Marce to hit Cebu today

 (The Freeman) | Updated November 25, 2016 - 12:00am

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It was not fog that hung over the skies of Cebu yesterday, but thick clouds brought on by tropical depression Marce, according to the state weather bureau. Storm signal number 1 was raised over Cebu City yesterday leaving hundreds of passengers stranded in the different seaports. Aldo Nelbert Banaynal

CEBU, Philippines - After causing thousands to be stranded yesterday, tropical depression Marce is expected to make landfall in Cebu early this morning.

PAGASA-Visayas weather specialist Bolivar Artiaga said Marce will continue to bring more rains and people in landslide-prone areas should be watchful.

"Magbantay g’yud ta labi na kadtong mga landslide-prone areas kay posible mag landslide tungod aning sige og uwan-uwan," said Artiaga.

He also said that yesterday almost the entire Cebu sky was engulfed by thick clouds that lowered visibility, it was not fog as many thought.

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"Di to siya fog. Tungod lang gyud to sa uwan nga niubos ang visibility. Unya dag-um sad kaayo ang Cebu," Artiaga said.

Based on the PAGASA weather bulletin as of 8 p.m. last night, Marce made landfall in Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte. The estimated rainfall amount is from moderate to heavy within the 300 kilometers of the tropical depression.

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Signal no. 1 is still in effect in Biliran, Southern Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Bohol, Cebu including Bantayan and Camotes Islands, Siquijor, Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, Iloilo, Capiz, Aklan, Antique and Guimaras in the Visayas.

Marce is expected to be out of the country by Monday afternoon.

A total of 52 vessels, 17 motorbancas and 81 cargo vessels were not allowed to travel from Cebu to other provinces due to unfavorable weather brought about by tropical depression Marce yesterday.

Paul Alcances, duty officer of the Philippine Coast Guard Cebu Station said that as of 8 p.m. last night, 2,522 passengers were stranded after vessels plying Leyte,  Bohol, Camotes,  Cagayan de Oro, Masbate, Sta. Fe in Bantayan Island,  San Carlos  City, Escalante in Negros Oriental and Dipolog routes were barred from travelling.

In the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, four flights plying the Cebu-Surigao/Surigao-Cebu routes were cancelled due to the bad weather, said MCIA corporate communication junior manager Malou Mozo.

Education is priority

Despite the tropical depression, some schools in the city will have classes today as Mayor Tomas Osmeña did not order to suspend the classes.

Saying education is his priority, Osmeña said he does not see the need to hit the panic button.

“There’s classes. The only exception would be in certain schools which are exposed to slides, the children cannot go home, or if they will have to cross the river like Barangay Buot,” he said, adding schools in barangays Busay and Sapangdaku should also suspend classes.

However, he clarified that school principals have the discretion to suspend the classes depending on the situation of the schools today.

“I have the responsibility of not hitting the panic button. If there’s a real danger, there’s always a danger, but if you talk about lesser danger, you don’t need to give many instructions because people will get confused,” he said.

Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council head Nagiel Bañacia said the suspension of classes shall be treated on a case-to-case basis depending on the situation.

With this, Bañacia encouraged the public to be alert, saying there are 19 upland barangays prone to landslides while five urban barangays are prone to flooding.

The mountain barangays that are highly susceptible of landslides are Lusaran, Binaliw, Guba, Budlaan, Malubog, Buot, Busay, Sirao, Taptap, Adlaon, Tagba-o, Tabunan, Pung-ol Sibugay, Sudlon 1, Sudlon 2, Sinsin, Buhisan, Pamutan, and Sapangdaku.

The urban barangays that are highly susceptible to flood are Bonbon, Labangon, Kasambagan, Kinasang-an, and Mabolo.

He said responders are on standby to respond to any eventualities while contractor’s association has committed to deploy their heavy equipment in case of landslides in the upland barangays.

For emergencies, he said the public may call numbers: 032-2621424 and 0923-5248222.

Mandaue City Mayor Gabriel Luigi Quisumbing yesterday declared suspension of classes in all public elementary schools due to the bad weather.

"In light of the impending landfall of TS Marce in Surigao this afternoon which is expected to bring heavy rains to Cebu, afternoon classes in Elementary Public Schools in Mandaue City are hereby cancelled," Quisumbing said.

In Talisay, the city also declared class suspension yesterday and today for all levels.

The tropical depression may bring heavy rains and the city government said this might affect Barangay Manipis which is prone to landslide, and other barangays that are prone to flooding.

Code red

The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office placed the whole province of Cebu under Code Red: Charlie.

“Base sa protocol, naa man gitawag sa alpha, bravo, charlie. Charlie naa ta, Code Red: Alert Charlie. Naa ta sa gitawag nga minimum critical preparation,” PDRRMO head Baltazar Tribunalo said.

With the storm signal, the Cebu provincial government suspended classes in all levels in public schools throughout the province yesterday and today.

Private schools, on the other hand, were advised to dismiss classes, especially in areas prone to flashfloods and/or landslides.

The Cebu provincial government fielded all heavy equipment units in the northern and southern parts of Cebu for immediate response in case of landslides. The PDRRMO also warned coastal residents of possible storm surges.

Church refuge

Meanwhile, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma yesterday asked churches and chapels throughout the province to accommodate any evacuees who may be displaced or seeking safety from landslides or floods. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon, Kristine B. Quintas, Le Phyllis F. Antojado, Jean Marvette A. Demecillo, Garry B. Lao, Iris Mariani B. Algabre (FREEMAN)

Philippines Near Ground Zero in Emerging Market

Bloomberg

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Asia’s emerging markets have faced outflows since Donald Trump won the US presidential election earlier this month. The Philippines is ground zero for the rout as a resurgent US dollar and Manila’s still-expensive stock market have made it even more vulnerable, with the peso plunging to an eight-year low.

The currency of the Southeast Asian nation reached 50 to the dollar for the first time this decade on Thursday and headed for its biggest annual loss since 2013. While equities are poised for their worst month since August 2013, valuations are still the priciest in Asia.

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A Bloomberg gauge of the dollar is heading for the strongest close since at least 2005 amid speculation the president-elect’s policies will push the Federal Reserve to undertake a faster pace of rate increases.

“Emerging markets globally are experiencing fund withdrawals, but what makes the Philippines different, or vulnerable, was its valuation,” said Smith Chua, chief investment officer at Bank of the Philippine Islands, the nation’s second-biggest money manager with the equivalent of $12 billion in assets under management.

“The foreign-exchange movement has also been a significant factor for overseas investors. As the year is heading to a close, some of them want to lock in their gains before the peso weakens further.”

The last time the Philippine peso neared 50 to the dollar in 2008, the global financial system was melting down and the central bank raised interest rates to defend it.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is probably watching the market as the peso didn’t go beyond the 50 level, according to Jonathan Ravelas, chief market strategist at BDO Unibank Inc., the nation’s biggest bank by market value.

Other currencies in the region have not been spared, with Malaysia’s ringgit approaching its weakest level since 1998 when the Asian financial crisis occurred. The Indian rupee was also trading near a record low reached in August 2013.

A look at the flow of exchange-traded funds show that in the past month the US had the biggest net inflow at US$55 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show. By contrast, developing nations, led by China and including the Philippines, saw outflows.

The Philippine peso has weakened almost 6 per cent in 2016. Overseas investors offloaded a net $327 million from the stock market in November, set for a fourth month of sell-offs since President Rodrigo Duterte took office at the end of June.

Philippine stocks are trading at 16.29 times 12-month estimated earnings, higher than the 11.9 times for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index of shares. The nation’s dollar bonds, which were up as much as 12 per cent this year in July, have pared those gains to about 4 per cent.

Philippine equities valuation peaked at 19.6 times earnings in July as stocks rallied amid speculation Duterte’s policies would accelerate one of the region’s fastest-growing economies. Since then, concerns over his deadly drug war -- which has killed thousands -- and his anti-U.S. rhetoric have led investors to pull back.

Some foreign-exchange strategists estimated earlier this month the currency would reach the 50 level only by next year as a seasonal increase in money remitted by overseas Filipinos for Christmas spending will curb a decline in the currency.

“A weaker peso just gives more dollar value to potential investors in emerging markets,” said Manila-based Ravelas at BDO said. “In terms of our valuation in the stock market, we’re expensive.”

Aerial View of Rallies against Marcos' Burial

PHOTOS: Aerial view of rallies against Marcos' burial

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A few hundred protesters flocked to the People Power Monument in Quezon City following the sudden burial of late President Ferdinand Marcos at the Heroes Cemetery on Friday, Nov. 18, 2016. The throng tripled in a few houros as more seek to take action for having a dictator buried at the national shrine. Copyright Philip Cheung

MANILA, Philippines — An estimated crowd of 3,000 protesters gathered at night at the People Power Monument to rail against Friday's burial of the dictator the 1986 revolt expelled from power.

Groups who assembled in various parts of Metro Manila converged at the site along major thoroughfare EDSA hours after the clandestine ceremony at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, or Heroes' Cemetery in Taguig City.

Daytime

Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City near Miriam College and Ateneo de Manila University. Terzeus S. Dominguez

Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City near Miriam College and Ateneo de Manila University. Terzeus S. Dominguez

People Power Monument along EDSA in Quezon City. Philip Cheung

Nighttime

More protesters arrive at the People Power Monument. MMDA/Released

More protesters arrive at the People Power Monument. Philip Cheang

More protesters arrive at the People Power Monument. Philip Cheang

More protesters arrive at the People Power Monument. Philip Cheang

The demonstration, a fight waged across generations, occurred as the topic #MarcosNOTaHero remained on top of Twitter trends.

Reports say the protests will persist until November 30.

European borders

WED, NOVEMBER 16, 2016 BY THE MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR LEAVE A COMMENT

IN MY OPINIONKlaus Doring

Exactly one year ago, I started writing about this topic already in this paper. I grew up in  Germany during times of Cold War, and military check points. 25 years residing and living in the former West Berlin surrounded by the Communist German Democratic Republic (or shortly East Germany) taught me how to survive behind borders and the Berlin Wall.

Just right now, Germany allowed to extend border controls for three more months. Wow. The European Union has ruled that Germany and a handful of other states will be allowed to keep their temporary border controls for three more months. Controls were reinstated last year to stem the flow of undocumented migrants.

Along with Austria, Denmark, Sweden and non-EU Norway, Germany reimposed partial border controls last year to stem the flow of undocumented migrants travelling through Europe. All the countries are members of the free-travel Schengen area but have been allowed by the EU to introduce border checks along the migrant route as an exceptional measure.

The five countries were scheduled to lift the border checks on November 15. However, the European Council, made up of the heads of the 28 EU member states, approved the proposal put forward by the European Commission. It said the temporary checks are allowed to be extended by “at most three months.”

After mid-February, the countries should reinstate unrestricted freedom to travel as soon as possible, said Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kalinak. Slovakia currently holds the rotating presidency in the European Council. German Justice Minister Thomas de Maizière had advocated prolonging border controls on Germany’s border to Austria. In October, he explained that controls could only be loosened when the EU’s external border had been fully secured or when the member states had sufficient resources to accommodate all refugees in Europe.

Germany was the first EU member state to reimpose border controls along its border with Austria in September 2015. Of course, not all countries welcomed the proposal. Hungary, Slovenia and Greece voted against the extension, while Bulgaria and Cyprus abstained. The Greek government argued that its own border was sufficiently controlled, making the chance of more migrants crossing Greece into EU states minimal.

Hungary warned that prolonging the internal controls could lead to a “breakdown of the Schengen system.” Rather than internal borders, Hungarian officials said the EU should focus on its external border. The Schengen area incorporates 26 countries, including non-EU members Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. People and goods can normally travel freely without border checks between states that have signed on to the agreement. Also many Filipino tourists avail a Schengen visa and enjoy travelling in Europe.

The Austria’s defense minister has said the European Union’s migrant deal with Turkey is dead. The EU must now prepare to strengthen its external borders, he added.

Under the deal, Turkey agreed to take back Syrian migrants in Greece who did not apply for or did not receive asylum in the EU in exchange for aid and the bloc taking a set amount of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey. But since the deal went into effect, migrants who previously tried to reach richer northern European states before applying for asylum have put in applications in Greece. This has slowed down deportations back to Turkey and left Greece overburdened as applications are processed. The EU, meanwhile, has been slow to develop a refugee distribution plan as countries, mainly in central and eastern Europe, refuse to accept asylum-seekers.

Political developments in Turkey have also cast the deal into doubt. Several politicians voiced out that Turkey was “on its way to becoming a dictatorship,” a reference to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s consolidation of power and targeting of the opposition. The political situation in Turkey makes implementation of another part of the migrant deal problematic. Under the agreement, Turkish citizens are to obtain visa-free travel to the bloc, but EU officials have questioned whether this will happen due to draconian anti-terror laws and the deterioration of democracy in Turkey. The security situation and instability in Turkey also casts doubt over whether it is a “safe country” to return migrants.

Absent visa-free travel, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu this week suggested his country would pull out of the deal by year’s end.

Vienna has allied itself with the Visegrad group – Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic – against the EU’s migrant policy. Earlier this year, Austria was instrumental in the closure of the Balkan route used by migrants to travel to northern Europe after it tightened its border controls and set a ceiling on asylum applications. Also earlier this week, Austria sent 60 troops to Hungary to help build infrastructure along the border with non-EU member Serbia.

Austrians head to the polls on December 4 for a rerun presidential election that pits anti-immigration and Euro-sceptic Freedom Party (FPO) candidate Norbert Hofer against the left-leaning Alexander Van der Bellen. Migration has been a centerpiece of the campaign.

Europe without borders? This is how I called and entitled several columns of mine in the past. Not only history has written its own story… !

No Filipino Casualties in New Zealand 7.8 Quake

No Filipino casualties in New Zealand quake —Malacañang

Published November 14, 2016 7:37am

Malacañang on Sunday night said it has not received any Filipino casualty in the powerful earthquake in New Zealand that killed two persons.

"The Philippine embassy in Wellington continues to monitor closely the situation. We shall update the public, through the DFA, as reports become available," Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said in a statement.

A tsunami warning was issued after a magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck northeast of Christchurch in the South Island on Sunday.

Aside from the two fatalities, there were also reports of injuries and collapsed buildings in the affected areas.

Prime Minister John Key said the earthquake was the "most significant shock" he could remember in Wellington. —ALG, GMA News

Jasmine, my muse

FEATURE: Jasmine, my muse

By Samantha Lee (The Philippine Star)

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Using the art of distraction, Jasmine Curtis gives the illusion of access while keeping her cards close to her chest.

(Samantha Lee is the writer-director of Baka Bukas, an upcoming LGBT-themed film that asks, “What happens when you fall in love with your best friend?” — Ed.)

MANILA, Philippines - Hindi po yan si Jasmine Curtis?” a security guards asks me as I distract him from the ongoing guerrilla poster shoot happening 10 feet away from us. It was 5:04 in the afternoon, a random Wednesday in September, and we were on the rooftop of an office building in Mandaluyong. I was trying to distract two security guards while the rest of my crew tried to get as many photos of Jasmine as possible before we were eventually kicked out. I tried bribing the guards with money as more of them gathered around me by the minute. It didn’t work. In a last-ditch effort to buy us more time, I offered them a photo opportunity with Jasmine after our shoot was over. It didn’t work either, because the girl in front of them didn’t look like the Jasmine Curtis they were used to seeing in billboards and magazines that have been around since she was 17.

“I had a really weird dream about an actress from back home and I woke up today to a text saying she was here.” It was 6:20 p. m. in a secluded pub in North Melbourne in August of 2015. I had just gotten off work, a 9-to-5 gig, and met up with my mentor to talk about the pros and cons of moving back to the Philippines. I was due to leave for the Australian outback the next day, to do a bit of soul-searching, but a common friend from the Philippines got in touch with me to say that Jasmine was in town and that we should hang out. I sent her a message and made plans to grab a drink as soon as I got back. A year or so later and we still haven’t gotten around to grabbing that drink.

“Kailangan ba talaga nung kissing scene?” was the first thing I was asked while I was in a meeting with Jasmine and her management team. I had run into her in a house party a couple of weeks before this and in the midst of my alcohol-induced courage, asked her if she would be interested in this film. I sent her a copy of the script the next day and 10 days later, she sent me an email with specific notes on different sequences, what she loved and what she didn’t. It was a welcome change from the cookie-cutter, quiet clone of ineffectual studio actresses I usually met with at that time. I needed a girl with a sense of fight in her, and Jasmine had a lot of it.

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Life outside of Showbiz

“I wanted you to play Alex because I know you have a life outside all of this,” I told her while we were having breakfast under a tent, surrounded by a hundred or so people during our first day on set. We were in the middle of talking about a so-called millennial film that had just been released which had a couple of inauthentic-looking party scenes. Much of my interaction with Jasmine prior to that morning involved a couple of friendly words during parties held by our intersecting friend groups, or reciprocal “LOLS” sent to the different group chats we belonged to. We were friends in theory but strangers in real life. I wondered with much anxiety about how the day would go. It was a conscious effort on my end not to give her a lot of materials to study before the shoot because I didn’t want her to be playing a character; rather I wanted Alex to be a different variation of herself. In this setup, she was the veteran and I was the rookie, and much of my anxiety stemmed from the fact that I could very likely f*ck this up for the both of us. But what I lacked in experience, we made up for with our common narrative — having lived in the same places, been at the same parties, watched the same concerts, having the same weird piercings, like two planets in different orbits existing in the same galaxy.

“Did you tell her to smize?” my production designer asked me as I sank back into my chair in front of the monitor. It was the last sequence of a very long day; we were in a bagnet place in Maginhawa where I spent most of the time running up and down a flight of stairs because there was no place for me to sit where they were shooting. Jasmine showed up feeling a bit under the weather, a combination of having come from taping the night before and suffering from back pain (something I found out about later on in the day). Everyone was having an off day, everyone wanted to go home. There was a breach in the usually flawless mind-meld Jasmine and I shared; after endless discussions about what was needed, we still weren’t on the same page. I could feel the weight of everyone’s fatigue hang around me as I was trying to decide whether to phone this one in — but I knew she wouldn’t have wanted me to. I told everyone to get ready for another take, and my DOP asked me what was going to be different this time around. I said I didn’t know and ran back to my monitors downstairs. I watched her get ready and I could see in her eyes that she was tired, she was tired but she wanted to be there. And that was when it hit me — I ran back up to the stairs and right before they called “action,” whispered into her ear: “You’re tired when you are in love.” Ten minutes later, we were all on our way home.

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She with the sad eyes

“I really like seeing you sad,” I said to her as we were sitting in the picture vehicle while the rest of the crew was setting up. It was sometime after midnight on our sixth shooting day. We had just finished shooting Jasmine’s first kissing scene, but we still had a long night of tracking shots ahead of us. Quiet moments like these were scarce because she spent most of the time between setups joking around with everyone from the soundman to our interns. She was often loud and full of energy, the same Jasmine Curtis you see during her hosting gigs or TV guestings. Being herself is a character she plays so well. “Sometimes, it’s just good to be sad,” she said while sitting in the driver’s seat. Such is the magic of Jasmine Curtis: using the art of distraction, she gives the illusion of access while keeping her cards close to her chest.

“Alam mo sa basketball? Kapag natatalo ka na, tapos 10 seconds na lang yung natitira sa oras,  tapos ipapasa mo yung bola sa star player mo tapos makaka-score sya ng three-pointer? Eto na yun.” I was talking to Jasmine’s road manager who had a habit of sitting beside me in front of the monitors during really crucial scenes. We’ve been shooting a highly emotional scene for two hours and it wasn’t working out. We had 30 minutes until Jasmine had to go and one more sequence to shoot after this one. I made a last-minute decision to change things up, to go a different way, a Hail Mary pass that I needed her to complete so that we could move on. She nailed it.

“Why do you keep making me open myself up to you?” Jasmine asks while she’s seated in a bathtub with Louise delos Reyes. We’re in an operating room of an abandoned animal hospital with bloodstains on the walls. We might as well have been shooting a horror film. The script has gone through many revisions, each one taking the narrative further away from my real-life experiences as possible. But this scene, this memory survived. We closed the set, and for the first time since we started shooting, I didn’t have a monitor on-set; I had to watch everything happen in real life. I call action, the dialogue starts, Jasmine sings, and for the first time, I find a tear rolling down my cheek.

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Tweet the author @givemesam.

Photo by REGINE DAVID

Produced by DAVID MILAN

Styled by MJ BENITEZ

Hair by AVRIL SEGUIN

Malaysia Allowed to Enter Philippines Waters to Pursue Militants and Kidnappers

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak shake hands before a welcome ceremony in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Photo: Reuters

Mr Najib also said he discussed with Mr Duterte the repatriation of some 7,000 Philippines immigrants in Sabah.

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PUBLISHED: 7:30 PM, NOVEMBER 10, 2016

UPDATED: 8:07 PM, NOVEMBER 10, 2016

PUTRAJAYA — Malaysian authorities will soon be able to cross into Philippine waters while in “hot pursuit” of militants that have been a bane in South-east Asia in recent years, Prime Minister Najib Razak announced after meeting with the Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte in Malaysia on Thursday (Nov 10).

A fuller discussion to hammer out the legalities will take place later this month involving the defence ministers from both countries and also Indonesia, which faces a similar predicament.

“We can now go into Philippines waters during a hot pursuit and act on militants by chasing them but we must inform their maritime enforcement agency upon entering their waters,” Mr Najib told a news conference after meeting Duterte.

Mr Najib said the defence ministers’ meeting is scheduled for Nov 22. “Duterte also expressed his concerns on eradicating kidnapping cases in the southern Philippines and Sabah, and hence the decision, because we cannot just stop [half way] from chasing the bad guys,” he said.

Thursday's meeting is Mr Duterte’s second time meeting Mr Najib since taking office in June, but his two-day visit marks his first official trip to Malaysia.

Militants, namely from the Abu Sayyaf terror group, have been kidnapping Malaysians and tourists from Sabah’s east coast — just half an hour’s boat ride away from their southern Philippines hideout — for huge amount of ransoms and have even carried out beheadings.

In response to the growing terror threat, Malaysia set up the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom), but the abductions persisted. According to Mr Najib, a total of 10 Malaysians have been abducted and released while five are still held captive.

Mr Najib also said he discussed with Mr Duterte the repatriation of some 7,000 Philippines immigrants in Sabah.

"We have agreed that these Philippines immigrants will be sent back to their home in stages," he said.

Apart from that, Mr Najib said they also discussed on setting up of a Philippines regional office in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah to boost economic ties between both countries. MALAY MAIL ONLINE