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HOUSE SETS ‘MASSIVE’ CHARTER CHANGE INFO DRIVE NEXT YEAR
2017 to see federalism shift moving to the fast lane–solon T
By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
he leadership of the House of Representatives has assured that all amendments to the 1987 Constitution that will be drafted by the Constitutional Commission (Con-com) will be presented to the public through a “massive” information campaign.
Villafuerte: “With the creation of the 25-member Constitutional Commission that will revisit the 1987 Constitution and come up with proposed amendments for consideration by Congress convening as Conass, the Executive and Legislative branches of government could now put the federal switch on the fast lane at the onset of 2017.”
Nacionalista Party Rep. Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte Jr. of Camarines Sur, a vice chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, has expressed optimism that the Executive and Legislative departments could now switch to Charter change (Cha-cha) mode, and the federal switch to overdrive in 2017, following this week’s move by Malacañang to create the 25-member Con-com to help Congress study the proposed reforms to the 1987 Constitution. “With the creation of the 25-member Con-com that will revisit the 1987 Constitution and
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Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez assured there will be an active participation in the national debate on constitutional reforms throughout the country. “After the approval of final draft of the new Constitution, we should explain all the amendments to the people. However, for now, we’ll wait for the Constitutional Commission to do [its] job,” he added. According to the Speaker, free and open public debates on the issue of constitutional reforms, especially on federalism, must be encouraged before Congress, acting as constituent assembly (Conass), focuses its attention on the growing consensus of adopting a federal system. President Duterte earlier signed Executive Order 10, creating a committee that will review the Constitution. The committee will be composed of 25 different experts from the country. Moreover, Alvarez said this Con-com will be given six months, starting next year, to start drafting the new Constitution before Congress convenes as Con-ass to debate and finalize the draft of the new Charter made by the commission. Alvarez said creating a Concom will help Congress, acting as Con-ass, in amending the present Constitution to change the present unitary form of government to a federal system.
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‘mainstream media’s Antipoor biases, connection to big business make people turn to social media’
By Rizal Raoul Reyes
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ocial media played a key role in catapulting former Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte to the presidency, a development that an ardent Duterte supporter said proved that social media has truly emerged as a “threat” to the very existence of the so-called traditional media in the near future. Social media has also become a tool of the marginalized in voicing out their frustrations to the existing social order. “Prior to the introduction of social media, voters would have been bombarded by stories and advertisements of candidates who had the most cash. Winners were determined by the amount of money for campaign slogans, jingles and press releases. The year 2016 was different in the sense that there was an alternative— Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and
PESO exchange rates n US 49.9220
Instagram, where voters would and could access the huge crowd shots of Duterte rallies. Citizens took it upon themselves to share pictures, videos, stories and posters favorable to Duterte,” Edgardo Clemente, chairman of the Metro Manila Duterte for President Movement, said in an interview on Facebook. Clemente traced what he termed as the antipoor biases of the mainstream media, and its connections to big business on why the silent majority went to social media to voice out their dissatisfaction on the existing social order. “Today those who can only manage fractured English, wrong grammar and poor construction in the presentation of their ideas are dominating social media,” he noted. “The hoi polloi are finally seizing power, and such venerated institutions like printed newspapers will be the first victims in the new world unleashed by the Internet,”
Clemente added. The result of this development has led to the emergence of a potent pro-Duterte force in the social-media space. Clemente said it is not fair to blame the pro-Duterte forces on the issue of cyber bullying against the critics. The critics entirely miss the point, because there are around 20 million pro-Duterte supporters online. “This is a simplistic explanation to blame salaried pro-Duterte forces, but misses that fact that newly empowered volunteer hordes of Duterte supporters actually comprise the majority or the bulk of most of the social-media activities of liking, sharing, commenting and posting of proadministration stories with the concomitant negative comments against perceived opponents of the current dispensation.” With its huge reach, Clemente said, social media can be a thorn on the side of the traditional media,
“The hoi polloi are finally seizing power, and such venerated institutions like printed newspapers will be the first victims in the new world unleashed by the Internet.”—Clemente because it can rightly fall under the classification of big data, as in fan pages or groups with hundreds of thousands of likes and members each, thus, survey results coming from million-member groups will have a higher sensitivity of results. He added the print media feels threatened by a group of amateurs who, Clemente said, suddenly emerged out of the blue and became See “Social Media,” A2
n japan 0.4226 n UK 62.0481 n HK 6.4333 n CHINA 7.1853 n singapore 34.5888 n australia 36.7126 n EU 51.9988 n SAUDI arabia 13.3139
Source: BSP (16 December 2016 )
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2017 to see federalism shift moving to the fast lane–solon Continued from A1
come up with proposed amendments for consideration by Congress convening as Con-ass, the Executive and Legislative branches of government could now put the federal switch on the fast lane at the onset of 2017,” Villafuerte said. One of the lead advocates of federalism in Congress, Villafuerte said “the creation of the Concom, which will have six months to come up with the proposed constitutional reforms, would keep on schedule President Duterte’s goal of facilitating the federal shift on his watch.” Earlier, Duterte reiterated that he wants the federal system to be put in place within his six year Palace term, and said he had told Alvarez that he hopes it could be done in two to three years’ time. “With this timetable, the would-be Con-ass can wrap up the proposed amendments by 2018 and the government can hold a plebiscite the following year to seek the people’s approval of the constitutional changes. The plebiscite can piggyback on the 2019 midterm elections to make the exercise more cost effective,” said Villafuerte, also convener of the bloc of first-term legislators in the House. Villafuerte said this is the best setup possible that would allow Congress to focus on urgent legislative measures without taking too much of its time holding endless debates on proposed amendments to the Constitution.
“Creating a Con-com composed of experts would also ensure that a thorough and authoritative review of the Constitution, devoid of the vested interests of the individual interests of lawmakers, would be done,” Villafuerte stressed.
Amendments
Meanwhile, Majority Leader and PDP-Laban Rep. Rodolfo C. Fariñas of Ilocos Norte said all amendments will be debated and voted upon by three-fourth of all members of the Senate and House of Representatives. Meanwhile, asked for a comment on Duterte’s recent statement that he will endorse the lifting of restrictions on foreign ownership of public utilities—now a subject of deliberations on the proposed changes in the Constitution in Congress—but would not allow foreigners to own land, Fariñas said, “that matter, as well as all others pertaining to the Constitution, will have be debated and voted upon by the Con-ass.” “It is premature for anyone to say how the Con-ass will act on a certain matter, especially that a vote of three-fourth of all the members of Congress would be needed for the approval of any proposal,” Fariñas said in a text message to the BusinessMirror. Last Monday, during a business forum held in Malacañang, Duterte said he is willing to increase the foreign equity in public utilities by as much as 70 percent. During the recent public consultations of the House Com-
mittee on Constitutional Amendments, several organizations have supported, as well as opposed, the proposal lifting an economic provision in the Charter restricting foreign ownership of land. Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) President Perry Lim Pe told lawmakers that “if we allow them [foreigners] 100-percent ownership, I think Filipino companies can compete. Filipino business groups are prepared to do the competition. We’re prepared to meet them head on.” He also recommended to the House of Representatives some amendments to the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution that limit foreign ownership in the country. Pe said businessmen want the lower chamber to amend a provision in the Charter that limits foreign-land ownership in the Philippines. “Section 7, Article 12, which restricts land ownership, again, we have long-term land-lease agreement that allows up to a maximum of 50 or maybe additional 25 more years, we think that, since land will be here and [to] develop land you need capital, if you open it up, we think that can spur [economic growth], especially countryside development,” Pe added. The Constitution states that in cases of hereditary succession, no private lands shall be transferred or conveyed except to individuals, corporations, or associations qualified to acquire or hold lands of the public domain. Also, former Finance Secretary
Margarito B. Teves of the Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) said some economic policies enshrined in the Constitution are binding constraints to growth, and easing these provisions could bring in much-needed foreign investments. He said among the provisions the FEF wants amended are those pertaining to foreign ownership of land and exploitation of natural resources, foreign equity in the operation of public utilities, mass media and advertising, and foreign practice of profession. Teves said the FEF believes these “protectionist” provisions, which limit foreign ownership, do not promote healthy competition in a dynamic global economy. He noted the Philippines is one of only few countries left bearing this kind of restriction in the Constitution. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Managing Director Restituto C. Cruz, likewise, concurred with the proposed amendment of the economic provisions of the Constitution as long as the independence of the BSP will be ensured. The officials also supported the proposed foreign ownership of land but wanted specific provisions that would retain Filipino ownership of agricultural and industrial lands as these are vital to food production.
Public utilities
However, Dr. Wilfrido Villacorta, a constitutional expert, has urged lawmakers not to lift the provisions in the 1987 Constitution that deals with public utilities and natural resources. “We should do it [amending the Constitution] with care, particularly the provisions concerning public utility and natural resources because it will not just affect our economy, but also our national security. We should use a strategy in amending our Constitution,” Villacorta, one of the original Con-com members, said in an interview with the BusinessMirror. “It could be dangerous if we will remove that [two provisions] without the help [of] consultants and experts. They should hire consultants like what we’ve done during the 1986 Constitutional Commission,” he added. Under Section 11, Article 12 of the Constitution, no franchise, certificate, or any other form of authorization for the operation of a public utility shall be granted except to citizens of the Philippines or to corporations or associations organized under the laws of the Philippines, at least 60 percent of whose capital is owned by such citizens; nor shall such franchise, certificate, or authorization be exclusive in character or for a longer period than 50 years. It added the participation of foreign investors in the governing body of any public-utility enterprise shall be limited to their proportionate share in its capital, and all the executive and managing officers of such corporation or association must be
citizens of the Philippines. The Constitution also provides that all lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum and other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, fisheries, forests or timber, wildlife, flora and fauna, and other natural resources are owned by the State. With the exception of agricultural lands, all other natural resources shall not be alienated. The exploration, development and utilization of natural resources shall be under the full control and supervision of the State. The State shall protect the nation’s marine wealth in its archipelagic waters, territorial sea and exclusive economic zone, and reserve its use and enjoyment exclusively to Filipino citizens, the charter said. Villacorta, likewise, cited the need to amend the 1987 Constitution to make it attuned to the changing times. He is, however, against totally revising the Constitution, saying “many constitutional provisions are not properly implemented, so there is [only] a need to clearly define the provisions.” Villacorta said when they crafted the Constitution, many provisions were overlooked because of the limited time given to them to deliberate and finish their proposals, adding it is wise to consult the final arbiter of the land, the Supreme Court, preferably through two separate petitions from the House and the Senate to shed light on the issue. In a separate position paper submitted to the lower chamber, Villacorta said “our Constitution was framed in 1986 and was overwhelmingly approved in a national referendum in February 1987. Since then, many changes have occurred: a new security architecture in Asia and the Pacific has evolved; mass poverty, criminality, official corruption, natural disasters and pandemics have worsened. International institution and the global financial system have become even weaker, while nuclear proliferation and international terrorism have increased.” “The fundamental aspirations of our society addressed in our present Constitution, however, remain the same—a better quality of life, peace among all communities, equitable and inclusive development across our regions, the blessings of independence and democracy, and an independent foreign policy,” he added. Villacorta said he is hoping that Congress as Con-ass will have more time to deliberate on the costs and benefits of the different forms of foreign equity and entitlements. “Thirty years have passed since we wrote the fundamental law. The limitations imposed regarding the foreign equity in most investment areas have given our more liberalized Asean neighbors a competitive edge over us,” he said. “It has posed constraints to fulfilling our commitments under Asean Free Trade Area and the Asean Economic Community.
Social media... a prominent fixture in the media scene in such a short span of time. “They [traditional media] miss the fact that thousands of amateurs [in terms of lack of college degrees in journalism] are stealing their lunch with the ultimate result of many newspapers operating at a loss with eventual closure or bankruptcy,” Clemente said. “The heated battle, just like the last presidential elections, is between the few so-called elite and highly educated netizens against the great unwashed but newly politically active,” he added. “The situation here is similar to the post French Revolution, the newly minted power brokers, the hoi poloi, seem to be running amuck,” Clemente said. “But this was only because the monarchy committed so much atrocity against the populace. Anarchy was the order of the day because all the previous exploitation was
However, under the Foreign Investment Act of 1991, foreign investors may now capitalize in domestic or export enterprises to as much as 100 percent of the capital of these enterprises provided that: these enterprises are not on the Negative List and if the foreign investor is investing in a domestic enterprise, the domestic enterprise must have a paid-in capital equivalent to $200,000,” he said.
Education
Villacorta, former chairman of the Human Resources Committee in the Constitutional Commission, also asked the lawmakers to retain some provisions in the charter that deals with education. “I sponsored the provisions on education, science and technology, arts, culture and sports [Article XIV of the Constitution], it is an important article because it seeks to significantly improve the quality of our population, especially the young,” he said. Villacorta added that among the provisions that Congress should retain are Section 1 of Article XIV, which provides that the State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality educations at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all; and the State shall assign the highest budgetary priority to education and ensure that teaching will attract and retain its rightful share of the best available talents through adequate remuneration and other means of job satisfaction and fulfillment. However, Villacorta asked lawmaker to look into the German education system. “The German system might be worth looking into. Their system of vocational and technical education, is called Duale Berufsausbildung [job education]. Their institutes called Berufsschulen [job schools] deliver such training for three years, in cooperation with the companies where the trainees are employed. The students work in the company for three days, and study at the Berufsschule for two days. It is a much more serious training process that would better equip our youths to face the challenges of technological age,” he said. Villacorta added that Congress should also retain the provision in the charter on independent foreign policy. “The Constitution has stipulated an independent foreign policy [Article 11, Section 7] this provisions, which I cosponsored, is different from nonalignment o which a state distances itself from any alliance dominated by a big power. A State with such a policy opens itself to friendly with all powers, big or small. It regards alliances not only as a binding military commitment to prepare oneself for war. An alliance network is not seen as zero-sum game, but as win-win instrument for peace and mutual benefit,” he said.
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within the pomp and pageantry of dynastic rule.” In a separate interview with the BusinessMirror, Pompee la Viña called for fairness in the online discussions of Duterte programs and agenda. “Let us delve on the trolls and conspiracy theories because these things are pulling down the country,” he said. Once again, the social media director of the Duterte team in the recent elections addressed the issue of the so-called keyboard warriors. On the question if the Duterte administration has an army of paid trolls, la Viña said: “As far as I know the answer is none. Moreover, it would be a waste of money funding the group because of the sheer volume of Duterte’s supporters. We have 14 million supporters. These are the people who really believe in the vision and goals of President Duterte.”
For a long time, la Viña said supporters of Duterte reached out to the common people to determine their real problems. They found out different answers when they toured several areas in the country. While the urban-based candidates focused on the economy. Duterte zeroed in on drugs and crime. Those were the magic keys to capture the imagination of the people. La Viña and his social-media staff work double time to highlight the advocacies of the then-reluctant presidential aspirant. “The poor and other sectors felt helpless. Suddenly, a candidate emerges and gives them hope,” he pointed out. “That is beyond macroeconomics. The war on drugs and corruption can make a difference. It is my personal belief and conviction,” he added. As far as the trolls are concerned, la Viña has one advice. Just ignore them.
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UK plays down report Brexit trade deal could take 10 years
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An Iraqi worker operates valves at the Rumaila oil refinery near the city of Basra, 550 kilometers southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. Iraq’s prime minister says his country will agree to cut production to boost oil prices. AP
Nobody agrees when oil market will rebalance after Opec deal
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hat’s the range of views you’ll hear if you ask the International Energy Agency (IEA), Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), Saudi Arabia and the US government when the production cuts announced last week will end the global oil glut. The December 10 agreement between Opec and 11 other producers could begin to reverse three years of oversupply within the next six months, according to the IEA, Paris-based adviser to 29 industrialized nations. The Opec itself is less hopeful, predicting that stockpiles won’t fall until the second half of 2017. Khalid al-Falih, energy minister of Opec’s biggest and most influential member, Saudi Arabia, was less precise than either institution on Wednesday, saying he sees supply and demand aligning at some point this year without specifying when. For the Energy Information Administration (EIA), a unit of the US Energy Department, that may still be too soon. The EIA’s latest market outlook on December 6 projected that inventories will accumulate by an average
420K
EIA’s December 6 projection on accumulated oil inventories on a daily basis next year
420,000 barrels a day next year. “Given the paucity of timely supply data, the market has to take a lot on faith,” said Harry Tchilinguirian, head of commodity markets strategy at BNP Paribas SA in London. Opec and 11 other producers, including Russia and Kazakhstan, agreed to jointly cut output by about 1.8 million barrels a day in an effort to end a three-year
surplus that’s battered both their economies and investment by the world’s biggest oil companies. While prices have climbed, the rally may be losing momentum as traders question how far producers will comply with the deal and when it will disperse an inventory surplus of more than 300 million barrels, enough to supply China for almost a month.
Different views
A n yone hoping for a quic k answer to that question may be disappointed: behind the institutions’ opposing views on when the market will rebalance are differing estimates of global oil demand. Opec sees total consumption averaging 95.6 million barrels a day in 2017, the EIA anticipates 97 million barrels a day, and the IEA predicts 97.6 million. They also disagree on how much oil non-Opec nations will produce, with the Opec forecasting 56.5 million and the IEA 57 million. The difficulty of forecasting oil supply and demand on a global scale is underscored by the major agencies inability to even agree on how much oil the world used last year. There’s a gap of about 1.6 million barrels a day between the 2015 demand estimates of the IEA and Opec—roughly equivalent to all the crude pumped each day by Opec member Nigeria. Bloomberg News
Yellen signals caution about Trump’s stimulus plan
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ASHINGTON—President-elect Donald J. Trump has pledged deep tax cuts and increased infrastructure spending to restore lost jobs, accelerate the economy and bring prosperity to more Americans. Janet Yellen has her doubts. After a presidential campaign full of blunt words and sweeping promises, the Federal Reserve (the Fed) chairman sought on Wednesday to make a nuanced point: The moment for a deficit-fueled stimulus to improve job creation has likely passed. With unemployment at a low 4.6 percent and hiring consistently solid, Yellen said she thought employers no longer needed large tax cuts and heavy infrastructure spending to create
jobs. In fact, she suggested that with unemployment at a nine-year low, a major stimulus of the kind Trump is pushing could pose risks. For one thing, Yellen indicated that the government’s debt could become a heavier burden. “As our population ages, the debt-toGDP ratio is projected to rise,” she said. “And that needs to continue to be taken into account.” Yellen’s remarks, at a news conference after the Fed announced it was raising its key interest rate, cast her in an unusual role: Once a strong advocate of federal spending to support the economy in the aftermath of the Great Recession, Yellen now has cautionary words about such efforts.
Besides expanding the government’s debt, a heavy dose of economic adrenaline at this stage could also cause the economy to overheat. If that were to happen, the Fed would likely feel compelled to repeatedly raise its benchmark rate. Higher borrowing rates, in turn, would slow growth. “I would say at this point that fiscal policy is not obviously needed to provide stimulus to help us get back to full employment,” Yellen said. For years after the recession officially ended in 2009, Yellen and her predecessor, Ben Bernanke, had encouraged additional federal stimulus, concerned that the Fed alone could not support a fragile recovery. AP
he U K go ve r n me nt dow nplayed remarks attributed to a British diplomat that it could take 10 years to negotiate a final freetrade deal with the European Union after Brexit—and that even then it could fail. The BBC reported that Ivan Rogers, Britain’s ambassador to the EU, had said most countries in the bloc expect a final free-trade agreement would not be struck until the mid2020s. In a private briefing for Prime Minister Theresa May’s team in October, Rogers warned that even after a decade of talks, the deal could still be scuppered by any one of the EU’s 27 other national pa rl ia ments, whic h wou ld have the power to ratify or reject it, according to the BBC report on Thursday. “The comments of Ivan Rogers are taking words from interlocutors and this does not necessarily define how long it will take to create a trade deal,” UK Trade Minister Mark Garnier told lawmakers in Parliament’s lower house. “It is very, very difficult to establish how long any trade deal will take.” The 10-year warning echoes comments from EU diplomats made earlier this year. Rogers has an important role in the Brexit process, and is an ex per ienced diplomat who worked on David Cameron’s attempted renegotiation of the UK’s membership before the referendum.
Reporting views
The BBC also reported that Rogers said most EU countries believed the UK would get a free-trade accord rather than retain membership of the single market. May’s office and her ministers have publicly expressed confidence that a deal will be possible in two years. May’s office did not deny the BBC report, but said Rogers was simply recounting the views of other EU countries rather than outlining his own or the British government’s position. “Like a l l ambassadors, part of his role is to report the views of others,” May’s office said in a statement to the BBC. Bre x it S e c ret a r y Dav id Dav i s told l aw m a k e r s on Wednesday that he still believed it’s possible to agree to the final “end game” of Brexit within the two years that will be available for talks after May triggers Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. But he accepted in public for the first time that a transition period may be needed during the “implementation phase” of the final trading arrangement. “ We have to tr y to stick to t he t i me t able,” Swedish Pr ime Minister Stefan L o f v e n t o l d re p o r t e r s i n Br ussels as he ar r ived for a summit of EU leaders. “ T he whole Bre x it negot iat ions w il l be so ver y complex.” Bloomberg News
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The World BusinessMirror
China deploying weapons on artificial reefs in SCS
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hina appears to be deploying weapons systems on all seven of the reefs it has reclaimed in the South China Sea (SCS), according to photographs released by a Washingtonbased think tank.
shipping route that the US has patrolled largely unchallenged since World War II. China’s claims to more than 80 percent of the waters were dismissed by an international tribunal in July. Beijing said it would ignore the ruling. US President-elect Donald J. Trump has cited what he said was China’s effort to build a “massive fortress” in the South China Sea as one reason for taking a more confrontational approach to relations. He listed the project in a Fox News inter view while defending his decision to accept a call from the Taiwanese president, calling into question the US policy of recognizing Beijing as the capital of both the mainland and Taiwan.
‘Make a deal’
In this undated file photo released by Xinhua News Agency, a Chinese H-6K bomber patrols the islands and reefs in the South China Sea. AP
T he A sia Mar it ime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) said it began tracking in June and July the construction of identical hexagon-shaped structures to house the weapons on Fiery Cross, Mischief and Subi reefs, where China has already completed military-grade airstrips a nd insta l led rad a r. “It now seems that these structures are an evolution of point-defense
fortifications already constructed at China’s smaller facilities on Gaven, Hughes, Johnson and Cuarteron reefs,” AMTI, a unit of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said on its web site. The installations call into question a pledge made by China’s president, Xi Jinping, not to militarize the disputed reefs in the South China Sea, a $5-trillion-a-year
“I don’t know why we have to be bound by a One-China policy, unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade,” Trump said in the interview broadcast on Sunday.
China’s defense ministry said in a statement issued on on Thursday that its “installation of defensive facilities in the South China Sea is appropriate and legal.” The foreign ministry said last year that China was obliged to build some defensive facilities on the reefs as part of its responsibility to provide public services to the region. AMTI said that anti-aircraft guns appear to have been installed on China’s four smaller reefs. Although they cannot be definitively identified, they were likely to be “close-in weapons systems” whose function was to detect and destroy incoming missiles and enemy aircraft, the group said. “These gun and probable CIWS emplacements show that Beijing is serious about defense of its artificial islands in case of an armed contingency in the South China Sea,” AMTI wrote. “Among other things, they would be the last line of defense against cruise missiles launched by the United States or others against these soon-to-beoperational air bases.” Bloomberg News
It now seems that these structures are an evolution of point-defense fortifications already constructed at China’s smaller facilities on Gaven, Hughes, Johnson and Cuarteron reefs.”—Amti
Trump sends mixed signals on climate change
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ASHINGTON—He brushed it off as a Chinese hoax, then called it the real deal and finally declared that “nobody really knows”. When it comes to climate change, Donald Trump is sending mixed signals on whether or how he will try to slow Earth’s warming temperatures and rising sea levels. Since he was elected, Trump has met with prominent climate activists Al Gore and Leonardo DiCapr io. He’s sug gested his daughter Ivanka, a close adviser, has a particular interest in the issue and could be his envoy. But he has also tapped oil industry champions for his Cabinet, men who say they’re determined to reverse President Barack Obama’s efforts to rein in emissions. T he pushbac k has a lready started. Environmentalists were outraged by the Trump transition team’s decision to ask the Energy Department for a list of staffers who worked on climate change—a request the administration refused out of concern it could be used to try to purge climate-change believers. Trump’s team later said the questionnaire “was not authorized ” and that the person responsible had been “counseled.” Yet, if Trump’s record on climate change is complex, in his administration, he won’t be the only one.Two days after Trump was elected, oil g iant Ex xon Mobi l t weeted a dec l a rat ion of support for the Paris deal, a global emissions-cutting pact that marks the biggest step the world has taken to date on climate. Weeks later, Trump tapped Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson to be secretar y of state, a position putting Tillerson at the helm of US efforts to implement—or scuttle—the Paris deal. Though environmentalists often vilify Exxon, Tillerson almost surely signed off personally on the
A Yahoo sign at the company’s headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. AP
Yahoo’s big breach helps usher in new age of hacker anxiety
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AN FRANCISCO—Yahoo has become the worst-case example of an unnerving but increasingly common phenomenon—massive hacks that steal secrets and other potentially revealing information from our personal digital accounts, or from big organizations that hold sensitive data on our behalf. On Wednesd ay Ya hoo d isclosed a gargantuan breach affecting more than a billion user accounts, the largest such attack in history. The company said attack happened in August 2013, although Yahoo only discovered it recently. Worse, the company’s announcement followed a similar announcement in September of a 2014 hack—one Yahoo ascribed to an unnamed foreign government—that affected 500 million accounts. Neither Yahoo breach has yet been linked to online fraud or any specific repercussions for Yahoo users. But their disclosure closely follows US intelligence concerns about Russian hacking of Democratic emails during the presidential campaign—not to mention other recent attacks on a major health insurer, a medical lab-test company and the government office that manages millions of federal employees. “The lesson is clear: No organization is immune to compromise,” said Jeff Hill, director of product management for cybersecurity consultant Prevalent. And since most of us are dependent on big organizations that hold our digital lives in their hands, in a broad sense that effectively means no one is safe.
Government attackers
President-elect Donald J. Trump speaks at a rally in Baton Rouge, Los Angeles. He brushed it off as a Chinese hoax, then called it the real deal and finally declared that “nobody really knows”. When it comes to climate change, Trump is sending mixed signals on whether or how he will try to slow the Earth’s warming temperatures and rising sea levels. AP
tweet, said individuals familiar with Exxon’s structure and operations, who weren’t authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity. And under Tillerson’s leadership, Exxon has started planning for climate change and even voiced support for a carbon tax. So, in a strange twist, Trump’s selection of an oil magnate for chief diplomat has been reassurance to some that the next administration may not herald the end of climate change efforts that burgeoned under Obama. “Tillerson is probably the leastbad choice among a lot of bad options,” said Andrew Logan of Ceres, a coalition of institutional investors concerned about climate change. “Tillerson could be a moderating influence on Trump, keeping things from being as disastrous as they otherwise might be.” Democratic attorneys general have been suing Exxon over allegations the company for decades concealed its own scientific research showing climate change was occurring. Tillerson, in public comments, has explicitly acknowledged climate change and said the risks could be “significant,” but has
suggested it’s a low priority. “There are much more pressing priorities that we as a human being race and society need to deal with,” Tillerson said in 2012, citing people living in poverty who he said would benefit from cheap energy. Other Trump picks are openly hostile to calls to act on climate. His choice to r un the Env iron ment a l P rotec t ion A genc y—responsible for domestic emissions-cutting measures— is Ok lahoma Attor ney Genera l Scott Pr uitt, a voca l denier of c l i m ate c h a nge sc ience. T he vast major it y of peer-rev iewed studies and climate scientists agree the planet is war ming, mostly due to man-made sources. But Pr uitt has sued the EPA repeated ly to stop its climate a g e n d a , i n c l u d i n g O b a m a’s sweeping power plant r u les. And Trump’s nominee to run the Energy Department, former Gov. Rick Perry, also has questioned climate science while working to promote coal-fired power in Texas. Though Perry, like Tillerson and Pruitt, has close ties to the oil industry, he also oversaw the growth of renewable power
in Texas, which became the lead wind-energy producer while he was governor. Perry in 2012 famously called for abolishing the Energy Department, which plays a major role funding clean energy projects. Under Obama, the US has dramatically ramped up production of renewable energy from sources like solar, in part through Energy Department grants. Amy Myers Jaffe, an energy policy expert at the University of California-Davis, said Trump’s administration is likely to embrace Tillerson’s view that engineering and innovation, not government, are the solution. She said the falling cost of clean energy and desire of companies to appear climatefriendly are likely to produce those changes anyway. “ The common denominator looking at Trump’s appointments so far is that there’s clearly a sentiment that the energy sector is overregulated, and therefore we could probably expect a rollback,” Jaffe said. “But I think we’re getting to the point where some of these technologies can stand on their own.” AP
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Of course, it’s not that simple. The most sophisticated breakins are likely the work of digital burglars working for foreign governments that are mostly interested in manipulating their enem ies, not empt y i ng you r bank account. In the past few years, hackers tied to foreign governments are believed to have stolen e-mails to embarrass celebrities and Hollywood moguls (recall the Sony Pictures break-in during 2014 and possibly even to influence the 2016 presidential election. “Espionage has gone digital like so many other things our world,” said Steve Grobman, chief technology officer at Intel Security. “We’re increasingly seeing data being used as a weapon, where leaked or fabricated information is being used to intentionally damage individuals and governments.” Yahoo’s security breakdowns could turn into expensive deal breakers for the Sunnyvale, California, company. Both lapses occur red dur ing t he reig n of Ya hoo CEO Mar issa Mayer, a once-lauded leader who fou nd hersel f u nable to t u r n a rou nd t he compa ny in the four years since her arrival. Earlier this year, Yahoo ag reed to sel l its d ig it a l operat ions to Ver i z on Com mu n ic at ion s for $4.8 bi l l ion—a dea l t hat may now be imper i led by t he hac k ing revel at ions.
Two hacks, more than a billion accounts
Yahoo didn’t say if it believes the same hacker might have pulled off
two separate attacks. The Sunnyvale, California, company blamed the late 2014 attack on a hacker affiliated with an unidentified foreign government, but said it hasn’t been able to identify the source behind the 2013 intrusion. Yahoo has more than a billion monthly active users, although some have multiple accounts and others have none at all. An unknown number of accounts were affected by both hacks. In both attacks, the stolen information included names, email addresses, phone numbers, birthdates and security questions and answers. The company says it believes bank-account information and payment-card data were not affected. But hackers also apparently stole passwords in both attacks. Technica l ly, those passwords should be secure; Yahoo said they were scrambled by a cryptographic technique called hashing. But hackers have become adept at cracking secured passwords by assembling huge dictionaries of similarly scrambled phrases and matching them against stolen password databases. That could mean trouble for any users who reused their Yahoo password for other online accounts. Yahoo is requiring users to change their passwords and invalidating security questions so they can’t be used to hack into accounts. (You may get a reprieve if you’ve changed your password since September.) Sec u r it y e x per t s s a id t he 2013 attack was likely the work of a foreign government fishing for information about specific people. One big tell: It doesn’t appear that much personal data from Yahoo accounts has been posted for sale online, meaning the hack probably wasn’t the work of ordinary criminals. That means most Yahoo users probably don’t have anything to worry about, said J.J. Thompson, CEO of Rook Security.
Questions for verizon
News of the additional hack further jeopardizes Yahoo’s plans to fall into Verizon’s arms. If the hacks cause a user backlash against Yahoo, the company’s services wouldn’t be as valuable to Verizon, raising the possibility that the sale price might be renegotiated or the deal may be called off. The telecom giant wants Yahoo and its many users to help it build a digital ad business. After the news of the first hack broke, Verizon said it would re-evaluate its Yahoo deal and in a Wednesday statement said it will review the “new development before reaching any final conclusions.” Spokesman Bob Varettoni declined to answer further questions. At the very least, the security lapses “definitely will help Verizon in its negotiations to lower the price,” Gartner analyst Avivah Litan predicted. Yahoo has argued that news of the 2014 hack didn’t negatively affect traffic to its services, strengthening its contention that the Verizon deal should be completed under the original terms. “We are confident in Yahoo’s value and we continue to work toward integration with Verizon,” the company said. AP
Biodiversity Sunday BusinessMirror
Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014
Sunday, December 18, 2016
www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion
A5
Spread by trade and warming climate
Bugs butcher America’s forests P
ETERSHAM, Massachusetts— In a towering forest of centuriesold eastern hemlocks, it’s easy to miss one of the tree’s nemeses. No larger than a speck of pepper, the hemlock woolly adelgid spends its life on the underside of needles sucking sap, eventually killing the tree.
The bug is one in an expanding army of insects draining the life out of forests from New England to the West Coast. Aided by global trade, a warming climate and drought-weakened trees, the invaders have become one of the greatest threats to biodiversity in the United States. Scientists say they already are driving some tree species toward extinction and are causing billions of dollars a year in damage—and the situation is expected to worsen. “They are one of the few things that can actually eliminate a forest-tree species in pretty short order—within years,” Harvard University ecologist David Orwig said as he walked past dead hemlocks scattered across the university’s 5.8-square-mile research forest in Petersham. This scourge is projected to put 63 percent of the country’s forest at risk through 2027 and carries a cost of several billion dollars annually in dead-tree removal, declining property values and timber industry losses, according to a peer-reviewed study this year in Ecological Applications. That examination, by more than a dozen experts, found that hundreds of pests have invaded the nation’s forests, and that the emerald ash borer alone has the potential to cause $12.7 billion in damage by 2020. Insect pests, some native and others from as far away as Asia, can undermine forest ecosystems. For example, scientists said, several species of hemlock and almost 20 species of ash could nearly go extinct in the coming decades. Such destruction would do away with a critical sponge to capture greenhouse-gas emissions, shelter for birds and insects and food sources for bears and other animals. Dead forests also can increase the danger of catastrophic wildfires.
Today’s connected world enables foreign invaders to cross ocea ns in pac k ing m ater i a ls or on garden plants, and then reach American forests. Once here, they have rapidly expanded their ranges. While all 50 states have been attacked by pests, experts say forests in the Northeast, California, Colorado and parts of the Midwest, North Carolina and Florida are especially at risk. Forests in some states, like New York, are close to major t r a d e r o ut e s , w h i l e o t h e r s , like in Flor ida, house trees especia l ly susceptible to pests. Others, like New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine, are ex per iencing record war ming. “The primary driver of the invasive pest problem is globalization, which includes increased trade and travel,” Andrew Liebhold, a Forest Service research entomologist in West Virginia. “But there are cases where climate change can play an important role. As climates warm, species are able to survive and thrive in more northerly areas.” The emerald ash borer, first found in 2002 in Michigan, is now in 30 states and has killed hundreds of millions of ash trees. The gypsy moth, discovered in 1869 in Boston, is now found in 20 states and has reached the northern Great Lakes, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Native bark beetles have taken advantage of warming conditions and a long western drought to rapidly range from Mexico into Canada. An outbreak in Colorado spread across 3.4 million acres of forest from 1996 to 2013, according to the Forest Service, and in California 100 million-plus trees have died in the Sierra Nevada since 2010. Though small, bugs can easily overwhelm big trees with sheer numbers.
A tree-removal worker with a chainsaw watches as a log is removed by an oversized claw in a parking lot on the campus of Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, Massachusetts, in this 2009 photo. A 2008 infestation of the Asian longhorned beetle in the city resulted in removal of tens of thousands of trees. Scientists said invasive pests are driving some tree species toward extinction and causing billions of dollars a year in damage. AP/Steven Senne
“ They drain the resin that otherwise defends the tree,” said Matt Ayres, a Dartmouth College ecologist who worked on the Ecological Applications study. “Then, the tree is toast.” Forest pests in the era of climate change are especially concerning for timberland owners, said Jasen Stock, executive director of the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association. “We’re dealing with pests we’ve never been around before, never had to manage around before,” Stock said. “It’s something we’re going to be dealing with forever.” Urban forests, too, are at risk from outbreaks. In Worcester, Massachusetts, a city of about 180,000, an Asian longhorned beetle infestation in 2008 resulted in the removal of 31,000 trees. “You would leave for work with a tree-lined street, and you come back and there was not a tree in sight,” recalled Ruth Seward, ex-
ecutive director of the nonprofit Worcester Tree Initiative. Most trees have since been replaced. Though trees can die off quickly, the impact of pests on a forest ecosystem can take decades to play out. Dead hemlocks, for example, are giving way to black birch and other hardwoods. Gone a re favor ite nest i ng spots for two ty pes of warblers, as wel l as the bark that red squirrels love to eat, Har vard ’s Or w ig said. T he birds won’t die off, he said, but their ranges w il l be restr icted. “It’s a great example of how one species can make a difference in the forest,” Orwig said. As pests proliferate, scientists seek to contain them. Among the methods are bio controls, in which bugs that feed upon pests in their native lands are introduced here. Of the 30 states with emerald ash borer outbreaks, the USDA
says 24 have released wasp species to combat them. Some scientists worry about introducing another pest; others complain they aren’t effective because they can’t eat enough of the fast-breeding pests to make a difference. “With all bio controls, the hope is to create balance—balance between predator and prey,” said Ken Gooch, forest health program director for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. Genetic modifications also offer promise. On a research farm in Syracuse, New York, are rows of 10-foot chestnut trees tweaked with a wheat gene to make them resistant to chestnut blight, a fungus that came from Japan more than a century ago and killed millions of trees. Genetic eng ineer ing cou ld likewise be applied to fight insects, said William Powell, a State University of New York College
of Environmental Science and Forestry professor directing the chestnut research. An alternative strategy, also a slow one, is to plant trees 50 miles or 100 miles away from their normal range so they can escape pests, or adapt to a more favorable climate, said Steven Strauss, a professor of forest biotechnology at Oregon State University. “Mother Nature knows best,” he said. “It’s assisted migration.” To stop the next pest from entering the country, researchers, like Gary M. Lovett, of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in New York, proposes measures, such as switching from solid wood shipping material, that can harbor insects and restricting shrub and tree imports. Nonetheless, Lovett said new pests are inevitable. “We have this burgeoning global trade,” he said, “so we will get a lot more of these.” AP
Giraffes put on extinction watch list W
ASHINGTON—The giraffe, the tallest land animal, is now at risk of extinction, biologists say. Because the giraffe population has shrunk nearly 40 percent in just 30 years, scientists put it on the official watch list of threatened and endangered species worldwide, calling it “vulnerable”. That’s two steps up the danger ladder from its previous designation of being a species of least concern. In 1985 there were between 151,000 and 163,000 giraffes, but in 2015 the number was down to 97,562, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). At a biodiversity meeting on Wednesday in Mexico, the IUCN increased the threat level for 35 species and lowered the threat level for seven species on its “Red List” of threatened species, considered by scientists the official list
of what animals and plants are in danger of disappearing. The giraffe is the only mammal whose status changed on the list this year. Scientists blame habitat loss.
97,562
The number of giraffes in 2015, down from between 151,000 and 163,000 in 1985
While everyone worries about elephants, Earth has four times as many pachyderms as giraffes, said Julian Fennessy and Noelle Kumpel, cochairmen of the specialty group of biologists that put the giraffe on the IUCN Red List. They both called what’s happening to giraffes a “silent extinction”.
“Everyone assumes giraffes are everywhere,” said Fennessy, codirector of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation. But they’re not, he said. Until recently, biologists hadn’t done a good job assessing giraffes’ numbers and where they can be found, and they have been lumped into one broad species instead of nine separate subspecies. “There’s a strong tendency to think that familiar species [such as giraffes chimps, etc.] must be OK because they are familiar and we see them in zoos,” said Duke University conservation biologist Stuart Pimm, who wasn’t part of the work and has criticized the IUCN for not putting enough species on the threat list. “This is dangerous.” Fennessy blamed shrinking living space as the main culprit in the declining giraffe population, worsened by poaching and disease. People are moving into giraffe
areas, especially in central and eastern Africa. Giraffe numbers are plunging most in central and eastern Africa and are being offset by increases in southern Africa, he said. This has fragmented giraffe popu lations, ma k ing them shrink in size with wild giraffes gone from seven countr ies— Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Guinea, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria and Senegal, Kumpel of the Zoological Society of London said. The IUCN says 860 plant and animal species are extinct, and another 68 are extinct in the wild. Nearly 13,000 are endangered or critically endangered. The next level is vulnerable, where giraffes were placed, followed by near threatened and least concerned. The status of two snake species worsened. The ornate ground snake, which lives on the tiny island of Saint Lucia, deteriorated
A giraffe bends over to take food pellets from Kenyan visitors at the Giraffe Centre in Karen, on the outskirts of Nairobi in Kenya on December 7. Statuesque giraffes, overlooked because they seem to be everywhere, are now vulnerable to disappearing off the face of the Earth, according to biologists who create the world’s extinction watch list, at a biodiversity meeting in Mexico. AP/Khaled Kazziha
from endangered to critically e nd a nge re d . T he L ace p e de’s ground snake of Martinique, wh ic h wa s a l ready c r it ic a l ly endangered, is now considered possibly extinct, pending confirmation, as is the trondo mainty, a river fish in Madagascar. But there is also good news for some species. The Victoria stonebasher, a freshwater fish in Africa, went from being considered
endangered to least concerned with a stable population. And an African plant, the Acmadenia candida, which was declared extinct, has been rediscovered and is now considered endangered. Another freshwater fish, Ptychochromoides itasy, which hadn’t been seen since the 1960s, has been rediscovered in small numbers in Africa’s Sakay River and is now considered critically endangered. AP
Faith A6
Sunday
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Editor: Lyn B. Resurreccion
Songs for Advent By Corazon Damo-Santiago
G
Pope Francis celebrates a Mass to mark the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Saint Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican, on December 12. AP/Gregorio Borgia
New culture of nonviolence needed for world politics–pope
V
ATICAN CITY—Pope Francis is calling for a renewed culture of nonviolence to inform global politics today, saying military responses to conflicts only breed more violence. Francis cited Mother Teresa, Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. as models of nonviolent peacemakers in his annual message for the Catholic Church’s World Day of Peace, which is celebrated every January 1. “Violence is not the cure for our broken world,” read the message released on Monday. “Countering violence with violence leads at best to forced migrations and enormous suffering.” Earlier this year, the Vatican
hosted a conference of peace activists who called on the Catholic Church to renounce its “ justwar” doctrine, which condones the use of force to stop an unjust aggression if certain conditions are met. The activists urged a new peacemaking framework based on gospel-mandated nonviolence, arguing that, too often, the just-war doctrine had been used to justify and endorse military action rather than prevent it. They called for
Francis to develop an encyclical on “active nonviolence.” At a news conference launching the message on Monday, Francis’s point-man on justice and peace issues, Cardinal Peter Turkson, said he couldn’t rule out a possible encyclical or a special gathering of bishops on the theme of nonviolence. He said the church’s current just-war theory was no longer adequate for today’s world. Francis, named after the peaceloving Saint Francis of Assisi, has echoed his predecessors in condemning wars and promoting peace. But he has also endorsed military action to stave off the Islamic State group’s attacks on Christians in Iraq and Syria. That said, on Monday he sent a letter to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the international community urging an end to the Syrian conflict.
In the letter, Francis condemned all forms of “extremism and terrorism from whatever quarter they may come, and [appealed] to the president to ensure that international humanitarian law is fully respected with regard to the protection of the civilians and access to humanitarian aid,” the Vatican said. In his world-peace message, Francis repeated the Vatican’s call for the prohibition and abolition of nuclear weapons, and added: “I plead with equal urgency for an end to domestic violence and to the abuse of women and children.” In fact, he said, women are often the leaders in nonviolence, citing Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee of Liberia. He praised her and the thousands of other Liberian women whose nonviolent protests helped end Liberia’s civil war. AP
From Gentiles to Christians–tracing God’s history
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By Manuel Mariano Jr.
racin g back the histor y of the Judeo-Christian faith, I was so much interested on making a research on the history of God. Deep inside me, I was looking for the answer to who could be the one true God among the many gods being worshiped by people today. I found the answer in Joshua 24:2-5. Upon the death of Moses in 1406 BC, Joshua said to the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago, your forefathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham, and Nahor, lived beyond the river and worshiped other gods. But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the river and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. “I gave him Isaac, and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt… So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’ Joshua told them, ‘Now fear the Lord and serve Him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if
serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day who you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” From this time on, the nation of Israel was established in the promised land once again. What is interesting in this story was that God allowed man to live in this world as they please, from the flood in Noah’s time up to Terah’s time. Many people have descended from Noah’s three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, and bible scholars never stopped researching where these people settled and what happened to them. Moses, the author of the first five books in the Old Testament, had no account on what transpired to all the generations from thereon, except for his descendants. Karen Armstrong, a former nun, authored a book about the history of God and identified many man-made gods. Baal cropped up among the Amorites, Hittites, Jebusites in Canaan; Egyptians had their own gods in Isis, Osiris, Mithras, Ra, etc. The Babylonians had Inana, Ishtar, and Aphrodite in Greece and other sun god, moon god, sea god, etc., that had proliferated in the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
Are these the Gentiles who worshiped other gods? They probably were, as Paul explained when he was ordained as apostle to spread the gospel to them as written in the New Testament. There are three great religions in the world today, each claiming it is the one true religion. Judaism worships Yahweh; Christianity worship Yahweh, Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit; and Islam worships Allah. The bible only gave its account on the patriarchs and how God’s chosen people would be derived for the purpose of revealing God’s plan for mankind. In this prophetic line came instructions in detail on how to worship a Holy God who created all things seen and unseen in this world. There is no other book which gave the details of worshipping him alone except the bible. What if Jesus Christ did not come down from heaven and no apostles witnessed His earthly life for 33 years? Are the other gods more credible than Jesus Christ? Who wrote the eyewitness account on how they were made known to man? If the one true God took Him about 4,000 years to send His only begotten Son to live with mankind to show His concern of bringing salvation to every soul, then He also is that patient enough
to wait for mankind to repent for their sins. He knows Satan will confuse man to believe in some false gods, but Jesus Christ forewarned man from the start to beware of these Satanic religions. But Satan will eventually lose grip on his hold over this cruel world. When that time comes he will be banished again from this world where he was thrown down. Finally, the message to the Gentiles is clear. Matthew, the tax collector who became one of the 12 disciples, said Jesus Christ wants us to go out to all nations of the world and tell them the Good News. There is hope for a brighter future for mankind if we obey what the Messiah has been telling us all along from the beginning of time. He is the only way, the truth and the light, accoding to John 14: 4-6. People should stop being a devil’s advocate now. Instead, they should join the bandwagon of unity, love and understanding. This is the direction that Jesus Christ outlined for a new world order, not the one espoused by Satan, which is full of deception, selfishness and greed, the causes of lawlessness and disharmony of people.
Mariano is a retired Philippine Army brigadier general who served in the field as Infantry and Intelligence officer.
od, who wills everything to happen, allowed man to compose music for himself, to make him fulfilled and happy. And holy, too. Although the 20th century is characterized as the post-truth era, to the composer, poet or artist, history is an emotional passage of time, as well. For the annals of time are replete with chronicles when objective facts influence and appeal to the emotion. Sensual pleasure and narcissism are preferred benchmarks in the secular world. As well as in the subject of music. How sad for “cravings that compete with God’s supremacy in our life stimulates greed in our hearts and dulls our affection for Christ,” laments C. J. Mahaney in Worldliness. Thus, the name of Christ is even being eased out in the celebration of Christmas. The words “Happy Holidays” are preferred to “Merry Christmas” in many countries. During Advent, our ears are satiated with music of a sensateoriented world in words, rhythm, harmony and melody. The music lingers in the mind and heart long after it has stopped. The great danger in consumerism, according to Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium, is a covetous heart “caught up in its own interests and concerns,” that “God’s voice is no longer heard, and the quiet joy of His love is no longer felt and the desires to do good fades.” But some of the musical pieces written to honor Christ’s birth have remained favorites through the centuries. The words never fail to lift man’s spirit and invite him to fall on his knees to acknowledge God with us.
‘Silent Night’ now in 300 languages
After watching a Christmas drama in a private home in a town in Austrian Alps, Assistant Pastor Joseph Mohr of Obernadorf bei Salzburg in Austria took a longer way home. He took the hilly way where he had a view of the village from the hilltop. A poem he had written in 1816 about angels announcing the birth of the Messiah to the shepherds watching their f locks came to mind. The poem, if set to music, will be a very good carol the following evening, December 24, for his congregation, he mused. He told Franz Xaver Gruber, an organist, about his idea. With such limited time, Gruber can only come up with a melody to be sung with guitar accompaniment. Gruber and Joseph Mohr did sing “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht [Silent Night, Holy Night],” the new composition. Weeks later Karl Mauracher, a well-known organ builder, repaired the church organ. When Gruber played the composition, Mauracher was so impressed that he took copies of it. Well-known singers of the Rainers and Strassers families heard it and included the song in their Christmas Season Repertoire across Northern Europe. After King Frederick William IV of Prussia heard the Strasser sisters’ performance, he ordered the Cathedral choir to sing it every Christmas Eve. Today, “Silent Night, Holy Night” is sung in 300 languages. The English and German versions were sung by troops during the Christmas truce of World War I in 1914. Wikipedia noted that the version of melody used now is slow, meditative lullaby or pastorale, differing slightly, particularly in the final strain which was moderato in tune, 6/8 time and siciliana rhythm. Oberndorf bei Salzburg, where the lyrics were written, was declared an intangible cultural heritage by the
An acolyte lighting Advent candles. Wikimedia Commons
Un ited Nat ions Educ at iona l, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2011.
‘O Holy Night’ first music on radio broadcast
“O Holy Night” is a poem composed by Placide Cappeau, a French commissioner of wine, in 1847 at the request of his parish priest for the Christmas Eve celebration. Cappeau wrote it on his way to Paris and titled it “Cantique de Noel [Song of Christmas].” Adolphe Charles Adams, a classical musician of Jewish faith, set it to music and the song was performed to an appreciative congregation on Christmas Eve. When Cappeau left the church to embrace socialism, Church leadership banned the song throughout France. But the French people loved the song and continued to sing it outside the church. Dr. Jeff Sanders, in the article “O Holy Night in Social Media,” said that during the Franco Prussian War, a French soldier sang “Cantique de Noel.” The Germans responded with a Luther hymn and the soldiers had a 24-hour truce to celebrate Christmas Eve. When Reginald Fesenden, a former colleague of Thomas Edison, was tinkering with the microphone and telegraph, suddenly his voice was heard by wireless operators on ships and newspaper desks around the world. He was reading the birth of Jesus in Luke Chapter II. Overwhelmingly surprised, he picked up his violin and played “O Holy Night…fall on your knees!”
‘Hark the herald angels sing’ weds printing press music
“Hark how all the Welkin rings, Glory to the king of kings.” This is the first line of the poem written by Charles Wesley in 1730. George Whitefield, an English Evangelist, must have thought that Welkin, an old Anglo-Saxon word, which means the “vault of heaven where angels dwell,” was an archaic word. So he removed it without the author’s approval. The new version was, “Hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the Newborn King,” which the people preferred. In 1855 Dr. William Cummings, a famous organist, was tasked to set music for Charles Wesley’s poem to celebrate the birth of Christ. “Festgesang an die Kunstier [Festival ode to artists]” is a music piece w r itten by Feli x Mendelssohn, the great German composer in 1840, to commemorate the 400th anniversar y of the Guttenberg Printing Press. It was music for tec hnolog y si nce Mende l ssoh n detested composing secular music. But Cummings’s musical ear knew in his heart the music of Mendelssohn and Wesley’s lyrics can blend beautifully. Santiago is a former regional director of the Department of Education National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptoris College in Calauan, Laguna.
Tourism&Entertainment Getting lost BusinessMirror
Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua
in Central Japan
Sunday, December 18, 2016 A7
Philippine RoRo modernization leads to competent tourism movement and safe sea travel
Story & photos by Joshua Berida
W
hen we visit Japan, the places we visit or revisit are Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. These three destinations have their charm; they are rooted in the country’s history and culture.
MODERN RoRo
A
n integrated network of highway and vehicular ferry routes connect the major islands of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao, the roll-on, roll-off (Roro) vessels allow tourists to travel from one island to another to enjoy the destinations as it enhances the accessibility of the prime tourist destinations in the country. With the nautical highway system already in place, there is a strong need for safe and efficient sea craft. Every year sea accidents happen due to overcrowded, overloaded, old, poorly designed and illmaintained shipping vessels. The high incident record of sea mishaps has prompted other countries to release travel advisories warning their citizens visiting the Philippines against taking interisland ferries.
The confluence of the past and present is prevalent in these locations; the towering skyscrapers, glitzy shopping centers, old houses and historical structures, from castles to old villages. However, there is more to see once we leave the confines of the metropolis and the usual tourist attractions. Heading to the highlands is a new adventure to look forward to.
The way to modernization
Journey to the highlands
From Manila, the gateway to central and the highlands of Japan is Nagoya. When I booked my flights, I wasn’t sure of what I would discover when the travel dates arrived. I only had a rough itinerary of what I would do and planned to add or remove places as the trip progressed. One of the places I went to was Matsumoto. The bus ride from Takayama to Matsumoto took me from one quant city in the mountains to another one. The rolling hills descended into verdant, lush fields as far as the eyes could see. Small, traditional houses replaced the usual towering buildings of bigger metropolises, like Nagoya or Tokyo. As soon as the bus stopped, I made my way to the main square where the train station was and several other signs of commerce, McDonald’s and scattered family-owned shops. The mountains and the clear, blue skies served as a picturesque backdrop. The people didn’t walk like they were in a hurry to get somewhere, there was a certain ease in their steps. I was in the province, but not in the way I knew it back home.
Old soul
Like in most of the places I’ve been to in Japan, Matsumoto has remained connected to its rich history. A walk along the merchant district of Nakamachi made me think about the old shops that used to line the area. Nowadays, I got to see vendors selling local food, cafés offering an eclectic mix of Japanese and Western coffee, desserts or meals, and kitschy or handcrafted souvenirs that visitors can take home. One of the most beautiful castles in the country is in this city, Matsumoto Castle or Matsumotojo. This iconic structure is a popular destination for both locals and tourists alike. It’s a hirajiro, or a castle, on a plain rather than on a mountain or a hill. Its distinctly black wainscoting provides it with an air of dignity
The castle and its garden create a scenic spot for locals and visitors to enjoy. Kamikochi is a noteworthy day trip from Matsumoto city, and provides an easy adventure for outdoorsy visitors.
and grandeur, befitting royalty. Surrounded by a lake and garden, it creates an atmosphere of serenity and Zen. At night, the castle lights up the sky, its white light shining as bright as the moon. Matsumoto has its charms, but I was drawn to Narai after a conversation I had with an American roommate in the dorm. I didn’t know much about the place, but it was in the same direction I was going to upon returning to Nagoya. The photos of the old, traditional houses piqued my interest, as well. I thought that the city I left was already small and idyllic, but on the way to Narai, the number of towering buildings and houses decreased. The train station had a middle-of-nowhere feel to it, a feeling that I never felt anywhere else I’ve been to in Japan. I approached the ticket counter, she asked where I was from, I told her “Philippines”, she had this surprised look in her eyes. She took out a notebook and jotted something down. I found the gesture pleasantly surprising because of the high-tech nature of most of the counters I’ve seen in the country, wherein I dealt with more machines than people. The surrounding mountains and fog with a hint of rain gave me a jolt of nostalgia, this was the side of Japan that I don’t see on TV or hear about often. It reminded me more of a place back home, somewhere far from the city. Maybe it was low season, but I barely saw other tourists walking down its old streets. Narai is an old post town that was an important route in the Kiso Valley, and was the midway point between Edo and Kyoto. It was one of the wealthiest post towns in the valley, the long
stretch of houses used to be honjins and wakihonjins (inns that accommodated weary travelers of all kinds, from politicians to regular citizens). Now, it remains as a remnant of a distant past, a time warp for those who want to discover a part of a glorious epoch.
Exploring Kamikochi
A trip to the past may stir nostalgia, but the proximity of Matsumoto to the mountains makes it the perfect jump-off point to nearby Kamikochi, which is a part of a national park. For the adventurous and outdoorsy, Kamikochi presents a good day trip from the city. I was unsure about going to the park because of the inclement weather; however, the skies cleared for a day or two, which gave me the chance to explore this destination. The park is surrounded by mountains; I saw a snow-capped peak in the distance, even in June. The weather was chilly, but once I started hiking the easy trails along the river and into the forest, I started to get warm. I didn’t have time to climb any of the nearby peaks, but Kamikochi is still beautiful, with its mirrorlike ponds, reflecting the clear, blue skies, and its lush marshes.
Kamikochi offers plenty of quiet spots for some alone time while enjoying nature.
Adventure awaits
I had an idea of places I wanted to visit when I traveled around Central Japan, but I kept an open mind to changes in the itinerary. I was unsure about going to Matsumoto, Kamikochi, or Narai, but I wanted to get lost, and discover new places. Maybe I’ll find something or answer a lingering question, or maybe I won’t, but the journey itself made the trip worthwhile.
Southwest Maritime Group of Cos. President and Chief Executive Arben Santos observed that Roro vessels in the country are imported secondhand. “In Japan, once a Roro reaches 20 years old, it is no longer allowed to trade in Japanese waters. These old Roros made their way to the Philippine shores, but these secondhand Roros are not suitable for Philippine waters. Aside from that, some ship owners tend to add another deck to these secondhand vessels to increase passenger capacity, thereby affecting the ship’s stability,” he shared. Strongly believing that the safety of the passengers is nonnegotiable, Santos has been advocating the modernization of the Roro fleet in the Philippines. He has set his mind to persuade the government, particularly Marina, to adopt the necessary measures, such as curbing the importation of 35-year-old secondhand vessels, not allowing old vessels to operate, and strictly implementing international maritime safety standards. “No secondhand vessels should be imported, unless that vessel is 20 years old and below and has been fully classed by a member of the International Association of Classification Societies [IACS]. Also, within the given time frame, Roros older than 35 years old should not be allowed to operate,” Santos said. Embarking on a private sector-led Roro modernization program, he has convinced some ship owners, including the Starlite Ferries Inc. group, to stop buying aged secondhand and retrofitted vessels, and invest instead on brand-new ships. Another shipping company, FastCat, is also on its way to modernizing their fleet.
Starlite Ferries put much emphasis on the passenger safety thus, the company commissioned experts to build ships that meet local coastal-area shipping conditions and weather peculiarities. The brand-new vessels of Starlite Ferries: Starlite Pioneer and Starlite Reliance, servicing the Roxas-Caticlan route; and Starlite Saturn and Starlite Eagle, taking the BatangasCalapan route, are built with safety in mind. In modern vessels, the hulls have been waterproofed to enhance stability, and fitted with twin-screw propulsion and bow thrusters for efficient maneuvering. They have AIS transponder, GPS navigator with video plotter, BNWAS for watchkeeping monitoring and Navtex receiver for weather monitoring. CCTV cameras have been installed in strategic locations to further ensure passenger safety. The doors can be to keep the water out during the rainy season. Starlite Ferries also prioritizes the passenger convenience. Onboard, they will enjoy the amenities, such as the air-conditioned rooms and luxurious reclining seats with arms rests in the first-class section. The businessclass cabin is also air-conditioned, while the economy class has comfortable seating. Starlite Eagle has a nursery room for mothers who travel with their babies, and a playpen for children. Passengers with medical conditions can stay at the comfortable beds provided specifically for them. The modern vessel also has a helipad for emergency medical evacuation.
A big boost to Philippine tourism
As more shipping companies embark on modernization, it will encourage tourism movement. With its affordability and reduced travel time, more and more tourists, both local and foreign, will look at sea travel as another viable option to visit the beautiful islands in the Philippines. Due to efficient interisland connectivity, tourist arrival in Boracay from 2003 to 2006 jumped by more than 50 percent, while Iloilo enjoyed a 30-percent increase, and Dapitan rose by 200 percent. “Since Roro began its operation, areas along the nautical highway showed huge boost in tourist arrivals as traveling to the different islands of the Philippines has become more convenient and affordable. And with the modernization of Roros, we can expect greater tourism movement in the next years. We also hope that the travel advisories against sea travel in the Philippines issued by the other countries would be lifted; hence, more tourists coming,” Santos enthused.
COLOR MANILA CAPS 2016 IN DAGUPAN CITY
This old sign is a remnant of the post town’s important past. color Manila dagupan
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Walking through the streets of Narai is like traveling back in time.
The modern sea travel
The surrounding verdant mountain range and fresh air are a perfect combination for a good day out while exploring Kamikochi.
OLOR Manila, the country’s most aggressive “concept fun-run” organizer, just capped 2016 with the Color Manila Blacklight Run held at CSI The City Mall Dagupan City, Pangasinan, on December 10. More than a thousand participants participated in the night run, which was also made possible in cooperation with CSI The City Mall. Jeto Seen, marketing manager of CSI Malls, said, “Because of our partnership with Color Manila, we are able to bring these kinds of events, to our region. Color Manila has been our first partner, who has helped us bring lifestyle events in our community. We are happy that we already reached our fourth event with them and that our events are lauded by some as very well organized and very well attended.”
Justine Cordero, vice president of Color Manila, responded, “Through our partnership with CSI The City Mall, we have been able to let the residents of Dagupan City and other nearby cities experience firsthand what it is like to be part of the biggest concept fun-run in the country. This is our fourth event in Dagupan City, and we look forward to having more events here very soon.” For 2017, Color Manila will start the year with its biggest annual event, the Color Manila run year 5, to be held on January 8 at the Mall of Asia grounds. The event anticipates 12,000 runners who will join the event. Registration is still ongoing at www. colormanilarun.com.
Sports BusinessMirror
Sunday, December 18, 2016
A8
Editor: Jun Lomibao • mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph
Woods also was using a TaylorMade driver and fairway metal in the Bahamas, and he said he put his old Scotty Cameron putter back in the bag right after Nike announced it was out of the club business. He was still using the Nike irons and said in the Bahamas he planned more testing after the tournament. He has not announced his schedule for next year except for the February 16 to 19 Genesis Open at Riviera, where he hasn’t been since 2006. His foundation now runs the tournament. By choosing a new golf ball, Woods went a different direction from two of Nike’s highestranked players. Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka said they have asked Nike to set aside as many golf balls as possible. “I have about two to three years’ worth,” Koepka said in the Bahamas. McIlroy, who plans extensive equipment testing in Dubai at the end of the month, said changing golf balls would be the most difficult adjustment. “I need something that works, and right now the Nike golf ball works...with everything in my bag, which is perfect,” McIlroy said in late October. Woods took the first step with the Bridgestone golf ball. He joins a group of players that include Matt Kuchar, Brandt
Snedeker and Fred Couples Jack Nicklaus, meanwhile, has been designing and building golf courses around the world for the last four decades, and most of his work has been overseas during the last 10 years. But his latest project in Turkmenistan is as intriguing as any of them. Few people there even play golf. At least not yet. The president of the Central Asian nation, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, announced in October that he wants a golf course built ahead of the Asian Games next year. Nicklaus said the Ashgabat Golf Club should be finished in April (but not playable until July), and more courses are planned for a holiday area along the Caspian Sea. Turkmenistan is north of Iran and framed by the Caspian Sea to the west and Afghanistan to the east. “I don’t really know why the president wanted golf,” Nicklaus said over the weekend. “He has about 2,500 expats who live in Ashgabat who wanted golf, and he knows that golf is an Olympic sport and he’s got the Asian Games next year. He wanted the golf course done before that.” Golf is not the first sport that interested Berdymukhamedov. He also had three ice hockey facilities built in the country that is largely covered by the Karakum Desert and reaches highs of 120 degrees in the summer. “Every time he brought something in, it’s not just the capital. He said, ‘I want all my provinces to benefit.’ He brought horses in, he brought hockey in. And he’s doing the same thing with golf,” Nicklaus said. “He takes it to all his people.” He said the president wants a championship golf course and a “learning golf course.” Nicklaus already has made five trips to Turkmenistan, and he said the project will include golf courses in Awaza, a tourist zone along the Caspian Sea. Nicklaus said Awaza has 33 five-star hotels occupied only by the Turkmen from June to September, even though the weather is pleasant enough to go from April until early November. He said Turkmenistan issued fewer than 1,000 tourist visas last year, but the plan was to make Awaza more of a tourist destination.
during his transfer from Brazilian club Santos to Barcelona. They deny wrongdoing. In his debut season in 2013-2014, Neymar went six consecutive games without scoring a goal two separate occasions. He never went more than four games without a goal the following season, and in 2015-2016 he didn’t score in five games in a row late in the season. Although Neymar hasn’t been playing poorly, his missed chances have attracted attention. None more than the one in the 68th minute of the “clasico” against Real Madrid at Camp Nou a few weeks ago, when he had an open shot from close range to give Barcelona a 2-0 lead but sent his strike over the crossbar. Madrid scored an equalizer in the 90th. Neymar’s missed opportunity might have cost Barcelona the game, but it also kept him from showing his support for Brazilian club Chapecoense, whose players and delegation members died in a plane crash in Colombia. “If I had scored I would have shown a Chapecoense jersey,” Neymar said. “It’s what I could have done at that moment to show my support to the relative of those who died.”
It’s been a subpar season for Neymar compared to a year ago, when he scored 14 goals in his first 17 games. He ended with 31 goals and made the short list for the best player of the year award, finishing behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the voting. The 24-year-old Neymar has only six goals after 17 official games this season. He did not make Fédération Internationale de Football Association short list this time, and finished fifth in the Ballon d’Or award announced on Monday. Neymar started the season with Barcelona later than usual because he played for Brazil at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, leading the hosts to their first soccer gold medal. He didn’t play the last two games for Barcelona because of suspensions— against Osasuna in the Spanish league and Borussia Moenchengladbach in the Champions League. The coinciding yellowcard suspensions led to some criticism in Spanish media as they gave Neymar extended time off, although he had to spend time undergoing physiotherapy for a minor muscle ailment. AP
Woods tied for 15th against an 18-man field in the Bahamas, though he was hitting a greater variety of shots than when he had last played on the Professional Golfers Association Tour. The 14time major champion tends to play a golf ball that spins more than most, and Woods said the Bridgestone B333-S was “handsdown the best for my game.” “The ball is reacting identical with how I want to play,” he said in a release announcing the deal. “For me, that’s fun.” As part of the deal, Woods will be considered a Bridgestone ambassador and be featured in all advertising.
Bridgestone Golf has signed Tiger Woods to a multiyear agreement in which he will play and promote the golf ball. Woods effectively became a free agent for equipment deals when Nike decided to stop making clubs and golf balls and instead focus on apparel.
TIGER WOODS signs deal to play with new golf ball. AP
O
By DOUG FERGUSON | The Associated Press
NE tournament into his return was all Tiger Woods needed to strike a deal with Bridgestone to play its golf ball.
Bridgestone Golf said on Thursday it has signed Woods to a multiyear agreement in which he will play and promote the golf ball. Woods effectively became a free agent for equipment deals when Nike decided to stop making clubs and golf balls and instead focus on apparel. Bridgestone becomes the first new equipment company that Woods has endorsed since he turned pro 20 years ago. He signed with Titleist (equipment) and Nike (footwear and clothing) in 1996, and his switch to all Nike equipment began
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ACOLOD City beat Manila, 3-2, and Makati City, 7-3, to remain unscathed in four matches in the Cebuana Lhuillier-Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines (Asaphil) 18-Under National Women’s Softball Championship played at both the Sto. Niño and Barangka fields in Marikina City. Santa Maria (Bulacan) and Tanauan also stayed unbeaten in three games, while still in the hunt for semifinals berths in today’s duels are International Little League Association of Manila, Dasmarinas, Rizal and Manila. “It has been an exciting tournament so far with every team giving its best to outdo the competition. There’s a great amount of potential this season, which reaffirms my belief that softball is a sport that Filipinos can really excel in. I know the matches will only get even more thrilling as we approach the semifinals,” Asaphil President Jean Henri Lhuillier said. Top players in the tournament could make the national team to the Women’s Softball World Championship (19-under) set in July next year in Clearwater, Florida.
with its golf ball in May 2000. Terms of the contract were not disclosed. Woods had not played in 15 months while recovering from back surgeries, though he still draws more attention and spikes media ratings more than any other player. Woods had been testing equipment the last few months after Nike said it was getting out of the hard goods golf business. He used the Bridgestone ball at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, and said the golf ball was the critical component of any equipment change.
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NEYMAR had been enduring his worst scoring drought since arriving in Barcelona. AP
ADRID—A meaningless goal is still a goal, especially for someone who really needs a boost. Neymar had been enduring his worst scoring drought since arriving in Barcelona, but he got one in his team’s 5-3 friendly win over Al Ahli in Qatar on Tuesday. That could be just the spur he needs. In Sunday’s Spanish league game against Espanyol, Neymar will be trying to score his first goal in an official match since he signed a three-year contract extension with Barcelona almost two months ago. Neymar’s last goal for the Catalan club came in the 4-0 win over Manchester City in the group stage of the Champions League on October 19, two days before the new contract was signed to keep the Brazil striker in Barcelona until June 2021. Neymar failed to find the net in the eight matches since then, the longest scoreless streak in his four seasons in Spain. He also hasn’t scored since finding out about a month ago that he and his father are each facing a two-year prison sentence and a fine of more than $10 million on corruption charges related to alleged irregularities
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OHNNY ARCILLA hopes to cap another banner season as he guns for a sweep of the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala (PPS-PEPP) Open titles in the Dagitab Festival firing off today at the City of Naga Tennis Club in Cebu. Arcilla has lorded it over the elite men’s field by ruling the first three of four premier events on the PPS-PEPP calendar, including a masterful 6-2, 6-3 romp over fellow Davis Cup campaigner and longtime rival PJ Tierro in the Pintaflores Festival Open in San Carlos City last month. He had earlier edged Tierro in four to keep the Olivarez Cup crown for the third time in four years last August then held off Leander Lazaro, 7-5, 6-1, to retain the Tunafest Open diadem in General Santos City in September. Keen competition is also seen in the women’s side of the event serving as the final leg of this year’s 45-stage PPS-PEPP circuit sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and presented by Slazenger with top seed Clarice Patrimonio shooting for a third straight Open crown after topping the TunaFest and Pintaflores Open, both over Khim Iglupas. “It has been another great year for Philippine tennis as far as development and providing exposure for our young aspiring players are concerned,” Palawan Pawnshop President and CEO Bobby Castro said. “The PPSPEPP circuit will continue to promote the sport and give our players, particularly the youth, the venue where they could hone their talent and skills and gain ranking points.” But while Arcilla remains the top favorite to score a repeat and complete another sweep of the Open plums, Tierro, Lazaro and the 29 other players in the 32man draw are raring to foil his bid in the five-day tournament sanctioned by the Philippine Tennis Association and backed by Asiatraders Corp., exclusive distributor of Slazenger. But Iglupas, who first overwhelmed Patrimonio in the Olivarez Cup, and the 14 others in the roster are also out to foil not only Patrimonio’s bid but also that of Iglupas, a recent Phinma International winner. Also on tap is the mixed doubles with the top 2 pairs of Tierro-Patrimonio and ArcillaIglupas tipped to clash for the championship. Others competing in the men’s side are No. 3 Vicente Anasta, Fritz Verdad, Ronard Joven, Bryan Otico and John Altiche, along with Mark Alcoseba, Jose Maria Pague, Jan Seno, Dave Mosqueda, Roel Capangpangan, Venz Alforque, Marcen Gonzales and Kim Saraza. Young Shaira Rivera, toughened up by her stint in the recent Phinma International, is also expected to figure prominently in the women’s side, along with Erika Manduriao, Melanie Dizon, Chloe Saraza, Aileen Rogan and Audrey Calma.
Journey BusinessMirror
»life on the go
A9 | Sunday, December 18, 2016 • Editor: Tet Andolong
The Pantry serves breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week
The revival of a throwback hot spot
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By Margarita Medrano-Tupaz
SIDE from being one of the most iconic structures in Makati’s Central Business District (CBD), the superlative combination of the creativity and the hospitality of the Thais and Filipinos is what set this hotel apart from every other one in the Metro. The synergy of inspirations found in this serene tropical oasis, located in a bustling metropolis, makes up the unique luxurious experience that Dusit Thani Manila offers. Growing up, I witnessed the building that is now Dusit Thani Manila gone through changes. However, the façade of the structure always remained the same and coming back to Manila after long stints abroad was always associated with the sight of this landmark, reminded me that I was home. It’s easy to overlook and bypass the hotel during the course of our daily commute, but when sitting in traffic or at a red light on Edsa or Pasay Road, I would often wonder what could be happening inside. Dusit Thani Manila is proudly home to three new key individuals who embody fresh ideas stemming from different places and backgrounds. Director of Sales and Marketing Leilani Merilo is a Filipina who worked
The couples room at Devarana Spa
in five-star hotel chains in Thailand and Indonesia for over 10 years. She is the embodiment of the combination of Thai and Filipino cultures and, coincidentally, both are acclaimed for their warmth and hospitality. Dorothy Jane Espiritu, public relations and communications manager, is coming to the hotel industry from the airline and beauty tourism industries. She is armed with the knowledge and skills that cut across generations and demographics, spanning the different genres of hospitality. Last, but definitely not the least, General Manager Bruno Cristol believes that at the heart of every successful hotel operations is service—the kind that is sincere, professional and warm. “Service that is given to make a client smile determines how much attention we put into every detail—whether it’s a flower arrangement to brighten someone’s day, food that has been prepared and arranged well
Lechon carving station at the Crossover Brunch Buffet at The Pantry
to please the eye and the appetite, or a sincere smile to help begin someone’s day on a bright note,” Cristol said. “Dusit Thani Manila is doing major renovations within the property. The goal is to get each of the 538 rooms refurbished by 2017, and it will combine comfort and elegance with updated amenities,” Merilo said. The interiors reflect a modern-design scheme with stylized renditions of classical Thai art to provide a subtly elegant sense of decoration, color and aesthetics. The newly upgraded and renovated Club Lounge on the 17th floor has a perfect view of the Makati City landscape from all vantage points. There is a private dining room and a glass-enclosed library adjacent to the lounge. There is no other venue more conducive to reading and getting work done than here. Hands down the best Club Lounge in the city. For all the local foodies, Dusit Thani Manila takes pride in its selection of food and beverage outlets that present a host of exciting flavors, ambiance and
Teppanyaki at UMU
outstanding dining experience. Umu Japanese Restaurant welcomes lovers of Japanese food to a relaxing ambiance with the hush and stillness of first-rate Japanese restaurants. The exotic flavors of Thai cuisine come alive in one of Manila’s iconic restaurants, the magnificent Benjarong Thai Restaurant. This could easily be hailed as the best Thai restaurant in all of Metro Manila.
The Pantry
The Pantry has become associated as the flagship restaurant of Dusit Thani Manila, primarily because of its Crossover Brunch. Its departure from the traditional rouses a youthful spirit that’s eager to prove itself. This all-day dining restaurant, sprung from the concept of farm-to-fork dining, The Pantry makes use of locally sourced fair trade goods and organic ingredients to craft culinary creations. The Crossover Brunch, happening on Sundays, is more than just your run-of-the-mill buffet. With multiawarded Chef Nicholas Issel at the helm, The Pan-
try has taken the metropolitan food scene by storm. The Pantry marked the beginning of the ambitious overhaul of the hotel. With an emphasis on the regional tastes of Mediterranean, Spanish, Filipino and Asian cuisines, The Pantry is a delicious melting pot of flavors that are all but ordinary. The likes of House Smoked Salmon Flat Bread Pizza, Adobo of Soya & Vinegar Braised Pork Belly, Piri Piri Rotisserie Chicken, BBQ Lechon Cubano Sandwich and Hot Spanish Churros with Rich Silky Chocolate Sauce infuse the 280-seater restaurant with an assortment of inviting aromas. Situated at the center of The Pantry is a live lechon pit and carving station. The Pantry is home to nine global food stations, which include a seafood station, brick-oven Italian pizza, a Chinese bao bar, Indian Tandoor oven, beverage studio and a sinfully divine dessert section. A first of its kind, The Pantry also features the Grab & Go, a takeaway counter for people on the go. “Our vision for The Pantry is to bring our guests to the forefront of fine dining. Dusit Thani Manila is uniting luxury and sustainability, and we are mixing it with a fun and lively atmosphere. We are definitely witnessing a culinary revolution,” Cristol said.
Devarana Spa
Devarana is Thai Sanskrit meaning “garden in heaven”. Inspired by this concept, the Devarana Spa, located the second floor of Dusit Thani Manila, excites the senses and makes guests feel truly special. Luxurious pampering and healing treatments are offered in this stress-relieving
Benjarong
environment. The contemporary Thai interior design and décor invites guests to transcend the everyday world and provides the relaxing and welcoming atmosphere, in which they can enjoy premium spa treatments with traditional Thai service and hospitality. This holiday season, the Figgy Pudding Scrub is sure to hit the spot. The unique and festive fusion moisturizes, rejuvenates and tones the skin, and is also loaded with antiaging benefits. Because figgy pudding raises festive spirits, Devarana Spa is offering this unique skin-care treatment that combines fresh fig pulp with the aromatic and seasonal scents of vanilla cinnamon and grapefruit. The heady aroma of fruit and spice that the scrub exudes is wonderfully calming and smells almost good enough to eat. For an experience that’s truly rejuvenating, the Devarana Spa is worth the visit. In this haven, guests can indulge the senses with a host of treatments, such as traditional Thai massage, as well as other forms of therapeutic treatments to relax the mind, soothe the spirit and heal the body. “Dusit Thani has so many exciting things happening within the next few years. We are expanding to BGC and Davao by 2017. There are a lot of new things to look forward to here in our flagship location. We are dead set on making Dusit Thani Manila a premier food and beverage destination,” Espiritu said. For business or pleasure, or for the enjoyment of both, Dusit Thani Manila offers the amenities, the service and the experience for a luxurious stay that will be remembered for a long time.
Journ
BusinessMirror
A10 Sunday, December 18, 2016
A new ‘WorkPlays’ in the La
T
By Bernard Supetran
HE eclectic city of Puerto Princesa goes by different monikers, such as “City within a Forest”, “Port of Princess” and “Last Frontier”.
Mangrove Convention Center
And recently, it became racked up a new title as home to the first “WorkPlays” in Palawan with the recent opening of the new facilities of Astoria Hotel and Resorts. A homonym of “workplace”, the resort espouses merry mix of work and play, of business and leisure with its Waterpark and Mangrove Convention Center. Situated on a sprawling 5-hectare mango orchard in Barangay San Rafael in the city’s outskirts, Astoria Palawan is presenting an eco-sanctuary experience, which reflects the distinct charm of the province and its people. According to resort manager Liza Arbis, Astoria Palawan is the newest playground in Palawan’s “Forest City”, which aims to be the preferred destination where work and play mingle for a productive getaway. “We want to be a venue for work, seminars, but it is also much wiser if you can combine work and play,” she said. With Puerto Princesa emerging as a meetings incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) destination, the world-class Mangrove Convention Center comes in like a whiff of fresh air. Its 72 spacious and well-appointed suites housed in 13 leaf-shaped wooden cabin villas, Astoria can house the
Two-bedroom suite
growing demand for MICE venues or even “staycations” in this part of the archipelago. The 1-hectare Waterpark, the first of its kind in the Palawan, takes pride in its water geysers, bamboo water cannons, splash pads, wave pools and stunning artwork of endemic flora and fauna, and high corkscrew slides, which will delight adults and children alike. It also offers a variety of water activities, like a “surf’s up” pool with six levels of simulated waves, giant slides and kid zones. The Pod swimming pool features an infinity edge that seems to connect to the Sulu Sea, and has a large section for sunken loungers and a separate lounge area for children. A musical welcome from the Batak Tribe, which is one of the last remaining aboriginal tribes in the Philippines, await guests. This gives guests the chance to truly connect with the heart and history of the island. Adding prestige to the posh resort is its proximity to the famed Saint Paul Subterranean River, a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site and a part of the New Seven Wonders of Nature. It is also a few heartbeats away from the natural wonders of northern
Palawan, which have made it Conde Nast Traveler’s “Best Island in the World”. The property, which opened in 2014, is the latest addition to Astoria Hotels and Resort’s expanding portfolio, which also includes Boracay and Bohol. The
resort also offers a wide array of activities, such as island-hopping in Honda Bay, snorkeling in the house reef, kayaking, room massages, al-fresco movie nights, beach volleyball, golf-cart rides and mountain bike rides, to name a few. It also has a game
room with local Filipino board games and a karaoke room for a consummate bonding with family, friends or associates. If you work hard and play even harder, the perfect venue is already here. For more information, log on to www.astoriahotelsandresorts.com.
Astoria Palawan Mangrove Park
The Pod
Astoria Waterpark
VisMin’s favorite Filipino kitchen opens I
By Nana Nadal
F you’ve been around the VisayasMindanao region, you would be familiar with Golden Cowrie. Their Cebu lechon belly and baked scallops sourced from Bantayan Island of Northern Cebu have a solid following. But those two best sellers are not the only items that keep diners coming back. With the recent opening of Golden Cowrie Filipino Kitchen at S Maison in Conrad, Manileños can discover for themselves why the Golden Cowrie brand has become so popular. Recommended for first timers are the staples on every table—sinigang na hipon, grilled tuna belly, adobong talong and pork sisig. If they’re in search for a little more adventure for their palate, they can have that, too. The owners say that Golden Cowrie Filipino Kitchen is all about combining flavors that stir memories of the past and provide a glimpse of where our cuisine can go in the future. “While we are known for traditional Filipino cuisine, we
Lechon Cebu Belly
also offer our interpretation of the classics to always keep the dining experience new,” Director for Product Development Kristine de la Riva-Kokseng explained. A bit of sophistication was injected into some
popular street food. Manong’s real balls are 100 percent real fish, squid and shrimp rolled into orbs, skewered on sticks, and plated in a fancy way. The Salinas Kwek-kwek uses beer batter as breading for the quail eggs.
Other reinvented dishes include the miki negra (miki noodles in a unique squid ink sauce, topped with crunchy squid chops), pomelo salad (pomelo and singkamas in a calamansi-based dressing, topped with crunchy dried squid), pinaupong manok (bathed in hot oil, cooked in salt, and other secret spices) and the Zarsuela de Mariscos (seafood cooked in light tomato sauce, olive oil, tomatoes and coco wine). “We’d like to refer to them as ‘refreshingly Filipino. We enjoy working on something familiar and give it a tweak here and there to make it more interesting but keep it recognizable,” de la RivaKokseng elaborated. Even vegetarians will not be left out of the fun. Golden Cowrie Filipino Kitchen has a special menu for the noncarnivores with innovative items that might make even meateaters curious. Wouldn’t you want to try meatless sisig and dinuguan? The mix of conventional and modern can also be seen in the interior design. Cebuano craftsmanship is in full display through the use of
Mactan stones and variety of weavings. The vibe is relaxed, it encourages conversation and invites you to order more. For private events, a function room for 48 persons is available. Golden Cowrie Filipino Kitchen at S Maison can accommodate up to 150 guests. For inquiries and reservations, log on to www.alwaysafeast.ph. Golden Cowrie Filipino Kitchen is under the umbrella of Cebu Golden Restaurant. Their outlets can be visited at the following venues: Luzon: Hukad in Trinoma; Cebu: Golden Cowrie in Lahug, SM City Cebu, Robinsons Cybergate, Marina Mall Mactan, A.S. Fortuna and Hukad in Ayala Terraces, Parkmall, South Town Centre and SM Seaside; other areas of Visayas: Golden Cowrie in Bohol, Hukad in Robinsons Dumaguete, Tacloban, Boracay, SM Iloilo, SM City Bacolod; Mindanao: Hukad in Davao Abreeza, Davao SM Lanang, Davao SM Ecoland, Gensan Veranza, Ozamiz, Robinsons Butuan, Gaisano Mall Tagum, KCC Zamboanga, Prime Arcade Pagadian, Mall of Alnor-Cotabato.
Baked Bantayan scallops
Vegetarian sisig
ney
r
»life on the go Editor: Tet Andolong | Sunday, December 18, 2016 A11
Last Frontier
Robert Lim Joseph, chairman; Ralph Lim Joseph, president and CEO; Raymond Lim Joseph, sales and marketing director; and Ronnie Lim Joseph, operations director
Experience wine in style Story & photos by Jacqueline SalvadorMarvida
H
ISTORY revealed that wine is a symbol of power, luxury and wealth. The more aged the wine is, the better taste and aroma it becomes. This is what the 16th Grand Wine Experience at the Marriott Grand Ballroom was all about. Welcoming around 2,000 guests, including businessmen, celebrities, suppliers and wine enthusiasts, the Grand Wine Experience makes it the biggest and grandest wine celebration in the country. The event featured over 500 wines, different spirits, beers and champagnes—as well as overflowing food and other beverages inside the venue. The guests were able to taste and experience the luxury of drinking wines from different parts of the world, such as Latin America, including Chile and Argentina, as well as wines from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy and France. The guests were able to take samples from different selections of sparkling wine, rose wine, dessert wine, white wine and red wine. Other alcoholic drinks were present, such as well famous spirits and branded beers as well as cognac, whiskey tequila, vodka and gin. This celebration paved way to welcome the launch of their first Grand Wine Magazine that offers a very informative and substantial, trendy and worth-reading articles about wines, etiquettes, etc. Before the grand celebration, the Joseph Brothers conducted a one-day seminar and training. They provided lectures and knowledge regarding wines and spirits
Manong’s real balls
Zarsuela de Mariscos Wines from France
Different glasses for wines
sixtEEnth Grand Wine Experience at Marriott Grand Ballroom
together with some speakers from the suppliers. And the man behind this was, Ralph Lim Joseph, president and CEO of Ralph Wine and Spirits. Ralph is equipped with knowledge worth of wit and sophistication. He upholds his moving spirit in the industry with a glass of wine in his hands. Despite the fact that the Philippines is not a wineproducing country yet, Ralph believes that the country can still produce a remarkable and exciting event. With his brothers backing him up, the grand wine experience is always a tremendous success. According to one of the Joseph brothers and chairman, Robert Lim, next
year’s Grand Wine Experience will even be a bigger and bolder celebration. “Next year will be a three-day event,” he said. With the magazine launch, they will also promote wines and spirits to coffee shops, business centers and other institutions. With the support of Meeting Incentives Conventions Events and Exhibition, Department of Trade and Industry and Department of Tourism and suppliers, a three-day event next year is not impossible. It is the brotherhood that is very vital since they put everything together. “Unity, passion and loving what you do is the key to success,” Operations Director Ronnie Lim Joseph said.
Journey BusinessMirror
»life on the go
A12 Sunday, December 18, 2016
Editor: Tet Andolong
Nowhere to go but ‘app’:
Technology as a driver of tourism
P
THE TOURISM ADVOCATE
LANES, trains and automobiles. These may be some of the most common ways to get around.
It’s also the title of a classic comedy-adventure movie riddled with slapstick problems and travel mishaps that no longer plague travelers of the new age. Nowadays, technology lets you take whatever adventure you want whenever and wherever you please, with just a few clicks. As the Internet becomes a large, diverse Web of booking sites, travel blogs and vacation guides, wandering the globe becomes more feasible and accessible—making tourism less tangled and more connected.
Sites for sights
Every trip begins with the questions: “How do we get there?” or “Where will we stay?” Convenience is a big key in bringing in tourists because what good is a fun trip if you’re hassled by flight troubles and lodging woes? One the biggest drivers in steering tourism to the Philippines have been the rise of online booking sites. Both Filipino and foreign tourists alike have been able to conveniently book their flights and accommodation through popular international sites, like Trivago and Agoda, that now have local domains and URLs. Even the popular Skyscanner has set up a Philippine site, comparing cheap flights or fares, car
rentals or hires, and hotel prices all in the Philippine peso. Local web sites, like Travel Book and Visit My Philippines, are also great champions themselves as they offer booking suggestions per region and sort them with discounts and coupons. Partnerships with user-based review sites like Trip Advisor have greatly widened the scope of such sites to reach international pools and bring them here. As it becomes easier and more streamlined to actually start the trip, it all boils down to the meat of the matter: “What do we do there?”
A shot of the breathtaking Anawangin Cove Beach as part of The Poor Travelers' online budget travel guide to Zambales. The Poor Traveler
Your Internet itinerary
When it comes to traveling, the usual tide hits the famous sites, the leisure resorts, the uniquely tropical locations and the travel tours. But in the modern age of backpacking, Instagramming the “unbeaten path,” and groups opting for more flexible and personal adventures, the best sites that attract engagement are none other than the local blogs. The most popular blogs have gained a certain following because they relate every experience (both good and bad) and show detailed itineraries that a curious traveler can successfully use to plan their own. Along stark images, descriptive and seemingly personal words litter these blogs
The Airbnb Open gathers thousands of its registered hosts to mingle and share tips on better décor and accommodation for travelers using the app. Airbnb
and help ease the nervousness in foraying into distant lands. With price ranges, travel tips, package details, contacts, transportation information and reviews all in one, the local blog has become a dependable go-to guide for those seeking out the best spots in the Philippines. Filipino-run sites, like Our
Awesome Planet, Pinay Solo Backpacker and The Poor Traveler, have become trusted staples in online tourism. Hence, they are featured now in the same field as international pages, like Lonely Planet, and have garnered sponsorships from the biggest urban chains, airline companies, to the littlest unknown nooks in the provinces.
Web apps and innovation
As technology and social media keep on advancing, so does user-to-user data and interaction. Web sites-turned-apps are in a vast majority of tourists’ digital toolboxes to help them on their way. A popular pick, winning Brand of the Year 2015, is Airbnb. Now in the Philippines, locals can put up flats, homes, hotels and practically any lodging space for rent on this highly sought-after platform. Interactions and feedback work much like buy-and-sell sites, such as OLX and E-bay, instead, substituting products with temporary living spaces. With 30 million reservations tracked globally and 9,435 listings in Manila alone, the site (and its accompanying app) have essentially virtualized the so-called “millennial adventure” and made it that much easier to find a place to stay. Even simple Web appsturned-mobile, like the trusty Google Maps have advanced to display specific directions and
traffic information for basically every location under the sun (or the satellites). To top it off, mixing actual human interaction with the quick response of technology created a new web site (with an app version, as well) called Showaround. The site lets travelers pick through a wide assortment of locals who have signed up to, as the name says, show tourists around their city. Available in most countries, the Philippines already showcases 2,924 locals in its roster. Slowly being overshadowed are the travel industry’s age-old problems of inaccessibility and lack of visibility. With the mobile technology and the Internet virtually connecting us to the rest of the world, that international “barrier” can now be bridged in mere seconds. Many a times, whether constricted by time or responsibilities, one might ask, “Why travel?” With the growing innovations in technologically driven tourism, it’s become that much easier to instead ask, “Why not?”
and nature lovers will adore Vaude (Germany). This environmentally focused brand offers a great assortment of backpacks that range from technical packs to day packs for the short one day hiker. Designs are simple, yet extremely functional. Vaude colorways are also very eye-catching, which will stand out wonderfully on the trails. Last, but not least, is Boreas (US). Based in the creative hub of San Francisco, this small independent brand has won several design awards. Staying true to their minimalist design ethos and user-centric innovations, Boreas is committed to creating beautiful, practical, hardwear-
ing gear to enable people to have the best possible experience outdoors. From cycling to the office, surfing in La Union, or backpacking India, Boreas bags are built to withstand and impress, anywhere you go. With these five international brands, Tripologie offers an array of travel gear that will surely whet any wanderluster’s appetite. Whether you’re an adrenaline junkie, a laidback backpacker or a young jetsetter who loves the comforts of modern travel, find the gear that you need at Tripologie— the new destination for today’s generation of independent and multifaceted travelers.
Tripologie: Be the Journey A
S you explore and discover new dream destinations, find that there is a home that you can always come back to. Tripologie, the vibrant and newly rebranded travel lifestyle store l at the third floor of Eastwood Mall (Quezon City) offers curious adventurers and passionate travelers a wide array of travel essentials to equip them on their next journey. As a one-stop shop for the multifaceted and independent traveler, Tripologie provides its customers with a carefully chosen portfolio of bags and luggage—from durable hiking backpacks and bags for the urban creative, to stylish trolleys for the jet-setting entrepreneur. Never find yourself lost or unprepared for a trip (whether it’s for business or pleasure) with pieces from some of the world’s most-trusted brands. With your mind at ease as you travel, you can freely focus on the moment at hand, conquering the world and embracing the new, wherever the road ahead takes you. Tripologie believes that today’s travelers are connected and in search for connection, to people, places and things. This is the
spirit that Tripologie’s new tagline espouses—“Be the Journey”. In Tripologie’s case, traveling is all about the journey and not just the destination. Tripologie, which caters to the different personalities and needs of travelers, offers a great mix of well-curated quality gear and accessories. Helping to travel securely are Pacsafe (Australia) backpacks, sling bags and soft-case trolleys. As premium picks made from very durable material, with extracushioned support, and equipped with patented anti theft and antitamper features, Pacsafe products
are some of the world’s most secure travel gear, helping you journey on with the peace of mind that you deserve. Stylish travelers can also revel at the chic designs of Lojel (Japan), travelware for the 21stcentury traveler. Lojel designers have drawn their inspiration from the curiousity that comes with exploration and discovery when travelling. This spirit is expressed through Lojel’s tagline “Crafted for the Curious”. Modern, tasteful, with a splash of color and cultured attitude, Lojel products are a wonderful embodiment of today’s independent
and creative traveler. For travelers looking for a sleek balance between form and function, Thule (Sweden) offers a slew of bags, luggage, and protective gear for your electronics that are made of high-quality materials and intuitively designed. Looking closely, one will see that each product has been carefully manufactured with Thule’s brand ethos in mind —“Bring Your Life”. Trusted quality with minimalist and modern designs, Thule products make for extremely reliable and stylish travel companions whatever your life passions may be. Outdoor adventure seekers