BusinessMirror August 04, 2019

ROTARY CLUB OF MANILA JOURNALISM AWARDS

2006 National Newspaper of the Year 2011 National Newspaper of the Year 2013 Business Newspaper of the Year 2017 Business Newspaper of the Year 2019 Business Newspaper of the Year

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

A broader look at today’s business n

Sunday, August 4, 2019 Vol. 14 No. 298

2018 EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS

BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR

DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

2018 BANTOG MEDIA AWARDS PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY

DATA CHAMPION

P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 16 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK

SAME OLD BANANA Japan reports yet another breach of chemical caps on banana fruit imports from PHL, deepening growers’ anxiety

PORT dockers load bananas from the quay into shipping containers in Cebu City. HUGO MAES | DREAMSTIME.COM

D

By Manuel T. Cayon

AVAO CITY—Japan has reported yet another breach of its quarantine regulation by a banana shipper from the Philippines in July, raising apprehension anew that Tokyo may impose stricter measures against Philippine banana shipments and scale down its preference over the homegrown fruit.

The Philippine agriculture attaché in Japan, Samuel B. Animas, told the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) that he was informed on July 10, 2019, by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) of “another violation [of the minimum residue limit] committed by the Federation of Cooperatives [Fedco] in Mindanao.”

Fedco, along other small banana growers, is among the farmer-beneficiaries of the government’s agrarian reform program. It

is, likewise, a distinct and separate organization of banana growers from the PBGEA that groups together the big Filipino and foreign banana plantation owners in Mindanao.

No response yet

THE breach was reportedly detected while the MHLW was still to respond to the report of the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) regarding the latter’s action that would ensure compliance by Filipino banana growers to the minimum residue

limit (MRL) on banana exports.

Japan raised its reaction to one shipment from the Philippines in August last year that showed a shipment exceeded the allowable presence of the insecticide called fipronil, whose residue had gone beyond the MRL limit imposed

by Japan’s MLHW, even as it has further reduced its MRL on fipronil, from 0.01 parts per million to 0.005 ppm.

The PBGEA has requested Animas to arrange a meeting with its key officers and those of MHLW,

but the attaché said the Japanese ministry may not be inclined to meet with PBGEA, owing to its private status.

Animas said in its correspondence on July 16, 2019, with PBGEA Executive Director Stephen A. Antig, a chance meeting may likely happen in the Philippines when the MHLW “expressed [its] intention to visit the Philippines after the evaluation of the June 28 documents submitted by BPI.” “Maybe that would be a good Continued on A2

Tycoon’s death in a river lays bare India’s mounting debt crisis

E

By Ari Altstedter | Bloomberg News

tragic turn for an admired member of India’s business elite and an executive closely connected to the highest echelons of the political sphere. Over the course of more than two decades, Siddhartha built a java empire that now boasts more than 1,700 stores—10 times as many outlets as Starbucks Corp. in India—as well as 54,000 vending machines, almost singlehandedly introducing his tea-loving country to coffee shops and making his Cafe Coffee Day chain a household name.

VEN before the body of coffeechain tycoon V.G. Siddhartha was recovered from a river in southern India this week, the financial strains that appear to have led him to take his own life were beginning to emerge.

A letter purportedly written and signed by Siddhartha and sent to senior management of Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd. laid out in stark words his struggles with a “serious liquidity crunch” that, in turn, had led to “tremendous pressure” from lenders and an unnamed private-equity investor.

“I would like to say I gave it

my all,” Siddhartha wrote. “I am very sorry to let down all the people that put their trust in me.

I fought for a long time but today I gave up.” He sent the note to the board on July 27. Two days later, the executive was reported missing after telling his driver he’d go for a stroll.

Siddhartha’s death marks a

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 51.1050

Refinancing loans

A VIEW of Cafe Coffee Day on MG Road in Bengaluru, India, July 31, 2019. KAREN DIAS/BLOOMBERG

BUT what was less known was that for all his company’s scale and ubiquity, Siddhartha struggled with a mounting financial burden. A review of the public disclosures of Siddhartha’s personal debt Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4761 n UK 62.0159 n HK 6.5301 n CHINA 7.4088 n SINGAPORE 37.1214 n AUSTRALIA 34.7463 n EU 56.6601 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.6244

Source: BSP (August 2, 2019 )

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, August 4, 2019

www.businessmirror.com.ph

SAME OLD BANANA Continued from A1

time for you to meet them,” Animas added.

However, the Fedco incident may affect the chance of pushing through with the meeting, he said. “So far, I have not heard anything yet from the MHLW regarding the matter,” Animas said.

He informed Antig that BPI submitted its report to MHLW only on June 28, two months after acting BPI Director George Y. Culaste said the “answer to the latest comments of MHLW is ready for submission to the Japan Embassy in Manila.”

MHLW inquiry

THAT time, Culaste disclosed his office already received 13 notifications from the Japanese ministry. “Although most detections are not from PBGEA members, it is very difficult to convince the MHLW that the corrective measures are deemed sufficient to lift the 100-percent mandatory MRL testing.” Culaste added the ministry has continued to raise questions on BPI’s report.

“For this new banana export protocol, the reason for the several revisions is that we have been incorporating your comments and giving this due consideration,” he added.

“It is with deep regret that you consider the BPI’s efforts as lacking in assisting the industry in dealing with the issue. We are very much aware that it had been seven months since the first detection in August and yet this issue has not

been resolved,” Culaste said earlier in his April letter to PBGEA. He said the BPI’s Plant Product Safety Services Division and the National Plant Quarantine Services Division had already instituted corrective measures with the issuance of the new banana export protocol, notably on the aspect of food safety.

Kept in the dark?

ANTIG has raised its concern that “unless we would be the one to ask for an update from the DA [Department of Agriculture], no one from the agency would also care to inform us of the development of the case.”

“We are deeply concerned because for the meantime that this MRL issue is not settled, our shipment from all groups, not only from PBGEA, would be subject to 100-percent inspection, unlike before that August 2018 incident [when] Japan would only take a few samples,” Antig said.

It would mean additional expense for Filipino shippers with a higher inspection fee, from P13,000 per sample to P15,000 per sample “and for whatever number of samples Japan would want to inspect”.

“That’s is why, we are calling on government to appoint a new agriculture secretary [who] would be genuinely concerned [with] our situation,” Antig said.

“Government should acknowledge that banana is one high-value crop export that has a high potential to contribute more to the gross domestic product and to generate more employment.”

BANANAS are loaded into the hold of a ferry at a port in Cebu City. HUGO MAES | DREAMSTIME.COM

Tycoon’s death…

Continued from A1

reveals how he spent much of the two years before his death putting up ever more of his Coffee Day shares to refinance loans for ever shorter periods, at ever higher rates of interest.

At Coffee Day itself, shortterm debt more than doubled in the financial year ended March. Siddhartha spent most of his last two weeks in Mumbai trying to raise funds to pay down debt, according to a person familiar with the matter. He had payments due in July and August, the person said. Coffee Day’s board held an emergency meeting on July 30, saying it’s confident that it can “ensure continuity of all business operations consistent with past behavior.”

The apparent suicide of the Indian entrepreneur has touched a nerve with the corporate elite of India, where business leaders face mounting strain from an economy-wide cash crunch and slowing growth. The anxiety laid out in Siddhartha’s letter, with multiple references to pressure from lenders and stakeholders, is an unwelcome scenario for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he begins his second term with promises to turn India into an economic powerhouse, even as its commercial engine shows increasing signs of sputtering.

“If it’s not just Cafe Coffee Day, and there are 100 other enterprises where people are driven to extremes, or where the company goes under because they’re not getting refinanced, then it’s a crisis,” said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at credit-rating agency Care Ratings Ltd. “This is not something which is sustainable, because we’re in a situation where we all know the economy is stagnating.”

India’s economy, the thirdlargest in Asia, has lost momentum, with growth slowing for a fourth straight quarter in the three months to March. Creditors remain wary after the collapse last year of non-bank lender Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. compounded bad loan problems. In response, the Reserve Bank of India was the first of the world’s major central banks to cut interest rates this year.

Farmer fates

INDIAN media was already full of stories of farmers committing suicide after they were left unable to refinance loans, amid a crash in crop prices. But the fate of the founder of one of India’s best-known companies shows how the issue is affecting not just humble laborers, but extending into the executive suite. In his letter, Siddhartha said he had to borrow a large sum of money from a friend to help complete a buyback of shares, which he says a privateequity investor had pressured him to implement.

Originally an investment banker, Siddhartha was born in India’s coffee heartland of Chikmagalur to a family of coffee planters, and founded his chain in 1996 to keep programmers in India’s IT hub Bengaluru caffeinated, more than a decade before Starbucks entered India. The married father of two was known to work as a barista or waiter in one of the cafes of his far-flung empire to gain a better insight into the needs of his customers and the lives of his staff.

Siddhartha was reported missing on July 29 near the southern Indian city of Mangaluru. Following an intensive search, authorities found Siddhartha’s body Wednesday morning in the Netravati River. Police have yet to provide details on the circumstances of his death.

Soured loans

THE tragedy surrounding Siddhartha comes as non-bank financial corporations—one of the main sources of credit for the economy—are more focused on fire sales to stay afloat than on lending.

With India’s banks themselves still weighed down by the biggest pile of soured loans in the world, policy-makers have been left scrambling to avoid contagion, as everyone from family businesses to major corporations struggle to secure loans.

Though the full picture of Siddhartha’s private finances has yet to emerge, the material that is public indicates he was caught in the wider crunch. In his letter to the board, Siddhartha laid out the value of his various businesses, saying that assets outweigh liabilities.

Disclosures made to the Indian government from four companies Siddhartha and his family used to hold part of their Coffee Day shares show how in the last year, lenders started demanding those shares as collateral where they hadn’t needed them before, and new loans carried interest rates as high as 14 percent, even when that collateral was provided.

Investor pressure

AMID the tightening financial conditions, 76 percent of Siddhartha and his family’s total shares in the company had been put up as collateral for loans by June of this year, from 60 percent a year before, filings with the stock exchange show.

The letter attributed to Siddhartha sketches out how the situation apparently deteriorated further, with one of Coffee Day’s private-equity investors “forcing” him to buy back the company’s shares, and “harassment” by the income-tax authorities which delayed a needed infusion of funds from the sale of shares in a tech company he owned, creating a “liquidity crunch.”

In response to the letter, the income-tax departments of the states of Karnataka and Goa released a statement saying Siddhartha had admitted to unaccounted income of 3.6 billion rupees ($50 million), and that they had halted his sale of the tech company’s shares until he put up Coffee Day shares as collateral for the unpaid tax, which he did.

In a news statement issued on Wednesday, Coffee Day’s board said it is constituting a committee to find ways to reduce debt, and will investigate the transactions alluded to in the letter.

“The liquidity crunch is for real,” said Sanjiv Kaul, a partner at Mumbai-based private-equity firm ChrysCapital Management Co. “We all talk about farmer suicides in India, but how many of us take cognizance of failed businessrelated suicides? Entrepreneurs are very passionate, and more often than not, very lonely at the top.”

The World BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Museum of future experiences uses VR for mind-expanding trips

By Claire Ballentine Bloomberg News

I

F you find day-to-day reality terrifying, I’ve found a cure. The Museum of Future Experiences, which opened last week in New York’s SoHo neighborhood and runs through the end of August, is the latest millennial“museum” to pop up, but it’s not one for taking selfies in front of colorful backdrops and sharing them on social media. Instead, visitors wear a virtual-reality (VR)-inducing Oculus S headset and prepare to have their minds blown.

The museum is the brainchild of Bridgewater hedge fund alum David Askaryan, 32, who came up with the idea after realizing that virtual reality had failed to take off, not because of the actual technology, but because of a business model that mistakenly assumed people were going to buy VR headsets for their personal use.

Museum experience

“MOST companies that were original hardware providers relied on a consumer infrastructure that isn’t there,” he says. “Virtually nobody has a VR headset at home.” Consumer VR software investments dropped off a cliff in 2018, down 59 percent to $173 million, from $420 million a year earlier, according to SuperData, a digital games and VR market-research company owned

by Nielsen Holdings.

Askaryan’s solution was to create a museum experience—which comes with the cute nickname MoFE—using VR in set locations for short periods of time. He describes it as “a curated cerebral experience blending immersive theater, psychology, and virtual reality for an intimate exploration of individual and collective consciousness.”

It’s funded by prestigious tech accelerator Y Combinator; tickets, which are purchased ahead of time, are $50 for an hour.

Kent Bye, host of the Voices of VR Podcast, sees potential in a model that creates spaces where individuals can test-drive VR, instead of buying their own $400 headsets. “More and more people want to be immersed into their entertainment,” he says. “I think we’re going to start seeing more people putting their body into these experiences.”

Experience or material things?

ESPECIALLY millennials. A study by Harris Group found 72 percent of people in this generation prefer to spend money on experiences than on material things.

Jeremy Bailenson, founding director of Sanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab and an adviser to MoFE, says VR can be a tool “to help people think about themselves and how they relate to others.”

MoFE is not the first location-based VR experience. Tribeca Film Festival has a v i r t u a l a rc a d e a n d a 3 6 0 - d e g re e theater, and at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia visitors can use VR headsets to dive into the ocean or soar through the solar system.

Entertainment destination VR World in New York allows customers to use Oculus or HTC Vive headsets for video games, flight simulations, or movies, starting at $44 for two hours. “I consider VR to be the most impactful medium known to man,” says VR World Chief Executive Officer Leo Tsimmer. “We’re not looking at marking technology or marketing headsets. We’re in the business of entertaining and of creating fun times for friends.”

‘Exploration’

GABRIELA BAITER, f ounder of experiential retail studio W hereabout, agrees. “I think it’s a result of people just craving human connection,” she says about the trend of location-based VR. “We’re starting to become more interested in getting out there and interacting with other people.”

I’d never tried VR before, and my video game expertise is limited to dodging banana peels in Mario Kart. Askaryan says that’s the point: “It opens up VR to a whole new set of customers.” So on a blisteringly hot Friday afternoon, I arrived with five others to “explore our individual and collective consciousness” in SoHo, itself a land where Instagram photos and Snapchat filters are valued as much as anything visible in real life.

The experience breaks down into roughly four 15-minute intervals. Once inside the loft space, we’re informed—three times—that it previously served as a workspace for Andy

Warhol. After a receptionist inquires, rather ominously it sounds to me, if we’re ready for our mind-altering experience, we’re greeted by museum actors dressed in full white lab technician outfits worn under a clear plastic gown resembling a garment bag. It’s mad scientist-meets-futuristic time traveler, a look enhanced by their slicked-back hair.

They warn us to inform them if our emotions overwhelm us and we need to take a break.

The immersion

THE actors lead our group to a downstairs room, where we’re seated in a circle with our backs to each other and given a paper and a pencil.

We’re asked a series of 21 questions, to which we record our answers like an elementary school spelling test. The inquiries start off simple: How anxious are we on a scale of 1 to 10? (I was a 4 earlier in the day, a 10 now.) Then they rapidly progress into more uncertain territory: Did we regularly converse with any dead family members? Have we had an out-of-body experience? Were we worried about artificial intelligence destroying the world?

We submit these “prescriptions” and line up single file for our personalized VR immersion in the next room. Then we’re seated in partitioned booths and strap on Zorro-style black sanitary masks before the technicians help us situate the clunky VR headsets on our heads.

The images are supposed to be tailored to you, based on answers to the previous questionnaire. I must have done something wrong, because my screen shows a menacing female robotic figure who slowly emerges from a sewer system as she repeats the words “Do you remember the feeling of being watched as a child?”

I’ve never done LSD, but I imagine this is its effect in the mind of someone ex traordinarily uncreative. After 10 minutes, the technician comes in and tells us to take a moment to let any insights sink in. I rack my brain for any memories of strangers peering through the window of my childhood bedroom.

I expect another immersive experience to soon follow, but the technicians then lead us to an adjacent room, leaving me to work out this newly introduced trauma with a qualified therapist. The passageway is lined with white gauze that drapes onto a small stage with six orange reclining chairs that look like something a dentist would use for the world’s worst dental canal.

This time they strap a sensor to our chests that could vibrate in sync with our VR experience. For this session, all six of us experience the same virtual reality, which is a walk through an unidentifiable cityscape with glowing orange flames in the distance. The blaze slowly grows larger until it swallows the sky in a tornado of fiery destruction.

The technicians tell us these images are an amalgamation of the group’s inner thoughts. I decide then and there to never see any of these people again.

Decompression

TO decompress from the immersion, we go back upstairs into a sitting area with cushioned beanbags. In one corner of the room is a small table with a single drawer and a gold sculpture of a thumbs-up signal, encircled by clear plastic curtain panels and illuminated by ceiling lights.

Each of us receives a “relic” in the table’s drawer, which is a postcard with an image to commemorate our journey.

Mine features multiple colorful birds, looking much more peaceful than I felt.

In a circle, our group discusses the immersion and compares the images we saw with a mixture of daze and confusion.

Evidently, I was the only one to see a robotic figure informing me of previously unacknowledged childhood terror— everyone else relaxed in a meadow or flew through white puffy clouds.

The entire experience from star t to finish took about an hour, but our time with the VR headsets lasted only a combined 20 minutes. Although I’d expected a bit more time with it, in the end, maybe it was for the best.

A s k a r y a n’s b u s i n e s s m o d e l h a s p o te nt i a l — e s p e c i a l l y f o r s o m e o n e who would never dream of shelling out $400 for a headset. But I’ve never been so happy to walk out into the reality of 98-degree heat in New York City.

Sunday, August 4, 2019

A3

Factories from Asia to Europe suffer as trade war ‘casualties’

F

ACTORIES across Asia and Europe are increasingly feeling the brunt of the festering US-China trade war that shows no imminent sign of ending.

Purchasing managers’ indexes (PMI) from some of the largest economies on both continents remained below 50 in July, signaling contractions in industrial output.

Germany, the motor of Europe’s growth, is mired in its worst manufacturing slump in seven years.

T he deter iorat ing out look forced Siemens AG, Europe’s largest engineering company and a global exporter to warn on Thursday that its sales target will be harder to reach. The gloom has also prompted central banks from Asia to the US to cut interest rates, with stimulus promised in Europe too.

“Central banks are easing monetary policy now—that should help, but there’s always a delay before that shows results,” said Aline Schuiling, senior economist at ABN Amro Bank NV in Amsterdam. “Manufacturing may bottom out around the start of next year, but there are a lot of risks.”

In the euro area, manufacturing shrank for a sixth month at the start of the third quarter, dragged down by Germany, the region’s biggest economy. The downbeat figures follow reports showing slower growth in France, Spain and the euro area, with Italy stagnating.

W hile part of the weakness

is linked to troubles in the automotive industr y, a continued dow ntur n cou ld spel l deeper trouble, and spread to other parts of the economy. As companies respond to falling demand, manufacturing jobs are being cut at the fastest pace in six years, prices are being lowered and optimism is deteriorating.

Germany’s Schaeff ler AG, a supplier to carmakers, this week cut its forecast and now sees revenue falling this year. Siemens said profit fell 12 percent last quarter, a sign that the car industry’s woes and a more general economic malaise is reaching deeper into corporate Europe.

“Geopolitics and geoeconomics are harming an otherwise positive investment environment,” said Siemens Chief Executive Officer Joe Kaeser.

AN employee welding at the TAC Systems Formwork Sdn. Bhd. facility in Selangor, Malaysia, on Tuesday, November 13, 2018. NDIRAH ZAKARIYA/BLOOMBERG

Chinese companies, too, are lowering their expectations. Some 40 percent of the more than 1,600 firms to give first-half guidance predicted a drop in earnings from a year earlier.

The US is also enduring a dip in manufacturing, with a gauge of industry due later on Wednesday forecast to show only a small im-

Central banks are easing monetary policy now—that should help, but there’s always a delay before that shows results. Manufacturing may bottom out around the start of next year, but there are a lot of risks.”—Schuiling

provement from a three-year low.

Monetary authorities across the world have been working to counter the slowdown. Australia, South Korea and Indonesia are among central banks that cut interest rates last month, while the Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark for the first time since 2008 on Wednesday. The European Central Bank is preparing action for September.

The International Monetary Fund last month cut its global outlook, already the lowest since the financial crisis, and warned about policy “missteps” on trade. A fresh round of negotiations between the US and China ended in Shanghai Wednesday with little sign of progress. Both sides plan to meet again in Washington in September.

Bloomberg News

UK manufacturers stuck in worst slump in over six years on Brexit

U

NITED KINGDOM manufacturing shrank for a third month to stay in worst downturn for more than six years as demand continued to fall.

The continued weakness reflects in part unwinding of stockpiling at the start of the year before the original March Brexit date. But it’s also due to the “choke-hold of slower global economic growth” and “political uncertainty,” said IHS Markit.

Markit’s monthly measure of factory activity stayed at 48 in July, below the 50 level that divides expansion and contraction, it said Thursday.

Employment fell and companies reported that some clients were routing supply chains away from Britain because of its imminent departure from the European Union.

Manufacturing figures could remain volatile in coming months, particularly if companies ramp up Brexit preparations again before the October 31 deadline. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the UK will leave the EU then with

THARSUS Coniston Road Factory. Here are stored units for Safetykleen that will be shipped early due to Brexit. BLOOMBERG

or without a deal.

Bank of England policy makers have noted the weakening outlook.

The central bank will announce its latest interest-rate decision

later on Thursday, along with new growth and inflation forecasts.

Beyond Brexit, a slowing global economy could also hit demand at UK factories. But almost half of

respondents to the Markit survey said they expect output to be higher in one year’s time, compared with less than 10 percent forecasting contraction. Bloomberg News

New US oil makes inroads into Asia as buyers plug Iranian gap

A

NEW grade of American light crude is making its way to oil-starved buyers in Asia, giving relief to some of the region’s biggest plastics makers as they seek alternatives to feedstock from Iran.

South Korean refiners and petrochemical makers are purchasing West Texas Light crude, a new American grade that’s produced in the Permian Basin of west Texas and New Mexico. Hyundai Oilbank Co. and S-Oil Corp. most recently bought the grade for delivery in September and October. The oil, which is light and sweet in nature, yields a high proportion of naphtha and other distillates when processed, with

low levels of impurities such as sulfur.

Processors across Asia have been keen to find substitutes for Iranian crude and an ultra-light oil known as condensate, after the US pared back waivers permitting purchases from the Persian Gulf state. In South Korea, companies with purpose-built units that break down condensate into the building blocks of plastics, however, have been the worst hit due to a halt in Iranian South Pars flows. That prompted buyers to snap up alternative supplies from Qatar, and haul replacements from as far away as Nigeria, Norway and the US. Hyundai Oilbank purchased the West

Texas Light crude for delivery in October, while S-Oil bought 1 million barrels of the grade for September delivery, according to traders with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified as the information is private. For S-Oil, the West Texas Light grade will replace costlier supplies of Qatari condensate, since the company doesn’t typically buy Iranian oil.

West Texas Light, which makes up 20 percent of production in the Permian, is being marketed to North Asian refiners as a petrochemical feedstock and refinery input that’s an alternative to Iranian condensate, Macquarie Research said in

a report in May. The grade with an API gravity reading of 45-50 is lighter than the more often exported WTI Midland crude with API gravity of 38-42.

South Korea’s monthly crude imports from the US has averaged about 10 million barrels in the first six months of this year, compared to about 2.35 million barrels in the same period last year. While some U.S. Eagle Ford oil cargoes were rejected due to contamination earlier this year, the North Asian nation was the second-biggest buyer of US oil in May, according to Energy Information Administration’s latest data.

Bloomberg News

A4

The World BusinessMirror

Sunday, August 4, 2019

US records nearly 20 mass killings for the year so far

S

EATTLE—The US has recorded nearly 20 mass killings so far this year, the majority of them domestic violence attacks that receive scant national attention compared to high-profile public shootings in recent years at schools, churches and concerts.

IN this June 2, 2019, file photo, a volunteer prepares to place crosses for victims of a mass shooting at a municipal building in Virginia Beach, Virginia, at a nearby makeshift memorial.

The US has recorded nearly 20 mass killings so far this year, including the one in Virginia Beach, the majority of them domestic violence massacres that receive scant national attention compared to high-profile public shootings at schools, churches and concerts in recent years. AP

A database compiled by The Associated Press, Northeastern University and USA Today shows that the number of mass killings has held steady in 2019 compared with past years. But if the trend continues, the year could end with a lower death count because there have been fewer mass-casualty attacks such as those in Las Vegas, Parkland, Florida, and the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.

Four mass shootings happened in public places so far this year, compared with 10 in 2018 and seven in 2017. But 2019 saw a big increase in the number of mass killings in domestic disputes, helping to keep this year’s overall numbers similar to past years.

There have been 10 family mass killings this year; there were 10 during all of 2017.

In July alone, 13 people were slain in three killings involving domestic violence or drugs in Missouri, Wisconsin and Washington state, but those stories drew little attention. Meanwhile, a gunman killed three people and wounded 12 at a garlic festival in California,

with smartphones and social media quickly spreading the word.

“There were more people killed in Wisconsin than in California,” said Northeastern University professor James Alan Fox, referring to five family members killed Sunday in Wisconsin. “Three of the four were family members, so it doesn’t get the same attention because people don’t feel at risk.”

The database examines every mass killing dating back to 2006 and tracks a number of variables for each. It counts killings involving four or more fatalities, not including the killer, the same standard used by the FBI. Part of the problem with determining whether there are trends in mass shootings is “everyone has a different way of counting the data,” said Adam Winkler, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

While the FBI defines a mass shooting as four or more dead, others use a standard of three dead, and some count injuries, he said.

“It’s hard to imagine that you can shoot 12 people but it’s not considered a mass shooting,” Winkler said, referring to the attack Sunday at the Gilroy Garlic Festival that left three dead, not including the shooter, and 12 people wounded. That shooting is not included in the AP database.

Seven months into 2019, there have been 19 mass killings in the US, and all but three of them were carried out with guns.

The deadliest attack occurred May 31 at a gover nment office in Virginia Beach, where a 40-year-old city employee walked

The sound of gunfire replayed over and over has an impact. There hasn’t been an increase except in fear.”

—Fox

through his office building with two .45-caliber pistols, killing 12 people before being fatally shot by police.

Many other shootings occurred under the radar.

A 26-year-old man went on a shooting spree in Southern California last week, killing his father, brother, a former girlfriend and a man at a gas station.

A man in Port Angeles, Washington, was charged with murder and arson after killing his wife and three children ages 9, 6 and 5 on July 6.

He then set fire to their home.

And federal prosecutors say four suspects are responsible for the shooting deaths of five people near Yakima, Washington.

Sevent y-seven people have died this year in mass shootings that include family violence and other events, while 26 people were killed in mass shootings in public places, the data show.

That compares to previous years that were marked by killings with large victim counts but similar numbers of overall shootings.

Forty-nine people were killed in the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in 2016 in Orlando. Fifty-nine people were killed at a country music concert in 2017 in Las Vegas.

Those shootings shocked the nation—especially in an era of social media and cell-phone video that instantly captured the panic and mayhem.

“The ready availability of video does make mass shootings more poignant and powerful,” said Adam Winkler, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. “We are much more attuned to these mass shootings.

They seem more prevalent.”

Fox said the public mass shootings do not happen “all that often, but they certainly do shock us.”

“The sound of gunfire replayed over and over has an impact,” Fox said. “There hasn’t been an increase except in fear.” AP

DRONES DO DEADLY WORK SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO

H

E R E’S a job any worker would be happy to pass off to a drone: Imagine crawling down a ladder into the vast darkness of a 20-story-high storage tank filled with toxic chemical fumes to spend hours searching for corrosion.

More than a thousand U S laborers have been killed working in confined spaces like that in the past decade. One of them was 43-year-old Clinton Miller, an AkzoNobel NV employee who passed out after entering a tank to retrieve a piece of trash at a North Carolina chemical plant last year. Oxygen levels were found to be just 11 precent inside the structure, according to a federal incident report.

Enter the ever-more capable drone.

Companies, including Dow Inc., AT&T Inc., BASF SE and Royal Dutch Shell Plc., have begun assembling fleets of the flying automatons to take over their most dangerous jobs. Ascending several hundred feet in the air to inspect tanks and towers, squeezing through claustrophobic tunnels to replace a faulty part, or peering into the maw of a flame-belching smokestack—all are jobs that robots are being designed to do, companies say.

“We look at these tasks and say, ‘Is there a better way that we can do this without exposing the worker to risk?’ ” said Chris Witte, manager of chemical giant BASF’s Freeport, Texas, site. “The answer is yes. We can send a drone in.” Drones now fly every day at the Freeport plant, keeping workers off scaffolding and out of tanks.

Cost cutting, life-saving option FOR all the talk of automation and robotics replacing human labor, the new uses of drones show how technology can cut costs for

companies while dramatically reducing risk, and even saving lives. They also show why businesses are pressing hard in Washington for the ability to use drones in more situations.

Inspections of gas flares at Shell’s refineries used to take days, said Randy Burow, Shell’s health and safety manager. To get workers close enough to the flame-spewing stacks to check the pilot light, the system had to be taken offline, then workers were hoisted in a basket several hundred feet high to the top of the stack. Now drones can complete the inspection of still-burning flares in a few hours without a worker ever leaving the ground.

In 2017, 166 US workers died in confined spaces. But that number pales when compared with the 887 killed by falls, the second-biggest cause of workplace deaths after car accidents, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

AT&T has invested in a large fleet of drones to help inspect its 65,000 cell towers in the US, which can rise as high as 1,000 feet. Working on them is especially perilous: Tower climbers fall to their death at nearly 10 times the rate of construction workers.

The telecom giant has used drones to eliminate 5,000 tower climbs in the past 18 months, said Art Pregler, the director of AT&T’s drone program.

power utility PSEG Inc. “The fact you don’t have to make a person climb that tower, from a safety standpoint, it’s a game changer.”

Federal safety regulators are still reviewing the 2018 incident that killed ​A kzoNobel’s employee. The company declined to comment.

Even with precautions, including safety gear, air monitoring and rescue workers on standby, things can still go wrong with so-called confined-space entries by people. The scale of some of the tanks is massive, comparable to a 2-inch-tall person crawling into a household water heater unit, said Billy Bardin, Dow’s global technology director.

Dow, one of the world’s largest chemical makers, said it used robots for more than 1,000 confined-space entries in 2018, and for another 1,000 external inspections that involved high elevations, significantly cutting down on the risks to its workers.

“That kind of entry is one of the most potentially hazardous activities that we do,” said Bardin.

The company’s goal is to reduce the number of human entries into such confined spaces to zero by 2025. That would require developing drones that can conduct repairs and other tasks, rather than just broadcast video, according to Bardin.

Agile zoom

Multifunctional

W I T H high-powered cameras attached, increasingly agile drones operated by an earthbound human can soar to the top of a tower in minutes, float among the steel frames and zoom in for close-up inspections. Drones send images so detailed that workers on the ground can count the threads on a bolt, said Pat Dempsey, who oversees telecommunications maintenance at

TECHNOLOGY is speeding in that direction.

The average commercial drone costs about $25,000, but as requirements become more specialized, the price can rise as high as $250,000, said Chuck Dorgan, sales director at German manufacturer Microdrones GmbH. “I get asked by companies almost every week if we can do something that I’ve never thought of

doing with a drone,” said Ed Hine, vice president for operations at PrecisionHawk Inc., another drone company.

Apellix, a commercial drone start-up in Jacksonville, Florida, is designing drones to paint multistory buildings and industrial structures—a job that now requires workers to be elevated with bucket lifts or scaffolding.

“Nobody wants to be at the top of a 200-foot man-lift in 98-degree Southern heat painting an industrial structure,” said company co founder Jeff McCutcheon.

Replacing humans can get complicated: The drones must be tethered to a paint source on the ground, batteries must be periodically recharged and windy conditions can blow paint off target. But McCutcheon predicts within five years drones will allow a two-man groundbased crew to paint the exterior of a Walmart in four hours instead of several days.

The number of commercial drones registered with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) exploded in 2018 to 277,000, though that’s still enough to do only a small fraction of industry’s dangerous jobs.

Regulations that restrict how far, how high and where drones can fly are expected to loosen in the next few years, leading to wider commercial adoption. The FAA estimates commercial drones could triple by 2023—and possibly increase as much as fivefold.

Companies have every reason to accelerate drone use as quickly as they’re allowed.

“Drones save us downtime, save cost, save on productivity for our maintenance personnel,” said Dow’s Bardin, “and they eliminate having to put a person in that potentially hazardous environment.” AP

www.businessmirror.com.ph

US decries Chinese dams, disruption of Mekong River

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (left) and Thailand’s Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai get ready for Asean-US meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday. AP/SAKCHAI LALIT

B

ANGKOK—US Secretar y of State Mike Pompeo expressed concern Thursday over Chinese dam building, dredging and other activities on the Mekong River in Southeast Asia, calling them “troubling trends.”

He spoke Thursday in Thailand ’s capital with his counterparts from countries through which the river f lows, including Thailand, Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam. The foreign ministers of the 10 membercountr ies of t he A ssociation of S out he a st A s i a n Nat ion s (Asean) are having their annual meetings in Bangkok this week.

“We see a spree of upstream dam building which concentrates control over downstream flows,” Pompeo said. “The river has been at its lowest levels in a decade—a problem linked to China’s decision to shut off water upstream. China also has plans to blast and dredge riverbeds. China operates extraterritorial river patrols.”

He also noted “a push to craft new Beijing-directed rules to govern the river” that would usurp the role of the regional Mekong River Commission.

China has built 10 dams along the upper stretch of the Mekong, the part it calls the Langcang. It is trying to have parts of the river dredged, or rapids cleared so that large cargo ships can navigate.

Critics have long warned that these actions can have disruptive

environmental and economic effects downstream.

The Mekong River is vital to Southeast Asia, where more than 60 million people rely on and its tributaries for food, water and transport.

The world’s 12th-longest river, it runs nearly 3,000 kilometers from the Tibetan Plateau and down into mainland Southeast Asia before emptying into the South China Sea, in Vietnam.

Yet, the river is also another potential source of regional tensions due to an increasing number of hydroelectric projects that are altering the flow and raising concerns of ecological damage.

“Local people within Thailand and the lower Mekong basin know very well the impacts of China’s dams and proposal for rapids blasting on the river. They have been raising concerns over these impacts for a long time,” said Pianporn Deetes, a spokesman in Thailand for the environmental group International Rivers.

“The events of recent weeks have shown the dire consequences of damming for the river system,” she said, referring to the recent finding of low water levels . “While overdue—it is positive that the critical importance and values of the Mekong and the threats the river system faces are being raised in the Asean meetings. As well as recognition, we now need concrete and meaningful cooperation.” AP

S. KOREANS SHUN JAPANESE BEER, TRAVEL, CARS AS DISPUTES GROW

B

UNDANG, South Korea—When Lee Kyung Eon and her friend recently scrapped their plans to go to Japan for their summer vacation and paid $135 penalty for canceling plane tickets, they joined a growing public campaign in South Korea to boycott Japanese goods and services.

“We intended to do something that is unhelpful to Japan even a little bit,” said Lee, a 26-year-old office worker in Bundang city, just south of Seoul. “Many people told us we did something really good...but some with strong patriotic spirits said we shouldn’t boast of things that we have to do.”

A widespread anti-Japan boycott has gained ground in South Korea since Tokyo on July 1 tightened its control of exports of three chemicals used to manufacture semiconductors and display screens—key export items for South Korea. The boycott could worsen as Japan is expected to expand its export curbs to other materials as early as Friday by removing South Korea from a list of countries granted preferential trade status.

South Korea accuses Japan of retaliating over local court rulings last year that ordered two Japanese companies to pay compensation to former Korean employees for forced labor during Tokyo’s 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. Japan has denied that, saying its action was taken out of national security concerns.

Some question whether the boycott, mostly targeting consumer goods, can really hurt the Japanese economy as a majority of Japanese imports are parts and materials used in TVs, smartphones, semiconductors and other electronic products that South Korea exports. They worry the boycott could only aggravate the animosities as it may trigger a backlash from Japan.

But others say the campaign exposes the bitter

resentments many South Koreans still harbor against their former colonial master. A recent survey suggested 80 precent of South Koreans are reluctant to buy Japanese products.

Angry South Koreans have taken to Instagram and other social media, posting videos on their canceled Japan-bound plane tickets, sharing information on which Japanese companies operate in South Korea and expressing their support for the boycott.

There have been some consequences.

HanaTour, the largest travel company in South Korea, said a daily number of reservations for Japan trips has dropped to about 400-500 from 1,000-1,200 late last month. Other tour agencies have reported similar or lower booking figures for Japan tours.

Last year, about 7.5 million South Koreans visited Japan, making it the most popular destination. The state-run Korea Tourism Organization said it has no data on how many South Koreans traveled to Japan this month.

At hypermarkets and 24-hour convenience stores, the sales of Japanese beer have nosedived.

Beer is the most popular among Japanese products.

For example, at E-mart, the largest retailer in South Korea, the sales of Japanese beer from July 1 to 24 declined by about 38 precent from a month ago. Tens of thousands of small supermarkets and convenience stores across South Korea have stopped selling Japanese beer and other products altogether.

Customs officials said the impor ts of Japanese cars from July 1 to 20 was estimated at about $46 million—a 32-precent decrease from the same period last year. Fast Retailing Co., which operates Uniqlo, was forced to apologize last week after inviting criticism in South Korea over the remarks by one of its executives that the boycott won’t last long. AP

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

Sunday

Sunday, August 4, 2019 A5

Masses set this Aug. for clergymen facing sedition raps

By Samuel P. Medenilla

S

Reporter

UNDAY Masses at churches in Manila will be offered this month for bishops and priests who are facing sedition charges.

In a circular, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle appealed to the clergy, the religious and the laity of the Archdiocese of Manila to recite the “Prayer for the Nation” for bishops and priests, especially those suffering persecution and false accusations.

Tagle made the appeal after sedition charges were filed last month against high-profile personalities, including Vice President Leni Robredo, and Catholic bishops and priests.

Among those accused are Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio S. David, Novaliches Bishop Teodoro Bacani Jr., Cubao Bishop Honesto F. Ongtioco, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas; and priests Fr. Robert Reyes, Fr. Flaviano Villanueva, Fr. Albert E. Alejo, and La Salle Bro. Armin Luistro.

Tagle also called for the members of the archdiocese to be aware and respond to “disturbing” social issues with prayers.

“Let our prayers be the best expression of our solidarity and fraternal support for them,” Archdiocese of Manila chancellor Fr. Reginal R. Malicdem said.

The Eucharistic celebration on Sunday, August 4, also marks the feast of Saint John Vianney, patron of priests, the online CBCPNews said.

The Prayer for the Nation will be prayed on all Sunday Masses, including Saturday night Masses,

for the entire month of August.

“The prayer will take the place of the Prayer of the Faithful of the Mass and will be prayed standing,” Malicdem said.

The Department of Justice is set to start on August 9 its preliminary investigation into the churchmen and opposition figures.

No troublemaker

LAST Wednesday, Villegas finally issued a statement on the case filed against him.

“I always knew and understood that the priesthood is sacrifice.

But frankly I never imagined I would be ever be accused of a crime like sedition and even to receive a subpoena to explain why I should not be charged with this crime,” Villegas said.

Villegas maintained he never participated in anything illegal and is no “political troublemaker.”

“My parents taught me to be a law abiding Filipino all the time.

I cannot and I will not participate and I will never help in anything that will bring about social change through illegal means,” Villegas said.

David, Ongtioco and Bacani already issued their respective statements last month denying the allegations.

Prayer for the Nation

ALMIGHTY and merciful God,You have brought us together in the name of Your Son Jesus. We beg for

18TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME: ‘LUKE12:13-21’

The Kingdom of Heaven, not worldly MSGR. JOSEFINO S. RAMIREZ SUNDAY GOSPEL IN OUR LIFE

T

HE first part of today’s gospel reading talks about the attempt of someone to use Jesus to settle a dispute about inheritance.

“Master, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But Jesus refused, telling him: “Man, who has appointed me a judge or arbitrator over you?” (Luke 12:13-15).

The gospel shows the deliberate will of Jesus not to get entangled in certain earthly affairs that could dilute His message of salvation and occasion misunderstanding about the nature of the “Kingdom of Heaven” that He had come to establish.

There is a tendency nowadays to reduce the Kingdom of Heaven to merely material or political terms. Yet, when Jesus Christ was confronted by Pontius Pilate about the nature of His Kingdom, He clearly stated: “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).

And on another occasion, Jesus Christ stated very directly: “Behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21).

Some may be disappointed at this assertion about the kingdom, as if that were a further belittling of our already limited vision of things. Yet that is not so.

To say that the Kingdom of Heaven is “not of this world” and is aside of us does not mean that a Christian has to withdraw into his shell like a frightened turtle.

The Christian has to be “salt and light” (See Matthew 5:13-14) for the world...but he cannot lose his taste or his own light.

The Kingdom of Heaven has a bearing in the affairs of the world, but it cannot lose its own transcendental dimension.

In other words, the interior life of personal union and dealing with God is precisely what the Christian needs in order

to be an effective “seasoning” for the world.

All material prosperit y, and the modification of merely external structures would be meaningless, especially in the light of the transitoriness of earthly realities, without that inner relationship of each person with God and reference to man’s eternal destiny.

The Kingdom of Heaven is the life of God in us, which begins here on Earth with the sanctifying grace of God, and has its culmination in the glory of heaven.

Throughout the long history of the Church, the great saints (model of every Christian) have behaved according to the clear teaching, distinguishing between temporal affairs and the true kingdom of heaven. They were ready to leave everything behind, to stake their very lives, in order to be faithful to the grace of God within them.

Our very own Lorenzo Ruiz is fine example of this. He could have saved his life by simply renegating against his faith.

Yet, with the help of God, he realized that what was at stake was something of much greater value than his own life and comfort. He had nothing to gain in this world, yet everything to gain in the next life, by his sacrifice.

But the path of martyrdom is not for everyone. In fact, although a Christian has to be ready to give up his own life for God, the majority of us are called to give it up to God in a discreet and silent offering.

To “go and sell” everything that we have, in order to posses the Kingdom of Heaven, will mean to give priority to the things of God, to devote some time to daily prayer in spite of a hectic schedule, to be faithful to our Christian moral principles, even at the risk of losing some material advantage.

SUPPORTERS surround Archbishop Socrates Villegas before the holding of a religious procession in Dagupan City on July 31. JERALD JIMINEZ/RCALD

Your mercy and grace in our time of need. Open our eyes to see the evil that we have done. Forgive us for failing to do what is good and just. Touch our hearts and bring us back to You. We pray for an end to the violence perpetrated by harsh words, malicious propaganda, deadly weapons, or cold indifference. May our homes, our nation, and our world become havens of Your peace.

Grant us the grace to see every human being as a child of God, regardless of race, language, or culture, even drug addicts, criminals, and hardened sinners.

Give us the strength to teach our children and youth how to resolve differences nonviolently and respectfully. May elders become models of decent and honorable behavior.

We entrust to Your mercy those who hate the Church and spread prejudice against our Catholic faith. Illumine their minds with the light of Your truth. Touch their hearts with Your love.

Inspire those in public office to uphold, preserve, promote, and defend the dignity of every human being and acknowledge you, our God, as the Source and Lord of all life.

Touch the hearts of those who oppress others and those who take the law in their own hands. Touch the consciences of the perpetrators of heinous crimes, violence, senseless, and indiscrimate killings. Move them to abandon their pride and their instruments of destruction.

We also remember the police and first responders who risk their lives daily to ensure our safety. May they also be instruments of fair and just law enforcement that guarantees the dignity of persons and promotes truth, peace and wellbeing in society.

We lift up to You our bishops,

priests, consecrated persons, and lay faithful who suffer from misunderstanding, false accusations and persecution on accou nt of t he i r f a it h and their promotion of justice.

Grant them holy joy that will see them through the dark nights of suffering.

Welcome to Your eternal feast in heaven the people who died in senseless brutal organized killings, including priests who have lost their lives in the pursuit of truth and justice.

With Saint Paul, we say: “We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10).

Since You, O God, are with us, not hing t hat has hap pened, nothing still to come, can rob us of our hope in Christ. In Your enduring love we trust. You alone can heal our broken hearts. You alone can wipe away the tears that well up inside us. You alone can give us peace. You alone can strengthen us to persevere. Assure those who are discouraged that with You nothing is impossible. Filled and invigorated by the Holy Spirit, may our love for one another be deepened.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Mary, Mother of Hope, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint John Marie Vianney, pray for us.

San Lorenzo Ruiz, pray for us.

San Pedro Calungsod, pray for us.

Blessed José María de Manila, pray for us.

Blessed Justo Takayama Ukon, pray for us.

Centuries-old ‘Iglesia de Santa Ana de Piddig’ restored

P

IDDIG, Ilocos Norte—The 2-century-old church of Saint Anne in Piddig, Ilocos Norte was turned over by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines to the Diocese of Laoag after undergoing restoration.

In a Mass officiated by Bishop Ronald Lunas of Pagadian to celebrate the Feast of Saint Anne on July 26, the restored Church was rededicated after four years of not being used for liturgical services when the local government of Piddig declared it unfit for use.

In his homily, the prelate spoke of the church as living testimony to the presence of God in the midst of his people.

“This church was once declared unfit for human occupancy but our faith tells us that this place is always fit for God’s presence,” Bishop Lunas said.

With the efforts of the parishioners, led by Fr. Lorenzo Torreflores and local officials, the church underwent restoration following the standards of restoring heritage structures.

The Church of Saint Anne of Piddig is one among the 12 stand-

THE newly restored Saint Anne Parish Church in Piddig, Ilocos Norte. CBCPNEWS

ing Spanish-era built churches within the Diocese of Laoag.

It was first under the spiritual guidance of Saint Joseph Parish of Dingras until its erection as parish between the years 1770 and 1775.

It was destroyed by an earthquake in 1862, gutted down by fire in 1870, which was subsequently rebuilt using bricks and stones.

The church was used as headquarters by Filipino Revolutionists in 1898, destroyed by a strong earthquake in 1931, which was restored by the then-parish priest Fr. Arsenio Pacis. It was burned by Japanese forces during World War II and was restored in 1965.

In 2014, the municipal council declared it unfit for human occu-

pancy because of its deteriorating condition. For about five years, Masses have been held in a makeshift church within the parish rectory compound.

The event was also the homecoming for Bishop Lunas whose maternal roots come from Piddig.

Also in the celebration were bishops Renato Mayugba of Laoag and Jacinto Jose of Urdaneta.

Bishop Lunas stressed that the gathering was not only a homecoming for him but an occasion of gratitude.

“My mother came from this place before she left for Mindanao.

Today is not only a homecoming for me but a thanksgiving,” he also said.

“Just as we remember the parents of the mother of the Lord, the human ancestors of Jesus, Saints Joachim and Anne on their feast day, I remember you and my ancestors with gratitude to the Lord, for you shared with me not only blood and flesh, you shared with me your faith as well, the faith of the Ilocanos, of the faithful in Piddig as this church symbolizes,” he added. Buena Luz/CBCPNews

HINDU PILGRIMAGE PROMOTED AS SIGN OF PEACE IN KASHMIR

P

AHALGAM, India—India is pitching a Hindu pilgrimage to a snowy cave shrine in disputed, Muslim-majority Kashmir as evidence of peace in a state marred by decades of armed conflict amid popular resistance to Indian rule.

The annual yatra, or spiritual journey, to the Amarnath shrine, the hallowed mountain cave where devotees revere an icy stalagmite as an image of Lord Shiva, presents an opportunity for the state of Jammu and Kashmir to show something beyond the frequent skirmishes between

armed separatists and Indian soldiers that have cost tens of thousands of lives.

“We’re always in the news for the wrong reasons,” said Khalid Jahangir, deputy commissioner of Anantnag, the district in Kashmir where the yatra takes place.

“There are some minuses, also some pluses,” Jahangir said, adding that “whatever little [pluses] there are must also be projected,” pointing to a photograph of four local men carrying a heavyset pilgrim in a palanquin as an example of communal harmony.

The pilgrims, many of them barefooted

ascetics, chant hymns and ring bells as they travel through forested areas in Kashmir’s Himalayas.

The worshippers approach the shrine through two routes, a traditional one via the southern hill resort of Pahalgam and a shorter one through northeastern Baltal. Some also use helicopter services to pay quick obeisance.

The Amarnath cave is covered with snow most of the year except for a short period in summer when it is open for the pilgrims.

The state, run by a governor appointed

by India’s Hindu nationalist-led central

government, has spent huge sums on an advertising campaign, including ads in two of India’s highest circulation dailies, and on security.

Some 40,000 security personnel were deployed to protect pilgrims who have been repeatedly targeted by militant groups, most recently in 2017, when seven were killed as their bus was attacked leaving the shrine area.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and training insurgents who have been fighting since 1989 for Kashmir’s independence from India or its merger with Pakistan. AP

Science

BusinessMirror

A6 Sunday, August 4, 2019

Sunday

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

Finding science-based solutions to tourism needs

B

Recreation and entertainment

Story and photos by Jonathan L. Mayuga

ELIEVE it or not, there’s a strong link between the tourism and science and technology sectors because for every tourism industry’s need, there is a science-based or technology-driven solution waiting to be tapped.

Various Department of Science and Technology (DOST) projects are in fact aimed at boosting the country’s tourism industry, said Science Undersecretary for Regional Operations Brenda L. Nazareth-Manzano at the Caraga Science and Tourism Industry Forum in Butuan City last week.

She said the DOST-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD) is helping shape the tourism sector through the various research and development projects it is funding with its partners from other government agencies, research institutions, academe and private companies.

“We look now at the tourism industry at a broader perspective and see how DOST can put more fun, as the DOT’s [Department of Tourism] tagline says, in the Philippines through science, technology and innovation,” she said. The event gathered tourism industry players in the region, including hotel and resort owners.

Tourism Assistant Secretary Myrna Paz V. Abubakar, who represented Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat, gave an overview of the country’s tourism industry and its needs from science and technology (S&T) developers.

Abubakar said the event was “very timely” considering that the DOT is now working to position the Philippines as “a must-experience destination.”

“We acknowledge the importance of S&T in improving the country’s competitiveness also in boosting inclusive and sustainable growth,” she said.

Robust tourism

ACCORDING to Abubakar, the country’s tourism industry is on an upward trajectory.

“Our overall tourism performance is robust and on the uptrend. Last year, our foreign visitor arrivals were at an all-time high at 7.1 million, 8.27 percent higher than 2017’s inbound figures of 6.62 million,” she said.

Citing the Philippine Statistics Authority data, she said the tourism sector contributed 12.7 percent to the country’s GDP in 2018, or 0.5 percent higher than its 12.2-percent share in 2017.

Approximately 5.4 million jobs

were generated in 2018, contributing 13 percent of the total employment in the country, up by 1.8 percent than the 5.3 million jobs generated in 2017.

Sustainable tourism

ACCORDING to Abubakar, while it is hoped that tourism will be a major economic activity in the regions, the DOT is proceeding with “utmost caution to avoid the ill effects of unplanned and hasty development,” citing the case of Boracay.

“We should look at the Boracay rehabilitation experience as a case study for sustainable tourism,” she said. According to Abubakar, the world is looking at the government’s efforts in rehabilitating the island paradise.

Needs from science

ABUBAKAR highlighted the need for the development of digital platforms for the tourism industry.

During last year’s World Tourism Day, the World Bank had a presentation about the Digital Platforms and the Future of Tourism. I would like to share part of their statement which is very apt for this activity. It goes: “When properly planned and managed, sustainable tourism can contribute to improved livelihoods, inclusion, cultural heritage, and natural resource protection and promote international understanding. And digitalization is one way to hasten this development,” she said.

S&T can boost sustainable tourism by mitigating the aviation industry’s impact on climate change.

“Since 98 percent of our visitors enter our country by air, we are looking at science to mitigate the aviation industry’s impact on climate change. Again, with the world’s concern about sustainability, tourists may, in the future, weigh their options on how to travel or where to with the least carbon footprint,” she said.

According to Abubakar, while the government’s “Build, Build, Build” program serves to promote seamless travel, innovation is needed to develop fuel-efficient transport systems for air, land and sea mobility.

T he f ac i l it at ion of e nt r y through visa reforms, biometrics, machine-readable passports, modern scanners and other electronic

TOURISM Assistant Secretary Myrna Paz V. Abubakar

systems can contribute to the first impression at the ports of entry, she pointed out.

Science and technology solutions DUBBED “Luwas Pilipinas, Ligtas Pilipinas,” the two-day event coorganized by PCIEERD and the DOST Caraga region showcased the various tourism-related research and development (R&D) projects funded, wholly or in part, by the DOST-PCIEERD. Most R&D projects were already completed, tested and ready for transfer, said PCIEERD Executive Director Enrico C. Paringit.

Manzano showcased the different technologies developed by Filipino researchers, focusing on accommodation, food and beverage services, recreation and entertainment, transportation and travel services.

The DOST, she said, looks at the tourism industry as a partner in serving the people and transforming lives through its various projects and programs, highlighting the industry’s phenomenal growth over the years.

“The tourism industry is flourishing in the country and we are keen on supporting this industry through technologies, programs and services that we can offer,” she said.

Agro ecotourism

THE DOST recently poured in P6.6 million to the Mount Kitanglad Agro Ecotourism to develop a science-based tourism farm site in Northern Mindanao. “ Through the funding, the 22-hectare farm will enhance its capability to produce chemical-free high-value crop vegetables which are its niche offer. This will be done through a package of technologies using chemical-free cabbage and sweet pepper, lettuce, mints, and other high-value vegetables,” Manzano said.

Structural safety

THE DOST-PCIEERD and its partner also developed the Universal Structural Health Evaluation and

SCIENCE Undersecretary for Regional Operations Brenda L. Nazareth-Manzano

Recording (Usher) System.

A 24/7 economical and hasslefree system, Usher allows stakeholders, such as building managers, to comply with the National Structural Code of the Philippines and the implementing rules and regulations of the revised National Building Code of the Department of Public Works and Highways.

The technology uses the concept of structural health monitoring, which provides a diagnosis of the condition of various structures.

Smart energy

THE science agency also worked in partnership with WattSmart Philippines, an award-winning energy management company that introduced an innovative and affordable way of saving electric power consumption to around 20 participants from food-, metal-, sugar- and coconut-processing companies in various provinces.

The Smart Energy Program, designed to support the manufacturing sector to minimize energy wastage through an energy audit, on-site installation of energy data centers to facilitate analysis of energy consumption and professional energy consultation, provides long-term financial benefits.

The technology helps control electrical energy consumption, save overhead costs and boost business competitiveness.

Several DOST-PCIEERD projec t s, me a nwh i le, a re l i n ked to disaster-risk reduction and management.

Geo-Safer

THE Geo-Informatics for the Systematic Assessment of Flood Effects and Risks for a Resilient Mindanao (Geo-Safer) is a research program conducted by the PhilLiDAR 1 Mindanao Cluster higher educational institutions, consisting of Ateneo de Zamboanga, Caraga State University, Central Mindanao University, Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology and the University of the Philippines-Mindanao.

ZES MARTINEZ, co-CEO of FAME, shows the firm’s transponder. FAME is one of the exhibitors during the “Luwas Pilipinas, Ligtas Pilipinas” science and technology forum of DOST-PCIEERD in Butuan City.

Geo-Safer produced highly detailed flood hazard maps using geo-informatics-based technologies—such as Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) remote sensing, Global Navigation Satellite System, Geographic Information System, and Numerical Simulations—of flood-prone river basins based on the demands by local government units across 18 provinces in various parts of Mindanao, specifically in Zamboanga City-Basilan-Sulu-Tawi-tawi area, Agusan, and Northern, Western and Southeastern Mindanao.

Integrated water management

THE integrated and comprehensive water assessment and management study evaluates the quality and quantity, assess and map water resources and location of groundwater aquifer through a smart wastewater and sewerage management in small ecotourist island.

The project deploys a monitoring system that measures water quantity and quality, including hydrometeorological parameters, wastewater, and sewerage treatment plants and will recommend policies for the management of groundwater extraction and surface water utilization.

Food and beverage safety

FOOD safety modules are targeted to be the standard training materials to be used in 17 DOST regional offices in the country.

The DOST Unified Food Safety Modules consist of training presentations, teacher’s manual, learner’s manual, and examination booklet on the three components of food safety, inc lud ing food safet y hazards, basic food hyg iene and good manufacturing practices.

Its Detect Immediately by Probe System is designed for rapid and efficient detection of salmonella in food and feed samples. It is an easy-to-use method and requires nonsophisticated laboratory equipment. Results of testing can be obtained within 24 hours.

THE DOST-PCIEERD partnered in March last year with Toon City Academy to capacitate and hone more Filipino animators to promote the creative industries.

The pilot project was designed to strengthen animation since it is now a k now n emerg ing market in the business-process outsourcing sector.

The project, dubbed “Industry-defined 2D Basic Animation Course” is a 12-week intensive basic animation workshop and actual work production through an internship program.

So far, the DOST-PCIEERD and Toon City Academy has trained 120 animators from Pangasinan and Iloilo.

Transportation

THE Rapid Charging E-Vehicle Station, a project by the University of the Philippines-Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute, is similar to a regular refueling station where the user uses a demo-compliant connector to recharge the e-trike in less than 30 minutes.

On the other hand, the Intelligent Electric Transportation Network Program is envisioned to develop a smart network of energy-aware electric vehicles and charging stations through cooperation between the electric vehicles and infrastructure.

Operations, such as scheduling of vehicles, the route to take, when and where to charge, and charging time will all be coordinated so that the overall energy demand of the system will be optimized.

Meanwhile, Transeek, a hailing transport application, provides ease for tourists who would want to get a tricycle in Butuan City. It is now available on Google Play which can be downloaded in smartphones.

Easybus PH, another DOSTPCIEERD start-up, has launched a transportation service that offers real-time easy- and hasslefree bus ticket booking experience for passengers.

Through the web site, commuters can see the date, time of departure, destination, available and reserve seats, the bus line and the bus type. Easybus PH is deployed in buses going to Baguio and Bicol.

The official also highlighted its partnership with Future of Aviation and Maritime Enterprise, an award-winning DOST-PCIEERD start-up which developed transponders that can be used by small maritime vessels.

Through a transponder, data is sent from the device on the vessel to a gateway and is received in a receiving station on land, allowing real-time monitoring of the vessel’s activity during expeditions.

According to Manzano, the DOST w i l l cont inue to work with the tourism industr y to find science-based solutions to tourism needs.

PHL TEAM HAULS SILVER, BRONZE AT INTL MATH OLYMPIAD T

HE Philippine contingent to the 60th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) claimed an impressive win as all six members of the team won a medal in the oldest and most prestigious of the international scientific Olympiads.

The national team held strong by bringing home one silver and five bronzes against more than 600 other contestants in the competition held in Bath, United Kingdom, from July 11 to 22.

This was the second time, after the 58th IMO in 2017, that all six representatives won a medal.

The Philippines now ranked 31st out of 112 countries that competed, up from last year’s 38th out of 107 countries.

Leading the medal haul is Sean Anderson Ty of Zamboanga Chong Hua High School who bagged a silver medal. This is his second medal in the IMO, following a bronze in 2017 and an honorable mention in 2018.

Math whiz Andres Rico Gonzales III of De La Salle University Integrated School secured a bronze medal on his second IMO. He received an honorable mention in 2018.

The rest of the team, all first-timers, also won bronze medals: Immanuel Josiah Balete of Saint Stephen’s High School, Vincent de la Cruz of Valenzuela City School of Mathematics and Science, Dion Stephan Ong of Ateneo de Manila Senior High School, and 2019 Philippine Mathematical Olympiad Champion Bryce Ainsley Sanchez of Grace Christian College.

The competition at the University of Bath saw the contestants’ attempt to solve individually six challenging and original problems for a total of nine hours spread over the two official days of competition.

Each country sent, at most, six contestants.

Medals were awarded to students based on the

individual scores they earned from their written solutions. A nonmedalist who completely solved one problem was awarded an honorable mention.

This year, only six students were able to get the perfect score of 42.

The Philippine team arrived from Bath, United Kingdom, on July 24 with Team Leader Dr. Richard Eden and Deputy Leader Dr. Christian Paul Chan Shio, both of Ateneo de Manila University, and Trainer Russelle Guadalupe of the University of the Philippines-Diliman who guided the students in the competition.

Director Dr. Josette Biyo of the Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI) congratulated the team for maintaining Team Philippines’s winning streak in the IMO. “This is a huge victory for the country, knowing how difficult it is to get a medal in the IMO. But we are more awed by the fact that most of the participants

are first-timers and still managed to seize this incredible achievement,” she said.

Biyo also thanked the families of the participants and the Mathematical Society of the Philippines (MSP) for tirelessly pursuing a stronger presence for the country in international mathematics competitions.

“We are excited to see the extent of our students’ mathematical prowess given more training, experience and support,” she added.

DOST-SEI, along with MSP, jointly organized the country’s participation to the IMO, as well as the Math Olympiad Summer Camp held in April and May that served as the training ground for the team.

At the summer camp, 22 national finalists from the 2019 Philippine Mathematical Olympiad were screened for slots in the Philippine Team.

The major sponsors of the team are Hyundai Asia Resources Inc. Foundation and Manulife Business Processing Services.

THE members of Philippine team to the 60th International Mathematical Olympiad in the United Kingdom arrive at Naia wearing their medals. Trainer Russelle Guadalupe (from left), Team Leader Dr. Richard Eden, Immanuel Josiah Balete (Saint Stephen’s High School), Bryce Ainsley Sanchez (Grace Christian College), Vincent de la Cruz (Valenzuela City School of Mathematics and Science), Dion Stephan Ong (Ateneo de Manila Senior High School), Sean Anderson Ty (Zamboanga Chong Hua High School), Andres Rico Gonzales III (De La Salle University Integrated School), Deputy Leader Dr. Christian Paul Chan Shio, and Mathematical Society of the Philippines’s Dr. Marian Roque.

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Sunday, August 4, 2019

WHAT I’VE LEARNED IN IRAN

IRAN has a storied past characterized by stunning architecture and tile work.

IRAN is a beautiful country with friendly locals, stunning historic sites and a rich cultural heritage.

W

BEFORE Iran became an Islamic Republic, you’ll see vestiges of the Persian empire in Persepolis.

Helpful and friendly

Story & photos by Joshua Berida

IR ANIANS are generally friendly and curious, even if they don’t show these so openly. In the subway, people often came up to me and ask if I needed help. Some locals didn’t mind posing for photos or selfies. There were also some who asked to have their picture taken with me, which was new to me.

In Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, the guy I asked directions for turned out to be from Afghanistan, who only spoke broken English. He readily dropped his work and helped me find a money-changer shop.

Although we were unable to find one, his gesture was very much appreciated.

In Esfahan, a stranger gave me directions to Khaju Bridge. While I walked going there, he drove by and asked if I needed a lift. I didn’t even ask for one, but he was willing to take me to the bridge.

On a bus ride from Shiraz to Yazd, a teenage girl just started singing with her relatives to which the driver turned up the volume of his stereo. Not a word did I understand, but I liked the mood that was joyous and fun.

HEN I told people I was going to Iran, the first few things that came to their minds were: “What will you do there?” “Isn’t there a conflict there?” or “Isn’t it dangerous?” Despite these comments and the negative news I read about the country, I decided to go anyway because some of my friends have been to Iran, and mostly have good things to say.

So I booked the tickets and decided to go regardless. I kept an open mind and was ready for an unforgettable adventure.

Travel easy, a surprise

BEFORE going, I’ve read that the language barrier will be one of my problems while exploring the country. However, that wasn’t the case. After a few days in, people could understand some English, and I could get by with hand gestures to get around.

In popular tourist destinations, such as Shiraz, Tehran, Esfahan and Yazd, it is

A7

easy to go from point A to B since there are signs and maps in English. Traveling from one city to the next was easy. The cities had buses that connected provinces.

Whenever I went to the station to buy a ticket, all I had to do was name the place, and the person at the counter understood me. However, it also helps to have a Farsi translation and just show it.

Good thing Tehran had an easy to navigate Metro station. The trains were nothing fancy, but comfortable, and brought me to the city’s famous attractions without difficulty.

Shades of gray

IRAN is an Islamic country known for its strict rules and conservatism. Women are required by law to wear a hijab, even foreigners. No men wore shorts. It was only

toddlers who didn’t wear pants. However, the country wasn’t as conservative as it seems to be, a pleasant surprise to me.

In some accommodations I stayed in, the local women didn’t wear their hijabs indoors. In some conversations I’ve had with a few locals, some didn’t practice their religion, some were agnostics, some were devout, while others were atheists. I’ve met travelers who managed to buy alcohol (at an exorbitant price at that).

When I went to Shiraz, I visited the Tomb of Hafez, one of the many famous Persian poets. His themes varied from drinking, merrymaking, critiques of religion and the hypocrisy of the elite. In the complex I visited, the Iranians were taking pictures, selfies and just hanging out.

When I left the country and landed in Malaysia, many Iranians took off their hijabs as soon as they got off the plane.

It’s not so black and white in Iran.

New finds and the familiar

IRAN’S history spans several centuries where kingdoms have risen and fallen.

I saw the ruins of Persepolis, ancient mosques that showed Persian creativity, and frescoes that depicted historical events and intricate tile work. Some of the houses and structures in the old towns were unique, especially in Yazd. A walk in the alleys and neighborhoods will

take you back in time and think about a bygone era.

Iran is an exotic country, but it has hints of the familiar. In the family-run accommodation I stayed in Shiraz, I got invited by the owners to have lunch with them. We shared a meal of chicken, rice, soup and some vegetables while sitting on the floor.

Family is very important, so Iranians lived in close-knit families with children (even grown-ups) living with their parents and grandparents. If not, they visit them regularly.

The bazaars and their winding alleys and small streets reminded me of our markets, especially Divisoria. Haggling is an important skill to get a good price for the Persian rugs, souvenirs, trinkets and other items. There are also unscrupulous taxi drivers ready who take advantage of unknowing tourists. I was ripped off by a driver who deliberately charged me more in front of his child and with people close by.

Despite all the bad news, just go. All these negative notions will continue to linger in your mind unless you debunk them. Iran has a lot of problems too, but I learned that people have a lot in common, more than you can imagine, regardless where they are from and their background.

As the cliché goes, you’ll never know until you try, and try you must.

CAMALIG’S 450 YEARS OF CULTURE AND CUISINE

C

ULTURE and cuisine were put to the fore when the Municipality of Camalig, Albay, recently marked the 450th anniversary of the arrival of Spanish explorers, led by Captain Luis Enriquez de Guzmán, in 1569.

Led by Mayor Maria Ahrdail Baldo and Vice Mayor Carlos Irwin Baldo Jr., the highlight of the celebration was the unveiling of the historical marker in the Municipal Hall as part of a yearlong observance.

Based on historical records, the area began as a prosperous agricultural settlement near the foot of Mayon Volcano, commonly known as kinamalig, referring to the huts with grass roofs where villagers kept their farm implements and harvest.

The town or pueblo, which was later placed under the patronate of Saint John the Baptist, is a thriving precolonial ancient civilization dating back to 200 B.C.,

evident in the archaeological finds unearthed in its caves. The relics are kept at a small museum within the Saint John the Baptist parish church, which was declared as an Important Cultural Property by the National Museum in 2017.

As one of the first townships organized under the Spanish regime, Camalig is regarded as the “heritage town” of Albay because of its ancestral homes, old church and structures that attest to its checkered past. The most notable among these is the Nuyda House of the late Congressman Justino Nuyda, which serves as a living museum of 19th-century lifestyle.

The unveiling of the marker was timed with the municipal patronal feast and the weeklong 19th Pinangat Festival. The event was named after a signature Bicol delicacy made up of shredded gabi leaves, red ginger, tiny shrimps, slice of salted fish or pork and

crushed pepper all wrapped in leaves, tied in bundles and cooked in coconut milk.

The festival’s highlight was the street dance parade and competition portraying the pinangat’s harvest and cooking process, and a boodle fight where townsfolk partook the popular delicacy and shared it to motorists.

Vice Mayor Irwin Baldo said that the pinangat, one of the region’s most popular dishes, has put the town on the country’s culinary heritage map because of its succulent and spicy taste.

He noted that visitors also troop to Camalig for a bamboo-raft cruise at Sumlang Lake, which has the picturesque Mayon Volcano in the background; and the Quitinday Green Hills Formation Reserve, which is similar to the Chocolate Hills. The two destinations are among the top tourist spots in Albay.

EL Nido, Palawan

DOT welcomes ‘Travel + Leisure’ ranking of Palawan, Cebu, Boracay

T PINANGAT boodlefight

CAMALIG Pinangat Festival float parade

FESTIVAL Street Dancing Competition

HE Department of Tourism (DOT) celebrates the inclusion of the three popular island tourist destinations of Palawan, Cebu and Boracay in Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards 2019.

Leading the Philippine honorees is the “the perennially popular Philippine island of Palawan,” wrote the magazine.

Palawan, which ranked second on the 15 Best Islands in the World list, is home to the enchanting Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, Coron and El Nido.

Palawan is also where the DOT’s San Vicente Flagship Tourism Enterprise Zone (TEZ) is located. Master-planned as an integrated tourism destination project, it is envisioned as a sustainable investor’s haven that will be a catalyst for inclusive economic growth through public and private partnership.

“We are thrilled that Palawan has improved its ranking this year, and is inching closer to regaining its top spot in T+L’s World’s Best Awards. Hats off as well to Cebu and Boracay for being recognized among the best in Asia,” DOT

Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat said.

Cebu and Boracay were voted seventh and ninth, respectively, in the Top 10 Islands in Asia category by the readers of the international travel magazine. The islands were rated according to their activities and sights, natural attractions and beaches, food, friendliness and overall value. Palawan also came in second on this list.

“This citation by a major publication validates our efforts toward attaining a sustainable tourism industry and now, more than ever, encourages the DOT to work even harder on this advocacy, creating a tourism environment that is recognized and lauded not only today, but for the generations to come,” remarked Puyat. T+L writer Rebecca Ascher-Walsh quoted one reader naming Palawan as the “single most beautiful place I have ever seen.”

Ascher-Walsh also wrote that the Philippine island triumvirate of Palawan, Cebu and Boracay are longtime favorites thanks to top-notch reef and wreck diving, white-sand beaches, hiking trails with waterfalls and welcoming locals.

Sports BusinessMirror

A8

Sunday, August 4, 2019

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

PAN AM HOCKEY Argentina’s hockey players stand during the playing of the national anthems before their women’s preliminaries match against Canada at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, last week. Argentina won, 3-0. AP

FIBA LAUDS TOKYO 2020 EFFORT ON 3X3 HOOPS

T

HE International Basketball Federation (Fiba) has expressed its backing for the revolutionary concepts launched by Tokyo 2020 Olympics for its newly named “Tokyo Waterfront City,” which denotes an area around Tokyo Bay that will host Olympic and Paralympic events, including 3x3 basketball, and activities next year.

The Aomi Urban Sports Park is due to play host to 3x3 basketball at Tokyo 2020 from July 25 to 29, and every fan will be able to watch and interact with the biggest stars in the game.

Those who bought a ticket will attend the matches and urban entertainment in an intimate

setting, while those without tickets will be able to catch the action at the “Playground”.

This space, adjacent to the Aomi Urban Sports Park, will include outdoor warm-up areas where fans can watch and interact with 3x3 basketball players just a few minutes before they step onto the court.

“We developed 3x3 with the ambition to play it anywhere, including the most high-traffic urban locations,” Alex Sanchez, Fiba’s 3x3 managing director, said.

“Thanks to 3x3’s unique attributes, we’ve managed to build a special relationship between the fans and the stars of the game, based on unprecedented engagement on and off the court.”

Sanchez added: “All spectators sit incredibly close to the court.

“Not only can they follow and identify the player’s emotions, they can efficiently interact and support their favorite stars.

“This connection continues all year long with access to the 3x3 players off the court in clinics and on social media.”

Following the conclusion of the 3x3 basketball Olympic tournament, the warm-up courts at the Playground will transform into an area for the fans to “get sporty and hop on a casual pick-up game” on the same floor where athletes prepared for their matches.

Tokyo Waterfront City, it is claimed, will create an environment that will more directly engage

spectators and visitors during Tokyo 2020.

It includes the Aomi and Daiba neighborhoods, as well as the new city area of Ariake, where a number of urban development projects are under way.

The United States triumphed in the men’s and women’s 3x3 basketball here at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games, with the discipline set to make its debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The competition was the first time that 3x3 basketball had featured at the Pan American Games.

Argentina was the vanquished opponents in the women’s event, losing 21-17 at Coliseo Eduardo Dibos.

“It feels very good and any time you win a medal for your country it is special,” the US’s Ruth Hebard said.

Dominican Republic triumphed against Brazil to claim bronze, winning 20-15.

The US edged Puerto Rico in the men’s final, the match ending 21-19.

The same two teams as in the women’s bronze-medal match battled it out for third place, with Dominican Republic once again emerging victorious against Brazil, this time 19-17.

Lima 2019 did not act as a qualifier for Tokyo 2020, with eight spaces available for both the men and women’s events.

For each, Japan will participate as hosts, while four teams will be given a place according to the Fiba ranking list.

A further three teams will qualify from the Fiba Olympic qualifying tournament, while the final spot will be available through a Fiba Universality-driven Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

Insidethegames

THE US’s Ruth Heard shoots over Brazil’s Luana Fernandez and Aldecinete Mineiro during the women’s basketball 3x3 semifinal at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. AP

‘Basketball or Nothing’ covers hoop dreams on Navajo Nation

A

LBUQUERQUE, New Mexico—High-school basketball fans in Arizona and New Mexico likely know all about “rez ball”—a runand-gun, pass-cut-and-shoot style of play popular in Native American communities.

The style excites fans and allows teams without big centers to wear down opponents by running them off the court with speed and strong shooting.

The best practitioners of rez ball help build community in some of the most isolated towns in the American Southwest. Fans travel for hours to see the games, while others listen to radio broadcasts spoken in Native American languages.

A new Netflix docuseries Basketball or Nothing examines the hoop dreams of one such team from a rural, Arizona town in the heart of the Navajo Nation.

The series, set to debut Friday on the streaming service, follows the Chinle High School boys’ basketball team as its seeks to capture the community’s first state title. But to get there, the players must battle normal teen pressures and the realities that surround them in the nation’s largest Native American reservation.

Through the eyes and words of Wildcats coach Raul Mendoza and his players, the series documents how their isolation and experiences in one of the poorest regions of the country have shaped them. The teens speak on living in homes without basic services. Filmmakers show them traveling for hours across the state for games and returning home after midnight while resting on cold bus windows.

Basketball is a diversion, team member Josiah Tsosie says, but also a chance to hope. “We always dream big,” he tells filmmakers.

At practice, the players imitate the moves of

Grizzlies celebrate 25th season with Vancouver throwbacks

M

EMPHIS, Tennessee—The Grizzlies haven’t called Vancouver home since 2000. That’s not stopping them from tapping their Canadian roots to celebrate the NBA franchise’s 25th season.

Memphis unveiled two throwback uniforms Thursday.

Jason Wexler, the Grizzlies’ president, says they wanted to take a special approach to connect the franchise’s history over the next two seasons. He says it was an easy decision to bring back the classic teal uniforms for the upcoming season to celebrate the team’s start in Vancouver along with its 25th season. Wexler says the Grizzlies will wear the “Memphis Classic” uniform first worn in 2000-2001 when the team first relocated to Tennessee during the 2020-21 season to mark the 20th anniversary of the team’s first season here.

The Grizzlies also will use an alternate court over the next two seasons redesigned to connect the team’s start in Vancouver and early stint in Memphis to today.

The Grizzlies, meanwhile, have signed guard Marko Guduric to a multiyear contract.

Terms of the deal weren’t announced.

The 24-year-old Guduric has played for Fenerbahce in Turkey the last two seasons.

Guduric averaged 9.4 points and shot 47.7 percent from 3-point range while leading Fenerbahce to the 2019 Euroleague Final Four.

Guduric, who is 6-foot-6, played for KK Crvena Zvezda in Belgrade from 2013-17.

He was born in Serbia and helped guide its national team to a silver-medal finish at EuroBasket 2017.

CJ McCollum, on the other hand, has agreed to a three-year contract extension with the Portland Trail Blazers.

The 27-year-old McCollum averaged 21.0 points last season, helping Portland make it to the Western Conference finals. The 6-foot-3 shooting guard, who was selected by the Trail Blazers with the 10th overall pick in the 2013 draft, has averaged at least 20.8 points over the last four years. AP

Golden State Warrior point guard Stephen Curry or then-Duke standout Zion Williamson, who would become the No. 1 pick of the 2019 National Basketball Association draft.

But will the team overcome its past of never achieving a basketball state title for the town of 4,500 people?

Can Mendoza, a member of the Tohono O’odham tribe in Arizona, convince his young men to suppress their disadvantages and focus on perfecting their advantages—for the season and life?

“There’s really nothing going on in Chinle,” die-hard fan Mo Draper says in the opening of the series. “[There’re] no clubs, no dance, no movie theaters. There’s really no outlet for the kids or the adults.”

That’s why Chinle basketball is an addiction, Draper said, but one that brings happiness.

Or pain if the team sees another losing season.

Professional Golfer’s Association golfer Rickie Fowler, who served as an executive producer and whose grandmother is Navajo, told The Associated Press that he joined the project to show audiences the obstacles high school students face on the reservation.

“It was something for me to give back to my Navajo side,” said Fowler, who grew up in California. “But I also wanted to show the hardship of what the rez is all about [and] bring awareness...it will be eye-opening.”

Codirector and executive producer Matt Howley said he got the idea for the film after watching an online video about rez ball and reading a New York Times profile on Mendoza.

Yet, he didn’t want to be another outsider coming into a Native American community with assumptions and stereotypes. So, Howley and the film crew opted to skip a narrator and only allow the people of Chinle to speak.

“It was important to let them tell their own story,” Howley said.

To do that, filmmakers had to stop shooting for a while and gain the trust of the players, Howley said. “After a week or two,” the players allowed filmmakers inside their homes.

The docuseries couldn’t escape issues of life on the reservation: poverty, health care, addiction.

However, Howley said he left it up to the players and their coach to discuss the subjects.

Fowler said the realities of the reservation are often on his mind when he’s traveling around the world to compete in golf majors. “It’s a part of who am I,” said Fowler, who helps out golfer Notah Begay III with his foundation to tackle Native American obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Begay is Navajo, San Felipe and Isleta.

In the first episode, Mendoza races to prepare the players for their opening game against a taller Snowflake, Arizona, team. The Wildcats have to travel two hours to get there.

“Don’t take the first shot they give you,” he tells them during the game. “Take the shot you want.”

It’s an ongoing theme he will stress throughout the series. Play rez ball but with structure, and you’ll be in a position to win today.

And if you win today, you can win tomorrow.

Beverage-maker cites social media help in growing bottled fruit, veggie juice biz

Beverage maker cites social-media help in growing bottled fruit, veggie juice biz

By Oliver Samson

I

Correspondent

T’S a fruity year for Arielle G. Escalona.

The managing director of Fruit Magic Co. Inc., the company behind the “Pure Nectar” brand, sees business expanding.

She sees commissaries and more partners sprouting outside Metro Manila as the number of bottled fruit and vegetable juice consumers, as well as public curiosity, continue to grow.

The 27-year-old Escalona attributes the spike in the consumption of bottled juices of fruits and vegetables to the increasing health and wellness consciousness among the public, and the fast-paced lifestyle, especially in urban areas.

The company currently produces a daily

average of around 3,500 300-milliliter bottles of fruit and vegetable juices, she said.

This was well above the less than 100 bottles the company produced in a day in 2014.

“We are looking at Cebu and Davao” for expansion, she said.

Online marketing THE positive feedbacks the company has been receiving recently have mostly come from two of the largest cities in the Visayas and Mindanao, she added.

“I personally handle the social-media account,” Escalona said. “So we have a lot of inquiry from Davao and Cebu.”

She added that social media has played a big part in getting the products to the public’s awareness.

“One of the challenges we encountered when we introduced Pure Nectar in 2014 was they found the products expensive,” Escalona said. What we did then was educate the market through the social media, explaining the products were not really pricey as the standards applied involved value in ensuring quality, she added.

Social media was harnessed to help

2 BusinessMirror

consumers get answer to virtually every question usually asked, like how the commissary look liked, how the products were made, the best time to consume them, and other things.

“We really [spent] time online to answer questions,” Escalona said. “I think social media was a very big tool for business expansion because that’s how we got inquiry from big brands to have us in their menu.”

She said social media serves as the company’s main tool in advertising products.

Looking at entirety SHORTLY after graduating from Ateneo De Manila University in 2014, Escalona joined the business in June as a marketing officer, assuming the responsibility of product promotions.

“But eventually, when I looked into the entire business I saw there was an opportunity to grow it even more,” Escalona said.

That year, the “Fruit Magic” brand was transformed into Pure Nectar.

The concepts were carefully conceptualized.

AUGUST 4, 2019

“I did the logo, the branding, the packaging and we tested it out that year,” she said.

“We also did the research. The company was fully launched as Pure Nectar by the end of year.”

The company started selling bottled fruit and vegetable juices in locations with existing Fruit Magic stores. At the time, Fruit Magic had over 20 stores in Metro Manila.

“When I entered the business, I felt there was a need for delivery, and e-commerce,” she said. “I wanted something on-the-go.

Fruit Magic was purely shakes and smoothies, so you would have to wait in line for five to 10 minutes.”

Integrating with partners WITH bottled fruit and vegetable juices, one would not need to queue that long, Escalona explained. One could instantly grab his or her choice at a store and enjoy it anytime and anywhere.

“We revolutionized it,” she said. “What really grew the business was when we started partnering with brands.”

Continued on page 7

BusinessMirror

MUSIC

PRINT

THE SOUND OF UNDERGROUND:

Wendy Villanueva | PHOTO BY: TIM DE LEON

THE PUNK CONNECTION

N

By Darwin Fernandez

OTHING speaks to the soul like music does; there is always a genre for everybody and when an audience is formed around the same adored track whole cultures emerge in celebration of a found identity.

This most seen in the emergence of Punk music where an entire movement found itself playing for a community familiar with one another, a culture alien to the modern day and where norms are constantly questioned as the art form thrives in straying from the status quo—because of its very nature it was most accepted by those who came to it; avoiding the mainstream and purposefully going underground just to be with its community.

But now in today’s age of internet and overnight fame, being underground has been a rarely chosen option as anyone can have their songs uploaded for the

world to see, however those that started the Punk movement in the Philippines remain underground and undiscovered by the younger generation of music listeners which is why JAM 88.3’s The Punk Connection is ‘instrumental’ to further enriching the culture as it digs up the underground and sends it on air.

First Connection

BORN from the passion of Punk couple Renmin Nadela and Wendy Villanueva, The Punk Connection first began as an idea over a dinner table with JAM’s station manager Eric Perpetua.

THOUGH Perpetua was not as deep into Punk as Villanueva who was Punk since she was in 5th grade, they both shared a liking to the band Descendents and in a casual conversation between friends they thought how nice it would be to have Punk music on radio, to which the station manager capped the exchange with, “Gumawa ka ng proposal.”

In a week or so, in a presentation with a Punk-playlist blasted through a bluetooth-speaker, Hooligan Radio was the first option but wasn’t approved for the sort of negative connotation, and so the Punk Connection was born and was the goto for the genres it didn’t have.

At that time, Balian ng Leeg was already on air but catered to the sub-genres of Metal, while Cousin Hoagy played Blues, Classic Rock, and Rock n’ Roll.

According to Nadela, the name was inspired by the mafia gang the Sicilian Connection.

“Di naman sa pagiging mafia kami ng radio,” he joked, “pero yung pagiging connection. Nagka-cater kami sa Punk, Ska, Hardcore and

everything in between, from Reggae to Rockabilly, sa mga relatives of Punk, Ska, and Hardcore” (Not that we wanted to be a mafia of the radio, but more on the connection part. We cater to Punk, Ska and Hardcore and everything in between. From Reggae to Rockabilly, all the relatives of Punk, Ska, and Hardcore.)

On June 11, 2016 the first episode of The Punk Connection aired featuring Villanueva’s personal Punk playlist. And who better to host the program than one of the godfathers of Philippine Punk, Al Dimalanta of the band Dead Ends.

Renmin described working with the icon, “napaka healthy ng aming relationship, sobrang solid kasi nga ang ganda ng flow [nung trabaho] hindi mabigat.”

(We had a very healthy relationship, it was solid, with a beautiful work flow, the task wasn’t heavy.)

However, Dimalanta has been on an indefinite leaving the two now to share the Continued on page 4

4

Sound BusinessMirror

AUGUST 04 , 2019 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

MUS

Renmin Nadela

The Punk...

Al Dimalanta from page 3

responsibility of the program.

“Malungkot nung nawala si Al, kasi parang siya yung kuya namin. Part siya nung [production] kumbaga three heads talaga [were working] nag she-share siya ng mga songs, pati sa mga decisions, mataas yung respeto naming kay sir Al bilang senior,” Villanueva added that despite being on a leave for almost a year, Dimalanta always has a spot in JAM’s Punk music, “hanggang ngayon di pa rin kami nag dadagdag ng isa pa.”

(It was sad when Al left, he was like an older brother to us. He was part of the production, it was really three heads working together. He shared songs, and even in decisions.

We had a high regard for him as a senior, until now we haven’t added another member [to replace him]) When the show started airing, Perpetua gave them a trial period of 3 months thinking the idea was just a spark of passion that would quickly burn out.

“Sabi ni Eric subukan natin three months, tas pag napagod na kayo pahinga na,” Nadela said, “ngayon three years na kami di pa nagpapahinga, derederetso lang.”

(Eric told me to try it out for three months, and if we’re exhausted, we give it a pause. It’s been three years now, and we haven’t taken a break.)

Teaching Punk

MORE than featuring Punk music and the bands that were involved in the movement, the show wanted to introduce the idea to those who didn’t know what it was.

Spending a majority of the 80s and onwards underground, a lot of listeners are unfamiliar with the themes and its sound, which after they started airing, they received feedback of listeners being aware

that the music they were listening to before was actually Punk.

Before incorporating the newer bands, they aimed to establish what it was, what it represented, before airing what it is now.

“Bumalik kami sa roots, foreign saka local. Isa sa mga adhikain naming is to educate yung mga listeners na di talaga alam yung rich history ng Punk music.

Sinimulan namin sa old school na punk bands, yung talagang haligi na. Gusto namin na maging stable yung foundation ng education kaya kailangan mo silang ibalik sa roots.”

(We returned to the roots, both foreign and local. Among our advocacies is to educate listeners that don’t know the rich history of Punk music. We started from the old school punk bands, the actual pillars of the music. We wanted a stable foundation for the education, so we had to bring them back to the roots.)

Airing the Underground

MORE than a type of music, Underground was a culture and a community in itself. It had beliefs shared among its members, among those is staying away from the mainstream and focusing on the music that only they had.

Underground is a culture that is hard to explain with lots of facets that make it up, but it was born in a time when exposure was hard to get and bands struggled to go mainstream.

In the modern age of internet and a user-centred market, it seems being underground is harder to maintain than being mainstream. But still loyal to the old culture, some “Purists” swarmed the show for bringing the culture out of the underground.

To the two, the criticism didn’t matter, Punk as they defined was something that needed to be heard; the focus was on the art rather than the audience that was receiving it.

“Ano gusto mo bilang musikero?”

Nadela stressed, “Kung gusto mo marinig ng mas maraming tao, sa mabilis na panahon, may mga musikero na gusto lang marinig ng iilang tao at nirerespeto yun.”

(What do you want as a musician?

Do you want to be heard by a larger audience? Because some musicians just want to play for a small crowd and that’s respectable.)

“Noon ma-a identify mo yung underground at mainstream.”

Villanueva explained, “Ngayon it doesn’t matter na kung underground ka or mainstream ka, ang mahalaga ngayon is kung ano yung music na ginagawa mo, kung makabuluhan ba o hindi at kung anong klase ng tao ka.”

(Before you could identify the underground from the mainstream.

Now it doesn’t matter if you’re any of those. What matters now is the kind of music you do—if it’s relevant or not, and the type of person you are.)

Underground Pick, All Flags

WHEN describing the Punks underground in the Philippines Villanueva said, “bilang sa kamay.”

They wanted to feature local artists but they also wanted to feature different songs from different bands every show, which true local Punk had a very short supply of.

As Villanueva explained, “Punk kasi hindi lang siya music, lifestyle din siya. Pwede ka gumawa ng punk music pero di ka marerecognize sa underground scene kasi wala ka dun, kasi culture siya eh. Hindi pwedeng Punk Music lang pero di ka naman Punk.”

The segment Underground Pick offered a more versatile platform for local bands that has that one song with the slightest hint of being Punk, but they don’t claim to be part of the culture.

As a result of the experiment, out of nowhere foreign bands heard of the segment and started sending samples of their work to be featured in the show; the radio program just got more and more connections in the now wider range of Underground Pick, All Flags.

Calling Out Pinoy Punk

“HINAHANAP pa namin yung susunod na henerasyon ng solid na Punk,” Nadela, said.

There are a lot of bands that claim to be Punk but are nowhere near the essence of it.

“Na aatract sila sa Punk music pero yung lifestyle hindi talaga, ni sumawsaw sa underground di nila magawa.” Nadela said one needed a “rite of passage” to Punk culture as it is “clannish” You have to live the culture to be recognized as part of it. “Cool maging punk pero di sila dumaan sa culture.”

Having only reached a limited area of the Metro Manila Punk scene they know that Punk music is still alive in the culture—finding a place in their local underground. True Punk still exists and finding them and having them heard is how The Punk Connection supports the culture.

“Sayang yung pagkakataon na mapakinggan yung music niyo.”

Villanueva emphasized, “Kaya siya tinawag na Punk kasi iba siya sa nakararami, kasi meron siyang prinsipyong pinaglalaban. Yung way of thinking niya is uncommon, pag gumawa yan ng kanta, may laman yan palagi. Sayang kung yung message ng kanta di maipapparinig sa nakararami.”

(If you’re a band or have a song within the lines of Punk, Ska, and Hardcore, simply send a good quality in MP3 format, a short band profile and a list of your members and your band’s location to thepunkconnection@gmail.com)

d trip

soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | AUGUST 04, 2019

5

SIC ON PRINT

MEET UP-AND-COMING BAND, DELANEY

by Rick Olivares

Guitarist Kenndrick Marayag, Guitarist and Vocalist Kyle Cayton, Drummer Mark Izon, and Bassist Arianne Gonzaga.

I

T was a dark and somewhat rainy night. Inside the 123 Block along Pioneer street, the sound that emanated matched the brooding time of the time.

It was the Finite Fest 2019: The Gathering. Fourteen metal bands that rocked the still of the night.

The seventh band to take the stage had the most un-metal-like of names… Delaney. The name smacked of some American post-hardcore emo outfit like Finch, Chamberlain, Hoover, or Rainier Maria to name a few.

Their name was actually taken (the idea was from the band’s former vocalist) from actor Tom Hardy’s character of James Keziah Delaney in the British television drama series, Taboo.

Delaney -- guitarist and vocalist Kyle Cayton, bassist Arianne Gonzaga, drummer Mark Izon, and guitarist Kenndrick Marayag – were like a palette cleanser that night spewing infectious pop rock that had the metalheads still nodding in approval. And prior to their final song during their set, they segued into a four-minute metal improve piece. “To be in

the spirit of the night,” offered Cayton.

Cayton and Gonzaga – who came in Goth attire – previously played for metal outfits. Why the change?

“I think we got older,” laughed the vivacious Gonzaga (yes, she is related to Toni and Ariel). “We listen to a lot of music. All the different sub-genres of rock. Not just metal. I think at some point, we wanted to go in a different direction.”

They aren’t the only ones to change course. The members of psychedelic post-rock foursome The Insektlife Cycle all paid their dues in the metal circuit before going into a different sound.

Delaney isn’t some cheesy sappy band even with the change in direction.

They play a super-charged set. They’re superb musicians (some of them work as techs at Tower of Doom; hence, also the metal roots) and they’re engaging and have a sense of humor; something thoroughly lacking in many local bands.

Thus far, Delaney has eight songs in Filipino and one in English in the bank. During the The Gathering, members in the audience sang along to the songs “Lakbay” and “North”. It’s actually incredible for a band that only began performing live in November of 2018.

Yet since then they have gigged rather relentlessly performing in places like Tomato Kick, Saguijo, Cabin 420, and The Minokaua.

“Even before banding together for Delaney, we all had our past crews and projects,” summed up Cayton. “we all chose a career in music and we enjoy it. We have no problems playing to small or big crowds. If people come to see us, we already happy that we can share our music.”

Delaney hopes to release their debut album within the next few months.

6

AUGUST 04, 2019 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

Sound trip BusinessMirror

MUSIC ON PRINT

SoundSampler | by Tony M. Maghirang

In the Mix:

Kolateral, Bruce Springsteen, Never The Strangers and Metz

KOLATERAL Kolateral

‘T

HE horror the horror,” said Kurtz in Robert Conrad’s classic “Heart of Darkness.” It may well be the thematic mainline that fuels the blasts of untamed disgust, anger and rage in Kolateral’s self-titled debut.

Produced by Sandata, a team of researchers and artists, Kolateral is a various artists’ collection fronted by BLKD and Calix. The dynamic duo and other contributing rappers drew from documented stories from the frontlines of the drug war that’s sweeping the nation to weave visions of doom and gloom for the defenseless poor among us.

The opening salvo starts with a quote from President Duterte ‘to kill ‘em dead’ and to Calix and company, it’s behind the tale that a war must be fought for peace and prosperity to reign. Thousands of unsolved killings later, the urban legend has given rise to accusations of grave human rights abuses, the state as a killing machine and children as justifiable collateral damage to get to the accused drug dependent.

The proof is in the detail and the Kolateral collective shines a harsh light “sa mga anino sa dilim,” “mga salitang pumapaslang” and “sistemang bulok na gigiban.” The accompanying music, while simple and hummable, serves by design as background noise.

Majority of the tracks come to a funereal fade out, signifying perhaps some sort of resignation. It is only the ensemble performance on the concluding track when the expletives rise to the fore in a mounting tide of righteous indignation.

Kolateral should be a fitting reminder that a bloody juncture in contemporary history has yet to end. As hoary as it may seem, listen and weep.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN Western Stars

B

ACK in the day, Bruce Springsteen’s live shows with his famed E-Street Band were legendary in their scope and length. They were marathon concerts which rock and pop audiences looked forward to, expecting a lot more bang for their bucks. And there’s no mistaking the charisma of The Boss both as a recording artist and performer as well as in the characters, mostly ill-fated lovers who come alive in his songs Springsteen’s occasional solo albums during the period attracted a following mainly due to rave reviews and curiosity or hype at how a rock group icon fared on his own, without the crutch of cooperative musical associates. He’s gone solo for the last seven albums and his latest release seems hounded by certain perceptions that go beyond Bruce’s measure as a super-talented musician.

First, the general consensus is that with “Western Stars,” The Boss wants to be in the same league as the very best singer-songwriters in history. The new album’s orchestral pop maneuvers lean towards the classic ‘60s songs of Jimmy Webb, Glenn Campbell and their kind. In perspective, Bruce is acknowledged as a great fusionist of 60s soul and American rock and roll and his journey through “Western Stars” vindicates the fact that he’s been just as mightily inspired by the greatest white pop musicians. So, on the new album, songs like “Galveston,” “Stones,” “Drive Fast” and the fantastic “There Goes My Miracle” certainly put The Boss closer to the pantheon of the ultimate pop heroes ever.

Second and this may be a puerile petty observation has something to do with Bruce Springsteen being among the richest musicians of the pop era. His

personal net worth of US$300 million makes it hard to get around the question of how a rich man can seriously sing about being lucklessly drifting albeit vicariously across the dusty wide open plains often referred to as the Western skies. In fairness, in one track, he voices the desperation of someone he situates to be 500 miles away from where he’s supposed to be.

Imagination must be the key and in an album such as Western Skies which locates The Boss outside of his comfort zone, he’s just as comfortable playing out now the pains and troubles of the primordial muse of his youth.

him. Meanwhile, a bit of typical Brit pop mentality crops up in “Wildfire” in its dance beats, breathy vocals, and hyperventilating falsetto to give it a shade more vitality than the rest.

“Touchdown” may be a short stop for a band that’s exploring its musical muscles or it may be just the latest calling card to keep Never The Strangers in the loop of a progressively listless sonic landscape.

Let’s welcome them back and hope for the best.

METZ Automat

F

NEVER THE STRANGERS Touchdown

T

HEN four-man band Never The Strangers already touched down in the local music scene in 2012 on wings of a debut album for a mainstream record label. They had indie-rock chops in their musical arsenal and an intelligent songwriter in lead vocalist and keyboardist Ace Libre.

Now down to the trio of drummer Nash Ignacio, guitarist Bert Ong and Ace himself, they have a new EP entitled Touchdown that seems to tone down the rock part for a detour into synth-pop territory. Ace’s keyboard flourishes wrap up most of the tracks in gauzy sounds and top it up with his own wispy falsetto.

That’s right, he’s mining his crooner cred even if he’s putting across impressions about a lover’s body, or needing her electric lips on a Saturday afternoon.

There’s finesse in Ace’s lyricism that it’s easy to discern the understated longing lurking around the edges of the mid-tempo tunes his mates lay out for

ORMER Manila visitors, Canadian noiseniks Metz, has issued a rarities set of their early days as struggling punk rockers. It’s their fourth album and it’s a rare phenomenon for a rising rock act to release a retrospective just when their career is taking off.

True indie/college rock fans will however love it because the new album “Automat” gives Metz a career trajectory similar to Sonic Youth which began as noise punks then graduated to art-punk godhood. Opener “Soft Whiteout” bulldozes away traditional notions of punk or even metal with its grinding sheets of metallic peals and wrecking ball drum slams. The vocals on “Ripped on the Fence” and “Lump Sums” resound like the wails of the damned in its train-headed-for-a-smashing-disaster din.

Some attempt at rock and roll is captured in “Negative Space” and a sort of alien rockabilly from Mars underlie “Wet Blanket” but overall, Automat will probably stay its welcome in normal households for less than ten seconds.

Play the entire thing at full volume only if you expect your family and the rest of the neighborhood to hate you for weeks on end.

THE VOWELS THEY ORBIT LAUNCHES ‘SELOS’ MUSIC VIDEO

By Harieth Tacis Escober

R

ISING five-piece Indie pop-rock band, the vowels they orbit, also known as TheVTO, composed of Nikka Melchor, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist; Hannah Dela Cruz, keyboardist and backing vocals; Jeremy Sayas, drummer and backing vocals; Gene Santiago, lead guitarist; and Patch Javier, bassist, launched their first ever music video for their debut single, ‘Selos’ at The 70’s Bistro in Quezon City.

The music video, starring Melchor, Sayas, and other members of the band, under the direction of Andrei Antonio, premiered right before the set of TheVTO. One-sided jealousy, one of the most

common issues in any relationship, was the main theme of the song. The lyrics highlighted the pain and hardship that come along with this love-triggered emotion, affecting the relationship entirely.

Bands such as Where’s Ramona?, I Belong to the Zoo, Autotelic, and fellow-Soupstar artists Moonstar88, Better Days and Gracenote also performed during this special night, alongside TheVTO. The “Selos” music video will be premiering soon on Myx and YouTube, but for the meantime, you can listen to it on Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, and other streaming stores worldwide.

Beverage maker cites social-media help in growing bottled fruit, veggie juice biz

Continued from page 2

Pure Nectar stores could sell products in stores other than its own because the fruit and vegetable juices are in bottles, unlike fruit and vegetable shakes, she explained.

The company puts refrigerators in partner-stores that include Pure Nectar’s products to their menu.

The company has currently over 250 outlets, including partner-stores.

Some of the partner-stores label Pure Nectar’s fruit and vegetable juices with their own company name.

The Pure Nectar brand is currently partnered with Shell’s “Deli2Go” brand, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf coffee shop, and Pepper Lunch-brand restaurants.

“We’ll be selling the juices in their selected stores so you can buy it,” Escalona said. “At Shell Deli2Go and Coffee Bean, it’s their own label. At Pepper Lunch, it’s Pure Nectar.”

Various flavors THE company currently offers some 40 flavors of fruit and vegetable juices that come in nearly all colors, except blue, Escalona said.

Some of the flavors are mixed juices of several fruits and vegetables. Others are juices of one or two fruits; some with vegetable extracts and some pure vegetable.

Their products have no sugar, no addi-

tives and no colorants, Escalona said. The products are natural and bottled, as well as stored without preservatives, she added.

People can choose from about 40 flavors and have to drink their choice in just a few days for best consumption.

Some flavors are made of up to a dozen fruits and vegetables, Escalona said, citing the company’s best-seller “Green Supreme” flavor.

“Pure Nectar advocates good taste in the beverage.”

Escalona noted there still is the notion that a healthy drink must be expensive and the tongue should find the taste awful.

“We really wanted to change that,” she said. “So, when I entered the business, the challenge I saw in a working person was where he would find a healthy grab-and-go drink. What we wanted to do was to cater to the taste of Filipinos.”

Evolved over time THE company sources farmers in Davao, Olangapo City, and other parts of the country for fruits and vegetables.

“We order about 2 tons of coconut a week,” Escalona said. “Since the business had actually started in 1993, we have a lot of farmers [whom] we support.”

Making the products accessible to people has been an issue that was worked out along the way, she pointed out.

“That’s where the business model has evolved over time,” Escalona said, adding

7 BusinessMirror

that previous feedbacks included inquiry on why the products were not available in particular areas.

“What we did to speed up distribution was to partner with brands that have existing multiple branches,” she said.

“That’s the strategy now. We are partnering with brands.” Pure Nectar has about 20 outlets of its own in Metro Manila, Escalona added.

“People associate healthy lifestyle with fruits and vegetables,” she said. “You really have to include fruits and vegetables in your diet. Since it’s part of your lifestyle, we made it convenient for you. I think that’s what made us successful.”

Responding to needs ESCALONA believes the bottled fruit and vegetable juices market is growing because of the demand of a fast-paced lifestyle.

She said they also meet the need of those who want healthy beverage but don't have the time to prepare the juice.

It takes too much time: from going to a market to choosing fruits and vegetables and extracting the substance at home in a juicer, according to Escalona, who graduated in high school from Saint Pedro Poveda College.

“Why people need us is because we are very available,” she said. “Right now, we also have online delivery.”

The company’s products are formulated by an expert in the field of nutrition, noted AUGUST 4, 2019

Escalona, who holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication and Media Studies at Ateneo de Manila University.

“All of our flavors are created by an inhouse nutritionist, especially created for Filipino lifestyle,” she said.

They cold-press—uses 14,000 pounds of pressure—and blend the fruits and vegetables to get the juice, Escalona said.

Sights abroad THROUGH cold-press, fruits and vegetables yield most of their nutrients, she explained. Blending, on the other hand, the fruits and vegetables yield the fiber.

Mango, for one, could not be coldpressed since most of its fiber would effectively yield only to blending, she said.

“A lot of people are getting more conscious about what they eat, so they want to read about it,” she said. “And we are honest with the things written on our bottles and in our marketing.

We don’t claim anything that we are not sure of.”

The company is looking at making the products accessible in more locations inside and outside of Metro Manila in the next five years, she said.

Pure Nectar has put up an outlet in Singapore in May this year after establishing presence in Brunei Darussalam in July 2018. The company is also looking at putting up another in Cambodia late this year or early 2020.

How Gen X parents raised Gen Z kids: Different than millennials

N

OBODY cares about Generation X. Squeezed between baby boomers and millennials, those born between 1965 and 1980 are an “unsung generation,” Time magazine once sneered, “hardly recognized as a social force or even noticed much at all.”

That’s changing, though, as those skeptical slackers have created something that today’s companies now see as key to their success: Generation Z. Corporate marketers looking to understand that important group—the oldest of who are in their early 20s and are just forming their brand loyalties— are taking classes on social media and memes in an effort to crack the kids’ code. But really, to start understanding Gen Z and its direct spending power of as much as $143 billion, companies should try studying their Gen X parents first. While there are reams of research linking millennial behavior to their boomer influences, experts are just starting to analyze what connections exist between the previously ignored Generation X and their Generation Z offspring.

“Gen Z really is different,” said Jason Dorsey, a Gen Z consultant with the Center for Generational Kinetics, a research outfit. “They aren’t a more extreme version of millennials but are different—and that’s mostly because of parenting.”

A ‘hidden driver’ DORSEY—whose clients include Adidas AG, McDonald’s Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp.—calls parenting a “hidden driver” that influences how later generations view work, spending and education.

Without even realizing it, Generation Z’s viewpoints on these topics have been shaped by their Generation X parents, who came of age amid a series of crises: Watergate, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Challenger explosion, Rodney King.

Often, the strife was closer to home: Divorce rates spiked in the 1970s, giving rise to neighborhoods full of toughskinned “latchkey kids” who craved security but rarely found it either at home or, as they grew up, in a more globalized, less-forgiving workplace.

“Gen X is raising Gen Z to look like them: autonomous, cynical, with looser reins,” said Corey Seemiller, a professor

at Ohio’s Wright State University who has conducted research and written several books on Generation Z. “They figure things out themselves.”

To explore that cross-generation connection, Bloomberg spoke with experts, scoured data and also asked CivicScience, a consumer research company that works with big brands like T-Mobile and Microsoft, to crunch some numbers. One key finding: Generation Z shares the pessimism their parents had at the same age, based on an annual survey given to highschool seniors since 1975 by the University of Michigan.

More financially literate OF course, it’s tough to definitively prove that Gen Z’s skepticism was instilled in them by their Gen X parents. After all, it’s natural that a generation that’s in the throes of transition—leaving high school and college, starting careers—would be worried about the future. But there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that Generation X has had a profound influence on their Z kids, especially where close-in-age millennials buck the trend.

Take higher education: Generation X witnessed in their formative years the decline of lucrative blue-collar jobs, making a college degree more essential for a successful career, and they instilled that in Gen Z. The new cohort is far more likely than boomer-raised millennials to say a college degree is very important for reaching their goals, and they’re on track to be the best educated generation ever, according to Pew Research.

Like their parents, Gen Z has also got tougher skins than millennials. While

8 BusinessMirror

nearly one in four millennials say they might leave their current job in the next two years because they don’t feel appreciated, only 15 percent of Generation Z cited that reason, a recent Deloitte survey found.

Generation Z is also more financially literate at a much younger age than previous generations—lessons likely instilled by their Generation X parents, many of whom grew savvier when they had their careers derailed by the Great Recession.

Typically, the older a person gets, the more likely they are to say they’ve got a good grip on their finances. But CivicScience found that younger Gen Zs—those under 18—actually saw themselves as more fiscally responsible than their peers aged 18 to 24, as well as millennials.

More cautious nature GENER ATION Z is also more likely than millennials to save a good chunk of their income, and the most likely to enjoy using budgeting apps like Mint and Acorns.

That desire for financial security has prompted Gen Z to try and avoid incurring debt whenever possible—40 percent of those aged 18 to 22 have no debt at all, according to a separate survey conducted by pollster Morning Consult. They own fewer credit cards and are instead using debit more often, even if they have to use payment plans or rent stuff—clothes, furniture, gadgets, even car-sharing— rather than own it outright.

Gen Z’s more cautious nature manifests itself in other ways, too: They’re not a wild bunch. Bryan Gildenberg, the chief AUGUST 4, 2019

knowledge officer at Kantar Consulting, quips that Generation Z is a “very old group of young people.”

They drink less, take fewer drugs (except for pot, which they don’t view as harmful) and have less sex. Again, there are parallels here with their Generation X parents, many of whom saw sex and drugs as dangerous due to the AIDS epidemic and Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign.

Self-indulgent narcissists FOR all their caution, Generation Z does have an entrepreneurial streak.

Nearly three out of four high-school students say they want to start their own business someday, according to Millennial Branding, a research and consulting firm. Maybe that drive was also passed down from Generation X, whose ranks include Elon Musk and Michael Dell.

And although Gen X didn’t agree on everything (The Cure or The Smiths?

Nirvana or Pearl Jam?), in recent years they’ve rallied around one defining idea: Baby boomers are a bunch of self-indulgent narcissists, and their helicopter parenting transformed their millennial kids into entitled mini-mes. Generation X parents have purposefully tried to raise a different kind of kid, influenced by their own upbringing.

“Boomers really wanted it to be easier for their children, and they succeeded,” said Dorsey, the Gen Z consultant.

“When we interview Gen X, they tell us they don’t want our kids to end up like entitled millennials.”

Bloomberg Opinion