Manila Standard Today - May 3, 2012 Issue

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TODAY
Standard
Manila
Vol. XXVI No. 65 12 Pages, 2 Sections
P18.00 THURSDAY, May 3, 2012
Labor group
pushes pay
hike of P99
Hog, chicken growers
hail move but with
reservations
Advocacy body rates
media as partly free
House restricts reporters access to solons records
US neutrality puts
PH interest behind
Alliance bid
by Reds may
revive talks
Asian economies told
to share growth evenly
List of importers also purged to curb smuggling
Two homes. A gate and
fench hide the residence
of President Aquino on
Times Street in Quezon city.
His assets and net worth
increased this year after his
sisters bequeathed to him
their share of the property.
He declared a net worth of
P50.194 million in 2010 and
P54.999 million in 2011.
Lower photo shows the
new address of former
President Joseph Estrada on
598 Mangga Street, Santa
Mesa, Manila. Estrada will
move in to establish resi-
dence as part of his plan to
run for mayor of Manila in
2013. DANNY PATA
Emphasizing a point. Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda addresses the 45th meeting of the Asian
Development Banks board of governors in Manila on Wednesday.
Agri execs sacked
over meat imports
ASIA must make sure the benets of
economic growth trickled down to the
poorest and address the rising gap be-
tween the rich and poor, Asian Devel-
opment Bank president Haruko Kuroda
said Wednesday at the opening of the
45th meeting of the banks board of
governors in Manila.
Unfortunately, while the region has
made remarkable progress in reducing
poverty, the benets of growth had yet
to reach several hundreds of millions of
Asians who continue to struggle on less
than $1.25 a day, Kuroda said.
The very drivers of Asias economic
successnew technology, globalization
and market-oriented reforms---have also
That was after the local growers
complained that smuggled meat was
killing their business.
Relieved from ofce were the bu-
reaus director, Efren Nuestro, and Jane
Bacayo, director of the National Meat
Inspection Service, Agriculture Assis-
tant Secretary Dave Catbagan said.
He said Agriculture Secretary Pro-
ceso Alcala also held in abeyance the
FREEDOM of the press has improved in the Phil-
ippines but the media there are still classied as
partly free, according to the Washington-based
advocacy organization Freedom House.
Communications Secretary Ramon Carandang
said Wednesday the Philippines had climbed ve
notches in the rankings in this years Freedom of
the Press report of Freedom House, from 93rd
spot with an over-all rating of 46 in 2011 to 88th
this year with over-all rating of 42.
With a country rating of 42, we acknowledge
that more needs to be done to further improve the
countrys rating, which is still considered partly
free, he said.
The annual Freedom of the Press report mea-
sures the level of freedom and editorial indepen-
dence enjoyed by the media in countries around the
world. The levels of freedom are scored on a scale
of 1 (most free) to 100 (least free), and nations are
classied as Free, Partly Free, or Not Free.
Tied at the number one spot in this years re-
port are Finland, Norway and Sweden, with a rat-
ing of 10. Last in the list is North Korea with a
rating of 97.
Carandang said the Philippines ranked highest
in Asia, and he described it as [a] recognition of
By Joyce Pangco Paares
MALACAANG said Wednes-
day it respects the United Statess
decision not to take sides in the
territorial dispute between the
Philippines and China over the
Panatag or Scarborough Shoal.
The US has its reasons. We
have our own positions, and we
have our own actions to take to
assert ourselves, Communica-
tions Development Secretary
Ramon Carandang said.
He repeated the govern-
ments position that Panatag
Shoal is part of Philippine terri-
tory amid the fresh claim to it by
Taiwan, which China views as a
renegade province.
We will do everything we
can to preserve our sovereign-
ty over Scarborough Shoal,
Carandang said.
After meeting with Foreign
Secretary Albert del Rosario in
Washington, US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton reafrmed
her countrys commitment to its
mutual defense treaty with the
Philippines, but said the US does
MALACAANG said Wednes-
day the alliance being offered by
the communists was a positive
step toward reviving the peace
negotiations with them, which
have been stalled for 14 months.
The proposed recommen-
datory body composed of
representatives of the Com-
munist Party of the Philip-
pines-National Democratic
Front would serve as a con-
sultation mechanism to esh
out and address the concerns
raised by the communist
group, Communications De-
velopment Secretary Ramon
Carandang said.
Government chief nego-
tiator Alexander Padilla said
the talks with the communist
rebels might resume in June
because of the special track
they were offering.
By Maricel Cruz
and Rey Requejo
MEMBERS of the House of Represen-
tatives on Wednesday barred reporters
from gaining access to their attendance
records and reported annual income
and said those documents could only
be released with their approval.
The reporters said the lawmakers
resurrected an old rule that required
going through a complicated proce-
dure to gain access to their records.
Getting access to their records is
like applying for annulment of mar-
riage, a reporter for a mass circulated
newspaper said.
The House revived an old rule that
took effect in 2009, which requires re-
porters to submit a written request, have
an interview, and wait for a maximum
10 days for approval or disapproval.
The rule says a lawmaker has the
right to reject a request to disclose
his statement of assets and liabilities,
which the law requires, and his atten-
dance record.
THE Trade Union Congress of the Philip-
pines on Wednesday said it will push for a
99-peso across-the-board wage increase after
President Benigno Aquino III rejected a leg-
islated minimum wage hike of P125 a day.
Ninety-nine pesos is just right because
of the increase in the cost of electricity,
water and other basic commodities, group
president Ernesto Herrera said.
He said the government was mandated
by law to protect the rights of workers and
promote their welfare, even as it recognized
the principles of shared responsibility be-
tween workers and employers, including
the right of enterprises to reasonable return
on investments, expansion and growth.
Herrera said his group was also batting
for the immediate suspension of the value-
added tax on oil up to a certain percentage
to minimize the impact of continually ris-
ing fuel prices.
The more militant labor groups slammed
Next page
Grassroots award. Fr. Edwin
Gariguez shows the Goldman Envi-
ronmental Award he received in San
Francisco. JULIE FABROA
Half moon. A partial solar eclipse
will be visible in the Philippines from
sunrise at 5:27 a.m. to 7:06 a.m. on
May 21. The moon will pass between
the earth and sun, partially obscuring
the image of the sun, the weather
bureau said.
Next page
Next page
Next page
By Christine F. Herrera
THE government acceded to the demands of the
hog and poultry industries Wednesday by replacing
the head of the Bureau of Animal Industry and purg-
ing the list of authorized importers,
implementation of
Administrative Or-
der 5, which the hog
raisers have criti-
cized as favoring
meat importers.
Secretary Alcala also ordered a stop
to accrediting new importers, and the
existing list of importers is being re-
viewed for purging, Catbagan told the
Manila Standard.
The purge comes after the Swine
Development Council said one of the
top 10 import-
ers only had a
paid-up capital of
P31,000 but man-
aged to import
pork and chicken
meat amounting to P650 million.
Customs Commissioner Runo Bi-
azon also said the bureau had started
implementing 100-percent inspection
of imported meat.
Abono chairman and Swine Development
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News
ManilaStandardToday mst.daydesk@gmail.com MAY 3, 2012 THURSDAY
A2
NAYPYITAW Aung San Suu Kyi
completed her historic journey from
political prisoner to parliamentarian
Wednesday, assuming public ofce for
the rst time in a risky new strategy to
work alongside Myanmars new reform-
minded government after her 24-year
struggle against military rule.
Suu Kyi joins parliament
The session Wednesday ce-
ments a detente between Suu
Kyis party and the administra-
tion of President Thein Sein,
which came to power last year
after the nations long-ruling
army junta stepped down. Some
analysts see it as a gamble in
which the opposition could end
up bestowing legitimacy upon a
regime that needs Suu Kyi to end
years of isolation from the West
and get lingering sanctions lifted.
The 66-year-old democracy
leader will have almost no power
in the assembly, but shell nev-
ertheless have an ofcial voice
in the legislative branch and the
chance to challenge public poli-
cy from inside the halls of power
for the rst time.
Suu Kyis parliamentary debut
comes after her National League
for Democracy party lost its rst
major political battle since this
Southeast Asian nations April 1
by-electiona bid to change the
lawmakers oath.
The NLD had refused to take
its seats in the assembly last
week because they opposed
wording in the oath that obliges
legislators to safeguard the
constitution. The party, which
has vowed to amend the docu-
ment because it enshrines mili-
tary power, wanted the phrasing
changed to respect.
Their failure to push through
even that small change, though,
underscores the immense chal-
lenges ahead in a nation still
dominated by the military. On
Wednesday, Suu Kyi and sev-
eral dozen of her party brethren
chose to compromise for now
jointly reciting the oath in the
capital, Naypyitaw, as the ruling
party and the army looked on.
Mobbed by reporters after
the ceremony, Suu Kyi said she
would not give up the struggle
she has waged since 1988.
We have to now work within
the parliament as well as out-
side the parliament as we have
been doing all along, she said.
The legislature itself was in-
stalled after a 2010 vote that the
NLD boycotted and the interna-
tional community decried as a
sham. Now, as a parliamentary
minority occupying only a few
dozen seats, the Suu Kyi-led
opposition will have little pow-
er to change what it wants to
change mostthe constitution,
which allots 25 percent of as-
sembly seats to unelected mili-
tary appointees.
Asked if it would be awkward
sitting alongside the army, Suu
Kyi said she has tremendous
goodwill toward the soldiers.
We would like our parlia-
ment to be in line with genuine
democratic values. Its not be-
cause we want to remove any-
body, she said. We just want to
make the kind of improvements
that will make our national as-
sembly a truly democratic one.
Thein Seins government has
been widely praised for institut-
ing sweeping reforms over the
last several months, including
releasing hundreds of political
prisoners, signing cease-res
with rebels, easing press censor-
ship and holding the April 1 by-
election that allowed Suu Kyis
party to enter parliament.
The worlds most prominent
prisoners of conscience, held
under house arrest for much of
the last two decades. When Suu
Kyi, 1991 Nobel Peace Prize
winner, was nally released in
late 2010, few could have imag-
ined she would make the leap
from democracy advocate to
elected ofcial in less than 18
months. AP
Aung San Suu Kyi
Asian...
served to create and increase dis-
parities within and among Asian
economies.
The banks annual meeting
opened amid tight security and swel-
tering heat at the Philippine Interna-
tional Convention Center.
Kuroda said the ADB had se-
cured $12.4 billion from donor
countries for a development fund
to help it ght poverty in the Asia-
Pacic region from 2013 to 2016.
The replenished Asian Devel-
opment Fund will help borrow-
ing countries promote inclusive
and environmentally sustainable
growth through investment in
infrastructure, education, social
safety nets and clean and renew-
able energy, among others, Ku-
roda said.
In Malacaang, Communica-
tions Secretary Ramon Carandang
said the ADB meeting in Manila
would be an opportunity tp cre-
ate a more positive image of the
Philippines overseas.
Manila being the venue, we get
to highlight the gains that we have
seen in the country over the last
two years, he said.
Kuroda opened the meeting with
optimism, saying the Asia-Pacic
region was expected to maintain
its growth momentum this year. It
said the bank saw the Asia-Pacic
region growing by 6.9 percent this
year, and 7.3 percent in 2013.
He said Asias economies would
be resilient and would not be hurt by
the euro zone crisis. The worst of
the euro zone crisis is over, he said.
Now, Asia had to make sure that
the growth trickled down to the
poorest and address edrising in-
equality. Elaine Ramos-Alangui-
lan and Joyce Pangco Paares
Labor...
President Aquino for rejecting
the 125-peso legislated wage
hike, accusing him of seeking
to appease big business and the
bankers attending the Asian
Development Bank conference
in Manila.
President Aquinos rejec-
tion of labors demand for a
125-peso wage hike is classic
noynoyingall wrong and ill-
considered, said Bayan Muna
Rep. Teddy Casio, using the
term coined by protesters to re-
fer to the Presidents reputation
for inaction.
Casio said the Presidents
computation was too simplistic
even as it is awed as he used
the entire labor force of 40 mil-
lion as base gure for saying the
increase would cost P1.4 trillion,
when the reality was that only 20
million wage and salary workers
would be covered.
President Aquino is anti-peo-
ple, anti-poor and anti-workers
and pro-big business. He rolled
out the carpet for ADB, Bagong
Alyansang Makabayan secretary
general Renato Reyes said.
It seems Aquino was send-
ing a message to his guests in
the ADB when he rejected the
125-peso wage hike while main-
taining the contractualization re-
gime, he said.
Casio said President Aqui-
nos rejection of the proposed
wage hike was grossly insensi-
tive to the workers plight and
contravened the ADB theme of
inclusive growth through good
governance.
He said the President was con-
sidering the wage hike as a dole
when it was the just share of the
wealth already produced by the
workers themselves.
President Aquino sees it as an
economic loss when in fact it is a
gain for the workers whose purchas-
ing power will rise, Casio said.
San Juan Rep. Joseph Victor
Ejercito, vice chairman of the
House committee on labor, said
the President acted recklessly by
rejecting a wage increase.
The government must pro-
vide a wage increase now, Ejer-
cito said.
It must provide relief to the
hardworking masses who are
hard pressed to cope with the
continuing increase in the prices
of basic commodities like oil
products, food and services like
electricity and water rates.
Ejercito called for the creation
of a labor advisory council that
would advise the President on
workers needs.
President Aquinos claim
that the economy cannot af-
ford the workers decades-old
demand for a 125-peso wage
increase is bogus. Aquinoy-
nomics has reared its ugly head
once again, Gabriela Rep.
Emmi De Jesus said.
Aquinoynomics is a one-
sided view of the economy that
favors only the interests of the
rich big business capitalists at
the expense of the workers.
Partido ng Maggagawa chair-
man Renato Magtubo said it was
time the capitalists sacriced for
a change and absorb the wage
hike by accepting less prots.
He criticized government reg-
ulations on the practice of hiring
contractual labor, saying they
fell short of protecting workers.
Vito Barcelo, Christine F. Her-
rera and Maricel Cruz
Agri...
Council director Rosendo So
said the hog and poultry growers
welcomed the news with reser-
vations.
He said the council had not
dropped its threat to go on a week-
long pork and chicken holiday un-
til the government had ofcially
put in place measures to save the
dying backyard industry.
We welcome the good news,
but this is just a partial victory be-
cause until we see the government
level the playing eld, we cannot
be complacent. We want smug-
gling completely eradicated, So
told the Manila Standard.
He said Alcala had also told
him that Nuestro could not be
sacked. He was merely removed
from his post because he was a ca-
reer executive service ofcer.
We are still worried because
the smuggling syndicate in the
Agriculture Department and
Customs is well-entrenched as
Commissioner Biazon himself
admits, said Freddie Dy, another
council director and president of
United Agri Producers Group.
Nuestros inuence cannot be
underestimated.
Bacayo, who is facing charges
of graft and corruption and der-
eliction of duty led by Agham
Rep. Angelo Palmones, resigned
Wednesday, So said.
Catbagan said the reference
price for swine was now pegged
at 80 cents to $2.10 for carcass-
es and half carcasses, $2.12 for
ham, shoulders and other prime
cuts, and $2.97 for offal, skin,
entrails and fat.
For chicken, Catbagan said,
the reference price had been in-
creased from 54 cents to $0.95 a
kilo for mechanically de-boned
meat and $1.23 for leg quarters,
thighs and liver.
The department acted on the
industrys demands immediately
after the three-day hogs national
convention in Cebu, which Secre-
tary Alcala and I attended, Cat-
bagan said.
We are open to constructive
dialogue and we accorded them
a seat to be present with us when
we do the inspection by the Agri-
culture and Customs and examin-
ers, Catbagan said.
Daniel Javellana Jr., council
director and chairman of the Na-
tional Federation of Hog Farmers
Inc., said while it was not the job
of the private sector to police the
industry from smuggling, they
would be willing to assign some-
one from the industry and help the
government do its job.
The council ofcials also took
Biazon to task for allowing in-
spections to be done after the
imported goods had already been
transported out of Customs.
How can we trust that no
hanky-panky is going on when
the Customs and NMIS examin-
ers are inspecting the imports in
the owners cold storage areas,
outside of Customs jurisdiction?
So said.
We demand that the inspection
be done before the release of the
imports.
The council will hold a press
conference at the Sulo Hotel
today to rm up their position
against the smuggling syndicate
that they said had cost the gov-
ernment some P3.7 billion in rev-
enues last year alone.
Romeo Eangelista, legal coun-
sel of the Samahan Walang Iwa-
nan Farmers Cooperative in
Pangasinan, hailed the relief of
Nuestro and Bacayo as an initial
victory for backyard raisers who
comprised some 70 percent of the
countrys hog output.
These ofcials should not be
given any assignment in the DA
that can inuence the on-going
probe on support personnel as-
signed at the Bureau of Cus-
toms who are believed to be in
cahoots with smuggling syndi-
cates, he said.
Agham partylist Rep. Angelo
Palmones also hailed the ouster of
the two meat inspection ofcials.
Malacanang should now start
looking into the involvement
of corrupt ranking Customs of-
cials, he said. With Orlan L.
Mauricio and Othel V. Campos
Advocacy...
the governments initiatives to strengthen press freedom in the country.
The Philippines had been cited as one of several key countries where
positive changes had been made in press freedom, Carandang said.
The reporters assigned to the Ombudsman said Freedom House was
not aware of the restrictions imposed by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio
Morales on the access to information on the complaints led against
politicians and public servants.
Morales said reporters seeking information about cases must rst
submit a formal letter stating the purpose of the inquiry. Their release
was subject to her or her deputies approval.
The order was intended to ensure the effective implementation of
the Citizens Charter of the Ofce of the Ombudsman and at the same
time properly observe condentiality of proceedings, Morales said in
a memorandum.
The clampdown was contrary to Morales statements that the media
played a watchdog role in the battle against graft and corruption in the
government, the reporters said.
Morales had called on on media to provide the Ombudsman leads
and sources and documents that could help strengthen cases against
offenders, but her ofce had been strict in providing copies of com-
plaints, orders and resolutions, the reporters said. Joyce Pangco Pa-
ares and Macon Ramos-Araneta
Alliance...
Our peace panel is trying to
create a mechanism so that the
concerns of the leftists are aired
and discussed. It is more of a
forum where their concerns and
their proposed solutions to the is-
sues can be discusses and vetted
and aired, Carandang said.
This is not power-sharing. It
is not giving any kind of legal au-
thority to that group. It is merely a
way for us to listen to what their
concerns are. We welcome this
development.
The head of the leftist group
Bayan Muna, former congress-
man Satur Ocampo, welcomed
Malacaangs announcement that
that it was willing to forge an alli-
ance with the communists to end
their insurgency.
[This is] to facilitate the regu-
lar formal peace talks that are now
in limbo, Ocampo told the Ma-
nila Standard.
CPP founding chairman Jose
Maria Sison on Monday renewed
his offer of an alliance and truce
with the government through the
special track in the negotia-
tions, dropping the communists
earlier proposal for a coalition.
He made the offer in his online
lecture before the National De-
fense College of the Philippines
in Camp Aguinaldo on Monday.
Padilla described the new offer as
doable.
The [National Democratic
Front Panel] continues to offer the
special track of immediate truce
and alliance on the basis of a
general declaration of common
intent, all for the benet of the
Filipino people, Sison said.
The communists in August
offered a coalition with the gov-
ernment based on their Ten-point
Concise Agreement for an Imme-
diate Just Peace, a 2005 proposal
that was consistently rejected by
the past administration.
Padilla also immediately re-
jected the coalition proposal,
saying the 2005 draft agreement
was tantamount to government
capitulation to the communists.
Joyce Pangco Paares With
Maricel Cruz
US...
not take sides on the competing
sovereignty claims to land features
in the South China Sea.
As a Pacic power we have
a national interest in freedom of
navigation, the maintenance of
peace and stability, respect for in-
ternational law and the unimpeded
lawful commerce across our sea
lanes, Clinton said.
Del Rosario said the Philip-
pines was pursuing a three-track
approach on the Panatag Shoal
dispute: a political track, using the
Association of Southeast Asian
Nations as a framework through
the code of conduct that is being
put together; a legal track through
the International Tribunal of the
Law of the Sea; and a diplomatic
track to de-escalate the tension
with China.
Washingtons refusal to take
Manilas side in the dispute led
Senator Gregorio Honasan to
call for a performance audit of
the Mutual Defense Treaty and
the Visiting Forces Agreement to
determine if they still serve their
purpose.
Honasan has been urging the
government to pressure the US
to explain in clear terms what
it can do to aid the Philippines
under the two treaties in the
standoff with China.
This is precisely the categori-
cal commitment we should extract
from our so-called historical allies
like the US and the Asean based
on the MDT, VFA and other mul-
tilateral and bilateral security and
economic arrangements... Hona-
san, a former chairman of the Sen-
ate defense panel, told the Manila
Standard.
If not, lets terminate them and
prepare to work hard to go it alone
if necessary.
But Senator Sergio Osmea III
said the US position was expected.
They sent a better signal by
saying they would help strength-
en our defense capabilities. Such
are the games nations play, he
said.
China knows that America is
on our side. Clear as day. But di-
rect American intervention like
sending her warships would only
be triggered by a higher tripwire.
Like the Chinese impeding free-
dom of navigation in the South
China Sea.
Foreign Affairs spokesman
Raul Hernandez said Philippine
vessels would remain in Scarbor-
ough Shoal in the West Philippine
Sea despite Chinas insistence that
they leave.
Hernandez said in a radio inter-
view that those vessels included
the Coast Guards search-and-
rescue vessel BRP Edsa and a ship
from the Bureau of Fisheries and
Aquatic Resources.
He said there were three Fili-
pino shing boats in the disputed
area, which is 124 nautical miles
west of Zambales.
China has four maritime sur-
veillance ships, eight shing boats
and 11 service boats in the shoal,
Hernandez said. He said those ves-
sels were in violation of the Philip-
pines territorial sovereignty.
The standoff at the shoal started
on April 10 after Chinese vessels
blocked the Philippine Navys
BRP Gregorio del Pilar from ar-
resting Chinese poachers who
were collecting giant clams, cor-
als, sharks and other protected
maritime species.
When the ship pulled out to
refuel at Poro Point in La Union,
the Chinese ships and shing ves-
sels left the shoal with their illegal
catch. The next day, the two Chi-
nese ships returned to the area, fol-
lowed by more shing boats.
Communist Party of the Phil-
ippines founding chairman Jose
Maria Sison said China would not
go to war over the Panatag Shoal
despite the hawkish remarks by a
Chinese general.
The China Daily quoted Peo-
ples Liberation Army Maj. Gen.
Luo Yuan as saying China should
station troops on the Spratly is-
lands, send naval patrols, mark its
sovereignty with the national ag,
and encourage more Chinese sh-
ermen and oil companies to move
into the area.
China has shown a preference
for economic and diplomatic ac-
tion rather than military action in
international affairs, Sison said
in an e-mailed copy of a lecture he
delivered.
He said China would not choose
outright military act of aggres-
sion that would ruin its commit-
ment to the United Nations Con-
vention on the Law of the Sea and
the Declaration on Conduct of Par-
ties in the South China Sea.
It is in our sovereign interest
not to involve the country and
people in any self-damaging act,
like an unnecessary war or even
unnecessary shows of military
force or provocations, Sison said.
He claimed the revival of
Chinas aggressive actions in
the disputed areas in the West
Philippine Sea had something
to do with the United States
renewed aggressiveness to for-
tify its military presence in the
Asia-Pacic Region.
Sison said the defense treaty be-
tween the Philippines and the US
would not stop China from bul-
lying the country. With John An-
thony Concepcion and Florante
S. Solmerin
House...
The House of Representa-
tives apparently had adopted the
scheme used by the Supreme
Court to avoid public disclosures
of the assets of the chief justice
and the associate justices.
Chief Justice Renato Corona is
being impeached in the Senate for
his alleged non-disclosure of his as-
sets in 2010. His spokesman said he
met the requirement for 2011 but
declined to disclose details, citing a
Supreme Court policy.
There is an existing court reso-
lution that prevents disclosure.
Until and unless the court resolu-
tion is recalled, then it cant be dis-
closed, Supreme Court spokes-
man and Court Administrator Jose
Midas Marquez said.
The May 2, 1989 resolution
says it is unlawful to use the
statements led under the Code
of Conduct and Ethical Stan-
dards for Public Ofcials and
Employees for any purpose
contrary to morals or public pol-
icy, or any commercial purpose
other than by news and commu-
nications media for dissemina-
tion to the general public.
The high court cited this rule
in 1992, when it denied a request
from the Ombudsman because
the intention was to sh for in-
formation against the judges.
Marquez said the high court
cited the rule after the Philippine
Center for Investigative Journal-
ism reiterated request for copies
of the justices statement of as-
sets and liabilities in 2010.
MAY 3, 2012 THURSDAY
A3 News
ManilaStandardToday mst.daydesk@gmail.com
2 Pakistanis, Filipina
caught selling Cytotec
2 Taiwanese collared
for regulated drugs
Chinese businessmen
arrested for selling crack
IN BRIEF
Junk Comelec deal, SC urged
Probe sale
of bases,
lawmaker
asks PNoy
172 groups seek Comelecs party-list accreditation
Lawmen seize 9,360
fake Tsingtao Beer
Counterfeit. Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon inspects the 9,360 bottles of counterfeit Tsingtao
Beer which was seized from warehouses in Tondo and Binondo districts in Manila. SONNY ESPIRITU
TWO Taiwanese nationals who were
arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International
Airport for possession of several plastic
sachets containing the regulated drugs
clonazepam and alprazolam.
Arresting immigration agencts identied
the suspects as Shen Wun Bing, 34, and Lan
Mao Yang, 28, who were about to board a
China Airlines ight bound for Taipei.
Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. said
the suspects are now in the custody
of the Philippine Drug Enforcement
Administration (PDEA) for investigation
and ling of criminal charges.
David said deportation proceedings
will also be initiated, but only after
the two are charged, convicted and
imprisoned for their alleged offense.
Uso Dan Salasim, NAIA-BI
intelligence unit head, said drug enforcers
became suspicious of the two after one of
them returned to retrieve the hancarried
luggage of his companion after he was
cleared by immigration ofcers.
A CHINESE businessman was arrested
by operatives of the Philippine Drug
Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for
allegedly selling 100 grams of shabu to
an undercover agent.
PDEA Chief Jose Gutierrez Jr. identied
the suspect as Chua Kian Cheng, alias
A-Pe Chua, owner of a food manufacturing
business in Sta. Maria, Bulacan where he
was arrested after a sting operation.
Chua is a native of Xiamen, China and he
holds a tourist visa. He has been renewing his
visa every three months and has been staying
in the Philippines for more than two years.
From 2009, a total of 15 members
of the Li-Chua Drug Group have been
arrested, including Chua.
Intelligence reports disclosed that
the Li-Chua Group has operations in
Metro Manila and adjacent provinces in
Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog. It
used to operate two shabu clandestine
laboratories dismantled by PDEA over
the past two years. The rst was the mini-
laboratory in Caloocan City dismantled
in February 2011, and the other one was
in Las Pias dismantled in August 2010.
Jonathan Fernandez
TWO Pakistanis and a Filipino woman
were arrested by the Manila police in the
citys Quiapo district while they were
selling the Cytotec brand of misoprostol,
which is illegally used as an abortion drug.
Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim identied
the three suspects as Pakistan-national
Majid Bisnar Khan, 34, of Alabang,
Muntinlupa City and 740 Tiongco
Street, Davao City and Subha Ali, 36,
a businessman living in Makati City.
The Filipina was identied as Gracelyn
Baldo, 29.
The suspects were nabbed 5 p.m. last
April 30, inside the Chowking Fast Food
at the corner of Quezon Boulevard and P.
Paterno Street in Quiapo.
Inspector Joselito Von Possel, Plaza
Miranda police community precinct
commander, said they received numerous
complaints from concerned citizens about
the proliferation of the abortifacient drug.
The informants also tipped policemen
that the three suspects were engaged in
the distribution of Cytotec at the vicinity
of Quiapo Church.
The suspects yielded marked money
and 2,000 pieces of Cytotec tablets with a
street value of P100,000.00.
Macon Ramos-Araneta
Lawyer Abraham Espejo,
counsel for Davao City Bishop
Fernando Capalla who sought
the nullication of the Comelec-
Smartmatic deal, stressed that the
deal was contracted in violation
of Republic Act 9184, or the
Government Procurement Act.
Espejo maintained in oral
argument that while the
government would be able to
save money by purchasing the old
PCOS machines to be used in the
coming 2013 midterm election,
this should not overshadow the
fact that the contract was illegal.
We are not against the
automation of polls, but it
should be made in accordance
to law and not just for the sake
By Rey E. Requejo
THE P1.8-billion deal between the
Commission on Elections (Comelec)
and Smartmatic-Total Information
Management (TIM) for the purchase
of 80,000 precinct count optical scan
(PCOS) machines should be declared
invalid because it did not undergo public
bidding, oppositors said on Wednesday.
of automating our polls, that is
wrong, Espejo argued.
Capalla together with former
Marawi City Mayor Omar Ali,
and former Quezon City Rep.
Mary Anne Susano comprised
the rst group to seek the
nullication of the deal.
The other group of petitioners
include the Solidarity for Sovereignty
(S4S), led by Ma. Linda Montayre,
and the Automated Election System
Watch, led by former Vice President
Teosto Guingona Jr., and Manila
Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo.
It might be penny-wise but it is
pound-foolish because the purchase
is illegal, said Espejo, adding that
the acquisition of Smartmatics
PCOS was suspicious as it was done
even after such option had expired.
The petitioners have explained
that the Comelecs option to
purchase the PCOS machines
expired on Dec. 31, 2010 and the
purchase of the 80,000 PCOS
machines should go through a
public bidding since as it would
involve new contract altogether.
When Associate Justice Ma.
Lourdes Sereno asked if the
Comelec would still have enough
time to look for another supplier
through public bidding and to
conduct the necessary testing of
machines and training of personnel
before the 2013 elections in case
its contract with Smartmatic
is voided, Espejo replied that
the Comelec still has enough
experts to immediately complete
the process within the year.
I think there is enough time
since considering we have just
entered the month of May and
Comelec can bid out the project,
Espejo added.
Meanwhile, former Comelec
Commissioner Augusto Lagman
said he opposed the purchase of
the Smartmatic machines as it
violates the procurement law and the
technical problems of the machines
had not yet been corrected.
He added that the machines are
vulnerable to tampering and do not
have enough security features.
While he admitted that the
glitches can be resolved, Lagman
said the Comelec does not have
enough time to do it. Thats right
but I just dont think they still have
the time to do it. Smartmatic had
for the last two years to correct it
but they did not, Lagman said.
The petitioners argued that the
Comelec committed grave abuse
of discretion in disregarding the
recommendation of the Comelec
Advisory Council (CAC), the body
mandated by law to recommend
the most appropriate and cost-
effective technology to be applied,
not to exercise the subject option
to purchase.
CUSTOMS agents have seized 780 cases or 9,360
bottles of counterfeit Tsingtao Beer from three
warehouses in Binondo and Tondo in Manila and
authorities are now trying to identify the owners of the
contraband.
Commissioner Ruffy Biazon said his men from the
Intellectual Property Rights Division raided the unnamed
warehouses following information that the establishments
were storing counterfeit Tsingtao Beer products.
Tsingtao Beer experts inspected the products and they
found out that the items are not genuine and indeed unsafe
for human consumption, said Biazon after he ordered the
transfer of the contraband to a secure Customs warehouse
prior to its destruction.
IPRD chief Zae Carrie de Guzman said the fake
Tsingtao products were identied because of several
signs.
For one, the fake Tsingtao contained 340 ml as
compared to 320 ml of the original product. Also, the
seal and the label of the fake product were poorly made,
said De Guzman, adding that the product did not have a
clearance from Food and Drugs Administration.
Biazon ordered Customs Intelligence and Investigation
Service director Fernandino Tuason to identify the owners
of the raided warehouses. Joel Zurbano
Courtesy lane. A traffic enforcers of the Metro Manila Development Authority mans his post on Roxas Boulevard despite
the high-noon sun to ensure that the courtesy lanes created for delegates to the Asian Development Bank annual meeting
remains clear and accessible. SONNY ESPIRITU
By Joel E. Zurbano
A TOTAL of 172 party-list
groups, including a group of
former military rebels and
former drug dependents,
have led their petition for
accreditation to join the May
13, 2013 mid term polls.
The Magdalo Para sa
Pilipino led as a group of
retired and former members
of the Armed Forces, as well
as its urban poor and the youth
members based in the National
Capital region.
In its petition for
accreditation, the group named
Senator Antonio Trillanes as
chairman and Francisco Ashley
Acedillo as secretary general.
The Addicts and Alcoholics
Carrying the Message
Association (AACMA), led
by Clemente Abella Jr. who
admits having been a drug
user for 22 years, also sought
accreditation in the hope of
representing drug addicts in
Congress.
Abella said they are
marginalized since addiction
is a disease and not a choice
on the part of the addicts.
The Elections Commission
is now in the process of
hearing party list petitions for
accreditation. The hearing is
being conducted on Tuesdays
and Thursdays.
Commission Chairman Sixto
Brillantes Jr. said he sees no
problem in letting the group
of addicts and alcoholics to
seek a seat in the House of
Representatives.
I have been saying that that
is very possible for as long as
they are already [rehabilitated],
not still addicts. [If there is a
record of] a violation of the
law, they are not qualied. We
will remove nominees who
have been convicted, he said.
But Commissioner Rene
Sarmiento advised the
party list groups seeking
accreditation to study rst the
law before applying.
Sarmiento said there are
some groups that have slim
chances of making it to the nal
list due to lack in qualication
as a marginalized sector.
Based on Comelec
Resolution 9366, aside from
the usual qualications
dened under the Party-List
System Act, there are other
documents that are required to
be submitted.
The required documents
are the by-laws as an orga-
nization seeking registration
under the party-list system
of representation; platform
or program of government;
list of all ofcers and mem-
bers (national, regional,
provincial, city/municipal),
particularly showing that
the majority of its member-
ship and ofcers belong to
the marginalized and under-
represented sector it seeks
to represent; manifestation
of intent to participate in the
next national and local elec-
tions, and list of at least ve
nominees; Articles of Incor-
poration, by-laws and Certi-
cate of Registration issued by
the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC); track re-
cord summary showing that
it represents and seeks to
uplift the marginalized and
underrepresented sector/s it
seeks to represent; coalition
agreement, if any, and the
detailed list of afliates.
The Comelec intends to
nish interviewing ofcials of
the applying groups before the
end of the month.
By Maricel V. Cruz
AN administration ally in the
House of Representatives on
Wednesday urged President
Benigno Noynoy Aquino
III to create a special body
to account for the funds that
were generated from the sale
of military camps since the
time of former President Fidel
Ramos.
Antipolo City Rep. Romeo
Acop, vice chairman of
the House committee on
public order and safety and a
former police ofcial, asked
the President to get to the
bottom of the controversies
involving the governments
alleged failure to modernize
the the Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP).
We should account for the
funds and punish those who
may have shortchanged the
government, Acop said, in
light of the ongoing dispute
between the Philippines and
China over the Scarborough
Shoal territory.
Acop said the AFP
Modernization Fund comes
from the net proceeds of non-
sale transactions such as lease
and joint-venture agreements
of former military camps.
The biggest two of which
are the former Fort Bonifacio
and a portion of the Villamor
Air Base now developed into
Bonifacio Global City and
Newport City, respectively.
We are terribly sorry for
this blunder. We only have
ourselves to blame for it. We
should use this very sorry state
of the countrys armed forces
to punish those who may have
abused the disbursement of
funds, Acop said.
The state-run Bases
Conversion and Development
Authority has generated a total
of P52.816 billion from the
sale of Metro Manila camps
from May 1993 to November
2011 and has remitted a total of
P33.306 billion to the National
Treasury covering the proceeds
from both sale and non-sale
transactions.
Opinion Adelle Chua, Editor
ManilaStandardToday
mst.lettertotheeditor@gmail.com MAY 3, 2012 THURSDAY
A4
UNITED Nations Secretary General Ban
Ki Moon and Unesco Director General
Irina Borkova, in their joint message for the
World Press Freedom Day celebration this
year, emphasized that freedom of expression
underpins all other freedoms and provides
the foundation for human dignity.
This years theme takes into account
changes in the political and social
structures as facilitated by new forms of
media, involving technology on one hand
and a more involved global citizenry on
the other. The Arab Spring, which began
in December 2010 and swept through
countries in the Middle East and Northern
Africa, was fueled by both traditional and
new media. Citizens took advantage of
the possibilities offered by the Internet in
getting their messages out to the world,
notwithstanding the controls put in place
by their repressive governments.
As a result, the rest of the world
took notice and changes were made
sometimes forced. How these countries
would start working to achieve their
desired ends after the change has been put
in place is another issue.
Such is true in the Philippines. The
public became aware of allegations of
corruption involving a highly unpopular
former president through a vigilant media.
Similarly, the press witnessed the rise
to power of a previously unremarkable
lawmaker. Almost two years after being
sworn into ofce, though, President
Benigno Aquino III has yet to deliver on
his grandiose promises. Alas, he wants all
media to be on his side.
Nowhere was this more evident than in
a recent meeting between Mr. Aquino and
the representatives of the countrys media
companies, where the former scolded the
latter for reporting only the negative things
about his administration.
Unfortunately for the perception-
obsessed President Aquino, a free press is
one that is agreeable, and who is willing
to paint a rosy picture of the country
before the public and the rest of the world.
Anybody who does otherwise is deemed
doing a disservice to the country.
But we would rather do a disservice to Mr.
Aquinos twisted concept of freedom than
sweep unpleasant but pressing issues under the
rug. We choose to keep asking and demanding
answers. For example, why has not the
President rmed up his stance on the freedom
of information bill that is still languishing
in Congress? What is being done about the
pitiful pace of the trial of the Maguindanao
massacre? How do we cultivate a free and
vibrant press while ensuring that those who
dare speak will not be punished in any way?
Why has there been so much noise about
trivial matters and silence about the things
of real consequence?
Many token promises will again be
uttered todayperhaps even by Mr.
Aquino himselfto observe the occasion.
For now we know these statements lack
sincerity. It is up to the President to change
our minds.
Not on his side
Anti-Noynoying Day
SOMETIMES, the failures of the
current Aquino presidency can be
traced to a lack of sophistication in
incredibly nuanced and complicated
elds, like the art of diplomacy.
Many times, however, President
Noynoy Aquino simply fails in
rudimentary matters like logic and
arithmetic, like he did when he
rejected the P125-a-day wage hike
proposal outright.
When Aquino whipped out his
calculator on
Labor Day to
thumb down
the demand, he
said business
cannot afford the
P1.4 trillion a
year that it will
take to give 40
million workers
an additional
P125 a day. It all
sounds legit, as
they say, until
his computation
was challenged
by labor groups that pointed out that
40 million was the entire national
workforce, including government
workers and non-wage earners, like
households helpers and P10-a-day
peasants in plantations like Hacienda
Luisita.
Mr. Aquino should check his
math, sneered Renato Reyes of the
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan. The
countrys wage earners entitled to a
P125 daily wage hike in the proposals
pending before Congress number only
17 million, according to Elmer Labog,
chairman of Kilusang Mayo Uno.
But why should Aquino let such
small things like the number of
workers get in the way of the story he
wanted to tell, which was that raising
wages would mean a loss of jobs and
a delay in economic growth? Why
should Aquino be obliged to point
out that low wages combined with
low purchasing power have put us
at the bottom of world lists of both
cost of living and success in poverty
alleviation?
Two studies issued late last year
the UBS Prices and Earnings Report
and the Economist Intelligence
Units Worldwide Cost of Living
are better-researched and more
mathematically-accurate indicators
of the relationships between low
wages, cost of living and poverty in
this country than any of the awed
statistics that the President cited. In
both reports, Manila was rated as
having among the worlds lowest
wages, purchasing power and cost of
living.
And while all these factors may
look good to investors seeking to
lower their costs by relocating to
a country low wages (the reports
were made, after all, for potential
investors), they do not mention
who shoulders the burden for these
benetsthe local populace. And
this sentiment is reected in Aquinos
speech, which was unabashedly pro-
investor on the day consecrated to
the welfare of the ordinary worker:
How will a wage hike be recovered
by those who will pay, like the
businessmen? Aquino said. We
might delay the economic recovery
that we are already experiencing.
But even assuming that business
is experiencing the benets of that
economic recovery that Aquino keeps
talking about, who should reap the
rewards along with the investors,
if not the workers? And these days,
when the price of everything has risen
while wages remain at, shouldnt
Aquino be working on ways to
improve the laborers plight, instead
of just scaring them with bad math
and possible job losses?
* * *
Besides, its not as if wages are
the only hindrance
to more investments
and economic growth
in the Philippines, no
matter what Aquino
says. According to
KMU, wages and
salaries comprise
only 10 percent of
the cost of doing
business in this
country, on average.
Even factoring
in Secretary Edwin
Lacierdas statement
that KMU is a
professional critic and that the
percentage of wages may vary from
industry to industry (manufacturing,
for example, may have a lower
percentage set aside for wages while
call centers may spend the bulk of their
money on salaries), paying workers is
certainly not the only problem that
investors in this country face. For
instance, theres the world-beating
cost of electricity in the Philippines,
which according to the group
International Energy Consultants is
second only to Singapore and higher
than Japanand certainly more
expensive than in Korea, Malaysia,
Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and
almost any other country in the world.
Probably more than any
other input, business needs low-
cost power. Investors also need
lower telecommunications tariffs
and transportation costs, better
infrastructure, less red tape and
ofcial corruption, less taxes and a
more stable regulatory environment,
better peace and order and a host of
other factors where the Philippines
sadlyis regularly ranked in the
worst in nearly all important studies
and surveys.
It is unworthy of a President
to blame labor for all that ails the
economy and that prevents the
investment climate from improving.
And when a President cannot offer
ways to alleviate the plight of the
workers except to leave their fate to
the regional wage boards, you have to
wonder if government really has the
welfare of labor in mind.
The poorest of the poor, at least,
have the monthly cash dole-outs from
the Aquino administration to look
forward to. But the productive people
who pay taxes and make investing in
the Philippines worthwhile require
only threats and poor arithmetic to go
with their starvation pay.
But then, Labor Day is supposed
to be a celebration of work. That
means, one wag said, its actually
Anti-Noynoying Day.
EDITORIAL
US neutrality in Scarborough: blessing or bane?
IM not at all surprised that Uncle Sam
opted to be neutral in our on-going row
with China on the Scarborough Shoal.
Fact is -other than maintaining freedom
of navigation in the South China Sea; it is
not to the national interest of the United
States to engage its biggest creditor in
any controversy. Furthermore, since it
gave us independence, the US has
never recognized our claims to the
waters found in the metes and bounds
of the Treaty of Paris. They have argued
consistently that what it bought from the
Spaniards was the land territory of the
Philippines, never mind that the treaty
itself uses the qualier archipelago,
which in ordinary parlance refers to
islands and waters constituting a unied
whole. In fact, not too long ago, the
Americans already made it very clear
that notwithstanding the Mutual Defense
Pact between the Philippines and the
United States, the later would not come
to our rescue if an armed conict should
erupt between China and us over the
Spratlys. And why would they? Our
problem, simply put is - Uncle Sam
has never bought our argument that the
Spratlys and the Scarborough are ours.
The reason for the American non-
recognition of our water boundaries has
to do with the fact that to date, it has not
become a party to the United Nations
Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). It is logical
hence for it not to give recognition
to sovereign rights in the Exclusive
Economic Zone (EEZ), a right provided
for the rst time in the UNCLOS, when
it has not itself consented to recognize
such a regime. This is sad given that the
UNCLOS provisions on the EEZ and the
continental shelf were either borrowed
from contemporary US practice, or
triggered by them.
For instance, while the US has not
recognized the EEZ, it has instead
recognized shing rights over a body
of water with the same scope and breadth
of the EEZ, or up to 200 nautical miles
from a countrys baselines. . Anent the
legal regime applicable to the continental
shelf -where bulk of newly found oil and
natural gas deposits have been found -
it was in fact the American Truman
declaration that asserted the exercise of
American sovereignty over its natural
extension of the landmass that triggered
the recognition of sovereign rights over
the continental shelf.
This is not to say that the US will
forever be neutral in the West Philippines
Sea controversy. As American authorities
have stated, their interest is to maintain
freedom of navigation in the sea that
carries at least 30 percent of all sea
navigation from north to south in this
part of our woods. Certainly, any act on
the part of China that would impede this
freedom of navigation will necessarily
be a threat to the national interests of the
United States in the region.
In any case, it was ill advised of our
policy makers to appeal to the United
States for military assistance in the
resolution of this dispute. One, the use of
force under international law, sans a UN
Security Council Chapter 7 resolution
or unless done in self-defense- is illegal
under international law. Full stop. What
were our policy makers thinking? Did
they think that war could solve this
controversy?
Certainly not.
Moreover some politicians in
China would want nothing less than
an escalation of the controversy. This
would had been inevitable had the United
States come to our recue. China is today
undergoing a political crisis of sorts when
its rising political star, Bo Xilai, recently
gured in a scandal. The heir apparent to
the highest post in the Chinese politburo
was recently red and his wife ordered
to be investigated in connection with
the murder an Englishman. What has
been unfolding now in China is a race
to ll in the vacuum created by Bos
expulsion from the politburo. Like our
own politicians who can smell a great
political opportunity, it would have been
a disaster had the US decided on a more
aggressive role in the on going spat.
This would have given some Chinese
politicians tremendous opportunity to
invoke Chinese nationalism against US
meddling. The result could have led to
a military confrontation reminiscent of
the Vietnam War of the 1970s with the
modication that the South China Sea
and the Philippines may be the theatre of
war. Thank goodness hence that Uncle
Sam decided in the manner that it did. The
alternative would have been all-out war.
In any case, I reiterate that because
the law, the UNCLOS, is on our side, the
time is ripe to submit this controversy
to the mandatory and compulsory
jurisdiction of the International Tribunal
on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).
JOJO
A. ROBLES
LOWDOWN
ATTY. HARRY
ROQUE JR.
VIEW FROM MALCOLM
ROLANDO G. ESTABILLO Publisher
RAMONCHITO L. TOMELDAN Managing Editor
CHIN WONG/ RAY S. EANO Associate Editors
RALEIGH J. JALECO News Editor
JOEL P. PALACIOS City Editor
ROMEL J. MENDEZ Art Director
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TODAY
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ROGELIO C. SALAZAR President & CEO
To Aquino,
workers require
only threats and
poor arithmetic to
go with their low
pay.
A5 Opinion Adelle Chua, Editor
ManilaStandardToday
mst.lettertotheeditor@gmail.com
WHAT? A headline says that the Aquino
administration is open to an alliance with
the communists, meaning the insurgents.
Santa Banana, does Malacaang
realize what this means? Its going to bed
with the enemies of the state.
Obviously, Malacaang is being
sweet-talked by Jose Maria Sison, the
self-exiled communist leader into an
alliance. This alliance
may not be a coalition of
power-sharing, but, just
the same, an alliance
with the enemies of the
state, after so many of
our soldiers have been
killed and sacriced
their lives in the name
of democracy, and
after all, the atrocities
committed by the
NPAs, is unthinkable.
I dont know what
President Aquino
is leading us to. He
may in love with the
communist insurgents,
and in fact, having their
sympathizers already in
government, but to what
end, we can only guess.
***
But, of course, the
United States will not
take sideseither
with the Philippines or
Chinain connection
with the weeks long
standoff over the
Scarborough (Panatag)
Shoal. After all, like
any other sovereign
nation, the US had its
own national interests
to protect. And tis national interest
weights in heavily in favor of China
for so many reasons since Philippine
interests are miniscule compared to us
interests in China. At least, thats some
consolation from an ally.
To assuage the feelings of Filipinos,
Washington tells Foreign Affairs
Secretary Albert del Rosario and Defense
Secretary Voltaire Gazmin that the US
will improve the sea patrol capability of
its ally in the wake of territorial disputes.
So, what happens now? Nothing, but
absolutely nothing, while the standoff
over the Shoal continues. We can only
engage in a war of nerves while China
with its mighty naval forces and ships
continue to bully us.
The big question is: Will this standoff
result in a shooting war after the
Philippines internationalized the issue
and in fact, wants Asean or the Southeast
Asian nations to get involved? From the
looks of it, I dont think, and I say this
hopefully, China will engage us in a
shooting war. It knows full well that if it
wanted to, it could just re one cannon
from its patrol ship and we immediately
raise the white ag in surrender.
What then is China after? I believe
and hoping China simply wants to show
us and the world that with its force of
arms, it is not a pushover, knowing full
well that the US wont interfere.
***
The Aquino administration,
principally DoTC Secretary Mar Roxas
simply doesnt get itthat the congestion
at NAIA with delays in ight takeoff and
arrivals for as long as 30 minutes to one
hour and more is caused by the lonesome
and often potholed runway NAIA has.
Mar, for instance, wants airlines,
especially budget airlines, to cut down
their ights. Mar also wants other ight
schools to reduce ights. But, these are
all just band-aid solutions to the bigger
problem of NAIA having only one
lonesome and short runway according to
international standards.
I have experienced it so many times in
my travels abroad and locally when my
ight took us almost one hour just to take
of because of so many planes waiting in
line for take off. Similarly, coming home
often delayed because our plane had to
make several rounds before landing due to
so many plane either arriving or departing.
Government people have to think out
of a box. The problem of congestion at
NAIA is not caused only by a miserable
lonesome runway. It is also caused by
so many airports around the country
which cannot afford to have ights after
sundown due to lack of airport lights.
Instead of insisting on improving
NAIA 1 by over P1.1 billion and also
planning to do the same for NAIA
3, Santa Banana, why doesnt the
administration simply accept the fact that
NAIA has outlived
its usefulness, and
its time to relocate
to Clark and have
NAIA just for
domestic ights.
We have been
talking about this
relocation for the
past three decades,
but governments
simply went on
noynoying or
pr ocr ast i nat i ng.
Now, the problem
hits the Aquino
administration right
between the eyes,
and still it resorts to
band-aid solutions,
spending billions of
peoples money as
if its going out of
style, my gulay!
It all boils down
to lack of political
will and resolve. As
the shoe commercial
says it, just do it!
***
An amazing
thing is happening
the upscale
me mb e r s - o n l y
island resort Balesin island in Lamong
Bay, Quezon,an island that sits on
the Pacic Ocean, 35 kilometers off
the eastern coast of Luzon, and just 25
minutes by plane from Manila.
Alphaland, a relatively new
property developer compared to Ayala,
Megaworld, Century Properties and
SMDC of Henry Sy, had fast-tracked
Belewins development so much so
that what was intended to be nished in
the end of 2013, opened last April 1 in
time for the Lenten season. The entire
development of the island in fact will be
nished by the July this year. Alphaland
is chaired by businessman Bobby Ongpin
with its president Mario Oreta.
Balesin is a 409-hectare exclusive
resort development sub-divided into
six villages patterned after luxurious
beachside destinations across the globe:
St. Tropez of Cote d azur South of
France; Costa Smeralda in Sardinia,
Bali in Indonesia; Phuket in Southern
Thailand and Mykonos in Greece.
Balesin island is actually the
magnicent obsession of my former
student at the Ateneo high school, Bobby
Ongpin. He is so in love with it so much
so that whenever he nds time in the
Philippines from his travel abroad, he
spends his weekend there.
While Alphaland has other going
and upcoming projects in Manila, like
the Makati City Club, a members only
sports and leisure place to be opened
this year, the Alphaland Makati Place
on a premium one hectare property
along Ayala Avenue Extension corner
Malugay Street, Alphaland Makati
Tower at the heart of Makatis Central
Business District; Alphaland Bay City, a
32-hectare community near Mall of Asia
with the Marina Club as its centerpiece;
and the Alphaland Boracay Country Club
close to Boracay island in Aklan, Balesin
island resort is a jewel of Alphalands
projects.
The advantage of Alphaland is that it
not only has a vision, but is capable of
executing it with the nancial muscle of
Ongpins partner, Ashmore, the London-
based fund manager, with a $100 billion
in its pocket.
Why the congestion
woes of NAIA
A little patch of paradise
WAUKEE, IowaIts a town of less
than 14,000 people, about twenty minutes
from Des Moines on the freeway, and is
as close to Heaven as a bit of earth can be.
Its my rst time to visit the Midwest.
I am here to spend a few days with
physician Amerlon Enriquez, his wife
Eva, and their two children. Amer
occasionally contributes to MSTs
Diaspora column, and has been based in
the US for nearly twenty years. He and
his family have been Iowa residents for
almost ten.
It is springtime, and God has laid wall-
to-wall carpet in emerald green. Grass
and trees growing in endless profusion,
rolling from hill to hill. Lilacs ll the air
with a heady scent. Fresh-mown grass is
another common fragrance. Soon, Eva
tells me, roses and hydrangeas will poke
their colorful heads above the ground.
Iowa has a large farming community,
and is one of the countrys top producers
of corn and pork. Stuffed toys shaped
like pigs and corn ears ll souvenir
shops, along with John Deere tractor
merchandise, homemade fudge and jam,
and other tokens of an agricultural nature.
Massive silos reach into the sky, giant
steel ngers lled with corn to be turned
into food products, animal feeds and
biofuel. The prosperity of the state shows
in the miles and miles of perfectly paved
roads, clean streets and sidewalks, and
well-maintained public buildings.
These infrastructural achievements
are even more impressive when you learn
that the entire state, which has an area of
145,743 square kilometers, almost as
large as the combined area of Luzon and
Visayas at 165,765, is maintained by and
for only a little over three million people.
In contrast, Metro Manila is crammed
with over eleven million people in an
area less than 639 square kilometers.
Iowa has one of the countrys lowest
unemployment rates; while a few
companies are laying-off people, others
are constructing new ofce buildings
(such as hospitals and insurance rms).
People are friendly. You pass them on
the street, they make eye contact, smile,
and say hello. When Amer and his family
rst moved into their house, the next-
door neighbor came over with pie.
Iowans take pride in their
surroundings, keeping their homes and
gardens immaculate. Paint is never
peeling, lawns are always mowed,
windows do not remain broken.
They care for their environment
great expanses of woods are preserved
so that deer can come up to Evas yard
and nibble at her plants and raccoons can
run across her lawn, and long stretches of
freeway and roads are kept unilluminated
to reduce light pollution. At night, you
can go out on Amer and Evas deck,
look up, and see stars sprinkled across an
expanse of velvet black.
I have not seen stars in the Manila
night sky in over a decade.
The people are so trusting, none of
the stores have armed security guards out
front like ours do. A store will be manned
by only one to two people. Sometimes
the storekeeper will go out back to fetch
something, leaving you unattended
for minutes. Come the corn harvest,
farmers leave their sweet and crunchy
produce out beside the road, with a
sign setting out prices and an open cash
box for paymentall also unwatched,
unguarded. It could be cords of rewood
or baskets of fruit, same thing.
They have a rich sense of history.
Grand Avenue in Des Moines is lined
with houses dating back a century or
more. They are not torn down but sold
to people who will preserve them. Old
buildings are re-purposed; a Masonic
temple lavishly decorated with marble,
wood panels, and decorative tile was
converted into a performing arts center.
Other buildings from the 1800s are now
ofces. Also from that period are the
red-painted covered wooden bridges
featured in the lm Bridges of Madison
County, all lovingly maintained. Where
now our own architectural gems, such as
the Art Deco-style Jai Alai building?
What is it about their culture that has
resulted in their creating such a pleasant
community? Honor, honesty, and hard
work are among the signicant values that
guide them, as well as discipline, thrift, and
respect for nature. Perhaps the states small
population also makes it easier for their
people to conform to the societal norms
that continue to serve them well.
Living close to nature, espousing
traditional values, defending the
environment and preserving history
this is a good way to live.
Amer and Eva have asked me to come
back soon for a longer visit. I will try my
best to do so, because I have left a wee
bit of my heart here in Iowa, in their little
patch of paradise.
E-mail: jennyo@live.com, Blog:
http://jennyo.net, Facebook: Gogirl
Caf, Twitter: @jennyortuoste
By Niniek Karmini
MOUNT BATUR, IndonesiaPutu
Restiti and her little sister, Alit, have felt
invisible most of their lives, hidden in a
run-down shack because they were born
with twisted limbs some believe were
caused by evil spirits.
They were kept out of school and had
no friends. But like children everywhere,
they had powerful imaginations. After
being given a Barbie doll, they started
stitching tiny, intricate outts for her
from their mothers sewing scraps. And
in doing so, they created a new world for
themselves.
Word of their beautiful and delicate
designs spread. They were displayed
for sale in Balis top tourist area and
neighborhood kids started visiting, rst
to watch and then to request their own.
Shes beautiful, isnt she? 21-year-
old Putu says to Alit after adding a nal
stitch to a traditional batik gown, pulling
it over Barbies golden locks and then
tightening a clasp around the iconic
dolls petite waist and high bust.
Yes, the pigtailed 11-year-old
whispers. So sexy.
Indonesias resort island of Baliwith
its white-sand beaches, ve-star hotels and
throbbing nightclubsattracts millions of
tourists every year. They include everyone
from Paris Hilton (who gushed to fans
during a recent visit that shed nally
found paradise) to backpackers and
surfers. And with her starring role in Eat,
Pray, Love, Julia Roberts helped bring
a different pilgrim to the Island of the
Gods: spiritual seekers.
But there is a dark side as well for
children like Putu and Alit, neither of whom
can stand nor walk because of problems
that occurred during breech births.
Unlike the rest of the sprawling
archipelagic nation, which is
predominantly Muslim, most Balinese
are Hindu. Their unique form of the faith
stresses worshipping of ancestorsand a
belief that prosperity can only be achieved
with the blessings of dead relatives.
Those with deformities are said to
embody the bad spirits of those who
have lived before. An embarrassment to
families, some are locked away. In the
most extreme cases, theyre abandoned,
left to fend for themselves.
Thats what led to the search for Putu
two years ago.
Sakti Soediro, a volunteer with a
health foundation that helps disabled
youths, was looking through a midwifes
les describing a breech birth nearly two
decades ago in which the baby was born
feet rst and the mother nearly lost her life.
After the difcult delivery, the girl
disappeared without a trace. Shed never
gone to school or visited health clinics or
hospitals, so no records of her were on
le anywhere.
We were determined to nd out what
happened, said Soediro, who looked
for a month, rst going door-to-door in
villages dotting Balis stunning coasts,
and then venturing deep into the islands
interior, where many still live in abject
poverty.
After navigating a windy, dirt road
that climbed the long-dormant Mount
Batur volcano, she reached the rice-
farming community of Songan.
There, in a concrete shack at the end
of an alley, Jero Widiani, a seamstress
abandoned by her husband years earlier,
was struggling to raise ve daughters on
her own.
Three were healthy. Neighbors were
not even aware of the two others.
Putu, the eldest, was sitting on the
ground, her severely distorted legs folded
beneath her as she sewed together scraps
of material.
Alit, huddled beside her, was even
worse off.
No bigger than a toddler, the little
girl has a ribcage pressed tightly against
her lungs, making it difcult to breathe,
much less speak. She has no mobility in
her legs and use, only, of her left arm.
Soediro came back a few days later
with some Barbie dolls. When she
returned a third time, the girls showed
her a stack of miniature dresses, sarongs
and shirts.
One had been tted, beautifully, on
the Barbie.
It was amazing! said Soediro, who
has helped the girls sell the dresses in
shops and occasionally at exhibitions for
$2 to $4 a piecebringing in up to $70
a month, enough to help feed the family.
Neighborhood kids pay just 5 cents,
but the interaction after years of isolation
is priceless.
They just want to be our friends,
Putu says with a smile, as girls run in and
out of the living room, others lingering
curiously in the doorway. And thats
what we want, too.
I feel happy now, she says, watching
her mother scoop Alit in her arms and
carry her to the toilet. Im more excited
now to live.
As word spread, even Western tourists
have been known to make the four-hour
trip from the capital, Denpasar.
They are inspiring, said Stephanie
Crowe, taking a seat on the oor beside
the girls and picking up tiny dresses,
admiring their ne handiwork.
They dont have much, the Australian
said, but they are surrounded, now, by
friends and family.
We Westerners, she said, are all
about looking out for ourselves and
saving money so we can buy more things.
We dont always realize the important
thing in a life is our relationships, people,
and what you can do to make someone
else happy.
Putu, whose health is much better than
her sisters, designs all the clothes and
does most of the sewing. Alit helps when
she feels strong enough, but this week
the little girl was rushed to the hospital,
where she is suffering from respiratory
problems and a leaky heart valve.
Of the dozen Barbies and one Ken
the girls have collected over the last two
years, some of them knock-offs, all of
them gifts, Alit has her favorite: a blonde-
haired girl whom she has yet to rename.
She gently washes and conditions the
dolls hair every day and then applies
perfume and powder.
Though the family lives with next to
nothingthere are no beds, cabinets, or
even chairsthe sisters have created a
miniature palace out of boxes for their
Barbies.
They have used cardboard to make
furniture. Tiny blankets stitched by
hand are spread across the beds. And the
walls have been decorated with brightly
colored gift wrap.
To me, Barbie is a princess, Putu
says, shrugging off criticism that the
Mattel dolls promote an unrealistic ideal
about the feminine body.
And for her, she says, smiling over
at Alit, they are beautiful fairies. AP
Barbie helps long-hidden Indonesian sisters shine
EMIL
P. JURADO
TO THE POINT
By Nick Perry
WELLINGTON, New Zealand
New Zealand may be one of the most
geographically isolated nations on
Earth, but its leaders say the country
is not immune to the risks of refugees
arriving by boat.
No boats carrying asylum seekers
have ever completed the daunting
and treacherous sea voyage to New
Zealand, although several have tried
including an ill-equipped shing
vessel carrying 10 Chinese refugees
that last month reached the Australian
port of Darwin before running out of
fuel. Those refugees are now seeking
asylum in Australia, a far more common
destination for desperate people eeing
war-torn or impoverished nations.
But even the few attempts have
prompted New Zealand to draft tough
measures against any boat refugees
who do arrive. Adopting a model
similar to Australias, where the issue
has become divisive, New Zealands
ruling National Party announced
proposed laws Monday that among
other steps, would allow holding boat
refugees in mass detention centers for
up to six months.
We want to send a clear message to
potential people-smugglers that we are
not an easy target, said Prime Minister
John Key at a news conference, echoing
some of the rhetoric used by Australian
Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
And on Tuesday, ofcials from
17 agencies such as immigration
and education launched an eight-
week training exercise simulating a
mass arrival of refugees. The launch
coincided with a visit to the country by
Janet Napolitano, the US Secretary of
Homeland Security.
The recent events in Darwin
show that New Zealand is a target for
dangerous and illegal mass arrivals
by boat, said Immigration Minister
Nathan Guy in a statement. We need
to be prepared.
But the plans are already running
into criticism.
Darien Fenton, the immigration
spokeswoman for the opposition
Labour Party, said the chances of any
boat making it to New Zealand were
so remote as to be laughable and
that the National Party was using the
announcement to divert attention from
more pressing issues.
The New Zealand public will
support it, because it sounds good,
Fenton said in an interview. But
we need to learn some lessons from
Australia, and the divisiveness of their
detention-center approach.
Fenton said she believes New
Zealands borders need securing but
thinks any refugees should be dealt
with on an individual basis rather than
in mass detention centers.
Those sentiments were echoed
by professor Max Abbott, a refugee
expert at the Auckland University of
Technology, who said the new measures
would damage New Zealands positive
international reputation for dealing
with refugee and humanitarian issues.
The Australian treatment of
boat people through mass detention
under harsh conditions has tarnished
that countrys reputation and been
an embarrassment to fair-minded
Australians, said Abbott in a statement.
The new measures would allow
New Zealand authorities to detain large
groups of boat refugees under a single
warrant for up to six months. Current
New Zealand law treats each refugee
individually, with many allowed to go
free while awaiting the outcome of
their cases.
The new measures would also add
more steps and time before boat refugees
were granted residency, and allow them
to bring only immediate family
not extended family membersinto
the country if they were accepted as
residents. AP
Far-ung New Zealand sees risk from boat refugees
JENNY
ORTUOSTE
POP GOES THE WORLD
This alliance may
not be a coalition
of power-sharing,
but, just the same,
an alliance with
the enemies of
the state, after
so many of our
soldiers have been
killed and sacriced
their lives in the
name of democracy,
and after all,
the atrocities
committed by
the NPAs, is
unthinkable.
News
ManilaStandardToday
mst.daydesk@gmail.com MAY 3, 2012 THURSDAY
A6
2 proposals eyed
to link 2 tollways
Paraaque court
starts Ramgen trial
Train extension
details out in days
(MST-May 3, 2012)
InvItatIon to BId for one (1) Lot two (2) Years servIces of PrIvate securItY
agencY for casIno fILIPIno - PavILIon
ItB no. 04-20-2012Pav
Philippine Amusement & Gaming Corporation
A Sure Bet for Progress in Gaming, Entertainment and Nation Building
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) is inviting all interested bidders in
its forthcoming public bidding for the One (1) Lot Two (2) Years Services of Private Security Agency
for Casino Filipino-Pavilion.
Approved Budget: Sixty Million Two Hundred Forty-Five Thousand Five Hundred Nine
Pesos and 12/100 (PhP 60,245,509.12) for Two (2) Years or Thirty
Million One Hundred Twenty-Two Thousand Seven Hundred Fifty-Four
Pesos and 56/100 (PhP 30,122,754.56) for One (1) Year
(VAT-exclusive, zero-rated transaction):
Delivery Schedule: Thirty (30) calendar days from the effectivity period specifed in the
Notice to Proceed
Source of Fund: Internally Funded
This bidding is open to all suppliers; provided that the winning bidder should be registered with
PAGCOR prior to award of contract. Unregistered suppliers must register at the Suppliers Registration
& Evaluation Section (SRES), Procurement Department (PD), 2nd Floor PAGCOR House, 1330
Roxas Blvd., Ermita, Manila, Tel. No. 526-0573.
Bidders should have completed, within the last three (3) years before the date of submission and
receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in
the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders. Bidding will be conducted
through open competitive bidding procedure using a non-discretionary pass/fail criterion as
specifed in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise
known as the Government Procurement Reform Act. Post qualifcation of the lowest calculated
bid shall be conducted.
Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least
sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to
citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges
to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183 and subject to Commonwealth Act 138.
All particulars relative to the Pre-Bid Conference, Evaluation of Bids, Post-Qualifcation and Award
of Contract shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of R.A. 9184 and its Implementing Rules
and Regulation (IRR).
The schedule of activities is listed, as follows:
Activities Schedule
1. Issuance of Bid Documents May 3, 2012 (Thu) to May 21, 2012 (Mon)
2. Pre-Bid Conference May 8, 2012 (Tue) (2:30 pm)
3. Deadline on Submission of Bids May 21, 2012 (Mon) (2:30 pm)
4. Opening of Bids May 21, 2012 (Mon) (2:30 pm onwards)
Complete details of the project are indicated in the bid documents which will be available to prospective
bidders at the BBAC Secretariat PPD, Casino Filipino-Pavilion, upon payment of a non-refundable
bidding fee of FORTY-TWO THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY-ONE PESOS AND 86/100
(PhP 42,171.86). Prospective bidders may download the bid documents, free of charge, from the
website of the PHILGEPS: www.philgeps.net and the PAGCOR Website: www.pagcor.ph and may
be allowed to submit bids provided that bidders pay the non-refundable bidding fee not later than
the date of submission of bids. The Pre-bid Conference is open to all interested bidders; however,
only those bidders who have purchased the Bidding Documents and presented the PAGCOR Offcial
Receipt as proof of payment, may participate in the discussion at the said conference or submit written
queries or clarifcations. Prospective bidders should present to Finance Section at the 5
th
Floor of
Casino Filipino-Pavilion, Manila Pavilion Hotel, U. N. Avenue, Ermita, Manila either the Bidding Fee
Slip which may be secured from the PPS or a copy of this ITB in effecting payment for the Bidding
Documents. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in
the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.
PAGCOR assumes no responsibility whatsoever to compensate or indemnify bidders for any expenses
incurred in the preparation of their bids.
PAGCOR reserves the right to accept or reject any Bid, and to annul the bidding process and reject
all Bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected
bidder or bidders.
Please address all communications to Mr. Arturo Joel T. Gonzalez IV, BBAC Chairperson, Casino
Filipino-Pavilion, Manila Pavilion Hotel, U. N. Avenue, Ermita, Manila, Tel No.: 523-3635.
(SGD) ARTURO JOEL T. GONZALEZ IV
Chairperson, BBAC
Casino Filipino-Pavilion
Republic of the Philippines
Department of Public Works and Highways
Regional Offce 7
INVITATION TO APPLY FOR ELIGIBILITY AND TO BID
May 3, 2012
(MST-May 3, 2012)
The Department of Public Works and Highways Regional Offce 7 (DPWH
Regional Offce 7), through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), invites contractors
registered with and classifed by the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB)
to apply for eligibility and if found eligible, to bid for the contract to wit:
Contract I.D.: 12H00023
Contract Name: Rehabilitation/Reconstruction of Carcar-Barili- Road.
Contract Location: a. K0050+000 -K0050+679
b. K0056+821-K0057+061
Approved Budget for the Contract: Php 8,598,404.38
Contract Duration: 60 Calendar Days
Bid Documents: Php 10,000.00
Contract Name: Rehabilitation/Reconstruction of Damaged Paved National
Roads Bais-Kabankalan, Negros Oriental
Contract Location: 1. Sta.77+502-Sta. 100+120 (Intermittent Section)
Contract Name: Rehabilitation/Reconstruction of Dumaguete North Road,
Negros Oriental
Contract Location: 1. Sta.63+655-Sta.65+860 (Intermittent section)
Contract Name: Rehabilitation/Reconstruction of Dumaguete North Road,
Negros Oriental
Contract Location: sec. 1. Sta.79+395-sta. 80+220
Contract Name: Rain Water Collector System
Contract Location: DPWH, South Road Properties (SRP), Cebu City
Approved Budget for the Contract: Php200,000.00
Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures in accordance
with R.A. 9184 known as Government Procurement Reform Act, and its Revised
Implementing Rules and Regulations. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be
automatically rejected at bid opening.
To be eligible to bid for this contract, a Contractor must submit a Letter of Intent
(LOI) together with their Class A Documents and must meet the following major
criteria: (a). prior registration with the DPWH, (b) Filipino citizen or 75% Filipino-
owned partnership/corporation, cooperative, or joint venture with PCAB License
applicable to the type and cost of this contract, (c) completion of a similar project/
contract costing at least 50% of ABC within a period of 10 years, (d) Net Financial
Contracting Capacity at least equal to ABC, or credit line commitment from a reputable
universal and commercial banks for at least 10% of ABC. (e) Letter of Authority for
the representative /Liason Offcer (As refected in the CRC) to submit LOI and Bids,
Have key personnel and equipment owned and or leased listed in the Eligibility Forms
available for the prosecution of the project. Letter of Intent (LOIs) sent thru mail or fax
will not be accepted. The DPWH BAC will use non-discretionary pass/fail criteria
in the eligibility check, preliminary examination of bids, evaluation of bids and post
qualifcation. Unregistered contractors, however, may submit their applications for
registration, to DPWH-POCW, Central Offce before the deadline for the receipt of
LOIs. The DPWH-POCW Central Offce will process only, the contractors applications
for registration with complete requirements and issue the Contractors Certifcate of
Registration (CRC) before processing their LOIs. The DPWH Central BAC-TWG will
process only those with complete registration requirements.All particulars relative to
Eligibility Statement and Screening, Bid security, Performance Security, Pre Bidding
conference(s) , Evaluation of Bids, Post Qualifcation and Award of Contract shall be
governed by the pertinent provisions of RA 9184 and its Implementing Rules and
Regulation (IRR).
The signifcant times and deadlines of procurement activities are shown be below.
Contract Id Nos. 12H00023 &
12H00024
Issuance of Bidding Documents From: May 4, 2012-May 14, 2012
Pre Bid Conference May 10, 2012-9:00 A.M.
Deadline of LOIs from Prospective bidders Deadline: May 11, 2012 until 3:00 P.M.
Receipt of Bids May 14,2012 1:00 P.M.
Opening of Bids May 14,2012-1:30 P.M.
Contract Id Nos. 12H00025, 12H00026 & 12H00027
Issuance of Bidding Documents From: May 4, 2012-May 15, 2012
Pre Bid Conference May 10, 2012-9:00 A.M.
Deadline of LOIs from Prospective bidders Deadline: May 11, 2012 until 3:00 P.M.
Receipt of Bids May 15,2012 1:00 P.M.
Opening of Bids May 15,2012-1:30 P.M.
Prospective bidders may download the Registration and LOI Forms from the DPWH
website www.dpwh.gov.ph. Prospective bidders shall submit their accomplished LOIs
and obtain the results of the eligibility check at the same address.
Prospective bidders may also download the Bidding Documents (BDs), if available,
from the DPWH web site. Bidders that will download the BDS from the DPWH
Website shall pay the said fees as stated aboved on or before the submission of
their bid documents. Bids must be accompanied by a bid security, in the amount and
acceptable form as stated in Section 27.2 of the Revised IRR. The BAC will also issue
hard copies of the (BDs) at the same address upon payment of a non-refundable fee
as stated above. Interested Bidders may obtain further information and inspect the
bidding Documents at the same address.. Bids will be opened in the presence of the
bidders representatives who choose to attend and late bids shall not be accepted.
The DPWH Regional Offce 7 reserves the right to accept or reject any bid and to annul
the bidding process anytime before Contract award, without incurring any liability to
the affected bidders and no responsibility whatsoever to compensate or indemnify
bidders for any expenses incurred in the preparation of their bids.
Approved by:
(Sgd.) Atty. AYAON S. MANGGIS
BAC Chairman
THE Department of Transporta-
tion and Communications said
on Wednesday it will publish
the terms of reference for the
Light Trail Transit Line 1 south
extension project that will pave
the way for the commencement
of the bidding process.
The DOTC last week
announced it would bid out
the P60-billion LRT-1 Cavite
extension project early this
month, but had yet to nalize
the public notice as well as
the terms of reference, which
describe the purpose and
structure of the project, as part
of its efforts for transparency
and predictability.
Were coming out with the
[TOR] in a few days. Were
just waiting for the opportune
time to publish it, said
DOTC Undersecretary Rene
Limcaoco.
The construction of the
tracks, the stations and all its
attendant facilities, worth about
P30 billion, will be offered for
public bidding. The other half of
the P60-billion project, which
includes the purchase of the
coaches, will be borne out by
the government through ofcial
foreign development assistance.
The Cavite extension project
will extend the existing 20.7-
km LRT Line 1 system, which
runs from Roosevelt Avenue
in Quezon City to Baclaran in
Paraaque, by an additional
11.7 km southward to Bacoor,
Cavite.
Eight passenger stations with
a provision for two additional
stations, one satellite depot and
three intermodal facilities is part
of the project.
The passenger stations will
tentatively be constructed at
Redemptorist Road near Roxas
Boulevard; MIA Station near
the Coastal Mall on Roxas
Boulevard; Asia World Station
near Asia World Development
(Roxas Boulevard); Ninoy
Aquino Station on the east side
of Ninoy Aquino Bridge over
the Paraaque River; Dr. Santos
Station, south of Dr. Santos
Road, Las Pias Station, east
of Quirino Avenue and south of
Las Pias River; Zapote Station,
north of the Alabang-Zapote
yover; Niyog Station, south
of the Niyog Road bypass;
and Aguinaldo Highway
intersection.
Two provisional stations in
Manuyo Uno in Las Pias City
and Talaba in Cavite, are also
being proposed.
Once complete, the new
line will increase ridership of
LRT1 from 500,000 to 700,000
passengers per day.
The construction will be
divided into two phasesfrom
Baclaran to Dr. Santos Avenue
(Phase 1A) and from Dr. Santos
Avenue to Niyog Station (Phase
1B). Lailany P. Gomez
These are two different projects,
servicing two different corridors, Singson
said. Our recommendation is to let [both
the SMC-Citra and Metro Pacic] proceed
with the project.
Over the past few months, the MPTDC
and CMMTC have been playing tug-of-war
over the connector road that would nally
link the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX)
to the South Luzon Expressway.
Metro Pacic plans to construct a
13-kilometer connector road running along
the tracks of the state-owned Philippine
National Railways (PNR).
SMC-Citra, on the other hand, proposes
to build a 14-kilometer, six-lane tollway
that will have exists in Quirino, Manila
and Plaza Dilao, Aurora Boulevard, E.
Rodriguez Ave., Quezon Boulevard, Sgt.
Rivera, and Balintawak in Quezon City.
Both builders have contended that
their plan was better than the other and
observers of the project have also claimed
that a rivalry has also developed between
DPWH and the DOTC.
The DPWH had been backing the
proposal of the MPTDC while the DOTC,
through the Toll Regulatory Board, had
been supporting Citras claim that its
Skyway concession covered the extension
of the Manila Skyway, currently ending at
Buendia, to the NLEX via the connector
road, which it calls Skyway Stage 3.
Both Singson and Transportation
and Communications Secretary Manuel
Roxas II have both tried to publicly
show unity, although their agencies have
expressed preference for either one of the
proponents.
Roxas said the TRB will make the
nal decision on the competing offers in
conjunction with the DPWH (Department
of Public Works and Highways).
In all the decisions to be made, DPWH
will take part, Roxas told journalists last
month.
Roxas said the TRBs role will be
administrative, including the development
of a legal concession agreement. To clear
this up, these two competing projects are
really being assessed by the DPWH,
Roxas said.
MPTDC is a subsidiary of listed Metro
Pacic Tollways Corp., the toll unit of the
Metro Pacic Investments Corp. controlled
by tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan and
operator of the North Luzon and Subic-
Clark-Tarlac tollways under an interim
agreement with the Bases Conversion and
Development Authority.
Citra, on the other hand is an Indonesian
rm, which recently formed a partnership
with San Miguel Corp., led by tycoon
Ramon Ang, to operate the Metro Manila
Skyway, the SLEX, and the Southern
Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR).
According to Singson, the DPWH has
already sent the Metro Pacic proposal to
the National Economic and Development
Authority, the agency that approves major
infrastructure projects requiring foreign
nancing.
On the other hand, the TRB has yet to
submit SMC-Citras proposal to the NEDA.
The papers are allegedly among the many
projects that are being minutely reviewed
by Roxas over the past months.
Thats our recommendation, Singson
told reporters at the sidelines of the 45th
Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors
of the Asian Development Bank.
Lets let go of it, ipagpatuloy na... We
recommended to the President two weeks
ago for the construction of the two projects
to commence simultaneously.
By Lailany P. Gomez
TO stop the developing rivalry between the San Miguel Corp.-backed Citra Metro
Manila Tollways Corp. and the Metro Pacic Tollways Development Corp., Public
Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson has recommended that the two
proposals to connect the North Luzon and South Luzon expressways be built
simultaneously.
By Ferdinand Fabella
THE Paranaque City Regional
Trial Court Judge Fortunito
Madrona of RTC Branch 274
on Wednesday formally begun
hearing the murder case of
former actor Ramgen Revilla
nearly seven months after the
killing.
Prosecutors presented the
head of the follow-up section of
the Paraaque police that arrested
the two accused gunmen, Roy
Francis Tolisora and Michael Jay
Nartea, as their rst witness.
Taking the witness stand,
SPO4 Charlie Bayoca told the
court that the arrests of Tolisora
and Nartea were prompted by the
information provided by their
star witness, Ruel Puzon, a self-
confessed hired gun allegedly
contracted by Revillas siblings.
Puzon told police that he was
with the original group recruited
by one Ryan Pastera that tried
to barge into Ramgens room
at the Revillas residence in BF
Homes, Paranaque, a few weeks
before the October 28 murder.
The murder plot was aborted
when they heard a gun being
cocked from inside the room and
Puzon later said he backed out
of the plan, leading Pastera to
contact Tolisora and Nartea.
Ramgens brother, Ramon
RJ Joseph, 18, the principal
accused, was present in the
hearing. Ramgens girlfriend,
Janelle Manahan, who survived
the attack, did not appear.
Wearing the standard yellow
shirt for police detainees, RJ
expressed condence that he
will be allowed to post bail,
although murder is a non-
bailable offense, since the
prosecutions case rest on
imsy evidence and suspect
testimonies of their witnesses.
I did not commit the crime
and we have strong evidence to
prove that I was not involved
in this case. I am condent of
being acquitted and that I will
be post bail, RJ said as he was
being led out of the courtroom
by members of the Bureau of Jail
Management and Penology.
Two other Ramgens siblings,
Maria Ramona Belen or Mara
and Maria Ragelyn or Gail were
also charged for their alleged
roles in the crime.
A7 Sports Riera U. Mallari, Editor
ManilaStandardToday
sports_mstandard@yahoo.com
UE pulled off a come-from-
behind victory over erstwhile
co-leader Adamson University
Alumni and an abbreviated
win against the visiting Papua
Province team from Indonesia.
The Recto-based school exploded
with four runs in the fourth inning
from an error by Adamson s
centerelder Sarah Jane Agravante.
This was after Genejoy Parillas hit
saw playing coach Joy Lasquite,
Jelly Mecabalo and Marlyn
Francisco scooting to the home plate
with the fourth run by Parilla from
a double hit by Brenda Bacarisas,
putting UE ahead, 6-4.
The two teams were scoreless
until the game ended.
Buoyed by that victory, UE then
scored an abbreviated four-inning
regulation game, beating a hapless
Papua team, 11-0, for a perfect 4-0
record and a shot in the nals.
The tournament is sponsored
by Cebuana Pera Padala, Just
Jewels, Cebuana Lhuillier
Bank, Phiten, Cebuana Lhuillier
Insurance Solutions, Le Soleil de
Boracay, TJ Hotdogs, Purefoods
Life Master/Non-Life Master Team tournament
UE grabs solo lead
in softball tourney
UNIVERSITY of the East found itself
all alone at the top of the womens division
of the on-going2012 Cebuana Lhuillier
Summer Grandslam National Softball
Open Championships in Clarkeld,
Pampanga following its contrasting, back-to
back victories against different foes.
IN BRIEF
NLEX eyes 7
th
straight win
DEFENDI NG
c h a m p i o n
NLEX tries
to stretch its
winning streak
to seven games
when it takes
on the hard-luck Cagayan Rising Suns
Thursday in the Philippine Basketball
Association D-League Foundation Cup.
The Road Warriors will be without
Calvin Abueva and Ian Sanggalang for
the third straight game. Their absence,
though, is not expected to spoil the
defending champions bid with Cliff
Hodge and Dave Marcelo doing a
splendid job manning the front court.
Meanwhile, Jr. Powerade and Caf
France, two teams trying to stay in
contention for a playoff spot, seek
crucial win against each other at 2 p.m.
THE LM-non
LM team tourney
was held under
the auspices of
the Philippine
Tournament Bridge
Association at the
Manila Club last Saturday, April 28, 2012.
This was a two-session team event, limited to
teams consisting of pairs -- one Life Master (300
master points or higher) and a partner who is not a
Life Master (less than 300 master points)
The Diliman team composed of George Soo,
Anthony Balthazar, Ann De Guzaman and Migel
Catalig won the event. These two pairs had won the
Life/non Life master pairs two weeks ago and had
teamed up to win this event.
The rst two rounds had the eld quite close with
Diliman leading with 34 VPS followed by three
teams with 30 VPs:
1. Team Forbes-Sylvia Alejandro,Masako Tojima,
Cash Pineda and Salma Lall
2. Scarborough-Justo Manlongat, Joli Kansil,
Nena Villanueva and Titang Manalang
3. The Shufer-Barry Randle, Susan Kwee, Phil
Manalang and Lani Tayas
Final Standing:
1. Diliman 76 VPs
2. Georges Angels 59 VPs
3. Team Forbes 57 VPs
oo oo
A Deal from Bridge Base Online.
I feature this deal to illustrate the point that the
high card points of partner becomes powerless
facing a void in your hand. This was the deal:
(7spades down 1 diamond void and p AK)
Board 1
Nor th
Spoa
95
J8765
Q73
KJ4
West East
Rodekal Bridge B ug
AK10732 Q86
A10 Q42
AK6542
A9752 4
South
Sylgen 1
J4
K93
J1098
Q1086
West Nor th East South
Rodekal Spoa Bridge Bug Sylgen 1
Pass Pass Pass
1 Pass 4* Pass
4 Pass 4 Pass
5 Pass 6 Pass
7
The AK of diamonds in Easts hand from
Singapores leading bridge player bridge bug facing
the void in Wests hand could not provide enough
discards for their club losers as the diamond suit
could not be set up facing this void. As a result the
seven spade contract went down one.
Comments to: sylvia@globelines.com.ph.
KART Wreckers Dylan Arambulo, Draeco
Abalajon, Gabriel Cabrera and Raymond Cudala
all won in their respective classes with air in the
2012 Petron Karting Super Series second leg at
the Batangas Racing Circuit.
Backed by champion team FERN-C Racing and
Tough Gear, the youngsters are likewise supported
by Seaoil, Radiant Systems, Buendia Color Paint
Center, Point Zero Project, K Designs, Ministop
VIP Suites, Uno Magazine and P1 Engines.
Youngest Wrecker Dylan Arambulo red up
the tracks in the Cadet Expert/Novice class by
clocking in 1:35.417 during the Qualifying Heat.
Despite succumbing to runner-up honors in the
nals after a heated battle between his expert class
rivals, he posted the fastest lap time in the nals at
1:34.668.
Co-cadet Draeco Abalajon, likewise, showcased
an exceptional ghting spirit in the cadet nals. He
pulled off a surprise early in the race by overtaking
his cadet novice rivals at once in the circuits rst
turn. A miscalculation, however, in the circuits
tricky chicane, pushed Abalajon back to settling
for a runner-up nish.
Hoping to duplicate his previous championship,
Race Leg 1 Mini-ROK champion Gabriel Cabrera
also put up a good ght despite racing at the BRC
for the rst time, unlike his class rivals and was
able to clock in the best lap time in the qualifying
heat at 1:29.733. Just like Abalajon, Cabreras
miscalculation in BRCs chicane cost him to settle
for runner-up honors.
Eldest Wrecker Raymond Cudala also proved to
be a formidable foe by clocking in the fastest lap
time in the qualifying heat at 1:27.139. Despite
a series of crashes throughout the pre-nals and
nals that pushed him to the back of the grid,
Cudala wowed the crowd by slowly racing his way
up and ended with a runner-up nish.
Impressed with the boys showing, racing icon
Edgen Dy-Liacco has pledged to take the Kart
Wreckers under his fold to further develop their
racing prowess. The boys will again be seen in
action in the series Boomland leg later this month.
Kart Wreckers stamp class
So joins Asian chessfest
FOLLOWING a magnicent perfor-
mance in the recent 2012 Luneta Open
Chess Championships, young Filipino
grandmaster Wesley So will again com-
pete with some of the worlds renowned
players in the 11th Asian Continental In-
dividual Chess Championships, a qualify-
ing tournament for the World Chess Cup
which gets underway on May 4 to 14 in
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Wesley has been invited to play in Asian
Continental Chess Championships in Viet-
nam, said Grandmaster Jayson Gonzales,
who celebrated his birthday Wednesday.
The Bacoor, Cavite-based chess
player said he will be working to break
through the 2700 ELO barrier.
Aside from So, other participants
in the chessfest include GMs Oliver
Barbosa, Rogelio Joey Antonio Jr.,
Mark Paragua, John Paul Gomez,
Darwin Laylo, Eugene Torre and IM
Jan Emmanuel Garcia.
ATENEO and Perpetual Help
clash today in a duel of fan-
cied teams in Group A while
four winless
squads collide
in a pair of
crucial match-
es as action
in the ninth
Shakeys V-
League Pre-
sented by Smart heats up at The
Arena in San Juan City.
The defending champion
Lady Eagles try to formalize
their stint in the quarternal
round as they tangle with the
reigning National Collegiate
Athletic Association titlists Lady
Altas in the 6 p.m. main game of
another explosive triple-bill.
Focus will also be on the Na-
tional University-Southwestern
Universitty clash at 2 p.m. and the
4 p.m. match between Letran and
University of St. La Salle, four
teams trying to stay in the quarters
race in their respective divisions.
With two defeats, the Lady
Bulldogs need no less than a win
to remain in the hunt with the top
four teams from each group after
the single round elims advanc-
ing to the next round.
Letran, with a 0-2 card, is
likewise in a must-win situation
against USLS in Group B paced
San Sebastian with a 3-0 slate
and former six-time winner UST,
which swept its rst two games.
Perpetual,
Ateneo duel
for volley lead
THE second set of sessions for the seventh edition of
the San Beda-Cherifer basketball camp is about to begin.
Organizers said lessons on the fundamentals of the
game will be taught when the camp begins on May 7 at
the San Beda College Manila campus in Mendiola.
Classes in the Mendiola campus will be held every
Mondays and Thursdays, from 1 to 4 p.m. Classes will
go on until May 31.
Over at the Taytay campus, the sessions will be held
every Tuesdays and Fridays beginning on May 8, to be
held from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Interested parties may call or text multi-titled
coach Edmundo Ato Badolato at 0920-9130482
or Red Cubs mentor Britt Reroma at 0906-2599834.
Oliver Quiambao may also be contacted at 735-
6011, local 2104.
The camp is organized of Badolato and Reroma, the
camp director. Former collegiate standouts Jing Ruiz
and Christian Coronel are also helping out.
Registration fee is set at P3,000, inclusive of a
camp t-shirt and a ball. Molten will be the ofcial ball
of the camp.
San Beda-Cherifer
basketball camp on
Archers notch 2
nd
victory
THE La Salle Green Archers banked on
the hot hands of Jeron Teng and Mark
Jayven Tallo in turning back the Far
Eastern University, 58-54, in overtime
last Tuesday.
Their heroics handed the Green Archers
their second win in three games in the
18
th
Fr. Martin Summer Cup basketball
tournament at the Trinity University of
Asia gymnasium in Quezon City.
With the win, the Green Archers and
the Tams gained a share of second spot
in Group B with their 2-1 records. They
are behind two undefeated squads, the
Letran Knights (2-0) and the University
of Perpetual Help Altas (2-0).
Meanwhile, the Philippine Merchant
Marine School Mariners won over
Ateneo-B, 50-41, to pick up the rst
triumph after two losses in three outings.
Chicken Nuggets, Smokeys
Sausages, Hungry Juan, DOT
Region 3, and hosted by Clark
Development Corporation.
In second place is University
Athletic Association of the
Philippines champion Adamson
University, which beat Rizal
Technological University, 7-3,
scoring six runs in the nal
inning for its third win against a
single loss with the possibility of
the two Adamson teams battling
it out for the other slot in the
nals. Adamson Alumni was at
2-1 after its loss to UE.
In the women s club division,
Rizal Province also took the solo
lead at 5-0, following its back-
to-back wins over Central Luzon
State University, 7-4, and a 7-0
shut-out of Tarlac with University
of Sto. Tomas and Polytechinc
University of the Philippines
breathing down Rizals neck with
similar 3-1 records.
SYLVIA LOPEZ
ALEJANDRO
DRAG racing goes back to Angeles
City as top contenders aim to beef up
their bids for the titles at stake in the
third and penultimate leg of the 2012
Philippine Drag Racing Championships
Northern Series on Saturday at the Clark
International Speedway.
It will be a tough, four-way battle
among multi-titled Jonathan Tiu of JCT
Blanche Racing, William Hand of of the
Angeles Hot Rod Associaton, Edwin
Cayco of H3 Autoworks and defending
champion Martin Manalo of RSL
Motorsports for the overall crown of
this event sanctioned by the Automobile
Association Philippines and sponsored
by GT Radial, HKS Motor Oil, M&H
Race Master, Yokohama and powered by
Racing Beat@Wave 89.1.
Tiu, who drew rst blood in the kickoff
leg, guns for his 11th title and seventh
Drag Racing Driver of the Year plum.
However, he failed to show up in the
second leg last March following the
death of his teammate and long-time
buddy Anthony Go.
Hand currently holds the overall
leadership as he bagged the runner-up
crown in the Quick 8 class and captured the
M&H Super Pro title in the kickoff leg.
In the second leg last March, he and his
car named Blue Haze, a berglass replica
of the 1932 Ford Roadster, triumphed in the
Quick 8 and copped the runner-up nish in
the M&H Super Pro class.
Cayco bagged the runner-up nish
behind Hand and later romped away
with the M&H Super Pro class in another
faceoff against the latter, who succumbed
to a breakout.
Manalo, who has yet to wrest victory
in the Northern Series, tries to bounce
back in the next two legs to bolster his
bid for a second Drag Racing Driver of
the Year plum.
4-way title chase looms in drag racing
Games Thursday
(Ynares Sports Arena)
2 p.m. Caf France
vs Jr Powerade
4 p.m. NLEX vs
Cagayan Rising Suns
LINGAYENThe province of Pangasinan has
opened its doors to 12 of 17 delegations that
arrived early for the 2012 Palarong Pambansa
starting this Sunday.
Since last week, ofcials of the Department of
Education said that 6,154 athletes, ofcials and
coaches have arrived in the province, preparing
early to challenge the supremacy of the defending
overall champion National Capital Region.
Most of the delegates have now occupied the
numerous billeting facilities made available to
them by the organizers.
Athletes from the Western Visayas (Region VI) and
Southern Tagalog (Region IV-A) are expected to again
to be the biggest challengers to NCRs dominance.
Kadalasan sila ang naglalaban-laban sa top
ve at sa overall standings. And based on initial
feedback, these regions are preparing hard
and well for the Palaro, said Cesar Abalon,
the Palarong Pambansas deputy secretary
general and chairman of the games technical
management.Peter Atencio
NCRs dominance to be tested
Kart Wreckers (from left) Gabriel Cabrera, Dylan Arambulo, Draeco Abalajon and Raymond Cudala
display their trophies.
Now in Top 5. The Philippine Volcanoes unprecedented win
in the recent HSBC Asian 5 Nations Division 1 Tournament is a
historic high for the country. After beating Singapore, Chinese
Taipei and Sri Lanka, the Philippine team is now ranked 55th
from its previous rank of 66th and will be promoted to the Top 5
teams set to compete in the A5N Elite Level in 2013, alongside
powerhouse teams Japan, Hong Kong, UAE, and Kazakhstan.
Photo shows youth rugby major sponsor CBRE Philippines
Chairman and Founder Rick Santos (center) with Jarrad Gallagher,
Regional GM-Asia of the International Rugby Board (left) and Tony
Cripps, President and Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Philippines.
Games today
2 p.m. NU
vs SWU
4 p.m. Letran
vs USLS
6 p.m. Ateneo
vs Perpetual
But he picked it up in his
afternoon workout at the Shape
Up Gym after some rest and
looked ready to go.
Filipino physical tness trainer
trainer Marvin Somodio said Pac-
quiao went through the rigorous
plyometrics routine on Tuesday,
after which he sparred four rounds
with Russian welterweight Ruslan
Provodnikov and two rounds with
lightweight Rustam Nugaev.
The sparring accounted for his
tiredness, aggravated by a long
Bible Study in the evening, where
Pacquiao entertained a crowd of
several hundreds, as well as the
pastors, winding up past midnight.
The Bible study is something
we have to control, but its a lot
better than gambling, drinking,
girls and whatever his bad habits
were in the past. This is much
more controllable and we just
have to live with it a little bit.
Once he gets to Los Angeles, we
will limit it to a certain amount of
time. When we get to LA, well
shut down the (Wild Card) gym
and get to work, trainer Freddie
Roach told the Manila Standard.
Roach emphasized that
Pacquiao needs rest because
a ghter, who works as hard as
Manny Pacquiao, needs rest. Rest
is the No. 1 thing right now.
Like many of those closest to
Pacquiao noted, Roach revealed
that he is a different person today.
I think all this can only be good
compared to what he was, now hes
a much better person, him and his
NBA RESULTS
Tuasons Porsche Cup stint backed
BRIDGESTONE is backing JP Tuasons coming stint in
the Porsche Sports Cup at the Nurburgring F1 Circuit in
Germany this May.
Known as the worlds leading racing tires, Bridgestone
has always supported all levels of motorsports, from karting,
touring cars and motorbikes locally and worldwide to help
nurture possible champions reach their goals.
Marc Tagle, General Manager of Bridgestone
Philippines, believes Filipinos have what it takes to be
among the worlds best drivers.
And through the support of Bridgestone, the stint of TRS
founder and President JP Tuason in Germany will continue to
open doors for racing Pinoys in the international racing scene.
We believe in the potential of motorsports as the next
sport Pinoys will be known for globally after boxing
and football, said Tagle. Weve been in racing events
worldwide, and we saw that Pinoy racers have great chances
of making it big in the international racing scene. All they
need is proper logistics to take the rst step to their dream.
Tuason, who has raced and trained all over the
world, has converted his experiences into a systematic
and scientic curriculum that TRS uses in training the
Filipino racers. With his stint in Germany, he aims to
open doors for students to compete in Europe and move
closer to their Formula 1 dream.
With the support of companies like Bridgestone,
we are able to participate in events of this caliber. Not
only will we have the needed key learnings on how to
prepare more Pinoys in the global arena, but we will
be recognized as a major contender for opportunities in
racing in Asia, said Tuason.
For more information and inquiries, visit www.
tuasonracing.com or like the Tuason Racing School page
on Facebook.
Manila Standard TODAY
Sports
Riera U. Mallari, Editor sports@manilastandardtoday.com sports_mstandard@yahoo.com
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
BAGUIO CITYWhen pound-for-
pound king Manny Pacquiao went
jogging at the track oval inside Teachers
Camp here at 7 a.m Wednesday, he
looked a little tired and worn out.
LOTTO RESULTS
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THE future stars of Philippine
taekwondo will be known on
May 5 and 6 with the staging of
the 2012 SMART National New
Face of the Year championships
at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Around 1,500 jins from different
Philippine Taekwondo Association
chapters and branches throughout
Metro Manila and the provinces
as well as the various military
sectors are expected to see action
in the event supported by SMART
Communications, MVP Sports
Foundation, Milo, PLDT and
Philippine Sports Commission.
The competition gives new-
comers tremendous exposure and
a chance to show the various tech-
niques and styles they have learned
so far, said Organizing Committee
chairman Sung Chon Hong.
The event, Hong added, is also
the PTAs way of fullling its
commitment to develop the sport
and support the governments
total sports grassroots program.
Competition will be disputed
in six categories, namely, senior
men and women, junior men and
women and grade school boys
and girls.
Through the years, taekwondo
has become a rich source of medals
for the Philippines in various inter-
national events like the Southeast
Asian Games, Asian Games and
World Cup. Only recently, three
upcoming Filipino jins collected a
bronze medal each in the world ju-
nior championships.
Martial arts enthusiasts and
sports buffs are invited to watch
the action which starts at 9 a.m.
Tourney lures 1,500 jins
CHICAGOJrue Holiday
scored 26 points, Lou Williams
added 20 and Philadelphia beat
Chicago 109-92 on Tuesday
night to even their rst-round
series in the Bulls rst game
since Derrick Roses season-
ending knee injury.
The point guard received a
standing ovation and waved
to the crowd as he limped onto
the court to present the game
ball, then watched from a suite
as the 76ers outscored Chicago
36-14 in the third quarter to
take an 83-69 lead.
Game 3 is Friday in
Philadelphia.
Holiday was 11 of 15 from
the eld, and the Sixers shot 59
percent overall. Evan Turner
chipped in with 19 points,
seven rebounds and six assists.
Joakim Noah led the Bulls
with 21 points and eight
rebounds and John Lucas III
scored 15 points.
CELTICS 87, HAWKS 80
ATLANTAPaul Pierce
had 36 points and 14 rebounds
and Boston wiped out Atlantas
11-point lead in the second
half even without point guard
Rajon Rondo.
The series is tied 1-1. Game
3 is Friday night in Boston,
and Rondo will be back for
that one having sat out a one-
game suspension for bumping
an ofcial in the opener.
The Hawks took a 65-54
lead late in the third quarter.
But Boston sliced it to 66-
61 by the end of the period.
Pierce hit his rst 3-pointer of
the series after missing 10 to
stretch the lead to 79-72 with 3
1/2 minutes left.
LAKERS 104, NUGGETS 100
LOS ANGELESKobe Bry-
ant scored 38 points and Andrew
Bynum followed up his playoff-
opening triple-double with 27
points and nine rebounds, as Los
Angeles took a 2-0 series lead.
Pau Gasol had 13 points, 10
rebounds and ve assists for
the Lakers, who still havent
trailed in this series despite
nearly crumbling against a
much-improved effort by the
Nuggets and Ty Lawson, who
scored 25 points and led the
fourth-quarter charge. AP
Sixers get
back at Bulls;
Celtics get lift
from Pierce
LINGAYENJennifer Manzano and her new partner
Cindy Benitez crowned themselves queens of the
2012 Petron Ladies Beach Volleyball Tournaments
second leg Tuesday at the sandcourts fronting the
provincial capitol beachfront grounds here.
Benitez and Manzano, a former La Salle-
Dasmarias standout now playing for Team
Mangaldan, fought their way out of a two-point
decit in the rst set before pulling off a 21-23,
21-10, 21-10 victory over University of Luzon-
Dagupans Melanie Carrera and Cassandra Lleda.
The win gave Manzano her fth title in the Petron
volleyball circuit, held with the support of Mikasa
Balls, Speedo, the ofce of Rep. Leopoldo Bataoil
and the province of Pangasinan, through Gov. Amado
Espino, Jr. Benitez and Manzano also clinched an
automatic berth to Petron Battle of the Champions,
the winner of which will represent the country to the
World University Games in Russia next year.
Finding the wind too strong to their kind of game,
Manzano said she needed to soften her attacks and
interception plays before she and Benitez could
Manzano, Benitez
win Petron crown
A8
Pacmans best
is still to come
wife Jinkee are getting along, there
are no distractions in his life and I
think we are going to see the best
Manny Pacquiao yet.
During his workout on the
punch-mitts with Roach, Pacquiao
was explosive at times and threw
ve- and six-punch combinations
that stung the trainer, even as they
broke at times to discuss tech-
niques and strategy to meet the
challenge likely to be posed by un-
defeated light welterweight cham-
pion Timothy Bradley during their
showdown at the MGM Grand in
Las Vegas on June 9.
Roach said Pacquiaos main
sparring partner Provodnikov is
a very good ghter, who ghts
like Bradley quite a bit and hes
very strong.
The celebrated trainer said
the Russian is about 155 pounds
right now.
Bradley is very strong, very
durable, but hes not the fastest
guy in the world and I think
thats going to be the difference
in the ght...speed. I think we
will overwhelm him (Bradley)
with Mannys speed.
By Jeric Lopez

IF only Mark Caguioa can
decide on the fate of his eye
injury, he certainly wont favor
operation.
A month after fracturing the
orbital bone of his right eye,
Caguioa is still in a limbo as far
as his injury is concerned.
Ang hirap siguro kung
operation, kasi delikado. Buti
sana kung paa or tuhod, walang
problema. Mahirap na kapag sa
mata, said the recently named
2012 Philippine Basketball
Association Commissioners Cup
Best Player of the Conference.
As of now, ganoon pa din.
Under observation pa rin.
Nag-schedule yung doctor ng
appointment every now and then
to monitor it. Tinitignan yung
improvement and progress, then
doon pa lang magde-decide.
When asked if he is still
having double-vision, Caguioa
said that it depends on his
movement or the position of
his right eye. Kapag diretso
yung tingin ko, wala namang
double-vision. Pero kapag
yumuko ako or tumingala,
meron pa rin.
Caguioa said that he is trying
to do minor workouts, but
admitted that he becomes dizzy
when he turns it up a notch.
Nagjo-jogging ako minsan,
pero kapag nagtagal, nahihilo
pa rin ako, he said.
The popular Ginebra player is
itching to be back on the oor
to help the Gin Kings aim for
a championship. But with the
uncertainties of his injury, the
spitre can only hope for the
best at this moment.
Caguioa prefers natural healing to surgery
SIXERS 109, BULLS 92
CELTICS 87, HAWKS 80
LAKERS 104, NUGGETS 100
nally gain headway in the nal two sets.
Ang hirap maglaro na may hangin. Mahirap
tantiyahin ang bola. Buti na lang, nadaan namin
sa tiyaga. Thank God, at binigyan pa kami ng fth
title, said the 23-year-old Manzano.
Manzano and Benitez arranged a nals showdown
with Carrera and Lleda after outplaying National
Capital Region Athletic Association champions
Julienne Abat and Jessa Aranda of Rizal Technological
University, 21-15, 21-16, in the seminals.
Carrera and Lleda also fought it out for three sets
in the semis with College of St. Benildes Cindy
Valencia and Rossan Fajardo, 23-21, 21-10, 15-11.
A big crowd, along with delegates of the 2012
Palarong Pambansa, came over to watch the
match, which was one of the highlights of the
annual Pistay Dayat festivities.
The Dagupan spikers took the rst set behind
Benitezs service error and a Carrera smash from
the net, 23-21.
Marc Tagle (left), General Manager of Bridgestone Philippines,
shakes hands with Tuason Racing School president JP Tuason
after the contract signing sealing Bridgestones support to the
multi-titled drivers coming stint in the Porsche Sports Cup at the
Nurburgring F1 Circuit in Germany this May.
Team Mangaldans Jennifer Manzano (left) fails to
block the smash of Melanie Carrera during the nals
of the Petron Ladies Beach Volleyball Tournament.
Below, Manzano (third from left) and Cindy Benitez
(right) receive their championship trophy from (from
left) Modesto Operania, Rep. Leopoldo Bataoil and
Pangasinan Gov. Amado Espino Jr. ROMAN PROSPERO
Up-and-coming jin John Gervin Astrologio (right) connects with
an axe kick to the face of his opponent.
Business
B1
Ray S. Eano, Editor extrastory2000@gmail.com
Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor
IN BRIEF
Malaysia says no
to single currency
Banks commit $1b
for big infra projects
Purisima
says PH
deserves
upgrade
Ecozones still need subsidies Meralco
UCPB board extends life by 50 years more in special meeting
PSE COMPOSITE INDEX
Closing May 2, 2012
5,228.84
26.14
OIL
PRICES
TODAY
P780-P895.00
LPG/11-kg tank
P54.55-P61.02
Unleaded Gasoline
P46.10-P49.90
Diesel
P52.34-P57.85
Kerosene
P38.50-P39.20
Auto LPG
FOREI GN EXCHANGE RATE
Currency Unit US Dollar Peso
United States Dollar 1.000000 42.2290
Japan Yen 0.012480 0.5270
UK Pound 1.622000 68.4954
Hong Kong Dollar 0.128906 5.4436
Switzerland Franc 1.101564 46.5179
Canada Dollar 1.014713 42.8503
Singapore Dollar 0.809192 34.1714
Australia Dollar 1.033592 43.6476
Bahrain Dinar 2.652661 112.0192
Saudi Arabia Rial 0.266652 11.2604
Brunei Dollar 0.805932 34.0337
Indonesia Rupiah 0.032531 0.0046
Thailand Baht 0.032531 1.3738
UAE Dirham 0.272257 11.4971
Euro Euro 1.323500 55.8901
Korea Won 0.000885 0.0374
China Yuan 0.158474 6.6922
India Rupee 0.019048 0.8044
Malaysia Ringgit 0.330426 13.9536
NewZealand Dollar 0.814001 34.3744
Taiwan Dollar 0.034335 1.4499
Source: PDS Bridge
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
PESO-DOLLAR RATE
40
42
44
46
48
P42.200
CLOSE
Closing MAY 2, 2012
5200
4460
3720
2980
2240
1500
1200
VOLUME 934.150M
HIGH P42.120 LOW P42.210 AVERAGE P42.166
Investment pavilion. Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima (third from left) shares a light moment with Vice President Jejomar
Binay (second from right) as they witness the ofcial tourism presentation played at the opening of the Philippine Corporate and
Investment Pavilion at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. With Purisima are (from left) Public Works Secretary Rogelio
Singson, Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo and Asian Development Bank president Haruhiko
Kuroda. The backdraft shows a colorful artwork created by Filipino award-winning visual artist and sculptor Eduardo Castrillo. The
Pavilion is open from May 2 to 5 on the sidelines of the 45th Annual Meeting of the ADB Board of Governors being held in Manila.
THE board of United
Coconut Planters Bank voted
Wednesday to extend the life
of the bank by another 50 years
to allow it to pursue pioneering
efforts in the banking industry
and its key role in countryside
development.
The extension of the banks
corporate life allows the bank to
continue its protability as it set
its sights on its performance for
2012 primarily by creating more
technology-driven products and
expanding its loan portfolio,
remittance business, fee income
and branch network.
With the extension of the
banks corporate existence now a
certainty, it can sustain its growth
momentum towards becoming a
bigger and stronger nancial
institution, UCPB president
and chief executive Jeronimo
Kilayko said.
I also wish express my
immense gratitude to the
banks private and government
shareholders for having taking
a united stand in voting for
the extension of the banks
corporate life and, in essence,
manifest their earnest desire for
the coconut industrys common
good long-term benets from
UCPBs commitment to
continue helping develop this
precious industry, Kilayko
added
The banks extended life also
assured it will be able to benet
the government in the repayment
of banks obligations.
The bank has a long history of
leadership after its establishment in
1963 and the rst private local bank
to become a universal bank and
obtaining its expanded commercial
banking license in 1981.
Despite temporary impe-
diments towards its further
growth, UCPB plans to open
ve more branches during the
year bringing the banks branch
network to 193allowing it
greater market access, primarily
coconut farmers and other
industry stakeholders, whose
welfare was the key reason for
establishing the bank.
By Maria Bernadette Lunas
LOCAL banks are committing up to $1
billion to nance infrastructure projects in
the Philippines, BDO chairman Teresita
Sy-Coson said Wednesday.
I believe we [local banks]
can fund many of these projects
locally by coming up with
around $1 billion, in order
to show condence on the
infrastructure projects, Sy-
Coson said at the sidleines of
the 45th annual meeting of the
Asian Development Bank.
She said banks also welcome
foreign and multinational public-
private partnership funding to
support the states projects.
Public Works Secretary
Rogelio Singson said in a
forum on infrastructure projects
the government would focus
on water supply, agriculture,
health, tourism and information
technology.
Investment on infrastructures
will be the main driver of
sustainable growth and better
life for all Filipinos, as spending
on the said projects will be a
major employment generator
for the country, said Singson.
Singson cited three railway
projects, four airport and three
seaport facilities and ve major
road networks.
He said the government
was weighing on several
nancing options like overseas
development assitance funds
and keen on private sector
funding.
Metropolitan Waterworks and
Sewerage System administrator
Gerardo Esquivel, meanwhile,
said not all infrastructure
projects should be privatized.
Not everything should be
privatized, watershed management
and source development should
be the responsibility of the
state. [Private sector funding]
should be done on roads or
tourism, but water shedshould be
government-owned, Esquivel
said.
Transportation Undersecretary
Rene Limcaoco considered the
LRT-Line 1 South Extension
project, which will extend the
railway tracks up to Bacoor
Cavite as the most critical. The
infrastructure project, which
will benet around 300,000
commuters, is estimated to cost
P59.2 billion.
Limcaoco said the
government expects to receive
bids for the project in the next
few days.
Other major infrastructure
projects lined up by the
government are the LRT-Line
2 east extension, Laguindingan
airport, Panglao airport,
automatic fare collection system,
NLEX-SLEX connector road,
and the expansion of the Angat
hydroelectric power plant.
POWER distributor Manila
Electric Co. said Wednesday
large industries operating in
economic zones still need
subsidies to mitigate the
high power rates, even after
the lapse of a discounted rate
program in December.
This economic sector may
require continuing support,
Meralco chief operating ofcer
Oscar Reyes told reporters
at the sidelines of the host
country forum sponsored by
the Management Association
of the Philippines during the
45th annual meeting of the
Asian Development Bank in
Pasay City.
The ecozone rate program,
which provides subsidized
electricity rates to 279
customers that account for
$19 billion or 43 percent of
manufacturing exports and
employ 222,213 individuals,
is set to lapse in December
this year.
Reyes said Meralco had
started signing supply contracts
with power generating rms in
anticipation with the lapse of
its transition supply contract
with National Power Corp. in
December.
Meralco has signed
several contracts covering
over 2,380 megawatts at
competitive rates. Reyes
said the contracts will help
Meralco contain the rising
power rates.
He said large industries
were expected to contract
their power requirements
through bilateral agreements
under the open access and
retail competition regime, but
it would be hard to match the
rates offered by Napocor.
The government wanted
to put in place open access,
which would give large
power users the option to
choose their own power
supplier by the third quarter.
There is a concern,
whether we will be able to
match or give better ecozone
rates without continuing
subsidy. What will be the
price of these bilateral
contracts, Reyes said.
Napocor and Meralco
began providing a special
rate to accredited industries
located inside the ecozones
in 2007. The special rate
offered a discount of as much
as P1 per kilowatthour to
industries located within the
ecozones under the Meralco
franchise area.
Power Sector Assets and
Liabilities Management
Corp. agreed to extend the
ecozone rate program, under
its transition supply contract
with Meralco until December
or until three months after the
introduction of open access
and retail competition,
whichever comes earlier.
Alena Mae S. Flores
By Elaine R. Alanguilan

FINANCE Secretary Cesar
Purisima made another pitch
for an upgrade of the countrys
sovereign rating at the annual
meeting of the board of gov-
ernors of Asian Development
Bank.
The Philippines is the
most underrated country in
the world, said Purisima in a
forum attended by representa-
tives of international credit rat-
ing agencies and participants
to the ADB meeting.
He said emerging markets
like the Philippines generate
a lot of money that are being
circulated in global nancial
markets. These funds, he said,
were being invested by fund
managers in global fund mar-
kets.
How come those markets
that generated those funds are
not rated enough to get some of
those funds invested into their
economies, said Purisima.
Im condent that were
going to be upgraded. In the
future, well continue to be
upgraded as we continue to
focus on the fundamentals and
deal with the things we can
controlour scal situation,
our macro situation, the way
we align our policies with our
goals and the investment in in-
frastructure to make the envi-
ronment more competitive and
efcient for business.
The Philippines has been up-
graded to BB+ by Fitch Ratings
and BB by Standard & Poors.
Bangko Sentral Governor
Amando Tetangco Jr. said at
the same forum the govern-
ment was still waiting word
from Moodys Investor Ser-
vice, which has lagged behind
the two other credit rating
agencies by rating the Philip-
pines two notches below in-
vestment grade with a posi-
tive outlook.
The markets have moved
faster than all three major
credit rating agencies, if one
were to base rating on the ac-
tual pricing that Philippine
debt has been able to manage
of late, said Tetangco.
For the emerging market
world, these upgrades rep-
resent more than a simple
badge of honor. By reecting
improved credit worthiness,
the higher ratings also bring
with them the opportunity to
achieve lower nancing costs
and increased ows of foreign
direct investments, he said.
By Alena Mae S. Flores
THE Central Bank of Malaysia
has rejected proposals for a single
Asian currency, similar to the one
used in Europe, because of Asias
economic diversity and the huge
cost needed to implement it.
Bank Negara Malaysia Governor
Zeti Akhtar Aziz told participants
of the host country seminar during
the 4th Asian Development Bank
annual meeting in Manila that
the preconditions needed for a
single currency in Asia had not
been met.
It will be very costly for us to
put those preconditions in place.
Asia is one of the most diverse
nations in the world. We will
not have the preconditions in
the next 10 years. It is not worth
our while to pursue that [single
currency], she said.
Aziz did not specify the
preconditions, but said emerging
countries in Asia should instead look
at the greater shared prosperity
of the region through greater
nancial intermediation, better
intermediation to better productive
activities in the region.
She said Asias growing middle
class will affect international
growth and trade patterns.
Asia is the most populous
region of the world at 60 percent
of the population, vast growing
middle class will be the key
drivers for Asia. By 2030, the
current 500 million Asian middle
class will grow to more than three
billion, affecting global growth
and trade patterns, Aziz said.
She said Asia was transitioning
itself from being global
producers to global consumers.
This is a fundamental change
that is happening in the global
economy, she said.
Aziz said Asia has refocused
and was looking at local demand
instead of being export-dependent
as a source of its growth.
She said opportunities in Asia
were boundless and the key to
unlocking these opportunities
included tapping the demographic
advantages of the region and its
diverse nature.
PH-Cambodia rice deal
THE Philippines is seeking to sign a rice
supply pact with Cambodia next week, the
Agriculture Department said Wednesday.
Were working on it. We might be signing
the agreement next week, Alcala told reporters
in an interview at the sidelines of the 45th Asian
Development Bank annual meeting.
The Philippines earlier signed two separate
agreements with Vietnam and Thailand for the
supply of as much as 1.5 million metric tons
and 1 million MT, respectively.
The Agriculture Department still needs to
procure 120,000 MT of rice through a state
agreement, either with Vietnam or Thailand or
both or with Cambodia.
Alcala said that the government might
initially purchase as much as 70,000 MT of rice
from Vietnam and Thailand or both.
Alcala, meanwhile, said a proposed trade
agreement with Cambodia is purely trade
in nature without money involved. The two
countries might swap preferred agricultural
products. Othel V. Campos
Holcim spending P400m
HOLCIM Philippines Inc. is spending P400
million to reopen a grinding plant in Mabini,
Batangas amid an expected rise in cement
demand.
Holcim Philippines chief operating ofcer
Roland Van Wijen said in an interview
Wednesday the Mabini plant, which will
be reopened starting early next year, would
increase capacity by up to 22.5 million cement
bags annually.
The Mabini plant will be the companys
second facility in Batangas. Early last year,
Holcim reactivated its Calaca, Batangas plant
to serve customers in Southern Luzon, where
demand is highest.
South Luzon is one of the fastest-growing
areas in the country and we expect this growth
to continue, fueled by both public and private
construction, Van Wijen said.
Holcim acquired the Mabini plant in 2003.
The plants operation, however, was deferred
due to low cement demand.
Cement demand is expected to grow as the
government starts to spend for infrastructure
projects.
In the future we may also build a new
plant, Van Wijen said. Jenniffer B. Austria
Market up; index
rises to new peak
Business
ManilaStandardToday
extrastory2000@gmail.com
B2
52 Weeks Previous % Net Foreign
High Low STOCKS Close High Low Close Change Volume Trade/Buying
MST BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW
WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 2012
M
S
T
FINANCIAL
70.00 46.00 Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 66.20 67.00 66.20 66.50 0.45 1,426,230 (11,745,427.50)
76.80 50.00 Bank of PI 73.70 75.20 73.75 74.95 1.70 1,528,530 1,240,105.00
1.82 0.69 Bankard, Inc. 0.75 0.78 0.77 0.77 2.67 21,000
512.00 370.00 China Bank 520.00 524.00 515.00 518.00 (0.38) 22,290 (1,898,175.00)
1.95 1.42 BDO Leasing & Fin. Inc. 1.75 1.78 1.77 1.77 1.14 78,000 21,240.00
23.90 12.50 COL Financial 22.60 23.00 22.80 23.00 1.77 27,400
22.00 7.56 Filipino Fund Inc. 11.40 11.70 11.40 11.70 2.63 23,500 198,360
0.95 0.62 First Abacus 0.81 0.79 0.79 0.79 (2.47) 10,000
80.00 40.00 First Metro Inv. 68.00 64.40 64.05 64.40 (5.29) 900
775.00 475.20 Manulife Fin. Corp. 531.00 535.00 520.00 535.00 0.75 530 223,100.00
29.00 3.00 Maybank ATR KE 25.55 26.50 25.60 26.50 3.72 370,500 (132,000.00)
93.50 60.00 Metrobank 91.40 93.10 91.40 91.55 0.16 2,525,600 10,848,031.00
3.06 1.30 Natl Reinsurance Corp. 2.15 2.15 2.10 2.10 (2.33) 299,000
16.85 41.00 Phil. National Bank 75.30 75.70 74.50 75.45 0.20 420,740 9,872,604.50
85.00 57.70 Phil. Savings Bank 81.05 81.30 81.30 81.30 0.31 30
539.00 204.80 PSE Inc. 370.00 380.00 370.00 376.00 1.62 30,800 1,875,000.00
44.40 25.45 RCBC À 43.90 45.00 44.00 44.95 2.39 780,900.00 12,918,020.00
151.50 77.00 Security Bank 143.00 152.00 143.00 149.00 4.20 2,143,450 179,095,421.00
1390.00 950.00 Sun Life Financial 1004.00 1005.00 1000.00 1005.00 0.10 515
140.00 58.00 Union Bank 106.90 107.90 106.70 107.00 0.09 360,790 8,328,920.00
2.06 1.43 Vantage Equities 1.88 1.86 1.86 1.86 (1.06) 71,000
INDUSTRIAL
35.50 26.50 Aboitiz Power Corp. 34.00 34.70 34.05 34.30 0.88 2,057,900 (10,282,670.00)
13.58 7.32 Agrinurture Inc. 12.08 12.22 12.00 12.20 0.99 690,700 36,100.00
23.50 11.98 Alaska Milk Corp. 23.65 23.70 23.65 23.65 0.00 63,000
1.86 0.97 Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 1.52 1.55 1.51 1.53 0.66 292,000
54.90 26.00 Alphaland Corp. 29.40 30.00 29.20 30.00 2.04 11,700
1.65 1.08 Alsons Cons. 1.41 1.45 1.41 1.43 1.42 3,078,000 42,600.00
Asiabest Group 48.05 48.50 47.80 48.00 (0.10) 27,800
138.00 45.00 Bogo Medellin 61.00 61.30 61.15 61.30 0.49 320
102.80 3.02 Bloomberry 12.00 12.00 8.50 9.01 (24.92) 197,135,900 (491,460,040.00)
26.55 12.50 C. Azuc De Tarlac 20.00 19.96 19.94 19.96 (0.20) 1,000
2.88 2.24 Calapan Venture 2.12 2.20 2.15 2.20 3.77 15,000
3.07 2.30 Chemrez Technologies Inc. 2.68 2.70 2.64 2.70 0.75 434,000 (747,530.00)
8.33 7.41 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 8.20 8.20 8.08 8.10 (1.22) 132,700
7.06 4.83 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 5.90 5.98 5.90 5.92 0.34 6,112,300 (457,096.00)
6.28 2.80 EEI 6.11 6.29 6.10 6.26 2.45 1,948,600 4,329,237.00
3.80 1.00 Euro-Med Lab. 1.90 1.90 1.80 1.81 (4.74) 57,000
25.00 5.80 Federal Chemicals 11.80 17.00 11.20 16.30 38.14 612,300 (6,754.00)
15.58 12.50 First Gen Corp. 14.12 14.40 14.16 14.18 0.42 4,468,000 9,059,524.00
67.20 51.50 First Holdings A 64.00 65.15 64.05 65.00 1.56 457,620 9,321,318.00
31.50 22.50 Ginebra San Miguel Inc. 22.50 22.50 22.50 22.50 0.00 32,700 (479,250.00)
0.10 0.0095 Greenergy 0.0170 0.0180 0.0160 0.0170 0.00 118,500,000
13.50 7.80 Holcim Philippines Inc. 12.00 12.04 12.00 12.04 0.33 358,000 1,273,366.00
2.35 0.95 Ionics Inc 1.560 1.590 1.520 1.590 1.92 194,000 175,560.00
120.00 80.00 Jollibee Foods Corp. 112.10 113.40 110.00 111.00 (0.98) 307,840 7,220,271.00
91.25 25.00 Liberty Flour 53.30 53.30 53.30 53.30 0.00 10
8.40 1.04 LMG Chemicals 3.22 3.28 3.10 3.28 1.86 105,000
1.55 0.99 Mabuhay Vinyl Corp. 1.50 1.50 1.44 1.44 (4.00) 3,000
3.20 1.05 Manchester Intl. A 1.95 1.94 1.94 1.94 (0.51) 32,000
24.70 17.94 Manila Water Co. Inc. 24.70 25.25 24.95 25.00 1.21 3,136,900 16,489,420.00
6.95 0.75 Mariwasa MFG. Inc. 3.90 3.48 3.46 3.47 (11.03) 10,000
15.30 8.12 Megawide 16.00 17.30 16.10 17.00 6.25 274,500 (158,700.00)
295.00 215.00 Mla. Elect. Co À 263.80 263.80 259.20 262.00 (0.68) 108,980 14,573,624.00
6.75 4.50 Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp. 5.40 6.75 5.75 6.40 18.52 41,800 211,750.00
11.00 7.00 Pancake House Inc. 10.86 12.00 12.00 12.00 10.50 200
3.00 1.96 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 2.82 2.84 2.80 2.84 0.71 2,437,000 2,565,170.00
17.40 9.70 Petron Corporation 10.68 10.88 10.70 10.76 0.75 6,359,000 (4,410,540.00)
15.24 9.01 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 9.40 9.32 9.15 9.28 (1.28) 169,200 378,053.00
2.55 1.01 RFM Corporation 2.83 2.88 2.81 2.84 0.35 2,788,000 2,505,140.00
2.49 1.10 Roxas and Co. 2.85 2.40 2.40 2.40 (15.79) 1,000
3.49 2.01 Roxas Holdings 2.95 2.95 2.95 2.95 0.00 2,000
33.00 27.70 San Miguel Brewery Inc. 29.95 29.95 29.05 29.95 0.00 14,500 (29,050.00)
132.60 105.70 San Miguel Corp À 112.40 112.60 112.00 112.20 (0.18) 926,810 49,497,266.00
1.90 1.25 Seacem 1.76 1.77 1.76 1.77 0.57 2,864,000 1,586,050.00
2.50 1.85 Splash Corporation 1.92 1.94 1.89 1.94 1.04 103,000
0.250 0.112 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.135 0.136 0.134 0.134 (0.74) 2,270,000
5.46 2.92 Tanduay Holdings 3.82 3.90 3.83 3.83 0.26 77,000
3.62 1.99 TKC Steel Corp. 2.40 2.39 2.38 2.39 (0.42) 51,000
1.41 0.90 Trans-Asia Oil 1.26 1.26 1.24 1.25 (0.79) 14,708,000 62,500.00
68.00 36.20 Universal Robina 65.00 67.35 65.20 67.00 3.08 5,162,880 76,307,366.50
1.12 0.285 Vitarich Corp. 0.580 0.580 0.570 0.570 (1.72) 728,000
1.22 0.68 Vulcan Indl. 1.07 1.07 1.05 1.05 (1.87) 309,000 277,200.00
HOLDING FIRMS
1.18 0.65 Abacus Cons. À 0.75 0.75 0.74 0.75 0.00 339,000
59.90 35.50 Aboitiz Equity 51.00 53.50 50.75 51.20 0.39 2,455,870 41,008,332.00
0.019 0.014 Alcorn Gold Res. 0.0160 0.0160 0.0160 0.0160 0.00 2,200,000
13.48 8.00 Alliance Global Inc. 12.36 13.04 12.38 13.00 5.18 49,344,400 355,922,278.00
4.60 3.00 Anscor À 4.95 5.00 4.36 5.00 1.01 102,000 (20,000.00)
6.98 0.260 Asia Amalgamated A 4.40 4.80 4.50 4.80 9.09 99,000 46,500.00
437.00 272.00 Ayala Corp À 430.00 449.00 430.00 443.00 3.02 413,960 60,044,600.00
59.45 30.50 DMCI Holdings 59.70 62.00 59.75 62.00 3.85 2,736,600 12,997,497.50
4.19 1.03 F&J Prince A 2.68 2.61 2.61 2.61 (2.61) 7,000
5.25 3.30 Filinvest Dev. Corp. 4.85 5.10 4.73 5.01 3.30 1,148,000 (25,500.00)
0.98 0.10 Forum Pacic 0.280 0.270 0.260 0.260 (7.14) 190,000 39,500.00
GT Capital 509.00 515.00 510.00 510.00 0.20 328,120 (6,590,375.00)
5.22 2.90 House of Inv. 4.60 4.80 4.60 4.80 4.35 99,000 (4,400.00)
34.80 19.00 JG Summit Holdings 33.30 35.30 32.70 34.20 2.70 3,137,100 (11,850,205.00)
4.19 2.27 Jolliville Holdings 2.30 2.30 2.30 2.30 0.00 2,000
6.95 4.00 Lopez Holdings Corp. 5.75 5.89 5.80 5.80 0.87 3,075,800 4,706,182.00
1.54 0.61 Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. 1.27 1.28 1.23 1.26 (0.79) 3,218,000 (297,180.00)
0.91 0.300 Mabuhay Holdings À 0.620 0.650 0.610 0.650 4.84 825,000
3.82 1.500 Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. 3.690 3.800 3.730 3.730 1.08 10,572,000 (75,050.00)
4.45 2.56 Metro Pacic Inv. Corp. 4.49 4.59 4.49 4.52 0.67 48,873,000 44,448,050.00
6.24 2.10 Minerales Industrias Corp. 5.08 5.10 4.81 5.00 (1.57) 106,100
0.82 0.44 Prime Orion 0.500 0.510 0.510 0.510 2.00 509,000
4.10 1.56 Republic Glass A 2.20 2.20 2.20 2.20 0.00 3,000
2.40 0.91 Seafront À 1.48 1.63 1.48 1.48 0.00 5,000
0.490 0.285 Sinophil Corp. 0.360 0.355 0.355 0.355 (1.39) 1,500,000 (426,000.00)
699.00 450.00 SM Investments Inc. 699.00 710.00 700.00 700.00 0.14 196,240 34,057,705.00
1.78 1.00 Solid Group Inc. 1.28 1.30 1.28 1.30 1.56 274,000
1.57 1.14 South China Res. Inc. 1.28 1.34 1.30 1.30 1.56 10,000
0.420 0.099 Unioil Res. & Hldgs 0.2550 0.2600 0.2550 0.2550 0.00 250,000
0.620 0.056 Wellex Industries 0.3750 0.4250 0.3850 0.4000 6.67 37,730,000 458,700.00
1.370 0.178 Zeus Holdings 0.630 0.620 0.610 0.620 (1.59) 130,000 31,000.00
P R O P E R T Y
39.00 11.00 Anchor Land Holdings Inc. 40.00 38.00 33.50 38.00 (5.00) 200
2.82 1.70 A. Brown Co., Inc. 2.74 2.81 2.56 2.70 (1.46) 284,000
0.75 0.31 Araneta Prop À 0.740 0.800 0.740 0.800 8.11 2,461,000
0.218 0.150 Arthaland Corp. 0.187 0.186 0.186 0.186 (0.53) 1,120,000
22.40 13.36 Ayala Land `B 21.45 21.50 21.25 21.35 (0.47) 16,095,300 19,966,485.00
6.12 3.08 Belle Corp. À 4.84 4.95 4.83 4.90 1.24 5,278,000 10,523,370.00
9.00 2.26 Cebu Holdings 8.35 8.35 7.95 8.15 (2.40) 2,415,500 (1,867,000.00)
5.66 0.26 Century Property 1.69 1.69 1.67 1.68 (0.59) 2,282,000
2.85 1.20 City & Land Dev. 2.48 2.75 2.35 2.55 2.82 160,000
1.65 1.07 Cityland Dev. À 1.27 1.30 1.26 1.26 (0.79) 114,000
0.127 0.060 Crown Equities Inc. 0.084 0.083 0.081 0.083 (1.19) 3,770,000
1.16 0.67 Cyber Bay Corp. 0.90 0.90 0.89 0.89 (1.11) 1,338,000
0.90 0.54 Empire East Land 0.800 0.830 0.800 0.800 0.00 40,813,000 8,388,300.00
0.310 0.10 Ever Gotesco 0.195 0.185 0.185 0.185 (5.13) 170,000
3.06 1.76 Global-Estate 1.93 1.98 1.91 1.96 1.55 2,120,000 1,610,800.00
1.35 0.98 Filinvest Land,Inc. 1.35 1.43 1.37 1.42 5.19 45,335,000 15,478,290.00
3.80 1.21 Highlands Prime 1.84 1.87 1.85 1.87 1.63 75,000
2.14 0.65 Interport À 1.35 1.30 1.25 1.30 (3.70) 258,000
2.48 1.51 Megaworld Corp. 2.17 2.19 2.13 2.15 (0.92) 63,643,000 34,174,730.00
0.80 0.215 MRC Allied Ind. 0.2060 0.2060 0.2020 0.2030 (1.46) 6,770,000 (122,700.00)
0.990 0.072 Phil. Estates Corp. 0.7400 0.7700 0.7300 0.7400 0.00 11,707,000 312,160.00
0.71 0.41 Phil. Realty À 0.530 0.570 0.550 0.550 3.77 7,000
4.77 1.80 Polar Property Holdings 3.48 3.36 3.35 3.36 (3.45) 20,000
3.34 2.08 Primex Corp. 3.00 3.01 3.01 3.01 0.33 1,000 3,010.00
18.86 10.00 Robinsons Land `B 17.32 17.92 17.32 17.60 1.62 4,345,700 200,270.00
2.70 1.74 Shang Properties Inc. 2.60 2.60 2.60 2.60 0.00 269,000
9.47 6.50 SM Development À 7.01 7.12 7.01 7.01 0.00 2,409,300 5,613,030.00
18.20 10.90 SM Prime Holdings 16.70 17.00 16.72 16.72 0.12 10,877,500 (76,517,162.00)
1.14 0.64 Sta. Lucia Land Inc. 0.77 0.77 0.75 0.77 0.00 210,000
0.80 0.45 Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. 0.580 0.580 0.580 0.580 0.00 100,000
4.30 2.60 Vista Land & Lifescapes 4.360 4.390 4.320 4.340 (0.46) 4,179,000 591,470.00
S E R V I C E S
2GO Group 2.08 2.05 1.93 1.93 (7.21) 38,000
43.00 28.60 ABS-CBN 41.00 41.50 39.90 41.50 1.22 27,300
14.76 1.60 Acesite Hotel 10.92 10.88 10.00 10.88 (0.37) 23,400
0.80 0.45 APC Group, Inc. 0.700 0.700 0.670 0.700 0.00 190,000
9.30 7.30 Asian Terminals Inc. 9.05 9.10 9.05 9.05 0.00 1,200
0.5300 0.0660 Boulevard Holdings 0.1840 0.1820 0.1750 0.1760 (4.35) 28,000,000 91,350.00
98.15 62.50 Cebu Air Inc. (5J) 70.00 70.75 70.00 70.20 0.29 388,180 21,493,925.50
10.60 8.20 Centro Esc. Univ. 10.48 10.00 9.90 9.90 (5.53) 4,400
9.70 5.40 DFNN Inc. 7.25 7.48 7.15 7.29 0.55 240,600 (22,440.00)
5.90 1.45 Easy Call Common 3.45 3.65 3.40 3.60 4.35 36,000
1750.00 765.00 FEUI 930.00 920.00 915.00 915.00 (1.61) 200
1172.00 11.70 Globalports 24.25 36.00 27.00 31.90 31.55 17,700 (23,400.00)
1270.00 825.00 Globe Telecom 1122.00 1122.00 1102.00 1102.00 (1.78) 104,200 (71,542,130.00)
10.34 6.18 GMA Network Inc. 9.98 10.00 9.85 9.89 (0.90) 1,117,000
69.00 43.40 I.C.T.S.I. 68.00 69.50 67.75 68.30 0.44 1,097,290 36,908,464.50
0.98 0.34 Information Capital Tech. 0.480 0.460 0.455 0.460 (4.17) 180,000 55,200.00
18.40 5.00 Imperial Res. À 8.55 9.60 9.48 9.60 12.28 15,900
6.00 4.00 IPeople Inc. À 6.68 6.50 6.50 6.50 (2.69) 5,000
4.29 2.20 IP Converge 3.14 3.19 3.02 3.10 (1.27) 418,000 (31,400.00)
34.50 0.123 IP E-Game Ventures Inc. 0.088 0.089 0.078 0.080 (9.09) 83,460,000 (348,890.00)
3.87 1.16 IPVG Corp. 1.18 1.17 1.12 1.13 (4.24) 3,465,000 (508,300.00)
0.0760 0.040 Island Info 0.0570 0.0570 0.0570 0.0570 0.00 980,000
3.79 1.58 JTH Davies Holdings Inc. 2.40 2.45 2.45 2.45 2.08 10,000
11.68 5.90 Leisure & Resorts 7.13 7.29 7.11 7.12 (0.14) 328,800
4.28 2.65 Liberty Telecom 2.80 2.82 2.73 2.82 0.71 233,000 (220,250.00)
3.96 2.70 Macroasia Corp. 3.10 3.08 3.00 3.08 (0.65) 222,000
3.00 1.00 Manila Jockey 1.53 1.50 1.48 1.48 (3.27) 1,019,000
21.00 17.20 Pacic Online Sys. Corp. 21.10 21.75 21.00 21.65 2.61 14,500
8.58 4.50 PAL Holdings Inc. 7.55 7.79 7.60 7.67 1.59 101,100 3,850.00
3.32 1.05 Paxys Inc. 2.83 2.88 2.83 2.86 1.06 656,000 (214,030.00)
10.00 4.60 Phil. Racing Club 9.00 9.20 9.00 9.00 0.00 22,300 8,100.00
60.00 17.02 Phil. Seven Corp. 44.00 44.00 44.00 44.00 0.00 400 17,600.00
17.18 14.50 Philweb.Com Inc. 17.00 17.88 17.00 17.40 2.35 321,800 1,212,982.00
6.90 3.80 PLDT Comm & Energy 4.09 4.11 4.09 4.09 0.00 13,000
2886.00 2096.00 PLDT Common 2588.00 2588.00 2552.00 2552.00 (1.39) 89,810 (40,732,750.00)
0.48 0.23 PremiereHorizon 0.375 0.375 0.365 0.365 (2.67) 2,770,000
23.75 10.68 Puregold 24.20 25.25 24.35 24.95 3.10 1,950,800 26,875,260.00
0.79 0.26 Waterfront Phils. 0.530 0.540 0.520 0.530 0.00 273,000
MINING & OIL
0.0083 0.0036 Abra Mining 0.0055 0.0054 0.0054 0.0054 (1.82) 65,000,000
6.20 3.01 Apex À 5.09 5.50 5.28 5.32 4.52 1,197,100
6.22 3.00 Apex `B 5.30 5.50 5.30 5.40 1.89 415,900
25.20 14.50 Atlas Cons. À 19.46 19.50 19.18 19.22 (1.23) 2,413,100 16,942,112.00
31.00 20.00 Atok-Big Wedge À 32.70 30.00 28.00 28.00 (14.37) 8,400
0.380 0.148 Basic Energy Corp. 0.285 0.290 0.280 0.285 0.00 1,900,000 (11,400.00)
30.35 15.00 Benguet Corp À 25.05 25.95 25.20 25.20 0.60 24,500
34.00 14.50 Benguet Corp `B 26.00 27.00 25.00 25.00 (3.85) 74,400 (1,423,480.00)
2.51 1.62 Century Peak Metals Hldgs 1.73 1.77 1.70 1.77 2.31 6,661,000 640,610.00
50.85 4.35 Dizon 59.95 61.80 59.40 59.60 (0.58) 523,930 (2,387,945.50)
1.21 0.50 Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. 0.91 0.92 0.90 0.90 (1.10) 17,745,000 9,100.00
1.82 0.5900 Lepanto À 1.420 1.430 1.400 1.420 0.00 18,515,000
2.070 0.6700 Lepanto `B 1.530 1.560 1.500 1.560 1.96 5,401,000 578,470.00
0.085 0.035 Manila Mining À 0.0750 0.0750 0.0730 0.0740 (1.33) 24,430,000
0.087 0.035 Manila Mining `B 0.0760 0.0750 0.0740 0.0740 (2.63) 51,000,000 626,250.00
34.80 15.04 Nickelasia 35.00 35.10 34.90 34.90 (0.29) 503,000 8,611,150.00
12.76 2.08 Nihao Mineral Resources 12.40 12.50 12.32 12.34 (0.48) 1,006,100 (130,884.00)
1.100 0.008 Omico 0.7800 0.7800 0.7600 0.7800 0.00 887,000 35,880.00
8.40 2.12 Oriental Peninsula Res. 7.950 8.000 7.890 7.900 (0.63) 3,726,700 8,691,547.00
0.032 0.012 Oriental Pet. À 0.0230 0.0230 0.0220 0.0230 0.00 69,600,000
0.033 0.013 Oriental Pet. `B 0.0250 0.0250 0.0250 0.0250 0.00 5,800,000
7.14 5.10 Petroenergy Res. Corp. 6.50 6.55 6.50 6.50 0.00 32,000 32,500.00
28.95 17.08 Philex À 24.95 24.90 24.10 24.75 (0.80) 6,350,200 21,581,380.00
14.18 3.00 PhilexPetroleum 23.80 23.95 20.30 21.00 (11.76) 10,687,200 (34,635,455.00)
0.058 0.013 Philodrill Corp. À 0.060 0.061 0.058 0.058 (3.33) 977,320,000 (13,567,000.00)
69.00 46.00 PNOC Expls `B 56.90 57.00 56.00 57.00 0.18 1,000
252.00 161.10 Semirara Corp. 252.00 257.80 252.00 254.80 1.11 275,440 (1,956,084.00)
0.029 0.013 United Paragon 0.0210 0.0210 0.0200 0.0210 0.00 28,800,000
PREFERRED
109.80 100.50 First Phil. Hldgs.-Pref. 105.50 106.00 105.00 105.20 (0.28) 722,610 74,200,000.00
11.02 6.00 GMA Holdings Inc. 10.00 10.00 9.80 9.88 (1.20) 1,803,300 4,839,302.00
116.70 106.20 PCOR-Preferred 115.80 115.80 115.10 115.10 (0.60) 410
80.00 74.50 SMC Preferred 1 76.20 76.40 76.25 76.25 0.07 2,000
1050.00 990.00 SMPFC Preferred 1030.00 1038.00 1030.00 1036.00 0.58 355
6.00 0.87 Swift Pref 1.20 1.20 1.20 1.20 0.00 32,000 (6,000.00)
WARRANTS & BONDS
1.35 0.62 Megaworld Corp. Warrants 1.20 1.20 1.18 1.18 (1.67) 231,000 135,950.00
TRADI NG SUMMARY
SHARES VALUE
FINANCIAL 10,142,118 896,800,190.60
INDUSTRIAL 1,678,393,037 12,538,603,452.25
HOLDING FIRMS 172,236,315 1,867,414,720.51
PROPERTY 228,871,132 942,844,783.37
SERVICES 136,652,325 884,675,860.00
MINING & OIL 1,300,349,226 731,234,343.61
GRAND TOTAL 3,526,644,153 17,861,573,350.34
FINANCIAL 1,302.81 (UP) 15.39
INDUSTRIAL 7,907.21 (UP) 40.75
HOLDING FIRMS 4,533.74 (UP) 74.28
PROPERTY 1,936.06 (UP) 3.67
SERVICES 1,707.37 (DOWN) 15.82
MINING & OIL 26,971.03 (DOWN) 38.48
PSEI 5,228.84 (UP) 26.14
All Shares Index 3,468.30 (DOWN) 1.22
Gainers: 95; Losers: 79; Unchanged: 33; Total: 207
Facebook to hold IPO May 18
RAY S. EANO
Mr. Ray S. Eanos column will resume
next week.
FACEBOOK will go public on May 18, a published
report says, in one of the most highly anticipated
tech initial public offerings since Google went
public in August 2004.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that
the social networking company is set to start
its roadshow on Monday, according to people
familiar with the matter. The roadshow, a series of
meetings with prospective institutional investors,
is designed to stir interest in the companys stock.
Jonathan Thaw, a spokesman for Facebook,
declined to comment.
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and chief
executive of Facebook, will attend some of the
meetings, The Journal reported.
That timing indicates that Facebook could
complete the sale before the end of the month,
after updating its IPO ling with regulators by the
end of this week. Facebook led in February for
a public debut that could give it a value of $75
billion to $100 billion, people with knowledge of
the plans have said. The Menlo Park, California-
based company, which has more than 900 million
users, is seeking $5 billion in what would be the
largest Internet IPO on record.
Facebook executives would use the roadshow
to discuss growth prospects that lifted sales 45
percent to $1.06 billion in the rst quarter. Theyll
also face questions over the rise in costs that
trimmed net income 12 percent to $205 million in
the March period.
The company plans to list its shares on the
Nasdaq Stock Market and plans to trade under the
symbol FB.
The Menlo Park, California-based company is
seeking to raise about $5 billion in the offering, giving
the entire company a value of about $100 billion.
Facebook last month announced it is buying
Instagram, the company behind a popular mobile
photo-sharing application with the same name, for
$1 billion, its largest acquisition ever.
During the rst quarter, Facebooks net income
fell 12 percent, weighed down by higher expenses
even as its revenue soared. Net income fell to $205
million in the three months that ended March 31,
from $233 million a year earlier, while net income
attributable to common shareholders fell to $137
million from $153 million. That amounts to
earnings of 9 cents per share in the latest quarter,
down from 11 cents a year earlier. Revenue rose 45
percent to $1.06 billion.
The company had 901 million monthly active
users as of March 31, up from 845 million as of
the end of 2011. AP, Bloomberg
STOCKS climbed to a new all-time high
Wednesday, following the overnight gains
on Wall Street and as more blue-chip
companies reported higher prots in the
rst quarter.
The Philippine Stock
Exchange index, the 30-company
benchmark, gained 26 points,
or 0.5 percent from Mondays
closing, to end at 5,228.84 on
Wednesday. Tuesday was a
holiday marking Labor Day.
The index topped the previous
record closing of 5,218.97 points
achieved on April 26.
The benchmark actually hit an
intra-day high of 2,569.97 points
in the morning session, which
was also a record peak, before
it traded lower in the afternoon.
Trading swelled, with P17.8
billion worth of shares changing
hands Wednesday.
The heavier index representing
all shares, however, fell 1
point to 3,468, even as gainers
outnumbered losers, 95 to 79,
with 33 issues unchanged.
Bank of the Philippine Islands
rose 1.7 percent to P74.95. The
company said rst-quarter net
income doubled to P5.8 billion
from P2.85 billion a year earlier.
The bank has a very positive
outlook for 2012 and is keeping its
loan-growth forecast of 12 percent
to 15 percent, bank president
Aurelio Montinola said.
Empire East Land Holdings
Inc., a property developer, gained
1.3 percent to P0.81. Empire East
has allocated P3 billion for capital
expenditure this year to complete
ongoing projects, up from P2.3
billion in 2011, the Philippine
Star reported, without saying
where it obtained the information.
Two calls to Empire Easts ofce
werent answered.
Alliance Global Group Inc.
rose 5.2 percent to P13, the
most since March 15. Travellers
International Hotel Group, a
joint venture between Alliance
and Genting Hong Kong Ltd.,
said it expects visitors at its
Resorts World Manila to rise to
as many as 25,000 a day this year
from between 18,000 to 20,000,
helped by the opening of its
budget hotel.
Bloomberry Resorts Corp.,
which is building a casino in
the Philippine capital, sank
24.9 percent to P9.01, after
it sold shares at a discount.
Bloomberry expects to raise
about $210 million from
the stock offer consisting of
1.18 billion shares at P7.50
each, it said in a disclosure
Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Asian stocks rose,
led by Taiwan and mainland
China after data showed
improved manufacturing in the
US and China, the two biggest
economies.
A burst of manufacturing
growth in the US pushed the
Dow Jones industrial average
to its highest close in more than
four years.
Japans Nikkei 225 rose 0.7
percent to 9,414.36 after a sharp
tumble the day before. Other
Asian markets opened higher
following public holidays. Hong
Kongs Hang Seng gained 1.2
percent to 21,255.56. Benchmarks
in Taiwan and mainland China
posted strong gains.
Australias S&P/ASX
200 edged up 0.2 percent to
4,437.90. Singapore, Indonesia
and Thailand also rose.
Data showing moderate
manufacturing growth in the
worlds two largest economies
was the driver of sentiment,
analysts said.
US manufacturing expanded
last month at its strongest pace
since June, the Institute for Supply
Management said Tuesday.
Orders, hiring and production
all rose, while a measure of
manufacturing employment
reached a nine-month high.
With Bloomberg, AP
Vista-Puregold deal. Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc., the countrys largest homebuilder, signed two long-
term lease agreements with Puregold Price Club Inc., which will allow Puregold to establish and operate
a hypermarket in San Fernando, Pampanga and a Puregold Junior in Antipolo City, Rizal. Puregold is
expected to be the anchor tenant in the Community Malls set up by Vista Land. Posing after signing the
agreement are (from left) Vincent Ferdinand Co, director of Puregold; Manuel Paolo Villar, president and
chief executive of Vista Land; Lucio Co, chairman of Puregold; Cynthia Villar; and Senator Manuel Villar Jr.,
founder of Vista Land.
Business
ManilaStandardToday extrastory2000@gmail.com MAY 3, 2012 THURSDAY
B3
BCDA set to select
new Clark designer
PH allots
$9b for
regional
reserve
Bloomberry raising P8.8b
By Jenniffer B. Austria
BLOOMBERRY Resorts Corp. is
raising P8.85 billion from the sale of
shares to nance the construction of
its integrated casino and entertainment
complex in Entertainment City called
Solaire Manila.
Bloomberry said in a disclosure
to the stock exchange it executed
the placing of 1.179 billion
shares at a steep discount of
P7.50 per share.
The company also set aside
another 117.996 million shares
to cover overallotment option.
It said that if fully exercised, the
option will generate additional
P885 million in capital.
Bloomberry tapped CLSA
Limited and ABG AG as the
lead joint managers for the
transaction.
The companys announcement
it sold shares at a discounted price
of P7.50 apiece pulled down its
stock price by 25 percent to P9.01
per share on Wednesday from the
last Mondays close of P12.
Bloomberry said earlier the
conduct of an equity fund raising
by way of placing and subscription
would allow the company to raise
equity funds in a most expeditious
and efcient manner for its Solaire
Manila project.
The transaction is also
intended to strengthen and
broaden the capital base of
Bloomberry as well as to promote
a wider dispersion of the common
shares of Bloomberry to a broad
spectrum of public institutional
investors and to comply with
the minimum public ownership
requirement of the PSE, the
company said.
After the share sale, Razons
ownership in Bloomberry will
drop to 80.9 percent from 91.17
percent while public ownership
will increase to 11.45 percent
from 0.22 percent.
Solaire Manila is an integrated
tourism resort owned and
being constructed by Sureste
Properties Inc. and Bloomberry
Resorts and Hotels Inc., which
are the operating subsidiaries of
Bloomberry.
BRHI is one of the four
companies licensed by state-
owned Philippine Amusement
and Gaming Corp. with
provisional license to establish
and operate integrated tourism
resorts at Pagcor Entertainment
City.
Solaire Manila is located on
an 8.3-hectare seafront property
leased from Pagcor. Phase 1 when
completed will have a multi-level
casino with 18,500 square meters
of gaming area, including 6,000
square meters of exclusive VIP
gaming area with approximately
300 gaming tables and 1,200 slot
machines.
It will have ve-star hotel with
500 rooms, including suites,
bayside villas, and will have
seven specialty restaurants.
Bloomberry believes Solaire
Manila will be the rst integrated
resort to operate in Entertainment
city upon it scheduled opening
in the rst quarter of 2013. The
company believes that Solaire
Manila will be the Philippines
integrated tourism and gaming
complex, which will offer
premium gaming experience to all
is customers in a gaming facility
designed and operated according
to world-class standards, the
company said.
By Elaine R. Alanguilan

THE Philippines will double
its commitment to Asias
reserve fund to $9 billion to
make it a more effective safety
net against global economic
shocks, Bangko Sentral
Governor Amando Tetangco
Jr. said Wednesday.
Tetangco said the countrys
$9-billion contribution to the
so-called Chiang Mai Initiative
Multilateralization agreement
is a part of efforts of the
Asean+3 nations to make the
entire pool more effective as a
regional liquidity safety net.
The agreement involves
setting up a foreign-currency
reserve pool by Asean+3
economies, which include the
Association of Southeast Asian
Nations as well as China, Japan
and South Korea.
Ofcials of Asean+3
have earlier disclosed plans
to double the $120-billion
reserve pool to defend the
region against shocks, as the
Euro zone continued to grapple
with debt woes and the United
States struggled with sluggish
economic growth.
Doubling the size of the
fund would make the facility
more effective as a regional
liquidity safety net in case
there are external payments
problems for any of the
member economies, Tetangco
told reporters.
We have enough resources
to double our commitment,
he said. The Philippines has
earlier committed $4.5 billion
to the $120-billion pool.
Tetangco said Asian policy
makers also planned to institute
more reforms to the Chiang
Mai Initiative to make it more
responsive to the current global
market environment including
longer maturity and availment
period.
Best retail banker. BDO Unibank Inc. chairman Teresita Sy-Coson was named the Retail Banker of the
Year by The Asian Banker in the recently held Excellence in Retail Financial Services International Awards
2012 in Singapore. Shown are (from left) Philippe Paillart, chairman of the Excellence in Retail Financial
Services Program; Sy-Coson; Varun Sabhlok; and Chris Kapfer, director of The Asian Banker.
By Julito G. Rada
STATE-RUN Bases Conversion
and Development Authority said
Wednesday it will choose by the
end of the month the winning
bidder that will prepare the new
master plan for the 36,000-hectare
Clark Special Economic Zone.
BCDA vice president for
business development Dean
Santiago told Manila Standard
in a chance interview a number of
local and foreign companies had
joined the bidding for the new
master plan of Clark which will
be developed into an investment
hub in Southeast Asia.
Santiago said among the
prominent bidders were architectural
rm Palafox Associates; Aecom
Philippines, which is into master
planning and architecture; a joint
venture of Parsons and Fildravo
(Filipinas Dravo Corp.), which
is a leading architectural and
engineering consultancy rm;
and a joint venture of Planning
Resources and Operations Systems
Inc. and foreign rm Woodelds
Consultants.
We are hopeful that the
winning bidder would be known
by the end of this month,
Santiago said, adding that
BCDA had set a minimum bid
price of P26 million.
Santiago said that after the
signing of the contract, the
winning bidder would be given
six months to prepare the Clark
master plan.
BCDA president and chief
executive Arnel Paciano
Casanova said earlier that once
the masterplan was completed,
it will make Clark a highly-
integrated, high-tech green
community where Bonifacio
Global City meets Silicon Valley
amidst lush greenery.
He said there should be a new
master development plan for
the CSEZ that is marketable,
effective, viable and in harmony
with the recent, current and
planned developments for the
ecozone.
Casanova said the
comprehensive master
development plan for Clark would
bring the maximum value, as well
as the equitable and inclusive
economic benets to the region.
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS AND HIGHWAYS
NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION
QUEZON CITY FIRST ENGINEERING DISTRICT
Sta. Catalina St., Brgy. Holy Spirit Quezon City
Tel. Nos. 431-4597 * 931-1652 * 931-1568 431-4598
Fax No. 951-4696

I NVI TATI ON TO BI D
(MST-May 3, 2012)
The Department of Public Works And Highways-Quezon City First Engineering
District, through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), invites contractors to apply for
eligibility and, if found eligible, to bid for the following contract:
Name of Project Amount
1. Repair/Rehab/Improvement of PAWB
Admin. Building No. 2 (Annex-Phase 2), Q.C. P 7,220,282.78
2. Installation of Additional Concrete Barrier
along Quirino Highway and Mindanao Ave.,
Intersection, Q.C. P 10,420,389.72
3. Construction of MPB (Student Training Center)
PUP Commonwealth, Q.C. P 5,333,801.86
4. Repair/Rehab/Improvement of Maria Clara Street,
Q.C. (K006+240 K007+309) with Exception P 9,899,903.73
5. Widening and Concreting of IBP Road, Brgy.
Batasan Hills, Q.C. (Phase II) P 19,417,461.32
Procurement will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures in accordance
with R.A. 9184 and its Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations.
To bid for this contract, a contractor must submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) together with their
Class A Documents and must meet the following major criteria: (a) prior registration
with the DPWH, (b) Filipino citizen or 75% Filipino-owned partnership , corporation,
cooperative, or joint venture with PCAB license applicable to the type and cost of this
contract, (c) completion of a similar contract costing at least 50% of ABC within a period
of 10 years, and (d) Net Financial Contracting Capacity at least equal to ABC, or credit line
commitment for at least 10% of ABC. The BAC will use non-discretionary pass/fail criteria
in the eligibility check, preliminary examination of bids.
Unregistered contractors, however, shall submit their applications for registration to the
DPWH-POCW CentraI Ofce before the deadline for the receipt of LOI. The DPWH-POCW
CentraI Ofce will only process Contractors applications for registration, with completes
requirements, and issue the Contractor's Certifcate of Registration (CRC). Registration
Forms may be downloaded at the DPWH website www.dpwh.gov.ph.
The signifcant times and deadlines of procurement activities are shown below:
1. Issuance of Bidding Documents April 27 to May 16, 2012
2. Pre-Bid Conference May 4, 2012 @ 2:00 P.M.
3. Submission of LOIs from Prospective Bidders Deadline:
May 10, 2012 until 10:00 A.M.
4. Receipt of Bids May 16, 2012 until 10:00 A.M.
5. Opening of Bids May 16, 2012 @ 2:00 P.M.
Prospective bidders may download the LOI Forms from DPWH website: www.dpwh.
gov.ph. (allowing the flling of Letter of ntent free of charge and prescribing fxed costs of
bidding documents as per D.O. No. 52 dated October 3, 2011).
The BAC will issue hard copies of Bidding Documents (BDs) at DPWH-Quezon City
First Engineering District Sta. Catalina St. Brgy. Holy Spirit Q.C., BAC Secretariats
Ofce, upon payment of a non-refundable fee of Ten Thousand Pesos only (P10,000.00)
Prospective bidders may also download the BDs, if available, from the DPWH website.
Bidders that will download the BDs from the DPWH website shall pay the said fees on
or before the submission of their bid documents. Bids must be accompanied by a bid
security, in the amount and acceptable form, as stated in Section 27.2 of the Revised IRR
Prospective bidders shall submit their duly accomplished forms as specifed in the BD's
in two (2) separate sealed bid envelopes to the BAC Chairman. The frst envelope shall
contain the technical component of the bid, which shall include the eligibility requirements.
The second envelope shall contain the fnancial component of the bid. Contract will be
awarded to the Lowest Calculated Responsive bid as determined in the bid evaluation and
the post qualifcation.

Interested contractors are also required to present the original copies of the following
documents for authentication and issuance of Bid Documents: a) PCAB License; b)
Contractor's Registration Certifcate; c) Certifcate of Materials Engineer Accreditation; d)
Latest copy of Authorizing Managing Offcer; e) Certifcate of Safety Offcer Seminar from
DOLE. f) Phil-GEPS Order Form (Document Request List).
The Quezon City First Engineering District assumes no responsibility whatsoever to
compensate or indemnify bidders for any expenses incurred in the preparation of the bid.
The Quezon City First Engineering District reserves the right to accept or reject any bid
and to annul the bidding process and reject all Bids at any time prior to contract award,
without incurring any liability to the affected bidder or Bidders.
(Sgd.) MARLYN G. INGUILLO
Engineer III
(BAC-Chairman)
Noted:
(Sgd.) ROSELLER A. TOLENTINO
District Engineer

(MST-May 3, 2012)
Invitation to Bid for Asphalt Overlay of Tagaytay Nasugbu
Road, KO 072+000.00-KO 090+795.00 (with exception)
Nasugbu, Batangas, Region IV-A
PM No. 04 - 2011
National Roads Improvement and Management Program, Phase II (NRIMP 2)
1. The Government of the Philippines has received a loan from the World Bank
towards the cost of the National Roads Improvement and Management Program,
Phase II (NRIMP 2) and it intends to apply part of the proceeds of this loan
to payments under the contract for the Asphalt Overlay of Tagaytay-Nasugbu
Road, KO 072+000.00-KO 090+795.00 (with exception), Nasugbu, Batangas,
Region IV-A, PM No. 04-2011.
2. The Deparment of Public Works and Highways now invites bids for the Asphalt
Overlay of Tagaytay-Nasugbu Road, KO 072+000.00-KO 090+795.00 (with
exception), Nasugbu, Batangas. Completion of the Works is required in 365
days. Bidders should have completed, within fve (5) years prior to the deadline
for the submission of bids contract similar to the Project. The description of an
eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section
II. Instructions to Bidders.
3. Bidding will be conducted in accordance with relevant procedures for open
competitive bidding as specifed in the RR of RA 9184 (R.A. 9184), with
some amendments, as stated in these bidding documents and is open to all
bidders from eligible source countries as defned in the applicable procurement
guidelines of the World Bank. The contract shall be awarded to the Lowest
Calculated Responsive Bidder (LCRB) who has determined as such during
post-qualifcation. The Estimated Project Cost (EPC) is PhP 204.00 Million.
4. Interested bidders may obtain further information from the NRIM-Project
Management Offce and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given
below from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., Mondays to Fridays.
5. A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders
from the address below starting on May 3, 2012 and upon payment of a
nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents in the amount PhP 3,000.00.
It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine
Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website
of DPWH at http://www.dpwh.gov.ph provided that bidders shall pay the
nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of
their bids.
6. The DPWH will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on May 15, 2012 at 10:00 A.M. at
the address below and open to all interested parties.
7. Bids must be delivered to the address below on June 7, 2012 at or before 10:00
A.M. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in the amount of PhP4.08
Million in cash or cashiers check, bank guarantee, irrevocable letter of credit,
or PhP10.20 Million in surely bond.
Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders representatives who choose
to attend at the address below on June 7, 2012 at 10:00 A.M. Late bids shall
not be accepted.
8. The DPWH reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding
process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby
incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.
9. For further information, please refer to:
RAUL C. ASIS
Undersecretary
Chairman, Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC)
for Civil Works for NRIMP 2
Attention:
CARLOS G. MUTUC
Program Director, NRIM-PMO
NRIM-PMO Conference Room, DPWH-NCR Compound
Department of Public Works and Highways
2
nd
Street. Port Area, Manila
Tel. Nos. 304-3302, 304-3779, 304-3783
Fax No. 304-3898
E-mail Address: cgmutuc@yahoo.com
Website: http://www.dpwh.gov.ph
(Sgd.) RAUL C. ASIS
Undersecretary
Chairman, Special Bids and Awards Committee
(SBAC) for Civil Works for NRIMP 2
Republic of the Philippines
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY
Manila

(MST-May 3, 2012)
The Government of the Philippines has received Loan No. 1/443 from Saudi Fund for Development
(SFD) to partly fnance the cost of the Mindanao Roads mprovement Project (MRP) of the
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and it is intended that part of the proceeds of
this loan will be applied to eligible payments under contract for which this Invitation to Bid is issued
to the following projects:
1. Contract ID : 12JO0027 (AR9912H00010)
Contract Name : Contract Package 3A-New: Construction/Improvement of
the basilan Circumferential Road, Isabel-Lamitan-Tipo-Tipo-
Tumahubong Section, Sta. 39+990 to Sta. 52+100 (with
equation and exemption)
Contract Location : Isabela City and Municipality of Lamitan, Tipo-Tipo and
Tumahubong, Province of Basilan
Brief Description : Construction of 11.82 kms Road (PCCP) Including Drainage
& Miscellaneous Structures
Major Equipment Required : Wirtgen Slip Form Paver SP 500
Contract Duration : 600 Calendar Days
ABC : Php 417,436,046.66

2. Contract ID : 12JO0028 (AR9912H00008)
Contract Name : Contract Package 3B-New: Construction/Improvement of
Basilan Circumferential Road,Isabela-Maluso-Sumisip-
Tumahubong Section, Sta. 88+250 to 101+011.79 (with
aquation and exemption)
Contract Location : Isabela City and Municipalities of Maluso, Sumisip and
Tumahubong, Province of Basilan
Brief Description : Construction of 11.13 kms Road (PCCP) including Drainage
& Miscellaneous Structures
Major Equipment Required : Wirtgen Slip Form Paver SP 500
Contract Duration : 600 Calendar Days.
ABC : Php423,828,996.85

The DPWH invites contractors for Roads and Bridge to submit bids for the construction of said
projects. Saudi Arabian contractors-applicants should be licensed in the Royal Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia and certifed by their embassy/consulates in the country. Local contractors should be
classifed and registered with the inter-Agency Committee on Registration and Classifcation of
Contractors as Large B for Roads and Bridge and holding Philippines Contractors Accreditation
Board (PCAB) "AAA License and SO 9000 Certifed.
The DPWH Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) will conduct Competitive Bidding (CB) in
accordance with the Revised IRR of R.A. 9184 and SFD Procurement Guidelines. The contract
shall be awarded to Lowest Calculated Responsive Bidder (LCRB) who was determined as such
during the post-qualifcation.
To be eligible to bid for this contract, a contractor must meet the following major criteria: (a)
Contractor who have completed similar contracts for roads construction (PCCP, (b) Complete
project in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) with good standing performance
(c ) Contractor with PCAB license applicable to the type and cost of this project, (d) Completion
with 10years from the date of submission and receipt of a single projects contract/s similar to the
project costing at least 50% of the major items (bridge and components) of the Approved Budget
for the Contract (ABC), and (e) Net Financial Contracting of a least equal to the ABC,or Credit Line
Commitment/Cash Deposit Certifcate for at least 10% of the ABC. The DPWH will use discretionary
pass/fail criteria in the eligibility check, preliminary examination of bids Security of 2% of ABC and
shall be in a form of Bank Guarantee acceptable to DPWH and SFD.
A complete set of Bidding Documents (BDs) may be purchased by interested bidders at DPWH
Regional Offce X, Tumaga Road,Zamboanga City upon payment of a non-refundable fee in the
amount of Php40,000.00.
It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic
Procurement Sysytem (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Procuring Entity, provided that bidders
shall pay the fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the set deadline for the submission of
bids.
The signifcant times and deadline of procurement activities are shown below:
Activity No. of
Days
Date
1. Issuance of Bidding Documents 1 May 3, 2012 May 28,2012
2. Site Visit (Coordinance w/
implementing offce)
2 May 8-9,2012
3. Pre-Bid Conference 1 May 16, 2012
4. Deadline of Reciepts of LOI
from Prospective Bidders
1 May 23, 2012
5. Receipt of Bids 1 May 28, 2012 (8:00 AM-10:00 AM)
6. Opening of Bids 1 May 28,2012 (10:00 AM)

Prospective bidders must coordinate with the implementing offce as to the manner and conduct of
the site Visit which is mandatory. The submission of bid shall not be later than 10:00 AM while the
Opening of Bid will follow thereafter.
Prospective bidders shall submit their duty accomplished forms as specifedin the BD's in two (2)
seperate sealed envelope to the BAC Chairman. The frst envelope shall contain the technical
component of the bid, which shall include the post qualifcation statement. The second envelope
shall contain the fnancial component of the bid. Contract will be awarded to the Lowest Calculated
Responsive Bid as determined in the evaluation and post-qualifcation.
The address referenced to above is

The BAC Chairperson
Bids Awards Committee (BAC) for Civil Works
Tumaga Road,Zomboanga City

The Department of Public Works and Highways, Region X reserves the right to accept or reject
any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior contract award, without
incurring any liability to the attached bidder/s.

Approves by:

(Sgd.) NENITA A. ROBLES, CEO VI
Assistant Regional Director
BAC Chairperson
Republic of Philippines
RegionaI Ofce IX
Tumaga Road,Zamboanga City
I NVI TATI ON TO BI D
B4
Provinces
Edited by Leo A. Estonilo www.manilastandardtoday.com mst@manilastandardtoday.com
Beijing
opens its
doors to
House 14
Aurora project draws flak
Arborist
backs SM
expansion
Catanduanes Doppler radar station opens
Central Luzon executives cuts red tape
By Rep. Gina de Venecia

THE goodwill visit to China
by the 14 delegates of the
Association of Women
Legislators Foundation Inc.
the largest ever in Philippine-
China parliamentary relations
a time of stalemate and tension
was an enriching experience and
a modest diplomatic triumph for
both countries.
The friendly and spirited
discussions between us and the
Chinese political and business
leaders in the cities of Beijing,
Shanghai and Chengdu and
Dijuangyan of the Sichuan
province, touched on women
issues and the promotion of the
Sino-Philippine friendship.
Known as House 14, the
group was composed of Senior
Deputy Majority Leader Janette
Garin, Former Deputy Speaker
Daisy Avance-Fuentes, Rep.
Josena Joson, Rep. Maria
Theresa Bonoan-David, Rep. Bai
Sandra Sema, Rep. Bernadette
Herrera-Dy, Rep. Mercedes
Alvarez, Rep. Rachel Marguerite
Del Mar, Rep. Ana Cristina Go,
Rep. Linabelle Ruth Villarica,
Rep. Emmeline Aglipay, Rep.
Nancy Catamco, Rep. Cinchona
Cruz-Gonzales, Rep. Abigail
Faye Ferriol and myself as head
of the delegation.
As AWLFI president, I
commend my colleagues for
taking part in this nine-day
(April 19 to 28) mission to
China. It took a lot of courage
from the members of the
delegation to join this ofcial
and people-to-people visit
amid the brewing tension at
the Panatag Islands in the West
Philippine Sea, or to our hosts,
Huangyan Island in South
China Sea. In the end, we
decided it was prudent to honor
our long-standing and long-
scheduled commitment to visit
China upon the invitation of
the Communist Party of China
to exchange ideas on various
women initiatives, in the spirit
of the joint declaration signed
by President Benigno Aquino
III and China President Hu
Jintao in September 2011,
declaring 2012 and 2013 as
Years of Friendly Exchanges.
Our government is doing its
best to protect the Philippine
sovereignty and announced
its move to bring the case of
the Panatag conict before the
UNCLOS (United Nations
Convention of the Law of
the Seas) even as the Chinese
government is opposed to the
idea and will not submit to
the international tribunal. In
the meantime, our allies, the
United States and the ASEAN
(Association of South East Asian
Nations) member-countries
remain ambivalent in their
position regarding our territorial
dispute with China. The US has
declared its neutrality on the
territorial disputes in the sea.
In view of these developments
and based on the House 14
discussions with the ofcials of
the Communist Party of China,
I am convinced that it is to our
interest that we pursue the course
espoused by former US Secretary
of State Henry Kissinger and he
late President Richard Nixons
landmark opening to China
some 40 years ago. Hu Hu
Jing, Hu Hui (Mutual Respect,
Mutual Benet) Kissinger said,
underscoring a common ground
in conic resolution.
This suggestion to adopt
the principle of Hu Hu Jing,
Hu Hui in governing the
Philippine-China relations,
in fact, merited an optimistic
response from Madame Chen
Zhili, vice chairperson of the
Standing Committee on Chinas
National Peoples Congress and
president of All-China Womens
Federation, who stated in reply
to my speech at the Great Hall
of the People in Beijing last
April 20: Hu Jing Hu Hui,
Cong Tong Fa Zhan (Mutual
Respect, Mutual Benet, Joint
Development).
Rep. Gina de Venecia (center) and Madame Chen Zhili are joined at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing by (from left) Reps. Ana Cristina Go, Emmeline Aglipay, Abihgail Ferriol,
Josena Joson, Bai Sandra Sema, Mercedes Alvarez, Vice Minister Ai Ping, Madame Chen Zhili, Reps. Janette Garin, Rachel Marguerite del Mar, Nancy Catamco, Linabelle Ruth Villarica,
Bernadette Herrera-Dy, Daisy Fuentes, Cinchona Cruz-Gonzales and Deputy Director General Shen Beili.
By Macon Ramos-Araneta
OPPOSITORS of the Aurora Pacic
Economic Zone and Free Port project in
Casiguran led by the towns parish priest
on Wednesday slammed the apparent
inaction of Malacaang on their plight.
Senator Edgardo Angara and
his son, Aurora Rep. Jun Edgardo
Sonny Angara co-sponsored
Republic Act 10083, creating
APECO.
The younger Angara and
Aurora Gov. Bellaor Angara-
Castillo, the senators sister, sit
on the economic zones Board.
Fr. Jose Francisco Talaban,
parish priest of Nuestra Senora
dela Salvacion in Casiguran, said
she endorsed the undertaking
unmindful of the residents who
stood to lose their source of
livelihood
We are not giving up hope.
We and the church believe
that in case of developments,
it should be for the common
good of the people, and not only
a few, Talaban told Mabila
Standard during the sidelines of
the Balitaan sa Aloha Hotel on
Wednesday.
We sent a letter-appeal to
the President last October 2010.
It was also published in the
newspaper, but there was no
action from the Palace.
In their letter-appeal, Talabans
group said the community
would be displaced from
12,923 hectares of productive
agricultural lands and natural
forests in Casiguran.
They said APECO law was
passed without consultation
with the people of Casiguran,
and approval of the towns local
government unita violation
of the Local Government Code)
and the APECO Law itself.
The letter noted that APECO
would displace shermen
without provision for relocation
and livelihood, a violation of the
Fisheries Code.
Furthermore, the appeal said
APECO intruded into ancestral
lands of the Agta Dumagats
without their Free, Prior and
Informed Consent which
violated the Indigenous Peoples
Rights Act.
Talaban said the projects
proposed infrastructure and
industries would eat up at least
300 hectares of productive,
irrigated rice lands, and endanger
food security in Aurora and the
waters of Casiguran Bay which
altogether disregarded the CARP
Law.
In the forum, he assailed the
harsh treatment of the residents,
natives, farmers and the
sherfolks who will be eased out
by the ongoing construction of
the ecozone project.
They are being threatened
and harassed to leave areas being
illegally occupied by Apeco,
saying all their efforts would just
go into naught, said Tabalan.
Lawyer Jan Perry Eugenio of
the Ofce of Akbayan Rep. Kaka
Bag-ao said farmers who have
been tilling the soil for several
decades should be respected.
They are taking property
without due process of law, he
said.
THE location of SM City Baguio is not an
environment critical spot and neither is the
property a heritage site nor listed as cultural
and historical landmark, said a forestry
expert.
Arborist Armando Palijon, a specialist in
the care and maintenance of trees, made a
tree health assessment study of the malls
P1.2 billion redevelopment that would
involve earth-balling of trees.
There will still be more than enough
space in the premises of the property that will
be saved and continuously be used as green
space if the SM expansion and redevelopment
project is to be pursued, he said.
In his ndings, Palijon, an urban forestry
practitioner, said the SM City Baguio
property at Luneta Hill covered eight hectares
with the mall covering 1.9 hectares while the
expansion area would have 1.1 hectares or 3
hectares built-up area in all.
This means that SM has 5 hectares of
open space or 62.5 percent which is more
than double than the 30% open space that is
required by law (Presidential Decree 953),
he noted.
As planned, SM City Baguios multi-function
building is designed as a green building with
a sky garden that can compensate for the 182
trees in terms of carbon dioxide capture.
The notion that it will take 30 years before
the newly planted saplings will sequester CO2
and release O2 is completely wrong, Palijon
said, adding that photosynthesis starts right
after the seed leaves have developed.
Citing the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources inventory, he found the
SM property had 97 Benguet Pine and 43
Alnus trees that were covered by an earth-
balling permit.
The DENR requires SM to replace 30
saplings for every tree, a ratio set by the
DENR based on the capacity of the seedlings
or saplings to sequester CO2 and O2 in lieu
of one grown tree that will be removed from
site or a total of 5,460 saplings for all the 182
trees to be earth-balled, he said, noting that
SM committed to plant 50,000 saplings of
Benguet Pine or other native species in and
around Baguio City.
SM has planted 2,000 saplings of Benguet
Pines at Busol Watershed and is supporting
the maintenance of the trees with 48,000
more saplings to be planted under the Baguio
Re-greening Movement across 40 hectares to
match 1.1 hectares of space allocated for the
expansion. Dexter A. See
By Florencio P. Narito
VIRACPresident Benigno Aquino III
switched on the new radar station of the
weather bureau in Buenavista, Bato, Cat-
anduanes on Wednesday.
He was accompanied by Science and
Technology Secretary Mario Montejo
and PAGASA Administrator Dr. Nathan-
iel Servando.
The project, amounting to P1.7 billion,
was funded by grant aid from the Japan
International Cooperation Agency under
its Project for Improvement of the Me-
teorological Radar System in the island.
The new Doppler radar station is ex-
pected to help disaster-mitigating agen-
cies in the Bicol peninsula and neighbor-
ing localities to draw up more effective
and timely emergency plans by accurate-
ly tracking the course of typhoons and
other weather disturbances.
Catanduaness weather station is the rst
of three Doppler radars being built using
the new Solid-State Meteorological Radar
System technology pioneered in Japan.
The facility will complement two oth-
er systems being completed in Guiuan,
Samar province, and Aparri, Cagayan
province.
President
Benigno
Aquino III
listens to Dr.
Nathaniel
Servando,
PAGASA chief,
explain the
improved
forecast
capability of
Bato Doppler
Radar using the
latest Japanese
meteorological
technology.
ROBERT VIAS
By Jess Malabanan
CLARK FREEPORTCentral Luzon
wants to make the entire region a haven
for locators by making it easier to do
business in local government units.
Secretary Jesse Robredo said more
improvement was needed with the Business
Permits Licensing Systemto draw more
investors with the country ranking 148th
in 183 economies surveyed in terms of
ease of doing business, according to World
Bank Doing Business Report 2011.
We are aiming to make this country
a place where business transaction
is easier and trouble-free, he said
in a message read by DILG Region 3
director Florida Dijan.
I am happy to know that region 3
supports and embraces the national
governments programs which will at
the end of the day, make our country an
investment potential and all its LGUs
business-friendly.
Angeles City Mayor Edgardo
Pamintuan said it would now take only
three steps to work through
when it used to take four to
ve.
The processing time
was dramatically reduced,
the signatories were
also streamlined, said
Pamintuan at the Kapihan,
a regular monthly
fellowship with members
of the media in Pampanga
held at the McDonald
Nepo Quadrangle.
Bacolor town Mayor
Jose Maria Jomar Hizon
said applicants for business
and license permits need
not to wait for hours because approval is
ready in 30 minutes provided all require
documents are submitted.
Hizon and Pamintuan led the Hall of
Famer awards during the fellowship.
Mabalacat Mayor Marino Boking
Morales, Lubao Mayor
Mylene Pineda-Cayabyab,
Sta. Rita. Mayor Yolly
Pineda, Sto. Tomas Mayor
Lito Naguit, Candaba Mayor
Jerry Pelayo and San Simon
town Mayor Leonora Wong
also took home with their
awards.
The BPLS Streamlining
Project complies with the
provision of the Republic
Act 9485 or Anti-Red-Tape
Act of 2007.
The project mandates
prompt and effective
services to eradicate
graft and corruption while promoting
transparency and accountability in local
governance.

Manila Standard Today - May 3, 2012 Issue

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