NEWTON, Iowa: NASCAR overturned a victory for the first time under its toughened new policy on cheating when Brett Moffitt was declared the winner of the Truck Series race at Iowa Speedway after Ross Chastain failed a post-race inspection.

Chastain led the final 141 laps of Sunday’s 200-lap race, but series managing director Brad Moran said the winning No. 44 was too low when it was measured with NASCAR’s height sticks.

“The height sticks have warning yellows in them and reds, and it was right off of all of them, so unfortunately it was extremely low,” Moran said.

The disqualification was the first under strict new rules put into place at the start of this season to deter the culture of cheating — and it delivered a much-needed win for Moffitt, a native Iowan racing at his hometown track.

“I think, for the integrity of the sport, it’s the right thing to do,” said Moffitt, who never led a lap in the race.

“Obviously I came out on the good end of it. If I was in Ross’s shoes, I wouldn’t be too thrilled about it.”

Niece Motorsports tweeted after the race that it will appeal the decision. Team owner Al Niece said in a statement that the truck passed opening and pre-race inspections.

“We believe that the No. 44 truck sustained minor damage, which left the truck too low following the race,” Niece said.

NASCAR said the last time it disqualified an apparent race winner was April 17, 1960, when Emanuel Zervakis’ victory at Wilson Speedway in North Carolina was thrown out because of an oversized fuel tank. But the last driver to be stripped of a victory was Mike Skinner in a 1999 race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Skinner led the final 41 laps but NASCAR said the next morning his car had an unapproved cylinder head. The win was handed to Dave Blaney and Skinner was dropped to 43rd and last in the field.

Skinner and his team filed an appeal, which was overturned two days later. Skinner was once again awarded the victory, but did not receive the usual first-place earnings.

NASCAR announced in February that thorough post-race inspections would take place right after the race at the track instead of midweek at the sanctioning body’s research and development center outside of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Winning teams found in violation of the rules in previous seasons were penalized with post-race fines, point deductions and/or suspensions. But drivers didn’t have victories taken away from them until Chastain was stripped of the victory Sunday.

The decision could prove to be devastating for Chastain’s season.

Chastain recently switched the championship he’d compete for in 2019 from the Xfinity Series to Trucks, a risky move that left him at the bottom of the standings. The apparent win at Iowa meant that Chastain would only have to finish 20th or higher in the Truck standings to receive a playoff berth, and the driver nicknamed “The Melon Man” was so thrilled about it that he smashed a watermelon to the ground in victory lane.

Instead, Chastain has now been scored as if he finished last, and his victory and bonus points have been stripped away. Chastain also lost the $50,000 he had won for taking first in the “Triple Truck Challenge” marketing promotion that included the Iowa race.

Chastain, who spoke at a news conference after his apparent victory, could not be located for comment after his disqualification was announced.

As for Moffitt, he said he had been drinking beers in his motorhome and on his way to the airport in nearby Des Moines and was “mad as hell” about losing when he got the call informing him that Chastain had been disqualified.

Moffitt and his beer buzz were summoned back to the track for the second winner’s news conference of the day.

“I went from drinking my sorrows away to being happy,” Moffitt said.

AP

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President Rodrigo Duterte has linked the mother of Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th to the supposedly anomalous purchase of P3.8-billion Kevlar helmets for the military, a deal that reportedly involved alleged “pork barrel” scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles.

In his speech during the oath-taking of local officials in Davao City on Friday, Duterte claimed that both parents of Trillanes, one of his fiercest critics, were involved in graft and corruption at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA).

“Ang No. 1 na graft and corruption diyan noon sa PMA, ‘yung tatay niya pati ‘yung nanay niya (The number one in graft and corruption in PMA was his father, even his mother),” the President said.

“Remember ‘yung Kevlar? It’s a helmet na matigas na hindi matamaan ng… kung bala hindi masyado maka-penetrate (that a bullet cannot fully penetrate). That’s Kevlar. Ang nag-deliver noon ang nanay ni Trillanes pati si Napoles. ‘Yan ang totoo diyan (The ones who delivered them were the mother of Trillanes and Napoles. That’s the truth),” he added.

In 2001, Napoles, her husband retired Marine Maj. Jaime Napoles and 16 others were charged with graft and malversation of public funds in relation to the alleged anomalous purchase of 500 Kevlar helmets worth P3.8 million.

Trillanes, however, said if his parents were really involved in anomalous deals, they would have been charged years ago.

He said Duterte resurrected the Kevlar helmet deal because it was one of the issues raised against him in the aftermath of the Oakwood incident in 2003

“Komo tameme si Duterte sa Recto (Reed) Bank issue, Nanay ko na naman ang pinagdiskitahan (Because Duterte was mum on the Recto Bank issue, he went after my mother once again),” Trillanes said in a statement posted on his social media

“Kung may kinalaman ang mga magulang ko dyan, dapat n’un pa lang, nilabas na ni GMA ‘yan at ginamit laban sa’kin (If my parents had anything to do with that, it should have been used by GMA against me),” he added, referring to former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

Trillanes also pointed out that after more than a year of investigation by different government agencies, not one document had been released showing his mother’s involvement in illegal transactions

He said his father retired in 1988 and died in 1998, and was never assigned to the PMA.

His 85-year-old mother, Estelita, is bedridden, according to Trillanes.

“Ganun pa man, hinahamon ko si Duterte na magpursigi pa sa imbentigasyon at haharapin namin ‘yan (Nevertheless, I challenge Duterte to pursue the investigation, and we will face it all),” he said

This was not the first time the President accused the mother of the outgoing senator of corruption.

In September last year, Duterte said Trillanes’ mother had business transactions with the Philippine Navy when the senator and his father were still in the military service.

Trillanes had told Duterte to keep his mother out of their fight, saying she suffered from advanced Parkinson’s disease.

Duterte had said the business transaction of the Trillanes couple were being investigated.

“We are investigating ‘yung mga deals sa panahon ng tatay pati nanay niya (the deals during the time of his father and mother). You can be very sure na lalabas lahat ‘yan (it will all come out),” the President said in November 2018.

His allegations came after he voided in August last year the amnesty given to Trillanes by former president Benigno Aquino 3rd.

Trillanes had asked the courts to invalidate the President’s action. The senator is also facing other criminal cases including libel and inciting to sedition.

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LOS ANGELES: After a boxing career that has spanned nearly a quarter of a century and 70 professional contests, it is little surprise that Manny Pacquiao has his training regime honed to perfection.

On July 20, the 40-year-old Filipino icon will climb into the ring for the 71st time when he faces Keith Thurman at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand, aiming to capture the undefeated American’s World Boxing Association super world welterweight crown.

To prepare himself for a contest that the younger, hard-hitting Thurman has vowed to ensure will be Pacquiao’s last, the veteran superstar will rely on a formula that has served him so well over the years.

Pacquiao wakes at around dawn each day in the multi-million-dollar mansion that has been his Los Angeles base for the past decade.

If sparring is scheduled for later in the day, Pacquiao will embark on a light morning workout, jogging to a park two miles from his home where he runs laps, shadow boxes and performs core work.

On non-sparring days, he heads to Griffith Park, for a longer, more gruelling run in the hills which frame the sprawling Californian metropolis.

Accompanying him are around two dozen training partners, security, friends and fans, a feature of Pacquiao’s rise to the pinnacle of his sport.

At a recent morning workout, a crowd of around 100 people, many from Los Angeles’ large Filipino community, gather to watch as the eight-division world champion grimaces his way through a series of sit-ups and crunches, occasionally pausing to check his phone.

When it is over, Pacquiao heads back to a home that is soon a hive of activity. To the casual observer the household has a vague air of organized chaos.

At most hours of the day in his luxurious 4,200 square foot, five-bedroom residence — decorated with portraits of his family and large framed photographs of his signature victories — dozens of loosely affiliated members of “Team Pacquiao” are milling around.

The unrelenting hum would be anathema for more reclusive fighters, who prefer to conduct their training camps in seclusion, away from prying eyes.

‘I want people around’

Pacquiao, though, says simply that he is a people person. The ever-present throng energizes him.

“I want to have people around so that I’m motivated,” he tells Agence France-Presse after a breakfast of white rice, broth and grilled meat prepared by his Filipino chefs.

“My feeling is that I don’t want anybody to see me being lazy. I want to impress them every day. I love it, as long as it’s not distracting me or affecting my training.”

Some of his closest confidantes, however, have mixed feelings about the cast of extras who have hitched their wagons to Pacquiao’s star.

“A lot of it is support, a lot of it is they want to be on TV or something,” says trainer Freddie Roach. “But it works for him. He knows how to get in shape and he does it very, very well.”

Roach, however, admits to worrying that bankrolling the entourage may ultimately drain Pacquiao’s fortune, estimated at around $200 million.

“I bet Manny doesn’t even know the names of at least 50 percent of the people in his house right now as we speak,” Roach told Agence France-Presse in an interview.

“Manny’s a nice guy. He likes to help people. I always say that’s why he might be broke when he’s through. Because he gives it all away. He’s just too generous.”

That generosity knows few boundaries, whether it is buying land and building homes for more than 1,000 poverty-stricken families in the Philippines, or paying to fly his entourage around the world on chartered commercial jetliners.

For now, though, the money keeps rolling in.

Pacquiao will reportedly receive $20 million for the Thurman fight, and banked $10 million from his January defeat of Adrien Broner, paydays that will keep the free-spending show firmly on the road.

But how much longer Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 knockouts) is willing to put his body on the line to generate those kinds of numbers is anyone’s guess.

Boxing is my passion

His retirement in 2016 proved short-lived, Pacquiao returning to the ring seven months later.

“Boxing is my passion,” Pacquiao tells Agence France-Presse . “It’s really hard to stop and hang up the gloves when you know that you can still fight.

“My mind is very active, 100 percent focused and wants to continue my career. But sometimes I have to listen to my body.”

Roach believes Pacquiao, a member of the Philippines Senate, intends to extend his career until 2022 to coincide with a run for the presidency of his homeland, something the boxer has repeatedly played down.

“He wants to be the first person to be president and world champion at the same time,” Roach says.

“I think he’ll keep going long enough to try and make that happen.

Yet the potential threats to Pacquiao’s longevity in a welterweight scene brimming with fearsomely accomplished, and younger, practitioners are obvious.

As well as the 30-year-old Thurman (29-0, 22 knockouts), the unbeaten Terence Crawford looms across the division.

Veteran promoter Bob Arum recently voiced concern that Pacquiao risked serious injury by fighting into his 40s. Pacquiao, who no longer works with Arum, says the fears for his safety are misplaced.

“He cares about me, I understand what he’s saying,” Pacquiao said of Arum’s remarks. “But I’m not the only one who has fought at this age. George Foreman, other boxers who fought when they’re 47 years old or 50 years old. I’m not saying that at age 47 or 50 I’m going to still be fighting. No. But it depends how you discipline yourself, how you work hard.”

Working hard has never been a problem for Pacquiao. Strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune says Pacquiao needs to be reined in. “He’s a gym rat,” Fortune says. “He never gains weight. His metabolism must be off the charts.”

Time to quit?

Roach, meanwhile, hopes that Pacquiao will stick to an agreement the two men made several years ago, namely that when the 59-year-old cornerman believes it is time for him to retire, he will heed the advice and hang up his gloves.

“I think that agreement might have been made too long ago,” Roach says. “Because I think that even if I do say ‘Manny it’s time to quit, you’ve lost a step, you’re not the old Manny Pacquiao,’ there’s too many people around him who will tell him that I’m full of shit, and he may listen to them.

“At one time I’d have said our agreement was pretty solid and he’d listen to me. But today I’m not so sure.”

For the time being, however, there is no sign of Pacquiao’s speed or punching power being on the wane, according to Roach.

After arriving in Los Angeles last week following the first half of his training camp in the Philippines, Pacquiao has looked impressively sharp.

Roach has also resumed wearing protective padding in mitt sessions in order to hone Pacquiao’s aggressive streak.

The devoutly religious Pacquiao is said to be incensed by Thurman’s vow to “crucify” him in the ring, remarks that Roach says have got Pacquiao “a bit upset.”

“So that helps,” Roach said. “He wants to win this one a little bit more than usual.”

AFP

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DES MOINES, Iowa: NASCAR denied Ross Chastain’s appeal Wednesday after his race-winning truck was disqualified following a postrace inspection at Iowa Speedway over the weekend.

National Motorsports Appeals Panelist Bryan Moss heard Chastain’s appeal and chose to uphold the original penalties assessed by NASCAR for the No. 44 being too low. Niece Motorsports owner Al Niece had said the truck passed opening and pre-race inspections and may have suffered minor damage during the race that left it too low.

Chastain’s disqualification was the first under strict new rules put in place this season to deter cheating and it was the first time this year a winning car had been DQ’d on race day.

“Although our team disagrees with the decision, we have exhausted our options for recourse and must move on,” Niece said in a statement. “Our sight will remain set on the obstacle in front of us — which is making the playoffs.”

NASCAR said the last time it disqualified an apparent race winner was April 17, 1960, when Emanuel Zervakis’ victory at Wilson Speedway in North Carolina was thrown out because of an oversized fuel tank. The series also stripped Mike Skinner of a victory the day after a 1999 race at Atlanta Motor Speedway for an unapproved cylinder head, but that decision was overturned on appeal.

Chastain’s misfortune gave the victory to Brett Moffitt and Chastain will be scored as if he finished last in addition to his victory and bonus points being stripped away. Chastain, who led the final 141 laps, also lost the $50,000 he had won for taking first in the “Triple Truck Challenge” marketing promotion that included the Iowa race.

“I’m not backing down from the fact that we beat everybody,” Chastain said in a Sirius radio interview Monday.

The loss could be devastating to Chastain’s playoff hopes.

Chastain recently decided to switch his championship pursuit this season from the Xfinity Series to trucks, but he was not allowed to count a trucks win at Kansas because he was not racing for the series title at the time. Drivers who have won races only need to finish 20th or better in the regular season to make the postseason, but Chastain now has a long way to climb.

NASCAR announced in February that thorough post-race inspections would take place at the track instead of midweek at the sanctioning body’s research and development center outside of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Winning teams found in violation of the rules in previous seasons were penalized with post-race fines, point deductions and/or suspensions. But drivers didn’t have victories taken away from them until Chastain was stripped of the victory.

Chastain said in the radio interview he let NASCAR’s decision Sunday bother him for “about an hour” before he shifted his focus to this weekend’s races at Sonoma Raceway.

“It’s actually very simple,” Chastain said Wednesday. “Sunday is in the past.”

AP

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LOS ANGELES: Filipino WBA regular welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao and American super titlist Keith Thurman do battle on July 20 for the bragging right to be crowned the unified 147-pound titleholder. The fight is set at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.

The “One Time” American will be making his seventh title defense and, as of the latest odds, is a -135 favorite to win. Pacquiao is the underdog +105.

The main reason for the odds, or so it seems, is Thurman’s unbeaten 29 straight record with 22 KOs as against Pacquiao’s 61-win, 7- loss. 2- draw slate with 39 stoppage.

Also taken into account is the 10-year difference in age of the combatants with Pacquiao reaching 41 and Thurman 31 in November. The super champ is taller and heftier, too, at 5-foot-9 and the regular crown holder much smaller at 5-5.

What the oddsmakers fail to take into consideration is Pacquiao’s advantage in experience having fought 70 times in his 24 years in the fight game to Thurman’s 12.

In that span the Filipino ring icon has fought the best and the brightest in eight eight divisions, emerging the only man in the universe to have done so by winning world titles in flyweight, super-bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, junior-welterweight, welterweight and super-middleweight.

He beat such boxing greats and future Hall of Famer Oscar De La Hoya, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez, David Diaz, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito, among others.

His victory over Margarito made him a marvel to be compared with all-time great Henry Armstrong, who simultaneously held championships inn three weight classes – 126, 135 and 147 pounds.

Manny has fought 23 world champions, coming out winner in 20, 11 of them via short route. He was named Fighter of the Year thrice by the Boxing Writers Association of America, the same body that named him Fighter of the Decade in years 2001 to 2010.

His three FoY award tied him with “The Great” Muhammad Ali and Evander Holyfield, both heavyweights. He earned his FoD honor over Bernard Hopkins, Joe Calzaghe, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Shane Mosley, Marquez and Barrera.

The father of five with wife, Ex-Sarangani Vice Gov. Jinkee, is the first fighter to win the lineal championship in five different weight divisions and, likewise, the first in the history of sweet science to win a major title in four of of the original eight weight categories also known as the glamour divisions – flyweight, featherweight, lightweight and welterweight.

BoxRec ranks him as the “Greatest Asian Fighter” of all-time. Pacquiao was long rated as the best active boxer in the world, pound-for-pound by most sporting news and boxing websites, including ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Sporting Life, About.com, BoxRec, Yahoo Sports and The Ring. He, too, is the longest reigning top 10 active boxer on The Ring’s pound-for-pound list.

Pacquiao has held up reasonably well and is on a roll again after scoring conclusive wins over Lucas Matthysse and Adrien Broner in his last two fights. Losses to Mayweather and a controversial one to Jeff Horn took Pacquiao off the A-list. A win over an unbeaten champion in this fight would allow him to reclaim that position. Thurman, meanwhile, is ten years Manny’s junior at 30. He won his last fight against Josesito Lopez, It was his 29th straight pro win and ended a two-year layoff.

Okay, Pacquiao is 10 years older than Thurman, but isn’t the bad-mouthing American an old 30? An elbow injury contributed to his long layoff and in his comeback fight in January, he didn’t look great.

Josesito Lopez may have been inspired, but the Thurman of a few years ago wouldn’t have been pushed to such an extent, winning by only a majority decision and even getting hurt along the way.

Pacquiao might certainly be not a foolproof commodity at 40 with over two decades at the top. But he has looked pretty good lately against Matthysse and Broner. No can o deny that he’s still among the fastest fighters in the world and will have an advantage in this matchup.

With his hand and foot speed, a lot of head and upper-body movement, and fighting-spirit, too, won’t he do better than Lopez did against Thurman?

Ask former chief trainer Freddie Roach, now Pacquiao’s training consultant, and strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune and chief trainer Buboy Fernandez and they’ll tell you whom to place your money and house and lot on.

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LOS ANGELES: Not even pelting rains could stop WBA regular welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao from his efforts to be in tip-top shape for his coming fight with “super” belt-owner Keith Thurman.

The 40-year-old Filipino ring icon bucked sporadic rains that struck the city and cold weather that engulfed the mountainous Griffith Observatory Park on Friday as he looked nearing his peak for the sort of WBA 147-pound unification confrontation with his 30-year-old rival set July 20 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.

For the third time this week since arriving from Manila, the three-time “Fighter of the Year” ran the 5.6-mile descent in 53.6 minutes leaving dust to nearly 20 running mates as he reached the summit.

“He’s (Pacquiao) in near perfect physical condition, his stamina is superb,” strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune said of his ward, who after touching the summit, did, too, a 30-minute shadow boxing along with almost a dozen boxing pretenders, plus another 30-minute sit up exercises.

All throughout the post-run activities, the fighting Philippine senator looked happy and satisfied for the day’s job.

“I feel good. The rains make me stronger, he said while passing in the direction of this writer after his run.

To give him a rest, Fortune, chief trainer Buboy Fernandez and other members of the training staff willingly gave him a whole afternoon respite to replenish energy for another rigorous day on Saturday.

“Yeah, Manny’s on his way to getting in razor shape,” Buboy, for his part, remarked. “I don’t think it’ll take us longer than two weeks to get him in fighting form’

Paquiao is scheduled to resume sparring on Saturday afternoon following a routine roadwork at the Pan Pacific Plaza just in the vicinity of his residence at Plymouth St., Hancock Park.

Saturday is a traditional fans day, a day when most Filipinos working here are having their day off. It’s a day Pacquiao reserves for his LA migrants compatriots for picture-taking and autograph-signing.

As in the past sparring days, Pacquiao will again show his mettle against dancing mates Arnold Gonzales, a welterweight from New York, and Abraham “AB” Lopez, a junior-welterweight, at four rounds each.

Last Thursday was the day, the Pacman, finally displayed his punching power as he nearly sent the speedy Lopez on the seat of his pant several times with left-right combinations in the stomach and head.

“He’s very strong and very quick,” Lopez told The Manila Times after his side of the four-round boxing lesson Pacquiao taught him.

Gonzales agreed, saying, if Pacquiao continues improving, he doesn’t think Thurman has a chance to win.

“Manny’s getting better and better each day,” Gonzales, an Equadorian by birth, attested. “And I don’t see him relaxing in training.”

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A low pressure area (LPA) entered the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) on Saturday night, the weather bureau said.

The LPA was last spotted at 890 kilometers east northeast of Guiuan, Samar, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa). 

Pagasa weather specialist Rene Quitlong said the LPA is expected to turn into a tropical depression within the next two to three days and will be named “Dodong.”

The LPA is expected to bring cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers and thunderstorms over Mindanao and Eastern Visayas. Pagasa warned of possible flash floods or land slides. DIVINA NOVA JOY DE LA CRUZ

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ON June 19, on Dr. Jose Rizal’s 158th birth anniversary, Filipino watch brand Ibarra introduced its first luxury watch, the Sucesos Mechanical Hand Wind, under a new category in the brand called “Ibarra Heritage” at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila.

This milestone was graced by Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Undersecretary Ernesto Abella, who delivered a key message on behalf of DFA Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. about Rizal being the First Global Filipino and how Filipinos could learn from his life and works in today’s rapidly globalizing society. Also included in the guests present in the event were Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Ambassador Koji Haneda, United State Consul General Russel Brown, representatives from the Order of the Knights of Rizal, the Freemasons, and Ester Azurin and Mark Villaruz – descendants of Dr. Jose Rizal through his older brother Gen. Paciano Rizal.

Named after Rizal’s annotation of Antonio de Morga’s “Sucesos de las Isalas Filipinas”, the Sucesos Mechanical Manual Wind is a timeless heritage. It is not common knowledge today that Dr. Rizal actually owned a wristwatch. But the brand, through its founder Nico Moreno, was able to see the watch, which was with the descendants of Rizal, and had the privilege of making one based on it.

Ibarra is introducing this watch to help strengthen the Jose Rizal Model Students of the Philippines – an awards program spearheaded the Order of the Knights of Rizal for more than 30 years.

The Sucesos Mechanical Hand Wind will be released in a serialized number of 158 pieces and will be available for pre-selling beginning this June at a special price. The watch will be available in December 2019.

For more information, visit www.ibarrawatches.com.

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ELEVEN Philippine food manufacturing companies represented the country on the Taiwanese mainstream market as they joined this year’s Food Philippines Pavilion at the Taipei Food Show 2019 happening at the World Trade Center Taipei on June 19 to 22.

This year, Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO), along with its commercial affairs section, the Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) in Taipei, partnered with the Center for International Trade Exhibitions and Missions (Citem) to once again showcase our lineup of top-tier food manufacturers and exporters at the FoodPhilippines Pavilion at the said show.

Taipei Food Show is Taiwan’s leading food trade fair and exhibition platform and is considered one of Asia’s leading food shows. Under Taipei Food Show Umbrella, the trade exhibit housed several halls that featured the following categories: Foodtech & Pharmatech Taipei, Taipei Pack, Taiwan Horeca and Halal Taiwan. Organized by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (Taitra), Food Taipei aims to link the entire food industry supply chain in Taiwan with the global market.

“This year, our participation at the Taipei Food Show, will feature a strategically curated selection of Philippine food manufacturers and exporters eyeing the 24 million Taiwanese market, and Taiwan as gateway to other advanced economies in East Asia targeted for a sustainable marketing reach and campaign,” said MECO Chairman and Resident Representative Angelito Banayo.

Our FoodPhilippines lineup of exhibitors this year, will be composed of a mix of more established mainstream companies and high-innovation food manufacturing companies. Leading our line-up of more established exporters are companies such as Century Pacific Food, Inc., Destileria Limtuaco & Co. Inc., Team Asia Corporation, Tropicana Food Products, Inc., and Grand Asia

Integrated Natural Coco Products Corporation, whose joint capacity, product range and supply position them to successfully penetrate Taiwan’s mainstream buying public.

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SHORTLY after sunset on Sunday, veteran actor Eddie Garcia was honored with a 21-gun salute by the Phillipine Army. It was the final night of his wake at the Heritage Memorial Park in Taguig City where a Holy Mass was held and a final tribute from his family.

Before becoming an actor in what turned out to be a prolific and legendary seven-decade-long career,  Garcia had served with the Philippine Scout in World War 2, deserving the military honors which began since Friday with a flag ceremony and soldiers taking turns to stand vigil throughout the wake.

According to 1-Pacman Rep. Mikee Romero, some 200 soldiers participated in the military rites.

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THE low pressure area (LPA) that entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) on Saturday broughr rain to parts of the countryrten but would unlikely make landfall or turn into a typhoon, the state-run weather bureau said.

And neither would the LPA-induced rain raise the water level of Angat dam, which further fell by 0.34 meters on Monday to 159.09, said Bennie Estarejas , weather specialist of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).

Estarejas said Angat, the main source of water supply in Metro Manila and nearby provinces, was more than a meter away from hitting its lowest recorded level of 157.56 meters during an El Nino event in 2010.

The water shortage has prompted the National Water Regulatory Board (NWRB) to order a cut in supply to the two concessionaires — Manila water Co. Inc. and the Maynilad Water Services Inc., resulting in rotational service interruptions to their consumers.

The LPA was last spotted at 850 kilometers east of Baler, Aurora as of 8 a.m. on Monday, Pagasa said.

Estarejas said latest forecast indicated that the LPA was highly unlikely to turn into a typhoon in the next 24 hours and may leave PAR on Thursday.

The LPA’s trough is expected to bring cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers and thunderstorms over Metro Manila, Aurora, Visayas, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol Region, Caraga and Davao Region.

Pagasa warned of possible flash floods or land slides during severe thunderstorms in these areas.

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HEALTH Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd is facing plunder, graft and administrative charges for allegedly allowing his family to transact business with the state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corp.

(PhilHealth), where he is concurrent ex-oficio chairman.

Parents of dengvaxia victims, through the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), filed their complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman on Monday.

The charges stemmed from Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s expose involving a lease agreement between PhilHealth and Duque’s family, who owns a building in Dagupan City where the state-run firm’s office had been housed.

Duque had denied any “conflict of interest” but PhilHealth, which admitted to the agreement, said that its contract would end in 2019.

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SYDNEY: Australia is planning to build a new deep-water port on its northern coast able to accommodate US Marine deployments as part of efforts to counter China’s growing presence in the region, the ABC reported Monday.

The national broadcaster quoted multiple defense and government officials as saying the facility would be about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Darwin, capital of the Northern Territory, which controversially leased its own port to a Chinese operator in 2015.

The Darwin port already includes military facilities and hosts visiting US ships, but the ABC said the new port would offer large amphibious warships a more discreet and less busy base of operations.

US Marine units of more than 2,000 troops regularly rotate through Darwin as part of the close military cooperation between the two allies.

Both Australia and the United States have been building up their military presence across the western Pacific to counter moves by China to gain influence across the strategically vital region, notably by creating armed outposts on disputed islands in the South China Sea.

As part of that effort, Washington and Canberra recently announced plans to build a joint military base on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island, northeast of Australia.

The ABC said the new Australian port at Glyde Point would include commercial and industrial operations in addition to facilities for military activities.

An announcement concerning the port could come in the next few weeks to coincide with the height of the bi-annual Talisman Sabre US-Australian military exercise in mid-July, ABC said.

The US consulate in Sydney declined to comment on the ABC report, and the Australian Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for a response. AFP

AFP/CC

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MONTREAL: A woman boarded an Air Canada flight earlier this month, fell asleep after takeoff and woke up alone in a dark, parked plane, apparently forgotten about by ground staff.

Tiffani Adams’s story was posted by a friend on Air Canada’s Facebook page, drawing incredulous reactions from readers and a request for details from the airline.

According to the post, Adams was flying from Quebec to Toronto Pearson International Airport when she fell asleep, aided by the fact that she’d ended up with a whole row of seats to herself.

She woke up in “pitch black,” with the plane having landed and apparently been towed away from the airport, after passengers and crew had disembarked.

“I think I’m having a bad dream (because) like seriously how is this happening,” she wrote.

She briefly called a friend but was cut short when her phone’s battery died.

“I’m trying to focus on my breathing and control my panic attack while I attempt to charge my phone by plugging into every USB port I could find,” she wrote, but that proved fruitless because the electricity on the plane was turned off.

After finally finding a torch in the cockpit, she managed to open one of the doors but faced a drop of up to 50 feet (15 meters) to get out of the plane.

She then used the torch to draw the attention of a luggage cart driver, who arrived to find Adams with her legs hanging out of the plane’s open doorway.

“He is in shock, asking how the heck they left me on the plane,” she said. “I’m wondering the same.”

Air Canada apologized for the incident, Adams said, but she hasn’t had much sleep since and is struggling with night terrors.

Air Canada told broadcaster CTV News that it was reviewing the episode but declined to offer further details. AFP

AFP/CC

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BEIJING: China said Monday it will not allow discussion on Hong Kong at the G20 this week even as US President Donald Trump plans to raise the city’s mass protests during his meeting with President Xi Jinping.

The semi-autonomous city has been shaken by huge demonstrations this month as throngs have demanded the withdrawal of a bill that would allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland.

Trump has weighed in on Hong Kong’s worst political unrest since its handover from Britain to China in 1997, saying he understood the reason for the protests and hoped demonstrators can “work it out with China.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo later said Trump would discuss Hong Kong with Xi at the Group of 20 summit, which is taking place in Osaka, Japan on Friday and Saturday.

But Chinese assistant foreign minister Zhang Jun said the G20 is a forum to focus on global economic issues.

Xi and Trump have agreed to hold bilateral talks focusing on the US-China trade war during the summit.

“I can tell you with certainty that the G20 will not discuss the Hong Kong issue and we will not allow the G20 to discuss the Hong Kong issue,” Zhang said at a press briefing previewing Xi’s G20 attendance.

“Hong Kong affairs are purely China’s internal affairs and no foreign country has the right to intervene,” he said, recalling that the city is a special administrative region of China. AFP

AFP/CC

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THE Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division will resume the trial on the plunder case filed against former senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada on July 8.

The court had denied the demurrers to evidence filed by Estrada and detained bussinesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles in the said case, which they were facing in connection with the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel scam.

A demurrer to evidence is a motion to dismiss challenging the sufficiency of the evidence presented by the prosecution during trial.

The defense will take its turn to present evidence on July 8.

The Office of the Ombudsman filed the case before the Sandiganbayan in 2014 against Estrada and other individuals.

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Lawyer Rene Puno celebrated his birthday in the company of his many friends and well-wishers, who met up at the lovely Puno residence in Alabang.

The celebrant’s charming wife, Ann Puno, put together a hearty feast of homemade dishes which were personally prepared, and matched with perfect wines and spirits to complete a delectable buffet enjoyed by all.

Ann’s specialty dishes, such as cuchinillo, callos, and chicken relleno, were served still warm from the oven. And her renowned cassava cake and chocolate mud cake were welcome treats, as always.

In attendance were artists Ramon Orlina, Liza Nakpil, Ricky Davao, art gallery owners Jaime Ponce de Leon and Robbie Santos, business luminaries Green Cross owners Peter and Nancy Co, Consul Michael Ang, Marivic Vazquez, Alice Samson, Lyceum’s Ricky Laurel, Victor Ley, Noel Onate, fashion designer Ito Curata and partner Bob Miller, Bergamo’s Mel Meer and Tiffany & Co.’s Mario Katigbak.

Beauty icons Margie Moran and Cory Quirino compared notes on the pageant winners who are tasked to represent the country abroad. Also present were the celebrant’s children Renee, Yago, and Luis, and son-in-law Edrix Crisologo. It was surely an enjoyable evening to remember.

Happy birthday, Atty. Rene!

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The National Printing Office (NPO) violated procurement laws by subcontracting jobs to private firms in the guise of equipment rentals, the Commission on Audit (CoA) said.

The deals, which did not undergo public bidding and were thus “without any valid contract,” totaled a little over P121 million last year.

“Review and examination of the printing operations of the NPO for CY (calendar year) 2018 disclosed that the equipment lease agreements of the agency with private partners had expired as of Sept. 30, 2017,” the CoA noted in a report.

“Despite the expiration, NPO continued its alleged lease of equipment without the benefit of competitive bidding prescribed under Rule 14, Section 46 of the IRR (implementing rules and regulations) of RA (Republic Act) 9184 to the disadvantage of the government,” it added.

The agency was said to have “accepted from procuring entities and accomplished 249 work orders for the printing of accountable forms under ‘Leasing’ amounting to P121,691,215.37.”

“However, based on records, NPO did not have any valid lease or rental agreement for CY 2018, nor did it conduct public bidding for the lease of printing equipment; thus, the work orders under ‘Leasing’ amounting to P121,691,215.37 were illegal,” the CoA said.

This is not the first time that the NPO has been charged with failing to meet government regulations. Just recently, the Commission on Elections(Comelec) said it would withhold payment of P244 million to the NPO as it had subcontracted the printing of voters’ information sheets (VIS) for the May 13 midterm polls in violation of CoA rules.

The Comelec, which had halted the distribution of the VIS, also said the subcontractee committed mistakes that could have disenfranchised voters.

Representatives of the NPO and its parent, the Presidential Communications Operations Office, were not immediately available for comment. By law, the NPO is mandated to provide printing services to government agencies, particularly the Comelec and the Office of the President.

Similar violations were flagged by the CoA in a 2017 audit report, but despite these and the issuance of notices of disallowance for allegedly “irregular payments” to private printers for the leased machines/equipment, the NPO “continued subcontracting its printing services in the guise of ‘Leasing’ and recording the transactions in its books as ‘Leasing.’”

A review of checks issued last year showed that the NPO paid 12 private printers a total of P120,927,408 last year for alleged equipment rental fees, but the amount, the CoA said, was “tantamount to the production cost” and was, thus, an “irregular” subcontracting arrangement.

“NPO’s accounting records for ‘Leasing’ showed that no cost of production (raw materials, costs of conversion — i.e., materials, labor and overhead — and other costs incurred in bringing the inventories to their present location and condition) aside from rental fee was expended…
The alleged rental fee therefore encompassed all costs of production,” it added.

The supposed rental fee was also “computed at 85 percent of the production cost estimate, as indicated in the work order. A rental fee/expense is just a component of the manufacturing overhead, thus, paying 85 percent for rental of printing machines is grossly onerous.”

The decision to set the 85-percent rate was said to have been made in 2012 by the then-NPO chief, “but without any written guidelines” and was subsequently adopted by the agency.

“It is of note that NPO was unable to present the breakdown of the costs of production to assert that, indeed, 85 percent of it pertain to rental fee,” the CoA also said.

State auditors urged the NPO to follow procurement procedures by staging competitive biddings for equipment leases, and also
recommended that certifications or waivers be issued if the agency finds itself unable to meet the government’s printing requirements.

In particular, the NPO’s Finance and Production, Planning and Control divisions were told to compute and record all production costs, from raw materials to logistics expenses, to ensure that revenues and cost of goods sold were “correctly and fairly represented.”

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