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Typhoon Usman death toll reaches 85

THE DEATH toll from landslides and devastating floods in the central Philippines triggered by a tropical depression climbed to 85, officials said on Wednesday, and 20 people were missing as rescuers slowly reached cut-off communities. The casualties, including young children, were mostly killed when their homes collapsed in landslides after days of heavy rain in several provinces in the central Philippines, said Ricardo B. Jalad, executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). “If we don’t recover the missing or we recover them dead, that is 105 deaths, which we hope not,” Mr. Jalad said. The tropical depression named Usman, which weakened into a low pressure system before leaving the Philippines on Sunday, brought heavy rain that triggered landslides and flooding in the Bicol and Eastern Visayas regions.
RELIEF OPERATIONS
While search and retrieval operations are still ongoing, relief services are continuing for the 6,637 families composed of 24,894 individuals who are in 170 evacuation centers. NDRRMC said another 12,132 affected families are outside the evacuation centers. NDRRMC said more than P4 million worth of assistance have been provided by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, local government units, and non-government organizations.

typhoon Usman relief operations
Relief operations
Rice and other supplies are distributed to areas affected by typhoon Usman in Eastern Visayas such as towns in the provinces of Samar and Northern Samar. — OCD-EASTERN VISAYAS

The province of Oriental Mindoro has also declared a state of calamity, following Albay, Sorsogon, and the town of Bulan in Sorsogon. Such declaration gives local officials access to emergency funds.
DAMAGE
Bicol, with a population of 5.8 million, was the hardest hit, with 68 killed in intense rains and landslides. Damage to agriculture in Bicol, which produces rice and corn, was estimated at P342 million. Rescuers, including the police and military, used heavy-lifting equipment to clear roads leading to landslide sites and entered flooded communities using rubber boats. “The sun is already out, with occasional light rains. We hope floods will subside,” Ronna Monzon, a member of the operations personnel at the disaster agency in Bicol, told Reuters. Damage have been identified in 95 road sections and three bridges, with 57 roads and one bridge already passable as of Wednesday. Of the 104 areas that experienced power interruption in the regions of CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), MIMAROPA (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan), Bicol, and Eastern Visayas, supply has so far been restored in 55 cities and municipalities. In terms of houses, 41 were reported totally damaged and 28 partially destroyed. Majority of the totally damaged homes were in Northern Samar at 31. About 20 tropical cyclones hit the Philippines every year, with destroyed crops and infrastructure taking a toll on human lives and weighing down one of the fastest growing economies in Asia. — Reuters and Marifi S. Jara

Davao Business Bureau expects over 39,000 permit renewals

THE DAVAO City Business Bureau is expecting more than 39,000 business permit renewals this year, with processing to start Thursday, Jan. 3. “Our office issued a total of 39,514 business permits last year so we expect more or less the same number of businesses that will be renewed this 2019,” Business Bureau Chief lawyer Marissa M. Torentera said in an interview. Renewal applications will be processed at the bureau’s office at the Sangguniang Panlungsod building and a satellite center at the Almendras Gym. Both sites will be open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays this month. “We are urging business owners to renew their business permits early to avoid the long lines later on,” Ms. Torentera said. — Carmencita A. Carillo

Davao City marks 17th year of zero firecracker-related incident

THE DAVAO City Police Office (DCPO) city recorded zero firecracker-related incident during the 2018 Christmas and New Year’s eve celebrations, marking 17 years of the strict observance of the ban on firecrackers and other pyrotechnic devices. “We thank the residents of Davao City for their cooperation and support on the firecracker ban,” DCPO Director Senior Supt. Alexander C. Tagum said in a statement. City Ordinance No. 060-02 of 2002 prohibits the manufacture, sale, distribution, possession, use as well as the transport of pyrotechnic devices and explosives within the territorial jurisdiction of the city. Former Davao City mayor and now President Rodrigo R. Duterte, initially banned the sale of firecrackers and pyrotechnics in 2001 through an executive order. To welcome the new year, Davao City holds a Torotot Festival every Dec. 31, where people gather and simultaneously blow their horns at midnight. The last festival also had competitions on the biggest horn, torotot-inspired costume, and a torotot dance. — Carmencita A. Carillo

NCR police reports lower crime rate in the capital

THE NATIONAL Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) reported a decline in crime volume in Metro Manila in 2018. Index crimes, which are crimes against person and property, went down by 21% to 14,633 in 2018 from 18,524 in 2017. Crimes against persons — murder, homicide, physical injury, and rape — also dropped to 5,585 from 7,620 during the period in review. Murder cases decreased to 738 from 1,542. Meanwhile, crimes against property — robbery, theft, and carnapping — stood at 9,048 last year, 17% lower than 2017’s 10,904. The NCRPO’s crime clearance efficiency improved to 76% from 67%, while crime solution efficiency also increased to 55% from 47%. — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras

Peso climbs on US-China news

THE PESO strengthened against the dollar on Wednesday driven by political and economic developments abroad.
The local unit closed the first session of the year at P52.515 versus the dollar, 6.5 centavos stronger than its P52.58-per-greenback finish last Dec. 28, 2018.
This was the peso’s best close in almost a month or since it ended at P52.32 per dollar last Dec. 3.
The peso opened Wednesday’s session at P52.50 versus the US currency, which was also its best showing for the day. Meanwhile, it slid to as low as P52.63 per dollar intraday.
Trading volume thinned to $580.05 million from the $664.4 million that switched hands last week.
A foreign exchange trader said in a phone interview that the peso strengthened versus the dollar in the morning session, mimicking the strength of other emerging market economies on the back of “strong US-China news.”
In a congratulatory message on Tuesday marking the 40th anniversary of Sino-US diplomatic relations, Chinese President Xi Jinping told US President Donald J. Trump that cooperation is the best choice for both countries, Reuters reported.
The world’s two biggest economies agreed last month to a 90-day temporary ceasefire in imposing tit-for-tat levies against each other’s imports.
Officials from Washington are also reported to travel to Beijing early this month to discuss trade-related concerns to the Chinese government.
“After that, the news turned negative [which was about] the decline in growth worldwide,” the trader added.
Meanwhile, another trader attributed the peso’s strength to the uncertainty in the US due to its government’s shutdown, which weighed on the dollar.
“[The shutdown] strengthened demand on other safe-haven demand such as the yen,” the trader added in a text message.
For today, the first trader sees the peso moving between P52.55 and P52.75 versus the dollar, while the other gave a P52.40-P52.50 range.
“The local currency might find more boost on bets of softer Philippine inflation data,” the second trader noted.
Meanwhile, other Asian currencies fell on Wednesday, shrugging off broad US dollar weakness as gloomy factory surveys added to worries about cooling regional and global growth.
Leading declines in the region, the Indonesia rupiah dropped 0.% to 14,475.00 per dollar. The currency weakened about 6% against the greenback in 2018. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal with Reuters

Shares end higher in thin trade on inflation bets

SHARES FIRMED up on the first trading day of the year amid thin volume, as investors looked ahead to the release of likely slower inflation data for December.
The 30-member Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) gained 0.31% or 23.18 points to end at 7,489.20 on Wednesday. The broader all-shares index also went up 0.06% or 2.82 points to 4,520.67.
“It was sort of a good start for the year since we ended up. If you look at the turnover value, we were only at P3.2 billion, but still we ended on the positive side,” A&A Securities, Inc. trader Jeng T. Calma said in Filipino during a phone interview.
“Hopefully the index can sustain this trend in the coming days. It was able to touch the 7,500 mark earlier [on Wednesday], so hopefully we can achieve that level given that inflation is seen to have slowed down in December.”
The PSEi hit a high of 7,540.26 intraday, but failed to sustain this until closing bell.
Philstocks Financial, Inc. Research Associate Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco also attributed the PSEi’s rally to expectations of a slower headline inflation print for December, adding that the thin trading was due to investor caution over global events.
“Value traded was lethargic at just P3.356 billion as many chose to stay on the sidelines, in lieu of global concerns, particularly the fears of a global economic slowdown to subside first,” Mr. Tantiangco said via text.
A BusinessWorld poll of seven analysts yielded a median inflation estimate of 5.7% for December. This falls within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ estimate range of 5.2-6% announced last week. If realized, this would be the slower than November’s six percent record.
Sectoral indices were equally split between gainers and losers. Property led advancers, jumping 2.37% or 86.08 points to 3,714.06, followed by mining and oil which climbed 1.78% or 145.93 points to 8,346.43. Services also went up 0.53% or 7.75 points to 1,450.46.
Meanwhile, financials fell 0.65% or 11.60 points to 1,768.25; holding firms dropped 0.32% or 23.92 points to 7,317.89; while industrials slipped 0.08% or 9.40 points to end at 10,941.96.
Some 717.58 million issues switched hands, resulting in a value turnover of P3.36 billion, lower than the previous session’s P5.67 billion.
Net foreign outflows also slimmed to P4.58 million yesterday from the P198 million posted on Dec. 28.
Advancers outpaced decliners, 96 to 85, while 44 names remained unchanged.
Meanwhile, markets in the United States rallied on the last trading day of 2018, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 1.15% or 265.06 points to 23,327.46. The S&P 500 index climbed 0.85% or 21.11 points to 2,506.85, while the Nasdaq Composite index also picked up 0.77% or 50.76 points to 6,635.28.
Despite the uptick last Dec. 28, all three US indices went down on an annual basis at 5.63%, 6.24%, and 3.88%, respectively. — Arra B. Francia

School leadership and bullying

A few days before Christmas, I, like many others, was shocked to see Facebook videos purportedly showing an Ateneo high school student using his martial arts skill to assault and humiliate a schoolmate inside a restroom. The videos were disturbing not only because of the humiliation and physical harm inflicted on the victim, but more so because of the way the young man appeared to take pride in bullying his schoolmate not only in plain sight of others but also on video.
Shortly after, Ateneo administrators announced the dismissal of the student following its internal policies and after due investigation. Rightly, I think, the school administration extended its support to the families of both the victim and the perpetrator to help them move forward after the incident and its aftermath. After all, why be mean-spirited to a young man who has been shown the error of his ways and now has the rest of his life to undo his mistake and improve himself?
What happens now? It will take more than the very public punishment of one high school student in a high-profile case to change the bullying cultures that exist in many schools. Admittedly, bullying is a systemic and complicated problem with many causes working together. Thus, it cannot be totally prevented in schools because students have their own minds and can choose to be abusive when they please.
However, school leaders (teachers and administrators) have a critical role in making the school culture as inhospitable to bullying as possible. Bullying undermines the essential mission of schools to form well-adjusted and productive citizens. Victims usually develop mental health problems for life, including low self-esteem, depression, and, in some cases, suicidal tendencies. Also, young people who behave as bullies in school can very well become bullies later on in their workplaces, from the frontlines all the way to corporate boardrooms.
Bullying can happen in all schools. Students differ in abilities, personalities, appearance, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Some with power over others (say, due to physical superiority or membership in a popular group) may treat those unlike them in demeaning and hurtful ways, whether in person or over social media. Thus, school leaders have to think carefully about how their approach may be enabling or preventing bullying. To believe that bullying is not a problem because the administration does not receive reports is a mistake. The culture of silence among students is so powerful that most cases are never reported to any adult.
The worst thing leaders can do is to condone bullying. Sweeping bullying under the rug sends the worst message young people can get from their school: “Bullies can get away with anything because the leaders are more interested in keeping up appearances than making the school safe for everyone.” This betrays the trust of the students and their parents, who count on the school as a haven for learning and development. The bad effects of such a betrayal on young people cannot be exaggerated.
Needless to say, leaders must ensure compliance with the Anti-Bullying Act. This means having an anti-bullying policy, reporting and discipline systems, and formal educational programs for all on the dynamics of bullying. However, leaders should avoid doing this mechanically because doing so sends a weak message that can be drowned out by the other operational concerns of the school. After a while, the compliance approach could become just another “program” to be trotted out during accreditation or to convince parents and the public of the school’s concern.
Beyond compliance, leaders need to add strong leadership to make sure that substance wins over form. They must visibly and consistently build a culture of positive relationships, mutual service, and valuing of diversity in the school. This means giving diverse students ways to understand and appreciate each other as persons with unique gifts. It also means showing students how to resolve their differences through dialog and principled compromise.
The message that “Every student is worthy of respect” must override the tendency of schools to lavish recognition on its achievers. In line with this, leaders should encourage outstanding students to serve others and to share their gifts with schoolmates who are less capable.
Leaders need to spend time listening to the real concerns of students. This will help them to better guide young people to harmoniously co-exist for their mutual growth and happiness. Building a dignity-centered culture cannot be done through policies and formal teaching alone. It requires engaged leaders who will role-model caring and respectful behavior and focus their attention on day-to-day relationships among students and the rest of the school community. This will enable the school to truly achieve its educational mission.
 
Dr. Benito L. Teehankee is full professor in the Management and Organization Department and coordinator of the Business for Human Development Network of De La Salle University.
benito.teehankee@dlsu.edu.ph

Old hasn’t gone out of style

We have started a new year, an election year at that, but it doesn’t seem like “out with the old, in with the new” applies. For the senatorial election, that is. Checking the latest survey list, and I have checked it twice and have my own opinion on who has been naughty and who has been nice, I see mostly “old” names in the lead, and “new” names trailing behind.
Unsurprising, really. After all, since the 1960s, the Filipino electorate has had a thing for political families. There are more to political dynamics here than lineage and popularity, of course. But, for the sake of discussion, going by votes alone, these families have managed to get the required numbers to stay in national office for a long time.
There was a Macapagal vice-president in 1957-1961, and president in 1961-1965. Then there was a Macapagal daughter as vice-president in 1998-2001, and as president in 2001-2010. The same daughter was senator in 1992-1998, and, since 2010, has been in Congress to represent a legislative district in Pampanga. She is the current House Speaker.
A Marcos was senator in 1959-1965, and was Senate president in 1963-1965. He later became the president of the Republic in 1965-1986. His son was senator in 2010-2016, and almost became vice-president in 2016. If the son wins a pending poll protest anytime soon, he might just become the country’s No. 2 official until 2022. A Marcos daughter is also now vying for a Senate seat in May.
An Aquino was senator in 1928-1934. His son was senator in 1967-1972. His grandson was senator in 2007-2010. The same grandson was president in 2010-2016. The grandson’s mother was president in 1986-1992. She was a Cojuangco. Her father, Jose, and grandfather, Melecio, had both served in Congress as representatives of Tarlac.
These three political families – Macapagal, Marcos, Aquino – have been major contenders in national politics since the 1960s. In fact, the presidency has always been in their hands in the last 58 years except for three relatively short periods: 1992-1998 (Ramos), 1998-2001 (Estrada), and 2016-present (President Duterte).
There are indicators that a Marcos might again aim for the presidency in 2022. Then, there are persistent but unfounded rumors that another possible presidential contender in 2022 is, in fact, a Marcos relation. If so, can allies of the Macapagal and Aquino camps be far behind? For president or vice-president, will another Villar or another Cayetano give it a try? How about Vice-President Robredo?
To date, only the Macapagal and Aquino families — hailing from the neighboring provinces of Pampanga and Tarlac, respectively, in Central Luzon — have managed to produce “repeat” presidents. Although the Marcos family beats everybody else in terms of total length of presidential term (21 years vs 13 years for the Macapagals and 12 years for the Aquinos). The Marcoses, from Ilocos Norte, also come from the island of Luzon.
Since the Philippine Revolution of 1898, there have been no “repeat” presidents from the political families of Aguinaldo, Quezon, Osmeña, Roxas, Quirino, Magsaysay, Garcia, Ramos, and Estrada. Also, other than Osmeña and Roxas, and President Duterte, all other presidents have come from the island of Luzon. Osmeña and Roxas are both from the Visayas islands, while President Duterte is the first Philippine president from Mindanao.
The Osmeñas and the Roxases remain as contenders, though, despite failing to produce repeat presidents, with scions from these two families still active in national politics. Grandsons of these two presidents are now seeking to return to the Senate in May: former senator Manuel Araneta Roxas, son of former senator Gerardo Manuel Roxas (Senate: 1963-1972); and former senator Sergio Osmeña III, son of former senator Sergio Osmeña, Jr. (Senate: 1965-1971).
President Duterte was the game-changer, I believe, having broken the hold of Luzon and Visayas politicians on the presidency. Whether his success in 2016 as a “Mindanaoan” in getting the presidency will have significant impact on the May 2019 senatorial election is anybody’s guess. However, going over the latest survey, it seems only one politician from Mindanao will make it.
The “Magic 12” in the senatorial survey is composed of incumbent and former senators who come mostly from Luzon, with only one contender from Mindanao and another of Visayan ancestry. There is no room for “new” names in the latest Magic 12 survey, and in this line, expect “balikbayans” to compose our Senate from 2019 to 2025.
According to a news report, citing a recent release by SWS, with five months to go, Luzon politicians and incumbent senators Cynthia Villar and Grace Poe lead the senatorial survey for the May 2019 election. Senator Villar is at No. 1 with a voter preference of 62%, followed by Senator Poe with 60%. Third to fifth are former senator and now Taguig Rep. Pia Cayetano, and incumbent Senators Sonny Angara and Nancy Binay, all from Luzon.
Sixth in the survey is former senator Lito Lapid, who hails from Pampanga in Luzon, followed by incumbent Senator Aquilino Pimentel III (from Misamis Oriental, and the only one from Mindanao), and former senator Jinggoy Estrada, also from Luzon. In 10th is former senator Mar Roxas (of Visayan ancestry), followed by Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos and incumbent Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito, who are both from Luzon as well.
No. 13 and 14 were former senator Serge Osmeña (of Visayan ancestry) and incumbent Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV (of Luzon), while no. 14 and 15 were former special assistant to the President Christopher Go and former National Police chief and Bureau of Corrections head Ronald dela Rosa, allies of President Duterte. They were followed by former presidential political affairs adviser Francis Tolentino and former Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile, also both from Luzon.
In this regard, despite what President Duterte has achieved for Mindanao in 2016, I don’t think we can expect similar changes in our politics in May 2019 or in years to come. Luzon politicians appear set to continue to dominate, in the same way that we have seen the same political families, groups, or camps prevail since we gained “independence” in 1946.
Despite having gone through three constitutions (1935, 1973, and 1987), numerous coups (1986-1989), two political upheavals (1986 and 2001), and nine years of nationwide martial rule (1972-1981) under Proclamation 1081, it is apparent that all these political changes thus far have not actually resulted in much change in who we elect to office.
 
Marvin Tort is a former managing editor of BusinessWorld, and a former chairman of the Philippines Press Council
matort@yahoo.com

The New Year could mark the beginning of a new(ish) century

By Frederick Studemann
SO how was it for you? Depending on your location and source of commentary, the year just gone was terrible, tumultuous, hugely eventful or (for the odd cheery contrarian) another small stepping stone on the long path of human progress.
And the one ahead? With the wisdom of hindsight, will people come to view all the current anger and confusion — from Brexit to Trump, the rise of China to the challenge of tech — as symptomatic of a more profound geopolitical change? A moment when the maps no longer worked; the rules and tools of the past no longer applied. Is this not just the dawn of a new year, but of a new age — a “new century” even?
The notion that centuries do not necessarily begin when they ought to according to dates is well rehearsed in the west. The historian Eric Hobsbawm wrote of a “short” 20th century running from the start of the first world war in 1914 to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. That short century followed a long 19th one, judged by some to have spanned from the French Revolution in 1789 to that fateful gunshot in Sarajevo. Others see this as a bit of stretch, preferring to set the 19th century clock running in 1815 with the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the peacemaking Congress of Vienna.
The 18th century is available in both long and short versions — from Britain’s Glorious Revolution of 1688 to the Battle of Waterloo in 1815; or from around 1715 with (give or take a few years) the death of Louis XIV of France, the end of the war of Spanish succession, the union of England and Scotland, and the arrival in London of regal immigrants from Hanover, to the storming of the Bastille in 1789. The odd member of the UK’s governing Tory party gives the appearance of still living in the 1700s, ensconced in the glorious certainties of a world just waiting to surrender itself to the native genius of a global Britain; truly a splendidly long “long 18th century.”
Returning to our own times, there are those, such as the economic historian Brad DeLong, who wonder whether Hobsbawn may have short-changed the 20th century. Can a case be made, they ask, for the 20th century to run from 1870, when the wider impact of the industrial revolution became clear, political economics became central and liberal democracy took hold, to just after the global financial crisis?
In this parlor game, certain patterns emerge. One is that the teenage years of a century seem to be popular moments for starting or resetting the historical clock — 1914, 1815, 1715 and so on. That adolescent perspective is one that might be neatly applied to our current times. But others point to 2001 — the terror attacks on New York and Washington; China joining the WTO — as a moment when forces were unleashed that would shape the decades ahead. In other words, our century pretty much started on time.
While some historians delight in applying thought-provoking and crisp parameters to the past — just look at their book titles — others are more cautious.
“History is not a series of coupled railway carriages,” argues Margaret Macmillan, emeritus professor of international history at Oxford. “The trouble with chopping up the past into decades or centuries, or even years, is that it gives a misleading impression of unity.” But she admits, there are times when “you do feel the world — our bits of it — changed and one age ended and another started.” The end of the Roman republic, the fall of the Ming dynasty and Japan’s Meiji Restoration are a few such moments that she cites.
So where do we fit in? Is the present moment one of those definitive endings and beginnings? Tom Holland, just surfacing after finishing off his latest book on the classical world, notes that if we are indeed now witnessing the end of a Western-led global order and all its universalist claims then the right initial historical punctuation mark might be better set at 1492, when Christopher Columbus pointed his ship west towards the Atlantic. Rather than fussing about centuries — whether long, short or a bit of both — as defining measures of history, should we really be counting out in half-millennia? Amid the upheavals of the coming months, it may be salutary to ponder how the future will see us.
 
frederick.studemann@ft.com

Attached and dangling

By Tony Samson
REPORTERS and political analysts have foisted on us a now accepted linguistic option to be let loose on categories of potential candidates aspiring for an elective post. They have attached the suffix “-able” to every elective position imaginable. This verbal shorthand was originally limited to the highest position, with aspirants whether declared or not, being referred to as “presidentiables,” a word sure to prompt our computer spell-check to underline with its disapproving jagged red line, offering “presidential” instead. (Was this what you meant?)
The suffix is a linguistic device that adds an affix, an element of a word, to a noun to turn it into an adjective, adverb, or another noun with a completely different meaning. This takes a page from a favorite German practice of just jamming words together to come up with an idea like schadenfreude which links “joy at the misery of others” in one word.
One can say of somebody that he is a good mathematician but lousy businesswise. This suffix “wise” after “business” limits the area of incompetence to commerce, as this person so denoted may be good calculus-wise. Suffix derives from the Latin suffigere, meaning to attach on top of, much like an uninvited mate brought by an invited guest.
The penchant for suffixes has been applied to lesser positions like vice-president, senator, and sometime last year, speaker of the house with that clunky and unspeakable new word which spell-check is sure to zap — “speakerable” for the successful “congressionable” later found acceptable by his peers to be their leader, after being anointed palace-wise, or in some cases mayor-wise.
Still, the suffixed position is not used lightly. It is accorded only to those with respectable credentials and a fair chance of winning, fame-wise and party-wise. Unknowns like those first in the starting line to register as candidates for president or senator do not automatically merit the dangling appendix. Perhaps, a new term altogether will need to be used for them, something like wannabe or dreaming.
A catch-all suffixed word to cover aspirants for different positions who are leading in periodic surveys has also crept into the political vocabulary. The term “winnable,” meaning having a big chance of getting the post as evidenced by a high ranking in a reputable poll, is now routinely used. The quality of “winnability” (The nominal form of the suffixed adjective) is supposed to be the critical quality an anointer or alternately, heavy supporters, fund-wise, are looking for. More compelling, politics-wise, it seems, comes the party machinery and its ability to stay in one piece and not break up in several pieces.
The other end of the word (in this case the front) accommodates the prefix. This is an affix that is attached and dangling as well. The prefix too has served a political purpose. Mobs are classified as “pro” or “anti” a cause or a person. Coverage of oratorical excesses can become too cloying, even described as quasi-religious with its messianic overtones. (The drug war will eliminate drugs and those who use them.) The transformation of erstwhile supporters to virulent critics can be tracked to “pre” and “post” inauguration when declared reforms turn into broken promises.
There seem to be no hard and fast rules for according a suffix to certain aspirants. Can one simply declare himself a presidentiable on his own initiative? Is there a requirement of deserved status conferred by third-party individuals, preferably from media to confer the title? Should there be perhaps a suffix-issuing body that will control the use of the presidential suffix requiring certain criteria like not eliciting laughter when a certain name is linked to the highest elective position? (You mean the almost retired boxer?)
What are we to call pretenders to the suffix, whom not even neighbors would take seriously for an elective position, even in the village association? Are they unwinnable, insufferable, and laughable?
Corporate types already in their retirement need to use affixes to describe their status when asked — what’s keeping you busy? Do they still go to work daily? Their affiliation with a company is ambiguous, as they are “semi-retired” and just acting as quasi-consultants. As to their financial situation, they are coping well enough in a post-modern type of arrangement. Cash-wise, they’re supra-liquid, or above water. Next question, please.
 
Tony Samson is chairman and CEO, TOUCH xda.
ar.samson@yahoo.com

JP Erram excited over new PBA journey with Warriors

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
SET to parlay his wares with the NLEX Road Warriors when a new season of the Philippine Basketball Association rolls off later this month, big man JP Erram said he is excited and looking forward to the latest turn in his burgeoning career.
Acquired by the Road Warriors in a three-team trade with the Blackwater Elite and TNT KaTropa this offseason, 29-year-old Erram said he is saddened by his departure from the Elite after four years of playing for the team but nonetheless recognizes it is part of being a player and is now focused on bettering himself as a player and helping NLEX succeed.
“Of course there is a bit of sadness in leaving Blackwater. I played there for four years and gone close with my teammates. But I cannot do anything about it. That’s how the business of basketball is,” said Mr. Erram, a member of the PBA-backed Gilas Pilipinas team.
In NLEX, the former Ateneo player hopes to continue his rise as a player, with help from the team’s resident veteran big men.
“Individually as a player I hope to improve. Asi Taulava and (JR) Quiñahan are here so they will be a big help in my game. I’m just starting my career and newly being recognized and I want to continue to improve. I don’t want to disappoint my new team and will do everything I can to help it,” Mr. Erram said.
Playing for national team coach Yeng Guiao with NLEX, Mr. Erram is not expecting to have a hard transition under the fiery coach’s system but underscored the need to having a good relationship with his new teammates.
“I know Coach Yeng and his system in Gilas and what he expects from me. It’s more of adjusting to the new environment in NLEX. I have new teammates. But so far they have welcomed me,” he said.
As to goals for 2019, Mr. Erram, one of the more vastly improved players in the league, said apart from individual growth, team success is something he hopes to achieve.
“Hopefully all our sacrifices as a team will pay off. We hope to win more games and maybe reach the finals,” said Mr. Erram, who also shared he is open to representing the country in international competitions, including the sixth and final window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers in February where the Philippines has its back against the wall.
In acquiring Mr. Erram from Blackwater, NLEX had to let go of its two first-round picks in the recent PBA Rookie Draft, namely Paul Desiderio (4th) and Abu Tratter (9th), to Blackwater.
Also part of the deal was sending Mike Miranda (from NLEX) and a 2021 second-round pick (from Blackwater) to the KaTropa.

PSC vows commitment to successful SEA Games hosting

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
WITH less than a year before the country’s hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games, local sports officials and offices are now busy getting the ball rolling in preparation.
One of the busier agencies is the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), which has vowed to do its part in having a successful, if not excellent, hosting by the Philippines of the biennial regional sporting meet set to happen from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11.
Tasked with among other things to ensure that venues and facilities to be used during the Games are ready and at par with international standards, the PSC said that things are on track albeit admitted there are still problems they have to address to.
“We’re on track. There are problems, of course, but it’s part of the one-year preparation. We should have prepared two years ago but we all know a lot had happened and it was already cancelled,” said PSC Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez in a recent interview with BusinessWorld, referring to an earlier decision of the government to cancel the SEA Games hosting to focus on the rehabilitation of war-torn Marawi before being reconsidered.
“Meetings are ongoing. We had two or three meetings already with the SEA Games Federation. The PSC is not involved in the number of sports to be played as it’s with the POC (Philippine Olympic Committee). But venues we are involved because we are the ones who are funding them. By August, or October at the most, we think almost all the venues will be ready,” he added.
Mr. Ramirez, who is in his second tour of duty as PSC chairman after holding the same position from 2005 to 2008, said they are now awaiting for the approval of the P7.5-billion budget for the SEA Games by Congress so they can further pick things up.
“If the budget will be approved by January then the money will be used for the preparation but if it will be a re-enacted budget there will be a problem. But even then if it is a re-enactment the government will try to find ways to get the money. It can be done. Back in 2005 we were able to do a good hosting job with a P500-million budget,” the PSC official said.
Late last year, the PSC identified the areas where the 55 sporting events in the 2019 SEA Games will take place, dividing them into four clusters.
The clusters are Clark, Pampanga; Metro Manila; Subic, Zambales; and the Batangas, La Union and Tagaytay.
In the Clark cluster are aquatics, underwater hockey, athletics, archery, rugby 7’S, arnis, baseball, softball, floorball, indoor hockey, net ball, golf, judo, jujitsu, kurash, smabo, wrestling, lawn balls, petanque, shooting, and wakeboarding.
Identified areas in Clark include the Parade Grounds, The Villages, Royce Hotel, Luisita Golf, ASEAN Convention Center, Clark Global City and Clark Wakepark.
Part of the Metro Manila cluster, meanwhile, are badminton, basketball (3-on-3), basketball full court, taekwondo. Bowling, boxing, fencing, kickboxing, wushu, figure skating, ice hockey, football, gymnastics, rowing, soft tennis, tennis, squash, volleyball, Esports, and billiards.
Among the venues are Philippine Sports Commission Philippines Arena, SM Mall of Asia Activity Arena, MOA Arena. Ninoy Aquino Stadium, World Trade Center, La Mesa Ecopark, Manila Polo Club, and Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Venues for Esports and billiards are still to be determined.
In Subic, to be played are beach volleyball, beach handball, chess, muay, pencak silat, table tennis, weightlifting, karatedo, sepak takraw, obstacle sports, sailing, windsurfing, traditional boat race, triathlon and duathlon.
Areas of competition include Subic Tennis Court, Subic Bay Exhibition & Convention Center, Subic Gymnasium and Subic Bay Yacht Club.
Polo will be played in Calatagan, Batangas. Surfing is in La Union while cycling and skateboarding are to be held in Tagaytay.

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