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The ‘new cold war’ in the US-China trade wars: Application to Philippine foreign policy

The United States government’s ban that led Google to discontinue its software dealings with Huawei and other firms as part of the US-China trade wars has led key Philippine businesses to revisit their dealings with Huawei, a crucial partner in 5G development on the front lines of the Philippine government’s bid for telecoms modernization.

In November, the Duterte government paved the way for Mislatel, the telecom industry’s third player, to break the duopoly of Globe and PLDT. Globe and PLDT have downplayed the alleged Huawei threat to Philippine national security and declared that they are not breaking ties with the firm. Interestingly, the Philippine companies’ prudent response, based on wait and see and a commitment to explore vendor diversification beyond Huawei, says something about the need for a equally more circumspect perspective in our pursuit of foreign relations with great and emergent powers. It attests to the reality of the highly interconnected supply chains that embroil states with firms in the age of ICT revolution. Without considering these dimensions, it becomes simplistic to transpose US anxiety over the alleged Chinese state-sponsored hacking to the level of relations of Chinese firms with the markets of third states, such as ours.

Thus, what may be required of a globalized worldview is a more disaggregated application of the US-China ‘new cold war’ lens and its entanglement with the foreign policies of third states. This is to argue that the assumptions that legitimized the cold war world divisions between capitalism and communism, and between democracy and authoritarianism from 1945 to 1989, no longer define the 21st century strategic competition between US-China.

Contributing to the new cold war construct, the speech of US Vice President Mike Pence in October 2018, and the subsequent arrest of a Huawei executive in Vancouver in November formalized the warring path that the US has taken against China and its state-owned and private firms. Under the new cold war framework, these actions indicate categorically that the US believes China poses an existential threat to its national security.

As a foreign and security policy construct, the notion of a new cold war significantly diverges from the cold war event that marked the superpower rivalry between the US and the former USSR after the second World War. The difference is primarily attributed to the cold war’s rigid ideological basis and the nuclear arms race that underlined the world’s bifurcation between allies and spheres of influence. The end of the cold war also extended to the triumph of the US-led global democratic order or the unipolar moment.

What is the significance of the new cold war lens in the US-China trade wars to Philippine foreign and security policy?

The new cold war between the US and China does not reflect the context of the rigid superpower rivalry that marked global relations from 1945 until the turn of the 20th century. Alternatively, US and China competition is simultaneously situated on immensely intertwined global supply chains. The globalization argument cancels out the utility of nuclear war, the role of ideology and the loyalties that flow from great powers to the alliances and the spheres of influence. Because of the globalization of interests, the US-China trade wars will not neatly and automatically mobilize traditional alliance loyalties, which was characteristic of the earlier bipolar period. Additionally, the primacy of interest over ideology will make it difficult even for friends and allies to take sides. For instance, these countries have not totally cut ties with Huawei: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland in Europe; Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam and the Philippines, among ASEAN countries.

While the Philippine National Security Policy 2017 — 2022 is still premised on the unipolar position of the US, the Duterte government has already adopted a policy that hedges the risks associated with the US-China strategic competition in the South China Sea and beyond. In recasting its relationship with the US, the Philippine government, through Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, has maintained the need to review the reassurance of mutual defense under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty. It has de-securitized its approach to the West Philippine Sea conflict to upgrade its relations with China. As a counterbalance, the Duterte government maintains the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with the US. It has also re-opened the country to US military exercises with an emphasis in humanitarian action and disaster relief.

References to support the list of countries that have continued to work with Huawei are found in Bodetti, A (2019, April). Brunei: Huawei’s Foothold in Southeast Asia, The Diplomat; BBC News (2019, May). Huawei: Which countries are blocking its 5G technology; Panettieri, J. (2019, May 23). Huawei: Banned and Permitted in Which Countries? List and FAQ and Valdez, D. (2019, May 24). Globe stands firm on Huawei partnership. Businessworld Online.

 

Alma Maria O. Salvador is assistant professor of political science at the Ateneo de Manila University.

MAP urges holistic Laguna Lake rehabilitation for water security and eco-tourism

Water security and the environment are major concerns of the MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION OF THE PHILIPPINES (MAP).

The recent water crisis in parts of Metro Manila exposed the Achilles Heel of Metro Manila’s water security. Almost all of raw water supply currently comes from one source — Angat dam in Bulacan. The water in the dam is vulnerable to extended drought, as being experienced now and in past years. Catastrophic earthquakes are another risk to water infrastructure. Activation of the West Valley Fault is said to be overdue and there is the recent revelation of the existence of hidden earth faults similar to the one that figured in the recent earthquake in Pampanga.

Water is essential to sustain life. The government cannot allow a scenario where water supply is severely disrupted and the teeming population of metropolitan Manila area would be denied or left to struggle for water to drink, cook food, clean, and wash, and in a mass exodus out of the metropolis in a desperate dash for water from other sources.

No matter how remote the possibility of such a dire scenario, contingency measures must nevertheless be put in place. Metro Manila has a fifth of the country’s population and accounts for over a third of the economy. A disaster here will inflict collateral damage to supply chains in the other regions.

It is for these reasons that MAP urges an immediate effort by the national government to emplace a failsafe water security system, with dams and Laguna Lake playing a redundant complementary role to ensure water supply, under any eventuality.

Laguna Lake is the largest freshwater lake in our country and among the largest in Southeast Asia. It is an ideal, logical, inexhaustible, and proximately-located source of fresh water for Metro Manila. It is well endowed to serve as a major component of a failsafe water security system together with dams, as well as having vast potential for public recreation and eco-tourism.

Unfortunately, the water quality of Laguna Lake has, despite sporadic efforts, continuously degenerated from long years of neglect and wanton disregard for the lake’s wellbeing much like other natural resources of our country. This deplorable condition persists despite Republic Act No. 4850, creating the Laguna Lake Development Authority, and Republic Act No. 9275, or the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004, both of which remain to be fully implemented.

We have seen in Boracay the beneficial effects of strong political will exercised by President Duterte and concerted action taken by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). We urge the President to order similar draconian measures in Laguna Lake with the issuance of an Executive Order to direct all national and local government units and instrumentalities to immediately implement all existing laws, rules, regulations and directives, particularly R.A. 4850 and 9275, to clean, rehabilitate, protect and conserve Laguna Lake and the forest cover of its watershed in the surrounding hills and mountains.

The President should make a policy declaration giving priority utilization of the lake as a viable and sustainable raw water supply for domestic, commercial and industrial uses, and that all other utilization of the lake, such as aqua and agriculture, shall be subordinated such that these secondary uses be allowed and maintained at an appropriate and sustainable level that would not conflict or put into jeopardy the priority purpose.

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Pending the rehabilitation of Laguna Lake, the National Water Resources Board should prepare ready-to-implement contingency measures for implementation in the event of disruption of water supply from other sources in the minimum quantity required for the survival of the population of metropolitan Manila, and that the national security adviser shall see to it that the plan is credible, viable and all resources available for its implementation when the need arises.

The public must be warned that the government will strictly enforce existing laws that prohibit, under pain of penalty, the dumping of waste into the lake. Polluting industries, such as factories, fish culture, poultry and livestock farms, must be strictly regulated.

All developments and structures must be banned within a no-build zone starting from the high-water mark to within, preferably, no less than fifty meters, especially in populated areas, to allow access to the public with ample space for recreation and common enjoyment of a national resource.

Necessarily, massive reforestation must be sustainably undertaken in the surrounding hills and mountains to enhance the productivity of the watershed. Ideally, indigenous wood species, fruit-bearing trees and bamboo should be utilized. No-build zones must likewise be established at the foot of the surrounding hills and mountains to guard against encroachment.

In accordance with R.A. 4850, the full potential of Laguna Lake must be harnessed to optimally utilize the resources of the lake regions, including for eco-tourism purposes, while guarding against unmanageable pollution and ecological imbalance. For public benefit, the Biodiversity Management Bureau (formerly Parks and Wildlife Bureau) should recommend and establish public recreational parks along the lakeshores.

As an alternative mode to land transportation, a lake ferry transportation system, preferably using green energy, can provide convenient, affordable and reliable connectivity between the towns and cities around the lake. Transportation connectivity is likewise necessary for convenient access to lakeshore developments.

This rehabilitation and development effort ought to be a Save Laguna Lake Movement participated in, supported and sustained by all, including private corporations as among their primary social responsibility projects. Civil society, including all environment protection organizations, is a stakeholder and must likewise participate.

Lastly, let the Laguna Lake rehabilitation be the model for all our freshwater lakes to be replicated all over the country.

 

Eduardo H. Yap is the Chair of the National Issues Committee of the Management Association of the Philippines and Initiator of this advocacy approved by its board of governors.

The Senate a rubber stamp?

With the 12 candidates endorsed by President Duterte elected to the Senate combined with his allies among the holdover senators, there is speculation that it would be easier now for the President to push his agenda through the Senate.

But for the Senate to become a rubber stamp for whatever President Duterte puts forth before it, he has to have in his pocket at least 13 senators, meaning he would have to have the unwavering support of the majority of the members of the Senate. For that to happen, at least 13 senators would have to blindly do the President’s bidding because they are beholden to him or because they have no mind of their own. Are there at least 13 senators among the 24 who are either extremely indebted to President Duterte or who are entirely clueless about their legislative function?

We may without question exclude from consideration the four opposition senators: Leila de Lima, Risa Hontiveros, Franklin Drilon, and Francis Pangilinan. Senators Panfilo Lacson and Ralph Recto were senators long before Mr. Duterte came to power. They are seasoned legislators who owe the President nothing. When Sen. Recto was the minority leader, he vowed to oppose the majority’s agenda if “it hurts the nation.” Sen. Lacson on many occasions has expressed opposition to the President’s policies and looked askance at some of the President’s decisions.

While they may have supported President Duterte’s legislative agenda, Senators Richard Gordon, a multi-term senator, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Joel Villanueva, and Sherwin Gatchalian were elected to the Senate on their own. They are not beholden to the President and neither are they unthinking members of the Senate. They have their own worthy advocacies. Now that President Duterte is nearing the halfway mark of his term, they will not be currying his favor as much as they did the past three years and would act more independently of him.

Senators Tito Sotto, another multi-term senator, and Manny Pacquiao have also been elected senators in their own and are therefore not beholden to the President. However, they were elected not on the basis of their qualifications for legislative work but on the basis of their celebrity status — Tito Sotto as the main character in the pang masa TV sit-com Iskul Bukol and Manny Pacquiao as the world champion of eight boxing divisions.

Mr. Sotto doesn’t tell jokes in the Senate session hall. In the deliberations of monumental issues, as in the impeachment trials of President Estrada and of Chief Justice Corona, he voted in favor of the president’s stand. I expect him to vote in favor of whatever President Duterte proposes as he has done all along.

Sen. Pacquiao is mainly a boxer. When he was a member of the House of Representatives, he was criticized for his poor attendance record. His response: “I don’t just sit around making laws, like others.” He spends more time in the boxing gym than in the Senate session hall.

The President is his fan. He went to Kuala Lumpur, bringing along Foreign Affairs Secretary Cayetano, Senate President Sotto, Solicitor General Calida, and National Police Chief de la Rosa, just to see Sen. Pacquiao fight the Argentinian boxer Lucas Matthysse. After the fight, Manny quipped, “the fight was one of a kind.” That was because President Duterte and his entourage of high-ranking officials of the Duterte Administration cheered for him. Expect Sen. Pacquiao to reciprocate the President’s support.

That brings us to the 12 newly-proclaimed senators. Now, that they have been elected, some senators no longer have to kowtow to the President’s every wish. A number of them, Senators Cynthia Villar and Sonny Angara among them, may feel that they owe the President nothing as they would have been elected just the same even without his support. Senators Grace Poe and Nancy Binay manifested that feeling graphically when they refrained from joining the others in thrusting their fists forward, known as the Duterte salute, at the proclamation ceremony.

Those eyeing the presidency or the vice presidency will pursue whatever course would enhance their political stock, regardless of whether they are aligned with the President’s agenda or not. Like senatorial race topnotchers in the past — Jovito Salonga, Gloria Arroyo, Loren Legarda, and Mar Roxas — Cynthia Villar must be seriously thinking of either she or husband Manny making a bid for the presidency in 2022. She will not sponsor bills or support programs that are not seen favorably by the voting population.

I believe Senator Pia Cayetano was hurt immensely by the President’s expression of preference for Bongbong Marcos as his successor over his own vice-presidential candidate Alan Peter Cayetano, Ms. Pia’s brother. That putdown was uttered in the presence of the Cayetano siblings, the Marcos siblings Bongbong and Imee, and a host of administration officials. I expect Senator Pia to hit back somehow at the President for the sake of her brother.

She had also been reproached by feminist groups, of which she is supposed to be a champion, for her deafening silence over the President’s misogynist utterances. I expect her to be not only critical of the President’s agenda but to take pot shots at the President occasionally.

As regards Senator Imee Marcos, Mr. Duterte’s endorsement of her bid for the Senate is only payback for the Marcoses helping bankroll his presidential bid in 2016. They are now “quits.” They are free of each other.

Another re-elected senator who must be hurting terribly is Koko Pimentel. He was dropped from the sample ballots distributed by Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte’s party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago. Her father would not be president if PDP-Laban president Koko Pimentel had not substituted the name Rodrigo Duterte for Martin Dino, who was originally PDP-Laban’s candidate for mayor of Pasay City. How the substitution resulted in Duterte becoming the PDP-Laban candidate for president instead of the candidate for mayor of Pasay can be attributed to Pimentel’s magical prowess. He too will drift away from President Duterte.

Francis Tolentino has more than enough credentials to be a senator. He earned a master’s degree in Law from the University of London and did post graduate studies in military schools abroad. He was a former mayor of Tagaytay and chairman of Metro Manila Development Authority. He did a superb clean-up job of the destruction Typhoon Yolanda wrought upon Tacloban. Still he needed the President’s all-out support to be elected senator. He is profoundly indebted to him. He will surely give the President full support.

Lito Lapid has the reputation of being the chair of the Senate Committee on Silence because in the 12 years he had been in the Senate, he was hardly heard, if at all. He admits there was really nothing he could do. He was not able to go to college because he was poor. All he knew was acting in the movies. His popularity as an action movie star catapulted him to the Senate. I am not convinced he has a mind of his own. He is likely to do whatever the President asks him to do.

Bong Revilla is another movie action star elected senator. He promised nothing during the campaign. He merely danced the buduts. He will dance in the Senate to the tune of DU30.

Bong Go was little known until Davao City Mayor Duterte ran for president. He said, “I will support his legislative agenda. In the past 21 years I have known him he has not given any flawed order.” I don’t expect Senator Go to see any flaw in the orders of President Duterte in the next three years. He will vote yes to whatever the President proposes.

When “Bato” de la Rosa was asked if he would be beholden to President Duterte, he said “Never.” Yet, he intimated he called the President to seek advice on some legislative matters. Instead of the President giving him advice, the President told him to do his job as senator. He had to be told to do what he was elected for. He will have to be told by the President what to do every time an issue is put to a vote.

Seven senators — Messrs. Pacquiao, Sotto, Tolentino, Lapid, Revilla, Go, and de la Rosa — fall short of the 13 required to make a rubber stamp.

 

Oscar P. Lagman, Jr. is a retired corporate executive, business consultant, and management professor. He has been a politicized citizen since his college days in the late 1950s.

Modi’s win is a populist warning to the world

By Mihir Sharma

IT’S A TERRIBLE FEELING to discover that your country is full of strangers. For some in India, the election of Narendra Modi in 2014, with a majority that India hadn’t seen in three decades, was that moment. Everyone knew there was discontent with the status quo; everyone knew that Modi was doing well, better than anyone had expected before he became a candidate — but to win an unprecedented majority? It meant that far more Indians than imaginable were willing to trust a leader with so disquieting a record.

Since then, I have seen that feeling of shock replicated elsewhere, and often. In Britain, for example, in the summer of 2016, as the country voted narrowly for Brexit. And again, in the U.S. that fall.

After a while, you refuse to believe what happened. It was special circumstances that led to this shock result, you’re told. Voters who should have known better were carried away with anger and enthusiasm, responding to a government floundering in corruption, or to years of feeling left out and ignored by mainstream parties, or to economic policies that didn’t sufficiently take their interests into account. Voters are sensible, people say; when they see how their choices aren’t working out as hoped, they will come around. Of course they will, that’s how democracy works.

In India, Narendra Modi’s premiership was certainly not working out as hoped. The jobs he had promised to create weren’t there. Rural distress was spreading, as the government’s tight control on food prices kept farmers from making the sort of profits they wanted. The prime minister took controversial, indefensible decisions like the overnight ban on 86% of India’s cash. And he lost several crucial midterm provincial elections, some by unusually large margins. Yes, he remained popular, but politics seemed to be snapping back to normal.

And then came May 23, 2019, when — instead of voting out Modi, or chastening him by reducing his majority, Indian voters instead rewarded him with an even greater majority. His party’s share of the vote jumped by more than 6%. Instead of seeing his term as a disappointment, his supporters retained their allegiance — and gained converts. Losing once to the populist might be bad, but you just have to look at India to realize twice is infinitely worse.

Liberals in India weren’t alone in being shocked in the past fortnight. A few days before Modi’s victory was announced, Australia’s incumbent right-wing government — after a shambolic few years — were returned to office, defying opinion polls and surprising pretty much everybody. A predicted swing against them didn’t materialize to any substantive degree, and voters in places like Queensland opted in larger than expected numbers for extremist parties — a choice that ultimately benefited the incumbents.

These are warning signs for the rest of the world. Do you believe that rational Brexit voters looking at the mess of the past two years will obviously change their minds? Think again. They may not see it with the eyes you do. The Brexit Party just won the biggest share of the U.K. vote in the European Parliament elections. Do you think the Democratic “blue wave” in the midterms of 2018 means Trump’s chances of winning re-election are low? Don’t bet on it.

If voters can make the wrong choice once, they can do it again — even in the face of objective evidence. Especially if their first choice has been misdiagnosed. If you imagine it was a protest, or a response to specific economic circumstances, then listen more closely to what your fellow citizens are saying — even if it makes you uncomfortable, because you don’t want to believe that’s what they want and believe.

In India, too many liberals came to the conclusion that Modi won in 2014 just because he promised jobs, or because the previous government had been a mess. It made his victory more palatable, more normal. It made our country more recognizable. But it was wrong. In fact, Modi promised pride. As his followers saw it, Modi promised to restore the greatness that more than a thousand years of foreign rule had sapped from India, culminating in the government of the Italian-born Sonia Gandhi.

He implied that the state would cease decades-old preferential treatment to Indians from historically disadvantaged or minority communities. His opponents sought to combat him on his economic platform, or on corruption allegations — but his voters chose not to listen to their arguments. Those issues simply weren’t what appealed to them in the first place. They liked his vision of the country, and so were resolutely deaf to arguments about anything else.

It turns out that, if you want to fight nationalist-populists like Modi, you can’t treat them like regular politicians. Nor can you assume away unpalatable truths about your fellow voters. You can’t change their votes by appealing to their pocketbooks, or by big economic promises, or by excoriating a populist government’s record, because they will always trust such leaders more than they will let you. You can’t change how they vote until you change their minds about what sort of country they want to live in. Only then can you defeat Modi — or Trump, or Brexit, or Le Pen.

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Mihir Sharma is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was a columnist for the Indian Express and the Business Standard, and he is the author of Restart: The Last Chance for the Indian Economy.

The race for 650 million virtual bank accounts

By Nisha Gopalan and Andy Mukherjee

CHINA’S tech giants have upended the country’s payments system and promise to shake up its consumer-banking sector. The rest of the region won’t be so easy.

Asia is quickly becoming the next battlefront for Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Ant Financial and Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat Pay, after both secured licenses to set up online-only banks in Hong Kong earlier this month. Singapore’s welcoming regulatory environment makes the city-state an obvious entry point to Southeast Asia.

The region’s huge market could offer some easy wins. Much of its population of over 650 million are digitally savvy smartphone owners, already comfortable with ride-hailing apps like Go-Jek and Grab. Meanwhile, inefficient bank branches, low interest rates and poor professional investment advice is trumping privacy concerns: 62% of people in developing Asian countries don’t mind sharing personal data to get customized products, compared with just 23% in wealthier Asian nations, according to a 2017 survey by McKinsey & Co.

Yet traditional lenders remain formidable competitors. Take Hong Kong: While the city has awarded licenses to eight virtual banks, three have gone to incumbent lenders Standard Chartered Plc, BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) Ltd. and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. HSBC Holdings Plc, which has a lock on nearly 30% of the city’s deposits, hasn’t even applied.

HSBC may have good reason to be unmoved. Together, the city’s virtual-bank contenders will have a balance sheet of just HK$150 billion ($19 billion), which would put them on par with Hong Kong’s third-smallest bank, Dah Sing Banking Group Ltd., according to Citigroup Inc.

While picking up retail customers is one thing, getting them to put large amounts of money into a virtual bank account is another. Without a big-name lender behind them, newcomers grapple with a trust deficit.

Virtual banks also aren’t exempt from frustrating know-your-customer routines, which can hinder efforts to sign up cash-heavy small and medium enterprises. A hair salon that finally convinced HSBC it’s not laundering money will be reluctant to repeat that process. While an individual can open a virtual account in a matter of hours, the same can’t be said for SMEs, which face more onerous regulatory hurdles. That means it’s unlikely to be any less time-consuming than the average 38 days it takes for a traditional bank in Hong Kong. (As tedious as they may seem, such rules could help virtual banks avert some of the costly regulatory blunders of their rivals — particularly given startups often lack deep expertise in operational risk management.)

Another issue is that newcomers’ cost advantages may be smaller than anticipated. Virtual banks might save money by not having branches, but Hong Kong is setting the same capital requirements for online-only banks as their bricks-and-mortar rivals — something Singapore is likely to replicate.

Then there’s liquidity. Singapore’s DBS Group Holdings Ltd., which started a mobile-only digital bank in India in 2016, claims to be targeting SMEs with data-driven lending. It’s unclear if the deposit base required for a meaningful operation can come entirely from online-only customers. In Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam — in addition to China and India — 46% of consumers flatly refused to move any of their money to a bank without branches, according to the 2017 McKinsey survey.

That doesn’t mean traditional banks should get complacent. Many startups are backed by deep-pocketed Chinese tech giants, which gives them the flexibility to scale up quickly. Old-world banks may be able to capitalize on this by developing more alliances with them. Using Chinese partner ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance Co.’s technology, for example, Tencent-funded Grab Holdings Inc. is offering its ride-hailing app in Singapore as a platform for insurers to sell policies without agents or brokers. About 60% of Cit-igroup’s consumer credit cards in Asia are now paid via Ant’s Alipay, according to the bank. Paytm, India’s most popular digital payment service, has made its peace with plastic: It’s now issuing credit cards jointly with Citi.

Ultimately, big banks may even want to consider ceding some of this race for retail clients to nimbler tech rivals. The real money to be made is in a dustier corner of the banking business: in the accounting departments of large multinationals. We’ll explore this option in a second column.

 

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Barangay Ginebra Kings finding means to win

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

WINNING teams find ways to win and it could not be truer in the case of defending Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup champions Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings.

Found themselves in a situation where things were seemingly not going as planned last time around, the Kings dug deep and made the necessary adjustments, which saw coach Tim Cone taking a back seat and allowing his deputies and staff to run the show in the second half of their match versus the Meralco Bolts on Sunday.

Struggled mightily in the opening half which had it trailing Meralco for most of the time, Barangay Ginebra regrouped at the break and came out with more fire in the second half to turn things around and book its first win in the midseason PBA tournament, 110-95.

Mr. Cone attributed the win to the team’s decision to allow deputy Richard Del Rosario and the rest of the staff to handle much of the coaching in the second half, to which the players responded well.

“I shouldn’t be the one talking to you guys. It’s should be Richard and the staff because they did much of the talking and the coaching in the second half. And the players responded very well. I couldn’t be prouder. We played as bad as we could possibly have in the first half. We looked like we didn’t have enough fight. It was so discouraging. And they talked about it at halftime and played with more fire in the second half and turned things around,” said Mr. Cone at the postgame press conference.

“Sometimes you just have to have a different voice out there. My voice goes in and out throughout the years and sometimes a different voice is more effective. Whatever it takes, we have to find ways to win. It’s a long conference,” he added.

Import Justine Brownlee led the Kings to the victory with a near-triple double effort of 27 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists.

Japeth Aguilar finished with 19 points with Art Dela Cruz, Sol Mercado and Scottie Thompson winding up with 16, 14 and 11 points, respectively.

As a team, the Kings outscored the Bolts, 67-41, in the second half.

Mr. Cone underscored that the win was huge in their mission to repeat as champions.

“This is huge as we avoided dropping to 0-2. We are only playing 11 games in the eliminations and if you go down 0-2 you are literally chasing everybody. It doesn’t mean you cannot do it though. But it takes so much on you if you keep chasing the pack. We are happy we are at 1-1 than 0-2,” Mr. Cone said.

Barangay Ginebra (1-1) opened its Commissioner’s Cup bid with a loss to Blackwater Elite, 108-107, on May 24. Its next game is on June 1 against Northport Batang Pier.

Roger Federer graces new-look Roland Garros with opening win

PARIS — Roger Federer made a stylish comeback to the French Open after a three-year hiatus as the revamped, widely-acclaimed Roland Garros burst into life on Sunday.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion, back on the Paris clay 10 years after his only title here, swept aside Italian Lorenzo Sonego 6-2 6-4 6-4 in a graceful performance on an expanded court Philippe Chatrier.

“The reception I got today was crazy, it was really nice to see a full stadium for a first round like this. It was a beauty,” the 37-year-old Swiss told reporters.

Earlier, 2016 champion Garbine Muguruza inaugurated the new court Simonne Mathieu with a first-round victory, describing the semi-sunken 5,000-seater as a ‘cosy’ place.

Situated within a botanical garden at the East end of Roland Garros, the court is cocooned by greenhouses featuring rare tropical plants.

“It’s a cute court. It’s in a very different place. You don’t feel like you are around a court. It’s like in a garden,” Muguruza said.

Some top players, however, will not get much chance to enjoy the new stadium, with former world number ones Angelique Kerber and Venus Williams sent packing along with former winner Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Opening proceedings on Chatrier, Germany’s Kerber was downed in two short sets by Russia’s Anastasia Potapova as her attempt at completing a career slam was cut short on her least favorite surface.

Seven-time Grand Slam champion Williams was also eliminated in straight sets by Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, the ninth seed and one of a dozen contenders for the Suzanne Lenglen Cup.

Last year’s semi-finalist Marco Cecchinato of Italy, seeded 16th, was at the receiving end of Nicolas Mahut’s spectacular comeback as the local favorite advanced into the second round with a 2-6 6-7(8-6) 6-4 6-2 6-4 victory on court Simonne Mathieu.

In the women’s draw, second seed Karolina Pliskova and seventh seed Sloane Stephens eased into round two while on the men’s side, Greek sensation Stefanos Tsitsipas and Japan’s Kei Nishikori also progressed.

Top favorites Rafa Nadal, the 11-time champion, and world number one Novak Djokovic will be in first-round action on Monday. — Reuters

Warriors heavily favored vs Raptors in NBA Finals

LOS ANGELES — The Golden State Warriors are favored in the NBA Finals for the fifth consecutive year, as they opened as heavy favorites against the Toronto Raptors late Saturday night.

Most sportsbooks had the Warriors around -300 to win the series, meaning a $300 bet would win $100. The Raptors were offered by several outlets at +250 — meaning a $100 bet would win $250 — making them the second-largest underdogs in the past eight NBA Finals (2017-18 Cleveland Cavaliers).

The Warriors, seeking their third straight title and fourth in five years, were already installed as favorites before their Finals opponent was known, with most sportsbooks putting them at -275 versus any opponent, and around -180 if facing the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Raptors rallied past the Bucks in Game 6 on Saturday night for their fourth straight win, claiming the best-of-seven series 4-2 to reach the first NBA Finals in franchise history. They have home-court advantage in the series, which begins (Friday), though most sportsbooks have Toronto between a 1-point favorite and a 1-point underdog at home in Game 1.

The Warriors have won six straight games, including five without Kevin Durant, who strained his calf on May 8 and is not expected to be ready for the start of the Finals. The team is hopeful he can return during the series, while center DeMarcus Cousins could also return from a torn quad muscle.

Golden State last played on May 20, providing five more days of rest than Toronto will have. The Raptors went 2-0 against the Warriors this season, winning 131-128 in overtime at home on Nov. 29 and 113-93 in Oakland, Calif., on Dec. 12. Stephen Curry missed the first meeting, while Kawhi Leonard missed the second.

The NBA Finals will open in Toronto on (Friday in Manila Time) and continue on (Monday, also in MT) before shifting to Oakland, California, for Game 3 on June 5.

The NBA announced the complete schedule on Sunday for the best-of-seven series that pits the Golden State Warriors, making their fifth straight appearance in the finals, against the Toronto Raptors. The Warriors have won three of the past four NBA titles.

Game 1: Thursday, May 30, Warriors at Raptors, 9 p.m. Eastern Time (ABC)

Game 2: Sunday, June 2, Warriors at Raptors, 8 p.m. ET (ABC)

Game 3: Wednesday, June 5, Raptors at Warriors, 9 p.m. ET (ABC)

Game 4: Friday, June 7, Raptors at Warriors 9 p.m. ET (ABC)

*Game 5: Monday, June 10, Warriors at Raptors 9 p.m. ET (ABC)

*Game 6: Thursday, June 13, Raptors at Warriors 9 p.m. ET (ABC)

*Game 7: Sunday, June 16, Warriors at Raptors 8 p.m. ET (ABC) — Reuters

Team Japan tops FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Boracay Open

THE JAPANESE pair of Satono Ishitsubo and Asami Shiba emerged as the women’s champion in the just-concluded FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Boracay Open.

Collided with compatriots Sakurako Fujii and Minori Kumada in an all-Japan final, Misses Ishitsubo and Shiba showed their class with a dominant 21-14 and 21-18 victory at the White House Beach Station 1 of the island on Sunday.

On their way to the finals victory, Misses Ishitsubo and Shiba showed their superior skills on offense and defense that made them No. 86 in the world.

Prior to it, the Japanese pair swept Brittany Kendall and Stefanie Weiler of Australia, 21-16 and 21-17, in the semifinals.

Misses Kendall and Weiler, however, managed to salvage a third-place finish by defeating Tjasa Jancar and Tjasa Kotnik of Slovenia.

The Philippines, for its part, matched its fifth-place finish in the Manila Open last year behind Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons.

Narongdet Kangkon and Banlue Nakprakhong of Thailand, meanwhile, took the men’s gold by topping Japanese qualifier Yuya Ageba and Nobuaki Taira, 19-21, 22-20 and 15-8.

The Philippine leg of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour was once again hosted by Beach Volleyball Republic (BVR).

It something BVR hopes to continue doing, seeing it as in line with the group’s thrust of promoting and furthering the development of beach volleyball in the country and a platform for local athletes to raise their game and showcase what they can do.

“We’re looking at this FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour as a long-term project. We want to annually be able to hold this big tournament here which is not only an opportunity for our beach volleyball aficionados but for the international community to take notice of the Philippines’ potential as a beach volleyball hub,” said BVR co-founder Bea Tan, whose group has been pushing for beach volleyball growth through BVR since 2016. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

PRURide PH 2019 concludes with exciting Subic Bay races

THE 2019 edition of PRURide PH drew to a successful conclusion on Sunday with Marcelo Felipe being declared as the overall winner.

Took place inside the Subic Bay Free Zone in Zambales, the event, hailed as the country’s largest cycling festival, gathered a large number of participants, both local and international, who took part in the various categories in the weekend of May 24-26.

Veteran cyclist Felipe of the Philippines, riding for 7-Eleven Cliqq Air21, raced to the top of the podium after just two stages before the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the organizers decided to scrap the third and final stage because of “extreme weather condition” brought about by heavy downpour.

Mr. Felipe rode a combined 295.8 kilometers for Stages 1 and 2 with a time of seven hours, 57 minutes and 15 seconds to bag the overall title.

Finishing second was South African Brendon Davids of Olivers Real Food, who clocked in with a time of 7:58:02, just 47 seconds behind Mr. Felipe.

Third was New Zealand’s Michael Vink of St. George Continental Cycling Team with a time of 8:01:27.

Other Filipinos who finished in the top 10 were Junrey Navarra at no. 5 (8:02:02), Jhin Mark Camingao at no. 6 (8:03:28), Jonel Carcueva at no. 8 (8:04:52) and Daniel Ven Carino at no. 9 (8:05:25).

Apart from topping the overall general classification race, Mr. Felipe earned 16 UCI points which were also up for grabs in the 2.2 UCI event, which he can use in trying to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

He was also named King of the Mountain and Best Filipino Rider.

“We are happy to finally hold one of the three UCI-accredited races here in our country… It’s been the [cycling] community’s goal to join the SEA (Southeast Asian) Games or the 2020 Summer Olympics and we are happy to help them achieve this,” said Allan Tumbaga, Pru Life UK Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Marketing Officer, as he spoke of the event which also had other activities catered to amateur cyclists.

PRURide PH 2019 kicked off in April with the successful staging of the Criterium race in Filinvest in Alabang. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Los Angeles Angels use six-run inning to rally past Texas Rangers

LOS ANGELES — Mike Trout homered, doubled, scored twice, drove in two and walked once to help lift the Los Angeles Angels to a 7-6 victory over the Texas Rangers on Sunday afternoon in Anaheim, Calif.

Trout’s RBI double in the seventh was part of a six-run inning that turned a 5-1 deficit into a 7-5 lead, and eventually the Angels’ second win in the three-game series.

David Fletcher chipped in with three hits, a run scored and a stolen base as the Angels finished with 11 hits in all.

Los Angeles reliever Justin Anderson gave up an RBI double to Shin-Soo Choo in the ninth, but closed it out for his first save of the season.

Rangers starter Ariel Jurado held the Angels to one run through six innings, helping the Rangers to a 5-1 lead. But when he gave up a one-out single to Fletcher in the seventh, Rangers manager Chris Woodward gave him the hook.

The Angels took advantage of the Rangers’ bullpen, sending 10 batters to the plate in the inning and scoring six runs to take a 7-5 lead.

Luis Rengifo’s two-run single off left-hander Jeffrey Springs (2-1) made it 5-3, and an RBI double by Trout cut the Rangers’ lead to 5-4. After a sacrifice fly by Shohei Ohtani tied the game at 5-5, the Angels scored their next two runs on wild pitches by reliever Kyle Dowdy.

Trout scored on Dowdy’s first wild pitch to make it 6-5, and Kole Calhoun scored on the very next pitch by Dowdy, which also went to the backstop. — Reuters

Power chess

GRENKE Chess Classic 2019
Karlsruhe/Baden Baden
April 18-29, 2019

Final Standings

1. Grandmaster (GM) Magnus Carlsen NOR 2845, 7.5/9

2. GM Fabiano Caruana USA 2819, 6.0/9

3-4. GM Arkadij Naiditsch AZE 2695, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave FRA 2773, 5.0/9

5-7. GM Viswanathan Anand IND 2774, GM Levon Aronian ARM 2762, GM Peter Svidler RUS 2735, 4.5/9

8. GM Francisco Vallejo Pons ESP 2693, 4.0/9

9-10. GM Georg Meier GER 2628, IM Vincent Keymer GER 2516, 2.0/9

Average Rating: 2724 Category 19

Time Control: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, followed by 15 minutes play-to-finish. 30 seconds is added to your clock after every move starting move 1.

Before we go to our main topic I’d like to point out the name of IM Vincent Keymer, the last-placer. You might be wondering what a mere IM with a rating of 2516 is doing in the company of such elite chessplayers. The answer is that he had qualified for it. Alongside the Chess Classic there was the GRENKE Chess Open. Keymer won it in a great upset last year and qualified to play in the main event. This year the winner of the Open was the German #3 Daniel Fridman who took the top honors. There were seven other grandmasters who tied for first: Anton Korobov, Andreas Heimann, Samvel Ter-Sahakyan, Gukesh, Matthias Bluebaum, Alexander Donchenko and Tamas Banusz.

Anyway GM Daniel Fridman (the husband of the American WGM Anna Zatonskih) had the best tiebreak score and was declared the tournament winner with the option to participate in the Grenke Chess Classic next year. This is in addition to the first prize of €13,000.

Now that we have gotten that out of the way it is time to show you another powerful win by the current world chess champion Magnus Carlsen.

Several years ago Cadogan Books came up with “Chess Secrets,” a series of books which uncover the mysteries of the most important aspects of chess strategy, attack, opening play and gambits, classical play, endgames and preparation. In each book the author studies a number of great players from chess history who have excelled in a particular field of the game and who have undeniably influenced those who have followed.

There was a book on “Heroes of Classical Chess.” According to its introduction these “heroes” play “classically direct” chess, a universality of play that embraces all styles. These so-called heroes are: Akiba Rubinstein, Vassily Smyslov, Bobby Fischer, Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen. By the way, I think the publishers did the great Paul Keres an injustice here, for he is the one who is synonymous with the term “universal player” and even Bobby Fischer acknowledged that.

Then another book came out on the “Giants of Strategy” showcasing the games of Vladimir Kramnik, Anatoly Karpov, Tigran Petrosian, Jose Capablanca and Aron Nimzowitsch.

Next in the series were the “Great Attackers,” i.e., Garry Kasparov, Mikhail Tal and Leonid Stein.

Then there were the “Giants of Innovation,” Wilhelm Steinitz, Emmanuel Lasker, Mikhail Botvinnik, Victor Korchnoi and Vassily Ivanchuk. Followed by the “Great Chess Romantics” Adolf Anderssen, Mikhail Chigorin, Richard Reti, Bent Larsen and Alexander Morozevich.

And then the last volume came out: “The Giants of Power Play” Veselin Topalov, Yefim Geller, David Bronstein, Alexander Alekhine and Paul Morphy. What the heck is “power play”? It is the art of putting opponents under constant pressure. The methods of doing so are numerous, including gaining rapid development in return for material to build up an initiative, preparing powerful opening ideas in advance, or even developing completely new opening systems.

Magnus Carlsen is not known for his opening erudition, usually his goal is to get a playable middlegame and from there to outplay his opponent. But once he does get a plus in the opening there is no one more capable than him to bring it home. The following game is a prime example.

Carlsen, Magnus (2845) — Aronian, Levon (2761) [D39]
Grenke Classic 2019 Karlsruhe/Baden Baden (7.3), 27.04.2019

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4

This is the Vienna Variation of the Queen’s Gambit, sort of the halfway point between QG Accepted and QG Declined.

5.e4 Bb4 6.Bg5 c5 7.Bxc4

White can also continue 7.e5 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Qa5 9.exf6 Bxc3+ (9…Qxg5? 10.Qa4+ Nc6 11.Nxc6 Bxc3+ 12.bxc3 Bd7 13.Qb4! the threatened mate on e7 ensures that White keeps his extra knight. Dreev,A (2689)-Landa,K (2550) playchess.com INT 2004 1–0 23) 10.bxc3 Qxg5 11.fxg7 (11.Qa4+ Nd7 12.fxg7 Qxg7 13.Qb4 a5 14.Qd6 Qe5+ 15.Qxe5 Nxe5 takes the queens off the board and leaves the position equal. In fact, in the game Lputian, S (2540) vs Yudasin, L (2480) from Lvov 1987, they agreed to a draw here immediately) 11…Qxg7 and now White has either Qf3 or Qd2, in both of which we can look forward to an uncompromising battle.

7…cxd4 8.Nxd4

A mistake is 8.Qxd4. There will follow 8…Qxd4 9.Nxd4 Nxe4 Black is simply a pawn up.

8…Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Qa5 10.Bd2!?

For some reason no one has ever played this before. The usual lines are:

10.Bb5+ Nbd7 11.Bxf6 Qxc3+ 12.Kf1 gxf6 13.h4 and;

10.Bxf6 Qxc3+ 11.Kf1 gxf6 (not 11…Qxc4+ 12.Kg1 and Black is in a quandary as to how to meet White’s threat of Rc1) 12.Rc1 Qa5 13.h4. In both cases we have a very complicated game with chances for both sides.

10…0–0

The critical line is 10…Nxe4 11.Qg4 Nxd2 12.Qxg7 Nxc4 (12…Rf8 13.Kxd2; 12…Qxc3? 13.Qxh8+ Kd7 14.Bb5+ Nc6 15.Ke2 White is clearly winning) 13.Qxh8+ Ke7 14.0–0 Nd7 Black has two pieces for the rook but his king is in the center of the board. This is probably easier to play for White, and obviously part of Magnus’ preparation so Aronian avoids going into it.

11.Qe2 e5 12.Nb3 Qc7 13.0–0 Bg4 14.f3 Rc8 15.Bd5

The tactic 15.Bxf7+ Qxf7 16.fxg4 does not win a pawn for Black can come back with 16…Qc4! and win the pawn on e4.

15…Nxd5 16.exd5 Bh5 17.c4!

This pawn cannot be taken because after 17…Qxc4 18.Rfc1! the threat of a back rank mate forces Black to give up his queen. Now, with his passed pawn on d5 well-protected it is clear that White has the advantage.

17…Nd7 18.Rfc1

Now threatening to push his c-pawn to c5.

18…b6 19.a4 a5

Aronian’s game goes steadily downhill and it is not clear where his mistake was committed. Some annotators pointed to this move as the error as now the b6–pawn is weakened and Carlsen soon zeroes in on it. I am not so sure that is right. Methinks that when Magnus is as dominant as this whatever move you make will give him something to pounce on!

20.Qf2 Qd6 21.Be3 Bg6 22.Qd2!

Carlsen prevents Black’s maneuver of …Bd3 followed by …Qg6 and …h7–h5 and he has now got something going on the kingside.

22…f6 23.Qb2 Rc7 24.Nd2 Nc5 25.Qa3 Rd8 26.Rc3

Watching out for …Nd3.

26…f5?!

This attempt to lash out backfires on Aronian. He is in that sort of position where the best course of action is just to wait around and see what White does.

27.Re1! e4 28.fxe4 fxe4 29.Bxc5 Rxc5

Taking the queens off the board with 29…Qxc5+ 30.Qxc5 would make it harder for Black to defend his weaknesses. After the game Carlsen said that he will just “put the rook on the b-file and bring the king to e3 — it should be at least very bad for Black.”

30.Nxe4 Qe5 31.Rce3 Rcc8 32.h3!

Just a waiting move to illustrate how helpless Black is.

32…Qc7

[32…Rxc4 33.Nd2 wins the exchange for White]

33.Nd2! <D>

POSITION AFTER 33.ND2

White’s rooks will be penetrating down the e-file. Black’s position surprisingly collapses quickly.

33…Re8 34.Re7! Rxe7 35.Rxe7 Qd8

Or 35…Qc5+ 36.Qxc5 Rxc5 (36…bxc5 37.Ra7) 37.Rb7 Carlsen wins the b6–pawn and wins with his passed d-pawn. Black can try to counter against the c4–pawn, but 37…Bd3 38.d6! Bxc4 39.d7 costs Black his bishop]

36.Qe3

The threat is 37.Qe6+ Kh8 38.d6 Qg8 39.Qe5 Rd8 40.d7 and then Nd2–f3–d4–e6.

36…Rc7

[36…Bf7 37.Qe5 followed by Nd2–e4–d6]

37.Re6 Rc5 38.Qb3 1–0

On Thursday we will take up the Ivory Coast Rapid/Blitz chess tournament, the first event in this year’s Grand Chess Tour. It is still part of Magnus Carlsen’s great show of force and remarkably he has dropped the Berlin Defense (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6) and replied with the Sicilian every time he had Black and his opponent played 1.e4.

Great games to play over! Don’t miss it!

 

Mr. Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant, he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.

bobby@cpamd.net

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