PNoy Surges To +67

By ELLALYN B. DE VERA

After Slump, Aquino Rating On Record High

VOL. 477

No. 08

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

74 PAGES

R18.00 IN METRO MANILA

President Benigno S. Aquino IIIs net satisfaction rating, at its lowest just three months ago, has surged to an alltime high of +67, the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed. The survey, conducted August 24-27, had 77 percent of the 1,200 respondents expressing satisfaction with the
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VLADIVOSTOK-BOUND President Benigno S. Aquino III arrives yesterday at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport for his flight to Russia for the APEC leaders summit. (Anjo Perez)

Dual Citizens Disqualified To Seek Elective Posts SC

By REY G. PANALIGAN

Filipinos with dual citizenship have to formally renounce their foreign citizenship under oath if they intend to aspire for any elective post; otherwise they are disqualified as candidates. The Supreme Court (SC) said that

while it had ruled earlier that the filing of a certificate of candidacy is considered a renunciation of a foreign citizenship, Republic Act No. 9255 enacted in 2003 provides the additional condition of a personal and sworn renunciation of foreign citizenship. Thus, the SC said, candidates for an elective office who failed to
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To Shouts Of Four More Years, Obama Promises Better Days

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (AP and AFP) _ Barack Obama, his re-election in doubt, promised better days ahead as he accepted the Democratic Party nomination for president before thousands of charged-up party loyalists shouting Four more years! and millions of television viewers. In a crucial speech at the Democratic National Convention, just two months before the Nov. 6 vote, Obama looked to reignite the excitement that powered his first run for the presidency. Obama needed to win over undecided voters, especially those who had been swayed by his inspiring message of hope in 2008, but now feel disillusioned after years of economic weakness and persistent political bickering. He assured them: Our problems can be solved, our challenges can be met.
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US Nuke Sub Arrives In Subic Embrace Change,

By ELENA L. ABEN USS Hawaii (SSN-776), a Virginia-class nuclear attack submarine of the United States equipped with first ever photonic masts, arrived at Subic Bay Friday for a routine port call and goodwill visit. USS Hawaii entered the mouth of Subic Bay around 9 a.m. and moored alongside USS Frank Cable (AS 40) around 10 a.m. Last Monday, USS Frank Cable, an L.Y. Spear class submarine tender, docked at Subic
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Reinvent, Print Media Told

By BRYAN EDWARD G. VILLASANA and CARLOS DAVE B. GARCIA

Tweets on Obamas nomination acceptance speech, a new Twitter record for political traffic

9 Million

La Salle Wins Moot Court Contest

By SARAH HILOMEN VELASCO

After five years, University of St. La Salle in Bacolod (USLS) once again ruled the National Moot Court Competition on International Humanitarian Law (IHL), besting 10 other law schools.

USLS won over Ateneo de Manila Law School in the simulated court proceedings held at the Supreme Court en banc session hall on Thursday. La Salles Nadine Abenoja, who won as best mooter for the final round, was ecstatic over the teams
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Veteran journalist Malou Mangahas presented yesterday her recommendations to keep the print media vibrant, relevant, and competitive in todays challenging market during the 2nd Philippine Print Media Congress (PrintCon 2012) at the historic landmark Manila Hotel. Mangahas, executive director and co-founder of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), said that print media needs three Is to overcome and even outlast the
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ACCLAMATION US President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, and their daughter Sasha acknowledge cheers from the delegates during the final day of the Democratic national convention Friday, September 7, 2012. (Reuters)

PHILIPPINE PANORAMA
This issue of the Philippine Panorama featuring Grandparents Day comes with tomorrows Manila Bulletin.

NEWS
GLOBE TO OFFER REVOLUTIONARY NANOSIMS Globe Telecom is set to offer this month the new Nano-SIMs in Globe Stores as it provides subscribers a new and better mobile experience. The Nano-SIMs are new-generation subscriber identity module (SIM) cards for the latest generation of smartphones and handsets running on the most modern mobile network technologies. Globe has ordered as much as 5x more Nano-SIMs than its regular SIM stocks, anticipating high customer demand when smartphones running on Nano-SIMs are offered in the market. The new Nano-SIM cards will be 40% smaller than the Micro-SIM, the smallest SIM card design to date, and will measure 12.3 millimeters wide, 8.8 millimeters high, and 0.67 millimeters thick.

SPORTS

16
Luzon Visayas Mindanao Manila
partly cloudy to at times cloudy w/ isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA MARY Marian devotees around the world celebrate today the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Story on Page 6

LEGENDS OF THE POOL Veteran cue artists Efren Bata Reyes and Francisco Django Bustamante advance to the quarternals and will play against Mika Immonen and Petri Makkonen of Finland today at the World Cup of Pool at Robinsons Place in Ermita, Manila.

mostly cloudy with scattered rainshowers or thunderstorms mostly cloudy with scattered rainshowers or thunderstorms
partly cloudy to at times cloudy w/ isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms

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24.0oC - 33.0oC Sunrise: 5:44 a.m. Sunset: 6:03 p.m.

Tides: High: 2:14 a.m. 0.99m Low: No data available

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Local News

Saturday, September 8, 2012

More Infra, Technology Spending Sought

By HANNAH L. TORREGOZA

The Department of Agriculture (DA) was urged yesterday to spend more on infrastructure and technology so that the country can achieve rice sufficiency by 2013. Sen. Edgardo Angara said he supports the initiatives of the DA to obtain rice self-sufficiency by next year, but noted that this can only be attained if more funds would be poured into agricultural infrastructure, farming technology and agricultural research

and development. A former DA secretary, Angara said that as much as one million metric tons of rice are lost every year due to inefficient post-harvest facilities. Plugging these huge post-harvest losses in the grains sector, even just halving it, would dramatically reduce our import dependency, said Angara, who chairs the Committee on Science and Technology. Citing figures from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the senator said the Philippines imported around 1.8 million tons of

rice in 2008. In a report, IRRI cited that the main reasons for the countrys massive importation is due to the limited land area for immediate rice cultivation, continuous population growth, and lack of appropriate infrastructure. An Asian Development Bank (ADB) study said the Philippines will unlikely meet its target of rice self-sufficiency by 2013 due to poor farming infrastructure and high production costs. We also need to look into increasing our productivity. For example,

more investments in irrigation are needed, such as in the rehabilitation of old facilities, the construction of new systems and the provision of small farm reservoirs, Angara emphasized. We will also need to conduct R&D into cultivating disaster-ready strains of rice and roll out the worlds advanced technologies wherever appropriate, he said. In 2010, Angara, who also chairs the congressional commission on Science and Technology and Engineering, identified remote sensing

for agriculture as a priority project for 2011. He said technologies in satellite imaging and aerial photography can be used to gather data on rice lands. If we deploy high-speed and hightechnology systems throughout our rice-producing regions, our farmers and agribusinesses can get real-time information about harvest, soil and weather conditions,he pointed out. This will enhance their capacity to make important decisions quicker, as well as boost their capacity for precision farming, said Angara.

House Kasambahay Bill Approval Cited

By LESLIE ANN G. AQUINO

OLD WOMAN An old woman sleeps in a hammock outside her house in Baseco Compound, in Tondo, Manila.

NSO: Filipino Elderly Population Up

By CZARINA NICOLE O. ONG

The number of people 60 years old and above, or those considered as senior citizens, has increased, as the countrys household population was also up. Based on latest Census of Population and Housing, which was conducted on May 2010, the household population of the Philippines reached 92,097,978. From this number, senior citizens made up 6.8 percent. The number is higher than the 6 percent recorded last 2000. Among

the senior citizens, females (55.8 percent) outnumbered the males (44.2 percent). Across the country, eight regions had proportions of senior citizens higher than the national figure: Region I (9 percent), Region VI (8.7 percent), Region VIII (8.2 percent), Region VII (7.8 percent), Region II (7.3 percent), Region III (7.0 percent), and Caraga and Cordillera Administrative Region (6.9 percent each). Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, with 2.9 percent, had the lowest proportion of senior citizens. In the Philippines, the aging index or the proportion of persons

aged 60 years and over per 100 persons under the age of 15 years was computed at 20.3 percent in 2010. This means that there is one person aged 60 years and over for every five children under 15 years old. In 2000, the ageing index was computed at 16.1. Among the regions, Region I had the highest ageing index of 28.5. Six other regions had an ageing index higher than the national index: Region VI (27.0), Region VII (23.7), Region II (22.9), Region VIII (22.5), Region III (22.0), and CAR (21.7). The lowest ageing index was computed at 6.7 for ARMM.

An official of the Department of Labor and Employment yesterday welcomed the approval of the kasambahay bill by the House of Representatives. Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the timing of the approval was perfect as it came on the same day the International Labor Organizations (ILO) Office of ILO Director General Juan Somavia accepted the Philippine instrument of ratification of ILO Convention 189. The timing of the bills approval is perfect. Yesterday, the ILO has accepted our countrys instrument of ratification of ILO Convention 189, or the Domestic Workers Convention, and on both occasions, this development is significant in that they pave the way towards the empowerment of the countrys estimated two million to 2.5 million household domestic service workers with a promise of better salaries, better work conditions, and other benefits, she said in a statement. There are a thousand and one reasons for the kasambahay bill to form part of the countrys body of social legislation. One of the most important of these reasons is that it

will promote the welfare of millions of our kababayans working as domestic helpers here and abroad, added Baldoz. The Federation of Free Workers (FFW) described as a victory of the workers movement the passage of the kasambahay Bill after more than 15 years of lobbying in Congress. If we are united, we shall succeed. This is a victory for the workers movement. An improvement of our laws, said lawyer Sonny Matula, president of the FFW. Once enacted, the law would be an improvement of the existing labor laws since it would establish labor standards for domestic workers higher than what we have now. If properly implemented it will work towards decent employment and income, enhanced coverage of social protection, respect for human rights and strengthened social dialogue, he added. With the House approval, the kasambahay bill will now be reconciled with the Senate version of the measure, earlier approved in December 2011, in a bicameral conference committee. To finally become a law, the reconciled version of the measure will be both ratified by both Houses then sent to President Benigno S. Aquino III for his signature.

Solon Urges Sea Diplomatic Resolve

By ROLLY T. CARANDANG

Trike Driver Shares 6/45 Win

By EDD K. USMAN

A 43-year- old tricycle driver won over R52 million in the Mega L o t t o 6 / 4 5 d r a w l a s t Au g . 2 4 , using numbers he got from his dream. That turned out to be the drawn winning combination 2930-10-38-31-37. He had been betting four times a week, and doing it for the last 10 years. On that lucky day, he placed three bets worth R30 on 6/45. One of his bet combination was his dream numbers. All by himself, he cornered the R52,244,391.60 prize. Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) General Manager Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II handed him the check representing his winnings when he showed up at the agency on Aug. 28. His wife and a hired lawyer accompanied him to the PCSO. Like all other lotto instant millionaires, the winner of Cabuyao, Laguna, he disappeared for his and

his familys safety. Well, not quite! He returned to his barangay, where his neighbors already knew of his immense good fortune. Before the new member of the lotto millionaires club banished from his barangay (village), he shared his winnings to his fellow barangay folks, including the kids. The Manila Bulletin learned about this grand charitable act Thursday from Arnold Postrado, 41, a neighbor of the jackpot winner. Postrado, a driver at the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), said the winners fellow tricycle drivers and neighbors learned about his good fortune that Friday night he hit the 6/45 jackpot. Nagtatatalon siya sa tuwa ng malaman noong gabi na yon na tinamaan niya ang R52 million na jackpot (He jumped for joy repeatedly after knowing that night he won the R52 million jackpot), the TESDA driver recalled. Nag-blow out siya kaagad (He gave

treats right away), said Postrado. After claiming his money that Tuesday (Monday, Aug. 27 was a holiday), they went home, seemingly little caring of his safety. He asked the barangay chief to line up his fellow residents because he was going to share (give balato) his winnings with them, the TESDA worker said. So, that Thursday and Friday (Aug. 30 and 31) the new multimillionaire gave each adults R1,000 each and the kids R200 each, he said. About 1,000 people got their lotto share from their fellow resident, said Postrado. My Grade IV son Utoy received R200, he said. Ang laking tuwa ng mga tagabarangay namin (Those in our barangay were very happy), the TESDA driver said. Postrado said that same Friday afternoon, the winner and his family moved out of the barangay. They returned to their home province in Northern Luzon, he said.

A party-list lawmaker yesterday urged the government to pursue diplomatic solutions to the dispute in the Spratlys. Kasangga Party-list Rep. Reodorico T Haresco made his call in anticipation of a one-on-one meeting between President Benigno S. Aquino III and Chinese President Hu Jin Tao on the sidelines of the 20th Asia-PacificEconomic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Meeting in Vladivostok, Russia. Haresco claimed that signs have become more obvious that Chinas economy is slowing down. Bloomberg reports that among Chinas five largest banks, overdue loans have jumped by 27 percent, he cited. Trade figures are also down due to the debt crisis in Europe and the earthquake in Japan; these are traditionally strong trading partners of China. Reports, he said, noted that manufacturing figures have contracted further as of August, and financial institutions like Australian New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ) and Bank of America have revised their growth forecasts for China. China has yet to institute steps towards cushioning the impact of a GDP growth shortfall, claimed Haresco. We should expect interest rate cuts and increased government spending

in infrastructure, he said. Haresco pointed out that as of 2012, military projected spending was reported at over $100 billion. But this is probably a conservative estimate, he said, claiming that China probably spends up to 4 percent of her GDP on security, so this is closer to about $450 billion. Haresco urged the Philippine government to continue to seek an accord with China on the Spratlys, citing that one of the courses of action of President Benigno Aquino III, which is to look to the United States as a potential ally in evolving a diplomatic solution, is correct. He suggested that since the source of Chinas woes may be economic in nature, a possibility for back door bilateral talks, with the help of Filipino taipans with interests in China and the Philippines. The nature of these agreements could revolve around increase trade, tourism, investments, and employment between the two countries, he added. He said more than 50 percent of global trade now occurs in AsiaPacific. This is even more evident now when austerity pressures and currency speculations are going against the Euro, and making Europe a less reliable trading partner. If the Philippines could become a favored trading partner with China that would definitely become a winwin situation, Haresco stressed.

Local News
Check Geohazard Maps, Developers Urged
By ELLALYN B. DE VERA

Saturday, September 8, 2012

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) urged on Friday real estate developers to conduct a thorough study before pushing through with their projects, which might be at risk of landslides and floods, by making the necessary engineering interventions. Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje said both real estate developers and prospective house and lot buyers should check the geohazard maps to familiarize themselves of areas at risk of landslides and floods. He noted that the geohazard maps produced by the DENRMines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) will help the buyers in avoiding the risk of losing their properties and even their lives. We strongly advise prospective buyers of land properties for housing or other infrastructure projects to refer to the geohazard maps to make sure that the lots they are intending to buy are not situated in landslide- and flood-prone areas, Paje said. According to Paje, the geohazard maps can be viewed in the agency websites of the DENR (www.denr.gov.ph), MGB (www.mgb.gov.ph), Philippine Information Agency (www.pia.gov.ph) and the Environmental Science for Social Change ((www.essc.org.ph). The maps, with scale of 1:50,000, are also downloadable. Or, they could go and see the maps with their local government units as we have given all LGUs, down to barangay level, geohazard maps for reference in their development planning, Paje said. Buying a house and lot is definitely a big investment for an ordinary family; that they have to pay at the most, for 30 years, if they acquire such through a housing loan. Finding out that their area gets easily flooded and prone to landslide later on would be tragic, so it is better to be on safe side always, he added. Paje said real estate developers should consider the varied impacts of climate change, including severe flooding, landslides, and drought when building homes. These are the new normal, and to stay afloat with these new situations, we need to adapt to climate change by way of technologies, engineering interventions, even the architecture of our buildings and houses, he pointed out.

PH Ports On 9/11 Alert

By JUN RAMIREZ

Officials and personnel of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) have been placed on heightened alert in view of the forthcoming 11th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States . BI Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. instructed all BI personnel in airports and seaports nationwide to exercise utmost vigilance, especially in profiling arriving international travelers. You shall closely monitor those who could pose potential threats to national security, especially suspected foreign terrorists, David said in his memorandum order. He added that if a foreign passenger is found inadmissible, he should be turned back, excluded and booked on the next available flight back to his port of origin. David issued the alert order to prevent the entry of foreign terrorists who might be plotting terrorist activities to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the US that killed nearly 3,000 people. The Philippines has been an active participant in the global war against terror and its military has been battling members of the Mindanao-based Abu Sayyaf group, which is linked to the al-Qaeda network founded by the late Osama bin Laden. Lawyer Ma. Antonette Mangrobang, BI acting intelligence chief, disclosed that the bureau has in its blacklist hundreds of foreigners suspected of involvement in terrorism. Mangrobang said these aliens are all subject to immediate exclusion upon arriving in any of the more than 50 international airports and seaports throughout the country. Under the Philippine Immigration Act, foreigners deemed as potential threats to national security are not eligible for admission to the country.

Metro News

Saturday, September 8, 2012

New Ticket Machines In LRT-MRT

METRO NEWSBITS
SYMPOSIUM
Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago is the guest speaker in a symposium organized by the Federation of Graduate School Student Council of the Eulogio "Amang" Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology (EARIST) today, Sept. 8, 2012, 10 a.m. at the Jaime C. Laya Gymnasium at the EARIST campus, Nagtahan, Sampaloc, Manila. She will discuss premature campaigning in her speech.
By KRIS BAYOS

NABBED
Three suspected members of Dura-Dura Gang were arrested Thursday afternoon by the police and barangay security officers minutes after victimizing students on board a jeep in Pasig City, police reported yesterday. Senior Supt. Mario Rariza, chief of the Pasig City Police Station, identified the arrested suspects as Ramil Medina, 26, single; Arman Conga, 32, single; and Reucio Campol De Laza, 40, married, jobless and residents of Cainta, Rizal. Rariza said that the suspects were arrested at 5:05 p.m. Thursday in Barangay Bagong Santolan, Pasig City, by members of the Pasig City Police-Police Community Precinct 5, Traffic Parking Management Office and Batas Ciudad Enforcement Unit, during a follow-up operation. He said that prior to the arrest of the suspects, they just victimized 17-year-old student Heidilyn Abatan, single, college student and a resident of Sto. Nio, Marikina City, by taking her wallet containing cash and an I-Phone cell phone, while on board a jeepney bound for Montalban, Rizal. The alert jeepney driver then called the attention of members of the BCEO and TPMO at a nearby outpost and chased the suspects. (Francis Wakefield)

SELF-DEFENSE Martial arts instructors teach traffic constables of Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) various combat sports as part of their training for self defense. (K.J. Rosales)

MMDA Men Undergo Defense Training

By ANNA LIZA T. VILLAS

BUS TOUR
Visitors who wish to go Bonifacio Global City (BGC) and visit their top attractions will have an easier time doing this with the launch this week of the BGC Hop On, Hop Off Bus Tour. Manny Blas, BGC commercial operations head, disclosed that the Bus Tour intends to take its visitors conveniently through the districts top attractions in an easy and convenient way. He said BGCs Hop On, Hop Off bus tour will save a person from the brother of driving, parking, and finding directions to explore the 240hectare world-class urban center. Visitors, according to Blas, can hop on or hop off the bus at any of the five stops: Bonifacio High Street, The Mind Museum, BGC Offsite Gallery, Serendra, and Turf BGC. (Francis Wakefield)

Traffic constables of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) started yesterday their crash course in martial arts to equip them with basic self-defense skills not just to ward off abusive motorists but also deal with street criminals. At least 200 traffic constables underwent rigid training on stick fighting or arnis, knife defense, and hand-to-hand combat at the MMDA grounds in Makati City, under the instruction of martial arts experts from the Modern Arnis Mano-ManoFilipino Martial Arts based in Pasay City. MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said they organized the training program not to encourage traffic constables to become arrogant and abusive but to help them defend themselves against attacks by mo-

torists and even criminal elements. We do not want them to be aggressive and use their skills in abusing anyone. This is only for selfdefense. At the same time, we want to show to the public that we can go to their aid and defend them in critical situations, Tolentino said. Martial arts instr uctors also taught the traffic constables in dealing with street criminals such as snatchers and robbers. Each batch of 50 traffic constables will undergo three sessions of martial arts training. Tolentino said it will take a month to train all 1,600 traffic constables of the agency. Donned in white Karate Gi or martial arts uniforms, the traffic constables were also taught on how to disarm a knife-wielding attacker and how to throw off a punch or a slap. Tolentino said the arnis instruction will be of great help to the traf-

fic constables once they are issued batons. Once we have completed their training, they will be issued batons. But Tolentino warned traffic constables of severe sanctions should they use their newfound skills in abusing others. Martial arts chief instructor Tony Nicolas said they will highlight to the MMDA trainees the importance of self-control and self-discipline. He pointed out that self-defense is not meant to kill an attacker but to preserve life. Teaching them self-defense skills is not enough. It should sink to their minds that these skills are not something to brag about or to be used in bullying anyone, Nicolas stressed. Self-defense is both physical and mental development. What they should learn first is to be alert all the time and how to analyze every situation they get into, he added.

There will be new ticket vending machines that accept new money bills and coins for the Light and Metro Rail Transits (LRT-MRT) as part of the unified and contactless fare collection system that government will soon bid out for the mass transit systems. LRT Authority spokesperson Atty. Hernando Cabrera said there is a need to replace the existing ticket vending machines in LRT line 2 since its obsolete software prevents them from accepting new bills and coins. Responding to a passenger complaint lodged via Twitter, Cabrera said, instructions have already been given to operations staff to put up big signs that vending machines are not accepting bills and coins. Yes, we need to replace the vendo machine software for them to be able to accept both new and old bills and coins. (But) the ticket vending machines are part of those being fixed in the components of the contactless at unified fare collection system project for LRT and MRT, Cabrera said in his post. Cabrera admitted the need to replace the vending machines but said the new ones will be a component of the contactless and unified fare collection system that the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) plans to roll out within the year. The contactless and unified fare collection system will initially cover the LRT lines 1 and 2 and MRT 3, and will be provisionally extendable to cover the Philippine National Railways which runs up to Legazpi City in Bicol, the planned Airport Express leading to Clark in Pampanga, and the various tollway systems. Ticket vending machines are presently available at LRT line 2, which serves at least 350,000 passengers from Recto in Manila to Santolan in Pasig City. No vending machines, however, are operating for LRT line 1, which has a daily ridership of 500,000 passengers, similar to MRT 3, which plies daily along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue from Taft Avenue in Pasay City to North Avenue in Quezon City.

Ombudsman Scores High In Survey

By JUN RAMIREZ

MEDICAL TEAM
In light of the recent tragedy at the Light Rail Transit (LRT) EDSA Station, where an elderly woman jumped to her death while a big number of passengers got stranded, a Pasay City councilor proposed that a medical team should be present at train stations for emergency situations. Councilor Richard Advincula recently proposed an ordinance requiring LRT and Metro Rail Transit under the jurisdiction of Pasay City to have first-aid medical assistance personnel equipped with emergency oxygen apparatus. Due to the overcrowded stations, there are circumstances wherein a passenger falls ill while waiting for the train or while inside a crowded coach. (Mitch Arceo)

The Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) has scored high in the survey on perception of government per for mance conducted by the Makati Business Club (MBC) from June 19 to July 23, 2012. The anti-graft body moved 26notch higher to 18th place this year from 44th place during the same period last year. According to the MBC report, the OMB is one of the government

offices under the Aquino Administration which garnered the highest point of increase in perception rate, second only to the Department of Tourism (DOT). In the 53 government offices surveyed this year, the OMB, under Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, got a 70.9 percent satisfaction rate and 23.6 percent dissatisfaction rate, or a total of 47.3 percent net satisfaction rate. It was also revealed that for the same period last year where MBC covered 45 government offices, the

OMB got only a net satisfaction rate of -51.4 percent translated into 67.7 percent dissatisfied and 16.2 percent satisfied. The MBC has been conducting the survey among the senior executives of its member companies since 1989. In July 1993, MBC added government agencies in its survey. Its aim is to measure the level of perception in the performance of government agencies. The OMB was only included in the MBC list in July 2010.

Repair Of Metro Roads Rushed

By RAYMUND F. ANTONIO

Fire Bureau Reassigns 13 Officials

By CZARINA NICOLE O. ONG

DONATION
Malabon City Rep. Jaye Veronique Lacson-Noel has committed to donate 50 life vests and two rubber boats to the local government. Lacson-Noel said that the equipment will be turned over to Mayor Antolin Oreta III sometime next week, to be utilized by the City Risk Reduction and Management Council and other volunteer groups. She said some of the donation will be given to the Malabon Police. The pieces of equipment were donated by her colleagues in Congress who are concerned over residents still affected by the recent weather disturbances. (Ed Mahilum)

Before he passed away, the late Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse M. Robredo has implemented a revamp on the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), rotating 13 officials from the bureau. Senior Supt. Norman V. Pinion, former Regional Director of Region 4B, has been reassigned as Deputy Director of Directorate for Plans and Standard Development in the National Headquarters, while Senior Supt. Lorenzo De Guia takes his post in Region 4B. Meanwhile, Senior Supt. Sergio M. Soriano Jr., former Regional Director of Region 2 switched places with Senior Supt. Samuel M. Jamias, who is former Regional Director for the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR). Senior Supt. Anderson A. Comar,

who was the Chief Fire Marshal of the Cebu City Fire Station has been moved as Assistant Regional Director for Operations in the National Capital Region (NCR). Senior Supt. Jose S. Embang Jr., on the other hand, who used to be Regional Chief Directorial Staff and Chief of the Operations Division in the NCR has been assigned as District Fire Marshal of Fire District III. Supt. Eddie Silvano C. Cuartel, former Assistant Regional Director of Region 4B is now Regional Chief Directorial Staff of NCR, while Supt. Leonardo C. Gonzales is concurrent Assistant Regional Director for Region 4B. Other movements included Chief Insp. Eduardo A. Loon, who used to be Manila Fire District Chief, who is now Chief of Operations Division in NCR. Chief Insp. Alex L. Testado, formerly from the Office of the Regional Director of Region 1 has been

transferred to the Office of the Regional Director in Region 3. On the other hand, Chief Insp. Joe Fernand L. Bangyod, who used to be from Nueva Vizcaya, Region 2, has been moved as Chief Fire Marshal of Baguio City Fire Station. Senior Insp. Apolonio G. Diaz from Bambang Fire Station is now officer-in-charge of Nueva Vizcaya, Region 2. Lastly, Insp. Maria Simona B. Cemitara, Information Officer and Deputy Chief for Operations in the National Headquarters, has been reassigned as Information Officer of Region 5. BFP Officer-in-Charge Ruben Bearis said that the revamp is "in the interest of service" and so that the officials of the bureau would not be "stagnant." "By constant movement, what they have implemented will be transferred, and their expertise will be shared," he said.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) yesterday deployed its maintenance crew in ten road sections in Metro Manila, which have been partly closed and scheduled for repairs this weekend. In its latest traffic advisory, the DPWH gave notice to motorists that they should expect heavy traffic in the affected road sections from Friday 10 p.m. up to Monday 4 a.m. The road repair works are being implemented in the cities of Manila, Quezon, Caloocan, and Mandaluyong. In Manila, the DPWH said the roads being repaired are C.M. Recto Ave. between Masangkay and A. Rivera Streets, C-2 Tondo between Imelda and Velasquez Streets, and Road 10 between C-2 and Shell Station going to Navotas. Under the supervision of DPWH district office in Quezon City, sections of EDSA northbound between Quezon Avenue and North Avenue and southbound between Walter Mart and Bansalangin Street undergo repairs. Repair and maintenance of these national roads in Metro Manila has been coordinated by the DPWH-NCR with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, the DPWH said. In Mandaluyong City, those included are the rehabilitation of EDSA northbound between Berkeley and Poveda Streets, and EDSA southbound between Boni Avenue and Apo Street.

Metro News
By RIZAL S. OBANIL

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Tutuban Mall Fire Declared Over

After raging for more than two days, the fire that destroyed one of the buildings in Tutuban Mall in Divisoria, Tondo, Manila, was finally declared fire out yesterday. Fire Chief Superintendent Santiago Laguna, Chief of the Bureau of Fire Protection-National Capital Region (BFP-NCR) declared the fire out at around 1 a.m. The fire which hit the Cluster I building of the Tutuban Center Mall reportedly started at around 12 midnight Wednesday. In a related development, because of the prolonged exposure to the smoke from the fire, some 40 firemen of the BFP reportedly received medical attention, mostly for inhalation of the suffocating fumes. Garments and clothes, apparently after catching fire, do not burn spontaneously but instead tend to emanate black smoke, which can choke and even kill firefighters. Firefighters had difficulty in putting out the fire because only a few of them had breathing equipment that allowed them to get inside the burning building where the fire smoldered. Most of the stores in the mall, which contained mostly garments and clothes, still had their roll up doors locked, preventing firemen from dousing the flames inside. The fire was officially put under control at around 11 a.m., Thursday. Some areas on the second and third floors, however, continued to burn. Fire investigators have yet to come up with an estimate of the damage, which is expected to reach into millions of pesos. In a statement, the Tutuban Center Management thanked the government and volunteer firefighting organizations for their selfless efforts. It also acknowledged the support of DILG Undersecretary Rico Puno, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, and the Manila Police District. Tutuban Center said the affected tenants can coordinate with the Tutuban Center Building Administration or go directly to the Cluster Building Help Desk located at the Loop Road Skybridge A. Nor mal operations have resumed at Centermall, Prime Block, Robinsons Supermarket and Robinsons Department Store, it said.

Paging PNP
METRO CORNER ERIK ESPINA

EARTHQUAKE DRILL Emergency responders from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and volunteer organizations hold an earthquake drill at Robinsons Galleria in Ortigas Center yesterday, September 7, 2012. Disaster preparedness is once again in the limelight following a magnitude 7.7 earthquake off Samar last week. (Tony Pionilla)

he 109 Lumads and regular farm workers of Polo Coconut Plantation in Tanjay Negros Oriental were mixed emotion over news, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) would cover the 350 hectares of land they have been residing in, and working for said corporation as employees, for many generations. After all, management & labor conditions were familial, much unlike the cacique mentality highlighted by media in the harsh treatment of tenants in e.g. other parts of Visayas. Management culture was accustomed to visit the homes of employees during fiesta etc. In the first place, the plantation was a Ranch with 300-400 heads of cattle originally grazing the expanse. Even the Court of Appeals (CA) affirmed this as a finding of fact. Hence Polo Coconut Plantation should have been exempted from agrarian reform. But the Gloria of Malacanang, after two phone calls to Plantation owners (back then) supporting FPJs candidacy, could not be deprived of her politics and absolute victory, at any & all cost. In the aftermath of the cold shoulder, curiously, her ousted Supreme Court Chief Justice, contrary to his staff s own recommendation, as Ponente, overturned the CA ruling. It blindly side-stepped the finding of fact for exemption, citing non-exhaustion of all administrative remedies among other clearly inelegant & over-extended justifications. An approved Board Resolution from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA Resolution 98-320) declaring 280 hectares of said plantation as Polo EcoCitys Special Economic Zone, previously proposed by then Trade & Industry Undersecretary Gloria Arroyo, gathered dust in the Office of her Presidency. This would have been a first for Negros Oriental.

Fast forward -- Polo management is taking the hit from DAR, lewdly covering the properties fronting the provincial highway & 2 kilometers from City Hall. Purely innocent and incidental? The problem is, Lumads & regular farm workers of Barangay Polo are up in arms, since DAR granted certificates of land ownership to total aliens from other provinces e.g. Bicol, Mandaue Cebu etc. outside towns, and those who have never worked in the plantation, or who simply wish to own land, clearly violating the CARP Law. As stated in Chapter 7 Land Distribution, Sec 22. Qualified Beneficiaries: The lands covered by CARP shall be distributed as much as possible to landless residents of the same barangay, or in the absence thereof, landless residents of the same municipality in the following order of priority: a) agricultural lessees & share tenants b) regular farm workers c) seasonal farm workers d) other farm workers e) actual tillers or occupants of public lands f) collectives or cooperatives of the above beneficiaries g) others directly working in the land. Despite a pending case regarding Exclusion-Inclusion Proceedings to determine the rightful beneficiaries, plus orders from PNP Chief Nicanor Bartolome, under PNP Police Operational Procedures, Rule 21 provides a written request without the final decision/ order, writ of execution shall not be acted upon. DAR muscled by installing strangers/outsiders into Polo with local PNP personnel as bodyguards of alien leaders. Talk allege, DAR bestowed P400,000 to local PNP for the iron hand. Today, the new owners, acting like hooligans threaten Polo Lumads/ common folk, their homes will be demolished, their families uprooted, banned from entry, planting or cultivating the soil. Paging PNP Chief Nicanor Bartolome!

National News

Saturday, September 8, 2012

SC Strengthens Small Claims Courts

NATIONAL NEWSBITS
MARYS NATIVITY
Devotees across the world celebrate today one of oldest Marian solemnities and one of the cardinal feasts of the liturgical devotion to Mother Mary the Feast of the Nativity of Mary. In Catholic churches, Marian shrines, and Marian schools in the country, feast masses, novenas, living rosaries, solemn processions, and the traditional Harana kay Maria (serenade for Mary) will be observed by thousands of Marian devotees. The Liturgy of the Hours, one of the highest expressions of liturgical worship, which involves the recitation of morning, midday, and evening prayers, will be held in many churches. The last of the triduum masses that began last Sept. 6 will also be celebrated today. (Christina I. Hermoso)
By SARAH HILOMEN-VELASCO

RHINO HORNS Bureau of Customs officials weigh the rhinoceros horns discovered concealed among a shipment of 300 sacks of cashew nuts inside a container van at the Manila International Container Port in Manila. (Linus Guardian Escandor II)

FLUVIAL PROCESSION
A fluvial procession for peace, family and life will be held at Taal Lake, in Batangas, today in honor of the two popular images of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Our Lady of Caysasay and the Our Lady of Mediatrix of All Grace. Todays fluvial procession also commemorates the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary as well as the canonical coronation of Our Lady of Caysasay. It was in September 8, 1954 when the Queen of the Archdiocese of Lipa was canonically crowned under Pope Pius XII. The four-hour fluvial procession, which will start at 6 a.m., will be the first Marian Peace Regatta to be held in Taal Lake. (Leslie Ann G. Aquino)

Rhinoceros Horns Intercepted At MICP

By RAYMUND F. ANTONIO

NEW CALL FOR O.A.V. REGISTRATION

With just 50 days left before the end of the voters registration for Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) issued another call to overseas Filipinos to register for the May 2013 Senatorial and Party-list polls. We are encouraging all the overseas workers to register. We have a deadline and that is on October 31, Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes III said in an interview. He said overseas Filipino voters should go out and register as this will not be extended. (Leslie Ann G. Aquino)

Agents of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) have intercepted some P72 million worth of Rhinoceros horns, which a local importer tried to smuggle from Mozambique, Africa through the Manila International Container Port last August 25. The horns of the endangered African Rhinos were concealed in a container van loaded with 300 sacks of cashew nuts. Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon said the importation of the six pieces of rhino horns was undeclared, which was a violation of the Tariff and Customs Code and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Faura and Flora. We strongly condemn the smuggling of endangered species be-

cause it causes irreparable damage to nature and environment, he told reporters during an inspection held at MICP . While estimates vary, the CIIS placed the total value of the rhinoceros horns at P72 million based on its current market price of US$ 133 per kilogram in Asia. They weigh 13 kilos. The shipper of the rhino horns, Chisteva Import and Export of Mozambique, did not file an entry for its consignee and broker, which raised suspicion among Customs intelligence agents that the importation was illegal. Immediately, the MICP- CIIS conducted surveillance operations on the shipment. And the CIIS was right on the dot. After validating the report that there were others items hidden in the cashew nuts importation, an

Alert Order was issued to hold the shipment, said CIIS director Dino Tuason in a separate interview. Poachers cut off rhinoceroses' horns for their illicit trade as they were largely driven in recent years by the mistaken belief it has a healing power. A Rhino horn is believed to cure diseases like cancer and malaria in some Asian countries. They are typically smuggled to Vietnam, China, and Laos where they are pulverized and used in traditional medicine. The rhino horn shipment was not intended for us. We don't have a market for these in the first place. They may be sold to Chinese here, said Tuason. Its current market price per gram in Asia is placed at US$ 133, making the BOC's seizure of 13 kilos of rhino horns shipment worth P72 million.

The Supreme Court vowed to strengthen its Small Claims Court, which provides access to justice of indigent and disadvantaged Filipinos since its implementation in the country in 2008. Court Administrator Midas Marquez said that cases filed under the program are promptly resolved. Most Filipinos have a misconception that taking disputes to court is time-consuming and costly, and thus, justice is only afforded to the affluent. In the Small Claims Court, the process is simple, the settlement is done face-to-face and justice is achieved quickly, he said. Claims filed under these courts amount to P100,000 and below, which include actual damages to vehicles, other personal property, real property and person; money owed under a contract of lease, loan, services, sale or mortgage; and civil actions such as payment of money covered by bounced or stopped checks. Marquez said the programs fourstep process in the Small Claims Court is inexpensive and informal. He said a small claims petitioner must file the documents, pieces of evidence and affidavit needed for the cases at the Clerk of Court in the municipality. Then the claimant must pay the P1,000 fee. The claimant then waits for the summons of hearing as the case is raffled by the court. Once called, the claimant should appear before the designated Small Claims Court on the hearing date for the final decision and settlement mandated by the judge. All first level courts which include Metropolitan Trial Courts, Municipal Trial Courts in Cities and Municipal Circuit Trial Courts are designated as Small Claims Courts.

Leila Outraged Over Extortion Attempt

By LEONARD D. POSTRADO

Extort Cop Flees With Family

By JEFFREY G. DAMICOG

FLOOD DONATIONS
Filipinos in Nigeria and a major company in Guam have donated a combined total of $12,000 for the benefit of the victims of recent floods in the Philippines. In Nigeria, the Pusong Pinoy Association (PPA) turned over to Ambassador Alex V. Lamadrid a $2,000 cash donation to be sent to the Philippine Red Cross (PRC). Calvo Enterprises, Inc. (CEI), one of the biggest corporations on Guam, presented its check donation amounting to $10,000 to the Filipino Community of Guam (FCG) to aid the latter's relief efforts for families and communities affected by the flooding. (Roy Mabasa)

HONORING TEACHERS
The Department of Education (DepEd) has launched nationwide poster-making, photo and videomaking contests as part of activities commemorating National Teachers Month which started last September 5 and will culminate on October 5, World Teachers Day. According to Education Secretary Armin Luistro, the contests, launched in partnership with Smart Communications, hope to encourage elementary and high school students from public and private schools to express how much they honor and value their teachers through the use of multi-media. (Ina Hernando-Malipot)

The policeman who allegedly tried extorting money from the son of National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina has fled his home along with his family. Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director Chief Superintendent Mario Dela Vega said yesterday that no one is at the house of SPO4 Jose dela Pena in Quezon City. The police official said that last Thursday he sent his men to the house following the extortion attempt of Dela Pena on Espina's son. He said the house was found locked up as Dela Pena is believed to have fled with his family after the extortion try. He and his family have left their

house, the QCPD chief said. Apart from the latest case Espinas son, Dela Pena was found to have been the subject of seven other administrative cases since 2006, including two alleged robbery-extortion incidents. According to records of the Quezon City Police Districts (QPD) Pre-Charge Evaluation Office which handles investigations of administrative charges against police officers, Dela Pena has a pending case of grave misconduct case for allegedly taking P7,000 from a 25-year-old man last May 21. The male complainant said that he and his girlfriend were aboard a car along Panay Avenue when Dela Pena appeared and threatened to bring them to jail and charge them with grave scandal for necking and petting.

The complainant said he was forced to give P7,000 to Dela Pena to let them go. On the evening of September 4, Espinas 22-year-old son had a similar experience when he was accosted by Dela Pena while stopped along Hemady Street. The policeman allegedly threatened to charge Espinas son with having phone sex inside the car. When he later learned that the young man was the son of the new NCRPO chief, the policeman fled and has not reported to the QCPDs Mobile Patrol Unit (MPU) since. Dela Pena was with his partner PO2 Resty del Rosario when they allegedly tried extorting Espinas son. Del Rosario appeared on Thursday afternoon before the Pre-Charge Evaluation office and was brought before Espina yesterday morning.

Protection Of Migrant Workers Boosted

By ROY C. MABASA

The heads of Philippine posts in the United States recently underwent extensive training and briefing from the United States Department of Labor and a non-governmental organization (NGO) dealing in human trafficking to better protect Filipino migrant workers in the US. The Philippine Embassy in Washington DC entered into an agreement with Polaris Project to collaborate in the provision of social services for Fili-

pino victims of human trafficking. The Polaris Project was established to combat all forms of human trafficking involving both US citizens and foreign national victims. Founded 10 years ago, its mission includes the provision of client services (such as emergency services, comprehensive case management, group therapy, transitional housing, and victim outreach), policy advocacy, training and technical assistance, and public outreach and communications. Polaris also operates a central toll-

free 24-hour hotline for tips or reports on trafficking, to be referred to antitrafficking services, or to request training and technical assistance, general information or specific anti-trafficking resources. Last month, Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose L. Cuisia Jr. signed a partnership agreement with US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis that enhances the enforcement of the rights of workers to a safe and healthy work environment, fair wages and working hours.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday placed one of its ranking government prosecutors under investigation on suspicion that he was involved in the P250,000 extortion attempt on a former beauty queen. In an ambush interview, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said she directed the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) of the National Prosecution Service (NPS) to conduct a probe against Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Severino Gaa after his staff, Mutya Santiago, was allegedly caught in the act of extorting money from international ramp model and former Mutya ng Pilipinas beauty queen Nuriza Abeja Jr. during a National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) operation. Santiago allegedly threatened to have an adultery case against Abeja filed in court if she refused to pay P250,000. De Lima admitted that she felt outraged that the alleged extortion attempt happened inside the main Justice department building. "Imagine, yung pag-entrap, pagbigay ng pera, right here sa DOJ building? Ganoon ka-bold. Galit na galit ako upon learning that. If I need to do the entrapment myself for others, I will do that. Naghihintay lang ako ng mga ganyang complainant na nagsusumbong at credible ang story," De Lima said. "There may be charges also filed with the boss of the employee (Santiago), an SDSP Ipasu-suspinde ko . siya if warranted. So my instructions to [prosecutor general] is to begin the process for the Internal Affairs Unit to investigate that SDSP she ," said.

GOVERNMENT WARNING AND DOCTORS ADVICE: SMOKING IS DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH. SO QUIT SMOKING AND LIVE LONGER.

National News
By LEONARD D. POSTRADO

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Panel Probing Corona Tax Case

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has formed a panel of prosecutors to investigate the P150.68-million tax evasion charges filed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) filed against ousted Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, his daughter, Carla, and son-in-law, Dr. Constantino Castillo III for his failure to declare all his assets in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth (SALN). In a text message, Prosecutor General Claro Arellano said the DOJ designated Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Roseanne Balauag as chairperson, with Prosecution Attorneys Ronald Estepa and Javee Laurence Bandong as members. In the interest of the service and pursuant to the provisions of existing laws, a panel of prosecutors is hereby constituted to preliminary investigation, Arellano said in his Office Order 473. Last week, the BIR accused Corona of violating section 254 and 255 of the National Internal Revenue Code from 2003 to 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2010, when he did not disclose his condominium unit at The Columns along Ayala Avenue bought for P3.6 million in 2004, and a property in Fort Bonifacio worth P9.16 million in 2005 in his SALN. BIR Commissioner Kim Henares said Corona is required to submit under oath his SALN annually, including that of his spouse and children under 18 years of age. The BIR also discovered a substantial disparity between the acquisition cost of the properties declared in his SALNs with that in the certificates authorizing registrations, she added. nila, San Beda College of Law-Manila, Southwestern University, Saint Louis University, University of Batangas, University of the Cordilleras, and Cor Jesu College Law School. Pauline Gairanod from the University of the Philippines College of Law school team won the Justice Ines Luciano Best Mooter Award as the highest-ranking oralist in the elimination rounds, an award, given for the first time, in memory of the Court of Appeals associate justice and chairperson of the IHL Committee of the Philippine Red Cross who passed away last year. Hosted by the De La Salle University Manila, the event was organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Philippine Red Cross (PRC), and the Supreme Court. The moot court contest began in 2005 and is the only moot court competition that holds its finals in the en banc session hall of the Supreme Court. mission on Elections (Comelec) that upheld the ruling of the trial court. It said that Condon was disqualified from running for elective office for failure to renounce her Australian citizenship under oath contrary to the exact mandate of Sec. 5(2) of RA 9255 that the renunciation of foreign citizenship must be sworn before an officer authorized to administer oath. On September 18, 2006, petitioner filed an unsworn Declaration of Renunciation of Australian Citizenship before the Department of Immigration and Indigenous Affairs, Canberra, Australia, which in turn issued the order dated September 27, 2006 certifying that she has ceased to be an Australian citizen. to turn back to Republicans. After Clinton's speech, Democrats formally approved Obama's nomination in a roll-call vote. Among the speakers preceding Obama on Thursday were actress Eva Longoria and Vice President Joe Biden, who was formally renominated. We're on a mission to move this nation forward from doubt and downturn to promise and prosperity, Biden said in his acceptance speech. Obama needed to strike a balance in his speech, highlighting improvement in the economy without suggesting that things are fine as they are. Democrats argue that the economy would be worse if it hadn't been for Obama-led programs to rescue the auto industry and stimulate the economy. Still, it is difficult to win over voters by arguing that things could have been worse. tion. Online platforms have been getting into the print because the younger generation is looking to own something permanent, he said. Competitiveness lies in how you price yourselves. On whether or not to buy print, SM Supermalls Vice President for Advertising Grace Victoria Magno; Digitel Mobile Philippines, Inc. (Sun Cellular) GSM Marketing and New Business Senior Vice President Ricky Pena; and Jollibee Foods Corp. Marketing Communications Director Pauline Roxas-Chua Lao discussed their respective assessments and outlooks on the effect of print in their own industries. We announce each major marketing campaign with a series of full-page print ads. We cannot think of any other more effective way to do this, Magno said. Nothing compares to the visual impact of a big print ad with powerful visuals. Why print? Because it has worked for Sun Postpaid over the last 5 years, Pena shared. Newspapers need to reinvent themselves in order to create a new experience for readers. But in all cases, emphasis should be on improving reader experience, whether that results in reinvention or not. Print builds credibility and reputation, said Chua Lao.

La Salle Wins...
(Cont'd from page 1)

US Nuke...
(Cont'd from page 1)

Bay also for a routine port call. The ship will depart September 12. In a statement, the US embassy said the visit of the two vessels highlights the strong historic, community, and military connections between the United States and the Republic of the Philippines. A statement by the US Navy likewise said the visit to Subic Bay presents an opportunity for sailors to strengthen ties with their counterparts in the Philippines, participate with Frank Cable Sailors in community service events in Olongapo, and enjoy crew rest and relaxation. Unlike other subs, Hawaii is equipped with a pair of AN/BVS-1 telescoping photonics masts located outside the pressure hull instead of a periscope. When submerged at a shallow depth, the said device allows Hawaii to search visually for nearby targets and threats on the surface of the water and in the air.

Each mast contains high-resolution cameras, along with lightintensification and infrared sensors, an infrared laser rangefinder, and an integrated electronic support measures array. With a crew of some 132, Hawaii can launch Tomahawk land-attack missiles from 12 vertical launch system tubes and Mark 48 advanced capability torpedoes from four 21inch torpedo tubes. The relatively new submarine will also be able to attack targets ashore with highly accurate Tomahawk cruise missiles and conduct covert long-term surveillance of land areas, littoral waters or other sea forces. Measuring more than 370 feet long and weighing more than 8,000 tons when submerged, Hawaii is one of the stealthiest submarines in the world and is capable of supporting a multitude of missions.

victory. All the efforts that we put into the preparation were worth it when we finally got here, because the last time our school team won was five years ago. In the succeeding years, we worked hard but we didn't make it. Finally, this year we reached the (finals at the) Supreme Court and won the cup," she said. USLS also won the right to represent the Philippines in the AsiaPacific regional finals in Hong Kong in 2013. USLS and Ateneo argued over the fictional case of Colonel Jones who faced charges in the International Criminal Court for alleged violations of IHL, also known as the law of armed conflict. The panel of judges was made up of Supreme Court Associate Justice Roberto Abad, Dr. Mario Aguja of Mindanao State University-Gener-

al Santos City, Philippine Judicial Academy Chancellor Adolfo Azcuna, Brigadier General Domingo Tutaan Jr., chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Human Rights Office, ICRC Regional Legal Advisor for Southeast Asia Christopher Harland, and De La Salle University School of Law Vice Dean Jocelyn Cruz. Harland, a veteran judge of moot court competitions, said international humanitarian law is a timely and significant issue, since the country commemorated IHL month last August. The presence of IHL in curricula, the discussion of this law in the media, and the commemoration of IHL month annually in August itself, show that this competition finds a very good home in the Philippines, he said. Special awards were given to mooters of the participating law schools, Far Eastern University-Ma-

Dual Citizens...
(Cont'd from page 1)

PNoy Surges...
(Cont'd from page 1)

Presidents performance in the past three months. Ten percent said they were not satisfied. This brings the Presidents rating to a "very good" +67. SWS said the rating is 25 points higher than the +42 (63 percent satisfied, 21 percent dissatisfied) last May. The results of the survey were first published in the BusinessWorld last Friday. SWS considers a net satisfaction rating of +70 and higher as "excellent;" +50 to +69, "very good;" +30 to +49, "good;" +10 to +29, "moderate;" +9 to -9, "neutral;" -10 to -29, "poor;" -30 to -49, "bad;" -50 to -69, "very bad;" and -70 and below, "execrable." SWS attributed the rebound of President Aquino's rating to the improved ratings in all regions, socioeconomic classes and gender. The President scored a +76 (83 percent satisfied, 7 percent dissatisfied) in the Visayas; +70 (78 percent satisfied, 8 percent dissatisfied) in the rest of Luzon; +61 (74 percent satisfied, 13 percent dissatisfied) in Mindanao; and +59 in Metro Manila (73 percent satisfied, 14 percent dissatisfied). The President scored a +70 (79

percent satisfied, 10 percent dissatisfied) in rural areas and a +65 (75 percent satisfied, 10 percent dissatisfied) in urban areas. Filipinos belonging to the upperto-middle classes ABC gave the President +78 (84 percent satisfied, 6 percent dissatisfied); +68 (77 percent satisfied, 10 dissatisfied) among the Class D or masa; and +62 (74 percent satisfied, 12 percent dissatisfied) among the poorest Class E. Male respondents gave the President a +67 (77 percent satisfied, 9 percent dissatisfied), and the female respondents, a +67 (78 percent satisfied, 10 percent dissatisfied). Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO) Secretary Ramon Carandang attributed the Presidents high rating to the successful impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona. "The survey numbers are looking very good they are record-high and we believe this is because of the faith that the Filipino people continue to have on President Aquino and they believe that his campaign promises are being fulfilled such as anti-corruption and anti-poverty," Carandang said. (Additional report from JC Bello Ruiz)

renounce their foreign citizenship in accordance with the exact tenor of RA 9225 (Citizenship Retention and Re-Acquisition Act of 2003) renders a dual citizen ineligible to run for and hold any elective public office. With the ruling, the SC dismissed the petition of Teodora Sobejan Condon as it affirmed the ruling of the La Union Regional Trial Court (RTC) that disqualified her for not renouncing her Australian citizenship in the manner provided for by RA 9255. Condon won the vice mayoral race in Caba, La Union in 2010 but her

qualification was challenged before the trial court by several registered voters in the municipality. According to the SC, the fact that petitioner won the elections can not cure the defect of her candidacy since garnering the most number of votes does not validate the election of a disqualified candidate because the application of the constitutional and statutory provisions on disqualification is not a matter of popularity. In a decision written by Justice Bienvenido L. Reyes, the SC affirmed the decision handed down by the Com-

To Shouts...
(Cont'd from page 1)

Embrace Change...
(Cont'd from page 1)

Yes, our path is harder but it leads to a better place, he said. Obama built on the message delivered throughout the convention: That America is on the road to recovery while Republican rival Mitt Romney would revive failed policies, cutting taxes for the rich and slashing programs that give regular Americans a chance for a more prosperous future. Republicans, who nominated Romney last week, argue that America's high 8.3 percent unemployment rate is proof that Obama's policies have failed and that the president's spendthrift, big-government policies have hurt business and caused the federal deficit to soar. The two candidates are locked in dent Avielynn Garcia urged industry practitioners to love their workmates and even competitors as one family to create a harmony. This would help the print industry in achieving its goal of keeping their publication vibrant and competitive in the society, Garcia said. On the second half of the first day of the two-day confab last Thursday, speakers sought answers to the issue of the day: Is the emerging new medium (digital) a friend or a foe? Havas Media Ortega Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jos Ortega talked about how new media affect the print industry in his topic New Media: Friend or Foe? Threat or Opportunity?, whether the former uphold or drag down the latters legacy. Face the reality that people are now patronizing multi-screen, television on other medium, Ortega said. Content is your differentiator The content of almost all is the same so [you need to] go back to your brand, he told delegates, particularly print publishers, adding that they should look at what their brands are, beyond press and print. On the problems solution, Ortega had three words: Differentiate or die, as he underscored proper branding, and having a unique selling point and criteria to either stand-out or

tight race. Polls show that Romney, a wealthy businessman and former governor of Massachusetts, is seen as the better candidate for improving the economy, while Obama is viewed as more likable and having a better understanding of everyday Americans. Obama's speech marked the climax of the three-day convention. First lady Michelle Obama highlighted the first day, talking about her husband's humble roots and compassion for those living through tough times. Bill Clinton, the popular former president who led the United States during years of prosperity, gave a rousing speech Wednesday, vouching for Obama's economic policies and urging Americans not survive in the print industry. For Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP) President Manny Fernando, the audience still has the same content of the print needed by the interactive world because print provides credibility and earns your audiences trust. The online media is huge but very fragmented, said Fernando. It is a competitive environment today, where competition can come from anywhere, especially in the digital world, according to Fernando. Online media is huge but very fragmented, he said. New media is not a revolution but an evolution of how content is consumed. Publishers need to address the shifting consumption of the audience and consumers. Digital, Fernando believed, is no longer just a medium, but an ecosystem. Print is not dead, if you would ask me, said Globe Telecoms Communications Channel Head Bunny Aguilars as he opened his topic with a query on how print leads the way into the digital future. Print can be the curator of digital content, Aguilar pointed out. Yesterdays news is now an archive for people. Aguilar also highlighted the integration of online into print and price being a major factor in the competi-

changes brought by technology: Initiative, Innovation, and Investment. Speaking on the second and last day of the confab, she said: Stop pining for the good old days and, instead, start dreaming and looking forward to reinventing print in the era of the Internet. Mangahas also challenged media organizations to depart from tradition and scale up its potential and unique platform values to embrace change and adapt in the new conversation defined by the Internet and other emerging technology. We must reinvent print and vest it with power to serve as root of all media and aggregator of all media products, she said. Mangahas also urged reporters to become multimedia journalists by not just being good in writing stories, but also in taking photos, video and other rich-media content. Believing that print can outlive the Internet, Mangahas said that print media firms only have to explore the best of both worlds of the print industry and the Internet. Meanwhile, Ms. Merlee Jayme, DM9 Jayme Syfu creative director, spoke at the conference on ways for print to compete with the digital world.

Speaking in behalf of the advertising sector, Jayme declared, its not the end of the world for print. She said print organizations only have to capture the short attention span of the changing target market and talk with the heart. Jayme said print organizations should elevate their medium to become an art form by being more insightful, informative, and creative for the future. For Media Specialists Association of the Philippines (MSAP) President Manuel Meckoy P Quiogue, a good . thing about print media is that nothing compares to [seeing] the importance of a big event if you read it in the newspaper. Leading the group of independent media firms, Quiogue said that print organizations should only aim for reader engagement by making their publications interactive through the adaptation of the Internet. He also urged print media firms to follow the initiative of the broadcast industry in publishing photos of citizen-journalists, noting that people still want to see their names printed in the paper. On how organizations can show the highest potential of media, Unleash International Executive Vice Presi-

World News

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Fastest Highway
WORLD NEWSBITS
TWITTER RECORD
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina, (AFP) Barack Obamas primetime address to the nation accepting the Democratic presidential nomination for 2012 broke a new Twitter record Thursday for political traffic, the site said. "A new record political moment on Twitter: @ barackobama drives 52,757 Tweets per minute. Over 9 million Tweets sent about #DNC2012, the micro-blogging site tweeted. Obama earlier implored Americans to grant him a second term to complete his battered crusade for change, warning of the starkest election choice in a generation.

MEDIA COOPERATION Philippine Commercial Counselor to China Zafrullah Masahud (third from left) with Philippine participants to the 10+3 Fifth Media Cooperation Forum in Changchun, Jilin, China. From left; Paul John Cana, Associate Editor, Lifestyle Asia Magazine, Juaniyo Arcellana, Senior Desk Editor of The Philippine Star, Columnist and Vice-President of Manila Bulletin Melito Salazar, Jr. and Christopher Jude Defensor, Editor, Expat Communications, Inc.

TELEVISION RIGHTS
MEXICO CITY (AP) The fight between Mexican mogul Carlos Slim and the countrys two dominant television broadcasters has moved into the soccer arena. Slim spokesman Arturo Elias Ayub said Thursday that the billionaire has struck deals for the television rights to games of the Leon soccer team that his America Movil company bought 30 percent with transmission rights. Leon games will be shown in the US by Telemundo and in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America by Fox Sports. The CNN-affiliated website mediatiempo.com and Slims web channel UNOTv will show the games online.

Asian Media Bats For Cooperation

The Fifth 10+3 Media Cooperation Forum opened Tuesday, September 4, 2012 in Changchun, Jilin, China with keynote speakers touching on territorial disputes affecting ASEAN 10 and Japan, China and South Korea 3 which could impact on the conference theme of Asias Voice & Values: How Can Media Promote Peace, Harmony & Cooperation. Mr. Wu Hengquan, Editor-in-Chief of Peoples Daily stressed that media should record and observe not destroy or mislead and help the countries weather difficulties and hardships. In territorial disputes, media should not cater to ultra nationalist sentiments but should consider that the countries in the region are interdependent and interconnected and help unify and strengthen ties so that Asia will have a stronger voice. The Vice-Minister of the State Council Information Office, Ms. Cui Yuying noted that on the 15th anniversary of the 10+3 process the region has improved its status but still faces challenges. She expressed the hope that 10+3 will continue to be a platform to deepen cooperation and attain its objectives. Mr. Wakamiya Yoshibumi, Editorin-Chief of The Asahi Shimbun of Japan emphasized the freedom enjoyed by Japanese media as contrasted to the situation in some Asian countries. He hoped that in the issue of island territorial disputes, the political leaders should make sure that it should not be highjacked by any domestic agenda catering to ultra nationalist sentiments. The historical issues related to these disputes should be understood. Mr. Jung Suk Koo, Chief Editorial Writer of the Hankyoreh Daily, Republic of Korea while expressing the fear that political pressures and the domestic agenda may go from bad to worse, emphasized that the global economic situation necessitated cooperation among the 10+3, especially in mass media. Such engagement should lead to better understanding of respective positions leading to a improvement in country relationships.

IMPROVING TIES
WASHINGTON (AP) Former President Jimmy Carter says anti-Castro leaders in Florida have a major and exaggerated influence on the US Presidential Election in that toss-up state. Criticizing US policy, Carter says he thinks most CubanAmericans want open borders and an end to the trade embargo. He says he hopes the next president will act forcefully to improve relations with Cuba, no matter who wins. But he says he prefers that President Barack Obama win re-election. Carter is also calling for Cuba to be removed from the US State Departments list of state sponsors of terror. Cuba has been on that list since 1982.

MARS TRACKS
WASHINGTON (AP) NASAs robotic rover Curiosity is making its mark on Mars, in a way so big that it can be seen from space. In just one month, its driven 368 feet (112 meters) on the red planet, slightly more than the length of a football field. Curiositys slightly zig-zaggy tire tracks were photographed by a NASA satellite circling Mars and also from the rovers rear-facing cameras. The spacecraft landed on Aug. 5 on a mission to look for ingredients in Martian soil and rocks that could support life. When the images from the Martian satellite showed the rover tracks, there was much celebration, mission manager Michael Watkins said Thursday.

CONVENTION SPEAKER Actress Scarlett Johansson speaks on stage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at Time Warner Cable Arena on September 6, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The DNC nominated US President Barack Obama as the Democratic Presidential Candidate. (AFP)

Starlets Take Stage For Obama

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina, (AFP) Hollywood starlets Eva Longoria, Scarlett Johannson and Kerry Washington took to the convention stage Thursday to try to persuade American voters to re-elect Barack Obama. The trio laid out ordinary early lives far from the bright lights of Hollywood with Longoria using her previous existence as a server at fast-food chain Wendys to have a dig at Obamas Republican rival Mitt Romney. The Eva Longoria who worked at Wendys flipping burgers; she needed a tax break. But the Eva Longoria who works on movie sets does not, she said, pressing the charge that Romney is only interested in protecting the rich. Washington, the 35-year-old star of Ray and The Last King of Scotland was first up. Im here not just as an actress but as a woman, an African-American, a granddaughter of immigrants, she said. A person who could not have afforded college without the help of student loans and as one of millions of volunteers working to re-elect President Obama! Next was 27-year-old Johansson, who told of her hard-scrabble childhood in New York City far from the bright lights of Hollywood. My father barely made enough to get by. We moved every year, and we finally settled in a housing development for lower middle income families. We went to public schools and depended on programs for school transport and lunches, as did most of my friends, she said.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) Texas will soon open a stretch of highway with the highest speed limit in the country. The Texas Transportation Commission has approved the 85 mph (137 kph) speed limit for a 41-mile (66-kilometer)-long toll road near the increasingly crowded Interstate 35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio. The road runs several miles (kilometers) east of the interstate between two of the states largest metropolitan areas. While some drivers may be eager to put the pedal to the metal and rip through the Central Texas countryside, others are asking if it is safe. The research is clear that when speed limits go up, fatalities go up, said Russ Rader, a spokesman for the non-profit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Higher speed limits get people to their destinations faster, Rader said, But the trade-off is more crashes and more highway deaths. A 2009 report in the American Journal of Public Health studied traffic fatalities in the US from 1995 to 2005 and found that more than 12,500 deaths were attributable to increases in speed limits on all kinds of roads. The study also said that rural highways showed a 9.1 percent increase in fatalities on roads where speed limits were raised, but did not cite specific numbers in those instances. Most highways in the U.S. top out at 75 mph (120 kph), and there are no longer any roads in the U.S. with no speed limit like Germanys autobahn. Some highways in rural West Texas and Utah have 80 mph speed limits. The Texas Legislature last year approved 85 mph (136 kph) limits for some new stretches of road. The strip of toll road running from Austin to Seguin, northeast of San Antonio, will be the first to allow that speed when it opens in November. The Texas Transportation Commission, which is appointed by Gov. Rick Perry, approved the 85 mph (137 kph) speed limit at a public meeting on Aug. 30. A transportation department spokesman said commissioners would not comment on their decision. Agency officials had previously said they would study the toll roads topography, the speeds that most drivers were reaching, and the safety of access points and cross sections before approving the 85 mph (137 kph) speed limit. Safety is our top priority and tests have shown the designated speed is a safe one, agency spokeswoman Veronica Beyer said. Alan Guckian, who lives in Austin and regularly drives to Seguin to visit family, said hell likely use the road for convenience and the pleasure of driving fast. I would love it, Guckian said. Sometimes its fun to just open it up. Chris Lippincott, spokesman for SH 130 Concession Co. that is building the road, said the company is committed to operating a safe highway.

Everest And Dead Sea Stamp

JERUSALEM (AP) Israel and Nepal have released a joint stamp depicting their countries contrasting geographic wonders; the highest and the lowest places on earth. The five-shekel stamp ($1.25) bears a picture of Mount Everest, towering at 8,848 meters (29,028 feet), and the mineral-rich Dead Sea, at 422 meters (1,384 feet) below sea level. It shows the Israeli and Nepalese flags and has Hebrew, Nepalese, Arabic and English writing on it. Mount Everest straddles Nepals border with China, while the Dead Sea borders Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. Israels Foreign Ministry announced the joint stamps release on Thursday. It was issued in both countries this week and is meant to mark decades of cooperation between the two states.

KYRGYZSTAN P.M.
BISHKEK (AFP) Kyrgyzstans President Almazbek Atambayev on Thursday appointed a new prime minister and cabinet, ending two weeks of limbo caused by a split within the ruling coalition in the Central Asian country. The candidacy of new Prime Minister, Zhantoro Satybaldiyev, formerly chief of Atambayevs staff, was earlier approved by the parliament of the politically volatile former Soviet republic. Atambayev had ordered the previous government led by Omurbek Babanov to disband last month after the ruling coalition split apart and lost its majority in the parliament.

Small Theaters Struggle To Keep Pace As Hollywood Goes Digital

CRETE, Nebraska (AP) The Isis Theater hasnt changed much since it opened 86 years ago in Nebraska, a stones throw from the grain elevator and railroad tracks that cut through town. But in the past few years, the movie industry has changed dramatically, and unless the Isis owner comes up with $85,000 soon to pay for new digital equipment, residents of Crete, Nebraska, may have to drive 40 miles (64 kilometers) to Lincoln for a night at the movies. Its a prospect that owner Thom Reeves doesnt want to ponder, but like thousands of small-theater operators across the US, he hasnt found a way out. This is my passion, to give back to the community, Reeves said. I love this movie theater. I love what it does for the students I have employed there. We love our patrons. Its such a positive experience going on, and were just a little sad this conversion is hitting us. How do we survive? For small-theater owners, the problem is the sudden switch from 35 mm film, an industry standard since about 1910, to digital; a format thats cheaper for both studios and distributors, and doesnt scratch as traditional film will. The switch means theater owners must buy new projection equipment, computers and a sound system. Film studio 20th Century Fox has said it will phase out 35 mm film altogether by the end of 2013, and other production companies are expected to follow suit. Traditional film is expected to vanish over the next few years, despite the upcoming US release of The Master, which was shot with the rare but much higher definition 70 mm film.

World News
YANGON, (AFP) - Their youthful defiance of a brutal junta that locked them up for years turned Myanmar's ''88 Generation'' student activists into national heroes. As the country reforms, many wonder if it will also make them politicians. Freed along with scores of other political prisoners in January, it did not take long for the movement's leader Min Ko Naing and his deputy Ko Ko Gyi to regain their fighting spirit. ''I want to change society,'' Ko Ko Gyi told AFP in the group's small dilapidated Yangon headquarters, which plays daily host to a steady stream of monks, activists and foreign diplomats. But it is not; so far, a political organization, concentrating instead on grassroots activity while other veterans of the democracy movement, most notably Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, concentrate on their new parliamentary roles. ''We deeply consider what we should do for the future. Some of the leaders are actively engaged in politics and some remain in social work. We are trying to cooperate with political parties and social organisations,'' Ko Ko Gyi said. The former protest leaders; whose 1988 mass demonstrations were the greatest test of the military's stranglehold on Myanmar, remain determined to ''perform our duty'', he said, although it remains to be seen exactly what their role might be.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Myanmars 88 Generation Looks Forward

Years later, dozens of heavyweights of the 80s remain at the forefront of the democracy movement. But the context has changed dramatically. The junta handed power to a quasi-civilian regime; albeit dominated by former soldiers, in a bloodless political transition in March 2011. A series of reforms ensued that have been praised by the opposition and the West. Suu Kyi, having supported her party's boycott of controversial 2010 polls, decided to participate in a landmark April by-election that saw her easily win a seat in parliament. She is now setting her sights firmly on a 2015 general election that could bring the biggest transformation in the country's political landscape since the army seized power half a century ago. The vote, which many expect to herald an NLD victory, may be the first in Myanmar to be truly labelled democratic. Will the 88 Generation; whose leader Min Ko Naing is one of the most popular activists in Myanmar along with the more internationally renowned Suu Kyi, contest the vote and accept the new order? ''It is not yet decided,'' Ko Ko Gyi said. ''It would have a huge impact, whatever we decide.'' Opinion is split among democracy groups, activists and commentators over the role these extremely influential people can play.

KOKO GYI This file photo taken on February 17, 2012, shows former detained Myanmar activist Ko Ko Gyi recalling his days in prison during an interview in Yangon. Their youthful defiance of a brutal junta which locked them up for years turned Myanmars 88 Generation student activists into national heroes. As the country reforms, many wonder if it will also make them politicians. (AFP)

As students two decades ago, the 88 Generation figures raised a huge movement against the junta, with protests spreading from major universities to the streets of Yangon and then the whole country. Reviled strongman Ne Win stepped down after several months of demonstrations, but the army

kept its grip on the country and a huge August rally was crushed in a bloody crackdown that left at least 3,000 people dead. Despite their failure to topple the junta the rallies planted the seeds of political struggle in the minds of a generation. They also gave rise to the coun-

try's most famous dissidents, including Suu Kyi, the daughter of independence hero Aung San. Suu Kyi was swept up in the protests during a family visit to Myanmar from her home in Britain and soon became a prominent activist at the helm of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

Dutch Vote Spawns Offbeat Ideas

THE HAGUE, (AFP) Shutting the Netherlands down on Sundays, protecting an African language and living a work-free life are some of the more offbeat policies being put forward by Dutch parties ahead of Wednesdays vote. A whopping 21 parties are contesting parliaments 150 seats in the election, the second in just over two years after government collapsed in April over a disagreement on European Union austerity measures. Should they get their say, the conservative Reformed Political Party (SGP), which currently has two seats in the Lower House, wants to close all shops on Sundays in order for citizens to go to church. The party, which bases itself on strict Christian principles and has never had a woman in parliament since its founding in 1918, advocates a no work Sunday, unless the work is an act of charity or an essential service. In an ideal world the SGP would also like to see an end to Sunday matches that are watched religiously at stadiums and in sitting rooms around the football-mad country because they mean police officers have to work, a party official told AFP . The Sovereign Independent Pioneers Netherlands (SOPN), also known as the UFO party after its founder UFOlogist Anton Teuben, wants to give every citizen a living wage and do away with the necessity of having a job. The SOPN also advocates the ban of future land ownership with the total land area of the Dutch State being seen as the property of Mother Earth. Current owners can use the land provided they look after it, the SOPN said in its election manifesto. A movement rather than a party, the SOPN predicted winning this election with a majority of 76 seats or more but has not managed a single seat since it started in 2003. In its campaign manifesto, the farright Party for Freedom (PVV), run by eurosceptic anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders said it wanted to push for the preservation of the Afrikaans language in South Africa and Namibia.

Syrias Rebels Fight Air Power

MAREA, Syria (AP) Lt. Col. Maan al-Mansours mission is to capture the Syrian air base where he once served. The 22-year Air Force veteran, who defected in June to the rebellion, led an attack by hundreds of fighters on the Kuwiras military airport last week. In a fierce battle, they hammered the base with mortar fire and rocket-propelled grenades for four hours, nearly overrunning it until they were driven back by sustained strafing and bombing by jet fighters. Al-Mansour says hes determined to try again. Syrias rebels have turned to a new tactic of attacking bases, trying to stop the jets and attack helicopters that have wreaked devastation on their fighters and civilians in the battleground city of Aleppo and the nearby countryside. ``We are going to destroy the place that causes all this destruction, al-Mansour said. ``The pilots inside are my friends and I like them, but they are on the wrong side, they destroy buildings with the innocent and children inside, so when I attack the airport, I think of them. Rebels drove the Syrian army out of the countryside north of Aleppo long ago and claim to control more than two-thirds of Aleppo, Syrias largest city, where they have battled to a standstill the regime forces trying for more than a month to uproot them. But the military is turning increasingly to its largely unchallenged air power, using its aircraft to strike in Aleppo and throughout the small towns that dot the rebel-held areas to the north. The growing reliance suggests the regime is trying to spare its elite troops of the Republican Guard and the Fourth Armored Division, which have borne the brunt of past year and a half of fighting, according to Maplecroft, a British-based risk analysis company. ``The Syrian military is becoming increasingly concerned that its superiority in terms of numbers and firepower belies significant weaknesses such as troop fatigue, growing defections, and a lack of experience in irregular warfare, it said in a recent briefing. Rebels claim to have shot down a few aircraft, but they admit there is little to do about the threat from above; so they are moving against the source. The leader of the rebel brigade doing most of the fighting in Aleppo announced Tuesday that air bases would be the new target for their forces. ``We control the ground in Aleppo but the regime has the air force and controls the air, Abdul Qadir Saleh, the field commander of the Tawhid Brigade, told journalists in Istanbul. ``We will solve this by destroying airports and air bases. Driving through the green fields of corn and olive orchards of Aleppo province, life almost seems to have returned to normal with farmers riding tractors and children playing soldier in the dusty streets of the small towns under the scorching summer sun. But every town has piles of rubble where buildings were pulverized from the air. The airstrikes have sent hundreds of thousands fleeing for the dubious safety of the Turkish border. ``We woke to the sound of planes last night at 4 a.m. and everyone was terrified and fled into the fields, said Ahmed al-Hajji, who lives with his five children and hundreds of others in a massive customs shed near the border in Azaz. ``Who will stop the planes? They are almost in Turkey. So far, every rebel assault on the air bases, which are guarded by tanks, rockets as well as the aircraft themselves, has ended in failure and often with a heavy loss of life. On Aug. 31, the same day al-Mansours fighters attacked Kuwiras, rebels hit two air bases in neighboring Idlib province, but all ultimately foundered. He did not give any casualty figures.

Ban Asks Libya To Cooperate

UNITED NATIONS (AP) U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling on Libyan authorities to cooperate with the International Criminal Court, which will likely be asked to decide whether Moammar Gadhafis notorious spy chief can be tried in Libya for crimes against humanity stemming from last years government crackdown on rebels. Abdullah al-Senoussi was arrested in March in Mauritania and handed over to Libyan officials on Wednesday. Libyas Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib said he will be tried in the country for his alleged role in aircraft bombings and atrocities. But U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said Thursday that ``we would encourage the Libyan authorities to cooperate with the International Criminal Court. The ICC has issued a warrant for al-Senoussi and Nesirky said it will be up to the tribunal to decide where he should be tried.

Samoa Elections
PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (AP) American Samoas election office says theres not enough money to run the territorys general election because of a high number of candidates. Chief Election Officer Soliai Tuipine Fuimaono says an additional $240,000 is needed. According to budget documents, only $200,000 has been allocated operate and manage the Nov. 6 general election. A run-off is held two weeks after the general election if a gubernatorial team doesnt garner 50 percent plus one of votes. Fuimaono expects a run-off in the Governors race, which has six candidates. He says the total cost to operate the election is $440,000, with $280,500 for the general election and $159,500 for the run-off. Five candidates are running for the nonvoting delegate seat in Congress, while about 60 are vying for the local House of Representatives.

SYRIAN REBEL In this Tuesday, September 4, 2012 photo, Syrian rebel fighter, Abu Maher, 27, a former University student, poses for picture at at house where he and others wait their turn to go and fight against government forces in Aleppo, in Marea on the outskirts of Aleppo city, Syria. Syrias rebels have turned to a new tactic of attacking bases, trying to stop the jets and attack helicopters that have wreaked devastation on their fighters and civilians in the battleground city of Aleppo and the nearby countryside. (AP)

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YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE NATION

We greet the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, its Executive Board, General Conference and Secretariat led by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and Director General Irina Bokova on the occasion of International Literacy Day 2012. CONGRATULATIONS AND MABUHAY!

10 MANILA BULLETIN
Editorial

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

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ODAY, the Philippines joins many countries of the world in the observance of International Literacy Day. Since its adoption in 1965 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and formal observance in 1966, International Literacy Day has been marked annually on September 8, with a new mission each year. In 1990, the UN General Assembly proclaimed the year as International Literacy Year to mark the ongoing commitment of the world community to boost and support literacy as a key to personal progress and to the socioeconomic development of nations. In 2001, the UN General Assembly, proclaimed the period 2003 to 2012 as Literacy Decade: Education for All. Since 2000, various governments worldwide have embarked on a Four-Tier Plan in cooperation with several agencies of the UN, with four initiatives: Education for All, Millennium Development Targets, UN Literacy Decade, and UN Decade of Education for Constant Development. The theme of this years celebration

is Literacy and Peace. In the words of UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, Education brings sustainability to all the development goals, and literacy is the foundation of all learning. It provides individuals with the skills to understand the world and shape it, to participate in democratic processes and have a voice, and also to strengthen their cultural identity. As we obser ve International Literacy Day 2012, we are reminded that literacy is a human right and an important tool of personal empower ment and a means for social and human development. It is universally recognized as essential for eradicating poverty, ensuring sustainable development and attaining peace and democracy. We g r e e t t h e U n i t e d N a t i o n s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, its Executive Board, General Conference and Secretariat led by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and Director General Irina Bokova on the occasion of International Literacy Day 2012. CONGRATULATIONS AND MABUHAY!

ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST AT HOME, IN SCHOOL, AT WORK, FOR THE BEST INTERESTS OF FILIPINO PEOPLE.
R
ymv

Views Features
Pagbabago Celebration

Saturday, September 8, 2012

11

INSPIRING TEACHERS
By DR. FLORANGEL ROSARIO BRAID

NATIONAL DAY OF MACEDONIA TODAY

On Swimming Against The Current

HIS is the theme of the Teachers Month Campaign (TMC) which was launched by the then De la Salle University President, Br. Armin Luistro, now Secretary of the Department of Education, together with Mr. Aniceto M. Sobrepea, President of the Metrobank Foundation. This campaign which honors Filipino educators was inspired by the celebration of World Teachers Day on October 5 of every year as declared by UNESCO in 1993. Last year was the banner year for the campaign when P resident Aquino issued Presidential Proclamation 242 declaring the period from September 5 to October 5 of every year as National Teachers Month. I was asked to write about a teacher from either one of these levels elementary, high school, undergraduate, and graduate school who had played an important role in my life. Since my career and personal life too, had been guided by more than one teacher, I would like to include some individuals who have had enduring contributions to the shaping of my ideals and philosophy. What these teachers had in common was that they had earned the rare recognition of being one of the best in their field and, therefore, held the respect of their peers. They did not conform to the traditional image of the teacher, as they continued to blaze trails during their lifetime. In their teaching, they went beyond the requirements of the lesson plan or course syllabus as they patiently ushered us into a new world of knowledge, stirred our imagination so that we were able to dream of the possible. They were visionaries but they did not impose their views of what should be. Instead, they provided options and encouraged debate. They taught us some valuable lessons of life, like keeping our faith in ourselves and the future amidst difficulties and defeats, reminding us of wisdom from sages and poets like Longfellow who had once said life is checkered shade and sunshine that we must never be discouraged if life appears to have darker than sunny days. I read somewhere that while the mediocre teacher tells, the good teacher explains the superior teacher demonstrates, and the great teacher inspires. All the following were teachers who have inspired me and countless others. There was Miss Fe Manza, my teacher in English literature in high school who deepened our understanding of ourselves and the world we live in. Prof Leopoldo Yabes who taught literature at UP encouraged me to undertake research on our provinces creative writers where I discovered the richness of our
(Contd on page 12)

ODAY is the National Day of Macedonia, commemorating the Referendum for Independence which took place in 1991. The Republic of Macedonia gained its independence from Yugoslavia, where it was a federal state, and became a sovereign parliamentary democracy. Located on the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe, Macedonia is a landlocked country bordered by Serbia to the north, Kosovo to

the northwest, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, and Albania to the west. Skopje is the capital. The openness of Macedonias economy has allowed it to achieve stable growth in recent years. The government has proven successful in its efforts

to control inflation, has implemented policies focused on attracting foreign investment, and is promoting the development of Small and Mediumsized Enterprises (SMEs). The country is a member of international and regional organizations including the United Nations, International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Council of Europe, La Francophonie, the World Trade Organization
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PERSONAL RIGHTS
(Part I) By DR. JESUS P. ESTANISLAO

Religion

THE FEAST OF THE NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

HE celebration of the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the most celebrated feasts in the Philippines. This is true not only because the Blessed Virgin Mary is close to the heart of Filipino Catholics but also the Filipino values life. Birthdays are celebrations. A life well lived is worth celebrating. A celebration of life is a thanksgiving to God who is the source of life and all blessings. The Blessed Mothers

life is something that we must celebrate and emulate. It is a testament to the goodness of God who gave life to her. The Holy Bible does not give us an account of how she was born. Tradition and apocryphal writings tell us that she was born to Joachim

and Anne. According to this account, Anna and Joachim were infertile but prayed for a child and they received the promise of a child that would advance Gods plan of salvation for the world. The Gospel of Luke describes Mary as a highly favored daughter (Luke 1:28) because God had especially chosen her to be the mother of Jesus Christ. It was by the grace
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Reections Today

JESUS OF HOUSE OF DAVID

MATTHEW 1:1-16, 18-23 ACOB became the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Messiah. Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with Child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose

her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this Child has been

conceived in her. She will bear a Son and you are to name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall be with Child and bear a Son, and they shall name Him Emmanuel, which means God is with us. REFLECTION She will bear a Son. In Matthew,
(Contd on page 12)

Medium Rare

EATING WELL
By JULLIE YAP DAZA

OUNG people, eat all you can. Seniors, eat while you can. Tony A. Pastor Foodies have more excuses to indulge their tastebuds. First, Manila Hotel is now serving certified halal food, the clean and hygienic way to eat, even for non-Muslims. Second, Hyatt Hotel will save them the trouble of flying to Vietnam if all they want is to savor the national cuisine beyond pho (noodles) and spring rolls.

According to chef Kiran Kumar Singh, who is not Muslim but Hindu, halal simply means lawful, as opposed to haram, unlawful. Halal mandates a separate kitchen with its own implements, instruments, and flatware, and its own rules for slaughtering fowl and ani-

mals, such as saying a short prayer and making sure the animal does not see the knife when its throat is cut (electric shock is not allowed). To non-Muslims, halal looks and tastes the same as any other food. To Muslims, halal is the synonym of a healthy and safe meal because all ingredients, meat, seafood, vegetables, etc. are certified by select suppliers. White sugar is okay but not
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Plain View

ANCIENT LAWS AND OLD JUDGES

By ATTY. ROMEO V. PEFIANCO

(Editors note: Conflicting views and laws can still lead to better rules.) N 1837, the American great Chief Justice John Marshall died. The most senior on the bench was Joseph Story, who was appointed in 1811 at age 32 by President Madison (Father of the Constitution). Marshalls adherents had hoped that Joseph Story would become the new Chief

Justice. Harvard President Josiah Quincy toasted: The Supreme Court, may it be raised a Story higher. President Andrew Jackson, however, could scarcely appoint one so opposed to his views. Jackson had appointed Roger Taney, who was to serve until

he was 87, a tenure second only to that of Marshall. Scholarship In opinions supporting Marshall, Story supplied the one thing Marshall lacked legal scholarship. Marshall is reputed to have said: Brother Story here... can give us the cases from the Twelve Tables down to the latest reports. Story reveled in legal research. His opinions were usually
(Contd on page 12)

ITH a clear mission, and with a sure calling, we are provided for with at least some of the wherewithal to pursue our personal mission and answer our personal calling. It is for this vital reason that we have been given personal rights: These need to be exercised, and we are dutybound to respect others personal rights. We h a v e several basic personal rights: The right to life, the r i ght to worship; the right to an education; the right to a living wage; the right to pursue our personal fulfilment and happiness. The list is long: The UN Declaration on Human Rights provides one such list. In view of our personal mission and calling from God to be as perfect as our Father God is perfect, at least three personal rights need special underscoring (without in any way excluding those already set forth in the UN Declaration on Human Rights). The first of these is the right to be oneself. Indeed, we have to take ourselves for what we are: warts and all; strengths and all. This is an appeal to realism. On our part, we should always be fully conscious of what we are, with our limitations and talents; and while we know we are called to perfection, still we should never delude ourselves into trying to go a bridge too far. We should be happy with what we are, accepting all the circumstances that our Father God has placed us under. We may have to stretch ourselves and go well beyond our comfort zone. Nonetheless, we have to work with what we have; and we never curse the stars for not giving us what others may be blessed with. We never waste any time hoping we were someone else and with better endowments. The corollary to all this is for us to take people for what they are. With all their foibles and idiosyncrasies, we should try to love them. We should not wish them to be other than they are. For their own good, we may pray that they become better. But this should not stop us from treating them well and caring for them just as they are. This is the fundamental respect we owe to others: We look beyond their lack of certain talents as well as weaknesses and into their basic dignity as unique, individual persons, who have also been raised to the dignity of children of God. The second of these is the right to become better than we are. Since we have a calling to perfection, we should be given every
(Contd on page 12)

Analysis

Word Alive
By FR. BEL R. SAN LUIS, SVD

Culture
By KAY JOHNSON

FRANCES BUDGET
By DANIEL FLYNN

PHYSICAL & SPIRITUAL DEAF-MUTES AFGHANISTANS MUSEUM

ARIS, France (Reuters) Investors and governments from Beijing to Berlin regard Frances 2013 budget this month as the acid test of President Francois Hollandes credibility but those hoping for long-overdue reforms and bold spending cuts are likely to be disappointed. While Italy and Spain have swallowed painful austerity and reformed pensions and labor laws under pressure from bond market vigilantes, the new Socialist government in Paris has so far escaped higher borrowing costs despite raising billions of euros in extra taxes to plug a deficit gap
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HE gospel episode for this 23rd Sunday relates about Jesus healing a deafmute man (Mark 7:31). In His commentary on the episode, Biblical author William Barclay says, Most people find deaf folks a nuisance. They sympathize with people who are blind and lame, but they get irritated and annoyed with people who are deaf. And the result is that deaf people are apt to avoid company and get more and more shut in. *** No wonder, Jesus took pity on the man and healed him.
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ABUL, Afghanistan (AP) Right down to the power cuts that frequently plunge its artifacts into shadow, the National Museum of Afghanistan is a symbol of the countrys decades of hardships. Its building was shelled, looted, and caught fire during the 1990s civil war. Taliban extremists later smashed many centuries-old statues. Now, the museum is slowly rebuilding, thanks to international efforts to return thousands of looted treasures and to heroic Afghan staff members who hid its most priceless works during the war years and kept the secret for more than
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ALL CITIZENS AND OFFICIALS SHOULD ALWAYS REMEMBER THE NATIONAL INTEREST IS ABOVE ALL PERSONAL AND OTHER INTERESTS.

12
DAZA...
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Views Features

Saturday, September 8, 2012

FEAST...
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artificial sweeteners. At Hyatts Vietnamese Week up to the 18th, two chefs flown in from the paradisaical Danang Resort Hotel preside over a buffet that once again confirms my memory of Vietnamese food as being as demure as a watercolor painting. Only its Frenchinfluenced duck, pork and beef dishes look heavy on the brown side; but otherwise the sweet-sour shrimp soup cooked with pineapple, fried rice minus the oiliness, and salads using radish, mango, and pomelo are appetizingly light and delightful. The secret is lots of mint and coriander, no wonder! A last-minute message for Grandparents Day from Sandee Masigan: Her cozy XO46 on Valero St. in Makati (tel. 553-6635) will be open tomorrow to greet and give them a treat. Our elders need no excuse to indulge they have earned their reward, while they can!

REFLECTIONS...
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PEACE COVENANT Participants coming from various organizations and agencies sign the Covenant for Unity of Action in Crime Prevention during the launching of the National Crime Prevention Week yesterday at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City. (Mark Balmores)

of God that she remained pure all her life. It was through the help of the Lord that she remained a faithful daughter of God and steadfast mother and disciple of Jesus, her Son. The Opening Prayer in todays liturgy refers to Marys birth as the dawn of salvation. In one of his reflections, Saint Augustine said: She is the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of the valley. Through her birth, the nature inherited from our first parents is changed. As we celebrate the birthday of Mary, let us examine our own lives. Our lives must be a celebration of Gods glory. Every life is a gift from the Lord. We must make the most out of it. We must fill it with the goodness of the Lord. We must also realize the presence of God in our lives in the same way that God is present in Marys life. May the Blessed Mother inspire us to increase our awareness of Gods presence in our lives.

the story of Jesus birth is told from Josephs point of view, not Marys. The story is preceded by a genealogy, in which Joseph is named as the legal father. In Biblical Jewish culture, a genealogy establishes social position and religious identity. The family tree shows the vertical extension of the Jewish family which includes grandparents and grandchildren. In Jesus case, the natural genealogical line is broken; yet, the promises to David are fulfilled through divine intervention. By means of Josephs consent to be the legal father, the Child Jesus belongs to the family of David and in the process fulfills the ancient prophecies. In a culture that emphasizes family honor, Marys unexpected pregnancy puts her in a vulnerable position and can bring dishonor to her whole family. Josephs initial reluctance to marry is transformed by a dream that shows the truth of it all. A Baby will come to Joseph and Mary who will be the Symbol of new life and hope. What do you feel at the sight of a newborn baby? Do you see hope for the future? How do you help a child feel at home in your family (extended)? SOURCE: 366 Days with the Lord 2012, ST PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: books@stpauls.ph; Website: http:// www.stpauls.ph

SAN LUIS... FRANCE'S...

(Contd from page 11) (Contd from page 11)

this year. That may not last. With Europes number two economy on the brink of recession and public debt nearing 90 percent of Gross Domestic Product, Hollande knows he must convince investors of his deficit-cutting mettle to avoid being dragged deeper into the euro zone crisis. French debt is significantly overvalued, John Gilbert, chief investment officer for General Re, a unit of Warren Buffets Berkshire Hathaway, warned in August. We do not know if the markets will turn on France, he said in a research report, arguing that Paris should be paying 4.5-5.0 percent on 10-year bonds, rather than the current 2.25 percent, based on its fiscal performance.

Hollandes pledge to set an example of budget responsibility by hitting a deficit target of 3 percent of GDP next year stirred hopes he would at last rein in public spending, second only to Denmarks in Europe at 56 percent of economic output. Instead, the signs are that the government will fall back on traditional French tactics of basing the budget on overly optimistic growth forecasts and loading yet more taxes on the rich and big firms, while trimming spending only lightly. The draft budget goes before the cabinet on September 26. But there is little sign that Hollande is considering profound changes to an economic model built on a large public sector, domestic consumption rather than

exports, protected labor markets and generous health and welfare benefits. That could strain the vital partnership between France and economic powerhouse Germany at the heart of the European Union, potentially weakening the capacity of the euro zones core to support troubled states on its periphery. Berlin enacted its own painful labor and welfare reforms in the last decade and has reaped stronger growth, booming exports and low unemployment since 2009. It is impatient to see Paris follow suit. Economists are skeptical that France will meet the EU-ordained deficit goal with its 2 trillion euro ($2.52 trillion) economy stagnating and unemployment at a 13-year high and rising.

BRAID...
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ESTANISLAO...
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Pangasinan language. Prof. Basilisa Manhit, my punctilious mentor in Practice Teaching at the UP College of Education, set standards of excellence. Most of the time I would have to rewrite my lesson plan three or four times before it would get her nod. She was the terror teacher that we all loved to hate. Many years later, I realized and so did some classmates, that it was from her that we learned important values competitiveness and cooperation, discipline, critical thinking, tenacity, openness to criticism, and observing the Golden Rule.

During my years of teaching, and whenever I felt weary and frustrated, I would think of Prof. Manhit. I continue to pursue learning up to this time. But my formal learning ended after graduate school where I had the opportunity to pursue a more rigorous research program. Two professors at Syracuse University Drs.William Ehling and William Bluem who were my principal mentors facilitated efforts in building on my foundation in education, social sciences, and the humanities. From them, I learned the impor-

tance of decision-making based on comprehensive and multidisciplinary knowledge. Congratulations to the Department of Education and the Metrobank Foundation not only for launching the Teachers Month Campaign but for all the innovations that they have spearheaded in improving access and in the upgrading of the quality of education. Among others, these include the Metrobank Search for the Most Outstanding Teachers, and the Department of Educations K-to-12 program.

opportunity to improve ourselves. We have a right to personal development. The right to continuing education is basic; and there should be no end to our personal formation. There are always newer and better things we can learn; higher-level skills we can obtain; and more good habits we can acquire as well as more virtues we can develop. Moreover, the arena within which we can put our talents to good use should be made ever-bigger; and we should always be on the look-out for every chance by which this arena can be expanded. In relation to others, we should always be looking for ways and means by which we can help them develop themselves. It is for this reason that we gradually wean people from dependence on us: we want them to be increasingly independent and dependable. We encourage them to take initiatives and make decisions on their own. Despite the mistakes they commit, we egg them on to greater heights. We never bottle them up in routines where they have no chance to try out their unused talents, and to spread their wings. We delegate to them as much responsibility as they can take on, even if they sometimes feel that they are not yet fully ready for that level of responsibility. At the end of the day, we want them to fly on their own and to explore wider and vaster horizons than those they are covering now as well as those they have covered in the past.

PEFIANCO...
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long and learned and relied heavily on prior cases and writers. Taneys fall Taney, the new Chief Justice, was not only overly sensitive but had an exaggerated conception of himself as the very paragon of rectitude, an attitude that was to lead directly to the judicial FALL that followed the Dred Scott decision. When Taney was first appointed to Jacksons Cabinet, he served briefly as both Attorney General and Acting Secretary of War. During that period, he drew the salaries of both positions, which strikes observers as unethical. He defended his action: As I performed the duties of both offices, I received the salaries of both. I thought then and still think that it was right. Unjust judge To so many of his contemporaries, Dred Scott made Taney the very prototype of the unjust judge. For more than a century, the case has stood as a monument of judicial indiscretion. As Justice Robert Jackson acidly commented: One such precedent is enough. MOSES In grade school years ago, we were mesmerized by stories of: 1) Adam and Eve, 2) Noahs Ark, and 3) Moses Ten

Commandments. My grandchildren now tend to ignore these tales by pretending they havent heard about them. For the benefit of most Christians (yes, Catholics), lets take up the Mosaic law. It is said that Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt to come home to Canaan. We dont know the year the Ten Commandments were given to Moses who probably existed in about 1300 B.C. Abraham and Hammurabi Abraham and Hammurabi were probably contemporaries in Mesopotamia, the land between twin rivers (Tigris and Euphrates). While Abraham led a tribe, Hammurabi was king of Babylon from 1792 BC until his death in 1750 BC or a reign of 42 years. In high school, we were taught that Hammurabi wrote or dictated a code of laws inscribed on hard stone, slab, or sculptured surface. The Code The code consists of 282 of the kings legal decisions on family solidarity, trial by ordeal, and lex talionis (or an eye for an eye). It represents an advance over tribal custom in that it recognizes no blood feud, private retribution, or marriage by capture.

Most of the code is preserved in the Louvre Museum in Paris. Uniting Mesopotamia The patriarch Abraham of Ur (Mesopotamia) was a leader of a small tribe and probably was familiar with King Hammurabi and his code of laws. The king used control of water and waterways to defeat his enemies. His wars lasting 14 years had unified all of Mesopotamia that probably included the small tribe of Abraham. Historians view Hammurabi as a just ruler. Hammurabis code of laws was definitely older than Moses Ten Commandments by about 450 to 500 years computed from the kings death in 1750 BC. My caf barkada asked me if I visited the Louvre in Paris to view Hammurabis code. I said the museum is huge it would probably deduct five to 10 hours from my time as tourist and in a hurry to visit more popular places. The unwritten law If someday a question would rise in the Supreme Court about the laws of God and the code of Hammurabi, our justices would find themselves on the edge of embarrassment for saying God has left no written code of laws. (Comments are welcome at roming@ pefianco.com).

The great COMPASSION of Jesus tells us more in the way He cured him. The gospel tells us that Jesus took the man away from the crowd, which shows his sensitivity to the situation of the embarrassed handicapped man. *** Helping the deaf and mute is one way of THANKING God for the great gifts of our speech and hearing which, more often than not, we take for granted. Deaf-mutes are not only the people handicapped in speech and hearing as in the gospel story, but also the social deaf-mutes those who have no voice or influence in society, those to whom no one listens. *** While we are thankful to the Lord for our healthy speech and hearing, we should not abuse them. We do this if we use our speech faculty by lying, by calumny or slander, or when we destroy the good name of others through false statements or telling the faults of one in order to put him/her down. *** There is a story of a priest who gave penance to a known gossiper when she came for confession. He told her to bring a bag full of feathers up a tall building and throw them in the air. After doing that, the priest said, go down and collect all the feathers. But Father, thats impossible to do, the lady protested. Theyve been scattered by the wind to far-flung places. Thats right, the priest replied. Thats what you do every time you talk bad or slander your fellowmen. An ugly rumor or a destructive gossip thats carelessly passed on, can never be recalled. But the harm is done. *** Another lesson of this Sunday gospel is that we can be SPIRITUALLY deaf. That is, when we do not want to admit our mistakes and wrongdoings. This is shown, for instance, when perpetrators of a crime refuse to admit it or try to cover it up. In the case of the Maguindanao massacre, the cover up is that the poor innocent victims reportedly killed each other! *** Lets ask ourselves: Are we grateful to God for our healthy faculties of speech and hearing and show it by helping the handicapped? Are we deaf to our own faults and failings? Lets imitate Jesus compassion and ask forgiveness from God if we have failed in helping our handicapped brethren. *** FAMILY TV MASS is aired on IBC 13 (15 on cable) at 7 a.m. every Sunday and on GMA Pinoy TV International. Sponsor: ST. JUDE CATHOLIC SCHOOL. Celebrant: Fr. Pavol Hudk, SVD. *** For Mass intentions, e.g. sick, dead, call Brian at Christ the King Seminary (cf. tel. directory) or e-mail: familytvmass@yahoo.com.

Luzon News
LUZON NEWSBITS
MARYS BIRTHDAY AT REGINA RICA
TANAY, Rizal Police visibility is being boosted in the vicinity of a prayer hill in this town known as Regina Rica which expects thousands of tourists, mostly are Marian devotees, for the feast of the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary today. This came as the Regina Rica, short for Regina Rosarii Institute for Contemplation in Asia, a prayer facility run by the Dominican Sisters of Regina Rosarii, is holding a birthday party for the Virgin Mary whose giant statue can be found on top of the hill along Marcos Highway, Sitio Aguho, Sampaloc in this town. The celebration starts at 8 a.m. today. (Nel B. Andrade)

Saturday, September 8, 2012

13 9 Distressed OFWs Back Shahani

By LIEZLE BASA INIGO

TRASH = CASH
VIGAN CITY, Ilocos Sur Former Las Pias City congresswoman, Cynthia Villar, has urged all local leaders in Abra and Ilocos Sur to design programs and livelihoods from the garbage materials to preserve their areas free from flooding and pollution. Villar, who met the lady mayors from Abra and Ilocos Sur led by City Mayor Eva Marie S. Medina to announce her bid for a senatorial position on May 2013 last Monday, cited that one of the primary causes of flooding in Metro Manila was the presence of volumes of wastes. Through her family foundation, Villar is helping communities manage their wastes and turn them into sources of livelihood. (Freddie G. Lazaro)

TILTED HOUSE A multi-level house stands precariously tilted on the hillside in Barangay Pinsao Pilot, Baguio City, with its foundation weakened by heavy rains brought by typhoon Pepeng three years ago. (Rizaldy Comanda)

Pampanga Evacuation Center Being Planned

By FRANCO G. REGALA

ASINGAN, Pangasinan Nine overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from this province who were put in jail in Roma Mera Papar, Kota Kinabalo, Sabah, Malaysia last July 18 and then released recently have already returned to the country. This was confirmed yesterday by Jonjon Soliven, a staff member of Pangasinan 6th District Board Member Ranjit Ramos Shahani who facilitated in the release of the distressed OFWs. Soliven identified these OFWs originating from Asingan, Villasis, Urdaneta City and Rosales towns of this province as Eric Bundad, Iranio Pizaldo,Ames Rodolfo, Arthur Acosta, Cipriano Bautista,John Almeron, Samuel Mariano , Rudy Peralta, and Balena Laborera . Earlier, Shahani assisted in the repatriation OFWS, coordinating efforts to get them released with Consul General Renato Villa in Malaysia. The OFWs were ordered to pay 25,000 ringgit (around P18,000) as a penalty and put in jail for two months for drinking liqour while on duty.

W.I.L.D. ALERT
TRECE MARTIRES CITY, Cavite The Cavite Provincial Health Office (PHO) has called on residents to be wary of the so-called WILD to prevent being afflicted by viruses which are prevalent during the rainy season. For the PHO, WILD is an acronym for Water-borne viruses, such as diarrhea, cholera, hepatitis-A and typhoid fever; Influenza, Leptospirosis and Dengue fever. In an advisory passed to the Capitol here, the provincial health department said: Ngayong panahon ng tag-ulan ay patuloy ang pagpa-paalala ng PHO na mag-ingat sa kasalukuyang lumalaganap na mga sakit na WILD. (Anthony Giron)

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga Pampanga Governor Lilia Nanay Pineda is planning to build a provincial evacuation center owned by the provincial government that will accommodate at least 500 families displaced when disaster strikes. Pineda said the provincial government will seek the assistance of the National Housing Authority (NHA) for the construction of a big evacuation center with beds that can accommodate at least 500 families. We would put up a big evacuation center completed with needed ame-

nities, like comfort room and kitchen, for our constituents, she said. The provincial evacuation center, the governor said, can be constructed in a ten-hectare lot owned by the government in Barangay Sta. Lucia, Magalang town. This plan came when the governor witnessed the poor condition of the affected families who were displaced as their houses were inundated by cascading floodwaters. It can be recalled that thousands of Kapampangans living along the stretch of Pampanga River were displaced at the height of the southwest monsoon due to massive flooding. These affected families are staying in makeshift tents along earth

dikes, barangay hall, public schools and even in covered courts. Pineda said evacuation centers in every barangay are too small to provide comfort. It is also unhealthy because contagious diseases can easily transfer from one person to another. The proposed plan for the provincial evacuation center includes the construction of comfort rooms and kitchen, the governor said. The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC) will also create a system for a faster way of transferring floodhit families to evacuation centers. (With a report from Mark Anthony N. Manuel)

Marathon For Youth Kicks Off

By FREDDIE C. VELEZ

FARMERS PROGRAM
CALAMBA CITY, Laguna The Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan: Farmers Training program (KSK-FT) was launched recently to provide farmers with more effective ways of producing high yielding fruits and vegetables. Ms. Em Mabesa, SM City Calamba information officer, said the program is much like backyard farming which has been enhanced by new technology to produce better results. It is a 12step program that teaches farmers seed culture and propagation, irrigation and fertilizer application, among other skills. The KSK-FT is a joint undertaking of SM Foundation Inc. (SMFI) with the private sector and government agencies. The program was formally opened by Laguertas Barangay Chairman Melquiades Samiano and was followed by a very inspirational project overview for Livelihood and Operations Program. (Ferdinand F. Castro)

MALOLOS CITY, Bulacan More or less 8,000 Bulakeos gathered early yesterday morning in this city to join the Hakbang para sa Kabataan, a walk for the cause of provincial programs which had been included in the weeklong Singkaban Fiesta celebration. Governor Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado said the walk-for-a-cause aims to raise funds for the programs and projects that will support the athletes and out-of-school youth in the province. The special guests from the Philippine Volcanoes invited by the Provincial Youth, Sports, Education, Arts, Culture and Tourism Office headed by Elizabeth Alonzo, led the activity that started at the Barasoain Church (3.1 kilometers) and Santisima Trinidad Elementary School (1.5 kilometers) and ended at the Mini-Forest, Capitol Compound. Ten winners were given P2,000 each while the top three placers won the prizes of P50,000, P30,000, and P20,000.

LIFE SAVERS A Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) personnel inspects yesterday, Sept. 7, 2012, the life saving devices in their office to make sure that their equipment and resources are always ready for immediate operations in case of an emergency in La Union during this rainy season. (Freddie G. Lazaro)

Angel Tree Provides 275 Education

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union At least 275 children were already benefited from the Project Angel Tree of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) since the launching of the project at the start of the year after another 25 children at risk of child labor received recently the educational package in a simple ceremony in Bauang, La Union. DOLE Region 1 Director Grace Ursua commended local executives like Bauangs Mayor Clarence Martin de Guzman for his support to the project. Local support to the agencys campaign against child labor is very important in institutionalizing and sustaining efforts at the grassroots, where the social problem actually starts, Ursua said Ursua explained that the Project Angel Tree address the diverse needs of child laborers or potential child laborers in which it gathers and grants wishes through different interventions like child labor education, provision of educational assistance and school supplies, food, clothing, shelter, mentoring, livelihood and other forms of assistance. (Freddie Lazaro)

Balanga Agri Office, Orani Win CSCs Pag-asa Award For CL

By MAR T. SUPNAD

U.P. TO SOLVE TRAFFIC WOES

OLONGAPO CITY, Zambales To avert future traffic problems on the heels of this citys increasing population and rapidly growing economy, the administration of City Mayor James Bong Gordon, Jr. wants to implement a new and more comprehensive traffic management and public transport system. For this purpose, the city government has tapped the University of the Philippines (UP) National Study Center for Traffic and Transportation to assess the present traffic condition in the city and make recommendations to ease road congestion and ensure the safety of commuters and pedestrians. (Franco G. Regala)

BALANGA CITY, Bataan The City Agriculture Office (CAO) headed by Nerissa Mateo and the Orani Water District headed by its general manager, Benigno Andres, were awarded this years Civil Service Commission (CSC) Pag-asa Prize in the region. Aside from these two offices in Bataan, other awardees of the CSC were Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Chief Administrative Officer Maribel Blanco; Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Public Relations Officer II Marilou Dungog; National Irrigation Administration Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems (NIA-UPRIIS) Acting Operations Manager Engr. Josephine Salazar;

and City of San Fernando Public Employment Services Office (PESO) Manager Dominador Sayre. Under the guidance ad supervision of Mayor Joet S. Garcia, the Balanga City Agriculture Office composed of Mateo as team leader with Ronnie Lopez, Guadelia Calinao, Erlinda Chavez, Alona Polintan and Regina Javier as members was cited for their unique program, KAANIB Kasama, Ani sa Barangay. The program was designed to sustain innovative agricultural livelihood and food security for low-income families of the city by promoting agriculture within the backyard and by converting vacant lots into communal/community vegetable garden using organic fertilizer. Garcias Zero Waste Management by converting the solid waste materials into biodegradable fertiliz-

ers was also given recognition by the CSC, after noting its success. A big transformation from various barangays because of the conversion of areas previously used as garbage pits and now utilized as vegetable plantation/garden. The Orani Water District Operation and Management Excellence Team, consisting of General Manager Benigno Andres as Leader and Condrado Buenaventura Jr. and Herminigildo Sanlas Sr. as members, was commended for its commitment to serve the public better through good leadership and exemplary performance in managing the operations of the agency. CSC said this resulted in the water districts tremendous increase in the gross income of 175% and impressive increase of 96% for its Operating Net Income in a span of six years.

14

Visayas News
VISAYAS NEWSBITS

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Mandaue Hospital
LIST UPGRADE
MAASIN CITY (PIA) The National Statistics Office (NSO)Southern Leyte Provincial office has started its manual and machine processing of the accomplished questionnaires from the recently concluded Upgrading of the List of Establishments (ULE). The NSO said both manual and machine processors were trained at the Regional Processing Center in Region-8, based in Tacloban City. The NSO said manual processing involves receipt and control of forms, verification of geographic identification and completeness, consistency and acceptability of entries, coding of selected items, matching and folioing of forms. These processes ensure high-quality standards in all phases of data collection, the NSO said.

P.W.D. ASSISTANCE
DUMAGUETE CITY (PNA) Provincial election supervisor Eddie Aba on Thursday gave the assurance that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is doing its best to provide easy access and assistance to persons-withdisabilities (PWDs) during the registration period for voters and on elections day. Aba was one of the invited speakers during the launching here of the Fully Abled Nation (FAN) program of the Asia Foundation, in cooperation with the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) as part of a roadshow visit to many areas in the country. We should treat every day as PWD registration day, Aba said.

ALONE A lone nipa hut is dwarfed by the vast area of a ricefield in a farming village in the province of Bohol province. (Cheryl Baldicantos)

DTI-6 Eyes P221-M Domestic Earnings

ILOILO CITY (PNA) The Region-6 office of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) here is eyeing some P221 million in domestic sales, and 6,177 jobs to be generated by medium and small enterprise (MSME) in the province and in this city this year. The target is 34 percent higher compared to the P163-million local sale and 2,094 jobs generated last year, DTI provincial director Wilhelm Malones said. According to Malones, they were able to surpass last years goal when MSMEs generated P201 million local sales, $6.7 million in export, and provided jobs for 5,286 individuals. Speaking during the opening of the Tumandok Iloilo Product Expo here early this week, Malones was confident that this years target will be achieved. The expo that will run until September 8, is being held at the Fountain Area and Ground Circle of Robinsons Place Iloilo. It has provided a venue for connection between prospective buyers both individual businessmen and institutional buyers. In addition to the expo that gathered some 36 exhibitors, Malones emphasized that support infrastructure and other mechanisms are already in place or are ongoing to encourage more investors. The Investment Code of the Province of Iloilo, and the Project Invest of the city provided a business-friendly environment. Project Invest reduced substantially the processing time in the issuance of business permit five steps, one day and four hours for new business registrations and three steps to last for 25 minutes for renewal, he explained. Malones said they are looking forward to see all local government units (LGUs) already armed with the Business Permits and Licensing System (BPLS) by the end of September. He underscored the functionality of Municipal Investment Codes in many LGUs after they have been supported with appropriations.

MANDAUE CITY Residents in this city and nearby Cebu municipalities will soon benefit from an affordable yet quality medical care after the AWG Group of Companies opens a Level 4 general hospital that will be operational by 2014. Last July 30, the Department of Health (DOH) granted the AWG Group a permit to construct the University of Cebu-Medical Center (UC-MC) located at the North Reclamation Area in Subangdaku, this city, which is estimated to cost some P2 billion for building construction and purchase of first-class medical equipment. It is about time that residents in Mandaue City and other municipalities in northern Cebu take advantage of quality medical attention at an affordable price, said Augusto W. Go, AWG Group chairman, and University of Cebu (UC) president. The UC-MC, which offers a 300-bed capacity, including critical care units, spans across 8,000 square meters within a 1.3-hectare property, and will be the first Level 4 general hospital in this city. A Level 4 hospital, as defined by the National Center for Health Facilities Development, is a teaching and training hospital that provides clinical care and management on the prevalent diseases in the locality, as well as specialized forms of treatment, surgical procedure and intensive care. (Malou M. Mozo)

Supply Agreement
NAGA CITY, Cebu The province of Cebu has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with cement firm Cemex Philippines for the use of coal ashes as additives to the cement making process. The coal ash comes from the coalfired power plant of the Korean Electric Power Co. (Kepco) in this city, and Cemex signed the agreement to accept the fly and bed ashes produced by the power plant. Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia and Cemex president and chief executive officer Pedro Palomino signed the agreement that was witnessed by Kepcos vice president Jong Woo Moon. The agreement indicates that Cemex will be willing to accept all the projected output of Kepco estimated to be around 600 metric tons (MT) of fly ash, and around 300 MT of bed ash or even more. Provincial legal officer Marino Martinquilla said that Cemex will pay the amount of P40 per metric ton, on top of the $1 dollar per metric ton paid by Kepco as earlier agreed. Kepco will also shoulder the delivery of ash to Cemex. (Mars W. Mosqueda Jr.)

LIVELIHOOD AID
CATBALOGAN CITY (PIA) At least four former rebels received cash assistance amounting P5,000 from the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP). Luz Tacal, social welfare officer, said they have assessed eight former rebels who availed of the financial assistance but only four qualified. The checks were awarded to the former rebels during the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) meeting on Wednesday. Aside from the P5,000, each former rebel is entitled to a P50,000 livelihood assistance to be given next week, Emy Bonifacio of OPAPP said. Jeffrey Labong, Artemio Labong, Mario Gacuma, and Allan Rafales came to get their checks.

MORE CLASSROOMS
DUMAGUETE CITY (PNA) The 3rd legislative district of Negros Oriental is allotted more than P77 million for classrooms next year, which is almost double the amount allotted for this year. This was confirmed by Negros Oriental 3rd District Representative Pryde Henry Teves who was informed by Department of Education Undersecretary Rizalino D. Rivera about the allocation of the province per district. Teves welcomed the development because aside from the school buildings, he has been assured of more teacher items for his district.

TESDA Award
POWER PLANT The 200-megawatt Circulating Fluidized Bed Combustion power plant stands tall in Naga City, Cebu. This coal-fired power plant is being operated by Kepco Salcon Power Corporation. (Cheryl Baldicantos)

Cebu Exploratory Oil Drilling Set

By MARS W. MOSQUEDA JR.

WATCHMAN CITED
ILOILO CITY (PNA) A barangay tanod (village watchman) of Barangay Casay in Anini-y, Antique, was chosen regional champion in the Search for Outstanding Barangay Tanod by the Regional Management Coordinating Committee (RMCC) during the awarding Friday morning at the SM City here. Aklan Governor Carlito S. Marquez, keynote speaker in the awarding held during the culmination of the 18th National Crime Prevention Week, recognized the village watchmen for their voluntary peacekeeping in their communities.

ALOGUINSAN, Cebu Starting mid-September, an Australian company will start its exploratory drilling to determine oil and gas reserves in Carcar City and in this town. The company, Gas2Grid Limited (G2G) is set to transport the on-shore oil rig from San Fernando town in southern Cebu to Jacob 1 and Gumamela, the drilling areas in Carcar City. The Gas2Grid said it received an approval from the Energy Department for the drilling program in an area covered by Service Contract 44m.

Reports submitted to the Department of Energy (DOE) said the potential of Jacob 1 in Carcar City is 50 million barrels of stocked oil. The Department of Energy looks at resource potentials in the area where they would drill the well. We dont say its proven until we drill and find the oil or gas. Were not sure how much is there, said DOE Undersecretary Jose Layug Jr. The G2G recently purchased Rig-2, which has a 114-mm drillpipe with the capacity to drill 2,750 meters. The rig arrived in Cebu from Taiwan in mid-June, several months later than anticipated. The DOE assured that the drilling would not create hazards in the

environment. According to the G2G, on-shore drilling program costs about $7 million. In Alegria town, an international petroleum consortium led by a Chinese petroleum company has earlier expressed its interest to pursue oil explorations in two barangays (villages) to determine the commercial value of the reported oil supply in those areas. The China International Mining Petroleum Company Limited (CIMP) and Polyard Petroleum International Group Limited will be drilling two wells in the villages of Montpeller and Madridejos, where pocket oil wells have been discovered since the early '70s.

MAASIN CITY (PIA) The provincial government of Southern Leyte, through the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Services Office (PSWDSO), has received the prestigious Kabalikat Award initiated by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). Southern Leyte landed second place for the national level category, and first place for the whole Eastern Visayas Region, said Amelia Malazarte, social welfare public information officer-designate. Southern Leyte Governor Damian G. Mercado and officer-in-charge Provincial Social Welfare Officer Nelita Gomez received the award from TESDA Secretary Joel Villanueva during the agencys 18th Anniversary. Malazarte reported that the criteria for the awards include the link-up of TESDA and Southern Leyte in community-based training and livelihood programs. This has helped a large number of the provinces population to acquire new skills which they have used in pursuit of self and wage employment, Malazarte disclosed.

Mindanao News
MINDANAO NEWSBITS
HEALTH DRIVE
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (PNA) The provincial government of South Cotabato has continued to inch closer towards achieving the governments health target as it landed anew this year as among the countrys top 15 performing local governments in the implementation of health sector reforms. Dr. Rogelio Aturdido Jr., South Cotabato health officer, said the local government received high marks in most of the 29 indicators of the health sector monitoring and evaluation for equity and effectiveness for local government units.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

15 Vital Project

YOUNG ENTHUSIASTS Pupils at an elementary school in Barangay Mabunao, Panabo City, enjoy their afternoon break by playing soccer, which according to them is their favorite sports activity. (Alexander D. Lopez)

BOOK DONATION
DAVAO CITY (PNA) The city librarian here is encouraging Davaoeos to donate more unused and spare books and other reading materials for its collection. City librarian Nora Fe Alajar said the city-run library is primarily dependent on book donations from private individuals and groups. She said this project is under their ongoing Share-a-Book for a Cause Program, which encourages groups and individuals, and even companies to donate books to the City Library. As of the latest inventory, the City Library has a total of 42,106 books. These books have been collected dating back to the 1940s, especially those under the Filipiniana section, she said. She said the city has four district libraries and three reading centers being maintained and supported by private individuals and groups.

Tawi-Tawi Commends Teachers Noble Role

By NONOY E. LACSON

BASIC SERVICES
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA) The city government here brought basic government services to Barangay Bonbon last September 6, and to Barangay Puntod yesterday. The outreach dubbed People to People Program was headed by Mayor Vicente Emano, Vice Mayor Caesar Ian Acenas, the City Councilors, department heads, and employees, and was held at the Bonbon Covered Court and at the Puntod Elementary School. During the program, medical and dental needs of constituents were attended to by teams from the City Health Office, and J.R. Borja General Hospital. The Social Welfare Office provided supplemental feeding.

BONGAO, Tawi-Tawi The provincial government of Tawi-Tawi salutes the teachers as they celebrate Teachers Month. Tawi-Tawi Governor Sadikul Sahali said the provincial government hails the teachers for their noble role as second parents of our children in nurturing them to become responsible citizen of the society. Adding that the month of September is also an opportune time for parents to say thank you to the teachers for their role in molding the children become responsible members of society. This is an opportune time for

us (parents) to show them (teachers) our gratitude and appreciation for their role as second parents of our children who are responsible in nurturing our children while in school, into responsible citizens and independent individuals of society, Sahali emphasized. He said that during the childrens formative years, they imitate and normally absorb the information and values that their teachers taught them. For her part, the governors wife Madam Juana Sahali, a retired school principal, said that October 5 of every year is a worldwide event, rightfully called World Teachers Day. On this day, Mrs. Sahali recalled, the world celebrates to recognize the ser vice and dedication that

teachers play in community and nation building. On the other hand, Education Superintendent Dr. Kiram Irilis, of the Department of Education in Tawi-Tawi, said that from September 5 to October 5, a series of activities has been lined up to mark the Teachers Month celebration in the province. Irilis said that one of the activities is for teachers to celebrate a day with their pupils and students by taking a break from teaching and strengthening bonds with them. He said that a program fitted to recognize the exemplary contributions of teachers to the development of children as responsible members of society will also be held in each of the districts here.

BUTUAN CITY The construction of the P20.7-million road to economic prosperity project was completed ahead of time by the Department of Public Works and Highways-Agusan del Norte District Engineering Office, officials disclosed Thursday. The early completion of the project along the Butuan CityCagayan de Oro City-Iligan Road (Agusan-Misamis Road) is expected to pave the way for the fast and economical movement of trade and commerce, and also projected to boost the already booming economic investments in the two regions in Mindanao the Northeastern and Northern Mindanao regions. The road project includes the reblocking of the damaged portion along several sections of the Agusan-Misamis Road, with an allocation of P20.7 million. The groundwork started last January 17, and is targeted to be completed on August 13, 2012, but due to the extra efforts of the ground engineers, technical personnel, and field workers, the project was completed last June 30. Another widening contract along the same area is still ongoing with an accomplishment rate of 58.36 percent as of August 31. It is expected to be completed ahead of schedule this year. (Mike U. Crismundo)

Model Family
ZAMBOANGA CITY (PNA) The Region-9 office of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA-9) is now accepting nominations for the 2012 Model OFW Family Awards (MOFYA). Now on its 8th year, the agency continues its aim to highlight the success of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their families in overcoming the challenges of migration. We are again in search of landbased and sea-based Model OFW Families, said OWWA-9 Hassan Gabra Jumdain. Model families who have nurtured strong family relations and properly managed the financial benefits from overseas employment will be chosen from each of the countrys 17 regions, he said. Jumdain noted that the award will serve as a strategic mechanism for exemplifying the best practices of OFW families towards optimizing the gains of migration, thus it underscores the challenges they hurdled.

2012 BUDGET
OROQUIETA CITY (PIA) A total of P26.7 million have been allotted by the province of Misamis Occidental for its peace and order programs and projects this year. This amount is actually lower by 20.05 percent compared to last years peace and order budget of P33.4 million, Governor Herminia M. Ramiro said. She said the 2012 Fiscal Year (FY) budget is lesser than that of FY 2011 by 22.54 percent due to the reduction of the Internal Revenue Allotment level certified by the Bureau of Internal Revenue on the actual national internal revenue taxes collected for Calendar Year 2009 as adjusted.

Free Review
BULUAN, Maguindanao The provincial government of Maguindanaos satellite office here announced the start on Saturday, September 8, its episode this year of free review classes for residents wishing to take the upcoming Civil Service (CS) examinations. P rogram facilitator Lynette Estandarte said they have registered a total of 1,535 residents from various parts of the province interested in undergoing this years free review classes, hurdle the national CS examination, and be certified eligible for permanent appointment in career positions in the government. Etandarte, the incumbent provincial budget officer, said they tapped this year expert lecturers from the Ateneo de Davao University to handle the review classes offered free for the third time by Maguindanao Governor Esmael Toto Mangudadatu. Quality governance starts from quality human components of the bureaucracy, so continue to sponsor free civil service exam review classes, Estandarte, quoting Mangudadatu, said. She said this years sponsored review classes will start this Saturday in three venues the provincial satellite office here, at the Brocde Elementary School in Datu Odin Sinsuat, and at the Genalyn Resort in Tacurong City. (Ali G. Macabalang)

A.R.M.M. DIRECTORY A billboard was installed in front of the Executive Building of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in Cotabato City containing the names and contact numbers of all heads of agencies in the ARMM. (Ali G. Macabalang)

Muslim Judges In SC Advocated

By NONOY E. LACSON

AGRI PROGRAMS
KORONADAL CITY (PIA) The Region-12 office of the Department of Agriculture (DA-12) recently called the attention of the beneficiaries of various agricultural projects, particularly farm-to-market roads (FMRs), to hasten the processing of their papers for the fund transfer, if and when they opted to adopt the modality. This developed after the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) ordered all government agencies to fast-track the consumption of government funds by September 30, this year. DA-12 Regional Executive Director Amalia Jayag-Datukan said the DBM has set September 30, as the deadline for the obligation of funds.

JOLO, Sulu A former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader turned legislator in the province of Sulu yesterday called on the national government to adhere to some provisions of the Organic Act of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) that provides Muslim participation in national governance. Representative Habib Tupay Loong (1st District, Sulu) has called on the Aquino government to consider and possibly appoint Muslim judges to the Supreme Court (SC) in compliance with some of the provisions of the Organic Act of the ARMM. Loong said that Article VIII, titled Administration of Justice, Section 2 of the ARMM Organic Act states

that Justices from the Autonomous Region It shall be the policy of the central government or national government that, whenever feasible, at least one justice in the Supreme Court and two justices in the Court of Appeals shall come from qualified jurist of the autonomous region. The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) is set to conduct an interview to the nominees for the position of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, which was left vacant by former Associate Justice and now Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P Sereno. .A. Loong lamented that there are many qualified Muslim judge-applicants to the High Court before, who were Regional Trial Court (RTC) judges and justice of the Court of Appeals but for several times they have been bypassed and never even made to the shortlist for submission

to the President despite of the appeal of Muslim leaders. There are many Muslim judges in the Regional Trial Court and other lower courts in the country, who may be qualified to a seat as associate justice of the Supreme Court, he said. It was only during the time of President Ferdinand E. Marcos that a Muslim judge, by the name of Abdulwahid Bidin, was appointed to the Supreme Court, Loong added. He also downplayed rumors that there are no qualified Muslim judges that could be appointed to the SC. Loong claimed that Muslims will continue to doubt the sincerity of the national government in its commitment to give Muslims due representation and participation in national governance to end the Muslim rebellion problem in the country.

16
Editor: DEOGRACIAS T. MARCELO

Sports News
Pagulayan and John Morra started hot. But Pagulayan, a Fil-Canadian who carried the Philippine colors in the Southeast Asian Games and Asian Games, started to miss his shots. Reyes and Bustamante took advantage, providing the highlight shot in the 12th rack when Reyes nailed a table-length bank on the 8-ball. That shot by Reyes gave Bustamante an easy one on the 9-ball, which put them on the hill. Though Bustamante had a dry break, Canada missed on its turn when the usually composed Pagulayan again missed on the 6-ball, giving the table back to Reyes and Bustamante, who cleared the table to the delight of a big crowd. In yesterdays action, Shane Van Boening and Rodney Morris of the United States edged Albin Ouschan and Mario He of Austria, 8-4, Liu Haitao and Lee Hewen of China easily won over Spains David Alcaide and Francisco Diaz Pizarro, 8-1, and Englands Chris Melling and Darren Appleton downed Nitiwat Kanjanasri and Kobkit Palajin of Thailand, 8-2, to reach the quarterfinals.

Saturday, September 8, 2012 sports@mb.com.ph

Bata, Django Put On Clinic

SPORTS NEWSBITS
CyNa WINS
HONG KONG Cyna Rodriguez carded a gutsy even-par 71 then foiled Team ICTSI-Philippines teammate Jayvie Agojo on the first playoff hole to capture the Hong Kong Ladies Amateur Open crown at the Discovery Bay Golf Club here yesterday. Rodriguez, who started the round tied with Sarah Ababa and one stroke ahead of Agojo, hung tough in the closing holes to hold off the charging Agojo to annex the hotly-disputed championship. The former Philippine Ladies Amateur Open champion made a routine par on the par-4 No. 1 which Agojo, which closed out with a one-under 70, bogeyed after flubbing her par-putt bid from six feet. They assembled similar 211s in the 54-hole tournament.
By WaylON GalvEz

DJOKOvIC IN U.S. OPEN SEMIS

NEW YORK (AP) Defending US Open champion Novak Djokovic beat 2009 winner Juan Martin del Potro 6-2, 7-6 (3), 6-4 on Thursday to reach the semifinals at a 10th consecutive Grand Slam tournament. The showcase matchup was compelling throughout, and closer than the scoreline indicated. The second-seeded Djokovic will face fourth-seeded David Ferrer of Spain on Saturday. Ferrer advanced to his fourth career major semifinal by using his high-energy brand of tennis to outlast eighth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 6-3, 6-7 (5), 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) in 4 hours, 31 minutes.

Efren Bata Reyes and Francisco Django Bustamante kept their title hopes alive as they bucked home crowd pressure and the ravages of time to beat Canada, 8-5, and advance to the quarterfinals of the World Cup of Pool at Robinsons Place in Ermita Thursday night. Next for the pool legends is Finland whose team of Mika Immonen and Petri Makkonen scored an 8-4 victory against top seed Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann of Germany. Talagang malaki ang pressure sa amin, said Reyes after he and Bustamante took the role of savior following the defeat of tournament No. 2 seed Dennis Orcollo and Lee Van Corteza during the first round Wednesday night against Switzerland. But with advancing age, the two are a combined 106 years, there are not many more years left to contend in competitions like this one. But against Canada, there were flashes of their old brilliance. Reyes and Bustamante were down, 4-2, as Filipino-Canadian Alex

Efren Bata Reyes and Francisco Django Bustamante discuss their best option in their turn to make a shot during their second round match against Canada Thursday. The Filipinos triumphed, 8-5. (albert Garcia)

CHESSERS FALL
The Philippines ran into the Great Wall of China Thursday, cutting short its celebration in the ninth round of the 2012 World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey. In cloud nine following emphatics wins over Bulgaria and England, the Filipinos crashed back to earth following a 3.5-0.5 defeat at the hands of their Asian rival. It was a repeat of the 2010 Asian Games final with Grandmaster Wesley So the only survivor. The Filipinos lost quickly with the black pieces at boards two and four. First to fall was GM Oliver Barbosa who lost to GM Ding Liren (2695) in 26 moves of a Slav. Next was GM Mark Paragua who bowed to GM Li Chao (2665) after 43 moves of a Kings Indian. That left GM Eugene Torre and So to carry the fight with white. They, too, came under heavy fire, but So hung on to salvage a draw with GM Wang Hao (2726) after 64 moves. Torre was not as lucky, yielding to GM Bu Xiangzhi (2670) in 50 moves. The loss dropped the Filipinos in a tie for eighth spot with 13 points, two points behind co-leaders China, the United States, Russia and Armenia. On Friday, the Filipinos try to hold off another rival, Vietnam, in the penultimate round. Vietnam walloped England, 3-1, Thursday. In womens play, the Philippines lost to Romania, 2.5-1.5.

McIlroy Shares Lead, Tiger Lurks

CARMEL, Indiana (AP) Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy seem to be spending a lot of time together lately. That includes the top of a busy leaderboard at the BMW Championship. The biggest star in golf and his heir apparent put on a dazzling show Thursday at Crooked Stick, where the gallery caught a glimpse of the best players in the world for the first time since the 1991 PGA Championship. McIlroy, flawless with his irons, birdied his last two holes for an 8-under 64 and was part of a four-way tie for the lead with Indiana native Bo Van Pelt, US Open champion Webb Simpson and Graham DeLaet, the Canadian who is quietly becoming the Cinderella of these FedEx Cup playoffs. Just three days after McIlroy won the Deutsche Bank Championship, he looked just as impressive in the opening round at Crooked Stick. He hits it great, putts it great and top of that, he's just a really nice kid, Woods said in some of his strongest praise ever for another player. The game of golf is in great hands with him, and he's here to stay.

S.B.P. HOOPS
Two La Salle teams battle for a possible Small Basketeers Philippines (SBP) final duel against a squad from Ateneo, while the Passerelle Division is a toss up among the top teams when the Best Center-organized, Milo-sponsored SBP-Passerelle twin tournaments hold its last semifinal games on Sunday at the Xavier School gym. La Salle Greenhills-A, a 45-36 winner over Marist School-A over the weekend, battle La Salle-Zobel A.

Energized Warriors Take On Tamaraws

By JONaS TERRaDO
Games Today (Mall of asia arena) 2 p.m. UP vs UST 4 p.m. FEU vs UE

CalaMBa FOOTBall
A total of 109 teams will see action today in the third level of the Calamba Football Festivals JMC Cup at the Rizal Plaza in Calamba City, Laguna. Calamba City Mayor Joaquin Chipeco Jr., who is pushing hard for sports development in the city especially among the youth, said the event is sanctioned by the Philippine Football Federation and managed by the Laguna Football Association. The tournament also serves as the National Football Invitational tournaments for players under-9, under-13 and under-17 years old.

UAAP Board Orders Replay

By JONaS TERRaDO

An energized University of the East tries to catch another big fish today as it battles fancied Far Eastern University in the 75th UAAP basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena. The Red Warriors pulled off the biggest upset of the season and their biggest win in many years, with a 7977 thriller over defending champion Ateneo on Thursday, a victory they hope to sustain against the Tamaraws at 4 p.m. When asked about their chances against FEU, coach Boycie Zamar said: "We have to be humble enough to admit that we are not that strong." Zamar, however, is happy with how his players are responding to his challenge, especially Chris Javier.

Javier has played hero twice burying a trey at the buzzer in their 79-76 win over the University of the Philippines and nailed a soft jumper with 0.4 second against the mighty Ateneo squad which was aiming to claim the first Final Four slot with a win. University of Santo Tomas, meanwhile, returns from a one-week respite when it meets the struggling UP Maroons at 2 p.m. UST and FEU are locked in a tie for second to third at 8-3 and victories today will keep them at pace with each other in the race for a twice-tobeat advantage in the Final Four. Despite UEs inferior 3-8 record, FEU coach Bert Flores and his boys are certainly not going to take UE for granted. Flores said things have changed for the better for the Warriors since their masterful 92-66 rout of the former University Belt rival in the first round.

Hong Bags 1st Tour Title

CAGAYAN DE ORO Charles Hong put on a fiery finish of sevenunder 65 in a virtual backside shootout with Richard Sinfuego, then clinched the crown in sudden death for his breakthrough victory in the P1-million ICTSI Pueblo de Oro Championship at the Pueblo layout here yesterday. Hong, a sophomore pro whose best finish in the season was sixth at ICTSI Sherwood Hills, kept his form in the playoff, nearly coming up with a pitch-in birdie while Sinfuego, who also closed out with a solid 67, blew it out with an errant second shot for bogey. Both finished with eight-under 208s. The victory was worth P200,000 for the 24-year-old Hong, who had just one missed cut in the first 10 legs of this years circuit organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc.

a.G. TENNIS
Action in the 2012 Philta-Palawan Pawnshop Regional Age-Group (AG) Championships presented by Babolat shifts to Bacolod starting today with another banner field expected to clash for titles in various divisions at Bacolod City Center Court Tennis Club. Events on tap in the threeday tournament, part of Philtas 15-stage nationwide talentsearch, are the 10-under unisex and the boys and girls 12-under, 14-under, 16-under and 18-under categories.

National University, whose protest to nullify Far Eastern Universitys 77-75 win was thrown out by the league commissioner, won its appeal when the UAAP board upheld the protest and ordered a full replay of the game. It could not be determined if the board voted unanimously but the replay will be held on September 23, three days after the end of the tworound eliminations. The board was apparently convinced that the ball has not left the hands of FEUs RR Garcia when he made a layup just hundreths of second left in the game. On the other hand, UAAP commissioner Ato Badolato reviewed the tape, as did the board, but was convinced the ball was released before the buzzer.

NCAA: SBC vs JRU Today

By KRISTEl SaTUMBaGa
Games Today (The arena, San Juan) 12 noon Perpetual vs EAC (Jrs) 2 p.m. San Beda vs JRU (Jrs) 4 p.m. Perpetual vs EAC (Srs) 6 p.m. San Beda vs JRU (Srs)

Three-peat seeking San Beda tries to move closer from earning a playoff berth in the Final Four when it battles dangerous Jose Rizal University squad today in the 88th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan. A win for the Red Lions, who carry a 10-2 record, will put them in a strong contention of clinching the first semis seat aside from putting more distance between them and second-running San Sebastian (10-3).

The 6 p.m. tussle between the Mendiola-based squad and the Heavy Bombers are expected to be close since both teams boast of players who can add excitement to the match. JRU is currently tied for third to fourth places with University of Perpetual Help with identical 8-4 records and a victory for coach Vergel Meneses boys will inch them closer to the Stags. Aside from keeping their solo lead, San Beda, meanwhile, also hopes to reaffirm its mastery over JRU, which it trounced, 62-37, in their first meeting last Aug. 4. In that game, the Bombers were held to only 15 points in the first half to finish with the leagues lowest score of the season.

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NEWS IN BRIEF
R/$ RATE STANDS AT R41.87/$1
The peso exchange rate stands at R41.87 to the US dollar, the closing rate on Thursday at the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. (PDEx). The weighted average rate stands at R41.908.

MARKET & INVESTMENT

T.P.P. BEST FOR TRADE GROWTH

VLADIVOSTOK, RussiaNew Zealand Prime Minister John Key said Friday the Trans-Pacific Partnership offered the greatest promise of achieving global growth among the various regional and bilateral trade agreements currently in place or under negotiation. The TPP shows the greatest promise of providing stimulus to revive global growth, Key said in a speech at an event held alongside Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders summit. New Zealand is a founding member of the TPP, a framework that is also pushed strongly by the United States as the main tool for achieving a free trade zone across the Asia-Pacific.

FOOD & DRINKS ASIA 2012 OPENS Shown at the ribbon cutting of the Food & Drinks Asia 2012, on September 6, 2012, at the World Trade Center, Pasay City, are (from left ) Leandro H. Gazmin, Director-Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service, Department of Agriculture; Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis, Jr., President, Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc.; Chef Roberto P. Francisco, President, Hotel & Restaurant Chefs Association of the Philippines; Carlos V. Cabochan, President, Philippine Association of Supermarkets, Inc.; and Steven T. Cua, President, Philippine Amalgamated Supermarkets, Inc. (Photo By Regie D. Mason)

LOCAL SHARES CLOSE 0.99% HIGHER

Local shares closed higher yesterday, tracking gains in overseas equity markets Thursday following ECBs decision to undertake a bond-buying program for the region. The main gauge Philippine Stock Exchange indes (PSEi) was up 0.99% at 5,201.32 though volume is still thin. (ECBs) Draghis announcement alleviated some concerns over Europe and thats the main driver for today, says Jose Vistan, research head at AB Capital Securities. He tips next resistance at 5250, with support at 5150. The most actively traded shares include Universal Robina which was up 2.3% at R63.50, Alliance Global 1.8% higher at R12.44, and Ayala Land up 1.6% at R22.50. (Dow Jones)

Back To Pre-Asian Financial Crisis

NPL Ratio Hits Record Low

By LEE C. CHIPONGIAN

ASIA CEO AWARDS NOMINATIONS SET

To continue promoting the Philippines as a highly viable business destination, the organizers of the Asia CEO Awards which culminates in November are calling for both multinational and local firms to submit their nominations for excellent performance in various categories. According to Asia CEO Awards chairman Richard Mills, the event now on its third year and title sponsored by American Express has been successful in spurring the growth momentum of the country. The awards highlight the accomplishments in the Philippines of well-regarded firms like Teleperformance and Convergys in the country and their leaders, he said.

The banking industrys non-performing loans (NPL) ratio improved further to 2.06 percent at the end of the first half, the lowest bad loans ratio since 2005 in Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) recorded history and even further back pre-Asian

financial crisis. As noted by BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. last Thursday, the NPL ratio has been declining since 2000 while banks provisioning against potential credit losses has been rising or about 136 percent coverage ratio as of end-June. Tetangco said these metrics

converge into the capital adequacy ratio or CAR which is the central, though not exclusive, metric under the Basel Accord. NPL ratio has been declining as banks capital health improves. The industry CAR, which measures banks capability to meet its liabili(Contd on page B-6)

GIR Climbs To $80B Level

The countrys foreign exchange stock crossed the $80-billion mark by the end of August, surpassing the governments forecast for both 2012 and 2013 as capital inflows continue to surge into emerging markets such as the Philippines. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday that gross international reserves (GIR) totaled $80.77 billion as of end-August, a slight 1.3 percent increase from Julys $79.76 billion but compared to the same period last year, GIR rose 6.4 percent or by $4.9 billion from $75.94 billion. The central bank said the current dollar stock level is adequate enough to cover 11.9 months worth of imports of goods and payments of services and income. It is also about 10.9 times of the short-term external debt based on original maturity and 6.6 times
(Contd on page B-6)

ASIAN STOCK MARKETS SHARPLY HIGHER

HONG KONG (AFP) - Asian markets surged Friday after European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi unveiled a plan to buy the bonds of troubled eurozone nations in a bid to tackle the regions long-running debt crisis. Tokyo surged 2.20 percent, or 191.08 points, to 8,871.65, Seoul climbed 2.57 percent, or 48.34 points, to 1,929.58 and Sydney rose 0.30 percent, or 12.9 points, to 4,325.8.

NOKIA, HARMAN IN NEW VENTURE

Nokia and HARMAN, the global leading supplier of premium audio and infotainment systems has announced a new partnership to develop innovative wireless consumer audio technologies exclusively for the Nokia Lumia range. As HARMAN seeks to further collaborate with mobile leaders to bring next generation connectivity technologies to the home and the automobile, working with industry pioneer Nokia provides a tremendous opportunity to expand our own value sets and bring to market unique audio products that meet todays demand for uninterrupted consumer connectivity, said Sachin Lawande, executive vice president of HARMAN and co-president of HARMAN Lifestyle and Infotainment.

PH Competitiveness To Further Advance

By CHINO S. LEYCO

The Philippines continuing rally in the annual global competitiveness ranking is a testament of the improvements in public institutions as well as sound macroeconomic environment in the country, two government economic managers said. Both Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima and Budget and Manage-

ment Secretary Florencio B. Abad have declared that the Aquino administration will continue to adhere to its pledge of good governance as they strengthen their partnership with the private sector, civil society and other stakeholders. The unprecedented second consecutive 10-notch jump of the Philippines in the World Economic For um (WEF) Competitiveness Rankings is once again a major dividend from the good governance

reforms of President Aquino, Purisima said in a statement. These upgrades coming from the WEF, major credit rating agencies and various third-party institutions recognize and affirm our belief that good governance is good economics, he added. Latest WEF report revealed that out of 144 economies around the world, the Philippines global competitiveness ranking improved
(Contd on page B-6)

COAL ASIA
The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the registration of the shares of planned Coal Asia Holdings paving the way for the firms R800 million initial public offering slated for October. (Page B-2)

GSIS Net Revenues Increase 14%

State-run Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) said yesterday that its net revenues increased by 14 percent in the first seven months of the year due to higher contributions and equity earnings. In a briefing, Robert G. Vergara, GSIS president and general manager said that the pension fund would continue to benefit from the strong local equity market as he sees it to grow in a much faster pace in the next 12 to 18 months. All of 2011, we were building up our equity portfolio where we started in very underweight position. Weve been more active in equity portfolio this year and weve been realizing some of our gains, Vergara said. The official said GSIS equities
(Contd on page B-6)

MACROASIA, PHILEx
MacroAsia Corporation is the new partner of Philex Mining Corporation in the shuttered Bulawan gold mine in Negros Occidental which is being revived because higher metal prices has made it viable again. (Page B-3)

APPLE EYES FREE INTERNET RADIO

NEW YORK (AFP) US technology giant Apple is in talks to license music for broadcast on a custom online radio service modeled after Pandora, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said Apples service would work on the companys hardware, including the iPhone, iPad and Mac computers, as well as potentially on PCs using Microsofts Windows operating system.

Jobs Await For Lexmarks Ex-Employees

State-run Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) assured employees of Lexmark International Philippines Incorporated in Cebu that jobs await them once the printer-makers restructuring plan is implemented. Lilia B. de Lima, PEZA directorgeneral, said in an interview with reporters that the government will be assisting those affected employees of Lexmark saying they be hired by other companies operating in the Mactan Economic Zone. De Lima made the assurance that most of the affected 1,100 employees of Lexmark will be re-hired. Lexmark has decided to halt its inkjet cartridge manufacturing facility in Mactan by end-2015 yet, but it will be
(Contd on page B-6)

GREEN PRODUCT
The United States welcomed Friday a deal to cut tariffs on dozens of green products in the Asia-Pacific, saying it would boost the regions economies as well as help protect the environment. (Page B-6)

INVEST IN THE PHILIPPINES: JOIN US TO ACHIEVE ECONOMIC PROGRESS AND PROVIDE MORE JOBS FOR OUR PEOPLE

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Editor: LORETO D. CABAES Asst. Editor: BERNIE CAHILES-MAGKILAT

Business News
interest from potential strategic and financial investors from the power generation and cement industries as well as investment funds with the objective of owning a stake in Coal Asia as a means to ensure continuous supply of coal and possibly hedge against another potential significant runup in coal prices. Coal Asia is keen on ensuring the timely development of its high-grade bituminous coal mines which are strategically located in Mindanao where there is a rush to establish critically needed power capacity, giving Coal Asia a leg up on opportunities for long-term supply agreements for thermal coal in the region. While Coal Asia has already bagged off-take contracts both here and abroad, it also plans to supply steam-grade coal to cement plants, canneries, and manufacturing plants that have converted their diesel-powered plants into coal-powered plants to mitigate costs.

Saturday, September 8, 2012 E-mail: business@mb.com.ph

SEC Okays Coal Asia's IPO

by JAMES LOYOLA

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the registration of the shares of planned Coal Asia Holdingspaving the way for the firms R800 million initial public offering slated for October. Coal Asias planned IPO will allow the investing public the opportunity to buy in at the same price as its incorporators since its IPO will be priced at the par value of one peso per share. According to the companys prospectus, it plans to list 800 million shares on the Philippine Stock Exchanges first board by the fourth quarter of 2012. The R726.87 million net proceeds from the IPO is earmarked to bring its Davao Oriental mine into production by 2014 and its Z a m b o a n g a S ib u g a y m in e b y 2015. Coal Asia holds the second largest coal reserves in the coun-

try with coal assets worth R12.5 billion based on an independent valuation report by the Multinational Investment Bancorporation. The firm is talking to some firms interested in putting up mine mouth power plants in the two coal mines it is developing in Mindanao. Sources said Coal Asia does not have plans of investing in power generation plants fed by coal from its mines although the company has been talking to some investors interested in building mine-mouth power plants. Mine mouth power plants are the most cost-effective since it drastically cuts down costs such as the transportation of the coal from the mine to the power plant. It also reduces transportation time and risks of weather-related supply chain disruptions compared to cases where the coal has to be shipped to the plant. The firm continues to draw

Patronizing Our Virgin Coconut Oil

I have been using virgin coconut oil (VCO) regularly for more than seven (7) years now. Not just VCO but other products of coconut as well. I take buko (young coconut) juice every morning. I use coconut sugar instead of refined sugar. Our cooking oil is coconut oil. I eat a lot of vegetable and other sweets using coconut milk. And when I have diarrhea, I take one glass of fresh coconut juice (without the coconut meat) to replenish the fluid in my body and to stop diarrhea without taking any traditional drug. And do you know also that VCO can be used as an anti-wrinkle facial oil in lieu of commercial lotion or cream? Yes, VCO is an effective herbal food supplement for many kinds of diseases and infections like prostate cancer, Parkinsons disease, arthritis, allergies, psoriasis, sinus, and many other kinds of ailments. Even those suffering from Alzheimers disease improve their condition by regularly rubbing their bodies with coconut oil and/ or taking VCO orally. Despite the negative publicity that VCO has been subjected to in the past three (3) decades or more, VCO today stands out as a vegetable (plant-based) oil from the tropics with outstanding health and nutritional benefits. No ifs. No buts. A question often asked about Virgin Coconut Oil is: Why is virgin coconut oil good for our health? Simply because virgin coconut oil is very rich in lauric acid the same kind found in mothers milk. And to the curious who may ask: why, whats with lauric acid? According to Bruce Fife in his book Coconut Cures, lauric acid is the supernutrient in mothers milk provided by our Lord God to supply all the nutrients that a baby needs for the first year or so of life. Protecting babies against childhood illnesses, shielding them from infectious disease, strengthening the immune system of babies, and aiding the digestive system of babies. In short, because of lauric acid, babies are provided with the perfect blending of vitamins, minerals, proteins and fats for their healthy growth and development. It is no wonder that it is often said that breast milk is the best food for babies. To insure the quality of the mothers milk, the health of pregnant and nursing women should be given due importance and attention. If newly born babies up to one year or so need lauric acid, we adults and beyond also need this vital nutrient since our bodies begin to deteriorate as we age. To strengthen our immunity system so we can fight successfully infectious and degenerative diseases. This is the basic reason why we need virgin coconut oil which is rich in lauric acid. Yes, VCO is needed by the young as well as the old. Lets patronize our ver y own VCO regularly. Have a joyful day!

Tobacco-Free Kids Advocacy Group Supports RP Tobacco Tax Reforms

The Campaign for TobaccoFree Kids (CTFK), an international advocacy group, has voiced out its support for the administrations version of the Sin Tax bill stressing that the health and economic benefits far outweigh potential costs to business. Enactment of this bill, especially in its stronger form, will do more to reduce tobacco use among young people in the Philippines than any other action that the government can take, said Matthew Myers, president, CTFK. Referring to House Bill 5 7 2 7 t h e g o v e r n m e n t s v e rsion is premised on putting in place a level playing field which removes the distinction between old and new brands when slapping excise taxes on cigarettes. The proposed measure also pegs tax rates to inflation. In his argument, Myers cited Ukraine whose government ceded to tobacco industr y s demand to increase tobacco tax by small amounts from 2005 to 2008 but churned no impact on tobacco consumption. Later, when it increased tax on tobacco products by 405% it resulted to a 13% and 15% reduction in tobacco use in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Myers also highlighted the fierce opposition the bill is currently facing with attempts to water down the tax increase and maintain multiple tiers. If that happens, it means that low-cost cigarettes will be readily available to children. If the efforts to water down the bill succeed, you are literally trading the lives of Filipino children for political compromise, said Myers. Opponents of the bill argue that an increase in the tax on tobacco products by the amount proposed will cost jobs and hurt retailers. How much are the lives of the 87,600 Filipinos who die each year worth? he argued. Myers further asserted that the proposed tax will help the Philippine economy, not hurt it. He emphasized that billions of pesos are being spent on unnecessary health costs and lost productivity which far exceeded what was being generated in excise tax. The CTFK head also allayed fears when a shift in spending occurs as a result of reduced tobacco consumption: If consumers do not spend on tobacco, money will not evaporate and instead be spent on other consumer products. In other words, a reduction in tobacco use will not result in less consumer spending that will adversely impact your economy. Created in 1996, CTFK is a non-profit organized based in the US which supports governments and non-governmental organizations in promoting and implementing policies that reduce tobacco use and save lives. The organization is a partner in the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, under the World Health Organization (WHO), which is committed to the scaling up of tobacco control efforts in developing countries where the health burden from tobacco use is highest.

RP Second Country To Ratify Landmark Treaty For Domestic Workers

by EDU LOPEZ

The Philippines has become the second country to ratify the ILO Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers, thus allowing the first global standard for domestic workers to come into force in a year's time. The ratification by the Philippines sends a powerful signal to the millions of domestic workers who will be protected when the Convention comes into force. I hope it will also send a signal to other member-states and

that we will soon see more and more countries committing to protect the rights of domestic workers, said ILO Director-General Juan Somavia. The historic Convention extends the ILO standards to a sector which continues to be poorly regulated and remains largely part of the informal economy. Recent ILO estimates based on national surveys and/or censuses in 117 countries place the global number of domestic workers at around 53 million. But since this kind of work is often hidden and unregistered,

experts believe that the total number could be as high as 100 million. In developing countries, domestic workers make up at least 4 to 12 per cent of wage employment. Around 83 percent of these workers are women or girls, and many are migrant workers. Globally, domestic workers make up 3.6 percent of wage employment. The new standard covers all domestic workers and provides for special measures to protect those workers who, because of their young age or nationality or live-in status, may be exposed to additional risks.

Business News
By JAMES LOYOLA

Saturday, September 8, 2012

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MacroAsia, Philex Partner For Bulawan

MacroAsia Corporation is the new partner of Philex Mining Corporation in the shuttered Bulawan gold mine in Negros Occidental which is being revived because higher metal prices has made it viable again. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, MacroAsia said it has gained the rights to Bulawan Mining Corporation (Bumico) and PNB Management Development Corporation (Madecor) under their operating agreements with Philex for the Bulawan mining claims. MacroAsia said it has signed a deed of assignment with Bumico covering Bumicos rights, interests and obligations under its operating agreement with Philex involving 62 mining claims. This includes 6 claims that are covered by a mineral lease contract and were subjected to mining operations by Philex from 1996 to 2002. This agreement covers part of the Bulawan gold mine that previously produced gold under Philex operations. Macroasia also singed a deed of assignment with PNB Madecor covering the latters rights, interests and oblgations under its operating agreement with Philex involving 61 mining claims in the same area. Under the deeds of assignment, Bumico and Madecors rights, interests and obligations under their respective operating agreements with Philex are transferred to MacroAsia. MacroAsia said it has received notice in writing from Philex that it is in agreement with the assignment of the Bulawan gold mining rights to MacroAsia. This was confirmed by Philex. Philex chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said earlier that they plan to revive the Bulawan gold mine as part of the First Pacific Groups plans to increase its mining capacity to at least 100,000 tons of ore per day or one million ounces of gold per year. Our ambition over the medium term is a four-fold increase in ore production, he said noting that Philexs operating mine Padcal produces 25,000 to 30,000 tons of ore per day. Its Silangan project in Mindanao, which is slated to go into commercial production by 2016, aims to produce 35,000 to 60,000 tons per day while other Greenfield projects are about another 15,000 tons per day. Once we finish Silangan, the (acquisitions) in the Philippines and in Indonesia, weve probably got two-thirds of the weight versus 1 million ounces per year. The last third, we have to dig, dig, dig, Pangilinan said.

Appoints New Country Manager

Epson Targets Doubling RP Sales

By EMMIE V. ABADILLA

World Cannot Afford Farming Subsidies

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (AFP) - Agricultural subsidies around the world are a waste of hundreds of billions of dollars and unaffordable in the wake of the global financial crisis, New Zealands prime minister said Friday. Speaking at a business forum in Vladivostok ahead of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders summit, John Key said cutting farming subsidies -- which New Zealand eliminated in the 1980s -- would promote economic growth. Imagine the benefits of freeing up the hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer-funded subsidies which are poured into agriculture, fisheries and a number of other industries, Key said. With Japan, the United States, and the European Union all facing huge challenges to reduce their fiscal deficits and get public sector debt under control, what is plainly evident is that this level of subsidisation is no longer affordable or sustainable. Key pointed to the example of New Zealand, which he said had the only truly unsubsidised agricultural sector in the world. Unwinding subsidies is not easy, we in New Zealand know that from our own experience, he said. (But) farmers responded very quickly to the signals, they cut costs, they improved productivity, and they responded to market demand. He said his countrys agriculture and wine sectors now had arguably the best yields and highest productivity in the world.

Epson targets to double its sales turnover in the next three to five years with the appointment of Toshimitsu Tanaka as its new country manager for Epson Philippines Corporation (EPC), effective July 1, 2012. We will continue strengthening customer engagement processes to facilitate better customer satisfaction, the new EPC Chief stressed. We also hope to continue the double-digit growths in both the printer and projector businesses that made the Philippines a strong contributor to Epson business goals in the region. Epson started operating in the country in 1998 and grew into a billion peso company within a few years due to its client-oriented approach. To date, EPC has an extensive network of 77 Authorized Service Centers nationwide with more than 200 dealers and more than 800 shops across the archipelago.

As Country Manager of EPC, Tanaka will further strengthen the Epson brand, create new business models to fit the local requirement and doubling sales, according to Epson. The new country managers 32year experience from global headquarters Seiko-Epson Corporation (SEC) in Japan and other Epson subsidiaries, as well as his goal-oriented approach in achieving targets will boost Epsons growing presence in the Philippines. He views his new assignment as a big opportunity for him and Epson. The new country manager also expressed admiration for Filipino resiliency, a good leverage in accomplishing many goals. I have seen how strong Filipinos are even in the middle of calamities like what happened a month ago. The world looks up to your bayanihan spirit in both good times and bad times, he noted. The new EPC chief also renewed the companys commitment to best

serve its Filipino customers and build on the success of his predecessors leadership. Im glad that one of my first projects as the new Country Manager of EPC is the introduction of e new and improved L-series printers for the Filipino customers, he remarked. This launch ranks high among important activities to serve the goals of strengthening the Epson brand, creating new business models to fit the local requirement. Prior to his Philippine assignment, Tanaka was the General Manager of Imaging Products Sales & Marketing Support Department at the Seiko Epson Corporation (SEC) in Japan. He is married with two children, enjoys golf, baseball and skiing. Early this week, prior to the launch of its new Epson L-series ink tank system printers, EPC held a special meet-and greet to introduce the new Japanese Executive to the Philippine media at the Manila Marriott Hotel, Newport City Complex, Pasay City.

APEC To Voice Eurozone Concern

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (AFP) Asia Pacific leaders will voice concern over the eurozone crisis and vow to fight rising trade protectionism, according to a draft joint communique set to be issued this weekend. The leaders of the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group -- which includes the United States, Japan and China -- are set to hold two-days of annual talks in the Far East Russian city of Vladivostok starting Saturday. A draft of their end-of-meeting statement obtained by AFP reflects their concern over the impact of Europes debt crisis on economic growth in the Asia Pacific, and outlines broad details of how they will deal with the problem. Since we last met (in Honolulu last year), the global economy has continued to face a number of challenges and is subject to downside risks, the draft statement said. The financial markets remain fragile, while high public deficits and debts in some advanced economies are creating strong headwinds to economic recovery globally. The events in Europe are adversely affecting growth in the region. The leaders will resolve to work collectively to support growth and foster financial stability and restore confidence, according to the draft. They also plan to welcome the commitment of their counterparts in Europe to take all necessary measures to prevent a break-up of the monetary union. Russian President Vladimir Putin will host the APEC summit, with other key figures including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. Clinton is representing US President Barack Obama, who is campaigning for re-election. The leaders will say they intend to strengthen demand within their countries to make up for falling exports, while cutting public debt and implementing structural reforms, according to the draft, which gave few specifics. The leaders will also commit to currency exchange rates determined by the market and to refrain from competitive devaluation of currencies, the draft said. China is often the target of US allegations it is deliberately keeping the yuan low to make Chinese exports cheaper in the global markets, although Beijing has denied any currency manipulation. The leaders will also vow to fight rising protectionism, in part by refraining through to 2015 from raising new barriers to investment or trade in goods and services, the draft said. Drafts of communiques at international summits are often prepared in advance by negotiators, with the leaders then gathering to endorse or make changes.

Nestl Physical Logistics Head Meo dela Cruz (4th from left) proudly receives the Gawad Sinop trophy from officials of the Supply Management Practices by the Philippine Society for Supply Management (PISM) and the Society of Fellows in Supply Management (SOFISM).

Nestl Wins Management Excellence Award

Nestl Philippines was recently conferred the 2012 Gawad Sinop Corporate Award for Excellence in Supply Management Practices by the Philippine Society for Supply Management (PISM) and the Society of Fellows in Supply Management (SOFISM) during their annual Supply Link Regional Conference held at the SMX Convention Center. The award was presented to Nestl for instituting best practices and human resource development programs in supply management. The company also received special recognition for demonstrating excellence in the field of logistics operations. Leading personalities from both the private and government sectors attended the conference, which showcased best practices in supply management, particularly: 1) best practices in the industry; 2) leadership in the propagation of the supply management profession via training, certification and team projects; 3) innovations to enhance performance, reduce cost, increase profit and ensure increased revenue; and 4) corporate social responsibility in supply management. The Nestl Philippines entry which won the award, titled Going Beyond Nestl; Leveraging Best Practices to Business Partners and Bringing the 3PL Industry to Greater Heights, highlighted the companys role in the development of the supply management profession in the country by institutionalizing the Nestl Continuous Excellence system as an enabler of several successes in supply chain management (SCM) as well as a number of initiatives promoting the development of distributor partners and third party logistics service providers. The companys physical logistics head, Meo Dela Cruz, received the award for Nestl, accompanied by R.P Ramos of Physical Logistics, . Oli Morfe of Customer Service, and Paul Macasling of Operations Performance Department. We are deeply honored to receive this great recognition from the PISM and SOFISM. These awards inspire us to leverage further on best practices in Nestl and strengthen our commitment to contribute to the development of the supply management profession, said Dela Cruz. The Gawad Sinop Nomination and Screening Committee was composed of Jose Emmanuel M. Estrera; Ramon R. Guevarra, Accreditation Council in the Practice of Supply Management in the Philippines; Hon. Heidi L. Mendoza, Commission on Audit; Rev. Dom Clement Ma. H. Roque, rector-president of San Beda College, Alabang; and Joselito Diga, Unilab CFO. This recognition is a clear sign that we are on the right track in creating sustainable and efficient logistic operations. We take pride in the confidence and professionalism of our team. This achievement will inspire our Supply Chain professionals to perform even better, while caring for people and the environment in the years to come, said Wim Van Geffen, Nestl Philippines SCM head.

Euro Higher On ECB Plan

NEW YORK (AFP) - The euro pushed higher Thursday as the European Central Bank revealed its plan to buy up bonds of struggling eurozone countries to help lower their borrowing costs. The plan, mapped out by ECB chief Mario Draghi after the bank announced an unchanged interest rate policy, gave hopes that plans to strengthen the eurozone were coming together. At 2100 GMT, the euro was up to $1.2629, from $1.2600 late Wednesday. Both gained against the yen, the dollar moving to 78.85 yen from 78.38 yen, and the euro trading at 99.60 yen, up from 98.78. Traders welcomed the details of the program, which was targeted at one- to three-year notes, was not limited by size but was sterilized -- designed not to add to the eurozone money supply -- and did not give the ECB seniority on bond payments.

B-4
52 Weeks HIGH LOW
70.5 77.45 595 20.7 102.5 94.5 77.8 61 95 45.5 155.2 140 2.2 23.9 22 3.25 590 39.2 3.06 500 1,080.00 2.06 35.5 1.62 2.96 6.41 19.4 79.3 27.45 280.6 15.5 14.94 7.6 1.41 13.58 23.95 1.7 26.5 120 91.25 12.2 4 4.42 34.6 129.2 14.66 26.55 69.2 5.5 0.77 61 7.77 13.1 10.38 6.95 18.1 2.62 1.22 2.75 3.8 8.4 1.9 9.74 0.019 5.79 2.35 46 2.44 1.18 59.9 0.019 13.7 2.6 5.02 6.98 2.98 3.75 485.2 64.8 4.19 5.2 556 36.2 4.19 1.54 6.21 0.91 3.82 4.65 5.85 9.66 0.068 2 0.64 0.42 760 2.71 1.57 635 0.42 0.62 0.98 3.34 0.195 0.83 24.15 5.62 9 2.7 2.91 0.092 1.11 0.94 5.29 0.31 1.44 2.56 2.14 2.34 0.36 0.99 38.1 0.62 19.94 7.71 2.85 8.95 18.2 4.55 0.64 4.66 42 11 0.84 46 50 48 18.5 60 56 41 55 69 29.45 77 58 1.42 13.8 7.95 1.91 420 3 1.3 210 879 1.43 26.5 1.08 2.12 4.83 12.5 51.5 18.1 215 9.7 8.05 2.9 0.9 8 11.98 0.97 17.5 80 25 6.9 1.96 1.05 26.5 110.2 3.3 12.5 37 1.05 0.32 19.96 2.8 7.8 5.25 0.82 8.12 1.25 0.8 2.3 1 1.04 1.11 7.41 0.011 3.8 0.61 25 1.73 0.65 35.5 0.014 8 1.8 3 0.26 1.49 1.6 272 30.5 1.36 3.3 455.4 19 2.08 0.61 4 0.3 1.8 2.56 3.4 1.22 0.045 1.2 0.42 0.285 450 1.08 1.1 425 0.14 0.082 0.38 1.7 0.15 0.42 13.36 3.08 2.29 1.35 1.2 0.06 0.67 0.54 2.9 0.129 0.98 1.63 0.65 1.51 0.15 0.089 12.6 0.41 10 2.51 1.81 6 10.94 1.8 0.45 2.6 24.1 6.18 0.57

Business News
SEPTEMBER 7, 2012
PREV CLOSE
60.2 72.75 51.15 19.74 91.95 76 69.6 58 87 44 150 101.8

Saturday, September 8, 2012

PHILIPPINE STOCK EXCHANGE

STOCKS
BDO UNIBANK BPI CHINABANK EW METROBANK PBCOM PHIL. NATL BANK PHILTRUST PSBANK RCBC SECURITY BANK UNION BANK

World
2.9% DAX 7,167.33 (202.64)

PAR VALUE
10.00 10.00 100.00 10.00 20.00 100.00 40.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 10.00

2010 EPS
3.91 3.61 42.46 3.78 5.02 4.61 5.83 2.43 8.44 4.43 13.34 10.28

OPEN
60.95 73.9 52 19.78 92.9 76 69.8 87 44 151.5 101.7

HIGH
61.1 73.95 53.55 20.2 93.35 76.5 70 87 44 154 102.2

LOW CLOSE
60.5 72.95 51.9 19.74 92.5 76 69.7 87 44 151.5 101.7 60.5 73.2 52.55 20.2 92.65 76.5 69.9 87 44 154 102 1.96 20.5 11 2.91 460 25 1.92 370 910 1.8

VOLUME

VALUE

PE RATIO
15.47 20.28 1.24 5.34 18.46 16.59 11.99 23.87 10.31 9.93 11.54 9.92 14.00 27.70 133.17 12.65 526.64 81.35 12.00 55.64 -40.07 7.35 11.41 18.47 8.83 -656.67 53.75 24.81 15.14 21.50 13.08 8.15 20.21 6.56 10.37 18.74 -116.23 -5.34 30.75 9.67 18.42 49.38 25.59 44.10 22.35 39.33 2.38 28.58 5.86 -1.05 -293.57 10.29 41.68 22.41 19.54 23.97 23.52 55.98 10.83 36.50 -400.00 15.57 6.96 -3.78 93.52 4.77 26.84 13.85 2.57 12.51 208.82 10.61 8.00 6.22 -109.76 -163.22 -166.32 28.97 15.64 1.49 10.00 20.68 10.11 16.10 -175.00 5.92 -33.33 -70.34 18.71 -282.22 3395.00 -577.78 -48.28 4.27 -366.28 20.79 8.75 -147.50 -2875.00 590.48 -36.11 -1666.67 154.12 89.47 375.00 41.73 210.87 24.41 14.71 5.26 40.40 -17.02 49.41 6.69 12.06 11.00 380.00 11.64 6.99 -2.73 -226.67 61.19 -11.50 15.83 0.00 12.61 12.30 21.41 71.43 173.33 10.93 8.79 27.76 12.50 14.98 -4.72 16.85 -11.58 8.91 -1.28 11.31 23.39 -122.60 -6.77 11.84 10.03 24.92

September 6, 2012 closings

LONDON
2.1% FTSE 5,777.34 (119.48)

FRANKFURT

****BANKS****
1,398,320 85,174,648 667,850 48,958,331.50 998,760 52,833,182.50 4,530,900 90,460,185 2,138,820 198,601,901 700 53,300 323,630 22,620,130 0 0 10 870 70,800 3,115,200 1,235,500 188,972,306 198,810 20,280,320 59,000 9,400 6,000 129,000 510 17,300 86,000 38,690 640 418,000 2,552,700 173,000 977,000 4,168,200 334,100 288,400 1,796,400 218,110 2,048,400 150,700 3,000 218,000 115,560 192,700 66,000 365,250 234,700 435,740 167,890 14,323,094 587,270 755,700 85,565,215 229,920 2,715,360 24,617,103 6,207,062 22,172,890 47,397,755 55,229,378 20,872,974 1,224,247 15,540 256,210

NEW YORK
1.9% Dow Jones 13,292.00 (244.52)

pARIS
3.1% CAC40 3,509.88 (104.09)

**** OTHER **** OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTION *** * FINANCIAL INSTITUTION **** BDO LEASING 1.00 0.14 1.97 1.94 1.96 1.94 COL FINANCIAL 1.00 0.74 20.5 20.5 20.5 20.5 FILIPINO FUND 1.00 0.0826 11 11 11 11 IREMIT 1.00 0.23 2.85 2.72 2.91 2.72 MANULIFE 0.00 0.8735 450 470 470 460 MAYBANK ATR KE 1.00 0.3073 27 26 26 24.6 PHILNARE 1.00 0.16 1.98 1.96 1.98 1.92 PSE 1.00 6.65 372 373 373.8 370 SUN LIFE 0.00 -22.7101 915 949 949 910 VANTAGE 1.00 0.245 1.8 1.8 1.81 1.8

Asia-Pacific

**** ELECTRICITY, **** **** ELECTRICITY, ENERGY, POWER & WATERENERGY, POWER & WATER **** ABOITIZ POWER 1.00 2.94 33.55 33.55 33.55 33.5 33.55 ALSONS CONS 1.00 0.072 1.35 1.33 1.36 1.32 1.33 CALAPAN VENTURE 1.00 0.3252 2.45 2.58 2.89 2.47 2.87 ENERGY DEVT. 1.00 -0.009 5.9 5.91 5.95 5.9 5.91 FIRST GEN 1.00 0.3464 18.38 18.5 18.7 18.5 18.62 FIRST PHIL HLDG 10.00 3.099 76.65 76.7 77 76.65 76.9 MANILA WATER 1.00 1.74 26.25 26.35 26.55 26.3 26.35 MERALCO A 10.00 11.73 250.2 251.4 255 251.4 252.2 PETRON 1.00 0.78 10.2 10.2 10.24 10.02 10.2 PHOENIX 1.00 1 8.2 8.2 8.29 8.09 8.15 SALCON POWER 1.00 0.28 5.66 5.2 5.2 5.1 5.1 TRANS-ASIA 1.00 0.18 1.18 1.17 1.18 1.16 1.18
**** FOOD, BEVERAGE & TOBACCO **** BEVERAGE & TOBACCO **** **** FOOD, AGRINURTURE 1.00 0.81 8.4 8.4 8.45 8.36 8.4 ALASKA MILK 1.00 1.2512 23.5 23.5 23.5 23.45 23.45 ALLIANCE SELECT 1.00 -0.012992 1.49 1.5 1.53 1.5 1.51 GINEBRA 1.00 -3.56 19.1 18.1 19 18.1 19 JOLLIBEE 1.00 3.138 96.3 96.3 97.5 94.55 96.5 LIBERTY FLOUR 10.00 3.93 38 38 38 38 38 PANCAKE 1.00 0.38 7 7 7 6.95 7 PEPSI-COLA 0.15 0.08 3.84 3.91 4 3.84 3.95 RFM CORP 1.00 0.161 4.07 4.1 4.27 4.06 4.12 SAN MIGUEL 1.00 0.78 34.4 34.4 34.4 34.4 34.4 SAN MIGUEL CORP. 5.00 4.97 111 111.3 111.3 111 111.1 TANDUAY HLDG. 1.00 0.3 11.9 12.02 12.04 11.66 11.8 TARLAC 10.00 5.48 13.02 13.04 13.04 13.04 13.04 UNIV ROBINA 1.00 2.25 62.1 62.55 64.3 62.55 64.3 VICTORIAS 1.00 0.22 1.29 1.3 1.3 1.28 1.29 VITARICH 1.00 -0.57 0.58 0.58 0.6 0.58 0.6

September 7, 2012 closings

hONG KONG
2.5% Hang Seng 19,683.41 (474.11) Intraday

BANGKOK
0.7% SET Index 1,253.08 (9.16) Intraday

63,100 530,208 8,300 194,750 1,926,000 2,929,390 1,200 22,710 390,150 37,444,554 500 19,000 23,300 163,065 31,508,000 124,289,900 2,074,000 8,615,540 100,000 3,440,000 255,280 28,366,671 1,705,800 20,203,676 3,900 50,856 6,638,810 421,242,058.50 1,261,000 1,627,300 126,000 73,200 3,312,405 2,969,480 24,377,126 11,333,990 38,100 262,358 14,187,090 14,400 1,201,380 0 558,700 27,180 734,269 2,783,400 64,600 6,200 2,069,485 1,800

KUALA LUMpUR
0.4% KLCI 1,624.54 (6.55) Intraday

MANILA
1.0% Phisix 5,201.32 (51.21)

SEOUL
2.6% KOSPI Index 1,929.58 (48.34)

ShANGhAI
3.7% Composite 2,127.76 (75.84)

**** CONSTRUCTION, INFRASTRUCTURE & ALLIED SERVICES **** & ALLIED SERVICES **** **** CONSTRUCTION, INFRASTRUCTURE ASIABEST GROUP 1.00 -0.07 20.3 20.8 21.3 20.25 20.55 161,100 EEI CORP. 1.00 0.7146 7.29 7.4 7.46 7.33 7.35 403,000 HOLCIM 1.00 0.31 12.42 12.7 13.1 12.7 12.92 1,879,800 LAFARGE_REP 1.00 0.4217 9 9.3 9.5 9.28 9.45 1,208,600 MARIWASA 1.00 0.13 2.5 2.54 2.54 2.54 2.54 15,000 MEGAWIDE 1.00 0.68 16.3 16.3 16.3 16.26 16.3 16,100 SEACEM 0.35 0.105 2.39 2.45 2.47 2.39 2.47 5,793,000 VULCAN IND`L 1.00 0.01715 0.91 0.96 0.96 0.96 0.96 15,000 **** CHEMICALS **** CHEMREZ EUROMED LMG CHEMICALS MABUHAY VINYL

SINGApORE
0.9% ST Index 3,014.73 (25.47) Intraday

SYDNEY
0.3% SP/ASX 4,325.80 (12.90)

**** CHEMICALS ****

1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.24 0.06 -0.0056 0.097 2.54 2.19 2.25 1.49 2.56 2.29 1.51 2.6 2.35 1.51 2.56 2.24 1.51 2.6 2.24 1.51 466,000 0 246,000 18,000

**** ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS & EQUIPMENT **** **** ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS & EQUIPMENT **** CHIPS 1.00 1.3858 9.65 9.66 9.7 9.25 9.64 76,300 GREENERGY 0.01 -0.0045 0.016 0.016 0.017 0.015 0.017 173,900,000 INTEGRATED MICRO 1.00 0.043306 4 4 4.05 4 4.05 16,000 IONICS 1.00 0.129918 0.62 0.62 0.62 0.62 0.62 10,000
**** OTHER INDUSTRIALS **** ALPHALAND 1.00 SPLASH CORP. 1.00 **** HOLDING FIRMS **** ABACUS A 1.00 ABOITIZ 1.00 ALCORN GOLD 0.01 ALLIANCE GLOBAL 1.00 ANGLO-PHIL HLDG 1.00 ANSCOR 1.00 ASIA AMALGAMATED 1.00 ATN HOLDINGS A 1.00 ATN HOLDINGS B 1.00 AYALA CORP 50.00 DMCI HOLDINGS 1.00 F&J PRINCE A 1.00 FILINVEST DEV. 1.00 GT CAPITAL 10.00 JG SUMMIT 1.00 JOLLIVILLE HLDG 1.00 LODESTAR 0.10 LOPEZ HLDGS. 1.00 MABUHAY HLDG. 1.00 MARCVENTURES 1.00 METRO PAC INV 1.00 MINERALES IND 1.00 MJC INVESTMENTS 1.00 PACIFICA A 0.01 PRIME MEDIA 1.00 PRIME ORION 1.00 SINOPHIL 1.00 SM INVESTMENTS 10.00 SOLID GROUP 1.00 SOUTH CHINA 1.00 TRANSGRID 1.00 UNIOIL HLDG. 1.00 WELLEX INDUS 1.00 ZEUS HOLDINGS 1.00 **** PROPERTY **** A. BROWN ALCO ARANETA PROP AYALA LAND BELLE CORP. CEBU HLDG. CENTURY PROP CITY & LAND CROWN EQUITIES CYBER BAY EMPIRE EAST ETON EVER-GOTESCO FILINVEST LAND GLOBAL-ESTATE IRCPROPERTIES MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED PHIL ESTATES PHIL. TOBACCO PHILREALTY ROBINSONS LAND ROCKWELL SHNG PROPERTIES SM DEVT SM PRIME HLDG. STARMALLS SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND **** MEDIA **** ABS-CBN GMA NETWORK MANILA BULLETIN 1.00 0.18 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.10 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.20 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00

TAIpEI
1.3% W Index 7,424.91 (98.19)

TOKYO
2.2% Nikkei 8,871.65 (191.08)

**** OTHER INDUSTRIALS ****

1.103 0.13 0.28065 3.838 0.000086 1.1776 0.25 0.74 -0.0451 -0.00968 -0.00968 14.53 3.61 1.708 0.4 26.6 3.19 0.1863 -0.006 0.8629 -0.0129 -0.0327 0.225 -0.018 0.002 -0.00009 -0.029 0.11 -0.00086 34.68 0.24 -0.008 -0.16 0.00042 -0.009 -0.0002 0.0197 0.0019 0.0016 0.55 0.023 0.22 0.102 0.47 0.0015 -0.047 0.017 0.5605 0.017 0.12 0.005 0.11 0.319 -0.06 -0.003 0.42 -0.04 1.16 0.15 0.222 0.495 0.652 0.029 0.003 0.418 3.207 0.353 0.06 29.7 1.75 0.73 47.5 0.018 12.22 2 4.56 4.99 1.53 1.92 416 56.05 2.55 4 538.5 32.25 2.99 1.03 5.15 0.43 2.26 4.18 5.1 6.62 0.052 1.31 0.465 0.305 719 2.09 1.13 460 0.249 0.32 0.405 3 0.168 0.6 22.15 4.85 5.5 1.53 2.45 0.069 0.78 0.84 3.68 0.205 1.3 1.84 1.26 2.19 0.164 0.68 18 0.46 18.32 3.41 2.76 6.08 13.62 4 0.51 4.46 28.5 9.75 0.74 29.6 1.8 0.73 47.6 0.018 12.32 1.98 4.54 4.9 1.53 1.75 420 56.45 2.51 3.99 540 32.35 3 1.03 5.16 0.43 2.27 4.22 5.05 6.55 0.052 1.4 0.47 0.31 719 2.1 1.18 460 0.248 0.31 0.4 3 0.17 0.6 22.35 4.85 5.45 1.53 2.4 0.069 0.8 0.85 3.85 0.201 1.31 1.84 1.27 2.2 0.164 0.68 20 0.46 18.22 3.45 2.8 6.08 13.9 4 0.52 4.47 28.65 9.75 0.74 29.7 1.8 0.76 48 0.018 12.56 2 4.6 4.99 1.6 1.84 422 56.6 2.56 4.01 554 32.55 3 1.07 5.19 0.43 2.31 4.24 5.09 7 0.052 1.4 0.47 0.32 723 2.15 1.18 460 0.248 0.325 0.4 3.03 0.17 0.6 22.95 4.95 5.45 1.53 2.47 0.069 0.81 0.85 3.85 0.205 1.33 1.9 1.28 2.25 0.165 0.68 26.5 0.46 18.4 3.5 2.8 6.14 14 4 0.52 4.64 28.9 9.8 0.75 29.6 1.8 0.72 47.6 0.017 12.32 1.98 4.53 4.9 1.52 1.6 416 56.3 2.51 3.99 540 32.25 3 1.03 5.1 0.43 2.25 4.17 5.04 6.5 0.052 1.4 0.47 0.31 719 2.08 1.18 460 0.248 0.31 0.4 3 0.17 0.6 22.3 4.85 5.37 1.46 2.4 0.061 0.8 0.83 3.75 0.2 1.3 1.84 1.24 2.2 0.161 0.66 20 0.46 18.22 3.4 2.8 6.06 13.84 4 0.52 4.46 27.85 9.63 0.74 29.6 1.8 0.72 48 0.018 12.5 2 4.6 4.95 1.58 1.61 421 56.45 2.55 4 550 32.25 3 1.05 5.11 0.43 2.3 4.21 5.08 6.79 0.052 1.4 0.47 0.315 721 2.1 1.18 460 0.248 0.325 0.4 3.03 0.17 0.6 22.95 4.85 5.37 1.5 2.47 0.061 0.8 0.84 3.75 0.205 1.32 1.9 1.28 2.23 0.164 0.68 25.7 0.46 18.36 3.4 2.8 6.09 13.96 4 0.52 4.58 28.2 9.8 0.75 1,109 2.69 2,750 5.79 2.05 1 3.03 16.98 2.55 1.76 9 59.5 68 69,800 1,000

**** HOLDING FIRMS ****

50,091,000 37,142,340 388,700 18,655,105 23,400,000 400,800 35,456,700 441,818,548 51,000 101,000 31,000 141,630 17,000 83,650 312,000 485,700 2,870,000 4,725,570 664,310 278,266,304 487,510 27,524,586.50 28,000 71,420 276,000 1,103,740 210,630 115,775,880 650,000 21,112,855 59,000 177,000 78,000 81,680 11,603,600 59,433,151 210,000 90,300 994,000 2,242,890 26,382,000 110,926,980 75,200 379,867 48,500 323,266 800,000 41,600 20,000 28,000 100,000 47,000 1,090,000 346,250 297,870 214,691,745 1,112,000 2,335,790 60,000 70,800 100 46,000 200,000 49,600 210,000 66,750 210,000 84,000 32,000 640,000 1,000 10,181,000 1,713,000 19,500 14,560,000 112,000 5,630,000 1,190,000 23,115,000 61,000 2,650,000 15,827,000 17,613,000 51,000 64,715,000 2,870,000 2,075,000 31,200 20,000 10,789,700 292,000 6,000 599,100 4,281,900 31,000 40,000 14,680,000 184,200 135,300 54,000 57,065 26,000 145,905 200 30,000 592,000 74,000 388,000 40,000 6,000 20,000 391,930 509,990 96,060 108,800 600 229,218,225 8,361,660 105,400 21,699,450 270,580 369,670 955,000 19,394,060 231,220 535,880 20,855,700 32,990,740 63,880 144,357,110 468,080 1,387,830 732,895 9,200 197,914,334 1,006,110 16,800 3,646,048 59,711,930 124,000 20,800 66,478,690 5,180,740 1,318,414 40,450 63,245,500 69,940 403,879,230 1,158 62,250 596,170 227,870 6,584,062 101,010 10,260 180,000 23,444,244 34,665,966

Top Gainers
STOCKS

PRICE %CHG
42.78 17.14 8.00 6.87 6.25 5.88 5.49 5.27 5.00 4.42

PHILIPPINE TOBACCO FLUE-CURING 25.700 CALAPAN VENTURES, INC. 2.870 FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY, INC. 1,080.000 PRIME MEDIA HOLDINGS, INC 1.400 GREENERGY HOLDINGS INCORP 0.017 ORIENTAL PET AND MINERALS "A" 0.018 VULCAN INDUSTRIAL & MINING 0.960 DFNN, Inc. 5.790 Lafarge Republic, Inc. 9.450 SOUTH CHINA RESOURCES, INC. 1.180

Top Losers
STOCKS
OMICO CORPORATION - WARRANTS ATN HOLDINGS, INC. "B" CROWN EQUITIES, INC. 2GO GROUP, INC. SPC POWER CORPORATION PHILEX MINING CORPORATION MAYBANK ATR KIM ENG FINANCIAL WATERFRONT PHILIPPINES, INC. ORIENTAL PET AND MINERALS "B" BENGUET CORPORATION "A"

PRICE %CHG
0.016 1.610 0.061 1.760 5.100 17.200 25.000 0.435 0.018 23.150 -46.67 -16.15 -11.59 -10.20 -9.89 -8.32 -7.41 -6.45 -5.26 -3.34

**** PROPERTY ****

Most Active
STOCKS VOLUME VALUE
35,457 6,639 146 664 10,181 298 2,139 10,790 1,236 4,715 441,819 421,242 403,879 278,266 229,218 214,692 198,602 197,914 188,972 144,357 ALLIANCE GLOBAL GROUP, INC. UNIVERSAL ROBINA CORPORATION PLDT COMPANY "Common" AYALA CORPORATION AYALA LAND, INC. SM INVESTMENTS CORPORATION METROPOLITAN BANK & TRUST CO. ROBINSONS LAND CORPORATION SECURITY BANK CORPORATION MEGAWORLD CORPORATION6

**** MEDIA ****

1,270.00 831 3.58 2.6 2,886.00 2,096.00 9.7 4.7 3.87 3.96 17.88 3.3 4.72 10.92 82.5 77 5.44 1.75 1 2.55 12.1 2.42 1.3 7.3 58.15 43.4

**** TELCOMMUNICATION **** **** TELECOMMUNICATIONS **** GLOBE TELECOM 50.00 74.02 1,100.00 1,139 1,139 1,102 LIBERTY TELECOM 1.00 -0.57 2.75 2.69 2.69 2.69 PLDT 5.00 163.24 2,702.00 2,714 2,798 2,714

Dividends
SYM TYPE VALUE EX-DIV DATE RECORD DATE DATE PAYABLE

**** **** **** INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY **** DIVERSIFIED 1.00 -0.33 5.5 5.79 5.79 5.79 IP CONVERGE 1.00 0.23 2 2.15 2.15 2.01 IPVG CORP. 1.00 -0.7843 1.01 1.01 1.01 1 ISM COMM. 1.00 0.2679 3.1 3.08 3.09 3.03 PHILWEB 1.00 0.7258 16.52 16.96 16.98 16.8 TRANSPACIFIC BR 1.00 -0.0208 2.55 2.51 2.55 2.5 **** TRANSPORTATION SERVICES **** **** TRANSPORTATION SERVICES **** 2GO GROUP 1.00 -0.26 1.96 1.7 1.76 1.7 ASIAN TERMINALS 1.00 0.76 9 9 9 9 CEBU AIR, INC. 1.00 5.93 60 60.25 60.8 59.4 INTL CONTAINER 1.00 2.7283 67.5 68.5 68.5 67.5

HI SMB SMCP1 TOL

CASH CASH CASH CASH

P0.02853 PCS P0.14 PS P1.50 PS P0.10 PS

Aug 14, 2012 Aug 23, 2012 Aug 28, 2012 Aug 15, 2012

Aug 17, 2012 Aug 29, 2012 Aug 31, 2012 Aug 21, 2012

Sep 10, 2012 Sep 10, 2012 Sep 10, 2012 Sep 13, 2012

**PS - per share **PSR - per share (regular) **POS - per outstanding share **PCS - per common share **RPA - rate per annum **TBA - to be announced **PSS - per share (special) **DRPA - dividend rate per annum **STA - subject to approval **PDPS- per day per share

Business News
PHILIPPINE STOCK EXCHANGE
SEPTEMBER 7, 2012
PREV CLOSE
2.8 7.67 1.43 0.155 0.465 10.2 1,000.00 9.49 0.025 7.55 2.85 13.98 9.41 0.315 68 5.6 29.3 0.61 0.39 2.78 0.0046 4.95 17 27.8 23.95 23.5 1.05 22.25 0.56 1.13 1.19 0.06 0.061 17.18 7.15 0.66 4.48 18.76 220 0.015 0.26 0.017 0.019 5.96 32.5 0.048 545 103.5 108.5 1,013.00 28.05 N/A

Saturday, September 8, 2012

B-5

Market Milestone

52 Weeks HIGH LOW

3.85 8.58 18.98 0.51 0.72 2.66 5.35 1.05 0.101 0.34

STOCKS
MACROASIA PAL HOLDINGS

PAR VALUE
1.00 1.00

2010 EPS
0.24 0.03 0.43 0.0006 -0.008 0.53 46.59 0.025 0.004 -0.0383 0.031 1.8965 0.39 0.0561 1.03 0.69 0.97 0.001 -0.03 0.11

OPEN
2.9 7.65 1.43 0.157 0.47 1,050 9.52 0.025 7.55 2.89 13.98 9.5 0.315 68 5.6 29.4 0.63 0.395 2.8 0.0047 5 17 27.9 23.95 23.5 1.05 22.35 0.57 1.12 1.18 0.06 0.06 17.28 7.16 0.68 4.47 18.76 220 0.015 0.265 0.018 0.018 5.96 32.6 0.048 541 103.1 108.1 1,012 28.5 9.6

HIGH
2.9 7.72 1.43 0.161 0.47 1,100 9.7 0.025 7.68 3.08 14.1 9.5 0.32 68.25 5.62 29.8 0.63 0.4 2.8 0.0047 5 17.18 28 23.95 23.95 1.05 24.9 0.57 1.13 1.2 0.06 0.06 17.28 7.58 0.68 4.6 18.82 220 0.015 0.265 0.018 0.018 5.96 33 0.048 545 103.1 108.2 1,013 28.6 9.7

LOW CLOSE
2.9 7.65 1.37 0.156 0.43 1,050 9.52 0.023 7.39 2.89 13.98 9.5 0.315 67.5 5.58 29.4 0.63 0.395 2.75 0.0046 4.98 16.98 27 23.15 23.5 1.04 22.35 0.56 1.11 1.17 0.058 0.058 17.18 7.14 0.68 4.4 17.14 217.8 0.015 0.255 0.017 0.018 5.96 32 0.047 541 103.1 108 1,012 27.6 9.6 2.9 7.7 1.42 0.16 0.435 1,080 9.65 0.025 7.5 2.94 14.06 9.5 0.315 68 5.59 29.6 0.63 0.4 2.75 0.0047 4.99 17.08 27.9 23.15 23.95 1.04 22.35 0.56 1.12 1.19 0.06 0.059 17.2 7.14 0.68 4.47 17.2 219 0.015 0.255 0.018 0.018 5.96 33 0.048 545 103.1 108.1 1,012 28 9.7

VOLUME
1,000 56,800 118,000 51,970,000 800,000 0 420 12,029,000 73,200,000 2,639,000 5,211,000 26,800 1,010,000 950,000 45,310 206,700 2,132,500 3,000 130,000 684,000 232,000,000 50,000 374,500 3,700 15,100 9,000 170,000 704,400 5,706,000 5,751,000 4,860,000 140,560,000 57,730,000 1,516,000 1,626,800 50,000 957,000 6,643,400 148,970 2,000,000 1,910,000 1,300,000 10,000,000 10,000 220,000 522,100,000 7,590 500 3,910 1,495 1,517,800 310,000

VALUE
2,900 436,902 165,820 8,258,000 346,650 0 451,600 115,696,134 1,754,800 19,926,548 15,557,500 376,710 9,595,000 300,250 3,076,892.50 1,157,193 63,126,990 1,890 51,700 1,886,400 1,077,200 249,280 6,379,330 102,865 361,565 214,300 177,000 16,220,500 3,195,470 6,422,960 5,766,290 8,363,540 3,417,130 26,087,850 11,905,636 34,000 4,264,980 117,623,332 32,582,906 30,000 495,050 22,800 180,000 59,600 7,187,740 24,694,000 4,106,270 51,550 422,652 1,514,135 42,514,470 2,997,000 52,100 5,816,770

PE RATIO
12.08 16.48 3.30 266.67 -54.38 19.25 16.56 386.00 6.25 -195.82 94.84 7.41 24.36 5.62 66.02 0.00 30.52 630.00 -14.29 25.00 -97.92 -166.33 1.59 4428.57 2.72 2.82 -46.85 -372.50 622.22 178.06 189.19 3000.00 2950.00 6.52 714.00 -28.62 13.88 14.69 12.94 -75.00 5.31 9.67 9.67 12.51 117.86 8.57 N/A 0.00 N/A N/A N/A 9.69 N/A N/A

**** HOTEL & LEISURE **** 1.00 ACESITE HOTEL BOULEVARD HLDG. 0.10 WATERFRONT 1.00 **** EDUCATION **** CENTRO ESCOLAR FAR EASTERN U 1.00 100.00

*** HOTEL & LEISURE ****

Stocks Return To 2007 Level

NEW YORK (AP) The last time the stock market was this high, the Great Recession had just started, and stocks were pointed toward a headlong descent. But on Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average hit its highest mark since December 2007, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index soared to its highest level since January 2008 in a rally that seemed destined to mark a milestone: American stocks have come almost all the way back. A long-anticipated plan to support struggling countries in the European Union provided the necessary jolt, and the gains were extraordinarily broad. All but 13 stocks in the S&P index were up. European markets surged, too. "There's just a sea of green,'' said JJ Kinahan, TD Ameritrade's chief derivatives strategist. "It's pretty fun.'' At the start of 2008, the U.S. economy was already a month into recession, though most people scarcely knew it at the time. The S&P had recently hit an all-time high, and the unemployment rate was 5 percent, compared with the current 8.3 percent. Then, in March 2008, the investment bank Bear Stearns collapsed under the weight of bad mortgage bets, and investors began to sell. In September, the full financial crisis took hold as Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, banks stopped lending to each other and investors began dumping stocks in earnest. By March 2009, the S&P had dropped 57 percent from its high to hit a 12-year low of 676. Since then, the index has been on an impressive if often bumpy climb. Helping to power it was unprecedented support from the Federal Reserve, which critics say has reignited a dangerous gambling spirit among professional investors, and record profits at big U.S. companies. Although stocks have rebounded, the broader economy is still lagging. But Barry Knapp, head of U.S. equity strategy at Barclays Capital, said stocks tend to anticipate the future economy rather than reflecting current conditions. So the signs are good. "It can be a misleading forecasting tool, but sometimes it's telling you something significant,'' he said. "It's entirely possible the stock market is telling us that there is a better economic environment out there.'' So could the rally help President Obama? A number of recent studies have connected a rising stock market to improved odds of re-election for the incumbent president. Since 1900, when the S&P 500 has posted gains from July to October in an election year, voters returned the sitting president to the White House 80 percent of the time, according to a study by S&P Capital IQ. But no modern president has faced re-election when unemployment was so high. President Jimmy Carter was bounced from office in 1980 when unemployment was 7.5 percent. If you started off 2008 by putting $10,000 in the S&P 500, the benchmark for most stock funds, you would now have $10,600, thanks to dividends. That's assuming you could stomach the ride. Your initial investment fell to $9,840 six months later, then plunged to $6,300 by the following January. Starting in 2010, companies began generating higher and higher profits despite an anemic U.S. economic recovery. In fact, companies in the S&P 500 increased net income by double-digit percentages over eight quarters in a row through the end of last year a stretch that has surprised even Wall Street stock analysts, who are normally criticized for being too optimistic.

**** EDUCATION **** **** CASINOS & GAMING ****

10.6 8.2 1,750.00 800 102.8 28.5 10.3 4.08 22.95 10 0.39 76 24 30.15 0.78 0.7 3.39 0.0083 6.2 20.8 48 29 34 2.22 61.8 1.21 1.81 2.07 0.085 0.087 36.5 12.84 0.98 8.4 27.85 257.8 0.029 0.345 0.032 0.033 7.05 48 0.062 580 103.5 116.7 1,050.00 50 11.02 0.165 1.31 4.56 0.023 5.9 1.21 13.8 5 0.25 18 5.2 10.68 0.45 0.36 1.05 0.0039 3.01 14.5 20 19.98 21.2 1.01 6.96 0.5 1.06 1.09 0.042 0.042 15.04 2.91 0.66 2.99 17.14 161.1 0.014 0.17 0.014 0.016 5.1 3 0.017 535 100 108 1,000.00 22.65 6 0.0048 0.62

**** CASINOS & GAMING **** BLOOMBERRY 1.00 IP E-GAME 0.01 LEISURE 1.00 MANILA JOCKEY 1.00 PACIFIC ONLINE 1.00 PHIL. RACING 1.00 PREMIEREHORIZON 0.25 **** RETAIL **** 7-ELEVEN CALATA CORP. PUREGOLD 1.00 1.00 1.00

**** RETAIL ****

**** OTHER SERVICES **** APC GROUP 1.00 ICTVI 1.00 PAXYS 1.00 **** MINING **** ABRA MINING APEX MINING A ATLAS MINING ATOK BENGUET A BENGUET B CENTURY PEAK DIZON MINES GEOGRACE LEPANTO A LEPANTO B MANILA MINING A MANILA MINING B NICKELASIA NIHAO OMICO CORP. ORIENTAL P PHILEX SEMIRARA MINING UNITED PARAGON **** OIL **** BASIC PETROLEUM ORIENTAL A ORIENTAL B PETROENERGY PHILEXPETROLEUM PHILODRILL A PREFERRED AYALA PREF. A FIRST GEN G PETRON PREF SMPFC PREFS ABS-CBN PDR GMA HOLDINGS

**** OTHER SERVICES ****

**** MINING ****

0.01 -0.00005 1.00 -0.03 10.00 10.7637 1.00 0.0063 3.00 8.5 3.00 8.5 1.00 -0.0222 1.00 -0.00009 1.00 0.0009 0.10 0.0063 0.10 0.0063 0.01 0.00002 0.01 0.00002 0.50 2.64 1.00 0.01 0.01 -0.0238 1.00 0.322 1.00 1.171 1.00 16.93 0.01 -0.0002 0.25 0.01 0.01 1.00 1.00 0.01 100.00 10.00 1.00 10.00 0.00 0.00 0.048 0.0019 0.0019 0.4764 0.28 0.0056 0 0 0 0 0 0

**** OIL ****

**** PREFERRED ****

WARRANTS, PHIL. DEPOSIT RECEIPT, ETC. **** WARRANTS, PHIL. DEPOSIT RECEIPTS, ETC. **** OMICO-W N/A 0 0.03 0.029 0.029 0.016 0.016 2,700,000 MEG-WARRANTS N/A 0 1.2 1.17 1.27 1.17 1.23 4,613,000
High Low Close %change Pt. Change Volume Value

SECTORIAL SUMMARY Open

FINANCIALS INDUSTRIALS HOLDING FIRMS PROPERTY SERVICES MINING AND OIL PSEI ALL SHARES SME GRAND TOTAL 1,306.2 7,867.85 4,347.8 1,989.73 1,739.46 21,118.79 5,175.76 3,429.08

1,310.49 1,302.11 7,916.08 7,867.85 4,368.26 4,347.8 2,019.07 1,989.73 1,783.26 1,739.46 21,162.01 20,623.05 5,218.31 5,175.76 3,461.43 3,429.08

1,303.88 7,916.08 4,366.58 2,019.07 1,763.19 20,713.88 5,201.32 3,454.83

0.98 0.81 0.77 2.44 1.36 -1.91 0.99 0.76

12.67 63.88 33.27 48.01 23.73 -404.1 51.21 25.93

12,329,741 243,390,811 161,410,514 199,446,105 157,075,095 999,336,359

P 728,330,817.28 P 981,699,884.35 P 1,507,103,251.13 P 839,229,185.25 P 865,422,458.13 P 277,191,459.73

NO. OF ADVANCES: 104 NO. OF DECLINES: 51 NO. OF UNCHANGED: 43 NO. OF TRADED ISSUES: 198 FOREIGN BUYING R2,880,736,309.67 FOREIGN SELLING R2,050,289,007.28

1,772,988,625

P 5,198,977,055.87

COMPANIES UNDER SUSPENSION BY THE EXCHANGE AS OF SEPTEMBER 7, 2012 ASIA CBC EIBA EIBB FC FYN FYNB -ASIATRUST -COSMOS -EXPORT BANK -EXPORT BANK B -FIL-ESTATE CORP -FILSYN A -FILSYN B GO GOB MAH MAHB MC MCB NXT -GOTESCO LAND A -GOTESCO LAND B -METROALLIANCE A -METROALLIANCE B -MARSTEEL A -MARSTEEL B -NEXTSTAGE PHC PNC MED PCP PMT -PHILCOMSAT -PNCC -MEDCO HLDG. -PICOP RES. -PRIMETOWN PROP. PPC PTT STN UW TLGG -PRYCE CORP. -PT&T -STENIEL -UNIWIDE HLDG. -PLDT GG

B-6
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (AFP) The United States welcomed Friday a deal to cut tariffs on dozens of green products in the Asia-Pacific, saying it would boost the regions economies as well as help protect the environment. Trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group agreed Thursday on 54 products that would have tariffs slashed to five percent or less by 2015, including wind turbine blades and solar batteries.

Business News
Were very pleased with the outcome of yesterdays trade ministers meeting. I think we really had good results on environmental goods, US Deputy Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis told AFP . Weve come up with a result that will be very important in terms of liberalization of trade in the area of environmental goods. Marantis is Washingtons top trade official at this weeks APEC meetings in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, which conclude on Saturday and Sunday with a summit of leaders from the 21-member bloc. He said the agreement was good for both trade and also good for promoting all the APEC economies agenda on green growth. APEC leaders who met in Hawaii last year had directed officials to come up with a list of green products by this year. However, there had been disagreements on what should be in the basket, with countries pushing products that would promote domes-

Saturday, September 8, 2012

APECs Green Product List Welcomed

tic industries while blocking others that could have hurt home-grown companies. In the end, the final list included equipment that recycles waste and controls air pollution along with gas turbines, geothermal energy turbines, solar water heaters, bamboo floor panels and wind turbines. Marantis described the list as a very good balance of interests among all APEC economies, which include the United States, China, Japan and Russia. The ministers will submit the list to APEC leaders during their summit. A draft of the leaders statement obtained by AFP said they welcome and endorse the list. By reducing tariffs on environmental goods, we will help our businesses and citizens to access important environment technologies, which will facilitate their deployment and use, contributing significantly to our green growth and trade liberalization objective, the draft statement said.

France Wants Solution For Debt-Hit Greece, Spain By October

BRUSSELS (AFP) France wants the European Union to find a solution for debt-hit Greece and Spain at next months EU summit, French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said in Brussels Thursday. In the short term, we must address the issues on the table, he said after a working visit there. French President Francois Hollande wanted to find a strong and structural solution, he added. Ideally, we should be capable to do that in the next European Council. EU leaders are scheduled to gather at EU headquarters in Brussels on October 18-19, when bailouts for Greece and Spain are expected to dominate the discussion. There is no time to lose, said Moscovici, indicating the plight of the two countries. Uncertainty is the main enemy of growth. Greece has been pleading for more time to carry out 11.6 billion euros ($14.4 billion) in spending cuts required in exchange for rescue loans. Whether it gets that extra time will depend on the findings of the so-called troika of international creditors -- the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank. They are about to visit Greece to check on its progress in making the cuts required in return for the bailout and are expected to report back towards the end of the month or early in October. Spain, the fourth-largest economy in the euro zone, is currently with a financial crisis that led to a 100-billioneuro ($126-billion) eurozone rescue for banks.

Bernanke Took Advantage Of Low Rates To Refinance His Loans

WASHINGTON (AP) The Federal Reserves record-low interest rates have shrunk income for savers but cut costs for borrowers. Chairman Ben Bernanke is among the beneficiaries. Bernankes latest financial disclosure form, released Thursday, shows he refinanced his Washington home in 2011. He took out a 30-year mortgage with a fixed 4.25 percent rate, replacing one taken out in 2009 that carried a 5.375 percent rate. Both mortgages were valued at between $500,000 and $1 million. The government requires top officials to estimate only ranges for their financial assets rather than an exact figure. The Fed has held its key shortterm interest rate at a record low near zero since December 2008. Its also pursued unconventional programs to try to lower long-term rates and boost the US economy after the worst recession since the Great Depression. In his disclosure documents, Bernankes assets outside of his home were estimated to range between $1.1 million and $2.3 million. That was unchanged from last year. Bernankes choices for his personal finances run mainly to no-frills investments that emphasize safety such as annuities and US Treasury securities. He did have between $1,000 and $15,000 in a stock mutual fund the Vanguard International Growth Fund, the filing showed. As in past years, Bernankes largest holdings were two annuities managed by TIAA-CREF. Both are part of a retirement plan he set up while teaching at Princeton University. One is a fixed annuity plan, the other a variable annuity. An annuity provides an investor with a series of regular payments. With a fixed annuity, the payments dont vary. With a variable annuity, payments can fluctuate depending on the performance of the underlying investment. The value of each annuity was estimated at between $500,000 and $1 million. Bernanke earned between $30,000 and $100,000 combined from the two annuities last year. Bernanke also earned money from royalties from two college textbooks he wrote. The earnings from one were estimated at between $50,000 and $100,000, the other at between $100,000 and $1 million. This was the largest amount he received last year outside his Fed salary. His salary this year totals $199,700, the same as earned by a Cabinet secretary. The government also released disclosure forms for the other officials on the seven-member Fed board. This group, along with the heads of Feds 12 regional banks, take part in the meetings eight times a year in which interest rate policies are set. According to documents released as part of his Senate confirmation, the richest member of the Fed board is Jerome Powell, a former private equity executive. Powell, along with former Harvard professor Jeremy Stein, took office as Fed board members this year after being nominated by President Barack Obama. Powell, who once worked at investment bank Dillon Read & Co. and also the Carlyle Group, had investments that ran into the tens of millions of dollars, the disclosure forms showed. Those investments were detailed in a disclosure filing that ran to 196 pages. By contrast, Bernankes 2011 disclosure form totaled seven pages.

NPL...

(Cont'd from page B-1)

ties and other credit exposures and risks, stood at 17.64 percent at the end of 2011 against BSPs benchmark of 10 percent. The central bank said the industrys provisioning against potential credit losses remained at adequate levels. The NPL coverage ratio or the ratio of allowance for probable losses on NPL to total NPL strengthened to 136.45 percent from 128.93 percent last May and from 2011s 126.17 percent. The nonperforming assets (NPA) coverage ratio increased to 68.52 percent from 66.16 percent in May and from last years 62.59 percent ratio. The BSP said the NPL ratio of 2.06 percent in June was better by 0.12 percentage points from Mays 2.18 percent and by 0.39 percentage point compared to the same period last year of 2.45 percent. NPLs are past due loan accounts whose principal and/or interest is unpaid for thirty days or more after due date. NPAs are computed including NPL and real and other properties and acquired (ROPA). During the period, the industry s total NPL declined to R69 billion from R70.98 billion in May

and R74.14 billion in June 2011. The total NPA as end-June amounted to R176.76 billion, lower compared to Mays R178.82 billion and from 2011s 193.66 billion. ROPA, in the meantime totaled R107.91 billion and R107.84 billion in June and May, lower than last years R119.52 billion. Restructured loans amounted to R34.7 billion from R35.1 billion in May and R41.48 billion the same period in 2011. The central bank said in a statement that the growth in the banking sector s total loan portfolio contributed to declining NPL ratio. As of end-June, total loan portfolio expanded to R3.355 trillion from R3.249 trillion in May, and R3 trillion the same period last year. The combination of the lower NPL and higher loan portfolio contributed to the improvement in the NPL ratio which is the level of NPL to total loans gross of allowance for probable losses inclusive of interbank loans. NPL ratio net of interbank loans dropped 0.13 percentage point more to 2.16 percent in June from Mays 2.29 percent and by 0.46 percentage point from last years 2.62 percent ratio.

PH...

(Cont'd from page B-1)

by double digits to 65th from 75th last year, one of only 15 economies in a similar performance which measured the microeconomic and macroeconomic level that determine national competitiveness. The WEF defines competitiveness as the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country based on 12 key categories that together make up for the comprehensive picture of a countrys competitiveness.

Recognitions like this only strengthen our resolve to make the difficult decisions to consolidate our fiscal position, maintain macroeconomic stability, improve the investment climate and ease the cost of doing business, Purisima said. Based on the latest report, the Philippines global competitiveness index score was 4.23 which parked the country in the upper 45 percentile of economies in the rankings from its place in the high 53 percentile in 2011.

WEF report noted, the Philippines makes important strides this year in improving competitiveness albeit often from a very low base especially with respect to its public institutions (94th, up 23 places). President Aquino said in his State of the Nation Address: what used to be impossible is now possible. In partnership with the private sector, civil society and other stakeholders, the government will up the ante in reform: to make public institutions resilient to corruption and effective enablers of our countrys competitiveness, Abad said in a separate statement.

Jobs...

(Cont'd from page B-1)

GIR...

(Cont'd from page B-1)

based on residual maturity. The GIR includes foreign assets controlled by the BSP for direct financing of payments imbalances. It is composed of gold reserves, special drawing rights (SDR), foreign investments, and foreign exchange including Reserve Position in the Fund (RPF). The BSPs foreign investments totaled $67.58 billion during the tally period, higher compared to Julys $66.96 billion. These are foreign assets that interest-earning deposits with foreign correspondent banks and five-year or less foreign securities. Gold holdings totaled $10.55 billion from $10.08 billion in July while SDR or the countrys reserve asset to the International Monetary Fund, amounted to $1.26 billion. The foreign exchange component, which is demand deposit and foreign currencies on hand, totaled $848.37 million which is lower than Julys $936.4 million. The RPF, another account with the

IMF, totaled $524 million. The BSP had originally predicted that GIR will close 2012 with $77.5-78 billion and $79 billion by next year. The previous projections were based around cautionary numbers that took into account lingering uncertainties in the US and eurozone financial conditions which will have an impact on exports and remittances. The GIR level which started strong earlier this year past $77 billion, has been steady at the $76-billion range since March to June. The dollar reserves surged in July with a $3 billion increase from deposits from the National Government and other increases from the BSPs income from its investments overseas and the revaluation gains from its gold reserves. The central bank will announce its revised GIR target in October as scheduled. The BSP revises its assumptions and forecasts twice a year. (LCC)

implementing its restructuring plan gradually. The restructuring plan will be gradual, some of them will be hired by other companies and there are new companies opening up in Mactan Economic Zone, so they will be hired, the PEZA chief assured. Some personnel at its R&D arm Lexmark Research and Development Corporation would also lose their jobs. R&D has a big number of em-

ployees, actually it became a landmark in Cebu. Remember, Lexmark transferred its whole research and development from the US to the Philippines, De Lima disclosed. Cebu will remain the hub of R&D, they are just having a difficulty on the cost of its inkjet operation, she added. The worlds major computer printer manufacturer earlier said it would restructure operations in Cebu as it focuses on the printer software

segment. Lexmarks production in Mactan is largely for the Asian market and some to the US as well as Europe. In 2004, Lexmark announced that it will be doubling its investments in the Philippines to R1 billion, on top of the $10-million capital outlay to expand its manufacturing capability of its plant at the Mactan Economic Zone. Lexmark had decided to expand in the Philippines because of the English-speaking workforce and the abundance of workers with engineering degrees. (CSL)

GSIS...

(Cont'd from page B-1)

portfolio rose 29 percent year on year to R86.6 billion in January to July, noting the pension fund prefers investing in banks, construction and gaming companies. Were still optimistic, we really think Philippine market despite its current level could move higher because of the countrys specific factors, we have a lot of fiscal room to invest in the economy, we have banks which are very well capitalized, liquidity improvement in debt position, Vergara stated. Vergara said GSIS revenues at end-July increased by 15 percent to R80 billion from R69.5 billion a year

ago, while expenditures stood at R33.4 billion from R29 billion in the previous year. Bulk or R4.6 billion come from increased claims and benefits that weve paid to our members, the official said. We treat claims for pensions as expenses, its not that were spending a lot more to maintain our business, were paying out more to members for benefits they receive, he added. Vergara also said that this years total premium receivables may reach R39 billion, higher by 10 percent compared with R36 billion in

the same period last year. GSIS is eyeing a high doubledigit growth in net income this year due to increase in contributions from members after Malacaang approved the third tranche of salary increase. The pension fund for government employees is looking at between R50 billion and R55 billion in profit this year from R43.31 billion in 2010. President Aquino earlier promised advanced implementation of the third tranche of the Salary Standardization Law amounting to R2.8 billion. Vergara said with the higher salary of government workers, their month contribution to the pension fund will, likewise, increase by about 10 percent. (CSL)

Agriculture News
Improved Ampalaya For Other Countries
AGRI PLAIN TALK
ZAC B. SARIAN

Saturday, September 8, 2012

B-7

Section Editor: ZAC B. SARIAN

he current business strategy of vegetable seed producer EastWest Seed Company is to promote its developed hybrids in other countries that love to eat tropical vegetables. The fellow that has been assigned to develop new markets abroad, especially for its ampalaya and papaya, is Ric Reyes who sports the title of Combination Market Development Manager. India is one country that has been responding beautifully to the introduction of improved ampalaya developed by East-West Seed plant breeders in the Philippines. Reyes explains that the Indians prefer the variety that has prominent spines. Sometimes, it is called warty ampalaya. The Indians have their own traditional spiny variety. When Palee, the improved spiny variety developed by East-West Seed, was introduced a few years ago, the farmers were reluctant to shift to the East-West hybrid, according to Reyes. However, when some farmers have tried it and the variety yielded as much as 300 percent more than the traditional variety, Palee has become an instant favorite. One of the farmers who is very happy with Palee is Rama Murthy of DbPhur in Bangalore. He has been planting Palee for the past

four seasons and in the last cropping season he got 21 tons per acre which is about 4,000 square meters. Murthy grossed from that area a total of 168,000 rupees equivalent to P126,000 in Philippine money. He spent only the equivalent of P30,000 for seeds, labor, fertilizer and crop protection chemicals. From his four acres or about 1.6 hectares, Murthy estimated his net income at the equivalent of P384,000. From his income from ampalaya, Murthy has been able to provide the familys needs and pay for all his loans. Most farmers in Bangalore, according to Ric Reyes, plant ampalaya because of the high income it gives. Planting is done year-round and the farmers use granite slabs for trellising. Granite is abundant and is cheap in Bangalore. Granite slabs, 9 feet long and 1 foot wide, are ideal for trellising. Two feet is buried in the ground. Watering is done by drip irrigation which is cheap because it is subsidized by the government. One other variety that was introduced by East-West in India is a white version of Palee called Maya. The fruits are spindle-shaped with thick spines that do not easily get damaged during transport. More and more farmers in India are discovering the good income potential from white ampalaya since it commands a higher

WHITE SPINY AMPALAYA IN INDIA Ric Reyes (right) of East-West Seed Company poses with a white ampalaya grower in Bangalore, India. The white ampalaya, called Maya variety, was developed by plant breeders from East-West Seed in the Philippines. Besides being high yielding, it is resistant to diseases. This variety commands a better price than its green counterpart. It sells in the market at the equivalent of P19.50 per kilo. East-West Seed is now aggressively promoting its developed varieties to other tropical countries such as India, Myanmar, Thailand, China, Vietnam and also in some African countries.

INDIAN FARMERS GO FOR WARTY AMPALAYA Rama Murthy (right), a farmer who grows ampalaya in Bangalore, loves to grow the Palee variety developed by East-West Seed plant breeders in the Philippines. This hybrid produces warty fruits with prominent spines. It yields as much as 300 percent more than the traditional spiny variety in India. The plant breeders from East-West incorporated greater disease resistance as well as high yield potential in the Palee variety.

price than the green variety. A farmer that Ric Reyes interviewed said that he gets a premium of 4 to 8 rupees per kilo over the green spiny variety. He sells his white ampalaya at the equivalent of P19.50 per kilo. Meanwhile, the Palee variety is also becoming a favorite of Burmese farmers, according to Ric Reyes. One of the satisfied farmers he met was U Soe Oo of Hmwabi, Yangon province. The farmers in Myanmar like the excellent fruit setting of Palee as well as its tolerance to downy mildew disease. The fruit is also well liked by consumers. Farmer U Soe Oo said he grossed the equivalent of P43,298 from 4,000 square meters or one acre he planted to Palee. He only spent about P16,800 to produce that amount. In Thailand, Vietnam and China, East-West is also active in promoting ampalaya varieties but these are the light-colored ones. Thats because it is the color preferred by these markets. Theres a vast market awaiting development for East-West Seed. Ric Reyes says that they are not only promoting their varieties. They are also disseminating management technologies to help farmers produce more income so they will continue planting more vegetables developed by East-West. In Africa, meanwhile, Ric Reyes relates that the low-growing Red Royale papaya developed by East-West is now a favorite in Kenya. And in Vietnam, the Suprema squash, long a favorite in the Philippines, is on the way to becoming No.1.

Meanwhile, in the Philippines, East-West Seed is preparing for its 30th anniversary celebration in December. Aside from the big celebration at the companys headquarters in San Rafael, Bulacan, in December, there will be a road show in each region starting this October. It means that a showcase of the companys varieties planted in a demo farm will be put up in each region and farmers will be invited to a field day. The most outstanding vegetable grower in the region will also be named and given an award. A total out 30 outstanding vegetable farmers will be named during the

grand celebration next December. **** **** **** ZBS INVITED TO TALK We have been invited to talk before the breakfast meeting of the Management Association of the Philippines Agribusiness and Countryside Development Foundation on Tuesday, Sept.11. This will be at the Metro Club in Makati. On Thursday, Sept. 13, we have been invited to talk before the induction of the passers of the Professional Agriculturists Exams given by the Board of Agriculture chaired by Dr. Fortunato Battad. This will be at the Historic Landmark Manila Hotel.

PALEE AMPALAYA IN MYANMAR Burmese farmer U Soe Oo of Yangon, Yanmar (formerly Burma) shows Ric Reyes his favorite ampalaya variety, Palee. This variety has become a favorite of Burmese farmers since its introduction in that country in 2009 because of its good fruit setting, tolerance to downy mildew disease, and because it is a variety preferred in the local market.

DORPER SHEEP AT THE FORTHCOMING AGRILINK The better breeds of sheep, like the Dorper (photo), are expected to be exhibited in bigger numbers in the forthcoming edition of the Agrilink trade show which will be held on October 4-6 at the World Trade Center on the corner of Gil Puyat Avenue and Macapagal Blvd., Pasay City. Dorper is a fast growing breed and is preferred for meat production. Besides sheep, goats are also expected to be showcased in greater numbers than last year at the Agrilink expo.

THAIS PREFER LIGHT-COLORED AMPALAYA Different countries prefer different types of ampalaya. In the case of Thailand, Vietnam and China, the light colored varieties are preferred, according to Ric Reyes of East-West Seed Co. Reyes has a new assignment and that is developing new markets for varieties developed by East-West Seed in other tropical countries in Asia and Africa. Photo shows the light-colored fruit of Kiew Yok 16 variety preferred in Thailand, Vietnam and China. The fruits are relatively big compared to other varieties. One weighs an average of 680 grams.

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Saturday, September 8, 2012

3 Die In Cavite Shootouts

CAMP GEN. PANTALEON GARCIA, IMUS, Cavite Two suspected carjackers died last Thursday night in a shootout with the police following a chase along Governors Drive in General Trias town, the Police Provincial Office (PPO) reported yesterday. Policemen also shot and killed the same night a man when he allegedly fired his gun while being apprehended on Mayors Drive in Barangay De Las Alas in General Mariano Alvarez town. The two still unidentified carjacking suspects died on the spot after they traded shots with the team led by Chief Inspector Romulo C. Dimaya, General Trias police deputy chief of police, and Superintendent Romeo A. Baleros, PPO Intelligence Branch (S-2) chief, at Manggahan-San Francisco boundary near the Lyceum University branch area at 8:20 p.m. Thursday. The bodies of the suspects, which bore bullet wounds, lied near a black Toyota Fortuner car which was allegedly stolen from one Jerry Ang Go, a store manager, on Governors Drive in Barangay Bulihan, Silang town, the night before. Baleros said that he believed the two suspects were remnants of the Onad Criminal Group operating in Cavite province and elsewhere. Another suspect escaped during the shootout, it was gathered. The shootout came after the suspects were cornered by the team following a chase in the area. Found at the scene were a .45 cal. Colt pistol with a magazine with two bullets and a12gauge shotgun and a pellet cartridge and the Fortuner car with its license plates (TJO 789) card inside the vehicle and an identification card. In a report to Senior Supt. John C. Bulalacao, PPO director, Dimaya, also General Trias police operations officer, said the team chased the car on the road fronting King Bee Restaurant up to the Manggahan-San Francisco boundary area. The shootout happened barely 25 hours after Go, owner of the car, was held, eyes and mouth covered with packaging tapes, hands tied and dumped by the carjacking suspects, who identified themselves as National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents, on a road fronting a hardware also in General Trias town. The officers said Go said was held by the suspects while he was about to board the car in front of the store where he works at 8:20 p.m. Wednesday. Another PPO report said that a still unidentified man was shot dead by a police team when he fired his gun as he was being apprehended on a road in GMA town. The team led by Senior Inspector Allan A. de Castro, GMA Municipal Police Station officer-in-charge (OIC), responded to the scene after the suspect was reported roaming in the area with a gun by a concerned citizen at 10 p.m. Thursday. The two shooting encounters happened only a week after Bulalacao ordered an all-out drive against criminality following the rash of robberies and shooting incidents in the province. (Anthony Giron)

Valenzuela Host Lions Club Sets 47th Anniversary Celebration, Induction

The Valenzuela Host Lions Club of District 301-D1 will hold its 47th anniversary and induction ceremonies on Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012, at 6 p.m. at the Grand Ballroom of the Intercontinental Hotel, Makati. Guest of honor and speaker is Mayor Sherwin Gatchilian of Valenzuela City, while District Governor Gil M. Mostoles will induct the new club officers for 2012-2013 led by President Nenita L. Mostoles, First Lady of the govern or of District 301-D1. Others to be inducted are Immediate Past P resident (IPP) Benedicto Daza, 1st VP Benjamin Mendoza, 2nd VP Guo Cheng Zhi, 3rd VP Pablo Lucas, SecRETARY Erlinda Urrutia, Assistant Secretary Rita Francisco, Treasurer Gloria Dueas, Assistant Treasurer Dhel Ngo, Auditor Angelica Flores, PRO Norma Suarez, Tail Twister Danilo Mangon, Lion Tamer Jess Lao; Membership Directors PP Leticia Cheng, PP Maria Lucas Go, and IPP Benedicto Daza. Members of the Board of Directors are Mila Mendoza, Dr. Ryan Sabino, Myrna Jornales, Karangalan Serrano, Nelia Lucas, Ledoven Quiles, Nora Mendoza, and Marites Candido, for one year; Abbe Daza, Danilo Go, Enrique Urrutia, Pol Azares, Augusto Gisipin, Philip Sabino, Jose Marcelo, and Joel Borbe for two years, The Board of Advisers is headed by Past District Governor Angelina R. de Leon and includes all past presidents of the club. Masters of ceremonies will be Past Presidents Sergs Garcia aand Maria Lucas Go and Lion Mar Correa. Music will be rendered by the Romy Rules Band.

MACEDONIA...
(Contd from page 11)

(WTO), and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. We greet the people and government of Macedonia led by Their Excellencies, President Gjorge Ivanov, Prime Minister Nikola Gr uevski, Deputy Prime Minister Zoran

Stavreski, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Vladimir Pesevski, and Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Teuta Arifi, on the occasion of its National Day. CONGRATULATIONS AND MABUHAY!

AFGHANISTAN'S...
(Contd from page 11)

Robbery Suspect Slain In Shootout

CAMP GENERAL ALEJO SANTOS, Bulacan --- A suspected tricycle thief was killed while he was caught in the act of dismantling a stolen tricycle in Barangay Tampok, Hagonoy town this province early yesterday morning. Supt. Rolando Santos, chief of police in Hagonoy, said that the unidentified suspect allegedly stole a Kawasaki Bajaj motorcycle (3302 RK) with body number San Jose 129 parked along the barangay road at Purok 6. Police described the suspect as about 53 tall, about 25 and 30 years old, wearing black t-shirt, brown pants and pair of blue slippers. Santos, in a report submitted to Senior Supt. Fernando H. Mendez Jr., Bulacan police director, said they received a telephone call from a certain Conrado Calizon, 63, of Barangay San Juan that his tricycle was stolen at 1:19 a.m. At about 4:28 a.m., the police team conducting the pursuit operation led by PO1 Alexis Francisco, chanced upon the suspect while he was dismantling the tricycle at sitio Taytayin of Barangay Tampok. The suspect tried to escape and fired at the approaching lawmen. The groups traded shots, killing the suspects. Recovered at the site were one caliber .38 revolver with a spent shell and three live ammunition in its chamber and assorted tools that the suspect used in trying to remove the sidecar from the stolen tricycle. (Freddie C. Velez)

Man Stabbed Dead In QC

A carpenter was stabbed dead in his neighborhood in Quezon City Thursday afternoon. PO2 Alvin Quisumbing identified the victim as Michael Estandian, 34, of Alley 1, J. P Rizal St., Barangay . Bagong Silangan, Quezon City. Quisumbing said that the victim was already dead when he was found at around 3:30 p.m. along Alley 1. The investigator noted that the victim sustained multiple stab wounds in the body. He learned that a concerned citizen informed the barangay hall about a bloody man lying along the alley. When barangay watchmen were deployed in the area, they found the victim already dead. Quisumbing noted that investigation still continues to determine the motive behind the stabbing and identify the suspects. He lamented that residents in the area remained quiet and have refused to make any statements before police. (Jeffrey Damicog)

1 Dies, 12 Houses Destroyed Due To Rains In Cordillera

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union One person died while 12 houses were partially damaged in Barangay Poblacion, Natonin, Mountain Province due to heavy downpour last September 2, a belated report from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said here. In its report to NDRRMC, the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) identified the victim as Cipriano Buraga, 45, a native of Tuguegarao City, but residing in Barangay Poblacion, Natonin town. Police said that the victim, who was under the influence of liquor, reportedly tried to cross a creek along Barangay Banawel on board his motorcycle at around 8 p.m. Sunday. But he was accidentally swept by strong current of water and drowned. The victims body was recovered the following day by local residents at the lower stream of the river. The OCD CAR also reported that 12 houses were partially damaged due to heavy rains in Natonin town last Sunday. It was noted that Natonin is one of the depressed towns in Mountain Province and it can only be reached via Bontoc through the TalubinBarlig-Natonin-Paracelis-Calaccad Road or via Isabela province. It was also reported that the Department of Social Welfare and Development is now making effort to provide relief assistance to victims of heavy rains in Natonin town. (Freddie G .Lazaro)

a decade. The museum welcomed home nearly 850 Afghan artifacts in early August including a 3,000-year-old Bronze Age axe, a 1st Century ivory elephant carving, and a life-sized Buddha statue that were either stolen from the museum or illegally excavated during decades of insecurity. The British Museum catalogued and helped return the pieces in cooperation with British authorities, who seized many from smugglers. It was the second major handover of Afghan historical pieces by the British Museum. In 2009, about 1,500 historical pieces were returned. The aim is to restore the facility to its pre-war reputation as one of the finest in the region, with displays ranging from the Bronze Age to more contemporary Islamic art. With its gates topped with barbed wire and rifle-toting guards directing visitors to undergo body searches, the museum on Kabuls outskirts carries the air of a culture still under siege. Chief curator Mohammad Fahim Rahimi apologizes for the darkened halls during a recent visit to view one of the newly returned pieces. Like much of Afghanistan, the museum puts up with frequent power outages as the government struggles to provide basic services. Minutes later, the power shudders back on and the museum lighting reveals its latest acquisition: a Buddha statue estimated at about 1,700 years old. Looted from the museum during the civil war that followed the Soviet occupation, the statue turned up in Japan in a private collection before it was bought by an anonymous donor who arranged for the British Museum return to its Afghan home, Rahimi says The statue is an example of art from Afghanistans long Buddhist history, before the arrival of Islam. This is simply our heritage, Rahimi says. If we have our heritage back, its everything for us. Thats a heritage that not all appreciate. In 2001, the Taliban dynamited a pair of giant Buddhas carved into a mountain in Bamiyan province. Around the same time, the Taliban also ram-

paged through the national museum, smashing any art depicting the human form, considered idolatrous under their hardline interpretation of Islam. In all, they destroyed about 2,500 statues. The recently returned Buddha statues long exile abroad at least protected it from that fate, Rahimi says. He points out the finer points of the 4th Century piece: the painstakingly carved folds of the robe; the chakra on the Buddhas right hand, the streams depicting water flow from his feet and the images of flames rise from his shoulders a representation of one of the Buddhas first miracles, in which he levitated and produced fire and water to silence skeptics. The miracle Buddha is the only recently returned pieces from Britain that is on display so far. Museum director Omara Khan Massoudi says the rest are still in boxes, waiting to be examined and eventually displayed. Cooperation with other museums and with UNESCO has been key to rebuilding the museum, which by 2001 had lost 70 percent of its artifacts to the years of war. Within these last 10 years, weve gotten more than 16,000 pieces, among them 9,000 returned from outside of Afghanistan, Massoudi says. Some of the pieces recently returned were stolen from the museum itself, but many others were illegally excavated and smuggled out of the country in past decades while war otherwise occupied Afghan authorities. Its a practice that continues to this day, according to Massoudi. Unfortunately, some places, there is no security, sometimes it happens that people have illegal excavations, he says. Massoudi has devoted most of his lifes work to the National Museum, which he says was once renowned for having one of the regions finest collections, with some 100,000 artifacts including millennia-old tools from some of the earliest human settlements. Established in the 1920s by Afghan King Amrullah Khan, the museum was still thriving when Massoudi joined it more than three decades ago.

UPS, TNT Delay Deal Closing

NEW YORK (AP) United Parcel Service is pushing back the close of its $6.77-billion acquisition of Dutch delivery company TNT Express because of an extended regulatory investigation. It now expects the deal, first announced in March, to close early next year. As of two weeks ago, it expected the deal to close before the end of this year. Atlanta-based United Parcel Service Inc. said Wednesday that it agreed with TNT to give the European Commission 10 more days to review the deal.

Macau Intl Airport Welcomes AirAsia

Macau International Airport Company (CAM) has welcomed Air Asia Philippines following the launch of its daily service to Macau from Clark last July 17. In her recent visit to Macau, Air Asia Phils. CEO Marianne Hontiveros introduced the daily service to CAM officials led by executive director Ms. Suning Liu. CAM's marketing team met with the airline representatives and discussed on the market promotion of Clark route. (EHL)

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SATURDAY, September 8, 2012

Qantas, Emirates Ink 10-Year Partnership

SYDNEY (AP) Qantas Airways Ltd. on Thursday signed a 10-year partnership deal with rival Emirates, ending a long-term relationship with British Airways in a bid by the Australian airline to boost its struggling international division. Under the alliance, Qantas will move its hub for European flights from Singapore to Dubai, coordinate with Emirates on ticket prices and scheduling and apply a benefitsharing model starting in April, 2013. The deal is subject to regulatory approval. Qantas said it will end its 17-year alliance with British Airways on March 31, 2013. Neither Emirates nor Qantas will take equity in the other under the deal. "This is the most significant partnership the Qantas Group has ever formed with another airline, moving past the traditional alliance model to a new level,'' Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said in a statement. The deal is an effort by Qantas to save its money-losing international operation. Last month, the airline reported a 245 million Australian dollar ($249 million) annual loss and blamed the result on rising fuel prices, a series of worker strikes and its international division, which lost AU$450 million. It was the first time since Qantas went private in 1995 that the airline nicknamed the "Flying Kangaroo'' reported a net loss. "A key objective is to make Qantas International strong and viable, and bring it back to profitability,'' Joyce told reporters. "This partnership will help us do that.'' Qantas shares soared after the deal was announced. By late afternoon, they were up 6.4 percent to AU$1.20. Emirates said Qantas will be the only airline besides itself to operate out of its base at Dubai International Airport's Terminal 3. The gleaming, shopping-mall like terminal opened in October, 2008, doubling the airport's capacity to 60 million passengers annually. Emirates said it and Qantas will jointly operate 98 weekly flights between Dubai and Australia, including four daily A380 flights. "The time was right for developing a long term, future forward partnership with Qantas,'' Emirates airline President Tim Clark said in a statement. "Since our first flights began in 1996, Australia has long been a popular destination for Emirates leisure and business travelers, making it one of the top three destinations in our network.'' "By establishing this partnership we are providing our passengers with additional connectivity in Australia and the region and the ability to utilize enhanced frequent flyer benefits and have access to premium lounges,'' he said. Emirates is the world's largest carrier in terms of international passenger numbers. It earned $629 million in profit last fiscal year despite a big jump in fuel costs. It is fully owned by the Dubai government, but insists it operates without subsidies on purely commercial terms. Another UAE carrier, Abu Dhabibased Etihad Airways, has also been strengthening ties with Australia. Etihad earlier this week announced it has increased its stake in Virgin Australia to 10 percent. It first disclosed that it was building a position in the Aussie carrier in June. It says it doesn't aim to become a majority shareholder.

Christmas Cargo Boosts U.S. Rates

(Bloomberg) The shipping lanes of the Pacific and Indian Oceans show the diverging fortunes of U.S. and European consumers ahead of the busiest shopping season of the year. A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, the worlds biggest container line, is among carriers raising rates on Asia-U.S. routes as three-monthhigh consumer confidence and job growth at the quickest pace in five months tempt retailers to stock up ahead of the holiday-shopping rush. By contrast, shipping lines are cutting capacity to Europe. Christmas will come to America, but probably not to Europe, Soeren Skou, chief executive officer of A.P . Moeller- Maersks container-shipping arm, said in an interview. On Asia-Europe routes, Copenhagen-based Maersk and other lines are paring services as economic confidence at a three-year low and record euro-area unemployment damp demand. The slowdown has hit European retailers including Marks & Spencer Group Plc and Carrefour SA, while U.S. chains including Macys Inc., Target Corp. and Victorias Secrets parent Limited Brands Inc. are predicting higher sales. Europe is still on a downward trend, said Wan Min, executive vice president at China Cosco Holdings Co., parent of the nations biggest container line. The U.S. will see a mild growth in shipping demand in the third quarter. Maersk expects full-year AsiaNorth America volumes to increase as much as 3 percent, compared with a 3 percent decline on Europe routes, Skou said. The company has pared capacity on Asia-Europe routes by about 10 percent and it will make cuts in the fourth quarter, he said. We are seeing some of the peak from Asia to U.S., but basically no peak for Asia to Europe, he said. Retail Imports U.S. retailers may boost container imports 7.3 percent this month from a year earlier and by 13 percent in October as they stock up for the holidays, according to the Washingtonbased National Retail Federation. The holiday-shopping season, which begins in November around Thanksgiving, makes up between 25 and 40 percent of U.S. retailers annual sales, the trade group said. Maersk plans to raise spot transPacific rates by $500 per forty-foot container starting Sept. 10. China Cosco is planning an $800 per twentyfoot container levy starting October 1 because of port congestion. China Shipping Container Lines Co. intends to increase rates every month until November, said Managing Director Zhao Hongzhou, without elaboration.

Media Support For Maritime Cited

Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) Acting Administrator Nicasio A. Conti thanked members of the Philippine media for their support to the national maritime industry and the Filipino seafarers aboard interisland and inter-ocean vessels, that are immensely contributing to the growth of national economy. Speaking at the launch of Seafarer Asia magazine with Ms. Marissa F. Oca as its publisher, held at the Museo Marino of Associated Marine Officers & Seamens Union of the Philippines (AMOSUP) in Malate, Manila last Aug. 28, 2012, Conti said, We are an archipelago of 7,707 islands-a maritime country, with over 90 million people, now the fourth largest ship-building nation in the world, with the largest fleet of seafarers overseas currently numbering close to 400,000 or maybe more, while around 300,000 or We cannot deny, with history as best witness that our forefathers in the various coasts, seas and shores of this great pearl of the Orient were our great fishers, our earliest navigators in deep seas whose compass were the twinkling, stars up the sky and the smiling moon- a big wonder why they were always able to reach their point of destination and find their right way back home. They would know the waterdepth by innate estimate, they know which water is a fish granary and the idle areas, they would know where there are pirates and sharks, and they would know where the best area of a reigning peace from a troublesome was, said the young MARINA head, who is also an undersecretary and spokesman of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).

CONTI

Healthcare Executives Invest In Supply Chains China Approves New Railways: Report
By EDU LOPEZ

more work in domestic ships. These assets that we have, he said, could be primordial reasons why we are growing up for progress. We have the human resources, we have the space, the land, the talent, the agility and drive to acquire knowhow on the trade, we have strong faith in God, and we love and respect our fellow men.

Healthcare executives are investing in their supply chains as they prepare for continued global growth in an increasingly complex and dynamic environment, according to the fifth annual UPS healthcare survey. The top two planned investments for healthcare companies globally as cited by 83 percent of decision-makers - are tapping into new global markets and investing in new technologies. Survey respondents plan to employ both strategies over the next three to five years to increase their competitiveness, maintain product integrity and gain efficiencies. The top four countries where companies will focus expansion efforts over the next three to five years are China, the United States, Brazil, and India. While planning investments, healthcare decision-makers remain "cautious" on the state of the industry. They cite as challenges a difficult economic environment, pressures to reduce costs and struggles with increasing regulations and reform. The UPS "Pain in the (Supply) Chain" survey, conducted by TNS, reflects the views of senior-level healthcare supply chain decision makers in the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device and supply companies in the US, Western Europe, Asia and Latin America. Despite signals of investing, barriers to global expansion remain with the top barrier being country regulations, cited by 46 percent of executives. Country regulations have remained the top barrier to global expansion each of the past three

years. Other barriers to expansion include intellectual property protection concerns and product quality and security concerns, cited by 33 percent and 27 percent of executives, respectively. "Healthcare companies are feeling the pressure to expand and drive new growth while containing costs and ensuring compliance around the globe," said Bill Hook, vice president, global strategy, UPS Healthcare Logistics. "That has only heightened the need to build more global flexibility, integration and transformation into the healthcare supply chain." Globally, the top healthcare business concerns include increasing regulations - the top concern cited by 52 percent of executives - as well as healthcare reform and other changes in legislation, cited as a concern by 51 percent. Intellectual property protection ranks third on the list of top concerns, cited by 48 percent of respondents. Concerns around intellectual property protection are highest in the US and Asia. The number one specific supply chain concern is regulatory compliance, cited by 65 percent of respondents. Cost management comes in second with 60 percent citing this as their top supply chain issue. Only 41 percent report success in managing their supply chain costs. In addition to regulatory compliance and managing supply chain costs, product security and product integrity have risen to the third most cited supply chain issue, reported by 57 percent. In emerging markets, it is a more significant concern as it is ranked first or second by survey respondents.

SHANGHAI (AFP) China has approved 25 new urban railway projects, state media said Thursday, in a sign the government is ramping up infrastructure spending to boost the country's economy. Top state planner the National Development and Reform Commission had approved projects valued at more than 800 billion yuan ($127 billion) in cities nationwide, the official Xinhua news agency said. Statements posted Wednesday on the commission's website showed the projects in 18 cities were approved between April and August. They include two metro lines in Shanghai. ''The move marks the government's latest effort to stabilize eco-

nomic growth,'' Xu Changle, an economics professor at Shanghai's East China Normal University, was quoted by Xinhua as staying. Beijing has already cut interest rates twice this year, in June and July, and trimmed the amount of funds banks must place in reserve three times since last December, but there have been calls for policymakers to do more. China's economy has eased markedly over the past year, expanding 7.6 percent in the second quarter of 2012, the worst performance in three years. The government has set a target for economic growth of 7.5 percent for this year, down from actual growth of 9.3 percent last year, according to a

revised figure announced this week. Despite easing monetary policy, China has so far refrained from moves like the massive 4.0 trillion yuan fiscal stimulus it launched in the wake of the global financial crisis in 2008. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said last month that the country would be able to meet its economic growth target of at least 7.5 percent, and would promote growth through its monetary policy. One Chinese industry group estimates the length of subway lines in China will more than quadruple between now and 2020 to 7,000 km (4,347 miles) with 40 cities having metro systems by that date, Xinhua said.

'SHORE IT UP' IN SUBIC A coastal and underwater cleanup, installation of artificial reefs, and tree-planting along Tipo Road, will be the order of the day when the Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC) kicks off its annual 'Shore It Up' campaign in Subic Bay this September 15-16, 2012. With the theme Rescue, Restore and Revive, the MPIC Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of MPIC, will spearhead the 4th Shore It Up which is timed with the International Coastal Cleanup day. Shore It Up local partners who signed the memorandum of understanding are (seated from left) Subic Lighthouse Marina Resort marketing manager Zedrik Avecilla; MPIC vice president for PR and corporate communications Melody del Rosario; Johans Dive Shop president Johan de Sadeleir; Subic Bay Ecology Center department manager Amethya dela Llana-Koval; and PMAP Subic president Lyn Doble. Standing (from left) E & S Adventure Tours general manager Ralph Balmaceda, and Olongapo City Environmental Sanitation and Management Office Insp. Rafael Sayno and Robert Maningas.

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C1 Saturday, September 8, 2012 C1 Wednesday, June 22, 2011

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Editor: ISABEL C. DE LEON Editor: ISABEL C. DE LEON

Of Birds, Bees, and Babies

Why you should give 'the talk' to your kids and how to go about it
Text by REgINA g. POSADAS

om (or Dad), how are babies made? What would you say if your preschooler asked this one day? Would you know how to respond? Are you prepared to speak to your child about delicate matters? Why should we discuss the facts of life with our children? Relationship expert Michele Alignay and counselor Aiza Tabayoyong of the Love Institute enlightened many parents about this tricky issue at the Family Congress, held recently at the Valle Verde Country Club in Pasig City. Both believe it is imperative that moms and dads educate their brood about sex and relationships in view of todays modern, frenetic, and dangerous times as it is a sign of love. Alignay and Tabayoyong, both happily married with two kids each, pointed out that much has changed, and our present reality is considerably different from what was happening two to three decades ago, when current parents were youngsters themselves. Now, there are [problems like] AIDS, STDs, rape, pornography (on online sites), and rampant pre-marital sex among teens.

Besides, they stressed, it is the role of good parents to ensure that their sons and daughters not only know about sex and relationships, but also develop a healthy view of sexuality. Parents who give the talk to their kids are motivated by love and the fulfillment in their own marriage, and by love for their children, said the two. So what should a sex and relationships talk contain? According to Alignay and Tabayoyong, it should include ageappropriate topics and values. Moms and dads must also strive to make the talk a positive, exciting, and joyful subject and to link the subject to marriage and family, to love and commitment in a clear and positive way. So, when your child asks you where babies come from or how they are made, you should
(Turn to page C-3)

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PARENTINg POSTS
A Glimmer of Hope
Shell Business Service Centre Manila and Shell Germany partnered recently in improving computer literacy. Spirits were lifted for the children of Nayon ng Kabataan (Childrens Village), as the facility received 114 old computers and laptops from Shell Business Service Centre (SBSC) Manila and a grant of P250,000 from Shell Germany to fund internet connectivity and computer training program for children. The amount will also cover web security and firewall, and support computer training of social workers as well.

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Pfizer Philippines Foundation Inc. together with Museo Pambata and McDonalds recently implemented a vaccination program for Pneumococcal Disease (PD) at the Museo Pambata. About 100 kids, two to five years old from the different barangays of Manila (Tayuman, Tondo and Malate) were given free booster shots as protection against this highly invasive disease that has been identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the top killing disease for children.

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Join Angry Birds in a Singapore Cable Car Adventure

Buy Php500 worth of Angry Birds Space merchandise from your favorite shops at SM malls and get a chance to win an adventure trip for two to the worlds first Angry Birds themed cable car ride on top of Singapores Mount Faber. If you win, you dont only get to ride the worlds first Angry Birds Cable Car, but also get the chance to try interactive game booths, participate in creative workshops, and pose with with life-sized Angry Birds characters. The promo will run from September 15 to October 15, 2012.

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Snacks should also be Nutritious

Moms, are you sure you are not taking your kids' snacks for granted? A qualitative research commissioned by Kraft Foods Philippines shows that moms only give importance to the three main meals - breakfast, lunch and dinner while snacks are left behind. Kids are left to choose their snacks. The quantitative research commissioned by Kraft Foods Philippines shows that biscuit is the most consumed snack item among kids six to 12 years old. Thats why moms should always make sure that the biscuits they serve to their kids are delicious and nutritious. This is the reason why the company came up with Tiger Energy Biscuits, which is made of wheat, has milk and is fortified with Enermaxx, a combination of nine vitamins and six minerals.

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Birthday Corner is now weekly!

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Greet your baby on his or her birthday and get the chance to win a gift card from SM Department Store!

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Editor ISABEL C. DE LEON Assistant Editor MALOU E. ROSAL Section Editors Fashion / i JOYCE L. FERNANDEZ Celebrations & Events MARBEE SHING-GO Home & Garden DENNIS LADAW Dining GENE GONZALEZ Wellbeing ROWENA BAUTISTA-ALCARAZ Moms&Kids AMYLINE QUIEN CHING Travel & Tourism Arts & Culture

INNER

DEPARTMENT STORE

Mail your baby's photo to Moms&Kids, Manila Bulletin Muralla Cor. Recoletos Sts., Intramuros, Manila, or email to moms_mb@yahoo.com. Include your name, your baby's name, birthday, age, and contact numbers and use them as filename. To claim your prize, please contact 5278121 loc. 358. Prizes not claimed within 60 days will be forfeited.

Moms Kids

Saturday, September 8, 2012

C-3

How to Get Kids to Read

eading is one of lifes simplest pleasures. It develops your imagination and open your minds to different world views. Unfortunately, only a few kids now enjoy reading with most prefering to spend their time playing video games or watching TV. But as parenting experts would say, it's in how parents expose their kids to books and encourage reading. Psychologist B.F. Skinner once said: We shouldnt teach great books; we should teach a love of reading. Here are some tips: 1. Read to your children. It gives the parents opportunity to bond with their children and provide

supervision. 2. Make reading fun and frequent. Provide children with picture books or books that have audio effects and accompaniments. This will make children look forward to an everyday reading session. 3. Bring your child to a bookstore or library. Have them choose what they want to read. This is how children start to build their interest around the books that are available to them. One of the yearly events that you can go to is the Manila International Book Fair (MIBF), which will run from September 12 to 16 at at the SMX Convention Center. 4. Do not force children concerning what to read and when to

read. It could be that the child has not yet gained the comprehension needed to appreciate the book. Do not make reading feel like a chore to children; it should be fun activity that they cant wait to do. Some children are also choosy as to what time or place they should read, and parents should respect these preference. 5. Be an example. Parents should show their children that they also enjoy reading. Children will most likely take up this influence and carry it until they grow old. For details about the Manila International Book Fair, call 896-0661 or 896-0682, or e-mail bookfair@ primetradeasia.com.

Of Birds...
(Cont'd from page C-1)

Pop Rocks, now with Vitamin C!

stance. For example, you can conduct preemptive talks on STDs, rape, pornography, homosexuality, and abortion so that your child will better understand these issues when he sees, reads, or hears about them. 3. Set up trust and efficient communication that kids will later bring to their teens. This means being approachable and available, really listening to your child when he speaks, answering his questions no matter how difficult, and teaching him whats good and proper. 4. Look for triggers in media and peer group. News about rape or a classmate describing someone as gay may confuse a child. Make sure to explain what these things mean and why certain actions are wrong and should not be tolerated. For teenagers 1. Focus on behavior (shift talks from basics to behavior) 2. Discuss pornography and media images 3. Channel sexual thoughts positively to a happy vision of marriage and beautiful, committed relationship and sex 4. Be consultants rather than managers. Listen and offer advice instead of demanding and dictating. 5. Talks should be wholistic encompassing the social, financial, political, moral/religious, and personal. 6. Talk about the rules of dating and relationships. One good source is the book "Teen Crush" by Allan and Maribel Dionisio. Some of its relationship tips for teens are: - Collect and collect candidates. Dont select (yet!) - Widen your network - Make a life plan on studies/career and relationship - Set qualifications of the possible partner - Strengthen self-worth and - No sex before marriage
Not all the things that kids like today are necessarily good for them. Eating junk food, playing the whole afternoon and watching TV often may be fun and exciting for kids but may not have a positive and healthy effect to them. Recognizing the need to intersperse health with fun, Unilab recently came up with an exciting new product that allows children to have fun and enjoy "eating" while keeping healthy VitaPops! This vitamin will definitely make taking Vitamin C a fun, memorable experience. VitaPops is the first and only pop rocks Vitamin C in the country, shared VitaPops Product Manager Joseph Aruta. Aside from its unique format, VitaPops comes in a single-dose sachet making it more convenient for moms and kids to bring around, has 1/5 the sugar content compared to your regular vitamins and is formulated with Sodium Ascorbate making it tummy-friendly. With VitaPops, we hope to give moms and kids a healthy yet fun compromise. VitaPops: Ensuring 100% protection from sickness According to pediatrician Dr. Liz Inciong, it is important that is significantly reduced, so eating these foods may not be enough to attain ones recommended daily intake of Vitamin C, especially in children, she explains. In addition, kids are usually exposed to high levels of sugar because they are easily drawn to sweets and candies so its important for the parents to manage their childrens sugar intake and provide them with healthy food choices. VitaPops: MomApproved Kids of TV hosts Daphne Osena-Paez and Donita Rose, who are its product ambassadors, are actual fans of VitaPops. I like giving VitaPops to my children but whats more amazing is how my kids love it! They immediately liked it the moment they first tried it. They like it so much that they immediately told their friends about it, shares Daphne. VitaPops is available in all leading drugstores nationwide. It costs PHP10 / sachet. VitaPops can be taken once or twice a day, or as directed by your pediatrician.

not laugh at him, ignore him, send him outside to play, or tell him that hes too young to understand the subject. Alignay and Tabayoyong maintained that the best moves in this situation would be to: 1. Answer your childs question/s 2. Be a reflective listener and 3. Avoid judgments To parents and guardians, they also offered this helpful guide, organized by age, in giving THE TALK. For kids aged 3 to 8 1. Give talks as needed, or answer questions without going beyond them. If your preschooler asks why his friend doesnt have a daddy, only a mommy, you dont have to discuss premarital sex at once. You can simply say, Perhaps the mom did not want to marry the dad, or perhaps the dad is living abroad. 2. Teach children to appreciate, respect, and protect their bodies. 3. Teach appreciation of Gods work and nature. Explain for instance that a girl is naturally different from a boy thats why a girl has a vagina and a boy has a penis and that theres nothing yucky or gross about it. 4. Encourage modesty in dressing and appearance. Tell your child why its not proper to wear makeup at her age or to wear super short dresses that show her underwear. 5. Talk about family commitments, loyalty, and love. 6. For eight-year-olds, ask about these two things: process questions and your childs feelings. Examples are What do you think happens? and Are you comfortable talking to daddy or mommy about this? Prepare yourself for booster discussions as your child ages. Your son or daughter will be more curious as he gets older so be ready for more talks and to provide more detailed answers. For kids 9-13 (the middle childhood age) 1. Talk about the changes of puberty and adolescence. An example would be explaining menstruation to girls why and how it happens and other physical changes in females. 2. Parents can take the offensive

moms ensure that their kids get the full Vitamin C requirement to keep them healthy and away from sickness. The requirements are however often not met. Due to handling, processing and cooking, the Vitamin C content in milk, fruits and vegetables today

PARENTHINK
We'd love to hear from you. What other articles would you like to read in Manila Bulletin's Moms&Kids? Email your comments and suggestions to moms_mb@yahoo.com. You can also text us. Text mb (space) say (space) moms (space) <your message> and send it to 2269 for Globe and Sun; 8369 for Smart. LIKE MOMS&KIDS ON FACEBOOK! www.facebook.com/mbmoms and Continue reading our issues every Saturday.

C-4
STYLEWATCH

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Business As Usual
Photography: Raymond Celestino at Edge of Light constantly changing work environment calls for chic workwear from SM Ladies Fashion. Get down to business with tailored suits, blazers, slim pants, and pencil skirts all in polished look and sleek fits. While black, neutrals, and white shirts will always be classic corporate staples, deal making brights and power prints bring a fresh look to boardroom dressing. The Work Wear Essentials are available at the SM Ladies' Fashion of the SM Store.

Cinch-andflare, printed top and sleek black pants

Oversized, doublebreasted jacket and printed minidress

White buttondown and printed pencil skirt

Cinched, sleeveless sheath dress

Brocade-inspired skirt suit

Bright orange coat, worn over a paisley buttondown and white pants

Printed top and red slim pants

SHOP

An Ode To Female Sophistication

iu Jo makes aesthetic references to fashions stylish eras and injects it into its fresh collection of contemporary wardrobe essentials that look just as vogue on the runway as they are on the streets of New York and Paris. Understated glamour and sophistication is a trademark of Liu Jo and the Italian brand breathes the same refinement into the seasons latest trends through clever, albeit playful, manipulation of fabrics, silhouettes and techniques. The result is a contemporary reinterpretation of the classics perfectly suited for the fashion pilgrim sashaying from Fall through Winter and even in the seasons to come. Tw o s o u r c e s o f in sp i r a t i o n characterize the Fall-Winter collection of Liu Jo: Contemporary Retro and

Luxe Boheme. The brand lets you indulge your feminine side with key pieces from Contemporary Retro which borrows

the stylistic imagery of the 40s and 50s interpreted in tight and semi-soft lines with focus on the waist and silhouette. Jacket and coats in bi-stretch, pebbled

and flowing fabrics are worn with tight dresses, slim skirts and skinny pants. Women will love the delicate details such as crystal applications, jewel buttons, vintage brooches, fur necks and cuffs and clashing gold zippers which appear occasionally for good measure. A luxury version of grunge inspired by the 1970s and 1990s features prominently in the Luxe Boheme collection and employs varying materials such as embroidered silk mix with vintage woollen fabrics to create a glam hip effect. The collection also carries cardigans which can be worn as overcoats with mini feminine dresses as well as frocks in soft volumes and straight silhouettes. Denim also takes on a romantic turn, where androgynous and feminine elements blend charmingly. Forever fascinated by the feminine figure, Liu Jo creates different fits for its jeans to highlight her curves. Included in the latest collection are the Bottom-Up Skinny Tight, and the Beat, Flair and Chinos available in corduroy, warm gabardine, fake solids and mens fabrics with little glam details. Accessorize this seasons look

and make it your own with a bag, a scarf or a pair of shoes from Liu Jo Accessories. Pick from its latest collection of small leather goods, bags, belts, neckerchiefs and trinkets which feature hyper-feminine details reflective of an independent womans sophisticated taste. There are three themes that move between daily and night atmospheres bringing out the different souls to Liu Jos style. Metropolitan Charme features bags that stand out for their structured shapes, either rigid with flaps or soft with zips, padded of dynamic with pleated effects. The Seventies shoulder bag is a true must-have. Pieces found in the Allure Poupee theme, meanwhile, has sophisticated details with a vaguely retro taste that match and combine with different elements including pleats, straps, ribbons and beads. The party mood is the key element to the third theme, Glam Gold Celebration. Liu Jo is available in the Philippines at Ayala Center in Cebu while its first accessories store is located at The Podium. Watch for the opening of Liu Jo in Glorietta, last quarter of the year.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

C-5

A New Breed of Fashion

Start by supporting local talents
STYLE KIT JANE KINGSUCHENG

reviews Emerging Fashion Talent Awards (PEFTA) is something Ive always looked forward to every year. Some of the PEFTA alumni have been featured in our pages even before getting noticed by this elite competition, which makes us proud to have given these artists another platform to showcase their creative works.

Vince Tolentino of School of Fashion and the Arts

Visit www.StyleBible.ph for more information on this years PEFTA. Preview is available in newsstands and bookstores nationwide. Become a fan on Facebook via Facebook.com/preview.ph, and follow us on Twitter via Twitter.com/previewmag.

This year is no different with Miadores Yekky Balingit, Cherry Veric, Mark Tamayo and Pablo Cabahug, and Anj Calvo included in this prestigious cast. Completing the list are five more contestants: Vince Tolentino and Ma. Stefanie Caintic (School of Fashion and the Arts), Lou Ivy Jean Eleazar and Monina Dyan Gatan (Slims Fashion and Art School), a n d E m i r Ya m a m o t o (Fashion Institute of the Philippines). These last five contestants went through a comprehensive thesis defense that showed their expertise and vision with just one garment; and have been screened by judges the likes of Preview Editor-in-Chief Pauline Juan, Creative Director Vince Uy, Fashion Editor Daryl Chang, Fashion Editor Anna Canlas, stylebible.ph managing editor Isha Andaya, fashion designers Inno Sotto and Cesar Gaupo, fashion director Robby Carmona, and model Ria Bolivar (who also served as the contestants fit model). All ten designers will be given a spread in Preview to showcase their 12-piece collection, culminating in a show to be held on September 19 at the Rockwell Tentwith the top winners work featured on the next cover of Preview magazine. Filled with an audience of fashion professionals and media, this is one event that will gather the nations most creative talents into one venue to celebrate and support the growing fashion industry. Editor-in-chief Pauline Juan shares that she hopes to eventually be able to develop this competition into a full-blown fashion incubator, wherein

Cherry Veric

Anj Calvo

participants will be able to have a more comprehensive level of training in terms of business acumen and a deeper awareness of the multitude of career opportunities available for Filipino fashion designers.

Yekky Balingit

Lou Ivy Eleazar of Slims Fashion and Art School

Women Who Take Their Shopping Very Srsly

Text by MEGAN ANGELO

ot long ago the actress Danielle Gibson had her first real gettingrecognized moment. She was on her way out of the Madewell fashion outpost in SoHo when a woman stopped her. She said, Excuse me, are you in the `Srsly videos?' Gibson recalled. I said: Yes, thats me. Im sorry I look disgusting. But fun factwe filmed a video in this store.' And she was like, Oh, I know. It was a full-circle moment for Gibson, who along with Alexandra Fiber produces and stars in the comedy Web series Srsly, (pronounced seriously) an anthology of videos on urban-girl moments. The video shot in the Madewell store that Gibson was in that day starred the stand-up comic Emmy Blotnick as a shopper unsure about buying a dress, with Gibson and Fiber as her vaguely supportive friends. It was shot in high-definition, using Madewells stripe-curtained dressing rooms, and when the young women posted the video Fitting Room on their blog at srslytheshow. com, they included a link to the hotpink silk dress Blotnick wore. Any viewers outside of the Srsly faithful might feel their productplacement antennas spring up at this collaboration. But Gibson and Fiber, both 24, have never been compensated by the many brands theyve mentioned in their videos, which pay homage to experiences like dealing with haughty boutique sales clerks and feeling polish indecision at the nail salon. They simply consider their tastes, which

first bonded them as seniors at But the two women are rigorous wardrobe and one thats informed New York Universityboth love about maintaining authenticity: They many of the deals theyve struck: Burberry trenches, Breton striped turned down advances from a mens They arranged to shoot a video in shirts and the coffee shop Everyman athletic gear brand as well as the the store. Location fees generally exceed Espressoto be as much a part of racy photo blog MeInMyPlace.com. When Fiber received an out-of- the budget for a Web video. What their comedy as the comedy itself. We knew we wanted our videos the-blue email from Madewell, she largely sets Srsly apart is the vi d e o s a e s the ti c a l l y p l e a s i ng to be funny, Gibson said over lunch couldnt believe it. I used to say to Danielle, settings. The airy Madewell shop at Morandi in the West Village. But joined locations including we also wanted them to Crunch Gym, Milk Bar, be girlie. Van Leeuwen and Pas de The products and Deux. places name-checked in We v e n e v e r p a i d their videos are always a location fee, Gibson those to which they are said. We just email and giddily devoted off screen, say were legit, were and the sincerity of their professional, and we wont excitement shows. I just mess anything up. got a candle from Le Labo, A love of girlie mise en and its changing my life, scene and candles aside, Fiber said. the question remains: A video called Credit When theres no cash to be Cardin which a had, why pay such dogged customer-ser vice rep attention to finding the runs a litany of charges by right place and purse for Gibson for verification every video? They believe unfolds mostly as a list its what bonds them to of brands. But each one their audience. seemed to fit seamlessly Sketch can be just into the image that they sketch, but being relatable have builtyoung, posh, is what keeps people cultured, fashionable coming back, wanting and there was a good to watch more, Gibson reason. We just brought Alexandra Fiber, left, and Danielle Gibson, who said. up our accounts, Fiber have attracted a following on their comedy web Barry Blumberg, said, and wrote down series, "Srsly." The series features the girls' tastes executive vice president w h a t w e d b o u g h t in shopping of the branded-content recently. behemoth Alloy Such shout-outs have led to valuable opportunities for Wouldnt it be awesome if we did Entertainment, said he thought them, if not direct payment. The car something with Madewell, and they that Srsly was onto something. service Uber approached the women gave us all these free clothes?' Brands that you love can be a about a collaboration, later agreeing Fiber said. (That wasnt quite what mutual touchpoint for talent and to provide gift certificates for a raffle happened. The brand just wanted their audience, he said. Look at a recent Srsly show that offered them to guest-post on their sites at Oprah. These girls have a real premieres of videos and stand-up blog.) But Fiber and Gibson seized a relationship with their viewers. You acts by guest stars in the videos. bargain that had nothing to do with talk about things you love, and you

foster trust. Fiber recalled one of her favorite viewer comments about a Srsly video: Someone wrote, I want to be friends with these girls, she said. I was like, I want to be friends with you, too. Its an innovative route for aspiring actresses. And the star makers keen to give Srsly a bigger stage arent of the Hollywood variety. Glamour magazine joined with Gibson and Fiber to create video content to be shown first on Glamours website during Fashion Week. Glamours editor in chief, Cindi Leive, said in an email that she had to have the women behind Srsly in because the girls under 30 in my office wouldnt shut up about the seriesthey were like a cult! The Glamour partnership is a milestone for them. An array of guest starslike the stand-up comics Justin Shanes, Annie Lederman and Joe Perahave appeared in Srsly videos. Running their Web series is nearly a full-time job for two women who expected to be living part to part. Before, I felt so disempowered, but we made our own opportunities, Fiber said. Thats why I dont care as much now if the casting director at Blue Bloods doesnt know who I am. She paused. That being said, I do have an audition after this for a nonspeaking part in a play. So after lunch the young women left with an eye out for laugh-worthy materialand maybe some lustworthy new stuff to brighten their day? No, we never go shopping, Fiber said. Yeah, Gibson chimed in. I hate it. (NYT)

D-3

CELEBRITY WORLD

D-6 Top Stars Support Jose And Wally In Their Second Movie

MOJO: LATIONS

D-6

Dolphy Tribute To Benefit Worthy Causes

Rapper Frank Ocean Goes For The Big Leap

ENTERTAINMENT
D-1
Saturday, September 8, 2012
 Editor: CRISPINA MARTINEZ-BELEN entertainment.mlabulletin@gmail.com
ENICE (Reuters) If Selena Gomez wants to ditch her wholesome image as a Disney child and girlfriend of teenaged pop star Justin Bieber, then her raunchy and raucous new film Spring Breakers seems as good a place as any to start. The movie, which premiered at the Venice film festival on Wednesday, is directed by Harmony Korine and stars Gomez and fellow Disney graduate Vanessa Hudgens as bikini-clad revelers on a drink- and drug-fuelled orgy of beach parties and pranks. The camera zooms in on scantily clad teenagers gyrating to the music, local drug dealers snort cocaine from writhing, topless girls and mobsters cruise the streets of Florida in Lamborghinis in a hedonistic portrait of the American Dream. Gomez plays Faith, the least wild of a group of four young college students on their mid-term spring break, and the actress admitted

Selena Gomez Gets Raunchy In Shocking New Movie

that some fans would find the movie shocking. Obviously I know that coming from Disney Channel gives you kind of a brand in a way, the 20-year-old told reporters in Venice after the movie was screened to the press. People do put a label on you. I know that I have younger fans, and this is an opportunity for myself to kind of grow. It is a little shocking, I think, for the younger audiences... but I think it was right for me. I did things I didnt even know I could do on the movie and I do think it was because I trusted Harmony. Gomez, who rose to fame as a teenager on Disney show Wizards of Waverly Place and enjoyed success as a pop singer, added that she turned down the opportunity to play one of the more racy characters. I just didnt think I was ready for it, and I do think that Faith is right for me at this time in my career and in my life. Of course eventually Im going to kind of work my way up to that I think, she added.

SELENA GOMEZ (2nd from left) and the rest of the cast of Spring Breakers

CHRIS CAYZER makes it to The X Factor Australias Home Visits round. (Photo from the shows Facebook page)

Cayzer Enters Top 24 List Of X Factor Australia

By JECELYN V. MACAHINDOG

fter surviving several grueling rounds on The X Factor Australias Super Boot Camp, Chris Cayzer is now officially part of the Top 24 finalists as announced in the shows Sept. 5 episode. Cayzer, 25, is one of the male contenders in the Over-25 category along with Nathaniel Willemse, Samantha Jade, Danielle Blakey, Rob Vegas and Justin Standley. The Over-25s will be mentored by American R&B

performer Usher. The remaining contestants on the Top 24 list are categorized under the following headings: Under-25 Girls (Vendulka Wichta, Bella Hunter, Angel Tupai, Shiane Hawke, Morgan Sheather, Bella Ferraro), Under-25 Boys (Carmelo Munzone, Matt Gresham, Jason Owen, Matt Cenere, Adil Memom, Josh Brookes) and Groups (Fourtunate, Good Question, What About Tonight, D&D, The Girl Band and The Boy Band). American singer-songwriter Kesha, R&B singer Alicia Keys, and British boy group One Direction stand

as mentors of the three categories, respectively. The next round, dubbed Home Visits, will have the Top 24 perform in front of their mentors after which the top 12 will be revealed, who will then advance to the live shows. One act will be eliminated after each performance show. Earlier in the Super Boot Camps Ensemble Challenge, Cayzer and his group didnt impress the judges Mel B, Ronan Keating, Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Guy Sebastian, with their version of New Radicals You Get What You Give.

Internet Sensation Zendee Records Album

By ALEX V. BROSAS

hings continue to be rosy for Internet singing sensation Zendee Rose Tenerefe. For one, she and her family have moved from a room inside a fire station to a condo unit since her video went viral. Career-wise, she is also now a recording artist who has graduated from singing in front of her laptop to recording her first single for Warner Music. Pinangarap ko po ito so dapat paghirapan ko talaga, dapat i-pursue ko talaga na ganito. Dapat galingan ko palagi kasi siyempre ito na, eh, Zendee said on 24 Oras, Sept. 4. Life has been hard for Zendee, who hopes that singing can give her a bright future. Hindi lang po [para sa akin], pati po sa pamilya ko sa GenSan [ay tutulungan ko] kasi hindi po okay yung pamumuhay namin doon. Gusto ko silang tulungan, she related. The same report also said Zendee is now an online guest in a popular morning show in Japan. She now also

performs on Party Pilipinas and will be a regular co-host on Manny Many Prizes. A thankful Zendee gushed, Nagpapasalamat po ako sa GMA dahil sumugal po kayo para sa akin, pati po sa Warner dahil binigyan nyo po

ako ng chance na maipakita po yung talent ko, she said. It has only been a month since Zendee caught the collective admiration of the public when her version of And I Am Telling You surfaced on YouTube.

ZENDEE ROSE TENEREFE is overwhelmed to have gotten the chance to record her first single. (Photo from coolbuster.net)

Entertainment News
MOVIE SYNOPSIS
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Opening across the Philippines on Sept. 12 in IMAX 3D, Digital 3D and regular theaters, Resident Evil: Retribution is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.

RESIDENT EVIL
RETRIBUTION
he Umbrella Corporations deadly T-virus continues to ravage the Earth, transforming the global population into legions of the flesh eating Undead. The human races last and only hope, Alice (Milla Jovovich), awakens in the heart of Umbrellas most clandestine operations facility and unveils more of her mysterious past as she delves further into the complex. Without a safe haven, Alice continues to hunt those responsible for the outbreak; a chase that takes her from Tokyo to New York, Washington, D.C. and Moscow, culminating in a mind-blowing revelation that will force her to rethink everything that she once thought to be true. Aided by newfound allies and familiar friends, Alice must fight to survive long enough to escape a hostile world on the brink of oblivion. The countdown
has begun.

MAGIC STAR MALL

Tarlac City
1 THE 1
-PG13

LEGACY VAMPIRE SUCK -PG13

THE BOURNE

THE CAMPAIGN

-PG13

-PG13

2 IDO BIDOO 3 TOTAL

CAMPAIGN

- PG13 - PG13 - PG13

I DO BIDOO BIDOO
-PG13 -PG13

THE EXPENDABLES 2 THE POSSESSION

-R13

TOTAL RECALL
-PG13

RECALL

THE CAMPAIGN
-PG13

-PG13

AMOROSA: THE REVENGE

THE WATCH

CAPTIVE

2D

-R13

(NOTICE TO MOVIEGOERS:The schedules of showing are subject to change without prior notice. Sometimes a movie is pulled out earlier than its stipulated days of showing due to sudden change in exhibition contract or poor performance at the box-office. The following schedules are provided us in advance by exhibitors. You may call the theaters for confirmation.)

POSSESION
12:35, 3:05, 5:35 8:05, 10:35 - R 13

THE WATCH CINE EUROPA TOTAL RECAL THE POSSESSION I DO BIDOO BIDOO

12:00, 2:35, 5:10 7:45, 10:20 -PG 13

TOTAL RECALL

I DO BIDOO BIDOO EXPENDABLE - 2 - 2D THE WATCH THE POSSESSION THA CAMPAIGN TOTAL RECALL - 2D THE WATCH

EXPENDABLE - 2 TOTAL RECALL I DO BIDOO BIDOO BWAKAW THE POSSESSION RESERVED RESERVED BOURNE LEGACY THE WATCH AMOROSA
Sep 5&19 Sep 8 Sep 28 Sep 27

KATTY PERRY 2D

12:00, 2:10, 4:20

6:30, 8:25, 10:40

- PG13// R13

12:00, 2:40, 5:20 8:00,10:35 - R13

CAPTIVE in 2D

THE WATCH in 2D

12:10, 2:45, 5:20 7:55,10:30

R-13

THE WATCH THE CAMPAIGN AMOROSA I DO BIDOO BIDOO THE WATCH TOTAL RECALL I DO BIDOO BIDOO AMOROSA HARDINERO PHOBIA - 3 CLOSED AMOROSA I DO BIDOO BIDOO BWAKAW I DO BIDOO BIDOO THE W ATCH RESERVED RESERVED RESERVED RESERVED BWAKAW HARDINERO ( IF ) AMOROSA JUST ONE SUMMER THE REUNION DIGITAL MOVIE RESERVED RESERVED

Bo Cerrudo, Jon Santos & The Company Beyond ng Filipinas & Lakas ng Filipinas Noel Cabangon Sababo Boys

8:00 PM 8:00 PM 8:00 PM 8:00 PM

Oct 4 Sep 08 Sep15 Sep 28

Bo Cerrudo UERMMed 84 "Refresh & Reveal" Lumuneux Fashion Show

8:00 PM 8:00 PM 8:00 PM 8:00 PM 8:30

CAPTIVE- 2D THE WATCH TOTAL RECALL s? BOURNE LEGACY BWAKAW RESERVED EXPENDABLE - 2 RESERVED AMOROSA POSSESSION THE WATCH
CAPTIVE (in 2D)// BWAKAW (in 2D) -PG13 TOTAL RECALL -PG13 THE WATCH (in 2D - PG13

THE WATCH (in 2D) -PG13

THE WATCH AMOROSA THE POSSESSION EXPENDABLE-2

BWAKAW DIGITAL MOVIE THE REUNION EXPENDABLE - 2 EXPENDABLES-2 I DO BIDOO BIDOO s/ JUST ONE SUMMER I DO BIDOO BIDOO THE WATCH TOTAL RECALL RESERVED RESERVED

CAPTIVE In 2D THE WATCH BWAKAW AMOROSA THE POSSESSION TOTAL RECALL EXPENDABLES 2 BOURNE LEGACY

MAGIC MIKE EXPENDABLES-2

AMOROSA THE WATCH I DO BIDOO BIDOO THE POSSESSION BWAKAW I DO BIDOO BIDOO EXPENDABLE - 2

THE POSSESSION AMOROSA STEP UP -4 RESERVED AMOROSA BWAKAW I DO BIDOO BIDOO / DARK FLIGHT BWAKAW EXPENDABLE-2 I DO BIDOO BIDOO

THE WATCH

THE WATCH CLOSE

EXPENDABLES-2 AMOROSA I DO BIDOO BIDOO s/ BWAKAW THE EXPENDABLES - 2 JUST ONE SUMMER

THE WATCH TOTAL RECALL EXPENDABLES 2 THE POSSESSION

Entertainment News

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Saturday, September 8, 2012

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Stars, Politics Set To Stir Up Toronto Film Festival

EW YORK (Reuters) A strong film lineup full of politically charged themes and a heavy dose of Hollywood stars have raised high hopes to the Toronto International Film Festival, set to open Thursday. Considered one of the worlds top festivals, Toronto serves as a kick-off to Hollywoods awards season, and will screen more than 280 films over 11 days. Stars to showcase or support films include Ben Affleck, Johnny Depp, and Ryan Gosling.

Dolphy Tribute To Benefit Worthy Causes

A-list celebrities gather in this concert aimed at commemorating the colorful life of the late Comedy King. Through narratives taken from the book Hindi Ko Ito Narating MagIsa by Bibeth Orteza, the concert promises to entertain audiences as they remember Dolphy, the entertainer. A portion of concert proceeds

olphy Aid Para Sa Pinoy Foundation, Inc., in cooperation with PLDT and Bench, presents Dolphy Alay Tawa, a musical tribute to the King of Comedy slated on Sept. 19, 7 p.m. at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.

DOLPHY

shall go to various noteworthy causes sponsored by the foundation. These include the Philippine Red Cross, specifically for disaster preparedness and its blood bank, Friends of Hope, Inc. (to sponsor the building of a classroom at E. Jacinto School in Velasquez, Tondo), and Eye Bank Foundation of the Philippines, particularly on its education on eye care and corneal transplants. A minimum donation of P150 is equivalent to one ticket at the General Admission, P250 for Upper Box and P450 for Lower Box. Tickets are available at SM Tickets.

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BALTIC & CO.

Entertainment News
by Roni Santiago BLONDIE

saturday, september 8, 2012

by Dean Young & Jim Raymond

PUPUNG

by Tonton Young

MOTHER GOOSE & GRIM

by Mike Peters

MA-COLLETE

by Dexter Roxas

ZITS

by Scott and Borgman

NORMANS ISLAND

by Norman Isaac

REX MORGAN, MD

by Woody Wilson and Graham Nolan

IPENUTS

by Felipe de la Cruz
MARVIN by Tom Armstrong

THE Daily Commuter Puzzle

Edited by Wayne Robert Williams

DENNIS THE MENACE by Hank Ketcham

BEETLE BAILEY

by Mort Walker

(saturday, 8 september 2012)

VIRGO (Aug 21-Sept. 22) What may seem as if it will never be finished will be provided you work hard at it. A new source of income for which you had hoped will now materialize. You will be more convincing and will be obtain concrete and immediate results LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) You should not judge by surface appearances; seek to look a little more closely. There is a tendency to get bored easily so do what you can to enliven your interest. You should ensure that you deal with what is most pressing and important before concerning yourself with details. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) You will at first be a little unsure of yourself but later, will regain your confidence, also due to the support you receive from a friend do show your gratitude. Extra energy coupled with a greater degree of efficiency will be in your favor today. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 20) You will be interrupted so do your best to get back into your stride as soon as possible. You will feel a little at odds with yourself but if you make a special effort you can rapidly overcome the feeling. Applying the lesson of experience will help you to avoid repeating a mistake that cost you dearly. CAPRICORN (Dec. 21-Jan. 19) Try to find time to pursue your personal interests. Keep your feet on the ground and do not indulge in daydreams and avoid wishful thinking. Instead of simply reacting to events as they happen, have a plan of action and then seek to shape events and react to them in accordance with it. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) There is an inclination to think you are better than everyone else. No doubt in some respects you are, but there are also many respects in which you are not; dont forget it. Discretion is of great importance to succeed in a task. PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Even if you have made a partially wrong decision, you will still be able to gain a lot of benefit from it. Control yourself and try to cut down on engagement, unless they are really urgent. Make a few changes that have become necessary. There is no point in waiting any longer. ARIES (March 21-April 20) There will be one or two unusual family problems which must be dealt with before they become acute. Not everything will be to your liking, but instead of protesting you would do better to make the best of it. The more goodwill you show towards others the more others will reciprocate in the same way. TAURUS (April 21-May 20) Remember that love does not grown on trees and make constant positive contributions towards keeping it alive and thriving. Take extra care as there are more chances of your mislaying or losing things. Do pay for your own share and do not rely or abuse other peoples hospitality. GEMINI (May 21-June 20) If you expect success to come to you without effort, you will be disappointed. If however you make the appropriate effort, success will be your reward. An innovation will only be effective if you make an extra effort to get it to work smoothly. CANCER (June 21-July 20) You will tend to impress what you would like to be on what is, dont or the results will be bad. You are liable to absent-mindedness; endeavor to concentrate. Do not be frightened by difficulties, just seek that much harder to deal with them. LEO (July 21-Aug. 20) You will find it rather difficult to do something quite unpleasant but it just has to be done. No need to worry, in the end you will be able to accomplish it and will feel relieved that you have done so. You will have some pleasant exchange of views and opinions with a colleague.

YOUR STARS

THE BORN LOSER

by Art Sansom

TOK & MOL

by William Contreras

LIFE IN PROGRESS

by Julius Villanueva

Local Channels

TVGuide
STUDIO 23 6:00 a.m. Sabong TV 7:00 RP AZKALS vs. USA Virgin Islands 10:00 Generation RX 10:30 Motocross 11:00 No Basket 11:30 Thumbs Up! 12:00 p.m. Lunch Box Office 2:00 UAAP Opening 6:00 Eskwelahan 6:30 Smallville 7:30 Supernatural 8:30 WWE Super Stars 12:30 a.m. Myx TV 5 4:30 a.m. Wasak 5:30 Maunlad Na Agrikultura 6:00 Family Matters 7:00 Handy Manny 7:30 Jungle Junction 8:00 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 8:30 Batibot 9:00 Secret Saturdays 9:30 Teen Titans 10:00 Ben 10 10:30 Ang Latest Updated 11:00 Face To Face 12:00 p.m. Sine Tanghali 2:00 Loko Moko U 3:00 Sabado Sineplex 5:00 Will Time Big Time 7:30 Talentadong Pinoy 8:30 Artista Academy Live Exams 9:30 Untold Stories 10:30 The Jose And Wally Show Starring Vic Sotto 11:30 Pilipinas News 12:00 m.n. 12:30 Reaksyon Weekends 12:30 Bitag PTV 6:30 a.m. Oras Ng Himala 7:00 Soldier's Of Christ 7:30 Lakbayin Ang Magandang Pilipinas 9:00 Mag-Agri

Saturday, September 8, 2012

your everyday guide to local television and cable TV.

2nd AVENUE ON RJTV 29 12:00mn Parenthood 1:00 Top Chef Masters 2:00 Marcel's Quantum Kitchen 3:00 Thintervention 4:00 9 By Design 5:00 How Not to Decorate 6:00 How I Met Your Mother 7:00 The Ellen Degeneres Show 8:00 Pregnant In Heels 9:00 How Not to Decorate 10:00 Top Chef Masters 11:00 Inside Edition 11:30 ET 12:00 p.m. The Ellen Degeneres Show 1:00 How I Met Your Mother 2:00 Suburgatory 3:00 Smash 4:00 Better with You 4:30 Outsource 5:00 How Not to Decorate 6:00 Pregnant In Heels 7:00 Inside Edition 7:30 ET 8:00 Parenthood 9:00 The Savages 11:00 ET 11:30 Inside Edition TALK TV ON SBN 21 12:00 a.m. Olympic News Channel 1:00 The Late Show With David Letterman 2:00 The Talk 3:00 Early Today 3:30 Anderson 4:30 Today's Talk 5:30 Olympic News Channel 6:30 Early Today 7:00 NBC Nightly News 7:30 Inside Edition 8:00 The Today Show 10:30 Early Today 11:00 Olympic News Channel 12:00 p.m. The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 1:00 The Today Show 2:00 Late Show With David Letterman 4:00 Olympic News Channel 5:00 Today's Talk 6:00 Solar Network News 7:00 The Talk 8:00 Anderson 9:00 Inside Edition 9:30 NBC Nightly News 10:00 Today Show Weekend IBC 13 7:00 a.m. El Shaddai 9:00 Ez Shop 10:00 Tukaan 11:00 Best Of London Olympics Best of Team Philippines and Men's Volleyabll Gold 2:00 p.m. Shakey's V-League (Match 22) 4:00 NCAA 8:00 PXC 33 11:00 ONE: FC (Mix Martial Arts) 11:30 Cooltura GMA NEWS TV 6:00 a.m. Pisobilities 6:30 Sarap Pinoy 7:00 Jesus The Healer 8:00 Go Negosyo: SME Go 8:30 Mahiwagang Baul 9:00 Home Base 9:30 Turbo Zone 10:00 Life And Style With Gandang Ricky Reyes 11:00 100% Pinoy 12:00 p.m. Balitanghali 1:00 Reel Time 2:00 Pagsibol Ng Pag-Asa 3:00 Pinoy Abroad 3:30 Sine Sabado 5:00 Survivor: One World 6:00 Day Off 7:00 Balita Pilipinas 8:00 Follow That Star 9:00 Front Row 10:00 Blue Planet 11:00 Born To Be Wild 12:00mn Diyos At Bayan

ABS-CBN 2 6:00 a.m. Salamat Dok 7:00 Kabuhayang Swak Na Swak 7:30 Honey Watch Out 8:00 I Got It! 8:30 Go, Diego, Go! 9:00 Penguins Of Madagascar 9:30 Promil I-shine 10:00 Kapamilya Blockbusters 11:30 It's Showtime 2:30 p.m. Showbiz Inside Report 4:00 SOCO 5:00 Failon Ngayon 5:30 TV Patrol Sabado 6:00 Deal Or No Deal 7:00 Wansapanataym 7:50 Maalaala Mo Kaya 9:00 The X-Factor Philippines 10:00 Toda Max 10:45 Banana Split Extra Scoop 11:45 Bottomline with Boy Abunda 12:30 a.m. Sports Unlimited GMA 7 4:30 a.m. PJM Forum 5:00 Adyenda 5:30 Kapwa Ko Mahal ko 6:00 Pinoy M.D 7:00 Tom & Jerry 7:30 TAO Hello Kitty And Friends 8:00 Young Justice 8:30 Bakugan GI 9:00 Tropang Potchi 9:30 Maynila 10:00 Del Monte Kitchenomics 10:30 KMF 12:00 p.m. Eat Bulaga 2:30 Startalk 4:30 Together Forever 5:30 24 Oras Weekend 6:00 Pinoy Adventures 7:00 Wish Ko Lang 8:00 Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho 9:00 Kapuso Movie Nights 11:00 Tunay Na Buhay 12:00 a.m. Walang Tulugan With Master Showman

Tayo 10:00 Buhay Pinoy 10:30 Family Rosary Crusade 11:00 Yan Ang Marino 11:30 Asenso Pinoy 12:00 p.m. Arirang TV Documentary 1:00 Winner TV Shopping 1:30 Auto Review 2:00 EZ Shop 4:00 Health and Beauty 5:00 ASEAN Snapshots 6:30 The Weekend News 7:00 GSIS Member's Hour 8:00 Pulsong Pinoy 8:30 Japan Documentaries 9:00 Lotto Draw & Segment 9:15 Ugat 10:00 Pinoy Best Shot 11:00 Jesus Miracle Crusade ETC ON ON RPN 9 6:00 a.m. Extra 6:30 The Insider 7:00 Pretty Little Liars 8:00 Bachelorette Party Las Vegas 9:00 Glee 10:00 Nikita 11:00 Friends 11:30 TMZ 12:00 p.m. The Glee Project 1:00 Extra 1:30 The Insider 4:00 Glee 5:00 The World According To Paris 6:00 My Boys 6:30 Mad Fashion 7:00 Bachelorette 8:00 The Glee Project 9:00 Nikita 10:00 Extra 10:30 The Insider 11:00 TMZ 11:30 Entourage 12:00 a.m. Pretty Little Liars 1:00 Nikita 2:00 America's Next Top Model 3:00 Glee 4:00 Bachelorette Party Las Vegas 5:00 One Tree Hill

TROPANG POTCHI Celebrates Grandparents Day

o d a y, T R O P A N G P O T C H I celebrates Grandparents Day as Lola White played by Nova Villa visits her granddaughter Sabrina Man (Sab) at the Tropang Potchi house. Sabs groovy and cool Lola White visits t h e

Tropang Potchi tambayan. However, Sab thinks her lola is not dressing and acting her age. Meanwhile, Liane Valentino (Liane), Isabel Frial (Lenlen), and Nomer Limatog (Nomer) are so animated while sharing their experience when they joined the Doggie Fest and the competition Protg. TROPANG POTCHI airs Saturday, Sept. 8, 9 a.m. on GMA.

his Saturday on LIFE AND STYLE WITH RICKY REYES (LSWRR), the ever resourceful beauty architect Mother Ricky reveals the secret of staying youthful and beautiful. There will be features on a 40-year-old Thai lady who looks like a teenager and two individuals who got extremely depressed after tragic accidents. Being an advocate of alternative ways of delaying the aging process Mother

Anti-Aging Special On LSWRR

goes to Villa Medica of Edenkoben, Germany to confer with Dr. Geoffrey Huertgen and Dr. Bobby Kittichaiwong of Villa Medica, Bangkok, Thailand for the very controversial Fresh Cell Therapy (FCT). As a bonus, a natural beauty regimen on how to maintain ones good looks will be demonstrated, as well. LIFE AND STYLE WITH RICKY REYES airs Saturday, 10 a.m. on GMA News TV.

RICKY REYES with Dr. Geoffrey Huertgen and Dr. Bobby Kittichaiwong

SABRINA MAN

Cable Channels
AXN 6:00 a.m. Hawaii Five-0 7:50 Ebuzz 8:20 Breaking In 9:15 Spring Wipeout 10:10 NCIS: Los Angeles 11:00 Criss Angel Mindfreak 11:30 Ebuzz 12:00 p.m. Spring Wiepout 12:50 Leverage 1:40 Breaking In 2:30 NCIS: Los Angeles 3:35 Spring Whipeout 4:30 Ebuzz 5:00 Hot Fuzz 7:05 Most Shocking 9:50 Breaking In 10:45 Leverage 11:40 CSI: Miami 2:20 a.m. Most Shocking 3:20 NCIS: Los Angeles 4:00 Hawaii Five-0 beTV 12:45 a.m. Dating in The Dark 1:35 Hair Battle Spectacular 2:25 Cyril: Simply Magic 3:15 Being Human 4:15 Desperate Housewives 5:05 Hair Battle Spectacular 6:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 7:40 Pan Am 8:30 Top Chef Just Desserts 9:20 Grey's Anatomy 11:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 12:15 p.m. Being Human 1:15 I Get That A Lot 2:05 Supernatural 2:55 Top Chef Just Desserts 3:45 Grey's Anatomy 5:25 Supernatural 6:20 Being Human 7:20 I Get That A Lot 8:10 Pan Am 9:05 Grey's Anatomy 11:00 The Borgias 11:50 Top Chef Just Desserts HBO 8:00 a.m. The Wannabes S116: Break Dance 8:30 The Wannabes S117: Wacky Manager 9:00 Beethoven 10:30 The Seven Of Daran: The Battle Of Pareo Rock 12:00 p.m. Unknown 2:00 Thor 4:00 Batman 6:10 Rango (2011) 8:00 True Blood S509: Everybody Wants To Rule The World 9:00 True Blood S510: Gone, Gone, Gone, 10:00 S.W.A.T. 12:00 a.m. Your Highness 1:45 Bill And Ted's Bogus Journey 3:15 Enid 4:45 Shiloh 6:25 Shiloh 2: Shiloh Season MAX 6:30 a.m. The Big Hit 8:15 Locusts : The 8th Plague 10:15 The Rundown 12:00 p.m. Jonah Hex 1:25 Hollywood On Set 2:05 Green Lantern: Emerald Knights 3:45 The Karate Kid (2010) 6:00 From Russia, With Love 7:50 Octopussy 10:00 Macgruber 11:30 Strike Back S201: 12:20 a.m. Attack Force 2:00 Black And White 3:30 Hollywood On Set 4:00 The Karate Kid (2010) STAR MOVIES 1:00 a.m. A Better Life 2:40 The Bone Collector 4:40 Titanic Part 4 5:30 Just Wright 7:10 Mighty Joe Young 9:10 Bruce Almighty 10:55 Cars 2 12:45 p.m. Shanghai Knights 2:40 The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe 5:05 The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn 7:00 You Don't Mess With The Zohan 9:00 Tron: Legacy 11:15 The Fighter STAR CHINESE MOVIES 1:00 a.m. Happy Funeral 2:40 Heavenly Mission 4:45 All's Well Ends Well '97 6:20 Magic Boy 7:50 Wait Till You're Older 9:30 The Great Magician 11:45 Magic to Win 1:30 p.m. La Lingerie 3:35 Fight Back to School 2 5:20 Secret Sunshine 7:45 Intimates 9:40 Casino Raiders 2 11:15 Love at First Note DIVA UNIVERSAL 12:00 a.m. Fairly Legal 1:00 Army Wives 2:00 Hot In Cleveland 3:00 Smash 4:00 The Trouble with Dee Dee 6:00 Top Chef 7:00 Lxtv 7:30 Hot Guys Who Cook 8:00 HSN 9:00 A Night For Dying Tigers 11:00 The Hunt For The I-5 Killer 1:00 p.m. Fairly Legal 2:00 The Real Housewives Of Atlanta 3:00 Elizabeth: The Golden Age 5:00 Best Friends Forever 6:00 Up All Night 7:00 The Big C 8:00 Top Chef 9:00 Hot Guys Who Cook 9:30 Marcel's Quantum Kitchen 10:30 Lxtv 11:00 Clean House CINEMA ONE 12:00 a.m. Hamog 2:00 Caught In The Act 4:00 Magtoning Muna Tayo 6:00 Inday, Inday Sa Balitaw 8:00 Otso-Otso, Pamela-Mela Wan 10:00 Manay Po 2: Overload 12:00 p.m. Pakners 2:00 Cinemanews 3:00 My First Romance 5:00 Mano Po 5: Gua Ai Di ( I Love You) 9:00 Praybeyt Benjamin 11:00 Tukso ESPN 1:30 a.m. Sportscenter Asia 2:00 Planet Speed 2:30 Football Asia 3:00 MLB Regular Season 6:00 Planet Speed 6:30 Sportscenter Asia 7:00 MLB Regular Season 10:00 Baseball Tonight Int'l 11:00 Grand American Series 12:00 p.m. Sportscenter Week In Review 12:30 Guinness World Series Of Pool 1:30 American Le Mans Series 2:00 Premier League Preview 2:30 Baseball Tonight Int'l 3:30 MLB Regular Season 6:30 Baseball Tonight Int'l 7:30 Sportscenter Week In Review 8:00 Derby City Classic 10:00 Sportscenter Week In Review 10:30 MLB Regular Season STAR SPORTS 12:00 a.m. Score Tonight 12:30 One Fighting C'ship 1:00 FIA F1 World C'ship 2:30 Score Tonight 3:00 High1 Resort Open 6:00 V8 Supercars C'ship Series 7:00 FIA F1 World C'ship 8:30 Smash 9:00 Engine Block 9:30 Maxxis FIM Enduro World C'ship 10:00 Game 10:30 Sports Max 11:00 SBK Superbike World C'ship 11:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 12:00 p.m. High1 Resort Open 1:00 MotoGP World C'ship 4:00 IAAF Grand Prix 7:00 Game 7:30 Engine Block 7:50 FIA F1 World C'ship 9:30 Game 10:00 Guinness World Series Of Pool 11:00 High1 Resort Open SOLAR SPORTS 12:00 a.m. Jai - Alai 1:00 World Poker Tour 2:00 2012 World Darts C'ship 3:00 PGA Tour Deutsche Bank C'ship 6:00 OZ Style 7:00 HSN 8:00 ATP UNICEF Open 2012 s'Hertogenbosch 10:00 HSN 11:00 Hataw-Pinoy 12:00 p.m. Sagupaan (Sabong) 1:00 San Juan Derby Time 1:30 FIBA Basketball HL 2:00 PGA Special: The Sports of Golf 3:00 Canada Open Grand Prix 2012 6:00 Ringside 8:00 PGA Special: 2012 Players Official 9:00 PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedEx Cup Official Film 10:00 World Wide Sports 11:00 Worlds Strongest Man LIFESTYLE NETWORK 12:00 a.m. Style & Entertainment Special 1:00 Kitchen Nightmares US 2:00 Million Dollar Listing 3:00 Cupcake Wars 4:00 Everyday Food 4:30 Curiosity Got The Chef 5:00 Mad Hungry 5:30 In The Bedroom 6:30 The Antonio Treatment 7:30 Secrets From A Stylist 8:00 Clean House Comes Clean 8:30 What Not To Wear 9:30 Mexican Food Made Simple 10:00 Lifestyle Network Presents 11:30 Seriously Funny Kids 12:00 p.m. Style & Entertainment Special 1:00 The F Word 2:00 Listed 2:30 Dresscue Me 3:00 Kimchi Chronicles 3:30 Market To Master 4:00 Cupcake Wars 5:00 Kitchen Nightmares US 6:00 Curiosity Got The Chef 6:30 Sabrina's Kitchen 7:00 Interior Motives 7:30 The Antonio Treatment 8:30 Lifestyle On Demand 9:00 Seriously Funny Kids 9:30 Lifestyle Network Presents 11:00 Style & Entertainment BASKETBALL TV 12:00 a.m. NBA Greatest Game 2:00 NBA TV Favorites 4:00 NBA Greatest Game 6:00 Bballography 6:30 Hall of Fame: Red Carpet 7:30 Basketball Hall of Fame 10:00 Bballography 12:30 p.m. NBA TV Special Looking Back at Reggie 1:30 Erik Spoelstra The Journey 2:00 HSN 3:00 NBA Greatest Game 5:00 2012 Playoff Playback 6:00 WNBA Action 6:30 Hall of Fame: Red Carpet 7:30 Basketball Hall of Fame 10:00 WNBA Regular Season MTV PHILIPPINES 12:00 a.m. The Playlist 1:00 After Hours 6:00 The Playlist 3:00 p.m. Gimme 10 4:00 The Playlist 7:00 Teen Cribs 7:30 Nitro Circus 8:00 Pranked 8:30 The Playlist MYX 12:00mn Myx Backtrax 12:30 Club Myx 1:00 Myx Live! 2:00 Rock Myx 2:30 My Myx 3:00 Myx Hit Chart 5:00 Take 5 5:30 Myx Backtrax 6:00 Myx Versions 6:30 Pop Myx: K-Pop 7:00 My Myx 7:30 Pinoy Rock Myx 8:00 Myx Sure Fire Hits 8:30 Radio Myx/Myxposed 9:00 Pinoy Myx 9:30 Pop Myx 10:00 Myx Hit Chart 12:00 p.m. Myxellaneous 12:30 Wer U At? 1:00 Tugtugan 1:30 Pinoy Myx 2:00 Mellow Myx 2:30 Pop Myx 3:00 Myx Mobile Top Picks 4:00 Myx Presents 5:00 Take 5 5:30 Myx News 6:00 Pop Myx 6:30 Pinoy Myx 7:00 M.I.T 20 9:00 Pinoy Myx Countdown 11:00 Mellow Myx 11:30 Myx Sure Fire Hits CHANNEL [V] INTERNATIONAL 12:00mn Fashion TV 12:30 a.m. In Fashion 1:00 For The Record: Mary J Blige 1:15 Double Shot 2:00 Club [V] 2:30 Double Shot 3:00 Man Hunt 4:00 The Rock Show 4:30 Flava 5:00 [V] Special 6:00 For The Record: Mary J Blige 6:15 Double Shot 8:00 The Record Shop 9:00 Remote Control 10:00 The Ticket 10:30 Soundtracks 11:00 Las Vegas Garden Of Love 11:30 Double Shot 12:00nn The Record Shop 1:00 p.m. [V] Rated Weekends 3:00 [V] Specials 4:00 Billboard US Countdown 5:00 The Ticket 5:30 Soundtracks 6:00 Man Hunt 7:00 The Rock Show 8:00 Club [V] 9:00 [V] Rated Weekends: The Ten Coolest Clips 11:00 Fashion TV 11:30 In Fashion DISCOVERY CHANNEL 12:00 a.m. Dealers 1:00 Solved 2:00 Moments Of Impact 3:00 Destroyed In Seconds 4:00 Swamp Loggers 5:00 Factory Made 5:30 How Do They Do It? 6:00 Solved 7:00 Dirty Jobs 8:00 Mythbusters 9:00 Moments Of Impact 10:00 Destroyed In Seconds 11:00 7 Wonders Of The Muslim World 12:00 p.m. Culinary Asia 1:00 Kidnap And Rescue 2:00 Mythbusters 3:00 Extreme Bodies 4:00 Aircrash Confidential 5:00 The Supernaturalist 6:00 River Monsters 7:00 I Shouldn't Be Alive 8:00 American Guns 9:00 Man, Woman, Wild 10:00 Deadliest Catch 11:00 Dual Survival NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL 12:00 a.m. Taboo 1:00 Wild Case Files 2:00 Million Dollar Moon Rock Heist 3:00 Taboo 4:00 Wild Case Files 5:00 Million Dollar Moon Rock Heist 6:00 Deadly Arts 7:00 Wild Case Files 7:55 Million Dollar Moon Rock Heist 8:50 Deadly Arts 9:45 Space Mysteries 10:40 Witness 11:35 Kimchi Chronicles 12:30 p.m. Mystery 360 1:25 Wild Case Files 2:20 Dog Whisperer 4:10 American Doomsday 5:05 Space Mysteries 6:00 Shark Men 7:00 Monster Fish 8:00 Wicked Tuna 9:00 Mega Factories 10:00 Seconds From Disaster 11:00 9/11 A1 12:00mn Shipwrecked 12:30 a.m. Extreme Latitude 1:00 Into The Volcano 2:00 Into The Unknown 2:30 Adventure Challenge 3:30 Into The Volcano 4:30 Total Adventure 5:00 Danger Diaries 6:00 India Diaries 6:30 Shipwreched 7:00 Adventure Planet 7:30 Dangerous Jobs 8:30Expedition Of The Edge 9:30 Adventure Of The Week 10:30 Total Adventure 11:00 Danger Diaries 12:00nn India Diaries 1:30 p.m. Dangerous Jobs 2:30 Expeditions To The Edge 3:30 Adventure Of The Week 4:30 Total Adventure 5:00 Danger Diaries 6:00 India Diaries 6:30 Shipwreched 7:00 Adventure Planet 7:30 Dangerous Jobs 8:30 Expedition To The Edge 9:30 Adventure Of The Week 10:30 Total Adventure 11:00 Danger Diaries ANIMAL PLANET 12:00 a.m. Gator Boys 1:00 Man-Eating Super Croc 2:00 Swamp Wars 3:00 Man-Eating Super Croc 4:00 Gator Boys 5:00 Gator Boys 6:00 Big Cat Diary 7:00 Human Planet Rivers and Oceans 8:00 Hillbilly Handfishin' Catfish are Wicked Cute 9:00 Dogs 101 10:00 It's Me or the Dog 11:00 My Cat From Hell 12:00 p.m. My Cat From Hell 9:00 Bad Dog! 10:00 Tanked 11:00 Bad Dog! CARTOON NETWORK 12:00 a.m. Chowder 1:00 Codename: Kids Next Door 2:00 Adventure Time 3:00 Camp Lazlo 4:00 My GYM Partner's A Monkey 5:00 Chowder 6:00 Strawberry Shortcake 6:30 Tom & Jerry Tales 7:00 Oggy And The Cockroaches 9:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 10:00 Oggy And The Cockroaches 11:00 Courage The Cowardly Dog 12:00 p.m. Tom & Jerry Show 1:00 Adventure Times 3:30 Tom & Jerry Tales 4:00 Johnny Test 5:00 Codename: Kids Next Door 6:00 Oggy And The Cockroaches 7:00 Adventure Time 8:00 Total Drama Island 8:30 Thunder Cats 9:00 Adventure Time 10:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 11:00 Oggy And The Cockroaches NICKELODEON 12:00 a.m. Chalkzone 2:00 CatDog 4:00 El Tigre 6:00 The Adventures Of Jimmy Neutron 6:30 Fairly Odd Parents 7:00 The Backyardigans 7:30 Ni Hao Kai Lan 8:00 Team Umizoomi 8:30 Dora, The Explorer 9:00 Hi-5 9:30 Fresh Beat Band 10:00 SpongeBob SquarePants 10:30 Tuff Puppy 11:00 Kung Fu Panda 11:30 The Fairly Odd Parents 12:00 p.m. Planet Sheen 12:30 Lucky Fred 1:00 Catch Up Weekend 3:00 SpongeBob SquarePants 3:30 The Fairly Odd Parents 4:30 Penguins Of Madagascar 5:30 SpongeBob SquarePants 6:30 Fanboy & Chum Chum 7:00 Drake & Josh 7:30 iCarly 8:00 Big Time Rush 8:30 The Fairly Odd Parents 9:30 SpongeBob SquarePants 10:30 Danny Phantom 11:00 Aaahh!!! Real Monster DISNEY CHANNEL 12:00 a.m. Sonny with a Chance 12:30 Shaun The Sheep 1:00 Kim Possible 1:30 Lilo & Stitch: The Series 2:00 Fish Hooks 2:30 Wizards Of Waverly Place 3:00 Good Luck Charlie 3:30 Phineas And Ferb 4:00 Stitch: The Series 4:30 Suite Life On Deck 5:00 Sonny with a Chance 5:30 Hannah Montana 6:00 Upin and Ipin 6:30 Boboiboy 7:00 Bola Kampung 7:30 Phineas & Ferb 8:00 Upin and Ipin 9:00 Boboiboy 11:30 Disney Waktu Rehat 12:00 p.m. Art Attack 12:30 Mr. Bean - Live Action 1:00 Upin and Ipin 1:30 Dreamkix 2:00 Boboiboy 3:00 Mr. Bean: Animated 3:30 Oggy And The Cockroaches 4:00 Upin and Ipin 5:00 Just For Laughs Gags 5:30 Art Attack 6:00 Phineas & Ferb 7:00 Mr. Bean - Live Action 9:30 Just For Laughs Gags 10:00 Pair Of Kings 10:30 Jessie 11:00 Shake It Up 11:30 Suite Life On Deck ANIMAX 12:00 a.m. Spooky Kitaro 12:30 Idaten Jump! 1:00 Inuyasha The Final Act 1:30 Last Exile 2:00 Fairy Tail 2:30 Beelzebub 3:00 City Hunter 3:30 Kekkaishi 4:00 Inuyasha The Final Act 4:30 TLast Exile 5:00 Bleach 6:00 Tears to Tiara 8:30 Beelzebub 11:00 Cardfight!! Vanguard 11:30 Inuyasha The Final Act 2:00 p.m. Animax Musix 2:30 Tears to Tiara 5:00 Beelzebub 7:30 Animax Musix 8:00 Cardfight!! Vanguard 8:30 Inuyasha The Final Act 11:00 Winter Sonata HERO 12:00 a.m. Initial D First Stage 2:00 Kurozuka 2:30 Hana Yori Dango 5:30 Ultraviolet Code 044 6:00 DiGata Defenders 6:30 Huntik 7:00 Hana Yori Dango 7:30 Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight 8:30 Gargoyle Of Yoshinaga Family 9:30 Project Blue 10:00 DiGata Defenders 10:30 Huntik 11:00 Ultraviolet Code 044 11:30 Hana Yori Dango 12:00 p.m. Initial D Fourth Stage 2:00 Giant Killing 4:30 Project Blue 5:00 Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight 6:00 Gargoyle Of Yoshinaga Family 7:00 DiGata Defenders 7:30 Huntik 8:00 Hana Yori Dango 8:30 Kyoshiro & The Eternal Sky 9:00 Initial D Fourth Stage 11:00 Ultraviolet Code 044 11:30 Kurozuka STAR WORLD 12:00 a.m. Splash TV 1:00 Accidentally On Purpose 2:00 Desperate Housewives 2:50 Private Practice 3:40 Don't Trust The B**** In Apartment 23 4:30 Greek 6:10 Splash TV 6:40 Grey's Anatomy 7:30 90210 9:15 Once Upon A Time 11:05 Mobbed 12:00 p.m. The Source 12:00 Don't Trust The B**** In Apartment 23 1:00 Accidentally On Purpose 2:30 Cougar Town 4:00 Splash TV 5:00 Don't Trust The B**** In Apartment 23 6:00 Mobbed 6:50 American Idol (Season 11) 10:10 Don't Trust The B**** In Apartment 23 11:10 Mobbed STAR PHOENIX 12:00 a.m. Phoenix Midnight News Update 12:20 a.m. A Date With Lu Yu 12:30 Phoenix Kidult Drama 1:20 A Date with Lu Yu 2:10 Phoenix Midnight News Update 3:00 Web Buster 3:25 Entertainment Whirlwind 3:50 Trendy Guide 4:10 Phoenix Buster 4:50 Health Express II 4:55 From Phoenix To The World 5:25 News Line 5:50 Singer Profile 6:30 Liaos Standpoint 6:55 Music Video Selection 7:00 The Intellectual Life 7:30 Weekend Morning News 7:55 Weather Forecast 8:00 Whos Who In Olympics 8:45 Singer Profile 8:55 Weather Forecast 9:00 Panoramic Eyeshot Of Phoenix 9:30 TLC From Phoenix 9:55 Mentally & Physically In Action 10:00 Phoenix Selection 11:25 Health Express II 11:30 Advertising Magazine 11:35 Music Video Selection 11:40 Totole Belle Gourment 11:55 Feng Lu Newsline 12:25 p.m. Weather Forecast 12:30 The World This Week 1:00 Bai Sha Celebrated China Heritage 1:05 A Voyage To The Western Ocean 1:45 Panoramic Eyeshot Of Phoenix 2:20 China Forum 3:15 Phoenix Buster 3:50 Super Star Show 4:35 Advertising Magazine ARIRANG 12:00 a.m. Showbiz Korea 12:30 Pops In Seoul 1:00 Arirang News 1:30 Lovers 2:00 Insight 3:00 Arirang News 3:30 Discover World 4:00 Korea Confidential With Paul Schenk 4:30 Destination Korea 5:00 Heart To Heart 6:00 Korea Today 6:30 In The Newsroom 7:00 Showbiz Korea 8:00 The Sensation 9:00 Lovers 10:00 Korea Top 10 11:00 Korea ToDay 11:30 In The Newsroom 12:00 p.m. Showbiz Korea 1:00 Pops In Seoul 1:30 Travelog 2:00 The Sensation 3:00 Lovers 4:00 Heart To Heart 5:00 Arirang News 5:15 Company Close-Up 5:30 Pops In Seoul 6:00 Showbiz Korea 7:00 Arirang Prime 8:00 Lovers 9:00 Arirang News 9:15 Company Close-Up 9:30 Pops In Seoul 10:00 Heart To Heart 11:00 Arirang News 11:15 100 Icons Of Korean Culture 11:30 In The Newsroom JACKTV 12:00 a.m. Glee 1:00 Family Guy 1:30 The Simpsons 2:00 Comedy Inc. 3:00 Futurama 4/5 4:00 Bob's Burger 4:30 The Cleveland Show 5:00 The Simpsons 5:30 American Dad 6:00 Family Guy 6:30 Mad 7:00 Glee 8:00 Jack Tv's Handpicked 11:00 Touch 12:00 p.m. America's Best Dance Crew 1:00 The Glee Project 2:00 Grimm 5:00 Grimm 6:00 Futurama 4/5 7:00 Bob's Burger 7:30 The Cleveland Show 8:00 The Simpsons 8:30 American Dad 9:00 Family Guy 9:30 Mad 10:00 Comedy Inc. 11:00 Conan O' Brien PBO 1:30 a.m. Gayuma 3:30 Ang Lalake Sa Parola 5:30 Nakaw na Sandali 7:30 Roberta 9:30 The Accidental Husband 11:30 Bukas Luluhod Ang Mga Tala 1:30 p.m. Pinagbiyak Na Bunga 3:30 M&M The Incredible Twins 5:30 Emir 7:30 Catch Me I'm In Love 9:30 Kiss Mo Ko 11:30 Buhay Kamao VELVET 12:00 a.m. The Soup 12:30 Geordie Shore 1:30 RuPaul's Drag Race 3:00 Holly's World 3:30 The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills 4:30 Big Rich Texas 5:30 The Soup 6:00 The Mortified Sessions 6:30 Awkward 7:00 Cougar Town 7:30 Holly's World 8:00 Ice Loves Coco 8:30 The Secret Lives Of Dancers 9:00 Wicked Fit 10:00 My First Wedding 12:00 a.m. The Soup 12:30 Big Rich Texas 1:30 The Secret Lives Of Dancers 2:00 Wicked Fit 3:00 The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills 4:00 VES 5:00 The Sing-Off 6:00 The Mortified Sessions 6:30 Hollyscoop 7:00 90210 8:00 Jersey Shore 9:00 Keeping Up With the Kardashians 10:00 RuPaul's Drag 11:00 Ice Loves Coco 11:30 Holly's World VIVA CHANNEL 12:00 a.m. Petra's Panniest 12:30 Popstar Rewind 1:00 The OPM Show 1:30 Especially For You 2:00 Pantaxa 2:30 Popstar Rewind 3:00 Pinoy Star Stories 4:00 The OPM Show 4:30 Petra's Panniest 5:00 Especially For You 5:30 Star Yayey 6:00 Daily Top 10 7:00 Popstar Diaries 7:30 Concert 9:00 Pantaxa 9:30 Daily Top 10:30 The OPM Show 11:00 Petra's Panniest 11:30 Especially For You 12:00 pm Annebishowsa 12:30 Popstar Rewind 1:00 KC.com 1:30 Star Yayey 2:00 Daily Top 10 3:00 Pinoy Star Stories 4:00 The Jon Santos Show 5:00 The OPM Show 5:30 Especially For You 6:00 Pantaxa 6:30 Popstar Rewind 7:00 Petra's Panniest 7:30 Daily Top 10 8:30 The OPM Show 9:00 Pinoy Star Stories 10:00 Annebishowsa 10:30 Popstar Diaries 11:00 The Jon Santos Show AUSTRALIA NETWORK 12:00 a.m. My Kitchen Rules 1:00 Catalyst 1:30 The World This Week 2:00 Poh's Kitchen 2:30 Costa's Garden Odyssey 3:00 Contact Sport 3:30 One Plus One 4:00 Four Corners 5:00 Rage 7:00 Weekend Breakfast News 9:30 Landline 10:30 Foreign Correspondent 11:00 One Plus One 11:30 Catalyst 12:00 p.m. AFL Toyota Premiership Season 2012 3:00 News 3:30 Contact Sport 4:00 Landline 5:00 News 5:30 AFL Toyota Premiership Season 2012 8:30 News 9:00 Sea Patrol 10:00 AFL Toyota Premiership Season 2012

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Entertainment News
CELEBRITY WORLD CRISPINA MARTINEZ-BELEN

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Top Stars Support Jose And Wally

In Their Second Movie

portraying the grown-up Luna in Luna Blanca where Jillian Ward is her little girl equivalent. What I really love most about my role in Sinner or Saint is the raw acting it required. We didnt use a studio that aids the actors, Bianca said. Melissa Ricks Scoops Another Endorsement Last year, in a much-talked about event, kapamilya star Melissa Ricks was launched as Bargn Farmaceutici Philippines Co.s first celebrity endorser for its flagship product Cosmo Skin L-Glutathione. And just recently, at the Concourse Event area at SM Makati, it was announced that Cosmo Skins partnership with the girl with the enigmatic smile will continue for another year with Cosmo Skins newest Deliciously Beautiful, Deliciously Cosmo Skin campaign. Ive been a long time user of Cosmo Skin supplements and soaps, she said, adding that her continued use of the products has led her to maintain a radiant and glowing complexion. Melissa has been naturally blessed with beautiful skin but still Melissa is appreciative of Cosmo Skins advance skin technology as it complements her own skin care regimen and the demands of her profession. Having a nice complexion is a must when facing

ose Manalo and Wally Bayola are making their second starrer entitled Ikaw Na, Day Best Ka and luckily for them, top movie and TV stars are lending their talents to support them. The list is led by Eat Bulagas dabarkads Vic Sotto, Michael V. and Jimmy Santos. Good friends Maricel Soriano and Roderick Paulate (now councilor of Quezon City) are also making a reunion on the big screen after so many years to play special roles in the movie directed by Soxie Topacio. Other stars joining the comic tandem of Jose and Wally include Eddie Garcia, Aiza Seguerra, Ajur Abrenica, Victor Basa, and German Moreno. Also in the cast are Gina Pareo, Solenn Heussaff, Michael de Mesa, and Tirso Cruz III. Jose and Wally are naturally overwhelmed with this show of support and the all-out push they are getting from APT Entertainment. Siyempre, ibang level na ang usapan dito. Dala na namin ni Wally ang malaking responsibilidad upang mabigyan ng nakakatawang panoorin ng mga tao, Jose said. On his part, Wally said, Hindinghindi ko makakalimutan ang experience namin ni Jose sa pelikulang ito. Hindi na kasi suporta ang role namin kundi sa balikat namin nakapatong ang malaking responsibilidad. In the story, conflict arises between the Kilabot brothers Justine (Jose) and Bruno (Wally) when they fall for the same girl, Kitty (ably portrayed by Pokwang). Kitty chose to marry Bruno who ended up a woman hater until he met Lulu (Solenn Heussaff), daughter of the man who owns the property they rent in Tondo. The brothers differences did not end with their lovelife. They became at odds even with their respective businesses. And making things worst is Justines assistant Tweety (played

MELISSA RICKS

the cameras, the actress said. Tidbits: Happy b-day greetings today, Sept. 8, go to awarded broadcast journalist Che Che Lazaro, Sec. Orlando J. Sacay, Maricris Bermont, Long Espina, Debbie Yu-Chan, Fe Ramos Esteban of Casino FilipinoHyatt, Ramon Ting, Natividad L. Aventura, Naty B. Rodriguez, Naty A. Pappas, Elo Pacheco of Rosys Pancit Malabon, Natalie Castel, Irene Guinan, Mary Jessica Dailo, Nestoria M. Coronel, Juliana Torres Gomez, Graciella N. Martinez, Yosef Elizalde, Cesar Saavedra, and Sandy Santamaria

JOSE MANALO (right) and Wally Bayola

by Paolo Ballesteros). But a major twist happened when the property owner (Michael de Mesa) decided to take over Justine and Brunos place to build a commercial center. Ikaw Na, Day Best Ka comes on the heels of Jose and Wallys blockbuster major concert at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum The Jose and Wally Concert: A Party for Every Juan. Bianca King Ready For Directing Job GMA Artist Centers Bianca King recently finished her digital filmmaking course from De La Salle-College of St. Benilde and needless to say, the actress is now ready to face the challenge of directing. While studying, Bianca has done short films as a requirement for graduation and also worked on music videos for songs of Hale and Somedaydream. Among her showbiz friends and colleagues whove appeared on her videos include Richard Gutier-

rez, Heart Evangelista and Gwen Zamora. Bianca also directed the music video for Frencheska Farrs single Today Ill See The Sun with her townhouse and neighborhood as backdrop. Bianca, after starring in Sinner Or Saint, and Broken Vow, is now

Rapper Frank Ocean Goes For The Big Leap

BIANCA KING
MOJO: LATIONS DJ MOJO JOJO

hen I came out as probably the first gay pop FM DJ, it was a big leap for our industry. Now, a whole lot of broadcasters have enjoyed the privilege that I probably started. But, I do admit it took quite some time before people were able to accept it, especially some of the advertisers.

FRANK OCEAN

At first I felt so bad that my co-hosts where getting most of the projects until some brands gambled on me. I would forever be grateful to them (Flawless, Fit and Right and Glutamax) for making it possible for people like us to have a shot in the music industry. Here in the U.S., a similar happening become known just recently when a very well known rapper, Frank Ocean, came out in the open. Yes dearies, gay rapper is an oxymoron no more In a letter and posted to Oceans Tumblr recently: 4 summers ago, I met somebody. I was 19. He was, too. We spent that summer, and the

summer after, together. It goes on from there, a story about passion and confusion and fear and forgiveness. It paralleled one of the relationships wed talked about, one where he was the one left feeling stung. The additional information in the story was heartbreaking: He had fallen in love with a man who couldnt reciprocate. He did his best, but he wouldnt do the same, Ocean writes of the night when he first confessed his full feelings. I must admit, Im not a big fan of hip-hop but this is indeed big news. For decades, any kind of rumor of homosexuality will ruin artists in hip-hop circles. They are made fun off and ostracized. But for some mysterious reason, when Ocean came out in the open, there was a lack of uproar from the hip-hop community. Mark Anthony Neal, a professor of African-American studies at Duke University, says, Ten or 15 years ago, Frank Ocean could never have come out. It would have been death to his career. Now a whole lot of hip-hop heavyweights have already waved their support for the embattled Frank Ocean. Even mega-rapper and record label owner Jay-Z posted a long pro-Ocean text on his website written by the critic Dream Hampton. Country singer Chely Wright, meanwhile, says, It was so emotional and correct the way Frank penned a letter to his audience. Gay artists had a responsibility to tell our stories in a bit more detail so our listeners and our fans dont automatically think, Gay sex! Oh my God, so they might understand the true nuanced journey of a closeted person in a conservative world. And so I encourage all artists in the Philippines to be true to themselves and come out in the open. In this way, our producers and advertisers may understand that it is already high time that we accept a person for who he is and what his talents are, and not because of his sexuality. The positive reaction to Frank Ocean suggests that there already has been a cultural shift. For this new interconnected generation, it seems that sexual orientation has become a less toxic issue.

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Saturday, September 8, 2012

The newest winners of the Palanca's Kabataan Essay and Kabataan Sanaysay categories hope to inspire...
By RONALD S. LIM

Changing of the guard

is more astonishing is that this is my first time to join such a competition. A first time, first win on my part, Asis shares. I submitted to various other writing competitions last summer, whether for the fun of it or for the sake of finding my self-worth in writing, shares Bonillo. It was only my Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards essay that received an award which is ironic because I honestly believed that it was the only one that never stood a chance! the recognition is certainly sweet considering that the two have been working on their writing for quite some time even stretching back to their pre-school years. I really got into writing when I was in pre-school. I have a massive Barbie collection, and when I was a mere child, I would create my own stories through them, says Bonillo. Also, at the time, the computer subject was just becoming a part of the pre-school curriculum. My sister and I started writing this book on our mothers laptop. It was about this detective who, of course, solves mysteries. Asis may have had a late start compared to Bonillo, but it certainly left an impression. His first piece entitled Cory Magic won him his first gold medal in his first seminar-competition sponsored by the Dasmarinas Union of Private schools. I started writing essays when I was 15, in my senior year in high school. since the population of the school was small back then, the school had no other option but to choose me to fill in the empty slots in several of their journalism competitions, he recalls. Having no idea, background,

MByouthsection@gmail.com

Editor: IVY LISA F. MENDOZA

guidance, and proper training, I still competed. My first winning piece was an editorial of persuasion focusing on the deeds of the late Pres. Corazon Aquino. LITERATURE IS FOR EVERYONE While Bonillo cant guess as to what made this years judges pick her work among the rest, Asis has an idea as to what it was exactly that caught the judges attention. In my opinion, my essay won because of my emotions contained within it. For me, the winning part is not having a medal, cash prize, or fancy dinner, but being able to communicate your feelings, emotions, and ideas through your writings, for a writer to touch the hearts and lives of his readers and to influence them positively. that is the winning part of a writer for me, he says. As newly-minted recipients of the countrys equivalent of the prestigious Pulitzer Prize, the pair hopes that their wins inspire other young writers to take up the challenge that the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards throws down every year. the process of writing is a lovely thing. take it in. Only when you have grasped the pleasure of it will the learning part, always beautiful and profound, become a significant accompaniment, says Bonillo. sometimes you strive hard to get what you want yet fail. But as the cliche goes, you will always get what you deserve. And whether you expect it or not, it may just be something more than you had hoped for. Literature is not isolated to people who claim themselves to be writers. Everybody is capable of writing, everybody is a writer in their own little way. I may not be the most promising writer of my generation, but what pushed me to write, to join, and to win is the joy of writing itself, not because of the prestige it can bring. I write for passion, not for excellence, declares Asis.

ts easy to think of the annual Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature as an old boys club, with familiar names topping the winners list year in and year out. But the Palanca Awards also welcome new blood, encouraging writers under the age of 18 to test their skills and aim for the top through the Kabataan Essay and Kabataan sanaysay categories. this year, two 17 year-olds represent the countrys young writers in the Palancas, as they clinched the top spots for the Kabataan Essay and Kabataan sanaysay categories, respectively. Katrina Bonillo is taking up Journalism at the Colegio de san Juan de Letran, while Jan Francis Asis is studying Civil Engineering at the Mapua Institute of technology. FIRST TIMERS Both Bonillo and Asis come from families where writing is part of the norm. Bonillos twin sister is a poet and painter, while Asis grandfather, mother, and sister also write. But while writing is something both have been exposed to, receiving recognition for their work on a nationwide scale is something that theyve never experienced before! I write a lot, but I never imagined that because of my hobby, I will have all these recognition and prestige that the Palanca Awards has given me. What
By CAMILO M. VILLANueVA JR., Contributor

CHILDReN ARe OuR FuTuRe College students (from left) Jan Francis Asis and Katrina Bonillo represent the country's young writers at the recently held palanca Awards.

ETER Solis Nery becomes the 23rd inductee into the 2012 Palanca Hall of Famean exclusive and much-sought after honor given those who have received five first prizes in the contests many categories. Nery is very special honoree on these three counts: First, he is the first nurse to receive the award although only second to 2005s Luis P Gatmaitan, MD, to come from the medical profession; second, he is the first Visayan writer to receive the award for winning three golds in the short story in Hiligaynon category although only second to 2003s Reynaldo A Duque, who did the same feat for Maikling Kuwento in Iluko; and, third, he is the first Us-based Filipino multi-book author to have received the award although only third to 1995s Ruth Elynia s Mabanglo, who is Manoa, HI-based; 1996s Ma Luisa A Igloria, who is Norfolk, VI-based; and, 2000s Edgardo B Maranan, who was London-based from 1993 to 2006. thus, right after having registered at the anteroom, I immediately asked around for the nights special honoree and there he was, Peter, in bright electric pink outfit nobody could miss hurried and harried for three quick answers. Here are Peters revelations: I worked hard for it! And if that answer seemed like just any other OFW who had to earn green bucks overseas for ones family, something short of melodramatic then I have to prick your bubblebecause it turned out to be an understatement! Peter fielded 15 entries to this years contest and was able to clinch two:

US-based Filipino nurse joins Palanca Hall of Fame

standard by which Filipino writers are measured. This is where you get peer approval and recognition. Explore the peer-approved, world-renowned Nerywho has degrees in Biology, Nursing, Education, and Philosophymore at www.petersolisnery.com! *** SIdEBAR: For sure, this years contest has witnessed many new names emerging to join the venerable roster. the Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature roster of winners in its 62nd year now includes luminaries such as those of popular poet and fictionist Will P Ortiz, who won gold in Maikling Kuwentong Pambata for Ang tatlong Bubwit at Bangkang Marikit; Philippine stagers Foundation president and artistic director Atty Vincent M taada, who won gold in Dulang Ganap ang Haba for Ang Bangkay; former cofaculty at the University of the East, Kalookan, Cinemalaya 2012 special Jury Prize winner for Maneya filmmaker Richard s Legaspi, who won silver in Dulang Pampelikula for Primera Bella; and, Philippine Graphic Fiction Prize winner Charmaine L Carreon, who won silver in Poetry for the Yonic Lover (Poems). this year is also special for seeing the comeback of fictionist Honorio Bartolome De Dios for winning silver in Maikling Kuwento for Ang tawo sa Puso ni teresa and the winning of friends husbandand-wife John Enrico C torralba, who won gold in tulang Pambata for Gusto Ko Nang Lumaki, and Elyrah L salangatorralba, who won silver in sanaysay for Utang Ina. Congratulations all!

WINNeRS ALL! The writers feted and recognized at the recent Carlos palanca Memorial Awards for Literature include (left photo) new palanca Hall of Famer peter Solis Nery, (above photo) Jing Mendoza, Lyra Salanga, John Torralba, Rebecca Aonuevo, Niles Breis, Rhandee Garlitos, and (right photo) Richard Legaspi.

one second prize for sa Mundo ng mga Kulisap in tulang Pambata, and one first prize for Punctuation in Poetry for Children, which elevated him to the 2012 Hall of Fame. I started joining the contest in 1997, when the Hiligaynon Short Story category was opened. And it was in 2008 when I started joining the English categories. Just as an aside, hearing the poem set read by poet Marjorie Evasco, I wouldnt want to have Punctuation end at all if I were a child and if black werent my favorite colorand wished the poem set be available as on CD or as an audiobook, if not online! Getting second seems not like winning at all! the statement may not come as a surprise for someone who says he isnt very confident about his English

but is definitely bent on winning. In 2008, Nery won gold for the full-length play the Passion of Jovita Fuentes in the English division. If I were to leave Filipinos a legacy, Id like to think it would be Five Men and Imelda Marcos Because it adds to the rich lore that surrounds the Madame. If the shoe Fits, or the Five Men Imelda Marcos Meets in Heaven, which won first prize in the FullLength Play category in the 2011 Palanca, is now available as an 8.5x5.5 paperback from Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. Born and raised in Dumangas, Iloilo, Nery has 11 Palancas to date and 15 booksincluding, among many others, 100 Erotic sonnets from the Hiligaynon, the Passion of Jovita Fuentes, the Prince of Ngoyngoy, Rain as Gentle as tears, Fantasia, and A Loneliness Greater

than Love. For one so prolific and Id assume already widely read having been published many times over, why would one wish to err, limit ones market to a few but discerning readers and to students of literature? Many would safely take just one and relax. Books are meant for communicating. Theyre much simpler compared to writing contest pieces. Writing is more elaborate and artistic. His Hall of Fame brief concluded with the following description: Multidisciplined Nery currently works as an orthopedics staff nurse/ safety champion at the White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA, where he was honored with the Daisy Award for Extraordinary Nurses. After all, the Palanca is the

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Saturday, September 8, 2012

Biting the Bullet: The Darker Side of Marvel

HILE DC is known for its dark stories and troubled characters, Marvel is the lighter and brighter of the two major comic book companies in the world. With its signature tight-knit family, the Fantastic Four, the always-snarky spider-Man and Daredevil, and the idealistic (almost nave) steve Rogers, Marvel has laid its claim on being the comic publisher of feel-good stories. Even Wolverine, a man with such a bloody, murderous history, works so hard on reforming, distancing himself from the inner animal, trying to avoid killing as much as possible. We never see DCs Lobo attempt the same kind of transformation. But not everything is nice and sunny in the Marvel Universe. Not every character is as clean as the Invisible Woman or as Carol Danvers. there are gun-wielding heroes like Deadpool and Punisher who continue to get their hands dirty, even if it means taking lives. For Punisher, he will do anything it takes to rid the streets of crime. Its an obsessive quest to avenge the murder of his family. For Deadpool, his good intentions and his sincere desire to be a hero is balanced with his helpless urge to bring chaos and destruction to wherever he goes. HE release of ta k i p s i l i m , t h e tagalog translation of stephenie Meyers bestselling twilight has gotten some raised eyebrows, but Precious Pages, the publisher that acquired local rights to the series is showing no signs of slowing down, subsequently releasing tagalog translations of L.J. smiths Vampire Diaries, and Barbara Cartlands oldtimey romances in time for the 33rd Manila International Book Fair, slated on september 12-16 at the sMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia, Pasay City. Precious Pages, which shot to fame with its tagalog Precious Hearts Romance, has established a new line called Worlds Bestsellers, bringing to Filipino readers bestselling books in tagalog!

Punisher and Deadpool prove that Marvel does in fact have a mean streak, and that they can easily appeal to mature readers, even pitted against titles like DCs Batman, swamp thing, Animal Man or Justice League Dark. LOONEY TUNES Psychologically, Wade Wilson is a pleasure to analyze, with a lot more than 50 shades of grey defining his entirety of being. Its impossible for Deadpool to get bored with himself, because there are so many voices in his head to keep him company. And while most of the time, the Merc with a Mouth is humorous

and just plain naughty, there are comics that expose the Regeneratin Degenerate as a dangerous, disturbed man, ready to blow at any moment. take for example the ongoing mini-series Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, which situates itself outside of mainstream Marvel continuity. the series starts off in the usual manner, with Deadpool making jokes, getting shot, getting better right away because of his healing-factor, and making more jokes. But issue 1 quickly has him captured by Psycho Man, who attempts to use his Control Box to make Deadpool into his own little killing machine. Psycho Mans plan was to control the worlds deadliest superhumans, using them as an army to take over the world. But things went horribly wrong when he used the Control Box on the Crimson Comedian. After having his brain prodded one too many times, Deadpool was a different beast than Psycho Man had expected. He fought the mind-control and freed himself from the clutches of Psycho Man, but in effect also lost the last shred of sanity he possessed. Now, he is compelled to kill heroes and villains alike. Everybody is a target and Deadpool will not rest until he wipes out the entire Marvel Universe. Issue 2 was particularly gruesome as it

depicted Deadpool ending the life of the light-hearted spider-Man with a brutal headshot that completely broke New Yorks spirit and rattled the Avengers to the very core. Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe is not for the faint of heart, but it is a fascinating look into the depths of a fragile mind pushed past the brink of sanity and control. PARTNER-IN-CRIME Everybodys heard Frank Castles story. He was a decorated Marine Corps Officer who served his country with pride. He returned to his wife and children after his long years of service, only to have them stolen away in a brutal act of random, savage violence. Now, as the Punisher, he seeks to eradicate all forms

of crime in the city. But what makes the Punisher ongoing series a must-read is the fact that he now has a sidekick. And this sidekick isnt the typical techy, controlcenter kind of help. Marine sergeant Rachel Cole-Alves is out their on the field with Frank, exacting her own brand of merciless revenge. Attempting to hunt down the Exchange, a supervillain organization responsible for killing her husband, friends and family on her wedding day, she eventually crossed paths with Frank Castle. Now, there is an uneasy alliance between the two, who share very similar backgrounds. And they are both consumed by the quest to bring down the Exchange, and make the villains pay for all their crimes. A dIFFERENT LIGHT Marvels characters are never static. since 1991, Deadpool has been sending the universe into total disarray, in totally different ways. since 1974, Punisher has been disgusting Marvels greatest and most iconic heroes with his violent method of crime-fighting. But even after all these years, Wade Wilson and Frank Castle have yet to be fully explored as characters, as disturbed human beings, and as true heroes. they are just two more reasons for readers to enter the darkness willingly and never come out. (When hes not out on the streets saving the world from made-up villains, Marco Manalac is usually surfing the internet. Follow him on Twitter @ marcomanalac. Email him at marco.manalac@gmail.com)

Tatlong bagay ang siguradong-sigurado ako na totoo. Una, si Edward ay isang bampira. Pangalawaq, may isang bahagi nya at hindi ko alam kung gaano makapananaig ang bahaging iyon na nananabik sa aking dugo. At pangatlo, umiibig ako sa kanya Na walang-pasubali at kailanman ay hindi magbabago.
According to Precious Pages general manager segundo Matias, Jr., its high time bestsellers are also enjoyed in tagalog. In all my travels to Europe, Us and other parts of Asia, Ive seen English bestsellers sold alongside their translated counterparts French, Italian, German, Mandarin All these

Bestsellers, tagalized!
countries speak and read in English but they also publish in their own language. Ive always thought, Why not in the Philippines? Matias notes that his desire to publish tagalog books stems from memories of a simpler time. I grew up in the province and read-

'TAKIpSILIM' Translated versions of international bestsellers take center stage at the 33rd Manila International Book Fair.

Ang I.n.K. corner

ing was our only pastime you could rent komiks or a romance novel from a sari-sari store or even your neighbors backyard, he states. Malls have really killed this small enterprise, which I find a little sad, because now you have to dress up to go to a bookstore at the mall, whereas we used to grab loose change and walk a few doors down to get our reading fix. Matias notes that Precious Pages was established for this purpose, to reach readers at the grassroots level. since 1992, starting with one book a month, Precious Hearts Romance went on to become the bestselling tagalog romance pocketbook in the country, making household names of romance writers Matias notes that Precious Pages was established for this purpose, to reach readers at the grassroots level. since 1992, starting with one book a month, Precious Hearts Romance went on to become the bestselling tagalog romance pocketbook in the country, making household names of romance writers Martha Cecilia, Rose tan, Amanda, Maureen Apilado, and Cora Clemente, among others, and distributing pocketbooks abroad. the company has since diversified into other products song books, romance magazine, sMs and ring tone books, joke books, and eventually set up its sister company, childrens book publisher Lampara Books. Aside from distribution across bookstores and even groceries and convenience stores, Precious Pages also has 27 standalone stores across the Philippines, not just in malls but also in community areas such as public markets, and city squares.

As early as 2009, Precious Pages had partnered with Harlequin Mills & Boon, publishing tagalog translations of the popular romance novels under Precious Hearts Romance, proving to be as popular as those penned by Filipino authors. and over the years, loyal customers have been clamoring for tagalog translations of bestsellers. I know a lot of Filipinos read in English. But in all our years of publishing tagalog romances, weve seen that there are readers who read in both English and tagalog, and readers who prefer to read exclusively in tagalog, Matias states. Going into this I knew it would definitely raise eyebrows, but I want Filipinos to have that choice, if they want to read a bestselling novel in English or tagalog. For the task of translating the novels in tagalog, Matias turns to his stable of PHR tagalog romance writers and editors. Matias points out that English words and expressions cannot be avoided. Aside from non-translatable words, such as idiomatic expressions, there are things we do not translate, such as terms in common use, or English expressions that are in character with the speaker. His concern is more on retaining the voice of original writer, and keeping the language fluid. Reading is entertainment, after all, and we want to sustain the interest and keep readers turning the pages. Priced lower than its English counterpart, the P199 takipsilim has been doing well since it hit the bookstores in July. Im happy with the sales. some people are reading twilight for the first time in tagalog, some have enjoyed it in English and are now enjoying it in tagalog, while some are picking it up out of curiousity about the translation, says Matias. In the next few months, Precious Pages is also set to release tagalog translations of suzanne Collins Hunger Games trilogy, Fifty shades of Gray, and works of sidney sheldon, Danielle steele, sandra Brown, sherilyn Kenyon, and Nora Roberts. We want to keep the option to read in tagalog open for the readers, and we are happy to encourage people to read, in whatever language. Visit the Precious Pages booth at the Manila International Book Fair. MIBF runs from sept. 12-16 at the sMX Convention Center, seashell Drive, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City. MIBF is organized by Primetrade Asia, Inc. in partnership with Asian Catholic Communicators, Inc., Book Development Association of the Philippines, Philippine Booksellers Association, Inc., and Publishers Representatives Organization of the Philippines. For details, call 896-0661 or 896-0682, or e-mail bookfair@ primetradeasia.com.

September 8, 2012 Saturday

mbfunpage@yahoo.com

Section Editor: Amyline Quien Ching

SHOW REVIEW: DISNEY LIVE! ASTROBOY

GRANDPARENTS DAY

MOVIE REVIEW: PARANORMAN

5
The glitz and the glamour of

13

16

where fun is in every page!

acting onstage may seem wonderful from the theatre seats but really, beyond the spotlight, there is nothing glitzy nor glamorous about it. As the kid actors of Resorts World Manilas latest production, The King and I have attested, the road to stardom is never smooth. Jose Antonio Anton Posadas, James Gabriel Ketcher and Kristina Alexandra Lexi Rodriguez all had to work hard, sacrifice their leisure time and gain experience from school plays to get to where they are now, in the spotlight. The King and I play revolves around the story of Anna, a Briton hired to teach the children of the King of Siam. Rehearsal schedules are hectic: usually from Wednesdays to Sundays with extra rehearsal days in between. Still, the trio seems to be enjoying themselves despite the crazy schedule. Their advice: Keep on learning. Keep on practicing. Watch very seasoned actors and different plays so that you can try and see what they do, Anton says. James also reminded kids to never stop. If they want to achieve something, go right ahead. Just keep on going and dont stop believing. Turn to page 8

Siamese

Text by Clarice Ting Photos by Noel Pabalate

Threes

My Masterpiece
September 8, 2012 MANILA BULLETIN

Answer key
Which of the lines

Sudoku

danica P. Lozada, 7 St. Anthony montessori

Maze

maryll Shady Laurea, 4 Onyx day Care

Patricia Nicole Santos, 10 St. Anthony montessori

They each win a Hot Wheels Mega Jump and a Hot Wheels basic car. Beat That!
Please claim your prize at the Manila Bulletin Lifestyle Office, Muralla Corner Recoletos Sts. intramuros, manila. Bring your id and the newspaper clipping. Call 5278121 local 358 and look for FUNPAGE.

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Greco MilaMbilinG Graphic and Lay-out Design/ Illustrator Joseph antipolo, Kristiene baQuiran, rod caalita, euGenio p. cubillo ii, MiKe de leon, bon erasMo, stonG Franco, heidi Gaddi, paMela liM, percival luGue, celso QuiJano, Jr. Jun salaliMa, Jepoy soriano Illustrators / Cartoonists clarice tinG noel pabalate evania valdes contributors
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test drive

September 8, 2012

Using the gridlines as your guide, copy the illustration. Check the numbers and letters to make sure that you are putting the right lines and shapes on the right gridlines. When you have completed the drawing, color it!

MANILA BULLETIN

MEMORY GAME
Test your memory and analytical skills. Look at the picture for 10 seconds and then turn to page 9. Try to answer the questions there without looking at this illustration.
September 8, 2012

MANILA BULLETIN

Disney Live!
September 8, 2012 MANILA BULLETIN
No need to go abroad to see the Disney characters that you love! You can hit the road with Mickey Mouse and your favorite Disney friends for a hilarious talent search in Disney Live! Mickeys Rockin Road Show! Featuring classic characters in an original storyline, this all-new stage production from Feld Entertainment, the producers of Disney On Ice, will run at the Smart Araneta Coliseum until September 15. In the show, Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy set out on a zany road trip where audiences join in and help find the coolest acts around. Along the way, they meet with Cinderella,Tigger, and the Toy Story gang, Woody, Jessie and Buzz Lightyear. Besides the Disney characters. there will also be great acts that the whole family can enjoy. The show is jam-packed with unexpected twists and turns!

Tickets are available in all TicketNet outlets and can also be purchased online at www. ticketnet.com.ph. For more details about Disney Live! Mickeys Rockin Road Show, visit www. disneylive.com.ph or call Vivre Fort Entertainment at (02) 4706956.

Here are some of the words used in this issue of Funpage. Read on and add them to your vocabulary!

Rehearsal practice sessions before a public performance Jarring confusing, shocking Monologue a dialogue spoken by one person Ad lib improvise Outcast outsider Shrugged the act of raising the shoulder as a gesture of doubt Cringe to shrink back in fear Unwavering - steady

Kiddie Fashion Event of the Year!

Want to attend a fashion show and get style tips from real fashionistas? Head off to SM Mall of Asia-Atrium this October 7 for this years highly-anticipated Barbie 2012 Fall / Winter Fashion Show entitled Play with Fashion Besides having the chance to sit front rows at a real fashion show, kids get to participate in other great activities like Nail Art, Whimsy Body Glitter Art, Fashion Mash-Up Photo-Op Booth, Barbie Dream Closet and Bead-ollicious. To avail of the BARBIE VIP pass, heres what you should do. Purchase a minimum single receipt of PhP 1,500 worth of Barbie Apparel at participating Barbie SM Childrens Wear Outlets, from today to September 30, 2012. This will entitle you to a VIP pass.

Have you found other words that you cant understand? Write them down and check with a dictionary!

VISUAL TRICKS
Hey Kids! Can you guess what this is? To find out, ask a friend to hold it for you while you walk backwards.
September 26, 2012 November 8, 2011
MANILA BULLETIN MANILA BULLETIN

By Eugene Cubillo

Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Day
By Percy R. Lugue Amazing Grace is having a Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah day. Below are four pictures of her taken at the park. Can you figure out which two are identical?
September 1, 2012 MANILA BULLETIN

Siamese...

Contd from page 1

Now Manila, Tomorrow Paris

Seeing her perform, no one will think that it is Lexis first time to be in a big production. The nine-year-old_girl, after all, has a monologue in the play as Princess Ying Yaowalak, who in the story read a letter she has written to Anna. It is perhaps because of the experiences and training she got in school as a member of the Letran Choir and starring in school plays. Her advice on handling stage fright: If you ever forget lines, try to ad lib! Besides acting and singing, Lexi also excels in dance, having taken up ballet when she was four. When I hear music, I really want to dance, she says. It was actually only a year after that she started singing. Lexi has a different tactic when it comes to managing her time. When there are rehearsals, she would leave class early. Its all legal since her teachers know about the play. Whatever she missed out on, she would just catch up with after. I just copy the questions for the seatwork and homework from my classmates, Lexi shares. I memorize my lines when Im doing my studies. This being her first time to perform on a stage as huge as the one in Resorts World, Lexi finds it all so exciting. I like being onstage because its really big. When there are people and cameras, you feel like, oh my gosh, youre in a show, she exclaims. Her next stop, according to her, Paris and maybe even a lead in the musical Annie. I might pursue acting, singing or dancing, or anything that can be entertaining! And I would love to perform in Paris! Lexi grinned

Veteran at 10
Being a kid in a huge production like this isnt something new for Anton anymore, who already got his big break when he was cast as Kurt von Trapp in another Resorts World Manila production, Sound of Music. Anton performed onstage as Kurt for 55 times in the shows eight-month run. That may seem too much for a 10-year-old but Anton is actually a veteran He started singing at the age of five and got into acting, two years later. He has since starred in numerous school plays. In The King and I, he will be playing Prince Chulalongkorn, the King of Siams eldest son and heir. Juggling school and stage can be challenging. Its actually really hard, cause after rehearsals, I go home late, but [then] I have to study for a test the next day. So I have to keep on studying, Anton explains. I would sleep at around one in the morning. Memorizing lines and rehearsals also intrude on his leisure time. For The King and I, they started rehearsing in July because they need to adapt to the size of the stage. We have to get used to [being on stage],Anton says. Its hard because after we adjust to the stage size, we have to go back to our rehearsal rooms and adjust again to the size of the rehearsal room.Then, after we would rehearse onstage again. According to Anton, the scene where Tuptim is almost killed but is stopped and the Shall We Dance scene are his favorites. Its a nice song and its very good to dance with and sing along to. It always lightens up my

lootbox
Want to win HUNGER GAMES DVDs and Limited Edition Movie T-shirts?
Just answer this question! Which young star played the lead Katniss in the movie Hunger Games?
a. Jennifer Lawrence b. Elle Fanning c. Emma Stone

Anton Posadas as Prince Chulalongkorn

James Ketcher as Annas son Louis Leonowens dance and sing. Then I realized I should [join] a major production, so I did, and I auditioned, he says. The 11-year-old had stage experiences through his school plays in Mahatma Gandhi International School such as Fiddler on the Roof, Romeo and Juliet, Cats, Notre Dame de Paris, and Oliver, where he got his first lead role. The King and I, which will open on September 15, will be his first major production. Its so exciting to be in a big production like this! The costumes are great, and its amazing how the props are displayed, James says. But if its your first time, and youve got many people [watching you], you get really nervous. On balancing books and rehearsals, James gets by, though admittedly, its hard especially if he has homework on a weekday. Going home, sometimes I would get stuck in traffic and I would reach home by 9 pm. I would still have to do my homework, and then prepare my things for school the next day. So I sleep at around 10: 30 or 11 pm, James says. If you want to be a stage actor though, you need to be dedicated, onstage or offstage. Even in his free time, James aims to do productive things that can help him improve his performance. During recess or lunch, I would recite the lines pretending that someone is actually there. That helps me quite a bit. But I practice even when I dont have any rehearsals like when I finish school early, James explains. Like Anton, practicing in rehearsal rooms and on the actual stage can be jarring. The movements that youve practiced in the

Kristina Alexandra Lexi Rodriguez as Princess Ying Yaowalak rehearsal room are so small, that no one can see it on when you transfer to a huge stage. So, you really need to practice and exaggerate, he clarifies. For sure, it is not the last time people will be seeing James onstage. Even now, he is already thinking of auditioning in other plays when The King and I wraps up. Oliver is coming up, so Im not sure if Im going to audition for that but hopefully yeah. Ill try to because Ive had experienced being Oliver at my school because I was the lead role in my school play. And gosh, it was so fun. I would love to do it again, James says.

mood, Anton says with a smile. After this production, Anton plans to continue starring in stage plays. His ultimate dream role: Peter Pan because theres flying.

From Performing to Acting

James Ketcher, on the other hand, has not taken up any formal acting lessons. The British-Filipino, who plays Annas son Louis Leonowens, only sings and dances in school. It was only when he got cast in productions that he learned how to act, like showing different facial expressions. In my schools talent show, I [would] normally

The King and I will open on September 15 at Resorts World Manila. Tickets are available at the Resorts World Manila Box Office and all TicketWorld outlets. For information, call 836-6333 or visit www.rwmanila.com.

Send the letter of your choice with your name, age, school and contact details to Manila Bulletin Corner Recoletos and Muralla Sts. Intramuros, Manila or email to mbfunpage@yahoo.com. You can also message us on our Facebook page, www. facebook.com/mbfunpage. Winners will be announced in the coming issues!

The three kids in The King and I

WINNERS all
Cartoon Network
Raymond Matthew P. Intervalo, 8 Annika G. Ferriols, 6 Jean Clarisse V. Florenosos, 10 Congratulations to the winners of the Cartoon Network Contest. Please claim your prize at the Manila Bulletin Lifestyle Office, Muralla Corner Recoletos Sts. Intramuros, Manila. Bring your ID. For details, call 5278121 local 358 and look for FUNPAGE. Call before claiming. Prizes not claimed within 60 days will be forfeited.

MEMORY GAME
Test your Memory! Before answering these questions, go to page 4 and look at the picture.
1. What do you call the stuff Jeffery the Eaglet and his friends were playing with in the picture? 2. How many of them were used in sports? 3. What was the color of the toy car? 4. Was there a basketball? 5. Was there a musical instrument? 6. What toy was the girl holding? 7. What was Jeffery the Eaglet doing? 8. What was the baby playing with? 9. What kind of aircraft was on the stairs? 10. Name 8 of the toys that were in the picture?

September 8, 2012

MANILA BULLETIN

September 8, 2012
MANILA BULLETIN

odd man out

Which one is different from the rest?
September 1, July 25, 20092012

10

MANILA BULLETIN MANILA BULLETIN

1 6 7 8 9
7 8 9

4
Can you name the animals on Potchis balloons?

10 12 11

1 Rabbit 2

4 5
Jokey29@gmail.com

10 11 12
September 8, 2012 MANILA BULLETIN

11

Hey Can Can help Anton the Ant rescue his friends Hey guys! guys! you you help Antonthe Ant rescue his friends byfrom this mind-boggling maze? going to the maze below?.

by:salalimajun2012
September 8, 2012

12

MANILA BULLETIN

13

September 8, 2012 MANILA BULLETIN

Cast of Characters
September 8, 2012

Kodi SmitMcPhee

Norman Babcock

Weird...

...from page 16

14

I particularly loved Normans characterdown and dreary- but really just a troubled kid, who wanted to be understood and accepted. Dont we all? He was scared but he faced the danger bravely. His persistence was amazing! I really rooted for this unlikely hero. Watching him overcome all those obstacles made me realize that theres nothing wrong with being different because thats who you are. And the first thing to making people understand and accept you is for you to accept and understand yourself first. I also liked how Normans sister Courtney accepted him and stood up for him in the end. Another character that I admired was Neil. Despite what everyone thought and said about Norman, he merely shrugged it all off. He was loyal and he was very accepting of Normans queerness. He was a true friend. He actually even said that Normans ability to see and talk to ghosts was cool. His zany sense of humor and unwavering friendship added a light feeling to the story. I also liked Mitch and Alvin, who were wonderful comic reliefs. I also enjoyed the take on zombies as well as the ghosts as they enhanced the scary scenes. However, out of all of them, my favorite character is Aggie, the Witch. Even if she was terrifying and dark, she affected me the most. She sent goose bumps crawling on my skin. She was, for me, the central character. Without her the film would be plot-less! I like how the story captures that time in a kids life where we all have our doubts about fitting in and whether or not we really belong. It did a good job highlighting those lonely, misunderstood, and confused emotions that we all had during those times. But as Norman learned in the film, even if you think youre alone or that you dont fit in, remember that there are always people who care about you and truly love you. The writer, Chris Butler, deserves a round of applause for such good work. He has managed to incorporate lessons from such an unusual plot. Its central lesson was perhaps, acceptance. People need to be more accepting of others and themselves. Each individual

is different. Thats what makes each of us unique. We need to understand that. We should be more considerate of others and respectful to each other. Although some audience may cringe at some scenes that depict rude behavior, the nasty jokes, or the inappropriate dialogue, it is a movie that kids will relate to a lot. I actually learned a lot from the film. First, I learned that when people are scared, they sometimes say and do things they dont mean to because they dont know what else to do. Also, they do it because they dont understand or may not be ready to accept things. The film also made me realize that its all right to be afraid occasionally. It doesnt matter if you get scared! What matters is that you face your fears and you dont let them stop you from doing whats right! Also, revenge is never cool. Even if people wronged you or they did something unforgivable, you shouldnt retaliate because doing so will make you as bad as they are! I really did enjoy the movie, with its twists and turns! Its creative and unlike any movie Ive watched! The storyline is interesting and refreshing though there are scenes and language that may not be appropriate for the younger audience.

MANILA BULLETIN

Tucker Albrizzi

Neil

Anna Kendrick

Courtney Babcock

PARANORMAN is now showing in theaters near you!

Casey Affleck

Mitch

rating
Christopher Mintz-Plasse Alvin

The curse brings to life seven zombies

Leslie Mann

Sandra Babcock

color this page and save the city with Super cleve.

STONG ANd TOFi

by STONG FRANCO

Happy Birthday!

AmAziNG GRACE

by PERCiVAL LUGUE

HErSHEy LorrAINE BANgcAyA, 7 SEpTEMBEr 12

15

September 8, 2012 MANILA BULLETIN

Movie Review

16

September 8, 2012
MANILA BULLETIN

Weird and Proud

Review by Evania Valdes, 12 Multiple Intelligence International School

What would it be like if you were different from everyone else? If you could see things others couldnt? Ive felt out of place before. We all do. But being different is one thing and being treated like a freak is another. You see, Norman the lead character in the movie ParaNorman has a strange gift. He can see and talk to ghosts. This gift, however, made him an outcast. He felt alone, sad, and rejected. No wonder, he wanted so desperately to be normal like everyone else ParaNorman is a thrilling but funny family movie about acceptance, not only of others but of ourselves. It tells the story of 11-year-old Norman, who is treated like a freak at school, and sadly, even at home. But when he runs into his ghost whisperer Uncle Prenderghast, he learns that his extraordinary gift is the only thing that can save the town from the Witchs Curse. Made to feel like an outsider

herself like Norman, the witch casts a spell that will make the dead rise. Question is, will Norman be able to make peace with his gift and fight against the zombies? It might seem like a horror film but its also very funny. I found myself literally laughing out loud at the films hilarious moments and then covering my face in fear during the scarier parts. I personally think Laika Entertainment, the films producer, did a good job with the graphics and animation. The dark, scary forest setting and the electrical bolts that showed the Witchs powers were impressive. Even the sound and musical scoring made me feel even more frightened and kept me wondering when a monster would pop out! I just wish that the blank white screen during transitions were fewer and shorter. Turn to page 14

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Copyright 2012 The New York Times

Staking Out Paths to the Presidency

romney, reinvented after defeat
BOSTON From the moment Mitt Romney ended his first bid for the Republican nomination in 2008, he complained he had felt cheated out of a chance to explain himself. He had emerged from his national political debut, he told friends, advisers and family, as a essay caricature he did not recognize: emotionally uncaring, intellectually inauthentic, ideologically malleable. Over the next three years, he sought to reclaim his public identity with the self-critical eye, marketing savvy and systematic rigor of the corporate consultant he once was. When Willard Mitt Romney, 65, delivered his acceptance speech on August 30 at the Republican convention in Tampa, Florida, he owed the moment in no small measure to his efforts to persuade voters to see him as he saw himself: a man of deep convictions and big ideas, a credible party leader and inevitable presidential nominee. He coolly assessed the failings of his 2008 campaign and undertook a yearlong tutorial on everything from the tax code to global jihadism. He wrote a book laying out his vision and values to answer doubters and counter charges of flip-flopping on positions. He crisscrossed the country to raise money for hundreds of candidates. Mr. Romney returned as a far stronger candidate a crisper debater, a more decisive manager, a better strategist and a stick-to-his-

Obama, Driven To Excel in Every Contest

S ElECTiON DAY approaches, President Obama is sharing a few important things about himself. He has impressive musical pitch, he told an iowa audience. He is a surprisingly good pool player, he informed an interviewer not to mention (though he does) a doodler of unusual skill. Barack Obama is a voraciously competitive perfectionist. Aides and friends say so in interviews, but his own words of praise and derision say it best: he is a perpetually aspiring overachiever, often grading himself and others with report-card terms like outstanding or remedial course (as in: Republicans need one). As he faces off with Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee, Mr. Obamas will to win is in overdrive. He is cramming for debates against an opponent he has called ineffective, raising money at a frantic pace to narrow the gap with Mr. Romney and embracing the do-anything-it-takes tactics of an increasingly contentious campaign. Mr. Obamas obsession with virtuosity and proving himself the best are remarkable, those close to him say. (Critics call it arrogance.) it is a core part of his worldview, friends say,
Con in edonPage4 t u

MICHAEL BARBARO

By JODI KANTOR

jae C. hong/aSSoCiated PreSS

Steven Lane/the CoLumbian, via aSSoCiated PreSS

Con in edonPage4 t u

a cool assessment of his failings in 2008 led mitt romney to try for the presidency again. his opponent, barack obama, is uncomfortable with failure even in a casual game of pool.

world trends

Agony for families after crash in China.

sustainability

Forecasting costs of cooling the tropics.

intelligence:

arts & styles

Saving Indias musical roots.

15

Picassos por trait of war, Page 2.

manila bulletin o p i n i o n & c o m m e n ta ry

Saturday, September 8, 2012

editorials o f the ti me s

needed Fuel Standards

The federal automobile efficiency standards announced recently are an important step on Americas path to a lower-carbon and moresecure energy future. They are expected to yield multiple benefits: reduced dependence on foreign oil, fewer greenhouse gas emissions, consumer savings at the pump and a more competitive auto industry. They may also serve as proof that well-tailored government regulation can achieve positive results and that consensus among old enemies, in this case environmentalists and the car companies, is possible even at a time of partisan discord. The standards build on a 2009 agreement that established a unified set of rules governing fuel economy and carbon dioxide pollution from automobiles and light trucks. Those rules covered model years 2012-16; the new rules cover 2017 to 2025. Taken together, the two sets of rules would increase fuel efficiency from todays average of about 29 miles per gallon to 54.5 miles per gallon when they are fully effective in 2025. This is expected to result in a cut of 40 percent to 50 percent in fuel consumption and roughly equivalent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. The White House says the rules would reduce oil consumption by two million barrels a day by 2025; the nation now consumes 19 million barrels a day and imports just less than half that amount. And while fuel-efficient cars will cost more initially, lower fuel use is expected to save consumers up to $8,000 over the life of their vehicles. The battle for greater fuel economy goes back years and involved many players: California, which in 2002 passed its own law regulating greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles sold there; environmentalists, who pressured the Environmental Protection Agency to impose similar rules nationwide; the Supreme Court, which in 2007 authorized the agency to move forward; and Congress, which ordered the Department of Transportation to update fuel economy standards that had been largely untouched since 1975. President Obamas contribution was to bring about a consensus among the agencies, the states, the automakers and the interest groups on federal and state standards that reduced fuel use and gave industry the regulatory certainty it needed to move forward. It is a model of public-private cooperation. Even so, the Romney campaign has called the rules extreme and House Republicans have threatened to roll them back. That would be a grave disservice to consumers, the auto companies, the economy and the planet.

The depictions of war in Guernica by Picasso, on exhibit at the reina sofia museum in madrid, resonate today.
Denis Doyle for The new york Times

intelligence/rOger cOhen

Horror of War, made timeless

New York It is 75 years since Pablo Picasso painted Guernica, his response to the Fascist bombing of a Basque town on April 27, 1937, in which more than 1,600 people were killed. The image of chaos, terror, agony, dismay and despair captures the essence of modern war as no other. All is contortion and dislocation as Hitlers bombs, on behalf of Franco, fall on market day in northern Spain. A man shrieks, a child lies inert, a horse bays: Each expression in its way demands to know why the heavens now shed death, not light. A few days passed before word of the mass killing reached Paris. A million protesters took to the streets. Picasso was asked to paint the mural for an upcoming international exhibition. He began sketching in his studio. Three months later Guernica was unveiled in the Spanish Pavilion to a generally critical initial reception. But it quickly gained acclaim as it was shown elsewhere in Europe and North America. Picasso, in his rage at the Nazi crime, had done what every great artist does: distill emotion into eternal expression through imagination and the rigor of form. He took the more than 1,600 dead and made of their loss in a senseless attack an image so timeless it could very well express the killing today, by another tyrant, of Syrian civilians in Aleppo. Of course, we have countless images every day of the Syrian war Send comments to intelligence@nytimes.com. and President Bashar al-Assads crimes in defense of his familys 42 years of despotism. Life today is a whirring carousel of photographs and videos, so much so that it is hard to give weight or moment or gravity to any. One thing Guernica reminds us of in its many-faceted power is the importance of being still and looking at an image for several minutes to feel what it is when war takes lives: how that pain is lived and relived through generations and holds its own power to spawn conflict. It is rare today for an image of war to hold attention for any length of time. A photograph or a video sometimes goes viral the death of the beautiful student Neda Aga-Soltan in the Iranian uprising of 2009 was one instance but fades quickly enough. Dispersal of attention is one of the fundamental characteristics of our age; indeed it is a core function of an electronic device. Picasso once said: What do you think an artist is? An imbecile who has only eyes if hes a painter, or ears if he is a musician, or a lyre at every level of his heart if hes a poet, or even, if hes a boxer, just his muscles? On the contrary, hes at the same time a political being, constantly alive to heartrending, fiery, or happy events, to which he responds in every way. No, painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war for attack and defense against the enemy. Yes, great art is political, but Guernica failed in one respect. It was painted to raise consciousness against Fascism and prevent its spread. But within two years of its completion Hitler had plunged Europe into World War II with its millions of lost lives. My uncle, Bert Cohen, a young South African officer, fought in that war. In Italy, he described what happened near Finale Emilia: An artillery battery pulverized a German enclave. Wrecked vehicles smoldered. Wounded horses, nostrils flared in gasping horror, bayed a terrible sound. In the carnage ammunition exploded and tires burst. The stench of roasted flesh and putrefaction pervaded the air. Intestines of gutted animals ballooned from their carcasses. An infantry squad marched through the ruins bringing a bullet of mercy to animals that still agonized. One dead German in particular caught Berts eye: a blond square-jawed young man with a long straight nose, hair flecked with blood and smoke, legs twisted grotesquely, abdomen ripped open, coils of gut spilling through a ragged gash into the dust, sightless blue eyes gazing at infinity. Beside the corpse lay scattered letters from the soldiers mother in Hamburg. She talked about der Angriff, the Allied bombardment of the city which killed over 42,000 people. Uncertain what to do, Bert returned the letters to the dead mans pocket and then wondered for the rest of his life if he had done the right thing. War is universal but its agony individual and enduring. At its 75th anniversary, Guernica holds before us responsibilities our age inclines us to forget.

An Uncontrollable Outbreak
The menace posed by germs resistant to powerful antibiotics was all too apparent when a deadly, drug-resistant form of pneumonia bacteria struck the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, last year. It infected 17 patients and killed 6 of them. This episode is especially chilling because the center is one of the most sophisticated research hospitals in the United States. It imposed stringent isolation and sterilization procedures, yet even these failed to keep the germ from spreading. The problem started in June 2011 when a woman who was already infected with the resistant strain of the bacteria entered the hospital. She was placed in strict isolation, stayed in the hospital for a month and left without seeming to spread the germ to others. Then, a few weeks later, another patient was found infected, and many others followed over a period of months. The story of how the hospital traced the course of the outbreak was described recently by Gina Kolata in The Times, based on a research paper published online by the journal Science Translational Medicine. Rapid genetic sequencing by National Institutes of Health researchers established that all 17 subsequent infections originated from the first patient. The hospital found that the bacteria could remain undetected for weeks in places like sink drains in cleaned rooms. This episode shows again the importance of reducing the rampant overuse of antibiotics and of developing more effective ones.

the new york t imes is p ublished weekly in the following newspaper s: cl arn, argent ina aruba today and bon dia aruba, aruba der standard, austria the trib une, bahamas l a r a zn, bolivia folha and jornal o p ovo, br a zil the hamilton spectator and toronto star, canada l a segunda, chile china daily, china el espectador, colombia p oslovni, croatia listin diario, dominican rep ublic le figaro, fr ance sddeutsche zeit ung, germany p rensa libre, guatemal a the asian age, india l a rep ubblica, italy asahi shimb un, japan cabo san lucas, diario de yucatn, el norte, mur al and reforma, mexico el nuevo diario, nicar agua l a p rensa, panama manil a b ulletin, philippines today, singapore el pas, spain tages-anzeiger, switzerland united daily news, taiwan sabah, turkey the observer, united kingdom the korea times, united states el observador, uruguay

Saturday, September 8, 2012 world trends

manila bulletin

Ratings and Repentance For Islamic Televangelist

By DECLAN WALSH

2010 but was brought back last year, recasting himself as a repentant sinner. In his first Ramadan broadcast, he declared that Ahmadis had an equal right to freedom and issued an apology for anything I had said or done. Mr. Hussains success, with his manic energy and quickfire smile, is rooted in his folksy broadcasting style, described as charming by fans and oily by critics. By his own admission, he has little formal religious training, apart from a mail-order doctorate in Islamic studies he obtained from an online Spanish university in order to qualify for election in 2002, when he won a parliamentary seat. I have the experience of thousands of clerics; in my mind there are thousands of answers, he said. In 2011, outtakes from his show, leaked on YouTube, showed him swea r ing DieGo iBarra sanCheZ for The new York Times during the breaks audiences in aamir Liaquat hussains and making crude jokes. It was my television studio can win prizes. lighter side, Mr. Hussa in sa id. (Previously, he had claimed the ing his television pulpit to protapes were doctored.) mote hate speech and crackpot But that episode did little to conspiracy theories. He supporthurt his appeal to middle-class ed calls to kill Salman Rushdie, Pakistanis. Aamir Liaquat is a the author. Most controversially, warm, honest and soft-natured in 2008, he hosted a show in which person, said Shahida Rao, a Muslim clerics declared that veiled Karachi resident, as she members of the Ahmadi comentered a recent broadcast. We munity, a vulnerable religious like him a lot. minority, were deserving of Senior colleagues at Geo are death. Forty-eight hours later, less enthusiastic. Several have two Ahmadi leaders, one of them threatened to resign, senior exan American citizen, had been ecutives said. But the networks shot dead in Punjab and Sindh chief executive, Mir Ibrahim Provinces. Rahman, a 34-year-old Harvard Many media critics held Mr. University graduate, argues that Hussain partly responsible, and Pakistan needs people like Mr. the show so appalled American Hussain, who have credibility diplomats that they urged the with Islamic conservatives, to inState Department to sever a lucrementally change society. crative contract with Geo, which Mr. Hussain hopes to shrug they accused of specifically tarcontroversy off in his latest incargeting Ahmadis, according to a nation. A touch optimistically, he November 2008 cable published predicted, Even the liberals will by WikiLeaks. love me. Mr. Hussain left the station in

KARACHI, Pakistan The audience erupted as Aamir Liaquat Hussain, Pakistans premier televangelist, darted around the television studio, firing off questions about Islam. How many gates are there to heaven? he challenged. To the victors, Mr. Hussain tossed prizes: mobile phones, tubs of cooking oil, chits for plots of land, shirts from his own clothing line. Its the Islamic version of The Price Is Right, said the studio manager, standing behind a camera. Mr. Hussain, 41, is a broadcasting sensation in Pakistan, winning record ratings for his channel, Geo Entertainment. This is not just a religious show; we want to entertain people through Islam, Mr. Hussain said. And the people love it. Yet Mr. Hussain is also a deeply contentious figure, accused of us-

A show host cashes in on religious entertainment.

Tomas muniTa for The new York Times

Two gangs, mara salvatrucha and Barrio 18, reached a truce. members of Barrio 18 in prison.

Gangs Reach Truce in El Salvador

By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD

SAN SALVADOR They had faced off many times before, with guns in their hands. But when top leaders of two of the hemispheres most violent street gangs sat across from one another in a maximum security prison here this year, the encounter had a different aim: peace. With a chaplain and a former lawmaker officiating, the imprisoned gang leaders held a moment of silence for the thousands of people their street armies had killed. After a few more meetings and the governments concession to transfer 30 of the leaders to less-restrictive conditions they shook hands on a pact to put an end to the killings. We said we have to talk because things are getting out of hand, said Carlos Tiberio Valladares, a leader serving time for murder. No one is going to tell you they want their kids to continue on this path. Five months later, the truce endures in El Salvador, long one of the most violent countries in the Americas. With 30,000 to 50,000 members and weaponry that includes assault-style rifles and grenades, the two gangs are virtual armies that have the power to affect the security of the entire region and they have used it to terrorize populations still weary from civil war and instability. Some question whether the government should have made what some consider a pact with the devil. But authorities say the truce led to a drop in violence. This is a historic moment in El Gene Palumbo contributed reporting.

Salvador, said Alex Sanchez, a former Salvadoran gang member who leads Homies Unidos, an antiviolence program in Los Angeles. If we lose this moment, we lose the moment of a lifetime. Homicides in this country of six million people are down 32 percent in the first half of this year, kidnappings have fallen 50 percent, and extortion has declined nearly 10 percent, according to the Salvadoran security ministry, which attributes the drop largely to the truce. The talks involved the regions two largest gangs, Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18, which trace

An uneasy peace where murder and kidnapping raged.

their roots to Los Angeles. Their ranks mushroomed in the United States after young men fled Central Americas civil strife in the 1980s. When many were later deported for crimes in the United States, the gangs formed large affiliates in El Salvador and neighboring countries. At the first meeting, hot stares fed the tension, according to those present. About 200 soldiers stood nearby in case the sit-down dissolved into bloodshed and ignited the thousands of gang members the leaders command from behind prison walls. These prisoners now speak of

a new day. We have shown good will, said Victor Antonio Garca, a Barrio 18 leader. But now the government has to get involved. We need, like, an affirmative action law here for gang members who quit and need jobs. That some violence continues was evident in August at the morgue, where Wendy Maritza Rodrguez wailed Oh, my love! My love! as workers removed a sheet from the body of her nephew, who was a Mara Salvatrucha gang member. He was killed, she surmised, for trying to quit. The government at first denied any involvement with the truce, and then announced it was joining a peace effort led by Roman Catholic Church leaders, social workers and gang members. Officials in Honduras call the truce worthy of study, but American officials are wary. We think that, yes, it has reduced crime, but long-range, sustainably, we feel that we have to address the root causes in order to be effective, said Mari Carmen Aponte, the American ambassador. In Guatemala, where gang leaders are said to be considering a truce, officials have dismissed the idea of participating. Behind bars, the talk of peace is tempered with impatience. Ludwig Rivera, 28, a Barrio 18 leader, said: Its not that the truce is weak. We feel it is strong. But the lack of involvement of the authorities and the public could make it weak. They all think we are animals, but we have rights and we are taking a step, so they should take a step by investing in rehabilitation programs.

manila bulletin world trends

Saturday, September 8, 2012

romneys reinvention after defeat In 2008

Con in edfromPage1 t u
message campaigner whose chief selling point, his business expertise, was suited to the political moment. But he also ran up against the limits of his own overhaul. This is who I am, he told a publisher while pitching his book. And I want the book to reveal it. But averse to exposing his private life, he offered no personal narrative for people to feel they really knew him. His exhaustive campaigning between presidential races did little to diminish his awkwardness with voters. And for all his preparedness on foreign policy, he offended his hosts on his first overseas trip as his partys presumptive nominee. Mr. Romneys quick reimmersion into politics shows much of what still animates him: an abiding belief that corporate methods can be applied to the political sphere, a longing to be accepted by the world beyond his closeknit community, and a relentless drive for self-improvement. He felt he had been he knew that he had been unable to connect with the voters, said Peter Matson, Mr. Romneys book agent. In his mind, he had to do better.
Darren Mccollester/Getty IMaGes

Obama Pushes to Excel At Things Big and Small

Con in edfromPage1 t u
formed as an outsider child who grew up to defy others views of the limits of his abilities. When he speaks to students, he emphasizes living up to their potential. He has a general philosophy that whatever he does, hes going to do the very best he can do, Marty Nesbitt, a close friend, said. When Mr. Obama was derided as an insufferable overachiever in an early political race, some friends were infuriated; to them, he was revising negative preconceptions of what a black man could achieve. But even Obama loyalists say his quest for excellence can bleed into cockiness and the charge that he tends to overestimate himself. For someone dealing with the worlds weightiest matters, Mr. Obama spends surprising energy perfecting lesser pursuits. He has played golf 104 times as president, says Mark Knoller of CBS News, who monitors his outings, and he asks superior players for tips that have helped lower his scores. His idea of birthday relaxation he admired Mr. Obama, but added, Nobody likes to be in the room with someone who thinks theyre the smartest person in the room. Even some Democrats have been irritated by his tips on topics ranging from how to shake hands (look voters in the eye) to writing well (Think three or four sentences ahead, he advised). While Mr. Obama has given himself high grades for his tenure, many voters dont agree, citing his handling of the economy, his unfulfilled pledge to unite Washington, and his claim that he would achieve IsraeliPalestinian peace. Mr. Obama also has had a habit of warning new hires that he could do their jobs better than they could. I think that Im a better speechwriter than my speechwriters, Mr. Obama told Patrick Gaspard, his political director, at the start of the 2008 campaign, according to The New Yorker. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And Ill tell you right now that Im going to think Im a better political director than my political director. Though he never ran a large organization before becoming president, he initially dismissed concerns about management and ended up with a factionalized White House. Now Mr. Obama is about to receive the ultimate judgment on his performance from the American people. It is a moment, aides say, he has been craving: during some of the darker days of his tenure, he told them he wanted the country to evaluate him not in isolation, but in contrast to the Republican alternative. The tough attacks from the right have hardened and fueled him, aides say, driving him to prove that were right and were better, as one ally put it. As far back as 2008, Mr. Obamas assessment of Mr. Romney was scathing. On the day Mr. Romney dropped out of the presidential race that year, Mr. Obama told reporters the former governor was a weak candidate who made poorly thought out comments. No matter what moves Mr. Romney made, the president once said, he and his team were going to cut him off and block him at every turn. Mr. Obama has been working furiously, headlining three times as many fund-raisers as George W. Bush in his 2004 re-election campaign, according to Mr. Knoller. At a farewell meeting for White House interns, Mr. Obama dispensed some life advice. When you all have kids, its important to let them win, he said with a smile. Until theyre a year old. Then start winning.

Mitt romney, here with his wife, ann, wrote the 2010 book no apology to try to better explain his views and values.
typed out every chapter himself. He relished what he began to treat as a crash course on the United States military, Russian-American relations, public education reform and federal regulation. His book, No Apology, published in 2010, was a forceful conservative argument for preserving Americas military supremacy, free-market economic edge and energy independence. His book agent and editor had urged him to apply his personal experience to his policy prescriptions. But he offered only glimpses of himself in the book. of dollars from friends, which he used to saturate state and federal candidates with campaign donations. From 2008 through 2011, he gave nearly $600,000 to more than 200 officials and party organizations in at least 27 states. He was nonstop, Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee in 2008, said. In the summer of 2010, at his house in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, Mr. Romney told his biggest campaign fund-raisers that this time around he wanted to rely on donors, not himself. His 2008 primary race had cost $107 million, a figure widely mocked as excessive. He remained phenomenally well off. But after spending almost $45 million of his own money on his first presidential run, then $12 million on a beach house in San Diego, California the stock market crashed in 2008. On paper, Mr. Romney lost tens of millions of dollars on investments, said a person close to him.

message wasnt there Mitt Romney was unsparing on Valentines Day in 2008 when he summoned a dozen top aides to Boston. What had worked: raising money and collecting delegates. What had not: his relative lack of foreign policy experience and muddled positions on social issues. Participants recalled the selfanalysis as eerie and impressive, saying it seemed as if Mr. Romney were talking about someone other than himself. His diagnosis: The message was not there, according to several aides, who said he accepted much of the blame. With a book, Mr. Romney reasoned, he could avoid any ambiguity. I can write what I want to write. I can say what I want to say, his son Tagg recalled his father explaining. After a failed collaboration with a ghost writer, Mr. Romney
JulieBosmanandJoCraven McGintycontributedreporting fromNewYork.

Constructing a leader In December 2008, the phone rang in Mr. Romneys house in Utah. It was the president-elect, Barack Obama. Mr. Romneys wife, Ann, had just been given a diagnosis of early-stage breast cancer. Mr. Obama wished her a speedy recovery, saying he and his wife would pray for the family. Ann and I have you in our prayers, Mr. Romney replied, according to aides to both men. But less than 90 days into the new presidency, Mr. Romney assailed Mr. Obama in an op-ed article, accusing him of deepening and lengthening this recession and warning his policies risked wiping out the middle class. It was the start of a careful plan intended to build momentum for a second presidential campaign. The Romney strategy remained unchanged from his days at Harvard University, at Bain Capital, as the head of Utahs Olympic committee for the 2002 Games and in the Massachusetts governors office: he out-hustled those around him. In 2009 alone, he attended 53 events for Republican candidates and causes, made 44 television appearances, gave 11 newspaper interviews and held eight news conferences. He kept in close contact with his 2008 campaign staff and he raised hundreds of thousands

last-minute Jitters At the beach house in December 2010, Mr. Romneys top aides sketched out a possible 2012 campaign. They envisioned a focus on the economy, an issue they believed would transcend intramural Republican squabbling. But he did not share their optimism. A few weeks later, the Romneys voted on a presidential run. The decision had been unanimous in 2006, but this time around, the enthusiasm was gone. Why go through the process just to lose again? Mr. Romney asked, one relative recalled. The vote was 10 to 2, with only Ann and Tagg favoring a run. Over the next few months, Mr. Romney told his family three times that he would not run. But in the spring of 2011, aides made their final pitch, asking Mr. Romney if he believed that he could fix the economy. He said that he did. There was nothing left to discuss.

jonathan ernst/reuters

aides say President obama goes into a meeting prepared.

is competing in an Olympic-style athletic tournament with friends. The 2009 version ended with a bowling event. Guess who won, despite his history of embarrassingly low scores? The president had been practicing in the White House alley. When he reads a book to children at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, Mr. Obama seems incapable of just reading. In 2010, he began by announcing that he would perform the best rendition ever of Green Eggs and Ham. Matthew Dowd, a former adviser to President George W. Bush, said KittyBennettcontributed research.

Saturday, September 8, 2012 world trends

news analysis

manila bulletin

Fact-Checkers Howl, but Campaigns Continue dishonest ads

By MICHAEL COOPER

In his very first television advertisement last year, Mitt Romney showed video of President Obama saying: If we keep talking about the economy, were going to lose. The quotation was taken so wildly out of context that it turned Mr. Obamas meaning upside-down. The clip came from a speech Mr. Obama gave in 2008 about his opponent, Senator John McCain. The full quotation? Senator McCains campaign actually said, and I quote, If we keep talking about the economy, were going to lose. PolitiFact.com, the Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking Web site, rated the advertisement Pants on Fire, its most deceptive rating possible, but it achieved what the Romney campaign had hoped: people started talking about the sluggish economy and how Mr. Obamas campaign promises had fallen short. And it set the tone for the campaign that followed, which has often seemed dismissive of fact-checkers. Were not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers, Neil Newhouse, the Romney campaigns pollster, said recently at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida. He said that fact-checkers brought their own sets of beliefs to their work. Recent events have raised new questions about whether politics still holds any penalty for falsehood. Marjorie Connelly contributed reporting.

Criticism of representative Paul d. ryans convention speech began before he stopped talking. he is mitt romneys running mate.

todd heisler/the New York times

Brooks Jackson, the director of FactCheck.org, said that at various points this year both sides have blithely gone on repeating false statements. They dont care, he said, because it gets votes. The increasingly disaggregated media ecosystem, the diminished trust in traditional news organizations and the rise of social media had made it easier to inject questionable assertions directly into the media bloodstream and to rebut them. But while there is arguably more fact-checking now than ever and, thanks to the Web, more ways to independently check what candidates and campaigns say verdicts that a campaign has crossed the line are often drowned out by dissent from its supporters,

who check the checkers. Brendan Nyhan, an assistant professor of government at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, said nonpartisan fact-checking groups now compete with ideologically motivated groups that consider their work to be checking facts as well. The term fact-check can easily be devalued, as people throw it onto any sort of an opinion that they have, Mr. Nyhan said. The other problem is that the partisans who pay attention to politics are being conditioned to disregard the fact-checkers when their own side gets criticized. At the Republican convention Mr. Romneys running mate, Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, made a number of

misleading claims in his speech. Even before he stopped speaking, some of his claims were being questioned on Twitter. Soon factcheckers were highlighting some of the misleading statements. More partisan sites rushed to Mr. Ryans defense with posts finding fault with the first round of factchecks. The truth-twisting has not been limited to Republicans. Democrats repeated an out-of-context quote that made it sound as if Mr. Romney enjoys firing people. A group supporting Mr. Obama ran an advertisement giving the unfair impression that Mr. Romney was responsible for the death of the wife of a steelworker who lost his job and his health insurance when Mr. Romneys old company closed

down the plant where he worked. And the Obama campaign ran a commercial falsely suggesting that Mr. Romney opposes abortion even in cases of rape or incest. Confidence in the old arbiters, the mainstream media, has fallen precipitously in recent decades: the percentage of Americans who trust newspapers, television and radio to report the news accurately and fairly fell to 43 percent in 2010, down from 72 percent in 1976, according to the Gallup Poll. Mr. Nyhans research has shown the difficulties in trying to set the record straight through news accounts. In a recent paper, he and another researcher found that corrective information in standard news articles compared with separate fact-check pieces was often ineffective at changing the minds of people predisposed to believe a misperception, and sometimes made the problem worse. Bill Adair, the editor of PolitiFact.com, a project of The Tampa Bay Times, a newspaper, has seen his site come under fire from both sides, but said that this may prove to be the year of the fact-checker. I think there has always been a calculation by political campaigns to forge ahead with a falsehood if they think it will score the points they want to score, said Mr. Adair, who noted that campaigns still care enough about the truth to spend time explaining their positions and statements to his reporters. Whats different this time is there is more fact-checking than ever.

For inspirational gurus and self-help authors, the power of positive thinking is an article of faith. But earlier this summer, 21 people at a motivational speakers event LENS in San Jose, California, suffered burns after walking over hot coals. The problem wasnt that their belief that they could withstand the heat had wavered, Oliver Burkeman wrote in The Times. What if all this positivity is part of the problem? Mr. Burkeman asked. What if were trying too hard to think positive and might do better to reconsider our relationFor comments, write to nytweekly@nytimes.com.

Fool the mind, and the brain may Follow

ship to negative emotions and situations? Slogans meant to cheer people up (I am a lovable person!) can in fact have the opposite effect on people with low esteem and make them feel worse, Mr. Burkeman reports. Goal-setting can backfire for an organization. Visualizing a successful outcome can make some people less likely to achieve it. In medical situations, researchers have found that people are more susceptible to the power of suggestion. That placebos can have a positive effect on patients relieving pain, lifting depression, combatting infection is a widely reported phenomenon. People get better because they expect to. Expectations also have a downside. When patients anticipate that a pill has negative side effects, they can suffer them even if the pill is fake. Its called the nocebo effect. Many people quit medical trials even when they are receiving placebos because they experience side effects, The Times reported. In a study of subjects with and without lactose intolerance conducted by Italian gastroenterologists, subjects were asked to take lactose, though all were given glucose, which has no effect on the gut. Still, 44 percent of those with lactose intolerance and 26 percent without reported having stomach problems. We can trick our bodies if we try hard enough. Or work out hard enough. Diana Spechler found that Bikram yoga, practiced in a room heated to 37 degrees Celsius, helped alleviate a lifetime of anxiety and sleeplessness. She wrote in The Times about leaving her first few sessions in a blissful state. But Ms. Spechlers state of euphoria, as her grandmother described it, was not destined to be permanent. She stuck close to her plan of 365 yoga classes in 365 days. Yet her medicine, Bikram yoga, started to wear off. As drugs tend to do over time, it stopped working, Ms. Spechler wrote. The euphoria dissipated. My anxiety would creep back an hour or two after class. She resumed her ritual consumption of pills to sleep at night. Waiting on a long line, or waiting

for luggage at an airport baggage carousel, can make people anxious and unhappy, as executives at a Houston airport discovered several years ago. Complaints about long waits for bags persisted even after more handlers were assigned to shorten bag delivery time, Alex Stone wrote in The Times. What worked in Houston was moving the baggage carousel far away from the arrival gates so passengers had to walk six times longer to get their bags. Complaints dropped to near zero. The dominant cost of waiting is an emotional one: stress, boredom, that nagging sensation that ones life is slipping away, Mr. Stone wrote. A better understanding of the psychology of waiting can help make those inevitable delays that inject themselves into our lives a touch more bearable. TOM BRADY

manila bulletin world trends

Saturday, September 8, 2012

In China, a Rail Crash Survivor Is Frustrated by Bureaucracy

By ANDREW JACOBS

SHANGHAI Henry Cao remembers the moment the highspeed train he was riding rearended another last summer in Wenzhou: the pleasantly hypnotic rocking that gave way to a jolt he likened to an earthquake, followed by blackness and the sensation of falling as the car plummeted 30 meters off a viaduct. We were flying like rag dolls, he said. The crash killed 40 passengers and injured 191. Mr. Cao, 33, a Chinese-American importer from Colorado, barely survived; he lost a kidney and his spleen, and head injuries have left him in a perpetual daze, unable to stay awake for more than an hour or two. His parents, naturalized American citizens taking him on a tour of their native land, were killed. As Mr. Cao has struggled to recover, he has been trying to wrest compensation from the Ministry of Railways, a government behemoth unaccustomed to dealing with determined foreign citizens. In August, Mr. Cao returned to China for the first time since the accident. He and his brother, Leo, came to collect their parents remains and to press the ministry. They know how to wear you down, Mia Li contributed research from Beijing.

henry Cao, near left, of Colorado, suffered debilitating head injuries in the rail crash that killed his parents in China. with his brother, leo.
sim Chi yin For the new york times

said Leo Cao, 30. First they let you scream and yell, then they stall you, and finally they tell you vague and empty words. Now they say, Youre lucky youre getting anything. The Cao brothers left China two decades ago. This place is not how I remember it, said Henry Cao, speaking faintly as his eyes flickered and lost focus. Everyone is rushing around to make money. Life here is cheap. The ministry employs more than two million and rivals the Chinese military in size and influence. It runs its own court system and is largely impervious to oversight. It has been accused of corruption. A former minister, Liu Zhijun, is expected to go on trial in Sep-

tember for charges of taking millions of dollars in bribes. G overnment investigators placed the blame for the accident on flaws in signaling equipment. Investigators say the ministry bypassed safety regulations in its haste to create the worlds largest high-speed railroad network. For the brothers parents Cao Erxing and his wife, Chen Zengrong, both 56 the return to China was a capstone to lives of toil in New York City sweatshops and restaurant kitchens. The father and mother, neither of whom studied beyond middle school, had left Fujian Province with their boys, taught themselves English and earned enough money to buy

a house in New York. At the time of their death, they were custodial workers at La Guardia Airport. They finally felt financially secure enough to take their first vacation, Leo Cao said. His father died at the scene, but his mother survived for two hours, leaving unanswered questions. Did she receive adequate medical care? And who was heartless enough to swipe the $10,000 from the pack fastened to her waist? After a blizzard of coverage in the days after the crash including reports of a botched rescue and efforts to bury one of the train carriages the censors blocked discussions of the topic on microblog services. In July, victims families were warned against holding public memorials. But the Cao brothers have ignored this. Ministry officials have offered them $280,000 for the death of their parents and $85,000 for Henry Caos injuries, the brothers said. In the hours after the accident, ministry negotiators relentlessly hammered out deals that in the end were nearly the same: about $140,000 for each fatality. The Caos have requested $5 million, based on what they say the three would have earned over 20 years of working in the United States. Leo Cao said that his brother was too disabled to work and that the offered compensation would not

A Chinese ministry is largely impervious to oversight.

go far in supporting his four young children and paying for his medical expenses. From the outside, my brother looks somewhat normal, but hes half the man he used to be, he said. The ministrys minders stay in the same hotel as the brothers, paying for their accommodations and carrying their luggage. But they frequently call to find out where they are. Negotiators have warned of troubles that might result from talking to journalists. In August, as the brothers wept over their parents coffins at a funeral home in Wenzhou, ministry employees huddled awkwardly. If they lose track of us, they get scolded, Leo Cao later said. Among the photographs recovered from their fathers iPhone is a shaky snapshot of the monitor that graced the carriage of their train boasting that it was moving at 303 kilometers an hour. My father was so proud of Chinas progress, Leo Cao said. Unfortunately it was Chinas progress that killed my parents.

Tolerance Eases French Ban on Veils

By STEVEN ERLANGER and ELVIRE CAMUS

kenza Drider, who continues to wear the niqab, called the ban completely ridiculous.
daughter in my arms. Ms. Ahmas is appealing an arrest and fine to Frances highest court, hoping then to question the laws validity before the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds of religious freedom. But most of the women who wear the niqab about 2,000 out of a population of over 65 million, the Interior Ministry estimates are not as outspoken. They limit their moves and stay in their own neighborhood, said Mhammed Henniche, secretary general of the private Union of Muslim Associations of Seine-Saint-Denis. Mr. Henniche said he opposed the ban as a political effort to stigmatize a community, but he has counseled French Muslims to obey the law and work for repeal. When he visits London, Mr. Henniche said, the first thing he notices is the number of women wearing the niqab. I think, Whoa, its an open country, English people are open, he said. Such tolerance is a good thing.

PARIS During a recent protest in Marseille, seven people were surrounded by the police and brought in for questioning. Their offense was the balaclavas they were wearing, a violation of the French law banning full-face veils in public places, passed in April 2011. The protest was against the conviction of Pussy Riot, the feminist Russian punk band, hence the balaclavas, but the law was aimed at what Nicolas Sarkozy, then the president, considered a rise in Islamic extremism in France. Critics warned that the law, in addition to depriving Muslim women of their rights, would inflame tensions heightened by the economic crisis, riots and lingering fears of terrorism, on one side, and accusations of racism on the other. A little over a year later, however, defendSteven Erlanger reported from Paris, and Elvire Camus from Paris and Aubervilliers, France.

ers and critics agree the impact has been less dramatic than the politicized prologue, because of tolerance from most Muslims and the police. Frances experience with the socalled burqa bill is in many ways a proxy for the countrys and Europes ability to integrate its Muslim population, the largest on the Continent. The Belgian government hopes to enact a similar ban on the niqab, which covers the face except for the eyes, and the Dutch government hopes to pass such a law next year. Since the law went into effect, 425 women wearing full-face veils have been fined up to 150 euros ($188) each and 66 others have received warnings, said Pierre-Henry Brandet, spokesman for the Interior Ministry. But even the police concede that they rarely enforce it. In the great majority of cases, Mr. Brandet said, women lift their veils when the police ask. Some women who wear the niqab say that, for the most part, the police know them and leave them alone.

To avoid accusations of discrimination, the Sarkozy government wrote the bill as a security measure, proscribing anyone from wearing clothing intended to hide the face. But the bill also set prison terms for anyone forcing another to wear the full-face veil, a measure aimed at Muslims. Defenders of the law, which has been popular with the public, said that France needed to protect its republican values of secularism in the public space; many also said that Frances Muslims, immigrants and French-born, must accept French norms. Some said that the law protected Muslim women from religious extremism and gave them freedom of choice. Kenza Drider continues to wear the niqab as part of what she considers her religious duty as a married Muslim woman. A convert, she is the mother of four children and considers the law discriminatory and completely ridiculous. When asked by the police to remove the veil, she does so, but then replaces it. In general, she said, the

Anne-Christine PoujoulAt/AgenCe FrAnCe-Presse getty imAges

police in her hometown, Avignon, now know her and wave at her instead of arresting her. Hind Ahmas, 33, has worn the niqab for eight years against the wishes of her family, who immigrated from Morocco. This law has made my life miserable, said the divorced mother of a 5-year-old girl. Ive been spat at, honked at from cars and also beaten. I was assaulted while I was carrying my

Saturday, September 8, 2012 world trends

manila bulletin

beirut journal

In movie theaters, a reflection of Change

By DAMIEN CAVE

bryan denton for the new york times

the free syrian army cobbles together weapons. a commander and 15-year-old arms maker.

Syrian Rebels Improvise Their Arsenal

By C. J. CHIVERS

TAL RIFAAT, Syria As the sun blazed over this partly deserted Syrian city one recent afternoon, two young men appeared in a pickup truck in an alley near several auto repair workshops. Protruding from the trucks bed was a steel pipe about a meter long and six centimeters wide, resting on a simple frame. The pipe was not for plumbing. It was a locally made mortar that had been used in July in the battle for Azaz, a city in northern Syria where antigovernment fighters drove away the army of President Bashar al-Assad. Now we have three or four of these, but we need to make more, said Mustafa, one of the men who had made the weapons in small machine shops. He also makes homemade mortar rounds. We can make, every day, 25 shells, he said. Mustafas handiwork is part of a grass-roots effort to create the fighters diverse and idiosyncratic arsenal. That is an essential component of the rebels survival and their recent successes against the professionally trained military with which they are locked in a struggle for Syrias future. Local businesses and tradesmen have organized to make weapons. Some shops concoct explosives and propellants, a job that one organizer, Ahmed Turki, said had best been accomplished by a local painter with experience mixing chemicals. Others, who have electricians skills, wire together the circuits for makeshift bombs.

Machinists and metallurgists assemble rockets and mortars, as well as the bodies for mortar and artillery shells or the large cylinders used to hold the charges in roadside or truck bombs. (These men also make truck mounts for machine guns captured from government forces.) Still others remove the propellant from captured tank and artillery rounds, which is then repurposed in the rebels arms. As the forces opposed to Mr. Assad have appealed with little success to the West for weapons and foreign air support, the rebels have steadily pursued their own

Building, capturing and smuggling to arm the uprising.

project, developing the dark arts of weapon-making with surprising speed. Participants said they were able to model their weapons on those used in other Middle Eastern uprisings. We copied original Palestinian rockets, said Mr. Turki, who has since designed seven different styles of midrange explosive rockets. He also drew plans for a 62-millimeter towed artillery piece that is in development. In addition to such projects, the rebels have acquired many arms and weapons components from smugglers. These include blasting caps for bombs and telephone

components used to make remote-control detonators. And the rebels have been aided, they said, by weapons bought from corrupt members of Iraqs security forces. Those weapons were provided by the United States. Mixing arms captured from their enemies with arms smuggled across borders, and adding in weapons that the rebels supporters have made, Syrias guerrilla brigades have managed to drive the conventionally equipped Syrian armed forces from areas of the northern countryside and, in certain areas, to put the government to siege. The rebels success with makeshift bombs has been instrumental in denying territory to government troops and to the loyalist militias. Mr. Turki organizes tests for weapons that require a degree of precision, like rockets and mortars, whose ranges must be determined and whose projectiles flight should be stabilized by fins or by spin. The artillery piece he helped design has been fired about 20 times, though its range so far has not been ideal. We are still working on the shells, said Badr, who made the weapon with the help of a 15-year-old assistant, Mohammed. Asked when the weapon would be ready for use in battle, he nodded toward a milk crate full of locally made shells. Each had been put together from Chinese-made pipes and fittings, and topped with a threaded fuse body made of cast aluminum. With Gods help we will be using these soon, Badr said.

BEIRUT, Lebanon The red velvet curtains opened and a fantasy of Lebanon emerged, devoid of disputes over sect, politics or nationality. A Mexican-Lebanese singer belted out a pair of songs in Spanish. Arabo-Cuban performers followed, then a woman thundering through Adele, a longhaired Gypsy guitarist, an Egyptian singing in French and an imposing military man singing patriotic songs about Lebanon. Somewhere in there, the 10-piece band also looped in a little Stairway to Heaven. Its like D.J.-ing, but its live, said Michel Elefteriades, the owner of the nightclub, Music Hall. This is a country where we dont have a lot of things, where we dont have parks or a zoo for the kids. What we have are cinemas, restaurants and nightclubs. Music Hall is a bit of all three, a restored movie palace whose past can be seen in the sloped floor and high ceilings. It is an example of the Lebanon that many here want to project to the world: open and tolerant, all in the heart of the Muslim Middle East. But other old movie theaters here complicate the glossy portrait. That includes the Egg, an old movie house that preservationists want to save but which is slated for demolition to make room for the high-rises that have turned downtown Beirut into a generic Dubai. It also includes the smaller neighborhood cinema where the police arrested 36 men in July and Dalal Mawad contributed reporting.

subjected them to anal probes to test if they were gay. Old movie theaters here, it turns out, reflect the conflicting versions of Beirut that are always competing for prominence, like the political parties and militias that fight for power. Mohammed Soueid, a Lebanese film director and author of a book about cinema history in Lebanon, sees the old movie theaters as an example of what he calls the big lie of Lebanon, the idea that diversity itself (the miniskirted woman beside the veiled) signals success. You have a multifactional society with something like 17 different religions, he said. This model is not functional and we have paid a heavy price for it. Theaters once played a more unifying role. Lebanon lived under French control from 1920 to 1943, and the lingering influence of France led Beirut to what many here still consider a golden age of moviegoing. When Lebanons civil war began in 1975, there were dozens of movie theaters all over the capital, and it was only a matter of time before they became part of the conflict. In Hamra, an area of west Beirut, gunmen used several basement theaters to store ammunition. Many of the old theaters remain, though in different forms. The Virgin Megastore used to be one of the movie palaces. But increasingly Beirut is less interested in renewal than removal. All around the Egg there are cranes and glass towers. Its total greed, Mr. Elefteriades said. There is no respect for what makes a country a country.

moises saman for the new york times

old movie theaters exemplify beiruts conflicts. a projectionist at a cinema where 36 men were arrested in an antigay raid.

manila bulletin S u S ta i n a b i l i t y
newS analySiS

Saturday, September 8, 2012

the Costs of Keeping the tropics Cool

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

Fact 1: Nearly all of the worlds booming cities are in the tropics and will be home to an estimated one billion new consumers by 2025. As temperatures rise, they and we will use more air-conditioning. Fact 2: Air-conditioners draw copious electricity, and the coolants they contain result in planetwarming emissions. Fact 3: Studies show that health and productivity rise significantly if indoor temperature is cooled in hot weather. Sum up these facts and its hard to escape: Todays humans probably need air-conditioning if they want to thrive and prosper. Yet if all those new city dwellers use airconditioning the way Americans do, life could be a series of massive blackouts, accompanied by disastrous planet-warming emissions. It is true that air-conditioning made the economy happen for Singapore and is doing so for other emerging economies, said Pawel Wargocki, an expert on indoor air quality at the International Center for Indoor Environment and Energy at the Technical University of Denmark. He added, The current pace is very dangerous. In 2007, only 11 percent of households in Brazil and 2 percent in India had air-conditioning, compared with 87 percent in the United States, which has a more temper-

As energy demand rises, expectations may need to adjust.

30 minutes less work, he said. Other studies have found that office temperatures between 28 and 30 degrees brought on headache, drowsiness and difficulty concentrating. Worse, perhaps, Mr. Tanabe calculated that when offices were kept above 28 degrees, so many people were using inefficient fans at their desks that the total electricity consumption could be higher than if the building had been better cooled. Thats just stupid, he said. Some studies from hot and humid Singapore show that work improved if the thermostat was lowered to 22. Its a huge problem if we have to cool buildings in tropical environments to that level, said Mr. Wargocki, who is a visiting researcher at the National University there. But a report by the McKinsey Global Initiative predicts that one billion city dwellers will enter the global consuming class by 2025. And, for most of them, an air-conditioner will most likely be a first purchase since almost all of the

VICTO NGAI

ate climate, said Michael Sivak, a professor at the University of Michigan. He has estimated that as people can afford it, the cooling needs of Mumbai alone could be about a quarter of those of the entire United States, which he calls one scary statistic. Massive blackouts in India in July were almost certainly related to the rising use of air-conditioning and cooling, experts say, even if the immediate culprit was a grid that did not properly balance supply and demand. Cooling is the craze in India,

said Rajendra Shende, chairman of the Terre Policy Center in Pune, India. Scientists are scrambling to invent more efficient air-conditioners and better coolant gases to minimize electricity use and emissions. But so far the improvements have been dwarfed by rising demands. Studies by Shin-ichi Tanabe, at Waseda University in Tokyo, found that while workers tolerated dimmer light just fine, every degree rise in temperature above 25 Celsius resulted in a 2 percent drop in productivity. In a day that meant

cities with the highest potential cooling needs, according to Mr. Sivaks research, are in developing countries that are in hot climates. Researchers say the best hope is to adjust our air-conditioning expectations and behavior. The temperature many Americans find most comfortable indoors in summer 21 degrees feels uncomfortable to most Europeans, who find it too cold, said Mr. Sivak, who suggested that Europes greater environmental awareness might make people more inclined to tolerate a bit more heat in summer. Unfortunately, many tropical places seem to have followed Americas lead, Mr. Tanabe said. But certainly if I deserve to have an air-conditioner in New York, my counterpart in Mumbai deserves to have one, too. One way for architects to achieve compliance is to build with materials that do not absorb heat or pumping in cool air from deep underground. Mr. Wargocki, speaking from his condo in Singapore with the windows open to create natural drafts, said the European Union was forcing companies to use less cooling, by mandating stricter energy-use standards. We need to educate people there are other ways to be comfortable than just turning up the A.C., he said.

Cargo Ship Designers Return to Wind Power

By JOHN J. GEOGHEGAN

If the worlds shipping fleet were a country, it would be the worlds sixth-leading emitter of greenhouse gases. To reduce those emissions and to conserve expensive fossil fuels cargo ship designers are now turning to wind. The new vessels, mainly still on drawing boards and in prototype, look nothing like the schooners and galleons of centuries past. Last spring, the University of Tokyo unveiled a model of its UT Wind Challenger. It has nine masts, each 50 meters tall, with five rigid sails made of aluminum and fiber-reinforced plastic. Then there is the 100-meter, 2,700-metric-ton cargo carrier being designed by B9 Shipping (pronounced benign), part of the B9 Energy Group in Northern Ireland. Its three masts rise 55 meters, as tall as a 14-story building. Powered by a combination of

Modern vessels powered by sails and giant kites.

wind and a Rolls-Royce biogas engine, it is intended to operate with no fossil fuels. A model of the B9 ship was tested in July. The tests were promising, said Diane Gilpin, a founder-director of B9 Shipping. The next step, she said, is to seek financing for a full-size ship. It would cost $45 million and take three years to build. One company that is well past the design stage is SkySails. Founded in 2001 in Hamburg, Germany, it has been selling automated towing kite systems for cargo ships for several years.

Resembling a giant paraglider, SkySails 325-square-meter kite is launched from a ships bow, pulling it forward when the wind is right. The company says that depending on wind conditions, fuel consumption can be reduced 10 to 35 percent. SkySails has installed its giant kites on six ships. Several factors are driving efforts like these. Since August, ships in North American waters have been required to burn lowsulfur oil, which costs 60 percent more than bunker fuel. The United Nations International Maritime Organization is also phasing in restrictions on greenhouse-gas emissions by commercial ships. Meanwhile, the price of bunker fuel, which accounts for most of a vessels operating cost, has been rising steeply 600 percent over the last 10 years. None of the wind designs under consideration would replace a

A design by b9 shipping has three 55-meter masts and a biogas engine.

b9 shIppING

ships engine, only supplement it. Nor is wind power practical for large vessels like container ships, which sail faster than 15 knots and need their deck space for cargo. But it is well suited for smaller, slower-moving ships, those in the 2,700-metric-ton-to-9,100 metricton range which accounts for 10,000 vessels, one-fifth of the worlds total cargo ships. Still, wind-powered technology

faces a steep development curve before the industry will be ready to embrace it. It also faces economic obstacles. Most sectors of the shipping industry are losing money, so it is not an ideal time to introduce new technologies. Craig Eason, technology editor at the shipping newspaper Lloyds List, said, Whether these projects will prove to be successful business ventures remains a question.

Saturday, September 8, 2012 S u S ta i n a b i l i t y

manila bulletin

A Cleaner Cooking Fuel Is Sparing Africas Trees

By ALICE RAWSTHORN

mass communication specialist third class ryan mayes/united states navy, via associated press

united states navy vessels took part in a program that showed biofuels were effective in warships.

Fleets Biofuels Program Draws Fire

By DIANE CARDWELL

When the United States Navy put a Pacific fleet through maneuvers on a $12 million cocktail of biofuels this summer, it proved that warships could operate on diesel from algae or chicken fat. It works in the engines that we have, it works in the aircraft that we have, it works in the ships that we have, said Ray Mabus, secretary of the Navy. It is seamless. The experimental fuels are also expensive about $7 a liter for the fuel used in the demonstration, compared with about $1 a liter for conventional military fuels. And that has made them a flash point in a larger political battle over government financing for new energy technologies. Youre not the secretary of energy, Representative Randy Forbes, a Republican from Virginia, scolded Mr. Mabus in February. Youre the secretary of the Navy. The naval demonstration known as the Great Green Fleet was part of a $510 million, threeyear, multiagency program to help the military develop alternatives to conventional fuel. It is a tiny fraction of the Pentagons $650 billion annual budget. But with the Defense Department facing $259 billion in budget cuts over the next five years, some lawmakers argue that the military should not be spending millions to develop new fuel markets when it is buying less equipment and considering cutting salaries. This phase of the militarys exploration of alternative fuels grew out of a task force that convened in 2006 to explore ways to reduce dependence on petroleum. If the

military had less need to transport and protect fuel coming from the Middle East, the thinking went, the fighting forces could become more flexible and efficient, with fewer lives put at risk. Early efforts included developing liquid fuels from coal and natural gas. But those fuels would not meet cost or environmental requirements, officials said. The Pentagon focused on advanced biofuels, which are generally made from plant and animal feedstocks that dont compete with food uses, a concern with common renewable fuels like the corn-based ethanol used in cars. But investors have been leery

Using chicken fat to reduce the need for Mideast oil.

of the enormous amounts of cash it can take to develop the fuels. Industry officials say having a large, steady customer like the military could attract other investors to help finance large refineries that would bring costs down through economies of scale. Military officials say their purchases of small amounts for testing have already helped reduce the cost. In 2009, the Pentagon spent over $100 a liter on algae oil from Solazyme. Sharon E. Burke, assistant secretary of defense for operational energy plans and programs, said biofuel spending was only about 7 percent of the $1.6 billion budget the

military was requesting for efforts to improve energy use in the next fiscal year. Its efforts include more efficient use of diesel electricity generators, putting greener engines in vehicles and aircraft, and using hybrid solar generators and batteries. And the Army recently sought proposals for $7 billion in renewable energy projects. The biofuel program has struck a nerve among Republicans. Representative Mike Conaway, a Texan who introduced legislation to limit biofuel purchasing and production, said Democrats were using the military to pursue an environmental agenda. We just want to require the Department of Defense to do exactly what every other American does when they buy fuel: they try to get the best price they can, he said. Many lawmakers objecting to the biofuel program including some Democrats represent coal country or take money from those in the coal and natural gas industries. Mr. Conaway gets a large share of his campaign contributions from oil and gas interests, says OpenSecrets.org, which tracks political contributions. While the Obama administration appears open to developing commercial biofuel production facilities, Mitt Romney, his Republican challenger, has signaled that the Pentagons emphasis on using more clean energy would not be a priority in his administration. Jonathan Wolfson, Solazymes chief executive, said, Our dream was to build a renewable fuels company. Without the military as a guaranteed customer, he said, it will be harder to get there.

LONDON When Sanga Moses was traveling to the tiny Ugandan village where his mother lives, he spotted a familiar figure walking beside the road, carrying a large bundle of firewood. It was his 12-year-old sister, who complained of having had to miss school to walk 19 kilometers to and from the nearest town to collect wood as cooking fuel for the family. Millions of other Africans, mostly girls, are in the same plight. Mr. Sanga, now 30, was so concerned that he gave up his job as an accountant in the Ugandan capital Kampala and plowed his $500 savings into developing an accessible source of cheap, clean cooking fuel. As well as saving time and money, it promises to reduce the pollution produced by the fumes of makeshift fuel, and the health problems caused by inhaling them, which are responsible for the death of more than 1.5 million people every year. Three years later, thousands of Ugandans are cooking with the organic fuel produced by the company he founded, Eco-Fuel Africa, and some 1,500 farmers are augmenting their income by using its equipment to convert agricultural waste into organic charcoal. As well as generating income for those farmers, the system has created jobs for hundreds of other people in selling and delivering fuel and fertilizer. It is also helping to slow the deforestation of Africa, as fewer people now need to forage for wood. Unlike many other humanitarian design ventures, which were initiated by Western designers in the hope of helping people in developing economies, Eco-Fuel Africa was conceived by people whose friends and relatives are intended to benefit from it. The problem I see with most other interventions is that they dont involve local communities enough and are initiated by foreigners who dont understand local problems, Mr. Sanga wrote in an e-mail. The American design commentator Bruce Nussbaum summed up the problem in a 2010 blog post with the title: Is Humanitarian Design the New Imperialism? From the outset, Mr. Sanga was determined to develop a system that would fit into his customers existing cooking methods rather than force change upon them. The system begins with the farmers, who collect organic waste and convert it into charcoal

Saving lives and creating jobs by making charcoal.

in kilns provided by the company. They keep some of the charcoal to fertilize their land, and sell the rest to the company. Eco-Fuel Africa deducts the price of the kilns from their charcoal sales. The charcoal is then converted into briquettes by local distributors using Eco-Fuel Africas machines. Already some 110 distributors, mostly women, employ local youths to make deliveries. Mr. Sanga had to sell most of his belongings, including his bed, to pay for the production of the first kiln. Eco-Fuel Africa introduced its first products in November 2010, less than two years after Mr. Sanga saw his sister carrying her bundle of wood. Technically, the most challenging aspect has been the design

eco-Fuel aFrica

a machine that converts charcoal into briquettes.

of the briquetting machines. A manual machine has now been developed, the Eco-Fuel Press, which compresses charcoal using a hydraulic jack. Its a very simple design, lowcost and produces better quality briquettes, Mr. Sanga explained. Its also easy to maintain. Mr. Sanga is now determined to expand the system, buoyed by Eco-Fuel Africas selection as a finalist in the 2012 Buckminster Fuller Challenge, which celebrates projects that address humanitys most pressing problems. The goal is to establish some 200 micro-franchisees next year. And the more successful EcoFuel Africa is, the more money it will generate for another of Mr. Sangas projects using part of the proceeds of its sales to plant trees.

10 manila bulletin science & technology

Saturday, September 8, 2012

The Role of Evolution in Creating Infrared-Seeking Predators

By SEAN B. CARROLL

A recent understanding of how some animals detect infrared light is providing some striking examples of how new abilities can evolve. Closely related to the rattlesnake, the fer-de-lance is also a pit viper, a member of a group of venomous snakes named for the deep sensory pits between the nostrils and eyes. These pits enable the snakes to detect infrared light in the form of heat. Humans and other warm-blooded animals emit heat as infrared radiation. Some pit vipers can detect prey a meter away. To understand how snakes evolved their infrared detection systems, a group of scientists led by Professor David Julius at the University of California, San Francisco, searched for potential infraredsensing proteins in the western diamondback rattlesnake. They looked in particular at genes active in the nerve cells that are connected to the pits, called trigeminal neurons. They found one, TRPA1, that was 400-fold more active in rattlesnake trigeminal neurons than in other kinds. Moreover, they found that TRPA1 was not highly active in the trigeminal neurons of snakes lacking pits. This evidence suggested that TRPA1 might encode a protein involved in infrared sensing. A few years earlier, Dr. Juliuss group had identified TRPA1 as the receptor that drives our response to the molecules in wasabi, as well

animals like the vampire bat have developed infrared sensing. a pit viper can detect a mouse a meter away.

A gene that detects wasabi makes snakes heat-sensitive.

gated infrared detection in another group: vampire bats. These bloodfeeding bats also have sensory pits that the animals use to locate the warmest areas on the surface of their prey. The bats had recruited a different ion channel/receptor called TRPV1 to become an infrared sensor. What is noteworthy about TRPV1 is that it is the same receptor that detects capsaicins, the active ingredients in chili peppers, in our neurons. It causes the familiar burning sensation when prompted. The team found that the form of the receptor expressed in vampire bat trigeminal neurons was much more heat-sensitive than either our TRPV1 receptor or the TRPV1 expressed in fruit bat neurons. The vampire bat receptor is thus tuned to detect heat in ways other bats and mammals cannot. Both the TRPA1 and TRPV1 genes are hundreds of millions of years old, while vampire bats, pit vipers, and pythons and boas are much younger species. The evolution of new abilities does not necessarily require new genes, but new variations of very old genes and new ways of using them.

Dr. Pascual soriano

julius lab/u.c.s.f.

as to other chemical irritants, like tear gas. The TRPA1 gene encodes a type of receptor protein known as an ion channel. In mammals, when the protein is exposed to and binds specific chemicals, the channel opens, allowing ions to flow into nerve cells and setting off a sequence of events

that produces a nerve impulse. But in pit vipers, Dr. Julius and his collaborators discovered that the TRPA1 has evolved to be especially heat-sensitive. While the receptor is not activated in most snakes by temperatures approaching 37 degrees Celsius (our normal body temperature), the western diamondback rattlesnake TRPA1 receptor is stimulated around 27 degrees Celsius, creating a thermal image of the heat source in the snakes brain that is used to aim its strike. Pythons and boas have also evolved heat-sensing pit organs on their faces. Dr. Julius and his team found that TRPA1 was also highly expressed in the trigeminal neu-

rons of python and boa pit organs, about 65-fold and 170-fold higher, respectively, than in the trigeminal neurons of other snakes lacking pits. Similarly, their TRPA1 receptors were 5 to 8 degrees Celsius more heat-sensitive than typical snakes. In both groups, changes in the structure of the TRPA1 receptor, and the evolution of very high levels of expression in their sensory pits, endowed the animals with sensitive infrared detectors. The large evolutionary distance between the groups indicates they separately evolved infrared sensing. Dr. Juliuss lab recently investi-

Genetic Secrets Researchers Cannot Share

By GINA KOLATA

Dr. Arul Chinnaiyan stared at a printout of gene sequences from a man with cancer, a subject in one of his studies. There, along with the mans cancer genes, was something unexpected genes of the virus that causes AIDS. It could have been a sign that the man was infected with H.I.V. But Dr. Chinnaiyan, who leads the Center for Translational Pathology at the University of Michigan, was not able to tell the patient, who had donated his cells on the condition that he remain anonymous. Around the world, genetic researchers using tools that are ever more sophisticated are finding information that could make a big difference to a donor. The question of how, when and whether to return genetic results to study subjects or their families is one of the thorniest current challenges in clinical research, said Dr. Francis Collins, director of the

United States National Institutes of Health. We are living in an awkward interval where our ability to capture the information often exceeds our ability to know what to do with it. The United States government is hurrying to develop policies on how to deal with questions unique to this new genomics era. Sometimes the findings indicate that unexpected treatments might help. In a newly published federal study of 224 gene sequences of colon cancers, researchers found genetic changes in 5 percent that were the same as changes in breast cancer patients whose prognosis is improved with the drug Herceptin. But under the rules of the study, the subjects could never know. One of the first cases came a decade ago. A young woman with a family history of breast and ovarian cancer enrolled in a study trying to find cancer genes that, when mutated, increase the risk of breast

cancer. The woman, terrified by her family history, also intended to have her breasts removed prophylactically. Her consent form said she would not be contacted by the researchers. But the researchers knew about the womans plan, and they also knew that their study indicated that she did not have her familys breast cancer gene. They were horrified. We couldnt sit back and let this woman have her healthy breasts cut off, said Barbara B. Biesecker, the director of the genetic counseling program at the National Human Genome Research Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health. After consulting the universitys lawyer and ethics committee, the researchers decided they had to breach the consent stipulations and offer the results to the young woman and her family. Gloria M. Petersen, a genetic epidemiologist at the Mayo Clinic

Dr. Gloria m. Petersen, who leads a study in pancreatic cancer at the mayo clinic, asks whether researchers should offer results to participants and their families.
jenn ackerman for The new York Times

in Rochester, Minnesota, and her colleagues ran into a disclosure problem in a study of genes that predispose people to pancreatic cancer. The forms did not ask about sharing findings that might be important to their families. Many patients, almost all of whom are now dead, had mutations that predisposed them to various cancers or to cystic fibrosis. Dr. Petersen, along with Barbara

Koenig, at the University of California, San Francisco, and Susan M. Wolf, at the University of Minnesota, got a federal grant to study the effects of offering to return the genetic results to the families. My gut feeling is that there is a moral obligation to return results, Dr. Koenig said. But that comes at an enormous cost. If you were in a study 20 years ago, where does my obligation end?

Saturday, September 8, 2012 science & technology

manila bulletin 11

finding s Bacteria From Humans Are Found in Chimps

Chimpanzees in African sanctuaries harbor human strains of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, according to a new paper in The American Journal of Primatology. Chimpanzees carry their own strains of staph, but scientists worry that some human strains are particularly pathogenic and could be harmful if spread to wild chimpanzees. Swabs from 62 chimpanzees were taken in two sanctuaries in Uganda and Zambia. Scientists isolated staph from 36 animals; many strains showed drug resistance and had sequences usually found only in humans. Ten tested positive for staph carrying a gene for a toxin associated with severe infections of the skin, soft tissues and lungs in humans. The chimpanzees did not become ill; they were merely carriers. Staph spreads through close contact. Sanctuary workers often hold baby chimpanzees a likely route of transmission. Chimpanzees are quarantined and tested for some diseases before release, but they are not commonly tested for staph. Fabian Leendertz, a wildlife veterinarian in Berlin and an author of the paper, worries that if wild chimpanzees get human staph, it could weaken an already vulnerable population. KATE YANDELL of soft-bodied creatures like sea stars and squid. Most robots today are large and rigid and mimic the movements of mammals. The soft robots are made of a silicone-based polymer and were created using 3-D printers. The color layers were built with channels into which researchers could pump colored liquids to change the colors and patterns of the robots. By pumping heated or cooled liquids, the researchers were also able to camouflage the robots in the infrared. This may be useful in building search-and-rescue robots, said George M. Whitesides, a Harvard University chemist involved in the research. By using color, they can serve as a visual marker to help search crews. They are very light and can make their way across mud in a way that a heavy robot would have trouble with, he said. The robots, which cost less than $10, can also pick up fragile objects like uncooked eggs, he said or even a live mouse. SINDYA N. BHANOO

Prashanth Vishwanathan for the new York times

indias mangoes tempt travelers, but severe diarrhea could result from indulging without caution.

When the mango bites back

NEW DELHI Accepting a just-picked mango from a stranger in Lodi Gardens and then putting it directly into my mouth skin and all was stupid. I admit that. But why did my first horrible case of traveler's diarrhea in India have to result from a mango? essay I love mangoes, and India's vast array of deliciously different mango varieties has been one of the great delights of moving here. You didn't even wash it? Dr. Paul Offit, chief of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, asked me later. No. Even by your standards, that was really stupid, Dr. Offit said. But what about the local yogurt I had eaten and the probiotic pills I had taken weren't my gastrointestinal flora protecting me? As it turns out, the fight against toxic bacteria is largely waged by the body's immune system, not the sweet-tempered millions found in a spoonful of yogurt. An immune response is a much more powerful agent against these bacteria than is trying to rearrange things within your intestinal flora, Dr. Offit said. That Indians are less likely than non-natives to be sickened by foodborne bacteria results less from their different intestinal flora than from years of immunologic experience, said Dr. David Relman, a microbiologist at Stanford University School of Medicine in California. Although it may appear that a lot of adults don't seem to develop diarrheal disease, they probably had a fair bit of it as kids, and it was through those episodes that they got immunized, Dr. Relman said.

GARDINER HARRIS

But without experience fighting these new invaders, a visitor's immune system has little chance of preventing an illness. That is why quickly taking antibiotics is so crucial. They are often miraculous cures, because 80 percent to 90 percent of traveler's diarrhea cases are caused by bacteria, said Dr. Phyllis Kozarsky of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Imodium, also known as loperamide, is effective too. Again, this was news to me. Dr. Kozarsky said Imodium ameliorates the illness's highly disruptive symptoms a significant benefit when the short

Good bacteria in the gut cannot ward off a full-scale assault.

trip to the bathroom seems like a marathon. Still, there are risks associated with aggressive treatment of traveler's diarrhea. Antibiotic therapy can increase a patient's vulnerability to other toxic bacteria, Dr. Relman said. All the good bacteria that normally inhabit the human gut bacteria that get decimated with antibiotics somewhat inhibit toxic microbes from getting a foothold or flourishing, even if they cannot fight off a full-scale assault. If you take an antibiotic and then get on a plane to India, you're much more likely to develop a serious infection, Dr. Relman said. Without those bacteria, the body may be more susceptible not only to other bacterial infections but

even to viral ones like the flu, said Dr. Susan M. Huse of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Some studies suggest gut bacteria could even play a role in the development of obesity. To ward off diarrhea, Michael Fischbach, a microbiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, endorsed eating yogurt and other fermented foods, particularly after using antibiotics, although he said there is little evidence proving the effectiveness of this strategy. Dr. Kozarsky recommended daily doses of Pepto-Bismol, which can reduce the risks of traveler's diarrhea during brief stays. PeptoBismol is not recommended for long periods, she said. Indeed, some antacid therapies can increase vulnerability to traveler's diarrhea. She recommended that travelers limit meals to foods that resist bacteria or those that have been well cooked. If you eat things that are still steaming, the bacteria will be killed, Dr. Kozarsky said. Because I live here, I cannot abandon fresh fruits and vegetables. Instead, I soak them in diluted bleach including the mangoes. Because gut bacteria are now suspected by scientists of playing roles not only in keeping my weight down but also in protecting against a variety of chronic diseases, like autoimmune disorders and diabetes, I will continue to try to get through mild bouts of diarrhea without resorting to medication. But if I develop a fever or really suffer, I plan immediately to take ciprofloxacin, a powerful antibiotic that is available over the counter in India.

Learning Doesnt Stop When You Are Asleep

People can learn new associations between scents and sounds in their sleep, according to a new study in the journal Nature Neuroscience. Researchers had sleepers wear masks into which odors were pumped: shampoo and perfume, or carrion and rotting fish. The smells were accompanied with different tones. When the sleeping subjects were exposed to a bad smell, they breathed shallowly. When they were exposed to a good smell, they inhaled deeply. They eventually responded this way to smell-associated tones even when the smell was not present. The subjects continued to alter their breathing in response to the tones once they woke up, though they said they had no memory of smelling or hearing anything. Prior efforts to teach new things to sleeping people have been unsuccessful. The researchers are now searching for practical uses for their findings, like conditioning people to change bad habits. Anat Arzi, the studys lead author and a graduate student at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, said, We need to understand where the border lies between what we can and what we cannot learn in sleep. KATE YANDELL

s. morin/harVard uniVersitY

this rubbery, silicone-based robot can glow in the dark.

With Camouflage

Cheap, Squishy Robots

Researchers who have published their findings in the journal Science have built softbodied robots that can either blend into or stand out in their environment by changing their color. The rubbery, four-legged robots mimic the behavior

12 manila bulletin h e a lt h & f i t n e s s

Saturday, September 8, 2012

The Hidden Risks in Medical Scans

By JANE E. BRODY

Radiation, like alcohol, is a double-edged sword. It has indisputable medical advantages: radiation can reveal hidden problems, from broken bones and lung lesions to heart defects and tumors. And it can be used to treat and sometimes cure certain cancers. But it also has a serious medical downside: the ability to damage DNA and, 10 to 20 years later, to cause cancer. CT scans alone, which deliver 100 to 500 times the radiation associated with an ordinary X-ray and now provide threefourths of Americans radiation exposure, are believed to account for 1.5 percent of all cancers that occur in the United States. Recognition of this hazard and alarm over recent increases in radiological imaging have prompted numerous experts, including some radiologists, to call for more careful consideration before ordering tests that involve radiation. All imaging has increased, but CTs account for the bulk of it, said Dr. Rebecca Smith-Bindman, a specialist in radiology and biomedical imaging at the University of California, San Francisco. Theres clearly widespread overuse. More than 10 percent of patients each year are receiving very high radiation exposures. The trick to using medical radiation appropriately, experts say, is to balance the risks against benefits. Some of the newest uses of radiological imaging, including CT scans of coronary arteries to look

for calcium buildup, have not yet undergone clinical trials. Experts have estimated that widespread use of coronary artery scans, which deliver 600 times the radiation of a chest X-ray, could result in 42 cases of cancer for every 100,000 men, and 62 cases for every 100,000 women. For every 1,000 people undergoing a cardiac CT scan, the radiation adds one extra case of cancer to the 420 that would normally occur. This risk may seem inconsequential, but not to someone who

No one tracks how much radiation patients receive.

gets a cancer that could have been prevented. Complicating the matter is the enormous variation sometimes tenfold or more in the amounts of radiation to which patients are exposed from the same procedure at different institutions. Although the cancer-causing effects of radiation are cumulative, no one keeps track of how much radiation patients have been exposed to. Even when patients are asked about earlier exams, the goal is nearly always to compare new findings with old ones, not to estimate the risks of additional radiation.

yvetta fedorova

As Dr. Michael S. Lauer of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute wrote in The New England Journal of Medicine: The issue of radiation exposure is unlikely to come up because each procedure is considered in isolation, the risks posed by each procedure are low and seemingly unmeasurable, and any radiationinduced cancer wont appear for years and cannot easily be linked to past imaging procedures. After an extensive review of the environmental causes of breast cancer, the Institute of Medicine reported last year that sufficient evidence of risk was found only for combined hormone therapy used by postmenopausal women and exposure to ionizing radiation, at doses much higher than those received during a mammogram. Everyone is exposed to a certain amount of background radiation about three millisieverts a year from cosmic rays, radon gas and the earths radioactive elements. Now, however, the amount of radiation used medically rivals that of the background radiation, adding three millisieverts each year to the average persons exposure. (A mammogram involves 0.7 millisieverts, a dose that is doubled with a 3-D mammogram.) Doctors in private practice who have bought imaging equipment tend to use it liberally to recoup the expense. The same goes for hospitals just a few kilometers apart that duplicate equipment so they can boast of having the latest and greatest capacity to detect disease. Doctors ordering tests suffer no adverse effects, and patients feel they are getting the most that modern medicine can offer. Dr. Smith-Bindman and her colleagues reported in June in The Journal of the American Medical Association that a dramatic rise in imaging rates from 1996 to 2010, including a tripling of CT scans, occurred in six large prepaid health systems where the financial incentive ought to have encouraged fewer, not more, tests. The increased testing doubled the proportion of patients who received high or very high radiation exposures. Among the 10 percent to 20 percent of children in the study who underwent a CT scan of the head, radiation doses were in the range shown to triple the risk of developing brain cancer or leukemia. Dr. Smith-Bindman urged patients to participate in the decision to undergo medical imaging. She said, Patients should ask, What is this test for? Do I need it? Why? Do I need it now?

peter da silva for the New york times

a new study found that novice female runners could increase their running form and efficiency simply by running.

Beginning Runners May Be Their Own Best Trainers

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

Can people become better, more efficient runners on their own, merely by running? That question is remarkably divisive, with experts on one side suggesting that runners should be taught a specific, idealized running form, while opponents counter that the best way is whatever way feels right to you. Little published science has been available on the subject. Now, a new study suggests that new runners eventually settle into better running form just by running more. For the study, in this months issue of the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, researchers at the University of Exeter in England used a group of adult women whod recently joined a running group. The women were planning to em-

The body might be able to teach itself to be more efficient.

bark on a 10-week, self-paced running program. All of the women who agreed to be studied were healthy, in their 20s or 30s, of normal weight, and new to the sport of running. They were fitted with motion-capture sensors, heart rate monitors and other measuring equipment and asked to run on a treadmill while being filmed. The scientists calculated each runners aerobic fitness, particular running biomechanics or form, and running economy. Running economy, also known as running efficiency, is a measure of how much oxygen one uses to run at a particular pace in essence, how hard it is to run at that speed. A more economical runner requires less energy than others and presumably should be able to run farther or faster. The novice runners in the new

study were not economical at first. Each woman trained on her own and at her own pace. Over the course of the 10-week program, they became better runners. Their speed and endurance increased. And they became notably more economical, with their ability to use oxygen increasing by about 8.5 percent. How the women became more economical seems clear to the studys authors. They changed, in subtle ways, how they moved, in an unconscious effort to make running easier. Perhaps most interesting is that most altered their form similarly. During the toe-off portion of each stride, they began bending their knees and flexing their ankles more, so that their legs became more flexed as they left the ground, says Isabel Moore, a researcher at the University of Exeter, who led the study. Being more flexed or bent, the legs could more quickly return to the ground for the next stride. The women were all somewhat wobbly in the rear foot when they began running. After 10 weeks, they were more stable when they struck the ground. Of course, this was a small, shortterm study of a very specific type of runner: novice, adult, female and slow. Whether the findings apply equally to young, experienced, male or swift athletes is unclear. Its also impossible to say whether the womens self-selected running styles would reduce or contribute to their injury risk over the long term, Ms. Moore says. But the results raise an interesting question in regards to teaching people to run, she says. If runners can self-optimize, as the women in this study seemed to do, then maybe we should teach runners to learn to understand how the movement feels to them, she says, rather than completely change how they run to one standardized form or another. Your body, at least in the early stages of becoming a runner, can be a fine and knowledgeable coach.

Saturday, September 8, 2012 h e a lt h & f i t n e s s

news analysis

manila bulletin 13

How Long do you Want to Live?

By DAVID EWING DUNCAN

Since 1900, the life expectancy of Americans has jumped to just shy of 80 from 47 years. This surge comes mostly from improved hygiene and nutrition, but also from new discoveries and interventions: from antibiotics and heart bypass surgery to cancer drugs that target and neutralize the impact of specific genetic mutations. Now scientists studying the intricacies of DNA and other molecular biodynamics may be poised to offer even more dramatic boosts to longevity by developing new drugs and therapies for such maladies as heart disease and diabetes. Aging is the major risk factor for most diseases, says Felipe Sierra, director of the Division of Aging Biology at the National Institute on Aging. The National Institutes of Health fund research into understanding the diseases of aging, not life extension, though this could be a side effect. Even without a new high-tech fix for aging, the United Nations estimates that life expectancy over the next century will approach 100 years for women in the developed world and over 90 years for women in the developing world. David Ewing Duncan is a contributor to Science Times. This essay is adapted from his most recent ebook, When Im 164: The New Science of Radical Life Extension and What Happens if It Succeeds.

(Men lag behind by three or four years.) In the past three years, I have posed a query to nearly 30,000 people at talks and lectures on future trends in bioscience: How long do you want to live? I provided four possible answers: 80 years, currently the average life span in the West; 120 years, close to the maximum anyone has lived; 150 years, which would require a biotech breakthrough; and forever, which rejects the idea that life span has to have any limit at all. The results: some 60 percent

The idea of living 150 years has very few takers.

opted for a life span of 80 years, 30 percent chose 120 years, and almost 10 percent chose 150 years. Less than 1 percent embraced the idea that people might avoid death altogether. In my talks, I described the biomedical research that might influence life span. Drug companies are running clinical trials on new compounds that may extend lives. Many serious attempts are being made to come up with a pill for aging, said Dr. Sierra, though he suspects

there will not be a single anti-aging pill, if these compounds work at all. It will be a combination of things. For over a decade, scientists also have experimented with using stem cells master cells that can grow into specialized cells to replace and repair organ tissue in animals. Anthony Atala, a urologist at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has grown human bladders and urethras from stem cells that have been transplanted into patients. But one stem cell pioneer, James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin, believes stem cell solutions will be a long time coming for more complex organs. Bionics, the augmentation or replacement of biological functions with machines, also might have an impact. Cardiac pacemakers have saved and extended the lives of millions. Researchers also are working on exoskeletons that protect joints and devices that tap into the brain activity of paralyzed patients, letting them operate computers using thought. Curiously, after learning about these possibilities, few people changed their votes, saying they didnt want to be old and infirm any longer than they had to be, even if a pill allowed them to delay this inevitability. Others were concerned about the impact on the planet. Some feared that millions of centenar-

dAvid shArshoTT

ians still working would leave our grandchildren and greatgrandchildren without jobs. Long-lifers countered that extending healthy lives would delay suffering. This would allow people to accomplish more and to try new things. It would also mean geniuses like Steve Jobs or Albert Einstein might still be alive. Ein-

stein, were he still living, would be 133 years old. Thats assuming he would want to live that long. As he lay dying of an abdominal aortic aneurysm in 1955, Einstein refused surgery, saying: It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share, it is time to go. I will do it elegantly.

In a World of Reflections, Turning From the Mirror

By KATE MURPHY

We see our reflections at almost every turn. In mirrors, shop windows, subway doors and even in the screens of smartphones. Some people are now trying to abstain from looking at their reflections for a day, a week, a month or even a year. It gave me a lot of serenity, said Autumn Whitefield-Madrano, 36, a writer and copy editor in New York who has gone on two monthlong mirror fasts, avoiding her reflection even in pots and pans and chronicling the experience in her blog, The Beheld. I was surprised at how quickly I stopped worrying about how I looked, she said. She began to focus on her work

and relationships. I hadnt realized how much I used the mirror as a life raft, she said, adding, When I took it away, I had to be really honest with myself. Marisa Gizzio, 45, a stay-at-home mother in Pennsylvania, went without mirrors for two days last year. Any reflection, even in the sliding glass doors at the grocery store, I would automatically check if my butt was sticking out or my legs were too big, she said. It was such a waste of time. The mirror fast helped arrest her self-destructive mind-set. I needed to wipe the slate clean and start thinking about what I liked about myself, which made me feel more confident so I wanted to eat better

A cashier couldnt resist stealing a peek at her reflection in the grocery scanner.

AngelA Jimenez for The new York Times

and I wanted to exercise. Kate Fox, a social anthropologist with the Social Issues Research Center in Oxford, England, said, The standards for beauty today are higher because you see images of outstandingly beautiful people in the media all the time (often Photoshopped ones). Men are just as likely to admire and appraise themselves as

women, said Dr. Eric Hollander, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He said of one patient, Hed pick at his imperfections and get stuck in the mirror for hours, so he wasnt able to go on dates or get to work. He advised the man to take down the mirrors in his house and stop wearing glasses while out so

he couldnt see fine details if he glimpsed his reflection. Adrienne Ressler, a therapist in Florida, advises patients to stop looking at their reflection with a scrunched-up face of disapproval. Replace it with a look of acceptance and maybe repeat a word or phrase that, she said, captures how you would like to feel in your body, like elegant or serene or Im O.K. Felice Austin, 34, a hypnotherapist and Mormon in Los Angeles, chose to go without mirrors instead of food for her faiths daylong fast last February. I do like to look in the mirror, said Ms. Austin, who describes herself as exotic looking. Maybe I noticed or appreciated it more because I could not look in the mirror, she said. Moreover, she said she became more aware of the aesthetic as well as the intrinsic beauty in those around her. When I couldnt look at myself, I think I noticed the beauty in others more, she said.

14 manila bulletin arts & styles

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Globetrotting Sculptors Works Find a Home in New York

By DOROTHY SPEARS

As a child the sculptor Saint Clair Cemin lived for two years on his mothers 2,025-hectare property in rural Brazil, where his father, an engineer, tried and failed to grow wheat. This was in the late 1950s, when the area surrounding the small city of Cruz Alta was, he said, still known as gaucho land, as primitive as the American West in the 19th century. There was no running water or electricity. It was a beautiful time of my life, Mr. Cemin, 60, said. And I think all of my work has been inspired by it. Seven of his sculptures, displayed in New Yorks parks and pedestrian malls along Broadway between 57th and 157th Streets, reveal the extent to which this is true. Presented by the Broadway Mall Association in collaboration with the Paul Kasmin Gallery in the Chelsea neighborhood which is mounting a concurrent show of Mr. Cemins work Saint Clair Cemin on Broadway includes In the Center (2002), a two-metertall semi-abstract figure sporting a gaucho hat and holding a divining rod, believed to help locate water. Mr. Cemin recently explained how the sculptures title is related to his mothers property, where the family survived on well water. Art is perception, he said, and in the center of perception is this strange faceless giant that looks for things looks for water and finds it. His work is arguably more focused on the juxtapositions of different worlds than on any single one. An itinerant artist who speaks

The Brazilianborn artist saint Clair Cemin has returned to new York, where his works are being exhibited in two shows. The sculptor in his Brooklyn studio.

Brian harkin for The new York Times

five languages, including Russian, he employs a dazzling variety of materials, subjects and sculpture traditions from around the world, often combining them to surprising and sometimes humorous effect. Another work in the Broadway exhibit, a hammered copper sculpture called Aphrodite (2006), refers to the Greek goddess of love and also calls to mind Zulu wood carvings. In the show at Paul Kasmin a new bronze piece, And Then (I Close My Eyes), features what may be a distracted meditating person from our own culture, Mr. Cemin said, or an imperfect Buddha. (The works on Broadway are

on view through November and the Kasmin show, Saint Clair Cemin: Six, runs through October 13.) Saint Clairs work relates to the theories of the French anthropologist Claude Lvi-Strauss, said the painter Peter Halley. Around the world he finds hints of language that people from other cultures can relate to. Born in 1951, Mr. Cemin moved with his family from Cruz Alta to So Paulo as a teenager. He fell in with a group of Surrealists and eventually attended the cole Nationale Suprieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, which may explain why he embraces traditional techniques

and handmade virtuosity. Feeling restless, he moved to New York in 1978, working as a printmaker until a Joseph Beuys retrospective at the Guggenheim a year later introduced him to a new range of possibilities. That was really a turning point, he said. He dabbled with a more conceptual approach to art, making drawings and doodles, he said, until the summer of 1983. Mr. Cemin closed himself off in a room for a week. Seated at a table with a few basics paper, pencils, paints and clay, he confronted what he called the essential condition of every human, and made whatever he

wanted. I was open to anything, he recalled. He modeled some 50 objects, mugs with faces in them; strange, decorative or erotic objects; little animals; all sorts of things, he said. In the process he realized that my conceptual framework was totally destroyed, because the objects themselves were so much more powerful than the concept. Determined to accept himself as a sculptor, he brought stone to his studio and began to carve. Mr. Cemin was already part of New Yorks exploding East Village art scene of the 80s, having befriended artists like Jeff Koons and Mr. Halley. His work was selling in solo shows in New York, Los Angeles and Rome, and he was included in shows put on by Collins & Milazzo, a dynamic curatorial team at the time. But he was soon restless again. In 1992 he rented a large house outside of Aswan, Egypt, where he made watercolors and iron sculptures. Two years later he enlisted carvers in Bali to help him produce pieces in teak and mahogany. And in 1999 he began making sculptures in Beijing. The exhibits on Broadway and at Kasmin are a kind of coming home for Mr. Cemin. In August, the wayward artist signed a lease on a New York apartment. Piles of raw marble are stacked at his Brooklyn studio, including a 1,360-kilogram stone he said was just asking to be carved. He seemed excited about his return. Im going to be spending a lot more time here now, he said.

A School of Jeans Makers In Europes Capital of Denim

By CHRISTOPHER F. SCHUETZE

AMSTERDAM Those who doubt that Amsterdam is a bright star in denim should have taken a wander in July through the Blueprint section of Modefabriek, the twice a year Amsterdam fashion fair. There, among the hip, young tattooed crowd, several dozen exhibitors showed just how much denim clothing the Netherlands designs and sells. In Holland everyone owns a good pair of jeans, said Lennaert Nijgh, an exhibitor. But theres also a strong economic climate for brands to have their headquarters here. Amsterdam is the center of the European jeans world. Pepe Jeans and Levis Vintage have develop-

ment offices in the Netherlands. G-Star, Scotch & Soda, Hilfiger Denim, Kuyichi, Blueblood, Kings of Indigo and a gaggle of smaller denim ateliers are headquartered here. Most Dutch denim ateliers put an emphasis on the actual fabric, which can be completely raw untreated and left to wrinkle while worn or elaborately treated. Amsterdam will soon be offering diplomas in denim at the House of Denim Jean School. This month a group of students will start a threeyear technical program in denim development at the Regional Community College of Amsterdam. They will graduate with the skills and connections to plug in to the European denim industry, said Mariette Hoitink, a well-known name in

miles johnson of Levis vintage Clothing lectured a class at the house of Denim in the netherlands.
james veenhoff

the Amsterdam fashion world and one of the schools founders. The founders see the school at the crossroads of old-fashioned craftsmanship and new concepts of sustainability in design. When students graduate they will know the conventional trade skills like cutting, sewing, stitching, washing and will also bring new elements to the business, said James Veenhoff, a founder of the school and a for-

mer director of the Amsterdam International Fashion Week. The class that starts this month will consist of 17 students, with an average age of 23, from varying backgrounds. Because of government financing, the tuition for the Dutch students is free. Ms. Hoitink and Mr. Veenhoff also envision creating a professional network, an archive and a denim lab, all under the name of House of Denim.

Mr. Veenhoff is counting on denim experts to provide guest lectures, short stints of in-house training and internships for his students. When denim luminaries like Adriano Goldschmied, a founder of Diesel, come to Amsterdam on business, he said, Ill just ask them to pop by for a lecture beforehand. Outside of the country the House of Denim network will be working to find new and cleaner sources and manufacturers. In October, a denim embassy will visit Delhi and Istanbul sources of European denim. A pioneering master class of 20 students went through a 10-week program in 2011. In the first week each student used the heavy denim sewing machines to create a denim work apron, a symbol of their status as apprentices. Many aspects of the House of Denim are still on the drawing board, but the first regular students of the Jean School will be sewing their aprons this month.

Saturday, September 8, 2012 arts & styles

manila bulletin 15

A Film Star Reassesses Commitment to Acting

By PATRICK HEALY

Sanjit DaS for the new York timeS

two indians want to widen the audience for the manganiyars. Lakha khan, right, playing the sarangi.

Preserving the Folk Music of India

By NIDA NAJAR

RANERI, India In this village 640 kilometers southwest of New Delhi, where women wash dishes in the sand to conserve water, and electricity is scarce, Lakha Khan sat on the floor of a stone hut. There, he coaxed a bright, dizzyingly fast melody from his violinlike sarangi. Mr. Khan, 66, is one of the few remaining Sindhi sarangi players among the Manganiyars, a caste of hereditary Muslim musicians who live in this desert state of Rajasthan. He plays for hours, usually with no more company than a couple of passing goats. But recently he had an audience of two: Ashutosh Sharma and Ankur Malhotra, who were crouching over their gear, including a fivechannel mixer and two analog recorders. Theres an exuberance or just kind of a lack of inhibition when theyre performing at home, Mr. Malhotra said of the Manganiyars, whose music is a mix of traditional melodies and arresting vocals. Here these performances are genuine and real and filled with emotion. Mr. Sharma and Mr. Malhotra, both 37, want to preserve the music of the Manganiyars, whose songs devotionals and stories of births, deaths and love, often about the Hindu families that are their paOnline: inDias rOOts musiC

trons have no written record. The two men said they were inspired by Alan Lomax, the musicologist who more than half a century ago traveled the American South recording previously unknown blues musicians. They hope to preserve the music and to bring it to a wider audience through a small, independent record label they began, Amarrass Records. Yet they realize that trying to popularize Manganiyar music is a daunting task in India, where most young people would rather download Bollywood ring-

An ancient musical tradition with no written record.

tones than listen to an ancient folk music. Mr. Malhotra and Mr. Sharma are undeterred. They grew up in New Delhi, listening to Sufi and Hindi music. As they got older, they turned to Western rock, though the music was difficult to find. Mr. Sharmas father, a British Airways pilot, brought him Grateful Dead and Rolling Stones records he got during trips to the United States and Britain. Later, Mr. Sharma began a travel agency in New Delhi. Mr. Malhotra moved to the United States, earned a Master of Business Administration degree and created an education technology start-up. But the

Excerpts from the music of Lakha Khan and Sakar Khan:

nytimes.com/music

Search for Indias roots music

men became fed up, as Mr. Sharma put it, by the lack of music in their lives. This spring, they stayed at Mr. Khans house for three days. When he gets up in the morning and feels like singing a certain song a certain way, were there, Mr. Malhotra said. That doesnt happen in a studio. Later, they drove 160 kilometers to the village of Hamira, the home of Sakar Khan, 76. He is a master of the kamancha, an ancient stringed instrument played with a bow a signature of the Manganiyars. He has toured the world with his instrument. Mr. Malhotra and Mr. Sharma have underwritten their project with profits from Mr. Sharmas travel agency. They raised money to cover some of their production costs, less than $3,000, on Kickstarter, a crowd funding Web site, and they received about $30,000 from one of Mr. Malhotras business school advisers. Roysten Abel, the director of Manganiyar Seduction, a theater show presented in New York two years ago, said Mr. Sharma and Mr. Malhotra will have to make the music more contemporary. Thats the only way India will go international, he said. Mr. Sharma and Mr. Malhotra said that no matter how long they sit listening to aging masters, a valuable part of the centuries-old tradition will inevitably be lost. They are keepers of the oral tradition, along with their own history, Mr. Malhotra said. Its all in their own heads. And 20 percent gets lost in a generation.

Jake Gyllenhaal made a deal with himself 10 years ago: for every three movies he made, he would perform in a play. It was a deal he didnt honor. He was 21 back then, on a high from his London stage debut as a sensitive slacker in Kenneth Lonergans This Is Our Youth, the sort of sad, moping character that had turned him into an indie darling in movies like Donnie Darko and Lovely & Amazing. But going off to do plays isnt part of the Hollywood fast track for young actors still proving themselves at the box office. So Mr. Gyllenhaal tested for the SpiderMan and Batman franchises and other roles that might transform him into an action hero or leading man. What happened? The critically derided disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow happened. The much-mocked Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time happened. Acclaimed films happened, too, like Brokeback Mountain and Zodiac. But Mr. Gyllenhaal was uneasy. I wasnt really listening to myself about the kinds of projects I wanted to do, he said. I had to figure out what kind of an actor I wanted to be and feel confident going for that. He has now come to a few conclusions, and they were evident in July at a table reading for his first outing in New York theater, If There Is I Havent Found It Yet, a dark comedy about an overweight British teenager and her troubled family. The project itself was telling: the play, which has begun performances from Roundabout Theater Company, is an Off Broadway ensemble work by a little-known writer rather than a famous Broadway drama the stage vehicles of choice for Hollywood stars these days. Mr. Gyllenhaal studied at Columbia University in New York for two years before dropping out to become a movie star, and some directors on earlier films, like Ang Lee of Brokeback Mountain, have described him as a freestyle actor more than a methodical one. Mr. Gyllenhaal, who was nominated for a supporting actor Oscar for Brokeback, said he still experiments with his take on characters from scene to scene. But acting rigor is increasingly his goal. Early in your career its hard to know everything for yourself, and asking questions isnt always a welcome thing in Hollywood,

where everyone seems like they know what theyre doing, he said. Around the time I hit 30, I asked myself if I was respecting acting as a craft. He recently wrapped a role as a history teacher in another coming film, An Enemy, for which he e-mailed frequently with one of his old Columbia professors about the art of delivering classroom lectures. He spent five months observing and training with Los Angeles police officers for his new movie, the September release End of Watch, in which he plays a hotshot cop with street smarts in South Central Los Angeles. His commitment to End of Watch was so complete that John Lesher, one of its producers, decided to make Mr. Gyllenhaal an executive producer. Growing up in Los Angeles,

toDD heiSLer/the new York timeS

jake Gyllenhaal is tackling a new play in new York.

with frequent trips to New York to see relatives, Mr. Gyllenhaal was a theatergoer long before he stood on a stage. Sitting in the cheap seats as a boy, he was dazzled by Patti LuPone vamping through the opening number I Get a Kick Out of You in Anything Goes for Lincoln Center Theater; he then promptly fell asleep. What I loved most about working in London, in the theater, there was a real appreciation of potential, he said. No one comes out of the gate 100 percent perfect. No one. I have a great sense of comfort onstage because I know taking risks is appreciated. From his work on If There Is I Havent Found It Yet, he expects intensity. I want to come home at the end of the day and be wiped out and feel Ive torn my heart out from acting and feel fulfilled, he said.

16 manila bulletin arts & styles

Saturday, September 8, 2012

franko khoury

under an african Sky, Gazing up With awe

WASHINGTON When the sun sets in rural Africa, the world changes. Temperatures drop. New scents rise as cooking fires start. Markets empty, voices quiet down. But the most dramatic difference comes when the stars appear; first a twilight sprinkling, then a tidal wave. At such a art reVieW sight jangled daytime thoughts give way to admiration, inquiry, meditation. African Cosmos: Stellar Arts at the Smithsonians National Museum of African Art here, invites comparable responses. Broadly its a show about cosmological consciousness in art, old and new, from the African continent. Its also a bold demonstration of a more specific reality: in Africa, art and science have always intersected. Organized by Christine Mullen Kreamer, the museums deputy director and chief curator, the exhibition opens with a circle of upright stones at Nabta Playa in Southern Egypt that functions as the worlds oldest known astronomical device. Some 7,000 years after being built, the grouping still accurately clocks sunrise and sunset and points to some of the skys brightest stars. From Egypt the show leaps across the Sahara, to what is now Mali, in West Africa.

HOLLAND COTTER

The first stop, via a wall text, is Timbuktu, a city renowned for its manuscript libraries. In these books the calculation of lunar phases and stellar coordinates was crucial to Muslim worship. (Recent political turmoil in Mali made loans of the manuscripts impossible.) Next comes the Bandiagara region of cliffs and scrub brush settled by Dogon peoples, who trace their origins to a creatorspirit descended from the sky. An important feature of Dogon theology centers on a deity identified with the star Sirius and a companion star, Sirius B, invisible to the unaided eye. The Dogon suggest that their awareness of it goes far back into antiquity. Much African history is based on oral traditions, passed down in poetry and song, or encapsulated in sculptures, paintings, weavings, beadwork, architecture, bodily scarification and performances. Entire cosmologies are built into Dogon masquerades, through masks, like those in the show, some towering, others designed to scrape the ground. A fairly simplelooking Dogon stool is a diagram of a layered universe. A remarkable female figure in the show has a miniature version of this cosmic image for a head, as if the vision of it had transformed her every thought. If the full meanings of such

from african cosmos: stellar arts: gavin jantjess star throwers, above; romuald hazoums rainbow serpent; an egyptian mummy board; a Baule mask.
roMualD haZouM/ocToBer gallery, lonDon; Below, jerry ThoMpson eric long

images seem unreadable without certain cultural knowledge, it remains clear that meanings are there to be read, and that the systems of historical knowledge that feed into them are rich. Understanding those meanings and that knowledge becomes possible when we start to let go of reliance on what we already know. We see the concept of clothing as spiritual armor in a Yoruba priests robe with beaded patterns of lightning bolts and vipers from Nigeria, but also in a natural-color cotton wrapper made for an Asante king in Ghana. And in the dynamic atmosphere the show sets up, where everything exists in a state of potentially multiple meaning, individual details glow: the dollop of white moonlight painted at the bottom

of a Luba divination bowl from Congo; the galaxy of gilded stars, moons and suns floating on an Akan chiefs cloth hat from Ghana; and from Ivory Coast the smoothness of two Baule moon masks. The glow extends to new art. A video projection by the young artist Marcus Neustetter is a simulation of the aurora borealis. A short, witty 2003 film called Day for Night by William Kentridge transforms an image of ants on a tabletop into a telescopic view of tremulous constellations in a night sky. Both artists are from South Africa, as are several others here, though a few, like Gavin Jantjes, now live elsewhere. With its dancing, grafittilike ease, Mr. Jantjess painting of mythical star throwers has a playful feel. The half-abstract Night Flight

of Dread and Delight by Skunder Boghossian (1937-2003), who was born in Ethiopia and taught art in Washington for 30 years, is in every way fabulous, but its also nightmarish, with its shatteredrainbow sky and predatory birds. Romuald Hazoum, from Benin, also uses rainbow imagery but his feels even less benign. His immense sculpture Rainbow Serpent (Dan-Ayido-Houedo) is based on a symbol of a self-devouring snake that is considered a lucky charm in Fon and Yoruba cultures. But his version, assembled from hundreds of plastic gasoline canisters, is dark and crushing. The exhibit, which runs through December 9, also lets us see the museum at a positive point, after a long, frustratingly becalmed period that saw little inside creativity.