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Early exit

Caroline Wozniacki didn’t exactly have a good runup to the French Open. In fact, her groundwork for the second major tournament of the year was snagged by a spate of injuries that, among other things, compelled her to retire at the Madrid and Italian Opens. Still, she remained confident in her capacity to at least live up to her standing as the 13th seed. Even as she failed to do better than reach the quarterfinals twice in 11 previous stints at Roland Garros, she believed that all her hard work would pay off; if nothing else, it’s how and why she claimed the Australian Open last year.

At first glance, Wozniacki’s predilection for precision appears well suited for the French Open. More an immovable object than an irresistible force, she makes up with doggedness her relative lack of pace. In hindsight, however, red clay has shown the opposite; the slower surface has allowed opponents to keep rallies going, but with more — and, often, far more — power. And for all her relentlessness, it has proven to be a handicap too large to offset. Which, in a nutshell, was why she found herself crashing out in the first round the other day.

Significantly, Wozniacki looked good early on in her opener at Court Philippe Chatrier — so good, to be sure, that she handed unseeded Veronika Kudermetova a bagel in the first set. And then, for some reason, she lost momentum quickly; she made a whopping 18 unforced errors and could do no better than win three games apiece in the second and third sets. She was wistful in the aftermath, unsure of the causes of her mediocre output. “Definitely not the best match I’ve ever played,” she deadpanned. “You work hard, and you want to see results.”

Wozniacki will keep trying, of course. She doesn’t know what giving up — or even tempering her own expectations — means, never mind that she suffers from rheumatoid arthritis. As she noted in her post-mortem, “I just have to try and stay positive. Obviously, it’s not as easy to stay positive when things aren’t going your way. But I think that’s when you really need to.” Indeed. She’s a grinder, steadfast and self-assured, and quick to find motivation in setbacks. She’ll be back, and it’s simply a matter of when.

 

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994.

Sicilian assault

 

Ivory Coast Rapid
Abidjan, Ivory Coast
May 8-10, 2019

Final Standings

1. Magnus Carlsen NOR 2861, 7.5/9

2. Hikaru Nakamura USA 2761, 6.0/9

3-4. Wesley So USA 2754, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave FRA 2780, 5.5/9

5. Ding Liren CHN 2805, 5.0/9

6. Wei Yi CHN 2736, 4.5/9

7-8. Veselin Topalov BUL 2740, Sergey Karjakin RUS 2752, 3.0/9

9-10. Bassem Amin EGY 2704, Ian Nepomniachtchi RUS 2773, 2.5/9

Time Control: 25 minutes play-to-finish with 10 seconds added to your clock after every move

Ivory Coast Blitz
Abidjan, Ivory Coast
May 11-12, 2019

Final Standings

1. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave FRA 2780, 12.0/18

2. Magnus Carlsen NOR 2861, 11.5/18

3. Hikaru Nakamura USA 2761, 11.0/18

4. Ian Nepomniachtchi RUS 2773, 10.5/18

5. Sergey Karjakin RUS 2752, 9.5/18

6-7. Wesley So USA 2754, Ding Liren CHN 2805, 8.5/18

8. Wei Yi CHN 2736, 7.5/18

9-10. Veselin Topalov BUL 2740, Bassem Amin EGY 2704, 5.5/18

Time Control: Five minutes play-to-finish with three seconds added to your clock after every move

Combined Standings
(Rapid points are counted double)

Final Standings

1. Magnus Carlsen, 26.5/36 ($37,500)

2-3. Hikaru Nakamura, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, 23/36 ($22,500 each)

4. Wesley So, 19.5/36 ($15,000)

5. Ding Liren, 18.5/36 ($12,500)

6. Wei Yi, 16.5/36 ($10,000)

7-8. Ian Nepomniachtchi, Sergey Karjakin, 15.5/36 ($7,500 each)

9. Veselin Topalov, 11.5/36 ($7,500)

10. Bassem Amin, 10.5/36 ($7,500)

The 2019 edition of the Grand Chess Tour features a total of eight tournaments in the circuit with five in Rapid/Blitz format and three in Classical Chess. The calendar is as follows:

Ivory Cost Rapid & Blitz

May 6-13, 2019

Croatia Classical

June 24-July 9, 2019

Paris Rapid & Blitz

July 26-August 2, 2019

St. Louis Rapid & Blitz

August 8-15, 2019

Sinquefield Cup Classical

August 15-30, 2019

Superbet (Bucharest, Romania) Rapid & Blitz

Nov. 4-11, 2019

Tata Steel India Rapid & Blitz

Nov. 20-27, 2019

London Grand Chess Tour Finals Nov. 30-Dec. 10, 2019

The tour kicked off with the Rapid/Blitz Tournament in Ivory Coast, and Magnus Carlsen continued his good form with five wins and four draws for 7.5/9 in the Rapid portion. In the Blitz section he slowed down a bit and in fact lost two games to Vachier-Lagrave but still finished a close second to MVL. Overall, in the combined standings (rapid section games are counted double), it was Magnus with 26.5/36, 3.5 points ahead of Nakamura and Vachier-Lagrave who were tied for second. Wesley So was in 4th place.

Ever since his London world championship match against Caruana last year Magnus has been playing a lot of Sicilians with Black with great success. Here in the Ivory Coast he took it one step further — he responded 1…c5 100% of the time facing 1.e4.

In the Blitz portion of the event he played nine games with Black in 6 of which his opponent played 1.e4. There were 2 Sicilian Alapins (you know, 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3) of which he won one, 1 Sicilian Rossolimo (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5), drawn, and 3 Sveshnikov Sicilians, and here he also won one. Total is a pretty impressive two wins and four draws against elite opposition.

In the Rapid section it was even more impressive. He played four games with Black, got to play the Sicilian in all four, and won all of them. A 100% score! Let me show you some of his games.

Karjakin, Sergey (2773) — Carlsen, Magnus (2867) [B30]
Ivory Coast Rapid Abidjan (4.2), 09.05.2019

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3

Last Thursday we discussed the Svidler-Carlsen game from Grenke where the GM from St. Petersburg avoided the Sveshnikov with 3.Nc3, same thing that Karjakin does here. The games are quite similar.

3…e5 4.Bc4 Be7 5.d3 d6 6.Nd2

Same as in the Svidler game. The knight wants to go to e3 via f1.

6…Nf6 7.Nf1 Nd7

This knight goes to b6 to destroy the powerful white bishop on c4. There are two ways to meet this threat. Either 8.Nd5 to destroy the Black knight when it gets to b6, or 8.a3 to give his bishop a retreat square to safe haven. Svidler chooses the first plan, Karjakin goes for the second.

8.a3

[8.Nd5 Nb6 9.Nxb6 axb6 10.c3 was how the game last Thursday went. Carlsen mated White in 33 moves. Svidler, P. (2737)-Carlsen, M. (2845) Karlsruhe/Baden Baden 2019]

8…Nb6 9.Ba2 0–0 10.Ne3 Be6 11.Ncd5 Bg5

With Black’s pawns on c5, d6 and e5 this bishop does not have much scope so it is a good idea to exchange it for another piece, preferably his counterpart dark-squared bishop.

12.0–0 Bxe3

Since he cannot exchange his bishop for its opposite number on c1 Carlsen decides to undermine the white’s knight’s outpost on d5.

13.fxe3

[13.Bxe3 Bxd5 14.exd5 Ne7 15.c4 is ok for Black. He will continue with …f7–f5 and then go for a kingside assault. Smirnov,V (2411)-Zhigalko,S (2316) Minsk 2002 1/2 33]

13…Ne7 14.c4 f5 15.Bd2 Bxd5 16.exd5 Nd7 17.b4 b6 18.Bb3 Ng6 19.Ba4 Qe7 20.Bc6 Rad8 21.Qa4 Nf6 22.bxc5

What is wrong with capturing the “free” pawn on f5? You will see why next move when Karjakin really does take it.

22…bxc5 23.Rxf5? e4 24.Qc2 Ng4 25.Raf1 Rxf5 26.Rxf5 Qh4

27.h3 Nxe3! 28.Bxe3 Qe1+ 29.Kh2 Qxe3 30.dxe4 Nf4

Black will follow-up with either …Ne2 (targeting g3) or …Rb8 and penetration down the b-file.

31.Qb2 Qxe4 32.Bd7?

Setting a trap, hoping for 32…Rxd7 33.Qb8+ followed by checkmate.

32…g6!

Karjakin loses a crucial piece.

33.Rf6 Nd3 34.Qc3

[34.Qb7 Qe5+]

34…Rxd7 35.Re6 Qf4+ 0–1

Wei, Yi (2737) — Carlsen, Magnus (2867) [B22]
Ivory Coast Rapid Abidjan (9.1), 10.05.2019

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 Qa5!?

You read from your beginner’s books that you shouldn’t bring the queen out early because the queen can easily be chased by pawns and minor pieces in the opening. Every time your opponent develops a piece with tempo while you have to move the queen, you fall one tempo behind. That’s very dangerous in the opening.

As I have been continuously preaching that is a fallacy, especially in the faster time controls. Bring your queen out early but choose the circumstances, don’t let it get pushed around by your opponent’s pieces, and more often than not you will be able to get a king attack going on.

By the way, playing …Qa5 in response to the Sicilian used to be a specialty of former junior standout Robert Arellano. Wonder how he is doing now?

4.Na3 e6 5.Nc4 Qd8 6.d4 d5 7.exd5 exd5 8.Nce5 Bd6 9.Be3 c4 10.b3 cxb3 11.axb3 Nge7 12.Bd3 Bf5 13.0–0 0–0 14.Bf4 Bxe5 15.Nxe5 Nxe5 16.Bxf5 N5g6 17.Bg5 Qc7 18.Bxg6 Nxg6 19.Qf3 Qd7 20.Ra5 b5 21.Rfa1 h6 22.Bd2 Rfe8 23.Qd3 a6!

Black’s offbeat 3rd move made Wei Yi use up a lot of time, something he did not have a lot of this being a Rapid game. Anyway, now he shouldn’t have accepted the “free” pawn on a6.

24.Rxa6?! Rxa6 25.Rxa6 Nf4! 26.Qf3

[26.Bxf4 Re1+]

26…Qf5! 27.Ra1 Ne2+ 28.Kf1 Qc2 29.Qxe2?

Wei Yi thought that giving up his queenside pawns with 29.Be3 Nxc3 30.g3 Qxb3 is an easy win for Black and decides to gamble a little, giving up his queen for rook and knight. In reality after 31.Ra7! things are not so simple for Black.

29…Rxe2 30.Kxe2 Qe4+ 31.Kf1

Wei Yi now tries to build a fortress which hopefully Black cannot penetrate. Magnus Carlsen once said he doesn’t believe in fortresses and he now goes on to prove it.

31…Qc2 32.Ke2 Qxb3 33.Rc1 Qc4+ 34.Ke3 Qc7 35.f4 Qe7+ 36.Kf2 Qe4 37.Re1 Qd3 38.Re2 f6 39.Ke1 Kf7 40.Re3 Qb1+ 41.Kf2 h5

Yes, that’s the way to break fortresses. Make the war be on two fronts, don’t concentrate on only one.

42.h3 h4 43.Be1 Kg6 44.Rf3 Kf5 45.Ke2 Qe4+ 46.Kf1 b4 47.cxb4 Qxd4 48.Bxh4 Qc4+ 49.Kg1 Qxb4 50.Kf1 Qc4+ 51.Kg1 Qe2 52.Bf2 d4 53.Bxd4 Qd1+ 54.Kh2 Qxd4 55.Rf1 g6 56.Rf3 Qd2 57.Rf1 Ke4 58.Rf3 Qe2 59.Rg3 Qh5 60.Rg4 Ke3 0–1

 

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

Peso drops on positive US data

THE PESO declined slightly against the dollar on Wednesday, dragged by upbeat consumer sentiment data in the United States as well as persistent risk-off sentiment due to the trade war between the US and China.

The local unit closed the session yesterday at P52.35 versus the greenback, five centavos weaker than the P52.30 finish on Tuesday.

The peso opened the session at its best showing of the day at P52.33 versus the dollar. Meanwhile, its intraday low stood at P52.43.

Trading volume thinned to $873.2 million from the $913.8 million that changed hands the previous session.

A trader said the peso was weaker versus the dollar following the greenback’s ascent overnight due to higher-than-expected US consumer confidence data.

The consumer confidence index of the Conference Board climbed to a six-month high of 134.1 in May, signalling strong job market and rising wages in the US.

“The dollar-peso traded higher throughout the day since there was still risk-off sentiment in the market given that trade tensions are still looming around and are still in the headlines,” the trader said in a phone interview.

“The peso weakened today on heightened global trade uncertainties after US President Trump intended to address its trade imbalances with Japan and noted that he is not yet leaning towards a trade deal with China,” another trader said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the first trader said news about the US blaming Iran for the attack of four commercial cargo ships off the coast of the United Arab Emirates would “somehow add to the risk-off sentiment already in the market.”

For today, both traders expect the peso to trade between P52.25 and P52.45.

“The local currency might weaken ahead of the BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) reserve requirement cut effectivity on Friday,” the second trader said. — KANV

PHL shares climb on bargain hunting after slump

By Arra B. Francia, Senior Reporter

SHARES rose on Wednesday as investors went bargain hunting after several days of losses.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) climbed 0.47% or 36.46 points to 7,797.75. The broader all-shares index also added 0.3% or 14.74 points to 4,804.79.

“PSEi closed higher on the back of bargain hunting fuelled by a better competitive ranking from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD),” Philstocks Financial, Inc. said in a market note on Wednesday.

The Philippines went up four notches in the 2019 IMD World Competitiveness Ranking, although it remains to be one of the lowest compared to Asian peers.

Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan, meanwhile, said investors chose to buy local shares due to negative sentiment abroad.

“As regional markets grappled with the 10-year US Treasury yield at 19-month lows and China restricting offshore debt offering, investors continued buying into the local bourse in the meantime,” Mr. Limlingan said.

Weakness in US Treasury yields sent Wall Street lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.93% or 237.92 points to 25,347.77, while the S&P 500 index shed 0.84% or 23.67 points to 2,802.39. The Nasdaq Composite also went down 0.39% or 29.66 points to 7,607.35.

Most Asian indices also ended lower, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 down by 1.21% or 256.77 points to 21,003.37. The Hang Seng index retreated 0.57% or 155.10 points to 27,235.71. In contrast, the Shanghai Composite eked out gains of 0.16% or 4.79 points to 2,914.70.

Back home, sectoral indices were equally split between gainers and losers. The industrials counter led those in positive territory, ending 1.29% or 143.73 points higher at 11,283.98. Holding firms rose 1.05% or 77.96 points to 7,464.95, while property went up 0.03% or 1.53 points to 4,237.81. Meanwhile, mining and oil went down 1.47% or 106.94 points to 7,140.65. Financials slumped 0.2% or 3.52 points to 1,693.03, while services also shed 0.2% or 3.45 points to 1,652.72.

Some 650.06 million issues switched hands valued at P6.11 billion, much lower than Tuesday’s P18.02-billion turnover.

Advancers and decliners were both at 92, while 52 names were unchanged.

Foreign investors continued to dump local stocks, as net foreign selling persisted for the 18th straight session at P304.87 million. This is, however, lower than the previous session’s net outflow worth P632.59 million.

“With MSCI (rebalancing) out of the way, issue now that continues to linger would be how US markets perform tonight, more so that the Dow and S&P closed in the red last night. A solid break above the 7,800 area puts the next resistance around 8,000,” Papa Securities Corp. Sales Associate Gabriel Jose F. Perez said in an e-mail on Wednesday.

Sotto: No takers for ‘headache’ Senate committees

SENATE President Vicente C. Sotto III said on Wednesday six committee chairmanships have yet to be filled in the 18th Congress.

Mr. Sotto, in an interview with ANC on Wednesday, said the matter of who will be assigned to the committees on finance, ways and means, education, justice, blue-ribbon, and public services is “really giving us a headache.”

“There are committees that two or three members of the Senate would want, but then again there are incumbents. Some of the committees that are open, there are no takers,” he said.

“The finance committee, nobody wants to take it, so we are going to elect Senator Sonny Angara to the finance committee whether he likes it or not,” Mr. Sotto said in the ANC interview, the transcript of which his office e-mailed to reporters on Wednesday.

“Also the ways and means committee, nobody wants to take it, so we will most probably elect who we think would be good for the job,” he also said, adding however that Senator-elect Imee R. Marcos has shown interest in heading the committee, largely in charge of revenue generating measures.

The ways and means committee, under the chairmanship of Senator Juan Edgardo Angara, presided over the legislation of RA 10963, or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion, and RA 11213, or the Tax Amnesty Act, which forms part of the administration’s comprehensive tax reform program.

Senator Grace S. Poe-Llamanzares, current chair of the public services committee, appealed to incoming senators to respect the “equity of the incumbent” tradition in the chamber, but said she is also willing to head the blue-ribbon committee.

“Kung sino ‘yung mga nauna, meron naman silang equity of the incumbent, so sana respetuhin nila,” Senator Poe told reporters in a chance interview, Wednesday. (Senators who were here first enjoy the equity of the incumbent, so I hope they respect that).

“Para sa akin, gusto ko ng blue-ribbon committee, pero dahil sa paggalang sa aking kasama na si Senator Gordon, hindi ko naman ipagpipilitan.” (For me, I’d like the blue-ribbon committee, but out of respect to my colleague, Senator Gordon, I will not insist).

Senator Richard J. Gordon, for his part, remained firm in keeping both the committees on blue-ribbon and justice. “Ang sabi niya kung papayag ako makipagpalitan sa public services, gusto niyang makuha ‘yan pero wala naman akong sinasabi na ibibigay ko,” he said in a separate interview with reporters. (She said if I’m okay with trading with public services, she’ll take the blue-ribbon committee, but I never said I’ll give it). — Charmaine A. Tadalan

House approves Murang Kuryente Act

THE HOUSE of Representatives ratified on Wednesday the proposed “Murang Kuryente Act.”

House Bill 8869 proposes to lower power rates by, among other measures, the transfer of billions of pesos worth of the Malampaya fund to offset the National Power Corp.’s Stranded Contract Cost and Stranded Debts, which are currently passed on to power consumers through the Universal Charge.

Further, the bill provides further exploration, development, and exploitation of energy resources to lower electricity rates.

The counterpart Senate Bill 1950 was approved by the Senate on Tuesday.

The House also ratified House Bill No. 6276 and Senate Bill No. 2098, or the proposed “Anti-Obstruction of Power Lines Act.” — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras

Ballot layout on party-list questioned

LAWMAKERS on Wednesday questioned the layout of the ballots used in the recent midterm elections which placed the list of party-list groups on the back.

They cited the design of the ballot as a possible reason why around 20 incumbent party-list groups in the 17th Congress were not able to land a spot in the next 18th Congress.

“If I’m not mistaken, 27 million total votes for party-list elections out of 63 billion registered voters. Sobrang bagsak ‘yung boto sa party-lists compared nu’ng 2016 elections (The votes for party-lists really declined compared with [the results of] the 2016 elections), and that caused millions of disenfranchisement sa aming (among our) constituencies,” Ako-Bicol Party-List Rep. Alfredo A. Garbin Jr. said at a press conference at the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

The Commission on Elections proclaimed 51 winners in the party-list elections, with the top two party-list groups getting three seats, while six other organizations got two seats each and 43 other groups got one seat each.

AGRI Party-List Rep. Orestes T. Salon said, for his part, “I’m not sour-graping, but in 2016 we had more than 800,000 votes, but this 2019 we only had 133,000 votes. I don’t know what happened to us.”

Other groups that failed to keep their seats in Congress are Akbayan and Makabayan bloc member Anakpawis.

Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez said he will still verify the layout of the ballots for the 2010 and 2013 elections. But he acknowledged that party-list groups were on the front of the 2016 ballot.

Nevertheless, Mr. Jimenez said teachers who acted as election board members were trained and informed of the proper protocol. “Sa training ng Comelec nagbigay kami ng information sa kanila na ang balota ay two-sided (We informed them that the ballots are two-sided during our training). So we expected that the teachers themselves were able to give these instructions.”

He added: “The problem is if you are looking at the partylist election, it (is) surprising that you will not look at both sides of the ballot and assume that there was no party-list component yung balota (on the ballot).”

For his part, Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting board member Arwin A. Serrano said the Comelec already announced to the public last February the layout of the ballots.

“‘Yung ballot face po ng ating balota, as early as February nailabas na po ‘yan ng Comelec. So alam na po ‘yan ng ating pong general public, ‘yung likod, du’n nakalagay po ‘yung ating party-list,” he said. (Comelec already conveyed this information to the public last February. So the general public already knew that the party-list groups are placed on the back). — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras

Senator: Bill against street harassment of women, LGBT has lapsed into law

Hontiveros
SENATE PRIB/JOSEPH VIDAL

By Charmaine A. Tadalan, Reporter

THE measure penalizing gender-based street harassment against women and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community has lapsed into law, Senator Risa N. Hontiveros-Baraquel said.

“This is a big victory and a major push back against the growing ‘bastos culture’ in our streets and communities,” Ms. Baraquel, chair of the Senate committee on women, said in a statement, Wednesday.

“Now, women and LGBTs have a strong policy instrument to protect us from gender-based street harassment. With this law, we will reclaim our streets from sexual harassers and gender bigots and make public spaces safe for all.”

The Senator said President Rodrigo R. Duterte did not act on the measure, which was set to lapse into law on April 21.

Sought for confirmation, Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra said in a phone message “this enrolled bill is still in the President’s private office. There being no recommendation to veto it, the same may have actually been signed. If not signed, it nevertheless lapsed into law on 21 April 2019.”

Mr. Guevarra is standing as Officer-in-Charge while Mr. Duterte is on a four-day state visit in Japan, which ends Saturday, June 1.

“The law is not a measure to punish men. It actually protects men from capitulating to sexist acts and gender bigotry by holding such deeds accountable. It is a policy that aims to effect positive behavioral changes in society. And in this effort, we believe men will play a big part in this positive transformation,” Ms. Baraquel said in her statement.

The law imposes penalties on gender-based sexual harassment in streets and public spaces, with fines ranging from P1,000 to P100,000 and imprisonment of 6 days to 6 months. Violators will also be required to attend gender-sensitivity seminars.

The law counts “catcalling, wolf-whistling, unwanted invitations, misogynistic, transphobic, homophobic and sexist slur,” among others as gender-based sexual harassment.

Under the law, public places include restaurants, cafes, bars and clubs, resorts, hotels, and casinos.

CHED clarifies GE curriculum policy not anti-Filipino, vows support for language development

THE COMMISSION on Higher Education (CHED) has clarified that the new General Education (GE) Curriculum, which removes Filipino and Panitikan (Filipino literature) in the list of core subjects, is not “anti-Filipino.” CHED Chairman Prospero E. De Vera III, in a statement on Wednesday, said “The accusation of critics that CHED is anti-Filipino is wrong. The Commission believes in the fundamental role played by language in education. To be properly cultivated, Filipino cannot merely be taught as a subject, but must be used in oral and written forms, across academic domains.” The curriculum, contained in CHED’s 2013 Memorandum Order 20, was given the greenlight for implementation by the Supreme Court (SC) in a decision last March. “This issue has been debated for too long and CHED calls on all sectors to respect and abide by the SC decision so that the revised curriculum for various degree programs can now be fully implemented with dispatch by the close to 2,000 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) nationwide,” Mr. De Vera said. The statement also said that “HEIs must now exercise their academic freedom to include innovative reforms in their various curricula that may include language proficiency not just in Filipino but also other Philippine languages… and Asian languages that will make graduates regionally and globally competitive.” CHED also vowed to support HEIs “that will pursue language innovation” and provide professional education assistance to affected Filipino and Panitikan teachers through the K to 12 Transition Program Fund.

June 5 a holiday for Eid’l Fitr

JUNE 5 has been declared a regular holiday in observance of Eid’l Fitr, the celebration marking the end of Ramadhan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed Proclamation No. 729 on May 28, which aims “to bring the religious and cultural significance of the Eid’l Fitr to the fore of the national consciousness.” The proclamation states that “the entire Filipino nation should have the full opportunity to join their Muslim brothers and sister in peace and harmony in the observance and celebration of Eid’l Fitr.” Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra, acting as officer-in-charge for the operations and administration of the Executive Department while the President is in Tokyo, Japan from May 28 to June 1, made the announcement on Wednesday. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

House to summon Advincula in probe of social media sites

THE HOUSE of Representatives will summon Peter Joemel Advincula, who claims to be the narrator “Bikoy” in a series of videos, for a probe that will look into possible liabilities of social media sites like Facebook and YouTube for damaging content like his “Ang Totoong Narcolist (The Real Narcolist).” Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Alfredo A. Garbin Jr. filed House Resolution 2585, which directs the committee on information and communications technology to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the videos of Mr. Advincula and other widely circulated posts in social media. Mr. Garbin said the investigation would be used for crafting measures intended to make social media platform creators and operators be socially and legally responsible of their posts. — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras

Lawyer Kapunan indicted for slander charge

THE DEPARTMENT of Justice (DoJ), in two separate resolutions, indicted lawyer Lorna P. Kapunan for slander based on the complaints filed by University of Santo Tomas Law Dean Nilo T. Divina. The case stems from Mr. Kapunan’s alleged remarks against Mr. Divina in connection with the death of law student Horacio “Atio” Castillo III due to hazing in Aug. 2017 and the disbarment case against him and other lawyers. Mr. Divina originally filed a libel case and three counts of violation of Republic Act No. 10175 (Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012) against Ms. Kapunan for a television interview, wherein she alleged that the dean recruited the slain freshman law student to the fraternity and that he accommodated the fraternity members on the evening the hazing incident. The interview was also posted on Facebook and YouTube. The other complaint was filed by Mr. Divina and his firm Divina Law against Ms. Kapunan and Patricia Paz C. Bautista in connection with the filing of a disbarment case against him and 20 other lawyers, which Ms. Kapunan also discussed in a television interview. In both the resolutions, the DoJ dismissed the libel complaints as it was not the respondents who published the remarks. The DoJ said in one of the resolutions that elements of oral defamation were present in the case. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

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