MARAWI PLAN
GETS P350-M
Scan this icon
to view the PDF
VOL. XXXI • NO. 250 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2017
• www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net
MANHUNT ON FOR 5
TOP ISIS REMNANTS
By Francisco Tuyay
W
ESTERN Mindanao Command chief
Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. has said
government security forces are track-
ing down five terrorists who have the
potential to continue the ISIS caliphate threat in
the country.
COMING TO TOWN. Different Christmas decorations deck almost every corner of Juan Luna Street in Manila’s Divisoria district as hawkers prepare
for the rush of Yuletide shoppers, with only a few days left before the Midnight Masses begin in this largely Christian country of over 106 million people from
FBI: DNA TEST SHOWS IT WAS HAPILON
THE US Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed
that the DNA samples tested by it, as requested by
the Philippine government, matched that of terror-
ist leader Isnilon Hapilon, Defense Secretary Delfin
Lorenzana said on Saturday.
“We have received an official report that the US
Federal Bureau of Investigation has confirmed that
taken from a body recovered by our operating units
in Marawi matches that of Isnilon Hapilon,” Lorenza-
na said in a statement.
“This process of verification is also being conduct-
ed on the cadavers of other terrorists that have been
recovered so far,” he added.
The confirmation came a day after the DNA
samples of Marawi siege leaders Hapilon and Omar
Maute were sent to the FBI for testing.
Isnilon and Omar were killed in an early morning
operation last Monday.
Omar was shot in the head by a government
sniper while Isnilon died of gunshot wounds to his
chest.
Hapilon and Maute had a P10-million and P5-
million reward, respectively, on their heads from the
government while the US government, through the
FBI, offered a $5-million reward for Isnilon’s appre-
hension or conviction.
President Rodrigo Duterte said Marawi City had
Turn to A2
twitter.com/
MlaStandard
Galvez on GMA News TV pro-
gram “State of the Nation with Jes-
sica Soho” said they were search-
ing for Malaysian terrorist Amin
Bacu, an Indonesian terrorist, and
three of Hapilon’s children.
He said in a radio interview the
security forces were just zeroing
in on the top two defiant foreign
terrorists defending their last bas-
tion, with the military foreseeing
Batanes down to Tawi-Tawi. Norman Cruz
JOB WELL DONE. President Rodrigo Duterte acknowledges the salute of government troops from the 1st
Infantry Battalion who were preparing to leave at the Laguindingan Airport in Misamis Oriental Friday. The troops were
among the first deployed in Marawi City in May to battle against terrorists. Malacañang Photo
facebook.com/
ManilaStandardPH S manilastandard.net
Missed your copy of Manila Standard? Call or text our Circulation
Hotline at 0917-8848655 or email: circulation@manilastandard.net
the closing of curtain of the dark
episode of Marawi City from the
clutches of evil.
Galvez said Islamic State mili-
tants—two Malaysians including
Amin Bacu and an Indonesian ji-
hadist identified as Ibno Kayin—
were the remaining terrorists, now
the target of the military’s finish-
ing touches to finally declare the
Marawi City siege over. Turn to A2
QUICK FUND
THE Department of Health has
received P350 million in quick re-
lease funds, in addition to the al-
most P137 million the agency has
spent for infrastructure rehabilita-
tion efforts in war-ravaged Marawi
City.
In an interview on dzBB on Sat-
urday, DOH OIC-Secretary Hermin-
igildo Valle said the amount for
infrastructure rehabilitation would
mostly come from Task Force Ban-
gon Marawi, but a part of it would
be contributed by the DOH.
He said the amount would be
used for rehabilitating partially
and completely damaged build-
ings.
The DOH is part of the inter-
agency task force created by Presi-
dent Rodrigo Duterte to head the
recovery, reconstruction and reha-
bilitation efforts for Marawi.
Task Force Bangon Marawi is
headed by Defense Secretary Del-
fin Lorenzana.
Valle added the Amai Pakpak
Medical Center, located at “ground
zero” of the siege, was already in
operation, and its some 120 staff
members were conducting medi-
cal care functions such as surger-
ies, dialysis and intensive care.
Additionally, the officer-in-
charge said he had oriented the
health workers at the hospital to
“understand” and “anticipate the
Turn to A2
RODY STOKES
PEACE TALKS
REVIVAL HOPES
By John Paolo Bencito
PEACE talks are set to be revived
between the government and
communist rebels after both Presi-
dent Rodrigo Duterte and the Na-
tional Democratic Front expressed
openness to resume formal peace
negotiations.
After several attempts of dismiss-
ing peace negotiations, Duterte
underscored the need to remain
talking with the communists, amid
the problems the country is facing
such as terrorism, insurgency, and
illegal drugs.
“Ang problema ko na lang is itong
terrorism, which is really ISIS. Yung
Maute was just the face, ‘yung
Maute ano talaga, ideology ’to. So
I’m facing that. I have to talk to the
NPA still,” Duterte said in a speech
during the launch of Cebu Pacific’s
7th domestic hub in Misamis Ori-
ental.
“And there’s the droga, which re-
mains to be a serious problem for
our country,” he added.
Duterte made the pronounce-
ments after he met with Peace Pro-
cess Secretary Jesus Dureza and
Labor Secretary and government
peace panel chairperson Secre-
tary Silvestre Bello III at the Malago
Turn to A2
MANILA BIDS
TO HOST FIBA
WORLD CUP
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on
Saturday expressed support to
the Philippines’ joint bid along
with Japan and Indonesia to host
the 2023 FIBA World Cup, as the
country aims to gain a favorable
decision from the world governing
body for the sport.
In a statement, Presidential
Spokesperson Ernesto Abella de-
scribed the hosting bid as a “very
rare” opportunity expected to
“unify the country and will have
positive impact on basketball and
tourism.”
“The Philippines, together with
Indonesia and Japan, will bid for
the hosting rights for the 2023
FIBA World Cup,” Abella said.
“President Duterte backs the
FIBA World Cup to support the ini-
tiative of Samahang Basketbol ng
Pilipinas Chairman Emeritus Man-
uel V. Pangilinan and SBP president
Al Panlilio,” he added.
Under the proposal, Manila, To-
kyo and Jakarta will host group
stage matches while the Philip-
pines was proposed as the sole
host country of the final knockout
phase. Turn to A2
A2 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2017
mst.daydesk@gmail.com News
MANHUNT...

DRUG GROUP BLAMED

From A1

Aside from the terrorist stragglers,

Galvez said the troops were also re-

FOR 'PIETA' MAN'S SLAY

lentlessly tracking down the three
sons of Isnilon Hapilon who were
with the foreign Islamic militants still
resisting the military’s might.
Hapilon, the emir of ISIS in South-
east Asia and Omar Maute, Hapilon’s
conduit in the terrorist organization
By John Paolo Bencito fickers and pushers eliminating each cradled by partner Jennilyn Olayres,

M
in Mindanao, were both killed by a
military sniper while attempting to other,” he said. like Mary cradling the body of Jesus
escape at the height of battle inside ALACAÑANG on Saturday was quick “The relentless attribution of such in Michelangelo’s masterpiece Pieta.
killings to police operations was Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cay-
the main battle area last week. to clear cops of any responsibility on both premature and unfair to law etano earlier claimed in an Al Jazeera
Hapilon and Maute’s killing virtu-
ally liberated Marawi City from terror- the death of Michael Siaron, the man abiding enforcement officers who interview that all 3,800 Filipinos
ist occupation for almost five months. in a Pieta-like picture killed last year, risk life and limb to stop the prolif- killed in the Duterte administration’s
With the looming killing of the eration of illegal drugs in our society.” war on drugs were drug dealers.
remnants of terrorists facing immi-
claiming that the “real” assailant was a member of Siaron, 30, was shot dead by two In an Al Jazeera interview Oct. 6,
nent collapse, Galvez projected the a drug syndicate. unidentified men riding tandem on a British journalist Mehdi Hasan cited
ending of the Marawi crisis by Sun- motorcycle while walking along Edsa PNP figures that said 3,850 Filipinos
day. near the Rotonda in Pasay City last died in police operations from July 1,
Presidential Spokesperson Ernes- drug trade,” Abella said. July 23, 2016 at around 12:45 a.m. 2016 to Sept. 16, 2017.
“Most probably tomorrow, we can
to Abella, however, did not say who Instead, he proceeded at absolv- Police said Siaron, allegedly a drug “So every single one of the 3 and
do it. We can declare it is totally com-
were the people involved. ing cops from criticisms at the Presi- pusher, sustained multiple gunshot a half thousand people who were
plete,” Galvez projected during the
He only vowed to make the per- dent’s bloody drug war, where an wounds in the body. The suspects, killed was a drug dealer?” Hasan
weekend.
petrators accountable. estimated 7,000 people were killed who were both wearing full-face hel- asked Cayetano.
Malaysian militant Amin Bacu were
“Authorities have put closure on since the President took office. mets, sped away towards Edsa after “Yes,” the foreign secretary an-
with four other ISIS fighters, mostly
the death of Michael Siaron, whose “The Siaron case verifies what the shooting. swered.
Malaysians, who sought sanctuary
photo was compared to the Pieta government has said from the start Police said the suspects also The PNP itself does not label them
in Mindanao after the Malaysians
image, after ballistics examination of the campaign against illegal dropped a note near Siaron’s body. as proven drug dealers, only as sus-
launched a crackdown against ISIS el-
from a recovered firearm revealed drugs—many of these killings were The note read: “Pusher ako, wag tu- pects.
ements in their country last 2013.
that he was killed by a member of a perpetrated by those involved in laran.” In Philippine law, a person is pre-
Baco’s cohorts included University
syndicate also involved in the illegal drug operations as well; drug traf- Siaron was photographed being sumed innocent until proven guilty.
Malaya lecturer Dr. Mahmud Ahmad;
stationary shop owner Mohd Najib
Husen; former Selayang Municipal
Council employee Muhammad Jorai-
mee Awang Raimee, and Jeknal Adil,
of Darul Islan Sabah.
The military claimed to have killed
Dr. Ahmad, the planner and financier
of the Marawi attack. Troops are cur-
rently tracking where Ahmad’s body
was buried.
Galvez said Bacu took over the
realms of leadership from Hapilon’s
death and in control of the deploy-
ment of Islamic militants in the re-
gion.
However, Galvez said they could
not totally declare that its mission
was accomplished until they elimi-
nated the five persons still within the
battle zone trying to survive.
Meanwhile, a cousin of Hapilon,
along with eight others who operate
in Basilan, voluntarily surrendered to
military authorities Saturday.
AFP Public Affairs Office head, Col.
Edgard Arevalo, identified Hapilon’s
cousin as Ben Salina Sapilin, alias Ben.
“We were able to identify Ben Sa-
lina Sapilin who uses the alias “Ben” IMPEACHMENT. Lawyer Larry Gadon (right) tackles the impeachment case he filed against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno while another lawyer Manny Luna
a cousin of Isnilon Hapilon. He along is all ears and waits for his turn to take up the issue during the weekly News Forum at Anabels Restaurant in Quezon City. Manny Palmero
with other members Ramu Sapilin
and Muhamad Endeng surrender to
the troops of the 74th Infantry Bat-
tlion on October 17 in Albarka Basi-
lan. They brought along with them
three high-powered firearms,” Are-
valo said.
IPU MEDDLING A CASE OF BULLYING—PALACE
Arevalo said a total 325 ASG mem- MALACAÑANG on Saturday brand- Senator Leila de Lima is a classic ex- he added. mediate release from detention and
bers had been neutralized while 124 ed the move by the Inter-Parliamen- ample of bullying,” Andanar said. In its report, the IPU delegation for the authorities to consider drop-
were killed in military operations; 882 tary Union to send an observer to “We should stand up to this kind raised doubts about the evidence or ping the charges against her.
were arrested and 119 surrendered. monitor and report on the case of of meddling into our domestic af- lack thereof against De Lima to sup- If the trial would proceed, then
Senator Leila De Lima as a “classic fairs,” he added. port the filing of the cases against her. the delegation urged due process
example of bullying.” Andanar said that their intent is not They likewise aired its concern should be accorded to De Lima.
In a statement, Communications to merely observe De Lima’s trial by over the statements of President De Lima is presently detained at
Secretary Martin Andanar slammed our laws, “but to meddle in our demo- Duterte, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Camp Crame, Quezon City for al-
MANILA...
From A1
IPU for “meddling” in the country’s
internal affairs.
cratic as well as judicial processes,”
“Over and over, pronouncements
Aguirre II and other officials against
De Lima that it claimed were meant
leged complicity in the illegal drug
trade in the New Bilibid Prison, the
“The Inter-Parliamentary Union from the IPU portray the Philippines to portray her as guilty even before proceeds of which she was accused
(IPU)’s recommendation to send as a lawless nation when there is the trial started. of using for her senatorial campaign.
Last Thursday, a three-man FIBA an observer to monitor the case of abundant evidence to the contrary,” The delegation called for her im- John Paolo Bencito
Evaluation Commission started in-
specting facilities which will be used
should the Philippines, which is bid-
ding to co-host the 2023 FIBA Basket-
ball World Cup, get the nod from the
FIBA Central Board in December.
FIBA Central Board and Commis- RODY...
From A1
MARAWI...
From A1
sion president Hamane Niang of
Mali, FIBA Central Board member and
treasurer Ingo Weiss of Germany and
advisor to the FIBA secretary-general Clubhouse in the Presidential in as our president, he made cannot accept defeat. Iniintriga need to provide medical terview on dzBB, said the
Lubomir Kotleba of Slovak Republic, Security Group Compound in a very clear statement that his ako sa lahat,” Duterte said. care” that would be needed affected school buildings
accompanied by Samahang Basket- Malacañang. legacy to our country and our Duterte had warned that he in time for the return of the were either hit by bombs or
bol ng Pilipinas chairman emeritus Reacting to Duterte’s pro- countrymen is a lasting peace would declare a revolutionary city’s displaced residents. were burned.
Manny V. Pangilinan and Philippine nouncements, NDF chief ne- for our country. So I don’t think government if his critics’ at- Staff shortage is being Schools totally destroyed
Sports Commission chairman Butch gotiator Fidel Agcaoili said that that the President has aban- tempt to destabilize the gov- augmented by health work- are in the main battle area,
Ramirez, paid Duterte a courtesy call the revolutionary movement doned that legacy,” the Labor ernment escalates and causes ers from different regions, Pascua added.
at the Mahogany Room of the Manila is also open to reviving formal chief added. trouble. Valle said. DepEd authorities are
Hotel before embarking on a two-day talks with the Government of Government negotiators “I mean, I will serve dur- Meanwhile, a total 22 still determining the extent
ocular inspection of the Philippine In- the Republic of the Philippines. earlier canceled the fifth round ing my time. Kung sabihin mo, public schools in Marawi of the damage to the 22
ternational Convention Center, Smart “The NDFP has always been of formal negotiations last mag-ambisyon ako ng…you City were totally damaged schools.
Araneta Coliseum, Mall of Asia Arena open to continue with the May after failing to secure an must be crazy,” he said. by the war that lasted over Last July, the DepEd re-
and the Philippine Arena. fifth round of the formal talks, open-ended bilateral ceasefire “Huwag kayo maniwala di- four months, a Department ported that 10 schools were
Present during the courtesy call which he scuttled in May 2017,” agreement with the NDF. yan na ambisyoso ako. On the of Education official said destroyed just over month
were, among others, Executive Sec- Agcaoili told alternative media The slated resumption of the dot ako. On the last day of my Saturday. into the Marawi siege, and
retary Salvador Medialdea, Special outfit Kodao Productions. talks last August were likewise term, o earlier than that, I’ll step DepEd Undersecretary that repairs could cost up to
Assistant to the President Christo- In a Palace news briefing, canceled, amid the lack of en- down. It is not because o—La- Alain del Pascua, in an in- P800 million.
pher Lawrence Go, SBP president Al Bello earlier said that the peace abling environment to pro- hat naman tao may ambisyon
Panlilio, SBP executive director Sonny negotiations with the commu- ceed with the talks. pero ‘yung mag-ambisyon ka…
Barrios and SBP deputy executive di- nists remains “alive” despite the In his second State of the Na- You’re being pictured to be
rector for international affairs Butch
Antonio.
President’s own pronounce-
ments abandoning a possible
tion Address, Duterte warned
that the communists will soon
one sa opposition. When you
can invent that kind of sce-
FBI: ...
From A1
The 2023 World Cup is also the revival of talks within his term. be the government’s next tar- nario for your fellow men, this
qualifier for the 2024 Olympic Games Saying that the government get when the crisis in war-torn is—Ikaw ang may gusto. Kayo
in Paris, France. isn’t sending any formal notice Marawi City ends. yung may mga ambisyon. Hindi been liberated from the Lt. Gen. Ernesto Galvez Jr.
The 2019 FIBA World Cup, mean- to terminate the peace talks yet, In the same speech, Duterte ako,” he added. terrorists following the con- said Marawi could be de-
while, will be held in eight cities in Bello explained that Duterte said he has no plans of becom- Duterte maintained that he firmation of Hapilon and clared totally free from
China—Beijing, Foshan, Wuhan, will not “abandon” his pledge ing a dictator as he chided his does not intend to stay in pow- Omar’s deaths. armed clashes on Sunday,
Shenzhen, Dongguan, Nanjing, to the Filipino people to bring political opponents, particular- er beyond 2022, when his term This, even as pockets of as government troops took
Shanghai and Guangzhou—and will “lasting peace for our country” ly the “yellows” who have po- as President expires, following fighting remains in some aim at only three buildings
be participated by a record 32 teams, in coming up with a successful litical ambitions and are power his controversial declaration parts of Marawi. where the few remaining
according to the FIBA World Cup deal with the communists. hungry. that he would set up a revolu- Early on Saturday, West- pro-ISIS terrorists are hid-
website. John Paolo Bencito “When the President came “These are just people who tionary government. ern Mindanao Command’s ing, but still resisting.
 News SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2017
mst.daydesk@gmail.com
A3

FEDERALISM

DUTERTE SAYS TUGADE TO SOLVE POVERTY,

REBELLION
—ALVAREZ
STAYS AS DOTR SECRETARY By Maricel V. Cruz
SPEAKER Pantaleon Alvarez has re-
iterated his full support to the shift
to federalism as this would be more
responsive to the changing needs of
the people and bring peace to Min-
By John Paolo Bencito “He doesn’t even know how to tion.
danao instead of the present unitary

T
count his money,” the President
RANSPORTATION Secretary Arthur Tugade will said.
Duterte even complimented
not be leaving the Cabinet anytime soon after Tugade.
President Rodrigo Duterte himself shot down “Secretary Tugade, in respect
speculations that he may be the next who to his statement, he also has no
match, he is bright. He was our
might get axed.
brightest classmate in law school,”
said Duterte.
“There are allegations, he goes day during the launch of Cebu Pa- The President has repeatedly said
there, he’s corrupt. I said, he doesn’t cific’s 7th Domestic Hub in Cagayan he would fire government officials
have time for that,” Duterte said Fri- de Oro. even with just a “whiff ” of corrup-
“Even a whiff, or a whisper, of
corruption and you’re out,” Duterte
warned government officials barely
a week before he assumed the pres-
idency in July last year.
Duterte has fired even his long-
time allies and closest aides from
the Cabinet, supposedly over cor-
ruption allegations.
Most recently, he fired Budget
Undersecretary Gertrudo de Leon
for “tinkering” with money.
system of government.
In his remarks read by lawyer Vin-
cent Noel Aureus, Alvarez, chief leg-
islative officer of the Office of the
Speaker during the multisectoral
“Forum on Federalism 101: The Phil-
ippine Context last week Alvarez said
the unitary system has failed to solve
the decades-old problems of pov-
erty and insurgency, especially in the
countryside
“Many have tried but failed to solve
the riddle of underdevelopment and
elusive peace in the Philippines, par-
ticularly the glaring inequalities be-
tween Metro Manila, the seat of pow-
er, and the far-flung provinces that
have persistently lagged behind. This
has led us to re-examine our present
structure,” Alvarez said.
Alvarez said federalism will em-
power local governments and com-
munities and thus respond in a more
timely and effective way to the peo-
ple’s concerns. It will also help bring
peace in Mindanao.
“Federalism shall empower our lo-
cal governments and communities.
Most of all, a federal setup could final-
ly let us enjoy the dividends of peace
in Mindanao. Respect for political au-
tonomy and diversity are some of the
fundamental issues of that conflict,”
he said.

AIRASIA
EXPANDS
OPERATIONS
IN CLARK
BAGUIO CITY—AirAsia, one of the coun-
try’s low-cost carriers, is bullish with its
planned expansion to cater to more in-
ternational and domestic flights follow-
ing the transfer of its base to the Clark in-
ternational airport by January next year.
AirAsia chief executive officer Capt.
Dexter Comendador said the compa-
ny will be bringing in additional two
planes to service its expansion in Clark
GRADUATION. Manila Archbishop Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle leads the graduation rites of some 132 drug surrenderees that will fly the routes of Inchon, South
after a one-year recovery program headed by Sanlakbay at the San Sebastian Church in Quiapo, Manila. The number of drug Korea, Bangkok, Thailand, Singapore
surrenderees has breached the one-million mark this year following Duterte’s war on drugs. Norman Cruz and Hong Kong, among other domes-
tic and international flights to jump-

JBC TO INTERVIEW SEVEN APPLICANTS FOR CA POST

By Sara Susanne Fabunan
THE Judicial Bar Council is set to interview seven
trial court judges who will vie for a seat at the
Court of Appeals.
The JBC is set to conduct the interview on
Wednesday at the Division Hearing Room of the
Supreme Court.
Those who will be interviewed are magistrates
Alexander Nicandro Acosta, Jimmy Edmund
Batara, Marie Grace Javier-Ibay, Rowena de Juan-
Quinagoran, Evelyn Gamotin-Nery, Romeo Tagra
and Ferdinand Tan.
Apart from them, 23 other applicants are also
seeking a spot at the CA but will no longer un-
dergo an interview after their previous interviews
for past vacancies remain valid.
They are Dinnah Aguila-Topacio, Selma Alaras,
Emily Alino-Geluz, Evalyn Arellano-Morales, Dani-
lo Cruz, Ma. Celestina Cruz-Mangrobang, Grego-
rio dela Pena III, Georgina Hidalgo, Liwliwa Hidal-
go-Bucu, Perpetuo Lucero Jr., Virgilio Macaraig,
Cynthia Marino-Ricablanca, Rosalyn Mislos-Loja,
Dorothy Montejo-Gonzaga, Ronald Moreno, Mia
Joy Oallares-Cawed, Walter Ong, Acerey Pacheco,
Silvino Pampilo Jr., Richard Paradeza, Vilma Pauig,
Angelene Mary Quimpo-Sale, and Merianthe Pac-
ita Zuraek.
One of them will be picked by President Ro-
drigo Duterte to fill the spot which will be left
vacant by CA Justice Leoncia Dimagiba who will
compulsorily retire on Dec. 1.
Dimagiba, a law from the Ateneo de Manila
University, had been CA justice since 2009 and,
prior to that, was Manila assistant city prosecutor
and Parañaque City trial court judge.
start their base in the said area.
Comendador reported that AirAsia
was able to get a good number of con-
cessions from the government over the
past several months which is why the
company is inclined to reciprocate the
gesture by going back to Clark and to
use it as its base for its increasing do-
mestic and international flights.
From its existing 17 Airbus 320
planes, AirAsia plans to increase its fleet
to around 70 planes within the next 10
to 15 years to help boost the industry
and contribute in connecting the coun-
try to different parts of the world in the
coming years.
By 2018, AirAsia plans to increase its
fleet to 26 planes pursuant to its mod-
ernization and expansion plans.
While AirAsia has only 17 planes at
the moment, Comendador said that
the company is connected to 174 other

PH AIRPORTS TO GET UPGRADES FOR NIGHTTIME COMMERCIAL FLIGHTS
By Joel E. Zurbano and Maricel V. Cruz ease problems of air traffic congestion. Dumaguete, Dipolog, Cotabato, Pagadian
Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr. said the and Ozamiz—to enable them to operate
MORE airport facilities in the country are government is hastening the rehabilita- for nighttime commercial flights.
being upgraded and readied for night tion and expansion works in eight provin- Campos said the expansion works
commercial flight operations to further cial airports—Naga, Tuguegarao, Cauayan, consist mostly of widening of runway for
night landing capabilities and terminal
improvement.
“This will improve air travel and help
decongest the Ninoy Aquino Interna-
tional Airport,” he said.
Campos said several domestic flights
departing from Manila are being
crammed during the daytime because of
the inability of many provincial airports
to receive flights at night.
“This has somewhat contributed to
the jamming of the Naia, which has only
two runways handling both internation-
al and domestic flights,” Campos said.
The lawmaker said provincial airports
unable to operate at night also have to
send out all their Manila-bound flights
during the day.
At present, Campos said only 19 of
the country’s 42 airports are able to re-
ceive and dispatch night commercial
flights. “The 19 will increase to 27, once
UNVEILING. President Rodrigo Duterte leads the unveiling of the Cebu Pacific the eight airports have been set up for
commemorative marker during the launch of CGY which is the 7th domestic hub round-the-clock operations.”
of Cebu Pacific at the Laguindingan Airport in Misamis Oriental on Oct. 20, 2017. “There’s no question air travel around
Assisting the President are Mindanao Development Authority chairman Abul Khayr the country will be easier for everybody,
Alonto, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, Cebu Pacific president and CEO including foreign tourists, once we get
Lance Gokongwei and Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza. all our airports running at night to maxi-
Presidential Photo mize their operations,” Campos said.
Campos earlier bared that govern-
ment has set aside a total of P10.1 billion
in fresh funding to modernize the infra-
structures of 40 airports in 2018, with
Clark International Airport getting the
biggest slice of P2.74 billion.
Aside from Clark, other airports set to
receive additional infrastructure devel-
opment funds in the 2018 national bud-
get are:
Kalibo Airport (P920 million), Bicol
International Airport (P899.6 million),
Tacloban Airport (P716.1 million), Bukid-
non Airport (P425 million), Bohol (Pan-
glao) International Airport, (P386.00
million), Laoag International Airport,
(P368.5 million), Cauayan Airport (P306.4
million), Dumaguete Airport (P300 mil-
lion), Calbayog Airport (P245 million),
Zamboanga Airport (P221 million), San
Jose Airport, Camarines Sur (P200 mil-
lion), Surigao Airport (P200 million); Oza-
miz Airport (P192.2 million), Butuan Air-
port (P184.00 million), Dipolog Airport
(P182 million), Roxas Airport (P169 mil-
lion), Cotabato Airport, (P161 million),
Basco Airport (P145 million), Ormoc Air-
port (P128 million), Maasin Airport (P122
million), Antique Airport (P110 million),
Sanga-Sanga Airport (P100 million), Pa-
gadian Airport (P84.2 million), Tugueg-
arao Airport (P61.8 million), San Vicente
Airport (P50 million) and Virac Airport
(P50 million).
planes that service some 180 destina-
tions in different parts of the world.
He explained that initially Clark was
the company’s base but was forced to
abandon it following the purchase of
additional 12 planes from Zest Air, thus
the need for the company to first un-
dergo the required consolidation after
the involvement of a huge amount of
investment to purchase the other air-
line company.
Comendador said that Manila is al-
ready congested, which is why the best
thing to do for AirAsia is to venture on ex-
panding and using Clark as its base and
eventually build on it in preparation for
the sustained growth of the place being
strategically located between Metro Ma-
nila and Northern Luzon.
Aside from Clark, he said that the
company is also setting its sights on
the expansion of its base to inter-
national airports in Davao, Pangalo,
Bohol and Palawan where it could
connect the said airports to different
parts of the world that would result
to the expected influx of foreign visi-
tors wanting to visit numerous scenic
tourist destinations in different parts
of the archipelago.
Comendador said that Clark has suffi-
cient space to sustain its expansion pro-
grams that will also help airline compa-
nies cater to the growing requirements
of their own expansions of domestic and
international flights to guarantee sus-
tained tourist arrivals wanting to visit the
country. Dexter A. See
A4 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2017
mst.daydesk@gmail.com
Opinion Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

WHAT
GRAVITATIONAL
WAVES TELL YOU
ABOUT THE ORIGIN
OF YOUR JEWELRY
By Pecier Decierdo

THIS week, scientists announced the first

detection of gravitational waves from
the collision between two neutron stars.
Gravitational waves are ripples in space-
time predicted by Einstein more than
100 years ago. The announcement was
celebrated as the beginning of “multi-
messenger astronomy,” the astronomy
of observing cosmic events by detecting
the light, particles, and now gravitational
waves coming from them.
In addition to this impor tant
milestone, the detection can help shed
light on some longstanding debates
in astronomy, from the origin of the
brightest cosmic flashes to the process
that created the silver and gold in your
jewelry.
The detection announced this week
marks the 5th time gravitational waves
were detected. The first four came from
the merger of two black holes.
Black holes are objects so massive
not even light can escape their pull. As a
result, the first four detections were not
accompanied by the detection of light.
What makes the latest detection special
is the fact that, for the first time, light

#METOO
and gravitational waves were detected
coming from the same source.
The detection of the space-time
ripples was made using the two
detectors of the Laser Interferometer
Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO)

A
in the United States and the Virgo
CAMPAIGN on Facebook, Twitter ‘Me too’ as a status, we might give people a sense of the detector in Italy.
magnitude of the problem.”
and Instagram spread this week, Facebook said that within 24 hours, 4.7 million people
The three detec tors allowed
astronomers using light-gathering
aiming to encourage women to around the world engaged in the #metoo conversation, telescopes to turn their instruments
speak up about the harassment with over 12 million posts, comments, and reactions, and look for the light from the
and abuse they previously experienced reported The Guardian. Journalists, for instance, have been explosion. It’s as if a loud bang alerted
fired from their media organizations after they have been
but did not talk about. named by their victims.
them to fireworks—the bang would be
Women from many countries recounted their harrowing the gravitational waves, the fireworks
Here at home, much remains to be done. Despite would be the light.
stories, carrying the hashtag #MeToo, that they felt afraid,
our supposed gains in narrowing the gender gap, we Some astronomers have compared
or intimidated, or ashamed to reveal before.
remain a patriarchal society, believing that stewardship the advent of multi-messenger
It began with allegations against Hollywood producer,
over women is merely passed from father to husband, or astronomy with the transition from
Harvey Weinstein, who was removed from his firm after
that victims of harassment or abuse were in some way the age of silent films, when people
one woman after another came forward and told of how
responsible for what befell them, or taken to task for not only saw moving pictures, to the age
he used his power to get his way, sexually, with them.
speaking out sooner, or that they mean “yes” even when of the talking film, when watching a
Because many spoke up, more became emboldened
they say “no.” movie means both seeing and hearing.
to talk about what they went through and name their
In the end, #MeToo is not just about Weinstein and his Current instruments were able
attacker, even as they held their peace for years.
prominent actress- or model-victims. It is, instead, about to detect gravitational waves from
What we learned was that most of the culprits did not
the way women have been consigned to silence because colliding black holes and colliding
quite look the part of attacker. They were not monsters or
of a prevalence of power and skewed mindset. neutron stars because such objects
hardened criminals. They were, instead, “normal” people:
The spirit of the campaign, beyond actually posting are massive, compact, and move at the
They had regular jobs, came home to their families, were
one’s own story on one’s social media account, is a change frequency to which the instruments are
colleagues or friends or harmless-looking associates.
in disposition. It will not be so sudden. It will take more sensitive.
The campaign has had some success. One of the
than one Weinstein or more than one hashtag to change Neutron stars are what remains after
proponents, actor Alyssa Milano, said “If all the women
the way we all think about sexual harassment and abuse, massive stars explode. A typical neutron
who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote
and about how it is less of sex than about power. star is half the size of Metro Manila, or
But so long as there is one more woman today who about the size of Cebu City. However,
feels emboldened to talk about what she went through, they can have about twice the mass of
to call out her abuser and help others realize it is never the Sun. This means they are very dense
okay, then her courage to overcome the fear and stigma objects. A teaspoon of neutron star
will never be in vain. weighs about 10 million tons!
Because of their extreme density,
the collision of two neutron stars has
long been proposed as the solution to
at least two cosmic mysteries.
The first mystery is the origin of
Turn to A5

FIL-AM POETS MEET ON A LITCRAWL

Eileen invited me to a Lit Crawl, one The City (what residents and Bay Area Dovre Club, an Irish bar on Valencia politics. Others addressed topics
of the activities of the San Francisco people call San Francisco) where I also Street where the poets read from such as feminism, the patriarchy, and
Litquake event that ran from Oct. 5-14 met her husband Tom; Paloma Press their works in a session entitled “Three Philippine heritage.
FOR ME, it all started, as a lot of art this year. Along with other poets, she publisher Aileen Ibardolaza-Cassinetto Sheets to the Wind,” curated by Aileen Here are excerpts from “PilipinZ”, one
projects and meetups do, with writer was to give readings of her work. and her husband Paul, who gave and presented by Paloma Press, Locofo of the poems Eileen read. It’s in her latest
and columnist Alfred “Krip” Yuson. Litquake is “the largest independent the dinner; Veronica Montes and her Chaps, and the Philippine American book, ‘Love in a Time of Belligerence,’
Knowing that I moved to Northern literary festival on the West Coast,” husband Andrew Waghams, celebrating Literary House. published this year by Swan World:
California last year, Krip connected me according to litquake.org. Its goal their 26th wedding anniversary; Steve Eileen, Paul, Veronica, and Steve “I./ I forgot how perfume cannot
with Eileen Tabios, a prolific Filipino poet is to “whet a broad range of literary Warner; and Paul’s delightful mother. were joined on stage by John Moore obliterate. / I forgot children softening
published in eight languages, and urged appetites, present the literary fare in I brought along my sister, also named Williams and Melinda Luisa de Jesus. harsh wool with thin fingers in
us to meet. She lives in the wine country, a variety of traditional and unlikely Aileen, so that dinner was notable for Their words were by turns mellow exchange for broken rice kernels. / I
hours away from me in the East Bay, and venues, and make it vivid, real, and having three E/Aileens—half of the and stinging, poignant and rousing. forgot discovering the limited utility
it wasn’t until last week that the stars entertaining. ” women at that table. Some of the poems read were timely, of calm seas. / I forgot the World War II
aligned for our first meeting. On Oct. 14, I met Eileen for dinner in After dining, we proceeded to the referencing cur rent events and Turn to A5

Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher

ManilaStandard can be accessed at: Former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno Board Member & Chief Legal Adviser Ramonchito L. Tomeldan Managing Editor Honor Blanco Cabie Night Editor
Published Monday to Sunday by Philippine Manila Standard
ONLINE thestandard.com.ph
Anita F. Grefal Treasury Manager Chin Wong/Ray S. Eñano Associate Editors Romel J. Mendez Art Director
Publishing Inc. at 6/F Universal Re Building, 106 Paseo de Roxas, MEMBER Baldwin R. Felipe OIC-Ad Solutions Joyce Pangco Pañares City Editor Roberto Cabrera Chief Photographer

PPI
corner Perea St., Legaspi Village, Makati City. Telephone numbers
832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558 (connecting all departments),
Philippine Press Institute Adelle Chua Opinion Editor
The National Association Edgar M. Valmorida Circulation Manager
(Editorial) 832-5554, (Advertising) 832-5550. P.O. Box 2933, of Philippine Newspapers
Manila Central Post Office, Manila. Website: www.thestandard. Emil P. Jurado Chairman Emeritus, Editorial Board
com.ph; e-mail: contact@thestandard.com.ph

FIL-AM...
From A4
concentration camp where amnesiacs
tortured by tying together the legs
of pregnant women. / I forgot how
Beauty dislocates. / I forgot that sense
of approaching a labyrinth. /...
“I forgot rough skin was a map. / I
forgot you losing all Alleluias. /… / I
forgot steel will bend to form a heart. / I
forgot wax will freeze to form a heart. / I
forgot ink will flow to form a heart. / ….
“But I will never forget we walk on
the same planet and breathe the same
air. I will never forget the same sun
shines on us. I created my own legacy:
No one is a stranger to me.”
As these words thr illed and
fascinated the audience at Dovre, so
did the other poems, which found their
own resonances within each individual
present. This is the magic of poetry – it
is one thing for the poet, and another
for the reader, and always something
to both.
There is also power in the spoken
word—when it is clothed with sound,
emerging on a puff of warm breath,
it is brought to life in a special way.
That night, the Dovre Club witnessed
litchantment.
Eileen and I made sure to let Krip
know that we had finally met, taking
selfies and tagging him. And with such
meetings and greetings, who knows
where this journey on the river of words
will take us poets and writers next?
Dr. Ortuoste is a California-based
writer. Follow her on Facebook and
Twitter.
WHAT...
From A4
some of the brightest flashes in the
universe called gamma-ray bursts
(GRBs).
One top contender as a source
of GRBs are supernovae, which are
the explosive death of massive stars.
Another contender are kilonovae,
which are the result of the collision
between two neutron stars.
When astronomers working at
LIGO and Virgo detected gravitational
waves from colliding neutron stars,
they quickly alerted their counterparts
working on light, who as a response
turned their telescopes to the
appropriate region of the sky.
Shortly after that, astronomers
working at the Fermi-Gamma Ray
Telescope and Integral Telescope
detected a GRB coming from the target
region. This shows that kilonovae are
indeed sources of GRBs.
The second mystery is the origin of
the heaviest elements in the universe.
The lightest elements in the universe,
hydrogen and helium, were created
during the birth of the universe some
13.8 billion years ago. Heavier elements
such as carbon and oxygen are created
inside stars. When stars die, they seed
the universe with these elements. Since
we are made of these elements, we are
literally stardust!
Stars, however, can create elements
only up to iron. Heavier elements, such
as arsenic and selenium, are created in
supernovae.
For a long time, astronomers have
puzzled over the origin of the heaviest
elements such as gold and uranium.
According to calculations, the lighter
ones among them can be created by
supernovae. However, the amount of
these heavy elements in the universe
can’t seem to be accounted for by
supernovae alone.
To explain the observed abundance
of heavy elements, astronomers
theorized that neutron star collisions
produce most of the gold, silver, and
other heavy elements in the universe.
B y combining the light and
gravitational waves detected from the
colliding neutron stars, astronomers
were able to confirm this theory. In
fact, according to calculations, the
recently detected neutron star collision
produced somewhere between a few
tens to a hundred Earth masses worth
of gold.
Just think about that for a moment.
In the dawn of multi-messenger
astronomy, we now have realized that
the silver and gold in your jewelry were
created along with the brightest flashes
in the universe during the collision
between two neutron stars.
And this is just the beginning. Expect a
lot more mind-blowing discoveries to come.
Pecier Decierdo is the resident
physicist and astronomer of The Mind
Museum
By Srinivasan Sivabalan
DO WE need cash? Humans have used
all sorts of things to exchange items
of economic value—rare metals,
strings of shells and even jugs of
whiskey. Those objects have gotten
more ephemeral, with paper money
replacing most coins, and digital
forms increasingly supplanting paper.
Could physical cash go away
entirely? Economists see great payoffs
in a cashless society: lower transaction
costs, new tools to manage economic
growth and an end to tax evasion
and money laundering. Critics see an
erosion of privacy, frightening new
powers for tyrants and an increase in
inequality.
The situation
Singapore, the Netherlands, France
and Sweden have the world’s highest
levels of cashless transactions, but
Sweden is seen as the most likely to
go cashless first. By 2015, only one
in five in-store transactions there
involved cash, according to its central
bank, which is considering whether to
issue a cryptocurrency. Its churches
were early adopters of donations via
mobile phones.
China’s city dwellers are rapidly
going cashless, thanks to a system
that uses encr ypted codes on
By Julie Charpentrat
SANTA ROSA, California—At a certain
point, I just began to run out of words
to describe the devastation. Desolate.
Lunar. Apocalyptic. What else can you
say when hundreds and hundreds of
homes turned to ash surround you as
far as the eye can see?
Just weeks before, in August, I
had driven down the lush, verdant
hills of California’s wine country
with my family. The region did not
disappoint—beautiful, with good
wine, good food, friendly, laid-back
people pouring their heart and energy
into the world-class wines they were
producing. We had sandwiches and
wine in gorgeous vineyards, under
blue skies, surrounded by beautiful
trees and flowers. The house we
rented overlooked green rolling
hills. It was all so peaceful and green.
Idyllic. Heavenly, you could say.
And now I was back, but how
the landscape had changed. It was
now hellish. Smoke was everywhere,
scratching the throat, stinging the
eyes. The sky was mostly yellow. And
fire was never far away.
California is used to wildfires. It’s an
annual part of life in this lively state,
just like the threat of an earthquake.
Sometimes people lose their property.
Sometimes there are fatalities.
But the fires that broke out in
October 2017 have been wildly
ferocious in their intensity and speed,
fed by strong winds that sometimes
propelled the embers across six-lane
motorways.
People literally fled for their lives,
sometimes beating the flames that
devoured their homes by mere
minutes. And the number of people
who have been affected this year has
been unprecedented. Dozens dead.
Thousands left homeless.
“I’ve been with Calfire for 30 years
TRUMP’S QUIET CAMPAIGN TO UNDERMINE BACKGROUND CHECKS
Bloomberg Editorial Board
FROM 2008 to 2014, according
to the US Department of Justice,
background checks prevented
556,496 gun purchases. In the
last six months, about that many
people have been removed from
the national database and are newly
eligible to buy a gun.
The FBI’s national instant criminal
background check system, which
screens such transactions, is not quite
perfect: It has an accuracy rate of more
than 99 percent. President Donald
Trump appears determined to make
it less effective.
In February, Trump reversed a
recently adopted regulation designed
to restrict access to guns by the
Opinion
THE END OF CASH?
phones for transactions. A credit-card
consortium is working to extend it
globally. In India, 255 million people
use Paytm, a seven-year-old startup
backed by China’s Alibaba Group
Holding Ltd., to make payments
through a virtual wallet. Citibank
Australia stopped accepting cash at its
branches after most of its customers
embraced digital transactions. And
the European Central Bank has
decided to stop producing the 500-
euro note in 2018 to counter terrorist
financing.
India was badly rattled by the
government’s decision in November
2016 to suddenly replace the larger
bills that made up 86 percent of the
currency in circulation to counter
tax dodgers and counterfeiters. A
shortage of replacement bills meant
that companies struggled to pay
salaries and millions of poor people
couldn’t buy food. The government
retreated in June 2017 after the fiasco
cut into economic growth, although
its effects could be felt almost a year
later.
The background
Since Roman times, people have
tried out many alternatives to carrying
loads of cash. Arab merchants
developed bills of exchange for
financing international transactions,
NOTHING LEFT TO BURN
Here and there, a chimney or a charred tree would poke up through a sea of ash. AFP
and I’ve seen big fires, but this is
extraordinary—having that many
and that large and going so fast,” one
veteran firefighter told me.
The policeman who let me through
one roadblock was surprised to see
that I was from an international media
company. “Why are you here? I mean,
it’s local news.”
“Watch out for downed electricity
lines. If you see looters, don’t
intervene. Stay safe.” [I didn’t see a
single looter.]
Entering the affected areas felt like
being on a set of an apocalypse movie.
Or in the aftermath of an atomic
bomb. In Coffey Park, a neighborhood
of Santa Rosa, I drove slowly through
the streets. Dozens and dozens of
houses had been reduced to ashes.
Not ruins. Ashes. Most of the homes
mentally impaired. He stopped the
Social Security Administration from
sending to the database the names
of thousands of Social Security
beneficiaries who are too impaired
to handle their own affairs. As of 2013,
more than 400,000 beneficiaries were
prohibited from gun possession and
would have had their records reported
to the database.
Now the consequences of
a less heralded decision made
that same month have come into
focus. Rebuffing the FBI, the Trump
administration in February officially
narrowed its definition of fugitives,
who by federal law are prohibited
from purchasing guns. According
to the Department of Justice’s new
definition, a person must have
a system that spread to Europe in the
late Middle Ages. The earliest known
example of a modern check was
drawn on an account at Clayton and
Morris, a goldsmiths’ bank in London,
on Feb. 16, 1659.
The next revolution star ted
with a forgotten wallet. In 1949, US
entrepreneur Frank McNamara visited
the Majors Cabin Grill restaurant in
New York and had an embarrassing
moment while his wife paid the
tab. But it gave him an idea, and
months later he returned to the same
restaurant, this time paying with a
small cardboard card. Thus was born
the credit-card industry.
Shortly thereafter, banks began
adopting computing systems that
made it easier to keep track of
money digitally. Then came the first
automated teller machine, which
opened in London in 1967. Debit
cards had been first tested the year
before but only began to be issued
in large numbers in the 1980s as ATM
networks grew. Online banking took
off in the following decade, ending
the dominance of cash once and
for all.
The argument
For governments, getting rid
of cash would make it easier to
crack down on tax evasion and drug
here were made of wood and the
flames annihilated them in minutes.
Later, when I saw the aerial pictures,
I would realize that hundreds and
hundreds of homes had met this fate.
Many of the cars, parked in what
used to be garages, have partially
melted, as have the garage doors.
Bizarrely, many of the metal mailboxes
standing at the entrance of the
driveways didn’t.
In some places, the little that
remained was still smoldering. For a
moment, I wondered with alarm if the
fires could break out again here, but
then remembered what a firefighter
told me earlier in a devastated parking
lot of a supermarket. “There is nothing
left to burn around here.”
Amid this utter devastation, I
was struck by the optimism of the
crossed state lines to evade justice
in order to be considered a fugitive.
The decision is consistent with
the federal code, which defines a
fugitive as one who has “fled from
any State to avoid prosecution for a
crime or to avoid giving testimony
in any criminal proceeding.”
But it flies in the face of common
sense. The FBI had argued that
the prohibition on gun purchases
should apply to anyone with an
outstanding warrant—regardless of
whether they are hunkered down
in a local basement or fleeing cross
country, which is often impossible to
determine, let alone prove.
The problem with the background-
check system is not that it is too strict,
but that it is too lax.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2017
mst.daydesk@gmail.com
A5
trafficking. Businesses wouldn’t only
save money on transaction costs but
could benefit if friction-free payments
led consumers to buy more.
Some economists say that central
banks could fight recessions more
effectively by imposing negative
interest rates—effectively a tax on
savings meant to spur spending—if
hoarding cash weren’t available as a
way to sidestep the penalty.
Critics say that in a digital-only
economy, governments and banks
could take control of your financial
life; with a flick of a switch, they
could leave you without a penny.
Networks can fail. And everybody
could be vulnerable to a cyberattack
or power outage, as residents of
Puerto Rico found after Hurricane
Maria destroyed much of the island’s
electrical grid.
For the world’s poor, arguments
about going cashless cut both
ways. Billions of poor people in the
developing world depend on cash
to buy goods for very small amounts,
often mere cents. Not all of them
can afford phones or other means
of interacting with a digital cash
network. That could make people
who don’t have equal access to
banking services into second-class
citizens. Bloomberg
residents who had come back to
look for any things that hadn’t been
incinerated. They may have been
crying as they picked through the
ashes, but every single one whom we
met was fiercely looking to the future.
“Tomorrow is another day,” said one.
Like Michael Desmond, a stocky
retired 63-year-old policeman. He
cried, his voice choking, as he told
us that his life was in this house
now reduced to naught. With his
nephew, he managed to recover a
plate bought in Disneyland and a mug
with an inscription “It’s wiser to be in
Ireland.” He also made sure to take his
mailbox—the metal type on a pole
that is typical of American suburbs.
“I took my mailbox because it’s
going to go back up,” he told us,
holding it up defiantly. AFP
Thousands of private firearm
transactions are not subject to
background checks at all, despite
ove r w h e l m i n g p u b l i c s u p p o r t
for such scrutiny, and too many
mental health records are still
not submitted for inclusion in
the database. Another glaring
loophole allows a gun sale to
proceed if it hasn’t been officially
denied within three days.
The gun lobby’s long, destructive
effort to arm as many people as
possible, with as few qualifications
as possible, contributes to more than
100,000 shootings a year, a frenzy
unique in the developed world. This
particular American carnage is not
one the Trump administration appears
eager to stop.
 CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
A6 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2017
Manila
Standard
mst.daydesk@gmail.com
TODAY News

GOVT
TO IDENTIFY
ONLINE
SOLON WANTS CLIMATE
SEX SITES
By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan By Maricel V. Cruz
CHANGE DEPT CREATED kilowatthours to generate funds for and extreme climate events,” he said
projects that aim to make the coun- in his bill’s explanatory note.

A
THE Philippine government is set to iden- LAWMAKER from the House of Representatives try more resilient to the devastating Villafuerte said his proposal, once
tify hotspots of online sexual exploitation effects of climate change. enacted, shall integrate or put under
in the country, Justice Secretary Vitaliano has proposed the creation of a Department of Cli- Villafuerte said climate change was one roof the Climate Change Com-
Aguirre II said. mate Change that will harmonize and strengthen now considered a national security mission, National Disaster Risk Reduc-
This action follows the official implementa- all national disaster risk reduction efforts in the Philip- risk because it endangers public safe- tion Management Council, People’s
tion of the Philippines’ partnership with the ty and threatens the sustainability of Survival Fund, Yolanda Recovery and
United States as the latter is set to provide pines, which has been described by the international the country’s food supply and eco- Rehabilitation Efforts, and the Office
$784,000 or P40 million to Manila to combat media as “ground zero for climate disaster.” nomic stability. of the Presidential Assistant for Reha-
online sexual exploitation of children and HB 6131, he said, seeks to create bilitation and Recovery.
child labor trafficking in the National Capital In filing his House Bill 6131, Cama- workers and capital within a nation’s a single specialized government Laws addressing climate change,
Region and Central Visayas. rines Sur Rep. LRAy Villafuerte said the borders during a given period agency—the DCC—that will func- such as the Philippine National Disaster
Aguirre said Saturday the government’s law government could not fully achieve (usually one year). tion not only after the occurrence of Risk Reduction and Management Act
enforcement agencies had been working with President Rodrigo Duterte’s high and “This puts the Philippines’ GDP at disaster, but will work all-year-round of 2010 and the Climate Change Act
the International Justice Mission to identify inclusive growth agenda unless the least four percent in the hole each year to build the country’s capacity and of 2009, also need to be strengthened
these hotspots. country was best equipped to deal from tropical storms. Clearly, economic management of climate change; and harmonized, Villafuerte said.
“IJM, alongside the Philippine government, with the erratic weather patterns trig- progress is unattainable if the country strengthen the planning, execution “Under the principle of adminis-
would formulate activities that would focus gered by climate change. has to constantly deal with mounting and financing framework for climate trative convenience, the efficiency
on geographical hotspots for online sexual ex- This, since every destructive ty- losses in productivity, damage to critical change; enhance leadership and of delivery of frontline services is en-
ploitation of children,” he said in a statement. phoon season leads to losses equiva- infrastructure, damage to food crops accountability through monitoring, hanced through the creation of a full-
“Henceforth, this will further enhance the lent to two percent of Gross Domestic and death due to climate change,” Vil- evaluation and review of climate pledged department which is dedi-
protection of vulnerable children in target re- Product and requires post-disaster re- lafuerte said in filing his bill. change policies and activities; and cated to an area of service within its
gions and nationality,” said Aguirre, also the construction efforts costing an equiv- Villafuerte’s HB 6131 is aimed to re- ensure effective mechanisms even primary competence,” he said.
chairman of Interagency Council Against Child alent of another two percent of GDP. duce the country’s carbon footprint, before disaster strikes. He recalled that the World Bank had
Trafficking. GDP refers to the measure of an the first being HB 4739 that aims to “Climate change and disaster risk designated the Philippines’ expanse
He said this was part of a series of activities economy adopted by the United impose a climate tax of P1 per one reduction and management are of 7,107 islands as one of the world’s
under the Child Protection Compact partnership States in 1991, and referred to in the kilogram of CO2 emission in the elec- closely interrelated and an effective most “vulnerable” countries in terms
between the Philippines and the United States. Philippines as the total market value tricity consumption of residential or DRRM will enhance adaptive capacity of susceptibility to natural disasters at-
Aguirre cited the US State Department’s Of- of goods and services produced by household consumers exceeding 60 to climate change, climate variability tributed to climate change.
fice to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Per-
sons Office had awarded $3.5 million, equivalent
to P175 million, to its implementing partners IJM
and the Salvation Army World Service Office.
“Being the first in the region, the CPC part-
nership aims to support sustainable improve-
‘SHORTER
ments to combat online sexual exploitation
of children and child labor trafficking and to
expand specialized child protection services
PROCESSING
and prevention efforts to further improve the
coordination among coordinating agencies,”
he explained.
Aguirre noted both the IJM and the Salva-
OF LICENSE’
tion Army had begun working with the Phil- THE House of Representatives has read-
ippine government and other civil society ied for referral to the Senate a measure
organizations to strengthen the government’s which seeks, among others, to simplify
determination “to investigate, prosecute, and permit and licensing system procedures
convict child traffickers; give a wide-ranging, and streamline the requirements at the
trauma informed care for child victims of such national and local levels.
crimes; and to stop online sexual exploitation The House unanimously passed House
of children and forced labor from happening.” Bill 6579 or “An Act Establishing A Nation-
The United States, through the Interagency al Policy On Ease Of Doing Business, Cre-
Council Against Trafficking in Persons, is set to ating For The Purpose The Ease Of Doing
provide $784,000 or P40 million to the Philip- Business Commission.”
pines to combat online sexual exploitation of The bill’s authors, led by Batangas Rep.
children and child labor trafficking in National Vilma Santos-Recto, expressed hope the
Capital Region and Central Visayas. senators would share the same enthusiasm
During the announcement of the launch- as that of congressmen in passing the bill
ing of activities with the Department of Jus- which also aims to provide a business en-
tice, the United States Embassy in Manila, vironment conducive for the establishment
through the State Department’s Office to and operation of enterprises in the country.
Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, They said the enactment of the bill
also provided $3.5 million or P175 million to shall promote transparency in govern-
two implementing partners: International ment with regard to business registration
Justice Mission and The Salvation Army and other manner of public transactions,
World Service Office. to reduce red tape and expedite permit-
ting, licensing, and other similar transac-
tions in government.
GENERAL NOTICE OF It also seeks to ensure timely and expedi-
GRANCONOMA, INC. DISSOLUTION tious processing of business requirements
by national government agencies and local
Please be advised that the GRANCONOMA, government units, Santos-Recto said.
INC, doing business at Unit 203, The Manila Santos-Recto said it would take 16 pro-
Residences, 2320 Taft Avenue, Malate
1004 will be dissolved by shareholder and cedures to navigate and an average of 29
director resolution as of September 30, days to start a business in the country.
2017. “Compared to our other Asean neigh-
ANNIVERSARY DANCE. A kindergarten pupil of Jireh Alliance School of Kidapawan City bors in the ‘Ease in Starting a Business’ rank-
All debts owed to the corporation, and dances to a Japanese tune wearing a costume from the Land of the Rising Sun on Saturday to ings, the Philippines has performed poorly,”
all claims against the corporation will be mark the school’s 32nd Foundation Anniversary. Geonarrio Solmerano Santos-Recto said. Maricel V. Cruz
received by Manuel M. Ramirez, at the
business address set forth above.
(MS-OCT. 15,22 & 29, 2017)

Republic of the Philippines

Department of Health
CENTRAL OFFICE BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE
InvItatIon to BId for
BE WARY OF CRIMINALS USING MINORS—POLICE
the Procurement of Brand new comPuted tomograPhy (ct) Scanner, 16 SlIce
IB no. 2017-319 By Joel E. Zurbano rector Tomas Apolinario Jr. said Because of fear, the victim venile Justice and Welfare Act of
1. The Department of Health (DOH), through the General Appropriations Act of 2017 intends to first to be arrested was Pacheco gave his mobile gadget, Apoli- 2006, stated that a child under
apply the sum of Twenty Two MillionPhilippine Pesos (PhP22,000,000.00) being the Approved
Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for the Procurement of Brand New POLICE are urging people to be who later pointed to Jay as his nario said. 15 years old who commits an
Computed Tomography (CT) Scanner, 16 Slice under IB No. 2017-319. Bids received in excess of
the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening. aware of criminals using minors companion when they held up The victim immediately sought offense shall remain exempted
2. The DOH now invites bids for the procurement of the above-captioned project.Delivery of the to do dirty deeds, especially this a male victim. assistance from the barangay and from criminal liability.
Goods is required within period specified under Section VI. Schedule of Requirements. Bidders
should have completed, within the past five (5) years from the date of submission and receipt of coming holiday season when Recovered from Pacheco were police headquarters nearby result- Police also cautioned the peo-
bids, a contract similar to the Project, equivalent to at least fifty percent (50%) of the ABC. The cases of robbery and other crimes sumpak, an improvised firearm, ing in the arrest of the suspects. ple against members of Salisi
description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II.
Instructions to Bidders. against property are expected to and one live ammunition while Police urged the people to be Gang, Siksik Gang and Riles Gang
3. Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary increase. police found an icepick and the aware of petty theft and robbery in crowded areas this Yuletide.
“pass/fail” criterion as specified in the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of
Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”. Last Friday, a 14-year-old boy victim’s cellular phone in Jay’s involving underage criminals as They described Salisi Gang as
Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with named “Jay” was placed under possession. the Christmas season draws near. gang members who lurk any-
at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the
Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant police custody after he and his “What kids can do nowadays?” The authorities said syndicates, where where there are people—
similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183. companion Angelito Pacheco, said Apolinario, citing reports the especially those dealing in drugs malls, restaurants, fastfood joints,
4. Interested bidders may obtain further information from the COBAC Secretariat, G/F, Bldg. 6,
Department of Health, San Lazaro Compound and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address
22, were caught for their alleged suspects approached and point- and robbery, were taking advan- bus terminals, airports, seaports,
given above during 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Monday to Friday. involvement in a robbery-holdup ed their deadly weapons at the tage of juvenile laws by using chil- and computer shops—and were
5. A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on 23 October in Barangay CAA in Las Piñas City. victim who was walking along dren to carry out criminal acts. “just waiting for you to get dis-
2017 – 13 November 2017 from the address above and upon payment of the applicable fee for
the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount of Southern Police District di- Aratelis Street around 5:45 a.m. Republic Act 9344, or the Ju- tracted.”
Twenty Five Thousand Philippine Pesos (PhP25,000.00).
It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic
Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Procuring Entity, provided that Bidders
shall pay the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

THE AGONY OF HAVING A RARE DISEASE

6. The DOH will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on 30October 2017, 10:00 A.M. at the COBAC
Conference Room, Ground Floor, Bldg. 6, Department of Health, Sta. Cruz, Manila, which shall
beopen to prospective bidders.
7. Bids must be duly received by the SCOBAC Secretariat at the address below on or before 13
November 2017, 9:00 A.M. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable
forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.
THEY baffle even the finest blisters on skin suddenly used as a last recourse take care of his blisters and a month, came with a new
Bid opening shall be on 13 November 2017, 9:00 A.M. at the COBAC Conference Room, Ground
Floor, Bldg. 6, Department of Health, Sta. Cruz, Manila. Bids will be opened in the presence of specialists: rare diseases appeared. for adults with severe vi- open wounds, my husband diagnosis: Epidermolysis
the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address above. Late bids shall not be
accepted. that affect only a handful Worried that it might be ral infection), the blisters and I took the initiative to Bullosa or Butterfly syn-
8. The DOH reserves the right to reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award of individuals and that are an infectious case, Euan was and wound kept on ap- ask around and look for an- drome.
the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its
IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.
often caused by extremely immediately transferred to a pearing and some even other doctor,” recalls mother Butterfly syndrome is a
9. For further information, please refer to: rare genetic mutations. private room and placed un- getting worse. Sharon. genetic illness in which, be-
Special COBAC Secretariat Euan was declared der isolation. Sadly, even after being It was only in 2011, cause of missing a vital “glue”
Department of Health
San Lazaro Compound
healthy when he was born However, even after confined for two months, when the couple was rec- that holds it together, the
Sta. Cruz, Manila in August 2008 at the West infusion of various medi- the doctors decided to just ommended to a derma- skin blisters peels off at the
Tel. Nos. 651-7800 local 1625 to 1627; 1650 to 52
Facsimile No.: 741-9775; 740-6830 Visayas Southern University cines, undergoing several discharge Euan without tologist at the Iloilo Mission slightest brush or knock.
(SGD) MARIO S. VILLAVERDE, MD, MPM, CESO I Medical Center in Iloilo City. wound test and blood clear explanation and diag- Hospital. It leaves sufferers such
Undersecretary of Health
Chairperson, Special-COBAC
But right after he was culture, use of different nosis of his condition. After taking skin samples as Euan covered in red raw
(MS-OCT. 22, 2017) transferred to the nursery, antibiotics (one was only “With no choice but to for biopsy, the doctor, after wounds and huge blisters.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

 Sports SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2017
reuelvidal@yahoo.com
A7

LAKERS
ROOKIE
TOO HOT
FOR SUNS
LOS ANGELES—What a difference a
day makes for Los Angeles Lakers
rookie Lonzo Ball who rebounded from
a dreadful NBA debut to flirt with a triple
double on Friday.
Ball had 29 points, 11 rebounds and
nine assists in his second NBA game to
power the Lakers to a 132-130 win over
the Phoenix Suns.
“We weren’t proud of yesterday so we
came out tonight and gave them a fight,”
said Ball, who scored six consecutive
points late in the fourth quarter.
The highly-touted Ball shot one-of-six
from the floor and finished with just three
points in a 108-92 loss to the Los Angeles
Clippers on Thursday night.
Ball missed his first three field-goal at-
tempts and both free throws before mak-
ing his only basket, a three-pointer, late in
Burn Soriano celebrates after knocking out Mario Satya Wirawan with a spinning backfist the first half.
during ONE: Titles and Titans. ONE Championship Clippers Patrick Beverley maligned Ball
after the game, saying he wanted to “wel-

SORIANO TO MAKE
come his little young ass to the NBA.”
That was not the case for the
league’s second overall draft pick in
June against the host Suns, as Ball
turned up the heat on the Friday,
shooting 12 of 27 from the field.

LEAP TO NEXT STAGE

The Lakers led by 12 points in the
fourth quarter before the Suns pulled
within 122-119 on a Tyson Chandler tip-
in with 3:22 left.
But Ball scored the next three Laker
baskets, all on hard drives. The third bas-
ket put the Lakers ahead 130-122 with
1:35 left and Los Angeles then held on
By Reuel Vidal for the win.
Meanwhile, LeBron James has picked

M
ANNY Pacquiao was a good fighter
before he met trainer Freddie Roach. But
he became a great one only because of
lessons learned under Roach’s tutelage.
Burn Soriano may
well have found his Fred-
die Roach in new trainer
George Castro who will be
at the Filipino MMA fighter’s
corner in his next fight as
an undercard at ONE: Hero’s
Dream at the Thuwunna
Indoor Stadium in Yangon,
Myanmar on Nov. 3, 2017.
Castro relocated from
Tucson, Arizona, USA to help
ONE Heavyweight World
Champion Brandon “The
Truth” Vera set up the first
Alliance MMA branch in the
Philippines.
Other than Vera, Castro has
also worked extensively other
highly-regarded veterans of
the sport, including Dominick
Cruz, Ross Pearson, Jeremy
Stephens and Chris Leben.
Castro says Soriano shows
the potential to be a very
good and possibly a great
fighter.
“I got high expectations
for Burn this fight because
he’s in much better shape
as you can see in the way he
looks. Also his mental game
is a lot better now,” said
Castro during an interview
with Manila Standard at the
Fight Armory Gym in Timog,
Quezon City last Thursday,
Oct. 19.
“These last few weeks
we’ve been preparing men-
tally because fighting is 80
percent mental. People think
it’s a lot physical. I keep
telling him in there that it’s
not just hit each other back
and forth. It’s also about a
up right where he left off last season,
scoring 24 points and dishing out eight
assists on Friday as the Cleveland Cava-
liers cruised past the Milwaukee Bucks
116-97.
The four-time NBA most valuable play-
game plan. He’s never had er led the Cavaliers in scoring for the sec-
a game plan before. He’s ond straight game despite missing most
never been coached before. of the pre-season with an injury.
Hopefully it all comes to- When James started the season he
gether this fight.” knew it was going to take time to fully re-
Castro believes Soriano’s cover from a sprained left ankle that limited
weakness in his fighting him to just one pre-season game. AFP
are his conditioning and his
mental game. Going into his
next fight he says Soriano is
200 percent better than he’s
ever been his entire career.
“He will have no prob-
lem going three rounds if he
needs to. Although I don’t
believe he will need to. I
don’t like making predictions
but I don’t see it going three
rounds,” said Castro. Burn Soriano (left) misses with a roundhouse left against
Soriano will be looking to Saiful Merican. ONE Championship
bounce back from a bitter
loss to Saiful “The Vampire” Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. His bout against Merican was bring out the best in me.
Merican 10 months ago at The Filipino hoped to equally spectacular but it was With him in my corner, it is al-
ONE: Throne of Tigers at the follow up his spectacular Soriano who retired after the ways exciting to prepare for a
iconic Stadium Negara in 15-second demolition of first round. bout,” Soriano said.
Satya Wirawan August 2016. “I believe that I could Soriano has always been
have done better in that an exciting fighter to
match with Saiful Merican. watch. Although holding a
I was prepared to go full checkered 3-win, 3-loss card
three rounds, but I came all his bouts have ended in
up short. I just realized that the first round. The 31-year-
there was something old native of Ilocos Sur has al-
missing,” Soriano said. ways made sure his audience
The loss to Merican received their money’s worth
made Soriano realize that in his fights.
he needed help. He turned “It is very important for
to Castro who came to the me to be entertaining. I take
Philippines to set up the re- the risks. I want the crowd
nowned Alliance MMA’s new and fans to get what they
gym as well as program to want, which is an exciting
train MMA fighters. fight. I just enjoy what I am
“Right now, I have a tre- doing. I am passionate about
mendous support system in it. Everyone should go out and
my training, especially with prove something to them- Lonzo Ball (2) of the Los Angeles
Coach George Castro (right) talks to MMA fighter the help of my coach George selves and not to anyone or Lakers glides to the hoop against
Burn Soriano who is listening intently. Castro. He knows how to anybody else,” Soriano said. the Phoenix Suns. AFP

VETERAN HUGNATAN STEPS UP FOR MERALCO BOLTS IN PLAYOFFS

BLESSING in disguise.
They didn’t know it at the
time but losing Ranidel De Oc-
ampo—who went out with a
calf injury early in Game 3—
may well turn out to be the best
thing that could happen to the
championship aspirations of the
Meralco Bolts.
Facing a 0-2 deficit in the best-
of-seven championship series of
the 2017 Philippine Basketball As-
sociation Governors’ Cup against
Barangay Ginebra the Meralco
Bolts lost their prized acquisition
from TNT KaTropa after De Ocampo
limped out of the court early in
the game.
Meralco coach Norman Black,
who had relegated Reynel Hugna-
tan to the far end of the Meralco
bench after the arrival of De
Ocampo, had no choice but to
Meralco Bolts veteran Reynel Hugnatan (right) tries to dribble turn to the veteran big man.
past a defender in this file photo. After averaging just a point
in six minutes of playing time in
the first two games of the series
Hugnatan exploded 22 quality
points off seven-of-12 shooting
from three-point distance. He also
gobbled up five rebounds, issued
two assists and tallied one steal
without committing a single turn-
over to help power the Bolts to a
rousing 94-81 win.
Even Ginebra coach Tim Cone
couldn’t help but admire Hug-
natan’s contributions. Cone later
said Hugnatan could score from
distance just as well as De Oc-
ampo. Hugnatan was also a bet-
ter defender according to Cone.
The Ginebra mentor probably
knows Hugnatan as well as, if
not better than, Black. After all,
Hugnatan was Cone’s starting
power forward with the Alaska
Aces when the franchise won
the 2007 and the 2010 PBA Fiesta
Cup crown.
Hugnatan’s deadly outside
shooting was so unexpected that
it was enough to power the Bolts
to the surprise rout of Barangay
Ginebra.
The result of the game was
so shocking that it even drove
Cone to lose his cool after the
match, as he refused to shake
the hand of winning coach Black
after the game. This was totally
unexpected because it was
Cone who initiated the practice
of coaches shaking hands after
games in the PBA.
Hugnatan was at it again in
Game 4 when the Bolts equalized
the series at two-all by posting
a hard-earned 85-83 victory last
Friday, October 20 at the Smart
Araneta Coliseum.
Hugnatan again played a
key role as he scored points and
grabbed important rebounds. He
was also responsible for the final
two points which decided the
outcome.
Hugnatan drove into the
paint and attracted the Gine-
bra defenders leaving Meralco
import Allen Durham open un-
derneath. Durham got the drop
pass from Hugnatan and scored
unmolested from underneath
the basket to push Meralco to an
85-83 advantage which turned
out to be the final score. Gine-
bra failed to call a timeout and
missed four hurried attempts to
tie the game in a wild sequence
in the dying seconds.
Sometimes it’s better to be
lucky than good. Without De Oc-
ampo and without another big
man in Kelly Nabong coach Black
lucked out and was forced to field
Hugnatan because he had no oth-
er choice. It has so far turned out
to be the winning hand the past
two games. Reuel Vidal
 A8 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2017 Riera U. Mallari, Editor / Reuel Vidal, Issue Editor / Randy Caluag, Issue Editor
Sports sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

DIE-HARD GINEBRA
FAN FOR A DAY long-time Ginebra follower.
“Sobrang nakaka addict
po ang maging basketball fan,
laluna na po ung bonding na-
min,” added Geexie.
Then we got our upper box
tickets, just a notch lower than
the bleacher seats. It was my first
time to watch from that view
above the Coliseum. We joined
Team NSD. We availed of the
red TEAM NSD shirts made by
one of the group’s admins. Then
we cheered our lungs out. I was
up there where no media col-
leagues could see me.
It was a different experi-
ence. Unlike when I was cov-
ering at ringside and would
follow and record every signifi-
cant stage of the game.
On that night, I was cheer-
ing for every basket. I couldn’t
remember the biggest lead by
either team or how many times
Ginebra and Meralco changed
leads in the game. I didn’t even
notice if coaches Norman Black
and Time Cone shook hands af-
ter the game.
Ginebra fans from the upper box cheer their favorite team It was because we would
cheer for every Ginebra point and
we would fall silent every time
By Randy Caluag Meralco basket. I could remember
anything. All I could remember
BATANG
PINOY
KICKS OFF
IN VIGAN
VIGAN, Ilocos Sur—Around 6,000 ath-
letes and coaches from over 122 local
government units in Luzon converged
at the President Elpidio Quirino Stadi-
um here in Bantayan, Ilocos Sur t com-
pete in Batang Pinoy Luzon Games.
Action in elimination games start
today in different venues.
Philippine Sports Commission
Chairman William I. Ramirez is optimis-
tic that the hosting of Ilocos Sur prov-
ince of the Batang Pinoy Luzon Games
will be successful.
“It’s just a coincidence that Vigan will
be able to have some practice of
hosting of the Batang Pinoy regional
games,” Ramirez said. “I think Gov. Ryan
[Singson] will do a very good job of host-
ing the Luzon Leg of the Batang Pinoy.”
Provincial sports coordinator Marius
Cabudol said they have invited Depart-
ment of Education assistant secretary
Tonisito Umali to be the guest of honor.
Ramirez will be represented by
PSC Commissioner Charles Raymond
Maxey as the former’s schedule won’t
permit him to attend.
Other officials expected to grace the
opening ceremonies are Ilocos Sur gover-
nor Ryan Luis Singson, Ilocos Norte gov-
ernor Imee Marcos, Pangasinan governor
Amado Espino III, La Union governor
Francisco Emmanuel Ortega III, and Vigan
City Mayor Juan Carlo Medina.
The opening ceremony will kick off
at around 1 p.m. with the parade of del-
egations while table tennis gold medal-
ist Wrency Abad and consistent Batang
Pinoy Medalist Ralf Justine A. Chan will
lead the torch relay and oath of sports-

N
ow I fully understand why the league,
Philippine Basketball Association, and
its players should owe it to the fans. The
paying fans who would spend their last centavo
just to watch their favorite players in person. The
fans who would troop to the playing arena, come
hell or high water.
We, sportswriters, are privi-
leged to enter the playing venue
for free, get access to the players
and coaches for an interview
and the team statistics to share
with our readers. We cover the
games by jotting down the most
important part of the game—
the turning point, the most sig-
nificant baskets and so on.
When we sit in the press
box, we are not allowed to
cheer, shout, clap or show any
emotion that would favor any
team, lest our neutrality and
credibility will suffer.
For many years that I covered
the PBA, I could not let out the
fan in me. It has been like I was
afflicted with a tumor that could
not be operated on. It could not
be retrieved, It just stayed there.
Then one day, it dawned on
me to finally discover what it
feels like to be a die-hard bas-
ketball fan.
Honestly, I don’t cheer for
any team. But to deliver a piece
that would really describe a
die-hard basketball fan, it has
to be something about a fan of
the Barangay Ginebra, admit-
tedly the most popular basket-
ball team of the decade.
Team NSD
Team NSD is facebook com-
munity of Ginebra fans. The
group is just of the fan clubs
in social media. One of the ad-
mins in the community, Geexie
Kathrene, added to me to their
chat group.
Here, they talk about up-
dates on their favorite team
and players. The schedules
of the games. Their thoughts
about the most recent game.
For Game 4 of the Ginebra-
Meralco series for the PBA
Governors’ Cup on Oct. 20,
the group decided that some
would line up in the morning
to buy tickets for the group.
Geexie, a para-legal executive,
was among the early birds in
the group. She was at the Ara-
neta Coliseum ticket booth as
early as 9 a.m.
Members of Team NSD
Allen Durham challenges the defense of Ginebra’s Justin
Brown Lee and Joe Devance (PBA Media Bureau)
“Kahit kulang ako sa tulog,
go lang,” she said with a smile.
She got her tickets at 1 in the
afternoon. Then she con-
verged with the other mem-
bers of the group at a restau-
rant nearby to while away the
time. The game wouldn’t start
until 7 p.m.
Most members of NSD
are students. The millenni-
als who inherited their being
Ginebra fans from their par-
ents, who were solid Sonny
Jaworski fans. Some are
holdovers from the Jaworski
era, like Maritz Velicario, who
like her husband, has been a
View from above
was I was shouting my lungs out,
together with the crowd.
In the final seconds of the
game, we were just shouting
that most of us didn’t even re-
alize that Ginebra has a couple
of timeouts left that It did not
elect to use. We fell silent again
when the buzzer sounded af-
ter a miss by Ginebra import
Justin Brown Lee.
The boxscores showed
Meralco leading the final count,
85-83. Then I overheard quite a
lot comments from the crowd.
“Ay tapos na pala. Nakalim-
utan yata na wala nang oras,” I
overheard someone asking.
“Bat hindi tumawag time-
out si coach?”
“Masisira kasi ang momen-
tum e, fastbreak kasi.”
“Parang wala nang time-out.”
“Hinde Meron.”
Up there in the upper box,
the fans are the commentators,
the analysts, the coaches.
The mood turned gloomy
for a whil until somebody
shouted in a cheerful tone.
manship, respectively.
CHAIRMAN’S
GOLF CUP
AT FAIRWAYS
& BLUEWATER
THE Fairways & Bluewater Resort Golf
and Country Club, the premier golfing
hub in Boracay, makes its return to the
local golf scene as it revives the Chair-
man’s Cup next month.
First held in 1997, the Chairman’s
Cup is aimed at thanking its members
and friends for their support to the
club’s programs.
“We are excited to bring the Chair-
man’s Cup into its regular schedule,”
said Fairways & Bluewater chairman
Wilbur Chan, adding that the 12th
staging of the event is also in response
to the members’ clamor.
Chan said the club’s Board of Di-
rectors had wanted to present the
Graham Marsh-designed course in
its championship form and the re-
habilitation took a little longer than
usual to ensure the readiness of the
par-72 layout.
Tasked to implement the course
plan is tournament director Raymond
Bunquin, whose maintenance team
has been working double time to fast
track its development.
“The course has vastly improved.
The undulating fairways are now roll-
ing like it used to and the greens are
maturing just in time for the Chair-
man’s Cup,” said Bunquin.
Backing up the event are Skyjet
Airlines, Gatessoft Corp., Pacsports
Philippines Inc., Philippine Airlines,
The Turf Company, Pagcor Casino
Filipino, Inquirer Golf and Business
Mirror.

DAQUIGAN FASTEST AT SEPANG CIRCUIT

VINTAGE car racing champion Dexter Daqui-
gan left his comfort zone and tried racing at
the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia for the Classic
Mini Championship Asia for the second time
with only a podium finish in his mind.
He ended up winning it all.
A many-time Classic Aspirated Cup Series
champion on Philippine soil, Daquigan of Mus
Mini Malaysian Job/Mohspeed Racing Team
took his driving skills in Malaysia, where he dis-
covered that preparation is still the supreme
reason why champion racers find ways to beat
the competition.
“I really prepared myself for this race. I’ve
never prepared myself like this since I started
racing cars in 2014,” admitted Daquigan. “I am
physically and mentally prepared for this race.
I learned my mistakes during the first time I
raced in Sepang last May.”
And Daquigan’s intense preparations showed.
After yielding to Malaysian Jeffrey Chew of
JC Works Mini in the pre-final race, Daquigan
drove a tactical race when it mattered in the
final race as he set the pace right on the get
go. Chew tried to close the gap every lap, but
Daquigan kept his focus all the way to the fin-
ish, winning by 1.385 seconds and submitting
a best time of 2:56.17.
Liaw Hee Wong of Johor Classic Mini placed
third.
“Once the red lights went off, I pushed my-
self to the limit and had a good position in the
first corner to the first lap. I then started ham-
mering it down until I managed to pull a gap
little by little. But Jeffrey was very fast in turns
7 and 8 as he closed the gap every lap. But I
tried to focus and did not make any mistake.
We had a good battle, but I kept the lead until
the last turn, all the way to the chequered flag,”
said Daquigan.
Daquigan emphasized that racing is a
team effort, too and not just about the driver
and his car.
“I had the best people on my side, like Mus-
lim Harin, the head mechanic of Mus Mini Ma-
laysian Job, and Hafiz Bachok, the 2016 Classic
Mini Championship overall champion, who
was my coach,” said Daquigan.
Another factor that contributed greatly to
the win was his setup, done at the Mus Malay-
sian Job garage, where the team did the final
adjustments to the car, with the help of Da-
quigan’s Filipino mechanics Morris Miranda,
Eddie Farreras and Armand Hipolito, with the
support of head Malaysian mechanic Harin.
Daquigan also had his crucial shakedowns at
the Johor Circuit.
“It was a really nice experience at the Johor
Circuit, as it was a very challenging track with
uphill, downhill, camber, off camber spots,
everything in one package,” said Daquigan.
“Since we already had a shakedown at the Jo-
hor Circuit, I knew we can fight for a podium
(finish), not expecting to be 1st place overall,
but we’ll take it (win).”
Daquigan added: “The most important
thing was we managed to tune the suspen- Dexter Daquigan celebrates his triumph at the Classic Mini Championship
sion and made a last-minute final adjustment Asia at the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia.
that made me more comfortable with my race and demonstrate my driving skills, proving Daquigan suddenly became a hot com-
car. We were able to win the Open Class de- to the world that a Filipino can compete modity as he was invited to the K4GP, a
spite having a lower engine displacement in abroad and win at the same time.” 24-Hour Race, also at the Sepang Circuit
our race car. We were able to give a good battle With his triumph on Malaysian soil, on Nov. 17 to 19.
 B1 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2017
Business
Ray S. Eñano, Editor / Roderick dela Cruz, Issue Editor business@manilastandard.net

GERMAN FIRM
LADY EXECUTIVE BUILDS NAMES FILIPINO
COUNTRY HEAD
PH TOURISM DATABASE
Scan this icon
to view the PDF

Edler Panlilio, the new managing

director of SAP Philippines Inc

GERMAN software company SAP

SE announced the appointment of
Edler Panlilio as the new managing
director of SAP Philippines Inc.
In this new role, Panlilio will be
responsible for leading and driving
business growth and operations
in the Philippines, building on the
22-year establishment of SAP in
TOURISM ADVOCATES the country. He will report directly
Yapak PH team headed by founder and chief executive Diane Zoleta (center, seated to Claus Andresen, president
in blue jeans) and chief operating officer Trichie de Vera (standing, third from right), and managing director of SAP
together with Dayang Media Productions, Digiteer Digital, Trespaña Productions and Southeast Asia.
photographer Paulo Navarra.
A 20-year veteran in the IT
industry, Panlilio joined SAP in

A
N AVID traveler and media
production executive is
spearheading a campaign
to build a comprehensive travel
information portal about Philippine
tourism in a bid to spread the
culture of tourism across the
country and generate livelihood for
Filipinos along the way.
“We believe that tourism is a key driver of the
economy,” says Diane Zoleta, the founder and
chief executive of Yapak.ph, the first aggregator
of tourism information about the Philippines.
Her experience as an advertising executive who
organized photoshoots in exotic places all over
the country and as a talent manager who brought
artists and celebrities to numerous town fiestas in
the provinces has opened her eyes to the beauty
and rich heritage of the Philippines. At the same
time, a visit to Thailand in the 1990s, where ‘tuk
tuk’ and cab drivers provided helpful tips and
laminated maps on destinations as if they were
tour guides, has awakened her desire to make
Filipinos embrace tourism the way the Thais
promoted their country.
“We have more to offer. And yet, Filipinos
are not as entrepreneurial when it comes to
promoting tourism. How nice it would be if
we Filipinos know the best destinations in our
country. That is the main goal of Yapak.ph.
We want to enable Filipinos to promote the
Philippines,” says Zoleta.
Zoleta, who earned a degree in Broadcast
Communication from the University of the
Philippines and now heads Dayang Media
Productions and Star Models International Talent
Management Agency, wants all Filipinos to help
promote the Philippines as a primary tourism
destination and raise the bar on the quality of
services and products provided to travelers
from all over the world. She initially planned to
produce a travel map, like the ones presented
by ‘tuk tuk’ and cab drivers in Thailand, but the
idea grew much bigger with the onset of digital
technologies.
Zoleta teamed up with fellow Rotarian, Trichie
de Vera, the country representative of iCare
Benefits Philippines Inc. to put Yapak.ph into
operation.
“We will launch our website on Oct. 24. The
website is going to be the information portal—
an initial platform that will evolve into more
technology-based initiatives. Unlike any other
information portal, Yapak.ph will hopefully have
everything that you want to know about the
Philippines in just one site,” says de Vera, also an
alumna of the University of the Philippines, who
serves as chief operating officer of Yapak.ph.
Zoleta, who helped produce some of the most
memorable television commercials and print ads
for ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’, developed
the idea for Yapak.ph as early seven years ago
and started engaging her team of advertising
professionals and university students to shoot
travel sites and collate local travel information
two years ago.
“Seven years ago, I wanted to start a Philippine
travel map. My idea was to provide free travel
maps at that time, when Internet was not
yet prevalent in the country. The map would
encourage people to travel and walk, hence the
word ‘yapak’,” she says.
The advent of technology, however, encouraged
Zoleta to produce a more comprehensive tourism
portal that contains not just a map, but also
information, tips and guides that will help foreign
and domestic tourists discover provinces, cities,
towns and even barangays in the Philippines.
Now, Yapak.ph is considered a pioneer
in providing the public with an engaging
and personalized website on anything and
everything about the Philippines. As a pioneer in
tourism aggregation, its mission is to aggregate
and organize Philippine tourism and travel
information and services to make them “simple
yet comprehensive, distinct yet diverse, accessible
yet aggregated, in an experiential, personalized,
and time efficient manner.”
“ We aim to become the nation’s most
comprehensive tourism information portal
unifying a wide range of data about the
Philippines—from its travel destinations, local
communities, culture, cuisines, events and more,”
she says.
Zoleta says while other websites focus on
2013 and was most recently the
just four topics such as adventure, eco-tourism, senior director of key accounts
sustainable tourism and destinations, Yapak.
ph encompasses 16 categories in the tourism
managing a combined salesforce
of key account managers, cloud
industry. It provides information on such areas as specialists, platform and CRM
medical tourism, health establishments, extreme specialists focused on the top
adventures, museum, sports, nightlife, Filipino customers for SAP Philippines.
heritage, social entrepreneurship, knowledge Prior to joining SAP, Panlilio
exchange, beaches, pocket parks, nature, food spent more than a decade in his
finds, newest spots around the block and history, career holding leadership roles
culture and the arts. and responsibilities with various
multi-national IT organizations
“We realized that there are different kinds of
based in the Philippines, including
tourism. We enumerated 16 of them,” she says. Symantec, Sun Microsystems and
Zoleta says the overall vision is “to make Logica. Panlilio replaced Ryan
the Philippines the No. 1 tourist destination in Poggi, who will take on another
Southeast Asia by providing the Filipinos and executive role within SAP Asia
the international community global access to a Pacific Japan.
central information hub and a one stop online Commenting on Panlilio’s
store for Philippine tourism and travel in one appointment, Andresen said: “The
aggregated site.” Philippines economy remains
“We offer an expansive ecosystem on Philippine vibrant and is the 10th fastest
growing economy in the world.
travel and tourism, built on a convergence of three
With a stable and sustainable
elements: a travel and tourism information portal,
economic environment, SAP is
a network of partnerships and alliances, and an well poised to help the Philippines
engaged community of travelers and supporters economy grow by supporting the
of Philippine tourism,” she says. country’s digital agenda with our
Zoleta says more than just an information technology.”
portal, Yapak.ph aims to builds a growing network “Edler’s promotion signifies a
of digital and offsite stakeholders who have a strong leadership bench that we
shared vision of making the Philippines the top have in Southeast Asia, and SAP’s
tourist destination in Southeast Asia. commitment to the development
“ We are fostering engagement, where of our talents. I am confident that
Edler will be able to build on our
each stakeholder is an active contributor in
growth trajectory and accelerate
strengthening local tourism, elevating it as a
our growth plans in the Philippines,”
major driver of the Philippine economy, not only Andresen said.
for the purpose of consumption spending but in Panlilio said: “The Philippines
delivering social impact,” she says. has a great opportunity to leapfrog
She recalls that when she visited Thailand, into the next phase of digitization
the ‘tuk tuk’ driver who brought her to different as government organizations and
destinations also took her to a gold store. “As I companies in the private sector
was browsing the merchandise, I saw that one of embark on a digital transformation
the ladies working in the said store handed the journey.”
man a gas voucher. On our way back to my hotel, “Being a global market leader,
SAP has the transfor mative
I asked him what the voucher was for, and he told
innovations needed to help local
me that whenever he brought tourists into the
government and businesses strive
establishment, the owners gave him a gas voucher to be a globally competitive Filipino
for his trouble, even if the tourist didn’t end up nation with Digital. I am delighted
buying anything from the store,” Zoleta says. to be a part of the SAP family and
Zoleta came back to the Philippines with look forward to lead the team to
Turn to B2 help the Philippines run better, and
improve people’s lives,” said Panlilio.

MALOLOS CITY ADOPTS ALL-IN-ONE CITIZEN ID CARDS

M A LO LO S Cit y, the capital of
Bulacan province, has tapped
PayMaya Philippines, the country’s
pioneer and leader in digital
financial services, to enable its
constituents with all-in-one citizen
ID cards that can be used to access
citizen services, pay for fees and
transactions, as well as receive cash
allowances and other monetary
benefits from the local government.
As a start, the citizen ID cards
will be available to government
employees and resident beneficiaries
of Malolos, including student scholars,
senior citizens, single parents and
persons with disabilities. Beyond
helping make disbursements of
allowances and financial assistance
more efficient, the city is pushing for
financial inclusion as it embraces the
digital economy.
The city also intends to use the
platform to enable the transportation
and tourism sectors as it builds the
whole payment ecosystem not just
with cards and disbursement tools
but also with payment acceptance
systems.
“Our goal is to make our
constituents enjoy the benefits of
digital. With this all-in-one citizen card
initiative powered by PayMaya, we are
enabling our citizens have a better
quality of life and access to the digital
economy. At the same time, we are
also accelerating the transformation
of Malolos City as a truly digital city,”
said Malolos City Mayor Christian
Natividad.
“Digital opens up many
opportunities especially for the
unconnected, unbanked and
underserved. Congratulations to
Malolos City for this forward-looking
initiative as it is transforming their
local government, people and
communities into fully equipped
digital and global citizens,” said
Manuel Pangilinan, chairman of PLDT
Inc., Smart Communications, Voyager
Innovations and PayMaya Philippines.
“Our mission is to bring the
advantages of digital financial
services to more institutions and their
constituents. True to its pioneering
spirit and historical tradition as
the site of the proclamation of the
first constitutional republic in Asia,
Malolos City joins other digitally
transformed or DX Cities as one
of the early adopters of enabling
payment technologies,” said Orlando
Vea, president and chief executive of
PayMaya Philippines.
Aside from Malolos City, PayMaya
i s b e i n g u s e d by o t h e r l o c a l
governments including Balanga City, Malolos City Mayor Christian Natividad (left) and
Muntinlupa City, Catbalogan City and PLDT, Smart, Voyager and PayMaya Philippines
Tacloban City. It is also being used as chairman Manuel Pangilinan shake hands during
all-in-one ID cards by schools and as the partnership ceremony for the all-in-one citizen
disbursement cards by enterprises. ID cards in the city.
B2 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2017
business@manilastandard.net Business
JDI OFFERS
FORMULA
TO DEFEAT
WHY CONCEPCION UNIT
DENGUE
THE rainy season generally sees an
ADOPTED A NEW NAME
alarming increase in dengue and similar
By Othel V. Campos expansion plan. “If we do not have
mosquito-borne diseases, posing a big the expertise for the solutions we

threat to the health and wellbeing of
Filipino families, especially children
under the age of 9 and even those that
are yet to be born.
Dengue is in fact one of the top
10 killer diseases in the Philippines.
From January 1 to May 20 this year, the
Department of Health recorded 35,973
dengue cases throughout the country,
with 207 reported deaths within the
same period.
And while the latest figures are lower
compared to last year’s, people must
remain vigilant in terms of averting
an outbreak of the disease in their
communities.
The same Aedes mosquitoes that
carry dengue also transmit the Zika
virus, a flu-like mosquito-borne disease
that is widespread in tropical countries
with big mosquito population. As of
February this year, the DOH has tallied
a total of 57 Zika cases in the country,
seven of which involve pregnant
women aged 16 to 32.
While a breakthrough dengue
vaccine is reportedly now available,
most people tend to overlook the
fact that there are more practical and
more economical ways to get rid of
mosquitoes and other disease-carrying
insects.
This is where Zap All Knockdown
multi-insect killer comes in. Distributed
by Jardine Distribution Inc., Zap
contains a formula that kills dengue
and Zika virus-carrying mosquitoes, as
well as cockroaches and flies, without
any irritating smell.
Z a p ’s h i g h - q u a l i t y a c t i v e
ingredient—sourced from Sumitomo
Chemical, a leading Japanese chemical
firm—guarantees faster knockdown
power and a long-lasting effect
compared to those of other brands in
the market.
The DOH itself recommends the use
of insect repellants and insect killers as
self-protection measures to prevent
mosquito bites that can cause dengue,
Zika, or similar diseases. Maintaining
a clean environment and seeking
early consultation with the doctor
are also highly advised at the onset of
symptoms.
A
MAJOR provider of elevators,
escalators and cooling
solutions in the country has
embraced a new name to reflect
a strategic shift for the building
industry and address the changing
demands of customers.
Concepcion Building and Industrial Solutions,
the commercial division of Concepcion Industrial
Corp.,changed its name to Alstra. It remains the
company behind Carrier, Otis and Toshiba brands
in the Philippines.
“Alstra is a name we created. For us, it is
synonymous to building solutions itself. It is the
same business unit of Concepcion Industrial Corp.
Only, we are trying to fit in more sophisticated
solutions that will be the trend of the future,”
said Alstra director and head of the building and
industrial solutions group Rajan Komarasu.
Komarasu, who grew up in Singapore, studied in
Australia and was posted in the Philippines in 2007,
said the transformation idea was conceived three
years ago, “when we said we needed to cater to
what customers are looking for – the requirement
of business to business.”
“This required us to totally look at the culture of
organization, the people, the systems that we use.
We said we need to change this but as we change
we need to market ourselves as building solutions
expert in the Philippines,” said Komarasu.
Komarasu said that in the Philippines it was a
big challenge to change old habits, but “we had
this huge progress to bringing the organization
closer to customers.”
“We put in a lot of effort into the areas wherein
people might not normally think we are capable
of or not worthy of any effort like engineering and
project management,” he said.
Assistance on engineering design starts right
from the concept to implementation stage as well,
he said.
Alstra will be carrying the same cooling solutions
and vertical building solutions such as escalators
and elevators.
With the rebranding, the company will introduce
an expanded menu of building solutions including
fire assistance, security protocols, lighting solution,
controls and automation using IoT (Internet of
Things) that can be packaged however the client
wants it.
The trend in building solutions, Komarasu said, is
slowly getting ahead of the game, “although, in the
Philippines, the ones that can only procure these
are offering, then we make sure
that we partner with the industry’s
best experts,” he said.
Alstra’s sales in the first half
of 2017 hit P1.8 billion, on track
with the company’s target to
grow revenues by 15 percent
to 20 percent from 2016’s P3.5
billion.
This has not yet factored in
about P2 billion worth of projects
in the pipeline that started coming
in the second half.
“Based on government figures,
there might be a slowdown in
construction activities in the next
two to three years. Construction
permits were down by 3 percent
in the first half of 2017 compared
to 2016. That’s what is in the PSA
[Philippines Statistics Authority]
site. Since we’ve expanded
our portfolio, we don’t see this
dilemma affecting our operations,”
Alstra director Rajan Komarasu Komarasu said.
The big drop, he said, came
are the bigger companies. That’s why we’re slowly getting into from the Visayas region but
the game.” the bigger share was still
Alstra still caters to all segments of the construction industry, a cco u nte d by t h e N at i o n a l
with projects in the manufacturing sector, hotels, restaurants, Capital Region.
BPOs, service sectors and even banks. “I think there’s gestation period
It maintains its focus on the commercial and industrial side going on. Although there’s a lot of
of the business without losing sight of its beginnings as Filipino commitment on the construction
white-line manufacturer Condura.
side but developers are pulling
The company continues to manufacture and sell window- back as well. We believe that
type air-conditioning units, its bread and butter once, but sales contractors and developers are
had since simmered into a single digit growth as it shifted its moving forward with cautious
focus to more technically-challenging cooling solutions on a sentiments. There are too many
bigger scale in partnership with Carrier. projects out there but because
Condura-Carrier is the first air-conditioning brand in country of shortage of manpower and
to be ISO certified. By 2020, Alstra aims to have the entire professionals, there is this
company product line ISO-certified. temporary impact. We believe
Alstra still holds the title as market leader in the air- this is temporary and will not be a
conditioning industry quickly. While its vertical solutions in lasting trend. What we see now as
escalators and elevators have struggled in the past, it has since growing are industrial businesses
moved on to a comfortable pace due to consistency in quality
and institutions,” he said.
and after-service. Komarasu said the company
“We want to make sure there’s consistency in everything would continue investing in more
we do. On top of this, we want to continue our CSR [corporate solutions and improving at least
social responsibility]. So far, Alstra has spent more than 30,000 90 solutions.
hours over the last three years educating our customers, our “As a business, we always need
supply partners and some contractors about efficiency, safety to think positive. We will be very
and technology. We want to make sure we have the right cautious at the same time, so
partners and most of all, create synergies in the way we operate,” we can achieve our vision to
Komarasu said. reach P15-billion sales by 2020,”
Mergers and acquisitions will remain part of the company’s Komarasu said.

LADY...
From B1
so many ideas on to how to help
fellow Filipinos do the same or how
to provide them with a free service
that consolidates all the travel-related
information about the country.
The result is Yapak.ph, which
also includes initiatives such as
community service revenue programs
to create sustainable livelihood and
the formation of Yapak Club, an
engagement to connect university
and college students.
“Yapak Club now has Lyceum chapter
and PUP chapter. The good thing about
it is that later on, Yapak Club members
will also feed information. We are also in
talks to have chapters in UE, Adamson,
FEU, La Salle and College of Saint
Benilde,” says Zoleta.
Zoleta says Yapak’s business model
will have digital advertising as its main
anchor, where companies such as
hotels, airlines, transport providers and
travel agencies will converge to market
their products and services.
“With Yapak, we will also create
livelihood programs for the people.
We will promote even small businesses
such as eateries,” she says.
Yapak also has a Facebook page
which has already attracted 12,000
followers. “We engage the followers by
posting three to five articles a day with
focus on millennials. We provide tips,
tourist spots, food finds or trivia. We
also have ‘hugot’ lines complete with
graphics,” says Zoleta.
Zoleta also plans to launch a journal
app, or a travel planner that will remind
subscribers of their itinerary.
“But the revenue model leans
on advertising, because that is our
expertise. We envision to put media
and advertising together through
Yapak,” she says. Roderick T. dela Cruz
AVIATION SECTOR OFFERS ‘HIGHEST PAYING’ JOBS
aviation industry, Guico said the road to an aviation crew advancing to become airline pilots,” he said.
career is not for the faint-hearted. Those interested to Foreseeing the boom in the airlines industry, WCC
get into the industry should be passionate and fully Aviation is commencing its plans to make quality
equipped with optimal skills and experience to gain education more accessible throughout the country
a competitive edge. by expanding its reach. The company, which is highly
“Though new graduates will find it hard to land an regarded not just in the Philippines but also in Asia,
aviation job immediately after graduation, the key is aims to soon open a WCC Aviation Branch in Diliman,
to keep themselves informed about the industry and Quezon City, offering programs such as pilot training
the specialization they are into. For example, aircraft and flight attendant course.
mechanics should be more open into accepting on- This is in addition to WCC Aviation’s constant
the-job trainings and immersions. This will give them upgrading of its training programs.
the experience and skills that a large airline company From its modest beginnings in 2005 with only a
is looking for,” he said. small school and two students, WCC Aviation has
“This is the same with pilot students. The key is to grown to be a university-grade campus that caters
gain experience. Airlines may not be always hiring to the needs of the airline industry both locally and
new pilots, so the option is to start by becoming flight abroad.
instructors so they will gain flight experience and at At present, WCC Aviation’s state-of-the-art facilities
the same time enhance their skills. So when the time provides a conducive learning environment.
comes that an airline will be looking for their new set “We are training students not just to become
of flight crew, you will be on the top choice,” Guico said. employees but to be critical thinkers. We want them
Getting a high-paying job isn’t the sole reason to be the next generation managers and leaders
to land in the airlines industry. Alongside the life- in the industry. That is why we are highlighting
changing chance to see the world are opportunities ‘character formation’ in our curriculum. By focusing
for career advancement. on developing the character of our students, we help
“Aside from the travel, airlines also provide them nurture their skills and become responsible
assistance for career advancement. There is an individuals that will later be our contribution towards
ongoing trend now of aircraft mechanics and cabin nation-building,” said Guico.
FOLLOWING the growth of the global economy, the
demand for aviation professionals continues to grow
in the Asia-Pacific region. Data from the Philippine
Statistics Authority show that aviation-related
occupations – namely aircraft pilots, navigators, and
flight engineers – were the highest paying jobs in 2016
with a P116,714 average monthly wage rate.
It was followed by securities and finance dealers
and brokers (P89,831) and civil engineers (P69,957).
The airline industry has prospered over the past
decades and the need for aviation experts continues
to rise–with 41,000 new aircrafts projected to be built
worldwide within the next 20 years.
With the boom of aviation in the Philippines, what
can aspiring aviation practitioners expect and how
should they prepare?
“One must be really ready when entering the
competitive aviation industry,” said Capt. Ramon Guico
III, president and chief executive of WCC Aviation
Company Inc.
Despite the presence of job opportunities in the
Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor / Jimbo Gulle, Issue Editor
JAPAN BRACES
FOR ‘LAN’ AHEAD
OF ELECTION
\TOKYO, Japan—A powerful typhoon
was bearing down on Japan Saturday, a
day ahead of national elections, with ex-
perts predicting severe winds and heavy
rains as the country goes to the polls.
Super typhoon Lan, described as
“very large” and “very strong” by Japan’s
Meteorological Agency, was packing
gusts up to 252 kilometres (157 miles)
per hour Saturday above Pacific waters
south of Japan.
As Lan drew closer, voters on remote
southern islands in the path of the
storm cast their ballots early for Sun-
day’s election.
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center of
the US Navy called it a super typhoon.
The Japanese agency said Lan would
move just east of Okinawa Sunday be-
fore grazing the country’s coastal areas,
possibly directly hitting Tokyo or sur-
rounding regions, Monday morning.
Meteorologists expect strong winds
and heavy rain across much of Japan on
Sunday.
Regardless of weather, however, na-
tional surveys have largely predicted
that the ruling bloc, led by Prime Min-
ister Shinzo Abe, was likely to claim a
landslide victory. AFP
‘SMELL OF BLOOD,
FLESH’ IN BOMBED
KABUL MOSQUE
KABUL, Afghanistan—A strong smell of
blood and flesh permeated the Imam
Zaman mosque in Kabul on Saturday
hours after dozens of Shiite worshippers
were slaughtered by a suicide bomber
during evening prayers.
Broken glass and dust covered the
red carpet, soaked in the blood of the
men, women and children who had
been praying on Friday when the at-
tacker blew himself up, causing carnage
in the cavernous prayer hall.
At least 39 people were killed and 45
others wounded in the assault claimed
by the Islamic State group -- one of two
deadly mosque attacks on Friday -- cap-
ping one of the bloodiest weeks in Af-
ghanistan in recent memory.
“The windows of the mosque were
broken, and blood and human flesh
were spattered everywhere and you
could smell blood and human flesh in-
side the mosque,” Ibrahim, who rushed
to the mosque after the blast, told AFP.
“This is absolutely barbarism. What
kind of Islam is this? They are attacking
worshippers at the time of prayers, even
mosques are not safe for us to pray.”
Hours after the suicide bomb the Tali-
ban fired two rockets at the headquar-
ters of NATO’s Resolute Support mission
in the heavily fortified diplomatic quar-
ter of Kabul. There were no reports of
casualties but the attack underlined the
worsening security in the country. AFP
PROBE: CANCER
DIDN’T KILL
PABLO NERUDA
SANTIAGO, Chile—International ex-
perts announced Friday that Chilean
Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda did not
die of cancer, but could not conclusively
determine if he was assassinated by late
dictator Augusto Pinochet’s regime.
Neruda, a celebrated poet, politician,
diplomat and bohemian, died in 1973
aged 69, just days after Pinochet, then
the head of the Chilean army, overthrew
Socialist president Salvador Allende in a
bloody coup.
The writer, who was also a prominent
member of the Chilean Communist par-
ty, had been preparing to flee into exile
in Mexico to lead the resistance against
Pinochet’s regime.
He died in a Santiago clinic where he
was being treated for prostate cancer.
The subsequent death of former pres-
ident Eduardo Frei at the same clinic,
where he had come for a routine opera-
tion, reinforced the thesis that Neruda
was murdered.
“The (death) certificate does not
reflect the real cause of death,” Aure-
lio Luna said at a news conference on
behalf of a panel of experts, referring
to the official explanation that cancer
killed the famed writer.
The group of 16 experts from Canada,
Denmark, the US, Spain and Chile, 12
of whom worked in Santiago while the
rest worked from abroad, could neither
confirm nor rule out the hypothesis that
Neruda was murdered.
“We do not have that definitive con-
clusion, we do not have the determi-
nation that there was indeed interven-
tion of third parties,” said investigating
Judge Mario Carroza, who is handling
the case. AFP
World SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2017
mst.daydesk@gmail.com
B3
SPAIN SET TO GRAB
CATALONIA’S POWERS
M
ADRID, Spain—Spain’s government kicked Puigdemont has said such a move the Princess of Asturias Awards --
could push regional lawmakers to Spain’s answer to the Nobels -- King
off a crisis cabinet meeting on Saturday as declare unilateral independence. Felipe described Catalonia as “an es-
it prepares to seize powers from Catalonia’s But Rajoy said Friday that Spain sential part of 21st century Spain”.
separatist executive in an unprecedented move had reached a “critical point” after EU leaders, who were at the cer-
weeks of political limbo and that his emony to collect a prize for encour-
aimed at stopping the northeastern region’s government had to act to stop the aging harmony in Europe, used
independence drive. rule of law being “liquidated”. their acceptance speeches to de-
Rajoy is likely to announce mand respect for the law in words
plans to take control of Catalonia’s that offered implicit backing to Ma-
During the meeting, which dum must be resolved “through 16,000-strong police force, the Mos- drid.
started around 10 a.m. (0800 GMT), legitimate democratic institutions”. sos d’Esquadra, whose leader Josep “Some are sowing discord by de-
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and “We do not want to give up that Lluis Trapero could face up to 15 liberately ignoring law,” European
his ministers will decide on what which we have built together,” he years in jail on sedition charges for parliament head Antonio Tajani said
powers to take away from the pleaded. failing to contain separatist protests at the awards night in the northern
wealthy region, which currently en- Madrid enjoys constitutional ahead of the referendum. city of Oviedo.
joys wide autonomy including con- powers to wrest back control of re- Madrid could also seek to force He added pointedly: “All too often
trol over its own policing, education bellious regions in one of the West- new elections -- its preferred so- in the past the prospect of redraw-
and healthcare. ern world’s most decentralized na- lution to Spain’s most protracted ing borders has been presented as a
The measures take the country tions, but it has never used them. political crisis since it returned to heavenly panacea that has resulted
into uncharted legal waters, and Autonomy is a hugely sensitive democracy in 1977 -- as early as in a hellish mess.”
come just a day after Madrid won issue in semi-autonomous Cata- January. As tensions continue to run high,
powerful backing from the king lonia, which saw its powers taken Rajoy is due to hold a press con- independence supporters are set to
and the EU in its battle to keep the away under Spain’s military dicta- ference early Saturday afternoon rally in Barcelona Saturday evening
country together. torship. Home to 7.5 million people, to announce his plans, which must calling for the release of Jordi Cuix-
King Felipe VI on Friday blasted the region fiercely defends its own pass through the Senate where his art and Jordi Sanchez, the leaders of
what he said was an “unacceptable
secession attempt” and said the cri-
language and culture.
There are fears of unrest if Ma-
conservative Popular Party holds
a majority -- a process that would
two powerful grassroots separatist
groups who have been in jail since
sis sparked by the region’s banned drid seeks to impose direct rule of take about a week. Monday pending investigation into
October 1 independence referen- any kind, and Catalan leader Carles Speaking on Friday night at sedition charges. AFP
MARCH THROUGH NOWHERE. Rohingya refugees who were stranded walk near the no man’s land area between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the Palongkhali
area next to Ukhia on Thursday. Since late August, more than 500,000 Rohingya have fled an army campaign in Myanmar’s Rakhine state that the United Nations has
denounced as ethnic cleansing. AFP
‘CZECH TRUMP’ BABIS POISED TO WIN VOTE
PRAGUE, Czech Republic—Voters from 2014 to May this year. mocracy are poised to win a majority in ing to the far-right anti-EU Freedom and
flocked to polling stations on Sat-
urday, the second and final day of a
A 63-year-old Slovak-born chemicals,
food and media tycoon, Babis captured
parliament for the first time since com-
munism fell in 1989, the leading Ho-
Free Democracy (SPD) of Tokyo-born
entrepreneur Tomio Okamura who won
Czech general election expected to around 25-30 percent support in re- spodarske Noviny daily said in a Friday backing from France’s far-right National
sweep into power a billionaire popu- cent surveys, putting ANO ahead of its editorial. Front.
list dubbed the “Czech Trump” and current coalition partner, the left-wing “And for the first time we face the The daily called the elections a “turn-
boost anti-European Union parties. Social Democrats, who have just 12.5 threat that an openly xenophobic, ex- ing point... both for the country’s inter-
Betting on his anti-euro, anti-mi- percent. tremist movement will earn more than nal functioning and its anchoring in the
grant and anti-corruption ticket, ANO Parties protesting against liberal de- 10 percent” of the vote, it added, point- European Union.” AFP
(Yes) movement chief Andrej Babis,
topped opinion polls by a wide mar-
gin ahead of the ballot which ends
on Saturday afternoon.
“I think his policy is for the people,”
pensioner Alena Kolarova told AFP
in Prague after voting, praising Babis
for “restoring order in public finances
and tax collection” during his three-
year stint as finance minister that
ended in May.
Babis said he expected his EU
country of 10.8 million people to
“enter a new stage” after voting on
Friday, adding it needed “a govern-
ment which will really tackle people’s
problems.”
Vaclav Vachel, another pensioner,
said Babis’s anti-corruption drive was
“the key thing,” seemingly unfazed by
a fraud indictment the mogul faces
for alleged abuse of EU subsidies.
Far-right and far-left anti-EU par-
ties are eyeing strong gains which
could lead to a fragmented parlia-
ment with up to nine parties and few
natural coalition allies.
Analysts warn of instability and
that the Czech Republic’s system
of liberal democracy could be dis-
turbed.
ANO has already held key posts in
SENIOR QUEEN. Ms. New Jersey Carolyn Slade Harden is crowned Ms. Senior America during the 38th Annual National Ms.
the outgoing rocky centre-left coali- Senior America 2017 Pageant at the Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Thursday. The pageant is held for women
tion under Social Democrat Prime between the ages of 60 and 90, where they participate in evening gown presentations, talent performances, and a category in which
Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, with competitors share their life philosophy. AFP
Babis serving as finance minister
 Gadgets
B4 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2017 Riera U. Mallari, Editor rumallari@thestandard.com.ph
& Games

JOLLIBEE IS PH'S NO. 1 HOME CREDIT

IN DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT
T RECEIVABLES
HE Philippines’ no. 1 fast-
food chain is also no. 1 in
digital engagement.
For decades, Jollibee has been
capturing the taste buds of Filipinos
with its langhap-sarap treats. Lately,
the brand has been winning over the
hearts of millions online with hit-after-
hit digital content.
Community Plus, a Mediacom social
media listening tool that is used widely
amongst various global brands, reports
that from January to June 2017, Jollibee
outranked all other brands in the quick
service restaurant category, particularly
in Facebook where it garnered a ma-
jority 37% share of engagement, twice
greater than its biggest foreign com-
petitor. Social media intelligence tool
Thoughtbuzz also reports that Jollibee
is the #1 most talked about QSR brand,
registering 1.5 million mentions in vari-
ous digital platforms; almost triple that
of its competitors in the same period.
Jollibee Global Brand Chief Market-
ing Officer and PH Marketing Head,
Francis Flores shares, “Jollibee’s stellar
digital success has been key to sustain-
ing our market leadership in the coun-
try, across all our major target markets.”
Flores added: “Through world-class,
highly engaging online content and
digital innovations, we will continue to
break the internet to reinforce our posi-
tion as the Philippines’ most loved, most
talked about brand. For us in Jollibee,
capturing the hearts of the Filipinos on-
line (and offline) is the ultimate reward.”
The Kwentong Jollibee Success
The brand’s original short-film series,
Kwentong Jollibee, has gone viral multi-
ple times this year, and has earned mul-
tiple accolades not only from netizens
but from industry leaders globally.
In February, the highly-evocative
“Vow”, “Date”, and “Crush” Valentine’s
videos successfully wooed the online
audience with over 50 million views
on Facebook and YouTube, about 1.3
million shares, 7.5 million in engage-
ment, and 82 million reach (72% or-
ganic reach). The buzz of Kwentong
Jollibee’s Valentine series generated
over P150 million in free PR and
media values as well.
The viral success of the Kwentong
Jollibee episodes continued towards
mid-year with “Parangal” and
“Powers”—back-to-back moving
tributes to the sacrifices of moms and
the heroic deeds of dads, to provide a
comfortable life for the family—as the
Mother’s Day and Father’s Day videos
garnered positive reactions from neti-
zens and received 8.1 million and 7 mil-
lion views, respectively.
The Kwentong Jollibee series’ most
recent viral hit, “Apo” is proof not only
of the enterprise’s sustained success
but of Jollibee’s digital content mas-
tery. A Grandparents’ Day special,
“Apo” follows a young man recalling
his happy childhood memories as
he makes his way back home to the
embrace of his “second parents”. With
a whopping 29million reach, over
14.2million views and an engage-
ment of 1.1 million, Jollibee’s special
grandparents’ day tribute solidified
the brand’s online leadership.
The most recent viral short film was
coupled with a heart-tugging CSR ef-
fort, Grand Thank You Project, and a
special video feature titled “Handog
para kay Lola Belen”. The project rec-
ognizes hardworking grandparents
and gives back the love with a Grand-
parents’ Day feast for their family and
other forms of support such as finan-
cial aid. On the Grand Thank You Project’s
second year, Jollibee features Lola Belen,
a grandmother from Pangasinan who
INKS P2.25B
BANK LOAN,
EYES P12B IN
Outranking all other
QSR brands, Jollibee
garnered a 37%
share of engagement
on Facebook from
January to June 2017
according to online
content assessment
tool Community
Plus. Social media
intelligence tool
Thoughtbuzz also
reveals that the
brand registered 1.5
million mentions
across digital
platforms, almost
triple that of its
competitors in
the same period,
to become the #1
most talked about
QSR brand in the
Philippines.
tirelessly sells local delicacies at a near-
by Jollibee branch to provide for her
loved ones. The video feature reached
over 7.7 million netizens and 5.2 mil-
lion views.
An Array of World-Class
Digital Content
Apart from the emotional
Kwentong Jollibee short films, Jol-
libee has also produced a number
of successful online campaigns that
have gotten netizens abuzz: from the
impressive dance skills of the lovable
mascots Jollibee and Friends in the Jol-
liDance Showdown series with more
than 29 million Facebook and YouTube
views, the quirky quick escape tricks of
JolliSavers for every Petsa de Peligro that
reached more than 24 million views,
to the sumptuous and heartwarming
Chickenjoy campaigns that generated
more than 28 million views.
HOME Credit Philippines, a Prague-
based finance technology company
that offers in-store financing of
smartphones and other goods,
recently signed a syndicated loan
with a total commitment of P2.25
billion.
The loan was arranged by Citi-
group Global Markets Asia Limited
(Citi) and was participated in by
some of the country’s largest banks,
namely, Citibank N.A., Union Bank of
the Philippines, East West Bank, Rizal
Commercial Banking Corporation
and CTBC Bank Philippines.
According to HCPH’s chief finan-
cial officer Zdenek Jankovsky, the
loan will be used to sustain its fast
and aggressive expansion in the
country, as the company’s customer
base approaches two million bor-
rowers, supported by a workforce of
8,000 employees and counting.
“In only four years of operation
in the Philippines, we have rapidly
grown our customer base while es-
tablishing our presence in all major
cities and provinces in the country,”
Jankovsky said. “This syndicated loan
is highly strategic in sustaining our
steep growth, and we are happy to
be partnering with leading banks
who share our vision.”
Jankovsky noted that 2017 is a
landmark year for the company, as
it completed its nationwide roll-out
and gained close to a million new
customers on the way to a projected
loan receivables volume of P12 bil-
lion by year end.
“In terms of agility and speed of
progress, HCPH can be compared
to a startup, especially since we are
only four years old. But in terms of
customer base and volume being
generated, we are already compara-
ble to much older and mature com-
panies,” Jankovsky said.
The HCPH executive noted that

ASUS BEEFS UP LINE-UP WITH ZENFONE 4 SELFIE LITE

JUST two months after its widely-
successful, grand ZenFone 4 launch in
SMX Convention Center last Aug. 19,
ASUS Philippines pulls off yet another
surprise that will surely shake up the
tech industry anew.
With its goal to reclaim the title and
throne as the premier selfie and wefie
smartphone, ASUS Philippines further
beefs up its already fortified ZenFone 4
Selfie line-up with the introduction of
a third model in the celebrated series:
the ZenFone 4 Selfie Lite.
The first and original ZenFone Selfie
graced the Philippine market back in
2015 with a front camera that was way
ahead of its time and produced styl-
ish grade-A selfies that people thor-
oughly enjoyed, loved, and treasured.
Two years later, the tech giant returns
with not only two, but three Selfie
smartphones that the Philippine mar-
ket would love. While the ZenFone 4
Selfie Pro and the ZenFone 4
Selfie each have their own
advanced ASUS-grade
front cameras that al-
ready capture the
finest selfies and
wefies, it is still
quite exciting to
see what ASUS’ Ze-
nFone 4 Selfie Lite has
to dish out, to further el-
evate the selfie game and
ultimately regain the selfie
and wefie throne.
WITH THE SELFIE LITE,
ANYBODY CAN BE A SelfieMaster
Only for the price of P7,995.00, the
newest ZenFone 4 Selfie Lite is a 5.5-
inch HD display beauty that sports a
13MP front camera with a soft LED flash,
great for taking a selfie or even a wefie
while still looking fresh wherever and
whenever. Its rear camera packs a mean
Another unique feature in this
bang-for-buck smartphone is the
triple slot tray. This allows anyone to
share not only one, but Nano sim
cards as well as a Micro SD card
that allows you to store up to
2TB in one tray. It’s a stylish but
practical add-on to this newest
variant in the Selfie series. Imag-
ine all the photos and videos one
can store!
Of course, since all of the ZenFone
4 Selfie series is royally crowned as the
13MP SelfieMaster, the ZenFone 4 Selfie Lite
Phase must also come with the much-favored
Detec- SelfieMaster! Beautification on photos,
tion Auto videos, and livestream has never been
Focus with easier with this first ever, all-in-one
a n LED real-tone beautification technology. Added bo-
flash feature, which will nuses to this special app are the collage
ensure that the subject will and slideshow makers, which make it
look blur-free and incredible no matter a doozy to share photos anytime and
what! anywhere!
the company’s success may be at-
tributed to its “financially inclusive”
business model, as Home Credit pro-
vides loans even to first-time borrow-
ers and those with no credit histories,
as well as the ease and speed of loan
application.
Jankovsky said that Home Credit
Philippines has “one of the fastest, if
not the fastest, loan processing and
approval times” in the industry, with
applications approved in as fast as
five minutes through their propri-
etary system, and requiring only two
valid IDs from the applicant.
These loan products come with
“safe lending” features, such as the
option to avail of insurance along
with the loan; a 15 day “cooling-off ”
period that allows customers to pay
back the full loan at no added cost
within this time period; customer-
friendly repayment tools meant to
address various financial difficulties;
and Home Credit’s “Our Commit-
ment” that promises full transpar-
ency on loan products with no hid-
den charges.

1GO LOADR DELIVERS LOGISTICS INNOVATION

IN1GO Technologies, a 100% Filipino-
owned IT Services and BPO Company
offering a suite of value enterprise solu-
tions in project and sales force manage-
ment, logistics, distribution and supply
chain systems, introduces 1Go Loadr,
a web and mobile enabled collabora-
tive platform—an online marketplace
—where both logistic outsourcees and
services providers—haulers and ship-
pers—converge to address the numer-
ous delivery requirements of customers.
Through a revolutionary mobile app
that’s downloadable from the Google Play
Store, or on the web at www.1go-load.me,
haulers of varying scales—whether
operating just one truck or an entire
fleet—can gain access to a wide variety of
goods and items available for shipment,
resulting in increased productivity and
convenience for both haulers and shippers.
“We realized the existence of a gap, a
sweet spot, that fleet managers couldn’t
fill,” said Manny Miranda, Operations
Head of 1Go Tech. “Through 1Go Loadr,
we are creating a marketplace among
our users. Our business to consumer
model allows them to open their fleets
of trucks to a larger community.”
Small-scale operators, can benefit
from expanded business. Larger fleet
operators will enjoy reduced truck
downtimes and better operational
Manny Miranda, Operations Head
of 1Go Tech
efficiency as well as the ability to manage
and deploy their fleets with ease.
Shippers will find it is so much easier to
find a reliable hauler and the right vehi-
cle that fit their exact shipping require-
ments, as the service has over 2000 en-
rolled trucks to take a load on-demand!
Peace of mind is assured as the exact
truck location can be tracked in real time
including the updated estimated time of
arrival through GPS. A photo of the driver
and the truck is provided for increased se-
curity, together with full transaction details.
By downloading the 1Go Loadr app on
a smart phone and enrolling, a secured log-
in enables shippers to post their require-
ments and to find from an extensive di-
rectory of enrolled haulers, with complete QC Mayor Herbert Bautista and Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte (5th and 7th from left, respectively),
vehicle specs, the ones capable of match- with councilors Godofredo Liban, Allan Francisco and Hero Bautista, PLDT Enterprise AVP Dennis
ing their needs. Eligible haulers will then be Magbatoc, Smart AVP/Head of Community Engagement and Partnerships Gabby R. Cui, PLDT
notified. Posted shipping requirements will Enterprise Senior Relationship Manager Jojo Alonzo IV and Councilor Elizabeth Delarmente.
be assigned on a first-come, first-serve ba-
sis. Once a hauler accepts, the shipper can
then monitor the whole delivery process
from pick-up to final unloading.
SMART WIFI POWERS QUEZON CITY
1Go Loadr harnesses the power of TO provide residents and workers with high than 12 million residents, or about 3 million
technology to revolutionize logistics, quality data connectivity, PLDT wireless people, live in Quezon City.
resulting for cheaper, faster, and highly subsidiary Smart Communications, Inc. is “By making Smart Wifi available in
efficient delivery for utmost customer rolling out carrier-grade Smart Wifi in more more high-traffic spaces, we are making
satisfaction and better business backed areas in Quezon City, Metro Manila’s most high quality connections more acces-
by 1Go’s solid experience, impressive populous city.  sible for more Filipinos, who can now be
roster of world-renowned clients, and ro-  Smart Wifi is now available at the Quezon more productive because they can access
bust end-to-end technology solutions. City Hall, while several Quezon City restau- important government services, as well
To experience the future of logis- rants have also been transformed into Smart as update their social media while on-
tics collaboration, download the 1Go Spots, providing high-speed Wifi to people the-go,” said Jovy Hernandez, Senior Vice
Loader app at the Google Play Store or who live and work in the city. President and Head of Enterprise for PLDT
visit www.1go-load.me. About a fifth of Metro Manila’s more and Smart.
 C1 sunday, october 22, 2017 Isah V. Red, Editor /
Young Life
Bernadette Lunas, Issue Editor isahred@gmail.com.ph

3 key
trends
for the
holiday
season
No matteR how hectic the prep-
aration for holiday festivities get,
fashion should not be compro-
mised.
this season, expect styles to go
full on lengthy and layers to warm
us up the chicest way possible.
the Sm Store shows how you can
wear the three key trends that are
expected to dominate the 2017
holiday season.

Scan this icon to

view the PDF
caption

#Metoo:
stories of sexual abuse
on social Media
By Bernadette Lunas
Flower Power
Slip into the season’s ‘70s in-
spired prints and let your flower
child run free with a floral printed
bell-sleeved top by GtW and a

S
mixed floral trousers from Sfera.
oCIal media has been many things to many people: a tool for communication, a source of exude femininity with a hippie
information, a platform for discussion. But most recently, it has become a stage where victims touch when a dainty loose top is
matched with a pleated skirt from
of sexual harassment share their harrowing tales of abuse.  GtW. Complement this ‘70s bohe-
mian look with a suede hat and a
leather bag from Sm accessories.
Facebook, twitter, and Instagram are currently flooded with per- ted by powerful film producer Harvey Weinstein  to women he Put the outfit together with a ‘70s
sonal stories of women (and a couple of men) tagged with #metoo.  had worked with.  inspired flat slingbacks, mules, or
the hashtag started as a call to action by american actress Hollywood bigwigs, including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Pal- platform heels from Parisian.
Alyssa Milano. In her tweet, she asked people who had experi- trow and  Lena Headey,  opened up about being harassed by
enced sexual abuse to Weinstein.  Reese With-
reply “me too.”  In an ac- erspoon, on the other
companying screenshot, hand, recounted her ex-
she explained: “If all the perience of being sexu-
women who have been ally abused by a director
sexually harassed or as- when she was just start-
saulted wrote ‘me too’ as ing out in her career. 
a status, we might give male celebrities have
people a sense of the also shared their stories
magnitude of the prob- of sexual assault. Ham-
lem.” ilton  star Javier Muñoz
milano’s tweet has wrote in reply to milano’s
since garnered more viral tweet, “me too. I
than 51,000 likes, 24,000 don’t know if [it] means
retweets, and 66,000 anything coming from
replies from ordinary a gay man but it’s hap-
women and famous pened. multiple times.”
personalities includ- the recent scandal
ing  Rosario Dawson, and milano’s online
Viola Davis, Gina  Ro- campaign have inspired
driguez, Lily Allen, thousands of individu-
and, locally, Saab Mag- als, famous or not, to
alona, among others.  the viral tweet of american actress alyssa milano that started the #metoo online movement share their personal sto-
While the “me too” ries of abuse.
movement originally the #metoo move-
started by Tarana Bourke in 2006 to spread awareness about ment has revealed what we already know or what many still re-
sexual abuse in underprivileged communities of color, the on- fuse to admit: the magnitude of the problem encompasses sta- Graphic Arts
line movement has only caught on and reached a wider scale last tus, race, and gender. optical fashion is at its best
week amid the news of multiple sexual assault allegedly commit- Turn to C2 with the Graphic arts trend. Be
Turn to C2

Stay
Sporty and techie Lock and loaded
Wear a crimson pull- the utilitarian look, with
over and a pair of jet its neutral colors, comple-
black technical sweat- ments the somber tone
pants for an outfit that’s of a gloomy weather. opt

dry,
comfortable but still for a neutral colored top,
looks put together. Be preferably in gray, and a
ready to tackle the wet pair of denim pants. For
and muddy streets in some serious grip even on
Saucony Caliber tR. Fin- wet, slippery and uneven

look
ish off your look with a terrain, slip on the Sau-
cool wearable gadget cony Peregrine 7, a runner
that tracks your every that’s all power with every
step and lets you stay footstrike, boasting of re-
connected to your social silience and energy.

Sharp
feeds.
C2 sunday, october 22, 2017
isahred@gmail.com young
oung Life

3Fromkey...
C1

sure to turn heads and minds with

playful stripes to keep you ahead of
everyone. start with a bold color like
a red knit top paired with a vertical-
striped navy blue skirt from sM Wom-
an. for an elegant approach, try on
a striped waist dress by sM Woman.
Have an even stronger refined look
with either white pointed flats, white
chunky heels, or metallic heels, all
from Parisian.

intellock locking system

is an innovative way to
keep your valuables safe

GivinG metals a new liFe

By Daniel Reyes

t
Minimal Utilitarian
the latest Minimal utilitarian trend Here are quite a number of things much more interesting than metal gates and plant
is for on-the-go fashionistas. this no- boxes. but a sheet metal fabricating company has innovated ways to transform these
fuss fall key look is all about structure
and matching pieces that always simple metal products into something smart and elegant.
look effortlesly polished. Live in a
big sleeve moment with sM Wom-
Md cutting edge Materials Processing corporation gives metals interesting. to change this perception, the company offers metal
an’s grey oversized top and pleated
a new life by recycling them to forge products that harmonize with fabrications that come in a variety of colors and textures that match
cullotes. cinch your waist with a
the environment. the company uses the origami technique where- diverse characters and tastes.
brown leather belt from sM accesso-
in a 2d thin sheet of metal is bended and formed into the desired With celosia, homeowners can customize the design and
ries and finish the look with either rib-
3d geometry through laser cutting. bring an added sense of personality to their home by choosing
bon-slides or velvet slides by Parisian.
in its commitment to “push beyond the boundaries of convention,” the pattern of metals, like peacock and houndstooth patterns,
cutting edge introduces three product lines, namely arcadia, celosia, among others.
Go to www.thesmstore.com or follow and intellock, that will make you look at metals in a new light. its innovative and tailor-made metal fabrications can be ap-
@TheSMStore on Facebook and Insta- plied to mundane items such as gates, fences, doors, staircase
gram for more information. Pockets of greens railings, windows, facades, and dividers. they can even be made
Having a garden, or at least a small piece of nature, in a small ur- into wall arts.
ban residential space is almost, if at all, impossible for those living
Smart lock
#metoo...
From C1
in condominium buildings.
but arcadia plant boxes give everyone, whether they live in a house intellock offers an innovative way to keep your valuables
with a backyard or in a studio unit, a chance to plant small greens or such as designer items, important documents, and jewelry
arrange flowers to add elegance and nature to their environment. safely. it uses a keyless entry lock using a password and sends
sexual assault can happen any- “We wanted every filipino individual to be able to have this an sMs to your phone, thus ensuring the safety of your valu-
where to anyone. the gut-wrenching opportunity to bring back into their home some pockets of cool ables.
accounts of those who went through greens that they can enjoy in their home, especially now in our ur- intellock steel storage also guarantees to protect items stored in-
the ordeal reveal that anyone from a ban dwellings where it’s all cramped and polluted,” explains Mel- side from harsh elements such as severe weather conditions. it can
mogul in a bathrobe to a creepy dude vin Dy, president and owner of Md Gruppe. also be customized by size, color, and celosia metal patterns.
at work to a random stranger on Arcadia and Celosia are exclusively distributed by Greenergy Ven-
the street to your very own relative Personalized patterns tures. Visit www.GreenergyVentures.com and like Greenergy on Face-
can  ruin your  self-esteem by  catcall- Most people often think of metal as something standard and un- book for more information.
ing, touching, or, worst, raping you. 
it also reveals how victims refuse to
fight back and choose to keep their
traumatic experience to themselves
in fear of humiliation, defamation,
and losing a job. it shows that the
perpetrators usually get away with
their inappropriate advances and live
a normal life, while their victims are
forever traumatized. 
the avalanche of #Metoo tagged
posts is a clear indication that the
statistics we have on sexual abuse
may be grossly  inaccurate. Here in
the Philippines, a 2015 survey by un
Women revealed that “3 in 5 women
have experienced sexual harassment
at least once in their lifetime” and
that half of the women to whom un-
wanted attentions were forced did
nothing after the incident. the num- arcadia plant boxes celosia metal fabrications can be used in gates, fences, doors, and more
ber could further balloon had women
who did not speak up disclose their
experience.
While #Metoo has sparked a

Millennials teach seniors

conversation and provided a  plat-
form  for  victims (mostly women)
to share their stories, several critics
claim that it has removed the blame

how to Make video calls

from men and instead put the weight,
once again, on women  who  had
to recount a horrifying experience. 
“Why are we still demanding that
women out themselves as survi- Life is about to change for 68-year-old Evange- He added, “some people say that they’re too
vors...rather than demanding that line Ganzon, as her son is about to leave for an- old for these things—that these are for millennials
men out themselves as abusers,” other country. only. that’s not true. they just got here; they can
author Heather Jo Flores wrote in the physical separation would have been diffi- still learn. We all just learn at our own pace.”
Independent.  cult for nanay Vangie had she not known how to indeed, the lesson was initially confusing for nanay
the online campaign is arguably keep in touch with her loved ones—thankfully she Vangie. “the video call was hard at first,” she admit-
passive, but a Los angeles-based psy- does, with the help of smart Millenniors program. ted. but thankfully, the young volunteers were pa-
chologist said that speaking up on so- smart’s “Millenniors” program—a play on the tient and committed to teaching their old students. a student from adamson university teaches nanay Vangie
cial media can be a positive first step words “millennials” and “seniors”—aims to teach “We really needed patience because our lolos and how to make video calls and use facebook Messenger
for victims of inappropriate behavior. technology to the elderly. the second session, held lolas are not like us, who could easily understand
“People are a little more aware of it,” in partnership with adamson university, taught the and absorb the things we were talking about,” said ferrer also noted how happy the seniors were
said dr. Nicole Lightman.  senior citizens of barangay 734 in Paco, Manila how dela cruz. “We just needed to go back to the things to be taught how to use youtube. “i saw the utter
Zero tolerance, concrete ac- to use facebook Messenger, make video calls, and they needed to remember, again and again.” joy of some elders while backtracking what they
tion, and support from authorities are watch videos on youtube. the hard work of volunteers was paid off when missed in their favorite teleseryes or basketball
needed to stop abuse from happen- employee volunteers from smart led the lecture, they saw how the information they taught can pos- games on youtube.”
ing. but if sharing a traumatic experi- while students from adamson university’s com- sibly enrich the life of senior citizens. smart community Partnerships senior manager
ence will shed a light on the breadth puter science department and adamson’s inte- Christine Ferrer, a volunteer from smart, was Stephanie Orlino said the Millenniors program is
of the problem and, at least, unbur- grated community extension services sat with the touched upon seeing how one participant re- a way the telecommunications company enables
den the victim/survivor, we should elders to provide one-on-one assistance. acted after activating Messenger. “i saw a grand- digital learning to be accessible to more people.
rally behind such a cause.  “it made me happy to see them smile,” shared mother add her granddaughter on facebook and “i am glad we have this program,” nanay Vangie
silence enables abuse. and, yes, Toby dela Cruz, a computer science student [sent a] message [to] her right away, ‘Gising ka na enthused after the session. “i can use the things i
#Metoo. from adamson. ba?’,” she related. learned today to call my son.”
 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2017 C3
Isah V. Red, Editor / Nickie Wang, Issue Editor isahred@gmail.com

‘SUNDAY
PINASAYA’S’
KINDNESS
CAMPAIGN
STARTS TODAY

By Nickie Wang The cast of the musical variety

show, “Sunday PinaSaya”

T
HE Dubsmash Queen Maine Mendo- IT IS customary among many
za has made a lot of transformations Filipinos to repay what is given
to them. But this Christmas
in her life since she appeared on TV season, Sunday PinaSaya rede-
as Yaya Dub. She’s recorded a single, fines the cultural trait of “utang
made two films and starred na loob” through its advocacy
campaign that aims to spread
in a series with her perennial kindness. Instead of paying the
partner Alden Richards, gratitude back, the program en-
courages everyone to just sim-
launched countless ply pay it forward.
brands as a celeb- Dubbed “I-Share Ang Puso
ng Pasko,” the advocacy cam-
rity endorser, and paign is told through a 9-week
so much more. comedy sketch which com-
mences today. It’s the story of
And now she’s the modern day Robin Hoods:
turned her hand On Thursday, the 22-year-old TV star will meet with her fans Melo, Gaston, and Bart, who are
at the launching of Yup, I am that Girl, an autobiographical bailed out of jail by a mysteri-
to something new as book that gives the public an intimate peak into her life on ous person named Master Lodi.
she celebrates an- and off camera. He gives the ‘Trekkings’ a mis-
other milestone. Based on the book description, Yup, I am that Girl is an unfil- sion to share good vibes and
tered version of her personal blog, Pessimistic Optimist Bella, kindness to two people without
which she’s been maintaining since 2012. The blog features expecting any reward. Each of
her random thoughts and personal adventures. And follow- their two recipients will do the
ing on that promise, what we can expect from the book is a same gesture to two people,
lighthearted account of her rise to stardom from a virtually and then they will do the same
unknown girl from Bulacan, to her emergence as a social me- to two more, thereafter creating
dia darling, and from her non-speaking character as Yaya Dub an expanding network of self-
to the fanfare over the phenomenal success of AlDUb. less giving.
The title, on the other hand, is inspired by her Twitter ac- Although the Trekkings are
count bio that she deactivated in June after posting a series fictional characters, they will
of cryptic messages. encourage real people from all
With Yup, I am that Girl, Maine joins the ranks of other celeb- walks of life to join the mission.
rities who have dabbled into writing like Kathryn Bernardo, Each week, cast members of
Vice Ganda
Ganda, Michael V, Sarah Lahbati, Solenn Heussaff, Sunday Pinasaya will join their
Heart Evangelista
Evangelista, Alex Gonzaga, and Andrea Brillantes, down-line recipients as they
to name a few. share the heart of Christmas to
Yup, I am that Girl, which took Maine more than half a year others. The act of sharing will
to finish, is published by Summit Books, which revealed the be featured every Sunday and it
good news on its Instagram account on Monday. The publish- shall be symbolized by the giv-
ing company shared a teaser video and a sneak peek of the ing of a heart-shaped Christmas
cover of Maine’s book. wreath.
The same video was shared on Maine’s official Facebook GMA First Vice President for
page, 35-seconder teaser is accompanied by a caption that Program Management Joey Ab-
Out soon is says, “I’m about to release my FIRST EVER BOOK c/o @Summit. acan thanks the viewers for their
"Yup, I Am books! #YupIAmThatGirl is coming soon to bookstores and continued support. “In a way, this
That Girl," newsstands! Stay tuned for book launch details!” campaign is also our gesture of
Maine Men- Meanwhile, Maine and Alden starred in a movie made for giving back. We are deeply thank-
doza's book television helmed by Adolf Alix, Jr. The trending show en- ful to all our viewers because
which reveals titled Love is…aired last night and once again captured the they made Sunday PinaSaya the
the real
hearts of televiewers. undisputed number one Sunday
story of the
phenomenal Love is…, which redefines love, promise, and commitment, noontime show since it launched
star on and is AlDub’s first project after their GMA-7 series Destined to be in 2015.”
off camera Yours and their 2016 movie, Imagine You and Me’ Meanwhile, Sunday PinaSaya
Supervising Producer Ramel
David says, “We are so passion-
ate about this campaign that

VICE GANDA
we want everyone to follow
suit. Just imagine how many
lives you can potentially touch
with just one simple mission
that begins with yourself.”
Sunday PinaSaya also urges

EXPLORES MUSIC AND

its viewers who will take on the
mission to share their stories
of giving online. They can post
videos or pictures on the official

BEAUTY AT THE BIG DOME

KNOWN for having the grandest performanc-
es and concerts, it is truly expected from the
Unkabogable Star Vice Ganda to introduce his
cosmetics brand with a big concert. Vice Cos-
metics is formally launching its brand in the
grandest, biggest and funnest way—a concert
dubbed Ganda for All starring its founder and
chief creative officer, Vice Ganda.
The show will be staged today at 7 p.m.
at Smart-Araneta Coliseum as Vice Ganda
shows the world that beauty knows no
boundaries, beauty knows no age, class and
size. And anyone can be beautiful regardless
of their status in life.
With special performances from Vice
Ganda, guest stars Maymay Entrata, Kisses
Delavin, and more, the concert will likely
garner at least 10,000 attendees making it
possible for Vice Cosmetics to set the record
for having the biggest brand launch yet in
the Philippines.
It will be a night of Ponies, Unicorns and
so much beauty, love and music with lots of
surprises thrown in between.
Fans can get their tickets by buying Vice
Cosmetics Phenomenal Lip Kits and Good
Vibes Matte Lipsticks at kiosks located in Tri-
noma, Market! Market! and Farmers Market
and The SM Stores at SM Fairview, SM North
Edsa, SM Megamall and SM Masinag.
Facebook page of Sunday Pina-
Saya or on their personal so-
cial media accounts, using the
hashtag #IShareAngPusoNg-
Pasko.
Select stories of giving from
the viewers will be featured
during the Christmas special of
the program this December and
will also be invited to watch the
episode live and see their favor-
ite SPS hosts.
Watch Sunday PinaSaya as
“I-Share Ang Puso ng Pasko”
stars rolling today. The pro-
gram will also release the
campaign’s official theme
song which will be performed
by the whole cast.
Vice Ganda ventures into makeup with Vice Cosmetics, which he is
launching today at the Big Dome
 C4 sunday, october 22, 2017 Desiree Carlos, Editor daycarlos28@yahoo.com
Pets

Walking
The paw soak

By Rhodora Lao
and a good paW soak after
W
Alking your dog is very important for
their physical, mental and emotional
health.

Do walk your dogs every day around
the neighborhood so they can exercise
and smell “pee-mails.”
Walking also stimulates their minds,
and makes them happy as they get to
expend excess energy and “socialize”
with other dogs.
During these walks, they do their
pee and poo business. Please bring
toilet paper or newspaper to scoop the
poop and put these in a plastic bag for
proper disposal later.
Often, you will encounter dog and
cat droppings—evidence of how
some dog owners can be so irresponsi-
ble. Try to avoid these droppings and
encourage other pet owners to pick up
after their pets.
Because a lot of diseases can be
passed on through infected drop-
pings—some of them deadly like par-
vo virus—please make sure:
1. your pet’s vaccination is up-to-
date;
2. your pet’s immune system is
strong through proper nutrition; and
3. make sure your pet will not bring
into the house any germ and virus.
After walks and exposure outside
the tiled areas of the house, please
give your pet a good wipe down from
the face to the body using baby wipes
or a clean face towel.
Paws need special attention as
they come into contact with dirt, pee
and excrement. The simplest way to
disinfect them is to do a paw soak.
This is very important as you do not
want your pet to lick his/her paws
with all those dirt he/she could have
walked on. Wipe the paw dry after the paw soak . The color of the mixture should look like iced tea.
A paw soak is very simple. Here are
the items you will need: For medium-sized dogs, you can use
1. water; a basin where they can stand up. Rhodora “Rhodes” Lao be-
2. povidone-iodine; and An alternative is a small dipper or came a supporter of animal
3. a container where you can wash tabo but you can only soak one paw rescue groups in the past year
your dog’s paws. at a time. after adopting her first two dogs,
According to Dr. karen Becker, Schnitzel and Logan. A wife to a
The water should be enough to cov- “Povidone-iodine is an organic io- supportive husband, Dennis, and
er the paws. Put the povidone-iodine dine solution. it's safe, non-toxic, mother to two intelligent and
solution in the water (one teaspoon antifungal, antibacterial, and anti- animal-loving daughters Shan-
may be enough) until the color of the yeast.” nen and Sabine, she is passionate
mixture is similar to that of iced tea. After soaking the paws in the mix- about giving the best natural care
Mix well. Then let your dog stand in- ture, wipe their paws dry and they are for her dogs and promoting re-
side the basin or container for at least ready to go! Their feet will smell good sponsible pet ownership.
two minutes. —all clean and healthy!

My Furry Bestie
THis corner features pets of animal lovers every week. We POOCHiE, a three-
hope new owners and those thinking of getting a pet will year-old male labra-
be encouraged to be responsible “furparents” through these dor, is one playful
features. We also hope more people will be moved to be kind dog, says owner Je-
to animals when they read about the great relationship that fpoy g. Abaca.
can be created between humans and animals. "He is super ku-
lit and he always
For contributions, please email to daycarlos28@yahoo.com and wants to play out-
put My Furry Bestie as subject. side," Jefpoy adds.

kEnOBi, 2, and owner

Vanessa gilmar fell in love
with each other the first
moment they met when
kenobi was four months
old at the house of Vanes-
sa's mother-in-law.
"Unang tingin pa lang
niya sa akin, feeling nya ay
close na kami. inabot niya
TOOTsiE AnD CHUCHAY are sisters who ang paws niya sa akin, sa-
turned seven months last Oct. 7. bay nagpakarga na. Be-
Romela Carbonel, their owner, says,"They are cause of that, i asked Mama
my happiness. napkalambing po ng magkapa- if i can be kenobi's mom
tid. They also take care of a kitten we adopted. and i was so glad she said
They are that sweet and loving. " yes," gilmar says.

nancy V. Avelino enjoys the company of her rescued dogs. All are asong pinoy or Aspins.