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PIÑOL DROPS INITIAL ‘BOMBS’ THAT ROCKED EVEN LEGITIMATE TRADERS

War vs agri smugglers begins

Hundreds of container vans wait for clearance at the North Harbor in Tondo, Manila. Memorandum Circular 5 authorizes the Department of Agriculture, on the basis of the Food Safety Act of 2013, to revalidate—and not revoke—all sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances issued before November 23. ALYSA SALEN

O

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

n usual afternoons, the hallways of the Department of Agriculture (DA) central office in Quezon City would only be home to familiar sounds: sudden brakes of officials’ cars driving by, squeaks of leather shoes and chitchats of janitorial personnel taking a break.

The usual eerie quietness in the decades-old building wouldn’t break, even if the agency’s chief would walk along the hallways.

But one November Monday afternoon was different.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol walked along the corridors of the fourth floor of the building, only to be welcomed with scrutinizing stares from people sitting nearby the stairs, while a queue of people in the middle slowly forms a sort of barricade to bar the DA chief from walking.

“Sec! I’ve been here since last week. I’m still waiting for some import permits. I thought it would

only take a day sir,” a female representative of an importing company greets Piñol. “Some of our documents have been misplaced by your staff,” she added.

Piñol huddled his staff inside one of the offices on the fourth floor. “Why is there a long queue?

And why are some papers being misplaced?” Piñol asked his staff, including an undersecretary and assistant secretary. “Add more people,” he ordered.

Six days earlier, Piñol pronounced an order that took the trade and agriculture industries by storm.

That order was the start of his first wave of assault against technical

Piñol: “We did it to surprise them.

Why, is there something wrong with that?”

smugglers of agriculture products.

“I issued instructions for an immediate cancellation of all import permits, both for meat and plant products, because of persistent reports of permit recycling and technical smuggling,” he said

MC 5 The memorandum circular that authorized the Department of Agriculture to revalidate all SPS-ICs issued before November 23

during a November 22 morning press briefing.

From thereon, traders in the agriculture sector were taken aback by Piñol’s pronouncement, which surely created a buzz among their ranks.

Continued on A2

Stakeholders see ‘middle ground’ in ending labor contractualization

By David Cagahastian

T

here appears to be a growing support from several sectors, including former government officials, labor practitioners and academe, on the proposal of the government for a “middle ground” on the issue of whether to completely abolish contractualization, as promised by President Duterte in his election campaign.

At a public forum on emerging trends in the labor industry both here and abroad, former Labor Secretary Marianito D. Roque said the government cannot just completely stop the practice of some corporations to resort to contractualization, especially for some processes

in their businesses that are not part of their core operations.

“The issue is not only about the security of tenure of the workers, but the preservation of employment,” Roque said in an exclusive interview with the BusinessMirror at the sidelines of a public forum on global labor trends organized by the Lilac Center for Public Interest Inc. at the De La Salle University earlier this week.

Roque said the complete abolition of contractualization entails extra expenses for companies that make use of contractual workers for their noncore operations, and would thus pose a threat to the profitability of their businesses.

He said what the government should do is to empower even the

PESO exchange rates n US 49.6490

contractual workers by giving them better benefits by law, such as the mandatory 13th-month pay and separation pay upon the expiration of their contracts.

Roque said there are several bills pending in Congress for these benefits to be granted even to contractual workers, such as the bill filed by Bohol Rep. Arthur C. Yap.

Campaign promise

The compromise “win-win” solution on the issue of contractualization was earlier advocated by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). The win-win solution involved the strict implementation of the labor laws so that contractors will be forced to regularize their workers whom they deploy to

their various clients where those workers are actually rendering the service.

Labor groups have rejected this win-win solution as a repudiation of Duterte’s campaign promise to scrap contractualization and his pro-labor pronouncements during the early days of his administration.

They want him to abide by his promise and effect a total ban on contractualization, thus forcing companies to regularize those working for them, although they are employees of another contractor.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) earlier went along the strong rhetoric of Duterte to scrap contractualization, but has since supported the win-win solution proposed by the DTI. The

DOLE is expected to come up with amendments to Department Order 18-A, or the implementing rule of the Labor Code that allows for the accreditation of contractors. Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said the amendments to the said DO will put into effect a middle-ground solution that is the same as the solution proposed by the DTI.

Roque: “The issue is not only about the security of tenure of the workers, but the preservation of employment.”

Labor sentiments

Militant labor group Anakbayan said the toned-down position of the Duterte administration indicates that labor groups would again be disappointed with “empty promises” of the government to give all workers their constitutionally protected right to security of tenure.

Anakbayan National Chairman Vencer Crisostomo said DO 18-A should be repealed, instead of being amended, and that Duterte should instruct his allies in Congress to comply with the

n japan 0.4356 n UK 62.5031 n HK 6.4021 n CHINA 7.2138 n singapore 34.8977 n australia 37.0332 n EU 57.7123 n SAUDI arabia 13.2408

See “Labor,” A2 Source: BSP (9 December 2016 )

A2 Saturday, December 10, 2016

News

www.businessmirror.com.ph

War vs agri smugglers begins Continued from a1

So much buzz, that even the US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) in Manila advised US exporters to “exercise caution” in planning their shipments to the Philippines because of the new rules in securing sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances (SPS-ICs).

“Although the process [of securing SPS-ICs] is becoming more refined, further changes and consequent disruptions are likely,” according to the FAS Global Agricultural Information Report published on December 2.

The FAS in Manila noted that the rules for securing SPS-ICs have been changing “almost daily.”

Confusion

On November 23 Memorandum Circular 5 (MC 5), which authorized the DA on the basis of the Food Safety Act of 2013 to revalidate—and not revoke—all SPS-ICs issued before November 23, was signed.

Under the MC 5, the DA would create two technical working groups (TWGs): SPS Inspection Group and SPS Monitoring and Evaluation Group.

The SPS Inspection Group shall be responsible for conducting a mandatory inspection of all inbound shipments prior to the assessment for tariffication of the concerned Bureau of Customs (BOC) personnel. The measure would be done to avoid misdeclaration of goods contained in the shipments, Piñol said.

Meanwhile, the SPS Monitoring and Evaluation group shall spearhead the “revalidation” process of all SPS-ICs in the country, which would be done manually, meaning, all affected importers shall present their SPS-ICs physically to the TWG in the DA central office that would validate and authenticate the permits manually.

The revalidation process of

SPS-ICs started on November 23, per Piñol’s order that upon the signing of MC 5, it shall be effective immediately.

However, the circular has an “effectivity clause”, which stated that its content shall only take effect 15 days after its publication in the official gazette or in two newspapers of general circulation. This means MC 5 shall only take into place on December 9 if the circular was published on November 24. A copy of the MC 5 shows that the order was under “for publication” status on November 23.

“We did it to surprise them.

Why, is there something wrong with that?” Piñol said when asked by reporters if there would be legal repercussions, given that the imposition of MC 5 bypassed the 15-day effectivity clause during a November 28 interview. “If there’s something wrong with that, then go ahead question us,” he added.

Piñol admitted that the procedures of the revalidation process are being refined from time to time to come up with the most efficient and better way of doing it.

Changes

Upon being notified by the MC 5, importers belonging to established groups, such as the Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (Pampi) and the Meat Importers and Traders Association (Mita), expressed concerns over the said order.

Pampi Executive President Francisco Buencamino earlier told the BusinessMirror that the new procedures would cause delays in shipments and additional costs in production, which, in turn, would be shouldered by consumers.

For Mita President Jesus Cham, the legitimate importers would be the ones greatly affected by the MC 5, more than those who are into smuggling.

Both Pampi and Mita sent let-

ters addressed to Piñol to express their concerns over MC 5 during the week since the circular was released.

On November 29 the DA released a memorandum instructing the facilitation of the release of highly perishable items.

The perishable items covered by the memorandum are live items, chilled items, dairy products and fresh fruits; vegetable and flowers, except onions and garlic; hatching eggs; live plants and orchids; and veterinary products and nutritional products.

“Importers issued with SPS import permits covering said items/products may directly process their documents at the respective quarantine offices of the port,” the memo read. “Validation of SPS import clearance shall be done directly at the Quarantine Office at the port of entry by authorized DA officers under the SPS technical working group,” it added.

On December 1 Piñol told reporters that the DA will tweak its earlier proposal to inspect all shipments before the BOC evaluates the contents for tariffs.

“We have a problem with that [AFTFU]. We cannot implement that because there’s no cold-storage facilities within the Customs compound, therefore, we cannot open each container, because it might spoil the goods inside,” he said.

“So, what will happen now is that we are just going to conduct a random checkup and follow the selected container up to the Customs-bonded warehouse for inspection,” Piñol added.

The DA yet again issued new procedures in the revalidation process of SPS-ICs on December 5.

In a notice posted in front of the DA Central Office, the agency announced that starting on December 5, all importers and brokers should abide by the prescribed schedule for the revalidation process of SPS-ICs.

The DA said it will entertain

requests for validation of SPS-ICs from Monday to Saturday, from 8 to 11 a.m., according to the notice.

It added that the DA will release validated SPS-ICs only from Monday to Friday, from 2 to 5 p.m.

“Releasing date [of validated SPS-ICs]: one to two working days after receipt of the request,” the notice read. Earlier, Piñol said the revalidation process will take less than 24 hours.

The DA said they had to set a specific schedule for the revalidation process of SPS-ICs so that applicants would have a “uniform timetable” to follow.

“This was done because the number of applicants for validation and authentication of SPS-ICs per day is not constant,” Agriculture Undersecretary Ariel T. Cayanan told reporters in an interview.

“I think it will not have so much effect if there’s an additional [processing] day. But as much as possible, we try to finish everything within the day, within 24 hours,” Cayanan added. He said there is no backlog in terms of the SPS-ICs being revalidated and said the agency remains “on target”.

Piñol earlier said the TWG created to revalidate the SPS-ICs worked until 4 in the morning in the first week of entertaining importers.

Clearer?

In between the changes in procedures and releases of memorandums, Piñol has been open for dialogues with industry stakeholders.

In fact, after meeting the members of Pampi, Piñol ordered that members of Pampi will be under a “green lane”, or will be given priority in the revalidation process. Meaning, the qualified members in the green lane will not anymore undergo the “tedious” process of revalidating their SPS-ICs.

The same has been given for the members of Mita. Cham said their

group will be given a green lane in terms of applying new SPS-ICs.

Cayanan pointed out that there’s “no discrimination” in terms of the green-lane privilege being awarded to compliant importers.

“The green lane is not only for Pampi, but for those compliant importers. Those who don’t have any bad record are given priority,” Cayanan said. “The compliant ones take that privilege and that reward of priority. They are not just Pampi, but also from other groups.”

The DA chief has repeatedly assured consumers that the price and supply of holiday goods will be stable, despite the more stringent trade measures rolled out by the DA to stop the smuggling of agricultural products.

And with the creation of green lanes, the looming shortage and price hike of meat products next year would be averted, Pampi said.

However, one thing remains for sure: the constant changes in procedures resulted in unwanted consequences.

Pampi noted that an increase in the price of processed meat products is still possible due to some of their shipments that were delayed.

Pampi said the price hike would only be necessary if the processors couldn’t shoulder the added costs they incurred from delayed shipments.

However, the group said they can only quantify the additional costs once all the measures imposed by the DA are done.

“Trade reports that all agricultural cargoes are now affected, including feed ingredients, dairy products, frozen potatoes, and fresh and highly perishable cargoes,” according to the Gain report.

“Industry sources report that new import-permit applications are being processed; however, no new permits have yet been issued,” it added.

Labor…

Continued from a1

promise to criminalize the practice of contractualization to deter employers from resorting to it to cut costs.

“Enough of the excuses on the issue about contractualization.

When the President directed to junk contractualization, the priority should be to criminalize it and repeal DO 18-A, Executive Order 366, and other laws that allow contractualization,” Crisostomo said in a news statement.

He added the government’s toned down position on the issue of contractualization, especially the “middle ground” being peddled

by Bello, is a mere pretext to allow big capitalists to continue subjecting workers to substandard benefits and wages.

“There is no genuine change under the Duterte regime. It’s business as usual for big oligarchs, while Filipino workers continue to suffer from contractualization, low wages, high prices and inaccessible services,” he said.

Concurrence

A contractor registered by the DOLE said contractors are amenable to complying with the “win-win” solution, which involves regularizing workers with respect to those with whom they have an employer-employee relationship.

But he said contractors are not supportive of the demand by labor groups that the workers be regularized by the companies, which are the clients of the contractors and wherein the workers are actually rendering the service.

The contractor, who refused to be named to protect his business interests, said the regularization of the employees of the contractor is already mandated by law, although there are many contractors who do not comply with such requirements.

He said the DOLE may have been lax in inspecting how accredited contractors have been operating.

Currently, Bello has imposed a moratorium on the licensing of contractors, which will supply workers to companies that outsource certain services to cut on costs.

“The global trend now to increase efficiency is to specialize, and it is in the very nature of specialization that demands that certain services be allowed to be contracted by another entity, such as a contractor, so that the principal can focus on his main business,” the source said.

He added that with the bigger profits, which companies can derive from the cost-cutting measure of outsourcing certain processes in their businesses, workers will be more secure that they will keep their jobs.

Academe’s position

A professor of the University of the Philippines’s School of Labor and Industrial Relations (UP SOLAIR) said what should be abolished is labor-only contracting, which is illegal under the labor laws, not contractualization itself, which could benefit both labor and capital if used for noncore processes of a particular business.

“What must be abolished is labor-only contracting because it is illegal. The principal company has core and noncore activities. Employees rendering core functions should be regularized if they possess the qualifications. Outsourcing many services is a means for companies to save on labor cost, focus on the core and expand their business,” said Prof. Ma. Catalina M. Tolentino, director of the Center for Labor and Grassroots Initiatives under UP SOLAIR.

“Services, such as janitorial, building maintenance and repair, are noncore. I hope large companies should have more compassion, be pro-labor and regularize those who are qualified and perform core functions, especially those who have stayed long,” she added.

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A3

Malaysia: Asean advancing in cutting trade barriers

T

he Asean is making progress on reducing nontariff barriers as threats to global trade rise, Malaysia’s trade minister said.

Talks on customs procedures and cross-country certifications of products and services are advancing, Mustapa Mohamed, Malaysia’s trade minister, said at the Bloomberg Asean Business Summit in Hanoi on Thursday.

The region is making “slow” progress in allowing free movement of at least some workers, part of the plan to create an Asean Economic Community.

Concern about global trade is increasing with Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Thursday warning of the risk of returning protectionism as Asean braces for potentially tighter trade controls in the US. The future policy of President-elect

US will not get help from PHL in sea patrol

Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana (center) answers questions from reporters after attending a conference in Makati on Thursday. AP

D

efense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana on Thursday said it is highly unlikely his country will allow the US military to use it as a springboard for freedom of navigation patrols in the disputed South China Sea to avoid antagonizing China. Lorenzana said US ships and aircraft could use bases in Guam, Okinawa or fly from aircraft carriers to patrol the disputed waters.

Under President Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno S. Aquino III, some US aircraft and ships stopped in the Philippines on the way to patrolling the disputed waters to challenge China’s territorial claims.

Duterte, who took office in June, has taken steps to mend ties with China and became hostile toward the Obama administration after it raised concerns over Duterte’s deadly crackdown on illegal drugs. Asked if the Philippines will continue to host US ships and aircraft patrolling the disputed waters, Lorenzana said Duterte will not likely allow that to happen “to avoid any provocative actions that can escalate tensions in the South China Sea. It’s unlikely.”

“We’ll avoid that for the meantime,” Lorenzana said. “Anyway, the US can fly over there coming from other bases.”

In Washington State Department Spokesman Elizabeth Trudeau said on Thursday she could not comment on Lorenzana’s remarks as she hadn’t seen them, but added: “Our adherence to freedom of navigation is well known. You know, we will fly, we will sail anywhere within international waters and we will continue that.”

The commander of US forces in the Pacific, Adm. Harry Harris, said last month that, despite Duterte’s rhetoric, military cooperation with Manila has not changed.

Duterte has publicly threatened to scale back the Philippines’s military engagements with the US, including scuttling a plan to carry out joint patrols with the US Navy in the disputed waters, which he said China opposes.

US-Philippine annual combat exercises have been reduced and will be redesigned to focus on disaster response and humanitarian missions. Among the maneuvers to be dropped starting next year are amphibious landing exercises and beach raids aimed at enhancing the country’s territorial defense, military officials said.

Duterte’s actions have become a hindrance to US efforts to reassert its presence in Asia, although the US military has vowed to continue patrolling one of the world’s busiest commercial waterways.

After Duterte met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in October, China allowed Filipinos to fish at disputed Scarborough Shoal. China took control of the rich fishing area in 2012 after a tense standoff with Philippine government ships.

Philippine coast guard ships have also resumed patrols at the shoal. Aside from the easing of tensions at Scarborough, Chinese coast guard ships are no longer blocking Philippine resupply ships from Second Thomas Shoal, farther south in the Spratlys, Lorenzana said.

Lorenzana added that he and his Chinese counterpart agreed in October, during Duterte’s trip to China, to resume exchanges of defense observers and students under a 2004 agreement. The exchanges were suspended in 2012 when the Philippines brought its territorial disputes with China to international arbitration under Aquino’s presidency, angering Beijing, he said. China has also inquired if it can supply armaments to the Philippines, he said.

China can further expand its influence in the region if US President-elect Donald J. Trump pursues an isolationist foreign policy, former Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert F. del Rosario said.

“If the US relinquishes [its] leadership posture in terms of the region, that vacuum will be quickly filled by our northern neighbor,” del Rosario said. AP

Donald J. Trump is a significant concern, Mustapa said, as the US remains a key trade partner for the region.

The proportion of intra-Asean trade could rise to as much as 35 percent over the next few years, from 24 percent now, Mustapa said. The economic community that Asean plans would create a single market and allow free

flow of investment and capital across a region that is home to some of the world’s fastestgrowing economies, including the Philippines and Vietnam.

Trump reality

Trump’s statements on protectionism were seen by many as “election rhetoric”, Mustapa said, but “now reality is sinking

in that this could happen.” He cited the case of Carrier, the United Technologies Corp. unit that makes air conditioners, which Trump persuaded to abort plans to close a US factory, as a dangerous precedent. “This goes to show he may implement some of this,” Mustapa said. “The way forward is for the world to be more open.” Bloomberg News

24%

The current percentage share of intra-Asean trade to the total trade of the region

A4

Saturday, December 10, 2016

The World BusinessMirror

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Trump campaign spent less than Clinton’s

D

onald J. Trump’s campaign spent about $94 million in its final push for the White House, according to new fundraising reports filed on Thursday.

The Republican continued his campaign-long trend of spending far less than Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Her campaign blew through almost $132 million in its closing weeks, according to reports filed on Thursday with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The latest reports cover October 20 through November 28.

Over the course of the primary and general elections, the Trump campaign raised about $340 million. That included $66 million that the billionaire businessman contributed from his own pocket. The Clinton campaign, which maintained a longer and more concerted fund-raising focus, brought in about $581 million.

Brad Parscale, Trump’s digital director who was empowered with spending decisions across the campaign, credited strategic last-minute investments with helping propel the political newcomer to victory.

Specifically, he told The Associated Press, the campaign and Republican Party spent about $5 million in get-out-the-vote digital advertising targeted in the final few days to Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida. That proved critical; some of those states were won by razor-thin margins.

“You think, what if we hadn’t spent that?” Parscale said. “We might not have won.”

A no t h e r i n v e s t m e nt t h at he said paid dividends was $7 m i l l ion to a i r a t wo -m i nute

“c losing” telev ision commercial. “Our movement is about replacing the failed and corrupt political establishment with a new government controlled by you, the American people,” he said as images from his rallies rolled across the screen.

The final FEC report showed the extent of the Trump advertising splurge. The campaign spent nearly $39 million on last-minute TV ads and another $29 million on digital advertising and consulting work done by Parscale’s firm.

Clinton’s campaign placed a far greater emphasis than Trump on television advertising, a more traditional way of reaching swaths of voters. She spent $72 million on TV ads and about $16 million on Internet ads in the final weeks.

The former secretary of state also spent more than $12 million on travel—about double what Trump spent. Clinton, who not only had a money advantage over Trump but a staffing edge, spent more than $4 million on a nearly 900-strong payroll.

Still, Clinton’s top campaign a ides h ave ac k nowled ged i n postelection appearances that it didn’t always spend money in the right places.

Her campaign manager Robby Mook said at a gathering of political strategists and journalists last week at Harvard University that he regretted not putting more staff in Michigan. When the state certified its results—20 days after the election—Trump had won by

President-elect Donald J. Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence react to supporters during a rally on Thursday in Des Moines, Iowa. AP

$94M vs $132M The closing-weeks campaign spending of Trump and Clinton, respectively just under 11,000 votes. Outside groups that spent money on the presidential election also filed reports on Thursday.

Trump got help from the super political action committees Future 45, Make America Number 1 and Rebuilding America Now. Fut u re 45 a nd a pa r t ner

nonprof it t hat does not d isc lose donors spent l ate in t he ca mpa ig n but beca me Tr u mp’s big gest outside investors. L as Vegas casino mag nate Sheldon Adelson a nd h is w ife, Mir i a m, toget her gave $10 m i l l ion to Future 45 in t he f ina l week s of t he campa ig n, t he new repor ts

show. Former wrestling executive Linda McMahon, who Trump named this week as head of the Small Business Administration, gave $1 million to the group in October. She’d earlier given $6 million to Rebuilding America Now. Make America Number 1 benefited from a $1 million donation by PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel, now an executive on the Trump transition team.

On Clinton’s side, Priorities USA—which raised and spent more than any super PAC in history—landed $16 million in the final weeks of the campaign. That

China will play by the rules with Branstad on post–Trump

P

resident-elect Donald J. Trump said China will soon have to “play by the rules” as he introduced the man he intends to nominate as his emissary to the US’s largest economic rival and most important trading partner.

“China is responsible for almost half of America’s trade deficit,” Trump said at a rally on Thursday evening in Des Moines, Iowa. “China is not a market economy... they haven’t played by the rules and they know it’s time that they’re going to start.

They’re going to start. They’re going to.”

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, Trump’s nominee for China ambassador, joined the president-elect on stage at the rally, the third stop of a victory tour through states critical to his election. Branstad has a warm, personal relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but he will confront a Chinese government already on edge over Trump’s early moves to provoke the country, including an unprecedented call with Taiwan’s president.

On Tuesday the People’s Daily, a China Communist Party newspaper, called Trump a “diplomatic rookie” for his call with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen. China regards the country as a renegade province.

“With Terry on our side, I know we will succeed,” Trump said. “I know that China has been so tough and so competitive and frankly dealing with people that didn’t get it, but we’re going to have mutual respect, and we’re going to benefit and China’s going to benefit and Terry’s going to lead the way.”

‘Old friend’

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang on Wednesday called the Iowa governor “an old friend of Chinese people,” and said “we’d welcome him to play a bigger role in advancing ChinaUS relations.” In Chinese diplomatic circles, calling someone an old friend is a compliment. Used to describe a foreigner, it connotes a good understanding of China, analysts said.

Branstad met Xi in 1985 when he made his first visit to the US as a Chinese

agricultural official, traveling to Iowa for a sister-state exchange. The pair have reconnected several times since then.

Branstad periodically visited China since 1984 and has led six trade missions.

He’s familiar with the Chinese ambassador to the US, Cui Tiankai; the Chinese minister of agriculture, Han Changfu; and other leaders.

Chinese state media have also used the term “old friend” to describe former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who has been shuttling between the US and China to defuse tensions between the two nations in the wake of Trump’s critical comments portraying China as a currency manipulator and a hostile power.

Trump said, although other ambassador hopefuls aren’t happy with him. “I can’t tell you how many people wanted that position,” Trump said. “You know it’s not bad. You go over there, you live like a king.”

Columbus stop

Earlier on Thursday, Trump stopped in Columbus, Ohio, to visit with victims of a November 28 attack at Ohio State University that injured 13 people.

Ohio State student Abdul Razak Ali Artan, a Somali immigrant, struck several pedestrians with a car and then attacked people with a knife. A campus police officer shot and killed Artan when he refused to drop his weapon.

China is not a market economy... they haven’t played by the rules, and they know it’s time that they’re going to start.”—Trump On Wednesday the state-run Xinhua news agency said in a commentary that posting Branstad to Beijing is a positive m ove towa rd a h e a l t hy a n d s t a b l e relationship. It noted that Branstad was dismissive of Trump’s China bashing during the campaign.

While campaigning, Trump accused China of “raping” America of jobs, while vowing to levy tariffs on Beijing and label it a currency manipulator. He’s also pledged to add scores of ships to the US Navy, which China could view as destabilizing should they end up in the Pacific, where the two sides have sparred over navigation rights.

Trump said that every time he spoke with Branstad during the presidential campaign, “he’d always say, ’Mr. Trump, Donald, don’t say anything bad about China when you’re in Iowa.’ I said why. ‘Because I have so many friends there. I like them and they like me.

And we do well with China.’”

Branstad was a natural pick for the job,

The FBI said last week that it appeared Artan acted alone and that he may have been inspired by cleric Anwar Awlaki and the Islamic State militant group. Trump has said in a Twitter posting that Artan is “a Somali refugee who should not have been in our country.”

Trump also has said that as president he would halt the admission of immigrants and refugees from countries with a history of terrorism.

“These were really brave people, amazing people,” Trump said in brief remarks after a private meeting w i t h v i c t i m s o f Ar t a n’s at t a c k a n d their families. “The police and first responders were incredible, the job—in particular by one young gentlemen— was incredible. I got to meet him and he was very brave.

“The families have done so well to come through this so well,” he added. “And so, a lot of respect.” Bloomberg News

In this February 20, 1962, photo made available by Nasa, astronaut John Glenn pilots the Friendship 7 Mercury spacecraft during his historic flight as the first American to orbit the Earth. AP

John Glenn, the 1st American to orbit Earth, has died at 95

J

ohn Glenn, whose 1962 flight as the first US astronaut to orbit the Earth made him an all-American hero and propelled him to a long career in the US Senate, died on Thursday. The last survivor of the original Mercury 7 astronauts was 95.

Glenn died at the James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, where he was hospitalized for more than a week, said Hank Wilson, communications director for the John Glenn School of Public Affairs.

John Herschel Glenn Jr. had two major career paths that often intersected: flying and politics, and he soared in both of them.

Before he gained fame orbiting the world, he was a fighter pilot in two wars, and as a test pilot, he set a transcontinental speed record.

He later served 24 years in the Senate from Ohio. A rare setback was a failed 1984 run for the Democratic presidential nomination.

His long political career enabled him to return to space in the shuttle Discovery at age 77 in 1998, a cosmic victory lap that he relished and turned into a teachable moment about growing old. He holds the record for the oldest person in space.

More than anything, Glenn was the ultimate and uniquely American space hero: a combat veteran with an easy smile, a strong marriage of 70 years and nerves of steel.

Schools, a space center and the Columbus

airport were named after him. So were children. The Soviet Union leaped ahead in space exploration by putting the Sputnik 1 satellite in orbit in 1957, and then launched the first man in space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, in a 108-minute orbital flight on April 12, 1961.

After two suborbital flights by Alan Shepard Jr. and Gus Grissom, it was up to Glenn to be the first American to orbit the Earth.

“Godspeed, John Glenn,”fellow astronaut Scott Carpenter radioed just before Glenn thundered off a Cape Canaveral launch pad, now a National Historic Landmark, to a place America had never been. At the time of that February 20, 1962, flight, Glenn was 40 years old. During the four-hour and 55-minute flight, Glenn uttered a phrase that he would repeat frequently throughout life: “Zero G, and I feel fine.”

“It still seems so vivid to me,” Glenn said in a 2012 interview with The Associated Press on the 50th anniversary of the flight. “I still can sort of pseudofeel some of those same sensations I had back in those days during launch and all.”

Glenn’s ride in the cramped Friendship 7 capsule had its scary moments. Sensors showed his heat shield was loose after three orbits, and Mission Control worried he might burn up during reentry when temperatures reached 3,000 degrees. But the heat shield held.

brought its total haul to about $192 million.

Some of the group’s final sevenfigure contributions came from its most loyal donors: media mogul Haim Saban and investors James Simons and Donald Sussman.

The 2016 election is over—but the fundraising continues.

The president-elect has raised millions of dollars since November 8. That money is coming in mostly through purchased merchandise such as hats and ornaments and is paying for Trump’s “thank you” tour, which took him to Ohio and Iowa on Thursday. AP Glenn was born on July 18, 1921, in Cambridge, Ohio, and grew up in New Concord, Ohio. His love of flight was lifelong; John Glenn Sr. spoke of the many summer evenings he arrived home to find his son running around the yard with outstretched arms, pretending he was piloting a plane.

Glenn’s goal of becoming a commercial pilot was changed by World War II. He left Muskingum College to join the Naval Air Corps and soon after, the Marines.

He became a successful fighter pilot who ran 59 hazardous missions, often as a volunteer or as the requested backup of assigned pilots.

A war later, in Korea, he earned the nickname “MiG-Mad Marine.”

Glenn’s public life began when he broke the transcontinental airspeed record, bursting from Los Angeles to New York City in three hours, 23 minutes and eight seconds.

With his Crusader averaging 725 mph, the 1957 flight proved the jet could endure stress when pushed to maximum speeds over long distances.

In New York, he got a hero’s welcome — his first tickertape parade. He got another after his flight on Friendship 7.

He first ran for the US Senate in 1964 but left the race when he suffered a concussion after slipping in the bathroom and hitting his head on the tub. He tried again in 1970 but was defeated in the primary.

For the next four years, Glenn devoted his attention to business and investments that made him a multimillionaire. In 1974 Glenn ran for the Senate again and won.

Glenn represented Ohio in the Senate longer than any other senator in the state’s history. He became an expert on nuclear weaponry and was the Senate’s most dogged advocate of nonproliferation.

He was the leading supporter of the B-1 bomber when many in Congress doubted the need for it.

Glenn said the lowest point of his life was 1990, when he and four other senators came under scrutiny for their connections to Charles Keating, the notorious financier who eventually served prison time for his role in the costly savings and loan failure of the 1980s. The Senate Ethics Committee cleared Glenn of serious wrongdoing but said he “exercised poor judgment.” AP

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

Sports BusinessMirror

QUITE AN ACHIEVEMENT For reaching the Final Four, the Blue Eagles, who were never in the radar for the potential semifinalists and finalists in Season 79, have already overachieved.

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By Joel Orellana

LTHOUGH Ateneo de Manila was swept by its archrival De La Salle in Season 79 University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball action, Blue Eagles Head Coach Tab Baldwin stressed that the Blue Eagles have already overachieved this year.

Unseen in the radar to even make it to the Final Four, Ateneo was a surprise runner-up to the mighty Green Archers. It was quite an achievement for a team that was carried by freshmen, a vastly improved center and a comebacking wingman.

“I can say the growth was impressive, but that’s what we’re supposed to do. We’re supposed to grow as individuals and as a team,” said Baldwin, minutes after yielding a 79-72 decision to La Salle in Game Two on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“Our job is not to win the championship. Our job is to grow great players. The by-product of doing that is winning championships. We obviously haven’t developed our players enough yet and that will be our goal always,” he added.

The Blue Eagles were never considered in the pre-season to figure in the Final Four, especially after losing resident star Kiefer Ravena to graduation.

The team was made up mostly of rookies, led by the Nieto twins Matt and Mike, and was bolstered by third-year center Isaac Go, the league’s Most Improved Player, and Thirdy Ravena, who did not the make the lineup last season due to academic deficiencies.

And the Loyola-based squad decided to part ways with Bo Perasol for the former Gilas Pilipinas head coach, raising questions if the young squad could muster Baldwin’s system immediately.

JERON: PROMISE FULFILLED

Saturday, December 10, 2016 A5

UAAP honors Olympians T

TAB BALDWIN: Our job is not to win the championship.

Our job is to grow great players. The by-product of doing that is winning championships.

STEPHANIE TUMAMPOS

HEY may come from rival schools, but for De La Salle’s table-tennis star Ian Lariba and Ateneo’s swimming star Jessie Khing Lacuna, they set this aside their schools’ colors when flag and country is at stake.

“There’s no such thing as rivalry when it comes to being ONE for the country. Good to see you as well “Khing” of UAAP swimming, @jessielacuna00 :) Thank you to UAAP for this recognition. We greatly appreciate it!#AteneanLasallianOlympians, ” Lariba said on her Instagram post.

Lariba and Lacuna were among the student-athletes who were recognized for their participation in international competitions this year in a ceremony held on Wednesday before Game Two of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 79 men’s basketball finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The country’s flag bearer in the Rio Olympics in August, Lariba also competed in the 18th Asean University Games (AUG) in Singapore, where the Cagayan de Oro lass captured a silver medal in women’s singles and settled for bronze medals the doubles and team.

Lacuna may have missed the AUG but the pride of Bulacan made it up by competing in his second straight Olympics.

The two were among the UAAP Season 78 co-Athlete of the Year, which included Ateneo volleybelle Alyssa Valdez and Adamson University softball standout Queeny Sabobo.

The other UAAP athletes in the AUG were also feted. In the Singapore edition, the Filipinos won three gold medals in athletics and fencing.

National University (NU), a three-time UAAP women’s basketball titlist, bagged a silver medal, while the highly popular Ateneo’s women and men’s volleyball teams clinched bronze medals.

The recognition coincided with the basketball awarding ceremony, where De La Salle’s Ben Mbala and NU’s Afril Bernardino led the winners, capturing the season Most Valuable Player honors.

Ateneo had a so-so- start, winning four of its first eight games. But it won its last six assignments to finish No. 2. Then the Blue Eagles dethroned Far Eastern University in the semifinals to set up a dream showdown with La Salle.

But Jeron Teng, the Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP), and Ben Mbala, the season MVP, were simply too much as the Green Archers’ 1-2 punch did most of the damage in the finals.

“They were the best team all-year long.

There’s nothing I could say that’s a surprise.

They earned this championship and I think a lot of people may have been saying that they were much better than they were performing. That’s exceptionally unfair,” Baldwin said.

“And Jeron was unbelievable. He was clearly the MVP,” he added.

Clearly, Ateneo was looking for that go to guy in the series, especially in its 65-67 loss in Game One. And in Game Two, La Salle was really determined to sweep its chief nemesis by riding the broad shoulders of Teng and Mbala.

For the Blue Eagles, their wings maybe clipped this season, but expect them to soar higher with the experience they gained from the championship series.

“I think if we pursue the right goals as coaches and we dedicate ourselves to the players and to their future as young men, all of the other things will fall in line, and that’s what we did and we will continue to do,” Baldwin said.

“And that also depends on the motivation of the team, the desire and work ethic. Obviously, the future looks very bright and we significantly had high accomplishments this year,” he added.

J

ERON TENG fulfilled his promise to end his University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) career at De La Salle a winner.

In Season 78, Teng and the Green Archers were eliminated by Far Eastern University (FEU) on Mac Belo’s buzzerbeating triple, 71-68, that denied La Salle of a playoff match against National University for the last Final Four slot.

The 21-year-old forward had a choice to forego his final year of eligibility and become a millionaire in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

But the son of ex-PBA bruiser Alvin Teng doesn’t want to be remembered as a loser and came back for one last time with a clear goal—bring the men’s basketball crown to Taft Avenue.

Teng fulfilled that promise on Wednesday after leading the Green Archers to a sweep of archrival Ateneo de Manila with a 79-72 win in Game Two. It was the school’s ninth UAAP title.

“From the beginning, even before the UAAP started, I only had one goal and that’s to win the championship. I thank God for blessing me with the championship,” said the 6-foot-2 forward who capped his stellar collegiate career with a 28-point performance in Game Two. “Kaya from the start pa lang, gusto ko na ibigay ‘yung best ko kasi ito na ‘yung last game, so I wanted to to give my all for La Salle,” he added.

Teng finished with career averages of 16.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and three assists per game and won two UAAP titles, his first in Season 76 against older brother Jeric Teng of University of Santo Tomas.

There’s no doubt that Ben Mbala was the big difference in the Green Archers’ campaign as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) posted 17 straight double-double games in Season 79.

But Teng’s clutch plays in Game One, which La Salle barely won, 67-65, and his game-long brilliance in Game Two rewarded him a Finals MVP trophy.

“Blessing na lang ‘yung award. We’re really after the championship,” said Teng, who is now preparing for a career in the PBA Developmental League.

“We’ll celebrate this first then on to the D-League this January,” Teng said. Joel Orellana

VOLLEY SEMIS UP

JERON TENG ends his collegiate career a winner.

ALYSA SALEN

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NTENSE Women’s Basketball League action is expected on Sunday when the Basketball Efficiency Scientific Training Center-organized and Milo-sponsored tournament rolls two pairs of semifinal matches in two divisions at the Xavier School Gym. De la Salle-Zobel shoots for another 13-under division crown when it meets Saint Paul Collage-Pasig at 9:15 a.m. before the other semifinals pairing pitting Chiang Kai Shek College against Miriam College at 1 p.m. Another De la Salle-Zobel also eyes a finals slot in the 18-under competitive division against Saint Bridget School at 10:30 a.m., followed by the 11:45 a.m. semifinal match between Chiang kai Shek and De La Salle-Antipolo.

Accel signs partnership in Vietnam

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CCEL has partnered with Bitis Co., a footwear manufacturer and distributor in Vietnam that has been in the footwear business for more than 32 years with more than 9,000 employees.

The company also forged official partnerships in 40 countries. The deal makes Accel the official distributors of Bitis products in the Philippines. In return, Bitis has agreed to become the official distributors of Accel shoes in Vietnam.

The move is aligned with the current direction of President Duterte to strengthen the relationship between Vietnam and Philippines.

ACCELL President Willie Ortiz (second from right) with Accel Technical and Sourcing Director Louie Laroza (from left), Asian M & A Links Vice President for Business Operations Dinah Ilaban, Bitis Sales and Marketing Director Cindy Vuu and founder Lai Khiem and Asian M & A Links CEO Hideki Tanifuji

BusinessMi

A6 Saturday, December 10, 2016

MORALES, GALEDO MAKE IT A 1-3 FINISH FOR FILIPINO RIDERS

JAN PAUL TAMES ‘HELL’ IN SAIPAN

By Jonathan Perez

Special to the BusinessMirror

S

aipan, CNMI—Jan Paul Morales survived all the adversities he faced in the recent 2016 Hell of the Marianas, as the sprint specialist stamped his class on foreign terrain—beating a field that was surprised with the Filipino brand of cycling.

Morales, a longtime national team member, won in three hours, four minutes and 51 seconds to beat a strong field of pros in the 10th edition of the region’s toughest racing event.

Morales crashed while heading downhill after making the turn at Suicide Cliff. He overshot a sharp curve, as he tried to avoid hitting a car that was blocking the road. His rear tire was also deformed in the process after defending champion Ryutaro Nakamura— who also lost control—hit him from behind.

“Going down the cliff there was a dangerous curve and my tire did not get enough traction, so I skidded as I tried to avoid a car that was parked at the inner lane, instead on the side of the road. Then I felt someone hit me at the back,” Morales said in Filipino.

After a quick tire change, Morales, despite having bruises and cuts, was at it again and chased the lead group going to the scenic Bird Island lookout and Grotto. He was behind the group by only 30 seconds heading to Banzai

Cliff and caught up, as the race took on flat roads toward the Saipan International Airport.

From there, the Philippine NavyStandard Insurance ace shadowed the group as they reached Airport Road. But he again encountered problems after his roller broke, giving him only three gears entering the crucial stretch.

His support crew, led by Coach Reindhar Gorantes, tried to fix the problem using a loaned bike allen wrench. Gorantes quickly remedied the problem, but still it cost Morales precious time. Saipan-based Filipino cyclists even volunteered to lend Morales their own roadbike, but there was no more time to change bikes.

The gamble paid off. Displaying grit and determination, Morales again caught up with the lead pack that included compatriot, 7-Eleven Sava Road Bike Philippines’s Mark Lexer Galedo, 2014 champion Konstantin Fast and last year’s winner Nakamura. Aleksandr Dorovskikh, Japanese Makoto Morimoto and Filipino triathlete Joe Miller of Ford Forza was also in the lead group.

And even with only three gears working, Morales kept his pace and slowly

pulled away, as they headed for the flat roads going to the finish line across Marianas Resort and Spa. He secured the win in the final 8 kilometers with Gorantes, while on board a pickup truck that trailed the Filipino riders the entire race, giving instructions.

The pro-Filipino crowd that gathered at the finish line erupted as they saw Morales all alone sprinting his way to the finish line.

Morimoto tried to keep in stride with Morales, but could not catch up with the Filipino to settle

for second place with a time of 3:05:53.

Galedo made it a 1-3 finish for the Filipinos with 3:06:18.

Morales, a Ronda Pilipinas two-stage winner, took home the $2,000 top prize, while Morimoto settled for the $1,500 runner-up purse and

Galedo $1,200.

Dorovskikh was a minute behind Galedo, coming in at fourth 3:07:57.

Nakamura was a distant fifth at 3:13:38, followed by Miller at 3:19:43. Fast did not finish the race, as he got dizzy and felt dehydrated at the 50-kilometer mark.

“I thought that I’ve lost my chance of winning this race, since all I did was to catch up with them. I thought that I won’t be able to catch them. I’m glad I survived the tough climbs, even with

JAN PAUL MORALES (center) and Marc Galedo (left) set the pace in the Hell of the Marianas.

JONATHAN PEREZ

only three gears working,” Morales said. “That’s why when we reached the flat roads, I gave it my all.”

Galedo decided to play second fiddle behind Morales in order to make sure that a Filipino would win the race. He was a marked man right from the start because of his enviable credential as an all-around rider in the Asian Tour.

“I’m glad a Filipino won the race.

That’s what’s important. The two Japanese tailed me all the way and they shadowed me all throughout the race,” said Galedo, whose initial plan was to ride alongside Morales to foil the title bid of their opponents.

Fund-raiser for Dumagat in Bulacan

WORLD CHAMPS

Germany’s Nadja Thürmer and Julia Thürmer perform their gold-medalwinning routine in the recent World Indoor Cycling Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.

UCI PHOTO

S

OME 1,000 enthusiasts joined the 12th Takbulacan: Paskong Pagsikad Para sa mga Dumagat that benefited indigenous people living in the Sierra Madre Mountain Range from Norzagaray to Santa Maria in Bulacan last Sunday morning.

At least 15 groups of bikers pedaled 16 kilometers in barangays Partida and Tigbe in Norzagaray and Balasing, Guyong, and finally at the Santa Clara Mall in Santa Maria.

Bro. Martin Francisco, chairman of the Sagip Sierra Madre Environmental Society Inc., said the event was a timely activity that made the indigenous people feel the spirit of Christmas.

The group manages the Punduhan ng mga Dumagat, a settlement in Sitio Suha in Barangay San Mateo in Norzagaray that caters to the welfare of indigenous people living in 22 settlements scattered in the watersheds of Bulacan.

Ariel Arceo, founding chairman of the foundation, said that among the items that were provided to the Dumagat were free accident and medical insurances, grocery items and a sponsorship for drinking watertube well for the Punduhan.

BRO. Martin Francisco (second from left), chairman of the Sagip Sierra Madre Environmental Society Inc., with the Dumagats, the beneficiaries of the fun run in Bulacan last Sunday.

Grand Tours organizers reduce number of riders

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RAND Tours organizers have decided to reduce the number of riders at their races in a move aimed at improving safety and increasing competition.

The Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Spanish Vuelta organizers said in a joint statement on Friday that the number of riders per team will decrease to eight, instead of the nine currently at their three-week races.

The decision taken by ASO—which organizes the Tour de France and Vuelta—RCS Sport and one-day races organizer Flanders Classics will come into effect for the 2017 season. It will also see a reduction of riders at the other races they organize, with teams reduced to seven riders, instead of eight.

Following a meeting of the international association of cycling race organizers, they said they want to improve safety by reducing traffic on roads and make it more

difficult for a team to dominate a race. The numbers of teams per race will remain unchanged.

The organizers believe that reducing the number of riders will help open up the races so that they are less controlled. Three-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome’s Sky Team has been the dominant team in the peloton recently, locking down the race in the mountains and reducing suspense at cycling’s biggest race.

“This decision responds to two-pronged objective: the first, being to improve the safety conditions for the riders with a smaller peloton on roads equipped with more and more street furniture,” the organizers said in their statement. “The second, which is a fortunate consequence of the first, is to make it more difficult to dominate a race, as well as enhance conditions for events to offer better racing for cycling fans.”

VERMOSA TREAT: BMX STARS WOW CYCLING FANS

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ORLD-RENOWNED rider Danny MacAskill of the international BMX exhibition group Drop and Roll entertained the crowd with his heart-pumping tricks during the recent two-day Vermosa Active Revolution at the Vermosa grounds on Daang-Hari Road in Cavite.

Together with fellow pro riders Duncan Shaw, Fabio Wibmer and Ali C, the group engaged the fans and bike enthusiasts with exhibition performances, doing jump routines and furnishing the obstacles with flare, as they visited the country for the first time as part of their Asian tour.

“It’s really fun here in the Philippines. We enjoyed this tour so much. Basically, we want to give the fans something that they will remember, and something

that will inspire them to try what we are doing,” MacAskill said.

The Scottish rider, known for his street trials that made him famous among bike followers, added that his stunts are products of his creativity that he gained after riding his BMX for about 19 years.

After practicing for several hours per day, he rocketed to popularity when his videos went viral since 2009 and started touring the globe by creating tricks in different angles.

“It’s a game that never gets old. Every day I grab my bike and start doing what I love. Its a routine that keeps me going in my entire life,” MacAskill noted.

Vermosa Active Revolution also featured the Kinetic Zone for cycling clinics and bike rentals at the Vermosa

Bike Skills Park, while the motocross track hosted a race that showcased various local riding talents.

The Ninja Academy also performed a live parkour exhibition show and set up an obstacle trials course.

“Vermosa stands as an accessible premier destination for new-age sports, perfect for people who are passionate about healthy and active living,” said Jay Teodoro, Ayala Land senior division manager and estate head of Vermosa.

“By hosting world-class events such as Vermosa Active Revolution, the estate furthers its thrust of not only providing the best training facilities and services, but also bringing in quality, internationally renowned talent to promote active and healthy lifestyles,” Teodoro added. Ramon Rafael Bonilla

BIKE EXPO

Enthusiasts and serious riders find themselves drowning in a sea of bicycles, equipment and paraphernalia during the recent PhilBike Expo, the only internationalstandard trade and consumer cycling show in the Philippines, at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia.

STEPHANIE TUMAMPOS

irror CYCLING

Saturday, December 10, 2016 A7

MAYBANK POWERMAN PHILIPPINES WORLD SERIES

WORLD-CLASS DUATHLETES DISPLAY WARES IN CLARK T

HE world champions lived up to their lofty billings and expectedly won with hardly a sweat. But the biggest winners were Filipino duathletes—serious athletes and enthusiasts—who gathered at the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga last weekend for the Maybank Powerman Philippines World Series 2016.

Around 650 participants came ready to do battle and share the road of what was a former US military facility surprisingly under cool conditions—thanks to the clouds that made running and cycling less dehydrating and exhausting.

“Gladly the clouds were out and the heat wasn’t a factor,” said France’s Gael Le Bellec, who retained the Men’s Elite crown of the 10-kilometer run/60km bike/10-km run race staged on Clark’s flat yet challenging roads.

“I wasn’t really conscious about my time in the race,” the 32-year-old Bellec, a former elite rider in the International Cycling Union Tours who last raced with a British pro team and the Powerman Philippines ambassador, said. “I was concerned about conquering the race and winning.”

Bellec won in two hours, 34 minutes and 27 seconds, beating potentially dangerous opponents in the Philippine series of Powerman, a worldwide range of events with short, classic and long distances and which stages legendary championships, including the European and World Championship. Thomas Bruins of the Netherlands was as good as advertised and settled for second place, but was two minutes off Bellec with a time of 02:36:29. Belgium’s Seppe Odeyn, the reigning world champion, was 2:37 further behind the winner to complete the podium.

Sharing the limelight was Great Britain’s Emma Pooley, the many-time world cycling champion and veteran of three Olympics—Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016—whose passion for sports is close to being unparalleled.

And Pooley pulled off the championship-clinching performance on a standard road bike and not the stateof-the-art time-trial bike.

“I was slowed down a bit in the bike leg because I used a road bike and not a time-trial bike,” the 34-yearold Pooley said.

Pooley submitted a winning time of 2:56:31, beating fellow world-class duathlete Miriam Reijen of the Netherlands by close to three minutes.

The Philippines’s Monica Torres, racing for the Standard Insurance team, however, refused to be left out and snatched a podium finish in the women’s elite race, clocking 3:02:02, a performance that cemented her status as one of the country’s top female duathlete and triathlete who deserves strong considerations for the national team to next year’s Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Kuala Lumpur.

“My aim was to make the podium, but you have a world-class cast here, so I didn’t really know how it would go,” Torres said. “I’m coming off an [run] injury so I pushed it in the bike leg, only to fade against Miriam [Rejen], who proved to be a better runner.”

Torres’s numbers indeed are worth considering.

“If they [national federation for triathlon] will hold qualifying races, it would be a good opportunity for me,” she said. “But if they will pick the athletes for the Sea Games, I could not do anything about it. But I have proven myself here [and in several races].”

Powerman International Association Chairman John Raadschelders personally supervised the race, along with Powerman Philippines President Owen Gan and Chairman Raymund Magdaluyo and Maybank Corporate Affairs Vice President Eric Montelibano.

The biggest winners were Filipino duathletes—serious athletes and enthusiasts—who gathered at the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga for the Maybank Powerman Philippines World Series 2016.

The Philippine Series drew praises from the foreign participants, especially the winners.

“It’s a well-organized race and the conditions are ideal,” Bellec said. “This is my second time in the country [the first time was earlier this year to promote the event] but I am sure I will continue racing in the Philippines.”

The veteran Pooley is no alien in the country. She has raced many times in the country and couldn’t forget her experience in the races she took part in in Bataan.

“Bataan was perfect for me. I’m a climber [cycling] and that suits me,” Pooley said.

Maybank, Southeast Asia’s fourth-largest bank, and Powerman Philippines have partnered together for the biggest and only international duathlon event in the country.

The Maybank Powerman Philippines World Series was a two-day event (December 3 and 4) and drew 10 professional duathletes from across the globe.

Powerman has been held annually for the last 27 years in 30 different countries. For the first time, the Maybank Powerman Philippines World Series was a qualifying race for the Powerman Duathlon World Championships in Zofingen, Switzerland, in 2017.

“Maybank welcomes this partnership with Powerman Philippines,” Pollie Sim, CEO International of Maybank Group, said. “This is a milestone for Maybank, as it is the first time that the group is in support of an endurance sports event.”

The partnership covered two events—the first was the Anytime Fitness Powerman Philippines Asian Invitational held earlier this month at the SM Mall of Asia by the Bay and the second was the Philippine Series.

POWERMAN Philippines Chairman Raymund Magdaluyo (left) and Powerman International Association Chairman John Raadschelders (right) pose with the winners. STEPHANIE TUMAMPOS

FRANCE’S Gael Le Bellec retains his men’s elite crown while the Philippines’s Monica Torres makes a statement in the Maybank Powerman Philippines World Series 2016 that drew hundreds of duathletes and enthusiasts.

STEPHANIE TUMAMPOS

OurTime

A8 Saturday, December 10, 2016 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

BusinessMirror

DU30 ready to pardon old, ailing political prisoners before Christmas

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RESIDENT Duterte on Monday said he will release older and ailing political prisoners in the country before Christmas Day.

He actually said he would only order the release of 130 political prisoners if the government peace panel and the National Democratic Front (NDF) sign a bilateral ceasefire deal during talks in Oslo, Norway, this week.

He made this announcement before lighting a 12-foot Christmas tree made of 360 pieces of Las Piñas Christmas parols at the Malacañang Palace buildings in a ceremony attended by 2016 Miss International titlist Kylie Versoza.

“There is no point of detaining a person who is old and sick. I find it a very awkward feeling. I’m uncomfortable. So all the elderly, ailing, you can go,” the 71-year-old Filipino leader said in his speech.

Duterte said detainees qualified for his pardon are those 70 years old and older and suffering from incurable diseases, like kidney failure and cancer.

“If they are ready to be released and will be accepted by their families, I will release them before Christmas time,” he said.

The President failed to give the numbers of elderly and ailing political prisoners but reports said there are 25 elderly political detainees and 140 who are sickly.

Meanwhile, President Duterte said he will also agree to release over 130 political prisoners if the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) can show a peace agreement signed between the

Philippine government and the CPP-NDF. “They’re asking for the release of 130 political prisoners. I said I cannot give you that. I’m sorry, but I have already conceded so much on the side of the government,” the President said, referring to the detained CPP-NDF leaders who were allowed to attend the peace talks in Oslo, Norway.

“But if you can show me a document signed by the Republic of the Philippines representatives and the communist, then I will release the 130 plus more,” he said.

“I know the Left has a vision for our country. I used to cross the ideological border because I was a student once. I saw the iniquity, the sense of uselessness of the Filipinos, and I saw also the other side how should it be in the government,” Duterte said.

As President, Duterte said he pleads for unity of the country free from communal wars and for a generation of Filipinos who are able, competent, hea lthy and good.

“I plead for peace so that our citizens can move around anytime of the day or night,” the President said, reiterating his campaign promise to eradicate illegal drugs, corruption and criminality in the country.

“I expect to pass through this world but once. Therefore, any good that I can do to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again,” Duterte said, quoting from an anonymous writer.

The President also promised to work hard to achieve peace with the Moro rebels, particularly with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

“The MILF has shown its sincerity to talk to us about peace.

Nur Misuari of the MNLF chooses to be different, but he has said he will work with us, in government, to find peace,” Duterte said.

“So I’m happy, except for the extremists. Actually, that would really be a danger to our country in the days to come,” he added. PNA

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Seniors driving consumption growth as the Japanese age

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S much of working age, Japan frets about having enough money in old age, the nation’s seniors are increasingly propping up consumer spending, accounting for the little growth in consumption the country has seen in recent years.

It is something of a paradox.

In rapidly aging Japan, the world’s oldest country, the growing number of seniors is seen posing big challenges for the future, particularly for public finances, as the pension system comes under growing strain.

For now, though, the elderly are doing more than their share to keep the world’s third-largest economy going.

Though they account for more than a third of the population, those over 60 contribute nearly half of consumer spending, according to government data. Spending by seniors is offsetting falling consumption among younger generations, UBS said.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hoped to spark a “virtuous cycle” of higher corporate profits and wage increases that would drive stronger domestic spending, but

that hasn’t materialized.

A big reason for that is aging-related anxieties, according to Goldman Sachs. A long-term decline in nominal consumption was particularly sharp among consumers in their 40s and 50s, partly due to stagnant incomes and rising social-insurance premiums, Goldman said in a report this year.

As they enter retirement, seniors’ spending habits change. Unsurprisingly, they spend more on medical care.

They also increase spending on social activities, travel and home renovation. Spending on autos drops, with fewer seniors on the road.

Although the elderly are spending more in aggregate, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re all living well. Many live off income from public pensions, said Hideo Kumano, chief economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute.

“Seniors’ consumption is going to increase at places, like convenience stores and discount shops. They won’t be able to go to department stores, luxury hotels and places like that,” he said.

Bloomberg News

QC seeks property-tax discounts for older people, solo parents

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SANTA ROAMS THE STREETS OF BAGUIO Nars Padilla, 84, the oldest Santa Claus in Baguio City and founder of the Silahis ng Pasko, gives candies to children during the 43rd Silahis ng Pasko celebration on December 1. The visit by Santa Nars marks the start of a monthlong Christmas celebration in this northern mountain resort. MAU VICTA

Payout for pensions of indigent seniors in W. Visayas ongoing

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ORACAY Island, Aklan—The payout for the third-quarter pension of indigent senior citizens in Western Visayas is now going on, said Harriete Yatar, social welfare officer I of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Western Visayas.

The third-quarter’s payout covers 59,692 senior citizens from the provinces of Iloilo, Aklan, Antique, Capiz and Guimaras to receive social pension totaling to P89,538,000.

The release of the pension for the quarter started in July, though, through the door-to-door delivery of the PhilPost hired to do the service for this year.

Elderly who qualified to receive P500 monthly social pension from the national government are those 60 years old and above; sickly, frail and with disability; no regular source of income; no financial support/assistance from the members of the family; and no pension.

Including Negros Occidental, there are 78,706 seniors qualified to receive the social pension. The total budget for them for 2016 is P472,236,000. PNA

HE local government of Quezon City will grant up to 10-percent property-tax discounts (PTD) to senior citizens and solo parents in the coming year to provide ease amid economic difficulties, a local official said on Monday.

“The additional discount on the annual payment of real-property tax [RPT] will greatly benefit the senior citizens of Quezon City, majority of whom depend solely on their monthly pensions, which is often not sufficient to pay for their daily needs, particularly expenses on medicines,” said Councilor Allan Benedict Reyes, chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Reyes said the QC council has filed two separate legislations on the proposed additional 10-percent RPT discount to any senior citizen who is a legitimate owner and an additional 5 percent to a solo parent who, likewise, has an actual residence.

The senior citizen must also be registered with the Office of the Senior Citizen Affairs (Osca) of Quezon City.

The same goes to the solo parent who should also be registered with the Social Services and De-

velopment Department (SSDD) of the city government for the l a st t hree consec ut ive yea rs and depend solely on his or her monthly income to support his or her children and other daily needs.

A senior citizen and solo parent will avail themselves the RPT discounts to the one where he or she actually lives.

The Proposed Ordinance 20CC175, which will be applied to senior citizens, was authored by Reyes, along with the Proposed Ordinance 20CC-176 on solo parents authored

by Councilor Raquel Malañgen.

The ordinances will be implemented in January 2017.

Reyes—along with Councilors Malañgen, Alexis Herrera, Roderick Paulate and Franz Pumaren— filed the two proposed ordinances on November 25. He said the two legislations will greatly benefit the elderly and single parents in the city.

The draft legislation, being pushed by Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, sets the revised schedule of fair market values of lands and basic construction cost for buildings in the city as mandated by Section 219 of Republic Act 7160, or the 1991 Local Government Code. PNA

Fitness park up for Laoag residents

Zamboanga City eyes addtl L pension for senior citizens

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AMBOANGA CITY—The City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) has been tasked to study the possibility of granting financial benefit to the elderly in addition to those provided by the national government based on existing laws.

Mayor Ma. Isabelle Climaco-Salazar issued the order to CSWDO Chief Socorro Rojas as she wanted a local counterpart for social pension for senior citizens currently included in the list of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Salazar also wanted to grant social pension to senior citizens who are not in the DSWD’s list of beneficiaries.

The DSWD currently provides a P500 social pension monthly to senior citizens aside from what they receive from the Social Security System or the Government Service Insurance System.

The mayor said senior citizens deser ve the benefits and privileges from the local government, considering their contributions to this city.

She also wanted a local counterpart for the cash incentive the national government is giving to centenarians based on Republic Act (R A) 10868.

A Filipino centenarian is entitled to receive a P100,000 cash incentive from the national government based in RA 10868.

Rojas said funding has to be included in next year’s budget so that “the proposed local counter part can be given to deser ving senior citizens.”

Rojas said her office will also conduct a survey to properly identify the beneficiaries and study a scheme in granting social pension to the elderly residents of this city. PNA

AOAG CITY—Residents here will soon have a fitness park designed for all ages or for a family that exercises together.

Catering to children, youth and adults, including senior citizens, the first-of-a-kind fitness park in the province is expected to be established near the flower clock of the Provincial Capitol building, where it can be accessible to all.

Initiated by Senior Provincial Board Member Matthew Joseph Manotoc, the fitness park will cover a children’s playground, exercise equipment for adults and picnic tables under the shades of trees.

Next to Laoag City, other fitness parks are also eyed in the towns of Dingras, Badoc, Batac and Bacarra.

Manotoc, who is the chairman of the committee on youth and sports of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, said more fitness parks will be established in various parts of the province next year to encourage residents to stay fit and exercise regularly for a healthier community.

Since the installation of a rubberized tract and fitness center at the Ferdinand E. Marcos Sports Stadium in Laoag City, hundreds of residents, including senior citizens, frequent the area to exercise and participate in zumba-dance workout. PNA

The Millennials BusinessMirror

news.businessmirror@gmail.com

Gerry’s Bar elbows way into millennials market A

By Rizal Raoul Reyes

@brownindio

FTER establishing a strong foothold in the local restaurant business for the past 20 years, Gerry’s Bar and Restaurant, formerly known as Gerry’s Grill, is positioning itself for the millennial market.

Founded by Gerry Apolinario in February 1997 as a bar in Quezon City, the restaurant’s current executives are aware of the potential of the new generation of consumers who comprises more than 50 percent of the country’s population.

In a recent interview with the BusinessMirror, Senior Marketing Manager Francis Villaruz said Gerry’s has transformed unintentionally

into a family-oriented because of the demand of the times. The emergence of the millennials has pushed Gerry’s to respond to the rising demand of the market, according to Villaruz.

“We need to become relevant,” Villaruz said. “From Monday to Friday, millennials are dominant in the market.”

The millennial’s penchant for eating has been a major growth driver of

Gerry’s since they have a big earning capacity and love to hang out with friends, according to Villaruz.

Millennials have been giving Gerry’s the big push for growth, he said.

Villaruz added that Gerry’s wants to be associated with active people.

We have been establishing presence in places where we believe millennials tend to go, such as malls, he added.

Likewise, Villaruz said they tweaked the bar and restaurant’s menu that would attract millennials, like fish and seafood.

“Of course, they still prefer meatbased meals with generous serving of rice.”

That decision was based on a market study, according to Villaruz.

Millennials also prefer appearance on the food rather than taste, Villaruz said. Value perception is quite different to the regular customer, he added.

As much as possible, we keep the

presentation of our menu pleasing to the eye, especially for millennials.

“Millennials prefer the appearance of the food,” he said. “They love to post it on their Instagram accounts.”

We also believe that millennials are receptive to our pricing scheme.

“It is 90-to-10 split with food as the bulk order.”

Gerry’s also shifted to providing live-band music. “We noticed that after that more people comes in and stay longer when we played band music.”

“Being a bar and restaurant, we are aware that we’re not the ideal spot for millennials,” he said. “But growing older they will realize that Gerry’s will remain relevant for them when they have their own families.”

Villaruz believes today is the perfect time that Gerry’s implemented its transformation as a restaurant and no longer only a bar.

Young gaffer bares path as ‘Princess of the Knife’ Photo & story By Oliver Samson

Gaffers set knife at 12 o’clock and 30 minutes, 1 o’clock, and 1 o’clock and 30 minutes, Panis explained.

She, however, prefers arming roosters with the 1 o’clock sight since she said their chickens have no problems with their feet.

Through years of experience, she has come to distinguish whether a rooster is on point or not.

The chicken is on point when its legs are reddish, when it demonstrates a cocky strut and calm yet alert, Panis explained.

“A rooster is on point if it has a good feel when held in hands,” she said. “This feel is very difficult to explain. You learn by experience.”

Correspondent

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Kelso-Sweater exploded from the ground.

While afloat during the first encounter, the gamefowl struck its opponent with a big punch. The opponent sustained massive damage while airborne.

Wasting no time, it sank the slasher, now smeared with crimson, anew as the opponent wobbled when it touched the ground.

The year was 2010. The event was a 4-cock derby at Makati Coliseum.

The male-dominated arena was all eyes on the gaffer who tied the knife on the winning Kelso-Sweater—a young and petite lovely lady, who was only 22 at the time.

Rubi Yu Panis, now 28, admitted she was nervous when she tied the slasher. It was her first time to equip a rooster at live derby. The aficionados who were watching her as she attached the blade made her even more nervous.

“I was sad because the rooster I armed ended up dehado [at a disadvantage],” Panis complained. “Most of the time our rooster is llamado [has the upper hand]. I felt nobody had favored our rooster because I was the gaffer—a girl and a neophyte. But I was so happy that I won on my first try.” A gaffer, called “taga tari” in Tagalog, is a person knowledgeable in the art of arming fighting cocks with

On point This December 3 photo shows Rubi Yu Panis holding a White Kelso at Firebird Gamefarm in Tanay, Rizal.

gaff or gaffs on either or both legs.

Panis’s first victory inspired her to gaff more roosters. She won again and again, winning as well the eyes and the hearts of aficionados— young and old alike.

On point

THE number of women tying the slasher is growing, Panis said.

“Some are encouraged by their husband aficionados,” she said. “Others, I hope, are inspired by me.”

So far, Panis, known as the “Tari Princess,” is the only female gaffer fighting in the big leagues today.

“I enjoy and am happy, otherwise I won’t stay [with the game],” she said.

Panis has fought at Araneta, in Pasay, Cebu, Dumaguete and other parts of the country. She clashed and defeated top gaffers like Noli Estrellado and Albert Margen. Both men were her mentors.

She also won against prominent cockfighters like multi-time World Slasher Cup (WSC) Champion Rep. Patrick Antonio and 2016 WSC-1 winner Sony Lagon for several times.

“I idolize the likes of Antonio and Lagon,” she said. “I delight in the rare feeling each time I defeat them.”

PANIS did not see herself tying the knife after completing the course at the TJT Cocking Academy in 2010.

Her primary intention was to study fowl medication. But as part of the course, she took gaffing skills. She was the only female in the academy’s 40th batch.

When she returned to Firebird Gamefarm, she shared what she learned at the academy. She told her team they were taught gaffing on the last day. Biboy Enriquez, her boss and Firebird Gamefarm owner, got interested in knowing what Panis had absorbed in knife-tying. So he asked her to show her newly-acquired skill to determine what she still needed to become a proficient gaffer.

Saturday, December 10, 2016

A9

Mexico’s ancient beverage of pulque makes a comeback

In this December 2 photo, a couple sit outside La Nuclear pulqueria in Mexico City. Mexicans have been brewing pulque from the juice of cactus-like maguey plants for centuries, but the viscous, beer-like beverage fell out of favor starting in the 1970s as pulque got a reputation as a poor man’s drink. AP

By Teresa de Miguel The Associated Press

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ANTIAGO CUAUTLALPAN, Mexico—Mexicans have been brewing pulque from the juice of cactus-like maguey plants for centuries, but the viscous, beer-like beverage fell out of favor starting in the 1970s as pulque got a bad reputation as a peasant’s drink.

The number of producers, consumers and bars known as “pulquerias” dwindled.

But now, the nutrient-rich drink is making a comeback among a new generation of Mexicans.

The Aztecs of Mexico’s central highlands revered pulque, pronounced Pool-kay, reserving it for the highest social classes and the most august occasions.

Today pulque is available in numerous flavors and strengths and you are as likely to see a tattooed millennial couple sipping a liter container of strawberry-flavored pulque outside a hipster bar as the farmers in cowboy hats who make and drink it in the countryside.

But don’t expect it to appear on the shelves of the local liquor store.

For decades, attempts have failed to can or bottle the milky white liquid that continues to ferment quickly after being produced.

Pulque long had a reputation as the drink of poor farmers, and many assumed it was produced under unsanitary conditions—something its fans say is not true.

Barely alcoholic

ANTONIO Gomez, a pulque producer in the community of Santiago Cuautlalpan in Tepotzotlan municipality just north of Mexico City, is among those who make the drink the old fashioned way, by hollowing out the pulpy heart of the region’s maguey plant and using a sort of suction pipe to pull out the sugary liquid that collects in the hollow section. The liquid at that stage, known as “aguamiel,” is barely alcoholic, if at all.

The liquid goes into plastic tanks

to ferment, often for as little as 12 hours. With the addition of fruit juices, it comes in flavors such as guava, mango, coconut, strawberry and pineapple. At 6 percent alcohol content after fermentation, it’s about as strong as the average beer.

Gomez said pulque was once served in some parts of Mexico in the morning, as well as for health reasons.

“The old people, they say that before, they didn’t drink coffee; they had some pulque, tortillas and beans and that was their breakfast,” he said.

“A lot of doctors are prescribing it as medicine,” Gomez said. “A diabetic person, for example, should drink strong pulque.”

Continue planting

GOMEZ said he worries about the old maguey fields that once sustained entire haciendas as they are torn up to make way for subdivisions and shopping malls.

“More than anything else, we have to continue planting magueys...and take care of the fields, because other people, unfortunately, are coming out here to develop and build houses,” he said.

In areas around Tepotzotlan, pulque fanatics including farmers, growers and urban residents for the last three years have organized a sort of pulque caravan complete with food, horseback riding, music, pulque-drinking competitions and burros laden with wooden barrels of the beverage.

Low class

CARLOS Eladio Contreras, a festival organizer, said “it’s about rescuing traditions, right?”

“Before, drinking pulque was looked down on, people would say, “Oh, no, drinking pulque is really low class,” he said. “Now, fortunately, the young people are taking this up, rescuing something, its essence, and rescue the identity of their people and the land where pulque is born, which is the maguey fields.”

Young leader offers his two cents on Federalism

By Alessandra Anonas Contributor

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ITING a poll from Harvard’s Institute of Politics, the Asian Journal magazine wrote last year that more millennials are getting involved in political issues.

One of them is Ellirie A. Aviles, 20, and president of the Sigaw ng Kabataan (United Youth Voice) Coalition, an organization of young people engaging in concerns from health impact of tobacco to Federalism.

The BusinessMirror sat down with Aviles after speaking at a conference on Federalism in October to seek his views on the move of the Duterte administration to change the Philippines’s system of government.

What prompted you to organize the conference on Federalism?

Because it is our main advocacy to empower young people through amplifying their voices. I think that discussions on reforming the Constitution is a positive move because the policies will forge systems that will really affect young people’s lives and of course their future.

How do you assess the reception of the young people who participated in the conference?

I think they were enthusiastic about it and that they are interested [on the topic]. More young people are approaching us, telling us that they want to have a campus tour.

Regarding the campus tours, what are your plans?

Actually the plan here is to have one summit each in Luzon and in Visayas. We also plan to have one

in Davao, then we will go on tour in campuses and other communities.

What is it about Federalism that made you decide to organize the conference?

It’s something that will affect their entire lives. I think [Federalism] will affect the entire structure on how they will participate and engage with the government.

I think we could have youth interested [in participating to] include more policies and provisions [if Federalism comes into effect].

In your own opinion, how will we create a Federal Government?

First, we go to the community and the various sectors. And majority of these sectors is composed of the youth; we are there in other sectors. If you could actually amplify and hear the voice of the youth, that is the real voice of the people.

In configuring these voices into the drafting of policies we can make these policies in parallel with the reality that is happening on the ground.

Some people would say that involvement of the youth in politics is becoming extreme. What do you think?

Youth involvement on political issues actually makes [polemics] better. Some people may think that the youth participate too much but actually most of the time the youth are just given ceremonial roles so they are not really given enough authority and they are not really taken seriously.

What we want to happen here is that we draft policies through these dialogues. We’re talking to the youth, to young people, to real people. We could draft and hear their voices, make policies and

then submit it to the right authorities and then do whatever method the reform could be. If it’s a Constitutional Convention, then we should have representatives there.

If it’s a Constitutional Assembly, then we should lobby these policies to our legislators.

There are a lot of ways where we could make our voices be heard.

What were your expectations on this conference? How do you assess these expectations when you saw the reactions of the participants?

We were expecting the youth wouldn’t be interested in the conference on Federalism because the topic is very technical. We were expecting the topic to be something beyond the youth’s comprehension because Federalism is something serious and big.

But these [considerations were]

what actually made us decide to educate the youth so they could form a choice of whether to support or go against federalism; so that they could have an informed choice.

So when you saw their reaction, how did you feel?

The participants’ reactions further motivated us. [We realized that] with the right approach, young people could be really interested in [Federalism]. With the right terminology, with the right level of delivering these ideasthese concepts, then, the youth would really participate.

So if this was a test, how would you grade yourself?

I’d grade myself 7 because I believe that there is more to do.

I mean we could do far better than this.

A10

BusinessMirror

Saturday, December 10, 2016

New year seen to bring fresh threats to security–Symantec

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Kaspersky Lab to launch digital memory app in ’17

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ASPERSKY Lab ZAO announced recently it would launch next year an application that backs up a user’s social-network digital memories and store them in encrypted memory container.

Called “FFForget,” the Russian cyber-security firm said it expects the app “to give people the freedom to leave any network whenever they want, without losing out.”

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Kaspersky Lab said it developed the app in response to its research that revealed a growing number of users who think of quitting social media.

The Moscow-headquartered company found out that some people stay on social media to keep digital memories, friends and contacts.

“Nearly 78 percent even stated that they have already considered leaving social networks behind them,” Kaspersky Lab said.

Out of 4,831 respondents, no less than 29 percent thought

they were wasting time on social networks. Kaspersky Lab said earlier research disclosed people are prone to using digital devices as their external memory.

“St ud ies have a lso demons t r at e d t h at p e o p l e c a n n o t resist c hec k ing t hei r soc i a lmed i a conversat ions a nd st at us upd ates on t heir phones,” K aspersk y L ab sa id.

People stay on socia l networks despite thinking of leaving, the Moscow-headquartered firm pointed out. Some 62 percent feared of losing contact with friends. No less than 21 percent were not as an x ious over losing contact with friends, but worried about losing digital memories like photos.

“Social networks can be a benefit or a hazard,” Evgeny Chereshnev, Kaspersky Lab head of social

media, was quoted in a statement as saying. “If they are a benefit, it’s not our problem. We believe that every person has a right to freely decide which platforms to use or to leave at all times.”

Chereshnev added the Russian firm believes “true digital freedom is not a matter of having to make sacrifices.”

“We want people to get back in the driving seat by being able to own an encrypted copy of all their digital memories at all times.”

According to Chereshnev, the “FFForget” is a solution that would ease people with fear of losing digital memories to “account damage or hacking attacks.”

The app would “win back their right to quit any social network at any time without losing what belongs to them—their digital lives.” Oliver Samson

YMANTEC Corp. said the new year would usher in a new era of cybercrime.

In a statement released last week, the cyber-security firm said rogue nation-states would steal online and “file-less” malicious software (malware) will increase.

“There is a dangerous possibility that rogue nation-states could align with organized crime for their personal gain, such as what we saw in the Swift [Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunicat ion net work] attacks,” the company said in a statement. “This could result in down time for countries’ political, military or financial systems.”

T he Mou nt a in View, Ca l ifornia-headquartered firm explained that file-less malwares are infections written directly onto a computer’s random access memory (R AM) without using files of any kind.

“These are difficult to detect and often elude intrusion prevention and antivirus programs,” Symantec said. “This type of attack increased throughout 2016 and will continue to gain prominence in 2017.”

A third trend that Symantec expects to see in next year’s cybersecurity fabric is an increase in phishing. According to the company, secure sockets layer (SSL), abuse will lead to increased phishing sites using HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure).

“The rise in popularity of free SSL certifications paired with Google’s recent initiative to label

HTTP-only sites as unsafe will weaken security standards, driving potential spear-phishing or malware programs due to malicious search-engine optimization practices.” The fourth trend that Symantec sees occurring next year is the use of drones for espionage and explosive attacks.

“By 2025, we can expect to see ‘dronejacking,’ which will intercept drone signals and redirect drones for the attacker’s benefit,” the company said. “Given this possibility, we can also expect to see antidrone-hacking technology being developed to control these devices’ GPS and other important systems.”

Symantec also noted that Internet of Things (IoT) devices “offer new revenue streams for cybercriminals.”

“Connected cars will be taken for ransom and IoT devices in the enterprise will increase points of exposure. Finally, the company said it expects increased IoT DdoS (distributed denial of service) attacks occurring more frequently next year.

“Beyond look ing simply at computers and mobile devices for vulnerabilities, incident response teams will need to consider thermostats and other connected devices as jumping points into the network,” Symantec said. “ Similar to how printer servers were used for attacks several years ago, nearly everything in an enterprise is now connected to the Internet and will need to be protected.” Oliver Samson

1 in 4 Wi-Fi hot spots just waiting for hackers–poll

Canon expands refillable ink tank printer lineup

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FTER releasing its G series refillable-ink tank printers last year, Canon Marketing (Philippines) Inc. (CMPI) recently rolled out its Pixma G4000.

This model has Wi-fi and fax technologies, an upgrade to the G-series printers with its integrated ink tank design. According to CMPI, this model brings Canon further in the game of low-cost, high-volume, multifunction printing.

According to Vinchy Sanchez, CMPI consumer group director, the Pixma G-Series printers launched last year addressed consumer demand for low-cost, but high-in-quality, volume printing.”

The recently launched model, according to Sanchez, also offers high volume printing, but is more economical.

A full set of ink bottles using genuine Canon inks can print up to 6,000 pages of

monochrome documents and 7,000 pages of color documents, according to CMPI. The printer makes full borderless printouts on plain paper or glossy photo papers up to A4 size because of the Canon Hybrid Ink System that combines the benefits of pigment black ink and color dye inks.

The recently launched model integrates the ink tanks within the printer body.

“It displays a highly compact chassis that allows users to observe remaining ink levels easily,” CMPI said in a statement. “Printer setup for first-time use takes only six minutes, including the ink charging process. This presents significant time savings to getting the printer ready for operation.”

CMPI said the new model called “Pixma Ink Efficient G4000” carries a tag price of P12,995 ($261.68 at current exchange rates).

Rizal Raoul Reyes

Intel Security pushes for new paradigm for cyber protection

I

NTEL Security has recommended a new paradigm must be formed for cyber protection, as the company has identified 14 threat trends to watch next year.

The company, formerly known as McAfee Associates Inc., also identified the most critical developments to watch for in cloud and the Internet of Things (IoT) security and the six most difficult-to-solve challenges facing the cyber-security industry.

“To change the rules of the

game between attackers and defenders, we need to neutralize our adversaries’ greatest advantages,” Vincent Weafer, vice president of Intel Security’s McAfee Labs, was quoted in a November 30 statement as saying. “As a new defensive technique is developed, its effectiveness increases until attackers are compelled to develop countermeasures to evade it.”

According to Weafer, businesses can “overcome the designs of our adversaries,” if they

go “ beyond understanding the threat landscape to changing the defender-attacker dynamics in six key areas.”

He said these areas are information asymmetry, making attacks more expensive, improving visibility, better identifying exploitation of legitimacy, improving protection for decentralized data, and detecting and protecting in agentless environments. “ T h reat s come i n v a r iou s forms, including ransomware,

firmware attacks, attacks on IoT devices, social engineering attacks and more,” Weafer said. “Cybercrime will continue to evolve in Asia and cyber-security professionals need to evolve correspondingly to ensure our enemies do not get the upper hand. “The cyber-threat paradigm needs to be altered to focus on defenderattacker dynamics,” David Allott, Intel Security director of cyberdefense, was quoted in the same statement as saying. Oliver Samson

A

FTER analyzing information on more than 31 million Wi-fi hot spots around the world, Kaspersky Lab ZAO said it has found that every fourth (28 percent) is unsecured and poses a risk to users’ personal data. “[This] means all the traffic transmitted over those networks, including personal messages, passwords, documents and much more, can be easily intercepted and used by attackers,” the Russian cyber-security firm said in a statement.

According to Kaspersky, 25 percent of the world’s wirelessfidelity (Wi-fi) networks have no encryption or password protection of any kind. In other words, the information they transmit is completely open and can be read by third parties.

Another 3 percent of hot spots use WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) to encrypt data. This unreliable protocol can be “cracked” within minutes using tools that are freely available on the Internet.

The rest of the nearly three-quarters of Wi-fi hot spots use a more reliable form of encryption based on the family of Wi-fi Protected Access (WPA) protocols.

The effort required to hack these networks depends on the

settings, including the strength of the password. For instance, if it’s a weak or publicly accessible password (e.g., on display in a café, a criminal will also be able to decrypt any transmitted traffic.

It’s worth noting that the top 20 countries with the highest percentage of nonencrypted Wi-fi hot spots includes many popular tourist destinations—Thailand, France, Israel, the US and so on.

Travelers are among the most vulnerable because the nearest available Wi-fi hot spot is often the only way for them to stay connected.

At the same time, another study suggests only 57 percent of Internet users are concerned about their data being intercepted during a Wi-fi session.

“We advise all users to remain vigilant when connecting to Wifi. Don’t use hot spots without passwords and don’t use public hotspots to perform high-risk activities such as online banking or shopping, logging on to sites or for transferring confidential information,” Denis Legezo, antivirus expert at Kaspersky Lab, was quoted in a statement as saying. “If that sort of traffic is intercepted by a third party, it could result in serious losses, including financial losses.” Oliver Samson

BusinessMirror

Saturday, December 10, 2016

A11

APac biz to become digital leaders–HDS

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VER half of Asia-Pacific (Apac) executives expect their organization to undergo vast digital transformation in the next two years, according to a new report by Forbes Insights.

The study conducted in association with Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) revealed that companies in Apac are pulling ahead when it comes to the implementation of digital projects. Among those surveyed, 55 percent of Apac respondents expect their organizations to undergo vast digital transformation in the next two years, 6 percent more than the global average of 49 percent.

The global study, titled “How to Win at Digital Transformation: Insights from a Global Survey of Top Executives,” was based on a survey of 573 senior executives worldwide, said a statement by HDS, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd. HDS said of the total respondents polled, 34 percent were from the Asia-Pacific region, as well as one-on-one conversations with top executives.

HDS said the survey reveals that, regardless of industry or location, companies are being

placed under increasing pressure to transform to keep up with market demands.

The findings also point to a growing awareness of cloud and Internet of Things (IoT) in the region. When asked about the technology focus for digital transformation, 64 percent of respondents in the region selected cloud as a priority (same as the global average), while 41 percent opted for IoT, which was 10 percent more than the global average, making IoT the second most important focus for Apac respondents.

In addition to this, when asked about top investment priorities, 45 percent of Apac respondents selected IoT technologies, versus the global average of 38 percent.

“Digital transformation is now essential for corporate survival,” Bruce Rogers, chief insights officer at Forbes Media, was quoted in a statement as saying. “And it’s more about people and culture—about

change management—along with investing in the technology.”

“At the center of transformation is data. It is both the creator and accelerator that has proven to be the currency of IT organizations,” Mark Ablett, HDS AsiaPacific senior vice president, was quoted in the same statement as saying. “By failing to unlock the potential of data, organizations are falling short of their own transformation.”

About this research

This report’s findings are based on responses of 573 C-level executives from North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific. They represented enterprises with revenues above $500 million, with 62 percent of companies having revenue of more than $1 billion, and 19 percent with revenues of $10 billion or more. The majority of respondents were CEO (23 percent), chief technolog y officers (20 percent), chief information officers (15 percent) and chief financial officers (7 percent), and all were involved in the planning or implementing of digital transformation in their or g a n i z at ion s . R e s p ond e nt s represented a wide range of industries, including technology and services (20 percent), telecommunications (10 percent), financial services (14 percent) and health care (10 percent).

Five major steps toward digital maturity cited by a new report by Forbes Insights: n Make transformation a top strategic priority. The Forbes Insights-

Hitachi sur vey confirms that digital transformation is the top strategic priority in the region (60 percent versus 50 percent globally).

The strategic emphasis on digital transformation is reinforced by executives’ focus on investment. Investing in new technologies to enable digitization is the joint top investment priority for Asia-Pacific (Apac) respondents over the next two years (65 percent), along with increasing data and analytics capabilities (65 percent) n Business outcomes need to drive digital transformation (DX).

New business models and industry competitors were the top drivers for DX (both at 42 percent), followed by new technologies (38 percent) and customer expectations (33 percent).

Ability to innovate was the top measure of DX success, selected by 57 percent of Apac respondents and higher than global average of 46 percent.

This was followed by revenue or margin growth (54 percent in Apac vs 46 percent T he re p o r t a l s o i n c lu d e s econometric research, conducted by the Department of Business Technology, University of Miami, in association with Forbes Insights. This research examined the relationship between

globally) and cost reduction (49 percent in Apac against 43 percent globally) At the same time, there are issues companies still grapple with and must resolve: n Untapped potential of data and analytics. While less than half of

Apac companies (45 percent) see themselves as advanced or leaders in data and analytics, the clear majority (95 percent) have already seen revenue increases due to the use of data and analytics.

Apac, once again, was ahead of the pack—39 percent of respondents have seen an increase of more than 5 percent on revenues thanks to data analytics, compared to 31 percent globally. Only 5 percent of respondents from the region have seen no impact or are unsure of the effects.

These findings indicate the clear potential that data analytics presents for businesses in 2017. n An enterprise-wide approach to DX needs to be adopted. Currently,

crossfunctional teams are not involved enough in developing (40 percent) or implementing (also 40 percent) strategy, increasing technology expenditures during the last recession (2007 through 2009) and an increased compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during economic recovery (2010 through 2015). It is based on the analysis of 99 of the

with the bulk of this work done by IT (57 percent and 59 percent, respectively).

Fifty-five percent of respondents in Apac believe that IT is fully ready for DX, while only 42 percent consider other business functions to be fully ready. n Companies must learn how best to marry technology with human resources. Technology has long been a core

focus of DX strategies but, as the research highlights, people also have a big role to play in the Apac region.

Technology is seen as one of the top 3 challenges (26 percent) and the top contributor to a successful DX (54 percent) in the Apac region. Nearly half (42 percent) of respondents felt toplevel executives were the second top contributor to DX success (versus just 29 percent globally). Likewise, “lack of talent” was cited as the top challenge to the implementation of DX by Apac respondents (29 percent). Companies that wish to succeed must understand the role that talent and skills play in this new landscape and ensure they have the right people for the job world’s biggest companies. In Apac companies that prioritized technology spend during recession experienced 86-percent greater revenue growth during the recovery, which is significantly higher than the global average of 61 percent.

6 ways to keep phone charges low during international travel

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L OR ENC E , It a ly — It ’s a sure-fire way to dampen the holiday cheers: Spend a week on a dream vacation abroad, then come back to find an additional several hundred dollars on your cell-phone bill.

Although some US phone plans cover international travel, especially to Canada and Mexico, many don’t. Leaving your phone off isn’t practical these days. But you don’t have to pay a fortune if you follow these tips. You might find some of these steps annoying, but they’re surely less painful than an unexpected data bill. Start planning well before you leave.

without a data connection. The offline mode isn’t meant for walking directions, though what I got for driving was often close enough (the exception was Venice, where cars are banned). Also, there’s no offline transit support, but I got transit directions by enabling cellular briefly and used offline mode to get to my stops. Otherwise, Google Maps alone would have eaten up my 100 megabytes with Verizon.

You can also download any video you’ve bought or rented through iTunes, Amazon or Google Play.

Amazon’s Prime members can also download up to 25 of the videos available for free streaming.

Netflix recently updated its app to offer similar downloads for offline viewing. You’ll want to do this before leaving home, even if you plan to use Wi-fi, as streaming

Get a plan abroad

THIS is the most economical choice, but also the least practical for many people. With the exception of Verizon, carriers typically block your phone from other carriers’ plans until you’ve paid off the hardware, typically after two years. They might make a temporary exception if you’re traveling, but it’s on you to get that set-up.

You might have an old phone to use instead, or you can rent or buy a cheap one for your trip.

This route gives you a lot of data at competitive prices. Upon arrival in Bangkok, for instance, I got 2.5 gigabytes of data for just less than $13. Two more gigabytes would have cost just $3 more.

Just visit a kiosk at the airport when you arrive, or stop by a cell phone or convenience store in town.

You’ll be assigned a phone number for that country, though, so friends and family will need that to call or text. But Facebook, e-mail accounts and messaging services, such as Apple’s Facetime, should work just as they do in the US. If you’re visiting multiple countries, you’ll need a separate local plan for each.

Step up your US plan

CHECK with your carrier on an international package. For instance, Verizon offers 100 megabytes of data for $25. Ten minutes of streaming video can wipe that out. But it’ll get you e-mail and basic messaging, and it’s much cheaper than the $205 Verizon would charge for 100 megabytes without an international plan.

rights for many titles don’t extend outside the US. A service called PlayOn Cloud also lets you download video from various services for 99 cents each (iPhones only).

Track your usage

CHECK the settings regularly to see how much data you’re using and adjust accordingly. On iPhones, check “Current Period Roaming” in the “Cellular” settings. Hit “Reset Statistics” at the start of your trip. On Android, check “Data Usage”. Android also keeps track of which apps use how much data, so you can identify culprits more easily. These are estimates, though, and your phone company might measure differently. AP

In this May 27, 2015, file photo, a passenger makes a phone call as he walks by a flight information board at Brussels Airport in Zaventem, Belgium. You don’t have to pay a fortune to use your phone abroad, but you need to plan ahead. AP

You keep your US number.

You might find this adequate for emergencies, such as when you need directions back to the hotel.

Use your hotel’s Wi-fi as much as possible; your Instagram pictures can wait, especially if your friends are asleep anyway. For a two-week trip to Italy, I had plenty of data left after taking additional datasaving measures.Verizon even refunded me nearly $16. But I got socked with another $25 because I wasn’t careful on a separate trip to Barcelona, Spain.

This option is good for multicountry trips. You can still get a local plan for the country where you’ll spend the most time.

Leave cellular data off most of the time

TURN off “Cellular Data” under the “Cellular” settings on iPhones, or “Mobile Data” on Android (the location in the settings varies by device). In Italy I turned cellular back on for the brief times I needed it. You can go further by enabling

airplane mode, but that also blocks incoming calls and texts, as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Limit data use

EVEN if you have cellular on just briefly, tons of data-hungry messages could still flood in while the gate is open. To prevent that, you can prevent apps from using cellular data at all.

On iPhones, go to “Cellular” in the settings, then turn off as many items as possible in the list of apps. Also turn off “Wi-fi Assist.” In Italy I turned off all apps. When I needed to check or send Gmail, I just turned that app back on temporarily. Otherwise, the phone waited until I got back to the hotel’s Wi-Fi. Notifications still came through, but they don’t use much data.

On most version of Android, turn on “Restrict Background Data” to blocks apps from using cellular data while running in the background. To let certain apps override that, you need “data

saver” on the latest version of Android, Nougat, which isn’t yet available on most phones.

While you’re at it, disable automatic video play on Facebook’s app.

Tap the three horizontal bars. On iPhones, choose “Settings”, then “Account Settings”, then “Videos and Photos”. For “Autoplay,” choose Wi-fi only or never. On Android, check under “App Settings”.

And be sure to disable automatic app updates over cellular. It might already be set to Wi-fi only, but double check in the “iTunes & App Stores” settings on iPhones and the Play Store settings on Android.

Download before you go

GET and set up apps for museums and other places you’re visiting before you leave home or the hotel. Using the apps will consume data, but not as much as starting from scratch.

Likewise, download map data for Google Maps ahead of time.

You can get driving directions and basic information on businesses

The Starmobile laptop

StarMobile laptop included in Lazada’s sales promotion

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ILIPINO technology brand Starmobile has officially launched its brand-new Windows 10 laptop, the Engage Aura.

Star Telecom Alliance Resources Inc. (Star Inc.) said the device is being marketed to students and professionals on-the-go.

Star Inc. said in a statement in making the device, which runs on Windows 10, available exclusively from Lazada. com.ph at a discounted price of P7,990 ($160.93 at current exchange rates) beginning December 7. The device was being sold at a regular suggested retail price of P10,990 ($221.36).

Star Inc.’s roll out of the device via Lazada came after the International Data Corp. (IDC) said worldwide personal computer (PC) shipments are forecast to

decline by 6.4 percent year-over-year in 2016. “The third quarter of 2016 saw a year-over-year decline in shipments of 4.6 percent, more than two percentage points ahead of expectations,” IDC said in a statement dated November 30.

“Although factors, such as the transition to Windows 10, played a role, the [thirdquarter] gains came largely as a result of stronger momentum in the United States, Western Europe and Japan, and were driven by channel build up in anticipation of component shortages in areas, such as display panels and storage.”

IDC added this trend “is expected to slightly boost shipments into early 2017, but will not carry into later periods.”

Rizal Raoul Reyes

A12 Saturday, December 10, 2016

BusinessMirror

Editor: Dennis D. Estopace • news.businessmirror@gmail.com

PHL must confront specter of e-waste

By Diana G. Mendoza

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Special to the BusinessMirror

HEN news that the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 devices caught fire and exploded in a number of incidents worldwide, environmental activists were the first to question what would happen next, noting the likelihood of recalling and thrashing millions of faulty gadgets into the environment.

Samsung Electronics Co. said in September that the South Korean electronics firm has conducted a “thorough investigation, and found a battery-cell issue”. However, the company has not revealed whether it has plans to recycle or repurpose the recalled devices.

Environmental activists have asked how Samsung will dispose of the faulty mobile phones? The group Greenpeace’s Southeast Asia and Philippines branches raised the alarm of a possible scenario of the millions of the broken devices being tossed on an already rising mound of electronic trash.

Abigail Aguilar, detox campaigner of Greenpeace Philippines, said “the Philippines is one of the countries that is at the tail end of the supply chain of electronic waste, receiving tons of end-of-life electronics [or even damaged devices] from richer countries.” Apart from these, she said the environment is further degraded, because the Philippines “already generates volumes of e-waste

domestically, which the country does not have the capacity to manage.”

Tons of waste

A 2014 United Nations study noted that mobile phones are some of the most frequently replaced of all small electronics gadgets.

Up to 3 million metric tons of electronic waste is generated from small information-technology (IT) products, such as mobile phones and personal computers, the study said.

This represents a massive waste of resources and a source of contamination from hazardous chemicals.

The Germany-based research organization Oeko-Institut also noted that 4.3 million smartphones contain more than 20 MT of cobalt, approximately more than 1 ton of tungsten, 1 ton of silver, 100 kilograms of gold and between 20 kilograms and 60 kg of palladium. In its statements a few months after the launch of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 in August this year, Samsung claimed to have sold some 4.3 million of this phone

models. Throwing away this number of gadgets could spell the extent of harm the devices would cause to the environment.

Whole equation

IN the Philippines at least 127,000 kilotons of e-waste, or 1.3 kg per person, is generated from unused and broken gadgets, according to Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

“It is high time that this issue is addressed by the government and the industries by considering the informal waste sector in the whole equation,” Aguilar said. She added that the country has yet to have a national policy on dealing with electronic waste. The policy, according to Aguilar, must include a requirement for industries to take back, recycle and manage waste for their products reaching end-of-life phases.

She said it is important that the government considers the growing consciousness of Filipinos in taking care of their environment.

A July-to-August 2016 survey commissioned by Greenpeace that covered 10 countries, including the Philippines, found out that more than nine out 10 respondents think it is important that their smartphones are designed to last.” The survey explored people’s behaviors and thoughts regarding their mobile phones, from what motivates them to purchase a new model to how often they have repaired them. Respondents were also asked on what they know about recycling.

The research that surveyed people aged 18 to 60 in nine countries including the Philippines also noted that over half of respondents agree that too many new phone models are manufactured, each with a very short life span.

Such a practice puts too much

TCL rolls out devices in PHL after Spark push down in NZ

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CL Communication Technology Holdings Ltd. rolled out its Alcatel-brand devices in the local market after getting edged out by Spark-branded handhelds in New Zealand.

Nonetheless, the head of the local business of TCL Corp.’s subsidiary said the company is stepping up “little by little” in the Philippines.

“It’s kind of tough pushing some products like our tablet but we’ve maintained our targets,” TCL Communications Philippines Sales Manager Charlotte Koa told reporters on December 7.

Koa led the news briefing on the Alcatel brand devices the day International Data Corp. (IDC) said the brand has been pushed out of the top 5 shipping vendors in the New Zealand market by Spark, gadgets manufactured by ZTE. According to IDC, “Alcatel had previously held the fifth position for all of 2016.”

“Low-price smartphones are taking a considerable share of the

market,” IDC said in a December 7 statement. However, Koa said the company’s strategy is not entering into a price war with other Chinese brand devices.

The company on Wednesday launched its under $210 smartphones: the Pixi Lite at P9,999 ($208.31 at current exchange rates); the Pixi Power at P5,999 ($124.98); and the Pixi 4G at P4,999 ($100.84).

The latter is sold through a postpaid plan with Globe Telecom Inc. TCL will also release a wearable in the second week of the month as a standalone product. Koa said the device, which acts as a child-tracking wristwatch, was bundled with a PLDT Inc. product.

“We’re aware of a price-sensitive market but we’d rather focus on our value proposition, which is quality,” Koa told the BusinessMirror.

“What we want to emphasize is that we’re not shortchanging the consumer.” The Pixi Lite offers a battery time of 369 hours on standby at 4G,

fingerprint and proximity sensors and camera features like gesture shot. The Pixi Plus Power offers a standby time of 1,250 hours and can also be used as a battery pack to charge other devices.

Koa also announced the opening of the company’s first inline store in Davao City.

The Alcatel Pixi 4G TCL Communication Technology Holdings Ltd.

Analyst sees state role in cognitive computing

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HILE some says a command economy is passé, an analyst believes government intervention is a must to fuel the growth of cognitive computing and the start-up ecosystem in big data and analytics.

“The state can develop the initiatives in putting up infrastructures, such as data centers, to boost their presence,” International Data Corp. Philippines Market Analyst Alon Anthony Rejano said during the Big Data, Analytics and Cognitive Systems Conference held recently in Makati City. “[The state] should remember data fundamental is the business of everything.” In his presentation, Rejano added that smart machines can develop “smarter men” who, in turn, further develop the information and communications

technology (ICT) sector in the country. He dismissed the notion that the use of Artificial Intelligence will lead to a Terminator-type scenario where machines will conquer men.

Cognitive computing simulates human thought processes in a computerized model. Moreover, the system encompasses self-learning systems that use data mining, pattern recognition and natural language processing to imitate the human brain. Rather than lingering on the apprehension, Rejano pointed out that cognitive computing will help in solving multifaceted problems: “It addresses complex situations that are characterized by ambiguity and uncertainty.”

According to Rejano, the Philippines is in the first, or ad hoc, stage of cognitive com-

puting. “In that aspect, there will be a lot of opportunities as the data grows.”

He added that the Philippines could easily move up the development ladder because of the pervasive use of social media and the active role of telecommunication companies.

Nevertheless, the country must hurdle the challenge of lacking a proper mind-set toward cognitive computing. Rejano laments that a big number of enterprises in the country are taking a “wait-and-see” approach.

They are still waiting for a success story before embarking on cognitive computing, he explained. Rejano said the Philippines can study mature markets, such as Australia and Singapore, on their experiences using cognitive computing. Rizal Raoul Reyes

In this December 12, 2013, file photo, a man passes by the Samsung Electronics Co. logos at its headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. The recall of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 devices has spurred calls by environmental activists for countries like the Philippines to address the issue of electronic waste. AP

strain on the environment because of the hazardous chemicals used in the manufacture of these products.

Common concern

Filipino consumers think that too many new mobile-phone models are released each year, which adds to the amount of junk when people discard old phones for new models that are in trend. The survey revealed that four out of five Filipinos want their mobiles to be easily dismantled, repaired and recycled if damaged.

There is also common concern among Filipinos to have a smartphone that is designed to last, has a long-lasting battery, is not made with hazardous chemicals and made in factories powered by renewableenergy sources. However, Greenpeace said these views are yet to be translated into behavior that reflects the use of a lesser number of smartphones by using each for a longer

period of time.

The activist group noted that more than 60 percent of respondents get new devices to replace their previous devices even if the old gadgets are still in working condition.

“The survey results show that consumers are now more aware of

what they want in their smart phone purchases,” Aguilar said. n This edited story by Diana Mendoza was one of two stories that garnered the first prize in the Lopez Jaena Journalism Workshop recently organized by the University of the Philippines Journalism Department.

Key findings of the July to August 2016 survey commissioned

by Greenpeace: n 96 percent of all Filipinos surveyed consider it important that a new smartphone is not produced using hazardous chemicals. n 80 percent think that mobile-phone manufacturers release too many new models each year. n 55 percent had their phones repaired by somebody other than the manufacturer (street repair shop, a friend, or an online repair shop). n 98 percent consider having a long-lasting battery is an important feature of a new smartphone. n 92 percent of the consumers surveyed believe it is important that smartphones be made in factories powered by renewable-energy sources.

Source: Greenpeace