The OLW Sun Tuesday April 29 2014

TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014 � 8 in provinces, free online

**** NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR

Look who’s here: uncle Barack!

The President of the United States has arrived in Manila. US President Barack Obama arrived in the Philippines on Monday, April 28, and disembarked from Air Force One at 1:41 pm at AGES Aviation Cent-er, Balagbag Ramp in Pasay City.

He is in the Philippines for a two-day state visit. The US president was met at the airport by Phil-

ippine officials led by Vice President Jejomar Binay, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, Inte-rior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, and Philippine Am-bassador to the US Jose Cuisia.

Obama, the 7th sitting US president to visit the Philippines, flew from Malaysia, his 3rd stop in a week-long Asian tour that also brought him to Ja-pan and South Korea.

The last US president to conduct a state visit to the Philippines was George W. Bush in October 2003.

Obama shook hands with the Philippine officials before boarding Marine One, the presidential heli-copter, and headed for Malacañang where an ar-rival ceremony awaited him.

Arriving in Malacañang at 2:14 pm, Obama was welcomed by President Benigno Aquino III in front of Bonifacio Hall. Aquino brought the state guest to the hall for a few minutes, then re-emerged to be-gin the arrival honors.

Before proceeding to the main Palace building to sign the guestbook at the Malacañang Reception Hall, the US president was introduced to Philippine Cabinet officials who attended his arrival ceremony.Full story: Page 3

The OLW Sun, Tuesday, April 29, 2014* * *

WeatherGo to olwsun.wordpress.com/weather

for Philippine weather forecasts

BETTER WEATHER? CALL

PAG-ASA AT9264258FOR MOREWEATHER

Summary:

4 day forecastPlace Today Tuesday Wed. Thurs.

Manila 35c 34c 35c 35c

Baguio 25c 26c 25c 26c

Tuguegarao 37c 37c 36c 36c

Batangas 33c 32c 33c 33c

Legazpi 33c 33c 33c 33c

Palawan 33c 33c 33c 33c

Iloilo 33c 32c 32c 33c

Cebu 33c 32c 32c 33c

Tacloban 33c 33c 33c 33c

Davao 34c 35c 34c 35c

CDO 33c 32c 32c 33c

Zamboanga 33c 33c 34c 33c

The weather icons are used from here: http://merlinthered.deviantart.com/art/plain-weather-icons-157162192

The whole country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunder-storms mostly in the after-noon or evening. Light to moderate winds blowing

from the east to northeast will prevail over Luzon and Visayas and coming from the northeast over Mind-anao. The coastal waters throughout the archipelago will be slight to moderate.

37c

35c

33c

33c

33c

33c

33c

33c 34cbLIGHT

3

11

3

F C100 40 80 30 60 20 40 10 20 0 0 -10 -10 -20

INSIDE: Sports 20, Life 14, Leader Article 8, Scarth 5, Crossword 20

CAN’T GET THE OLW SUN? We always try to keep your favourite news-paper available at all times but if the OLW Sun was sold out at your retail outlet please let us know by messaging us on Facebook with your name and address so we can send you one, and we will act upon it straight away.

Asia yesterdayTokyo 23c Kuala Lumpur 33c

Seoul 15c Jakarta 33c

Beijing 26c Hanoi 27c

Taipei 28c Phonm Penh 36c

Hong Kong 27c Ho Chi Minh 36c

Bangkok 38c Sydney 22c

bLIGHT

bLIGHT

US and PH in the numbers

3.4 mFilipinos in the U.S

250kAmericans

in PH

85percent Fili-pinos posi-tive on US

$8BUS exports

in PH $7.8bPH exports

in US 33thtrading partner of the US

2ndtrading

partner of US

�55BForeign direct invest-ments of US in the PH

1901US teachers

arrive 652kAmericans who

vacations in the PH1992Year when US

bases were kicked

$2bgiven to PH by US formilitary cooperation200k

Filipinos whovacations in the PH

35thPH: 2nd source

of income intourism, US

2ndUS: 2nd source

of income intourism, PH

$190mRequested amount for

military grantsSOURCES:RAPPLER.COMINQUIRER.NET

The OLW Sun, Tuesday, April 29, 2014 * * *

US President Barack Obama arrived in Manila on Monday afternoon for his two-day state visit in the country.

Obama arrived on Air Force One at the Ninoy Aquino International Air-port at 1:26 p.m., a couple of hours after the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agree-ment (EDCA) was signed at Camp Aguinaldo.

He was greeted by hon-or guards and received by Vice President Jejomar Bi-nay, US Ambassador Philip Goldberg, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosa-rio, Interior Secretary Ma-nuel “Mar” Roxas II, and Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia.

The visiting president and his party then boarded the Marine One Presidential

Helicopter that would bring them to Malacañang.

He is in the Philippines for the first time to meet with President Benigno Aquino III and to strengthen the ties between the two coun-tries. The Philippines is the last stop of Obama’s Asian tour—he had previously visited Japan, South Korea and Malaysia—which is part of the US bid to rebalance its forces in the region amid China’s increasing political and military might.

The signing of the EDCA, which will allow US troops to access Philippine mili-tary facilities, by Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and US Ambassador Philip Goldberg came just in time for Obama’s visit, prompt-ing critics to claim that it was rushed “as a gift” to the visiting US President.

Obama will be heading straight to Malacañang to meet with Aquino. The bi-lateral meeting will be fol-lowed by a joint conference

and a dinner reception.On Tuesday, the US Presi-

dent will meet with mem-bers of the business sector and then with the Armed Forces of the Philippines at Fort Bonifacio. He is ex-pected to visit the Manila American cemetery before leaving the country around noontime. US President Barack Obama was wel-comed by President Benig-no Aquino III on Monday afternoon at Malacañang, the first stop of his two-day

state visit in the country.The two heads of state

attended the customary Welcome Ceremony at the Malacañang Palace grounds around 2:15 p.m. Obama ar-rived in front of Bonifacio Hall (formerly Premier Guest House) on a limou-sine, after traveling to the compound on the Marine One Presidential Helicopter from Ninoy Aquino Interna-tional Airport (NAIA).

During the Welcome Cer-emony, the national an-thems of the Philippines and the United States were played while a 21-gun salute was being rendered. The two leaders then inspected the troops, followed by the Commander of the Hon-or Guards sheathing his sword and saluting Obama to mark the end of the cer-emony.

US and PH in the numbers

652kObama’s here in the islands!

President arrives on 1.44 pm on a historic American visit


Right on the day when Obamacame, new military pact signedThe Philippines and the United States signed an agreement Monday to al-low a bigger US military presence on Filipino terri-tory, hours ahead of a visit to Manila by US President Barack Obama.

Philippine Defense Minister Vol-taire Gazmin and US ambassador Philip Goldberg signed the 10-year pact, which is seen as anoth-er element of Obama’s effort to focus US military and economic attention more heavily on Asia.

Obama said the deal would see more US troops rotate through the Philippines for joint military training exercises, but empha-sized there would be no return of permanent American bases.

“Greater cooperation between American and Filipino forces would enhance our ability to train, exercise, and operate with each other and respond even faster to a range of challenges,” Obama said in a written response to questions by local television network ABS-CBN ahead of his visit.

Both panels had been working on the agreement since August last year and had eight meetings before the deal was signed. The deal announced on Monday is only a framework agreement, with the details — such as how many US troops will ro-tate through the Philippines and when — to be negotiated and announced later.

Although the Philippine panel vowed transparency in the negotiations, it has yet to reveal the entire contents the document. Speculations say that it will be released as Obama arrives in the coun-try.

“The document we signed not only manifests the deepened relation-ship between the Philip-pines and the United States

but equally serve as a frame-work for furthering our alli-ance as encapsulated in the title Enhanced Defense Co-operation,” Gaz-in said in his speech.

“This agreement allows us to work on what is called for under the MDT which is the involvement of individ-ual and collective capacities and sustainability to under-take what is possible under the Visiting Forces Agree-ment which are training and exercises,” he said fur-ther. Obama was due to ar-rive in the Philippines from

Malaysia on Monday after-noon for a two-day visit, the final leg of an Asian trip that also took him to Japan and South Korea.

The United States and the Philippines are already long-time allies bound by a mutual defense pact, and engage in regular war games that see thousands of US troops and state-of-the-art American military hardware brought to the Philippines. The Philippines had been eager for an agreement to expand the arrangement to boost its weak military

capabilities and emphasize its close ties to the United States, at a time of deep tensions with China over competing claims to parts of the South China Sea.

China claims most of the South China Sea, even wa-ters close to the Philippines and other countries in the region.

Brunei, Malaysia and Viet-nam, as well as Taiwan, also have overlapping claims to the sea. As tensions over the South China Sea have heat-ed up, the United States has sought to strike a bal-

anced strategy by seeking to reassure its allies in Asia while emphasizing to China it takes no sides on the dis-pute.

In his comments to ABS-CBN, Obama again empha-sized the United States re-mained deeply committed to supporting the Philip-pines, a former US colony, referring to the two nations’ 1951 mutual defense treaty.

“We’ve pledged ourselves to our common defense for more than six decades. Our treaty obligations are iron-clad,” Obama said.

By Daniel Sta. Ana

Fangirl moment for Malacañang employees

It wasn’t part of the welcome ceremony but US President Barack Obama went out of his way to touch base with Palace employ-ees.

Minutes before his arrival at Malacañang, government employees were already on “fangirl” (overtly enthusiastic) mode, look-ing giddy and waving flaglets of the Philip-pines and the United States.

It was no surprise that most of them tried their best to get a coveted handshake from the US President when the latter approached their group before heading into the main lobby with President Benigno Aquino III.

Many netizens appreciated Obama for the gesture while others expressed envy to-

wards the employees who got a close en-counter of the visiting President. There were also some who pointed out that the pres-ence of “fangirling” employees meant they were not in their offices, doing their job.

Nevertheless, most of those who com-mented called Obama a “nice guy” for shak-ing the employees’ hands instead of snub-bing them.

Obama is in Malacañang for his first state visit to the country. As of posting time, he is attending a meeting with Aquino to discuss issues of mutual interest, such as trade and security. He will spend the day in the Palace and will attend a couple of events on Tues-day before leaving around noon.

Pact will left Chinafrantically confused

Senator Miriam Defen-sor Santiago said that the recently signed Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agree-ment (EDCA) between the Philippines and the United States (US) will further an-tagonize China.

“Definitely the new Agree-ment, whatever it may con-tain, will further antagonize China because in effect, we consent that the Philippines should be listed under the American column, instead of the China column,” Santaigo

said in a statement Monday.“If China reaches out to

Russia while the Ukraine is-sue continues to simmer, the US will certainly call on the Philippines to fulfil treaty obligation under the PH-US Mutual Defense Treaty,” she said.

The agreement was signed by US ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg and Defense secretary Vol-taire Gazmin after eight rounds of negotiations over two years.


Pact will left Chinafrantically confused

Ced & Raz in a couple tee!

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Monday presented to the public the arrested sus-pects in the mauling of actor/TV host Vhong Nav-arro.

NBI-National Capital Region Chief Elfren Meneses and Assistant Regional Director Jun De Guzman said Cedric Lee and Simeon “Zimmer Raz” Palma have been at the NBI Detention Facility since Sunday.

The two were arrested Saturday 11:15 a.m. in a re-mote area in Oras, Eastern Samar by members of the NBI in cooperation with the local police.

De Guzman said they will return the warrants of arrest before the Taguig Court on Monday while the two will remain at the NBI until further orders from the court.

Meanwhile, NBI Deputy Director Rafael Ragos said another accused, Jed Fernandez, has already sent surrender feelers.

Lee, Palma, Fernandez, together with Deniece Cornejo and Ferdinand Guerrero were ordered ar-rested by the court in connection with the serious illegal detention case filed by Navarro and the NBI.

The man who burned it all!Dirty man burned all belongings and lived in ashes

This homeless man has been labelled Europe’s dirtiest person – because he sleeps buried in a pile of hot ash.

Ludvik Dolezal, 58, burns whatever he finds to cre-ate his ‘bed’ before crawling into it to sleep.

He has even burnt his mattress and duvet in or-der to achieve the perfect mound of fiery remains.

‘Every night I lay down with hot ash in my clothes and cover myself to keep warm. I look like hell then.

‘I had everything – jacket, boots, mattresses and even a duvet. But I burnt eve-rything because there was nothing else to keep the fire going. ‘People help me, they bring some old tyres here for example and I burn them.

‘I keep the fire going all day and in the evening at 7.30 I go to sleep.’

Mr Dolezal, who lives in an abandoned old farmhouse, is said to suffer from a psy-chological disorder which makes him want to share his life with fire and ash.

Despite the freezing cold winters of his home town, Novy Bydzov, in the Czech Republic, he wears just a fleece, which is dyed black from the smoke.

‘I mostly burn wood from bushes that grow around,’ he added. ‘But it has to be dry to glow. When I don’t have enough of it I grab an axe and cut boards from surrounding sheds.

‘I burn even rubber, that’s not a problem. And if I have foam from a mattress I’ll throw it on there as well.

‘The tyres are very good, they make a good heat. But there is smoke as well so then I need to go out for a while.

‘I’ve got constant breath-ing problems. I smoke ciga-rettes all the time, I finish one packet a day, they help me. I breathe better when I smoke.’

Mr Dolezal is given the equivalent of £81 a month in benefits from the Czech government, but officials are careful not to give him the whole amount at once in case he burns that too.

Instead they give the money to a local shop where Mr Dolezal goes every day for food. In the shop he can spend 100 Czech crowns (£2.99) in the shop, which gives him everything he needs for the day.


The police that choked an innocent boy to unconsciousness

Shocking: The sheriff choked the college man to un-consciousnessJOHN MESSNER


The police that choked an innocent boy to unconsciousness

A sheriff’s deputy in Knox County, Tennessee has been fired after he was caught on camera alleg-edly choking a university student Saturday night.

Frank Phillips, 47, was been found ‘unsuitable for continued employment,’ according to a termina-tion notice posted Sunday night on the Knox County Sheriff’s Office’s website.

‘In my 34 years of law enforcement experience, excessive force has never been tolerated. After an investigation by the Office of Professional Stand-ards, I believe excessive force was used in this inci-dent,’ Sheriff Jimmy ‘J.J.’ Jones said.

‘Therefore, Officer Phillips’ employment with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office is terminated immedi-ately.’

Jones added that the investigation will now be turned over to the Knox County Attorney General’s Office to determine any further action.

John Messner, a freelance photographer in Knox-ville, captured Phillips with both hands around the neck of University of Tennessee student Jarod Dot-son in Fort Sanders after a party. The 21-year-old can be seen falling to his knees after the man’s grip apparently renders him unconscious.

Phillips has been with the Sheriff’s Office since 1992. Dotson, of Powell, is an architecture major at the college.

Authorities say Dotson was publicly intoxicated and drinking from a cup ‘that had an odor of an alcoholic beverage’ at 23rd Street and Laurel Av-enue, when he was arrested.

He was charged with public intoxication and re-sisting arrest. He was released Sunday morning on a $500 bond, the sheriff’s office said.


S AY S

How the agreement is fine, as long as . . .

Barack Obama, the seventh sitting US president to visit the Philippines, arrives today to discuss defense and se-curity issues that may well have a bear-ing on the next generation of Filipinos.

And the timing, while delayed, is still right. China’s increasing recklessness in asserting its maritime and territorial claims in the region has forced many countries to review its relationship with the United States. But the delay points to Obama’s problem; his visit, original-ly scheduled for October last year, had to be postponed because American partisan politics caused a shutdown of the US federal government. Behind the generally positive reception to Obama’s pivot to Asia, then, is widespread con-cern that the American president does not in fact have the political support to fund it or follow through on it.

Obama’s week-long, four-country swing through the region is meant pre-cisely to assuage those and related con-cerns: In Japan and in South Korea, he reiterated American commitment to come to those countries’ defense in the event of war; in Malaysia (as in Japan), he emphasized the economic aspect of the American pivot.

We do not expect him to mention the dispute with China specifically; indeed, we fully expect him to hew to the origi-nal American line on maritime disputes dating to the early years of the 20th century: He will not take sides. But he will probably refer to the signing of the Agreement on Enhanced Defense Co-operation, which is scheduled to take place this morning, as an unmistakable sign of increased American support. The context will not be in doubt: Chi-na’s less than peaceful rise to power.

The agreement is fine as long as American policies (e.g., the pivot to Asia) are seen to coincide with Philip-pine needs. But the lessons of history are all too clear: America’s interests are its own. This explains why, despite numerous official acknowledgments about the toxic legacy American forces left behind in Clark and Subic over 20 years ago, the United States has failed to properly dispose of the toxic waste. This explains why, 15 months after the USS Guardian ran aground on Tub-bataha Reef, the fine of $1.4 million remains unpaid. Time to remind Mr. Obama that these and other items of unfinished business have been tabled long enough.

Speaks louder

than rantsU

S President Barack Obama arrives Monday to cap his four-nation Asian trip as uncertain-

ty prevails over whether the Agreement on En-hanced Defense Coopera-tion (AEDC) between the Philippines and the Unit-ed States will be ready for signing during his two-day visit.

Described by the Wall Street Journal as the “cen-terpiece” of his visit, details of the agreement were as of Sunday still being ham-mered out in last-hour meet-ings of the Philippine and US panels.

There are signs that the panels are struggling to pre-vent the agreement from becoming a controversial cli-max to Obama’s Asian visit, which was aimed at reassur-ing US allies in the Asia Pa-cific—the Philippines, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia—of its commitment to defend them against increasing ag-gressive actions toward Chi-na’s neighbors with territo-rial disputes with Beijing in the East China Sea and the South China Sea.

Early this month, Philip-pine and US negotiators were reported in Philippine media to have agreed on the draft of accord “that would give American forces their broadest access to Filipino bases in more than 20 years.”

The reports also said the agreement “doesn’t involve the permanent stationing of US troops in the Philip-pines—an issue that grates deeply on the sensitivities of Filipino nationalists and left-leaning activists. They have been overly concerned over the alleged impairment of Philippine sovereignty by US troop deployments un-der security treaties with the United States while they turn a blind eye to recent encroachments and occupa-tion by Chinese paramilitary ships of territories claimed by the Philippines as part of its exclusive economic zone, as defined by the United Na-tions Convention of the Law of the Sea. As early as the first week of April, the Phil-ippine panel was reported to have reached a consensus

on “key provisions and mo-dalities that would reflect, among other things, full re-spect for Philippine sover-eignty, nonpermanence of US troops and no US military bases in the Philippines, and prohibition against weapons of mass destruction.”

This initiative comes amid US plans to “rebalance” its forces in the Asia Pacific. The United States has similar ar-rangements with Australia and Singapore as part of its strategy to contain China’s growing military power, ac-cording to Philippine nego-tiators.

After 15 years of the Visiting Forces Agreement [fol-lowing the termi-nation of US leases

on its military bases in the Philippines in 1992] and given current realities, challenges and opportu-nities, the Philippines is ready for a heightened level of defense coopera-tion,” said Defense Un-dersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino, chair of the Phil-ippine panel.

The talks began in August last year amid China’s in-creasing aggressiveness in claiming territories in the South and East China Seas, engaging the Philippines and Japan in a bitter maritime row that has become the most critical flash points of armed conflict in the region.

After Obama’s visit to Ja-pan last week, the focus of his Asian tour has shifted to the AEDC between the Philippines and the United States. The agreement will be a clear sign of a US “re-balance” to Asia despite US preoccupation elsewhere, such as the annexation of Crimea by Russia, according to Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario.

Revealing few more details of the proposed agreement, Del Rosario said the accord would enable the sharing of Philippine bases, increase the rotation of US ships, air-craft and troops through the Philippines, and reassure al-lies of support against a ris-ing China.

“There is full resolve on the part of the United States to

fulfill their commitments on this Asia rebalancing not only in terms of defensive security but also in terms of enhancing economic cooper-ation,” Del Rosario told Reu-ters in an interview.

The agreement will boost the Philippines’ surveillance capabilities in the disputed South China Sea (West Phil-ippine Sea), he said.

Even without the agree-ment, the Philippine military is getting more support from the United States. This year, the Philippines will get $50 million in US foreign mili-tary financing, the largest amount in more than a dec-ade, and another $40 million from a US global security contingency fund.

The funding will be used strictly to boost naval ca-pability, with the Philippines possi-

bly getting a third Hamil-ton-class, high-endurance cutter, he said.

The first two Hamiltons that the Philippines got from the United States in the last three years are the largest and most modern warships in the Philippine Navy. “The South China Sea can be very rough and small warships cannot manage the South China Sea in periods that are not summer; very few of our ships can withstand the waves there.”

Reuters reported that the United States planned to rotate to Philippine bases a squadron of fighters, P3C-Orion long-range maritime surveillance aircraft and a littoral combat ship after the pact is signed. It has also promised to help install coastal radars to help the Philippines watch over its maritime borders.

Del Rosario does not tell us what the quid pro quo is for these military acquisitions. And now, what can the na-tionalist activists contribute to defending our territorial sovereignty from creeping Chinese encroachments, in lieu of an enhanced security agreement? The Chinese have greater respect for mili-tary hardware than national-ist outpourings.

Reprinted from the Philip-pine Daily Inquirer


US vows support for PHUS President Barack Oba-ma on Monday assured the Philippines of his gov-ernment’s support in the latter’s territorial dispute with China – but it’s not the support the public was expecting.

“Today we reaffirmed the im-portance of resolving territorial disputes in the region peacefully without intimidation or coer-cion. And in that spirit supports [President Benigno Aquino III’s] decision to pursue international arbitration concerning territo-rial disputes in the South China Sea,” Obama said in a joint press conference with Aquino at the Malacañang Palace.

Asked if the US will defend the Philippines in case territorial dis-putes in the South China Sea es-calate, Obama said, “Our goal is not to counter China; our goal is not to contain China. Our goal is to make sure that international rules and norms are respected, and that includes in the area of maritime disputes.”

“We don’t even take a specific position on the disputes be-tween nations but as a matter of international law and inter-national norms we don’t think that coercion and intimidation is the way to manage these dis-putes,” Obama said. He added that when the US has disputes with its neighbors, it works them out through dialogue. “We don’t go around send-ing ships and threatening folks.”

He said the US welcomes China’s “peaceful rise” amid its “constructive relation-ship” and “enormous trade” with the nation.

Hours before Obama ar-rived in Manila, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and US Ambassador Philip Goldberg signed the En-hanced Defense Coopera-

tion Agreement (EDCA) at Camp Aguinaldo, paving the way for US access to Philippine military facilities in the next 10 years.

With its anemic military, the Philippines has strug-gled to bolster its territorial defense amid China’s in-creasingly assertive behav-ior in the oil- and gas-rich South China Sea, which Obama flew over on his way here, according to the Air Force One cockpit. Chinese

paramilitary ships took ef-fective control of the dis-puted Scarborough Shoal, a rich fishing ground off the

northwestern Philippines, in 2012. Last year, Chinese coast guard ships surround-ed another contested off-shore South China Sea ter-ritory, the Second Thomas Shoal.

Aquino, standing next to Obama in front of a lush backdrop of tropical plants, said the new agreement with the US “takes our se-curity cooperation to a higher level of engagement … and promotes regional peace and stability.”

Still, the US increased military role has raised ob-jections from some Filipi-nos and led to recent clash-es outside the US Embassy between police and more than 100 left-wing activists who protested Obama’s visit and the new security arrangement. Activists say the agreement reverses democratic gains achieved

when huge US military bas-es were shut down in the early 1990s, ending nearly a century of American mili-tary presence in the Philip-pines, a sensitive issue in this former US colony.

Obama sought to allay those concerns, saying at the outset of his remarks, “I want to be very clear —

the United States is not trying to reclaim or open new bases.” Instead he said the agreement will help improve maritime security and speed response to nat-ural disasters in the region.

Filipino facilities would re-main under Philippine con-trol and US forces would rotate in and out for joint training, as some already do, and not be based in the country, he said. The Phil-ippine Constitution bars permanent US military bases, although hundreds of American military per-sonnel have been deployed

in the southern Philippines since 2002 to provide coun-terterrorism training to Fili-pino soldiers fighting Mus-lim militants.

Many details, including the size and duration of the US military presence, re-main to be worked out with the Philippine government. The White House has de-clined to say which places are being considered under the agreement, but that the long-shuttered US facility at Subic Bay could be one of the locations.

US Ambassador Philip Goldberg and Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin signed the agree-ment at the main military

camp in the capital, Manila, shortly before Obama’s ar-rival in the country.

Obama was to be the hon-ored guest at a state dinner at Malacañang Palace later Monday. On Tuesday, he planned to pay his respects

at the US military cemetery at Fort Bonifacio and ad-dress hundreds of troops stationed there before Air Force One brings him back to Washington.

While in the Philippines, human rights groups say Obama should press the government to fulfill pledg-es to improve its record. They say Obama should use future US military coopera-tion as an incentive for the government to investigate and prosecute abuses.

Obama’s state visit to the Philippines is the last leg of his Asian tour, following his stopover in Japan, South Korea and Malaysia over the past several days. It is part of the US campaign to rebalance its forces in the region amid China’s in-creasing political and mili-tary strength. With a report from AP

We don’t take a specific

positions on these dispute

America praises China and it’s peace

rise America lets it clear that

that it will not claim reefs

America will improve se-curity in the

region

Cooperation for social sta-

bility


New self ie craze involvesattendants in more poses


I never read the OLW Sun.

Manila Bulletin reader, 76.

. Champion of the masses.


. Champion of the masses.


The admission seemed surprising, at first, from someone world-

renowned as a femme fatale. But when actress Kathleen Turner confessed last week that what saddens her most about entering her 60s alone is missing ‘that skip of the heart’, my own heart gave a pang of recognition.

Here was another strong, single woman, with undoubted sex ap-peal, echoing a truth I have long felt: that what you really miss about the lack of a man in your life at my age is not, in fact, the sex (although a little of that wouldn’t go amiss) but the ro-mance.

The dearth of all those wonderful lov-ing gestures — from the grand to the small — that elevate life from the humdrum, and in-vest the everyday with magic.

I felt this most keenly on St George’s Day last week, when I turned 63. After a lovely evening with friends, reminiscing and laughing over a few glasses of bubbly, I re-turned home to an empty house clutching a single red rose given to me by a girlfriend, to commemo-rate the fact that I share my special day with Eng-land’s patron saint.

Making myself a cup of peppermint tea I started to sniffle; not because I’d been stricken by a bout of tear-ful self-pity, but because I had the

life

It’s not sex you missat 60 : it’s about . . .

most awful sinusitis. But as I sipped my tea, cracked open my fifth box of tissues and wheezed away, my mind strayed back to another birthday — 24 years earlier — when I’d been even more blessed with blooms and cursed by sneezes.

That was a conspicuous-ly different occasion. Al-though my then-husband Rick, guitarist and vocalist with the rock band Status Quo, could be an utter rogue and a serial philanderer, he had a way of compensating for his most outrageous ex-cesses by being the world’s biggest romantic.

So on my 39th birthday, I flew to join him on tour in Guernsey and walked into our hotel suite to find eve-ry inch of it festooned with flowers.

There were bouquets spilling from vases, baskets and urns. Swags of lilies, roses and white camellias adorned the dressing table. The air was heavy with the scent of freesias, and spring blooms decked the bath-room. Rick Men are just interested in jumping into bed — and talking about themselves cleaned out

every florist on the island, it seemed, in honour of my birthday.

It was so wonderful, so overwhelming. And where was Rick? Hiding in the wardrobe, peeping through a chink in the door to watch my reaction, before bound-ing out — sending us both bursting into laughter.

All that night my eyes streamed

and itched as I snuf-fled and sneezed from hayfever brought on by the industrial quanti-ties of pollen. Sniffing or not, the romance of the gesture made my heart burst with joy.

But although Rick loved to make such grand ges-tures, he was also punctili-ous about small courtesies. When we went on our first date when I was just 17 — after being introduced by our parents, who were neighbours in Surrey — he gallantly wrapped his

patched jacket around my shoulders as I shivered with youthful nerves.

He never walked by my side without holding my hand. He never stinted on compliments.

‘You look gorgeous,’ he’d say, apropos of nothing in particular, always noticing a new hairstyle or outfit.

And although sex and se-duction were always a huge part of our relationship, as the years pass — and par-ticularly now the summer evenings lengthen — I in-creasingly hark back, not to the passion, but to gen-tle, dreamy evenings spent pottering along the river together.

We used to live by the Thames in Teddington, where we kept a boat on our little private mooring at the end of the garden. Each evening, when the weather was fine, we’d sail down to Teddington Lock just be-fore sundown, share a bot-tle of wine and watch in awe as dusk turned the sky into flaming pink and indigo.

It is without such simple pleasure, shared moments and exchanges of glances,

that life feels emptiest.Rick and I finally part-

ed company — after 40-plus years of separations and rapprochements — in 2006 after another infidel-ity. Then our son Harry, 24, left home 18 months ago to work as a broker in Geneva; even my beloved Westie, Pepsi, has died.

So these days, I’m living alone — just like one-in-four women in their early 60s — for the first time in my life. My house in Wey-bridge, Surrey, feels empty and silent, and it has only amplified how much I miss a man’s company.

Not just to fill rooms with flowers — love-

ly as that is. Romance, to me, means those lit-tle gestures of thought-fulness: making just the right cup of tea unasked, plumping their pillow before your partner gets into bed, sharing their glories and soothing their pain.

It is the companionable si-lences, the shared laughter and memories, the sudden, tender and unsolicited kiss. These are what produce that skip of the heart when your man walks into the room.

Since Rick and I sepa-rated I’ve dated around ten men — a few of them house-hold names, although I’m not saying who — and had two half-hearted relation-ships that swiftly petered out.

I suppose I’m picky.‘There wasn’t a spark,’ I

moaned to my girlfriends after labouring through a tedious restaurant dinner with one chap. The other was so obsessively inter-ested in Rick’s life — the only glamour I had was, it seems, conferred by my rock star ex-husband — that I ditched him, too.

For, as Kathleen Turner acknowledged, if it is hard enough for older women to find a date, it is even harder to find ‘the companionship of a man who is interested in more than just his own life’.

At our age, the best catch-


It’s not sex you missat 60 : it’s about . . .

es have all been netted. And what we’re left with is the flotsam, who wouldn’t know romance if it bit them.

It is not just that they are only inter-ested in sex. That

is dispiriting enough. It is that they are, so often, only interested in them-selves.

My lovely friend Susan — leggy, smart, attractive and in her late 50s — went for a date with a chap we now refer to only as Ratface; not only because he had a sharp, questing nose, but also because he had all the charm and courtesy of a ro-dent. Not for him blooming flowers or gentle compli-ments.

Frankly, Susan wasn’t much taken with him from the off. But she agreed to the date because she is sweet-natured and didn’t want to make a snap judgment. Sadly, their first meeting confirmed her suspicions: he was dull and humourless and kept banging on about his own accomplishments instead of asking about her.

He seemed to believe all he’d have to do was men-tion his salary (high) and his golf handicap (low) and she’d fall into a swoon at his feet.

Midway through the pre-dinner drinks, however, Su-san was getting edgy. She knew she couldn’t endure a whole evening of tedious monologues, and she won-dered how to make a grace-ful exit without offending him. She retired to the loo to think — and phoned me to ask my opinion.

‘Just tell him politely there’s been an emergency at home and you have to leave,’ I offered.

Susan was loath to seem discourteous, but she agreed to do just that; only to discover — on her return from the ladies — that Rat-face had trumped her and

scarpered, leaving her to pay the drinks bill.

Instantly, she phon-ed me. ‘He’s run!’ she wailed. I reas-

sured her: she’d had a lucky escape from a man who was a cad and a bore; a man who would never know the meaning of romance if he spent a decade at charm school.

I have to confess, here, that my own measure of romance is a high one. My dear mum and dad, Stan and Daisy Beeden, had one of those marriages that was made in heaven.

They married in haste in 1942 in the thick of the war when Dad was home from the Army on four days’ leave, and neither age nor familiarity tarnished their love for each other, or the freshness of my father’s fond and frequent acts of af-fection.

Dad set a gold standard for romance. He was not a master of extravagant flour-ishes. His were small, under-stated acts of pure love. In the Army he learned how to iron and he took great pride in this housewifely skill.

After he was de-mobbed, my mum never ironed an-other item in her life. Dad took over the chore: he would place crisp, smooth sheets on their bed. He’d steam through piles of dresses and blouses.

Most poign-ant of all, he would iron

mum’s soft linen hank-ies, fold them and place them — pristine and neat — in a little box on her dressing table.

My mum was, of course, named after a flower — as were her sisters: Lily, Violet, Rose and Gladys (after the

gladiolus). Dad used to call them The Petals and every day of the summer he would never come home without bringing a daisy for Mum.

But Dad also accorded every woman the same courtesy and kindness he gave to his Daisy. He valued politeness, consideration and good manners. And this, to me, is a measure of romance.

When Rick and I first started dating, all those years ago, Dad made it clear he expected my new boy-friend to treat me with such old-fashioned, gentlemanly charm. And this is what I miss so much today.

It hasn’t helped my cause that my son has been as fiercely protective as a Rot-tweiler. No man, it seems, is good enough for his mum and if we’re out togeth-er he’ll shoot a withering glance at any would-be ad-mirer who has the temerity to pay me a compliment.

But, as Kathleen Turner also testified, strong, re-sourceful and glamorous women themselves tend to frighten men off.

I used to be able to strip a carburettor; I can still change a tyre and I own an eight-bit drill.

I suppose my practicality could intimidate a timorous man. But I see no reason why romance should stub-bornly elude similarly inde-pendent women my age.

After all, men of our gener-ation were raised by fathers who were taught to be man-nerly and chivalrous; men like my own dear Dad.

So I live in hope that there is still someone — a real gentleman — waiting out there for me; someone who isn’t worried that his gal-lantry will be misconstrued as sexism and will open car doors for me and pay me lavish compliments.

I hope he won’t be averse to buying me flowers — or picking me daisies — either. After all, without such ges-tures of romance, life is sad-der, greyer and poorer for us all.

16 The OLW Sun, Tuesday, April 29, 2014* * *

EVEN with the team’s “X-factor” suspended, the Washington Wiz-ards had a No. 42

sitting next to the bench. The 57-year-old with graying hair couldn't box out or grab a rebound, but owner Ted Leon-sis waved his red towel and egged on a cheering crowd that chanted ''Free Nene!''

The Wizards did just fine without the suspended Bra-zilian forward. They scored the first 14 points and beat the Chicago Bulls 98-89 on Sunday to take a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference series.

''I thought it was pretty hilarious that Ted had Nene's jersey on,'' Wizards guard Bradley Beal said. ''It kind of threw me off for a minute, but then I looked and seen it was Ted.''

Nene or not, the Wizards did what they've done all series: Take a quick lead and force the Bulls to use up energy trying to catch up. It was 15-8 in Game 3, 29-12 in Game 2, 19-13 in Game 1. Washington, seek-ing to win a playoff series for only the third time since the 1970s, can finish off the Bulls on the road in Game 5 on Tuesday night.

''We keep seeing this same kind of start for the last couple of games, and it's frustrating,'' said Taj Gibson, who came off the

bench to lead the Bulls with a career-high 32 points. ''It seems like at times we get overhyped with just think-ing we're going to be OK, we're just that good. But in this league it's not about how talented you are, it's about how hard you work and how much effort you put when you start the game off, and I don't think we did that.''

Nene was suspended for the game after grabbing

Jimmy Butler's head in the fourth quarter of the Wizards' Game 3 loss. Wall called Nene the ''X-factor'' this week, and for good rea-son: Since the March 2012 trade that brought Nene to D.C., Washington is 65-63 when he plays and 21-41 when he doesn't.

That said, the club did hold its own by winning 12 of 21 when Nene went down with a knee injury late in the regular season, an ab-

sence coach Randy Witt-man said might have been a ''blessing in disguise'' that helped prepare them for Sunday.

''I saw our guys bond to-gether,'' Wittman said. ''Like, 'That's OK, all right. Big fellow's not going to be here, but that's OK.' And we were in tune right from the start.''

Trevor Ariza, getting some of the early looks that might have gone to Nene,

scored a career playoff-high 30 points, making 6 of 10 3-pointers. Beal had 18 points, and John Wall add-ed 15 points and 10 assists for the Wizards, who forced 16 turnovers and commit-ted only six.

‘’I think we’re a smart enough group to under-stand that when one of your pieces goes down, you have to find ways and will to win,’’ Ariza said. ‘’To-night was my night to take on the scoring load.’’

Gibson went 13 for 16 from the field for Chicago, but his teammates com-bined to go 22 for 62. He made more field goals in the first half (8) than the rest of the Bulls combined (7). Mike Dunleavy, who scored 35 points in Game 3, scored only six.

Dunleavy jammed his left thumb attempting to take a charge in the fourth quar-ter. The thumb was swollen and was X-rayed after the game, but he said he didn’t think it was broken.

‘’It probably doesn’t real-ly matter,’’ he said. ‘’It’s my left hand and it’s not go-ing to make a difference for me.’’ Chicago’s Kirk Hin-rich committed four turno-vers, and NBA Defensive Player of the Year Joakim Noah had a quiet 10 points and 15 rebounds against the Nene-less frontcourt.

Washington stormed to a 14-0 lead, with Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau calling a timeout after each Wizards ‘’touchdown.’’

Basketball

RICH PICKINGS

Trevor Ariza’s reaction to play

Wizards beat bulls by a whisker, 99-98, and clinches lead

BLAZERS UP 3-0 WITH YET ANOTHER CLOSE GAMELaMarcus Aldridge had

29 points and 10 rebounds and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Houston Rockets 123-120 in over-time Sunday to take a 3-1 advantage in their first-round playoff series.

Nicolas Batum added 25 points in the first win for the home team in the series, which moves to Houston for Game 5 on Wednesday. It was the third overtime game of the series.

The Blazers haven’t advanced out of the first round since the postseason in 2000

James Harden had 28 points and Dwight How-ard added 25 points and 14 rebounds for the Rockets.

Portland trailed by as many as 11 points, but ral-lied in the fourth quarter.

Mo Williams’ 3-pointer put the Blazers in front 105-104 with 18.9 sec-onds left. Dorell Wright missed the first of two free throws making it 106-104 with 8.3 seconds to go.

Howard dunked off a feed from Harden with 3.6 sec-onds left to tie it again and Williams missed a 3 at the buzzer to send the game into overtime at 106-all.

Houston guard Patrick Beverly did not participate in shootaround because he wasn't feeling well, but he started the game. NBA Com-missioner Adam Silver was at the game but he was not available to the media. Silver is facing a storm of contro-versy surrounding racist comments purportedly made by Clippers owner Donald Sterling.

17The OLW Sun, Tuesday, April 29, 2014 * * *

The most pres-sure-packed mo-ments of playoff basketball, when the legs get heavy

and the palms sweaty, seem to suit those young Toronto Raptors just fine.

Instead, it’s the veteran Brooklyn Nets who are fiz-zling at the finish.

DeMar DeRozan scored 24 points, Kyle Lowry add-ed 22, and the Raptors beat the Nets 87-79 on Sunday night to even their Eastern Conference first-round se-ries at two games apiece.

When a fourth-quarter rally fell just short in Game 3, the Raptors just shook it off and handled the fi-nal period even better this time.

‘’That’s just us, man,’’ DeRozan said. ‘’We’re defi-nitely resilient. We’re never going to give up until the game’s over.’’

Amir Johnson had 17 points for the Raptors, who started fast, gave up all of a 17-point lead, then shut the Nets down over the final 5 minutes to snap a 13-game road losing streak in the playoffs that went back 13 years.

Game 5 is Wednesday night in Toronto, with the series now guaranteed a re-turn to Brooklyn on Friday for Game 6.

Paul Pierce scored 22 points for the Nets, who were 3 for 17 in the fourth quarter and didn’t have a field goal after Pierce’s bas-ket with 6:13 left gave them a 77-73 lead.

It was baffling for a team that assembled a star-stud-ded roster that will cost more than $180 million in salaries and taxes for a shot at a title, and now faces a huge fight just to get out of the first round.

‘’You get in a playoff situ-ation, one guy, or two or three guys, wants to do it on their own instead of just running our offense, executing. And I think we got caught up into that,’’ said Pierce, adding that the Nets were rushing and pressing.

Kevin Garnett had 10 points for the Nets, but Joe

Johnson and Deron Wil-liams were mostly non-fac-tors in getting outplayed by Toronto’s backcourt. Johnson had only seven points on seven shots after averaging 23.7 points in the first three games, and Wil-liams was 4 of 12 for his 10.

Pierce nearly carried the Nets without them, but To-ronto put it together down the stretch to pull it out.

Garnett gave the Nets their last lead with two free throws with 4:58 left, but DeRozan made two free throws before Greivis Vasquez made a 3-pointer for an 83-79 advantage. The Nets had a series of offen-sive fouls along with their missed shots, and Lowry

made a high-arching bas-ket over Garnett with 1:13 to go before closing it out with a pair of free throws.

‘’This is where we should be at our best, those late-game situations,’’ Williams said. ‘’We’ve been there before. They’re a younger team that doesn’t have as much proper experi-ence, but they ain’t play-ing like it.’’ Lowry bounced back nicely after the Nets banged him around in their Game 3 victory. He was still sore Sunday and a couple other Raptors were hurting beforehand but probably feeling a lot less pain by the time they went home.

‘’We’re really nicked up right now, so it was huge

courage, really courageous by those guys,’’ Toronto coach Dwane Casey said.

Toronto nearly came from 15 down in the final 5 min-utes to win Friday, and car-ried that momentum into a quick start Sunday.

The Raptors scored a franchise playoff-record 35 points in the first quarter, then managed just 32 com-bined in the second and third as the Nets surged ahead with a 22-4 run.

The Raptors were 4 for 21 in the third, but then turned to their defense down the stretch for their first road victory in the postseason since winning at Philadelphia in Game 1 of the 2001 Eastern Confer-

ence semifinals.Now they won’t need to

win on the road again, with home-court advantage back in their favor.

‘’That’s our team,’’ Lowry said. ‘’We’ve got a full team of guys who just want to win.’’

The Raptors scored the first six points during a 13-2 start, extended it to 33-18 after five straight points by Amir Johnson, and were ahead 35-22 after one.

The lead grew to 47-30 af-ter DeRozan scored eight straight Toronto points, but Lowry picked up his third foul and had to go to the bench with the Raptors leading 47-34, and Brooklyn cut it to 51-44 at the break.

Basketball

Tries to hide the ball, but itevened theseries!

18 The OLW Sun, Tuesday, April 29, 2014* * *Basketball

ANOTHER EVEN

The Los Angeles Clippers made a silent protest against owner Donald Sterling

before Game 4 of their Western Conference playoff series against Golden State. The Warriors made a differ-ent kind of statement during the game.

And just like that, a series pulled into a race-related scandal took another twist.

Stephen Curry made a career playoff-high seven 3-pointers and scored 33 points, leading the Warri-ors past the Clippers 118-97 on Sunday to even their first-round series at two games apiece.

‘’We wanted to come out and focus on all the work

we’ve put in over the sum-mer, throughout the course of the season to get ready for this moment in the playoffs and just have fun and enjoy it - not let one person ruin it for every-body,’’ Curry said.

The game almost became an afterthought - until tipoff anyway - after an au-dio recording was posted Saturday online by TMZ purportedly of Sterling making comments urging a woman to not bring black people to his team’s games. The alleged comments, which are under investiga-tion by the NBA, have set off reactions of anger and calls for action through the league.

Clippers players made a silent protest against Sterling by shedding their

warm-up jerseys and going through the pregame rou-tine with their red shirts on inside out. They also wore black bands on their wrists or arms and black socks in a show of solidarity.

Clippers coach Doc Riv-ers said he knew what his players had planned but didn’t voice his opinion. He said he wasn’t thrilled about the demonstration, though he didn’t elaborate why. Curry and company did a better job focusing from the start.

The All-Star guard made his first five 3s to give Gold-en State a 20-point lead in the first quarter that held up most of the way. Curry shot 10 for 20 from the floor, including 7 of 14 from beyond the arc, and had seven assists and seven

rebounds to help the War-riors snap a two-game los-ing skid.

‘’I just thought they were the tougher team and it wasn’t even close. Should have been a first round knockout,’’ Rivers said.

Golden State outshot Los Angeles 55.4 to 42.9 percent. The Clippers had 19 turnovers, while the Warriors had a series-low 15 turnovers.

Both coaches and players agreed that Sterling’s pur-ported comments affected their preparation, and nei-ther side believed it was a determining factor in the outcome.

‘’I think both teams were somewhat bothered by what has taken place the last 24 hours,’’ Warriors coach Mark Jackson said.

‘’But my guys just played with great energy, great ef-fort.’’

Rivers blamed himself for not getting his players ready.

‘’I’m not going to deny that we had other stuff,’’ he said. ‘’I just believe when the game starts, the game starts and nobody cares anymore. Golden State surely didn’t care.’’

Game 5 is Tuesday night in Los Angeles.

Andre Iguodala added 22 points and nine assists, and David Lee, Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes each scored 15 as the Warriors went to a smaller lineup to regain their shooting touch in front of a roaring, gold-shirt wearing sellout crowd of 19,596 that stood after every swish.

BASKETBALL PREVIEWS- BOBCATS v. HEATCoach Steve Clifford said if the

Charlotte Bobcats hope to avoid a first-round sweep by the Miami Heat and earn their first postsea-son win in franchise history, they're going to need someone other than Al Jefferson and Kemba Walker to come through on offense.

The Heat double-teamed Jef-ferson after he scored 15 points in the first quarter Saturday night and hounded Walker en route to a 98-85 victory in Game 3. Game 4 is Monday night in Charlotte.

"After the first quarter they were

very aggressive sending a second defender at Al and much more ag-gressive with Kemba," Clifford said following Sunday's practice. "That means there are other opportuni-ties with other guys and we have to take advantage of that."

While Jefferson and Walker were 12 of 20 from the field, the rest of the Bobcats shot just 33 percent in Game 3.

Starting shooting guard Gerald Henderson and forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist combined for just nine points on 3 of 12 shooting.

Chris Douglas-Roberts provided a spark off the bench with 17 points, but Gary Neal - brought in for his outside shooting and playoff ex-perience - has struggled with his 3-point shot throughout the post-season. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said he viewed Chris Bosh's defense on Jefferson in Game 3 as key to the victory. "In the third quarter, he was outstanding, covering a lot of ground, pick-and-rolls, and re-ally putting a lot more pressure on Jefferson's catches," Spoelstra said. "He either couldn't catch it in the

post, or he really had to work for it and catch it a little bit further out on the court where we could pack our defense and bring some more help."

The two-time defending cham-pion Heat are right where every-one expected them to be - on the verge of moving on to the second round for the fourth straight sea-son behind LeBron James. In James' first two seasons, the Heat bolted to a 3-0 lead in the opening round series, lost Game 4 and then closed out the series in Game 5 at home.

19The OLW Sun, Tuesday, April 29, 2014 * * * Basketball

ROLLING ROCK!Y

ou know you’ve come full circle once you slay a ghost from the past by making

one of your own.Fifteen years since the

top-seed Mobiline Phone Pals got downed by a mi-raculous Bal David game-winner, cementing more the credo of the Ginebra “never-say-die” spirit, Asi Taulava got his moment of retribution when he made a buzzer-beater of his own to force the first overtime, and then carried the Air21 Express in the second ex-tra period to a 101-95 tri-umph over the twice-to-beat San Miguel Beer.

The Express advanced to the semifinals for the first time in franchise history since joining the league as Shopinas.com in 2011, as Taulava had 16 points, five in the second overtime, to go with nine boards, three blocks, and two assists. But the most impressive stat of the night for him was the playing time he had – 45 minutes despite being the league’s eldest statesman at 41.

Asi’s also making his first return trip to the Final Four after seven long years.

“We’re just lucky and for-tunate, and we just capital-ized when June Mar (Fa-jardo) fouled out. We just waited and the breaks of the game went our way,” he said. “I have great respect for the San Miguel Beer-men. That’s a great bunch of guys that they have. They’re so loaded and once they figure out how to play together, basketball be-comes so easy especially having the most dominant big man right now with June Mar.”

Taulava adds, “Boy, that boy is heavy. I can feel my lower back and my ham-string throughout the game. I was trying to find ways to get him in foul trouble and he fouled out of the game. But other than that, he was so dominant tonight.” After the game, the two behemoths shared a hug on the court, which was seen by many as the proverbial passing of the torch from the old guard to the new stud.

“I told him the PBA is his. That’s being straight-forward and honest. Once they get things clicking, playing together, stay-ing together, he’s going to

dominate. I’m looking for-ward in matching up with him next conference,” said Asi. Air21’s giant-killing victory served also as a re-minder for Taulava of that moment with Mobiline – the young Asi, blonde as he is now, weeping on the floor as the legions of Gine-bra fans celebrated on the court at the conclusion of his first playoff defeat in his rookie year.

“I lived with that night-mare for 15 years,” Taulava bared. “Being eliminated like that. Sometimes I say I forgot about it, but I tell you one thing, it did make me the person I am today – that pain knowing that

it was there, going to the gym, spending all those extra hours working out with my personal trainer, making sure that when this opportunity comes, I’ll take advantage of it. And I was ready for it tonight. It took a little bit longer – two overtimes, but we did it.”

He added, “Coach was asking me if I was okay, and I said, ‘I’m the youngest player on the team, coach! Of course, I’m okay!’”

Though a lot of credit has been given to the wily vet-eran’s way, Taulava still de-flected the praises, saying, “It was just a great team win. There were so many guys who stepped up. This

team is coming together at the right time. We strug-gled throughout the sea-son, but we’re peaking at the right time.”

He also resonated what coach Franz Pumaren said about the team overachiev-ing, but at the same time hoping that the Express will not just be satisfied with this feat. “We’re enjoying the moment, but once we get home, sleep and wake up tomorrow morning, we have to get ready for the semis,” Asi said.

“Nobody expected us to be there, but we felt that we were prepared. Nobody gave us a chance, so we be-lieved in one another.”

BASKETBALL PREVIEWS- SPURS v. MAVERICKSDirk Nowitzki had the only miss in a

final minute filled with clutch shots by Dallas and San Antonio, topped by Vince Carter's buzzer-beating 3-pointer that gave the Mavericks a Game 3 win.

It was the 7-foot sharpshooter's third straight playoff game with less than 20 points, something that hasn't happened since his first post-season in 2001, also against his rival from South Texas.

Yet, the Mavericks have consecu-tive wins over the top-seeded Spurs after losing 10 in a row to them, and a 2-1 first-round series lead head-ing into Game 4 on Monday night in Dallas. "You take something away, you give something up," San An-tonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "You can't stop everything. You've just got to stop it more than the

other team does."Popovich and Dallas coach Rick

Carlisle are harping on defensive stops after the Mavericks' 109-108 win Saturday. Carter's improb-able pump-fake 3 with just 1.7 sec-onds to get off a shot was the ninth straight possession to end with points in the final 1:37. Both teams shot better than 50 percent. Dal-las' Monta Ellis had seven of his game-high 29 points in that closing stretch, including a floating jumper for a three-point play after he got fouled and a high-arching runner over the outstretched arm of Tim Duncan. "We stole one," Nowitzki said. "We didn't execute quite as well as we did in the first two, es-pecially the defensive game plan. I think Monta and Vince bailed us out a little bit the last couple of minutes

with some great plays."Carter's shot came 10 years af-

ter Derek Fisher of the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Spurs by somehow swishing a desperation toss at the basket with even less time remain-ing, 0.4 seconds. That Game 5 win was the third of four straight for the Lakers in the second round when San Antonio was the defending NBA champion. The Spurs are defending their Western Conference title this time, a year after Miami's Ray Al-len hit a tying 3-pointer when San Antonio was 5 seconds away from winning a fifth NBA crown in Game 6. The Heat eventually won that game in overtime before taking the series in Game 7.

"On a tough blow like this one, having been there, having suffered way worse than this, can help," said

Manu Ginobili, who hit a go-ahead layup and was defending Carter on the winning shot. "Nothing is go-ing to help if we don't make it help. Things are not going to just change because we were one, they were eight or things like that. We've got to go for it and play better."

Nowitzki isn't playing poorly. He's just deferring to teammates be-cause the Spurs won't leave him open on the 3-point line or give him much room to operate from inside the arc either.

As a result, guards Ellis, Jose Cal-deron and Devin Harris have taken turns with dominant stretches. And journeyman center Samuel Dalem-bert offset the first career playoff double-double from San Antonio's Tiago Splitter with a bundle of en-ergy, not to mention 13 points.

20 The OLW Sun, Tuesday, April 29, 2014* * *

SPORTS NEWSPAPER AND WEBSITE OF THE YEAR

The OLW Sun. Published by the Free Press Company, Lingayen, Pangasinan. Its headquarters are at the OLW Sun Headquarters, Room 5, R&B Kitchenette, 6 5th Av-enue, Cubao, Quezon City 1109. Issue number 95 (April 29, 2014). All rights are reserved. All stuff published are copyrighted by the OLW Sun and the news agencies.

QUICK CROSSWORD NUMBER 22

Across1 Rehearse (8)5 Relating to the iris of the eye (6)9 Attacks (8)10 Be against (6)12 Draws through a straw (5)13 Blimps (9)14 Dried grape (6)16 Cigar (7)19 Seeing (7)21 A style of architecture (6)23 Pasta (9)25 A mendicant preacher (5)26 Stableboy (6)27 Thoroughly soak (8)28 Faery (6)29 Hated (8)

Down1 Kudos (6)2 Companion (9)3 Guided journeys (5)4 A native member of a state (7)6 Be a delegate for (9)7 Hindu loincloth (5)8 Distilled wood tar (8)11 Heroic (4)15 Most meager (9)17 Not reproductions (9)18 Eludings (8)20 Fence door (4)21 A contorted facial expres-sion (7)22 Pal (6)24 Plays a role (5)25 An unpleasant woman (5)

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION:

The Sports section was revived because the once-resigned editor, Lorenzo Holanday III, wanted to save the sports section.

Meanwhile, you may have noticed that we only have 24 pages today. This is due to some of our de-signers, writers and pr-inters which made this job to peak at heights are still on strike.

We will resume our no-rmal newspapering busi-ness after the time of negotiation with the still-on-the-picket-line staff.

Please do not be-lieve flyers saying that you should boycott this newspaper. These flyers or posters are from the striking staff. The claims they tell you is untrue, especially the no - wage sentiment, which is one of the things the strikers have signed in contracts.

TAULAVA’S BACK!PAGE 27

The OLW Sun Tuesday April 29 2014

Documents

Transcript of The OLW Sun Tuesday April 29 2014