BusinessMirror December 15, 2019

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CHINA’S CURING CANCER

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Sunday, December 15, 2019 Vol. 15 No. 66

EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS

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DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

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FASTER AND CHEAPER THAN ANYWHERE ELSE

TECHNICIANS demonstrate the process of transferring the final product into a transfusion bag at the research lab of Gracell Biotechnologies Co. Ltd. in Shanghai, China, on October 29, 2019. BLOOMBERG

Z

By Bloomberg News

HANG HAITAO was a basketballloving teenager who dreamed of going to a specialized sports high school when he got a pain in his right arm that just wouldn’t go away. It turned out to be acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

The discovery set Zhang and his family, from a village deep in the mountains of southwestern China’s Sichuan province, on a journey familiar to most cancer patients—a revolving door of hospital visits, blood tests and three rounds of chemotherapy. It was then that Zhang’s doctor suggested a last-ditch option: an experimental gene therapy being trialed by a Chinese start-up called Gracell Biotechnology Ltd. After spending three weeks in the hospital in May—during which white blood cells were removed from his body, genetically

engineered, and then infused back in—an analysis of Zhang’s bone marrow in June showed his body was clear of cancer.

Seven months later, monthly medical tests conducted at a hospital in the nearby Chinese metropolis of Chongqing show he remains cancer-free.

“I don’t remember much about the treatment as I had a fever throughout,” said Zhang, who’s now almost 16 and spends his days playing video games and texting his friends. “It seems like a new solution that will give people hope.”

Continued on A2

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 50.7330

16-YEAR-OLD Zhang Haitao in his bedroom at the apartment where he lives with his aunt and caretaker Chen Chunhua, in the township of Shanle, near Guangan, China, on November 28, 2019. BLOOMBERG

“I’m very impressed with the pace of technological progress in China and the expansion of CAR-T research coming so rapidly. We all want these therapies to move fast and some are very good, but we need to be aware that some could be moving too fast for their expertise, even if they have very good intentions.”

—Bruce Levine, a professor specializing in cancer gene therapy at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

n JAPAN 0.4641 n UK 66.8255 n HK 6.5018 n CHINA 7.2187 n SINGAPORE 37.4607 n AUSTRALIA 35.0464 n EU 56.4861 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.5285

Source: BSP (December 13, 2019 )

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, December 15, 2019

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China’s curing cancer faster and cheaper than anywhere else Continued from A1

The therapy Zhang received was Chimeric Antigen Receptor-T cells, known as CAR-T, and it’s being hailed as one of the most exciting developments in the quest to cure cancer. First developed by Israeli scientist Zelig Eshhar in the 1980s, CAR-T re-works the genes of the body’s own immune cells so that they actively seek out and destroy cancer cells. While it’s been embraced by researchers and drugmakers around the world, perhaps nowhere is CAR-T having more impact—and being pushed dangerously close to its limits—than in China, home to the world’s biggest cancer population and some of the most ambitious experiments.

CAR-T works by supercharging T-cells, the body’s main line of defense against disease, so that they latch onto and destory cancer.

In clinical trials, leukemia patients who failed to respond to other therapies have shown remission rates of over 90 percent within two months of treatment.

Though drug giants Novartis AG and Gilead Sciences Inc. have been marketing CAR-T globally since 2017, it’s expensive. The process of engineering an individual’s cells in a laboratory and then replicating them has also meant that some patients with more aggressive cancers can die waiting for treatment.

That’s where Gracell’s therapy was revolutionary. Instead of the two to three weeks taken by current treatments from American and European drug makers, the Shanghaibased company—set up by a group of veteran Chinese cell-therapy re-

searchers—is churning out cancerkilling immune cells overnight.

And they’re doing it much cheaper in some cases than global pharmaceutical giants. Gracell has developed a process using genetic engineering that speeds up the cell production stage, according to founder William Cao Wei. Gracell plans to price its CAR-T treatment for about 500,000 yuan ($71,000), well below the $475,000 price tag for Novartis’s Kymriah, the Swiss company’s CAR-T therapy used to treat the type of blood cancer that Zhang had. A similar treatment from Gilead, based in Foster City, California, costs $373,000.

The aging population and a raft of lifestyle factors mean that more new cancer patients are emerging in China than anyplace else in the world, giving the country a significant stake in the global fight to find a cure. Emboldened by the government’s push to become a scientific superpower and to dominate the field of genetics, Gracell and other Chinese biotech start-ups are racing ahead, with China likely to approve CAR-T for widespread use as early as next year. Up for grabs is a market for cancer drugs and experimental treatments that has exploded to $133 billion a year worldwide, according to life sciences researcher Iqvia Institute.

“There can be both cooperation and competition between us and CAR-T developers in developed markets,” said Cao, who is also Gracell’s chief executive officer. “But there will definitely be competition.”

That drive to forge ahead— and in front—can be seen in the way China is approaching regu-

TECHNICIANS operate in the research lab of Gracell Biotechnologies Co. Ltd. in Shanghai, China, on October 29, 2019. BLOOMBERG

lation of CAR-T. The country is weighing new rules that would loosen oversight of the revolutionary technology, allowing academic ethics committees within hospitals to approve new CAR-T treatments and then administer them to patients for a fee.

That would markedly loosen China’s current framework, which is

presently in line with the approach taken by regulatory bodies like the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency.

These entities are the sole authorities in their jurisdictions that evaluate and approve all CAR-T therapies before they are cleared for public use.

There is concern among researchers, regulatory experts and drug makers themselves that allowing hospitals to market treatments for a fee could cause profit-making to trump ethical considerations. In a 2016 case widely reported in the Chinese media, a 22-year-old college student with a rare type of tissue cancer called synovial sarcoma died after going through an experimental cell therapy at a Beijing hospital.

Before his death, the patient posted an essay online claiming the hospital had falsely advertised the treatment’s effectiveness, and that Chinese search engine Baidu Inc. had displayed the hospital’s advertising so that it appeared like a credible search result rather than a paid commercial. The essay went viral and sparked an outcry on Chinese social media over the ethics of private hospitals and the regulation of therapies for serious illnesses.

Censured by the Cyberspace Administration of China, Baidu responded by restricting the number of sponsored posts to 30 percent of a results page, and established a 1 billion yuan fund to fight fraud.

The hospital did not respond to requests for comment.

It’s not the only death allegedly linked to genetic cell therapy in China. Last year, a hospital in the eastern city of Xuzhou was sued over the death of a lymphoma patient who died after receiving a CAR-T treatment. The patient developed severe side effects, including bleeding within the abdomen.

The patient’s family argued that the treatment led to his death, but the hospital and doctor said it was the result of late-stage cancer. A court is yet to rule on the case.

China’s proposed new framework is reminiscent of its wider approach to the regulation of science, an area President Xi Jinping has prioritized as part of his ambition to cement the country as a world power.

The research of He Jiankui, an American-educated Chinese scientist whose revelation last year that he’d edited the genes of twin baby girls ignited a global firestorm, was signed off by the ethics committee of a Shenzhen hospital. The experiment, which He claimed made the twins immune to HIV, wasn’t backed by peer-reviewed data and still hasn’t been verified. Scientists around the world have condemned it as an irresponsible use of a technology that has the capacity to alter the very building blocks of life.

The long-term effects of Crispr, the gene-snipping tool used by He and

embraced by Chinese researchers, are also yet to be fully understood.

China’s new draft rules on CAR-T could give rise to the same scenario, critics say.

There’s no guarantee that the hospital committees have the qualifications to evaluate such a complicated therapy, said Tao Xin, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer at Hogan Lovells LLP who specializes in the health-care regulatory law of both the US and China.

“The proposal indicates that hospitals can charge a fee for the therapy, in addition to approving its own therapy,” he said. “With these two combined, are we going to see a replay of the 2016 incident? If there’s money to be made and I get to decide whether to do it or not, that’s really controversial.”

Gracell’s Cao is also critical of the new framework as it removes the role of an independent entity that evaluates the therapy’s safety and efficacy: “Hospitals can become both players and referees at the same time.”

Novartis and Gilead declined to comment on China’s regulatory plans, while a spokesman for the National Health Commission, the body in charge of governing the country’s health sector, said that the proposed new rules are still under discussion.

Venture capital

MEANWHILE, Chinese companies are racing ahead on CAR-T and attracting hundreds of millions of dollars from investors like Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd., as well as global pharmaceutical giants. Venture capital investment in Chinese biotech firms climbed to $17.6 billion last year, quadruple the amount from 2015, according to consultancy ChinaBio LLC.

Gracell—which counts Temasek and Lilly Asia Ventures, the venture capital firm spun off from Eli Lilly & Co. as investors—says 32 of the 35 patients it’s enrolled in its China-based trials over the past year have gone into complete remission “with minimal residual disease tested negative” four weeks after the CAR-T infusion—a clinical term that basically means there was no evidence of disease remaining in their bodies, the highest possible efficacy level for a therapy.

Other Chinese start-ups like Nanjing Legend, a unit of Hong Kong-listed Genscript Biotech Corp., and US-listed Cellular Biomedicine Group Inc., have developed similar capabilities.

In 2018, Novartis paid $40 million for a 9-percent stake in Shanghai-based Cellular Biomedicine, and will use their cell therapy facility to manufacture its Kymriah treatment, which is currently being assessed for approval by China’s drug regulator. The start-up

is also developing its own CAR-T therapies and testing their potential against solid tumors, not just blood cancers. Chief Executive Officer Tony Liu Bizuo said Cellular Biomedicine’s digitized and automated process cuts the cell engineering time from four weeks to less than 10 days.

Cellular Biomedicine is now mulling over building a bigger cell production facility with the Shanghai government, as demand for cell therapy grows and on expectations more commercial CAR-T treatments will be approved in China in the coming years. In a sign of the support start-ups are getting from the authorities, the city’s government has earmarked a 4 million square feet space for cell therapy research.

Of the 21 cell therapies currently in clinical trials approved by China’s drug regulator, 11 are being conducted in the lab, which is fast becoming the nation’s CAR-T Ground Zero.

The next frontier is to make CAR-T as accessible as any other drug, and Chinese start-ups are at the leading edge. Dubbed “universal CAR-T,” this involves finding a way to take T-cells from healthy people and engineering them so that they can be infused into any cancer patient. Gracell is studying the use of donor white blood cells, marking a step toward that goal.

Other start-ups like French company Cellectis SA are also racing to make universal CAR-T a reality.

“I’m very impressed with the pace of technological progress in China and the expansion of CART research coming so rapidly,” said Bruce Levine, a professor specializing in cancer gene therapy at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

“We all want these therapies to move fast and some are very good, but we need to be aware that some could be moving too fast for their expertise, even if they have very good intentions,” he said.

After a year in and out of hospital, Zhang, the teenage cancer patient in Chongqing, is starting to make plans for the future. If it wasn’t for the leukemia, he’d be in his first year of high school now.

“I don’t think I can go to sports school anymore, but I hope to learn a professional skill,” said Zhang, who’s now a foot taller than his aunt, Chen Chunhua, his primary caregiver. “I want to grasp this chance I have.”

While China’s approach to CAR-T may be criticized as moving too fast, Chen, who left her job at a ceramics factory to care for Zhang when he got sick, is thankful he had access to the treatment, which wouldn’t have been possible in China had the boy fallen ill just a year earlier.

“I’m so happy we had this option within China,” she said. “It really helps to lessen our burden.”

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Sunday, December 15, 2019

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Europe’s ‘Green Deal’ opens door to economic renewal–and risks E

urope is taking a green gamble for its economy. The European Commission unveiled a plan this week to put its economy in line with the needs of the planet by imposing stricter caps on greenhouse emissions, changing taxation and creating new rules for companies.

With a target of being climate-neutral by 2050, Europe may even change how it taxes trade with states that don’t meet its new green criteria.

If the so-called Green Deal works, advocates say investment could deliver the kind of transformation not seen for half a century.

But there are risks it stumbles below lofty targets, or even raises uncertainty, costs and trade tensions.

In its plans to accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the commission said an extra €260 billion ($290 billion) in investment will be needed every year. That would be a significant boost, equivalent to 1.5 percent of 2018 economic output.

With euro-area growth and inflation stuck in a low gear, it’s the kind of systemic rethink that could change the economy’s course.

Plus, record-low interest rates provide an opportune moment for massive investment.

Yet, it’s not that simple. Changes to regulation and taxes will steer spending away from some industries. Jobs will likely be lost in some areas, with no simple transfer of workers to new sectors.

The key will be whether governments get on with structural reforms, particularly education and training so that workers can quickly retool with the necessary skills.

“In the short term we should expect it to be a headwind to growth,” said Societe Generale Chief Economist Michala Marcussen. “But that’s not to say we shouldn’t do it because the alternative of kicking the climate change can down the road is that the cost to GDP will far outstrip any short-term costs today.”

The climate plan could allow for a change to fiscal rules so states can unleash the kind of public investment the European Central Bank has championed. The commission said it will look at “green public investment in the context of the quality of public finance.”

However, the chance of a dramatic step, such as excluding green spending from deficit and debt calculations, seems unlikely. The document also noted the need for “safeguards against risks to debt sustainability.”

All of that will happen in a review by the commission and EU member-countries.

“It’s postponing this decision, watering it down into a bureaucratic procedure. So basically, nothing is going to happen soon,” said Simone Tagliapietra, a research fellow at Bruegel.

With limited and uncertain margins of public finances, the key may be the private sector. Bloomberg Economics estimates that the additional annual investment to meet emission targets may be more like €400 billion a year, far higher than the EU estimates.

“Where will the money come from? As things stand, the spending commitments by EU leaders seem tiny relative to the scale of the task, placing a significant burden on the private sector to do the heavy lifting. That’s a risky approach,” said Bloomberg’s economists Maeva Cousin and Jamie Rush.

To stand any chance of getting the level of investment needed, the EU will have to provide better visibility on regulation and carbon pricing. To that end, the promise of a climate law is crucial.

For a sign of how uncertainty crimps investment, one need only look at the UK and Brexit, where business spending has fallen in six of the last seven quarters.“There is macroeconomic potential that can be favorable,” said Jean Pisani-Ferry, visiting fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “But it’s not clear it’s possible to mobilize it if we are not credible.” Bloomberg News

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Sunday, December 15, 2019

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Trump approves US-China trade deal to halt $160-B Dec. 15 tariffs

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resident Donald J. Trump signed off on a phase one trade deal with China, averting the December 15 introduction of a new wave of US tariffs on about $160 billion of consumer goods from the Asian nation, according to people familiar with the matter.

The deal presented to Trump by trade advisers on Thursday included a promise by the Chinese to buy more US agricultural goods, according to the people. Officials also discussed possible reductions of existing duties on Chinese products, they said. The terms have been agreed but the legal text has not yet been finalized, the people said. A White House spokesman declined to comment.

An announcement is expected on Friday Washington time, according to people familiar with the plans.

Global stocks hit a record high for the first time since early 2018 and bond yields climbed on optimism over trade. On Thursday, Trump tweeted that the US and China are “VERY close” to signing a “BIG” trade deal, also sending equities higher. The yuan surged the most in a year, rising above 7 per dollar.

“They want it, and so do we!” he tweeted five minutes after equity markets opened in New York, sending stocks to new records.

T he administration has reached out to allies on Capitol Hill and in the business community to issue statements of support once the announcement is made, people said. Before meeting his trade advisers, Trump engaged with members of the Bu si ness R ou ndt able, wh ic h

represents some of the largest US companies, they said.

Trump changed his mind on deals with China before. Negotiators have been working on the terms of the phase one deal for months after the president announced in October that the t wo nat ions h ad reac hed a n agreement that could be put on paper within weeks.

The US has added a 25-percent duty on about $250 billion of Chinese products and a 15- percent levy on another $110 billion of its imports over the course of a roughly 20-month trade war. Discussions now are focused on reducing those rates by as much as half, as part of the interim agreement Trump announced almost nine weeks ago.

In addition to a significant increase in Chinese agricultural purchases in exchange for tariff relief, officials have also said a phase one pact would include Chinese commitments to do more to stop intellectual-property theft and an agreement by both sides not to manipulate their currencies.

Put off for later discussions are knotty issues such as longstanding US complaints over the vast web of subsidies ranging from cheap electricity to low-cost loans that China has used to build its industrial might.

The new duties, which were

In this June 29, 2019, file photo, US President Donald J. Trump poses for a photo with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan. Trump signed off on a phase one trade deal with China, averting the December 15 introduction of a new wave of US tariffs on about $160 billion of consumer goods from China. AP/Susan Walsh

scheduled to take effect at 12:01 a.m. Washington time on Sunday unless the administration says otherwise, would hit consumer goods from China including smartphones and toys.

Even amid the positive signs on trade, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi highlighted the other confrontations between t he t wo sides. On Fr id ay in Beijing, Wang said that US actions had “severely damaged the hard-earned basis for mutual trust” and left the relationship in their “most complex” state since the two sides established ties four decades ago.

Before this, Trump’s advisers had sent conflicting signals and stressed that he hadn’t made up his mind on the next steps.

The decisions facing Trump over a trade deal highlight one dilemma he confronts going into the 2020 election: Whether to bet on an escalation of hostilities

with China and the tariffs he is so fond of or to follow the advice of more market-oriented advisers and business leaders who argue a pause in the escalation would help a slowing US economy bounce back in an election year. “ The outcome of US-China trade talks will be a key determinant of the trajectory for 2020 growth. At one extreme, a deal that takes tariffs back to May 2019 levels, and provides certainty that the truce will hold, could deliver a 0.6 percent boost to global GDP. At the other, a breakdown in talks would mean the trade drag extends into the year ahead,” said Tom Orlik, Bloomberg’s chief economist.

The president’s expected announcement on Thursday was met with immediate criticism from Democrats and even by members of his own party. Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, one of the most vocal China hawks in Cong ress, sa id t he W hite

House should consider the risks of a deal.

A near-term pact “would give away the tariff leverage needed for a broader agreement on the issues that matter the most such as subsidies to domestic firms, forced tech transfers and blocking US firms access to key sectors,” he said in a tweet.

Democratic lawmakers in a letter on Thursday told the president this point in the negotiations marks a “critical juncture” for the US to secure concessions “on major structural challenges that will only become more difficult to address.”

“Your administration must stay strong against the Chinese government if fundamental concessions are not made. Anything short of a meaningful, enforceable and lasting agreement would be severe and unacceptable for the American people,” Senators Chuck Schumer, Ron Wyden and Sherrod Brown said. Bloomberg News

Christmas comes early for markets as key risks get taken out

I

t started last week, with a blowout US jobs report that beat all expectations. Then in quick succession on Thursday investors got news that the guns will be holstered in the US-China trade war, and that Britain is lifting itself out of the quagmire of a hung parliament.

Suddenly, all the worries about a global recession, yet another wave of tariff hikes between the world ’s two largest economies and a messy UK breakup with the European Union are fading from view. It may be Friday the 13th, but those who made an early start on JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s call for risk-on trades in 2020 can count themselves lucky.

The S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite log ged record closes on Thursday, helping push MSCI’s all-country world gauge to its first all-time high since the eve of the global rout in January

2018, back when a stocks “meltup” was the narrative of the day.

In currencies, the yen fell and the yuan soared. Bond yields climbed, with 10-year Treasuries north of 1.9 percent and their Japanese counterparts in recent days straddling zero percent for the first time since March.

The moves came on news that President Donald Trump signed off on a phase one deal with China that averts the December 15 introduction of another wave of US tariffs. Confirmation from Trump himself is still pending, though, and US futures saw only modest gains in the Asian morning Friday. In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is cruising for a majority, exit polls showed, an election result that should guarantee passage of his Brexit deal with the EU. “We’ve got a runway now for a smooth way into year-end,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone Group Ltd. in Melbourne. “You’re looking at a situation where investors are going to have to chase the market into year-end.”

In a stark contrast to last year, the Federal Reserve has been a major ally for those bullish on risk this year-end. The US central bank started injecting liquidity in October at a pace of $60 billion of T-bill purchases a month, and Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday if

needed the initiative could adjust to buying coupon-paying securities, as well.

Bets on the Fed have shifted as risks eased over the past week.

Futures trading suggests just a 69-percent chance of an interestrate cut in 2020. Thursday last week, one cut was fully priced in, with a 13-percent chance of another one by the end of next year.

The ground is shifting for others, too. As recently as a month back, the Bank of Japan was seen by some as needing to head deeper into negative territory with its policy rate. But now, with the yen weakening past 109 per dollar and Japan’s government embracing a fiscal-stimulus package, things look different.

“We’re perhaps seeing the start of a strong yen decline­—Trump’s tweet, the Brexit results have flipped the yen on its head,” said Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank Ltd. in Singapore. “We could see haven demand wane into 2020.

There might be even a last hurrah before the year-end as risk bulls get their way, and push the yen lower from here.”

Bringing hope to both Japanese institutional investors and those the world over is the reduction in the pool of negative-yielding bonds. It shrank to $11.5 trillion as of Thursday, down from the record $17 trillion hit in August

when the trade war was raging.

How long the Christmastime cheer will last remains a question. On three of the key risks, doubts remain. Brave is the analyst that predicts smooth sailing in the US-China relationship ahead; no American presidential candidate is running on the “be nice to China” ticket. Johnson’s looming majority may guarantee the UK leaves the EU in January, but the two will still need to negotiate a trade deal, meaning the “hard Brexit” scenario could yet be on the horizon.

As for global recession risks, while the consensus is that growth will pick up in 2020 thanks to this year’s monetary easing and moves in a number of countries to embrace fiscal stimulus, that view isn’t universal. In Australia, an economy closely tied to demand for important inputs including coal and iron, asset managers even see the central bank adopting quantitative easing next year.

And some warn that the US presidential-election season, set to kick into high gear next month in the leadup to the February 3 Iowa caucuses, could pose dangers. The populist platform from onetime front-runner Sen. Elizabeth Warren has triggered warnings about the record-setting US bull market for equities coming to an end.

Even if all the good news stays

intact, there’s the challenge of valuations. How much gas is there left in the tank after the S&P 500 soared 26 percent plus in 2019? In credit, US spreads are also historically low.

“I wish we had kept some of the good news for 2020,” Mark Matthews, head of research Asia at Bank Julius Baer & Co., said on Bloomberg TV. “What this is going to do is cause a really powerful rally into the year-end, so what’s going to be left over to get priced in to 2020?”

The plethora of riches this week includes Republicans and Democrats getting a bipartisan deal to fund the government before the December 20 spending deadline. Meantime, investors have shrugged off the Trump impeachment story, confident that the Republican majority in the Senate means he’ll remain in office.

For emerging markets, a newly solid Chinese yuan and a retreat in the dollar to the weakest since July offers encouragement. A weakening yuan that dragged developing nations’ currencies down with it had made dollar debt more expensive to service. The yuan Friday traded past the 7-per-dollar line that had briefly spooked markets earlier this year.

“It feels like all the bricks in the wall of worry are falling at once,” said Peter Atwater, president of Financial Insyghts. Bloomberg News

Editor: Angel R. Calso

Nobel winner’s army defense blasted in Myanmar genocide case

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HE HAGUE, Netherlands—Lawyers seeking to halt what they allege is ongoing genocide in Myanmar slammed leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s defense of her country’s armed forces, saying Thursday that the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former pro-democracy icon chose to ignore “unspeakable” crimes targeting Muslim civilians.

In closing statements at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Suu Kyi again defended the actions of Myanmar’s army against the Rohingya minority, as well as the country’s military justice system. She requested that the case be dropped.

The United Nations’s top court is conducting emergency legal proceedings to determine whether military personnel committed genocide against Myanmar’s Rohingya minority in 2017.

The African nation of Gambia, tasked by a large group of Muslim countries to lead their case, requested the hearings and alleges that humanrights violations against the Rohingya continue.

With maps, satellite imagery and graphic photos, Myanmar’s accusers detailed what they insist is a deliberate campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide—including the killing of civilians, raping of women and torching of houses—that forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh.

Gambia wants the U.N. court to take “all measures within its power to prevent all acts that amount to or contribute to the crime of genocide.”

The court proceedings have produced the astonishing spectacle of Suu Kyi, who was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for championing democracy and human rights under Myanmar’s then-ruling junta, defending the army that kept her under house arrest for about 15 years.

“We heard nothing about sexual violence from Myanmar yesterday, not a single word about it,” lawyer Paul Reichler told the court as Suu Kyi watched on impassively. “Because it is undeniable and unspeakable, they chose to ignore it completely. I can’t really blame them.

I would hate having to be the one to defend it.”

Suu Kyi testified Wednesday that the exodus of Rohingya was a tragic consequence of hostilities initiated by insurgents. The allegations of genocide and other crimes by the army stemmed from “an internal armed conflict started by coordinated and comprehensive armed attacks...to which Myanmar’s defense services responded,” she said.

Suu Kyi also insisted that Gambia’s legal representatives had painted “an incomplete and misleading factual picture” of what happened in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state in August 2017.

Reichler argued otherwise, saying: “There is no reasonable conclusion to draw other than the inference of genocidal intent from the state’s pattern of conduct.”

Referring to a UN fact-finding mission’s report on military “clearance operations,” Reichler said that “everyone was a target and no one was spared. Mothers, infants, pregnant women, the old and infirm. They all fell victim to this ruthless campaign.”

Myanmar’s legal team questioned the reports reliability. They also said that incidents of brutality, sexual violence and hate speech— however abhorrent—occur elsewhere without amounting to genocide.

Reichler also refuted Myanmar’s claims that no mass graves were found.

“To be sure, Myanmar has not made it easier to find them” by denying access to suspect sites, Reichler said. “Nevertheless, The Associated Press located at least five mass graves of Rohingyas.”

The AP reported that the mass graves in the village of Gu Dar Pyin were confirmed through multiple interviews with more than two dozen survivors who had fled to refugee camps in Bangladesh, and through time-stamped cellphone videos. Satellite images and video of destroyed homes also showed that the village had been wiped out.

The Myanmar government’s information committee said later that 17 government officials including Border Guard Police went to Gu Dar Pyin to investigate the AP report and were told by villagers and community leaders that “no such things happened.”

According to the government statement, a group of Rohingya “terrorists” skirmished with security forces in the village during “clearance operations” by the military. It said about 500 villagers attacked the security forces with weapons such as knives, sticks and wooden spears, and the security forces were forced to shoot in self-defense. AP

Journey

»life on the go

A5 | Sunday, December 15, 2019 • Editor: Tet Andolong

War, adventure and remembrance

Cove Manila ultimate party of the year

Okada Manila ready for New Year’s Eve Countdown

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By Tet Andolong

ANILA’S iconic ultraluxury integrated resort, Okada Manila, is gearing up for its most explosive entertainment lineup to date. Okada will hold its annual New Year’s Eve Countdown on December 31, titled “NYE Countdown 2020: New Year’s Eve Gold Rush.”

Okada fountain fireworks

THE Villas

This property-wide celebration will have world-class performances by some of the most sought-after and brightest stars.

Fresh from her electrifying SEA Games performance, singer KZ Tandingan is named one of the headliners for The 24 Karat Countdown: An Extraordinary Concert, which will be held at Okada Manila’s Grand Ballroom. Joining her for the 24 Karat Countdown is a group of some of the finest powerhouse artists, including The Company, Liezel Garcia, Erik Santos, Angeline Quinto, Jayson Dee and the Okada Manila Entertainment Group. Tickets are sold at P30,000, P20,000 and P10,000 which include dinner and raffle.

For Cove Manila, All Stars, international Grammy Award-winning artist Ceelo Green will be kicking off the Ultimate Party of the Year. Party people will also enjoy sets by DJ Solall, DJ Kaka, DJ Sesco, DJ Migs Santillan and DJ Marc Marasigan. Drink all you can will be served for P750+

from 10:00 p.m. until 2:00 a.m.

At the fountain Stage, guests will be enthralled by performances

by Bugoy Drilon, Daryl Ong and Michael Pangilinan. To make the festivities bigger, there will also be a grand fireworks display, a beam light show and more live music. Those at the Crystal Corridor will also witness the NYE Golden Parade led by the Okada Manila Entertainment Group. Street performers and live bands will also be there to entertain you.

But to even make your NYE celebration more memorable, Okada Manila, the country’s ultimate destination for world-class lifestyles and entertainment has set the bar when it comes to the epitome of getaways.

Bring your kids to PLAY where they can have so much fun and activities.

PLAY stands for “Purposeful Learning and Activities for the Young.” As Okada Manila’s family-friendly indoor fun facility for the young and the young-at-heart, it offers a full line of dedicated learning programs

Premium Suite

PLAY

aimed at enhancing the holistic development of children—it promises a lot more than just a fun-filled playday. PLAY is designed to become a multifunctional platform that addresses the recreation and learning needs of kids aged one to 16 years old. It boasts of eight purpose-built

play areas or neighborhoods that reward kids with the fun and adventure they crave for, no matter what age they are in.

For staycation before the New Year’s Eve Countdown, choose from 993 rooms, including the Junior Suite, Premium Suite, Executive Suite, Presi-

dential Suite, Manila Bay Suite, Celebrity Suite, Coral Deluxe, Grand Deluxe and, their three new luxury podium villas located at the third floor in the Pearl Wing of the resort.

These three sophisticated and luxurious additions to Okada Manila’s world-class facilities are

named Cebu, El Nido and Coron Villas. They are perfect for large private parties, occasions for the most stylish celebrations, exclusive highend events, or even intimate gatherings with friends and loved ones.

The 1,170-square-meter Cebu villa has four bedrooms with seven beds, while the 1,400-sq-m El Nido and Coron villas can host more with five bedrooms and nine beds—all furnished with Rivolta Carminiagni linens.

According to Julius Santos, Okada Manila’s director for sales and marketing, “These three villas are part of the luxurious suites that we are developing and all the materials used are imported. The resort is only 33 percent done and the whole project reached around P3.2 billion so far,” said Santos.

The villas are outfitted with their own living room, 16-seater dining room with a minibar, state-of-theart entertainment room, spacious his and hers bathrooms with smart toilets and Roberto Cavalli amenities, private garden with outdoor patios, indoor gym, a couples’ spa suite with a sauna, as well as an exclusive outdoor swimming pool and a jet tub—all marbled floors.

The villas, like any room in the hotel, features a DigiValet system, a special iPad that allows guests to take full control of the room’s devices. Guests will also have access to a 24-hour butler service and a private chef who can prepare any type of cuisine, rounding out the finest luxury experience in Manila.

“We protect the privacy of our guests,” said Santos. Okada Manila’s villas are so exclusive that villa guests have their own private access going inside the casino, parking area, and everywhere else in the resort.

For low-peak season, the Cebu Villa is priced at P400,000+ per night during weekdays and P500,000+ per night during weekends. The El Nido and Coron Villas are both priced at P500,000+ during weekdays and P600,000 during weekends. These villas can go as high as P800,000+ to P1 million+ per night during peak season.

At Manila Okada, those who are looking to celebrate the New Year in the biggest, grandest’ way, can also feast on a sumptuous dinner buffet and free-flowing beverages.

Stay tuned for more news about the country’s highly anticipated New Year’s Eve Countdown, “NYE Countdown 2020: New Year’s Eve Gold Rush!

Visit okadamnl.ph/NYE2020.

Journ

Business

A6 Sunday, December 15, 2019

Christmas south of the border

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By Bernard L. Supetran

HE South is arguably among the most underrated getaways in the urban jungle called Metro Manila.

Vivere’s newly renovated rooms

Laguna Lake view at Bellevue’s Signature Lounge

Acacia Hotel’s Christmas-themed lobby

Bellevue Hotel Christmas tree display

With the few remaining swathes of greeneries in the megacity, the placid Laguna de Bay, the Sierra Madre mountain ranges, and the mystical Mount Makiling, it has the perfect balance of cosmopolitan vibe and that distinct out-of-town feel. On a clear day, the imposing windmills of Pililla, Rizal, and the scenic Antipolo ridge can be seen in the horizon—a panorama no other place can replicate.

Alabang, the hub of business and recreation in the south, evokes that unique blend. And with the crippling traffic jam along the northbound lane of the South Luzon Expressway in recent weeks, southerners should better savor the charm of their colony during the holiday season.

Many thanks to the country music crooner Gene Autry (not Ed Sheeran as you expected) for bringing inspiration to this southern re-

discovery.

Standing proudly in the district is Vivere, the first five-star hotel in the area which catalyzed the development of the posh hideaway within the megacity. A Latin word which means “to live, to inhabit, to be alive,” it recently underwent a room facelift to give southerners a trendy and comfy staycation for the long holidays.

For a fun-filled season, the hotel is offering Simbang Gabi Specials, Santa Meet and Greet, in-room cinema and a Jazz Christmas with the Jazz Band at The Nest Dining in The Sky roof-deck restaurant at the 31st floor.

On New Year’s Eve, Vivere will light up the southern sky with its spectacular fireworks to welcome 2020 through a buffet dinner and live entertainment from Joey’s Mood and Live Atlaz Manila.

And if you’re itching for a real

New Year’s Eve fireworks at Vivere

out-of-town retreat beyond the city, Vivere Azure, a bespoke shorefront secluded paradise in Mabini, Batangas, beckons. An opulent

cliffside home, you can marvel at Balayan Bay’s enchanting underwater world and kaleidoscopic sunset.

The hotel also has an irresistible

Homey Holidays package where guests can win raffle prizes, such as getaway to Azure, an overnight stay and a breakfast buffet in Vivere.

A few minutes away is Acacia Hotel Manila, a 261-room luxe urban haunt named after the sturdy Philippine hardwood tree. Aside from the typical modern features and amenities of five-star lodging, its distinguishing mark is the warm service and hospitality, which their staff extends to its visitors.

A growing favorite among executives and millennials, it is offering a deluxe room package from December 15 to 30 and, January 1 to 5 for P4,485 net, which includes use of facilities, and shuttle service within Alabang.

Proudly a Filipino hospitality brand, Acacia has branched out further down south to the charming cities of Bacolod and Davao.

At another bend in Alabang is The Bellevue Manila which has become an icon of luxury in the south and a preferred venue for special events, conventions or simply family stays.

Guests can book until December 20 for an ultimate three-night

stay for only P5,888 nett, which includes daily breakfast for two, P1,000 credits each for Café D’Asie and Azurea restaurants to be used during the stay.

Throughout December, Café D’Asie is rolling out an Special Italian buffet dinner every Thursday, a Friday seafood lunch and dinner buffet, and a paluto buffet lunch every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. It also offers Christmas Specialties from around the world every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday until December 23, a Noche Buena, and a Christmas Day lunch and dinner buffet. Enhancing dining pleasure is a pianist-singer who will regale diners with carols, ballads and well-loved tunes.

Phoenix Court, Bellevue’s Chinese restaurant, has unveiled a special Christmas and New Year set menu from the Chef and will be available until December 28. At Homare, guests will discover a new haunt for authentic Japanese cuisine with the restaurant’s assorted sushi and maki platters.

For after-dinner cravings, there is Pastry Corner with its Cake of the Month—the Yule Log, made of almond sponge cake and tiramisu cream mousse filling matched with your coffee of choice.

You can capture a soothing commanding view of the greeneries and the placid lake at Vue Bar, Cellar 22, and the Signature Lounge while sipping cocktails or having a meal.

The panorama is both stunning at day and night, but more mesmerizing at dusk with the setting of the sun and the emergence of urban night lights.

Livening up the hotel’s Yuletide atmosphere is its in-house choir, some of whom came from the world-famous Loboc Children’s Choir which Bellevue Resort in Panglao, Bohol, is supporting.

Environmentalists will be pleased to note that the property has adopted a “green” campaign for environmental sustainability—the use of paper straws, organic soaps and shampoos, and water pitchers to replace of single-use plastic bottles.

With its seemingly infinite splendor, the south Metro is sizzling with surprises this season and beyond.

Christmas Serenade at Belmont and Savoy

C

ELEBRATE at a merry holiday season at Newport City’s award-winning lifestyle destinations—Belmont Hotel Manila and Savoy Hotel Manila—which are offering nightly musical treats from December 16 to 24.

Titled “Christmas Serenade,” the evening series will feature the quartet from the Scala Chamber Orchestra which will regale guests with carols, light classics and crossover music. The group, led by violinist George Bernard Supetran, is composed by alumni from the UST Symphony Orchestra who now perform with various professional orchestras in the Philippines.

Scala Chamber Orchestra will serenade Belmont Hotel from 6 to 7 p.m. and Savoy Hotel from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., and will bring Christmas cheers to diners and visitors.

Both hotels are located across the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 and accessible via the classy footbridge Runway Manila for plane passengers with long lay-

overs. There are regular shuttles which take guests around the hotels within Resorts World Manila complex.

For a consummate luxe staycation, Belmont is offering a promo at P6,500 until

January 5, which includes overnight in a superior or deluxe room; a Christmas Bailey Bear; P1,000 worth of dining credits at Café Belmont; 15-percent discount on spa massage, and food and beverage; and 20-percent

discount on selected Resorts World shows.

The 470-room Belmont is winner of the Luxury Business Hotel and Luxury City Hotel by the World Luxury Hotel Awards this 2019.

Last year, it was also recognized as the Airport Hotel of the Year by the London-based Travel and Hospitality Awards.

Meanwhile, Savoy has its Holly Jolly Staycation promo at P5,800, with bookings until December 20, and stays until January 15. Package covers accommodation in an essential one room, buffet breakfast for two, a Santa Sparky, a Holiday Gift Box, 20-percent discount on drinks (Zabana Bar, The Poolside, Squares), Savoy Cafe (ala carte) and selected shows at Resorts World.

The 684-room property won the Best New Hotel award in the TripZilla Excellence Awards in 2018.

For promo details and other special offerings, log on to www.belmonhotelmanila. com or www.savoyhotelmanila.com.ph.

ney

»life on the go

sMirror

Editor: Tet Andolong

A7

A night that made Bacchus proud

T

By Benjamin Layug

HE Philippine Wine Merchants (PWM) have done it again with their very successful 19th edition of the Grand Wine Experience (GWE), the country’s most prestigious annual wine event (ranked as one of Asia’s most important wine spectacles), held on November 15, at the Grand Ballroom of the Marriott Hotel (its ninth consecutive year as host), Resorts World Manila.

This year’s theme was “Generations,” highlighting the story of wine as a legacy since heritage in winemaking plays across generations in vineyards and the families that cultivate them.

As early as 5:00 p.m., while everyone waited for the grand ballroom event venue to open its doors, early attendees avoiding the usual insane payday weekend traffic mayhem were already at the red carpeted halls leading to the main ballroom, having a chill time with white wine. Just like in the past GWEs, the ballroom was set up with stalls, with different wines and spirits, stationed on the perimeter of the ballroom, with different buffets scattered across the center. At the center of everything was a big stage where the 20-piece

AMP Big Band with Mel Villena played live music. To complete the mood, veteran club DJ Boyet Sison was also spinning records. There were also small stages where winemakers will have their interviews.

By 6:00 p.m., the ballroom soon filled with dignitaries, top executives, celebrities, wine connoisseurs and wine lovers, most in business or cocktail attire. They were amazed by the spectacular wine choices and buffet spreads and excited to taste the more than 700 renowned wines, beers, sakes (rice beer), whiskeys and other spirits from over 100 wineries, breweries, and distilleries from 20 countries.

On hand to welcome them and officially start the event were the Joseph brothers of PWM—Ronald

Lim Joseph (director of finance), Raymond Lim Joseph (director of sales and marketing), Robert Lim Joseph (chairman) and Ralph Lim Joseph (president).

Favorite brands, such as Hennessy and Chivas were there. Hennessy featured the Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand, and Malbec from Terrazas de los Andes from Argentina. Tapping into the milk tea craze that’s sweeping the country, Hennessy featured its three-star Cognac, Hennessy VS, in a cocktail which it called Hennessy Milktea. Chivas, on the other hand, featured, for the first time, its “full range,” coming up with exciting

cocktails that show how “flexible” their brands are.

Aside from wines, there were also liquors from popular Filipino brands (Don Papa Rum, etc.), beers from Corona and Stella Artois, whiskies from Dalmore, and a lot more. Also featured was the largest premium sake selection in the Philippines, with 14 legendary sake from breweries (Dassai, Tatenokawa, Gekkeikan, etc.) from 11 prefectures of Japan. Some wines from Greece (Domaine Sigalas, Kir-Yianni, Xinomavro, Assyrtiko, etc.), the Golan Heights from Israel (Cabernet Sauvignon, etc.), among others, also made their Philippine

debut. Aside from unlimited tastings, guests also had the chance to meet winemakers, sake brewers, beer brewers, and owners.

Within everyone’s easy reach were sumptuous culinary treats, courtesy of the chefs and crew of Marriott Hotel Manila, led by Executive Chef Meik Brammer, who kept replenishing their glorious assortment of food, from the shrimps to the cheeses, sausages, breads, whole slabs of fresh fish, roasted ducks, etc. The amazing buffet spread of tasty dishes lavishly displayed all over the grand ballroom (which was already probably too much to consume all in one night)

included impressive displays of a massive plate of paella served on one side and a humongous cauldron of meatballs on the other. For sweets, there were chocolates and fresh strawberries, right in front of the stage at the center of the venue, to pair with their drinks.

In spite of the large contingent of oenophiles attending the event, everything seemed to be unlimited in this outrageously fun night, with food and wines served from 5:30 p.m. till past midnight. Truly, this evening, with its casual, almost “party-like” ambience, can best be summarized as “Eat, Drink and Be Merry.” Though wine was the focal point of the conversations, camaraderie and hedonism, the GWE also offered guests the opportunity to see old friends, catch up with wine industry people and also meet and see new faces.

The GWE, resembling a humongous wine dinner or wine party, combined everything in one huge epicurean festival—an overflowing array of food from various cuisines, live entertainment and different wines, liquors and spirits from different regions. This year’s wine drinking odyssey, a GWE that I’m sure people won’t soon forget, truly surpassed its previous editions.

Spend Christmas and New Year at Tagaytay’s newest hotel

I

Chef Laudico Guevarra’s ‘Handaan Kahit Saan’

S

ince it opened in 2013, Chef Laudico Guevarra’s has been a preferred venue for events. The sprawling lawn and the 1920s heritage house have hosted various milestones—from birthdays, baptisms, and weddings to corporate parties and product launches. The 80-item buffet with classic and modern Filipino dishes by chefs Rolando “Lau” and Jac Laudico is worth a drive to San Juan City, some guests travel from as far as Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Batangas and Laguna for the dining experience.

But their restaurant is not the only place you can enjoy their creations. Now it is possible to have a Guevarra’s “Handaan Kahit Saan” by ordering their party trays. You can feast on your Guevarra’s favorites anywhere. Most of the dishes are available in two sizes, servings good for 12 to 15 and, six to eight persons.

Reasonably priced, this is an excellent alternative to doing the cooking yourself. If you are organizing a gathering, you can order several items and put together your own Guevarra’s buffet wherever you want. If you’re looking for something to bring to a potluck reunion or give as a gift, Guevarra’s can help you too.

Guevarra’s Handaan Kahit Saan includes the mainstays of the res-

taurant buffet. “These are the items that are most requested, we get complaints when they’re not available,” chuckles chef Jac. Number one on the menu is lechon that’s charcoal spit-roasted to perfection. There’s also Pugon-Roasted Pork Bellychon and Pugon-Roasted US Angus Beef Shortplate. Also on the li st are Kare Kare, Kaldereta, and Grilled Beef Tapa—all made with US Angus beef. Chicken options are Tamarind and Lemongrass-Spiced Roast Chicken Sinampalukan which is best served with Kamote Salad, and Fried Chicken Adobo. For the noodles and pasta, choices are Pansit Bihon Guisado, Pansit Canton Guisado, Palabok, and Party Spaghetti.

Make your celebrations stressfree and leave the food preparation to the experts. At Guevarra’s, everything is prepared from scratch, the way chef Lau learned while growing up. “I still remember our family Sunday brunches. We didn’t rely on convenience products or instant stuff and part of the enjoyment was in the preparation. It took a lot of time and effort but it was worth it since the food was absolutely delicious. That’s the same dedication that I instill in my kitchen staff, to do everything the long and traditional way, the way how our lolas and lolos cooked but with my own signature style,” explains chef Lau.

Chef Jac’s expertise is reflected in the desserts. She also combines the old with the new in her Strawberry Shortcake, Brazo de Calamansi, Mocha Cake, and Brigaderos. They make great presents, along with other goodies in small packages that are light on the pocket and easy to hand out. Among the line up are Butterscotch, Crinkles, Brigaderos Balls (yema and dark chocolate truffles), Kalabasa Pastillas Balls (milk candies lightened with squash), Maja Blanca, and Cassava Cake Flan.

With get-togethers happening left and right and balikbayan relatives flying in for the holidays, Guevarra’s Handaan Kahit Saan can be a reallife saver not only during this season but anytime of the year. All items are available year-round. So on days when you’re simply too tired for any kitchen work and prefer to just kick back and relax at home, you may also call Guevarra’s.

Guevarra’s Handaan Kahit Saan items can be picked up from Chef Laudico Guevarra’s at 387 P. Guevarra corner Argonne Street, Addition Hills, San Juan or sent through the various delivery services available, such as Grab and Lalamove.

For orders and inquiries: follow @guevarrasrestaurant on Facebook and @guevarras_ on Instagram. #GuevarrasHandaanKahitSaan.

Reni Salvador

T is an experience that the entire family will truly love and remember—an experience being together, celebrating the holidays embraced in cool weather inside a comfy hotel that is now known for its tranquility and genuine hospitality. That experience can only be felt at Royale Parc Hotel Tagaytay.

As one of Tagaytay’s most sought-after hotel, it has prepared a list of promos and packages ready for holiday revelers flocking to the highlands. Starting on December 16 at 5 a.m., at the start of the traditional Simbang Gabi, those who attended the mass don’t have to waste so much time finding a place that’s open to enjoy a hearty and warm breakfast.

With “Dekada de Gallo,” Royale Parc Hotel’s in-house restaurant Dekada, opens its doors very early to serve hungry mass goers with sumptuous servings of puto bumbong, bibingka and arroz caldo. The comfortable ambience of the restaurant and the hotel will surely make them feel the holidays more intimately.

To welcome its first Christmas, the hotel has the Noche Buena Dinner Buffet featuring the restaurant’s specialties for only P888/ person (for those who reserve early until December 16 and in-house guests) and a rate of P999/person from December 20 onward with reservations. To add a more festive mood, this promo is a 5+1, a free treat for one person in a group of six. On Christmas Day, there will be a special Brunch Buffet for only P499/ person.

“In this holiday season, there are a lot of reasons to visit Royale Parc Hotel. We have prepared exciting activities and promos for the entire family to bond together and have a fun—yet relaxing experience—in Tagaytay,” said Nilda Diaz-Serrano, the corporate general manager.

For the New Year, the hotel is bringing out its festive ambience with its New Year’s Eve Dinner Buffet. Also a 5+1 promo, it is only P1,099/person for those who will reserve early (before December 26). This rate also applies to in-house guests. See the fireworks of Tagaytay’s sky as it lights up and experience the merriment with treats and good food.

On the first day of the New Year, enjoy the generous spread of breakfast favorites with a special Brunch Buffet for only P499/person.

To add memorable moments, the hotel has prepared “Week-Ender Activities” for all in-house guests. This will be fun for the entire family and a source of photos and memories to last a lifetime. And from December 20 to 30, all in-house guests are entitled to a turn down service and cookie goodies per room along with a pass on a “Movie Night” at the pool area with a box of popcorn and juice station.

The holiday season is the best time to ex-

perience Royale Parc Hotel Tagaytay’s comfortable rooms with plush bed and modern amenities. It is also easy to reach the hotel as it is in an ideal location. Just beside the main highway of Tagaytay, it is accessible not only by private vehicles, but also via public transportation, such as the Nasugbu-bound bus from Manila. It makes it easier for families or group of friends to reach the hotel even on their own, as the bus fare is very budget friendly.

Visit Facebook: Royale Parc Hotel Tagaytay. Visit the hotel at Emilio Aguinaldo Highway, Silang Junction West, Tagaytay City.

Journey

»life on the go

BusinessMirror

Editor: Tet Andolong

Sunday, December 15, 2019

A8

Palawan Through the Eyes of a Devoted Social Advocate

THE TOURISM ADVOCATE

F

or many Filipinos, any mention of Palawan evokes a longing for an adventure to paradise. The promise of azure and emerald waters gently skirting beautiful limestone formations, pristine white-sand beaches, and the freedom to follow one’s feet, have beckoned travelers to the province’s shores for decades.

But there’s more to Palawan than the garden of Eden we see depicted in travel brochures, influencer blogs, and the occasional google image search. The province is home to the Malampaya Deepwater Gas-to-Power Project—a vital initiative to the nation’s progress because it provides up to 30 percent of the country’s power needs.

In previous columns, I wrote about how Pilipinas Shell, one of the key members of the Malampaya Consortium, has advocated for environmentally sustainable tourism and access to energy through their social development arm, Pilipinas Shell Foundation Inc. (PSFI). But on my last escapade, not only did I gain a new appreciation of how systemic the company’s effort is to protect and uplift the local communities, I also got to meet one of the faces that have been involved since near the beginning.

The first malaria warrior

Marvi Rebueno Trudeau, a program manager at PSFI, is where the whole story of PSFI’s Movement Against Malaria started.

She moved to Palawan in 1992 with her husband, and one day they had come across an article detailing the malaria epidemic.

In 1999, there were an estimated 78,000 cases of malaria, with an average of 100 annual deaths due to the disease in Palawan alone.

She took it upon herself to develop a program to combat the disease, and approached David Greer, the managing director and project director for the Malampaya project at the time, on one of Shell’s visits to Palawan.

“So, he looks at me, and then he looks at his time piece, and he says, ‘you have five minutes and it starts now,’” said Trudeau, as she recounted the experience.

"And then he starts to look for a chair, so I know I got his attention, so I made the presentation.”

Greer had told her to present the concept to the board of Shell Philippines Exploration BV (SPEX), and after doing so, she became responsible for managing the project as a part of PSFI.

Trudeau showing community children how Christmas tree will be set up.

Trudeau speaking with stakeholders at Palawan Adventist Hotel

Trudeau explaining malaria at KLM laboratory in Puerto Princesa.

Trudeau giving remarks at annual Malampaya Consortium Paskuhan

The original concept required P36 million to initiate the province-wide effort.

“I only asked for 10 million, they decided to give me the whole 36 million,” said Trudeau.

“Of course, I smiled, they said ‘don’t smile, we're only giving it if you commit to managing the program.’”

Kilusan Ligtas Malaria (KLM) was implemented in 1999, as a collaboration between PSFI, the Provincial Government of Palawan, and the Department of Health (DOH). The program substantially reduced the cases and deaths of malaria by 91 percent and 96 percent, respectively, as of 2013.

As a result of KLM’s resounding success, the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) had made PSFI the principal recipient for several multimillion-dollar grants to help the program expand into the nation-wide Movement Against Malaria.

With only a couple of areas left in the Philippines that are still afflicted by malaria, Trudeau noted that they have encountered their biggest challenge. Indigenous groups, such as the Palaw’an and the Tagbanwa people embrace a more nomadic way of life, making it difficult to track and treat these groups.

“Sometimes they’re in this Barangay, and then they move to the next the following week,” said Marvi. “They’re all in the top of the mountain range, and the people who are living there

Lighting of PEAP Christmas tree in Barangay Pasadena

are all nomadic, so we’re running after them, it’s a literal movement against malaria.”

Given the mounting difficulty on this last stretch and the responsibility of being entrusted with huge amounts of funding, I asked Trudeau about how she has felt in the face of challenges.

“You don’t give up when people are getting affected, you look for a means to bring it down, you cannot give up on people’s lives, there’s no way you can give up on people’s lives,” she said as if it were the only answer that could be given.

Sustainable farming provides for paradise

Trudeau doesn’t just have her eyes set on malaria these days. I had the chance to tour the Pala-

wan Eco-Agro Park (PEAP) in Barangay Pasadena, with her during their Christmas tree lighting.

PEAP is a PSFI project that aims to increase farm productivity and food sustainability in El Nido, as much of the produce is imported from other parts of the Philippines.

This had resulted in high prices for vegetables and other market goods, such as an estimated P110 to P140 a kilo for tomatoes and P5 for a single string bean.

The program has set up a laboratory farm to help teach locals the skills needed for agriculture in order to ensure a stable and affordable food supply for both local communities and tourists alike.

Trudeau had explained to me what her colleagues playfully

refer to as “the tomato story,” where they had brought local market price of tomatoes down to P10 a kilogram.

“It was not our intention to over-deliver, we just wanted sustainable farming for all,” she said with a laugh. “It’s about food production as a business, for farmers to have income,” Trudeau shared.

Now the farm also teaches the farmers to plant a variety of crops, ranging from eggplants, to string beans, and even pineapples.

Shell medical facilities for all to use

We also had a chance to tour the Palawan Adventist Hospital, which has benefitted from SPEx funding to upgrade its facilities when it opened its Malampaya

unit in 2000 to service the offshore gas platform.

“Yung doctors na kokonti noon, biglang marami na nagdecide na this is the place to be,” called Trudeau.

“Sa time na yun, ang kanilang operating room was being compared as better than the Makati Medical Center.”

The hospital was only a single floor building with 50 beds until Shell came into the picture.

Now it has 162 beds, Magnetic resonance imaging, a burn unit, and various other medical capabilities for both diagnostics and internal medicines. It has been awarded by both the DOH and the Department of Labor for the quality of its services.

While the Malampaya unit is primarily dedicated to addressing emergencies for the Malampaya power project, the hospital has plans to expand with another ward to increase its capacity to provide medical consultation and treatment to anyone from the community.

Helping communities in more ways than one

Watching Trudeau interact with the community and the other PSFI staff left me in total admiration, here was a woman who had made it her purpose to help people. She and PSFI have taken a multisector approach to elevating the community, from addressing public health to improving livelihoods, and let’s not forget the access to energy programs that I have previously written about.

With all these programs in place and ready to take on the future, Palawan has a much brighter tomorrow ahead of it.

Faith

A9 Sunday, December 15, 2019 A10

Sunday

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

Tagle calls for more church roles for women, young people

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he incoming head of the Vatican’s evangelization body has called on Asian bishops’ conferences to strengthen the role of women and youth in the church, particularly in the media ministry.

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, who was recently appointed by Pope Francis as Prefect of the Congregation for Evangelization of Peoples, said that it was a duty to bring more women and young people to the table.

“Some of the best communicators are women and young people,” Cardinal Tagle said.

“My invitation to the Episcopal Conferences in Asia is to get our young people and women involved, especially in social communications,” he said.

The cardinal was speaking at the three-day seminar for Asian

church media workers at Radio Veritas Asia (RVA) in Quezon City, last week.

At one point in his speech, he noted the lack of women and young participants in the seminar organized by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences—Office of Social Communication.

There was only a lone nun in the gathering. “And a lot of us here are not only males but celibate,” Tagle said.

“But having women or young people who know the digital world better than I do, they could give us, if trained in catechesis and the Gospel, wonderful advice

MAniLA Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle of Manila and Cardinal Rainer Woelki of Cologne at the Radio Veritas Asia, in Quezon City, December 10. ROY LAGARDe

also,” he added.

“I hope younger faces and women in the next meeting,” Tagle also said.

The seminar was opened with a Mass presided over by Cardinal Rainer Woelki of Cologne in Germany.

In his homily, Woelki said that RVA “must continue to be set for the future.”

The two cardinals also led the

blessing and inauguration of FABC Veritas Asia Institute of Social Communications.

On the site will rise an “academy” under the direct supervision of the Asian bishops.

“Its task will be to adapt workers to pastoral service in the digital age and to enable them to work in a new vineyard, which is made up of social networks,” Woelki said.

Roy Lagarde/CBCPNews

US Catholic priests describe turmoil amid sex-abuse crisis

C

hICOPEE , Massac husetts—More than a century ago, waves of Catholic immigrants from Ireland, Poland and Quebec settled in Chicopee and other western Massachusetts mill towns, helping build churches, rectories and schools to accommodate their faith.

Today the priests leading those churches are under siege due to stresses, challenges and sex-abuse scandals complicating their lives, and those of their fellow priests across the United States.

The Rev. Mark Stelzer is among those trying to persevere. he’s a professor at a Roman Catholic college in Chicopee, and its chaplain. he travels frequently to out-ofstate events organized by a Catholic addiction-treatment provider, recounting his own recovery from alcoholism.

Last year, his busy schedule got busier. Amid a worsening shortage of priests, the Diocese of Springfield named him administrator of a parish in holyoke, Chicopee’s northern neighbor, where he lives alone in a mansion-sized rectory while serving as spiritual leader to the 500 families of Saint Jerome’s Church.

“I’m at an age where I thought I’d be doing less rather than doing more,” said Stelzer, 62.

This is the ripple effect the church ’s long-running sexual abuse crisis has had on many honorable priests: heavier workloads, increased isolation as mu ltipriest parishes grow scarce and an erosion of public support.

It has led some to question the leadership of their bishops.

Trauma

MANy priests see trauma firsthand. Some minister in parishes wracked by gun violence; others preside frequently over funerals of drug-overdose victims.

Stelzer loves being a priest, yet he’s frank about the ever-evolving stresses of his vocation that leave him nostalgic for the priesthood he entered in 1983.

“It was a lot simpler then,” he said. “There’s a real longing, a mourning for the church that was—when there was a greater fraternity among priests, and the church was not facing these scandals that are now emerging every day.”

Ste l z er ’s concer n s ec hoed those of other priests, and some

of their psychological caregivers, who were interviewed by The Associated Press.

BURNOUT has been a perennial problem for clergy of many faiths.

But Thomas Plante, a psychology professor at California’s Santa Clara University who has screened or treated hundreds of Catholic clerics, sees new forms of it as the sex-abuse crisis persists and many parishioners lose trust in Catholic leadership. “you’re just trying to be a good priest and now everyone thinks you’re a sex offender,” he said. “If you walk in a park with your collar on, people think you’re on the lookout for children.... Some have been spat upon.”

William Tourigny was getting ready for the 4 p.m. Mass—his fourth and last of the day— at Saint Rose de Lima Church.

When Tourigny, now 66, was ordained in 1980, the Springfield diocese had more than 300 priests serving 136 parishes. Since then, the ranks of priests have shrunk by more than half and nearly 60 of the parishes have closed.

For Tourigny, it’s meant many more funerals to handle, including dozens related to drug overdoses and heavy drinking.

Even his own family has been scarred: Tourigny says the 27-yearold daughter of his first cousin was killed in circumstances related to her drug habit.

“But for her addiction, she was a wonderful mother,” Tourigny said.

Ground zero

No vacation

Burnout

ThE Springfield diocese, like many across the US, has a long history of sex-abuse scandals.

In the early 1990s, priest Richard Lavigne was defrocked and several of his victims received cash settlements.

In 2004, a grand jury indicted Thomas Dupre on two counts of child molestation soon after he resigned following a 13-year stint as Springfield’s bishop.

Stelzer had hoped the abuse crisis was abating but it resurfaced dramatically over the past two years.

Abuse allegations led to former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s ouster from the priesthood and a Pennsylvania grand jury report asserted that about 300 priests had abused at least 1,000 children in the state over seven decades.

“It opened up an old wound and now we’re back to ground zero,” Stelzer said in an interview at the College of Our Lady of the Elms.

The wound is self-inflicted, said Rev. Philip Schmitter, 74, who has served for 50 years in Flint, Michigan. his stance endears him to an African American community where he lived in public housing for three decades to maintain close ties.

“This cover up, this ‘Let’s protect the institution’ was just a heinous, utterly unchristian kind of behavior,” he said.

Shrinking ranks of priests

TWO miles north of Stelzer’s campus, on a recent Sunday, the Rev.

TOURIGNy says he’s worked nearly 40 years without a real vacation.

For years, he’s had therapy sessions, which he describes as “crucially important,” and he strives to minister compassionately without being engulfed in the emotions of those he consoles.

“I can share their pain but I can’t enter into it,” he said. “I’d be overwhelmed by grief.”

With 2,500 families, Tourigny’s parish is faring relatively well with membership and finances. yet Tourigny says many Catholics now mistrust the church hierarchy because of the abuse scandals.

“I was ordained at a time when the church was so alive—there was so much optimism,” he said. “Then things began to change quickly....

The church has lost credibility and it’s hard to get credibility back again.”

Plante, the California psychologist, says even priests deeply devoted to their work are upset.

“A lot are angry at bishops and the institutional church for screwing up—a lot of them feel they’ve been thrown under the bus,” he said. “They’re also concerned that one of these days someone will accuse them of misbehavior, even if they’ve done nothing wrong.”

Outside contractors

SINCE 1985, according to Georgetown University researchers, the Catholic population in the US has risen by nearly 20 percent, but the number of priests has plunged from more than 57,000 to under 37,000. It means more work for

priests, and more priests living alone rather than with colleagues.

Stress, burnout, depression and addictions are among the conditions treated at St. Luke Institute, a residential treatment center for Catholic clergy and lay leaders, in Silver Spring, Maryland.

St. Luke’s president, the Rev. David Songy, is a psychologist who has worked extensively with troubled priests.

One growing problem, he says, is that new priests are now often assigned their own parish within three years, instead of 10 or more in the past, and may be ill-prepared to oversee finances and personnel, as well as pastoral duties.

“Some of the younger people that come to us—they’ve been overwhelmed and weren’t sure how to deal with things,” Songy said.

At Saint Joseph’s Seminary in yonkers, New york, there’s increased emphasis on screening applicants for their ability to handle stress and avoid the burnout that’s now affecting some priests even early in their ministry.

“There’s no doubt these men coming forward are facing what will be a very stressful life,” said the Rev. Thomas Berg, the seminary’s vice rector.

“On top of that, in some places, you don’t have a sense that their bishop supports them,” added Berg. “In plenty of dioceses, priests are essentially treated as outside contractors.”

First responders

POLICE officers, firefighters and paramedics are collectively labeled first responders. A case can be made that priests also merit that label, given how regularly they deal with trauma, especially gun violence and the opioid crisis, which is besieging communities across the country.

Gun violence is the plague besetting the Rev. Mike Pfleger’s parish in an African American area of Chicago.

“It’s a war zone,” says Pfleger, pastor at Saint Sabina Church since 1981. “Doing funerals of children is the hardest for me.”

Now 70, Pfleger says his health is good, and his work rewarding. yet, he says he and his colleagues risk being overwhelmed by the constant crises facing their neighborhood of Auburn Gresham. “you realize you can’t help everybody,” he said. AP

3RD SUNDAY OF ADVENT: ‘MATThEw 11:2-11’

Why rejoice in the Lord?

Msgr. Josefino s. raMirez SUNDAY GOSPEL IN OUR LIFE

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hIS is the Third Sunday of Advent. It is also called “Gaudete” or “Rejoice” Sunday, taking the cue from the first word of the opening prayer of the Mass. It is the theme of today’s celebration: rejoicing.

This celebration serves as a kind of break from the theme of penance and expectation of the former Sundays. Now we should rejoice, because the Lord is near.

The gospel of today’s Mass cont a i n s t he “ ident i f ic at ion mark ” of the promised redeemer. “ The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleaned, the deaf hear, the dead rise, the poor have the gospel preached to them” (Matthew 11:5-6).

These were the feats that the promised Messiah was supposed to accomplish, according to the Old Testament. Jesus Christ had fulfilled them. The disciples of John had to acknowledge this. In fact, many of them became followers of Jesus.

Nowadays, we cannot expect the same manifestations and miracles, although God may still allow some wonders to happen.

But analogous marvels continue, by the grace and power of God. The blind see. There are people who are blind to the life of the spirit. Their visions are limited to this Earth, without any supernatural outlook.

The lepers are cleansed. Sin is a kind of leprosy of the soul. The soul is cleansed through genuine contrition and confession.

The dead rise. As far as the spiritual life is concerned, there may

be walking corpses in our midst— those who have killed the supernatural life of grace in the soul.

All these “ailments” are remedied by the presence of Jesus Christ in our life.

But how is the presence of Christ possible? We need to aim at having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We should not view Jesus Christ as merely a historical figure that once was, and now is no more.

As Saint Paul says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. That Jesus, of whom we read in the gospel, continues with us today.

When we read the Sacred Scripture, we can see the character of that Man God. We can see his human heart, bursting with love and affection for men. We can see his human body, giving in to the fatigue of his labors. We can see his indignation at the merchants of the temple, and his tenderness for those little children that came to him.

From a consideration of the humanity of Jesus Christ, we can advance to a personal relationship with him, in interior life.

Then, we can really benefit from the presence of the Messiah, and he, himself, will come to heal us of many of our ailments.

That is why, real union with God is invariably accompanied by a deep joy which no external obstacles can remove. And so we can understand the insistence of Saint Paul—“Rejoice in the Lord always!

Again, I say, rejoice!”

New bishop ordained for Sorsogon

Bishop Jose Alan Dialogo was ordained to serve the Diocese of sorsogon in front of more than 2,000 people, at the Manila Cathedral, on December 12. The service of consecration officiated by Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle. ROY LAGARDe

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he devastation of a recent typhoon did not deter scores of people to travel to see Most Rev. Jose Alan Dialogo being ordained as the new bishop of Sorsogon on Thursday.

Still reeling from the impact of Typhoon Tisoy, a number of faithful traveled all the way from Sorsogon province to Manila, to witness a historic moment for the Church.

“Your presence here manifests a tremendous acceptance and warm welcome to me as your new bishop,” Dialogo said. “You make me feel at home already.”

The Manila Cathedral was filled for a service of consecration officiated by Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, which was held in front of around 30 other bishops.

The 57-year-old prelate succeeds Bishop Arturo Bastes who retired from the episcopal ministry in October.

Also present were retired Cardinal G a u d e n c i o R o s a l e s , Pa p a l n u n c i o Archbishop Gabriele Caccia and Archbishop Romulo Valles, who heads the Philippine Catholic bishops.

The new bishop admitted that he is “unworthy” of such high office and is not without apprehensions at the enormity of the challenges that he will be facing.

“I am not worthy of this gift of episcopacy and I can never be worthy. But God has chosen me and had made me trustworthy to be

ordained bishop in his Church,” Dialogo said.

“I also thank the holy Father, the Vicar of Christ, for appointing me to Sorsogon,” he added.

In his homily, Cardinal Tagle said that bishops are called to act as a shepherd for his diocese through the “service of charity.”

“It is shepherding not according to one’s style but according to the love and charity of the Good Shepherd,” he said.

Pope Francis on October 15, has tapped Dialogo as the fifth bishop of Sorsogon.

A priest for the Manila archdiocese of 23 years, he was serving as director of a home for retired Manila priests when his appointment was made.

Dialogo will take canonical possession of the Sorsogon diocese in a ceremony at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul on December 14.

The diocese has earlier appealed for aid for the victims of the typhoon, which claimed at least 17 people in different Luzon provinces and displaced thousands of families.

Caritas Sorsogon said any assistance, in cash or in-kind, will help them augment resources intended for the needs of the families devastated by Tisoy.

While government and church efforts are ongoing to reach out to the victims, “the scarce resources is not enough to defray the growing needs of the affected families.”

Roy Lagarde/CBCPNews

Science

BusinessMirror

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

Researchers invented abaca-based fabric to filter toxic pollutants

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baca can be used as filter against toxic pollutants.

This was proven by leading chemists from the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (DOST-PNRI) who used native products, such as abaca, to make fabrics that can be used against pollution by filtering toxic materials and other contaminants.

The composite nonwoven fabric was developed from natural fibers like abaca, and are paired with synthetic polymers that can filter heavy metals dissolved in liquid.

Metals, such as lead, cadmium, nickel, chromium, mercury and arsenic are hazardous to people’s health, as well as the environment.

Abaca continues to be useful and readily available as the Philippines remains its world’s largest producer, accounting for around 85 percent of the global production.

The native material’s natural strength also makes it perfect for withstanding the grafting procedure, allowing it to serve as a base material.

The materials are grafted using radiation at PNRI’s Electron Beam Irradiation Facility, after which it is further processed into its final form as a synthesized filter for heavy metals.

Radiation can be used to modify materials and graft various polymers that can have advanced

properties, such as filtering various contaminants from water.

Studies by the PNRI Chemistry Research Section showed that the nonwoven fabric is reusable and cheaper to use than commercial resins which have the same purpose, while also being on a par, if not better, in filtering the waste.

PNRI was granted a utility model for the technology in 2019 and continues to develop radiation grafting for other applications.

More recently, the invention was declared as the Regional Winner for the Outstanding Utility Model Award during the 2019 DOST Regional Invention Contests and Exhibits (RICE) in the National Capital Region held on November 6 to 8.

Radiation-grafted materials are expected to prove useful for various industries, particularly those requiring wastewater treatment.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has also engaged in a project with the Philippines and other countries for the increasing use of these technologies to minimize hazardous pollutants in various bodies of water in the Asia-Pacific region.

PNRI researchers are looking forward to the development of other applications of radiation grafting, such as producing biodiesel and recovering precious metals.

Hans Joshua V. Dantes/S&T Media Service

Student’s ‘accidental discovery’ of sustainable air conditioner to represent PHL in global arena

Sunday

Sunday, December 15, 2019 A10

Large-scale education tests come with side effects

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hen results come out for big education tests like the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which primarily measures 15-year-old students’ knowledge and skills in reading, mathematics and science, the focus is often on which countries scored the highest.

The education systems of countries that do well on this test are often portrayed as models for the rest of the world.

For example, the United Kingdom has committed $54.2 million to help 8,000 schools adopt the math-teaching methods of PISA’s top performer, Shanghai, by 2020.

The United Kingdom has adopted Chinese textbooks, as well.

Some educators have found that there are problems with emulating the top PISA scorers.

Big education tests—known as large-scale assessments in the education world—come, in our colleagues’ research, with some serious and damaging side effects.

Students have lower well-being

Students in countries that did the best on the PISA—the results of which were released on December 3—often have lower wellbeing, as measured by students’ satisfaction with life and school.

Six out of the top 10 performing countr ies for reading have student wel l-being levels that are below t he Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average.

This suggests to us the need to

take a more critical look at what large-scale assessments like the PISA really show and why countries with high PISA scores also score low in well-being.

Judging ‘quality’ of country’s educational system

Another question is whether these tests should hold as much power as they do when it comes to shaping educational policy and practice, or judging the “quality” of one country’s education system over another.

Here are a series of problems that have been shown to occur when too much emphasis is placed on the results of big education tests like the PISA:

Distortions

Big education tests can distort the definition of quality education. For example, high PISA-scoring educational systems, such as Singapore, Finland, Korea and Shanghai, are viewed as high-quality systems.

But we think the quality of education is much more than any education test can assess.

Large-scale education tests can also distort what is actually taught in schools by narrowing it

to a limited number of assessed subjects: typically reading, math and, in some cases, science.

Meanwhile, other subjects, such as music, art, social studies and languages, are overlooked.

Furthermore, these tests can distort instruction by inducing teachers to teach to the test.

For example, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which brought tests as accountability measures to US schools, has led to an increase in instruction time on tested subjects.

However, other essential skills, like creativity, problem-solving and organization of knowledge, have been neglected.

Large-scale assessments create incentives and pressure that can lead to corruption and cheating.

In 2019, for instance, 50 Americans were charged in a college admission scandal that involved cheating on college entrance exams, as well as bribing their children’s way into college.

The cheating is not limited to the US. In China, cheating on the National College Entrance Exam and large-scale assessments is a frequent occurrence.

afforded the same opportunities to attend college or end up attending a less prestigious college.

This has long-term socioeconomic impact as graduation from college and pursuing advanced degrees have notable differences in lifelong earning opportunities.

The ability to attend top-tier colleges greatly increases the likelihood of graduation and being accepted for advanced degrees.

When these opportunities are limited due to biased large-scale assessments and unequal opportunities, it may serve only to aggravate inequality and injustice.

In many countries, large-scale assessments are used as gatekeepers to access higher education. This leads parents, teachers, schools, media, policy-makers and students to focus on high scores.

Scores are then associated with the worthiness of students.

W hen scores become equated with worth, it can demoralize and cause psychological damage to students, as well as teachers and other stakeholders.

Exam-induced suicide has been reported in places, such as Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and China.

These countries also tend to be the high achievers on other large-scale assessments like the PISA.

Aggravates inequity

Potential overlooked

Leads to corruption and cheating

Large-scale assessments can be biased against students f rom d isadva ntaged a nd minority backgrounds, and favor advantaged students.

Take the Scholastic Aptitude Test in the US as an example. The scores have a strong positive correlation with family income, which means students from wealthier families score higher than those from lower-income families.

As a result, students from lower-income families are not

Large-scale assessments can provide useful information for education policy, but overreliance on test results may cause problems.

When the focus is on students’ scores and countries’ ranking, other important things, such as creativity, entrepreneurial thinking, socialemotional well-being and critical thinking, might be neglected.

These treasured educational outcomes are things that largescale assessments often fail to capture. The Conversation/CC

Student innovations awarded in 3rd imake.wemake

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Angel Palma, a student entrepreneur who invented AirDisc, was the winner of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) Philippine Finals.

She will represent the country in the GSEA Global Finals in 2020. In the photo (from left) are: EO Philippines GSEA Committee Member Duane Tan, EO Philippines GSEA Chairman Ray RoxasChua, Palma and EO Philippines President Hanky Lee.

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budding student entrepreneur, who discovered a sustainable, refrigerantless air conditioner, recently won the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) Philippine Finals.

Angel Palma, a student from De La Salle University, won in the Philippine leg of GSEA for her invention of the AirDisc, a cooling technology that is not dependent on coolants that are harmful to the environment.

Her winning qualified Palma to represent the country in the GSEA Global Finals in Cape Town, South Africa, in April 2020, and will take home a cash prize of $3,000.

Held annually, GSEA is the premier global competition for student entrepreneurs who own and actively operate their own businesses.

The global student entrepreneurship competition also provides a platform where they could be connected with key industry players locally and internationally, allowing them to gain valuable insights and learn best practices, which they could apply to their businesses.

“Entrepreneurs’ Organization Philippines is committed to enabling student entrepreneurs to learn, grow and fully maximize their potentials. This competition will not only provide them with capital help, but will also give them the opportunity to enhance their skills through personal mentorship, and the platform to widen their local and international connections,”

said Ray Roxas-Chua, chairman of EO Philippines GSEA.

An ‘accidental discovery’

In her presentation during the finals, Palma admitted that her discovery of the product was accidental, but after seeing the product’s potential to revolutionize the air-cooling industry, she pursued the development of AirDisc.

Apart from potentially revolutionizing the industry, what inspired Palma was the passing of a relative due to a heart attack triggered by heat stroke.

“The Philippines is a country where a temperature of more than 30 degrees celsius is a normal occurrence. The heat claimed my uncle’s life, and it can claim thousands more.

If we only we have access to air-cooling equipment, we could have prevented the deaths caused by heat,” Palma said in her presentation.

“The entry of AirDisc in the market will be a deciding step for all of us. Instead of fostering unnecessary competition, stakeholders in the air-conditioning and refrigeration industry are encouraged to join me in my mission with this technology,” she added.

Palma will fly to Cape Town to represent the country in the GSEA Global Finals in April 2020. She will be competing with more than 50 student-entrepreneurs from around the world, and will be receiving intensive mentorship from EO Philippines member-entrepreneurs.

he device for deaf and mute learners; a radio repeater for maritime safety, rescue operations, and disaster mitigation; and a technology which can check and record students’ attendance electronically, looked like they were made by professionals.

Lo and behold! They were made by students who are still in the senior high-school level.

Fifteen senior high-school teams joined the country’s scientists and engineers in creating technology innovations for Filipino communities.

Their works, showcased at the Third imake.wemake: create. innovate. collaborate competition of the Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI) and C&E Publishing Inc., seek solutions to pressing societal and community issues in food safety, health, education, disaster mitigation, agriculture and environment.

In the two-day final project presentation and awarding ceremony at the Crimson Hotel in Muntinlupa City last week, the teams from Ramon Magsaysay High School-Cubao, Pavia National High School and New Era University Integrated SchoolGeneral Santos City emerged as winners, besting 12 other finalists in the competition.

The teams were awarded the Yout h Innovat ion Pr i ze and P100,000 cash each by DOST Undersecretary for S&T Services Dr. Renato U. Solidum Jr., DOST-SEI Deputy Director Albert Mariño and C&E Publishing Inc. Chief Operations Officer John Emyl Eugenio.

Ramon Magsaysay HS-Cubao, composed of students Er w in Bonto, Justin Versoza and Marc

The Third imake.wemake Youth Innovation Prize winning teams pose with DOST Undersecretary for S&T Services Dr. Renato U. Solidum Jr. (second from left), DOST-SEI Deputy Director Albert Mariño (left) and C&E Publishing Inc. COO John Emyl Eugenio (right).

Andrie Bermundo, with coach Rey John Caballero, won for their “Project Hermes: An Arduinobased Discourse Helping Device for Deaf and Mute Learners.”

The communication device is intended to help in teaching special education students.

Meanwhile, the Pavia NHS team of Jelliane Rose Dicen, Louise Andrew Hubaldo and Johnxis Jinon, with coach Ian John Galupar, came all the way from Iloilo City to present their project “Echo Delta Radio Repeater with GPS Technology: Its Impact on Maritime Safety, Rescue Operations, and Disaster Mitigation,” a low-cost radio repeater with GPS and SMS technology.

For their part, the team of Raven Pandac, Lyka Mae Reyes and Danisha Culipano,, led by coach Diana Rose Gamil from New Era University Integrated SchoolGeneral Santos City earned the judges’ nod with their “S.M.A.R.T. School Desk: Student Monitoring and Assessment Reinforcement Technology” which can check and record students’ attendance electronically and tag unruly students

during discussions and activities among other functions.

The all-female team from St. Scholastica’s Academy-Marikina, likewise, received a special award, the C&E Makerce Award, for “Taxicle: Tricycle Fare Collection System Based on GPS using Arduino Uno.” It was hailed as the most promising project with its excellent design and strong market potential

by C&E Publishing.

“In imake.wemake, we have set the stage again for our young innovators,” DOST-SEI Director Josette Biyo said.

Biyo was impressed with the works of the students, considering they were given a period of three months only to build and test their prototype.

From a total of 84 project proposals, 15 were selected to proceed to the five-day project pitching and technical training and workshop facilitated by Thinklab Philippines.

Each team, composed of three senior high-school students and one teacher-coach, also received kit-ofparts (KOP) that includes Arduino

Starter Kit and a set of sensors from C&E Publishing.

“Our challenge is that industries move faster than academic institutions,” said Eugenio during the opening ceremony.

C&E’s partnership with DOSTSEI enhanced this year’s competition, especially with the utilization of the Arduino platform in the projects.

Eugenio further emphasized the need to prepare students for the future; not only skills-wise but in creating relevance to the society, Biyo said.

“The students showed enviable creativity and technical skills and, quite remarkably, they proved to be aware of the needs of their communities which is what imake.wemake is all about,” she added.

The panel of judges—composed of UP Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute Prof. Engr. Percival Magpantay, Ateneo de Manila Universit y Prof. Engr. Carlos Matti Oppus, and C&E Publishing Business and Market Research Head Rodel Cruz—judged the projects for their viability and potential to address community issues.

Teams from Adelle Grace Montessori School, Bayambang National High School, FEU High School-Manila, Liceo-De La Salle Senior High School, Malinta National High School, Manila Science High School, New Era UniversityLipa City, New Era UniversityMain Campus, Philippine Science High School-Central Luzon Campus, Rizal High School and Science Technology Education Center-Cebu also made it to this year’s list of finalists. S&T Media Service

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Sunday, December 15, 2019 A11

NIAGARA FALLS: UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

Emirates offers travelers to explore Dubai for less

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The massive Niagara Falls in all its glory.

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Story & photos by Excel V. Dyquiangco

trip to Canada would not be complete without dropping by at the most famous waterfalls in the world. The Niagara Falls, situated between the Canadian province of Ontario and the US state of New York, is one magical destination I have always wanted to visit and, finally, my dream of seeing the famed waterfalls up close and personal came to fruition.

The trip to Niagara Falls took less than two hours, but it seemed forever to get there. Interestingly, the first place of attraction for me was not the waterfalls itself, but the stretch of souvenir shops, restaurants, museums, high-rise hotels, indoor water parks, casinos and theaters, with all of its twinkling lights, and colorful neon billboards and advertisements galore, a wee bit similar to Las Vegas. Suddenly, droplets fell from the sky, it began to drizzle and then, it started to rain.

Finally, there it was. I was beyond excited. No, I was beyond words.

From a vantage point of view

Not many people know that Niagara Falls is the actual name of a city in Ontario, Canada, and is composed of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge: the Horseshoe Falls, or the Canadian Falls, is the largest that is situated between the international border of the United States and Canada; while the smaller ones, the Ameri-

A rainbow greets tourist on board the tour boat.

can Falls and the Bridal Veil, lie within the United States.

Niagara Falls measures a great distance from end to end, starting from the Las Vegas-like shops and traveling all the way down to a vast parcel of land at the end, and bordered by brick walls and a metal fence for viewing. At that point, all we could see was its surface, but the white torrents of water cascading down the series of rocky outcrops and its flow in a nonchalant way were enough to keep our adrenaline pumping. Its boisterous thunder all the more fuelled our excitement.

Across the waterfalls is an immeasurable picnic ground where I and my family parked and ate lunch. The climate was getting cooler, while droplets continued to drench us, but we didn’t mind; the beauty of Niagara Falls was enough to warm us with its presence.

Aside from visiting Niagara Falls, there are also other attractions in the area: the Skylon Tower, where visitors can view Niagara Falls 775 feet above sea water; the zipline that crosses Niagara Falls

Dream come true: Author (far left) with family at Niagara Falls.

from end to end; and a cable car that traverses vertically. I believe that there are other attractions on the state side, but these were just some that were within reach.

But the main attraction, of course, is Niagara Falls.

The voyage of a lifetime

After lunch, we headed out to the walkway where we observed the waterfalls from a distance. By this time, the rains had started to fall hard but along with this torrential downpour, what greeted us was a charming rainbow draped just across the waterfalls. I became speechless, to say the least, because this beautiful scenery just reminded me of the vast wonders of nature.

The sight was breathtaking.

The walkway heading to the boat which would take us closer to Niagara Falls was a good thirty minutes. After paying CA $25 for the boat ride and donning a pink poncho, we strode toward Hornblower Niagara Cruises, the official boat that crosses Niagara Falls. My heart was thumping in my chest as we climbed up the boat, heard the sound of the whistle and were whisked away to the voyage of a lifetime.

From the walkway, Niagara was spectacular, but traversing across the lake’s whirlpool was beyond description. It only got noisier until

we were only a few meters away.

Over the deafening roar of the water, the boat went closer until we were in the midst of the vapor that hung loosely over the glaze.

In a matter of seconds, we got wet as a rainbow over the Horseshoe Falls loomed into view. But nothing can quite compare with the Niagara Falls just beside it—white, virginal and pure.

With its waters glistening brilliantly, the waterfalls was seemingly seeped in gold and sparkling in the aureate light. As the sun’s rays got caught in the watery slide, the waterfalls transformed into a dreamy and illusory façade of a Renaissance painting. To describe Niagara Falls at that point, the only word that I uttered was “wow.”

As I stood in awe while staring at the cascading waterfalls, I felt the boat turning around. The trip took all of 30 minutes, but it was the longest 30 minutes of my life.

Seeing Niagara Falls up close and personal, and touching the cascading waters, as if it has been just beyond reach, was phenomenal. There are really no words to describe this magical moment.

As the boat returned back to the harbor and the rains began to let up, I promised myself that I would return. Niagara Falls is just something that can’t be taken in with just a single boat ride.

hat better way to kick start the New Year than with a visit to the dynamic city of Dubai? This winter, Emirates is offering a chance for travelers from the Philippines to explore more of Dubai for less.

If visiting Dubai is on your bucket list, Emirates is giving travelers a compelling reason to book a trip now. During this limited time offer, travelers are able to enjoy great fares, loaded with added-value perks, in addition to a complimentary two-night hotel stay in the heart of Dubai, 10-kg free excess baggage allowance and a free 30-day Dubai tourist visa for local travelers.

In the promotion which runs from December 2 to 15, 2019, return fares to Dubai start at $450 in economy class and at $1250 in business class are valid for travel between December 5 to 27, 2019, and January 3 to May 31, 2020. Economy class passengers who book flights within the promotional period can enjoy two-nights accommodation at either Rove at the Park or Rove Healthcare City; while business-class passengers who book flights during the same period can enjoy two-nights accommodation at either the Address Sky View or Address Dubai Mall.

When booking the flight tickets on emirates.ph/en/dubaipush, travelers simply need to enter the promotional code, FEDUBAI, before making payment. The complimentary hotel stay will then be booked and confirmed. The hotel offer is on a room-only and single- or double-occupancy basis, with up to one child under 12 years old sharing the same room for economy class travel and up to two children under 12 years for business-

class bookings. The offer includes taxes and is subject to availability.

To sweeten the deal, Emirates will also be sponsoring the cost of a 30-day Dubai tourist visa for travelers from the Philippines.

A scanned colored passport and passport size photo (maximum size of 100 KB, JPEG format and white background) will need to be submitted to ekphil@emirates.com no later than December 17, 2019. Emirates flight tickets must also be issued prior to applying for the visa.

Emirates passengers will also be able to enjoy 10 kg of free extra baggage allowance when traveling to Dubai during the promotional period (December 5 to 27, 2019, and January 3 to May 31, 2020), alleviating the stress of packing and leaving more room for shopping.

With the Dubai Shopping Festival 2020 happening from December 26, 2019, until February 1, 2020, travelers can now worry less and shop more with the additional baggage allowance on their return journey.

What’s more is that visitors can stretch their travel budget with My Emirates Pass—a seasonal pass that turns an Emirates boarding pass into an exclusive membership package—allowing customers to redeem discounts and special benefits in over 500 locations across the UAE. Travelers flying to and through Dubai between January 1 and March 31, 2020, can avail themselves the offer and enjoy up to 30-percent off on retail outlets and up to 50-percent off on leisure activities by simply presenting their boarding pass and a valid form of identification.

THE JOYS OF THE SEASON AT DIAMOND HOTEL PHILIPPINES

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he holiday season is for reuniting with loved ones, celebrating sentimental traditions and creating new memories, all marked by the spectacle of feasts that we crave for all year round. On December 24, 25, 31 and January 1, you can indulge, drink and be merry just the way you want to with a diverse lineup of dining delights, from bounteous buffets, to laidback tapas and dinner dates at Diamond Hotel Philippines.

Take your holiday reunions to a whole new level with culinary surprises and scenes at the lunch and dinner buffet at Corniche Restaurant. Whether you’re welcoming relatives from every corner of the world or entertaining buddies you’ve spent most of your life side-byside with, everyone will feel right at home in Corniche’s warm, inviting atmosphere. With tables to accommodate different groups, from small barkadas to large clans, you can have your merry fill of international dishes—richly plated and expertly prepared with those who make Christmastime worth waiting for.

For an Asian twist on your Yuletide gettogether, let our Japanese chefs set up a lavish menu at Yurakuen, crafted to satisfy groups of up to six persons. The vibrancy of an authentic Japanese preparation will not only

take your breath away with its aesthetics, but also send your taste buds on a whirl with fresh flavors of premium ingredients. Feel the magic of the season as you gather beneath the crystal sakura (cherry blossom) tree, and bond over easy conversation and the clicking of busy chopsticks.

When classic recipes and heartwarming pastries are in mind, the Lobby Lounge offers all that and much more—particularly a glass of wine to go with each set menu. With a cozy ambience that brings one away from the urban bustle of the holidays, an easy lunch with colleagues or an intimate dinner with that special someone will transform your Christmastime meal into a truly meaningful experience.

Christmas celebrations take a sky-high turn at Bar 27, where snazzy signature cocktails the bayside view, and chill vibe are all you need for an all-time holiday evening out. Add a live band, tapas and pica-pica, and a string of conversation that feels enjoyably endless into the mix and you have an unforgettable night of merriment.

Purchase dining vouchers for all these festive holiday offers at onlineshopping.diamondhotel.com for up to 30-percent off on online exclusive discounts.

A12 Sunday, December 15, 2019

Sports BusinessMirror

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

Balkovec looking forward to breaking barrier

S

AN DIEGO—Rachel Balkovec wants to be a hit with the New York Yankees—and the way to do that is to help their minor leaguers get more hits.

She was hired in November and starts work next month as a minor league hitting coach, believed to the first woman hitting coach employed by a big league team.

“She was really impressive. I really look forward to having more conversations with her,” Yankees Manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday after talking with Balkovec at the winter meetings. “She has a really good understanding, especially when it comes to the pitch tracking.”

A 32-year-old from Omaha, Nebraska, Balkovec was a minor league strength and conditioning coordinator, and coach for the Saint Louis Cardinals from 2011 to 2015, then switched to the Houston Astros as Latin American strength and conditioning coordinator. She worked with the Dutch national baseball and softball teams in the past year, while studying for her second master’s degree.

Yes, women have not been given the same opportunities as men in Major League Baseball. She is past that.

“My mom always used to say, life’s not fair,” she explained. “So is it fair? No. Does it matter? No. You have to keep standing at that door banging on it.”

All those hurdles in a male-dominated sport have toughened her.

“I view my path as an advantage,” she said. “I had to

do probably much more than maybe a male counterpart, but I like that because I’m so much more prepared for the challenges that I might encounter.”

Balkovec interviewed with Kevin Reese, a former major leaguer who is the Yankee’ senior director of player development; Andrew Wright, hired in June as manager of staff development after four years as baseball coach at the University of Charleston; and Dillon Lawson, who joined the Yankees before last season as a hitting coordinator after working in Houston’s minor league system.

“When I had Kevin Reese and Dillon rave to such a level about her as they did, that was all good enough for me,” general manager Brian Cashman said. “Since we hired her, a major league club interviewed her in San Francisco for an open major league coaching position. So thankfully, she’s still ours.”

Born July 5, 1987, Balkovec played softball, basketball and soccer at Skutt Catholic High School in Omaha. She enrolled at Creighton, where she was a catcher, then transferred to New Mexico and received a degree in 2009 with a major in exercise science. Two years later, she got a masters in sports management from LSU. She moved to the Netherlands in 2018 to study at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam for a masters in human movement sciences, focusing in biomechanics. She was exchanging videos of Dutch players with Lawson, and her former Astros colleague asked her to interview with New York. AP

At 24, Missy Franklin feels like she’s just getting started. AP

EMBRACING LIFE AFTER SWIMMING

By Paul Newberry

NEW York Yankees minor league Hitting Coach Rachel Balkovec (center) speaks to reporters at the Major League Baseball winter meetings. AP

A

The Associated Press

TLANTA—Missy Franklin can still light up a room.

She’ll start off with that big, broad smile.

Then comes the bubbly laugh, summoned from deep in the belly.

Finally, there’s a boundless, almost child-like passion for whatever is on her mind.

“The thing that people always ask me about her, after they first meet Missy and she’s so nice, they wonder, ‘Is she like that all the time?’” said Jack Bauerle, her former coach. “Yes, that’s what she’s like all the time.”

Even now, when she has every reason to be bitter about a broken-down body that snuffed out her brilliant swimming career, Franklin still glides easily to the sunny side to life.

“One of the hardest things about retirement is having a lot of people ask— and I know they don’t always mean it negatively— but there’s this connotation of, ‘What are you going to do now?’” Franklin told The Associated Press during a recent interview. “People are assuming that I’ve already peaked.”

She wants everyone to know that’s not the case.

At 24, she feels like she’s just getting started.

“I can really make an impact outside the pool,” Franklin said. “That is one of the coolest things.”

For sure, her swimming peak was a sight to behold.

As a 17-year-old, high-school senior-to-be, she turned in one of the greatest performances in Olympic history at the 2012 London Games, capturing four gold medals, as well as a bronze.

The following summer, just before she went off to college at Cal-Berkeley, Franklin was even better. At the world championships in Barcelona, she became the first female swimmer to win six golds at the second-biggest meet after the Olympics.

The female version of Michael Phelps, it seemed.

But Franklin’s body would not let her fully realize her potential.

After a dismal showiny at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she qualified in just two events and won her only medal as a morning relay swimmer, Franklin underwent surgery on both shoulders. She transferred from Cal to the University of Georgia, hoping a change of scenery and working with Bauerle would help spur her comeback.

Unfortunately, her shoulders continued to hurt. When doctors told her she could undergo another surgery, but there was a less than 50-percent chance it would relieve her pain in the pool, Franklin decided to retire.

Just from swimming.

Not from life.

In September, Franklin married another former swimmer, Hayes Johnson. On Monday, she wrapped up her final class at Georgia, earning a degree in religion. On Wednesday, she and her husband packed up and headed for suburban Denver, where Franklin grew up and the newlyweds have purchased a home.

“I would’ve loved to keep going as a swimmer,” Franklin said. “But I know I made the right decision.”

She is convinced that her best is yet to come, even if she doesn’t have the same sort of audience that she did in an Olympic pool.

Next summer, Franklin will attend the Tokyo Olympics to work with sponsors and spread a message about protecting the environment and dealing with climate change. She’s not quite clear where life is going to take her, but it’s clear that she wants to stay involved with swimming—especially if it gives her a chance to work with young people.

She has a story to tell.

A complete story.

“I remember coming off of London, that was one of the hardest things for me,” Franklin said. “I would have people come up and say, ‘Swimming has just been so hard, I don’t love it anymore, I want to quit, what did you do when you felt like that?’ Well, I’d never felt like that before.”

Then came Rio. Franklin had never been through anything like that before. There were plenty of tears, even as she tried to maintain her smiling, upbeat façade.

“It was brutal,” she recalled. “You are literally on the biggest stage in the world and falling short of every single goal you’ve set for yourself. You truly feel like you’re embarrassing yourself.”

Yet, that was when Franklin found something deep inside, something she always hoped was there but wouldn’t really know until she went through such a trying ordeal.

“It’s really easy to inspire people in success and when you’re doing well. It’s really hard to inspire people when you’re failing, when you’re falling on your butt,” she said.

“Now I have to show up and be that person I always said I wanted to be in a situation like this.”

While this has been a solitary journey in many ways, Franklin’s husband has helped greatly in easing the transition from competitive swimming. When his wife-to-be was contemplating whether to have another surgery, he pointed out that there were far more important things still to come, that had nothing to do with being a star athlete.

“There’s always going to be a part of me that’s still working through it, still reflecting and seeing what else I can take away from it,” she said. “But he was almost like the sunshine at the end of the tunnel. I had gone through all this work and now I had a person to share it with, experience it with, communicate with and kind of help push me the rest of the way, to really show me what was on the other side.”

Maybe life didn’t turn out the way Franklin envisioned it while standing atop the medal podium in London.

That’s OK. In so many ways, it’s turned out better.

“The way I have been able to interact, and connect and share my story, my experience in Rio and what’s happened since then, has made me so grateful for it,” Franklin said, her voice rising with hope and enthusiasm.

“I truly, in my heart, feel like I needed that experience as a human being. I needed to go through something like that so I can help other people go through it.”

Franklin isn’t swimming anymore.

She can still light up the room.

PARALYMPICS: TICKET DEMAND TOPS SUPPLY

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OKYO—When it comes to tickets, next year’s Tokyo Paralympics will be just like the Olympics: There’s more demand than there are tickets.

“The interest is there and we are absolutely delighted,” International Paralympic President Andrew Parsons told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday. “It shows clearly that the appetite for the Paralympic Games is there— in Tokyo and in Japan.”

Parsons said there were 3.1 million tickets requested earlier this year in the first lottery phase.

This exceeds the 2.3 million available. About 600,000 tickets were awarded in the first lottery, and another lottery is set for early next year.

Tokyo organizers allowed Parsons to release the demand figure on Tuesday.

Organizers have yet to specify the level of demand for Olympic tickets, which is at least 10 times over the supply and maybe more.

The scarcity has angered some fans and the general public, and is a sensitive topic for organizers who also face pressure for tickets from sponsors, international federations, national Olympic committees and authorized ticket resellers.

“The Paralympic athletes will be competing in packed stadiums, which is absolutely fantastic for the message we want to send to the world,” Parsons said.

London is the benchmark for the Paralympics with 2.7 million tickets sold. Tokyo would far surpass that if there were greater stadium capacity. Parsons said there were are no plans for this.

Tokyo organizers on Thursday are widely expected to announce that the Paralympic marathons will stay in Tokyo. Olympic marathons were moved out of Tokyo to the cooler northern city of Sapporo. The Paralympics will probably avoid the heat, opening two-and-a-half weeks

after the Olympics close.

All Paralympic marathons are set for the closing day—September 6, 2020—which will mark the end of Tokyo’s seven years of preparations. The Tokyo Olympics run from July 24 to August 9, followed by the Paralympics opening on August 25.

“The marathon is a moment when we’d like to see a big celebration for people who didn’t get a ticket but can come and be part of the last event of this journey,” Parsons said. AP

THE appetite for the Paralympic Games is there—in Tokyo Japan. AP

Zipline CEO Keller Rinaudo

Turning science fiction to life-saving reality

Turning science fiction to life-saving reality The fleet of medical delivery drones of Zipline CEO Keller Rinaudo are set to take over PHL skies to save Filipino lives

By Jt Nisay

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Y2Z Editor

t a landmark health-care event last week that was unfortunately overshadowed by a political question, US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim ditched his prepared speech. The presence of two people, he said in jest, overwhelmed him.

One was music icon Bono. The other was Keller Rinaudo.

“I’m sandwiched between a legendary rock star and a brilliant young scientist, so I’m not going to do this long speech that my staff has prepared,” the ambassador said, smiling, proceeding to express his gratitude instead to the people who pushed for the historic tie-up.

Drone delivery service Zipline has partnered with humanitarian organization Philippine Red Cross (PRC) to roll out on-demand and emergency blood deliveries by autonomous drones across the country. Expected to launch next summer, the 24/7 service will be capable of making hundreds of deliveries per day to thousands of health facilities and serve millions of people.

Bono, a renowned philanthropist, serves as a board member of Zipline, while Rinaudo, 32, is its cofounder and CEO. “I 100 percent agree with Keller that where you live should never decide whether you live,” Bono said.

Rinaudo established the Silicon Valley start-up in 2014 with the vision to deliver vital medical goods within 15-30 minutes to all 7 billion people on the planet, no matter where they are.

The idea of using autonomous aircraft to deliver blood and other medical products seemed like a crazy idea to most people, Rinaudo said, “something out of science fiction,” but maintained that they knew that robotics was going to have a big impact on logistics.

In a Business Insider feature story, Rinaudo said that the “exciting potential” of a drone delivery system does not lie on “delivering burritos or pizza,” but on “providing universal access to health care to every human on the planet.”

“Health-care access is a human right,” Rin-

Recently married to his Filipina-Chinese girlfriend, 32-year-old American robotics entrepreneur Keller Rinaudo (second from right), poses with US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim (from left), Philippine Red Cross (PRC) Chairman Richard Gordon and U2 front man Bono at the PRC Headquarters in Mandaluyong. audo said at the PRC event. “I think it’s time for us to stop making excuses; that there’s no way we could do something as simple as deliver blood to patients when we’re working on things like nuclear fusion and augmented reality.”

Selected as part of Forbes “30 Under 30” in 2017 for Consumer Technology, Rinaudo graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with an AB in Economics and Biotechnology. He published research in Nature Biotechnology, becoming one of the youngest first authors in the publication’s history.

Rinaudo started working in software engineering, before pursuing a professional career in rock climbing. He built a rock-climbing wall in college, along with computers made of RNA and DNA that operate within human cells.

Robotics, Rinaudo said, has always been a strong point of interest. He continued to learn about robots and its transformative potential in the fields of logistics and transportation with applications on humanitarian causes, which led to his cofounding of Zipline.

In 2016, Zipline launched its service at a national scale in Rwanda, one of the smallest countries on mainland Africa. The company began delivering to one hospital. Today, the service caters to 500 health facilities throughout the country.

Rinaudo explained in detail how the service works in a 2017 TedTalk presentation. It begins when a medical professional reports an emergency case over something as accessible as a messaging app, which will prompt the Zipline team to spring into action.

Capable of delivering any vital medical good from blood to vaccine to snakebite venom, the team will pull whatever is needed from the stock and pack it into a Zip, which is what the company calls its autonomous, battery-powered airplanes.

A Zip can go from zero to 100 kilometers

2 BusinessMirror

an hour “in about half a second,” according to Rinaudo. When the Zip arrives at the destination, it descends to about 30 feet and drops the package on a parachute.

Rinaudo cited a case where a 24-year-old mother gave birth via C-section. Complications arose and she started to bleed. Doctors had the patient’s blood type on stock via Zipline’s routine service, but she needed more.

An emergency order was then placed one after the other. In total, the Zipline team sent seven units of red blood cells, four units of plasma and two units of platelets, a volume that surpasses the entire amount in a human body. Rinaudo said that with the deliveries, the doctors were able to stabilize the patient.

Today, Zipline delivers 70 percent of the national blood supply of Rwanda, putting most of the country’s 12 million citizens within minutes of a life-saving delivery of hundreds of medical products at 450 facilities.

“And that’s Chapter One,” Rinaudo said.

“Chapter Two can be written here in the Philippines.”

Zipline’s partnership with the PRC stands to become the largest drone delivery operation in the Asia-Pacific region. PRC serves 52 percent of the country’s blood transfusion requirements, which puts Zipline in a position to serve up to 10 million people as early as next year.

Rinaudo lauded PRC as the bravest of all 192 Red Cross chapters worldwide for “utilizing new technology and basically taking risks, because that’s what it’s going to take.”

“That’s what inspired us to come here in the first place,” said Rinaudo, who recently married his Filipina-Chinese girlfriend.

Zipline will start delivering blood from the PRC before expanding to include over 150 life-saving medical products. The company plans to establish three distribution centers in the Visayas region. Rinaudo said it will take December 15, 2019

around 15 distribution centers to cover the entire country.

In addition to the Red Cross, Zipline will be working to expand its partnerships in the Philippines to include government and private health-care facilities, as well as the pharmaceutical industry, to help expand universal health-care access to Filipinos.

Rinaudo hopes that their presence in the Philippines will inspire more countries to adapt life-saving technologies.

“We have an opportunity for the Philippines to be the role model and the leader to show what’s possible,” he said. “I think a lot of other countries are going to want to follow in the Philippines’s footsteps.”

Sound trip BusinessMirror

your Music our business

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YOUR MUSIC OUR BUSINESS

U2 AT THE PHILIPPINE ARENA (PHOTO BY STEPHEN LAVOIE)

UNFORGETTABLE FIRE U2 DELIVERED A CONCERT FOR THE AGES AT THE PHILIPPINE ARENA

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By Edwin P. Sallan

ONO himself acknowledged that it took four decades for his band, U2 to finally perform in the Philippines. But judging from the cheers of the full-house crowd that trooped to the humongous Philippine Arena—most of whom endured a threeto-four hour road trip from traffic-plagued Metro Manila—the long wait was well worth it.

The advent of the internet and social media made the event somewhat anti-climactic in terms of what to expect months after the concert presented by Smart and produced by Live Nation and MMI Live was officially announced.

Spoilers came aplenty as the set list of the legendary Irish band’s The Joshua Tree Tour was posted online with each stop (i.e. at setlist.fm) in addition to the published concert reviews and numerous “unofficial” fan videos posted on YouTube. Just the same, the experience of personally seeing Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr. take to the 200 x 40 feet “widescreen” stage was nothing short of exhilarating.

And it probably goes without saying—but I’ll say it anyway—that they did not disappoint. In an epic, three-part performance that what most of the band’s fans will concede as a concert for the ages, U2 performed most of their greatest hits along with some of their most well-received album tracks.

The first act kicked off with the U2-ish stylings of the Waterboys’ “The Whole of the Moon” that set the stage for a five-song set from their pre-Joshua Tree days. War, the band’s breakout third album from 1983 was represented by the iconic one-two punch of the thunderous “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and the haunting “New Year’s Day” that have become

staples of their live performances.

“Gloria” from the band’s 1981 October album was a surprise replacement for the song considered as their first minor hit, “I Will Follow” from their debut album, “Boy.” U2’s fourth album, The Unforgettable Fire was represented by “Pride (In The Name of Love),” its first US Top 40 hit and the well-loved “Bad,” a song about heroin addiction that was never released as a single.

Since most, if not all of these tunes are familiar to Filipino fans, most of their energy level was at their euphoric level at this point. And then came the concert’s The Main Event as The Joshua Tree, the album that proved to be a pivotal point in the band’s career, was performed in its entirety.

From the smaller stage designed in the shape of the Joshua Tree’s shadow, the band moved to centerstage as they performed their 1987 album in its entirety according to track listing.

Enhanced by a backdrop of picturesque images filmed from Death Valley and other locations by longtime collaborator Anton Corbjin and presented in largest LED screen ever used in a touring show, classics like “Where The Streets Have No

Name,” “With or Without You” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” never sounded more compelling as the crowd continued to transform the arena into one giant karaoke bar.

This was also a good time for Bono to rest his vocal cords because while his voice is still amazing, he visibly struggled reaching some of the high notes and resorted to pointing the mic to the audience who gleefully drowned his own voice and filled in the blanks on certain verses and choruses.

Other highlights in The Joshua Tree segment included the spotlight brandished by Bono in the riveting “Bullet The Bullet Sky,” and the images of numerous Joshua trees that complemented “In God’s Country.”

After ending the 11-song on a somber note with “Mothers of the Disappeared,” the band got the crowd on its feet again with a mostly rocking eight-song encore segment that began with Mullen pounding the drums for the familiar backbeat of “Desire” (from Rattle and Hum).

Other highlights include “Elevation” (All That You Can’t Leave Behind), “Vertigo” (How to Dismantle an Continued on page 6

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Sound BusinessMirror

DECEMBER 15 , 2019 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

YOUR MUS

THE SOUND OF GOOD STORYTELLING

FROM WHEN IN ROME TO SCORING FILMS, THE STORIES BEHIND THE MUSICAL ODYSSEY OF PANCHO BURGOS-GOIZUETA

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By Darwin Fernandez Interview by Edwin P. Sallan

ROM the ‘bggsshhh’ and the ‘pew pew pew,’ along with the spraying of saliva, we all have that one friend that can never tell a story without putting his own emotions, movements and sound-effects to every tale he shares with the rest of the group—a proof that stories aren’t just pictures and voices, it is an experience for all the senses.

From the fun and easy pace of piano music to Charlie Chaplin, the three tense screeching noises of Friday the 13th, and to the heroic grand-entrance anthem of The Avengers, movies make us feel a certain way; In the words of composer and 2015 ASCAP Dave Rose winner and 2017 Hollywood Film Scoring Conducting Fellow Pancho BurgosGoizueta, “a great score will elevate the film experience with depth.”

Coming from a cinema-loving family in Spain, Goizueta has been working in the music sector of entertainment for several years; tackling TV and movie projects of companies like CBS, HBO and even contributing to the scores for Disney’s "High School Musical 2" and 3, "Descendants 1 and 2", and MTV’s Teen Wolf seasons 5 and 6; Currently, he is taking on a project with this year’s Animahenasyon, which he says is looking quite promising.

“I think the Animation Council of Philippines is doing a wonderful job of promoting new Filipino animation content,” Goizueta said, “There is a wave of new young creatives that are at the forefront of developing new IPs that make this market very excited to watch. The reason why I started coming here to connect with creatives is because I recognized that Asia in general and the Philippines in particular are bound to become creative players in almost an immediate future.”

Looking back at his childhood, Pancho was moved by the movie soundtrack of the war-epic and lightsabre swordsmanship of the Jedis in the original series of "Star Wars".

“When I was 4 years old. The film really captured my imagination, and it set the tone for what my whole childhood would be,” he beamed,

“There were other popular film and TV musical influences that I remember shaping my musical taste for music, framed as a storytelling device, [such as] Superman, The Never Ending Story, Willow, [and] Back To The Future, I think they all helped grow my love for film and film scores.”

Maturing and discovering the less mainstream films, Goizueta found his way to more films that ignited his love for the cinematic music.

“I love, love, love Ennio Morricone—in my impressionable teen years I discovered "Cinema Paradiso" and I just fell in love with the film and the score which was so incredibly powerful in painting a sonic representation of nostalgia and

Pancho Burgos-Goizueta with orchestra

innocence [it is] one of my favorites and biggest influences.”

Goizueta describes his style of compositions as a fusion of the film scores he’s experienced along with elements from Jazz and Rock, but like most artists, it is hard to quantify a medium into something specific.

“It is hard for me to describe exactly what my style is,” he says, “I really love trying to write good sing-able themes, and in that sense I think I have a way

Pancho Burgos-Goizueta

of working...but what I enjoy the most in terms of instrumentation at least is working with orchestras, and writing orchestral scores. It’s not necessarily a style, but it’s something that I try to do often in my scores.”

“What I’m most interested in, more than genre, is great storytelling.

I want to help tell a great story from a dramatic standpoint through the score and hopefully help elevate it with my contribution. I’d love to make audiences feel what the great film composers that inspired me, made

me feel so many times."

Other than playing music behind the screen, Goizueta has also made his way to performing on stage with artists and touring the world with them; Sharing his skills with the keyboard and piano, he set the stage for the likes of Naked Eyes, The Flirts, TransX and now a music director for the new-wave pop band When In Rome. He told his story how playing with the artists widened his shots for composing for the big screen.

“That was a good experience

overall because when I got hired to be the keyboard player, Pete Byrne was in transition and looking for a new backing band, so he tasked me with finding the players, and I was able to put some of my best friends in the band and we just toured the world together.”

“After Naked Eyes, Clive Farrington asked me to take over music director duties for When In Rome UK and I’ve been with him ever since. I was the Best Man at his wedding! [Farrington] and Andrew Mann have become such huge friends and we have a blast touring the world together. And it’s a good gig for me because they only tour in the summers so I can focus on film scoring for the year."

In terms of his plans and his goals, Goizueta is yet to the reach the climax of his story.

“I like the trajectory I’m in right now. I just finished a hilarious Christmas film with Tom Arnold, Jennifer Tilly, Shannyn Sossamon and Cloris Leachman directed by my insanely talented good friend Brian Herzlinger. I will have scored five feature films and worked in a few Disney TV shows and movies by the end of December, and I have a couple more films in early 2020 already lined up. This coming year I’d like to maybe try to land a TV show, and I think there are already talks of a When In Rome UK tour Next summer. It’s all very exciting.

Every step leads to something even more wonderful, so I’m excited for what’s to come!”

d trip

soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | DECEMBER 15 , 2019

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SIC OUR BUSINESS

SHAKING OFF THE RUST

RUSTY MACHINES UNVEILS ITS FULL-LENGTH DEBUT

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arner Music Philippines recently announced its four new signed artists Quest, St. Wolf, Keiko Necesario, and Leanne & Naara during its Christmas party with the press last December 5, 2019 at 19 East, Sucat, Muntinlupa City.

By Rick Olivares

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HEN life gets in the way… one can come away either for the better or worse. In the case of indie rock band Rusty Machines, a more mature sound isn’t so bad.

The quartet recently dropped their debut album, Making Friends, under that ear nectar of an independent label, WideEyed Records (Ang Bandang Shirley, The Strangeness). And they brought a few friends in for the ride – the members of labelmate Ang Bandang Shirley, indie pop songstress Nikki Nava, She’s Only Sixteen’s Roberto Seña, Oh Flamingo’s Howard Luistro, The Strangeness’ Paolo Arciga, and Nights of Rizal (Migi de Belen).

The indie smorgasbord aside, it doesn’t detract at all (like Santana’s Supernatural that featured guests ad infinitum) from Rusty Machines.

Making Friends took the band – vocalist and guitarist Iggy San Pablo, guitarist Joshua San Andres, bassist Leandro Fabregas, and drummer Miko Miso – two years to complete as each of the four members is working.

In between releases, the quartet has become a tighter unit musically.

Their debut EP from 2014, "City Lights", bristled with new wavish energy. "Making Friends" slows down and gives off this wistful twee bent; anoraks and all. It had me thinking of the Acid House Kings, Club 8, and all those Swedish twee bands that exploded across the indie world towards the end of the 1990s.

Warner Music PH signs new OPM artists

The Philippine premiere Filipino singer, rapper, songwriter, and producer Quest is best known for his 2012 hit song “Sige Lang,” which topped numerous charts, garnered various awards, and even became the theme song for the basketball team Gilas Pilipinas. In 2016, Quest was awarded with the Best Inspirational Song for his single “Higher,” and Album of the Year for “Life of a Champion” at the Awit Awards. Early this year, he released a new single called “Permanente” with Kianna Valenciano, and since then, he has been focusing his career on his new album “Dream Awake.”

St. Wolf

Rusty Machines

And maybe too that is part of the charm of Rusty Machines -the sounds of yearning given a polished sheen by producer Ean Aguila (of Ang Bandang Shirley).

San Pablo confessed that he changed it up quite a bit for Making Friends. “What I had in my head was different in the final product,” he fessed up. “Thinking of the structures, it didn’t have that Rusty Machines identity. So I had to let go and allow the band to write their parts.”

After the first three tracks, Strange Things, “Roam Error,” “Sunner,” and “Strange Things,”

the band gets going with “Trying too Hard” that showcases the band’s chops. “Fear of Change” features that old energy that the band is known for. And when the band shifts to faster gears they perform better; much better.

Having said that, sometimes I get the feel that the lack of San Pablo’s vocal range holds the band back. Maybe though this part of the charm of Rusty Machines’ sound.

And "Making Friends" is that album you listen to. Filled with introspective songs bathed in shimmering delight.

St. Wolf is an up and coming band who started in 2015. Consisting of members KL Dela Cruz (vocals), Vince Lucero (guitars), Karlo Maglasang (bass) and Bob Sadural (drums), St. Wolf has released remarkable songs such as “Papara,” “Taguan” and “Jealousy.” The band is part of the latest Coke Studio Philippines series.

Keiko Necesario is a singer-songwriter who has been independently creating her own albums and songs. In 2015, she released and produced her very first album, a ten-track compilation called “Through It All.” Her cover of the song “Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell was featured on the British TV series “Ackley Bridge” early this year. Keiko’s songs such as “While We Are Young,” “Panaginip” and “Paano Na” among others comprised the original motion soundtrack of “Ang Babaeng Allergic sa Wifi” released in 2017.

Leanne & Naara, a rising singer-songwriter duo, has been playing since college and was formed in 2012. After releasing their single “Again” in 2016, the song topped the charts on Spotify ranking number one in the Philippines and number twelve in the Global Viral Charts. Since then, they have released new singles including “New York and Back,” “Make Me Sing,” “Rest,” “Destination,” and even their own version of fellow Warner Music Philippine artist Nina’s “Someday.”

For more information, follow Warner Music Philippines @warnermusciph on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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DECEMBER 15 , 2019 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

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YOUR MUSIC OUR BUSINESS

THE MAN WHO ACTS

EXO’S SUHO SHINES BRIGHT AT MACAO FILM FESTIVAL

By Carla Mortel Baricaua As reported from Macao by Edwin P. Sallan

member. In 2012, he continued his studies at the Kyung Hee Cyber University with fellow members Baekhyun and Chanyeol.

Notably, he starred in "One Way Trip" (originally titled "Glory Day") released in 2016, and in "Middle School Girl A" in 2018 that earned him the Discovery of the Year award at the 15th Jecheon International Music & Film Festival (JIMFF) this year. Suho also won a daesung for his role in the musical "The Man Who Laughs" at the 3rd Korean Music Awards.

In an interview session with BusinessMirror and other international media at the Macao festival, Suho said he believes he delivers his youthful roles with a good purpose.

“First of all, I like words youth and teens because those two words refer to hope and dreams.

And I want to have good influence on people through these movies about youth and teenagers. But of course, when I did "Glory Day", I’ve grown up and more experienced in the film. But I don’t think the word youth refers only to age. Even if you

have grown up, you can still dream and have goals. You can still have your youth. It’s about realizing your dreams in life.”

Something familiar to his life experience, he recently got to act as a K-pop star in a short film recently, but Suho said he’s willing to do it again if he finds the role to be extra challenging. “If I get to play a role as a singer that would be interesting.

The K-pop singer in the film would have a different personality and environment, different experiences so, for me, that’s new discovery for me again and a new understanding (for me) as a K-pop star in the film as well.”

Asked how he prepares for a role, Suho revealed that as a student, he sometimes would read lines with his classmates. On the set, he makes sure to approach his directors before doing a scene and listen to their

instructions. He also does selfstudy of his character. “When I receive the script, I want to know more about the role. I’ll try to do some research and try to find some similarities between my personality and that of the character, dig deep and try to expand those feelings.”

As a Hollywood movie-buff, Suho has taken a liking to some of tinseltown’s actors and directors.

“First that comes to my mind are Tim Burton and Alfred Hitchcock.

I love the innocent world, the innocence presented in Tim Burton films. That is why I love his movies. I also love foreign actors, but will not mention them because I feel I’m not honored to do so.”

Suho’s favorite movies as of late are about people’s everyday lives. “Recently, I watched the movie, "Her". If we are talking about Korean movies, I love "Parasite" which also refers to the lives of ordinary people.”

Not one to rest on his laurels, Suho still dreams big and would like try new roles that would cater to a wider audience. “If I get to choose I’ll be Dr. Strange. First of all, that’s a good movie and the lead actor did a really good job.

I like to be Dr. Strange and play that role because often times he appears to be a salty guy in daily life, but actually you’ll realize he cares, he would be there when somebody needs him. He’s really a good guy."

"Recently, most of the roles I’m interested in are costumed characters, but at this point I (also) want to play a villain, too.

I want a role like the Joker, which was played by Joaquin Phoenix.”

supporter of President Rodrigo Duterte and journalist Maria Ressa, a staunch critic of the administration.

But Bono has never been shy about his particular stand on certain issues.

In his spiels throughout the concert and even before that in an earlier press conference the day, he also hailed journalists and “truth-tellers” and advocated for their protection even as he insisted that “human rights cannot be compromised.”

While most his pronouncements are universal in nature, some did not sit well with netizens who— whether or not they saw the concert

and depending on which side of the political fence they stand—took him to task on social media.

For the most part, however, U2’s politics did not necessarily detract from enjoying their performance and most fans, in fact, had no problem with it. In any case, the band is certainly much bigger than the sum of their parts and last Wednesday, they proved that inside the biggest stage and largest venue the country can host their spectacular show.

Hopefully, it won’t take another four decades for us to see them again here.

Photos by Ross Stewart

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S an actor, Kim Junmyeon a.k.a. Suho, the leader of the super K-pop group EXO is starting to get noticed outside South Korea. On December 5, donning red-colored hair, Suho walked the red carpet at the opening ceremony of the International Film Festival & Awards Macao (IFFAM) as one of only three talent ambassadors, the other two being French actress Juliette Binoche and Hong Kong thespian Carina Lau. Now on its fourth year, the six-day film festival screened 50 international films and 6 short films to Macao audience, approximately 800 international distinguished professionals in the film industry as well as members of local and international media.

Despite being busy while promoting EXO’s latest album, "Obsession", Suho is still keen on his acting assignments, special appearances on shows and film festivals, and other related activities. While his talent management company, SM Entertainment, handles his work assignments, Suho continues to pursue acting during breaks from his singing career.

As an actor, Suho has come a long way since he started his acting career in 2007 as an extra on Super Junior’s film, "Attack on the PinUp Boys". That led to numerous projects as he appeared in several tv shows, musicals, movies and drama series. He studied acting at the Korean National University but eventually dropped out due to his heavy schedule as an EXO

Unforgettable... from page 3 Atomic Bomb), “Even Better Than The Real Thing” (Achtung Baby) and “Beautiful Day” (All That You Can’t Leave Behind).

And then came “Ultraviolet (Light My Way)” (also from Achtung Baby). A lot has been said about this particular part of the concert that paid tribute to women (including several Filipinas) that Bono says have rewritten or are still rewriting “history as Her story.” This is largely due to the controversial selection of both Senator Pia Cayetano, a known

SUHO

Protesters vent their anger as UN climate talks stutter

By Aritz Parra & Frank Jordans The Associated Press

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ajor countries at a U.N. meeting on climate change took the floor on Thursday to stake out their positions, showing that deep differences remain to be breached.

In a sign of growing frustration over the pace of the talks in Madrid—the logo of which is a stylized ticking clock—more than 100 activists led by representatives of indigenous peoples from Latin and North America staged an impromptu protest, blocking the gates of the main plenary hall for a few tense minutes.

Activist Greta Thunberg, who on Wednesday was announced as Time magazine’s Person of the Year (see related story) shortly after addressing the talks’ plenary, also accused governments and businesses of misleading the public by not achieving real action and instead fostering “clever accounting and creative PR.” Climate negotiators in Madrid also had one eye on Brussels, where the European Union announced a €100-billion ($130-billion) plan to help wean EU nations off fossil fuels.

But some observers predicted the talks could head into overtime, with ministers struggling to agree on rules for a global carbon market and ways to compensate vulnerable countries for disasters caused by global warming.

World leaders agreed in Paris four years ago to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahr-

UN security staff gab banners during a protest to draw attention to lack of action by some countries to find real solutions to the climate problems, at the COP25 climate talks congress in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, December 11, 2019. AP enheit)—ideally no more than 1.5°C (2.7°F)—by the end of the century. Scientists say both of those goals will be missed by a wide margin unless drastic steps are taken to begin cutting greenhouse-gas emissions next year.

The World Resources Institute, an environmental think tank, said the 80 countries that have so far announced plans to step up their emissions-reduction targets only represent a tenth of global greenhouse-gas emissions—while most major emitters have yet to commit.

The United States made its first major public intervention on the 10th day of the talks after keeping a low profile.

President Donald Trump’s administration began proceedings last month to abandon the 2015 Paris agreement, a yearlong process that will culminate on November 4, 2020—a day after the next presidential elections.

Until then, the US “will remain focused on a realistic and pragmatic model, backed by a record of real-world results,” said Marcia Bernicat, a career ambassa-

dor who heads the US negotiating team.

UN chief António Guterres suggested that negotiators in Madrid should stop listening to those who oppose more ambitious measures for reducing emissions.

“I call on anyone who is still lobbying their governments for a slow transition—or even in some cases with no transition—to end those activities now,” he said, adding that governments were slowing down businesses action on the climate front by keeping “bureaucratic and regulatory obstacles, including perverse fossil-fuel subsidies.” AP

Discover more, drop the prefix

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journey to a thousand miles may not necessarily just start with the proverbial one step, but with a strong supportive touch from a loved one, like a parent or a mentor.

Maribeth was a young girl when she first took to the art brush in elementary school and was encouraged by her teachers. Wackie loved the colors of paint, eager to bring to creative life the people and places around him, and was inspired by his mother to believe in himself. Meanwhile, Juan used to be impatient with his own paintings, until his father reminded him of the great job he has done, and what he could still do.

The three are all artists now. Their oil portraits of animals, Mother Nature, and happy families continue to capture the sight—and the patronage—of the art lovers and the curious public who see them.

What makes their achievements all the more impressive is that they are all persons with disabilities (PWDs). Maribeth is deaf, and both Wackie and Juan have been diagnosed with autism.

Their artistic capabilities are solid, firsthand evidence that supports the current advocacy of Southstar Drug (SSD) to “drop the prefix” as far as PWDs are concerned.

SSD General Manager Christine Tueres says it is time to remove the prefix “dis—and focus on abilities.”

Established in partnership with the Project Inclusion Network (PIN), the “Drop the Prefix” campaign makes its strong case right before Christmas.

Maribeth, Juan and Wackie are a few of the PWDs who have a new-found calling and as artists. PIN spotted their talents, trained them, nurtured them and supported their development.

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December 15, 2019

As the year ends, their artworks will be made available to the public as illustrations for calendars and bags. Gift-givers looking for holiday giveaways can find and buy them from SSD branches nationwide.

Millennial Money:

How procrastinators can win at gift-giving

By Courtney Jespersen

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NerdWallet

heck the calendar. No, this isn’t a dream. It really is December, and Christmas Day is staring you straight in the face.

And if you celebrate Hanukkah, it’s coming even sooner.

Where did the holiday season go? Well, no time to reminisce now. It’s down to the wire, but there are still methods to save money on your last-minute holiday purchases. Here are four simple ways to do it.

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JINGLE ALL THE WAY TO THE STORE

You’re not the only one still shopping.

In fact, December 21—dubbed Super Saturday because it’s the last Saturday before Christmas—is expected to be the second busiest shopping day, after Black Friday, according to ShopperTrak data from Sensormatic Solutions.

Your first instinct may be to shop online and avoid the crowded mall. But not so fast, says Christopher Newman, associate professor

of marketing at the University of Mississippi.

“Shoppers can increase the chance that they get the right product at the best price by shopping in store, rather than online, just before Christmas,” Newman said in an e-mail.

“This ensures that they aren’t limited to choosing from just the products that could ship in time for the holiday.”

Last-minute online shopping may also carry hefty shipping fees. December 14 is the widely accepted cutoff for Christmas ground shipping this year, according to Rob Garf, vice president of Strategy and Insights for Retail and Consumer Goods at Salesforce.

If you order online after that, you’ll likely have to pay to expedite the shipment.

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OR BUY ONLINE, PICK UP IN STORE

If you’d rather not shop entirely at the store or entirely online, try shopping online and picking up your items at the store. In fact, buying online and retrieving your purchases from the store is a good option for shoppers, Garf says.

“It gives [consumers] the confidence that the product is going to be there and it’s going to give them the convenience that they can walk right in and pick it up,” Garf says.

He adds that some retailers may even extend an extra coupon or discount to shoppers who elect to buy online and pick up in store.

Walmart does this.

This option is also good for retailers. Retailers offering buy online, pick up in store (also known as click and collect) will drive 28-percent more revenue share across their industry during the five days before Christmas compared with those that don’t, according to the 2019 Salesforce Holiday Insights and Predictions.

Retailers also know shoppers may be tempted to purchase additional items when they show up at the store.

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PICK PRIVATELABEL PRESENTS

Purchase method aside, you also want to consider which items are on your gift list. When you have limited time to shop, it’s wise to narrow down your choices. Instead of sticking to your original plan, consider switching to less expensive presents.

Certain items are known to be cheaper just before Christmas, such as toys or previousmodel electronics that didn’t sell well throughout the season.

You can also save money by changing the brands you buy. Consumers can get particularly good deals on a retailer’s own private label, for instance. Think the Kindle and Echo products from Amazon, or the Kirkland Signature line at Costco.

“Private-label products are already generally 15 percent to 20 percent cheaper than their national brand counterparts, but shoppers can save even more around

Christmas,” Newman said.

“Retailers can offer better deals on their private label brands than on national brands because their profit margins are higher on private labels to begin with.”

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POUNCE ON LIMITED-TIME SALES

The fact that you’ve waited to shop until the final days before Christmas doesn’t surprise retailers. Newman says they know many shoppers delay, so they offer last-minute savings opportunities.

Be on the lookout for these types of promotions. They may be announced in advance, such as seven days of deals leading up to Christmas.

Or, they may be spur-of-the-moment “flash sales” that happen without notice.

“Shoppers usually have to be vigilant and proactive in order to act upon last-minute flash sales,” Newman said.

Regularly check your email, social media and retailer websites to locate these if they’re announced. And whatever you do, remember that now’s the time to start springing into action.

“Consumers are going to wake up from their Thanksgiving hangover and realize they have a really short time to swoop up the deals and make sure the presents get on the doorsteps and under the tree before Christmas,” Garf says. AP

Holiday money-saving strategies that can backfire

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oliday marketers have your number, and they know how to entice you to spend.

You try to rein it in. But two favorite strategies can lead to spending more, according to a 2018 survey by the Center for the New Middle Class, a research organization funded by Elevate, which lends to credit-challenged borrowers. Consumers who shopped at sales were 50 percent more likely to say they spent more than they expected. Among shoppers who used coupons, 38.5 percent said they overspent.

Many shoppers try to be careful instead of making a spending plan. Using a budget can feel like it’s wringing the joy out of a happy season. Why? Giving feels good, says Jeff Kreisler, coauthor of Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter.

But simply being careful doesn’t work, “because a lot of the reasons we make poor financial decisions are unconscious,” says Kreisler, who’s editor in chief of PeopleScience.com, which applies behavioral science to the marketplace. However, you can position yourself to recognize—and overcome—overspending triggers. Here are some strategies.

USE THE BEST DEFENSE: A HOLIDAY BUDGET

Ashley Feinstein Gerstley, a financial coach and founder of the Fiscal Femme web site, advises setting aside time—not over an hour—to list holiday expenses. Build in a buffer, because you’ll forget some things. But you’ll be better off if you have a number in mind, she says.

Be realistic, not rigid, about your budget. Otherwise, controlling expenses can seem so futile you don’t bother trying, she says. “It’s like being on a strict diet and figuring if you cheated and had a cookie, you may as well eat the whole

bag.” If you worry about overspending, consider getting a prepaid gift card in that amount, Kreisler says. It can help you stay aware of what you are spending and what’s left.

Having a successful holiday spending plan may also inspire you to create a budget to help you achieve financial goals throughout the year.

UNDERSTAND HOW SALES CAN COST YOU Shopping sales can be smart, but only if you’re strategic and aware of the psychology at play. Kreisler says if you see a $100 cashmere sweater marked down to $40, your brain registers “saving $60.” Train yourself to translate that to “spending $40” and compare how it fits into your spending plan.

Then, figure out how much the sweater is worth to you. Would you still want it if $40 was the regular price? It’s the same sweater and the same money but minus the rush of feeling that you got a deal.

Watch out for impulse purchases, too. Gerstley says she’s encountered products she never knew existed while shopping (think cell-phone sanitizer or weighted blanket) and suddenly wanted them. Badly. She’s a fan of “the 48-hour rule”: Put the item back on the shelf or abandon your virtual cart, and if you still want it 48 hours later, go ahead and buy it. Often you won’t, she says. Understand that marketers use one-day sales or even shorter buying windows to create urgency. Fear of missing out can lead to poor decisions; buy only the items you intended to anyway.

Kreisler offers these additional tips for spending less: n Imagine how the holidays would be different if you spent a little less on a particular gift. Would it really detract from the joy? n If you cannot afford to reciprocate with a gift of equal monetary value,

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December 15, 2019

In this November 29, 2019, file photo, people walk by a Black Friday promotional at Cookie’s department store in the Brooklyn Borough of New York. Shopping at sales may not be saving you as much money as you think. Knowing the pitfalls and having a plan can help keep your holiday shopping from coming back to bite you in January. AP consider giving something else of value, such as offering an evening of child care or creating a painting. Write a note about why you chose the gift especially for the recipient. n If you want to trim your gift list, discuss it with friends and family shortly after the holidays, when warm feelings abound. Announcing it late in the year isn’t a great idea. NerdWallet via AP