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Gibraltar Masters

Gibraltar Masters 2020
Caleta Hotel, Gibraltar
January 21-30, 2020

Final Top Standings

1-7. Andrey Esipenko RUS 2654, Wang Hao CHN 2758, Daniil Yuffa 2566, David Paravyan RUS 2629, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave FRA 2770, David Navara CZE 2717, Mustaf Yilmaz TUR 2607, 7.5/10

8-23. Parham Maghsoodloo IRI 2674, Jan Werle NED 2545, Veselin Topalov BUL 2738, Aryan Chopra IND 2562, Mikhail Kobalia RUS 2609, Murali Karthikeyan IND 2606, Michael Adams ENG 2694, Le Quang Liem VIE 2713, Gawain Jones ENG 2679, Ivan Saric CRO 2655, Krishnan Sasikiran IND 2648, Jules Moussard FRA 2600, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa IND 2602, Bogdan-Daniel Deac ROU 2626, Tan Zhongyi CHN 2493, Daniele Vocaturo ITA 2622, 7.0/10

Total Participants: 250 players

Time Control: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 50 minutes for the next 20 moves followed by 15 minutes for the rest of the game with 30 seconds added to your clock after every move starting move 1.

Have you ever heard of David Paravyan? He was born March 8, 1998 in Russia and earned his grandmaster title in 2017. Before Gibraltar he had not won anything big. The biggest accomplishment so far is his 10th place finish with 7/11 (won four, drew six, lost one) in the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament last year. That was a really strong tournament because it gave the winner an automatic slot to the March 2020 Candidates Tournament, and his performance rating there is 2774.

GM David Paravyan

On my part I first took note of his name when he was nominated for the Chess.Com “Game of the Year 2018” for his victory over Golubov in the Korchnoi Memorial. This game was also adjudged the Best Game of Informant 137 by the Chess Informant Board.

Paravyan, David (2630) — Golubov, Saveliy (2470) [C42]
Korchnoi Memorial St. Petersburg (6.7), 20.08.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.0–0 0–0 8.c4 c6 9.Qb3 dxc4 10.Bxc4 Nd7 11.Re1 Ndf6 12.Nbd2 Nxd2 13.Bxd2 Qb6 14.Qd3!?

First, a small offering of a pawn on b2.

14…Qxb2 15.Rab1 Qa3 16.Qc2

Threatens 17.Re3, which forces Black to give up a piece with 17…Bxh2+ otherwise his queen is lost.

16…Nd5?

Incredibly, White now has a winning attack. Correct is 16…b5, giving the queen an escape square on a6.

17.Rb3 Qa4 18.Bxd5 cxd5 19.Ng5 g6 20.Nxh7!

The knight still cannot be captured because then his queen falls to a discovered attack.

20…Bf5 21.Nf6+ Kg7 22.Bh6+! Kxf6

[22…Kxh6 23.Rh3+ followed by taking the Black queen on a4]

23.g4! Bf4

Alternatives also end up in mate:

23…Bxg4 24.Qd2;

23…Bxc2 24.Rf3+

24.Qc7! Bxh6

No salvation.

24…Bxc7 25.g5#;

24…g5 25.Qe7+ Kg6 26.gxf5+ Kh7 (26…Kxh6 27.Qf6+ Kh7 28.Rh3+ Kg8 29.Rh8#; 26…Kxf5 27.Re5+ Bxe5 28.Qxe5+ Kg6 29.Qxg5+ Kh7 30.Qg7#) 27.Qf6 etc

25.Qe5+ Kg5 26.h4+ Kxh4

[26…Kxg4 27.Rg3+ Kh5 28.Qe2+ Kxh4 29.Qf3 with forced mate]

27.Rh3+! Kg5

[27…Kxh3 28.Qg3#]

28.Qe7+ 1–0

[28.Qe7+ f6 (28…Kxg4 29.Qh4#; 28…Kf4 29.Qe3+ Kxg4 30.Qg3#) 29.Qe3+ Kxg4 30.Qg3#]

As they said, 2018 must have been a banner year if such a masterpiece only got third place. See for yourself — here is the winner:

Hillarp Persson, Tiger (2544) — Laurusas, Tomas (2484) [A11]
43rd Olympiad 2018 Batumi GEO (7.2), 01.10.2018

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.c4 c6 5.b3 Bg7 6.Bb2 0–0 7.0–0 a5 8.Nc3 Ne4 9.Na4 Bxb2 10.Nxb2 Nd7 11.d3 Nef6 12.d4 b6 13.Rc1 Bb7 14.Nd3 Rc8 15.Nfe5 Nxe5 16.dxe5 Nd7 17.Qd2

White’s idea is to play 18.e6! fxe6 19.Bh3 Rf6 because now he can follow-up with 20.Qe3 Nf8 21.c5 with pressure on the Black position.

17…dxc4 18.Rxc4 Nxe5

Black has won a pawn because of the pin on the d3–knight, but it turns out that White’s attacking chances offer more than enough compensation. And attacking chances are dangerous in the hands of the Tiger.

19.Rh4 h5 20.Rd1 Nxd3 21.Qh6 Qd6 22.Rxd3 Qf6 23.Be4

Amongst others, there is a threat of 24.Rxh5 gxh5 25.Qh7 mate.

23…Ba6 24.Re3

[24.Rxh5 Qg7 25.Qxg7+ Kxg7 both of white’s rooks are under attack]

24…Qg7 25.Qg5 Rcd8 26.Qxe7 Rd1+ 27.Kg2 Qa1 28.Bxc6 Rg1+ 29.Kf3 Qf1

The idea is 30…Qg2+ followed by 31.Qxc6.]

30.Kf4!

Suddenly everything becomes clear — the White king is not running away, it is running towards.

30…Qxf2+ 31.Kg5! Kg7 32.Rf4 Qxh2 33.Qf6+ Kh7 34.Qxg6+! Kh8

[34…fxg6 35.Re7+ Kg8 36.Bd5+ forces mate]

35.Kh6! 1–0 An amazing King walk!

But I digress.

The 21-year-old David Paravyan, virtually unknown outside Russia and ranked only 22nd in a stellar field, tied for 1st place with six others (Andrey Esipenko RUS 2654, Wang Hao CHN 2758, Daniil Yuffa 2566, David Paravyan RUS 2629, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave FRA 2770, David Navara CZE 2717, Mustaf Yilmaz TUR 2607) in the Gibraltar Masters and then proceeded to win the tie-breaks to take home the L30,000 first prize (almost 2 Million Phil Pesos). All the others who tied with him got a check for L10,500 each (nothing to sneeze at — around PhP 700,000).

Paravyan’s best production is this game.

Paravyan, David (2629) — Krysa, Leandro (2522) [C64]
18th Gibraltar Masters Caleta Hotel, Gibraltar (5), 25.01.2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Bc5 5.c3 Nge7 6.0–0

The problem of 5…Nge7 against 5…Nf6 is that White can now play 6.Nxe5!? the Bulgarian GM Georgi Tringov tried it against Mato Damjanovic: 6…Bxf2+ 7.Kxf2 Nxe5 8.d4 N5g6 9.Rf1 0–0 10.Kg1 d5 11.Nd2 c6 12.Bc2 white is much better. Tringov, G-Damjanovic, M Buesum 1968 1-0 24.

6…Ng6 7.d4 Ba7 8.Bg5 f6 9.Be3 0–0 10.d5 Nb8

Not 10…Bxe3?? 11.dxc6 Bb6 12.cxd7 Black loses a piece.

11.Bxa7 Rxa7 12.d6! b5 13.Bb3+ Kh8 14.c4 Bb7 15.Re1 c5 16.Nc3 b4 17.Nd5 Nc6 18.h4 Rf7

Vacating f8 for his knight.

19.h5 Nf8 20.Nh4 Nd4 21.Ne7 Ra8 22.Nef5

White is threatening 23.Ng6+ Nxg6 (23…Kg8 24.Nfe7+; 23…hxg6 24.hxg6 Nxg6 25.Qh5+) 24.hxg6 hxg6 25.Nh4 Kg8 (25…Kh7 26.Qg4) 26.Nxg6 Rf8 27.Qh5 Re8 28.Bd1!

22…Nfe6?! 23.Ng6+ Kg8

[23…hxg6 24.hxg6 Nf4 25.Qg4 etc]

24.Nfe7+ Rxe7 25.Nxe7+ Kh8 26.Ba4 a5 27.Qg4 Ra6 28.h6 Rxd6

Or 28…g6.

29.Nf5 Nxf5 30.exf5 Rd4 31.Qg3 Ng5 32.hxg7+ Kxg7

Has Black survived the worst?

33.Rad1 Kh8 34.Rxd4! cxd4 35.f4 Ne4 36.Qh4 Nc5 <D>

POSITION AFTER 36…NH5

Just when Black thinks he is out of the woods comes the final attack.

37.fxe5! Nxa4 38.exf6 Qg8

Just in case White overlooks the mate threat on g2.

39.Re2 d3 40.Qd4! 1–0 Mate in 4.

Winning the Gibraltar super-open is a big deal for a player, and from this day forward he will no longer be described as a “virtual unknown from Russia.” Vladislav Artemiev last year won this tournament and followed it up by winning the European Championship. We look forward to seeing how Paravyan will surprise us next.

 

Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.

bobby@cpamd.net

Knicks woes

Losing out on Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in free agency was the first real sign the Knicks didn’t have as much pull off the court as they continued to think. There was no question of their lack of competitiveness on it; they headed into the offseason having missed the playoffs for the sixth straight year. Yet, their poor record and all the attendant problems it indicated notwithstanding, they felt they had the juice as first among equals in the National Basketball Association. Until, that is, the windfall that head honcho James Dolan so brazenly alluded to well before their 2018-19 campaign ended failed to materialize. And, amid their backpedaling, they finally admitted they didn’t have any clout, after all.

The Knicks did well just by knowing there was a problem. Still, it was just the first of many steps, and they had to nail the next ones as well in order to push forward. Which was why they let head coach David Fizdale go, why they kicked president Steve Mills upstairs, and why they needed to hire a branding consultant. Their name was being sullied, and it had to be polished anew. Even as whether or not most of the luster was being lost from within mattered, so, too, did their acknowledgment of the need to do something — anything, really — to address it.

In this regard, the arrival of Steve Stoute, head of respected advertising agency Translation, should prove to be a boon. When the benefits will be tangible is up in the air, though. Dysfunction has been with and around the Knicks for a long while now, and often associated, rightly or wrongly, with Dolan’s presence. Results won’t come overnight. It also won’t help that the newest addition to the head table and the very person in charge of changing negative perceptions wound up reinforcing them in an appearance on ESPN’s First Take, during which he spoke out of turn and appeared to support a coaching change.

Overreaching has been a cause of the Knicks’ woes, and the last thing Stoute wants is to do the same. The good news is that he stumbled early on, and that his extensive experience, while mostly in the music industry, should help him quickly pick up the pieces. He’s charged with raising a name that remains valuable — based on Forbes’ latest accounting, still tops in the league at $4.6 billion. Being situated in the media capital of the world and playing in the Mecca of hoops will certainly keep the number up. That said, how hard the task will be and how long the turnaround takes depend on their capacity not to fall all over themselves.

 

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.

Peso rallies versus dollar

THE PESO rallied versus the greenback on Wednesday on the back of positive market sentiment due to the credit rating outlook upgrade for the country and as investors took in positive remarks from the US Federal Reserve.

The local unit finished trading at P50.57 versus the dollar yesterday, strengthening by 12.50 centavos from its P50.695-to-a-dollar close on Tuesday.

The peso opened Wednesday’s session at P50.54 versus the dollar. Its weakest showing was at P50.605, while its strongest intraday level was seen at P50.52 against the greenback.

Dollars traded climbed to $813.67 million from $662.5 million on Tuesday.

Traders attributed the peso’s strong finish to market sentiment after Fitch Ratings upgraded its rating outlook for the country.

“The outlook for the credit rating was upgraded from ‘stable’ to ‘positive.’ So that was the main driver why the peso broke the P50.70 support,” a trader said in a phone call.

On Tuesday, Fitch upgraded the country’s rating outlook to positive, indicating that its rating could be maintained or upgraded.

The global ratings agency also affirmed its credit rating for the Philippines at “BBB,” a notch above the minimum investment grade.

Meanwhile, another trader said the positive sentiment coming from the US Federal Reserve boosted support for the peso.

“The peso appreciated from market optimism after Fed Chair [Jerome] Powell gave upbeat remarks about the US economy despite the headwinds from the novel coronavirus,” he said in an e-mail.

For today, the first trader expects peso to play around the P50.45-P50.65 band, while the second trader gave a forecast range of P50.50 to P50.70. — LWTN with Reuters

Shares decline anew ahead of MSCI rebalancing

By Denise A. Valdez, Reporter

PHILIPPINE STOCKS closed lower on Wednesday as investors await the announcement of Morgan Stanley Capital International’s (MSCI) rebalancing.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) fell 56.30 points or 0.75% to end at 7,383.10 yesterday, as the broader all shares index dropped 34.59 points or 0.78% to close the session at 4,355.46.

“With the Fed Chairman less dovish but also citing risks from the virus, plus upcoming announcement of the MSCI rebalancing, investors sold during the Wednesday session,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said in a mobile message.

MSCI is set to release the results of its quarterly index review late Wednesday, Philippine time, which investors worldwide are expected to use as measure of activity in global equities.

Mr. Limlingan said as the announcement on the rebalancing is coming in a few hours, investors held a selling stance that subdued the PSEi during Wednesday’s session.

Apart from this, investors also reacted to the US Federal Reserve System’s worries over the economic impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak. Mr. Limlingan said while Fed Chairman Jerome Powell maintained the US economy is “in a very good place,” it still weighed that he said the virus may “lead to disruptions in China that spill over to the rest of the global economy.”

At Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index closed flat during Tuesday’s session, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite indices inched up 0.17% and 0.11%, respectively.

In Asia, markets mostly ended on green territory at the close of Wednesday’s trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.74%, China’s Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 index added 0.81%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index grew 0.47% and South Korea’s Kospi index rose 0.69%.

Meanwhile, all sectoral indices back home ended lower on Wednesday. Industrials slumped 154.04 points or 1.67% to 9,063.65; services lost 20.65 points or 1.39% to 1,456.86; mining and oil dropped 83.23 points or 1.15% to 7,132.70; holding firms lost 44.70 points or 0.62% to 7,068.29; property declined 22.28 points or 0.54% to 4,032.48; and financials slipped 3.12 points or 0.17% to end yesterday’s trading session at 1,755.82.

Value turnover on Wednesday stood at P6.07 billion with 1.31 billion issues switching hands, higher compared to Tuesday’s 1.30 billion issues valued at P4.48 billion.

Declining names outpaced those that gained, 122 against 63, while 51 names ended unchanged.

Offshore investors returned to buying shares, with net foreign inflows logged at P241.31 million yesterday from Tuesday’s net selling worth P80.91 million.

Duterte to boost China, Japan ties post-VFA

THE Philippine military will boost defense ties with allies in the region including China, Japan and Australia after President Rodrigo R. Duterte ended a military agreement with the US on the deployment of troops for war games, its new chief said on Wednesday.

“We can live without the visiting forces agreement,” Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff General Felimon T. Santos, Jr. said. “We have lived before when we lost the bases agreement. Nothing bad happened to us.”

The tough-talking Mr. Duterte on Tuesday formally notified the US of his decision to pull out of the VFA, the first time he has scrapped a military deal with the former colonial power that he had criticized for treating the Philippines “like a dog on a leash.”

His decision came after the US Embassy canceled the visa of his former police chief, Senator Ronald M. de la Rosa.

Mr. Duterte had pushed for the Philippines to be less economically and militarily dependent on the US, which he accuses of hypocrisy in its criticism of his deadly war on drugs.

Mr. Duterte ordered his chief diplomat on Monday evening to send the termination notice. It will take effect in six months.

Mr. Santos said the Philippines would boost ties with China, with which it has a sea dispute over islets in the South China Sea.

It will also increase military engagements with Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Australia to fill the void left by the VFA, he said.

Mr. Santos said the Philippines would try to build its own military capability, noting that the military had been receiving P20 billion yearly under a modernization program.

He said war games with the US will proceed in May unless Washington wishes otherwise. The event falls within the 180-day notification period, he said.

Also yesterday, Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra said Mr. Duterte does not need Senate concurrence to end the VFA.

“Although a treaty is considered part of the law of the land, it does not belong to the class of ordinary statutes that pass through the entire legislative process,” he said in a group phone message. “Its abrogation is not similar to the repeal of an ordinary statute.”

‘HOLLOW’ DEAL
He also said the Supreme Court was unlikely to entertain a planned lawsuit questioning the termination of the visiting forces agreement (VFA) due to separation of powers.

“Whether the President should at least consult the Senate is manifestly a political question that the Supreme Court will certainly refuse to resolve,” Mr. Guevarra said.

The Justice chief said the Constitution does not require the Senate to agree before the Executive could end a treaty.

He added that ending the VFA would make the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with the US “practically useless” and the Mutual Defense Treaty a “hollow agreement.”

But the country survived the termination of the military bases agreement in 1991, he pointed out. “There’s no reason why we shall not survive the termination of a mere visiting forces agreement.”

The Philippine Senate on Monday adopted a resolution urging Mr. Duterte to reconsider his plan to terminate the military deal pending its review.

Mr. De la Rosa, who led his anti-illegal drug campaign before he became a lawmaker, did not vote.

Both Mr. Duterte’s allies and critics at the Senate and House of Representatives earlier said he should end the VFA, which the two nations signed in 1998, for reasons weightier than the cancelation of a political ally’s US visa.

Mr. De la Rosa was also considered to be among those responsible for the detention of Senator Leila M. de Lima, a staunch critic of Mr. Duterte’s anti-illegal drug campaign.

The VFA governs war games between Filipino and American soldiers here. It also allows the US government to retain jurisdiction over American soldiers accused of committing crimes in the Philippines, unless the crimes are “of particular importance” to the Southeast Asian nation.

The US Senate last year passed a resolution asking the Philippine government to release Ms. De Lima. It also sought to block the entry and freeze the US assets of officials behind drug-related killings and Ms. De Lima’s “wrongful detention.”

US President Donald Trump also signed into law last year the nation’s 2020 budget, which includes a clause allowing the US secretary of state to ban the entry of Philippine officials behind Ms. De Lima’s detention.

Ms. De Lima has been in jail since February 2017 for drug trafficking. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

Senator calls for crackdown versus online gaming firms

AN OPPOSITION senator yesterday sought an immediate crackdown against offshore gaming operators in the Philippines after police rescued a Taiwanese who was forced to work for a Chinese operator.

“We need an immediate crackdown on fly-by-night Philippine online gaming operators,” Senator Risa N. Hontiveros-Baraquel said in a statement posted on the Senate website.

The lawmaker presented to media Lai Yu Cian or Ivy, a 23-year-old Taiwanese woman trafficked into the country to work in an offshore gaming company.

Ms. Baraquel said Ivy was forced to work for Chinese nationals in Makati. The victim was recruited to work in advertising but was scared when she found out it was an offshore gaming operation.

Her passport was confiscated and her Chinese employers mentally and physically abused her, the senator said.

“They touched my body in front of other men and they laughed at me,” the statement quoted her as saying.

The victims had been receiving threats since her rescue early this month, Ms. Baraquel said.

The senator said that Ivy’s story is one of the many stories of workers, especially women, who are made to work illegally in the Philippines by offshore gaming companies.

“We can’t add more crimes being committed to the country,” she said. “We need to stop these illegal POGO companies immediately.”

She said a number of crimes are connected to offshore gaming companies here — illegal recruitment, illegal detention and sexual harassment.

“We need to stop all these,” Ms. Baraquel said. — NPA

A third of Pinoys support protests in HK, SWS says

FIVE of 10 Filipinos knew of the street protests in Hong Kong that started last year, with a third of them supporting the riots, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) poll.

SWS found that 33% of those polled supported the demonstrations, while 35% disagreed. Another 32% were undecided.

Residents of Metro Manila and the rest of the main Luzon island were the most aware of the street protests, the polling firm said.

Support for the demonstrations was the highest in the Visayas, it said.

Hong Kong residents started street protests last year after an extradition bill was proposed allowing suspects to be tried in mainland China.

This led to concerns that the bill would subject Hong Kong residents and visitors to the jurisdiction of China and undermine the region’s autonomy and people’s civil liberties.

The Hong Kong government was forced to withdraw the bill in October.

SWS interviewed 1,200 adults in December for the poll, which had an error margin of ±3 points. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

Cebu’s Oakridge Business Park developer ventures into warehousing

OAKRIDGE REALTY Development Corp. (ORDC), developer of the Oakridge Business Park in Mandaue City, has launched a warehousing brand to meet the growing demand for storage facilities in Cebu. ORDC Chief Executive Officer Edmun H. Liu, in an interview Monday, said they set up Oakridge Warehouse Solutions (OWS) in line with the goal to help address Cebu’s shortage in warehousing spaces. The company initially opened a 5,000 square-meter warehouse in Mandaue City last year, which is already fully occupied. A two-hectare warehouse in Cagayan de Oro City followed, now 80% occupied. Recently, real estate service firm Colliers International Philippines urged developers in Cebu to seriously consider the development of warehousing facilities aside from developing office buildings. Colliers said the establishment of automated warehouse systems will improve logistics in the Cebu. “This is particularly important for Cebu developers as modern warehouses are crucial in supporting the growth of the region’s e-commerce,” said Collier’s latest market intelligence report.

OFFICE SPACE
Meanwhile, ORDC continues to expand its office space developments. In December last year, it opened the refurbished three-story Oakridge IT Center 1 (OITC 1) within Oakridge Business Park, providing more office spaces, and curated retail and dining options. OITC 1, a Philippine Economic Zone Authority-registered building, adds another 4,300 square meters of leasable space within the park. In July 2019, ORDC launched the 12-story Oakridge IT Center (OITC) 3, adding 14,000 square meters of leasable space to the company’s commercial property inventory. — The Freeman

Phivolcs proposes community-based landslide warning system for Cotabato

THE PHILIPPINE Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) is eyeing to install an early warning system (EWS) in landslide-prone areas in Cotabato, one of the provinces at the foot of Mt. Apo and the most affected by the series of strong earthquakes that struck Mindanao last year. The EWS will be a community-managed program to give local leaders more immediate access to information for faster disaster management decisions. The provincial government, in a statement, said representatives of Phivolcs, which is under the Department of Science and Technology, presented the Dynaslope Project: Early Warning System for Deep-Seated Landslides last Tuesday to Governor Nancy A. Catamco and Carlito Villaraza, a geologist and structural earthquake engineer.

REBUILDING
Meanwhile, the Cotabato Rebuilding Program was launched Tuesday afternoon, starting with the earthquake-affected families in Barangay Ilomavis, Kidapawan City. During the ceremony, shelter materials for 435 partially and totally damaged houses were distributed along with the release of scholarship certificates, livelihood assistance kits, and other social service interventions. The rebuilding program is led by the Provincial Rehabilitation Task Force in partnership with the multi-sector Mindanao Humanitarian Team.

Davao Oriental’s P22B anti-insurgency program gets regional approval

A P22-billion program intended to address the communist insurgency in Davao Oriental has been approved at the regional level, and the big-ticket projects will be endorsed for national funding, the provincial government announced earlier this week. “Our problem with insurgency basically stems from poverty and the absence of government services in the hinterland areas… We have to prioritize livelihood and accessibility. The sooner we address these issues, the sooner we solve the problem of insurgency,” Governor Nelson L. Dayanghirang said in a statement on Monday. Davao Oriental’s proposed projects include infrastructure development, livelihood, and training, which were identified through workshops with representatives up to the barangay level. “This proposal is a result of our needs assessment and workshops which helped us in really knowing what the priority needs of the barangays really are,” Mr. Dayanghirang said. Budget Secretary Wendel E. Avisado, the designated Cabinet officer for Regional Development and Security (CORDS) for Davao, said the projects that can already be funded by national agencies and the local government may be rolled out immediately while the big-ticket items are awaiting assessment and approval. Davao Oriental province has received recognition for its programs to encourage members of the New People’s Army, the armed groups of the Communist Party of the Philippines, to lay down their arms. These programs were initiated before President Rodrigo R. Duterte issued a directive in December 2018 establishing the “whole-of-nation approach” to end the communist armed conflict. Under this policy, local governments will lead multi-agency bodies that will plan and implement localized anti-insurgency projects.

3 Koreans, 8 Japanese wanted for fraud arrested

THREE KOREANS and eight Japanese who are all wanted for fraud in their countries have been arrested in different parts of Luzon, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported on Wednesday. Commissioner Jaime H. Morente, in a statement, said the three Koreans, who are wanted in Seoul and facing charges of large-scale fraud and embezzlement, were caught in separate operations. Arrested on Feb. 4 in Quezon City was Kim Moo Gyo, 35, who is charged for involvement in telecommunications fraud with his victims losing more than a billion won or over $840 million. Nabbed on the same day in Taguig City was Kim Saehyun, 27, for illegally operating an online gaming business and committing telecom fraud. On Feb. 10, Wi Seong Don, 72, was also arrested for multiple counts of fraud and embezzlement charges. On Feb. 11, the eight Japanese nationals allegedly involved in voice phising and telecom fraud and extortion were arrested in Laguna. BI Fugitive Search Unit chief Bobby R. Raquepo said the Japanese have been targeting their fellow Japanese nationals and many of their victims are retired citizens. All 11 foreigners are detained at the facility in Taguig City while awaiting deportation. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

Tacloban to Samar cities

TEN new public utility buses that will serve the Tacloban City-Calbayog City route and 15 public utility coasters for Tacloban-Catbalogan City were launched Feb. 12 as part of the government’s Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP). Tacloban is the regional center of Eastern Visayas while Calbayog and Catbalogan are under the neighboring Samar province, with the latter as the capital. The 25 vehicles are equipped with speed limiters, GPS, CCTV, WiFi, and an automated fare collection system.

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