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Fake PDEA agent nabbed in Rizal, nine still at large

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Wednesday, March 14, said it captured a woman who is part of a group engaging in criminal activities while posing as Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agents.

NBI Task Force Against Illegal Drugs (NBI-TFAID) operatives arrested Jai Sunshine Chua y Santos on Monday, March 9 in Cainta, Rizal following a lead sent to the agency, according to a press statement released by the NBI.

The operatives failed to capture nine other identified suspects in the operation. — Dane Angelo M. Enerio

Kings eye 2-2 series

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

SLICED their series deficit into half, the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings shoot for the equalizer against the defending champions San Miguel Beermen in Game Four today of their best-of-seven PBA Philippine Cup semifinal affair at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Needing to win last time around to stave off being pushed to the brink of elimination, the Kings did exactly that, notching a hard-earned 95-87 victory in Game Three on Tuesday night to narrow down their series deficit in their Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) semifinal series, 2-1.

Japeth Aguilar and LA Tenorio led the way for Barangay Ginebra in its win last time around, that saw the team taking control of the match for much of the time only to be challenged in the end and needing to hang on tight to come out triumphant.

Mr. Aguilar finished with a double-double of 25 points and 12 rebounds with Mr. Tenorio adding 18 points. They were later named co-player of the game winners.

Journeyman Prince Caperal, meanwhile, sustained his impressive showing of late, scoring 12 points to somehow cushion the team in the continued absence of currently injured big man Greg Slaughter.

Jervy Cruz also had 12 while Joe Devance finished with 11 points.

“It was a grind-out game and key stops and hustle plays in the end made a difference for us,” said Mr. Aguilar of their hard-earned win.

WORK NEEDS TO BE DONE
While they are happy to have been able to hack out a win and infused further life back to their cause, Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone is cognizant that they are not out of the woods yet and more work needs to be done if they are to survive the series and advance to the next round

“I have to give credit to our guys. A lesser character team could have not responded the same way they did coming from a painful loss. It’s hard,” said Mr. Cone in the postgame press conference.

“We’re happy but we’re not satisfied. We’re hoping we can continue to play an A plus, plus game for the rest of the series,” he added.

As for the status of Mr. Slaughter, who has missed their recent games because of ankle injury, Mr. Cone said he still does not know when his big man will be back but nonetheless said the player is working hard in his rehab to be able to come back soon and contribute.

On the part of San Miguel, which played without starting point guard Chris Ross in the second half of Game Three because of right thigh strain, it hopes to bounce back and complete what was not able to do last time around.

June Mar Fajardo led San Miguel in Game Three with 23 points and 16 boards.

Marcio Lassiter, who was the game hero in the second game, had 14 points before fouling out while Arwind Santos and Alex Cabagnot each had 13 markers.

March Madness at ESPN5

THE future of the National Basketball Association (NBA) will be brought on free channel in the Philippines as ESPN5, a collaboration between TV5 and worldwide leader in sports ESPN, will present March Madness beginning March 14.

March Madness is the season wherein 68 teams from Division I tournaments of the US NCAA will converge and vie spots leading to the National Championship. They will play in a knockout matches starting with the First Four, the first round (Round-of-64), second round (Round-of-32), third round (Sweet 16), the Regional Finals (The Elite Eight), the National Semifinals (The Final Four) and the National Championship.

This knockout system is quite similar to what you see in Wimbledon Tennis Championship.

It’s going to be “win or go home” situation for all the teams participating, giving even the lower-seeded teams or underdogs the opportunity to pull of an upset victory in hope of completing a Cinderella Run.

These top college players seeing action in March Madness are potential NBA Draftees.

No less than Barack Obama is one of its biggest fans as the former US president likes to release his own March Madness predictions every year.

PBA star Gabe Norwood of Rain or Shine, had the opportunity of playing for the Final Four of March Madness while playing for the George Mason Patriots before he was discovered by Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes to be part of the national team in the 2007 FIBA Asia. He was the only collegiate player in that pro-laden squad.

Norwood was one of the key players for the Patriots, even guarding NBA star Rudy Gay, who was then playing for University of Connecticut.

Vincent “Chot” Reyes, president and CEO of TV5 noted that like its recent coverage of the National Cheerleading Competition, the network’s presentation of March Madness is also part of ESPN5’s efforts to give Filipino sports fans the broadest array of sports content.

“We are thrilled to bring March Madness to a larger audience of basketball fans in the Philippines. Aligned with our thrust of super-serving the Filipino sports fan is the goal of providing all sports with a platform to help them reach and grow their audience. The exciting NCAA collegiate basketball is a big part of that thrust,” Mr. Reyes said.

The intense NCAA action from both the men’ and women’s tournaments will be shown on both TV and digital. ESPN5 will show key games live and on same-day telecast. All the games can also be watched live via the ESPN Player, available online and through the ESPN Player mobile app on both the App Store and Google Play. — Rey Joble

Batangas City perfect at home; Muntinlupa wins

BATANGAS CITY — No matter how difficult it is, there’s no place like home for the Batangas City Athletics-Tanduay in the MPBL-Anta Rajah Cup.

The Athletics struggled in the early goings but recovered their usual deadly form in the second half before fashioning out an 86-75 triumph over the Caloocan Supremos-Longrich at the Batangas City Coliseum late Tuesday night.

Getting a tongue lasher from head coach Mac Tan during half time for taking the Supremos lightly, the Athletics responded by outscoring their rivals, 26-17, in the third period.

Teytey Teodoro and Mark Olayon combined in that big third-quarter run, combining for 14 of the team’s total output in the third period.

Jhaymo Eguilos capped the Athletics’ 11-2 run in the third period with an alley-oop play in the 6:37 mark to give Batangas City its first sizeable lead, 52-38, and the team was never seriously threatened on its way to finishing its record with a tournament best 8-1 card.

The Athletics will move to the quarterfinal round of this event, put up by Senator Manny Pacquiao with former PBA MVP Kenneth Duremdes as commissioner, carrying a home court advantage. They have won all their three games at home in the elimination round, but all those victories were tightly fought matches.

In the first game, Muntinlupa got back on winning track after pulling off an 87-78 triumph over Bataan.

Chito Jaime continued his string of double-digit outputs for the Angelis Resort-backed Cagers, who now forged a four-way tie for second to fifth places with the Valenzuela Classic-Yulz, Bulacan Kuyas-Ligo Sardines and Quezon City Capitals-Royal Manila with the same 5-3 win-loss record. — Rey Joble

2018 Berlin Candidates

FIDE Candidates Tournament 2018
Berlin, Germany
March 10-28, 2018

Standings (3 of 14)

1. Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2800, 2.5/3

2-3. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov AZE 2809, Fabiano Caruana USA 2784, 2.0/3

4-5. Ding Liren CHN 2769, Alexander Grischuk RUS 2767, 1.5/3

6-7. Sergey Karjakin RUS 2763, Levon Aronian ARM 2794, 1.0/3

8. Wesley So USA 0.5/3

Average Rating: 2786 Category 22

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

The Berlin Candidates’ tournament has already started. Whoever wins this will play a match for the world championship title against defending titleholder Magnus Carlsen in a 12-game match in London in November of this year.

The first round will take place on Saturday, March 10th, starting at 10:00 p.m. Manila time. After every three rounds, there is a rest day, with the final 14th round scheduled for March 27th.

The prize fund is huge: €420,000 (P27 million). Of this, the winner gets €95,000 (P6 million), second place receives €88,000 (P5.6 million), and third, €75,000 (P4.8 million). The eighth and last of the tournament will take home €17,000 (P1 million).

The candidates are:

The losing finalist of the previous world championship match, Sergey Karjakin RUS 2763.

The top two finishers in the Chess World Cup 2017, Levon Aronian ARM 2794 and Ding Liren CHN 2769

The top two finishers in the FIDE Grand Prix 2017 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov AZE 2809 and Alexander Grischuk RUS 2767

The top two players with the highest rating not otherwise qualified Fabiano Caruana USA 2784 and Wesley So USA 2799

The organizers’ nominee Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2800

Last month the New in Chess publishing house released a pamphlet inviting its readers to “Place your bets for Berlin.”

GM Jan Timman points to Vladimir Kramnik, Levon Aronian and Fabiano Caruana as his favorites to win the event. You will notice that the wildcard entry Vladimir Kramnik, who did not qualify for the tournament but was directly invited by the organizers, is considered a favorite — it is not logical but I confess that “BigVlad” is also my pick to win all the marbles. As to Wesley So Timman writes that “So is first and foremost a solid player who relies on his strong technique. He is a year younger than Caruana and has every possibility to develop further. At this point, I don’t think he has the punching power to secure a large plus score.”

Anish Giri, writing in the same publication chimes in about Wesley: “I think this Candidates tournament covers just a little too late for him to be able to peak in it, but if everyone will blow themselves to pieces he will be there to calmly pick up the pieces and cruise to first place.”

Hmm, not a very optimistic prediction either, Giri is saying that if everyone else plays badly Wesley may win. Sheesh.

Another assessment, this time by the top French player Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in his blog: “He is a typical counterattacking player, that’s where he feels at ease. If he doesn’t succeed in finding more aggressive ideas in the opening, in setting more problems to his opponents, it will not work in Berlin. Of course, he gets positions he could possibly win, but it might not be sufficient at the Candidates tournament level, where everybody arrives armed to the teeth.

“By the way, he already had difficulties adapting to his new status in 2017 (Wesley So was world #2 from March to August — Ed.). That being said, I noticed that he recently tried to develop his style, to take a bit more risks, and I feel this is the right direction. He certainly had enough time to make the same diagnosis than me, namely that he has the technical level to win the Candidates, but that a little something is still lacking.

You will notice that both Timman and Vachier-Lagrave think that Wesley should play more aggressively and accept the risk associated. Well, that is exactly what let him down in the first round. At the same time I should say that the game also highlights Caruana’s strength — a sudden attack out of nowhere. As Wesley describes, “Things went really bad real quick.”

Caruana, Fabiano (2784) — So, Wesley (2799) [E00]
FIDE Candidates 2018 Berlin GER (1.4), 10.03.2018

1.d4

This first move came as a surprise to Wesley as in the previous Candidates “Fabiano played only 1.e4.”

1…Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Be7 5.Bg2 d5 6.Nf3 0–0 7.0–0 c6 8.Qb3 Nbd7 9.Bf4 a5 10.Rd1 Nh5 11.Bc1 Nhf6 12.Nbd2

GM Dejan Bojkov in the chess.com Web site points out that “the more natural” 12.Nc3 is strongly met by 12…a4! 13.Qc2 (13.Nxa4 dxc4 14.Qc2 b5 transposes to the same position) 13…dxc4 14.Nxa4 b5 “with a comfortable position for Black.”

12…b5 13.c5

This is a common motif. The b5–pawn cannot be taken because of White’s weakness on e2. 13.cxb5 cxb5 14.Qxb5 Ba6 15.Qa4 Bxe2 16.Re1 Ba6 Black is doing fine.

13…b4 14.Qc2 a4

Black has completely equalized.

15.Re1

Planning e2–e4.

15…e5

After the game Wesley wondered is this move was an inexactitude. I don’t think it is — the mistake comes later.

16.Nxe5

[16.dxe5 Ng4 17.h3 (17.e4? Bxc5 18.Rf1 Ba6 Black is winning some material) 17…Ngxe5 is a favorable version for Black of what actually happens in the game]

16…Nxe5 17.dxe5 Nd7 18.Nf3 Bxc5

Some commentators pointed out after the game that 18…Nxc5 might be better. I believe Wesley was afraid of 19.Be3 Ra5 20.Nd4 Bd7 21.Rac1 Black’s position is uncomfortable.

19.Ng5!

The start of a whirlwind attack.

19…g6 20.Bf4 Qb6 21.e4 b3 22.axb3 axb3 23.Qe2 Ba6?!

In games between ordinary mortals like you and me, both of us make several mistakes during a game and the one who makes the next-to-last mistake wins. Not so in these elite circles. You make one tiny mistake and you are done for. Now Fabiano organizes an attack at the enemy king — he manages to lure one of Wesley’s defender away from the defense of his monarch and the attack really becomes full-flown.

[Correct was 23…Ra2! Caruana intended to respond with 24.Rab1 Ba6 25.Qf3 but during his deliberations noticed that Black has 25…Bd3!? 26.Qxd3 Bxf2+ 27.Kh1 Bxe1 and everything is a mess.

24.Qf3 Bc4 25.Rxa8 Rxa8

This is the reason why 23…Ba6 was bad, the Black rook leaves the defense of his king.

26.e6! dxe4

[Since 26…fxe6 27.Bb8 (threatening mate via Qf3–f7xh7) 27…Ne5 28.Bxe5 Rf8 29.Qg4 resigns]

27.exf7+ Bxf7 28.Nxe4 Bd4 29.Nd6 Bd5 30.Qe2 Nf8

Not 30…Bxg2 31.Qe6+ Kh8 32.Nf7+ Kg8 33.Nd8+ Kg7 34.Qxd7+ Kf6 35.Qf7#.

31.Bxd5+ cxd5 32.Qf3 Qa5 33.Re7 1–0 After 33.Re7 there is forced mate coming up: 33…Ne6 34.Be3 Rf8 35.Re8! Rxe8 36.Qf7+ Kh8 37.Qxe8+ Kg7 38.Qf7+ Kh8 39.Bxd4+ Nxd4 40.Qf8#.

The candidates showed up in Berlin with their seconds:

GM Alexey Dreev for Mamedyarov. He is the world’s greatest openings expert in several lines, most notably the Slav and Semi-Slav systems. Back in the ’90s he himself was a world championship candidate but his nerves let him down. His role as a coach perfectly suits him.

Vladimir Potkin for Sergey Karjakin. Potkin is one of the coaches of the Russian national team and his most famous student is Ian Nepomniachtchi. As a player he is not so bad either — in the 2011 European Championship he accompanied his student Nepomniachtchi to the competition and decided to take part himself. Nepom did not do so well but Potkin wound up winning the tournament!

Rustam Kasimdzhanov is with Fabiano Caruana. Rustam is the 2004 world chess champion. He is much sought-after as a second/coach and has previously handled Sergey Karjakin and Fabiano Caruana. He is most well known for seconding Vishy Anand in his 2008, 2010 and 2012 world championship matches.

Vladislav Tkachiev is Grischuk’s second, Ding Liren had Wei Yi with him and Anish Giri is seconding for Kramnik.

Wesley So is currently without a second, having split with Vladimir Tukmakov last December. He is accompanied by his adoptive mother Lotis Key.

Wesley had a bad start with 2 losses in the first 2 rounds (to Fabiano Caruana and Alexander Grischuk) followed by a draw with Ding Liren. Let us hope he can recover. The prayers of the entire Philippine nation go with Wesley So.

 

Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines 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

Warriors sans Curry

The Warriors weren’t exactly greeted with good news on the occasion of Steph Curry’s 30th Birthday yesterday. The two-time Most Valuable Player injured his right ankle during a match against the Spurs last week, and the prognosis following their celebration of his natal day was that he would need another week to recover — or, to be more precise, another week before being assessed anew. Which, in a nutshell means at least the next four games without him.

In this sense, fellow former MVP Kevin Durant is right. The Warriors are different in Curry’s absence. For all their talent depth, their offense draws its biggest strengths from and around him, hence their two-match losing streak. The setback against the Blazers was particularly telling, as much an indication as any of who is truly the leader of the defending champions. Needless to say, it’s also why they stay conservative when it comes to his ailments. They take the long view, and he’s critical to their success.

No doubt, the Warriors want to finish the regular season as the top seed in the West. To do so, they need to have a strong finish, especially in light of the Rockets’ inspired consistency. On the other hand, they know better than to chase after near-term objectives at the expense of their ultimate goal. Besides, they feel challenges with him in the sidelines better prepare them for any eventuality. And it definitely helps that they have Durant in the fold.

Fortunately, the Warriors have been there and done that, and know well enough to temper their expectations. They have become experts at shutting out the noise; pundits aren’t wrong to expect much from them regardless of the state of their roster, but they understand the importance of keeping their focus on the big picture. It may mean ceding the best record to the Rockets, but they’re confident of prevailing in the end.

 

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994.

Peso weakens on strong US inflation data

The peso weakened against the dollar on Wednesday, March 14, due to strong US inflation data amid the offshore geopolitical noise.

The local currency ended Wednesday’s session at P52.07 versus the greenback, three centavos weaker than the P52.04 finish on Tuesday.

The peso opened the session slightly weaker at P52.06 per dollar. Its intraday low stood at P52.12, while its best showing was at P52.02 against the greenback.

Dollars traded rose to $500.35 million from the $359.8 million booked in the previous session.

A trader attributed the slightly weaker peso to the strong inflation data released on Tuesday night (Manila time) amid the geopolitical noise from the US.

“The peso weakened today following strong US inflation data released last Tuesday night despite continued geopolitical noise,” the trader said in an e-mail.

The US consumer price inflation rose in February, well within expectations, the Labor Department reported on Tuesday.

Excluding food an energy prices, the consumer price index rose 0.2% in February month-on-month for both headline and core gauges, in line with the market consensus.

Meanwhile, the trader said the peso slightly weakened amid “continued geopolitical noise concerning firing of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and news of possible imposition of trade tariffs on China,” factors that may temper the dollar’s strength.

On Tuesday, President Donald J. Trump fired Mr. Tillerson as the secretary of state, which will be replaced by the incumbent Central Intelligence Agency Mike Pompeo as his replacement.

“We got along actually quite well, but we disagreed on things,” Mr. Trump told reporters outside the White House.

Meanwhile, Mr. Trump is seeking to slap China tariffs on up to $60 billion of imports, hitting directly the the technology and the telecommunication sectors.

On the other hand, another trader said the pair only moved sideways today.

“The dollar-peso trading was fairly quiet today, but during the afternoon session, we had saw some buying… there were client flow somewhere,” a trader told BusinessWorld over the phone yesterday.

For Thursday, the first trader sees the peso to move between P51.90 and P52.20, while another trader gave a slimmer range of P51.95 to P52.15.

“The local currency is expected to depreciate further ahead of March US initial jobless claims data release [today] which is seen as a leading indicator of unemployment data,” the first trader noted. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

Stocks decline on lack of leads, US politics

Shares fell on Wednesday, March 14, as the lack of catalysts in the local front alongside tensions in the United States’ political scene continued to put a pressure on regional markets.

The 30-member Philippine Stock Exchange index gave up 0.84% or 70.83 points to 8,348.74, while the broader all-shares index also dropped 0.62% or 31.31 points to 5,035.85.

“There’s still a lack of fresh leads and the political turmoil in the US is not helping matters in the region’s market including ours. The prospect of the US imposing hefty tariffs on imports from China is also causing concerns that other countries’ exports to the US may be affected,” PNB Securities, Inc. President Manuel Antonio G. Lisbona said via text.

US President Donald J. Trump caused jitters abroad after firing his Secretary of State, Rex W. Tillerson, which analysts see as a move that will transform the country’s economic and foreign policy.

Four sectoral indices moved to negative territory, with services suffering the largest decline at 1,833.27, lower by 1.74% or 30.66 points. Holding firms followed with a drop of 0.93% or 78.15 points to 8,360.37; financials edged 0.84% or 18.44 points lower to 2,170.76; while property declined 0.53% or 20.13 points to 3,759.91.

On the other hand, the mining and oil sector gained 0.81% or 91.09 points to 11,395.77, while industrial added 0.06% or 6.71 points to 11,590.59.

A total of 6.59 billion issues switched hands, valued at P7.48 billion, higher than the P6.56-billion turnover on Tuesday.

Decliners trumped advancers, 122 to 99, while 40 stocks remained unchanged.

Foreign investors maintained their selling position, with net foreign outflows swelling to P1.43 billion on Wednesday, against net sales of P480.83 million in the previous session.

“For now, support remains at 8,300. If this is pierced, the next support level can be found at 8,150,” PNB Securities’ Mr. Lisbona said. — Arra B. Francia

Japan bids farewell to Tillerson; South Korea awaits Pompeo

TOKYO/SEOUL — Japan’s foreign minister said on Wednesday he personally regretted the departure of “frank, trustworthy” US Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson ahead of a proposed summit between President Donald J. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Mr. Trump fired Mr. Tillerson on Tuesday after a series of public rifts over policy on North Korea and other issues, replacing him with loyalist Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Mike Pompeo.

“He (Tillerson) was a frank, trustworthy counterpart and I thought we would deal with the North Korea issue together, but personally, I feel that this situation that has developed is unfortunate,” Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono told reporters in Tokyo.

“For sure, America holds the key, so I want to meet his successor as secretary of state soon and exchange views on North Korea and other matters,” Mr. Kono said.

Critics expressed dismay at the decision to swap out top diplomats so soon before the unprecedented potential meeting between Messrs. Kim and Trump, and worried that Mr. Pompeo would encourage Mr. Trump to be hawkish on North Korea.

South Korean officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that while Mr. Pompeo was known to have hardline views on North Korea, he was a seasoned politician and seemed to know how to compromise.

“We’re aware that Pompeo was one of the strongest voices in the talk of military action and fed Trump related assessments, but things have since changed a lot,” one senior official said, referring to upcoming inter-Korean talks and the prospect of a Kim-Trump summit. “So, we will see.”

Jia Qingguo, an expert on Chinese diplomacy at Peking University in Beijing, said China may see positive outcomes from the change when it comes to the US position on the Belt and Road initiative, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign policy initiative.

“Tillerson has at times been quite critical of China, including of Belt and Road,” Mr. Jia said. “Trump is not as hawkish on China as many assume. He has tried to communicate and to cut a deal.”

Coming from the CIA, Mr. Pompeo is more likely to see China as a threat but his views will probably soften, Mr. Jia said.

“Once you are in the secretary of state position, you need to be more pragmatic and take into account the huge stakes involved, so the impact will not be as big as some people expect.”

Most important for China was that Mr. Pompeo makes contact with his Chinese counterparts over ensuring a smooth meeting between Messrs. Kim and Trump as soon as possible, said Ruan Zongze, a former Chinese diplomat now with the China Institute of International Studies, a think tank affiliated with the Foreign Ministry.

“Time is short. There are a lot things to do. Every day is very important,” he said.

Mr. Pompeo is also known for his hawkish views on trade. He takes over as the chief US diplomat as the US is finalizing the imposition of hefty tariffs on steel and aluminum that have upset a number of Asian trading partners.

Close ally Australia, which is working through an exemption from the US tariffs, welcomed Mr. Pompeo’s appointment. “We know him very well,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters. “He’s a great friend of Australia.” — Reuters

Stephen Hawking, British physicist who reshaped cosmology, dies at 76

FRANKFURT — Stephen Hawking, the British physicist and black-hole theorist who brought science to a mass audience with the best-selling book A Brief History of Time, has died. He was 76.

Mr. Hawking died peacefully at his home in Cambridge in England in the early hours of Wednesday morning, a spokesman for his family said in an e-mailed statement.

“We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today,” his children Lucy, Robert and Tim said in the statement. “He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years. His courage and persistence with his brilliance and humor inspired people across the world. He once said, ‘It would not be much of a universe if it wasn’t home to the people you love.’ We will miss him forever.”

Mr. Hawking suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and was confined to an electric wheelchair for much of his adult life. Diagnosed at age 21, he was one of the world’s longest survivors of ALS.

A Cambridge University professor, Mr. Hawking redefined cosmology by proposing that black holes emit radiation and later evaporate. He also showed that the universe had a beginning by describing how Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity eventually breaks down when time and space are traced back to the Big Bang about 13.7 billion years ago.

“Stephen’s remarkable combination of boldness, vision, insight and courage have enabled him to produce ideas that have transformed our understanding of space and time, black holes and the origin of the universe,” James Hartle, professor of physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said in 2002.

BEST-SELLER
A Brief History of Time, first published in 1988, earned its author worldwide acclaim, selling at least 10 million copies in 40 languages and staying on the best-seller list of the UK’s Sunday Times newspaper for a record 237 weeks.

Often referred to as “one of the most unread books of all time” for the hard-to-grasp concepts, it included only one equation: E = mc2 or the equivalence of mass and energy, deduced by Mr. Einstein from his theory of special relativity. The book outlined the basics of cosmology for the general reader.

Mr. Hawking’s fame increased as his health worsened. After his degenerative muscle disorder was diagnosed, he defied medical opinion by living five decades longer than expected. He communicated his ideas through an American-accented speech synthesizer after a life-saving tracheotomy in 1985 took away his ability to speak. To the layman, the robot-like voice only seemed to give his words added authority.

“To my colleagues, I’m just another physicist, but to the wider public, I became possibly the best-known scientist in the world,” Mr. Hawking wrote in his 2013 memoir My Brief History. “This is partly because scientists, apart from Einstein, are not widely known rock stars, and partly because I fit the stereotype of a disabled genius.”

BLACK HOLES
Mr. Hawking applied quantum theory — – governing the subatomic world — to black holes, which he claimed discharge radiation that causes them to disappear. This process helps explain the notion that black holes have existed at a micro level since the Big Bang, and the smaller they are, the faster they evaporate.

Black holes are formed when a massive star collapses under the weight of its own gravity. Detected by the movement of surrounding matter, they devour everything in their path and may play a role in the birth of galaxies. Physicists say these invisible cosmic vacuums might allow travel through time and space via “wormholes,” a favorite of science-fiction writers.

With mathematician Roger Penrose, Mr. Hawking used Mr. Einstein’s theory of relativity to trace the origins of time and space to a single point of zero size and infinite density. Their work gave mathematical expression to the Big Bang theory, proposed by Belgian priest Georges Lemaitre in 1927 and supported two years later by Edwin Hubble’s discovery that the universe is expanding.

With Mr. Hartle, Mr. Hawking later tried to marry relativity with quantum theory by proposing the no-boundary principle, which held that space-time is finite and the laws of physics determined how the universe began in a self-contained system, without the need for a creator or prior cause.

‘PROFOUND IMPACT’
The Nobel Prize in Physics proved elusive for Mr. Hawking, whose theories required observational data to win the praise of the awarding committee in Stockholm. The Nobel Foundation excludes posthumous nominees.

“By any reasonable standard, Stephen Hawking is a great scientist. Even if time shows some of his more radical proposals to be incorrect, Hawking will have had a profound impact on the history of science,” Henry F. Schaefer III, a chemistry professor at the University of Georgia, said in a 2001 lecture.

Stephen William Hawking was born in Oxford, England, on Jan. 8, 1942, exactly 300 years after the death of Italian physicist Galileo Galilei. Mr. Hawking’s father, Frank, was a doctor of tropical medicine. His mother, Isobel, was a tax inspector and a secretary. He had two younger sisters and a brother.

At age 8, Mr. Hawking moved with his family to St. Albans, where he went to school. He then graduated with first-class honors in natural science at Oxford’s University College. While he was a doctoral candidate at Cambridge, Mr. Hawking was diagnosed with ALS, also known as motor neuron disease. He was told he had only a few years to live.

UNIVERSE’S ORIGIN
As the illness progressed slower than expected and he found inspiration in his girlfriend, Jane Wilde, Mr. Hawking began to work at his studies for the first time. He completed his doctorate on the origins of the universe, became a research fellow at Caius College and married Wilde in 1965.

In 1970, Mr. Hawking realized the mathematical approaches he developed with Mr. Penrose could be applied to black holes, a term coined by physicist John Wheeler. Mr. Hawking worked for the next four years on black holes, discovering they weren’t totally black, but leaked radiation, now known as “Hawking radiation.”

For 30 years, Mr. Hawking was Cambridge’s Lucasian professor of mathematics, a chair once held by Isaac Newton. US President Barack Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Mr. Hawking in 2009, the year of his retirement.

His other popular books included The Universe in a Nutshell (2001), On the Shoulders of Giants (2002), A Briefer History of Time (2005) and The Grand Design (2010).

In 2015, Eddie Redmayne won an Oscar for his portrayal of Mr. Hawking in The Theory of Everything, a film about the scientist’s life.

Mr. Hawking separated from his wife in 1991 and married his nurse, Elaine Mason, four years later. They divorced in 2007.

By 2017 Mr. Hawking was spending more time pondering humanity’s future and concluding that we should plan to colonize other planets. “We are running out of space, and the only place we can go to are other worlds,” he told a gathering of scientists. “‘It is time to explore other solar systems. Spreading out may be the only thing that saves us from ourselves. I am convinced that humans need to leave Earth.” — Bloomberg

Demand for term deposits picks up

Banks again swarmed the central bank’s term deposit facility (TDF) on Wednesday, March 14, although yields continued to climb as players sought higher yields amid some uncertainties in the market.

Demand for the three tenors reached P145.828 billion, shooting beyond the P110 billion which the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) placed on the auction block. — Melissa Luz T. Lopez

Campaign launched to urge Bong Go to run for Senate seat

Supporters of Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Christopher “Bong” T. Go on Wednesday, March 14, gathered in Manila to launch the “Ready, Set, Go Movement” to convince him to run for a Senate seat in the upcoming 2019 elections.

Communications Secretary Martin M. Andanar, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano, and other Cabinet officials including Presidential Spokesperson Herminio Harry L. Roque, Jr., Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) Secretary Sivestre Bello II, and National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon spearheaded the program held in a restaurant in Intramuros, Manila.

In his speech, Mr. Cayetano said: “Why do we want Bong to run? Kasi meron paring nakakalusot sa Senado na may hangover sa mga nakaunang panahon na hindi makapag move on na bago na ang pangulo, ang panahon na (Because there are still those in the Senate who cannot accept the fact that we have a new president and it’s time…) to build a nation and not to keep just destroying the reputation of our country and our people. That’s why we want to respect our institution, support our senators, but to put in people na magiging (to be) positive, productive, at optimistic sa ating bansa (in our country).”

In an interview with reporters, Mr. Andanar clarified that the event is not yet an official launching of Mr. Go’s candidacy.

“I think for me hindi sya maaga (it’s an early announcement) because we are still convincing him, not launch for candidacy but actually convincing SAP Go to run for Senate. Ito naman ay initiative ng mga kaibigan, barkada at marami na ring suporters na sumasali (This is an initiative of friends and supporters), and we are not discouraging them na sumali (to join),” he said.

According Mr. Andanar, President Rodrigo R. Duterte will also support Mr. Go’s Senatorial candidacy.

“I quote President Duterte verbatimly: ‘I will support Bong Go to the hilt’,” the Secretary said.

He added that aside from Mr. Go, the President will also support the senate bid of Presidential Spokesperson Mr. Roque and former Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman and senatorial candidate Francis N. Tolentino.

In a statement, Mr. Roque said, “I dont have 500 million. I thank (the President) for the support but awan ti kwarta (I have no money)!” — Arjay L. Balinbin

 

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