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Peso plunges against the dollar as Fed makes ‘insurance’ rate cut

THE PESO declined against the dollar on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve cut benchmark rates.

The local unit closed yesterday’s session at P51.20 versus the greenback, plunging by 31 centavos from its P50.89-per-dollar finish on Wednesday.

The peso traded weaker the whole day, opening the session at its best showing of P51.01 versus the greenback. Meanwhile, its intraday low stood at P51.23 against the US unit.

Trading volume climbed to $984.36 million from the $885.57 million that changed hands the previous day.

Traders attributed the depreciation of the peso to the pronouncements of Fed chair Jerome Powell following the two-day meeting of the central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee on July 30-31.

As widely expected by the market, the Fed decided to trim its policy rates by 25 basis points, its first in a decade. However, Mr. Powell said in a news conference following the meeting that the central bank had no plans of adjusting the rates further, as the latest cut was only done to adjust to economic conditions.

Previously, Mr. Powell hinted that the Fed will “act as appropriate” to sustain expansion as “crosscurrents” are weighing on the economy.

“The peso weakened after (Mr.) Powell emphasized that the 25-basis point US policy rate reduction was an ‘insurance cut’ against downside risks to the US economy and not as a precedent for further rate cuts as some market participants had expected,” a trader said in an e-mail.

Another trader said the market was “disappointed” since the July cut was seen as a start of the central bank’s easing cycle.

“The market was more aggressive than the Fed, and this was what highlighted in the meeting. That’s the reason why we saw a turnaround in the dollar against other currencies. Even dollar-peso mirrored that move,” the second trader added.

For today, the first trader expects the peso to move between P51.10 and P51.30, while the other gave a P51.10-P51.30 range.

Other Asian currencies weakened against the dollar on Thursday as the US Federal Reserve doused market expectations of a lengthy easing cycle after it delivered its first rate cut in over a decade.

The Indonesian rupiah was one of the hardest hit in the region, easing 0.5% to 14,085 per dollar.

“Against the dovish stances of other central banks, the US dollar has become a de facto strong currency on monetary policy divergences,” DBS Bank said in a note.

The Chinese yuan lost as much as 0.5% to its lowest level in six weeks. The country’s central bank kept its main policy rates on hold on Thursday, opting not to follow the Fed cut. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal with Reuters

Shares rise on PHL manufacturing activity report

LOCAL SHARES firmed up on Thursday, reversing losses seen at the start of the session as investors cheered the growth in the country’s manufacturing sector seen last month.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) bounced back 0.65% or 52.36 points to 8,098.16, managing to reverse losses incurred in the morning. The broader all-shares index likewise went up 0.29% or 14.45 points to 4,904.51.

“Our market massively outperformed the rest of its Asian peers. It could be due to the fact that manufacturing PMI data came in today with the Philippines’ new order growth at a six-month high,” AAA Southeast Equities, Inc. Research Head Christopher John Mangun said in an e-mail on Thursday.

IHS Markit Philippines Manufacturing Managers’ Index data released on Thursday showed that manufacturing growth accelerated for the third consecutive month in July to 52.1. The research firm said this was the strongest monthly reading so far in 2019.

The strong manufacturing data offset the negative sentiment at the start of trading, as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell hinted that the central bank’s rate cut might not be the beginning of a long series of reductions.

At its July 30-31 meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee reduced benchmark rates by 25 basis points, the first cut since 2008.

Wall Street indices fell following Mr. Powell’s remarks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.23% or 333.75 points to 26,864.27. The S&P 500 index slumped 1.09% or 32.80 points to 2,980.38, while the Nasdaq Composite index retreated 1.19% or 98.19 points to 8,175.42.

For Philstocks Financial, Inc., the PSEi’s decline in the morning caused investors to look for bargains near the market’s close.

“The local bourse ended higher…as investors hunted for bargains after the market declined below the 8,000 level,” the brokerage said in the market note, adding that SM Prime Holdings, Inc.’s gains helped the PSEi recover.

The Sy-led property developer’s shares jumped 4.11% to P38 each on Thursday, and was among the list of 20 most actively traded stocks for the day.

The services counter was the lone loser out of six sub-indices as it plunged 1.43% or 23.56 points to 1,620.79.

The rest went up, led by property which jumped 1.6% or 67.91 points to 4,302.24. Mining and oil climbed 1.09% or 86.06 points to 7,971.84; financials rose 0.9% or 16.59 points to 1,859.08; industrials went up 0.72% or 81.72 points to 11,334.24; while holding firms added 0.06% or 5.40 points to 7,849.76.

Decliners trumped advancers, 116 to 82, while 44 names remained flat.

Turnover stood at P6.66 billion after some 1.86 billion issues switched hands, lower than Wednesday’s P7.45 billion.

Foreign investors turned net buyers, albeit at a minimal P51.27 million, coming from the previous session’s P465.49-million net outflow. — Arra B. Francia

Broken

The Philippine National Police’s complaint of sedition/inciting to sedition, cyber libel, libel, obstruction of justice, and harboring a criminal against lawyers, priests, Vice-President Leni Robredo, and several opposition candidates for senator in last May’s elections is likely to make it to the courts. If it does, it will be one more instance that critics of the Duterte regime can cite to validate their view that only an international body can check human rights abuses in the Philippines because the justice system is not working as it should.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) complaint is based on the affidavit of one Peter Advincula, whom it had dismissed as a liar and criminal when he earlier alleged in video and in person that the family of President Rodrigo R. Duterte is deeply involved in the illegal drug trade. When he retracted that claim and instead said that the claims in the videos which he made and other allegations were lies and part of a wide-ranging conspiracy to discredit and oust Mr. Duterte from power and assure the victory of the opposition’s candidates for senator last May, the PNP took his word for it and filed the complaint before the Department of Justice (DoJ).

It was precisely on the argument that the Philippine justice system is intact and therefore functioning that former Duterte spokesperson Harry Roque and his successor Salvador Panelo condemned the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution urging the UN to look into the human rights situation in the Philippines. (Roque, incidentally, claimed the opposite when he brought the case of broadcaster Alex Adonis, who had been convicted of libel and imprisoned in 2008, to the UN Human Rights Committee in 2011.)

The assumption in Roque’s and Panelo’s statement is that “functioning” means able to do its work of apprehending criminal suspects and building cases against them (the PNP’s task), evaluating complaints and cases filed (the DoJ’s mandate), and the courts’ trying those accused of violating the law. In contrast, these elements of the justice system have been so weakened in certain failed states that they might as well not exist at all.

By that definition the system may indeed be, though somewhat tenuously, “functioning,” but whether it is impartial, and willing and able to fairly determine the guilt or innocence of anyone, particularly those whom the regime regards as its enemies, and to free the innocent and punish the guilty, is even more crucial than its just being there and its bureaucrats’ going about their duties. Justice, after all, means punishing only the guilty and absolving the innocent, as well as assuring the fitness of the penalty to the crime.

Partisanship is anathema to justice, and what is more than obvious in the PNP complaint is its use of Advincula and his videos as the excuse to silence some of the most consistent critics of the regime it serves, and to oust Vice-President Robredo so she can be replaced by a Duterte surrogate. The law and the institutions, means, and processes through which it is enforced are in that sense being used as weapons against regime critics and opponents as well as ordinary citizens exercising their right to free expression and the civic duty of holding government accountable.

Whether getting justice from the justice system is still possible is the key issue and needs to be asked at every stage of the process that supposedly guarantees justice to everyone.

The justice system’s being a virtual mockery of itself starts at the level of the police, whose alleged practice of planting evidence has become practically indisputable. The number of extrajudicial killings it is accused of at the very least also raises the question of whether, rather than being an impartial enforcer of the law, the police are instead acting as the instrument of the lawless violence favored by the provincial despotism now in control of the Philippine state.

The system malfunction continues at the DoJ level, where there are allegations that one’s political convictions and affiliations determine whether a case is filed against an individual or not, quite independently of the credibility of supposed witnesses and documentary and other evidence. It continues in the courts, in which too many judges err on the side of power and against the poor.

But in addition to this already reprehensible reality is the demonstrated capacity of the same system to be so partisan as to enable the powerful, the wealthy, and the well-connected to escape punishment even if convicted. The more recent demonstration of how broken the system is the case of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ partner and accomplice, Imelda Marcos, whose conviction on seven counts of graft has not led to her serving even one day of her sentence of six to 11 years for each count, and certainly not to her perpetual disqualification from public office. In contrast, her appeal for bail having been denied, opposition Senator Leila de Lima has been in detention for three years on drug charges based on the testimony of convicted felons.

Meanwhile, those responsible for the extrajudicial killing of thousands of individuals accused of offenses ranging from drug dealing, to aiding the armed rebellion, to being a human rights defender, a Lumad teacher, or a lawyer for the poor, have not even been identified, much less tried and penalized.

Deny it as those in power will, these are truths everyone including their allies know. The current debate on the reimposition of the death penalty is illustrative of that shared assumption among those who know only too well how the system can be manipulated to serve partisan ends.

The inclusion of plunder among the crimes punishable with death has been opposed by most senators and congressmen, with one of them, recently elected Senator Ramon Revilla, Jr., arguing that a plunder charge can be politicized. Accused of plunder in 2014, Revilla was exonerated early this year. His acquittal raised a number of questions, among them why he is being asked to return the money involved if he was indeed innocent. Those issues aside, however, his opposition to the inclusion of plunder among the offenses a restored death penalty would penalize is premised on the assumption that the justice system is not working as it should.

His colleagues in Congress share that reservation, with some arguing in so many words, as Revilla implied, that even if innocent an individual can be accused of plunder and can very easily be convicted or acquitted depending on one’s politics. It is a roundabout way of acknowledging that the so-called justice system, far from functioning to protect the innocent and punish the guilty, too often ends up condemning the innocent and exonerating and setting free even the most vicious criminals.

The justice system is broken due to the flagrant partisanship and transparent political agenda of those who are supposed to make it work and to fix it if it is malfunctioning. The PNP complaint against Vice-President Robredo and 35 others, in favor of which the DoJ will almost certainly decide, will not only loudly and clearly proclaim that fact to the rest of the world. It will also invite international responses similar to the UNHRC resolution. Apparently, however, that possibility has escaped the Duterte regime, so focused is it on silencing criticism and crushing the opposition so it can indefinitely stay in power.

 

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

www.luisteodoro.com

‘First thing we do,’ let’s have better lawyers

Probably the invitation got lost in the mail. Or likely the dog ate it. Anyway, not having received an invitation to the Legal Education Summit held last Wednesday and Thursday, I’ve sadly no concrete idea regarding its outcome. Nevertheless, were I there, the following would have been — just some — of my suggestions.

The elephantine topic, as always when it comes to discussions on legal education, is the Bar exam and how our law schools are unduly oriented towards it. That the Bar exam need improvement is to state the blindingly obvious. The question really is to improve it for what purpose? Another is, how to improve it?

The thing is, the Bar exam cannot be the supreme gatekeeper of legal standards or quality control. Like any government creation, such should only be subsidiary to the people that comprise the society that created it.

Of what use, for example, is making the exam more analytical, more philosophical, when you already have a passing percentage that hovers around 15-20% year in and year out? And people still complain about the quality of that 15-20%.

Clearly, the Bar is a necessity. A nuisance. But still a necessity. If even something like joining a law journal would require testing its applicants, then the logic of the Bar becomes evident.

What is important, however, is that the Bar not be exclusively relied on to determine quality but that legal education ensure that only those with quality take the Bar exam.

Hence, the first three suggestions: emphasize a humanities-based legal education; retain the PhilSat (Philippine Law School Admission Test); and ban the Bar Ops (Bar Operations).

The need for more philosophical, humanities based education is counter-intuitive, coming at a time when most law schools are preferring the specialization route. Nevertheless, the experience of developed countries is that the more complicated issues are better addressed by people with highly refined analytical skills which a humanities or liberal education (“liberal” as in humanities not leftist) provides. Many tech companies (like Google or Amazon, for example) prefer hiring humanities graduates for that reason. Finally, a humanities education provides a better understanding of human nature, of which the legal profession is substantially all about.

Hence, lessen the academic load but make it deeper and more rigorous.

But to do so requires students of really higher bandwidth or intelligence, hence the logical companion suggestion: The need to continue the PhilSat. As may have been made clear, the Bar exam is simply not equipped to serve as a filter, it is too top heavy and the filtering should happen at the beginning: at the admission of freshmen law students.

In this regard, the Legal Education Board is best placed to pre-regulate law students admission considering its detachment from commercial concerns that is natural for law schools. Yes, this would undoubtedly lead to far fewer law students but it should result in better law graduates.

And then, really: Ban the Bar Ops. It’s nothing but a distraction, cheapens the profession, and creates huge costs for law schools which are ultimately passed on to parents or students. I wrote about this more extensively in my BusinessWorld article “Let’s get rid of the Bar Ops” (Nov. 15, 2018).

Then the suggestions pertaining to the legal practice itself. As we’ve continually declared: lawyers have outgrown the courtroom.

Top global corporations increasingly look to the legal profession to fill senior management roles. In a March 2015 BusinessWorld article (“The new lawyer for an integrated ASEAN”), I observed: “The number of companies headed (or recently headed) by lawyers is perhaps reflective of the increasingly responsible and ethical modern business environment. A mere cursory list will include: Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Cisco, Toys ‘R Us, Nokia, Home Depot, Burger King, Pfizer, Fannie Mae, Delta Airlines, amongst others.”

Thus: Emphasize ASEAN. Many law schools focus on specializing in fields of international law that generally are of no direct value to Philippine society. Focus should be made on familiarizing ourselves with the municipal laws of ASEAN countries, as well as the Law of the Sea and maritime law (the Philippines being a maritime and archipelagic country).

Ban technology in the classroom. Considering the times, again counter-intuitive. It is also different from the issue of automation, which could profoundly affect the legal profession. But for now, the point is that students should learn the mental toughness that only memorization and deep analysis brings, of which technology such as laptops and tablets serve as mere distraction. Technology, of course, should be encouraged, for research and study: But in the home or the library, and not in the classroom.

Finally: Bifurcate the profession, either by competence or expertise. Britain’s solicitor/barrister model or medicine’s fellow/diplomate stratification are good models. The standards upon which to base the distinctions can be based on professional experience, educational attainment (e.g., JSD or Doctor of Juridical Science), MCLE (Mandatory Continuing Legal Education) compliance, publications made, and the like.

All that would at least be better than having lawyers of all trades but really masters of none.

 

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

Time to dream?

Traditional people think of time as a linear subject in a limited or given space. Using the chronological calendar, we aware of day one, day two, day three and so forth. We count the days, the hours and minutes. The clock follows a fixed pattern in minutes of 12 morning hours and 12 (afternoon and) night hours. Military time uses the 24-hour system. It is precise to the last second.

However, creative and imaginative individuals see time as circular in a broad, open, and infinite space. Time is not necessarily a straight line of past, present, and future. Thus, one can be freewheeling. It offers the possibilities of dreaming forward.

Their dreams are so clear and intense that they can virtually (almost) see, smell, taste, hear, and feel everything. They have moving dreams that are profoundly sad, frightening, bewildering, happy. While asleep, they tend to talk, sleepwalk, laugh, or cry.

In a trance or a dream, an individual with extra sensory perception (ESP) can “remember the future.” The dream would be considered clairvoyant or prophetic. This may seem odd but it happens.

A highly intuitive individual could solve complex problems or discover solutions while asleep. The answer comes as a “eureka” moment.

During the Alpha state, between sleep and semi-wakefulness, an automatic switch unlocks the brain’s data bank. Stored images of long forgotten memories flash onto the mind’s eye flickering like an old movie.

Dreams are the collective experiences of the past (and the future as in déjà vu.) In deep slumber, one’s imagination is free to explore other terrain, other dimensions — the imaginary world and the subconscious.

Most people nonchalantly say that they rarely dream. When they do, they recall indistinct forms and vague shadows. We all dream — in vivid color or dramatic black and white or blurry gray like abstract disjoined flashbacks from pre-war film clips.

We do not always remember our dreams unless we are suddenly awakened during the phase called REM (Rapid Eye Movement).

Psychologists say that one should keep a journal. It is possible to thread dreams to one another — like chapters in a book or sequences in a movie. Some dreams are “replays” of recent episodes in one’s daily life. Others are projections of the subconscious or surreal fantasies.

Hidden desires and repressed longings of the psyché emerge in symbolic form. Underlying problems, anxieties and fears, pervasive feelings appear in recurring, haunting dreams.

When people recall their dreams, they relate common experiences such as flying in the sky; falling into a dark tunnel or a pit; running after a speeding train and being unable to catch it; swimming against the current, sinking helplessly under the waves.

Dreaming of being naked amidst a crowd could indicate a feeling of inadequacy, vulnerability, or guilt. The individual could be afraid of being exposed and he/she is threatened by the possibility of disclosure.

Confusion is often depicted as being on a spinning carousel or a Ferris wheel. Climbing mountains and towers signify performance-anxiety in dealing with ambitious goals.

The phenomenon of déjà vu defies logic. There are individuals who, under hypnosis, can remember significant memories from a previous incarnation. They instantly recognize places or people they have never seen in this lifetime. Sometimes, the process of recognition provokes breathless inexplicable feelings of closeness or extreme dislike.

The accurate recollections of experiences may come in the form of dreams. Valid or not, these images may provide insights into an esoteric dimension

To the lay person, the symbolism and surrealism are perplexing. What appears to be is not necessarily so. Like an evanescent mirage or a translucent apparition in a desert.

Whenever one has recurring dreams, its means that an important issue or a lingering conflict needs resolution. Writing in the journal would certainly be a form of keeping track and eventually finding an answer. It would reveal hidden facets about ourselves that have been ignored or needed acknowledgment.

Dreams may unravel a puzzle, solve a mystery. By looking inward, one may glimpse an insight or see a flash of precious inspiration.

Who knows what the dreamer might discover beyond the realm of logic?

 

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

mavrufino@gmail.com

Suicide of Indian Coffee King V.G. Siddhartha should be a lesson

By Mihir Sharma

ON MONDAY, Indian entrepreneur V.G. Siddhartha asked his driver to bring him to a bridge close to the southern city of Mangaluru. Then, according to the driver, Siddhartha got out to take a walk. He was not seen again; his body was recovered on Wednesday morning.

In a typewritten note released by the news agency ANI, Siddhartha — founder of India’s largest chain of coffee shops, Café Coffee Day, and a prominent early investor in the successful IT services company Mindtree Ltd. — appeared to apologize for “failing to create the right profitable business model.” He said pressure from his private equity partners and other lenders, as well as harassment from the income tax department, had become unbearable.

We don’t know for certain which partners Siddhartha had in mind, or why they were allegedly “forcing” him to buy back shares. We do know that the income tax department had been pushing him; with typically bad taste, the taxmen attempted to rebut Siddhartha’s accusation of harassment by saying that they were only “protecting the interest of revenue” by blocking the entrepreneur’s access to his Mindtree shares at a time when he desperately needed liquidity to reduce his debt.

It’s not necessary to have an opinion on all of Siddhartha’s transactions to recognize how fragile the position of any entrepreneur is in today’s India. A flood of private equity money from abroad may appear to have made entrepreneurship attractive. But many of these funds want to be treated like debt-holders, with a minimum guaranteed return.

And the problem runs much deeper than financing. In the India in which I grew up, you couldn’t get a decent cup of coffee. In fact, if you wanted to meet someone, there was literally nowhere to do it. Siddhartha solved both those problems: Café Coffee Day, in India, is a symbol of air-conditioned civility. Its 1,700 brightly lit stores are an accepting and globalized environment accessible to young people in even the smallest and most fly-bitten Indian towns.

In Vienna, the city that invented coffeehouse culture, a bustling Café Coffee Day with its bright red upholstery stands proudly near the Opera and the legendary Café Mozart, where Graham Greene wrote The Third Man. India has produced few world-beaters in the past couple of decades; I’d argue Café Coffee Day is one of them.

And yet Siddhartha wrote in his note: “My intention was never to cheat or mislead any anybody, I have failed as an entrepreneur.” The tragedy is that he needed to emphasize that distinction. For the past eight years, ever since an anti-corruption movement seized the imaginations of India’s middle class and then was coopted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to smooth his path to office, India’s citizens and officials have constantly confused those two things — business failures and fraud. The working assumption on TV news shows and in drawing-rooms is always that anyone who failed using borrowed money defrauded their investors and the public.

Businessmen whose bets have gone bad must fear arrest as well as bankruptcy. In particular, as in many other countries, tax raids can be used as bludgeons against anyone politically exposed, even legitimate businessmen.

The income tax department operates through fear: People in business never know when inspectors will turn up or what they will do. In this case, Siddhartha’s troubles may not have been unrelated to the fact that he was the son-in-law of a politician once prominent in the opposition Indian National Congress party. The income tax department raided the homes and offices of another high-profile Congress politician in 2017, at precisely the time he was attempting to preserve an opposition government in Siddhartha’s home state of Karnataka. Tax officials now admit that their allegations against Siddhartha arose from those raids.

The government, staring at a fiscal hole equal to an entire percentage point of GDP, isn’t likely to let up on squeezing Indian business. The last federal budget included a slew of laws giving taxmen of all stripes even more power, including the power effectively to arrest on suspicion — in, of course, “the interest of the revenue.”

That’s a pity. India has few natural resources, a relatively unskilled population, not enough capital and a state that seems most efficient at being predatory. One of the few things the country has going for it is the energy and creativity of its entrepreneurs. We need more, not less, of the sort of businessman who can build a world-class brand and change millions of lives.

 

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Duterte threatens Negros martial law amid deaths

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte has threatened to put Negros Oriental province under martial rule to “quell lawless violence” there after four policemen were killed by suspected communist rebels last month, his spokesman said yesterday.

“He will use his emergency powers under the Constitution to quell the lawless violence engulfing the island, as well as to crush all forms of threats aimed to destroy the government,” presidential spokesman Salvador S. Panelo told reporters.

Mr. Duterte thinks members of the New People’s Army — the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines — “have gone overboard,” Mr. Panelo said. “Their killings have become brazen and unbridled where men in uniform, as well as civilians are murdered with impunity.”

Four intelligence cops were killed after they were ambushed by armed men in the village of Mabato in Ayungon town on July 18.

On July 13, an alleged squad leader of a mass supporter of the New People’s Army died after Army troops clashed with suspected communist rebels at the boundary of Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental.

At least 20 people have died in the province from July 18 to 27, with police blaming most deaths on the New People’s Army, according to the Philippine Star.

The police chief of Negros Oriental was relieved after the spate of killings, police spokesman Brigadier General Bernard Banac said on Wednesday.

Mr. Panelo said the land disputes in Negros have led to killings between claimants. Communists rebels have exploited the quarrels and turned the province into a quasi-state, he said.

“They have arbitrarily chosen who will own the lands subject of the controversies surrounding them,” he said.

Mr. Duterte would not hesitate to declare martial law on the island if the military and local government officials recommend it, he added. “Certainly, he will always follow the advice of those people in the know.”

The president has raised the reward money to P5 million from P3 million for the capture, dead or alive, of the policemen’s killers, Mr. Panelo said in a statement late Wednesday.

Mr. Duterte will “obey the constitutional command to serve and protect the Filipino people at any cost, and to fiercely save the republic from imminent ruin.”

Defend Negros, a formation of Manila-based Negrenses, opposed any plans to put the island under martial law.

“We strongly oppose any proposals from the military and plans from the Duterte administration to declare martial law in Negros in response to the spate of killings that has claimed the lives of civilians, and spawned unending human rights violations across the region,” the group said in a statement.

“A militarist solution such as the declaration of martial law, and more tyrannical actions, would never be the solution to the alarming situation in Negros,” they said. “Heed our appeal: Do not use our inconsolable grief to impose yet another brutal state policy that would later on put more lives in peril.” — Arjay L. Balinbin

Henchman of Bin Laden family to be deported — BI

THE BUREAU of Immigration (BI) will deport a Jordanian alleged to be a former aide of Osama Bin Laden’s brother-in-law, it said in a statement yesterday.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime H. Morente identified the foreigner as Mahmoud Afif Abdeljalil, 51, whom authorities arrested on July 4 for illegally entering the country.

Abdeljalil has no record of arrival since he was arrested and deported from the country in 2003 “for being an undesirable alien,” Mr. Morente said, adding that he had used a fictitious name and falsified public documents.

The bureau said the Jordanian had claimed to have returned to the Philippines in 2007 and admitted he was deported in 2003 for having an expired visa and for being involved in clandestine terrorist activities as a Palestinian behind the name of Mahmood Afif.

Abdeljalil served as the point man of Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, a Saudi businessman and Bin Laden’s brother-in-law, for the management of charity organizations that funneled money to Al Qaeda, a terrorist organization founded by Bin Laden, and the Abu Sayyaf Group, when he was arrested in 2003, the bureau said.

The Abu Sayyaf, the most violent terrorist group in the Mindanao region, uses terror for profit and to promote jihadist agenda, and engages in kidnapping for ransom, bombings, assassinations and extortion, according to the US National Counterterrorism Center.

While Mr. Khalifa was killed in 2007, Abdeljalil continued providing financial assistance to the Abu Sayyaf using several mosques and Madrasa schools that received funding from Al Qaeda, according to the bureau.

Monitoring of the Jordanian’s activities started when he and his Algerian companion were flagged down at a military checkpoint in Zamboanga in August last year. Mr. Morente ordered his arrest after it was confirmed that he was illegally staying in the Philippines.

Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana earlier said the military had identified at least two of the seven foreign jihadists who are grooming locals to become suicide bombers in the Mindanao region.

The nationalities of the foreign terrorists linked to Islamic State (IS) are Egyptian, Malaysian, Indonesian and Singaporean, he said, adding that the foreign jihadists were with the group of Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan on the island of Jolo in southern Philippines.

Abu Sayyaf leader Sawadjaan, who is believed to have taken over the leadership of IS in the Philippines, allegedly masterminded the bombing of a Catholic cathedral in Jolo in January, killing 23 people and wounding about 100 more.

This was one of the few major instances where suicide attacks were used in the predominantly Catholic nation. Another was a van blast at a military checkpoint on the island of Basilan in July 2018, where at least 10 people died.

IS has also claimed responsibility for the June 28 attack near a military camp in Sulu province. The military later identified one of the two suicide bombers as the first Filipino to have participated in the tactic. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

Carpio’s anti-China stance won’t affect his nomination

ASSOCIATE JUSTICE Antonio T. Carpio’s anti-China stance in its sea dispute with the Philippines will not affect his nomination for chief justice, presidential spokesman Salvador S. Panelo told a briefing yesterday.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte, who has sought closer investment and trade ties with Beijing, won’t be affected by the magistrate’s views on the territorial dispute when he appoints the next chief justice, his spokesman said.

Chief Justice Lucas P. Bersamin will retire on Oct. 18. Mr. Carpio, who has been automatically nominated for the post, will retire on Oct. 26, a week after Mr. Bersamin steps down.

Mr. Carpio is a leading critic of China in the sea dispute with the Philippines over the South China Sea, and this will be his fourth nomination for the post.

“It doesn’t matter to him,” Mr. Panelo said of Mr. Duterte. “What is important is he is highly qualified for the delicate job.”

Mr. Bersamin was appointed to the post in November last year, replacing retired Chief Justice Teresita J. Leonardo-De Castro.

Mr. Bersamin is the third most senior justice in the Supreme Court, after Mr. Carpio and Diosdado M. Peralta who also got an automatic nomination.

The three other senior associate justices who were automatically nominated for the post were Estela M. Perlas-Bernabe, Marvic Mario Victor F. Leonen and Benjamin S. Caguioa.

The nominees may choose to decline their nomination.

“The discretion to appoint the chief justice and for that matter any justice of the Supreme Court lies with the president, and he considers all factors in choosing the nominee,” Mr. Panelo said.

China claims sovereignty over more than 80 percent of the South China Sea based on its so-called nine-dash line drawn on a 1940s map.

It has been building artificial islands in the disputed Spratly Islands and setting up installations including several runways.

Mr. Carpio last week said China does not own and control the South China Sea, contrary to Mr. Duterte’s claim in justifying his foreign policy stance.

Mr. Duterte in his annual state of the nation address to Congress last month said the Philippines is not in a position to assert its rights in the disputed sea because China is in possession of it.

He blamed Benigno S. C. Aquino III, his predecessor, for allegedly giving way to China after a 2012 standoff in Scarborough Shoal that later allowed the regional power to occupy the shoal.

Mr. Aquino, sued China before an international arbitration tribunal over its territorial claims, and won. He also strengthened Philippine alliance with the US to try to check China’s expansion in the main waterway. — Arjay L. Balinbin

PFL: Ceres vs Kaya this weekend

ROUND-TWO collision between top-flight teams Ceres-Negros FC and Kaya FC-Iloilo in the ongoing season of the Philippines Football League headlines this weekend’s league fixtures.

Set for Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Aboitiz Pitch in Lipa City, Batangas, Ceres and Kaya renew their rivalry with solo leadership in the standings at stake.

Both Ceres (7-1-0) and Kaya (7-1-1) have 22 points but on the strength of better goal difference and win over the second-placed team, Ceres is currently number one.

The “Busmen” beat Kaya, 2-1, in their first encounter on July 10.

Bienvenido Maranon scored a brace in defending league champion Ceres’ victory which saw them overcoming being a goal down on their way to the win over Copa Paulino Alcantara winner Kaya.

Jovin Bedic accounted for Kaya’s lone goal in said game.

Other game this weekend will see Mendiola FC 1991 (2-1-6) battles Global Cebu FC (1-0-6) at 4 p.m. on Saturday and Green Archers United FC (4-3-4) against Philippine Air Force FC (1-1-8) at 5 p.m. on Sunday. Both games will also be played at the Aboitiz Pitch. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Duterte open to terminating visa-on-entry for Chinese tourists

PRESIDENT RODRIGO R. Duterte is open to the suggestion of Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. to put an end to the “visa upon arrival” policy for Chinese tourists. “The President will consider the proposal of the Secretary,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador S. Panelo said during a press briefing at the Palace on Thursday when sought for comment on the issue. Mr. Panelo said he personally agrees with the proposal of Mr. Locsin. “Kailangan talaga bini-vet (We really need to vet),” he said, and makes a comparison that Filipinos have a hard time when applying for a visa. Mr. Locsin — reacting to National Security Adviser Hermogenes C. Esperon, Jr.’s statement that the influx of Chinese nationals into the country is a security threat — said in a Twitter post last Wednesday: “We need to put an end to visas upon arrival; all visas should be issued by consular offices after vetting. We must take extra care in outsourcing any part of the visa application process, picking only the most reputable worldwide.” — Arjay L. Balinbin

NBA 3X Philippines at SM Mall of Asia Music Hall and PICC Forum Tent

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

THREE-ON-THREE basketball, National Basketball Association-style, takes place this weekend with the staging of this year’s edition of NBA 3X Philippines.

A two-day event from Aug. 3 to 4 at the at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall and the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) Forum Tent, NBA 3X Philippines, presented by AXA, will once again showcase a competitive 3-on-3 tournament featuring men’s and women’s teams with interactive fan activities and authentic NBA entertainment.

Enhancing this year’s edition of the event is the presence of NBA legend Muggsy Bogues and Denver Nuggets guard Monte Morris, who flew into the country early this week, along with 2019 NBA Champion Toronto Raptors mascot, the Raptor.

First held in 2011, NBA 3X Philippines consists of divisions for boys (under-13, under-16, under-18, and open category), girls (under-18 and open category), an invitation-only Celebrity Division featuring local personalities, and an AXA division exclusive to employees and distributors.

“I’m excited to experience the lively basketball culture of the Philippines and witness their unique style of play. NBA 3X will set an amazing atmosphere for fans to celebrate the game,” said Mr. Morris.

“Returning to the Philippines is a great opportunity to reconnect with the passionate fans. As the game continues to evolve, I’m eager to see how this translates to the 3-on-3 competition and look forward to a highly entertaining weekend of basketball lifestyle,” said Mr. Bogues, a returning Manila visitor, who was in the country back in 2013 also for the NBA.

For more information on NBA 3X Philippines 2019 and the registration process, fans can visit www.nba3x.com/philippines and follow on Facebook and Twitter.

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