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The countries they call home

By Tony Samson

THE BREADTH of the Filipino diaspora hits us whenever we travel abroad. Isn’t there now a Filipino in every country in the world? We bump into these expats in unexpected places. She may be a receptionist in a Bratislava hotel or a chef in a restaurant in Athens.

Resting sore feet on a museum crawl in Amsterdam, you are likely to sit beside a compatriot. He strikes up a conversation by asking where you’re from — do you live in the States? When replying you’re from Quezon City, there is a slight hesitation. Are you staying with relatives here in Amsterdam? No, we’re staying in a hotel.

This exchange can be predictable as there are assumptions made of traveling Filipinos, that they are hosted by resident relatives and live with them for free, or traveling from another first world country like the States — yes, those with jobs like Trump. Parasites living on welfare hate him. And, it’s fake media that constantly criticizes him. (You stay away from that debate.) Filipinos living abroad, especially if they have not been home in a while and carry different-colored passports, are like the very rich. They are different from you and me. They dress differently and have different sports heroes.

Still, they keep track of news from home. They ask newly met tourist compatriots how the economy is doing. They ask surprising questions — do the trains there really leak when it rains?

News about Third World countries, when aired abroad, is often followed by travel advisories. Few feature good news, like the opening of car plants or the rise of the middle class. Pick-ups on countries outside the media capitals of the world must be on disasters of all sorts: a new virus epidemic, infected pigs, and political scandals involving released prisoners — pay to stray.

Residents in a foreign city know the best shopping bargains for shoes and the nearest outlet mall. If these expats have been out of their home country for decades, they presume that Third World travelers like you only have shopping in mind. (Can you get Birkin bags in Manila?) If you want to snap them out of this mindset, you can ask about museums — what’s the quickest way to get to the Van Gogh Museum, and do they require online reservations for every 15-minute time slot?

Because they are outside their country of birth and don’t have any powerful uncle to bail them out of scrapes, expats tend to be law-abiding. Or is it a form of natural selection where it is the civic-minded citizens that migrate and the lawless are left behind?

Still, expatriates will do for their adopted country what they will dismiss for their original one. Lining up for airport security checks in their host country is patiently suffered without any muttering under the breath. The same line in Manila is seen as a sign of gross inefficiency. (Why don’t they open more windows?)

Red tape required for licenses to buy a car, the purchase of coupons for parking, or the limited number of cable channels is shrugged off as unquestioned government policy — It’s just the way things are here. An equivalent bureaucracy in the home country is seen as a sign of backwardness.

The expatriate has made a choice to live elsewhere. And that option is often claimed to be an economic decision — there are more opportunities there.

It is already the season for homecomings when we see long-lost kin being part of us again, temporarily. At the airport pick-up, it is easy to see, even if they look alike, the ones being fetched and those picking them up. It’s more than the attire. There is also the air of discomfort and soldiering on to get the vacation underway.

Because of slowing GDP growth in her host country, the expatriate may decide to come home, even taking a job. The problem for the expat is adjusting to a new and unaccustomed environment — the one she long ago determinedly left behind. She is not confident she will survive the shock of adjustment.

Every returning expat has the same fear when visiting or retiring: that she will be a stranger in the place she was born in. What country does she really call home?

 

Tony Samson is Chairman and CEO, TOUCH xda.

ar.samson@yahoo.com

Even Putin is now worried about climate change

By Leonid Bershidsky

AFTER YEARS of procrastination, Russia, the world’s fourth-biggest greenhouse gas emitter, has officially joined the Paris climate agreement, which it signed in 2016. It shows that President Vladimir Putin’s views of climate change are evolving and he wants his government to do more.

Putin was never a fully-fledged climate change denier. Rather, he once didn’t take it seriously enough. Addressing a climate conference in 2003, Putin started by joking that Russia could perhaps use slightly warmer weather so people spend less on fur coats and grain harvests would increase. He went on to say, though, that certain areas of Russia are hit increasingly often with extreme weather phenomena and that “possibly global climate change” could result in major damage.

Whatever else the Russian president is, however, he’s not someone who ignores hard data, and these haven’t been in short supply. In its most recent annual climate report, the national weather service said the average temperature in Russia has been increasing by 0.47° Celsius every year between 1976 and 2018 — 150% faster than globally. Putin cited that surprising statistic several times this year, most recently in July. “Increasing production and the consumption of energy in traditional ways inevitably means new risks and further climate change,” Putin said.

At the same time, Putin the pragmatist has been worried about Russia’s inability to shake its fuel dependence. With the European Union, Russia’s biggest fuel export market, intent on sharply lowering emissions, this dependence is a brake on economic growth. A paper published last year by the Russian economist Igor Makarov and two collaborators from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology estimated that if all countries perform according to their goals set under the Paris accord, Russia’s growth will slow by 0.2 percentage points to 0.3 percentage points a year.

Meanwhile, Russian officials have been dragging their feet on the ratification of the Paris accord. Putin’s special representative for the environment, Sergei Ivanov, said earlier this year Russia should only do so once it has reliable data on how much carbon dioxide its forests absorb. The government planned to obtain the data by 2020. This was, most likely, just a pretext: Many in Russia, including in the influential fossil-fuel industry, have been arguing that US President Donald Trump had the best interests of US industry in mind when he pulled his country out of the accord.

Putin appears to have rejected these arguments. On Monday, the same day as the United Nations climate summit, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a government resolution that, according to the Russian government’s website, obviates the need for parliamentary ratification. It means that as of today, Russia is bound by the agreement.

Given how little the Paris accord actually requires countries to do (they’re allowed to determine their own contributions based on the goal of keeping global warming to 1.5° by the end of this century), Russia doesn’t really have to worry about implementation costs. When it signed the agreement, it promised to keep greenhouse gas emissions to 75% of the 1990 level. That target is easy to meet, after the collapse of Soviet industry in the 1990s. Indeed, on CO2 emissions, Russia is doing better than Germany, not to mention the three bigger emitters — China, India and the US.

That doesn’t mean, however, that Russia is doing its bit for the climate today. According to the Climate Action Tracker, a research project backed by the German environment ministry, Russia is one of the world’s laggards. Merely joining the Paris accord as a symbolic step won’t change it; after all, only two major nations — the US and Turkey — haven’t done so yet.

Putin’s decision to stop dithering and join the accord, however, is likely more than a symbolic step: It’s a signal of the Kremlin’s growing seriousness about the threat. As such, it doesn’t augur well for industry lobbyists, who have objected to the introduction of emissions pricing. Before the end of this year, the Russian parliament expects to see a government draft of a new emissions law, and it’s likely to hold some unpleasant surprises for the energy industry, especially for coal-burning power plants. Russia certainly has room to improve when it comes to emissions reduction. According to the consulting firm Enerdata, it has the second most energy-intensive economy in the world — after neighboring Ukraine.

The Russian government is about to try a climate-related set of goals to reduce the country’s fossil fuel dependence and improve the economy’s energy efficiency. Whether these intentions will lead to a drop in Russian emissions, or simply end up creating another tax on industry, is impossible to predict. But at least the evolution of Putin’s views on climate appears to be going in the right direction.

 

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Peso up on fresh US-China talks

THE PESO climbed on Wednesday on news of fresh trade talks between the US and China.

The local unit ended at P52.15 versus the greenback on Tuesday, up 3.5 centavos from its P52.185-per-dollar close on Monday.

The peso opened the session stronger P52.12 versus the dollar. It dropped to as low as P52.25, while its best level for the day was logged at P52.12 against the greenback.

Dollars traded on Tuesday inched down to $1.225 billion from the $1.258 billion seen on Monday.

“The peso appreciated from market optimism after US Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed the resumption of scheduled trade discussions between the US and China in two weeks’ time,” a trader said in a phone call.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Monday that he and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer would meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He for trade talks in two weeks.

Meanwhile, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael L. Ricafort said traders continued to price in the anticipated cut in benchmark rates when the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reviews policy this week.

“Latest signals from BSP Governor [Benjamin E.] Diokno about unlikely RRR (reserve ratio requirement) cut on Sept. 26 amid expected 0.25-bp cut in local policy rates may have also supported the peso,” Mr. Ricafort said in an email.

Asked if the BSP will cut the RRR alongside the expected reduction to policy rates, Mr. Diokno told reporters at the sidelines of Euromoney’s Philippine Investment Forum in Makati on Tuesday, while noting the planned RRR cut is “is always in the agenda” despite having no definite schedule.

For today, the trader expects the peso to move within the P52.10-P52.30 range versus the dollar, while RCBC’s Mr. Ricafort sees it trading around P52.00 to P52.30. — L.W.T. Noble with Reuters

Bourse caps five days of losses ahead of rate meet

LOCAL SHARES recovered slightly on Tuesday, as investors anticipated the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) monetary policy decision this week.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) climbed 0.33% or 26.43 points to close at 7,893.94 yesterday, snapping a five-day losing streak, while the broader all-shares index rose 0.2% or 9.73 points to 4,770.97.

Four of the six sectoral indices still ended in the red, although foreign investors shifted to buying mode after five consecutive trading sessions of net selling.

“The market is still trading sideways as the investors are on wait-and-see mode as they await the BSP decision on Thursday,” Unicapital Securities, Inc. Technical Analyst Cristopher Adrian T. San Pedro said via text.

Seven out of eight economists in a BusinessWorld poll late last week expect the Monetary Board (MB) to implement a 25-basis-point rate cut during its Sept. 26 meeting. BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno has repeatedly said since early last month that a reduction of such magnitude would be on the table in that meeting. If realized, this would be the third rate cut this year following 25-bp reductions in the MB’s May 9 and Aug. 8 meetings.

“Another thing to consider is the upcoming IPOs (initial public offerings) of Axelum Resources Corp. and AllHome Corp. which might zap the liquidity in the market as they begin their respective offer period,” Mr. San Pedro added.

Integrated coconut product manufacturer Axelum is currently undertaking the offer period of its P4-billion IPO, while Villar-led home supplies retailer AllHome will announce the final price for its P20.7-billion IPO on Sept. 26, Thursday, with its offer period to run from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4.

Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said that the market is on the lookout for more developments in the US-China trade war.

“Investors will be awaiting more developments as US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says that talks with China’s vice-premier (Liu He) will resume on Oct. 7,” Mr. Limlingan said in a mobile phone message.

Four sectoral indices ended in negative territory, led by mining and oil which lost 0.61% or 57.33 points to 9,217.90, followed by services which dropped 0.48% or 7.60 points to 1,559.21, industrials which shed 0.4% or 44.37 points to 10,810.96, while holding firms slumped 0.13% or 10.78 points to 7,825.44.

On the other hand, property climbed 1.61% or 64.96 points to 4,097.93 and financials edged 0.6% or 10.74 points up to 1,794.88.

Tuesday saw 899.97 million shares worth P8.50 billion changed hands, compared to Monday’s 3.35 billion shares worth P5.86 billion.

Stocks that declined still outnumbered those that advanced 122 to 80, while 54 others ended flat.

Foreign investors turned net buyers on Tuesday with P111.09 million, turning around from the previous session’s net outflows of P811.60 million. — Arra B. Francia

San Miguel, TNT debut in PBA Governors’ Cup

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

LAST conference’s finals protagonists San Miguel Beermen and TNT KaTropa begin their Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup journey as they make their tournament debut today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Both coming off stints at the East Asian Super League Terrific 12 tournament in Macau, the Beermen, the Commissioner’s Cup champions, and the KaTropa now channel their focus on doing well in the season-ending PBA conference.

San Miguel begins its campaign against the Phoenix Pulse Fuel Masters (0-1) in the 7 p.m. main game with TNT taking on the also-debuting Blackwater Elite at the 4:30 p.m. opener.

The Beermen are out to claim another rare grand slam in their franchise history after winning the first two conferences this season.

To help San Miguel in its push, it has brought in import Dez Wells for the Governors’ Cup.

Mr. Wells, who played collegiate basketball at the University of Maryland, impressed with his play for the Beermen in the Terrific 12, and eyes are now on him if he would be able to lead San Miguel to the grand slam.

The Beermen had a chance to win the rare league feat back in 2017 but fell short in the same conference. They won the grand slam in 1989.

“I think Dez Wells can help us. He is a two-way player who gives us hustle and energy,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria in the lead-up to the Governors’ Cup.

Mr. Wells will be joining an already-seasoned team which includes five-time league most valuable player June Mar Fajardo, Chris Ross, Alex Cabagnot, Marcio Lassiter, Arwind Santos, Terrence Romeo and Christian Standhardinger.

First to test the Beermen are the Fuel Masters, who got tripped in their Governors’ Cup debut, 123-116, by the NLEX Road Warriors on Sept. 21.

Phoenix competed in said game but just could not keep in step with NLEX when it needed to down the stretch.

Import Eugene Phelps led the Fuel Masters with 38 points and 10 rebounds and Matthew Wright had 24 points.

As a team though, Phoenix allowed NLEX to shoot at an efficient rate of 52% and saw six Road Warriors score at least 10 points or more.

It was something not lost to Phoenix coach Louie Alas.

“We gave up 52% field goal, 47% from the three-points. How can you win (with) that? I told them that’s not the identity we want to have here. If we want to win we have to play defense and not just shoot it out with our opponents. There are a lot of explosive teams out there,” said a disappointed Alas after their game.

TNT KATROPA
Meanwhile, TNT begins its bounce back bid after losing to San Miguel in the finals of the Commissioner’s Cup.

The KaTropa will be bannered by import KJ McDaniels, a former National Basketball Association campaigner with stops in Philadelphia, Houston and Brooklyn.

He is set to join forces with TNT mainstays led by Jayson Castro, Troy Rosario and Roger Pogoy.

They are to take on first Blackwater, led by former TNT reinforcement and champion PBA import (with San Mig Coffee) Marqus Blakely.

The Elite finished third in the elimination round of the Commissioner’s Cup before bowing out in the quarterfinals.

San Beda surges to 13th win in a row

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

MAKE it baker’s dozen in the win column for the defending champions San Beda Red Lions in National Collegiate Athletic Association Season 95 after they continued with their unbeaten run with a 91-76 victory over the San Sebastian Stags in league action on Tuesday at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

Got their fluid rhythm that was missing in their previous games back, the Lions (13-0) channeled the unstoppable as they exacted their will over the Stags (7-5) all game long and moved a step further closer to a sweep of the elimination round of the ongoing season of the country’s oldest collegiate league.

San Beda was in its solid element right from the start.

Guard James Canlas was on fire in the opening half, going 5-of-5 from the field for 15 points, to help the Lions to a 30-17 lead in the opening quarter and a 51-43 advantage at the break.

In the third quarter, the Stags came out with more fight on the lead of veterans RK Ilagan and Allyn Bulanadi.

They kept themselves close but the Lions stayed in command, up, 71-62, heading into the final canto.

San Beda steadied its attack in the final quarter with guys like Evan Nelle and Calvin Oftana making their presence felt further.

The Lions outscored the Stags, 20-14, for the full 10 minutes en route to bagging the victory.

Canlas led six players in double digits for the Lions with 20 points on an efficient 7-of-10 shooting clip.

Donald Tankoua had 18 points and seven rebounds while Oftana had 15 and eight.

AC Soberano finished with 14 with Nelle adding 11 points and seven assists.

Clint Doliguez was the other Lion in double figures with 10 points.

As a team the Lions shot 48.5% from the field and had more assists than the Stags, 20-14, and rebounds, 45-34.

For San Sebastian, which dropped its second straight game, it was Ilagan who top-scored with 16 points followed by Bulanadi with 14 and Rommel Calahat with 12 markers.

“I just have to give credit to my players. We had been struggling to get our game going in the previous games and sometimes I was hard on them. But today they really stepped up as a group. It was a total team effort,” said San Beda coach Boyet Fernandez after their win.

“We have Perpetual Help on our next game and it’s going to be a tough game. But if we continue to play the way we did today I think we are going to be in good position to win more games and fortify our position in the top two, which is really our goal,” he added.

San Beda plays the Perpetual Help Altas on Thursday while San Sebastian returns on Friday against the Emilio Aguinaldo College Generals.

Brandon Vera looks to turn to experience in quest to become double-champion

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

ON Oct. 13 mixed martial arts veteran star Brandon “The Truth” Vera will take on one of the biggest challenges in his career, going for a second ONE Championship world title. And he intends to go about it by digging to his bag of experience as a fighter.

To take on “The Burmese Python” Aung La N Sang for his light heavyweight title at ONE’s two-part “Century” event at the famed Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Mr. Vera (16-7-1), the reigning heavyweight champion, said with the opportunity to be a double-champion in Asia’s biggest sports media property presenting itself, he just had to go for it.

“I wasn’t very comfortable doing that inside the cage. It was Aung La N Sang‘s time to shine, but I’ve been wanting to become a double titleholder — a champ-champ — and I’ve always wanted to challenge for the ONE Light Heavyweight World Title,” said Mr. Vera, referring to the moment when he asked Aung La N Sang for the title fight back in March in Tokyo following the Burmese’s successful title defense against Japanese Ken Hasegawa.

“I just happened to be in Tokyo, the next event I wanted to compete on is in Tokyo, and I think it would be a beautiful main event or co-main event,” the Filipino-American champion added.

Mr. Vera, 41, however, said that getting past Aung La N Sang, who he has high regard for and describes as a “man among men,” would not be easy and that he has to come in to the fight with his A-game armed with the experience he has accumulated through years of fighting top martial artists in the world.

“I think the biggest difference between us is our experience. During his matches, I look for those little holes he still has because of his lack of experience. I’m not going to outpace Aung La, I’m not going to outwork Aung La. I’m not going to be a bully because that’s impossible. He’s been through the same system,” said Mr. Vera, who previously fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Extreme Cagefighting prior to coming to ONE Championship.

“I have to find holes in Aung La’s game and exploit them while he’s doing the same thing to me. We come from the same school, the same train of thought, so this is why I’m super excited for this match,” he added.

Aung La N Sang is currently sporting a professional record of 25-10-1 and is riding a six-bout winning streak, five coming by way of knockouts.

The Aung La N Sang-Vera fight headlines the second part of ONE: Century, which marks the 100th show of the promotion since opening shop in 2011.

Under it are three world-class co-main events led by the world bantamweight championship fight between reigning champion Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes of Brazil and former champ Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon of the Philippines.

The flyweight muay thai world championship fight between champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon of Thailand and Walter Goncalves of Brazil as well as the featherweight kickboxing world grand prix championship final between Italy’s Giorgio Petrosyan and France’s Samy Sana are the two other co-main events.

Part one of the offering, meanwhile, has the atomweight world championship fight between reigning champion Angela “The Unstoppable” Lee and challenger and women’s strawweight champ “The Panda” Xiong Jing Nan of China.

UAAP: La Salle takes on streaking UP

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

FRESH from their victory in their last outing that halted for them a two-game losing streak in Season 82 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, the De La Salle Green Archers look to sustain their winning form when they collide with the streaking University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons today at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Playing in the 4 p.m. match of the scheduled triple-header, the Archers (2-3) are out to build on their 68-61 victory over the Adamson Soaring Falcons on Sept. 21 and gain some lost ground as the first round of the eliminations nears completion.

Against the Falcons, La Salle bucked a shaky start and then held tough in the end to make its way to the much-needed victory.

Graduating player Andrei Caracut stepped up big for the Archers late in the game, burying two triples inside the final minute of the contest to fend off the Falcons, who competed all the way to the end.

Caracut finished with 15 points while Justine Baltazar (21 points and 14 rebounds) and Jamie Malonzo (12 and 11) had double-doubles for La Salle.

After the win, La Salle coach Gian Nazario said it was a big relief for them to end a two-game losing streak, seeing how the path for them moving forward would not be easy.

“Thank you, Lord, for the game. It’s been tough for us. We really felt the pressure as a team, coaching staff, players, everyone in the team, we felt the pressure… Just seeing our schedule in the first round, it’s been really tough. We play then we have two days, we play again the next day, two days, we play again the next day… I think we just have to not worry about the schedule but focus on what we’re good at as a team,” said Mr. Nazario.

Meanwhile, out to stop the Archers are the Maroons (4-1), winners of their last three games.

The most recent of UP’s win was over the University of the East Red Warriors, 62-56, also on Sept. 21.

The Maroons struggled against the Warriors but managed to pull off the win in the end.

Bright Akhuetie led UP in the win with 16 points followed by Javi Gomez De Liano with 15 points.

Kobe Paras finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks for the Maroons.

Recognizing that they had many lapses in their last game, UP coach Bo Perasol said they would try to cut down on them and play more fluid when they face La Salle.

“La Salle has a tough team. We know the kind of personnel they have. We hope to improve on this game to have a better chance against a powerhouse team like La Salle,” Mr. Perasol said.

Also playing today are the Far Eastern University Tamaraws (2-3) against the National University Bulldogs (0-5) at 10:30 a.m. and the Ateneo Blue Eagles (5-0) versus UE (1-4) at 2:00 in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, Paras was named UAAP player of the week after helping UP to three straight wins since joining the team, including victories over NU and UE.

In winning the award, given by media covering the league, Paras topped Ateneo’s Angelo Kouame, University of Santo Tomas’ Sherwin Concepcion, and La Salle‘s Caracut and Baltazar.

Generika-Ayala wins in opener of PSL Invitational tournament

By John Bryan Ulanday

Games on Saturday
(Ynares Sports Arena)

4 p.m. — F2 Logistics vs Petron

6 p.m. — Sta. Lucia vs PLDT Home Fibr

GENERIKA-AYALA kicked off its campaign in style, scoring a 25-19, 25-23, 25-17 romp of Marinerang Pilipina in the Philippine Superliga Invitational Conference opener at the Bacoor Strike Gym in Cavite on Tuesday.

Veteran hitters Fiola Ceballos and Mean Mendrez led the way with 12 points apiece as the Lifesavers registered win no.1 in Pool B that also has powerhouses F2 Logistics and Petron.

Patty Orendain backstopped the two with 10 markers of her own for Generika-Ayala which still missed the services of captain Angeli Araneta due to a left knee injury she suffered in the All-Filipino Conference in August.

Jamie Lavitoria facilitated with 13 excellent sets and 15 digs while backup Bia General stepped up with 28 digs and six excellent receptions for starting libero Kath Arado.

Arado played limited minutes as she just arrived yesterday morning following her stint with the Philippine women’s volleyball team that took home a bronze medal in the inaugural ASEAN Grand Prix held in Thailand over the weekend.

“It always feels good to win the first game. It’s a good momentum-builder for us,” said Player of the Game Ceballos as the Lifesavers needed only 85 minutes to dispatch the Lady Skippers and open their campaign with a bang after a fifth-place finish last conference.

Minus star spiker Chiara Permentilla who is still recovering from an ACL injury she sustained last All-Filipino tourney, Marinerang Pilipina banked on Cesca Racraquin who tallied 14 points and 21 digs that went down the drain in this three-set defeat.

It was the the 16th straight defeat for the expansion squad Lady Skippers dating back to last conference where they failed to nab a single win in 15 outings.

Fabio Makisig and local wrestlers strike back vs ‘Foreign Invasion’ at MWF 11: Road to Fate

FILIPINO wrestlers of the Manila Wrestling Federation (MWF) dominated their foreign foes in the recently held “MWF 11: Road to Fate” at the Newport Mall, reversing the domination of the latter during the previous edition of the event last July.

Fabio Makisig stood up for friend and country by saving the then-Number One contender, Khayl Sison, from an unsportsmanlike attack at the hands of the reigning MWF champion, Ho Ho Lun of China, seconds after the Chinese’s first successful title defense.

Makisig gave Lun a taste of his own medicine, much to the satisfaction of the hometown crowd.

The Filipino star began the night by defeating WWE legend Tajiri, also known as “The Japanese Buzzsaw,” in the rematch from their first clash last May 18. Unlike in the events of the MWF Championship bout later that night, Tajiri and Makisig showed mutual respect and sportsmanship.

Meanwhile, the tag-team of Frankie Thurteen and Morgan Vaughn, also known as “Youngblxxd,” made the score 2 – 1 for the Philippines by dethroning the Hong Kong- based Man Bros for the Asian Wrestling Grand Crown (AWGC) Tag-Team Title.

The MWF also announced the Oct. 2 launch of its AksyoNovela TV, the very first weekly online TV show in Philippine wrestling, featuring the wacky, colorful, and uniquely Pinoy characters of the Federation.

AksyoNovela TV combines everything Filipinos love in their entertainment: drama, comedy, suspense, and action!

To follow all the characters and stories of the Manilaverse, subscribe to the following: Facebook: Facebook.com/ManilaWrestlingFederation and YouTube: “Manila Wrestling Federation.”

Bears break out early, beat Redskins

LANDOVER, MD. — Veteran safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix had an interception return for a touchdown, wide receiver Taylor Gabriel caught three touchdown passes from Mitchell Trubisky, and the Chicago Bears recorded a 31-15 win over the Washington Redskins on Monday night in Landover, Md.

Chicago (2-1) jumped to a 28-0 lead and held on for its second consecutive victory on the road. The Bears’ defense combined for three interceptions, two fumble recoveries and four sacks.

Wideouts Terry McLaurin and Paul Richardson had one touchdown reception apiece from Redskins quarterback Case Keenum. Washington (0-3) is off to its worst start since 2013.

The Bears opened the scoring on a pick-six by Clinton-Dix with 9:42 to go in the first quarter. He intercepted an overthrown pass from Keenum and weaved 37 yards through traffic for his first career touchdown.

Trubisky then put the Bears on top 14-0 with his first passing touchdown of the season. He rolled left and made an easy toss to a wide-open Gabriel for a 3-yard touchdown with seven minutes left in the second quarter.

Another dominant defensive play set the stage for the Bears’ third touchdown. Pro Bowl linebacker Khalil Mack sacked Keenum and forced a fumble, which defensive tackle Akiem Hicks recovered at the Washington 11-yard line.

Three plays later, Trubisky found Gabriel again for a 1-yard score that made it 21-0 with 5:42 left in the half.

Gabriel hauled in his third touchdown on a highlight-reel play with 43 seconds to go before the break. He relied on skillful body control as he twisted toward the ball and got two feet in bounds just inside the front-right pylon. — Reuters

Ricky Yanson to run for president of the PHL Football Federation

RICKY Yanson, president of the Negros Occidental Football Association (NOFA) and a strong advocate of grassroots football development has officially declared his intention to run for president of the Philippine Football Federation (PFF).

Mr. Yanson made the announcement at the launch of the first ever Mindanao Cup, a tournament that NOFA is organizing with the Davao Football Association. The Mindanao Cup, which is patterned after the NOFA Cup, will gather teams of players born 2008–2009 from Mindanao to participate in 9-a-side matches; the Mindanao Cup will be held from October 22 to 26 this year.

Speaking before 15 heads of Mindanao’s regional football associations who were gathered at the Seda Hotel in Davao City, Mr. Yanson said, “Football is my passion… I would like to serve. I would like to ask for your support for my presidency of the Philippine Football Federation.”

He also revealed that he has been in talks with current PFF President Mr. Mariano “Nonong” Araneta who had shared to him that the latter will not opt for another term, but instead run for vice-president of PFF. “I hope with Sir Nonong running for vice-president, (we) will have a good partnership.”

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