Daily Archives: December 3, 2019 | 11:59 pm

It has been a blistering start for Team Philippines in the 30^th Southeast Asian Games with gold medals, and medals in general, steadily flowing from different sources.

The Sixers won yesterday for the 10^th straight time since the season began, and in convincing fashion against the vaunted Jazz to boot. The victory enables them to keep pace with the Raptors, Heat, and Celtics as the only remaining National Basketball Association contenders with blemish-free slates at home. And, if nothing else, it consolidates the progress they’ve made since their unexpected stumble early last month. Five losses in seven outings, even over a long season, set alarm bells ringing, and to the point where head coach Brett Brown’s job status, hitherto solid, was called to question. To his credit, he promptly righted the ship, and they’re back to competing with conviction.

THE Supreme Court has voided a memo by the Legal Education Board (LEB) requiring students to pass an admission test before they can enter law schools.

RELATIONS between the Philippines and China have entered a “Golden Age,” newly appointed Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian said upon his arrival in Manila on Tuesday.

THE BUREAU of Immigration has barred an Australian who is allegedly a member of an international motorcycle gang that is linked to various organized crimes, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

THE OFFICE of the Ombudsman has dismissed a criminal and administrative complaint against former Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol and several officials of the Sugar Regulatory Administration for allowing advanced sugar exports to the US.

THE Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) board has decided not to lift the ban on exports of mature coconuts as copra prices improve and to support the country’s plan to enhance value-adding activities for the commodity, Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said on Tuesday.

THE PESO bounced back on Tuesday after sinking to the P51-per-dollar level on Monday, with the market pricing in unexpectedly weaker US manufacturing data for November.

THE MAIN INDEX slipped on Tuesday as the local bourse mirrored the decline in Wall Street trading on Monday, which took cues from the uncertainties over the US-China trade agreement.

In 2010 there was a discussion on whether robots should be granted rights or what was termed as “robo-rights.” This stemmed from the consideration that robots may develop the ability to reproduce, develop artificial intelligence, and even possibly, create something independent of its inventor or developer.

We all live in a world that generally seems to be on the cusp of the next big thing. From bigger screens to smaller cameras, faster ways of transportation and communication, innovation has truly shaped our society, behavior and interactions.

The 2019 Southeast Asian Games being hosted by the Philippines have been a showcase of Pinoy sports achievements, showbusiness production excellence, and organizational incompetence all rolled into one portrait of a people who do not seem to know whether to feel proud or embarrassed about ourselves.

ON OCT. 31, Cebu City secured the title of being the country’s first UNESCO Creative City of Design, and the second UNESCO Creative City title went to Baguio City, a UNESCO Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art since 2017. With this recognition, Cebu joins Baguio in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN), now numbering 246 cities around the world. These Creative Cities comprising the UCCN are differentiated into seven creative fields, namely: crafts and folk art, literature, film, music, gastronomy, media arts, and design. Together, they commit to placing creativity at the core of their sustainable urban development plans. Creativity as a strategic development pillar emerges from the city’s unique culture, as represented by its outstanding creative field. This creative field, foreseen to encourage viable cultural and creative industries, is to serve as a catalyst for the city’s creative economy, embedded in a more or less cohesive social environment as indicated by cooperation among civil society associations and groups with their citizen-members as cultural purveyors wherever they are in the public and private sectors.

Center for Training and Development, Inc. (CTDI), in cooperation with Bernaldo Directo & Po Law Offices and R.S. Bernaldo & Associates, will hold a...

Vivo has been known globally for its above-par efforts in bringing technological innovations— from the drawing board to industry-anticipated experimental smartphones—into commercially-available and successful...

With the continuous evolution of technology and the significant role it plays in the everyday lives of people, Sharp Philippines Corporation (SPC) continues to...

FACTORY ACTIVITY continued to improve in November, though by the smallest increment in five months as output and new orders bared weaker increases and employment “failed to improve,” IHS Markit reported on Monday.

FACTORY ACTIVITY continued to improve in November, though by the smallest increment in five months as output and new orders bared weaker increases and employment “failed to improve,” IHS Markit reported on Monday.

THE GROUNDBREAKING for the planned Bulacan airport that was planned for this month is being delayed after the government raised concerns about the contract, the project proponent told reporters on Sunday.

THE GOVERNMENT has rejected the unsolicited proposal of listed exploration company PXP Energy Corp. to take over the Malampaya gas exploration service contract, Energy officials said on Monday, explaining that the process is not allowed under existing rules.

THE ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (ADB) on Monday announced the selection of Masatsugu Asakawa, special advisor to Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Finance Minister Taro Aso, as its president starting next year.

THE builder of the Makati City Subway Project is hopeful of completing the intracity railway a year ahead of schedule after obtaining an environmental clearance from the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR).

HISTORICAL epic Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral by Jerrold Tarog won Best Motion Picture along with several technical awards at the Luna Awards, held on Nov. 30 at the Maybank Performing Arts Theater in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

AVIDA LAND Corp. is cancelling its joint venture with Gatchalian-led Philippines Estates Corp. (PHES) and the subsidiaries of Wellex Industries, Inc. (WIN) for a proposed project in Valenzuela City’s Plastic City.

THE SUICIDE of a popular South Korean singer has prompted calls in the country to overhaul laws on sexual assault and to more harshly punish revenge porn.

MINING companies are encouraged to work with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to come up with new innovations to help the local mining industry grow and be more competitive.

AYALA LAND, Inc. (ALI) is looking to replicate Tarlac City’s beloved poblacion within its new mixed-use estate Cresendo.

SEOUL — The apparent suicide of a second K-pop artist in a month has cast renewed focus in South Korea on vicious personal attacks and cyber bullying of vulnerable young stars, and how it mostly goes unpunished.

ETON Properties Philippines Chairman Lucio C. Tan has appointed his daughter Karlu Tan Say as the company’s new chief operating officer.

THE LUBI Plantation Resort, one of the joint ventures of Torre Lorenzo Development Corp. and Dusit International in Davao, has opened additional facilities as it officially received on Dec. 1 its Dusit Thani mark, the Thai hotel group’s high-end and full-service brand.

LONDON — From the world’s youngest self-made billionaire to celebrities in court, the world of entertainment produced a wide array of headlines this year. Below are some of the biggest showbiz stories of 2019.

MYANMAR tycoon Win Aung is open to foreign investment in the listed industrial-estate provider he oversees, following Ayala Corp.’s tie up with a firm traded on the nation’s fledgling stock exchange.

COLLIERS International Philippines said it is seeing a “sustained” property market over the next two years, fueled by growth in private construction backed by increasing public infrastructure spending.

A SOUTH KOREAN court sentenced a K-pop musician to six years in prison on Friday for raping a woman and distributing a video capturing the act in a case that drew attention to the darker side of the country’s lucrative entertainment industry.

AUSTRALIAN workforce management company Call Design is launching the first workforce optimization and management service programs in the Philippines to help contact centers manage staff efficiency and costs.

PUEBLO DE ORO Development Corp. recently launched The Grove at Pueblo Golf, an exclusive boutique community in Cagayan de Oro City.

JOLLIBEE Foods Corp. (JFC) is opening the Philippines’ first Panda Express store on Dec. 12 at SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City.

AS Pampanga’s economy continues to grow, developer Amaia Land, Inc. is looking to take advantage, with the development of a residential community in San Fernando.

REAL-TIME strategy games on consoles are a dime a dozen, but few stand out. The problem isn’t in the effort; in fact, developers continually try to exceed themselves in lifting up the genre for home gaming platforms. Unfortunately, they’re hard-pressed to do so given intrinsic limitations. Broken down to basics, control sticks exhibit frailties vis-à-vis keyboard-and-mouse configurations of personal computers, thus requiring reprogramming of ports to present streamlined mechanics. The more successful titles — Halo Wars and They Are Billions, for instance — are fondly viewed as diversions that admittedly provide an enjoyable experience for casual gamers, but nonetheless fail to match the sophistication of dedicated rigs.

THE GOVERNMENT made a full award of the Treasury bills (T-bills) it offered yesterday on the back of strong demand and while the market looks ahead to November inflation data set to be released later this week.

PHOENIX Petroleum Philippines, Inc. is issuing P3 billion in commercial papers (CP) at a discount to face value of 4.6657% per annum.

FRANKFURT/NEW YORK — The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has in recent weeks stepped up its investigation into Deutsche Bank’s role in the 200-billion euro ($220-billion) Danske Bank money laundering scandal, four people familiar with the inquiry told Reuters.

HELP dig dinosaur bones or create fossils or take fun optical illusion photos at The Mind Museum Traveling Exhibition Tour at Robinsons Malls.

SUMMIT Ridge Tagaytay recently received the 2019 Award of Excellence at the annual Tourism Awards organized by the Cavite Tourism and Department of Tourism.

HONG KONG Airlines Ltd., the city’s only other competitor to Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., is fighting for survival just as the busy Christmas season approaches.