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The Third Telco Project, Winner’s Curse and Sustainability

The government’s third telco project managed by the DICT seems on the verge of naming the lucky winner of the third player race based on the highest committed level of service (HCLoS) involving price and internet speed. The winner will operate within a narrow corridor of performance: it has to offer faster internet service at the same or at a lower price than currently on offer. The winner shall have posted a performance bond of P14 billion which will be forfeited if its performance falls below committed levels. It will then have to spend P40 billion in the first year and P240 billion in the succeeding five years. Among the committed indicators is the allocation of the capital spending: 40% for operating expenditure, 20% for broadband and 40% for national coverage. By Nov. 7 at 10 a.m., we will know the lucky winner. Or will the prize be a “winner’s curse”?
A “winner’s curse” usually applies to auction outcomes where the bidders overestimate the present value of the asset under auction, overbid and the eventual winner pays much more than what the asset is worth. This is common in spectrum auctions where the asset under auction is a share of the electromagnetic spectrum. The true value of the spectrum depends upon the size and growth of the cellphone market which has inherent uncertainty attached to them. The bidding of the 3G radio spectrum in 2000 using the Vickrey or second price sealed bid auction raised astronomical revenues for European governments (£22.5 billion in the UK, e.g.). The overpaying winner defaults on its bid and the final harvest is a loss for all. Dominant cable operator NTL (National Transcommunication, Ltd.) in the UK failed its bid and sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2002.
The DICT rejected the open auction preferred by the Department of Finance in favor of HCLoS. But HCLoS remains a tournament with the bid parameter being the highest committed level of service instead of the giveback to the government, as was in the auction for CALAX. One recalls that the PNoy government realized P28 billion giveback from the CALAX rebid and some people wondered whether Metro-Pacific fell into a winner’s curse. The HCLoS bidders could also overestimate the present value of the extra spectrum on offer and the market demand and bid too low a service price for a given internet speed which can translate into future financial losses. This will also be effectively a winner’s curse and can lead to default, forfeiture of the bond and dislocation.
telco
One cannot tell in advance with any accuracy whether a winner’s curse has resulted because it is an uncertainty gamble. When Manila Water won the East Side concession for water service in Metro Manila at P2.31/m3, some people thought Manila Water stumbled into a winner’s curse. But Manila Water made it work, while Maynilad — which started with a P4.96/m3 for the West Side concession — stumbled and the concession was sold to another company.
I am not privy to the details of the contract that the winner and the government will eventually ink but there will be surefire differences with the water concession contract. The water concessionaires were, in their own franchise area, true monopolists and are regulated by MWSS. The third telco will form a triopoly with the incumbents. The capital spending of the incumbents will not be subject to a floor like that of the entrant. And their capital allocation will not be circumscribed like the entrant’s. The entrant cannot presumably raise capital in the stock market where stocks are anonymously traded; since it may that way end up owned by the incumbent telcos. It is expected to expand coverage, presumably where the incumbents are absent. The absence of incumbents means that the unserved markets are unprofitable and thus would mean financial loses for the entrant. These strictures make for costly rigidities for the entrant. It is expected to compete in the same footing in the market with the incumbents but it starts with a handicap.
The impact of the third telco on consumer welfare depends upon the extent of the collusive behavior in the extant duopoly market and on the new efficiencies the third telco introduces. A third telco parleying a newer lower cost technology will exert competitive pressure on the incumbents but how much no one knows. This much we know. First, we know that San Miguel Corp. sat on a franchise owned by a subsidiary Vega Telecoms of the 700 MHz spectrum for six years before it was sold to the incumbents. A potential third telco player, especially one already owning a franchise and one with the financial clout of San Miguel Corp., should have already exerted a competitive pressure on incumbents to improve services. This is a variant of the effect of an extant “competitive fringe.” Although the collapse of the partnership with Telstra may have prompted the sale, a better explanation may be that the risk-weighted returns did not justify the investment in a market that had plumbed the depths of tingi-tingi. Second, the Philippines already had a triopoly in the past when Sun Cellular entered in 2001 and introduced unlimited call and text services. That prompted the two incumbents to offer a similar suite of services. But Sun Cellular itself could not sustain its early momentum and sold out to PLDT Smart. Third, in the 1990s, there were even more telco companies but which consolidated into two today. One can view this consolidation as a sinister rent-seeking conspiracy but it could just be scale and network economies. What if the current duopoly is a “natural duopoly,” in which case more than two firms is unsustainable?
 
Raul V. Fabella is a retired professor of the UP School of Economics and a member of the National Academy of Science and Technology. He gets his dopamine fix from hitting tennis balls with wife Teena and bicycling.

Driving TRAIN: Angara’s legacy

It is unfortunate that some quarters have criticized Senator Sonny Angara for his role in shepherding the tax reform legislation, known as TRAIN, in the Senate. These critics have even called on voters to reject Senator Angara, who is seeking reelection in 2019.
Though I had sharply criticized Senator Angara in the past for allowing vested interests to be accommodated, he ultimately had the TRAIN passed. It’s good enough that as the Chair of the Ways and Means Committee, he facilitated the approval of this landmark reform.
The critics have misunderstood TRAIN, but I am confident that in the future it will be seen as a turning point in Philippine economic history — for correcting decades-old structural problems in our tax system and for generating sustained revenue to finance long-term development.
It was certainly a thankless task for the reelectionist senator to take up tax legislation, in which the primary but contentious feature is an increase in the fuel tax and other excise taxes. He did not avoid his responsibility of sponsoring the TRAIN bill, and he delivered despite the political backlash.
Senator Angara no doubt is aware of the sad experience of Senator Recto who authored the unpopular E-VAT law during Arroyo’s presidency. Recto’s loss in the Senate was wrongly attributed to his championing the E-VAT. But then Gloria Arroyo was unpopular and her presidency had an asterisk. (Remember the crisis brought about by “Hello Garci”?)
Had Senator Angara derailed the TRAIN (and he was in a position to do so as Chair of the powerful Ways and Means Committee), we would have had trouble funding investments in education, health care, infrastructure, and other economic and social services. We would have risked downgrading our creditworthiness. We would have abandoned AmBisyon 2040.
Senator Angara may be many things, but his sponsorship of TRAIN suggests that he can have nerves of steel when he chooses to fight. Sponsorship of difficult but necessary reforms is not for the faint-hearted. One who can steer a critical measure despite its being controversial shows strength of character. That is admirable in a leader; some might even say such leader is presidential.
While TRAIN could have been better without the compromises, all in all, it is a good reform. One that will benefit not just the present but also future generations as Senator Angara said himself in his TRAIN sponsorship speech in September last year:
“As directly elected servants of the public, the Senate has and is continuously listening to our people. We have heard them cry out for many things… All of this is possible with [the] right mix of policy decisions. Decisions that will open up opportunities for our young population. A population which will stay young, well into the middle of this century. This is an advantage we have over our regional neighbors. If we invest heavily in our young people today, a generation from now, we will see more Filipino families leading comfortable and healthy and prosperous lives with better opportunities for their children, and their children’s children. The TRAIN is one of the crucial policy decisions we can make to move our country and our people forward.”
Now, I hope he can pass two other pending (and equally challenging) proposals in his Committee, namely the tobacco tax hike bills of Senators Manny Pacquiao and JV Ejercito (which will provide the funding for the Universal Health Care law and the TRABAHO bill (which will modernize fiscal incentives and expand investment opportunities).
Such will cement his legacy. He will distinguish himself from those who grandstand, those who are myopic, and those who have no guts. As the saying goes, no guts, no glory.
If there is a Sonny Angara legacy that we must remember, it should be Tax Reform. And this I will remember when I vote in the 2019 elections.
 
Karla Michelle Yu is a coalition builder and campaigner for Action for Economic Reforms.

An exceptional Filipina

On the shoulders of people with exceptional talent is the burden of exceptional responsibility. Those who step up to the plate and live up to this responsibility become exceptional people.
They are a rare breed whose work ignites meaningful change that transcends generations.
I recently met one such individual in the person of Evelin Weber. A Filipina born to an Ilocano mother and German father, Evelin spent her formative yeas in the Philippines until she moved to the US when she was 14. She studied at Syracuse University and went on to advanced studies at INSEAD.
She built a career as an investment banker working for the Citigroup, Solomon Smith Barney and then for the MAN Group. She was at the top of her game counting New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, London and Madrid as her base at one time or another.
Success in the investment banking world proved too diminutive for the Filipina with an incredible lust for life. She continued to pursue her passions despite the workload of her banking career. She became a certified sommelier, earned her license as an aeronautic pilot and became a published author having written the critically acclaimed novel, The Black & The White.” Eventually, she spent time at the Lawrence Anthony Foundation in South Africa contributing to its humanitarian and environmental preservation agenda. Her body of work is as diverse as it is impressive.
Evelin has since channeled her passion towards community and social work in the Philippines. The devastation wrought by Super Typhoon Yolanda was a turning point for her. The magnitude of loss to life and property and the sheer amount of displaced families were too compelling for her not to help.
She established The Philippines Foundation (TPF), an entity that focuses on community building programs. Its thrust is to educate women and children and empower them towards self sufficiency.
Among TPF’s project is one called “ The Learning Boats of Leyte.” The foundation donated 5,000 boats to fishing communities augmenting the pitiful 80 boats that government provided. The boats serves the dual purpose of providing a means of livelihood for the father while keeping the children in school.
The donation of boats to fishermen came with the precondition that they cannot be sold, leased or given to a third party. More importantly, fishermen are made to sign a contract which stipulates that the boats will only remain in their keeping for as long as their children continue to attend school. If the terms of the contract are broken, TPF reserves the right to re-assign the boat to another fisher family in need.
The foundation has a parallel program called “Portraits of Love” where it supports a hundred or so children from the Philippine Children’s Medical Center afflicted with terminal cancer. The foundation supports the kids not only financially but by facilitating art therapy. Its aim is to alleviate the grim reality of pain and death that these kids face.
The 5,000 boats assigned to the fisher folk are decorated with the artworks done by the terminally ill children, most of whom have passed on. Their names and works of art on the boats serve as a commemoration of their lives. In a way, it makes them part of the honorable livelihood of the fisher folk.
The boats also serve as pseudo classrooms for kids who otherwise spend their days playing by the seashore. Basic instructions on reading and writing are provided by volunteers with the boats serving as the desks and chairs.
Empowerment through education is at the heart of TPF’s work and Evelin is passionate about it.. She once said, “Look, you want to prevent global climate change? Educate people. You want to decrease the maternal mortality rate? Educate somebody. You want to get out of poverty? Well, educate somebody. You want to increase the lifespan of a child with cancer? Well, get yourself educated so you can help the kid. Education is so fundamental in making a difference”.
I COULD NOT AGREE MORE
TPF’s latest project is called “For the Love of Leyte,” a project designed to support the weavers, potters, painters and other artisans of Leyte, most of whom are stay-at-home mothers.
While local artisans are capable of producing well-crafted products that can easily be sold in the global marketplace, their lack of a bank account, access to financing and access to markets prevents them from selling their goods beyond the confines of their barrios. They earn less than P100 for a whole day’s work while producing beautiful handicrafts that can otherwise command top dollar in retail shops abroad.
TPF aims to fill impediments to trade, thereby providing local artisans with access to the global market.
Artisans who have signed up with TPF’s program are given a digital personality and digital wallet in TPF’s own website that also serves as its trading platform. TPF sells the handicrafts to global wholesalers who specialize in natural, handmade goods like the Bottletop Foundation in London and Nipa Hut in New York, among others. A fair price is charged for the products and 100% of the proceeds are remitted to the artisan through their digital wallet. Said proceeds can be monetized.
When orders come in, TPF provides the artisans with funds to buy their raw materials. It also takes care of the logistical aspects of the transaction such as documentation and shipping. It’s all about establishing the systems and infrastructure that enable the unbanked to transact beyond borders, says Evelin.
There are a few hundred weavers signed up for the project at the moment but Evelin hopes to expand this to 8,000 artisans by the year 2020. Not only will this make a tremendous impact in alleviating poverty, it will also ensure that the artful craft of weaving, pottery, etc. will not die with the artist. After all, cultural art is the thread that ties any indigenous society, one that has been honed and perfected through generations. This program is a way of preserving this legacy.
The program is now operational in Leyte and will soon be launched in Zamboanga and Ilocos, regions known for their indigenous crafts.
For now, 100% of the funding comes from Evelin. But now that proof of concept has been established, she hopes to attract people of like minds to join the effort and help in whatever way they can, whether financially or through the contributions of their time and fields of expertise. Evelin can be contacted through her e-mail, evelin@thephilippinesfoundation.org.
On Nov. 30 to Dec. 1, Evelin has organized an event called “For the love of Leyte Music and Arts Festival” which will be held at The Farm at Ginsiyaman, 30 minutes outside Tacloban. The festival will feature workshops on leather crafts, jewelry making, pottery, banig weaving, and tuba painting. There will also be a wholesale and retail trade fair and musical concert headlined by 20 foreign and local artists. Its going to be a two day party that celebrates Tacloban’s resilience, talent and bright future. Those coming from outside Leyte can camp within the farm grounds as well. Tickets can be purchased through www.mynila.com.
Meeting Evelin and getting to know her life’s work was inspiring to me. See, my wife and I have a 19-year-old daughter who we sent abroad to study. It’s never easy to be separated from family and many times, the sting of separation could get painfully acerbic. Still, we continue to support her foray abroad as we know this will give her the advantage to do good in life and career.
Her studies abroad comes with one condition — that at some point in her life, when she is well established, she must return to the Philippines and contribute to nation-building. This is her duty and our solemn pact.
Evelin’s story is still being written but even now, she shows us how to extract the last drop of nectar from the fruit of life and how to make it all matter. She is a contributor to nation-building by instigating positive change through her faculties and resources. She is truly an exceptional Filipina, the kind I would like my daughter to be.
 
Andrew J. Masigan is an economist.

Sic transit gloria mundi

At the Libingan on All Saints Day, a widow and her daughter prayed before the plain white cross that marked the grave of a young officer, who more than four decades ago was killed in action in Jolo, at the height of the Mindanao war over the dictator Marcos’s inconsistent strategies for peace. There are few officers like him, the widow’s best friend, a general’s wife, once told her. Surely without malice, she added: it might as well be that your husband died early; who knows what he might have become, had he lived some years more?
You can’t put a good man down — that is what this young officer proved to his death. For his various assignments, he earned Military Merit Medals and several campaign/unit medals and ribbons. His decorations speeded his promotions until he was named the youngest Battalion Commander in the Philippine Army then, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. But he was killed in action soon after. His Wounded Soldier medal and Distinguished Service Star were posthumous awards pinned on his young widow by Marcos.
Ironically, the Wounded Soldier, Distinguished Service Star and Purple Heart medals claimed by Marcos from the Bataan campaign in the Japanese-American War in the Philippines were declared as “never existed” by the US Pentagon in 1982-83 (archives@nytimes.com). Was not Marcos officially denied recognition as a veteran and war hero by the US government itself? (Ibid.).
Glorified even in death, the only self-installed dictator (so far) in Philippine democracy, Ferdinand Marcos has the only grave at the Libingan marked with an eternal flame. President Rodrigo Duterte, a professed Marcos fan, allowed and effectively ordered Marcos’s burial at the Libingan in December 2016, on the basis of Marcos being a former president and commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
And the pain of the widow is that the glory for false claimants to heroism is perpetuated in aeternam at the Libingan, while the valor of soldiers who died for the country has been comparatively trivialized and virtually dismissed — sic transit gloria mundi — by the utter insensitivity of misplaced reverence for, and the glorification of the undeserving others. It is like blasphemously calling the just and fair God stupid.
Adjacent to the Marcos burial site at the 103-hectare Libingan is still another special area, the for-generals-only hill, near the also-special site for other deceased government luminaries and National Artists. But why is it that in the 253-hectare Arlington National Cemetery in the US, there is no segregation of generals from officers and soldiers, among the 400,000 or so military and some government officials buried there? Generals in the Armed Forces of the Philippines are gods, “Ad vitam aeternam,” forever.
Marcos, supreme god as martial law commander-in-chief of the AFP, increased the number of generals from the less than ten before his term to allegedly more than a hundred (according to now-retired ex-generals of Marcos era). The radical change, which was supposed to support the order of battle for the insurgency campaign, has been institutionalized — presidents/commanders-in-chief after Marcos could not reverse this, for obvious political reasons.
Thus has the military been reoriented towards ultimate loyalty to the person of the commander-in-chief, from whom all good things flow for them, it seems. The ambiguous motivations of the military leaders of the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution that ousted Marcos, as historical hindsight now painfully shows, did not change the ascendancy structure and culture of patronage that ironically, Marcos installed. When Duterte became president, “(he) secured the loyalty of the police and the military after doubling their salaries,” 1986 Constitutional Convention Chair Christian Monsod said (ABS-CBN News, July 5, 2018).
Within his first year in office, Duterte appointed to the Cabinet and other agencies, including government-owned corporations, 59 retired military generals, police directors, admirals and colonels, many of whom are either from Mindanao, or were assigned to Davao City where Duterte served as mayor for 22 years (http://tucp.org.ph/2017/06). Retired Brig. Gen. Dionisio Tan-Gatue, a former police director in the Davao region said, “Like any political party with spoils to allocate, of course, positions are given (as reward)…(but) it is unfair to lump retired military officers with the unqualified” (Ibid.).
Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano agrees. “But some positions also require a degree of expertise, which unfortunately some appointees do not have,” Alejano said, citing former Army Maj. Jason Aquino, who was named chief of the National Food Authority, and ex-Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon, head of the Bureau of Customs — BoC (Ibid.). Alejano, Aquino and Faeldon were among the young officers who called for the ouster of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in July 2003. Some of them were pardoned by Arroyo upon admission of guilt. The rest were granted amnesty by her successor, President Benigno Aquino III. The 2016 presidential election would split the group: Faeldon and Aquino joined Mr. Duterte’s camp, while the rest of the Magdalo led by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV (and Alejano) became Mr. Duterte’s critics (Ibid.). On Aug. 31, 2018, Duterte issued Proclamation No. 572 stating that the amnesty extended to Trillanes was void from the start because he did not comply with the “minimum requirements to qualify under the amnesty proclamation” (GMA News, Sept. 4, 2018).
In August 2017, Faeldon resigned after he was linked to the entry of P6.4 billion in shabu that was later seized in a warehouse in Valenzuela City. He was replaced by Retired Police Director General Isidro Lapeña, then chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and star witness in that shabu smuggling. Faeldon was subsequently appointed to the Office of Civil Defense late last year and was later named Bureau of Corrections chief to replace former Philippine National Police head Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa when the latter filed for candidacy in the 2019 elections (philstar.com, Oct. 28, 2018).
Last month, an estimated P11 billion worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) in magnetic lifters in 40-foot container vans entered the country past Customs inspectors and Lapeña. Some people in the BoC are in cahoots with the drug syndicate, new PDEA director general (retired Police Chief Superintendent) Aaron Aquino said (msn.com, Aug. 11, 2018).
Two separate multibillion-peso drug smuggling cases involving the BoC, implicating two retired high-ranking police/military, and Pres. Duterte says, “they are not guilty…they were just outplayed [by the drug syndicates]” (philstar.com, Oct 28, 2018).
The widow at the Libingan ponders upon her husband’s grave. His first Military Merit Medal (Triple M) was pinned on him when his shoulder insignias were only those of a second lieutenant, entry level after graduation from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA). Leading a small platoon of soldiers one evening, he intercepted a shipment of illegal firearms being spirited out of the Manila port. He was in the newspaper front pages then, with headlines lauding him, the brave young officer who thwarted and exposed a syndicated smuggling operation that cast doubts on the integrity of the Bureau of Customs. But the young hero was soon after reassigned to a small Army detachment in Nueva Ecija — to dampen his healthy curiosity and righteous action against what was amiss, perhaps.
“Sic transit Gloria mundi” — all must remember.
 
Amelia H. C. Ylagan is a Doctor of Business Administration from the University of the Philippines.
ahcylagan@yahoo.com

Phoenix secures top-four spot and playoff incentive

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
THE Phoenix Fuel Masters rose to the challenge in their final game of the elimination round of the Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup and were rewarded accordingly with a huge incentive heading into the playoff round.
Beating the Blackwater Elite, 97-91, in their key match at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday, the Fuel Masters edged their foes to book a top-four spot in the season-ending PBA tournament and earn a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals.
In fashioning out the win that had it moving all the way to second spot, Phoenix showed much resilience and toughness amid a stiff challenge from Blackwater and going for it when the opening for the team to charge ahead presented itself.
The teams had it competitive right from the get-go, looking to establish momentum to control the contest.
Phoenix would hold a slim one-point lead, 10-9, with five minutes to go in the first period but built on it after to stay ahead, 21-18, with a quarter down.
A back-and-forth started the second quarter with the combatants fighting to a knotted count of 26-all at the 8:31 mark.
Import Henry Walker pushed the Elite to a 33-29 lead a minute and a half later.
Blackwater, however, was dealt a blow moments later after starting point guard Michael DiGregorio was ejected from the game at the 6:07 mark for a disqualifying foul after throwing the ball on Phoenix import Eugene Phelps following a brief commotion with Elite big man JP Erram.
When play resumed, the Fuel Masters responded with a 6-1 run to reclaim the lead, 35-34.
But the Elite would regain their footing, behind Mr. Walker and Mac Belo to go on top, 48-44, at the halfway mark of the contest.
Blackwater went on a quick start to roll off the third quarter, scoring five straight points, care of Paul Zamar and Allein Maliksi, inside the first minute to build a 53-44 advantage.
Calvin Abueva and Phoenix made attempts after to overhaul the Blackwater lead but the Elite would find ways to keep their opponents at bay.
The count stood at 62-59, and Blackwater still on top, with six minutes remaining in the period.
The slugfest was sustained as the quarter progressed, eventually settling with the Fuel Masters’ perseverance paying off as they took a 72-69 lead heading into the final quarter.
Getting much wind entering the fourth canto, Phoenix continued with its ascent at the start of the final quarter.
It would hold an 83-76 lead with six minutes to go on the game clock with Matthew Wright getting into the scoring fray.
The Elite, however, showed no giving up, making every effort to rally back.
They got their deficit down to three points, 87-84, with 3:29 left only to be answered by Messrs. Abueva and Wright to help the Fuel Masters extend their lead to 91-84 at the 2:40 mark.
A last-ditch effort to salvage the win by Blackwater only merited it coming to within four points, 95-91, with 37 seconds to go as the Fuel Masters went for the jugular after and book the win.
Mr. Abueva led Phoenix with 25 points and eight rebounds with Mr. Wright adding 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Mr. Phelps only had 16 points but had 19 boards and five dimes for the Fuel Masters, who now await for their opponent in the quarterfinals which is hinged on the final game of the eliminations between the league-leading Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings and playoff-hoping TNT KaTropa.
Blackwater, which had been relegated outside of the top four and have to face a twice-to-win disadvantage in the quarters, meanwhile, was paced by Mr. Walker with 21 points and Nards Pinto with 17.
“I just gave my best in this game to help my new team get into the top four in the playoffs. Hopefully we can build on this and make our way all the way to the semis and beyond,” said Mr. Abueva, named co-player of the game with Mr. Wright, in the vernacular after the contest.

FEU catches a break, halts telling skid

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
ERSTWHILE skidding Far Eastern University Tamaraws got a much-needed break on Sunday, beating the University of the East Red Warriors, 80-61, at the Ynares center in Antipolo City to infuse life back to their playoff hopes.
Losers of their previous four matches that saw them lose much ground in the race to the Final Four, the Tamaraws got back on the winning track after going on a fast start against the Warriors and just maintaining control the rest of the way on the strength of hot shooting from three-point land.
The win improved FEU to 6-6 in the standings, joint fourth place with the idle University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, with two games left in the elimination round.
UE (1-11), meanwhile, slumped to its seventh straight defeat and continued its struggles in the ongoing season.
FEU got it going in the opening quarter as Barkley Ebona, Jasper Parker and Kenneth Tuffin towed the Tamaraws to a 12-3 lead midway into the frame.
Guard Philip Manalang tried to pull the Warriors back, coming to within five points, 14-9, in the next minute.
The Tamaraws would hang tough, answering with a 7-4 run the rest of the way to stay on top, 21-13, after the first 10 minutes of the contest.
FEU continued cascading on UE to start the second period, opening things with a 13-0 blast to extend it advantage to 34-13 at the 5:10 mark as Tolentino waxed hot from beyond the arc.
After struggling early on, league scoring leader Alvin Pasaol of UE managed to find his mark.
He, however, could only push the Warriors to within 15 points, 41-26, by the halftime break.
The Warriors came out aggressive to start the third quarter, cutting their deficit to 11 points, 43-32, at the 7:49 mark.
FEU was quick to douse cold water on the UE rally, going on an 11-3 run to post a 19-point cushion, 54-35, at the halfway point of the quarter.
UE though would not be deterred as it kept coming back led by Pasaol.
The Warriors cut the Tamaraws’ lead to just 10 points, 57-47, with a little over a minute to go in the frame.
When the third canto ended, FEU was still on top, 63-49.
The Tamaraws went for an early finish to start the final quarter, going on an 8-0 blitz led by Tuffin to build a 71-49 advantage with 6:55 left in the match.
From there UE could come no closer than 16 points, 71-55, with three minutes to go as FEU continued to lord it over and exact command on its way to the skid-busting victory.
Tolentino led the Tamaraws with 18 points, five rebounds and two steals with Tuffin adding 17 points.
Ebona had a double-double of 12 points and 15 rebounds.
As a team, FEU shot 50% from beyond the arc, going 15-of-30, that greatly helped its cause in keeping UE at bay throughout.
Pasaol, meanwhile, was once again the high point man for the Warriors with 24 points to go along with 10 boards.
After him though no other UE player scored in double digits.
The Tamaraws next play on Nov. 11 versus National University while the Warriors take on Adamson University on Nov. 10.

Donaire seizes WBA world bantamweight title

NONITO “The Filipino Flash” Donaire captured the World Boxing Association “super” world bantamweight title after stopping erstwhile champion Ryan Burnett of Great Britain in the fifth round of their World Boxing Super Series clash early Sunday morning (Manila time) in Glasgow, Scotland.
Mr. Burnett suffered a back injury in the fourth round and was ruled unable to go in the fifth to hand the championship belt to the Filipino fighter.
The British fighter had early control of the contest but took a knee in the fourth round after seemingly pulling a muscle in his back following a punch he threw at Mr. Donaire.
Mr. Burnett was eventually able to finish the round but could not make a go after it, forcing him to surrender his belt.
The victory was a bounce back for 35-year-old Donaire (39-5), who lost in his previous fight against Mr. Burnett’s compatriot Carl Frampton in April by way of unanimous decision.
Mr. Donaire, with the win, also advanced to the semifinals of the World Boxing Super Series bantamweight tournament where he is set to face World Boxing Organization bantamweight champion Zolani Tete.
After his latest win, Mr. Donaire, a multiple-division world champion, thanked his supporters while also expressing hope for the fast recovery of Mr. Burnett, who saw his three-fight winning streak come to an end and his reign as champion halted after three title defenses. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

James Harden boosts Rockets’ win in return

LOS ANGELES — James Harden scored 25 points, dished seven assists and added four steals as the visiting Houston Rockets pulled away for a 96-88 win over the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night.
Carmelo Anthony (17 points) and James Ennis III (15 points) were among three other Rockets to finish in double figures. Houston earned its second win in a row after losing the previous four.
Zach LaVine led the Bulls with 21 points during an unusual night in which he shot four of 16 from the field and 12 of 13 from the free-throw line. Jabari Parker added 15 points on six-for-12 shooting for the Bulls, who have dropped four in a row.
Harden, playing in his first game after missing three straight because of a strained left hamstring, scored 11 points unanswered during the third quarter. He hit back-to-back 3-pointers, sank a pair of free throws and made another 3-pointer to increase Houston’s lead from 60-59 to 71-59.
LAKERS HOLD OFF BLAZERS’ RALLY
LeBron James scored 28 points, and the visiting Los Angeles Lakers withstood a furious rally by the Portland Trail Blazers to win 114-110 Saturday night.
James passed out seven assists and grabbed five rebounds for the Lakers, who ended a 16-game losing streak against Portland, beating the Blazers for the first time since 2014. Rajon Rondo came off the bench to contribute 17 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the Lakers.
Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum each scored 30 points for the Blazers, who nearly came back from a 20-point deficit early in the fourth quarter.
McCollum and Lillard combined for 23 points to give Portland a 57-56 lead at the half, despite the Blazers making only 5 of 18 attempts from beyond the arc. James had 13 points for the Lakers.
The Lakers outscored Portland 32-16 in the third quarter to take an 88-73 advantage into the final period. Through three quarters, the Blazers were 6 for 28 on 3-point attempts.
L.A. increased its lead to 95-75 early in the fourth quarter, but Portland closed the gap to 99-85 with 6:51 left. Jusuf Nurkic made a free throw to get the Blazers to within 101-90 with 4:53 remaining. After James hit a pair of free throws, Lillard converted consecutive layups and a free throw to draw Portland within 103-95 with 4:01 to play.
Nurkic scored on a layup to cut the Lakers’ edge to 103-97 with 3:35 to go. The Lakers’ Josh Hart and McCollum traded driving layups, and L.A. was ahead 105-99 with 2:36 remaining. James then dunked to up the Lakers’ advantage to 107-99 with 2:18 to play.
McCollum’s layup got Portland to within 107-101 with two minutes to go. James and McCollum traded baskets, and the Lakers led 109-103 with 1:30 left.
Nurkic made 1 of 2 free throws, but the Lakers’ JaVale McGee scored on a layup to make it 111-104 with 28 seconds left. McCollum converted a layup to slice the difference to 111-106 with 25.4 seconds to go. Hart split a pair of foul shots, but Meyers Leonard scored on a dunk to get the Blazers to within 112-108 with 10.6 seconds on the clock.
PACERS 102, CELTICS 101
Victor Oladipo capped a wild finish with a go-ahead 3-pointer with 3.4 seconds remaining, delivering host Indiana a tight victory over Boston.
After sweeping two games at Indiana last season, the Celtics appeared headed for another road success when Kyrie Irving hit consecutive 3-pointers in the final 1:08, the second putting Boston up 101-97 with just 38.1 seconds remaining.
But after Oladipo (24 points, 12 rebounds) cut the deficit in half with two free throws with 29.2 seconds left, the Pacers got a shot at the win after Irving couldn’t complete a drive with 11.7 seconds to go. Oladipo got the defensive rebound and, a few seconds later, connected from 27 feet for the game-winner. — Reuters

Chandler reportedly seeks buyout, targets LA Lakers

LOS ANGELES — The Phoenix Suns are in the process of negotiating a buyout with center Tyson Chandler, according to multiple reports.
Chandler, 36, an 18-year veteran, plans to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers once he clears waivers, according to ESPN. He is slated to make $13.6 million this season to end a four-year contract.
The 7-foot-1 Chandler is averaging 3.7 points and 5.6 rebounds in seven games for the Suns this season and has career averages of 8.6 points and 9.3 rebounds in 1,086 games with the Chicago Bulls (2001-06), New Orleans Hornets (2006-09), Charlotte Bobcats (2009-10), Dallas Mavericks (2010-11, 2014-15) New York Knicks (2011-14) and Suns (2015-18).
He was the NBA Defensive Player of the Year for the 2011-12 season and played in the All-Star Game the following season.
JIMMY BUTLER
The Minnesota Timberwolves’ Jimmy Butler says his desire to be traded has not faded, but he reiterated late Friday that he has been a good teammate, contrary to popular outside opinion.
“These are my guys,” Butler told Yahoo! Sports after the Timberwolves’ loss to Golden State in Oakland, California. “Look, [my situation] don’t got to do with me and everybody in this locker room. I love these. I’m going to keep it one hundred with you. I love these guys. So, when everybody says, ‘Oh, there’s going to be a problem in the locker room.’ Yeah, all right. Does it look like there’s a problem in the locker room?”
Butler demanded a trade at the outset of camp in September and stayed away from the team with what the Timberwolves said was a conditioning matter. Reports indicated Butler cannot get on the same page with franchise building blocks Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, but the four-time All-Star disputed that sentiment.
LAKERS TENSION
LeBron James knows that people are talking about reported tension between Lakers team president Magic Johnson and coach Luke Walton. But James, in his first season with the Lakers, doesn’t want to hear it.
“It doesn’t bother me at all because I don’t pay attention to it, I don’t listen to it,” James said Saturday in comments published by ESPN before the Lakers played the Portland Trail Blazers. “It actually never even gets to me really, so it’s not a big deal for us. — Reuters

PHL Malditas begin 2020 Olympics qualifier bid

THE QUEST for a spot in the 2020 Olympic Games for the Philippine national women’s football team got under way on Sunday in round one of the Asian Qualifiers in Tajikistan.
Composed of players culled mostly from teams playing in the Philippine Football Federation Women’s League 2018 and the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, the Malditas are hoping to do well in the tournament happening from Nov. 4 to 13 to advance to the next round and keep their Olympic hopes alive.
The Philippines is bracketed in Group A along with Singapore, host Tajikistan, Mongolia and Chinese Taipei.
Tournament format sees winners in the four groups, runners-up and two best third-placed teams advancing to the second round.
The Malditas were to open their group campaign against Singapore later yesterday.
Making up the Philippine women’s team are goalkeepers Inna Palacios, Nicole Reyes and Kimberly Parina; defenders Ivy Lopez, Hannah Pachejo, Hali Long, Analou Amita, Alesa Dolino, Patricia Tomanon and Mea Bernal; midfielders Katyleen Rodriguez, Irish Navaja, Hazel Lustan, Sara Castaneda, Charise Lemoran, Kyla Inquig and Patrice Impelido; and forwards Shelah Cadag, Martie Bautista and Alisha Delcampo.
The head coach is Marnelli Dimzon and assisted by coaches Gerald Orcullo and Melo Sabacan with Prescila Rubio as team trainer. Team manager is Jefferson Cheng while the team’s head of delegation is Lalaine Bautista, PFF Women’s Football Committee chairperson and general secretary of Quezon-Battings RFA.
“The PFF wishes the Philippines Women’s National Team all the best for the 2020 Olympic Football Tournament Asian Qualifiers Round 1,” said PFF general secretary Edwin Gestates in a message.
“This is the second time that the team will travel to Tajikistan for a qualifier, and we hope that they perform well to advance to the second round,” he added.
The Malditas are angling to build on their spirited showing previously in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Jordan 2018 last April and the AFF Women’s Championship 2018 in Palembang last July.
After Singapore yesterday, the Philippine team is to face Tajikistan on Nov. 8, followed by Mongolia on Nov. 11 and Chinese-Taipei on Nov. 13.
If the Malditas succeed in advancing to the next round, they begin play in April 2019. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Enable wins Breeders’ Cup Turf

LOS ANGELES — Enable battled from behind to win the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf in thrilling fashion at Churchill Downs on Saturday, becoming the first horse to win this race and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in the same year.
The back-to-back Arc winning filly, a 4-5 bet, edged 10-1 Magical, who came in second, and 37-1 Sadler’s Joy, who finished a distant third in the 1 1/2-miles race
The British-trained four-year-old has now won 10 of her last 11 starts and continues to make a case for being the best race horse in the world.
Enable spent most of Saturday’s race in the middle of the pack before jockey Frankie Dettori swung her far outside after the final turn in what was ultimately a two-horse race with fellow filly Magical.
The win ended doubts about Enable’s health after she missed most of the year with a leg injury before returning to win the Arc last month.
“Everyone knows she’s had a difficult year,” said trainer John Gosden, who won the Breeders’ Cup Classic with Raven’s Pass in 2008.
“She didn’t quite come here in the form that she would have come last year but she’s done it,” he said after the filly’s first race on US soil.
Dettori was elated after the win, raising his fists in triumph.
Dettori said he swung Enable out wide after the final turn in the hope of finding firmer footing down the stretch, a strategy that worked perfectly.
“Her wheels were spinning around the bend so I took a right turn to get her on fresh ground where I knew she’d be comfortable,” he said.
“I went for the better ground and she found another gear. She’s amazing.” — Reuters

Marquez-Sabalo wins DSCPI national title

MICHAEL Angelo Marquez and Stephanie Sabalo captured the Grade A Latin title of the 22nd DanceSports Council of the Philippines Inc. National DanceSports Championships recently at the Valle Verde Country Club, Ballroom Hall, Pasig City.
Marquez and Sabalo both from Manila bested the Cebu pair of second placer Andrew Ysla and Noelyn Mie Pedrano and third placer Elmar Dizon and Rachael Sun of Visayas in Grade A Latin competition
In Grade A Standard, Sean Mischa Aranar and Ana Leonila Nualla defeated second placer Mark Jayson Gayon and Mary Joy Renigen and third placer Tristan John Ducay and Aileen Patrice De Lara to take home the crown.
Other winners were Joemari Rios and Israela Joana Aliermo (Grade B Standard), Shaquille Jay Hanz Basan and Cindy Jaz Basan (Grade B Latin), Malvin Jamali and Charlene Mernilo (Grade C Standard) and Roderick Pascua and Christine Jane Tabirao (Grade C Latin).

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