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Commercial fisheries, aquaculture output fall

COMMERCIAL fisheries and aquaculture output fell in the second quarter, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

In its Fisheries Situation report for April to June 2019, PSA noted that production from both sub-sectors declined 2.4% and 3% year-on-year, respectively.

Commercial fisheries accounted for 24.6% of the fisheries sector’s total output, while aquaculture made up 48.1% to total fisheries production in the second quarter.

Output of the municipal fisheries segment rose 4.3% year-on-year. The segment accounts for 27.2% of total output.

Production of three major species declined — skipjack (5.6%), seaweed (2.9%), and milkfish (1.4%). Those that increased were yellowfin tuna (33.4%); round scad (10.7%); tiger prawn, (4.6%); and tilapia (0.6%). — Vincent Mariel P. Galang

EU imposes duties of up to 18% on Indonesian biodiesel

BRUSSELS — The European Commission on Tuesday imposed countervailing duties of 8% to 18% on imports of subsidized biodiesel from Indonesia, saying the move aimed to restore a level playing field for European Union producers.

“The new import duties are imposed on a provisional basis and the investigation will continue with a possibility to impose definitive measures by mid-December 2019,” the EU executive said in a statement.

Last week Indonesia’s trade minister said he would recommend to an inter-ministerial team a 20% to 25% tariff on EU dairy products in response to the EU targeting the country’s biodiesel, adding that he had asked dairy product importers to find sources of supply outside the 28-nation bloc.

The EU duties are another blow to Indonesian biodiesel producers after the bloc said in March that palm oil should be phased out of renewable transportation fuels due to palm plantations’ contribution to deforestation.

The European Commission, which coordinates trade policy for the EU, launched an anti-subsidy investigation in December 2018 following a complaint by the European Biodiesel Board.

It said its investigation showed that Indonesian biodiesel producers benefit from grants, tax benefits and access to raw materials below market prices.

The EU biodiesel market is worth an estimated 9 billion euros ($10 billion) a year, with imports from Indonesia worth about 400 million euros, the commission said.

Indonesia Biofuels Producers Association (APROBI) Chairman M.P. Tumanggor told Reuters that companies affected by the anti-subsidy duties will likely be forced to renegotiate their contracts with buyers in the EU and it may reduce the country’s 2019 biodiesel exports.

“We initially targeted 1.4 million tonnes in export this year to Europe. That will not be reached,” Tumanggor said. The exports would likely reach around 1 million tonnes, he said.

He said the association is in consultation with the government on a response to the EU duties.

Indonesian Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita told reporters the government will file an official objection within five days.

He also reiterated that the government is encouraging dairy product importers to start looking for new sources of supply outside the EU.

The ministry will start a program for Indonesian dairy importers to help them find replacements for dairy products they usually import from the EU with products from the United States or other countries, he said. — Reuters

The politics of hate

Every tyranny has used fear and hate to take power and to keep it. Coercion and the use of force have never been enough. A gun can only kill, but fear can make entire nations tremble, and hate lead them into committing the worst of crimes.

Adolf Hitler used anti-Jewish sentiments to stoke German fears so effectively he convinced even learned men, among them the philosopher Martin Heidegger, that their country and Western civilization itself were on the verge of annihilation and needed a strongman to save them. German fears for the future found in the Jews of Europe a convenient target of hate, and a “problem” that required a “final solution.”

In the hands of the Nazis, what was alleged to be a war for “the defense of civilization” gave birth to the worst barbarism in history: the systematic murder of six million men, women, and children by a people so steeped in philosophy, the arts, and the sciences it was once thought impossible for them to be inhuman.

Though labeled a Hitler from the mid-1960s to his dying day, Ferdinand Marcos was only a pale copy. Instead of the fear of being ground under the heels of more powerful neighbors, Marcos used fears of anarchy and revolution to convince the middle class, the technocracy, the Church, business, and his American patrons of the need to combat the “leftist-rightist conspiracy” with whatever means necessary.

The arbitrary arrests and detention, torture and extrajudicial killings that he unleashed under martial law had for objects of hate critical labor, student and peasant leaders, writers and journalists, progressive clergy, academics, and anyone else who could be labeled as “subversive.”

By the time Marcos was overthrown in 1986 his regime had detained 100,000 men and women, tortured several hundred, murdered nearly 4,000, and left the country in ruins. It was on these foundations of fear and hate that he built the dictatorship that destroyed the Republic he claimed to be saving and to the return of which the Philippines is still in constant peril.

As far apart as they were in terms of the number of their victims, Hitler and Marcos had in common the use of the politics of hate and fear to gain support and adherents as well as to intimidate the potentially critical into silence and inaction.

The same politics is in obvious display in the current regime’s drive to a tyranny worse than that of Marcos’, whose record of extrajudicial killings it had already surpassed by the second year of its problematic watch. But President Rodrigo Duterte’s free use of expletives against anyone who displeases him, and the hate and incitement to violence his regime trolls and old media hacks spew daily are not its only signs.

Even before he came to power, in 2016 the then candidate for president had already identified drug users and pushers as the objects of hate and elimination Filipinos should blame for the country’s ills and its uncertain future. He and his accomplices in the civilian and military bureaucracies have since added others, among them the “Yellows” and the independent press. But they have since settled on the “Reds” and the poor, disempowered and marginalized as their prime targets of hate, upon whom they have heaped blame for the country’s poverty, underdevelopment, social unrest, and political instability.

Deliberately heedless if not totally ignorant of the undeniable historical truth that rather than their cause, social unrest, rebellions and “insurgency” are the consequences of poverty and underdevelopment, the Duterte regime has launched a mini-equivalent of the Hitlerian all-out offensive against European Jewry. It has targeted for “neutralization” the farmers, workers, indigenous people, political activists, lawyers, journalists, human rights defenders, and even Churchmen and reformist officials whom it claims to be either members of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) “front organizations” or co-conspirators in a plot to oust Mr. Duterte from power. In the process it has transformed not only Negros Oriental but also much of the country into the Philippine version of Cambodia’s killing fields.

Add to the regime’s lengthening hate list its most recent target: student activists whom it has accused of being either brainwashed or coerced into joining youth organizations by their professors and the academic institutions in which they are or were enrolled.

Supposedly to check the alleged recruitment of students into any of the dozens of youth and student groups in the country’s universities and colleges, and even into the CPP and the New People’s Army (NPA), the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) is reviewing a longstanding memorandum of agreement (MOA) with state universities. It forbids, for perfectly valid reasons, the deployment of police personnel in state universities and colleges without the permission of their administrators.

If the DILG review leads to the rescinding of that agreement, the police and military, on the argument that it involves national security, can at will enter the campuses of the universities with which the MOA is currently in effect, among them the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) and the University of the Philippines (UP), which they claim are not only the hotbeds of student activism, but also the fertile grounds for CPP and NPA recruitment.

If that happens, police and military personnel won’t be hanging around only on the grounds of those universities or drinking coffee in their cafeterias, but will be establishing their presence in the very classrooms, laboratories, and libraries of every college in both universities where learning takes place. Though hardly equipped for the objective and competent assessment of, say, the validity of a lecture on political economy or plasma physics, they can label any professor critical of government, or his or her students, as recruiters for, or as already recruited members of, this or that “front organization,” or even the CPP and NPA.

What is worse is that police and military presence, whether publicly known or solely assumed, will serve as a hindrance to the untrammeled discussion of whatever subject is on hand. How thoroughly, for example, can a professor of literature in the University of the Philippines whose lectures are being monitored discuss Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick as a critique of the capitalist assault on nature without being red-baited and targeted? (The whaling ship Pequod, in pursuit of the white whale of the novel’s title, is a factory that kills and processes for profit one of nature’s grandest creatures.)

The MOA the DILG wants to review and quite possibly rescind was signed and implemented for perfectly sound reasons. Far from merely being an attack on student activism, which is bad enough, police and military intrusion into universities will constitute a direct assault on the academic freedom the Constitution guarantees all state universities.

Even worse, it will legitimize the inclusion of academia and academics in the list of targets of the regime’s politics of hate and intimidation. The access to, and search for, the knowledge that is indispensable to the freedom, humanization, and betterment of society that is the true university’s reason for being will be among the collateral damage that the Duterte regime has often justified as necessary in preventing the loss of power that it most of all fears. It is, in fact, the regime’s own fears that drive the politics of hate that it has unleashed on these sorry isles. But that is small comfort to those whom, out of fear and hate, it will continue to harass, threaten, defame, and even kill.

 

Luis V. Teodoro is on Facebook and Twitter (@luisteodoro).

www.luisteodoro.com

A legal education at cross purposes

Just guessing: there are probably between 16,000 to 20,000 students that annually want to enter law school. That’s before the PhilSat (Philippine Law School Admission Test). The PhilSat in 2018 cut that down to roughly 10,000 to 12,000.

Without PhilSat and staying at 20,000, historically a rough average of 5,000 law graduates will take the Bar. Setting the Bar passing average at 20%, around 1,000 will become lawyers.

That means, theoretically, around 19,000 people would probably have been better off being encouraged to explore other careers. From the beginning. Without wasting time and money.

And that is with a legal education many criticize (a bit unfairly, albeit with modicum of truth) as built on rote.

Now the Bar exams, believe it or not, are actually simple. And also designed to respond to rote studies. Bar questions are neither deep nor complicated.

This is not because the Supreme Court (SC) is composed of simpletons — far from it — , but because the SC is reasonable: the Bar exams are deliberately designed to give everyone a fair chance at passing. (I should know. I was an examiner once for political law and international law).

My point is this: Assuming it’s true that legal education today is rote, memorization tested by mere Q&A recitations and essay exams — yet 19,000 still fail to become lawyers — What does that tell you of the quality of law school entrants?

And yet people still complain about the quality of the 5% that do become lawyers!

Now, the reader may want to think about this: memorizing law provisions is much simpler than analytical/philosophical work that involves not only law but also socio-economic-political thought-philosophical learning.

So, does anybody see the disconnect here and with many of the proposals made at the recently concluded Legal Education Summit? At simple rote, 95% of those who enter law fail in the end to become lawyers, and yet some law professors are hoping to make law studies even more complicated.

But we can’t have it all: we can’t allow morally to have the bulk of those 19,000 people waste their time entering law school knowing the chances of them becoming lawyers are close to nil. But we can’t raise the passing rates because that will mean lowering standards and endanger society.

There is also the matter of legal academics talking at cross-purposes. Or even agreeing at cross-purposes.

The issue of “social justice” being one of them.

If the idea is based on that of Catholic social teaching relating to matters of human dignity and the common good, to “purify reason and to contribute, here and now, to the acknowledgment and attainment of what is just” (as Pope Benedict XVI puts it), resting on the cornerstones of human dignity, solidarity, and subsidiarity (Pope John Paul II), then such is all well and good, and indeed proper for legal education.

But 99% of the time today, when “social justice” is mentioned, usually it refers to the liberal progressive version, which means whatever it is that liberal progressives want — be it totalitarian State power to reengineer society, coercive wealth redistribution, LGBT+ “rights,” or same sex “marriage.” To build legal education on this ridiculous concept is insane.

The other is the Bar Exam.

Of course there is a need to improve it. But people again are talking at cross-purposes: there is indeed merit in a legal academe not dependent on the Bar results for increased quality, but such does not necessarily follow that the Bar exams have no positive contribution in developing and regulating traditional legal practice. In other words, developing a scholarly legal academe and developing ethical competent legal practitioners. Those are two strands of issues and to reform the Bar exam not recognizing these differing strands or purposes could be tragic.

The reality is if something has reasonably (not necessarily perfectly) worked for a long period of time, then we must be wary of making changes based on some new fashionable idea.

The problem is when you have legal academics getting all giddy over some “progressive” practice they saw abroad. Never mind if those other countries had been implementing the said changes only for a relatively short period of time, if discernible results can be analyzed, and whether such are actually appropriate for Philippine conditions. It is a good bet many of these novel or “progressive” suggestions fail this standard.

Finally, three additional points:

• the PhilSat has only been in execution for a few years and none of the PhilSat “babies” have taken the Bar — we don’t have the data yet if the program resulted in better educational and professional performance;

• the rest of the academe, particularly that leading to law school (i.e., grade school to college), should be surveyed, consulted, and analyzed; and

• the whole legal community, meaning the practitioners and not merely the academics, plus the concerned end user clientele (businesses, government, etc.) should be surveyed, consulted, and analyzed as well.

Legal education is just too important to be left to the lawyers.

 

Jemy Gatdula is a Senior Fellow of the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations and a Philippine Judicial Academy law lecturer for constitutional philosophy and jurisprudence.

https://www.facebook.com/jigatdula/

Twitter @jemygatdula

A matter of perception

One’s perspective and attitude determines the way things appear. A glass of water is either half-full or half-empty. The donut is a pastry with a hole. The pessimist looks at the hole instead of the whole sweet treat. On another level, a persistent problem could be a situation — according to the optimist. It can be solved. It’s matter of perception.

The pessimist thrives on complaints — about everything. He sees what is wrong with others except himself.

In the extreme sense, a negative person would “…cut his nose to spite his face.” He would look for flaws in a friend and sabotage the relationship by being cold, closed, or critical. Or nitpick over small imperfections instead of seeing, appreciating, or accepting the complete person or object. He misses the values and sees the shadows.

The underlying problems could be a deep-seated insecurity masked by a superior self-righteous attitude, anger at the world or an exaggerated persecution complex. The negative individual lashes out at others, and would rather bring down everyone with him.

Misery loves company.

William Safire aptly describes pessimists as a “nattering nabobs of negativism.”

Let us observe a few composite characters who walk around with gray clouds hovering above them. In the service, travel, and hospitality industries, they stand out as the complaining customer, passenger, or guest.

The very fastidious person is uptight and walks around with a perpetual frown — probably caused by a chip (or a block) on his shoulder.

At a fine dining restaurant, the demanding connoisseur complains about the little, fine details of a gourmet meal. The tiny pale speck on a white mantle, the less-than-perfect slice of beef, the not-so warm baguette, a misshapen curl of butter, the tepid water, the insipid wine, and the barely visible marks of droplets on the silver cutlery and porcelain. There are valid things that are worth reporting such as undercooked food, too much salt in the soup, and the lipstick stain (of a previous guest) on the goblet, the draft of the air conditioner, the stray piece of plastic in the vegetables, and the slow service.

Even when the meal is divine and the ambience perfect, he finds something wrong — imaginary or real. To the despair of the exasperated maître d’ and the frustrated chef and the harassed waiters.

The boorish traveler gripes about the airplane — from the miserable food to the clogged air vents, narrow seats that don’t recline, itchy blankets, dim lights, broken arm rests, leaking ceiling, and the inflight entertainment. Worse, he looks for a reason to sue and collect from the airline for being upgraded against his will, for being bumped off, for lost or delayed luggage.

Of course, legitimate complains should always be considered and used to improve the service in the classes. There are proper ways of saying and doing things without being brash, abrasive, or offensive. A letter would be appropriate so that it is on record. Power trips (wielding power and name-dropping) are among the bad reactions of the VIP passengers. A person in a government position should not take undue advantage of others.

However, some querulous people like to gripe for the sake of griping. Sour grapes are bitchy people who crave attention.

Nothing ever fits. Nothing tastes right. Nothing feels good.

KSP — Kulang sa pansin. The Pinoy phrase aptly describes the attention seeker.

Disapproval is expressed in different forms — personal, public, verbal, nonverbal. There are variations of disapproval.

Constructive criticism serves a purpose. It creates public awareness about particular issues that need correction and how these can be rectified.

Media — print, TV and radio — have scathing editorials, sharp commentaries, acerbic opinion pieces and caricatures, and withering reviews. Most articles have valid concerns that enlighten the readers and audience.

Blind items and white papers of anonymous origin have malice. Rumors are crafted to smear reputations, damage or destabilize institutions. Innocent people get hurt.

Social media has both positive and negative sides. It may be uncontrollable, especially when trolls spread fake news that can destroy reputations and create havoc.

The gullible can easily believe tall tales, half-truths, and nasty gossip. The discerning reader sees through the innuendos.

People have used the popular methods of protest movements and spontaneous rallies to complain about urgent burning issues. Among them, justice and fairness, poverty alleviation, politics. Strikes have been held to protest oil price increases, to demand better wages.

The cause is a national issue. The forum is public — in front of the Senate or the House of Representatives. There are prayer rallies, as well.

However, in a protest rally, anything goes. Freedom of expression is being threatened. The guardians of the people have doused students and clerics in a prayerful crowd with water canons or disperse them with tear gas. All in a day’s work. They justify the methods with phrases such as “For their own safety” or “for keeping the peace.” The local authorities resort to blaming others — except themselves.

In a free society people can voice their opinions about everything. Using the proper forum, citizens can demand positive change, persuade and convince the leaders to act.

The only hitch in our system is the prevalent destructive attitude of the crab. The shadow of the crab looms larger than we would care to admit.

People should shed the self-centeredness, indifference, myopia and negativism that afflict society and the world.

It is time to do positive things to raise our consciousness as a people.

 

Maria Victoria Rufino is an artist, writer and businesswoman. She is president and executive producer of Maverick Productions.

mavrufino@gmail.com

Checking lifestyle for unexplained wealth

By Tony Samson

IN ECONOMICS, one can look at any issue from either the demand or supply side. In case of unexplained wealth, for example, one way to check its existence is to see how it is spent. Lifestyle checks are premised on a simple assumption. A person, especially in public service, is expected to live within his known legitimate income which includes his monthly salary, net of taxes and the practice of some other profession, like boxing, property development, and TV hosting.

There is the statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN) that details a government official’s financial status. This is intended to include any wealth previously (and currently) amassed and unconnected with government service. The list, of course, does not include assets, including cash or property, in the name of other people.

Does the salary of a public official buy the same goods and services as an identical amount for his private sector counterpart? Not at all. Public officials don’t pay for their staff (some of them are researchers with shapely legs), cars, drivers, security details, and gasoline, restaurant meals where they’re guest speakers, salaries and meal allowances, first class trips to Paris in aid of legislation (check out the subway system and how they raise snails), planes for private use when visiting devastated areas, and honoraria (yes, your honor). They also get treated by strangers seated in other tables in a restaurant who get to have their selfies taken with them.

Add to these other perks like Christmas and birthday gifts, insider info on stocks and allocations on IPOs, and friends in car dealerships providing bullet-proof cars for free as “brand ambassadors.” And what about the undisclosed income of other members of the family, some of whom are political consultants to large companies and exclusive franchisees of fast food chains.

One unstated assumption in a lifestyle check is unchallenged — unaccounted-for wealth equals suspicion. If those living beyond their means merit scrutiny, are those publicly living in genteel squalor to be automatically considered honest? What if their assets are hidden from view? Nobody investigates unexplained poverty or unavailable opportunity.

What about those who join government already wealthy and declaring as much as 10 digits as their net worth, are they automatically above suspicion and lifestyle checks? Does possession of billions automatically presume one is no longer greedy? Does greed have an expiry date?

In the corporate world, lifestyle checks, which are also randomly conducted, may have another purpose. They check if an executive’s way of life supports the corporate image. There is likely to be a negative reaction to conspicuous poverty. Why is the vice-president of a large utility company living in a socialized housing development with the laundry hanging outside the window? Isn’t he paid a hefty salary with bonuses and perks?

In the private sector, poverty is too readily perceived as a lack of talent or enterprise. “Poor” and “loser” are sometimes interchangeable. Okay, maybe the low-rent executive has large agricultural properties that are below the radar — but that’s another story.

Still, even corporate conglomerates look at the other end of the lifestyle spectrum. An extravagant lifestyle with yachts and condos in Madrid can also raise red flags for the head of purchasing.

In the last presidential election, the exposé of a candidate’s Hollywood-type mansion with a swimming pool in the boondocks outside the metropolis contributed to his image problems. Never mind if the palatial grounds were not in his name. If his grandchildren’s classmates went there on summer breaks and posted pictures in social media, the presumption of ownership is hard to deny.

Even in a culture that tolerates a little lifestyle extravagance from public officials, there is a line crossed that triggers off alarm bells. One cabinet official in a previous administration famously warned the looters in his party to “moderate their greed.” You can steal, but not too much, he seemed to say.

With the compliance rules for banks to know your customer (KYC) and the myriad rules against money laundering, it takes more creativity and the use of dummies (who can be greedy too) to hide illicit wealth. So, flaunting it with a luxurious lifestyle invites an investigation… and attracts a horde of relatives who want to join in the trough. Isn’t this how dynasty politics starts?

 

Tony Samson is Chairman and CEO, TOUCH xda.

ar.samson@yahoo.com

PSE index slips as US Treasury yields decline

By Arra B. Francia, Senior Reporter

LOCAL EQUITIES slipped Thursday as fears of a recession in the United States plagued sentiment both locally and overseas.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) dropped 0.37% or 29.79 points to close at 7,828.86 yesterday, although this was already a recovery from its fall to 7,624.20 intraday. The broader all-shares index likewise lost 0.47% or 22.57 points to 4,746.35.

“The inversion of the US Treasury bond yield curve last night sent western equities market off a cliff, incurring massive losses as the event has always been viewed as an early indicator that the economy maybe heading for a recession,” AAA Southeast Equities, Inc. Research Head Christopher John Mangun said in an e-mail on Thursday.

“Asian markets followed suit; however, it did not sustain as big a hit as its western peers.”

US Treasury yields fell Wednesday due to weak economic data from China and Germany, further showing proof of the global economy’s slowdown on top of US-China trade war concerns.

The inversion of the 10-year treasury note yields versus the two-year notes is the first since June 2007, which analysts take as an indication of a possible economic downturn.

The PSEi outpaced the performance of international markets, which were most affected by the yield curve inversion.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 3.05% or 800.49 points to 25,479.42. The S&P 500 index dropped 2.93% or 85.72 points to 2,840.60, while the Nasdaq Composite index tumbled 3.02% or 242.42 points to 7,773.94.

Asian indices were mixed, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 down by 1.21% or 249.48 points to 20,405.65. The Shanghai composite added 0.25% or 6.88 points to 2,815.80, while the Hang Seng index rose 0.62% or 157.73 points to 25,460.01.

“Despite today’s sharp recovery, it might be too soon to say if the index is out of the woods — especially since we already saw how the PSEi can react to US market movements,” Papa Securities Corp. Sales Associate Gabriel Jose F. Perez said in an e-mail on Thursday.

Back home, the counter for holding firms was the lone winner as it climbed 0.63% or 48.42 points to 7,707.24.

The rest declined, led by mining and oil which plunged 1.91% or 157.70 points to 8,072.33. Services fell 1.23% or 19.60 points to 1,572.36; financials shed 1.12% or 20.57 points to 1,805.71; property retreated 1.1% or 45.06 points to 4,027.94; while industrials slumped 0.64% or 70.18 points to 10,858.12.

Turnover climbed to P11.81 billion after some 789 million issues switched hands, almost double the previous session’s P6.56 billion.

Decliners swamped advancers, 149 to 54, while 42 names were unchanged.

Foreign investors were net sellers for the eighth straight session, with net outflows swelling to P1.75 billion from Wednesday’s P959.09 million.

Peso weakens on recession fears as US Treasury yield curve inverts

THE PESO depreciated on Thursday as fears of a global recession gripped financial markets following the inversion of the US Treasury yield curve.

The local currency closed at P52.545 versus the greenback on Thursday, shedding 26.5 centavos from Wednesday’s P52.28 finish.

The peso opened the trading session at P52.35 versus the dollar, which was also its strongest performance during the day. Its lowest point was recorded at P52.62 against the greenback.

Dollars traded surged to $1.661 billion from the $1.27 billion that exchanged hands the previous day.

“The peso weakened sharply on renewed global recession concerns after the US Treasury yield curve inverted overnight, with the 10-year yield briefly falling below the US 2-year yield,” a trader said via e-mail on Thursday.

Most Asian currencies weakened on Thursday as recession warnings from the US bond market dented investor risk appetite, cutting short a modest respite after the United States delayed some tariffs on imports from China.

The US Treasury 30-year bond yield slumped below 2% for the first time on Thursday as fears of a global recession gripped financial markets and drove investors towards safe haven assets.

Most regional units had appreciated on Wednesday as US President Donald Trump’s decision to delay tariffs eased tensions in the Sino-US trade war, as the currency markets also shrugged off weak numbers from a raft of Chinese data.

“Any positives from Trump’s partial delay in tariff imposition looks to be quickly forgotten. Overall, the climate remains stacked against the Asian currencies,” said OCBC Bank in a note, while underscoring growth worries and aversion to riskier assets.

Fresh global growth worries now warrant more monetary easing from the US Federal Reserve, while the persistent trade war pressure may also force Beijing to implement more aggressive stimulus steps to bolster growth.

Maybank analysts said in a note that given the complex state of geopolitical risks now, sharp swings in sentiment could be more common going forward.

The Indonesian rupiah weakened as much as 0.5% to 14,305 against the dollar despite a modest improvement in economic fundamentals.

Data from Indonesia’s statistics bureau showed Southeast Asia’s largest economy posted a smaller-than-expected trade deficit in July after two months of surpluses.

The Thai baht and the Malaysian ringgit lost as much as 0.2% each.

Indian and South Korean markets were closed for a holiday.

The Chinese yuan edged lower after posting its best intraday percentage gain in nearly eight weeks in the previous session on the Trump administration’s tariff delay decision.

However, optimism over a modest easing in trade tensions evaporated in no time as Trump tied protests in Hong Kong to a trade deal with Beijing, urging China to seek a human resolution to the city’s months-long political crisis.

The local currency might trade weaker today amid global risk-off sentiment, a trader said.

The trader expects the peso trading within a range of P52.40 and P52.70 today. — MTA with Reuters

San Miguel Beermen seek to close out TNT KaTropa

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

NOW UP 3-2 in their best-of-seven Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup final series, the San Miguel Beermen go for the jugular and close out the TNT KaTropa in Game Six today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Seized control of the series with a gutsy 99-94 come-from-behind win in Game Five on Wednesday, the Beermen now channel their focus on going for the clincher that would merit for them a second league title this season and move a step closer to a rare grand slam.

Import Chris McCullough pulled through for San Miguel in the end last time around, draining key baskets and holding his own on defense as they made a late charge and pulled the rug from under a stunned TNT squad.

Down by as much as 16 points, 85-69, with 10 minutes to go in the final frame, the Beermen outscored the KaTropa, 30-9, the rest of the way to hack out the win.

The game was tight inside the last two minutes after Mr. McCullough made two free throws with 1:46 left to narrow TNT’s lead, 94-93.

TNT had several chances to add on to its lead after but could not capitalize on them.

San Miguel got the ball back and called time out with 33 ticks left.

Off the cease-fire, the Beermen went to Mr. McCullough who scored on a layup with 26 seconds remaining to hand the lead to his team, 95-94.

TNT called timeout and set up a play for import Terrence Jones.

But the TNT import missed his layup, forcing the KaTropa to foul Mr. McCullough with 13 seconds left.

The San Miguel import scored a deuce anew from the charity stripe to make it a three-point lead, 97-94, in their favor.

TNT tried to get back in the game but the three-point attempt of Troy Rosario failed to hit the mark.

Two made free throws by Chris Ross after put the game away for the Beermen.

Mr. McCullough had 35 points and 22 rebounds for San Miguel with Terrence Romeo adding 22 points.

June Mar Fajardo finished with 16 points and 11 boards.

For TNT it was Mr. Jones who led with 35 points, 17 rebounds and eight assists.

Jayson Castro and Mr. Rosario followed with 18 and 16 points, respectively.

Now in a position to close things out, the Beermen are all in to getting the title in today’s game and not give the KaTropa anymore chance.

“We still have one more game to get. We’ll come ready to play, mentally locked in, and get it. We don’t want this to go to a Game Seven,” said a pumped-up McCullough, who played all 48 minutes in Game Five, postgame.

He was seconded by coach Leo Austria who said that while it is not going to be easy as they expect TNT to come back with dogged determination to stay alive, still if they would find themselves in a strong position to finish things in Game Six they would go for it.

Over at TNT, coach Bong Ravena lamented anew his team’s inability to put the finishing touches on the game and win.

“We let another one slip away. We know San Miguel is no ordinary opponent. They have been in this position so many times and know what to do while we are new to this. But still it should not stop us. We have to do a better job next time and learn from this game. We are not out of it. They just have the upper hand,” Mr. Ravena said.

San Miguel is looking for its 27th league title and angling to put itself to win another PBA grand slam, something it was in a position doing but failed to complete in 2017. It won a grand slam 30 years ago in 1989.

TNT, for its part, is out to get its eighth PBA title but first since 2015 (Commissioner’s Cup).

San Beda, Saint Benilde out to keep streaks alive

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

LEAGUE-leaders San Beda Red Lions and College of Saint Benilde Blazers go for their sixth straight victory in National Collegiate Athletic Association Season 95 when they return to action today against separate opponents at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

Currently sporting identical 5-0 records, the two remaining spotless teams in the ongoing NCAA season, the Lions and Blazers look to keep their impressive showing going against the Perpetual Help Altas (2-4) and Lyceum Pirates (5-1), respectively.

San Beda takes on Perpetual Help at 12 noon while CSB faces off with Lyceum at 4 p.m.

Playing in between at 2 p.m. are the Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers (3-4) and Mapua Cardinals (2-5).

The latest of the wins of the defending champions Lions came at the expense of rivals Letran Knights on a rare Saturday offering of the league on Aug. 10, winning, 70-66, to keep them unscathed.

San Beda had control of the contest from the start until Letran threatened late in the game which the former successfully fended off through its defense to preserve the win.

Guard Evan Nelle came up big for the Lions with a team-high 18 points to go along with seven rebounds and three assists.

Donald Tankoua had 15 while James Canlas and Calvin Oftana each had 11 points for San Beda.

Out to derail the Lions in their bid are the Altas, who are coming off a narrow 87-85 loss at the hands of Lyceum in an NCAA on Tour offering at Perpetual Help’s home gym in Las Piñas on Aug. 8.

SAINT BENILDE
Just like San Beda, CSB seeks to keep intact its unblemished record, which it further enhanced with an 82-77 victory over the Arellano Chiefs last Tuesday.

Despite being forced to a two-week break with three of their scheduled matches washed out by inclement weather, the Blazers showed no rust as they kept humming.

Justin Gutang, who hurt his knee in their last game a fortnight ago came back strong, posting all-around numbers of 12 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Foreign player Clement Leutcheu finished with a team-high 13 markers for Saint Benilde while Yankie Haruna had 11 points and eight boards.

Jimboy Pasturan was the other Blazer in double-digit scoring with 10 points.

After the game, CSB coach TY Tang credited his team’s offensive execution as key to their victory over Arellano.

“I think our offense carried us in this win. We moved the ball well and we knocked down our shots,” Mr. Tang said.

CSB’s opponent Lyceum is fresh from its victory over Perpetual Help last week, its fifth straight win that pushed it to third place to date.

Go For Gold rolls out partnership with Fiba in World Cup 2019

GO FOR GOLD has taken a bold initiative to create overwhelming enthusiasm among Filipino basketball fans in the coming Fiba World Cup 2019.

Making it possible is the partnership signed by Fiba with Go For Gold Philippines, which got the green light to run promotions related to the worldwide Fiba competitions in the Philippines until June 30, 2020.

“The theme would be to support our Gilas Pilipinas men’s basketball team in the Fiba World Cup and hopefully the Philippines does well in the tournament,” said Go For Gold godfather Jeremy Go.

For starters, Go For Gold hopes to generate more interest on the national basketball team by raffling off two tickets for a single winner to watch the Gilas squad live against Angola during the elimination round on Sept. 4 in Foshan, China.

Aside from taking on Angola, Gilas Pilipinas will also face Serbia and Italy in the preliminary group stages of the World Cup on Aug. 29–Sept. 15.

Raffle contest participants should follow the mechanics at the Facebook page of Go For Gold PH and Scratchit for a chance to win tickets to the PH-Angola match in an all-expense-paid trip.

The Philippines will be appearing in its second consecutive Fiba World Cup with Gilas headcoach Yeng Guiao forming a formidable team made up of Philippine Basketball Association stars whose goal is to at least reach the second round.

The joint effort of Fiba and Go For Gold to gain more backing for the participation of Gilas Pilipinas in the world stage was recently sealed by Go and James White, Fiba marketing head of sales.

“Fiba normally goes global, but this is the first time that Fiba will work with a local sponsorship. It was a creative idea, very smart,” said White during the contract signing at the Tektite Tower office of Powerball Marketing & Logistics Corp., the prime mover behind the Go For Gold program.

Go For Gold, a staunch supporter of basketball in the country, has a team in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League and the PBA D-League.

12 teams compete in PVL Collegiate Conference

THE PREMIER VOLLEYBALL League’s (PVL) Season 3 Collegiate Conference is set to open this Saturday (Aug. 17) featuring 12 of the best collegiate teams led by UAAP Season 81 Women’s Volleyball champions, the Ateneo De Manila University (ADMU) Lady Eagles, and the NCAA three-peat queens, the Arellano University (AU) Lady Chiefs.

The PVL Collegiate Conference will be running simultaneously alongside the ongoing 2019 PVL Open Conference to be able to give way to the Southeast Asian Games, which will open in November. Three matches will be played per game date with the main event getting streamed on iWant and sports.abs-cbn.com LIVE every 12 noon.

While defending champions University of the Philippines (UP) Lady Maroons are skipping this year’s edition, there is still is topnotch talent in the field. Joining the Lady Eagles in Group A are San Beda University (SBU) Lady Red Spikers, Adamson University (AdU) Lady Falcons, San Sebastian College-Recoletos (SSC-R) Golden Stags, Univ. of Perpetual Help System Dalta (UPHSD) Lady Altas, and the Colegio de San Juan De Letran (CSJL) Lady Knights. Meanwhile, AU will be heading Group B, which includes the Technological Institute of the Philippines (TIP) Lady Engineers, Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) Lady Pirates, Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws, and the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Golden Tigresses, and the College of St. Benilde (CSB) Lady Blazers.

The teams will play in a single round robin, with the top two of each pool meeting in a best-of-three crossover semifinal series. The winners in the semifinal round will also figure in a best-of-three series for the Gold Medal, while the losing teams will fight in a knockout match for the Bronze Medal.

Volleyball fans can expect their favorite players to be leading the charge for their favorite teams like Ponggay Gaston (ADMU), Regine Arocha (AU), Eya Laure (UST), Lycha Ebon (FEU), Bianca Tripoli (UPHSD), Joyce Sta. Rita (SSC-R), Ella and Nieza Viray (SBU), Rocelyn Hongria (LPU), Marie Simborio (CSJL), Rachel Austero (CSB), Chiara Permentilla (AdU), and Michelle Gamit (TIP).

Don’t miss the opening of the 2019 PVL Collegiate Conference this Saturday (August 17) with the third match streaming LIVE on iWant and sports.abs-cbn.com.

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