BusinessMirror February 14, 2021

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A broader look at today’s business n

Sunday, February 14, 2021 Vol. 16 No. 126

EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS

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DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

2018 BANTOG MEDIA AWARDS

PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY

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JUGGLING IN BORACAY

Saliva-testing proposed for tourists’ entry to Boracay as island reels from recent mishandled cases of Covid cases. By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

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Special to the BusinessMirror

HE province of Aklan has tightened its health and safety protocols for Boracay Island in the light of the rising number of Covid-19 cases among the latter’s tourism workers.

Among the new protocols include disallowing the workers from returning to work until after they receive their negative RT-PCR test results, and the immediate transfer of Covid-positive workers to the municipality isolation centers. Also, guests who have been found positive with Covid-19 will have to undergo a mandatory 10-day quarantine at the municipality facility. The new guidelines were contained in Executive Order 003 dated February 2, 2021, and signed by Aklan Gov. Florencio T. Miraflores. The local government had been taken to task for its poor health and safety protocols, which allowed Covid-positive workers to mix among hotel guests, thus endangering the latter’s welfare. As this developed, the Malay Inter-Agency Task Force on Wednesday passed a resolution to allow RT-PCR saliva testing as part of the entry procedures for tourists to Boracay. A source told the BusinessMirror, the resolution “will be forwarded for approval to the BIATF [Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force],” chaired by Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, and co-chaired by Interior Secretary Eduardo M. Año and Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat. At present, tourists to Boracay are only allowed to take nasal swab RT-PCR tests. But the Department of Health recently approved saliva

testing by the Philippine Red Cross, which, at P2,000, is supposed to be cheaper than nasal swab RT-PCR tests (P3,300) the latter offers. The high cost of nasal swab RT-PCR tests and the discomfort suffered by the one taking the test have been blamed by tourism stakeholders as among the major reasons domestic tourism has yet to take off in the country, despite the reopening of many tourist destinations.

Quarantine after testing for workers

MEANWHILE, Miraflores’s EO 003 reiterated the need for all resorts on Boracay to provide an isolation/quarantine facility for probable, suspect or confirmed case of Covid-19, which “can be used as a holding area before the confined case is shipped out of Boracay.” All municipal and barangay governments “are likewise mandated to have their quarantine/ isolation facility in their respective areas.” For Covid-positive guests “with moderate symptoms…he/she has to complete the 10-day quarantine” at the quarantine facility of Malay. Critical cases will be transferred to the Dr. Rafael S. Tumbokon Memorial Hospital (DRSTMH) in Kalibo. Workers who develop Covidlike symptoms and are found posi-

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 48.0400

HILLSIDE villas at Shangri-La’s Boracay Resort & Spa YOORAN PARK | DREAMSTIME.COM

tive after tests conducted by the Ciriano S. Tirol Hospital (CSTH) should remain at the municipality’s isolation/quarantine facility. If the worker develops critical symptoms, he shall be transferred to DRSTMH. “All employees/workers/staff subjected to swabbing for RT-PCR test whether conducted during the mass testing or as entry or re-entry requirement of the establishment shall not be allowed to report for work/duty until the negative result is released and made known to the establishment and to the subject,” according to the new EO. The management of at least

two hotels on the island have attested that during the mass swabbing conducted by the Aklan government at CSTH, they were not told to quarantine their employees after taking RT-PCR tests, posing a clear danger to guests and their coworkers, especially since some of those swabbed were later found to be positive.

‘Stay on the island’

IN the case of Shangri-La’s Boracay Resort and Spa, the Covid-positive workers were even allowed by the municipal health office (MHO) to be home-quarantined instead of being transferred to the Ma-

lay quarantine facility. In another case, the MHO approved the Hue Hotel’s quarantine facility for a Covid-positive worker, who was only transferred two days later to Kalibo, after netizens criticized the poor condition of the hotel’s quarantine facility.

(See, “Hue Boracay ‘followed correct protocols’–hotel sources,” in the BusinessMirror, February 2, 2021.)

Under the new EO, Covid-positive workers “shall immediately be isolated and bought to the Municipal Ligtas Covid Center of Malay and if he/she develops moderate to severe [Covid] symptoms during confinement, he/she will be trans-

ferred… to DRSTMH.” Employers should also discourage their employees from leaving the island if found negative for Covid “even on their day off … unless for a valid and reasonable ground.” If the employer determines valid reasons for the staff to leave the island, or if on official business, “they shall return to the island within 12 hours, otherwise they have to be quarantined/isolated in the facility of the establishment for not more than seven days for proper monitoring and observation by the health and safety officer of the establishment.”

n JAPAN 0.4594 n UK 66.4729 n HK 6.1970 n CHINA 7.4663 n SINGAPORE 36.2183 n AUSTRALIA 37.0917 n EU 58.2245 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.8083

Source: BSP (February 11, 2021)

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Digital siege: Internet cuts become favored tool of regimes L By Kelvin Chan | The Associated Press

ONDON—When army generals in Myanmar staged a coup last week, they briefly cut internet access in an apparent attempt to stymie protests. In Uganda, residents couldn’t use Facebook, Twitter and other social media for weeks after a recent election. And in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, the internet has been down for months amid a wider conflict. Around the world, shutting down the internet has become an increasingly popular tactic of repressive and authoritarian regimes and some illiberal democracies. Digital-rights groups say governments use them to stifle dissent, silence opposition voices or cover up human-rights abuses, raising concerns about restricting freedom of speech. Regimes often cut online access in response to protests or civil unrest, particularly around elections, as they try to keep

their grip on power by restricting the flow of information, researchers say. It’s the digital equivalent of seizing control of the local TV and radio station that was part of the pre-internet playbook for despots and rebels.

In the dark

“INTERNET shutdowns have been massively underreported or misreported over the years,” said Alp Toker, founder of internet monitoring organization Netblocks. The world is “starting to realize what’s

IN this January 14, 2021, file photo, security forces patrol the streets on election day in Kampala, Uganda. Around the world, shutting down the internet has become an increasingly popular tactic by repressive and authoritarian regimes and some illiberal democracies. AP

happening,” as documenting efforts like his expand, he said. Last year there were 93 major internet shutdowns in 21 countries, according to a report by Top10VPN, a UK-based digital privacy and security research group. The list doesn’t include places like China and North Korea, where the government tightly controls or restricts the internet. Shutdowns can range from all-encompassing internet blackouts to blocking social-media platforms or severely throttling internet speeds, the report said. Internet cuts have political, economic and humanitarian costs, experts warned. The effects are exacerbated by Covid-19 lockdowns that are forcing activities like school classes online. The shutdowns highlight a wider battle over control of the internet. In the West, efforts to rein in social-media platforms have raised competing concerns about restricting free speech and limiting harmful information, the latter sometimes used by authoritarian regimes to justify clampdowns. In Myanmar, internet access was cut for about 24 hours last weekend, in an apparent bid to head off protests against the army’s seizing of power and the detention of leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her allies. By Sunday afternoon, internet users reported data access on their mobile phones was suddenly restored. Norway’s Telenor ASA, which runs one of Myanmar’s main wireless carriers, said the communications ministry cited “circulation of fake news, stability of the nation and interest of the public” in ordering operators to temporarily shut down networks. Telenor said it had to comply with local laws. “We deeply regret the impact the shutdown has on the people in Myanmar,” it said. It’s a familiar move by Myanmar’s government, which carried out one of the world’s longest internet shutdowns in Rakhine and Chin states aimed at disrupting operations of an armed ethnic group. The cutoff began in June 2019 and was only lifted on February 3. Another long-running internet shutdown is in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, which has been choked off since fighting started in early November—the latest in a series of outages with no sign

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he risk is that once one democracy does it, others will be tempted to do the same thing. It may start at the local level to deal with unrest, but then spread more broadly.”

—Darrell West, vice president of governance

studies at the Brookings Institution who has studied internet shutdowns

of service returning anytime soon. That’s made it challenging to know how many civilians have been killed, to what extent fighting continues, or whether people are starting to die of starvation, as some have warned. In Uganda, restrictions on social-media sites including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube took effect ahead of a Janurary 14 presidential election, along with a total internet blackout on the eve of polling. Authorities said it was to prevent opposition supporters from organizing potentially dangerous street protests. The social-media curbs were lifted Wednesday, except for Facebook. Longtime leader Yoweri Museveni, who was facing his biggest challenge to power yet from popular singer-turned-lawmaker Bobi Wine, had been angered by the social network’s removal before the vote of what it said were fake accounts linked to his party. In Belarus, the internet went down for 61 hours after the August 9 presidential election, marking Europe’s first internet blackout. Service was cut after election results handed victory to authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko but the vote was widely seen as rigged and sparked enormous protests. Access remained unstable for months, particularly around weekend protests, when mobile internet service repeatedly went down.

‘Pavlovian response’

THE risk is that regular shutdowns

become normalized, said Toker. “You get a kind of Pavlovian response where both the public in the country and the wider international community will become desensitized to these shutdowns,” he said, calling it the “greatest risk to our collective freedom in the digital age.” Internet shutdowns are also common in democratic India, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has increasingly used them to target his political opposition. His Hindu nationalist government has ordered hundreds of regional shutdowns, according to a tracking site. Most have been in disputed Kashmir, which endured an 18-month blockade of highspeed mobile service that ended last week. But they’ve also been deployed elsewhere for antigovernment demonstrations, including massive farmers’ protests that have rattled Modi’s administration. “It used to be authoritarian governments who did this, but we are seeing the practice become more common in democracies such as India,” said Darrell West, vice president of governance studies at the Brookings Institution who has studied internet shutdowns. “The risk is that once one democracy does it, others will be tempted to do the same thing. It may start at the local level to deal with unrest, but then spread more broadly.”

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Angel R. Calso

The World

Crypto kid had $23,000-a-month apartment. Then the Feds came

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By Chris Dolmetsch

tefan Qin was just 19 when he claimed to have the secret to cryptocurrency trading. Buoyed with youthful confidence, Qin, a self-proclaimed math prodigy from Australia, dropped out of college in 2016 to start a hedge fund in New York he called Virgil Capital. He told potential clients he had developed an algorithm called Tenjin to monitor cryptocurrency exchanges around the world to seize on price fluctuations. A little more than a year after it started, he bragged the fund had returned 500 percent, a claim that produced a flurry of new money from investors. He became so flush with cash, Qin signed a lease in September 2019 for a $23,000-a-month apartment in 50 West, a 64-story luxury condo building in the financial district with expansive views of lower Manhattan as well as a pool, sauna, steam room, hot tub and golf simulator. In reality, federal prosecutors said, the operation was a lie, essentially a Ponzi scheme that stole about $90 million from more than 100 investors to help pay for Qin’s lavish lifestyle and personal investments in such high-risk bets as initial coin offerings. At one point, facing client demands for their money, he variously blamed “poor cash flow management” and “loan sharks in China” for his troubles. Last week, Qin, now 24 and expressing remorse, pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to a single count of securities fraud. “I knew that what I was doing was wrong and illegal,” he told US District Judge Valerie E. Caproni, who could sentence him to more than 15 years in prison. “I deeply regret my actions and will spend the rest of my life atoning for what I did. I am profoundly sorry for the harm my selfish behavior has caused to my investors who trusted in me, my employees and my family.”

Eager investors

The case echoes similar cryptocurrency frauds, such as that of BitConnect, promising people double-and tripledigit returns and costing investors billions. Ponzi schemes like that show how investors eager to cash in on a hot market can easily be led astray by promises of large returns. Canadian exchange QuadrigaCX collapsed in 2019 as a result of fraud, causing at least $125 million in losses for 76,000 investors. While regulatory oversight of the cryptocurrency industry is tightening, the sector is littered with inexperienced participants. A number of the 800 or so crypto funds worldwide are run by people with no knowledge of Wall Street or finance, including some college students and recent graduates who launched funds a few years ago. Qin’s path started in college, too. He had been a math whiz who planned on becoming a physicist, he told a web site, DigFin, in a profile published in December, just a week before regulators closed in on him. He described himself on his LinkedIn page as a “quant with a deep interest and understanding in blockchain technology.” In 2016, he won acceptance into a program for high-potential entrepreneurs at the University of New South Wales in Sydney with a proposal to use blockchain technology to speed up foreign-exchange transactions. He also attended the Minerva Schools, a mostly online college based in San Francisco, from August 2016 through December 2017, the school confirmed.

Crypto bug

He got the crypto bug after an internship with a firm in China, he told DigFin. His task had been to build a platform between two venues, one in China and the other in the US, to allow the firm to arbitrage cryptocurrencies. Convinced he had happened upon a business, Qin moved to New York to found Virgil Capital. His strategy, he told investors, would be to exploit the tendency of cryptocurrencies to trade at different prices at various exchanges. He would be “market-neutral,” meaning that the firm’s funds wouldn’t be exposed to price movements. And unlike other hedge funds, he told DigFin, Virgil wouldn’t charge management fees, taking only fees based on the firm’s performance. “We never try to make easy money,” Qin said. By his telling, Virgil got off to a fast start, claiming 500 percent returns in 2017, which brought in more investors eager to participate. A marketing brochure boasted of 10 percent monthly returns—or 2,811 percent over a three-year period ending in August 2019, legal filings show. His assets got an extra jolt after the Wall Street Journal profiled him in a February 2018 story that touted his skill at arbitraging cryptocurrency. Virgil “experienced substantial growth as new investors flocked to the fund,” prosecutors said.

Missing assets

The first cracks appeared last summer. Some investors were becoming “increasingly upset” about missing assets and incomplete transfers, the former head of investor relations, Melissa Fox Murphy, said in a court declaration. (She left the firm in December.) The complaints grew. “It is now MID DECEMBER and my MILLION DOLLARS IS NOWHERE TO BE SEEN,” wrote one investor, whose name was blacked out in court documents. “It’s a disgrace the way you guys are treating one of your earliest and largest investors.” Around the same time, nine investors with $3.5 million in funds asked for redemptions from the firm’s flagship Virgil Sigma Fund LP, according to prosecutors. But there was no money to transfer. Qin had drained the Sigma Fund of its assets. The fund’s balances were fabricated. Instead of trading at 39 exchanges around the world, as he had claimed, Qin spent investor money on personal expenses and to invest in other undisclosed high-risk investments, including initial coin offerings, prosecutors said. So Qin tried to stall. He convinced investors instead to transfer their interests into his VQR Multistrategy Fund, another cryptocurrency fund he started in February 2020 that used a variety of trading strategies—and still had assets.

‘Loan sharks’

He also sought to withdraw $1.7 million from the VQR fund, but that aroused suspicions from the head trader, Antonio Hallak. In a phone call Hallak recorded in December, Qin said he needed the money to repay “loan sharks in China” that he had borrowed from to start his business, according to court filings in a lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. He said the loan sharks “might do anything to collect on the debt” and that he had a “liquidity issue” that prevented him from repaying them. “I just had such poor cash flow management to be honest with you,” Qin told Hallak. “I don’t have money right now dude. It’s so sad.” When the trader balked at the withdrawal, Qin attempted to take over the reins of VQR’s accounts. But by now the SEC was involved. It got cryptocurrency exchanges to put a hold on VQR’s remaining assets and, a week later, filed suit.

Asset recovery

By the end, Qin had drained virtually all of the money that was in the Sigma Fund. A court-appointed receiver who is overseeing the fund is looking to recover assets for investors, said Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for Manhattan US Attorney Audrey Strauss. About $24 million in assets in the VQR fund was frozen and should be available to disperse, he said. “Stefan He Qin drained almost all of the assets from the $90-million cryptocurrency fund he owned, stealing investors’ money, spending it on indulgences and speculative personal investments, and lying to investors about the performance of the fund and what he had done with their money,” Strauss said in a statement. In South Korea when he learned of the probe, Qin agreed to fly back to the US, prosecutors said. He surrendered to authorities on February 4, pleaded guilty the same day before Caproni, and was freed on a $50,000 bond pending his sentencing, scheduled for May 20. While the maximum statutory penalty calls for 20 years in prison, as part of a plea deal, prosecutors agreed that he should get 151 to 188 months behind bars under federal sentencing guidelines and a fine of up to $350,000. That fate is a far cry from the career his parents had envisioned for him—a physicist, he had told DigFin. “They weren’t too happy when I told them I had quit uni to do this crypto thing. Who knows, maybe someday I’ll complete my degree. But what I really want to do is trade crypto.” Bloomberg News

Currency strategy draws more hot money to India

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he Reserve Bank of India’s strategy to shift some of its currency intervention to the forwards market is adding to its problems. Its balancing act to keep the rupee stable amid heavy foreign inflows while also keeping excess liquidity in check is flooding the market with more foreign funds, prompting a vicious cycle of interventions. The RBI’s outstanding forwards book grew to $28.3 billion as of November from a negative $4.9 billion in the fiscal year 2019-2020, highlighting the extent of its operations. That’s pushed the 12-month implied yields, which typically reflect the interest rate differential between India and US, to the highest in more than four years, fueling further inflows. The RBI’s currency intervention works like this—it buys dollars in the spot market to prevent sharp gains in the rupee. It then sells these dollars in the forwards market to offset the liquidity impact. However, banks need to deliver these dollars to the RBI at a later date, which drives up forward premiums. “The forwards curve has become a casualty of the RBI handling multiple objectives,” said Abhishek Goenka, chief executive at India Forex Advisors Pvt. “Elevated forward premia continues to attract carry-seeking inflows and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy,” he said.

Selling market stabilization scheme bonds or term reverse repos could be another way of mopping up liquidity, though the RBI may be averse to selling such bonds as it could lead to a spike in shorter rates, which the RBI may want to avoid, according to Goenka. The central bank will act on forward premiums when necessary, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said last week. “We are very watchful of the forward premia rates,” he said. The 1-year annualized dollar/ rupee forward premium rose two basis points to 5.21 percent on Friday.

Deterring importers

The rise in forward premium is also deterring importers to hedge their currency exposure while also impacting stable inflows into the bond market, according to Kotak Securities Ltd. “Speculators are gravitating to short the US dollar and buy rupee due to the high forward p re m i u m ,” s a i d A n i n d ya B a n e r j e e, c u r re n c y strategist at Kotak Securities said. “In order to prevent speculators from taking the rupee higher, the RBI is being forced to buy more dollars in the forwards market, which is pushing premia higher. This is a vicious cycle.” Bloomberg News

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Life without Google: Australia is now facing the unthinkable

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Angus Whitley & Georgina McKay

magine a world without Google, the search engine so pervasive it’s the starting point for more than 5 billion queries a day. That’s the reality facing Australia, where the tech giant is threatening to unplug its homepage in a standoff with the government. Google opposes a planned law that would force the company and Facebook Inc. to pay Australian publishers for news content. The Internet juggernaut’s ultimatum to local lawmakers—change the legislation, or else—has left a digital vacuum hanging over a nation that essentially knows just one way to navigate the Web. Google runs 95 percent of Internet searches in Australia. Potential fallout from the spat goes far beyond Australia for Alphabet Inc.-owned Google, whose dominance of global advertising has made it a target for watchdogs worldwide. If the company backs down in Australia, the pay-for-news law risks becoming a template for jurisdictions including Canada and the European Union that are following the quarrel and keen to shorten Google’s lead. But disabling what is arguably the world’s most famous Web site would hand all of Australia to rivals, including Microsoft Corp.’s Bing and DuckDuckGo, which have failed to dislodge Google as the gateway to the Web. These search-engine competitors would suddenly have a playground for development and a foothold to advance on the global stage. Software-engineering student Patrick Smith exemplifies Australia’s Google dependency. The 24-year-old from Canberra said he sometimes racks up 400 Google searches a day to help with his studies, catch up on news and look up recipes. Smith said his browser from the previous day shows 150 searches—in the space of just five hours. “The prospect of Google search disappearing is frightening at best,” Smith said. “It’s quite reflexive of me to Google something, anything, that I’m even mildly not sure of.” Searching for “best beach Sydney” shows the variance in performance among Google’s competitors. DuckDuckGo’s first result was an ad for a hotel more than 1,000 kilometers away in Queensland. Search Encrypt, which touts its data-protection capability, said: ‘It looks like there aren’t any great matches.’ Bing suggested Bondi Beach Post Office. Only Google returned a real beach, Bondi, first up.

World-first legislation

The world-first legislation will be considered by Australia’s parliament from the week starting February 15 after a key senate committee recommended Friday that the bill be passed. “The government expects all parties to continue to work constructively towards reaching commercial agreements,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said in a statement welcoming the senate report. The government says the local media industry—including Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and Sydney Morning Herald-publisher Nine Entertainment Co.—has been bled of advertising revenue by the tech giants and should be paid fairly for content. Google argues it drives traffic to their web sites, and that being forced to pay to display snippets of news breaks the principle of an open Internet. It also opposes the law’s final-offer arbitration model that determines how much it should pay publishers. Facebook has said it may stop Australians from sharing news on its platform if the law is enacted, an unprecedented step. Australia’s entire economic output is less than Alphabet’s $1.4-trillion

market value, so it may be surprising the distant and tiny market is suddenly so important. But the Internet titans are so keen to avoid Australia setting a global precedent that Alphabet Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg broke into their diaries in recent weeks for phone hookups with Prime Minister Scott Morrison or his ministers. Sniffing an opportunity, Microsoft President Brad Smith and CEO Satya Nadella also reached out. Grabbing the free hit, Smith told Morrison that Microsoft would invest to “ensure Bing is comparable to our competitors.” This week, Smith wrote in a blog post Thursday that the US should adopt its own version of the Australian law. DuckDuckGo, a search engine that says it doesn’t track its users, is also trying to cash in. “There’s a growing global demand for privacy online and Australians don’t have to wait for government action” to stop using Google, DuckDuckGo said by e-mail. Search Encrypt says its results expire after 30 minutes of inactivity. Nonprofit alternatives have also been suggested. The Australian Greens party this month asked the government to consider setting up a publicly owned search engine rather

than let Microsoft muscle in. “We should not seek out another foreign giant to fill the gap,” said Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

Softening stance

To be sure, Australia wouldn’t be the first Google-free nation in the world. In China, where the site is blocked, Baidu Inc. is the leading search engine. But Australia would stand out as a westernized democracy without access to the site and Google’s departure could set the nation back years in terms of fast access to information. With two decades of data in the vault, and processing an estimated 5.5 billion searches a day, Google is regarded as peerless in tailoring results for individuals and their idiosyncracies. “Bing is not going to be able to compete with Google in terms of quality out of the blocks,” said Daniel Angus, Brisbane-based associate professor in digital communication at Queensland University of Technology. “Australians might have to relearn how to use search.” Google again performed best under the search, “australia leader,” showing Morrison and his Liberal party at the top of the page—sourced from an official government site. Bing gave similar details, though took it from Wikipedia. DuckDuckGo

There are signs Google’s hardline stance may be softening. Morrison said his meeting with the company was “constructive” and “should give them a great encouragement to engage with the process.” Google declined to comment on the meeting, though said in a statement it proposes compensating publishers through its News Showcase product, under which the company pays select media outlets to display curated content. Some older Australians who’ve lived in a pre-Google world have fewer concerns. Gino Porro, the 58-year-old owner of the Li’l Darlin bar and restaurant in Sydney’s Darlinghurst, uses Google and hasn’t heard of any other search engines. But he sees a return of word-of-mouth recommendations instead of online reviews if Google shuts down its homepage. “Customer service is important, not Google,” he said. But back in Canberra, Googling student Smith is uneasy about the possible shutdown and how well a replacement would perform. “I honestly feel that my life would become significantly more difficult,” he said. Bloomberg News

Google-free China

offered ads for team leader jobs in Western Australia. Search Encrypt drew a blank once more.

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Sunday, February 14, 2021

The World BusinessMirror

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Chip shortage spirals beyond cars to phones and consoles

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By Debby Wu, Vlad Savov & Takashi Mochizuki

he first hints of trouble emerged in the spring of 2020. The world was in the early throes of a mysterious pandemic, which first obliterated demand then super-charged Internet and mobile computing when economies regained their footing. That about-face—in a span of months—laid the seeds for potentially the most serious shortage in years of the semiconductors that lie at the heart of everything from smartphones to cars and TVs. Auto and electronics makers that cut back drastically in the early days of the outbreak are now rushing to re-up orders, only to get turned away because chipmakers are stretched to the max supplying smartphone giants like Apple Inc. This week, Qualcomm Inc.’s Cristiano Amon, head of the world’s largest mobile chipmaker, flagged shortages “across the board,” citing the industry’s reliance on just a handful of players in Asia. Amon joined a growing chorus of industry leaders warning in recent weeks they can’t get enough chips to make their products. Carmakers appear in direst straits and have spurred the US and German governments to come to their aid—General Motors Co. this month was forced to mothball three North American plants and Ford Motor Co. is bracing for a 20-percent drop in near-term output. But more industries have lately copped to shortages, emphasizing how Covid-19 and a boom in a new breed of 5G-ready smartphones like the iPhone 12 is exacerbating a shortage of capacity plaguing the entire consumer industry. Chip shortages are expected to wipe out $61 billion of sales for automakers alone, but the hit to the

much larger electronics industry— while tough to quantify at this early stage—could be far larger. Apple, a major Qualcomm customer, said recently that sales of some new high-end iPhones were hemmed in by a shortage of components. Europe’s NXP Semiconductors NV and Infineon Technologies AG—whose roles near the top of the supply chain grant them visibility over global chip flows— have both indicated the constraints are no longer confined to autos. And Sony Corp. said Wednesday it might be unable to fully sate demand for its new gaming console in 2021 because of production bottlenecks. “The virus pandemic, social distancing in factories, and soaring competition from tablets, laptops and electric cars are causing some of the toughest conditions for smartphone component supply in many years,” said Neil Mawston, an analyst with Strategy Analytics. He estimates prices for key smartphone components including chipsets and displays have risen as much as 15 percent in the past three to six months. PC makers were among the first to hint, in the spring of 2020, at an impending crunch, a warning echoed

by Lenovo Group Ltd. on Wednesday. At the heart of the crisis sits Taiwan and its largest company Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the chipmaker of choice to the world’s technology and auto giants. It spent billions in past years ensuring it remains at the forefront of semiconductor production technology—a costly exercise that’s both paid off and also thrust it into the middle of a global geopolitical dogfight. On Friday, Qualcomm and Corning Inc. joined Biden administration officials to discuss the gathering storm with their Taiwanese counterparts and the island’s top industry representatives including TSMC. Both sides repeatedly stressed their interdependence, Taiwan’s Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-Hua told reporters. The presence of several senior US officials and the Semiconductor Industry Association—which represents America’s biggest chipmakers—emphasized the urgency of the situation. The current crisis stems from several factors that converged last year. Like most every chip designer on the planet, Qualcomm outsources production to Asian companies, foremost among which are TSMC and Samsung Electronics Co. The pair is increasingly the only recourse for producing the most advanced semiconductors. But their capacity takes years to plan and billions of dollars to build in tandem with customers, and the post-Covid 5G phone and Internet boom took their clients by surprise. Industry executives also blame excessive stockpiling, which began over the summer when Huawei Technologies Co.—a major smartphone and networking gear maker—began hoarding components to ensure its survival from crippling US sanctions. Led by Huawei, Chinese imports of chips of all kinds climbed to almost $380 billion in 2020—making up almost a fifth of the country’s overall imports for the year. Rivals including Apple, worried about their own caches, responded in kind. At the same time, the stay-athome era spurred sales of home appliances from the costliest TVs to the lowliest air purifiers, all of which now come with smart, customized chips.

TSMC executives said on its two most recent earnings calls that customers have been accumulating more inventory than normal to hedge against uncertainties, a maneuver they see persisting for some time. “There’s a chip stockpiling arms race,” said Will Bright, co-founder and chief product officer at Drop, which uses custom chips in headphones and keyboards. All that has dried up the spigot for smaller-volume buyers such as the makers of cars and gaming consoles: Nintendo Co., Sony and Microsoft Corp. have struggled to make enough Switches, PlayStations and Xboxes for about a year. The game hardware industry is bracing for supply to get worse before it gets better in 2021, potentially even affecting the next holiday season, people familiar with the matter say. It d id n’t he lp t h at autom a kers—the most visible cohort to be affected—misjudged the situation. Some indust r y obser vers bl a me their predicament on near-sighted planning and under-estimation of a post-Covid rebound in auto demand. Others argue chipmakers are prioritizing higher-volume and more lucrative consumer electronics such as smartphones. On Friday, Minebea Mitsumi Inc.— a vital supplier to the transport and electronics industries—suggested shortages may plague even more sectors, including aviation. “Demand is springing up everywhere at a fasterthan-expected pace,” CEO Yoshihisa Kainuma told analysts on a call. “Airlines around the world are scrapping old aircraft to slim down their balance sheet. And people’s desire to travel will explode after the pandemic.” It’s anybody’s guess when production will catch up with demand. But a growing number of industry observers don’t see quick or simple resolution. “A lot of it can be traced back to the second quarter of last year, when the whole world basically shut down. Many auto companies shut down manufacturing and their suppliers re-prioritized,” said Mario Morales, an analyst with IDC. “Not until the second half will we see relief for some of these markets.” Bloomberg News

In switch, South Africa to give health workers J&J vaccine By ANDREW MELDRUM The Associated Press

OHANNESBURG—South Africa will star t vaccinating frontline health workers next week with a shot that is still in testing—an unorthodox strategy announced on Wednesday after officials abandoned plans to use another vaccine that a small study suggests is only minimally effective against the variant dominant in the country. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said South Africa would switch to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and, at least for now, not use OxfordAstraZeneca’s—which has been heralded as one of the most promising for the developing world because it’s cheaper and does not require freezer storage like some other leading vaccines. The world is watching South Africa’s vaccination strategy intently since there are increasing concerns that new variants—not just the one first detected here—might evade vaccines, making it harder to bring an eventual end to the pandemic. The variant

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now dominant in South Africa is more contagious, experts say, and it recently drove a devastating resurgence of cases. A small study that suggested the AstraZeneca vaccine was poor at preventing mild to moderate disease caused by that variant threw the country’s vaccination campaign into disarray this week just as it was about to start. Experts say the vaccine—the only one authorized for general use in South Africa—may still prevent severe disease. But officials quickly turned their focus to the oneshot J&J vaccine—which has only been approved for use in studies in South Africa and, in fact, hasn’t yet been authorized for general use in any country. The company has applied for emergency use permission from the US Food and Drug Administration and South Africa’s regulatory authority. Mkhize, in a nationally broadcast address, assured the public that the J&J vaccine is safe, pointing to the fact that it has been tested in 44,000 people so far. It will now be used to launch a drive to inoculate the country’s 1.25 million health workers, he said. A clinical study of the vaccine in South Africa, part of international trials, showed it was 57 percent effective at preventing moderate to severe Covid-19 in a test conducted when the variant was dominant. It provides even better protection against severe disease, with 85 percent efficacy after 28 days. But one nurse at a Soweto hospital said the switch made him and some of his colleagues feel like they were being used “as guinea pigs.” “I think what happened with the AstraZeneca vaccine has affected the trust that we had in the government to do a proper vaccination program,” said Sipho Dinabantu, who works at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. “We were given assurances

that it was ready to go but now it has been put on hold. It makes me wonder a lot about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is yet to be approved.” Still, a leading vaccine specialist, Professor Willem Hanekom, praised the government’s swift action. “It was the right decision to move to a vaccine that’s been shown in South Africa to protect against the new variant that is circulating here,” said Hanekom, director of the Africa Health Research Institute. “The entire situation is unprecedented. We’ve never been in such a situation. Every day things change, and we need to adapt to these changes.” South Africa will begin administering the first shots next week, said Mkhize. The first doses will come from vaccine sent to the country for testing purposes, and more are expected in March, when a South African pharmaceutical company begins bottling the vaccine here, he told a parliamentary committee Wednesday. In all, the country hopes to vaccinate an estimated 40 million people by the end of the year—or about two-thirds of its population. South Africa also plans to use the Pfizer vaccine—though it’s not yet authorized—and is considering others, including Russia’s Sputnik V, China’s Sinopharm and the Moderna one, Mkhize said. Unlike the J&J shot, none of those vaccines has been clinically tested against the variant prevalent in South Africa, although Pfizer has tested blood samples of people exposed to the variant. The change of course came just one week after South Africa received its first vaccines—1 million AstraZeneca doses, produced by the Serum Institute of India. But after results of the preliminary study, which has not been peer reviewed, were announced Sunday, South African officials quickly halted the

planned rollout. Mkhize said scientists were still discussing what to do with the AstraZeneca doses, and one possibility was that they would be swapped for another kind; an expert also suggested they could be used in a study. An added complication, though, is that the shots have an April 30 expiration date. South Africa’s abrupt move may reduce enthusiasm for the vaccine, which had offered hope to many poorer countries, since it is being produced in large quantities in India and the international COVAX facility has purchased it in large numbers for distribution around the world. But Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist, said people shouldn’t conclude from South Africa’s decision that the AstraZeneca vaccine doesn’t work. She said all of the available evidence to date shows the vaccines developed so far reduce deaths, hospitalizations and severe disease. In fact, on Wednesday, independent experts advising the WHO recommended the vaccine’s use, even in countries with variants. South Africa by far has the largest number of Covid-19 cases on the African continent with nearly 1.5 million confirmed, including almost 47,000 deaths. After a resurgence that spiked in early January, cases and deaths are now declining, but medical experts are already warning that South Africa should prepare for another upsurge in May or June, the start of the Southern Hemisphere’s winter. The Associated Press journalists Mogomotsi Magome in Johannesburg; Gerald Imray in Cape Town, South Africa; Danica Kirka in London; and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed.

About 40 percent of US deaths during 2020 from Covid-19 would have been avoided if the country’s death rate had been closer to that of its G7 peers. Bloomberg photo

Trump’s environmental policies killed thousands of people in U.S.–scientists

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By Leslie Kaufman

he Trump administration deliberately harnessed racism and class animosity to push policies that caused hundreds of thousands of US deaths, according to a scathing new report in the British medical journal The Lancet . After undertaking a comprehensive assessment of the health and environment impacts of Donald Trump’s presidency, the 33 scientists who co-authored the article estimated that rollbacks of environmental and workplace protections led to 22,000 excess deaths in 2019 alone. They also found that 40 percent of US deaths during 2020 from Covid-19 would have been avoided if the country’s death rate had been closer to that of its G7 peers, and blamed Trump for eschewing the advice of public health agencies and politicizing common sense responses to the pandemic such as mask-wearing. The findings rely on comparisons with previous US norms and those in other countries to make statistical assumptions about what mortality rates might have been if Trump hadn’t swerved away from the global scientific consensus. Philip Landrigan, a pediatrician and epidemiologist at Boston College who was one of the report’s coauthors, argued that it was fair to make the linkage. “Basically, the Trump administration stopped enforcing Clean Air Act,” Landrigan said, referring to the landmark legislation signed by President Richard Nixon in 1970 and used by President Barack Obama to regulate carbon emissions. Under the aegis of ending the “war on coal,” Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency reversed the Obama administration’s emissions rule and stopped trying to control fine particulate matter air pollution. As a result, The Lancet report said, concentrations of such pollution have increased after having declined steadily for decades before he took office. Fine particulate pollution is closely linked to all sorts of lethal diseases, including childhood asthma, heart disease, lung cancer, and diabetes among adults. “We see trend lines for deaths from environmental and occupational exposure start going up in 2017, reversing 50 years of decline,” Landrigan concluded. “It is hard to walk away from cause and effect.” Trump’s last EPA Administrator, Scott Wheeler, repeatedly cited cost benefit analysis as a rationale for regulator y changes that undermined Obama- era attempts to curb pollution. On the campaign trail last year, the former president pledged to ensure that the US had the “cleanest air and water in the planet,” even as his administration reversed policies created to achieve those goals. Representatives for Trump didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The Lancet ’s willingness to wade into the politics behind health policy is highly unusual among scientific journals. Richard Horton, the journal’s editor, is no stranger to controversy, however. Under his leadership, the magazine has come under fire for one-sided critiques of Israel, for assigning greatly inflated death figures to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, and for publishing a now widely discredited study linking vaccinations to autism. In April, Yhe Lancet criticized Trump for pulling out of the World Health Organization, calling his decision a “crime against humanity.” But the fact that so many scientists were willing to break from their traditional political neutrality to put their names on this assessment is “a signal of a changing time,” according to Gretchen Goldman, a research director at the Union of Concerned Scientists. While the Lancet has been more outspoken than others, she said, it’s not alone among science magazines in publicly criticizing Trump. Scientific American shocked many when it broke 175 years of tradition and gave its first ever presidential endorsement to Joe Biden, largely because it argued that Trump was such an awful alternative. “If you told me four years ago that scientific journals would be speaking out against Trump, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Goldman said. “But since then, there has been quite a shift, reflecting both the severity of what Trump did as well as the changing willingness of the scientific community to engage in policy conversations.” This report has its roots in the spring of 2017, when The Lancet formed a commission of experts with backgrounds in a wide range of topics such as clinical medicine, public health, and epidemiology to track the public health effects of the Trump administration. On environmental policy, the report noted that Trump rolled back 84 vital regulations covering everything from toxins in water to the way scientific research gets used by the federal government, with 20 more rule changes still in progress by the end of his term. The resulting increase in airborne particulate matter was the primary cause of the excess deaths, the authors concluded. But they also proposed that Trump’s climate change denialism would be the most enduring stain on his environmental legacy. While the commission excoriated Trump, it also acknowledged that deep-seated problem in America’s health system predated him by decades. The authors note, for example, that American life expectancy rates have been declining compared to other high-income nations since the 1980s. But instead of moving to solve this decline, the report argues that the former president specifically exploited low- and middle-income White people’s anger over their deteriorating prospects to mobilize the racial animus and xenophobia that propelled his political success. The people who supported Trump were in fact among the worst affected by his policies, the commission found. The 22,000 additional 2019 deaths occurred largely in states that voted for Trump, while Democratic states such as California and New York had their own laws that acted as a safety net. The report also emphasizes the racial disparities in health that grew under Trump, including the fact that most of the 2.3 million Americans who lost health insurance while he was in office were minorities. It also underscored the fact that Covid-19 has much more heavily impacted Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people. As Mary T. Bassett, a former health commissioner for New York City and a member of The Lancet ’s expert panel, wrote in a statement released with the report: “The disastrous, bungled response to the pandemic made clear how existing, longstanding racial inequities simply have not been addressed.” Bloomberg News

Science

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BusinessMirror

Sunday

Sunday, Febraury 14, 2020 A5

DOST net satisfaction rating rises to +57 T

he satisfaction rating of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) increased to +57 percent in 2020 based on the survey results conducted by a third-party survey company. The survey found that among the 98 percent of Filipino adults who are aware of the DOST, 66 percent are satisfied with the performance of the department with a very good net satisfaction rating of +57, the DOST-Science and Technology Information Institute (DOST-STII) said in its Facebook page. This was an improvement from the very good net satisfaction rating of +51 in December 2019. By geographical area, DOST’s net satisfaction is very good in Balanced Luzon of +65, in Visayas

emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, space science and satel l ite tec hnolog y, information and communication technolog y, and disaster risk reduction and management. Some of the programs of the DOST continue to provide the needed solutions to ever yday problems besetting the Filipinos. Among these are the Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program; Community Empowerment through Science and Technology; the Science for Change Program that includes the Collaborative Research and Development to Leverage Philippine Economy, Niche Centers in the Regions for R&D, R&D Leadership, and Business Innovation through S&T for Industry. A lso included are the OneLab

at +55, in Mindanao at +50, and good in the National Capital Region with +47. By age, the DOST obtained very good net satisfaction ratings across all age groups with +60 among 18 to 24-year-olds, +57 among 25 to 34-year-olds and 45 to 54-year-olds, and +56 among 55-year-olds and older; and +55 among 35 to 44-year-olds. T hese encourag ing f ig ures reflect the DOST’s thrust to intensify its different development programs that focus on needed research and development initiatives and innovative projects, the DOST-STII said. These are in the areas of agricultural productivity, enterprise development, health and nutrition, scholarships and education, industry competitiveness,

DOST-Science for Change Program gears for wider reach through new web site By Lyn B. Resurreccion

Pisolar Project and Cradle Program

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or Filipinos interested to learn about the more than 120 research and development (R&D) projects being supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) through its Science for Change Program (S4CP), a new web site is now ready to cater to their needs. Through the web site — s4cp.dost.gov. ph —that was launched through an online news conference on February 10, the DOST aims to widen the program’s reach. At the same time, through easier access to the program, it aims to encourage Filipinos to “embrace research for development.”

The Payment Innovation for Solar-Home-System Ownership by Lay Away Routine (Pisolar) Project in Region XI is funded under the DOST-Cradle, the news release said. A partnership between the University of Southeastern Philippines and LeadTech Inc., this project is working to provide solar-home-systems for every marginalized community, most especially those living in remote locations. It should be noted that Cradle has changed the research capabilities of many private companies and small and medium enterprises. As of December 2020, there are 63 partnerships funded under the DOST-Cradle Program.

From Batanes to Tawi-tawi

From Batanes to Tawi-tawi, the DOST-S4CP has established game-changing projects and programs to accelerate science, technology and innovation (STI) throughout the country. The DOST-S4CP projects are under the programs DOST-Collaborative Research and Development to Leverage Philippine Economy (Cradle), DOST-Niche Centers in the Regions for R&D (Nicer), DOST-R&D Leadership (DOST-RDLead), and DOST-Business Innovation through S&T (BIST). DOST Undersecretary for R&D Rowena Cristina L. Guevara told the B usinessM irror in an interview through the Messenger that there are currently there are 28 Nicer projects across 17 regions with budget allocation of P1.2 billion. At the same time, 63 approved Cradle projectsgrants were awarded to 29 institutions and 63 industry partners with a total accumulated funding of P285 million. Under the RDLead Program, there are 34 RDLeaders engaged in 16 regions, with a total of 32 host institutions capacitated in research. BIST has one project approved under the herbal track. One of the most notable features in the web site is the interactive map of successful S4CP projects and the navigable buttons outlining the sub-programs.

Readiness for new environment Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña said the DOST recognizes the urgency to stay ahead of

Seaweed R&D Center and Nicer Program

Seaweeds are collected by farmers of the Seaweed R&D Center in Tawi-tawi under the Nicer Program. DOST-S4CP photo paradigm shifts in 2021. “The new environment demands a dynamic response in the way we do things,” he said in the online news conference. De la Peña said he is glad that the S4CP “is quick to adapt and innovate in ensuring the continuity of our R&D activities.” “To sustain our efforts in accelerating R&D, there is need to focus our efforts and resources to strategic solutions. The launch of the S4CP website marks the program’s readiness for the new environment and our commitment to the continued development of R&D projects,” he added. De la Peña expressed hope that academic institutions, R&D Institutes and, most especially, the private industries, will take time to consider employing R&D in their strategic plans. For her part Guevara said: “As the world undergoes great transformation, there are economic, social and technical concerns that need to be addressed. Most of the issues spring from the demand to be innovative.” “Through the S4CP web site, we aim to widen our reach and encourage more academic institutions, R&D institutes and private industries nationwide to embrace research for development,” Guevara said at

the same web site launching.

Herbanext and BIST Program

Among the projects featured in the web site is the Herbanext Laboratories Inc., a Filipino researchoriented natural products company based in Bacolod, Negros Occidental, the DOST-S4CP said in a news release. Through the DOST-BIST, Herbanext received a grant that will be used to develop local technology in producing pharmaceutical-grade extracts for the local drug manufacturing industry. Herbanext intends to scale-up this technology in the coming years to allow the local production of active pharmaceutical ingredients for the Philippine herbal drug industry. Another component of the study is encouraging indigenous communities to engage in herbal plant farming, and give them opportunities to harvest highly profitable herbal plants. There are currently two indigenous groups harvesting tawa-tawa for Herbanext. This translates to doubling their current monthly income of P3,000 to P6,000 or more. The project also discourages local farmers in harvesting forest products to produce charcoal.

The Seaweed R&D Center in Tawi-tawi was established through a funding grant under the DOST-Nicer Program, the news release said.. For 50 years, Tawi-tawi has been very progressive in its seaweed farming industry. However, in the last 10 years, farming communities experienced decline in their income due to issues on quality, storage, trading and processing of their product. Through the R&D in the Seaweed R&D Center, farming communities, traders and processors will have the opportunity to use high-quality seaweed stocks, guaranteeing a 35-percent increase in their monthly income.

Batanes State College research and RDLead

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the Batanes State College (BSC) is strengthening the research capabilities of the region. BSC President Alfonso Simon said R&D is one of the areas that the smallest college in the country still needs to focus and improve on. He said in a video shown at the news conference that the RDLead could help in addressing this need by strengthening its researches capabilities through seminars, crafting of proposals and mentoring family members, among others.

Filipino lensmen bag prizes in tilt on agri innovation in Southeast Asia

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ilipinos won the second prize and People’s Choice Award in the 2020 Photo Contest of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca). “The contest theme ‘Faces of Attain’ is part of the launch of Searca’s 11th Five-Year Plan (20202025) focused on Accelerating Transformation Through Agricultural Innovation,” said Searca Director Glenn B. Gregorio. Michela Ramirez of Quezon City bagged the second prize for her photo showing a masked farmer tending to backyard seedlings. It reflected how many Filipinos suddenly turned to backyard farming for food and nutrition security when the country was put on lockdown due to Covid-19. This year’s People’s Choice Award winner received over 2,300 likes on Facebook. The winning photo by Mauricio Victa of Baguio City shows a smiling boy and his grandfather holding sea urchins in Santiago, Ilocos Sur. Myanmar photographers won the first and third prizes as well as a special prize for their photos of striking but tranquil market and farming scenes in their country. The top prize went to Aung Chan Thar’s photo of a colorful floating market on Inle Lake where fruits, vegetables, fish, flowers, other agricultural goods, textiles, carvings, and other ornamental

Second-prize winning photo by Michela Ramirez of the Philippines. Searca photo objects are traded aboard small boats. The lake has slowly grown in prominence as a tourist attraction even though it is over 200 kilometers or about a four-hour drive from the Myanmar capital of Nay Pyi Taw. Meanwhile, Coe Awgnsa third prize photo gave

a peek into the life and dedication of a Burmese mushroom farmer. On the other hand, the Searca Director’s Choice was Swe Tun’s photo of a smiling Myanmar lady working in a tomato farm near Taunggyi, the capital and largest city of Shan State.

Th e P h i l i p p i n e’s Ed u cat i o n S e c re t a r y ’s Choice, selected byDr. Leonor M. Briones herself, was a photo by Tran Van Tuy of Vietnam that features dragon fruit being dried in an oven before being packed for export. The first, second and third prize winners received $1,000, $800 and $500, respectively. The People’s Choice award received $200, while the winners of the DepEd Secretary’s Choice and the Searca Director’s Choice both received $500. Gregorio said the six photos bested 1,522 other entries from 324 other professional and amateur photographers from 11 Southeast Asian countries. “The ongoing pandemic looms over the future of the world, so now is the best time to highlight people working in agriculture and rural development and to celebrate their resilience and innovativeness in these challenging times,” Gregorio said. The 14th edition of the annual photo contest ran from 1 September 1, 2020, to November 30, 2020. As in the past two years, the majority of the participants were from the Philippines, Myanmar, Indonesia and Vietnam, which also reflects the composition of the 47 finalists. The winning photos, the rest of the finalists, as well as the previous years’ winners are on display on the Searca web site.

Program; OneEx pert Program; i F W D for O verse a s Fi l ipi no Workers; Tu k l as Lu nas (Dr ug Discover y) Program; the Makina r ya at Tek noloh iya pa ra sa Baya n Prog ra m; Sma r ter Ap proac hes to Reinv igorate A gr ic u lt ure as a n Industr y in t he Philippines; Itik Pinas and Nat ive Pig prog ra ms; a nd sc hola rsh ip prog ra ms. The DOST aggressively create and maintain R&D facilities and technology hubs to harness the power of science and technology, like the following: Advanced Device and Materials Testing Laboratory; Electronic Products Development Center; Packaging R&D Center; Innovation Center for Yarns and Textiles; and the Advanced Manufacturing Center for 3D printing.

8 data science R&D projects for good governance launched

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he use of data science has been growing in the Philippines. It involves developing methods of recording, storing and analyzing data to extract useful information for some functions, such as identification and prediction of disease, optimizing logistics routes, detection of frauds, healthcare recommendations, automating digital ads, and many others. Eight new data science research and development projects that enable good governance will soon be implemented in the country to improve the operations of national government agencies and local government units (LGUs). Funded under the Good Governance through Data Science and Decision Suppor t System (Goddess) Program of the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD), the projects are geared toward addressing the gap in the country’s workforce for data scientists that enables and strengthens the government to adapt data-driven governance and evidence-based management, a DOST-PCIEERD news release said. DOST-PCIEERD Executive Director Dr. Enrico Paringit said the Goddess program is aimed at utilizing data to create innovations in running government and serving the people. “As a leader and partner in enabling innovations, we support solutions and approaches that move towards data-driven decision making and smart governance,” Paringit said. The eight new data science projects are from the Father Saturnino Urios University (FSUU), Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), Isabela State University (ISU), Iloilo Science and Technology University (ISAT-U), Urdaneta City University (UCU), Lyceum-Northwestern University (L-NU), Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University (DMMMSU) and the Pangasinan State University (PSU), the DOST-PCIEERD said. Researchers from FSUU will be conducting the project “Development of Data Analytics and Information System: Support on Social Welfare Services for Senior Citizens of Butuan City. It is an initiative to discover new knowledge using the Knowledge Discovery to Data Base model to develop information system and data analytics that will aid in the formulation of policies, projects and programs for effective delivery of services to senior citizens in the city. The PhilRice Data Analytics Initiative of the Department of Agriculture intends to harness the power of data analytics to enhance baselining and forecasting of the status of the rice farmers and the rice industry. The project will develop an online analytics dashboard that can be accessed by the public,

especially the decision- and policy-making bodies at different government levels for decision and policy formulation. ISU will be implementing the projec t Optimization of a Decision Suppor t System for Effective E- governance on pre - emptive evacuation for flood disaster amid Covid-19 in the Cagayan Valley. It aims to apply data-driven process in generating safe and alternative evacuation areas for flood disaster while keeping the Covid-19 quarantine facilities and individuals uncompromised to prevent spread of the virus. The technology will combining the profiling features of Health Guard PH and zoning monitored by Office of Civil Defense Region 2. ISAT-U is working toward the development of the Iloilo Province Employment Portal and Services using data analytics. It will be a dynamic web-based application that has six components: Job Seekers Registry, Employers Registry module, Employment registry module, Training registry module, Academe registry module, and Students’ registry module. UCU researchers will be doing the project “Development of an automated collection system for trading hubs or bagsakan market.” They will create a cashless and contactless payment system with the use of mixed technologies, such as Radio Frequency Identification and QR Code payment system. L-NU aims to develop a smart garbage collection and monitoring system for Dagupan City. The system will generate necessary data where analytics can be applied to yield information essential for evidence-based decision making by the LGU to address its solid-waste management needs. DMMMSU is working on a vision-based traffic monitoring system for San Fernando, La Union. It will have a prescriptive navigation software based on real-time traffic data and will also analyze existing policy for traffic control. PSU will develop the Hundred Islands National Park Management System that has a real-time motorized banca geolocation as an implementation of smart tourism. Paringit said DOST PCIEERD will be relentless in pursuing new projects on data science to aid governments in managing its data needs and craft data driven decisions. “Through these projects, we will enable the development of appropriate capabilities, systems and technologies that can be adapted and used by national government agencies and local government units, specifically on urban mobility, energy management, e-governance and citizen services, waste management, and water management,” he explained.

Paref Rosehill School perpetuating generosity

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notable provider of the K-12 program in Antipolo, Rizal, Paref Rosehill School, has a special way of honoring its donors by perpetuating their legacy as it names the school’s facilities after its prominent benefactors. The latest on their growing list are Danny Moran, president of Amici Food Ventures Inc. and Isidro Consunji, chairman and president of DMCI Holdings. The school facilities named after them will be unveiled along with a ceremony to honor their generosity on March 6. Paref Rosehill S chool is founded and administered by the Parents for Education Foundation Inc., a nonstock, nonprofit foundation that invests in molding young women to becoming God-fearing empowered women leaders, mothers and nation-builders. Located at the Sta Monica Estate, Mission Hills Subdivision, Antipolo City, the school has been quite successful in its goal as evidenced by a growing list of exemplary graduates—summa cum laudes, magna

cum laudes, cum laudes, as well as bar, board and licensure exams passers. To broaden the beneficiaries of its unique program, Paref Rosehill is further developing its campus and facilities in the hope to better promote personal integral formation, fruitful family enrichment and meaningful community service carried out in and outside its premises with the school and its stakeholders. The school is now reaching out to generous individuals and companies willing to share their resources for the completion of its three-story arts and sciences building. The construction of the building is now in full swing after DMCI and some generous individuals made initial donations. The building shall house classrooms, a computer laborator y, science laboratory, conference rooms and other facilities. Hence, Paref Rosehill is inviting beneficent people, who share with its altruism, to partner with the school by being a Naming Rights Sponsor or a Building Patron.

Faith A6 Sunday, February 14, 2021

Sunday

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Pope Francis: We meet God in prayer, in the ‘today’ that we live

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n his recent General Audience, Pope Francis spoke about how Christian prayer is “anchored” in the liturgy.

Pope Francis (center) at the General Audience on February 10. Vatican Media

In the audience, streamed live from the Library of the Apostolic Palace, he explained how prayer returns from the liturgy to the daily situations of life, such as on the streets, in offices and on public transport. “Essentially, everything becomes a part of this dialogue with God,” which is prayer. “Every joy becomes a reason for praise, every trial is an opportunity to ask for help,” he said. “Prayer,” according to the pope, “is always alive in life, like embers of fire... Even when the mouth does not speak, the heart talks.” Every thought, even apparently “profane” ones, can be permeated by prayer, “which illuminates the few steps in front of us and then opens up to the entire reality that precedes it and surpasses it.” “Christian prayer instills an invincible hope in the human heart,” the

Pope said, adding, “whatever experience we touch on our journey, God’s love can turn it into good.”

Praying in the present, today In this regard, Pope Francis cited the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which says, “We learn to pray at certain moments by hearing the Word of the Lord and sharing in his Paschal Mystery, but His Spirit is offered us at all times, in the events of each day, to make prayer spring up from us.” “Time is in the Father’s hands,” says the Catechism, stressing, “It is in the present that we encounter Him, not yesterday or tomorrow, but today.” The pope noted that there are people who look to the future without taking today as it comes. They live in a world of fantasy and don’t know how to live the concrete reality of today.

Prayer transforms us

We are all sinners loved by God

The Pope said it is prayer that transforms the today we are living into grace—or rather, it transforms us. Prayer “appeases anger, sustains love, multiplies joy and instills the strength to forgive.” Grace lives and works in us; the problems we face no longer seem to be obstacles to our happiness, but appeals from God, opportunities to encounter Him. “When you have an angry or unhappy thought that brings bitterness,” the pope exhorted, “you should stop and turn to God. The Lord, who is there, will give you the right word and advice in order to go ahead without this negative bitterness. When one is accompanied by the Lord, he or she feels more courageous, freer and also happier.”

Pope Francis further explained that prayer helps us love others, despite their mistakes and sins, stressing that the person is always more important than their actions. And Jesus did just that. He did not judge the world but saved it. T he Holy Fat he r wonde re d how bad and unhappy life must be for those who a lways judge and condemn others. I n ste ad , ope n you r he a r t s, forgive, justify others, be close to others, have compassion and tenderness like Jesus, he urged. “We need to love each and every person,” the pope continued, and to remind ourselves that we are all sinners and “at the same time loved individually by God.” This way, “we will discover that every day and everything bears within it a fragment of God’s mystery.”

Who to pray for? The Holy Father invites Christians to pray always, not just for our dear ones but for everyone, even those we do not know. “Let us pray even for our enemies as t he Scr ipt ures of ten inv ite us to do,” he said, adding , “prayer inclines us toward an overabundant love.” He invites us to pray for those who are sad, and for those who weep in solitude and despair, wondering whether there is still anyone who loves them. The prayer of a Christian, Pope Francis pointed out, works miracles by making present the compassion of Christ for the poor. Jesus, in fact, looked with great tenderness on the weary and lost crowd who were like sheep without a shepherd. Compassion, closeness, and tenderness, he stressed, are the Lord’s “style.”

God’s kingdom of justice and peace The Catechism further pointed out that “it is right and good to pray so that the coming of the kingdom of justice and peace may influence the march of history.” But for this to happen, “it is important to bring the help of prayer into humble, everyday situations; all forms of prayer can be the leaven to which the Lord compares the kingdom.” Pope Francis noted that people are fragile beings, “but we know how to pray, which is our greatest dignity as well as our strength.” He urged: “Pray in every moment and in every situation because the Lord is near.” “And when a prayer is said according to the heart of Jesus, that prayer obtains miracles,” the pope added. Vatican News

Rituals are important survival tools during the pandemic

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ov id-19 has disrupted many aspects of daily life, including rituals both sacred and mundane. At the same time, the pandemic has opened a unique opportunity globally to adapt rituals to meet new needs and respond to new challenges. Rituals are social conventions that range from religious ceremonies like baptisms and bat mitzvahs to simple greetings like handshakes. I study what rituals reveal about our minds, nature and culture. They are not arbitrary, capricious or random. Instead, they serve critical social functions, such as welcoming newborns into families, celebrating graduations and marriages and mourning loved ones who’ve died. Rituals also promote solidarity by allowing communities to express their shared goals and values. The pandemic has forced us to change many of our most common rituals, including how we celebrate rites of passage. Baby showers, birthday parties and funerals are now held virtually. Large celebratory signs on front lawns announce graduations. Couples livestream their virtual weddings on social media, and families host holiday celebrations outdoors to ensure social distancing. Rituals around greetings and social support have also changed. Handshakes, kisses on the cheeks or lips and physical embraces have been replaced by elbow bumps, air kisses and virtual hugs.

Managing uncertainty

During times of uncertainty and danger, people often use rituals to reduce their stress and exert control over their environment.

and prevent illness. Rituals called simpatias are used to treat pulmonary ailments in Brazil, rituals based on traditional medicine are used to treat HIV in South Africa, rituals performed during pregnancy are used to prevent birth defects in India, and rituals using homoeopathic remedies are used to treat rheumatoid arthritis in the UK.

Promoting hygiene

Young Catholic devotees wearing face masks to prevent being infected with the coronavirus stand to get a glimpse of the Black Nazarene at the Santa Cruz Church in Manila, a day before it’s feast day on January 9. The annual January 9 procession attended by tens of thousands of devotees has been cancelled amid the threat of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic in one of Asia’s biggest religious events. AP/Aaron Favila

That’s why rituals are common during periods of high risk, such as during pregnancy and after giving birth. Consider Chhathi, a popular ritual in northeast India that takes place on the sixth day after a child’s birth. During the ritual, the mother and child are bathed and fed. Black thread is tied around the baby’s waist or wrist and black eyeliner is applied around the baby’s eyes. This is meant to provide protection from supernatural threats, such as the evil eye. Chhathi initiates a new baby into the family, garners supernatura l protection and reinforces social cohesion within the community. A global pandemic is also a time of significant transition and uncertainty when people have greater need for physical and social support. Over the past year, people have

used electronic media to rapidly transform routine social rituals. Like the in-person rituals they replaced, these new interactions— such as virtual happy hours, Zoom business meetings and distancelearning classrooms—strengthen social ties. Societies also use rituals for practical reasons, such as improving health and avoiding illness. Records of rituals used in medicine date back to ancient Egypt and the Papyrus Ebers, one of the oldest known medical texts. It includes this ritual to treat blindness: Crush, powder and blend the two eyes of a pig, mineral eye salve, red oxide and wild honey in a clay bowl. Inject mixture into patient’s ear and say, “I have brought this thing and put it in its place. The crocodile god Sobek is weak and powerless.” Contemporary rituals are also used in this way to attempt to treat

M a n y rel ig ious r itua ls concer n c lea nsing a nd pur if ication. For example, it is obligator y for Muslims to wash their face, arms, head and feet before praying, a purification ritual called Wudu. The Covid-19 pandemic has also prompted people to adopt new rituals around personal and communal hygiene such as wearing face masks in public, rigorously cleaning shared surfaces and taking turns being inside businesses and workplaces. Anthropologists believe such rituals may be part of a hazardprecaution system, a psychological system geared toward responding to threats in the environment such as pathogens or contamination. Since reducing contamination and promoting hygiene is essential to health and survival, having rituals to spread these practices within a population is useful. There are good reasons people spend time, money and energy engaging in rituals in the face of Covid-19 restrictions. They are essential to meeting our physical, social and psychological needs in the face of adversity. Cristine H Legare, The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts,The Conversation, CC

Archbishop Charles John Brown, Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, speaks during a video message to participants of the bishops’ online seminar on ecumenism on February 9.

Nuncio calls Catholics to ‘forefront’ of ecumenism

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he Vatican’s envoy to the Philippines said Catholics should be at the lead in pursuing Christian and interreligious unity. Archbishop Charles John Brown said that people “can’t overestimate” the importance of ecumenical and interreligious relations in the world today. “In a world that’s increasingly fractured for all kinds of reasons, we as Catholic Christians need to be at the forefront of creating unity and understanding,” Brown said. The nuncio was speaking in his video message for the bishops’ virtual seminar on ecumenism, interreligious dialogue and indigenous peoples. The seminar on the theme of “Dialogue Towards Harmony” is divided into three series, with two

others scheduled on February 16 and 23. The first session specifically focused on a Vatican document with suggestions from the world’s bishops to promote unity with other Christian communities. The 26-page “The Bishop and Christian Unity and Ecumenical Vademecum” was approved by Pope Francis and issued last December 4, 2020, by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. To achieve unity, Brown said that the church must continually engage in a three-fold dialogue mentioned in the document: love, truth and life. “Through this three-fold dialogue, we increase the movement towards unity, which is what our Lord prayed for at the Last Supper, ‘Ut unum sint,’ that they may all be one,” he said. CBCP News

Pandemic dominates over life, death, rites, prayers

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he world turned the page on 2020 last month, but the coronavirus pandemic continued to hold sway over lives, deaths, rituals, ceremonies and prayers, as captured by Associated Press photographers in January. At a Los Angeles hospital, a chaplain clad in a face mask, face shield, gloves and full body cover to safeguard his own health, placed his hand on the head of a Covid-19 patient in blessing. For the past 11 months, he and others have entered the rooms of the sick and dying to comfort them, hold their hands, gently brush their foreheads and reassure them there is nothing to fear. In Bucharest, Romania, a coffin crowned with red and white flowers and containing the remains of Holocaust survivor Iancu Tucarman, who died of the virus at age 98, was wheeled past an honor guard of uniformed soldiers for burial.

And in Vatican City, St. Peter’s Square stood practically deserted as Pope Francis recited the Angelus noon prayer in his studio instead of at a window overlooking the plaza due to health restrictions. That was just one of countless rites around the globe altered because of the virus. In Washington, Joe Biden’s inaugural ceremony outside the Capitol was held in front of a drastically pared-down group of socially distanced attendees, with the new president swearing in on a thick Bible that’s been a “family heirloom” since 1893. Two weeks earlier, inside the same building, lawmakers wearing face masks bowed their heads for the closing prayer of a joint session of Congress to confirm Electoral College votes— hours after a violent insurrection by rioters bent on overturning Biden’s election. These and more are among the AP’s top faithrelated images from January. AP

Caritas PHL fears dividing Palawan could adversely affect biodiversity, IPs

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he division of Palawan into three separate provinces could have adverse effec ts to its biodiversity, indigenous peoples’ communities and the general economic movement of Palaweños, the national social action arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines raised as it expressed its strong concern. It added that the ecological protection and human development should be the primar y consideration in the conduct of the plebiscite, Caritas Philippines said in a news release. According to Bishop Gerry Alminaza, vice chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Social Action, Justice and Peace, “We are one with the civil society organizations, the local Catholic Churches in Taytay and Puerto Princesa and the people of Palawan in the call to re-examine the scientific, cultural and moral foundations of the law, above all economic and political gains of the proponents and their business allies.” The bishop added: “So that what happened at least 20 years ago when we opened Palawan forests to extractive industries, will not happen again in the globally significant island ecosystem.” The move to divide the province started in 2017. The Republic Act 11259, or An Act Dividing the Province of Palawan into Three Provinces, namely: Palawan del Norte, Palawan Oriental, and Palawan del Sur, was signed into law on April 5, 2019. As a requirement, a plebiscite was scheduled on March 13. According to Save Palawan Movement’s Atty. Gerthie Anda, “The process, which did not include inclusive consultations, was clearly a political agenda, which will benefit mainly local political leaders and will entail huge economic costs to the people of Palawan.” According to Fr. Antonio E. Labiao, Caritas Philippines executive secretar y, “While we question the true intent of the law, we would like to respect the political process.”

However, he said, “We would like to urge the government, especially IATF [Inter-Agency Task Force], Comelec [Commission on Elections], the police and the military and the present political leaders in Palawan to make all necessary measures possible so voters are able to exercise their constitutional right to suffrage despite the limitations brought about by Covid-19 pandemic.” He added: “We urge the government to ensure integrity, fairness, transparency, utmost observance of health protocols in the conduct of the plebiscite and that electoral violations will be avoided.” Fr. Rey Aguanta, apostolic administrator of the Apostolic Vicariate of Taytay, said in a statement that “the separation will only be putting Palaweños, especially the indigenous communities, further from the doors of government service as the law was mostly due to personal and vested political interests, and not to pave the way for genuine human development.” He added that “spending millions of pesos for the election is not cost-efficient when the province still needs to provide for the Covid-19 vaccines and other basic social services for its constituents.” Bishop Socrates Mesiona of the Apostolic Vicariate of Palawan also encouraged a “fair presentation of the issues concerning the plebiscite from the government through the news media, so the public will be able to have informed and principled decision on the matter.” Palawan, known as the last ecological frontier of the Philippines, is a first- class province with stable annual revenues from tourism, rich marine and forest resources, and mineral reserves. When separated into three provinces, each of the provinces’ share of the national wealth will considerably become smaller—not a good start for a province with 50 percent population already living in poverty, the news release said.

Biodiversity Sunday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Sunday, February 14, 2021

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Distinctly unique PHL wild doves

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By Jonathan L. Mayuga

hey are almost twice the size of the brown shrike, commonly called tarat. But they are slightly smaller compared to their domesticated cousins, the homing or racing pigeons, which are usually kept by your neighbor’s kids. Unlike their bigger cousins, these elusive doves are definitely wild and free, and are not meant to be domesticated or become household pets. Philippine wild doves, often brown, if not light brown-feathered, and sometimes grey-feathered birds, are masters of blending w it h t heir env ironment, whether in the dense forest or the city park near you. Like most often ignored and dismissed as unimportant birds, the wild doves or pigeons, are unique and important to the ecosystems, in their own little ways.

Forest dwellers

Accor di ng to t he w i ld l i fe experts at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), most wild dove species prefer primar y forests as their habitat. But some also inhabit lowland forests with mixed primary and secondary growths, forest edges and secondary forests. T here a re, howe ver, some small-island specialists, such as the Sulu bleeding-heart. Philippine doves are distributed in all major islands of the country, some are endemic to certain ranges. These are the Mindoro bleeding-heart, which is known to exist on the Mindoro Island only; the Tawi tawi brown- dove, which exists exclusively in the Sulu archipelago; the Negros bleedingheart and Negros fruit-dove, which are known to exist in Panay and Negros only.

But don’t be surprised if you see a wild dove perched on a tree in the city. They have learned to adapt and inhabit even city parks or the small green spaces in the urban jungle.

Diverse species

Many of the wild doves are known to occur in the Philippines, each with distinctive mark and some occurring in highly restricted range where the species is only known to occur and nowhere else in the world. Sometimes, they are called Philippine fruit doves because of their diet, or feeding habit. The Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) of the DENR said there are currently 36 species of wild doves and pigeons in the country. O f t he s e , 17 a re e nd e m ic , or c a n on l y b e fou nd i n t he Ph i l ip p i ne s .

Unique birds

Wild pigeons or wild fruit doves are unique from other birds, accord ing DENR-BMB Director Amelita D.J. Ortiz. “Bird species of the Family Columbidae [to which wild doves belong] are incredibly complex and intelligent animals and are renowned for their outstanding navigational abilities,” she told the BusinessMirror via e-mail. Responding to an e-mail query, Ortiz said wild doves use a range of skills, such as using the sun as a guide and an internal “magnetic compass,” like the home or racing pigeon.

Palawan’s Bulalacao marine ecosystem is best community-managed MPA By Lorenz S. Marasigan

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or actively helping the coastal and marine ecosystems recover and regenerate, the Palawan government named the Bulalacao marine protected area in Coron as the province’s Best Community-Managed MPA. Established in 2014, the 3,297-hectare area has two strict protection zones and two sustainable use zones. Malampaya Foundation assisted the community in the Bulalacao MPA’s creation and management. Malampaya Executive Director Karen Agabin attributeed the award to its “collaborative partnership” with the Bulalacao indigenous peoples group, the Coron local government, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), the Philippine Coast Guard, the Departments of Environment and Natural Resources, and of Energy, and the Philippine National Police-Maritime. She noted that since its rehabilitation started two years ago, the area is now thriving and is abundant with various species of fish. “When we first mapped and sur veyed Bulalacao back in 2012, the surrounding ocean was in a horrible state, with reefs and the fishing grounds heavily damaged from decades of dynamite and other unsustainable fishing methods,” Agabin said. “You would hardly see any fish, any marine life, that time. Now, through the collaborative effort of all stakeholders, we have observed a 100-fold increase in fish abundance, along with the return of long-absent endangered species like the napoleon wrasse,” she added. Agabin said the establishment and launch of Bulalacao MPA was the culmination of about

two years of social preparation, collaboration, and cooperation among the barangay and Tagbanua leaders, community members, the Coron municipal government, NICP, BFAR, the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development, and the Malampaya Foundation. Agabin explained: “In the next few years, what we hope to see is continuous coral regeneration. A large component of that is addressing the coastal communities, making them our partners, and getting their leaders to contribute in the overall marine conservation effort.” And with the active participation of all stakeholders, “we are very optimistic to see a sustainable development in coral regeneration,” she noted. She noted that her group will also start getting more legislative support for the MPA. “Now, we are in the process of helping them expand the Bulalacao MPA. After a few years, when the community realized and saw the benefits of a properly and effectively managed MPA, they initiated to expand the MPA. We have done an initial mapping and now we are undergoing another social and legal process,” she said. She added: “To have the MPA supported by legislation through ordinances, there will be a series of consultations and consents from various stakeholders. We are hopeful that we will have it expanded by next year.” As of 2019, Malampaya Foundation’s marine conservation program area spans 329,627 hectares under 31 conservation agreements with 30 barangays and 14 municipalities. Several of its MPAs are used as models by other municipalities in the Philippines that are aiming to improve coastal and marine conservation efforts in their respective areas.

Common zebra doves have learned to adapt and inhabit small green spaces in the city, like some parts of the University of the Philippines Diliman campus in Quezon City. Gregg Yan

“Pigeons for example, were used in both World War I and II as messengers and served as the sole source of the earliest largescale communication network,” she said.

Unique characteristics

But there are also other characteristics that set the wild pigeons apart from other family of birds. These include a bilobed crop that produces a sort of “milk” that is fed to the chicks. The “crop” is the pocket-like space near the bird’s throat. It also has a monogamous mating behavior, which is attributed to the single pairing of a male with a female. The pigeon species has the ability to drink by sucking or pumping, and it has thick feathers set close to the skin. Wild doves possess stocky bodies with small heads bills, and feet.

Threatened species

Of the 36 species of wild doves in the Philippines, 19 are classified as threatened based on the DENR’s Department Administrative Order 2019-09. According to the DENR-BMB, seven species of the wild doves are now critically endangered or in the brink of extinction. They are the Mindoro bleedingheart, the Negros bleeding-heart, Sulu bleeding-heart, Amethyst brown dove, the Tawi tawi browndove, Negros fruit dove and the pink-bellied imperial pigeon—all

are endemic to the Philippines. Six others are “endangered and six more are vulnerable.”

Habitat loss

According to Ortiz, the main culprit for the possible extinction of these species is the destruction of their natural habitat due to encroaching shifting cultivation and selective logging in many areas in the country. For instance, the destruction of primary forests in Negros has contributed to the near extinction of the Negros fruit dove. “Secondary forest appears to be unsuitable for the species as it is not found in one of the only remaining areas of secondary forest in Negros,” she said. Other threats to the bird are hunting and trapping for food, and collection for pet trade.

Seed eaters

Wild doves feed on fruits as seeds form the major component of the diet of doves and pigeons, but it varies greatly according to species. Some ground feeding species eat fruit and take insects and worms. The birds, being part of the food chain, are prey to snakes and raptors, or birds of prey, such as falcons, kites, eagles, owls and hawks. In urban areas, there are reports that they are also attacked and eaten by cats.

Luzon bleeding -hearts

Recently, nine Luzon bleeding-

heart pigeons—progenies of two pairs loaned to the Wildlife Reserves Singapore by the DENR— was freed in Norzagaray, Bulacan, with the hope that they will help increase the population of the unique doves in the area. The Luzon bleeding-heart pigeon, named as such because of the reddish color extending from its breast to its belly, depicting blood running down form the heart, is a near-threatened species. However, it was picked for conservation-breeding program outside the Philippines in order to ensure its breeding.

Global patrimony

At the moment, the DENR-BMB chief said there is no immediate plan to extend a similar arrangement for other wild dove species. However, she said that a local captive breeding program for the Negros bleeding-heart is being undertaken by a conservation group, the Talarak Foundation, and is being supported by the Philippines Biodiversity Conservation Foundation. Ortiz said there are plans for future re-introductions in Negros. According to the DENR-BMB, as the DENR promotes open partnership or collaboration with capable institutions, both local and abroad, for the conservation of Philippine wildlife, especially the conservation of threatened species, it is open to the idea of entering into a wildlife loan agreement in the future. It said the arrangement “provides an opportunity for global participation in the conservation of biological resources which is part of global patrimony.” “Engaging various institutions for conservation breeding is also part of ex-situ conservation approach, which allows certain individuals of highly threatened [birds] to be maintained in separate facilities as assurance population in case of a catastrophe which befall natural populations,” she said.

Seed dispersers

Fruit doves, she said, are seed dispersers, a reason why like

other birds and bats, it should be protected. As such, having them around is of tremendous benefit to the environment, in particular, the forest. “ T hey are seed dispersers. They expand vegetation naturally,” Theresa Mundita S. Lim, executive director of the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) told the BusinessMirror. “In this Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, we should not focus only on tree planting to restore ecosystems, but also on the role of wild birds, such as doves and pigeons that can do the tree planting for us, and reach areas that would be difficult for human tree planters to access,” Lim said via Messenger on January 25.

Regional importance

Wild pigeons or wild fruit doves are also known to occur in other Southeast Asian countries, and like other wildlife they play very important roles in the ecosystem. Wild doves and pigeons occur in Southeast Asia, but the Philippines has the most unique—the bleeding heart species. Imperial pigeons and turtle doves, which are commonly found in Southeast Asia, Lim said, are tree planters that help nurse degraded forests. A former director of the DENRBMB, Lim said that while wild doves and pigeons are not known as long-distance travelers, it doesn’t mean that some species cannot cross borders in mainland Asia. In fact, record s show t hat more t ha n one or t wo A sea n member-st ates have common w i ld dove spec ies in t heir forests, proof t hat t hese shor tdistance f lyers are able to t ravel a nd t hr ive a ny where in t he forest of Sout heast A si a. “Based on our records, at least 35 species of wild doves and pigeons are known to occur in more than one Asean member-states,” Lim said, a clear indication that these birds move and expand territories, hence, also extend their reach and benefit to the environment.

Climate leaders support 75% GHG reduction target in draft PHL plan

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limate Reality Leaders (CRL) in the Philippine welcomed the government’s commitment to a projected greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction and avoidance of 75 percent below businessas-usual levels by 2030. The GHG mitigation target is enshrined in the draft Philippine Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement, which was presented at the second National Multi-Stakeholder Consultation early this month and at the meeting of the House of Representatives Committee on Climate Change, a CRL news release said. According to the government’s Climate Change Commission, 2.33 percent of the mitigation target will be implemented unconditionally with nationally mobilized resources while 72.67 percent will require support or means of implementation provided under the Paris Agreement. The Climate Reality Project Philippines Branch Manager Nazrin Castro said this ambitious mitigation target conveys the readiness of the Philippine sectors to leapfrog to a greener and more sustainable development pathway. “We are ready to mobilize our roster of Climate Reality Leaders from the different sectors of society to provide technical support, advocate for ambitious action, and create more awareness of the NDC at the community level,” she said during the consultation. CRL Paco Pangalangan and Jonas Marie Dumdum also delivered statements of support to the ambition set by the Philippine government during the consultation. Pangalangan, the executive director of international research organization and consulting firm Stratbase ADR Institute, lauded the inclusion of an unconditional target, which was lacking in the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) submitted by the country in 2015.

Strong waves hit the wharf of Dinahican fish port during Supertyphoon Rolly (international code Goni) in November 2020. Destructive strong typhoons have been occurring in the recent years, which experts say are among the signs of climate change. Bernard Testa “I think we could still enhance our unconditional target of our NDC by reflecting the actions and ambition from the private sector and all stakeholders,” he said as he emphasized the need to unlock the immense potential for renewable energy and to modernize energy grids to safeguard its systems and technologies to weather climate impacts, the news release said. Dumdum, an associate consultant at the Gaia Corporate Sustainability Services Inc., echoed Pangalangan’s statement on the critical role of the private sector in achieving the country’s NDC ambition. “The private sector is yearning for guidance from our government on how they too could align themselves with the NDC. The need for well-defined, predictable, and transparent policies from our

government has never been more pronounced,”he said. CRL Dr. Mydah Kabingue and Keith Ancheta, meanwhile, delivered interventions on the draft Philippine NDC during the meeting of the House Representatives, chaired by Rep. Edgar Chatto. Kabingue, academic chairman of the College of Arts and Sciences of the Cebu Technological University, said the academe wishes to be more engaged in the NDC process. “There are many universities that are already undertaking efforts consistent with the goals and aspirations of our NDC. There are many more, especially those who conduct research in climate-resilient crops and technologies for our agriculture sector,” she said. Ancheta, a graduate student from the University of the Philippines Diliman, said the youth is willing

to work with the government to help achieve the targets and implement the policies and measures in the country’s NDC. “We also hope to be continuously included in policy and decision-making alongside other marginalized sectors, such as the farmers, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples, and others to ensure an inclusive consultative process,” he said. Highlighting the need to empower the youth to contribute to the implementation of the NDC, Ancheta pushed for the inclusion of the Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority in the NDC process, and for these departments to integrate climate change education in school curricula. The Philippine NDC is set to be submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat by the end of the month. As of December 2020, the Philippines remains to be the only party to the Paris Agreement that has not submitted its first NDC. The Climate Reality Project Philippines expressed its support to the call of its host organization, the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), for the government to deliver both first and second NDCs in one submission. According to ICSC Executive Director Red Constantino, this can be done by declaring the INDC submitted in 2015 as the country’s first NDC, the news release said. “We can and must avoid unnecessarily doubling the effort of our agencies, considering that the next round of enhancement is aimed at 2025. If we deliver—in one submission—both first and enhanced NDCs, our agencies can focus on one single process of improvements aimed at delivering another credible 2025 NDC ratchet with similar ambition,” he added.

Sports BusinessMirror

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unday, February 14, 2021 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

No crowds, but Australian Open will continue during lockdown

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ELBOURNE, Australia—The Australian Open will be allowed to continue but without crowds for at least five days after the Victoria state government imposed a snap lockdown starting Saturday in response to a Covid-19 outbreak at a quarantine hotel. Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews on Friday announced a five-day, state-wide lockdown starting a minute before midnight local time, imposing new restrictions that prevent residents from leaving their homes except for work, to shop for essential supplies, care or caregiving, and limited exercise. Schools will be closed Monday through Wednesday, and there will be no gatherings permitted at homes or for sports events, weddings or religious services. Masks will be required everywhere. Andrews said the February 8 to 21 Australian Open could continue “because these people are at their workplace.” “It will be happening, but there’ll be no one there watching it,” he said. “I don’t have advice to cancel the event on the basis that it’s unsafe,” he added, saying the latest Covid-19 cases had nothing to do with the tennis quarantine program. Tournament director Craig Tiley said the only people who will be permitted on site will be the players and their direct support teams, as well as essential staff members not able to work from home. “The feedback we’ve had from all the players is they just want to get on and play,” he said. “They’ve been plying in a bubble with no crowds for pretty much a year now, so the last five days [with crowds] have been a unique experience for them.” Serena Williams was in the middle of her third-round win over Anastasia Potapova when the lockdown was announced. She didn’t hear the news until after the match. “I think it’s good that I didn’t know.... It’s going to be a rough few days for I think everyone,” she said. “It’s been really fun to have the crowd back, especially here.” Grigor Dimitrov, who also advanced to the fourth round on Friday, said he feels fortunate the tournament is going ahead at all. “I think throughout the past months and everything that has been happening, in a sense I feel like nothing can surprise me,” he said. Fans arriving at Melbourne Park on Friday before the announced lockdown were instructed at the entrance to maintain social-distancing, sanitize their hands and pull their masks up over their noses. With masks not yet required on the grounds, though, many were not wearing them. Fans will also be permitted to attend the night matches scheduled for Friday, when Novak Djokovic, Simona Halep, Dominic Thiem and Nick Kyrgios are playing. But Andrews’ urged people to “exercise good judgement” and not go out. Refunds would be offered to fans who purchased tickets for Saturday through Wednesday, as well as for those fans who didn’t feel comfortable attending Friday’s matches, Tiley said. Tiley said he’s hopeful fans would be

permitted back on site for the final four days of the tournament next week, provided the lockdown “has done its job.” The Australian Open was the first Grand Slam tournament in a year to allow sizable crowds. After the Covid-19 outbreak became a pandemic, Wimbledon was canceled, fans were not allowed at the US Open and the number of spectators at the French Open was heavily restricted. Under the initial plan for the Australian Open, the government allowed up to 30,000 people daily the first week at Melbourne Park, or about 50 percent of capacity. The biggest daily attendance in the first four days was 21,010 on Thursday. All players, staff and officials who arrived on charter flights for the tournament, a total of about 1,200 people, had to do a mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine. Of those, 72 were forced into a hard lockdown after being deemed close contacts of passengers who tested positive for the virus after landing in Australia, and were not permitted to leave their rooms for any reason. Andrews said the new lockdown was a “short, sharp circuit breaker” in a bid to avoid a bigger, longer lockdown as the state combats a “hyper-infectious” strain of the coronavirus. The cluster of cases linked to the hotel quarantine program at the Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport grew to 13 on Thursday night, with five new cases emerging, including two household contacts of existing cases. These were the first cases linked with the cluster who had not been inside the hotel. Australia has 909 deaths attributed to Covid-19, including 820 in Victoria state. Most of those were during a second deadly wave last year when a hard lockdown was put in place in Melbourne. That lockdown lasted 111 days. All nonessential businesses and schools were closed, and residents were initially permitted to leave their homes for just an hour each day. A nightly curfew was imposed for weeks. The extreme measures did succeed in stamping out the virus. Victoria had gone 28 straight days without a locally acquired case until early February. Australia’s states and territories have also been quick to close their borders when outbreaks have occurred, which has also helped to contain the virus. Several states have announced border closures already for travelers from Melbourne specifically or Victoria more broadly. Last week, play in all six tune-up tournaments was suspended for a day after the worker in one of the tournament’s quarantine hotels tested positive. That meant 507 people connected to the tournament, including 160 players, had to isolate in their accommodations and get tested for Covid-19. All of those tests returned negative. AP

AUSTRALIA’S Nick Kyrgios reacts as he speaks with umpire Marijana Veljovic regarding the net during his second-round match with France’s Ugo Humbert on Wednesday. AP

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LIMINATING all line judges and removing the human element from officiating at the Australian Open might have been a necessary step to reduce the number of people on court amid a pandemic. It also might be good for the integrity of the game, because getting every call right—or as close to that as possible—matters so much to players and fans. What there is no doubt about, however, is this: The proliferation of live electronic linecalling tends to be worse for the spectacle of the sport, an element tennis definitely needs. Players can’t challenge a call from the machines at Melbourne Park (a replay is shown in the arena after a ball lands within 2 inches of a line on a serve or within 6 inches on any other shot), so there isn’t much sense in lodging a complaint during the first Grand Slam tournament played with zero line judges. Let’s hope that doesn’t hasten the disappearance of histrionics. “That’s the only downside: There’s no one to argue with,” Tommy Paul, an American ranked 53rd, said in a video interview with The Associated Press this week. “There’s no one to blame when you feel like you might have made a ball but it was actually out.” Jennifer Brady, a US Open semifinalist in October and seeded 22nd in Australia, sees that aspect as a benefit: “I would rather not argue with people.... If it’s out, it’s out. If it’s in, it’s in.” Both Paul and Brady, like most players,

say they appreciate the intention of adding accuracy with automation. “There’s a neutrality to it,” Canada’s Rebecca Marino said. Not all are convinced of its perfection. Not all are subtle about their misgivings, either. Frances Tiafoe, a quarterfinalist in Australia two years ago, described the new arrangement as “horrible”—and modified that word by preceding it with a two-syllable expletive. “I hate it,” Tiafoe said Wednesday after questioning calls in a second-round loss to No. 1 Novak Djokovic. “I cannot stand it.” After a first-round exit, British qualifier Francesca Jones called the system “extremely questionable,” saying one shot by her opponent that was called in was shown on TV to have landed out. “I much prefer human error than systematic error,” Jones said, urging that the setup “be revised.” Reilly Opelka, meanwhile, disagreed with a series of foot faults during his first-round win, yet is willing to overlook that flaw. “It’s shocking some of the line calls and overrules you’ll see with refs. It frustrates the players. You spend a lot of time training, and then it happens on big points,” said the American, who is ranked 38th. Letting cameras and computers make decisions “just eliminates all confrontation,” Opelka said. “I’m a big fan of it. I hope every Slam does it.” Serena Williams is no stranger to disputed

Grand Slam calls, including a foot fault at the end of her 2009 US Open semifinal loss to Kim Clijsters—and wildly wrong rulings that went against the 23-time major champion during a 2004 quarterfinal loss to Jennifer Capriati at Flushing Meadows, a match that hastened the advent of replay reviews in tennis. Williams thought “it was different; it was weird” when she first played with no on-court officials other than the chair umpire. “I like it now, because...it takes away a lot of the human error, which clearly I definitely don’t need,” Williams said, punctuating the line with a knowing roll of her eyes and wave of her hand. “I should be the biggest fan of that.” Even Tiafoe, a 23-year-old American ranked 64th, knows this sort of thing is not likely to go away (there was fully electronic line-calling at all but two courts at last year’s US Open). “I get technology is at a crazy-high level. I’m just not a believer in it,” he explained. “It doesn’t matter what I say. They’re not going to change anything because Frances Tiafoe said it, [but] I’m never going to be for it.” Let’s leave the last word on this subject to John McEnroe, he of the infamous tirades at officials during a playing career that featured seven Grand Slam singles trophies. Not surprisingly, he’s fine with taking calls away from line judges. “If you like the human element, I have a better idea: Have the players call the lines,” said McEnroe, an announcer on ESPN’s Australian Open coverage. “Then you’ll see some interesting developments.” AP

Earnhardt’s death saved lives, forced rules change

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THE crowd won’t be watching the matches for at least the next five days. AP

TikTok fourth Chinese sponsor of Euro 2020

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YON, Switzerland—Video sharing app TikTok was announced as a sponsor for this year’s European Championship on Thursday, becoming the fourth Chinese backer of the soccer tournament. No value was disclosed for the deal, which was confirmed eight months after Euro 2020 was due to start. The 24-team tournament was postponed by one year because of the coronavirus pandemic—a decision UEFA said then could cost “hundreds of millions” of dollars. The potential influence of young TikTok users was shown last June when they were cited as a reason for inflated expectations for attendance at former US President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The soccer deal was negotiated against the backdrop of an ongoing court action after the Trump administration tried to ban TikTok from smartphone app stores as a threat to national security unless it came under greater American control.

Chinese companies now comprise four of UEFA’s 11 main tournament sponsors. TikTok joins Alipay, Hisense and Vivo. UEFA said fans could use the app to “create their own special moments, reactions and celebrations around the tournament.” “UEFA will also give TikTok access to its huge library of historical assets to develop highly engaging and innovative content,” the European soccer body said. AP

AYTONA BEACH, Florida—Ryan Newman was lying in bed one morning, his two daughters still tucked in down the hall, when a YouTube video of his death-defying crash popped up as a recommended watch. He hit play, absorbing every angle of the terrifying wreck that nearly killed him on the final lap of last year’s Daytona 500, and started to cry. His emotional response had little to do with his wreck, which ended with his car flipping and skidding to a halt on its roof in a harrowing show of sparks and flames. “Those are tears of respect and appreciation, not tears of sadness, because I was here and I was able to watch it and know that just down the hallway my kids were going to wake up,” Newman said. Everyone watching feared the worst for Newman, but the 2008 Daytona 500 winner walked out of the hospital 48 hours later with his girls. He will drive the No. 6 Ford in “The Great American Race” on Sunday. Newman now serves as a symbol of how far the sport has come since Nascar’s darkest day 20 years ago, when seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt was killed in the final turn of the 500. Earnhardt was the fourth national series driver killed in nine months. Nascar never stopped after the deaths of Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin Jr. and Tony Roper, but losing Earnhardt forced the racing series to confront safety issues it had been slow to acknowledge. The dramatic upgrades since have saved multiple lives—Nascar hasn’t suffered a racing death in its three national series since—and are

the hallmark of Earnhardt’s legacy.

SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS

Talks of modernizing the car had been tiptoed around, and many drivers frowned on the confining head-and-neck restraints. Earnhardt’s death changed everything. Notable advancements since: n Safer Barriers: The Steel And Foam Energy Reduction Barrier was designed to absorb and reduce kinetic energy during highspeed crashes. “Soft walls” have been gradually added to nearly every Nascar track. n Hans device: Nascar mandated the use of head-and-neck restraints in late 2001. Drivers had resisted using the U-shaped neck restraint made of carbon fiber because they found it cumbersome and restrictive. n Redesigned cars: Nascar has developed three new cars since 2001, each one adapting to the latest technology. The newest “Next Gen” car was postponed to 2022 because of developmental delays caused by the pandemic.

DALE EARNHARDT JR.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was still wearing his fire suit when he sprinted into the hospital searching for his father that fateful afternoon on February 18, 2001. A shy, third-generation driver trying to hold his own against his father, Earnhardt Jr. was in just his second season driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc. At 26, he inherited his father’s rabid fanbase and expectations to be as good as the old man. Junior was hounded by comparisons—in demeanor and skill—and persevered through

early insecurities to develop into a winner himself. He drove six more seasons for DEI and won the first of his two Daytona 500s. But Earnhardt Jr. feuded with his father’s widow and moved to Hendrick Motorsports in 2008. DEI eventually folded. Junior never equaled his father’s on-track success but blossomed into a Nascar leader before concussions forced him to retire in 2017. He’s currently an NBC Sports analyst and made peace with his father’s death long ago. “I didn’t want to feel any negative feelings when I came here because I love Daytona, love this track and I love the history,” he said in 2018. “I want to be rooted in this sport and that means I want to be at Daytona when they race here. That was the choice I made a long time ago and feel very comfortable here.”

KEVIN HARVICK

Even though the 49-year-old Earnhardt had given no indication of slowing down, Harvick’s success in Nascar’s second-tier series had team owner Richard Childress planning to promote him to Cup the following year. Childress pushed Harvick into Earnhardt’s seat early, rebranding the No. 3 to the No. 29 to give Harvick his own identity. Yet Harvick struggled to escape Earnhardt’s shadow in the formative years of his Cup career. “Everything that you did was always compared to everything that Dale did,” Harvick said. “I became defensive. I didn’t want to do anything that was the same way [as Earnhardt] just because I got tired of hearing it.”

Soccer players pressure Instagram to do more to stop racism

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FTER soccer players in England expressed anger about being targeted with racist messages, Instagram said Wednesday that it would disable accounts of users sending abuse. But only repeated racism will see a user banned, Instagram acknowledged, without specifying how many messages it would take to remove an account. “We don’t share this number publicly because we don’t want people to game our systems,” Instagram owner Facebook said in an emailed response to The Associated Press. The British government has also being putting pressure on social media companies to do more to remove racists from their platforms. Facebook pledged to disable accounts that send direct messages with abuse but declined to say why it had decided to act now, when players had been asking for tougher action for years. Players in England boycotted social media for 24 hours in 2019 over racism, but now Facebook is offering more specifics about the action it is taking. “We have always been committed to tackling hate and racism on our platform, it’s an issue we take very seriously,” Facebook content policy manager Fadzai Madzingira said in a statement. Players including Chelsea defender Reece James and sister Lauren James of Manchester United have criticized Instagram’s handling of racist abuse. “Instagram doesn’t even have a clear ‘Racism’ option in their reporting system,” Lauren James said after highlighting the abuse she received last week. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said tougher action must be taken. “For too long the world’s most popular and powerful social-media companies have failed to tackle the stream of horrific racist attacks on their platforms,” Dowden said. “I welcome Instagram’s improved policies but racist abuse is still a fact of life for too many people and more has to be done across the board to stamp it out. “We’re introducing a new age of accountability for these companies through our upcoming Online Safety Bill and this could see huge fines for firms which fail to clearly and transparently protect their users.” The global footballers’ union, FIFPRO, said there has been a failure to address racism in a “strong and unequivocal manner” by platforms including Instagram and Twitter. “Football players who have publicly and eloquently denounced online abuse have helped to highlight the serious and repetitive nature of these attacks,” FIFPRO General Secretary Jonas Baer-Hoffmann said. “All of these players will receive our continuous support to call out the lack of care and adequate protection provided by social-media companies. “We now urgently need both national and international authorities to step in and collaborate to make these companies clean up their platforms and remove the stream of abhorrent discrimination that continues to contaminate both public channels and personal lives on every continent.” Instagram has offered to listen to ongoing concerns. “We know there is more to be done and we will continue to work with the clubs, players and wider industry to collectively tackle this issue,” Madzingira said. AP

Earnhardt Harvick eventually found his own path. He won the 2007 Daytona 500 driving for Richard Childress Racing and moved to Stewart-Haas Racing before the 2014 season. Harvick was rewarded for the bold jump with his only Cup championship and has been a perennial contender since.

RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING

Richard Childress, now 75, was far more than Earnhardt’s car owner. They were hunting and fishing buddies, business associates and close friends. “I miss those moments and so many things,” Childress said. “It’s been tough, and not only tough on me and the family, I think on the race fans. I think a lot of them haven’t gotten over it yet.” Earnhardt was the lynchpin of RCR, the team he joined in 1984 and where he won six of his record-tying seven Cup titles. After his death, RCR began to fade. Recent success has been limited to Childress’ grandson, Austin Dillion, who has three one-win seasons in four years.

RYAN NEWMAN

Ryan Newman is the ultimate testament to Nascar’s safety modifications. He missed limited time following the crash and is back for his 20th full season. He realizes Earnhardt’s death saved his life. But he prefers to remember his childhood idol by what he accomplished before that 2001 season opener. “I feel fortunate that my book, or at least that chapter, didn’t end that way for me,” Newman said. AP

BusinessMirror

Valentine’s Day

February 14, 2021

Gen Z avoids committed relationships, prefers casual hookups

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BusinessMirror FEBRUARY 14, 2021 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

YOUR MUSI

CATCHY DEBUT

Cinema Lumiere’s first EP is from several international indie labels By Rick Olivares

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Publisher

: T. Anthony C. Cabangon

Editor-In-Chief

: Lourdes M. Fernandez

Concept

: Aldwin M. Tolosa

Y2Z Editor

: Jt Nisay

SoundStrip Editor

: Edwin P. Sallan

Group Creative Director : Eduardo A. Davad Graphic Designers Contributing Writers

Columnists

: Niggel Figueroa Anabelle O. Flores : Tony M. Maghirang, Rick Olivares, Darwin Fernandez, Leony Garcia, Stephanie Joy Ching

HIS is music that you must listen to in this time of pandemic. It’s wistful boy-girl harmonies set to jingle-jangle guitar pop that evoke bicycle rides in the countryside, Lend your ears to the pop music alchemists Cinema Lumiere who are releasing their first extended play single, this February from a joint production by indie labels from Indonesia (Shiny Happy Records), China (Boring Productions), Greece (Mellotron Recordings), and the Philippines (Catshelf Records). The 10-inch lathe cut EP takes its name from the track, “Will You Catch Me” with its album design deliberately showing the ring wear of vinyl. “This is our love letter to Sarah Records,” quipped drummer Manny Gallo who designed the package. “We just love that jangly guitar-pop sound that the English label produced.” Sarah Records was famously

Pauline Joy M. Gutierrez : Kaye VillagomezLosorata Annie S. Alejo

Photographers

: Bernard P. Testa Nonie Reyes

Y2Z & SOUNDSTRIP are published and distributed free every Sunday by the Philippine Business Daily Mirror Publishing Inc. as a project of the

The Philippine Business Mirror Publishing, Inc., with offices on the 3rd Floor of Dominga Building III 2113 Chino Roces Avenue corner Dela Rosa Street, Makati City, Philippines. Tel. Nos. (Editorial) 817-9467; 813-0725. Fax line: 813-7025 Advertising Sales: 893-2019; 817-1351,817-2807. Circulation: 893-1662; 814-0134 to 36. www.businessmirror.com.ph

CINEMA Lumiere

based out of the unlikely place of Bristol, England, from 1987-1995 by Matt Haynes and Clare Wadd, who both put out records by noted acts The Field Mice, Heavenly, The Hit Parade, Boyracer, Brighter, and Blueboy among many others. Sarah records made a huge statement in 1995 when they deliberately shut down their label after putting out their 100th release, a compilation album, There and Back Again Lane. The four songs that make up the EP – “Love,” “London Tears,” “Will You Catch Me,” and Dreamcatcher,” were written and sung by Xavier Emas who recently migrated to Canada. Cinema Lumiere is now fourpiece with guitarist Jon Tamayo now handling lead vocals along with bassist Sue Torrejon with Tan Evangelista on guitars, and Gallo on drums. “The original plan was to record a full album,” bared Tamayo. “But when we learned

that Xavier was leaving, we prioritized those songs because it represents an era of the band.” Even if the songs harken back to a bygone era, Cinema Lumiere’s songs sparkle and shine more so in this pandemic and a musical climate so different from Sarah Records’ 90s heyday. Thus, they stand out. “Even without Xavier, we have enough songs written from the past few years to fill up a full-length album,” clarified Tamayo. “A lot of us write songs as well.” “We’re excited about this release given the label and the bands we were inspired by,” added Torrejon. “Of all the bands I have been with, this is the only one where we’ve gone to a level where we will have our music out on both vinyl and cassette (there is a limited version of it on tape). So it is exciting and I feel that we’re well on our way to following our musical heroes.” Cinema Lumiere’s Will You Catch Me will sell for P950. Inquiries can be made through their Facebook page.

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soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | FEBRUARY 14, 2021

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BUSINESS

AUTHENTIC CONNECTIONS John K on figuring out his artistry By Stephanie Joy Ching

OR Florida singer songwriter John K, his debut album, Love + Everything Else, is a snapshot of his journey in “figuring out what it means to be an artist” and a representation of how he fosters authentic connections.

write a song full of hypotheticals, and every time I try to go down the story road, there is always something missing because it’s not real. So I’ve written songs dedicated to my dog, to my wife, to my friends, my family, and I always try to connect it through a deep deep personal level. That’s a huge, huge key in connecting it with people,” Love + Everything Else is available on all streaming platforms nationwide.

The 10 song album was originally conceptualized as a collection of love songs which were written over the course of three years. However, the project seemed to have taken a life of its own and quickly expanded to include other songs, such as “Cheap Sunglasses.” “It was the first song that kind of broke the mold, being one of the only few songs on the album that’s not about love. That one just felt so good that we knew that it had to be on the album,” he said during an online interview. “In a nutshell, it was just ten songs that I have personally fallen in love with over the last couple of years. They were all in a special place, hoping one day that we could piece them all together,” he surmised. For John, quarantine became the time to release these songs into the world, stating that the social isolation had given him and his team “time and perspective to push it to the finish line.” Moreover, the album allowed John to reflect on what being an artist meant for him. It “reflected his journey” in terms of finding out what type of artist he is. “I’ve learned a couple of things. I’ve learned that for an audience to really connect to your music, you have to be really honest in the telling of your music. That will allow the vocal to connect, and you can hear and feel it in the song. And it’s really important for it to be true. So I learned to be

JOHN K

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vulnerable and how to open up,” he said. John also expressed that he learned to trust the process and meet the music halfway, which he describes as “knowing what the song needs.” “I’m learning more and more to go to the song,” he stated, “I learned to not oversing something or make something that it’s not. It’s just to kind of connect to the song where it’s at. I try not to do too much with it, I just find from the inside out what this particular song needs, and it’s a non-stop process of constant selfreflection,” One of the signatures of John’s music is his ability to perfectly capture the essence of summer, and while he admits he doesn’t quite know how he does it, he does presume his upbringing near water had something to do with it. “I’m a true Florida boy, born and raised, I grew up by the water, so I guess summer in some sense was just kind of in me. But when it comes to melody, it’s just a feeling, and that’s the best that I can do,” he said. Another thing John employs in his creative process is a close collaboration with his team. For him, if the song is “not something I’m going through”, it should be something someone in his team has gone through or is going through. “I feel that you really need to have a connection to that actual moment,” he explained. “It’s hard to

Gen Z avoids committed relationships, prefers casual hookups Boyfriends and girlfriends are passé. Seeing people, hookups and friends with benefits are where it’s at By Treena Orchard

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Western University

s we lick our Valentine card envelopes and slip into something more comfortable, it’s a good time to ponder our sexual relationships. As the first entirely digital generation and the largest demographic in western history, Generation Z, those born in the late 1990s and early 2000s, is the subject of extensive research. Often considered to be entitled, dependent and lacking real-life skills, these youth also display considerable resilience and creativity. This adaptive flair extends to their navigation of sexuality and relationships, which are in flux stemming from factors like digital dating practices, lower marriage rates and rising income inequality. What about their sex lives? Sometimes described by popular news media as the hyper-sexual “hookup generation,” other news outlets explain that this generation is less sexed than previous youth cohorts because they have fewer partners. Which is it and what does dating even

mean? What drives young peoples’ decision-making about the kinds of relationships they engage in? I recently posed these questions to undergraduate students at Western University—participants in my qualitative study about sexual culture. I conducted individual interviews with 16 women and seven men from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds and sexual orientations, including gay, lesbian, bisexual, bi-curious and straight. I’ve included some of their responses here. I have not used any of their real names. What I learned from their diverse relationship structures and terminologies was fascinating and confusing, even to a sea-

soned sex researcher like me. Boyfriends and girlfriends are passé. Seeing people, hookups and friends with benefits are where it’s at. Based on my preliminary findings, the current Generation Z dating culture in Ontario is defined by sexual flexibility and complex struggles for intimacy, which is difficult to achieve in the fluid relationships they prefer.

Dating lingo Some participants called the beginnings of their relationships “wheeling.” This term was typically used in high school. “Seeing someone” is more commonly employed in

the university context to describe the onset of a casual relationship with one or more partners. Some of my participants are from Toronto. In that city, Jay explained, “dating” implies a formal relationship. Instead, they say something like, “it’s a thing.” In the city, some who have been influenced by Jamaican culture call it a “ting.” Ellie (not her real name) confirms this, saying, “Dating is a more substantial term that indicates longevity. I think people are scared of saying ‘we’re dating’ [so] for a while they’re like ‘a thing.’” Many students also engage in casual relationships to protect themselves from being hurt. Pearl (not her real name) said, “I think [the lack of commitment is] a fear of commitment and a fear of it not working out and having to say, ‘we broke up.’” Trust issues and the risk of the unknown also come into play. For many students, their university years are a transformative time intellectually, socially and sexually, which was reflected in my study findings. While it may be tempting to discredit young people’s sex lives as fleeting, my participants demonstrated a remarkable capacity for change, sexual desire and emotional complexity. Can they train hearts for new relationship patterns? Is it good for them? The Conversation

Supporting MSMEs through digitization By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

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uring one of her visits to the Philippines, tech executive Cheryl Ng decided to try Filipino cuisine around her hotel in the Makati central business district. The avid traveler approached the concierge and was recommended to explore the nearby cluster of malls, only to find out that most restaurants in the area were big, global brands. Ng wanted something more local, something more authentic. She then headed out to Poblacion, where she was welcomed by the area’s colorful food scene, with unique stalls and quirky restaurants left and right. But aside from getting a better taste of Pinoy food, Ng noticed that the small food establishments remained just that. Despite having outstanding offerings, these micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) lacked exposure to bigger markets. It’s the problem that Ng precisely hoped to address when she put up Lemi in 2016. The Hong Kong-based tech company builds a digital ecosystem to help small local businesses get more attention and generate

more business by “raising their platforms,” especially during this time of a pandemic. “Supporting small businesses and authentic experiences is the heart of Lemi and is the reason why we exist—even more so now with Covid-19 taking the greatest toll on them,” Ng told Y2Z in a phone interview. “We realized that accelerating their digitalization would be the first step to helping them survive, and so we developed a suite of digital solutions specifically to help them generate more revenue and connect with their customers during this critical period.” The centerpiece of Lemi’s solutions is a unique gamified loyalty program with tailorable, automated rewards, designed to help businesses improve customer engagement and retention. Lemi also offers free access to an advanced customer relationship management (CRM) system, a custom microsite optimized for search engines (SEO) and cross-platform use, as well as a digitized coupon creation, selling and tracking system complete with customer success analytics and integrated secure payment systems. Ng said that Lemi’s opportunity to help

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consumers and MSMEs serves as her biggest motivator, along with her team of young people from Generations Y and Z. “They inspire me,” she said. “They want to contribute to something relevant.” Ng believes the Philippines is still an underserved market as a lot of MSMEs have yet to embrace digital technology. She said a significant localization drive is the key to gain a stronger foothold in the local market. In November last year, Lemi was launched in the country and managed to sign up 100 companies on the first day. After five days, the number ballooned to 500. The following month, their growth rate was at 120 percent. To date, Lemi users have recommended over 3,000 businesses in the Philippines. The company aims to formally onboard 1,000 partner MSMEs and expects mid-double-digit monthon-month growth in the Philippines by mid-2021. Lemi also hopes to expand its network regionally and bring its digital offerings to MSMEs across Southeast Asia in the future. To help reduce the burden of cost, Ng said Lemi does not charge for setup. Lemi February 14, 2021

Cheryl Ng, founder of Hong Kong-based online social platform Lemi earns revenue on a commission model based on economies of scale, meaning it only becomes profitable with mass adoption. Additionally, all profits earned by Lemi will be reinvested into further supporting local businesses in the Philippines. “Personally, I want to prove that we can drive and help businesses,” Ng said. “I want to look back in my life and know that I have contributed to something good.”