BusinessMirror April 19, 2020

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‘MORE FUN’ NOW NEEDS MORE WORK CAN THE PHL TOURISM INDUSTRY RECOVER FROM COVID-19?

THE departure area of Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s Terminal 2, now empty except for some airport personnel. NONIE REYES

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo | Special to the BusinessMirror

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S many look forward to the lifting of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) by the end of April, as well as the suspension of various lockdowns in several parts of the country implemented to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), tourism stakeholders are crossing their fingers they will be able to jumpstart their respective businesses and renew relationships with their clients.

Tourism Congress of the Philippines (TCP) President Jose C. Clemente III predicts “virtually no business for the remainder of the year, as projections when the Covid-19 situation will improve still cannot be determined.”

A study by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) on the impact of Covid-19 on the economy indicated the tourism sector would post a loss in gross value added of between P77.5 billion and P156 billion. This is equivalent to 0.40-0.8 percent of the gross domestic product, and will likely reduce the number of people employed in the sector to 56,600 from 90,400.

Much needs to be done to get

back the record-breaking inbound arrivals the Philippines has recorded in the past. Under the National Tourism Development Plan for 20162022, the government had targeted foreign tourist arrivals to reach 9.2 million this year, from 8.26 million in 2019, while inbound tourist receipts were targeted to hit P661 billion this year, from the P482.15 billion earned in 2019.

DOT finalizing recovery program

THE Department of Tourism (DOT) is expected to unveil a recovery plan for the industry soon; much of it will probably depend on the availability of funding for promotions and marketing overseas, as it tries to regain the interest of

key markets. It will take a lot of persuading to get people to travel again, and believe that it’s more fun in the Philippines. It recently turned over some P10 billion to the Department of Finance for use in the government’s fight versus Covid-19, after the Bayanihan Law allowed the realignment of the national budget.

(See, “DOT-Tieza to turn over P8 billion to P10 billion in funds for govt’s Covid-19 fight,” in the BusinessMirror, March 31, 2020.)

In a Viber message, DOT Spokesman and Undersecretary for Tourism Development Planning Benito C. Bengzon Jr. told the BusinessMirror, “Two weeks ago the Secretary signed the Department Order directing

the development of a Tourism Response and Recovery Program (TRRP) and the creation of a Program Management Committee.

The objective is to craft a set of measures that will aid in the recovery of the tourism industry.”

He added, “The TRRP shall be based on the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Planning Guide. The plan shall consider local and international best practices in tourism response and recovery. Consultations with stakeholders have been and will continue to be conducted as part of the needs assessment. The plan will encompass interventions in infrastructure, social services Continued on A2

China tries to revive economy but consumer engine sputters

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By Joe McDonald | The Associated Press

EIJING—China, where the coronavirus pandemic started in December, is cautiously trying to get back to business, but it’s not easy when many millions of workers are wary of spending much, or even going out.

Factories and shops nationwide shut down starting in late January. Millions of families were told to stay home under unprecedented controls that have been copied by the United States, Europe and India.

The ruling Communist Party says the outbreak, which killed more than 3,340 people among more than 82,341 confirmed cases as of Thursday, is under control.

But the damage to Chinese lives and the economy is lingering.

Truck salesman Zhang Hu is living the dilemma holding back

the recovery. The 27-year-old from the central city of Zhengzhou has gone back to work, but with few people looking to buy 20-ton trucks, his income has fallen by half. Like many millions of others, he is pinching pennies.

“I put off plans to change cars and spend almost nothing on eating out, or entertainment,” he said.

“I have no idea when the situation will turn better.”

Missing demand

FACTORIES reopened in March after President Xi Jinping visited

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 50.7130

IN this April 13, 2020, photo, a resident walks through a partially closed retail street with a bronze statue covered with a face mask in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province. Chinese leaders have reopened factories and shops in an effort to revive the economy, but the consumers whose spending propels most of China’s growth have been slow to return to shopping malls and auto dealerships. AP

Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak, in a sign of confidence the virus was under control. But the consumers whose spending propels China’s economic growth are still afraid of losing their jobs, or catching the virus.

They are holding on to their money despite official efforts to lure them back to shopping malls and auto showrooms.

Data due out Friday is expected to show the economy contracted by up to 9 percent in JanuaryMarch, its worst performance since the late 1970s.

That is a blow to automakers and other global companies that hope China, after leading the way into a global shutdown, might power a recovery from the most painful slump since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

“What is not fully back, or is completely missing, is the demand,” said Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics.

In Europe, the first tentative steps at winding back economically Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4694 n UK 63.3101 n HK 6.5431 n CHINA 7.1608 n SINGAPORE 35.5706 n AUSTRALIA 32.2383 n EU 55.0794 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.4965

Source: BSP (April 17, 2020)

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, April 19, 2020

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‘More fun’ now needs more work Continued from A1

and livelihood, business continuity, strategic communications, and marketing, market and product development.”

According to DO No. 2020-02 signed by Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat on March 30, several committees were set up to identify projects, address bottlenecks and potential issues in certain aspects such as funding and coordination with other government agencies, with the private sector, through the TCP and its various member-groups and associations, taking an active role.

Displaced workers

IN a news statement, the DOT said, it has already submitted to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) the list of displaced workers from various tourismrelated enterprises for cash assistance. According to Bengzon, “A total of 6,292 workers from 428 establishments have applied with DOLE for assistance. We don’t have info yet on how many actually were given financial help.”

He added, there may be more tourism establishments which applied for subsidy for their employees as they are supposed to coordinate with their respective DOLE regional offices. Under the government’s Covid-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP), approved beneficiaries—of companies with flexible working hours or have temporarily closed—will receive a P5,000 subsidy.

The DOT reported that as of December 2019, it had accredited 8,990 tourism enterprises in the country, of which 7,806 were primary tourism enterprises (accommodation establishments, travel and tour agencies, tourist transport, tour guides, MICE operators

and facilities).

The agency likewise lobbied the DOLE to include tourism frontliners as recipients of hazard pay for the duration of the ECQ, especially those who work in hotels that house health workers and repatriated overseas Filipino workers who are required to be quarantined before returning to their homes.

The DOT said it has been communicating with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) to extend financial assistance to tourism enterprises.

It said the DBP has identified the tourism industry as qualified under its program called Rehabilitation Support Program on Severe Events (Response), which aims to provide rehabilitation financing support through low-interest loans to businesses adversely affected by calamities. Land Bank of the Philippines will also assist tourism stakeholders under its program, Rehabilitation Support to Cushion Unfavorably Affected Enterprises

by Covid-19 (I-Rescue) Lending Program.

The DOT said that, after discussions with the Social Security System (SSS), Pag-IBIG Fund and PhilHealth, the three agreed to extend their respective deadlines for remittance of members’ contributions. For PhilHealth, the deadline is two weeks after the lifting of the ECQ, without any penalty. For PagIBIG, the deadline is extended to April 30. For SSS members, deadline is now June 1, 2020.

Stakeholders’ recommendations

TCP has forwarded its recommendations to kickstart the recovery of the industry. In his letter to Romulo Puyat dated April 2, 2020, Clemente said, “The road ahead will be uncertain and difficult but we are confident that, in close partnership

with the DOT, we will be able to gradually rise again and reassume our role as one of the prime drivers of the economy.”

Among the group’s recommendations for the short term, or until December 2020, is for the DOT to “allocate funds for the staging of mega familiarization trips from our major markets, continue funding marketing to the domestic market, [increase the] budget for media placements with international media networks, [and assist] the MICE sector to eventually bid for events to be held in the Philippines.”

The TCP also asked the DOT to intervene to halt the Department of Transportation’s modernization program for the land tourist transportation sector, as this entails a significant amount of capital, which the sector does not have right now.

The stakeholders group likewise urged the government to expedite “low- or interest-free loans” from government banks for accredited enterprises; suspend employer/employee contributions to the SSS and Pag-IBIG; and lower rent for offices and event spaces, among others.

For the medium term, or from January 2021 to December 2022, the TCP said it was vital to maintain as many airline routes as possible, and thus low-interest loans for airlines should also be extended to help them cope with their losses this year.

The government should also continue to promote “holiday economics,” temporarily suspend the collection of terminal fees and airline surcharges to help boost domestic travel.

Economic relief pressed

THE TCP stressed that the government can also waive the corporate and individual income taxes of accredited tourism enterprises this year, as well as permits

IN this March 23, 2020, file photo, airport taxis wait for passengers at Naia Terminal 1, as only a few international flights were allowed to operate because of the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine. ROY DOMINGO

and licenses for 2020 and 2021.

It asked for tax credits and discounts “for companies that continue to stay in operation as the recovery continues.” The group also urged the continued availability of soft loans from government banks “so that capital expenditures are not postponed.”

Clemente said that, aside from these recommendations, tourism stakeholders are waiting for the mechanics of the Small Business Wage Subsidy Program recently announced by the Department of Finance (DOF). In a news statement, the DOF said the program covers businesses “not belonging to the top 2,745 large taxpayers of the BIR [Bureau of Internal Revenue]” and will make available a subsidy from P5,000 to P8,000 to qualified beneficiaries for a period of two months.

“The DOF is also studying the proposal to guarantee loans of small businesses affected by the Covid-19

pandemic. This will provide them easier access to bank financing,” according to President Duterte’s Report to Congress on Monday.

DOT chief Romulo Puyat stressed that the agency is doing everything within its mandate to help the stakeholders of the tourism industry in light of the Covid-19 health crisis.

“To cushion the impact, the DOT and its attached agencies, even before the lockdown, laid out the response and recovery plan during the initial stages of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country with the tourism sector taking a direct hit early on.” The DOT will extend a wide range of assistance not only to tour operators, but to the entire travel and hospitality sector, she said.

Aside from initiating sweeper flights to evacuate foreign tourists from key destinations to their home countries, it has also

waived accreditation fees, participation fees for expos abroad, and looked for hotels to house returning OFWs.

(See, “DOT waives accreditation fees for new applicants, renewals,” in the BusinessMirror, April 12, 2020.)

The DOT said it has made the necessary representations with relevant government agencies on proposals from the tourism stakeholders regarding the deferment of corporate income-tax payments. It added, it will raise the other recommendations to Congress, as inputs for legislation granting a fiscal stimulus package to the tourism industry.

For TCP’s Clemente, while the industry is eager to welcome guests into the country again, “We still have a long way to go, and every bit of direly needed assistance from the government to help us get back on our feet will be greatly appreciated.”

China tries to revive economy but consumer engine sputters Continued from A1

crippling restrictions were also running into resistance, as shoppers stayed away from the few stores that were reopening and some workers feared the newly restored freedoms could put their health at risk. The streets of Rome were largely deserted despite an easing of restrictions this week that allowed

some businesses to reopen.

In China, e-commerce got a boost when families stuck at home bought groceries and other items online. But forecasters expect little to no growth in this year’s total spending on clothing, food and other consumer goods.

Some cities have resorted to handing out shopping vouchers and trying to reassure consumers

by showing officials on state media eating in restaurants. Consumption is a smaller share of China’s economy than in the United States and other high-income countries but accounted for 80 percent of last year’s growth.

Worse than expected

ECONOMISTS earlier forecast China would bounce back as early

IN this April 13, 2020, photo, a couple walk through the capital city’s popular shopping mall in Beijing. Chinese leaders have reopened factories and shops in an effort to revive the economy, but the consumers whose spending propels most of China’s growth have been slow to return to shopping malls and auto dealerships. AP

as this month. They cut growth forecasts and pushed back recovery timelines after JanuaryFebruary activity was even worse than expected.

Bernstein Research says auto sales might fall by as much as 15 percent, deepening a two-year-old slump in the global industry’s biggest market.

With factories closed and some 800 million people told to stay home, consumer spending shrank 23.7 percent from a year earlier and manufacturing fell 13.5 percent.

Auto sales plunged 82 percent in February. Projections of full-year Chinese growth, previously close to 6 percent, are now as low as zero.

That is dragging down global growth forecasts. The International Monetary Fund says the world economy might contract by up to 3 percent, a far bigger hit than 2009’s 0.1-percent loss during the global financial crisis.

Other Asian economies, which are more exposed to global trade, are unlikely to see quick recoveries and will likely follow the West into a downturn, according to Morgan Stanley.

In China, manufacturing is

back to 80 percent of usual levels, but urban traffic, power use and other indicators of daily life are at half to 65 percent of normal.

At the same time, public anxiety has been fed by reports of new outbreaks that have led to more controls.

A furniture manufacturer in northeastern Shenyang reopened on March 15 but is getting few visitors in its showroom, said an employee, who would give only his surname, Jin. “No one wants to decorate a house and buy furniture because of the epidemic and loss of jobs,” said Jin, 33. He said he and his wife canceled plans to buy a car and travel.

‘Short-time work’

TRYING to lure back shoppers, cities from Jinan in the northeast to Ningbo, south of Shanghai, are handing out vouchers. The eastern city of Nanjing gave out electronic vouchers totaling 318 million yuan ($45 million) via smartphones to spend at restaurants, bookstores and other merchants.

Areas including Jiangxi province in the south have extended weekends to 2 1/2 days and cut admission prices for local scenic spots.

The ruling party has told companies to keep paying wages and avoid layoffs. Private companies were promised tax breaks, low-cost loans and other help, though state media say bureaucracy is slowing the flow of aid.

It isn’t clear how many companies might close for good under the pressure of paying rent and wages with no revenue.

“Companies can’t resume full production due to cuts in orders at home and abroad, leaving them unwilling to recruit workers,” said economist Zuo Xiaolei at Galaxy Securities in Beijing. “If workers have no income, then consumption will decline.”

Consumers need to be reassured their health and jobs are protected, economists say.

A strategy that worked after the 2008 crisis was Germany’s “shorttime work,” said Kuijs of Oxford Economics. Employees worked fewer hours but companies received government subsidies to pay them fulltime wages. That kept experienced workers in place and supported consumer spending.

“That was considered to be quite a successful system,” Kuijs said.

Chinese exporters of consumer electronics, clothes and other goods are unlikely to get much help from abroad as the United States and Europe suffer waves of job losses and tell consumers to stay at home.

“Exports could easily fall by 10 percent or more in 2020,” said Larry Hu of Macquarie Capital in a report.

China’s leaders are spending more on roads, other public works and on next-generation telecoms networks but are reluctant to pump too much money into the economy for fear of fueling inflation and adding to a mountain of debt.

“It doesn’t make sense to stimulate too much at this stage,” said Hu. “It will lead to more inflation instead of more output.”

The World BusinessMirror

Editor: Angel R. Calso

Sunday, April 19, 2020

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Economic pain from coronavirus spreads as quickly as the pandemic

By Lori Hinnant & Nick Perry

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The Associated Press

ARIS—Economic pain from the coronavirus pandemic deepened on Thursday, as health authorities warned that returning to normal is a distant goal despite many leaders’ hopes of reopening stores, factories, airplanes and schools quickly and safely.

Fallout from the virus spread in ways both predictable and devastating, from police torching an illicit food market in Zimbabwe, to emergency flights carrying foreign farmworkers to Britain and Germany, to protests at US state capitols against millions of job losses.

New US unemployment figures loomed on Thursday. With many factories shut down, American industrial output shriveled in March, registering its biggest decline since the nation demobilized in 1946 at the end of World War II. Retail sales fell by an unprecedented 8.7 percent, with April expected to be far worse.

In France, Amazon suspended operations after a court ruled it wasn’t doing enough to protect its workers in the country. The online retailer, which has six warehouses in France, said it would evaluate the court decision.

In Britain, a government survey found that a quarter of companies has suspended business.

Cargo traffic at Europe’s massive port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands sank 9.3 percent in the first quarter from the same period a year ago and its CEO warned of worse to come.

The World Health Organization’s European chief said optimism that the spread of the virus

was declining in Italy, Spain and France was tempered by the knowledge that it was rising or sustained at a high level in Britain, Russia and Turkey. “ T he stor m clouds of this pandemic still hang heavily over the European region,” Dr. Hans K luge said.

The International Monetary Fund says fallout from what it calls the “Great Lockdown” will be the most devastating since the Great Depression in the 1930s.

That has made leaders all the more anxious to send people back to work and school and to rebuild economies devastated by the pandemic that has infected more than 2 million people and claimed more than 137,000 lives, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Italy’s hardest-hit region of Lombardy is pushing to relaunch manufacturing on May 4, the day that the national lockdown is set to lift. Regional officials are considering ordering companies to stagger opening hours to avoid cramming public transport.

But It a ly ’s deput y econom ic d e v e l o p m e nt m i n i s t e r, St e f a n B u f f a g n i , c a l l e d t he pl a n pre m at u re.

“Going in a random order risks fueling confusion among citizens

99-year-old war veteran Captain Tom Moore poses with family members, from left, grandson Benji, daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore and granddaughter Georgia, at his home in Marston Moretaine, England, after he achieved his goal of 100 laps of his garden, raising millions of pounds for the NHS with donations to his fund-raising challenge from around the world, on April 16. Moore started walking laps in his garden as a humble fund-raising challenge to walk 100 lengths of his garden by his 100th birthday on April 30, and has now raised millions for the National Health Service and become a national rallying point during the Covid-19 pandemic. His family thought it would be a stretch to raise 1,000 pounds, but donors have pledged millions of pounds and still counting. Joe Giddens/PA via AP

and businesses,’’ Buffagni said.

In China, where the virus first emerged in December, even people who still have jobs have been wary of spending much or going out. Some Chinese cities tried reassuring consumers by showing officials eating in restaurants. In Zhengzhou, salesman Zhang Hu was back at work but his income plummeted because few are buying the 20-ton trucks he sells.

“I have no idea when the situation will turn better,” he said.

The US began issuing one-time payments this week to tens of millions of people as part of its $2.2-trillion coronavirus relief package. But another part of the relief package,

a $350-billion paycheck protection program aimed at small businesses, is running dry after being open for only a matter of days. Negotiations were accelerating in Washington over a $250-billion emergency request to help.

T he US has seen nearly 640,000 infections—more than the next four countries put together—and leads the world with nearly 31,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. Experts say, however, the true toll of the pandemic is much higher due to limited testing, uneven counting of deaths and some governments’ attempts to downplay their outbreaks.

Covid-19 could erode global fight against other diseases

By Aniruddha Ghosal & Victoria Milko

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The Associated Press

EW DELHI—Lavina D’Souza hasn’t been able to collect her government-supplied anti-HIV medication since the abrupt lockdown of India’s 1.3 billion people last month during the coronavirus outbreak.

Marooned in a small city away from her home in Mumbai, the medicine she needs to manage her disease has run out. The 43-yearold is afraid that her immune system will crash: “Any disease, the coronavirus or something else, I’ll fall sick faster.”

D’Souza said others also must be “suffering because of the coronavirus without getting infected by it.”

As the world focuses on the pandemic, experts fear losing ground in the long fight against other infectious diseases like AIDS, tuberculosis and cholera that kill millions every year. Also at risk are decades long efforts that allowed the World Health Organization to set target dates for eradicating malaria, polio and other illnesses.

With the coronavirus over whelming hospitals, redirecting medical staff, causing supply shor tages and suspending health services, “our greatest fear” is resources for other diseases being diverted and depleted, said Dr. John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That is compounded in countries with already overburdened health-care systems, like Sudan. Doctors at Al-Ribat National Hospital in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, shared a document detailing nationwide measures: fewer patients admitted to emergency rooms, elective surgeries indefinitely postponed, primary care eliminated for non-critical cases, and skilled doctors transferred to Covid-19 patients.

Similar scenes are unfolding worldwide.

Even in countries with highly developed healthcare systems, such as South Korea, patients

In this March 24, 2014, file photo, a doctor examines a tuberculosis patient in a government TB hospital in Allahabad, India. As the world focuses on the pandemic, experts fear losing ground in the long fight against other infectious diseases like AIDS, tuberculosis and cholera that kill millions every year. AP/Rajesh Kumar Singh

seeking treatment for diseases like TB had to be turned away, said Hojoon Sohn, of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who is based in South Korea.

About 30 percent of global TB cases—out of 10 million each year—are never diagnosed, and the gaps in care are concentrated in 10 countries with the most infections, Sohn said.

“These are people likely not seeking care even in normal circumstances,” he said. “So with the Covid-19 pandemic resulting in health systems overload, and governments issuing stay-at-home orders, it is highly likely that the number of TB patients who remain undetected will increase.”

In Congo, already overwhelmed by the latest outbreak of Ebola and years of violent conflict, the coronavirus comes as a measles outbreak has killed over 6,000 people, said Anne-Marie Connor, national director for World Vision, a humanitarian aid organization.

“It’s likely we’ll see a lot of ‘indirect’ deaths from other diseases,” she said.

The cascading impact of the pandemic isn’t limited to treatment. Other factors, like access to

transportation during a lockdown, are threatening India’s progress on TB. Patients and doctors can’t get to clinics, and it’s difficult to send samples for testing.

India has nearly a third of the world’s TB cases, and diagnosing patients has been delayed in many areas. Dr. Yogesh Jain in Chhattisgarh—one of India’s poorest states— and other doctors fear that means “TB cases would certainly increase.”

Coronavirus-related lockdowns also have interrupted the flow of supplies, including critical medicine, protective gear and oxygen, said Dr. Marc Biot, director of operations for international aid group Doctors Without Borders.

“These are difficult to find now because everybody is rushing for them in the same moment,” Biot said.

The fear of some diseases resurging is further aggravated by delays in immunization efforts for more than 13.5 million people, according to the vaccine alliance GAVI. The international organization said 21 countries are reporting vaccine shortages following border closures and disruptions to air travel—mostly in Africa—

and 14 vaccination campaigns for diseases like polio and measles have been postponed.

The Measles & Rubella Initiative said measles immunization campaigns in 24 countries already are delayed, and it fears that more than 117 million children in 37 countries may miss out.

Dr. Jay Wenger, who heads polio eradication efforts for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said recommending the suspension of doorto-door polio vaccinations was difficult, and while it could lead to a spurt in cases, “it is a necessary move to reduce the risk of increasing transmission of Covid-19.”

Programs to prevent mosquito-borne diseases also have been hampered. In Sri Lanka, where cases of dengue nearly doubled in 2019 over the previous year, health inspectors are tasked with tracing suspected Covid-19 patients, disrupting their “routine work” of destroying mosquito breeding sites at homes, said Dr. Anura Jayasekara, director of Sri Lanka’s National Dengue Control Unit.

During a pandemic, history shows that other diseases can make a major comeback. Amid the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in 2014-2016, almost as many people died of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria because of reduced access to health-care.

Rashid Ansumana, a community health expert in Sierra Leone who studied the Ebola outbreak, said the coronavirus’s “impact will definitely be higher.”

Health providers are trying to ease the crisis by giving months of supplies to people with hepatitis C, HIV and TB, said Biot of Doctors Without Borders.

As countries face difficult health-care choices amid the pandemic, Nkengasong of the Africa CDC warns that efforts to tackle other diseases can’t fall by the wayside.

“The time to advocate for those programs is not when Covid is over. The time is now,” he said.

Milko repor ted from Jakar ta. Associated Press journalists Cara Anna in Johannesburg, Bharatha Mallawarachi in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Isabel DeBre in Cairo, and Maria Cheng in London contributed to this report

Despite the relief checks, Americans have begun to protest the virus restrictions that have put at least 17 million out of work, closed factories and brought many small businesses to their knees.

In Michigan and Oklahoma, thousands came out to protest the virus lockdowns they say have destroyed livelihoods.

In Michigan, some were masked and armed with rifles, but many unmasked people defied stay-at-home orders and ja m me d ne a rly shou lde r - to shoulder in front of the Capitol building in Lansing. In Oklahoma, cars plastered with protest signs drove past the Statehouse in Oklahoma City: “All jobs are essential,” read one sign on the back of a pickup truck.

“This arbitrary blanket spread of shutting down businesses, about putting all of these workers out of business, is just a disaster. It’s an economic disaster for Michigan,” said protester Meshawn Maddock.

In Michigan’s northern Leelanau County, Sheriff Mike Borkovich said enforcing the coronavirus restrictions was taking a toll.

“People a re f ra nt ic to get back to work. They have been ver y edg y,” Borkovich told The Associated Press.

President Donald J. Trump said he’s prepared new guidelines for easing social distancing, even as business leaders told him more testing and personal protective equipment were essential first.

In Brussels, the pandemic was making the European Union redraw all of its budget plans to focus on tackling the coronavirus pandemic. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the 27-nation bloc’s next trillion-euro budget will have to be reimagined as “the mother-ship of our recovery.”

Troubling data indicate the

worst may still be to come in many parts of the world.

Japan’s prime minister announced he would expand a state of emergency to the entire country, rather than just urban areas, as the virus continued to spread.

The British government was set on Thursday to extend a nationwide lockdown for several more weeks, as health officials say the coronavirus outbreak in the country is peaking. Britain was still expected to see its first flight of Romanian farmworkers, and more than 30,000 other workers registered for flights to Germany to help plant and harvest.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged stepped-up efforts to prepare Africa for the virus, warning that the continent “could end up suffering the greatest impacts.” In Zimbabwe, where food was scarce even before the pandemic, police raided a market, torching 3 tons of fresh fruit and vegetables and scattering farmers who had broken travel restrictions to try to sell their wares.

Singapore scrambled to react after seeing more than 1,100 cases since Monday. It had successfully contained a first wave of infections, but new cases are occurring among workers from poorer Asian countries who live in crowded dormitories in the tiny city-state.

In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro’s lackadaisical approach to the virus came under increased pressure for the dangers it placed Brazilians in.

“We’re fighting against the coronavirus and against the ‘Bolsonaro-virus,’” Sao Paulo state Gov. João Doria told the AP, adding that he believes the president has adopted “incorrect, irresponsible positions.”

Perry reported from Wellington, New Zealand. Associated Press journalists around the world contributed

Virus choking off supply of what Africa needs most: Food

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ARARE, Zimbabwe—In a pre-dawn raid in food-starved Zimbabwe, police enforcing a coronavirus lockdown confiscated and destroyed 3 tons of fresh fruit and vegetables by setting fire to it. Wielding batons, they scattered a group of rural farmers who had traveled overnight, breaking restrictions on movement to bring the precious produce to one of the country’s busiest markets.

The food burned as the farmers went home empty-handed, a stupefying moment for a country and a continent where food is in critically short supply.

It was an extreme example of how lockdowns to slow the spread of the coronavirus may be choking Africa’s already-vulnerable food supply.

Lockdowns in at least 33 of Africa’s 54 countries have blocked farmers from getting food to markets and threatened deliveries of food assistance to rural populations. Many informal markets where millions buy their food are shut.

About one in every five people in Africa, nearly 250 million, already didn’t have enough food before the virus outbreak, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. A quarter of the population in sub-Saharan Africa is undernourished.

“This is double any other region,” said Sean Granville-Ross, director for Africa at the aid agency Mercy Corps. “With lockdowns, border closures and the ability to access food curtailed, the impact of Covid-19 on Africa could be like nothing we have seen before.”

Lockdowns without provisions to help the poor “may affect us very, very much,” said Lola Castro, regional director in southern Africa for the UN World Food Program.

The Kibera slum in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, is at a breaking point already. Last week, thousands of desperate people scrambled for food aid at a distribution point, causing a stampede.

The World Food Program was already feeding

millions in Africa, mainly rural people, due to a myriad of disasters: Floods, drought, armed conflict, government failures, even plagues of locusts. The pandemic has added another layer of hardship.

Take Sudan, where restrictions to combat the virus are hampering aid workers from reaching some of the 9.2 million people in need, according to the UN. The most severe drought in decades is already threatening about 45 million people with hunger across southern Africa, where farmers are still recovering from two devastating cyclones that battered Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi last year.

Somalia, one of the world’s most fragile countries, is struggling to get food to people living in extremist-controlled areas. Two months ago it declared a national emergency over an outbreak of desert locusts that devoured tens of thousands of hectares of crops and pastures. That left 20 million people with dire food shortages in East Africa. Now the locusts are back, more of them this time.

In West Africa’s Sahel region, nearly 30 million are struggling to find food, said Granville-Ross of Mercy Corps.

On top of these problems, the World Bank said the virus could create “a severe food security crisis in Africa.”

Among those at risk are millions of children normally fed through WFP ’s school meals program. A few weeks after the virus crept into Africa, so many schools have been closed that 65 million children are now missing out on meals, WFP told The Associated Press.

For many Africans, the immediate concern is not the virus—it’s surviving the lockdowns.

“Most Africans work in the informal sector and need to go out every day,” World Health Organization Africa regional chief Matshidiso Moeti said. “I think above all of access to food.”

Farai Mutsaka/Associated Press

A4

The World BusinessMirror

Sunday, April 19, 2020

Stimulus cash puts IRS on alert for scammers preying on unwary

By Laura Davison Bloomberg News

T

he Internal Revenue Service is bracing for another kind of epidemic—scammers trying to get their hands on the $1,200 payments being sent out to millions of Americans to bolster the economy.

The payments, plus an additional $500 for each child, have begun hitting bank accounts this week, opening a wide avenue of opportunities for scams, identity theft and low-tech crimes such as stealing checks from mailboxes.

“Right now, due to how vulnerable the population is, it’s really prime picking for fraudsters to come out in full force,” said Donna Parent, the chief marketing officer at Sontiq, a identity theft protection company. The Federal Trade Commission “is reporting more than $13 million in fraud loss due to Covid-19—that’s only going to exponentially increase with stimulus payment scams.”

The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the agency’s watchdog, have already issued several warnings that scammers are posing as the IRS to try to get personal information from payment recipients that they can then use to steal the money. The inspector general is asking people to report any suspicious activity.

‘Unsuspecting victims’

“I understand scammers are already contacting innocent Americans by impersonating IRS or

Treasury Department officials, offering so-called Covid-19-related assistance that requires the sharing of personal financial information,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley wrote in a letter to the inspector general earlier this month. “These scammers then use that information to steal from their unsuspecting victims.”

T he $1, 20 0 pay ment s a re available to those earning less than $75,000 as an individual, including recipients of Social Security, disability and veterans benefits. Those earning above that threshold and up to $99,000 get a smaller payment.

People in that population, including the elderly, those with less education and those who aren’t tech savvy are the most likely to fall victim to some of these scams, and are also the most likely to need the money, said Vanita Pandey, the head of strategy at Arkose Labs, a company that detects and prevents online fraud.

T he coron av i r u s outbrea k means that a lot of people who weren’t familiar with the Internet are now using apps to communicate with family and friends or ordering groceries online, giving

scammers ample opportunity to find easy targets, Pandey said.

“IRS Criminal Investigation is actively working to combat scam artists trying to exploit Economic Impact Payments,” the agency said in a statement on Tuesday. “So far, the scams CI has already seen look to prey on vulnerable taxpayers who are unaware of how the payments will reach them. IRS CI is prioritizing these types of investigations to help protect taxpayers and the tax system.”

There’s some commonsense moves that check recipients can take to protect their personal data as well as their payments. Avoid clicking on links sent in e-mail or text messages that appear to be from the IRS. The IRS said it won’t contact people by telephone, email, social media or text message to ask for personal information.

The IRS is using ta x return i n for m at ion f rom 2018 a nd 2019 to send the payments. For those who have direct deposit information on file from a ta x refund in one of those years, the IRS will send the money directly to their bank accounts.

People who didn’t file a tax return in either year should submit their bank account or address information to IRS as soon as possible to prevent a criminal from submitting incorrect information to divert payments. Social Security beneficiaries will automatically receive their payments, though those who just started receiving benefits will need to send their information to the IRS. That portal could give scammers an opening to hijack payments, because the website requires personal information— such as Social Security numbers— that is available for sale on the dark web after being compromised in security breaches at government

agencies and private organizations, said Mike Chapple, a former computer scientist with the National Security Agency.

“Exploiting this loophole isn’t rocket science,” said Chapple, now an information technology, analytics and operations professor at the University of Notre Dame. “A criminal could purchase identity information on the dark web and then use it to falsely claim stimulus payments, directing the funding to their own bank account.”

The Treasury Department said on Wednesday that those receiving Supplemental Security Income will automatically receive their payments to their bank accounts, direct express debit card or by paper check, just as they typically receive their benefit payments.

However, people who get Social Security or disability payments who have dependent children will likely need to upload their information to the IRS to get the additional $500 per child.

Online portal

The agency opened online portal on Wednesday that will let people update their direct deposit or mailing address and, eventually, let recipients see the status of their payment and the day it is scheduled to be mailed or deposited. The IRS will also mail notifications to recipients about two weeks after their payment has been sent that will also include instructions about how to report that a payment hasn’t arrived.

The US Postal Service also offers a heads up to people about what’s coming in the mail that day. Users can sign up online to get “Informed Delivery” e-mail about what is coming in the mail later that day. That can let mailed check recipients to know to be diligent in checking the mail so

payments aren’t stolen.

It’s hard to know yet just how much fraud risk there is with the stimulus payments. After Hurricane Katrina, about 10 percent of government payments were fraudulent, Kim Sutherland, a vice president at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, said.

Theft ‘epidemic’

Identity theft has plagued the IRS in recent years, so much so the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration called it an “epidemic” in congressional testimony. Scammers have been able to steal taxpayer information and file fraudulent tax returns to illicitly get refunds.

The agency has greatly reduced the prevalence of stolen tax refunds by upgrading detection systems. “ The potential for fraud is present, but it is not substantially different from what IRS needs to deal with every tax filing season,” said Jack Smalligan, a former Office of Management and Budget official who is now a senior policy fellow at the Urban Institute.

“The IRS has an elaborate process to identify scams, particularly high-volume scammers.”

Still, thieves are able to adapt their schemes, said Marcus Christian, a former top attorney in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. Government agencies are much more adept at detecting and preventing fraud, but the stimulus checks present an unprecedented opening for scams, he said.

“Fraud isn’t going to be reduced to zero,” said Christian, who is now a partner at law firm Mayer Brown.

“There is some balancing of interests here: Get these out quickly to taxpayers, which will result in some fraud, and some taxpayers may have to go through an onerous burden to get rightful payment.”

Important takeaways from internal documents on China’s virus response

O

n Januar y 14, China’s top health agency told provincial officials that they were facing a likely epidemic from a new coronavirus—but didn’t alert the public for six days.

Internal documents obtained by The Associated Press show the National Health Co m m i s s i o n o rd e re d s e c re t p a n d e m i c preparations, even as they downplayed the outbreak on national television.

President Xi Jinping warned the public on the seventh day, January 20. By then, more than 3,000 people had been infected during nearly a week of silence, according to retrospective infection data.

Takeaways from the internal documents:

Thailand jolts China awake

For almost two weeks, China’s Center for Disease Control did not register any cases from local officials, internal bulletins obtained by the AP confirm. Yet during that January 5 to 17 period, hundreds of patients were appearing in hospitals not just in the city of Wuhan but also across the country.

Doctors and nurses in Wuhan say there were many signs the coronavirus could be transmitted between people by late December. But officials muzzled medical workers who tried to report such cases.

They required staff to report to supervisors before sending information higher. And they punished doctors who warned about the disease.

The muffling of warnings left top leaders in the dark. It took the first confirmed case outside China, in Thailand on January 13, to jolt leaders in Beijing into recognizing the possible pandemic before them. An internal memo cites China’s top health official, Ma Xiaowei, as saying the situation

A resident wearing a mask against coronavirus walks past government propaganda poster featuring Tiananmen Gate in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province on April 16. AP/Ng Han Guan

had “changed significantly” because of the possible spread of the virus abroad.

‘The most severe challenge since sars’

T h e m e m o, o n a s e c re t J a n u a r y 1 4 teleconference held by Ma, shows that Chinese officials were deeply alarmed and had come to a much grimmer assessment than they were letting on in public.

For weeks, officials had stuck to the line that there was “no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission,” calling the disease “preventable and controllable.”

But during the teleconference, Ma said that “clustered cases suggest human-tohuman transmission is possible.”

“The epidemic situation is still severe and complex, the most severe challenge s i n ce S A R S i n 2 0 0 3 , a n d i s l i ke ly to develop into a major public health event,” the memo cites Ma as saying.

Af te r t h e te l e co n f e re n ce, o f f i c i a l s a d j u s te d t h e i r l a n g u a g e s l i g ht ly, b u t continued to downplay the threat. “ We h a ve re a c h e d t h e l a t e s t understanding that the risk of sustained human-to-human transmission is low,” Li Qun, the head of China CDC’s emergenc y center, told Chinese state television on Januar y 15.

Pandemic preparations

B e fo r e t h e t e l e c o n f e r e n c e , h e a l t h

a u t h o r i t i e s h a d f o c u s e d n a r ro w l y o n Wuhan, the central China city where the outbreak started.

They searched for visitors to a market that dealt in live game, believing the virus was largely transmitted from animals to humans. But rattled by the case in Thailand, Chinese leaders launched a nationwide hunt to find cases, the documents show.

The memo warned the risk of transmission was higher with many people traveling for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday. “All localities must prepare for and respond to a pandemic,” it said.

O f f i c i a l s d i s t r i b u te d te s t k i t s a n d ordered health officials across the country to screen patients. They ordered hospitals to open fever clinics, and doctors and nurses to don protective gear. They instructed officials in Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, to begin temperature checks at transportation hubs and cut down on large public gatherings.

They did it all without telling the public.

Even as the new measures began to turn up hundreds of cases across the country, tens of thousands of people dined at a mass Lunar New Year banquet and millions traveled through Wuhan.

‘Emphasize politics’

The documents show how political considerations may have shaped China’s response to the outbreak.

In the memo, Ma demanded officials unite around Xi. It made clear that social stability was a key priority during the long lead-up to China’s two biggest political meetings of the year in March.

“Emphasize politics, emphasize discipline, emphasize science,” the memo cites Ma as saying.

While the documents do not spell out why Chinese leaders waited six days to make their concerns public, the meetings may be one reason. They were later indefinitely postponed.

The memo said the health commission was acting in accordance with “important instructions” from Xi and other top officials.

It referred to a January 7 meeting chaired by the vice premier in charge of public health and attended by Xi. But it did not make explicit what those instructions were.

Rewriting history

By late January, boiling public anger over China’s initial handling of the outbreak put the leadership on the defensive. Health experts accused Wuhan’s leaders of a cover-up, and Beijing fired local officials.

National leaders began to publicize directives they had earlier made in secret in apparent attempts to demonstrate they had acted decisively from the beginning.

On February 17, President Xi revealed he had led the response as early as January 7, two weeks before his first public comment on the virus. Days later, the National Health Commission published a notice revealing its confidential teleconference, dated to January 14.

The public notice omitted sections of the internal memo showing how alarmed officials had been at the time. It added lines suggesting that commission leaders were responding proactively to what then seemed a minor outbreak.

“Respond to small probability events w i t h h i g h p ro b a b i l i t y t h i n k i n g,” t h e altered notice read. “Seek truth from facts, and propagate scientific knowledge on epidemic prevention to avoid causing panic among the masses.” AP

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Supreme Court bows to crisis with arguments via telephone

T

he US Supreme Court for the first time will hear arguments by telephone and allow live audio broadcasts, bowing to the coronavirus outbreak by announcing a special May session including rescheduled clashes over subpoenas for President Donald J. Trump’s financial records.

It’s an extraordinary step for the tradition-bound court, whose arguments are normally steeped in ritual and devoid of all but the most basic technology. But with the pandemic making arguments in the courtroom impractical, the justices said on Monday they would adopt procedures that until now have been anathema to them.

The court said the justices and lawyers will all participate remotely. The media will receive a live audio feed for the 10 cases and will be permitted to air the feeds live, according to Supreme Court Spokesman Kathy Arberg. That will be a major change for a court that normally doesn’t release the audio from its sessions until days later.

Arguments will run from May 4 to May 13, with the exact date to be set for each case after consultation with the lawyers involved.

The telephone arguments will include a fight over the Electoral College, the body that formally selects next president. At issue is whether states can stop “faithless electors” who try to cast a vote for someone other than the candidate who won their state’s balloting. The court will also be considering a pair of high-profile religiousrights disputes.

Trump subpoena cases

Trump is challenging subpoenas from Congress and a New York grand jury in cases that raise sweeping questions about investigations into alleged misconduct by the president. Trump is seeking to sharply limit Congress’s powers and give the president immunity from state criminal probes while in office.

The court had postponed 20 arguments that were scheduled to be heard in March and April. The nine justices have continued to issue opinions and orders and hold their scheduled private conferences, though those sessions are happening by phone instead of in person.

One case not on the list of May arguments is a multibillion-dollar copyright fight between Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Oracle Corp. The court is now likely to hear that case when the new term starts in October.

Two of the court’s nine members are in their 80s— Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 87, and Justice Stephen Breyer, 81. Four others are 65 or older: Justice Clarence Thomas, 71; Justice Samuel Alito, 70; Justice Sonia Sotomayor, 65; and Chief Justice John Roberts, 65.

Elderly people are at increased risk of dying should they contract the coronavirus, and Sotomayor’s diabetes puts her at elevated risk, as well.

Bloomberg News

Science

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

BusinessMirror

Sunday

Sunday, April 19, 2020 A5

Dr. Raul V. Destura, the scientist behind the Philippine-made Covid-19 test kit

‘I focus on low-cost tech to fight infectious diseases’ Shredded paper wastes and trial tests of the film material.

C.S.U. LAB DEVELOPS INNOVATIVE NANO FILTER FOR FACE MASKS

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anocellulose face mask filter from waste materials? Yes, that’s possible as proven by the team of Dr. Rey Capangpangan from Caraga State University (CSU).

The lack of effective face masks to address the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease motivated the team of Capangpangan to develop a nanocellulose filter sourced from waste materials to for face masks that are now very important for frontliners battling Covid-19, said a news release from Capangpangan’s team.

Cloth face masks are currently in demand owing to the shortage of standard face masks— surgical or N95—in the market. But they are not ver y effective against coronavirus. They cannot effectively filter droplets containing the virus because of the large pores in the material.

In response to this public concern, Capangpangan and his team developed a filter that can be inser ted in the cloth face mask in order to efficiently filter out contaminants— the nanocellulose film which is sourced from waste materials.

The team embarked on the research on March 27 and developed the protot ype at the Material Science and Polymer Chemistr y Laborator y in CSU, a project funded by the De partment of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Industr y, Energy and Emerging Te c h n o l o g i e s R e s e a rc h a n d D e ve l o p m e n t (DOST-PCIEERD).

The lab ser ves as a facility, not just for researchers who are into materials development, but also for local industries.

The team’s current work is on cellulose biopolymer, where they saw the potential in developing a filter material while integrating nanotechnology.

The team used paper wastes, acid, base and bleaching reagents to produce nanocr ystals.

These materials were integrated with nanocellulose film to increase the filtering capability of the produc t.

According to Capangpangan, the nanocellulose cr ystals can also be ext r a c t e d f ro m a g r i c u l t u r a l w a s te s, s u c h a s p i n e a p p l e l e a ve s a n d w a te r h y a c i n t h , t h e n e w s re l e a s e s a i d.

The research is in collaboration with the College of Engineering and Geosciences and Caraga Fabrication Laborator y in CS U that developed the 3D printed face masks.

T h e l a b a l s o c o l l a b o r a t e d w i t h D r.

A r n o l d A l g u n o f ro m t h e M i n d a n a o St ate U n i ve r s i t y - I l i g a n I n s t i t u te o f Te c h n o l o g y f o r t h e n a n o ce l l ulose ex trac tion.

Th e n a n o ce l l u l o s e f i l te r co s t s a ro u n d P15.00 per piece, while the 3D printed face mask costs P300 per piece. Costs can be reduced if the products are mass produced, the news release added.

The face mask can be reused, while the filter material can be sun dried before reusing. The team continues to modify and test the product for its longevity.

Results from the flame and wettability tests show that the nanocellulose filter per forms well as much as the commercial face mask.

The team emphasized that the research project does not aim to replace the masks used by health and medical practitioners but to provide innovation to effectively reduce contamination using washable low cost nanocellulose films.

For now, the laborator y is in need of raw materials and reagents to continue its production. The team of researchers are appealing for fur ther assistance to manufacture more face masks. Interested par ties who want to help can contact DOST-Caraga or project leader, Dr. Capangpangan, at CSU, Butuan City.

Incidentally, Capangpangan is an active member of the National Research Council of the Philippines of the Depar tment of Science and Technology. Aliana Gene E. Sarmiento, S&T Promotions Unit

Gokongwei foundation, DLSU-D sign MOA for new learning methods

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

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he Gokongwei Brothers Foundation (GBF), supported by JG Summit Holdings Inc., recently signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the De La Salle UniversityDasmariñas (DLSU-D) in a bid to strengthen their mission of equipping institutions that explore new methods of learning and information.

This initiative aims to provide training and internship for DLSU-D’s teaching staff for practical application through the Systems Applications and Products in Data Processing Universit y Alliances Program (SAP-UA), a global initiative that helps more than 3,500 educational institutions in over 113 countries to incorporate the latest SAP technologies into teaching.

It may be noted that there is a growing urgency to prepare the country’s future professionals with skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

According to the World Economic Forum, 65 percent of learners entering grade school last year will be employed in future jobs that do not exist today.

In contrast, 60 percent of the jobs created in this century will require STEM-related skills.

While STEM is now part of the basic education in the country, especially among institutions for senior high schools offering this strand, much is still needed to gear up for the next generation of professionals.

Under the MOA, at least 25 faculty members at DLSU-D will undergo a training course on the SAP fourth version of High Performance Analytic Appliance (SAP S/4HANA), a modern Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) for business processes in the cloud or on-premise.

DLSU-D professors will also be invited for on-site training in JG Summit Holdings to experience SAP S/4HANA on-hand, supporting them to educate next-generation talents with SAP skills for the intelligent enterprise and the experience economy.

“SAP has been one of the biggest technology suppor ters of JG Summit Holdings. In today’s workplace, SAP skills have become an indispensable factor. Understanding SAP and mobility to work with it is vital," JG Summit CIO Carlos Santos said.

"For many job positions today, such skills are mandatory. By helping the faculty, we also gear up the students with SAP skills through this program to help become globally competitive and get better jobs," Santos added.

The SAP-UA will also provide opportunities for DLSU-DA to engage with SAP events, build industry collaborations, launch graduates in the SAP ecosystem, and inspire young thinkers.

GBF, which initiated the initiative, has dedicated itself to contributing to the country’s progress by helping educate future professionals, particularly in the fields of science and engineering.

GBF Executive Director Grace Colet said, “As a family foundation, we are unique, especially with our sole mission for education. We believe this focus is needed and is the best way to impact a difference in the country. We believe that the best way to move our economy forward is to focus on STEM education. We are glad to work with like-minded organizations, who are one with us in this mission.”

For his part, DLSU-D University Linkages Director Wilson Jacinto expressed his gratitude, noting that the project will help the university in fulfilling its mission of providing quality education for its students.

“Today’s young generation is stepping in an era where technology is a key driver for growth. As a purpose-driven company, we at SAP, consider this collaboration with GBF, JG Summit, and DLSU-D as our way of helping gear up our country’s future leaders," said SAP Philippines Managing Director Edler Panlilio.

B e s i d e s D L SU - D, t h e SAP- UA p ro gra m has been working with top universities in the countr y, including the University of the Philippines, Far Eastern University, University of Santo Tomas, AMA Computer University and Mapúa University, among others.

A

lot has been said and written about the Philippine-made test kit—the first in the country— for the 2019 coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

As soon as it was announced in March that a Covid-19 test kit is being developed and manufactured in the country, all the news media platforms, columns and talk shows have been awash with stories on the subject.

It's been the talk of the town.

Interviews with its creator—led by the multi-awarded Dr. R aul V. Destura—have been held left and r ight, seek ing t he stor y behind t he d iag nostic system t hat w i l l help stem the spread of the v irus in the countr y, and proud that it was made in the Philippines, plus being cheaper at P1,300 than the imported P8,000.

Actually the kit is already being used now at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) and other major hospitals around the country that are handling Covid-19 cases after the Food and Drug Administration Philippines (FDA) approved its commercial use on April 3.

The test kit was developed in collaboration with the University of the Philippines-National Institutes of Health (UP-NIH), and funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). It is manufactured by Manila HealthTek that was also supported by the DOST. It was a “just-in-time” scenario for the Philippines when it badly needed test kits for Covid-19 cases.

It was a much-awaited result of research and development, which was conducted immediately when the coronavirus pandemic startled the whole world in January 2020. This completely upholds the DOST of the mantra R&D making change happen.

Destura in the mainstream of infectious diseases Despite Destura's being busy attending to interviews, they were mainly

about his research on the test kit, and rarely about himself.

Who is this scientist behind the Covid-19 test kit?

“As a clinician-scientist, I continuously try to narrow down the gap between basic science, medical science, biotechnology and community service by forging strong collaboration among disciplines to reach a focused goal," Destura said as quoted by the NIH UPM web site.

"My research bench to community approach is ultimately geared toward developing low-cost technologies for the control of infectious diseases in the Philippines and the generation of new knowledge to find sustainable and equitable solutions to disease of poverty,” added Destura, the vice president and chairman of the Division of Medical Sciences of the National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP).

A Presidential Lingkod Bayan 2019 Awardee, Destura is a known scientist and molecular microbiologist who is also recognized for developing local and less costly diagnostic kits for rapid detection of the most dreaded infectious diseases such as dengue, hepatitis and tuberculosis.

Notable of these is the Biotek-M, a rapid test kit for dengue that is projected to be more affordable among average Filipino families that may not be able to afford the more expensive polymerase chain reaction technology.

This new technology is hoped to advance the diagnostic capability of the hospitals for better management of the dengue disease. Biotek-M is currently being rolled out to three government hospitals.

Actually the Covid-19 test kit was based on the Biotek-M technology.

Destura’s versatility is exhibited by the establishment of two world-class molecular biology labo-

Dr. Raul V. Destura CNN Philippines ratories—the Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Research Laboratory at the UP NIH and the Clinical Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory of the Medical City—under his leadership.

Prestigious national and international awards He is also a recipient of several prestigious national and international awards for his innovative research and leadership in research and clinical molecular biology.

Among the awards are the Gold Medal from the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva (Salon International Des Inventions Geneve), Geneva, Switzerland in April 2018; International Training and Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases Research Fellowship Award from the Center for Global Health Division of Infectious Disease and International Health, University of Virginia.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Travel Scholarship for 2005 Keystone Symposia; Outstanding Young Scientist of the Philippines in 2008; University of the Philippines’s Research Productivity Award in 2011; The Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines in 2011; Gawad Agham 2015.

Outstanding Alumni in Microbiology of the University of Santo Tomas; 2015 Outstanding Alumni in Medicine of the De La Salle University; and the prestigious 2015 Dr. Jose Rizal Memorial Award in Research given by the Philippine Medical Association.

At the NRCP, Destura was named the 2015 Dr. Eusebio Y. Garcia awardee. The award is given annually to Fili-

pino scientists in recognition of their outstanding research contributions in the fields of Molecular Biology and Molecular Pathology.

The award was founded by Dr. Eusebio Y. Garcia in 1985 to encourage more researchers to venture into this field and also to recognize the ground breaking researches made by the Filipinos in the said field.

In June 2018, immunization became a hot topic in the country because of the Dengvaxia scare. Amid the controversy, the NRCP made a categorical pronouncement on the importance of vaccines.

The NRCP statement, crafted by Destura, stated that “scientific evidence has clearly demonstrated that vaccines have dramatically eradicated small pox and polio and have greatly reduced child mortality in the Philippines and in many parts of the world.

The NRCP stands by the government efforts to sustain its immunization programs as we strongly urge the public to pay attention to the knowledge claim of scientists on the beneficial effects of immunization.”

On March 7, while in the midst of isolation for his research work on the Covid-19 test kit, NRCP President Dr. Ramon A. Razal consulted Destura when the Department of Health raised Red Code Alert on Covid-19.

Upon Destura's expert advise and with the NRCP Governing Board approval, Razal postponed the NRCP's biggest annual event, the Scientific Conference and 87th General Assembly in Manila on March 9. The conference has an anticipated 1,200 participants from all over the country.

The decision became the Council’s contribution to the national efforts to prevent the risk of further local or community transmission of Covid-19.

Destura studied Medicine at the De La Salle University Health Sciences in 1996, and went to pursue training and research fellowship in Infectious Disease at the UP-PGH from years 2001–2003.

He went to University of Virginia, US, for higher learning and international training in Emerging Infectious Diseases. Maria Elena A. Talingdan, S&T

Media Service

AccessiWheels, DWARM and Drive use innovative tech solutions to address coronavirus concerns

PHL start-ups respond to Covid-19 pandemic S

tart-ups in the Philippines are adapting t h e i r te c h n o l o g y- d ri ve n s o l u t i o n s to address challenges in healthcare and public safety brought about by the coronavirus pandemic as the government and private sectors race to combat it.

AccessiWheels, DWARM and Drive technologies— developed at the Universit y of the Philippines Sustaining Collaboration in an Advanced Learning Environment (Upscale) Innovation Hub in UP Diliman—are repurposing their products and services in response to the current health crisis, said the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD) in a news release.

AccessiWheels

AccessiWheels is providing transportation to persons with mobility concerns, such as the persons with disabilities.

It has begun offering free services to patients undergoing regular medical procedures, such as dialysis, and to those who have been affected by the suspension of the mass transportation in the Luzon-wide lockdown.

Health- care workers, whose modes of transportation have been limited by the enhanced community quarantine, are also benefiting from the initiative.

To date, over 100 patients and medical workers have availed of AccessiWheels’ services.

DWARM A.I. drones

Meanwhile, DWARM, short for Autonomous S e a rc h a n d R e s c u e D ro n e U s i n g Sw a r m Technology—founded by Far Eastern University (FEU) Tech alumni—is rolling out its artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled drones as noncontact thermal scanners at expressway checkpoints in the country.

Originally designed for search-and-rescue operations in calamities, DWARM has partnered with the DOST-PCIEERD and Upscale Innovation Hub to fabricate six drones to assist efforts in mitigating the spread of Covid-19.

“Our technology was [originally] primarily used for detecting possible survivors in an aftermath of a calamity by using only a thermal camera for the AI programming," explained Samantha Monique Bautista on FEU web site.

“As a solution for Covid-19, we combined two AI detections—a video camera for the detection of a person and a thermal camera for the recognition of heat signatures. With the new AI, the thermal cameras can now identify a person and measure his temperature,” added Bautista, the lead engineer of DWARM Technologies team.

DOST-PCIEERD plans to deploy the units of DWARM along the checkpoints in both the South Luzon Expressway and the North Luzon Expressway.

This will help drastically reduce queue times as the drones will be able to scan up to 10 persons at a time, immediately flagging anybody with a temperature of 37.5°C to the monitoring staff.

“With the use of DWARM, we aim to help fight Covid-19 by speeding up and improving the precision of thermal scanning at checkpoints and protect our uniformed and medical frontliners by minimizing direct contact to possible carriers,” Bautista, now working on the six units under home quarantine, said.

Drive

At the same time, Drive, a peer-to-peer car rental platform, has pivoted to Drive Groceries.

With restrictions on social movement and strong recommendations for social distancing, Drive Groceries has begun offering delivery services for essential supplies to residents affected by the lockdown.

The company has already started operations in Metro Manila, and aims to serve nearby provinces in the next 90 days.

Upscale

Upscale Innovation Hub is a DOST and UP Diliman’s Technology Business Incubator, which is at the forefront of startup incubation, industry collaborations and capacity building on innovation and technopreneurship.

U p s ca l e i s t a rg e t i n g t h at i n t h e n ex t decade it will be marked with international par tnerships and incubating more star t-ups addressing real-world challenges, including waste management and transportation, said Upscale in its news release.

Upscale was launched in January 2018 by UP, in partnership with DOST-PCIEERD, to accelerate the launch of innovative technologies through partnerships with private industries, start-ups and startup incubators.

It houses three primary programs, namely: UP Enterprise, an accelerator program for pre-revenue technology start-ups: Industry-Government Network for Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship, a market-driven product development program for industry collaborations; and EntreLead for scaling up program for technology start-ups with initial investment and traction.

In the past two years, Upscale has housed more than 15 incubatees addressing environmental challenges, waste management, transportation and mental health.

It has formed more than six industry partnerships; and provided capacity building for more than 30 higher education institutions on technopreneurship and innovation. S&T Media Service

Faith A6 Sunday, April 19, 2020

Sunday

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion •www.businessmirror.com.ph

Muslim women who cover faces find acceptance among coronavirus masks

‘Nobody is giving me dirty looks’

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mericans b e g a n d o n n i n g f a ce masks this week after federal and local officials changed their position on whether face coverings protect against coronavirus.

This is new terrain for many, who find themselves unable to recognize neighbors and are unsure how to engage socially without using facial expressions.

But not for Muslim women who wear the niqab, or Islamic face veil. Suddenly, these women—who are often received in the West with open hostility for covering their faces—look a lot more like everyone else.

Targeted for their religious dress

CHRIST THE REDEEMER AMID COVID-19 Rio’s Christ the Redeemer statue is lit up in the likeness of a doctor during an Easter service, in the midst of the new coronavirus pandemic, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on April 12. AP/Silvia Izquierdo

Pope: Remain faithful in uncertain times

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ATICAN—In uncertain times, our ultimate goal should be to remain faithful to the Lord rather than to seek our own security, Pope Francis said at his morning Mass this past week.

Speaking from the chapel of his Vatican residence, the Casa Santa Marta, the pope said: “Many times when we feel secure we begin to make our plans and slowly move away from the Lord; we do not remain faithful. And my security is not what the Lord gives me. It is an idol.”

To Christians, who object that they do not bow before idols, he said: “No, perhaps, you do not kneel, but that you seek them and so many times in your heart you worship idols, it is true. Many times. Your own safety opens the door to idols.”

Pope Francis reflected on the Second Book of Chronicles, which describes how King Rehoboam, the first leader of the Kingdom of Judah, became complacent and departed from the law of the Lord, taking his people with him.

“But is your own safety bad?” the pope asked. “No, it’s a grace.

Be secure, but also be sure that the

Lord is with me. But when there is safety and I am at the center, I turn away from the Lord, like King Rehoboam, I become unfaithful.”

“It is so difficult to remain faithful. The whole history of Israel, and then the whole history of the Church, is full of infidelity. Full.

Full of selfishness, full of its own certainties that make the people of God move away from the Lord, lose that fidelity, the grace of fidelity.”

Focusing on the day’s second reading (Acts 2:36-41), in which Peter calls people to repentance on the day of Pentecost, the pope said: “To convert is this: to return to being faithful. Fidelity, that human attitude which is not so common in people’s lives, in our lives. There are always illusions that attract attention, and many times we want to hide behind these illusions. Fidelity: in good times and bad times.”

The pope said that the day’s Gospel reading (John 20:11-18) offered

I interviewed 38 British and American niqab wearers for my upcoming book on Muslim women who wear the niqab in the United States and United Kingdom.

Almost all of them were British and American citizens, but they came from all across the world and all walks of life. They were converts from Christianity, Judaism, former atheists, white, African American, African, Arab and South Asian women.

The niqab—a garment that is not re q u i re d b y I s l a m b u t i s co n s i d e re d recommended in some interpretations—is usually worn with a loose, coat-like garment called an abaya and a hijab, or head scarf.

Some women pair it with a long skirt and tunic to conceal the body shape.

All the women interviewed for the book felt the spiritual benefits of niqab-wearing, which makes them feel closer to God and deepens their practice of Islam.

But wearing it in public often subjected them to Islamophobic, racist and sexist street harassment.

Research confirms that Muslim women who wear Islamic dress in non-Muslim majority countries are frequently subjected to abuse.

In a 2017 American study of 40 Muslim women, 85 percent reported verbal violence and 25 percent had experienced physical violence.

We a r i n g t h e n i q a b, t h e m o s t conspicuous form of Islamic dress, is most dangerous. Eighty percent of British niqab wearers inter viewed for a 2014 repor t by the human-rights group Open Societ y Foundations had experienced verbal or physical violence.

The perpetrators tend to perceive niqabwearing women as oppressed, backward, foreign, socially separated or a threat.

Attackers often excuse their actions by citing security and immigration concerns.

‘Everyone suddenly understands it!’

Pope Francis celebrates morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta, April 14, 2020. Vatican Media

an “icon of fidelity”: the image of a weeping Mary Magdalene keeping vigil beside Jesus’ tomb.

“She was there,” he said, “faithful, faced with the impossible, faced with tragedy.… A weak but faithful woman. The icon of fidelity of this Mary of Magdala, apostle to the apostles.”

Inspired by Mary Magdalene, we should pray for the gift of faithfulness, the pope said.

“Let us ask the Lord today for the grace of fidelity: to give thanks when He gives us certainties, but never think that they are ‘my’ certainties and always, look beyond one’s own certainties; the grace of being faithful even before the tombs, before the

collapse of so many illusions.”

After Mass, the pope presided at adoration and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, before leading those watching via livestream in a prayer of spiritual communion.

Finally, the congregation sang t he Ea ster Ma r i a n a nt iphon “Regina Caeli.”

At the start of Mass, the pope prayed that the challenges of the coronavirus crisis would help people to overcome their differences.

“Let us pray that the Lord will give us the grace of unity among us,” he said. “May the difficulties of this time make us discover the communion among us, the unity that is always superior to any division.”

Catholic News Agency via CBCP News

Now, in an unexpected turn of events, people across the West are jogging in face masks and grocery shopping in bandannas tied across their mouths. That’s making public life in the niqab much more pleasant, say Muslim women.

“There’s a marked difference to the way I’m being perceived. Nobody is giving me dirty looks because of my gloves and the covered face,” said a woman I’ll call Afrah, from the the UK, in a Facebook Messenger chat. “Everyone suddenly understands it!”

I use pseudonyms to protect the identify of the women in my research, as talking about niqab use is a sensitive issue.

“I was wearing a handcrafted niqab today and it was amazing,” Jameelah wrote to me from France, where the niqab is legally banned in most public spaces.

“Because of the situation, I didn’t receive malicious glares.”

Fashion designers are even trying to make face coverings look stylish—an effort that has Muslim women long perceived a security threat rolling their eyes on social media.

Rumana, a Muslim from Croatia, told me that the growing acceptance of face covering has helped her overcome a reluctance to use the niqab.

“I am usually an anxious person who doesn’t like to attract attention so that was always the biggest issue. Now that face

Muslim woman from Yemen wears a niqab Wikimedia Commons

coverings are seen everywhere,” she says, “I have finally found the courage to wear it.”

Even some non-Muslims are interested in the niqab as a means of protecting against coronavirus.

Afrah, from the UK, told me that her non-Muslim aunt wants to use a niqab now because she finds regular face masks uncomfortable.

And Sajida, an American Muslim, spoke of a convert friend whose father—a vehement critic of Islam and believer in anti-Muslim conspiracy theories—now encourages his daughter to wear a niqab to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Th e n i q a b a l o n e i s n o t s u f f i c i e nt protection against influenza-like viruses because it is not air tight. Mosques are warning women who wear the niqab to additionally wear a mask underneath for more effective protection.

However, the niqab, like any cloth face covering, is likely to protect others from the wearer’s sneezes if worn snugly around the eyes, ears and nose.

Experts in face covering

The niqab-wearing women who commented for this story recognize that the improved perception of face covering comes at a time of crisis, when ordinary social norms and interactions are suspended.

“I’m wondering if this empathy will continue or will it disappear as soon as the pandemic’s over,” Afrah said via Facebook Messenger. “I wonder if people will keep this reflection, this need to protect oneself, no matter the reason.”

The same question holds within Muslim communities.

“I hope the sisters who were previously anti-niqab and then embraced it in a time of need and fear don’t return to their niqabshunning ways,” Sajida said via e-mail.

For now, niqab-wearing women say, they are in high demand as experts on face covering. Muslim and non-Muslim friends donning the niqab for the first time need their help tying it securely, and ask whether it’s culturally appropriate to cover just the nose and the mouth—rather than the whole face except the eyes.

Women who wear the niqab can also speak from experience about communicating with a covered face. Many people unused to wearing masks find it difficult to convey emotions or pick up on social cues.

But niqab-wearing women know that face coverings don’t prevent effec tive communication.

“Smile! Facial expression is easily and quickly noticeable because of the eyes,” Asma recommended.

Research suggests that detecting human emotion requires looking at much more than facial expressions anyway. The niqabwearing women I interviewed for my book “make an extra effort,” as they told me, to communicate. They wave, speak and use body language to connect.

“I have to be more outwardly chatty and friendly,” Soraya from Scotland said. “If I’m standing at a bus stop, I say ‘hi.’ You can see I am smiling because my eyes crinkle.”

Anna Piela/The Conversation

Khamenei: Mass Ramadan events may stop over virus D

UBAI, United Arab Emirates—Iran’s supreme leader suggested Thursday that mass gatherings may be barred through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the comments in a televised address as Iran prepares to restart its economic activity while suffering one of the world’s worst outbreaks.

He is also the highest-ranking official in the Muslim world to acknowledge the holy month of prayer and reflection will be disrupted by the virus and the Covid-19 illness it causes.

“We are going to be deprived of public gatherings of the month of Ramadan,”

Khamenei said during a speech marking the birth of revered ninth-century Shiite Imam Mahdi. "In the absence of these meetings, remember to heed your prayers and devotions in your lonesomeness.”

Ramadan is to begin in late April and last through most of May. Iranian public officials had not yet discussed plans for the holy month, which sees the Muslim faithful fast from dawn until sunset.

However, Iranian mosques have been closed and Friday prayers canceled across the country for fear of contagion.

Khamenei urged the Shiite faithful to pray in their homes during Ramadan. Shiites typically pray communally, especially during Ramadan, which sees communities share

large meals and greetings each night.

Iran has reported over 66,000 confirmed cases of the new virus, with over 4,100 deaths.

H owe ve r, ex p e r t s h ave re p e ate d ly questioned those numbers, especially as Iran initially downplayed the outbreak in February amid the 41st anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution and a crucial parliamentary vote.

Khamenei's comments come after Egypt’s Ministry of Religious Endowments called off all celebrations and late-evening prayer services for Ramadan, including mass charity iftars, the traditional dinners when Muslims break their daily fast.

Mosques and Churches have already closed for prayers across Egypt.

The Egyptian government has insisted the virus is under control as infections increase in the country of 100 million.

A prominent heart surgery center in Egypt identified a cluster of coronavirus cases, the second health facility in a week to become a source of infection.

The Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation in the southern city of Aswan, established by a leading Egyptian-British transplant surgeon, said it had identified four cases, one patient and three security guards, and placed them into isolation.

The hospital said it would monitor those showing symptoms and sterilize the wards, while continuing to treat urgent care patients.

Nearly 20 medics in Egypt’s main cancer

hospital tested positive for the coronavirus earlier this month, raising fears of rapid transmission in health facilities across the Arab world’s most populous country.

Doctors have been infected in at least three other major hospitals across Cairo, forcing facilities to temporarily halt all but critical operations.

Egypt's Health Ministry reported 15 more deaths from the virus in the country—the biggest single-day jump so far, bringing the death toll to 118 from among 1,699 reported cases.

All the fatalities were Egyptian nationals except for one foreign citizen whose nationality was not provided.

The pandemic also looms over holiday

celebrations in Lebanon, where Muslims and Christians make up most of the population.

The government extended movement restrictions for two more weeks, from Easter Sunday to the start of Ramadan, including a nighttime curfew, shut-downs of public institutions and driving restrictions to reduce traffic.

In Jordan, which has taken severe action to stop the spread of the coronavirus, a 48-hour complete lockdown took effect.

Tareq Hammouri, the Minister of Trade and Supply, told reporters the government is preparing electronic permits to reopen the economy for business. The country will resume exports after evaluating its stockpiles, he added. AP

Biodiversity Sunday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Sunday, April 19, 2020

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

A7

Are your pets safe amid Covid-19?

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

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@jonlmayuga

s we are kept indoors for a little longer by the extended enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus, we hope and pray that staying at home will keep us safe.

But have we ever thought about the safety of our domestic animals at home that they, too, are vulnerable to 2019 novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19)? Yes, the dogs and cats we occasionally play with, hug and kiss a lot, especially these days while on lockdown, are vulnerable, too.

Experts believe that the novel coronavirus is far more deadly because of how fast it has spread across the globe through humanto-human transmission and, lately, human-to-animal transmission.

In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Covid-19 as a pandemic because of the extent of cross-border infection.

First wild animal with Covid-19

As Nadia, a Malayan tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York City, has been tested positive for the virus that causes Covid-19, while six others of the same species are exhibiting symptoms consistent with the dreaded disease, experts believe it is time we also consider protecting our domestic animals—the munings and bantays that we love so much.

The chief veterinarian for the Bronx Zoo, Paul Calle, was quoted in a National Geographic report as saying that Nadia’s case was a first—wild animal—for Covid-19.

The human host or carrier of the virus that caused its transmission to Nadia could have been an asymptomatic zookeeper, he said.

Closed since March 16, the zoo’s keepers are the only ones allowed to get close to the animals.

Before Nadia, domestic animals had been previously tested positive for the virus—a Pomeranian and a German shepherd in Hong Kong, and a domestic cat in Belgium, the report further said.

Better safe than sorry

While there was no evidence that domestic animals can spread the coronavirus to people, it is always better to be safe than sorry.

Sought for her expert opinion, Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) Executive Director Theresa Mundita S. Lim said cats, especially, are not safe from Covid-19.

“If it can infect tigers, it can infect related species, like domestic cats. In fact, a few weeks ago there

If possible, let your dog out into a safely enclosed backyard so that they can relieve themselves and run around, Peta Asia says. Peta Asia.com

was a report in Belgium that the Covid-19 virus was isolated in a cat whose owner was infected. This is indicating that there is a possibility for interspecies transmission for Covid-19,” she said.

However, she said more tests are needed to have a definitive conclusion, but added “of course, we cannot do that now because of the limited test kits, we need to prioritize the human popu lation first.”

According to Lim, a licensed veterinarian with specialization on wildlife management and disease, amid the emerging information, pet owners can take precautions by trying to keep pets away if they are Covid-positive.

Animals in captivity

“Wild animals become vulnerable if they are in captivity and their keepers are infected,” she added.

“What this is telling us is that

in managing and preventing Covid-19, and until such time that we identify the exact role of domestic species and captive wild animals in disease transmission, we need to take precautions in handling animals who may be exposed to Covid-positive households,” she said.

According to Lim, Asean member-countries, which are struggling to fight Covid-19 also has populations of Malayan tigers in the wild, pointing out that the findings and further studies may become even more relevant today in its efforts in saving tigers in Southeast Asia.

How to protect cats and dogs

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), through its Senior Vice President of International Campaigns Jason Baker, gave some tips on how to do the job right.

He noted that while humans can spread coronavirus to certain animals—no cat, big or small, and

no dog, is known to have spread the virus to humans.

Here are some tips to keep companion animals safe: n Never put face masks on animals, as they can cause breathing difficulties; n Allow animals to move about your home normally—don’t cage or crate them; n People who are sick or under medical attention for Covid-19 should avoid close contact with animals and have another member of their household care for them so as not to get the virus on their fur. The coronavirus can be left on animals' fur, just as it can remain on a doorknob, a handrail, another human hand, or any other surfaces that an infected person has touched; n Don’t stockpile unnecessarily—as this could result in shortages for others—but do plan ahead and ensure that you have adequate

food and medicine, if needed, for your companion animals (approximately two to three weeks’ worth); and/or n Assist neighbors who may not be able to shop for their companion animals and donate companionanimal food to food banks.

Baker, however, reiterated that since wildlife and “filthy factory farms” are linked to the spread of Covid-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), swine flu, avian flu, mad cow disease, and more—a world in which chickens, pigs and wild animals, such as bats, are not confined in filth for human consumption would make for a far safer world.

Several days ago, Peta sent an urgent e-mail to Agriculture Secretary Dr. William D. Dar, urging him to close live-animal meat markets across the Philippines permanently.

In his letter, he pointed out markets that are crammed full of sick and stressed animals are breeding grounds for deadly diseases.

“While some live-animal markets in China have closed, possibly temporarily, many continue to operate throughout Asia, including the Balintawak Public Market and Farmers’ Market in Manila,” he lamented.

As scientists from various parts of the world race to develop a vaccine that will effectively cure Covid-positive humans, governments across the world are also pinning their hope in preventing further spread of the deadly virus by implementing community quarantines or lockdowns, advising people to stay at home for their own sake.

As pet owners, when we stay at home to help mitigate the spread of Covid-19, it is also our responsibility to keep our animal companions safe.

Social distancing works: Ask lobsters, ants and vampire bats

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ocial distancing to combat Covid-19 is profoundly impacting society, leaving many people wondering whether it will actually work. As disease ecologists, we know that nature has an answer.

Animals as diverse as monkeys, lobsters, insects and birds can detect and avoid sick members of their species.

Why have so many types of animals evolved such sophisticated behaviors in response to disease? Because social distancing helps them survive.

In evolutionary terms, animals that effectively socially distance during an outbreak improve their chances of staying healthy and going on to produce more offspring, which also will socially distance when confronted with disease.

We study the diverse ways in which animals use behaviors to avoid infection, and why behaviors matter for disease spread.

While animals have evolved a variety of behaviors that limit infection, the ubiquity of social distancing in group-living animals tells us that this strategy has been favored again and again in animals faced with high risk of contagious disease.

What can we learn about social distancing from other animals, and how are their actions like and unlike what humans are doing now?

Feed the sick, but protect the queen

Social insects are some of the most extreme practitioners of social distancing in nature.

Many types of ants live in tight quarters with hundreds or even thousands of close relatives. Much like our day-care centers, college dormitories and nursing homes, these colonies can create optimal conditions for spreading contagious diseases.

In response to this risk, ants have evolved the ability to socially distance. When a contagious disease sweeps through their society, both sick and healthy ants rapidly change their behavior in ways that slow disease transmission.

Sick ants self-isolate, and healthy ants reduce their interaction with other ants when disease is present in the colony.

Healthy ants even “close rank” around the most vulnerable colony members—the queens and nurses—by keeping them isolated from the foragers that are most likely to introduce germs from outside.

Overall, these measures are highly effective at limiting disease spread and keeping colony members alive.

Many other types of animals also choose exactly who to socially distance from, and conversely, when to put themselves at risk.

For example, mandrills—a type of monkey—continue to care for sick family members even as they actively avoid sick individuals to whom they are not related.

In an evolutionary sense, caring for a sick family member may allow an animal to pass on its genes through that family member’s offspring.

Further, some animals maintain essential social interactions in the face of sickness while foregoing less critical ones.

For example, vampire bats continue to provide food for their sick groupmates, but avoid grooming them. This minimizes contagion risk while still preserving forms of social support that are most essential to keeping sick family members alive, such as food sharing.

These nuanced forms of social distancing minimize costs of disease while maintaining the benefits of social living. It should come as no surprise that evolution favors them in many types of animals.

Altruism makes us human

Human behavior in the presence of disease also bears the signature of evolution. This indicates that our hominid ancestors faced many of the same pressures from contagious disease that we are facing today.

Like social ants, we are protecting the most vulnerable members of our society from Covid-19 infection by ensuring that older individuals and those with preexisting conditions stay away from potentially contagious people.

Like monkeys and bats, we also practice nuanced social distancing, reducing nonessential social contacts while still providing essential care for sick family members.

There also are important differences.

For example, in addition to caring for sick family members, humans sometimes increase their own risk by caring for unrelated individuals, such as friends and neighbors.

And health-care workers go further, actively seeking out and helping precisely those who many of us carefully avoid.

Altruism isn’t the only behavior that distinguishes human response to disease outbreaks. Other animals must rely on subtle cues to detect illness among group members, but we have cutting-edge technologies that make it possible to detect pathogens rapidly and then isolate and treat sick individuals.

And humans can communicate health threats globally in an instant, which allows us to proactively institute behaviors that mitigate disease. That’s a huge evolutionary advantage.

Finally, thanks to virtual platforms, humans can maintain social connections without direct physical contact. This means that unlike other animals, we can practice physical rather than social distancing, which lets us preserve some of the important benefits of group living while minimizing disease risk.

Underwater photo contest first prize winner by Bretch Garcinez

Fire ants Wikimedia Commons

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Worth the disruption

The evidence from nature is clear: Social distancing is an effective tool for reducing disease spread. It is also a tool that can be implemented more rapidly and more universally than almost any other. Unlike vaccination and medication, behavioral changes don’t require development or testing.

However, social distancing can also incur significant and sometimes unsustainable costs. Some highly social animals, like banded mongooses, do not avoid group members even when they are visibly sick; the evolutionary costs of social distancing from their relatives may simply be too high.

As we are currently experiencing, social distancing also imposes severe costs of many kinds in human societies, and these costs are often borne disproportionately by the most vulnerable people.

Sarangani Protected Seascape marks 24th year

Given that social distancing can be costly, why do so many animals do it? In short, because behaviors that protect us from disease ultimately allow us to enjoy social living—a lifestyle that offers myriad benefits, but also carries risks.

By implementing social distancing when it’s necessary, humans and other animals can continue to reap the diverse benefits of social living in the long term, while minimizing the costs of potentially deadly diseases when they arise.

Social distancing can be profoundly disruptive to our society, but it can also stop a disease outbreak in its tracks.

Just ask ants. Dana Hawley and Julia Buck/The Conversation

arangani Bay, one of the country’s richest body of water and home to the tuna industry, recently marked another milestone as it celebrated its 24th year as a protected seascape.

To mark the occasion, the Depar tment of Environment and Natural ResourcesRegion 12, in collaboration with the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB), launched the first- ever Sarangani Bay Protected Seascape (SBPS) Week to highlight the effor ts to protect and conser ve its coastal and marine resources.

The bay was declared a protec ted seascape by former President Fidel Ramos under Proclamation 756 in 1996, covering an area of 215,950 hectares.

Held in General Santos City and various parts of Sarangani province, the weeklong observance consisted of mall exhibits of marine species and simultaneous bay-wide cleanups that were participated in by the 68 barangays, business and tourism establishments along the bay’s coast.

A dive safari and under water photography contest held at Maitum, Kiamba and Maasim towns showcased Sarangani’s emerging scuba diving sites.

Topping the three-day photo tilt were Bretch Garcinez of General Santos City, and East Pardillo of Davao City who won the wide and macro categories, respectively.

Other activities included a three-day environmental forum and enforcement summit; trash-to-ar t, mass dance and logo-making competitions, and the search for the Ambassadress of SBPS.

Declared by the Department of Tourism as a scuba diving haven in southern Mindanao in 2017, the bay was also listed by the DENR as a Marine Key Biodiversity Areas with coral resources covering 2,293 hectares, 60 impor tant live hard coral genera, 411 reef species, and 11 species of seagrass.

The DENR has also monitored various dolphin species, killer whales, dwarf and pygmy sperm whales in the bay, attesting to its rich biodiversity.

Because of the event’s success, the SBPS Protected Area Management Board passed a resolution declaring March 5 as the annual SBPS Day, and directing local government units, major stakeholders, and par tner-organizations to take par t in the obser vance.

Sarangani Gov. and PAMB Vice Chairman Steve Solon lauded the maiden celebration, saying it symbolizes a broader commitment in preser ving the bay as a shelter, and source of living and life to the areas around it.

He said that the provincial governm e n t i s a m a j o r s t a ke h o l d e r i n t h e p re s e r v a t i o n o f t h e b a y ’s e c o s y s t e m through its Sulong Kalikasan program and the Environmental Conser vation and Protec tion Center.

Hugging a coastal road of some 224 kilometers, the bay is host to the General Santos City Fish Port Complex, fisherfolk villages, beach resor ts, a coal energy power plant, shipyards, marine parks and sanctuaries, and aquaculture farms.

A8

Sunday, April 19, 2020

Sports BusinessMirror

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

WOMEN’S SPORTS TEETER IN PANDEMIC

By Anne M. Peterson

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The Associated Press

INKED to the rising call for gender equity worldwide, women’s sports were enjoying unprecedented attention and support before the coronavirus pandemic.

The World Cup in France put a spotlight on women’s soccer, culminating with the United States lifting the trophy to chants of “Equal Pay!”—a nod to the team’s gender discrimination lawsuit against US Soccer—and the sport remained in the public eye to open the year. The professional National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), home to many of the US national team’s players, was expecting to open its eighth season with a new television contract.

Women’s pro softball was looking toward the sport’s return to the Olympics for the first time since 2008. Professional volleyball, which enjoys popularity in Europe, Russia and Brazil, similarly draws peak interest in an Olympic year.

Any momentum these leagues, and women’s sports in general, had worldwide has seemingly been halted by the pandemic. Now the question is whether women will lose the gains they had made when life returns to normal.

“If the seas get choppy and rough and you’re out there in a yacht, you can go downstairs and live it

up and ride it out. You can eat good, drink good and all that. Men’s sports are the ones with the yacht,” said Cheri Kempf, commissioner of the National Pro Fastpitch softball league. “But if you’re out there in a canoe, and seas get choppy, you’re in big trouble.

And that’s women’s sports. You know, we’re riding around out there in a canoe.”

Among the signs women’s sports could suffer more was the recent decision by Independiente Santa Fe in Colombia to suspend all player contracts for its women’s soccer team while saying the men’s team would only see pay cuts.

The impact of Covid-19 and the resulting hit to the economy could resemble the 2008 recession. The Houston Comets of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) could not find a buyer and the league contracted back then. Whirlpool, meanwhile, pulled out of its planned sponsorship of Women’s Professional Soccer, which had the unfortunate timing of launching in 2009 and lasted just three seasons.

The WNBA is in better shape today than many women’s sports because of its affiliation with the NBA. The league has put off the start of the season, set for May 15, but Commissioner Cathy Engelbert recently suggested it might be able to return sooner rather than later.

“We might be able to tip this season off before some other leagues since we only have 12 teams and 144 players,” she told The

Associated Press.

But there are concerns among those who aren’t similarly positioned.

Volleyball player Kelsey Robinson, who is on the US team that was bound for the Tokyo Olympics this summer before the games were postponed, can usually make a living playing overseas, like many national team players. She was just heading into the playoffs with her club in Turkey, which has a thriving professional volleyball league, when play was suspended. Now she worries about her opportunities in a post-pandemic world.

“It’s hard to say what will happen in Turkey or China, where there are pretty strong economies for sport. But for sure, Italy I know will have to decrease salaries, maybe not at the top team, but I’m sure it’ll affect lower teams and clubs,” Robinson said. “We’re not finishing the season right now or playing, so that’s a hard financial burden for our club because a lot of the salaries for the coming season depends on how we finish in the playoffs.”

NWSL Players Association Executive Director Yael Averbuch West said current fears about losses are legitimate.

“I think that everybody is afraid of that. And especially right now, looking at women’s soccer and coming off of what we feel is a huge positive

momentum after the World Cup, and the NWSL doing really well and continuing to grow, it’s obviously a concern. This is tough for everyone, including the ownership groups, the fans, the players, the league office,” Averbuch West said.

The international soccer players’ union, FIFPro, issued a report Thursday warning of the impact the coronavirus could have on women’s soccer worldwide and recommended mitigation measures, including continued investment.

“Who knows what the future will bring?” said forward Jodie Taylor, who plays for the NWSL’s Reign and England’s national team and sits on the FIFPro player council. “It’s a reality, it’s a stressful reality, and one that the world’s kind

of sitting back and waiting for.”

Athletes in individual sports could be hit hardest. Tennis, golf and track athletes are largely dependent on competing to earn a paycheck, and that’s currently impossible. The athletes face uncertainties going forward: When the events do return, will the sponsors remain? Will younger prospects fall away from those sports out of economic necessity?

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) said last week that its planned start date is now July 13. Wimbledon has been canceled for this year.

“Health and safety remains the top priority as we navigate the challenges ahead in these unprecedented times, and we will do everything

US volleyball player Kelsey Robinson worries about her opportunities in a post-pandemic world.

we can for the tour to resume at the earliest opportunity once it is safe to do so,” Association of Tennis Professionals Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said.

The National Pro Fastpitch softball league was hit particularly hard. The 17-year-old league included national teams from Australia, Canada and China this season in preparation for the Olympics. Australia and Canada have already said that even if the league gets off the ground this season, they won’t participate.

“I don’t want to say that I’m worried that we won’t survive,” Kempf said. “But I think that common sense would dictate and tell you that it’s a hit for everyone.”

Bundesliga restart in May without fans doubtful

B

ERLIN—Extending the ban on large gatherings in Germany to the end of August threatens soccer officials’ aim of restarting the Bundesliga in May without spectators.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s announcement, maintaining gatherings of no more than two people in public to try and contain the coronavirus, also ensures that the next Bundesliga season cannot begin as planned in August.

After talks between Merkel and the 16 state governors about easing restrictions, Bavaria’s Markus Söder said the “Bundesliga wasn’t an issue,” meaning they have far bigger priorities than soccer.

The Bundesliga, last played on March 11, was hoping to resume in May without spectators, but the number of people needed at venues—two teams, substitutes, coaches, medical staff, security to ensure fans stay away—means even games in almost empty stadiums look like a tall order.

Complicating the issue for the German soccer league (DFL), is that each of the country’s 16 states can set their own conditions. It’s very likely they will differ, meaning some games could be allowed and others not.

German soccer federation President Fritz Keller is expecting momentous fallout.

“I don’t think the landscape in soccer will be the same after the corona crisis,” Keller said last week. “We’re going to miss a few [clubs], and I think that the longer it continues, the more bankruptcies we’re going to have in professional soccer.”

SEATS are empty at the stadium of German Bundesliga club Borussia Monchengladbach in Monchengladbach, Germany. AP

Schalke and Paderborn in the Bundesliga are reportedly facing insolvency, while Kicker magazine says 13 clubs in the second division are also under existential threat if a delayed installment payment for television rights is not made to the DFL. The magazine reports that Sky, DAZN and ARD missed a payment of 304 million euros ($331 million)—the last of four installments for TV rights for the two divisions—to the league on April 10, but the broadcasters have agreed to pay on May 2.

“We can manage another one or two months, but then we’re out of air,” Paderborn

Managing Director Martin Przondziono told broadcaster Sport1. “If the TV money doesn’t come, it will be tight for us.”

Schalke has made no secret of its financial problems caused by the pandemic despite a sponsorship arrangement with Russian energy giant Gazprom reportedly worth 30 million euros per season.

Schalke Communications Director Alexander Jobst last month asked holders of boxes in the stadium to waive partial repayment for the club’s last home games.

“It’s about existence!” Jobst wrote in an e-mail on March 17. AP

PGA TOUR HOPING TO RESUME IN JUNE

T

HE Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour laid out an ambitious plan Thursday to resume its season the second week of June and keep fans away for at least a month, conceding that any return to golf depends on whether it can be played safely amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial

in Fort Worth, Texas, was pushed back to June 11 to 14. Assuming golf gets the green light from government and health officials, the tour then would have an official tournament every week through December 6 except for a Thanksgiving break.

“Our hope is to play a role—responsibly—in the world’s return to enjoying the things we love,”

KEVIN NA (front left) is congratulated by Charles Schwab after winning The Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas, in May last year. AP

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said. “But as we’ve stressed on several occasions, we will resume competition only when...it is considered safe to do so under the guidance of the leading public health authorities.”

Golf is the first sport to announce plans for a restart, although its arenas are far different from other sports because it is played over some 400 acres. It was the second significant step to try to salvage the year, following last week’s announcement of three majors—including the Masters in November—going later in the year.

Even as it announced a truncated schedule, several key details were still being contemplated, such as testing for Covid-19 at tournaments.

“We have a level of confidence that is based upon...changes and developments being made in the world of testing, available tests,” said Andy Pazder, the tour’s chief officer of tournaments and competition. “We’re following very closely, through the assistance of our expert medical advisers, the development of more large-scale testing capabilities.... It gives us confidence that we will be able to develop a strong testing protocol that will mitigate risk as much as we possibly can.” AP

Help from home For the Filipino youth, the obligation to help frontliners amid the Covid-19 pandemic cannot be locked down

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BusinessMirror APRIL 19 , 2020 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

YOUR MUSI

ANNIEWHEREWEGO

By Annie S. Alejo

QUITE THE QUIRKY QUARANTINE

M

USIC has the remarkable ability to quiet our hearts. This lockdown period, we’ve seen people talk about the arts—music included—and its value to human society. I agree, wholeheartedly. During a transition period in my life, I tried to learn to play the bass. I have not become good at it because I don’t have the innate talent, but it took my mind off things—off my worries, my apprehensions.

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: T. Anthony C. Cabangon

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: Aldwin M. Tolosa

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These days, we all feel a little worried. If you are not, I don’t know what to say to you. But if there’s any good that has come out, we’ve now got digital concerts and livestreams from our favorite artists. Here’s who I want to see next. Bear in mind, these are tandems to step things up a bit.

Besides, there’s always Skype, because Zoom is another privacy problem to discuss another day.

Adele and James Corden doing “Coronarama”

“Coronarama” could be a mix of hilarity and tunes, where James does the funny bits and Adele leads the sing-along. To anyone who has seen their Carpook Karaoke, you know these two are wacky enough to make a livestreamunder-quarantine a good one. Do you recall Adele rapping to Nicki Minaj’s “Monster” and going holey moley? Corden, who seems to know the lyrics to a helluva lot of songs, can easily keep up with her belting songs, too.

Ed Sheeran and James Bay in “Two Infectious” The have already done a duet at the Cambridge Corn Exchange and people liked it, a lot. Both singer-songwriters, they both write good songs on guitars and can easily turn a livestream into a slugfest of melodies and musicality. Sure, it may get a little sad sappy, but there are times we could use a sad song or two to get that heartache out of our system and help us come out healed in more ways than one post-ECQ.

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Adele (AP Photos)

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Eddie Vedder and Bono headline the “Epic Center” This twosome is only in my list because Chris Cornell had already passed on, and he would have been the perfect partner to Vedder. Bono and Eddie had already shared the stage before with both their bands to perform Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World.” These two are my personal favorites—their voices, the emotions they put in their songs and performances. I don’t know about you, but it may be nice to see them performing stripped-down versions of their favorite songs. Maybe Eddie could play his ukulele; Bono could bust out his harmonica. And don’t event get me started with U2’s “Bad,” “Angel of Harlem,” “One,” and “Running To Stand Still” and Pearl Jam’s “Black,” “Given to Fly,” “Off He Goes,” and “Unknown Thought.” And if they ever sing the latter’s “Angel” (yes, a B-side) together, it will blow my mind and I won’t recover.

So, who are your favorite tandems?

soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | APRIL 19 , 2020

IC OUR BUSINESS

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SoundSampler

by Tony M. Maghirang

Benefit albums in the fight against COVID-19 ing and bodies slamming in tiny rooms everywhere.

All album sales will be donated to an urban poor organization in the Philippines that represents and fights for the rights of people in the most poverty-stricken areas in cities that have been badly hit by the current Coronavirus pandemic.

PGH workers look upbeat, despite their burdens, as they embark on another long day from their “home” at City State Tower Hotel in Ermita, Manila. (Photo by Bernard Testa)

COAST MORIYA Showers & Whispers Newcomer Michael Lorenzana dons the Coast Moriya producer moniker and comes up with an EP that lives up to its title. Its five tracks circles around the kind of easy listening music once called new age, now for better or worse, referred to as smooth jazz. Their piano-enhanced watery, whispery soundscapes are meditative balms for the harried, confused souls trapped in a 24/7 clampdown.

“Droplets” introduces the thematic arc of the album, with the natural sound of rain ending in a drizzle. By the fourth cut, Coast Moriya sidesteps the nature-references in track titles, turning “Overlap” into a rougher sort of pop where headbopping beats collide with ping-ponging pulses.

“Jazzy” reverts back to the smooth jazz concept then ends in the joys of an impending ecstasy.

Proceeds from the sale of the album and its tracks will be donated to Filipino medical frontliners currently battling the Covid-19 virus.

NAMATAY SA INGAY Ang Talim ng Galit All the pent-up rage of people cooped-up in the (dis)comfort of their hot, humid homes blows hot and hotter in what appears to be a Fil-Am collective’s response to the current pandemic.

Recorded by Scott T. and mastered by Will Killingsworth, possibly the Namatay sa Ingay (Death by Noise) principals, “Ang Talim ng Galit” (The Blade of Fury) is the blasting copulation of Black Flag and DRI influences, with more than a token nod at Dead Ends.

The strong connections with Al Dimalanta’s old crew are there in the group name, “Namatay sa Ingay” and the way songs like “Pagkagapos,” and “Manhid” sharply depict a people’s continuing struggle against cyclic suffering, getting fucked over and a general climate of indifference. The title track invokes that a true artist will have a pencil in one hand and an AK-47 in the other while “Tago Ng Tago” angrily laments the fate of undocumented Filipinos in other lands. They’re fuel for an exciting noisefest that should get adrenalin pump-

VARIOUS ARTISTS United Against COVID​-​19 We are all connected and united against the pandemic and this other various artists compilation feature 10 Italian techno artists putting their best foot forward, Dorian Gray’s “Endless Hope” is a dark but hypnotic interlace of “New Order’s “Blue Monday” rhythm and melodic ambient loops. “Lexton”

by Adam Backdrop has driving insistent electronica beats while ominous synths spiral in the background.

Bits of the playful Frog ding ding announces Andrea Cossus “Bequadro” that grows into the sizzling hiss of a speeding MRT. Similarly, Antonio Buscito’s “Sinfodrome” goes from a lumbering lazy start to a full-on symphony of sounds at the end.

Proceeds from all sales will go to charitable healthcare facilities operating against the spread of COVID-19.

ROLLOVER MILANO & FRIENDS AGAINST CORONAVIRUS Anything Goes Compilation This is a collection of 19 edits from DJ friends of Rollover Milano Records from Milan to New York to Paris and London. It’s a reaction to the devastation wrought by Coronavirus on the beautiful city of Milano, Italy which as of March 25 had 60,000 cases of infections and 7,000 deaths. While the producers suggest that this compilation allows for an entertaining diversion in pandemic times, they think about those who are in more challenging situations, especially those who are risking their lives every day in the fight against the killer virus.

Some of the “secret weapons” on the compilation are: Capisco (2manydjs Edit)” whose funky drive finds Stevie Wonder frolicking on ‘80s Italo disco, “Let’s Come Together (Dada Disco’s Kunstkamera Rework)” doing hefty rock disco with crazy guitars all over the place and “Fegato (Ferrari Edit)” reprising ‘70s psychedelia badgered by Santana wannabes, Malo.

All proceeds go to the official emergency fund set up by the Italian Civil Protection Department earmarked for the COVID-19 crisis relief in Italy.

COVID-19 We All Die Covid-19 is the solo artist moniker of Russian Alex Ezeptrone, guitarist/vocalist of death / doom band Wishdoomdark. The album title and track titles like “Coronavirus,” “Blood China,” and “See Venice and Die” paint a bleak situationer on the ravages of the artist’s musical namesake. A recent companion piece “The Collapse of The Planet” seems to unduly sock the dread to your solar plexus but there he goes, flexing the mournful soundtrack for an era that could end with an ugly protesting growl rather than with a loud bang.

There’s neither glory nor fun in listening to Covid-19 waxing ghoulishly poetic about the radiance of life’s dissolution or the dialectics of extinction. But he could be just setting to strange weird music so-called visionary stuffs already foretold in the Biblical Armageddon or in countless literary pieces, some of them classics, that have come down across the centuries.

Anyway, all funds raised from the album go to Covid-19 charity.

All albums reviewed are available on most digital music platforms.

Help from home For the Filipino youth, the obligation to help frontliners amid the Covid-19 pandemic cannot be locked down

By Paolo Vergara

S

ocial media and more access to information has made the youth more aware of social issues, creating a sense of urgency to respond within our capacities.

As the world deals with the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, many young people have taken the initiative to help from home by sourcing and sending aid to workers in the frontlines. Here are some youth-led initiatives from various disciplines and sectors.

Health care What started out as a video tribute to health-care workers has quickly evolved into a centralized database and aid-sourcing site for hospitals.

Davao-based neurologist Alvin Layog and World Health Organization science communicator Jason Ligot, also a public health physician, rode the momentum of their humble tribute production to launch Protect the Frontline. In partnership with Shift Interactive, a communications agency led by Laica Turingan, the group solicits the whole gamut of personal protective equipment (PPEs), as well as meals and transportation services, for medical workers.

Protect the Frontline mainly operates through its web site, protectthefrontline.com, which features a simplified interface. Site visitors, for instance, are greeted with an item list of PPEs. When they click on a specific item, they are directed to a hospital in need of such gear. Another link leads to money-only donations.

Ligot said that stakeholder feedback has turned out positive, with their concept of “exchange platform” now operational. As of April 8, the site has managed to facilitate more than 100 batches of donations of about 5,000 assorted items to 70 hospitals.

“Further down the road,” he said, “we hope to sustain the campaign and provide a platform for individuals, groups, organizations and communities to continue giving. Our perspective should extend beyond the immediate needs of the next few weeks.”

Another group is Help for Health (facebook.com/help4healthph). Organized by barrio doctors, public health workers, and scholars returning from abroad, Help for Health directly delivers “hugot packs” to medical personnel facing seemingly endless shifts, where time for personal care is often neglected.

When the project started, hugot packs contained personal hygiene items, energy-boosting snacks, and personalized letters of support. These care packages have since evolved to include PPEs, most notably N95 masks, face shields, and goggles. The packs are being distributed within Metro Manila, but moves are already being made to reach provincial hospitals.

“Through our networks in the medical community,” shares project cofounder Yves Zuñiga, who also works at the Department of Health as a senior health program officer, “we were able to check with the frontliners what their needs are [and] where help is needed the most.”

A screengrab from protectthefrontline.com

Mental health With Covid-19 cases increasing, Manila-based registered psychologist Camille Yusay received word that many health-care professionals from doctors to nurses were experiencing signs of anxiety and depression.

In response, Yusay, who works with USAID, connected with fellow professionals to launch Psych Response PH (psychresponseph.simplybook.me/v2), a free helpline that utilizes Psychological First Aid (PFA) to help medical workers through the initial stages of burnout.

She said that PFA is mainly about emphatic listening to assess another’s psychological needs. This means anyone who simply lends an ear to a frontliner in need of help already serves as volunteer in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

The need for more intensive help, however, will definitely arise. Thus, Yusay has partnered with AJ Sunglao, another practicing psychologist, to create Project Tatag. The program is designed as a “second line of support” that links frontline workers with professional mental-health services.

Sunglao is also a member of youth-run nonprofit organizations Youth for Mental Health Coalition Inc., (facebook.com/YouthForMentalHealth) and Silakbo PH. These orgs were present in lobbying efforts culminating in the passage of the 2018 Philippine Mental Health Act. Today, the two groups, under Sunglao’s guidance, with direct professional aid from Psych Response and the Philippine Psychiatric Association, have launched Project Hilom. The initiative is a version of Tatag that is geared toward helping laypeople stuck in quarantine.

Extended isolation and home quarantine, as The Economist reports, could contribute to the decline of mental health. Yusay said that like medical health, triage in mental health is important, and this is where empathetic listening factors heavily.

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April 19, 2020

With the youth destigmatizing the discourse around mental health, Yusay remains hopeful that society as a whole will understand that mental wellness is part of overall health, especially during this time of global health crisis.

Development, creative professionals and media workers The last weeks have seen the rise of many private and individual-led efforts to raise funds and collate aid. While laudable, concerns from donors about transparency and aid reaching stakeholders needs addressing.

Enter Help from Home PH (helpfromhome.ph), a web site listing legitimate aid drives into a one-stop platform.

Launched by a team of youths including development workers Raizza Bello and Julienne Joven, the site is an information hub whose two major stakeholders are hospital workers and economically vulnerable Filipino families.

According to the Help from Home PH communications team, “the info hub not only contains donation opportunities, but reflects gaps that aren’t being filled in a vulnerable sector—i.e., this area has overflowing rice [harvests] or needs more masks for residents.”

Organizations listed on the site are vetted based on background, fund-raising history, and proof-of-delivery.

As of press time, Visayas and Mindanao efforts have been included.

Preventing our health-care system from collapsing is the primary objective of all efforts. While this can be achieved by staying at home to limit disease exposure, these groups show that even from home, a proactive, holistic, and systematic solution can be established and pursued, leading to tangible results.

Note: The author is a member of Silakbo PH