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Lyceum Pirates rout JRU in season debut

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Reporter

THE Lyceum of the Philippines University Pirates further underscored their “dark horse” standing in Season 93 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) yesterday, winning their season opener over the Jose Rizal University (JRU) Heavy Bombers, 96-75.

Had it solid in the preseason that had the entire league noticing, the Pirates trumpeted what they are capable of doing with an impressive win over the Bombers, led by do-it-all forward CJ Perez.

Earlier in the day, the Perpetual Help Altas also won their season opener, beating the College of St. Benilde Blazers, 69-65.

The win was put under protest though as the Altas wore their dark uniforms instead of the designated light ones they should have for said game.

Lyceum raced to a strong start against JRU with Perez and import Mike Harry Nzeusseu anchoring their team’s attack.

The Pirates went on to claim the opening period, 27-18.

JRU, however, would come to life in the second quarter, trimming their deficit to six points, 36-30, at the halfway juncture of the period.

Lyceum halted the Bombers’ push but the latter would not relent in their thrust to keep the game close, 43-37, at the half.

Teytey Teodoro and the Bombers came out aggressive in the third quarter and had the Pirates lead trimmed to 47-43 early on.

But Lyceum countered back with a 16-5 run to build its biggest lead of 15 points, 63-48, with a little over three minutes to go in the period.

The quarter ended with Lyceum on top, 68-54.

Gaining momentum in the preceding canto, the Pirates kept the pressure on the Bombers at the start of the fourth quarter.

They stretched their lead to 27 points, 89-62, with 4:10 remaining in the game and never looked back after in booking the victory.

Perez had a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds to go along with four assists and two steals.

Nzeusseu had 13 points and Jesper Ayaay finished with 11 points and 10 boards for Lyceum.

Jed Mendoza was the high point man for JRU with 18 while Ervin Grospe had 15 and Teodoro 13 points.

“We take this win despite showing lapses on our part on the way to it. You don’t win championships with one game and we have to continue on improving,” said Pirates coach Topex Robinson in the post-game press conference.

Lyceum takes on defending champion San Beda College on Friday while JRU battles Perpetual Help also on that day.

ALTAS OVER BLAZERS
Perpetual Help, meanwhile, banked on a collective effort to fend off a resilient challenge from CSB.

While they led for much of the way, the Las Piñas-based Altas did not have it easy as the Blazers were hot on their trail and kept the game close.

The Altas were severely challenged in the third canto and saw them overtaken by the Blazers.

But Perpetual Help would stand up to the challenge in the closing moments of the payoff period before holding on for its first victory in Season 93.

Gab Danganon led the way for Perpetual Help with 14 points to go along with 10 rebounds.

Genmar Ylagan and Jonathan Yuhico had 12 points each while Prince Eze had 11 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks.

Flash Sadiwa was the other Altas player in double digits with 10 points.

Kendrix Belgica paced CSB with 16 points while guard Matt Johnson had 10.

“We are happy to have come up with a win despite committing a lot of turnovers,” said Altas coach Jimwell Gican.

“I understand that the game was put under protest but I’ll let our ManCom (management committee) handle that,” Mr. Gican added.

As of press time, no decision yet has been handed down by the NCAA regarding the protest.

Perpetual Help next plays on Friday against JRU while CSB also sees action on said day versus the Emilio Aguinaldo College Generals.

Mayweather, Jr. seeks delay on 2015 tax bill

LOS ANGELES — Floyd Mayweather has asked US authorities for more time to pay his 2015 tax bill, the year of his money-spinning mega-fight with Manny Pacquiao, filings showed Monday.

Mayweather, who is coming out of retirement to fight UFC star Conor McGregor next month, has requested he be allowed to settle his 2015 taxes after he is paid for his Aug. 26 bout.

The McGregor fight is expected to net Mayweather a nine-figure payday, boosting career earnings that have already topped $700 million according to one estimate in Forbes magazine.

Although the 40-year-old pocketed a mammoth $220 million for his May 2015 bout with Pacquiao, a filing to the Internal Revenue Service posted by the Law360.com said Mayweather’s assets were mostly “illiquid.” — AFP

Magpily edges 4 in tie-break, tops Shell Active Chess NCR leg

FRANCOIS Marie Magpily kept her poise in the stretch then nipped four others in the tie-break to capture the juniors crown and also the Top Female award in the Shell National Youth Active Chess Championship’s NCR leg held at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall last Sunday.

The No. 6 Magpily, who swept her first five games in impressive fashion, upended fifth seed Earl Mantilla and No. 9 Cedrick Gaddi at resumption then bounced back from an eighth round loss to top seed Julius Gonzales with a final round draw with No. 8 Michael Erese to finish with 7.5 points.

Gonzales, Erese, Carl Ancheta and Joshua Navarro also wound up with 7.5 points but Magpili, playing out of Gen. Pio del Pilar National High School, took the crown on superior tie-break score to become the first female player to win an overall division crown.

Erese, from Arellano University, took the runner-up honors while Gonzales of La Salle Greenhills edged Ancheta and Navarro for third and the last berth in the national finals of the 25th staging of the country’s longest talent-search sponsored by Pilipinas Shell.

Sharing top honors were Cyrus Francisco of San Beda and Far Eastern University (FEU) ace Dale Bernardo, who ruled the kiddies and seniors categories, respectively, of the second leg of the five-stage regional elims sanctioned by the NCFP.

Joining the grand finals are the two other top female players Roilanne Marie Alonzo of La Concepcion College-Bulacan and Ynna Canape of UP, who pooled six points each in the kiddies and seniors divisions, respectively.

The third-ranked Francisco, who scored 4.5 points in the first five rounds, split the point with Srihaan Poddar in the sixth then crushed Jeremiah Cruz and Al-Basher Buto before the San Beda bet halved the point with Chester Reyes to finish tied for first with Reyes and Cedric Abris with 7.5 points.

Francisco took the 7-12 age-group crown with a superior tiebreak score.

Reyes, from Southville-8B NHS, placed second while Abris, from Don Bosco Technical School, settled for the third and last spot in the national finals set Oct. 7-8, also at the SM Mall of Asia.

Bernardo also ended up tied for first with Jeth Morado and Darry Bernardo at 7.5 points but beat his fellow FEU bets for the 17-20 crown via tie-break.

Dale Bernardo, behind by one point to Melwyn Baltazar after five rounds, tripped Kyz Llantada, Kenneth Flores and Baltazar then drew with brother Darry in the final round.

Meanwhile, the third leg will be held Aug. 12-13 in Cagayan de Oro at SM City with Davao hosting the fourth stop on Sept. 2-3, also at SM City, before the elims winds up in Cebu on Sept. 16-17, also at SM City.

Kevin Belingon returns to ONE Championship cage vs Reece McLaren

FOLLOWING a successful ONE Championship foray in his previous fight, Filipino bantamweight fighter Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon returns to the cage next month to take on top division contender Reece “Lightning” McLaren of Australia.

In an announcement made earlier by ONE, Asia’s largest sports media property, Team Lakay stalwart Belingon will be part of the card for “ONE: Quest for Greatness” set for Aug. 18 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The fight event will be headlined by the title fight between ONE featherweight world champion Marat “Cobra” Gafurov of Russia against top contender Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen of Australia.

Mr. Belingon comes into the fight fresh from his impressive opening-round submission of Toni Tauru in “ONE: Kings of Destiny” held here in Manila in April.

It was the second straight victory for Mr. Belingon (15-5) in ONE and hopes to build on it as he tries to make his way back for another shot at the title currently held by Brazilian champion Bibiano Fernandes.

Against Finnish sensation Tauru, 29-year-old Belingon was on top of his game right from the get-go, swarming his opponent with a relentless barrage of attacks coming from different directions.

Despite surrendering some centimeters in height, Mr. Belingon cut down the taller Tauru with his aggressiveness and wasted little time to secure the win in front of the pro-Filipino crowd at the jampacked Mall of Asia Arena.

Mr. Tauru tried his best to keep the distance, but Mr. Belingon launched a furious offensive to close the gap, pounding the Finn with thunderous lefts and rights. In the end, Mr. Tauru had no choice but to bow out of the contest via verbal submission.

The impressive ending to the bout was something that he was angling for and happy and proud to do, said Mr. Belingon.

“In every fight, I always try to finish things. I am always looking for that. If there’s an opening to get the knockout or submission, I will go for that in a split second,” he said after his victory.

ALSO ON A MISSION
Looking to stop the streak of Mr. Belingon while also beginning his bounce back mission after a previous loss is Mr. McLaren (9-4).

The Filipino-Australian nearly came close to completing what five previous fighters were not able to do — strip Mr. Fernandes of his ONE bantamweight belt — by taking the champion to the limit.

In their title fight held here in Manila as well in December last year, Mr. Fernandes retained his title but not after having made to dig deep and overcome a nose injury amid a furious challenge from 25-year-old McLaren.

Both fighters were very evenly matched, with each having their moments over the course of the five-round title tiff.

But the Brazilian would do just enough all told to earn the split decision victory in a grueling affair that could have easily gone the other way.

Mr. McLaren now hopes to get the better of Mr. Belingon and use it as a springboard for another clash date with Mr. Fernandes.

Other fights featured at Quest for Greatness are the lightweight battle of Ev Ting against Nobutatsu Suzuki, welterweight Agilan Thani against Sherif Mohamed, flyweight Gianni Subba versus Riku Shibuya, female strawweight Ann Osman against newly signed ONE fighter May Ooi, strawweight Robin Catalan versus Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke, featherweight Keanu Subba vs. Christian Lee, featherweight Edward Kelly against Emilio Urrutia, and Rene Catalan versus Bu Huo You Ga. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Injury-hit

Give And Go — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

For the last few off seasons the Philadelphia 76ers have the National Basketball Association (NBA)-dom salivating for the immense potential they have after securing potential franchise-changing players in the annual rookie draft.

Let’s see. In 2013, the Sixers got Nerlens Noel (6th) and Michael Carter-Williams (11th) in the draft; in 2014, it was Joel Embiid (3rd) and traded for Dario Saric (12th); in 2015 it was Jahlil Okafor (3rd); last year it was Ben Simmons (1st); and this year Markelle Fultz (1st).

But while said players packed with them much potential, they, however, have not translated to the much-hoped-for success for “The City of Brotherly Love.”

In the last four years, Philly has averaged only 19 wins, including a bottom-scraping 10-win campaign in the 2015-2016 season.

Culprit undeniably is the inability of the Sixers to have the needed gestation for these players to really collectively get their act together, no thanks in large part to injuries that have hit these players, especially in the last couple of years.

Embiid sat out his first two years in the NBA after injuring his knee even before he played his first official league game. He returned midway into last season and showed glimpses of what he is capable of before being shut down for aggravating his injury.

Okafor has had his share of injuries as well while Simmons was sidelined also in what should be his first year in the NBA after breaking his foot in the final training camp scrimmage (!).

Noel also sat out his first year (knee) before having some solid moments in a Sixer uniform upon his return. He was traded last year to the Dallas Mavericks.

Carter-Williams was rookie of the year while with Philly but he did not last long there, being traded to the Milwaukee Bucks after a season and a half.

This season all hopes were high anew after the Sixers drafted first overall Washington player Fultz, who many consider as a good fit to Philly for his solid two-way game.

No sooner after did expectations were tempered after the top overall pick in the 2017 sprained his left ankle in a Summer League game against the Golden State Warriors early this week.

Not a few raised concerns of the injury bug once again attacking the Sixers after, even going far as comparing it to a curse.

But the Sixers management, and Fultz himself, said the injury is nothing serious and he is expected to miss just a couple of weeks, and the rest of the Summer League, and not go the way of Noel, Embiid and Simmons in their first year in the league.

The bit of news coming from the Sixers is certainly a good one if you happened to be a follower of the team, and hopefully the initial prognosis holds.

With the addition of Fultz, this space believes that Philly is all set to take off finally after initial attempts have failed.

Guard Fultz’s good court sense coupled with the all-around play of a healthy Simmons and Embiid and Okafor’s presence down low — provided they stay in top shape, too — are a good foundation for the Sixers to build around.

Philadelphia also added depth to their roster with the acquisitions of veterans JJ Redick and Amir Johnson to join its core along with the likes of Robert Covington, Hollis Thompson, TJ McConnell, Saric and Nik Staukas.

Whether they get to reach the playoffs after long while this season remains to be seen but with the lineup that it has and how teams like the Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers and Atlanta Hawks are on rebuilding mode, I would not be surprised if a healthy and fully functioning Sixers team gets to squeeze itself in the postseason.

At this point, we just have to wait and see how things pan out for Fultz and the rest of the Sixers in the lead-up to the 2016-2017 NBA season. They say in Philly “Trust the Process,” a good catchphrase actually, but maybe it is time for phrases like “Headways Gained,” “Growth Happening,” “No More Trust the Doctors” and “Promised Fulfilled” to be thrown around the team.

Michael Angelo S. Murillo has been a columnist since 2003. He is a BusinessWorld reporter covering the Sports beat.

msmurillo@www.bworldonline.com

Nadal exits

The first day of the second week of Wimbledon saw a shakeup at the top of the men’s draw. It was always possible, of course; defending titleholder Andy Murray came in with a hip problem, World Number Two Novak Djokovic struggled with form and confidence, and third seed Roger Federer competed off a controlled schedule that underscored his advancing age. When the battlesmoke cleared, however, it was two-time champion Rafa Nadal who made an early exit, a surprising development on the heels of a resounding French Open run.

Granted, Nadal and grass don’t exactly mix, hence his so-so slate at the All-England Club in recent memory. Including his Manic Monday defeat, he has had a first-round, two second-round, and two fourth-round departures, not to mention an absence due to injury, since reaching the final in 2011. Then again, this year was supposed to be different; it was supposed to go much, much better given his level of fitness and confidence. The fact that his seeming rejuvenation coincided with Federer’s served only to highlight the possibilities — and, in the end, intensify the disappointment.

To be sure, it didn’t help that Nadal wound up going against Gilles Muller, who, if nothing else, had the distinction of beating him once before in Wimbledon. And perhaps swayed by the memory, however, distant the fellow left hander hit the ground running, claiming the first two sets and putting him on the defensive. He fought back, and gallantly, but after 28 games in the fifth and final set, he was compelled to play the role of the vanquished. His indefatigable countenance was disturbed by an inspired showing, and he ultimately proved unable to take the measure of the only player left in the tournament unpredictable enough to flummox him in the crunch. As he noted in the aftermath, “Probably was not my best match, but, at the same time, I played against a very uncomfortable opponent.”

Up next for Nadal: The United States Open, where he hasn’t done well since going all the way in 2013, but where he figures to forge a third trip to a Grand Slam final in the current season. He has a month and a half to prepare for the challenge. As for getting over the loss? Considering how he remained in the sidelines of Court One to sign autographs, and how he answered queries in the post-mortem with a touch of humor, it’s fair to conclude that he’s already past it. There will be more contests, more marathons, maybe even against Muller once more, and precisely because he’s forging ahead.

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is the Senior Vice-President and General Manager of Basic Energy Corp.

16 dead in US military plane crash in Mississippi

FLORIDA/MILWAUKEE — A US military plane crashed in rural Mississippi on Monday evening killing at least 16 people, a regional emergency management official said.

No official details were immediately available on the circumstances of the crash in northern Mississippi’s LeFlore County, about 100 miles (160 km) north of Jackson, the state capital.

Captain Sarah Burns, a spokeswoman for the Marine Corps, said only that a US Marines KC-130 Hercules transport aircraft had “experienced a mishap,” with news media initially reporting five confirmed deaths.

Several hours later, Fred Randle, LeFlore County director of emergency management, told Reuters that at least 16 people had perished. Mr. Randle gave no further details of the incident.

WSOC-TV in Charlotte reported, citing the Federal Aviation Administration, that the flight originated from Cherry Point, North Carolina, where a Marine Corps air base is located.

FBI spokesman Brett Carr told the New York Times that the agency was sending officials to the scene, but authorities did not believe foul play was involved.

“We’re just trying to offer any type of assistance,” Mr. Carr, a spokesman for the bureau’s Jackson, Mississippi office, told the newspaper. “It could be anything from manpower to evidence response.”

Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant said in a statement on social media site Facebook that the incident was a tragedy, but provided no details.

Images posted online by news organizations showed the crumpled wreckage of a plane engulfed in flames in a field surrounded by tall vegetation, with a large plume of smoke in the sky above.

The aircraft is used for air-to-air refueling, to carry cargo and perform tactical passenger missions. The plane is operated by three crew members and can carry 92 ground troops or 64 paratroopers, according to a description on the US Navy website. — Reuters

UN rights chief urges justice and healing after Mosul liberation

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND — UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein called Tuesday for accountability and dialogue to heal the trauma of Mosul after Iraqi troops retook the country’s second city from the Islamic State (IS) group.

Mr. Zeid demanded that offenders be brought to justice and all violations thoroughly probed, and urged Iraq to join the International Criminal Court.

“The root causes of violence and conflict in Iraq need to be addressed in terms of human rights violations suffered by all communities in the country over several decades. Only then can secure foundations be laid for the lasting peace that the Iraqi people deserve,” Mr. Zeid said.

“(…) Dialogue between communities needs to begin now to try to halt the cycle of violence, and to promote accountability for the crimes against Iraqis.”

Iraqi forces launched their campaign in October. The city was seized by the jihadists during a 2014 offensive that also saw them take control of large parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria.

“The women, children and men of Mosul have lived through hell on earth, enduring a level of depravity and cruelty that is almost beyond words,” Mr. Zeid said.

“ISIL forced tens of thousands of people from their homes in and around the city and used them as human shields, a war crime under international humanitarian law and a violation of the most basic standards of human dignity and morality,” he said.

He said other rights abuses included the sexual slavery of women and girls and the “abduction of 1,636 women and girls, and 1,733 men and boys from the Yezidi community who remain unaccounted for.”

Mr. Zeid also cautioned that although the IS had been ousted, their “fighters can still terrify and kill through bombings and abductions, and people are still being subjected to daily horrors and suffering in remaining ISIL strongholds.” — AFP

Local shares rebound as Wall Street posts gains

THE main index rebounded on Tuesday, tracking US stocks which edged higher overnight, led by gains in technology stocks as investors were optimistic ahead of earnings.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose 0.26% or 20.67 points to close the session at 7,858.14.

The broader all shares index also inched up 0.02% or 1.17 points to 4,714.15 points.

“The PSEi bounced back after a rough start [on Monday], aligning with US equities, which closed mostly higher on Monday with the tech and material sectors rebounding further,” said Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis A. Limlingan in a mobile message.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 5.82 points or 0.03% to end at 21,408.52,; the S&P 500 gained 2.25 points or 0.09% to 2,427.43; and the Nasdaq Composite added 23.31 points or 0.38% to 6,176.39.

Harry G. Liu, president of Summit Securities, Inc., said markets are “basically in technical consolidation,” a period wherein markets do not move beyond the support and resistance levels, which are seen at 7,700 and 8,000 for the PSEi, respectively.

“The longer the consolidation, the more that will be the direction we would take. Right now, it is lackluster, there’s no catalyst to bring it up, no negative big bad news to bring it down. All I can see from the technical point of view: should anything bridge the upper and the lower, definitely a decisive direction will occur,” Mr. Liu said in a phone interview.

Mr. Liu added that local markets will be turning to Wall Street for guidance especially after the semi-annual testimony of Fed Chair Janet L. Yellen before the US Congress scheduled overnight, wherein she is expected to speak on economic conditions and hint on the US central bank’s tightening plans.

Of the sectoral counters, only industrials ended in the red, declining 0.05% or 5.50 points to 11,062.94.

Services increased 0.61% or 10.41 points to 1,694.68; property climbed 0.60% or 22.11 points to 3,653.35; mining and oil expanded 0.30% or 38.68 points to 12,633.31; financials edged 0.10% higher or 2.03 points to 1,970.50; and holding firms inched up 0.03% or 3.08 points to 7,837.52.

Losers outnumbered advancers at 118 to 86, while 50 names were unchanged.

Value turnover climbed to P7.17 billion, slightly higher than the P7.09 billion logged on Monday, as 1.54 billion shares changed hands.

Foreigners turned net sellers anew at P63.60 million, reversing Monday’s net purchases worth P35.50 million in the prior trading day.

Most Southeast Asian stock markets moved sideways on Tuesday in thin trade as investors remained cautious Ms. Yellen’s monetary policy testimony.

Singapore was the biggest decliner in the region, shedding as much as 0.6%. Thai shares fell as much as 0.3% before paring some losses. Indonesian shares slipped to touch a three-week low. Malaysia and Vietnam were largely flat. — J.C. Lim with Reuters

Trump Jr. was told of Russian effort to help father’s presidential campaign — NY Times

NEW YORK — Donald Trump, Jr. was told in an e-mail before meeting a Russian lawyer who he thought had material damaging to Hillary R. Clinton that it was part of a Russian government bid to aid his father’s presidential campaign, the New York Times said on Monday.

Citing three people with knowledge of the e-mail, the paper said publicist Rob Goldstone indicated in the message to US President Donald J. Trump’s eldest son that the Russian government was the source of the potentially damaging information.

Mr. Trump Jr. did not indicate in a statement on Sunday that he had been told the lawyer might be a proxy for the Kremlin.

The e-mail is likely to be of interest to investigators examining whether any Trump associates colluded with the Russian government to sway last year’s election, the Times said.

Mr. Trump Jr. hired a lawyer on Monday to represent him in the Russia-related investigations as prominent Republicans voiced concern about the meeting between the president’s son and a Russian.

Allegations of the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia have cast a shadow over the Republican president’s first months in office and sparked investigations by congressional committees and a federal special counsel, Robert Mueller, into whether Russia interfered in the election and colluded with the Trump campaign.

Moscow denies interfering and Mr. Trump, who became president on Jan. 20, says there was no collusion.

“It’s a very serious development,” Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told MSNBC of the Times report. “It all warrants thorough investigation. Everyone who was in that meeting ought to come before our committee.”

Mr. Trump Jr. hired New York lawyer Alan Futerfas, who specializes in criminal defense and whose clients have included alleged organized crime figures, a Russian computer hacker and white-collar criminals.

“I look forward to assisting Donald Jr. and, quite frankly, there is nothing to all of the media buzz about the June 9th, 2016 meeting,” Mr. Futerfas told Reuters. “That will be proven to be the case.”

Mr. Futerfas would not say when he was retained or whether he played any part in the statements Mr. Trump Jr. made during the weekend about his June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York with a Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, during the presidential election campaign.

Mr. Trump Jr. said he agreed to meet Ms. Veselnitskaya, described by the New York Times as having links to the Kremlin, after being promised damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary R. Clinton.

Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Mr. Trump’s then-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, also attended, the Times said. It called the encounter the first confirmed private meeting of members of Donald J. Trump’s inner circle with a Russian national during the campaign.

A Republican member of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, Susan Collins, called on Mr. Trump Jr. to testify before the panel, which is looking into accusations of Russian meddling in the election.

“Our intelligence committee needs to interview him and others who attended the meeting,” she told reporters at the US Capitol.

Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the intelligence panel, said it “absolutely” wanted to speak to Mr. Trump Jr. about the meeting. Mr. Warner said he and the Republican committee chairman, Richard Burr, would decide later whether to ask Mr. Trump Jr. to testify in public or in a classified setting.

Mr. Burr would not say if the committee would talk to Mr. Trump Jr., but he told reporters the panel would look into the purpose of the meeting, who set it up and how the process unfolded before making a decision on who to interview.

“The committee will see everybody we think has value,” Mr. Burr said.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said there was nothing inappropriate about the meeting with lawyer Ms. Veselnitskaya. “Don Junior took a very short meeting from which there was absolutely no follow-up,” Ms. Sanders told reporters.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday the Kremlin did not know the identity of the Russian lawyer.

“No, we don’t know who it is and, certainly, we cannot track down all movements of all Russian lawyers both within Russia and abroad,” Mr. Peskov said.

Mr. Goldstone said he arranged the meeting at the request of singer and businessman Emin Agalarov, a Moscow-based client of his. He told Mr. Trump Jr. the meeting was with a Russian lawyer who apparently claimed to have information regarding illegal campaign contributions to the Democratic National Committee. — Reuters

7 suspected Maute members stopped at NAIA

By Kristine Joy V. Patag
Reporter

SEVEN SUSPECTED members of the Islamic State-backed Maute terrorist group were barred from their flight to Kuala Lumpur by immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on Monday, July 10.

Citing reports from the Bureau of Immigration (BI), Justice Undersecretary Erickson H. Balmes said in a text message that the seven suspected Maute members were investigated by the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) at the NAIA Terminal 3.

The seven were identified as Mawiyag Ibrahim Cota, Acmali A. Mawiyag, Abdulcahar Racman Maute, Alnizar Palawan Maute, Abdulrahman Maute, Yasser Dumaraya Maute, Ashary Palawan Maute.

They were supposed to board a flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, via Cebu Pacific when they were stopped by immigration officers from boarding.

But Mr. Balmes in a later text message said three of the intercepted passengers were released “after determining that there is no derogatory record against their name.” They were Messrs. Cota, Mawiyag and Abdulcahar Racman Maute.

Meanwhile, the other four will be turned over to the Philippine National Police and National Bureau of Investigation “for further investigation and verification on their identity,” Mr. Balmes added.

Following President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s declaration of martial law and suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus over the island of Mindanao, government authorities have arrested suspected members of the terrorist group, including Cayamora and Ominta Maute, the parents of the Maute brothers said to be leading the siege in Marawi City.

Of the siblings, Mohammad Noaim Maute was nabbed at a checkpoint in Cagayan de Oro city last June. Omarkhayam Maute has been reportedly killed in the course of the clashes, but this has not been confirmed. His brother Abdullah is believed to be still leading the siege.

Ominta Maute’s alleged replacement as logistical supporter of the Maute group, her niece Monaliza “Monay” Romato, was also arrested early this month.

Under the 1987 Constitution, the government has three days, from arrest, to file appropriate charges against the detained before a local court.

PET holds preliminary conference on electoral protests of Marcos, Robredo

THE SUPREME Court (SC), sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), holds a preliminary conference today on the electoral protest filed by former Senator Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr,. and counter-electoral protest by Vice-President Maria Leonor G. Robredo.

The case stemmed from Mr. Marcos’s protest after losing in the vice-presidential race by a slim margin of about 260,000 votes to Ms. Robredo after leading by almost a million votes early on election day, 2016.

Mr. Marcos raised three issues before the Tribunal: “the ‘flawed’ Automated Election System (AES), the failure of elections in several provinces in Mindanao, and the unauthorized introduction by Smartmatic’s Marlon Garcia of a new hash code (or a new script/program) into the Transparency Server on the day of the elections.”

The first part of Mr. Marcos’s protest centered on the “demonstrated capability” of the vote-counting machines (VCMs).

He identified Ms. Robredo’s home province of Camarines Sur, as well as Iloilo and Negros Oriental provinces as his camp’s pilot provinces they wish to be subjected to a manual recount.

He likewise asked the PET to designate three hearing officers, one each to hear on a specific issue he raised to the Tribunal.

Ms. Robredo, for her part, identified Capiz, Sulu, and North Cotabato as pilot provinces. Her camp listed 670 witnesses to attest to the merits of her counter-protest. Some of their witnesses are non-registered voters whose votes were counted in contested provinces.

Both camps were ordered by the Tribunal to pay, in two tranches, for the resolution of their protests. The PET, on March 21, ordered Mr. Marcos to pay P66,223,000, and Ms. Robredo to pay P15,439,000.

Mr. Marcos paid the first tranche of P36 million on April 17, claimed that his supporters pooled the money for the payment. In a statement ear on Monday, Mr. Marcos said he will join an overnight vigil by his supporters.

Ms. Robredo, for her part, paid P8 million on May 2. She said the amount she produced was loaned by relatives.

Both camps are expected to pay the second tranche of the election bond on Friday, July 14. — Kristine Joy V. Patag

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