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Laundering is plundering

On Aug. 20, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), through its secretariat, published its Rules of Procedure in Administrative Cases under R.A. 9160 or the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) of 2001. These rules seek to protect and preserve the integrity and confidentiality of bank accounts and to ensure that our country shall not be used as a haven for money laundering, financing of terroristic activities and other crimes.

Meant to make administrative investigations quick and efficient, the proceedings are summary, without need of utilizing the very technical rules of evidence that are characteristic of trials before our regular courts. No motions or requests for clarifications, dismissal, quashal or other temporary orders are to be entertained.

Sanctions are defined as actions taken by the AMLC that shall include both penalty and non-penalty measures such as assessment or monetary sanctions, reprimand or formal censure, warning that puts a respondent on guard against the consequence of impending or future violations and restoration which refers to the restitution of the value of a monetary instrument or property that was released in violation of a freeze order, provisional asset or asset preservation order. Interestingly, one is considered to have committed a violation of the AMLA or any of its regulations on a “per order,” “per account,” “per transaction,” “per customer,” or “per examination or daily basis.” One violation is one count.

In determining what particular sanctions are to be imposed, “attendant circumstances” such as asset size or financial capability of the respondents to comply with the AMLA, and the gravity of the violation are taken into account. On the other hand, respondent’s history of non-compliance, concealment of violation, material misrepresentation, are considered aggravating circumstances. However, one’s liability can be lessened if there is voluntary disclosure, or when corrective measures have been taken to correct any findings by the AMLC’s compliance group or if the respondent’s AML rating is 3 or 4.

But the ordinary Filipino would probably query why there is a need for these new processes to take place, specifically in relation to a crime that appears to have such a tremendous effect on Third World or developing countries such as ours?

WHAT IS MONEY LAUNDERING?
It is crime where income of criminals is disguised as coming from legitimate sources or earned via legal means. It happens when the proceeds of a crime are channeled into the financial or banking system and are reduced to seemingly valid monetary documents or financial instruments and are utilized in the ordinary course of business. These monetary transactions that appear to be regular are actually funded by the money of individuals involved in illegal drugs, robbery, kidnapping, illegal gambling and even terrorism.

WHY IS MONEY LAUNDERING A CRIME?
Money laundering is a criminal offense because it allows criminals to enrich themselves by using the financial system to “cleanse” the proceeds of their illegal activities. Banks are deceived because of the heaps of legal transactions that these money gets mixed with. At the end of the day, no one would know the difference because professional money launderers openly assist other fellow launderers and their deep connections with syndicates have been formidable and challenging to break down.

EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY AND SOCIETY
When dirty money enters the economy, it destroys the financial institutions, the professionalism and competence of its staff, and erodes its reputation and integrity. When trust is lost, the populace would hesitate to participate in boosting the economy. Executive time and resources are wasted on legal cases, regulatory and legislative investigations, and staging stakeholder management campaigns.

Money laundering promotes the proliferation of graft, crime, moral and overall societal decay. It weakens social and political institutions when communities embrace the culture of avarice and greed brought about by the infiltration of criminal funds into their everyday lives. Net result is political and economic instability. The sad fact is that money launderers favor small and underdeveloped countries, piping their resources into legitimate industries, while bleeding the people dry, in the long run.

WAY FORWARD
It is for this reason that the AMLC should be empowered to pin down individuals and entities who engage in this loathsome crime. More forensic, intelligence, technical and legal support should be provided to it in order to capably determine, trace, confiscate and seize these illegal proceeds of criminals and syndicates.

Money crimes and all their by-products and derivatives should not be allowed to wipe out the economic gains that our country has achieved so far.

 

Ariel F. Nepomuceno is a management consultant on strategy and investment.

Republic v. Sandiganbayan revisited: Of human rights and natural law

A fair amount of complicated issues exist regarding the nature of judicial power and rights. This is illustrative of the dangers brought about by the injudicious, imprudent, and impulsive liberal progressive habit of tinkering with the tried and true. Judicial power is essentially the ability to rule over cases and determine compliance with procedural due process. Unfortunately, this has evolved into — unchecked for decades — the power to decide upon matters better left to the judgment of the elected branches of government.

Such (along with the nature of rights) is what Hanah Francine C. Macababayao (a senior law student at UA&P) sought to explore in her thoughtful study “Revisiting Republic v. Sandiganbayan: A Search for the Proper Basis of Rights.”

The paper itself is in turns insightful and persuasive, and make intelligent reading for those interested in constitutional law. Which should be everyone.

Its axis is the case of Republic v. Sandiganbayan, where the properties of an accused were confiscated pursuant to a defective search warrant. The resultant constitutional case reached the Supreme Court.

Finding the Philippines at that time governed by no constitution (being the period between the repeal of the 1973 Constitution and the coming of the present one), the Court nevertheless ruled “that the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Covenant) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Declaration) remained in effect during the interregnum. Therefore, the search and seizure of the items confiscated was illegal.”

The logic in that ruling has been questioned (and rightly so) because if the Bill of Rights is said to be inapplicable due to the absence of a constitution, then what legal basis is there for a foreign treaty to apply and have effect domestically when no incorporation or transformation clause exists to effect it?

Furthermore, what lends greater opaqueness to the ruling’s reasoning is the Court’s admission that the “the signatories to the Declaration did not intend it as a legally binding document, being only a declaration, the Court has interpreted the Declaration as part of the generally accepted principles of international law and binding on the State. Thus, the revolutionary government was also obligated under international law to observe the rights of individuals under the Declaration.”

Macababayao interestingly refers to this as “judicial legislation” and, thus, “the doctrine of separation of powers protected in the Constitution was violated.” Considering that judicial powers refer to “interpreting and constructing,” yet such “presupposes that there is an existing law or Constitution to be discovered and expounded. In the instant case, there was neither a Constitution nor a statute recognizing the human rights embodied in the Covenant and the Declaration that would render the act of the Republic illegal.”

Not that lack of due process should be abided. But what Macababayao is arguing is that the rights of the accused could have been amply protected without need of a circuitous (and constitutionally doubtful) referral to international law. Instead, it would have been better to examine the nature of rights itself and proceed from there.

For analytical purposes, Macababayao examined the human rights and constitutional issues brought about in the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp. Here, various legal experts determined that the “list of human rights found in the Federal Constitution may still be invoked on the basis of Natural Law.” Furthermore, the US Constitution “makes reference to natural rights in its preamble and the bill of rights whose amendments are ‘unquestionably the product of natural law thinking’.” A most apt example is the due process clause, characterized as “a limitation to the government by virtue of a ‘fundamental body of natural rights belonging to man’.”

Our constitutional system clearly recognizes the natural law foundation of our rights. Thus, according “to the Committee Reports, the Philippine Constitution makes reference to the American Constitution xxx [T]he Philippine bill of rights and the preamble makes reference to natural law as an objective basis of rights.”

Indeed, in ruling after ruling, our Supreme Court (expressly or impliedly, directly or in allusion) referred to natural law, from People v. Asas (recognizing the right against forced confessions as part of the natural law) to Laurel v. Misa (on the natural law and the prohibition on wars of aggression) to Estrada v. Escritor (on a “higher law”).

It must be emphasized that when the Supreme Court invokes natural law, it isn’t referring to any theological or religious concept but rather recognition of objective standards as a consequence of human nature.

As revered legal expert Jorge Coquia explains: “One standard that can serve as a guide for courts in resolving concrete cases involving conflicts of the fundamental freedoms of speech, press, property and religion is Natural Law. xxx Positive law needs the enduring critic provided by Natural Law. It must be confronted by objective justice.”

Or as Hanah Macababayao herself brilliantly concludes: “Natural law in itself which necessarily includes human rights is by its nature binding even without positive law.”

 

Jemy Gatdula is a Senior Fellow of the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations and a Philippine Judicial Academy law lecturer for constitutional philosophy and jurisprudence.

https://www.facebook.com/jigatdula/

Twitter @jemygatdula

A beautiful tomorrow

By Raju Mandhyan

EVEN though I had known the group and its founders for years, I really did not know how being one with them would twist my heart around and turn it into warm marshmallow.

“Sign up for a speaking tour across South East Asia” they said and we will talk about causing and then, thriving through disruption.

Why not, I thought to myself. Do I not, anyway, do that all the time? Do I not work with senior leaders and coach them into surviving and thriving through volatile, uncertain, changing and ambiguous times? Do I not coach senior leaders on how they can manage, engage and motivate a diverse and a changing world all the time?

So I agreed to journey across South East Asia on with a troupe called, Together We Can Change the World or TWCCTW for short.

So after weeks of looking up the countries and their business cultures and looking for stories and scenarios to include in my talks on disruption in the world, I landed in Singapore in the first week of July.

Singapore was our starting point and we were to cover places like Johar Baru, Iskander, Kuala Lumpur, Siem Reap, and Chiang Mai.

In Singapore, the bulk of the conversations among us were about how to speak effectively in public. “Can do, la!” I said to myself.

In Johar Baru, the conversations were about women’s rights and diversity etc., My voice probably won’t add anything to the subject, I thought to myself.

In Kuala Lumpur, Scott Friedman, Rebecca Morgan and Jana Stanfield, pioneers and founders of TWCCTW, sat us all down and asked us what our core purpose and objective was in being with the troupe. The troupe had now added up to 15 speakers from across the world.

Some said they were there to contribute. Others said women’s and children’s issues are a big thing across the world and they’d like to add their two cents worth. One of them mentioned that he was there to work away the guilt that had been accumulated inside of him from having lived a life of his choices and own making. That made sense to me and I added saying that I was there for the learning and the fun. We were to speak at six to eight events and occasions. And, boy, I had not the faintest idea of what would hit me in the next few days and it did.

Besides speaking to business groups, part of the tour included visiting orphanages, schools and refugee centers along the route. A day after our business presentation to crowd of 600 in Kuala Lumpur we walked into a school for refugee children from Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia, Egypt, Syria etc., And, that encounter made me step down from the lectern of my life and out of the spotlight into a world I had viewed from a distance.

The school had scores, no hundreds, of children from the ages of five to 15 who had all come from a background of countries torn apart by war, families devastated by suffering, homes that had burned down to ground. Yet their smiles glowed with aspirations for a world they hadn’t yet experienced. Their eyes blazed with a vision they planned to build with their own two, fragile, hands.

As I stood among them, it dawned on me that we all, once, had similar smiles, blazing visions and a hungering in our spirits like the ones these boys and girls from diverse backgrounds had. The only difference was that during those hungering youthful years most of us had friends and family to support and cheer us. These children had no homes, barely any family, and friends who they had just met. Yet they all stood tall, asked questions, offered points of views, expressed opinions and emanated an aroma of hope and a desire to change not just their own world but the world at large.

For the rest of the journey we visited a few more places and I walked every step flushed with amazement and hope and love that needed to explode out of me. I walked away with sheer admiration and respect for the donors, the charity workers and teachers from across the world supporting orphanages, homes, schools and caring for these children who are bound not to just change the world but heal the world into becoming a better place.

I now trust and know that a single human being cannot do all the good the world needs, but the world needs all the good each one of us can do. And, there are millions of single human beings out there doing good and keeping their young eyes ablaze towards a beautiful tomorrow.

 

Raju Mandhyan is an author, coach and speaker.

www.mandhyan.com

Demoting shareholders won’t strengthen capitalism

MILTON FRIEDMAN famously wrote that the sole purpose of a business is to generate profits for its shareholders. This week, leaders of many American companies begged to differ. In a Business Roundtable “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation,” they affirmed that “each of our stakeholders is essential.” The accompanying press release sums it up crisply: “Updated statement moves away from shareholder primacy,” it says.

The sentiment guiding this rethink — the notion that firms should strive to help their customers, workers, suppliers and surrounding communities, and not just serve their owners — is admirable in its way. No question, companies ought to be good corporate citizens; and, yes, as with ordinary citizens, there’s more to that than merely following the law. Even so, depending on exactly what it means, “moving away from shareholder primacy” raises a few awkward questions.

The first and biggest concerns the underlying assumption — namely, that the search for profit is somehow at odds with advancing those other goals. It isn’t. In fact, the opposite is closer to the truth. The most successful firms have satisfied customers; loyal, trained and adequately motivated workers; reliable supply-chain partners; and supportive communities. These economic necessities make the search for profit by competent, farsighted managers a more effective guarantee of wider social benefits than any number of Business Roundtable undertakings, laudable as those might be.

Some of the statement’s signatories, one suspects, might agree. Jamie Dimon, head of JPMorgan Chase and chairman of the Business Roundtable, said: “Major employers are investing in their workers and communities because they know it is the only way to be successful over the long term.” Exactly. In a private-enterprise economy, the effort to deliver long-term results for shareholders isn’t just consistent with those other advances, it’s the very thing that drives them.

Perhaps the Business Roundtable statement and others like it should therefore be seen as concessions to current political realities, rather than as a serious economic reappraisal. Certainly, American capitalism is under unusually fierce attack at the moment. It could use some skillful defenders. But does suggesting, falsely, that the interests of shareholders and stakeholders are basically in conflict really serve that purpose? Hardly. It concedes most of what the fiercest critics of the corporation allege. And if shareholder capitalism is so fundamentally flawed, one might ask, why trust CEOs, why trust even members of the Business Roundtable, to put things right?

That’s a fair question — and it suggests something else for the signatories to ponder. What’s the right division of labor between corporate boards (accountable to shareholders) and governments (accountable to voters)? Nobody in the U.S. is advocating unfettered, unregulated capitalism. Governments rightly intervene to correct market failures and to advance all manner of social purposes. Yet how ambitious and intrusive these efforts should be is an intensely political question. Corporate executives might be wise to pause before taking up this function for themselves and trying, in effect, to privatize public policy.

Delivering long-term gains for shareholders is a demanding enough task in its own right. Indeed, better aligning the incentives of corporate managers with that aim is a worthy ambition for tax and corporate-governance reformers. The pressures to neglect the traditional purpose — to stress short-term gains over long-term, for example, or take undue tax-preferred risks by borrowing excessively — are real. There’s a strong public interest in making capitalism more patient and farsighted, and good reason for enlightened executives to make this case to their investors and the public at large.

However, calling for an end to shareholder primacy is not the way. It’s unwise to blur the line between politics and business. Capitalism’s best defense is successful companies that put their owners first — and because of that, not despite it, serve their stakeholders as well.

 

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Gilas plays Australian team in tune-up games

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

PREPARATIONS of the Philippine men’s national basketball team for the FIBA Basketball World Cup further picks up this weekend as it plays the Adelaide 36ers in a pair of tune-up matches.

Gilas Pilipinas takes on the National Basketball League team in closed-door matches at the Meralco Gym set for today (Aug. 23) and Aug. 25 as it winds up its preparations before flying out for the World Cup which begins on Aug. 31 in China.

The Philippine team hopes to sharpen its game in its matches against the 36ers, coached by former Philippine Basketball Association import Joey Wright, who played for the Presto team in the 1990s.

The team also hopes that the games will reinvigorate ties between the Philippines and Australia following the infamous brawl that marred the World Cup qualifiers last year between Gilas and the Boomers at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan.

Gilas is in the homestretch of its girding-up for the basketball spectacle, happening until Sept. 15.

It started slow but picked things up as the weeks went along, even going to Spain to play in a pocket tournament.

This week it has been able to practice with a full complement with June Mar Fajardo, Troy Rosario and Roger Pogoy rejoining the team after being away because of the PBA Finals.

Gilas coach Yeng Guiao said they are expecting a tough battle against the 36ers, who are four-time champions at the NBL in Australia.

“We anticipate good games against Adelaide 36ers. This will be a big help for our preparations because they play high-quality and world class basketball,” said Mr. Guiao at the send-off for Gilas and welcome ceremonies for the 36ers at the Meralco Compound in Pasig on Wednesday.

Mr. Guiao shared that they initially asked to play the Boomers for the tune-up games but due to conflict in schedule it could not be consummated.

In the FIBA World Cup, the Philippines, which is making its second straight appearance, is bracketed in Group D along with Serbia, Italy and Angola in the opening round.

Mr. Guiao said it is going to be an uphill battle for them but vowed to give their all.

“We are in a tough group but we will go to China and give our best. We will represent the Philippines the best way we can,” the national team coach said.

Apart from Messrs. Fajardo, Rosario and Pogoy, part of the Gilas pool for the World Cup are naturalized players Andre Blatche, Christian Standhardinger and Stanley Pringle as well as Japeth Aguilar, CJ Perez, Robert Bolick, Gabe Norwood, Paul Lee, Mark Barroca, Beau Belga, Poy Erram, Marcio Lassiter, Matthew Wright, Raymond Almazan and Kiefer Ravena.

Also included in the 19-man pool is Filipino-American National Basketball Association guard Jordan Clarkson.

The final Gilas Pilipinas lineup for the World Cup is expected to be announced after the last tune-up game against the Adelaide 36ers on Sunday.

Hendriks seals Athletics’ 6-4 win over NY Yankees

OAKLAND — Mike Fiers ran his streak of consecutive starts without a loss to 19, and Liam Hendriks struck out Aaron Judge representing the potential go-ahead run to end the eighth inning Wednesday night, lifting the Oakland Athletics to a 6-4 victory over the visiting New York Yankees.

Khris Davis, Marcus Semien and Stephen Piscotty homered for the A’s, who improved to 5-1 on their nine-game homestand by beating the Yankees for the second straight night.

The Yankees out-hit the A’s 11-6 but left 10 runners on base, including two in the eighth when trailing 6-4.

Hendriks was summoned to replace left-hander A.J. Puk, who got one out in his major league debut, with one down and runners on first and third in the eighth. The Oakland right-hander struck out DJ LeMahieu and Judge in succession to protect the lead.

Hendriks was facing Judge for the first time since the Yankees slugger belted a two-run, first-inning homer off the Athletics’ “opener” in last year’s American League wild-card game.

Now the Oakland closer, Hendrick also worked a 1-2-3 ninth, adding a third strikeout, for his 15th save.

The A’s trailed 1-0 before Davis bombed a two-run homer off Yankees starter J.A. Happ (10-8) in the second inning. Semien added a two-run shot in the third.

The homers were the 18th of the season for Davis and 22nd for Semien.

Piscotty’s 13th homer, a solo shot, increased the Oakland lead to 6-2 in the sixth.

Happ was pulled three batters into the fifth inning, charged with five runs on four hits in four-plus innings. He walked two and struck out four.

Fiers (12-3), who hasn’t lost since May 1, held the Yankees to two runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked three and struck out four.

The Yankees narrowed the gap to 6-4 in the seventh inning on Mike Ford’s fifth homer, a solo shot, and an RBI double by Didi Gregorius. But New York stranded two runners in each of the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.

Piscotty finished with two hits for the A’s, who have won six of their past seven.

Ford went 3-for-4, while Gregorius, Gio Urshela and Mike Tauchman added two hits apiece for the Yankees, who lost their third straight. — Reuters

MLB roundup: Detroit overcomes Verlander’s 2-hitter

JOHN HICKS cranked a leadoff home run in the ninth inning, and the visiting Detroit Tigers overcame former ace Justin Verlander’s two-hit complete game with a 2-1 win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday.

Hicks’ blast, his ninth on the season, enabled the Tigers to snap an eight-game losing skid against Houston and a four-game losing streak overall.

Verlander had pitched brilliantly, allowing just one baserunner through eight innings before Hicks drilled a 1-0 fastball out to left field, snapping a 1-1 tie with his 412-foot shot. The only other hit Verlander (15-5) allowed was Ronny Rodriguez’s solo homer with two outs in the fifth. Verlander struck out 11, extending his club record for double-digit strikeout games to seven.

Detroit capitalized on poor base-running by Jose Altuve in the eighth inning and by Robinson Chirinos in the ninth, gunning both down at third. Chirinos, who had tied the game with a solo homer in the seventh, made the game’s final out trying to stretch a double into a triple.

CUBS 12, GIANTS 11
Chicago overcame a trio of deficits, clubbed three home runs and tallied 14 hits in a wild win over visiting San Francisco.

Nicholas Castellanos, Kyle Schwarber and Kris Bryant each homered for the Cubs, who won their fourth game in a row. Bryant provided the final turning point with a go-ahead, two-run blast in the eighth inning.

Evan Longoria, Mike Yastrzemski, Stephen Vogt and Kevin Pillar went deep for the Giants, who have dropped three games in a row. San Francisco erased deficits of 6-2, 7-4 and 10-9, while the Cubs overcame 2-0, 9-7 and 11-10 deficits. At least two runs were scored in every inning except the fourth and ninth.

METS 4, INDIANS 3 (10 INNINGS)
J.D. Davis laced the game-winning hit to cap a 10th-inning comeback by New York, which edged visiting Cleveland.

The Mets have won four in a row and are 20-5 since July 25. The Indians have lost six of eight.

Carlos Santana gave the Indians the lead with a two-out homer in the top of the 10th against Luis Avilan (4-0). But the Mets rallied in the bottom of the inning against Brad Hand (6-4). After a fielder’s choice by Michael Conforto tied it, Davis fell into an 0-2 hole, worked the count full and fouled off three pitches before hitting the winning single to left.

RANGERS 8, ANGELS 7
Hunter Pence singled home the game-winning run in the ninth, and Texas beat Los Angeles for its third walk-off win in the four-game series in Arlington, Texas.

Elvis Andrus singled off Trevor Cahill (3-8) to start the ninth. He took second and third on wild pitches before scoring on Pence’s single through the left side.

Only one Rangers starter failed to get a hit. Andrus had three hits and scored two runs, Pence had two hits and three RBIs, Nick Solak had two doubles and scored three times, Delino DeShields had two hits and two RBIs, and Willie Calhoun added two hits — including a solo home run — and two runs.

RAYS 7, MARINERS 6
Kevin Kiermaier homered to lead off the ninth inning to tie the score, and the winning run came across on a bases-loaded wild pitch as Tampa Bay salvaged the finale of a three-game series against Seattle in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Following Kiermaier’s homer, to straightaway center field off Mariners right-hander Matt Magill (3-1), a single, a double and an intentional walk to load the bases, Magill threw a curveball in the dirt to Tommy Pham. The ball bounced off catcher Omar Narvaez and toward the third base dugout, allowing Adames to score the winning run.

The Mariners, who saw their four-game winning streak halted, scored three runs off Rays closer Emilio Pagan (3-2) in the top of the ninth to take a 6-5 lead.

WHITE SOX 4, TWINS 0
Lucas Giolito allowed just three hits and struck out 12 while pitching his second complete-game shutout of the season as Chicago blanked Minnesota in the rubber game of a three-game series in Minneapolis.

Giolito (14-6) threw a season-high 115 pitches in cooling off the hot-hitting Twins, who were shut out for just the third time this season. He didn’t walk a batter while registering double figures in strikeouts for the third consecutive game.

Minnesota had rolled up 29 hits in the first two games of the series and had scored double-digit runs in three of its previous six games, winning five of them. — Reuters

NCAA 95: San Sebastian, Perpetual Help shoot for second victory in a row

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

HALTED losing streaks last time around, the San Sebastian Stags and Perpetual Help Altas seek to stay winning when they collide against each other in National Collegiate Athletic Association Season 95 action today at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

Set for 2 p.m., the Stags (3-3) and Altas (3-5) are out to build on their victories in their last outings which swung them back into the win column. San Sebastian was a 102-101 overtime victor over the Letran Knights on Aug. 20 while the Altas held on to beat the Emilio Aguinaldo College Generals, 88-87, also on the same date.

Other games set for today are the battle between league-leaders San Beda Red Lions (7-0) and College of Saint Benilde Blazers (5-1) at 12 noon and Lyceum Pirates (6-2) against the Arellano Chiefs (1-6) at 4 p.m.

In their last game against the Knights, the Stags dug deep as they played undermanned down the stretch with six players fouling out, including top man RK Ilagan. They also played sans coach Egay Macaraya, who served a one-game league-imposed suspension.

San Sebastian lost a 17-point lead in the fourth period and was stretched to overtime by Letran but did just enough in extra time to book the win.

Allyn Bulanadi, Ken Villapando and Alvin Capobres stepped up in overtime for the Stags, creating the big plays on both ends to carry their team over the Knights.

Ilagan led the Stags with 22 points before fouling out with Bulanadi adding 21 points and Capobres 19.

“The players just showed tremendous hunger to win in this game. They did not want to lose. This is a good confidence boost for us after losing three straight,” said San Sebastian assistant coach Melo Banua, who took over for Mr. Macaraya, in the vernacular after their win.

The win stopped for the Stags a three-game losing streak.

PERPETUAL HELP
Perpetual Help, on the other hand, had control of the contest for much of the time against EAC but had to hold on tight in the end against a gallant stand from the Generals who kept fighting all the way to the end.

Rey Peralta led the way for Perpetual Help (3-5) with 19 points, followed by JJ Egan with 16 and Kim Aurin 14.

The Altas, with the win, got back to winning after dropping their two previous matches.

Altas won the game without head coach Frankie Lim, who was on indefinite leave following the 46-point shellacking they absorbed at the hands of San Beda in the game prior.

Juniors coach Myk Saguiguit held the fort in the absence of Mr. Lim in their last game.

But Mr. Lim is set to return to the sidelines today for his team’s final assignment in the opening round of Season 95 of the country’s oldest collegiate league.

Fans betting on sentimental favorite Serena Williams to win 2019 US Open

NEW YORK — In the twilight of her remarkable career Serena Williams is more often the sentimental favorite rather than the bettors’ choice but the 37-year-old American will be both as she heads to the US Open chasing an elusive 24th record-equalling Grand Slam.

Despite fitness concerns and a title drought that stretches back to the 2017 Australian Open, bookmakers are backing Williams to match Margaret Court’s record haul and the New York crowds, as always, will be in her corner when play gets underway on Monday at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

A six-time champion at Flushing Meadows, Williams was once money in the bank when it came to the US Open. During a dominating run, she lifted the trophy three years in succession from 2012.

That is no longer the case.

French Open champion Ash Barty or Wimbledon winner Simona Halep, who ran Williams off the court in a lopsided final at the All England Club, may be sounder investments at the betting window but punters are just as likely to follow their hearts as hunches.

In all the four events she has played outside of the majors this year, her title challenges ended abruptly — she either retired mid-match or handed rivals a walkover.

Since Wimbledon, Williams has played one event. Her hardcourt preparations were limited to the Rogers Cup which ended with the former world number one in tears when she was forced to quit the final against Bianca Andreescu after just 19 minutes after suffering back spasms.

The problem has lingered and led to Williams withdrawing from Cincinnati, and once again raised questions about her ability to withstand a two-week grind on the New York hardcourts.

“The most frustrating part is that I’ve had this before and it’s, like, 24, 36 hours where I’m just in crazy spasm and then it’s gone,” said Williams after her Rogers Cup disappointment. “I’m just taking it a day at a time.”

Williams may not strike fear into opponents as she once did but few, if any, will welcome having her on their side of the draw.

Not long ago, just seeing their name alongside Williams would leave opponents a crumbling wreck. The match often won before it had even begun.

But since returning from her maternity break, Williams is the one who has often looked fragile, out of sorts and out of ideas.

The last 12 months have been an emotional roller-coaster for Williams, filled with rage and tears.

A year ago the US Open final ended in controversy with fiery exchanges between a fuming Williams and the chair umpire, smashed rackets, penalties and Japan’s Naomi Osaka walking away with the trophy.

In Toronto earlier this month, Williams was left sobbing after she was unable to finish the Rogers Cup final.

In between, Williams, widely regarded as the greatest women’s player of all-time, was a non-factor during a run to the quarterfinals at the Australian Open. — Reuters

Philippine women’s football team goes for spot in next round of AFF Women’s Championship

THE PHILIPPINE women’s national football team plays its last match in group play at the 2019 AFF Women’s Championship in Thailand today with an eye on booking a spot in the knockout stage of the tournament.

To take on already-eliminated Singapore at the IPE Chonburi Stadium 1, the Malditas, sporting a 2-0-1 record and good for second place in Group A, are out to get the victory and the full three points that go with it to advance.

The team is coming off a 4-2 loss against host Thailand on Wednesday in a game that saw the Malditas get off to a good start but just could not keep in step with their opponents as the match progressed.

Quinly Quesada (11’ and 66’) scored a brace for the Philippines but it was not enough to tow her team over Thailand, which relied on a strong finish to put the game away in its favor.

Prior to the loss to Thailand, the Malditas were on a roll, beating Malaysia, 3-0, and Timor-Leste, 7-0, in that order.

The Philippines has a similar record with Malaysia (2-0-1) but has a higher goal difference of +8 to the latter’s +6. Malaysia plays group leader Thailand (3-0-0) today.

Out to derail the Philippines is Singapore, the lone winless team in Group A.

The Singaporean lost to Timor-Leste, 2-1; Thailand, 8-0; and Malaysia, 4-0.

In the 2019 AFF Women’s Championship, the top two teams in the two groupings advance to the knockout stage, with the finals set for Aug. 27 at Chonburi.

Already through from Group B are Vietnam (3-0-0) and Myanmar (2-0-1).

The Philippine team is using the tournament as part of its preparation for 30th Southeast Asian Games which the country is hosting later this year. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Pagara’s triumphant ring return on ABS-CBN S+A

FILIPINO BOXING rising star “Prince” Albert Pagara’s recent triumphant return to the squared circle in “Pinoy Pride 46: Banggaan sa Ormoc” will be shown at 12 noon on ABS-CBN S+A, on Sept. 1.

Pagara dominated Thai challenger Ratchanon Sawangsoda last Aug. 17 at the Ormoc City Super dome in Leyte, where other local pugilists Jeo Santisima, Jonas “Zorro” Sultan, and Melvin “El Gringo” Jerusalem also notched convincing victories over their foreign counterparts.

Pagara went for the kill as soon as the bell rang, dropping the Thai challenger with a two-punch combo punctuated by a thunderous right straight. Trying his best to stand toe to toe with the Filipino golden boy, Sawangsoda was dropped three more times before the referee stepped in to stop the fight at the 2:53 mark of the first round.In the fight against Sawangsoda, Pagara successfully defended his WBO Inter-Continental super bantamweight belt for the second time after fighting last November 2018 against Ghana’s George Krampah. He won the belt in a match against Krampah’s fellow Ghanian, Laryea Odoi, which also happened in 2018.

Meanwhile, Mr. Santisima, who is slowly rising through the ranks of Filipino pugilists, scored another early victory, closing out Indonesia’s Alvius Maufani in the first round as the co-main event of the fightcard. The former world contenders Sultan and Jerusalem also scored knockouts against Salatiel Amit and Reymark Taday, respectively.

Don’t miss the scintillating knockouts and extreme boxing action in “Pinoy Pride 46: Banggaan sa Ormoc” on the next month’s first day at 12 noon.

Racasa off to good start in China chess tourney

THE Philippines’ youngest Woman Fide Master (WFM) Antonella Berthe “Tonelle” Murillo Racasa (elo 1380), had a good start in the World Cadet Chess Championships being held at the Yujing Hotel in Weifang, Shandong, China on Wednesday.

The 12-year-old genius playing under the banner of Home School Global defeated Sophia Ziyan Zhao of the United States.

“It’s a good start for Antonella Berthe, I hope she can perform well in the World Cadet Chess Championships,” said father/coach Roberto Racasa, also an International Memory champion, dubbed as the founder and father of Memory Sports in the Philippines.

Racasa’s China trip is sponsored by Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) chair and CEO Andrea Domingo, D. Edgard Cabangon of ALC Group of companies, Mandaluyong City Mayor Menchie Abalos and Councilor Charisse Abalos.

She was also supported by Mr. Rogelio Lim of Boni Tower and Makati Medical Center President and Chief Executive Officer Rose Montenegro as she takes on Bayasgalan Khishigbaatar of Mongolia in the second round. — Marlon Bernardino

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