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Resist, Adapt, Submit: Barangay Officials Make Tough Choices in the Drug War

Words by Mixkaela Villalon, Abbey Pangilinan and Ica Fernandez
Illustrations by AJ Bernardo, Miguel Punzalan and Josel Nicolas

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The barangay officials who will take office next month after winning Monday’s election will find themselves at the frontlines of the war on drugs. President Duterte has repeatedly said he needs “strong” barangay officials who will implement the anti-drug campaign. Noncompliance, he warned, is not an option.

Part I

January 21, 2018. It’s fiesta time in Tondo, Manila. High-spirited marching bands compete with the trill of videoke machines on nearly every corner. It is almost impossible to navigate the winding alleys without tripping on a child.
Entire families and gangs of children are out on the streets, wearing the orange, blue or red of their respective neighborhoods, each shade representing one of Tondo’s 300 barangays. Over 600,000 people live in Tondo, crammed in an area less than nine square kilometers.
When Oplan Double Barrel, the government’s anti-drug campaign, was launched nearly two years ago, Tondo’s barangay captains faced tough choices. Throughout the country, local leaders were told to submit a watchlist of suspected drug users and dealers in their communities. They were supposed to share those lists with the police, who then conducted operations that resulted in drug suspects being killed.
It is hard to know the precise number of drug-related killings. Based on data we collected from news reports, there were at least 380 drug casualties in the city of Manila from July 2016 to December 2017.  Tondo has one of the highest casualty rates: 117 of those killings, 30 percent of the total, took place in Tondo.
Data from the Manila Police Department show that between July 2016 and February 2017, Police Stations 1 and 2 in Tondo conducted 77 operations that resulted in 88 casualties.  These figures, however, include only those killed during uniformed police operations, not vigilante and other type of killings.
This is the story of three barangay officials in Tondo who responded to Oplan Double Barrel in different ways.
Barangay officials have the power to decide the shape of the war on drugs – they have the choice to go along with death, to submit to authority, or to adapt and resist.
But such power is constrained. Village officials have to comply with the directives of the national government. Refusal to do so may be seen as complicity with the drug trade.  Authorities have said they have a list of over 200 barangay officials involved in illegal drugs. The president himself has that “if those backed up by drug money will win as barangay captains, it will be another war. It will be another killing.”
The barangay is the linchpin of the administration’s anti-drug operations. Faced with national government directives on an all-out war on drugs, what should barangay officials do?

Part II

The barangay, the basic unit of Philippine governance, is the smallest cog in the drug war’s machinery. But it is an important one. There are over 42,000 barangays throughout the country. The barangay chairperson (or punong barangay) and members of the Sangguniang Barangay (council members, popularly called kagawad) are the elected officials with the closest claim to direct community representation.
As the primary planning, implementing and dispute-resolution unit under the 1991 Local Government Code, any major government directive ­– whether it concerns vaccination, nutrition or peace and order – needs the cooperation of the barangay if it is to be implemented.
While the police are the most visible instruments of the drug war, they are only one of the many agents and institutions that have been mobilized for the Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign. There is an entire bureaucracy behind the war on drugs. The barangays, like the police, are at the frontlines.
President Duterte promised to eradicate illegal drugs within three to six months.
The Philippine bureaucracy quickly took on this directive from top to bottom. The “10 Point Socio-Economic Agenda,” prepared by the government’s economic planning agency, became the “0 + 10 Point Socio-Economic Agenda,” with zero as the fight against criminality and drugs. This fight, said  Economic Minister Ernesto Pernia, is a prerequisite “for the economy to thrive and flourish and for the country to prosper.”
An Interagency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs also brought together 20 national government agencies to “suppress the drug war in the country” by arresting  both big-time drug dealers as well as street-level peddlers and users. The committee implements various instruments such as the National Anti-Drug Plan of Action (2015-2020), which focuses on law enforcement, and the Barangay Drug-Clearing Program, which mobilizes barangay officials to list, monitor and conduct surveillance of drug users and dealers in their communities.
Nominally headed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Dangerous Drugs Board, much of the  committee’s work is carried out by the Department of Interior and Local Government. The DILG has oversight over the Philippine National Police. It also oversees all local government units.
In September 2016, the DILG issued a memorandum circular that launched a national grassroots surveillance program aimed at using citizens to monitor and report drug, crime- and terrorism- related activities. This program is called MASA-MASID or Mamamayang Ayaw sa Anomalya, Mamamayang Ayaw sa Iligal na Droga (Citizens Against Anomalies/Corruption, Citizens Against Illegal Drugs).
MASA-MASID overlaps with the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council (BADAC). These councils have existed for some time, but they were largely moribund. Composed of barangay officials and representatives from the church and local organizations, BADACs are supposed to coordinate on implementing drug monitoring and rehabilitation programs.
The DILG said that only  half of all barangays in the country had a BADAC as of December 2016; today, 70 percent of them do. Officials in the remaining 30 percent have been threatened with administrative charges if they do not activate anti-drug councils.
The DILG’s directive instructs city or municipal governments to consolidate anti-drug operations efforts. For example, they put together the lists of names of suspected “drug personalities” collected by the barangay. The  City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (CADAC) also supports the BADAC and helps organize activities for drug addicts and other community members. This can include counseling, sports fests, Zumba dancing, tree planting, and if resources are available, livelihood activities.
Government funds are made available for these efforts. For 2018, the DILG proposed a P500-million budget for MASA-MASID alone, while the PNP proposed P900 million for Oplan Double Barrel.
At the local level, the drug war has changed the way barangays spend their funds, which come from a 25-percent share in real-estate taxes collected from their communities.  Traditional social services such as medical clinics or feeding programs for malnourished children are no longer budget priorities. Through a number of policy incentives as well as strict supervision by the DILG, the priority at the barangay level has now become the monitoring and surveillance of drug suspects and the rehabilitation of drug users who have surrendered.
In a span of almost two years, the anti-drug campaign has become so deeply embedded at the grassroots level. In some cases, it has turned neighbor against neighbor, family against family. In all of these, the barangay, the  smallest, often neglected unit of governance holds the key. Barangay officials exercise discretion in how they implement the drug war in their communities. They play a critical role in determining who lives, who dies and who gets rehabilitated in the war on drugs.

Barangays’ Roles in the Drug War

In 2017, the DILG issued a circular that instructs barangay officials to do the following to support the drug war :

  1. Activate a network of informants. Residents are invited to provide anonymous information about drug suspects through a MASA-MASID text hotline,  phone hotline, physical dropbox or an email address where they can report names and addresses without fear of reprisal.
  2. Process informant data. Barangay officials assess and evaluate the reports they receive from informants before transmitting them to the police, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency or the  DILG.
  3. Prepare a list of drug suspects, in cooperation with the police. The level of detail of the drug watchlist ranges from barangay to barangay, but it includes names, aliases, addresses (including whether or not specific residences are suspected drug dens), date of identification and the names of the person’s family members, associates and “live-in partners.” Each name can fall under any of four categories: pusher, user, drug den maintainer, or financier. Some drug lists include photographs.
  4. Urge drug suspects to surrender, usually in mass ceremonies at the barangay hall.
  5. Implement various drug awareness and abuse-prevention programs in public and private schools.
  6. Coordinate with police officers when anti-drug operations are conducted, whether or not the suspects are on the watchlist. In many cases, “coordination” has been equated with the barangay officials’ shutting off CCTV cameras during the operation.
  7. Implement community-based rehabilitation programs, which can include trainings, seminars, capability-building and counselling sessions of various durations, approaches and theories of change. The objective of these activities is described as “for the upliftment of the spiritual values of drug surrenderers.”
  8. Submit  monthly reports to the DILG on the progress of the anti-drug campaign.

Resist

In one of Tondo’s densest neighborhoods, the barangay chairman takes his daily afternoon patrol. The children reach for his hand, all of them screeching, “Mano po, Che!” Che is short for chairman.  
The chairman is a former engineer; he asked to be identified by the name David so he could talk freely. David thinks of himself as the father of the barangay; the constituents are his children.
David was adamant that he would not let his constituents die. He was also clear that no police operation would be carried out in his area without his knowledge. The last thing he wanted were neighborhood kids becoming collateral damage in the drug war.
David chose the path of resistance. He tries to pre-empt the police. “I use my network across different levels of the bureaucracy,” he said. “I get advanced information so I am a step ahead before the [police] operations are carried out.” Although he still submits a drug watchlist to the authorities, particularly to the DILG, he surreptitiously  ensures that all the names on the list are given fair warning they will be on the list and they should therefore be careful.
David sees drug use as a health issue and not a criminal one. He uses the BADAC not to target drug users but to save them. He puts drug suspects in the barangay jail if he fears for their safety or sends them back to their home provinces so they will not be targeted.
David said the local police are his friends and they leave him alone as long as they are not compromised by his behavior and seen as being soft on drugs.
Through the BADAC, which is tasked with conducting drug-education programs, David and his kagawad were able to convince suspected drug users to surrender and undergo community-based drug rehabilitation. David assured the drug users and dealers who surrendered that he will monitor their progress and make sure they finish the program so that they can be stricken off the watchlist.
Since the last quarter of 2016, David’s barangay has jailed three people and the BADAC there is actively monitoring 32 others for eventual removal from the barangay drug watchlist. Many were made to go to regular counseling sessions, while some have been sent to the Magsaysay Health Center in Fugoso, Manila for additional treatment.
These activities, however, are costly. There are increasing numbers of drug “surrenderees.”  David’s barangay has some 1,000 residents and its annual budget is a little over P900,000. Of this, some P500,000  is allocated for maintenance and operating costs, including the budget for peace and order and training.
In 2017, the barangay allocated more than P90,000 for drug rehabilitation and P110,000 for training, mostly to build capacity for drug counseling seminars. This is twice the amount they spent on small infrastructure projects like drainage systems and canals. This means that after paying for salaries and utilities, there is little money left over for social services. In many instances, David used his own money to help his constituents.
“In our community, we thank the Lord because no one has died. No one gets killed,” said David. “I had a few that I sent to jail, and a few that I sent back to the provinces. But no one gets killed.”

Submit

On January 14, the Sunday before the Tondo fiesta, the police raided a suspected drug den in Chairman Roger’s barangay. The operation went smoothly, at least according to the police report that Roger signed. He was not there himself, but Roger trusts the police. The two targeted drug suspects surrendered and no one was killed.   
On the days when drug suspects were killed and their corpses were carried off in body bags, Roger signed off on the police reports without question. “Whatever evidence [the police] say they found, I’ll sign it. They know what they are doing.”
Chairman Roger, who asked to be identified only by a pseudonym, has always been staunchly against drugs. For many years, he worked as a seaman, spending many lonely months at sea. He was on a ship when he got word that his two brothers were jailed for using and selling drugs. This prompted him to return to the Philippines and later, to run for barangay kagawad, a post he held for ten years before running for barangay chair.
The Philippines “has always had a drug problem,” Chairman Roger said. “I’m glad something is being done about it.”
Roger has conceded nearly absolute authority over his barangay to the police when it comes to the drug war and peace-and-order programs. Before the Duterte presidency, Roger’s barangay had a help desk manned by a kagawad who coordinated with the police. Now, the help desk is gone and police freely come and go without any interference from barangay officials. In the past, the police informed the barangay chair in advance of any police operations in the community. These days, Chairman Roger just waits for the police reports to arrive.
Roger said that his barangay regularly provides the police and the DILG information about drug suspects and also a watchlist made up of suspected drug users and dealers in the community. When we spoke to him, he said he had 13 on his watchlist. Two of them had already been killed.
He attested to the improvements in his barangay since the drug war. The place isn’t as chaotic as it used to be, he said, and teenagers rarely loiter in the streets at night. “People are finally afraid of the police,” he added. When asked about the victims killed by vigilantes and police operations, Roger gave pause. “[The victims] are bad people anyway,” he said.
“I too dream of a drug-free Philippines,” Roger said. “But why does it have to be so bloody?” When asked if he has raised his doubts with the police, he shook his head. “I don’t argue with the police. They have guns. We don’t.”

Adapt

In the afternoon of the Tondo fiesta, Kagawad Angela is not in the barangay hall. She is at home, cooking her family’s feast day meal. The menudo is still on the stove and she is behind schedule.
Angela’s home is a five-minute walk from the barangay hall. This is convenient for a solo parent like her because she can leave her office for a few minutes during the day to check on her children.
Angela is a reluctant leader. Prior to being a kagawad, she was a housewife. It was her husband who was in public service for 27 years as a barangay kagawad and chairman until he was gunned down last October, one of the thousands killed in the war on drugs.
“He was shot by unknown killers. It’s still under investigation. I would rather not [talk] about it,” Angela says.
As kagawad, Angela is aware of the drug problem. She believes this is symptomatic of larger problems rooted within families, including financial difficulties. Her barangay is one of the biggest and poorest areas in Tondo.
“We have a population of 22,000 people. Most are poor,” she said. “They live by the day, as pedicab drivers, vendors in Divisoria, or porters in MICT (Manila International Container Terminal). Because this is the environment, sometimes the children want to try sniffing solvent, which can become a habit until they grow up.”
Since her husband the barangay chairman was murdered, her barangay has yet to comply with certain requirements set by the national government—including the submission of an anti-drug plan
Angela is evasive when asked about the barangay drug watchlist. She says the list is assigned to another kagawad, and she does not know where it is. She is sure, however, that the drug war has claimed more people in her area besides her husband. “There isn’t much we can do,” Angela admits.
In lieu of the anti-drug plan, Angela works instead on her own barangay Kumustahan Program which targets the teenagers of the community. At the heart of her efforts is prevention – both of drug use and death because of the drug war. While she may be powerless to help the adults on the drug watchlist who may already be targeted by masked killers, Angela engages teenagers and children in counseling sessions.
“We have to go to the root of the problem.  With drugs or petty crime, find out why people do it. That’s the only way we will know how to help them,” she said.  “We have to fix the family first. Then the barangay, then the community. That’s the only way we can fight drugs.”
But Angela takes punitive measures as well. “If I catch [a teenager] stealing, I lock them up in our jail for three hours, so they know what kind of life they will have if they continue [to commit crimes].” She pointed to a small makeshift jail cell underneath the stairs of the barangay hall. “If I catch kids high on solvent, I make them squat 100 times so they will sweat the high out.”
After the interview, Kagawad Angela walked back to her house so she can finish her cooking and celebrate Tondo’s feast day with her children. On the way home, she pointed to the exact spot where her husband was shot just three months before.

WHO says Ebola outbreak has spread to DR Congo city

GENEVA — The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has spread to a city, the World Health Organization said Thursday, raising concern the deadly virus may prove tougher to contain.

“One new case of Ebola virus disease has been confirmed in Wangata, one of the three health zones of Mbandaka, a city of nearly 1.2 million people in Equateur Province in northwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo,” the UN’s health agency said in a statement. — AFP

Full-charged Meralco Bolts excited to extend upsurge

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
WINNERS of their last two matches in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup, the Meralco Bolts look to extend their current surge when they collide with also on-a-roll Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok in the 7 p.m. main game today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Boosted by having a more “complete” roster with big import Arinze Onuaku in tow, the Bolts (3-1) have been competing on a better footing this time around than in the previous conference, something they hope to get to sustain moving forward.
“You can see the difference of having a center like Arinze on our team because he helps us control the middle, particularly on the rebounds and inside the paint,” said Meralco coach Norman Black of their import following their huge 93-85 win over defending champions San Miguel Beermen on May 9.
“He may not be scoring huge on a regular basis but he gives a lot in other aspects of the game and he fills a big need for us,” he added.
Against the Beermen, Mr. Onuaku, a former best import awarded, only had 13 points, but finished with 12 rebounds, eight assists, two steals and two blocks.
Leading the team in scoring was Baser Amer who had a game-high 28 points with Chris Newsome adding 23 and Jared Dillinger 14 points.
Out to halt the streak of the Bolts is Magnolia, which has racked up back-to-back victories after starting the midseason PBA tournament with a loss.
The latest of the victories of the Hotshots came just last Wednesday when they routed Columbian Dyip, 126-101.
Magnolia had an explosive opening half and practically coasted the rest of the way to book the win.
Import Vernon Macklin led six Hotshots in double-digits, finishing with 19 points to go along with eight boards.
Ian Sangalang had 18 points while Mark Barroca and Paul Lee each had 17 points.
Aldrech Ramos and Jio Jalalon were the two other Hotshots who scored in double digits with 12 and 11 markers, respectively.
“We are happy to have won back-to-back games but up for us next is an elite team in Meralco. So we really have to ready despite the short turnaround,” said Hotshots coach Chito Victolero.
Incidentally, Mr. Macklin is set to play his last game for Magnolia today in this conference as he is set to fly to China to play there.
He said it was a tough decision to make and he is very thankful to the Magnolia management for releasing him.
Meanwhile, playing in the opening game at 4:30 p.m. are the TNT KaTropa (3-1) against the Blackwater Elite (0-5).

Rockets level series with Warriors

LOS ANGELES — The Houston Rockets ramped up the intensity on Wednesday, powering past the NBA champion Golden State Warriors, 127-105, to level their Western Conference finals series at one game apiece.
Houston’s Most Valuable Player candidate James Harden scored 27 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Eric Gordon added 27 off the bench as five players scored in double figures for a Rockets team chastened by a 119-106 series-opening defeat on their home floor on Monday.
“Total team effort,” Harden said. “We played harder and smarter than game one. That was the only difference.”
The Rockets signaled their intentions early. Their seven fast-break points in the opening quarter more than doubled the three they mustered in all of game one.
Houston connected on three-of-10 from three-point range in the first period while the Warriors were zero-for-seven and coughed up seven turnovers.
Up 26-21 after one quarter, the Rockets wouldn’t trail from there.
They led 64-50 by halftime, with four players already in double figures as they stepped up the pace and tightened the defensive screws.
“Everything was fueled off our defense,” Gordon said. “We hit the open man at the right time and guys were knocking down shots and when we play that way it’s just a fun game.”
Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said there was no major change in strategy — just more intensity and better execution from a Houston team that led the league with 65 regular-season wins.
“I don’t want to be cantankerous,” D’Antoni said. “You have one of the best offenses of all time, at least, with Golden State and we’re trying to prove we’re up there with them. You’re not going to come in and change the way you play.
“We are who we are. We just did it better and longer.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said the Rockets’ energy made all the difference.
“I just think this game was a matter of the Rockets bringing the force that’s necessary to win a game and we didn’t,” Kerr said.
“We had seven turnovers in the first quarter. We set the tone early with our own play and allowed them to get some confidence and some easy buckets in transition.
“But give them the credit they came out and played a great game. They got everybody going.
“We got what we deserved. They kicked our butts, no other way to say it.”
Kevin Durant led the Warriors with 38 points, but Stephen Curry was the only other Golden State player in double figures with 16.
Klay Thompson scored just eight points, Draymond Green six and Andre Iguodala five.
Curry connected on seven of 19 shots from the floor, making just one of eight three-point attempts in what he called a “frustrating night.”
Overall the Warriors were just nine of 30 from three-point range.
They finished the game with 15 turnovers — 11 of those coming before halftime, by when most of the damage was done.
READY FOR GAME 3
PJ Tucker, who scored just one point in Game One, scored 14 of his 22 points in the first half for Houston. Trevor Ariza, another who struggled in Game One, added 19 points and Chris Paul scored 16 for the Rockets.
“Defensively we were more aggressive. We were smarter,” said Harden, whose Rockets travel to Oakland for game three on Sunday with renewed confidence.
“We still made some mistakes that we can get better at,” Harden said. “We know how tough it is to win (at Golden State) but we’re ready for it.”
The winners of the series will face either the Cleveland Cavaliers or Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals. The Celtics lead the Eastern Conference Finals 2-0.
“For us right now the most important game is Game Three,” Paul said. “That’s a tough environment to play in there. But we are who we are and we’ll be ready.” — AFP

PHL hosts Asian Juniors qualifying for the Youth Olympics in Trampoline Gymnastics on May 19-20

FOR the first time, the country will host Asia’s qualifying tournament for the next Youth Olympic Games (YOG), with the staging of the 4th Asian Senior and Junior Trampoline Gymnastics Championships on May 19 to 20 at the University of Makati Gym.
Close to 100 athletes from 10 countries are taking part in the two-day gymnastics tourney organized by the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines (GAP) and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission, the Tourism Promotions Board, and the Makati City government led by Mayor Abigail Binay.
“We are delighted to host this huge Asian gymnastics event and would like to thank the Asian Gymnastic Union (AGU) for allowing us to conduct this competition featuring the best trampoline athletes in Asia,” GAP President Cynthia Carrion, a member of the AGU Executive Board, said.
“We welcome the best trampoline athletes from Asia to this event, which is also one way of promoting and popularizing this fast-growing sport worldwide in our country,” added Carrion.
Competing in the championships are the countries of China, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and host Philippines.
The event is doubly significant since the Asian juniors serve as qualifying event for the 3rd Youth Olympic Games set in Buenos Aires, Argentina in October.
Vying for YOG slots for the Philippines are Shane Francis Peralta in the boys division and Fiona Mae Ventenilla in the girls division.
Composing the national seniors squad are Francisco Deorelar and Benjamin Jesus Mendoza in the men’s division and Erin Abaniel in the women’s division.
Heading the national contingent is Normita Ty, wife of the late national gymnastics standout and coach Santiago Ty, while the coaches are Rexel Ryan Fabriga and Liwliva Peralta.
The visiting delegations are scheduled to arrive on Thursday with the practice scheduled for Friday. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

History beckoning at ONE Singapore event

A BIG night awaits the Singapore mixed martial arts scene today at ONE Championship’s “Unstoppable Dreams” event as potentially the country could wind up with two world champions after everything is said and done.
Angela “The Unstoppable” Lee, the reigning ONE women’s atomweight champion, battles anew Japanese Mei “V.V.” Yamaguchi in the headlining fight for the marquee event at the Singapore Indoor Stadium while Christian “The Warrior” Lee, Angela’s brother, takes his shot at the world featherweight title in a rematch with reigning champion Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen of Australia.
The Lee siblings, if they get to win their respective fights, are to become the first brother-sister MMA champions, the significance of which is not lost to them.
“I hope the country (Singapore) goes nuts for what we are trying to achieve. We are making history and this is something that has not been done before. It’s also an opportunity for me to show what women MMA fighters can do,” said Ms. Lee in an interview with sports media early this week in Singapore.
“This is a blessing. We are happy and grateful for the opportunity given to us. It’s really like a fairy tale and we are going to try to have a fairy-tale ending on Friday,” she added.
Zeroing in on her fight with Ms. Yamaguchi, who she beat in May 2016 for the title by a close unanimous decision, Ms. Lee (8-0) said she is expecting another tough fight.
“This fight is going to be one for the books. Our first fight was dubbed ‘fight of the year’ for a reason. We both showed a lot of heart and determination and we won the respect of the people because of that fight,” she said.
“This time around it’s going to be different. We are going to bring out the best from each other but we both made improvements since the last fight. And you guys are going to see that come fight night,” Ms. Lee added.
EYE ON THE WORLD TITLE
For Mr. Lee, meanwhile, the title shot he has given is something he is very much thankful for and keen on taking full advantage of.
“I’m very thankful for the opportunity given to me by ONE Championship to compete for the title,” said Mr. Lee (9-1), whose lone defeat came at the hands of Mr. Nguyen, also the ONE lightweight champion, in August 2016 by way of technical submission (guillotine choke).
“I’m focusing on the world title and at the same time redeem myself from the loss I had against Martin. I have been training hard and I’m confident heading to the title fight,” he added.
Also serving as co-main event for ONE: Unstoppable Dreams is the ONE Super Series muay thai flyweight world championship clash between Sam-A Gaiyanghadao of Thailand and Sergio Wielzen of the Netherlands.
Fighting as well in the event is Filipino MMA star Eduard “Landslide” Folayang, the former lightweight champion who is angling to get redemption after losing his belt to Mr. Nguyen last November.
“I’m going to show that I’m not yet done, that I still have a lot to give to the game and as a fighter. That’s my primary motivation,” shared Mr. Folayang, who is going up against Russian prospect Karun Atlangeriev .
Seeing action too are Yodsanklai IWE Fairtex of Thailand against Chris Ngimbi of Congo in ONE Super Series kickboxing battle; Shinya Aoki of Japan versus Rasul Yakhyaev of Russia; and hometown Amir Khan against Sung Jong Lee of South Korea.
ONE: Unstoppable Dreams can be viewed on the newly launched ONE Championship mobile app which is available for both Android and iOS platforms for free. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Jr. NBA lessons go beyond basketball — Kings’ Cauley-Stein

COMPLETELY buying into the Jr. NBA concept and what it stands for, Sacramento Kings player Willie Cauley-Stein encourages young kids to grab the opportunity to join the program and take in the valuable lessons that go with it.
Currently in town to facilitate in the conduct of the Jr. NBA Philippines National Training Camp this weekend, Mr. Cauley-Stein said he feels privileged to come to the Philippines and do his part for Jr. NBA as he believes what the program tries to impart would go a long way in another person’s life.
“I was really looking forward to coming here as I heard a lot of great things about the Philippines and its passion for basketball,” said the third-year pro out of the University of Kentucky as he met members of the local sports media on May 15.
“A kid cannot have a bad experience in the Jr. NBA program. The whole concept of it, anchored on the S.T.A.R. values, is very huge. It goes beyond basketball. You don’t use those lessons just in hoops. You use them in everyday life. And it’s nice to know that the NBA is instilling these to young people,” added Mr. Cauley-Stein, referring to the S.T.A.R. core values of Sportsmanship, Teamwork, a positive Attitude and Respect that the Jr. NBA is championing.
The NBA is sharing its vision for the Jr. NBA program by going around different parts of the country and conducting a variety of camps, clinics, skills challenges, league play and outreach events.
Mr. Cauley-Stein is to be joined by WNBA legend Shery Swoopes in helping Jr. NBA Philippines conclude its 11th straight year of staging with the national training camp.
The culminating activity of the program, happening at the Don Bosco Technical Institute in Makati on May 19 and at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall on May 20, will feature the top 75 boys and girls aged 10 to 14 culled from the various selection camps previously held.
Also at the Natonal Training Camp, the search for the 2018 Coaches of the Year will conclude and the winning coaches will take part in the NBA experience trip alongside the Jr. NBA All-Stars.
KINGS CAREER
Meanwhile, turning his attention to his NBA career, Mr. Cauley-Stein said he is happy with the way things have been panning out with the Kings.
“I think we have a good group of young guys. We are still in the process of figuring things out but I know we will get there,” said the Sacramento big man, who finished their season by averaging career-highs of 12.8 points, seven rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.1 steals.
He also spoke of how he adjusted when he was thrust to the fore after erstwhile Kings All-Star DeMarcus Cousins was traded midway last season.
“I was just ready. Playing behind DeMarcus I was working on my game and when he left I just stepped up,” he said.
Moving forward, Mr. Cauley-Stein said they hope they get to continue improving as a group in Sacramento, which incidentally is set to pick second at this year’s rookie draft following the drawing of lots on Wednesday.
“It is about us playing together well. I think that will be key for the team moving forward. I don’t have any particular player in mind to choose in the draft but hopefully who the team selects gets to contribute in what we are trying to achieve of playing well together,” he said. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Griezmann fires Atletico Madrid to Europa League title

LYON — Antoine Griezmann was the hero for Atletico Madrid as the French striker scored twice in their 3-0 win over Marseille in Wednesday’s Europa League final in Lyon, allowing his club to win the trophy for the third time in nine seasons.
It is Griezmann’s first major title with Atletico, and a fitting way to bow out if he leaves at the season’s end, with Barcelona tipped as his next destination.
Griezmann — brought up in Macon, just 70 kilometers from Lyon — scored once in each half, his lethal finishes coming either side of Marseille losing Dimitri Payet to injury, the French team’s captain coming off in tears.
Griezmann now has 29 goals this season, although it was Gabi’s late strike that sealed the victory.
“This is a reward for me after I left home aged 14, for all the work I have put in, the suffering,” said Griezmann, who has spent his whole career in Spain but had only previously won one Spanish Super Cup.
Atletico’s triumph comes after agonizing defeats to Real Madrid in the Champions League finals of 2014 and 2016. They had previously won the Europa League in 2010 and again in 2012, the latter coming just six months after Diego Simeone’s appointment as coach.
Simeone, who had to watch from the stands due to a touchline ban, called the victory a reward for his side’s hard work and even expressed hope that Griezmann could be convinced to stay.
“This was just confirmation of what Griezmann has been doing year after year,” said the Argentine.
“I hope he is happy with us. I have no doubt that there are certain things that could make it more likely that he stays.
“He has played three finals with us, has won two, and so that shows that he is not far away from his objective of regularly playing finals.
“We are not far away in sporting terms from teams who are more powerful than us.”
Marseille had been desperate to win the second European trophy in their history, on French soil, 25 years after beating AC Milan in the inaugural Champions League final.
But it was a flat night for their huge support, who threatened to ruin the occasion by lighting flares and setting off firecrackers at one end of the stadium, with some even being thrown onto the pitch towards the end.
The game carried on regardless, with Rudi Garcia’s side well beaten.
“We let our chance go in the first half. Firstly, we had the best chance to go ahead, and secondly an error from us meant we fell behind,” said Garcia.
“The scoreline is harsh but the better team won.”
MARSEILLE’S REGRETS
Atletico were the favorites against a Marseille side whose continental campaign had begun in the third qualifying round last July.
Just being in this final was an achievement for Garcia’s team, but they will look back on the evening with regrets.
They had started well and had a great chance to open the scoring inside four minutes, Valere Germain shooting over after being slipped in by Payet.
It was the kind of chance that does not come up often against an Atletico side who went on to keep their 34th clean sheet this season.
Marseille were then punished for sloppy play as they fell behind in the 21st minute.
Goalkeeper Steve Mandanda opted to pass to Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, deep in midfield, rather than clear long. The Cameroonian’s attempt at a touch was awful, and Gabi pounced on the loose ball, sending Griezmann through to finish.
Things got worse for Marseille when Payet, their captain and most influential player who had been struggling with a hamstring problem ahead of the game, came off crying just after the half-hour.
OM then conceded again just four minutes after the restart. It was a glorious goal, Griezmann finding Koke and then latching onto the return ball before lifting a deft finish over Mandanda and in.
Substitute Kostas Mitroglou nearly pulled one back, his header coming off the post, before Gabi’s low drive in the 89th minute made it 3-0. — Reuters

Harden, Davis, and James finalists for MVP award

LOS ANGELES — Houston’s James Harden, Cleveland’s LeBron James, and Anthony Davis of New Orleans are the finalists announced Wednesday for NBA Most Valuable Player honors.
Harden, the league’s leading scorer in the regular season with an average of 30.4 points per game, appears the favorite to succeed Oklahoma City Thunder star Russell Westbrook as MVP when the awards are announced on June 25.
The Rockets star, who was runner-up in the voting the past three seasons, was instrumental in the Rockets’ run to a league-leading 65 regular-season wins.
James, who at 33 produced one of the best seasons of his outstanding career, is in the running for a fifth career MVP title.
He averaged 27.5 points — the most for him since the 2009-2010 season — along with 8.6 rebounds and 9.1 assists and played in all 82 games of the regular season.
James led the league in minutes played per game as he helped the inconsistent Cavaliers into fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
He could join Bill Russell and Michael Jordan as five-time MVP winners. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the all-time leader with six.
Davis and the Pelicans overcame a season-ending injury to sidekick DeMarcus Cousins to earn the sixth seed in the Western Conference.
Davis averaged a career-best 28.1 points to go with 11.1 rebounds and 2.6 blocks and is also a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year along with Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz and Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Utah’s Donovan Mitchell, Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons of Australia and Jayson Tatum of Boston are the finalists for Rookie of the Year.
The finalists in all categories were determined by voting by a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters.
Coach of the Year finalists include Boston’s Brad Stevens, Quin Snyder of Utah and Dwane Casey, the Toronto coach who was sacked by the Raptors after they were swept 4-0 by the Cavaliers in the second round of the playoffs. — AFP

Playing hero ball

For the record, the Warriors held the lead in Game Two of the West Finals on five separate occasions. Given the relative strength of the opposition, the number would seem indicative of their competitiveness. Unfortunately, all the aforementioned instances were in the initial quarter, and none after the first eight minutes of the match. In other words, the development underscored the opposite; for all their supposed superiority and momentum following their emphatic victory in Game One, they wound up on the wrong side of a role reversal yesterday.
To be sure, the Warriors will be glad to have come up with a split after the first two outings of the best-of-seven affair. The Rockets secured homecourt advantage in light of an outstanding 65-win regular season, only to lose it on their very first match against the competition they were precisely built to withstand. On the other hand, there’s something to be said about the manner in which the hosts bounced back from an otherwise-disappointing outing. They didn’t just win; they proved to all and sundry that they deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as the defending champions.
Needless to say, Game Three will be pivotal for both protagonists. For the Warriors, it figures to be an affirmation of what they stand for. Yesterday, they found themselves mimicking the Rockets’ isolation-heavy offense, to mixed results; even as Kevin Durant managed to assert himself anew, backcourt partners Steph Curry and Klay Thompson were all but ineffective at best. And so caught up were they in the one-upmanship that they actually finished with fewer assists.
No doubt, the Warriors will spend much of the next three days studying film and being reminded of the primary source of their edge. Through their extended run of success that netted them two titles off three straight Finals appearances, they willingly shared the ball and accepted the importance of any one player to their cause. In Game Two, they succumbed to a deliberate style that underscored a pecking order and accordingly devalued the egalitarian thrust of their system.
True, the Warriors are so stacked that they can readily win in a shootout, even against the vaunted Rockets. In so doing, however, they play the percentages and thus discount the source of their greatness. They’re at their finest when they highlight their unpredictability, not when they resort to playing hero ball. Which is to say they’re unbeatable when they’re at their best. Whether they actually get to be by resisting the lure and allure of ego-boosting one-on-one forays is another matter altogether.
 
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994.

DPWH officials indicted for grave misconduct in Negros bridge rehab project

The Office of the Ombudsman indicted Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials after being found guilty of grave misconduct over irregularities on the rehabilitation of two bridges in Cauayan, Negros Occidental.
Officers-in-charge, District Engineer Haydee S. Alunan and Assistant District Engineer Elsie V. Sabay of the 3rd Negros Occidental Engineering District, have also been dismissed from service and barred from taking the civil service examination.
It was reported that the respondents ordered to begin rehabilitation of the Mabua bridge in Barangay Poblacion and Bagambayan Bridge in Barangay Tiling on February 10, 2014, set for completion on June 29, 2014 as stated in the Notices to Proceed addressed to OPELL Construction and Development Corporation.
However, the Ombudsman said that in an ocular inspection on December 3, 2015, the Field Investigation Office found the bridges still unfinished.

"Philippines may soon be a Chinese province," said retired CJ Davide

Retired Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide Jr. said on Thursday that the Philippines’ becoming a province of China “may not be too far.”
“Last February 19, before Chinese businessmen, the President mentioned the Philippines as a province of China,” Mr. Davide said. “Malacanang Spokesperson Harry (L.) Roque explained it was a joke, but knowing China, it will not consider it as a joke.”
To support his statement, Mr. Davide enumerated several events that indicated the Philippines and China relations is beyond partnership.
Among these was the government’s plan to conduct a 60-40 sharing of joint exploration in the West Philippine Sea. This was in addition to China’s deployment of missile systems on the Fiery Cross, Subi and Mischief Reef. — Charmaine A. Tadalan