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The local stock market advanced for the second straight session as investors continued to take advantage of affordable share prices following a recent seven-day slump.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index closed yesterday’s session at 6,039.76, higher by 0.23 percent or 13.73 points.

The broader All Shares index also improved by 0.13 percent or 4.67 points, finishing at 3,659.29.

Philstocks Financial research manager Japhet Tantiangco said the local market extended its gains as investors continued with their bargain hunting.

‘The positive cues from Wall Street driven by Fed rate cut hopes help in Thursday’s session,’ he said.

All sectors were in the green, except for property which declined by 1.2 percent.

Total value turnover thinned to P5.56 billion from the previous day’s P6.8 billion.

Foreigners were net sellers with net outflows at P762.05 million.

Market breadth was negative as decliners edged out advancers, 95 to 89, while 65 issues were unchanged.

ICTSI remained as the session’s most actively traded stock, ending flat at P486 percent, followed by BDO Unibank and Ayala Land which dropped by 0.22 percent and 1.64 percent, respectively, to P138 and P24.

Among index members, SM Investments recorded the highest jump with a 2.03-percent increase, while SM Prime lost the most, declining by 2.18 percent.

Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong cried foul over a plot to ease him out of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure or ICI as he lamented a ‘deep seated’ corruption in government.

Discussing his brief stint in the ICI, Magalong did not mince words in calling out ‘corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, Department of Public Works and Highways officials and contractors who made a cottage industry or a livelihood program’ out of ghost DPWH projects or substandard works.

Magalong also described as ‘shameless, callous and hypocritical’ the claim of former Ako Bicol congressman Zaldy Co that his resignation from the House of Representatives is the ‘ultimate sacrifice.’

‘There’s no transparency whatsoever. They’re just so comfortable doing it that they’re not afraid. Lately, a congressman involved, Zaldy Co, said he did not abandon it, that it was a sacrifice. My God! You stole from national coffers and you will say it was a sacrifice on your part and not an abandonment?’ Magalong said, referring to Co’s fellow Ako Bicol Rep. Alfredo Garbin’s statement that ‘Co’s act of resignation is not an abandonment, but a sacrifice.’

‘Is that how low our standards in Congress are already? Is that how shameless we are? How insensitive, callous and hypocritical. It is insulting to the Filipino mentality,’ he added.

Magalong said corruption is so ‘deeply rooted,’ noting a padded national budget following the ‘insertions’ of the lawmakers’ pet projects in the General Appropriations Act, even when these are not found in the executive spending plan in the National Expenditure Program.

For him, this has resulted in thousands of ghost projects, including a province that has up to 9,000 anomalous projects.

‘I had found out that it was so widespread and the magnitude so overwhelming, one cannot dispose of the thousands of cases in just a year. The Filipino people are not stupid, but they make us look stupid that we would not catch them out. It is insulting,’ Magalong said.

Hitting too close to home

Magalong, during a Senate science and technology committee hearing to discuss Baguio’s best anti-corruption practices and give inputs on Sen. Bam Aquino’s proposal to legislate ‘blockchain’ technology yesterday, said he was quietly pushed out of the ICI because his investigations upset powerful people.

‘I think I struck a nerve,’ he said, suggesting that his work ‘may have hit too close to home’ for some involved in alleged irregularities.

Magalong also expressed his ill feelings following a Malacañang press conference that cast doubt on his dual role as ICI special adviser and mayor as well as questioned his independence.

‘I was really surprised when suddenly I was asked in a press conference without even consulting me, and it was hastily arranged, to say I am not an investigator, but a special adviser,’ he said, referring to a Sept. 26 briefing of Palace press officer Claire Castro.

Castro had said that Magalong was appointed adviser, ‘not an investigator’ and that his role in the Discaya couple’s Baguio project could undermine the ICI’s independence. She was referring to a P110-million tennis court contracted by Curlee and Sarah Discaya, which was allegedly found to be substandard.

‘They called out conflict of interest, but it is them who made a workaround for me to be legal adviser. Suddenly, here comes a below the belt accusation that the Discayas have an anomalous tennis court project. That was too much. It’s like you are making me appear corrupt, which I will not take sitting down,’ Magalong said, citing his record of fighting corruption in government.

In a chance interview after the hearing, Magalong said he would rather not name anyone, but called out Malacañang’s ‘anomalous press conference’ and the ‘below the belt’ accusations against him.

The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) is set to auction off a wide range of assets, including farmland, residential and commercial properties as well as equipment, through its electronic public bidding platform on Oct. 29 to 30.

The bidding portal will accept offers starting 9 a.m. on Oct. 29 until 1 p.m. the following day. All submitted bids will be opened at 2 p.m. on Oct. 30, the state-run deposit insurer announced.

Up for sale on an as-is-where-is basis are 34 vacant agricultural lots, 15 vacant residential lots, eight residential lots with improvements, three agricultural lots with improvements and several mixed-use properties. The inventory also includes two commercial lots, two vehicles and a generator set.

The properties, which range in size to as much as 8.2 hectares, are scattered across 19 provinces, including Aklan, Batangas, Cebu, Ilocos Norte, Isabela, Laguna, Leyte, Negros Oriental, Pangasinan, Sultan Kudarat and Zamboanga del Norte. The vehicles and generator, meanwhile, are located in Oriental Mindoro.

Interested buyers may register once via the PDIC’s e-bidding portal or by accessing the ‘Assets for Sale’ icon on the PDIC website. A catalog with detailed descriptions, requirements and bidding conditions is also available online.

The agency reminded bidders to conduct due diligence on the assets, such as verifying ownership, status and physical condition, before making an offer.

Winners of agricultural properties will need to submit within 15 days a Certification from the Department of Agrarian Reform stating that the land is not covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program and that no Emancipation Patent or Certificate of Land Ownership Award has been issued.

They must also file an Affidavit of Aggregate Landholdings confirming that their total landholdings do not exceed the five-hectare legal limit.

As receiver of closed banks, the PDIC sells remaining assets to help settle claims of uninsured depositors and other creditors.

Proceeds from closed bank asset sales go to funds managed by PDIC for creditors’ claims, while revenues from corporate asset sales are added to the Deposit Insurance Fund.

Several officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways, including those who have been fired or suspended, are now undergoing what amounts to lifestyle checks.

Their assets have been frozen by the courts upon the recommendation of the Anti-Money Laundering Council. The Bureau of Internal Revenue is working with the AMLC and state prosecutors to determine if tax returns match declared incomes. The Bureau of Customs and Land Transportation Office are also providing inputs in determining if assets are ill-gotten.

Now we know that it isn’t impossible to carry out this type of inter-agency cooperation in trying to ferret out illegally amassed wealth.

Such multi-agency cooperation need not wait for a law against racketeering, which legislators have refused to craft as much as they have resisted proposals for regulating campaign finance, easing bank secrecy rules and curbing political dynasties.

President Marcos ordered the lifestyle checks in the final week of August, with an initial focus on DPWH officials and employees implicated in the flood control scandal.

Inevitably, he was urged to lead by example. In response, Malacañang said the President is ready to undergo a lifestyle check. The Office of the Vice President issued a similar statement, saying OVP officials and employees are also ready.

Now that the DPWH officials face asset checks, Malacañang can make good on its statement and start expanding the initiative.

A good start will be the release of the statements of assets, liabilities and net worth of the President since he assumed power. Several SALNs are needed to assess any wealth increase or reduction in the past three years. Malacañang has said scrutiny of SALNs is part of the lifestyle checks.

With the President getting the ball rolling, Cabinet members can follow, since they are tasked to oversee the lifestyle checks in their respective agencies.

There’s no need to wait for an order from the Office of the Ombudsman, which has not prohibited anyone from voluntarily making one’s SALN public.

There’s also no need to wait for a formal request from any entity such as media organizations. The three representatives of the Akbayan party-list plus a former member of the group who is currently sitting in Congress released their SALNs to the public with no one formally requesting it.

Before the previous ombudsman turned the SALN into a top-secret document, it was an annual routine for officials starting with the president and all members of both chambers of Congress to release their SALNs, or at least make public the amounts they declared as assets, liabilities and net worth. It’s time to restore this practice.

This week I attended an embassy reception, for the first time in months – not only because I like the ambassador, but also to find out if the Filipino party crowd had thinned since the flood control scandal erupted.

Sure enough, for the first time since I began attending such receptions ages ago, I didn’t spot any senator or prominent congressman in the crowd. No Cabinet secretary or well-known local government official either.

An analyst joked that no one wanted to be caught getting off a Mercedes Benz-Maybach S-Class backed by a security convoy of several identical black Benz SUVs. I actually spotted such a Benz fleet parked outside one house in Forbes Park just last week.

These days, folks avoid being seen strutting in Manolo Blahniks, holding a Hermes clutch while flashing a Patek Philippe wristwatch along with a huge Paraiba tourmaline ring.

If you can’t flaunt those ultra-luxe baubles at parties, why attend?

In the hotel basement parking area I spotted a Maserati and a Lexus. I wondered if those were among the luxury vehicles now being hunted down for seizure by the state.

All is not lost for the conspicuous consumers; they can still use their hard-stolen money to splurge on luxuries under the radar of the envious scrum. A public works employee, for example, has reportedly just plunked a cool P2 million in advance payment for dental implants.

But overall, the fun has been taken out of wealth flaunting by the obscenely rich.

This embarrassment over the ostentatious display of fantabulous wealth has descended on the country practically overnight.

It happened after the systematic looting of public coffers for personal purposes came to light, in the most public way, beginning with that privilege speech by Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

That kind of public shaming could not have happened if the offenses imputed on thieves had been kept under wraps, with the plunderers invoking presumption of innocence and presumption of regularity in their official acts.

This is another reason why public hearings are so important.

The bicameral conference in the previous 19th Congress has been dubbed the Chamber of Secrets, where magical things happened to the national budget that would put to shame Voldemort, the villain ‘who must not be named’ in the Harry Potter series.

It turns out that there were several Chambers of Secrets in the budget process, among them the House ‘small committee’ where no minutes were kept. The chair of the Senate finance committee at the time, Grace Poe, says she did not take part in any small committee for the budget. She did disclose that P26 billion was inserted for AKAP or the Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program, with the Senate agreeing after P5 billion was allotted to its members and P21 billion went to the House.

Poe faced the Independent Commission for Infrastructure a week ago. But the ICI session with her was closed to the public, although she answered questions from the media afterward. The Discayas also faced the ICI and gave a ‘tell all, plus plus’ (as per the couple’s lawyer).

We may never know the full details of what Poe, the Discayas or sacked public works undersecretary Roberto Bernardo told the ICI. The commission is starting to be seen (unfairly, according to its defenders) as the latest addition to the Chambers of Secrets.

Another chamber is the Supreme Court, which did not bother holding oral arguments on a case so vital as the impeachment of the vice president of the republic. The SC, whose members probably believe they are indeed gods unaccountable to no one, were in such an admirable rush to resolve that case it even used among its premises for its decision a non-existent news report. Our country faces a plague of ghosts.

The record of the judiciary in resolving cases is one of the reasons why there is such dismay over the decision of the ICI to hold its hearings behind closed doors.

Defenders of the ICI want critics to give the commission a chance, saying its method is similar to Special Counsel investigations in the US. But all along, legal illiterates like me thought it would be patterned after the Philippines’ Agrava Fact-Finding Board on the assassination of Ninoy Aquino, whose hearings were open to the public. Perhaps President Marcos should have clarified this matter when he organized the ICI with the promise of promoting transparency.

The ICI wants the nation to wait for its findings to be known as the details are processed through the usual legal channels.

It’s a reasonable request, if only our legal system wasn’t in such a mess. Those who want ICI sessions to be opened to the public don’t want to wait for months or even years to find out how we lost trillions in tax money to thieves. As the cases crawl along at the usual glacial pace in the judicial mill, the looters will be demanding (as is their right) presumption of innocence. They will be working to unfreeze their assets to finance their legal battles, and possibly buy their way back to politics. They could employ delaying tactics in court, after which they can move to have the case dismissed for inordinate delay, or else claim advanced age and cognitive decline to end their prosecution.

As we have seen, that’s a ginormous amount of money we’re talking about here, which can be deployed for magical political comebacks.

The various Chambers of Secrets could be perceived, unfairly or not, to be complicit in this.

We can wait for the new minority in the Senate to present another witness, even without Lacson’s by-your-leave, against the guy Senator Chiz refers to as he who must not be named.

Escudero must also be a Harry Potter fan. He might want to amplify calls for open hearings by the ICI. But it can’t be a selective call, covering only he who must not be named. Open hearings will be the quickest way for Escudero to refute the accusations against him, hit back at his critics and bolster claims of innocence.

The gods of Padre Faura – and their retired colleague in the ICI – may want to take inspiration from God’s order: let there be light.

Face-to-face classes at all levels at the De La Salle University (DLSU) in Manila were suspended yesterday following a bomb threat.

The University Student Government received the threat through email on Tuesday night, warning DLSU students not to go to school the next day.

After sweeping the campus, the Manila Police District found no bomb.

The DLSU management said in-person classes and on-site work resume today, with tightened security in place.

Manila Mayor Isko Moreno called on the DLSU to look into the bomb threat, saying it could have been a prank.

President Marcos will ask lawmakers for emergency funds to help the communities affected by the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that devastated Cebu.

Marcos yesterday visited the quake-hit areas to inspect damaged structures, oversee relief operations and provide aid to survivors.

He arrived in Bogo City near the epicenter of the Sept. 30 earthquake, conducted site visits, talked to some of the affected residents and attended a situation briefing by disaster management officials.

‘I will be going to the Congress, the House and the Senate, so they can provide emergency funds,’ the President said during a situation briefing at the Bogo City Hall.

‘The QRF of some agencies is about to be depleted. So we will release the. quick response fund we are using (so we can respond) immediately,’ he added.

Marcos noted that the country was hit by two successive strong cyclones Nando and Opong before it was struck by the magnitude 6.9 earthquake. He assured local governments that his administration would have the QRF released as quickly as possible.

The Office of the President donated about P200 million to affected local governments and hospitals to support their relief and medical efforts. Cebu City received P50 million financial aid, while Bogo City, San Remigio and Sogod got P20 million each. The towns of Bantayan, Daanbantayan, Madridejos, Medellin, Santa Fe, Tabogon and Tabuelan were given P10 million each. All hospitals under the health department will receive P20 million while provincial hospitals will be provided with P5 million each.

‘I assured all of our local executives that this is not a one-time aid… We will continue to monitor. We will continue to coordinate with the leaders, the local leadership to make sure that the rehabilitation will run smoothly,’ the President said.

Marcos also directed the budget department to release P150 million in Local Government Support Fund to the Cebu provincial government and P75 million each to the local governments of San Remigio, Bogo City and Medellin.

The administration will also give P10,000 cash assistance for those whose homes were damaged by the quake.

Overall, Marcos ordered the giving of more than P600 million assistance from his office and the budget department.

Before the situation briefing, Marcos visited the collapsed housing units at SM Cares Village in Barangay Polambato, the Archdiocesan Shrine and Parish Church of St. Vicente Ferrer in Barangay Bungtod, the City of Bogo Science and Arts Academy in Barangay Cogon and the Cebu Provincial Hospital in Barangay Taytayan.

Tent city

Noting that the displaced residents remain fearful of returning to damaged buildings, Marcos directed agencies to set up a ‘tent city’ in Bogo City to provide temporary shelters to affected residents.

‘We are fast-tracking this so they can have shelter. Many are afraid to go back to buildings. They prefer to stay outdoors,’ the Chief Executive said.

‘That’s what they want, so we will follow that. So, that’s why our proposal is the tent city.’

The government intends to tap the Philippine Red Cross to deploy its medical field tents, which were used during the COVID-19 pandemic as staging and isolation wards. Marcos gave an assurance that there would be facilities and vital supplies like food, water and electricity at the site of the tent cities.

The energy department had also given assurance that the entire Bogo City in Cebu would be reenergized within the day, the President added.

The death toll from the magnitude 6.9 earthquake has reached 72, while the number of injured persons has climbed to 366 as of yesterday.

About 65,000 families in Cebu have been affected by the quake.

VP Sara visits Cebu

Vice President Sara Duterte is currently in Cebu to ‘extend her sympathies’ to those affected by the magnitude 6.9 earthquake.

Duterte visited the wake of one of the victims who died during the powerful quake. ‘We ask God to grant comfort to those who have lost loved ones, and to provide relief and strength for those holding their families together amid property loss and damage. May you find strength in one another, and may the legendary Visayan warmth and resilience shine through amidst this deep sorrow,’ Duterte said.

Duterte and President Marcos did not meet in Cebu where they both visited the province.

She arrived in Cebu on Wednesday afternoon to personally extend her sympathies to residents and meet with local officials, assuring them of sustained assistance from her office.

On Wednesday, the OVP Cebu satellite office distributed relief goods to the victims of the strong quake in San Remigio Sports Complex. The OVP distributed food packs, potable water, hygiene kits and other non-food essentials to affected families in Medellin, San Remigio, Bogo, Tabuelan and Tabogon.

Aid

The Department of Health (DOH) yesterday announced it will apply the zero-balance billing program to benefit those injured in the earthquake.

Health Secretary Ted Herbosa has ordered the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to shoulder the expenses of patients who were injured in the earthquake and admitted in private hospitals.

‘I already ordered the PCEO (president and chief executive officer) of PhilHealth to make possible coverage of the hospitalization of injured victims that were brought to private hospitals,’ Herbosa yesterday said in a radio interview. ‘I also wanted for private hospitals to help so I will just have PhilHealth take care of the patients that cannot be accommodated in public hospitals.’

According to Herbosa, to make this possible, they checked on a ‘similar issuance’ made during the time he was still undersecretary of the department. ‘We will have this modified for (the situation in) Bogo,’ he added.

Meanwhile, Health Assistant Secretary Albert Domingo said three DOH hospitals in the province – the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, the Cebu South Medical Center and the Eversley Childs Sanitarium and General Hospital are fully functional.

The 72 victims who died in Tuesday night’s quake that struck Cebu don’t have to worry about burying their loved ones after the Department of Social Welfare and Development vowed to shoulder the burial expenses of their families.

‘The DSWD in Central Visayas is now accounting the number of casualties and their location. Our social workers will also talk to the concerned families to inform them that the DSWD will shoulder the burial expenses of their loved ones,’ spokesperson Irene Dumlao disclosed.

The assistant secretary of the DSWD’s Disaster Response Management Group likewise said the department’s Field Office 7 – Central Visayas will also be providing P10,000 cash assistance to the families.

The DSWD has intensified its disaster response operations for families affected by the earthquake, according to Assistant Secretary Leo Quintilla, OIC of the DSWD’s National Resource and Logistics Management Bureau.

Quintilla said the department has ensured the delivery of food, water, shelter, and psychosocial services to quake-hit communities, while also preparing for early recovery interventions such as the emergency cash transfer program.

For its part, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) has intensified relief efforts to provide quick assistance to quake victims.

PCSO general manager Mel Robles directed their branch offices and authorized agent corporations in the rapid delivery of donations such as food and other essential items to the Cebu provincial government on Wednesday.

Charitimba food packs are part of the initial relief efforts. Evaluation supply kits, including mosquito nets, plastic mats, blankets, slippers, flashlights, pillows, towels and other necessities, have also been airlifted via C-130 aircraft on Wednesday afternoon to support survivors.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Philippines said it is ready to support the government-led response following the quake.

‘In times of crisis, children are among the most vulnerable. We remain committed to working with national and local authorities to ensure their safety, protection and access to essential services as they recover and rebuild after emergencies, including this earthquake and the recent and upcoming series of storms and typhoons,’ UNICEF said.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Manila city government sent help for relief efforts following the powerful earthquake that rocked the northern part of Cebu.

The MMDA deployed an 18-man contingent from the Public Safety Division and Road Emergency Group. The team would carry solar-powered water purifiers to provide clean water, life locators, battery-operated extrication equipment, trauma bags and various clearing tools, including chainsaws and dump trucks, according to MMDA Chairman Romando Artes.

Joining the team are K9 dogs ‘to assist in earthquake response and rescue operations (and) trained to locate people trapped under rubble or debris using their sense of smell,’ he said further.

For its part, the Manila city government would also send a ‘contingent of doctors and nurses, along with medical supplies and the Manila City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office’ to Cebu, announced Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso. The team from Manila would ‘distribute relief goods, provide medical assistance and coordinate with local authorities for faster and more orderly response to the needs of affected residents.’

The Pasig City government will also send aid to Cebu, Mayor Vico Sotto said, adding that five teams will be deployed in areas in Cebu to assist in disaster response operations in areas heavily affected by the earthquake.

These are composed of search and rescue, mass disaster management, medical, psychosocial first aid and infrastructure audit teams.

Sotto said there are discussions with the city disaster risk reduction and management council for the approval of financial assistance for local government units that are under a state of calamity.

A total of 100 police personnel and firefighters from Negros Island have been dispatched to Cebu to assist in the ongoing search and rescue operations in areas devastated by the quake.

P/Lt. Col. Joem Malong, spokesperson for the Police Regional Office- Negros Island Region, said 80 police personnel are trained in disaster response and emergency operations and comes fully equipped with the necessary rescue equipment. The Bureau of Fire Protection – Negros Island Region also dispatched 20 of its personnel to Bogo City.

A 19-man rescue and relief team mobilized by the Zamboanga City local government is scheduled arrive Thursday in quake-hit Bogo City in Cebu, to assist in the humanitarian mission.

Mayor Khymer Olaso dispatched the team with two rescue trucks transporting parts of the 1,000 sacks of rice, 1,000 boxes of canned goods, 1,000 jerry cans of water and two ambulances. The convoy of the rescue and relief team is expected to arrive in Cebu by 6 p.m. Thursday.

The Coast Guard District Southwestern Mindanao has also deployed two of its 44-meter vessels to provide additional support to the ongoing relief missions in Cebu province and affected areas in Visayas.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has filed 70 criminal complaints against dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo and members of her family for allegedly falsifying the documents of their property and businesses in Marilao, Bulacan.

Guo, her sister Shiela Leal, brother Seimen and her father’s partner Lin Wen Yi were charged with 30 counts of falsification of public documents for allegedly submitting false articles of incorporation, secretary’s certificate and the general information sheet for six companies.

According to the NBI, Guo and her family are incorporators of QJJ Group of Companies Inc., QSeed Genetics Inc., QJJ Meat Shop Inc., QJJ Slaughter House Inc., QJJ Smelting Plant Inc. and QJJ Embroidery Center Inc. These are all located in Barangay Patubig, Marilao, Bulacan.

The NBI said the Guos presented themselves as Filipino citizens in the articles of incorporation of these companies, despite evidence proving that they are Chinese nationals.

Overall, the NBI’s Bulacan South District Office filed 70 charges against the respondents, who figured prominently in the investigation into Philippine offshore gaming operators that facilitated crimes, including scams and human trafficking.

An additional four counts of falsification of public documents were filed against Guo and her relatives for supposed misrepresentations in the firms’ business, occupancy and building permits.

Another 30 counts of violation of the Anti-Dummy Law were filed against the respondents.

Guo is also facing six counts of falsification of public documents for allegedly falsifying the deed of sale and documentary stamp of a 4,636-square-meter property in Bulacan that she bought for P2 million on Oct. 5, 2010.

What a difference a round makes.

Bianca Pagdanganan looked poised for a weekend stint after opening with a solid 69 at the Lotte Championship, but a disastrous second round 77 dashed her hopes of a strong finish in the $3-million event at the Hoakalei Country Club in Ewa Beach, Oahu, Hawaii.

The power-hitting Filipina was in strong contention after 18 holes, sitting tied for 25th and carrying momentum into the second round. She even opened with a birdie on the first hole to underline her intentions. Despite a bogey on the par-5 No. 5, she bounced back with another birdie on the 10th to stay at two-under overall through 15 holes.

But disaster struck on the par-4 16th.

Pagdanganan holed out with a rare quadruple bogey – an 8 – that derailed her round and effectively ended her weekend hopes. She settled for pars on the final two holes to post a back-nine 41 and a 77 overall, finishing with a two-round total of 146 – three strokes short of the 143 cutline.

It was another missed opportunity for Pagdanganan, who has been eyeing a strong performance after several early exits this season. Her second-round stats reflected her struggles – she hit eight fairways and reached 13 greens in regulation, but her putting faltered. After needing just 28 putts in the first round, she struggled with 34 on Friday.

Two-time US Women’s Open champion Yuka Saso also bowed out early, carding an 81 to finish at 158.

Meanwhile, Jessica Porvasnik surged to the top of the leaderboard with a scorching 65, overtaking Japan’s Akie Iwai. Porvasnik heads into the weekend at 12-under 132, holding a slim lead in the tightly contested tournament.

The PBA will take a 40-day recess during the Governors’ Cup next year to give way to the Asian Games in Nagoya on Sept. 19-Oct. 4 with Commissioner Willie Marcial laying the groundwork to hold a pocket tournament involving foreign teams while on break.

Nothing is final at the moment except that the Governors’ Cup, featuring imports with a height limit of 6-6, will start July 10. There is interest among teams from Hong Kong, Macau and Indonesia to play in the PBA and an option is to bring them over for the pocket tournament. The break will cover at least two weeks of preparation and the actual competition in Nagoya with coach Tim Cone out to retain Gilas’ championship.

It will be an extended 50th season for PBA as FIBA World Cup Asia qualifying windows are scheduled on Nov. 27-Dec. 1 this year, Feb. 26-March 2, July 2-6, Aug. 27-31 and Nov. 26-30 next year. While PBA will take a break for the Asian Games, it will not interrupt the schedule for the coming SEA Games in Bangkok. PBA’s 50th anniversary season could stretch to at least 15 months.

In the coming Philippine Cup, the quarterfinals will be on Dec. 21-28. The top four elimination placers gain a twice-to-beat advantage over the next four finishers in the quarterfinals where the pairings are 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6 and 4 vs 5. There will be no playoff for eighth spot. The same format will be used in the Commissioner’s Cup where the 66-game eliminations are scheduled on March 11-May 13 next year. The Philippine and Commissioner’s Cups will feature a best-of-seven semifinals and finals. The Governors’ Cup will roll out a best-of-five semifinals and best-of-seven finals. The All-Star Weekend will be on March 6-8 in Candon, Ilocos Sur.

PBA commissioner Willie Marcial said the first conference will hold games at Ynares Center in Antipolo and Montalban with several dates at the Smart Araneta Coliseum and MOA booked during the Christmas holidays, Ninoy Aquino Stadium earmarked for the FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup on Nov. 21-Dec. 7 and PhilSports Arena undergoing renovation.