RICE inventories as of June 1 were estimated at 2.36 million metric tons (MT), down on a year-on-year and month-on-month basis, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
In PSA’s “Rice and Corn Stocks Inventory” released Tuesday, rice stocks fell 8.24% from a year earlier and were down 18.85% from a month earlier.
Some 46.39% of the total was held by households, while 53.56% was held by commercial rice dealers. The remaining 0.09% consisted of inventory held by the National Food Authority (NFA).
The overall rice inventory is considered sufficient for nearly 74 days’ demand.
NFA stock is good for less than a day. The NFA is mandated to maintain at least 15 days’ worth of buffer stock at any given time and at least 30 days’ worth of buffer stock for lean months, which start on July.
Household stocks rose 1.47% year on year while commercial and NFA inventories fell 1.92% and 98.99%, respectively.
Month on month, commercial stocks fell 16.65%, household inventories were down 21.20% and NFA inventory fell 40.29%.
Rice stocks are expected to pick up with the arrival of 250,000 MT of imported rice to replenish the NFA’s holdings, with other imports also en route via private deals.
Corn stocks as of June 1 amounted to 592,010 MT, up 74.99% month on month and down 39.50% year on year.
Commercial entities held 92.13% of the inventory while 7.87% was held by households.
On a year-on-year basis commercial holdings fell 38.07% while those of households declined 49.22%. — Anna Gabriela A. Mogato
THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said prices have begun to stabilize two weeks after it imposed suggested retail price (SRP) system on selected farm goods in Metro Manila wet markets.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol told reporters: “So far we are happy (with the SRP rollout). We haven’t received any complaints. Somehow, it actually calmed down the noisy voices of consumers complaining (about) the high prices of commodities,” he added.
“We actually received a favorable response from consumers and even the independent observers,” he added, without providing details.
The SRP regime covers regular-milled rice, milkfish, tilapia, galunggong (round scad), red and white onions, and local and imported garlic.
Mr. Piñol said the DA is studying other commodities to include in the SRP scheme, including pork products.
“I’m cautioning the livestock industry, especially the ham industry, not to price their products above the acceptable level to consumers,” Mr. Piñol said.
Poultry products are also to be included in the SRP regime, particularly broiler chicken, he added. — Anna Gabriela A. Mogato
A THINK tank attached to the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) hopes to propose to the Department of Tourism (DoT) a recommendation to help local government units (LGUs) come up with capacity-management plans for major tourist attractions.
Fernando Martin Y. Roxas, the Executive Director of AIM’s Dr. Andrew L. Tan Center for Tourism, said the center hopes to present its plan to Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat.
“Capacity management here does not just talk about numbers but also the nature of activities you allow tourists to engage in,” Mr. Roxas said in a roundtable with reporters on Tuesday.
Capacity management involves balancing tourist arrivals and the volume of visitors an area can hold.
“There’s no formula for capacity management. Each particular site is unique. And therefore, the capacity management system should be tailor-fit to that particular area,” Mr. Roxas added.
The generation of local jobs and revenue, Mr. Roxas said, should be the end-goal of any capacity management program.
As such, the center hopes to work with LGUs on the potential for climbing the tourism value chain, in industries such as hotels and tour services, among others.
“Most of the problem when we talk to LGUs is that many of them do not have this concept of a value chain,” Mr. Roxas said.
He cited the case of Mt. Pinatubo which is currently the center of a dispute among three barangays over which one is entitled to collect entrance fees.
“In the meantime, it’s the Koreans who established all the other services around Mt. Pinatubo. There is a spa, Korean-owned. There are tours, Korean-owned. There are hotels, Korean-owned. And we were fighting about who will issue the receipt,” Mr. Roxas said.
“So the concept of value chain is missing and we’re trying to bring that level of understanding to the grassroots.”
Citing data from market research firm Millward Brown, Mr. Roxas said 29% of total global tourism expenditure in 2015 was spent on shopping. Some 23% went to dining; 20%, to activities; 10% accommodation; and 7% to airfare.
Although he noted that political interference and the effectivity of community leadership can hinder the process of arriving at sustainable solutions, Mr. Roxas said capacity management systems should be agreed upon by all sectors and stakeholders.
“So [it should] not [be] one sector imposing its views on the others,” he added.
He added that the center is studying some areas to apply this approach. If simulations yield positive results, AIM will include the developed sustainability model to its list of proposals to the DoT.
AIM is also looking to develop a project linking small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs with the financial institutions that can offer them credit.
Last year, tourism’s contribution to the economy was at its highest level in 18 years at P1.929 trillion in terms of gross value added, up from the P1.554 trillion a year earlier. — Janina C. Lim
THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has asked electric cooperatives to submit their comments within 10 days on the draft rules governing the monitoring and reporting process of electricity bill deposits.
“For purposes of transparency, the proposed Rules shall enjoin distribution utilities to maintain and develop in their official websites, consumer information disclosing all important terms and conditions, systems and procedures on bill deposits in clear and comprehensible language for the consumers,” Agnes T. Devanadera, ERC chairperson and chief executive officer, said in a statement on Tuesday.
The ERC has issued notices for the holding of focus group discussions on the draft rules this week, in its head office in Ortigas Center, Pasig City and in Baguio City.
The draft rules will apply to the provisions of Articles 7 and 28 of the Magna Carta for Residential Electricity Consumers (MREC), the Guidelines to Implement Articles 7 and 28 of the MREC and the relevant provisions of Distribution Service and Open Access Rules (DSOAR).
The ERC on Oct. 27, 2004 issued the Guidelines to Implement Articles 7, 8, 14 and 28 of Chapter III of the MREC that govern, among others, the guidelines and procedures to implement the bill deposits collected from residential and non-residential consumers.
“Bill deposits collected from residential and non-residential consumers are intended to guarantee the payment of electricity bills for new and/or additional service and from disconnected consumers who were previously not subject to bill deposit. The bill deposit shall be equivalent to the estimated billing for one month based on the load schedule of the consumer to guarantee payment of his bills” the ERC said.
The draft rules include a provision on the preparation and submission of a periodic report, under oath, on or before Dec. 31 of every year, covering the details of the total amount of bill deposit collected plus interest earned and the amount credited or refunded to consumers.
Discussions on the draft rules come as two of the ERC commissioners — Alfredo J. Non and Gloria Victoria Yap-Taruc — bow out of the agency after completing their seven-year term. They are retiring from government service effective July 10, 2018.
Ms. Devanadera said she was saddened by the retirement of two of her “colleagues and mentors” in the commission.
“I have gained invaluable wisdom and insights from Commissioners Freddie and Amvic when I was just starting at ERC,” she said, referring to the officials in their pet names. “My transition period could not have been manageable without their help.”
“They have served the ERC well and their dedication and diligence is without question. Their contribution to ERC in terms of pro-consumer policies and decisions will make its mark and should be emulated and carried on,” she added. — Victor V. Saulon
During US Secretary of Defense James Mattis’s three-day visit to China, President Xi Jinping bluntly told the visiting American defense official:
“Our stance is steadfast and clear-cut when it comes to China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, we can’t lose even an inch of territory inherited from our ancestors, and China won`t take anything that belongs to others. Beijing has no colonial ambition but will never shy away from defending every each of its territory.”
President Xi’s straight-talking statement to Secretary Mattis was printed by influential and nationalist Chinese newspapers to emphasize that China under President Xi will not extend any concession with it comes to Taiwan and the islands in occupies in the South China Sea.
His assertion that China inherited the South China Sea from its ancestors is based on the belief that the Chinese people has always considered this maritime area as their “historic waters.” This is based on the national narrative that the South China Sea had been known to Chinese fishermen and seafarers from time immemorial. It tells various accounts of Chinese use of the South China Sea and its islands that included accounts of tributes made to Imperial Courts of ancient Chinese dynasties before the third century A.D. by the so-called barbarians from the southern seas. Accordingly, during this period, Chinese ships loaded with silk, porcelain, and other commodities sailed through the South China Sea and navigated the coasts of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand, and through Malacca to India and as far as the Mediterranean Sea.
It will be naïve for the international society to accept China`s national narrative as a gospel truth. It is only fair to examine this national narrative on the bases of geography, history, and relevant international law. HISTORY AND THE NATIONAL NARRATIVE?
Based on the 1951 International Court of Justice (ICJ) case between Norway and the United Kingdom, a country can only claim historic title to administer waters and territory if the three conditions are present: a) close geographical dependence of the territorial sea upon the land domain; b) the presence or absence of links between the land formations and the sea space sufficiently close to make the region susceptible to a fully sovereign regime of governance; c) and unique economic interest belonging to the coastal state as clearly evidenced by long (and exclusive) usage.
China cannot claim the South China Sea as its historic waters since it is a semi-enclosed sea surrounded not by one but by six littoral states. It has provided a fertile fishing ground for local fishermen not only from China but from other littoral states. It has also been a smooth and safe navigation route for all the states in the region and even the rest of the international community. Historically, the South China Sea forms parts of the vital route of maritime trade and transportation not only for China but for all East Asian and Southeast Asian states and their trading partners in Asia, Africa, and beyond. Historical records provide accounts of both Chinese and barbarian activities in the South China Sea. What history tells us is that the South China Sea evolved as regional commons as people used it as a common fishing ground and a trade route.
It is also interesting to note that Chinese records are candid about anti-maritime policies adopted by the late Ming Dynasty that limited the activities of its subjects in the South China Sea. This was because Chinese officials lost interests in the seas and even issued a ban on overseas trade from 1474 to 1551. As a result, construction of new ocean-going ships was banned, shipyards were closed, and ocean-going trade was discouraged. The imperial dynasties’ periodic interest on the maritime domain stemmed from the fact, that for most of its history, China was a continental power focused on land-based threats and opportunities. Furthermore, Imperial China never depended upon the sea for its economic livelihood. The consequences of China’s neglect of the sea led to its defeats during the First and Second Opium Wars and during the First Sino-Japanese War in the 19th century. INTERNATIONAL LAW AND THE NATIONAL NARRATIVE?
In January 2013, the Philippines challenged China’s expansive claim in the South China Sea when it filed an arbitration case in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, in the Netherlands. The 12 July 2016 United Nations Conventional on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) ruling on the South China Sea arbitration states that China`s claim to historic rights to the resources and waters to the South China sea ended when it joined the UNCLOS. This is because the notion of historic rights is incompatible with the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) as provided by the convention. This ruling was based on the assumption that the Convention was designed to be comprehensive in nature regarding rights within maritime zones means that rights of the other South China Sea coastal states within their EEZs and continental shelf areas leaves no space for an assertion of historic rights.
The tribunal also ruled that although Chinese navigators and fishermen had historically made use of the islands in the South China Sea, there was no evidence that China has historically exercised exclusive control over the waters and resources. Rather, historical records in all the littoral states (including China) point that people from the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia have also fished and navigated the waters of the South China Sea and have also maintained contact with the rocks, shoals, and islets in support of traditional fishing and local trade.
Finally, the tribunal states, there was no way that any ancient community could have settled and survived in the South China Sea as none of the rocks, shoals, or islets can sustain human habitation or an economic life of their own. The tribunal observed that some of the Spratly Islands were used by small groups of fishermen, but such transient use does not constitute inhabitation by a stable community.
On the basis of these three findings, the tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to the waters and resources of the South China Sea. REGIONAL COMMONS
On the bases of geography and history, China has not been able to exercise exclusive economic or navigational use of the South China Sea. Rather, it has always been regional commons. The July 2016 UNLCOS ruling affirmed what history and geography have uncovered. It is only fair to raise this question “What territory are you referring to President Xi?”
Renato Cruz De Castro is a Trustee and Convenor of National Security and East Asian Affairs Program of the Stratbase ADR Institute.
An indication of our national character is how we behave in games of sports. The recent melee at the FIBA games, an international basketball federation competition which we were hosting is certainly a shame. We also have in our sports history at least one case where the Philippine team was disqualified because we passed off an overaged but undersized kid as a qualified member of our youth baseball team. These are cases of our being sore losers, or willingness to cheat just to win.
Today, we have a motion for consideration about to be decided by the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) which earlier decided in favor of a petition from losing vice-presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos, Jr. for a recount of votes in the 2016 elections.
Because of this petition, election winner now Vice-President Leni Robredo had to raise money that she did not have in order to pay for the recount expenses. Fortunately, there were enough friends and relatives who were generous enough to contribute the millions of pesos that she needed. The election loser Marcos claims that he, too, haha, received donations from friends.
This is bad enough; but the disgusting thing is that the PET, which is composed of the justices of the Supreme Court earlier agreed with the Marcos camp that the recount should use as a basis a 50% shading of the ballots, instead of the 25% shading which was the basis used by the Comelec in the actual automated election vote count which led to victory for Leni Robredo. The Comelec was the referee for the real election. The review panel of judges now wants to change the rules.
This is no less than cheating, and not ordinary cheating. It is cheating after the game has been lost, not before, and not during the game, which would have been bad enough.
If the PET does not reverse itself by accommodating the motion for reconsideration from the Robredo camp, this will be a case of reversing a defeat after the game has been lost by getting the review panel of judges to change the rules, on hindsight! It is game fixing after the fact! With the panel of judges agreeing with the crime!
This can be no less than brazen, shameless cheating; in fact, game fixing after the game has been lost!
It is hard to believe, but Solicitor-General Jose Calida, who represents the Philippine government in this case, has endorsed the position of the Marcos camp to change the rules, and to use 50% shading, instead of the 25% shading used in the real vote count by the Comelec.
I can’t believe that there is not enough hue and cry over this shameless game fixing after the fact, which constitutes a new high in cheating. Have we really gone this low in our ethical and moral standards? Have we become numb to this kind of thing because it is now the way things are?
Well, this is the Supreme Court that awarded coco levy shares in San Miguel to Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr., because, as the ponente claimed, “There was no evidence that he was a Marcos crony.” This is also the same Supreme Court that reversed its own decision to award damages to the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP) in favor of Lucio Tan’s Philippine Airlines. This is also the same Supreme Court that recently dismissed the cases filed by the government to recover scads of money from the Marcoses. The same Court that dismissed plunder charges against former president Gloria Arroyo in the case in which the loss of P340 million in Pagcor funds was confirmed; but no thieves were identified. The same Court that enabled release of Juan Ponce Enrile on bail against the law on plunder cases which does not allow release on bail; allowed burial of Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani; allows continued detention of Senator Leila de Lima with no charges being filed. We can go on and on.
There has also not been enough hue and cry over these incredible injustices against the Filipino people. Are we becoming numb to these brazen, shameful injustices by the court of last resort?
Today, we have a president who offers to resign if someone can prove that God exists. And this is a president who gets majority approval in survey after survey. This is how low we have come to be. I hope we are close to the tipping point; and that we will finally say to ourselves, this is more than we should bear!
Let us hope that leaders in civil society will finally wake up to “the last straw” and publicly express their rage and disgust.
For the sake of our children and their children, may God have mercy on us all!
Teresa S. Abesamis is a former professor at the Asian Institute of Management and an independent development management consultant. tsabesamis0114@yahoo.com
Only eighteen teams remain. The champions of The International 2018, the 8th annual edition of the world’s most prestigious Dota tournament, stand to share more than P500 million among themselves and with their organization. Even the poorest-performing team will bring home more than P3 million. This is the opportunity that two Philippine-based teams and other Filipino players playing for teams based in other countries have qualified for.
The all-Filipino team TNC Predator has already won more than P120 million over five years. And guess what? The average age of the team members is 20 while the average age of the Mineski players, the other Philippine-based team, is 25.
As eSports continues to be an economically-viable entertainment platform that rivals popular traditional sports, the need to develop support structures has also become more urgent. Athletes, or talents, in this industry are mostly teenagers and young adults with little to no management knowledge or experience.
To become a successful eSports athlete, one needs to put in thousands of hours of practice and spend even more hours learning from other players’ games. These hours also need to be balanced with time spent for and with their families and friends, as well as for other holistic endeavors.
Professional eSports players often have inadequate skills and limited time to manage finances, invest earnings, manage their brands and public image, manage sponsorships and other viable income sources, and identify opportunities to contribute to society. These functions can be handled by talent managers, who have been doing these for talents in other industries for a long time.
If equipped with the right knowledge, skills, abilities, and characteristics, talent managers can plan, lead, organize, and control on behalf of eSports athletes. ESports clans or teams such as Mineski and eSports management companies such as Bang Bang Management in France and G2 Esports Club in Germany currently render these services for professional gamers.
Moreover, eSports talent management has shown enough potential to merit the development of a $1,850 eSports Management certificate program by the Division of Continuing Education of The University of California, Irvine. Management software in this field has also benefited from these developments.
In 2017, eSports team management software developer Guilded received more than $3 million to develop software that would facilitate player recruitment, development, and other management functions for eSports teams.
With multiple fields presenting various opportunities, eSports talent management should gain recognition as an attractive industry to get into, especially for local organizations that already have some of the necessary competencies. DOTA GAMERS ARE NOT ALONE IN THIS EITHER.
The Philippines has produced globally competitive players in other games as well. Dota, Hearthstone, and Tekken are just some of the games that have become commercially viable because for millions of casual gamers around the world, these games provide not just financial rewards but also entertainment value for players and spectators alike.
As a casual gamer and long-time fan, I have often been entertained by professional gamers’ brilliance and techniques as well as their stories and their roads to success. As evidenced by the online viewership numbers and sold-out arenas and venues, many of these games have become spectator sports.
In a sense, professional gamers themselves are entertainers who are much like, if not actual, public figures or celebrities. They have the power to influence gamers to follow the same career paths from as early as their pre-teen years. As such, they should be managed carefully and skillfully.
Talent managers of eSports athletes must be conscious of and responsible about how their management informs and affects millions of lives.
Globalization, in the form of talent acquisition, has also affected this industry.
Mineski, which used to have an all-Filipino lineup, now comprises a single Filipino-American and four players from other countries. ESports talent management groups will thus need to have competencies that will equip them to perform recruitment and other functions globally.
Government has also exerted efforts to facilitate legal professional e-gaming.
For instance, in 2017, the Games and Amusement Board started allowing eSports gamers to secure professional athletic licenses, which enable them to easily obtain visas for competitions.
In the US, for example, foreign athletes need P1 visas to participate in athletic competitions.
Hopefully, the government continues to find ways to support our athletes and the entities that facilitate their growth. Among these entities, perhaps the most important are talent management groups.
Rafael Gerardo S. Tensuan is a lecturer at the Management and Organization Department of the Ramon V. Del Rosario College of Business of De La Salle University and at the Export Management Program of De La Salle College of St. Benilde. rstensuan@gmail.com
Baguio City is one of the genuine tourism treasures of the Philippines. But for those of us who haven’t been to the City of Pines for years (especially those living overseas), the horror stories told about Baguio are enough to discourage any plans to make a trip.
The only attraction left unspoiled, according to the horror stories, is the cool climate, which the first American Governor-General of the Philippines, William Howard Taft, described “as bracing as Adirondacks or Murray Bay.” Recalled Taft, “…temperature this hottest month in the Philippines on my cottage porch at three in the afternoon — sixty-eight.”
That’s 68 degrees fahrenheit or 20 degrees celsius. Residents of Northern California like my family call that “San Francisco weather” or natural air-conditioning.
The rest of Baguio’s attractions, we are told, like Burnham Park, Camp John Hay, Mines View Park, Session Road, the souvenir market, the vegetable plantations, and the pine trees have all been overwhelmed by squatters, pollution, and Manila-style traffic.
For the millennials, Boracay is supposed to be the destination of choice. Only the hoi polloi or the unsophisticated would be willing to suffer the seven-hour drive to Baguio (of which two hours would be wasted just getting out of Metro Manila).
I hadn’t been to Baguio in over three decades. My family had last been to Mines View Park when our youngest child was 10 years old. He is now in his mid-40s.
My last significant experience with the city was in November 1983, when I chaired the 8th Philippine Advertising Congress. It was held at the Hyatt Terraces Plaza which was totally destroyed in the Luzon earthquake of 1990.
Ad Congresses were traditionally held at the venerable Pines Hotel, a place as historic as the Manila Hotel. Unfortunately, it was gutted by fire in October 1984, claiming many lives.
At any rate, in spite of the unflattering tales, on this recent visit to the Philippines, I felt a nostalgic rush within me at the mention of Baguio City. It evoked images of Lake Tahoe in the summer, with its pine trees and zigzag roads.
Baguio brought back visions of boat rides at Burnham Park, biking and riding ponies, Igorots wearing g-strings, fresh fruits and vegetables, especially strawberries, plants and flowers like the everlasting, wood carvings by native artists, folks wearing sweaters and jackets in contrast to the sweaty, suffering people from the “low-lands.”
Baguio City is also rich in history and culture. It was Baguio that was designated the Summer Capital of the Philippines by the American governors-general. And it was in Baguio where General Yamashita, the Tiger of Malaya, surrendered to American forces. The people of the Cordilleras continue to cherish and nurture their indigenous cultures, so reminiscent of the Native Americans in the US.
I had often compared the way US environmentalists have cared for Lake Tahoe to ensure that the water remains clear enough to see the bottom of it, and the way the Philippine government and we as a people have allowed our streams, rivers, lakes and forests to be spoiled and virtually prostituted. It was thus that I cheered the decision of President Rodrigo Duterte to put a stop to the degradation of Boracay, another Philippine tourism treasure.
Because my family and I have often driven up to Lake Tahoe, we have invariably been reminded of the Mountain Province and Baguio City. ERKA CAPILI INCIONG
And in spite of the horror stories told to us, we continued to cling to our recollection of the romantic mountain retreat of decades past.
Thus when the prospect of a weekend out-of-town drive was brought up, my family and I decided on Baguio City.
We are glad we did.
The horror stories are partly true. The crowds. The traffic. But the drive up SCTex (Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway) and TPLEx (Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway) was a joy — in sharp contrast to the two-hour torment from Parañaque to the North Luzon Expressway.
To our pleasant surprise, Baguio City has not lost its old charm. In the cool evening, Burnham Park offers an opportunity for a leisurely stroll, while folks paddle around the lake in ridiculously cheap, two-dollar boat rides (three dollars with a rower). The Mansion House, the summer retreat of American governors-general and Philippine presidents, is reminiscent of European manors. And the souvenir market just off Session Road still offers a wealth of pastries and native sweets, fruits and vegetables, t-shirts and novelty items, as well as the indispensable walis tambo.
One thing we learned about visiting Baguio: don’t try driving around the city yourself. You will get lost and your GPS will only confuse you, And the traffic will exasperate you, assuming you manage to survive the tangle of cars, jeepneys, motorcycles and trucks that are as bad as Manila’s carmageddon.
Instead, do as we did. We hired a local driver to take over our vehicle and bring us to the best sights in the city. We were lucky to find a young off-duty travel agent named Joseph Gallego, a former low-lander who had found a wife in Baguio and a place to love and raise a family in.
Joseph provided interesting insights about Baguio traffic and the crowds that mill wherever you go. According to him, the bad-mannered ones, the ones honking their car horns and tying up the traffic, are from the low-lands, meaning Manila and neighboring provinces. Native Baguio folks don’t honk their car horns, he said, and don’t play vehicular chicken at intersections.
Joseph brought us to BenCab’s museum, a treasure house of his art pieces and those of other artists, as well as native carvings and bolols (native deities), Camp John Hay, Fort del Pilar or the Philippine Military Academy, the Mansion House, the Lourdes Grotto, and the public market.
How he negotiated the tangle of vehicles without getting into an accident is one of the advantages of hiring a local.
Admittedly, my perspective on Baguio City is seen through the rose-colored lens of nostalgia, along with a degree of frustration that so much tourism potential, so much beauty, and so much history are not being creatively harnessed or fully developed — just like so many other tourism treasures around the country. The Tagalog term for the feeling is nakapanghihinayang.
Maybe the new tourism secretary, Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, can view these treasures through the same lens as an old traveler like me. Even without the infrastructure that the Duterte government has promised to build, build, build, there is so much potential in what our country already has.
She just needs to revisit them the way my family and I revisited Baguio City.
Greg B. Macabenta is an advertising and communications man shuttling between San Francisco and Manila and providing unique insights on issues from both perspectives. gregmacabenta@hotmail.com
By Michael Angelo S. Murillo Senior Reporter
GLOBALPORT Batang Pier’s campaign in the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup continues after they staved off elimination with a gutsy 114-113 victory over top-seeded Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in their quarterfinal pairing on Tuesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Carrying a twice-to-win disadvantage, GlobalPort dug deep in the end game to emerge on top and force Rain or Shine to a win-it-all match on Thursday.
GlobalPort got to early lead to start the contest, building a 7-1 lead.
But Rain or Shine would charge back after, led by Raymond Almazan and Ed Daquioag.
A triple from Mr. Daquioag with 3:40 left in the opening period handed the lead for the first time to the Elasto Painters, 16-15, before they moved on to complete the reversal, 26-24, at the end of the first 12 minutes.
Sean Anthony would spearhead GlobalPort’s push to gain back some ground at the beginning of the second canto but Rain or Shine continually found ways to keep it at a distance.
The count stood at 47-42 with over three minutes left and Rain or Shine on top.
A back-and-forth ensued thereafter with the Elasto Painters eventually settling for a 60-52 advantage, thanks to back-to-back triples from Chris Tiu and James Yap as the seconds ticked away, at the halftime break.
In the third quarter, import Malcolm White started humming for the Batang Pier, towing his team to within two points, 70-68, in the first six minutes.
He was to countered, however, by counterpart Reggie Johnson, who scored six straight points in the next minute to give Rain or Shine more breathing space, 76-69.
It was a separation it capitalized on as Rain or Shine built a 91-83 lead the rest of the way and heading into the final canto.
Recognizing that their campaign could well be down to the final 12 minutes, the Batang Pier did not waste much time making their move.
A triple by Mo Tautuaa at the 9:39 mark tied the score at 91-all.
But Rain or Shine would steady its ship, going on an 14-7 run in the next four minutes to establish a 105-98 advantage.
GlobalPort though was not to go down sans a fight, led by Jonathan Grey it tied the knot at 108-all with 2:21 remaining.
Both teams scrambled to establish control for the remaining time.
A split on the charity stripes by Maverick Ahanmisi with 16 ticks to go gave Rain or Shine a 113-111 lead.
But Mr. Grey would answer back with a triple five seconds later to hand GlobalPort the lead back, 114-113.
Rain or Shine tried to salvage the win but the three-point attempt of Gabe Norwood and putback by Mr. Johnson failed to connect as time expired.
Mr. White led GlobalPort with 28 points and 16 rebounds while Mr. Grey had 22.
Stanley Pringle, meanwhile, finished with a near triple-double of 21 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.
Mr. Johnson led Rain ir Shine with 24 points while Mr. Almazan had 17.
“Credit to the players for working hard to get this victory, especially when Malcolm got into foul trouble. We just stayed the course and thankfully we got the win. The next game will be even,” said GlobalPort coach Pido Jarencio after their win.
The do-or-die between Rain or Shine and GlobalPort will be played at the Mall of Asia Arena.
LONDON — Defending champion Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal closed in on a dream Wimbledon final as the sport’s two greatest players swept into the last-eight on Monday.
Eight-time champion Federer needed just 16 minutes to win the opening set on his way to a 6-0, 7-5, 6-4 defeat of France’s Adrian Mannarino to reach his 16th All England Club quarterfinal.
World number one Nadal, the two-time champion, reached his first quarter-final at Wimbledon since 2011 — when he went on to finish runner-up — with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 win over Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic.
Federer will be playing in his 53rd Grand Slam last-eight when he tackles Kevin Anderson, the eighth-seeded South African.
Top seed Federer, 36, has now won 32 consecutive sets at Wimbledon, just two behind his record set from the third round in 2005 to his title triumph in 2006.
He has also held serve for 81 successive games at the tournament, a run stretching back the first set of his semifinal win against Tomas Berdych in 2017.
“It was crucial for him to stay in the match at the beginning of the second set and then it got tougher,” said 20-time major winner Federer.
“You always tend to play better against better players and I’m happy to be back in the second week of Wimbledon.”
Federer boasts a 4-0 career record against 2017 US Open runner-up Anderson, who reached the quarter-finals for the first time with a 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/2), 5-7, 7-6 (7/4) win over France’s Gael Monfils.
Anderson is the first South African man in the Wimbledon last-eight since Wayne Ferreira in 1994.
Nadal, like Federer yet to drop a set, routed world number 93 Vesely on the eve of the Czech player’s 25th birthday.
Monday’s win took Nadal, 32, into a 35th Grand Slam quarter-final.
Next up for Nadal is either Juan Martin del Potro, the fifth seeded Argentine, or unseeded Gilles Simon of France.
Del Potro was leading 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/5), 5-7 when his tie with Simon was halted for the night due to darkness.
Novak Djokovic reached the quarterfinals for the 10th time with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 win over Russia’s Karen Khachanov.
“He’s got weapons, a big serve and a big forehand,” said Djokovic of the world number 40.
“I got a lot of first serves in, made him hit the extra ball. I served well when I needed to.
“It was difficult in the last few games. It was dark so I couldn’t see the ball that well and it was very windy.”
Three-time champion Djokovic, seeded 12, will next face Japan’s 24th seed Kei Nishikori.
It will be Djokovic’s 41st appearance in a Grand Slam quarter-final and he will start favourite against Nishikori who will be in his first last-eight at the All England Club.
Former world number one Djokovic has a 13-2 winning record against the Japanese player.
Nishikori overcame a right arm injury to reach his first Wimbledon quarterfinal with a gritty 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (12/10), 6-1 win over Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis.
The 28-year-old Nishikori is the first Japanese man to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon since Shuzo Matsuoka in 1995.
American ninth seed John Isner also reached his first Wimbledon quarterfinal with a 6-4, 7-6 (10/8), 7-6 (7/4) win over Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Isner, 33, will be playing in his first quarter-final at the majors since the 2011 US Open when he faces former Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic.
Raonic fired 37 aces and 74 winners to defeat Mackenzie McDonald of the United States and reach the quarterfinals for the fourth time.
The 27-year-old Canadian, runner-up to Andy Murray in 2016, triumphed 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2.
The 13th seed won all 20 of his service games. — AFP
WHEN the San Miguel Beermen and TNT KaTropa collide anew today for Game Two of their best-of-three Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals, their mission orders are clearly set out.
For the Beermen, it is to win and move on to the next round of the tournament while for the KaTropa it must be a victory at the end of the day to keep their Commissioner’s Cup bid alive.
Such setup was formed after San Miguel came from behind in Game One on Monday to pull the rug from under TNT, 121-110, and go up 1-0 and a step closer to a spot in the semifinals.
Down by as much as 23 points early in the third period, the Beermen collectively showed grit and determination in fighting their way back.
They eventually used a strong finishing kick to leave the KaTropa in their tracks en route to the come-from-behind victory.
Import Renaldo Balkman led the way for San Miguel with 36 points and 16 rebounds while June Mar Fajardo and Marcio Lassiter had 27 and 26 points, respectively.
While they are happy and confident over where they are right now following Game One, San Miguel coach Leo Austria is not leaving anything to chance and said they should make full use of the advantage they have now.
“For Game 2, their (KaTropa) backs are against the wall. They know if they lose it’s over for them. But they still have a chance and we know that TNT is a very competitive team and will come back stronger and better next time around,” Mr. Austria said.
He went on to say that it is important for them to have a good start for Game Two and not fall behind big early the way they did in the series opener, lest they find themselves making things harder for them.
For TNT import Joshua Smith, their situation only leaves them with a lone recourse — win.
“We just gotta go back tomorrow (Tuesday), have a good practice and get ready for Game Two, man. Win or go home,” said Mr. Smith, who had 17 points and eight rebounds before fouling out.
The burly import also said that he felt game officials were not sharp with their calls in Game One and that he hopes he would be allowed to play more and called for less “thin” calls.
“Refs gotta let me play, man,” he said.
Incidentally, TNT put Game One under protest immediately after its conclusion over perceived “questionable” calls but eventually decided not to pursue it officially.
Game Two of the San Miguel-TNT quarterfinals is set for 7 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
By Ayee Macaraig and Cecil Morella
SHIRTS are selling briskly, crowds pack sports bars to watch matches and football is front-page news. Whisper it quietly, but basketball-crazy Philippines has finally been afflicted by World Cup fever.
For decades, the nation of more than 100 million was on a very short list of global locations that had failed to fall for the beautiful game.
That is beginning to change as football’s narrow, but passionate, Filipino following grows fueled by success of the national team whose new coach is former England great Terry Butcher — a World Cup semifinalist with the Three Lions in 1990.
“Definitely, we do have… World Cup fever,” television sportscaster Bob Guerrero told AFP outside a Manila bar where he was watching France knock Argentina out of the global tournament.
“We’re hoping that it’s going to be a snowball effect and football will really start to grow here in the Philippines,” said Guerrero, who works for top TV network ABS-CBN which is airing World Cup matches live.
Grow it may, but at the moment there are only an estimated 1.5 million football-playing Filipinos compared to figures claiming that some 40 million regularly flock to the basketball courts that populate every barangay (borough) across the archipelago.
It’s a love affair that goes back to the 1900s when basketball was introduced to the archipelago by the Americans. Rather than reject the pastime of their colonial masters, Filipinos made it their own. ELEGANCE AND STRAY DOGS
It became part of the curriculum in schools and since then Philippine squads have played respectably on an international level. Basketball’s governing body FIBA has them ranked 30th out of 159 nations, just behind China.
But, until recently Philippine love and prowess in hoops was missing from their football team, a gap evident even in the nicknames of the respective squads.
The Philippines basketball team are dubbed the “Gilas,” the local word for elegance, while the football team are called the “Azkals” which is a slang term for stray dogs.
“When I arrived, the football community was very small,” said Azkals captain Phil Younghusband, who made his debut in 2009.
“You can probably count in the hundreds the people who were aware of football and playing football.”
The former youth player with English Premier League club Chelsea is one of a wave of photogenic foreign-based players of part-Filipino parentage recruited by the Azkals.
In a few short years they have vaulted the team to qualification for the Asian Cup for the first time, and in May they hit their highest ever FIFA ranking of 111th in the world.
That success comes on the heels of the launching last year of the country’s first pro-league, the Philippines Football League, which added to the momentum.
Experts say the Azkals’ steady rise, which has given fans hope of international success, has been key to the game’s growth spurt of popularity in recent years.
“We’re small (people). Let’s face it we can’t be world champions in basketball,” said Edwin Gastanes, general secretary of the Philippines Football Federation.
“Our physique, our skill, moves and agility are really very good for football. That’s why we have a chance there,” he added. GLOBAL GOAL
The Azkals have never qualified for the World Cup, but Butcher last month made that his goal for the side after they make their Asian Cup debut in the UAE in January.
“There is a hype now,” said Francis Castilla from sport marketing firm MMC Sportz. “Everybody wants to jump in on the (Azkals’) achievement.
“It’s the bandwagon. The problem will be how to sustain it.”
Other similarly less football-minded nations have seen their love for the game grow via increased television coverage, which marketers say stimulates attendance at stadiums.
It was key in bringing cricket-mad India into the football fold, yet air time is still scarce for the game in the Philippines. Basketball and boxing dominate.
The next steps for Philippine football will be strongly influenced by the nation’s youth — and there are more and more enthralled by the beautiful game.
Kevin Raymond Sales, 15, has been in love with football for years and has been trying to stay up to watch late-night World Cup matches.
He’s hooked on the dramatic personal stories of players who rose from poverty or teams from tiny nations taking out powerhouses 10 times their size.
“It’s something inspirational and it’s inspired me personally to carry on with football, to play the sport with all my heart,” he said. — AFP
