LRT DEPOT TENDER ‘MACAU HAS A REASSESSED GLAMOROUS SIDE’ HUNDREDS The tender for the Interview with Debora Lopes MISSING construction of an LRT depot de Oliveira, who will represent AFTER DAM must be reassessed, the Court Macau in this year’s Miss COLLAPSE of Final Appeal has ruled Grand Int’l Beauty Pageant P2 P7 P12 LAOS WED.25 Jul 2018 T. 25º/ 31º C H. 70/ 95% facebook.com/mdtimes + 12,000 MOP 8.00 3096 N.º HKD 10.00 FOUNDER & PUBLISHER Kowie Geldenhuys EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Paulo Coutinho www.macaudailytimes.com.mo “ THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’ ” WORLD BRIEFS AFTER CHINA SCANDAL AP PHOTO Macau, HK may face PHILIPPINES The leader of the largest Muslim rebel group in P5 the Philippines said yesterday that 30,000 vaccine shortage to 40,000 armed fighters would be “decommissioned” if an autonomy deal that is expected to be signed into law by the president this week is fully enforced. THAILAND The young soccer teammates and their coach who were rescued after being trapped in a cave in northern Thailand were preparing yesterday to be ordained as Buddhist novices and monks. AP PHOTO INDONESIA Researchers say a government plan to give plantation companies new lands in exchange for restoring areas they destroyed could result in more tropical forests being cut down. NORTH KOREA appears to have started dismantling key facilities at its main satellite launch site in a step toward fulfilling a commitment made by leader Kim Jong Un at his summit with President Donald Trump in June. More on p13 SAUDI ARABIA A 2018 EDITION WITH 22 PERFORMANCES young woman has been charged in the western city of Taif with breaking the country’s anti-harassment laws for Concert venue to be inaugurated jumping on stage and hugging a popular singer as he performed. during Int’l Music Festival P3 More on backpage 25.07.2018 wed th Anniversary 2 MACAU 澳聞 WWW.MACAUDAILYTIMES.COM.MO Committee agrees Courts rule LRT depot with the exclusion of tender must be recalculated non-Chinese judges HE majority of the members of the 3rd HE Court of Final TStanding Committee of the Legislative TAppeal has ruled that Assembly (AL) have agreed with the propo- the tender for the cons- sal to ban non-Chinese national judges from truction of a depot for the ruling on cases “related to national security,” Light Rail Transit system the president of the committee, Vong Hin Fai, will need to be reassessed, said to the media after the meeting held this after one of the interested week. parties appealed the deci- “The majority believes that this amendment sion to award the project is not contrary to the Basic Law, nor to the to China Construction En- independence of the courts and the judicial gineering (Macau) Co. in system,” Vong said in a Macau Radio report. 2016. Vong added that the government believes An appeal was initially fi- that, taking into account the “sensitive mat- led by China Road and Bri- ters” that are referred to in the State Security dge Corporation on the ba- and Defense Law, “it is justified that the pro- sis of what it deemed was ceedings relating to these crimes should [be an incorrect assessment of decided using] the competence of permanent the company’s points per- judges and Chinese citizens [only],” argumen- formance in the bid. ts which he said that the majority of the com- Points were awarded to mittee members agreed with. the seven contenders on Despite the apparent consensus, the pre- the basis of their price sident of the 3rd Committee noted that the (55 percent), experience members expressed several concerns regar- gained through previous ding how the judges permitted to rule on such projects (26 percent), plan cases would be chosen. It is only known that for the depot project (15 the selection will be made by the Council of percent), as well as their Judicial Magistrates, headed by the president honesty and integrity (4 of the Court of Final Appeal, Sam Hou Fai, but percent). the criteria that guides such a choice remains The difference between undisclosed. the winning bid of China For this reason, Vong said that the commit- Construction Engineering tee needs to ask for further justification from (Macau) and the appe- the government about how the principles of llant, China Road and Bri- natural justice will be safeguarded and how dge, was a matter of less must represent a miscal- tract, which was a purely res and determine which the distribution of cases will be made. than two points. culation. administrative matter. proposal has attained the It was also clear at this stage that in relation But China Road and Bri- Earlier this year, the The intervention was re- highest, “which is done by to the Public Prosecutions Office, prosecu- dge argued that the gover- Court of Second Instance jected by the Court of Final mere arithmetical opera- tors will follow the same rule, being selected nment had not fully taken decided to cancel the exis- Appeal, which found that tions.” among those who hold permanent nomina- into account the com- ting contact and halt the the administrative entities “The administration has tions and who are also Chinese citizens. pany’s experience with construction work. behind the tender had no no margin of discretion,” According to TDM, there are inconsisten- previous projects and filed At the time of the Court legal basis to compel the it added. cies between the Portuguese and the Chinese an appeal. of Second Instance’s ru- courts to respect the go- In a statement issued versions of the law, as in the Portuguese lan- Ultimately, the company ling, Chief Executive Chui vernment’s decision. yesterday, the Transporta- guage version it is clearly stated that in cases said, the decision of the Sai On filed his own appeal The Court of Final tion Infrastructure Office involving national security, the cases “would government did not com- arguing that the courts had Appeal said that the admi- (GIT) said it was still stu- be judged by more than one judge,” but this ply with the criteria defi- no authority to intervene nistration is now bound to dying the judgment from requirement is in need of clarification in the ned in the tender, thus it in the awarding of a con- re-calculate the final sco- the Court of Final Appeal. Chinese version. LETTER TO THE EDITOR Coloane dog issue Dear Editor, ourselves in a situation where the Sadly, as animal lovers, whilst a young and elderly citizens may find ‘clean up’ program is urgently requi- As concerned citizens and residents, themselves in danger from the ever- red and long overdue, it inevitably we must draw attention to the increa- increasing packs. means a culling of the dogs, many of sing number of wild dogs appearing Alarmingly, rather than taking ac- whom have been either dumped in and living in Coloane. tion to sterilize dogs and prevent fur- Coloane by irresponsible owners or Whilst wild dogs have been a part of ther breeding and raising of large lit- born into the wild packs. Coloane for many years, there appears ters, it appears that the local animal We request that the government to have been a significant build up in welfare group ‘Anima’ has been com- look into this issue urgently before it numbers from the beginning of this pounding the problem with a daily/ reaches unmanageable proportions year. The dogs in question have been weekly feeding program, thus encou- and someone is attacked. breeding, and the main concern is raging many dogs to gather collecti- that the escalating numbers will soon vely in one space in increasing num- Residents of Hellene Gardens and spiral out of control and we will find bers. Coloane Village www.macaudailytimes.com.mo EDITOR-IN-CHIEF (DIRECTOR)_Paulo Coutinho [email protected] A MACAU TIMES PUBLICATIONS LtD PUBLICATION MANAGING EDITOR_Paulo Barbosa [email protected] CONTRIBUTING EDITORS_Eric Sautedé, Leanda Lee, Severo Portela ADMINISTRATOR AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER + 4 Million page views Kowie Geldenhuys [email protected] NEWSROOM AND CONTRIBUTORS_Albano Martins, Annabel Jackson, Daniel Beitler, Emilie Tran, SECRETARY Juliana Cheang [email protected] PER MONTH Grace Yu, Ivo Carneiro de Sousa, Jacky I.F. Cheong, Jenny Lao-Phillips, João Palla Martins, Joseph ADDRESS Av. da Praia Grande, 599, Edif. Comercial Rodrigues, 12 Floor C, Cheung, Julie Zhu, Juliet Risdon, Lynzy Valles, Renato Marques, Richard Whitfield, Viviana Seguí MACAU SAR Telephones: +853 287 160 81/2 Fax: +853 287 160 84 DESIGNERS_Eva Bucho, Miguel Bandeira | ASSOCIATE CONTRIBUTORS_JML Property, MdME Lawyers, PokerStars, Advertisement [email protected] Thank You! Ruan Du Toit Bester | NEWS AGENCIES_ Associated Press, Bloomberg, Financial Times, MacauHub, MacauNews, For subscription and general issues: [email protected] | Printed at Welfare Printing Ltd +12,000 like us on facebook.com/mdtimes Xinhua | SECRETARY_Yang Dongxiao [email protected] SEND NEWSWORTHY INFORMATION AND PRESS RELEASES TO: [email protected] WEBSITE: WWW.MACAUDAILYTIMES.COM.MO wed 25.07.2018 th Anniversary MACAU’S LEADING NEWSPAPER 澳聞 MACAU 3 Meanwhile, the music director of the Macao Orchestra, Lu Jia, will join hands with the Shan- Music Festival opens with opera, ghai Philharmonic Orchestra to present the original version of Anton Bruckner’s magnum opus, Symphony No. 8 in C Mi- budget remains unchanged nor (1887). Conductor Liu Sha will lead the Macao Chinese Orchestra and join with Guo Yazhi, an icon of LYNZY VALLES LYNZY JOE MARTINEZ the suona circle of China, to pre- sent Nostalgic Lane, while the Guangdong National Orchestra will present Cantonese Rhyme along the Silk Road. Two electronic music bands, EVADE from Macau and FM3 from Beijing, will perform at the soon-to-open Navy Shi- pyard No 2.