the standard - 2016 june 12 - sunday

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BONGBONG: COMELEC,SMARTMATICALSO IN CONSPIRACY

MORE QUESTIONS CROP UP ON NEW CUSTOMS LAW

VOL. XXX � NO. 120 � 3 Sections 24 Pages P18 � SUNDAY : JUNE 12, 2016 � www.thestandard.com.ph � [email protected]

‘NOY, LP ROBBED ME OF 3M VOTES’

ELECTION PROTEST. Senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. announces to journalists his decision to pursue an electoral protest to contest the proclamation of Camarines Sur Rep. Leonor Robredo whom he accused of benefitting from cheating perpetrated by the Aquino administration. MANNY PALMERO

COMELEC OFFICIALRENEWS AUDIT BID

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By John Paolo Bencito and Joel E. Zurbano

OFFICIALS of the Bureau of Customs remain clueless why outgoing Customs Commission-er Alberto Lina insisted on the

hasty passage of the implement-ing rules of the newly signed Cus-toms Modernization and Tariff Act despite questions and objec-tions from stakeholders.

“We don’t know why and what was the motive of the commis-

sioner in rushing the [imple-menting rules and regulations],” said one of the Customs officials who asked not to be identified until the Duterte administration takes office on June 30.

The official, a lawyer who was

once Customs district collector, said rushing the IRR was unnec-essary because incoming Secre-tary Carlos Dominguez, the first Cabinet official to be announced by President-elect Rodrigo

By John Paolo Bencito

SENATOR Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. accused the Aquino ad-ministration and the Lib-eral Party of conspiring to rob him of around three million votes and said he will file an electoral pro-test to contest the victory of Vice President-elect Leni Robredo by the end of the month.

He also accused the Commis-sion on Elections and election machinery provider Smartmatic of conspiring with the admin-istration to rig the May 9 elec-tions.

“It’s very very clear that there are many, many violations by Smartmatic and Comelec so we have to find which will make the best case for the electoral protest,” Marcos told reporters in a news briefing in Quezon City.

He said he has already gathered evidence of fraud both from wit-nesses and experts who flagged irregularities in the automated system.

“The hardest choice to make right now is which violation to use. We have evidence that there was vote buying, batch feeding, and ballot switching, among others,” Marcos told re-porters in Davao City where he met with President-elect Rod-rigo Duterte.

Marcos quoted the incoming president as saying “I know there was cheating” but he did not say what action Duterte would make as he accused the Aquino admin-istration of electoral fraud.

“Only one can do that, the administration. We have to lay that at the door of the administration,” he said, adding that there were some three million “undervotes” and that cost him the vice presidency.

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NEWS

ONE FLAG. An honor guard of the Philippine Marines rehearses their flag-raising activity during today’s Independence Day celebration at the Rizal Park. DANNY PATA

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GUANZON RENEWS AUDIT PLEA

Duterte last May 10, can easily revoke the IRR upon assuming office.

“The previous [Customs Memorandum Orders] which does not contravene the CMTA remains valid if Secre-tary Dominguez revokes the IRR signed by Lina. The latter can only take effect 15 days after publication,” the official said.

But Dominguez, who earlier said ‘‘there’s going to be hell to pay’’ if Lina insisted on pass-ing the IRR, declined to specify what he would do after Lina passed the IRR despite the in-structions of outgoing Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima.

“I don’t know if they will be able to come out with an IRR, they held the meeting,” Dominguez told The Standard on Saturday. “I understand there are people who had very negative comments on that meeting. We’ll just have to review it.”

Dominguez had earlier dis-

closed that he asked Lina “not to tie the hands” of the Duterte administration in implement-ing Customs reforms and even warned the Customs chief ‘I’ll look at it very badly if you tie my hands’ and ‘there’s going to be hell to pay’.”

Dominguez was apparently referring to provisions in the IRR that would specify which agencies will be under the ju-risdiction of the BoC and those which are not.

Bureau officials said Lina could have inserted provisions in the IRR that would validate Lina’s decision to allow the Ma-nila North Harbour Port Inc. to engage in international trade although the company has an existing agreement with the Philippine Ports Authority to engage only in domestic trad-ing.

The PPA is under the Depart-ment of Transportation and Communications while Cus-toms is under the Finance De-partment.

Already, port operators Asian Terminals Inc. and Interna-tional Container Terminal Ser-vices Inc. filed separate protests

against Lina’s actions but Cus-toms officials said stakeholders also have legal remedies against the hasty approval of the IRR after only a single hearing on 1,805 provisions of law.

“What we are saying is that they have to make sure and be careful that what they are doing is right,” the former collector said.

The official noted that on the same day he held the one-day hearing steel importer Manage Resources Trading Corp. filed graft charges against Lina for refusing to release a shipment of steel bars from China even though the shipment was prop-erly documented and cleared for discharge.

“We are told that [Lina] sup-posedly wants to have a legacy when he leaves the bureau,” the official said. “As far as we know, he already has a legacy, that of implementing dubious direc-tives and policies in the agen-cies.’’

In a press statement on Friday, the bureau’s public information office said Lina led Customs of-ficials in mapping out a three-year strategic implementation

plan for the CMTA.It stated that Lina “actively

participated during the two-day workshop and said that reorganization of the bureau is inherently provided in the CMTA and instructed BoC of-ficials to immediately create a technical working group which will closely study the impend-ing change in functions and organizational structure of the bureau.”

“The TWG will also study the increase in the compensation of employees. As stated in Sec-tion 202 (i) of the CMTA, the Bureau is to recommend to the President a competitive com-pensation and remuneration system that will attract and re-tain highly qualified personnel while at the same time main-taining the Bureau’s financial sustainability.”

The statement said Cus-toms officials also reviewed and validated the results of the focus group discussions held last month which identi-fied key areas that should be attuned and strengthened in line with the new provisions in the CMTA.

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

ELECTION Commis-sioner Rowena Guanzon reiterated her call for an independent third-party audit of the automated election system that was used in the last election and said she may make a formal motion although the poll body had already ruled against it.

Guanzon did not say when is she going to present the motion before her six colleagues in the poll body but said it would diminish doubts about the results of the election.

“I’ll make a motion during en banc to have independent IT au-dit,” Guanzon said even after the poll body ruled last month to defer action on the request of Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to have an independent audit of the election results.

Last month, Comelec chairman Andres Bautista said the en banc ruled against Marcos’ request be-cause the result of the audit may be used against the Comelec in one or all of the cases Marcos filed after his opponent for the vice presidency Camarines Sur Rep. Leonor Robre-do was declared the winner.

“There are criminal complaints versus Smartmatic and Comelec. What would happen if they find an-ything during the audit? Will they use it as evidence?,” Bautista said, adding, however, that they will wait for the conclusion of the criminal cases filed against some Comelec employees and Smartmatic.

Marcos sought a system audit after Smartmatic project manager Marlon Garcia admitted he altered a script of one of the servers used in the election without the authoriza-tion of the Comelec.

Guanzon had already expressed her support for a third-party audit to show voters and candidates that the system is impartial.

“It should be an IT expert that is not affiliated with any political par-ty or candidate, preferably it should be identified by the DoST, or it can even be the DoST,” Guanzon said.

Meanwhile, Guanzon also said that the fact-finding committee on the script changing incident is set to submit its report and recommen-dations to the Comelec en banc on June 21.

“The fact-finding committee on the changing of script by Smartmat-ic will submit its report and recom-mendations to the en banc on June 21,” Guanzon said.

Meanwhile, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the solicitor general, who is representing the poll body against a petition to prosecute Smartmatic for changing the script, is now preparing to respond to the order of the Supreme Court.

Last week, the SC has ordered the Comelec to respond to the petition call-ing for the prosecution of Smartmatic officials who altered the program of the Comelec’s transparency server on the night of May 9.

During Tuesday’s deliberation, the high court’s en banc ordered Comelec to comment on the peti-tion filed by lawyer Eduardo Brin-gas, Bishop Reuben Abante and Moses Rivera.

The Comelec proclaimed Robredo as the winner with 14,418,817 votes against the 14,155,344 votes for Marcos, or a margin of only 263,473 votes.

“The mistake that we made —my campaign made—was we could not possibly imagine that this would be done. How

gross, how unconscionable to disregard the voice of the people. We did not imagine anyone could do that—that brazen treatment of the voice of the people,” he added.

Robredo said, however, decried that the statements coming from her rival are meant to “condition” the minds of people.

“This is contrary to groups who have said elections in the country were clean—groups

like the Compact for Peaceful and Democratic Elections-International Observers Mission, a foreign, 3rd party institution, and even the Comelec and PPCRV. Even the police have said our elections were peaceful,” Robredo said in a statement.

“This is an outright brazen treatment to the voice of the rule of the people,” she added, saying that Marcos’ pronouncements “continue to divide our country.”

Asked on why the evidence was not raised earlier, Marcos said that the evidence was “obtained and made available to us only now.”

Marcos had earlier claimed that use of secret fourth server aside from the Comelec server, existence of election results from parts of ARMM where voting did not take place and members of the Board of Election Inspectors barred from entering their assigned precincts.

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MARCOSLIBINGANBURIALREADIED

PANELO: DUTERTE NEVER ENDORSED KILLINGS

DEATH BY HANGINGTOPS HOUSE AGENDA

CHED K TO 12 TRANSITION PROGRAM MANAGEMENT [email protected] | [email protected] | (02) 441-0927 | facebook.com/chedk12 | chedk12.wordpress.com

CHED Memorandum Order No. 14, s. 2016

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is looking for interested sectoral partners to host faculty and staff from Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) nationwide.

Interested in hosting higher education faculty and staff for immersion?

Improving Multi-Sectoral SynergiesThrough sectoral engagements, the Commission seeks to strengthen

synergies between the academe and the following sectors:

INDUSTRY (For-profit companies), CIVIL SOCIETY (NGOs, CSOs,

POs, Foundations), and GOVERNMENT (NGAs, LGUs, GOCCs).

BENEFITS OF THE PARTNERSHIPFor Sectoral Partners — tap the technical expertise of HEI personnel

For HEIs — ensure relevance of instruction and curriculum

For Personnel — update instruction and work practices through immersion

MECHANICSInterested Sectoral Partners propose to CHED a list of engagements which HEI faculty and staff may apply for.

HEI personnel will receive a monthly grant from CHED for the duration of the engagement.

HOW TO APPLYInterested partners may download the application forms at bit.ly/irseforms and submit the accomplished forms and other requirements to [email protected] with the subject IRSE Partner Proposal - Name of Organization.

DEADLINESA rolling deadline is set every 25th of the month. New engagements will start on August 2016 — October 2016 and November 2016 — April 2017

COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION

KTO12 TRANSITION PROGRAM

By John Paolo Bencito

DAVAO CITY—The remains of former President Ferdinand Marcos can be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in September, President-elect Rodrigo Duterte assured outgoing Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. after a four-hour meeting here that ended after midnight Saturday.

“The discussion was very informal but we’re eyeing [to make it happen] on September. We agreed that it will happen this year,” Marcos told reporters here after meeting with Duterte for the first time after the campaign.

Marcos said the burial would finally bring “closure” to political division that has lasted for decades.

“It will bring closure not only to my family but the country somehow,” Marcos said. “This continuing partisan exchange that has been going on for decades will finally be put to rest.”

Marcos echoed the reasons given by Duterte when he announced that he will allow the burial of the deceased Marcos at the Libingan simply because he was a former president and a soldier who fought for the country in World War II.

“I will allow the burial of

PRESIDENT-elect Rodrigo Duterte does not endorse extrajudicial kill-ings, his spokesman said Saturday after scathing criticism from the UN chief over his plans for thousands of people to die in an unprecedented war on crime.

Duterte won last month’s elec-tions by a landslide largely due to an explosive law-and-order platform in which he pledged to end crime within six months by killing tens of thousands of suspected criminals.

He has since offered large boun-

ties to security forces as well as the general public to kill drug traffickers

However, his spokesman insisted Saturday, Duterte did not support extrajudicial killings.

“The president-elect has not en-dorsed, cannot and will never en-dorse extrajudicial killings, they being contrary to law,” Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

“He does not condone the killing of journalists nor any citizen for that matter, regardless of its purpose.”

Panelo said UN Secretary-Gener-

al Ban Ki-moon believed “incorrect news reports” when he condemned Duterte’s apparent endorsement of extrajudicial killings.

Ban said in a speech in New York on Wednesday that he was “ex-tremely disturbed” by Duterte’s re-marks, voicing particular concern over his comments seen as justify-ing killing journalists.

Duterte, who takes office on June 30, told reporters last week that jour-nalists who took bribes or engaged in other corrupt activities were le-

gitimate targets of assassination.“Just because you’re a journalist

you are not exempted from assas-sination, if you’re a son of a bitch,” he said.

Duterte cited the case of Jun Pala, a journalist and politician whose 2003 murder, like those of scores of other journalists killed in the Phil-ippines, has never been solved.

“I do not want to diminish his memory but he was a rotten son of a bitch. He deserved it,” Duterte said. AFP

Alvarez said the bigger cham-ber of the 17th Congress will fully support the administration of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte, es-pecially on his advocacy to address criminality in the first three to six months of his administration.

“[The proposal for] death penalty

will be one of our priority agenda in the [17th] Congress,” Alvarez said, saying that the House leadership under his stewardship will strive to pass legislative measures that would be deemed urgent by the Duterte administration.

Alvarez made the statement in

By Maricel V. Cruz

INCOMING speaker and Davao del Norte Rep. Pan-taleon Alvarez said the proposal to institute capital punishment by hanging will top the priority agenda of the House of Representatives when the 17th Congress convenes in July.

response to the pronouncement of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno Friday that the restoration of the death penalty will require the enact-ment of a law by Congress.

The death penalty law was abol-ished in 1986 during the term of for-mer President Corazon Aquino but was revived by Republic Act 7659 under former President Fidel V Ra-mos in 1993. It was again suspended in 2006 by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Duterte vowed to impose the death penalty against heinous crimes particularly robbery with rape within the next six months and even promised to carry out at

least 50 executions a month to serve as a strong deterrent against crimi-nality.

Alvarez also reiterated that the next Congress will prioritize the passage of a measure amending the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act to return to 12 from 15 years old the minimum age of criminal liability as well as the proposal revising the 1987 Constitution to change the country’s government from unitary to federal, among others.

Alvarez said it is high time to amend Republic Act 9344 where minors aged 15 and below are ex-empted from any criminal liability.

ONE evening in January 2015, two graduate students at Stanford University were riding their bicycles around campus when they noticed a man on top of an unconscious, half-naked woman behind a dumpster.

The man was 18-year-old swimmer Brock Allen Turner.

Turner ran when the bikers— Swedes Carl-Fredrik Arndt and Peter Jonsson—approached him and asked him what he was doing to the unconscious woman. They caught up with him, tackled him and held him down until police arrived. He was subsequently kicked out of Stanford, where he enjoyed a sports scholarship.

A trial ensued, and Turner was found, by a 12-member jury, guilty

of three offenses: assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object. The potential sentence: 14 years in state prison.

The actual sentence, handed out on Thursday: six months in county jail and three years probation.

According to Judge Aaron Persky, a longer punishment would have a “severe impact” on Turner. The university swimmer had once hoped to compete in the Olympics.

•••Many were livid at the sentence

on Turner, who expects to be released in September. An online petition to remove Judge Persky from the bench is circulating.

But no voice is as powerful and as moving as that of the victim, who was

violated yet again by a justice system that favored a “promising” young man and a culture that blames the victim for what had befallen her. She was drinking too much, and she had it coming to her—so went, so goes the thinking.

It was true that she had been too drunk to remember anything that had transpired that evening. She was also too drunk to decide whether she consented to being intimate with Turner. Her attacker, however, built on her failure to remember so that he—through his supposedly expensive legal team—could dictate the narrative, insist he was led to believe the sex was consensual, attack her character and her credibility, and turn the story around such that he now “speaks out against the college campus drinking culture and the sexual promiscuity that goes along with that.”

“I was not only told that I was assaulted, I was told that because I couldn’t remember, I technically could not prove it was unwanted. And that distorted me, damaged me, almost broke me. It is the saddest type of confusion to be told I was assaulted and nearly raped, blatantly out in the open, but we don’t know if it counts as assault yet,” the woman said.

She said she just accompanied her younger sister to a party that Saturday night. The next thing she remembered was that she was on a gurney at the hospital, subjected to invasive examination by doctors and nurses and told she had been assaulted. She said: “I wanted to take off my body like a jacket and leave it at the hospital with everything else.”

More than a week passed before she learned what had really happened to her—through an online newspaper article she read while at work. Imagine

reading about yourself and what had happened to you while scrolling on your phone. She read how she was found unconscious and disheveled. She also read how her attacker had said he thought she liked it.

And then, several paragraphs down, the article listed Turner’s accomplishments—his swimming times.

To say that the trial was an ordeal would be an understatement. The rape had been clear—but all of a sudden she found herself answering the following battery of questions:

“How old are you? How much do you weigh? What did you eat that day? Well what did you have for dinner? Who made dinner? Did you drink with dinner? No, not even water? When did you drink? How much did you drink? What container did you drink out of? Who gave you the drink? How much do you usually drink? Who dropped you off at this party? At what time?

OPINIONA4

[ EDI TORI A L ]

VOLUMINOUS EXCUSES

‘SEVERE IMPACT’

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OPINION

OPINION polls say Britain’s vote on June 23 on whether to leave the European Union will be close. That’s disturbing: Voting to stay is the safer, wiser choice. The referendum debate should have promoted consensus on the point —but it hasn’t, partly because the quality of discussion has been a letdown.

Campaigners on both sides of the debate have claimed that a complex issue is really pretty simple. The government-led Remain campaign says Brexit would be a catastrophe; the Leave campaign says it would be the dawn of a new golden age. Both campaigns have confused voters, inflamed prejudices, muddled the facts—and changed few minds. The intelligent debate that was needed hasn’t happened. So much for direct democracy.

The Leave side has been the worse offender, often brazenly misrepresenting the most basic facts.

Former mayor of London Boris Johnson, a leading Brexit spokesman, said EU law banned children under 8 from blowing up balloons, prohibited the recycling of tea bags and limited the size of coffins. The chairman of a parliamentary committee exposed all this as fiction in a March hearing.

The Leave campaign’s claim that the EU has “given Turkey the nod” to become a full member no doubt appealed to voters alarmed by immigration, but it’s misleading at best. Turkey was declared eligible to join the EU in 1997, but negotiations are still at an early stage and all members will have to agree before they conclude—so the UK has a veto.

Justice Secretary Michael Gove, another leading Leave campaigner, said leaving the EU would allow Britain to “take back the 350 million pounds we give to the EU every week.” That’s wrong, too. The figure ignores the rebate the UK gets up front, as well as the other payments and grants Britain receives. And Gove’s claim that leaving the EU would boost spending on Britain’s National Health Service was so egregious that it caused one Leave supporter and Tory MP to defect. Worst of all, the Leave side has failed to say what Brexit would mean—starting with the trade arrangements that would be needed to replace Britain’s rights and obligations as part of the EU. The Leave campaigners are divided on this, so uncertainty is all they can offer.

Such a weak campaign should have been easy to defeat, but the Remain side has made no progress in the polls since the debate began. That’s partly because it has relied too much on scaremongering. Prime Minister David Cameron’s May 9 suggestion that leaving the EU would threaten peace and stability in Europe was greeted with incredulity.

The Remain campaign has used the same kind of hyperbole when it comes to the economy. The economic risks of exit are real —study after study has made this clear—but the idea that Britain would be doomed if it left isn’t plausible. Life in Switzerland goes on, somehow. (And if the government thinks Britain would be crazy to leave, voters might wonder why it called a referendum in the first place.) The Remain campaign has failed to address voters’ concerns over immigration and has been suspiciously quiet about the further reforms that Europe needs if the union is to work well for its citizens.

There’s every chance of a surge of support for the status quo as the June 23 vote approaches. One must hope so: Voting to stay is the right choice. But it’s a shame the referendum campaigns have done so little to help voters think clearly and choose wisely.

Bloomberg

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BRITAIN’S GREAT EU DEBATE

HASN’T BEEN SO GREAT

THE Liberal Party and defeated presidential candidate Manuel Roxas II have asked the Commission on Elections for a 14-day extension of the deadline for the submission of their Statement of Contributions and Expenditures. The original deadline was June 8.

According to Roxas, he was not able to submit on time because of the “voluminous number of receipts that have to be scanned and attached to the document.”

His lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, tried to play down the administration bet’s lapse. “There’s no problem. It was just a late filing. There was no violation of the law. He will still file and the worst-case scenario is to pay a fine.”

Earlier, the Comelec spokesman had said that under the law, winning candidates cannot assume office—in this case on June 30—if their parties fail to file the statement. Such is the case that the proclaimed vice president, the Liberal Party’s Leonor Robredo, now says she is confident her party can comply with the filing requirement—there is still plenty of time. After all, she herself had been able to beat the original deadline. She revealed she had spent P418 million, all of which came from contributions. Robredo was the biggest spender among all vice presidential candidates.

But even the fact that Robredo’s biggest supporter was a presidential sister who gave her P31 million is eclipsed by the questions arising from why exactly Roxas and the party itself have not been able to complete the paperwork when they had known beforehand when the deadline was.

It may be administrative negligence, or, some quarters cannot help thinking, something more sinister like taking contributions from the Philippine government itself through public funds and not knowing how to launder it. It is no secret that the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program provided legitimate cover for LP bets to endear themselves to dole recipients across the country. We would agree there would have to be voluminous receipts to support these activities.

Whatever the reason, it is glaring that Roxas and the Liberal Party would just go and inform the Comelec that they would not be able to file the SOCEs on time—when they were due. That they did not even wait for the Comelec’s reply. It was a unilateral declaration that they felt entitled to leniency from a supposedly independent constitutional commission.

All the other parties and all the other candidates must have voluminous records as well, but they managed to file. Is the same too much to expect from the people who claim to have a monopoly on righteousness?

a little more humility and in-jected itself with a big dose of ac-curacy and fairness, maybe they wouldn’t be perceived as entitled SOBs, not just by people in gov-ernment like Duterte.

On Facebook, this is what I posted in reply to my friend’s question:

No, we should not be treated dif-ferently. We are not a “special class.”

From my own experience, I think most of the problems en-countered by media workers start when they buy into the myth that they are different from ordinary citizens.

The most effective journal-ists, in my view, are those who let their work speak for them, without asking that they be treat-

opinionA8

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Duterte’s buDget policy

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opinion

UNSUrprISINgly, the mem-bers of the national media are once again in the news these days. Now that president-elect rodrigo Duterte has trained his always-quotable mouth on the press, everyone seems to have a bad experience (or more) in their encounters with the so-called Fourth Estate that they simply must ventilate.

This can only be a good thing.

The media should be able to take as good as it can give—and if we must survive as a democracy, we should welcome scrutiny of all our institutions and the people who belong to them.

When Duterte, for instance, railed against the Catholic Church, he was even more base-lessly accusatory and unrepen-tantly angry. The media, some of whose members Duterte called “sons of bitches,” actually had it easy.

I actually would have let Duterte’s comments on the press pass unnoted, if a friend had not asked an old question about the

relationship of the media with the rest of the citizenry. Does the media, he asked, deserve special treatment, as if its members be-longed to a more privileged class of citizen?

The underlying issue is the hoary one about entitlement. And like it or not, many people seem to think that journalists are actu-ally whiny, pampered people who think they’re better than almost everybody else simply because they have press cards.

Of course, not a lot of people who hold this view would argue that we don’t need the press. But it’s also true that if the press had

Not special

ChINESE president Xi Jinping, aside from congratulating president-elect rodrigo Duterte on his victory, slipped in a “let’s talk” message. It’s not known whether or not Xi’s conciliatory tone is related to the ruling to be issued in three months by the permanent Court of Arbitration in The hague on the South China Sea territorial dispute. If Beijing ignores an adverse deci-sion, it would become an international out-law. China and the philippines are signato-ries to the United Nations Convention on the law of the Sea which has jurisdiction to settle all maritime boundary disputes.

Xi’s softer tone should not be taken seri-ously. It is, as usual, a case of doublespeak and deception of which the Chinese are masters. his call for talks with the philip-pines is difficult to reconcile with China’s renewed claim that the Spratlys and the paracels belong to China historically. parts of the Spratlys are under the 200-mile ex-clusive economic zone of the philippines under UNClOS. The paracels grabbed by China is also within Vietnam’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone under UNClOS’ definition of maritime borders.

Kuala lumpur, on the other hand, pro-tested a recent incident off Sarawak when a Chinese vessel tried to ram a Malaysian patrol boat. This happened even as China offers an olive branch to the other claim-ants to parts of the South China Sea. Ma-laysia has vowed a tougher response if the incident is repeated in Malaysian waters. Filipino fishermen have also been victims of Chinese gunboat diplomacy when they are shooed away with water cannons when fishing near Scarborough Shoal off the coast of Zambales where they have long been making their livelihood.

The United States conducts regular sea patrol and air surveillance flights near the man-made islands where China has built military installations. The US presence is adding to the pressure on China. The US has made clear it would not allow the Chi-nese to impede the freedom of navigation in international waters. An estimated $5 trillion in commercial cargo pass annually through vital sea lanes in the South China Sea. Beijing, however, is strident in saying that more than safeguarding the freedom of navigation, the US pivot to Asia is aimed to counterbalance a rising China.

Xi’s message released through the Chi-nese foreign ministry mentioned the need to put back on track the good relations between China and the philippines.Who started to strain relations, anyway? China encroached on the West philippine Sea and claimed that Manila escalated tension

Xi to DU30:

Let’s taLk

ed differently while they go about their (mostly lowly-paid) work.

The media exist on the sufferance of the citizenry, after all. And woe betide the journalist who thinks that he is no longer part of—in the sense of being better than —the public that he serves.

As a member of the community of working (and definitely working-class) journalists, I apologize to the rest of the citizenry for the abuses some of our col-leagues commit. Most of us are just try-ing to make an honest living by doing an

honest day’s work, even on days when the rest of you don’t work.

Also, please understand that many of those who abuse the privileges that working in the media brings are not even legitimate members of the press. I kid you not.

That said, I ask, in all humility: Forgive us our press passes.

* * *Speaking of my work, my first as-

signment as a reporter was in Quezon City. One day on the beat, I was told

that an interesting case was being heard in the sala of a regional trial court judge named Miriam Defensor Santiago. So I looked for her court and observed the proceedings.

After the case was heard, I approached the clerk of court and asked if I could interview the judge in her chambers. The clerk asked me to write down my name and that of my media outfit on a piece of paper, which she would hand to the judge.

After a few minutes, the clerk returned Continued on A11

The economic team of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte is increas-ing borrowings to fund infrastructure projects and lowering taxes in a major fiscal policy shift to boost the economy further. The plan implies a much-larger budget deficit to pump prime the economy, a policy that outgoing President Benigno Aquino III did not pursue in the last six years.

Increased borrowings per se is not bad, as long as the funds are spent on infrastructure projects and major social services like education. Coupled with reduced taxes, notably personal and corporate income taxes, the higher borrowings will increase the purchasing power of the public and stimulate demand.

The higher demand, in turn, will prompt the private sector to expand and invest more in production to meet the increased purchasing power of the people. More money will be pumped into the economy, resulting in expanded economic activities.

Incoming Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno is aiming for a larger budget gap equivalent to three percent of the gross domestic product. he defended the higher borrowings amid the low interest rate regime and questioned why the past administration did not pursue the tack.

The Duterte administration has lined up its immediate priorities that include the faster construction of infrastructure projects, solving Metro Manila’s traffic problems and investing in agriculture.

The new government, however, must make sure that the borrowing policy will not backfire on it. higher borrowings and increased spend-ing could be inflationary and could easily erode the increased purchas-ing power from lower taxes, if the Duterte government fails to build more infrastructure and other projects that it seeks to fund.

economic growth, meanwhile, will be in jeopardy if the new budget tack pushes inflation higher than the programmed level. The incoming administration must still keep a fiscal discipline in spite of the looser policy. Against the backdrop of a sluggish global economy, the incom-ing administration, at the end of the day, should weigh increased bud-get spending against its ability to generate revenues.

I apologize to the rest of the

citizenry for the abuses some of our colleagues

commit.

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Continued on A11

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But where exactly? What were you wearing? Why were you going to this party? What do you do when you got there? Are you sure you did that? But what time did you do that? What does this text mean? Who were you texting? When did you urinate? Where did you urinate? With whom did you urinate outside? Was your phone on silent when your sister called? Do you remember silencing it? Really because on page 53 I’d like to point out that you said it was set to ring. Did you drink in college? You said you were a party animal? How many times did you black out? Did you party at frats? Are you serious with your boyfriend? Are you sexually active with him? When did you start dating? Would you ever cheat? Do you have a history of cheating? What do you mean when you said

you wanted to reward him? Do you remember what time you woke up? Were you wearing your cardigan? What color was your cardigan? Do you remember any more from that night? No? Okay, well, we’ll let Brock fill it in.”

There was severe impact, all right, but the judge had it wrong. As the woman said, Turner’s damage was concrete: he was stripped of titles, degrees, enrollment. “My damage was internal, unseen, I carry it with me. You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice, until today.”

Unbelievably, the statement ended in a positive note. The victim thanked many people, especially the two Swedes even though she had not met them yet. Taped above her bed is a

drawing of two bicycles “to remind myself there are heroes in this story. That we are looking out for one another. To have known all of these people, to have felt their protection and love, is something I will never forget.”

The statement is published in full in https://www.buzzfeed.com/katiejmbaker/heres-the-powerful-letter-the-stanford-victim-read-to-her-ra?utm_term=.eqRJdDz24#.saVELBv2o. Read it and remember that for this one courageous and powerful account, there are numerous other rape stories all over the world that do not get told. Be indignant, refuse to remain victims, and know that rape is never a joking matter. Ever.

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OPINIONS U N D AY, J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 6

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By Leonid BershidskyAMERICANS find it hard to imag-ine that the two-party system could ever break down. “Democracy works, this country works when you have two parties that are serious and trying to solve problems,” Pres-ident Barack Obama said recently. Yet US democracy and the coun-try itself would be better served if politicians started acting as if there were more parties—which might be the case after this year’s election.

Americans have laughed at me when I suggested that their two-party system might be giving way to a more European-style one. Yet foreigners like myself, used to mul-tiparty parliaments and coalition governments, are not the only ones who see the US moving toward this model. Jeffrey Sachs, the Columbia University professor, one of the ar-chitects of Poland’s successful post-Communist transformation, wrote this week as calls multiplied for Senator Bernie Sanders to drop out of the Democratic race: By 2020, it is quite possible that we will actual-ly have four major political parties: a social democratic left, a centrist party, a right-wing conservative party and a populist anti-immi-grant party (represented by Trump followers).

Where Sachs sees four parties, I see five: Sanders’s socialists, Hillary Clinton’s center-left, a center-right party for the likes of Governors John Kasich and Jeb Bush and Sen-ator Marco Rubio, a conservative

Christian party led by Senator Ted Cruz and Trump’s right-wing popu-list force. Whether it’s four parties or five, however, it’s definitely not two: There are more distinct con-stituencies and more ideologies in US society than the current system recognizes.

Yet the political machinery and the behavior of presidential candi-dates is based on the rigidity of a two-party system. Politicians are supposed to fall in step behind their parties’ nominees. This is causing agony for some Repub-licans. House Speaker Paul Ryan had just endorsed Trump through clenched teeth when the presump-tive nominee went after a judge be-cause of his ethnicity; Ryan had to admit that the candidate’s remarks fit “the textbook definition of a racist comment”—but he couldn’t bring himself to claw back the en-dorsement. Rubio, asked whether he still believed, as he’d said on the stump, that Trump couldn’t be trusted with the US nuclear codes, said he stood by all he’d said dur-ing the campaign but that he’d still vote for Trump because he’d signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee.

Trump appears to believe that now that he’s on track to be the nominee, other Republicans owe him fealty. Kasich recalled a recent conversation with Trump: “Mr. Trump called me and said, ‘What are you going to do to support me?’” The Ohio governor didn’t feel compelled to do anything at all.

On the Democratic flank, Sand-ers is similarly expected to endorse Clinton without preconditions: He has lost, after all, so he should take it like a man and keep the party together in the face of the Trump threat. Well, perhaps he should be offered a few lines in the Democrat-ic Party platform—a document that means little because it is not linked to anyone’s immediate executive or legislative agenda—as a consolation prize.

It doesn’t work like that in Eu-rope, of course. After a parliamen-tary election, if the winner needs to form an alliance with some of the losers to secure a majority, there’s no expectation that the parties closest to the winner in the politi-cal spectrum will automatically fall into line without expecting any-thing in return. Sometimes, the alliances that are made transcend ideological lines; they are formed by political forces that are the best at reaching compromises.

European politics can get messy, and sometimes—as in Spain today —there is no way to form a working government. Yet a standoff between the legislature and the executive branch, like the one that has lasted for most of Obama’s two terms, is impossible. The ruling coalitions actually get to legislate and imple-ment their compromise agendas.

Here’s a hypothetical situation. Let’s imagine a European-style par-liamentary election in the US, with five parties taking part. Clinton’s party wins a plurality. Trump’s pop-

ulists come in a close second. An al-liance with either Sanders’ socialists or the right-of-center moderates (Kasich, Rubio, Ryan) would give Clinton a majority. Trump would go over the top if he made a deal with the moderates and with Cruz’s religious right (Sanders won’t talk to Trump), and he’d have the major-ity, edging out Clinton and Sanders.

It would be quite conceivable that Clinton would go with the moderates to deny Trump a vic-tory, and a centrist coalition would run the US just as similar right-left cabinets run Germany and Austria today. There would be no overtones of betrayal, none of the current “if you’re not for the Republican nomi-nee, you’re helping the Democratic one” binary calculus.

And the US would have a work-able, non-gridlocked political sys-tem for the next election cycle.

Sachs, of course, may have an axe to grind in predicting the Eu-ropeanization of the US system by 2020. He wants Clinton to assign cabinet posts to the Sanders fac-tion, the way she would have had to do in a European-style coali-tion. As Sanders’s informal foreign policy adviser, the professor is not exactly disinterested when he makes this suggestion. It still makes sense though. Giving Sanders some power in the next government would mobilize his supporters for Clinton, whom they distrust, and it might keep them from defecting to Trump, the only remaining anti-establishment candidate.

Similarly, instead of expecting automatic loyalty, Trump would do better to coordinate agendas with the moderates and cede certain is-sues to them, which might make some of the doubts about his quali-fications irrelevant.

Inertia is strong in US politics, however. The main players continue pretending there are still only two relatively cohesive parties, which is no longer the case. The primary winners will act in the usual win-ner-take-all manner, alienate the potential supporters of likely coali-tions and make it more difficult for themselves to win. Then the winner will represent significantly fewer than half of all voters because many won’t turn out or will vote reluc-tantly. And there will likely be grid-lock again.

If there’s anything this election should have told US politicians, it’s that the traditional system is breaking down. There’s no need to change the Constitution to ac-commodate a new multiparty real-ity. Unlike in Europe, the coalition deals would just need to be made after multiparty primary votes that the states could organize the way some of them run one-party pri-maries today. Then, ready-made, transparent coalitions would com-pete in national elections.

It’s okay for rules to evolve if the evolution leads to better outcomes. The US is great at embracing tech-nological innovation; political in-novation shouldn’t be ruled out, either. Bloomberg

THIS CAMPAIGN BROKE THE US TWO-PARTY SYSTEM

By Fanny Carrier

ABOARD the Aquarius in the Mediterranean — Again, I wake up with the sun. Angelina, the midwife, has been up for a while —a woman eight months pregnant has had contractions during the night. On deck, the mood has changed sharply. After some sleep, the migrants are much cheerier. The children play, some couples snuggle. Most have put their white rescue jumpsuits on top of their clothes. Others have thrown out their clothes, many dirty from vomit, and have wrapped their blankets around their waists and the towels around their heads.

Some stare out to the sea, fascinated. At one point, an island appears on the horizon. Several of them ask me “Is that it? Is that Italy?” Geography is not my strong point, so I have no idea what to say. Later, the captain will tell me its name, a name that we all know too well—Lampedusa. This Italian island, the closest one to the African coast, had for a long time served as the migrant gateway to Europe, before a series of calamitous sinkings pushed rescuers to intercept the refugees further south.

For us journalists, this long sail to Sardinia is a gift—we have all the time to talk to the migrants. Many of them want to talk, to tell their stories. They speak of violence and misery, of close encounters to escape this misery and the months and sometimes years that they spent trying to make a living in Libya.

There is one point on which all of the migrants agree—the hell that is life in Libya. “There, we weren’t men.” “Libya is kidnappings, prison, kidnappings.” “They beat us every day, they beat our wives in front of us.” “They rape the women, sodomize the men, they kill for no reason.” “Even children carry arms and fire at black people.” “Are you writing about life in Libya? If I had known, I would have never left.” “Libya is a trip without a return.

‘WE HAVE A BOY!’

Once you enter Libya, you can never leave it normally. You have no choice but to end up at sea—it’s either Europe or death.”

“Do you have any idea what will happen to us now,” one young woman asks me.

Yes, I know exactly what’s going to happen to her, but I’m not going to tell her. Those who come from countries like Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan or Somalia should easily get asylum in Italy, even though in general it’s not the country where they would like to stay. Others are going to have a harder time of it. Some will be asked to leave immediately. Some will wait for a year and a half or two for their papers before joining the ranks of migrants picking tomatoes or oranges for a meagerly wage. On reporting trips in Sicily and Rome I have met migrants at various points of this journey and it’s depressing to think that she is about to embark on it.

In the late afternoon, I am finishing up my story for the day when Captain Alex runs onto the bridge, smiling and red from emotion. “We have a boy! I feel like I’m the father,” he exults.

A little while later, with the mother and the baby rested a bit, we are invited to take a photo of the parents and Destiny Alex, the baby’s name chosen in honor of the captain, who is bridling with joy. Then the father goes on deck to announce the news to the rest of the migrants. A round of warm applause breaks out. Even the Eritreans, Sudanese and Somalis, who sit at a distance and, speaking neither English nor French, need a bit of explaining as to what the commotion is all about, cheer the news.

In the evening, the captain asks me to come and translate for the parents of little Alex. The big Alex wants to give them 100 euros on the part of Aquarius’s parent company Kempel and SOS Mediterranee, as

well as the baby’s birth certificate, with the exact location of his birth. Since the Aquarius is sailing under the Gibraltar flag, the little Alex was officially born on British soil. But unfortunately that won’t entitle him to citizenship—one of his parents must be at least a resident for that to happen.

Sardinia is a region that welcomes the migrants, but it is very poor and so has little to offer them and often seems like a prison—unlike Sicily, it’s not possible for them to leave here without authorization.

On shore, the typical procedure awaits—a photograph with a number when getting off the ship; a medical visit to see who may have head lice or scabies so they can be treated; a first identification interview; then a bus to a temporary shelter. All this can take hours, but the Red Cross has put benches in the shade, drinks, meals, toilets.

The sanitary protocol calls for all people who have been in direct

contact with the migrants to put on a protection jumpsuit, gloves and a mask, in an effort to prevent the spread of any contagious diseases that they may have picked up. The migrants are also asked to wear a mask. Wearing a mask is common practice on military boats, where the migrants never see the faces of their rescuers. On the Aquarius, the MSF team limited itself to distributing bottles of disinfectant soap and isolating two Somalis showing symptoms of tuberculosis.

Those two Somalis were the first ones to get off the Aquarius. Then the tiny Alex and his family, greeted by a bouquet of multi-colored balloons and the ooohs, ahhhs and applause of volunteers. Then it’s the women and the children. Some of the little ones have already made friends on board. Raoul in his pink T-shirt and Patricia with her huge eyes. Those two sneaked pencils from me when I wasn’t looking. Daniel, with a big scar on his cheek, jumps into everyone arms. As he is carried along the deck toward solid ground, he sends air kisses to the entire crew.

Ed, the MSF logistics pointman, is at the end of an exhausting 48 hours during which he pulled the migrants, one by one, onto the ship, then organized their stay on board, from distributing meals to emptying the toilets. He knows that Europe is not going to roll out the red carpet for them. He particularly is enraged by the questionnaire that the migrants will have to fill out within the next few hours, which starts by a trick question “Do you want to work in Italy” and which at no point invokes an eventual request for asylum.

Mary Jo is more optimistic. “These guys, what they’ve been through… they made it until here, Italy will be like a piece of cake for them.”

But there is no time for philosophizing. As soon as the last guest gets off, the crew teams clean up and an hour later Aquarius sets out again, for its next rendezvous at sea. AFP

It’s either Europe or death for these migrants. AFP

A7s u n D AY : j u n e 1 2 , 2 0 1 6

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ExprEssways rEadyfor school opEning

NLEX-SCTEX Traf-fic Operations will extend working hours and inten-sify patrol coverage from Sunday, June 12 to Monday, June 13. Additional traffic personnel will be fielded to promptly assist motorists and efficiently manage the anticipated heavy volume of traffic. They will closely monitor traffic in Balinta-

wak, Mindanao Avenue, Dau and Bocaue.

Patrol visibility will be in-creased at the southbound portions of Sta. Rita to San Fernando. One patrol vehi-cle and one tow truck each will be dedicated to the road widening areas in Sta. Rita, San Fernando, Dau and Sta. Ines for faster clearing of possible traffic incidents.

Additional patrol vehicles will likewise be deployed at Tarlac and Tipo.

The Bocaue Toll Plaza will be beefing up its capacity during peak hours by open-ing 42 toll collection points instead of the usual 20. Port-able toll collection units will be used to facilitate faster transactions at the porta-booths located after the toll plaza. Cash paying motorists with Class 1 vehicles are ad-vised to use lanes 8 and 9 to access the portabooths and the spare lanes at the right-most side of the toll plaza.

Balintawak, Mindanao, Tarlac, and Tipo toll plazas will also increase their capacity by at least 50 percent, as porta-booths will be set up on June

10 and June 11 to accommo-date last-minute vacationers.

Mainline roadwork lane closures will be suspended from June 10 to June 13 un-less safety repair is required. Road works will resume on Tuesday, June 14.

Median openings near the viaduct will be pre-opened with traffic cones stored in the area for im-plementation of coun-terflow in case of traffic buildup at the viaduct area.

To prevent sudden lane changing of motorists go-ing to and coming from fuel stations, traffic cones will be placed at the decelera-tion and acceleration lanes of all toll service facilities. Traffic signs are installed in

strategic locations to further guide motorists as they trav-el. Towing and emergency medical services will also be augmented to provide quick motorist assistance.

Motorists may check the latest traffic situation in NLEX-SCTEX via the North Luzon Integrated Guide and Travel Advisory or NLigtas, which can be accessed at the NLEX-SCTEX website: www.tollways.net.ph. A mo-bile application of NLigtas can also be downloaded thru IOS and Android smart phones. They can also check the NLEX-SCTEX Twitter accounts: @nlextraffic, @MNTCexpressways, and the Facebook page: Travel on Great Roads.

The Manila North Tollways Corp. today said NLeX-SCTeX is prepared for the ex-pected surge in traffic volume on the opening of classes on Monday, June 13, as traffic and toll collection management plans are in place in both expressways to ensure faster, safer and convenient travel for motorists.

SM FOUNDATION JOINS ‘BRIGADA ESKWELA’

BORAcAy OFFIcIAL pRESSES FOR pOLLREcOUNTBORACAY ISLAND—Many votes cast for vice mayor in Malay, Aklan were allegedly not read by the vote counting machine during the May 9 elections.

Incumbent Vice Mayor Wilbec Gelito thus filed an election protest against Vice Mayor-elect Abram Sualog.

The vice mayor complained of massive vote buying.

Citing figures from the Mu-nicipal Board of Canvassers Gelito claimed 28,268 actually voted.

Sualog garnered 13,072 votes while Gelito got 12,368 votes; Gelito lost to Sualog by a slim margin of 704 votes. The sum of the votes re-ceived by the two candidates was 25,440 votes only, short of P2,828 from the actual number of those who validly voted, Gelito said.

The total number of votes cast that the VCM failed to read were about 2,828 votes, Gelito added.

He believed he would have won had the VCMs accurately read the votes.

According to lawyer Manuel Santos, Gelito’s lawyer, “the unaccounted votes are sufficient to alter the election results for the vice mayor.”

In signed affidavits of Ros-ita S. Combong, Josephine L. Umambong and Analiza Cahilig, they noted that the VCMs indeed failed to read accurately their votes.

“The name of Vice Mayor Gelito whom we voted did not appear in the receipts issued, thus the presumption that our votes were never counted in his favor,” they added.

Gelito is seeking for a man-ual recount and nullification of Sualog’s proclamation as winning candidate in Malay.

Jeffrey Gallano Cawaling in his signed affidavits stated, he personally witnessed mas-sive vote buying within the vicinity of polling place.

SM FOUNDATION participated in the regional kick-off of Brigada Eskwela at the Parañaque National High School. SMFI Executive Director for Education Carmen Linda Atayde was joined by volunteers and staff from SM Sucat and SM scholars as they helped spruce up the high school classrooms to welcome old and new students.

Parañaque National High School formerly known as Parañaque Mu-nicipal High School is a secondary public school in Parañaque City founded in 1969. According to Kirk Magdamit, school guidance coun-selor, together with its three annex schools the student population is about 14,000 students

Brigada Eskwela is a nationwide volunteer effort of parents, students, teachers, community members and other organizations who give out their time and resources to clean-up, beautify and do minor repairs in the school buildings before the onset of another school year. Over the years, the Brigada which originated from the National Schools Maintenance Week launched in 2003 has become one of DepEd’s major initiatives in enjoining local communities to respond to the needs of public schools and be part of a nationwide effort towards improving Philippine basic education. It mani-fests the spirit of bayanihan as private institutions/individuals and even the local government units contributed in generating resources for the effort.

DEFIANT. Makeshift stalls selling surplus or imitation goods continue to do business at Manila’s South Harbor despite an order from the philippine ports Authority for them to vacate the area to give way for the port’s modernization project. EY ACASIO

SUNDAY: JUNE 12, 2016

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NO TO ‘BABY FACTORY’ CLOSURE

NEWS

AQUINO TO LEADFREEDOMDAY RITES

MMDA PROPOSES SHUTTLE SYSTEM FOR SCHOOLS

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

A CATHOLIC priest has joined the growing protest against the impending closure of the “baby factory” in Manila.

In a statement posted on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines website, Francis-can Father Dexter Toledo said the government should instead improve the Fabella Memorial Hospital than close it to cater to more mothers who can’t afford to deliver their babies.

“Instead of contemplating its closure, we call on our new lead-ers to develop the hospital thus helping it serve more of our citi-

zens,” Toledo said.The priest reminded the gov-

ernment that it is its task to pro-vide quality, cheap and accessible health care and that closing Fabel-la hospital may not live to the vow to serve the poorest of the poor.

Fabella Hospital, according to him, has served many poor fami-lies who are in need of medical assistance especially the pregnant women because of the low cost of its services.

The prelate also admitted that he, in fact, was born in the Fabella Hospital.

“My mother in fact gave birth to me in that same hospital and forever I will be grateful to it. It deeply saddens me that there are unconfirmed talks of its possible closure,” he said.

Toledo is also the executive secretary of the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines.

The government-owned ma-ternity ward is known as a “baby factory” because it brings more than a hundred babies into the world everyday.

Various women’s groups on Thursday rallied outside the hos-

pital to demonstrate their strong opposition against the planned closure of the facility.

They also called on President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to inter-vene and save the hospital from the impending abolition.

The Save Fabella Hospital Movement said the facility’s struc-tural needs have been “criminally neglected” and its deteriorating conditions became justification for its closure.

The group said the closure could also displace more than 1,300 hospital employees, add-ing that many resident physicians have already received termination contract letters from the manage-ment.

FOR the last time before he steps down from office, President Be-nigno Aquino III will lead the na-tion today in celebrating the 118th anniversary of the proclamation of Philippine Independence.

Presidential Communication Secretary Herminio Coloma said that Aquino will lead the flag-raising and wreath-laying rites at the Rizal Monument in the Rizal Park, Manila at 8 a.m.

The traditional morning recep-tion or Vin d’Honneur for the dip-lomatic corps in the presidential palace will follow.

“We enjoin our nation to par-ticipate in these commemorative activities and celebrate the free-dom that our forefathers have fought hard for,” Coloma said.

Simultaneous commemora-tive rites will be held in different places and provinces nationwide including Kawit, Cavite; Malo-los, Bulacan; Angeles, Pampanga; Davao City; Cebu City; and other parts of Metro Manila.

In a radio interview, Coloma also called on all Filipinos to “re-flect on the freedom that our fore-fathers have fought for and we are currently enjoying.”

The Palace official also urged the Filipinos to be vigilant in pro-tecting our freedom and democ-racy.

This year’s theme is “Kalayaan 2016: Pagkakaisa, Pag-aambagan, Pagsulong.” Cultural per-formances will be held at the Paco Park and Rizal Park.

There will also be medical mis-sions for the poor people, free transportation and ferry rides, si-multaneous job fairs nationwide, trade fairs, and public exhibits.

Coloma said the Department of Labor and Employment will offer 15,000 foreign and 7,000 lo-cal job opportunities during the simultaneous job fair on Sunday.

Commuters will also get to ex-perience free rides on the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT) on June 12 from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., while the Metropolitan Ma-nila Development Authority will of-fer free Pasig River ferry rides from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sara Fabunan

FREEDOM DAY EVE. Cosplayer Daryl Yeah wearing a Katipunero costume walks in front of the Rizal Shrine at the Rizal Park while another promenader poses for a souvenir photo onboard a military vehicle on display at the park’s open grounds to mark the 118th Independence Day celebration today. DANNY PATA, EY ACASIO

TOY SOLDIERS. An enthusiast admires the Star Wars toy collection on exhibit at the second day of ToyCon 2016 at the SMX Mall of Asia in Pasay City on Saturday, June 11. DANNY PATA

By Joel E. ZurbanoTHE Metro Manila Development Au-thority on Saturday called on school administrators to adopt a shuttle bus system to ease traffic caused by pri-vate and public utility vehicles drop-ping and picking up students.

MMDA chairman Emerson Carlos said heavy traffic usually occurs in the vicinity of Ateneo de Manila Univer-sity and Miriam College in Katipunan, Quezon City; Poveda College and De La Salle University in Greenhills, San

Juan City, and La Salle in Taft Avenue, Manila.

MMDA issued the proposal, noting that as many as 2.6 million students will troop to public and private schools nationwide.

These schools will be congested if they insist on having one vehicle per student, he said.

”Actually, we’re suggesting that they adopt a system where they can pick up or bring back students from different points away from the school premises,” said Carlos.

School authorities express con-cerns on security and safety of stu-dents but Carlos is optimistic they will consider and think up of ways to secure their students.

The MMDA also recently sug-gested to school administrators to implement a 15-second policy for students alighting from or boarding vehicles in front of schools to avoid congestion in the area.

“The [school administrations] will be the one to implement that without government intervention

and we want it that way. It will be self-regulatory,” he added.

The MMDA came up with the proposal following observation of some motorists that traffic was heavy during morning and late af-ternoon due to the upsurge in vol-ume of the students going in and out of the school.

The motorists noted the halting of public utility vehicles near schools for dropping and picking up students, far away from the regular PUV stops ag-gravated the traffic situation while the presence of enforcers has in no way helped in ensuring free flow of traffic.

But the MMDA stated that conges-tion alone is not only a matter of con-cern, but also the safety of students, saying erring drivers seem to pay no at-tention to safety areas like school zones.

Last month, the agency re-launched a massive repainting of all pedestrian lanes, particularly those within the immediate surroundings of schools in Metro Manila, in time for the school opening Monday.

“This is our contribution to the Department of Education’s annual Brigada Eskwela program. We at the MMDA are optimistic that the students will make use of pedestri-an lanes to avoid accidents caused by jaywalking,” said Carlos.

At least 700 pedestrian lanes all over the metropolis were repainted with thermoplastic materials which are re-flectorized and do not fade easily.

The MMDA will also deploy personnel to man traffic on major roads leading to big schools and universities, especially along Kati-punan Avenue, Epifanio delos San-tos Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue and Ortigas Avenue.

Roderick T. dela CruzEDITOR B1

SUNDAY: JUNE 12, 2016

[email protected]@gmail.com

BUSINESS

TURN TO B3

JAPAN FIRM WOOS LBC

SG Holdings Global Pte. Ltd., one of Japan’s largest logistics companies, on Friday signed a business cooperation agreement with LBC Express Inc. in what could be an initial step towards a joint venture.

Top executives of Japan’s SG Holdings Global Pte. Ltd. and the Philippines’ LBC Express Inc. sign a business cooperation agreement at Marriott Hotel Manila in Pasay City. Shown are (from left) SG Holdings director Akira Oyama, LBC Express president and chief operating officer Miguel Camahort, SG Holdings president and regional head Tomoki Sano and LBC Express senior vice president Charlie Villaseñor.

“Eventually, we have great hopes that it will lead to a joint venture or a strategic partnership between the two companies,” SG Holdings Global Pte. Ltd. president and regional head Tomoki Sano said in a news briefing Friday at Marriott Hotel Manila in Pasay City.

SG Holdings, through Sagawa Express, is a leading international freight forwarding company in Ja-pan, while LBC Express has a na-tionwide presence in courier and delivery services in the Philippines.

Sano said the alliance between Sagawa Express and LBC Express marked the “beginning of an excit-ing chapter in logistics in the Philip-pines” as the two companies would now be able to provide comprehen-sive logistics solutions to customers.

Sagawa Express Philippines chief executive Lawrence Mendoza said the Japanese company planned to invest or acquire a stake in LBC Ex-press, although talks remained in the courtship stage.

“Even the owners of the company

are aware of this deal and are opti-mistic. It is just the beginning,” Men-doza said.

Mendoza said Sagawa Express de-cided to team up with LBC to expe-dite its Philippine expansion. “We can only do so much. The Philip-pines is divided into 7,100 islands. Setting up a logistics network from scratch is almost close to impossible. So we really need to team up with an able logistics partner,” he said.

LBC Express Inc. president and chief operating officer Miguel Cama-hort said the business alliance would combine the strengths of both compa-nies to serve their customers. “Hope-fully, we do end up as a joint venture. Our customers are excited about this partnership. They see a lot of comple-mentary synergies,” he said.

Camahort said the partnership would particularly facilitate the flow of goods between the Philippines and Japan. “Our partner Sagawa has expertise in certain areas. We also have certain expertise. Sagawa is a Japanese company and we import a

lot of products from Japan. It is a collaboration of their expertise and our expertise,” he said.

Sano agreed, saying that the alliance would look at the strengths of each company and use those strengths together. “There is a lot of homework to be done. But it is going to be a workable partnership with regards to export as well,” Sano said.

Mendoza said the business cooperation did not involve any financial transaction at this stage, but “this is only the beginning of a strong partnership.”

“Eventually, we hope that we will become bigger and will lead to a more strategic busi-ness partnership. This will benefit not only the two companies, but also all the consumers and all the suppliers that wish to transport goods from port to retailers and end users,” Mendoza said.

Sagawa Express Philippines Inc., the local unit of SG Holdings, currently serves major Japanese companies in economic zones in Luzon.

“Initially, there is no financial transaction in-volved. It will be a business cooperation agreement, purely operational. But somewhere down the road, we will be able to work on that and we hope we can enter into a strategic partnership, with financial in-vestments involved,” Mendoza said.

Mendoza said the partnership would allow Sagawa Express to tap the nationwide network of LBC Express to transport goods to Visayas and Mindanao.

“Our main line of business is international


BUSINESSSUNDAY: JUNE 12, 2016

B2

THE heat of the sun is scorching the era of oil and coal in the Philippine energy sector.

A host of factors, including re-duced prices of solar panels, new government policy and growing reliability of solar power plants are leading the shift to renewable energy.

The time for solar energy has come, according to Ferdi Raquelsantos, an auto parts pio-neer and electric vehicle advocate who has been into solar energy for ten years now.

“Solar electric panel prices have gone down significantly in the past few years and finally, it is now affordable to households in the Philippines,” Raquelsantos said in a statement.

“Being one of the pioneer sys-tems integrator for solar electric packages since 2007, we have seen how components and parts prices have gone down while solar energy technology continues to improve. Our own prices alone are now 83 percent lower than when we first started,” Raquelsantos said.

Raquelsantos said his company Solar & Wind Electric Power Inc. was selling complete solar en-ergy system packages at reduced prices. “This is attributed to the reduced cost of solar electric pan-els and inverters. We sell two sys-tems packages, the off-grid system [uses battery banks) and the grid-tie systems. The latter is the most common system installation,” he said.

“Several years ago, we only fo-cused on the high-scale residen-tial villages. But now, even [in-come] class C and D households are into solar energy,” said Rac-quelsantos.

“With whatever size of system you purchase, it will have an ap-proximate product life of about 20 years. You will get your money back in about four years and the rest of the 16 years, your electrical power is free. It is funny consider-ing that ten years ago, the systems package we sold has a payback pe-riod of 13.5 years due to the high cost of the systems then,” he said.

The government approved a 500-megawatt installation tar-get for solar projects that could avail of feed-in-tariff rate of P9.68 per kilowatt-hour under the first round and P8.69 per kWh under the second round. Solar players, however, confirmed that actual production cost suddenly fell be-low P5 per kWh this year, making it comparable to other sources of energy.

Among the largest solar farms in the Philippines are the 132.5-MW solar farm in Cadiz City developed by Helios Solar Energy Corp. and Soleq Holdings Inc., the 63.3-MW Calatagan solar farm in Batangas built by Solar Philippines and the 45-MW Sacasol 1 solar farm in San Carlos City put up by San Carlos Solar Energy Inc.

Buildings and commercial cen-ters also began drawing a part of their energy requirements from the sun.

Robinsons Starmills in San Fer-nando, Pampanga tapped Sole-nergy Systems Inc. to put up a 2.88-megawatt solar plant on its roof, making it the world’s largest solar-powered mall, beating SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City with 2.7-MW plant built by Solar Phil-ippines and SM North Edsa with

SUN SCORCHES ERA OF OIL, COAL IN PHrecent forum “The Truth About Solar: Now Cheaper Than Coal” signed a declaration of indepen-dence from fossil fuel and support for 100-percent renewable energy before 2030.

The event aimed to raise aware-ness that solar was already cheap-er than fossil fuel and could sup-ply a majority of the country’s energy.

The forum was organized by Solar Philippines and featured Danny Kennedy, the founder of Sungevity, one of America’s lead-ing solar companies, who dis-cussed how solar now costs P2 to P3 per kilowatt-hour in other countries, resulting in stranded power assets and bankrupting coal companies.

Kennedy said both solar and battery costs had fallen at an ex-traordinary rate, and were now starting to supply the needs of tropical countries such as the Philippines. He likened the rise of solar to the disruption of mobile phones to landlines, and called on power companies to heed the lessons of the telco industry and switch to solar for their own sur-vival.

Solar Philippines recently an-nounced the country’s first local solar manufacturing plant and its plan to complete 500 MW of solar projects by 2017.

Participants in the forum ac-knowledged conglomerates tak-ing steps towards renewables, in-cluding the Lopez Group, SM, JG Summit, Aboitiz, Ayala, EEI and Meralco, who now operate their own solar projects and expressed interest to leave fossil fuels for re-newable energy. These companies were urged to switch to solar now that it is cheaper than coal.

Even big businesses now be-lieve in low-carbon economy. First Gen Corp. is leading the call to stop the construction of coal plants.

“These are extraordinary times that call for extraordinary change and everyone must shift to think-ing about the fastest route to a decarbonized economy. It is our aim that First Gen, and its sub-sidiary companies, will be among the bright navigating stars of the Philippine energy industry, blaz-ing a path toward a decarbon-ized economy. It will not be easy and we will have to explore many roads not taken but this is where opportunities will be created and won,” First Gen chairman Fed-erico Lopez said.

With a few days left in his six-year term, President Benigno Aquino III surprised the energy sector when he signed Commis-sion Resolution No. 2016-001 issued by the Climate Change Commission, prescribing an ur-gent and comprehensive review of the government’s energy policy to cut down the country’s depen-dence on coal and move to a low-carbon future.

CCC vice chairman Emmanuel De Guzman said the resolution was a major “step to steer the country away from coal and ac-celerate the transition to clean, renewable energy consistent with our efforts to fight climate change and pursue the development of a green economy.”

“We must aim for nothing less than the transformation of the Philippine economy with a low carbon energy development path-way,” De Guzman said.

With Alena Mae S. Flores

Coalition signs declaration of independence from fossil fuel before 2030 at Makati Diamond Residences.

1.5-MW facility also built by So-lar Philippines.

Solar Philippines president Le-andro Leviste said solar power costs dropped significantly in recent years, because of econo-mies of scale, vertical integration, advances in technology and in-creased market maturity.

“Both the costs have gone down and efficiency has gone up, allow-ing new solar to sell at half the cost of the original tariff rate. Pan-el and other equipment costs were down 10 percent since last year. More economies of scale led the industry to grow, lowering con-struction and development costs. New technologies like trackers that follow the sun increase out-put by 20 percent and [there are now] higher efficiency solar pan-els,” Leviste said.

Leviste said price-wise, solar farms in the Philippines are now

closer to the US and the Middle East, where solar production is now estimated at P2 to P3 per kWh. “In the Philippines, from P8 to P9 [before], we can now do below 5 per kWh,” he said.

“The problem is it takes time for this new reality to sink into the minds of power companies, but we are building projects to prove it and we are confident they will see the light,” Leviste said.

Leviste said with the latest de-velopments in the solar energy sector, Filipino customers could now save nearly P100 billion a year from expensive gas, oil, die-sel and coal.

“The debate is over given solar is cheaper than coal, and we’re building projects to prove it. The only problem is it takes time to shed old perceptions, but we are confident power companies will see the light,” Leviste said.

He said “remaking” the coun-try’s source of power supply would be capital-intensive and could not be done by his company alone.

“There is room for all compa-nies now planning coal to switch to solar, as well as new players to join in, bringing competition and scale to the market, further bring-ing prices down,” Leviste said.

Coal currently accounts for 51.1 percent of the country’s genera-tion mix, followed by natural gas at 25.9 percent and geothermal at 12.38 percent. Other sources rep-resent the balance.

Other industry players also be-lieve that solar power could end the dominance of oil and coal as main sources of energy in the Philip-pines, sooner than expected.

A coalition of businesses, banks, environmentalists and civic groups, who attended the

Ferdi Raquelsantos, president of Solar & Wind Electric Power Inc.


BUSINESSSUNDAY: JUNE 12, 2016

B3

JAPAN... FROM B1

freight forwarding. We are cater-ing to Peza [Philippine Economic Zone Authority] locators for their export and import requirements. We have our own trucks also, mainly for Peza customers. Last year, we ventured into domes-tic delivery but it is more of B2B [business to business], instead of B2C [business to consumer] or C2C [consumer to consumer], like what LBC is doing. But we can only do so much, and only in Luzon island. What we are try-ing to do with LBC is increase our reach in the Philippines,” Men-doza said.

“We would use the network of LBC. Our clients would be using Sagawa and LBC service. From now on, we would be able to pass it on to LBC to have it delivered to Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro,” he said.

Mendoza said the two compa-nies were still working on some details, including co-branding, but the partnership would start immediately.

Mendoza said one of the strengths of Sagawa Express was warehousing. “Warehousing is our expertise in Japan. We can bring this technology and know-how to the Philippines. LBC does not have its own office in Japan. We can also take care of that,” he said.

Mendoza said both companies were expected to benefit from the partnership in terms of increased revenues, “because we will be able to provide end-to-end solutions to customers.”

“We will start immediately be-cause we have lot of customers lining up for that. We are quite excited to work with LBC,” he said.

Camahort said he was optimis-tic about the sustained growth of the logistics industry in the coun-try. “As GDP [gross domestic product] continues to grow, and as consumer spending continues to grow, we see the opportunity for growth,” he said. The Philip-pine economy grew 6.9 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, one of the fastest in the Asia-Pa-cific region.

Global consulting firm Ken Research said in its Philippines logistics market outlook 2020 report that the country’s freight forwarding market would have a compounded annual growth rate of 6.8 percent from 2016 to 2020, bringing its total value from $20.2 billion to $41.3 billion.

LBC Express saw net income jump 36 percent in the first quar-ter to P310 million, on P2.1-billion revenues. Total assets hit P5.78 billion as of end-March 2016. LBC Express is present in 20 countries, with 1,200 branches worldwide.

“The logistics and freight for-warding industry involves nearly every aspect of the entire econo-my, so their movement is almost identical,” Camahort said.

“All signs point upward for the Philippines, so our company has ensured that we are well-poised for this growth. We have made sig-nificant investments to strength-en our infrastructure, manpower and technology base, in order to anticipate the increased demands of Filipinos across the world,” Ca-mahort said.

Roderick T. dela Cruz

Seventy children have completed a nutrition program in Barangay Dalandanan, Valenzuela City under a project initiated by food company CDO Foodsphere Inc. in partnership with Friends of Win Organization.

Shown during the conclusion of Gabay Nutrisyon program in Dalandanan, Valenzuela City are (from left) Friends of Win president MarvinMarcelo (second from left), Valenzuela City councilor Lorie Borja’s representative Angelita Marcelino (third from right), Barangay Dalandanan administrative officer Benny Encarnacion (fifth from left), Dalandanan barangay secretary Hersie Quimpo (third from left) and Odyssey Foundation Inc. executive director Dindo Danao (fourth from right).

FOOD COMPANY FEEDS DALANDANAN KIDS

This has brought to 17,689 chil-dren the total beneficiaries of Gab-ay Nutrisyon, a 90-day supplemen-tal feeding program undertaken by Odyssey Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of CDO Foodsphere since 2005 with the support of United Laboratories and other partners.

Malnutrition is one of the lead-ing causes of death among children under five years old. Three million children die each year globally be-cause of malnutrition, according to studies.

The Food and Nutrition Research Institute reported that 33 percent of Filipino children less than five years of age face chronic malnutrition. FNRI encourages early intervention to prevent the growing number of undernourished children.

In response to the call of mitigat-ing hunger among Filipino chil-

dren, CDO Foodsphere through Odyssey Foundation formed Ga-bay Nutrisyon, a community-based supplemental feeding program which started in June 2005.

“Urgent interventions are need-ed to reverse the health condition of those Filipino children. And a directly administered and closely monitored feeding program such as what we do in ‘Gabay Nutrisyon’ brings the needed results,” said Je-rome Ong, president of CDO Food-sphere and Odyssey Foundation.

Gabay Nutrisyon provides nu-tritious heavy meals and vitamins for 90 days to malnourished and severely underweight children to restore their health. It started in Barangay Paso de Blas where CDO Foodsphere’s plant is located. It was then a 64-day feeding catering to 150 children.

Through the help of commu-

nity volunteers and partners, the kids were served heavy snacks and vitamin supplements. Nutritious meals were prepared by CDO can-teen personnel and delivered to the community by OFI staff. Monthly weighing of the children beneficia-ries was conducted to measure the impact of the program.

Aside from food-related prob-lems such as hunger and malnutri-tion, Gabay Nutrisyon also looks into the health profile of the fam-ily of the participants as well as the social aspect of the malnutrition problem.

It engages the whole communi-ty—from children to their mothers, who need to be educated about the importance of good nutrition. The preparation of food is done by com-munity members and volunteers, supervised and monitored by ba-rangay health workers.

The program has been replicat-ed in other barangays throughout Valenzuela City and parts of the National Capital Region, Central Luzon, Bicol Region, Batangas and Cagayan.

Being home to CDO Foodsphere, most of the feeding programs were

conducted in Valenzuela City with the strong support of then mayor and now senator-elect Sherwin Gatchalian. OFI has already imple-mented 25 batches of Gabay Nutri-syon.

The most recent one was held in Barangay Dalandanan in Valenzu-ela City in partnership with Friends of Win organization.

“It is our company’s humble means of giving back to the com-munities where children are expe-riencing hunger the most. For the coming years, it will be our com-mitment to join in this advocacy of eradicating children malnutrition in our society,” said Ong.

With the support of CDO Food-sphere, Odyssey Foundation said it would continue to conduct Gabay Nutrisyon in communities where children malnutrition is evident.

OFI is developing other nutrition program intervention to answer the call of preventing malnutrition among children through network-ing and collaborating with other social welfare agencies and human-itarian organizations that share the same mission of bringing children back to health.

FOR a caretaker’s son at the Aboitiz Cleanergy Park, coming home is all about re-learning the lessons of family and environmen-tal stewardship.

The Philippines—an archipelago of 7,500 islands, nearly each with its own tongue and tribe. Yet de-spite this amazing diversity, each has this one familiar dwelling, a safe sanctuary called home.

Rodolfo “Rudy Boy” Manib Jr. knows very well how it is like to come home. He is a resident of Punta Dumalag in Davao City, where the Aboitiz Cleanergy Park, a sprawling eight-hectare outdoor biodiversity park, is located.

“I was born and raised here,” Rudy Boy reminisces, pointing to Punta Dumalag’s pristine shore-line where the crystal-clear water embraces the soft white sand, amid a backdrop of a bright blue, cloud-less sky. A native bird softly hums in the distance.

“I remember when we used to play hide and seek or run around the place anytime we wanted. It was great because things were dif-ferent then. We enjoyed just being

kids,” he says.Opened in 2015, the Aboitiz

Cleanergy Park is a joint Better-World initiative of Aboitiz Group’s social development arm Aboitiz Foundation and Davao Light that showcases urban-based habitat conservation and biodiversity management.

The park also happens to be one of the few identified nesting sites of the critically endangered hawks-bill turtle or pawikan, as well as 66 other species.

Rudy Boy’s father, Rodolfo “Roche” Manib Sr., is a caretaker at the Aboitiz Cleanergy Park. He is the steward of the park’s primary seagoing residents, assisted by the

Aboitiz Foundation and Davao Light.

“When Papa started work-ing here, there were already sea turtles to take care of. Early each morning, maybe 5 a.m. or 4 a.m., Papa comes here and scours the entire place for any sea turtles,” Rudy Boy says.

Like other sea turtles, the pawi-kans at the Aboitiz Cleanergy Park possess a unique trait growing up.

“What I know about the sea turtle is that wherever they were hatched, they always return to that exact place. I learned this from Papa,” Rudy Boy shares, recalling the several pawikans he has seen return to Punta Dumalag over the

years.Rudy Boy and his brothers have

long since grown up and now lead separate lives, but they never cease to return to the place they call home.

“We still do come here to visit. We’d help Papa even though he says not to anymore. He thinks we might be tired from the day,” he laughs. “But we’re already here, so we might as well make his work easier.”

Homes are, in a way, like life’s compasses: no matter where some-one ends up in life, at the end of the day, he or she always comes back home.

The pawikan (or hawksbill) sea turtle has played an important role in keeping world’s oceans healthy for over a hundred million years. Rudy Boy and his family are help-ing ensure these critically endan-gered sea turtles will stick around for a long time.

You, too, can be part of their protection and preservation.

Aboitiz Foundation Inc. encour-ages people to make a #Better-World for the pawikan.

ABOITIZ GROUP MOVES TO SAVE DAVAO TURTLES

HAMAS, HEZBOLLAHVICTIMS COMPENSATED

COLOMBIA DETAINS 37 ASIAN MIGRANTS

CALIFORNIAN JAILED FOR AIDING SYRIA JIHADISTS

� e judgment, obtained by AFP on Friday, awards a re-ported $13 million to families of Americans who died in eight bombings or hostage-takings in Buenos Aires, Israel, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia from 1983 to 2002.

Hundreds died in the attacks.

� e families, led by the parents of Marla Bennett, who was killed when a suicide bomber struck at a cafeteria at Hebrew University in Israel in 2002, had successfully sued the Islamic republic in the United States.

� e US court found that Iran was responsible for training Hamas

A CALIFORNIA man was sentenced to 32 months in prison Friday for conspir-ing to skirt US sanctions against Syria by sending tactical military equipment to jihadists in the war-torn country.

Amin al-Baroudi, 50, a Syrian-born naturalized US citizen, pleaded guilty in January to purchasing tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of tactical equipment, including night vision ri� e scopes, speed loaders and bullet proof vests, destined for Ahrar al-Sham, an insur-

gent group � ghting to over-throw the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Ahrar al-Sham frequently � ghts alongside the Al-Nusra Front, Syria’s Al-Qaeda a� li-ate that has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, authorities said.

According to court docu-ments, Baroudi and his co-conspirators traveled with the military goods aboard com-mercial � ights to Turkey and then smuggled them into Syria.

Baroudi was accused of mak-ing two such trips in February and March 2013. AFP

THIRTY-SEVEN South Asian migrants without vi-sas have been detained in Colombia a� er they were abandoned by human traf-� ckers, o� cials said Friday.

� ey were found near the town Riosucio that borders Panama a� er being “aban-doned by individuals who transported them from one country to another,” said the Colombian Navy in a release.

� e migrants—36 men and one woman—came from Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Pakistan.

Officials transferred them to the port town Turbo on the coast of the Gulf of Uraba, part of the Caribbean Sea. There they received food and medical attention before taken into the custody of migration authorities, said the state-ment.

Colombian o� cials have in-tercepted 322 undocumented individuals in Turbo, the ma-jority Cuban, who are now in a shelter awaiting word from migration o� cials who will decide if they can stay, said Emelides Munoz, Turbo’s gov-ernment secretary.

Within the past 15 days more than 750 undocumented migrants have been arrested throughout Colombia.

The country has deport-ed more than 6,000 people since the beginning of the year, arresting nearly 4,000 in Turbo and the town Capurgana, both close to the Panamanian border.

On May 9 Panama an-nounced plans to strengthen border controls in an attempt to stem the migrant � ow, in-cluding Cubans attempting to reach the United States via Central America. AFP

A CANADIAN judge has ordered Iran’s non-diplomatic land and bank accounts in Canada to be handed over to victims of attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah, sponsored by Tehran.

and Hezbollah operatives, as well as backing the groups � nancially.

But those judgments remain largely unpaid.

“Terrorism is one of the world’s greatest threats,” Ontario Superior Court Justice Glenn Hainey said in his decision.

“� e broad issue before the court is whether Iran is entitled to immunity from the jurisdiction of Canadian courts for its support of terrorism.”

� e Canadian lawsuits were brought under a relatively new

law passed in 2012 that allows victims and their families to col-lect damages from state sponsors of terrorism.

Canada lists Iran as a state spon-sor of terrorism.

Iran did not defend against ei-ther the US or Canadian lawsuits.

� e ruling comes as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government seeks to re-establish diplomatic ties with Iran, and following Tehran’s detention of a Montreal professor, Homa Hoodfar, without charges. AFP

B4

WORLD

TAKEOFF. A handout picture obtained on June 11, 2016 from Solar Impulse 2 shows fl ight crews preparing for the takeoff of the Solar Impulse as it takes off from Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania with Andre Borshberg at the control. Andre Borschberg took off from Lehigh Valley to New York, the 14th leg of Round the World Journey and marks the fi nal US leg. AFP

DIRTY WORK. Labor union members from the General Labor Confederation gather for a strike next to a pile of rubbish in Ivry-sur-Seine, near Paris, on June 10, 2016. AFP

palestinians now barred in israel

religious intolerance plagues bangladesh

Libya aLLies retake is port in [email protected]

S U N D AY : j U N e 1 2 , 2 0 1 6

WORLD B5

Israel on Friday tempo-rarily barred Palestinians from entering the country, a step criticized by the United Nations (UN) but which of-ficials said was a response to this week’s deadly Tel aviv shooting.

Thousands of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, however, were allowed to attend weekly Muslim prayers at al-aqsa mosque compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

an army spokeswoman told aFP that crossings to Israel from the West Bank and Gaza strip would be closed for Palestinians in all but “medical and humani-tarian cases.”

she said the closure would remain in force until mid-night on sunday.

The measures came dur-ing the first Friday of the Muslim holy month of ramadan, when tens of thousands of Palestinians visit al-aqsa to pray.

a spokeswoman for

COGaT, the defence min-istry unit which manages civilian affairs in the West Bank, said about 10,000 Palestinians were allowed to visit al-aqsa despite the ban.

The worshippers had to return home after Friday prayers, the spokeswoman said.

Palestinian men between 12 and 35 were not allowed to enter the mosque, with those between 35 and 45 needing permission and those older than 45 having unrestricted access, police confirmed.

Passage was unrestricted for women.

sheikh azzam al-Khatib, head of the Islamic Waqf which administers al-aqsa, said 100,000 people attended Friday prayers, down from more than 200,000 the year before.

Police declined to give a specific figure, giving an estimate of tens of thousands. AFP

Forces allied with Libya’s unity government said saturday they had recaptured the port in the jihadist stronghold of sirte from Islamic state group fighters who are now surrounded inside the city.

a 62-year-Old Hindu monastery worker was hacked to death in Bangladesh on Friday, police said, the latest in a series of such attacks on reli-gious minorities in the mainly Muslim country.

The Islamic state group claimed responsibility for the murder of a Hindu in Pabna in northern Bangladesh through its amaq news agency, ac-cording to the sITe monitor-ing group, saying he was assas-sinated with “blade weapons.”

The latest murder came as Bangladeshi police an-nounced a special week-long crackdown on militants as they ramp up efforts to stem the killings, with five mem-bers of a banned Islamist out-fit killed in gunbattles with

officers in the past three days.Nityaranjan Pande was

taking his regular early morning walk when uniden-tified attackers set upon him, killing him on the spot, po-lice said.

“as a diabetic, everyday he walks early in the morn-ing. Today as he was walk-ing, several attackers hacked him in the neck... He died on the spot,” local police station chief abdullah al-Hasan told agence France Press (aFP).

“He had been working at the monastery for around 40 years. In recent years he was the head of its office staff,” he said.

The head of police in the northwestern district of Pabna, where the shri shri

Thakur anukulchandra ashram is located, said the killing bore the hallmarks of recent attacks by Islamist extremists on minorities and secular activists.

“There was no eye-witness to the attack as it happened very early in the morning,” alamgir Kabir told aFP.

Bangladesh is reeling from a wave of murders of secular and liberal activists and re-ligious minorities that have left nearly 50 people dead in the last three years.

The murders have spiked in recent weeks with a gruesome wave of killings that has spanned from the capital dhaka to remote parts of the north and coastal south. AFP

The fall of sirte, the home-town of ousted dictator Moamer Kadhafi, would be a major setback to the extremists who have also lost territory in syria and Iraq where they have declared an Islamic “ca-liphate”.

The libyan forces also retook a residential area in the east of sirte, the main Is base in the North african country, a spokesman for the forces, rida Issa, told aFP.

The jihadists are now encircled

in an area of around five square ki-lometers inside the city, he said.

The rapid pace of the anti-Is advance has surprised the libyan authorities.

“The battle wasn’t as difficult as we thought it would be,” a libyan government official said Friday.

Foreign intelligence services esti-mate the extremist group has 5,000 fighters in libya, but its strength inside sirte and the number of ci-vilians living in the city are unclear.

libya’s unity government forces have fought fierce street battles with the jihadists around a sprawl-ing Kadhafi-era conference centre which once hosted international summits but now houses an Is command center.

an aFP correspondent at the scene reported heavy street fight-ing on Friday about two kilometers (one mile) from the Ouagadougou center.

GNa forces used tanks, rocket launchers and artillery, the corre-spondent said, while the jihadists responded with machine guns, mortar rounds and sniper fire.

“We are fighting between hous-es, on the streets, and we won’t back down before we eliminate them,” said one GNa combatant,

who declined to be named.Warplanes have carried out air

strikes around the conference cen-tre and other Is positions inside the city, according to social media ac-counts belonging to the anti-jihad-ist operation.

eleven members of the forc-es loyal to the UN-backed Government of National accord (GNa) were killed and 45 wound-ed on Friday, mostly by sniper fire, Issa said.

Formed under a UN-backed power-sharing deal agreed by some libyan lawmakers in december, the GNa has been working to assert its authority but has yet to receive the official endorsement of the country’s recognized parliament.

The pro-GNa forces are mostly

made up of militias from western cities, notably Misrata, and the guards of oil installations that Ishas repeatedly tried to seize.

The forces said on Thursday they expected to announce the libera-tion of sirte in “two or three days,” after thrusting into the city center.

“We’re encouraged by the prog-ress they’re making,” said Us spe-cial envoy Brett McGurk.

“Once you have a credible force on the ground that moves against them (Is), there is a chance that they could crack pretty quickly.”

GNa head Fayez al-sarraj called Friday on “all military forces to unite in the face of our common enemy... and to join the victorious forces.” AFP

MILITANTS. south african students gather in soweto on saturday at a march held to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Soweto Uprising—when police opened fire at black students protesting against the use of Afrikaans as the primary language in their schools—marking one of the defining moments of the anti-apartheid struggle. AFP

BURDENED. A displaced Iraqi boy from the embattled city of Fallujah carries a bag of food provided by the World Food Program at a camp where families are taking shelter on Friday in the city of Amriyat al-Fallujah, some 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) south of Fallujah. AFP

Republic of the Philippines ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION

San Miguel Avenue, Pasig CityIN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF ADJUSTMENT IN RATES, PURSUANT TO THE TARIFF GLIDE PATH RULES, WITH PRAYER FOR PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY

ERC CASE NO. 2016-035 RCDAVAO DEL SUR ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC. (DASURECO),

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

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARINGTO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES:

Notice is hereby given that on 31 March 2016, the Davao del Sur Electric Cooperative, Inc. (DASURECO) filed an Application for approval of adjustment in rates, pursuant to the tariff glide path rules, with prayer for provisional authority.

In the said Application, DASURECO alleged the following:1. Applicant is an electric cooperative duly organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws

of the Republic of the Philippines, with principal offices at Brgy. Cogon, Digos City, Davao del Sur;

2. It holds an exclusive franchise issued by the National Electrification Commission to operate an electric light and power distribution service in the City of Digos and all the municipalities in the Province of Davao del Sur, namely: Bansalan, Hagonoy, Kiblawan, Magsaysay, Malalag, Matanao, Padada, Sta. Cruz, and Sulop, as well as all the municipalities in the Province of Davao Occidental, namely: Don Marcelino, Jose Abad Santos, Malita, Sarangani, and Sta. Maria.

THE ANTECEDENT RULES AND FACTS3. In 2009, the Honorable Commission promulgated the Rules for Setting the Electric

Cooperatives’ Wheeling Rates (RSEC-WR);4. The RSEC-WR envisioned a regulatory framework whereby an Initial Tariff and a Tariff Glide

Path shall be developed for each Electric Cooperative (EC) Group for a Regulatory Period;5. Pursuant to the RSEC-WR, in 2009, DASURECO filed with the Honorable Commission an

application for approval of proposed adjustment in its rates, docketed as ERC Case No. 2009-137 RC;

6. The Honorable Commission approved the application, granting the cooperative at the end of the transition period the following initial tariffs on its Distribution, Supply, and Metering (DSM) Charges, among others, to wit:

CHARGES UNITS CUSTOMER TYPEResidential Low

VoltageHigher Voltage

Distribution Charges:Demand Charge PhP/kW 219.68Distribution System Charge PhP/kWh 0.5782 0.7595

Supply Charges:Retail Customer Charge PhP/Customer/Mo 42.92 42.92Supply System Charge PhP/kWh 0.6001

Metering Charges:Retail Customer Charge PhP/Meter/Mo 5.00 35-94 35-94Metering System Charge PhP/kWh 0.4326

7. It is provided under Article 7 of the RSEC-WR that during the regulatory period, the rate of the ECs per group shall be adjusted using the following formula, to wit:

Tariff x (1 + index “I”-Efficiency Factor “X” + Performance Incentive “S”)The Index “I”, shall be an escalation factor to be used in adjusting the rates to reflect the combined impact of inflation and load factor. There shall be an efficiency factor “X” to account for the operational efficiency of the ECs in setting their rates. There shall be a performance incentive “S” which shall reward or penalize the EC for above or below standard performance, respectively.

The TGP is intended as a cap and the EC may move up to the cap, if it is a positive adjustment. If the cap is lower than the current average tariff, a reduction may be implemented.

LEGAL BASIS FOR THE APPLICATION8. On May 2, 2011, the Honorable Commission promulgated the Tariff Glide Path (TGP) Rules

pursuant to Article 7 of the RSEC-WR;9. The TGP is a rate adjustment mechanism which provides an opportunity for the ECs to adjust

their rates once every three (3) years. The rate adjustments may occur at the start of the fourth year of the first Regulatory Period and every three years thereafter;

10. Under the TGP, the regulatory period is six (6) years for each entry group. For the Third Entrant Group, the first regulatory period is from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2018. DASURECO belongs to the Third Entrant Group;

11. Further under the TGP Rules, the concerned EC shall use the following formula in determining the TGP for the first to third years of the Regulatory Period, to wit:TGPa = TGPn + TGPn+1 TGPn+2 whereTGPn = In — Xn + SnN = the first year of their Regulatory Period and succeeding Regulatory PeriodsExcept that for the first two years of the First Regulatory Period, “X” will be equal to zero and thereafter shall not be less than zero. The TGP calculated for each of the three years will be summed to determine the possible rate adjustment starting on the Fourth Year of the current Regulatory Period.

THE PROPOSED RATE ADJUSTMENT12. Applying the methodology embodied in the TGP Rules, DASURECO calculated the values of

the “I”, “X”, and “S” and came up with the following results, to wit:

“I” “X” “S” TGPA TGPA (Excluding “S”)

Year 2013 0.00% 0.00% 3.30% 3.30% 0.00%Year 2014 0.00% 0.00% 3.30% 3.30% 0.00%Year 2015 0.00% 0.00% 2.90% 2.90% 0.00%Net Results 9.50% 0.00%

13. Application of the above values resulted in adjustments on DASURECO’s DSM Rates, as follows:

A. WITH PERFORMANCE INCENTIVE “S”

UNITS CUSTOMER TYPEResidential Low




Metering Charges:Retail Customer Charge PhP/Meter/Mo 5.48 39.35 39.35Metering System Charge PhP/kWh 0.4737

B. EXCLUDING PERFORMANCE INCENTIVE “S”

CUSTOMER TYPEUNITS Residential Low




Metering Charges:Retail Customer Charge PhP/Meter/Mo 5.00 35.94 35-94Metering System Charge PhP/kWh 0.4326

14. Consequently, applicant respectfully prays of the Honorable Commission for the approval of either of the foregoing calculated DSM rates.

SUPPORTING DATA AND DOCUMENTS15. In support of the foregoing computations, the cooperative is submitting herewith the following

data and documents, which are being made integral parts hereof, to wit:

Annex Nature of Document

A A-lA-2

Proposed TGP Calculation and supporting documents using the prescribed templates:Index “I” Calculation Efficiency Factor “X” Calculation Performance Incentive “S” Calculation

B Monthly Financial and Statistical Report (MFSR) - Sections B and E (2010-2014)

C Billing Determinants Template (kWh Sales, Number of Customers, kW Demand) (2010 -2104)

D Sample Bills (per customer type) (2010 -2014)E Regional CPI (2011 -2014)F RFSC/Reinvestment Fund Utilization (2012-2014)G Consumer Complaints (Summary or Tracking Form) (2012- 2014)H Audited Financial Statements (2010 -2014)

ALLEGATIONS IN SUPPORT OF THE PRAYER FOR PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY16. Applicant repleads the foregoing allegations as may be material herein;17. Applicant’s current DSM rates were granted by the Honorable Commission way back in

January 2010 by virtue of the RSEC-WR;18. Over the years, the cost of its operations has significantly increased, not only as a logical effect

of inflation as well as certain governmental requirements, but likewise due to the inevitable expansion of its distribution network brought about by the extension of its services to remote areas. More significantly, the cooperative has been implementing the Sitio Energization Program (SEP) of the Aquino government, such that the massive expansion of its distribution lines up to the remotest areas has considerably increased its operational and maintenance costs, not to mention the increased system loss which the cooperative is likely to absorb. All these costs were not duly provided for in its current rates and the general funds being generated from its DSM revenues as granted under the RSEC-WR are no longer sufficient to cover these inevitable costs;

19. Thus, the cooperative urgently needs additional funds to be able to cope with the rising costs of its operations;

20. Further, based on the provisions of the TGP Rules, for cooperatives belonging to the Third Entrant Group, their initial tariff shall be adjusted at the start of the fourth regulatory year of the First Regulatory Period, which is January 1, 2016;

21. Considering the foregoing, applicant respectfully prays that while the instant application is pending, it be granted a provisional authority to implement either of the two (2) proposed rates effective January 1, 2016.

COMPLIANCE WITH PRE-FILING REQUIREMENTS22. Finally, in compliance with the ERC Rules of Practice and Procedure, applicant is likewise’

submitting herewith the following documents, which are being made integral parts hereof, to wit:

Annex Nature of DocumentI Affidavit in Support of the Prayer for Provisional Authority

J to J-1 Proof of furnishing copies of the Application to the Sangguniang Panglungsod of Digos and Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Davao del Sur

K and series Proof of publication of the Application in a newspaper of general circulation in DASURECO’s franchise area or where it principally operates

PRAYERWHEREFORE, premises considered, it is most respectfully prayed of this Honorable Commission that pending evaluation of the instant application or after due notice and hearing, as the case may be, DASURECO be allowed to implement either of the following two (2) alternative proposed new rates for its Distribution, Supply, and Metering (DSM) Charges, effective January 1, 2016, to wit:

A. WITH PERFORMANCE INCENTIVE “S”UNITS CUSTOMER TYPE

Residential Low Voltage

Higher Voltage


Supply Charges:Retail Customer Charge PhP/Customer/Mo 47.00 47.00Supply System Charge PhP/kWh O.6571

Metering Charges:Retail Customer Charge PhP/Meter/Mo 5.48 39.35 39.35

Metering System Charge PhP/kWh 0.4737

B) EXCLUDING PERFORMANCE INCENTIVE “S” UNITS CUSTOMER TYPE

Residential Low Voltage

Higher Voltage


Supply Charges:Retail Customer Charge PhP/Customer/Mo 42.92 42.92Supply System Charge PhP/kWh O.6001

Metering Charges:Retail Customer Charge PhP/Meter/Mo 5.00 35.94 35.94

Metering System Charge PhP/kWh 0.4326

Other reliefs, just and equitable in the premises are likewise prayed for.The Commission has set the Application for determination of compliance with the jurisdictional

requirements, Expository Presentation, Pre-trial Conference, and presentation of evidence on 23 June 2016 (Thursday) at ten o’clock in the morning (10:00 A.M.) at the DASURECO’s principal office at Brgy. Cogon, Digos City, Davao del Sur.

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 wish to have a copy of the Application may request from the applicant that they be furnished, with the same, prior to the date of the initial hearing. The applicant is hereby directed to furnish all those making such request with copies of the Application and its attachments, subject to the reimbursement of reasonable photocopying costs. Any such person may likewise examine the Application and other pertinent records filed with the Commission during standard office hours.

WITNESS, the Honorable Chairman, JOSE VICENTE B. SALAZAR, and the Honorable Commissioners, ALFREDO J. NON, GLORIA VICTORIA C. YAP-TARUC, JOSEFINA PATRICIA A. MAGPALE-ASIRIT, and GERONIMO D. STA. ANA, Energy Regulatory Commission, this 26th day of April 2016 at Pasig City.

ATTY. NATHAN J. MARASIGAN Chief of Staff Office of the Chairman and CEO

Standard – June 5 & 12, 2016

[email protected]

S U N D AY : J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 6

SPORTS RIERA MALL ARI E D I T O R

By Riera U. Mallari

PTT PHILIPPINES, a premier Thai oil and gas conglomerate, is expanding its business operations in the Philippines.

PTT Philippines supports the PTT Motocross Challenge, where top riders such as Glenn Aguilar take part. PTT PHILIPPINES MOTORSPORTS

PTT Rayong is a Thai professional football club based in Rayong Province and currently plays in Thai Division 1 League.

A PTT-backed motorsports team is a consistent winner in the Asia Touring Championships.

SPORTSAN INTEGRALPART OF PTT’S PH EXPANSION

With 96 PTT gas sta-tions now operating in the Philippines, PTT wants to build 300 sta-tions in the country by 2020, mostly in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.

“The (Thailand) government has given us permission to in-vest the funds. Our president has ordered us to invest in a for-

eign country and the direction is quite clear now where we should invest.” PTT Public Co. Ltd. vice president for international mar-keting Wisarn Cha-walitanon told The Standard, during a PTT Study Tour for the Philippine media in Bangkok and Pattaya, Thailand recently.

The planned 104 sta-tions is worth P4 bil-lion of foreign direct investment in the Phil-ippines.

PTT has retail out-lets in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar and has es-tablished a solid base in the Philippines.

“Our domestic stock has been on an uptrend the last five years and the Philippines will play a big role in our investments for the next five years,” said Chawalitanon.

PTT Philippines’ ex-pansion in the country, however, is not lim-ited to the business of producing oil and gas, petrochemicals, refin-eries, power generation and coal.

It also means ex-panding its base

through the involve-ment in sports, like what its local energy and petroleum rivals do.

“As we do our ex-pansion, our presence in many events and tournaments will also be expanding. It is not just a matter of beefing up our efforts for brand awareness, sports par-ticularly motorsports

would always be part and parcel of PTT Lu-bricants. It is an op-portunity for us to introduce in the Phil-ippine motorsports the kind of products that we have; the same PTT products that have been tested and proven abroad,” said Vittaya Viboonterawud, PTT Philippines’ Corpo-rate Communications Manager.

PTT Philippines re-alizes the importance of sports in promoting its products.

In Thailand, where PTT is the no. 1 energy company, its support of various sports, from football to tennis to motorsports, is some-thing the company is proud of.

PTT’s involvement in Thai sports is leg-endary. Football, for instance, is on top of its list.

It owns the Petrole-um Authority of Thai-land Rayong Football Club, also referred to as PTT Rayong, a Thai professional football club based in Rayong Province, currently playing in the Thai Di-vision 1 League after

being promoted from the Thailand Division 2 league when it fin-ished runner-up dur-ing the 2007 season.

PTT also backs a racing team in the Asia Touring Champion-ships, golf via the Asian Tour and other various disciplines such as ten-nis and table tennis, among others.

“Like our parent

company in Thai-land, PTT Philippines also strongly supports sports, particularly motorsports. We have been sponsoring some major tournaments in the Philippines like the motocross series at the MX Messiah Fairground in Taytay, Rizal which happened to be the site also of one of our gasoline sta-tions, the PTT Taytay,” said Viboonterawud.

“In 2015, we had our PTT Motocross Chal-lenge in the same venue that was participated in by the Philippines’ top professional riders that included the leg-end Glenn Aguilar and Davao’s pride Bornok

Mangosong. This year, we also supported the recent Diamond Mo-tor Corporation MX Series,” added.

But apart from mo-tocross, PTT Philip-pines is also taking part in racing events.

“Last year, we sup-ported the 2015 Fla-tOut Race Series at the Clark International Speedway in Pampan-ga,” said Viboonter-awud. “We also back racers, who have big potential in their re-spective leagues, espe-cially those competing abroad.”

V i b o o n t e r a w u d added: “We support these events and tour-naments because we believe in the potential of Filipino athletes, especially racers for that matter. Obvi-ously, we have stake in motorsports because we need to promote the PTT Fuel and Lu-bricants, but beyond that, we believe that we ought to support also events and tour-naments of this kind for the Philippines to develop more athletes and soon-to-be super-

star in sports.”So don’t be surprised

to see a Filipino sports icon or a budding ath-lete donning that PTT jersey or holding that PTT lubricant in fu-ture print or TV com-mercials.

“We are actually go-ing into that direction. We might be getting an athlete to serve as an endorser or act as a PTT ambassador. We are just in the process of determining the qualities and attributes of that somebody. He or she must embody the qualities of PTT, a company the provides good products and good services,” Vi-boonterawud said.

Republic of the PhilippinesDEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

National Capital RegionDENR-NCR Building, National Ecology Center, East Avenue, Quezon City

INVITATION TO BIDPROJECT : DESIGN AND BUILD FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF VISITORS’ CENTER AND

BOARDWALK MASTER SITE DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR LAS PIÑAS-PARANAQUE CRITICAL HABITAT AND ECOTOURISM AREA (LPPCHEA)

LOCATION : LAS PIÑAS-PARAÑAQUE CRITICAL HABITAT AND ECOTOURISM AREA (LPPCHEA)

OWNER : DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES – NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources – National Capital Region (DENR-NCR) through FY 2015 Budget and its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) intends to apply the sum of SEVEN MILLION SIX HUNDRED PESOS (Php7,600,000.00), hereby invites all Contractors to submit Letters of Intent (LOI) and to Bid for the above-stated Project:

PROJECT DESCRIPTION SCOPE OF WORK

APPROVEDBUDGET FOR

THE CONTRACT

Php7,600,000.00

DESIGN AND BUILT

DESIGN AND BUILD FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF VISITORS’ CENTER AND BOARDWALK MASTER SITE DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR LAS PINAS-PARANAQUE CRITICAL HABITAT AND ECOTOURISM AREA (LPPCHEA)

Eligibility Requirements or Complete Set of Pre-qualification forms and Bid Documents will be available for issuance at the Procurement Section /BAC Secretariat, 3rd Floor (Mezzanine), DENR-NCR Building, National Ecology Center, East Avenue, Quezon City with telephone number 3734399. A non-refundable fee of TEN THOUSAND PESOS (Php10,000.00).

All particulars relative to the bidding process, such as Eligibility Screening, Posting of Bid Security, Evaluation and Post-Qualifications shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of R.A. 9184 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR). Given hereunder is the schedule of the Bidding Process, to wit:

ACTIVITY DATE AND TIME VENUE

Publication - PHILGEPS- DENR-NCR

Web- Manila

Standard

June 2, 2016June 2, 2016June 12, 2016

Submission of Letter of Intent June 13, 2016 Procurement Section/BAC Secretariat, 3rdFlr., Mezzanine Floor, DEBR-NCR Bldg., East Avenue, Quezon City

Issuance of Bidding Documents June 13 to June 29, 2016 GSS/BAC-Secretariat, 3rdFlr., Mezzanine Floor, DEBR-NCR Bldg., East Avenue, Quezon City

Pre-Bid Conference June 17 2016, 10:00 a.m. Conference Room, National Ecology Center, East Avenue, Quezon City

Submission of Eligibility Documents and Technical Proposal (First Envelope)

June 30, 2016, 10:00 a.m. - Do -

First Step Evaluation July 1, 2016, 10:00 a.m. - Do -

Preparation, Approval and Tender of Notice

July 4, 2016

Submission of Financial Proposal and Determination of Lowest Calculated Bid (LCB)

July 8, 2016, 10:00 a.m. Conference Room, National Ecology Center, East Avenue, Quezon City

Post-Qualification of the LCB July 12, 2016, 10:00 a.m. Conference Room, National Ecology Center, East Avenue, Quezon City

Preparation and Approval of Minutes and Resolutions

July 13-14, 2016

Awarding July 15, 2016, 10:00 a.m. Conference Room, National Ecology Center, East Avenue, Quezon City

Preparation and Approval of Notice of Award (NOA)

July 18, 2016

Issuance of NOA July 19, 2016

Preparation and Approval of Contract

July 21, 2016

Preparation and Approval of Notice to Proceed (NTP)

July 22, 2016

Issuance of NTP July 26, 2016

In addition to the requirements set forth in Sec. 25.3 (b) of the IRR of R.A. 9184, the following additional documents shall be submitted:

a.) Preliminary Conceptual Design Plans;b.) Design and Construction methods;c.) List of design and construction personnel to be assigned to this project with complete qualification and

experience data; andd.) Value engineering analysis of design and construction method

Bids will be opened promptly on the above bidding date in the presence of participating bidders or their duly authorized representatives who chose to attend. Bids Prices shall be fixed. Adjustable price proposals shall be treated as non-responsive and shall be rejected.

All bids must be accompanied by a corresponding security bid bond in the form of Cash, Manager’s Check, Certified Check, Bank Draft or an equivalent amount in a freely convertible currency, or Surety Bond callable on demand issued by the GSIS or by any private insurance company duly accredited by the Insurance Commission and submitted to the undersigned c/o BAC Secretariat on the Bidding date.

DENR-NCR reserves the right to reject any or all bids at any time prior of contract, waive any defects therein, accept the bid, and award the contract to the bidder with the lowest, calculated and responsive bid. The office assumes no responsibility to compensate or indemnify the bidder for any expense or loss that may be incurred for the preparation of bids, nor does it guarantee that an award will be made.

02 June 2016.

(SGD.) ARD SOFIO B. QUINTANA, PhD, CESO IV Chairperson, Bids and Awards Committee(TS-JUNE 5 & 12, 2016)

B8S U N D AY : J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 6

[email protected]

REUEL VIDAL EDITOR

SPORTS

Despite the regular graduation of participants who reach the age limit Alaska Ironkids continues to grow and remains vital with the influx of new blood as young-er participants join every year.

Thirteen year olds Juan Fran-cisco Baniqued and Tara Borlain won their respective categories for boys and for girls who are 13 to 14 years old in the duathlon held last weekend in Subic.

Three hundred boys and girls—coming from as far north as Cagayan and Isabela and from as far south as Mindanao—joined the Subic duathlon. The next and final competition for the Ironkids this year will be in the Cebu triathlon in August.

The Subic race commenced with a 400-meter swim at the Olympic size, 50-meter WOW Pool behind Remy Field and con-cluded with the four-kilometer run along the roads of the former US Naval base in Subic.

Second placers are past catego-ry winners 14-year-olds Saman-

tha Borlain and Joshua Alexander Ramos who are both competing for the last time this year. Borlain and Ramos won this category last year. Borlain goes on to become a varsity swimmer for De La Salle Zobel. Luigi Miguel Crisostomo and Everly Janarie Macalalad took third place in their catego-ries.

Alaska Ironkids encourages children to drop their video game consoles, cellphones, stop watch-ing TV inside their living rooms and invites them to swim, bike and run outdoors to play instead.

Among the youngest newcom-ers are four-year-old Carlene Anika Savet and five-year-old Rafa Kanapi who joined the short distance category. This non-competitive category is precisely meant to attract new participants to the sport.

More than just a race, Alaska Ironkids is a venue for families to bond in a shared activity, giv-ing the parents a chance to show their children that being physi-

NEW BLOOD KEEPS ALASKA IRONKIDS VITALBy Homer Vidal

THE only constant in life is change. This is never more true than the Alaska Ironkids Triathlon with children six to 14 year old competing.

cally fit and healthy is more fun. It also fosters the importance of starting the day right with a com-bination of exercise and proper nutrition.

Clifford Pusing—who lives in Olongapo—felt right at home and won the 11-12 boys category. Joco

Miguel Delizo and Zedrick James Borja placed second and third.

Gene Heart Quiambao—who was named in loving memory of her late uncle Gener—won the 11-12 girls category. Quiambao and her family travelled all the way from Malaybalay, Bukidnon to compete. Erin Chantal Aquino and Marielle Estreba placed sec-ond and third.

Michael Gabriel Lozada ruled the 9-10 boys category. Rayne Japhet Salis of Iba, Zambales was second. Jose Maria Tayag of An-geles City was third. Aubrey Tom was first among girls 9-10. Jeanna Mariel Canete and Anya Karina Austriaco were second and third.

Daniel Louw was the best among boys 6-8. Quintin Zee Sa-balande came from Cebu to place second. Gabriel Ethan Gaw was third.

Zurielle Kenzie Galo was first among girls 6-8. The youngest Borlain sibling, Samantha was second. Juliana Marie Pilar was third.

The Alaska Ironkids Duathlon in Subic included a Race Catego-ry (with Podium Medals) in four age groups for boys and girls; and a Play Category (finisher’s medal but no age categories) of short distance to promote outdoor play and increase participation for non-competitive participants.

Following the Subic duathlon the final Alaska Ironkids com-petition this year will be held in Cebu. This will be in conjunc-tion with the Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific championships to be held August. Category winners of the Subic Duathlon—from six to 14 years old—are seeded automati-cally to the Cebu triathlon.

Participants emerge from the WOW pool after the 400-meter swim. They will go on to complete the four-kilometer run part of the Subic duathlon.

Boys and girls, as young as four and five years old, prepare to take a dip in the pool at the start of the Subic duathlon.

C1S U N D AY : J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 6

LIFE

TATUM ANCHETAE D I T O R

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

BERNADETTE LUNASW R I T E R

S U NDAY L If E

l i f e @ t h e s t a n d a r d . c o m . p h @ L I f E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I @ L I

Carotid arteryBy TATum AnChETA

shows featuring the evolution of Philippine customs, its history and events related to our independence, including a show about the Philippine flag’s evolution. There will also be live bands and exciting games for the participants. In New York, the annual Pinoy takeover of Madison Avenue with its Kalayaan Parade already happened last June 5. The 27th Philippine Independence Day celebration of Philippine Independence Day Council, Inc. (PIDCI) has become one of the biggest spectacles for Filipinos in the United States. Filipino celebrities like KC Concepcion, Ogie Alcasid, Yassi Pressman, Joey Albert, and Apl.de.Ap were among the performers and participants of the festivities. There was even an iconic Jeepney that drove in the streets of New York.

In California, the Philippine Independence Day Foundation, Inc. (PIDF) celebrated Independence Day at Carson’s Veterans Park yesterday with thousands of people gathered for day-long activities celebrating Filipino heritage. In Vancouver,

they also held a gala night organized by the United Filipino Canadian Associations in British Columbia. There are also other celebrations in Norway, Guam and Borneo, among many other countries.

Celebrations abroad are more intense than what we actually hold here in our homeland. Maybe because if you’re miles away from home, you have the need to get reacquainted with your roots. In other countries, the commemoration of Philippine Independence is not just about our independence from Spain, it has become a celebration of the Filipino community where they gather to rekindle their roots and heritage.

I was having tea with our team during one of our photo shoots and I asked them what they will be doing on June 12, and if they celebrate the occasion, and I got different views from the young members of the team. “It’s just a holiday, and since it’s Sunday I don’t really feel it.” “I guess, people only born during that time, or the

ones historically affected because of their bloodline, are the ones who commemorate it.” Another one said that while they were in the States, Filipinos there would look forward to this special day and even participate in parades and the festivities that the Filipino communities hold. But here back home, for them, well, it’s just another holiday.

Today, we will probably see our social media feed turn into the colors of the flag with people posting about how patriotic they are or greeting each other Happy Independence Day, well, because probably everyone else will be doing it. I hope whatever will be on our feed, or however people remember or commemorate this day, it will be something that unites the Filipino people.

For comments, and topic suggestions, you may email me at [email protected]. For my crazy life’s adventures follow me

at @tatumancheta on Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat.

DO yOu CElEBRATE InDEpEnDEnCE DAy?

Today, Filipinos all over the world commemorate the 118th Philippine Independence Day. It remains as one of the most significant dates in the

Philippines’ history, marking the nation’s declaration of independence from Spanish rule on June 12, 1898.

The day is a regular holiday, and different sectors of the government and even the private sector participate in flag ceremonies at different historical landmarks around the country, and activities include parades and other festivities to commemorate the date. One of the main events will commence at the Rizal Monument in Manila under the theme: “Kalayaan 2016: Pagkakaisa, Pag-aambagan, Pagsulong” where a traditional civic military parade will happen at the Quirino Grandstand, followed by different free programs and activities.

Ever since I was a kid, I had always known the significance of the day but I never really felt the need to celebrate. Not because I’m not patriotic, not because I don’t feel the freedom that the 21st century has afforded me, nor because I want to argue that July 4 is the more appropriate date to celebrate our independence and June 12 should just be the commemoration of the Philippine Flag Day. I just didn’t know what I had to do and where to even go to celebrate.

The thing is, if you will search online for events and celebrations about today, you will get more hits about celebrations abroad than back here at home.

Various Filipino organizations and entities in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates will celebrate in Dalma Mall with

C2 LIFE l i f e @ t h e s t a n d a r d . c o m . p h @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d

S U N D AY : J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 6

Dispelling the common misperception that fashion is only just glitz and glam is this year’s Fashion Can Serve which proves that fashion can also serve a

higher and nobler purpose: To celebrate the resilience of a beautiful spirit.

To be held on October 13 at the Raffles Ballroom of Raffles Hotel in Makati City, the fashionable fundraising endeavor of ICanServe Foundation will put the spotlight on several women who will promote breast cancer awareness.

Themed “We Don’t Walk Alone,” the ladies – all proud cancer survivors – will walk the stage with a dear friend by their side.

“When it comes to fighting cancer and the journey back to health, one is always grateful for not having to walk the difficult path alone, so this time our muses will walk with someone who is either a family member or a good friend, who was with them during their battle,” shares Libet Virata, chairman of ICanServe Foundation.

Among those who will grace the runway include Bibeth Orteza and her son Rafa Siguion-Reyna; mother-daughter pairs Beth Romualdez with Via Reyes, Chuchu Madrigal Eduque with Alex, and Dr. Baby Gozali with Kara; sisters Frances Yu and Crickette Tantoco; sisters-in-law Margarita and Malou Fores – who are both survivors – and Amanda LuYm and her close friend Cacay Moras.

The courageous spirit of these ladies will truly shine as they walk the runway, bringing to life the proud statement that ICanServe Foundation has long been encouraging survivors to take: “I am alive, I am here and I am beautiful.”

Lending their expertise for this year’s show are six of the country’s most talented designers and style visionaries that include Dennis Lustico, Rosanna Ocampo-Rodriguez, Patrice Diaz, Randy Ortiz, Mark Bumgarner and Patty Ang.

Bumgarner, who is known for his strong yet feminine silhouettes, will highlight femininity with couture creations in different hues of pink while Ocampo-Rodriguez will play with different textures and hues to capture the beauty of life. Dennis Lustico on the other hand proudly shares that his designs – more than being modernly chic – aim to make women feel confident and beautiful, while Patty Ang shows off the versatility and comfort of design with her chic silhouettes.

For legendary designer Randy Ortiz, cancer hits close to home. “More than 10 years ago, my mom died of cancer. It was quite difficult for us,” he shares, adding that he is collaborating

with ICanServe because “I want to pay homage to my mother, and to all the women who are going through their own journeys of healing.”

Patrice Ramos Diaz also lost her mother and best friend to cancer. “My mom passed away when I was 13, and one of my closest friends died of breast cancer at 37,” she discloses. “I saw firsthand how they suffered and how cancer affected the people around them. I want to lend my support so that others can be made more aware that there is indeed a way to diagnose breast cancer early.”

From the time it was founded in 1999, ICanServe foundation has since become one of the biggest and most influential foundations for breast cancer in the Philippines. “At ICanServe, there is a thriving community of women, survivors and volunteers who want to help and are filled with optimism and faith. They’ve conquered cancer, so you can too. It’s inspiring. It’s contagious. It’s life-saving,” says founder Kara Alikpala.

ICanServe hopes to raise support for its flagship program, Ating Dibdibin (first established in 2007) through the fashion event. Ating Dibdibin is the first comprehensive community-based breast screening program that educates barangay health workers and residents on how to perform proper breast examination to help detect signs as well as increase the chances of early treatment. During its “OK-tober” campaign on October 8 last year, ICanServe members and volunteer doctors held simultaneous Breast Cancer Awareness forums in over 20 areas nationwide.

Over the years, ICanServe foundation has made great progress in spreading awareness about the disease but there are a lot more to be done. ICanServe believes that every voice counts and welcomes everyone in the campaign for breast cancer awareness. Whether it’s through financial or emotional means, every kind of support matters. Partnering with Fashion Can Serve this year are Philip Stein, Sun Life of Canada (Philippines), Inc., Marie France, Security Bank, Del Monte (Philippines), Medical City, Estee Lauder, Mercedes Benz, and Globe Platinum.

Support the ICanServe Fashion Can Serve event on October 13 at the Raffles Ballroom of Raffles Hotel in Makati City. For more information, visit FashionCanServe on Facebook, email [email protected] or text 09175863308.

success can be achieved by taking on three elements – the beauty of vision where setting goals and harnessing one’s capabilities can lead to a rewarding career;

the beauty of passion where dedication and commitment to keep going are underscored; and the beauty of you, where a woman’s winning beauty and

personality are enhanced so she can shine.

The program will hold a Gandang Career caravan in participating corporate offices

Maxi-Peel launches Gandang Career program to empower workingwomen

FASHION FORWARD WITH ICANSERVE

FOUNDATION

Some women have been working on the same job for years without really going up the ladder. Day after day, they just take the monotony of their careers without changing its course for the better. Splash Corporation, makers of Maxi-Peel, saw this as an opportunity to launch Gandang Career program that aims to empower workingwomen and propel them towards the road to success.

Maxi-Peel Gandang Career is an advocacy that seeks to motivate women to achieve new accomplishments and move up in their chosen professions by helping them work on their confidence and tap on their inner potential. The program believes that every Filipina’s road to

The Gandang Career program aims to empower workingwomen to move up in their chosen professions

ICanServe Foundation officials (standing, from left) executive director Lanie Eusebio, chairman of the Board Libet Virata, president Tang Singson, fundraising committee Bettina Osmeña and (seated) founder Kara Alikpala

Standing, from left: Dennis Lustico, Patty Ang and Mark BumgarnerSeated, from left: Randy Ortiz, Patrice Ramos-Diaz and Rosanna Ocampo-Rodriguez

nationwide with the help of global training and consulting company Dale Carnegie Training; People Management Association of the Philippines, an organization of human resource and management experts that hones would-be executives through career development programs; and beauty experts and dermatologists.

During the caravan tours, talks will be focused on personality development, success-driven performance, skills enhancement, and leadership training, including free consultations with a dermatologist regarding skin care.

Visit Maxi Peel Skin Care on Facebook for event and

registration details.

C3LIFE l i f e @ t h e s t a n d a r d . c o m . p h @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d

S U N D AY : J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 6

Premiere luxury hotel Makati Shangri-La, Manila pays homage to Filipino culture and heritage with its “The Grand Getaway: La

Filipiniana” vacation package available from June to August.

The Deluxe Room packages starting at P6,800++ offers a glimpse of the country’s rich history as guests who check into the hotel’s suites for a minimum of two nights get to enjoy a gastronomic feast featuring Filipino culinary delights for a truly Filipino merienda cena at the Lobby Lounge. And for those who want to recharge and rejuvenate, an hour of the famed Filipino hilot at the hotel’s spa will soothe their tired muscles. A stay in any of the 696 well-furnished, cozy rooms and suites with plush 300-threadcount bed linens is all it takes to complete the guests’ day of relaxation and pampering.

The love of Filipinos for their country is deeply rooted in their culture and heritage that have been shaped by various multicutural influences experienced throughout our history. And as the past impacts the present, a better understanding of history is key to unlocking a sense of identity today.

Makati Shangri-La, Manila joins the whole nation in celebrating our 118th Independence Day today by unveiling two art collections for exhibit at the Lobby Lounge Luxe entitled “Love the Earth, Heal the Spirit” by Filipino artist Fernando Modesto. The exhibit will run until June 15. From June 16 to 26, the works of national artist Federico Alcuaz will be available for viewing in the “Encuentros” exhibit.

Guests can also take advantage of a “cultural pass” that will take them through the art collection and exhibits at the nearby Ayala Museum. The pass also provides discounts to the Museum Shop, Museum Cafe, and upcoming Art Classes, including the Rush Hour Concert for guests booked on June 16.

In addition, La Filipiniana guests can also win a roundtrip ticket for two to any Philippine destination by flagship carrier Philippine Airlines.

For room reservations and other information, call (63 2) 813 8888 or email [email protected]. Follow

MakatiShangriLa on Facebook and @MakatiShangriLa on Instagram and Twitter.

CELEBRATING FILIPINO CULTURE AND HERITAGETHE mAkATI SHANGRI-LA, mANILA WAY

Deluxe Suite Bedroom

An hour of hilot at the hotel’s spa will soothe guests' tired muscles

Lobby LoungeMakati Shangri-La, Manila joins FIlipinos in celebrating the Philippines' 118th Independence Day

C4 LIFE l i f e @ t h e s t a n d a r d . c o m . p h @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d @ L I F E a t S t a n d a r d

S U N D AY : J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 6

#INTHEMOMENTBy Francis de Leon

Once in a while, we find ourselves caught in the ruthless realities of life so we seek solace to keep our balance. I would like to believe,

whether you admit it or not, that we all share the same longing for some alone time in order to reconnect with our center. Do you agree?

For this columnist, I find sanctuary in the peace and quiet of the Adoration Chapel in San Antonio Parish. Without fail, when I feel the need for calm, I find myself en route to this chapel regardless of whether it is day or night. More often than not, prayer is my core workout. This is my go-to place to re-energize every muscle of my soul.

One weekend, I decided to take my so-called “me time” further. I wanted to stay somewhere near Metro Manila but away from the usual noise and congestion. I took the journey South and stayed in one of the well-appointed suites of Crimson Hotel in Filinvest City. To urban dwellers,

BUona FesTa naZionaLeThe chorale group with Italian Ambassador Massimo Roscigno (middle), wife Agnes and daughter Ursula. On guard are the Corazzieri

the quick drive to Alabang is the best way to breathe – where every road is tree-lined and green is more concrete (pun intended).

Fortunately, my “suite staycation” in this beautiful hotel in the South included exclusive access to the Executive Lounge at the top floor. For two days, this was my private sanctuary where they served hot and cold beverage the whole day to my desire towards cocktails with fresh salads, appetizing hors d’oeuvres and my choice of (unlimited) wine or spirits to cap my day. Suffice it to say, this hotel sustained my need for nourishment and they served it impeccably in style.

The next day, I decided to go early for breakfast and savor the morning sun over freshly juiced carrot and apple fruits, hot pancakes with fresh caramelized banana and whipped cream prepared a la minute by the chef, and a lovely serving of Eggs Benedict with fresh greens and plump red tomatoes on the side. (Hmm…) I probably took heaps of more servings in the splendid breakfast buffet since afterwards, I was literally in a food coma.

After a deep (and very sound) sleep over my bedroom’s lush pillows and heavenly bed linens, I woke up feeling refreshed! My mind was flowing with joy and so ready to write this Sunday’s column.

If the tone of this Sunday’s story is reminiscent of American author Elizabeth Gilbert’s journey to find “balance” – it was actually intentional (with a big smile on my face). What took Gilbert a year seeking, this columnist found in a matter of weeks sans the need to travel to three countries. In fact, I even learned to speak Italian!

“Buona Festa Nazionale…” expressed the lovely Madame Agnes Roscigno as she welcomed my beautiful companion and me to the venue on the occasion celebrating the 70th National Day of the Republic of Italy.

Well-loved Italian Ambassador to the Philippines, H.E. Massimo Roscigno and his gracious Filipina wife, welcomed over 500 guests to the Harbor Garden Tent of Sofitel Philippine Plaza to celebrate their beloved country’s “Festa della Repubblica.”

Indeed, it was a festive national holiday of Italy complete with a chorale and The Corazzieri (or Italian president’s guards) “on guard” for a photo op with guests, not to mention the Lamborghini sports cars, Vespa

motorbikes, among other known Italian luxury brands on display that evening.

Overflowing Italian vino and sparkling wine kept the crowd luxuriously hydrated and a feast of the best of Italian cuisine satisfied every tummy in the predominantly A-list crowd in the diplomatic and business circles.

The festive evening was as close as I can get in experiencing the energy of Italy as I exchanged wonderful stories from expatriates and new acquaintances on topics about food, travel and interesting places to visit. Italy is definitely on top of my bucket list!

The long presence of Italy in our country is testament to the enduring love affair and support to Philippine development in the field of business, agriculture and grants via Italian NGOs for housing and livelihood projects on specific areas affected by typhoon Yolanda.

With love, I say – grazie!

Follow me on Twitter or Instagram @francis_deleon8 for my life’s moments or email: [email protected] if you want me to chronicle your milestones and

capture your special moments.

PhOTOs by LORnA LLAnes

Anita Andric, Dominico Pusole and Christine Lao

Ricardo Aguila, Matilde nichilo and Gerard Mantovani

Archbishop Giuseppe Pinto, Ambassador Massimo Roscigno and Department of Foreign Affairs Usec Rafael seguis share a toast

Margie Moran-Floirendo, Doris Magsaysay-ho and Marlon Rono

Agnes Roscigno, Tessie Tomas and Roger Pullen

Dominico Pusole, Italian Ambassador Massimo Roscigno, Us Ambassador Philip Goldberg , Mayenne Carmona, the author and Roberto Cucchiara

Tessa Prieto-Valdes and Joseph Calata

C5ISAH V. REDE D I T O RSHOWBITZ

SunDAy : J unE 1 2, 2016

i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

TNT, the country’s largest prepaid mainstream mobile brand under Smart Communications, is celebrat-ing its growing number of subscrib-

ers with a refreshed brand by donning a younger app-inspired look and by welcom-ing new set of ambassadors into its fold – the TNT Tropa.

Composed of April, Brent, Kelly, Ian and Renzo, the TNT Tropa represents the classic Pinoy barkada with different per-sonalities and quirks – but just blend with each other effortlessly and are a bunch of fun when they come together.

Through a series of engaging videos, the TNT Tropa is set to show how young Pi-noys can make their bonding more enjoy-able and memorable with TNT at the cen-ter of their connections.

Poised to grow even bigger “With the country’s largest tropa of over

30 million subscribers, TNT is poised to grow even bigger with a refreshed brand that appeals and relates to the youth, the largest chunk of our population today,” said Smart Wireless Consumer Operations Head Kat Luna-Abelarde.

“TNT specifically wants to cater to the needs of the Pinoy Generation Z, an age group that identifies with their own-tropa that share their aspirations, give them inspiration and just help them get through the day. With TNT’s most af-fordable offers and exciting treats, they can easily stay connected with their tro-pa and enjoy more fun-filled moments with each other.”

Among the traits Dads are best known for are dependability and loyalty. You know that whatever happens, your dad will be there for you. They are also known to be supportive and adaptable to any situation.

On Father’s Day, Dockers® will help your beloved Dad be stylish but still true to him-self. The 30-year-old brand has indeed ful-filled its promise to make dressing well a lot more fun for fathers.

Dockers® is the brand that introduced khakis to the world. And what Dad doesn’t love his khakis—those pants that are as comfortable as jeans but looked dressy enough for special occasions?

If you look back at 30 years’ worth of Fa-ther’s Day photos, one thing is clear: Style changes, but Dockers® stay.

Dockers® still makes awesome khakis but with each new generation, has introduced new styles and fabrics. Dockers® is all about keeping it simple, polished, and effortless.

Each pair of slacks and every shirt and belt has been carefully considered for a sophis-ticated but not overdressed look.

“You know how dress codes for special events say ‘business casual’ or ‘smart casu-al?’ Dockers® has the perfect ensembles for those occasions,” says Kaths Laudit, mar-keting head at Dockers® Philippines.

And while Dockers®, which marks its 30th anniversary this summer, is a favorite of Dads all over the world, they’re not #dadpants at all. Dockers® is a brand rooted in change and what makes it stand out is how it has kept up with the times. The beloved pleated khakis are still there but there are new relaxed and slimmer fits. The fabrics are still soft and sup-ple but some of the pants have materials with stretch for comfort.

For its 30th anniversary, Dockers® is intro-ducing a brand new mantra on how men buy pants: You only need four different styles of pants to get you through any situation. The

TNT embraces the ‘Tropa Thing’ with launch of new ambassadors

TnT ambassadors with Smart Communications and TnT executives Kat Luna-Abelarde (second from left) and Miriam Choa (rightmost) It’s a Tropa Thing! TnT ambassadors Ian, Renzo, Kelly, April and Brent

The brand is reinforcing its new message with ‘It’s a Tropa Thing!,’ a catchy song writ-ten and performed by award-winning duo Thyro and Yumi along with hit Pinoy rap-per Quest – who all join the expanding list of TNT ambassadors.

It’s a Tropa Thing! “You know how every tropa speaks its

own language, sports its own character and has its own standing jokes? - It’s a Tropa

Thing! TNT embodies all these things that make the tropa click, embracing its role as the glue that binds every tropa together,” said Miriam Choa, TNT Brand Head.

“TNT made a huge impact as a people’s brand that puts the many benefits of mobile communication within reach by many Filipi-nos. The new TNT stays in the same course, this time in the context of providing afford-able happy connections for every tropa.”

Following the launch of the TNT Tropa,

the brand is gearing up for tropa-perfect offers that will give loyal and new TNT subscribers more reasons to bond and cel-ebrate moments together through budget-friendly calls, texts, their favorite apps or over treats.

To stay updated with TNT’s offers and treats that suit every tropa, follow the TNT Tropa on TNT official accounts on Face-book (www.facebook.com/TalkNText) and Twitter (@TalkNText).

Style changes, but Dockers® stay

Jean Cut is your best-looking jeans while the slim fit The Broken has a more lived-in look. The Clean Khaki is the ultimate versatile pant while The Best Pressed is for when you want to look your sharpest.

If you’re looking for a Father’s Day gift, check out the new Dockers® Signature On-The-Go Khaki Stretch Straight-Fit Flat-

Front collection.The Signature On-The-Go Khaki Stretch

is a straight-ahead style with a straight fit, flat-front and moisture-wicking technol-ogy, which delivers modern flair and con-tinuous comfort. The pants are perfect for a dinner date, a walk in the park or even a business meeting.

The Dockers® brand has been a corner-stone of menswear for more than 30 years. First introduced in 1986 in San Francisco, California, this American classic has been at the heart of the casual movement dress-ing men for every occasion from head to toe. Our thoughtful innovations and meaningful details have always served a purpose, not a trend. Today, the Dockers® brand continues to be America’s favorite khaki and offers a wide range of apparel and accessories with no compromises in quality - just versatile, es-sential style. An iconic brand for good guys everywhere, the Dockers® brand is a division of Levi Strauss & Co. and available worldwide in 60 countries, on six continents. For more information about the Dockers® brand, its products and stores, please visithttp://www.dockers.com.Dockers® Signature On-The-Go Khaki Stretch Straight-Fit Flat-Front collection Dockers essential poplin shirt

The fashion brand continues to introduce new styles and fabrics perfect for every generation

C6 ISAH V. REDE D I T O R



SHOWBITZ

How long does one need to explore a destination? Restaurateur, food blogger and host Erwan Heussaff

shows that 36 hours are enough in Overnight, his new travel and food web series.

Enabling Erwan to go on his adventures is Cebu Pacific, the country’s leading airline. With non-stop flights and seat sales to Asia’s bustling metros, the airline and Erwan take explorers to the most authentic culinary spots, lively club destinations and awe-inspiring cultural attractions.

A guide for the modern trav-eler, Overnight showcases tempt-ing itineraries covering key Asian cities and the best ways one can maximize 36 hours in each city. “In today’s time-hungry world, people want to try and experience so much in so little time,” shares Erwan.

For its first season, the series traipsed around Taipei in Taiwan, Saigon in Vietnam, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Bangkok in Thailand, and Seoul in South Korea.

Through Overnight, Erwan shares his tips on where to go and what to eat in popular Asian destinations. “Each place

is unique and has something to offer. You just have to be ready to explore them with an open mind,” he said. He added that he and his team gearing up for Overnight Season 2, promising an adventurous and tasty tour of Hanoi in Vietnam, Bali in In-donesia, Fukuoka and Osaka in Japan, and Shanghai in China.

A world of flavors Like many travel enthusiasts,

food is an integral part of Erwan’s itinerary. Kicking off the Over-night series in Taipei, he recom-

mends local favorites Ling Don Fan, Yong Kang, and Lao Wang Ji for a hearty bowl of beef noodle soup. A must-stop for seafood lovers is the Addiction Aquatic Development Center in Zhong-shan District, which has live tanks filled with the freshest catch. Dishes can be prepared on-site at the array of outdoor grill and su-shi counters.

For his next stop, Erwan revis-ited a city close to his heart—Sai-gon, a place he called home for six months. A high-priority on his checklist is a comforting serving

of Pho, served with piles of herbs and bean sprouts, and made more flavorful with limes and chilies. Pho places are everywhere in the city, but Erwan’s top picks are Pho Le and Pho Hung in District 5, Pho Dau in District 3, and Pho Phuong and Pho Ha in District 1.

Erwan said he was pleasantly surprised by Kuala Lumpur’s di-versity. An array of Malaysian specialties await at Lot 10 Shop-ping Complex, while Bak Kut Teh (which literally translates to “meat bone tea”) can be had at Sun Fong. Adventurous foodies can also head to Restoran Yan Go for Hokkien Mee (stir-fried noo-dles), Wong Kee for roast pork, and Mali’s Corner for some Nasi Lemak, Sambal and fried chicken.

One of Erwan’s favorite cities in Asia, Bangkok was the fourth stop of the Overnight team. Among his must-tries here are the crab omelet and Tom Yum Goong at Jai Fae at the Phra Nakon District, mango sticky rice and street food at Sukhumvit Soi 38 and 36, plus a host of traditional and fresh eats at Khlong Lat Mayom Market.

South Korea was the last des-tination covered by Overnight

Season 1. “Seoul is a must-stop for anyone who wants to experi-ence Modern Asia in a city that is also so deeply rooted in tradi-tion,” shares Erwan. He prefers staying in the neighborhoods of Itaewon and Hongdae, which are lined with trendy nightlife spots, kitschy theme cafés, and restau-rants serving K-favorites includ-ing Samgyeopsal (pork belly bar-becue), Tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), Sundae (blood sausage), and Hotteok (sweet pancakes).

“Travelers nowadays are all about spending more on experi-ences such as art, food and drinks. They opt to wait for seat sales, stay at inexpensive boutique hos-tels and bring smaller luggage in order to maximize their budget,” he said. Among the best ways to maximize one’s travel budget, the host shares, is to book flights via low-cost carriers such as Cebu Pacific. Its network spans over 60 destinations in Asia, Australia and the Middle East.

Get a taste of full-flavored tra-ditions and delightful discoveries, and jet off to yummy destinations with Cebu Pacific! Book now through www.cebupacificair.com.

Police Inspector Sofia Loren P. Deliu, the soldier’s daughter who left a modeling career to join the Philip-pine National Police, has been called to be part of incoming President Ro-drigo Duterte’s close-in security elite group. The 26-year-old, graduate of the Philippine National Police Acad-emy Mandilaab Class of 2014, was a hot topic last year when she joined the Miss Philippines Earth pageant and landed among the 15 fifteen semi-finalists.

Women in the police or military ser-vice joining beauty contest like Deliu are not new. Many previous winners of Miss Israel and Miss Lebanon who worked in the military competed at the

Miss Universe pageant. Just recently, Deshauna Barber, a 26-year-old Army Officer, currently a logistics com-mander for the 988th Quartermaster Department Unit in Fort Meade, Md., was named Miss USA 2016 succeeding Miss Universe 2015 second runner-up Olivia Jordan.

Deliu, who is half-Filipina, half-Romanian, was assigned to Police Re-gional Office 1 (Ilocos Region) and held the position as chief supply offi-cer of the PNP Regional Public Safety Battalion, the supporting unit for the SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) and police rescue operations. Of late, she was a Public Information Officer of

San Fernando Provincial Police Office and as a TV host of PNP TV program “Pulis @ Ur Serbis”

A graduate at Saint Louis University in Baguio City with a bachelor’s degree in tourism management, Deliu chose “implementing environmental laws” as her Miss Philippines Earth advo-cacy because she wanted to promote awareness on the country’s existing law which not many are aware of. “Career should not be a hindrance to joining meaningful and timely pageants. It doesn’t matter where you came from, it doesn’t matter what you do, what matters is your commitment and your desire to make a difference,” Deliu said. – Eton B. Concepcion

ERwAn HEuSSAff, CEbu PACIfIC PRESEnt OVERnIgHt tRAVEl SERIES In ASIA

“the fat Kid Inside” Erwan Heussaff is also a modern traveler

beauty queen cop in Duterte’s security service

Policewoman and Miss Earth Philippines 2015 finalist Sofia loren P. Deliu

ACROSS1 Balmy5 Whodunit award

10 Ducky dad15 Right on time21 Tommie of baseball22 Indian leader23 Moray pursuer24 “Becket” actor25 Sly tactic26 Goes nowhere

(2 wds.)28 Electron or muon29 Mr. Milquetoast31 Poet’s jet?32 Jipijapa leaf hats34 — Jima35 Cyclopean (hyph.)37 Travel on snow39 Patch a highway40 Mover and shaker41 In — (behind)43 Stop working45 Ocasek of The Cars

46 Sorts 47 Popsicle holder 49 Fumble the ball 51 Pandemonium 53 Poker winnings 57 Sailing vessel 59 Sandals’ lack 61 Ms. Thurman 62 W-2 collectors 65 Furry Jedi allies 67 Mother — 69 “Fish Magic” artist 71 Evening star 73 Hazards 75 Agreement 76 Blondie’s shrieks 78 Walkway 79 Operated a ferry 81 Green-eyed Thai cat 84 Fell on — ears 86 Chow — 87 So long! 89 Prefix for “trillion” 91 Appreciate

93 Chimney deposit 95 Sgt.’s status 96 Cheryl or Alan 98 Sugarcane liquors 100 — Philippe watch 102 Meatloaf servings 104 Image, in combos 106 A little sweat 108 Melville captain 110 Fragrant shrubs 113 Big scissors 115 Type of terrier 117 Stratum 119 Woodworking tool 120 Part of CST 121 Cause a blister 123 Livy’s “Lo!” 125 Tie-dye cousin 127 Borscht veggie 128 Left or magnetic — 130 Port near Kyoto 132 Moss and Capshaw 134 Bridge expert

137 Common Market, briefly

139 Entree choice 141 Tall cactus 145 McClurg or Brickell 146 Prima — evidence 148 Dweeb 150 Eight-footers 152 Jarrett of NASCAR 153 Nail part 155 Diner sign 157 Part of AEC 158 Type of pool 160 Veiled woman

(2 wds.) 163 Transvaal settler 164 Familiar with (2 wds.) 165 Blank a tape 166 U of the U.N. 167 Flying piscivore 168 UPS customer 169 Forfeits 170 Submarine

171 Jade DOWN 1 Traveler — Polo 2 Edible lizard 3 Minor 4 Even more profound 5 Pleads with 6 “The,” to Wolfgang 7 Clarified butter 8 Djellaba wearers 9 Ballet’s — Nureyev 10 Morning phenom 11 Do a farm job 12 Lead to the — 13 Sharper-edged 14 Mercurial 15 — front or bear 16 66 and I-80 17 Caveman from Moo 18 Gesture 19 Did a snow job 20 Quartet members 27 Golf’s “Slammin’

Sammy” 30 Nay opposites 33 Incan city — Picchu 36 Bore 38 Part of a yard 40 Bad-mouth 42 Dip of ice cream 44 Appear 46 Aussie marsupial 48 Brownie maker 50 Volcano goddess 52 DJ gear 53 Vim and vigor 54 Feel grateful 55 Attacked underwater 56 Black & Decker rival 58 Legendary — Bill 60 Nut, actually 62 Numb 63 Heirloom 64 Shorthand taker 66 Gill opening 68 Purse holder

70 Just scrapes by 72 Face the target 74 Crystal gazer 77 Rayburn and Spade 80 Trounce 82 Filmdom’s Gardner 83 Utter, as devastation 85 Brimming over 87 Unbridled delight 88 Basin occupant 90 Singing brothers 92 Fix up 94 Opossum’s gripper 97 Double helix 99 Quaff with sushi 101 Arctic canoe 103 Blurt out 105 Sen. — Hatch 107 Painter van — 109 Alpha followers 111 Ernesto Guevara 112 Arm the alarm 114 Author Grafton 116 Green sci. 118 Rudner and Moreno 122 Sheepish comment 124 Diplomat Abba — 126 Frat bash (2 wds.) 128 Retainer 129 Loudness unit 131 Correct 133 Hearts or clubs 134 Mental giant 135 City in Denmark 136 Broken in, as a horse 138 Roman orator 140 Save your —! 142 Sun-dried bricks 143 Hitchhiking fish 144 Where dawn arrives 146 Commotion 147 Las senoritas 149 “Tiny Bubbles”

crooner (2 wds.) 151 Mountainside debris 153 Pigeon coop 154 Otherwise 156 Final Four org. 159 Spooky, maybe 161 Da or ja 162 U.K. part

answer PreVIOUs PUZZLe

cROsswORD puzzlE SUNDAY,JUNE 12, 2016

C7ISAH V. REDE D I T O R



SHOWBITZ

How do the characters see themselves 10 years from now? This is the big ques-tion that will be tackled

today in PhilStarTV and Cinema One’s first-ever breakthrough se-ries, Single/Single season 2. Prepare to laugh and learn watching your favorite weekend barkada get lost in a reverie of sorts imagining their #FutureNow.

This episode will give you a peek into the characters’ deep-est dreams and aspirations. Joey, played by Matteo Guidicelli, en-visions his future as a successful entrepreneur and family man. This is what prompted him to leave his carefree days as a mu-sician. Now he’s taken on a new challenge – trying to become a serious businessman by setting up his own bar. Does his vision include Shaina Magdayao’s char-acter, Joee? Will his feisty, some-times over-protective mom, Bian-ca, played by Cherie Gil, support this change?

As for Joee, we saw her struggle in balancing her work and her re-

Maricel and Pocholo’s (Melai Cantiveros and Car-lo Aquino) love story is about to enter a new chapter as she finally confessed her true feelings for him in the Kapamilya afternoon series, We Will Survive.

After Pocholo risked his life in chasing down a snatcher, Maricel could not contain her heart any-more and admitted to the father of her son that she loved him as she feared of losing him again.

Meanwhile, as Edwin (Jeric Raval) prepares for his surprise proposal for Wilma (Pokwang), his girlfriend starts to speculate about his suspicious conversations with his friends. This will later on hurt her feelings as she thinks Edwin is cheating on her.

Will Maricel and Pocholo face another bump in their budding relationship? How will Edwin keep his surprise for Wilma? Will fate continue to be at their side now their lives are going as planned?

More exciting scenes are set to surprise the viewers in We Will Survive, the teleserye that shows however ugly the world gets, there is beauty

in life as long as we are together, weekdays after Tubig at Langis on ABS-CBN or on ABS-CBN HD (SkyCable ch 167). Viewers may also catch up on the program’s past episodes on iWanTV.com and onskyondemand.com.ph for Sky subscribers.

The summer heat may start to simmer and the clouds are about to burst with rain but the change in weather doesn’t mean life should stop and take a backseat.

We all face things we can’t change but what if we could make every day feel more like our best days, where everything seems to go our way? Here are a few things to keep in mind so that you can feel good 24/7:

Get a head start. The early bird gets the worm as they say. Start-ing the day early lets you get more things done than others who are falling behind by waking up late. Make it a habit to get up on time by getting a good night’s rest. Do-ing this will definitely boost your mood, reduce your stress levels, and improve your memory.

Power up with food. Eating right will nourish you enough to keep you going on for the whole day. Stay away from the junk and stick with something nutritious and packed with essential vita-

mins to make you focused and alert. Food that’s rich in antioxi-dants, omega-3, and B-complex vitamins enhances energy and mental alertness. These include citrus fruits, nuts, cereal, dark chocolate, and leafy greens to name a few.

Keep yourself refreshed. The intense heat can definitely take a toll on you. Keep yourself prop-erly hydrated by making sure that you take in enough fluids. When-ever we hydrate, we give our cells enough energy perform better plus it flushes out the different toxins in our body. This will help clear your mind and keep you go-ing for you next adventure.

Stock up on Vitamin C. With the drastic change in weather, your body might be susceptible to aches and pains. Vitamin C con-tains antioxidants that help pro-tect our cells from damage caused by free radicals. Amp up your vi-tamin C intake so that your body can keep up with the energy you

need. A healthy dose helps in bat-tling immune system deficiencies, cardiovascular disease, prenatal health problems, and even skin wrinkling.

Make your daily adventures a deliriously refreshing one with Smart C+. Now in Dalandan Burst, this refreshing juice drink has a sweet yet tangy taste that only dalandan can offer. Each 350ml serving of the juice drink is equivalent to 82 regular-sized whole fresh dalandan. That’s al-most 700-mg worth of Vitamin C enough to power you through your day. So, whatever your plans may be, rain or shine, Smart C+ Dalandan Burst will keep your body ready for what-ever surprise each day might bring.

Smart C+ Dalandan Burst Juice Drink comes in 350 ml, 500ml and l liter bottles and will be avail-able in all leading supermarkets and convenience stores nation-wide.

With founder Stan Cherelstein as guest speaker, Javita Philippines celebrates Original Pilipino Music week with a special show featuring OPM songs by OPM Hits Wonder Gretchen on June 14, 7 p.m., on Scout Borromeo corner T. Morato Avenue in Quezon City.

With Javita Philippines Team Supervisor Juvie Pabiloña and Ramon Estaris as presenters, Gretchen started singing when she was six years old and has since evolved as an OPM artist with the style of Regine Velasquez and the voice of Nina.

Tickets are priced at P200 each and is consumable.

This is the second charity event of Javita Philippines. The first was with Mika Layco, Principal of RiverSprings School Inc. and Jesus Loves the Little Children Foundation Inc. on May 28.

Javita Coffee Diet System con-sists of Burn Fat: two cups of Burn + Control every morning help increase your body’s natural fat-burning processes and con-trol your appetite; Feel Full with Fiber gives you a feeling of full-ness and also helps support your overall cardiovascular health; and Cleanse with Herbal Cleanse Tea, refresh and renew your body sys-tem that flushes away obstacles in reaching your weight loss goals.

Javita is healthy drinks with superior, one of-a-kind natural flavored fat-free, sugar-free fruit

beverages that fit to your active lifestyle.

You can be a member of the Javita Philippines Team under this new compensation plan: Join packs: P3,200 for two box-es; P12,800 for eight boxes; and P21,000 for 14 boxes.

The Top 5 enrollers get the following bonuses: 1st place P50,000, 2nd place P40,000, 3rd place P30,000, 4th place P20,000, and 5th place P10,0000.

The Top 10 enrollers are also en-titled to a bonus program: 1st and 2nd place get iPhone 6S while 3rd to 10th place get Samsung phone. Plus travel trips and cash rewards!

Javita... Changes Lives! To learn more, contact Hanzel (09065810383), Jhee (09952702304), Jubz (09151792087)/ (416)659-3834 www.myjavita.com/juviepabi-lonia or visit www.javita.com

‘Single/Single’ episode 5 fast forwards to the future

lationship with Steve (JC Santos). Her dilemma was supposed to be resolved by Steve’s sacrificial res-ignation. Now that Steve gave way for her to have time for both, she is more focused on being career-driv-en and dead set to rise up the cor-porate ladder, something that she had always dreamed of. In fact, in her reverie, she achieves awards for

her accomplishments but will Steve still be a part of her future?

Brian Sy’s comic character, Benny, on the other hand also imagines himself successful a de-cade forward – someone who can proudly face his ex-boyfriends with a triumphant look on his face and so much money in his pockets. However, as he sets out

to make his dreams come true, he gets caught up in a rather hilari-ous misadventure that will teach him a lesson of a lifetime.

Join the whole Single/Single gang as they go through another chapter of adulting, taking the first steps toward achieving their dreams.

Single/Single Season 2 airs ev-

ery Sunday, 10 p.m. on Cinema One with replays every 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, and 9 p.m. on Saturdays.

Past episodes can also be viewed on philstartv.com.

For more updates, visit face-book.com/SingleSingleC1 and @SingleSingleC1 on Twitter and Instagram.

The singles in “Single/Single:” (from left) Matteo Guidicelli, Shaina Magdayao and JC Santos

Four ways to a feel-good day

Healthy drinks Javita supports OPM

Javita founder Stan Cherelstein

Melai Cantiveros as Maricel in “We Will Survive”

Maricel revealstrue feelings for Pocholo

C8i s a h r e d @ g m a i l . c o m

SHOWBITZ

sunday : J unE 1 2, 2016

ISAH V. RED

IsaH V. REdE D I T O R

nICKIE WanGW R I T E R

In 1999, Knowledge Channel Foundation, Inc. (KCFI) started to revolutionize educa-tion in the Philippines by introducing learn-ing resources aligned with the country’s

basic education curriculum. It has become part of the learning journey of more than five million Filipino students that significantly enhanced their academic performance.

As Knowledge Channel celebrates its 17th anniversary, the all-educational channel launches two new shows titled MathDali and AgriCOOLture hosted by Kapamilya stars Robi Domingo and Enchong Dee to contin-ue its mission of uplifting the lives of Filipinos from poverty through education.

MathDali aims to help Filipino students overcome their fear of learning math. The show features Kuya Robi (Robi Domin-go), a math enthusiast who helps Igi Boy Flores, Vic Robinson III, and twins Joj and Jai Agpangan learn to love math and master the subject in their fun adventures.

Every episode shows a math concept through real-life situations that will al-low students to have a positive mindset in learning math in new and exciting ways. The show is also inspired by the positive norms, key strategies, and classroom ap-proaches by math education reformists Jo Boaler, Cathy Humphreys, and Ruth Parker and incorporating principles of Carol Dweck’s growth mindset.

Meanwhile, the Knowledge Channel-Landbank produced show AgriCOOLture features Enchong Dee exploring the potential of ‘agri-preneurship’ through aquaculture, crop production, and poultry.

The six-episode series based on the Depart-ment of Education’s (DepEd) curriculum for Grade 9 Technology and Livelihood Education, showcases how students can learn fish farming, the proper handling of fish equipment and wa-ter management from the experts, selecting and raising a stock, and yielding good crops from the experts.

AgriCOOLture intends to make students realize that agriculture is a flourishing sector that can widely contribute to the country’s economy and uplift the lives of many Filipi-nos. As a program produced by Knowledge Channel in partnership with Landbank, the show is also an example of how an organiza-

tion can partner with Knowledge Channel Foundation to promote an advocacy to the younger generation.

“Our two new programs are an embodi-ment of Knowledge Channel’s commitment to create engaging educational content that will really boost the learning performance of Filipino students in school. We want to provide them with an opportunity to learn using multimedia tools to have an enrich-ing academic journey,” Rina Lopez-Bau-tista, Knowledge Channel president and executive director said.

Throughout the years, Knowledge Chan-nel remained true to its commitment in creating more fun educational content that fuses the power of media and technology. Its library now boasts of programs on Early Childhood Development, K to 12, and Al-ternative Learning that can be accessed us-ing multimedia platforms–cable (SKYcable), direct-to-home (SKYdirect), digital TV (ABS-CBN TVplus), online (kchonline.ph), and video-on-demand (Knowledge Channel On-Demand). In fact, it is the first and only TV and online educational media tandem primarily focused on the Philippines’ basic education curriculum.

Apart from producing educational shows, Knowledge Channel is also provid-

ing educators programs and workshops that harness their competencies in helping students meet or exceed academic stan-dards. It offers a flagship teacher train-ing program called Learning Effectively through Enhanced Pedagogies (LEEP). It is also a part of the consortium that pro-vides a 12-module course, Superintendents Leadership Program (SLP) for schools divi-sion superintendents (SDSs) and assistant schools division superintendents (ASDs) so that they may attain the required level of competency to effectively manage their respective division.

To date, Knowledge Channel has trained more than 5,000 teachers and principals from more than 1,500 school nationwide.

Join Knowledge Channel as it celebrates its 17th anniversary by watching MathDali beginning on June 14 and AgriCOOLture starting on July 19.

MathDali will air under the Mathematics curriculum block for Grade 4 on Knowledge Channel 10 a.m. and 1:20 p.m. every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. Meanwhile, AgriCOOLture will air 11:40 a.m. and 4p.m. every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

Knowledge Channel available on SKY-cable, SKYdirect, Destiny Cable, and ABS-CBN TVplus.

KnOWlEDgE ChannEl CElEbRaTEs 17Th yEaR WITh TWO nEW shOWs

Educational TV clique: (From left) Vic Robinson III, Igi Boy Flores, Enchong dee, Knowledge channel president and executive director Rina Lopez Bautista, Robi domingo, Joj and Jai agpangan

Knowledge Channel executive director Rina Lopez Bautista Robi domingo will host Knowledge Channel’s newest show “Mathdali” Enchong dee has been tapped to host “ agriCOOLture”