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Tropical storm Fabian not expected to bring heavy rains 

TROPICAL STORM Fabian, located northeast of Luzon in northern Philippines, is seen to strengthen into a severe tropical storm category but not expected to bring heavy rains as it stays away from the country’s landmass, weather bureau PAGASA said on Sunday.

However, Fabian and a low pressure area west of Basco, Batanes are enhancing the southwest monsoon, causing rains in some areas until Monday.   

“Palawan, Occidental Mindoro, Zambales, and Bataan will experience monsoon rains in the next 24 hours,” the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said in its 11 a.m. bulletin on Sunday.

As of 10 a.m., the tropical storm was located 1,100 kilometers (kms) northeast of extreme northern Luzon.

It was moving in a northwest direction, with maximum sustained winds of 65 kms per hour near the center, gustiness of up to 80 kms/h, and packing winds of up to 400 kms from the center.

“Fabian will remain far from the Philippine landmass throughout the forecast period. The tropical cyclone is forecast to move north northwestward and will exit the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Monday evening or Tuesday morning,” PAGASA said.

It said the forecast scenario indicates an unlikely hoisting of typhoon signals in any part of the country.

“Further intensification is expected for the remainder of the forecast period, with Fabian reaching severe tropical storm category by tomorrow afternoon. It is likely to reach typhoon category by Tuesday,” PAGASA said.

SC upholds condonation of admin charge vs Caloocan mayor over pork barrel fund, but not the criminal complaint

PHILSTAR

THE SUPREME Court (SC) has affirmed the 2016 decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) dismissing the administrative case against Caloocan City Mayor Oscar G. Malapitan over the questionable use of P8 million of his discretionary funds when he was a congressman.

In its decision promulgated on April 28 and published on July 15, the Supreme Court agreed with the CA that “since the act constituting the administrative offense was allegedly committed in 2009, and (Mr. Malapitan) was reelected in 2010, the condonation doctrine would still apply.”

The case involved P8 million in the 2009 Priority Development Assistance Fund, also known as the pork barrel, which used to be distributed to members of the House of Representatives. Mr. Malapitan served the maximum three three-year terms as Caloocan representative from 2004 to 2013.

In 2015, the Office of the Ombudsman filed a criminal complaint for graft and corruption against Mr. Malapitan and six officials of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, including then secretary Esperanza I. Cabral for approving the use of the congressman’s pork barrel fund for the programs of the Kaloocan Assistance Council, Inc.

The Ombudsman later added the administrative charge for “grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of service” against Mr. Malapitan.

The CA dismissed the administrative charge, citing the condonation doctrine. The Ombudsman then brought the case before the high court.

The Supreme Court previously explained that the condonation doctrine provides that a public official cannot be removed from his current position “for an administrative misconduct committed during a prior term, since his re-election to office operates as a condonation of his past misconduct.”

The High Court abandoned the doctrine on April 12, 2016 when it decided that the doctrine violates the 1987 Constitution, which states that “public office is a public trust” and so elected local officials should still be administratively liable for misconduct during a prior term even if they are elected to a new term or to another elective post.

However, this applies only to administrative charges.

As such, the Supreme Court said Mr. Malapitan is “absolved only of administrative liability based on the condonation doctrine,” and that it does not make any pronouncement on the criminal complaint against him.

Mr. Malapitan became mayor in 2013 and is currently serving his third and last consecutive term allowed under the Constitution. — Bianca Angelica D. Añago 

Gov’t spreads repatriation flights to regional airports with Laoag, Davao among landing points

THE LAOAG International Airport in northern Luzon, which reopened only last month, received its second repatriation flight on July 10 as the government spreads the arrival point of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

“A month after it resumed its flight operations, Laoag International Airport   welcomed another repatriation flight via Philippine Airlines (PAL) Flight PR526 on 10 July 2021 at Gabu Norte, Laoag City, Ilocos Norte,” the Bureau of Customs reported on Sunday.

The flights carried 119 workers from Kuala Lumpur, who were “among those hundreds of thousands of Filipinos who were stranded since the start of the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic last 15 March 2020,” the bureau said.

The first repatriation flight to Laoag landed on June 12 and a third is tentatively scheduled on July 24.

The Davao International Airport in the country’s south has also been receiving repatriation flights, considered as special chartered services.

Among the passengers were seafarers from Fiji and workers from Bangladesh. Another flight was expected to arrive on July 18 with workers from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

The organizers of these flights — various government agencies, local government, and private airlines and hotels — have set up a bubble arrangement for passengers to ensure the implementation of quarantine protocols and avoid triggering local transmissions in case someone is carrying the coronavirus.

The number of inbound passengers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, the country’s main gateway, is limited to 2,000 per day as part of the government’s response measures on the pandemic.

More than half a million overseas Filipino workers have been repatriated by the government since the start of the pandemic. — MSJ

GenSan gateway

@LGU-GENSAN

THE RENOVATION and expansion of the General Santos (GenSan) City airport is almost done, the local government announced last week, and a formal launch is expected by August. “According to airport officials, the rehabilitation is 96% complete and is scheduled to be inaugurated next month,” the city government said. The airport in GenSan, known as the Tuna Capital of the Philippines, serves as the main gateway in the Soccsksargen Region, composed of the provinces of South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, and the city.

The One Grid Philippines and rooftop-mounted solar PV power

BW FILE PHOTO

One of the things one could be thankful for throughout the trying COVID-19-quarantine period (before June 1, 2021, 2 p.m., Tuesday) was that basic services — electricity and water — have flowed without interruption making working from home (WFH) and quarantining more bearable. Having also recently installed an entry level 2.3-kw rooftop solar PV installation, I was not conscience-stricken when running my air-conditioning unit during the day. My electricity use is small enough so I am actually contributing power to the grid through the net metering scheme on particularly sunny and sweltering days. One could work in relative comfort without the oppressive three-hour commutes.

Then at 2 p.m., June 1, the unexpected happened: no lights, no TV, no internet, no recharge for batteries. It turns out that rooftop solar PV panels will not supply electricity to the house under a net metering arrangement when the grid is down. You need battery storage and some extra work which would have doubled the cost of the installation and which I could not afford. When soon after the rains began to fall, I thought the power shortfall episode was over for 2021. But the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) raised the yellow alert again on July 13. Power alerts are now happening during the rainy season.

And so, the ritual of blame and finger pointing started again! Congress blames the Department of Energy (DoE) for promising no brownouts during an April 27, 2021 hearing; the DoE blames the grid operator NGCP for not procuring only 50% of Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) mandate ancillary power supply resorting instead to cheaper non-firm ancillary supply (AS) contracts. The DoE also blamed some power generators for going on extended or unplanned shutdowns despite the prohibition of the same during summer months. Others blame the ERC for not coming down hard on the NGCP for the known shortfall in procurement of AS. Others blamed the general state of power generation’s dependence on aging coal power plants and why replacement facilities haven’t come on stream. Nuclear power generation has been in the planning board of Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi’s DoE from the start, a good clean alternative, but it is taking too long for us to iron out the kinks. If we are to see the back of this repeat refrain in 2022, we will need some decisive actions on quicker remedies.

In April 2020, in the midst of a yellow alert, I wrote “Embracing the Light” (https://www.bworldonline.com) where I batted for the faster adoption of solar PV installations mounted on idle rooftops of large business establishments. Solar PV installations have now become a very attractive investment, what with technical advances and scale production. But the advantages escalate when these are mounted on idle rooftops: no NIMBY, drastically reduced license requirements, no transmission cost, and no universal and other fixed cost charges that together constitute about 50% of the monthly bill of power flowing through the grid. The cost savings per kWh can be considerable.

During the day, these installations act like the Interrupted Load Program where large establishments start firing their backup generators and stop drawing from the grid to shave off the peak of power demand upon prompting by the grid operator. The big difference is that these installations shave off peak demand permanently during daytime. Greater resilience is accorded when rooftop mounted solar PVs are twinned with battery storage to boost grid power in case of spikes in demand after sundown. Rooftop mounted solar PV installations take very little to time to put up and power could be flowing within a few months after the decision to install. Firms could also start small and scale up as needed since by its very nature solar PV technology is modular. Rooftop-mounted solar PV projects can now hold their own from the bottomline viewpoint alone, especially on levelized cost standard.

To pump prime adoption, perhaps Congress should consider a law mandating a contingent tax for idle rooftops: large idle rooftops owned by large corporations will be meted a tax which automatically goes away after, say, 15% of the idle rooftop is solarized. Let large corporations earn part of the 5% reduction in corporate tax which private corporations now enjoy under CREATE (Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act). Meanwhile, technology-promoting government agencies such as the Department of Science and Technology, the National Economic and Development Authority, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the University of the Philippines, the Department of Trade and Industry, state universities and colleges, and the Department of Education should lead the rooftop solarization initiative and become part of the solution to power shortage.

The Philippines is a small and fragmented power market with a patchwork of island power grids weakly connected to each other. What we should have instead is a robust “One Grid Philippines” that can comfortably conduct power from one island market to another. This will reduce the risk of a power shortfall in individual islands. The Mindanao grid is all on its own. Negros Island is a power surplus island (with a preponderance of renewables solar, geothermal, and biofuel) but its capacity to export to Cebu and Luzon is limited by the 180-megawatt capacity of the submarine cables connecting the island chain (now reduced to 90 megawatts due to damage by Department of Public Works and Highways dredging). So, while we have power alerts in Luzon, we may have excess power and even power curtailments in Negros and Mindanao.

The power forecast for June 1-7, 2021 was an operating margin of 4.5% for Luzon (danger, the alert trigger being 4%), 13.4% in the Visayas (comfortable), and 36.7% in Mindanao (very comfortable due to abundant hydropower with rains). Visayas and Mindanao, at a 10% operating margin could have exported a combined 400MW to Luzon had the submarine cables been adequate. That would have helped ease the Luzon power problem.

The One Grid Philippines is one hope that can avert power alerts in Luzon and Metro Manila in summer 2022 and beyond. The NGCP promised to deliver by November 2020 the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP), a 450-megawatt capacity fiber optic submarine cable linking Dapitan City in Zamboanga del Norte to Santander in Cebu Province. Power surplus in Mindanao can now be exported to Cebu and Luzon and vice versa. This will also reduce the temptation to game the system for higher electricity prices by the generators in one market as well as reduce curtailment cost to the system.

But the November 2020 start of operation of MVIP was delayed by reported cable damage the cause of which remains unknown. A sinister angle is whether the report was “fake news” to win a reprieve from contract deadlines. One thing is clear, if it came through as planned, the red alert and manual load interruptions in Metro Manila and environs may have been shortened or even altogether averted. Damage or no, power through MVIP and the Negros-Cebu connection should not take another year and a half to start flowing. Otherwise, suspicions of hanky-panky will resurge.

 

Raul V. Fabella is an Honorary Professor of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), a member of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and a retired professor of the University of the Philippines. He gets his dopamine fix from hitting tennis balls with wife Teena and bicycling.

PISA, TIMSS, and quality education

BW FILE PHOTO

PISA is not the leaning tower, but rather it stands for Program for International Student Assessment. TIMSS stands for Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. In the 1999 TIMSS involving second-year high school pupils, the Philippines landed in 36th place in both Math and Science out of the 38 countries that participated in the assessment test. In the 2003 TIMSS, we again landed among the lowest in both Math (34th of 38 countries) and Science (43rd of 46 countries). In 2008, we ventured to participate in the TIMSS and ended last among 10 countries for both Advanced Math and Science.

Being last or among the lowest in international large-scale assessments is not something new to us. These embarrassing results must have been the reason why the country opted out of TIMSS. It took a bit of time to rejoin TIMSS and other international assessments with a clear policy directive issued early on by the current Department of Education (DepEd). That was a daring move that merits recognition for having stepped forward to say that education quality is the biggest challenge, which in fact has been plaguing the system for decades.

The results came one after the other, starting with PISA, and we feasted on the outcome. While some looked beneath the surface to understand the results, others mocked the system for producing the “mythical 80% poor learners.” It is as if we suddenly discovered that alas, education is in crisis! The DepEd has remained unfazed despite all the criticisms for the dismal performance of our students.

There is value-added in participating in international large-scale assessments to complement our own national assessments and to locate our students against established global benchmarks. Surfacing the anticipated (poor) results guides us and compels us to do the reforms. Looking at TIMSS 1999 and PISA 2018, a span of two decades, we become aware that the problem of achieving quality education is chronic and cannot be addressed overnight.

Notwithstanding the good intentions and efforts of successive DepEd Secretaries since 1999, education quality must have stagnated through the years. Pointing fingers at anyone does not help. The DepEd would rather have all hands on deck to collectively work out solutions. It has, in fact, invited a broad range of stakeholders to look at its reform agenda towards enhancing teacher quality, improving the learning environment, reviewing the K-12 curriculum, and promoting stakeholders’ collaboration. These are good points to build on, or even to pound on.

When I first read the 1999 TIMSS report, I noted that the country’s per capita spending level on education was the lowest or among the lowest of the countries that took part in that exam. If I remember right, Thailand then was spending about six times our spending level; Malaysia, even more; not to mention Singapore which always topped these learning assessments.

In my simplistic mind, I argued that if we were to spend at the same level as Thailand — that was then equivalent to what we were spending for Philippine Science High School students — then easily our science students would probably land among the top raters. In one forum many years back where I empathically argued about this proposition, the well-known education economist, Dr. Edita Tan, stood up to tell me that I got that wrong. She said that it would take more than financing to address the quality issue. And henceforth, I believed her.

Identifying and addressing the barriers to access to education may be easier and more straightforward to do. But understanding the science behind quality education is much more complicated.

For one, present schooling has to compete with attractive activities that technology has made accessible to children like online gaming and virtual dating. During my time, we skipped classes to play billiards, try our luck with pinball machines, and watch movies in Cubao or in the more exciting ones along Recto and Avenida Rizal. One challenge, therefore, is how to make schooling interesting, inspiring, and encouraging, more caring and collaborative, less punitive.

Unpacking quality may not be as simple as running a multiple regression and identifying the most significant variables. Yes, a bit of data science will certainly help, plus a good feel of the ground. And touching base with learners and education stakeholders can go a long way to understand the metrics behind quality.

It will still be a long way to go, but we are not starting from scratch. Those with beautiful minds, those who have done their homework, can learn from a plethora of studies, some written as far back as the American colonial period like the 1925 Monroe Commission study on the effectiveness of Philippine education.

Perhaps what we need is less of inquiry, for we have already identified what the binding constraint is, but more bold and decisive actions to move quality of education forward.

 

Rene R. Raya is the lead policy analyst of the Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education, Vice-Chairperson of the Center for Migrant Advocacy, Co-Convenor of Social Watch, and Trustee of Action for Economic Reforms. He has also served as independent consultant to various United Nations agencies and international organizations.

Why Dutertenomics weakened the economy

PCOO.GOV.PH

The economic story of the Philippines under the administration of President Rodrigo R. Duterte has been a tragedy. After being heralded by the international community as Asia’s most promising economy in 2015, the Philippines has become its sick man all over again. This is validated by our decline in most economic and social development indices in the last four years. Following our peak in 2015, 2016, and 2017, the Philippines dropped in economic competitiveness, economic freedom, corruption perception, justice and rule of law, gender equality, press freedom, and more.

But what is most alarming is the deterioration of the country’s finances. Note, the deterioration began even before the pandemic, only to worsen to “concerning levels” after government imposed the world’s longest, most restrictive lockdown.

Our problems start with gaping balance of trade deficits and declining foreign direct investments.

Our balance of trade, or the difference between exported goods and imported goods, was at only -$15.92 billion (deficit) in 2015. The deficit has grown to a whopping $50.02 billion in 2018, tapering slightly to $41.98 billion in 2019 and $21.84 in 2020. The decline in 2020 was due to the overall slowdown of trade following the contagion. The 2019 trade deficit represented 11.61% of GDP.

Trade deficits ballooned during the Duterte administration as imports expanded by an average of 14% from 2016 to 2019 while exports could only muster a 5% average growth rate. Although a good portion of imports were attributed to materials used for infrastructure projects, it was exacerbated by the massive importations of consumer goods.

The Duterte administration allowed the economy to become increasingly dependent on imports for practically all our needs, including basic food, consumer goods, and construction materials. This was done without giving due protection or support to local industries. This resulted in the successive demise of many of our industries including aquaculture and fisheries, leather goods, garments, jewelry, wood products, creative industries, and more.

The growth of the manufacturing sector has decelerated from a high of 8% in 2017 to only 5.10% in 2018 and 3.2% in 2019. The manufacturing sector lost its momentum due to our inhospitable business conditions and a lackluster commitment to the Manufacturing Resurgence Program initiated in 2013.

In fact, some 72.5% of the economy is now consumer driven, while the balance is attributed to production. This is a cause for concern. To be a balanced economy, consumption must comprise 60% of the economy at most.

So why can’t the growth of exports keep up with the growth of our imports? Apart from the relative failure to nurture local industries to be competitive enough to export, the Philippines has also been hard-pressed to attract foreign direct investments (FDIs). As we all know, FDI’s have a direct correlation to our capacity to export. Following our peak in 2017 when we attracted $10.26 billion worth of FDIs, foreign investments declined to $9.95 billion in 2018, $8.70 billion in 2019 and $6.4 billion in 2020. Mind you, our FDIs are about half of what Vietnam realizes.

There are many reasons why we lag in FDIs. Among the principal reasons is the negative list of industries where foreign participation is prohibited by the constitution, (un)ease in doing business, gaps in our supply chain, corruption in government, policy instability, the weak rule of law, uncompetitive fiscal incentives and the dearth of outward investment missions to woo foreign investors. Worsening matters is President Duterte’s animosity towards the west which dissuaded many American, European, Japanese, and Australian investors from setting up shop in the country.

The President’s pivot to China failed to attract Chinese FDIs as he had hoped. Neither did it yield the same official development assistance (ODA) as was given to Indonesia. In short, we got a pittance in return for being China’s obedient lap dog. The pivot was a policy disaster inflicted on us all without a cost-benefit analysis.

The economic policy of the Duterte administration relied on government spending to fuel consumption and drive the economy… not on investments, production, and exports. As a result, we have become an economy propelled by spending, not by production. This is the crux of the problem.

Government’s spending spree is reflected in the country’s budget deficit. A budget deficit occurs when government expenditures surpass its revenues in a fiscal year. Although government has been successful in raising revenues through taxes and other non-tax revenues from 15.2% of GDP in 2015 to 16.9% in 2020, its spending accelerated much faster. Hence, the budget deficit grew from only 0.9% of GDP in 2015 to 3.4% in 2019. It fell of the cliff in 2020 as the deficit reached 7.5%.

With gaping trade deficits and a dearth of FDIs, how does government stay afloat given its high level of spending?

As usual, the dollar inflows from OFW remittances and service exports (IT-BPO industry) save us from financial ruin. Between 2016 and 2020, OFW remittances pumped-in an average of $32 billion a year while our service exports contributed an average of $36.5 billion a year.

Have OFW remittances and service exports been enough to cover our deficits? No. There is a still a gap and it is funded by debt.

In 2016, the country’s debts (foreign and local) stood at some $118.35 billion, representing 42.2% of GDP. It was a manageable ratio considering the size of our economy. However, debt levels swelled to more than $177.21 billion by the end of 2020 which is about 58% of GDP (considering the economy contracted by 9.5%). By the end of the first quarter of 2021, the country’s debt to GDP ratio increased further to 60.4% of GDP. This is already above manageable levels, according to our multilateral lenders and credit-rating agencies. Making matters worse is that government is set to borrow an additional $60 billion this year to cover its budget gap. This means the country will end the year with a debt load of some $237 billion.

Come 2022, the incoming administration will face a myriad of problems that includes a widening budget deficit and bloated debt levels. If this is not resolved, government will have no choice but to cut spending across the board. This will lead to slower economic expansion, less infrastructure spending, and poorer public services. The other alternative is to sink deeper into debt or depreciate the currency.

The next administration will have to work double time to balance the budget and fix the economy. It will have to raise revenues by way of attracting FDIs, quickly. It will have to maximize export revenues by activating low hanging fruit (e.g., mining industries). It will have to recoup lost revenues from tourism.

For the medium to long term, there is no escaping the need to develop our manufacturing sector and aggressively pursue our manufacturing resurgence program. We will have to climb the value chain to produce more sophisticated goods and render more complex services. We will have to re-calibrate the economy from being inordinately consumption driven to one balanced between consumption and production. We will have to diversify the products in which the Philippines can competently produce from approximately 500 products today to 2,000 products (the Asian average). We will need to migrate the millions of low-income workers in the agricultural sector (25% of workforce), and low wage workers (23% of workforce) to higher paying jobs in the manufacturing or technical services sector.

There is a lot of work to do to fix our broken economy.

 

Andrew J. Masigan is an economist

andrew_rs6@yahoo.com

Facebook@AndrewJ. Masigan

Twitter @aj_masigan

Bucks a win away from NBA crown

Timely swipe
PHOENIX Suns guard Devin Booker (1) and Milwaukee Bucks guard Jrue Holiday (21) battle for the ball in the second half. — REUTERS

THE surging Milwaukee Bucks took control of the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals with a 123-119 victory over the host Phoenix Suns on Saturday to move a win away from ending one lengthy championship drought and extending another.

After dropping the first two games of the series, the Bucks have roared back to life and after hanging on in a wild Game Five finish, now lead the best-of-seven NBA Finals (3-2).

Milwaukee are now one win away from clinching their first NBA championship in 50 years, while Phoenix remain two wins away from their first title in the team’s 53-year existence.

The Suns were trailing by a point with 20 seconds left when Milwaukee guard Jrue Holiday ripped the ball from Devin Booker’s hands and sent an alley-oop pass to Giannis Antetokounmpo for a dunk that sealed the Bucks’ win.

“One more to go. One more to go,” Antetokounmpo said during a televised on-court interview. “We’ve got to keep playing good basketball.”

Antetokounmpo, whose brother and team mate Thanasis was ruled out of the game due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols, had a team-high 32 points but he missed a number of late free throws that left the door open for Phoenix. No details were given on Thanasis’s circumstances.

Booker scored a game-high 40 points for a Suns team that led by 16 points after the first quarter before the Bucks clawed their way back and withstood a late Phoenix charge.

“We came out and did what we intended to do, get off to a great start and we let it go,” said Booker. “They stayed resilient and they kept playing through. So, tough loss for us.”

Phoenix initially looked like a completely different team than the one that just lost two road games, making a fast start in front of a raucous crowd that included four-times NBA champion LeBron James. The Suns led 37-21 after the first quarter.

But the Bucks responded in stellar fashion in a lopsided second quarter. Powered by Holiday, they scored 43 points to claw back and take a 64-61 lead into the half.

The Bucks did not take their foot off the gas and it was two-times league MVP Antetokounmpo who overcame his sluggish start to put Milwaukee ahead 100-90 going into what proved to be a wild fourth quarter.

Teams that win Game Five of an NBA finals that was tied 2-2 have gone on to win 72% of the time.

The Bucks host Game Six on Tuesday (Wednesday, Manila time). A deciding seventh game, if necessary, would be in Phoenix on Thursday (Friday).

“Going home to our fans, going home to Milwaukee is a great opportunity for us,” said Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer.

“But you have to go out and play. It’s at this point, you could feel it tonight, the high-level basketball on both sides of it. It’s going to be the same in Game Six.” — Reuters

Bolts improve to 2-0 in Philippine Cup with victory over San Miguel

THE Meralco Bolts improved to 2-0 in the PBA Philippine Cup after defeating the San Miguel Beermen, 93-87, on Sunday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City. — PBA IMAGES

THE Meralco Bolts improved to 2-0 in the (Philippine Basketball Association) PBA Philippine Cup after defeating the San Miguel Beermen, 93-87, in the opening game on Sunday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.

Meralco used a strong third-quarter push to create a separation from the Beermen from which the latter could not recover from.

San Miguel started the contest strong, racing to an early 9-2 lead in the first four minutes.

The Bolts, however, managed to charge back in the next six seven minutes, coming within a point, 19-18.

The Beermen created some distance anew for the rest of the period to hold a 25-18 advantage.

In the second quarter, the jostling continued with the teams fighting to a 37-all count at the 3:45 mark of the period before Meralco went on to outscore San Miguel, 5-4, to take a 42-41 advantage at the half time break.

The Bolts picked up where they left off to start the third canto, connecting on back-to-back triples, care of Nards Pinto and Mac Belo, to raise their lead to six points, 48-42, in the opening two minutes.

They get to sustain the spirited start, extending their lead to 15 points, 74-59, heading into the fourth period.

In the payoff quarter, sensing the game was slipping away from them, the Beermen came out with more fire.

Led by Terrence Romeo, San Miguel cut its deficit to just six points, 77-71, with 9:12 to play.

Unfortunately for the Beermen, less than a minute later Mr. Romeo would suffer what was feared to be an MCL injury.

Thereafter, Aaron Black helped give Meralco more cushion with back-to-back three-pointers for an 85-77 advantage at the 3:47 mark.

San Miguel still tried to claw its way back but could only come the nearest at five points, 88-83, with a minute to play.

Chris Newsome paced the Bolts in the win with 17 points to go along with six assists. Mr. Black, named best player of the game after, meanwhile, wound up with 14 points, going 3-of-5 from beyond the arc.

Reynel Hugnatan had 13 points for Meralco.

“We did not have a good start but by the second half, we got to play our game better and our conditioning gave us an advantage to pull away,” said Meralco coach Norman Black after their win.

San Miguel, meanwhile, was led by Mr. Romeo with 18 points before he got hurt. CJ Perez and Mo Tautuaa had 17 each.

Six-time Philippine Basketball Association most valuable player June Mar Fajardo returned from injury for the Beermen, finishing with five points and five rebounds in 18 minutes of play. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Current and future PHL weightlifting stars in Olympics

FOUR-TIME Olympian Hidilyn Diaz (left) and debuting Erleen Ann Ando are the Philippine weightlifting bets for the rescheduled Olympic Games happening from July 23 to Aug. 8. — HIDILYN DIAZ AND ERLEEN ANN ANDO FB PAGES

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter

THE Olympic Games in Tokyo this year is a significant one for Philippine weightlifting as it features the now and the future of the sport in the country.

Four-time Olympian Hidilyn Diaz, 30, and debuting Erleen Ann Ando, 22, are the Philippine weightlifting bets for the rescheduled Games happening from July 23 to Aug. 8.

Zamboanga native Diaz will be competing in the women’s 55-kg category while Cebuana Ando pits her skills in the women’s 64-kg event.

The face of weightlifting here for more than a decade now, Ms. Diaz is looking to build on her silver medal-winning performance in the Rio Games in 2016.

She is going to Tokyo off an extended preparation made more challenging because of the pandemic.

“This Olympics is different from the three others for me because we are in a pandemic. [But] I think I’m more prepared this time around,” said Ms. Diaz in a Messenger chat with BusinessWorld from Malaysia where she has been training since last year.

Ms. Diaz first made it to the Olympics in 2008 in Beijing then returned in 2012 in London. She pulled off a breakthrough performance in Brazil four years later, winning the silver medal to help the Philippines avoid a medal shutout for said Summer Games.

The veteran Olympian shared that preparation for this year’s Olympics was very challenging but she and her team managed to stay the course and are now ready to see what they have long worked for through.

“We have been training in Malaysia since last year and it has not been easy. Lockdowns are implemented here and our movement is limited. When you are stressed out, you cannot go out. You miss Filipino food. There are days when you are not up for it, but you forge ahead,” she said.

“But this (weightlifting) is what I want to do and I want to inspire. So we are really working hard despite the conditions. And hopefully, it pays off in Tokyo,” she added.

Ms. Diaz went on to say that she is confident that she will have a podium finish and is going for the gold amid what she expects to be a tough competition.

“I truly believe that I will get a medal, but I’m not sure what color. Of course, the ultimate goal for every athlete in the Olympics is to win the gold. It’s a battle among the best of the best in the world but I’m going to fight,” she said.

“I’ll be doing everything I can. I don’t want to make guarantees. I’ll just perform and go for the gold. And I am asking for prayers and support.”

SURPRISED QUALIFICATION
Meanwhile, Ms. Ando’s qualification may have come as a surprise for her but she said she is ready to compete in her first-ever Olympics, eyeing at least a top three finish.

“I’m ready for the Olympics. This is the biggest event for me so far in my career. It’s going to be tough, but I’ll try hard to enter the top three,” Ms. Ando said in Filipino in her interview with Team Pilipinas on PTV 4 on Saturday.

Ms. Ando earned Olympic entry by way of the continental ranking under the watch of the International Weightlifting Federation. Being the second-ranked weightlifter in her division, boosted by silver and bronze medal-winning finishes in the last Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Uzbekistan, Ms. Ando was awarded a spot.

Ms. Ando said she is fully aware that she is seen as an heir apparent for Ms. Diaz in the sport and feels honored by it.

“I know people are saying that I am the next Hidilyn. There is some pressure in it, but it’s an honor and I will work hard. Hopefully, I live up to the expectations,” she said.

Ms. Diaz will be the first to compete for the Philippines on July 26 followed by Ms. Ando the following day.

Eala and American partner top ITF Italy girls’ doubles tourney

FILIPINO Alex Eala (in photo) and American Madison Sieg topped the Trofeo Bonfiglio girls’ doubles event in Milan, Italy, on Saturday night (Manila time). — ALEX EALA FB PAGE

FILIPINO tennis wunderkind Alex Eala and American partner Madison Sieg topped the Trofeo Bonfiglio girls’ doubles event in Milan, Italy, on Saturday night (Manila time).

The duo defeated the tandem of Lucija Čirić Bagarić of Croatia and Sofia Costoulas of Belgium (6-4, 4-6, 13-11) in the finals of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) JA tournament.

It was the second girls’ doubles title for 16-year-old Eala in 2021 following her conquest of the French Open title with Russian Oksana Selekhmeteva in June.

Mses. Eala and Sieg built an early 3-0 cushion in the opening set of the Milan finals but saw their opponents level the count at 4-4 after. They were able to recover from it, however, taking the next two games to claim the frame.

In the second set, the Croatian-Belgian team made another spirited charge back midway, forcing another 4-4 stalemate. But unlike in the opening frame, it got to finish the comeback to force a deciding set.

The decider was nip-and-tuck with Mses. Bagarić and Costoulas gaining early control.

Mses. Eala and Sieg though would tie the score at 5-5 and overtake their opponents, 7-6, to claim the lead for the first time in the third set.

The teams did not budge after, fighting to an 11-all count. But the Filipino-American tandem would beat its rival duo to the punch, winning the next two games to close out the proceedings and take the win.

The championship was a culmination of an impressive run of Mses. Eala and Sieg, the third and 16th juniors players in the world, respectively, in Milan.

In the road to the title, they beat Stefana Bojića (Romania) and Matilde Jorge (Portugal) in the first round; Russians Anastasiia Gureva and Ekaterina Maklakova in the second; Yaroslava Bartashevich and Ksenia Zaytseva in the quarterfinals; and Kira Pavlova and Diana Shnaider in the semifinals.

It could well be a double celebration for Rafa Nadal Academy scholar and Globe ambassador Eala as she was also set to compete in the finals of the girls’ singles event later on Sunday against Czech Republic’s Nikola Bartunkova. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

UEFA announces Champions League final hosts for next four seasons

THE next four Champions League finals from 2022-2025 will be hosted by St. Petersburg, Istanbul, London and Munich respectively, European soccer’s governing body European Football Association (UEFA) said on Friday.

The Krestovsky Stadium in St. Petersburg was scheduled to stage the 2021 final. However, due to the postponement and reallocation of the 2020 final to Lisbon because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Europe, the final hosts were pushed back by a year, with St. Petersburg now hosting the 2022 final.

Istanbul, which lost the 2021 final hosting rights to Porto to allow a limited number of fans to attend the match, will instead stage the showpiece game in 2023.

Munich, originally scheduled to be the venue for the 2023 final, will now host the match in 2025 while London’s Wembley Stadium will retain the rights for the 2024 final.

Bilbao and Dublin, who were unable to stage matches at this year’s European Championship, agreed a settlement with the UEFA executive committee and will host the Europa League final in 2024 and 2025 respectively.

Bilbao will also host the women’s Champions League final in 2024.

“We were all disappointed when the COVID-19 pandemic saw the four UEFA EURO 2020 games moved away from Dublin so this really is something to look forward to just three years from now,” Football Association of Ireland chief executive Jonathan Hill said in a statement.

“The 2024 UEFA Europa League final will be a landmark event with huge economic benefits for Dublin and for Ireland along with the boost, it will give our game in the buildup to the final.”

Next year’s Europa league final will be played in Seville, with Budapest set to host the 2023 title decider for the second-tier European club tournament. — Reuters

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