The Standard - 2015 April 09 - Thursday

Roach gives MPa day off

What’s incinemasthis week

VOL. XXIX NO. 53 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 THURSDAY : APRIL 9, 2015 www.manilastandardtoday.com [email protected]

Bill GatesvisitsLos BañosA3

A16C4

VP Binayslams Trillaneson bribe claim A4

MILF LEADERS’LEGITIMACYCHALLENGED

Day of Valor. Passersby take pictures of the heroes portrayed at a monument in Manila on the eve of Araw ng Kagitingan or Day of Valor. EY ACASIO

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The hearings continue. MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal takes his oath during the resumption of the hearings on the Mamasapano encounter on Jan. 25, in which 44 police commandos were killed, at the House of Representatives. Manny PalMero

AFP chief, sacked SAF head trade barbs

MILF leadership still an issue

By Maricel V. CruzARMED Forces chief Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. and sacked Special Action Force (SAF) commander Getulio Napeñas traded barbs Wednesday as Con-gress continued its investi-gation of the Mamasapano debacle in which 44 police commandos were killed in a covert operation to capture an international terrorist on Jan. 25.

During the hearing, Cata-pang said Napeñas kept the Armed Forces out of the loop in the planning and execution of Operation Exo-dus because he did not trust the military.

“We are very close with the PNP. We are a band of brothers. We trust each other. It is only General Napeñas who does not trust the AFP,” Catapang said.

But Napeñas said keeping the Armed Forces out of the loop was meant at plugging any possible leaks.

“It’s not about distrust,” he said, adding that the likelihood of a leak would increase if the military was brought in earlier.

Despite the exchange,

Philippine National Police (PNP) officer-in-charge Deputy Director Leonardo Espina said ties between the military and the police were strong despite Mamasapano.

“I have often repeated that what happened in Mama-sapano is not reflective on the relationship of PNP and AFP,” Espina said.

Also at Wednesday’s hear-ing, a retired police general-turned-lawmaker proposed that police and military of-ficials involved in the Ma-masapano incident take a lie detector test.

ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Samuel Pagdilao made this proposal after Col. Gener del Rosario, commander of the Army’s 1st Mechanized Brigade; Senior Inspector Michael John Mangahis, Special Action Force battal-ion commander; and Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, SAF com-mander, offered different versions of the incident, par-ticularly the lack of military reinforcement for the belea-guered police commandos.

Mangahis told the House panel said he was able to pro-vide Rosario detailed infor-mation on the location of the SAF commandos at about 7

a.m., but the latter complained that the information relayed to him was not enough to al-low them to respond.

Taliño confirmed Manga-his’ statement.

“I believe that at the meeting with Del Rosario, I explained properly about the position of the troops. I overheard him talking to someone about the peace process,” Mangahis said in Filipino.

Del Rosario said he re-ceived the grid coordinates of the SAF troops before noon.

“The troops are moving, they cannot even tell me where the head element and the tail element were, or how many people were involved. They could not even tell me how many enemies there were,” he said.

As the police and the mil-itary tangled over the issue, Pagdilao recommended that the panel order the police and military officials take a lie detector test.

“We have been hearing two versions of the truth. If this will continue even in an executive session,” he said. “I think one way of resolving this is to submit these gen-

tlemen, if they will agree, to a polygraph examination.”

ACT-Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio sec-onded the motion, but an administration lawmaker, Cavite Rep. Elpidio Bar-zaga, opposed it, saying this would discourage resource persons to participate in congressional hearings.

Also on Wednesday, the Justice Department said it is readying criminal charges against certain individuals involved in the Mamasapa-no incident.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima hinted that criminal charges will also likely be filed against members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Bang-samoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

Appearing before the joint House committees on public order and peace, reconciliation and unity on Wednesday, De Lima said they have eyewitnesses to the Mamasapano incident, including one who could identify MILF members, as well as those from its break-away group, BIFF and other private armed groups in Maguindanao.

Lawyer Firdausi Abbas, a member of a Maranao royal family that was among the founders of the Moro National Liberation Front, questioned whether the incumbent MILF chairman, who now calls him-self Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim, was even the true leader of the organization.

“There was an irregularity in the MILF chairmanship af-ter the death of MILF founder Salamat Hashim on July 13, 2003 in Lanao del Sur,” Abbas told The Standard. “Al-Hadjj Murad Ibrahim assumed the leadership without the con-currence of Salamat himself.”

Abbas said Salamat actu-ally wanted Abdul Asiz, the second most senior MILF of-ficial, to succeed him in the event of his death and “the appointment of Asiz in the top leadership was contained in Salamat’s last will and tes-tament.”

But Murad, who was then the No. 3 MILF leader as vice chairman for military affairs, assumed leadership of the or-ganization without the con-currence of the MILF Central Committee, accrording to Abbas who was at the wake of Salamat until he was buried in Butig, Lanao del Sur.

“Murad was present at the time of death of Salamat and they hurriedly buried him and Murad subsequently as-sumed the position of Sala-mat without respecting the will and testament of Salamat appointing Asiz as chair-man,” Abbas said

“It should have been Asiz. This was the instruction of Salamat that the MILF lead-ership would be given to a Maranao,” Abbas revealed, referring to one of the larg-est Muslim tribes in Mind-anao along with the Tausugs of Western Mindanao and the Maguindanao of Central Mindanao.

Abbas said Asiz, who was deeply offended by Murad’s supposed betrayal, opted to remain quiet and stay at Camp Busra in Lanao del Sur until his death three years ago.

“Asiz was terribly saddened by the events, but he remained quiet because he did not want to destroy the MILF,” Abbas said.

Asiz, according to Abbas, even saved Murad when Pres-ident Joseph Estrada ordered a massive military offensive against the MILF that led to the fall of all MILF camps. “Only Camp Busra survived the hostilities.”

Abbas questioned the cred-ibility of Murad, Ghadzali Jaafar and Mohagher Iqbal

because “They were not even revolutionaries. I don’t know where these people came from. [But] now they are claiming to be revolutionaries.”

“They were not in Mindan-ao when the bloodiest battles erupted in the 1970s so how can they claimed they are revolutionaries,” Abbas said.

Abbas made the remarks as congressmen, who are con-ducting an investigation of the Mamasapano incident, questioned why the MILF leadership could not use their real names in what could potentially be the most im-portant peace agreement in Mindanao.

The real names of the MILF leaders became a key issue after MILF peace negotiator Iqbal admitted using aliases but refused to reveal his real name to congressmen.

“I have so many names and that is natural in revolution-ary organizations,” Iqbal said during a joint hearing of the House committee on public order and safety joint and committee on peace, unifica-tion and unity on the Mama-sapano incident.

Replying to a question from Ang Nars Rep. Leah Paquiz, Iqbal compared himself to Filipino hero Marcelo del Pilar, who used nine aliases during his lifetime, but he insisted that he is a Filipino citizen and a Bangsamoro “by entity.”

Negros Occidental Rep. Jeffrey Ferrer then asked Iqbal to show his passport, but Iqbal declined claiming certain “sensitivities.”

“Because of security rea-sons, my name on the pass-port is known only to the government. I travel a lot -- maybe hundred times. But I’m not hiding my name on my passport,” he said.

Instead, the MILF executive said he will ask the Department of Foreign Affairs to provide the Lower Chamber with in-formation regarding the name indicated on his passport.

Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles, for her part, affirmed that Iqbal uses a Philippine passport issued by the DFA in leaving and entering the country.

Earlier, Professor Miriam Coronel Ferrer, chair of the government peace panel, ad-mitted Iqbal is using an alias but she also declined to reveal his real name

Justice Secretary Leila also defended Iqbal’s use of an ali-as and said that did not mean that the documents pertain-ing to the peace process were not valid.

By Francisco Tuyay and Maricel V. Cruz

A MARANAO leader, whose family was deeply involved in the Bangsamoro move-ment, questioned on Wednesday the legiti-macy of the leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front even as lawmakers ques-tioned the true identities of the people who are seeking a historic agreement with the Philippine government.

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Still sitting tight. Makati Vice Mayor Romulo Peña tells reporters he will continue functioning as the acting mayor of Makati until the Supreme Court decides on the Ombudsman’s plea to suspend Makati Mayor Junjun Binay over the allegedly overpriced Makati Office Building II. Danny Pata

Call for peace. Muslim women and a Christian nun called a press conference in Quezon City on Wednesday to press for peace in Mindanao and the approval of the Bangsamoro Basic Law. Manny PalMero

Oldest WW2 veterans remember Fall of Bataan

Binay shrugs off claimsof bribery in son’s case

CBCP: Moro law full of holesBy Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

A TOP Catholic bishop said Wednesday that the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) being deliberated in Congress has consti-tutional infirmities that may lead to challenges in the Supreme Court.

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said in a state-ment that the extensive discus-sions on the details of the draft BBL has led him to believe that there are provisions that do not conform with the Constitution.

“I have paid close attention to

the arguments of the legal experts summoned by the houses of Con-gress to shed light on the constitu-tional issues, and I am convinced that there are some very crucial points of constitutional law that ought to be resolved,” Villegas said.

He acknowledged, however, that interpretation of the law or the Constitution was not part of his expertise, and that he was form-ing his conclusion from what the experts have said.

He urged lawmakers to modify the BBL to make sure there are no constitutional infirmities.

“If we pass anything now, let us enact a document that we are mor-ally certain will withstand consti-tutional challenge before the Su-preme Court,” Villegas said.

At the same time, Villegas said

he was opposed to plans to amend the Constitution to accommodate the provisions of the BBL.

“The Constitution is not a doc-ument that can be dealt with in patch-work fashion whenever we enter into negotiations with any restive sector of the Philippines,” he said.

The Palace and the Moro Islam-ic Liberation Front (MILF) have asked Congress to pass the BBL without making any changes to the draft law.

But constitutional experts have called into question several pro-visions of the BBL, including its definition of the power of Shari’ah Law in the Bangsamoro and its re-lation to the Supreme Court as the highest tribunal in the land; the creation of separate constitutional bodies; and the integration of the

MILF into the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police.

The BBL also faces rough sailing in the wake of the Mamasapano massacre of 44 police commandos by Muslim rebels, including fight-ers belonging to the MILF.

Despite the opposition to the bill, Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Feli-ciano Belmonte Jr. have agreed to pass the BBL by June.

Villegas said in his statement that he was not speaking for the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines or as the arch-bishop of Lingayen-Dagupan, but “as a Filipino and as a believer in Christ.”

“All Filipinos, not only its offi-cials, swear to uphold and defend the Constitution,” he said.

Also on Wednesday, one of the

founders of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the chairman and president of the Muslim Bar Association of the Philippines attacked government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer for threatening Congress with war if the BBL is not passed.

“That’s statement is uncalled for specially coming from one of the members of the Philippine pan-el,” said Sultant Fisdausi Abbas, who said that Ferrer’s statement that war would ensue if Congress does not pass the BBL was a direct threat to legislators.

Abbas, who fought for the MNLF during the Mindanao re-bellion in the 1970s, said that the passage of the BBL would, in fact, lead to more bloodshed. – With Francisco tuyay and Sandy araneta

By Vito Barcelo and Maricel V. Cruz

VICE President Jejomar Binay lashed out Wednesday at his po-litical enemy Senator Antonio Tril-lanes for accusing him of bribing the Court of Appeals to stop the preven-tive suspension of his son, Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr.

“That’s contempt of court,” the older Binay said. “Trillanes should be held liable for his allegations.”

He added that the charge was typical of Trillanes, whose exper-tise was “to accuse, destroy reputa-tions and insult” his enemies with no proof.

In a radio interview Tuesday, Trillanes said a huge amount of money changed hands to get the Court of Appeals 6th Division to grant Mayor Binay’s petition for a preliminary injunction to stop the Ombudsman from enforcing its suspension order against him.

“It is the rule of law,” the Vice

President said. “The Court of Ap-peals [issued a] temporary restrain-ing order on my son’s suspension. The Ombudsman questioned this order before the Supreme Court, which will hear oral arguments on the case next week,” he said.

The Vice President also shrugged off Trillanes’ threat to expose those behind the bribery.

“No problem,” Binay said.He said Trillanes’ attacks

against his family was part of the senator’s plan to derail his presi-dential bid in 2016.

Trillanes said Wednesday he would file a resolution calling for an investigation of the alleged bribery.

“Eventually, the Vice President and the justices in his pocket will go down,” he said.

Binay’s United Nationalist Alli-ance (UNA) dismissed Trillanes’ accusations as baseless and said if Trillanes fails to prove them, he should resign his post as senator. –

By Ben Cal

TWO brothers – 107 and 105 years old, respectively – are the oldest liv-ing World War II Filipino veterans who saw action in Bataan 73 years ago and survived to tell their tales.

Now in the twilight of their years, Capt. Fernando P. Javier, 107, and his younger brother, Capt. Jose P. Javier, 105, a retired doctor, thanked God for His infi-nite mercy for sparing their lives during the war, especially during the bloody battle in Bataan against the invading Japanese forces from Jan. 7 to April 9, 1942.

The ferocious fighting left 10,000 killed on the side of the American and Filipino forces while the Japanese suffered 7,000 dead during the three months and two days mortal combat, accord-ing to military historical record.

In addition, allied forces suf-fered 20,000 wounded and while

the Japanese sustained 12,000.A total of 75,000 Filipino and

American soldiers were held pris-oners of war and forced to par-ticipate in the infamous Bataan Death March that left thousands dead due to exhaustion and lack of food and medicines.

In an interview with this re-porter Wednesday morning, Mrs. Filomena Javier, 89, said her hus-band Jose is still active, walking around the house as a light exer-cise but does not forget to pray the Holy Rosary thrice a day.

“My husband is always remind-ing me about the importance of praying the Rosary because he be-lieves it was prayer that saved his life and that of his brother during the war,” Mrs. Javier said.

“His memory is still sharp and he talks with a loud voice during our conversation, apparently to emphasize what he says,” she add-ed. — With Pna

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By Maricel V. Cruz

LAWMAKERS are seeking a study on the possible revival of the peace talks between the government and the communist movement in the country to end the 46-year-old insurgency.

In House Resolution 1927, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez asked the House special commit-tee on peace, reconciliation and unity to look into reports that the on-and-off peace talks between the government and the NDFP may start again.

Rodriguez said it is imperative for Congress to look into the matter to ensure that the com-munist movement, composed of the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army and its umbrella National Democratic Front, is sin-cere in its quest for peace.

He urged the committee, chaired by Basilan Rep. Jim Hataman-Salliman, to invite the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, the NDFP, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and other agencies and entities that may shed light on the matter.

Although Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles said both parties were amenable to returning to the negotiating table to end more than four decades of communist in-surgency, there are no formal meetings yet for a possible resumption of the peace talks, accord-ing to Rodriguez.

Rodriguez said the government and the NDFP have been holding peace talks for the past 27 years to end the Maoist-inspired war waged by the New People’s Army (NPA), CPP’s armed wing, against the government, which has report-edly claimed more than 40,000 lives.

“The NDFP has been holding peace talks with the Government of the Republic of the Philip-pines to address the roots of the armed conflict which resulted in Ten Agreements being signed between the two parties including the Com-prehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL),” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said the peace negotiations have been stalled since 2004 with both parties ada-mant in pushing for their respective precondi-tions before the start of the peace talks. The last breakdown of the talks occurred in February 2013, Rodriguez said.

The communist insurgency in the Philippines began in the 1930s with peasant revolts that were led by Russian-trained communist ideologues and reached its peak with the formation of the Hukbong Bayan Laban sa mga Hapon (People’s Army Against the Japanese) during the Japanese occupation of the country in World War II.

When the Hukbalahap rebellion was quashed in the 1950s, the communist movement went into a hiatus until 1969 when government abuses led to the formation of the new Communist Par-ty of the Philippines and the New People’s Army.

‘Study peace talks with Reds’

US billionaire Bill Gates visits PHTHE BUREAU of Immigra-tion at the Ninoy Aquino In-ternational Airport (NAIA) confirmed that the Ameri-can business magnate Bill Gates arrived on private plane as early as April 4, not in Manila but in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.

From Palawan, Gates and his entourage went to the exclusive Amanpulo resort in Pamalican Island also in Palawan.

On Wednesday morn-ing, Gates flew to Manila and proceeded to the In-ternational Rice Research Institute in Los Baños, La-guna and later returned to Manila.

Gate’s private plane,

a US-registered aircraft (N887WM), was parked at the Asian Aerospace Han-gar in the General Aviation Area of the NAIA.

Gates apparently went to IRRI as part of a proj-ect of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which supports IRRI and other partners to develop Gold-en Rice, a type of rice that contains beta carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A.

The foundation has ex-tended a grant to support a range of activities to de-velop Golden Rice varieties that are suited for the Phil-ippines and Bangladesh.

Since a large propor-

tion of vitamin A-deficient children and their mothers reside in rice-consuming populations, particularly in Asia, Golden Rice should substantially reduce the prevalence and severity of vitamin A deficiency, and prevent at least hundred of thousands of unnecessary deaths and cases of blind-ness every year, the foun-dation said in its website.

Golden Rice is still cur-rently under development and evaluation. It will only be made available broadly if it is approved by national regulators and shown to re-duce vitamin A deficiency for the world’s poorest populations.

BIR urged to postpone electronic returnsANOTHER lawmaker asked the Bureau of Internal Rev-enues to defer the full im-plementation of Revenue Regulation No. 5-2015, or the electronic income tax re-turns system, until after the agency fixes its flaky com-puter system.

Marikina Rep. Romero Quimbo, chairman of the House ways and means com-mittee, wrote BIR Commis-sioner Kim Henares to com-mend the noble intention of RR 5-2015 but said there are issues that the agency has to seriously consider before car-rying out the regulation to its full extent.

He said that his office was swamped with complaints from taxpayers, especially from micro-entrepreneurs and employees with addi-tional sources of income,

regarding the new online in-come tax filing.

“Reports have reached my office that many taxpayers encounter delays or technical issues enrolling into the On-line eBIR Form System. Par-ticularly, as of April 3, 2015, taxpayers reported getting an error message that the system is ‘under construc-tion’ and is, thus, unable to receive electronic submis-sion,” Quimbo said.

The lawmaker further not-ed that Revenue Regulation 5-2015 was only issued last March 17, 2015, or less than a month before the April 15, 2015 deadline.

“Considering the short time frame given, our tax-payers may not have suf-ficient time to adjust their systems and processes to ful-ly comply with the manda-

tory requirement to use eBIR Forms and electronically submit said returns,” he said.

“Because of these, I am also requesting the BIR to defer the imposition of pen-alties for taxable year 2015 so as to give taxpayers sufficient time to study and comply with the new system,” Qui-mbo said, echoing the call of Senator Bam Aquino.

Aquino had earlier called on the BIR to at least defer the imposition of penalties covered by the BIR’s Elec-tronic Filing and Payment System (eFPS) or Electronic BIR Forms (eBIRForms) be-cause of the short transition period the agency provided in moving to the new system.

But Henares said the agency has been implement-ing the eFPS for some time, starting with large taxpayers

who have been complying with the system since 2002 and government suppliers, brokers and importers who have been doing the same since 2009.

Henares said on Tuesday she will not postpone the eFPS despite requests from business groups and small businessmen.

“Filing was from Janu-ary 2 until April 15. No, I am not moving it,” Henares said in reply to complaints that taxpayers could not file their returns because the tax agency’s computer system is always down.

Henares confirmed that businesses will have to pay penalties if they fail to sub-mit their tax returns via e-filing even if the BIR web-site crashed on the last day of filing.

Toxic against toxins. Environmentalist and public health groups protest the exportation of toxic wastes from Canada in front of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Quezon City. MANNY PALMERO

Heating up. A horse-for-hire in Baguio City is given a drink as the temperature continued to heat up in the country. The weather bureau expects temperatures to rise in the next few weeks and peak as usual this month or next. DAVID CHAN

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A JAIL official has accused the head of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology before the Office of the Ombudsman of plunder and graft for alleged budget padding.

Insp. Angelina Lumba Bautista said BJMP director Diony Mamaril doubled his food budget, “a corruption in the BJMP.”

Two non-government o r g a n i z a t i o n s — t h e Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates and Sanlakas—stepped into the issue to provide Bautista with the legal support she needed.

A plunder complaint and graft case were filed with the Ombudsman on March 20 not only against Mamaril and six other officials.

She said jail officials from Bataan, now assigned in Valenzuela City, slammed the signing of a memorandum of agreement with the local government unit that paved the way for the corruption. BJMP and provincial government of Bataan entered into an arrangement on Aug. 18, 2010 for the management and operation of the Bataan Provincial Jail, now the Bataan District Jail in Balanga City.

Based on the agreement, Bataan appropriated funds for the subsistence allowance of the inmates during the transition period until its full transfer or upon the enactment of a law to transfer jurisdiction of the Bataan jail to BJMP.

Jail bureau head faces graft raps

Clemency for VelosoBy Sandy Araneta

MALACAñnAng on Wednesday expressed hope that Mary Jane Veloso who is facing the death penalty in Indonesia can still be saved as efforts are under way to have the Supreme Court in Jakarta conduct a review of her case.

Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said that the Department of Foreign Affairs had been taking moves to spare Veloso from death using legal and diplomatic means, “including the President sending letters to his Indonesian counterparts, former President Yudhoyono and President Widodo for clemency.”

The President raised her case personally with President

Widodo earlier this year, Lacierda said. DFA facilitated and covered cost of the visit of the next of kin of Ms. Veloso to Yogyakarta where she is incarcerated, he said.

Family members of Veloso made a last-minute appeal for clemency to the country’s president.

The parents, siblings and two sons of the convict delivered the open letter to President Joko Widodo to the Indonesian Embassy last Wednesday.

The family appealed for “mercy and compassion” for Mary Jane, a 30-year-old single mother.

The letter of the family said Mary Jane was tricked by a compatriot into carrying 2.6 kilograms (5.7 pounds) of heroin in her luggage.

Court confirms John Hayaward, deals BCDA loss By Rey Requejo and Florante Solmerin

A regionAl trial court in Baguio City has granted the petition of Camp John Hay developer, CJH Development Corporation for confirmation of the P1.42 billion-award given to it by the Philippine Dispute resolution Center inc. in a move that could cost the Bases Conversion and Development Authority a lot more money in foregone revenues.

In a decision promulgated last March 27, Presiding Judge Cecilia Corazon Dulay-Archog of Baguio City RTC Branch 6, rendered judgment confirming the “Final Award” by the PDRCI to CJHDEVCO ordering BCDA to return to CJHDEVCO P1,421,096,052, representing the total amount of rentals the developer has paid to the agency.

Judge Archog also confirmed the PDRCI ruling that CJHDEVCO is not liable for any unpaid back rent consistent with the ruling that rescission and mutual restitution is proper in the case.

The lower court held that the PDRCI’s “Final Award is

clear” and “it needs no further interpretation.”

Developer Robert John Sobrepena described the arbiter’s February 11 award as a “win” for CJHDEVCO. He said the ruling dealt a black eye to the government’s private-public partnership program” as a result of miscalculations by the BCDA under Arnel Paciano Casanova, president and chief executive officer.

The RTC stressed that it “is not authorized to revise, interpret or in any way encroach upon the work of the Arbitral Tribunal except to act on specific grounds to vacate an award which does not exist in the instant case.”

“And finding that no ground exists to vacate or modify the same, this Court hereby confirms the Final Award dated February 11, 2015 in PDRCI Case no. 60-2012 entitled “In the Matter of An Arbitration Under the Rules of Arbitration of the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center, Inc. (PDRCI) between (CJHDEVCO) and (BCDA)” the order said.

“As to the list of sub-lessees and/or vested rights holders, they will be governed by the law on obligations and contracts,” the Court added.

The RTC also lifted the writ of preliminary injunction it issued on August 23, 2012 stopping the BCDA from taking over the Camp John Hay facility from CJHDEVCO.

It also ordered that “an entry of judgment be made”, and the issuance of a writ of execution to implement the Final Award.

CJHDEVCO’s Chief Operating Officer Alfredo Yniguez hailed the lower court order, adding that significant to the decision of the Baguio RTC is that the vested right holders -- the existing locators, sub-lessees, unit owners, lot owners and

golf club members who acquired their interests in good faith – will be governed by the law on obligations and contracts.

“This statement of Judge Archog confirms our legal position that the arbitral award did not carry with it the order for our locators, sub-lessees, units owners, lot owners and golf club members to vacate as well, but that their vested rights are to be protected by law,” he said, when sought for comment on the RTC order.

“Article 1385 of the Civil Code, which is the law relied upon by the vested rights holders, provides that an “order for mutual restitution”, as in this case, cannot include properties currently in the possession of third persons who acted in good faith,” Yniguez stressed.

The CJHDEVCO executive said that with this ruling by the Baguio RTC recognizing that there are vested right holders in the Camp, BCDA cannot just evict the vested right holders nor order them to vacate without their due process afforded to them by the laws on obligations and contract.

MASBATE gov. Rizalina Seachon Lañete on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to the plunder and graft cases filed against her before the Sandiganbayan for her alleged involvement in a P108-million pork barrel fund scam.

Businesswoman Janet Lim napoles, alleged mastermind in the P10-billion Priority Development Assistance Fund scam also pleaded not guilty to the charges before the anti-graft court’s Fourth Division.

Lañete’s supporters stormed the Sandiganbayan building on Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City during the arraignment.

The anti-graft court has set a hearing in May to take up Lañete’s bail petition.

In February, Lañete, a former Masbate representative, surrendered to Philippine national Police at Camp Crame hours after the Sandiganbayan’s issuance of an arrest warrant on her.

Lanete, Napolesplead not guilty

Protest masks. Activists wearing masks depicting President Benigno S. Aquino III and Filipina Mary Jane Veloso , currently on death row in Indonesia after being convicted of drug trafficking, stage a protest against Veloso’s impending execution outside the Philippine consulate in Hong Kong on April 8, 2015. AFP

Mementos. A relative of a World War II veteran arranges miniature mementos of the Shrine of Valor (Dambana ng Kagitingan) Memorial Cross that he sells for P300 apiece on Wednesday April 8 at the Veterans Museum Taguig City. Shrine of Valor in Mt. Samat Bataan was built in 1966 to commemorate the Filipinos and Americans who fought during World War II. DANNY PATA

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LTO policy earnssenator’s wrath

Clash of titans loomsover P50-b prisons deal

Republic of the Philippines ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION

San Miguel Avenue, Pasig City

IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF FORCE MAJEURE (FM) EVENT REGULATED FM PASS THROUGH FOR TYPHOON AGATON IN MINDANAO IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE RULES FOR SETTING TRANSMISSION WHEELING RATES, PRAYER FOR PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY

ERC CASE NO. 2015-005 RCNATIONAL GRID CORPORATION OF THE PHILIPPINES,

Applicant.x------------------------------------x

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARINGTO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES:

Notice is hereby given that on January 14, 2015, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) filed with the Commission an application for the approval of the force majeure event regulated FM pass through for Typhoon Agaton in Mindanao in accordance with the Rules for Setting Transmission Wheeling Rates (RTWR), with prayer for provisional authority.

In the said application, NGCP alleged, among others, the following:

1. It is a corporation created and existing under the laws of the Philippines, with principal office address at NGCP Building, Quezon Avenue corner BIR Road, Diliman, Quezon City. It is the corporate vehicle of the consortium which was awarded the concession to assume the power transmission functions of the National Transmission Corporation (TRANSCO) pursuant to Republic Act No. 9136 (R.A. 9136), otherwise known as the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 or the EPIRA;

2. It was also granted a franchise under Republic Act 9511 (NGCP Franchise) to construct, install, finance, manage, improve, expand, operate, maintain, rehabilitate, repair and refurbish the present nationwide transmission system of the Republic of the Philippines;

3. On January 15, 2009, it assumed transmission functions of TRANSCO including the operation, management and maintenance of the nationwide electric grid;

4. Pursuant to Section 10.1.1 of the RTWR, it is allowed to recover the cost incurred in the restoration, rehabilitation, repair of damage sustained by its transmission assets and other related facilities as a result of a force majeure event (FME), as defined in Article I of the RTWR;

THE FORCE MAJEURE EVENT (TYPHOON AGATON)5. On January 17, 2014, Typhoon Agaton entered the

Philippine Area of Responsibility with maximum winds of 35 kph and gustiness of 50 kph. Due to its intensity and heavy rainfall, its transmission assets and other related facilities in the Mindanao area were damaged. Attached to the application as Annex “A” is a copy of the Certification dated April 1, 2014 issued by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA);

6. It filed before the Commission a Notice of Force Majeure Event (Typhoon Agaton) on March 28, 2014, attached to the application as Annex “B”;

7. The Commission issued a letter dated May 8, 2014 acknowledging receipt of its FME Notice regarding Typhoon Agaton;

8. Immediately after the calamity, repair and restoration and rehabilitation of its damaged transmission assets and other related works were undertaken in order to continue serving its customers;

9. The cost of additional Capita! Expenditure (CAPEX) it incurred to complete the repair, restoration and rehabilitation of its transmission assets and other related facilities including the recoverable values of the assets destroyed amounted to PhP6,958,428.26;

10. The Details of Activities of FME Typhoon Agaton in Mindanao is attached to the application as Annex “D”;

11. The damaged transmission assets and other related facilities are not covered by TRANSCO and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation’s (PSALM) Industrial All Risk (IAR) Insurance Policy with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) for the year 2014 and is therefore not compensable. Copy of the Certification in support of such allegation is attached to the application as Annex “E”;

12. There is a need to realign its CAPEX projects to recover the cost incurred for the repair, restoration, and rehabilitation of the damaged transmission assets and other related facilities subject of this application;

COMPUTATION OF FM EVENT PASS-THROUGH AMOUNT

13. It proposes the FM pass-through amount, in P/kW-month, as additional network charges in Mindanao starting the billing period of February 2015 to December 2020, or until such time that the amount incurred is fully recovered, computed as follows:

Grid 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020Mindanao 0.18 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04

14. It proposes the FM pass-through amounts for the years 2016 to 2020 to allow the recovery of the CAPEX incurred relative to the FME Typhoon Agaton should there be a delay in the reset process for the Transmission Services for the Fourth (4th) Regulatory Period (RP);

15. Although the FME claim is not included in its 3rd Regulatory Reset Application, the same can be recovered during the 3rd Regulatory Period pursuant to Section 10.1.1 of the RTWR where it is allowed to recover the cost incurred for the restoration,

repair and rehabilitation of damage sustained by its transmission assets and other related facilities as a result of the FME. Copy of the FME Claim Computation is attached to the application as Annex “F”;

16. The FME Claim does not breach the Force Majeure Threshold Amount (FMTA). Copy of the FMTA Computation is attached to the application as Annex “G”;

17. It considered the Net Fixed Asset Value of the transmission assets and other related facilities damaged by the FME Typhoon Agaton in the calculation of the FM Pass-Through Amount given that it would have normally fully recovered the return of capital on said assets for the duration of its economic lives had these assets not been damaged or destroyed by the FME Typhoon Agaton;

Allegation in Support of the Prayer for Provisional Approval

18. It moves for the issuance of a provisional approval for the immediate recovery of the FME claim pursuant to Section 3, Rule 14 of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure. It needs to immediately recover the actual expenses incurred for the rehabilitation of the damaged transmission assets and other related facilities. The occurrence of the aforementioned FME requires capital infusion, the recovery of which should be allowed to avoid putting financial strain in the transmission provider, and to allow it to continuously provide the necessary transmission service to the grid customers;

19. The timely implementation of the pass-through amount will allow the equal or even spread of the increases or decreases in tariffs from the initial implementation of the recovery of the cost;

20. A copy of the Judicial Affidavit of Agnes F. Dela Cruz, Head, Tariff Design and Billing Management Division, Revenue and Regulatory Affairs of NGCP in support thereof is attached to the application as Annex “H”; and

21. In compliance with Rule 6 of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure, the pre-filing requirements of the instant application are attached herewith as Annex “I”;

22. It prays that the Commission:a. Issue, immediately upon filing of the application,

a provisional authority to implement and bill the FM Pass-Through Amounts to Mindanao customers starting February 2015 billing month to December 2020 or until such time that the amount incurred is fully recovered;

b. Declare the Typhoon Agaton as Force Majeure Event (FME);

c. Approve the CAPEX incurred for the repair, restoration, and rehabilitation of the damaged transmission assets and other related facilities due to Typhoon Agaton in Mindanao as FME;

d. Approve the proposed pass-through amount representing return on capital, return of capital and taxes associated with the emergency responses and the repair, restoration and rehabilitation of its transmission assets and other related facilities damaged by the FME Typhoon Agaton, as follows:

Grid 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020Mindanao 0.18 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04e. Approve and allow the recovery of the Net

Fixed Asset Value of the transmission assets and other related facilities damaged by Typhoon Agaton in Mindanao in the amount of One Million Six Hundred Eighty-One Thousand Fifty-Six and 18/100 Pesos (PhP1,681,056.18) as part of the FM Pass Through Amount given that the said amount would have been fully recovered by it if these transmission assets and other related facilities have not been damaged or destroyed by Typhoon Agaton as FME; and

f. Exclude the proposed Pass-Through Amount from the side constraint calculation.

The Commission has set the application for jurisdictional hearing, expository presentation, pre-trial conference and evidentiary hearing on May 12, 2015 (Tuesday) at two o’clock in the afternoon (2:00 P.M.) at the ERC Hearing Room, 15th Floor, Pacific Center Building, San Miguel Avenue, Pasig City.

All persons who have an interest in the subject matter of the proceeding may become a party by filing, at least five (5) days prior to the initial hearing and subject to the requirements in the ERC’s Rules of Practice and Procedure, a verified petition with the Commission giving the docket number and title of the proceeding and stating: (1) the petitioner’s name and address; (2) the nature of petitioner’s interest in the subject matter of the proceeding, and the way and manner in which such interest is affected by the issues involved in the proceeding; and (3) a statement of the relief desired.

All other persons who may want their views known to the Commission with respect to the subject matter of the proceeding may file their opposition to the application or comment thereon at any stage of the proceeding before the applicant concludes the presentation of its evidence. No particular form of opposition or comment is required, but the document, letter or writing should contain the name and address of such person and a concise statement of the opposition or comment and the grounds relied upon.

All such persons who may wish to have a copy of the application may request the applicant, prior to the date of the initial hearing, that they be furnished with a copy of the application. The applicant is hereby directed to furnish all those making such request with copies of the application and its attachments, subject to reimbursement of reasonable photocopying costs. Likewise, any such person may examine the application and other pertinent records filed with the Commission during the usual office hours.

WITNESS, the Honorable Chairperson, ZENAIDA G. CRUZ-DUCUT, and the Honorable Commissioners, GLORIA VICTORIA C. YAP-TARUC, ALFREDO J. NON, and JOSEFINA PATRICIA A. MAGPALE-ASIRIT, Energy Regulatory Commission, this 16th day of March, 2015 at Pasig City.

ATTY. FRANCIS SATURNINO C. JUAN Executive Director III

The New Standard – April 9 & 16, 2015

Harbor link. Tollway Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation president and CEO Ramoncito S. Fernandez (right) and Manila North Tollways Corporation president and CEO Rodrigo E. Franco (left) give Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson an update on the newly opened NLEX Harbor Link Segment 9 in Valenzuela City. Segment 9, a 2.4-km toll road that connects NLEX to MacArthur Highway in Karuhatan, Valenzuela City, is expected to ease the traffic in major thoroughfares and offers an alternate access to Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela and Manila Port Area through NLEX.

“Vehicle owners are penalized for not having license plates that the LTO and its private contractor failed to deliver on time,” said Cayetano.

Instead, he said, LTO officials and car-plates contractor should be punished for being remiss in their job.

In calling for a 30-day moratorium on the policy’s implementation, Cayetano scored the LTO and its contractor for failing to deliver and process license plates on new vehicles.

He said the delay in the issuance of license plates by the LTO created an un-necessary backlog.

”Plus car dealers cite the insufficient LTO manpower involved in the releasing of plates. Thus, even though plates have been made available, issuing it to vehicles has been a slow process.”

Because of this, the senator said a 30-day moratorium should straighten out kinks in the process, without unduly punishing motorists with fines.

The moratorium will give the pri-

vate contractor time to produce the new plates, the LTO to overcome the backlog and car dealers to immediately claim the car plates of the buyers, Cayetano said.

Car dealers earlier claimed they have paid LTO for the plates.

Cayetano said he will file a bill to hold government officials and private contractors liable and accountable when there is a delay in government agency’s actions, which ulti-mately inconveniences the public.

The “No Plate, No Travel” policy stemmed from DOTC’s Memorandum Circular No. AVT-2015-1927 which took effect last April 1. Under this regulation if a vehicle does not have updated plates, its owner will pay a P10,000 fine, while the driver will pay P 1,000. If the driver is able to present only a certificate of registration and an official receipt as proof of registration, the driver will be fined P5,000 for failure to attach plates.

The LTO earlier stood pat on the pol-icy’s effectivity, claiming it is just imple-mentingexisting laws.

By Macon Araneta

SENATE Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano on Wednesday said the public should not bear the burden of the Land Trans-portation Office’s inefficiency that had forced it to come up with its “No Plate, No Travel” policy.

By Rey RequejoAT LeAsT three big groups among them conglomerate san Miguel have expressed intention to participate in the government’s bid-ding for the P50.2 billion Regional Prison Facilities project aimed at upgrading the country’s penal system and easing congestion of national prisons.

senior state Counsel Ro-sario elena Laborte-Cue-vas, DOJ- Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) spokes-person, said that Megawide

Construction Corp. and the san Miguel Holdings Corp have expressed interest to bid for the project.

D.M. Consunji Inc. has also submitted its letter of intent and manifested its intention to submit bid documents to the BAC, Cuevas said.

“But the issuance of the bid documents is still until May 5, so that gives time to other bidders to submit their participation,” the DOJ-BAC official added.

Based on the BAC’s timeline, prospective bid-

ders must submit pre-qual-ification documents to pre-qualify to bid until May 6.

The legal, technical and financial qualification re-quirements are set forth in the Instructions to Pro-spective Bidders (ITPB) which prospective bidders should purchase in the amount of P1.5 million.

The BAC will evaluate the pre-qualification docu-ments submitted by pro-spective bidders and those who meet the pre-qualifi-cation requirements will receive bidding documents.

[email protected]

t h u r s d ay : a p r i l 9, 2 0 1 5

news A7

Bulacan gov: Look into decisions-in-USB-sticks

New Isabela bridge is only first among many—PNoy

Iponan River recovers from hydraulic mining

Dessert, anyone? A worker at a popular restaurant in Koronadal City prepares buko halo-halo for waiting customers. Omar mangOrsi

surf simulator. A man learns to surf at the Flow Rider, a water park in Bacoor City. Danny Pata

Alvarado wrote acting Com-elec Commissioner Christian Robert Lim and Commission-

ers Luie Tito Guia and Arthur Lim to seek an order from the en banc to order a probe into

the matter. The validation of signatures is

in connection to the recall peti-tion filed against him by one Per-lita Mendoza.

The governor said petitioner Mendoza’s counsel, Bernadette Sardillo, gave the USB sticks to the election officials.

Sardillo denied the accusation. “No such thing,” she said.

“In fact,” the lawyer said in a text message, “as accommoda-tion to Governor Alvarado, PES

[Temie] Lambino ordered the [election officers] to make the rulings handwritten.”

Alvarado also wants the elec-tion officers of Hagonoy, Malo-los City and Pulilan to be sum-moned about why they made use of the pre-encoded rulings in the objections and verifica-tion proceedings in their respec-tive areas.

Recall elections must be held on or before May 8, 2015 to be valid.

By Orlan L. mauricio

MALOLOS CITY—Bulacan Governor Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado this week urged the Commission on Elec-tions to look into reports that USB sticks containing pre-encoded rulings on the validation of signatures were distributed to election officers in 21 municipali-ties and three component cities of Bulacan.

By Lance Baconguis

CAGAyAN de Oro City—The City Local Environment and Natural Re-source office (CLENRO)has noted a slow recovery of the ecosystem along the Iponan river as a result of its anti-mining drive.

Children have started taking baths and residents have been seen wash-ing their clothes in the river again. Farming activities have also been ob-served in communities near the river.

CLENRO chief Edwin Dael said that this was because his team has filed multiple cases against opera-tors and confiscated hundreds of waters pumps, equipments and heavy machinery. These steps have

led to multiple arrests. “This is a continuing implementa-

tion of the laws on mining and for the protection of the ecosystem,” Dael said.

It has been a long-drawn battle between miners and the geopolitical boundary of local government units of Cagayan de Oro City and Opol town in Misamis Oriental.

Illegal hydraulic mining, which lasted for more than 15 years, has damaged the river, turning it into dark brown such that locals have taken to calling it the “chocolate river.”

The mining operation has also caused erosion and deterioration in water quality and availability.

By sandy araneta

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III said the P772.9-million Lullutan Bridge in Isabela is only the first of many government steps to improve infrastructure in the province and in the region.

In the bridge’s inauguration Tuesday, Mr. Aquino said the gov-ernment has released P11.9 billion since 2011 to develop Isabela’s in-frastructure and irrigation facilities.

Among these projects are the on-going construction of the Cabagan-Sta. Maria Bridge that would connect Isabela and other munici-palities in the Cordillera Adminis-trative Region. He also cited the re-pair and widening of the Maharlika Highway, National Road 1 or Asian Highway 26.

“Tuloy-tuloy din po ang konstruk-siyon natin ng kalsadang magko-konekta sa Daang Maharlika at sa Santiago-Tuguegarao Road sa San-tiago City,” he added.

Also part of the government ini-tiative are 59.56 kilometers of farm-to-market roads in the province that have been built and repaired.

“Oras matapos natin ang dagdag pang 15.91 na kilometrong farm-to-market roads dito sa inyo, aabot sa halos 20,000 ang farmer beneficiaries ng probinsiya,” the President said.

Aquino noted that the govern-ment has completed 161 irrigation projects in Isabela.

He said the Aquino administra-tion is working to finish 32 more irrigation projects that would water 146,625 hectares of farmlands and benefit 90,950 farmers.

“Idagdag na rin ninyo diyan ang sinimulan nating Pasa Small Res-ervoir Irrigation Project. ‘Pag na-kumpleto ito sa 2016, inaasahang tataas sa 9,996 metric tons mula sa 555 metric tons ang annual rice pro-duction ng Ilagan,” he stated.

Aquino, in summing up the in-frastructure projects in the entire Cagayan Valley region, said the ad-ministration has already begun de-veloping 25.4 km of the first section of the alternate route for Dalton Pass and is studying the extension of the North-South Railway Project that will traverse Isabela as well as the Ilo-cos and Cordillera regions.

worshippers. And, of course, the palace didn’t even have to issue a statement about the President’s appearance – the speaker and his men simply didn’t think it was something

that should even deserve Aquino’s attention.

And in the end, as Col-menares also noted, the House will fail to come up with a better report than both the Senate and the BOI sim-ply because it did not call in three new witnesses who were never summoned previously. These are the President, the widows and other relatives of the 44 police commandos who died last Jan. 25 in Ma-masapano, Maguindanao and representatives of the US and Malaysian governments.

Only Aquino, after all, could have answered the questions about the planning of the operation and his deci-sion to involve a suspended national police chief in it. The

opinionA8

[ EDI TORI A L ]

The value of valor

A9ADELLE chuAe D I T o r

T h u R s D Ay : A P R I L 9, 2 0 1 5

opinion

Waste of time

Binay prevails

Continued on A11

The fix is in at the Batasan, and there’s

nothing anyone can do about it

anymore.

lowDown

jojo a. roBles

KUdOS to Makati City Mayor Jun-Jun Binay for winning his legal battle against dILG’s Mar Roxas and the Office of the Ombudsman. Just last Monday, the Court of Appeals made permanent its earlier temporary restraining order which seeks to maintain the status quo. This time, the Appeals Court clarified that the sta-tus quo meant the situation prior to the service of the Ombudsman’s suspension order on the Mayor. This removes any and all doubts that the CA intended to maintain Mayor Binay in office despite the Ombudsman’s suspension order. This hence debunks the view of Justice Secre-tary Leila de Lima, who earlier opined that the CA’s TRO was moot and academ-ic because meanwhile, the suspension or-der had allegedly already been served.

I admittedly am not a big fan of the Philippine legal system. There’s the dis-mal 1-percent conviction rate for extra-legal killings before Philippine courts. There is the longest period of time in the world by which cases are heard by the courts, an average of five to seven years. There too is the perception of corruption amongst the ranks of public prosecutors and judges. But all told, the decision of the CA granting Mayor Binay injunctive relief was well-reasoned and consistent with jurisprudence.

In brief, the CA ruled that since Mayor Binay had already been re-elect-ed after the so-called City Hall Annex scam, all of his administrative liability, if any, is deemed extinguished by rea-son of his re-election. This is the prin-ciple of “condonation” and is premised on the fact that the people are sover-eign. This is not a novel theory having been first recognized by the Supreme Court in the case of former Cagayan Governor Aguinaldo, and reiterated in the cases involving Governors Garcia and Salalima, all of whom were sought to be suspended similarly as Binay. This is why the principle is referred to as the “Aguinaldo rule”.

The logic of the principle is that since the electorate decides who will serve them in an elective capacity, an erring official who has been re-elected is deemed “forgiven” by his constituents when despite the admin-istrative lapse, he is re-elected.

The Ombudsman’s position, mir-rored by de Lima, is that the office has plenary powers to suspend offi-cials which according to its legislative charter, is immediately executory and not subject to injunction. Here, the CA reasoned that there’s a difference between a suspension by way of pen-alty meted by the Ombudsman, and a preventive suspension preparatory to an administrative investigation. The former is immediately executory and not subject to injunctive relief. The latter though, and this is the suspen-sion meted on Binay, is subject to ju-dicial review.

I find myself in accord with the

THAT House investigation is a total waste of time. Unless, of course, you’re a President seeking a third (or fourth) opinion that will absolve you, for a change.

The sad truth is, President Noynoy Aquino is still telling the House of Representatives what it’s supposed to do as far as the resumption of the investigation of the Mamasa-pano massacre is concerned.

And that is why I have abso-lutely no faith that the even-tual House report will be any-where near as impartial or as truthful as the first two – and that, given the severe handi-caps that plagued both the Board of Inquiry and Senate reports, is not really saying much.

For instance, how else should we interpret the deci-sion of the House leadership not to even pass on to Mala-canang the list of 20 questions posed by the leftist Makabay-an bloc of Congress, because Speaker Feliciano Belmonte and his chief minions decided

it would violate the separa-tion of powers enshrined in the Constitution? As Rep. Neri Colmenares noted, passing on the list is not the same as issuing a summons to Aquino – and, after all, if con-gressmen jump at any invita-tion from the palace for them to appear before the President in Malacanang, why can’t the Chief Executive return the fa-vor, just this once?

Not even the possibility of Aquino just answering the questions in writing without appearing before the House was allowed by Belmonte and his over-eager cabal of palace-

widows would certainly have pro-vided new information that was re-layed to them directly through their mobile phones by their spouses as they were being massacred, espe-cially because the previous probers found that the text messages ex-changed by the officials in charge were so important.

And only the American and Malay-sian officials could have said directly and for the record that they were re-ally not involved in a way in the plan-ning and execution of the operation.

(Again, it is worth noting that the House leadership also preempted any response to invitations to attend the hearings by invoking diplomatic im-munity for them; the representatives of these foreign governments didn’t even have to do the talking.)

* * *By calling in the usual suspects –

who have steadfastly stuck to their original palace-friendly positions or refined them to suit Malacanang’s taste over time – what the House has

been engaged in is merely an exer-cise in repetition. There will be no surprises this time from the generals, Cabinet officials, peace panelists and rebel honchos, who have merely been given an opportunity to repeat what they have already said, in furtherance this time of the palace plot to keep the truth from ever coming out.

If anything, I expect the final report of the two House committees han-dling the probe to be more like that strange product of the “investigation”

Continued on A11

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ManilaStandardTODAY

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can be accessed at:www.manilastandardtoday.comONLINE

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vIew frommalcom

aTTy. harry roque jr.

“Araw ng Kagitingan” commemorates the acts of courage of Filipino sol-diers. At least once a year – every 9th of April, specifically -- we remember those who risked their lives and fought for our people so that today’s gen-eration can enjoy the freedom and comfort that we do today.

At some point in their lives, these soldiers have been honored for their contribution to the nation. Their brave acts have been recognized with medals and generous words about how the country we know today would not exist without their sacrifices many years ago.

More than the recognition in words, however, the veterans need more from their government and their compatriots whom they served in their prime.

True, veterans enjoy pensions and benefits as prescribed by the law. As we know all too well, however, this does not ensure that the needs of all veterans are served as envisioned.

The Philippine Veterans Affairs Office currently administers 186,396 pension benefits. These numbers however do not do justice to the urgency with which veterans need their fair share. Because of their age, many of them are sickly, and their modest income during their productive years may not have prepared them for the life they now lead. While some can count on the care of immediate family or relatives, not all have this good fortune. These family members also have their own survival concerns on their own; they may not be in a position to take care of an elderly ailing patriarch.

The wish list of veterans is long but contains well-justified requests. For instance, the monthly old age pension of P5,000 has not been increased since 1994, even as the prices of basic goods and medicine have increased many times over. disability pension, which ranges between P1,000 and P1,700 monthly, has also stagnated.

The PVAO also has arrears which include, and substantially, total ad-ministrative disability pensions for veterans 70 years old and above. While the judiciousness of paying these benefits has never been disputed, no appropriations have been made for many years – inadequate funds have always been cited as the cause for the lack of appropriation.

Veterans have also articulated the need for additional hospitals to ser-vice those in Visayas and Mindanao.

These and many other concerns continue to haunt our veterans as they deal with a different kind of battle – living from day to day given their limited resources and special needs. May our decision makers not remem-ber all these only today. This will test whether we really value the valor displayed by veterans, or only paying lip service, as usual.

National Police before their retire-ment.

If fighting resumes, the public will again see the brutality of war. Because of modern media reporting and the power of social media, the public will be more aware and affected.

*****When the Muslim secessionist

movement erupted in 1973, it caught the government by surprise. The gov-ernment had to scramble to contain the spread of the fighting in Mind-anao. But even at the height of the fighting, President Marcos saw that the only sure way to put an end to the fighting was through negotiations. This is the reason that the so-called Tripoli agreement was signed in 1976. Another peace agreement was signed

in 1997 during the term of President Ramos; this result-ed in the creation of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.

Now we have the BBL to operationalize what was signed between the MILF and the Aquino government. But because of the Mamasapano encounter, it is now under siege.

President Aquino has called for a peace summit which should have been done before the government signed the peace deal with the MILF. Yet, this is not necessarily bad. It could still produce a just and fair recommendation that all parties can sign.

The MILF has been reported to have said that some modifications to the BBL is acceptable. This is good. If the MILF only wants autonomy and not independence, there must be way to arrive at a mutually agreeable position. I sincerely hope that this will be the case. Fighting is not an option. There has been fighting for so long that both sides must be suffering from combat fatigue. Let us give peace a chance.

OPINIONT h u r s d ay : a P r I L 9, 2 0 1 5

a10

BeFoRe the Mamasa-pano encounter in Jan-uary 25, the Bangsam-oro Basic Law was on its way to becoming a law. After the encoun-ter, however, the BBL was subjected to closer scrutiny which revealed its imperfec-tions and weaknesses.

Now there is resistance even from the lawmakers who initially supported and co-sponsored the BBL. It can no longer be passed in its present form without amendments in order to conform to constitutional requirements.

Yet, in spite of the sounds of war drums, the best way to go forward in Mindanao is through a just and fair negoti-ated peace. An American general said 150 years ago that war is hell and a quick scan around the world today would show it is difficult to argue with what he said. There are wars going on in Libya, Nigeria, Syria, Yemen, Columbia and lest we forget, the Philippines.

Syria’s is a tragic story. According to the United Na-tions, about 220,000 have died in four years of fighting, many of them women, children and the elderly. About 6.5 million people have been internally displaced and close to 4 million people have fled Syria to various countries all over the world. The country has been basically destroyed; it will probably take a generation to rebuild it.

Those who are advocating war in Mindanao should therefore think hard and consider the consequences of what war can bring to the country. In the recent fighting between our Armed Forces and the Bangsamoro Islam-ic Freedom Fighters, more than 100,000 have had to be evacuated. How much more if there is an all-out war in Mindanao? The government has been fighting various groups for a long time.

The communist insurgency for instance has been around since since 1969. The conflict with the New People’s Army is one of the longest if not the longest in the world. I do not have the casualty figures of combat-ants from both sides who have died fighting but I can say that thousands have died.

We have also had the Muslim secessionist movement since 1973. In between, there are other groups like the Abu Sayyaf and now the BIFF and Justice for Islamic Movement.

All these conflicts have sapped a lot of the country’s resources and energy which could have gone to devel-opment to improve people’s lives.

The death of the SAF 44 is a lot, but there were en-counters in the past with more casualties. Some that I know of are the following: the massacre of the late General Teodulfo Bautista and 42 others in Patikul, Sulu in 1977. About 16 ranking and highly trained Army officers died with him that day. In the subse-quent fighting that followed after the massacre, a lot more died.

There was also the case of one Constabulary Bat-talion that suffered about 58 casualties in one single encounter in Sulu and the remains of those who fell had to be evacuated in the dead of the night so as not to affect morale. A friend from the Army also told me of the story of one Army company that was attempt-ing cross a river in Lanao. They were caught by the MNLF and were decimated.

Fighting the communist insurgents has also been ferocious. Some incidents that I also know person-ally was when a Constabulary unit encountered a group of communist insurgents in one province and suf-fered 23 dead. Another was when a commander in an adjacent province when I was then a Provincial Com-mander sent a patrol that encoun-tered a group of NPA on a test mis-sion. The result was about 14 dead with all the weapons captured. In yet another operation, a 6x6 truck full of men was ambushed and 18 men lost their lives. I might add that in both these operations, most of those sent to fight were office personnel. No Board of Inquiry was formed to investigate these incidents and the commanders of those who suffered casualties in these two operations went on to be promoted. They occu-pied high positions in the Philippine

GivinG peace a chance

a day of iGnominyI cannot understand why there’s so much fuss over a beauty queen/fashion designer’s social media post about the so-called yaya meal -- meals available for nannies -- at Alphaland’s Balesin Island Club off Quezon province.

Margie Wilson-Consunji said serving such meals was discrimi-natory. Her post went viral.

In the first place, the yaya meal has been there for quite some time. They were requested by club members for nannies and care-givers, who also want it that way. That doesn’t stop them from or-dering steak and lobster if they want it, though.

This makes me wonder if Ms. Wilson is a club member or not. each share at Balesin sells for P4.5 million.

There is no discrimination at all here. other resorts also provide budget meals for nannies, drivers and caregivers. In fact, many hotels in Metro Manila also have “kiddie meals.” Would Ms. Wilson say that these meals discriminate against children?

I have been to Balesin Island Club many times with my grand-children, who find the usual adult meals too much for them. They settle for “kiddie meals,” which are more to their liking.

The problem with some people is that they always find some fault or another in anything.

** ** **

We mark today “Araw ng Kagit-ingan” or “Day of Valor,” which strangely commemorates the “Fall of Bataan” and “Fall of Corregi-dor.”

What we should celebrate are glorious moments of victory in our history that speak of the true valor and courage of Filipinos against foreign invaders. An ex-ample is the Fall of Bessang Pass in the Cordilleras that led to the sur-render of Commander Yamashita. This battle eventually led to the end of the four-year Japanese oc-cupation of the Philippines.

For three weeks or more, the 3rd battalion of the guerilla move-ment under Major Conrado Rig-or, composed mostly of Igorots and Ilocanos, fought the Japanese on higher ground. And it was the platoon of my late eldest brother,

Court of Appeals Justice Desid-erio P. Jurado, who led the assault. Two of my former colleagues in media, Amante Bigornia and Consorsio Borje, were also part of that historic battle.

The Silver Medal that was given to my late brother still hangs in his former house to attest to his hero-ism. Santa Banana, would you be-lieve he refused to get his back pay because he believed he fought the Japanese not for money but for love of country?

Unfortunately, no President except President Fidel V. Ramos ever cared to mark the Fall of Bes-sang Pass on the day it happened - June 14, 1945.

I am recalling all these since I find it truly ironic that we should mark what is now called “Araw ng Kagitingan” or “Day of Valor” on April 9, which ac-tually commemo-rates the Fall of Bataan and Fall of Corregidor -- days of ignominy in our history.

** ** **

There he goes again. I am refer-ring to Senator Antonio Trillanes, who is salivating to become Vice President in 2016, accusing jus-tices of the Court of Appeals of having been bribed by the Binays for issuing an indefinite tempo-rary restraining order against the ombudsman’s suspension order on Makati Mayor Jun-Jun Binay.

Trillanes says he was told that grease money passed hands in the grant of a TRo by the Appel-late Court. Hearsay! That’s direct contempt of court, and Trillanes should be made to account for it. Note that this was said outside the halls of the Senate, where he has no immunity.

Trillanes is so obssessed with trying to blame the Binays that he

seems to disregard the rule of law along the way. If he believes that demonizing the Vice President and his family will improve his ratings as a presidentiable or vice presidentiable, he is hallucinating.

The senator also says that he’ll divulge everything in next week’s continued investigation of charges of corruption against the Binays. Truth to tell, though, nothing been said against the Binays that could stand in court.

** ** **

There’s something very wrong with the decision of the Sandigan-bayan’s Frist Division in denying the plea of former President Gloria Ma-capagal Arroyo to be granted bail. She is on hospital arrest for alleged involvement in the P366-million Philippine Charity Sweepstakes in-telligence fund being transferred.

What is wrong is that while the anti-graft court has granted bail to GMA’s ac-cused, former Commission on Audit co-accused Reynaldo Vil-lar, and former PCSo board members Manol-ing Morato, Ray-mondo Roquero and Jose Taruc, Mrs. Arroyo re-

mains jailed despite her debilitating bone ailment.

While the lawyers of Gloria remain hopeful about their mo-tion for reconsideration, there’s no reason why she should not be granted bail as a matter of right. As President, her endorsement of the board resolution was simply a ministerial act.

This could only mean that Malacañang is behind all of this.

** ** **The fact that President Aquino

is now accusing his allies of being double-faced, for criticizing him while they remain his supporters, is clear proof that the President has become a lameduck President. Soon enough, these so-called sup-porters and allies will be jumping the political fence the way turn-coats do.

There has been

fighting for so long

that both sides

must be suffering

from combat

fatigue.

Why commemorate defeat instead

of victory?

[email protected]

dutycalls

florenciofianza

to the point

emil p. jurado

A11ADELLE CHUAE D I T O R

T H U R S D AY : A P R I L 9, 2 0 1 5

OPINION

JOSIE RIZAL: TAKING PLAY SERIOUSLY

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line of reasoning adopted by the CA. In fact, in a case that I personally argued before the Supreme Court which sought to restraint the House leadership from filing an impeach-ment complaint against then-Chief Justice Hilario Davide, the Supreme Court, through the incumbent Om-budsman, ruled that our Court’s certiorari powers under the 1987 Constitution have “cut the umbilical cord” between Philippine and Amer-ican jurisprudence. While American courts can opt to exercise judicial re-straint, Philippine courts, under the 1987 Constitution, must decide cases involving alleged grave abuse of dis-cretion amounting to lack of juris-diction. This means that our courts must always exercise jurisdiction where there is an allegation of grave abuse of discretion. This was the al-legation of Mayor Binay and hence, the duty of the Court of Appeals to decide.

The victory is temporary. In fact, the Supreme Court has already scheduled oral arguments on the petition of the Ombudsman against the CA’s order. What appears to be going in favor of Mayor Binay is the fact that the Ombudsman sought but was denied injunctive relief to re-straint the CA from restraining the office from suspending Mayor Binay. The Court’s refusal to issue a TRO, although not a ruling on the merit, nonetheless is tantamount to recog-nizing the validity of the CA’s actions thus far.

While the odds are still against Mayor Binay since the Ombudsman was a former colleague of the incum-bent Justices of the Supreme Court, the latters denial of the former’s prayer for TRO is recognition that there is no urgency nor an irreparable injury in the event the CA is not restrained. Congratulations are this in order to Mayor Binay and his legal team!

** **Congratulations too to the UP

Law’s Moot Court team that won the world championship in the recently concluded Freedom of Expression Moot competition in Oxford Univer-sity. � e team bested over a hundred teams worldwide that competed in Oxford and in various regional cham-pionship rounds around the world. � e problem of the moot is of extreme relevance to freedom of expression in today’s Internet age. Could states limit the freedom to curtail hate speech that has led to a riot that injured over a hundred individuals? At issue, too, was whether Internet service provid-ers should incur liability for materials posted through them.

� e winning team is composed of Pauline Gairanod (adjudged the best speaker), who hails from Zamboanga City, Modesta Chungalao from Baguio City, Gil Anthony Aquino, Raphael “Apa” Pangalangan, Rachel Miranda, and Gemmo Fernandez.

A testimonial in their honor will be held on Monday 10AM with no less than Chancellor Micheal Tan in attendance.

Good job, team!

THE debate still swirls around Josie Rizal, the � rst Filipino character in the arcade game Tekken – is she an o� ensive manifesta-tion of cultural appropriation, or a symbol of national pride?

Tekken, developed by Bandai Namco Games of Japan, features characters who en-gage each other one-on-one in an unarmed combat tournament. Characters are drawn from many cultures that set the � ghting style for a particular character.

“Josie Rizal,” named a� er the country’s national hero, appears in Tekken 7, wide-re-leased on March 18 this year for arcade, with versions to follow in August for hand-held and console games.

Josie is dressed in the colors of the Phil-ippine � ag. Her top is embroidered with a motif of sampaguita, the national � ower. She cries a� er a win: “I can’t believe I won!”

Some sectors have objected to the por-trayal as culturally inappropriate, that it was disrespectful to name her a� er Jose Rizal, and Bandai was tasked for not doing enough research. � ere are requests for her name to be changed.

Bandai game producer Katsuhiro Harada has said they will not make changes and they will instead consider deleting the character.

“Josie is very special for [the Philippine] gamer community,” Harada has been quoted as saying. “If Josie can’t get supported in the Philippines, we can give her up anytime.”

But Josie Rizal is not the � rst Filipino-based character in a video game.

� ere’s Talim in Namco’s Soulcaliber series, who made her � rst appearance in the game’s third installment, Soulcaliber II (2002). She is included in the subsequent versions Soulcaliber III, Soulcaliber IV, and Soulcaliber: Broken Destiny.

According to a Wikia entry, the backsto-ry for Talim (Filipino for ‘sharpness’) casts her as the daughter of the village’s shaman, raised as “the last babaylan (priestess)” of her community, the Village of the Wind Deity located in the “Visayan Islands (present-day Philippines).”

Talim is a “close-range character” who uses “wind dancing attacks” based on the Filipino martial art eskrima, the same mar-tial art used for Josie Rizal.

Talim’s basic costume is pantaloons and a cropped top; over the years, it has undergone changes, with one version being a bra top and sheer pants, the latter “oddly transparent – supposedly inspired from the Philippines national costume of Abacca [sic] silk, it’s the same [sic] with the national dress of the Phil-ippines – “Barong Tagalog”, made of woven abacca or banana silk.”

Her personality is “strikingly meek, inno-cent, kind, moderate, and nice in contrast to the rest of the Soul Series cast, o� en attempt-ing to dissuade opponents from � ghting, and constantly showing mercy to her defeated enemies. Her comments o� en reveal self-doubt and worry. She o� en does not blame others for their actions,” is quick to forgive, and “overall is considered a kind-hearted character.”

From one perspective, Talim seems weak and ine� ective, and her clothes are just as skimpy as Josie Rizal’s - but there are no com-

plaints about her being an o� ensive or inac-curate portrayal of Filipino women.

Why should Josie Rizal be treated di� er-ently? Her characterization does not sound much di� erent from that of Talim’s. Also according to Wikia, Josie’s personality is “bright, cheerful, and quite energetic, but she has become more prone [sic] to crying because of something that happened in the past.” Her backstory has not been released yet.

Were there complaints about Josie only because Tekken is much more popular and popped up on the mainstream radar?

Most gamers are young, and those I’ve polled (aged 17 to 24) do not see the reason for the outcry against Josie Rizal.

“Filipino Tekkenistas are proud that there is now a Filipino character a� er all these years,” says a 17-year-old female who has played the game’s various versions since she was eight. “It’s also great that she’s a woman. It would be too bad if Mr. Harada pulls her from the game.”

“Tekken characters come from many dif-ferent cultures,” says a 23-year-old female. “To make them easily recognizable and dif-ferentiated, they are stereotyped. If Filipinos will complain about Josie Rizal, all the more should other nationalities react, whose Tek-ken characters are even less positively por-trayed. But they’re not complaining!”

� e 24-year-old, a male, said, “What’s im-portant for me about Josie Rizal are her move sets – will she be a strong enough character that I can use to win? I’m interested only in her � ghting moves, not in her clothes or ges-tures – those don’t matter during play.”

In the end, they all agreed: “It’s just a game.”Facebook: Jenny Ortuoste, Twitter: @jen-

nyortuoste, Blog: http://jennyo.net

POP GOES THE WORLD

JENNYORTUOSTE

Waste... From A9

HOW NOT TO DEAL WITH CHINACHINA’S creation of the Asian Infrastruc-ture Investment Bank and the bungled U.S. response have given Beijing a nice diplomatic win. Not hugely consequential in itself, the episode is a case study in how not to deal with the world’s biggest emerging power. Before it happens again, the U.S. and its friends ought to pause and re� ect.

China has two goals in building this new international lender. First, it wants an addi-tional conduit for its surplus of savings—a way to lend abroad that de� ects resistance from borrowers worried about being under China’s thumb. (Lately, Chinese-led construc-tion projects have prompted protests from Sri Lanka to Zambia.) Second, China’s rulers crave the respect of other nations and seek the global standing they believe should come with their growing economic strength.

Neither goal is unreasonable. Neither needs to be resisted by the West as a stra-tegic imperative—and there’d be little pros-pect of long-term success in that e� ort anyway. � e worst thing, though, is to op-pose China’s plans and then fail, especially in a way that divides the West against itself. � at is what just happened.

� e U.S. asked its friends in Europe not to become members of the AIIB. With an eye to business opportunity, and apparently more eager to ingratiate them-selves with China than with the U.S., they

competed to sign up as founding mem-bers. So China’s leaders not only get their AIIB, they have also split the U.S. from its allies, boosting China’s standing more than they had dared hope.

� e West can’t expect, and shouldn’t want, to slow China’s growth and su� ocate all its leadership ambitions. It should aim instead to give China and other big devel-oping countries their fair share of power in global governance—through institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank—while insisting that China remains bound by global rules even as it plays a larger part in making them.

Foot-dragging by the U.S. and European Union on reform of the multilateral institu-tions encouraged China to build the AIIB to begin with, and that was a mistake. Failure to coordinate their response to China’s new plans compounded the error. � e U.S. mis-calculated, to be sure, but Europe is also much at fault. Bringing China into a fully function-ing system of global cooperation—ensuring that China is a good citizen and not merely an increasingly powerful one—calls for a united West. Europe, unwilling and unable to lead, expects the U.S. to take on that role, and within reason must therefore let it.

By embarrassing the U.S. over the AIIB, Europe’s leaders have weakened themselves. � eir scramble for national advantage can only encourage China to press further. Di-vide and rule worked well this time, Beijing will note: Where else might it work?

� e best course now is to make the most of the new institution. It could be valuable. A little competition might spur the World Bank and Asian Development Bank to do better. (Both are rightly criti-cized for becoming top-heavy and slug-gish.) China’s success should also push the U.S. and Japan to clear the remain-ing roadblocks to the Trans-Paci� c Part-nership trade deal, reminding China’s neighbors that close economic ties with the U.S. are still worth a lot. At the same time, though, the U.S. should be clear that China’s unilateral e� orts to redraw the map of the South China Sea or limit the airspace above the East Sea are unac-ceptable: � ey undermine the security of the U.S. and its allies. Cyber-attacks designed to impede the free � ow of in-formation on the Internet are equally inconsistent with the kind of partnership China says it wants.

A more con� dent China isn’t necessarily a threat. But it isn’t necessarily benign, either. � e U.S. and Europe need to know the di� er-ence and start acting like allies.

conducted by the Moro Islamic Lib-eration Front. You know, the report which was noteworthy only because it repeated the original palace line that a “misencounter” took place and that the beleaguered Special Action Force troops used their own dead colleagues as shields from incoming � re.

If covering up the truth and � ne-tun-ing Malacanang’s propaganda strategy are

the only reasons for resuming the House hearings on the incident, they might as well not have bothered. And all of those congressmen who claimed to be acting on the desire of their constituents to get to the bottom of what happened in Mama-sapano – but who are actually just helping Aquino continue his policy of diversion-ary lying – should have just stayed home and saved the money they spent for dry-

cleaning their suits and barongs.� e congressmen who bloviated long

and hard about continuing the search for truth about what happened are just pulling our collective leg. � e � x is in, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it anymore.

* * *And why am I not surprised that the

secretary of justice herself is defend-ing Mohagher Iqbal’s use of a � ctitious name to sign important, binding agree-ments with the government of the Phil-ippines? Perhaps Leila de Lima is not her real name, either – and she will go all the way to the Senate (she hopes) on an alias, just like all less-accessorized but equally stupid movie actors who went before her to that chamber.

competed to sign up as founding mem-

Europe’s leaders have weakened themselves. � eir scramble for national advantage can only encourage China to press further. Di-

BLOOMBERG EDITORIAL

Binay... From A9

[email protected]

T HUR SDAY : APRI L 9 , 2 0 1 5

SPORTS

Rory, Bubbawary of Tiger

Olympics: 1.2 millionRio Games tickets sold

headhdheadhdheadhd hedddddadhd

Spurs jeopardize Thunder’s playoff hopes

RIO DE JANEIRO—Brazilians have solicited some 1.2 million tickets for next year’s Rio Olympics a week after tickets went on sale, organizers said Tuesday.

The organizing committee said residents of the host nation had applied from around the country for all sports, with the most popu-lar events to date being volleyball, football -- which is being held in six cities -- and basketball.

In all, 7.2 million tickets will be sold and last week saw the start of a two-stage lottery for applica-tions via the official website www.rio2016.com.

Some 70 percent of the tickets for the first Games to be held in South America will be reserved for resi-dents of Brazil.

Around one million more will be distributed abroad via national Olympic committees.

The first distribution phase will

end on April 30 and the results of who has obtained what will be an-nounced in June, ahead of a second lottery in July, prioritizing unsuc-cessful first-wave applicants.

A real-time, first come first served, sale of remaining tickets will follow from October for Bra-zilians and Brazil residents, ahead of box office sales for what remains.

Just over half of the tickets will be available for 70 reais ($30, 28 eu-ros) or less.

Pensioners, the disabled and stu-dents will enjoy half price conces-sions, meaning the cheapest deal of all will be just 20 reais.

Three percent of tickets will cost upwards of 600 reais for marquee events, including the men’s 100m final.

The most expensive seats of all will be box seats for the opening ceremony at the Maracana stadi-um costing a hefty 4600 reais. AFP

OKLAHOMA CITY—The San Antonio Spurs, hitting their stride as the playoffs arrive, dealt Okla-homa City a crushing 113-88 de-feat on Tuesday in another blow to the Thunder’s post-season hopes.

Kawhi Leonard poured in 26 points in just 24 minutes for the defending NBA champion Spurs, who dominated from start to fin-ish.

The Thunder endured their fourth straight defeat and fell out of the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot.

The Thunder fell one half-game behind New Orleans in the race

for the eighth seed after the Pelicans de-feated Golden State 103-100 on Tuesday.

Desperate for a victory, the Pelicans rallied from 14 points down to stun the Warriors -- who have clinched the top seed in the West.

Anthony Davis scored a game-high 29 points to lead the Pelicans.

In Oklahoma City, the Spurs

were led by Le-onard, who con-nected on 10 of his 15 attempts from the floor, the Spurs shot 52.8 percent from the field.

Their eighth succes-sive victory tightened the race for the South-west Division title. They are now 1 1/2

games behind division leaders Houston and one half-game behind Memphis.

Russell Westbrook finished with 17 points and six steals for Oklahoma City, but no other

Thunder player scored more than 11 points.

The Spurs took a 64-41 lead into halftime. Leonard had scored 23 points by then.

He and the rest of the Spurs starters were resting on the bench by the fourth quarter, after San Antonio led by as many as 34 in the third period.

The good news for Oklahoma City as they battle for a playoff berth is that three of their last four games of the regular season are against teams with losing records: Sacramento, Indiana and Minnesota. AFP

AUGUSTA—Tiger Woods last won a major title in 2008 and hasn’t won the Masters in a decade, but top-ranked Rory McIlroy will be watching out for him this week all the same.

The 79th Masters opens Thursday at Augusta National with McIlroy seeking his first green jacket and third ma-jor crown in a row to complete a career Grand Slam while Woods, who has fallen to 111th in the world rankings, contends for a 15th career major after a nightmare year of injuries and inconsistent form.

“I think everyone is just curious to see how he comes back,” McIlroy said of Woods, who has fallen to 111th in the world rankings. “I don’t think you should ever under-estimate him. He has done things on the golf course that are pretty special.

“I had a good chat with him on the putting green. He feels good. He has been working hard. He has the motiva-tion to keep at it, and just like everyone else, I’ll be look-ing for his score and seeing what he’s doing.”

Defending champion Bubba Watson can match Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Nick Faldo as the only players to win back-to-back Masters crowns and match Nicklaus as the only ones to win three green jackets in a four-season span.

Factor in young stars seeking a first major win such as Jordan Spieth and Jason Day, sprinkle in some skilled past champions such as Adam Scott and Phil Mickelson and mix in the stunning backdrop of Augusta National’s treacherous greens and towering pines with the dramatic legacy of Amen Corner and Rae’s Creek and the scene is set for an impressive first major of 2015.

“It’s the anticipation factor, the hype, everything else, it feels the same because it’s always exciting to get here,” McIlroy said. “It’s always a great week.”

Woods has been idle for more than two months since withdrawing after 11 holes at Torrey Pines in February. And that came off a career-worst 82 in the second round at Phoenix.

“I’m excited to be back playing at this level,” Woods said. “I feel like my game is finally ready to compete at the highest level.”

- McIlroy likes Bubba -McIlroy is just fine with Woods, who has struggled

simply to finish 72 holes over the past 12 months, tak-ing the lion’s share of attention with his strong practice rounds even as McIlroy tries to join a career Grand Slam list that includes only Woods, Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Gene Sarazen and Gary Player.

“It is such a big story, Tiger coming back at the Mas-ters after a bit of a lengthy period where he has not been around,” McIlroy said. “But still I’m just here to play golf and you guys can write the stories and I won’t read them and we’ll move on.” AFP

THE Lavaz-za team won the 2015 Vanderbi lt even with only four

members: Duboin-Mahmood, Madala-Bocchi Giorgio Duboin is an Italian professional bridge player. He has won four world teams champions. Zia Mah-mood is a Pakistani professional bridge player. He is a World Bridge Federation and American Contract Bridge League Grand Life Master.

Giorgio Duboin recounted what the Lavazza team should have in the Spin-gold of 2014. A player left us. The project was started and we had to choose some-one else. It was difficult to choose: not only did we need a champion, but also someone who fit the group and Italian style. We all thought of Zia and when he accepted, the team was formed. The idea of rotating players was now more difficult to implement, because our Ital-ians and Argentinians all play the same artificial system, whilst Zia prefers a more natural system that better suits his creative attitude. Based on our features, we thought that I was the best partner for him.

Duboin asked in his column “Italian Style”: What should two players who never played together, who live far away and have different styles do in order to become a high level partnership? Duboin provide us the answer. Since it very in-teresting and gives an insight on what a partnership should do. I quote what Duboin wrote:

Phase 1: we spoke a lot over the phone (luckily there is Skype) in order to under-stand each other’s views on the system.

Phase 2: we defined the basic system: natural, 5 cards majors, 15-17 NT.

Phase 3: we started an email conver-sation, sending each other system bits, sequences, conventions and agreements which we had been playing with other partners.

Phase 4: we wrote the system, and this is the most complex bit. Each player has his favourite conventions and real passions. We started a game of compromises and refusals, always making an effort not to hurt the oth-er. It looked very much like the discussions engaged couples have: “Darling, on Wednes-day nights I have always been playing foot-ball with my friends and I’d rather not give it up” Sure dear, on Mondays I usually go to the cinema with my best friend, would you mind if…” I started it. My first suggestion was to add Gazzilli, which I believe is essen-tial in a natural system. Zia happily accepted it, although he had never played it before, so we added a not-too-complicated version of it. He showed me some sequences to raise opener’s majors which I approved. My sec-ond suggestion was to open 18-19 balanced hands 2 Clubs. I do not necessarily think that this is a beautiful agreement, but it has the remarkable advantage of taking these hands away from the 1C and 1D opening bids.

Game forcing hands can be opened 2D, which is ugly, but they rarely occur. Zia agreed to have a special opening for strong balanced hands, but asked me if I was joking about the frequence of game forcing hands. He likes using the game forcing opening bid even with marginal hands, so we came to the compromise of having 2C as GF and 2D as 18-19 balanced.

We went on for a while, agreeing each step of the sequences: two-way check back, reverses, Key Cards, and others. Once the system was agreed, we wrote it down in details and much to our surprise our “mostly natural” 5 card majors was over 100 pages long! (to be continued)

Winners of Alejandro Duplicates Game on March 24, 2015.

Justo Manlongat-Winston ArponHarumi Ieda-Sam NugentCharles-Lanni-Lerma LangResults at the Manila Peninsula for

March 25, 2015Justo Manlongat-Susan KweeNena Ramirez-Salma LallIsabel Maloles-Abla AssadResults at the Cambridge Circle for

March 26, 2015Glory del Rio & Inday CanoyEllie Esteban & Dina VelascoBambi Harper & Dolly Montenegro

Comments to: [email protected]

An amazing new partnership:

Giorgio Duboin & Zia Mahmood

SYLVIA LOPEZ ALEJANDRO

even with only four

members: Duboin-Mahmood, Madala-

za team won the 2015 SYLVIA LOPEZ

LEONARD

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland hits a tee shot during a practice round prior to the start of the 2015 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. AFP

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t hur sday : apri l 9 , 2 0 1 5

sports

By Peter Atencio

THERE were 17 veteran players, who showed up for the initial tryouts of the na-tional women’s volleyball team on Tuesday evening at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

17 spikersshow upfor PHtryouts

Jevoy Moreno of AutoFastion Racing Team is one of the contenders in the Front Wheel category.

Cagayaneyes lead

CAGAYAN Valley goes for win No. 2 against Baguio while Coast Guard seeks to rebound from an open-ing day loss against Per-petual Help as action in the Shakey’s V-League Season 12-Open Conference elims resumes today at The Arena in San Juan City.

The Rising Suns way-laid the Perpetual Help-Fourbees, 25-13, 25-12, 25-10, in last Sunday’s opener of the league where it all started with the for-mer champions fancied to get past the Summer Spik-ers in their 4 p.m. duel.

Though Coast Guard also dropped a 0-3 setback to Navy, the Lady Dolphins remain the slight favorites against the Fourbees in their 2 p.m. match with Rossan Fajardo tipped to lead their charge again.

National slalom’s 3rd leg set on SundayTHE third leg of the RACE Motor-sports’ National Slalom Grand Prix Series happens Sunday at the Robin-sons Nova Market.

Registration begins at 8 a.m., while open practice runs are set from 8 to 10 a.m. Free slalom clinics are of-fered from 9 to 10 a.m.

Official practice runs begin at 11 a.m., with each driver only giv-en one official practice run regard-less of how many classes or cars he/she is entered.

Participants can accumulate points for the overall and class champions.

Contenders must use the speci-fied Federal Tyres for at least nine (75%) legs of the series and must possess the Automobile Associa-tion of the Philippines Clubman license.

All drivers will be charged an additional one-time P300 fee per

leg for the Clubman License.The National Slalom event is af-

filiated with the Automobile Asso-ciation of the Philippines and FIA and is the longest-running motors-ports discipline in the country.

Expected to participate are the se-ries champions, headed by Dr. Pee-wee Mendiola of Big Chill; Milo and Noel and Estefano Rivera of Tough Gear; Cabanatuan Auto Club; MSM Motorsports; AF Racing Team; Team Makaluma; and Orthodox racing.

The event is sponsored by Shell Helix Motor Oils, with Pureplus Technology, Federal Tyres, Outlast Battery, Starbright Body Kits, Auto Transporter, Robinsons Nova Market, media partners Stoplight TV, Inside Mo-toring, DZRJ-Am, Pinoy Speed sa mga Pahayagan, Spin.Ph Sports Interactive Network, C! Maga-zine and Autocar Magazine.

But, only 16 joined the scrimmages after former La Salle ace Aby Marano signed up and quickly left due some other pressing commitment.

Nevertheless, national coach Sammy Acaylar is still satisfied at the number of players who came to join the practices, aimed at choosing the players who will make the national squad seeing action in the coming Asian Women’s Championship next month.

“We don’t expect na ma-rami ang pupunta sa tryouts. Siguro naisip nu’ng mga nag-punta that they have to be here. At least, nakita natin ang puso nila para sa bansa,” said Acaylar.

Acaylar is conducting the tryouts on behalf of the Phil-ippine Super Liga, while a separate set of scrimmages for the selection of the national under-23 team went on last Monday, with coach Anusorn Bundit running the training sessions.

Marano, who plays for Pet-ron in the ongoing PSL All-Filipino Conference, vowed to return in another session.

“I’m taking every opportu-nity to be part of the national team. I will be back next time,”

said Marano.Among those who showed

up were Rica Jane Enclona, Angelique Dionela, Melissa Gohing and Marleen Cortel, and all are seeing slots for libero.

Fil-American setter Iris Tolenada was around with Mary Grace Masangkay and Ivy Perez, and so were Michelle Gumabao, Jana Sta. Maria, Ana Diocareza and Rizza Jane Mandapat.

Marano signed up as middle spiker, with Lourdes Clemente, Jeannette Panaga, Coleen Bravo, Kim Dy and Abby Praca.

The Asian championships is set from May 20 to 28 in Beijing and in Tianjin.

On the other hand, players also took part in the first prac-tice of the women’s national under-23 volleyball team last Monday at the Blue Eagle gym.

University of Santo Tomas standouts Ria Meneses and EJ Laure joined Ateneo’s Alyssa Valdez and Jia Morado in the initial sessions.

They are preparing for the inaugural Asian Women’s Under-23 Volleyball Cham-pionship that will be held in Manila on May 1 to 9.

On to the finals. Mike Cortez of Meralco scores against Jeric Teng of Rain or Shine in a PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinal game won by the Painters, 107-98, at the Araneta Coliseum. With the win, Rain or Shine advance to the finals. LINO SANTOS

SummerLeague onFUSION Advertising Hub, in partnership with North Ball Sports Acad-emy, will hold a Summer League starting today at the Dapitan Sports Com-plex in Manila.

The tournament, which is supported by PNB, Petron and media partner Manila Bulletin, will be participated by seven schools, namely Es-cuela de Sophia of Caloo-can, Malayan High School of Science, St. Vincent School, King Montes-sori, Adamson University, Ernesto Rondon High School and Masterbox.

Petron facesCignal today

AFTER flirting with di-saster, Petron troops get back to the war zone, looking to pull off a more convincing win in the 2015 Philippine Super-liga women’s volleyball tournament All-Filipino Conference today at the Alonte Sports Arena in Binan, Laguna.

The unbeaten Blaze Spikers battle Cignal at 6:15 p.m., while Foton guns to solidify its hold on the second spot when it faces Mane ‘N Tail in the first game at 4:15 p.m. of this inter-club tourna-ment organized by Sports Core and backed by Asics, Mikasa, Senoh, Muel-ler Sports Medicine, Via Mare, LGR and Health-way Medical.

Games Today: (Alonte Sports Arena)

4:15 pm -- Foton vs Mane ‘N Tail

6:15 pm -- Cignal vs Petron

Games today2 p.m. – Fourbees vs Coast Guard

4 p.m. – Cagayan vs Baguio

Thai leads ladies’ golf by 4 shotsWICHANEE Meechai birdied two of the last four holes to fire a three-under 69 then watched compatriot Pennapa Pulsawath drop three strokes in the last two holes to seize a four-stroke lead as the Thais dominated the local aces at the start of the ICTSI Splendido Ladies In-vitational at Splendido Taal Golf Club in Tagaytay yesterday.

Meechai, who honed her talent and skills on the Ladies Asian Golf Tour, flashed top

form despite playing on an unfamiliar ter-rain, overcoming her three bogey mishaps with six birdies, the last two on Nos. 15 and 16 that got her past Pulsawath, who blew a two-under card with a bogey, double-bogey finish for a 73.

Sarah Ababa birdied No. 1 and held on with a slew of pars only to waver at the end of a scorching but windy day, bogeying the last three holes for a 74, five shots off the hot-starting Meechai.

Resolution no.9943 This pertains to the continuing efforts of the Commission on Elections to enforce campaign finance laws, rules and regulations, as mandated by the Constitution and existing laws. In response to numerous requests from candidates and parties who have been assessed late penalties or imposed administrative fines as a result of their non-compliance with existing campaign finance laws, rules and regulations, the Commission En Banc hereby APPROVES the following PROCEDURES providing for ALTERNATIVE MODES OF PAYMENT through which candidates and parties may settle their late penalties or administrative fines:

Section 1. Purpose of this Resolution. – This Resolution establishes the different modes of payment and their corresponding procedures for the guidance of all candidates, political parties, and party-list organizations that have been assessed with late penalties or imposed administrative fines due to their non-compliance with campaign finance laws, rules and regulations. It likewise provides the procedures for collection of payments and submission of collection reports to the Campaign Finance Unit for the guidance of the Commission’s field offices.

Section 2. Definition of Terms. – Whenever used in this Resolution, the following words shall mean:

(a) The “Unit” or “CFU” – refers to the Campaign Finance Unit, with office address at the 5th Floor Shipping Centre Building, 707 A. Soriano Avenue, Intramuros, Manila.

(b) Cash Division – refers to the Cash Division under the Administrative Services Department, with office address at the Ground Floor, COMELEC Annex Bldg., Postigo corner ArzobispoSts., Intramuros, Manila.

(c) Statement of Contributions and Expenditures or “SOCE” –refers to the full, true and itemized statement of all contributions and expenditure in connection with an election. All candidates and parties participating in an election are required to submit their SOCEs within thirty (30) days after the day of election. (See Section 14, Republic Act No. 7166)

(d) Postal Money Order – refers to the monetary instrument issued by the Philippine Postal Corporation, which may be purchased by any person.

(e) Manager’s or Cashier’s Check – refers to a check issued by any bank accredited by the BangkoSentralngPilipinas (BSP), which may be purchased by any person in accordance with the bank’s internal policies.

(f) Order of Payment – refers to a document issued by the CFU directing the recipient or addressee of the said order to settle the late penalty or administrative fine as indicated in the order. The Order of Payment is enclosed together with a Notice to Settle Late Penalty Payment or Administrative Fine.

(g) Notice to Settle Late Penalty – refers to a written document issued by the CFU addressed to a candidate or party, informing them of the late penalty imposed on their submissions as provided in En Banc Minute Resolutions Nos. 13-0775 dated 18 June 2013, 13-0823 dated 02 July 2013 and Formal Resolution No. 9849 promulgated on 13 February 2014.

(h) Notice to Settle Administrative Fine–refers to a written document issued by the CFU addressed to a candidate or party, informing them of the administrative fine imposed upon them for their failure to file their SOCEs, as required by Section 14 of Republic Act No. 7166.

(i) Special courier service – refers to messengerial or cargo-forwarding services provided by companies other than the Philippine Postal Corporation.

(j) PhilPost– refers to the Philippine Postal Corporation.

(k) COMELEC Field Offices – refers to any of the field offices maintained by the Commission on Elections, such as the Office of the City or Municipal Election Officer (OEO), Office of the Provincial Election Supervisor (OPES), or the Office of the Regional Election Director (ORED).

(l) Duly authorized representative – refers to a person authorized by a candidate or a party to act for or transact with the COMELEC on their behalf. Representatives of candidates or parties must be duly authorized in writing by their principal to act or transact on their behalf through an authorization letter or special power of attorney bearing the signature of the candidate or party treasurer, with a photocopy of the candidate or party treasurer’s identification card or other competent evidence of identity.

Section 3. Modes of Payment. – Upon receipt of the notice and the order of

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINESCOMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

Intramuros, Manila

ALTERNATIVE MODES OF PAYMENT FOR CANDIDATES OR PARTIES SUBJECT TO ADMINISTR ATIVE FINES OR LATE PENALTIES DUE TO NON-COMPLIANCE WITH CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS, RULES & REGULATIONS.x- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -x

Lim, C.R.S., Acting Chairman Parreño, A.A., Commissioner Guia, L.T.F., Commissioner Lim, A.D., Commissioner

Promulgated: April 7, 2015

payment, the candidate or party may choose to settle the late penalty or administrative fine through any of the following means or modes:

A. Postal Money Order

(1) The postal money order must contain the following details:Pay to COMMISSION ON ELECTIONSAddress Intramuros, Manila From Name of candidate

(2) It must have the name and signature of the local postmaster or any personnel of the local PhilPost Office duly authorized to issue and sign postal money orders.

(3) It must contain the stamp or seal of the local PhilPost Office reflecting the date of purchase of the postal money order.

(4) The amount of the postal money order must be exact or the same as the amount provided in the Order of Payment, excluding service fees and charges, which shall be shouldered by the candidate or party. No change shall be given in case the amount provided in the postal money order is greater than the amount provided in the Order of Payment.

(5) Postal money orders that do not conform to the aforementioned guidelines SHALL NOT BE ACCEPTED and will be returned to the sender.

B. Manager’s or Cashier’s Check

(1) Manager’s or Cashier’s Checks can be purchased by any person from any bank duly accredited by the BangkoSentralngPilipinas (BSP), subject to the said bank’s internal policies on the issuance of manager’s or cashier’s checks.

(2) Manager’s or Cashier’s Checks must be made payable to the “COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS”.

(3) The amount provided in the manager’s or cashier’s check must be exact or the same as the amount provided in the Order of Payment, excluding service fees and charges, which shall be shouldered by the candidate or party. No change shall be given in case the amount provided in the manager’s or cashier’s check is greater than the amount provided in the Order of Payment.

(4) Personal checks, or checks drawn against the funds of a person with a current or checking account, SHALL NOT BE ACCEPTED and will be returned to the sender.

C. Cash

(1) Cash payments must be made in person by the candidate or his/her duly authorized representative, following the procedures provided in Sections 4, 5 and 6.

(2) Cash sent through money remittance services or special courier services, such as, LBC PeraPadalaService or PesoPak Door-to-Door Delivery, Western Union, and other similar services SHALL NOT BE ACCEPTED and will be refused acceptance and referred back to the sender.

Section 4. Payment Procedures. – Depending on the chosen mode of payment, candidates or parties must follow these procedures:

A. Postal Money Order

(1) After purchase of the postal money order at the local office, the candidate or party must send ittogetherwith a copy of the Notice and Order of Payment, to this address:

CAMPAIGN FINANCE UNITCOMMISSION ON ELECTIONS5/F SHIPPING CENTRE BLDG.707 A. SORIANO AVENUEINTRAMUROS, MANILA 1002

(2) The candidate or party may choose to send the postal money order and a copy of the Notice and Order of Payment through any reliable delivery service such asPhilPost’s priority or express mail service, registered mail, or any special courier service, preferably those that allow the sender to track his/her document package or parcel and to determine whether it has been successfully delivered to its intended destination.

(3) The date of sending must be clearly indicated on the document packet, envelope or package, for the purpose of reckoning compliance with the ten (10)-day period provided in the Notice.

B. Manager’s or Cashier’s Checks

(1) After purchasing a manager’s or cashier’s check at any BSP-accredited bank, the candidate or party must send ittogether with a copy of the Notice and Order of Payment, to this address:

CAMPAIGN FINANCE UNITCOMMISSION ON ELECTIONS5/F SHIPPING CENTRE BLDG.707 A. SORIANO AVENUEINTRAMUROS, MANILA 1002

(2) The candidate or party may choose to send the manager’s or cashier’s check and a copy of the Notice and Order of Payment through any reliable delivery service such as PhilPost’s priority or express mail service, registered mail, or any special courier service, preferably those that allow the sender to track his/her document package or parcel and to determine whether it has been successfully delivered to its intended destination.

9943This pertains to the continuing efforts of the Commission on Elections to enforce

Promulgated:

April 7, 2015 April 7, 2015

A15T H U R S D AY : A P R I L 9, 2 0 1 5

[email protected]

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK


Casimero-Thai fight a done dealBy Ronnie Nathanielsz

FORMER International Boxing Federation light � yweight champion Johnreil Casimero’s mandatory title shot against � yweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng of � ailand is scheduled to take place in � ailand, but no date has yet been decided on.

Sammy Gello-ani, who co-promotes Casimero with international promoter and matchmaker Sampson Lewkowicz, told the Standard/boxingmirror.com, that the title fight is a done deal and that the Thai promoter is looking for a date.

Asked whether he was concerned about the

possibility of a hometown decision in Thailand, Gello-ani said: “It’s not a problem because Casimero is used to fighting abroad and winning.”

Casimero is currently deep in training in Las Vegas, along with featherweight Marvelous Marvin Sonsona and is reportedly in top shape.

The 25-year-old Casimero has a record

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

6/45 00-00-00-00-00-00

4 DIGITS 0-0-0-0

3 DIGITS 0-0-0

P0 M+

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

3 DIGITS 0-0-0

4 DIGITS 0-0-0-0

6/55 00-00-00-00-00-00 P0 M+M+

LOTTO RESULTS

2 EZ2 0-0

of 21-2 with 13 knockouts. He earned a mandatory title shot with a rousing second-round TKO of Puerto Rico’s Armando Santos in a flyweight eliminator in Puerto Rico.

Meanwhile, John Mark Apolinario, who faces undefeated American Jessie Magdaleno in Laredo, Texas on Saturday, reportedly sneaked out of the country without the knowledge of his promoter Gello-ani, the individual, who secured a US visa for the boxer.

Gello-ani said he does not know, who arranged the fight against the 23-year-old Magdaleno, who has a record of 20-0 with 15 knockouts and is coming off an eight-round unanimous decision over tough Erik Ruiz last Jan. 10.

(3) The date of sending must be clearly indicated on the document packet, envelope or package, for the purpose of reckoning compliance with the ten (10)-day period provided in the Notice.

C. Cash

Should the candidate or party prefer to settle the late penalty or administrative fine through cash, they may only do so through the following authorized COMELEC offices:

(1) Cash Division – detailed instructions on how to pay in cash to the COMELEC’s Cash Division are outlined in Section 5.

(2) Offices of the Election Officer, Provincial Election Supervisor, Regional Election Director – detailed instructions on how to pay in cash to any of the COMELEC Field Offices are outlined in Section 6.

Section 5. Cash payments paid through the Cashiers of the Cash Division. – For cash payments made directly to the cashiers of the Cash Division located at the ground floor of the COMELEC Annex Building, candidates or parties must follow the following procedures:

(1) As mentioned in Section 3 (C) (1), only cash payments made in person by the candidate or party treasurer, or their duly authorized representatives, will be accepted by the cashiers of the Cash Division.

(2) Cash payments must be accompanied by an Order of Payment before the same can be accepted by the Cash Division.

(3) Upon completing the payment, the candidate or party or their duly authorized representativewill be issued an Official Receipt (OR).

(4) Said Official Receipt must be presented to the CFU Office to update the candidate’s or party’s records.

(5) In case the candidate or party had appointed a duly authorized representative to act or transact on their behalf, the authorization letter or special power of attorney must be submitted to the CFU.

(6) The CFU, upon presentation of the Official Receipt, shall photocopy the same for its records. The original copy of the Official Receipt shall then be returned to the candidate, party or their duly authorized representative.

Section 6. Cash payments paid through any of the COMELEC Field Offices. – For cash payments made to any of the COMELEC’s field offices, candidates or parties must follow the following procedures:

(1) As mentioned in Section 3 (C) (1) and Section 5 (1),only cash payments made in person by the candidate or party treasurer, or their duly authorized representatives, will be accepted by the COMELEC Field Offices.

(2) Cash payments must be accompanied by an Order of Paymentand a copy of the Notice to Settle Late Penalty or Administrative Fine, whichever the case may be, before it can be accepted by the COMELEC Field Office.

(3) The COMELEC Field Office shall issue an Official Receipt, with the name of the candidate or party as the PAYOR.

(4) After issuance of the Official Receipt, the Field Office that collected the payment must submit a Collection Report to the CFU, in accordance with the guidelines provided in Section 6.

(5) The processing of all late penalty or administrative fine collections by the Field Office shall follow the same Guidelines on the issuance of official Receipts, Remittance and RepoRtinG of cash collections by comelec field offices, as provided in En Banc Minute Resolution No. 14-0595 dated 19 August 2014.

Section 7. Field Office Collection Report; Required Contents. – Field offices shall abide by the following guidelines in the preparation of their Collection Report to the Campaign Finance Unit:

(1) The Collection Report must have acover or transmittal Memorandum addressed to the Campaign Finance Unit listing the contents of the

attached documents. A sample template of this cover or transmittal Memorandum is attached to this Resolution as Annex “1”.

(2) The main body of the Collection Report must contain the following information:

a) Name of the candidate or party from whom the late penalty or administrative fine was collected from

b) Elective position sought c) Election year when candidate or party had participated in

(e.g. 2007, 2010, 2013)d) Amount collected from the candidate or partye) Official Receipt Numberf) Date of Paymentg) Nature of the fee charged against the candidate or party,

i.e. whether the amount collected pertains to a late penalty or administrative fine

A sample template of the Collection Report is attached to this Resolution as Annex “2”.

(3) The following documents must be attached to the Collection Report:

a) Photocopy the Official Receipt issued by the Field Office to the candidate or party

b) Photocopy of the Order of Payment and Notice to Settle Late Penalty or Administrative Fine

c) Photocopy of the Authorization Letter or Special Power of Attorney, only in cases where the candidate or party had appointed a duly authorized representative to act on their behalf.

Section 8. Submission by the Field Office of the Collection Report; Frequency of Collection Report Submission. – Considering the varying distances of COMELEC field offices vis-à-vis the nearest branch of LandBank of the Philippines, Election Officers, Provincial Election Supervisors, or Regional Election Directors may opt to submit weekly or bi-monthly (twice a month or once every two weeks) collection reports, depending on the required frequency of deposit provided in the Guidelines on the issuance of official Receipts, Remittance and RepoRtinG of cash collections by comelec field offices, as provided in En Banc Minute Resolution No. 14-0595 dated 19 August 2014.

Section 9. Transitory Provision. – All pending issues with respect to payments made prior to the promulgation of this Resolution shall be resolved in accordance with existing policies and processes.

Section 10. Information dissemination. – The Education and Information Department shall be responsible in providing the general public with copies of this Resolution upon request. The Office of the Deputy Executive Director for Operations shall disseminate this Resolution to all field offices of the Commission.

Section 11. Effectivity. – This Resolution shall be published in two (2) daily newspapers of general circulation and shall take effect within seven (7) days after its publication.

SO ORDERED.

CHRISTIAN ROBERT S. LIM Acting Chairman

AL A. PARREÑO LUIE TITO F. GUIA Commissioner Commissioner

ARTHUR D. LIM Commissioner

(TS-APR. 9, 2015)

CHRISTIAN ROBERT S. LIMActing Chairman

AL A. PARREÑO LUIE TITO F. GUIACommissioner

ARTHUR D. LIMCommissioner



t h u r s D AY : A p r i l 9, 2 0 1 5

A16riErA u. MAll Ari

E D I T O R

[email protected]

rEuEl viDAlA S S I S TA N T E D I T O R

sports

Both Purefoods and Talk ‘N Text will be shooting for that upperhand when they clash again in Game 3 of their best-of-five tussle in the semifinals of the 2015 Philippine Basketball Association Commis-sioner’s Cup.

The pivotal Game 3 in this all-out war is scheduled at 7 p.m.

today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum as the Star Hot-shots and the Tro-pang Texters break their 1-1 deadlock.

Talk ‘N Text coach Jong Ui-chico has directed his wards to keep their focus and head togeth-er as the series now boils down to poise and composure.

‘’Emotions are running high and

By Jeric Lopez

WHO will grab a vital 2-1 series lead?

turn to A15

Casimerofight withThai a done deal

that’s what we expected because these two teams find ways to win,’’ said Uichico. ‘’We just want to make sure that we keep our game going. We can’t tell our players to back down, because Purefoods is not going to back down.’’

Wanting no part of a 0-2 deficit, Talk ‘N Text stepped it up in the clutch in Game 2 last Monday as it topped Purefoods, 93-77, and square the competitive series.

‘’Kung natalo kami and nag-ing 0-2, that will be so hard to come back from. But now, we’re in a good spot and we have a fair chance of making the finals, so we

need to keep playing hard to get there,’’ said Uichico.

Jayson Castro, once again a strong candidate for Best Player of the Conference, and upstart spitfire Kevin Alas, joined hands in that decisive fourth-period storm. Uichico will rely on them again, as well as solid import Ivan Johnson.

In the first two games, Den-zel Bowles have been spectacu-lar, averaging an astounding 42 points per game. However, the obvious problem for Purefoods is the limited support he is get-ting from his locals.

Roachgives

Pacmana day off

By ronnie nathanielsz

TRAINER Freddie Roach gave his prized possession Manny Pacquiao, the eight-division world champion, the day off from sparring yesterday, over concern that he may be over-training with still just over three weeks before his May 2 show-down with undefeated World Boxing Council/World Boxing Association welterweight cham-pion Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Top Rank publicist Fred Sternberg told the Standard/boxingmirror.com that Pacqui-ao ran at the Pan Pacific Park in the morning and described it as “a good run and fast-paced.”

He allayed fears that Pac-quiao was tired or under the weather, because it was raining in Los Angeles and said Roach was genuinely concerned that the Filipino ring icon was like-ly to over-train and “wants to hold him back.”

Sternberg said: “Freddie doesn’t want him to leave the fight in the gym.”

Tuesday was supposed to be the day when Roach was scheduled to get Pacquiao to spar 12 rounds with two new sparring partners he had brought in. There was no word on the identity of the two new sparring partners.

ABS-CBN’s Dyan Castillejo reported that the sparring was designed to see how well Pacquiao executes their game plan, as well as to test his con-ditioning and punching power.

turn to A12

Rory, Bubbawary of Tiger

Trainer Freddie Roach decided to give Manny Pacquiao a one-day break to prevent him from peaking too soon.

Hotshots, Texters gunfor 2-1 semifinal lead

Game today (Semifinals, Game 3 - Smart

Araneta Coliseum)7 p.m. • Purefoods vs.

Talk ‘N Text

RODERICK T. DELA CRUZASSISTANT EDITOR B1

THURSDAY: APRIL 9, 2015

[email protected]@gmail.com



RAY S. EÑANOEDITOR

BUSINESS

Exports shrink 3.1%

Govt keeping 8% growth target

Power rates higher in April

B3 Manila Water expansion upB4

Bangko Sentral ng PilipinasWednesday, April 8, 2015

Foreign exchange rateCurrency Unit US Dollar PesoUnited States Dollar 1.000000 44.4840

Japan Yen 0.008310 0.3697

UK Pound 1.481400 65.8986

Hong Kong Dollar 0.129012 5.7390

Switzerland Franc 1.034340 46.0116

Canada Dollar 0.799424 35.5616

Singapore Dollar 0.735078 32.6992

Australia Dollar 0.764292 33.9988

Bahrain Dinar 2.652590 117.9978

Saudi Arabia Rial 0.266603 11.8596

Brunei Dollar 0.732386 32.5795

Indonesia Rupiah 0.000077 0.0034

Thailand Baht 0.030713 1.3662

UAE Dirham 0.272257 12.1111

Euro Euro 1.080900 48.0828

Korea Won 0.000915 0.0407

China Yuan 0.161335 7.1768

India Rupee 0.016067 0.7147

Malaysia Ringgit 0.275141 12.2394

New Zealand Dollar 0.750694 33.3939

Taiwan Dollar 0.032220 1.4333 Source: PDS Bridge

8,052.6945.99

Closing April 8, 2015PSe comPoSite index

46

45

44

43

42

HIGH P44.460 LOW P44.615 AVERAGE P44.559

Closing APRIL 8, 2015PeSo-dollar rate

VOLUME 707.400M

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

oilPriceS today

P508.00-P728.00LPG/11-kg tank

P38.40-P52.05Unleaded Gasoline

P26.90-P43.80Diesel

P35.40-P39.15Kerosene

P23.70-P24.40Auto LPG

todayP26.90-P43.80

P35.40-P39.15

P23.70-P24.40

PP38.40-P52.05

8500

8000

7500

7000

6500

6000

Closing APRIL 8, 2015

P44.465CLOSE

BPI stockholders. Bank of the Philippine Islands, the country’s third largest lender, held its annual stockholders meeting in Makati City on Wednesday. Shown addressing the stockholders are (from left) BPI president and chief executive Cezar Conzing, BPI chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala and BPI director Fernando Zobel de Ayala. BPI posted a net income of P18 billion in 2014, down 4 percent from P18.8 billion in 2013, on lower trading gains. EY ACASIO

By Julito G. Rada

EXPORTS shrank 3.1 percent in February from a year ago, on sluggish global demand and lower commodity prices, the government said Wednesday.

This marked the third straight month when merchandise exports declined year-on-year, following the 0.5 percent drop in January and 3-percent slide in December 2014.

Exports in the first two months of 2015 also fell 1.8 percent, below the government’s export growth target of 7 percent for the year and the actual 9-percent

expansion in 2014.Data from the Philippine

Statistics Authority showed merchandise exports amounted to $4.51 billion in February, down from $4.66 billion registered in the same month last year.

The National Economic and Development Authority said agricultural products, manufactured goods and

petroleum products posted lower export sales in February, reflecting the weak demand in foreign markets.

“Majority of the major economies in East and Southeast Asia registered negative export performance in February 2015, with only PR [People’s Republic] China in the positive territory,” Economic Planning Secretary and Neda director-general Arsenio Balisacan said in a statement.

“This partly mirrors the still fragile global economy, which is particularly reflected in the country’s weak turnout of merchandise exports on the back of lower demand from the

country’s major trade partners, Japan and China,” Balisacan said.

“Among major commodity items that contributed to the lower exports outturn are agro-based products and manufactures, which recorded significant declines in shipments to Japan and PR China,” Balisacan said.

Total export revenues from agro-based products contracted 20.1 percent in February to $327 million from $409 million a year ago, pulled down by lower earnings of fruits, vegetables and sugar.

Earnings from exported manufactured goods declined 1.8 percent to $3.8 billion in February 2015 from $3.9 billion in February 2014, due to lower receipts from wood manufactures, machinery and transport equipment.

“The recorded contractions in these manufactured commodities slightly outweighed the year-on-year gains in the value of electronic products, most notably of semiconductors, garments, and chemicals,” Balisacan said.

He said lower export volume and the plummeting global prices of crude oil continued to drag down revenues of petroleum products, which contracted 51.5 percent during the period.

GOVERNMENT economic managers are keeping the gross domestic product growth target of 7 percent to 8 percent for 2015 and 2016, despite the drop in ex-ports in the first two months.

“With the kind of informa-tion we have now, I think 7 to 8 percent is within reach, with sufficient confidence. It is still early. It’s just the start of the sec-ond quarter, but we are hoping,

with the help of no major shocks in domestic and external for the rest of the year,” Economic Plan-ning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said in a news briefing.

“So far, we are seeing quite ro-bust growth for the year… We are comfortable we are going to hit the target,” said Balisacan, who is also the director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority.

The economy grew 6.1 percent in 2014, slower than the 7.2-per-cent expansion in 2013, mainly due to government underspend-ing. Economists said the gov-ernment became too cautious to spend, after the Supreme Court ruled the Disbursement Acceler-ation Program of the Aquino ad-ministration as unconstitutional. The high tribunal later reversed its decision. Julito G. Rada

Metrobankbullish on loansB6


BUSINESSTHURSDAY: APRIL 9, 2015

B2

M S T52 Weeks Previous % Net Foreign High Low STOCKS Close High Low Close Change Volume Trade/Buying

MST BuSineSS Daily STockS Review Wednesday, april 8, 2015

FINANCIAL7.88 2.5 AG Finance 7.24 7.1 6.9 7.1 -1.93 87,000 75.3 66 Asia United Bank 70.95 71 70.9 71 0.07 16,240 918,116.50124.4 84.6 Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 119.90 119.90 118.20 118.50 -1.17 3,861,960 -70,355,084.00104 84.5 Bank of PI 102.00 102.50 99.95 102.50 0.49 977,660 -5,749,063.5063 45.8 China Bank 46.6 46.6 45.8 45.8 -1.72 597,900 55,650.002.49 1.97 BDO Leasing & Fin. INc. 2.28 2.33 2.29 2.33 2.19 8,000 4.2 2.03 Bright Kindle Resources 2.25 2.24 2.20 2.20 -2.22 58,000 18.48 12.02 COL Financial 16.5 16.76 16.5 16.76 1.58 7,400 39,600.0031.6 23.55 Eastwest Bank 24.4 24.75 24.45 24.75 1.43 792,100 9.5 6.3 Filipino Fund Inc. 9.06 9.30 8.72 9.10 0.44 31,700 0.92 0.74 First Abacus 0.72 0.72 0.72 0.72 0.00 54,000 890 625 Manulife Fin. Corp. 728.00 760.00 760.00 760.00 4.40 40 99.4 78 Metrobank 99 98.95 97.5 97.9 -1.11 3,056,680 8,733,067.001.46 0.9 Natl. Reinsurance Corp. 0.97 0.98 0.97 0.98 1.03 1,117,000 30.5 18.02 PB Bank 18.40 18.60 18.30 18.30 -0.54 12,200 54,900.0075 58 Phil Bank of Comm 31.00 31.05 31.00 31.00 0.00 16,300 94.95 76.5 Phil. National Bank 75.50 76.45 75.45 75.45 -0.07 627,310 -18,218,676.00137 95 Phil. Savings Bank 95.00 95.00 88.35 94.90 -0.11 1,060 361.2 276 PSE Inc. 330 336 330 336 1.82 9,900 2,660,420.0059 45 RCBC À’ 45.7 45.75 44.9 45 -1.53 340,300 -12,058,295.00174.8 107.6 Security Bank 176 177 172.5 177 0.57 634,080 -15,062,960.001700 1200 Sun Life Financial 1360.00 1360.00 1330.00 1330.00 -2.21 395 13,400.00127.9 66 Union Bank 69.10 69.35 69.05 69.10 0.00 5,800 -61,474.003.26 2.65 Vantage Equities 3.1 3.12 3.1 3.1 0.00 16,000

INDUSTRIAL47 35.6 Aboitiz Power Corp. 45.25 45.2 44.5 45.2 -0.11 1,628,700 -21,354,225.005 1.6 Agrinurture Inc. 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.65 0.00 1,000 1,650.001.66 1.04 Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 1.1 1.1 1.09 1.1 0.00 101,000 2.36 1.41 Alsons Cons. 2.04 2.04 2.02 2.02 -0.98 3,524,000 15.3 7.92 Asiabest Group 12.4 12.6 12.24 12.38 -0.16 102,800 -1,260.00113 40.3 Bogo Medelin 50 50 50 50 0.00 610 148 32 C. Azuc De Tarlac 87.05 87.00 87.00 87.00 -0.06 410 20.6 14.6 Century Food 20 20.25 19.62 19.66 -1.70 1,249,000 -2,770,337.00125 62.5 Chemphil 225 300 225 243 8.00 3,590 32 10.08 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 34.5 36 33 34.4 -0.29 349,700 20,700.0065.8 29.15 Concepcion 59.2 59.9 59.25 59.7 0.84 16,220 -535,253.004.57 1.04 Da Vinci Capital 1.85 1.87 1.8 1.8 -2.70 91,000 23.35 10.72 Del Monte 12.18 12.18 11.8 11.88 -2.46 72,800 21.6 8.44 DNL Industries Inc. 19.320 19.200 18.7 18.700 -3.21 19,382,300 -116,827,432.0012.98 9.79 Emperador 11.60 11.60 11.42 11.42 -1.55 1,106,100 -2,890,292.009.13 5.43 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 8.38 8.34 8.21 8.25 -1.55 32,521,300 -151,458,494.0012.34 9.54 EEI 9.67 9.80 9.66 9.80 1.34 1,596,000 -9,006,515.002.89 1.06 Euro-Med Lab 2.35 2.58 2.3 2.36 0.43 361,000 17 8.61 Federal Res. Inv. Group 18.2 23.5 18.7 23.4 28.57 1,073,900 96,000.0031.8 18.06 First Gen Corp. 30.5 30.5 29.8 30 -1.64 1,993,300 -38,637,380.00109 67.9 First Holdings ‘A’ 99 99.5 98.5 98.8 -0.20 217,080 16,899,098.5020.75 14 Ginebra San Miguel Inc. 15.20 15.20 15.20 15.20 0.00 100 0.820 0.0076 Greenergy 0.4700 0.4700 0.4700 0.4700 0.00 60,000 15.3 13.24 Holcim Philippines Inc. 14.32 14.32 14.30 14.32 0.00 34,800 9.4 3.12 Integ. Micro-Electronics 6.2 6.3 6.2 6.3 1.61 1,256,700 744,667.000.98 0.395 Ionics Inc 0.600 0.630 0.580 0.610 1.67 1,130,000 241 168 Jollibee Foods Corp. 224.00 224.00 217.00 217.40 -2.95 423,090 -58,053,892.0012.5 8.65 Lafarge Rep 9.3 9.35 9.28 9.3 0.00 2,099,400 -479,196.003.95 2.3 LMG Chemicals 2.68 2.69 2.55 2.65 -1.12 25,000 33.9 24.4 Manila Water Co. Inc. 26.7 27.15 26.75 26.85 0.56 327,800 3,431,010.0090 16.2 Maxs Group 25.25 26.45 25.2 25.7 1.78 571,100 258,050.0013.98 7.62 Megawide 7.820 7.900 7.820 7.850 0.38 82,300 -414,795.00292.4 250.2 Mla. Elect. Co À’ 265.00 265.80 262.00 263.00 -0.75 505,680 -16,446,118.005 3.37 Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp. 3.83 4.47 4.16 4.30 12.27 2,578,000 5.25 3.87 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 4.09 4.12 4.07 4.12 0.73 7,000 13.04 9 Petron Corporation 9.79 9.85 9.68 9.69 -1.02 2,137,500 -2,470,073.0014.5 9.94 Phinma Corporation 11.50 11.70 11.48 11.50 0.00 7,800 7.03 3.03 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 4.16 4.16 4.01 4.14 -0.48 800,000 3.4 2.22 Phoenix Semiconductor 2.59 2.60 2.54 2.56 -1.16 752,000 4.5 1 Pryce Corp. À’ 3.25 3.36 3 3.1 -4.62 1,931,000 6.68 4.72 RFM Corporation 4.99 4.99 4.83 4.94 -1.00 1,968,000 -6,434,170.008.1 6 Roxas Holdings 6.33 6.25 6.15 6.16 -2.69 19,800 253 201.6 San Miguel’Pure Foods `B’ 203.2 204 203 203.2 0.00 126,860 -5,216,062.003.28 1.67 Splash Corporation 1.66 1.7 1.66 1.66 0.00 149,000 0.315 0.122 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.170 0.172 0.168 0.170 0.00 3,800,000 2.5 1.02 TKC Steel Corp. 1.23 1.30 1.30 1.30 5.69 28,000 2.68 2.01 Trans-Asia Oil 2.25 2.25 2.20 2.24 -0.44 2,548,000 226.6 143.4 Universal Robina 230 231 224.8 227.4 -1.13 1,190,660 -94,060,458.005.5 4.28 Victorias Milling 4.5 4.54 4.5 4.54 0.89 55,000 63,000.001.3 0.670 Vitarich Corp. 0.71 0.72 0.69 0.72 1.41 906,000 -14,000.002.17 1.39 Vulcan Ind’l. 1.47 1.47 1.45 1.47 0.00 80,000

HOLDING FIRMS0.7 0.45 Abacus Cons. À’ 0.470 0.470 0.470 0.470 0.00 20,000 59.2 48.1 Aboitiz Equity 58.00 58.15 57.50 57.80 -0.34 624,750 -11,243,448.5031.85 20.85 Alliance Global Inc. 27.00 27.15 26.70 26.90 -0.37 8,324,800 -67,943,355.002.16 1.6 Anglo Holdings A 1.38 1.39 1.35 1.39 0.72 2,251,000 7.39 6.62 Anscor À’ 7.05 7.05 7.04 7.04 -0.14 10,000 2.27 1.210 Asia Amalgamated A 1.85 1.80 1.80 1.80 -2.70 2,000 3.4 1.4 ATN Holdings A 2.98 2.95 2.86 2.89 -3.02 803,000 3.35 1.6 ATN Holdings B 2.9 3.05 2.8 3.05 5.17 103,000 58,000.00800 600 Ayala Corp À’ 800.5 806.5 792 800 -0.06 518,360 58,906,505.0011.06 7.390 Cosco Capital 8.7 8.68 8.65 8.66 -0.46 2,555,700 3,012,272.0084 14.18 DMCI Holdings 15.50 15.60 15.38 15.40 -0.65 3,489,900 3,012,272.005.14 4.25 Filinvest Dev. Corp. 4.48 4.55 4.47 4.55 1.56 22,000 0.66 0.144 Forum Pacific 0.325 0.330 0.320 0.325 0.00 400,000 1380 818 GT Capital 1346 1360 1335 1344 -0.15 150,150 3,562,005.006.68 5.3 House of Inv. 6.30 6.20 6.20 6.20 -1.59 100,000 127,720.0072.6 46.6 JG Summit Holdings 74.50 75.35 73.50 74.70 0.27 2,452,000 35,215,968.509.25 4.43 Lopez Holdings Corp. 8.8 8.82 8.6 8.77 -0.34 1,933,500 -1,714,900.000.9 0.59 Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. 0.81 0.83 0.8 0.82 1.23 671,000 18.9 12 LT Group 16.84 16.98 16.64 16.78 -0.36 3,384,600 7,966,916.000.73 0.580 Mabuhay Holdings À’ 0.64 0.67 0.65 0.67 4.69 215,000 5.53 4.22 Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. 4.84 4.84 4.62 4.65 -3.93 84,354,000 -101,730,290.006.55 4.5 Minerales Industrias Corp. 5.2 5.01 5.01 5.01 -3.65 5,000 2.31 1.23 Prime Media Hldg 1.370 1.370 1.370 1.370 0.00 5,000 0.84 0.450 Prime Orion 0.750 0.780 0.760 0.780 4.00 1,543,000 2.99 2.26 Republic Glass ‘A’ 2.5 2.44 2.44 2.44 -2.40 230,000 87 66.7 San Miguel Corp À’ 67.80 68.00 67.10 67.20 -0.88 405,820 -6,760,177.00934 709.5 SM Investments Inc. 947.50 947.00 934.00 938.00 -1.00 312,540 -50,851,860.002.2 1.13 Solid Group Inc. 1.23 1.20 1.20 1.20 -2.44 464,000 -240,000.00156 85.2 Top Frontier 100.10 101.00 100.00 101.00 0.90 2,640 30,000.000.710 0.200 Unioil Res. & Hldgs 0.3950 0.4150 0.3900 0.4050 2.53 10,580,000 0.435 0.173 Wellex Industries 0.2450 0.2450 0.2340 0.2450 0.00 300,000 0.510 0.310 Zeus Holdings 0.330 0.310 0.315 0.330 0.00 4,130,000

P R O P E R T Y10.5 6.01 8990 HLDG 8.650 8.650 8.630 8.640 -0.12 938,600 807,357.0026.95 12 Anchor Land Holdings Inc. 10.02 12.16 10.20 10.70 6.79 33,900 1.99 0.91 A. Brown Co., Inc. 0.91 0.94 0.90 0.91 0.00 1,242,000 2.07 1.29 Araneta Prop À’ 1.320 1.310 1.310 1.310 -0.76 97,000 0.375 0.192 Arthaland Corp. 0.240 0.240 0.240 0.240 0.00 570,000 40 29.1 Ayala Land `B’ 40.00 40.10 39.40 40.00 0.00 12,877,400 141,109,765.006.15 4.1 Belle Corp. À’ 4.15 4.24 4.18 4.22 1.69 1,590,000 556,380.005.4 4.96 Cebu Holdings 5.2 5.2 5.2 5.2 0.00 88,500 5.6 2.8 Cebu Prop. À’ 6.2 6.49 6.49 6.49 4.68 1,300 7.1 4.6 Cebu Prop. `B’ 6.2 6.48 6.48 6.48 4.52 1,500 1.54 0.89 Century Property 0.95 0.95 0.93 0.95 0.00 1,710,000 434,030.00

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

Trading SummarySHARES VALUE

FINANCIAL 14,670,317 1,355,630,546.231INDUSTRIAL 91,082,319 1,539,268,376.288HOLDING FIRMS 131,159,595 2,287,666,503.595PROPERTY 211,847,343 1,297,910,772.64SERVICES 145,291,232 1,398,624,563.34MINING & OIL 715,178,854 467,771,616.94GRAND TOTAL 1,311,509,060 8,370,594,534.031

FINANCIAL 1,857.29 (down) 8.82INDUSTRIAL 12,716.94 (down) 154.12HOLDING FIRMS 7,186.96 (down) 40.64PROPERTY 3,276.89 (down) 15.42SERVICES 2,167.42 (up) 8.03MINING & OIL 15,497.87 (down) 42.96PSEI 8,052.69 (down) 45.99All Shares Index 4,601.10 (down) 18.69

Gainers: 83; Losers: 86; Unchanged: 58; Total: 227

STOCKS Close(P)

Change(%)

Jackstones 2.68 -8.84

Manila Mining `B' 0.0150 -6.25

Petroenergy Res. Corp. 5.53 -6.11

Pryce Corp. À' 3.1 -4.62

Ferronickel 2.2 -4.35

NOW Corp. 0.470 -4.08

Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. 4.65 -3.93

Acesite Hotel 1.04 -3.70

Minerales Industrias Corp. 5.01 -3.65

DNL Industries Inc. 18.700 -3.21

Top LoSerSSTOCKS Close

(P)Change

(%)

Swift Pref 2.7 50.00

Federal Res. Inv. Group 23.4 28.57

Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp. 4.30 12.27

Chemphil 243 8.00

IP E-Game Ventures Inc. 0.015 7.14

Anchor Land Holdings Inc. 10.70 6.79

TKC Steel Corp. 1.30 5.69

Cyber Bay Corp. 0.475 5.56

Abra Mining 0.0058 5.45

ATN Holdings B 3.05 5.17

Top gainerS

1.48 0.97 Cityland Dev. À’ 1.01 1.01 1.01 1.01 0.00 92,000 0.201 0.083 Crown Equities Inc. 0.149 0.152 0.147 0.149 0.00 14,110,000 0.98 0.445 Cyber Bay Corp. 0.450 0.475 0.450 0.475 5.56 320,000 1.09 0.85 Empire East Land 0.900 0.900 0.880 0.880 -2.22 139,000 -88,000.000.305 0.188 Ever Gotesco 0.197 0.197 0.197 0.197 0.00 300,000 2.25 1.4 Global-Estate 1.49 1.52 1.50 1.50 0.67 2,176,000 -1,566,720.001.87 1.42 Filinvest Land,Inc. 1.89 1.96 1.88 1.95 3.17 36,417,000 27,286,050.001.8 1.19 Interport À’ 1.47 1.47 1.42 1.47 0.00 579,000 5.73 4.13 Megaworld 5.66 5.8 5.61 5.76 1.77 39,554,400 72,657,258.000.180 0.090 MRC Allied Ind. 0.129 0.138 0.130 0.132 2.33 58,810,000 789,930.000.470 0.325 Phil. Estates Corp. 0.3550 0.3550 0.3400 0.3550 0.00 1,920,000 0.72 0.39 Phil. Realty À’ 0.5000 0.5300 0.4950 0.5200 4.00 145,000 8.54 2.57 Primex Corp. 7.94 7.95 7.81 7.81 -1.64 286,000 31.8 21.35 Robinson’s Land `B’ 29.95 31.10 29.20 29.25 -2.34 1,399,700 -13,495,020.002.29 1.64 Rockwell 1.76 1.79 1.76 1.79 1.70 582,000 357,330.0020.6 15.08 SM Prime Holdings 21.05 21.05 20.40 20.60 -2.14 10,755,400 26,187,850.001.02 0.69 Sta. Lucia Land Inc. 0.83 0.82 0.81 0.82 -1.20 1,429,000 7.56 3.38 Starmalls 7.47 7.7 7.43 7.7 3.08 13,786,900 1.96 1 Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. 1.100 1.100 1.050 1.100 0.00 51,000 8.59 5.69 Vista Land & Lifescapes 8.250 8.230 8.150 8.200 -0.61 9,813,300 -3,862,223.00

S E R V I C E S10.5 1.97 2GO Group’ 6.85 6.99 6.52 6.89 0.58 430,400 15,640.0066 32.5 ABS-CBN 61.25 61.45 61 61.3 0.08 52,330 1.44 1 Acesite Hotel 1.08 1.09 1.04 1.04 -3.70 132,000 1.09 0.6 APC Group, Inc. 0.690 0.690 0.680 0.690 0.00 1,081,000 -680,000.0012.46 10 Asian Terminals Inc. 14 14 14 14 0.00 100 15.82 9.61 Bloomberry 11.18 11.54 11.04 11.42 2.15 21,178,500 63,788,658.000.1460 0.0770 Boulevard Holdings 0.1150 0.1190 0.1150 0.1170 1.74 68,140,000 -356,000.004.61 2.95 Calata Corp. 3.74 3.76 3.73 3.76 0.53 75,000 99.1 46.55 Cebu Air Inc. (5J) 85.2 86.15 85.3 86 0.94 823,530 -31,560,845.5012.3 10.14 Centro Esc. Univ. 10.06 10.06 10.06 10.06 0.00 4,200 9 5.88 DFNN Inc. 7.00 7.05 6.98 6.98 -0.29 24,300 1700 830 FEUI 980 985 980 985 0.51 50 2090 1600 Globe Telecom 2210 2210 2156 2200 -0.45 138,960 -31,410,760.008.41 5.95 GMA Network Inc. 6.53 6.54 6.45 6.53 0.00 99,500 1.97 1.36 Harbor Star 1.54 1.54 1.54 1.54 0.00 198,000 119.5 105 I.C.T.S.I. 108 110.9 107 109.5 1.39 1,063,450 -15,739,494.007 3.01 Imperial Res. À’ 6.51 6.51 6.51 6.51 0.00 1,200 12.5 8.72 IPeople Inc. À’ 11.8 11.98 11.82 11.98 1.53 6,200 0.017 0.012 IP E-Game Ventures Inc. 0.014 0.015 0.014 0.015 7.14 1,200,000 0.8200 0.036 Island Info 0.234 0.241 0.231 0.240 2.56 5,410,000 2.2800 1.200 ISM Communications 1.2700 1.2700 1.2400 1.2700 0.00 259,000 -127,000.005.93 2.34 Jackstones 2.94 2.93 2.68 2.68 -8.84 111,000 12.28 6.5 Leisure & Resorts 8.58 8.64 8.50 8.60 0.23 8,937,900 -4,613,100.002.85 1.69 Liberty Telecom 2.01 2.10 1.99 2.05 1.99 48,000 3.2 2 Macroasia Corp. 2.07 2.09 2.09 2.09 0.97 6,000 1.97 0.490 Manila Bulletin 0.690 0.690 0.680 0.690 0.00 578,000 2.46 1.8 Manila Jockey 1.95 1.99 1.98 1.99 2.05 20,000 -5,970.0015.2 8.7 Melco Crown 10.08 1.28 10 10.22 1.39 3,270,000 16,816,882.000.62 0.34 MG Holdings 0.365 0.365 0.365 0.365 0.00 20,000 1.040 0.37 NOW Corp. 0.490 0.470 0.470 0.470 -4.08 70,000 22.8 14.54 Pacific Online Sys. Corp. 18.38 18.38 18.28 18.38 0.00 1,200 6.41 3 PAL Holdings Inc. 4.46 4.60 4.46 4.60 3.14 18,000 4 2.28 Paxys Inc. 3 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.33 20,000 18 8.8 Phil. Racing Club 9 9 9 9 0.00 466,300 14 4.39 Philweb.Com Inc. 13.76 13.86 13.60 13.86 0.73 301,400 3486 2726 PLDT Common 2936.00 2950.00 2910.00 2940.00 0.14 96,170 63,637,620.000.710 0.380 PremiereHorizon 0.600 0.610 0.600 0.600 0.00 1,379,000 2.28 0.32 Premium Leisure 1.680 1.720 1.630 1.680 0.00 17,836,000 2,085,100.0048.5 31.45 Puregold 41.50 41.60 40.60 40.80 -1.69 812,000 -12,541,570.0090.1 60.55 Robinsons RTL 84.00 86.00 84.20 84.70 0.83 1,129,880 28,605,289.0011.6 7.59 SSI Group 9.85 10.30 9.85 10.14 2.94 4,260,400 -9,309,112.000.87 0.63 STI Holdings 0.69 0.70 0.68 0.68 -1.45 801,000 -136,120.0010.2 6.45 Travellers 6.66 6.68 6.56 6.65 -0.15 3,284,400 -10,472,991.000.490 0.305 Waterfront Phils. 0.360 0.355 0.340 0.355 -1.39 360,000

MINING & OIL0.0098 0.0043 Abra Mining 0.0055 0.0058 0.0055 0.0058 5.45 367,000,000 5.45 1.72 Apex À’ 2.80 2.78 2.78 2.78 -0.71 52,000 17.24 8.65 Atlas Cons. À’ 8.75 8.75 8.69 8.69 -0.69 141,000 -15,642.0025 9.43 Atok-Big Wedge À’ 10.80 10.86 10.50 10.80 0.00 8,500 0.330 0.236 Basic Energy Corp. 0.260 0.265 0.255 0.265 1.92 80,000 12.7 6.5 Benguet Corp À’ 7.0000 7.0000 7.0000 7.0000 0.00 2,300 1.2 0.61 Century Peak Metals Hldgs 1.08 1.11 1.09 1.11 2.78 812,000 -44,000.001.73 0.78 Coal Asia 0.93 0.93 0.9 0.93 0.00 783,000 276,000.0010.98 5.99 Dizon 8.16 8.31 7.85 8.05 -1.35 17,400 4.2 1.08 Ferronickel 2.3 2.36 2.12 2.2 -4.35 40,585,000 2,486,230.000.48 0.330 Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. 0.375 0.390 0.370 0.375 0.00 3,490,000 3,800.000.455 0.2130 Lepanto À’ 0.231 0.236 0.232 0.236 2.16 6,480,000 0.475 0.2160 Lepanto `B’ 0.238 0.242 0.238 0.242 1.68 440,000 0.023 0.014 Manila Mining À’ 0.0140 0.0150 0.0140 0.0140 0.00 15,100,000 0.026 0.014 Manila Mining `B’ 0.0160 0.0150 0.0150 0.0150 -6.25 900,000 -6,000.008.2 3.660 Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. 4.9 4.94 4.85 4.91 0.20 707,000 49.2 20.2 Nickelasia 23.95 24.05 23.65 23.9 -0.21 9,358,700 4,327,875.004.27 2.11 Nihao Mineral Resources 4.02 4.11 3.97 4 -0.50 7,014,000 -80,000.001.030 0.365 Omico 0.7300 0.7400 0.7300 0.7300 0.00 133,000 3.06 1.54 Oriental Peninsula Res. 2.200 2.250 2.180 2.180 -0.91 590,000 -246,340.000.020 0.012 Oriental Pet. À’ 0.0130 0.0130 0.0120 0.0130 0.00 123,600,000 7.67 5.4 Petroenergy Res. Corp. 5.89 5.53 5.53 5.53 -6.11 157,000 12.88 7.26 Philex À’ 7.32 7.49 7.2 7.2 -1.64 1,763,900 166,723.0010.42 2.27 PhilexPetroleum 2.44 2.44 2.42 2.42 -0.82 137,000 0.040 0.015 Philodrill Corp. À’ 0.016 0.016 0.015 0.016 0.00 134,100,000 75,000.00420 115.9 Semirara Corp. 167.40 167.40 166.60 166.80 -0.36 414,650 56,294,765.009 3.67 TA Petroleum 4.06 4.25 4.1 4.15 2.22 268,000 -125,050.00

PREFERRED70 33 ABS-CBN Holdings Corp. 63.4 62.05 61.1 61.85 -2.44 288,050 -3,014,779.00120 101.5 First Gen G 115.2 116 115.3 115.3 0.09 20,400 515 480 GLOBE PREF P 507 507.5 507 507.5 0.10 110 8.21 5.88 GMA Holdings Inc. 6.4 6.39 6.2 6.39 -0.16 8,800 12.28 6.5 Leisure and Resort 1.07 1.07 1.07 1.07 0.00 100,000 111 101 MWIDE PREF 109 109 109 109 0.00 26,000 PCOR-Preferred B 1100 1100 1100 1100 0.00 20 1047 1011 PF Pref 2 1046 1046 1045 1046 0.00 8,175 76.9 74.2 SMC Preferred A 75.9 76.05 75.8 75.95 0.07 322,210 -7,935,791.0084.8 75 SMC Preferred C 84.9 84.55 84.5 84.55 -0.41 50,200 -4,227,500.001.34 1 Swift Pref 1.8 2.7 2.48 2.7 50.00 24,000

WARRANTS & BONDS6.98 0.8900 LR Warrant 3.850 4.000 3.830 4.000 3.90 730,000 -120,000.002.2 0.74 Megaworld Corp. Warrants2 4.45 4.45 4.45 4.45 0.00 1,000

S M E10.96 2.4 Double Dragon 8.59 8.6 8.34 8.5 -1.05 1,123,000 -8,384.0015 3.5 Makati Fin. Corp. 3.63 3.63 3.63 3.63 0.00 13,000 88 13.5 IRipple E-Business Intl 71.7 73 73 73 1.81 200 12.88 5.95 Xurpas 9.65 9.96 9.7 9.87 2.28 1,119,400 5,359,186.00

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS130.7 105.6 First Metro ETF 131.5 131.5 130.5 130.9 -0.46 23,800 131,000.00



B3

Power rates higher in April

RUDY ROMERO

BUSINESS CLASS

Philippines once had a manufacturing sector

ONE of my responsibilities as senior economist of PDCP (Private Development Corporation of the Philippines) – then the leading private development financing institution in the Philippines – was to monitor and keep track of developments in this country’s manufacturing sector to help guide PDCP in its lending operations. A semi-government institution by virtue of the Philippine National Bank’s guarantee of its World Bank and Asian Development Bank credit lines, PDCP was, until PISO (Philippine Investments Systems Organization) came along, the only institution besides DBP that could provide both peso and foreign-currency financing for project loans.

It is often said that in the 1960s, during my time at PDCP, the Philippines was on the verge of economic takeoff. The size and composition of the manufacturing sector certainly lent support to that belief. In pursuance of my monitoring activity, I kept in close touch with numerous manufacturing-sector industry organizations and officials. The general impression I gathered was one of confidence mixed with enthusiasm.

Today, when the pervasive picture is one of non-expansion, closure and relocation out of the Philippines, it is difficult to believe that this country once had a vigorous and growing manufacturing sector. But it did.

For one thing, it had an array of metals-fabricating industries that fabricated locally sourced and imported raw materials into industrial and consumer products. The likes of Philippine Blooming Mills dominated the metals-fabrication scene of that era. The giant step that needed to be taken next was the establishment of an integrated steel mill. That step was taken in the early 1970s, with the establishment, with heavy government support, of the Iligan ISM in Northern Mindanao.

The Philippines likewise had a thriving chemical industry producing all sorts of chemical products for factories, offices and homes. The need for a strong Food and Drug Administration rapidly became manifest.

There was also a vibrant motor vehicle industry. Because of the misguided government policy of maximizing employment opportunities for Filipinos, the importation of completely-knocked-down vehicles was accorded fiscal and other policy preferences. At the start of the 1970s, the Philippine motor vehicle industry was made up of approximately one dozen companies merely reassembling disassembled foreign vehicles.

Realizing that the CKD policy – and the industry overcrowding that it engendered – had been economically deleterious, the government established a Progressive Car Manufacturing Program that would grant government incentives to motor vehicle producers that could meet the Board of Investment’s industry rationalization requirements. The five PCMP participants that were selected – Ford, General Motors, Mitsubishi, DMG and Chrysler – committed to manufacture specific motor vehicle components in this country, e.g., stampings (Ford) and transmissions (Chrysler). Motor vehicle parts manufacturing had finally come to the Philippines.

The cement industry was large and expansive. Clearly, eventual consolidation of the industry was a necessity. That came in due course, with salutary effects on operating costs.

With a burgeoning population and an accommodative banking system, the domestic appliances – the so-called white products – industry was likewise vibrant. In due course industry consolidation became the order of the day.

Given the availability of competitively priced labor, and of an ample supply of nautically trained personnel, shipbuilding should have been a more important domestic industry than it was. Nonetheless, a number of shipyards turned out ships of modest tonnages, mainly for the domestic market.

From this brief description one should be able to conclude that the manufacturing sector was once a major component of the Philippine economy. The Board of Investments and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry clearly bespoke manufacturing and were important parts of the national economic lexicon.

But times have changed. Today, in the second decade of the 21st century, when one discusses Philippine economics, it is to OFW remittances, business process outsourcing (call centers) and tourism that one mainly refers. How very sad.

Yes, once upon a time the Philippines had a manufacturing sector.

E-mail: [email protected]

A . SORIANO CORPORATIONNotice of Annual Meeting of Stockholders

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the regular Annual Meet ing of Stockholders of A . Sor iano Corporat ion ( “ANSCOR” or the “Company”) wi l l be held on Wednesday, 15 Apr i l 2015 at 10:00 a.m. at the Rigodon Bal l room, Mani la Peninsula Hotel, Ayala Avenue corner Makat i Avenue, 1226 Makat i Ci t y, Phi l ippines.

The agenda for the meet ing is as fo l lows:1. Approval of the minutes of previous meet ing.2. Presentat ion of the Chairman and Chief Execut ive Of f icer ’s

Message to Stockholders.3. Elect ion of the members of the Board of Directors.4. Appointment of ex ternal audi tors.5. Rat i f icat ion of a l l ac ts, contracts, investments and resolut ions

of the Board of Directors and Management s ince the last annual meet ing.

6. Such other business as may properly come before the meeting.

Only stockholders of record in the books of the Company at the c lose of business on 13 March 2015 wi l l be ent i t led to vote at the meet ing. The l ist of stockholders ent i t led to vote wi l l be avai lable for inspect ion at the of f ice of A . Sor iano Corporat ion, 7th Floor Pac i f ic Star Bui ld ing, Makat i Avenue corner Gi l Puyat Avenue Ex t ., Makat i Ci t y, ten (10) days pr ior to the Annual Meet ing.

Stockholders are requested to complete, date, s ign and return the enc losed proxy form to reach the Company as prompt ly as possib le not less than ten (10) work ing days pr ior to the Annual Meet ing or not later than 26 March 2015. The giv ing of such proxy wi l l not af fect your r ight to vote in person should you dec ide to at tend the Annual Meet ing.

Proxy val idat ion wi l l be held at A . Sor iano Corporat ion, 7th Floor Pac i f ic Star Bldg., Makat i Avenue corner Gi l Puyat Avenue Ex t ., Makat i Ci t y on 06 Apr i l 2015 f rom 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon.

Makat i Ci t y, Phi l ippines, 19 March 2015.

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS By:

LORNA PATAJO- K APUNAN Corporate Secretar y

REGISTR ATION OF STOCKHOLDERS WILL START AT 9:00 a.m.Please bring identif ication, such as valid passport, driver’s license or Company I. D.(TS-APR. 9, 2015)

LORNA PATAJO- K APUNAN

By Alena Mae S. Flores

Distributor Manila Electric Co. said customers will see their power bill increase by P0.27 per kilowatt-hour in April, amid the 30-day maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya natural gas facility.

The 30-day maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya deep water gas-to-power facility starting the middle of March forced several large power plants to use more expensive fuel.

The power rate adjustment translates into an average hike of P54 in the April billing of Meralco customers with a consumption of 200 kWh. Meralco, however, said the increase was lower than the initially estimated adjustment of P0.46 per kWh.

Meralco senior vice president Lawrence Fernandez said the April power rate adjustment was moderated by the lower liquid fuel costs and stable prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.

The Malampaya facility’s shutdown forced the 1,000-megawatt Sta. Rita and 500-MW San Lorenzo plants to shift to condensate and the 1,200-MW Ilijan to use biodiesel. These types of alternative fuel are more expensive than the natural gas from Malampaya, which these plants were designed to use as fuel.

Fernandez said the natural gas plants’ shift to liquid fuel had historically led to higher generation

charges, such as the situations in February 2010, October 2011, July 2012 and November 2013.

Meralco said in a statement the main driver of the higher electricity rates in April was the P0.20-per-kWh adjustment in the generation charge to P5.41 per kWh from P5.21 per kWh in March.

The generation charge is the portion of the bill that goes to the power plants that produce electricity.

Meralco said the change in fuel of Ilijan power plant also resulted in a lower output of one of its two blocks (Ilijan A), from the maximum capacity of 600 MW to an average of 292 MW in the first 10 days of the Malampaya shutdown (March 15 to 25).

The other block of Ilijan (Ilijan B, 600 MW) is on scheduled preventive maintenance.

Meralco said as a result of the shift to liquid fuel by the three plants, the rates of the independent power producers and power supply agreements had increased.

Rates of the IPPs went up by P0.17 per kWh, partly tempered by the return of Quezon Power Philippines Ltd. from a maintenance shutdown. Meanwhile, rates covered by PSAs went up

by P0.31 per kWh, although this was mitigated by a P1.55-per-kWh reduction in charges from WESM, as the power supply situation remained normal.

Meralco sourced 50 percent of its power requirements from PSAs, 46 percent from IPPs and 4 percent from WESM during the March supply month.

Taxes and other charges also registered increases of P0.05 per kWh and PhP0.03 per kWh, respectively. Transmission charges, on the other hand, decreased P0.01 per kWh.

By Anna Leah E. Gonzales

MANILA Water Company Inc. said Wednes-day it will pursue expansion plans here and abroad, but the amount of investment will de-pend on the outcome of the ongoing arbitra-tion case with the government.

BUSINESSB4

Manila Water expansion upIrish power companyopens Batangas plant

Stock market ends 8-day rally; BDO, Metro Pacific tumbleTHE stock market retreated Wednesday on profit-taking to snap an eight-day rally that sent the benchmark index past the 8,100-point mark.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index dropped 45.99 points, or 0.6 percent, to 8,052.69 on a value turnover of P8.4 billion. Losers edged gainers, 86 to 83, with 58 issues unchanged.

The rest of Asian markets rallied Wednesday, led by Hong Kong on its first post-holiday trading day as it reacted to weak US jobs data that reduced the chances of a rate rise any time soon.

BDO Unibank Inc., the biggest lender in terms of assets, fell 1.2 percent to P118.50, while Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which has investments in toll roads,

water and electricity distribution and hospitals, sank 4 percent to P4.65.

Chemical producer D&L In-dustries Inc. tumbled 3.2 percent to P18.70, while Energy Develop-ment Corp., the largest producer of steam energy, declined 1.6 per-cent to P8.25.

SM Prime Holdings Inc., the biggest property developer, lost

2.1 percent to P20.60.Bloomberry Resorts Corp.,

which operates a casino on a re-claimed part of Manila Bay, rose 2.2 percent to P11.42, while In-ternational Container Terminal Services Inc., the biggest port operator, gained 1.4 percent to P109.50.

In late afternoon Hong Kong, which last traded on Thursday,

soared 2.58 percent to levels not seen since 2008.

Shanghai ended 0.84 percent, or 33.43 points higher at 3,994.81 and Tokyo added 0.76 percent, or 149.27 points, to 19,789.81.

Sydney rose 0.59 percent, or 34.7 points, to 5,960.7 and Seoul advanced 0.60 percent, or 12.23 points, to end at 2,059.26.

With AFP

Cash partners. CMA CGM Philippines Inc., a major carrier for companies in the United States, Europe, Latin America and Middle East, recently signed an agreement with BDO Unibank Inc. for its cash management services. The leading container shipping company availed of various BDO collection and payment solutions to help them manage their finances more effectively. Shown sealing the partnership with a handshake are BDO senior vice president and head of transaction banking group Emmanuel Narciso (second from right) and CMA CGM general manager Michel Azrak (second from left), along with other executives of both companies.

“One of the challenges we have been faced with is the ongoing arbitration case regarding Manila Water’s tariff rate adjustment dis-pute filed in 2013. This process continues to this date. In the ab-sence of an approved rate rebas-ing plan since 2013, our capital expenditures for the East zone amounting to P4.1 billion in 2014 were limited to ongoing and new service reliability projects,” Ma-nila Water president and chief ex-ecutive Gerardo Ablaza Jr. said in a news briefing during the annual stockholders’ meeting.

Ablaza said the company ex-pected the decision of the arbitra-tion panel to come out soon. “Our own expectation is that it should be coming in the next few days or weeks. That’s why I said we got expectations that we perhaps

should be able to finally move on with a final resolution within the second quarter. I think the main impact of the arbitration on our operations is that we were not able to maximize the opportuni-ties for building infrastructures in the absence of approved five-year rate rebasing plan,” Ablaza said.

Ablaza said Manila Water was looking at other business oppor-tunities outside the East zone and would maximize the potential of existing operations in Clark, La-guna, Boracay and Cebu.

“In 2011, businesses outside the East zone constituted only 1 per-cent of the group’s total income. That has already risen to 11 percent last year. For the next four years, we want to increase that contribution up to 40 percent,” Ablaza said.

Manila Water currently provides

water and waste water services in the East zone of Metro Manila, which include the cities of Makati, Mandaluyong, Pasig, Pateros, San Juan, Taguig and Marikina.

Ablaza said for Laguna Water, the company was looking at ex-panding its operations beyond the three cities it was currently ser-vicing, including Binan, Cabuyao and Sta. Rosa.

“Laguna which is the most excit-ing so far, increased net income by 52 percent due to fundamental ex-pansion. It also added 24,000 new water service connections which is equal to what the east zone business in Manila generates a year. There’s a whole Laguna province lying out there and we certainly will seek to see how we can expand outside these three cities,” Ablaza said.

Ablaza said Manila Water was also looking at other opportu-nities which would enable the company to go beyond the Pam-panga-Tarlac corridor. “We are not stopping our hunt for new business opportunities. Clark is sitting in Pampanga-Tarlac corri-dor so what are the opportunities for us to go beyond that border?” he said.

By Othel V. Campos

EATON Corp. Plc, an Irish power management company, said Wednesday it opened a new manufacturing facility Tanauan City, Batangas to expand its electrical business in Asia-Pacific.

The Dublin-based company said the new facility would further expand Eaton’s operations in the Asia Pacific market by serving regional and global customers in the information technology and small and medium data center markets.

“Eaton’s global growth strategy is focused on continued invest-ment in emerging, high-growth markets and regions,” Eaton chair-man and chief executive Alexander Cutler said during the opening of the new facility, which was attended by Eaton executives and gov-ernment officials.

The new 29,000-square-meter facility will manufacture electrical power management products such as uninterruptable power supply products for the global market.

The company said the plant will generate up to 2,000 jobs by 2017.“With the increased manufacturing capabilities in the Philip-

pines, we will be able to continue Eaton’s expansion into emerging markets with cost-competitive products,” said Ivo Jurek, president of Eaton’s electrical business in Asia Pacific.

“Our investment in the Philippines is a strategic pillar that dem-onstrates our commitment to building our electrical business in Asean and the East Asia region. We are investing heavily in expand-ing our electrical business in the market to meet our growth goals,” he said.

THE stock market index have soared over 11 per-cent since the start of 2015, making it one of the best performers in Asia this year. It has registered record highs many times in 2015, with the index breaching the 8,100-point mark Tues-day.

Yet, the Philippine stock market has not posted a more mean-ingful bull run because recent rallies were not broad-based. There are notable laggards that have not performed well based on their price-earnings ratio. The bull run sentiment does not appear to have rubbed off on these issues.

Cheap oil prices and a stable inflation environment have largely fueled the stock market surge this year. Falling oil prices are stok-ing the stock market frenzy in the Philippines on bets that slump-ing crude will reduce the cost of operations, spur expansion and increase the bottom line of listed stocks. The Philippines imports nearly all its oil requirements to partly produce electricity and fuel all types of transportation.

But market laggards have failed to take advantage of the bullish sentiment. Petron Corp., the bigger of the two oil refineries in the Philippines, has underperformed, gaining just 7.8 percent so far this year. Market heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. has not surged as fast as the Philippine Stock Exchange Index, adding just 1.35 percent so far.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which has investments in toll roads, electricity and water distribution and hospitals, has just risen 1.3 percent.

The underperformance of these three notable stocks should make them attractive to investors because of their resulting low price-to-earnings ratios. PLDT’s P/E ratio stands at 15.3x, while that of Pe-tron is at 8.2x. Metro Pacific currently has a P/E ratio of 13.2x.

Stock market investors apparently go beyond the regular P/E yardstick, otherwise they would have picked up these stocks, given their individual stories. A significant appreciation in the market value of these stocks could have propeled the benchmark index to greater heights.

Other laggardsA couple of property issues may also be considered market lag-

gards based on their P/E ratios. Filinvest Land Inc. of the Gotianun Group is trading at a P/E ratio of just 8.6x, while Vista Land & Lif-escapes Inc. of former senator Manuel Villar Jr. is priced at 10.5x.

Manila Water Co. Inc., a member of the Ayala Corp. conglomer-ate, has a P/E ratio of just 9.4x despite its market position as a lead-ing water distributor. Investors became wary of Manila Water after the utility found itself embroiled in an arbitration case with regula-tor Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System. An earlier re-port, which was denied later, said the arbitration body ruled against the company’s bid for a higher tariff rate by passing the income tax burden to consumers.

But Manila Water, PLDT, Metro Pacific, Petron and the rest of the market laggards are expected shortly to rebound soon.

World oil prices have lost 50 percent of their value since June last year to around $50 per barrel. The soft oil prices will add a signifi-cant percentage to the growth of the gross domestic product, with spending on food, travel, appliances, clothings and cell phones driv-ing the Philippine economy.

E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected] or [email protected]


T H U R S D AY : A P R I L 9, 2 0 1 5

BUSINESS B5

The acquisition is aligned with ALI’s

thrust of expanding its office leasing business.

RAY S. EÑANO

Market bull runnot broad-based

Alsons to open Sarangani plant

Ayala Land acquires Aegis building in Cebu for P435m

Metropartners. Metro Retail Stores Group Inc. recently hosted the MVP Appreciation and Retail Awards Night with over 600 retail suppliers, vendors and business partners in atten-dance at Valkyrie at The Palace in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City. Metro operates mul-tiple store formats, including Metro De-partment Store, Metro Supermarket, Super Metro Hypermarket and Metro Fresh ‘n Easy Neighborhood Store. Shown toasting to their collaborative success and jointly welcoming another fruitful chapter of Metro are (from left) Metro chairman and chief executive Frank Gaisano, Metro board of director Margaret Gaisano Ang and Metro president and chief operating officer Arthur Emmanuel.

By Alena Mae S. Flores

ALSONS Power Group said Wednesday unit Sarangani Energy Corp. is on track to start the commercial operation of the first 105-mega-watt generator of its 210-MW coal-fired pow-er plant in Maasim, Sarangani this year.

By Jenniffer B. Austria

PROPERTY Developer Ayala Land Inc. said Wednesday it acquired Aegis PeopleSupport Realty Corp., the owner of a business process outsourcing building in Cebu, for P435 mil-lion.

Ayala Land senior vice presi-dent and chief finance officer Jaime Ysmael said in a disclo-sure to the stock exchange the company purchased all the 8.2 million common shares of Ae-gis PeopleSupport Realty in line

with the thrust to expand its of-fice leasing business.

Aegis PeopleSupport Realty is a Philippine Economic Zone Authority-registered entity and the owner of Aegis building along Villa Street, Cebu IT Park in Lahug, Cebu City.

The building is a certified LEED-gold office with a gross leasable area of 18,092 square meters and is largely occupied by Teleperformance under a long-term lease.

“This acquisition is aligned with ALI’s thrust of expanding

its office leasing business,” Ayala Land said.

Ayala Land said in a bid to achieve its P40-billion net in-come target by 2020, it planned

to triple the size of shopping malls, office space and hotel and resorts businesses over the next seven years.

For office development, the company aims to have 1.8 mil-lion gross leasable space by 2020 from 600,000 square meters as of end 2013.

Its hotels and resorts business is also projected to reach 6,000 room keys by 2020 from 2,000 room keys as of end 2013.

Ayala Land said it would also add 106,000 square meters of leasable office space with the

completion of several projects in Bonifaco Global City and Alabang.

The property firm reported a 26-percent jump in net income in 2014 to P14.8 billion from P11.7 billion in 2013, boosted by strong performance of prop-erty development and commer-cial operations.

Consolidated revenues reached P95.2 billion, up by 17 percent year-on-year bolstered by higher residential sales and better commercial leasing rev-enues.

Alsons, controlled by the Al-cantara Group, said in a statement the plant would begin commis-sioning in the first half.

The operations and maintenance team that will man the Sarangani plant is already in place and ready to hit the ground running once op-erations commence, Alsons said.

A total of 140 people, including licensed chemical, electrical and mechanical engineers, were hired for the plant’s organization, oper-ations and maintenance teams as early as November 2014.

Alsons said most new hires were from the Sarangani plant’s immediate vicinity which include

General Santos City, Sarangani and South Cotabato as well as other places in Mindanao.

The Sarangani team is led by Finnish power plant manager Jori Liimatta, who is armed with 20 years of power plant experience and expertise from five greenfield sites and American operations and maintenance manager Rich-ard Mark Jones who will lend ex-pertise from his years of overseas power plant experience.

Both are from the Power Indus-try Consultants Group that helps guide, train, coach and supervise the SEC plant’s work force.

“The most important part of the

operations is the people. Without the right people, you can’t do it. We wanted to find the right people who possess the willingness to learn. We’re fortunate to train the people and we are pleasantly surprised that we have recruited intelligent, young individuals who are willing to learn. They have maintained an aver-age score of 98 in all courses we’ve taught. The ones that were hired are truly exceptional,” said Liimatta.

The soon-to-open Sarangani plant is intended to be part of a long-term solution to the ongoing power crisis in Mindanao.

“SEC is one of the few plants that will be operating this year to provide a lasting and sustainable solution to the five-year-old power shortage in Mindanao. The project’s section 1 will ensure power secu-rity in an area that will serve more than 3 million people and another 3 million people for section 2,” said Alsons Power project implementa-tion vice president and head of coal operations Nicandro Fucoy.

E R R A T AErrors were inadvertently included in the publication of PPA Administrative Order No. 02-2015, Amendment to PPA Administrative Order No. 03-2013 Entitled “Simplification of Procedures in the Issuance of Private Port Permits published in The Standard and Philippine Star on March 27, 2015. In view thereof, the corresponding corrections are hereby issued for the guidance for all concerned.

1) PPA Administrative Order No. 02-2015

ERROR : From : Amendment to PPA Administrative Order No. 03-2013 Entitled “Simplification of Procedures in the Issuance of Private Port Permits

AS CORRECTED : Subject : Amendment to PPA Administrative Order No. 03-2013 Entitled “Simplification of Procedures in the Issuance of Private Port Permits

2) Item 7 of the Sworn Affidavit (Omnibus Undertaking) :

ERROR : I hereby acknowledge that I have fully read the information supplied in the application and any false or misleading information provided therein shall be a ground for the cancellation of the clearance to develop, permit to construct and certificate of registration/permit to operate issued, without prejudice to the filing of appropriate administrative, civil and criminal against me and/or the company/entity I represent.

AS CORRECTED : I hereby acknowledge that I have fully read the information supplied in the application and any false or misleading information provided therein shall be a ground for the cancellation of the clearance to develop, permit to construct and certificate of registration/permit to operate issued, without prejudice to the filing of appropriate administrative, civil and criminal action against me and/or the company/entity I represent.

(SGD.) RAUL T. SANTOSAssistant General Managerfor Operations

OMNIBUS UNDERTAKING(SWORN AFFIDAVIT)

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES )CITY/MUNICIPALITY OF _______ ) S.S.

A F F I D A V I T

(Name of Applicant/Port Owner/Operator), of legal age, (Civil Status), (Position/Title, (Name of Company/Address), after having been duly sworn in accordance with law, do hereby depose and state that;

1. I hereby apply for the Authority’s issuance of (type of Private Port Application) to be located at (Address of the Proposed Port Site).

2. As port applicant/port owner/operator /duly authorized representative of the company, I have full power and authority to do, execute and perform any and all acts necessary to represent it in seeking from PPA the corresponding (type of private port permit) being applied for.

3. I have complied and secured all the necessary government clearances/permits necessary to operate my business.

4. I hereby authorize your duly authorized official/employee to verify the statements/documents and information submitted herewith, to substantiate my eligibility as an applicant for a private port permit.

5. It is understood that I have complied with the requirements of other concerned government agencies prior to the operation of the private port and I am fully responsible and accountable in complying with said requirements.

6. I hereby acknowledge that I have full knowledge of pertinent law, regulation covering private port operation.

7. I hereby acknowledge that I have fully read the information supplied in the application and any false or misleading information provided therein shall be a ground for the cancellation of the clearance to develop, permit to construct and certificate of registration/permit to operate issued, without prejudice to the filing of appropriate administrative, civil and criminal action against me and/or the company/entity I represent.

8. I hereby hold PPA free from all liens, encumbrances and liabilities resulting from non-compliance therewith.

9. I am executing this Omnibus Sworn Statement to attest to the veracity of the foregoing statements in support of the above-cited application.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this ______ day of _______, ___, in the City of ________________, Philippines.

_____________________________ Private Port Owner/Operator

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me this _______ day of _________.

________________________ (Notary Public)Doc. No. _______Page No. ______Book No. ______Series of ______

(TS-APR. 9, 2015)

Bonifacio Drive, South Harbor, Port Area, Manila 1018, Philippines, P.O. Box 436, Manila, PhilippinesTel No. (0632) 527-8356, Fax No. (0632) 527-4855, http://www.ppa.com.ph

NO. NAME OF PROJECT AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

IMPLEMENTING OFFICE

APPROVED BUDGET FOR THE CONTRACT (ABC)

1 Enzymatic Detergent and other medical supplies for the use of Ospitalng Makati OSMAK P10,938,820.17

2 Linear Cutter and other medical supplies for the use of Ospitalng Makati OSMAK P9,071,081.10

1. The MAKATI CITY GOVERNMENT, through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), invites interested bidders to apply for eligibility and to bid for the above projects, with Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) indicated, inclusive of all taxes, such as, but not limited to, value added tax (VAT), income tax, local taxes and other fiscal levies.

Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at Bid Opening.

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

3. Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183 and subject to Commonwealth Act 138.

4. A complete set of Bidding Documents will be available one (1) day after posting / publication of the above projects up to Closing Date (before the deadline of the submission of bids),weekdays only from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. from the address below and upon payment of a non-refundable fee for the Bidding Documents in the amount stated on the issued order of payment to the City Government of Makati Cashier.

5. The BAC will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on April 16, 2015 (02:00 P.M.) at PiodelPilar Conference Room, 21st floor, New Makati City Hall Building, F. Zobel Street, Brgy. Poblacion, Makati City to discuss Eligibility Requirements and the Technical and Financial Components of these projects. However, only those interested Bidders who have purchased the Bidding Documents are allowed to raise and submit queries or clarifications regarding the Bidding Documents.

6. Deadline of Submission of Bids shall be on or before April 30, 2015 (02:00 P.M.), at PiodelPilar Conference Room, 21st floor, New Makati City Hall Building, F. Zobel Street, Brgy. Poblacion, Makati City.

Opening of Bids shall be on April 30, 2015 (02:00 P.M.), at Pio del Pilar Conference Room, 21st floor, New Makati City Hall Building, F. Zobel Street, Brgy. Poblacion, Makati City.

7. Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the said address. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18. Late bids shall not be accepted.

8. The MAKATI CITY GOVERNMENT reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, or to reduce the corresponding ABC and Terms of Reference (TOR), without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

For further information, please visit or contact: BAC SECRETARIAT OFFICE Makati City Government 9th Floor, New Makati City Hall Building F. Zobel Street, Brgy.Poblacion, Makati City Tel. No. 870-1000 loc. 1331; Fax No. 899-8988 website: www.makati.gov.ph

MS. VISSIA MARIE P. ALDONChairperson

(TS-APR. 9, 2015)

Bids and Awards Committee

J.P. Rizal St. corner F. Zobel St., Makati CityTel. No. 870-1000 Fax No. 899-8988

www.makati.gov.ph

INVITATION TO BID

REPUBLIKA NG PILIPINAS LUNGSOD NG MAKATI

Metrobank bullish on [email protected]

[email protected]


B6

DuavitjoinsGMA board

By Jenniffer B. Austria

METROPOLITAN Bank & Trust Co., the country’s second largest lender, expects loans to grow 18 percent to 20 percent this year amid a rapid economic growth.

Metrobank first vice president and head of strategic planning Jette Gamboa said in an interview the bank expected growth across all segments, including consumer lending, especially the small and medium enterprises, and financing expansion projects of top companies.

Gamboa said the bank, which recently raised P32 billion through a stock rights offering, would primarily use the proceeds from the fund raising activity to expand its banking business.

The bank also aims to add 30 new branches each year over the next

three years. The new branches will mainly be located in Metro Manila and provincial areas in Luzon.

“We are prepared to take advantage of the growth of the economy. Economic growth in the Philippines has been quite stable and in order to support that growth we are going to expand out branch network and sales force,” Gamboa said.

He said the bank would expand its business organically and was not actively looking to participate in any merger and acquisitions.

“There is so much organic growth

that we can capitalize. The growth that we are seeing is across all segments not just in top corporates but also in consumer space, and middle market and SME and with this capital we should be able to build our business,” Gamboa said.

Metrobank on Wednesday listed 435.4 million common shares that were sold during the rights offering and which

raised as much as P32 billion in proceeds.

The additional capital raised from the right offering is expected to further enhance Metrobank’s capital ratios, keeping it well above the Philippine Basel III requirements.

The bank in 2014 registered an 11-percent decline in net income to P20.1 billion from P22.5 billion in 2013 on lower

trading gains.Metrobank in 2014 opened

64 branches to increase its domestic presence to 920 branches, still the largest in the industry. More than half of the network is located outside Metro Manila, placing the bank in a position to better serve the demands of the regional growth areas of the economy. The bank has 2,100 automated teller machines nationwide.

PH-Nepal ties. Philippine Trade and Investment Center in New Delhi Commercial Counselor John Paul B. Iñigo (right) confers with Philippine Consul General ad Honorem Suraj Vaidya during the launch of the Nepal Philippines Chamber of Commerce and Industries (NPCCI) on March 3, 2015 at the Philippine Honorary Consulate General Offices in Kathmandu, Nepal. The Philippine Trade Department’s commercial post in New Delhi has been steadfast in helping forge closer the relations between the Philippines and Nepal.

GMA Network Inc. an-nounced the election of Mi-chael John Duavit as a mem-ber of the company’s board of directors during a special meeting held on March 30.

Duavit is currently the chairman, president and chief executive of MRD Holdings & Investments Inc. and chairman and manag-ing director of Puresound Trading Inc. He is a direc-tor of Citynet Television Inc. and GMA New Media Inc., a subsidiary of GMA Network that specializes in interactive applications for television, mobile, web and marketing.

He is the president and trustee of Guronasyon Foundation Inc., which rec-ognizes outstanding teachers in the province of Rizal and the City of Antipolo, and is also a trustee of GMA Net-work’s socio-civic arm GMA Kapuso Foundation Inc.

Duavit held a notable ca-reer in public service, having been elected as pepresenta-tive of the first district of Rizal and serving a full term from 2001 to 2010. Dur-ing his tenure in Congress, he served as vice chairman of the House Committee on Economic Affairs, the House Committee on Ap-propriations and the House Committee on Trade and Industry.

B7cesar barrioquintoE D I T O R

[email protected]

t H u r s D aY : a P r i L 9, 2 0 1 5

WORLD

Taiwan starts water rationing

9 held in Spain over links to IS

French air traffic controllers strike

The operation in-cluded raids in the Barcelona and Tarra-gona areas and those arrested are suspected of crimes “linked to jihadist terrorism, par-ticularly to the Islamic State group,” police said in a statement.

Authorities in Eu-

rope have sought to stop young people seeking to travel to Iraq and Syria to fight with the Islamic State.

A number of al-leged recruitment cells have been targeted by authorities in Spain, including in the coun-try’s North African

PA R I S —Hu nd re d s of flights to and from France were expected to be can-celed Wednesday as air traffic controllers launched a two-day strike over working conditions.

The civil aviation authority has asked airlines to scrap around 40 percent of flights, warning of “disruption across the whole country.”

Flag carrier Air France warned of “very severe disruption” to its flight schedule. Al-though it pledged to operate “almost all” long-haul flights, me-dium and short-haul services would be bad-ly affected, it said.

“We cannot rule out

last-minute delays and cancellations,” the air-line added.

Low-cost operator Ryanair said it had been forced to cancel more than 250 flights due to the industrial action.

“It’s grossly unfair that thousands of Eu-ropean travelers will once again have their travel plans disrupted by the selfish actions of a tiny number of French ... workers,” the Irish airline fumed.

Passengers had been warned well in ad-vance and seemed to have made other plans. The situation in Paris terminals was relative-ly calm.

“The companies have done what was

needed. For the mo-ment, there are no dif-ficulties,” one airport source said.

The strike was called by the main air traffic union SNCTA, which wants talks over the specific working condi-tions of their members.

A particular bone of contention is the pushing back of the retirement age for air traffic controllers from 57 to 59.

The union insists that for the past 10 years, talks over work-ing conditions have taken place outside the formal structure for union-management negotiations.

The FNAM aviation association strongly criticised the strike,

saying it would “essen-tially penalise French-based airlines and their sub-contractors.”

Transport Minister Alain Vidalies “regret-ted” that the union had chosen to call for strike action and noted that a meeting was due to take place on April 13 to discuss the spe-cific working practices in the sector.

The SNCTA had originally called the strike from March 25 to 27 but scrapped it after the German-wings crash in the French Alps that killed 150.

Further industrial action is planned from April 16 to 18 and from April 29 to May 2, key holiday periods. AFP

Official visit. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras prepares to adjust a ribbon during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin Wall in Moscow on April 8. AFP

9% of Americans have gun access

MADRID—Spanish police arrested nine people in the Catalonia region on Wednesday suspected of links to the Islamic State group, authorities said, the latest such raids as Euro-pean nations seek to stop jihadist re-cruitment.

territories of Ceuta and Melilla.

On April 1, a Mo-roccan living in Cata-lonia was remanded in custody after allegedly seeking to send her 16-year-old twins to fight with jihadists in Syria, a year after an-other son died in the country.

Last month, Span-ish authorities ar-rested eight suspected members of a jihadist network who alleg-edly called for attacks in Spain and tried to recruit for the Islamic State.

About 60 people charged in Islamist terrorist cases were be-ing held in Spain at the start of 2015, a law en-forcement source has said.

Spanish authorities say about 100 peo-ple from Spain are suspected of having joined jihadist fighters in Iraq and Syria, and fear they may return to launch attacks.

Hundreds more such radicals from France, Britain and Germany are also thought to have traveled to those countries to fight. AFP

INVITATION TO BIDNO. 02-2015

The National Irrigation Administration (NIA), Interim Eastern-Western Samar Irrigation Management Office, Catbalogan City through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), hereby invites Domestic Contractors, registered with and classified by the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB), to bid for the hereunder contracts. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

ITEM/DESCRIPTION Approved Budget for the Contract

(Php)

Duration Cost of Bidding

Documents

1. WESIMO Contract No. 13-2015 - Repair/Improvement of Diversion Works, Canalization, Canal structures & Terminal Facilities

Php 8,078,031.87 180 cd Php 10,000.00

2. WESIMO Contract No. 14-2015 - Repair/Improve ment of Diversion Works, Canalization, Canal structures & Terminal Facilities

Php 5,385,762.94 120 cd Php 10,000.00

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

Prospective Bidders are not allowed to participate if they have negative slippage in their on-going contracts. Individuals with Special Power of Attorney (SPA) are not allowed to transact and participate in the procurement utilizing another construction firm. The pre-bid conference shall be open only for those who have purchased the bid documents. No more sale of bid documents after pre-bidding conference in order for the bidders to submit a highly technical and educated bid.

The Schedule of BAC Activities are as follows:BAC Activities Schedule Time

1. Issuance of Bid Documents Starting April 9, 2015 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.2. Pre-bid Conference April 13, 2015 10:00 a.m.3. Receipt and Opening of Bids April 22, 2015 10:00 a.m.

The BAC will issue a complete set of Bidding Documents to eligible bidders from the address above and upon payment of non-refundable amount of Php10,000.00 to the Cashier.

For qualified/eligible bidders, please take note that after qualified bidders has been determined, we prefer cash bond/cashier’s or manager’s check with the amount equivalent to two (2%) percent of the ABC of the contract as Bid Security.

The NIA reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to the contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

(SGD.) RIZALINA B. GALLARDE BAC Chairman

Noted:

(SGD.) ALEJANDRO C. CULIBAR, D.M. Officer In-Charge

(TS-APR. 9, 2015)

Republika ng PilipinasPAMBANSANG PANGASIWAAN NG PATUBIG

(National Irrigation Administration)Purok Blg. 8

INTERIM EASTERN-WESTERN SAMAR IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT OFFICECatbalogan City, Samar

Tel. Nos. (055) 251-2818 / 543-8431

INVITATION to BIDApril 7, 2015

The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) Bulacan-Aurora-Nueva Ecija Irrigation Management Office (BANE), San Rafael, Bulacan, through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), invites Contractors to bid for:

ITB No.R3-BANE-RRREIS-2015-BU-16 Improvement of Lateral E-1 & Various Irrigation Facilities, Pulilan, Bulacan. The approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) is P 14,161,476.63 with contract duration of 120 calendar days. Bid Documents cost P 15,000.00.

ITB No.R3-BANE-RRREIS-2015-BU-17 Improvement of Lateral A-2 & Various Irrigation Facilities, San Rafael, Bulacan. The approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) is P 13,879,326.93 with contract duration of 120 calendar days. Bid Documents cost P 15,000.00.

ITB No.R3-BANE-RRREIS-2015-BU-18 Improvement of Bitukang Manok Dam # 7 (AMRIS), San Luis & Candaba, Pampanga. The approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) is P 14,014,659.88 with contract duration of 120 calendar days. Bid Documents cost P 15,000.00.

Interested bidders must have experience in undertaking a similar project within the last 3 years with an amount of at least 50% of the proposed project for bidding.

Any bid above the ABC as stated above each ITB shall be rejected outright.

Issuance of Bid Documents: (Upon payment April 10, 2015 – 10:00AMof non-refundable amount as stated above NIA-BANE, San Rafael, Bulacaneach ITB)

Schedule of activities > Pre-Bidding Submission/Opening of Bids:NIA, BANE IMO April 17, 2015 April 30, 2015

R3-BANE-RRREIS-2015-BU-16 9:30 AM 10:00 AMR3-BANE-RRREIS-2015-BU-17 10:30 AM 11:00 AMR3-BANE-RRREIS-2015-BU-18 11:30 AM 1:30 PM

The NIA-BANE assumes no responsibility whatsoever to compensate or indemnify bidders for any expenses incurred in the preparation of bids. Also, NIA reserves the right to reject any or all bids at any time prior to award, waive any defects therein and to declare the bidding a failure for whatever reasons it may deem appropriate.

SGD. ROBERTO J. DELA CRUZ Chairman – BAC

(TS-APR. 9, 2015)

Republic of the PhilippinesOffice of the President

National Irrigation Administration(PAMBANSANG PANGASIWAAN NG PATUBIG)

Region 3Bulacan-Aurora-Nueva Ecija Irrigation Management Office

Office Address: Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan Telephone Nos.: (044) 766-3888 / 766-4142 / 766-0157 / 766-3524 Telefax No. (044) 766-3888 Email Address: [email protected]/[email protected] TIN No. 000-578-009-000

[email protected]

T H U R S D AY : A P R I L 9, 2 0 1 5

worldB8 ceSAR bARRIoqUInTo

E D I T O R

[email protected]

Taiwan starts water rationing

US cop accused of murder

Chic in Shanghai. Models parade creations from the Ban Xiaoxue collection during the Shanghai Fashion Week in Shanghai on April 8. AFP

Refugees at home. Nigerian refugees walk on April 7 in the Nigerian refugee camp named “Dar-es-Salam” near Baga Sola in the Chad lake region. Chad, Niger and Cameroon sent troops into action two months ago against the Islamist movement Boko Haram whose bloody insurgency threatens the region surrounding Lake Chad, where the borders of all four nations converge. AFP

The state water com-pany cut supplies to around 800,000 house-holds and businesses in Taoyuan city as well as parts of Hsinchu coun-ty and New Taipei City in northern Taiwan for two days a week for an indefinite period.

The government said that it was forced to im-

pose the measure as the water supply situation was “urgent”.

It comes after the lowest rainfall across the island last autumn and winter since 1947.

Parts of the vast Shi-hmen Dam in Taoyuan that supplies several cities in northern Tai-wan have dried up leav-

WA S H I N G T O N —Police in the US state of South Caro-lina charged an officer Tuesday with murder after video showed him apparently gun-ning down a flee-ing black man, a rare arrest in a string of shootings of unarmed black men that have raised allegations of police racism.

South Carolina state police arrested officer Michael Slager, 33, and charged him with mur-der, a felony that carries

a sentence of up to life in prison or the death penalty, according to official documents.

“The Defendant [Slager] did shoot the victim multiple times in the back after an altercation. All this is based upon video evi-dence and the investi-gation of the State Law Enforcement Division,” reads a South Carolina court document.

A number of kill-ings of unarmed black men by police officers in recent months have

sparked protests across the United States with protesters alleging rac-ism in the nation’s po-lice and raising accusa-tions that officers use excessive force.

Officers have rarely been charged in the shootings, even when the incidents were re-corded.

Slager’s arrest comes after video surfaced of the shooting that killed 50-year-old Walter Scott Saturday in the coastal city of North Charleston. AFP

WASHINGTON—Around 9 percent of Ameri-can adults who have a record of impulsive and angry behavior have access to guns, says a study out Wednesday.

These researchers also reported that 1.5 per-cent of adults acknowledge feeling impulsive an-ger and carrying guns outside their home.

These people are usually young or middle aged men who sometimes lose their temper, break things or get into fights, said the study co-authored by psychiatrists at Duke, Harvard and Columbia universities.

The study was published in the journal Behav-ioral Sciences and the Law.

“As we try to balance constitutional rights and public safety regarding people with mental ill-ness, the traditional legal approach has been to prohibit firearms from involuntarily-committed psychiatric patients,” said Jeffrey Swanson, a professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University in North Carolina and lead author of the study.

“But now we have more evidence that current laws don’t necessarily keep firearms out of the hands of a lot of potentially dangerous individu-als,” he wrote.

The researchers looked at data from 5,563 face-to-face interviews conducted in the Nation-al Comorbidity Study Replication, or NCS-R. This is a nationally representative survey of men-tal disorders in America that was led by Harvard University in the early 2000s.

The study concluded there was little overlap between participants with serious mental ill-nesses and those with a history of impulsive, an-gry behavior and access to firearms. AFP

TAIPEI—Taiwan launched water rationing in some major cities on Wednesday as the island battled its worst drought in over a decade, fol-lowing the lowest rainfall in nearly 70 years.

ing a muddy crater.The dam held just

24.5 percent of its ca-pacity Wednesday, ac-cording to the Water Resources Agency.

“We continue to monitor the situation to determine how long the rationing will go on, as the supply of Shi-hmen dam is tight. We urge people to conserve and store water,” said Cheng Tsao-ming, an official at the Taoyuan city government.

Homes, schools and businesses are relying on water stored in large tanks and are adopting

water-saving measures, including recycling water for gardening and clos-ing swimming pools and gyms on rationing days.

Some are concerned that their businesses will suffer if the water rationing continues.

Showlin hair salon in Taoyuan said it had to turn away some cus-tomers.

“Even though we have three water stor-age tanks we still have to limit our services. I am worried that we will have to start tak-ing unpaid leave if the rationing goes on much

longer,” said a worker at the salon, who gave her family name as Tsai.

“I have still opened my business today as I have a big water stor-age tank to supply my shop, but I am worried about losing customers if the situation wors-ens,” said the owner of Yang Kuang car wash in Taoyuan, who de-clined to give his name.

Despite light rains this week, the government has warned that the dry spell is forecast to con-tinue and that monsoon rains may not happen at all this season. AFP

9% of Americans have gun access

LIFEg l w e e ke n d @ g m a i l . c o m

C1BAMBINA OLIVARES WISEE D I T O R

T H U R S D AY : A P R I L 9 : 2 0 1 5

LIFE

“STUDIES FOR A MONUMENT”C U L T U R E

Studies for a Monument takes the form of an elaborate retracing of technique and process in artistic manufacturing. Here, collected digitally enhanced

toy pig images and its 3-d printed versions map out the main work’s fabrication; a large-scale pig sculpture perched on a plinth. Such introspective practice captures the zeitgeist of Bacolor’s longstanding and unseen pig monument projects. Here, the artist positions his oeuvre to a rich possibility of discourse between collecting and repurposing objects and

between working with digitized and tangible prototypes in manufacturing. As with most of Bacolor’s outputs that deal with the tectonics of a fraudulent government, he appropriates the pig monument with social and political satire. The work stands in as commemoration to the country’s bleak political landscape and concurs to the established definition of monumental as, “reference to something of extraordinary size and power, as in monumental sculpture, but also to mean simply anything made to commemorate

the dead, as a funerary monument or other example of funerary art. The word comes from the Latin “monere,” which means ‘to remind’, ‘to advise’ or ‘to warn.” “Studies for a Monument” runs from April 11-30, 2015 at Galleria Duemila located at 210 Loring Street, 1300 Pasay City. For more information you may reach us at + 632 831 9990; Telefax no. + 632 833 9815, email: [email protected], Twitter and Instagram: @galleriaduemila, you may also visit our website at www.galleriaduemila.com, or like us on Facebook.

C2 BAMBINA OLIVARES WISEEDITOR

THURSDAY : APRIL 9 : 2015

glweekend@gmai l .com

LIFE

Alpha (alpha (Α or α)) and Ome-ga (omega (Ω or ω)), are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, and an appel-

lation of Christ or of God in the Book of Revelation. Attention Deficit Disorder is a bio-logically based condition causing a persistent pattern of difficulties result-ing in one or more of the following be-haviors: inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Collective 88 Art is pleased to pres-ent an exhibition of new works by street artist, Archie Geotina also known as Chichimonster. The show explores the artist’s pursuit to go back into his mem-ories and past lives to explore a range of emotions - depression, addiction, sui-cide, fear, hope, and love. He asks if you know what it feels like to have the sky fall upon you? To get lost and beat up, burned out, burned up, to be found through heartache knowing you were drawn in. Willing just to get out. Too wild. Just too wild amongst yellow eyes. That there are times in human experiences that make you feel like warm meat — unseasoned. He re-

explores these memories to further un-derstand and ask, “What does it take for a person to be where they are today?”. Serendipity, luck, perseverance, tim-ing, and the virtue of accepting reality as it happens. He questions the existen-tialist aspect of being and considers the human to be its own God. Therefore, in control of his own destiny. Its own God... but - with Attention Deficit Disorder. WHO IS CHICHIMONSTER?Emerging from Manila, Chichimon-ster, is a multi-media artist with roots heavily seeded in the street and graffiti culture of the Philippines. Archie’s influence is not “street” in the traditional sense—it is the culmi-nation of growing up in a raw setting filled with colonial influence, extreme social disparity, and religious under-tones. It is the vibration of the develop-ing world, with rich insight on how new political power operates in this modern world. His art depicts the irony and the truth of being in an environment that nurtures luxury and poverty at the same time.

He co-founded the graffiti crew Katipunan Street Plan (KST) in 2006, which marked the beginning of his evolution from the traditional graffiti to creating his own unique style. Combined with a stream of consciousness process that taps into the countries historical references, he bases his graffiti lettering on the lost Philippine alphabet, the Alibata. His style is also inspired by the multitude of local cultures within the Philippine islands. From murals to portraits, Archie mixes different materials of acrylic paint, spray paint, ink, resin, and wheat paste to create his pieces. He has also used fire extinguishers in his mixed media pieces. His art has led him to work in Manila, Baguio, Cebu, Bacolod, Los Angeles, and New York.

EXHIBITION DATESApril 16 – May 19, 2015Opening: Thursday, April 16, 2015, 6:00 – 8:00PMA_Space Gallery, 5F Aboitiz Bldg. 110 Legazpi Street, Makati City

ALPHA OMEGA A.D.D.CHICHIMONSTER SOLO EXHIBIT

Explore the rich cultures of different countries through their unique arts and crafts!

THE PHILIPPINESAPRIL 11, 2015

Spruce up bayongs by painting traditional Filipino designs and get a chance to learn more about the father of Philippine fine arts,

Damian Domingo, through a special coloring activity.

JAPANAPRIL 18, 2015

Discover the unique culture of Japan through the traditional art of creating thekoinobori and the

different shuriken from ninja lore.

EGYPTAPRIL 23, 2015

Decorate paper mache pyramids and create interesting magnets in

the shape of the sacred scarab.

FRANCEMAY 9, 2015

Recreate the city of Paris through paper cut-outs and

make your own cave paintings as many are found throughout

France.

AUSTRALIAMAY 16, 2015

Take a deep look at Australian aboriginal art by decorating boomerangs and learn more

about the unique animals of the land down under through a fun

coloring activity.

BRAZILMAY 23, 2015

The Amazon is home to many animals. Transform the fearful anaconda into a keychain and take home personalized Rio

Carnival masks.

Enroll your kids in our 10:00AM or 3:00PM sessions

Php 2,250 all six sessions Php 375 individual [email protected]

759-8288 loc 35/24

ST’ART: A TRIP AROUND

THE WORLDSUMMER WORKSHOPS

FOR CHILDREN(For ages 6-11 years old)

C3BAMBINA OLIVARES WISEEDITORLIFE

THURSDAY : APRIL 9 : 2015

glweekend@gmai l .com

WHAT IS SPOKEN WORD?BY ED BIADO

In school, we were taught how to write poems. We learned the rules, restrictions and what makes po-etry different from prose. Spoken word, which is currently

crossing the line from underground to main-stream here in Manila, is likewise tiptoeing between poetry and prose. Wikipedia defines the “performance art” as involving “performance-based poetry that fo-cuses on the aesthetics of word play and story-telling,” often including “collaboration and experimentation with other art forms such as music, theater, and dance.” This is the rea-son that practitioners of the craft usually call themselves “artists” and not “poets.” After all, saying you’re a poet has a highbrow vibe to it. This is something that modern-day spoken word, which traces back to the 1960s African-American Civil Rights Movement, generally stands against—elitism. In fact, spo-ken word is described as the democratization of poetry. A member of the local spoken-word group Words Anonymous, Juan Miguel Severo (or Gege to friends) explains to The Gist the dif-ference between a spoken-word performance and poetry reading. He says that spoken word is poetry “written for the stage, not for the page.” If a piece was written with the inten-tion of performing it in front of an audience, it qualifies as spoken word. Otherwise—as in, if the piece was not originally meant to be per-formed—it’s not spoken word even if the au-thor reads it on a stage. Spoken word should not be read. It should be memorized, Gege reminds us. However, it’s acceptable to read if the artist “just hasn’t got-ten into memorizing it yet.” That scenario is far from ideal but “okay.” In Manila, the scenario definitely isn’t ideal because most of these young artists are just start-ing out and feeling their way through it. They’re still finding their voice and searching for a point of view, which is probably why the most com-mon subject of spoken-word pieces is love. Gege observes, “Kids who are trying spoken word cry about their own version of the same pain. But again, it’s what the form has always been about: democratization of poetry. So if [heartache] is what oppresses them, then they have the right to a platform. But I do believe that eventually more and more societal issues will be covered by more spoken word poets. “Maybe one of the reasons a bunch of us are talking about love is because it is easier to write about one’s personal romantic failures at first because that kind of pain and oppression is easier to channel if you are a young writer. Hopefully, soon enough, we learn to expand the scope of our subjects and talk about things happening outside ourselves.” Catch the first anniversary show of Words Anonymous at Sev’s Cafe on April 25. The group also hosts poetry slams every first Wednesday of the month and open mic nights every third Sat-urday of the month at the same venue.

Avida Land, one of the coun-try’s leading real estate de-velopers in the mid-market segment, unveils a special art

gallery as part of its 25th anniversary celebration. Dubbed as “Living Inspi-ration”, the Avida Digital Art Gallery showcased creative digital artworks from the country’s top digital artists: Team Manila, WeeWillDoodle, and Angela Taguiang. Avida’s executives led by Avida President Christopher Maglanoc and Avida Head of Sales and Marketing Bing Gumboc were present during the ribbon-cutting and official open-ing of the gallery held last March 25. They were also joined by Jowee Alviar of Team Manila, Nelz Yumul of Wee-WillDoodle, and Angela Taguiang. Guests got to see first-hand the colorful works in the exhibit, each depicting a different story on how one celebrates life’s many inspiring possibilities—a central theme in Av-ida’s 25th year. The guests also had a chance to get to know the artists dur-ing the event’s artwork signing and meet-and-greet. While digital art is not yet consid-ered traditional like painting or sculp-ture, this emerging art form is fast becoming a popular medium for con-temporary artists. Considered as the next step in the evolution of modern art, the use of computer technology in digital art has made it more acces-

sible to young aspiring artists. It opens doors to multiple options be it graphic design, typography, illustrations, digi-tal photo artwork or digital painting. For the Avida Digital Art Gallery, Avida has chosen several key artists that help bring digital art to more Filipinos. Team Manila, an award-winning graphic design studio with an im-pressive portfolio of works in various fields of graphic design and brand-ing has been creating digital designs since 2001. Their aim is to educate and cultivate public appreciation through its work while making a last-ing mark on visual culture and rein-forcing the current lifestyle of graph-ic design here and abroad. WeeWillDoodle on the other hand have made a name in the industry for their unique technique, expressing their art by way of random lines and characters, starting from traditional line art or paint painting and finish-ing digitally. Aside from being a graphic de-signer, Angela Taguiang is also an il-lustrator and visual artist. She is an active member of Ang Illustrador ng Kabataan (Ang INK), the only organ-ization in the country dedicated to the creation and promotion of chil-dren’s illustration. “Avida is thrilled to have this col-laboration with the artists. Their work truly speaks of the kind of dynamism

that has shaped Avida through the years,” shares Avida Marketing Head Tess Tatco. “Technology used for digital art allows these artists to pro-duce a multitude of options to express their vision. Avida believes in always exploring these dynamic opportuni-ties. Through this event, Avida aims to make digital art more accessible to the public, the same way Avida aims to bring homes that fulfill dreams acces-sible to more individuals and families. To date, Avida has built 60,000 homes across 73 projects in 29 strategic loca-tions nationwide, making it the Ayala Land subsidiary with the most num-ber of projects and broadest geograph-ic presence in the country.” The Avida Digital Art Gallery is just one of the many creative and ex-citing events that Avida has in store to mark their year-long anniversary celebration. With this milestone, the company continues to provide thoughtfully-designed developments in secure communities and the dis-tinct Avida lifestyle that fosters and creates life opportunities for many Filipinos. The Avida Digital Art Gallery is lo-cated at the Avida Showroom in Glo-rietta (2/F Glorietta 4). The exhibit will be open to the public and will run for two weeks. For more information on this event, visit www.facebook.com/avidaland-ph or www.avidaland.com

AVIDA SUCCESFULLY LAUNCHES “LIVING INSPIRATION”,

A DIGITAL ART GALLERY

Avida Land President & CEO Chris Maglanoc tries the live silk screen art at Team Manila’s booth.

Featured artworks at Avida Digital Art Gallery (from left to right) “Endless” by WeeWillDoodle, “Dynamism in Action” by Team Manila, and “Good Morning” by Angela Taguiang

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LIFET H U R S D AY : A P R I L 9 : 2 0 1 5

3AM PART 2 R-13 The second installment of the Thai anthology horror film, it features three stories: The Third Night, The Convenant, and The Offering. “The Third Night” follows a series of events that occur after a motorcycle gang leader dies. “The Covenant” is about the sound of someone playing a piano heard from the old abandoned chapel of an all-girls convent school. “The Offering” tells the story of a shop that sells paper money and offerings to the departed.

CINDERELLA PG Relive the fairy tale about Ella/Cinderella (Lily James) who finds herself at the mercy of her wicked stepmother, Lady Tremaine (Cate Blanchett) and stepsisters (Holliday Grainger and Sophie McShera) after her father (Ben Chaplin) passes away. But her fortune will change when she meets her Fairy Godmother (Helena Bonham Carter) who will help her win the heart of Prince Charming (Richard Madden)

CLOWN R-13 Real Estate agent and loving father Kent McCoy (Andy Powers) discovers an old clown costume in one of the houses he’s overseeing and uses it on his son’s (Christian Distefano) birthday party only to later find out that anyone who wears it becomes a kid-hungry killer.

FAST & FURIOUS 7 PG In the seventh installment of the Fast & Furious film series, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker), and the rest of the crew find themselves being chased by Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) who seeks revenge for what happened to his brother Owen Shaw.

HOME G A banished member of the alien race Boov, Oh (Jim Parsons) goes to Earth, which his race has invaded, to find a new home. He then meets the resourceful and adventurous teenage girl named Tip Tucci (Rihanna) who is looking for her missing mother Lucy (Jennifer Lopez). The two team up both on a quest of their own, one is on the run while the other is looking for someone.

INSURGENT PG In this second installment in The Divergent trilogy, Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) race against time to find answers while being hunted down by Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet), the leader of the Erudite faction. Tris faces one challenge after another as she unlocks the truth about the past and ultimately, the future of her society.

NOW SHOWINGA GUIDE TO WHAT’S ON AT THE CINEMA THIS WEEK

ROBOT OVERLORDS PG Robots from a distant galaxy have conquered Earth and now rule over humans, who have to wear electronic implants to confine them in their houses. Four friends temporarily disable their tracking implants to venture outside and fight the android invaders.

THE LONGEST RIDE R-13 Based on the bestselling novel of the same name written by Nicholas Sparks, the film tells the story the star-crossed love affair between Luke Collins (Scott Eastwood), a former champion bull rider hoping to make a comeback, and Sophia Danko (Britt Robertson), a college student who is about to start her dream job in New York City. Their conflicting paths and ideals test their relationship but they will be inspired by the enduring romance of Ira (Alan Alda) with his beloved wife.

THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER G After 11 years since 2004’s The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, this sequel, based on the Nickelodeon television series SpongeBob SquarePants, follows the adventures of SpongeBob (Tom Kenny) as he teams up with his Mr Krabs’ (Clancy Brown) nemesis Plankton (Mr. Lawrence) to get the Krabby Patty secret formula back from diabolical pirate Burger-Beard (Antonio Banderas).

YOU’RE MY BOSS PG Airline marketing head Georgina (Toni Gonzaga) has to work with her boss’ assistant Pong (Coco Martin), but with her bossy demeanor and his laid back attitude, the two don’t get along. They will then swap positions in hopes of sealing an important deal for the company. Going through this change and adventures together, the two will fall in love with each other, notwithstanding their differences.

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Popstar princess Sarah Geronimo added four more trophies to her growing collection while singer-songwriter Rey Valera took home

the MYX Magna, the highest recognition given by the music channel to honor a mu-sic icon’s signi� cant contribution to the in-dustry at the 10th MYX Music Awards re-cently at SM Aura Premier Samsung Hall. Geronimo received her trophies per-sonally for Favorite Artist, Favorite Fe-male Artist, Favorite Remake for “Maybe � is Time,” and Favorite Music Video for “Tayo” directed by Avid Liongoren, further increasing her MYX Music Awards’ win-ning record from 19 to 23. � e Voice of the Philippines coach, who also performed her hit song “Kilometro” in one of the event’s highly-charged production numbers be-fore winning back-to-back Favorite Artist, acknowledged the support of her fans and shared her victories to her fellow nominees. Meanwhile, Valera, who had written songs for Sharon Cuneta and Rico J. Puno, among others, joined an elite list

of Magna awardees including Cuneta (2006) among others. Vina Morales, Christian Bautista, Kyla, Erik Santos, Angeline Quinto, KZ Tand-ingan, and Richard Poon paid tribute to the hitmaker by singing his songs, such as “Kahit Maputi Na Ang Buhok Ko,” “Tayong Dalawa,” “Maging Sino Ka Man,” “Kung Kailangan Mo Ako,” and “Pangako Sa ‘Yo.” Gloc-9 added two more MMA trophies to his name by winning Favorite Urban Vid-eo for “Businessman” featuring Vinci Mon-taner of Parokya ni Edgar and directed by J. Pacena II, and Favorite Collaboration for “Takipsilim” with Regine Velasquez-Alca-sid. � e rapper, who now tails Geronimo with 16 awards, was all praises and very grateful to his recent collaborator Velasquez-Alcasid for agreeing to record the song with him in the studio. Teen star Daniel Padilla won two awards, Favorite Male Artist and Favorite Song for “Simpleng Tulad Mo.” Kathryn Bernardo bagged the award for Favorite Guest Ap-pearance in a Music Video for her on-screen

In recent years, Kuh Ledesma has begun to actively explore di� erent facets of her art. In addition to singing, Kuh—known as the Pop Diva—is now into the visual

arts, particularly painting. She � rst got into it a� er visiting a friend’s house where she saw some paintings. Somehow, seeing them triggered an earlier love for art that she had during her student days, inspiring her to pick up her brushes and paints and try again. “It made me say, ‘Ay, kaya ko ‘yan,” says Kuh. As a painter, Kuh is self-taught, but she de-rives inspiration from some of her favorite artists. She paints in the abstract expressionist style, and her subjects o� en have something to do with her Christian faith and are inspired by verses or passages from the Bible. She paints mostly on specially de-signed large canvases using bold, brilliant col-ors and simple lines. Since re-discover-ing her love for art, Kuh has completed enough paintings to stage two exhibits. Her � rst exhibit in 2012 showcased forty pieces of non-representational paintings and was aptly titled “Unexpected.” � e 2nd exhibit in 2013 was billed Beauty of Purpose and focused mainly on “Musical Instruments,” “Matthews’ Lilies,” “Talahib,” (which was inspired by the passage in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter Six where it talks about ‘grass of the � eld’, hence the

reference to the ‘talahib’) and her “Vine and Branches series”. On April 7, Easter Sunday, Kuh opened her third exhibit, titled He is Risen—a tribute to Easter and Christ’s sacri� ce on the cross—at the Promenade Hall of the Promenade Building, Greenhills Commercial Center. � e paintings feature new subjects, includ-ing her “Life Stories” of Faith and Love as well as “the Power of the Risen Christ”. She prepared an expanded collection of her well- loved sig-

nature “Musical Instru-ments” series as well as new and inspired ver-sions of some paintings from “Unexpected” and “Beauty of Purpose” such as “Puri� cation” and “Sancti� cation.” Kuh is very excited for the public to come and see the exhibit. It’s so gratifying, she says, to be accepted in a medium other than music or singing. It doesn’t mean she’s going to stop making music; it simply means that the artist’s soul in her has found another outlet.

She is encouraged by the public’s reaction so far. “Ang sarap ng feeling that people enjoy and appreciate my paintings. When they like what I have to o� er, for me, that’s an a� rmation to continue. I want to inspire others to also discover their other talents and develop them, at ‘wag nilang sayangin.” � e exhibit is open to the public from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. until April 20. For more information, please call or text Malo Cruz at 0917 8139065.

She paintsin the abstract

expressionist style,and her subjects

often have somethingto do with her

Christian faith and are inspired by verses or

passages fromthe Bible

KUH LEDESMAOPENS 3RD PAINTING EXHIBIT

SARAH GWINS BIG

BY SEYMOUR BARROS SANCHEZ

partner’s “Simpleng Tulad Mo” music video. Silent Sanctuary bagged the Favorite Group award, Kamikazee’s “Kislap” direct-ed by the band won Favorite Rock Video, Julie Anne San Jose’s “Right Where You Belong” directed by Louie Ignacio topped the Favorite Mellow Video category, James Reid and Nadine Lustre took home the Favorite Media Soundtrack award for “No Erase,” and “� e Voice Kids” � nalist Darren Espanto became the youngest winner by emerging as the Favorite New Artist. 2NE1’s “Come Back Home” and Taylor Swi� ’s “Shake It O� ” were the only foreign winners, bagging the Favorite K-Pop Video

and Favorite International Video awards, respectively. Toni Gonzaga was selected Favorite MYX Celebrity VJ for her July 2014 stint while VJ Nikki Gil won the SPINNR Choice Award. MYX VJs Robi Domingo, Tippy Dos Santos, Diego Loyzaga, Chino Lui Pio, Ai dela Cruz, Erica Abella, and Gil hosted the event. � e winners were determined a� er the voting period set from Feb. 19, 7 p.m., to March 22, 11:59 p.m. through four platforms, namely the MYX website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. � e criteria for winning were 60 percent from fan votes and 40 percent from artist poll.

Singer Kuh Ledesma expands her artistic range by plunging into the world of plastic arts with an exhibition of another collection of work, her third

SarahGeronimo,

MYX’s Favorite Artist, among

the awards she won

Singers pay tribute to

songwriter-singer Rey

Valera

Nadine Lustre and James Reid, Favorite Media Soundtrack

Kamikazeem Favorite Rock

Video

Gloc 9,Favorite

UrbanVideo

ACROSS 1 Ante up 4 Cotillion honorees 8 Pickle or salt 12 Invited 13 Jai — 14 Battery’s “+” end 16 Piece of sugar 17 Warble 18 Unmitigated 19 Spinks defeater 20 Ancient seafaring people 22 Wood cutter

24 Bird-feeder treat 25 7 and 9 26 Predicament 28 Class 31 Hibachi residue 34 Machu Picchu locale 35 Prepare eggs 36 Caviar source 37 Extreme edge 38 Writer — Rice 39 Debtors’ notes 40 Redding of soul

41 Almond confection 42 Pea soup 43 Dele canceler 44 Contend 45 Ocean fish 47 Place of development 51 Chemist’s reading matter? (2 wds.) 55 Hot time in Paris 56 It brings tears to your eyes 57 Con merchant 58 Grad 59 Jalopy 60 Garfield’s housemate 61 Long-gone bird 62 Mythical archer 63 Conductor’s baton 64 Wool supplier

DOWN 1 Zahn or Abdul 2 Own up to 3 “You bet!” 4 Raced off 5 George who was a she 6 Harmful thing 7 Gesture 8 Political gathering 9 Free 10 Day-to-day events 11 Idyllic place 12 Humdrum 15 Pause fillers

20 Profs, usually 21 Campaign topic 23 Sorority sisters 26 Kind of raise 27 Joule fractions 29 Dust bunny 30 Swiss painter Paul — 31 “Get real!” (2 wds.) 32 Scare the chickens 33 More arrogant 34 Mr. Sampras 35 Sounded sheepish 37 Casts a ballot 41 Wharf 43 Real stinkers? 44 Turned sharply 46 BP merger partner 47 Where Cadiz is 48 Underneath 49 Liszt opus 50 Floor model 51 Near empty 52 About (2 wds.) 53 Remove snow 54 Non-soap opera 58 Lime cooler

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A N S W E R F O R P R E V I O U S P U Z Z L E

CROSSWORD PUZZLE THURSDAY,

APRIL 9, 2015

Marina Bay Sands is o� ering 50 fans the opportunity to witness the crowning of the � rst winner of “Asia’s Got Talent” live at Ma-rina Bay Sands through the #Fast-TrackToMBS Instagram contest that runs from April to 28. � e winners will be part of the live studio audience at the Grand Final and Grand Final Results, presided over by four celebrity judges — 16-time Grammy-winning Canadian musician David Foster, UK pop sensation and former Spice Girl Melanie C., Indonesian rock icon Anggun, and Taiwan-ese-American pop idol and ac-tor Van Ness Wu —who will be selecting the next global star. Tickets to both shows are not for sale and in order to win them, members of the public will have to follow @marinabaysands on Instagram and search for the iconic Golden Buzzer within the integrated resort. Participants will need to take an original photo or a 15-second video next to the Golden Buzzer located on the property showcasing their unique talent, and upload it onto

their Instagram accounts, tag @marinabaysands and include the hashtag #FastTrackToMBS in their entry caption[1]. If you can juggle like Van Ness or gargle songs like Melanie C, then show o� your talent on Instagram. � is is a skill-based contest and 50 winners will each receive a pair of exclusive tickets to watch either the Grand Final onMay 7 or the Grand Final Re-sults on May 14 to be held live at MasterCard � eatres. Broadcast by AXN, “Asia’s Got Talent” is the 63rd adaptation and the � rst ever pan-regional edition of the Guinness World Record-breaking hit “Got Tal-ent” format, which was con-ceived by Simon Cowell’s Syco Entertainment and is co-pro-duced by FremantleMedia. � e show features 199 incredibly talented acts from 15 countries competing for the coveted grand prize of $100,000, along with the chance to return and perform at Marina Bay Sands, Asia’s leading entertainment destination. � e inaugural season of “Asia’s Got Talent” premiered on March 12, collectively top-ping ratings among English Pay TV channels in Southeast Asia and Taiwan. � e show spans 10 weekly episodes, including � ve audition episodes, three semi-� nals, a � nale episode and results gala. Home viewers can catch “Asia’s Got Talent” on

AXN every � ursday at 8.30 p.m. (and semi-� nals begin at 8.05 p.m. from April 16) throughout Asia and on lo-cal broadcasters in India, Indonesia, � ailand, and Vietnam through the week.

‘ASIA’SGOT TALENT’

GRAND FINALS LIVE AT

MARINA BAY SANDS

unique talent, and upload it onto

Teen star Daniel Padilla was among the nominees in this year’s Nickel-odeon Kids’ Choice Awards (KCA). � e 19-year-old actor was nominated in the Favorite Asian Act category, along with Indonesian girl group JKT48, Malaysian YouTube sensation Jinnyboy, and Singaporean actor Tosh Zhang. At the end of the glitzy and slimy 28th edition of KCA held at the Forum in Inglewood, California, Daniel failed to win the coveted orange blimp. � e award was won by the Jakarta-based girl group who happened to have a bigger fan base. Fans of the young actor took it to social media to air their sentiments over the result. Some even went overboard expressing how infuriated they were that their idol did not win the coveted blimp. To appease his ardent fans, Daniel and his mother Karla Estrada told them that being nominated in Nickelodeon KCA is already an achievement in itself. For consolation, the teen actor won the “Global Slime Star” award a� er beating out British boy band Union J, Mexican boy band CD9, Brazilian singer-composer Luan Santana and teenage YouTube Jamie Curry who represented Australia and New Zealand. � e competition, which was conducted by Nickelodeon for the � rst time, was held on Twitter where each nominee has his or her own respective hashtag. In Daniel’s case it was #SlimeDanielKCA. Daniel’s Twitter fans tweeted the hashtag many times over making the young actor win the competition and get slimed in the end. � e winner was announced a day before the Nick Awards but no blimp was handed out to the “teen king.”

� e Favorite Asian Act plum is an elusive award for Filipino artists. Anne Curtis and Sarah Geronimo also failed to win the same award in 2014 and 2013, re-spectively. In 2012, Charice Pem-pengco became the � rst Filipino to get nominated and eventually won the award. Charice took home the famous orange blimp when she was still a hot YouTube sensation touring the world to promote her music. Sure, Charice’s fans knew exactly how to cast their votes on-line. It is something that Daniel’s fans are yet to discover.

EMPOWERINGUNDERSERVED FILIPINOSTech giant Intel partners with De-partment of Science and Technol-ogy-Information and Communi-cation Technology O� ce (DOST-ICTO) in a nationwide multi-stake-holder digital literacy movement formed to make the entire Philip-pines digitally literate. Called DigiBayanihan, the move-ment aims to promote digital litera-cy amongst all Filipinos to empower them with skills to harness the ben-e� ts of technology to improve their quality of life. While focused on all Filipinos, special emphasis is given to the underserved. “Our main goal, is of course, to make every Filipinos, all 100 mil-lion of them be digitally literate. We will not stop until we reach our goal,” Calum Chisholm, Intel Phil-ippines Country Manager, told � e Standard in a sit-down interview.

� e Intel o� cial furthered that the main challenge the movement is facing right now is that, people have the devices to access important information online but most of them do not know how to use them. “As a driving force of this initiative, we will continue to lend our expertise in IT education among the youth and technology leadership to ensure that we reach the digitally excluded members of the population.” Chisholm said that DigiBaya-nihan has already achieved one of the goals they � rst set in mid-2014 when it was introduced, and that is to put digital literacy at the forefront of the national agenda for human and economic de-velopment. � is year, it targets to touch up to � ve million Filipinos through its digital literacy and volunteering initiatives. � e movement also plans to en-hance its partnerships with other stakeholders, in particular, the private sector, civil society or-ganizations, academic institutions and international agencies, to in-clude more National Government Agencies such as National Youth Commission and TESDA. Bettina Quimson, DOST-ICTO deputy executive director, explained that DigiBayanihan is very much aligned to the agency’s Tech4Ed, eFilipino and free Public WiFi projects, which all aim to harness the use of ICT to achieve growth and development of communities in the Philippines. From its launch in mid-2014, DigiBayanihan has successfully trained over 100, 000 Filipinos. � is year, it is expected that Di-giBayanihan will exponentially increase its reach through volun-teerism. Volunteers will be mobi-lized to organize and implement the local activities that will bring digital literacy

WITHOUT WANG2

BY NICKIE WANG

NO NICKELODEON BLIMP FOR DANIEL PADILLA

Daniel Padilla fails to win a Nickelodeon’s orange blimp

Asia’s Got Talent hosts: Marc Nelson and Rovilson Fernandez

Asia’s Got Talent Judges: David Foster, Anggun,Van Ness Wu, and Melannie C.

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We got word from ABS-CBN Corporate Communications announcing the con-clusion of the showbiz-oriented talk show, The Buzz.

Here’s the statement in toto: After more than 15 years of unparalleled credibility as Philippine television’s leading showbiz-oriented talk show, The Buzz takes a break after its April 5,2015 epi-sode. The program recognizes the evolution in showbiz news reporting, and to cope with it, The Buzz deems it a necessary step to reinvent to start anew. Showbiz news will never die. The showbiz talk genre remains. Since the program began, The Buzz has gained the authority of being the premiere source of truth-ful and balanced entertainment news for the Filipino audience worldwide. As the program bids farewell for now, The Buzz would like to thank its loyal viewers for the support they have given the show in its entire run. See you again soon. Observers say that the decision was a reaction to the fact that Willie Revillame’s move to GMA Net-work. His show on that station commences airing on the 26th after All Stars Sunday, which is at the same time as The Buzz is on the air. So, far the Ka-pamilya network hasn’t announced what program will take the timeslot occupied by The Buzz.

HHHHHGlobal technology innovator LG Electronics intro-duces yet another cutting-edge innovation in the home entertainment industry—its premium line-up of Super ULTRA HD TVs. Comprising the razor-thin UF950T and the curved UG8700, the LG Super UHD TVs debuted officially at established consumer electronics store Anson’s at The Link, Makati City. The collection carries distinct TV models in different sizes, all bringing to life The flagship of the series, the ultra-slim UF950T, is

the first LG TV to sport the ColorPrime Display by Nano Spectrum that is set to change the Super UHD playing field with its remarkably accurate color ex-pression, treating viewers to more vivid colors with an increased color reproduction range. Top of its class from the TV design technology, the UF950T stands only 8.3mm at its slimmest design. The svelte UF950T also comes packed with the groundbreak-ing Premium Sound feature that was designed in collaboration with Harman Kardon, one of the most globally respected names in the audio industry. The UG8700 is beautifully curved with IPS panel built, allowing exceptional viewing from any angle without distortion of color. Available in 65- and 55-inch units, the UG8700’s provides cutting-edge au-ditorium stand that houses the TV’s unique down-ward speakers that cast premium quality sound directly toward the viewers. The UG8700 series are custom-built for Philip-pine Digital broadcasting that’s guaranteed to deliv-er HD streaming and secure your device in prepara-tion for Analog switch off. “We are pleased to introduce to the country our new line-up of versatile Super ULTRA HD TVs,” said LG Philippines Home Entertainment Vice President Hoony Bae. “As a global technology innovator, we offer premium variants fitting to the diverse lifestyles of the Philippine consumers. This unique array adds to our portfolio of top-of-the-line TVs, providing op-timal home entertainment for our consumers.”This summer, LG Electronics is also set to launch the largest member of the Super UHD TV family. To learn more about the LG’s new line-up of Super ULTRA HD TVs, visit www.lg.com/ph, or www.LGnewsroom.com; like LG’s official Facebook page “LG Philippines” and follow @LG Philippines on Twitter and Instagram.

His punch is so powerful that it has united a nation. And now that Manny Pacquiao is embarking on the biggest boxing fight in history – the May 3rd battle royale with Floyd Mayweather, Jr. – Smart Communications, Inc.

is leading the call for Filipinos to let the whole world see, hear, and feel the country’s support for the people’s champion. “Some boxers fight for personal glory, others fight for fortune. But since the beginning, Manny Pacquiao has also fought for his countrymen. Now, more than ever, we Filipinos should let him know that we are proud of him and are with him all the way,” said Smart executive vice president and wireless consumer busi-ness head Charles A. Lim. “Manny Pacquiao is not just our national pride. He also serves as our inspiration to work hard and push our limits so the whole nation can ‘live more,’” he added.

BE PART OF THE FIGHT’S DIGITAL HISTORYLim disclosed the many ways by which Filipinos can join and support Pacquiao in the fight of the century. “Their Smart-powered mobile devices will enable them to be part of the digital historical account of this once-in-a-lifetime fight. With these devices they can express their support for Pacquiao, join inspir-ing conversations with fellow fans, watch the fight as it unfolds, and get immersed in a shared, national experience,” he said. Smart encourages Filipinos to express their support for Pacquiao on Twitter using the hashtag #SugodManny, to make sure their ring hero could read their messages. They can also use the hashtag when posting their knockout moves on Instagram, for a chance to win Manny Pacquiao-autographed boxing gloves and t-shirts. The company also launched a web page dedicated to the Pac-quiao-Mayweather battle, (smart.com.ph/sugodmanny) where people can get blow-by-blow updates about the fight, as well as information about the various Smart services that will enhance their Pacquiao experience.

EXCLUSIVE ACCESS TO EVERYTHING PACQUIAOSmart, Sun Cellular, and Talk ‘N Text subscribers can watch the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight on their Android devices live and ad-free for just P499 (for a limited time only) via FrontSeat on the Viewstream app. This can be paid via prepaid load deduc-tion or postpaid bill charging. Even before the fight, the livestream subscribers will get ex-clusive access to several Pacquiao training videos shot in the US, as well as videos of previous Mayweather fights. Selected footages of Pacquiao’s training can likewise be viewed on Smart’s corporate YouTube channel (youtube.com/smartcorporate). Furthermore, Smart is granting its subscribers exclusive access to free #SugodManny stickers. They just need to text MANNY to 2600 for free, or access the stickers at http://www.letsload.com/stickers/free. They can use these stickers on their messaging apps like Viber, Line, and WeChat. “Filipinos can fully enjoy the Pacquiao experience through our various offerings – such as Smart Prepaid’s Free Internet that bundles free 30 MB of data per day with top Prepaid pro-mos, Big Bytes 50 for Smart Bro subscribers, and YouTube5 for Smart Prepaid subscribers,” Lim said. “With ‘Internet for All’ as our battle cry, we promised to bring the best of the Internet within reach of every Filipino. Through our Internet offers, we are now bringing the best of Pacquiao to Filipinos; and in a similar way, we are communicating to Pac-quiao the fierce support of his fans,” he said.

SMART SUPPORTS PACQUIAO IN WORLD’S BIGGEST RING BATTLE

‘THE BUZZ’SIGNS OFF

From C8

Kris Aquinoand Boy Abundatake asabbaticalfrom showbiztalk showas hosts

Is WillieRevillame

the reasonThe Buzz isoff the air?

Paul Soriano explains the process of filming SMART’ssupport Pacquiao TVC

SMART executives Mon Isberto and Melissa Limcaoco with Paul Soriano

LG introduces a super UHD TV monitor, here with Korean executives


ISAH V. REDE D I T O R

T H U R S D AY : A P R I L 0 9 : 2 0 1 5

C8

SIMPLYRED

SIMPLYRED

ISAH V. RED

SHOWBITZ

Director Paul Soriano shows the world a young

Manny Pacquiao played by Boboy Villar in the film

title Kid Kulafu that also stars Alessandra de Rossi

as a young Dionisio Pac-quiao and Khalil Ramos as

another young boy from General Santos City who

sparred with Pacquiao

Continued on C7

All the pain and the knockouts I experienced

in boxing were just physical pain. But you

know what’s more painful? It’s the fact that you have nothing to eat, no home where you can

rest, and having a broken family. And I endured all those when I was young.

- Manny Pacquiao

Many of us are familiar with Manny Pacquiao, the eight-division world champion. But before he became the legend-ary boxing champion, what was he?

� ose who have seen the world-champion pugilist as a young boy in General Santos City in Mindanao remember a tiny boy who collected empty Kulafu bottles and was, at the same time, a boxing enthusiast. His peers called him Kid Kulafu when had bouts with fellow young boxers in the city. Film director Paul Soriano and his team of writers use the moniker as the title of the � lm he has produced on the life of Emmanuel Pacquiao, the young boy who wanted to be a boxer. Now, Pacquaio, with the biopic focusing on his youth, is set to inspire the world in a di� erent light. � e movie shares his story not as a sports icon but as a young boy who knocked out life’s challenges. “� is is the untold story of our People’s Champ--way be-fore the fame, fortune, championships and even prior wearing boxing gloves,” says Soriano of the biographical � lm presented by ABS-CBN, Star Cinema, and Ten17 Productions. “It is not about his career as a professional boxer but an in-depth look into his early years, from his birth up to his teenage life.” According to Soriano, it took them three years to � nish the � lm. Prior to that, two years were dedicated to exten-sive research on the childhood of the People’s Champ. “Viewers will discover in the � lm how hard life was for Manny as a kid in General Santos City. � ey will get to know a young boy who had nothing but attitude, passion, and � ghting spirit to face every challenge head on and knock it out one by one,” Soriano says. � e director adds that what inspired him more to do the movie was when he got to know more Manny through a series of conversations which happened within the two-year research spent for the biographical � lm. As Manny shared, “All the pain and the knock outs I experienced in boxing were just physical pain. But you know what’s more painful? It’s the fact that you have noth-ing to eat, no home where you can rest, and having a bro-ken family. And I endured all those when I was young.” Like Soriano, former child actor and Kid Kulafu lead star Buboy Villar feels honored to be part of the world champion’s biopic. “I knew that there were a lot who auditioned for the role that’s why I was so happy when I was chosen. Because I’m really a big fan of Pacquiao,” says Buboy who under-went serious boxing training in preparation for the � lm. “Because of Kid Kulafu, I realized that Sir Manny can be a huge source of inspiration to kids of today. He’s hard-working, determined to rise above poverty, and has high respect for his parents and family,” adds Buboy. “When Sir Manny stepped into amateur boxing, his goal was not to win. He wanted to help provide meals to his family and make his parents proud of him.” Buboy assured moviegoers that there’s still a lot that the world don’t know about Pacman. He quipped, “Before he became a world champion, he was Kid Kulafu who was fueled by passion and faith.” Kid Kulafu was shot in Saranggani and General Santos City where Manny spent his childhood and teen years. Portraying Manny’s parents Dionisia and Rosalio are award-winning actors Alessandra de Rossi and Alex Medina. Also part of the cast are Cesar Montano, Khalil Ramos, and Igi Boy Flores. Kid Kulafu will hit the screens nationwide on April 15.

BEFORE PACMAN,THERE WAS

KID KULAFU

The Standard - 2015 April 09 - Thursday

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Transcript of The Standard - 2015 April 09 - Thursday