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The state of the web

RISKS ABOUND ON WEB SITES OF MEDIA, TRAVEL, ENTERTAINMENT AND RETAIL FIRMS

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By Roderick L. Abad | Contributor

nterprises are advised to beef up their information-technology (IT) infrastructure further, as they remain vulnerable to cyber attacks despite the growing awareness and advancement in security features, a Web risk-protection technology expert warned.

Menlo Security Asia-Pacific Managing Director Stephanie Boo encouraged more vigilance among media entities, in particular— whether broadcast, radio, print or online—as well as those in the entertainment and arts, travel, business and retail industries, as they are most vulnerable to cyber attacks. They need to leverage on cyber technologies available to protect their data from threats lurking on the Web.

Media, entertainment and arts, travel and retail industries emerged as among the Top 5 sectors mostly at

risk of online attacks, based on the company’s latest report, titled “State of the Web 2016”.

“What we advise most of these enterprises is that you basically take care of both your e-mail and Web,” she told reporters during a media forum at the recent IT Infrastructure Summit 2017 in Makati City as part of Computer Technology International’s (CTI Group) tech road show in the Asian region.

“We use them on a day-to-day basis, and they have essentially become our business tools, as well.

Unfortunately, 90 percent of our

threats nowadays come from both of them.”

Risk-related

In the study—the second edition to date—Menlo Security focused again on the Alexa top 1 million sites. The company also factored in the risks related with the 25 million requests to background sites that a browser makes when visiting all these most-viewed portals.

The background sites feed active content to the browser for the purposes of content delivery, trackers, beacons and ad delivery.

By closely examining their main features, including software version, release dates and thirdparty risk intelligence, among others, the firm was able to discern their impact on the primary sites’ risk. The results showed that 46 percent of the top million web sites are risky, indicating that criminals now have veritable pick of half the Web world to exploit.

Exploitation is also becoming more widespread and effective due to the following reasons: Risky sites have never been easier to Continued on A2

Current-account problem due to bleak global trade forecast worries BSP

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By Bianca Cuaresma

fter providing resilience for the Philippine economy during bouts of external headwinds, the country’s current-account surplus has recently been showing breaks of weaknesses, with several analysts projecting a year’s deficit in this area for the first time in decades due to the bleak future of international trade.

PESO exchange rates n US 50.1730

In 2016 the impact of global volatilities was already evident in the country’s lower currentaccount surplus of $601 million, a 91.7-percent decline from the $7.3-billion surplus in 2015.

Also, despite being in the surplus territory in the previous year, the fourth-quarter surplus has already shown significant weakness to end the last three months of 2016 at a deficit of $1 billion. This reverses the $1.4-billion surplus posted in the same quarter in 2015.

A country’s current-account position is usually a gauge of economic health for the jurisdiction, as it measures the difference between its foreign-exchange sav-

ings and investments.

The Central Bank blamed the weakness of the fourth-quarter current-account position on the widening trade-in-goods deficit, along with the decline in net receipts in the trade-in-services and primary-income accounts.

In particular, the trade-ingoods deficit increased to $10 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016, from the $7.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2015. This, as the growth in imports of goods outpaced that of the exports by more than four times.

The BPO factor

Exports of goods during the period grew only moderately at 3.8

percent in the fourth quarter of 2016 at $10.6 billion. This is up from the $10.2 billion seen in the same quarter in the previous year.

In the past, the current account has also shown signs of weakness prior to the growth of the business-process outsourcing (BPO) receipts and the boom from the remittances sent home by Filipino migrant workers.

A recent study from the Central Bank showed the Philippines’s current-account position, especially its relation to the country’s GDP, has fluctuated over the past decade due largely to the dynamics of its trade balance.

Continued on A2

91.7%

The percentage drop in current-account surplus, from $7.3 billion in 2015 to $601 million in 2016

n japan 0.4528 n UK 62.5808 n HK 6.4579 n CHINA 7.2736 n singapore 36.7842 n australia 37.8555 n EU 53.4192 n SAUDI arabia 13.3798

Source: BSP (7 April 2017 )

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The state of the Web exploit; conventional security products fail to provide enough protection; and phishing attacks can now use legitimate portals.

Menlo Security considers a site risky if either the homepage, or the associated background sites, is running vulnerable software, is known bad, or has had a security incident in the last 12 months. Of the 1 million sites studied, 355,804 were either running vulnerable software or accessing background domains running vulnerable software; 166,853 fell into known-bad categories, while 31,938 experienced a recent security incident.

Susceptible

Calculating a category’s risk as the ration of vulnerable portals to total sites, the report indicated that the most susceptible to attacks are the news and media, where 50 percent of sites satisfy at least one of the three criteria. This is followed by entertainment and arts, at 49 percent; and travel, at 42 percent. Completing the Top 5 most risky are business, 41 percent; and shopping, 40 percent.

The impact of threats to them

could be seen in several publicly reported high-profile breaches in 2016. These include AOL and the Huffington Post that both served malware. A separate malvertising campaign, on the other hand, struck MSN, Telstra and dating portal PlentyofFish.com.

Meanwhile, Answers.com was victimized by a background site exploit, which could have exposed millions of daily visitors to malware. More so, the New York Times, London Stock Exchange, BBC, Spotify and The Onion are among the notable sites that have been jeopardized in recent years.

“We are seeing more and more of the legit or trusted web sites being compromised,” Boo said, while citing that users should recognize that they are taking a significant risk when connecting directly to the Internet, and a new approach is required to solve this growing concern.

“It is not just external factors that are causing [sites] to be a lot more vulnerable. It is actually internal reasons, as well. An internal reason actually comes in the form of, for example, outdated applications, or not being able to patch your browsers in time. Of course,

‘W

we all know that anything that is outdated basically has tons of vulnerabilities,” she added.

Lingering local threat

THE World Wide Web is now regarded as a not safe and morally corrupt place. This is because even Third World nations, like the Philippines, are not spared from the illegal activities of criminals on the Internet.

As per-country analysis of Menlo Security’s State of the Web 2016 report, the top 50 most visited sites here are social-network news and media, and streaming media. Of the total, 34 percent, or 17 of them, were serving active code from risky “background sites” marked as malware sites, adult and pornography, cult and occult, questionable or uncategorized.

There were even two sites that offer adult contents on the list.

It is also found out in the study that a browser will execute 30 scripts on the average when visiting such 50 portals. These top web sites in the country executed 96 scripts from 35 different background sites. Fourteen percent, or

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Continued from a1

seven of them, executed over 50 scripts, while only two (1 percent) executed one script.

What’s more, eight of the 50 most visited portals (16 percent) were running vulnerable versions of Web software code at the time of testing. The most popular risky version reported with known software vulnerabilities was nginx/1.8.0, and the oldest being Microsoftiis/7.5, released in 2009.

Such report on the state of the Internet risk is quite alarming for both the public and private sectors.

Big concern

In fact, according to Defenxor President and Director Toto A. Atmojo, who flew from Indonesia to attend the summit and the media briefing, most of the companies he encountered during the event agreed that they are worried about the rampant online threats the business community is facing at present.

“Internet security now becomes a big concern in the Philippines. Their main focus is how to maximize the technology that they

e use them [e-mail and Web] on a day-to-day basis, and they have essentially become our business tools, as well. Unfortunately, 90 percent of our threats nowadays come from both of them.”—Menlo Security have to handle the security of their network,” he said.

While the risk is uncontainable, the level of understanding and response to this has quite improved of late, according to Boo.

“I think without a doubt the awareness, as far as adoption for cyber-security solution, has come into effect due to the Bangaldesh bank compromise,” she said. “So I’m very confident that the Philippines is going to be an explosive market, especially when it comes to cyber-security solution.”

Current-account problem due to bleak global trade forecast worries BSP Continued from a1

The study, titled “The Dynamics of Current Account in the Philippines: What Causes Its Fluctuation”, also showed the currentaccount position’s recent dependence on remittances and BPO receipts for its resilience.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said one of the recorded weaknesses of the currentaccount position was in the first quarter of 2000 to the third quar-

ter of 2001, where it registered current account-to-GDP ratio deficits, due mainly to deficits in merchandise and services-trade accounts prior to the growth of the BPO industry.

Temporary surplus

Meanwhile, in the fourth quarter of 2001 to the first quarter of 2002, the current account-to-GDP ratio recovered and exhibited a temporary surplus, due mainly to lower goods imports driven by the

decrease in petroleum crude prices and lower imports for electronic inputs associated with the slowdown of the US economy in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack.

The BSP further said from the third quarter of 2005 to early 2007, the current account-to-GDP trend returned to a more significant surplus, as services exports began to strengthen, driven by the surging BPO industry and the rise in remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Meanwhile, the adverse effects of the global financial crisis in mid2007 led the current account-toGDP ratio to again post a deficit.

Since then, the current accountto-GDP ratio exhibited a surplus driven by the continued strength of both the BPO sector and OFW remittances, the BSP said.

However, more recently, the BSP acknowledged the share of current account-to-GDP has been on a declining trend—even with the continued inflows of both BPO

receipts and remittances.

Pitfall

Trade deficits due to weak global demand is not the only pitfall for the country’s current account, as remittances have shown signs of maturity in recent years, exhibited by slower growth rates.

In particular, the primary income account in the last quarter of 2016—one of the components of the current account—hit $721 million—21.6 percent lower than

the $920-million net receipts in the fourth quarter of 2015. This was mainly attributed by the Central Bank to the decline in compensation inflows from resident OFWs—specifically from seabased workers.

The national government has pegged its remittance-growth projection for the year at 4 percent.

Also among the evolving problems that may hinder the current account to reverse its declining path is the rising protectionism trend across the globe—particularly under the new administration of the United States’ new government.

In a recent speaking engagement, Central Bank Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said among the downside risks to global economic activity include heightened inward-oriented sentiment— a development that could undermine global trade and dampen financial-market sentiment.

“Whether Asia will follow the advanced economies’ new mediocre or not would depend on how Asia would overcome [these] risks and/or take advantage of the opportunities.

First on my list is growing protectionism,” Tetangco said.

“So far, we have only heard rhetoric from the current US president. There are still no clear policies, only desired directions. In the United Kingdom, while they have moved to trigger Article 50, the negotiations for the formal exit can take some time,” he added.

Counterbalance

Counterbalancing this and the weakness in advanced economies, Tetangco said, in the meantime, intra-Asean trade has been increasing for the Philippines.

“In the case of the Philippines, Asean [as an aggrupation] has moved to become our No. 1 overall trading partner,” he said.

Another growing opportunity of increased exports in the region is coming from the agriculture industry, which has been noted to expand strongly last year after overcoming the impact of natural disasters.

In its recent economic news, Oxford Business Group (OBG) noted the rising opportunities of exports of the country’s agricultural goods, citing the $1-billion agreement with China to step up imports of Philippine agricultural products.

“The agreement with China represents a significant boost for the agricultural sector in the Philippines, with the value of the deal roughly equivalent to revenue from farm exports for the fourth quarter of last year,” OBG said.

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Getting rid of North Korea’s dictator with China’s help

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By Roderick MacFarquhar | The New York Times

resident Donald J. Trump has not been shy in saying the United States could go it alone in dealing with North Korea. Raising the alarming specter of a second Korean War, the president has effectively affirmed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s warning that unilateral military action to eliminate North Korea’s nuclear arsenal has not been ruled out.

North Korea is on the agenda as Trump hosts President Xi Jinping of China this week at his Florida estate. Could Trump’s hints about his North Korea policy show that he plans to enlist Beijing in ousting the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un? Un i l atera l A mer ic a n m i l itary action against North Korea would be politically foolish and militarily disastrous. China would almost certainly intervene, setting up a fraught confrontation with the US. Without collaboration with Beijing, Washington could not achieve a surgical strike to eliminate Kim or his nuclear arsenal.

It may seem far-fetched to imagine the US, with or without China, forcing out the regime in Pyongyang, especially while Washington is still dealing with the aftermath of ousting Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Muammar Qaddafi in Libya. But after years of ineffective diplomacy, American strategists would be irresponsible if they failed to explore bringing about the end of the nuclear-armed North Korean

regime. The Obama administration reportedly planned for such “collapse scenarios”.

Trump is right in stating that China has been of little help in restraining North Korea’s increasingly sophisticated nuclear and missile programs. The six-party talks in Beijing dragged on for years with no result. Occasionally, after some particularly egregious act by Kim, the Chinese tightened their sanctions, but never to the extent that the Kim regime was threatened.

The Trump administration has some leverage in making a deal with Beijing, which also has compelling reasons to work with the US on hastening the end of the North Korean regime.

First, a unilateral strike by the US would be likely to drag China into the struggle anyway.

Preparation and joint action would allow Beijing to protect its interests. With Kim out of the picture, Beijing would be free from the constant worry that the unpredictable Kim could set off a wider war in East Asia.

Second, Beijing could negoti-

ate the removal from South Korea of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, a missile-defense system known as Thaad. Washington deployed it last year to protect Sout h Korea aga inst North Korean missiles, but Beijing fears it could also inhibit its own weapons systems.

Third, China could insist that US military personnel leave a newly united Korean Peninsula, and that the united Korea be permanently neutral, like Austria after the withdrawal of Soviet and Western troops in 1955.

American troops will not leave South Korea, as long as Kim remains in power.

Ideally, both Washington and Beijing would pledge aid to assist Seoul in the mammoth task of rebuilding the threadbare North Korean economy.

It is easy enough to list the benefits to China and the United States of ending the K im dynasty. Achieving a level of trust between the two rivals, capable of sustaining so momentous a joint operation, would be far more difficult.

Washington and Beijing could start with agreements on other thorny problems. Trump would have to moderate his trade policy demands. Xi would have to acknowledge other nations’ right

to freely pass through the South China Sea and end China’s militarization of the various islets there.

But even if X i were open to a Chinese role in ta k ing dow n the Nor th Korean state—and on ba lance, autocrats are not r isk-ta kers—there are forces at home t y ing his hands for the immediate future. Xi appears to have no ser ious r iva ls for power, but cooperating w ith the US cou ld embolden potentia l detractors who see Washington as the enemy, especia l ly if the cooperation ended in failure.

The Chinese Communist Party will hold its 19th Congress this fall, and Xi is expected to consolidate his leadership by installing his closest supporters in the Politburo and its Standing Committee. Action against North Korea before then would be politically too risky for him.

If Trump has any plan to enlist Xi to help bring down Kim Jong Un, he will have to wait. In the meantime, there would be much to negotiate and to plan to ensure that a strike against the North Korean regime and its weapons of mass destruction is foolproof. n Roderick MacFarquhar, a re-

search professor of history and political science at Harvard, is a coauthor of Mao’s Last Revolution.

Guinness’s journey in Ireland shows cost of Brexit to free trade

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uinness, the most iconic of Irish exports, shows t he p ot e nt i a l c o s t of the United K ingdom’s decision to leave the European Union.

Brewed at Saint James’s Gate near the River Liffey in Dublin since the mid 18th century, what’s in almost every bottle and can of the stout crosses the border from Ireland to the UK twice before reaching beer drinkers.

Ingredients from all over Ireland arrive in Dublin, where the water, barley, hops and yeast are mixed and brewed. The beer is then pumped into tanker trucks known as silver bullets and carried 90 miles north to Belfast in the UK province of Northern Ireland. There, it’s bottled and canned before being sent back south for distribution.

Gu inness h igh l ights t he concern over what happens to Britain’s only land border with the EU: the 310 -mile frontier between the north and south of Ireland. W hile politicians and diplomats in Dublin, London and Brussels insist there will be no return to the controls in place during the violent sectarian conf lict in Northern Ireland, the reality may be more complicated. EU leaders are scheduled to hold a summit on April 29 to pave the way for two years of Brexit talks.

“For me, there’s no question, there has to be some sort of customs visibility on either side of the border,” said Robert Murphy, a former customs official at the Irish tax authority who later worked at the European

Delivery men unload kegs of beer from a Guinness-branded truck outside a bar in Dublin, Ireland, on December 1, 2012. Ireland’s Finance Minister Michael Noonan will deliver the country’s 2013 budget last December 5, and is expected to cover taxation measures and spending details, according to a spokeswoman at the Finance Ministry. Aidan Crawley/Bloomberg

$3.2B

The value of Ireland-United Kingdom annual crossborder trade

Commission in Brussels. “ The idea of having a seamless and friction-less border is lovely, but I do wonder how realistic it is.”

B ord e r cont rol s b e g a n to melt away in the 1990s as the U K a nd I r i s h go v e r n me nt s , backed by the EU, fostered a peace agreement bet ween the ma in ly Cat hol ic nat iona l ists fighting for a united Ireland

a nd t he l a rge ly P rotest a nt loya lists defending the status quo. Shoppers are now free to filter back and forth using their Irish euros or British pounds. Crossborder trade is worth more than £3 billion ($3.2 billion) a year, the Irish government estimates.

For London-based Diageo Plc., the owner of Guinness, it means the company’s trucks can head north and south unencumbered.

Each year they make 13,000 beer-related border crossings in Ireland. Add in Baileys, the whiskey and cream-based liqueur, and the number rises to over 18,000.

A hard border could cause delays of between 30 minutes and an hour, costing an extra €100 for each journey, the company said.

That alone would add €1.3 million to the cost of Guinness and other

beers Diageo produces in Ireland.

The company has said it will work with the British and Irish governments on finding a solution to the border issue.

Brexit could cut trade flows between Ireland and the UK by as much as a fifth, the Economic & Social Research Institute estimated. In draft guidelines for negotiating the UK’s exit, EU President Donald Tusk said “flexible and imaginative solutions” will be needed to avoid a hard border.

“For big companies like Diageo and brands like Guinness, there might be solutions, whether that be electronic tagging or some sort of trusted trader program,” Murphy said. “Customs of f icers don’t want to waste people’s time. But it’s not going to be easy.” Bloomberg News

Demand booming on college campuses for creative writing

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ome c re d it t he r i s e of socia l media. Others attr ibute it to a f lour ishing cu lture of self-ex pression.

W hatever the reason, col leges across the United States are seeing a boom in demand for courses on creative w r iting.

Colleges are adding writing programs to accommodate interest in what has become the rarest of fields in the humanities—a sector that is growing, rather than losing students to science and technology.

The number of schools offering bachelor’s degrees in creative writing has risen from three in 1975 to 733 today, according to the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, an industry group based at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

So what will these students do after graduating?

“Most of them are aware that this probably is not going to be their career. At least, I hope they’re aware,” said David Galef, director of the creative writing program at Montclair State University in New Jersey. “They’re interested in doing something they feel is creative.”

W hile some will become professional writers, others w ill find work in fields such as public relations, advertising or somet h i ng complete ly u n re l ate d .

Instructors say some students see their focus on writing as a way to understand themselves, make use of a liberal education and enrich their lives.

One Montclair State undergraduate, Gil Moreno, 46, enrolled years after completing another bachelor’s degree, in business management, and dreams of becoming a writer. Even if he can’t do it professionally, he’ll keep it up on the side.

“I’m looking to get away from the business world,” he said. “I’m kind of looking to live in my own separate world.”

The number of creative-writi ng bac helor’s prog ra ms h a s grown steadily, but spiked from 161 in 2008 to 592 in 2013, according to the AW P. English depa r t ments elsewhere h ave offered new concentrations or minors in writing, and still more major programs are planned, including one beginning next fall at the University of Chicago.

In some English depar tments, the boom has created tension between creative writing and those who emphasize instruction of literature. At Yale University’s English department, which is reviewing admissions procedures for the writing concentration amid a surge in applications, professors say their writing program is unusual in requiring that all courses include reading in contemporary work of the chosen genre.

“A l l over the countr y students are more interested in writing about themselves than they are in reading other people,” s a id Eng l i sh P rofessor Leslie Brisman, who has taught at Yale since 1969. “We are in favor of creativity. We are not in favor of ignorance.”

The number of course offerings in creative writing has roughly doubled over the last five years at Yale, where the creative writing director, Richard Deming, suspects the interest can be credited, at least partly, to social media. “ This act of expressing one’s voice in a public way—some people feel that they want to add craft, they want to hone those skills and take it to a place of more intensity,” he said. “It just builds from there.”

Another explanation for the boom, according to David Fenza, director of the AWP, is a cultural disconnect between long-standing staples of English departments and college students who come from increasingly diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. AP

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Dennis Garcia: Painting songs on canvas

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By Roger Pe

lessed are the weird people, the poets and the misfits, the artists and the writers, the music makers, dreamers and outsiders. They force us to see the world differently,” goes an often-quoted line.

Steve Jobs used it and so did Dennis Garcia, bassist and writer of many, if not all, iconic Hotdog songs.

At age 17, Garcia was already a nonconformist, an outsider of the status quo. He worked as a copy writer for an advertising agency, while most of his age group would still be in school trying to finish accountancy, or the usual college course.

Coming from a family of art lovers, he reengineered musical arrangements of traditional Filipino songs, mixed English with the vernacular and changed some words like a man on the street would pronounce them.

Followers of modern Filipino music, regardless of age, would, of course, remember “Pers Lab”, the pop music that made Manila swoon, and eventua l ly, mass

conquered the Philippines. Did it sweep off your parents’ young and nimble feet? For sure, it did, and Garcia’s foray into the music world led original and homegrown Filipino music to become legit.

Garcia’s Hotdog band dished out hits after hits after “Manila, Manila” and “Panaginip”. Who would not prance and romp with “Annie Batungbakal” and “Badaf Forever”? Gambol and rock with “Bongga Ka ‘Day”? Feel hopelessly romantic with “Ikaw Ang Miss Universe Ng Buhay Ko“, foxtrot with “Behhh, Buti Nga”, swoon with “Bitin Sa Iyo“, f lirt with “O, Lumapit Ka”?

Who would not fall in love

Garcia

with “Ikaw Pa Rin”, “Sa Isip Ko”, “Lang it Na Naman”, “Pusong Mamon”, “Sana’y Maganda Ako”, “You Make Me Blush (Parang Pulang Kamatis)” and more?

The “Manila Sound” genre of Garcia’s Hotdog band eventually became part of Sunshine label, owned by music industry tycoon Vic del Rosario. It was also home to the best and the brightest proponents of original Pinoy music: Rico Puno, Circus Band, Cinderella, VST&Co. and many other Filipino artists.

Garcia’s Manila Sound was destined to become the Golden Age of Philippine Music. Today, a couple of decades later, a Hotdog reunion concert can still pack a big auditorium, with some of the most scintillating names in the Philippine social strata guaranteed to attend. What does that

tell you? Gold is gold. Regardless of what year it happens.

What is Garcia up to these days? He is still writing songs out of his comfort zone, but on a different platform. His words and lyrics are now colors and hues. His emotions and lullabyes are now objects and shapes. His vernacular and English verbs are now vibrant crimsons and purples. His thoughts and colorful language are now graphic forms and multiple shades of the rainbow—on the big canvas.

Yes, he paints, and buoyed up by the thought that an untrained artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Dustheads sold at an auction for $43.5 million US. “Art can be more rewarding than plunder [and you need not have a diploma from some fancy art school to be rewarded for your work],” he blurts out.

When Garcia mounts his first major one-man show, his acerbic wit, sensual (sometimes sexually explicit) and whole gamut of emotions will be “heard” and seen in glass-encased frames.

He will be exhibiting 25 allnew pieces, all based on songs he has written for Hotdog. The venue will be Ricco Renzo Gallery, second floor of LRI Design Plaza, Reposo in Makati City on June 7, which will run until June 18.

He w ill bring back all your favorite OPM songs, but this time, on canvas using acr ylic and oil paints. No formal art education, no rules, no formulas, no pretensions, Garcia w ill take this rare opportunity to introduce you to the phenomenon that the world is now embracing w ith gusto— Outsider Art (naive, self-taught art from simple inspired people, “aimed at your heart, not your wallet,” he says.

Garcia dabbles in freewheeling

painting style, the non-classical way, outside of the avenues art schools in the world would expectedly lead art students. He uses the alphabet of his heart and expresses what his mind tells him on a usual 3 by 3 feet canvas.

His creations pulsate like his songs. Like an artist who does not conform, there lies what’s new in Garcia, the ever revolutionary, and now a compleat artist.

Garcia wants to champion the genre, a Matisse-like expressionism movement. “There are no rules here, my art unchains myself. I am not who will be confined in a box. I have also invited fellow outsider artists to motivate them into working on their own exhibit,” he says.

The pieces will all be affordable, according to Garcia. He emphasizes that if art lovers would hold on to what they purchase, “they may be holding to truly appreciating pieces of art, since it is a rare instance when a songwriter translates his work into canvas,” a totally surprising fresh idea that might catch fire.

“I want to propagate a style largely made up by the artist as he goes along, just following his instincts as to what color to use, when and where, and not bound by any school of isms,” he adds.

Garcia makes reference to the style as full of symbolic value, largely determined by the individual artist, and not governed by a rigid set of preexisting rules.

What is Outsider Art?

The Huff ington Post describes Outsider Srt as “often obsessive, v iscera l and autono mou s — d i ssoc i ated f rom t he artistic norms and trends that define the zeitgeist for those not imper v ious to it.”

Outsider Art is the stripping away of cultural conventions and t he impend ing shadow of the artistic establishment.

Here, the artists’ deeper inspirations and messages come to the surface.

Words commonly associated with Outsider Art are “naïve”, “pure”, “raw”, “visionary” and “fanatic, untouched by the pettiness of everyday life and mainstream culture”. It unveils the unadulterated act of creation, outside of trends and the desire for commercial success. It can convey the power of the unbridled imagina-

tion to create order and beauty from basically nothing.

It is also associated with the work of the mentally challenged.

A doctor once documented the work of his patient, Adolf Wolfli, a genius who produced countless thousands of works from a small cell in a Swiss asylum.

Dr. Hans Prinzhorn collected thousands of creations by psychiatric patients and his book Bildernerei der Geisteskranken (Artistry of the Mentally Ill), published in 1922, became an inf luential work among Surrealists and other artists of the time.

One suc h a r t ist wa s Jea n Dubuffet. Together with others, including Andre Breton, he formed the Compagnie de l’Art Brut in 1948 and strove to seek out and collect works of extreme individuality and inventiveness by creators who were not only untrained artists but often had little concept of an art gallery or even any other forms of art other than their own.

Dubuffet’s concept of Art Brut, or Raw Art, was of the genre that was in their “raw” state, uncooked by cultural and artistic influences.

He eventually built up a vast collection of thousands of art pieces, which bore no relation to developments in contemporary art and yet were innovative and powerful expressions of creativity.

What to see

“Art is one of the few things left worth doing,” Garcia says. “I paint my feelings, not decorations,” he says. Among his creations that are already hanging on the walls of notable people’s homes are Pisbol (a charming portrayal of a society matron “making tusok-tusok the fishball”; Manang, a naïf-like painting of an innocent woman staring at you from a distance; Careful a tribute to Inday Badiday’s famous line in an iconic 1980s show with the same title.

Also included in the exhibit are must-have pieces painted from Garcia’s prolific mind. Among them is a finger-painting of Stevie Wonder done from memory, a refreshing portrait of the wonder musician exploding with colors red and green accents.

Go pick a Garcia painting and bring it home. When his songs have stopped playing in the windmills of your mind, they will be forever in the privacy of your own castle.

DOT accredits 14 more farms for agri-tourism destinations

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

Special to the BusinessMirror

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HE Depar tment of Tourism (DOT ) u n d e r s co re d t h e i m p o r t a n ce o f agriculture and farming in making world-class dishes, as the second day of Madrid Fusión Manila 2017 (MFM 2017) went under way on Friday.

Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo said: “The Philippines is blessed with abundant agriculture [produce], as well as vast greenery and pristine scenery, a perfect combination for gourmet, health relaxation and leisure activities.” This has given rise to agriculture or farm tourism, another profitable endeavor for tour operators and farmers, she said during the launch of the Calabarzon Farm Tourism Travel Guide on the sidelines of the MFM 2017 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.

She said the DOT has long recognized the value-added potential of farm and traditional agricultural sites as income-generating tourist destinations. “The idea of farms as tourist spots is not new. Imagine harvesting fresh farm produce for lunch, while your young ones wet their feet in a watering hole nearby. This bucolic setting and green landscapes are the best elements for R&R.” She added that the DOT had already been promoting farm and agri-tourism long before ‘unplugged’, ‘off-the-grid’ outdoor travel became a byword”, she said, citing the Philippine Agri-tourism Program spearheaded by the DOT as early as 1999. “With the rising demand for so-called low-impact tourism,

agri-tourism can become one of the new bright spots for the Philippines,” said Teo, pointing out that 30 percent of the total land area in the country is devoted to agriculture, an industry that employs 10 million Filipinos.

Speaking at the PH Agri-tourism: Farm, Food and Fun Session on Wednesday, DOT Director for Tourism Regulation, Coordination and Resource Generation Rica Bueno said the Philippines has accredited 28 farm-tourism sites since 2012, earning it a spot as one of the top 8 agri-tourism destinations in the world at the Mother Nature Network’s web site.

The Philippines shares this recognition with Taiwan, Brazil, California, Hawaii, Grenada in the Caribbean, Mallorca in Spain and Tuscany in Italy.

She noted that the DOT “outdated” Republic Act 10816 of 2016, that provides for the development and promotion of farm tourism in the Philippines. “Last year alone, the DOT accredited 14 more agri-tourism farms across the country, many of which are in the Calabarzon.”

Farm tourism trailblazers in the country Josie Costales of Costales Nature Farms in Laguna, Cathy Turvill of Amadeo Nurture Farmacy in Tagaytay, Charita Puentespina of Malagos Garden Resort in Davao, and Michael Caballes of the Allied Botanical Corp./ Sunflower Maze in Pangasinan, all echoed the DOT’s business prospective for what they call the country’s “sunshine industry”.

Teo said the travel guide book compiled by the DOT’s Region 4A office, highlights the region’s agri-tourism destinations, as well

as its indigenous delicacies. Calabarzon is composed of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon Province.

The guide book features 12 MFM exhibitors accredited by the DOT as farm-tourism sites, namely, the Costales Nature Farms, MoCa Family Farm, Terra Verde Ecofarm, Gourmet Farms, Ato Belen’s Farm, Forest Wood Garden, Flor’s Farm and Garden, Kahariam Farms, and Teofely Nature Farms, Nurture Farms, Domingo Permafarms and Chad’s Nature Farm.

“Although Calabarzon is one of the highly urbanized regions in the country, it has a lot of rural areas where tourists can feel the cool breeze and experience the biodiversity [in the environment],” she said.

“With the region’s natural beauty, cultural richness and vibrant communities, there is no doubt that Calabarzon is one of the country’s agricultural haven,” Teo added. “We will continue to promote agri-tourism in the country for this is a unique experience for visitors at farm fields.”

For her part, Region 4 Director Rebecca Labit, who initiated book project, cited the importance of educating the nonfarming public about farms and farm products, as well as the preservation of the rural landscape.

Agri-tourism or farm tourism is seen to be an attractive option to the usual sun and beach activities and contributor to sustainable source of income for farmers.

“Next time you visit make sure it will be about appreciating the beauty of nature and immersion experience in the farm, which invigorates the senses,” Labit said.

Sports BusinessMirror

Editor: Jun Lomibao | mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

BRAZIL NO. 1

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RAZIL has taken over at the top of the International Football Association or Fifa rankings for the first time since 2010.

After losing Lionel Messi to a fourmatch ban, Argentina lost 2-0 at Bolivia last week and dropped to No. 2.

World Cup winner Germany is still No. 3, followed by Chile and Colombia. South American teams tallied more ranking points last month by playing two World Cup qualifiers. European teams played one.

European champion Portugal is No. 8, while Switzerland entered the top 10, up two to ninth, one ahead of above Spain.

Mexico rose one to No. 16 and leads Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football teams. The United States climbed seven to No. 23. No. 19 Egypt leads African teams, and No. 28 Iran is Asia’s best.

World Cup host Russia fell one to No. 61. AP

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Saturday, April 8, 2017

Players talk about making sacrifices to reach the top but few will have known the hardship Coulibaly endured on his incredible journey, which took him to Pescara via Morocco, Marseille, Grenoble, Livorna and Roma, and which left him homeless and starving at times.

A FOOTBALL STORY

By Daniella Matar

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The Associated Press

WO years ago Mamadou Coulibaly left his home in Senegal with only a backpack. Now, he’s playing in one of the top leagues in the world.

His parents thought he was dead. If the boat carrying him had sunk he almost certainly would have been. But on Sunday the 18-year-old completed his journey by playing the full 90 minutes for Pescara against one of the teams he supports, AC Milan.

“I left with a backpack,” Coulibaly told Italian daily Gazzetta dello Sport. “I only told Mamadou, my best friend. My parents thought I was in school. I turned off my phone, I didn’t call them for three or four months. They thought I was dead.

“My family [weren’t] poor.... But papa didn’t want me to play football. For him it was only important to study. Ours is a family of teachers. He told me he would take me to some European teams but it was only so I would be good. I risked my life for football, but I also did so for them: soon I will be able to help them.”

Players talk about making sacrifices to reach the top but few will have known the hardship Coulibaly endured on his incredible journey, which took him to Pescara via Morocco, Marseille, Grenoble, Livorna and Roma, and which left him

homeless and starving at times.

“I got to the boat by bus,” Coulibaly said. “I paid for a ticket from Dakar to Morocco and it wasn’t dangerous. It was worse after. I slept in the port in Morocco. I didn’t have money for the boat.

“A man saw me for several days and he asked me what I was doing there, sleeping on the street.

I replied to him that I wanted to go to Europe. After a few days he returned: he worked on a boat which was going to France, he told me I could get on...It wasn’t dangerous but I don’t know how to swim.

If the boat had sunk I would have died.”

Coulibaly arrived in Marseille and went to live briefly in Grenoble with his aunt. But he wanted to pursue his dream of becoming a professional footballer.

“The start at Livorno was the most difficult. A man had taken me there to present me to some teams, then one morning I woke up in a hotel and he wasn’t there anymore,” Coulibaly said.

“I didn’t have money, I didn’t know anyone, I didn’t speak Italian.”

The teenager didn’t let that get him down and he was

spotted playing football on the beach by Livorno scouts. The Serie B team wanted to sign him but Coulibaly didn’t have any documents, so he continued his journey. Things grew steadily worse.

“I was sleeping on the streets and maybe in a day I managed to eat a sandwich,” he said. “I was in Rome and then they told me that there were many Senagalese in Pescara, so I took the train without paying the ticket.

“I got down at Roseto, the wrong stop, and I slept on a sports field. The police found me and took me to a foster home in Montepagano.”

Coulibaly slept on the sports field for three days before he was taken to the foster home, which helped him get documents, and shortly after he was signed by Pescara following a trial.

The midfielder, who only recently left the foster home for a shared room in a boarding school for the youth team, played just two matches with Pescara’s youngsters before making his senior debut in the final 20 minutes of Pescara’s match at Atalanta on March 19.

Coulibaly was handed his first start against Milan on Sunday and was one of the best on the pitch—in just his fourth proper match, including his time in Senegal.

“I had a bit of football school in Senegal when I was a kid and I learnt how to play on the street,” he said. “The rest from TV. I always watched so many matches and I learnt the movements.

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Filipina booters clobber rivals in Cup qualifiers

HE national women’s football team has silently started to make a statement in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup 2018 Jordan qualifiers after routing its first two of five Group A opponents in a weeklong tournament at the Republican Central Stadium in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

The Filipinas already collected six points with similar 4-0 wins over United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iraq on Monday and Wednesday, respectively, for a share of Group A lead with powerhouse Jordan, which annihilated Bahrain and also UAE on 6-0 routs.

The women’s team eyed their third win against host Tajikistan on Friday.

Philippine team coach Letecia Bautista told the AFC web site that her wards have yet to fully adjust to the cold Tajikistan weather, but stressed they have been responding to the demands of each match.

“We have been trying to adapt to the weather but they have improved since their first match, they have been playing as a team,” Bautista told the web site.

Filipino-American Eva Madarang has been leading the team and already scored three goals in the tournament—two against UAE and one against Iraq. Hali Long, Sara Castañeda and Alesa Dolino also scored one goal apiece against Iraq.

The Filipinas were heavily favored against Tajikistan, which also beat Iraq, 1-0, but lost to Bahrain, 0-4.

The Philippines closes its campaign against Bahrain on Monday and Jordan on Wednesday.

ATENEO VS DE LA SALLE

E LA SALLE and Ateneo de Manila battle for school pride anew as the most popular volleyball teams in the country square off today to close the eliminations of Season 79 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines.

At stake in the 4 p.m. match is the No. 1 spot in the Final Four. The defending champion Lady Archers and Lady Eagles are tied with 11 wins and 13 losses to seal the top 2 spots and earn a twice-tobeat advantage in the semifinals.

But the 12 p.m. match between University of Santo Tomas (UST) and back-against-the-wall National University (NU) would be equally exciting, the result of which would determine the last two seats in the Final Four.

The Tigresses (8-5) are hoping to make the semifinals for the first time in four years and snatch No. 3 in the semifinals.

But NU (7-6), is looking to forge a triple tie among the Lady Bulldogs, Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws and Tigresses. If the Lady Bulldogs win, FEU wrests third place by virtue of its best tiebreak score of 26 points while the No. 4 slot will be disputed by NU (24 points) and UST (19) in a playoff.

De La Salle has won six straigh in the second round since its 24-26, 24-26, 25-21, 17-25 first-round setback to Ateneo.

Season 78 Finals Most Valuable Player Kim Kianna Dy, who helped the Lady Spikers win their ninth title and spoiled Ateneo’s “three-peat” bid last season, is full of motivation to get the first seed and pull off a vengeful win over the Lady Eagles “We’re excited and, at the same time, we’re motivated to bounce back from our first-round lost,” Dy said.

Ateneo Team Captain Jia Morado is aware that they are about to face a more stable and hungrier De La Salle side. But the ace setter believes that the Lady Eagles could reassert their mastery with their team work, aggressiveness and confidence.

MAMADOU COULIBALY completes his journey by playing the full 90 minutes for Pescara against one of the teams he supports, AC Milan.

Lance Agcaoili

Tamaraws return to football Final Four

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“I think the team is more confident and aggressive now. Teamwork will help us win,” Morado said.

Back-to-back champion Ateneo (13-0) tries to clinch an outright Finals berth by completing an eliminationround sweep against second running NU (12-1) at 8 a.m. in the men’s division. Third placer FEU (7-6) and UST (6-7) clash at 10 a.m. in a no-bearing match. Lance Agcaoili MICHAEL MARTINEZ believes he can make another impressive performance in Olympic qualifier in Germany. ROY DOMINGO

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ICHAEL MARTINEZ eyes a top-six finish in the Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany in September to qualify for another Winter Olympics in South Korea.

The 20-year-old Sochi Olympian hopes to earn a ticket to Pyeongchang in the qualifiers set from September 27 to 30 in Oberstdorf.

Martinez missed a Pyeongchang slot despite finishing 24th in the recent World Championships in Finland because of the demands of the Olympic qualifying rules.

AR Eastern University (FEU) overwhelmed Adamson University, 5-1, to return to the Final Four of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 79 men’s football tournament late Thursday at the Moro Lorenzo Field.

Alex Rayos scored twice as the Tamaraws recovered after conceding a very early goal. Val Jurao and Rayos struck in the 66th and 67th minute to give FEU a 3-1 advantage.

Jurao then made an assist for Rayos’s second goal in the 71st minute, followed by a Justin Calamba strike 12 minutes later as the Tamaraws put the match beyond recall.

With 22 points, FEU joined Ateneo and defending champion University of the Philippines in the Final Four,

which is a one-match affair.

That leaves a three-cornered fight for the last semifinals berth among University of Santo Tomas (17), National University (16) and De La Salle (15).

“To be honest, we weren’t looking at returning to the Final Four after this match. We were really working on, like I said from the start, on our system,” Tamaraws Coach Vince Santos said.

University of the East continued its giant killing ways, as the already-eliminated Red Warriors handed the Blue Eagles their first loss of the season with a 2-1 victory behind first-half goals by Mark Lerion and Mar Diano.

Standings: *ADMU 29 pts., *UP 28, *FEU 22, UST 17, NU 16, DLSU 15, UE 11, AdU 3. *semifinalist

MARTINEZ EYES TICKET TO KOREA Nevertheless, the first figure skating Olympian from Southeast Asia stressed he is more than ready to take another shot at Pyeongchang.

“I’m pretty sure I’m prepared for the competition.

It’s for the country,” Martinez said in a recent news conference at the SM Mall of Asia rink in Pasay City.

In the 2013 edition of the Nebelhorn tilt, Martinez finished seventh and qualified for Sochi. He believes he can make another impressive performance.

“I know the athletes who will compete at Nebelhorn and I’m confident that I can finish inside

the top six,” Martinez said.

The Parañaque City native worked on his upper body for more power. He also took months of therapy for his knee, ankle and back injuries.

Martinez scored 196.7 points in the recent world championships, 69.32 in the short program and 127.37 in free skating.

Japanese Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu and Shoma Uno finished the 1-2 places, while China’s Jin Boyang got the bronze to complete an all Asian podium in the men’s singles. Ramon Rafael Bonilla

BusinessMi

A6 Saturday, April 8, 2017 | Editor: Jun Lomibao

Women’s Madison brings parity track world championships A WOMEN’S Madison will be added to the world championships program for the first time in Hong Kong.

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HE Madison is one of the oldest and most exciting events in track racing, with the Men’s Madison traditionally closing out the International Cycling Union (UCI) Track Cycling World Championships.

For the 2017 Championships in Hong Kong (April 12 to 16), a Women’s Madison will be added to the program for the first time, bringing full parity to the events offered for both women and men.

Named after Madison Square Gardens in New York City, the Madison was introduced as part of the grueling Six Day races in the late 1890s, when it was used to allow riders to take turns resting as the teams raced 24 hours a day for six days straight. It has remained a popular element of Six Day racing ever since.

The event is similar to the Points Race, in that riders score points for finishing in the top four of intermediate sprints every 10 laps (5-3-2-1 points).

The points are doubled for the final sprint. A team can also gain 20 points for lapping the field. The men race 200 laps (50 kilometers) and the women 120 laps (30 kms).

Where the Madison differs from the Points Race is that instead of individual riders competing, it is teams of two riders who take turns racing low on the track while the other rider circles at the top of the track, taking a rest. The team

mates regularly exchange roles, with the rested rider receiving a hand sling back into the action from his or her partner, who then moves to the top of the track.

Racing is incredibly fast and aggressive, with constant attacks and lead changes.

The Men’s Madison was introduced to the UCI World Championships program in 1995, at Bogota, Colombia, with the Italian team of Silvio Martinello and Marco Villa winning both the first and second editions.

Spain holds the record for the most victories, with four titles, followed by Great Britain and France, each with three.

While the Men’s Madison is well established, the UCI introduced it last year as a demonstration event for Junior Women at the UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships in Aigle, Switzerland. This season, it was added to the programme for women at two rounds of the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup, in Glasgow, Scotland, and Los Angeles.

Already, the Women’s Madison is off to a strong start, with 18 nations participating in the World Cup events.

Great Britain won the 2016-17 UCI World Cup title, with a win and a fifth place.

France was a close second in the overall standings with a second and a fourth, followed by Australia (ninth and first).

Others to watch for include Russia, Italy and New Zealand, all of whom appeared on UCI World Cup podiums. UCI News

BELGIAN KEEPS NO. 1 IN WORLD RANKINGS

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ESPITE missing out on a Tour of Flanders victory, Belgium’s Greg van Avermae maintains his lead atop the International Cycling Union (UCI) WorldTour rankings.

BMC’s Olympic champion moved into the lead after his E3 Harelbeke victory after the first 13 events of the 2017 WorldTour calendar, he has accumulated 1898 points.

With Philippe Gilbert winning the Tour of Flanders and Niki Terpstra third, Quick-Step increased its lead in the team standings with its tally sitting on 5036 points.

The lead is almost 1000 points over BMC Racing Team in second place who have 4083.

The Orica-Scott team are third, with 3203 points. At the bottom of the 18 teams remains Dimension Data with just 753 points. Bahrain-Merida is the only other team with less than 100 points on 831.

Gilbert’s fourth monumental victory, and Belgium’s 215 in total, saw the national champion improve his individual rankings from seventh to third, breaking the 1000 point barrier to reach 1170.

Despite crashing out of contention for the race, world champion Peter Sagan is still second overall. With minor reshuffling in the top 10, Terpstra was the biggest mover and shaker at the pointy end as he jumped from 31st to ninth.

In total, 306 riders have scored at least one point in the 2017 WorldTour with further opportunity to come this week at Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco and Paris-Roubaix on Sunday. CYCLINGNEWS

EMPEROR OF SPRINT C

URRENTLY, the top riders in the men’s sprint come from European nations, particularly Great Britain, Russia, France and Poland. However, if you go back to the late 1970s and early 1980s, there was one nation—Japan—and one rider—Koichi Nakano—who dominated the discipline in a way not seen before or since.

After finishing fourth at his first International Cycling Union (UCI) World Championships at Monteroni di Lecce, Italy, in 1976, Nakano won an incredible 10 consecutive world sprint titles between 1977 (in San Cristobal, Venezuela) and 1986 (in Colorado Springs, USA).

Nakano was the face of a Japanese period of domination of the men’s sprint when the country won a total of 24 medals in the event between 1975 and 1989 (11 gold, six silver and seven bronze)—over half of all the medals awarded.

Born in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, in 1955, Nakano was a strong athlete all through high school, and after graduation entered the rigorous training program for Japan’s professional Keirin league.

He became one of the top Keirin riders of all time on the Japanese circuit, setting a record of 18 consecutive wins in his first season (1975). By the time he retired in 1992, his career prize winnings topped over 1.32 billion yen (over $100 million in 1992 figures) He had won 169 races.

Keirin has existed in Japan for nearly 70 years as a professional sport with betting.

Participants must attend the Japan Bicycle Racing School and all equipment is built to strict guidelines. Keirin joined the UCI World Championships program for men in 1980 and for women in 2002. It became an Olympic event for men in 2000 and for women in 2012.

In Keirin six riders follow behind a motorized bike (usually electric nowadays) for three laps as the speed increases before the pace bike pulls off. Riders then jockey for position for the remaining three laps before a final dash for the finish line. It is an exciting and crowd-pleasing high speed event.

When Nakano began winning world titles in the sprint, the cycling world started to pay more attention to, and focus on, the Keirin, which led to the event being added in 1980. Nakano participated in the Keirin at the UCI World Championships in Japan in 1990, and in Stuttgart (Germany) the year after, but did not make the medal

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final either time. Harumi Honda is the only Japanese rider to have won the world title in the Keirin, in 1987, in Vienna, Austria.

After he retired, Nakano became a sport commentator, and returned to Keirin as the motor bike pace rider for the Olympic introduction of the event in Sydney 2000.

HEN the International Cycling Union (UCI) Track Cycling World Championships presented by Tissot get underway in Hong Kong on Wednesday, it will be only the second time the event has taken place in Asia, after Japan in 1990, at Green Dome Maebashi, in Maebashi.

While the Keirin has a long history in Japan, dating back to the late 1940s, Asian nations did not begin to see success on the track at the UCI World Championships until a few decades later, with the first Asian medal going to Japan in 1968, in the Men’s Amateur tandem sprint—an event no longer contested.

Asian nations have won 19 world titles, mostly in sprint events.

Japan leads the UCI World Championships medal standings for the continent, with a total of 34 medals—12 gold, eight silver and 14 bronze. In 1975, Ryoij Abe won a bronze medal in the Men’s Sprint, at the start of what would become a period of Japanese domination of the event, led by the great Koichi Nakano, who won 10 straight world titles.

Japan won a total of 24 medals in the Men’s Sprint between 1975 and 1989 (11 gold, six silver and seven bronze). In 1987 Harumi Honda won gold in the Men’s Keirin and Japan has won seven medals in that event—one gold and six bronze.

Japan has also won silver in the women’s points race (2015), plus two medals in the Amateur tandem sprint (1990 silver and 1968 bronze).

China is the second most successful Asian nation at the UCI World Championships with 26 medals (four gold, 14 silver and eight bronze medals), but has been catching up fast in recent years.

Chinese athletes have won four world titles, beginning with a Women’s Keirin title in 2002, the first year a title was awarded for the event. China has

UCI News

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ORYN RIVERA’S dream start to her Team Sunweb career continued on Sunday with the biggest win yet of her career at the Tour of Flanders.

Racing full time having finished her studies, Rivera is well known in North America due to her sprint exploits and is now wowing European fans in a similar manner.

The 24-year-old Philippine-born rider is doing so at the highest level of the sport and can forever hold the claim as the first American winner of De Ronde.

Starting her season with 15th at Omloop van het Hageland, Rivera has steadily improved across the classics campaign.

Despite her victory at Trofeo Alfredo Binda and third place in Gent-Wevelgem, Rivera wasn’t considered an out and out favorite for De Ronde. However, she timed her run to the line to perfection and took the win ahead of Gracie Elvin and Chantal Blaak.

With a celebration of disbelief when crossing the line, Rivera was overcome by emotion after her victory, explaining in her first television interview post-victory that “This is unbelievable. I can’t begin to explain it yet,” she said.

Having had time to gather her thoughts and revel in the win, Rivera was full of praise for her teammates, breaking down the actions which led to victory.

“Just to start the women’s Ronde van Vlaanderen is absolutely incredible, it’s such a beautiful race,” said Rivera, who was 16th on her debut last year. “The team did a brilliant job keeping the leaders safe and in a good position throughout the race. When the going got tough the team animated the race with Rozanne [Slik] taking a lead before the Kanarieberg. Here we showed our intentions to make it a hard race and when the first bunch of 30 exploded on the Kruisberg, we were up there but we couldn’t follow on the climb.

“The team gave everything on the Kwaremont to get the group back at the wheel and we almost closed it, but in the end we couldn’t follow the four best climbers. From the moment that Hans [Timmermans] made the call to go full gas for me, Ellen [van Dijk] took charge of the pace. The sprint was absolutely thrilling, but I still feel like I am dreaming.”

Team Sunweb Coach Hans Timmermans further explained that victory was only possible through dedicated teamwork and was thrilled to have executed the plan.

“It was a perfect example of how this team can create a plan and make it work no matter what,”Timmermans said. “We missed the power on the hills which makes it even more impressive that we took the win today. All six of our riders did a perfect job today and you need a complete team effort to win Flanders. We are thrilled to take the win at such a prestigious race.”

With her victory, Rivera became the first multiple winner in the 2017 Women’s WorldTour and leads the season-long rankings on 325 points. Former leader Elisa Longo Borghini drops to fourth with Elena Cecchini (Canyon–SRAM) into second on 265 points.

The next race on the Women’s WorldTour calendar is the inaugural running of Amstel Gold Race to kick off a full Ardennes week of racing for the women’s peloton—a race which could well suit the fast finish of Rivera.

RISING

Despite her victory at Trofeo Alfredo Binda and third place in GentWevelgem, Coryn Rivera wasn’t considered an out and out favorite for De Ronde. However, she timed her run to the line to perfection and took the win ahead of Gracie Elvin and Chantal Blaak.

A 15-rider chase group caught a four-rider breakaway with one kilometer remaining to set the stage for a reduced bunch gallop. Around 300 meters from the finish line, Rivera opened the sprint and held on to take the biggest victory of her young career.

“When your team goes all out for you like that, you definitely have to do your job,” said Rivera. “The pressure was on.”

The women’s peloton rolled out for the start of Ronde van Vlaanderen under sunny skies from the market square of Oudenaarde. Sunday’s menu included the longest route yet: a 153-km course with 12 climbs, some cobbled and five additional cobbled sections. Like the men’s event, the women’s race finished back in Oudennarde.

There were several early escape attempts, but none of the breakaways managed to gain

Asian nations gaining strength on track

JAPANESE cycling great Koichi Nakano (right), who won 10 straight world titles, and Malaysian Azizul Hasni Awang helped put Asia on the world track cycling map.

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mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph | Saturday, April 8, 2017 A7

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CORYN RIVERA has steadily improved across the classics campaign.

CYCLINGNEWS

Rally trio hits wind tunnel for fine-tuning

THE wind tunnel time shows how seriously the US continental team takes the race against the clock.

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TRIO of Rally Cycling riders reaped the rewards of wind tunnel testing in North Carolina before heading to Arkansas for the first round of the US Pro Road Tour at the Joe Martin Stage Race.

Sepp Kuss, Colin Joyce and Matteo Dal-Cin went to the A2 Wind Tunnel in Mooresville, North Carolina, to fine tune their time trial positions and machines as the new season picks up speed.

The wind tunnel time shows how seriously the US Continental team takes the race against the clock, a point the team drove home on the opening day at Joe Martin by placing four riders in the top six of the 4.8-km uphill time trial.

Canadian Adam de Vos took top honors on the stage, covering the course

in 9:17, less than a second faster than teammate Rob Britton, the runner-up.

UnitedHealthcare’s Gavin Mannion was third at three seconds, with Cylance’s Kyle Murphy fourth, eight seconds back.

Kuss and teammate Evan Huffman were fifth and sixth, respectively, 10 and 11 seconds in arrears.

Kuss has proved himself to be a talented climber as he completes the transition from mountain biking to road racing, and improving his time trialing abilities will be key to developing as a general classification threat. Kuss joined the team midway through last season and so he missed a shot at the wind tunnel last year.

Dal-Cin won the Redlands Bicycle Classic

last year for Silber Pro Cycling by finishing with the lead group on the Queen stage climb, taking second to Axeon Hagens Berman’s Neilson Powless in the time trial and then unseating Jamis’ Janier Acevedo on the final day. Already a talented time trial rider, Dal-Cin is looking to trim crucial seconds from his efforts.

Joyce is another first-year Rally rider with a reputation as a fast finisher, a talent he showed last year with Axeon Hagens Berman when he won the opening stage at Tour of Alberta and wore yellow for two days. A typically strong all-rounder, a stronger time trial could help him figure into the general classification of flatter multi-day races.

CYCLINGNEWS

Cookson upset by critical report on British Cycling

any traction. The race came to life over the infamous Muur of Geraardsbergen with five climbs and 60 kms remaining.

Rozanne Slik (Team Sunweb) slipped away from the 50-rider selection that had formed over the Muur. She gained a 90-second advantage and spent 20 kilometres away before she was caught on the Kanarieberg.

Kasia Niewiadoma (WM3) countered Slik’s catch. The attack sounded an alarm amongst the leaders. Lizzie Deignan (Boels-Dolmans) immediately jumped on the move. Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle High5), Ashleigh Moolman Paiso (Cervelo-Bigla) and Elena Cecchini (Canyon SRAM) followed. A stretched out and slimmed down bunch quickly caught the quartet but damage had been done. Where there had once been 50 up front, only 30-odd riders remained.

Amy Pieters (Boels-Dolmans) led that group into the Kruisberg where her teammate Anna van der Breggen launched an attack that inspired what looked like the race-winning move. The Olympic road champion had Niewiadoma, Longo Borghini and Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica-Scott) for company. The quartet traded pulls and built up a significant advantage.

In their wake, a chase group formed that included Rivera and Van Dijk. Boels-Dolmans and Canyon SRAM each had three riders in the second group. Cervelo-Bigla had two.

With Canyon SRAM and Sunweb assuming the lion’s share of the chase work and the gap holding fairly steady, it initially looked like the winner would come from the four out front— until Van der Breggen, on orders from the team car, stopped working. Lacking teammates in the

focussed on women’s sprint events, achieving great success. They have won eight medals in the team sprint (one gold, five silver and two bronze medals), eight in the sprint (one gold, four silver and three bronze)—including the reigning UCI World Champion Zhong Tianshi—five in the 500m time trial (three silver and two bronze) and five in the Keirin (two gold, two silver and one bronze).

The host of these UCI World Championships, Hong Kong, has six world medals, with three world titles plus one silver and two bronze medals.

Lee Wai Sze is the star of the Hong Kong team, with a world title (2013) and a silver medal last year in the 500m time trial. Lee Wai Sze also has a bronze medal in the Women’s Sprint and won bronze in the Keirin at 2012 Olympics, the third Olympic medal ever for Hong Kong and their first in cycling.

Hong Kong has also had success in the Men’s Scratch race, with two gold medals and a bronze— with Wong Kam-po (2007) and Kwok Ho Ting (2011) each winning the world title.

Azizul Hasni Awang has won four of the five medals that have gone to Malaysia, with silver medals in both the Men’s sprint and Keirin, plus bronze medals in the Keirin for both of the past two years. Malaysia also has a bronze medal by Mohd Rizal Tisin in the Men’s 1-km time trial.

Finally, both North and South Korea each have a UCI World Championships bronze medal, with North Korean rider Zhou Syuine taking bronze in the Women’s sprint (1984), and Ho-Sung Cho winning bronze in the Men’s points race (1999) for South Korea.

While traditional track nations such as France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Italy and Australia continue to lead the rankings, the top Asian nations are steadily improving, particularly in the sprint events. UCI News

group behind, Longo Borghini and Niewiadoma fully committed to the escape. Van Vleuten also continued to trade turns.

The psychological blow of Van der Breggen’s lack of cooperation along with one less set of legs to share the workload spelled the end of the escape. With Van Dijk on the front, the chase group swallowed up the escape under the flamme rouge.

“From the moment that [sport director] Hans [Timmermans] made the call to go full gas for me, Ellen took charge of the pace,” Rivera said. “Ellen chased it down crazy hard, and we also had some help from Canyon. We were committed to the plan of sprinting.”

That commitment was well-rewarded as Rivera took the win.

“The sprint was absolutely thrilling,” she said. “I still feel like I am dreaming.” CYCLINGNEWS

A

FTER an independent panel looking into allegations of sexism and bullying at British Cycling drafted a critical report, International Cycling Union President and former head of the British federation Brian Cookson sought an interview with the panel’s members, according to a recent report in The Guardian.

British Cycling and UK Sport set up the five-member panel last year to look into the allegations first raised by former Olympic track sprinter Jess Varnish.

A copy of the initial draft report that was finished late last year and was leaked to the British media earlier this month was extremely critical of British Cycling’s culture of “winning at all cos.“ The Guardian reported that Cookson was apparently disappointed that he was not given a chance to defend the federation to the panel.

Correspondence obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Press Association revealed that panel chairwoman Annamarie Phelps amended her initial report to include a subsequent interview with Cookson and a number of new “submissions”.

The Guardian reported that the new submissions were related “to several contributions the panel received after its original November 30 cut-off from people with a more positive take on life within the Great Britain cycling team, as a lack of balance in the draft had been flagged up by British Cycling’s board.”

Meanwhile, the official release of the final report has been delayed several times because of legal wrangling among the stakeholders about how much would be public. Concerns over the privacy of those who were interviewed were raised, while Phelps wanted

to ensure the report “faithfully” reflects the panel’s findings.

Phelps also warned UK Sport chief executive Liz Nicholl and British Cycling board member Marian Lauderany that any further direction from the boards “would potentially undermine the independence of the report,” according to The Guardian.

British Cycling and UK Sport eventually asked Phelps to expand the report to allow those criticized a formal right to reply, and British Cycling would be allowed to reveal a 39-point response before the report’s publication.

The Guardian reported that the panel received replies from Dave Brailsford, former chief executive Ian Drake and the former technical director Shane Sutton, and the members are now working on the final report with no word on when it will be released.

CYCLINGNEWS

Life on the road with soigneur Clawson

S

ARA CLAWSON what her job as soigneur entails on a typical race day, and a hideously long list comes pinging back via e-mail, which she finishes off with “that’s it in a nutshell”. One big nutshell.

It would take up far too much space to print the list here, but one thing is sure: whatever is required, she’s got it covered.

Clawson has a master’s degree in sports medicine and is currently pursuing a doctorate in kinesiology. But this qualified massage therapist, who also has her own practice in Greensboro, North Carolina, does not shy from the more menial every-day duties of soigneur. As she points out: “Soigneurs are to cycling what grooms are to race horses.”

“They provide every detail of care a rider receives on and off the bike. They are massage therapists, medics, advocates, nutrition and hydration specialists, psychotherapists, chauffeurs and trusted friends.”

For Clawson, tasks such as preparing food and bottles are part of the bigger picture of keeping the team safe, healthy, successful and functioning smoothly: “It’s not all about massages and excitement; the details matter.”

While nearly all soigneurs have an advanced qualification in sports medicine, the ins and outs are learnt on the job. And it’s not suited to everyone: “Soigneurs keep a cool head in extreme conditions, improvise constantly, and provide the best care possible with often limited resources.”

They also do the grocery shopping, cooking, washing up and laundry, they prepare bottles and musettes, they clean the team vehicles… a lot of it is far from glam. So why choose to do it?

For Clawson, the trigger came when she saw the profession of soigneur in a list of the “10 Worst Jobs in Sports.”

“Soigneur was No. 9 and I thought ‘that sounds like the ticket,’” Clawson said.

Her first experience was as a volunteer for a junior development team at the Tour de l’Abitibi in Canada.

“It was the hardest work I have ever done for free, and I loved it,” she said.

Then came a stint with USA Cycling working mainly with junior men but also the Under-23 and women’s squads. For the last few years, Sara Clawson has been attached to the American-registered UCI Women’s Team Sho-Air Twenty20 (formerly Twenty 16 p/b Sho-Air).

In 2016 she worked for them full-time, but this year is working on a contract basis to accommodate her studies and private practice.

“I like the dynamic quality of life on the road, the variety of things I get to see and do, and the excitement of racing. I also very much like being home with my husband and our dogs, and the calm predictability of a steady stream of clients in my office. Both have their perks and I am very lucky that I get to choose where I want to be,” she said.

Of the multitude of tasks that fall under

the responsibility of the soigneur, one of the scariest is refueling the team in the feed zone.

“It takes a lot of nerve to stand one’s ground when riders are galloping by at 50kph.

I just have to trust that their self-preservation instincts are as strong as mine!”

She will never forget one Kermesse race in Belgium where she was handing out bottles “as fast as humanly possible” to between 12 and 14 USA junior riders.

One rider caught not only the bottle, but also his soigneur’s thumb, wrenching her arm behind her. It took a year of physical therapy to recover from the resulting torn rotator cuff, that at one point she thought had put an end to her massage career.

Life on the road with a team is full of moments, good and not so good, that will remain engraved in Sara Clawson’s memory forever. A highlight is the women’s team time trial at the 2015 UCI Road World Championships in Richmond (USA). Twenty 16 p/b Sho-Air was one of the early teams to set off and a fast time saw them occupy the hot seat for quite some time.

“The girls were exhausted at the finish and it was a real maze going through the Convention Centre to get to the hot seat. I was busy wiping their runny noses and cleaning up their dirty faces, oblivious to the fact that it was all being filmed live on TV! But it was so neat being part of that excitement after a good performance.”

Not so much fun was the same event

SARA CLAWSON: Soigneurs are to cycling what grooms are to race horses. UCI NEWS

a year later in Doha, which she missed entirely after being blocked from driving onto the course and, while trying to find a detour, got lost in the desert with the Team Representative Nicola Cranmer: “Google Map didn’t seem to work too well and all signs were in Arabic. We suddenly realised we were somewhere that two lone women probably shouldn’t be. Finally, we saw a bus and could follow it back to a more populated area. Nicola was desperately trying to get a live feed of the racing but we missed it all and didn’t even make it to the finish.”

Working with men and women Having worked with both women and junior men, Sara Clawson has noticed some key differences between the two: “I love them both, but I have more in common with women cyclists as we’re largely around the same age and have the same things going on

in our lives—marriage, family, aging parents, figuring out our future careers. With junior men, I’m almost old enough to be their mother and there is more of a mentor dynamic.

“Another difference is food. When I shop for groceries for the women’s team, it looks like I’m feeding a family. For a men’s team, like I’m having a neighbourhood cookout. For junior men, it looks like I’m feeding an army!”

Contrary to popular perception, she has not found women to be more emotional than men: “Passion runs high in the heat of competition for both men and women,” she confirms, adding that the soigneur’s role is to cope with the athletes’ physical and emotional states: “Soigneurs are on the front lines of the battle against fatigue, injury, dehydration, emotional exhaustion and the agony of defeat.” CYCLINGNEWS

A8 Saturday, April 8, 2017 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

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Fire razes Home for The Golden Gays

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By Cody Cepeda | Special to the BusinessMirror

N one of the noisy street alleys of Pasay, just past Andres Bonifacio Elementary School (ABES), sits a burned, dilapidated house. There is a grim and despondent air to it, for what was once filled with singing, laughter and playful bickering is now deserted by its former tenants, only occupied by the handful of construction workers overhauling the property.

This empty shell of a house used to be a home—the home—of the Golden Gays, a refuge for vulnerable and elderly gays endearingly called the lolas. An unforgiving fire ravaged last year the home of the Golden Gays last February 17, and took with it not just their makeup, wigs and gowns, but also their most treasured photo albums that curated years of precious, immeasurable memories.

Federico de los Santos Ramasamy, known to most as Lola Rica, sits on a plastic chair inside an abandoned barangay outpost just a stone’s throw away from the ABES, the makeshift evacuation center of those victimized by the neighborhood fire.

Lola Rica welcomingly gave a wrinkly smile.

“Bata pa lang ako nakikitaan na ako ng magulang ko, lalo ng nanay ko, na may pagkabading ako,” he began his story, recalling the early days of his childhood. “Nag-aral ako ng Grade 1 sa Zamboanga City High School. Sumasali ako sa mga children’s hour, at katunayan nga, eh, naging champion ako sa dance contest for eight weeks!”

Life had never been easy for Lola Rica. He has been working to support his family as early as Grade 4; he sold nutribun to his classmates, and he was a kargador in the wet market and pier. He gave his mother everything he earned. “’Di ako madamot sa pera. Hanggang ngayon, ganoon pa rin ako.”

Despite the responsibilities he had to take early on, he still has memories he loves to reminisce.

“Noong Grade 6 na ako, kadalasan diyan tuwing Sunday may mga pasayawan ng mga babae’t lalaki. Nanunuood ako diyan. Nakikita ko yung mga babae naka-lipstick, mga nakasuot ng palda.”

He had an older sister, Ate Stella, and he remembers she only wore petticoats. “One time, sinubukan ko

sukatin ’yung palda niya, tapos naglipstick ako. Nahuli kaya ako ng nanay ko. Alam niyo ba kung ano ginawa sa akin ng nanay ko?”

He was met with vicious profanities, and slaps and blows to the face.

His mother was furious, so furious that when his father came home, she divulged her discovery to him.

“Wala akong kamalay malay. Naramdaman ko na lang iyong hampas ng upuan sa likod ko.” He remembers running out of the house and seeking refuge in the nuns’ school, hiding behind the flag pole where he cried all afternoon until he was discovered by the security guard.

The security guard brought him to the Madre Superiora, and, from there, they escorted him back home to talk to his parents. He thought the anger had ebbed away, but on his elementary graduation, he remembers wearing the same thing he wore to school everyday: An old T-shirt, khaki pants and a pair of tsinelas—unlike his classmates, who wore brand new, long-sleeved polos adorned with orchids given by their parents.

Lola Rica entered high school, and continued to moonlight despite being a full-time student. He worked as a shoeshine boy, a household helper and sold ice cream and newspapers until dark. But every night, after he packed up his wares, he would pass by the local bakery and buy, with his earnings, monggo ensaymadas for his mother.

One day, his mother wrote a letter to his sisters who lived in Manila.

They worked in clubs, Lola Rica said, and supported their family.

With a catch in his throat, Lola Rica said his mother preferred to send him away than watch him become gay. He paused to wipe his tears away, and took a sip from his giant water bottle. “Ang diskriminasyon kasi sa akin nag-umpisa talaga sa loob ng ba-

hay. Masakit man tanggapin, minsan naiiyak ako kasi di ko nakamtan ang pagmamahal ng magulang.”

He was enrolled in Arellano University, near Taft, and recalls being very silent because he didn’t know much Tagalog. On his senior year, he met a friend whom he refuses to name, because this particular friend comes from a rich family, and is now working as a professional.

This friend, Lola Rica said, is special to him. “Siya ang nagturo sa akin kung paano ipaglaban ang nararamdaman ko. Sabi niya sa akin, ‘Bakit di mo ipakita sa mundo kung ano ka? Bakit kailangan mo pa itago?’ Siya ang nagbigay ng lakas ng loob sa akin.”

He realized his friend had a point. “Bakit hindi? Wala naman ang nanay ko dito. Takot na takot kasi ako sa nanay ko.”

They became best friends and would often explore different places together, to the point that they would skip school everyday. “Naglalakwatsa kami diyan sa Manila Zoo, sa San Andres, lakad kami sa Boulevard papuntang Luneta.” They would attend parties wearing women’s clothes and makeup, and they would dance their worries away.

Then, he would go home, pretending he came from school.

This became regular for the two of them until the school director sent a letter to his sisters because of his continued absence. “Iyon pala dropout na ako. Tinanggal na ako.”

His sisters were livid and made him do all the household work. Lola Rica’s curiosity for the great, wide world didn’t wane, however, for every time he’d finish cleaning the house, he would venture out and walk to his favorite places.

By this time, he had made friends with other gays and would attend beauty contests for gays in Pasig, Bulacan, Taguig, and even Cavite.

He rarely went home and slept in the houses of friends.

“Umuwi ako isang araw. Nagpalipas lang ako ng ilang araw sa bahay.

Dumating ang nanay ko,” Lola Rica said. It was 10 a.m. on a Sunday, and he was cleaning upstairs when he heard his mother’s voice. “Tuwang tuwa ako kasi makikita ko na ulit iyong nanay ko!”

His mother didn’t share the same sentiments, though. “Pinagmumura ako ng nanay ko. Pinagsasampal. Tinulak ako palabas ng bahay. Sabi niya, ‘Lumayas ka! Umalis ka!’” His sisters sat in silence while his mother threw his clothes out of the house.

“Isinara niya iyong pinto. Ginawa ko, umiyak ako nang umiyak. Tapos naglakad-lakad ako sa Luneta. Doon ako pumunt; bitbit ko mga damit ko sa isang plastic bag.”

Lola Rica then spent the next seven years in the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) living under a tree.

This stint ended when police officers conducted a saturation drive around the area; out of his immense fear for authorities, Lola Rica ran, leaving his makeshift home behind.

He thought of going back home the next day, but as he crossed the San Isidro church, he bumped into a stranger who called out to him, “Hoy, bakla! Saan ka umuuwi?”

“Sabi ko, wala naman ako inuuwian. Wala akong bahay,” Lola Rica said, but the stranger was persistent. “Sabi niya, ‘Meron, may bahay ka. Sumama ka sa akin.’”

The stranger was Councilor Justo Justo (JJ) who brought Lola Rica to the Home of the Golden Gays. Once he was washed, clothed, and fed, he was sent to Councilor JJ’s office.

“Kinausap niya ako. Tinanong niya ako kung anong pangalan ko,” Lola Rica said. It was at that moment when Councilor JJ told him he would be called Rica from now on.

“Nabago ang buong mundo ko dahil diyan sa founder namin. Tinuruan niya ako magdasal, kung paano maging malapit sa Diyos.” Lola Rica also learned from Councilor JJ how to always think of doing the right thing, and to never put hatred in his heart.

Life in the Home for the Golden Gays was filled with happy memories; they would often get local and international sponsors, and hold beauty contests for all the lolas to participate in. But happiness, it seemed, had no favorites, and wasn’t always on their side.

W hile commuting one day, Councilor JJ fell from the jeepney and damaged his spinal column; this left him bedridden for the remainder of his life, with Lola Rica acting as his caregiver until his demise in 2012.

“That time noong nakaburol siya, na-interview kami lahat ng TV and radio stations. Marami rin kaming naging documentaries sa ibang bansa,” Lola Rica said.

During the wake, Councilor JJ’s family was interviewed by GMA-7.

When asked of their plans after the burial, Councilor JJ’s family said they would be closing the doors of the Home for the Golden Gays.

“No choice kami. Kinabukasan, larga kami,” Lola Rica said sadly, but there was no bitterness in his voice.

Lola Rica was offered by the barangay captain to be a sweeper. For P1,000 a month, he would sweep the neighborhood. Time passed and he was allowed to sleep in the dilapidated house that stored the equipment of the barangay and—eventu-

ally—became the meeting place for the Golden Gays.

This, again, was short-lived when the fire engulfed the house last month. They were, once again, homeless. While Lola Rica was given the old outpost by the baranggay captain to sleep in, the other lolas were forced to move back home to their families, while some went back to living in the streets.

“Kaya ngayon, heto ako, ang lola niyo,” Lola Rica laughed, his whole face wrinkling as he did. He sat with his legs crossed, wearing a plain shirt, Hawaiian shorts, and a pair of tsinelas. The outpost was dim, cramped, and far too tiny; the small amount of sunlight through the grilled windows cast a shadow on his face.

Lola Rica’s voice was suddenly firm and serious, “Kailangan life must go on, no matter what. Kahit anong mangyari sa buhay mo, you have to move on.”

He then broke out of character, going back to his normal self— full and comical, his voice with that familiar, endearing twang.

“Kahit ganoon ang naranasan ko sa buhay ko, I am still strong, young

and beautiful!”

Life never owed Lola Rica and the Golden Gays anything, but they seemed to have withstood every curveball that came their way. This, Lola Rica ends with finality, is out of their respect and immense love for each other. “Kailangan magmahalan kami dahil walang ibang tutulong sa amin kundi tayo-tayo rin. Alam naman ninyo na iba ang pagtingin sa amin ng mga tao.”

The future of the Golden Gays remains on tender ground, and they live with no certainty for what else is to come, but if there is anything that is a sure-tell sign of how they would handle this adversity, it would be the times they carried themselves—and each other— through their darkest hours. They never cursed at the wind and at the Man Above, never demanded more from the world despite being shortchanged and discriminated most of their lives. In their darkest hours, they choose to look for beauty—beauty, in this life.

Perhaps there is one thing certain, after all: There is no storm the Golden Gays cannot weather.

Former Zamboanga del Norte solon Jalosjos in list for presidential pardon

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POSTHARVEST PROCESSING Despite her age, Lola Maria Pait of Dibibi, Cabarroguis, Quirino, still manages to solar dry an enormous amount of beans in pods in her backyard. She claims the secret of staying healthy is eating organically grown vegetables like her harvest.

Her backyard is located in the vicinity of the OceanaGold (Philippines) tree farm. LEONARDO PERANTE II

ORMER Zamboanga del Norte Cong. Romeo Jalosjos is one of the 36 applicants in the list for presidential pardon published by the Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP).

The 76-year-old former lawmaker is seeking absolute pardon for his statutory rape conviction.

Jalosjos was sentenced by the Makati City Regional Trial Court to serve two life terms for raping an 11-year-old girl twice in 1996.

He was granted clemency in 2007 by then-President Gloria MacapagalArroyo through commutation of his sentence to 16 years.

Jalosjos was initially released from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in December 2007 after the grant, but was returned to incarceration after a month, as he was found to have not yet completed his commuted sentence.

He was finally released from the NBP in March 2009 after serving the maximum sentence of 16 years, three months and three days, as com-

muted, including additional goodconduct time allowance of one year, six months and 17 days.

Jalodjos joined the mayoralty race in May 2013, but was disqualified by the Commission on Elections.

The BPP, an attached agency of the Department of Justice, is tasked to screen the applicants for pardon, and submit recommendations for approval by the President.

The publication of the names officially started BPP’s vetting process for the eligibility of the applicants.

“Any interested party may send his or her written objections/comments/ information relevant to the cases of above-named prisoners to the undersigned not later than 30 days from date of publication,” said BPP Executive Director Reynaldo Bayang.

Executive clemency is a power of the President to pardon any prisoner, provided for under Article VII, Section 19 of the Constitution and pertains to reprieve, absolute or

conditional pardon with or without parole conditions and commutation of sentence.

Parole is the conditional release of a prisoner from a correctional institution after they have served the minimum of their sentence.

Around 127 elderly inmates were granted pardon and 1,245 were granted parole under the first seven months of President Duterte.

Earlier Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II said he made the recommendations for presidential pardon upon endorsement by the BPP after reviewing the eligibility of the inmates in the list.

“This is in line with the President’s pronouncement to decongest the high volume of persons deprived of liberty, relatively bigger than what our prison facilities can accomodate and the prompt release of deserving prisoners for parole, pardon, and the end of sentence with correct computations of good conduct and allowances,” Aguirre said. PNA

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The Millennials BusinessMirror

Hollywood films showed road to riches for young millionaire

H

By Rizal Raoul Reyes

to be successful.”

He pointed to his mother as an example of a millennial’s source of success. “The wisdom that I have learned from [her] traditional methods also helped me in having the right foundation in order to be successful.”

IS life, and wealth, started even before his 40th birthday. For 36-year-old Joseph Calata, the CEO of publicly listed Calata Corp., Hollywood films served its purpose.

“I like these kinds of movies— The Saint, Ocean’s Eleven series and Swordfish, among others—because the characters were able to accomplish an impossible task and, in return, they made so much cash out of it,” Calata said in an e-mail interview with the BusinessMirror. “I sort of realized that an entrepreneur is quite similar to these movie characters. I was challenged to complete quite an impossible task of becoming a successful entrepreneur.”

Calata, a management financial institution graduate of De La Salle University, said the movies served as a motivation for him to become an entrepreneur. It was another story, however, in real life.

Learning the ropes

WHEN he went to DLSU to pursue a college degree, Calata met a Filipino-Chinese who became his classmate and later played a key role in developing his personal entrepreneurial road map.

Aside from sharing the rudiments of the family business, his classmate invited him to join a networking gig. He said joining that network had a positive impact for him. “While doing this business ,we learned how to lead and manage people, become a sales man and understand how business systems work,” he told the BusinessMirror. “His guidance enabled me to earn my first half-a-million-pesos

‘The Final Pitch’

income during college.” Calata said it was at that time that he realized the power of being an entrepreneur.

No hard rules

CALATA believes there are no hard rules, as far as age is concerned, to become a successful entrepreneur.

“At any age, with the right qualities and skills, anyone can make impact in our society.”

Nonetheless, he thinks being a young entrepreneur has its own advantages. One is the ability to make bolder risks, he said. Another is we have more energy to work harder, he added.

“We also dream bigger.”

Calata recalled that he spent 20 hours a day and, sometimes, not even sleeping at all on a business project.

“These, I think, are the reasons my business became successful.”

Tech driven

AS a millennial entrepreneur, Calata aspires to help improve agriculture or farming in the Philippines.

There is an urgent need to develop a new breed of farmers as statistics showed that the average age of a Filipino farmer is 57 to 58 years old, which means, the youth are no longer interested in farming, according to Calata.

He also wants to encourage more millennials to venture into agribusiness. To entice the youth to go into farming, we decided to bring

In this undated photo courtesy of Joseph Calata’s publicist, the chairman of the eponymous firm shows his lighter side.

Calata Corp.

new technologies into farming, Calata said. These new products and technologies will surely help improve profitability of the farmers, he added.

One of the technologies developed by his firm is the Krops app.”This application functions as a direct market place to enable the buyers and sellers [the farmers] to directly “discover” each other. The app seeks to eliminate the middlemen and allow the farmers to earn higher income.

Wisdom from mom

CALATA believes a millennial entrepreneur understands that technology plays a big role in the success of a business as they “live and breathe with social-media apps and other apps” that can develop the business. Nevertheless, Calata pointed out millennials can learn a lot the traditional entrepreneurs.

“If ever we define them as the older generation, their wisdom is surely needed to help the millennials

As part of the firm’s corporate philanthropy, Calata will be one of the entrepreneurs who will appear in the reality television show The Final Pitch.

The show will present the best and brightest entrepreneurs on a reality TV series that will link them to multimillionaire and billionaire investors who are searching to own a piece of the next big business idea.

All of them will go through a business boot camp and series of challenges for their chance to make the pitch of their lives in a once-in-alifetime funding round.

The reality TV show is loosely inspired by the Emmy Awardwinning shows Shark Tank and The Apprentice, and will challenge entrepreneur contestants in the realities of scaling their existing businesses- from exploring funding options, refining their business plans, and marketing their products and services.

The Final Pitch aims to help entrepreneurs find success by connecting them to investors who can finance them, and to mentors who can finetune their businesses—reducing risk factors and boosting growth potential and sustainability,” creator and host John Aguilar said.

Under the format, entrepreneurs will go through a series of challenges that will test their creativity, motivation and character. At the same time, they will learn the secrets behind the success of their potential investors, who are also tasked to handpick the top finalists to proceed on the show.

Saturday, April 8, 2017

A9

Giordano executive’s steps to entrepreneurial success

By Maxine Nicole Mamba

F

OR those of you who want to leave your jobs and be entrepreneurs, and even for those who are working on brands and want to build a future for yourself in the company, I got some sage advice from a tried-and-tested entrepreneur.

Ishwar Chugani is the managing director of Giordano Middle East, and heads the groups business in India, Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. He was also executive director of Giordano International, Hong Kong.

How did he do it? Let’s run it down simply:

1. Keep it simple. Eliminate all complication and barriers and simplify your processes to streamline operations in order to create more value. Whether you are talking about simplifying your supply chain or even opening communication within the organization, simple is always better.

2. Empower people.

Don’t limit people. Make sure to know what matters to them and listen to how they think they can make the company better. See the value of an employee who cares about the company and views it as his or her own. People with the right attitude are the key to survival and success.

3. Balance the 3H: head, heart and hand. Use common sense, love what you do and work hard.

When used altogether, nothing can stop you from moving forward. We aren’t born millionaires, so we really have to treasure what we have on hand and grow it. Sometimes your heart and head may clash, but if you strike a balance coupled with hard work, you will be unstoppable.

4. Motivate from within. The Walt Disney company says, “Aim for perfection, settle for excellence.” If you set your goals high, you succeed even when you fail to reach your target. When your goal is mediocre,

you fail even if you achieve your aim. All this has to come from a desire inside you. You are your own best motivator.

5. Don’t be scared of competition.

If you find that your competitor is as big as an elephant, act like a monkey. Be quicker than him, be flexible, and outsmart him. Our competitors are not just other similar brands, but social media, lifestyle, economic changes and the like. You must always be aware and always react creatively to the changing tides.

6. Keep learning. K nowledge is power—always. Ever ything around us can inform us of relevant situational responses we have to make. One must always be alert and open to enrich yourself by social media, your environment, other industries and such. This will keep you at the head of the pack.

7. Create a great company culture.

This is the ultimate competitive advantage. When a culture is strong, any individual’s flaws can be nullified by the group effort. It will create a vibe of flexibility, transparency, learning and excellent service that will almost seamlessly be inculcated into everyone. This is powerful.

8. Define your success. Do not let other people do this for you. In the beginning, I told myself that I would make it on my own in Dubai, and I did. Decide then what success will be for your company. What matters to you? What do you want your company to be known as? How will you know when you’ve “made it”? With finality, Chugani emphasizes: “Most important, and I personally discovered the following statement to be true: Good things come to those who believe, better things come to those who are patient and the best things happen to those who do not give up. So never give up.”

You heard it. Never give up!

Never surrender! Here’s to your dreams, millennial!

Millennial women get a new guide with ‘The Big Life’ book

By Valeriya Safronova

New York Times News Service

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EW YORK—On a windy winter on Thursday evening, six women clustered around a table in the airy, modern Manhattan apartment of Ann Shoket, the former editor-inchief of Seventeen magazine. Between them sat two large platters of pizza and several half-empty bottles of rosé.

The group had gathered for the latest of Shoket’s regular dinners, which formed the basis of much of her research for her new book The Big Life. A guide for women in their 20s and 30s who are hungry for a job they love, a supportive network of friends, respect from their bosses and partners who want all those things for them as badly as they do, the book is littered with references to Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Instagram, Tinder and South

by Southwest.

It reads in many parts like a magazine—unsurprising, given Shoket’s previous job—with quirky sidebars and interviews with women like Jennifer Hyman, a founder and the chief executive of Rent the Runway, and Alicia Menendez, an anchor on Fusion.

Stale ideas

ALEX ANDR A Dickinson, 31, the chief executive and founder of Ask for It, a company that offers leadership and negotiation training, had just spoken about advising clients who felt that they had to “wait for their turn” rather

than asking for a promotion or a raise. Across from her sat Alessandra Biaggi, 30, the former deputy national operations director for Hillar y Clinton’s presidential campaign, who wants to run for office eventually. “The wait-yourturn thing resonates with me so much, especially with politics, because that’s what I’m getting from people,” Biaggi said.

Sarah LaFleur, 33, the founder and chief executive of MM.LaFleur, a clothing brand, said: “I grew up in Japan, and I thought I wanted to be in politics, too. But it just wasn’t a thing you heard often.”

“That’s exactly the problem,” Biaggi responded. “Little girls should grow up and be like, ‘I want to be a nurse, a doctor, a politician.’ It should be normal. We need women at the table.”

She added that she wants to open the door to more women joining politics but struggles with the tension between being herself and what she imagines people think she should be. “It’s amazing all these stale ideas that get stuck in your head,” Shoket said.

Formal questions

EARLIER that day, at NeueHouse, a coworking space in Manhattan, she had reflected on her own evolution. “When I left Seventeen, I felt very strongly that I had something to say for the generation that grew up with me into the next stage of their life,” said Shoket, 44, who had been at CosmoGirl for eight years before joining Seventeen in 2007.

“We had had all these deep emotional conversations about how you navigate the terrain of adolescence,” she said. “Why did that stop when you turned 20?”

A book had long been on the table, and Shoket decided it was time to write it. But before she did, she wanted to brush up on the topics that matter to women in their 20s and 30s. So about a year ago, she decided to host a dinner with a few of them.

“It went for hours and hours,” she said. “We talked about relationships, about pressure, about equality. We talked about where their ambitions come from and what they hear from their parents.”

She decided to have more dinners. Eventually, she formalized the questions that kept coming up into a list that covers work idols (“Who is your icon of where you’d like to be in five years?”); generational differences (“How do you think differently about work than your parents did?”); imagined deadlines (“What do you feel you must accomplish by the time you’re 30? And what will happen if you don’t?”) and more.

Practical parts

IN the first few pages of her book, Shoket encourages readers to host their own get-togethers.

“It shouldn’t just be the six or eight women I can fit around my dining-room table who could benefit from talking about this,” she said. “This should be a conversation that’s happening at dining-room tables, propped up on pillows on

Ann Shoket at her apartment in New York on March 17. Shoket, a former editor at Seventeen and CosmoGirl, has just published The Big Life, a guide for women in their 20s and 30s facing their next challenges in life. Krista Schlueter/The New York Times

floors, on little fold-up tables sitting in front of the TV, everywhere.”

With its community-building component and its message of fighting for the success-happinesssupport triad, The Big Life may inevitably inspire comparisons to Sheryl Sandberg’s 2013 book, Lean In. “I think that Lean In and Sheryl Sandberg did a phenomenal job of starting a conversation about women and ambition at exactly the right moment,” Shoket said. “But I felt when I read it that it really didn’t connect with millennial women.”

In the chapter on finding a Big Love, Shoket, who is married and has two children, writes: “Having a child is serious business, but there

is no reason you should be worrying about nannies and school pickup schedules at this stage of young Big Life.”

The most practical parts of the book are tips on getting the first job, mastering the interview and dressing for success.

World order

WHEN it comes to dating, she advises young women to approach relationships the way they do their careers: with patience for the process and with no expectation of settling.

Shoket assumes her readers want a new world order—one in which they are unafraid to jump from job to job, from one oppor-

tunity to the next. “They want to move up and around, move fast, cover a lot of ground,” she said.

She says she still struggles with the question of how to be taken seriously as a woman in industries dominated by men (something Sandberg reckoned with in Lean In that remains just as relevant for the younger generation).For Shoket, millennials are not only the focus of her book, but also the group that will spur the changes Sandberg advocates—but not in the ways Sandberg may have predicted.

“This generation of women is like: ‘What do you mean lean in?’

You lean in to me,” Shoket said.

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UnionBank targets small business via digital ‘shops’

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NION Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) aims to bring more micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the digital highway through its “Ureka Forum”, according to its executive.

In a recent e-mail interview with the BusinessMirror, UnionBank Executive Vice President Genaro Lopez said the company will promote the benefits to entrepreneurs of going digital to grow their businesses.

He cited the experience of Baguio-based teacher-turned-entrepreneur Mau Fernando, who was able to expand his art business when enrolled in the Ureka program.

“With the forum, I was given a platform—my own online shop— and I all had to was to showcase the artist and creativity of every Baguio artist,” Lopez quoted Fernando as saying.

Now that he has presence online, Fernando is helping young artists from Baguio to enhance their craft while earning through his two shops. Paintings of Baguio artists were purchased by hotels and art collectors.

“We are very excited to see their businesses up and running at our

Ureka shop site. With this, we hope to see more people like Maui,” Lopez said. The “majority of our customers can be found online, and the percentage of the MSMEs having a web site clearly shows the disconnect with the current market.”

Meanwhile, an official of the Asean Secretariat said developing the competitiveness of MSMEs is no longer an option but a necessity.

“In fact, the financial and economic crisis of 1997-1998 has induced a return to ‘the fundamentals’ among the ‘miracle economies’ in East and Southeast Asia, including a renewed focus on SMEs,” Asean Secretariat Senior Officer Thitapha Wattanapruttipaisan said in a report. “This policy shift has been complemented by higher budget allocations and external aid for the SME sector, including sizable resources made available

by Japan.”

Wattanapruttipaisan wrote in her paper “Promoting SME Devel-

SATMED e-health platform-Philippines SES

SES, Luxembourg extend Satmed E-health contract

Rapoo launches the newest range of gaming products from VPRO gaming peripherals. VPRO is a professional gaming brand under Rapoo with complete range of good quality and best value performance products including gaming mice, gaming mechanical keyboards and gaming headsets. Present during the launch are (from left) Rapoo Overseas Managing Director Oliver Shi, Rapoo Philippines Retail Sales Manager Lem Estiva, Rapoo Regional Sales Director Johnson Zhang, Rapoo Philippines Country Manager Aileen Chua and Rapoo R&D Director Kyle Guo. ALYSA SALEN

opment: Some Issues and Suggestions for Policy Consideration,” the resources are under the so-called New Mizayawa Initiative.

“SMEs and, by extension, all business firms, have to manage growth and change in an environment where the pace, patterns and organization of production have evolved fundamentally since the late 1980s,” Wattanapruttipaisan added. She pointed out that the advent of trade liberalization at the global and regional levels

and the information and communications technologies (ICT) have interlinked to develop huge opportunities, as well as formidable challenges to all interdependent countries and enterprises.

With technological and innovation capabilities onboard, plus the mushrooming of sophisticated networks of international production and cross-border supply chains, the role of MSMEs had become deeper and bigger in the global chain. Rizal Raoul Reyes

Inventor of World Wide Web wins computing’s ‘Nobel Prize’

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A N F R A NC I SCO — Mos t people who search on Google, share on Facebook and shop on Amazon have never heard of Sir Tim Berners-Lee. But they might not be doing any of those things had he not invented the World Wide Web. Berners-Lee, 61, is this year’s recipient of the A.M. Turing Award, computing’s version of the Nobel Prize.

The award, announced on Tuesday by the Association for Computing Machinery, marks another pinnacle for the British native, who has already been knighted

by Queen Elizabeth II and named as one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century by Time magazine.

“It’s a crowning achievement,” Berners-Lee said in an interview with The Associated Press. “But I think the award is for the Web as a project, and the massive international collaborative spirit of all that have joined me to help.”

The honor comes with a $1-million prize funded by Google, one of many companies that made a fortune as a result of Berners-Lee’s efforts to make the Internet more accessible. He managed that largely by figuring out a simple way to post documents, pictures and video— everything, really, beyond plain text—online.

Spinning the Web

STARTING in 1989, Berners-Lee began working on ways digital object could be identified and retrieved through browser software capable of rendering graphics and other images. In August 1991 he launched the world’s first web site, http://info.cern.ch.

Besides coming up with the web’s technical specifications, Berners-Lee “offered a coherent vision of how each of these elements would work together as part of an integrated whole,” said Vicki Hanson, president of the Association for Computing Machinery.

In an even more significant move, Berners-Lee decided against

S

ES SA and the Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs announced recently they have extended a contract to maintain and support Satmed, an e-health satellite platform, until 2020.

Under the new contract, SES will continue to develop the Satmed platform and its medical applications, support the platform’s data-hosting facility, and provide full user support with single point of contact, the company said in a statement. The agreement also includes the extension of the service to support new medical tools, as well as the provision of satellite connectivity over Africa, the Philippines and Bangladesh.

The Satmed solution is designed to connect doctors and nurses based in remote locations to the outside world. Health-care professionals will use satellite connectivity to access the platform’s medical applications such as e-training, accessing patients’ e-medical records, virtual consultation, and video conferencing.

Satmed is also aimed at supporting regional development programs and humanitarian operations in cooperation with both governmental and non-governmental organizations. Connectivity is enabled by the SES satellite fleet

while the Satmed Web applications and the encrypted back-ups are hosted in a secured data hosting facility in Luxembourg. Once deployed, the platform is delivered as a fully managed service and includes helpdesk, maintenance of terminals and continuous user training.

According to Gerhard Bethscheider, managing director of SES Techcom Services, they had 10 Satmed deployments across Africa and Asia since 2014.

“The contract extension will help Satmed reinforce its positions as an internationally recognized e-health platform and, what is paramount for us, continue to bring innovative e-health solutions to remote communities,” Bethscheider was quoted in a statement as saying. “We are also looking forward to integrating new tools in the platform.”

“Extending the contract with SES will enable us to develop health care through the Satmed platform on a global scale,” the minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, Romain Schneider, was quoted as saying. “The platform we are providing together with partner NGOs has already helped improve healthcare in countries like Benin, Niger, Philippines and Bangladesh, among others.” Oliver Samson

Smart says boosting LTE speed in selected areas

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In this April 3 photo, Tim Berners-Lee poses outside his office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Berners-Lee, best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web, is this year’s recipient of the A.M. Turing Award, computing’s version of the Nobel Prize. AP

patenting his technology and instead offered it as royalty-free software. That allowed other programmers to build upon the foundation he’d laid, spawning more than a billion web sites today that have helped lure more than 3 billion people online.

Caught in the Web

THE Web’s widespread appeal gratifies Berners-Lee, who now splits his time shuttling between the US and Britain as a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Oxford.

But he fears parts of the Web will become less accessible in the US if the Federal Communication Commission dismantles regulations protecting “net neutrality”. That’s the principle that Internet service providers should treat all web sites equally instead of favoring some destinations that might be willing

to pay for special treatment.

If the Trump administration tries to dump net neutrality, “it’s going to have a fight on its hands because I think the American people realize it’s important,” BernersLee said. “It allowed America to benefit from a thriving Internet market for connectivity and content. It has become part of the spirit of America.” Berners-Lee also worries about governments around the world using the Internet as a surveillance tool, calling it a “recurrent threat”. He admits that preserving personal privacy as technology advances remains a thorny problem, one that he doesn’t have a ready solution for. But figuring that out is “really important to the future of society,” he says.

“As an individual, I should be able to keep my own notes, keep my own journal and not share it with anybody. That is just part of being a person.”

Beyond the Web

LIKE several other prominent figures in technology, Berners-Lee isn’t sure if humanity will be better or worse off as computers grow better at thinking like people via artificial intelligence.

“Computing has grown exponentially more powerful, so It’s only logical that it will get to the point when computers will become smarter than us,” Berners-Lee said.

“So, yes, we should logically think about those consequences.”

This is the 50th anniversary of the A.M. Turing award, named after English computer scientist Alan Turing, whose revolutionary work with early computers and artificial intelligence helped crack Nazi Germany’s codes during World War II. Previous award winners include Vint Cerf and Robert Kahn, who did some of the pioneering work on the internet that Berners-Lee spun into the World Wide Web. AP

MART Communications Inc. announced recently it is beefing up its network upgrades by boosting longterm evolution (LTE) speeds in Rizal, southern Metro Manila and Cebu.

“LTE provides the best mobile- data experience to subscribers and significantly boosts the speed, quality and reliability of our data service,” Joachim Horn, chief technology and information advisor for PLDT and Smart, was quoted in a news statement as saying. “Through this LTE rollout, we are also laying the foundation for further improvements in our service, such as LTE-Advanced with Carrier Aggregation, in preparation for the coming of 5G in 2020.”

Horn said internal tests conducted by Smart last month reported the average download speeds of 16.3 Megabits Per Second (Mbps) and average upload speeds of 13.4 Mbps on its LTE service have been recorded in the southern Metro Manila cities of Las Piñas, Taguig, Parañaque and Muntinlupa, which hosts about a fifth of Metro Manila s population of over 12 million.

Carrier aggregation refers to the capability of LTE-A to provide subscribers with access to the combined capacity of two or more frequency bands, resulting

in ultra-fast speeds of more than 100 Mbps for users with LTE-A capable smartphones.

Smart first rolled out its LTEA service in April 2016 in Boracay in preparation for the rise of bandwidth-heavy services, such as video streaming and gaming.

“We are asking for people’s patience and understanding as we are upgrading our network facilities,” Horn said. “We assure you that we are taking steps to minimize the impact of these activities on our subscribers.”

Smart reported improvements on continuing network upgrade can also be felt in nearby Rizal province, where average LTE download speeds have improved to 24.2 Mbps, while average LTE upload speeds have also gone up to 16.3 Mbps.

The ongoing network expansion is also benefitting other parts of the country.

In Metro Cebu average download speeds on Smart’s LTE service are now at 20.9 Mbps, while average LTE upload speeds are at 15.5 Mbps, in the midst of ongoing network upgrades in the Visayas’ premier urban hub.

Smart claims that users in Boracay and Metro Davao have also shown improved quality of LTE services. Smart already completed its network overhaul program in these areas last year.

BusinessMirror

news.businessmirror@gmail.com

Saturday, April 8, 2017

A11

Universal Robots sees PHL potentials in automation Swedish truck-maker rolls out FMS in PHL

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WEDISH truck manufacturer Scania Group introduced last month in the local market its Fleet Management System (FMS), claiming the service will help large or small fleet operators.

The latter can use key details needed such as vehicle data, fuel consumption, fleet position and driver performance (coasting, heavy braking, speeding or idling) to boost the productivity of the fleet, achieve fuel economy and eventually reduce the cost of operations, according to Scania.

According to Leilani Lim-Tan, vice president of BJ Mercantile Inc., Scania’s local distributor, all new Scania trucks that are being sold in the Philippines come preinstalled with the firm’s “Communicator” telematics unit.

This device regularly collects, saves, sends and receives information for analysis and presentation on the Scania FMS portal or through the Scania FMS app that can be downloaded for free. Operators just need to activate the service to connect to their fleet’s data, Lim-Tan explained.

She said the FMS consists of two different service packages— monitoring and control.

Lim-Tan that noted operators will receive weekly e-mail summaries covering all of their vehicles on vital information, such as fuel consumption, carbon-dioxide emissions and driver behavior. With the indicators available to them, Tan said operators can determine how each vehicle is performing and which one needs special attention. Furthermore, it has also a service planning and remote diagnostics that provides an overview of all the equipment in the fleet, along with their maintenance plans, including a calendar for keeping track of maintenance and repairs. When a vehicle is scheduled for repair through the FMS portal, Tan noted parts for replacement can already be prepared in advance, thereby reducing downtime.

Meanwhile, the control package is an advanced set of services that help fleet owners utilize vehicle and driver followups and operational information to support their transport process. Apart from the benefits of the monitoring package, they can also access additional useful information and functions from driver evaluation to environmental report. Rizal Raoul Reyes

McAfee relaunches anew, away from Intel’s shadow

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LOBAL security prov ider Mc A fee announced on April 4 that it has started functioning again as a new stand-alone company that will give strong emphasis on threats coming from the Internet.

“Cyber security is the greatest challenge of the connected age, weighing heavily on the minds of parents, executives and world leaders alike,” McAfee CEO Christopher Young was quoted in a statement as saying. “As a stand-alone company with a clear purpose, McAfee gains the agility to unite people, technology and organizations against our common adversaries and ensure our technologydriven future is safe.”

The launch of the rebooted McAfee marks the closing of the previously announced investment by TPG and Intel Corp. to establish a pure-play cybersecurity company with access to significant capital, operational and technology resources.

Moreover, McAfee announced that through an agreement with TPG, leading private equity investment firm Thoma Bravo has joined as a minority investor in the company.

Intel is retaining a 49-percent equity stake in the new entity. With the entry of its new investment partners, the company said it will provide greater market focus, build its platform and target new financi a l, operat iona l a nd technolog y investments to better address the cybersecurit y market’s significant global growth opportunity.

Intel SVP and General Manager Chris Young will lead the new McAfee as CEO. TPG Partner Bryan Taylor has been named chairman of the Board.

“Intel will continue to integrate industry-leading security and privacy capabilities in our products from the cloud to billions of smart, connected computing devices,” said Brian Krzanich, Intel CEO Bryan Taylor, partner at TPG Capital and chairman of the Board at McAfee, noted McAfeehas been dedicated to offering its customers industry-leading cyber-security solutions and has developed a strong branding position to build a solid cybersecurity forces for its clients.

“McAfee is a global organization with a 30-year history and a brand known the world over for innovation, trust and collaboration. Given our years of focus on the security software sector, we see great opportunity for McAfee to continue to advance and innovate,” said Seth Boro, a managing partner at Thoma Bravo. “Our deep sector knowledge and history of helping build successful businesses will be an asset to the company, and we look forward to working with the management team and our colleagues at TPG and Intel to guide McAfee through its next chapter of growth.”

Over the past year, more than 30 partners have integrated or planned integrations with the McAfee Data Exchange Layer the industry-endorsed communication fabric providing realtime interaction between applications. Rizal Raoul Reyes

O

Story & photo by Rizal Raoul Reyes

DENSE, Denmark-based Universal Robots (UR) A/S expressed optimism in its business prospects in the Philippines as several industries in the country are pursuing the automation route.

“There is a lot of potential in the Philippine market as semiconductor, food and beverage, automotive, electronics and educational institutions are progressing into the automation market,” said Shermine Gotfredsen, UR general manager of Universal Robots for Southeast Asia and Oceania.

Gotfredsen said in a news briefing on April 5 in Makati City that entrepreneurs must have an openminded attitude and willing to get their hands dirty.

Moreover, Gotfredsen said Southeast Asia offers huge business opportunities because itis poised for expansion with large markets experiencing important sales growth. As a key manufacturing hub producing for Asia and the world, SEA’s automotive sector grew by 11 percent CAGR between 2010 and 2015.

She pointed out the upcoming implementation of the Asean FreeTrade Area is expected to lower import and export taxes in the region, further driving demand for cost-effective regionally manufactured vehicles.

The Philippine automotive industry is one of the key drivers of the economy, contributing 4 percent of GDP in 2011 and is the

third fastest-growing automotive market in Southeast Asia.

Currently the country has a 2-percent market share in the region. With increasing demand for automotive vehicles, the Philippines automotive industry is moving towards automation using collaborative industrial robots to ensure cost-effective increases in manufacturing.

Nissan Motor Co. is one of the major clients of UR as it has successfully deployed the Danish firm’s robot arms at its Yokohama factory. The automaker joins other global automotive manufacturers who are using Universal Robots’s collaborative robots, or “cobots”, to automate their processes.

Cobots are an offshoot of traditional industrial robots. They are lightweight and mobile in terms of deployment, and are flexible enough to be modified for different applications. The automotive industry uses cobots handling, assembling, packaging, palletizing, labelling, painting, quality control and machine tending.

The market value for collaborative industrial robots in the automotive industry was $23.56 million in 2015 and is projected to reach $469.82 million by 2021, at

this April 5 photo shows Shermine Gotfredsen, Universal Robots A/S general manager for Southeast Asia and Oceania, conducts a demonstration of the “cobot” (collaborative robot) during the company’s recent news briefing in Makati City. Rizal Raoul Reyes

a CAGR of 64.67 percent between 2015 and 2021.

Each cobot costs €20,000 to €30,000. Through the deployment of the cobots, Gotfredsen said Nissan has enhanced its production processes, resulting in a higher level of output and stability as well as time and cost efficiencies. Nissan’s aging work force was given a reduced workload and “redeployed to less stren-

uous tasks,” she added.

“The global automotive industry plays a key role in driving the adoption of ‘cobots’ to produce better manufacturing output, and this is critical for industry players to stay competitive,” Gotfredsen said. “Our cobots effectively support process automation, resulting in improved safety standards and less strain on human employees.”

Employees getting implanted with chips

By James Brooks

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Associated Press

TOCKHOLM—The syringe slides in between the thumb and index finger. Then, with a click, a microchip is injected in the employee’s hand. Another “cyborg” is created.

What could pass for a dystopian vision of the workplace is almost routine at the Swedish start-up hub Epicenter. The company offers to implant its workers and start-up members with microchips the size of grains of rice that function as swipe cards: to open doors, operate printers, or buy smoothies with a wave of the hand.

The injections have become so popular that workers at Epicenter hold parties for those willing to get implanted. “The biggest benefit I think is convenience,” said Patrick Mesterton, cofounder and CEO of Epicenter. As a demonstration, he unlocks a door by merely waving near it. “It basically replaces a lot of things you have, other communication devices, whether it be credit cards or keys.”

The technology in itself is not new. Such chips are used as virtual collar plates for pets. Companies use them to track deliveries. It’s just never been used to tag employees on a broad scale before. Epicenter and a handful of other companies are the first to make chip implants broadly available. And as with most new technologies, it raises security and privacy issues.

Doubts

WHILE biologically safe, the data generated by the chips can show how often an employee comes to

Self-described “body hacker” Jowan Osterlund from Biohax Sweden, holds a small microchip implant, similar to those implanted into workers at the Epicenter digital innovation business centre during a party at the co-working space in central Stockholm, on March 14. AP

work or what they buy. Unlike company swipe cards or smartphones, which can generate the same data, a person cannot easily separate themselves from the chip.

“Of course, putting things into your body is quite a big step to do and it was even for me at first,” said Mesterton, remembering how he initially had had doubts.

“But then, on the other hand, I mean, people have been implanting things into their body, like pacemakers and stuff to control your heart,” he said. “That’s a way, way more serious thing than having a small chip that can actually communicate with devices.”

Epicenter, which is home to more than 100 companies and some 2,000 workers, began implanting workers in January 2015. Now, about 150 workers have them. A company based in Belgium also offers its employees such implants, and there are isolated cases around the world where tech enthusiasts have tried this out in recent years.

The small implants use Near

Field Communication (NFC) technology, the same as in contactless credit cards or mobile payments.

When activated by a reader a few centimeters (inches) away, a small amount of data flows between the two devices via electromagnetic waves. The implants are “passive,” meaning they contain information that other devices can read, but cannot read information themselves.

Conceptual

BEN Libberton, a microbiologist at Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute, says hackers could conceivably gain huge swathes of information from embedded microchips. The ethical dilemmas will become bigger the more sophisticated the microchips become.

“The data that you could possibly get from a chip that is embedded in your body is a lot different from the data that you can get from a smartphone,” he says. “Conceptually, you could get data about your health, you could get data about your whereabouts, how often you’re

working, how long you’re working, if you’re taking toilet breaks and things like that.”

Libberton said that, if such data is collected, the big question remains of what happens to it, who uses it, and for what purpose. So far, Epicenter’s group of cyborgs doesn’t seem too concerned. “ People a sk me; ‘A re you chipped?’ and I say; ‘Yes, why not’,” said Fredric Kaijser, 47, the chief experience officer at Epicenter. “And they all get excited about privacy issues and what that means and so forth. And for me it’s just a matter of I like to try new things and just see it as more of an enabler and what that would bring into the future.”

Popular

THE implants have become so popular that Epicenter workers stage monthly events where attendees have the option of being “chipped” for free.

That means visits from selfdescribed “body hacker” Jowan Osterlund from Biohax Sweden who performs the “operation.”

He injects the implants—using preloaded syringes—into the fleshy area of the hand, just next to the thumb. The process lasts a few seconds, and more often than not, there are no screams and barely a drop of blood. “The next step for electronics is to move into the body,” he says.

Sandra Haglof, 25, who works for Eventomatic, an events company that works with Epicenter, has had three piercings before, and her left hand barely shakes as Osterlund injects the small chip.

“I want to be part of the future,” she laughs.

BusinessMirror

A12 Saturday, April 8, 2017

Technology inadequate in growing top-quality work force–educators I

PHL among most attacked countries in Asia-Pacific region– Malwarebytes

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By Rizal Raoul Reyes

@brownindio

ECHNOLOGY may not be enough in building top-quality Filipino workers, educators opined.

Richard Burgos of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) stressed that character development is an integral part of changing the educational system, which moulds these future labor force. “[The] DOST is really into the creation of a science culture in the country. But technology is not enough,” said Burgos, director of the DOST Science and Technol-

ogy Information Institute. “We have to form them [students] right. Character is overpoweringly important. Skills are not enough.”

Burgos cited as example that a scientist “cannot keep lying where he gets his data”.

“So if he is not truthful or reliable or true to himself, he is not worth his salt as a scientist,” Burgos said on the sidelines of a recent

five-day conference in Pasay City.

He pointed out that character development and skills enhancement should go together to produce well-rounded scientists and technologists. Still, Burgos admitted technology’s reach also remains inadequate.

We “have to move quickly because the problem is acute” to address the connectivity of the country’s public school, he said.

Out of the 48,000 public schools, only 24 percent have access to the Internet. Burgos said the country’s neighbors in the Asean are already quite ahead of the competition.

“We’re so late in the game and we need a lot of catching up to do.”

Burgos admitted the current situation could be frustrating, “but

the DOST is up to the challenge”.

He cited the DOST’s Science and Technology Augmented Reality Library project as one of the steps the agency has undertaken to address the gaps in science education.

The project involves donating technology equipment to several public schools in the country to narrow the so-called Digital Divide.

He said 1,250 public schools have been installed with the equipment, which is basically an Android-based application.

The app uses augmented reality and gamification to entice the youth to visit libraries more often.

The app has been commended by the American Library Association and received a Presidential Citation

for an innovative library project in 2015.

Andreas Schleicher of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shares Burgos’s view on technology’s role in education.

According to Schleicher, OECD director for education and skills, a transformative education not only involves using technology and upgrading teaching methods. He said such education also involves character formation and instilling an entrepreneurial spirit.

Schleicher, special advisor on education policy to the OECD secretary-general, added that educators play a key role in helping students to acquire ideal character and mind-sets.

The king has left the castle: The value of securing apps Oscar Visaya

Guest column

I

N past decades, computer programs supported business teams by storing data and documents.

As these programs were hosted by onpremise servers with excessive infrastructure, users had to physically be in the office to gain access. More often than not, documents could only be accessed from company-issued devices. Over time, companies began storing increasing amounts of valuable data online and informationtechnology (IT) security spending increased accordingly. Firewalls and antivirus programs protected the information, keeping it safely locked up inside the office.

Slowly, we migrated to Web-based services, which heralded the workfrom-home revolution. It empowered employees to work when and where they pleased, and reduced the need for storage and hardware. This, in turn, powered the rise of apps.

The app revolution

THE app revolution has fundamen-

tally changed the way businesses operate. It has increased efficiency, opened new streams of revenue and changed go-to-market strategies in almost every sector. The rise of apps also unlocked technology and made it available to users beyond the IT team and specially trained staff members.

Today, apps that help people manage and streamline their day-to-day tasks have become the norm. They have ceased to be simple storage solution and are now integral to the workflow of teams and even businesses as a whole. Inaccessible or slow apps are the bane of everyone’s existence and prevent teams from optimizing their performance.

The need for speed and accessibility makes cloud environments ideal for hosting apps, enabling users to access information and collaborate in real time from anywhere.

However, all good things come at a price.

Securing the new perimeter

CYBERCRIMINALS have been quick to spot the opportunity that apps present. Instead of attacking firewall- and password-protected desktop computers, they are simply targeting apps. As app developers often overlook security in favor of speed and user experience, cybercriminals are usually able to find vulnerabilities that can be exploited for nefarious purposes The security industry has used a castle as a metaphor to describe businesses’ security architecture. Just as a castle is protected by outer walls, a moat, a drawbridge and other structures to make it impregnable, businesses also invest in security solutions to secure their data. However, if we’re going to follow this analogy, the reality is that the king has left the castle. The data, identities and access that represent so much value for black-market operators are all outside the protective walls—in apps.

Gartner revealed that 90 percent of IT security budgets are spent on protecting the traditional network perimeter, i.e., the castle. The shocker, however, is that 72 percent of today’s security breaches are not within the traditional perimeter: They arise because of compromised user identities and vulnerable applications.

As the fastest-growing app market in Southeast Asia (http://www.

applift.com/blog/philippines-appmarket), the Philippines is very much susceptible to these cyber attacks.

With the Philippines’s mobile Internet penetration growing at a rate of 1.5x every year, businesses need to focus on enhancing app security.

The Philippine government has taken notice this need, recently launching a cyber-security plan that seeks to safeguard the country’s information and communications technology environment through a robust cyber-security infrastructure. The plan mandates government agencies to protect consumers and uphold their right for a free and open Internet.

Apps’ unique vulnerabilities

BUSINESSES are becoming increasingly aware of the need to strengthen their application security posture.

A 2016 survey of over 600 security professionals conducted by Ponemon Institute and F5 Networks, showed that over 50 percent of respondents believed attacks on the application layer are not only more frequent, but also more severe and difficult to contain than attacks on the network layer. Deploy an insecure application, and you risk breaches, downtime and damage to the business. Deploy an application with excessive security policies, and you increase operational

complexity, leading to inefficiencies and loss of productivity.

To deploy applications with the right level of protection, without excess overheads and as fast—or nearly as fast—as the business would like, you need to take the best parts of your enterprise security practice and fuse them with the flexibility of cloud deployment. This can help organizations defend their critical applications at the load balancing level against numerous sophisticated attacks.

Security services must be part of an integrated system that deploys all the application delivery services required. This means different security policies should match the requirements of different applications. This system balances protection with agility, giving businesses and end-users the operational efficiency required.

In this app-driven world, the castle walls are no longer sufficient protection. Companies that recognize the need to protect data that resides in-app and invest early in the right security architecture can rest easy that their king is safe.

Oscar Visaya is the country manager of F5 Networks Philippines. The views he expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the BusinessMirror’s.

NCIDENTS of malicious software (malware) attacks covering nearly 100 million corporate and consumer devices in over 200 countries revealed the Philippines was among the most attacked in the region last year.

Covering the period from June to November, the number of botnet incidences in Asia Pacific (Apac) was highest in the Philippines, according to Malwarebytes’ Asia Pacific State of Malware Report 2017.

With a 28.73-percent detection rate, the country was ranked No. 1 with most botnet incidences in both regional and global ranking.

Indonesia came second in Apac with 7.72-percent detection rate, and second globally.

A botnet is a malware that infects interconnected devices that it command to conduct malicious activities, like distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, spread of spam, bitcoin mining, clickfraud and theft of personal and financial data.

The Philippines, with 4.25-percent detection rate, had the thirrdmost number of Android malware incidences in the region and the sixth globally, the report data showed.

Indonesia, with 6.54-percent detection rate, ranked first in Apac and third globally.

Android malware attacks mobile phones running on Android operating systems, Malwarebytes explained.

“To protect users in Asia Pacific from cybercriminals, we must possess an intimate understanding of their methodologies and tactics,” said Jeff Hurmuses, Malwarebytes Area VP and managing director for Apac.

“In Asia Pacific, we are seeing that botnets are particularly rampant.

A particularly sneaky malware— botnets can remain undetected for long periods of time and expose users to other malware threats and infections,” Hurmuses said. “As individuals and businesses become more reliant on computing in their professional and daily life, it is imperative they remain aware of new cyber-attack methodologies and how they can impact them.”

The Philippines was ranked first

by Malwarebytes in its report with most number of banking Trojan incidences in both Apac and globally.

“Banking Trojans were also rampant—the region comprised more than a quarter [27 percent] of detections across the globe,” Malwarebytes said in statement. Oliver Samson

MARKET OPPORTUNITY Oppo Electronics (Philippines) Corp. Digital Marketing Manager Leyan Moncera is shown in this March 15 photo speaking about the Chinese brand’s products launched in the domestic market. According to the International Data Corp., Oppo has become one of the leading vendors by investing heavily in its marketing activities and incentivizing its resellers. It standardized its marketing approach across countries, mainly relying on local celebrities as brand ambassadors to promote itself as an “aspirational/trendy” brand and targeting mainly the millennial crowd. Nonie Reyes