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Ford trots out topless Mustang, aluminum-clad Expedition


LOW-VOLUME products but which create a big impact are what Ford Philippines unveiled at this year’s edition of the Manila International Auto Show. Introduced by the American car maker were a pair of its US-market staple models — the Ford Mustang and Expedition — that, in the Philippines, cater to a more affluent set of buyers rather than to the mass market.
The Mustang is offered in four variants, including the range-topping convertible, with prices set between P2.798 million and P3.678 million. The lineup starts with the fastback fitted with a 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine and a 10-speed automatic transmission, then moves up to the 5.0-liter V8 GT, the convertible with the same V8 engine but with a six-speed manual transmission, and the convertible with both the V8 and 10-speed automatic.
In EcoBoost form the 2.3-liter four-pot makes 310 hp and 474 Nm of torque. The 5.0-liter V8, which according to Ford has been “extensively redesigned” and has been fitted with a new port fuel direct injection system, puts out 460 horsepower and 569 Nm. The V8 can also be paired with an active valve performance exhaust, which lets drivers to select how (relatively) muted or loud the exhaust notes can get.
Besides refreshed styling defined by crisper lines, a lower hood, additional vents, some new lower-body aero pieces and whole set of LED jewelry, the Mustang also has an updated cabin marked by new materials. And fitted to whichever variant is a 12-inch fully customizable LCD display cluster from where infotainment and performance settings can be controlled.
Regardless of variant too, the Mustang is equipped with driver-assist technologies , including a blind spot information system with cross-traffic alert, lane-keeping assist, a rear-view camera and adaptive cruise control. Also fitted is Ford’s TrackApps, a suite of applications that lets drivers to review or fine-tune their performance on a racetrack. It can record acceleration pace, amount of g-force generated and braking performance, as well provide a countdown, lap timing and launch control.
The new Expedition has also received the EcoBoost treatment, and so this relatively small 3.5-liter V6 engine is still capable of churning out 375 hp and a massive 637 Nm of torque. Combined with a 10-speed automatic transmission and an auto start/stop feature for the engine — which shuts off the engine when the car is merely idling in traffic — lower emissions and improved fuel consumption are assured, Ford said.
Helping in this regard further is the Expedition’s structure. In its latest form the vehicle is propped by a redesigned, fully boxed, high-strength steel frame over which a body made entirely out of aluminum — significantly cutting down on weight — is draped. Ford said the latest Expedition weighs up to 135 kilograms less than its predecessor model.
What the new Expedition retains is the spacious interior for which the nameplate has been known. Its cabin furniture is also still flexible enough to take in more passengers or cargo — if not both. Among the new items in there are a B&O Play premium audio with 12 speakers and HD radio, as well as power outlets on every row and a wireless charging system compatible with select mobile phones. The vehicle also comes with a foot-activated lift gate.
Driver-assist technologies fitted on the Expedition includes hill-descent control, hill-start assist, blind spot information with trailer coverage and cross-traffic alert, a forward and reverse sensing system, and traction control.
Ford sells the Expedition, available solely in four-wheel drive for P4.258 million. Add P100,000 for a set of bucket seats. — BMA

PSEi falls even as rest of Asia cheers Xi’s assurance

THE Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday ignored optimism across much of Asia in the face of China President Xi Jinping’s promise to open his country’s economy further, dropping further below the 8,000 mark for the second straight trading day as investors in local equities apparently chose to remain largely on the sidelines amid lack of more compelling leads.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) retreated for the second straight trading day by 10.98 points or 0.13% to close at 7,934.68 — there was no trading on Monday which was a public holiday — while the all-shares index dropped 11.03 points or 0.22% to end 4,817.47.
RCBC Securities, Inc., in its Stock Market Daily Recap for Tuesday, noted that “Philippine equities traded sideways, missing the regional rally of its peers, as local investors may have been waiting for stronger catalysts such as the incoming 1Q2018 results to justify entry given the recent market volatility.”
Also on Tuesday, while noting that “some fund managers were not participating, as evidenced by the thinly traded volume” in the wake of “an extended break,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis A. Limlingan also noted in a mobile phone message that the US Congressional Budget Office now expects the fiscal deficit of the world’s biggest economy to go beyond four percent of gross domestic product from this year onward.
PSEi had returned below the 8,000 line last Friday after the government reported a 4.3% inflation rate for March that was the fastest in at least five years and pierced a 2-4% full-year target range for 2018.
Mr. Xi’s remarks at the Boao Forum for Asia on Tuesday — in which he vowed to cut import tariffs on products like cars — helped defuse escalating US-China trade tensions, in turn, helping fuel a rally for most of Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 and TOPIX index, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index, South Korea’s KOSPI Index, the Shanghai Composite Index, the Jakarta Composite Index and the MSCI AC Asia Pacific gained 0.54%, 0.35%, 1.65%, 0.27%, 1.67%, 1.26% and 0.69%, respectively.
At home, the six sectoral indices were equally divided between winners and losers, with sectors that gained consisting of industrials which added 61.91 points or 0.55% to finish 11,218.39; holding firms that increased by 10.33 points or 0.12% to 7,997.95; and property which edged up by 2.07 points or 0.05% to end 3,646.57.
Sectors that lost consisted of services that gave up 32.1 points or 1.93% to finish 1,628.33; mining and oil which dropped 151.95 points or 1.34% to 11,155.2; and financials which retreated by 6.78 points or 0.33% to close 2,017.63.
Tuesday’s list of 20 most active stocks was equally divided between those that gained and those that lost. Ayala Corp. gained 2.12% to P938.50 apiece and Jollibee Foods Corp. added 2.16% to P284 each, while Bloomberry Resorts Corp. gave up 2.96% to P13.10 apiece and Leisure & Resorts World Corp. erased 10.08% to P5.35 each.
Trading volume thinned to 1.70 billion shares worth P7.65 billion changing hands from Friday’s 2.37 billion worth P7.58 billion. Foreigners stayed largely bearish for a third straight trading day, though net selling slipped by 3.51% to P465.76 million from Friday’s P482.69 million. — with interview by J. C. Lim

Did LTFRB drive Uber away?

If you have been a regular rider of Uber, you already know that the American ride-sharing company is pulling out of Southeast Asia (which, of course, includes the Philippines) and ceding its business in the region to rival Grab. In return, Uber receives a 27.5% stake in Grab. While the whole deal undergoes reviews in key markets like Singapore and Malaysia, the fact is that Uber has essentially thrown in the towel. It is no longer interested in competing with a formidable opponent and in designing programs that benefit the riding public it worked so hard to win over.
The scheduled shutdown of the Uber app in our market was supposed to be April 8, but the so-called Philippine Competition Commission (who knew something like this existed?) was protesting the development over the weekend, saying Uber should continue operating in the country while the newly formed government body conducted an assessment of whether the Grab/Uber transaction was fair or ultimately anticompetitive. Now, it is doubtful such a commission has a real say in the matter, but it’s interesting how the “merger” is creating ripples around the region.
The most impassioned reactions predictably come from Uber customers, who decry the unfortunate news and now accuse the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) of being largely responsible for Uber’s retreat from our territory. You can read these sentiments on social media.
“If the LTFRB didn’t suspend Uber for a month and slap it with a P190-million fine, the company wouldn’t have decided to leave.”
“If the LTFRB didn’t make life difficult for Uber with its strict regulations, the app-based transport service provider would be here to stay.”
Guys, snap out of it.
This was a region-wide business decision, and its Philippine operation was but a fraction of Uber’s total asset in all of Southeast Asia. To say its fortune (or misfortune) in Metro Manila forced Uber to exit in haste is laughably inaccurate. The writing had been on the wall for quite some time. The company had been bleeding huge amounts of money in spite of its rosy valuation. In 2017, it lost a total of $4.5 billion, significantly worse than the $2.8-billion deficit it incurred in 2016.
All of this is the necessary price Uber has to pay for the gung-ho business approach it has adopted for itself. Providing ride subsidies and awarding bonuses to drivers are costly tools it uses to entice commuters (and drivers) into switching from regular taxicabs to Uber cars. This trick would work if there was no competition. But there is always competition. And always a strong one at that.
Uber’s surrender to Grab — which Uber’s CEO is trying to spin as a victory — follows similar paths the company had taken in China and Russia, where it had also agreed to pull out in exchange for stakes in its local rivals (18% in Didi Chuxing and 37% in a joint venture with Yandex).
The LTFRB is by no means unblemished in its track record of dealing with transport network companies. The agency could use a lot more urgency in its actions, for one. The fast-shifting and technology-driven transportation industry isn’t going to wait forever for slow-moving government officials to figure out how they want to regulate nontraditional transport service providers. And now that Uber is on its way out, the burden falls squarely on LTFRB’s shoulders to find a comparable alternative that will fill the massive void that Uber is expected to leave behind.
Still, whatever happened to Uber being dedicated to “unlocking” our cities and wanting to help solve our transport problems? The reality is that it has a history of fleeing at the first sign of trouble.
And what about the thousands of Uber operators who purchased service cars in hopes of doing this business for the long haul or at least until they recouped their investment? Whose fault was this? Who kept accepting drivers and activating cars in spite of the LTFRB’s unequivocal cease-and-desist order last year?
With its Southeast Asian pullout, it is said that Uber is merely cutting its losses in preparation for its initial public offering in 2019. I say it was delusional for actually believing its reckless business model could work — disrupting target cities, operating outside of the law, and praying public adulation could somehow exempt it from legal accountability. On the contrary, that’s the best formula for a spectacular fiasco.
Nobody drove Uber away but the contumacious company itself. It wanted a piece of cake but got served a giant slice of humble pie. And now we’re almost back to the dark ages of commuting.

Duterte signs EO approving development plan for MSMEs

Malacañang announced on Tuesday, April 10, that President Rodrigo R. Duterte has signed Executive Order (EO) No. 50 approving the development plan for 2017-2022 of the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
The President’s EO also directs concerned government agencies and instrumentalities, including government-owned or -controlled corporations (GOCCs) and local government units (LGUs) to adopt the MSME development plan for 2017-2022 which, according to the EO, “shall serve as the blueprint for integration and collaboration of relevant government and private sector institutions for MSME development.”
Mr. Duterte and Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea signed the document on April 4.
In its statement on March 21, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said the development plan that was initially approved by the MSME Development Council “presents improved and innovative development strategies to achieve the target outcomes called Trabaho, Negosyo, Kabuhayan, in the next five years.” — Arjay L. Balinbin

US vows quick action in response to Syria chemical attack

WASHINGTON/UNITED NATIONS — US President Donald Trump on Monday promised quick, forceful action in response to a deadly suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, appearing to suggest a potential military response.
Speaking at a meeting with military leaders and national security advisers, Mr. Trump said he would make a decision by Monday night “or very shortly thereafter” on a response, adding that the United States had “a lot of options militarily” on Syria.
“But we can’t let atrocities like we all witnessed… we can’t let that happen in our world… especially when we’re able to because of the power of the United States, the power of our country, we’re able to stop it.”
The suspected chemical weapons attack late on Saturday killed at least 60 people, with more than 1,000 injured in several sites in Douma, a city near the capital, Damascus, according to a Syrian aid organization.
Initial US assessments have so far been unable to determine conclusively what materials were used in the attack and could not say with certainty that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government forces were behind it.
Mr. Trump said, however, that Washington was “getting more clarity” on who was responsible for the attack.
US officials told Reuters that Washington was weighing a multinational military response. For the second time in less than 24 hours, Mr. Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone to coordinate their response, the White House said.
Asked at a Cabinet meeting earlier on Monday if Russian President Vladimir Putin bore any responsibility for the attack, Mr. Trump said: “He may, yeah, he may. And if he does, it’s going to be very tough, very tough.”
On Sunday, the US president who had sought warmer relations with Russia criticized Putin by name on Twitter as he castigated Russia and Iran for backing “Animal Assad.”
The US envoy to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said Washington “will respond” to the attack regardless of whether the United Nations Security Council acts or not.
Moscow said it warned the United States of “grave repercussions” if it carried out an attack against Syrian government forces.
The Syrian government and its ally Russia have denied involvement in the attack.
International bodies led by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) were trying to establish exactly what happened in Douma, a rebel-held town in the eastern Ghouta district.
Syrian government forces had launched an air and ground assault on Douma, the last town held by rebels in eastern Ghouta, on Friday.
CONSCIENCE ‘SHOCKED’
Britain and the United States agreed on Monday that the attack bore the hallmarks of previous chemical weapons attacks by Assad’s government, but neither country gave details of what kind of chemical might have been used or how the attack was staged.
“The images, especially of suffering children, have shocked the conscience of the entire civilized world,” White House spokesman Sarah Sanders said.
“Sadly, these actions are consistent with Assad’s established pattern of chemical weapons use.”
The United States fired missiles on a Syrian air base a year ago in response to the killing of dozens of civilians in a sarin gas attack in an opposition-held town. The missile strikes did little long-term damage to Syrian government forces and Assad’s position has only become stronger with Iranian and Russian support.
The stakes are higher for any new US military action, with Mr. Trump explicitly mentioning Iran and Russia in connection with the weekend attack.
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Monday accused Russia of falling short on its obligations to ensure that Syria abandoned its chemical weapons capabilities.
The Russian military said on Monday its medics had examined patients in a hospital in Douma and had found no traces of a chemical attack, Interfax news agency reported.
Russia and Syria both offered during the UN Security Council meeting on Monday to take OPCW investigators to Douma.
The OPCW did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But weapons inspectors are not expected to go to Syria after being attacked twice while trying to get to the sites of chemical weapons attacks since 2013.
Instead, they have in recent investigations gathered blood samples from victims and interviewed witnesses outside of Syria.
The United States plans to call for a UN Security Council vote on Tuesday on a proposal for a new inquiry into responsibility for the use of chemical weapons in Syria, diplomats said.
The Syria conflict was further complicated on Monday when unidentified war planes struck a Syrian air base near Homs, killing at least 14 people, including Iranian personnel. Syria and Russia accused Israel of carrying out the attack.
Israel, which has struck Syrian army locations many times in the course of its neighbor’s seven-year-old civil war, has neither confirmed nor denied mounting the raid.
But Israeli officials said the Tiyas, or T-4, air base was being used by troops from Iran and that Israel would not accept such a presence in Syria by its arch foe.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the strike on the T-4 base was a dangerous development.
The incidents in Douma and Tiyas demonstrated the complex and volatile nature of the Syria war, which involves a number of countries and insurgent groups. — Reuters

PM Najib faces tough challenge from Mahathir as Malaysia schedules national elections on May 9

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysians will go to the polls on May 9 for a general election where scandal-hit Prime Minister Najib Razak’s long-ruling coalition faces one of its toughest ever challenges from veteran ex-leader Mahathir Mohamad, authorities announced Tuesday.
“Voting day is on May 9,” election commission chairman Mohamad Hashim Abdullah told a press conference.
Polling day will be on a Wednesday, an unusual move as national elections in Malaysia are usually held at a weekend.
There will be an 11-day campaign period before polling day.
TOUGHEST TEST YET
The announcement came after parliament was dissolved at the weekend, setting the stage for one of the sternest ever tests of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition during its six decades in power.
The government’s popularity has been sliding in recent years and its problems have been worsened by a scandal surrounding state fund 1MDB, but Mr. Najib is still tipped to win due to BN’s firm grip on power.
He is under pressure from allies in his United Malays National Organization (UMNO) — the main coalition party — to score an emphatic victory after the government lost the popular vote for the first time at the last election in 2013.
Victory, however, is less certain due to the comeback of Mr. Mahathir, 92, who is the opposition prime ministerial candidate.
He came out of retirement and turned on his former protege Mr. Najib over the 1MDB scandal. — AFP

Trump says to meet NoKor head in 2 months

WASHINGTON/SEOUL — US President Donald Trump said on Monday he planned to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by early June and hoped the discussions would ultimately lead to an end of the North’s nuclear weapons program.
“We’ll be meeting with them sometime in May or early June and I think there’ll be great respect paid by both parties and hopefully we’ll be able to make a deal on the de-nuking of North Korea,” Mr. Trump told reporters at the start of a Cabinet meeting. “Hopefully, it’ll be a relationship that’s much different than it’s been for many, many years.”
Mr. Trump’s comments came just a few hours before North Korea mentioned talks with the United States and South Korea for the first time, as the North’s state media said Kim Jong Un chaired a party meeting on Monday in which he assessed future talks with Washington and his upcoming summit with South Korea on April 27.
“(Kim Jong Un) set forth the strategic and tactical issues to be maintained by the Workers’ Party of Korea including the future policy of international relations and the orientation corresponding to them,” the North’s central news agency said on Tuesday.
Any meeting between Mr. Kim and Mr. Trump would come after the two Koreas hold their first summit in more than a decade later this month.
Kim Jong Un as well as high ranking officials from the North have been engaging other countries in a flurry of diplomacy in recent weeks with the North Korean leader making a surprise visit to China last month, talking with President Xi Jinping.
A North Korean delegation led by Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho is in Russia this week after a visit to Turkmenistan, the North’s state media said on Tuesday. — Reuters

FBI raids offices, home of Trump personal lawyer

WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Monday raided the offices and home of US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen, law enforcement sources said, in a dramatic new development in a series of probes involving close Trump associates.
Mr. Cohen’s lawyer, Stephen M. Ryan, said that US prosecutors conducted a search that was partly a referral by the Office of Special Counsel, Robert Mueller.
Mr. Mueller is investigating whether members of Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia during the US presidential election. Mr. Trump has called the probe a “witch hunt” and denied any collusion.
The raid could increase legal pressure on the president, because it involves the records of his longtime attorney and indicates a second center of investigations in Manhattan, alongside Mr. Mueller’s Washington-based probe.
Mr. Cohen has been at the center of a controversy over a $130,000 payment he has admitted making shortly before the 2016 election to porn star Stormy Daniels, who has said that she had sex once with Mr. Trump in 2006 and was paid to keep quiet about it.
“It’s a disgraceful situation. It’s a total witch hunt. I’ve been saying it for a long time,” Mr. Trump said at the opening of a meeting with military and national security advisers to discuss Syria.
Mr. Trump cannot fire Mr. Mueller directly, but he could order Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the special counsel’s probe, to end it, or Mr. Trump could fire Mr. Rosenstein if he refuses.
In a Tweet, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warned Mr. Trump against interfering.
“If @realDonaldTrump is thinking of using the FBI raid to fire Special Counsel Mueller or otherwise interfere with the chain of command in the Russia probe, we Democrats have one simple message for him: don’t,” Mr. Schumer said.
Under federal regulations, if Mr. Mueller comes across information that is not directly related to his Russia-focused investigation, he must confer with Mr. Rosenstein. Mr. Rosenstein could direct Mr. Mueller to either investigate the issue himself or refer it to another law enforcement authority.
The raids were first reported by The New York Times.
“Today, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York executed a series of search warrants and seized the privileged communications between my client, Michael Cohen, and his clients,” Mr. Ryan said in a statement. “I have been advised by federal prosecutors that the New York action is, in part, a referral by the Office of Special Counsel, Robert Mueller.”
Federal prosecutors are investigating Mr. Cohen for possible bank and tax fraud, and for possible campaign law violation in connection with the Stormy Daniels payment.
Federal agents also raided a room at the Loews Regency Hotel on Park Avenue in Manhattan where Mr. Cohen has been staying while his apartment is being renovated, The New York Times reported. — Reuters

Australian media report Beijing proposes South Pacific military base

SYDNEY — China has approached Vanuatu about establishing a permanent military presence on the tiny Pacific island, Australia’s Fairfax Media reported on Tuesday, a plan that would likely stoke regional tensions.
The report, citing unnamed sources, said no formal proposal had yet been made, but preliminary talks have been held about locating a full military base on Vanuatu.
It added that the prospect of a Chinese military outpost so close to Australia has been discussed at the highest levels in Canberra and Washington.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Tuesday said she had been assured by Vanuatu officials that there was no formal proposal from Beijing, but she stopped short of addressing whether there had been any unofficial talks.
“The government of Vanuatu has said there is no such proposal, but it is a fact that China is engaging in infrastructure investment activities around the world,” Ms. Bishop told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
“I remain confident that Australia is Vanuatu’s strategic partner of choice.”
A spokesman for Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai did not immediately respond to e-mails requesting comment, telephone calls to the Vanuatu High Commission in Canberra were not answered, and the Chinese Embassy in Canberra did not comment.
The Fairfax Media report said the preliminary discussions involved an initial access agreement, under which Chinese naval ships would dock to be serviced, refuelled and restocked, and that would eventually lead to a full military base.
Such a plan would mark an expansion of China’s military aspirations beyond its controversial activities in Asia, particularly the South China Sea, where it has been building artificial islands on reefs, some with ports and airstrips.
Several international nations have accused China in recent months of seeking to buy influence in the South Pacific through international aid, stoking fears that Australia’s long-time influence in the region is being eroded.
China opened its first overseas military base in August 2017 in Djibouti on the Horn of Africa. It is China’s first overseas naval base, but Beijing describes it as a logistics facility.
Djibouti’s position on the northwestern edge of the Indian Ocean has fuelled worry in India that it would become another of China’s “string of pearls” military alliances and assets ringing India, including Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
China has boosted its naval power in recent years to check US dominance of the high seas and increase its projection of power around the globe. — Reuters

DENR approves over 3,000 land titling applications for public school sites

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) recently approved more than 3,000 special patents for public schools in collaboration with the Department of Education (DepEd).
In a statement released on Tuesday, Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu said that this is a “big accomplishment in land management and public school system”.
“It only shows that the DENR, particularly the Land Management Bureau, is actively working to secure public school sites where the education of the future generation of this country rests,” he added.
The DENR and DepEd signed three memoranda of agreement in 2007, 2010 and 2013, which is also supported by Republic Act 10023 or An Act Authorizing the Issuance of Free Patents to Residential Lands.
This allows the survey and titling of public elementary and secondary school lands exclusively for education purposes through special titles and presidential proclamations.
The DENR has so far transmitted 3,467 approved patents for public schools in 16 regions. Of all the regions, Region 2 has the most number of patents at 450, followed by Region 10 and Region 1 with 434 and 343, respectively.
DENR Region 2 had the most number of special patents approved and transmitted at 450; Region 10 had 434 patents, and Region 1 had 343.
“Education is a basic right of every Filipino. The DENR will continue to pursue efforts to award land ownership to public schools so that these learning institutions are secured from ejection in the land they have occupied for decades,” Mr. Cimatu said.
Under the MOA, the DepEd will further develop and improve the public school system. The department is also in charge of selecting the area where the school will be build on.
The DENR will conduct the survey, research, ground verification and preparation of maps and technical description of the identified lands. — Anna Gabriela A. Mogato

Apex Mining earnings surge 33% to P429 million on record production

Apex Mining Co., Inc. (APX) reported that its 2017 consolidated net income went up by 33% to P429 million from P322 million in 2016, after reaching its highest metal annual production.
In a disclosure to the stock market on Tuesday, Apex Mining president and chief executive officer Walter W. Brown said they are satisfied with the company’s third consecutive year of growth.
“We have attained our year-end goal in terms of gold and silver production. Our operating tonnage for the year has actually increased although we were short of our target of milling at 1,800 tonnes daily, which at best has been intermittent,” he added.
The company reported that its Compostela Valley-based Maco mine reached a new record in milling throughput at 578,893 tonnes, higher than the generated 452,948 tonnes in 2016.
The mine’s mill recovery rate likewise saw an all-time high of 82.8%.
The company also reported an increase in milling tonnage by 23% at an average of 1,693 tonnes per day.
Apex Mining’s gold production also saw its highest annual output at 60,185 ounces last year from 2016’s 54,681 ounces.
Mr. Brown said they will continue to procure more metals from their Maco mine amid the ongoing installation of a ball mill in the ISRI-operated Sangilo Mine, which will be initially used as a back up unit.

“The new mill will eventually provide additional capacity for the mine’s long-term plan to operate at 3,000 tonnes daily. Side by side, we have to accelerate our mine development to enable ore delivery match our higher milling capacity,” he added. — Anna Gabriela A. Mogato

Court turns down Philodrill’s motion to reconsider dismissal of estafa case vs former president

The court has denied the motion for reconsideration filed by The Philodrill Corp. on the dismissal of the case for attempted estafa it filed against against its former president Francisco A. Navarro.
On Tuesday, April 10, the company told the stock exchange that it had received the resolution penned by Senior State Prosecutor Arnold L. Magpantay, Office of the City Prosecutor, Mandaluyong City, denying the motion for reconsideration for lack of merit.
The development followed the prosecutor’s recommendation earlier this year for the dismissal of the case for lack of probable cause. Mr. Magpantay penned the previous resolution, which Philodrill received on Jan. 5, 2018.
Philodrill and Reynaldo E. Nazarea, its treasurer, vice-president for administration and director, filed the complaint against Mr. Navarro on Sept. 15, 2017 for violation of the Revised Penal Code, Article 315 (1)(a), for attempted estafa.
The complainants said they had filed the case when Mr. Navarro demanded payment of his supposed “special retirement package,” coupled with a threat that cases will be filed against the company if his demands were not complied with. — Victor V. Saulon

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