Facebook Instagram Linkedin X Youtube
Home Blog Page 13768

Uber suspension cuts Metro Manila travel time by 5% — MMDA

THE SUSPENSION imposed against Uber Philippines, a unit of Uber Systems, Inc., has improved travel times on Metro Manila’s roads, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Danilo D. Lim said.

EDSA bound motorists occupy all lanes of Commonwealth Ave. in Quezon City in this photo taken on February 18, 2016. — PHILIPPINE STAR

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) early this month imposed a one-month suspension on Uber after the board found that the company continued to accredit drivers despite a July 26 order directing ride-sharing platforms to cease doing so.

In a news conference in Malacañang yesterday, Mr. Lim said that based on MMDA’s data, the Uber suspension reduced travel time in Metro Manila by 5%.

“Talagang napakaraming sasakyan at yung mga kalsada natin di naman nadadagdagan (The number of vehicles is very high, and we’re not getting any more roads),” Mr. Lim said.

Ride-hailing mobile applications are viewed as a possible solution to the city’s transport deficit. But according to the MMDA chairman, ride-sharing, if not regulated, could worsen road congestion.

“May mga regulations tayo. Ilan ba yung dapat na naibigay na prangkisa dyan? Ilang units? (We have rules governing how many vehicles a franchise controls) But more than 100,000 vehicles are in effect ‘colorum.’ So that doesn’t help,” he said.

Uber said recently it has spent around P100 million in financial assistance to over 36,000 drivers who have been affected by the month-long suspension.

Uber has also proposed to pay a P10-million fine instead of serving the suspension. The LTFRB said it will decide on the matter “as soon as possible.” — Ian Nicolas P. Cigaral

PNOC’s budget proposal hits snag at Senate

THE SENATE has questioned the budget proposal of over P500 million for Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) at a hearing for the Department of Energy’s budget presentation for 2018.

Win Gatchalian
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian — Photo by Victor Saulon

Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate committee on energy, asked why PNOC, the commercial arm of the Department of Energy (DoE), is asking for funds for a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) integrated facility without first coming up with a feasibility study.

“We asked them to defer it [budget presentation first] because if you look at the budget, P505 million new allocation for an LNG terminal, but this LNG terminal wala (still has no) pang feasibility study,” he told reporters.

“How can we allocate P500 million for something that we don’t know if it will make money or not because it was explained to us that P500 million will be used to invest in an LNG terminal,” he said.

He said if the government will invest in a project, it should earn returns from it.

“Give us first the feasibility study, explain to us this vision of LNG terminal or LNG hub and let’s see if its feasible for the government,” he said, partly in Filipino.

In June, Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said his department was looking at the construction of a common LNG receiving and distribution infrastructure, which he said could result in making the country as an “LNG hub” for Southeast Asia.

Mr. Cusi said the facility would cost around P100 billion and is targeted to be completed by 2020, which should give the country enough lead time and safeguard it ahead of the anticipated depletion of the Malampaya gas find in 2024.

He said the facility would have an initial 200-megawatt  power plant, storage facilities and liqeufaction and regasification units. The plant’s output is aimed to serve the country’s economic zones, he added.

The DoE has a proposed budget of P2.65 billion for 2018, which Mr. Gatchalian said does not have substantial changes from the previous year.

The budget is composed of allocation for operations amounting to P1.87 billion, support to operations at P449 million, and general administration and support at P392 million.

Compared to 2017, the  proposed budget increased only by 0.05% or about P1.33 million. — Victor V. Saulon

Descent to Barbarism

The wanton killings by the police and their surrogate assassins that are the main, in fact the only, component of the brutal and misdirected “war” on drugs that’s targeting the poor while the drug lords are treated with kid gloves and evade prosecution began almost as soon as Rodrigo Duterte assumed the Presidency last year.

CIDG tasked to probe Kian delos Santos killing
An uncle of drug war fatality Kian delos Santos visits the wake for the slain teenager. — PHILIPPINE STAR_JOVEN CAGANDE

These barbaric atrocities by the regime’s killing machine have been condemned by Catholic Church prelates; by human rights groups here and abroad; by most media practitioners except by the obviously bought and paid-for hacks in print and broadcasting; and by citizens whose senses have not been dulled by the vast illiteracy, atrocious logic, and worse grammar of the cretinous online trolls who’re similarly in the pay of the Duterte regime.

The murder of 17-year-old grade 11 student Kian Loyd de los Santos by the police has moved even most of the allies of Rodrigo Duterte in the Senate to ask the questions intelligent and concerned Filipinos have been asking for months.

Among the questions some senators are now belatedly asking, long after these were raised by people who sensed early on what was wrong with the Duterte approach to the drug problem, is whether or not it’s a complex social issue that requires a multidimensional response instead of the quick-fix, failed approach of simply killing suspected drug pushers and users. (Thailand took the same path in 2003 by killing some 3,000 alleged addicts and drug dealers within three months, but failed to solve its drug problem. A later investigation found that most of those killed were innocent.)

If the illegal drug trade and addiction is far from the simple problem the simple-minded think it to be, are the killings then effectively addressing the country’s supposedly widespread drug problem? But are the police, empowered by Mr. Duterte’s assurances of immunity from prosecution and in obedience to orders to kill anyone suspected of involvement in the illegal drug trade, murdering people including minors who’re either innocent or who could have been rehabilitated if they were indeed drug users and/or pushers?

With the exception of the Makabayan bloc, the members of the aptly named Lower House have suddenly lost their otherwise strident voices and have been unwontedly silent in the face of this latest police atrocity, perhaps in the hope that public outrage over it will eventually pass because, so says Malacañang, Kian Loyd’s killing is an isolated case.

That claim is misleading and patently false. The truth is that at least 31 minors, including a four-year old and two five-year olds, have been slain in the course of the regime’s anti-drug campaign since 2016.

In an apparent attempt to wash its hands of any responsibility once its drug tests become the basis for the police’s killing more children and young people, even the Department of Education (DepEd), which has ordered mandatory drug testing in both public and private high schools, has condemned the murder of Kian de los Santos and any form of violence against students, and called for an investigation into the killing and for respect for the rule of law.

But leave it to the unrepentant police, the diehard, brain-dead supporters of the regime, and its current and former bureaucrats to continue to justify and condone the killings, the number of which is estimated to be some 7,000, even as their idol and Hitler-admiring Fuhrer pretends to be outraged over the murder by his police henchmen of Kian Loyd.

Resorting to the widely discredited Marcos martial law-era tactic of blaming the victim, the police and their shameless defenders are claiming that Kian was armed, and that he was a runner for his father Zaldy de los Santos, whom they are now slandering as an illegal drug dealer. They’re saying these despite the statements of witnesses and closed-circuit TV evidence that policemen dragged Kian from the family store, beat him up, gave him a gun, told him to fire it and run, and shot him dead.

In addition, former and current bureaucrats for whom supporting any regime no matter how vicious is mandatory for the sake of their self-interests are buying into self-serving police claims to confuse the public. Although one is a public prosecutor, these creatures are conveniently forgetting that even if he were indeed involved in the illegal drug trade, the victim was legally a child, and what’s more, had the right to a fair trial and to be presumed innocent instead of being murdered by what we laughingly call law enforcers.

The presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial are among those rights that often and in so many words Mr. Duterte has roundly dismissed as shields for protecting criminality and whose defenders he has even threatened to kill. From Mr. Duterte have also come assurances to the police that he will protect them from punishment — promising them the impunity that PNP Director General Ronald de la Rosa dismisses as meaningless — as well as instructions to the police to kill, kill, kill even more, to the extent of urging them to plant guns on suspected drug users and pushers so their killing can be justified.

Reacting to the news that 32 people had been killed in Bulacan by the police, Mr. Duterte said it was “fine” and should happen everyday. The Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela) and Manila police obliged by killing 14 and 28, respectively, which when added to the Bulacan toll amounted to 74 in three days.

Let us not forget that while Rodrigo Duterte was mayor of Davao City, children and young people suspected of involvement in petty crimes were also being killed by elements of the Davao Death Squad (DDS), with which Duterte the candidate admitted links during his campaign for the presidency last year. These minors were on the list of targets that the regime has been replicating nationwide. The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) found as early as September, 2016 that over 20,000 minors are in that list as alleged drug pushers, users and runners, which makes them potential victims of State-sponsored murder.

These isles of fear are in the bloody hands of an inhuman regime with Stone Age values whose brutality knows no limits. It’s a regime that by targeting everyone including the young is practically making sure that the future will be bereft of those men and women whose talents, vision and patriotism could make a difference to this country’s and its citizens’ destinies — a regime that’s destroying the very foundations of civil life and the rule of law through its enshrinement of the use of murder and terror as explicit State policy in addressing the most complex social issues.

The regime of unreason and mindless violence has killed thousands and is still threatening to kill more, including the future lodged in the young. What is urgently needed to stop this madness is a united, concerted effort by mass and people’s organizations, sectoral groups, human rights defenders, the Churches, civil society, the media, and every political formation whether Right, Center, or Left that understands the need to arrest the country’s rapid descent into even worse barbarism.

Luis V. Teodoro is on Facebook and Twitter (@luisteodoro). The views expressed in Vantage Point are his own and do not represent the views of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility.

www.luisteodoro.com

Macron gains support in bid to revamp EU’s cheap-labor rules

FRENCH PRESIDENT Emmanuel Macron picked up support in his bid to overhaul European Union rules on cheap labor in the first leg of a diplomatic blitz across the region. Now comes the hard part.

Kicking off the effort in meetings with Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern in Salzburg Wednesday, the 39-year-old French president discussed “detached” or “posted” workers, which typically involve laborers from low-wage eastern European countries being brought to higher-cost ones such as France or Austria to perform tasks that would be more expensive to hire for locally. He may be about to see push-back from Eastern countries whose workers have benefited.

Current practices ultimately drive down wages and social standards, Kern and Macron said. For Macron, that ultimately stokes the populist and anti-EU sentiment that spurred British voters to opt out of the bloc last year and dominated France’s 2017 presidential election.

“The directive as it stands is a betrayal of the fundamental spirit of the European Union,” Macron said at a press conference with Kern. “The objective of the single market is not to favor countries that have the least social rights. We see that this feeds populism and erodes confidence in the EU.”

There are an estimated 300,000 such workers in France and Kern estimates that there are 166,000 in Austria. For employers, the advantages are obvious. The minimum wage in France is about €1,480 ($1,740) a month. In Poland, it’s about €450.

Kern backed Macron’s call to limit each posted worker to one year of work in every two in the host country and increase cooperation to ensure that minimum wage and social charges are applied through cooperation between EU governments.

“What’s at stake there is social fairness in Europe,” he said. “Our concern is, based on evidence, that there’s a risk of undermining wages and social standards in Austria and that’s why we have a big interest to come to a solution quickly.”

The Czech and Slovak governments have also indicated a willingness to tighten the rules. The Czech government is willing to be flexible if other EU countries stop demanding specific quotas for accepting migrants, a diplomat told reporters Tuesday.

Slovakia is ready to strike a compromise if per diem and other payments are included in the calculation of a posted worker’s total compensation. It also asks that truck drivers and other transport workers be dealt with separately.

Macron also met with Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and Slovak Premier Robert Fico on Wednesday. Speaking at a press conference afterwards, both premiers indicated that differences remained but that an agreement on the issue at the EU’s October summit is within reach. Sobotka said that ultimately Europe needs a convergence in living standards, something that Macron himself is calling for.

“What’s important is to continue the convergence of wages and standards of living in Europe,” Sobotka said. “There are huge differences in living standards in Europe. That’s the fundamental problem.”

Notably missing from this leg of Macron’s trip are meetings with the leaders of Poland and Hungary, two governments that he has said fail to respect the EU’s democratic values and which are vehement defenders of the bloc’s single-market rules.

“We’re partners in any negotiations but we’re against and we’ll block any initiative that discriminates against Hungarian workers and which would undermine the four freedoms,” including the free movement of labor, Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said Wednesday. “This idea of social dumping is silly,” he added. “For centuries, eastern European workers have gone west and performed the same work for less.”

The French president may also get more resistance Thursday and Friday as he heads to Romania and Bulgaria, which are also significant sources of cheap labor within the EU’s 28-nation bloc. — Bloomberg

Floyd Mayweather, undefeated and unloved, eyes final payday

LAS VEGAS — Two years after retiring from boxing, Floyd Mayweather climbs back into the ring on Saturday chasing history and one last mammoth payday.

Floyd Mayweather, undefeated and unloved, eyes final payday
Floyd Mayweather, Jr. — REUTERS

The 40-year-old former welterweight champion will become the first boxer in history to post a perfect record of 50-0, if as expected, he proves too strong for Conor McGregor, the mixed martial arts star fighting in his first ever boxing contest.

The 50th bout of Mayweather’s 21-year professional career has been disparaged variously as a freakshow, publicity stunt or simply “bad for boxing.”

Mayweather, who has spent years crafting an image as the fighter that fans love to hate, is not even remotely fazed by the catcalls.

Because not for the first time, the boxer who delights in displaying the trappings of his wealth across social media, will be laughing all the way to the bank.

Mayweather, whose career earnings reportedly topped $700 million following his last bout in 2015, could, according to some estimates, pocket another $200 million this weekend.

It is the latest money-spinning stop on a career that has seen Mayweather go from 1996 Olympics bronze medalist to be regarded as one of the greatest boxers in history.

Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Feb. 4, 1977, Mayweather was destined for the ring.

His father, Floyd Mayweather, Sr., was himself a talented former welterweight who once fought 10 rounds with Sugar Ray Leonard. Floyd Sr. taught his son to box almost as soon as he could walk.

Floyd Sr. was holding his infant son in his arms when he was shot in the leg during a family dispute, an injury that effectively ended his career.

“He was training to be a fighter in the crib,” Mayweather, Sr. said of his son.

Mayweather, who grew up in a cramped apartment with seven relatives, frames his early life as a battle for survival.

NEVER BEEN EASY
“It’s never been easy for me. Boxing is easy but life has never been easy,” Mayweather says.

“I had a father who was a hustler and a mother who was on drugs. I was the man in the house from 16. That’s just the way it was.”

When Mayweather fought at the 1996 Olympics, his father was serving a five-year prison sentence for drug-trafficking.

In Floyd Sr.’s absence, his uncle Roger had taken over the training of the young fighter, overseeing his entry to the professional ranks.

Within two years, the skilful, lightning-fast Mayweather had won his first world title, knocking out the WBC superfeatherweight champion Genaro Hernandez in eight rounds.

Years of domination followed as Mayweather plowed through the divisions up to welterweight.

In 2006, he took the unusual step of buying out his contract with promoter Bob Arum, in order to take greater control of his career.

Since then Mayweather has been able to dictate terms for most of his fights, taking a cut of the back-end profit in exchange for upfront risk.

It means that the dollars have continued to flow in ever-increasing numbers, from $25 million to fight Oscar de La Hoya in 2007 to around $220 million for his 2015 fight against Manny Pacquiao.

But while the dollars have rolled in and the bank balances have swollen, Mayweather has struggled to build up a reserve of public goodwill.

Multiple convictions for domestic violence point to the fighter’s dark side, while in boxing terms he has faced accusations that he ducked his most dangerous opponents, such as Pacquiao, until they were past their peak.

His cagey, cautious style inside the ring, while earning grudging approval from purists, has also frustrated fans hoping to see him take a more aggressive approach.

Mayweather, who insists Saturday’s bout with McGregor will be the last time he ever enters a ring, is unapologetic about the tactics that have guided his career, believing his is a template that many rivals would like to emulate.

“When a person has been so dominant in his era, I think other fighters are going to pay attention,” he told reporters recently.

“The main fighters are going to pay attention because they want to be at my level and they want to do the same thing — they want to dominate with ease.” — AFP

House appropriations panel OK’s P6-B OP budget

IN JUST two minutes, the Office of the President (OP) earned the approval of the House of Representatives’ appropriations committee for its P6-billion proposed budget for 2018. By tradition, the budgets of the Office of the President and the Office of the Vice-President are not scrutinized at the committee level. The proposed budget of the OP is divided thus: Personnel Services – P994.1 million; Maintenance Operating and Other Expense or MOOE – P4.6 billion; Capital Outlay – P370 million. The MOOE includes confidential expenses (P1.25 billion); intelligence expenses (P1.25 billion); and extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses (P19 million). Travel expenses were pegged at P884.9 million. — interaksyon.com

Mark Wahlberg named world’s highest-paid actor in 2017

LOS ANGELES – Mark Wahlberg soared to the top of the world’s highest paid actors on an annual Forbes magazine list that highlighted a huge disparity between male and female Hollywood stars.

Wahlberg, 46, earned an estimated $68 million in 2017 thanks to his pay days for movies Transformers: The Last Knight and Daddy’s Home 2, according to the Forbes ranking released on Tuesday.

“The former may have scored a miserable 15% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and the lowest gross of the franchise to date, but Wahlberg need not worry – fixed compensation means he benefits even when movies don’t do well,” said Forbes.

The rapper-turned-actor knocked 2016 leader Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson into second place, with estimated 2017 earnings of $65 million, after starring in the big screen reboot of lifeguard action-comedy Baywatch and starring in HBO comedy Ballers.

The former wrestler appears in fantasy adventure remake Jumanji in December and Rampage, a monster movie based on the 1980s arcade game, in April next year.

Forbes estimates earnings, before taxes and management fees, from movies, TV, and commercial endorsements.

The Forbes list again highlighted Hollywood’s gender pay gap. Last week, the magazine named La La Land Oscar winner Emma Stone as the world’s highest paid actress with an estimated 2017 take of $26 million.

Forbes said the 10 highest-paid leading men earned a combined $488.5 million before tax in its June 2016-June 2017 scoring period, nearly three times more than the $172.5 million earned by the top 10 scoring women.

Forbes attributed the disparity to the prevalence of superhero and action blockbusters that earn big at the box office for Hollywood studios but tend to have fewer leading roles for women.

Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp, who for years has been among the top five paid actors, did not make the top 20 this year, Forbes said. Depp is currently embroiled in a bitter lawsuit with his former business managers who have detailed what they describe as his lavish spending habits.

Last December, before the May 2017 release of Pirates of the Caribbean; Dead Men Tell No Tales, Forbes named Depp the most overpaid actor for a second straight year as films such as Alice Through the Looking Glass and Mortdecai did not fare well.

Vin Diesel, who co-stars with Johnson in the Fast and Furious franchise, came in third on men’s list with $54.5 million, just ahead of comedy actor Adam Sandler, who made $50.5 million, largely because of a deal with Netflix that allows him to produce his own movies.

Rounding out the top five is Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan, still hugely popular in China, who made $49.5 million over the last 12 months.

Robert Downey, Jr., Tom Cruise and Bollywood kings Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar rounded out the top ten. – Reuters/AFP

UPS eyes bigger market share in Philippines

UNITED PARCEL Service, Inc. (UPS) is targeting to expand its presence in the Philippines, particularly in the key sectors of industrial manufacturing, automotive manufacturing, and retail.

Chris Buono, the new managing director of UPS Philippines, said  focusing on these sectors and employing their target sale strategy for the whole country are part of the logistics giant’s plan to grow its market share in the country.

In a roundtable interview on Thursday, Mr. Buono said UPS wants to offer its services to more small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and provide them with more avenues to grow internationally.

“They are undoubtedly the backbone of this economy,” he said.

The challenge now for SMEs, Mr. Buono said, is to grow digitally and to deliver more quickly to more destinations.

Mr. Buono said the company has deployed tools to help SMEs, such as  its online portal that allows enterprises to adapt the system without harnessing additional technology.

“[Our aim is to] connect local businesses to regional and global supply chains to reach their potential,” he added.

However, Mr. Buono said the whole country is a “growth area” for UPS.

”We have a target sale strategy for the whole country, and Mindanao is a part of that,” he said, adding there are delays in the Mindanao expansion due to the declaration of martial law in the region and the on-going crisis in Marawi.

In 2016, UPS expanded its services to more than 1,600 postal codes across seven major areas, namely Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela [CAMANAVA], Angeles in Pampanga, North Luzon, South Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and Cavite. This was done its partnership with local express, freight and cargo forwarding company Airfreight 2100, Inc.

Last March, UPS expanded its alcohol shipping services, with wine, beer, and spirits (liquor) being delivered to businesses and consumers in 10 destinations in the Asia-Pacific, including the Philippines, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, and others.

This expansion was done to cater more to the business-to-customer type of service, such as restaurants having products shipped directly from winemakers instead of buying from distributors. — Patrizia Paola C. Marcelo

Peso ends at two-week high

THE PESO strengthened versus the greenback yesterday to log its best showing in nearly two weeks, with dollar inflows and negative remarks by US President Donald J. Trump allowing the currency to firm up for the third straight day.

The local unit closed at P51 against the dollar on Thursday, appreciating from its P51.22 finish the previous day. It is also the peso’s best showing since a P50.98-per-dollar close logged on Aug. 11.

The local currency performed stronger versus the greenback throughout the session. It opened at P51.09 to a dollar, already 13 centavos up from Wednesday’s rate. It briefly touch P51.14 as its intraday low and P50.98 as its best showing before settling at the closing rate.

Two traders interviewed yesterday said huge dollar flows for the second straight day pushed the exchange rate lower.

“There are flows coming in. There is a bigger supply of dollars being sold off, and some local banks are heavily buying. We think local banks are preparing for incoming demand sometime early next week or by the start of September,” one trader said in a phone interview.

Financial markets will be closed on Monday due to the National Heroes’ Day, a public holiday in the Philippines. Traders often note stronger corporate demand every month’s end as they settle obligations.

Dollars traded yesterday reached $1.137 billion, rising from the $949.1 million which exchanged hands on Wednesday that was previously attributed to the Japan Tobacco Inc.’s acquisition of local cigarette firm Mighty Corp. The transaction is priced at $936 million or P46.8 billion.

The trader also said that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) likely intervened during yesterday’s session to cap the exchange rate at P51.00.

The central bank sometimes steps in during day-to-day trading to temper any sharp swings of the peso versus the dollar.

A second trader attributed the weaker dollar to overseas developments, which pushed emerging market currencies like the peso to appreciate.

“The political chatter of Trump weakened the dollar overnight, while the euro strengthened after (Mario) Draghi’s remarks,” he said.

He was referring to Mr. Trump’s fresh threats that he is looking to end the NAFTA trade treaty with Mexico and Canada, along with his warning to shut down the federal government just to secure funding to put up a wall along the US-Mexico border.

On Wednesday, European Central Bank president Mario Draghi warned against hasty policy responses, giving no hint on the monetary authority’s next moves.

For today, the first trader said the peso could test a new high and trade within P50.90 to P51.20, while the second trader sees a lower P50.85-P51.15 range.

All eyes are now on the Economic Policy Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming scheduled on Friday (US time) where US Federal Reserve chair Janet L. Yellen and Mr. Draghi are set to speak, as market players look for cues for their next policy moves. — Melissa Luz T. Lopez

8 missing in landslide

ZURICH — Rescue crews are seeking eight people from Germany, Austria and Switzerland who have been missing for more than a day after a landslide struck a remote Swiss valley, police said on Thursday.

Authorities had evacuated around 100 people from the village of Bondo and airlifted hikers from nearby huts in the eastern canton of the Grisons after rocks and mud hit the area early on Wednesday.

Police said they were unable to reach eight people in the area, six of whom had been reported missing by relatives, despite intensified searches by teams including an army helicopter. — Reuters

Different sort of buddy movie

By Angela Dawson
Front Row Features

RYAN REYNOLDS plays the world’s best protection agent who is called upon to guard the life of his mortal enemy, one of the world’s most notorious hitmen (Samuel L. Jackson). As bodyguard Michael Bryce, he and hitman Darius Kincaid are thrown together for 24 hours of high speed adventure and action to make it to an important court hearing. During their travel from England to The Hague, the duo is involved in a number of high-speed car chases, dangerous boat escapades, and tangling with a ruthless Eastern European dictator (Gary Oldman, naturally) who wants them dead. Oscar winner Salma Hayek adds an extra level of madness to the mayhem as Darius’s fiery wife in this action-comedy directed by Patrick Hughes (The Expendables 3) from screenplay by Tom O’Connor (Fire with Fire).

The Canadian born Reynolds (Deadpool), who is married to actress Blake Lively with whom he has two children, recently spoke at a press conference about tackling the action role and co-starring in the buddy comedy with veteran performer Jackson (the Avengers films).

Q: You and Samuel L. Jackson have some great chemistry in this film. What took so long for you to get cast together in a movie?

Reynolds: I can’t speak for (Jackson), but I wouldn’t do this without him, so that was my contingency with the studio. I was like, “If you can get Sam to do it I’ll do it.” We met many, many years ago at a fund-raiser, and then we did an animated movie together (2013’s Turbo), so I knew we’d have this kind of chemistry that would work really well for this.

Q: Both of you are part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Reynolds: I’m in a bastard Fox pig pen, though. They don’t let us play in the real Marvel (world).

Q: This film is slightly reminiscent of the classic action buddy comedy Midnight Run. I wonder if there were any classic buddy action comedies that you had in mind going into this that you were hoping to emulate?

Reynolds: (quips) I’ve loved (2016’s Dwayne Johnson-Kevin Hart action comedy) Central Intelligence since I was a little kid, so for me that was a big one. No. I grew up watching Midnight Run (and) 48 Hours.

Q: You’re in great physical shape in this movie, so you know what works for your body. Has there ever been an exercise regimen or some terrible diet/exercise plan that you would never do again?

Reynolds: I ran a marathon once. That was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done. I was about eight inches shorter by the time I finished. That, I didn’t like. I hate running. I like sprinting, but long distance running is the worst.

Q: You have a very funny scene in the do-it-yourself store. Do you know your way around a Home Depot and have you been in one since that scene?

Reynolds: Oh yeah, I know my way around a Home Depot. I actually like doing stuff myself. I don’t do it as well as I would like, but I’ve built some decks in my life. I started, like a lot of people, where I had other jobs that weren’t in show biz — some light construction, some driving fork lifts — things like that.

Q: Your wife (Blake Lively) is going to be in an action movie soon. Are you teaching her some tricks? Are you training together?

Reynolds: I need not teach her a thing. She’s got plenty of bad *** on her own. She has more bad *** in her little finger than I do in my whole body.

Q: Do you see yourself fighting against her in a movie one day?

Reynolds: (quips) That’s called domestic abuse. No, I don’t think I’ll be going toe to toe with my wife.

Q: Presumably you’ve had bodyguards over the years. Is there anything you’ve incorporated from your own experience into this film? Does Sam have bodyguards?

Reynolds: I refuse to work with a bodyguard unless he can carry me through a concert, in sort of a fetal position. I don’t know about Sam. I’ve never seen one around him. You have them for Comic-Con or (a big event like that), but I wouldn’t go to Chipotle with security. It just attracts more attention.

Q: Do you wish sometimes you had security with you?

Reynolds: (quips) My (11-month-old) daughter kicked me in the face so hard yesterday morning that I really wouldn’t have minded somebody assisting in the bedroom, just watching out for that. I was in a dead sleep and I got an MMA-style roundhouse to the nose. I would call security in a second. I would lock that child up in a jail cell in Alcatraz and throw away the key (and give her) the ultimate time out.

Q: You have great tweets about fatherhood. Do you think about writing a book or writing a script about that?

Reynolds: No. It’s all meant to be tongue in cheek.

Q: How much improvising did you do in this film? Did you have to limit it and keep it within the scope of the movie, or did you go crazy?

Reynolds: There’s nothing worse than working with a guy that starts improvising and just makes it all about him. You sort of lose the whole (expletive) plot. No, (Jackson) is the most professional guy you’ll ever work with. He and I have a pretty good idea when to hit the gas and when to pump the breaks a bit.

Q: Sam has this beautiful line where he says, “Love. What else is there?” It’s a moment of truth in the film. Is that true for you?

Reynolds: Oh man, yeah. I think so. (Jackson’s) got about 30 more years in his marriage than I do, but yeah, all the body parts are still there, that I can see. Love is everything, you know?

Q: How was working with Salma Hayek?

Reynolds: She turned that role into a mountain. She just grabbed it and knew exactly what to do. I would love to see a sequel that’s just (Jackson and Hayek). Just the Kincaids on vacation. Salma and Samuel on some kind of road trip would be great.

Q: Another strong female character in the film is played by French-Cambodian actress Elodie Yung. How was it working with her?

Reynolds: Elodie Yung is a legend in the making. Literally, there is no part of me that thinks, “Oh, let’s give the guys in Hollywood a chance.” That’s played its course all the way through. I love it. I love seeing that.

Q: You don’t mind getting beat up by a girl?

Reynolds: Well, yes. I don’t like getting (beat up) period, but if it’s going to be by someone, it may as well be a girl. That’s fine. I’m surprised Salma isn’t a superhero in the Marvel world. If (Marvel president) Kevin Feige’s reading this…

Q: How would you describe this movie, because it’s hard to define it. Is it an action-comedy, a parody or a little bit of both?

Reynolds: The parody part is important, because it does poke fun at some of the tropes of buddy action movies. It leans in to some of the tropes in a heavy way, and other times we step away from it and deconstruct it and kind of make fun of it. Then other times, it’s just a straight-up buddy action comedy. We’re usurping a lot of expectation with the hitman. With the bodyguard, you look at the Kevin Costner prototype from The Bodyguard. My character is just an emotional moron. He’s literally seven years old when it comes to dealing with real life issues and real people and his relationships, so I have a lot to learn from (Jackson’s character) that I seemingly hate, which is a fun.

Q: The success of Deadpool showed the power of keeping the faith. You had the faith in that version of the character for so long and it paid off in a huge commercial way. Has that changed your decision-making process since you had that success?

Reynolds: No. The thing I’ll say is that Deadpool — that entity and that franchise — is that it has swallowed my life whole. I’ve always been so proud of every aspect of it and I’m so passionate about it, and it’s the privilege of a lifetime to be able to do that. I’m only as good as the people I work with, so to work with these incredible writers and this director and all these people, it’s just been amazing.

Q: You have a much bigger budget for the (2018) sequel, right?

Reynolds: Well, yes and no. We have a little bit more money to spend just because we have more characters to service. We’re introducing Cable and Domino and everything that they do, so there’s a lot to focus on there.

Q: Is it easier or harder to ensure the sequel will hit the target as big as the first one did?

Reynolds: You can’t look at it like that. Our expectations were so minimal for the first one, and they’re not much different for the second. The studio may think, “Oh, we have to make the same amount of money.” For us, we’re just doing what we do, and we’re in the sandbox playing every day and having a ball.

MTRCB RATING: R-16

JICA assessment of Davao infrastructure due October

DAVAO CITY — A team funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is set to present within the next two months its initial report on the gaps of the proposed infrastructure projects in this city.

Carlos P. Garcia Highway in Davao City.
A view of the four-lane bypass road stretching from Daang Maharlika Bunawan section up to the Milan (Buhangin) section of the Carlos P. Garcia Highway in Davao City. The road project is one of the thirteen (13) Bypass Road projects being implemented by DPWH 11 in the city for 2017. — FACEBOOK/@DPWH11

Venetia Lynn M. Sison, a member of the team, said the report will contain the evaluation of the team on the key proposed projects, including those that are set to be implemented.

“We have integrated all the projects that we have come across,” said Ms. Sison, adding that even proposed projects that have been shelved, like the proposed but eventually canceled P39-billion reclamation project of the Mega Harbour Port and Development, Inc.

Mayor Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio canceled the memorandum of agreement that her father, President Rodrigo R. Duterte, signed with Mega Harbour on the last day of his term as mayor.

In assessing the projects, Ken Kumazawa, JICA team leader, said the team focused on key factors like population growth, environmental impact and economic growth.

“We have been trying to take a more comprehensive approach so that part of our recommendation (in the report) will be whether these projects will address those gaps,” he said.

The estimate for the city’s population, Mr. Kumazawa added, is 3.5 million by 2024. “We will look at the impact of the population on these projects, on whether it is advantageous to build them now or later,” he added, pointing out that the projects are those identified by the city government and the National Economic and Development Authority.

Among the projects that are being considered in the assessment is the 23-kilometer bypass road that JICA is helping fund. The Japanese agency and the Philippine government in 2015 signed an agreement for its implementation. Based on the initial agreement, the project is set to be completed by 2021 and will be funded with ¥23.9 billion worth of official development assistance.

Another project being considered in the assessment is the Mindanao Railway System, where the first segment, the Tagum City-Davao City-Digos City stretch, is set to start construction next year.

Ms. Sison explained that, although the initial report has yet to be completed, the team might even recommend not to pursue certain projects. “We have looked at the overall impact of these projects, so it is not far-fetched for us to recommend that some of them may even harm either the environment or the economic growth,” she added.

The report is part of the 15-month Davao City infrastructure development plan and capacity-building project which is set for completion in March. However, Mr. Kumazawa said the team, after its report presentation in October, will come up with a final report based on the inputs that government representatives will provide. — Carmelito Q. Francisco

1...13,76713,76813,769...14,238Page 13,768 of 14,238
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
© 2024 BusinessWorld Publishing.
All rights reserved.
Read our privacy guidelines
Facebook Instagram Linkedin X Youtube