanded maternity leave and the<br />
improvement of Social Security Service<br />
(SSS) benefits, Andanar said in a radio<br />
interview.<br />
“If you’re an SSS member and<br />
become involuntarily unemployed, you<br />
will receive an allowance of a minimum<br />
10,000 to tide you over while looking for<br />
a new occupation,” Andanar added.<br />
There was also the Universal Health<br />
Care Law which grants all Filipinos<br />
access to medication, he said.<br />
“That takes care of the eventuality of<br />
suffering a disease,” he added.<br />
Migrants plight eased<br />
Mr. Duterte also signed into law a<br />
measure that mandated the publication<br />
of a handbook that contains the rights<br />
and responsibilities of overseas Filipino<br />
workers (OFW).<br />
Signed by the President on 22<br />
February <strong>2019</strong> and made public by<br />
Malacañang yesterday, Republic Act<br />
11227, also known as the Handbook for<br />
OFW Act of 2018, directs the Philippine<br />
Overseas Employment Administration<br />
(POEA) “to develop, publish, disseminate<br />
Proudly local Footwear sells like hot cakes in Lucban, Quezon, a destination at this period of the year.<br />
Rule of Law Index is intended to be<br />
a first step in setting benchmarks,<br />
informing reforms, stimulating programs<br />
and deepening appreciation and<br />
understanding for the foundational<br />
importance of the rule of law.”<br />
Adherence to law<br />
The index measures rule of law<br />
adherence in 126 countries and<br />
jurisdictions worldwide was based on<br />
more than 120,000 household and 3,800<br />
expert surveys.<br />
Washington-based WJP said the<br />
index “measures countries’ rule<br />
of law performance across eight<br />
factors: Constraints on Government<br />
Powers, Absence of Corruption, Open<br />
Government, Fundamental Rights, Order<br />
and Security, Regulatory Enforcement,<br />
Civil Justice and Criminal Justice.”<br />
The administration<br />
of President<br />
Rodrigo Duterte<br />
Illegal recruiters targeted<br />
The POEA was also tasked to<br />
implement an intensified program against<br />
illegal recruitment, in cooperation with<br />
other law enforcement agencies.<br />
It also taps the POEA, Departments<br />
of Labor and Employment and Foreign<br />
Affairs (DFA) to promote the welfare of<br />
OFW and ensure that their rights are<br />
recognized and protected.<br />
The Overseas Workers Welfare<br />
Administration, DFA, Inter-Agency<br />
Council Against Trafficking, Commission<br />
on Filipinos Overseas and Maritime<br />
Industry Authority are also part of the<br />
undertaking.<br />
There were several laws signed<br />
last week, the rice tariffication,<br />
then the expanded maternity<br />
leave and the improvement of<br />
Social Security Service benefits.<br />
The handbook, to be written in<br />
English and then translated to different<br />
local dialects, will be given for free to<br />
land-based and sea-based OFW.<br />
It aims to empower Filipinos working<br />
overseas by making them fully aware of<br />
their benefits and drawbacks by being<br />
employed in a foreign land.<br />
ROMAN PROSPERO<br />
earlier had drawn criticisms for alleged<br />
violations of the rule of law in pursuit of<br />
its bloody war on drugs and the arrest<br />
of critics. Administration officials have<br />
many times defended the campaign,<br />
saying drug suspects slain in police<br />
operations had resisted arrest.<br />
Upon his inauguration in 2016,<br />
Duterte vowed to follow the rule<br />
of law.<br />
Real people power Restoring Manila Bay to its old glory needed peripheral rehabilitation work in other waterways such as in Navotas West where trash removal was led by barangay officials.<br />
ROMAN PROSPERO
Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune NATION<br />
7<br />
Hotel closure vexes Mandaue traders<br />
By Rico M. Osmeña<br />
Mandaue City — based traders<br />
yesterday expressed concern over the<br />
decision by Mayor Luigi Quisumbing<br />
to order the closure of one of the most<br />
popular hotel brands in the region.<br />
Padlocked was Big Hotel, Big Hotel<br />
Suites and Linear Coffee Shop owned<br />
and managed by Cenore Corporation<br />
and Travelbee, respectively, for alleged<br />
contract violations and operating without<br />
business permit and registration.<br />
A separate order was served to<br />
Travelbee for Big Hotel Suites and Linear<br />
Coffee Shop for reportedly operating<br />
By Kathleen Mae Bulquerin<br />
The Philippine Army (PA) on Saturday<br />
bared that New People’s Army (NPA)<br />
rebels have intensified their recruitment<br />
activities in order to lure students<br />
and even teachers into joining their<br />
movement.<br />
This, as the PA 7th Infantry Division<br />
which is based in Nueva Ecija warned<br />
that NPA tacticians are actively operating<br />
in various schools and universities in<br />
the province to recruit students into<br />
their fold.<br />
Brig. Gen. Lenard Agustin, commander<br />
of 7th ID, revealed that Kathleen Ramos, a<br />
student of Central Luzon State University<br />
Muñoz campus, was recruited by the<br />
Apparently running out of<br />
space to operate and hide from<br />
government forces who were<br />
pursuing them relentlessly, some<br />
members of the terrorist group<br />
New People’s Army in Agusan del<br />
Norte became a bit more creative<br />
by using a cave as their hideout<br />
and dispensary.<br />
It did not take long, however,<br />
for the government troops from<br />
the 23rd Infantry Division to<br />
discover the Reds hiding place<br />
after residents of Buenavista town<br />
on Wednesday morning pointed to<br />
their location.<br />
And just like mice<br />
By Michael Pingol<br />
without business permits.<br />
The order also accused the firm of<br />
failing to pay business taxes and fees<br />
for calendar year <strong>2019</strong> and hiring an<br />
employee who did not pay occupational<br />
tax prior to employment.<br />
The development reportedly rattled<br />
the local businessmen some of whom<br />
expressed apprehension that they might<br />
be next in line.<br />
“The closure order was apparently<br />
sending a warning to us that we should<br />
toe the line or else” one of the traders<br />
who requested anonymity said without<br />
elaborating.<br />
Lawyer Deolito Alvarez, legal counsel<br />
League of Filipino Students and later<br />
by the NPA.<br />
Ramos was a veterinary medicine student<br />
in the said university when she was recruited<br />
by the student organization in 2002.<br />
After several<br />
years, Ramos was<br />
killed not during the<br />
pursuit operations of<br />
the military forces but<br />
by her NPA comrades<br />
who suspected her of<br />
being a snitch.<br />
Her remains<br />
were exhumed by<br />
the government<br />
soldiers through the<br />
information provided<br />
by a former rebel<br />
after being missing<br />
for three years.<br />
“All students and<br />
even teachers are<br />
vulnerable targets<br />
being chased by cats, the terrorists<br />
were forced to abandon their<br />
hideout in Sitio Bulak, Barangay<br />
Lower Olave after sensing the<br />
approaching soldiers.<br />
The 40x30-meter cave can<br />
accommodate at least 15 persons from<br />
where two Garand rifles, 90 pieces<br />
of medicine vials and subversive<br />
documents were recovered.<br />
The troops believed the rebels<br />
used their hideout as a makeshift<br />
hospital to perform operations on<br />
their wounded members based on<br />
the medicine vials found.<br />
Lt. Col. Francisco Molina<br />
Jr., commanding officer<br />
of 23rd IB praised the<br />
residents for helping<br />
them locate the<br />
hideout of the<br />
enemies.<br />
KMB<br />
The province of Palawan recently capped the month-long celebration of<br />
National Arts Month by showcasing<br />
the traditional and cultural dances<br />
through performances by select local<br />
dance troupes.<br />
With the theme “Carillon: Music<br />
and Dance Stage,” the night was truly<br />
a gathering of the province’s crème de<br />
la crème of local dance enthusiasts<br />
and artists.<br />
Among the performers were<br />
Palawan Dance Ensemble, Puerto<br />
Princesa City Banwa Dance and<br />
Arts, Palawan State University Dance<br />
Troupe, San Pedro Central School<br />
and Taytay Heritage Culture and Arts<br />
Program.<br />
Hundreds joined to<br />
watch the culminating<br />
program held in the al<br />
fresco garden fronting<br />
LOCAL<br />
the Puerto Princesa City<br />
Coliseum last 28 February.<br />
The event was<br />
organized by the<br />
provincial government<br />
in collaboration with<br />
the Puerto Princesa<br />
City Hall and the<br />
Philippine Folk Dance<br />
Society — Palawan<br />
Chapter.<br />
The spectators<br />
came to witness a<br />
world-class parade of<br />
local talents whose<br />
performances reflected<br />
the colorful folklore and<br />
rich traditions of the<br />
countryside.<br />
The month-long<br />
colorful celebration also<br />
featured Palaweño music<br />
and art exhibits through<br />
Pinta Kultura and was<br />
aimed at uniting all local<br />
artists of the province.<br />
The festival was also<br />
designed to showcase in<br />
visual art the unique and<br />
rich culture of Palawan<br />
and the Philippine<br />
countryside.<br />
Bobby Ricohermoso<br />
for Big Hotel, admitted the closure order<br />
notice was indeed served.<br />
He, however, insisted the hotel would<br />
be business as usual until a final decision<br />
is reached even as negotiations with the<br />
city hall were ongoing.<br />
A separate order was served to<br />
Travelbee for Big Hotel Suites<br />
and Linear Coffee Shop for<br />
reportedly operating without<br />
business permits.<br />
Alvarez likewise raised the possibility<br />
that politics played a role in the issuance<br />
of closure order.<br />
“The owners of Big Hotel are<br />
Reds intensify campus recruitment<br />
After several years, Ramos was<br />
killed not during the pursuit<br />
operations of the military forces<br />
but by her NPA comrades who<br />
suspected her of being a snitch.<br />
Artistic Young dancers perform a native dance during the celebration<br />
of National Arts Month in Palawan.<br />
Soldiers unearth terrorists<br />
cave hideout<br />
Good over evil St. Michael the Archangel triumphs over a demon in<br />
this statue inside the Malacañang compound.<br />
ROMAN PROSPERO<br />
Cops net meth-dealing<br />
university studes<br />
for NPA recruitment. I would like to tell<br />
everyone that if we want to see change<br />
in the government, we should change<br />
ourselves first,” said Agustin during a<br />
recent dialogue with local stakeholders.<br />
Red doctrine The New People’s Army is actively recruiting students to its fold.<br />
Palawan arts fest highlights<br />
cultural performances<br />
The spectators came to witness a world-class parade<br />
of local talents whose performances reflected the<br />
colorful folklore and rich traditions of the countryside<br />
METRO MANILA<br />
31°C<br />
22°C<br />
METRO CEBU<br />
31°C<br />
23°C<br />
METRO DAVAO<br />
34°C<br />
24°C<br />
INTERNATIONAL<br />
Tokyo<br />
JAPAN<br />
14°C<br />
6°C<br />
CLEAR SKIES<br />
BLURBAL THRUSTS<br />
Louie Logarta<br />
Louie Logarta’s column will<br />
resume next week.<br />
Hong Kong<br />
CHINA<br />
25°C<br />
PARTLY CLOUDY<br />
SKIES<br />
WE ARE HIRING!<br />
businessmen and not politicians. It is<br />
sad that businesses are often victimized<br />
by dirty, heartless and evil hands of<br />
politicians,” he said.<br />
It was gathered that during the time<br />
of Mayor Jonas Cortes, the city leased<br />
its property to Katumanan Hardware,<br />
Inc. which in turn subleased the same<br />
to Cenore Corporation through a deed<br />
of assignment.<br />
However, the Commission on Audit<br />
found out later that the deed of<br />
assignment did not have the authority<br />
of the city council.<br />
The city council reportedly tried to<br />
contact the management of the hotel to<br />
rectify the issue but the latter failed to<br />
comply with the summons.<br />
The city hall then gave Cenore<br />
30 days to justify and prove why the<br />
hotel shouldn’t be closed but failed,<br />
prompting the former to interpret it as<br />
clear manifestation of bad faith.<br />
Mandaue Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna<br />
WEATHER<br />
PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES<br />
PARTLY CLOUDY W/RAINSHOWER<br />
PARTLY CLOUDY W/RAINSHOWER<br />
Taipei<br />
TAIWAN<br />
20°C 27°C<br />
18°C<br />
PARTLY CLOUDY<br />
SKIES<br />
QUISUMBING<br />
said the original contract between the<br />
city and Katumanan was for 15 years,<br />
from 2007 to 2022, but this was extended<br />
to 25 years during renegotiation in 2012<br />
while Cortes was still mayor.<br />
The Cebu police on Friday arrested two college students while in<br />
possession of shabu which they claimed they were using to stay awake<br />
while studying their lessons.<br />
The suspects, identified as Marlito Alberca, 24, a second-year civil<br />
engineering student, and Blake Bantugan, 34, a third-year medical student.<br />
They were caught when they inadvertently dropped a packet of shabu<br />
along a sidewalk in Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City and were spotted<br />
by cops on board a passing patrol car.<br />
Cpl. Giovanni Frasco of the Mambaling Police they were patrolling<br />
the area when they noted the suspects who were acting suspiciously.<br />
Looking for highly motivated and result-oriented<br />
individuals for the following posts:<br />
Accounting Clerk<br />
Applicants may bring or email their resumé to the Daily Tribune<br />
office at 3450 Concept Bldg., Florida St., Makati City.<br />
dailytribune@tribune.net.ph / 8337085
8<br />
METRO<br />
John Henry Dodson, Editor<br />
Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
Stay hydrated, DoH urges<br />
Water cheap antidote to heatstroke<br />
Duque upbeat on measles vaccination program seen to peak<br />
this month<br />
By Vernadeth de los Santos<br />
With the onset of summer, the<br />
Department of Health (DoH) yesterday<br />
urged Filipinos to stay fully hydrated to combat<br />
common dry-season<br />
ailments, especially<br />
heatstroke.<br />
DoH Secretary<br />
Francisco<br />
Duque III said<br />
dehydration is<br />
very common<br />
among children<br />
and the elderly,<br />
a condition<br />
easily<br />
remedied by drinking more fluids like water.<br />
“Make it a habit to drink water. Water<br />
is still the best and it’s free. People can<br />
also drink cold beverages but because<br />
they are loaded with sugar, they can<br />
trigger diabetes,” Duque said.<br />
He warned that heatstroke can<br />
be life-threatening more so for older<br />
people.<br />
“Water is all we need to fight heatstroke.<br />
Also stay out of the sun from 10 a.m. to 4<br />
p.m.,” Duque added.<br />
The DoH official, meanwhile, said the<br />
number of parents availing themselves<br />
of measles immunization for their<br />
children is very encouraging.<br />
He cited the importance<br />
of measles vaccination<br />
as he noted that of the<br />
200 fatalities due to<br />
measles, most were children.<br />
Duque said by mid-March they expect<br />
the total number of children given the<br />
anti-measles vaccine to grow bigger.<br />
A measles outbreak had affected<br />
Region 4-A, 3 and National<br />
Capital Region.<br />
Earlier, an<br />
infectious diseases expert had urged parents<br />
to have their children vaccinated against<br />
measles as she downplayed concerns over<br />
repeat shots.<br />
Those who are not sure whether<br />
they’ve already received the measles<br />
vaccine were advised by Dr. Anna Lisa<br />
Ong Lim to get themselves vaccinated.<br />
The president of the Pediatric Infectious<br />
Disease Society of the Philippines, Lim<br />
said there’s “no<br />
problem” with<br />
overdosage<br />
on the<br />
MMR vaccine which protects against<br />
measles, mumps and rubella.<br />
MMR is given to children from 9 months<br />
to 18 years old but can be given to babies<br />
as young as six months in the event of a<br />
measles outbreak.<br />
A repeat MMR vaccination poses<br />
no danger, experts<br />
had said, including<br />
the World Health<br />
Organization’s<br />
immunization<br />
technical officer<br />
Maricel Castro.<br />
3 in tow<br />
extort<br />
nabbed<br />
Police swoop down on<br />
MMDA impound area<br />
By Neil Alcober<br />
Three personnel of a<br />
towing company were arrested<br />
by the San Juan police for<br />
extortion in an operation<br />
late Friday afternoon inside<br />
the impounding area of<br />
the Metropolitan Manila<br />
Development Authority<br />
(MMDA).<br />
Tip leads to arrest of<br />
6 in shabu session.<br />
Senior Supt. Ariel Fulo,<br />
San Juan police chief,<br />
identified the suspects as<br />
Mario Ped, 46, a resident<br />
of Talipapa, Mindanao<br />
Avenue; Roberto Berberio,<br />
46, of Holy Cross Street,<br />
Mindanao Avenue, and<br />
Michaeal Tambo-Ong, 37, a<br />
resident of Carreon Village,<br />
San Bartolome, Novaliches,<br />
all in Quezon City.<br />
Fulo said Ped is San<br />
Juan’s 9th most wanted<br />
person facing robbery-extortion<br />
complaints in line with his<br />
and his cohorts’ modus<br />
operandi of extorting money<br />
from vehicle owners who<br />
had parking and road<br />
regulations.<br />
The three suspects were<br />
collared by tracker teams of<br />
the San Juan police during an<br />
operation inside the MMDA<br />
impounding area at Doña<br />
Julia Vargas Avenue, Pasig<br />
City.<br />
The construction of the San Juan<br />
Medical Center is nearly complete,<br />
with its inauguration set this month,<br />
according to Mayor Guia Gomez.<br />
The outpatient department,<br />
emergency and operating rooms<br />
are already finished while the<br />
computer tomography (CT) scanner,<br />
x-rays and other medical imaging<br />
equipment will be installed soon,<br />
Gomez said.<br />
Mayor Guia sees March opening<br />
of half-billion-peso facility.<br />
The building is 90 percent<br />
By Alvin Murcia<br />
The National Bureau of Investigation<br />
(NBI) vowed yesterday to hound foreign<br />
criminals who think they can turn the<br />
Philippines into a safe haven and base of<br />
their nefarious activities.<br />
NBI Deputy Director Ferdinand<br />
Lavin said they have ordered intensified<br />
By Michael Pingol<br />
The government’s rehabilitation<br />
and clean-up drive at Manila Bay<br />
can benefit from the promotion of<br />
environment-friendly alternatives to<br />
single-use plastics.<br />
Several environmental groups<br />
gathered at the Rainbow Warrior ship<br />
docked at the Port of Manila over the<br />
weekend and raised this point, warning<br />
complete, Gomez said. “For me,<br />
that’s as good as complete,” she said<br />
in an earlier interview.<br />
“I am hoping by March we can open<br />
the outpatient department and the<br />
emegency rooms, and the operating<br />
rooms, CT Scan and laboratory by<br />
April or May,” the mayor added.<br />
The construction of the half-billion-peso<br />
San Juan Medical Center started in 2017.<br />
The refurbished center, at the old<br />
San Juan City Hall compound along N.<br />
Domingo St. in Barangay Balong-Bato,<br />
has a floor area of 7,130 square meters<br />
and projected to benefit thousands<br />
NBI warns foreign criminals<br />
operations against foreign nationals<br />
engaged in illegal activities following<br />
the recent arrest of two Chinese and<br />
their two Filipino cohorts for trafficking<br />
minors online.<br />
Also yesterday, the NBI presented a<br />
police officer alleged to have tortured an<br />
inmate in 2010. The suspect, PO1 Nonito<br />
Binayug, has been in hiding for nearly 10<br />
Southeast Asia is becoming a “hotspot”<br />
for plastic pollution.<br />
“We need to hold hands, stand together<br />
with government and push all reforms<br />
we need to see, especially in the most<br />
important source of the problem, which<br />
is the corporate sector,” Yeb Saño said.<br />
The SEA executive director of<br />
Greenpeace, Saño urged everyone to<br />
help address plastics pollution, noting<br />
that this problem can’t be solved by<br />
one sector only.<br />
Among the alternatives cited<br />
were reusable water and food<br />
containers.<br />
San Juan Medical Center nearly complete<br />
of residents.<br />
The medical facility,<br />
which has been operating<br />
for 20 years, was renamed<br />
as the Dr. Lorenzo M.<br />
Hocson Memorial Hospital,<br />
in memory of the center’s<br />
director from 1995 to 2008.<br />
NAlcober<br />
years when captured in Tondo.<br />
He is facing charges for violation of Republic<br />
Act 9745 or the Anti-Torture Act of 2009.<br />
The suspect is the younger brother of<br />
former Senior Insp. Joselito Binayug, the<br />
Sagip Manila Bay What better way to dig out garbage from the bay’s sands than to use the Department of Public Works<br />
and Highways’ heavy machineries?<br />
ALFONSO PADILA<br />
‘Help admin’s bay clean-up’<br />
Shun single-use plastic, private<br />
sector urged.<br />
“Corporations must also invest<br />
in alternative delivery systems for<br />
products,” the group said. “We can’t<br />
address the problem unless corporations<br />
that make products do their part<br />
as well.”<br />
Firefighter drones next? A member of the Raja<br />
Sulayman Fire Volunteers shows off their new firefighting robot<br />
during kick-off festivities of Fire Prevention Month at Quirino<br />
Grandstand at Rizal Park in Manila.<br />
BOB DUNGO JR.<br />
Phl will not serve as a safe haven for<br />
undesirable aliens.<br />
By Pat C. Santos<br />
Refreshing<br />
Coconut water or buko juice is great<br />
in beating the summer heat to prevent<br />
dehydration and heatstroke.<br />
ALFONSO PADILLA<br />
former commander of the Manila Police District<br />
Asuncion police community precinct.<br />
Senior Insp. Binayug had gained notoriety<br />
after a video surfaced showing him pulling<br />
a string attached to the genitals of a man<br />
arrested and brought to the precinct.<br />
“We are doing our best to protect our<br />
citizens against criminal elements preying<br />
on unsuspecting persons,” Lavin said.<br />
Cop quizzed<br />
on stolen bike<br />
The Manila Police District (MPD) anti-carnapping<br />
unit will investigate how a motorcycle stolen in Quezon<br />
City ended up in the possession of Police Officer 2<br />
Chuck Jethro Mariano.<br />
A man flagged at a police checkpoint in Paco, Manila<br />
fingered Mariano, assigned to the drug enforcement<br />
unit of MPD station 2, as the person from whom he<br />
borrowed the bike.<br />
1 hurt in Sampaloc dawn fire.<br />
According to Chief Insp. Salvador Tangdol, chief of<br />
the MPD anti-carnapping unit, John Louie Ramos, 29,<br />
was accosted at the checkpoint on A. Francisco and<br />
Onyx streets for driving a Yamaha Mio bike without<br />
a helmet.<br />
A verification of the motorcycle’s papers showed<br />
it was owned by a teacher and was reported stolen<br />
in July 2018 while parked in a burger joint along<br />
Tandang Sora.<br />
Found in the motorcycle compartment was a<br />
property acknowledge receipt for a gun bearing the<br />
name and photo of Mariano.<br />
Tangdol said Mariano will be asked to explain how<br />
he got hold of the stolen<br />
motorcycle.<br />
In Sampaloc, Manila, one<br />
person was<br />
rushed to the hospital after<br />
a fire gutted<br />
three apartment units and<br />
damaged<br />
three more apartments<br />
before dawn<br />
Saturday.<br />
A loud explosion<br />
was heard<br />
before the fire<br />
started in the<br />
apartment unit of<br />
the Ong family. A<br />
wall collapsed into<br />
a parked car.
MOST<br />
INNOVATIVE<br />
BROADSHEET<br />
2018<br />
44TH<br />
PHILIPPINES<br />
BUSINESS<br />
EXPO<br />
JBL‘S IN-EAR<br />
PLASTIC<br />
FANTASTIC<br />
FRYE BIDS<br />
GOODBYE<br />
ANOTHER<br />
C0-WORKING<br />
SPACE OPENS<br />
P11<br />
P17<br />
P13<br />
Jun Vallecera, Editor<br />
Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
SUNDAYBUSINESS<br />
9<br />
Economy sails north<br />
We are very positive with the Philippine<br />
market<br />
By Komfie Manalo<br />
The booming domestic economy and the emerging<br />
prospect of a stronger business environment have attracted<br />
a distributor of luxury yachts and wants to “moor” in the<br />
Philippines to set a foothold in the growing domestic<br />
yachting market.<br />
“We are very positive with the Philippine market,” said<br />
Bianca Jison, Asia Yachting Sales director in an interview<br />
with the Daily Tribune. “We see the economy growing so<br />
fast and we expect it to grow even bigger in the coming<br />
years ahead. So, yes, we are confident now is the perfect<br />
time to come to Philippine shores (to sell luxury yachts).”<br />
A survey released by Capital Economics in December<br />
last year titled Long-Term Global Economic Outlook,<br />
projected the Philippines to become the 18th largest<br />
economy in the world by 2<strong>03</strong>7. The London-based economic<br />
think tank said the country would outpace Turkey, Poland,<br />
Thailand, UAE, Egypt, Colombia, South Africa, Argentina,<br />
Czech Republic, Angola, Morocco and Kenya over the<br />
next 20 years.<br />
Independent data released by the Department of<br />
Finance showed the country’s gross domestic product<br />
(GDP) has been growing at a steady 6.5 percent average<br />
with foreign direct investments reaching an all-time high<br />
$10 billion in 2017 and $9.1 billion in the first 11 months<br />
of 2018.<br />
Filipino yachting community<br />
According to Jison, the domestic market for<br />
expensive boats vary, depending on the character<br />
and needs as the company customizes each yacht<br />
on the specifications of the buyer.<br />
What better way to enjoy exploring our<br />
islands than onboard a beautiful catamaran<br />
that combines high-performance, safety,<br />
space and design all into one amazing<br />
boat.<br />
JISON<br />
“Some buyers want to enjoy a family boat<br />
over weekends, so they probably want a house boat, while<br />
others, particularly the corporate types, might want to host<br />
company parties or even events. It really depends on what<br />
our customers want and we try to give them what they are<br />
looking for,” she added.<br />
Let’s sail<br />
With a brighter prospect here, Asia Yachting has introduced<br />
to the local market French boat Fountaine Pajot, which has<br />
been sailing around the world since 1976 and is encouraging<br />
everyone in the Philippines to create timeless memories by<br />
experiencing the beauty of its waters with those they love.<br />
“The natural beauty of the Philippines archipelago, clear<br />
waters, diverse marine life, warm weather — all make the<br />
Philippines one of the best cruising destinations in Asia,”<br />
New player enters cargo<br />
logistics industry<br />
J&T Express officially commenced<br />
operations in the country yesterday.<br />
THE entry of foreign distributor of luxury yachts is a strong indication of growing confidence on the Philippine economy.<br />
Jison said. “What better way to enjoy<br />
exploring our islands than onboard<br />
a beautiful catamaran that<br />
combines high-performance,<br />
safety, space and design all into<br />
one amazing boat,” she added.<br />
Fountaine Pajot is<br />
a producer of luxury<br />
catamarans. The shipyard<br />
launched its first catamaran<br />
sailboat in 1983, followed<br />
by its inaugural power<br />
catamaran in 1998.<br />
It recently smashed<br />
a sales record for sailing<br />
and motor yachts at the<br />
<strong>2019</strong> Miami Boat Show.<br />
Sales included several of<br />
its largest catamarans: Alegria 67 (sailing) and the new<br />
Power 67.<br />
Kevin Corfa, Fountaine Pajot’s business manager for<br />
Asia said the company aims to develop unique expertise<br />
to create high-performing, seaworthy, innovative and<br />
comfortable vessels. For example, “We build true motor<br />
yachts with our hulls designed and manufactured from<br />
the beginning; not like an adaptation of an already<br />
existing sail hull and then converting it into motor.<br />
This means incomparable performance and larger<br />
living space.”<br />
He added, “For sailing yachts, our helm stations, winches and<br />
other gears are very well designed to enable easier maneuvering<br />
even for inexperienced sailors. Most FP owners recognize this<br />
aspect as superior compared to the competition.”<br />
By AJ Bajo<br />
Hong Kong-established e-commerce<br />
courier J&T Express officially<br />
commenced operations in the country<br />
on Saturday, leveraging on technological<br />
innovation to penetrate the booming<br />
domestic express delivery service and<br />
digital market.<br />
As one of its primary goals, J&T<br />
Express is eyeing to expand to about<br />
1,000 branches across the archipelago.<br />
“We’re planning it in three years,<br />
but we (also) want to achieve it in two<br />
years,” J&T Express brand director Zoe<br />
Chi told reporters after the launching<br />
held in the courier’s biggest distribution<br />
GSIS offers emergency<br />
loan to ‘Usman’ victims<br />
The Government Service<br />
Insurance System (GSIS)<br />
is offering emergency loan<br />
to its active members and<br />
old-age pensioners who<br />
were affected by tropical<br />
depression Usman in<br />
Gloria, Oriental Mindoro.<br />
Old-age pensioners<br />
residing in the area<br />
may personally apply<br />
for a P20,000 loan.<br />
The deadline for<br />
application is 18 March.<br />
Active members with no<br />
existing emergency loan<br />
may apply for a P20,000<br />
loan while those who<br />
have not yet paid their<br />
emergency loan in full<br />
may borrow up to P40,000,<br />
from which the remaining<br />
balance will be deducted.<br />
To qualify, active<br />
members must be working<br />
or residing in the<br />
calamity-declared areas,<br />
not on leave of absence<br />
without pay, have no<br />
arrears in paying monthly<br />
mandatory life insurance<br />
or social insurance<br />
premium contributions,<br />
and have no unpaid<br />
loans for more than six<br />
months. They should also<br />
have a minimum net takehome<br />
pay of P5,000 after<br />
the monthly premium<br />
contributions and loan<br />
amortizations have been<br />
deducted.<br />
Active members may<br />
apply through the GSIS<br />
Wireless Automated<br />
Processing System<br />
(GWAPS) kiosk located<br />
in all GSIS branches<br />
and extension offices;<br />
provincial capitols; city<br />
halls; selected municipal<br />
offices; large government<br />
center in Taguig.<br />
The courier entered the Indonesian<br />
market in 2018, coming in second to<br />
the top after only three years with a<br />
record of 1.5 million packages delivered<br />
in one day.<br />
Currently, J&T Express is present in<br />
Southeast Asian countries Vietnam, Malaysia,<br />
Philippines and soon in Thailand. The courier<br />
is looking at expanding its delivery service<br />
country-to-country afterwards, it said.<br />
“The e-commerce market has grown<br />
exponentially and is poised to grow<br />
further in the Philippines,” J&T Express<br />
Philippines chief executive officer Dean<br />
Ding said.<br />
“That is why we are extremely<br />
agencies such as the<br />
Department of Education;<br />
29 Robinsons Malls and<br />
selected SM City branches<br />
in North EDSA, Manila,<br />
Pampanga, Cebu, SM Aura<br />
in Taguig, SM Southmall in<br />
Las Piñas and Mall of Asia<br />
in Pasay City.<br />
Old-age pensioners<br />
residing in the area may<br />
personally apply for a<br />
P20,000 loan. Pensioners<br />
who are also active<br />
members may apply for<br />
the loan only once.<br />
Emergency loan is<br />
payable in 36 equal monthly<br />
instalments at 6 percent<br />
interest rate per annum.<br />
It is covered by a loan<br />
redemption insurance,<br />
which deems the loan<br />
fully paid in case of the<br />
borrower’s demise, provided<br />
that loan repayment is up<br />
to date.<br />
excited to officially launch J&T<br />
Express in the country and become<br />
the express service of choice of<br />
Filipino merchants who are looking<br />
to sell their products online.”<br />
The technology-based and Internet<br />
development express company so far<br />
has established 254 branches in nine<br />
regions in the Philippines since<br />
starting preparations six months<br />
prior.<br />
It also has 41 distribution centers<br />
spanning from Baguio in the north<br />
and General Santos, Mindanao in the<br />
south, with a manpower of about 1,900<br />
employees and a fleet of 130 delivery<br />
trucks.<br />
How true is it that money from the conjugal dictatorship may<br />
soon flow at a major newspaper publication to help boost the<br />
candidacy of a sibling who is running in this year’s midterm<br />
polls?<br />
For all the controversy surrounding<br />
the inheritance fiasco of the late George<br />
S.K. Ty — one of the 10 richest Filipinos<br />
according to Forbes Magazine — GT<br />
Capital Holdings Inc., it turns out, is not<br />
stingy when it comes to donating for a<br />
worthy cause.<br />
GT Capital is a major-listed<br />
Philippine conglomerate involved in<br />
banking (Metrobank), automotive<br />
(Toyota), property (Federal Land<br />
and Pro-Friends), infrastructure<br />
(Metro Pacific), insurance (AXA) and<br />
motorcycle financing (Sumisho).<br />
Just recently, the primary vehicle<br />
for the holding and management of the<br />
diversified business interests of the Ty<br />
family, reportedly donated P30 million<br />
to the Sugbu Chinese Heritage Museum<br />
Foundation Inc. through the George Ty<br />
Foundation Inc.<br />
It is said to be the most sizeable<br />
donation for the restoration of the<br />
museum housed at the century-old<br />
Gotiaco building named in honor of Don<br />
Pedro Gotiaco, one of the early Chinese<br />
settlers in Cebu. Other Cebu-based<br />
businesses that pitched in for the project<br />
gave only what can be considered paltry<br />
sums. The restoration began in 2016<br />
and was completed after 29 months of<br />
construction work.<br />
Extra care was taken to preserve the<br />
21 external and internal columns as well<br />
as the original elevator shaft claimed to<br />
house the first elevator in the Queen<br />
City of the South.<br />
He wants to know if there is an<br />
environmental regulation that<br />
can avert this practice of most<br />
developers.<br />
Last we heard, the wives of the late<br />
business tycoon are set to meet in court<br />
to settle their inheritance based on the<br />
86-year-old’s last will and testament.<br />
Ty’s first wife, Lourdes de Lara-Ty,<br />
petitioned the inheritance dispute after<br />
questioning the contents of Ty’s last will<br />
and testament that allegedly left her<br />
We could only ask<br />
and her two children out of<br />
the inheritance. The second<br />
wife, Mary Vy, had allegedly<br />
claimed all the inheritance<br />
left by the late tycoon.<br />
Reports have it that<br />
there were no official<br />
records that could confirm<br />
Ty married De Lara in<br />
Hong Kong in 1961. Official government<br />
records, on the other hand, showed Ty<br />
and Vy lawfully wed in the Philippines.<br />
They had four children.<br />
Ty succumbed to pancreatic cancer<br />
November last year at the age of 86.<br />
Manny Angeles<br />
q q q<br />
There is an ongoing joke that the<br />
“silent minority” could be back in the<br />
Senate with the political comeback of<br />
actor and former Sen. Lito Lapid.<br />
Lapid, who is running under the banner<br />
of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, is<br />
among the frontrunners in the “Magic 12.”<br />
But what’s this we heard that this early, his<br />
critics are out to thwart his bid because<br />
of the cash smuggling case of his wife,<br />
Marissa Tadeo-Lapid, who was sentenced<br />
to five months of home confinement and<br />
36 months probation after pleading guilty<br />
to the charges filed by the US immigration<br />
in 2013.<br />
Lapid’s wife originally<br />
came under suspicion in<br />
2010 when she failed to<br />
declare $40,000 in currency<br />
following her arrival at<br />
McCarran International<br />
Airport on a flight from<br />
the Philippines. According<br />
to court documents, US<br />
Customs and Border Protection officers<br />
subsequently found the money in Lapid’s<br />
luggage inside two socks and a cloth bag<br />
concealed under the suitcase’s lining.<br />
It is said to be the most sizeable<br />
donation for the restoration of the<br />
museum housed at the century-old<br />
Gotiaco building named in honor<br />
of Don Pedro Gotiaco.<br />
The question now foremost in<br />
everybody’s mind is, where did the money<br />
come from? Has the former senator got<br />
anything to do with this mess? Is he or his<br />
wife liable for any offense in the country?<br />
We could only ask.<br />
q q q<br />
TITTLETATTLES: Reacting to our<br />
previous column, a reader says he<br />
has it from a good source that trees<br />
at the entrance of the Ayala South<br />
Arca project in Taguig are being cut<br />
instead of balled, as should be the<br />
case so that they can be replanted<br />
elsewhere. He wants to know if<br />
there is an environmental regulation<br />
that can avert this practice of most<br />
developers. “They have done this to<br />
Makati, now they’re doing it again in<br />
Taguig,” the reader says… How true<br />
is it that money from the conjugal<br />
dictatorship may soon flow at a major<br />
newspaper publication to help boost<br />
the candidacy of a sibling who is<br />
running in this year’s midterm polls?<br />
The infusion of capital reportedly<br />
came after negotiations for the<br />
acquisition of the newspaper with<br />
the top honcho of a giant corporation<br />
fell through…A little birdie told us<br />
that horse racing, which enjoyed<br />
its heydays in the nineties, is now<br />
a dying industry. The advent of<br />
online games — some of which feature<br />
horseracing apps — has affected the<br />
sales of the three racing clubs in the<br />
country. He says the only chance that<br />
it could survive is for the three clubs<br />
to join hands and merge into one. As<br />
the late horseracing announcer Tony<br />
Trinidad hollers at the start of every<br />
race, “There they go!”
10 BUSINESS<br />
Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
Worldwide BPO business gives Phl advantage<br />
ISSUES AND VIEWS<br />
Kumar Balani<br />
COMMENTARY<br />
“The economy<br />
of the Philippines<br />
— about $332<br />
billion — was No.<br />
40 in size in the<br />
world among 190<br />
countries in 2018.<br />
NEW YORK, NY — When I call an 800-number<br />
seeking help related to a product or service<br />
I use, very often the person answering my<br />
call is someone located in Manila or Cebu or<br />
in Mumbai or Bangalore. Very seldom is the<br />
person located in Atlanta or New Orleans.<br />
I love that because I typically do not have to<br />
listen to a whole slew of other numbers for more<br />
options as is usually the case for United States-based<br />
call centers. Also, I can converse in Pilipino or<br />
Hindi and very often saying a simple “thank you”<br />
and expressing appreciation in these languages<br />
works miracles and saves me a lot of precious time.<br />
Globalization of business, particularly with<br />
large consumer-related companies in the US<br />
and Europe, has given the Philippines, India<br />
and other countries where many call centers,<br />
also known as business process outsourcing<br />
(BPO) facilities are located, huge competitive<br />
advantages.<br />
According to a recent Wikipedia article,<br />
BPO are now one of the fastest growing<br />
businesses worldwide and the Philippines is a<br />
top destination because of Filipinos’ proficiency<br />
in American-style English, including the use of<br />
slang words.<br />
In 2008, the Philippines surpassed India as<br />
the world leader in BPO and the majority of<br />
the top 10 BPO firms of the US operate in the<br />
Philippines. In 2005, the industry generated<br />
100,000 jobs and total revenues were placed at<br />
$960 million for that year. By 2011, BPO sector<br />
employment ballooned to over 700,000 people<br />
in the Philippines and generated $11 billion in<br />
revenues, contributing to a growing middle class.<br />
Several million Filipinos are employed in<br />
BPO, Wikipedia points out. In 2012, they were<br />
projected to grow to 1.3 million in number by<br />
2016 and generate revenues of $27 billion that<br />
year. Today they generate almost $200 billion<br />
including tourism or nearly 60 percent of the<br />
country’s gross domestic product (GDP).<br />
The Philippines has another advantage<br />
besides its large supply of English-proficient<br />
speakers, That is cost. With an exchange rate<br />
now of Philippine peso 52 to $1, hundreds,<br />
perhaps thousands of American and European<br />
companies now employ Filipinos typically<br />
through Philippine call centers.<br />
A broad range of services are provided by<br />
these centers, including customer care, education,<br />
financial services, online business-to-business and<br />
business-to-consumer support, travel services<br />
and much more. The BPO industry is one of the<br />
fastest growing in the Philippines and has much<br />
more potential.<br />
BPO facilities are located<br />
“The<br />
Philippines<br />
has another<br />
advantage<br />
besides its large<br />
supply of<br />
English-proficient<br />
speakers, That<br />
is cost.<br />
mainly in Metro Manila<br />
and Cebu City although<br />
other regional areas are<br />
now being promoted and<br />
developed for operations.<br />
The economy of the<br />
Philippines — about<br />
$332 billion — was No.<br />
40 in size in the world<br />
among 190 countries in<br />
2018, according to the<br />
International Monetary<br />
Fund. It was the 12 largest<br />
in Asia, on a nominal GDP basis after China,<br />
Japan, India, South Korea, Russia, Indonesia,<br />
Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia and<br />
Singapore.<br />
What’s unique about the Philippines is its<br />
rapid GDP growth, with a four-year rounded<br />
average growth rate of 7.5 percent from 2013<br />
to 2017.<br />
By AJ Bajo<br />
Low-cost rice campaign<br />
reaches WalterMart<br />
The Department of Trade<br />
and Industry (DTI) successfully<br />
extended the availability of<br />
affordable imported well-milled<br />
rice amounting to as low as P38<br />
per kilo to 33 WalterMart stores<br />
nationwide.<br />
Varieties of well-milled rice are<br />
also made available in WalterMart<br />
supermarkets, for only about P34,<br />
P35 and P37 per kilo. Sugar is sold<br />
at P50 per kilo at the store.<br />
Known as the Presyong<br />
Paolo Eugenio Baltao, Union<br />
Bank of the Philippines<br />
(UnionBank) senior vice<br />
president and EON Banking<br />
group head, has been named one<br />
of the World’s Most Influential<br />
Payments Professionals at the<br />
World Payments Congress held<br />
in Mumbai, India last recently.<br />
Baltao was the only Filipino<br />
given the recognition alongside<br />
CEOs and top executives of<br />
other fintech companies<br />
including Madhu Sudhan<br />
of Mastercard, Yasmin<br />
Ulrich of Western Union<br />
Business Solutions and<br />
Siddharth Dhamija<br />
from PayPal India.<br />
The award<br />
recognizes<br />
financial technology<br />
(fintech) industry<br />
professionals who<br />
have played a key<br />
role in driving and<br />
adopting innovative<br />
digital payments<br />
solutions and practices<br />
all over the world.<br />
BALTAO<br />
Baltao has been championing<br />
the digital banking revolution. With<br />
almost three decades of experience<br />
Risonable Dapat (PRD) program,<br />
the government campaign was<br />
initiated last year to mitigate the<br />
effects of inflation.<br />
This removes traders in the<br />
process and makes quality<br />
rice more affordable for<br />
consumers.<br />
The program is also a “preview<br />
of the rice tariffication regime,<br />
which increases access points of<br />
cheaper rice to benefit Filipino<br />
consumers as well as enhances<br />
competitiveness of Filipino<br />
World’s Most Influential<br />
Payments Professional<br />
in product<br />
management<br />
and business<br />
development,<br />
Baltao, together<br />
with his team,<br />
has pioneered<br />
firsts in the<br />
banking<br />
industry<br />
through EON, the country’s first<br />
neo bank and first in Asia to do<br />
Selfie Banking.<br />
farmers,” DTI Secretary Ramon<br />
Lopez was quoted as saying during<br />
the launching on 26 February.<br />
The WalterMart inclusion<br />
brings the total number of<br />
participating major supermarkets<br />
to 471 nationwide.<br />
Other participating markets<br />
include 230 branches of SM<br />
Markets (SM Supermarket, SM<br />
Hypermarket and SM Savemore)<br />
in the Greater Manila Area and<br />
North Luzon, over 83 Puregold<br />
branches in Metro Manila and<br />
Luzon and nationwide branches<br />
of Robinsons Supermarket and<br />
The SM Store recently brought smiles<br />
and joys to thousands of kids around the<br />
country as they received new bundles of<br />
toys — educational board games, plush<br />
toys, play sets and novelty items — from<br />
the Share-A-Toy campaign.<br />
In this joint project of The SM Store and<br />
Toy Kingdom, booths were set up in all The SM<br />
Store and Toy Kingdom branches nationwide<br />
where shoppers had the chance to donate new<br />
and pre-loved toys for the benefit of the less<br />
fortunate children. Big hearted and generous<br />
shoppers donated 53,139 toys at all The SM<br />
Store and Toy Kingdom branches nationwide.<br />
Each donation entitled the customer to a<br />
P50 discount coupon which can be redeemed<br />
for every minimum P500 single-receipt purchase<br />
of regular-priced toys at any branch of The SM<br />
Store and Toy Kingdom. Coupons are valid until<br />
31 December <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
These toys were donated to thousands of<br />
less fortunate children from various schools,<br />
orphanages, local hospitals and churches. Among<br />
these were the Eugenia Ravasco Day Care<br />
Center and kids supervised by the Parañaque<br />
Development Foundation Inc.<br />
Less fortunate kids all over the country<br />
received toys from the campaign, as these<br />
were distributed in the Camp Aquino Station<br />
Robinsons Selections.<br />
The rice program is a<br />
partnership between the DTI,<br />
the National Food Authority,<br />
the Department of Agriculture,<br />
various supermarket chains and<br />
participating retailers.<br />
Participating retailers or<br />
importers with direct access to<br />
retailers directly import rice and<br />
sugar under the program and sell<br />
them at or lower than P38 per kilo<br />
and P50 kilo, respectively.<br />
This removes traders in the<br />
process and makes quality rice<br />
more affordable for consumers.<br />
VISITORS stand behind a 3D-printed model created for medical purpose at the stand of the US company Stratasys during the international fair FabCon 3D<br />
and Rapid Tech in Erfurt, Germany. China is quickly closing the gap on the adoption of 3D printing, a sector on the cusp of transforming from prototyping<br />
and design to real-life manufacturing and end-user engagement, according to an industry executive.<br />
CHINA DAILY<br />
These toys were donated to thousands<br />
of less fortunate children from various<br />
schools, orphanages, local hospitals<br />
and churches.<br />
CARS to be exported to Chile wait to be loaded onto a cargo ship in<br />
Lianyungang, Jiangsu province.<br />
CHINA DAILY<br />
China-Chile deal<br />
to boost ties<br />
More items will be exempted<br />
from tariffs after the upgraded<br />
free trade agreement between<br />
China and Chile came into place,<br />
with the exemption likely to cover<br />
98 percent of the items for bilateral<br />
trade, the Ministry of Commerce<br />
said on Friday.<br />
The China-Chile free trade<br />
area will become the country's<br />
highest-level one in terms of the<br />
opening-up in goods trade, the<br />
ministry said in a statement.<br />
The protocol will further<br />
explore the potential<br />
of China-Chile bilateral<br />
economic and trade<br />
cooperation.<br />
The renewed free trade<br />
agreement, signed in 2017, took<br />
effect on Friday. According to it,<br />
China will gradually eliminate<br />
tariffs on some wood products from<br />
Chile within three years and Chile<br />
will immediately eliminate tariffs<br />
on Chinese goods like textiles,<br />
clothing, home appliances and<br />
sugar products.<br />
"The protocol will further<br />
explore the potential of China-Chile<br />
bilateral economic and trade<br />
cooperation and enhance the<br />
level of trade liberalization and<br />
facilitation between the two<br />
'Share-a-toy' at the SM store<br />
countries," the ministry said.<br />
Wei Jianguo, vice president of<br />
the China Center for International<br />
Economic Exchanges, said<br />
China-Chile economic and trade<br />
cooperation can be further<br />
enriched, which is conducive to<br />
deepening ties between China and<br />
Latin America.<br />
Wei said China has an<br />
increasing demand for Chile's<br />
agricultural products such as fruit<br />
and meat and partnership in areas<br />
of e-commerce and environment<br />
has great potential.<br />
Official data showed bilateral<br />
trade reached $42.8 billion in<br />
2018, an increase of 24 percent<br />
year-on-year, accounting for<br />
almost one third of Chile's total<br />
foreign trade. Chile mainly<br />
exports mineral and forestry<br />
products to China, while it<br />
mainly imports textiles, light<br />
industrial products, electronic<br />
and machinery products from<br />
China.<br />
The China-Chile FTA, signed in<br />
2005, was the first FTA that China<br />
signed with a Latin American<br />
nation. In 2017, China and Chile<br />
upgraded the FTA, which covers<br />
protocol dealing with government<br />
procurement, competition policy<br />
and e-commerce businesses.<br />
China Daily<br />
CHILDREN from Eugenia Ravasco Day Care Center happily received their gifts filled with toys from<br />
The SM Store.<br />
Hospital, Cabanatuan City Day Care Center and<br />
Marilao Central School in North Luzon; and the<br />
Likha Molino IV Elementary School, Felicidad<br />
Sy Pediatric Ward and Lipa Archdiocesan Social<br />
Action Commission Inc. in South Luzon.<br />
These also brought joys to the VisMin<br />
area through the Life Care Community<br />
Services Foundation Inc. and Jeepney Bata<br />
Children Ministry in the Visayas and Communal<br />
Elementary School and Northern Mindanao<br />
Medical in Mindanao.<br />
Share-a Toy is one of the ways The SM<br />
Store and its customers team up to share<br />
blessings to the less fortunate.
Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
TUNE 110BT<br />
JBL’s in-ear<br />
plastic fantastic<br />
By John Henry Dodson<br />
TECHTALKS<br />
11<br />
When the left channel of my Marshall<br />
Major II Bluetooth (BT) headphone conked<br />
out on me, I tried to resurrect from the<br />
grave my erstwhile go-to wired Sennheiser<br />
PX-100.<br />
Except that my soldering skills seemed<br />
to have deserted me and so the open-backed<br />
Senn stayed dead, leaving me with no<br />
option but to buy an el-cheapo replacement.<br />
Cheap is relative so for P1,999 I bought<br />
myself the JBL Tune110BT which, to my<br />
consternation, I found available at Lazada<br />
about P400 cheaper. I was not disappointed<br />
though as the little in-ear buds sounded<br />
big.<br />
Off the box, sans any break in, the JBL<br />
had the depth and punch bass heads crave<br />
for but without the congestion that muddy<br />
the midrange and overpower the highs. The<br />
sound is well-rounded and would do rock<br />
and even metal (think Korn or Systems of<br />
a Down) justice.<br />
It also has finesse even for chamber<br />
music and with the bass going down to<br />
about 24hz (it is rated at 20hz but it did<br />
not reach that low in my frequency sweep),<br />
you can play your Shostakovich and Bach<br />
and get plenty of goose bumps listening to<br />
pipe organ pieces.<br />
You can gallop through with the Light<br />
Cavalry and William Tell overtures and<br />
any of your favorite Telarc and Chesky<br />
recordings of full-orchestra spectaculars<br />
and the JBL will deliver oodles and oodles<br />
of fun.<br />
This is not to say though that I have no<br />
quibbles because there are some, including<br />
the too lengthy neck band that is about six<br />
inches longer than the crappy sounding<br />
(and more expensive at P3,600) Samsung<br />
Level Active Wireless earphones.<br />
Off the box, sans any break in,<br />
the JBL had the depth and punch<br />
bass heads crave but without the<br />
congestion that muddy the midrange<br />
and overpower the highs.<br />
Having been a fringe audiophile<br />
for most of my life, I can live with<br />
the longer band which hangs to your<br />
midriff when not in use. The magnets<br />
on each bud ensure they would stay<br />
together.<br />
For me, the JBL T110BT is all about the<br />
sound and that’s all that matters<br />
really when you have a Spotify<br />
Premium subscription. You can feed<br />
these buds any genre of<br />
music and you’ll be in, to<br />
borrow sports ed Aldrin<br />
Cardona’s descriptive,<br />
“sonic nirvana.”<br />
JBL is a brand that<br />
screams pro audio and<br />
rock stadium decibel-loud,<br />
chest-thumping bass.<br />
You’ll not get that here<br />
as for that you’ll need big,<br />
wired cans with matching<br />
top-notch headphone<br />
amplifications. But you’ll<br />
get enough bass as the<br />
packaging says, with the<br />
trademark JBL sound.<br />
My unit passed my<br />
bass frequency torture<br />
test and I detected no<br />
rattle or any physical<br />
anomalies with the<br />
drivers. So, is the JBL worth a<br />
listen? Yes, if you’re in the market for a<br />
good-sounding in-ear buds even if they feel<br />
unmistakably plastic.<br />
UNION Bank of the Philippines is spearheading capital engagement to better improve customer experience.<br />
We may not<br />
be the biggest<br />
bank now in<br />
terms of assets<br />
or number<br />
of branches,<br />
but with<br />
technology,<br />
we could be<br />
number one<br />
THE JBL<br />
Tune110BT.<br />
In digital arms race, UBP wins<br />
By Komfie Manalo<br />
Digital innovation is disrupting the banking industry, with<br />
technology playing an important role in optimizing consumer<br />
experience. In the digital arms race in the domestic banking sector,<br />
one company is staying ahead of the game by anticipating what’s<br />
next and taking bold steps to embrace what the future holds.<br />
“We want it to happen,” UnionBank of the Philippines (UBP)<br />
CEO and president Edwin Bautista told the Daily Tribune when<br />
asked to comment on studies showing all financial transactions<br />
in the Philippines will shift to digital by 2025.<br />
“We have prepared for it through careful<br />
planning and aggressively pursuing technological<br />
and digitalization programs in all our systems,”<br />
he added.<br />
And true enough, while almost all banks<br />
have focused their digitization by providing<br />
mobile functionality and online transactions,<br />
UBP anchored its digital transformation<br />
in establishing a robust architecture and<br />
infrastructure. The result is a complete<br />
digital organization that combines speed and<br />
convenience with human interactions and a<br />
unique business model that is changing the<br />
fundamentals of traditional banking.<br />
Artificial intelligence allows the bank to<br />
see granular cluster analysis to match<br />
an individual consumer product offering<br />
to the average for that consumer<br />
segment and use that data to cross-sell<br />
and strengthen relationships.<br />
UBP’s digital strategy is pillared on<br />
these four principles: Reinventing customer<br />
experience, leveraging the advantage of big<br />
data (artificial intelligence), creating a<br />
new business model and establishing a<br />
digitally-driven organization.<br />
Indeed, UBP is pioneering several<br />
initiatives that many of its much larger<br />
competitors are only starting to think of.<br />
The Aboitiz-led lender is the first to introduce<br />
BAUTISTA<br />
a face recognition technology platform that eliminates traditional<br />
passwords through its “Selfie Banking,” funded fintech (financial<br />
technology) sector, collaborated with rural banks with their i2i Project<br />
to enable connectivity and better financial services, used blockchain<br />
in its internal communications and even introduced the world’s first<br />
cryptocurrency ATM backed by a bank.<br />
“We may not be the biggest bank now in terms of assets or number<br />
of branches, but with technology, we could be number one. And even<br />
if full digitization of financial transactions does not happen, we can<br />
continue traditionally doing our business and still maintain UBP’s<br />
competitiveness,” Bautista described how the bank is positioning<br />
itself even with the uncertainties in the digital future.<br />
Customer experience<br />
According to Bautista, the customers are at the center of all the<br />
innovations UBP does. And this is evident on how the lender has<br />
reimagined and redefined its customer experiences with their<br />
digital initiatives.<br />
From manually mapping customer transactions, needs,<br />
purchases, advice and sales and administration, UBP is<br />
using big data or artificial intelligence to create a profile<br />
of each consumer’s journeys.<br />
Data analytics allow UBP’s relationship<br />
managers to choose which customer suits<br />
their expertise.<br />
Digitizing the customer journey not<br />
only saves money and free some bank for<br />
more critical functions like relationship<br />
building and cross-selling, streamlining<br />
the process makes their customers more<br />
satisfied because their needs are served<br />
from start to finish.<br />
Big data<br />
Using the big data or artificial<br />
intelligence, UBP has the<br />
advantage to identify business<br />
opportunities, better understand<br />
their consumers while reducing<br />
operational costs. Data mining<br />
allows the bank to better prospect<br />
and target clients.<br />
“In the old days, we analyze<br />
volumes of papers to understand the<br />
individual needs of our customers.<br />
But with data analytics, we now have<br />
a complete profile of our clients so<br />
we understand their requirement<br />
and we can provide them better<br />
services,” Bautista added.<br />
Data analytics allow UBP’s<br />
relationship managers to choose<br />
which customer suits their expertise<br />
based on the client’s demand and offer<br />
a tailored solution instead of suggesting<br />
a product that might not match.<br />
This means a relationship manager<br />
who is an expert in forex trading is<br />
partnered with a client who trades currencies or a commodities expert<br />
to a commodity trader and so forth.<br />
Artificial intelligence allows the bank to see granular cluster analysis<br />
to match an individual consumer product offering to the average for<br />
that consumer segment and use that data to cross-sell and strengthen<br />
relationships.<br />
The Ark experience<br />
Although digitization lessens the need for consumers to visit their<br />
branches, clients still prefer to be served the best of both worlds by<br />
interacting with an actual person for financial advice, while enjoying<br />
the speed and convenience of a digital experience.<br />
It is, for this reason, UnionBank launched The Ark, envisioned to be<br />
what bank branches will look in the future. The ARK hopes to win over<br />
a select clientele that is very comfortable with digital technology but still<br />
prefers the warmth of face-to-face transactions.<br />
Spend more<br />
to save more...memories<br />
SanDisk’s 1TB Card can be<br />
utilized as memory storage for<br />
various devices including mobile<br />
phones, digital cameras and<br />
even drones<br />
SANDISK is launching a flash card with 512 gigabytes of memory capacity.<br />
It’s still as small as a raisin but the memory it can<br />
house is unmistakably gargantuan.<br />
SanDisk, one of the most trusted technology<br />
brands in the world, has recently added one more<br />
product to its current roster: 1TB SanDisk Extreme.<br />
Now, you can capture and preserve memories as much<br />
as you want without having to fret about long transfer<br />
time or space restrictions.<br />
Compared to its competitor Micron which also<br />
introduced its C200 1TB MicroSD in the Mobile World<br />
Congress, what sets SanDisk’s 1TB flash card is its speed.<br />
Micron’s C200 1TB MicroSD has a 100 MB/s reading<br />
speed and a 95 MB/s for writing. While SanDisk’s 1TB<br />
MicroSD card has a write speed of 90 megabits per second<br />
and a 160 megabit per second for its read speed, making<br />
it the swiftest in the world yet.<br />
Although a majority of buyers are looking for a<br />
mobile device with high definition camera feature or<br />
long battery life, there are some who put a lot of weight<br />
on the memory capacity of their phone or a secure<br />
digital (SD) card.<br />
And here is SanDisk answering to that call.<br />
Aside from the large memory a 1TB MicroSD card<br />
can hold, SanDisk is also launching a flash card with 512<br />
gigabytes of memory capacity. These flashcards allow<br />
consumers to transfer and access files nearly half the<br />
times than the current memory cards in the market.<br />
Based on some expert’s standpoint, a 1TB SD card<br />
can hold up 183,104 photos with 16-megapixel captured<br />
using a Digital Single-Lens Reflex camera and up to<br />
18,304 compressed 16-megapixel images shot by the same<br />
camera model.<br />
SanDisk’s 1TB Card can be utilized as memory storage<br />
for various devices including mobile phones, digital<br />
cameras and even drones.<br />
Aside from the large memory a 1TB MicroSD card<br />
can hold, SanDisk is also launching a flash card<br />
with 512 gigabytes of memory capacity.<br />
1TB and<br />
512 GB<br />
cards will<br />
be made<br />
available to<br />
the market<br />
in April.<br />
Both of SanDisk’s ingenious 1TB and 512 GB memory<br />
cards will be made available to the market this April <strong>2019</strong><br />
and both are not pocket-friendly. With a price of $449.99<br />
and $199.99 respectively, consumers might have to<br />
spend more to save more.<br />
Gene Beatrice A. Micaller
12 TECHTALKS<br />
Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
By Gene Beatrice A. Micaller<br />
A group of Filipino innovators called Team it’s Now or<br />
Never (iNON) dominated the recent Space Apps challenge<br />
sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space<br />
Administration (NASA) with their ISDapp application<br />
that will benefit Filipino fisherfolks.<br />
Being an archipelago country, a majority of<br />
Filipinos rely on fisheries and aquaculture as<br />
their primary sources of livelihood and food.<br />
However, most of these fishermen belong to the<br />
segment which cannot or have limited access to<br />
the internet resulting in delayed or inadequate<br />
information on weather forecast that is crucial<br />
to their livelihood.<br />
Guide to preventing<br />
‘online epidemic’ Momo<br />
Bet you’ve heard of<br />
this internet figure that<br />
possesses wide eyes and<br />
a distorted cavernous mouth<br />
that’s taking everyone curious.<br />
Its name is Momo.<br />
Everyone’s asking, is it a hoax or not?<br />
But the question is not whether the<br />
story is true or not, but instead, it’s how<br />
their children.<br />
First on the list is to monitor your children’s online<br />
activities.<br />
In the Philippines where most of the internet users<br />
are young people, following this safety measure is vital<br />
in preventing Momo from entering and possibly breaking<br />
your child’s life.<br />
In recent posts, Department of Information and<br />
Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Eliseo Rio<br />
message from such account, do not click any malicious<br />
and suspicious link and immediately block it and report<br />
it to law enforcement agencies such as police and<br />
cybercrime board.<br />
Download applications and software only from<br />
trusted sources such as Google play store and Apple<br />
store app, and do not download third-party applications<br />
or those applications whose Android Package Kit (APK)<br />
you get from WhatsApp or any other source.<br />
to prevent this latest social media challenge stated the country do not have an effective law that can block<br />
from doing more harm before it’s too late. or regulate online platforms and applications, such as Facebook<br />
In the Philippines where most of the<br />
Momo, a creepy doll based from a sculptured and WhatsApp since its developers are situated abroad. internet users are young people, following<br />
artwork “Mother Bird” created by a Japanese special “The power to monitor, educate and empower the this safety measure is vital in preventing<br />
effects firm Link Factory, started making rounds on youth lies in the hands of parents and the rest of the Momo from entering and possibly breaking<br />
social media on 2016 and is making the public spooked and family,” the agency added.<br />
your child’s life.<br />
worried. Reports circulating online say that this horrifying<br />
character is targeting children and teenagers.<br />
And parents or guardians are the ones who feel more<br />
disturbed about this as the latest alleged victim is a three-year-old<br />
girl, Adaline Becerra.<br />
Experts advise the public, especially parents, that there are many<br />
effective ways to prevent Momo from having even a slight encounter with<br />
I.T. experts also advise the public to, as much as<br />
possible, connect only to private wi-fi and try avoiding<br />
browsing through public wi-fi. The momo challenge<br />
supposedly hacks someone’s device and scares them<br />
off by threatening to post their pictures and private<br />
information publicly.<br />
Furthermore, if you have received any form of a<br />
However, if your device has already been hacked<br />
and infiltrated, it is advised to reformat your system<br />
after backing up important storage and data.<br />
Some experts also suggest the public to cover-up<br />
cameras implanted on devices with stickers to prevent<br />
cyber-terrorists from infiltrating your device and taking<br />
photos of you impermissibly. Gene Beatrice A. Micaller<br />
Fishermen’s app triumph<br />
at NASA global tourney<br />
The interpreted data revolves around the<br />
weather and cloud coverage, the schedule of the sun’s<br />
rise and set, and the wind speed as well. These data will be sent as<br />
a short message service to a fisherman’s analog or digital phone.<br />
With these and the vision of helping and rebuilding Filipinos’ lives, Team iNON conceived ISDapp.<br />
To navigate ISDApp, a local government official has to download the app in his<br />
smartphone and enlist a specific fishing community in his locality.<br />
The next step, which is also the most pivotal one, will be the registration of each of<br />
the fisherman’s demographics and geographics starting with their name, age, birthdate,<br />
gender and address. In addition, the designated local official should also register the contact<br />
information of the fisherfolks. These fishermen will then be the community members the<br />
town official will watch over.<br />
On the more technical side, ISDapp will gather and transmit essential data from NASA<br />
and Weather Application Programming Interface (API) and decipher it for fishermen’s usage.<br />
The interpreted data revolves around the weather and cloud coverage, the schedule<br />
of the sun’s rise and set, and the wind speed as well. These data will be sent as a short<br />
message service (SMS) to a fisherman’s analog or digital phone.<br />
However, if a fisherman does not own any analog or smartphones, the town official has<br />
to disseminate the information manually most especially if the data is of significant impact<br />
to the community and the fishermen.<br />
US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim congratulates Philippine Team iNON for<br />
winning the NASA Space Apps Challenge Galactic Impact category. Team iNON members<br />
include (left-right): Matthew Concubierta, Revbrain Martin, Marie Jeddah Legaspi, and<br />
Julius Czar Torreda.<br />
US EMBASSY<br />
PLDT answers Digong’s scare<br />
“If you see corruption, tell me. Call 8888. Bong, add another trunk line. The present<br />
setup can’t accommodate all the calls. It’s always busy. Tell PLDT. If not, I’ll shut down<br />
their business.”<br />
This was what President Rodrigo Duterte threatened dominant telecommunication<br />
company PLDT (Philippine Long Distance Telephone) with during a campaign rally<br />
in Cebu recently.<br />
The 90-year-old company responded positively.<br />
Manny V. Pangilinan or more commonly known as MVP, in response to Duterte’s<br />
scare, said that they are “gonna put more lines than the 20 mandated in the contract<br />
with the government and we will man it ourselves.”<br />
MVP admitted that due to poor manning of the anti-graft and corruption hotline,<br />
the telco company has not been able to answer and address all the calls received.<br />
“We are responding to the President’s criticism,” the PLDT and MERALCO chief added.<br />
The business tycoon admitted the company’s shortcomings and also pleased that<br />
the President has gotten their attention.<br />
Despite the initial agreement that the telco<br />
company will only provide 20 lines in the 8888<br />
hotlines, Pangilinan said that they would<br />
augment the current roster of trunk lines in<br />
response to the clamor of the President and<br />
to accommodate more citizens’ needs. GAM<br />
PANGILINAN<br />
TESLA Model 3.<br />
Tencent restricts<br />
underage game<br />
players<br />
Chinese gaming giant Tencent has<br />
further tightened restrictions on underage<br />
game players by imposing a digital lock on<br />
logging onto some games.<br />
Players under 13 years old have to<br />
ask their guardians to unlock the game,<br />
the latest step from Tencent to avoid<br />
game addiction in children, the company<br />
announced Friday.<br />
The new restriction will be gradually<br />
piloted for the Chinese versions of its<br />
two popular games “Honor of Kings”<br />
and “PUBG Mobile” in 12 Chinese<br />
cities including Beijing, Chengdu and<br />
Changchun.<br />
The company has<br />
introduced a string of<br />
systems in the past two<br />
years to ensure that<br />
minors play games in<br />
a healthy manner.<br />
Tencent decided<br />
in 2017 that players<br />
under the age 12 could<br />
only play most of its<br />
games for one hour at<br />
most each day and are<br />
banned from playing<br />
from 9 p.m. in the day to<br />
8 a.m. the next morning.<br />
China is the world’s<br />
largest gaming market,<br />
with sales reaching<br />
214.44 billion yuan<br />
(about 32.01 billion<br />
U.S. dollars) last year,<br />
up 5.3 percent year on<br />
year, according to the<br />
China Game Publishers<br />
Association Publications<br />
Committee. Xinhua<br />
Technology has changed consumers’<br />
thinking and perception towards making<br />
purchases and transaction these days. And<br />
everyone’s going digital nowadays, from<br />
the business owners to the end consumers<br />
themselves.<br />
From booking flights, online shopping and<br />
ride-hailing apps are what drive consumers<br />
to go with digital wallet or go cashless when<br />
doing transactions. The main reasons? It’s<br />
convenient, fast and safe, some of the little<br />
luxuries paying with cash may sometimes<br />
can’t provide.<br />
GoDigital recently launched its OKTO<br />
series products that are designed to give<br />
customers a complete digital transaction<br />
experience. GoDigital introduced the OKTO<br />
Pay, OKTO Loyalty, and OKTO P.O.S.<br />
Started on 2016 composed mainly of<br />
gamers, GoDigital is now redefining the<br />
digital age with the vision of transforming<br />
and boosting the presence of SMEs in<br />
the country. But even with the presence<br />
of a lot of companies providing cashless<br />
transactions, the company still “don’t see<br />
anybody as competitor,” said Mark Joseph<br />
Gomez, the marketing director, during the<br />
press launch on Thursday.<br />
He explained, GoDigital focuses on their<br />
Tesla’s ‘mass market’<br />
$35k electric car ready<br />
Tesla said Thursday its Model 3 — heralded as an electric<br />
car for the masses — is available for order online only, at<br />
a price of $35,000 with delivery promised within a month.<br />
The announcement fulfills a vision of Tesla founder and<br />
chief Elon Musk, who has touted a more affordable electric<br />
car as part of his vision of weaning drivers from gasolinepowered<br />
vehicles.<br />
The Model 3 was to be priced at $35,000 when Tesla first<br />
began taking orders in 2016, but the cheapest version before<br />
today was about $10,000 more expensive despite price cuts<br />
that followed reductions in the US federal tax credit for vehicles<br />
not burning fossil fuels.<br />
Musk described the Model 3 early on as “the final step in the master plan: a<br />
mass market, affordable car.”<br />
Not long after Tesla was founded in 20<strong>03</strong>, Musk said the plan was to use money from<br />
high-end electric vehicles to create more affordable offerings to make the technology the<br />
new automotive norm.<br />
As it launched its least expensive Tesla, the company said it would sell only via the internet.<br />
“To achieve these prices while remaining financially sustainable, Tesla is shifting sales<br />
worldwide to online only,” Tesla said in a statement.<br />
The “standard” Model 3 has a smaller range before recharging, of 220 miles (350 kilometers).<br />
Its specifications include a top speed of 130 miles per hour (208 kilometers per hour)<br />
and 0-60 mph acceleration of 5.6 seconds.<br />
Not long after Tesla was founded in 20<strong>03</strong>, Musk said the plan was to<br />
use money from high-end electric vehicles to create more affordable<br />
offerings to make the technology the new automotive norm.<br />
“It is built to achieve the same perfect 5-star safety rating as the longer-ranged version,”<br />
Tesla said.<br />
Tesla also introduced a Model 3 Standard Range Plus, which offers 240 miles of range,<br />
a more powerful drivetrain and premium interior features at a price of $37,000.<br />
Under pressure<br />
Tesla shares that closed the formal trading day up slightly slid three percent to $310.20<br />
in after-market trades that followed release of the news.<br />
“The bears will focus on this news as a sign that lower profitability and demand are<br />
catalyzing this move and strategic pivot, which we strongly disagree with,” Wedbush analyst<br />
Daniel Ives said in a note about Tesla to investors.<br />
“We believe this strategic shift was the right move at the right time for Tesla, although<br />
the stock will be a ‘prove me’ name for the next 6-9 months.”<br />
Tesla has been under pressure to increase production to show it can operate profitably<br />
and at the kind of scale needed to be considered a major auto company.<br />
While reaching the final step of his “master plan” with the Model 3, a standoff between<br />
US stock regulators and the flamboyant Musk has taken a dramatic turn over a tweet that<br />
could cost the entrepreneur his job at Tesla.<br />
AFP<br />
YOUNG Chinese gamers play Tencent's hugely popular mobile game Honour of Kings.<br />
GoDigital activates its OKTO series<br />
advantages, customization and robustness.<br />
For the benefits of both businesses and<br />
consumers, OKTO Pay provides cash-free<br />
transactions with the help of a user-friendly<br />
digital wallet. Through navigating the<br />
application, a consumer can, without an<br />
ounce of hassle, pay bills, purchase e-pins<br />
or even buy cellular loads.<br />
Wanting to disrupt the industry, GoDigital<br />
made the OKTO Pay available to the market<br />
without having them maintain a certain<br />
amount of balance.<br />
Gene Beatrice A. Micaller
Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
LIVING SPACES<br />
13<br />
No traffic<br />
A TRENDY bar makes coffee breaks more fun.<br />
By Kathleen A. Llemit<br />
With traffic proving more difficult for motorists to cruise<br />
past Manila’s main thoroughfares and inner streets easily,<br />
more and more companies are searching for ways to efficiently<br />
run their business and, in the process, save on potential losses.<br />
The Japan International Cooperation Agency revealed<br />
in February 2018 that the Philippines is losing P3.5 billion a<br />
day due to traffic congestion in Manila. This definitely does<br />
not bode well for many businesses, more so for startups and<br />
MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises).<br />
The past years have seen shared spaces sprouting up<br />
within and in the outskirts of the central business districts<br />
in Makati, Ortigas and Bonifacio Global City (BGC).<br />
Recently, a global brand opened its first location at BGC<br />
in the city of Taguig. WeWork occupies the ninth and 10th<br />
floors of the Uptown Bonifacio Tower Three Building. It<br />
is an American company headquartered in New York City<br />
that offers shared work spaces and services for startups,<br />
freelancers, small and large businesses. It was founded in 2010<br />
by Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey and currently has<br />
425 locations in 100 cities in North America, South America,<br />
Africa, Europe and Asia.<br />
The new Manila offices bear the same aesthetic as all<br />
WeWork spaces — work stations that are splashed with pops<br />
of color and amenities that make work more fun. Juxtaposed<br />
with vibrantly colored conference rooms and private work<br />
spaces are game rooms with a table-top football and table<br />
tennis; a karaoke room and a whimsical garden overlooking<br />
the towers of BGC.<br />
Co-working and shared spaces have become<br />
the norm in recent years driven mostly by the<br />
worsening traffic (in some locations such as the<br />
Philippines) or the behavior of the majority of the<br />
workforce, which are the millennials.<br />
The latter features a mural by Filipino artist Bitto of<br />
artificial turf mounds and planters and a swing at one corner.<br />
To pay homage to its Filipino host, the BGC space has a<br />
neon sign at the 10th floor inspired by Filipino boxing icon<br />
Manny Pacquiao. Another sign is inspired by the popular<br />
Pinoy dessert, halo-halo (ice shaved dessert with bits of red<br />
beans, jellies at the bottom and topped with ice cream and<br />
leche flan).<br />
Growing business<br />
WeWork thrives on collaboration. Globally, it has 400,000<br />
members, 13,000 of which are enterprise member companies<br />
(businesses with 1,000 employees around the world). In Southeast<br />
Asia, it has grown to 13,000 after opening locations in Ho Chi<br />
Minh and Kuala Lumpur last year and in February in Manila<br />
with 800 members.<br />
Co-working and shared spaces have become the norm in<br />
recent years driven mostly by the worsening traffic (in some<br />
locations such as the Philippines) or the behavior of the majority<br />
of the workforce, which are the millennials.<br />
Many studies have found out that millennials, in particular,<br />
prefer co-working or shared spaces that cater to their need for<br />
work-life integration, a concept that tries to marry work and<br />
well-being in one space. Thus, most co-working or shared spaces<br />
appear as a more casual set-up than the traditional look of<br />
COLORFUL and relaxing lounges near the work spaces.<br />
Its report<br />
updated as of<br />
February <strong>2019</strong><br />
indicated that<br />
an average<br />
four-person<br />
company saved<br />
up to $18,000<br />
on average on<br />
rent, fit-out<br />
costs and<br />
broker and<br />
agent fees<br />
for an office<br />
space of 600<br />
square feet<br />
FUN time with<br />
table tennis and<br />
table top football.<br />
DE-STRESS at the indoor garden overlooking the city.<br />
modular and structured offices.<br />
But beyond the “more fun” look of these work spaces is the<br />
positive impact it gives to startups such as Klook Philippines<br />
and Edukasyon.ph.<br />
Beyond the hip and cool setup, WeWork, like similar<br />
companies, provides not just space but solutions for smaller<br />
businesses. Aside from the physical work spaces, it has a digital<br />
environment, accessible through an app, that not only answer<br />
to member inquiries and benefits but also helps link companies<br />
with fellow-member companies for potential collaborations.<br />
“Klook offerings are about in 20 countries worldwide and<br />
out of these, five are set up in WeWork locations with Manila<br />
as its newest addition. As a very cross-functioning structured<br />
company, we work closely with our colleagues from Singapore,<br />
Indonesia, Bangkok. As a travel company, we also empower our<br />
colleagues to see the world and it happens in other locations of<br />
Klook. So we really saw the value of having a global access with<br />
WeWork locations around the world. We are really banking and<br />
benefitting from the global network of WeWork,” Michelle Cruz,<br />
market lead of Klook Philippines, said.<br />
She added that since signing up with WeWork, Klook<br />
Philippines has grown from five staff including herself a year<br />
ago to more than 40 at present.<br />
Similarly, Judge Calimbahin, the Chief of Strategy of<br />
Edukasyon, shared how the global network of WeWork enabled<br />
them not just to handle their operations smoothly but touch<br />
base with other companies that can help in their cause.<br />
Edukasyon is an online platform for the Filipino Gen Z that<br />
aims to empower its visitors to make informed decisions.<br />
“It has helped take care of our daily operations but at<br />
the same time create events; it also helped us reach out to<br />
clients that we would have never reached out to if we didn’t<br />
have a space like this,” Calimbahin said.<br />
WeWork shared how it has made an impact in the<br />
United States, with locations from coast to coast such as its<br />
headquarters in New York City, Tampa, Florida and California.<br />
Its report updated as of February <strong>2019</strong> indicated that an<br />
average four-person company saved up to $18,000 on average<br />
on rent, fit-out costs and broker and agent fees for an office<br />
space of 600 square feet.<br />
Its data also showed that WeWork is the largest private-sector<br />
employer in New York and 17th largest in Los Angeles. It generates<br />
$16.7 billion, or approximately 2 percent of New York’s total gross<br />
domestic product.<br />
These promising numbers are yet to be seen for the<br />
Philippine market but WeWork already has plans to open<br />
a business at the RCBC Plaza in Makati City by Q2 of <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
Each unit is thoughtfully designed for optimal<br />
space usage and outfitted with the features that<br />
matter most to professionals<br />
Young urban professionals on the hunt for a perfectly<br />
balanced life can now say goodbye to heavy traffic,<br />
lengthy commutes and long queues!<br />
A dynamic place has risen in Amorsolo Street in<br />
Makati City.<br />
Premier real estate developer Ayala Land is<br />
redefining the co-living trend in Metro Manila with the<br />
opening of The Flats. The 15-story building (right behind<br />
Makati Medical Center) features co-living spaces for<br />
lease designed to revolutionize the way young urban<br />
professionals rent in the city. It’s hip, trendy and,<br />
above all things, it is close to both work and places for<br />
recreation.<br />
The Flats Amorsolo is all about having the luxury of time<br />
as it eliminates<br />
the need to<br />
rush from<br />
home to office.<br />
It mixes all the<br />
elements that<br />
make work-life<br />
balance possible<br />
— accessibility<br />
to work and<br />
living close to<br />
commercial and<br />
leisure spots.<br />
It’s located<br />
within a five-minute walk to Ayala Avenue and near<br />
the Dela Rosa Walkway, as well as other shops that<br />
cater to everyone’s convenience. So, there is no need to<br />
endure heavy traffic or wait in long queues at bus and<br />
UV express terminals. Occupants are free to walk from<br />
their unit to their office without rushing.<br />
The Flats Amorsolo is a solution for on-the-go<br />
professionals who are challenged by long commutes<br />
and traffic jams every day. Being close to everything<br />
means more chances to rest and recharge, bond with<br />
friends or enjoy<br />
Makati’s vibrant<br />
entertainment and<br />
dining offers.<br />
The co-living<br />
units are available<br />
for a six-month<br />
minimum lease<br />
term. Up to a<br />
maximum of four<br />
occupants can share<br />
each space. Units<br />
for three occupants<br />
and two occupants<br />
per room are also<br />
offered. These<br />
units are perfect<br />
for longtime friends,<br />
officemates and<br />
ACCESSIBLE and functional, the loft room even professionals<br />
can be the pick for those who want their who want to meet<br />
desk just below their bed.<br />
new flat mates to<br />
grow their network.<br />
Each unit is thoughtfully designed for optimal space<br />
usage and outfitted with the features that matter most to<br />
professionals — built-in beds, built-in cabinets, individual<br />
desk spaces, air-conditioning, a kitchenette to prepare<br />
your meals and an en suite toilet and bath with shower.<br />
Ample security is guaranteed as each occupant is<br />
given an electronic key card. A lobby and reception area<br />
feature basic service shops to ensure that occupants<br />
enjoy day-to-day home conveniences. Parking may be leased<br />
separately.<br />
More of<br />
these spaces<br />
carrying the<br />
Ayala Land<br />
brand will be<br />
launched in the<br />
coming months.<br />
These will be<br />
situated in<br />
other areas<br />
of Makati<br />
and Bonifacio<br />
Global City<br />
where a huge<br />
chunk of young urban professionals work.<br />
Send an email to hello@theflats.com.ph or a text<br />
message to 0917-5118113 for reservations. For more<br />
information about The Flats Amorsolo, visit theflats.com.<br />
ph or follow their Facebook and Instagram accounts @<br />
theflatsamorsolo.<br />
THE distinguishable<br />
and vibrant facade<br />
of The Flats brings a<br />
youthful and fun take<br />
on co-living.<br />
INVITING and bright colors greet tenants<br />
passing by the hallways.<br />
WORK desks inside the bunk bed type room<br />
provide functionality and efficiency.
14<br />
LIVING SPACES<br />
Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
When Nico<br />
and Erwan came<br />
to work…and play<br />
The end-result was their own<br />
space that is devoid of the<br />
traditional look of office spaces<br />
By Kathleen A. Llemit<br />
Along Chino Roces Avenue, there stands an<br />
old, nondescript building that seems just to fade<br />
away in the city that houses many of the country’s<br />
businesses. Along the stretch of the former Pasong<br />
Tamo Avenue are warehouse stores, car showrooms<br />
and offices with signages that scream the type of<br />
business they do.<br />
Those who have been to one of its floors,<br />
however, know the surprising sight of an<br />
unconventional space.<br />
From the moment they step foot on the<br />
staircase leading to the upper floor of Hectare<br />
One, they realize it is not the regular office with<br />
modular cubicles enclosed in white-washed walls.<br />
Rather, it is a cross<br />
between agricultural and<br />
industrial space. The<br />
walls are splashed with a<br />
somber gray, the flooring is<br />
cement, and the fixtures and<br />
furniture bear the green,<br />
brown and gray colors.<br />
There are occasional pops<br />
of color like a screaming<br />
fuchsia-colored square stool<br />
in one of the lounges and<br />
red chairs along one of the<br />
hallways.<br />
Accents are also very<br />
telling of who inhabit the<br />
place. There’s Yoda’s famous<br />
line, “Do or do not. There is<br />
no try,” stenciled on a piece<br />
of plywood, hanging by the<br />
rest stop in between the<br />
staircases. And then there’s<br />
a framed, signed football kit of Leo Messi at one<br />
of the prominent corners.<br />
By the looks of the office, it is a space<br />
frequented by unconventional office workers.<br />
Hectare One is the office of businessman Nico<br />
Bolzico and restaurateur and YouTuber Erwan<br />
Heussaff. Initially made famous through their<br />
showbiz girlfriends and now spouses, Solenn<br />
Heussaff and Anne Curtis, respectively, the<br />
gentlemen have successfully carved their names<br />
outside of the shadow of the gorgeous women<br />
they love.<br />
The popular brothers-in-law share the space<br />
where they let their creative side merge with their<br />
business practice.<br />
Work-life integration<br />
Bolzico heads LM10 Corporation. He sits as the<br />
president and chief executive officer of a “group<br />
of companies diversified to focus on bringing<br />
solutions.”<br />
The companies are Precision Agriculture, which<br />
conducts feasibility studies for land development;<br />
GenEx Biotech Group, a subsidiary that brings<br />
“advanced livestock genetics” in the country;<br />
Advanced Protein, an animal protein rendering<br />
plant and VieNovo,<br />
a manufacturing<br />
company that produces<br />
all-natural animal<br />
feeds.<br />
COMMUNAL areas define co-working spaces such as this pantry-cum-dining area.<br />
ERWAN does his Fat Kid Inside vlogs in his studio kitchen.<br />
NICO loves bringing his and Solenn's dog Pochola to the office.<br />
Heussaff, meanwhile, is in the<br />
restaurant business. He has put up<br />
dining outlets around the metro but<br />
he is more popularly known as “The<br />
Fat Kid Inside.” He started out with<br />
his blog bearing the same name as<br />
his moniker. The blog and his YouTube<br />
channel, all bearing the same moniker,<br />
have a combined million views.<br />
Viewers go to his sites for his travels,<br />
and most especially his cooking videos,<br />
which are shot in his studio at Hectare<br />
One.<br />
Workplace aesthetic<br />
“Most of the companies here are<br />
under the agricultural or food sector<br />
or a little bit of both. The name<br />
Hectare One stands for any agricultural<br />
endeavor that starts with one hectare.<br />
That’s where you’re starting, you grow<br />
from. The idea was to try to get all those<br />
agricultural notes — the rough flooring,<br />
the cement kind of feel, the very somber<br />
colors, but adding natural woods and<br />
greenery to get a very organic feel,”<br />
began Heusaff.<br />
Deciding on how the place was<br />
going to look like was a complementary<br />
process for the duo. Bolzico, Erwan<br />
recalled, was more of the “big picture kind of guy,”<br />
while he was more into the details.<br />
“I think both personalities really complemented<br />
each other in terms of how we wanted to<br />
create a space. Nico just wanted<br />
everything open, if Nico had his way<br />
there would be no walls. And then he<br />
realized: ‘Shit, I need walls,’” he recalled.<br />
His partner-collaborator agreed<br />
and corrected him a bit. “Being<br />
brutally honest I think I knew what<br />
I wanted but, I didn’t know how to<br />
make it to a reality so I think Erwan<br />
understood that, understood me very<br />
well because I have no taste; he has<br />
a lot of taste and he understands more<br />
about architecture — he knows what<br />
this is about. I have no idea. So I think<br />
he is being a modest about his answer,<br />
about the whole look and feel. I just said I<br />
wanted agri; I wanted it planned and I want<br />
it to look cool. Those were my three things,”<br />
Bolzico said.<br />
Fortunately for them, they found Mundo<br />
Design and Build, a design firm and<br />
general contractor that specializes<br />
in the fit-out phase of design and<br />
construction.<br />
The end-result was their own space that<br />
is devoid of the traditional look of office<br />
spaces. Was it because they both belong to<br />
the millennial crowd, that generation that is<br />
changing the landscape of the workforce in<br />
terms of behavior and workplace aesthetic?<br />
“Well, I think our generation is one that<br />
is very active and wants to as much as<br />
possible integrate our professional life with<br />
our regular life so we need to build spaces<br />
that are comfortable enough for people who<br />
are OK extending working hours or feel<br />
comfortable working on corporate hours.<br />
And that’s what we’re trying to foster here<br />
in terms of the culture — come and go as<br />
you please as long as the work’s done on<br />
time. And we’re all about productivity and<br />
POPS of color abound in Hectare One.<br />
efficiency versus clocking in and out of space.<br />
So what we have here is a very soothing feel but<br />
at the same time it is very professional. It’s kind<br />
of working at home but not really because it has<br />
structure,” Erwan explained.<br />
Space that fits<br />
They may strike one as carefree dudes who<br />
occasionally appear as goofballs in some of the<br />
videos they created with their wives, but here<br />
they present another facet of their personas as<br />
businessmen.<br />
“Well I guess the public sees a very small<br />
fragment of our lives. You know we’re just anybody<br />
else but in terms of the personalities of how we<br />
are very carefree but when it comes to work, we’re<br />
very professional. This is why the space is built<br />
this way. We didn’t want something too clinical<br />
and sanitized. We wanted something that fits our<br />
personality,” Erwan said.<br />
His partner and collaborator, Nico, turned<br />
serious and agreed. “Regardless of how public<br />
we are, we are entrepreneurs. The life of an<br />
entrepreneur is a rollercoaster. I think that goes<br />
that way. We work a lot in terms of a new project,<br />
we develop a lot of new things. We don’t have 9-to-5<br />
jobs but we still kind of like to work all the time,<br />
some even on Saturdays and Sundays. And yeah<br />
the place reflects a little bit of that,” Nico ended.<br />
The edge of owning<br />
an office space<br />
For business owners, an office space which they can call their<br />
own signifies they have achieved a major corporate milestone.<br />
As an investor or entrepreneur, ownership enables them to capitalize<br />
on their assets, as opposed to merely being a tenant. Ownership of an<br />
office space affords them the freedom to fit out and customize their<br />
unit’s amenities, depending on their business operation’s needs and<br />
specifications. Ownership also offers long-term financial advantages<br />
and investment potentials, including tax savings and better cash flow<br />
management.<br />
With a long-term fixed-rate mortgage, they can anticipate their<br />
monthly expenditures without fear of annual rent increases or,<br />
worse, lease expiration.<br />
The 32-story Parkway Corporate Center is now opening its doors<br />
to investors who want to give their businesses the singular advantage<br />
of occupying a corporate space in an intelligent, green-oriented<br />
building at Filinvest City in Alabang.<br />
Parkway Corporate Center’s building features and amenities<br />
are bound to attract top tenants. Business owners can acquire an<br />
office unit at a low cost. Typically, one can also demand higher<br />
rent that creates increased profits. And as landbank options in<br />
major central business districts (CBD) decrease and with the<br />
shortage of office spaces in Metro Manila, capital values and<br />
rents are experiencing an upsurge, with multinational tenants<br />
seeking longer lease terms for up to five to 10 years, allowing<br />
for longevity of guaranteed income and the assurance of steady<br />
and continuous returns.<br />
The building employs intelligent space planning with flexible<br />
and combinable office units averaging 36 square meters. Whole<br />
floor options for larger companies are also available.<br />
Modern building facilities include six high-speed elevators,<br />
24-hour security with CCTV cameras in strategic areas, 100<br />
percent back-up power and advanced fiber optic backbone. Other<br />
amenities include an elegant main lobby, a retail plaza at the<br />
ground floor, a fully-equipped business center for meetings and<br />
other small business functions, podium deck garden, balconies<br />
on every five levels, plus eight levels of secured parking.<br />
In keeping with Parkway Corporate Center’s green orientation,<br />
its glass curtain wall is double-glazed with a low e-coating to<br />
reduce heat and UV (ultra-violet) radiation, reducing cost while<br />
raising energy efficiency and sustainability.<br />
Filinvest City is a prime and strategic setting where a full<br />
spectrum of offerings — from premium lifestyle and retail facilities<br />
to one-of-a-kind residential concepts — are found for a genuine<br />
work-live-play environment.<br />
Enjoy greater accessibility as Filinvest City has an efficient<br />
public transportation hub South Station and easily connects to<br />
the north and CALABARZON area through Skyway, South Luzon<br />
Expressway and Daang Hari Road. Ninoy Aquino International<br />
Airport is just 10 kilometers away.<br />
For more information, call (02) 809-6517 or visit www.<br />
parkwaycorporate.com.<br />
ARTIST’S perspective of Parkway Corporate Center’s combinable office<br />
units averaging 36 square meters.<br />
DOT PROPERTY<br />
PHILIPPINES AWARDS<br />
2018<br />
LAROSA CAPITOL HILLS<br />
BY PRIMEHOMES<br />
BEST RESIDENTIAL<br />
BOTANICAL DEVELOPMENT<br />
www.dotpropertyawards.com
Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
BLAST<br />
15<br />
POCKET ROCKET<br />
The manual transmission version of the<br />
<strong>2019</strong> Suzuki Swift subcompact hatch is a<br />
pocket rocket.<br />
That is because a 1,200 cc engine, slightly below<br />
870 kg of kerb weight, a stance reminiscent of a MINI<br />
Cooper and a stick shift make for thrills both forward<br />
and sideways.<br />
Going northward needs some skill in throttle moderation<br />
but there is always a positive response. You can’t let go of<br />
the gas and jump on it again, as there’s little to nil northward<br />
reaction. In fact, a notch or two after 2,500 rpm in second gear<br />
displays noticeable torque. If you want to make the car lively for<br />
long periods, don’t let the revs drop below 3,000 rpm. Just make sure<br />
that you’re in second gear as the ratio is somewhat tall. Short shifting<br />
to third gear drops the revs significantly as third gear feels like a mere<br />
bridge to fourth and fifth gears.<br />
If there is one quirk with the Swift’s stick shift, it’s the clutch pedal.<br />
The release point is high, which can be frustrating for those just learning to<br />
live with a manual transmission (M/T). Fortunately the leftmost pedal feel offers little<br />
resistance and the M/T stick has short throws. The shifter itself is a godsend when rifling<br />
thru the M/T slots on mountain passes, since your right wrist is void of tension on every row.<br />
A 1.2L straight four, slightly below 870 kg of kerb weight and a stick shift make<br />
for thrills both forward and sideways.<br />
The throttle and brake pedals are close to each other, which is great for heel-and-toe action. This movement<br />
requires you to step on the brake, your right heel hits the gas pedal in a manner that keeps the revs high and then<br />
going down a gear or two, in order for the engine speed to match the car’s speed. That way the transmission prevents<br />
itself from shift shock, thus prolonging its useable life.<br />
The Swift line is known for its handling. The <strong>2019</strong> Swift is no different, but this time toting 1,520 mm front and rear treads and<br />
Bridgestone Ecopia EP150 185/55R16 series rubber. The wide tire print and lateral distance between wheels make for supreme<br />
confidence going in and out of slow turns up to 80-90 kph. Surprisingly, even with the rim-and-tire combo, the ride is firm<br />
bordering on hard. Further, the dampers do a great job of absorbing most noise, vibration and harshness, helped a lot by the<br />
fabric seats. The steering has a light feel yet sharp on feedback. No need to make little corrections on sweeping decreasing<br />
radius turns as the front end rapidly follows the direction of the steering wheel.<br />
The Swift’s safety aspect can be a love-hate matter. The stoppers have strong grip, with just a simple middle pedal prod<br />
making the hatch display pitch at the first bite of the calipers. However, the rear brakes are drums. This means that on<br />
heavy deceleration, there are occasions when the rear end fishtails. Adding to this issue is the lack of stability control,<br />
which means your skill behind the wheel is what will save you and the Swift from a disastrous prang. It’s a fun car for<br />
the experienced performance driver, but for a newbie just getting used to driving an M/T, it’s best not to go flat out.<br />
Lights-wise, the daytime running lights are bright enough to replace the park lights and headlights at dawn or dusk.<br />
Just because the stick shift Swift is a speedster doesn’t mean that it can’t be comfortable. The fabric seats have a<br />
sofa-like thickness to them and allows any non-driver to get sleep on long trips. The front seats have pronounced bolsters<br />
similar to racing seats and help keep hips in place during cornering. The in-car infotainment has satellite navigation,<br />
a USB port and an auxiliary input jack, Bluetooth connectivity (including playing music via one’s smartphone) and<br />
steering wheel controls at the nine o’clock side. The airconditioning is cold, even at the blower one setting and the<br />
temperature at close to maximum level. There are eight cupholders, including one for each door and two within the<br />
rear backrest divider. The rear backrest doesn’t fold flush with the cargo bay but has Isofix latches to mount a child<br />
car seat or two. Last, the cargo hold can fit a balikbayan box and two to three medium travel backpacks, with the rear<br />
backrests upright and sans tonneau cover.<br />
The stick shift version of the <strong>2019</strong> Suzuki Swift may have some braking and secondary safety system issues but the forward<br />
motion, lateral behavior and cabin comforts make the hatchback a potential performance platform.<br />
JPM<br />
SPECIFICATIONS<br />
Vehicle: Suzuki Swift M/T (<strong>2019</strong>)<br />
Type: Subcompact passenger car (five door hatchback)<br />
Engine type: K12M DOHC 16-valve 1.2L inline four cylinder gasoline (73.0 mm bore x 71.5<br />
mm stroke, 11.0:1 compression ratio), naturally aspirated<br />
Transmission: Five speed manual, front wheel drive<br />
Price as tested: P755,000<br />
THE low ground clearance and overall<br />
design is similar to the current MINI<br />
Cooper line.<br />
Although<br />
the team refuses to admit<br />
it, timesheets and rivals deemed that Ferrari’s<br />
SF90 F1 car was the quickest in Barcelona circuit<br />
winter testing.<br />
At the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona,<br />
Spain, lead Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel topped<br />
the timesheets with a 1:18:161 lap, running 160<br />
laps or the equivalent of two-and-a-half Grands<br />
Prix distances. The German did most of his<br />
driving and data logging in the morning sessions,<br />
using the harder Pirelli Compound 3 tires.<br />
Second overall during the Barcelona winter<br />
testing was Vettel’s teammate Charles Leclerc.<br />
The Monaco resident posted a 1:18:247 and<br />
running three less laps than his teammate on<br />
the same Compound 3 rubber. Leclerc, however,<br />
was quick to downplay an alleged struggle to<br />
adapt himself to the SF90 after spending the<br />
previous F1 season with Sauber.<br />
“It’s a different position where I am now. Last<br />
year, (during winter testing), I was coming from<br />
Formula 2, so the step was big. Now it’s from one<br />
F1 car to another, so obviously the step is smaller.<br />
But I got used to it very quickly, (as I) already feel<br />
quite at ease with (the SF90). The car is quite easy<br />
to drive now,” said Leclerc in a statement to the<br />
Federation Internationale de l’Automobile or FIA.<br />
Ferrari was the fastest in F1 winter<br />
testing, with lead driver Seb Vettel<br />
posting a timesheet-topping 1:18:161.<br />
Alexander<br />
Albon ran a 1:19:301 and some 100-odd<br />
laps before spinning out. New Renault driver<br />
Daniel Ricciardo sped up to 1:19:886 and was<br />
well on his way to his 29th lap before the rear<br />
wing snapped and broke on his RS19. Red Bull<br />
racer Pierre Gasly (fastest time: 1:19:814) was<br />
getting close to a century of laps logged before<br />
he lost control of his RB15 and smacked the<br />
Turn 12 barriers.<br />
Defending F1 driver’s champ Lewis Hamilton<br />
and Mercedes F1 teammate Valtteri Bottas were<br />
content to just log testing laps. The Brit ran just<br />
74 laps and notched a fastest time of 1:19:928.<br />
On the other hand, Bottas and his W10 <strong>2019</strong> ran<br />
20 more laps than his teammate and was faster<br />
on a single lap (1:19:535). Bottas acknowledged<br />
during a late February event with Mercedes F1<br />
sponsor Petronas in Italy that the SF90 was<br />
fast during the Circuit de Catalunya tests, but<br />
maintained that it was too early to tell as to<br />
who will be this season’s pecking order. “The<br />
in-season development will be what decides who<br />
wins. Obviously it’s impossible to make detailed<br />
calculations, but we can’t rely on upgrades all<br />
the time. We do need to try and make (the W10<br />
<strong>2019</strong>) better and quicker.”<br />
Third overall during testing was McLaren<br />
F1 rookie Lando Norris. The F1 newbie logged<br />
a fastest time of 1:18:553 and ran 104 laps on<br />
the softer Pirelli Compound 2.<br />
The rest of the field were in the<br />
1:19 level, but there were some<br />
dramatic moments. Toro<br />
Rosso F1 rookie<br />
driver<br />
PRETTY much you<br />
could see Ferrari’s<br />
SF90 at the top of the<br />
testing leaderboard at<br />
Barcelona’s Circuit de<br />
Catalunya.
16<br />
BLAST<br />
Jude Morte, Editor<br />
Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
In a crowded compact sport-ute arena, the Hyundai Tucson is very<br />
much a topflight option.<br />
That’s because even with a minor change for the <strong>2019</strong> model year, the<br />
compact sport utility vehicle (SUV) can make any occupant extremely happy.<br />
What will most certainly appeal to the future Tucson driver-owner is the<br />
cabin, which sports a bevy of changes. The biggest upgrade, obviously, is the in-car<br />
infotainment or ICI. Now sporting Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, the ICI allows<br />
one to access his or her smartphone’s favorite apps and use them via the eight-inch ICI<br />
touchscreen atop the middle airconditioning vents. Even realtime satellite navigational<br />
apps such as Waze and Google Maps can be utilized on the head unit, very much helpful<br />
when you’re in a hurry and you need to avoid traffic slowdown areas during rush hour.<br />
Improved in-car infotainment and driving dynamics make the <strong>2019</strong><br />
Hyundai Tucson a serious consideration when it comes to compact<br />
sport-utes.<br />
The core competency of any ICI is the ability to play audio and video tracks without signal<br />
interruption — a bugbear of playing music via an auto’s head unit Bluetooth function. With Android Auto and<br />
Apple CarPlay, there’s no tendency for an audio or video file to slow down or skip. Plus, the six-speaker setup<br />
ensures that even pre World War 2 hits such as Tommy Dorsey’s rendition of “Sleepy Lagoon” are broadcast loud<br />
and clear throughout the interior. Lest this writer forgets, the Bluetooth function is also helpful. That’s because the<br />
Tucson’s built-in mic has strong pickup and allows any front occupant to talk to another party without background noise.<br />
What made the Tucson a game-changer in its original 2016 form were compact SUV confines that can sit five average<br />
Filipinos comfortably AND their respective baggage. There are eight cupholders, including two within the rear backrest<br />
divider. The rear backrest now has Isofix latches to mount child car seats. The cargo bay proper, with the rear backrests<br />
upright, swallows a balikbayan box and a DHL Jumbo Box plus two large backpacks. Last, the rear backrests can fold flat<br />
and flush with the cargo hold to handle long or odd-shaped items — with those items held securely by your choice of rope and<br />
the Tucson’s tie-downs near the d-pillars.<br />
Hyundai retained the turbodiesel R 2.0L straight four under the hood, but added two more forward gears, turned the Tucson<br />
into front-wheel-drive and introduced a more responsive tri-level Drive Select mode (Eco, Normal and Sport). As a result, there’s<br />
noticeable engine pull in the default “(D)rive” setup and the Normal mode, some two to three notches after 1,500 rpm. By 2,000<br />
rpm, the turbo is beginning to spool and is wide awake by 2,500 rpm. But if you need serious highway overtaking, toggle the Drive<br />
Select mode to Sport, toss the automatic transmission or A/T to “D” and move it to the right for the manual mode. Doing the said<br />
process makes full boost arrive early, but make sure you don’t bounce off the rev limiter in second and third gear. That’s because<br />
the A/T’s second and third ratios are short, encouraging early upshifts to fourth up to sixth gear.<br />
With 7.0J x 18-inch rims and Nexen Npriz RH7 225/55 tires, the tire-to-road contact patch is wide enough for commitment<br />
to most slow corners. You can actually enter slow sweepers at 70-80 kph without the front end plowing. On the other hand, the<br />
ride comfort is firm but rarely hard. Steering is light but sharp, the latter providing transmitted feedback to the steering wheel<br />
on every lock-to-lock attempt.<br />
There are some changes to the SUV’s safety features. The electronic, lever-based parking brake behind the A/T is now<br />
a footbrake at the dead pedal side of the cockpit, the footbrake displaying decent to good bite. Only the rear bumper has<br />
parking sensors, but long backing and parallel parking are aided by a reverse gear-activated camera and a color-coded guide.<br />
The lattermost feature depicts in real time where the rear end will move, based on steering wheel direction. Just about the<br />
only disappointment in this regard was the lack of a rear view mirror dimming feature, which can cut down on glare from<br />
headlights behind the Tucson.<br />
Improved in-car infotainment and driving dynamics make the <strong>2019</strong> Hyundai Tucson a serious consideration when it<br />
comes to compact sport-utes.<br />
JPM<br />
SPECIFICATIONS<br />
Vehicle: Hyundai Tucson 2.0 CRDi GLS 8AT 2WD FL<br />
Type: Compact sport utility vehicle<br />
Engine type: Hyundai R 2.0L inline four cylinder diesel (182 hp / 402 NM),<br />
with common rail direct injection, variable geometry turbocharger with<br />
elecronic boost control and front mount intercooler<br />
Transmission: Eight speed automatic (with Drive Select<br />
mode and manual mode), front wheel drive<br />
Price as tested: P1.835 million<br />
CONTENDER<br />
EVEN NOW<br />
THE <strong>2019</strong> Tucson is still<br />
a looker in the exterior<br />
department.<br />
Toyota admits that the RAV4 sport-ute is a niche product but<br />
the Japanese automaker insists that the auto is very much part of<br />
their <strong>2019</strong> sales and growth plans.<br />
In fact, Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (tmpc) first vice president<br />
(brand and product planning cluster) Maria Cristina Arevalo was keen<br />
on making the RAV4 brand a positively noisy one for <strong>2019</strong>. “The RAV4 has<br />
always been a crossover SUV, always meant as a youth-oriented brand since<br />
its 1996 introduction here. The RAV4’s market is a niche market, (but it’s) quite<br />
significant. It’s classified per what we call the SUV-low segment, (competing) with<br />
the likes of the Subaru Forester and Honda CR-V. If we can sell more than 1,000 units<br />
per year, that’s still a good (performance).”<br />
TMPC first vice president (brand<br />
and product planning cluster)<br />
Maria Cristina Arevalo hopes<br />
the RAV4 sells more than 1,000<br />
units per year.<br />
The RAV4 has always been a crossover SUV, always meant<br />
as a youth-oriented brand since its 1996 introduction.<br />
Arevalo was confident about the fifth generation RAV4’s prospects, as she toted the previous<br />
model as a reference point. “The (fourth generation RAV4), when it was introduced, hit more than 100<br />
units per month. But then, through the years, based on natural model life cycles, sales goes down — the<br />
lowest being the last year before the next full model change. That’s because aside from the interest, the<br />
supply also is limited (during) the product’s last year.”<br />
Toyota stoutly maintains that although the RAV4 and the current Camry executive saloon have more or less<br />
the same price points, they are definitely different brands. To wit, the Camry’s prices are at P1.95 million (2.5G<br />
A/T) and P1.992 million (2.5V A/T), with an additional P15,000 for the white pearl exterior color. In contrast, the<br />
newly-launched RAV4’s prices are P1.638 million (2.5 LE), P1.87 million (2.5 XLE) and P2.188 million (2.5 LTD), with<br />
an extra P15,000 needed for those availing of the white pearl outside paint job. “The customer profile of the RAV4<br />
is different from the Camry. The RAV4’s target buyers are married males, usually in their mid-30 to early 40 and those<br />
who want to drive the unit themselves. The Camry’s target buyers are customers who are in the early 40-50 age group,<br />
executives use it and is chaffeur-driven.”<br />
Part of Toyota’s plans for the RAV4’s growth as a brand is to make it a top-of-mind choice when it comes to sport<br />
utility vehicles. RAV4 chief engineer Yoshikazu Saeki claimed that the RAV4 has a bevy of safety features stemming from<br />
the sport-ute being part of the Toyota New Global Architecture K platform shared with the US-market only Avalon and<br />
the Camry. These include raised longitudinal side beams, a trailing wishbone multi-link rear suspension, a lowered<br />
beltline, thinner a-pillars (the vertical columns of steel that hold the front windshield in place, so-called becuase they<br />
look like an upright “A” when a car is viewed straight at the front) and a unitized chassis that’s 57 percent more rigid<br />
than its precursor.<br />
An emphasis on secondary safety systems, in particular for the top end 2.5 LTD, was also part of the global mandate<br />
for the fifth generation sport-ute. The parking brake is now a button at the left side of the A/T. It also has a hill hold<br />
function that prevents the RAV4 from rolling downwards, should the unit be on an incline and the slushbox is being<br />
moved from Neutral to Drive. Seven airbags wrap around the cabin, including two curtain airbags for rear occupants.<br />
The rear view mirror has an anti-glare function that cuts down on the light beams from vehicles behind the vehicle.<br />
Last, the 2.5 LTD has sensors within both front and rear bumpers, plus a reverse gear-activated camera and<br />
viewing via the head unit to aid in parallel parking and long backing. “All these safety features are<br />
part of Toyota’s global direction to become safety leaders, if not the pioneers of safety for<br />
the brand. Whether or not these safety features make it to (lower-priced models) is<br />
still being studied,” tmpc assistant vice president<br />
(product planning and pricing) Nico<br />
Bravante said. JPM<br />
THINNER a-pillars, raised longitudinal side<br />
beams and a lowered beltline are part of<br />
the SUV’s safety benefits under the Toyota<br />
New Global Architecture K platform.<br />
Niche,<br />
but still a<br />
priority
KINGS<br />
GUN 3RD<br />
STRAIGHT<br />
P18<br />
LOYALTY<br />
COMES<br />
FIRST<br />
— XI<br />
P20<br />
FLOWER<br />
WOWER<br />
P22<br />
JAPAN’S<br />
SWEET BUN<br />
NOW IN<br />
MANILA<br />
P24<br />
Aldrin Cardona, Editor<br />
Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
SUNDAY<br />
SPORTS 17<br />
KAWHI NAILS GAME-WINNER<br />
Trained to perfection<br />
TORONTO Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard attacks the basket during the second half of an NBA<br />
basketball game against the Portland Trailblazers at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada. AP<br />
It’s been an amazing ride<br />
CLEVELAND — Cavaliers veteran forward<br />
Channing Frye says he plans to retire at the<br />
end of this season.<br />
The 35-year-old made the announcement<br />
Friday on Twitter, saying: “It’s been an amazing<br />
FRYE<br />
Frye bids goodbye<br />
ride. I’ve had the chance to have some amazing<br />
teammates and play for some great coaches. I’m<br />
gonna miss it but I’m super excited to see the<br />
other side of the fence!”<br />
Frye is in his 13th NBA season. He’s in his<br />
second stint with Cleveland after being traded<br />
last season.<br />
One of the team’s most likable players,<br />
Frye has become a<br />
fan favorite because<br />
of his enthusiasm and<br />
leadership.<br />
Frye, who played<br />
on Cleveland’s NBA<br />
title team in 2016,<br />
signed with the Cavs<br />
this season to serve<br />
in a mentor’s role for<br />
the team’s younger<br />
players.<br />
He’s averaging just<br />
3.3 points and 9.5<br />
minutes.<br />
Frye was the no.<br />
8 overall pick by the<br />
New York Knicks in<br />
2005. He also played<br />
for Portland, Phoenix<br />
and Orlando. AFP<br />
We just practiced that exact scenario yesterday<br />
TORONTO — One day after the Toronto Raptors practiced<br />
“game-winning shots,” Kawhi Leonard made one against the<br />
Portland Trail Blazers.<br />
Leonard scored the go-ahead basket with three seconds remaining<br />
and the Raptors held on to beat the Trail Blazers, 119-117, Friday night.<br />
Toronto won it when Leonard used a screen by Kyle Lowry to<br />
drive against Portland’s Damian Lillard, then rose over his smaller<br />
opponent for the decisive basket.<br />
“We just practiced that exact scenario yesterday,” Raptors coach<br />
Nick Nurse said. “It was great. Kyle sets a screen and we try to get<br />
the smaller guy so (Leonard) can just vault up over him and shoot.”<br />
Elsewhere, Hornets stung Nets, 123-112; Bulls survived Hawks, 168,<br />
161; Celtics nipped Bullets, 107-96; Pelicans soared over Suns, 130-116;<br />
Clippers crushed Kings, 116-109; and Bucks dominated Lakers, 131-120.<br />
Toronto had run the same play moments earlier with Lowry<br />
making a layup. When the play was called again, Leonard was more<br />
interested in keeping the ball himself.<br />
“I was looking to get baseline,” Leonard said. “That first time<br />
I had seen I could be a little bit more aggressive and that’s what<br />
I did the second time down.”<br />
Leonard scored 38 points and Lowry had 19 points and 10 assists<br />
as the Raptors won for the ninth time in 10 games. Toronto is an<br />
NBA-best 11-4 in games decided by three points or fewer.<br />
“Just staying composed and understanding that situations<br />
aren’t always going to be perfect,” Lowry said.<br />
Marc Gasol scored 19 points and Pascal Siakam had 16 for<br />
Toronto, which has won four straight home meetings with Portland<br />
and seven of the past eight overall.<br />
The ball hit every part of the rim.<br />
C.J. McCollum scored 35 points and matched a career best<br />
by making seven three-pointers, but it wasn’t enough to extend<br />
Portland’s season-best five-game winning streak.<br />
Lillard scored 24 points and Jake Layman had 13 as the Trail<br />
Blazers suffered their first lost after winning four straight to<br />
begin a seven-game trip.<br />
“Obviously, it’s disappointing to lose but I like the way we<br />
competed,” Portland coach Terry Stotts said.<br />
Ahead 93-84 to begin the fourth, the Raptors missed nine<br />
consecutive field goal attempts, allowing Portland to close to<br />
within one, 95-94, on a three-pointer by Lillard at 6:47.<br />
Leonard ended Toronto’s drought with a layup, but the<br />
Raptors couldn’t hold the lead and Lillard tied it 1<strong>03</strong>-all with<br />
another trey at 3:27.<br />
Lillard made another tying three with 13 seconds left, but<br />
Leonard won it with his baseline jumper.<br />
“The ball hit every part of the rim,” Lillard said. “That<br />
took time off. If it had gone straight in, it almost would have<br />
been better.”<br />
By the time Portland inbounded the ball, there was barely<br />
enough time for a full-court heave.<br />
The Raptors connected on 11 of 17 shots in the first quarter<br />
and led, 31-24, after one.<br />
AP<br />
Spurs part with Pau<br />
Pau Gasol is an exceptional<br />
individual and the ultimate<br />
professional<br />
SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs<br />
announced a buyout agreement with Pau<br />
Gasol on Friday, allowing the veteran center<br />
to become playoff-eligible with another team.<br />
Gasol has been used sparingly by the<br />
Spurs of late, appearing in only two of their<br />
last seven games and his playing time has<br />
dropped this season to just over 12 minutes<br />
per game.<br />
“Pau Gasol is an exceptional individual<br />
and the ultimate professional,” coach Gregg<br />
Popovich said.<br />
“We are grateful for his contributions<br />
on the court, in the locker room and in our<br />
community.”<br />
The Spaniard signed with<br />
the Spurs in July 2016 and<br />
appeared in a total of 168<br />
games with San Antonio,<br />
averaging 10.0 points, 7.4<br />
rebounds and 2.6 assists<br />
in 22.4 minutes.<br />
The 18-year NBA<br />
veteran and two-time<br />
champion is a six-time<br />
All-Star.<br />
In 1,223 career<br />
games, he averaged 17.1<br />
points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.2<br />
assists and 1.59 blocks in<br />
33.5 minutes. He is one of four<br />
players with over 20,000 points,<br />
11,000 rebounds, 3,500 assists and<br />
1,500 blocks in his career, along<br />
with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tim<br />
Duncan and Kevin Garnett. AP<br />
Friday’s Games<br />
(Saturday in Manila)<br />
Charlotte 123, Brooklyn 112<br />
Chicago 168, Atlanta 161, 4OT<br />
Boston 107, Washington 96<br />
Toronto 119, Portland 117<br />
New Orleans 130, Phoenix 116<br />
L.A. Clippers 116, Sacramento 109<br />
Milwaukee 131, Lakers 120<br />
EASTERN CONFERENCE<br />
Atlantic Division<br />
W L Pct GB<br />
Toronto 46 17 .730 —<br />
Philadelphia 40 22 .645 5½<br />
Boston 38 25 .6<strong>03</strong> 8<br />
Brooklyn 32 32 .500 14½<br />
New York 13 49 .210 32½<br />
Southeast Division<br />
Charlotte 29 33 .468 —<br />
Orlando 29 34 .460 ½<br />
Miami 27 34 .443 1½<br />
Washington 25 37 .4<strong>03</strong> 4<br />
Atlanta 21 42 .333 8½<br />
Central Division<br />
Milwaukee 48 14 .770 —<br />
Indiana 41 22 .651 7<br />
Detroit 29 31 .483 17½<br />
Chicago 18 45 .286 30<br />
Cleveland 15 47 .242 32½<br />
WESTERN CONFERENCE<br />
Southwest Division<br />
W L Pct GB<br />
Houston 37 25 .597 —<br />
San Antonio 34 29 .540 3½<br />
Dallas 27 34 .443 9½<br />
New Orleans 28 36 .438 10<br />
Memphis 24 39 .381 13½<br />
Northwest Division<br />
Denver 42 19 .689 —<br />
Oklahoma City 38 23 .623 4<br />
Portland 38 24 .613 4½<br />
Utah 35 26 .574 7<br />
Minnesota 29 33 .468 13½<br />
Pacific Division<br />
Golden State 43 19 .694 —<br />
L.A. Clippers 35 29 .547 9<br />
Sacramento 31 31 .500 12<br />
L.A. Lakers 30 32 .492 12½<br />
Phoenix 12 51 .190 31½<br />
Saturday’s Games<br />
(Sunday in Manila)<br />
Detroit at Cleveland<br />
Orlando at Indiana<br />
Brooklyn at Miami<br />
Golden State at Philadelphia<br />
Memphis at Dallas<br />
Oklahoma City at San Antonio<br />
L.A. Lakers at Phoenix<br />
Milwaukee at Utah<br />
New Orleans at Denver<br />
GASOL
18 SPORTS<br />
Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
ILONGGOS RULE BATANG PINOY<br />
Superb homestand<br />
This is good news for the city<br />
By Joel Orellana<br />
ILOILO CITY — The city known for its<br />
century-old churches and houses delivered a<br />
performance for the ages to claim its first overall<br />
crown in the Philippine Sports Commission’s<br />
Batang Pinoy Visayas leg here.<br />
With the Ilonggo athletes delivering in<br />
majority of the 20 events, the host city was<br />
declared the overall champion on Saturday of<br />
this weeklong event organized by PSC for the<br />
in-school and out-of-school children aged 15<br />
and below.<br />
“This is good news for the city. We’ve been<br />
preparing for this since December and we’re<br />
happy with the response not only by the players<br />
and coaches but also the parents as well,” said<br />
Iloilo City Youth and Sports Development Office<br />
Head Moises Salomon Jr.<br />
This was the city’s first overall title since<br />
joining the Visayas leg in 2012 and Salomon<br />
admitted it was not easy to accomplish the feat.<br />
“We only have 300 athletes while Cebu<br />
City and Cebu Province have more than 300.<br />
It’s really hard and our beloved mayor (Jose<br />
Espinosa III) was really happy with the results,”<br />
Salomon added.<br />
With a handful gold medals yet to be awarded<br />
on Saturday afternoon, Iloilo City was the<br />
runaway overall champion with 57 golds, 49<br />
silvers and 44 bronze medals to dethrone Cebu<br />
City, which settled for second position with a<br />
42-55-63 haul.<br />
Making it to the top 10 were Cebu Province<br />
(38-38-52), Negros Occidental (30-18-17), Lapu Lapu<br />
City (28-14-25), Bacolod City (23-27-35), Mandaue<br />
City (22-21-31), Dumaguete City (19-23-15) , Ormoc<br />
City (12-15-14) and Aklan Province (12-8-7).<br />
Fifty-eight out of the 71 local government<br />
units that participated in the Visayas leg won<br />
at least a bronze medal with Dumaguete City<br />
archer Naina Dominique Tagle winning the most<br />
number of gold medals with seven.<br />
Capping Iloilo City’s impressive showing<br />
here was its gold-medal performance in girls<br />
basketball after beating Cebu Province in a<br />
thrilling finals, 78-72, at the Iloilo Sports Complex<br />
covered court.<br />
“We did not expect this because we faced<br />
really strong teams here and it’s our first time to<br />
compete in this event,” said head coach Sharina<br />
Jane Padilla, whose squad was composed of seven<br />
players from Molo National High School.<br />
Iloilo City had to dethrone defending champion<br />
Cebu City, which settled for bronze medal, in the<br />
semis and got a big break in the end when Cebu<br />
ABEL Galliguez of Alaska and RJ Jazul of Phoenix clash for the loose ball during their Philippine Basketball Association Philippine<br />
Cup game late Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena. The Fuel Masters prevailed, 94-80, to gain outright playoff spot. ROMAN PROSPERO<br />
Province’s wonder girl Shan Andrea Señagan<br />
got injured in the final two minutes of the game.<br />
Señagan, a Grade 9 student at Samboan<br />
National High School and is already drawing<br />
interests from major colleges in Metro Manila<br />
like Adamson and Far Eastern University, almost<br />
singlehandedly carried her team to the gold<br />
but a collision with an Iloilo City player put her<br />
unconscious and did not return to the game.<br />
We only have 300 athletes while Cebu<br />
City and Cebu Province have more<br />
than 300.<br />
The host city also swept the three events in<br />
lawn tennis with golden performances in girls<br />
singles, doubles and team events while La Carlota<br />
won the same number events in the boys division.<br />
Iloilo City’s Alain Vincent Dominguez and<br />
Levee Marie Oliva pocketed the gold in the mixed<br />
doubles event of table tennis.<br />
Kimberly Colaste added one more gold for the<br />
host city after ruling the 12-under girls blitz chess<br />
event. The 11-year old Asean Youth campaigner<br />
earlier won the gold in the standard and rapid<br />
events.<br />
Cebu Province took the gold in boys baseball<br />
while Iloilo City and Dumaguete City settled<br />
for silver and bronze, respectively. Bacolod<br />
City won the softball girls gold, beating Cebu<br />
City which took the silver medal while Iloilo<br />
City had bronze.<br />
Kings gun 3rd straight<br />
We hope to ride on that winning streak against<br />
Alaska tonight<br />
By John Bryan Ulanday<br />
Ginebra seeks to stretch its winning streak to three games when it clashes<br />
with Alaska while quarterfinalist Rain or Shine zeroes in on a twice-to-beat<br />
playoff incentive versus Talk ‘N Text in the Philippine Basketball Association<br />
(PBA) Philippine Cup tonight at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo City.<br />
The main game is set at 6:45 p.m. with the streaking Kings looking to<br />
climb in the team standings against the Aces, who will be looking to bounce<br />
back from an 80-94 loss to Phoenix two days ago.<br />
Before that, playoff-bound Elasto Painters are out to move a step closer<br />
to securing one of the twice-to-beat advantages in the post-season against<br />
well-rested KaTropa in the first game at 4:30 p.m.<br />
Like other teams, Ginebra is coming off a long break since taking a huge<br />
85-67 win over Blackwater last 9 February in Digos City, Davao del Sur for<br />
its second straight victory.<br />
Ginebra head coach Tim Cone is confident that rust would not be a<br />
factor for his wards, who spent extended time in Digos City for team building<br />
before plunging back to action in Manila for continuous training these past<br />
two weeks.<br />
“We stayed for a couple of days in Digos and we had a team building<br />
there. It’s what we needed to re-energize our guys,” said Cone.<br />
“We kept working even during the break and we’ll keep working all<br />
the way through. We won a couple of games before the break so we don’t<br />
want to lose our momentum. We hope to ride on that winning streak<br />
against Alaska tonight.”<br />
UP cagers<br />
make impact<br />
After Javi Gomez de Liaño<br />
made a free throw, Ljay<br />
Gonzales missed the game-tying<br />
two, allowing UP to escape<br />
University of the Philippines<br />
made an early statement in its men’s<br />
championship title aspirations when<br />
it advanced to the Univeristy Athletic<br />
Association of the Philippines Season 81<br />
3x3 basketball tournament Saturday at<br />
the Ayala Malls Feliz in Pasig.<br />
Behind a killer roster of FIBA 3x3<br />
veterans Ricci Rivero and Juan Gomez<br />
de Liaño, together with Will Gozum<br />
and Javi Gomez de Liaño, the Fighting<br />
Maroons opened their campaign with a<br />
13-8 romp of National University before<br />
nipping defending champion Far Eastern<br />
University, 13-11.<br />
After Javi Gomez de Liaño made a<br />
free throw, Ljay Gonzales missed the<br />
game-tying two, allowing UP to escape<br />
with its second win.<br />
Wendel Comboy’s two-pointer gave<br />
the Tamaraws their first win at the<br />
expense of University of Santo Tomas,<br />
11-9, after the 10-minute contest ended<br />
in a 9-9 standoff.<br />
Comboy became the remaining<br />
member of last season’s champion team<br />
as Kenneth Tuffin was sidelined with<br />
an injury with Gonzales taking over<br />
his spot.<br />
Women’s titleholder National University,<br />
behind FIBA 3x3 campaigner Jack Danielle<br />
Aninam, Ria Nabalan, Monique del<br />
Carmen and Congolese Rhena Itesi, went<br />
undefeated in three starts.<br />
The Lady Bulldogs set in motion their<br />
back-to-back title bid with a 12-7 win over<br />
University of the East and needed a 5-0<br />
finishing run to beat Ateneo de Manila<br />
University, 13-10.<br />
Then, NU scored a 14-8 win over De La<br />
Salle University to remain unscathed.<br />
The Bulldogs rebounded from their first<br />
loss with a 9-8 squeaker of the Growling<br />
Tigers to join their victims at 1-1.<br />
La Salle prevailed over Adamson<br />
University, 15-13, to chalk up its first<br />
win.<br />
Christine Cortizano’s late free throw<br />
gave University of the East a 7-6 win over<br />
UST to tie its victims at 1-1 in women’s<br />
play. The Tigresses nipped FEU, 9-8, in<br />
an earlier match.<br />
UP edged La Salle, 6-5, in the first<br />
women’s contest.<br />
Im, Mitchell share lead<br />
It’s just nice to kind of feel like you’re in<br />
contention and playing well<br />
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Florida — Sungjae Im was<br />
in the first group to tee off on the first hole Friday<br />
at The Honda Classic.<br />
He’ll be in the final group Saturday.<br />
Im, the 20-year-old South Korean rookie who<br />
around this time last year was winning the first Web.<br />
com Tour start of his career, shot a 6-under 64 in the<br />
second round at PGA National. He shared the 36-hole<br />
lead at 6-under 134 with Keith Mitchell (66).<br />
It could be considered a surprise final pairing:<br />
Combined, Im and Mitchell have zero PGA Tour wins.<br />
“It’s just nice to kind of feel like you’re in<br />
contention and playing well,” Mitchell said.<br />
“You’re out there actually trying to make birdies<br />
instead of trying to salvage and trying to make a cut,<br />
trying to make a birdie and force it. Today we were<br />
just out there trying to hit good shots.”<br />
Mitchell had five birdies and bogey Friday; Im had<br />
seven birdies and a bogey to match the low round of<br />
the week so far. First-round leader Jhonattan Vegas<br />
shot a 64 on Thursday, and Adam Svensson had one<br />
Friday.<br />
Im got through the second round on only 25 putts.<br />
He was the leading money-winner on the Web.com<br />
Zverev soars in Mexico<br />
ACAPULCO, Mexico — Second-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany advanced to the<br />
Mexico Open final Friday, beating Britain’s Cameron Norrie 7-6 (0), 6-3 in the hardcourt<br />
event at The Princess Mundo Imperial.<br />
Ranked no. 3 in the world, Zverev will face the winner of the late semifinal<br />
between third-seeded John Isner of the United States and Nick Kyrgios of<br />
Australia.<br />
Zverev has 10 ATP Tour titles, winning five times in 2017 and four<br />
last year.<br />
Earlier, China’s Wang Yafan reached her first final WTA Tour final<br />
Friday, rallying to beat third-seeded Donna Vekic of Croatia 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.<br />
Wang will face fifth-seeded Sofia Kenin of the United States, a 6-4,<br />
3-6, 7-5 winner over 18-year-old Canadian<br />
Bianca Andreescu. AP<br />
Tour last year, was atop the money list for the entire<br />
season and played his way into two majors.<br />
“I was hitting the ball really well today, so all my<br />
putts were under 10 feet,” said Im, who had a 6:45<br />
a.m. tee time. He’ll be able to sleep in much later<br />
Saturday, with his tee time scheduled for 1:35 p.m.<br />
Even though the Honda is played in an area of South<br />
Florida where a number of PGA Tour players live --<br />
including Tiger Woods — the field includes only three<br />
of the top 20 players in the most recent world rankings.<br />
Im grew up watching Woods, staying up until the<br />
middle of the night in many cases to see him play on<br />
television.<br />
I was hitting the ball really well today, so<br />
all my putts were under 10 feet.<br />
“Just watching him makes me nervous,” Im said.<br />
He’s got a 36-hole lead to be nervous about now.<br />
Lucas Glover (69) was third at 5 under. Svensson<br />
and Brooks Koepka were among those in a group at 4<br />
under, and 42 players were within five shots of the lead.<br />
“Can’t be too upset with 1 under around here,<br />
to be honest,” said Glover, the 2009 US Open<br />
champion who has three straight rounds in the<br />
60s at PGA National going back to his final-round<br />
66 last year.<br />
“Wind picked up a little towards the end. I didn’t<br />
hit it great, but got myself into the thing.” AP<br />
GREAT Britain’s Cameron Norrie makes a return during his Mexican Tennis Open semifinal match against Germany’s Alexander<br />
Zverev in Acapulco, Mexico.<br />
AP<br />
SUNGJAE Im of South Korea hits from the fairway of the 10th hole during the second round of the<br />
Honda Classic golf tournament in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.<br />
AP<br />
Luisita dethrones Canlubang<br />
Veteran Rolly Viray turned in 52 points<br />
for Canlubang while teammate Abe<br />
Avena did not count with 42 points<br />
CEBU CITY — Luisita dominated bitter<br />
rival Canlubang to clinch its 17th title in<br />
the Philippine Airlines Seniors Interclub<br />
gold tournament at the Alta Vista Golf<br />
Club here.<br />
Luisita finished the four-day event with<br />
569 points, three points clear of Canlubang<br />
which did not go down without a fight.<br />
Six points down before the start of the<br />
final round, Canlubang reduced the margin<br />
to just three after Abe Rosal edged Chino<br />
Raymundo, 49-46, in the first flight.<br />
Damasus Wong, the second man out, was<br />
cruising at one-over par through 15 holes, but<br />
finished disastrously with bogey, a pickup<br />
and double bogey to limp home with 47.<br />
Wong went out of bounds off the tee in<br />
the 17th and 18th after missing the green on<br />
the 16th for bogey.<br />
In contrast, Edmund Yee, his Luisita<br />
flightmate, breezed through the last three<br />
holes at one-under to salvage 49 points.<br />
That seven-point swing in the last three<br />
holes turned out to be what Luisita needed<br />
to dethrone Canlubang.<br />
Luisita also drew 50 points from Eddie<br />
Bagtas and 46 from Rafael Garcia.<br />
Veteran Rolly Viray turned in 52 points<br />
for Canlubang while teammate Abe Avena<br />
did not count with 42 points.<br />
Del Monte Golf Club finished third with<br />
552 points, closing out with 144 points behind<br />
Ramon Velez (54), Erning Apas (46) and<br />
Florencio Badelic (44).
Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
DESPITE JITTERS<br />
SPORTS<br />
Rookie Ruzol strikes gold<br />
19<br />
It was my first time to compete so I was<br />
very nervous<br />
By John Bryan Ulanday<br />
ILAGAN CITY, Isabela — Rookie Maria Khrizzie<br />
Clarisse Ruzol rescued the Philippines from an openingday<br />
shutout as she struck gold in the girls’ pole vault<br />
event of the 14th Southeast Asian Youth Games at the<br />
Ilagan City Sports Complex here.<br />
After a dry performance in the morning events, the<br />
home squad pinned its hopes on the 16-year-old University<br />
of Santo Tomas stalwart, who made heads turn with an<br />
impressive performance in her very first international<br />
tournament.<br />
Ruzol tallied 2.60 meters to clinch the country’s first<br />
gold medal while compatriot Jessa Marie Libres settled<br />
for silver with a mark of 2.32 meters in this prestigious<br />
tourney that serves as a warmup for the 30th Southeast<br />
Asian Games in November.<br />
“It was my first time to compete so I was very nervous,”<br />
said Ruzol, who trains under the tutelage of pole vault<br />
specialist Emerson Obiena, whose son is heavily favored<br />
to make it to the Olympics in Tokyo next year.<br />
“This is actually not my first sport. I just started<br />
playing this five months ago.”<br />
While Ruzol was basking in glory, the rest of the<br />
national contingent failed by the wayside, no thanks to<br />
the superior performance of bets from other Southeast<br />
Asian countries, especially powerhouse Thailand.<br />
Thai Nattchicha Sengna clocked 15.40 seconds to<br />
dominate Filipina Princess Jean Nalzaro, who settled for<br />
silver medal with 15.61 seconds in the girls’ 100-meter<br />
hurdles.<br />
Nalzaro said height played a major role in her setback<br />
to the taller, more aggressive Thai sprinter.<br />
“The Thai runner was just too good,” said the 4-foot-11<br />
Cebu native who fell prey to her 5-foot-6 foe. “She’s too tall.”<br />
Patrick Shane Tolentino (boys high jump), middle<br />
distance runner Jeshrelvan Ombid (boys’ 800-meter) and<br />
Michael Alfred Adan (boys’ 2000-meter steeplechase)<br />
settled for bronze medals.<br />
Even the touted national youth athlete Tara Borlain<br />
bowed to the foreigners’ domination, finishing just at<br />
third place in her pet event, the girls’ 800-meter run,<br />
behind Vietnam’s pair of Thi Kim Phuong Le and Thu<br />
Quye Nguyen who secured a 1-2 finish.<br />
“It was very a tough race because of hot weather and<br />
of course, the competitors have more experience,” said<br />
the reigning Palarong Pambansa champion.<br />
The Thai runner was just too good.<br />
“It’s a whole different competition from the usual.<br />
I was challenged with different rivals and enjoyed the<br />
game.”<br />
Good thing for the 15-year old miler from St. Paul<br />
College-Pasig City, she still has a chance to test her<br />
mettle and seek vengeance in the girls’ 1,500-meter<br />
race on Sunday.<br />
Nalzaro also has a golden opportunity to deliver the<br />
country’s second gold medal with upcoming races in<br />
the 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relays today.<br />
Leading the medal tally so far was Southeast Asian<br />
powerhouse Thailand, which harvested six gold medals<br />
from Peerapat Insuwan (boys’ high jump), Sengna<br />
(girls’ 100-m hurldes), Bandit Singhatongkul (boys’<br />
discus throw), Supisara Klinla-Or (girls’ javelin throw)<br />
and Athibodee Aointhongyai (boys’ long jump).<br />
Cignal back on track<br />
This win is a blessing for us<br />
MALOLOS CITY — Cignal flirted<br />
with disaster before overcoming<br />
Foton, 15-25, 25-22, 21-25, 25-13, 21-<br />
19, in the Philippine Superliga Grand<br />
Prix Saturday at the Malolos Sports<br />
and Convention Center here.<br />
American Erica Wilson was solid<br />
down the stretch, leading the HD<br />
Spikers to the marathon match that<br />
lasted for two hours and 24 minutes<br />
with ESPN5 and 5Plus as broadcast<br />
partners.<br />
Wilson, who once played for Team<br />
USA in the FIVB Women’s U23 Word<br />
Championship, delivered 21 kills,<br />
three blocks and five of Cignal’s<br />
10 aces for an impressive 29 points<br />
while Anastasia Artemeva and Rachel<br />
Anne Daquis chipped in 16 and nine<br />
markers, respectively.<br />
With the win, Cignal stepped<br />
back on winning track and improved<br />
to 4-2 in this prestigious women’s<br />
club tourney that has Asics, Mueller,<br />
Mikasa, Senoh, Team Rebel Sports,<br />
Bizooku, UCPB Gen, Cocolife, Hotel<br />
Sogo and Data Project as technical<br />
sponsors.<br />
“This win is a blessing for us,” said<br />
HD Spikers coach Edgar Barroga, who<br />
had to make adjustments to fill in the<br />
void left by middle blocker Ranya<br />
Musa and second setter Pauline<br />
Cardiente.<br />
MYLENE Paat and Jheck Dionela of Cignal take care of the reception during<br />
their match against Foton in the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix match<br />
Saturday at the Malolos Sports and Convention Center in Malolos City. The<br />
HD Spikers prevailed, 15-25, 25-22, 21-25, 25-13, 21-19. ROMAN PROSPERO<br />
SBP eyes pocket<br />
tourneys<br />
Hosting pocket tournaments<br />
appears to be a more viable<br />
option since the Jones<br />
Cup runs smack with the<br />
schedule of the PBA in July<br />
Instead of competing<br />
in the annual William Jones<br />
Cup, Team Pilipinas will just<br />
compete in pocket tournaments<br />
in preparation for the FIBA World<br />
Cup in China this August.<br />
Samahang Basketbol ng<br />
Pilipinas president Al Panlilio<br />
said hosting pocket tournaments<br />
appears to be a more viable option<br />
since the Jones Cup runs smack<br />
with the schedule of the Philippine<br />
Basketball Association in July.<br />
Panlilio, who represents<br />
Meralco in the PBA board of<br />
governors, admitted that the<br />
league is already having a tough<br />
time adjusting its schedule and<br />
could run up to 2020 due to the<br />
staging of the World Cup and the<br />
Southeast Asian Games.<br />
“Hosting a pocket tournament<br />
and inviting teams for a couple of<br />
tuneup matches could be better<br />
options,” said Panlilio.<br />
“It would be hard to adjust<br />
the calendar for the Jones Cup<br />
alone because the tournament is<br />
that long. It’s nine days and that’s<br />
quite challenging.”<br />
The Philippines already hosted<br />
two pocket tournaments in the<br />
past dubbed as the MVP Cup<br />
Invitational Championships as<br />
part of the Nationals’ buildup for<br />
the Asian Games in 2010 and the<br />
FIBA Asia Championship in 2015.<br />
The SBP, however, would<br />
still have to wait for the FIBA<br />
World Cup Draw this 16 March<br />
to determine which teams are<br />
available to be invited here in<br />
the country.<br />
For sure, the Nationals will not<br />
be drawn with fellow Asia-Oceania<br />
countries so one of the countries<br />
the SBP is looking to invite is South<br />
Korea.<br />
JBU<br />
“It wasn’t easy, it was evident<br />
during the game, but we held on to<br />
finish the match and luckily we won.”<br />
Barroga converted team captain<br />
Rachel Anne Daquis to opposite<br />
spiker while Mumay Vivas became the<br />
second setter for the match.<br />
The move paid a handsome reward<br />
as the Tornadoes were left guessing,<br />
especially in the fifth set where the<br />
HD Spikers refused to give up.<br />
American Courtney Felinski<br />
delivered 23 points while Elaine<br />
Kasilag had 14 and Turkish import<br />
Selime Ilyasoglu chipped in 11 for<br />
Foton, which absorbed their fourth<br />
straight loss after an opening-day<br />
victory.<br />
FEU stops<br />
bleeding<br />
We still lacked maturity but the<br />
killer instinct is already there<br />
Far Eastern University snapped a<br />
two-game slide after turning back the<br />
hard fighting University of Santo Tomas,<br />
19-25, 25-20, 25-19, 27-25, in Season 81<br />
University Athletic Association of the<br />
Philippines women’s volleyball tournament<br />
on Saturday at the Araneta Coliseum.<br />
The Lady Tamaraws weathered the<br />
Golden Tigresses’ comeback in the fourth<br />
set and denied UST of sending the game<br />
into a deciding fifth set to book its second<br />
win in four games.<br />
Celine Domingo led FEU with 17 points,<br />
nine on attacks and six on blocks, while<br />
rookie Lycha Ebon had another solid<br />
showing for the George Pascua-mentored<br />
squad with 11.<br />
It was a tough loss for the Golden<br />
Tigresses, who appeared to have control<br />
of the game after pocketing the opening<br />
set but a knee injury by Filipino-Italian<br />
Milena Alessandrini late in the second set<br />
cost UST the match to fall to 2-2.<br />
“We still lacked maturity but the killer<br />
instinct is already there,” said Pascua,<br />
whose team blew a 2-0 set lead to Ateneo<br />
the last time out and lost the match.<br />
“I trust my players. We just have to<br />
be ready and lessen our unforced errors.<br />
We’re still working that aspect of our<br />
game,” Pascua added.<br />
Alessandrini, who is averaging 15.6 points<br />
prior the game, had a bad landing at center<br />
with the game tied at 18-all in the second<br />
set. She was rushed to the UST Hospital to<br />
undergo magnetic resonance imaging.<br />
Without Alessandrini, coach Kungfu<br />
Reyes lost a steady scorer and surrendered<br />
the next two sets but came out fighting in<br />
the fourth and was even leading 25-24 on<br />
Eya Laure’s attack.<br />
But Dimdim Pacres’ service error tied<br />
the game at 25-all and FEU blocked Laure<br />
in the next play and a crucial error by the<br />
UST rookie gave the Lady Tamaraws their<br />
second win of the season.<br />
Laure, who also hurt his shoulder after<br />
a collision with a teammate in the fourth<br />
set, led the Golden Tigresses with 20 attack<br />
points while Sisi Rondina added 16.<br />
MARIA Khrizzie Clarisse Ruzol of the Philippines competes in the girls’ pole vault event of the<br />
14th Southeast Asian Youth Games at the Ilagan Sports Complex in Ilagan City Isabela.<br />
Volleyball’s great debate<br />
The argument whether to<br />
compete in Asian tournaments<br />
or just go to training camps<br />
will be never-ending<br />
On Friday, the Larong Volleyball sa<br />
Pilipinas, Inc. will formally introduce the<br />
composition of the national pool that will see<br />
action in the 30th Southeast Asian Games.<br />
It’s going to be a major press conference<br />
with the country’s brightest volleyball stars<br />
gathering to declare their readiness to win a<br />
SEA Games medal in their home turf.<br />
But, will this significant event wash away<br />
the disappointment of volleyball fans?<br />
Just two weeks ago, fans raised a howl<br />
over the federation’s decision to skip three<br />
major international competitions — the AVC<br />
Asian U23 Women’s Championship, the AVC<br />
Asian Senior Women’s Club Championship<br />
and the AVC Asian Senior’s Championship<br />
— so the team could train abroad and focus<br />
its full attention on winning a medal in the<br />
SEA Games.<br />
For them, it’s a blasphemy to think – or even<br />
consider — pulling out the country’s entries in<br />
these big-ticket Asian tournaments in exchange<br />
for mere foreign trainings.<br />
But LVPI president Peter Cayco bravely<br />
stood his ground.<br />
In one television interview, he said<br />
the greatest response to those who were<br />
questioning their decision to withdraw was<br />
just one word: Smile.<br />
And that’s what he did all throughout the<br />
thunderstorm of controversies.<br />
Well, Cayco has a point.<br />
With all the talents it has, the Philippines<br />
has a golden chance to emerge with a SEA<br />
Games medal of any color if the federation<br />
can do everything right.<br />
We have Filipino-foreign stalwarts like<br />
MJ Philips, Rebecca Rivera, Alohi Robbins-<br />
Hardy and Kalei Mau to provide offensive<br />
muscles while Jaja Santiago and Dindin<br />
Manabat would be coming back from a long<br />
stint in Japan.<br />
Of course, stars like Mika Reyes, Aby<br />
Marano, Jia Morado, Alyssa Valdez and<br />
Mylene Paat are a year older and more<br />
matured after becoming the first local team<br />
to see action in the Asian Games in 36 years.<br />
He said the greatest response to<br />
those who were questioning their<br />
decision to withdraw was just<br />
one word: Smile.<br />
Cayco was definitely on point when he said<br />
that competing in Asian tournaments would<br />
only expose our aces to the prying eyes of other<br />
Southeast Asian heavyweights like Thailand<br />
and Vietnam. Sure, their highlight reels are<br />
available all over social media, but seeing them<br />
live in action together with the national team<br />
will definitely give our regional neighbors a<br />
crystal-clear view on how to neutralize them.<br />
The alternatives are not bad, either.<br />
I believe that training in Asian volleyball<br />
hotspots like Japan, China and Korea will be<br />
a lot better than joining international meets.<br />
If they will see action in international<br />
tournaments, they will just play their usual<br />
game with Asian superpowers in three or<br />
four sets. Then, that’s it. They will have<br />
no chance to improve their weaknesses, to<br />
Hold My Beer<br />
Julius Manicad<br />
JOHN BRYAN ULANDAY<br />
correct their bad habits and get a clear view<br />
on how things are being done.<br />
In the next tournament, the SEA Games<br />
for that matter, they will just repeat those<br />
mistakes all over again. No progress. No<br />
improvement.<br />
On the contrary, establishing training<br />
camps abroad will give the Nationals access<br />
to the world’s best training facilities, best<br />
coaches and most disciplined training<br />
regimens. That’s two solid weeks of workouts<br />
and improvement.<br />
Yes, the LVPI’s decision to skip Asian<br />
tournaments is very unpopular.<br />
I was with the Nationals when they had<br />
their training camp in Japan in 2017 and I<br />
can say that I was greatly impressed.<br />
The squad did nothing but to play<br />
volleyball for 17 days and they were literally<br />
sleeping on the gym after sitting at the feet<br />
of Okayama Seagulls head coach Akiyoshi<br />
Kawamoto.<br />
Kawamoto, who used to train the Thai<br />
national team, was very precise in giving<br />
instructions both on offense and defense.<br />
He corrected the blocking form, sharpened<br />
the agility and floor defense techniques<br />
and improved the attack formation of the<br />
national team.<br />
Of course, the Nationals couldn’t put<br />
everything into their heads in just one<br />
trip, but at least it was a good start. The<br />
improvement was quite obvious as they<br />
were few good breaks away from winning<br />
the bronze medal in the Kuala Lumpur SEA<br />
Games in 2017.<br />
Well, the argument whether to compete<br />
in Asian tournaments or just go to training<br />
camps will be never-ending. It surely depends<br />
on whom you ask, the availability of financial<br />
resources and the schedule of players, most of<br />
them playing in various clubs in the Philippine<br />
Superliga.<br />
It would go down as Philippine volleyball’s<br />
greatest debate.<br />
But for me, if we want to feel good and<br />
celebrate small success like a good block on<br />
Pleumjit Thinkaow, a great dig on the booming<br />
attack of Kim Yeon-koung or a successful spike<br />
off the Chinese Great Wall, let’s compete in Asian<br />
tournaments.<br />
But if we really want to improve and learn<br />
from the best coaches in Asia for the sake of the<br />
future of Philippine volleyball, there is no doubt<br />
that locking our players in some Spartan-like<br />
training camp somewhere in Japan, Korea or<br />
China is the perfect way to go.<br />
Yes, the LVPI’s decision to skip Asian<br />
tournaments is very unpopular.<br />
But Cayco’s strategy appears valid.<br />
And once the mission of claiming a SEA<br />
Games medal has been completed, he would<br />
surely flash a big smile at his detractors.
20<br />
WORLD<br />
Loyalty comes first — Xi<br />
Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
He called on officials and cadres to place the<br />
people at the top in their hearts<br />
BEIJING — President Xi Jinping on Friday said training and selecting<br />
outstanding young officials is vital to the fate of the party, state and<br />
Chinese nation and to the people’s wellbeing, calling it an important task<br />
for generations to come.<br />
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central<br />
Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the<br />
statement during the opening ceremony of a training program of young<br />
and middle-aged officials at the Party School of CPC Central Committee<br />
(National Academy of Governance).<br />
Xi told the officials to stay loyal to the party, remain grateful to the people,<br />
be motivated at work and hold law and party discipline in high regard.<br />
Party officials should be faithful, loyal, competent and disciplined, he said.<br />
Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political<br />
Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and a member of the Secretariat of<br />
the CPC Central Committee, attended the ceremony.<br />
Officials should be determined to make great achievements,<br />
rather than to seek personal promotion.<br />
CHINESE President Xi Jinping (center), also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military<br />
Commission, called for efforts in learning the thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, saying that it is necessary to fully grasp its<br />
significance for the time, the theory, the practices and the world.<br />
XINHUA<br />
FINAL ASSAULT BEGINS<br />
Putting an end to IS<br />
Xi said it is necessary to arm officials and cadres with Marxist theory<br />
in their development.<br />
He also called for efforts in learning the thought on socialism with Chinese<br />
characteristics for a new era, saying that it is necessary to fully grasp its<br />
significance for the time, the theory, the practices and the world.<br />
The Chinese leader noted that whether an official is loyal to the party<br />
is a key gauge of whether they have ideals and convictions. “Loyalty always<br />
comes first,” he said.<br />
He also called on officials and cadres to place the people at the top in<br />
their hearts, saying that to weather through with the people, keep close<br />
bonds and share the same future with them is the fundamental guarantee<br />
for the party to overcome all difficulties and risks.<br />
He asked the officials to maintain a strong sense of love, care and<br />
willingness to work for benefits of the people.<br />
Officials should be determined to make great achievements, rather<br />
than to seek personal promotion, in serving the party and the people,<br />
Xi said.<br />
Xinhua<br />
An unknown number of IS fighters are hunkered down in a small area<br />
NEAR BAGHOUZ — Kurdish-led forces<br />
on Friday launched a final assault against<br />
diehard jihadist fighters clinging to the last<br />
sliver of their “caliphate” in eastern Syria.<br />
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces<br />
(SDF) said they resumed their advance<br />
after plucking a last batch of civilians from<br />
the tiny riverside hamlet of Baghouz where<br />
jihadists are holed up.<br />
The offensive on<br />
a redoubt barely half<br />
Turkey’s accusations on human rights issues in<br />
Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region<br />
are “groundless and unacceptable,” the Chinese<br />
Ambassador to Turkey said last Tuesday<br />
after the Turkish foreign minister<br />
voiced concerns over<br />
China’s alleged<br />
a square kilometer in size will cap a nearly six-month<br />
operation against the Islamic State (IS) group’s<br />
last bastions in the Euphrates Valley.<br />
The “operation to clear the last remaining<br />
pocket of IS has just started” at 6 p.m., SDF<br />
spokesman Mustefa Bali announced on social<br />
media, using another acronym for the jihadists.<br />
An unknown number of holdout IS fighters<br />
are hunkered down in a small area on the<br />
edge of Baghouz for a desperate final stand<br />
against the SDF.<br />
Last push Kurdish-led forces have launched a final offensive against diehard ISIS fighters clinging to the last sliver<br />
of their “caliphate” in eastern Syria.<br />
AFP<br />
Beijing disputes Turkey’s claims<br />
Bali said the decision to resume the push<br />
came after the evacuation of the last civilians<br />
willing to leave the enclave and following the<br />
release of captured SDF fighters.<br />
“The people we evacuated today told us<br />
that no civilians were inside and that those<br />
still inside did not want to leave,” he told AFP<br />
in the nearby base of Al-Omar.<br />
“If during the advance we discover that<br />
there are still civilians we will isolate them<br />
from the fighting but we are forced to push<br />
ahead,” he said.<br />
He declined to comment<br />
on how long the last phase of<br />
the offensive might take but<br />
the SDF’s general commander<br />
Mazloum Kobani said Thursday<br />
he expected final victory to be<br />
achieved within a week.<br />
An SDF commander told AFP<br />
that his force is advancing slowly<br />
and with caution because of the<br />
threat of underground tunnels and<br />
improvised explosive devices. AP<br />
THE HAGUE — The global chemical<br />
weapons watchdog said Friday it<br />
found “reasonable grounds” that<br />
chlorine was used<br />
Mars digger This photo provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech shows an image<br />
acquired by NASA’s InSight Mars lander using its robotic arm-mounted,<br />
instrument deployment camera. Scientists said the lander has started digging<br />
into the red planet, but has hit a few snags.<br />
AP<br />
Syria attack: Chlorine likely used<br />
The mandate does not<br />
include laying blame<br />
as a weapon in a deadly attack on<br />
the Syrian town of Douma last year.<br />
The determination was<br />
contained in a detailed report by<br />
the Organization for the Prohibition<br />
of Chemical Weapons’ (OPCW)<br />
fact-finding mission that investigated the<br />
7 April 2018 attack. Medical workers<br />
said at the time that the attack<br />
killed more than 40 people.<br />
The mission’s<br />
mandate does<br />
not include laying blame.<br />
In a statement, the OPCW said<br />
the mission visited Douma, analyzed<br />
samples taken from the scene and<br />
from people affected, interviewed<br />
witnesses and studied toxicological<br />
and ballistics analyses.<br />
The investigators were delayed<br />
by several days from reaching the<br />
scene by security concerns, leading<br />
to fears that evidence could degrade<br />
or be cleaned up.<br />
However, the data they eventually<br />
amassed and studied provided<br />
“reasonable grounds that the<br />
use of a toxic chemical as<br />
a weapon” took place,<br />
the OPCW said. AP<br />
mistreatment of<br />
Uyghurs at a UN Human Rights Council<br />
session on Monday.<br />
“Full realization of human rights has<br />
long been the goal of all Chinese people,<br />
including people of all ethnic groups in<br />
Xinjiang… who have the same status,<br />
enjoy the same rights and fulfill the same<br />
obligations according to the law,” Chinese<br />
Ambassador to Turkey Deng Li said in<br />
a statement published on the embassy’s<br />
official website on Tuesday.<br />
Turkey is making these statements<br />
in order to present itself as a<br />
great power in the international<br />
system.<br />
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu<br />
voiced concerns on Monday at the UN Human Rights<br />
Council over China’s alleged mistreatment of Uyghurs<br />
and other Muslims in Xinjiang and called on Beijing to<br />
protect freedom of religion and cultural identity, media<br />
reported.<br />
Cavusoglu also urged China to ensure “full protection of<br />
the cultural identities of the Uyghurs.”<br />
This was the second time that Turkey has openly<br />
criticized China’s policies in Xinjiang this year.<br />
In early February, China refuted claims made by Turkey’s<br />
foreign ministry spokesman alleging that a Uyghur musician<br />
had died in Xinjiang. The Chinese Embassy in Ankara<br />
confirmed the man is still alive and in good health.<br />
It is not pleasant to see Turkey repeatedly criticize Chinese<br />
policy towards Xinjiang. Turkey is making these statements<br />
in order to present itself as a great power in the international<br />
system, Li Bingzhong, director of the Center for Turkish Studies<br />
with Shaanxi Normal University, said. Global Times<br />
Saudi revokes Hamza’s citizenship<br />
DUBAI — Saudi Arabia<br />
announced Friday it had<br />
revoked the citizenship of<br />
Hamza bin Laden, the son of<br />
the late al-Qaida leader who<br />
has become an increasingly<br />
prominent figure in the<br />
terror network.<br />
There was no immediate<br />
explanation<br />
why the royal decree stripping his<br />
citizenship, signed in November, was<br />
only becoming public now. However,<br />
the announcement comes after<br />
the US government on Thursday<br />
offered a $1 million reward<br />
for information leading to his<br />
capture as part of its “Rewards<br />
for Justice” program. He also<br />
was added Thursday to a<br />
United Nations Security<br />
Council terrorism sanctions<br />
list.<br />
AP<br />
Top of the hill Environmental activists of Greenpeace demonstrate against the capital’s air pollution on the<br />
statue of Freedom on top of Gellert Hill in Budapest, Hungary.<br />
AP<br />
BRIEFS<br />
Captured pilot freed<br />
An Indian pilot released by Pakistan<br />
went back to India Friday night through<br />
Wagah border crossing near Pakistan’s<br />
eastern city of Lahore, Pakistan’s Ministry<br />
of Foreign Affairs said. Earlier, Pakistani<br />
authorities handed over the pilot, Wing<br />
Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, to<br />
Indian authorities after completing the<br />
required procedure.<br />
Xinhua<br />
Lula gets furlough<br />
Brazil’s jailed former President Luiz Inacio Lula<br />
da Silva on Friday was granted leave from prison to<br />
attend the weekend funeral of his young grandson,<br />
who died at the age of seven. A federal court decided<br />
that Lula, who is serving two concurrent 12-year<br />
sentences for corruption, can attend Saturday’s services in<br />
Sao Paulo for Arthur Araujo Lula da Silva, who succumbed<br />
to meningitis.<br />
AFP<br />
Ratatouille?<br />
A British tourist visiting Boston captured on video<br />
a hungry seagull devouring a dead rat in a single gulp<br />
and posted it on social media, prompting thousands<br />
of horrified comments. The video shows the gull<br />
pecking tentatively at the rodent before picking it<br />
up in its beak and swallowing the entire animal.<br />
The bird then flies atop a parked car on Salem<br />
Street in the heart of Boston’s North End, popular<br />
for its dozens of Italian restaurants — the rat’s tail<br />
hanging from the gull’s mouth. The tourist can be<br />
heard exclaiming: “Oh my God, it just swallowed<br />
it whole ... Ratatouille?”<br />
AP
Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
LIFESTYLE<br />
21
22<br />
SPOTLIGHT<br />
Dinah S. Ventura, Editor<br />
Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
“PANAGBENGA” is a Kankanaey term for “season of blossoming.” This festival was conceptualized in 1995 by Atty. Damaso Nagaoet to bring back<br />
Baguio’s reputation as one of the country’s premier vacation spots.<br />
Flower WOWer<br />
Every Panagbenga<br />
Festival, one of the<br />
major attractions is the<br />
Grand Street Dancing<br />
Text and photos by Aldwin Quitasol<br />
BAGUIO CITY — Baguio residents, local<br />
and foreign tourists alike continue to<br />
be amazed by the colorful cultural<br />
atmosphere brought by the staging<br />
of the Baguio Grand Street Dancing Parade<br />
in the annual Panagbenga (blooming) or the<br />
Baguio Flower Festival.<br />
Yesterday, the city’s elementary, high<br />
schools and college students and even<br />
guest participants from other places of the<br />
Philippines wowed the weekend crowds with<br />
their festive presentations.<br />
Leading the parade were government<br />
officials of Baguio City with their counterparts<br />
from the neighboring municipalities of the<br />
Province of Benguet.<br />
Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan,<br />
following tradition, carried on his shoulder the<br />
Panagbenga sceptre designed as a sunflower,<br />
for which the City is also known.<br />
Every Panagbenga Festival, one of<br />
the major attractions is the Grand Street<br />
Dancing where students from different<br />
schools and levels showcase the unique<br />
culture of the city. Most of the dances<br />
are inspired by the different tribes of the<br />
Cordilleras since Baguio City is a melting<br />
pot or convergence area of people from<br />
all over north Luzon.<br />
Adding to the attraction is the special<br />
participation of dancers like the champion<br />
of the Tadek (Dance) Festival of Ilocos Norte<br />
“Tan-ok ni Ilocano <strong>2019</strong>” (Proud Ilocano)<br />
and the “Tribu Ilonaganon” of the Iloilo<br />
Dinagyang Foundation.<br />
The parade started at the Panagbenga<br />
Park going down the famous Session Road<br />
and Magsaysay Avenue where spectators<br />
had been lined up as early as 5 a.m. The<br />
street dancers proceeded to the Baguio<br />
Athletic Bowl for the field demonstrations.<br />
PARTICIPANTS<br />
of the parade are<br />
required to have<br />
at least 95 percent<br />
natural flowers for<br />
their floats while<br />
the remaining 5<br />
percent can be<br />
used for other<br />
materials.<br />
After the parade, the residents<br />
and the tourists will again be<br />
delighted by the Small and<br />
Big Float Parades featuring<br />
flower-filled floats and vehicles<br />
of government agencies and<br />
non-government organizations<br />
and private companies and<br />
institutions. Every year, the<br />
floats will carry showbiz<br />
personalities, as well as<br />
famous sports men and<br />
women.<br />
SEVEN public schools took part in<br />
the 24th Panagbenga Festival along<br />
Session Road.<br />
MOST of the dances are inspired<br />
by the different tribes of the<br />
Cordilleras since Baguio City.<br />
CLOSING ceremonies of Panagbenga will culminate with grand fireworks<br />
display that is set to happen at five stations.<br />
THE festival was first known as the “Baguio Flower Festival” in 1995 until it was suggested and renamed in 1997 by archivist and Saint Louis University<br />
Museum curator, Ike Picpican.<br />
SUDOKU<br />
by Ramon Lorenzo<br />
Write a numeral from 1 to 9 in each box so that each<br />
appears only once in each row, column and 3 x 3 box.<br />
Answer for yesterday’s puzzle<br />
When a sieve is shaken, the<br />
husks appear; so do one’s faults<br />
when one speaks.<br />
As the test of what the potter<br />
molds is in the furnace, so in<br />
tribulation is the test of the just.<br />
D A I L Y G O S P E L<br />
Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time<br />
Jesus told his disciples a<br />
parable: “Can a blind person<br />
guide a blind person? Will<br />
not both fall into a pit?<br />
No disciple is superior to the<br />
teacher; but when fully trained,<br />
every disciple will be like his<br />
teacher.<br />
Why do you notice the<br />
splinter in your brother’s<br />
eye, but do not perceive the<br />
wooden beam in your own?<br />
How can you say to your<br />
brother, ‘Brother, let me remove<br />
that splinter in your eye,’<br />
when you do not even notice<br />
the wooden beam in your own<br />
eye? You hypocrite! Remove the<br />
wooden beam from your eye<br />
first; then you will see clearly<br />
to remove the splinter in your<br />
brother’s eye.”<br />
FIRST READING<br />
Sirach 27: 4-7<br />
The fruit of a tree shows<br />
the care it has had; so too does<br />
one’s speech disclose the bent of<br />
one’s mind.<br />
Praise no one before he speaks,<br />
for it is then that people are tested.<br />
SECOND READING<br />
Brothers and sisters: When<br />
this which is corruptible clothes<br />
itself with incorruptibility and<br />
this which is mortal clothes<br />
itself with immortality,then the<br />
word that is written shall come<br />
about: Death is swallowed up<br />
in victory.<br />
Where, O death, is your<br />
victory? Where, O death, is your<br />
1 Corinthians 15: 54-58<br />
sting? The sting of death is sin,<br />
and the power of sin is the law.<br />
But thanks be to God who gives<br />
us the victory through our Lord<br />
Jesus Christ.<br />
Therefore, my beloved brothers<br />
and sisters, be firm, steadfast,<br />
always fully devoted to the work<br />
of the Lord, knowing that in the<br />
Lord your labor is not in vain.<br />
Luke 6: 39-45<br />
A good tree does not bear<br />
rotten fruit, nor does a rotten<br />
tree bear good fruit.<br />
For every tree is known<br />
by its own fruit. For people<br />
do not pick figs from<br />
thornbushes, nor do they<br />
gather grapes from brambles.<br />
A good person out of the<br />
store of goodness in his<br />
heart produces good, but an<br />
evil person out of a store of<br />
evil produces evil; for from<br />
the fullness of the heart the<br />
mouth speaks.
Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
ITALIAN ENVOY:<br />
Phl art fan<br />
LIFESTYLE<br />
23<br />
Sometimes galleries, museums or curators tend to scare you.<br />
Or that they want to make you feel that you don’t understand<br />
From page 1<br />
difficult to understand as most people<br />
think,” said the Ambassador, who based<br />
his talk on a book that he wrote about<br />
contemporary art as he has seen them in<br />
the countries where he had been posted,<br />
whether these are local art works or<br />
international works on exhibit at the time.<br />
He described his book as “a sort of a<br />
tour of the world. I talk about 60 works by<br />
60 different artists. And they are divided<br />
into geographical areas. So, I talk about<br />
Latin America, United States, Europe,<br />
Africa and Asia. So, compared to 40 years<br />
ago, contemporary art is much more global.<br />
Artists from various countries that move to<br />
Europe or the United States bring with them<br />
their traditions and work, but you also have<br />
a lot of things happening in areas where,<br />
maybe until a few years ago, nothing much<br />
was happening.”<br />
The Italian Embassy also hosted another<br />
talk, this time at the Manila Art Fair, given<br />
by Laura Chiari, Director and partner at<br />
Galleria Lorcan O’Neill, Rome.<br />
Ambassador Guglielmino explained,<br />
“My idea is to bring here every six months<br />
a player of the art world. So I started in<br />
the first half of 2018. I arrived August of<br />
2017, so in the first half of 2018, a curator<br />
came here. During the second half of 2018,<br />
an art critic came here. First half of <strong>2019</strong>, a<br />
gallery director.<br />
“The lecture and conversation that<br />
was recently given by Laura Chiari at the<br />
art fair was very interesting because the<br />
subject was ‘How Contemporary Galleries<br />
Evolve,’ how they change, how they face the<br />
challenges of globalization, the increase in<br />
number of fairs, the Internet.<br />
So I put together Laura Chiari from<br />
the Lorcan O’Neill Gallery together with<br />
Isa Lorenzo of Silverlens Gallery. And the<br />
conversation was for about an hour. And it<br />
was interesting because at the end of the<br />
day, we saw that the issues and problems,<br />
difficulties and challenges they are facing<br />
and the enthusiasm is exactly the same.”<br />
In our personal conversation with him,<br />
the Ambassador told us that he himself does<br />
not create art, although briefly in his youth,<br />
he did try but realized soon enough he had<br />
better skills when it came to diplomacy. He<br />
also shared his encounters with artists from<br />
various parts of the world while naming<br />
two young Filipina artists whose works he<br />
admires.<br />
Art as parallel interest<br />
Daily Tribune (DT): You seem to know<br />
a lot about the arts. Were you an art<br />
student? Is it something that you saw<br />
when you were growing up?<br />
Ambassador Giorgio Guglielmino<br />
(AGG): No, I was not an art student. It is<br />
something that I saw, thanks to my mother<br />
who brought me to museums, theaters and<br />
exhibitions.<br />
DT: What is your mother’s name?<br />
AGG: An unusual name, Viola. And<br />
my background in university, to answer<br />
your question, is more related to my job. I<br />
studied politics.<br />
DT: You took up politics, but you never<br />
left the arts.<br />
AGG: Yes, I took up politics. No, I never<br />
left the arts. And I’m glad because I think<br />
that whatever job you do, if you have the<br />
parallel interest, it saves your life.<br />
DT: That’s right. There’s something<br />
else to amuse you, or distract you, or<br />
to take you away from drudgery… or to<br />
retreat to.<br />
AGG: Yes, yes…I<br />
agree…<br />
I BELIEVE that people<br />
should be free to say<br />
what they want about a<br />
piece of art.<br />
DT: So, when you were growing up,<br />
were you also creating or just watching?<br />
What would you be more of, a spectator<br />
or a creator?<br />
AGG: No, no, just for fun, I tried to do<br />
something that I realized was not for me. So,<br />
I was just watching, and studying and reading<br />
and looking…I think it is so important to look.<br />
I always tell friends or people to whom I talk<br />
that if there are exhibitions, you have to go<br />
and see works in flesh. With the Internet, you<br />
can see all the works wherever they are in the<br />
world, but it’s different if you face the painting.<br />
You have to face the work to understand or to<br />
appreciate it, or to say you don’t like it. But I<br />
think that it is very important to train your eyes.<br />
Embassy of Italy Award<br />
DT: Is this your second art fair in the<br />
Philippines?<br />
AGG: Yes. Last year was the first but,<br />
of course, I was new here so I didn’t know<br />
much. Now it’s more interesting because<br />
I know the galleries, I know the artists,<br />
everything looks more familiar.<br />
DT: Of the ones you saw this year,<br />
which are your favorite?<br />
AGG: I like a couple of very young girl<br />
artists. One artist is Jel Suarez. She works<br />
with West Gallery and she was the winner<br />
of an art award that I started last year. In<br />
the framework of the Ateneo Art Awards,<br />
we added in 2018 what we call the Embassy<br />
of Italy Award. (It) is an acquisition award<br />
in the sense that the embassy chooses one<br />
artist among the 12 finalists of the Ateneo<br />
Art Awards. When the 12 finalists are there,<br />
I go there and the embassy chooses one of<br />
them and acquires a work of that artist. And<br />
the first winner was Jel Suarez.<br />
The idea is to build a small but<br />
significant collection of works of younger<br />
Filipino artists that will be shown in the<br />
Italian embassy. In 10 years’ time, there<br />
will be an interesting selection. The<br />
works are not intended to be brought<br />
abroad. They will stay here but they will<br />
be exhibited inside the Italian Embassy.<br />
People want to see the<br />
contemporary works while<br />
collectors want to collect them.<br />
DT: Who made the choice? What was<br />
the basis for the choice?<br />
AGG: (laughs) I made the choice, but I<br />
did it together with Boots Herrera, who is<br />
involved in the Ateneo Art Awards. First of<br />
all, the first selection among the 12 was done<br />
for practical reasons. One of the works there<br />
was a complex installation with moving<br />
things. Another one was a video projection.<br />
These things are not exactly what you expect<br />
to place in an office. Just for technical<br />
reasons, I said not to consider these works.<br />
So, what I saw as interesting, I told Boots. I<br />
shared with her my views about the painting<br />
that I liked. And she agreed. And so, this<br />
was the choice.<br />
DT: What about in the recent art fair?<br />
Was there an artist whose work you<br />
found interesting?<br />
AGG: There was another young girl.<br />
I think she’s very talented. Her name is<br />
Brisa Amir. And she works with Art<br />
Informal and Mabini. Jel Suarez and<br />
Brisa Amir are both very young. I<br />
suspect they are about 25 or 26.<br />
DT: Sir, you said that the book<br />
is about several countries. How<br />
did this come about? Are these<br />
the places to which you were<br />
assigned?<br />
AGG: Not all. For example, I’ve<br />
never been assigned to China but<br />
I talked about a couple of Chinese<br />
artists. I have visited the United<br />
States but I’ve never been posted<br />
to the United States. And of course,<br />
if you talk about contemporary art,<br />
you cannot avoid talking about<br />
some American artists.<br />
AMBASSADOR Guglielmino with Isa Lorenzo (left) and Laura Chiari.<br />
DT: In the case of China, how did you<br />
become exposed to Chinese art?<br />
AGG: Because Chinese art is quite<br />
famous worldwide. I saw exhibitions in<br />
London, I saw Chinese works in many art<br />
fairs. So, they’re very well known.<br />
DT: Can you name all those countries<br />
in the book? It’s quite a number.<br />
AGG: I started the book when I<br />
was in Buenos Aires. I started the first<br />
part of the book which is about Latin<br />
America. Then I talked about Africa.<br />
Then I put together China and India, two<br />
mega countries. Then, I talked about a<br />
group of artists who come from different<br />
countries. There’s a girl from Israel, an<br />
artist from Korea. If you visited certain<br />
countries, you would not expect to see<br />
the contemporary art scene, although<br />
THE Italian ambassador gave a talk on contemporary art based on a book he wrote.<br />
they are getting there and they are very,<br />
very important. Then, I talked about the<br />
United States.<br />
DT: Is your approach very academic<br />
or very personal?<br />
AGG: More personal. Some of the<br />
artists, I was lucky enough to meet. The<br />
idea is always to be very open, even very<br />
relaxed because sometimes galleries,<br />
museums or curators tend to scare you.<br />
Or that they want to make you feel that<br />
you don’t understand. I believe that people<br />
should be free to say what they want about<br />
a piece of art. And even free to say I don’t<br />
like this. Again, to approach the work<br />
with simpler minds, with simpler attitude,<br />
without being afraid of saying something.<br />
That’s especially because in contemporary<br />
art, there are lots of bad works. (laughs)<br />
Not everything is good.<br />
When you study the Renaissance, or art<br />
500 years ago in Italy, you of course study<br />
the geniuses, the best artists. But 500 years<br />
ago, even in Italy, during the Renaissance,<br />
there was a lot of bad artists. Of course,<br />
time canceled all the bad artists. The<br />
problem with contemporary arts is they’re<br />
all still here.<br />
Two or three hundred years from now,<br />
when our grand-grand-grandsons and<br />
granddaughters will study this century,<br />
they will just study the real good artists.<br />
You don’t know who will remain or who<br />
will not. But of course, there is such a vast<br />
number of artists and then there are lots<br />
of artists which are so-so.<br />
Prada Foundation<br />
DT: How is contemporary art in<br />
Italy now?<br />
AGG: That phase is a little bit the<br />
challenge of the past because we have<br />
so much ancient and classical art,<br />
Renaissance art. Until a few years ago,<br />
the museums were a little bit skeptical to<br />
deal with the contemporary. They didn’t<br />
want to deal with the contemporary -- it<br />
was too complex. I kept on with classics<br />
where I could not make any mistake which<br />
has led to acquiring contemporary art. So,<br />
in the last 50 years, I think the museums<br />
in Italy should make more effort to buy<br />
contemporary art. It’s going to change now,<br />
thanks to some private foundations.<br />
There are some significant foundations<br />
basically linked to famous Italian brands.<br />
For example, Prada, the famous clothes and<br />
bags (brand), opened only a few years ago<br />
a beautiful foundation in Milan. Trussardi,<br />
the brand, opened a foundation in Milan.<br />
Thanks to them, contemporary art in Italy<br />
is getting more and more attention.<br />
Also because young people and young<br />
audiences want the contemporary. So,<br />
contemporary is very popular now. There<br />
are not so many people very interested in<br />
the very classical arts. Now people want<br />
to see the contemporary works while<br />
collectors want to collect them. Maybe it’s<br />
also because it’s a little bit in fashion.<br />
DT: Considering that your education<br />
is on the classical side, how did you shift<br />
to liking contemporary<br />
art?<br />
AGG: Because I was<br />
interested in seeing how<br />
the artists reacted to and<br />
what they thought about<br />
the same work. If you see<br />
a painting of 300 years<br />
ago, you admire and like<br />
it, but what was really on<br />
the mind of the painter?<br />
It is very difficult to grasp.<br />
With contemporary art, I<br />
like the fact that the artist<br />
that is working now is<br />
exposed to the same work,<br />
the same television show,<br />
the same movie, the same<br />
news that I am watching<br />
now. I like the fact that we<br />
share what is good and bad<br />
that is going on today. It is<br />
all there on television and<br />
in the Internet.<br />
DT: Cultural exchanges are among<br />
the tools used by the diplomatic world<br />
in forging international friendship and<br />
peace. How do you see the role of the<br />
arts in diplomacy? Do the arts play a<br />
significant role in diplomacy?<br />
AGG: For me, yes. Because for me it is<br />
something that can put together countries<br />
(and I am not talking about the Philippines<br />
now) closer even if they have difficulties<br />
now. And I think that through art, you can<br />
achieve better relations. I am not referring<br />
to Philippine Italian relations because<br />
we have very good relations with the<br />
Philippines. So, no problem with that. But<br />
in any case, art is a big help.<br />
Venice Biennale<br />
DT: What is your main focus when<br />
it comes to Philippine-Italian relations?<br />
AGG: The main focus of our relation<br />
with the Philippines is the huge Filipino<br />
community in Italy. It’s the largest<br />
community in Europe together with the<br />
United Kingdom.<br />
DT: How do you think should Filipinos<br />
involve themselves in the arts in Italy?<br />
AGG: I think it is important for the<br />
Filipino community in Italy as well as<br />
in other countries to see to it that the<br />
Philippines takes part in the important art<br />
events in the country where they live. For<br />
example, the Philippines is taking part in<br />
the Venice Biennale. And I think that for the<br />
Filipinos residing there, it is something they<br />
should be proud of - that the Philippines<br />
is part of the most important visual art<br />
exhibition in the whole world. It should<br />
make them feel proud. The Biennale this<br />
year will open in mid-May.<br />
DT: Does the embassy have something<br />
to do with the Philippine participation?<br />
AGG: Apart from issuing the visa to<br />
the artists (laughter), the choice of the<br />
artists and the works is, of course, totally a<br />
Philippine matter. What I am trying to do is<br />
to help some journalists to go to Venice to<br />
report on the Biennale. Serious journalists<br />
are easy to sponsor. So, if they want to<br />
go and cover the Biennale, I will be very<br />
happy to help them. The Biennale starts in<br />
mid-May but it goes on for a little bit more<br />
of five months.<br />
DT: Of the different places you’ve<br />
seen, which one impresses you most for<br />
their arts?<br />
AGG: Well, it’s not easy to say. (laughs)<br />
I was in Latin America and I was based<br />
in Argentina. But I made several trips to<br />
Brazil and I must say that I was very much<br />
impressed by Brazil not only by individual<br />
artists but the strategy that they have. It is<br />
something that I never saw anywhere else<br />
in the world. When I was going there, each<br />
artist was trying to help other artists, critics,<br />
the galleries. It was really sort of an army<br />
that was moving forward. A critic would<br />
tell me you should go to this gallery. And<br />
one artist would say visit this other artist.<br />
So, it was really a network. The frontline is<br />
totally incredible.<br />
Five hundred years ago, even in<br />
Italy, during the Renaissance, there<br />
was a lot of bad artists. Of course,<br />
time canceled all the bad artists.<br />
Good economy<br />
DT: How has been your Philippine<br />
experience so far?<br />
AGG: I had never been in the<br />
Philippines before I was posted here.<br />
So, I didn’t know what to expect. I<br />
was surprised by two factors in the art<br />
world here. First, I was surprised by<br />
the galleries. And I mean, also by the<br />
structures of the galleries. These are<br />
beautiful spaces. They could be in New<br />
York, London or Berlin. Silverlens is very<br />
beautiful. So is Art Informal. The spaces<br />
are perfectly done and arranged. The<br />
second thing that I was impressed by was<br />
the very high level of sales of the galleries.<br />
Which means that there is a growing<br />
number of collectors and even young<br />
collectors buying works of art. And in fact<br />
I am talking with some gallery owners and<br />
they told me that it’s very new. Ten years<br />
or 15 years ago, they were more or less<br />
struggling to survive. Now they are doing<br />
very well and the art fair is a significant<br />
window of this development. I don’t know<br />
how many hundreds of works have been<br />
sold, but they are hundreds and hundreds.<br />
DT: Even the auction scene has been<br />
very active. What can you say about this?<br />
Are auction houses here to stay? Do you<br />
like the fact that many art works are<br />
being sold for millions of pesos?<br />
AGG: You can like it or not but it’s a<br />
reality. You have to face it. And even in the<br />
international market, when you hear that<br />
this work has been sold for $20 million,<br />
I should work for 2,000 years but it’s a<br />
fact. One of the reasons is contemporary<br />
art is very fashionable now and collectors<br />
want to have pieces in their houses that<br />
people recognize. If they put on their wall<br />
a beautiful art work by a minor artist 400<br />
years ago, not many people will recognize<br />
it and appreciate its value. For some<br />
collectors now, to have some works is a<br />
little bit like a jewel for a lady.<br />
DT: Do you see what’s happening in<br />
the Philippines now as a fad, or as a part<br />
of the seasonal turns?<br />
AGG: A little bit of ups and downs<br />
is normal. But I think the Philippines is<br />
growing; not only the economy but the<br />
interest in the arts.<br />
DT: My final question is, do you think<br />
that as far as the arts is concerned, we<br />
have come a long way? I ask this in the<br />
context of whether we have matured<br />
politically and economically as a country.<br />
AGG: Well, the growth in the numbers<br />
of collectors is surely a proof of the good<br />
economy of a country, no doubt about it. When<br />
there’s more money around, more people are<br />
able to buy art works. When a country is in<br />
a deep economic crisis, art is not sold. If the<br />
country goes well, the art market goes well.
24<br />
LIFESTYLE<br />
Dinah S. Ventura, Editor<br />
Sunday, 3 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
Two<br />
Asian<br />
of<br />
different types<br />
BBQ<br />
Unli-Korean BBQ is everywhere and the lines<br />
are longer than ever<br />
DIGEST<br />
Pamela Cortez<br />
ASSORTED sticks from Spicy BBQ Room.<br />
By Pauline L. Songco<br />
JAPAN’S<br />
SWEET<br />
BUN<br />
NOW IN MANILA<br />
It is best served with the shop’s signature gelato ice cream flavors<br />
and rusk — a form of biscuit — as its filling<br />
Filipinos still like to munch on the classic<br />
merienda combination of monay and sorbetes<br />
(bun and ice cream). But did you know that<br />
the Japanese have their own version? One of<br />
Asia’s trendiest dessert places finally opened<br />
its first branch in Manila, sweet surprise<br />
especially for lovers of all things Japan.<br />
Melonpan Ice, a dessert shop that sells<br />
sweet buns made from fluffy dough, opened<br />
its flagship store at the Eastwood City Walk<br />
2 in Quezon City earlier this month. Its<br />
owner, Shiro Mirakami, started off just by<br />
selling bread in a truck in Kanazawa City<br />
in Japan.<br />
Soon enough, it became a hit among high<br />
school students in town. “One day, a girl<br />
recommended to Shiro to put ice cream in<br />
the middle. And that’s where it all began,”<br />
Reagan Dykimching, Melonpan Ice Philippines<br />
partner, told Daily Tribune. Word spread, and<br />
Melonpan became the most popular dessert<br />
in Japan.<br />
Freshly-baked and crispy sweet, the bread<br />
used in Melonpan resembles a melon, hence its<br />
name. It is best served with the shop’s signature<br />
gelato ice cream flavors and rusk, a form of<br />
biscuit, as its filling. It is an ice cream sandwich<br />
with a distinctly Japanese twist.<br />
Melonpan Ice currently offers<br />
a full range of signature<br />
items which include<br />
Melonpan Ice in vanilla,<br />
chocolate, strawberry<br />
and matcha flavors,<br />
as well as the mini<br />
version, Minipan Ice.<br />
These sweet<br />
desserts may be<br />
ordered per piece<br />
or in boxes of five while the rusk can be ordered<br />
solo in either regular or large. For those who<br />
enjoy their desserts with a beverage, the shop<br />
also offers iced or hot coffee in black or white<br />
flavor.<br />
Melonpan Ice also offers savory meals such<br />
as Kani Tamago Melonpan, Chicken Teriyaki<br />
Melonpan and Pork Chashu Melonpan. The<br />
menu lineup will also carry Rusk Hachimitsu<br />
(honey), Matcha Melonpan, Choco Chip<br />
Melonpan and the Almond Crunch Melonpan<br />
this year.<br />
“Besides creating the store, we are<br />
expanding to more locations. We are eyeing<br />
two or more locations within this year,<br />
probably opening a fourth branch by the end<br />
of 2020,” Dykimching added.<br />
If you’re eager to sample this authentic<br />
Japanese treat for the first time, a quick visit<br />
to Melonpan Ice’s first branch in the country<br />
will surely provide you with a sweet and<br />
satisfying taste of Japanese culture.<br />
“Right now we have a partnership with<br />
Grab and Booky to make the product more<br />
accessible. And then lastly we will be<br />
expanding the menu. Right now it is strictly<br />
dessert but we will be launching the savory<br />
line so you can enjoy Melonpan for breakfast,<br />
lunch or dinner,” Dykimching concluded.<br />
Melonpan Ice currently<br />
has 50 branches in Japan<br />
and is present in over<br />
eight countries.<br />
Korean BBQ has dominated<br />
the Manila food scene<br />
in an unprecedented way.<br />
Samgyupsalamat pioneered<br />
this cultish movement with its<br />
“unlimited” offering, forcing<br />
other Korean restaurants to<br />
change their strategy or risk<br />
being left in the dust.<br />
Now, unli-Korean BBQ is<br />
everywhere and the lines are<br />
longer than ever.<br />
While yakiniku and Thai<br />
BBQ are also prevalent in<br />
the city, there’s another style<br />
that is secretly spreading<br />
good meats but is generally<br />
overlooked.<br />
Chinese BBQ is one of my<br />
favorite things to enjoy, and<br />
with the influx of Chinese<br />
nationals and workers (which<br />
I’m still divided on), there<br />
have been more of these<br />
restaurants popping up.<br />
To talk about these phenomenons, I visited<br />
two popular establishments to find out just what<br />
it is about them that makes them worth a visit.<br />
Romantic Baboy<br />
The other popular counterpart to Samgyupsalamat<br />
is the hilariously named Romantic Baboy which<br />
already has around 20 outlets all over Metro Manila<br />
after opening in 2018.<br />
It’s pretty typical, with eight meats to choose<br />
from, and a new addition that has also been taking<br />
Korean food in Manila by storm — cheese.<br />
I will always prefer the unmarinated meats just<br />
because they lend themselves well to different<br />
flavors like kimchi and the variation of dipping<br />
sauces so each bite is always different.<br />
It’s pretty typical, with eight meats to<br />
choose from, and a new addition that has<br />
also been taking Korean food in Manila by<br />
storm — cheese.<br />
Thinly sliced beef brisket known as woo samgyup<br />
is a favorite, or plain samgyupsal, a thicker cut of<br />
pork belly.<br />
What sets Romantic Baboy apart is their moksal<br />
or pork neck which is typically more expensive,<br />
but is still unlimited here. It’s fatty and incredibly<br />
full of pork flavor.<br />
By the way, never expect good service at<br />
these unlimited Korean restaurants, just because<br />
they’re always full of people and staff will be too<br />
busy to fill your order on time.<br />
Spicy BBQ Room<br />
The Chinese BBQ I’ll be talking about here is<br />
different from the Cantonese style we’re used to<br />
— I don’t mean roast duck, soy chicken or charsiu.<br />
I’m talking about the type that hails from<br />
Xinjiang and the Hunan province, which is<br />
incredibly spicy and full of cumin and other herbs<br />
and spices.<br />
These come to your table on tiny metal skewers,<br />
and are coated in spices which are delicious and<br />
numb your tongue.<br />
They serve up everything from lamb, to fatty<br />
BEEF Samgyup.<br />
GRILLED oysters.<br />
SPICY eggplant.<br />
beef, to squid, all with the same intense rub that<br />
will leave you reaching for bowls and bowls of rice.<br />
They even have oysters at this nondescript location<br />
along Bagtikan street in Makati, filled with piquant<br />
garlic.<br />
You can also order dishes that are all packed<br />
with heat, from eggplant to whole fish with<br />
Szechuan peppercorns.<br />
MATCHA Melonpan.<br />
THESE come to your table on tiny metal skewers and are coated in spices which are delicious and numb your tongue.