13 MARCH 2019
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BOEING, BOINK!<br />
PAGE 16 WORLD PAGE 20 LIFESTYLE<br />
PAGE 9 BUSINESS<br />
PAGE <strong>13</strong> SPORTS<br />
MOST<br />
INNOVATIVE<br />
BROADSHEET<br />
2018<br />
44TH<br />
PHILIPPINES<br />
BUSINESS<br />
EXPO<br />
PLUM PERFECT<br />
TRADE<br />
DEFICIT<br />
WIDENS<br />
HOUSTON’S LUCKY NINTH<br />
PIÑOL IS A<br />
DISGRACE<br />
PAGE 5<br />
COMMENTARY<br />
All point<br />
to De Lima<br />
By Mario J. Mallari<br />
Convicted drug lords have maintained<br />
their allegations of links detained Sen. Leila<br />
de Lima had with the narcotics network<br />
that emanated from the New Bilibid Prison<br />
(NBP) when she was Justice secretary,<br />
Turn to page 6<br />
MANILA, PHILIPPINES WEDNESDAY, <strong>13</strong> <strong>MARCH</strong> <strong>2019</strong><br />
Firm leader boosts growth<br />
A strong leadership and the<br />
right fundamentals will sustain<br />
stellar growth and further propel<br />
the economy in the coming years,<br />
a rising star in the business sector<br />
Driver: Demographic sweet spot<br />
We’ve been very bullish in our economy and numbers<br />
are really showing very good growth and all indicators<br />
are conducive to investing<br />
predicted yesterday.<br />
Diversified businessman Dennis<br />
Uy said during the “Straight<br />
Talk with Daily Tribune” his<br />
expanding concerns in different<br />
Missed message President Rodrigo Duterte humors Maj. Nancy Dacanay of the Philippine Air<br />
Force’s 15th Strike Wing who received an Outstanding Women in Law Enforcement and National<br />
Security of the Philippines award with her parents. Solicitor General Jose Calida listens and smiles at<br />
the exchange. The President said he is usually misunderstood or intentionally misinterpreted when<br />
he shares anecdotes involving women.<br />
MALACAÑANG PHOTO<br />
Hooked on women<br />
By Kristina Maralit<br />
“I adore women.”<br />
With this statement,<br />
President Rodrigo Duterte<br />
indicated that some of his<br />
statements are being spun<br />
and twisted by his opponents<br />
By Hananeel Bordey<br />
A tenacious clash is<br />
expected for the Batangas<br />
6th District seat in the House<br />
of Representatives in<br />
May as movie star<br />
Batangas Rep. Vilma<br />
Santos-Recto matches<br />
up with current Lipa City<br />
Mayor Meynard Sabili.<br />
This will be the second<br />
time that the Sabili clan<br />
challenges the superstar magic<br />
of Santos-Recto after the mayor’s<br />
wife, Bernadette, ran for<br />
to demonize him.<br />
“But I can’t remember<br />
really that I defiled anybody.<br />
Actually, if you review the<br />
tapes, it was with a purpose,”<br />
Mr. Duterte said.<br />
“I love women. It’s not<br />
because when I say that I<br />
like women that I want to<br />
despoil or dishonor. They<br />
don’t get it,” he pointed out.<br />
The President cited his<br />
having two wives as proof<br />
of his real views on the<br />
opposite sex.<br />
Turn to page 2<br />
congresswoman<br />
last elections and<br />
lost. Santos-Recto<br />
got 57.9 percent of the total<br />
votes.<br />
In a previous<br />
interview with<br />
Sabili, he said he<br />
will pursue “change”<br />
in Congress by<br />
installing a “real”<br />
representative of the people<br />
at the House.<br />
“I did not feel that. That is<br />
why I am running,” Sabili said.<br />
SANTOS-RECTO<br />
industries always try to achieve<br />
better products or alternatives for<br />
Filipinos.<br />
“We’ve been very bullish in our<br />
economy and numbers are really<br />
showing very good growth and<br />
all indicators are conducive to<br />
investing. That’s one… we’ve been<br />
growing for six percent over the<br />
past 10 years and I think the next<br />
three to five years, it’s still over<br />
Sparks fly in Batangas tiff<br />
Bowl of<br />
surprise<br />
There are some people<br />
who are terrified by<br />
worms, particularly those<br />
that somehow manage to<br />
emerge from toilet bowls.<br />
It would probably be<br />
the ultimate horror for<br />
them if they found what<br />
a Quezon City resident<br />
discovered on Monday in<br />
his toilet bowl: a full-grown<br />
boa constrictor, locally<br />
known as sawa.<br />
The quick-thinking<br />
resident of Barangay Holy<br />
Spirit in Quezon City took<br />
a big plastic bag and<br />
covered the toilet bowl.<br />
Through the help of his<br />
six percent, maybe seven percent,”<br />
Uy said.<br />
Uy, whose flagship companies<br />
Udenna Corp. and Chelsea<br />
Logistics Holdings Corp.<br />
teamed up with China<br />
Telecom to form<br />
Mislatel that won<br />
the bid as the<br />
country’s third<br />
Turn to page 2<br />
Turn to page 6<br />
Optimism<br />
high Emerging<br />
tycoon Dennis<br />
Uy is bullish on<br />
the economy<br />
under President<br />
Rodrigo Duterte.<br />
ROY PELOVELLO<br />
House, Senate<br />
get ‘moderator’<br />
By Kristina Maralit<br />
Salvador Panelo, the meeting could<br />
and Mario J. Mallari<br />
have been the result of an appeal by<br />
Mr. Duterte for the budget to be passed<br />
President Rodrigo Duterte has so as not to further result in a severe<br />
intervened in the prolonged budget blow to the government’s day-to-day<br />
impasse which he said the other operations.<br />
day will affect the steady growth “Well, it could mean that way, it<br />
momentum as he met with leaders of could also mean (the President saying)<br />
both chambers of Congress late last ‘you settle your differences so that we<br />
night.<br />
can have a new budget,’” Panelo said.<br />
With the first quarter nearly over, “You know the style of the President,<br />
the national government is still he listens and lets the protagonists settle<br />
running on a reenacted budget after among themselves. He’s somewhat of a<br />
lawmakers failed to approve the moderator,” he added.<br />
proposed P3.757-trillion expenditure Last Monday, Mr. Duterte asserted<br />
plan due to alleged “insertions.” that he will not approve the <strong>2019</strong> national<br />
The Senate and House of budget if there are provisions that<br />
Representatives are still at odds over violate constitutional requirements.<br />
the supposed amendments introduced He issued the remark as the two<br />
by the House in the proposed budget chambers of Congress continue to<br />
after it was passed by the Bicameral disagree on the P3.757-trillion <strong>2019</strong><br />
Conference Committee last month. proposed national budget and the<br />
Turn to page 6 SABILI<br />
According to presidential spokesman<br />
Turn to page 2<br />
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NEWS<br />
2<br />
Wednesday, <strong>13</strong> March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
Firm leader boosts growth<br />
I think the next three to five years, it’s still over six percent,<br />
maybe seven percent<br />
From page 1<br />
telco, said among the biggest advantage<br />
of the country in the region is its young<br />
population.<br />
The Philippines is in a so-called<br />
demographic sweet spot in which majority<br />
of the population are within the working<br />
age in contrast to most Asian countries<br />
which is experiencing labor shortage as<br />
a result of an aging population.<br />
Huge prospects<br />
“In our demographics, 60 percent of<br />
our population is aged 30 below. There’s<br />
a lot of so-called millennials who have<br />
purchasing power and another source of<br />
push is the government’s effort to build<br />
more infrastructure,” he said.<br />
Uy added the business sector sees<br />
huge promises from the “Build, Build,<br />
Build” program wherein the government<br />
will invest over P1 trillion a year over<br />
the next few years to build a lot of<br />
roads, bridges and railways which can<br />
decongest Manila, give growth to the<br />
provinces and, at the same time, spread<br />
the wealth.<br />
“So, our per capita income in the<br />
next few years will reach $5,000 and<br />
that would be the so-called breakout<br />
point wherein more people will have the<br />
spending power not only to invest but<br />
also to spend for livelihood or luxuries,”<br />
he added.<br />
Aggressive inroads<br />
“Our group, we have been in business<br />
since early 2000, 2002. We’re really investing<br />
in the country in the industry where we are<br />
at, namely, petroleum, but the past few<br />
years, we’ve been doubly aggressive, as<br />
you notice, because we are confident not<br />
only in the economic prospect but also the<br />
leadership of our country.”<br />
The result of the Social Weather<br />
Stations survey showing an upswing in<br />
the administration’s public satisfaction<br />
rating buttresses Uy’s views.<br />
Conducted 16 to 19 December 2018<br />
with 1,440 adult respondents nationwide,<br />
the poll yielded “very good” results or<br />
76 percent of the respondents saying<br />
they were satisfied with the President’s<br />
governance while only 9 percent said<br />
otherwise.<br />
The figures listed a net satisfaction<br />
rating of +66, a 16-point increase from the<br />
“very good” +50 recorded in September<br />
2018.<br />
“The Palace considers this increase<br />
in satisfaction rating as a vote of public<br />
confidence and a demonstration of the<br />
people’s unshakeable trust in the present<br />
administration which the polling firm<br />
classified as ‘very good,’” presidential<br />
spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a<br />
statement.<br />
Rise of Phoenix<br />
Uy said the best prospect among his<br />
long line of business interests will be in<br />
petroleum, through Phoenix.<br />
“As the economy improves, more<br />
people will buy cars. There’s a lot of<br />
traffic, so growth in petroleum demand<br />
has been growing the same way as our<br />
GDP (gross domestic product) has been<br />
growing,” he said.<br />
There’s a lot of so-called<br />
millennials who have purchasing<br />
power.<br />
He added he is investing in other<br />
petroleum-related products, such as LPG<br />
(liquefied petroleum gas) and in the near<br />
future in the production of asphalt which<br />
is needed for road building.<br />
“In logistics, in shipping, the<br />
passenger growth also increased. Lately,<br />
we’ve entered into telco, we’re lucky<br />
we won… We are also bullish because<br />
there’s a huge demand<br />
later on going into more<br />
data, Internet and<br />
e-commerce,” he said.<br />
“And also hospitality,<br />
Fresh take<br />
Young entrepreneur<br />
Dennis Uy who<br />
reads the economy<br />
well takes time out<br />
to browse the latest<br />
from Daily Tribune.<br />
ROY PELOVELLO<br />
we’re gaining in tourism. So, there’s<br />
no favorite sector really. Everything, on<br />
all sectors, we are bullish that they will<br />
really grow,” Uy added.<br />
His Udenna Group recently acquired<br />
Philippine H2O Ventures Corp. to support<br />
efforts to strengthen the country’s<br />
tourism sector.<br />
Good tourism outlook<br />
Philippine H2O Ventures thereafter<br />
changed its name to PH Resorts<br />
Group Holdings Inc. and<br />
its primary purpose is to<br />
engage in the hotel and/or<br />
gaming and entertainment<br />
business.<br />
PH Resorts will house<br />
the tourism-related<br />
businesses of the Udenna<br />
Group. Its portfolio will<br />
include two integrated resort<br />
and casino projects — one<br />
in Mactan, Cebu as well<br />
as another one<br />
in Udenna’s<br />
Clark<br />
Global<br />
City in<br />
Angeles, Pampanga.<br />
“PH Resorts will allow the Udenna<br />
Group to take advantage of the many<br />
opportunities in the tourism sector,<br />
create stronger synergies among<br />
our existing businesses and make<br />
more meaningful contributions to the<br />
Philippine economy,” Uy, who is Udenna<br />
founder and chairman, said.<br />
Udenna has diverse business interests<br />
in petroleum and oil through Phoenix<br />
Petroleum Philippines Inc.;<br />
shipping and logistics through<br />
Chelsea Logistics Holdings<br />
Corp. and 2GO Group<br />
Inc.; real estate through<br />
Udenna Development;<br />
education through<br />
Enderun Colleges, and<br />
convenience stores<br />
through FamilyMart.<br />
Kristina Maralit and<br />
Elmer N. Manuel<br />
Drive with care A 16-wheeler truck lies almost sideways after crashing into a center island along Abad<br />
Santos corner Tecson in Manila. The double trailer truck was carrying concrete pilotes or columns on the way<br />
to a construction site in Pasay City. No one was reported hurt.<br />
YUMMIE DINGDING<br />
Hooked<br />
on women<br />
From page 1<br />
“But the statement has been exploited, I<br />
said of late, you ladies stay away from priests,”<br />
he said.<br />
“So, that’s the truth. It’s happening<br />
everywhere. The Pope admitted that priests<br />
abuse nuns,” the President added during the<br />
awarding ceremony for the outstanding women<br />
in the law enforcement field in Malacañang last<br />
Monday night.<br />
The recent Social Weather Stations survey<br />
bear out the improved comprehension of Filipinos<br />
of the President’s intentions in his statements.<br />
On the ratings for specific issues, the Duterte<br />
administration received “Promoting Women’s<br />
Rights” the highest grade at a +71.<br />
Freedom to express<br />
The President also stressed he was just exercising<br />
his “freedom of expression” when he made his<br />
controversial remark about women, which some<br />
groups perceived to be misogynistic and sexist.<br />
I do it on purpose because I’m trying to<br />
bring you to the limits of despair.<br />
Stressing he has so much “love and respect<br />
for women,” it must go tit-for-tat as his right to<br />
express himself.<br />
“You know, you women, you deprive me of<br />
my freedom of expression. I don’t tell it to you<br />
directly, but you criticize every sentence or word<br />
I say,” the Chief Executive said in his speech.<br />
“That is my freedom to express myself. Even<br />
if I am just a President, do not take it — do not<br />
take me away from the crowd of being a Filipino<br />
citizen. I do it on purpose because I’m trying to<br />
bring you to the limits of despair,” he added.<br />
From page 1<br />
House, Senate get ‘moderator’<br />
You know the style of the President, he listens and lets the<br />
protagonists settle among themselves. He’s somewhat of a<br />
moderator<br />
alleged changes made by the House of<br />
Representatives after the Bicameral<br />
Conference Committee endorsed its<br />
version.<br />
President said his piece<br />
“I’ve said my piece: I will not<br />
sign anything that will be an illegal<br />
document,” the President stressed.<br />
The Chief Executive cautioned on<br />
the effects to the national government<br />
still operating on a reenacted budget,<br />
stressing a domino effect, particularly<br />
with regard to the economy.<br />
“We’ll have a slide in our GDP<br />
(gross domestic product) if we are<br />
going to reenact the budget,” he said.<br />
Among those affected by the<br />
budget deadlock is the fourth tranche<br />
of increase in government workers’<br />
pay, particularly for teachers, soldiers<br />
and police.<br />
Also reeling from the effects of the<br />
impasse is the rehabilitation of the<br />
MRT-3 rail system.<br />
With the budget still pending,<br />
the Department of Transportation<br />
cannot make the advance payment<br />
of P18 billion to Japanese consortium<br />
Sumitomo-Mitsubishi Corp. mainly<br />
intended for the restoration and<br />
overhaul of the EDSA railway line’s<br />
power supply, overhead catenary<br />
system, signaling system, tracks,<br />
closed-circuit television camera and<br />
public address systems, as well as its<br />
elevators and escalators.<br />
Sumitomo is the one bearing the<br />
brunt of the expenses for now just<br />
to ensure that the said rehabilitation<br />
project is on-track to meet its<br />
completion deadline.<br />
Long delay<br />
Senate President Vicente Sotto<br />
III said it was Executive Secretary<br />
Salvador Medialdea who extended<br />
the President’s invitation to leaders<br />
of Congress.<br />
The House of Representatives only<br />
submitted the budget measure on<br />
Monday night or more than a month<br />
after it was ratified on 8 February.<br />
It could also mean (the President<br />
saying) “you settle your<br />
differences so that we can have a<br />
new budget.”<br />
Sotto said the Senate’s Legislative<br />
Budget Research and Monitoring<br />
Office (LBRMO) immediately reviewed<br />
the measure. However, at press time,<br />
Sotto said the LBRMO was still<br />
studying the submitted measure.<br />
“What I can say is that if there<br />
were really changes made on about<br />
P79 billion after ratification, I will not<br />
sign it because apart from violating<br />
the Constitution, I will be violating<br />
also the Revised Penal Code on the<br />
issue of falsification of legislative<br />
documents,” Sotto said.<br />
Sen. Panfilo Lacson has accused<br />
some House leaders of manipulating<br />
the ratified budget measure — “which<br />
is against the Revised Penal Code and<br />
is patently unconstitutional.”<br />
The President also announced<br />
he will not sign the budget measure<br />
which could be considered as illegal<br />
document. He admitted that a<br />
reenacted budget would adversely<br />
affect the economy.<br />
Lacson said Mr. Duterte is correct<br />
in “not signing anything that would be<br />
an illegal document.”<br />
Nevertheless, the senator was<br />
optimistic over the passage of the<br />
budget but maintained that the<br />
measure should not violate the<br />
Constitution.<br />
“I would like to think positive — that<br />
those concerned will be enlightened<br />
and not insist on a constitutionally<br />
infirm budget. We have defined our<br />
baseline. We cannot dive deeper than<br />
what the Constitution so provides,”<br />
Lacson said.<br />
No good detractors<br />
Mr. Duterte insisted that he loves and<br />
respects all women, but lamented now his<br />
words about them have been manipulated by<br />
his detractors.<br />
The Chief Executive has drawn flak numerous<br />
times in the past for his comments on women,<br />
such as linking a woman’s physical beauty as a<br />
factor to being raped, ordering men in uniform to<br />
shoot female rebels in their private parts, joking<br />
about the gang rape and murder of an Australian<br />
missionary and telling soldiers to rape women in<br />
Marawi at the height of the military campaign<br />
against the Islamic State-inspired Maute group<br />
that laid siege to the city.<br />
He also experienced a backlash after claiming<br />
he “touched” his sleeping maid when he was still<br />
a teenager and for kissing a Filipina on the lips<br />
in full view of the public during his visit to South<br />
Korea last year.<br />
Washed new Poles at Riverside in Malabon get a fresh coating as part of a clean-up effort.<br />
ROMAN PROSPERO
Wednesday, <strong>13</strong> March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
PAGE THREE<br />
President Duterte is wary the legalization of medical<br />
marijuana could be used as an excuse for unlawful use.<br />
QC voted most<br />
gender responsive<br />
As a pilot and a pioneer city of the<br />
UN Women Safe Cities Metro Manila<br />
Program, Quezon City continues to<br />
address sexual harassment<br />
By Elmer N. Manuel<br />
Quezon City has been cited as among the most gender<br />
responsive local government units (LGU) that implement<br />
comprehensive gender and development (GaD) programs,<br />
according to the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW).<br />
The city was recognized for its enactment of GaD<br />
ordinances that uphold human rights, gender equality and<br />
women empowerment together with six other LGU in line<br />
with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals<br />
(UN-SDG) program for gender equality.<br />
The recognition falls squarely under Goal 5 of the<br />
UN-SDG — of which the Daily Tribune is a media<br />
partner — that aims to undertake reforms to give women<br />
equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to<br />
financial services, inheritance and natural resources in<br />
accordance with national laws.<br />
The PCW awarded Quezon City as a Gender and<br />
Development Local Learning Hub in view of its GaD<br />
programs, including the Quezon City Protection Center<br />
for Victim-Survivors of Gender-Based Violence and<br />
Abuse and City Social Hygiene Clinics.<br />
The city was recognized for its<br />
enactment of gender and development<br />
ordinances.<br />
With its initiative dubbed as the QC Pride<br />
Council — a pioneer initiative of the local government<br />
that “oversees the integration of all city programs<br />
and projects for the LGBT community — it<br />
has launched a comprehensive gender-fair<br />
ordinance in the city.<br />
And as a pilot and a pioneer city of<br />
the UN Women Safe Cities Metro Manila<br />
Program, Quezon City continues to address<br />
sexual harassment by implementing anticat<br />
calling and sexual harassment in<br />
public spaces provisions on the amended<br />
GaD ordinance.<br />
Quezon City also launched a massive<br />
information campaign on gender and<br />
development policies which is promoted down<br />
to the barangay level through GaD focal persons<br />
in every office and it also works and coordinates<br />
with the violence against women desks in police<br />
stations in the city.<br />
The City Social Hygiene Clinics, on the other<br />
hand, was established to care for men who have<br />
sex with men and transgender people that provide<br />
free, safe, non-discriminatory and confidential<br />
HIV testing along with free counseling services,<br />
part of the city’s HIV response program which<br />
has been recognized as a model for other<br />
cities by the United Nations Program on<br />
HIV/AIDS.<br />
By Kathleen Mae Bulquerin<br />
Senior officials of the Association of<br />
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have vowed<br />
to fight human trafficking during the ASEAN<br />
Consultative Meeting held in Bohol.<br />
A total of 78 senior officials from the 10 ASEAN<br />
member countries have pledged “to work more<br />
aggressively and decisively” in implementing the<br />
Bohol Trafficking in Persons (TiP) Work Plan.<br />
“Let us be the victim’s voices, saviors and<br />
protectors. Together, let us send the message to<br />
everyone that human trafficking has no place<br />
in Southeast Asia,” Department of Interior and<br />
Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año said.<br />
Año pointed out human trafficking remains<br />
as one of the toughest transnational crimes yet<br />
to be solved.<br />
“It is a somber thought that as we speak,<br />
victims of human trafficking are left at the<br />
mercy of their captors and rendered completely<br />
The Chief Executive firmly believes that legalizing the use of cannabis<br />
for medical purposes would only be used as an excuse for the<br />
proliferation of marijuana plantations<br />
By Hananeel Bordey, Elmer N. Manuel<br />
and Mario J. Mallari<br />
Candidates of Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HnP) on<br />
Tuesday urged the government to take preventive<br />
measures to cushion the impact of El Niño.<br />
Former Presidential Political Adviser Francis<br />
Tolentino lauded the National Disaster Risk<br />
Reduction Management Council (NRRMC) for<br />
setting a meeting to plan the government’s action<br />
in mitigating the effects of the phenomenon.<br />
“NDRRMC should convene here, they should<br />
brief the agencies involved and they should<br />
have an early announcement of brownout and<br />
water rationing,” the former Metropolitan Manila<br />
Development Authority (MMDA) chairman said.<br />
Tolentino emphasized that<br />
cloud seeding is not<br />
enough to<br />
lessen the impact on<br />
agriculture<br />
because the<br />
government<br />
lacks air assets while<br />
r i c e<br />
tariffication cannot meet<br />
the food<br />
demand as the implementing<br />
rules<br />
and regulations of the law are still in<br />
process.<br />
The senatorial bet reiterated<br />
incapable to defend themselves,” he said.<br />
Año added the government is in their utmost<br />
effort to put an end to human trafficking and<br />
assured ASEAN that they will continue the fight.<br />
According to the 2018 index, there are<br />
about 40.3 million victims of human trafficking<br />
worldwide with one in 10 victims thought to be<br />
within ASEAN member states.<br />
The ASEAN region has the second highest<br />
global prevalence rate with 6.6 victims of human<br />
trafficking for every 1,000 population.<br />
“With the leadership of a President who is famous<br />
worldwide for his stand and passion to battle illegal<br />
drugs, corruption, insurgency and criminality, the<br />
ASEAN may rest assured that the Philippines will<br />
not be deterred in this fight against TiP,” Año said<br />
during the welcome dinner for the delegates.<br />
“For every success that we achieve, one family<br />
will be happier and<br />
The meeting<br />
was attended by<br />
ASEAN Senior<br />
Officials Meeting on<br />
Transnational Crime<br />
delegates from Brunei<br />
Longer wait for medical marijuana law<br />
By Kristina Maralit<br />
Medical marijuana advocates will have<br />
to wait longer for its legalization<br />
as President Rodrigo Duterte<br />
declared it is not going to<br />
happen while he is still in office.<br />
“Absolute yes, he doesn’t<br />
like (legalizing it),” presidential<br />
spokesman Salvador Panelo<br />
confirmed at a press briefing.<br />
He said that the Chief Executive firmly<br />
believes that legalizing the use of cannabis<br />
for medical purposes would only be used as<br />
an excuse for the proliferation of marijuana<br />
plantations and cause widespread addiction.<br />
safer,” he added.<br />
The province of<br />
Quezon on Monday<br />
vowed to go all-out for<br />
former Special Assistant<br />
to the President and<br />
<strong>2019</strong> senatorial candidate<br />
Christopher Lawrence “Bong”<br />
Go, as well as his fellow candidates<br />
endorsed by the Hugpong ng<br />
Pagbabago (HnP) regional party led by<br />
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.<br />
Go said the people can count on<br />
him to be their link to President<br />
Rodrigo Duterte.<br />
Go thanked the leaders of<br />
the province and its residents<br />
after seeing the overwhelming<br />
display of support for him and<br />
other candidates of the HnP<br />
during their kickoff rally at<br />
the Quezon Convention Center.<br />
It could be recalled that last 10<br />
February, the provincial governors of<br />
Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and<br />
Quezon or CALABARZON issued a<br />
manifesto expressing their support<br />
for Go’s senatorial bid and declaring<br />
“He feels that you will be using that as an<br />
excuse. (The problem) might just get bigger. That’s<br />
why he said not during my time. In another time<br />
maybe, he said,” Panelo said<br />
“He doesn’t want to risk the spread of addiction<br />
in this country,” he added.<br />
The official said the only way the President<br />
may have another change of heart is if there<br />
would be “definitive findings” to prove the healing<br />
benefits of medical marijuana.<br />
The President, in the past, initially expressed<br />
approval of the use of cannabis for medical<br />
purposes.<br />
Last week, however, he reneged on his previous<br />
statement and vowed to block legislative efforts<br />
to legalize medical marijuana.<br />
that the only short-term solution for this is<br />
to conserve water to maintain the water<br />
level in dams.<br />
“I also wanted to question the protocol of<br />
releasing excess dam water during typhoons. The<br />
engineers in Angat and La Mesa are the ones who<br />
decide on that. It should have a protocol. Why are<br />
they going to throw away the water?” he asked.<br />
Throwing away excess water will only cause<br />
flooding in prone areas, according to Tolentino.<br />
He urged authorities to develop Wawa Dam in<br />
Rizal to provide long-term solution for the natural<br />
phenomenon.<br />
In another development, newly appointed Bangko<br />
Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin<br />
Diokno disclosed that he was “convinced” monetary<br />
authorities have room to ease policy even as he<br />
keeps close watch on the El Niño phenomenon in<br />
the country.<br />
In a television interview, the former Budget secretary<br />
said he would monitor the scale of El Niño and its effect<br />
on the economy, adding a water shortage in the capital<br />
has been blamed in part on the drought.<br />
Diokno also cited cooling inflation, expectations<br />
of slower inflation and recent statements from<br />
the Federal Reserve that it was slowing the pace<br />
him an adopted son of the region.<br />
Welcoming Go and the HnP<br />
Darussalam, Cambodia,<br />
Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia,<br />
Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand<br />
and Vietnam and representatives from other<br />
ASEAN sectoral<br />
bodies.<br />
candidates, House Minority Leader Danilo<br />
Suarez rallied local leaders and the residents<br />
of the province to support Go, including the<br />
other candidates endorsed by the HnP.<br />
Go said the people can count on him to be<br />
their link to President Rodrigo Duterte, as he<br />
vowed all-out support for the programs of the<br />
Duterte administration.<br />
Go said he believes in President Duterte’s<br />
fight against illegal drugs, criminality and<br />
corruption. He noted for example that people<br />
now feel safer in the streets and in their homes.<br />
He also said he wants to improve the delivery<br />
of health services in the country, adding part<br />
of this advocacy is the establishment of the<br />
Malasakit Center.<br />
A program of the Duterte<br />
administration based on Go’s idea,<br />
the Malasakit Center makes it easier<br />
and faster for poor patients to avail<br />
themselves of medical and financial<br />
assistance from the government by bringing<br />
together in one room all concerned agencies<br />
such as the DoH, DSWD, PCSO and PhilHealth.<br />
“We now have a Malasakit Center here in<br />
Quezon. It was opened by Governor Suarez<br />
recently,” Go said, adding he wants a law to<br />
enable the establishment of Malasakit Centers<br />
in more provinces and key urban centers of the<br />
country in order to continue the program even<br />
after Duterte’s term had ended. CRP<br />
“Maybe some other time. Some other President,<br />
maybe,” the Chief Executive said in his speech<br />
at an event in Negros Occidental.<br />
A proposed measure, House Bill 6517, also<br />
called the Philippine Compassionate Medical<br />
Cannabis Act, is pending before the House of<br />
Representatives.<br />
He doesn’t want to risk the spread of<br />
addiction in this country.<br />
It seeks to legalize the use of medical<br />
marijuana for debilitating conditions such as<br />
multiple sclerosis, cancer, HIV/AIDS, neurological<br />
disorders and spinal cord injuries.<br />
The proposed law prescribes rules for the proper<br />
use of medical marijuana, including the designation<br />
of a qualified medical cannabis physician, a<br />
qualified medical cannabis patient who shall be<br />
issued an identification card, a qualified medical<br />
cannabis caregiver and a qualified medical cannabis<br />
compassionate center.<br />
Cushion El Niño<br />
effects, gov’t urged<br />
The only short-term solution for this<br />
is to conserve water to maintain<br />
the water level in dams<br />
ASEAN vows fight vs human trafficking<br />
For every success that we achieve,<br />
one family will be happier and safer.<br />
Former Cabinet official “Bong” Go talks<br />
on his advocacies in one of his sorties.<br />
Diokno said he would monitor the<br />
scale of El Niño and its effect on the<br />
economy.<br />
Quezon supports Go, HnP<br />
Unmindful of the human trafficking issues in the Asean region, this woman from Tayuman, Manila is secure<br />
in the thought that she has her dog, man’s best friend, for company.<br />
ROMAN PROSPERO<br />
of its interest rate increases.<br />
“If there’s a need” to ease policy, Diokno said<br />
it could be a reduction in the reserve requirement<br />
ratio for banks of about “one percentage point every<br />
quarter for the next four quarters.” The current<br />
ratio is “very high,” he said.<br />
Meanwhile, reelectionist Sen. Sonny Angara<br />
wanted to prioritize food-growing areas in the<br />
country to assure low prices of rice and coconut.<br />
He said the government should have a “proactive<br />
stance” on the crisis suggesting an “anti-El Niño czar”<br />
who will be in charge of giving a multi-agency response.<br />
“A man-made disaster over a natural disaster<br />
is a double whammy that will leave less food on<br />
the table for families and less income for farmers.<br />
There are threats to agriculture in multiple fronts.<br />
Government should help farmers battle the many<br />
crises they are facing,” Angara added.<br />
The senator said there are Calamity Fund<br />
or the National Disaster Risk Management and<br />
Mitigation (NDRMM) Fund, National Irrigation<br />
Administration (NIA) budget for agriculture agencies,<br />
Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund under the<br />
Rice Tariffication Law and Department of Social<br />
Welfare and Development Fund that will provide<br />
for the affected families.<br />
Angara explained the P20-billion NDRMM fund<br />
can provide for preparatory activities while the<br />
P36 billion NIA fund can be allotted for<br />
water-saving measures in government-managed<br />
irrigation systems.<br />
Nat’l ID<br />
ready by<br />
September<br />
By Hananeel Bordey<br />
The Philippine<br />
Identification System<br />
(PhilSys) will roll out<br />
September this year,<br />
the Philippines Statistics<br />
Authority (PSA) revealed<br />
during the House Oversight<br />
Committee on Populkation<br />
and Family Relations<br />
yesterday.<br />
The agency told Speaker<br />
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that<br />
they are ready to start the<br />
first batch of registration and<br />
issue the national ID before<br />
September.<br />
“I am happy that it’s all<br />
systems go for the National ID<br />
system based on the timeline<br />
they have presented to us this<br />
morning,” Arroyo said.<br />
The former President<br />
reiterated the importance<br />
of the oversight function of<br />
Congress to determine if<br />
the measures passed were<br />
properly implemented.<br />
They are ready to<br />
start the first batch of<br />
registration and issue<br />
the national ID before<br />
September.<br />
PSA Deputy National<br />
Statistician Atty. Lourdines<br />
de la Cruz said that in<br />
accordance with Republic<br />
Act 11055 or the Philippine<br />
Identification System Act,<br />
they will commence the<br />
registration for the PhilSys<br />
this September which they<br />
eye to cater to about 6 million<br />
individuals.<br />
This will provide for<br />
eligible Filipinos registrants<br />
and resident aliens aged at<br />
least five years old.<br />
Indigents, people with<br />
disabilities and government<br />
workers will be prioritized in<br />
the registration, according to<br />
De la Cruz.
COMMENTARY<br />
4 Wednesday, <strong>13</strong> March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<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 />
Founding Chair<br />
Executive Editor<br />
Managing Editor<br />
Associate Editors<br />
Another Duterte<br />
shakes trees<br />
“The<br />
daughter…<br />
is merely<br />
doing<br />
what the<br />
father<br />
effectively<br />
does,<br />
which is<br />
to be the<br />
sounding<br />
board of<br />
ordinary<br />
Filipinos.<br />
Komfie Manalo<br />
Business Editor<br />
Central Desk<br />
The Otso Diretso candidates are not being taken seriously<br />
and their rallies appear a poor sideshow to the usually<br />
jampacked Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HnP) tour. The surprising<br />
draw is not any of the candidates but HnP chairman and<br />
campaign manager Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte.<br />
It appears that the daughter had inherited all the<br />
attributes of the father, including her being a feisty opponent<br />
of political rivals.<br />
That the HnP candidates were not necessarily the bets<br />
that her father’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino supports even<br />
in the local race only strengthens the comparison of Sara<br />
having the dogged independence of her father.<br />
Many have noticed Inday Sara’s spectacular<br />
rise during the campaign as she appeared to have<br />
metamorphosed from the President’s daughter, who<br />
used to accompany Rody to foreign trips, to a potential<br />
leader.<br />
She has taken over the chores of promoting<br />
Rody’s senatorial slate, which is not a simple<br />
task since administration critics claim that the<br />
midterm polls would be a referendum on the<br />
first three years of the Duterte administration.<br />
She is weathering all that Rody’s foes had<br />
thrown her path, including the controversial statement<br />
that all politicians resort to lies which, anyway, is a view that<br />
nearly all Filipinos share.<br />
Inday Sara, likewise, voiced the belief of many that the<br />
opposition Otso Diretso’s senatorial candidates as “lacking<br />
in moral ascendancy” due to their inaccurate statements.<br />
Members of Otso Diretso’s senatorial slate resort to<br />
“tricks and lies and inaccurate statements about their<br />
attacks and stand on social issues,” she said in a<br />
Calamba, Laguna sortie.<br />
“Of course, my God, if we could only, if not<br />
for the slow Internet in the Philippines, play the<br />
entire recordings of what they have been saying all<br />
along. They’re all tricks and lies and inaccurate<br />
statements about their attacks, their stand on social<br />
issues. Nobody can claim here that they are clean, not even<br />
the Vice President (Leni Robredo),” she said.<br />
Not since the entry of her father in the<br />
“Inday<br />
Sara’s<br />
statements<br />
are only<br />
controversial<br />
since these<br />
are what<br />
most Filipinos<br />
wanted to tell<br />
majority of<br />
their elected<br />
officials.<br />
Patricia Ramos<br />
Board Chair<br />
Willie Fernandez<br />
Publisher and President<br />
Special Reports<br />
presidential race had anybody shaken the<br />
political sphere.<br />
The daughter, however, is merely doing<br />
what the father effectively does, which is to<br />
be the sounding board of ordinary Filipinos<br />
and her frank views mirror the common<br />
thought.<br />
The exchange about honesty was brought<br />
about by the supposed questionable school<br />
records of one of the HnP candidates to<br />
which Inday Sara turned on the loudest<br />
accuser, Vice President Leni Robredo, on the allegation<br />
that Robredo is a fake Vice President which she based<br />
on the people’s view due to her constant assaults on the<br />
President and an existing Presidential Electoral Tribunal<br />
protest is in progress and that “she may or may not get<br />
away with it.”<br />
In another headline grabber, Inday Sara said the Otso<br />
Diretso campaign is disorganized, depressing and sad, thus<br />
earning from her the description of the team as a black hole.<br />
A black hole, of course, is a region in space that sucks in<br />
all matter, including time itself making it a truly depressing<br />
part of the universe.<br />
“I am not the secretary of the black holes, so the Comelec<br />
(Commission on Elections) has already junked their petition<br />
(for a debate),” she said.<br />
The Comelec said granting a debate to just the Otso<br />
Diretso and HnP candidates may be considered by other<br />
senatorial candidates as selective.<br />
Comelec also cited time constraints and logistics problem<br />
for thumbing down the Otso Diretso demand.<br />
Inday Sara’s statements are only controversial since<br />
these are what most Filipinos wanted to tell majority of<br />
their elected officials who have condemned the country to<br />
suffer their abuses.<br />
The vicious yellow eyes have lately shifted from Rody<br />
to Sara showing the recognition and panic among the<br />
administration critics on the rise of a possible successor.<br />
“Does<br />
the special<br />
prosecutor<br />
confide to<br />
Sabio her<br />
cases — whether<br />
a preliminary<br />
examination<br />
or a<br />
preliminary<br />
investigation<br />
result?<br />
“Since the<br />
composition<br />
of the<br />
House<br />
changes<br />
every three<br />
years, it is<br />
important<br />
for the<br />
House<br />
secretariat<br />
to be<br />
stable and<br />
professional.<br />
Trust the Antonio<br />
Trillanes lawyer named<br />
Jude Sabio to suddenly<br />
resurface and bring<br />
up what he claims is<br />
President Duterte’s case<br />
before the International<br />
Criminal Court (ICC),<br />
which is really not<br />
surprising, given that<br />
these days are election<br />
campaign days and the<br />
opposition bets are<br />
desperate enough to<br />
clutch onto anything that would turn<br />
voters against the administration bets.<br />
Even Trillanes, Gary Alejano and the<br />
yellow gang know that the ICC cannot<br />
investigate and prosecute President<br />
Duterte over the killings and alleged<br />
human rights violations under his<br />
administration’s war on drugs, as many<br />
experts have already stressed almost a<br />
year ago, after Duterte pronounced that<br />
the Philippines was officially cutting its<br />
ties and membership from the Rome<br />
Statute that created the ICC.<br />
The latest to echo the reasons,<br />
all of which were stated a year ago<br />
by constitutional experts, is Justice<br />
Secretary Menardo Guevarra, who<br />
stressed there is no need for the<br />
President to officially respond to<br />
whatever complaints as well as charges<br />
filed against him before the ICC.<br />
Guevarra, as well as others who<br />
had earlier pointed out the flaws of<br />
the ICC and prosecutors charging<br />
Duterte, said<br />
contrary<br />
to what<br />
had been<br />
Out of ICC, for good<br />
FRONTLINE<br />
Ninez Cacho-Olivares<br />
Last<br />
week,<br />
I found<br />
myself in<br />
an engaging<br />
conversation<br />
with colleagues<br />
from the Senate<br />
secretariat at a lunch hosted by the<br />
US Embassy. As a secretariat official<br />
from the House of Representatives, it<br />
is always interesting for me to compare<br />
notes with the Senate officials on our<br />
internal processes in a cordial fashion<br />
and to complement each other on what<br />
we think each other is doing well. Full<br />
disclosure: Nothing was discussed on<br />
the <strong>2019</strong> budget.<br />
The conversation was first<br />
grounded on the key differences<br />
between senators and House members.<br />
Senators are elected nationally for a<br />
term of six years, while congressmen<br />
are elected by a specific constituency<br />
(local) or sector (national) only for a<br />
term of three years.<br />
Senators usually have had a long<br />
career doing legislative work, at<br />
times as a congressman or have been<br />
previously elected to a local executive<br />
position. It is rare for an individual<br />
to be elected with no legislative<br />
background, e.g. Sen. Panfilo “Ping”<br />
Lacson. It is therefore more likely<br />
for a senator to bring in a battery<br />
of lawyers and researchers given<br />
their past background in government<br />
service, but with Mayor Rodrigo<br />
Duterte breaking the traditional<br />
route to the presidency (not having<br />
been previously nationally elected),<br />
we might be seeing more senators<br />
who have not been elective officials<br />
before, i.e., “Bong” Go or “Bato” de<br />
la Rosa, if they win.<br />
This being so, the structure of<br />
the secretariats of the House and<br />
Senate have some consequential<br />
differences as well. For the Senate,<br />
the 24 senators bring in around 40<br />
staff and this makes their secretariat<br />
smaller. But for the House, the<br />
nearly 300 congressmen only have<br />
six plantilla coterminous staff<br />
each, which explains the larger<br />
secretariat staff on whom there is<br />
more dependence in the areas of bill<br />
drafting, legal and policy research.<br />
Special mention was made of the<br />
House “think tank” on budget policy,<br />
the Congressional Policy and Budget<br />
Research Department, as it is active<br />
in the academe and it publishes<br />
claimed by the<br />
Trillanes lawyer — who<br />
is hardly known in<br />
the Philippines as a<br />
constitutional lawyer,<br />
nor for that matter is<br />
he a known criminal<br />
lawyer — the ICC cannot<br />
take jurisdiction over<br />
the case since the<br />
justice system in the<br />
country is working.<br />
Guevarra was quoted<br />
as saying in a newspaper<br />
report that “as far as our country is<br />
concerned, the ICC cannot exercise<br />
its jurisdiction to investigate, much<br />
less to prosecute, because our own<br />
investigative agencies and judicial bodies<br />
are functioning effectively, albeit slowly.”<br />
He added the “casualties in the antidrug<br />
campaign are not comparable<br />
to genocide or any crime against<br />
humanity, by any stretch of imagination<br />
or twisting of settled international law<br />
doctrine.”<br />
Guevarra said the conviction<br />
rebutted the insinuation of impunity by<br />
critics of the war on illegal drugs which<br />
was a basis for filing of complaints<br />
against Duterte before the ICC.<br />
A number of policemen charged<br />
with the crime of having murdered<br />
the teenaged Kain de los Santos and<br />
planted drugs on him, to make him<br />
look like a drug runner, have been<br />
convicted which already proves that<br />
the judicial system works.<br />
The Palace also cited the principle<br />
of complementarity wherein the ICC<br />
can only investigate allegations of<br />
genocide, crimes against humanity and<br />
war crimes if the domestic courts are<br />
unable or unwilling to do so.<br />
Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo<br />
chimed in, saying: “Our courts are<br />
functioning. So, how can (ICC) take<br />
jurisdiction? We are willing and we<br />
are capable. In fact, it shows we have<br />
a robust judicial system. We have been<br />
prosecuting people and we<br />
have convictions, as well<br />
as acquittals.”<br />
Thus far, all that the<br />
ICC special prosecutor<br />
had stated earlier is that<br />
she is into a preliminary<br />
examination, not a preliminary<br />
investigation. However, Sabio can be<br />
trusted to spin this, already stating the<br />
ICC has already gone into preliminary<br />
investigation and, soon, charges will be<br />
filed against Duterte.<br />
Duterte will be charged<br />
before the ICC — if Sabio is to<br />
be believed — and, incidentally,<br />
he should never be believed,<br />
considering his total lack of<br />
credibility, even when there was only<br />
a preliminary examination done by<br />
the special prosecutor and not as yet<br />
a preliminary investigation.<br />
However, even if there were already<br />
a preliminary investigation done by the<br />
ICC special prosecutor, just with what<br />
crime can she charge Duterte?<br />
It has always been Sabio who<br />
has been coming up with all these<br />
announcements he claims that come<br />
from the ICC special prosecutor.<br />
In an interview with CNN<br />
Philippines last week, lawyer Sabio,<br />
who filed the first communication in<br />
April 2017, said the ICC may decide<br />
to launch a formal probe before<br />
17 March when the Philippines’<br />
withdrawal from the ICC takes effect.<br />
Really? Does the<br />
special prosecutor<br />
confide to Sabio her<br />
cases — whether<br />
a preliminary<br />
examination or<br />
a preliminary<br />
investigation result<br />
and even discusses<br />
with Sabio when she<br />
will be filing charges<br />
against Duterte?<br />
In December<br />
2018, the ICC said<br />
in its annual report<br />
that its Office of the<br />
Prosecutor has been conducting a<br />
thorough factual and legal assessment<br />
of the information available in order<br />
to reach a reasonable basis to believe<br />
that the alleged crimes fall within the<br />
jurisdiction of the court.<br />
In April 2017, Sabio submitted<br />
to the ICC a formal communication<br />
on the drug war killings, followed<br />
by supplemental information from<br />
opposition lawmakers Trillanes and<br />
Alejano. They alleged that over a<br />
thousand were killed by the so-called<br />
Davao Death Squad while thousands<br />
more were killed in the war on drugs<br />
since Duterte became president.<br />
This complaint has no bearing<br />
on the preliminary examination at<br />
all and it is Sabio and his principals<br />
who try to make themselves look<br />
important when they are or will soon<br />
be non-political entities.<br />
Drug killings are not part of what<br />
the ICC can charge any government<br />
individual.<br />
Crimes against humanity then?<br />
Duterte as president is more humane<br />
than the yellow president who did<br />
nothing to save his 44 troops from being<br />
massacred by the Moros, even as he<br />
watched it in real time.<br />
House and Senate<br />
well-researched<br />
pieces monthly. I<br />
emphasized that since<br />
the composition of<br />
the House changes<br />
every three years, it is<br />
important for the House<br />
secretariat to be stable<br />
and professional.<br />
Questions were<br />
propounded by our hosts<br />
on our own personal<br />
opinions on certain<br />
issues, not reflective of<br />
our respective institutions, such as the<br />
partylist system, the importance of the<br />
leadership of the Senate President and<br />
Speaker, constitutional amendments<br />
and the upcoming midterm elections.<br />
Though our answers varied, it was<br />
evident that the passion to legislate of<br />
both House and Senate officials was<br />
very much alive, regardless of the<br />
differences in policy and leadership<br />
our political principals may have.<br />
One burning<br />
“When<br />
asked on what<br />
I can change<br />
in the House,<br />
I immediately<br />
answered<br />
that more<br />
technology<br />
must be<br />
integrated in<br />
the legislative<br />
process.<br />
QUO VADIS<br />
Darren M. de Jesus<br />
topic was the<br />
possible inclusion<br />
of a provision<br />
lifting term<br />
limits in the new<br />
Constitution. One<br />
of the attendees<br />
expressed that he<br />
is favorable to this<br />
provision since it<br />
will prevent the<br />
practice of having<br />
a congressman’s<br />
wife or child run<br />
in his place after three terms, thereby<br />
sacrificing the quality of leadership,<br />
since said family member is elected<br />
due to name and not credentials.<br />
The term limit has also made some<br />
politicians to be creative in skirting the<br />
law by their orchestrated interruption<br />
of their last term which allows them<br />
to run under a fresh first term. This<br />
explains how some officials end up<br />
with a fifth consecutive term.<br />
When asked on what I can change in<br />
the House, I immediately answered that<br />
more technology must be integrated in<br />
the legislative process. I mentioned<br />
that under the leadership of the Office<br />
of House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-<br />
Arroyo, the House secretariat is<br />
undergoing a project to come up with<br />
a world-class ICT Initiative, particularly<br />
for the legislative process and we are<br />
aiming its implementation before the<br />
Speaker steps down on 30 June.<br />
“All that<br />
the ICC<br />
special<br />
prosecutor<br />
stated<br />
earlier is<br />
that she<br />
is into a<br />
preliminary<br />
examination,<br />
not a<br />
preliminary<br />
investigation.<br />
I also shared that<br />
during a visit to Batasan<br />
by parliamentarians from<br />
Poland last February, the<br />
delegates noticed the<br />
piles of paper on the desks<br />
of the congressmen in the<br />
Plenary Hall and shared<br />
that their parliament<br />
utilizes electronic tablets.<br />
Imagine how efficient the<br />
legislators will be if this<br />
was done in the House<br />
but, of course, we would<br />
expect some resistance from the less<br />
tech-savvy congressmen. The Senate<br />
officials said that with their impending<br />
move to their new office in Taguig, they<br />
likewise hope that they would have a<br />
paperless procedure to complement<br />
their new modern office.<br />
I chided that the entire legislative<br />
process would be more seamless<br />
only if the House and Senate were<br />
physically located near each other,<br />
although this will remain a dream<br />
since the House would never leave<br />
its complex in Batasan. The entire<br />
group then daydreamed on how it<br />
would have been much better for the<br />
country if the original design plan for<br />
all government offices to be located<br />
in Quezon City actually happened.<br />
The session ended on a high<br />
note and I was glad to make new<br />
acquaintances from the Senate. All<br />
this happened in the midst of an<br />
ongoing disagreement between our<br />
respective principals with regard<br />
the <strong>2019</strong> budget. It was said the<br />
country will remain on a reenacted<br />
budget until August <strong>2019</strong>, already<br />
way past the middle of the year. This<br />
will be prejudicial to our country<br />
since a reported P150 million is lost<br />
every day due to this impasse and<br />
several projects are dependent on<br />
the approval of the <strong>2019</strong> General<br />
Appropriations Act. While we work<br />
to represent the best interests<br />
of our bosses, we hope that our<br />
legislators will find a way to place<br />
their differences and past vendettas<br />
aside and place the welfare of our<br />
country as the topmost priority. In<br />
any case, the President has spoken,<br />
prodded Congress to pass the budget,<br />
but proclaimed that he will sign no<br />
illegal document. The directive has<br />
been given — it is now time to settle<br />
issues and get back to work.<br />
Email: darren.dejesus@house.gov.ph<br />
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Wednesday, <strong>13</strong> March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
Last 25 February, an estimated 1,200 people<br />
assembled at the People Power Monument to<br />
“Self-centered commemorate the 33rd anniversary of the<br />
and EDSA revolution, also known as the People<br />
opportunistic Power revolution.<br />
outlooks On that fateful day, around two million<br />
may indeed<br />
Filipinos, from all sectors of society — young<br />
students, prayerful nuns and priests, society<br />
abound<br />
matrons, day workers, militant activists and<br />
in Metro political dissenters — massed up to collectively<br />
Manila… manifest their opposition to the authoritarian<br />
this does regime of Ferdinand Marcos. The despotic<br />
not hold rule spanned 21 years, greatly bolstered by<br />
true in the the imposition of martial law from 1972 to 1981.<br />
provinces Yet even as we marked the 33rd anniversary<br />
where the of that “non-violent revolt” that ousted<br />
bayanihan a dictatorship, everything seems to have<br />
spirit come full circle — with martial law imposed,<br />
continues<br />
albeit limited to Mindanao, the Marcoses<br />
regaining political<br />
to flourish.<br />
clout beyond the<br />
“The way Piñol comported<br />
himself in that incident was<br />
unbecoming of a high-ranking<br />
public official identified<br />
with a president who enjoys<br />
unprecedented continuing public<br />
support.<br />
Cinderella was a social butterfly.<br />
It was Laurie’s mother who described her as a<br />
communal lepidoptera as she was always out with<br />
friends, a reason why she imposed rules and why<br />
Laurie called herself Cinderella. She had to be home<br />
by midnight.<br />
That rule did not slow down Laurie, though. In<br />
her 20s, she went deep into joining the underground<br />
movement at the onset of the dictatorship of<br />
Ferdinand Marcos and was killed in battle by the<br />
military in 1975.<br />
This rubbernecker was five years old then. I did<br />
not know who Lorena Barros was. Or what martial<br />
law was. All I knew was Marcos was Philippine<br />
president and that he did great things for the country.<br />
That was what they taught us, martial law babies,<br />
in school.<br />
I stumbled upon Laurie long after her death. I<br />
could no longer recall how, but our introduction could<br />
have been by way of books or reading materials I<br />
picked up somewhere, probably inserted in borrowed<br />
library readings.<br />
Heroines fascinated me long<br />
“What<br />
women enjoy<br />
now could<br />
not have<br />
happened<br />
had they<br />
kept<br />
mopping<br />
floors and<br />
cooked their<br />
husbands’<br />
before I had crushes. My pre-puberty<br />
heroines were not Wonder Woman,<br />
Supergirl or Captain Marvel. For this<br />
kid then, Tandang Sora and Gabriela<br />
Silang rocked. But Lorena Barros, I<br />
loved.<br />
It was only later that I saw her face<br />
when more books about her and the<br />
other martyrs of the Philippine Left<br />
surfaced years after EDSA.<br />
Laurie was not a fictional princess.<br />
She was a fighter.<br />
Before Laurie, there were other<br />
meals.<br />
women like her who challenged the existing orders<br />
of their times and succeeded.<br />
Women’s rights as we know it today have been<br />
fought in various ways by women themselves.<br />
In 1909 in New York, the Socialist Party<br />
of America organized a Women’s Day. The<br />
following year, the International Socialist Women’s<br />
Conference (born out of the 1906 Congress of<br />
German women) suggested that an annual Women’s<br />
Day be commemorated.<br />
In Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, London and<br />
many other places, women dropped their home rags<br />
and took to the streets. Many of them called for equal<br />
rights, including suffrage then enjoyed only by men.<br />
A women’s strike in Petrograd, Russia sparked the<br />
February Revolution that forced Emperor Nicholas<br />
II to abdicate in 1917. The Great October Revolution<br />
followed months later.<br />
In the past 25 years, women have made significant<br />
progress in health, education and legal rights.<br />
In most countries, women have also made great<br />
The women I loved<br />
How fares Filipino nationalism?<br />
Ilocos region and back into the national<br />
sphere, corruption still unabated in the<br />
bureaucracy, human rights abuses remain<br />
unmitigated — the very same issues that<br />
impelled the EDSA revolutionaries to come<br />
together in 1986.<br />
Barely a year after EDSA,<br />
“If we can<br />
all emulate<br />
the Ivatans,<br />
then there is<br />
hope for us.<br />
Aldrin Cardona<br />
Asia correspondent James<br />
Fallows commented “(T)<br />
he EDSA revolution seems<br />
emotionally so important in the<br />
Philippines not only because<br />
it got rid of Marcos but also<br />
because it demonstrated a<br />
brave, national-minded spirit.” However, for<br />
Fallows, the nationalist spirit manifested on<br />
EDSA was an exception, even an aberration.<br />
“The tradition of political corruption and<br />
cronyism, the extremes of wealth and poverty,<br />
the tribal fragmentation, the local elite’s<br />
willingness to make a separate profitable<br />
peace with colonial<br />
powers — all reflect<br />
He<br />
said<br />
advances in economic participation, political<br />
leadership and security.<br />
The Philippines remains largely a patriarchal<br />
society. But it would not take long before this would<br />
change, too.<br />
Women have taken over country’s leadership, too.<br />
In the first post-EDSA Senate, we only had<br />
two women in Santanina Rasul and Leticia<br />
Ramos-Shahani.<br />
At present, we have six.<br />
The number of female lawmakers in Congress has<br />
also grown significantly. There are also more woman<br />
local government leaders now as before.<br />
Largely, there is a significant improvement in favor<br />
of women in the workplace. Several women have also<br />
taken over top corporate positions, although it would<br />
probably take more decades before we could say the<br />
gap in women’s progress toward gender equality has<br />
been filled.<br />
The bravery shown and the sacrifices made by<br />
women of the past have made this possible. What<br />
women enjoy now could not have happened had<br />
they kept mopping floors and cooked their husbands’<br />
meals.<br />
Global data from the World Bank, the World Health<br />
Organization, several United Nations agencies and<br />
others have reported improvements in women’s<br />
access to health care services.<br />
Newly born girls can now expect to live past 70.<br />
Maternal mortality has dropped to more than 40<br />
percent in two decades. Mortality for infant girls<br />
decreased by half and adolescent births by a third.<br />
But women — and also men — face new challenges<br />
now, including the prevalence of HIV/AIDS.<br />
Trafficking remains an issue.<br />
Bad governance is still a challenge. For them.<br />
For us.<br />
More women will rise, because they’re better<br />
than men.<br />
As we celebrate International Women’s Month, we<br />
bow to you mothers, sisters, aunts, friends.<br />
Thank you for making the world better!<br />
Piñol a disgrace to public office, media<br />
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel<br />
Piñol gave the public a glimpse of his abrasive<br />
character two weeks ago at a public forum on rice<br />
tariffs held at the Grand Regal Hotel in Davao<br />
City where he was the speaker.<br />
Maya Padillo, the Davao City<br />
correspondent of the Daily Tribune,<br />
approached Piñol, politely introduced<br />
herself and requested the Agriculture<br />
Secretary for an interview concerning<br />
the forum.<br />
According to another news reporter<br />
who was with Padillo, Piñol snapped at<br />
Padillo and said, “I don’t want you. You<br />
made me a headline! No way. I will not<br />
agree to an interview if it will appear in<br />
Tribune. I will not allow it!”<br />
The reporter also disclosed after Piñol<br />
humiliated Padillo, the Agriculture chief turned<br />
to the people at his table and screamed,<br />
“They made me a headline — Piñol on his<br />
way out. They turned me into a project<br />
even if they knew the President was only<br />
joking.”<br />
It appears that Piñol was referring to<br />
the headline of the 26 February <strong>2019</strong> issue<br />
of the Daily Tribune, which contained<br />
the interrogative phrase “Piñol on the way<br />
out?” That headline came about after Piñol<br />
failed to attend a major event in Pasay City<br />
where President Rodrigo Duterte was asking<br />
around for him.<br />
Piñol eventually relented and gave Padillo<br />
an interview, but only after Padillo assured him<br />
that the interview will no longer be for the Daily<br />
Tribune but for a local publication<br />
instead.<br />
Since early this year,<br />
Piñol has been at the<br />
receiving end of intense<br />
public criticism for a rice<br />
a feeble sense of nationalism and<br />
a contempt for the public good,”<br />
he said.<br />
According to Fallows, the strong<br />
family, tribal or socio-ethnic ties of<br />
Filipinos diminish any nationalist<br />
spirit and “(B)ecause the boundaries<br />
of decent treatment are limited to<br />
the family or tribe, they exclude at<br />
least 90 percent of the people in the<br />
country.”<br />
Self-centered and opportunistic<br />
outlooks may indeed abound in<br />
Metro Manila. However, this does not hold true<br />
in the provinces where the bayanihan spirit<br />
continues to flourish.<br />
Consider the Ivatans of Batanes, who<br />
embody the bayanihan spirit. One walks<br />
the streets of Basco, its public squares<br />
and markets and find these clean, free<br />
of the ubiquitous trash. Meander through<br />
the beaches and discover the shore and<br />
its waters clear of the pervasive presence<br />
She<br />
said<br />
Dinah S. Ventura<br />
I could never understand why Maria<br />
Clara, a character in Jose Rizal’s Noli Me<br />
Tangere, was depicted as the ideal Filipina.<br />
I grew up surrounded by strong<br />
women — and by “strong” I mean they<br />
were not “easily fainting,” as Maria<br />
Clara often was described. They did<br />
not flutter helplessly about, listless and<br />
sickly. They did not hide behind fans<br />
or escape into a convent when tragedy<br />
struck. My grandmother was her town’s<br />
first lady mayor. My mother was a<br />
doctor, her sister the same and another<br />
followed in their mom’s footsteps. Of<br />
course, Maria Clara was the product of<br />
one’s imagination, but she, I believe,<br />
was also a product of the times.<br />
Women have survived<br />
“We are<br />
lucky that<br />
Filipino men<br />
in general,<br />
macho as they<br />
are idealized<br />
to be, are open<br />
enough to treat<br />
women with<br />
respect, love<br />
and support.<br />
MOORINGS<br />
Salma Rasul<br />
shortage crisis, which is believed to have<br />
triggered unmitigated hikes in the price<br />
of the national staple.<br />
Piñol is also facing criticism in<br />
Mindanao for his alleged use of<br />
the Special Area for Agricultural<br />
Development (SAAD) program for<br />
political gains. His daughter and siblings<br />
are candidates for various elective posts<br />
in Cotabato in this year’s elections.<br />
The Provincial<br />
“Nobody<br />
forced Piñol<br />
to become<br />
a public<br />
official. He<br />
freely and<br />
willingly<br />
accepted his<br />
appointment<br />
to public<br />
office.<br />
Government of Cotabato<br />
is likewise at odds with<br />
Piñol over SAAD funds.<br />
Ironically, Piñol was<br />
governor of Cotabato from<br />
1998 to 2007. He tried to<br />
run again for governor,<br />
but he was twice defeated.<br />
Prior to joining<br />
politics, Piñol was a<br />
radio broadcaster and a<br />
writer for a tabloid. He<br />
was also connected with<br />
the Philippine News Agency.<br />
Sadly, Piñol is a disgrace to public<br />
office and the media.<br />
As a public official — and a high-ranking<br />
one at that — Piñol should be open to<br />
public criticism, i.e., criticism from the<br />
news media — they who monitor public<br />
officials for the purpose of providing<br />
enlightening information to the Filipino<br />
people in whom sovereignty, which<br />
is the source of a public official’s<br />
political power, resides. It says so in the<br />
Constitution and Piñol ought to read it<br />
for his own enlightenment.<br />
As a landmark ruling of the Supreme<br />
Court postulates, public officials should<br />
not be thin-skinned. Nobody forced Piñol<br />
times of oppression and<br />
had played out strong<br />
roles in an ever-changing<br />
world. They had risen<br />
above restrictive social<br />
expectations and struggled<br />
to identify and shape the<br />
concept of femininity.<br />
This is why the world<br />
celebrates Women’s Day<br />
and Women’s Month. In<br />
<strong>2019</strong>, it is no longer a<br />
fight for equal rights<br />
but a celebration of what women have<br />
accomplished and continue to achieve.<br />
The recent Women’s Day events held<br />
in Metro Manila honored women whose<br />
works have made an impact on society,<br />
politics and business, for example. I<br />
suspect these women don’t go about<br />
with “downcast eyes” though their souls<br />
are “pure.”<br />
This is not to say Maria Clara was a<br />
mistake or an aberration, far from it.<br />
Womanity<br />
COMMENTARY<br />
5<br />
of plastic. Everybody cares for<br />
their environment. Talk to any<br />
townsfolk of Basco or Sabtang<br />
and be amazed by the pride in<br />
their ethnicity, deep love of their<br />
community and their conscious<br />
collaboration with each other<br />
to promote local businesses<br />
and trades, due to the need<br />
for self-sufficiency to survive<br />
Batanes’ harsh climate. It is not<br />
a “beggar thy neighbor” mindset<br />
for economic growth, but rather<br />
“mind thy neighbor, prosper the community,”<br />
where local businesses patronize other local<br />
businesses. No monopoly here.<br />
If we can all emulate the Ivatans, then<br />
there is hope for us. We could strengthen a<br />
culture of collaboration and empowerment<br />
of every individual through cooperation and<br />
empathy and encouraging every Filipino to be<br />
a responsible citizen — critical lessons for all,<br />
including the Bangsamoro.<br />
to become a public official. He freely and<br />
willingly accepted his appointment to<br />
public office. Precisely because public<br />
office vests Piñol with a part of public<br />
power, he must accept public scrutiny.<br />
A saying puts it succinctly — if one<br />
can’t stand the heat, he should get out<br />
of the kitchen.<br />
Being both a politician and an<br />
ex-journalist, Piñol was most certainly<br />
aware that he was to speak at a<br />
public forum where the news media<br />
are expected to be present and where<br />
members of the news media will<br />
surely ask questions and request<br />
interviews. Despite that expectation,<br />
Piñol chose to humiliate the Daily<br />
Tribune correspondent because he was<br />
displeased with the way the newspaper<br />
reported an earlier story about him.<br />
In short, the way Piñol comported<br />
himself in that incident was unbecoming<br />
of both a high-ranking public official<br />
identified with a President who enjoys<br />
unprecedented continuing public<br />
support and a journalist who is aware<br />
of how the news media function in a<br />
democratic society.<br />
While it may be argued that public<br />
officials like Piñol cannot be compelled to<br />
give interviews to the news media, public<br />
officials must treat members of the news<br />
media with appropriate courtesy.<br />
By snapping at the Daily Tribune<br />
correspondent, Piñol demonstrated that he<br />
is an embarrassment for President Duterte.<br />
Piñol should have made a run for<br />
the Senate with the Otso Diretso sa<br />
Impyerno ticket. By being on that<br />
ticket, Piñol would have no need to<br />
apologize for his rude manners.<br />
She was a fictional character born from<br />
the author’s real-life ideals and, Jose<br />
Rizal being a man, made her out to be a<br />
paragon of sweetness and light, her beauty<br />
incandescent.<br />
I highly suspect it was a woman<br />
who described Maria Clara as “greatest<br />
misfortune that has befallen the Filipina in<br />
the last 100 years.”<br />
Not to malign our national hero and his<br />
imaginative idealization of womanhood,<br />
but the general “demure and self-effacing”<br />
description of the character unfortunately<br />
seemed to be the only one that stuck.<br />
But there was more to Maria Clara than<br />
the devout Catholic, the obedient daughter<br />
and the beautiful sweetheart. She was kind<br />
and faithful, a caring soul with a mind of her<br />
own. Trapped by circumstances and tragic<br />
turns of events, she tried to keep on until<br />
her last hope was taken away.<br />
Idealized as she was, Maria Clara<br />
represented something women have<br />
struggled against for generations — being<br />
boxed in.<br />
There are still a number of countries<br />
that continue to suppress the rights of<br />
women, forcing them to remain uneducated,<br />
unskilled and practically invisible.<br />
In the Philippines today, we are very<br />
fortunate that women are free to hold<br />
positions of authority both in government<br />
and the private sector. It is not such a<br />
novelty to see women reaching for and<br />
breaking that so-called glass ceiling. We<br />
are lucky that Filipino men in general,<br />
“macho” as they are idealized to be, are<br />
open enough to treat women with respect,<br />
love and support. For me, personally, that<br />
quality of chivalry is the mark of a real man.<br />
Those who are unkind, even cruel, abusive<br />
and rude are weaker than the sex they keep<br />
trying to lord over.<br />
While our society is not perfect, it is<br />
not like other cultures where women are<br />
oppressed by law and by antiquated social<br />
standards. For if the most democratic of<br />
them all, the United States, can breed<br />
#metoo movements and leaders who are<br />
chauvinists and even racists, how much<br />
more those who refuse to even let women<br />
drive?<br />
Celebrating women and their<br />
achievements for one month in a year is a<br />
worthy activity, but it should remind us that<br />
while they have survived many struggles,<br />
there are still some to be fought.
6 NEWS<br />
Wednesday, <strong>13</strong> March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
All point to De Lima<br />
All of them said when I asked them if those alleged<br />
were true and they said it was true<br />
From page 1<br />
administration senatorial bet<br />
former Bureau of Corrections<br />
(BuCor) Chief Ronald de la Rosa<br />
bared yesterday.<br />
De la Rosa, who served as<br />
BuCor chief from April to October<br />
2018, said he inquired about De<br />
Lima’s alleged drug links from<br />
several convicted inmates at<br />
the NBP and no one denied the<br />
existence of such links.<br />
“All of them said when I asked<br />
them if those alleged were true<br />
and they said it was true… no<br />
one denied it,” De la Rosa said<br />
during an ANC interview.<br />
He did not identify who were<br />
the convicted drug lords he<br />
inquired about De Lima’s links<br />
to the illegal drugs trade.<br />
However, during<br />
a court hearing<br />
last year, convicted<br />
drug lord Jayvee<br />
Sebastian admitted<br />
to conspiring with De Lima.<br />
During his arraignment<br />
held 4 September 2018 inside the<br />
NBP compound in Muntinlupa<br />
City, Sebastian entered a guilty<br />
plea before the Regional Trial<br />
Court Branch 206.<br />
Sebastian admitted he<br />
conspired with De Lima and<br />
five others to trade illegal drugs<br />
inside the NBP. De Lima has<br />
repeatedly denied the charges<br />
against her.<br />
If there is communication<br />
there will be transaction.<br />
De la Rosa added to stop<br />
convicted drug lords from<br />
controlling illegal drugs trade<br />
outside NBP, he ordered Chinese<br />
inmates to be separated from<br />
Filipinos.<br />
Sinos segregated<br />
“The situation there (NBP) was<br />
very difficult. They (convicted<br />
drug lords) have no fears. They<br />
are not worried that they<br />
will be arrested<br />
because they are<br />
already detained,”<br />
De la Rosa said.<br />
“So, I separated<br />
the Chinese drug lords<br />
from the Filipinos — in<br />
separate buildings to cut their<br />
communication because if there<br />
is communication, there will<br />
be transactions,” added De la<br />
Rosa who served as chief of the<br />
Philippine National Police (PNP).<br />
De la Rosa stressed the<br />
convicted drug lords are still able<br />
to control the illegal drugs trade<br />
even while serving prison terms<br />
because of communication. He<br />
maintained that no more drugs<br />
are coming from NBP.<br />
Drug lord Jayvee Sebastian<br />
admitted he conspired with<br />
De Lima and five others to<br />
trade illegal drugs inside<br />
the NBP.<br />
De la Rosa also dared the<br />
opposition Otso Diretso lineup<br />
Sparks fly in Batangas tiff<br />
Sabili emphasized that it was not the first time that Recto’s<br />
camp made a move against him<br />
From page 1<br />
The mayor vowed to give importance to<br />
health care and gender equality.<br />
On the other hand, Santos-Recto is running<br />
for a second term in the newly created district.<br />
Star of Batangas<br />
Referred to as the “Star for All Seasons”<br />
due to her exemplary silver screen<br />
performances through the years, Santos-Recto<br />
had distinguished herself in the political field<br />
and is currently vice chairman of the House<br />
Committees on Globalization and Local<br />
Government.<br />
Recto, however, denied allegations<br />
that he was meddling with Lipa<br />
City concerns and said he has not<br />
spoken with any DILG official<br />
with regard to Sabili’s suspension.<br />
Among the bills she shepherded are the<br />
Occupational Safety and Health Standards<br />
Law, New Social Security Services Act,<br />
Extended Passport Validity Act, Tax Reform<br />
for Acceleration and Inclusion Law, Universal<br />
Health Care Act, National ID System Act and<br />
DE LA ROSA<br />
the Expanded Maternity Leave Act.<br />
Santos-Recto was also a former Lipa City<br />
mayor and Batangas governor.<br />
The rivalry of the Rectos and the Sabilis in<br />
Batangas has been legendary. Last 17 October<br />
or a few hours before the start of the filing of<br />
the certificates of candidacy, the Nationalist<br />
People’s Coalition (NPC) party canceled<br />
Sabili’s nomination.<br />
Sabili accused Sen. Ralph<br />
Recto, Vilma’s husband, of<br />
making a call to NPC secretary<br />
general Dong Mendoza to drop<br />
him from the party.<br />
Sabili emphasized that it was<br />
not the first time that Recto’s camp<br />
made a move against him. He said in the<br />
previous elections, he was kicked out of the<br />
Liberal Party and after he joined the National<br />
Unity Party, Recto again attempted to cancel<br />
his membership from the party. Recto’s camp<br />
remained quiet about the allegations.<br />
DE LIMA<br />
to “bring it on” in accepting the<br />
debate challenge.<br />
De la Rosa, who is among<br />
the five official candidates of<br />
the ruling Partido Demokratiko<br />
Pilipino and endorsed by Davao<br />
City Mayor Sara Duterte’s Hugpong<br />
ng Pagbabago, said he is ready to<br />
face anybody in the debates.<br />
Deals made inside<br />
“Illegal drugs are not flowing<br />
into the prison. You’re talking<br />
about commercial value drugs that<br />
they say are coming from Bilibid?<br />
No,” De la Rosa said. “What is<br />
happening there is — convicted<br />
drug lords inside the prison are<br />
Independent bet<br />
Sabili will run as an independent candidate<br />
for the <strong>2019</strong> midterm elections.<br />
On 27 June 2018, the Office of the<br />
Ombudsman was supposed to impose a oneyear<br />
suspension without pay on Sabili for<br />
oppression and conduct prejudicial to the<br />
best interest of service.<br />
Former Lipa Social Welfare Development<br />
Officer Teresita Pesa filed a complaint against<br />
the incumbent mayor after she was ordered<br />
reassigned and transferred to a different<br />
position.<br />
This was not denied by Sabili as he said<br />
the reassignment was made due to efforts to<br />
clean the ranks in city hall.<br />
He recently asked Senator Recto to stop<br />
intervening with local government politics,<br />
saying he received information he<br />
was pressuring the Department<br />
of the Interior and Local<br />
Government (DILG) to suspend<br />
him immediately.<br />
Recto, however, denied<br />
allegations that he was meddling<br />
with Lipa City concerns and said<br />
he has not spoken with any DILG official with<br />
regard to Sabili’s suspension.<br />
The Ombudsman order for Sabili’s<br />
suspension was not served after the Court<br />
of Appeals approved a 60-day temporary<br />
restraining order.<br />
Last Sunday, he hosted Hugpong ng<br />
Pagbabago’s (HnP) campaign rally in Lipa<br />
City, Batangas.<br />
The sortie was attended by Davao<br />
City Mayor Sara Duterte and several HnP<br />
candidates.<br />
From page<br />
the ones in control. Their business<br />
outside continues, but the shabu<br />
does not go inside the prison. They<br />
are the ones in control.”<br />
He also stressed that he was<br />
never offered a bribe during his<br />
short stint at BuCor where he<br />
served as its head from May to<br />
October 2018.<br />
Name the place<br />
“Bring it on. Anytime, anywhere,<br />
I am ready. I never turned my back<br />
in my many wars against enemies<br />
of the state. Why would I fear<br />
facing them in debates,” De la Rosa<br />
said over ANC.<br />
“Remember debates are not<br />
all about intelligence. Actual<br />
experiences in life on the streets<br />
or being poor are sometimes more<br />
important,” added De la Rosa, who<br />
has a master’s degree in public<br />
administration and a doctorate in<br />
development administration from<br />
the University of Southeastern<br />
Philippines.<br />
De la Rosa is a member of the<br />
Philippine Military Academy Class<br />
of 1986.<br />
“We can debate anywhere you<br />
want — inside the comfort room or<br />
atop the mountain, bring it on!” De<br />
la Rosa said.<br />
Asset is clean heart<br />
The former PNP chief added<br />
he is offering his “clean heart” to<br />
the Filipino voters.<br />
De la Rosa said he also wanted<br />
to help President Duterte pursue<br />
his program of government for<br />
the benefit of all Filipinos.<br />
“I offer my clean heart… my<br />
services to the Filipino people<br />
and I want to help our President<br />
in bringing our people and country<br />
to further development,” De la<br />
Rosa said.<br />
If elected, De la Rosa added<br />
he will pursue the reimposition of<br />
death penalty on heinous crimes,<br />
especially those involving illegal<br />
drugs.<br />
He said he will also push for<br />
the return of police training to<br />
the PNP to ensure that only those<br />
properly trained recruits enter<br />
the service.<br />
Convicted drug lords inside<br />
the prison are the ones<br />
in control. Their business<br />
outside continues but the<br />
shabu does not go inside<br />
the prison.<br />
Members of the opposition<br />
Otso Diretso have been calling<br />
out the administration bets<br />
for debates — even asking the<br />
Commission on Elections to set<br />
one but the poll body turned it<br />
down.<br />
Clean-up act Informal settlers in Estero Padua in Malate will have a healthier<br />
surrounding when a communal septic tank is installed, courtesy of Environment<br />
Secretary Roy Cimatu and former ambassador and retired Philippine National Police<br />
Gen. Vidal Querol. The operation to provide sewerage support to communities is part of<br />
the Manila Bay rehabilitation program.<br />
YUMMIE DINGDING<br />
Bowl of surprise<br />
neighbor, the homeowner managed<br />
to catch the snake as it tried to<br />
crawl out.<br />
He can consider himself lucky.<br />
In 2016, a male Thai was sitting<br />
on the toilet bowl as part of his<br />
morning ritual when he was jolted<br />
by excruciating pain. To his shock,<br />
he found out that a boa constrictor<br />
in the toilet bowl had bitten his<br />
private parts.<br />
Hearing the screams of Atthaporn<br />
Boonmarkchuai, neighbors came to<br />
his rescue and managed to save<br />
him from the 3.5-meter snake.<br />
They immediately brought him to a<br />
hospital for treatment.<br />
These incidents serve as<br />
reminder to check before you sit.<br />
As the saying goes, there is always<br />
danger for someone sitting on the<br />
throne.<br />
Go up in smoke Firemen have a busy day as fire erupts all over Manila. Five firefighters try to control flames that engulfed a house in Barangay Obrero in Quezon City.<br />
ANALY LABOR
Wednesday, <strong>13</strong> March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune NATION<br />
7<br />
12 DEAD, THOUSANDS DISPLACED<br />
Maguindanao clashes rage<br />
The said number, however, does not include displaced<br />
residents who evacuated from the towns of Datu Saudi<br />
Ampatuan and Datu Piang<br />
By Kristina Maralit<br />
Violence reared its ugly head once<br />
again in restive Mindanao region as<br />
clashes between government soldiers<br />
and ISIS-inspired terror groups erupted<br />
beginning last Monday in Maguindanao.<br />
At press time, authorities said at<br />
least 12 people were already killed and<br />
thousands of civilians were forced to<br />
flee their homes to avoid being caught<br />
in the crossfire.<br />
Bangsamoro region minister of social<br />
services Raisa Jajurie said 3,295 families<br />
or around 16,000 individuals were staying<br />
in various evacuation camps in the towns<br />
of Shariff Saidona, Shariff Aguak and<br />
Datu Salibo.<br />
The said number, however, does not<br />
include displaced residents who evacuated<br />
from the towns of Datu Saudi Ampatuan<br />
and Datu Piang.<br />
Maj. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana,<br />
commander of Joint Task Force Central<br />
Mindanao, said the firefight between<br />
government troops and Bangsamoro<br />
Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) started<br />
in Barangay Inaladan in the municipality<br />
Pacific partnership<br />
program under way<br />
By Kathleen Mae Bulquerin<br />
Tacloban City is buzzing with activities<br />
as it plays host to the <strong>2019</strong> Pacific<br />
Partnership Program which is participated<br />
in by the Pacific Fleet of the United States<br />
Navy (USN) together with the 8th Infantry<br />
Division of the Philippine Army.<br />
The program is an annual deployment<br />
of forces from the USN, in cooperation<br />
with regional governments and military<br />
forces, along with humanitarian and<br />
non-government organizations.<br />
Maj. Gen. Raul Farnacio, Joint<br />
Task Force Storm commander,<br />
said the undertaking will<br />
strengthen relationships among<br />
the local soldiers and their<br />
foreign counterparts.<br />
This year’s event started last 10 March<br />
and will last until 24 March.<br />
As the host city, Tacloban will be the<br />
main beneficiary of humanitarian and<br />
civic assistance to be provided by the<br />
participants especially by the USN.<br />
This is the second time that Tacloban<br />
City will host the mission and the 8th time<br />
the Philippines is acting as the host country.<br />
Maj. Gen. Raul Farnacio, Joint Task Force<br />
Storm commander, said the undertaking will<br />
strengthen relationships among the local<br />
soldiers and their foreign counterparts.<br />
He added the project will enhance their<br />
readiness in responding to crisis, exchange<br />
knowledge and skills that will greatly help<br />
in improving the life of the people.<br />
During the two-week mission, the<br />
participants will conduct medical and<br />
dental missions as well as engage in<br />
construction projects, which will focus<br />
mainly on disaster preparedness, response<br />
and rehabilitation.<br />
By Aldwin Quitasol<br />
Candon City, Ilocos Sur will celebrate 18th<br />
Tobacco Festival from 17 to 25 March this year.<br />
The city, dubbed the country’s tobacco<br />
capital, will feature the region’s primary product<br />
and its contribution to the economy, being the<br />
largest producer of the finest Virginia Tobacco<br />
in the country.<br />
The celebration will kick-off with youth<br />
competition featuring homegrown games,<br />
millennial dance competition and special<br />
performance by the Siakol Band on 17 March.<br />
of Shariff Saydona Mustapha and moved<br />
toward other areas where the ISIS group<br />
has a presence.<br />
Of the fatalities, three were government<br />
soldiers, eight were members of the BIFF<br />
and one was from the Maute group.<br />
Sobejana said one soldier from the<br />
Philippine Army’s 6th Infantry Division<br />
was killed and another was wounded during<br />
the gun battle.<br />
We assure the public that we are<br />
targeting only the encampments of<br />
ISIS-inspired groups of BIFF.<br />
Those killed from the BIFF side were<br />
identified as Kumander Pegka, Karim<br />
Binua, Munir Madsal, Gani Lanti, Bukari<br />
Samad and Sanday Musib.<br />
He added they are still trying to identify<br />
two more slain bandits who were hit by the<br />
government’s attack helicopters.<br />
Air and ground assault continued<br />
on Tuesday in several barangays in<br />
Maguindanao following a whole day of<br />
intense firefight on Monday as Sobejana<br />
urged residents to stay inside evacuation<br />
centers.<br />
“We assure the public that we are<br />
By Korinah Saromines<br />
The gruesome murder of a teenage girl<br />
in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu had prompted<br />
the Department of Education (DepEd),<br />
to call on all concerned authorities to<br />
revisit their policies on school safety.<br />
In a memorandum, the DepEd head<br />
office instructed school officials to<br />
impose stricter rules and ensure the<br />
safety of elementary and secondary<br />
students at all times.<br />
It also called on law enforcement<br />
authorities to hasten the arrest of the<br />
killers of 16-year-old Christine Silawan.<br />
To recall, the victim was found dead<br />
in a vacant lot on Monday morning with a<br />
slit in her throat and several stab wounds<br />
in her body.<br />
She was found naked from the<br />
waist down, prompting authorities<br />
to theorize that she might have been<br />
On 21 March, farmers especially tobacco growers<br />
will display their produce during the Agriculture Day<br />
at the Candon Farmers, Trade Center.<br />
Then on the next day, the city will form the<br />
longest flue cured quality Virginia Tobacco leaf<br />
and a quiz bee at the city multipurpose hall.<br />
Likewise, the city will hold the first<br />
international pigeon show back to back with<br />
the Search for Miss Candon <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
Also, one of the highlights of the festival is the<br />
“Pammadayaw,” which will honor the outstanding<br />
native residents who have contributed to the<br />
city’s honor and development.<br />
targeting only the encampments of ISISinspired<br />
groups of BIFF,” Sobejana said.<br />
Abu Amir, spokesman for the BIFF under<br />
the Karialan faction, said they were just<br />
forced to fight back after seeing military<br />
troops intruding in their communities in<br />
Barangay Libutan.<br />
This, as Malacañang yesterday assured<br />
the government will exert all efforts to<br />
flush out ISIS and its sympathizers<br />
out of the country.<br />
Locked<br />
and<br />
loaded<br />
Government<br />
soldiers<br />
prepare to<br />
storm enemies’<br />
lairs in Mindanao.<br />
Productive cooperation The <strong>2019</strong> Pacific Partnership Program, which is participated<br />
in by the United States Navy, aims to enhance partnership between local soldiers and<br />
their foreign counterparts.<br />
DepEd wants stringent school security<br />
raped by the suspects.<br />
The order, likewise, urged the<br />
schools to restrict practices for school<br />
presentations and other school-related<br />
activities until 5 p.m. only.<br />
The agency also instructed school<br />
heads to advise learners to bring packed<br />
lunch or snacks instead of buying food<br />
outside school premise and ensure that<br />
fully functional CCTV cameras are<br />
installed in strategic areas.<br />
The order urged the schools to<br />
restrict practices for school<br />
presentations and other<br />
school-related<br />
activities until 5 p.m. only.<br />
It also called for additional presence<br />
of police or barangay watchmen in school<br />
areas and advised students to always<br />
go in groups when out on the streets,<br />
especially when it is already dark.<br />
Candon celebrates tobacco festival<br />
Golden yield A farmer uses the traditional method of separating chaff from the grain. ROMAN PROSPERO<br />
LOCAL<br />
METRO MANILA<br />
32°C<br />
22°C<br />
METRO CEBU<br />
32°C<br />
23°C<br />
METRO DAVAO<br />
33°C<br />
25°C<br />
INTERNATIONAL<br />
Tokyo,<br />
JAPAN<br />
18°C<br />
8°C<br />
LIGHT RAINS<br />
Seoul<br />
SOUTH KOREA<br />
PARTLY CLOUDY<br />
SKIES<br />
WEATHER<br />
PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES<br />
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RAINSHOWER W/ THUNDERSTOM<br />
Beijing<br />
CHINA<br />
11°C<br />
3°C 16°C<br />
2°C<br />
The Palace was reacting to an<br />
article on the New York Times<br />
tagging the Philippines, particularly<br />
Mindanao, as the jihadists’ new<br />
breeding ground.<br />
Presidential spokesman<br />
Salvador Panelo admitted that<br />
the government was disturbed<br />
by the report.<br />
The article, titled “How<br />
By Rico M. Osmeña<br />
Former Cebu 3rd District Rep. Pablo<br />
John Garcia yesterday filed P210-million<br />
plunder raps over questionable payroll<br />
releases against Toledo City Mayor John<br />
Henry Osmeña and several other city<br />
hall officials before the Office of the<br />
Ombudsman.<br />
Aside from Osmeña, also charged were<br />
councilors Marjorie Perales and Leo Dolino,<br />
executive assistant II Justin Anthony de<br />
Jesus, budget officer Gethsemane Mahinay<br />
and City Administrator Ferdinand Marquez.<br />
Also, rapped were treasurer Leonardo<br />
Rivera Jr., human resource management<br />
officer Edwin Abad, city accountant<br />
Ramon Samper and Liga ng mga Barangay<br />
president Ophelio Dolino.<br />
At a press briefing, Garcia presented to<br />
media several payroll documents, including<br />
the request of 21 out of the 38 barangay<br />
captains of the city, to file charges against<br />
the mayor.<br />
Garcia and his group were specifically<br />
asking the Ombudsman to investigate the<br />
possible plunder of public funds, that were<br />
ostensibly paid to job order employees in<br />
highly questionable and irregular manner.<br />
The said job order employees were<br />
allegedly<br />
hired to work<br />
in the clean<br />
and green<br />
program<br />
of the city<br />
government.<br />
Garcia,<br />
however,<br />
said in its<br />
annual audit<br />
report for<br />
Toledo City<br />
in the fiscal<br />
year 2017, the<br />
Commission<br />
on Audit<br />
(CoA) noted<br />
the highly<br />
CLEAR SKIES<br />
ISIS is Rising in the Philippines as It<br />
Dwindles in the Middle East” and posted<br />
online on 9 March.<br />
It stated the ISIS is far from defeated<br />
and that the movement has sprouted<br />
in the Mindanao, long a haven<br />
for insurgents because of dense<br />
wilderness and weak policing.<br />
With Gladys Mae Ablon<br />
Toledo mayor tagged<br />
over P210-M plunder<br />
suspicious and irregular disbursement of<br />
more than P100 million in public funds.<br />
The said amount was supposedly paid<br />
to so-called job order employees whose<br />
existence, identities and actual work were<br />
in question.<br />
Thus, the regularity and propriety<br />
of expenditures amounting to<br />
P1<strong>13</strong>,265,231.40 could not be<br />
ascertained, the CoA said.<br />
The state auditors noted in item 6 of<br />
their report that “the necessity of hiring job<br />
order employees could not be established<br />
due to lack of contracts and their doubtful<br />
daily time records on the pretext of doing<br />
the fieldwork.”<br />
“Thus, the regularity and propriety of<br />
expenditures amounting to P1<strong>13</strong>,265,231.40<br />
could not be ascertained,” the CoA said.<br />
However, Garcia added despite<br />
these findings and in defiance of the<br />
recommendations of the CoA, the City of<br />
Toledo continued these questionable practices<br />
in the implementation of P 210 million clean<br />
and green programs for fiscal year 2018.<br />
“Considering the sheer magnitude of the<br />
fund, there should have been a clear and<br />
unmistakable improvement in the hygiene<br />
and landscape of the city,” Garcia insisted.<br />
WE ARE HIRING!<br />
Looking for highly motivated and result-oriented<br />
individuals for the following posts:<br />
Page Editors<br />
Reporters<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 />
Wednesday, <strong>13</strong> March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
Junkie ‘celebs’ spooked<br />
PDEA has slain dealer’s contacts<br />
Alone Irene Mercado may be left with no choice but to spill the beans on her slain partner’s supplier of drugs and high-rolling clients.<br />
By Elmer N. Manuel<br />
Water concessionaires servicing Metro Manila have<br />
resorted to sending tankers in waterless communities<br />
where residents formed long queues like in hard-hit<br />
Mandaluyong City.<br />
Tankers to the rescue as long queues<br />
form.<br />
Manila Water deployed 27 tankers for round-the-clock<br />
water delivery in areas hit by the service interruption,<br />
Makati<br />
kids get<br />
‘Go Bags’<br />
By Gladys Mae Ablon<br />
The Makati City government<br />
has provided 38,929 students<br />
from <strong>13</strong> public high schools<br />
with individually packed “Go<br />
Bags” as part of its efforts to<br />
build disaster resilient and<br />
sustainable communities.<br />
A Go Bag is a portable<br />
survival kit recommended by<br />
emergency response experts to<br />
help an individual or a family<br />
survive, at least, in the next 72<br />
hours after a disaster.<br />
A bag contains essential needs<br />
such as food and drinking water,<br />
hygiene and first aid kits, flashlight<br />
and other handy materials.<br />
Survival in 72 hours<br />
after disaster critical.<br />
“We want our youth to learn<br />
the importance of self-help and<br />
preparedness. Through this<br />
project, we are able to inculcate<br />
a culture of preparedness<br />
among young Makatizens,”<br />
Mayor Abby Binay said.<br />
“We hope that providing<br />
students with individuallypacked<br />
Go Bags will<br />
motivate parents to<br />
prepare their own Go<br />
Bags for the entire<br />
household,” Binay<br />
added.<br />
The Makati Disaster<br />
Risk Reduction and<br />
Management Office<br />
started distributing<br />
the life-saving kits<br />
during the first quarter<br />
of 2018, benefiting various<br />
public elementary and high<br />
schools, city hall employees and<br />
residents living along the five<br />
barangays along the West<br />
Valley Fault.<br />
Maynilad agrees to share water<br />
Life sustaining<br />
Each Go Bag can sustain<br />
a person for at least three<br />
days.<br />
By Alvin Murcia<br />
By Raymart T. Lolo<br />
said corporate communications head Jeric Sevilla.<br />
Maynilad, which services the western half of Metro<br />
Manila, has agreed to share its supply with Manila Water.<br />
Maynilad boasts a 291-million liter holding capacity<br />
built in response to the drought spurred by the El Niño<br />
phenomenon in 2010.<br />
While most of Metro Manila’s water is sourced from<br />
the Angat Dam, which still has normal water level,<br />
the La Mesa Dam water was at 68.85 meters around<br />
6 a.m. yesterday, below its critical level of 69 meters<br />
above sea level.<br />
7 Chinese nabbed<br />
for kidnapping<br />
The National Bureau of Investigation<br />
(NBI) presented yesterday seven Chinese<br />
nationals arrested in Pasay and Parañaque<br />
for kidnapping and serious illegal detention<br />
this week.<br />
NBI Director Dante Gierran identified the<br />
suspects as Luo Gen Jin, Cheng Yiguo, Liu<br />
Shenghui, Deng Shujin, Xiong Jinxiang, Xiong<br />
Jongpeng and Xiong Jilong.<br />
5 suspects blundered by staying at<br />
inn where victim was held.<br />
Operatives of the NBI Special Action Unit<br />
and Task Force Against Illegal Drugs joined<br />
forces with the NBI National Capital Region<br />
The workers’ union of the University<br />
of Santo Tomas (UST) Hospital yesterday<br />
denied having a hand in the bomb threat<br />
received by the medical facility.<br />
The Ugnayang Nagkakaisang<br />
Manggagawa-UST Hospital (UNM-USTH)<br />
office in acting on the complaint of the brother<br />
of kidnap victim Jian Shi Xin.<br />
Kidnapped at Okada Manila and kept under<br />
guard at Balagtas Royale Mansions in Pasay<br />
City, Jian was allowed to call his brother to relay<br />
the P200,000 ransom demand of the captors.<br />
The brother paid the ransom through wire<br />
transfer leading to the victim’s release near the<br />
City of Dreams in Parañaque City on 10 March.<br />
The NBI agents rushed to the inn where they<br />
arrested five of the suspects before rounding<br />
up the two others at the Solaire Resort and<br />
Casino in Parañaque City.<br />
All seven were positively identified by<br />
the victim as his kidnappers. They were<br />
subjected to inquest proceedings at the Pasay<br />
City Prosecutor’s Office and charged with<br />
kidnapping and serious illegal detention.<br />
issued the statement as its members assailed<br />
the hospital’s management over the collection<br />
of training fees, long working hours and failure<br />
to regularize workers.<br />
Hospital workers seeking a return<br />
to negotiating table.<br />
The group’s president Don Siazon<br />
3 fall in sting<br />
Three drug suspects were arrested in a<br />
buy-bust operation in Marikina City before<br />
dawn Tuesday. The<br />
suspects were<br />
identified as<br />
Kingsley, alias<br />
Waray, 19; Clariz<br />
Cayetano, alias<br />
Clariz, 28; and<br />
Rolando Cayetano,<br />
56.<br />
They were nabbed<br />
in a police operation<br />
at 12:10 a.m.<br />
a l o n g<br />
Iwahig<br />
St.,<br />
ANALY LABOR<br />
Weather experts, meanwhile, said it is not advisable to<br />
conduct cloudseeding operations with the hope of spawning<br />
rains and raise the dams’ water level during summer.<br />
Cloudseeding depends on seedable clouds. Our<br />
clouds during the summer time are a bit wispy, so it’s<br />
not advisable to conduct cloudseeding, a hydrologist<br />
said on radio.<br />
Many residents have lamented the additional<br />
expenses of buying water from tankers, even as small<br />
eateries had resorted to using disposable plates and<br />
utensils.<br />
Barangay Tumana. Prior to the arrest of the<br />
suspects, anti-drug operatives received a report<br />
from an informant regarding the involvement<br />
of alias Waray in selling illegal drugs.<br />
Recovered from the suspects were <strong>13</strong> sachets of<br />
suspected shabu with street value of more<br />
or less P120,000, P500 buy-bust money<br />
and a 38. caliber revolver with five bullets.<br />
Neil Alcober<br />
Ortiz: Clients were high-profile like<br />
professionals, students<br />
By Pat C. Santos<br />
said “some unscrupulous elements”<br />
are trying to blame its members for the<br />
bomb and other unlawful threats made<br />
against USTH.<br />
Siazon said they will never resort to<br />
violence despite the worsening working<br />
conditions in the facility.<br />
A deadlock in the collective bargaining<br />
METRO BITS<br />
The “ghost” of slain alleged party drugs super-dealer<br />
Steven Pasion will haunt his well-off clientele, possibly<br />
including two showbiz personalities.<br />
But it’s more like agents of the Philippine Drug<br />
Enforcement Agency (PDEA) may do the spooking<br />
of the suspected high-class drug users as their<br />
contact numbers and messages were recovered from<br />
Pasion’s mobile phone.<br />
Purportedly the top supplier of party drugs in Metro<br />
Manila, Pasion was gunned down near his condominium<br />
unit in Sta. Cruz, Manila Monday evening after trying to<br />
escape aboard his sports utility vehicle.<br />
Pasion’s live-in partner Irene Mercado was arrested<br />
during the buy-bust. A search of their residence led to the<br />
discovery of about a kilo of shabu with a street value of<br />
about P6 million.<br />
The “celebrities” — a man and a woman who regularly<br />
appear on television — were regulars of Pasion, with one<br />
recently placing an order for 200 pieces of the party drug<br />
ecstasy.<br />
PDEA special enforcement services (SES) acting director<br />
Levi Ortiz said they will check out the numbers found on<br />
Pasion’s phone and do case build-ups.<br />
“Their clients were high-profile, like professionals,<br />
students and celebrities,” Ortiz said.<br />
The PDEA official refused to name the celebrities due<br />
to the possibility that their names had only been used as<br />
aliases by Pasion’s clients.<br />
Pasion was killed when he allegedly fought off operatives<br />
of the PDEA and the Manila Police’s drug enforcement unit.<br />
Meanwhile, a newly freed convict was nabbed for<br />
possession of P6.8 million worth of shabu at Tutuban<br />
Center in Manila.<br />
The suspect was identified as Jerome T. Reyes who was<br />
arrested with a friend while they were transacting drugs<br />
with a poseur-buyer.<br />
Victimizing their own The seven Chinese charged with kidnapping by the NBI.<br />
UST union disowns bomb threat<br />
negotiations and allegations of Labor<br />
Code violations had led to the filing by<br />
the union of two notices of strike.<br />
“We have exercised restraint, treated<br />
our management counterparts with<br />
respect and have followed the process<br />
set out by the Labor Code and our laws.<br />
We ask for the same,” Siazon said.<br />
Carnappers killed<br />
Antipolo City policemen shot dead three<br />
carnapping and robbery suspects, according<br />
to Rizal police provincial director Senior Supt.<br />
Lou Frias Evangelista.<br />
Killed were Rammil Escio, alias Ronron. Two<br />
of the suspects were unidentified at press time.<br />
Retrieved from them were a shotgun, a 9mm<br />
pistol and a cal. 38 revolver.<br />
The suspects were on board a white taxi at<br />
about 10:30 p.m. Monday along Marcos Highway,<br />
Sitio Painuman, Barangay Inarawan when<br />
intercepted by policemen. N. Alcober<br />
Road closure<br />
YUMMIE DINGDING<br />
The Metropolitan Manila<br />
Development Authority<br />
(MMDA) will partially close<br />
the Estrella Service Road in<br />
Makati City to give way to<br />
the ongoing rehabilitation<br />
of the Estrella-Pantaleon<br />
Bridge.<br />
MMDA general manager<br />
Jojo Garcia said the closure<br />
from Gumamela Street to JP<br />
Rizal Street, will take effect<br />
on 23 March, Saturday, at<br />
11 p.m.<br />
The rehabilitation of<br />
the Estrella-Pantaleon<br />
Bridge aims to widen it<br />
to four lanes from its present<br />
two lanes. Based on the DPWH<br />
timeline, the project will be<br />
completed in 2021.<br />
Alvin Murcia
MOST<br />
INNOVATIVE<br />
BROADSHEET<br />
2018<br />
44TH<br />
PHILIPPINES<br />
BUSINESS<br />
EXPO<br />
RACE<br />
LEADER‘S<br />
DOGS QUIT<br />
SCENT OF<br />
CONFIDENCE<br />
CASH-RICH<br />
BTr SNUBS<br />
TAP OPTION<br />
P<strong>13</strong><br />
P17<br />
P10<br />
Jun Vallecera, Editor<br />
Wednesday, <strong>13</strong> March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
BUSINESS<br />
9<br />
Trade deficit widens as imports rebound<br />
THE trade imbalance widened further in January<br />
to a deficit totaling $3.76 billion from only $3.16<br />
billion a year ago, trade statistics show.<br />
By AJ Bajo<br />
The country’s balance of trade in goods<br />
stood as a deficit of $3.76 billion in January,<br />
wider than the imbalance of $3.16 billion<br />
in the same month last year, the Philippine<br />
Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Tuesday.<br />
This was also a notch higher than the<br />
deficit of $3.75 billion recorded in December<br />
last year.<br />
Total external trade reached $14.31 billion,<br />
up by 2.9 percent from the $<strong>13</strong>.91 billion in<br />
the January 2018.<br />
Exports made up 36.9 percent or $5.28<br />
billion of the total external trade, while<br />
imports accounted for 63.1 percent or $9.03<br />
billion of the total.<br />
The Department of Agriculture is<br />
currently in talks with Singapore, Russia<br />
and Monaco for possible arrangements<br />
to increase Philippine agricultural<br />
export products to these countries<br />
The National Economic and Development<br />
Authority (NEDA) linked the trade imbalance<br />
during the month to a rebound in imports,<br />
aided by increases in the import values of<br />
consumer goods, capital goods, raw materials<br />
and intermediate goods.<br />
Imports went up by 5.8 percent to $9.03<br />
billion in January <strong>2019</strong>, owing to growth in<br />
eight of the top 10 major import commodities.<br />
Exports declined by 1.7 percent to $5.28<br />
billion, which NEDA attributed to lower<br />
receipts from manufactures and minerals<br />
offsetting the gains in exports of forest and<br />
total agro-based products.<br />
“The Department of Agriculture is<br />
currently in talks with Singapore, Russia<br />
and Monaco for possible arrangements to<br />
increase Philippine agricultural export<br />
products to these countries,” Socioeconomic<br />
Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said in a<br />
statement.<br />
NEDA is also banking on the planned<br />
conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive<br />
Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement<br />
this year to open up market opportunities<br />
for exporters.<br />
“The RCEP would significantly benefit<br />
exporters considering that its member<br />
economies — which include ASEAN countries,<br />
Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and<br />
New Zealand — constitute a third of global<br />
output and more than a quarter of the world’s<br />
population,” Pernia added.<br />
On the other hand, NEDA said that the<br />
delayed approval of the <strong>2019</strong> national budget<br />
and the election-spending ban is expected to<br />
stall imports growth.<br />
Japan ranked first in exports value,<br />
amounting to $884.95 million or 16.8 percent<br />
of the total exports in January <strong>2019</strong>. This is<br />
3.0 percent lower than the value in the same<br />
month, 2017.<br />
The United States of America, Hong Kong,<br />
China and Singapore were also among the<br />
top export destinations in January.<br />
Imports from China accounted for 22.2<br />
percent of the total, a 24.5 percent increase<br />
from January of 2018. Other top importers<br />
were Korea, Japan, US and Thailand.<br />
2018<br />
DOT PROPERTY<br />
PHILIPPINES AWARDS<br />
2018<br />
LAROSSA CAPITOL HILLS<br />
BY PRIMEHOMES<br />
BEST RESIDENTIAL<br />
BOTANICAL DEVELOPMENT<br />
www.dotpropertyawards.com
10 BUSINESS<br />
Wednesday, <strong>13</strong> March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
How often does one get a chance to meet<br />
with a living legend?<br />
This once-in-a lifetime encounter for me<br />
unexpectedly came up on 8 March when,<br />
together with several other directors and<br />
officers of the Financial Executives Institute<br />
of the Philippines (FINEX), we were granted<br />
the unique privilege to meet with Malaysian<br />
Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir bin<br />
Mohamad for an intimate chat with this<br />
living legend in a private function room at<br />
his hotel. Apparently, the Prime Minister<br />
had fond memories of his visit in 2017 when<br />
we invited him to be the keynote speaker<br />
during our annual FINEX Week celebration.<br />
Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir is 93<br />
years old, making him the oldest serving<br />
head of state in the world. He was sworn in<br />
again as prime minister last May but was<br />
first elected in 1981 as the fourth Prime<br />
Minister of Malaysia when he was already<br />
56, a retirement age for most people. His<br />
tenure as prime minister was interrupted in<br />
2003 when he stepped down to give way to<br />
his handpicked, younger successor, Abdullah<br />
Badawi. A series of disagreements, however,<br />
with his anointed successor involving<br />
several of Dr. Mahathir’s pet projects<br />
(Petronas, Proton) and subsequently a<br />
banking scandal (1Malaysia Development<br />
Berhad) implicating Najib Razak in 2015<br />
who had succeeded Badawi as prime<br />
minister prompted Dr. Mahathir’s renewed<br />
An encounter with a living legend: PM Mahathir<br />
Instead of a strong-man firebrand, he came across, at least to<br />
me, as a wise, soft-spoken and grandfatherly personality with his<br />
mellow voice of wisdom<br />
Cash-rich<br />
BTr snubs<br />
tap option<br />
The Treasury enjoys a good cash<br />
position and that fresh liquidity<br />
has been infused in the market<br />
with the latest retail Treasury bond<br />
exercise<br />
By Joshua Lao<br />
The long end of the yield curve traced a path<br />
on Tuesday similar to that taken just a day earlier<br />
by short-dated Treasury bills.<br />
The 10-year Treasury bond rate improved by<br />
63.3 basis points to only 6.196 percent and helped<br />
cement the decision for the Bureau of Treasury<br />
(BTr) against opening the tap facility one more<br />
time to help raise funds for the nation’s coffers.<br />
That decision betrays the level of cash<br />
resources the BTr is able to deploy at a moment’s<br />
notice at present considering its more frequent<br />
use of the tap facility in the recent past.<br />
As a result, the BTr awarded in full the<br />
re-issued 10-year IOU while thumbing down the<br />
option to open the tap<br />
facility for still more<br />
funds. This also<br />
means Treasury<br />
officials have<br />
cash reserves<br />
at more<br />
comfortable<br />
levels than in<br />
the recent past<br />
as well.<br />
The 10-year bond rate averaged 6.196 percent,<br />
a 63.3 basis point drop from the previous 6.829<br />
percent.<br />
All P20 billion worth of T-bonds were given<br />
away although the offering was more than twice<br />
oversubscribed having actually attracted bids<br />
aggregating P54.6 billion.<br />
Deputy Treasurer Erwin Sta. Ana said the<br />
declining outlook on inflation and acknowledgment<br />
from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor<br />
Benjamin Diokno the monetary authorities now<br />
have more room for monetary easing helped push<br />
bonds rates lower.<br />
The BTr awarded in full the<br />
re-issued 10-year IOU while thumbing<br />
down the option to open the tap<br />
facility for still more funds.<br />
“I think the market is actually just looking at<br />
how inflation would be moving forward. So now<br />
that we have seen inflation falling within the<br />
(target) band already, then it just shows on the<br />
rates for this auction,” Sta. Ana told reporters.<br />
“And then there’s also, of course, news<br />
about possible easing by the BSP given the<br />
pronouncements of Governor Diokno in his<br />
interview. So, we think those are the catalysts for<br />
these rates,” he added.<br />
On the tap facility, Sta. Ana said the Treasury<br />
enjoys a good cash position and that fresh liquidity<br />
has been infused in the market with the latest<br />
retail Treasury bond (RTB) exercise.<br />
“We settled the five-year RTB sale today<br />
so that from a cash standpoint it’s actually<br />
better for us because of the settlement. We’re<br />
talking about P235.9 billion, almost P236<br />
billion in fresh cash for us,” Sta. Ana said.<br />
“And then we had a full award (in T-bonds<br />
Tuesday) so we are in a good cash position. That<br />
doesn’t mean that when we open it (TAP), we’re<br />
in any worse position, but it’s very comfortable,”<br />
he added.<br />
interest in national politics, culminating in<br />
his election last year as the seventh Prime<br />
Minister of Malaysia.<br />
Dr. Mahathir, the youngest of nine<br />
siblings, was formally schooled as a medical<br />
doctor in Singapore (then part of Malaya)<br />
and had a successful practice as the only<br />
Malay doctor in his hometown, Alor Setar,<br />
in the state of Kedah. His father was of<br />
Indian descent, was a school principal and<br />
a disciplinarian, who was responsible for<br />
his focus on studies instead of sports, while<br />
his mother came from a long line of royal<br />
courtiers in Kedah.<br />
His political career, primarily centered on<br />
the rights of Malay bumiputras (sons of the<br />
soil) over the Malayan Chinese, has spanned<br />
more than 70 years starting with his fight for<br />
affirmative action for Malays when he was<br />
still in medical school. A fallout in 1959 with<br />
then Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman<br />
over the continuing influence of the British<br />
military in the newly independent Malaysia<br />
reaffirmed his reputation as an intense<br />
Malay nationalist but also turned him into<br />
a political outcast. During this period, he<br />
authored a controversial book, The Malay<br />
Dilemma, that strongly advocated for the<br />
legislated economic entitlement rights of the<br />
native Malays over other races. After the<br />
resignation of Tunku in 1970, Dr. Mahathir<br />
re-emerged and rose in prominence as a<br />
nationalist politician.<br />
tuesday<br />
12 March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Like all strong leaders,<br />
Dr. Mahathir’s political<br />
life certainly has not been<br />
without controversy. He<br />
openly battled against<br />
Malaysia’s royalty and<br />
was successful in clipping<br />
the influence and powers<br />
of the royalty over the<br />
government. When<br />
Malaysian Chinese<br />
and extremist Islamic<br />
leaders threatened<br />
through protests the<br />
ruling mainstream Malay<br />
hegemony of the country,<br />
his administration did not<br />
hesitate to invoke stringent police powers<br />
resulting in the death of an extremist leader<br />
and the arrest of several of the Malaysian<br />
Chinese and Islamic extremist movement’s<br />
followers.<br />
You have to capture the minds<br />
of the people and know what the<br />
people want — income, good jobs,<br />
good schools.<br />
When his own deputy world-acclaimed<br />
Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim locked<br />
horns with him on economic policies<br />
during the Asian financial crisis, Anwar<br />
was sacked and eventually landed in jail for<br />
several years and only recently freed after<br />
a reconciliation with Dr. Mahathir.<br />
On the economic front, his administration<br />
aggressively promoted major infrastructure<br />
development projects, but a major push for<br />
privatization of government enterprises was<br />
The Eagle’s Nest<br />
Bing Matoto<br />
PHILIPPINE STOCK EXCHANGE<br />
NAME OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE VALUE (P)<br />
FINANCIALS<br />
BANKS<br />
ASIA UNITED 58.95 58.95 58.6 58.6 322,475<br />
BDO UNIBANK <strong>13</strong>1.7 <strong>13</strong>4 <strong>13</strong>0.1 <strong>13</strong>4 169,009,177<br />
BANK PH ISLANDS 84.6 85.55 84.1 85.1 88,054,228.50<br />
CHINABANK 27.6 27.65 27.5 27.5 1,104,610<br />
EAST WEST BANK 12.16 12.26 12.16 12.22 2,776,432<br />
METROBANK 76.7 78.4 76 76 228,076,687<br />
PB BANK <strong>13</strong>.86 <strong>13</strong>.86 <strong>13</strong>.84 <strong>13</strong>.86 293,560<br />
PBCOM 21.8 22.9 21.8 22.9 26,380<br />
PHIL NATL BANK 60.05 62.65 60.05 61.4 78,822,866.50<br />
PSBANK 58.9 58.9 58.8 58.8 14,703<br />
RCBC 26.55 26.55 26.4 26.5 2,731,620<br />
SECURITY BANK 167 167 166 167 81,278,058<br />
UNION BANK 61 61 60.5 61 200,000<br />
OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS<br />
BRIGHT KINDLE 1.35 1.36 1.35 1.36 17,610<br />
BDO LEASING 2.26 2.34 2.26 2.34 <strong>13</strong>,880<br />
COL FINANCIAL 18.1 18.1 18.1 18.1 2,590,110<br />
FIRST ABACUS 0.58 0.62 0.58 0.62 12,220<br />
FERRONOUX HLDG 4.47 4.47 4.47 4.47 8,940<br />
FILIPINO FUND 7.86 7.86 7.81 7.81 21,097<br />
MEDCO HLDG 0.46 0.47 0.455 0.455 161,000<br />
MANULIFE 800 800 800 800 8,000<br />
NTL REINSURANCE 0.97 0.98 0.96 0.96 455,690<br />
PHIL STOCK EXCH 184.6 184.6 183 183 67,924<br />
VANTAGE 1.<strong>13</strong> 1.<strong>13</strong> 1.<strong>13</strong> 1.<strong>13</strong> <strong>13</strong>,560<br />
INDUSTRIAL<br />
ELECTRICITY, ENERGY, POPWER & WATER<br />
ALSONS CONS 1.42 1.46 1.42 1.42 2,880,060<br />
ABOITIZ POWER 33.8 35.05 33.8 35 122,474,550<br />
BASIC ENERGY 0.243 0.243 0.236 0.243 31,200<br />
FIRST GEN 21.5 21.95 20.4 20.7 <strong>13</strong>3,087,815<br />
FIRST PHIL HLDG 73.7 73.9 73.7 73.9 4,931,448<br />
MERALCO 372 376 370.6 376 47,007,126<br />
MANILA WATER 27 27 26.3 26.6 3,748,735<br />
PETRON 6.76 6.79 6.66 6.75 44,779,426<br />
PETROENERGY 3.77 3.78 3.77 3.77 558,030<br />
PHINMA ENERGY 1.32 1.34 1.32 1.33 11,764,710<br />
PHX PETROLEUM 11.74 12 11.74 12 1,769,282<br />
PILIPINAS SHELL 49 49.55 48.95 49.3 19,346,700<br />
SPC POWER 6.48 6.48 6.4 6.4 548,640<br />
FOOD, BEVERAGE & TOBACCO<br />
AGRINURTURE 15.26 15.28 14.9 14.9 8,316,678<br />
BOGO MEDELLIN 89.55 97.95 89.5 97.95 45,736<br />
CNTRL AZUCARERA 16 16.2 15.82 16.2 58,968<br />
CENTURY FOOD 15.48 15.7 14.94 15.7 2,554,022<br />
DEL MONTE 6 6.3 5.96 6.1 67,731<br />
DNL INDUS 11.32 11.34 11.26 11.32 1,960,854<br />
EMPERADOR 7.52 7.6 7.52 7.52 746,983<br />
SMC FOODANDBEV 109 112.8 107.8 109 224,431,351<br />
ALLIANCE SELECT 1.02 1.04 1.01 1.03 954,430<br />
GINEBRA 26.6 27.85 26.5 27 15,251,245<br />
JOLLIBEE 312 317 311 317 44,<strong>13</strong>2,774<br />
MACAY HLDG 11.52 11.52 11 11 107,312<br />
MAXS GROUP 12.18 12.28 12.06 12.06 1,701,464<br />
MG HLDG 0.2 0.2 0.197 0.197 296,010<br />
PEPSI COLA 1.38 1.39 1.36 1.37 5,670,790<br />
SHAKEYS PIZZA 12.32 12.32 12.28 12.28 <strong>13</strong>6,504<br />
ROXAS AND CO 1.85 1.86 1.85 1.85 216,500<br />
RFM CORP 4.67 4.68 4.67 4.67 14,020<br />
ROXAS HLDG 2.68 2.68 2.68 2.68 2,680<br />
UNIV ROBINA 140.2 141.2 <strong>13</strong>8 141.2 44,263,911<br />
VITARICH 1.65 1.65 1.62 1.63 6,426,370<br />
VICTORIAS 2.67 2.67 2.65 2.65 <strong>13</strong>7,960<br />
CONSTRUCTION, INFRASTRUCTURE & ALLIED SERVICES<br />
CONCRETE B 71.05 71.05 71.05 71.05 7,105<br />
CEMEX HLDG 2.54 2.7 2.53 2.65 42,643,760<br />
DAVINCI CAPITAL 6 6 5.97 5.97 652,002<br />
EAGLE CEMENT 15.78 15.78 15.72 15.72 686,226<br />
EEI CORP 8.96 8.96 8.71 8.8 5,411,393<br />
HOLCIM 9.61 9.61 9.57 9.6 26,230,259<br />
MEGAWIDE 19.84 20.1 19.84 19.9 21,950,331<br />
TKC METALS 1.06 1.06 1.01 1.01 384,000<br />
VULCAN INDL 1.44 1.45 1.36 1.37 7,675,740<br />
CHEMICALS<br />
CHEMPHIL 120 120 120 120 12,000<br />
CROWN ASIA 1.85 1.91 1.85 1.91 <strong>13</strong>,<strong>13</strong>0<br />
EUROMED 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.65 19,800<br />
LMG CHEMICALS 4.26 4.26 4.2 4.2 426,760<br />
MABUHAY VINYL 3.52 3.6 3.5 3.59 60,<strong>13</strong>0<br />
PRYCE CORP 5.85 5.87 5.85 5.87 35,120<br />
ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS & EQUIPMENT<br />
CONCEPCION 41 41 41 41 2,050,000<br />
GREENERGY 3.05 3.08 2.65 2.65 85,966,830<br />
INTEGRATED MICR <strong>13</strong>.04 <strong>13</strong>.3 12.68 12.72 6,397,820<br />
IONICS 1.66 1.69 1.64 1.69 493,890<br />
PANASONIC 6.16 6.16 6.16 6.16 1,848<br />
SFA SEMICON 1.33 1.33 1.3 1.3 410,020<br />
CIRTEK HLDG 29.45 29.5 29.4 29.5 1,476,440<br />
HOLDING FIRMS<br />
ABACORE CAPITAL 0.78 0.79 0.77 0.78 11,165,850<br />
ASIABEST GROUP 21 21 20.25 20.55 804,455<br />
AYALA CORP 930 933 925 925 162,595,375<br />
ABOITIZ EQUITY 57.2 58.1 57.1 58 181,173,652.50<br />
ALLIANCE GLOBAL 15 15.16 14.96 15 <strong>13</strong>9,052,548<br />
ANSCOR 6.62 6.62 6.5 6.51 71,011<br />
ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.74 0.76 0.74 0.75 263,150<br />
ATN HLDG A 1.41 1.43 1.41 1.41 4,627,180<br />
ATN HLDG B 1.42 1.44 1.42 1.44 32,720<br />
COSCO CAPITAL 7.46 7.7 7.46 7.5 8,524,344<br />
DMCI HLDG 11.16 11.38 11.16 11.2 55,574,216<br />
FILINVEST DEV 14 14.66 14 14.64 40,436,726<br />
FORUM PACIFIC 0.24 0.255 0.24 0.24 152,430<br />
GT CAPITAL 965 996 965 974.5 193,742,460<br />
HOUSE OF INV 6.<strong>13</strong> 6.<strong>13</strong> 6.<strong>13</strong> 6.<strong>13</strong> 109,114<br />
JG SUMMIT 66.1 67.2 64.55 65 114,112,115.50<br />
LODESTAR 0.58 0.58 0.55 0.57 442,110<br />
LOPEZ HLDG 5.03 5.1 5.03 5.04 3,804,753<br />
LT GROUP 16.12 16.82 16.12 16.42 44,247,712<br />
MABUHAY HLDG 0.56 0.56 0.56 0.56 60,480<br />
METRO PAC INV 4.87 4.95 4.87 4.94 52,993,610<br />
PACIFICA 0.04 0.041 0.04 0.04 128,700<br />
PRIME ORION 3.03 3.03 2.99 2.99 3,197,100<br />
REPUBLIC GLASS 2.56 2.56 2.56 2.56 25,600<br />
SOLID GROUP 1.36 1.37 1.36 1.37 <strong>13</strong>,620<br />
SYNERGY GRID 450 450 450 450 45,000<br />
SM INVESTMENTS 930 946 925.5 946 175,774,460<br />
SAN MIGUEL CORP 174.1 176.9 171.4 174 267,283,718<br />
SOC RESOURCES 0.79 0.79 0.78 0.78 74,300<br />
TOP FRONTIER 275.2 282.8 275 282.8 119,906<br />
WELLEX INDUS 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.24 163,200<br />
ZEUS HLDG 0.37 0.38 0.355 0.36 7,400,200<br />
PROPERTY<br />
ARTHALAND CORP 0.92 0.93 0.9 0.91 875,230<br />
ANCHOR LAND 10.46 10.46 10.46 10.46 6,276<br />
AYALA LAND 43.15 43.55 42.8 42.9 266,028,800<br />
ARANETA PROP 1.88 1.88 1.87 1.87 44,970<br />
BELLE CORP 2.43 2.43 2.39 2.4 1,841,590<br />
A BROWN 0.79 0.8 0.78 0.78 1,014,150<br />
CITYLAND DEVT 0.91 0.93 0.91 0.93 92,840<br />
CROWN EQUITIES 0.24 0.249 0.239 0.245 1,183,110<br />
CEBU HLDG 6.6 6.86 6.5 6.86 <strong>13</strong>,172<br />
CEB LANDMASTERS 4.3 4.3 4.2 4.23 1,082,540<br />
CENTURY PROP 0.5 0.51 0.49 0.495 4,081,390<br />
CYBER BAY 0.41 0.41 0.405 0.405 532,050<br />
DOUBLEDRAGON 20.8 21.2 20.25 20.25 15,742,035<br />
DM WENCESLAO 9.99 10.18 9.92 10.08 24,768,194<br />
EMPIRE EAST 0.54 0.54 0.5 0.52 2,180,300<br />
EVER GOTESCO 0.<strong>13</strong> 0.<strong>13</strong> 0.<strong>13</strong> 0.<strong>13</strong> 23,400<br />
also marked by the lack<br />
of transparent biddings<br />
that would eventually<br />
pave the way for favoring<br />
Malay bumiputras<br />
closely identified with<br />
the ruling party, UMNO.<br />
At the height of the<br />
Asian financial crisis, he<br />
refused to follow the IMF’s<br />
protocol of high interest<br />
rates and severe austerity<br />
measures. Although an<br />
economic outlier because<br />
of Dr. Mahathir’s stubborn<br />
refusal to adhere to the<br />
IMF, Malaysia recovered<br />
faster than its Asian neighbors.<br />
An outspoken critic of the West,<br />
particularly Great Britain and the USA, he<br />
labeled them as oppressors who imposed<br />
their values on Asians and continues to be a<br />
leading voice in the Non-Aligned Movement,<br />
an aggrupation of 125 countries who are<br />
not aligned with or against any power bloc.<br />
The highly colorful and controversial<br />
personality that is a hallmark of Dr. Mahathir’s<br />
political life was however not evident during<br />
our chat with him last week. Instead of a<br />
strong-man firebrand, he came across, at least<br />
to me, as a wise, soft-spoken and grandfatherly<br />
personality with his mellow voice of wisdom<br />
barely picked up by my phone recorder.<br />
Here are some quotes and paraphrased<br />
nuggets he intimately shared with us:<br />
Peace with neighboring countries and,<br />
above all, domestic peace within the<br />
country, is crucial to the region and a<br />
country’s development, a not too subtle<br />
reference to the ongoing West Philippine Sea<br />
controversy and our delicate estrangement<br />
with our Muslim brethren in Mindanao;<br />
To be a good leader means “You have to<br />
capture the minds of the people and know<br />
what the people want — income, good jobs,<br />
good schools;”<br />
Brain drain is a waste to a country’s<br />
resources and should be discouraged, but<br />
is difficult to prevent because of the wide<br />
disparity of wages;<br />
Malaysia’s stock market is highperforming<br />
because it vigilantly oversees the<br />
governance of listed companies to ensure<br />
that there is no manipulation in the values of<br />
the stocks. Regulations are transparent and<br />
foreign investors are welcomed and provided<br />
legal assurances that their investments can<br />
be freely repatriated;<br />
To avoid a so-called debt trap that is<br />
now the grist of business opinion columns<br />
in the context of the country’s push for<br />
infrastructure, he believes “a country<br />
should build infrastructure only when you<br />
can afford it… don’t borrow money unless<br />
you can earn to repay… otherwise it is like<br />
selling when you borrow;”<br />
On the drug menace, Malaysia observes<br />
due process but imposes without exception<br />
the death penalty. He confessed to losing<br />
sleep once when he had to personally affirm<br />
the execution of a drug dealer found guilty;<br />
Finally, for us seniors, on the secret of<br />
his longevity: “I never really retired… Don’t<br />
stop working. Don’t stop using your muscles.<br />
Be active mentally. Read. Write.”<br />
Until next week… one big fight!<br />
NAME OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE VALUE (P)<br />
FILINVEST LAND 1.51 1.52 1.5 1.52 9,422,630<br />
GLOBAL ESTATE 1.26 1.27 1.22 1.24 2,033,600<br />
8990 HLDG 11.88 12.2 11.7 11.98 26,526,064<br />
PHIL INFRADEV 1.95 1.97 1.86 1.87 8,622,790<br />
CITY AND LAND 0.92 0.92 0.92 0.92 23,000<br />
MEGAWORLD 5.52 5.53 5.39 5.49 62,777,544<br />
MRC ALLIED 0.395 0.395 0.39 0.395 3,253,600<br />
PHIL ESTATES 0.455 0.455 0.445 0.45 2,529,900<br />
PRIMEX CORP 2.82 2.87 2.79 2.86 120,860<br />
ROBINSONS LAND 23.5 23.7 22.8 23.7 27,101,150<br />
PHIL REALTY 0.45 0.45 0.45 0.45 148,500<br />
ROCKWELL 2.02 2.03 2.01 2.02 90,750<br />
SHANG PROP 3.15 3.15 3.12 3.12 522,660<br />
STA LUCIA LAND 1.58 1.58 1.53 1.56 801,290<br />
SM PRIME HLDG 38 38.4 36.7 36.7 417,566,870<br />
STARMALLS 7.02 7.14 6.9 7 1,273,776<br />
SUNTRUST HOME 0.81 0.82 0.75 0.8 474,600<br />
PTFC REDEV CORP 43.05 45.2 43.05 45.2 48,440<br />
VISTA LAND 7.22 7.35 7.18 7.2 54,087,646<br />
SERVICES<br />
Email bing_matoto@yahoo.com.<br />
MEDIA<br />
ABS CBN 21.3 21.4 21.2 21.3 3,002,570<br />
GMA NETWORK 5.73 5.73 5.71 5.71 541,906<br />
MANILA BULLETIN 0.6 0.63 0.6 0.62 1,346,430<br />
TELECOMMUNICATIONS<br />
GLOBE TELECOM 1,890 1,910 1,865 1,878 65,981,975<br />
PLDT 1,090 1,1<strong>13</strong> 1,089 1,107 127,088,055<br />
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY<br />
APOLLO GLOBAL 0.045 0.046 0.044 0.046 503,900<br />
DFNN INC 7 7 7 7 353,500<br />
ISLAND INFO 0.128 0.<strong>13</strong>1 0.127 0.<strong>13</strong>1 300,060<br />
ISM COMM 5.44 5.44 5.23 5.28 31,544,595<br />
JACKSTONES 3.29 3.29 3.29 3.29 3,290<br />
NOW CORP 2.89 2.9 2.82 2.84 4,001,980<br />
TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.435 0.44 0.43 0.43 1,676,550<br />
PHILWEB 2.8 2.8 2.76 2.79 3,043,570<br />
TRANSPORTATION SERVICES<br />
2GO GROUP 11.88 12.16 11.84 12.16 273,582<br />
CEBU AIR 83 84.5 81.5 81.5 10,537,971.50<br />
CHELSEA 5.62 5.88 5.62 5.83 4,423,661<br />
INTL CONTAINER 114.9 120.4 114.3 119 448,794,606<br />
LBC EXPRESS 15.5 15.5 15.24 15.26 67,<strong>13</strong>6<br />
LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.9 0.91 0.89 0.91 34,910<br />
MACROASIA 19.6 20.3 19.6 19.94 23,836,095<br />
METROALLIANCE A 1.98 1.98 1.9 1.96 188,650<br />
METROALLIANCE B 1.95 1.95 1.95 1.95 1,950<br />
PAL HLDG 10.38 10.48 10.38 10.44 375,244<br />
HARBOR STAR 2.95 3.09 2.94 2.94 24,151,430<br />
HOTEL & LEISURE<br />
ACESITE HOTEL 1.28 1.28 1.28 1.28 16,640<br />
BOULEVARD HLDG 0.073 0.077 0.072 0.075 18,928,680<br />
DISCOVERY WORLD 2.25 2.26 2.11 2.15 48,010<br />
WATERFRONT 0.66 0.68 0.66 0.67 450,910<br />
EDUCATION<br />
IPEOPLE 11 11 11 11 67,100<br />
STI HLDG 0.71 0.72 0.7 0.71 786,220<br />
CASINOS & GAMING<br />
BERJAYA 2.86 2.88 2.79 2.88 1,300,540<br />
BLOOMBERRY 11.72 11.94 11.66 11.8 66,247,164<br />
PACIFIC ONLINE 9.21 9.21 9.21 9.21 1,842<br />
LEISURE AND RES 3.28 3.34 3.27 3.3 877,830<br />
MANILA JOCKEY 4.7 4.91 4.7 4.9 495,740<br />
PH RESORTS GRP 5 5 4.9 4.99 525,730<br />
PREMIUM LEISURE 0.91 0.91 0.9 0.9 1,657,480<br />
TRAVELLERS 5.62 5.62 5.6 5.6 907,830<br />
RETAIL<br />
METRO RETAIL 3.07 3.07 2.99 3 5,983,490<br />
PUREGOLD 48.7 48.7 47.5 47.7 8,090,905<br />
ROBINSONS RTL 85 86.5 85 86 20,574,010.50<br />
PHIL SEVEN CORP <strong>13</strong>5 <strong>13</strong>5 <strong>13</strong>4 <strong>13</strong>5 3,171,887<br />
SSI GROUP 2.38 2.41 2.36 2.39 34,234,340<br />
WILCON DEPOT 15.5 16.08 15.5 15.7 160,446,204<br />
OTHER SERVICES<br />
APC GROUP 0.435 0.435 0.43 0.43 51,700<br />
EASYCALL 14.72 14.9 14.56 14.58 2,614,380<br />
GOLDEN BRIA 376 381.6 371.2 380 1,220,456<br />
IPM HLDG 7.1 7.1 7.07 7.07 53,<strong>13</strong>0<br />
PAXYS 3.08 3.4 3.08 3.4 18,800<br />
PRMIERE HORIZON 1.28 1.3 1.22 1.22 41,006,070<br />
SBS PHIL CORP 8.34 8.34 8.34 8.34 270,216<br />
MINING & OIL<br />
MINING<br />
ATOK <strong>13</strong>.6 <strong>13</strong>.6 <strong>13</strong>.6 <strong>13</strong>.6 2,720<br />
APEX MINING 1.47 1.48 1.44 1.45 4,875,150<br />
ABRA MINING 0.0021 0.0021 0.002 0.0021 1,924,600<br />
ATLAS MINING 2.91 2.95 2.91 2.91 327,520<br />
BENGUET A 1.17 1.17 1.15 1.15 <strong>13</strong>9,100<br />
COAL ASIA HLDG 0.295 0.295 0.295 0.295 29,500<br />
CENTURY PEAK 2.24 2.26 2.24 2.26 1,850,750<br />
FERRONICKEL 1.49 1.49 1.48 1.49 3,508,330<br />
GEOGRACE 0.255 0.255 0.247 0.255 274,180<br />
LEPANTO A 0.125 0.126 0.121 0.121 487,340<br />
MANILA MINING A 0.0081 0.0081 0.0081 0.0081 24,300<br />
MARCVENTURES 1.09 1.09 1.08 1.09 35,850<br />
NIHAO 1.08 1.08 1.03 1.07 27,940<br />
NICKEL ASIA 2.68 2.71 2.65 2.65 7,933,560<br />
OMICO CORP 0.6 0.62 0.6 0.62 52,840<br />
ORNTL PENINSULA 0.94 0.94 0.93 0.93 93,250<br />
PX MINING 4 4.03 3.9 3.92 4,907,080<br />
SEMIRARA MINING 20 20.35 20 20.1 24,072,630<br />
UNITED PARAGON 0.0074 0.0076 0.0073 0.0073 228,200<br />
OIL<br />
ORNTL PETROL A 0.012 0.0<strong>13</strong> 0.012 0.0<strong>13</strong> 349,300<br />
ORNTL PETROL B 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 81,600<br />
PHILODRILL 0.012 0.012 0.011 0.011 39,200<br />
PHINMA PETRO 3.16 3.3 3.16 3.3 88,820<br />
PXP ENERGY 14.34 14.36 14 14.06 32,561,168<br />
PREFERRED<br />
AC PREF B1 470 470 470 470 202,100<br />
AC PREF B2 497 497 497 497 4,970<br />
DD PREF 98.35 98.35 98.35 98.35 14,752.50<br />
SMC FB PREF 2 980 980 980 980 39,200<br />
FGEN PREF G 102.5 102.5 102.5 102.5 20,500<br />
LR PREF 0.99 0.99 0.98 0.98 103,570<br />
MWIDE PREF 101 101 101 101 555,500<br />
PNX PREF 3B 103.5 103.5 103.5 103.5 23,805<br />
SFI PREF 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.8 1,800<br />
SMC PREF 2B 75.45 75.45 75.45 75.45 2,263.50<br />
SMC PREF 2C 76.85 76.95 76.7 76.95 1,583,096<br />
SMC PREF 2D 72.6 72.6 71.4 71.4 3,677,602<br />
SMC PREF 2F 75 75 75 75 15,000<br />
SMC PREF 2H 72 72.05 71.9 72 6,363,515<br />
SMC PREF 2I 72.4 72.4 72 72 756,850<br />
PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS<br />
ABS HLDG PDR 20.2 20.2 20.1 20.2 705,405<br />
GMA HLDG PDR 5.58 5.59 5.58 5.59 89,438<br />
WARRANTS<br />
LR WARRANT 1.88 1.88 1.85 1.88 98,260<br />
SMALL, MEDIUM & EMERGING<br />
ITALPINAS 4.91 5.07 4.91 5.06 2,673,400<br />
MAKATI FINANCE 2.69 2.69 2.69 2.69 8,070<br />
XURPAS 1.37 1.41 1.36 1.38 7,030,040<br />
EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS<br />
FIRST METRO ETF 115.5 115.5 115.3 115.3 508,938
Wednesday, <strong>13</strong> March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
BUSINESS<br />
11<br />
DMCI grows<br />
order book<br />
to P27.9B<br />
Contractor D.M. Consunji<br />
Inc. (DMCI) accelerated its<br />
order book annually by 12<br />
percent to P27.9 billion in 2018<br />
after signing P12 billion worth<br />
of new projects, among it the<br />
first local Ikea outlet and<br />
luxury condominium project<br />
The Estate Makati.<br />
Building and infrastructure<br />
took up the bulk of the order book<br />
at P11.2 billion and P11.1 billion,<br />
respectively.<br />
DMCI alone recorded P1.6<br />
billion in net income in<br />
2018, up by 22 percent from<br />
P1.28 billion in 2017.<br />
ADB issues 15-year rupiah-linked bond<br />
Proceeds from the bonds will be mobilized to support<br />
ADB’s local currency lending in Indonesia<br />
The Asian Development<br />
Bank (ADB) has raised 1.2<br />
trillion Indonesian rupiah<br />
(about $84 million) from a new<br />
issue of offshore Indonesian<br />
rupiah-linked bonds.<br />
The transaction was<br />
structured as a 15-year fixed<br />
rate bond maturing in March<br />
2034, making it the longest<br />
tenor local currency bond ever<br />
issued by ADB. Previously,<br />
ADB had issued 10- and 11-year<br />
bonds in Chinese renminbi,<br />
Indian rupees and Indonesian<br />
rupiah, but longer maturities<br />
had proven elusive.<br />
ADB has supported the<br />
development of the region’s<br />
capital markets since 1970,<br />
having issued in multiple<br />
currencies and formats.<br />
“The growth of local currency<br />
bond markets is of strategic<br />
importance to developing<br />
countries in Asia,” said ADB<br />
treasurer Pierre Van Peteghem.<br />
“But the challenge often remains<br />
in sourcing funding with sufficient<br />
tenor to support ADB’s long dated<br />
loans. With this 15-year bond<br />
issue, ADB is not only solving that<br />
mismatch, but also establishing a<br />
benchmark for other issuers to<br />
follow.”<br />
The bond issue, denominated<br />
in Indonesian rupiah but settled<br />
in US dollars, was underwritten<br />
by JP Morgan as sole lead<br />
manager. The new issue bears<br />
a semi-annual coupon of 7.80<br />
percent. The bonds were placed<br />
70 percent in Europe and 30<br />
percent in Americas, with<br />
institutions, banks and retail<br />
investors participating.<br />
Proceeds from the bonds<br />
will be mobilized to support<br />
ADB’s local currency lending<br />
in Indonesia. In 2017, ADB<br />
committed $2.035 billion in<br />
sovereign and non-sovereign<br />
loans, technical assistance,<br />
and grants to Indonesia.<br />
Indonesia is among ADB’s<br />
largest sovereign borrowers.<br />
The transaction was<br />
structured as a 15-year<br />
fixed rate bond maturing<br />
in March 2034, making it<br />
the longest tenor local<br />
currency bond ever issued<br />
by ADB.<br />
ADB is a regular borrower<br />
in the mainstream international<br />
bond markets but has also led<br />
issuance in developing Asia as<br />
part of its efforts to promote<br />
domestic bond markets as an<br />
alternative to bank lending. So<br />
far this year, ADB has raised<br />
$180 million from bond issues in<br />
Kazakhstan and the Philippines.<br />
ADB is committed to<br />
achieving a prosperous,<br />
inclusive, resilient and<br />
sustainable Asia and the<br />
Pacific, while sustaining its<br />
efforts to eradicate extreme<br />
poverty. In 2018, it made<br />
commitments of new loans<br />
and grants amounting to $21.6<br />
billion. Established in 1966, it<br />
is owned by 68 members — 49<br />
from the region.<br />
Energy projects stood at P2.7<br />
billion, with value of plant and<br />
utilities contracts at P2.9 billion.<br />
DMCI is looking at further<br />
growing the order book since<br />
revenue recognition for most of<br />
the projects are set for this year<br />
and in 2020, DMCI senior vice<br />
president for business strategy<br />
and development Rebecca Civil<br />
said during a briefing late last<br />
week.<br />
“There will be little left for<br />
2021 so we need to add this<br />
year. Maybe next quarter we’ll<br />
already have news,” Civil said,<br />
adding that most of the existing<br />
projects will be completed next<br />
year.<br />
DMCI alone recorded P1.6<br />
billion in net income in 2018, up<br />
by 22 percent from P1.28 billion<br />
in 2017.<br />
Construction for the local<br />
outlet of the famous Swedish<br />
furniture brand will cost P1.6<br />
billion, Civil said. AJBajo<br />
While BdO Unibank sees the global<br />
economy heading for more moderate growth<br />
this year, it still makes sense to diversify into<br />
global investments and seize opportunities in<br />
markets outside the Philippines for growth<br />
over the long term.<br />
Through BdO’s Global Feeder Funds,<br />
investors can gain access to the US,<br />
China, Japan, European and global equity<br />
markets. The funds started <strong>2019</strong> with very<br />
strong returns ranging from 12 percent<br />
to 18 percent in dollar terms as of end<br />
February <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
Based on fund performance figures<br />
published by www.uitf.com, the BdO<br />
China Equity Feeder Fund landed the top<br />
spot for dollar-denominated global equity<br />
funds with its 18.4 percent return since<br />
the start of <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
Customers look at Apple Watch products at an Apple store in Shanghai. Convenience is prompting a growing<br />
number of tech-savvy Chinese consumers to embrace the use of smart devices.<br />
China Daily<br />
Tanglawan could break ground early<br />
It is possible for Dennis Uy<br />
and his partners at Tanglawan<br />
Philippines LNG Inc. to<br />
complete the feasibility study<br />
and actually break ground<br />
and execute the project a few<br />
months than earlier believed.<br />
This was learned from<br />
Uy himself on Tuesday when<br />
he met with editors hosting<br />
the "Straight Talk with Daily<br />
Tribune."<br />
Uy<br />
According to him, it is<br />
“reasonable to expect” that the feasibility<br />
study upon which the final investment<br />
decision would be based could be completed<br />
within the year<br />
It should also be reasonable for the<br />
project actually to break ground “also within<br />
the year.”<br />
Uy, whose Phoenix Petroleum has<br />
Strong start for BdO<br />
feeder funds<br />
The fund feeds into the BlackRock<br />
Global Funds (BGF) China Fund which<br />
is primarily invested in a portfolio of<br />
equities and equity-related instruments<br />
of China-related companies traded both<br />
onshore and offshore China.<br />
According to Fritz Ocampo, chief<br />
investment officer of BdO Trust and<br />
Investments Group, the rally in the Chinese<br />
stock market this year is due to improving<br />
sentiment toward China as its policy<br />
environment become more supportive and<br />
concerns on the trade war has eased.<br />
BdO currently manages six US dollar-denominated<br />
global feeder funds. All six funds found their<br />
way to the top 10 dollar-denominated equity<br />
UITF in the country, including its newly-launched<br />
fund, the BdO Global Equity Index Feeder<br />
Fund at rank 3.<br />
Smart, Nokia team up<br />
PLDT wireless arm Smart Communications<br />
Inc. (Smart) and Nokia have signed a<br />
memorandum of understanding (MoU) to<br />
pilot the deployment of fifth-generation (5G)<br />
wireless broadband technologies and services<br />
in schools.<br />
Under the MoU, PLDT, Smart and Nokia<br />
will collaborate in identifying innovative<br />
real world and enterprise-led 5G standalone<br />
(5G SA) solutions, such as artificial<br />
intelligence, drones and Internet of Things<br />
(IoT) applications, for use in schools, colleges<br />
and universities. This will be done through<br />
the combined capabilities of the PLDT-Smart<br />
5G Technolab in Makati and the Nokia<br />
Technology Center in Quezon City.<br />
5G SA relies solely on 5G for data<br />
transmission, and allows the full benefit of 5G<br />
capabilities to be tested and demonstrated. In<br />
contrast, 5G NSA (non-standalone) combines<br />
the use of 5G and existing 4G/LTE resources<br />
to transmit data.<br />
“We are happy to partner with Nokia to help<br />
develop intelligent solutions and technologies<br />
partnered with China National<br />
Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC)<br />
subsidiary Gas and Power<br />
Group Co. Ltd., said while the<br />
authorities granted them the<br />
notice to proceed only in early<br />
January, the feasibility study is<br />
“50 percent done.”<br />
“We are working quite fast<br />
to finish our final investment<br />
decision and hopefully break<br />
ground in the next few<br />
months. But then again,<br />
these are big-ticket projects and it is not<br />
that simple. We have to ensure the project<br />
is feasible,” he said.<br />
Previously, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi<br />
gave the project proponents six months from<br />
21 December 2018 “to do all the submissions”<br />
necessary to complete the construction of a<br />
1,100-megawatt gas-fired power plant.<br />
PLDT and Smart are excited to work with Nokia in<br />
realizing their 5G vision.<br />
for the benefit of the Philippine education<br />
sector,” said PLDT-Smart chairman and CEO<br />
Manuel Pangilinan.<br />
“As the country’s leading and most trusted<br />
technology enabler, PLDT and Smart are excited<br />
to work with Nokia and the academe in realizing<br />
our 5G vision,” said Ernesto Alberto, PLDT-<br />
Smart chief revenue officer.<br />
The MoU also covers deploying 5G SA<br />
technologies and innovative products and<br />
services, such as 5G handsets and applications,<br />
for example.<br />
The mandatory submissions include a<br />
timeline plotting the execution of each<br />
detail to the project not to mention the<br />
need to find an offtaker and such “of the<br />
commercial viability or the project will not<br />
push through.”<br />
Uy’s optimism, therefore, is a measure<br />
of the confidence he holds that the project<br />
will break ground a little earlier than<br />
anticipated and the project pursued to its<br />
full completion.<br />
Fresh and hot!<br />
Not one, but two fresh and<br />
new sections will now also<br />
be served piping hot each<br />
weekend!<br />
The Daily Tribune is<br />
pleased to present Living<br />
Spaces, for property news<br />
and features; and Techtalk,<br />
for information and<br />
technology.<br />
We are as excited as you<br />
are, dear readers!
12<br />
Wednesday, <strong>13</strong> March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
TRUE-blue entrepreneurs like Dennis Uy know when alternative products and services will win consumers’ heart.<br />
PHOTOS BY ROY PELOVELLO<br />
Bold spirit, vision<br />
propel Dennis Uy<br />
Phoenix’s rise came at a time when fuel security was poor in the provinces primarily in the<br />
Visayas and Mindanao<br />
Businessman Dennis Uy, who has diversified interests in business, sticks<br />
to the belief that providing alternatives to what has been considered the<br />
norm is a wise investment decision despite the risks it entails.<br />
This philosophy was what pushed him to venture into Phoenix Petroleum<br />
that grew by focusing its operations outside Metro Manila which many<br />
saw as a risky move.<br />
But foresight enabled Uy to see huge prospects. Now, he is reaping the rewards<br />
of economic growth that had spread out throughout the nation.<br />
Phoenix’s rise came at a time when fuel security was poor in the provinces,<br />
primarily in the Visayas and Mindanao. He also started Starlite Ferries by bringing<br />
in brand-new roll-on, roll-off vessels for the Calapan, Oriental Mindoro-to-Batangas<br />
route, which challenged past unreliable services.<br />
Now he is into telecommunications with the partnership of his flagship companies<br />
Udenna Corp. and Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp. with China Telecom under<br />
Mislatel that recently won the bid as the country’s third telco to bring great hopes<br />
to consumers for improved communications services.<br />
It was a perfect fit for his business concerns that seek to challenge norms.<br />
The public had long endured poor telecommunications services under an existing<br />
duopoly.<br />
Uy said Mislatel is his biggest challenge<br />
mainly due to the huge capital needed for the<br />
undertaking and the huge public expectation.<br />
The public had long endured poor<br />
telecommunications services under an<br />
existing duopoly.<br />
In the third telco project also rests one<br />
of the campaign promises of President<br />
Rodrigo Duterte to improve Internet speed<br />
to within the regional average which has<br />
become an economic necessity.<br />
Uy said the investments<br />
binge of his group of<br />
businesses is happening<br />
since “all indicators<br />
are saying that you<br />
should invest in our<br />
country.”<br />
For his bold<br />
vision and<br />
aggressive inroads<br />
into sectors and<br />
projects avoided by<br />
the faint-hearted,<br />
the Daily Tribune<br />
accorded Uy as top<br />
BUSINESSMAN Dennis Uy<br />
sees huge potentials in the<br />
growing economy.<br />
business personality of 2018.<br />
Considered as among the new taipans, Uy’s diverse investments included those<br />
in the telecommunications, infrastructure, energy and leisure.<br />
Uy joins other exemplary individuals accorded the annual awards by the Daily<br />
Tribune voted for their work in their particular fields. They are President Rodrigo<br />
Duterte for political leadership, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade for civic<br />
initiative, unparalleled artist Lea Salonga, judicial standout former Chief Justice<br />
Teresita Leonardo-De Castro,<br />
the President’s trusted<br />
aide Christopher Lawrence<br />
“Bong” Go, Defense Secretary<br />
Delfin Lorenzana who has<br />
the keen sense in securing<br />
the country, Presidential<br />
Communications Operations<br />
Office Secretary Martin<br />
Andanar for his effective role<br />
in imparting Palace programs<br />
for the people, sports heroine<br />
Yuka Saso, public order<br />
guardian Philippine National<br />
Police chief Director General<br />
Oscar Albayalde and Cabinet<br />
dynamo Energy Secretary<br />
Alfonso Cusi.<br />
DAILY Tribune publisher and president Willie Fernandez welcomes Uy in<br />
his visit yesterday.<br />
THE Davao-based businessman (center) gives (from left) business editor Jun Vallecera, managing editor Chito Lozada, columnist Benjamin Espiritu and<br />
executive editor Cris Martinez a recounting of his hard but fruitful climb to success.<br />
THE rising business star exchanges light banter with Lifestyle sub-editor<br />
and columnist Jojo Silvestre.
ATENEO<br />
WANTS<br />
HIGHER<br />
PERCH<br />
P14<br />
BEIJING, U.S.<br />
DISCUSS<br />
‘NEXT STEPS’<br />
P16<br />
ENTER<br />
NEW<br />
‘POGI’<br />
P17<br />
WHY WE<br />
LOVE<br />
BOHOL<br />
P19<br />
Aldrin Cardona, Editor<br />
Wednesday, <strong>13</strong> March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
SPORTS <strong>13</strong><br />
THE BEARD IS BACK<br />
Houston’s lucky ninth<br />
The Rockets won despite a big<br />
performance by Kemba Walker<br />
HOUSTON — James Harden scored<br />
28 points and Eric Gordon added 22 as<br />
the Houston Rockets cruised to their<br />
season-high ninth straight National<br />
Basketball Association win, 118-106, over<br />
the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night<br />
(Tuesday in Manila).<br />
A night after Gordon ended a streak of<br />
43 straight games where Harden led the<br />
team in scoring, the Beard was Houston’s<br />
top scorer again. But Gordon had another<br />
strong outing, making five three-pointers<br />
for the third straight game and the fourth<br />
in five games.<br />
The Rockets won despite a big<br />
performance by Kemba Walker, who<br />
finished with 40 points, 10 rebounds and<br />
seven assists as the Hornets lost their<br />
second in a row.<br />
In other NBA games, Cleveland shrunk<br />
Toronto, 126-101; Washington creamed<br />
Sacramento, 121-115; Brooklyn routed Detroit,<br />
103-75; Oklahoma City ripped Utah, 98-89;<br />
and L.A. Clippers drubbed Boston, 140-115.<br />
In Salt Lake City, Dennis Schroder scored<br />
24 points, Russell Westbrook added 23 points,<br />
11 rebounds and eight assists, and Oklahoma<br />
City beat Utah to sweep the season series.<br />
Westbrook appeared to argue with fans<br />
of the Jazz, who knocked the Thunder out<br />
of the postseason last year.<br />
The Beard was Houston’s top scorer<br />
again.<br />
Paul George chipped in 14 points and 11<br />
rebounds. Steven Adams and Jerami Grant<br />
added 12 points apiece.<br />
Donovan Mitchell scored 25 points for<br />
Utah, which shot just 36 percent from<br />
the field. Royce O’Neale added 17 points<br />
while Rudy Gobert had 15 points and 12<br />
rebounds.<br />
In Los Angeles, Lou Williams scored 34<br />
points and became the NBA’s career leader<br />
in points off the bench as Los Angeles beat<br />
Boston for its fifth straight win.<br />
Williams came into the game needing 28<br />
points to pass Dell Curry, who had 11,147<br />
points when not starting. Williams surpassed<br />
Curry with 9:53 remaining in the fourth<br />
quarter with a driving layup.<br />
It is also Williams’ 29th career game with<br />
30 or more points. According to the Elias<br />
Sports Bureau, starters and reserves were<br />
tracked in box scores beginning with the<br />
1970-71 season.<br />
Terry Rozier led the Celtics with 26 points<br />
while Jaylen Brown added 22 and Kyrie<br />
Irving 18. Boston had a three-game winning<br />
streak snapped as it was trying to become<br />
the second Eastern Conference team this<br />
season to win all four games in California.<br />
Westbrook appeared to argue with fans<br />
of the Jazz, who knocked the Thunder<br />
out of the postseason last year.<br />
In New York, Spencer Dinwiddie scored<br />
19 points and Brooklyn routed Detroit<br />
to move into sixth place in the Eastern<br />
Conference.<br />
Allen Crabbe finished with 14 points<br />
and 10 rebounds, Rodions Kurucs scored <strong>13</strong><br />
points, and Joe Harris and Caris LeVert each<br />
added 12 as the Nets took control early in<br />
the game and never let up.<br />
The Nets (36-33) won their fourth straight<br />
and leapfrogged Detroit (34-32) into the No. 6<br />
spot in their final game before leaving for a<br />
seven-game road trip.<br />
AP<br />
HOUSTON Rockets’ James Harden (middle) shoots after being fouled by Charlotte Hornets’ Malik Monk as Frank Kaminsky<br />
defends during the second half of their NBA game Monday.<br />
AP<br />
Nabbed for mischief<br />
McGregor was arrested<br />
Monday afternoon and<br />
charged with robbery and<br />
criminal mischief<br />
MIAMI — Mixed martial artist<br />
and boxer Conor McGregor has been<br />
arrested in South Florida for stealing the<br />
cellphone of someone who was trying to<br />
take his photo, authorities said.<br />
MCGREGOR<br />
According to a Miami Beach police<br />
report, the 30-year-old McGregor was<br />
arrested Monday afternoon and charged<br />
with robbery and criminal mischief.<br />
An attorney for McGregor called the<br />
altercation “minor” and said the popular<br />
fighter would cooperate with authorities.<br />
McGregor was leaving the<br />
Fontainebleau Miami Beach shortly<br />
after 5 a.m. Monday when a 22-year-old<br />
man attempted to take a picture of<br />
McGregor, the police report said. Police<br />
said McGregor slapped the phone out of<br />
the man’s hand and then stomped on it<br />
several times. McGregor then grabbed<br />
the phone and left the area, the report<br />
said. Police later found McGregor at his<br />
local address.<br />
McGregor was being held on $12,500<br />
bail.<br />
“Last evening Conor McGregor was<br />
involved in a minor altercation involving<br />
a cellphone that resulted in a call to<br />
law enforcement,” Samuel J. Rabin Jr.,<br />
a Miami-based attorney representing<br />
McGregor, said in a statement. “Mr.<br />
McGregor appreciates the response of<br />
law enforcement and pledges his full<br />
cooperation.”<br />
McGregor, who’s from Ireland, is<br />
the former UFC featherweight and<br />
lightweight champion and one of the<br />
biggest draws in MMA. He returned to<br />
UFC last fall after a hiatus during which<br />
he made his boxing debut, a loss to Floyd<br />
Mayweather. He was suspended from<br />
UFC for six months and fined $50,000<br />
for a brawl after his loss to Khabib<br />
Nurmagomedov in October. AP<br />
Race leader’s dogs quit<br />
Several mushers passed Petit’s team<br />
on the trail, erasing his five-hour<br />
lead in the race<br />
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — French musher Nicolas<br />
Petit looked like he was in solid control of the<br />
world’s most famous sled dog race and about to<br />
erase a year of doubts and second-guessing after<br />
a last minute misstep cost him the <strong>2019</strong> title.<br />
Then the dogs quit on him Monday morning.<br />
A dog named Joey had been fighting with<br />
another dog on the team and jumped it during<br />
a break as the team was making its way to the<br />
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race checkpoint of Koyuk<br />
on the Bering Sea coast.<br />
“I yelled at Joey, and everybody heard the<br />
yelling, and that doesn’t happen,” Petit told the<br />
Iditarod Insider website. “And then they wouldn’t<br />
go anymore. Anywhere. So we camped here.”<br />
Several mushers passed Petit’s team on the<br />
trail, erasing his five-hour lead in the race.<br />
Pete Kaiser of Alaska was the first musher into<br />
Koyuk, followed about an hour later by defending<br />
champion Joar Ulsom of Norway. Kaiser rested for<br />
nearly 5 ½ hours before getting back on the trail.<br />
The checkpoint is 827 miles (1,330 kilometers)<br />
into the 1,000-mile (1,600-kilometer) race across<br />
Alaska.<br />
AP<br />
Monday’s Games<br />
Cleveland 126, Toronto 101<br />
Washington 121, Sacramento 115<br />
Brooklyn 103, Detroit 75<br />
Houston 118, Charlotte 106<br />
Oklahoma City 98, Utah 89<br />
L.A. Clippers 140, Boston 115<br />
EASTERN CONFERENCE<br />
Atlantic Division<br />
W L Pct GB<br />
x-Toronto 48 20 .706 —<br />
Philadelphia 42 25 .627 5½<br />
Boston 41 27 .603 7<br />
Brooklyn 36 33 .522 12½<br />
New York <strong>13</strong> 54 .194 34½<br />
Southeast Division<br />
Miami 31 35 .470 —<br />
Orlando 31 37 .456 1<br />
Charlotte 30 37 .448 1½<br />
Washington 28 39 .418 3½<br />
Atlanta 23 45 .338 9<br />
Central Division<br />
x-Milwaukee 50 17 .746 —<br />
Indiana 42 25 .627 8<br />
Detroit 34 32 .515 15½<br />
Chicago 19 49 .279 31½<br />
Cleveland 17 50 .254 33<br />
WESTERN CONFERENCE<br />
Southwest Division<br />
W L Pct GB<br />
Houston 42 25 .627 —<br />
San Antonio 38 29 .567 4<br />
New Orleans 30 39 .435 <strong>13</strong><br />
Memphis 28 40 .412 14½<br />
Dallas 27 39 .409 14½<br />
Northwest Division<br />
Denver 43 22 .662 —<br />
Oklahoma City 41 26 .612 3<br />
Portland 40 26 .606 3½<br />
Utah 37 29 .561 6½<br />
Minnesota 32 35 .478 12<br />
Pacific Division<br />
Golden State 45 21 .682 —<br />
L.A. Clippers 39 29 .574 7<br />
Sacramento 33 33 .500 12<br />
L.A. Lakers 30 36 .455 15<br />
Phoenix 16 52 .235 30<br />
x-clinched playoff spot<br />
Tuesday’s Games<br />
(Wednesday in Manila)<br />
Cleveland at Philadelphia<br />
New York at Indiana<br />
L.A. Lakers at Chicago<br />
Milwaukee at New Orleans<br />
San Antonio at Dallas<br />
Minnesota at Denver<br />
Portland at L.A. Clippers<br />
Wednesday’s Games<br />
(Thursday in Manila)<br />
Brooklyn at Oklahoma City<br />
Orlando at Washington<br />
Detroit at Miami<br />
Memphis at Atlanta<br />
Golden State at Houston<br />
Utah at Phoenix<br />
NICOLAS Petit hugs one of his dogs before they leave Unalakleet,<br />
Alaska during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Sunday. AP
14 SPORTS<br />
Wednesday, <strong>13</strong> March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
WITH ‘ITEMIZED EXPENDITURE’<br />
Pichay assures fund for SEAG<br />
I think the President will sign it in a day or two<br />
By Julius Manicad<br />
Deputy Speaker Prospero Pichay assured that the national<br />
government will not operate with a reenacted budget that would<br />
drastically affect the country’s hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian<br />
Games this November.<br />
The lawmaker from Surigao stressed that they already reached out<br />
to the senators and explained that they did not make amendments to<br />
the proposed P3.75-trillion budget this year. They, instead, just itemized<br />
the expenditures to avoid lump sum, he said.<br />
Pichay said he believes the senators will accept their explanation<br />
and Senate President Tito Sotto will finally affix his signature on<br />
the General Appropriations Act before it is transmitted to President<br />
Rodrigo Duterte for the final signing.<br />
He said the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing<br />
Committee has no legal personality and the POC should<br />
be ready in case the Philippine Sports Commission will<br />
not disburse fund to finance its projects.<br />
By then, all government projects lined up this year — including<br />
the midterm elections and the SEA Games — will be funded.<br />
“I’m a hundred percent sure that we won’t be operating on a<br />
reenacted budget,” said Pichay, dismissing fears that the deadlock<br />
among senators and congressmen would hamper the country’s hosting<br />
of the prestigious biennial meet.<br />
“I’m very positive that the senators would act on it and eventually<br />
endorse it to the President for final approval. I think the President<br />
will sign it in a day or two.”<br />
Also the chess federation president and member of the powerful<br />
executive council of the Philippine Olympic Committee, Pichay<br />
revealed that he recently sat down with POC president Ricky Vargas<br />
to brief him about the country’s SEA Games preparation.<br />
He said the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing<br />
Committee has no legal personality and the POC should be ready<br />
in case the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) will not finance its<br />
projects.<br />
I’m very positive that the senators would act on it and<br />
eventually endorse it to the President for final approval.<br />
Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri was supposed to serve as chief organizer<br />
after he was initially tapped by Executive Secretary Salvador<br />
Medialdea.<br />
But after the Marawi terror siege in 2017 the PSC, with the blessing<br />
of President Duterte, declared that the country will not push through<br />
with the hosting. Government, they said, was to put its resources on<br />
the rehabilitation of the embattled city.<br />
But a few months later, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan<br />
Peter Cayetano volunteered to revive the hosting. He even flew to<br />
Kuala Lumpur during the 29th SEA Games to receive the SEA Games<br />
flag as a sign of willingness to spearhead the big task.<br />
Cayetano’s group buckled down to work and was given a<br />
memorandum circular by Medialdea, instructing the PSC and other<br />
government agencies to provide support to Phisgoc for the success<br />
of the hosting.<br />
The Commission on Audit, however, reached out to the PSC, asking<br />
for a memorandum of agreement or a board resolution coming from<br />
the POC executive council to determine Phisgoc’s legal personality.<br />
Pichay said there is none.<br />
“I told Mr. Vargas that he should be prepared because Phisgoc<br />
has no legal personality as far as the POC is concerned. There’s no<br />
board resolution or MoA issued by the POC appointing it to organize<br />
the SEA Games,” said Pichay.<br />
Two routes<br />
for Fed, Nadal<br />
Federer said he was relieved not to go to a second-set<br />
tiebreaker<br />
INDIAN WELLS, California — World number two Rafael Nadal<br />
raced into the third round of the ATP Indian Wells Masters as Roger<br />
Federer made a less speedy but still successful start to his quest for<br />
a sixth title on Sunday.<br />
Nadal, a three-time Indian Wells winner, needed just 72 minutes<br />
to get past overmatched Jared Donaldson, 6-1, 6-1.<br />
Federer, who is seeking to break out of a tie with top seed Novak<br />
Djokovic for most titles in the California desert, looked set for a<br />
similarly easy time of it, but had to turn back a second-set challenge<br />
from German Peter Gojowczyk in a 6-1, 7-5 win.<br />
Fourth-seeded Federer said he was relieved not to go to a secondset<br />
tiebreaker after falling behind 3-1 to the free-swinging German,<br />
who is ranked 85th in the world.<br />
The Swiss regained the break and, after saving four break points<br />
to make it 4-4, cruised home.<br />
“I struggled a little bit with my serving in that second set and<br />
that gave him chances. Because he was serving better, he started to<br />
swing more freely and then it was tough,” Federer said.<br />
“I’m really happy I found a way in that second set.”<br />
Federer next faces compatriot Stan Wawrinka, a three-time Grand<br />
Slam champion currently unseeded as he continues his return from<br />
injury.<br />
DANIELLE Collins returns a shot to Naomi Osaka of Japan at the BNP Paribas Open tennis<br />
on Monday.<br />
AP<br />
Ateneo wants higher perch<br />
Ateneo is coming off a<br />
surprisingly easy three-set win<br />
over the Lady Maroons<br />
By Joel Orellana<br />
Ateneo de Manila University tries to tighten<br />
its grip on the top spot as it squares off with<br />
Adamson University in Season 81 University<br />
Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP)<br />
women’s volleyball tournament on Wednesday<br />
at the FilOil Arena.<br />
The Lady Eagles and the Lady Falcons meet<br />
at 2 p.m. followed the clash between University<br />
of the Philippines and National University at 4.<br />
Unbeaten in its last four games, Ateneo is<br />
coming off a surprisingly easy three-set win over<br />
the Lady Maroons to take the solo top spot with<br />
a 4-1 win-loss card.<br />
Maddie Madayag led the Lady Eagles’<br />
balanced scoring with 14 points against UP and<br />
head coach Oliver Almadro said his wards are<br />
still learning each game and trying to get better.<br />
“I think we still have a lot to show. We will<br />
be better every game,” said Almadro, who drew<br />
12 and 10 points respectively from Kat Tolentino<br />
and Ponggay Gaston, respectively.<br />
“We have to be better because the first round<br />
is not yet over. We have a lot to learn in the<br />
coming games,” said the graduating Madayag.<br />
Since dropping their opening game to De La<br />
Salle University, the Lady Eagles have won their<br />
last four games and Almadro credited his players<br />
for buying to his system.<br />
IAAF keeps Russia ban<br />
DOHA, Qatar — The IAAF (International Amateur Athletics<br />
Federation) said on Monday that it will maintain its ban on Russian<br />
athletes over doping that it imposed in 2015, following a council meeting<br />
of top officials in Qatar.<br />
Rune Andersen, head of the doping task force for the International<br />
Association of Athletics Federations, said two issues remained<br />
unresolved — the examination of data received from the Moscow antidoping<br />
laboratory and the issue of outstanding costs being sought from<br />
Russia because of the scandal.<br />
“Two key issues remain outstanding,” said Andersen at a press<br />
conference in Doha. “These need to be resolved.”<br />
He also said his task force was looking into claims that coaches from the<br />
discredited Russian athletics regime were still involved in the sport which,<br />
Andersen said, “run counter to assurances” received from Moscow.<br />
Asked if this latest extension of the ban meant Russian athletes would<br />
not be able to compete under the flag at this year’s world championships<br />
in Doha in September and October, Andersen said there was still time<br />
but conditions “have to be met” by Russia.<br />
AFP<br />
They will be facing a 1-4 Lady Falcons who<br />
are coming off a tough 18-25, 25-17, 14-25, 25-22,<br />
8-15 loss to Far Eastern University.<br />
It was Adamson coach Onyok Getigan’s first<br />
loss since replacing Air Padda at the helm.<br />
Eli Soyud, Joy Dacoron and Bernadette Flora<br />
combined for 38 points in their five-set loss to<br />
the Lady Tamaraws and Getigan is again relying<br />
on the trio to get back on track.<br />
Meanwhile, the Lady Maroons try to<br />
bounce back from a<br />
humiliating three-set<br />
loss to Ateneo last<br />
Sunday to stay in the<br />
top four spot as they<br />
are currently at the<br />
bottom four with 3-2<br />
win-loss mark.<br />
Tots Carlos was the<br />
lone UP player to hit<br />
double digits in that<br />
loss as Isa Molde, who<br />
was averaging 16.8<br />
points per game prior<br />
the match against<br />
the Lady Eagles, was<br />
held down to just six<br />
markers.<br />
They will face<br />
the Lady Bulldogs of<br />
coach Norman Miguel<br />
who are also coming<br />
off a four-set loss to<br />
University of Santo<br />
Tomas to drop to 1-4.<br />
SPORTS BRIEFS<br />
Aoki’s redemption<br />
Eduard “Landslide” Folayang will<br />
defend his ONE Lightweight World Title<br />
against Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki at<br />
ONE: A NEW ERA on 31 March.<br />
The rematch between the Filipino<br />
striker and the Japanese submission<br />
specialist will be held at the Ryogoku<br />
Kokugikan where Aoki gets the chance to<br />
get back at his tormentor after working<br />
his way back up the lightweight ladder<br />
with three impressive wins.<br />
BVR champions<br />
PUERTO GALERA — Bea Tan and<br />
Dij Rodriguez and Ranran Abdilla and<br />
Jessie Lopez copped the women’s and<br />
men’s titles in the BVR on Tour Amazing<br />
Puerto Galera Dreamwave Open Sunday<br />
at the Dreamwave White Beach here.<br />
Representing Team Amazing Puerto<br />
Galera, Tan and Rodriguez capped<br />
their BVR debut as partners with a<br />
masterful 21-15, 21-14 conquest of<br />
Team XentroMall’s Derie Rosales and<br />
MJ Ebro.<br />
Abdilla and Lopez, also of Team<br />
Amazing Puerto Galera, fashioned out a<br />
21-17, 21-14 win over Team XentroMall’s<br />
KR Guzman and Krung Arbasto, for a<br />
perfect campaign.<br />
Finishing with a 4-0 record, Tan<br />
and Rodriguez overpowered Team<br />
Dreamwave’s Roma Joy and Roma Mae<br />
Doromal, 21-12, 21-<strong>13</strong>, earlier in the day.<br />
Novis keeps run<br />
Ma. Angelica Novis bucked a<br />
scare from the Carvajal siblings and<br />
annexed another two-title sweep in<br />
the PPS-PEPP Tagum City national<br />
age-group tennis tournament in<br />
Davao del Norte yesterday.<br />
Novis, 16, thwarted Juliana Carvajal’s<br />
tough stand in the first set and went<br />
on to post a 6-4, 6-0 win in the semis<br />
then whipped Hanna Amazona, 6-0, 6-2,<br />
to rule her age bracket in the Group 2<br />
tournament presented by Dunlop.<br />
MADDIE Madayag of Ateneo vs Tots Carlos of UP in recent action.<br />
ROMAN PROSPERO<br />
It’s going to be a tough one against Diego.<br />
Wawrinka won a taut thriller against 29th-seeded Hungarian Marton<br />
Fucsovics, 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, finally sealing it on his fifth match point<br />
after three hours and 24 minutes when Fucsovics lofted a lob long.<br />
Nadal, playing his third tournament of a year that started with a<br />
crushing loss to Djokovic in the Australian Open final and included<br />
an early exit in Acapulco, converted five of his six break chances<br />
against Donaldson and never faced a break point himself.<br />
He next faces Diego Schwartzman, who beat Spain’s Roberto<br />
Carballes, 6-3, 6-1. Nadal is 6-0 against the Argentine.<br />
“Today was a very positive step for me, and the next one is going to<br />
be against a player that we know each other very well — we practiced<br />
a lot of times, and we played some tough matches,” Nadal said.<br />
“It’s going to be a tough one against Diego,” he added, calling<br />
Schwartzman “one of the best talents of the sport today.”<br />
In other early matches, sixth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan<br />
survived a scare in a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) victory over France’s Adrian<br />
Mannarino.<br />
AFP<br />
A TRIO of young fans all try to catch a ball tossed to them by Cleveland Indians first<br />
baseman Carlos Santana during the fifth inning of a spring training baseball game<br />
against the Cincinnati Reds on Monday.<br />
AP
Wednesday, <strong>13</strong> March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
NLEX in mad dash to save bid<br />
SPORTS<br />
GUIAO<br />
15<br />
That’s part of the sacrifice anybody<br />
has to make for the national team<br />
By John Bryan Ulanday<br />
Skidding NLEX fights for dear life when it tussles with<br />
Alaska in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA)<br />
Philippine Cup tonight at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.<br />
Action begins at 7 p.m. with the Road Warriors<br />
looking to arrest a two-game slump to keep their playoff<br />
hopes alive entering the last stretch of the All-Filipino<br />
conference elimination round.<br />
Magnolia, meanwhile, seeks to get a good run going in a<br />
bid to boost its quarterfinals drive against the vastly-improved<br />
Columbian in the first game at 4:30 p.m.<br />
Coming off a triumphant national team stint, head<br />
coach Yeng Guiao’s return to NLEX was spoiled by a<br />
111-121 loss to reigning champion San Miguel Beer last<br />
week. It dragged his squad deeper down the cellar at<br />
2-5 and 11th place.<br />
“It has also been a struggle to be out of the country<br />
coaching the national team and spending my focus and<br />
time for that purpose,” said Guiao who spent most of<br />
his time with the Nationals last month while being away<br />
from his mother club.<br />
“I think that’s also taking some toll on our team.<br />
That’s part of the sacrifice anybody has to make for<br />
the national team,” Guiao added. “We’ll try to make<br />
the most out of the time that we’re able to focus back<br />
on NLEX job and try to reset our focus just on trying<br />
to survive and trying to get to the next round.”<br />
Guiao also said that more than the national team<br />
stint, unfortunate injuries to his key players doomed<br />
their chances of a deep playoff run this conference.<br />
Already without ace sophomore<br />
guard Kiefer Ravena who<br />
was suspended by FIBA<br />
for 18 months since<br />
last year, NLEX<br />
took another blow<br />
recently with Kevin<br />
Alas re-injuring his<br />
ACL and veteran<br />
Larry Fonacier<br />
sustaining a strained<br />
calf muscle.
"<br />
16<br />
WORLD<br />
Wednesday, <strong>13</strong> March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
‘Made in China’ engulfs the world<br />
China has been the world leader in<br />
applications for patent for invention<br />
for years<br />
BEIJING — After its breakneck economic<br />
growth based on cheap labor and demographic<br />
advantages, China is now looking to tap its vast<br />
innovation potential to spur high-quality growth.<br />
China was once a center of innovation with its<br />
epoch-making inventions of paper, gunpowder, the<br />
compass and printing. But its creativity seemed<br />
sagged for a long time until the founding of New<br />
China in 1949.<br />
Beijing feels an urgency to transform its<br />
economy into one driven by innovation.<br />
Four decades of reform and opening up since<br />
1978 has greatly stimulated the Chinese people’s<br />
vitality and creativity and prepared the hard and<br />
soft ware for China to make major scientific and<br />
technological breakthroughs.<br />
China’s economic growth over the years has<br />
been mainly based on the large scale consumption<br />
of unrenewable natural resources, which has led to<br />
severe environmental pollution and is apparently<br />
unsustainable.<br />
To pursue sustainable<br />
growth, China feels<br />
an urgency to<br />
transform its<br />
economy into<br />
Beijing,<br />
US discuss<br />
‘next steps’<br />
BEIJING — Top Chinese and US officials held<br />
phone talks Tuesday to discuss the next steps in<br />
trade negotiations, Chinese state media said, as the<br />
White House said no date has been set for a summit.<br />
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and<br />
Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer spoke<br />
with Beijing’s top economic official Liu He over<br />
the phone to discuss “key issues” on trade, the<br />
official news agency Xinhua reported.<br />
The top negotiators also discussed the<br />
“next steps” in their talks, the brief report<br />
said, without providing details.<br />
China and the United States have been locked in a trade<br />
war since last year, imposing tit-for-tat tariffs on more than<br />
$360 billion worth of mutual trade, spooking global markets.<br />
Trump has previously expressed optimism<br />
that he will meet with Xi.<br />
Top-level negotiators are trying to hammer out<br />
an agreement before a truce expires, potentially<br />
triggering additional US tariffs on Chinese goods.<br />
A possible summit between President Donald<br />
Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping<br />
remains up in the air, the White House said Monday.<br />
Trump has previously expressed optimism that he<br />
will meet with Xi, probably at his Florida golf club Mara-Lago<br />
this month, to finalize an eventual trade deal.<br />
But Trump spokesman Sarah Sanders said it was<br />
too early to announce a meeting.<br />
“In terms of whether or not we have a date set, not<br />
yet. We’re continuing negotiations with China,” she said<br />
at the White House. “When we have an announcement<br />
for the two leaders to sit down, we’ll let you know.”<br />
The press secretary also said she was unaware of<br />
any plan for Xi and Trump to<br />
speak by phone.<br />
one driven by innovation, to strengthen the<br />
country’s scientific and technology prowess and<br />
competitiveness in the world.<br />
The Chinese government<br />
has strengthened<br />
protection of the<br />
legal rights and<br />
interests of<br />
BAN, SUSPENSION, STOCKS WOES<br />
Boeing, boink!<br />
PARIS — A number of countries have<br />
grounded Boeing’s 737 MAX 8 medium-haul<br />
workhorse jet in response to an Ethiopian<br />
Airlines crash that killed all 157 people on<br />
board.<br />
The Nairobi-bound plane was the same type<br />
as the Indonesian Lion Air jet that crashed in<br />
October, killing 189 passengers and crew — with some<br />
detecting similarities between the two accidents.<br />
There are some 350 of the 737 MAX 8 planes<br />
currently in service around the world and while<br />
some countries and airlines have opted to ground the<br />
planes, others are continuing to fly the aircraft pending<br />
an investigation into the crash and possible guidance<br />
from Boeing itself.<br />
Boeing has sent experts to assist in the Ethiopia<br />
probe and said safety was its “number one priority.”<br />
In Singapore, the aviation regulator Tuesday banned<br />
the use of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in the country’s<br />
Up,<br />
up<br />
and<br />
splash! A<br />
competitor<br />
jumps into<br />
the Yarra<br />
River with his<br />
homemade<br />
flying device<br />
during the<br />
annual<br />
Birdman<br />
Rally at the<br />
Moomba<br />
Festival in<br />
Melbourne.<br />
AFP<br />
Sanders said Trump will not agree to anything<br />
short of a deal beneficial to the United States.<br />
She denied that the breakdown of Trump’s attempts<br />
to negotiate with North Korea over the country’s nuclear<br />
weapons had weakened his standing in Beijing.<br />
“I would say that’s absurd. He’s going to make a<br />
deal if it’s a good deal, if it’s in the best interest of<br />
America and if he doesn’t<br />
entrepreneurs, ensuring fair competition and<br />
stronger protection of intellectual property rights,<br />
to encourage innovation.<br />
China’s recent efforts to encourage innovations<br />
have paid off. According to a report released in<br />
2017 by INSEAD business school, Cornell University<br />
and the World Intellectual Property Organization,<br />
China has broken into the<br />
top 20 of a global list of the<br />
most innovative economies<br />
for the first time.<br />
Mission accomplished The manned submersible Shenhai Yongshi (Deep Sea Warrior) aboard China’s science<br />
ship Tansuo-1 returns to its home harbor in Sanya, South China’s Hainan province after finishing its first expedition<br />
in the Indian Ocean.<br />
XINHUA<br />
airspace following a deadly Ethiopia plane crash at the<br />
weekend.<br />
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said in a<br />
statement it was “temporarily suspending operation<br />
of all variants of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft into<br />
and out of Singapore in light of two fatal accidents<br />
involving Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in less than five<br />
months.”<br />
Singapore banned the use of Boeing 737<br />
MAX aircraft in its airspace.<br />
The shares of Boeing plummeted by more than 12<br />
percent on Monday in premarket trading.<br />
Toward <strong>13</strong>00 GMT, Boeing, a member of the Dow<br />
Jones Industrial Average, had dropped 12.3 percent<br />
to $371.32 a share, dragging down futures for the Dow<br />
and helping put Wall Street on track for a sixth day and<br />
threatening to wipe as much as $30 billion from Boeing’s<br />
market capitalization.<br />
AFP<br />
FRAMED photographs of seven crew members are displayed at a memorial service held by an<br />
association of Ethiopian airline pilots in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.<br />
AP<br />
feel like it’s a good deal, it’s not worth<br />
just signing a piece of paper,”<br />
Sanders said. AFP<br />
China has been the world leader in applications<br />
for patent for invention for years. It received about<br />
1.54 million applications of invention patents in<br />
2018, according to the annual statistics of the<br />
National Intellectual Property Administration.<br />
China has made tremendous achievements in<br />
intellectual property rights protection in recent<br />
years. Multiple intellectual property laws in line<br />
with international rules have been passed or<br />
amended, specialized courts have been set up in<br />
major cities, including Beijing and Shanghai.<br />
China’s image as an innovation powerhouse is also<br />
underpinned by the birth of a batch of “unicorn” tech<br />
companies like Tencent and Didi Chuxing.<br />
China’s innovation and entrepreneurship drive<br />
is not a solo show, foreign companies will continue<br />
to tap the vast potential of the Chinese market.<br />
The ongoing review of the draft Foreign<br />
Investment Law showcases China’s resolve to<br />
improve the business environment for foreign<br />
companies in China, which are an indispensable<br />
part of the country’s economic and innovation<br />
activities.<br />
Xinhua<br />
Royal walk Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and members<br />
of the Royal Family attend the Commonwealth Day<br />
service at Westminster Abbey in London on 11 March. AFP<br />
Staff pullout<br />
CARACAS — The United States announced late<br />
Monday that it is pulling the remaining staff from its<br />
embassy in Venezuela, citing the deteriorating situation<br />
in the South American nation.<br />
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the<br />
decision as Venezuela struggles to restore electricity<br />
following four days of blackouts around the country and<br />
a deepening political crisis.<br />
The US has led an international effort to oust socialist<br />
President Nicolas Maduro and replace him with opposition<br />
leader Juan Guaido, who vows to hold a new presidential<br />
election. Guaido is backed by some 50 countries, while<br />
Maduro maintains support from countries such as China,<br />
Russia and Cuba.<br />
Maduro had ordered<br />
all US diplomats to leave<br />
Venezuela in late<br />
January because<br />
of its support<br />
from Guaido.<br />
AP<br />
BRIEFS<br />
No more 5th term<br />
Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of two<br />
decades abandoned his bid for a fifth term Monday<br />
following unprecedented protests over his fitness<br />
for office, but his simultaneous postponement of an<br />
election set for next month had critics worried he<br />
intends to hold on to power.<br />
AP<br />
Judgment day<br />
The sentencing of Australian Cardinal George Pell<br />
for child sex crimes will be broadcast live Wednesday<br />
in a rare move by the local judiciary. Pell faces<br />
a maximum 50 years in prison for assaulting two<br />
choirboys in a Melbourne cathedral in 1996-97. AFP<br />
Musk’s tweet<br />
Tesla CEO Elon Musk should not be found in<br />
contempt of court because he has complied with<br />
the terms of a securities fraud settlement, his<br />
attorneys wrote in documents filed Monday night<br />
with the US District Court in Manhattan. AP<br />
Another masterpiece? The Monna Vanna,<br />
also dubbed The Nude Mona Lisa, was revealed<br />
during the artwork’s presentation to the press at the<br />
Domaine de Chantilly in Paris. Many experts believe<br />
it may be the work of the Renaissance master. AFP<br />
‘Not worth it’<br />
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy<br />
Pelosi is setting a high bar for impeachment<br />
of President Donald Trump, saying he is<br />
“just not worth it” even as some on her left<br />
flank clamor to start proceedings.<br />
Pelosi said in an interview with<br />
The Washington Post that “I’m not for<br />
impeachment” of Trump.<br />
“Unless there’s something so compelling<br />
and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t<br />
think we should go down that path,<br />
because it divides the country,” she said.<br />
While she has made similar comments<br />
before, Pelosi is making clear to her caucus<br />
and to voters that Democrats will not move<br />
forward quickly with trying to remove<br />
Trump from office.<br />
And it’s a departure from her previous<br />
comments that Democrats are waiting<br />
on special counsel Robert Mueller to lay<br />
out findings from his Russia investigation<br />
before considering impeachment. AP<br />
Mano y mano People collect water from an open pipe above the Guaire<br />
River during rolling blackouts, which affect the pumps in people’s homes,<br />
offices and stores in Caracas, Venezuela.<br />
AFP<br />
=========================<br />
===============================================================<br />
Case Law<br />
By VICTOR C. AVECILLA<br />
People vs. Salga<br />
G.R. No. 233334, 23 July 2018 /<br />
Third Division / Bersamin, J.<br />
Criminal Law; Conspiracy. – The mere fact that the<br />
accused were seen together immediately after the<br />
commission of a felony does not necessarily prove<br />
the existence of a conspiracy between them. The<br />
prosecution must show that the accused performed<br />
overt acts showing unanimity of design or concert<br />
of action; otherwise, each is liable only for the<br />
consequences of his own acts. (VOLUME 2, NUMBER 51)<br />
=================================
Wednesday, <strong>13</strong> March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
Scent of<br />
confidence<br />
Smell fresh all day with<br />
these great selection of<br />
personal care products<br />
For charismatic and good-looking<br />
Rayver Cruz, smelling nice is<br />
important in boosting a person’s<br />
self-confidence.<br />
The newest addition to the<br />
Blackwater family, Rayver, who<br />
is a promising actor and sought-after<br />
RAYVER embodies the essence of<br />
manly fragrance.<br />
dancer, works hard at staying fit for his dance routines and is as fastidious<br />
about smelling good. “It’s important for me that I always smell good.<br />
If I’m wearing a cologne and I pass by people, they’ll do a double<br />
take. That’s important,” he says.<br />
With his looks, talent and personality, Rayver embodies Blackwater’s<br />
Deo lines. Like the brand’s image, Rayver reveals his quirky, funny side<br />
as he promotes Deo Soap, Deo Mist, Deo Spray and Deo Splash.<br />
For those who have an active lifestyle like Rayver, Blackwater’s<br />
Deo Soap and Deo Mist are the most suitable products to help fight<br />
odor-causing germs. Known as the “Dynamic Deo,” the products<br />
moisturize and clean the skin. For the spray or cologne guy, a dash<br />
of Blackwater Deo Spray can keep the user smelling great and stay<br />
confident all day.<br />
Aside from the products mentioned, Rayver’s favorite and go-to<br />
product is the Deo Splash — Ace, Dream, Dusk and Force — a body<br />
deodorizer that reduces unpleasant odor. “It smells so good! The<br />
cologne is fit for me because the scent stays. Perfect for busy days.”<br />
Get a boost of confidence and smell fresh all day with these<br />
great selection of personal care products and fragrance sprays from<br />
Blackwater.<br />
Stay confident all day with Blackwater grooming products for men!<br />
Try the fragrances, hair and face products and deo soap. For more<br />
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ph/, Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/BlackwaterForMen/,<br />
and Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/blackwaterelite/.<br />
SPOTLIGHT 17<br />
Enter the new ‘pogi’<br />
The story is about a family<br />
that was cursed to have ugly<br />
children if the men married<br />
someone beautiful<br />
Teddy Corpuz is hopeful that his<br />
launching movie, Papa Pogi, will entertain<br />
people on the big screen.<br />
“What makes our movie special is all of<br />
us, the cast’s amazing wit and talent, plus<br />
samahan mo pa ng baliw na script (add<br />
an insane script),” says Teddy. The It’s<br />
Showtime host and vocalist of the band<br />
Rocksteddy adds that he thinks the movie<br />
will give viewers a “steady laugh trip.”<br />
Regal Entertainment Inc.’s new film<br />
explores one man’s search for his one<br />
true love.<br />
Meanwhile, Papa Pogi’s trailer has<br />
garnered nine million views and<br />
counting, probably baffling those who<br />
still subscribe to the “classically<br />
handsome” peg.<br />
The comedy film presents the<br />
concept that while we all want<br />
love, looking for someone we<br />
want to spend our life with is<br />
not an easy task.<br />
“Let’s just say that looks<br />
don’t really matter that much<br />
when you are in love. I think<br />
that’s why this role is perfect<br />
for me — I am not beautiful,<br />
but Teddy Corpuz’s character<br />
Romeo falls in love with me<br />
here. I’m so happy to have<br />
been given the chance to be<br />
in this film because I really<br />
want to do comedy. I hope<br />
they give me a chance,” The Funny One<br />
grand champion Donna Cariaga says about<br />
her first leading lady role.<br />
“You do crazy things in the name of love<br />
and so does (my character) Helena. She is<br />
not the type who will tell a joke to make you<br />
laugh; she will make you laugh because you<br />
will be able to relate to her as you can do<br />
unintentionally funny things when you are<br />
in love and heartbroken,” actress Myrtle<br />
Sarrosa explains.<br />
The funny question is: Pangit is the<br />
new pogi nga ba (Is ugly really the new<br />
handsome)? Are we ready to make a<br />
choice that we won’t regret afterwards?<br />
This is the premise of the latest comedy<br />
DONNA Cariaga, Teddy Corpuz and Myrtle Sarrosa star in Regal Films’ newest movie.<br />
movie by Regal Films which stars Teddy,<br />
Donna and Myrtle.<br />
The story is about a family that was<br />
cursed to have ugly children if the men<br />
married someone beautiful. The only person<br />
this family hopes to lift the curse is Romeo,<br />
who must marry someone ugly, the film’s<br />
director Alex Calleja explains.<br />
Teddy plays Romeo, a wealthy and<br />
confident not-so-good-looking guy, who is<br />
so focused on finding that woman, he fails<br />
to see his secretary’s long-held affection<br />
for him.<br />
The movie also stars Joey Marquez, Lassy,<br />
Nonong Ballinan, Dawn Chang, Hashtags<br />
members Nikko Natividad, Zeus Collins and<br />
Luke Conde.<br />
The film also marks a number of firsts:<br />
this is Teddy’s and Donna’s first lead roles<br />
in a film; as well as the first directorial<br />
job of Alex Calleja, who is a stand-up<br />
comedian, host, actor and former<br />
creative consultant of It’s Showtime.<br />
Aside from writing for Goin’ Bulilit<br />
and Funny Ka Pare Ko, he is also<br />
one of the radio jocks of Boys<br />
Night Out in Magic 89.9.<br />
Calleja has won international<br />
awards including first-runner<br />
up in Laugh Factory’s Funniest<br />
Person in the World 2016 and<br />
Best Stand-Up Comedian in<br />
the Aliw Awards 2017 which<br />
made him the best choice to<br />
do the first comedy film for<br />
Regal this year.<br />
Teddy composed and<br />
performed the theme song<br />
of this movie. Papa Pogi<br />
will be shown in cinemas<br />
on 20 March.<br />
Ricci Rivero steps up<br />
ST. WOLF also makes its move under the “Myx Spotlight.”<br />
NEA Crossword Puzzle<br />
© 2018 UFS, Dist. by Andrews McMeel Syndication for UFS<br />
Myx VJ Search is back this year<br />
UP Fighting Maroon Ricci Rivero takes a break from shooting hoops<br />
and takes up Myx’s monthly hosting challenge as Celebrity VJ for March.<br />
The basketball heartthrob is sure to make viewers swoon with his<br />
swag style and sweet moves as he ushers in the hottest music of today.<br />
The music channel is ready for heat this month with alternative rock<br />
and grunge band Teeth as “Myx Headliner.” With Glenn Jacinto on vocals,<br />
Jerome Velasco on guitars, Pedz Narvaja on bass, Mike Dizon on drums<br />
and Dok Sergio on guitars, the band is sure to fire up the channel with<br />
hits “Laklak,” “Prinsesa” and “Shooting Star.”<br />
Rock band St. Wolf also makes its move under the “Myx Spotlight”<br />
with songs “Taguan,” “Jealousy” and “Papara.”<br />
Meanwhile, the Myx VJ Search is back this year. Applicants may<br />
submit a one-minute video via unlisted feature of YouTube until 21<br />
March. Aspirants may also audition in person on 16, 17, 23 and 24<br />
March, from 12 noon to 6 p.m. Requirements include a head shot,<br />
ACROSS<br />
1 Two-wheeler<br />
5 Grassy shoulder<br />
9 Big success<br />
12 Kind of chop<br />
<strong>13</strong> Track event<br />
14 Get wrong<br />
15 Ran up a tab<br />
16 Work by Handel<br />
18 Troglodyte<br />
20 Perch<br />
21 Recipe word<br />
22 — de plume<br />
23 Jugs<br />
26 Quartz variety<br />
29 Use a straw<br />
30 “L’—, c’est moi”<br />
32 Class period<br />
34 Urgent request<br />
36 High woodwind<br />
38 Prefix for classic<br />
39 Figures out<br />
41 Like damp rocks<br />
43 Yes, in Kyoto<br />
44 Spies’ org.<br />
45 Lassoed<br />
48 Young felines<br />
52 Docile<br />
54 Worse than bad<br />
55 Have a cough<br />
56 Away from<br />
the wind<br />
57 Glassmaker<br />
— Lalique<br />
58 Mesh fabric<br />
59 Told a whopper<br />
60 Powder, to some<br />
DOWN<br />
1 Political alliance<br />
2 Hawkeye State<br />
3 Ukraine’s capital<br />
4 Win over<br />
5 Not subtle<br />
6 Hold down a job<br />
7 Sony rival<br />
8 Subways<br />
9 Brave one<br />
10 Rainbow<br />
goddess<br />
11 Slow gait<br />
17 Enthusiasm<br />
19 Inventory wd.<br />
22 Defense<br />
acronym<br />
23 Mind reading<br />
24 Resolution<br />
25 Dueler’s weapon<br />
26 Punches<br />
27 Geologic time<br />
divisions<br />
SUDOKU<br />
28 Wishes undone<br />
31 — Braxton<br />
33 Trigger’s rider<br />
35 Oohed and —<br />
37 Send forth<br />
40 Kind of tire<br />
42 Cowboy films<br />
44 Summoned to court<br />
45 Dappled horse<br />
46 Emmy relative<br />
47 Rain hard<br />
48 Leg joint<br />
49 Roulette bet<br />
50 Baja boy<br />
51 Did in the dragon<br />
53 Ivy Leaguer<br />
Answer to previous puzzle<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 />
GRUNGE band Teeth joins the show as one of its “headliners.”<br />
full body photo and two valid ID confirming the candidate is<br />
within the 18 to 27 age range.<br />
The basketball heartthrob is<br />
sure to swoon viewers with his<br />
swag style and sweet moves.<br />
Chill out with Celebrity VJ<br />
Ricci on “Pinoy MYX” on 10 to<br />
16 March, “Mellow MYX” on 17 to<br />
23 March and “My MYX” on 25 to 29<br />
March. Watch MYX on ABS-CBN TVplus<br />
channel 12, SKYcable channel<br />
23 and SKYdirect channel<br />
37. For updates, follow<br />
@abscbnpr o n<br />
Facebook, Twitter<br />
and Instagram or<br />
visit www.abs-cbn.<br />
com/newsroom.<br />
THE UP Fighting<br />
Maroon player<br />
announced as the<br />
new Myx VJ.<br />
D A I L Y G O S P E L<br />
Wednesday of the First week of Lent<br />
Luke 11:29-32<br />
While still more people<br />
gathered in the crowd, Jesus<br />
said to them, “This generation<br />
is an evil generation; it seeks<br />
a sign, but no sign will be<br />
given it, except the sign of<br />
Jonah.<br />
Just as Jonah became a sign<br />
to the Ninevites, so will the Son<br />
of Man be to this generation.<br />
At the judgment the queen<br />
of the south will rise with<br />
the men of this generation<br />
and she will condemn them,<br />
because she came from the<br />
ends of the earth to hear the<br />
wisdom of Solomon and there<br />
is something greater than<br />
Solomon here.<br />
At the judgment the men of<br />
Nineveh will arise with this<br />
generation and condemn it,<br />
because at the preaching of<br />
Jonah they repented and there<br />
is something greater than<br />
Jonah here.”
18<br />
SPOTLIGHT<br />
PCTA-SKY Cable strategic relations head Jon Arayata, PCTA <strong>2019</strong><br />
Convention chairman Dr. Venancio Lo, and CPI shared services<br />
head Teresita Villareal.<br />
ABS-CBN subsidiaries Creative<br />
Programs Inc. (CPI) and SKY<br />
Cable Corporation pledged<br />
support to the Philippine Cable<br />
Television Association (PCTA) for<br />
the organization’s forthcoming<br />
convention and exhibit to be held<br />
at the SMX Convention Center from<br />
2 to 4 April.<br />
SKY Cable and CPI will be<br />
having their respective interactive<br />
booth displays showcasing different<br />
products and latest offerings as<br />
they join this year’s Philippine<br />
Premiere Cable TV Convention<br />
with the theme “Internet Exchange:<br />
Let’s get it on!”<br />
Tackling conflicts arising from<br />
Internet service coming to the fore,<br />
the gathering will also discuss the<br />
opportunity of spreading wings<br />
beyond cable TV and going online,<br />
to foster the blossoming business<br />
of content delivery.<br />
Meanwhile, delegates and<br />
visitors alike should expect a<br />
lot of experiential activities and<br />
gimmicks from CPI’s accompanying<br />
exhibit where well-loved channels<br />
Cinema One, Metro, Myx and<br />
Jeepney TV will be featured.<br />
Represented channels ANC, DZMM<br />
TeleRadyo, and Liga, as well as<br />
affiliate foreign channels Fox<br />
Family Movies, Fox Action Movies,<br />
KIX, Thrill, CCM, TVN, and Comedy<br />
Central Asia will also take part in<br />
CPI’s three-day participation at the<br />
convention.<br />
CPI will also host a kick-off party<br />
on 1 April for its cable operators<br />
and clients, featuring performances<br />
of various Kapamilya artists and<br />
meet-and-greet sessions with<br />
some of the channel personalities,<br />
Wednesday, <strong>13</strong> March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
Interactive booths at PCTA Cable Show<br />
happening at Islas Pinas in Pasay<br />
City.<br />
SKY Cable head of strategic<br />
relations Efren “Jon” Arayata Jr.,<br />
PCTA <strong>2019</strong> Convention chairman<br />
Dr. Venancio Lo, and CPI head of<br />
shared services Teresita Villareal<br />
signed an agreement, officially<br />
making the ABS-CBN subsidiaries<br />
co-presenters of this year’s cable<br />
show.<br />
For updates, follow @<br />
abscbnpr on Facebook, Twitter,<br />
and Instagram or visit www.<br />
abscbn.com/newsroom.
Wednesday, <strong>13</strong> March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
LIFESTYLE 19<br />
Why we love<br />
Bohol<br />
Emblem Jewelry’s exquisite election of 24K gold<br />
dipped sterling jewelry.<br />
Bringing<br />
in summer<br />
Kultura celebrates fun in the sun with Summer<br />
Hardin, a resort pop-up store at SM Makati’s Upper<br />
Ground Level Concourse Area from 12 to 20 March.<br />
A curated selling event, Summer Hardin<br />
showcases Kultura’s latest resortwear and<br />
accessories, personal care products and juices.<br />
Summer Hardin sparkles with Micki Olaguer’s<br />
fine silver Emblem Jewelry dipped in gold and<br />
adorned with genuine gemstones and freshwater<br />
pearls; and Marilu Batchelor’ Maison Lourdes<br />
Handbags a bespoke and limited-edition handbag<br />
line specializing in snakeskin and leather clutch<br />
bags and totes.<br />
Island Girl’s tropical fruit inspired pouches.<br />
Go natural with Island Girl’s hand-woven and<br />
hand-crafted bags made from native materials<br />
found in the Philippines. And you’re on holiday<br />
with Sundae, swimwear that embodies the kind<br />
of beach loving spirit that combines style and<br />
comfort.<br />
Pamper yourself with all-natural personal<br />
care from Forest Magic the first and original hair<br />
formulation made from Gugo back and blended<br />
with natural plant extracts for healthier hair;<br />
and be beach-ready with Bare Body, the first<br />
and original all-natural no strip cold sugar wax<br />
in the Philippines.<br />
Tropical Shop converts all the fruit and herb<br />
extracts that would otherwise be disposed in<br />
manufacturing food and beverage into personal<br />
care products. CocoBody, on the other hand, creates<br />
natural earth-friendly<br />
handmade natural<br />
cosmetics from virgin<br />
coconut oil which<br />
soothes, moisturizes,<br />
cleanses, and heals<br />
from head to toe.<br />
Enjoy fun<br />
summer goodies with<br />
Healthy Pinoy’s array<br />
of favorite Filipino<br />
snacks, delicacies,<br />
and beverage that<br />
everyone loves and<br />
will love once they<br />
try it.<br />
natural skin products from<br />
the Tropical Shop.<br />
Check out Kultura’s Summer Hardin resort<br />
pop-up store styled using lush greens by Tierra<br />
Plants and furniture from SM Home. Shoppers<br />
can also enjoy a juice bar by Healthy Pinoy.<br />
From its name is a movement — it’s<br />
both a call to action and a message<br />
from its people<br />
Though born and raised in Manila, Terrie Fucanan-Yu<br />
is a Bol-anon at heart having spent most of her childhood<br />
summers in the simplicity and beauty of Bohol’s culture<br />
and traditions.<br />
It is not surprising then that when she goes to<br />
weekend markets, she’d look for something from her<br />
beloved Bohol only to be disappointed. Terrie says,<br />
“Weekend markets and trade fairs would always have<br />
products from Cebu, Bacolod, Ilocos and even Davao, but<br />
Bohol goods, zero. I feel that my fellow Boholanos are<br />
losing out on the growing interest and support of Manila<br />
and its expat community to locally-produced goods.”<br />
This is how Terrie came up with Love Bohol.<br />
What is the idea behind Love Bohol? What are<br />
the circumstances that brought it about? What are<br />
your objectives?<br />
The idea behind Love Bohol is to celebrate the beauty<br />
of the province through the stories and creations of its<br />
people - the village economies, the artisans, farmers,<br />
and small entrepreneurs who are creating good, quality<br />
products that are unique to the island. We choose to<br />
focus on their craft and successes to spark new interest<br />
about Bohol — because yes, there is more to it than just<br />
about the Chocolate Hills — and at the same time help<br />
local communities.<br />
Love Bohol from its name is a movement — it’s both a<br />
call to action and a message from its people. The orange<br />
pin on our logo represents the people of Bohol, where the<br />
true beauty and charm of the province emanates from.<br />
We are just starting to put content on its social media<br />
The women loom weavers of Tubigon.<br />
platforms, and in terms of product representation we<br />
have a shelf now in Frankie & Friends General Store in<br />
SM Aura that offers quality Bohol products that I have<br />
pre-selected from my own personal trips to the local<br />
communities.<br />
What are your fondest memories of Bohol?<br />
My fondest memories are of my childhood summers<br />
spent in my grandparents’ homes. Because they were<br />
very conservative Catholics, we participated in religious<br />
customs - the processions, the novenas, and the early<br />
Sunday masses with the beautiful backdrop of Panglao’s<br />
San Agustin Church that dates back to the Spanish times.<br />
In the late afternoons we would pick fruits from the<br />
backyard with our lolo — mangoes, sinigwelas, makopa.<br />
During fiestas and get-togethers, the kitchen would be<br />
Sustainable wooden necklace from Crissander<br />
Enterprises of Loboc.<br />
very busy with sikwate being made from the fermented<br />
cacao beans harvested from our tree, and putong bigas<br />
cooked from scratch. Frequent trips to the beach were<br />
also our favorite, but so were our house-to-house visits<br />
during the month of May — all 31 days of it — when<br />
every town in the province would have a fiesta in honor<br />
of different saints.<br />
see the world’s<br />
smallest primate<br />
up close in their<br />
natural habitat.<br />
With its population<br />
fast decreasing, the<br />
Tarsier is now classified<br />
as a near-threatened<br />
species. The Tarsier should<br />
be viewed in their natural<br />
Can you name five<br />
destinations where to which<br />
you would take a first time<br />
Bohol visitor? Why did you<br />
choose these destinations?<br />
The Tarsier Sanctuary by the<br />
Philippine Tarsier Foundation<br />
in Corella,<br />
Bohol to<br />
environment and in complete silence because they are<br />
nocturnal creatures and have an extremely sensitive sense<br />
of hearing. They are also not to be touched because this<br />
gives them a great deal of stress and drives them to commit<br />
suicide.<br />
Take a heritage<br />
tour of Bohol’s<br />
Spanish era<br />
churches. We have<br />
so many of these<br />
in Bohol, perhaps<br />
the most number<br />
in one province.<br />
The NCCA has even<br />
published a book<br />
of more than 40<br />
historic churches in<br />
the province. A lot<br />
of these churches<br />
suffered major<br />
damage during the 20<strong>13</strong> earthquake though most of<br />
them have been restored. Go to the St. Joseph Cathedral<br />
in Tagbilaran and the churches in Panglao, Dauis,<br />
Baclayon, Albuquerque, Loon, Loay, and Loboc.<br />
While you’re in Loboc, take a Loboc River cruise<br />
while having lunch and visit the award-winning Loboc<br />
children’s choir to hear their angelic voices. Drop by<br />
Crissander Enterpises for handcrafted and laser-cut<br />
accessories and souvenirs that are made of sustainable<br />
wood and recycled materials.<br />
Witness how fine handicrafts are made at the<br />
Tubigon Loom Weavers Multi-Purpose Cooperative in<br />
Tubigon (where raffia bags, placemats and tablerunners<br />
are made), the Antequera early Sunday market (Bohol’s<br />
basket capital), and Crown Cabilao in Cabilao Island<br />
(where the women continue the tradition of romblo<br />
mat weaving).<br />
Visit the cacao farms in Calape and Sierra Bullones<br />
and learn from the farmers. Bohol has hundreds of<br />
heirloom cacao trees of the rare and delicious criollo<br />
variety. Bohol’s chocolatier Dalareich Polot and cacao<br />
farming advocate Cecilia De Leon are spearheading<br />
their preservation in Calape town. Also visit Dalareich<br />
Chocolate House in Tagbilaran, the only chocolate maker<br />
that produces single origin bean-to-bar chocolate, called<br />
Ginto, in the province.<br />
Visit Anda’s beaches as an alternative to touristy<br />
Panglao. While you’re there, try the coconut burger and<br />
other healthy and nourishing food at Coco Loco Cafe.<br />
Lula Land<br />
Jing Lejano<br />
Raffia handbag by Ninobasilio of Cebu, featuring<br />
raffia from the Tubigon Loom Weavers Multi-Purpose<br />
Cooperative.<br />
What is your criteria for choosing companies/<br />
entrepreneurs that are part of Love Bohol?<br />
Criteria 1: The brand/entrepreneur/community<br />
must have products that are made of materials that<br />
are local or indigenous to the province. Because<br />
Love Bohol advocates sustainability, the raw<br />
materials must come from Bohol but must be<br />
sustainably sourced.<br />
Criteria 2: The brand should be supporting<br />
local communities through livelihood<br />
opportunities, skills training, or direct<br />
procurement of raw materials.<br />
Criteria 3: The products should have<br />
a global appeal. There must be an effort<br />
to elevate the quality and design of the<br />
products to appeal to a global audience.<br />
What is your dream for Love<br />
Bohol?<br />
My dream for Love Bohol is to<br />
make it into an active social media<br />
movement where people can share<br />
all their positive, uplifting, and memorable<br />
experiences about Bohol and its people, and a platform<br />
through which local brands are able to introduce to<br />
the world their products that empower community<br />
livelihood. There are still so many communities in Bohol<br />
that I haven’t visited, and so many of them are in need<br />
of capital for their equipment, production, and skills<br />
training. My dream is for Love Bohol to get the much<br />
needed funding support for these communities through<br />
awareness and network building.<br />
From page 20<br />
Something worth visiting<br />
After satiating your hunger at<br />
Plum, it is nice to come home to<br />
Lima Park Hotel. Located at the<br />
heart of the Lima Technology Center<br />
economic zone in the towns of Lipa<br />
and Malvar, the hotel has <strong>13</strong>6 wellappointed<br />
guest rooms, categorized<br />
into Superior, Deluxe, Premiere Luxe,<br />
Suite, Executive Suite and Governor’s<br />
Suite.<br />
Plum perfect<br />
A four-star hotel in Batangas has summoned the gastronomical<br />
power of plum in its newly-renovated restaurant<br />
You can also hear Mass at the<br />
Chapel of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.<br />
With its unparalleled amenities<br />
and excellent services, the hotel<br />
has received its clean re-accredited<br />
status from the Department of<br />
Tourism, making it the first and<br />
only four-star hotel in Batangas.<br />
For the second year, Lima Park<br />
Hotel has been recognized as<br />
a Top Hotel for Families by the<br />
<strong>2019</strong> TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice<br />
Awards for hotels, an award that<br />
is given to exceptional properties<br />
and presented to the top businesses<br />
across select categories.<br />
Located at the ground<br />
floors of the hotel, it has<br />
a magnificent view of the<br />
pool and the well-manicured<br />
garden leading to the<br />
ballroom.<br />
“We have been continuously<br />
improving our facilities. But<br />
ultimately, what really matters<br />
are the positive guest encounters<br />
that result in great unforgettable<br />
experiences,” said Lima Park Hotel<br />
resident manager who believes that<br />
the award speaks about the hotel’s<br />
excellent service.<br />
Lima Park has always been<br />
known as a business hotel,<br />
attracting a huge number of<br />
expatriate executives who work<br />
in multinational companies in<br />
Batangas. In the past years,<br />
however, the hotel has been winning<br />
over families and leisure travelers,<br />
not just with its facilities but with<br />
its tour packages.<br />
drop by one of the bee farms that<br />
abound in the town of Balete.<br />
A front-liner in promoting<br />
tourism in Batangas, the hotel will<br />
whisk guests aboard the Amore<br />
Bus to different destinations in<br />
Batangas. The Amore Bus will<br />
pass through the Lima Technology<br />
Center, home to international<br />
manufacturing companies such<br />
as Hitachi, Yamaha, Daiho and<br />
Bandai. After exiting the economic<br />
zone, the bus goes to Levitown in<br />
Marawoy, Lipa and head to Balete<br />
via the Star Tollway.<br />
From here, you can explore the<br />
beautiful gardens of Marian Orchard,<br />
a pilgrimage site home to a Via Crucis,<br />
a linear garden with life-sized statues<br />
depicting the Passion of Christ, and the<br />
Rosarium with a giant rosary. Listen<br />
to the Chimes of Mary, with 14 custommade<br />
bells from the Netherlands that<br />
peal every 15 minutes. Enjoy the view<br />
as you walk up the Calvary Hill and<br />
Meditation Garden. You can also hear<br />
Mass at the Chapel of the Sacred Heart<br />
of Jesus.<br />
After a devotional journey, the bus<br />
heads to Amore Point, where guests can<br />
board a boat to begin the cruise around<br />
Lake Taal. The boat will stop at Lake<br />
Point Manakah, where guests can enjoy<br />
a magnificent view of Taal Lake, the<br />
Volcano Island, and Mt. Maculot while<br />
sipping fresh buko, the perfect place for<br />
your Instagram-worthy selfies.<br />
On the way back, drop by one of the<br />
bee farms that abound in the town of<br />
Balete. Learn about apiculture or bee<br />
farming, how to maintain a bee colony<br />
and how bees help maintain balance in<br />
the ecosystem. Experience how honey<br />
is harvested. Some bee farms will let<br />
you taste pure honey and even the<br />
honeycomb. Don’t forget to take a bottle<br />
(or more) of wild honey and their famous<br />
honey vinegar.<br />
At Levitown, you can buy some local<br />
delicacies such as suman magkayakap,<br />
which is made from glutinous rice<br />
cooked with coconut milk and then<br />
wrapped in banana leaves and bundled<br />
together. It is served with coconut<br />
caramel sauce.<br />
After a whole day of adventure,<br />
revitalize yourself with hand-crafted<br />
artisan coffee at the Brew, the hotel’s<br />
cafe. Or have some sun-downer at the<br />
Patio Bar. Or simply call it a night<br />
and enjoy a good night’s sleep at your<br />
home-away-from-home accommodation.<br />
CHIMES of Mary.
20<br />
LIFESTYLE<br />
Dinah S. Ventura, Editor<br />
Wednesday, <strong>13</strong> March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
Plum perfect<br />
Start your plum culinary journey with Homemade Pot Stickers, purple<br />
yam dumplings stuffed with tasty filling made from shrimp, minced pork<br />
shoulder and pork back fat, seasoned with Asian spices and served with<br />
ginger chips<br />
By Ma. Glaiza Lee<br />
While beautiful flowers fascinate artistic souls,<br />
plums inspire gastronomic muses. They come<br />
stealing the spotlight as soon as the first fruits<br />
are ready for harvesting.<br />
One might think that it is just a fruit, but the<br />
plum can be complicated. For one, it comes in<br />
a multitude of hues and varieties purple as the<br />
Damsons, red as the Satsumas, green as the<br />
Greengage, mottled as the Victoria and yellow<br />
as the Mirabelle.<br />
Its bloom — the delicate dusty matte powder<br />
that covers its skin — serves as a thin veil that<br />
protects the fruit from the harsh sun. It also<br />
signals that the plum has perfectly ripened<br />
and denotes that the fruits have been freshly<br />
harvested and are not overly handled since they<br />
have been plucked from the trees.<br />
Tough on the outside, the flesh is firm yet<br />
soft, not mushy. When eaten raw, the smooth,<br />
blemish-free skin gives a certain<br />
tartness while its juice envelops<br />
the taste buds with<br />
sweetness in every<br />
bite. The flesh<br />
We stew the fresh fruits into jams and sauces<br />
for dessert or put them into braising liquid for<br />
brisket. We bake them into cakes and tarts. We<br />
just know how to relish its tartness and sweetness.<br />
A four-star hotel in Batangas has summoned<br />
the gastronomical power of plum in its<br />
newly-renovated restaurant. Lima Park Hotel<br />
renamed its restaurant from Asian Flavors<br />
to Plum Pan Asian Cuisine, and curated<br />
Asian classic dishes cooked with the freshest<br />
ingredients, mostly sourced locally.<br />
A four-star hotel in Batangas has<br />
summoned the gastronomical power of<br />
plum in its newly-renovated restaurant.<br />
With chef Pol Poblador leading the kitchen,<br />
Plum offers a unique dining experience in<br />
a casual setting. Located at the ground<br />
floor of the hotel, it has<br />
a magnificent view<br />
of the pool<br />
and the<br />
THE restaurant has a seating capacity for 80 and is designed for celebrations.<br />
PLUM-STYLE Cua Pao.<br />
well-manicured garden<br />
leading to the ballroom.<br />
One of the three food<br />
outlets located inside the<br />
hotel, the restaurant has<br />
a seating capacity for<br />
80 and is designed for<br />
celebrations.<br />
with juicy pieces of beef tenderloin, grilled to<br />
medium perfection.<br />
Plum’s version of Tom Yum Goong will warm the<br />
hungry tummy. The Thai classic soup has a light<br />
broth made from tamarind, lime leaves and Asian<br />
aromatics, served with generous morsels of prawn,<br />
mushrooms, tomatoes and shallots.<br />
The Pancit Palabok Japchae marries the best<br />
of Filipino and Korean noodle dishes. In this Plum<br />
noodle creation, the shrimp and aligue sauce is<br />
poured over the Korean glass noodles (known as<br />
japchae), then generously topped with shrimp,<br />
tinapa flakes, crushed chicharo, leeks and fresh<br />
slices of kamias.<br />
A front-liner in promoting tourism in<br />
Batangas, the hotel will whisk guests<br />
aboard the Amore Bus to different<br />
destinations in Batangas.<br />
For the main course, enjoy the flavorful<br />
symphony of Southeast Asian spices in Beef<br />
Rendang. In Plum’s version of the famous Asian<br />
beef stew, tender beef and oxtail is cooked with<br />
gata, simmered and reduced to a flavorful thick<br />
consistency. Or work up your appetite with the<br />
Singaporean Chili Shrimps, cooked in chili,<br />
roasted peppers and tomatoes. It has a sharp kick<br />
without burning the tongue.<br />
Don’t leave the restaurant without trying<br />
the famous Batangas Bulalo, a soup made<br />
from slow-cooking beef shank and bone marrow.<br />
wraps<br />
around a<br />
single pit.<br />
P l u m ,<br />
perhaps, is one of<br />
the most itinerant fruits,<br />
with different varieties growing<br />
and taking root in<br />
various parts of the<br />
world, especially in<br />
Asia. It has been<br />
omnipresent in<br />
the culinary world.<br />
The Japanese cure<br />
the fruits with salt<br />
and turn them into<br />
umeboshi (pickle).<br />
The Chinese<br />
transform it into<br />
wu mei, a savory<br />
and smoky prune, so<br />
black and shriveled<br />
covered with coal<br />
soot. Taiwan serves it<br />
like a lemonade. BUTTERFLIED Fish with salsa.<br />
HONEYCOMB.<br />
HOMEMADE Pot<br />
Stickers.<br />
Serving<br />
something good<br />
Start your plum<br />
culinary journey with<br />
Homemade Pot Stickers,<br />
purple yam dumplings<br />
stuffed with a tasty filling<br />
made from shrimp, minced<br />
pork shoulder and pork back<br />
fat, seasoned with Asian spices<br />
and served with ginger chips. It<br />
comes with two kinds of dip — the<br />
green scallion and the sweet chili.<br />
The Plum-style Cua Pao, its version<br />
of the open-faced steamed buns, comes<br />
with a choice of meat topping — either<br />
pork or chicken. The meat is laid on a bed<br />
of greens and pickled vegetables, inside the<br />
freshly-made steamed Cua Pao.<br />
Whet your appetite further with the Thai<br />
Beef Salad with crisp greens that are locally<br />
sourced, mixed with enoki mushrooms, baby<br />
tomatoes, carrot strips and cucumber slices,<br />
topped with fried shallots. The salad is served<br />
HALL of Thanksgiving at Marian Orchard.<br />
Slurp that hot soup, bite the tender meat, and enjoy<br />
the vegetables such as bok choi, cabbage, carrots,<br />
potatoes and green beans. Don’t forget the patis<br />
and sili.<br />
Leave some room for dessert! Clear your palate<br />
with the refreshing homemade lychee sorbet with<br />
almond terrine and fire-kissed lychee fruits. Go local<br />
with Turon con Latik, fried spring rolls with local<br />
plantains (saba) and jackfruit, drizzled with coconut<br />
caramel syrup and topped with crushed pili nuts.<br />
Coffee time takes a sumptuous twist with the<br />
Barako Coffee Jelly with Mantecado Ice Cream.<br />
Coffee jelly made from Batangas local coffee covers<br />
the bottom of the glass, topped with mantecado<br />
ice cream. Crumbled broas and paborita crackers<br />
dress up the concoction. It is served with a shot of<br />
Barako espresso and some milk, which you need to<br />
pour into the glass before consuming the dessert.<br />
This sinful creation is a perfect mix of cold and hot<br />
with each mouthful.<br />
Turn to page 19<br />
TAAL Lake cruise.