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Saturday, December 29, 2018 Vol. 14 No. 80

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TO WATCH IN 2019

BLOOMBERG

“In 20 years I haven’t operated in an environment like this, ever, because there were always safe havens before. Countries we thought easy to predict are becoming harder to read now.”— Simpson

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By Marc Champion Bloomberg News

HE world is changing fast and 2019 promises to be another bewildering and chaotic year. The rise of China in the East and populists in the West means that, by mid-2018, economies run by mainstream democratic parties accounted for just a third of the combined gross domestic product of the Group of 20 nations, down from 83 percent in 2007, according to Bloomberg Economics. And that was before the election of two more populist presidents, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil.

“In 20 years I haven’t operated in an environment like this, ever, because there were always safe havens before. Countries we thought easy to predict are becoming harder to read now,” says Claire Simpson, global claims director at Willis Tower Watson Plc., a global risk advisory and insurance company.

Whether this upheaval is due to a technological revolution, income inequality, a clash of civilizations or Western arrogance (choose your poison), the trend is set to continue. In 2019, a number of these transitions from the post-Cold War era have the potential to come to a head, each carrying “worst case” risks. To help navigate them, we’ve com-

piled a calendar of some of the key moments to watch, organized by topic. Happy New Year.

A new arms race

ON December 4, Donald Trump gave Russia 60 days to comply with the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty or see Washington trigger a six-month notice period to end its commitments not to produce land-based missiles and launchers that have a range of 500 kilometers to 5,500 kilometers. The clock runs out at the end of February. The 1987 treaty was negotiated between the US and then-Soviet Union to dismantle thousands of middle-range nuclear missiles in Europe. Shorter trajec-

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 52.7240

tories made them hard to respond to and, therefore. destabilizing.

That remains true today, but nonsignatory China wasn’t covered and now has a large arsenal of them.

Russia says it hasn’t breached the treaty’s terms.

WORST CASE: The US exits and Russia points previously banned missiles at its Western neighbors, supercharging an arms race in high-tech weapons already under way, and tossing a political grenade into Nato, as the US and eastern and western European members divide over whether to respond in kind.

RISK OF INF TREATY COLLAPSE: High

RISK OF NEW NUCLEAR ARMS RACE IN EUROPE: Medium

Russia

A 2018 survey for Willis Towers Watson found that its larger clients suffered most losses in Russia, often as a result of sanctions. So Russia gets its own category. The Kremlin may have given up on cultivating Trump, after he canceled two meetings with President Vladimir Putin toward the end of the year. Russia’s meddling in foreign elections, and its efforts to extend influence in the Balkans and former Soviet republics look set to continue, with further US sanctions in response. A summit in Washington, previously floated for 2019, appears to be in jeopardy, though the two could potentially meet at the next G-20 summit in Japan in June. Trump’s sudden decisions to pull US troops out of Syria and Afghanistan—long-standing Russian demands—and the departure of Defense Secretary and Russia hawk James Mattis won praise from the Kremlin, but officials there remain skeptical a genuine detente is possible.

WORST CASE: US-Russian rela-

tions descend into open hostility, affecting arms control and areas where they had until now been able to cooperate.

RISK: High

Trade wars

THE 90-day tariff truce that Trump and President Xi Jinping agreed at the recent G-20 expires at the end of February. If they fail, US tariffs would rise on a $200-billion tranche of imports from China. The whipsaw on the S&P 500, as events repeatedly boosted and then undermined belief in the truce, show the stakes.

WORST CASE: A full-fledged

trade war that expands into an open struggle for strategic dominance by the end of the year, undermining growth and security around the globe.

RISK: High

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LSO by February, the US Commerce Department is due to rule on whether automobile imports constitute a national security threat, a designation that would let the US slap higher tariffs on imports of cars without technically breaching World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. European, and in particular German, car manufac-

turers have most to lose. US trade talks with Japan could take place any time from January, with more scope for a deal than with the EU. The Japan G-20 summit could be tense as a result.

WORST CASE: The US raises tariffs on auto imports, triggering a full-fledged trade war with Europe.

The G-20, made impotent by rising nationalism, loses relevance.

RISK: High

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O close out the year, unless the US stops blocking appointments to the appellate Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4751 n UK 66.7328 n HK 6.7344 n CHINA 7.6773 n SINGAPORE 38.4706 n AUSTRALIA 37.0702 n EU 60.3110 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.0545

Source: BSP (December 28, 2018 )

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Saturday, December 29, 2018

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BLOOMBERG

The political flashpoints to watch in 2019

Continued from a1

body of the WTO in Geneva, the trade body will on December 10 lose the minimum three judge quorum needed to issue rulings.

WORST CASE: The world loses its dispute resolution mechanism for trade disputes.

RISK: High

War wars

US pressure on Iran will build, after Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and, in November, reimposed so-called secondary sanctions on companies from other countries that breach US sanctions. The strategy, backed by Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, is to squeeze Iran out of Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, and back to the nuclear negotiating table. So far the effort has had both limited cost and success, but with sanc-

tions taking full effect, 2019 could be an eventful year. With so many flashpoints, the potential for escalation is clear.

WORST CASE: Iran restarts nuclear fuel production, prompting a rapid escalation. Pressured, Tehran tries to block the Strait of Hormuz, where it has naval exercises scheduled for August and through which 30 percent of the world’s crude oil supply passes every day.

RISK: Medium

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ORTH Korea would have topped any list of global security threats at the start of 2018, but the June summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un defused an escalatory spiral of threats and ballistic missile tests. Things remain calm, but Kim shows no sign of genuinely dismantling his nuclear or missile programs, and

likely used the detente to stockpile nuclear material and improve his weapons systems. Kim says the arrogance of US demands is to blame for the lack of progress.

Trump has said he wants another meeting, in January or February.

Annual US-South Korean military exercises usually take place in March and August.

WORST CASE: A summit bust-up that leads to a renewed cycle of escalation.

RISK: Low

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HE low-level conflict in Eastern Ukraine returned to the headlines in November, when Russian special forces rammed, fired on and seized three Ukrainian naval vessels making their way into the Sea of Azov. Russia had been restricting commercial shipping to Ukrainian com-

“In 20 years I haven’t operated in an environment like this, ever, because there were always safe havens before. Countries we thought easy to predict are becoming harder to read now.”

—Claire Simpson, global claims director at Willis Tower Watson Plc., mercial ports in the sea for months before. The rhetorical fireworks between Kiev and Moscow are unlikely to die down before Ukrainian presidential elections on March 31.

WORST CASE: Political instability and an incident that escalates to a rekindled Russian-Ukrainian war.

RISK: Medium

FGHANISTAN is due to hold presidential elections on April 20. The US, anxious to find an exit from a war that in 2019 will be in its 18th year, is raising the pace of peace talks with Islamist insurgents from the Taliban movement that ruled the country at the time of the 9/11 attacks on the US, in 2001. Washington is also pressuring Pakistan, the Taliban’s backer, to cooperate. Trump’s plan to cut the US troop presence in half, if it happens, could further undermine the government and its weak army, emboldening the Taliban to take an even tougher line.

WORST CASE: The war intensifies and the government loses more ground as the Taliban pushes its advantage amid the US pullout.

RISK: High

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HE war in Syria looks certain to continue for an eighth year with the planned US military withdrawal strengthening President Bashar al-Assad plus his Russian and Iranian backers.

Turkey put off its planned offensive against ethnic Kurdish fighters who control much of northeast Syria after Trump’s surprise announcement of his plan to pull out of the country, but has vowed to defeat the erstwhile US allies.

Trump’s move could also open the way for Iran to expand its presence in Syria, sparking more intense skirmishes with Israel. Russia may call time on a truce in which it agreed not to attack Idlib, the last major territory held by rebel groups fighting the Assad regime.

The truce is designed to give Turkey time to clear jihadists and heavy weaponry from the area.

WORST CASE: The war escalates into a wider conflict among regional powers, driving more refugees to fragile states such as Jordan and Lebanon, as well as to Turkey.

RISK: High

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IGERIA holds elections on February 16 and an intensified campaign by an Islamic State-allied faction of the jihadist Boko Haram is expected.

After declaring victory, Nigeria’s military has struggled to reassert control over swathes of the country and has suffered a succession of humiliating defeats, as Boko Ha-

ram overran under-resourced military posts to seize their weapons stores. Hence, the fear of a major campaign to come.

WORST CASE: Boko Haram gets a fresh wind as a demoralized Nigerian military fails to protect polling booths and civilians from attack.

RISK: Risk: High

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HE opening of Ethiopia’s much delayed $4.8-billion hydroelectric dam project on the Blue Nile is now expected in late 2019. The impact of filling the dam on Egypt, downstream, has led to intense negotiations over how long this should take, with a possible range of three to 15 years. Too short and Egypt, which is already water poor, could lose an estimated 20 percent of its supply. Ethiopia is anxious to start generating power to defray the investment cost. At times, Egyptian leaders hinted at a military solution, but for now diplomacy rules.

WORST CASE: Ethiopia starts filling the dam at a high rate with no agreement in place, triggering an Egyptian response.

RISK: Medium

European disunion

2019 has potential to become an annus horribilis for the European Union. While Italy looks to have averted for now EU fines for running an excessive deficit, the fragile coalition of two EU-skeptic populist parties in Rome is unlikely to wait long until it next takes on Brussels. A recession and early elections are possible, as they are in Spain. In December a far-right party, Vox, won seats in a Spanish regional election for the first time since the death of General Franco. The stakes are high for Europe as a whole. French and German banks held more than $400 billion of Italian debt in 2018, compared with $115 billion of Greek debt at the start of that country’s debt crisis in 2010.

WORST CASE: Greece on steroids, a new crisis that breaks up the euro.

RISK: Low

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HEN comes Brexit.

The March 29 deadline for the UK to leave the EU approaches with no terms yet agreed and the British parliament so divided that it’s hard to predict an outcome. Brexit is big. London is the seat of European finance and the UK has one of the EU’s largest economies and militaries. The Bank of England (BOE), controversially, has projected Brexit to cost anywhere from 1.5 percent to 10.5 percent of gross domestic

product (currently $2.6 trillion) over five years, depending on how the UK leaves.

WORST CASE: A bitter, disorderly Brexit without agreement on its terms that imposes heavy economic costs on both sides and damages security cooperation against common threats.

RISK: Low, though as BOE Governor Mark Carney put it, still “uncomfortably high”

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THIRD challenge to the EU comes from elections to the European Parliament.

The May 23 to 26 vote is shaping up as a major test of the EU’s popularity and of the upstart nationalist and populist parties straining against it. Former Trump strategist and alt-right hero Steve Bannon has said he will coordinate the campaigns of nationalist parties across the bloc. Leading the charge against them? A diminished French President Emmanuel Macron and lame duck German Chancellor Angela Merkel. All of the above will feed into the always fraught selection, by late October, of the next presidents of the European Central Bank, European Commission and European Council.

WORST CASE: The populists win big, gaining enough seats in parliament both to hobble the EU’s legislative process and boost prospects for nationalist victories and agendas across Europe.

RISK OF POPULIST GAINS: High

Trump

THE US president gets his own category, too. If the last two years have been eventful, 2019 will be more so. The Mueller investigation into alleged collusion between the 2016 Trump election campaign and Russia could deliver its findings in the first part of the year. These won’t necessarily be made public, or produce any impeachable offense.

Yet, they will add to turmoil and distraction in a White House that, after November’s midterm rout of Republicans in the House and the departure of Mattis and other key officials seen as stabilizing factors on the mercurial president, will increasingly be on the defensive with a hostile Congress spoiling for new investigations, including into Trump’s finances. The political temperature will only rise through the year, as both Trump and his opponents move to campaign ahead of the presidential election in 2020.

WORST CASE: Political gridlock in Washington and yet more Twitter bombs launched into sensitive foreign-policy issues to draw attention away from the investigation.

RISK: High

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The World BusinessMirror

DECEMBER EARLY INDICATORS SHOW CHINA SLOWED FOR A 7TH MONTH

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HINA’S economy slowed for a seventh straight month in December, as the trade war, subdued domestic demand and decelerating factory inflation combined to undercut growth.

That’s the signal from a Bloomberg Economics gauge aggregating the earliestavailable indicators on business conditions and market sentiment. The data suggest the government’s stimulus approach and the trade war truce with the US have yet to have much effect on the nation’s growth trajectory.

The data signal that activity is continuing to slow in China, with uncertainties in global trade and sluggish confidence still the major constraints, said David Qu, economist at Bloomberg Economics. “Recent fluctuation in the commodity market may further undermine manufacturing sector profitability,” and we will be looking closely at what the government does to stabilize the economy in early 2019, he said.

China’s leadership last week pledged more support for the economy next year, indicating an increasing sense of concern in Beijing over the economy and stalling growth. Even with the current ceasefire for the trade war, there is still no guarantee that there will be a breakthrough before the start of March, when the current truce is set to end.

Official data

THE first official Chinese economic data for December, the purchasing managers indexes for the manufacturing and nonmanufacturing sectors, will be released Monday morning in Beijing.

The manufacturing gauge will probably be unchanged at 50, the dividing line between expansion and contraction. Before November, the last time it was so low was mid-2016. The nonmanufacturing gauge, which covers construction and services, is forecast to slip a tad, according to the

Bloomberg survey. China’s manufacturing companies are already under pressure with output growing at the slowest in a decade in November and factory inflation decelerating.

If the current trade talks fail, higher US tariffs would further damage their prospects.

Outside the trade cease-fire, companies have had little good news to embrace. An index of business confidence among small and mid-sized enterprises maintained by Standard Chartered was unchanged at 54.7 in December, and the outlook is bleak as downward pressures continues to mount, according to Shen Lan, the Beijing-based economist in charge of the bank’s survey.

“Expor t demand weakened while domestic demand remained sluggish for SMEs in December,” she said in a December 24 report. The acceleration in production was driven mainly by the nonmanufacturing and high-tech industries, while manufacturing slowed further, she wrote. “Credit conditions generally improved in the fourth quarter, although they did not show fur ther improvement in December.”

Data from China’s major trading partners supports Shen’s point about waning external tailwinds. The weighted average of the flash PMI readings of nations including the US, the European Union and Japan moderated for an eighth straight month in December. Though still in expansion territory, it was the lowest level in two years.

China’s stock market had one of its worst years in 2018 and accelerated the tumble in the final month. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index is nearly 25 percent below where it started this year, making it the worst-performing major stock market in the world. Prices of commodities reflected the weakness, with copper falling in December and iron ore trading lower than November’s highs. Bloomberg News

Saudi prince’s men retain jobs in post-Khashoggi shake-up

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AUDI Arabia kept key supporters of Mohammed bin Salman in their Cabinet jobs and brought in some new ones, in the first major government shake-up since the kingdom and its crown prince became the focus of an outcry over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.

The ministers of finance, energy, economy and trade—senior members of the crown prince’s team—retained their positions in an overhaul announced on Thursday, when a series of royal decrees issued by King Salman were read out on national television.

The king also promoted several young royals, many of whom have worked with the 33-year-old heir to the throne. Prince Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz was appointed to head the powerful National Guard, while other princes were named as provincial rulers.

Khashoggi’s murder by government agents triggered a wave of international outrage, and fueled speculation that the king may curtail his son’s powers. Instead, the appointments are a sign that the prince is consolidating his

position “as he appoints key allies,” according to Ali Shihabi, head of the Arabia Foundation, a pro-Saudi think tank in Washington. He, however, said the changes were in line with a law that requires the Cabinet to be replaced or reappointed every four years, rather than a reaction to the killing.

The younger princes who were named to the Cabinet and as provincial governors represent the “new generation of royalty,” according to Mohammed al-Sheikh, a minister also seen as a key member of the crown prince’s team. “The vast majority of them have served within the royal court for a period of time, they attended meetings with his royal highness the crown prince and worked under his supervision,” he said in a telephone interview.

The Khashoggi killing has strained the decades-old Saudi-American alliance. US President Donald Trump has declared his continued support for Prince Mohammed, touting Saudi weapons purchases, as well as the kingdom’s role in containing Iranian influence. Bloomberg News

Saturday, December 29, 2018

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Shutdown likely to go into 2019 as Trump fumes, Congress is idle

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HE partial US government shutdown is likely to continue into 2019 after House Republicans said on Thursday they didn’t plan any votes this week and President Donald Trump said most federal employees losing pay because of the closure are Democrats.

There was no sign of any progress toward a plan to fund nine government departments that closed after funding ran out December 21. The Senate and House held brief sessions on Thursday afternoon, and neither chamber took any votes.

Senators have been told they’ll vote only once there’s a deal backed

by Democrats and by Trump, who is demanding $5 billion for a wall at the southern border, his central campaign promise. Democrats call such spending wasteful and ineffective. The standoff produced a fresh round of finger-pointing late on Thursday afternoon.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a statement outlining Trump’s demands that didn’t include the word “wall.” She said later there was no significance to that omission.

“The president has made clear that any bill to fund the government must adequately fund border

security to stop the flow of illegal drugs, criminals, MS-13 gang members, child smugglers and human traffickers into our communities—and protect the American people,” she said. “The president does not want the government to remain shut down, but he will not sign a proposal that does not first prioritize our county’s safety and security.”

The White House is flexible on the composition of the border wall Trump has demanded, one official said, noting that the president has used a variety of terms to describe it in recent days including slats, fence and barrier.

Sanders complained that Democrats haven’t responded to a compromise offer conveyed by Vice President Mike Pence late last week, and that the opposition party “decided to go home” while Trump stayed in Washington over Christmas to negotiate.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer rejected the offer from Pence, said his spokesman, Justin Goodman. The New York Democrat told Pence that Democrats won’t consider any offer without a public endorsement by Trump because the president has changed his position so often, said Goodman, who added the two sides remain far apart.

Three options

HOUSE Democrats answered in kind. “Democrats have offered Republicans three options to reopen government that all include funding for strong, sensible and effective border security—but not the president’s immoral, ineffective and expensive wall,” said Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Nancy Pelosi, who’s expected to become speaker of the House when Democrats take control of the chamber next week.

Earlier in the day, Trump said t hat most federa l employees who aren’t receiving paychecks because of the government shutdown are Democrats.

“Do the Dems realize that most of the people not getting paid are Democrats?” Trump tweeted Thursday morning, prompting outrage from some in Congress.

The president provided no evidence to support the claim, which he made only days after characterizing federal employees as supporters of the wall and the partial shutdown.

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the chamber’s intelligence committee, called Trump’s tweet “outrageous,” adding on Twitter on Thursday that “federal employees don’t go to work wearing red or blue jerseys.”

The president, who returned to Washington early Thursday from a trip to visit US troops in Iraq, tweeted about the standoff later, accusing Democrats of “Obstruction of the desperately needed Wall.”

Volatility returned to US markets, with stocks bouncing back from the lows of the day after flirting with a bear market amid higher interest rates and the political turmoil in Washington.

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average turned green in a late jump after trading negative for most of the day.

Federal workers will begin to lose money starting with Friday’s paycheck, according to National Treasury Employees Union President Tony Reardon. That check will ref lect work through last Saturday, the day the shutdown began. T hat means Saturd ay shift workers, including many in Customs and Border Protection, won’t see pay for that day in their checks.

All workers in the nine departments and dozens of agencies with funding lapses will miss their January 11 paycheck if the shutdown continues, he said in an interview. Bloomberg News

Furious Iraqi lawmakers demand US troop withdrawal

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AGHDAD—President Donald J. Trump’s surprise trip to Iraq may have quieted criticism at home that he had yet to visit troops in a combat zone, but it has infuriated Iraqi politicians who on Thursday demanded the withdrawal of US forces.

“Arrogant” and “a violation of national sovereignty” were but a few examples of the disapproval emanating from Baghdad following Trump’s meeting on Wednesday with US servicemen and women at the al-Asad Airbase.

Trips by US presidents to conflict zones are typically shrouded in secrecy and subject to strict security measures, and Trump’s was no exception. Few in Iraq or elsewhere knew the US president was in the country until minutes before he left.

But this trip came as curbing foreign influence in Iraqi affairs has become a hot-button political issue in Baghdad, and Trump’s perceived presidential faux pas was failing to meet with the prime minister in a break with diplomatic custom for any visiting head of state.

On the ground for only about three hours, the American president told the men and women with the US military that Islamic State forces have been vanquished, and he defended his decision against all advice to withdraw US troops from neighboring Syria. He said the US was once again respected as a nation, and declared: “We’re no longer the suckers, folks.”

The abruptness of his visit left lawmakers in Baghdad smarting

and drawing unfavorable comparisons to the occupation of Iraq after the 2003 invasion.

“Trump needs to know his limits. The American occupation of Iraq is over,” said Sabah al-Saidi, the head of one of two main blocs in Iraq’s parliament.

Trump, he said, had slipped into Iraq, “as though Iraq is a state of the United States.”

W hile Trump didn’t meet with any officials, he spoke with Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi by phone. A planned meeting between the two leaders was canceled over a “difference in points of view” over arrangements, according to the prime minister’s office. The visit could have unintended consequences for American policy, with officials from both sides of

Iraq’s political divide calling for a vote in Parliament to expel US forces from the country.

The president, who kept to the US air base approximately 100 kilometers west of Baghdad, said he had no plans to withdraw the 5,200 troops in the country. He said Ain al-Asad could be used for US air strikes inside Syria.

The suggestion ran counter to the current sentiment of Iraqi politics, which favors claiming sovereignty over foreign and domestic policy and staying above the fray in regional conflicts.

“Iraq should not be a platform for the Americans to settle their accounts with either the Russians or the Iranians in the region,” said Hakim al-Zamili, a senior lawmaker in al-Saidi’s Islah bloc in Parliament. AP

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ExportUnlimited BusinessMirror

‘Asean firms stand to gain from US-China trade war’

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HE Philippines and other Asean member-states could benefit from the ongoing trade war between China and the US, but stakeholders must act now to take advantage of opportunities.

“Someone has to supply the goods to the US, someone has to supply the goods to China, and if the companies cannot buy from the US or China, they have to buy from somewhere else,” Angelia Chew, cofounder and managing partner of Singapore-based AC Trade Advisory, said in a recent PortCalls and Asia Customs & Trade seminar, entitled “Managing Your International Trade in the Philippines and Beyond in Asia Pacific,” at the Makati Shangri-La. “And that somewhere else is… right from the start, we say Southeast Asia, Asean,” Chew said.

The 10-nation regional bloc includes the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei Darusallam, Cambodia, Myanmar and LaosPDR. The US has already slapped tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods, and could slap duties on an additional $267 billion in imports.

By January 1, 2019, 25 percent more might be in the offing.

Beijing has responded with tar-

iffs on $110 billion in US goods mainly targeting politically important industries such as agriculture.

“You know something is happening, something is changing.

Find out if you have the opportunity to sell your products from the Philippines or from Asean countries,” Chew advised seminar participants.

Chew has been in the trade and customs practice for more than 20 years. She managed the regional Asia-Pacific customs function of a number of multinationals, where she set up internal customs compliance controls and leading customs audits, among others. Chew is also vice president of the Centre for Asia Pacific Trade Compliance & Information Security, a nongovernment organization striving to increase awareness of trade and customs compliance. The Centre aims to create a network of trade and customs practitioners and provide framework support for SMEs in driving internationalization.

Chew noted that one of the Chinese products slapped with

additional US tariff is semiconductors, one of the top exports of the Philippines. This, she said, could be an opportunity for Philippine manufacturers to increase their supply of electronic products to the US. The Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. is expecting a 5-percent to 6-percent growth in the electronics industry for 2018 to $34.5 billion to $36 billion, following an all-time high exports receipt of $32.7 billion last year.

Chew said while some US companies may think they can wait for a few years for the trade situation to return to normal, they may find themselves out of business if their competitors change strategy and take advantage of the situation now while things are changing quite rapidly. She noted the issue is not just about the additional tariff but also “your competitor’s reaction.”

“So if you don’t [take advantage and] your competitors do it, you’re out of business,” Chew added.

One company benefitting from the ongoing US-China trade war, she said, is a Singapore company that manufactures door hinges in an Asean country. The company’s business has grown because buyers are now sourcing from it instead of from Chinese companies.

Potentially higher Asean exports because of the trade war would also have attendant benefits for the cargo sector, whose

service providers such as shipping lines, freight forwarders and customs brokers could see more cargo transactions. The use of ports in the region would also be enhanced.

With these rising opportunities, Chew said Philippine exporters need to identify what products from China are levied additional tariff and see if they can supply these products themselves. They can then offer their clients the same products minus the tariff.

She said cargo-service providers may also take advantage of the ongoing trade war by letting their customers expressly know how much cheaper it would be to source from the Philippines or other Asean countries.

Companies can also diversify their business, such as by helping their clients be compliant with customs and trade regulations.

She noted that one of the key issues in the current trade war is wrong classification of goods, as companies may be incorrectly classifying products that are not in fact included in the list of goods with additional tariff. Service providers, she said, can help their clients simply by giving the right advice. Finally, Chew recommended that companies in general acquire greater information about the trade situation, diversify their supply sourcing and take advantage of free-trade agreements that lead to lower import duty costs. www.portcalls.com

TRADE CHIEF LAUDS PHL-E.U. ECONOMIC RELATIONS Philippine Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez lauded PHilippine-European Union economic relations and promoted Philippine exports and

investments to the EU Parliament, represented by the delegation for relations with the countries of Southeast Asia and Asean on December 17. The EU delegation was led by Werner Langen from Germany, who serves as the chairman of DASE. Also present during the meeting are (seated, from left): Lieve Wierinck (Belgium), Barbara Kappel (Austria) and Department of Trade and Industry Director Anne Cabochan. Joining them are (from left, back row): David Martin (United Kingdom), Richard Ashworth (United Kingdom), Herbert Dorfmann (Italy), EU Ambassador Franz Jessen, Lopez, Csaba Sogor (Romania), Werner Langen (Germany and DASE Head), Peter Kouroumbashev (Bulgaria), DTI Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo, DTI Director Butch Benedictos and DTI Assistant Secretary Angelo Taningco.

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Exporters urged to innovate

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XPORTERS are encouraged anew to innovate to achieve the country’s exports target of $122 billion to $130 billion by the year 2022.

“We need to innovate. And innovation does not necessary mean a great invention. It’s really improving on systems, on organizations, the way we market our product and so on,” Department of Trade and IndustryExport Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB) Director Senen M. Perlada said.

Perlada cited the implementation particularly of a third strategy under the Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) 2018-2022 stipulating the need to design comprehensive packages to promote select products and service sectors.

He said the DTI has identified priority areas for both the domestic and export markets, including electronics, information technology-business process management, innovation, and research and development activities, auto and auto parts, chemical parts components, and inclusive business activities, among others.

Perlada also noted the department’s Inclusive Innovation Industrial Strategy (i3S), an industrial policy that aims to grow and develop globally competitive and innovative industries with strong forward and backward linkages.

“This Inclusive Innovation Industrial Strategy or i3S is the way for us to do the structural change to make our export strong because the lack of supply is what’s really bothering us.

And in particular, we have to address the supply that is coming particularly from the agriculture sector,” he said. i3S focuses on three major areas, namely: creation of an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, removal of obstacles to growth to build industry clusters, and strengthening domestic supply and value chains to deepen the country’s participation in global and regional value chains and networks.

“Where are we now in terms of the actual figure that we have? Goods under BPM6 [Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual] are still down by only negative 1.7 percent, services are still up 13 percent, for the total therefore we are still growing by 4 percent,” he added.

To achieve the country’s exports goal, Perlada also underscored the need to “stimulate” the exporting community. “And this is one great way of doing it—we need to permeate, we have to share with each other what we know. If you knew what we know and we know what you knew, then we could move forward a lot of these things,” he said.

Philexport News and Features

Canadian business experts to mentor in DTI Negosyo Centers

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SPIRING and existing Filipino entrepreneurs can soon avail themselves of free business mentorship from Canadian business experts, as the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) partners with a Canadian development organization focusing on capacity building to stimulate entrepreneurship for the longterm.

The DTI signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Canadian Executive Service Organization (Ceso) to improve the DTI’s capacity to expand integrative and inclusive business services provided to clients nationwide through the Negosyo Centers (NCs) and the Shared Service Facilities (SSFs).

The 447 currently established NCs are part of the DTI’s grand initiative to boost micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), offering the sector efficient business-mentoring services, functional competencies, advice and information on market.

SSFs provide MSMEs the needed machinery, equipment, tools, systems, skills and knowledge under a shared system.

The MOU cites cooperation between two sides to strengthen the capacity of DTI, local partners and beneficiaries by providing training, advisory services and mentoring at the institutional and individual levels through the application of high-level Canadian technical expertise.

“The transfer of skills and knowledge from Canadian advisors with an average

of 25 years of experience has been proven effective, after pilot-testing this system in Region 4A,” said Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez, adding such partnership complements government’s existing initiative to equip MSMEs with proper business mentoring.

Through NCs, the DTI assisted more than 490,000 clients and conducted over 6,000 seminars for MSMEs and aspiring entrepreneurs. NCs also created over 41,000 MSMEs. Immediate outcomes also include increased capacity of local government units to use automated revenue-generation systems and knowledge transfer on the use of information and communications technology for marketing, communications, monitoring and evaluation purposes.

“With all these in the work, our partnership can only lead to increased technical, entrepreneurial and management skills for our MSMEs,” Lopez said.

Ceso is a Toronto-based international economic development institution dedicated to sustainably reducing poverty and stimulating economic growth. Its main focus areas are on private-sector development and institutional strengthening of government agencies and local partners.

The MOU provides Ceso will design a multiyear program of assistance touching on NC’s expansion plans, rapid assessment business diagnostics, program development and implementation, and monitoring and evaluation.

MSMEs exhorted to explore Norway has high demand for PHL grocery, organic products opportunities in halal market

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ROCERIES and organic fruits and vegetables have high export potentials for Philippine enterprises keen to export to Norway under the Philippines-European Free Trade Association Free Trade Agreement (PH-Efta FTA), says a Norwegian official.

Bjorn Jahnsen, Norway’s ambassador to the Philippines, said in a recent presentation in Makati on exporting to Efta countries that there is much room for further growth for Philippine goods exports to Norway. This is because the country’s exports to Norway in 2017 amounted to just $43 million (P2.3 billion), while the Efta nation’s total global imports for the same year had a value of $80.5 billion (almost P490 billion), Jahnsen said.

In 2017, the top 5 Norwegian merchandise imports from the Philippines included electrical machinery and other electronics;

clothing and accessories; office and information-technology equipment; travel accessories, handbags and garments; and vegetables and fruits.

Jahnsen said export potentials for the Philippines are huge for these seven products: groceries, fruits and vegetables (including organic produce), flowers, clothing and footwear, furniture, chemical products, and ceramics and handicrafts. Groceries imports of Norway in 2015 totaled $19 billion.

NorgesGruppen, a Norwegian grocery wholesaling group, which also runs various retail outlets, dominated the industry with a 42.3-percent share of the total import value for the year. This was followed by Coop NKL (29.4 percent), the second-largest retail group in the country, and owned by numerous local cooperative associations; then Rema 1000 (24.4 percent), a multinational no-frills supermarket chain; and retail

chain Bunnpris (3.9 percent).

Meanwhile, fruit and vegetable imports of Norway reached $1 billion in 2016. The country’s main importers, Jahnsen said, are fruit and vegetable trading and distribution companies Interfrukt and Bama. Notably, he said, organic food imports have been on the rise.

The organic food sector in Norway had a market value of $300 million in 2016, up 25 percent from 2015. It had a 1.8-percent market share in 2016, but has ambitions to reach a 15-percent market share by 2020. Meanwhile, the other top imports had the following global market values in 2016: clothing, $3.9 billion; footwear, $520 million; and furniture, $2.2 billion.

For successful transactions with Norwegian importers, Jahnsen said suppliers must be made aware of their main requirements, which are quality, health and safety, traceability and reliability in terms of contracts and

deadlines. It is also important for Norwegian companies that their trade partners observe responsible business conduct as espoused in international standards such as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Companies, the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the UN Global Compact.

Jahnsen said suppliers wishing to find out more about Norway can look up www.norwayexports. no, www.messe.no/en/ (trade fairs and exhibitions in Norway), www. brreg.no/, and www.brreg.no/home/ (information on Norwegian companies) Under the newly forged Philippine-Efta FTA, Filipino companies can export to Norway and other Efta countries under more liberal rules of origin requirements. The Philippines’s trade accord with the Efta states, comprised of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, entered into force on June 1.

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HE government has urged micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to take advantage of the huge under-tapped opportunities in the multitrillion-dollar global halal market.

“When you say growing the export, we need to diversify because a recent study showed the spread of our exports is very limited. On the broader term, I must say that first in diversifying export, we need to look into new sectors like halal products,” Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said. Lopez cited Singapore, which is making halal as part of its domestic mainstreaming.

“They are also empowering their manufacturers to have halal-certified products, making them ready for the export market. That is what we have to do. We have to start locally also increasing awareness on the market and the production of halal-certified products to prepare us to export more halal products,” he noted.

The trade chief said that once certified, MSMEs can introduce more halal products and services to the market.

“When you say halal, you can also look at not only products [but] even services,

tourism, restaurants; those of you in those businesses, even its for the local economy.

Especially if its tourism-related, they are like dollar-revenue generators, as well,” he added. Lopez said the halal market, with an estimated value of $3.2 trillion, remains undertapped.

“Let’s increase the marketability of halal products. It is not related to a religion. To us really, it’s a way of life. Halal connotes purity, cleanliness, a highquality process and products—positive attributes that will really popularize the use of halal. That’s on the broad sense of diversifying,” he added.

In terms of manufactured goods, Lopez identified the country’s top 10 exports, which are electronics, machinery and transport equipment, metal components, ignition wiring set, aircraft and ships or shipsrelated parts, fresh bananas, cathodes and sections of cathodes, other mineral products, electronics and gold.

“Heavily, they are concentrated in these products. What we want is really to diversify. It is said, scale up, scale up the other sectors and the other products,” he said.

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

By Doug Ferguson

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The Associated Press

HOUSANDS of fans surrounded the first tee at Carnoustie on the final day of the British Open. No mistaking what they came to see, even if most of them could hardly see Tiger Woods at all.

One young girl proved resourceful.

From 30 yards beyond the rows of fans, she stood atop a large trash bin and pulled out her phone to capture the moment.

It was like that all year.

The gallery stood 15 rows deep behind the 16th tee at Innisbrook when Woods played the Valspar Championship for the first time, missing a playoff by one shot. They turned Bellerive into a rock concert when Woods tried to chase down Brooks Koepka in the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Championship.

And they broke through the ropes and marched behind him to the 18th green at East Lake when he finally won again at the Tour Championship.

He was a must-see golfer, just like always.

Behind the scenes were plenty of other moments that went beyond the birdies, bogeys and trophies.

THE ROCKET SCIENTIST

MATH has never been a strength for Austin Johnson, the brother and caddie for Dustin Johnson. Sometimes, it really doesn’t matter.

Johnson’s most memorable shot this year was on the 12th hole at Kapalua, where his drive on the 433-yard hole stopped 6 inches short of the cup in the final round.

The day before was a shot even more exquisite. From light rough to the left, he hit a pitch that trundled down the slope, back up toward the green and into the cup for an eagle.

How long was the pitch?

Austin Johnson looked at the book. He first mentioned 65 yards. He looked at the book again and said it was 79 yards. And then he gave up.

“Hey, we’re feel players,” he said with a wink. “We’re not all rocket scientists out here.”

ROLL THE DICE

THE conversation with Jordan Spieth outside the fitness center at the Sony Open ended because Tom Hoge was going into the interview room. Hoge, who has never won on the PGA Tour, was tied for the lead.

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TALES TOUR from the

“Let me tell you about Tom Hoge,” Spieth said. “When he gets in contention, he will not back down.”

And that’s how it played out. Hoge stayed in or around the lead the entire final round until one shot that he missed by a fraction on the wrong side of the hole led to double bogey. He missed out on a playoff by one shot.

Told a month later about Spieth’s prediction, Hoge was perplexed. He said they hardly spend any time together. They’ve never played together. They live on opposite ends of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. “My only connection with Jordan is I taught him how to play craps,” Hoge said.

Two weeks later in Mexico, Spieth was reminded of the conversation in Hawaii. How would he know what to expect from Hoge if he had never played golf with him?

“Because that’s how he plays craps,” Spieth said.

RAISE A GLASS

MAYBE it was the return of Woods, but PGA Tour crowds got louder, rowdier and a little over the top. Rory McIlroy heard one fan at Bay Hill who kept yelling his wife’s name, and McIlroy was close to confronting him.

“I think it’s gotten a little much, to be honest,” he said. “I think that they need to limit the alcohol sales on the course.”

Beer was one thing. He was more concerned seeing the number of people with cocktails.

The greater concern was winning. McIlroy had gone 18 months since his last victory, and he got the job done that

Sunday with five birdies on the last six holes for a 64 to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational. In honor of the King and his favorite drink, glasses of Ketel One vodka were passed out after his interview. McIlroy raised his glass for a toast, pausing to smile.

“And I’m the guy calling for a ban on alcohol,” he said.

MAN OF FEW WORDS

NO golfer in the last 20 years has spoken to the media more than Tiger Woods, and it’s rare to hear anything new. The questions are just as old.

Hideki Matsuyama also speaks after each round and doesn’t have much to say. By nature he is shy and humble. As one Japanese reporter said a few years ago, “He doesn’t speak much English. He doesn’t speak much Japanese, either.”

But he knows enough.

Woods had just finished his pre-tournament news conference at the British Open when Matsuyama noticed the commotion outside the media center while he walked to his car. He saw a familiar face and stopped to ask through his interpreter what Woods had said to the media.

“What does he ever say?” came the reply.

Matsuyama smiled. Then, Matsuyama was asked what he had said to the Japanese media.

He responded in English with another big smile.

“Same,” he said.

A YOUNG girl stands atop a trash bin to catch a glimpse of Tiger Woods as he tees off in the final round of the British Open in Carnoustie, Scotland. AP

A6 Saturday, December 29, 2018 | Editor: Mike Besa

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Story & Photos by Mike Besa

INCE the conversion of the former American bases, Subic Bay has been the most golfchallenged of the lot. Golf has prospered in Clark; there are three golf clubs with a total of 99 holes between them. Camp John Hay was always a golf mecca because of the amazing weather in the mountains. Subic had a great little golf course designed by the famous golf architect Desmond Miurhead, but the club has had rotten luck making the transition to privatization. Until now.

Subic Golf Club had long been considered as a haven for golf enthusiasts. The Subic Bay Golf and Country Club was a top destination for golfers during the American occupation of the free port. Two previous developers took bid for and won the rights to develop the golf club in line with the vision for Subic Freeport. Alas, neither succeeded in their efforts and the most recent developer—Subic Leisureworld Inc.—was declared in contractual default by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.

Fortunately, a new company, Subic Smart Community Corp. (SSCC), has come forward and has redesigned and rehabilitated the long-deserted golf club. Good thing, too.

The golf course at Subic Bay sits on a great piece of real estate, something not lost on SSCC President and Chief Operating Officer Rei Miyamoto.

Young and dynamic, the younger Miyamoto spent his early years in the United States and played high-level golf as a junior. His love for golf took a back seat to his corporate responsibilities. As president and COO of Subic International Golf Club, he finds himself reunited with his childhood passion.

Subic Smart’s Japanese entity develops upscale retirement communities in Japan.

The communities have comprehensive facilities that cater to every need of an elderly population and it is their vision to build a similar development in Subic. The golf course was a nice bonus.

Subic Smart had planned on spending $30 million on rehabilitating the golf course and building a 200-unit residential facility. To date they’ve already spent more than that and they aren’t done with the golf course yet.

Subic Smart has great plans for Subic International Golf Club. They have set the goal of building a world-class golf club in the free

port; one that will once again attract golfers from all over the world. Miyamoto-san was explicit that everything about the club would be world-class; the golf course, the facilities, services…all of it, would be the best that money can buy.

The clubhouse is a thoroughly modern affair; bright, open with a panoramic view of the closing hole on the opening nine and the lake fronting it. The opening nine of the golf course is complete and what is there, is promising. It’s not an overly long golf course, but it is tricky and requires precise shot placement.

The course twists and turns around the foothills and you’ll need to lay up on some of the tighter holes. There are plenty of opportunities to score. The par fives are short and offer excellent chances. It’s the shorter holes on which you need to tread softly.

W hile the course’s most beautiful golf holes are on the inward nine, the medium length par three sixth is nothing short of stunning. The magnificent par three plays 175 yards from the men’s tees with water in front and the green framed by the mountains. It’s easily one of the most beautiful par threes in the country.

The closing nine holes are the most dramatic. The course rises over the mountain and meanders down the other side offering marvelous views of the bay. Fifteen should be the highlight here; a par three with a green on the tip of a peninsula. The view should be gorgeous.

The club has taken a slightly controversial approach with their caddies. They hired every single one of them fresh out of college and spent six months, training them, teaching them about the game and how to deliver the quality of service that a worldclass facility demands. It’s an interesting approach that means the girls will have

SUBIC INTERNATIONAL

OUR NEXT WORL GOLF DESTINATIO

THE sixth will be one of the great par threes in the country

THE view from inside the very modern clubhouse

none of the bad habits other caddies may have picked up along the way but will lack the experience to help a golfer read the greens or with what club to take off the tee. It’s not a dealbreaker and the caddies will learn with every

golfer that they assist on the course.

The caddies have a basic salary and are provided housing and an allowance for food. They have a curfew and must request permission to leave quarters during the workweek. They are treated

very well here, far better than any other Philippine golf course.

The controversy has come up in the manner the club has chosen to market itself. Instead of making a big deal about the quality of the course and the

Your golf goals for 2019 “Aim high, even if you miss, you’ll be ahead of where you were.”

IRA ALIDO at the 2017 Philippine Masters

www.pinoygolfer.com | Saturday, December 29, 2018 A7

L GOLF CLUB

LD-CLASS ON?

experience, the club has chosen to showcase the caddies instead.

Billboards have sprung up along the North Luzon Expressway and along the Skyway just outside Alabang with images of the caddies, dressed fashionably proclaiming that “Yes, we are the caddies!”

While it smacks of sexual exploitation, Thailand and Indonesia have golf properties that do the exact same thing and do very, very well. If properly managed, it might not lead to instances of abuse, but it questions the necessity of just putting the girls in a potentially compromising position. Especially if the course is as good as Subic’s.

Well-meaning as their advertising campaign might be, it’s already began suffering from feminist backlash. Some wives have forbidden their husbands from playing Subic. The Internet golf groups are beginning to hear from women golfers who are unappreciative of Subic International Golf Club’s campaign. Things could go south quickly if feminist groups decide to take action against the club for its policies.

Not ideal considering the club needs the support of local golfers.

The club already has a healthy local membership and plans on expanding its membership base. There are many investment opportunities available for members interested in participating in the property’s development.

The other sticking point are the green fees. SSCC has set the bar very high for the club and that has its attendant costs. Their model for their fee structure is that of an upscale public golf course in the United States. That’s usually in the neighborhood of $150-$200, so once all 18 holes and the rest of

the club’s facilities are complete, green fees will be P7,500 on weekdays and an eye-watering P10,000 on the weekends.

Both issues serve to detract from the potential of the golf that’s on tap at Subic. From what we’ve seen, the course has boatloads of it. The variety of the terrain traversed over 18 holes of golf is a golfer’s dream. There’s a bit of everything here; elevation changes, a great variety of holes and virgin rainforest. All work in concert to create a sublime setting for golf.

If SSCC can deliver on their promise to tur n Subic International Golf Club into one of the best golf courses in Asia, it creates a tantalizing golf corridor in Central Luzon. Anchored by the golf-rich environment of Pampanga, it now stretches West to the hi l ls of Morong (Anvaya Golf and Beach Club), Subic (Subic International Golf Club) then up to Hacienda Luisita (Luisita Golf and Country Club). This corridor has its own air port (Clark International), its own deepwater harbor (Subic Bay Free port), abundant hotels in every price bracket imaginable and will soon boast the most modern city in the Philippines (New Clark City).

If Subic International GC plays its cards right, it could play a key role in the growth of the game and of the region in general. A worldclass golf course offering worldclass service to a sector being positioned as a gateway into the Philippines. It’s an opportunity that few could imagine. It’ll be a great thing if they actually pull it off. The asking price is steep but if they can deliver the product they say they can, it might be worth the price of admission.

THE caddies are young and efficient, and one hopes they will stay that way.

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By Mike Besa

T’S that time of the year where we look back at the year that was and prepare for the year before us. Part of that process is setting goals for the New Year. Many refer to these goals as resolutions; behavior modification desired for the advancement of our greater good.

Goals work better.

Now if you’re a middling handicap and you fancy yourself content with the way you play the game, now stop and consider how much you love the game. Think about the amount of time you spend practicing, playing or fantasizing about the game. As much fun as you’re having now, wouldn’t you be having more fun if you played better?

Of course, you would. Who wouldn’t feel better about making more pars than bogies? Or reaching the occasional par five in two?

Making great shots more often?

Winning the odd tournament? Of course, you would.

Which brings us to our first goal for you in 2019—Take lessons.

Many of us just know that we can learn golf from books and videos. Heck, you can learn any-

thing over YouTube these days. But golf is a bit odd in this way. You need another set of eyes to help you with your feel for the game.

Often, we think we’re swinging the club one way and it turns out what we’re doing is nowhere close to what we think. Another set of eyes is crucial.

Besides that, the new breed of teaching professionals provides such a good learning experience that you’ll want to take as many lessons as you can. They’re eloquent, have trained in various teaching methods, often apprenticed with some of the biggest names in golf and charge a fraction of what a teaching professional of equivalent ability would do in the United States. They’ll make it fun and you’ll eventually learn to diagnose your own faults and correct them on the f ly. If you love golf, you owe it to yourself to learn all you can about the game.

Get your clubs retrofitted to you or get a new set that’s been custom fitted to your swing.

Let’s be honest here. How many of you have been playing with clubs handed down to you by a

parent/friend/office mate/homeboy and you’ve continued to play these clubs on faith from the time you got them? If you have a club or clubs that you’re hanging on to for sentiment’s sake, then you’re not doing yourself any favors.

The game is hard enough as it is. Golf designers put all kinds of obstacles in our way to the green, course superintendents set pins in tough spots and play the tees back, the wind picks up during the best times of the year to play. Why handicap yourself with an ill-fitting set of clubs? Would you turn up at a local 5k with running shoes that don’t fit right? Or go to the office in a suit three sizes too big?

Then why play with clubs that offer you no chance to play to your potential?

No, it won’t cost you a second mortgage on your house either.

There are many qualified fitters that can do much to help your game. Jake Ong of Custom Clubmakers, Dante Romero of Max Out Golf Stix and Suzuki-san at the Southwoods Golf and Country Club’s driving range are all competent clubmakers that can retrofit you into your current set

or fully custom build a new set of clubs for you.

All things being equal, a full set of clubs that fit could be worth five, maybe six strokes a round, depending on your handicap. That’s not insignificant.

Walk while you play

GOLFERS in the Philippines are among the most spoiled of any in the world. We have caddies, umbrella girls and golf carts. If we could hire someone to swing the club for us, we probably would. But golf can add decades and quality to your life if you do one simple thing—walk.

Now if you’re older/overweight/ out of shape, whatever it is, walk a bit of your round. Walk the first nine holes then get a cart on for your closing nine. Work up to it until you can walk a full 18. If you suffer from any health maladies but nothing congenital, then walking will address all of your health issues.

Millennials treasure their Fitbits.

It’s become their GPS to a healthier body and better quality of life. 10,000 steps a day is their mantra. Walking a round of golf usually results in 15,000 or more steps on the golf course. If you play golf twice a week,

PGA TOUR SERIES-CHINA ANNOUNCES QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT SITES, DATES Three tournaments in Guangzhou and the first Series event outside Greater China make up qualifying season

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EIJING—Foison Golf Club’s Dye Course in Guangzhou will host three 2019 PGA Tour Series-China Qualifying Tournaments, and then the Series will make history when it holds for the first time its final Global Qualifying event outside of Greater China.

The Series’s third Global Qualifying Tournament is set for Laguna Phuket Golf Club in Phuket, Thailand. Aside from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau have also hosted official events, with Thailand to join the list.

Th e Fi r s t G l o b a l Q u a l i f y i n g Tournament will be from February 19 to 22, 2019, with the Second Global Qualifying Tournament the following week (February 26-March 1). The Third Global Qualifying Tournament is March 5-8 in Phuket, with all three Tournaments open to players from outside Mainland China. The Tour began accepting applications for the three Global Qualifying Tournaments on December 26, 2018 at 8 a.m. EST. However, the Tour began accepting early applications for former PGA Tour Series-China, Web.com Tour, PGA Tour Latinoamerica and Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada members on December 22, 2018 at 8 a.m., EST. Foison Golf Club will also host the Mainland China Qualifying Tournament for China passport holders. That qualifier, also with a field size of 120 players, is set for January 22-25. The Tour will begin accepting applications for the Mainland Chinese Q-School on December 22, at 8 a.m., Beijing time.

“We have watched numerous players show up at the Qualifying Tournaments, and a year or two later they are playing on the Web.com Tour and the PGA Tour. It’s at the qualifiers where many of them are beginning their professional journeys, and we recognize the talent that has come through our Tour during its first four years,” said PGA Tour Series-China Executive Director Greg Carlson. “As we announce these dates, it means another PGA Tour Series-China season is just around the corner, featuring a mix of new players who will emerge from these qualifiers, as well as those players who are returning.

“This is also a new chapter in the history of the Tour as we stage an event away from Greater China for the first time. Playing in Thailand will provide players with a new cultural experience while playing a Tournament on a world-class golf course in one of the great resort cities in Southeast Asia,” Carlson continued.

Each of the Qualifying Tournaments will feature fields of 120 players, with the winner of each 72-hole, stroke-play

you have most of your weekly requirement fulfilled. Walk the course three times a week and you’re set for life.

Our bodies are self-healing machines. Activity is the key. Movement is the way. It will increase your years on this earth and your enjoyment of the game. Get out and walk.

Learn the rules

THE new rules of golf go into effect in 2019. The game has been simplified to become more inclusive, easier to learn and to get us all to play faster.

Since we are the ones that most stand to benefit, it behooves us to learn just what these new rules are.

Changes have been many, and the number of rules themselves have been reduced from 34 to 24.

We’ve gone over many of the changes in previous articles. The new rules are available in apps from the R&A and USGA for your Android or iPhone. Download a copy and read it today. Share your newfound knowledge with your friends and get them to share their knowledge in their other social circles.

Play one round of golf completely by the rules.

Have you ever played a round of golf completely by the rules? No

Tournament earning a full exemption for the entire 2019 season. Those finishing between second and 12th will have full status through the Tour’s first six events. Players finishing in the Nos. 13-35 positions, and ties, will have conditional status through the season’s first six events. After the sixth Tournament, there will be a reshuffle based on 2019 Order of Merit rank.

The season-ending event will have eligibility based on performance during the season, not on Q-School results. The Global Qualifying Tournaments carry an entry fee of $1,500, while the Mainland China Qualifying Tournament, due to a discount offered by Foison Golf Club, will cost RMB 7,500.

Foison Golf Club’s original 18 holes previously hosted the final event of the 2016 PGA Tour Series-China season— the Buick Open, won by China’s Huilin Zhang. In 2019, the Dye Course will be the site of the qualifier, a course designed by Cynthia Dye. Architect Paul Jansen revamped and upgraded Laguna Phuket Golf Club in 2014, a course built among lagoons, native water grasses and mature woodland areas. The last International Federation of PGA Tours event held at Laguna Phuket Golf Club was the Asian Development Tour’s 2017 Singha Phuket Open.

In 2018, PGA Tour Series-China G l o b a l Q u a l i f y i n g To u r n a m e n t winners were Americans Jeffrey Kang and Joseph Winslow, with Cheng Jin capturing the Mainland China qualifier. Other Global Qualifying Tournament winners in the Series’ history are American Charlie Saxon and South Korea’s Sungpil Park (2016), Canada’s Justin Shin and American Kyle Souza (2015) and Australians David Lutterus and Alex Hawley (2014).

About PGA Tour Series-China

PGA Tour Series-China is a professional golf Tour featuring open competition to all nationalities with approximately 14 events in the 2019 season. PGA Tour Series-China attracts players, mainly from Asia and other Pacific Rim countries, although members have come from five continents. PGA Tour Series-China is owned and operated by the PGA Tour and sanctioned by the General Administration of Sport of China. It operates in partnership with the China Golf Association and Shankai Sports. The top five money-winners from PGA Tour Series-China earn Web. com Tour membership for the following season. PGA Tour Series-China’s web site is PGATourSERIESCHINA.COM. Information on the Tour can also be found at PGATour.COM, the No. 1 site in golf.

gimmes, no mulligans, no hankypanky. I’ll wager that most of us have not. There’s always some excuse; it’s just a fun game, we’re not betting or in a tournament, I would have made that seven times out of 10….

There’s always something to excuse ourselves from playing by the rules.

Why is that? As a result, most of us have no idea how to conduct ourselves in a serious tournament. That’s a real tragedy and speaks poorly of us as golfer and as human beings.

So, go out and play one round with your regular group completely by the rules. Use it as a learning experience for yourself and your buddies. Who knows, you might actually enjoy yourselves.

Make yourself a better golfer in 2019.

Accomplish these goals over the course of the coming year and you’ll become a better golfer. You’ll shoot better scores, know more about the golf swing and the game, have clubs that fit and have a good working knowledge of the rules to conduct yourself with distinction on any field of play. Share your knowledge and enthusiasm with others.

Help us all grow the game.

OurTime BusinessMirror

A8 Saturday, December 29, 2018 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Special National ID registration for IPs, remote villages mulled

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AGUIO CITY—The government is considering making “special arrangements” for the registration of indigenous peoples and those living in remote villages, along with minors, senior citizens, persons with disability and persons in institutional households for the National ID System.

“There might be special registrations in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas,” Rose Tecio of the Philippine Identification System

Registry Office disclosed at the 2018 Economic and Financial Literacy Forum here on Monday.

With the Philippine Identification

System Act (PhilSys) now in effect, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is conducting information dissemination campaigns all over the country.

On December 17, the PSA, through the PhilSys Registry Office, briefed students and government and private-sector employees in the City of Pines.

“PhilSys is a foundational identification system that will provide a valid proof of identity for all citizens and resident aliens as a means of simplifying public and private transactions,” Tecio said.

She added the procurement of ID-making machines is now in the bidding process while actual registration has not yet started.

Tecio said the National ID Sys-

tem aims to promote seamless government-service delivery, ease of doing business, efficient governance and financial inclusion while reducing corruption.

“This will serve as the official government-issued identification document of cardholders,” she said, stressing that only the initial issuance of the ID is free.

Demographic and biometric information of a person shall be collected upon registration. For children below five years old, only the demographic information and front-facing photograph will be collected.

Tecio said the PhilSys ID can be used in various transactions, including school enrolment, admission to hospitals, opening of bank accounts and employment purposes. PNA

Misconceptions about health costs when you’re older

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OME significant expenses decline as we age: Most mortgages are eventually paid off, and ideally children grow up and become selfsupporting.

But health care is one area in which costs are almost certain to rise. After all, one of the original justifications for Medicare—which kicks in at age 65—is that older people have much higher health care needs and expenses.

But there are a few common misunderstandings about health costs when people are older, including the idea that money can easily be saved by reducing wasteful end-of-life spending.

No, Medicare will not cover it all.

There are gaps.

Half our lifetime spending on health care is in retirement, even though that represents only about 20 percent of a typical life span. Total health care spending for Americans 65 and older is about $15,000 per year, on average, nearly three times that of working-age Americans.

Don’t expect Medicare to prov ide complete protection from these expenses.

Traditional Medicare has substantial gaps, leaving Americans on the hook for a lot more than they might expect. It has no cap on how much you can pay out of pocket, for example.

Such coverage gaps can be filled—at least in part—by other types of insurance. But some alternatives, such as Medicare Advantage, are not accepted by as many doctors or hospitals as accept traditional Medicare.

On average, retirees directly pay for about one-fifth of their total healthcare spending. Some spend much more.

One huge expense no Medicare plans cover is long-term care in a nursing home.

Over half of retirement-age adults will eventually need long-term care, which can cost as much as $90,000 per year at a nursing home. Although most who enter a nursing home do not stay long, 5 percent of the population stays for more than four years.

You can buy separate coverage outside the Medicare program for this, but the premiums can be high, especially if you wait until near retirement to buy.

Medicaid plays a bigger role than expected

ALTHOUGH Medicare is thought of as the source of health care coverage for retirees, Medicaid plays a crucial role.

Medicaid, the joint federal-state heath financing program for low-income people, has long been the nation’s main financial backstop for long-term care. Over 60 percent of nursing home residents have Medicaid coverage, and over half of the nation’s long-term care is funded by the program.

New York Times News Service

GRANDMA’S FIRECRACKERS Despite her handicap, Myrna Alcantara, 60, explains what authorized firecrackers are for sale to young Nonie at a makeshift pyrotechnics stall in Santiago City, Isabela. The city’s fire department only allows fireworks display in an identified common area in every village.

SUZANNE JUNE G. PERANTE

The people of Mbomo tell their tales

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ONGO Tales, a new book published recently by Prestel, began as a call to action to save the Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the heart of the Congo Basin, which is the second-largest tropical forest in the world after the Amazon, from the threats of climate change.

It soon became a book about the stories of the people who live there.

A team including Pieter Henket, a Dutch photographer; Eva Vonk, a Dutch producer; Steve Regis “Kovo” N’Sondé, a Congolese artist and philosopher; his brother Wilfried N’Sondé, a Congolese writer and musician; and a group of conservationists and researchers spent five years in the basin.

There, they collected and translated the tales of the people of the Mbomo region. The stories were then edited by the N’Sondé brothers, a job suited to the pair who grew up with stories passed down from their grandmother.

“These stories, through the values and symbols they carry, are our legacy,” Kovo N’Sondé said. “When I say our, I don’t only mean Congolese citizens or Bantu peoples. I mean mankind. These stories are all about wisdom, knowledge, ethical and aesthetic principles.”

A project of this nature is bound to draw scrutiny and face skepticism about exploiting native peoples and rituals. But this collaboration offers an opportunity to grapple with what an ethical approach to storytelling might look like.

“Storytelling is such a powerful thing with which we pass on information from generation to generation,” Vonk said. “Any authenticity I have gained is just by listening and not trying to explain.”

Henket, who photographed the community members’ reenactments of the stories, viewed his presence as more about offering technical expertise, such as lighting and composition. “What I wanted to do with the Mbomo people was to really let them tell the stories how they wanted to see it,” he said.

Here are Henket’s comments on some of the photographs in the book and their accompanying stories.

fantasy, so we created a wooden moon.

All the kids wanted to be a part of this picture, and they started to come out of the forest with their own hats and their own masks. It adds to the whole goal of their telling their own stories instead of telling them to do this or do that. New York Times News Service

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To understand life expectancy fall in US, start in West Virginia

M

ADISON, West Virginia— If you want to understand why US life expectancy is declining, West Virginia is a good place to start.

The state is a bellwether of bad health, portending major problems years before they became severe nationally.

“It seems that the worst outcomes happen here first,” said Dr. Michael Brumage, a West Virginia University public health expert who formerly ran the health department in Charleston. “We’re the canary in the coal mine.”

The drug overdose death rate for all Americans today is where West Virginia’s rate was 10 years ago. The nation’s suicide rate is where West Virginia’s was nearly 20 years ago.

Obesity was common in West Virginia before it became widespread in the rest of the country. And life expectancy started tumbling in the Mountain State before it began falling across the US. Maggie Hill has lived in the state for all of her 67 years. Sitting in her cabin in the town of Madison recently, she ticked off the many deaths that have befallen her family: An older brother drowned in a flood in 1977. A sister died in a house fire. Two siblings, both smokers, died of lung cancer. Two others were stillborn. Her first husband died of congestive heart failure.

Then there were the suicides. Two of her three sons shot themselves to death, one of them after losing his job. Her second husband died the same way, using a gun in their bedroom closet one Sunday morning while she was still in bed.

“I don’t think people have a lot to live for,” she said. “I really and truly don’t see things getting better.”

After decades of steady increases, US life expectancy has been declining since 2014. A government report released last month said the trend continued last year, driven in part by suicides and drug overdoses—the so-called diseases of despair.

What else is driving the decline?

Experts say America’s obesity problem has worsened the diabetes death rate and helped stall progress against the nation’s leading killer, heart disease.

West Virginia eclipses most other states in the percentage of people affected by diabetes, heart disease and obesity. It has had the nation’s highest rate of drug overdose deaths for years running. It also has the

highest obesity rate and the highest rates of diabetes and high blood pressure. Adding to those woes is the highest suicide rate among states east of the Mississippi River.

Earlier this fall, US health officials released for the first time life expectancy predictions at a neighborhood level. An Associated Press analysis of the data found wide disparities in cities and towns. Among states, the AP found, Hawaii had the highest life expectancy. West Virginia was the second lowest, behind Mississippi.

Mississippi, Oklahoma and a few other states suffer death and disease rates that are about as bad—or sometimes worse. But those places have unusually large populations of low-income black or Native American people, who suffer a disproportionate share of disability, disease and death.

West Virginia is 94-percent white.

That makes it a telling indicator.

Nearly 80 percent of the Americans who die each year are white people, and death rates rose in white men and women last year but were flat or falling in blacks and Hispanics.

So white deaths—particularly those of people who are not elderly—are mainly responsible for the nation’s declining life expectancy.

Ten years ago, The Associated Press described Huntington, West Virginia, and its environs as the unhealthiest place in America, based on health survey data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that put it at the bottom of the charts in more than a half-dozen measures, including the highest proportions of people who were obese, had diabetes and had heart disease.

The AP report, and others like it, drew widespread attention that peaked in 2010, when celebrity chef Jamie Oliver staged a reality TV show in Huntington to teach people how to eat better.

The attention was not entirely welcomed. It felt like outsiders coming in to criticize and perpetuate “hillbilly” stereotypes, said Steve Williams, who was elected Huntington’s mayor in 2012.

But Williams said it also was motivating, prompting changes in school food and even improvements to parks and sidewalks. “We get slammed all the time with obesity,” said Andy Fischer, a financial adviser who organized a 2,500-person community walking program. “We’ve got to get better.” AP

The elders

I TOOK a portrait of the eldest people in the village because there is a saying that when the old people die, it’s like a library of stories burning down. That whole concept on its own is already beautiful, so we wanted to build on that.

Animals, totems and symbols

ALL Mbomo families have their own totem animals that represent them.

We asked the kids about their family’s totem animal and how they would express it. After a week of shooting, the whole village got involved and everyone wanted to be a part of it. A girl came with a simple leaf and put it on top of her head and we asked “What are you?” and she said, “I’m a bird.”

A boy came in wearing a dress with moons and stars on it. We asked him what totem animal he would be, and he said, “I’m a butterfly.” We asked him: “How would you represent that?” Together with our art director, he made a butterfly costume.

The Woman in the Moon

WE wanted to keep this story, which symbolizes how the days of the week were established, light and very much

FRESH FROM THE FARM From Naggasican Village in Santiago City (Isabela), 61-year-old Erlinda Garnadoso sells fresh farm products right from “Gulayan Sa Barangay.” The countryside village has been a recipient of The Most Outstanding Gulayan Sa Barangay Implementer. CEASAR M. PERANTE

BusinessMirror

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

Saturday, December 29, 2018 A9

China’s Huawei faces new setbacks in Europe’s telecom market

By Kelvin Chan

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The Associated Press

ONDON—The US dispute with China over a ban on tech giant Huawei is spilling over to Europe, the company’s biggest foreign market, where some countries are also starting to shun its network systems over data security concerns.

Some European governments and telecom companies are following the US’s lead in questioning whether using Huawei for vital infrastructure for mobile networks could leave them exposed to snooping by the Chinese government.

Bans in Europe could significantly increase the financial pressures on Huawei. They would also cost Europe tens of billions of dollars as the region looks to build up “5G” networks, which are meant to support a vast expansion in Internet-connected things, from self-driving cars to factory robots and remote surgery.

“Europe is still divided over Huawei, but the trendline is moving in a fairly clear direction” as the US exerts pressure on allies to block it, said Thorsten Benner, director of the Berlin-based Global Public Policy Institute think tank.

Geopolitical tensions over Huawei intensified after its chief financial officer, who is also the daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested on December 1 in Canada in connection with US accusations that the company violated restrictions on sales of American technology to Iran.

Huawei has been blocked in the US since 2012, when a House Intelligence Committee report found it was a security risk and recommended that the government and private companies stop buying its network equipment.

Germany’s Deutsche Telekom said last week it “takes the global discussion about the security of network elements from Chinese manufacturers very seriously.” The company said it uses multiple companies to build its network, including Ericsson, Nokia and Cisco.

“Nevertheless, we are currently reevaluating our procurement strategy,” the company said.

The statement is significant because until recently it had been one of Huawei’s “biggest cheerleaders” based on its cheap and reliable equipment, said Benner.

It came shortly after Alex Younger, the director of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6, said in a speech that Britain needs “to decide the extent to which we are going to be comfortable with Chinese ownership of these technologies,” according to local media reports.

At about the same time, mobile provider British Telecom said it was removing Huawei equipment from key parts of its current 3G and 4G networks as part of an internal policy not to use it for core infrastructure, which will also apply to 5G networks.

The British government-run center that tests the company’s equipment and software this summer identified “shortcomings in Huawei’s engineering processes that have exposed new risks” in UK networks. Huawei said it’s working on fixing those issues.

Norway’s telecom ministry said it was considering clarifying requirements from network operators, without being more specific.

Belgium’s cybersecurity agency is reportedly considering a ban on Huawei. And the Czech Republic’s prime minister ordered his government office on Tuesday to stop using Huawei mobile phones, after the national cybersecurity agency warned that products by Huawei and another Chinese telecom company, ZTE, pose “a security threat.”

The European Union’s head of technology policies, Andrus Ansip, said “we have to be worried” about possible security risks from Huawei when asked about the company’s role in European 5G and driverless car projects.

Huawei, founded in 1987 by a former military engineer, denies accusations it’s controlled by China’s ruling Communist Party or designs equipment to facilitate eavesdropping. It said it recognizes and shares security concerns around the rollout of new 5G networks and is happy to take part in Deutsche Telekom’s review.

The company noted German officials have said publicly there’s no reason to exclude Huawei and it has never been involved in any

THE US dispute with China over a ban on tech giant Huawei is spilling over to Europe, the company’s biggest foreign market, where some countries are also starting to shun its network systems over data security concerns. Some European governments and telecom companies are following the US’s lead in questioning whether using Huawei for vital infrastructure for mobile networks could leave them exposed to snooping by the Chinese government. AP

confirmed cybersecurity breaches.

“Cybersecurity is incredibly important to Huawei. It is central to every decision and product we make,” said Vincent Pang, the company’s president for Western Europe. “We think the answer lies in global cooperation and collaboration to ensure that networks are as secure as possible.”

The Europe, Middle East and Africa market is Huawei’s second biggest after China, accounting for 27 percent of its nearly $90 billion revenue last year. Executives said the company has now signed contracts with 25 telecom carriers for commercial or test use of 5G and shipped more than 10,000 5G base stations.

The rollout of 5G networks is expected to take a decade. As technologies advance, the amount of data flowing between machines is set to surge, prompting governments to increasingly view telecom networks as strategic national assets.

Not everyone is endorsing quick action to ban Huawei.

The CEO of the French telecom company Orange, Stephane Richard, said last week his company wouldn’t use Huawei gear for sensitive parts of its network because of “messages of prudence” from French authorities. But he said that was not for any technical reason, and that the debate on Huawei had become politicized.

“We’re in the realm of fantasy: ‘They’re Chinese. They have links to

the Chinese army, thus there are spies, thus we can’t let them touch our telecom equipment,’” he said.

Excluding Huawei won’t be easy, analysts said.

“It’s not like there’s some cheaper alternative,” said Paul Triolo, head of geotechnology practice at the Eurasia Group. “Ericsson and Nokia don’t produce the whole spectrum” of equipment, referring to the Scandinavian companies that are the only non-Chinese competitors.

Huawei has thrived in major European markets like Germany and Britain because their telecom industries wanted to ensure there were multiple equipment suppliers to avoid relying on one.

“So if you’re asking them to remove a major vendor from their markets, it’s going to be difficult,” Triolo said.

German companies won’t be happy if they can’t use Huawei because their costs will go up and it will delay rolling out 5G networks, which will initially rely on existing 4G infrastructure for which Huawei is already a major supplier, said Benner.

But German decisions are also likely to influence those by smaller countries that are part of the German industrial manufacturing supply chain, such as Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

“They’ll all wake up if Germany takes a decision and worries about the security of its infrastructure,” said Benner.

Neon Esports tops Dota 2 tournament PRIMETIME

DINNA CHAN VASQUEZ @dinnachanvasquez jtnisay@gmail.com

NEON ESPORTS, composed of Christian John Abasolo, Marc Mamales, Rafael Palo, Prieme Ejay Maque and Keneth Coloma, won the Predator League: Dota 2 Finals held at High Grounds Café in Quezon City.

GAMING is something I will never understand or get into—not because I dislike it but because I think I don’t possess the physical aptitude for it.

Those who are good at eSports, I believe, are gifted in terms of hand-eye coordination. I am, unfortunately, a klutz.

I’ve always thought gamers are cool and calm even in the face of pressure. I’ve been to a number of eSports tournaments and have seen how they conduct themselves. This I saw again during the recent Predator League: Dota 2 Finals, a highly anticipated gaming event in the Philippines.

The event, held at High Grounds Café in Quezon City, brought together four of the strongest teams in the Philippines.

Predator is a product series dedicated to personal computer gaming from Acer. The line includes desktop, notebooks, tablets and monitors for a complete gaming experience.

“The gaming notebook market has been growing fast and steadily, around 80 percent. Predator’s growth has been almost by 400 percent year-todate,” said Sue Ong-Lim, sales and marketing director at Acer Philippines.

This is the second year that Acer is holding the tournament in the Philippines.

Four semi finalists—Alpha Gaming from Visayas; Neon Esports from Metro Manila; TaskUs Titans from Luzon; and NCGC from Mindanao— competed for the Predator League Championship title.

In the semifinals, TaskUs Titans won over NCGC, while Alpha Gaming bowed to Neon Esports. A well-fought championship battle was witnessed between TaskUs and Neon, where the latter emerged as the winners. Third runner-up Alpha Gaming and 2nd runner-up NCGC each won cash prizes of P20,000, while TaskUs with a second place finish took home a P40,000 check. Neon Esports received the P120,000 grand prize.

“The Philippine gaming community is strong and continues to grow tremendously. Acer Predator is proud to be a witness and partner to that growth. The Acer Predator League: Dota 2 Finals showcases the country’s best of the best in one tournament,” said Ong-Lim.

China’s legislature takes up law to ban forced tech transfer BEIJING—China’s legislature is considering a law to ban local governments from forcing foreign companies to hand over technology, an issue that helped to spark Washington’s tariff war with Beijing.

Beijing rejects complaints companies are required to trade technology for market access. But officials including Premier Li Keqiang promised this year to crack down as tensions with Washington heated up.

A proposed foreign investment law taken up on Sunday by the legislature would make clear officials cannot “force the transfer of technology” as a condition of ventures, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Washington and Beijing have raised tariffs on billions of dollars of each other’s goods in a dispute over American complaints China’s industry plans are based on theft of technology and violate its marketopening obligations.

The proposed law promises foreign investors their patents, copyrights and other intellectual property will be protected, according to Xinhua.

Forced technology transfer is one issue Presidents Donald J. Trump and Xi Jinping agreed December 1 to negotiate as part of a cease-fire in their tariff war, the White House announced earlier.

The Ministry of Commerce said last week envoys for the two sides planned to meet in January for talks.

Chinese regulators say forced technology transfer is contrary to official policy. But companies in industries including auto manufacturing and pharmaceuticals that want to operate in China must do so through partnerships that require them to share know-how with potential local competitors or teach them how to develop their own. AP

A10 Saturday, December 29, 2018

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

2019: The year of the data driven digital ecosystem

APPLE is pulling older models of its iPhone from German stores after losing two patent cases brought by chipmaker Qualcomm, the company said on December 20. AP

IT’S that time of year—our planet has made its trip around the sun and as we close out 2018, we look ahead and think about the possibilities for 2019. And we’re closing in on the next decade of innovation that takes us into 2030, where Dell Technologies predicts we’ll realize the next era of human-machine partnerships—where we will be immersed in smart living, intelligent work and a frictionless economy.

The IT purveyor made some bold predictions last year, some coming to fruition a bit faster than others: there’s still much to do in advancing artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, and autonomous systems are continuing to take shape as organizations build the digital backbone to support them.

So what’s in store for 2019? Read some of Dell’s top predictions for 2019 as we enter the data-driven digital ecosystem. n We’ll be more immersed than ever in work

Apple pulls iPhone 7, 8 from German stores in patent spat B ERLIN—Apple is pulling older models of its iPhone from German stores after losing two patent cases brought by chipmaker Qualcomm, the company said last week.

A regional court in Munich ruled that Apple and its subsidiaries had breached a European patent held by San Diego-based Qualcomm, which has pursued similar cases elsewhere around the world.

“Qualcomm’s campaign is a desperate

attempt to distract from the real issues between our companies,” Apple said in a statement.

“Their tactics, in the courts and in their everyday business, are harming innovation and harming consumers,” it said. “Qualcomm insists on charging exorbitant fees based on work they didn’t do and they are being investigated by governments all around the world for their behavior.”

Apple said that pending its appeal, the sale of iPhone 7 and 8 models will be halted

at the 15 Apple stores in Germany. The company noted, however, that all iPhone models remain available from cell-phone carriers and resellers in the country.

The Munich court said Apple is “banned from offering or distributing unlicensed” devices that use the disputed patent, which regulates the amount of energy provided to the phones’ telecom chips.

Apple said the iPhone X, which was also mentioned in the verdict, has since been replaced by a newer model.

The court also ruled that Qualcomm

should receive unspecified damages from Apple.

It’s the second time this month that Apple has been dinged in a legal case brought by Qualcomm. A Chinese court banned some Apple subsidiaries from selling or importing certain iPhones in China after Qualcomm said they infringed on two patents enabling consumers to format photos and manage phone apps using a touch screen. Apple has asked the Fuzhou Intermediate People’s Court to reconsider the ruling. AP

Microsoft forms partnership with AIM-DBI

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes MICROSOFT Philippines recently announced the formation of a partnership with the Asian Institute of ManagementDado Banatao Incubator (AIM-DBI).

Prim Paypon, executive direcor of AIM, told the media the tie-up seeks to enhance the incubator’s program by equipping Philippine start-ups with innovative solutions mainly powered by Microsoft’s cloud-based technology, Azure, through rhipe Philippines Inc., its cloud indirect provider.

AIM-DBI is the Philippines’ first incubator housed in a business school that is also backed by the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development. Under the setup, start-ups will be allotted a physical space where they create their technologies and run their businesses. Furthermore, it provides needsresponsive and progressive programs that are geared toward start-ups with science, technology or engineering backgrounds that introduce new alternative solutions to existing and emerging problems.

Paypon said the development of an alliance between AIM and Microsoft was timely, as the government led by the Department of Science and Technology is starting to develop local start-ups which the Department of Trade and Industry estimates to be around 500 companies.

“Our partnership with Microsoft is a strategic step in developing the start-ups at The Incubator,” Paypon said. “Microsoft’s expertise in cloud solutions allows our start-ups to constantly improve its business processes and services to be customer-intuitive and responsive while being technologically advanced.”

The incubator program will have a group of AIM professors and various industry leaders to provide the founders with progressive service programs that include world-class mentorship, customized trainings and start-up management program that would best fit their actual needs. Moreover, it also provides rent-free office space, as well as access to AIM’s campus facilities to better equip start-ups to develop their day-to-day operations.

To keep track of the progress of each start-up, the curriculum provided by the Microsoft and AIM-DBI partnership has three progressive program phases: Nesting Program, Building Program and Scaling Program. The Nesting Program digitally assists start-ups through cloud tools, while the Building Program provides start-ups with technology architecture creation, and peer-to-peer collaborative consultation and building. The Scaling Program is the final program which ensures that start-ups are market-ready for selling through Microsoft’s network of business partners.

The Futuristic Aviation and Maritime Enterprise Inc. (FAME) is one start-up that already enjoys the synergy

of Microsoft and AIM-DBI. Currently operating under the Building Program, FAME provides hardware and software platforms that track the location and activity of general aviation aircraft and small boats, effectively monitoring vessels and reducing risk of accidents.

Microsoft’s Azure, through its indirect provider rhipe, extensively supports FAME’s operations. Paypon said rhipe optimizes FAME’s solutions on Azure that allows the start-

up to receive and retain data, including speed, location, sensor data, messaging and estimated time of arrival of airborne and maritime vehicles.

He said Power BI, Microsoft’s business analytics tool, will soon be integrated in FAME’s operations. This will provide easier management of information being transmitted from devices and sensors, making data easier to process into useful business insights.

and life. Virtual assistants continue to be pervasive in consumer technology—smart home technologies, “things” and connected cars—learning your preferences and proactively serving up content and information based on previous interactions. We’ll see this machine intelligence merge with augmented and virtual reality in the home to create truly immersive experiences—like a virtual sous chef that can help you whip up an easy meal for the family. And you’ll be more connected to your personal health with even more intelligent wellness tracking devices that can capture more information about the body, like heart rate variability (HRV), sleep patterns and more that you can easily share with health-care providers for better care.

Immersive intelligence will also follow us to work.

The PCs and devices we use every day will continue to learn from our habits and proactively boot up with the right apps and services at the right time. Advances in natural language processing and voice technologies will create a more productive dialogue with machines, while automation and robotics will create faster, more fluid collaboration with technology to get more done.

And, with augmented and virtual reality applications creating on- and off-site immersive experiences, people will have access to the data they need to do work whenever, wherever they are. n Data gold mine will spark next “gold rush”

in tech investments. Organizations have been stockpiling big data for years. In fact, it’s predicted that by 2020, the data volume will reach 44 trillion gigabytes, or 44 zettabytes. That’s a lot of data. Soon they’ll finally put it to work as digital transformation takes shape.

As they derive more value from that data— with insights driving new innovations and more efficient business processes—more investments will be born out of the technology sector. New startups will emerge to tackle the bigger challenges that make AI a reality: data management and federated analytics where insights can be driven from virtually everywhere, and data compliance solutions for a safer, smarter way to deliver amazing outcomes. n Data forecast will call for more clouds.

Last year, Dell predicted the arrival of the Mega Cloud—a variety of clouds that make up a powerhouse operating model as IT strategies require both public and private clouds. So far that’s holding true. The public versus private cloud debate will continue to wane as organizations realize that they need to effectively manage all the different types of data they’ll be processing. n Move over, millennials. Gen Z will clock into

the workplace. Millennials are going to have to make room for the next generation with Gen Z (born after 1995) coming into the workplace over the next year—creating an increasingly diverse work force spanning five generations. This will create a rich range of experiences in life and technology. Ninetyeight percent of Gen Z will have used technology as part of their formal education, and many already understand the basics of software coding and expect the only the best technology to be a part of their work experience. n Creating guardians of the data. With data

rising as an organization’s most valuable asset, securing and protecting it continues to be a top priority. In a race to ensure that any and all access points remain secure, organizations will drive more dollars toward security investments, whether it’s stronger encryption at end-point access or intelligent cybersecurity that spans the distributed data center at the edge and the cloud.

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Saturday, December 29, 2018 A11

Breaking up (with Facebook) is hard to do: Here’s how

By Barbara Ortutay The Associated Press

N

MediaTek unveils new SoC touted as ‘AI powerhouse’

EW YORK—Every relationship has a breaking point. Even yours with Facebook.

There’s a way out, though the social network will try to win you back with promises to do better.

Maybe even flowers.

For some users, though, the past two years of privacy scandals, election manipulation by Russian trolls, executive apologies, and even the political disagreements with friends and relatives have become too much.

The latest: an alarming New York Times report detailing the massive trove of user data that the company has shared with such companies as Apple, Netflix and Amazon.

A growing number of people say they are deleting Facebook, or at least considering it.

While Facebook has tried to address some of these problems, it’s not enough for some users. Hard as it might seem to quit, especially for those entwined with it for years, it can be done.

Mostly.

GOODBYE FOREVER

BEFORE deleting your account, rescue your posts and photos. Facebook lets you download the data you’ve shared with Facebook since you joined. This includes your posts and photos, as well as the “activity log”—the history of everything you’ve done on Facebook, such as likes and comments on posts, use of apps and searches. The download also includes your profile, messages, list of friends and ads you’ve clicked on.

This process should give you a good— perhaps scary—idea of what Facebook has on you.

What you won’t get are photos other people shared with you, even if you’ve been tagged. You need to save those individually. And some stuff will remain, including what others have posted about you, your chats with others and your posts in Facebook groups (though your name will be grayed out). To delete all this, you’ll need to sift through your “activity log,” accessible through your profile page, and delete each item individually.

Once you’ve saved everything and

A GROWING number of people say they are deleting Facebook, or at least considering it. Before you take the plunge, remember to download your data, then you can deactivate temporarily, or delete everything in a few steps. AP

gone through your activity log, sign in one last time. Go to bit.ly/198wIoI and click on the blue button. Facebook says the process could take a few days. Your delete request will be cancelled if you log back in during this time. Facebook says it may take up to 90 days for all the data associated with your account to be wiped, but you can’t change your mind after the first few days are up.

If you used your Facebook account for third-party apps and sites, you’ll need new usernames and passwords for each.

TRIAL SEPARATION

IF you’re not quite ready for a divorce, deactivating your account is an option.

To do this, go to your account settings.

Deactivating means other people won’t be able to see your profile, but if you log back in, the whole thing is canceled and you are “active” again. Ditto if you log into an outside app or site using your Facebook account.

FOMO (FEAR OF MISSING OUT) DEPENDING on whether you were a fulltime Facebook addict or an occasional lurker, the psychological separation could prove harder or easier than the physical one. Facebook has become a one-stop shop for so many things. You can keep up with friends and family, find out about or create local events, buy and sell stuff, keep up with the news, raise money for a cause or join groups of likeminded people, such as parents, porch gardeners and people with a rare disease.

There are other places to do many of these things. There’s Eventbrite for events, Letgo for buying and selling stuff, Peanut for moms to connect, Meetup to find and meet like-minded people, GoFundMe for raising money, and Twitter or, gasp, your local newspaper’s web site for the news. The difference is there’s no single other place to do all these things, and your friends might not be there.

If you find your mind wandering

Nasa’s Mars lander takes selfie from above with robotic arm CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida—Nasa’s new Mars lander has taken a selfie from above, using a camera on its long robotic arm.

The InSight lander snapped a series of pictures that Nasa turned into a stunning mosaic, released on December 11.

InSight landed on Mars on November 26. In the two weeks since, scientists are thrilled to find the area

back to Facebook as you go through your day, thinking how you might craft a post about a thought you’ve just had or an article you came across, it’s OK. Let it go.

It’s all part of the breakup process.

And while you may not see updates about near-forgotten schoolmates or that random person you met six years ago, the people who matter most will stick around. For them, there’s e-mail, the phone and meeting in person for coffee.

ABOUT THOSE OTHER APPS

IF your boycott of Facebook has more to do with your view of the company than with tiring of the Facebook service, you might consider deleting Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger as well—they are all owned by Facebook. Deleting your Facebook account won’t affect your Instagram or WhatsApp account. If you want to keep using Messenger, you can create an account using your phone number instead of your Facebook profile.

THIS composite image made available by Nasa on December 11 shows the InSight lander on the surface of Mars.

The lander used the camera on its long, robotic arm to snap a series of pictures assembled into a selfie. NASA/JPL-

in front of the spacecraft pretty much free of rocks, hills and holes. That should make it a safe place for InSight’s two geology experiments, which will be moved to the ground in the coming weeks.

Lead scientist Bruce Banerdt of Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory says the red sandy expanse might seem “pretty plain”—if it weren’t on Mars. He notes, “We’re glad to see that.” AP

CALTECH VIA AP

MEDIATEK announced recently the Helio P90 systemon-chip (SoC), which features APU 2.0, its new generation AI architecture for a great AI processing boost. With an impressive industry leading 1127 GMACs (2.25TOPs) performance, the chip boasts flagship device-level AI power.

The Helio P90 built-in processing unit APU 2.0, a leading fusion AI architecture designed by MediaTek, can deliver a new level of AI experiences being four times more powerful than the Helio P70 and Helio P60 chipsets.

It is touted to perform intensive AI tasks effortlessly with faster and more accurate results while at the same time delivering longer battery life.

“The Helio P90 gives device makers the ability to offer outstanding camera features, battery life, performance and top-of-the-line AI capabilities, while making devices accessible to mass-market consumers,” said TL Lee, general manager of MediaTek’s Wireless Communication business unit. “The Helio P90 is an AI processing powerhouse with ultra-fast performance and a host of AI-powered imaging improvements. This chip will reset consumer expectations of what a smartphone can do, and usher in a new era of super high-resolution smartphone photography to the market.”

The octa-core Helio P90 is designed with two Arm A75 processors operating at up to 2.2GHz and six A55 processors operating at up to 2.0GHz. It packs an Imagination Technologies PowerVR GM 9446 GPU. MediaTek’s newest CorePilot technology also ensures processing is done in the most efficient way across its cores. That means Helio P90 gives users the highest sustainable performance with low power operation for the perfect combination of battery life and power on demand.

With its powerful AI engine, the Helio P90 supports faster, complex and more dynamic AI experiences such as human pose detection which can track and analyze body movements.

It also supports Google Lens, deep-learning facial detection, real-time beautification, object and scene identification, artificial reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) acceleration, plus other real-time enhancements for photos and videos.

Developers and device makers can create innovative AI applications with the Helio P90 using common frameworks, such as TensorFlow, TF Lite, Caffe and Caffe2, based on MediaTek’s NeuroPilot SDK which is fully compliant to Google Android Neural Networks API (Android NNAPI).

The new SoC lets you capture the best pictures ever with support for a supersized 48MP camera or 24+16 MP dual cameras, bringing consumers the highest resolution in advanced smartphone photography. Users can capture video at 48MP with up to 30 frames per second with zero shutter delay, or enjoy super slow-motion at 480FPS in HD to capture every moment. MediaTek brings a resolution revolution to imaging with upgraded triple image signal processors (ISPs) capable of 14-bit RAW and 10-bit YUV processing, so photography enthusiasts have even more flexibility to capture and process stunning photos.

The new ISP AI engine, specially designed to provide AI camera experiences, can accurately detect faces and scenes in real-time under low light and motion conditions, making a great shot easier than ever for any user.

The Helio P90 supports dual SIM dual VoLTE 4G LTE WorldMode with a fast Cat-12 (DL) / Cat-13 (UL) 4G LTE modem. 4x4 MIMO and 256QAM provided better data throughput in highly populated areas. It also supports 2x2 802.11ac and Bluetooth 5.0. The chip is expected to be available globally in consumer devices starting in Q1 2019.

Duolingo CEO’s founder advice: Let go of doing everything

By Matt O’Brien

interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The Associated Press

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts—Luis von Ahn, the 40-year-old cofounder and CEO of popular languagelearning app Duolingo, says one of the challenges of seeing his business grow is having to let go of doing everything. Motivating people and trusting them become important, he says.

The Pittsburgh-based start-up employs 150 people and has grown rapidly since its 2014 launch. It had more than $40 million in revenue this year and boasts 300 million users worldwide.

Von Ahn spoke with The Associated Press after winning the prestigious Lemelson-MIT Prize for inventors who’ve made a positive social impact. The

LUIS VON AHN, the 40-year-old cofounder and CEO of popular languagelearning app Duolingo. AP

How did you learn how to manage people as Duolingo grew?

This is probably the toughest thing I’ve done. As a professor I spent most of my time coming up with inventions or new products. With Duolingo it’s been a shift. Over time, you get to a point where you don’t know everybody’s name. You’re not even talking directly to the people who are doing the stuff.

It’s about learning how to motivate and direct a large group of very intelligent people. Usually intelligent people have their own will, their own ideas. It’s a balance between letting them innovate by themselves, but also everybody pointing in the same direction.

How’d you figure it out?

Most of it was through trial and error. My approach to most things in life is, “OK, we’re going to try this, as long as you know what the success condition is.” What’s failure, what’s success? As long as you’re pretty good at that, you can try a lot of things. And as long as everyone you’re working with knows you have the company’s best interests in mind, they allow you to try things.

How did you let go from being involved in everything?

It’s been very difficult. One of the reasons why Duolingo was successful early on was because I was very detail-oriented. I was on top of every single thing. It was psychologically difficult for me to let go. It was a tough realization when the product didn’t get any worse when I

stopped being on top of it. But eventually you get through it because you have to. It is now literally impossible for me to be on top of everything we do. I just can’t. It’s available in multiple platforms, multiple languages. I can’t test everything myself.

Is it any easier to grow a tech company in Pittsburgh than in San Francisco or New York?

Probably the biggest difference is the amount of time each person stays in the company. People come to Duolingo and very rarely leave. We have much less churn of employees. On the flip side, there’s just not that many people in the ecosystem. We put a billboard on US 101 in San Francisco that says, “Own a home, work in tech, move to Pittsburgh.” We’ve gotten a ton of applicants.

BusinessMirror

A12 Saturday, December 29, 2018

www.businessmirror.com.ph

THE TECHNIVORE ED UY

wherelseduy@gmail.com

WAS THE SURPRISE SPEED BOOST A TEASE OF THINGS TO COME? BESIDES the usual holiday greetings and family get-together photos that usually flood my timeline on Christmas day, I saw several friends posting that about how their Internet speeds doubled from their usual plan.

This was confirmed when I got a message from my friend Duey of Unbox.ph, asking if I had checked my Internet speed.

I did, but unfortunately it was still the same 20 Mbps I’m subscribed to.

It seemed telecom giant PLDT was feeling a bit generous and, in the spirit of Christmas, rewarded its Home Fibr customers with a speed boost as part of its holiday promo—rewarded, because it only lasted for one day.

PLDT’s holiday offers actually started in November and is set to end on December 31, so if your contract is about to expire or if you want to get a Fibr subscription, you might want to check out the upgraded speeds for Home DSL and Home Fibr Plans.

Still, it was probably a nice surprise to wake up to faster Internet, right? But what if it was just a tease—or was it a taste of things to come? We can still hope, right?

Besides with all those 5G plans in the works, and the recent partnership between PLDT/Smart and Google, we might experience faster Internet even outside our homes/offices.

Smart Wi-Fi recently inked a deal with Google to bring free Internet services to the Philippines, to give more Filipinos access to world-class Wi-Fi connectivity. Powered by Smart Wi-Fi’s nationwide infrastructure, more citizens will be given access to connectivity through the growing number of Smart Wi-Fi hubs throughout the country.

Google is optimistic in the seamless delivery of reliable connectivity. “We are happy to partner with Smart Wi-Fi in giving more Filipinos access to new opportunities and learning tools through the Internet, empowering them in a meaningful way,” said Google Philippines Country Manager Kenneth Lingan.

To date, over 63 percent of Filipinos are said to have access to the Internet but the partnership aims to see growth in these numbers for the Philippines to become a global player. As one of the most active social-media users in the world, the Philippines’ access to free Wi-Fi may be critical to the overall climate of the global economy, with studies led by the World Bank showing that GDP growth may be correlated to increased Internet usage.

With the group among the companies leading the country’s digital transformation, it also hopes that the partnership will expedite such evolution toward digital.

“It is an honor for us to join hands with an esteemed technology leader which shares in our vision of empowering our citizens with connectivity.

More than being a testament to our technological adeptness, this milestone signifies our unwavering commitment to prompt the next chapter of digital transformation for the country,” SVP and Head of PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups Jovy Hernandez said of the partnership.

“Technology is a great equalizer of opportunities and as the country’s premier ICT [informarion and communications technology] and digital services provider, we are constantly looking for ways to innovate and uplift the everyday experiences of our customers,” said PLDT and Smart Chief Revenue Officer and ePLDT President and CEO Eric Alberto.

DISCOUNTS TO ‘DISNEY ON ICE’

I REALLY had high hopes about some of the movies in this year Metro Manila Film Festival, but after reading the disappointing reviews and comments about the movies I was actually planning to watch, I might just skip the movie theaters and spend my money treating my nephew to a more entertaining alternative: “Disney On Ice.” This ice spectacle has also become a Christmas tradition and a few years back, I actually watched it with my dad and we both had a great time. It’s true that nothing ushers in the Christmas spirit more than this yearly Disney showstopper, and if you are a PLDT Home subscriber you can even get discounts to “Disney On Ice presents Mickey’s Super Celebration” live at the Mall of Asia Arena until January 6.

Subscribers can get 10-percent savings on select tickets at any SM Ticket Outlets. You simply have to present two valid IDs and your latest PLDT Home bill at SM Ticket outlets nationwide.

This year’s show is made even more special as it

THE mobile app LexMeet, which provides on-demand online legal consultation

THE Realme C1

celebrates the 90th anniversary of Mickey Mouse in a worldwide party.

Produced by Feld Entertainment Inc., this year’s Disney On Ice show opens with Mickey and his friends, Minnie, Donald and Goofy venturing through the various Disney stories and sharing meaningful moments from treasured tales spanning generations to determine what Mickey’s favorite memory of all time is.

As Mickey looks back on unforgettable Disney moments, families will be taken on a high-seas adventure with Moana as she displays courage to save her island, journey to the wintery world of Arendelle as royal sisters Anna and Elsa discover that true love is the most powerful magic of all, and experience the mysterious magic of Fantasia as a Sorcerer’s Apprentice makes brooms come to life.

New this year are the Emotions—Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust—characters from Disney Pixar’s Inside Out who will be hosting the show and relive classic and contemporary Disney stories in an emotional rollercoaster with Mickey and the gang.

‘UBER’ FOR LAWYERS

WHEN I’m driving along Edsa I have two guilty pleasures—listening to Raffy Tulfo and that other show which gives legal advice to callers.

But now you don’t have to call the radio station and share your legal problems on air, as there’s a new legal advice you can simply download on your smartphone.

LexMeet (www.lexmeet.com), a real-time, ondemand online legal consultation Webspace where lawyers and clients meet to solve legal problems, recently launched its mobile application, initially available on Google Play.

LexMeet solves difficulties on clients getting proper guidance regarding their problems that need legal remedies. Aside from fake attorneys lurking in the Web, as well as the nuances of Philippine law, there are also the rampant misinterpretations of common legal issues that just add unnecessary confusion to a prospective client seeking legal advice.

In addition, the lack of access—physical or online— to a lawyer also compounds the issue, especially for Filipinos working overseas. All these concerns are what LexMeet wants to address—lawyer and legal service accessibility to the masses, by making online legal consultations readily available for Filipinos everywhere without breaking the bank.

LexMeet, a wordplay on the Latin word for “law” and workplace verbatim for setting office meetings, is founded by Atty. Marlon Valderama, managing partner of Valderama Law Office and the country’s pioneer when it comes to e-lawyering. He introduced the e-lawyering concept as early as 2010 in his law office web site, E-Lawyers Online.

“LexMeet serves as the Uber of lawyers, where client can seek a lawyer’s advice by a mere click.

(SEATED, from left) SVP and Head of PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups Jovy Hernandez, PLDT and Smart Chief Revenue Officer and ePLDT President and CEO Eric Alberto, Google Chief Business Officer for Next Billion Users Initiative David Shapiro, Google Head of Business Development for Next Billion Users Sumeet Sharma, (standing, from left) Head of Marketing for Google Philippines Gabby Roxas, PLDT Chief Finance Officer Chaye Cabal-Revilla, SVP and Head of PLDT Consumer Business Market Development Oscar Reyes, Country Head for Google Philippines Kenneth Lingan, Google Director of Product Management Josh Woodward, Google Head of Engineering for Next Billion Users Initiative Cynthia Kim, Google Head of Access Networks for Next Billion Users Marc Goldburg, and Google Program Management Director Suren Ruhela.

Instead of an Uber vehicle matching with the nearest rider, LexMeet is where client’s legal problem is matched with the lawyer’s expertise, location and language, and we serve as a bridge for them to meet via video or call conference,” Valderama said.

Using the LexMeet app couldn’t be any simpler.

After the client registers their personal details for free, they can purchase credits—for as low as P500—via Paypal, Dragonpay, Coins.Ph and, later on, Google Pay payment gateways. Clients can initiate a legal consultation request where LexMeet will match their legal problem with a lawyer specialists that meets their requirements. Example, when a client submits his/her legal problem about, say, the title of his/her condominium unit, LexMeet gives him/her a lawyers list with a specialization in Condominium Law. Clients have to submit in advance their legal inquiries and provide their stories, objectives and questions, as well as supporting documents through LexMeet sign-up forms. All consultations are conducted over video or voice call—possibly imposing for non-tech-savvy folk, but nevertheless more effective than a lifeless chat window. Their credits are automatically paid to their matched lawyer after the meeting ends. Ratings and a feedback mechanism help ensure that LexMeet’s crowdsourced network of 250 lawyers provide quality consults, which seems to be the case as it boasts over 7,500 clients and counting.

Since its inception in 2017, Lexmeet has served as the online go-to place by overseas Filipino workers and small- and medium-sized enterprises.

LexMeet was recently awarded as the Best Life Helper in 2018 Asean Rice Bowl Startup Awards, as it was recognized for its promising goal in making legal consultations inclusive for all Filipinos.

THE #REALENTRYLEVELKING

IF you’re looking for a the most affordable smartphone with a dual camera, a fast processor and an amazing battery life, look no further than the new Realme C1. Positioned to be the #RealEntryLevelKing, the Realme C1 is designed to redefine the entry-level smartphone range in the

Philippines with a fusion of power and style, and boasts of a mega battery and mega notch screen at a price tag of P5,990.

The Realme C1 packs a 4230mAh mega battery, a feature unmatched in its price segment. The phone can last up to 44 hours of phone calls, 18 hours of music playback with Wi-Fi and 10 hours of gaming, performance comparable to a smartphone aided by a power bank. To reduce overall power consumption, the Realme C1 smartly restricts background applications not in use through its core power-saving features: App-Freezing Power Saver and Quick App Freezing. In testing conditions, 5 percent to 11 percent of power can be saved when the freezing function is on.

The Realme C1 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 octa-core processor. With advanced 14nm process and a basic frequency up to 1.8GHz, the device can effectively reduce power consumption and control heat. Packed with powerful image processing and 2GB RAM plus 16GB ROM, it can run multiple types of games smoothly and without any lag.

Supporting two Nano 4G SIM cards and dedicated micro SD cards, Realme C1 absolutely meets the communication needs of today’s youth by allowing them to freely switch between work and mobile socials.

With its 6.2-inch super large screen, the Realme C1 is the first large-sized notched full-screen smartphone in its price segment. The phone achieves a screen-to-body ratio of 88.8 percent and a 19:9 screen display because of a more compact arrangement of the earpiece, front camera and light sensor. A 2.05mm ultra-narrow bezel and an upgraded dispensing process further narrowed the screen bezel by 16 percent. The wide viewing angle delivers an immersive visual experience while playing games and watching videos.

The Realme C1 is equipped with rear 13MP plus 2MP dual cameras with software algorithm, making the shooting contour clearer and the background blur more natural. The front 5MP camera’s AI Beauty capability takes photo editing to a new level with 296 recognition points, intelligently recognizing the gender, age, skin tone and even skin type of characters through AI algorithms.