Businessmirror February 23, 2019

DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY

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A broader look at today’s business

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Saturday, February 23, 2019 Vol. 14 No. 136

2018 EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS

BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR

P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 20 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK

A GOVERNMENT worker paints over an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria flag graffiti in Solo, Java, Indonesia. GARUDEYA | DREAMSTIME.COM

AGENTS OF DEATH Foreign IS waiting for opportune time to wage terror in Mindanao, says military

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By Rene Acosta

ECURITY forces continue to scour Mindanao in search of the remaining foreign terrorists believed to be still lurking in the region and who may be waiting for the opportune moment to carry out terrorism activities.

While the overall security situation in the region may have already improved, the condition, authorities reported, remains fluid, unless the government neutralizes about 10 foreign nationals who are remnants of the Islamic State (IS) who managed to enter the country at the height, or even before, the war in Marawi City broke out in 2017.

Survivors

AT a news briefing on Thursday, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said the remnants of the IS survived

the bloody military operations in the city almost two years ago and are now mostly holed up in camps of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in Western Mindanao. The surviving foreign fighters are composed of various nationalities that included Indonesians, Malaysians and Pakistanis. “It’s a mixture of nationalities,” said Año, who was the chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines when the Marawi siege broke out on May 23, 2017. The government said that at

least 40 foreign fighters who are members of the IS slipped into the country and joined their local counterparts during the battle that raged for more than five months. Año said half of the number has been killed during the battle, or even during the succeeding operations that were carried out by the military in various parts of Mindanao after the city was liberated.

Coddlers

ON January 27, an Indonesian couple detonated bombs at the Jolo Ca-

thedral in Sulu, killing themselves along with 21 people. The suicide bombings, which also wounded 95 others, were owned by the IS. A Yemeni bomb expert involved in the twin bombings is still being hunted by the government. The foreigner slipped into the country more than a year ago and is believed to be married to a Tausug woman. Año said the Yemeni is being harbored and accorded protection by the group of Hatib Hadjan Continued on A2

China’s richest can run from the taxman, but hiding is harder By Tom Metcalf, Chanyaporn Chanjaroen & Jinshan Hong

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cat and mouse between the armies of accountants and asset managers working to minimize the tax payments of their clients, and the governments and regulators arrayed against them, is particularly heated in China. “After the introduction of the CRS rules, high-net-worth individuals are pretty nervous and overwhelmed,” said Liu Shuang, a former anti-avoidance specialist for the Chinese tax bureau who now leads a wealth tax management team in Beijing and has seen demand for her advice soar since last year. “In addition to concerns about back taxes, they are also worried about the exposure of overseas assets.”

Bloomberg

T home and abroad, wealthy Chinese are facing myriad new tax rules as Beijing ratchets up the pressure on tax dodgers.

State media are filled with articles trumpeting the revision of the tax code and government efforts to name and shame offenders. Familiar faces have already been caught in the clampdown. China’s highest-paid movie star, Fan Bingbing, was ordered to pay more than $100 million in back taxes and fines in October after a months-long tax probe, sending a deep chill through the domestic film industry. A global financial-disclosure system—the Common Reporting Standard—is beginning to bite for those stashing money over-

seas. Last year China started automatically exchanging information alongside roughly 100 jurisdictions about accounts belonging to people subject to taxes in each member-country. The crackdown comes as wealth in the Middle Kingdom reaches new heights. A Chinese billionaire was minted every few days in 2018, according to a UBS Group AG estimate, and Boston Consulting Group said personal wealth in the nation surged to a record $24 trillion, with $1 trillion held abroad. It means the global game of

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 52.0560

Some exclusions

FAN BINGBING, China’s highest-paid movie star, attends the Mad Max: Fury Road premiere at the 68th annual Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2015, in Cannes, France. DREAMSTIME.COM

THE tax authorities of CRS member-countries share annual reports that detail reportable accounts, their balances and their beneficiaries. So if a Chinese tax resident opens a bank account in the UK, British authorities will send this Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4703 n UK 67.8706 n HK 6.6342 n CHINA 7.7467 n SINGAPORE 38.4546 n AUSTRALIA 36.9546 n EU 59.0419 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.8816

Source: BSP (February 22, 2019 )

News

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A2 Saturday, February 23, 2019

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AGENTS OF DEATH PRESIDENT Duterte addresses troops during his visit to the 2nd Mechanized Brigade on May 26, 2017, in Iligan City. At left is Armed Forces chief and martial-law administrator Gen. Eduardo Año and at center is Defense Chief Delfin Lorenzana. In photo at right, soldiers and police cordon off the area after two bombs exploded outside a Roman Catholic cathedral (background right) in Jolo, the capital of Sulu province in the southern Philippines where militants are active, on January 27, 2019. WESMINCOM ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES VIA AP/BULLIT MARQUEZ Continued from a1

Sawadjaan, leader of the Ajangajang group of the Abu Sayyaf, which was involved in Jolo’s deadly bombings.

Blind spot

“THIS guy, he is a trained suicide bomber,” Año said of the Yemeni. “But we haven’t monitored any of their plans, unlike [in] the [case of the] Jolo Cathedral, which was really monitored even before the attack,” he said. Two weeks ago, the military carried out a strategic strike on Sawadjaan’s group in Barangay Latih, Patikul, Sulu, but the elusive leader of the ASG—known for his involvement in previous high-profile kidnappings—escaped the attack. Sawadjaan’s deputy, Idang Susukan, was reportedly badly wounded during the operation.

Military offensives

IN Central Mindanao, the military also bombed the IS-affiliated faction of the Bangsamoro Islamic Liberation Front led by

Abu Toraife, killing several of his fighters while ground forces captured the group’s camp in Maguindanao. The attack on Sulu’s cathedral was the second case of suicide bombing attributed to foreign terrorists, for both of which the IS claimed responsibility. In July last year, a Moroccan driving a bomb-laden vehicle that was on its way to a feeding program in the center of Lamitan in Basilan detonated himself near a military detachment at the city’s approach, triggering a powerful explosion that killed government forces. Año said the 10 foreign fighters are hiding in Patikul, Sulu, and are the subjects of extensive military operations. “They are providing support, advice to the local ASG because they are affiliated with IS but are not necessarily suicide bombers,” he said. Año said operations to find the 10-year-old daughter of the Indonesian couple were also continuing, as she holds the key to unraveling the complete identities of the two bombers.

DNA factor

PHILIPPINE National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said DNA samples of the child, once taken, will be compared with the shreds of body parts lifted from the scenes. All of the victims in the explosions have been identified and body parts have also been claimed, except for some unidentical body pieces of a man and a woman, whom authorities said may belong to the two bombers. Año said the daughter was entrusted to members of the ASG in Patikul, Sulu. Meanwhile, as authorities continue to seach for the child, they are in a race against time to find the IS members believed to be holed up still in the mountains. While they remain free, no one can ever be safe.

China’s richest… information to Beijing as part of their report, and vice versa. It’s a broad remit—a reportable person under CRS is any entity or individual who’s a resident of a CRS signatory state—although some assets such as real estate are excluded. “Even tax havens have signed up,” said Tania Waterhouse, a tax lawyer and former director at the Australian Tax Office. “There’s just no hiding from it.” A few holdouts remain but political, economic or social upheaval in those places makes them less favored as tax shelters. Another quirk is that the US hasn’t signed on to the accord. The world’s wealthiest nation has opted to stick with its 113 separate bilateral agreements, called the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or Fatca, which requires foreign banks to scour client lists and report anyone who could be a US citizen, or face being barred from operating in the country.

Disclosure requirements

WHILE the wealthy of all nationalities have sought to legally circumvent CRS, some Chinese may have embraced such products with particular zeal, according to tax specialist Liu. “Chinese people are keener to spend money to solve problems via shortcuts,” she said. “It’s this kind of mentality that has caused many people to fall into traps, not only exposing their wealth but also losing money.” China’s State Administration of Taxation didn’t respond to a faxed request for comment. Chinese citizens were among those who flocked to certain residence and citizenship schemes offered in places such as Cyprus and the Seychelles that could have been used to undermine CRS, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which oversees the initiative. In October, the OECD sought to clamp down on many of these. Plenty of strategies don’t even get that far, Liu said. “More than 99 percent of the so-called CRSavoidance methods or products in the Chinese market aren’t very reliable,” she said, adding that many of her clients had lost money after paying for passports and products that didn’t work. The OECD’s Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes keeps watch for anything it deems to undermine CRS. Radhanath Housden, head of the organization’s Automatic Exchange of Information Unit, said it reviewed several hundred exemptions and multiple schemes since the CRS rollout began. “The Global Forum works con-

Continued from a1

tinually to ensure the effective implementation of the CRS, closely monitoring all available information sources, including the OECD’s avoidance disclosure facility,” said Housden, who noted the organization’s responses include engaging with tax authorities to highlight exploitative behavior by the financial sector. “Anything intended to avoid reporting must be addressed by the governments.”

Singaporean stratagem

BLOOMBERG reviewed a copy of a 108-page draft document from early 2018 that seemingly outlines a Singaporean stratagem allowing Chinese persons to legally avoid CRS. Capari Asset Management, identified in the draft document as the manager of the mooted fund, says it was inadvertently prepared, outdated, never approved for marketing purposes and that the final form of the fund complies with CRS. Still, the draft’s existence underscores the demand among Chinese clients to find ways to minimize taxes and maintain confidentiality. Pages of flow charts and checklists lay out in Chinese and English how the fund isn’t required to report to Singapore’s tax authority or foreign governments. The package includes a sample certificate confirming the structure’s non-reporting status. The fund may have originally contemplated designation as a nonreporting financial institution for the purposes of CRS by operating as a retirement fund, according to a tax specialist who reviewed the document, asking not to be identified because he works in the field. Bundling separate accounts together so that each made up less than 5 percent of the overall fund and fulfilling various other conditions, such as locking them up until retirement, could have seen it defined as a broad participation retirement fund, which isn’t reportable under CRS. Last April, Singapore activated relationships with China for the automatic exchange of financial account information, likely making the approach untenable. In June, the OECD further stymied any such strategies with updated guidance clarifying that the 5 percent test should be applied at the level of the sub-fund.

Kidnappings, extortion

HAD it gone ahead, the product would have generated hefty fees. The draft stipulates a one-off establishment fee of $15,000 and annual fees of $20,000 for the vehicle, an indication of how sought-after such services are. And not just for tax reasons. A desire for privacy

isn’t unreasonable, wealth advisers say. Confidential accounts may protect against kidnappings or extortion in countries where law and order is tenuous. In any case, Capari says that the fund in its final form is registered for CRS reporting. “These are not authorized marketing materials from Capari,” Kevin Fan, a managing director, said in an e-mail. “None of our funds are CRS-exempt vehicles and we have every intention to meet all CRS and taxation obligations.” A spokeswoman for PricewaterhouseCoopers, whose logo also appears on the draft document, said the accounting firm hasn’t provided CRS advice to Capari or rated any of its investment products, and isn’t involved in the marketing of Capari products. PwC’s engagement in relation to the fund is limited to providing advice for potential investors in the fund on the Australian and Chinese tax implications, she said. Amicorp Trustees (Singapore) Ltd., named as the fund’s trustee, said it didn’t author or approve the documents.

Overseas trusts

CHINA continues to close loopholes. In the past, rich Chinese could avoid paying taxes on overseas earnings by acquiring a foreign passport or green card, while keeping their Chinese citizenship. But this year the government has started taxing global income from all holders of hukou household registrations—the most expansive way to identify Chinese nationals—regardless of whether they are citizens elsewhere. Authorities have also introduced a new data platform, dubbed Golden Tax System Phase III, which gives them a more comprehensive picture of individuals’ finances. China’s underground banks could now face criminal charges if they abet illegal foreign-exchange transactions. Gifts of assets to relatives or third parties may be taxed while a property tax law could go into effect as soon as 2020. Anxiety over how the new rules will be enforced has already triggered a flood of Chinese clients seeking to create overseas trusts. Four Chinese tycoons transferred more than $17 billion into family trusts late last year with the ownership structures all involving entities in the British Virgin Islands. The moves come as China’s super rich brace for the possibility of the government going after the wealthy to push through tax cuts for the lowerand middle-classes this year. It all means the desire to shift money abroad is higher—and riskier—than ever.

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Companies behind China’s high-tech surveillance state

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N China, Big Brother is big business. As the ruling Communist Party steps up efforts to keep tabs on the world’s largest population, it’s turning to the nation’s most innovative companies for help. Booming government demand for smart surveillance cameras, voice-recognition technology, and big-data analytics has minted several billionaires and spawned some of the world’s fastest-growing startups. It has also fueled concern that China Inc. is helping the government erode civil liberties. Keep reading for snapshots of the companies behind China’s controversial surveillance state.

Big brother billionaires

Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology THE developer of surveillance cameras and facial-recognition technology has helped Chinese authorities roll out “safe city” initiatives in Xinjiang. It’s also banned from supplying the US government. Vice Chairman Gong Hongjia has a net worth of $7.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index (as of February 20). Zhejiang Dahua Technology LIKE Hikvision, this maker of surveillance cameras and facial-recognition tech is banned from supplying the US government. Its stock, listed in Shenzhen, is a component of MSCI Inc.’s global benchmark indexes. Chairman Fu Liquan has a net worth of $2.2 billion.

after a government crackdown, according to Human R ights Watch.

Baidu THE search-engine company offers “city brain” services in Beijing and other locations and has built a system to help China’s cybercops monitor stability-threatening content. DJI THE company best known for its recreational drones has signed a strategic partnership agreement with public security bureau of Xinjiang. Huawei THE Trump administration is pushing allies to block Huawei over concerns that the Chinese government could use its equipment for spying, which the company has repeatedly denied. Huawei’s HiSilicon unit makes chips that power surveillance cameras. Ping An Insurance THE Shenzhen governmentbacked insurer, which has been rapidly expanding its technology offerings in recent years, has smart city deals that include security and transportation.

Other Surveillance Players

Sensetime POLICE use the company’s facial recognition technology Cloudwalk FACIAL-RECOGNITION tech used by police and major Beijing train station

Tiandy Technologies TIANDY’S cameras can capture high-definition color images in lighting conditions equivalent to a night sky with one star. It also offers name-and-shame systems for identifying jaywalkers. Founder Dai Lin has a net worth of $1.4 billion.

Bytedance OWNER of news aggregator Toutiao is increasing to 10,000 the number of censors clearing banned content

Wuhan Guide Infrared THE maker of infrared cameras and thermal imaging equipment is a supplier to the military and public security bureaus in China. Chairman Huang Li has a net worth of $1.3 billion.

Megvii SOFTWARE uses facial-scans held in a Ministry of Public Security database drawn from files on about 1.3 billion Chinese

Tech giants

Alibaba Group THE e-commerce giant founded by Jack Ma has a cloud-computing unit that helps identify drivers who commit traffic violations. Alibaba is also invested in surveillance-related startups, including Sensetime. Tencent Holdings WHILE Tencent provides tools for smart city programs, much of its surveillance and censoring-related activities don’t generate revenue. The company’s WeChat monitoring helps China’s government suppress dissent, according to University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab and Human Rights Watch. WeChat usernames have also been linked to police database, Human Rights Watch found. Weibo THE Twitter-like social media ser vice recently suspended several popular programs and accounts

Yitu FACIAL-RECOGNITION developer lists several public security bureaus as users

Intellifusion POLICE have used its facial recognition tech for identifying jaywalkers, cooperating with antiterrorism institute Xloong MAKES surveillance glasses for Ministry of Public Security, which it lists as a partner DeepGlint COMPUTER vision company’s 3D image analysis and pattern recognition used by police to catch 100 people, including in Xinjiang province Watrix POLICE use its so-called gait technology to identify people by body shape and walk iFlytek VOICEPRINT technology used by Chinese police, according to Human Rights Watch SenseNets FACIAL-RECOGNITION company works with police across China. Bloomberg News

Saturday, February 23, 2019

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Global trade pain stings export economies from Tokyo to Berlin

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ROM Japan to Germany, from economic numbers to profit warnings, there’s no shortage of evidence that the world is feeling the pain of a slump in trade. In Asia, South Korea and Japan reported declines in exports, while European powerhouse Germany is seeing manufacturing shrink the most in six years. Shipping giant Maersk said on Thursday that profit will fall short of expectations, and Chief Executive Soren Skou said the outlook for this year is bleaker. A UBS tracker puts globa l growth at the weakest in a decade, and the worries have overwhelmed central bankers. On Wednesday, minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting highlighted slower growth in China and Europe, trade disputes and complications from Brexit. The European Central Bank will

THE REAL CRAZY RICH ASIAN PALACE IS WORTH A COOL $3.5 BILLION

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N the heart of Singapore, one of the most expensive cities in the world, there’s a sprawling, vacant plot of private land 30 times the size of The White House. Just down the road from the US Embassy and bordering condos worth S$4.5 million ($3.3 million) each, the swathe of untended jungle hides the remains of two abandoned palaces and would be worth a cool $3.5 billion if sold for development, according to one estimate. In a city where almost 8,000 people are crammed into each square kilometer and real-estate prices are among the world’s highest, it is one of the greatest urban anachronisms in Asia. “Owning a piece of land in Singapore is certainly a privilege as land is the most precious resource in the city-state,” said Christine Li, a senior director and head of research for Singapore at Cushman & Wakefield Inc. “Over the past five decades, land prices have appreciated significantly. This has fueled wealth creation for older generations. Many also aspire to own a landed property as it is a status symbol for the well-heeled.” If something about this story sounds familiar, it’s probably because the plot line was borrowed by Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians, the book about Asia’s insanely rich that was made into a hit movie last year. The fictitious Young family inhabits a sprawling ancestral home, set within Singapore’s Tyersall Park. In the real-life version, the 34-year-old Crown Prince of Johor, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, is the registered owner of the 210,875-square-meter plot, which lies in the former Tyersall Park, next to the Botanic Gardens. Inside, ravaged by fire and decay, are the ruins of Istana Woodneuk, the palace built by his ancestors in the late 19th century. The plot owned by the Sultans of Johor was once larger, but has gradually reduced as the Singapore government acquired land to extend the Botanic Gardens, a Unesco World Heritage site. In 1990, the state bought a chunk for S$25 million and it got another 98,000-square-meter piece in 2009 for an undisclosed amount. Malaysia has a constitutional monarchy, where the national throne rotates between rulers of the country’s nine states every five years. The southern state of Johor is ruled by the Crown Prince’s father, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar. Last year, the 60-year-old patriarch put 12 luxury cars from his extensive collection on display at an event held to mark the 90th anniversary of Singapore’s Fullerton Heritage precinct. They included a 1991 Lamborghini LM002 and a 1938 Lagonda Lightweight LG6, the only one in the world. His other assets include a 22-percent share in Malaysia’s Forest City, a $100-billion Chinesebuilt project with apartments on artificial islands in the country’s south, and the family also owns stakes in a variety of public companies from 7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Bhd. to telecoms firm REDtone International Bhd. Bloomberg News

publish the account of its January meeting later on Thursday, and some officials have already laid the groundwork for a policy response in March. That could include new long-term loans for banks and a change to their language on the outlook for interest rates. “Uncertainty is the big buzzword for central banks,” Carsten Brzeski, ING Diba chief economist, said on Bloomberg Television. “Maybe if all these external risks turn out benign, then we might see another move by the Fed, another attempt by the ECB to normalize. But judging from today, the probability that all these risks will have a benign outlook is

pretty low.” Bond markets around the world have responded to the weaker outlook. The average yield on securities in the Bloomberg Barclays Global-Aggregate Index fell this week to the lowest since April, and Japanese bond yields dropped to two-year lows the Thursday. “There is no sense that yields will rise anywhere around the world,” said Takafumi Yamawaki, head of Japan rates and foreignexchange research at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Tokyo. T hat ma kes t his year’s Vshaped recovery in global equity markets all the more striking, as traders bet on a resolution to the US-China trade dispute. In the euro area, the manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index dropped to a level consistent with contraction. IHS Markit, which compiles the report, said the 19-nation economy may struggle to register growth much above 0.1 percent this quarter. Orders fell for a second month, with companies citing “global trade protectionism wor r ies, Brexit, the downturn of the auto

sector, increased political uncertainty.” But there were some positives. Services proved a bright spot, and it pushed the overall composite PMI to a three-month high. France also offered some support, reporting a better-than-forecast PMI that may hint at a stabilization. For Skou, his peers, and global manufacturing as a whole, the latest figures show that a truce in the US-China trade war can’t come soon enough. The latest reports are that negotiators are working on multiple memorandums of understanding that would form the basis of a final trade deal, though no breakthrough is expected during talks this week. “We see a world economy that is growing less this year than last year and a lot of trade tensions,” Skou said on Bloomberg Television. “Negotiations are ongoing between the US and China. It seems like they have positive momentum for now but we don’t believe that’s the last of trade tensions because the US also wants to have a discussion with Europe.” Bloomberg News

ExportUnlimited

A4 Saturday, February 23, 2019 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

BusinessMirror

PHL eyes $90-M sales in Dubai food expo

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By Roderick L. Abad | Contributor

WENTY-FIVE Filipino food companies that participated in Gulfood—the biggest annual food expo in the Middle East and North African (Mena) region—seek to generate at least $90-million sales. Gulfood was held on February 17 until February 21 at the Sheikh Rashid Hall, Dubai World Trade Center, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Led by the Department of Trade and Industry, through the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (DTI-Citem), these top and emerging food firms rep-

resented the country to showcase locally produced top halal-certified food selections, including processed fruits and vegetables, marine products and coconut products. “The Philippines’s leading and emerging food brands took on the export demands of Middle East countries to widen the country’s reach on

the existing Filipino niche and mainstream market in the Middle East,” said Pauline Suaco-Juan, executive director of DTI-Citem. Themed “The World of Food. The World of Good,” the five-day event featured current consumer trends and innovations. It also sought to present new trade opportunities, as well as cooking demonstrations by world-renowned culinary masters. As in the previous editions, the Philippine participation in Gulfood sought to widen the country’s market share in the global halal trade. Hexa Research said the international halal-food market is seen to reach $2.55 trillion by 2024 on the back of rising demand for the consumption of halal meat. “In the Philippines’s 14th participation, we will feature seven new companies in Gulfood which have products that fit the demand for

halal-certified tropical, ready-to-eat and healthy food selections across the Mena region,” she said. The participating Philippine companies included Columbia International Food Products Inc. with its tropical sweets and chewables; Alsons Aquaculture Corp. with its Sarangani Bay milkfish; Fitrite Inc. with its tropical juices, dried fruits and sauces; Leonie Agri Corp. with its food supplement and organic products; LTH Food Industries Inc. with its flavored creamers and cupcakes; Monde Nissin Corp. with its snacks and confectionaries; and Phil-Union Frozen Foods Inc. with its premium canned pasteurized crabmeat and frozen seafood products. The repeating Filipino delegates were Brandexports Philippines Inc., Celebes Coconut Corp., Century Pacific Food Inc., Gem Foods International Inc., Krystle Exports Philip-

Filipino cuisine at Melbourne Food/Wine Fest Part 1

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OCAL and international food connoisseurs will get to taste and discover Filipino cuisine as Australia’s iconic food and wine festival brings the spotlight on Filipino cuisine at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival (MFWF) happening from March 9 to 13, 2019. In a series of events that will feature and celebrate Filipino cuisine, top chefs from Manila, New York and Melbourne will serve Filipino food and also conduct masterclasses during the MFWF. Chefs Jordy Navarra, Nicole Ponseca and Yasmin Newman will prepare a one-off “Barrio” dinner series with Ross Magnaye, head chef of Rice Paper Sister Restaurant on March 12 and 13, 2019. This dining series is part of the Global Dining Series of MFWF. Navarra runs Toyo Eatery in Manila, crowned with the Miele One to Watch Award 2018 among Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. Ponseca is behind New York City’s Maharlika and Jeepney, while local food and travel writer Newman is the author of the critically acclaimed cookbook 7,000 Islands: Cherished Recipes and Stories from the Philippines. These three global chefs will join Magnaye to tell the story of their shared heritage, culinary journeys and advocacy for the cuisine they love the most—Filipino. Drawing on their Filipino heritage, these gourmands will cocreate an exclusive Barrio menu, providing the entrée for MFWF visitors to immerse

By Alma F. Argayoso Special Trade Representative, PTIC-Sydney

MARKET DEVT MARKET themselves in the Philippines’s rich culinary heritage. The House of Food and Wine, the festival’s premium drinking and dining destination, will also host a program of activities, including its signature MasterClass with Jordy Navarra and Nicole Ponseca, and John Rivera in the lineup on Sunday, March 10, while Rice Paper Sister will help showcase some sizzling Asian Street Food, Filipino style on Saturday, March 9. A Melbourne-based group of Filipino female entrepreneurs—The Entrée.Pinays—is leading the charge in creating broad awareness, appreciation and enhanced investment in Filipino culinary arts in Australia. “Entrée” is the first course of the meal in Australian culture and “Pinay” refers to the Tagalog word for Filipino girl or woman. Very apropos since each of the members are food-loving, enterprising Filipinas. Fides Mae Santos-Arguelles, the cofounder, and sales and marketing director of Entrée. Pinays, said they aim to combat the challenges and negative bi-

ases facing Filipino cuisine, shed light on the true value of Filipino cuisine, build a better platform upon which to celebrate and elevate the Filipino food experience, and gather those working tirelessly to do the same. It is for this reason that they approached the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Sydney (PTIC-Sydney) to explore ways to partner with the Philippine government in promoting Filipino food and culture via creative collaboration, community experiences and stories. I was excited to hear about the initiatives of the Entrée.Pinays as it has always been the thrust of the Philippine government to mainstream Filipino cuisine. Food diplomacy, as I call it, is part of our work program and our trade office would be more than happy to partner with Entrée.Pinays and other relevant stakeholders to promote a better appreciation of Filipino cuisine, and commercially ensure that more Filipino food items and ingredients become available in the Australian market. To be continued

pines Inc., Mama Sita’s, Marikina Food Corp., Market Reach International Resources, Mega Global Corp., Philippine Grocers Food Exports Inc., Pixcel Transglobal Foods Inc., Profood International Corp., QPhil Products International, Sagrex Foods Inc., San Miguel Pure Foods Co., See’s International Food, SL Agritech Corp. and Super Q. “The sheer number of returning companies in Gulfood under the Philippine delegation indicated the great opportunities present in the Middle East, as well as the high confidence in the marketing boost that DTI-Citem gives to its stakeholders,” Suaco-Juan said. “These players were the same companies that started their export journey in Ifex Philippines and gained experience in dealing with international buyers in our signature event. Now, they are taking it up a notch in

the global arena,” she added. Gulfood is one of the biggest fairs for the food and hospitality industries in the world held yearly in Dubai. Its previous edition was attended by 98,000 visitors and participated in by 5,000 exhibitors from 198 countries worldwide. During the time, the Filipino delegation made $89.7 million worth of total sales, leveraging on some of the country’s best-selling products, including coconut and its by-products, rice, mangoes, canned fruits, canned seafood and fermented marine products. The Philippine participation in Gulfood 2019 was organized by Citem, in partnership with the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Dubai. Citem organizes Ifex Philippines, the Philippines’s biggest export‐oriented food show, happening from May 24 to 26.

EXPORT READY!

Export trade complaints resolved

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HERE is a growi ng pre v alence on the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution systems internationADR is By FranClem Peña ally. a n out - of court cost-effective way of settling conflicts, offering lower costs or in some cases, free of cost, shorter period for dispute resolutions, and in most cases, preservation of relationships. It covers different processes, including arbitration, conciliation and mediation, among others. The Philippines institutionalized the use of an alternative resolution system in the country through Republic Act 9285 or the “Alternative Dispute Resolution Act of 2004” which was enacted on April 2, 2004. However, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) had already established its export trade complaints resolution process, through mediation, even before the enactment of this law. As the DTI is matching both Philippinebased exporters and foreign buyers, it also promotes ethical business practices to further enhance the image of the country as a reliable supplier for goods and services in the global market. But like other business endeavors, conflicts may also arise from export trade transactions, which if remains unresolved, will seriously affect the image of the Philippines as a reliable source of goods and services. Hence, the need for a speedy resolution of export trade complaints through out-of-court settlement process, particularly mediation.

Since its creation in 1993, free mediation service is being continuously offered to both exporters and foreign buyers by the Export Trade Complaints Committee (ETCC), a one-of-a-kind public-private partnership that still exists and operates until now. The ETCC is composed of the director of the DTI-Export Marketing Bureau (formerly the Bureau of Export Trade Promotion) or his alternate as its chairman, with the director of DTI Legal Service (formerly Office of Legal Affairs) and a representative from the private sector, the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport), the umbrella organization of Philippine exporters, as members. The DTI-EMB Export Assistance and Business Matching Division (EABMD) serves as the ETCC Secretariat, which is composed of trained Mediation Officers. The ETCC is governed by a DTI department administrative order creating said committee and prescribing the guidelines in the dispute resolution process. The DAO had undergone several revisions to address the recent developments in international trade and to further strengthen the DTI’s effectiveness in resolving export trade complaints. The process of revising the current DAO started in 2018, whereby a public consultation was conducted in order to engage the export industry stakeholders in crafting an effective and efficient trade dispute resolution mechanism. The revised DAO will be published and implemented this year. The new DAO will only apply to disputes relating to export trade transactions involving exportable goods and services from the Philippines, including but not limited to (1) nonpayment of delivery; (2) nondelivery of paid order; (3) canceled letter of credit order; (4) short shipment; (5) noncompliance to quality specifica-

tion; (6) unjustified nonperformance of contractual obligations. All export trade complaints must be in writing and signed by the complainant, and may be in electronic document form. The complaint may be filed personally, by mail, or by electronic means. Copies of pertinent documents supporting the complaint must be attached to the complaint. Complaints may be filed with the DTI-EMB any DTI Office, DTI attached agencies, or the Philippine Trade and Investment Centers (PTIC) abroad. ETCC findings are classified into: (1) Dismissed—if there is failure to substantiate the allegations of the complaint or lack of basis to hold respondent liable for the complaint; (2) Settled—if an amicable settlement between the parties was reached through the intervention of the ETCC; (3) Watch listing—notwithstanding the outcome of the mediation proceeding, watch listing may be effected based on the following grounds: (a) The respondent used a fictitious name or address; (b) The respondent is involved in two (2) or more export trade complaints; or (c) There is a substantial finding, based on past and present complaints, that the acts complained of would seriously affect the image of the Philippines as a reliable supplier of goods or services. Copies of the DTI DAO on ETCC and the DTI Watchlist of Exporters and Foreign Buyers are available at www.dti.gov. ph and www.tradelinephilippines.dti.gov.ph. The ETCC and its secretariat may be contacted through e-mail address: ETCC_ Secretariat@dti.gov.ph or office landline (+632) 465-3300 local 109 or 110. Their office address is DTI Export Marketing Bureau, Ground Floor, DTI International Building, 375 Senator Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati City, Philippines 1200.

Sports BusinessMirror

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

Saturday, February 23, 2019

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THE day after, Nike feels the impact of Zion Williamson’s injury. AP

ANDRAY BLATCHE is outstanding with his 17 points that went with 15 rebounds, seven assists and two blocks. FIBA.COM

NBA RESULTS Cleveland 111, Phoenix 98 Philadelphia 106, Miami 102 Portland 113, Brooklyn 99 Milwaukee 98, Boston 97 Golden State 125, Sacramento 123 LA Lakers 111, Houston 106

SUNG-HYUN PARK headlines the inaugural $100,000 The Country Club (TCC) Ladies Invitational.

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BusinessMi

Saturday, February 23, 2019 | Editor: Jun Lomibao

OVER-TRAINED. OVER-RACED. NOT IN GOOD HEALTH.

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HE punchy stages on offer at the Tour of Oman are well suited to Nathan Haas, who was victorious in Al Bustan 12 months ago—but this time around he has all-but ruled out any hope of a repeat after a chest infection derailed his start to the season. The Katusha-Alpecin rider started the year strongly—“flying” as he puts it—with fourth place in the time trial at the Australian national championships, where he surpassed even his own expectations. However, illness struck during the Tour Down Under and he ended the race—a perennial target—fifth and last, out of sports. “Bike riding’s a pretty fickle game. The difference between being at 100 percent and being unwell is not very much—it’s a knife edge,” Haas told Cyclingnews in Oman on Friday. “Someone once told me that elite athletes, when they’re really in form, have the immune system of someone in the emergency ward in hospital.” Haas decided to skip Race Melbourne and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, but the sickness lingered and he was soon prescribed antibiotics, followed by a lengthy spell off the bike.

“The team decided from a performance perspective to give me a bit of time off the bike and do a proper reset so I don’t bring any poor health into the most important races, which for me are the Classics. That was just a clever decision from the team to back it off and look at it from a global perspective. We want a long season and not to chase short highs,” Haas said. “I had about two weeks off. I wouldn’t say completely off, but at least eight or nine days was completely off then a slow tinker back. It’s going to be tough now, getting back into real training. It makes you feel you’re behind the game a bit, but you catch up fast, and all the work I’ve done is still in the body—I’ve just got to find it again.” As such, while many had earmarked Haas for a repeat of his 2018 Oman stage win or perhaps for victory on the uphill finish, the 29-year-old has rather different expectations. “I’m not in top shape at all here, which is disappointing because this race means a lot to me. It has always been a big focus for me and I love this race and being able to win here. It’s not meant to be this year, but c’est la vie,” he said. “To be more realistic, our team has some

really good opportunities with some younger riders that are developing. If I can even pass on some good experience at this race while I’m getting fitter, I think that’s the ultimate goal.” After Oman, Haas will hit the spring classics with Strade Bianche in the second weekend of March followed by Milan-San Remo, then the week-long Volta a Catalunya ahead of his favored Ardennes Classics. The early targets and the Australian summer may have gone down in flames, but Haas is hoping his illness can prove a blessing in disguise. From Australia to the Ardennes is the best part of four months, and the reset might just add freshness. Besides, he is well aware of the success that can unexpectedly spring up when the bestlaid plans go awry. “If you look back through the archives on Cyclingnews, how many stories will you hear when someone says ‘I’ve never been in this condition before at these goal races, and the strange thing is I was in crisis not so long ago, not being able to race or train’,” Haas explained. He picked out Mat Hayman’s remarkable underdog victory at the 2016 Paris-Roubaix, five weeks after breaking his arm, as the prime example. You could also point to Greg Van Avermaet, whose 2016-2017 winter training was derailed by an ankle break but who went on to dominate the spring classics in what was the breakthrough year of his career. Cyclingnews

Giro not on Thomas’s program, but he will defend Tour crown

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ERAINT THOMAS has confirmed that the Giro d’Italia is not on his race program. The confirmation comes after bike brand Pinarello announced that the 2018 Tour de France winner would take part in the Italian Grand Tour. Pinarello has a long, rich history in the sport, and have supported Team Sky since the British team’s inception in 2010. At the CoBismoBikeShow in Italy, Fausto Pinarello told onlookers and La Gazzetta dello Sport that Thomas would line up at the Giro alongside teammates Egan Bernal and Gianni Moscon. However, the Welshman insisted that the race was not part of his plans. He will, as he has stated for the last few months, return to the Tour de France in July to defend his crown. Bernal will lead Team Sky at the Giro. Currently training in Tenerife after making his season debut at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana earlier this month, Thomas said: “Yeah, I’m not doing it,” in a brief but clear message relating to the Giro. Pinarello had been quoted by Gazzetta as saying: “We have the list of athletes and he is there, together with Bernal and Moscon. The team is strong, wants to win. The road will decide who of the three will have the most chance.”

It’s not clear if this “list” refers to a long-list that Team Sky may have provided to the Giro d’Italia organizers RCS well ahead of the race. Long-lists often change before races with anywhere between nine and 15 riders potentially listed for a race at the start of the year. However, part of the speculation surrounding Thomas’ Grand Tour plans stems from the fact that Team Sky have at times been coy on the Welshman’s race schedule. In late January Dave Brailsford told the press that a decision on race plans had yet to be finalized. This month Thomas also said he needed to talk to Brailsford about his race plans. On Sunday Brailsford, who is attending the Tour Colombia 2.1 told Cyclingnews that the chances of Thomas doing the Giro d’Italia were “highly unlikely.” Ahead of Valenciana, Thomas told the BBC: “I did not want to jeopardize the chances of the Tour for anything this year. As defending champion I feel as if I have to go back and want to be in the best shape possible.” At the same time Chris Froome, a veteran when it comes to understanding how the press can pick up on soundbites and potential headlines, told Il Corriere della Sera that the Giro d’Italia route was “perfect” for Thomas.

FRO CON WITH

There are several options for Chris Froome as the twilight of his career approaches. Asked if he’d consider riding out his final days on an African team, or possibly a Colombian team, Froome left the door open. NATHAN HAAS says the difference between being at 100 percent and being unwell is not very much—it’s a knife edge.

TEAM Sky has at times been coy on Geraint Thomas’s schedule.

“Geraint has a score to settle after the incident that cost him the maglia rosa two years ago. And the route is perfect for him. Sky, we always ride for the team. Last year, Geraint’s victory at the Tour made me really happy.”

Froome is looking to claim his fifth Tour de France title after winning the race in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017. In 2018 he won the Giro d’Italia and finished third at the Tour de France. Cyclingnews

Armstrong to feature in ESPN film series

DISGRACED Lance Armstrong says he will be “totally honest and transparent, and raw at times.”

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HE US sports network ESPN will feature Lance Armstrong in an upcoming episode of its 30 for 30 film series, and in an interview with KXAN in Austin, the Texan spoke about the filming process, saying he was not sure how he would be portrayed. Armstrong finally confessed to doping in 2013 after being investigated and charged with multiple anti-doping rule violations by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). He lost his seven Tour de France victories and other results and paid a $5-million settlement to the US government for his time at the US Postal Service team. He was banned for life by USADA and has since suggested he has tried to make up for his past sins by reaching out to many of the people he hurt. “The only thing I can do is give them

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HRIS FROOME doesn’t go many places in Colombia without a police escort. The four-time Tour de France winner is incredibly popular in a country rich with cycling history and has an abundance of enthusiastic fans. While talking with Cyclingnews and an Italian journalist in the WorldTour team hotel at Tour Colombia 2.1, Froome’s fans had to almost literally be held back by the Team Sky’s press officer because a crowd started to gather as soon as Froome appeared in the hotel lobby for the interview. Although Froome’s safety and peace of mind are well-taken care of here, there’s nothing his security detail can do to make the country’s high altitude any easier to deal with.

access and be myself, be totally honest and transparent, and raw at times,” Armstrong told KXAN. “I trust that series to tell the true and complete series [story-ed] but I’m not in the editing room so I don’t know where we end up.” 30 for 30 is a series of short films by a diverse range of filmmakers about sports figures that incorporate larger issues beyond sports. One episode featured a horse in Japan that never won a race but became a symbol of hope for the country. Another film by John Dower featured Greg LeMond and his famous Tour de France battle with Bernard Hinault. ESPN sent out a teaser in January announcing the Armstrong film along with others on Michael Vick, Dennis Rodman, Florence Griffith Joyner and more. Along with revisiting his disgrace for

“You can definitely feel it,” Froome said of the thin Colombian air. “I think most of the European guys are feeling it too, despite having been here for two weeks already. But that’s what I’m here for, to soak up as much of it as I can and hopefully improve the condition going into the races coming up this spring.” Froome’s 2019 season is aimed headlong at claiming a record-tying fifth Tour de France win this year after his Giro-Tour double last year netted him a win in Italy but only third in the Tour behind winner and teammate Geraint Thomas and runner-up Tom Dumoulin. The Team Sky leader has raced four successive Grand Tours, starting with his fourth Tour win in 2017, followed by a win at the 2017 Vuelta a España and then success at the 2018 Giro

ESPN, Armstrong was back on some familiar roads in Texas where he was acting as a “charity chaser” in the Austin Marathon, running down the same roads where he was lauded with a parade following his first Tour de France victory. Calling the past two decades “a wild ride not just for myself but for my friends and family,” Armstrong admits that while “the wounds have healed for me,” he acknowledged that others may not feel the same way. Armstrong is banned from any sanctioned competition, but entered the Austin Marathon as a charity chaser, starting last and raising $1 for each runner he passed. After the marathon, Armstrong called the run “a thrill” in an Instagram post, saying he managed to catch all but 59 runners. Cyclingnews

irror CYCLING

OOME NFIDENT TH SKY

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph | Saturday, February 23, 2019

Disc brakes can spell difference between winning and losing

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CHRIS FROOME says he has every faith that Team Sky will find a new sponsor.

Froome would be 35 at the 2020 Tour de France and would be the second-oldest rider ever to win if he found success there again. Only Firmin Lambot, who won the race in 1922 at the age of 36, would top him. Yet, Froome told Cyclingnews he hasn’t given much thought to how many more Tours he can target. “I’m just taking it one at a time for now,” he said. “It isn’t getting any easier every time. I mean, sure, I’ve got experience on my side now, and I can trust in my training and trust in what I’m doing and know that my work with [trainer] Tim Kerrison will get me to the Tour in my best shape possible.” Asked if he’d ever ride another Giro-Tour double, perhaps in 2020, Froome said he’d consider it and that pulling off the double-feat is certainly possible in today’s racing. “Dumoulin came close last year with second in both,” he said. “I came close last year with first and third. So, it’s a possibility, sure.”

FINDING A NEW SPONSOR

BEFORE Chris Froome and his team can look to 2020, however, they’ve got to get through 2019 and replace long-term title sponsor Sky, which announced in December that 2019 would be their final year of sponsorship. The team, and principal Dave Brailsford, have been linked to several possible sponsors

for 2019, including Colombian oil company Ecopetrol, but the UCI’s new rule requiring teams to notify the governing body of their intent to apply for a WorldTour license by April 1 adds a fast-approaching deadline to keep the team at the top level. Despite this, Froome said he hasn’t thought about looking elsewhere for 2020 or how long he can wait for new funding to be put in place to support a 2020 WorldTour squad. “It hasn’t really crossed my mind to look elsewhere, to be honest,” he said. “I’m confident the team will find a new title sponsor for next year. Obviously, Sky have been incredible to us over the last 10 years, and we’ve been incredibly fortunate to have a sponsor for 10 years. That’s quite rare in cycling. But I’ve got every faith in the management of the team in that they’ll secure something going forward for 2019 and beyond.” There are several options for Froome as the twilight of his career approaches. Asked if he’d consider riding out his final days on an African team, or possibly a Colombian team, Froome left the door open. “That hadn’t crossed my mind, but, yeah, sure,” he said. “Anything is possible, especially in this day and age. But I haven’t given either of those options much thought, to be honest.”

Cyclingnews

ISC brakes can make the difference between winning and losing, according to Erik Zabel, and the German is doing his best to make sure that Katusha-Alpecin is on the winning side. Zabel joined the team as their performance manager, having previously worked with them as a sprint coach before he was suspended after he confessed to doping during his career. With disc brakes, a rider can brake both easier and later. Rim brakes require the use of the full hand, he said, and disc brakes only one finger, which is also an advantage in a dangerous situation. Being able to slow down later, allows a rider to hold their speed longer. “If you can brake later, you can have an advantage of a few hundredths of a second. In the end, that makes the difference,” Zabel said in an interview with Radsport-News.com. The German knows how to win a sprint, having brought in more than 150 pro wins in his 16-year career. Now at Katusha-Alpecin—where his son Rick is now a sprinter—Zabel convinced the team to convert to disc brakes. The use of disc brakes is “an ongoing process,” he said. “But you don’t have to be a prophet to see that in three to five years only disc brakes will be used.” In comparison to rim brakes, the discs are “naturally better,” he said. “It wasn’t easy to convince everyone to go this way. But I believe that it is an advantage to master the techniques before ERIK ZABEL: If you can brake later, you can have an advantage of a few hundredths of a second. In the end, that makes the difference.

BIKES are now on the mobility equation of thousands of people in Seville.

d’Italia. His record in the four Grand Tours was three wins and one third place. That’s not a bad legacy for any cyclist, but Froome, who will turn 34 in May, is fully focused now on winning his fifth Tour. “Every year I’m extremely motivated for the Tour,” he said when Cyclingnews asked if not winning last year brought him extra motivation for this year’s race. “I have to say that last year, I mean I can admit already that last year—it was four Grand Tours in a row and having won three of them—I basically just had a level of fatigue going into the Tour last year,” he said. “This year I feel different: so much more energy, so much more focus having had a good break after the season last year. I’m as motivated as ever to get to the Tour this year.”

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OUR decades of urban planning devoted to cars coupled with the belief that cycling concerns poor people and a minority of convinced bike believers. An environmentalist’s nightmare? Not necessarily. Visit the Spanish city of Seville today and it is hard to believe that in the early 2000s cars were a status indicator and the roads were becoming increasingly clogged. How was it possible to turn this overmotorized Mediterranean city into a bikefriendly metropolis where 67,000 bike trips are made per day? Where virtually every household has at least one bike in the garage, and where a third of the population bikes on a regular basis? The International Cycling Union talked to Manuel Calvo, consultant for the team that masterminded the Plan de la Bicicleta de Sevilla, a protected bike lane network for the city’s 700,000 inhabitants. Calvo is a sustainability senior

After Colombia, Froome said, he’ll travel to the Middle East for the seven-stage United Arab Emirates Tour, then he’ll race the Tour de Yorkshire in Great Britain and the Criteium du Dauphine in France as his final race before the Grand Boucle in July. Team Sky will be going into the race with the defending champion in Thomas, in what would appear to be an obvious obstacle for Froome’s July ambitions. But he said he doesn’t view his and Thomas’s standing with the team at the Tour de France as internal competition. “We’ll just help each other as we have in the past,” he said. “But it’s still way too early to be talking about how it can work and the rest of it. There are still a lot of races to come before then, and a lot can happen before then, as well.” consultant for Seville-based company EstudioMC. According to Calvo, the turning point for Seville came when two cyclists entered office at the city’s municipality in 2003. Three years later, a public poll revealed that an astounding 90 percent of the population thought cycling infrastructure would be good for Seville. Seeing a chance to please the population and gain votes, the politicians decided they wanted 80 kilometers of bike paths built before the next elections...which gave them a mere 18 months. They asked Manuel Calvo to deliver. “It was risky,”concedes Calvo. “But now I advise all local governments to deliver bike projects in the first two years of office,”he said. “You have to do everything in the first two years. It starts working and then people see it works and are supportive of what you did.”

CONVINCING SKEPTICS

THAT does not mean to say that the project was

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IN SEVILLE, BIKES ARE EVERYWHERE! without controversy. Not everyone is going to be happy with the disappearance of 5000 parking spots (although Calvo admits they didn’t announce the number at the time). One journalist even headed up a newspaper article: “Useless bike lanes: how to waste millions.” Calvo has his response at the ready. “The whole network is €32 million. That’s how many kilometers of highway? Maybe five or six?” He continues: “It’s not expensive infrastructure. We have a metro line that cost €800 million. It serves 44,000 trips a day. With bikes we are serving 67,000 trips a day.” Seville’s cycling network was built with continuity in mind and as a single project. The idea was for it to be homogenous, recognizable and functional from the outset. The two-way system was built along main avenues and streets, mostly at pavement level, but on space previously occupied by cars. Public input was considered

throughout the procedure and modifications made in certain areas as a result of their feedback. He said that, while it is impossible to get 100-percent support, the majority of the city’s residents got right behind the project and were delighted with the result. “Everyone was talking about the success of the bike lanes. The sports shops ran out of bikes. They had to get bikes from Barcelona, Madrid and over from France!”

MOMENTUM CONTINUES

THE enthusiasm for bike culture has continued since the ambitious 80 km-in-18 months project. The 80 km has grown to 180 km and is still expanding. A new master plan approved in 2017 aims to improve intermodality, safe parking options and the quality (not necessarily the quantity) of the network. The aim is to increase total mobility—pedestrians excluded—from the

current 9 percent (67,000 trips a day) to 15 percent (115,000 daily trips). Alongside the bike network, Seville has a public bicycle location system—around 2,600 bikes and some 260 stations—that serves roughly 23 percent of the daily cycling trips. In addition, the city’s university rents out 400 bikes on an annual basis, while the Metropolitan Transport Consortium has 250 bikes, which can be used free of charge for a whole day by people who have made a trip by metropolitan bus. “The attitude of the Seville population has changed,” says Calvo. Bikes are everywhere. They are now on the mobility equation of thousands of people. Building this network has demonstrated that if you do something, people respond. It also showed that it is not a big deal to take space from cars and use it to improve other mobility options.”

UCI News

everyone uses it.” One commonly mentioned disadvantage is that it takes significantly longer to change punctured tires. Zabel has an easy solution for that: don’t change the tires, change the bikes. “In the finale, when things have to go quickly, a complete bike change makes more sense. We have adopted that, in fact, we have ordered new roof racks, which offer space for eight complete bikes.” As a pro, Zabel rode the entire year through, with most of his training concentrating at building up kilometers at low intensity, the opposite of how things are done today. But, he said, he isn’t trying to convince the riders to adopt those techniques. “First of all, the riders don’t want to hear how we used to do things. We didn’t want to hear it either. It was interesting, when Walter Godefroot would talk about earlier days, but we already knew that those times were past. Just as in modern cycling our methods are also out of date,” Zabel said. These days, training is “much more intensive and effective—but that doesn’t mean that in training camp we don’t also train seven hours, because there is just no getting around the fact that the Classics, starting with Milan-San Remo, are all notably more than 200 kilometers long. That makes it difficult to make it to the finish, if you have beforehand always only ridden for three and a half or four hours.” Cyclingnews

OurTime

A8 Saturday, February 23, 2019 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

BusinessMirror

Senator wants advisory office to protect seniors from scammers

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EN. Nancy Binay has filed a bill seeking to shield senior citizens from the fraudulent schemes of scammers. “It is our duty to protect and free senior citizens from abuse and exploitation of any kind,” Binay said in filing Senate Bill 2158, entitled “Seniors Fraud Prevention Act.” In her explanatory note, the senator said it is the duty of the state to

care for the elderly through just programs of social security. In seeking to protect and promote the welfare of senior citizens, Binay said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) should be directed to establish an advisory office

within the Bureau of Trade Regulation and Consumer Protection to assist and support the department in the prevention of fraud and scams targeting seniors’ finances. The advisory office will help the DTI alert consumers about new scams targeting senior citizens and requiring the establishment of an effective complaint system to ensure that reports of fraud are given immediate action. The advisory office shall monitor the market for mail, television, Internet and telemarketing

fraud including recorded message telephone calls or “robocalls” targeting seniors. It will also be tasked to disseminate to the senior citizens, their families and caregivers the information, including descriptions of the most common fraud schemes, complaints regarding such scams either through telephone or web site. Reported complaints will be made immediately available by the advisory office to the appropriate law enforcement agencies, including the National Bureau of Investigation.

Batangas driver cited for free rides to elderly, PWDs

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GRANDMA’S VARIETY STORE

For 76-year-old Lola Filipina de la Cruz Cariaso from Rosario Village, Santiago City (Isabela), age is just a number. Her elderly age is not an obstacle to her managing her sari-sari (neighborhood variety) store for the past 20 years with an average daily net income of P500. CEASAR M. PERANTE

Kalinga farmers urged to engage in farm tourism By Lisa Agoot

Philippine News Agency

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ABUK CITY, KALINGA—The Department of Tourism of the Cordillera Administrative Region (DOT-CAR) is encouraging more youth to go into farming as the agency aims to further promote “farm tourism.” Farming is now more fun in the Philippines, Jovita Ganongan, DOT-CAR officer in charge, said in a message during a program for the farmers, cooperatives, business sector, senior citizens and civilsociety organizations on Friday, February 15. “When we were in the elementary grades and were asked what we want to be in the future, nobody ever said he wanted to be a farmer. This is probably because we already know how difficult it is to be one. But with farm tourism being pushed, the life

of farmers are elevated. They become teachers and mentors, too,” Ganongan said. “This is a fusion of agriculture and tourism with the end view to provide additional income stream for our dear farmers and most of all to encourage our youth to go into farming,” Ganongan said. She talked about the importance of farming and farmers feeding the people. “Other professions may be lost, but not farming because at the end of the day, we will always look for food because we cannot eat our money,” she said. In describing farm tourism, she said it is “farm plus fun equals farm tourism.” To be a farm-tourism site, it is necessary to provide education about farming and recreation for tourism purposes, Ganongan said. “It is an experiential tourism

where visitors get the opportunity to have a firsthand experience on how to grow a particular agricultural product, harvest them and for the same product to land on their mealplate,” she added. The experience acquired by the tourist is what they pay for, adding value to what farmers earn. “Through farm tourism, farmers do not only earn from selling their products, but are also paid for sharing the experience and for the meal they serve which come from the farm,” the DOT official said. She added that under Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat’s leadership, farm tourism is now given much attention. DOT-CAR is continuing with the accreditation of farm tourist sites, where proponents are trained to allow them to meet the standards and to provide the best service for clients, she said.

ATANGAS CITY—The city council has recognized a Good Samaritan here who offered free rides to the elderly. Jeepney driver Conrado Comia took center stage as his good deed reached the Sangguniang Panlungsod (City Legislative Council) which unanimously passed a resolution honoring him for his compassion and kindred spirit. The 42-year-old driver was humbled as the resolution was read on Tuesday before him at the session hall. The resolution cited Comia as a good example to his fellow drivers due to his high respect for his passengers, especially the elderly, pregnant women and persons with disabilities (PWDs). It commended the jeepney driver’s good deed as an inspiration to the entire city constituency. In an interview, Comia said he started providing free rides for elderly and the disadvantaged sector last year, and vowed to continue this generosity as long as God allows him. “This is a small thing that I have been doing. I pity the elders that’s why I started giving them free rides last year,” he said in Filipino. Comia’s jeepney plies the Batangas-Capitol-Hospital route. Senior citizens, who are supposed to be covered by the 20-percent discounted fare, are instead given free rides. “Frankly, I only earn a little from my trips, especially that I do not own the jeepney I am driving. But that’s okay with me because I know I am helping my fellow persons and I am happy because they appreciate what I am doing,” he added. Dhang de Castro, a passenger, also shared that he found Comia to be “very kind and helpful,” citing an incident when the driver disembarked from his jeepney to assist passengers who were carrying heavy stuff. “God bless you, older brother. I hope there are a lot more people like you,” de Castro said. Maroe T. Genosa/PNA

Sheep help doctors count anesthesia’s disturbing drawbacks

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ENEATH green surgical sheets and a tangle of tubes, a healthy young ewe is undergoing a heart-lung bypass procedure to help answer one of several urgent questions about a pillar of modern medicine: anesthesia. Almost two centuries after anesthetics revolutionized surgery, a growing body of research is pointing to disturbing side effects that range from delirium to cancerproliferating immune suppression. Researchers knocked out the sheep last month at the University of Melbourne to try to understand why common open-heart procedures lead to acute kidney injury in up to a third of patients—part of a broader

effort to study the impact of anesthesia on the immune system, brain and other major organs. The findings are already undermining decades of soothing messages about the harmlessness of being put into a sleep-like state. “Anesthetists are now trying to say actually it’s not that safe,” said Andrew Davidson, head of anesthesia research at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne. “You don’t die on the table, but quite a lot of you don’t get home.” Of the 200 million adults worldwide who undergo noncardiac surgery annually, more than 1 million will die within 30 days. That risk

jumps to 1 in 20 for patients 70 years and older. Less than a mile from Davidson’s center at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, separate groups at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre are working to understand whether inhaled volatile gases like isoflurane and sevoflurane—used by anesthetists to render some 80 percent of patients unconscious— may be more harmful than intravenous agents, such as propofol and fentanyl. With 313 million operations undertaken each year, the findings may have significant global econom-

ic and social implications and could herald a paradigm shift in surgical care, researchers say. The science is conflicting and incomplete. A study by Davidson and colleagues, published late Thursday in the Lancet medical journal, found an hour of general anesthesia in early infancy has no lasting impact on the developing human brain. But some surgery may last longer, and Mayo Clinic doctors found an association between anesthesia and attentiondeficit hy peractivity disorder (ADHD) in children. The ADHD link is “scientifically plausible but the evidence is not strong,” Davidson said. Bloomberg News

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Remembering Rik Lipana By Nick Tayag

MY SIXTY-ZEN’S WORTH Conclusion

Young mind

PORTRAIT of a senior artist as a young mind: that was Rik Lipana. He was the eternal sunshine of a worryfree mind. He did not let problems get him down. He was not the brooding type. Yes, he had no money; yes, he earned just enough. But he won’t let it fill his mind with anxiety. “I can turn and shut off my mind. I have learned to compartmentalize my feelings.” Rik was always ready with a smile when he encountered people. At work and during breaks, Rik was always quick to punctuate casual group talk with spontaneous witty punch lines which, no matter how left field and unexpected, never failed to make everyone burst into teary laughter. Believe it or not, Rik talked louder than anyone in a group, piercing conversations with his insistent powerful tenor voice that bordered on “quarreling shout” level. This made work riotous fun when Rik was around, which to me, served to fuel our creativity. His daily fix? Music, preferably the jazzy kind. Rik mentioned his huge collection of vinyl records which he regularly and lovingly cleaned with soap and water. He claimed that his collection totaled about 2,000 vinyl records. This included old records of performances by BB King, Ella Fitzgerald and other jazz greats. He also boasted of his enormous collection of classical music, as well as “long playing” records of songs by Frank Sinatra, Matt Monroe and other pop performers. He dug Elvis Presley and he could take the folk music of Peter, Paul and Mary, but he had no inclination for rock music. However, he listened to jazz renditions and arrangements of the Beatles. He loved talking about the good old days when he used to frequent jazz joints after work.

After office, he used to meet friends like Tony Herrera, the late Monette Fuentes, Ben Canapi and other jazz aficionados in such joints as Byrons and Talk of the Town, where ad people used to hang out. “Oh, it was good clean fun, nothing of the hanky panky associated with beer gardens. Just beer and good music.” Mind you, he had gone through crisis like the rest of us. His wife had died young. His musician son died in an accident, protruding metal bars of a stalled truck piercing through his head in a freak accident one night. No, his friends were not on drugs or booze. The truck was parked in a dark portion of the lower part of a bridge, an accident waiting to happen. There’s another thing that kept his mind busy. A natural handyman, he loved to tinker with his tools. Rik had one of the most complete set of tools and the largest collection of Swiss knives. Name it, he’s got it. When he fixed my computer plug, I watched him go to work and was fascinated on how deliberate he went about repairing my plug. He was meticulous and very systematic, much like a professional electrician. I still remember the young creatives at EC Grafix were laughing at the cartoons for a tabloid Rik had just submitted. Everyone agreed that his illustrations showed he had not lost his comic touch. The renditions were as snappy as ever. Rik might have been old school as the young creative punks would dismiss him but he certainly was one of a kind, a hall of famer in my book. That was two decades ago. Since then, he had suddenly dropped from the scene. I hope he reads this, wherever he may be now. Now in my mid-60s, I sometimes feel old. But remembering Rik at 73, I suddenly feel young again.

Venezuelan opposition sends medical help to nation’s slums

T

HE opposition sent a message to President Nicolas Maduro in the form of hundreds of doctors, medical workers and other volunteers who fanned out into the nation’s slums: Even without outside aid, we can take care of the people of Venezuela. The opposition, led by Juan Guaido, recognized as Venezuela’s leader by the world’s most powerful nations, had a second message to Maduro: Let in the medicine and food that has begun arriving at the border from the US. “Maduro, we beg you, allow the humanitarian aid to enter,” said Dr. Aidee Garcia, one of scores of doctors dispatched to the slums in 10 states on Sunday. “Here we have the infrastructure, we have the doctors, but we don’t have the medicines or the supplies to take care of the people. People don’t have medicines, children and the elderly are malnourished.” Guaido, who as head of the National Assembly declared himself president on January 23, is trying to show he is the legitimate leader of Venezuela, though hold no actual power. Maduro continues to control nearly all of the government, especially the military. And he has blocked humanitarian aid sent by the US to the Columbian border. US Sen. Marco Rubio traveled on Sunday to visit aid facilities as cargo with humanitarian resources arrive. The cargo now sits alongside relief supplies that arrived on February 8.

“Thank you Sen. Marco Rubio for joining this noble effort,” Guaido wrote on Twitter. Guaido’s forces dispatched doctors, nurses, dentists, politicians, students and other volunteers around the country. At a camp in Macarao, a huge slum in west Caracas, the volunteers received some 600 sick people. The few medicines they had—antibiotics, analgesics or anti-hypertensives— are available to any volunteers. The point was that so much more is waiting just across the border, but blocked by Maduro, who calls the relief part of an “invasion.” Bony elders walking with canes, young mothers with babies with fever, women with ice pressed on their cheeks to salve a toothache—all made long lines in the street to be treated. Guaido tweeted about the efforts but many of the patients there had no idea it was from him, thinking it was instead sent by the government. Some barely knew who the 35-year-old opposition leader was. “I still think that Maduro is good, but he is badly advised,” said Jesus Quintero, 82, who received his blood pressure medicine in the camp. “When I saw this, I thought it was from the government. But no, they just give us one little box with food a month. I ask the president to let humanitarian aid in. I don’t like the opposition, but this young man has done well.” Bloomberg News

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

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Saturday, February 23, 2019 A9

Self-driving cars may one day kill auto insurance as we know it D

BY PAUL TULLIS Bloomberg

AN PEATE, a venture capitalist and entrepreneur in Southern California, was thinking of buying a Tesla Model X a few years ago—until he called his insurance company and found out how much his premiums would rise. “They quoted me $10,000 a year,” Peate recalled. For all the concern over accidents involving driverless cars, including Tesla’s troubles with its limited self-driving Autopilot mode, it’s easy to forget one of the supposed virtues of autonomous vehicles: They will make the roads safer. A sophisticated array of lidar, radar and cameras is expected to be more adept at detecting trouble than our mortal eyes and ears. And computers never get drunk, check Tinder or fall asleep at the wheel. Peate, 40, previously started a company called Hixme, a provider of group health insurance. Now, he wanted to launch a firm specializing in insurance for vehicles with automated-driving modes (and eventually, fully autonomous cars). His experience with the insurer of his old-fashioned, non-driverless car only confirmed the need. When underwriters and actuaries price insurance on a new type of risk, Peate said, they charge more because they don’t have enough data. With so few Model Xs on the road, its safety record was, at best, opaque. But Tesla Inc. and other carmakers collect reams of data on their vehicles’ operation to improve automation. Peate said he realized “we can get large amounts of data across entire fleets and be able to underwrite without having to wait for years of data” from accidents after they’ve happened. It also enables an insurer to cut premiums for drivers the more they engage autonomous driving. On January 30, Peate announced the creation of Avinew, with $5 million in seed funding led by Los Angeles’s Crosscut Ventures. Its insurance product will monitor drivers’ use of autonomous features on cars made by companies including Tesla, Nissan, Ford and Cadillac, determining discounts based on how the feature is used. Avinew has agreements with most manufacturers and is working to tie up the rest, Peate said, allowing it to access driving data once a customer gives it permission. Deloitte, in its 2019 insurance outlook report, saw this coming. “The rise of connectivity...has generated a massive amount of real-time data and turned the insurer’s relationship with policyholders from

static and transactional to dynamic and interactive.” Avinew said it expects to be writing policies later this year in select states. The transition points to a larger, existential crisis for the multibillion-dollar car insurance industry. If nobody’s driving, why do we need auto insurance? Premiums—and company revenue—are based on a driver’s likelihood of being in an accident, as well as actual crash rates. With more than 90 percent of accidents caused by human error, taking the driver out of the equation is going to mean big changes for insurers. “This comes up in every strategic conversation,” said Michelle Krause, senior managing director in Accenture’s insurance client service group. The major carriers “are very focused on understanding the technology behind [automation] and what opportunities are available for them.” Krause’s group, with research from the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey,

TNC Predator team from the Philippines won the Dota 2 title in the Asia-Pacific Predator League 2019 Tournament

published a report in 2017 forecasting trouble for insurers as automation becomes more widespread. Premiums could drop by 12.5 percent of the total market by 2035, the authors found, and while new insurance product lines centered on autonomous vehicles will offset some of the loss, declining premium revenue will eventually outpace gains. The good news for the industry is that it has time. Stevens estimates that by 2035 there will be only 23 million autonomous vehicles on American roads— less than 10 percent of today’s total. And as of now the technology required for autonomous features is extremely expensive to repair, meaning premiums will initially rise as more cars featuring them roll off dealers’ lots. “When you think of all these sensors and calibration, a little fender bender could be a much more costly proposition,” said David Ross Keith, an assistant professor of system dynamics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“It’s foreseeable that insurance is a much less consumer-facing industry in the future.” As automation reaches levels 4 and 5—fully autonomous capability with the option for a human driver to take over, and fully autonomous with no human involvement, respectively—insurance is going to change dramatically. That’s because the driver won’t be the risky part. “Liability is likely to migrate from the individual to the manufacturer and the licensers of the software that drives the AV,” said Rodney Parker, an associate professor of operations management at Indiana University. Accenture’s report agreed. That means insurers will be selling more policies to companies and fewer to drivers: Carmakers and suppliers of communications systems, software and sensors are going to be on the hook for the failure of their products, rather than drivers paying for not checking their blind spot. More broadly, the nature of risk itself is going to change, said Hyejin Youn, a professor at Northwestern University. With human drivers, “uncertainty is randomness, and random chances follow a normal distribution.” If the risk is in faulty software or sensors, it becomes “more systematic.” Nationwide is one insurance company that’s started thinking about this problem. Drivers today are rated based on factors including sex, age and driving history. “If we’re getting data from the vehicle, that rating changes dramatically and gets very complex,” said Teresa Scharn, associate vice president for product development. Insurers are already in the data management business, of course, but “it’s getting to be an even bigger muscle that we have to flex.” Like Nationwide, Allstate is aggressively hiring experts in big data and analytics, according to its president of service businesses, Don Civgin. Determining who’s at fault when something goes wrong could get thorny in this new world. If the lidar goes on the blink, is that the fault of the carmaker or the supplier of the lidar? What if the driver failed to get the latest firmware update—so now it’s his fault? If a Cadillac with Super Cruise loses its Internet connection, is that on General Motors or Verizon? What if the car gets hacked and redirected to a thief’s lot? What if municipal infrastructure managing traffic flow loses its data? “As a society we’ll have to figure out who’s liable for these different things, and that will determine who’s required to insure against what risks,” said MIT’s Keith Young of Northwestern sees it as a “public policy problem, best addressed in the government.” ■

AFREECA Freecs Fatal of Korea was the PUBG champion

Philippine teams do well in Predator League PRIMETIME

DINNA CHAN VASQUEZ @dinnachanvasquez luckydinna@gmail.com

AFTER three grueling gaming days in front of a 10,000 strong crowd, two Philippine teams performed beyond expectations in the Asia-Pacific Predator League 2019 Tournament in Bangkok, Thailand, with TNC Predator bagging the Dota 2 championship and ArkAngel placing seventh in PUBG.

Predator League brought together 26 teams from 16 countries, including the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Myanmar and Australia at the Nimibutr Sports Building, Bangkok’s National Stadium, from February 15 to 17. Predator League offered a total prize pool of $250,000 and a chance for the teams to reign supreme in PUBG and Dota 2 in the region, with the latter being the tourney’s main event. Dota 2 is a game that is played in matches between two teams of five players. Each team occupies and defends their respective bases on the map. Each of the 10 players controls a powerful character or hero. PUBG is PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and the concept is a number of people are released onto an island with the last person standing declared the

winner. To do that, the players need to find weapons, kill people and generally avoid danger. In Bangkok, it was also announced that the Philippines will be the venue of this prestigious eSports tournament next year. “Predator Philippines is committed to giving its all out support to make next year’s Predator League a success. This is the most exciting Predator tournament and we are determined to make it more special because it will be held in the Philippines,” said Sue Ong-Lim, Predator Philippines sales and marketing director. TNC Predator won $75,000 in cash with each member bringing home a Predator Helios laptop. In second was Boom ID of Indonesia, which received $30,000, while GeekFam of Malaysia was at third with $15,000. In PUBG, the Philippines’s ArkAngel placed

seventh. In first was Afreeca Freecs Fatal of Korea. The team took home $75,000 in cash and a Predatof Helios laptop for each member. Purple Mood eSport of Thailand was in second with $30,000, while Team Immunity of Australia was at third with $15,000. “Especially in the Pan Asia-Pacific region, Acer provides a stage for young eSports athletes to display their gaming talents not only through exceptional hardware but also through the ecosystem and industry,” said Andrew Hou, president of Pan AsiaPacific Regional Operations, Acer Inc. “We hope that the athletes this year keep on as active members of the eSports community, and we will be glad to play with them again in 2020 in the Philippines.” For more information on the Asia-Pacific Predator League, visit www.predator-league.com.

BusinessMirror

A10 Saturday, February 23, 2019

MMFC ties up with SAP for digital transformation BY RODERICK L. ABAD Contributor MULTI-M Food Corp. (MMFC) has partnered with SAP as it shifted to digitization to transform operations and sustain its provision of quality food products with reliable customer service. In January, the company launched the so-called Project SAPfire aimed at improving operations, finance, inventory, sales and supply chain while managing its growth strategy and expansion into new markets. For this purpose, it tapped SAP Business ByDesign with Service 101 plus Consulting to enforce and roll out the solution to all its business entities and satellite offices in Bulacan, Cebu and Davao. This single cloud ERP software is designed for fastgrowing, midsize businesses. It is a wholly end-to-end business suite that unifies every functional department and process from accounting and finance to manufacturing, supply chain management and human resources. With this cloud solution, MMFC can now access satellite offices and consolidate financial reports per business entity in compliance to the Bureau of Internal Revenue tax reporting. SAP Business ByDesign assists the food and beverage distributor to have faster access to sales reports and computations for agent commissions. Also, it helps in the supply chain management to have more efficient handling of product costs, weights and deliveries. MMFC President Irene Lee believes this solution will make their business become “more efficient and ready to meet growing market demands.” “As we seek to grow and expand into new markets, we also remain committed in our mission to provide good food and great service,” she said. “Balancing this growth, as well as maintaining the same impeccable service that our customers expect, going on the cloud with SAP Business ByDesign will help us to do that,” she added. SAP Philippines Managing Director Edler Panlilio was elated by the trust of MMFC to engage them in its digital transformation journey. “We are especially proud that one of the best food distribution companies like Multi-M Corp. has chosen SAP as their foundation to grow further,” the top executive said. “SAP Business ByDesign has a proven track record of ongoing investment, innovation and delivery in the cloud, and is especially designed for fast-growing businesses such as Multi-M Corp. to turn growth potential into results. This just shows that any business, regardless of size, can embark on their journey toward intelligent enterprise,” he stressed.

AXA Group Chairman Denis Duverne (center) with AXA Asia CEO Gordon Watson (right) and AXA Philippines President and CEO Rahul Hora.

AXA PH expects digital innovations to drive growth KEEPING up with the digital age and adapting to the latest technologies is a major part of the growth strategy of AXA Philippines (www.axa.com.ph), one of the leading insurance companies in the country. This was revealed by Denis Duverne, AXA Group chairman, during his recent visit to the Philippines. “We do use new technologies in all parts of our businesses,” Duverne said, adding that the Philippine entity is, in fact, quite advanced in the use of digital tools, accelerating its strategy to move from being a payer to becoming an encouraging partner. “We are also constantly forging digital partnerships with new economy companies to help keep us up to date,” Duverne said. AXA Asia CEO Gordon Watson, who was also in town, stressed the importance of data in their business. “Insurance is about data, so we use data analysis for better underwriting and to better respond to our customers,” Watson said. “Our aim is to innovate our business model,” said AXA Philippines President and CEO Rahul Hora. “This is to enable our distributors to be better, by providing them tools, such as calculators for their tablets or laptops, which results in better quality transactions with their prospects.” AXA is proud to have its e-Financial Needs Analysis platform, which helps customers learn about their insurance protection gaps in relation to their financial goals so they can act accordingly. A “light” version through the chat bot “Coach Finn” can also be accessed on the AXA web site, which also features the company’s plethora of insurance offerings.

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Amazon’s stormy week will blow over, but the debris may stay BY RACHEL LERMAN & MAE ANDERSON The Associated Press

S

AN FRANCISCO—It’s been a complicated few weeks for Amazon, what with its abrupt pullout from a massive New York City development, extortion claims related to intimate photos taken by its founder Jeff Bezos, and increasing antitrust scrutiny in Europe. For now, these events seem unlikely to pose much threat to Amazon’s brand or business. But they’re indicative of the mounting challenges the e-commerce giant faces as it grows ever larger and more dominant. Amazon’s turn in the spotlight is a natural consequence of its prominence in retail, entertainment and Internet infrastructure, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said. “As you get bigger and more successful, you have more of a target on your back,” he said. Few analysts believe the February 14 reversal in New York or the previous week’s dust-up with the publisher of the National Enquirer will have much impact on consumer enthusiasm for Amazon’s broad product selection and services or its fast shipping. Bezos has accused the Enquirer of “extortion and blackmail” for threatening to disclose revealing personal photos unless he ended his private investigation into how the tabloid obtained his private exchanges with his mistress. Investors don’t appear particularly concerned that these issues will distract the hard-driving Bezos, who is also in the midst of a divorce—generally considered one of life’s most stressful events. Even if Bezos were to find his attention otherwise occupied, Evercore ISI analyst Anthony DiClemente notes that the Amazon chief has a trusted senior leadership team in place. “That gives investors comfort,” he said. Amazon shares have more than made up a brief drop after Bezos made his public case against the Enquirer last week. Public anger at tech companies has been growing for some time, but much of it has been focused on Facebook and other tech companies that collect vast amounts of personal user information for targeting online ads and other purposes. Facebook’s privacy issues have been particularly acute since they involve the company’s core business, said Paul Argenti, a Dartmouth College professor of corporate communication. Amazon isn’t immune to the tech backlash. But Argenti said the company’s popularity with consumers won’t likely be affected by recent headlines. “I’m not going to stop ordering my movies and packages from them, and I think that’s the way most people will look at it,” he said. Longer-term issues, however, could present a more serious threat. Amazon’s New York investment would have put 25,000 jobs in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, at a cost of nearly $3 billion in tax breaks. Local activists called that a corporate giveaway, one made even less palatable by Amazon’s anti-union stance.

AMAZON has had a complicated few weeks with its cancellation of a New York headquarters, and extortion claims last week related to intimate photos taken by its founder and CEO Jeff Bezos (in photo). Experts say the events are unlikely to pose much of a threat to Amazon’s business. AP

That grassroots rebellion suggests that people are growing more skeptical of big tech companies, especially when government is cutting them special deals, said Blair Levin, a policy adviser to New Street Research and a former chief of staff to a Federal Communications Commission chairman. “Time and time again, the public has seen promises made and reality is different,” he said. “So they’re going to be skeptical of Amazon. And it’s across the board, not just Amazon.” Several European nations are also investigating Amazon’s alleged anticompetitive activity. On February 14, Austria’s antitrust agency said it is reviewing complaints that the company is favoring its own products and discriminating against other sellers on its e-commerce site. German antitrust authorities and the European Commission are investigating Amazon for similar claims. In the US, politicians are also speaking out against

Amazon’s practices, said Barry Lynn, executive director of Open Markets, an institution that studies corporate monopolies in the US. Lynn argues that Amazon is a monopoly that should be more heavily regulated by the government. He pointed to comments Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat who is running for president, made last year about Amazon’s “anticompetitive” practices. “The word is out, the discussion is ongoing,” Lynn said. “It’s not going to go away, it’s only going to get louder.” Amazon responded on Friday with a statement emphasizing the breadth of its business and its small market share of global retail sales. For shoppers, everything is business as usual, and the bad news will quickly blow over, Dartmouth’s Argenti said. “We won’t be talking about this a year from now, maybe not even a month from now,” he said. ■

Cloud platform seeks to inspire more small businesses to get online THE world's largest cloud platform dedicated to small, independent ventures, GoDaddy Inc., has launched a campaign targeting small business owners and entrepreneurs in the Philippines. The campaign aims to share the benefits of creating a strong online presence using GoDaddy’s easy-to-use and integrated products and services. To inspire Filipino small business owners and entrepreneurs, GoDaddy (ph.GoDaddy.com) has partnered with AXN Asia, and TV host and entrepreneur Maggie Wilson-Consunji to build a campaign that captures the benefits for businesses to create a strong and secure online presence. Maggie embodies the type of passionate individuals GoDaddy empowers with their variety of online tools to help people turn their ideas into reality and grow online. The platform’s own data also suggests there is no shortage of Filipinos who have entrepreneurial dreams. According to the 2017 GoDaddy Gig Economy Survey, 77 percent of Filipinos have or have had a side business on top of a full-time job. With passion and online technology at the forefront of helping them maintain their entrepreneurial endeavors and reach more customers, 72 percent of them aim to become full-time business owners within the next five years. Maggie Wilson-Consunji is one of those entrepreneurs who have started to turn their passions into successful business endeavors. Using her in-depth

knowledge and interest for interior design and her love for food, she conceptualized a café and store where people can shop for unique home décor and furniture to enhance their homes and, at the same time, enjoy rich blends of brewed coffee and sumptuous sandwiches. The result: Casa Consunji (www.CasaConsunji.com). “Inspired by travels to different countries, I’ve always wanted a place where people have a nice selection of décor and home goods from other parts of the world that are unique, interesting and special—pieces that I would like to have in my own home,” shared Maggie. “Casa Consunji is exactly that place and it very much represents my personal brand in every way.” Together with GoDaddy, she built a web site with an SSL certificate for added security protection to help establish her online presence. The site also has a convenient e-commerce portal for her customers to be able to shop online. While creating a web site sounds like a challenging endeavor, it’s not as complex as it seems with the right online tools. “It’s never been easier to start a business online, with more tools now easily available and more affordable. The time is now for Filipino small business owners and entrepreneurs to consider how an online presence can help their venture grow. With GoDaddy Website Builder, for example, you can create a professional web site in under an hour without having a lot of technical knowledge,” advised Tina Shieh, GoDaddy senior marketing manager for Asia.

FROM left: GoDaddy Senior Marketing Manager for Asia Pacific Tina Sheih, brand ambassador Maggie Wilson-Consunji and GoDaddy Director for International Communication Pam Portin

BusinessMirror

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Saturday, February 23, 2019 A11

Hiding in plain sight: Japan’s big�est Internet company I

BY REED STEVENSON Bloomberg

T was one of the most infamous companies in Japan, rocking the nation with a corporate scandal that ousted a prime minister and then nearly collapsing under a mountain of debt. Now, Recruit Holdings Co. is back, reinvented by a group of employees who quietly turned the magazine publisher and job-placement firm into an Internet giant that touches the lives of almost every consumer in the world’s third-biggest economy. If Recruit were a US company, it would be like having LinkedIn, Zillow, Yelp, eHarmony, Booking.com, Square and dozens of other apps—all under one roof. “We are there, every time people choose to do things,” said Masumi Minegishi, Recruit’s 55-year-old chief executive officer. As the biggest Internet companies compete for world domination with apps that track consumers and use artificial intelligence to crunch data and provide tailored services, Recruit is Japan’s leading contender. With a value about a tenth of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and barely 5 percent of Amazon.com Inc., it’s up against giants. But Minegishi’s goal is to attract the most consumers in the world by 2030, and he’s betting that Recruit has the cash and experience to mount a serious challenge. “Recruit was an Internet pioneer, starting their first web site in the same month that Yahoo launched in 1995,” said Sandra Sucher, a Harvard Business School professor who published a case study on the company last year. “This is not their first rodeo—they know how to leverage new technology.” Born more than half a century ago during Japan’s economic boom, Recruit found infamy in the 1980s when founder Hiromasa Ezoe concocted a shares-forfavors scheme to grease business deals and gain insider information. He gave more than 70 politicians and business leaders stock in a subsidiary that was about to go public, netting many of them a fortune.

THE INCIDENT

WHEN the bribes of “Recruit jiken,” or “The Recruit incident,” came to light, even Cabinet ministers were implicated, forcing Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita to resign. Then, in the 1990s, Japan’s asset bubble burst and Ezoe’s speculative property bets saddled the firm with $14 billion in debt, leading to his resignation and the sale of a controlling stake to Daiei, a Japanese retailer. The experience left Recruit in the hands of its employees just as the Internet era was dawning and they soon began moving their job-recruitment services and publications onto the Web. Now, when the archipelago’s 124 million citizens look for a job, an apartment or a haircut, most tap into one of Recruit’s 200 web sites and 350 apps. The company’s magazines, such as the Jalan travel guide, Travail for women seeking jobs and Car Sensor, a 3-inch thick tome that used to be stacked waisthigh in bookstores, are now all online. That constellation of Web portals, apps and its jobplacement business has given Recruit a valuation of about $46 billion, three times more than Yahoo! Japan Corp. and four times that of Rakuten Inc., its nearest Web and e-commerce rivals. Recruit went public five years ago, after paying off its massive debt and buying back some of its shares from Daiei. “Like Alibaba and Tencent, Recruit has a very large home market to build and grow its multiplatform businesses, but it is far more focused in its mission and strategy,” Sucher said. Investors have backed Minegishi’s strategy, with its stock almost tripling since listing. Instead of delivering search results like Google, or

shipping merchandise like Amazon, Recruit acts as a gobetween, matching businesses with customers and taking a cut or selling ads along the way. Its restaurant-review site Hot Pepper is Japan’s No. 1 dining portal, and property web site Suumo has the most real-estate listings. Many of its online booking services are linked to a tablet-payment network called AirRegi that gives the company valuable troves of data on shoppers. “It feels radically different from any other Japanese company.” Using information generated by web traffic, reservations, payments and a loyalty-point network, Recruit can track consumer behavior in minute detail, and pass that knowledge on to businesses eager to attract and retain customers. “It not only benefits consumers with easier and faster payments, but also retailers,” said Taro Yamato, a researcher at Euromonitor International. What differentiates the company is a culture that was forged from the failures in the 1990s. “We had to take ownership to bring the business back,” Minegishi said. In Recruit’s head office, spread over 19 floors of a building linked by footbridge to Tokyo station, few people wear suits and many dispense with the formal honorifics typically used between managers and subordinates in corporate Japan. “It feels radically different from any other Japanese company,” said Howard Yu, professor at the IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland, who also wrote a case study. Recruit “empowers individuals,” says Minegishi, a departure from traditional education and employment in Japan with its focus on rote learning and respect for authority. New recruits and staff are often asked “Why are you here?” or “What do you think?” prompting them to challenge the status quo. From being a national pariah, Recruit has developed an ethical base that gives it a competitive advantage, according to Harvard’s Sucher. “I honestly don’t know any other company that operates like Recruit,” she said. That empowerment has generated some winners.

REBEL EDUCATOR

AT one of Recruit’s annual internal start-up competitions, a staffer named Fumihiro Yamaguchi proposed a web portal

to help students study—a kind of Netflix for online learning in a nation notorious for cramming. “I thought I could launch the business with four people and about ¥100 million to ¥200 million,” [$900,000 to $1.8 million],” said Yamaguchi, 41, wearing a t-shirt, hoodie and jeans. Instead, he got 200 people and ¥2 billion and was told to get on with it. Today, Study Sapuri (Study Supplement) has more than 40,000 online courses. A graduate of Tokyo’s prestigious Keio University, Yamaguchi says he spent much of his own student years drinking in bars and paying other undergraduates to write his essays with the money he earned gambling in pachinko pinball parlors. Now, from fourth grade through college, nearly half a million students pay ¥980 a month each to access the site he created. “He’s got fighting spirit,” Minegishi said of Yamaguchi. “You can’t just be strange. You have to be able to define the challenge, come up with the solution and then execute it.” Recruit even discourages lifetime employment, for decades the backbone of Japanese industrial labor policy. Staff who’ve worked for the company for more than six-anda-half-years are eligible for an early-retirement bonus, making it easier for them to seek work elsewhere. That makes Recruit a rich fishing ground for companies looking to poach staff, and turnover is high—around 10 percent. In its first 54 years, only a few dozen employees reached retirement age. The average age is 35. Recruit is “extremely well-managed,” but it operates in what are already mature industries and markets, said Shinnosuke Takeuchi, an analyst at Jefferies Group. “The biggest weakness—and opportunity—for Recruit is whether it can come up with a completely new business model that can challenge companies like Google and Amazon.” To compete globally, the company must figure out ways to combine user information from all its apps, web sites, payment platform and loyalty-points network, and develop algorithms that use the data to deliver new services, according to Chief Strategy Officer Shogo Ikeuchi. For example, Recruit now offers direct loans to small businesses, using customer traffic and daily sales to assess

creditworthiness. That puts Recruit in direct competition with the big global players in one of the most expensive labor markets in the world, where annual salaries can top $1 million: AI software engineers. “Engineers are critically important,” Ikeuchi said. “They are vital for a business that’s built on matching services.” To gain talent and fuel growth, Recruit has been buying start-ups abroad. In 2012, it acquired job-search portal Indeed.com, gaining vital AI know-how. Indeed is now a global competitor to LinkedIn, with 250 million monthly unique views.

OVERSEAS PUSH

LAST year, Recruit paid $1.2 billion for Glassdoor, the US web site that collects and shares employee reviews of companies and salaries. Now, Glassdoor is set to expand into Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand. Recruit has also acquired European restaurant-booking site Quandoo, UK spa and salon reservation portal Treatwell and Dutch staffing firm USG People, helping to boost sales outside Japan to 46 percent of revenue, from 20 percent five years ago. And it still has a war chest of about $3 billion in cash. The success of its app-based services has raised questions about the value of the company’s traditional media business. Recruit still publishes 54 magazines, and has an employment and staffing services division that accounts for a majority of sales. But the faster-growing media and Internet divisions generate two-thirds of operating profit from just about 30 percent of total revenue. Minegishi says he has no plans to split the enterprise. “We wouldn’t carve it up. We’re at the top in each category, so there’s no value lost.” Still, Recruit may eventually have to shed some of its older, cash-generating businesses, according to Kenji Nonaka, senior partner at McKinsey & Co. in Tokyo. “It’s important to be willing to cannibalize your own business,” he said. If that happened, the transformation of Recruit would be complete. ■

Local online sellers must address challenges to achieve growth BY RIZAL RAOUL S. REYES ONLINE sellers in the Philippines have to address problems on talent and resources to achieve their huge potential. “There is a huge community of online sellers that is highly underserved in the Philippine market. These sellers have huge potential to grow, but are often restricted due to lack of manpower and resources,” said Vaibhav Dabhade, chief executive officer of Anchanto, in a recent e-mail interview with BUSINESSMIRROR. “In the same manner, the Philippines is a great potential market with untapped e-commerce opportunities for enterprise businesses in the region. As the e-commerce penetration, infrastructure and telecommunication growth continues

to proliferate, there will be a lot of opportunities across industries, such as logistics and retail,” Dabhade added. He said 2018 was a good year for Anchanto Philippines as it was able to successfully start serving a large number of online sellers, retailers, brands and distributors in the country. Moreover, he said, the Philippine subsidiary implemented serious efforts to study the idiosyncrasies, introduced products with relevant capabilities and integrations, and hired a talented local work force to provide a highly personalized experience to their customers in the country. Dabhade said Anchanto has ambitious expansion growth plans for 2019. With more than 100 ready e-commerce

integrations with marketplaces, web stores, accounting tools, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, he said Anchanto intends to reach out to all businesses that wish to manage seamless e-commerce operations and generate massive e-commerce revenue. “And with our products getting exceptional results for our customers in the market, we are super confident that we will achieve the top position in the Philippine market,” he said. Dabhade said the company is confident their platform has the potential to help businesses of all sizes—right from a small online seller with limited orders, to a global distributor with multichannel selling and logistics operations spread across regions. He said Anchanto plans

to expand its current base of more than 6,500 do-it-yourself (DIY) sellers and more than 250 enterprise customers, and become the leading and the most customer-centric company in our domain. To help Filipino online entrepreneurs in expanding their business, Dabhade said Anchanto has introduced its special plan: “This is exactly why we have introduced our special plan—‘Forever Free.’” “As its name itself suggests, online sellers will now be able to manage their online selling across multiple online marketplaces in the Philippines absolutely free of cost. With SelluSeller, they can save a lot of time, money and resources, and get a huge chance to grow their selling operations and profits across multiple channels,” he said.

Under Forever Free, Dabhade said online sellers are allowed to add unlimited local marketplaces to their account, and also add and manage unlimited stock keeping units (SKUs) with their SelluSeller account. He pointed out the plan has been carefully designed to ensure maximum growth for small and micro sellers. He said the company has received warm feedback from the market since it was launched. “With each passing day, we have more and more sellers getting on board SelluSeller—free of cost,” he said. “I strongly believe that with the right support, these sellers can grow exponentially and can contribute significantly to the nation’s economy,” he said.

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

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Samsung S10 and the evolution of the Galaxy (S) THE TECHNIVORE ED UY

whereiseduy@gmail.com

I

STILL have my very first Samsung phone, the E250. I got it in 2007, and back then Nokia was still king. I had been using the hefty 7710 and the only reason I decided to give Samsung a try was because I wanted a slider phone. But, honestly, I wasn’t happy, and it would be another five or six years before I gave the brand another try. That phone was the Galaxy S3. It was the very first flagship device I ever owned, and it had everything I wanted—a large clear screen, a nice-looking design and an amazing camera. I think the S3 was a major turning point for the brand in the Philippine market, establishing Samsung as a smartphone brand and not just a manufacturer of TV and other household appliances. I owned a couple of other Galaxy S phones after that—a Galaxy S5 that got stolen inside the MRT, and a Galaxy S6 I won in a raffle. This week, as Samsung celebrates the 10th anniversary of its flagship “Galaxy S” series, we take a look back at the storied history of one of the best-selling smartphone series and unpack the Galaxy S10 trifecta. To start things off, do you know what the “S” actually means? According to an old press release from the company, the S actually stands for “Super Smart,” and is at the very pinnacle of Samsung’s mobile portfolio, but I guess using “SS” would’ve been a bit much.

THE BIRTH OF A GALAXY IN the (Android) beginning there was HTC and Motorola, and it would take a few years before the South Korean company released the original Samsung Galaxy S. Launched in March 2010, it had a 4-inch 480 x 800 pixel display, 4GB of storage, and a 5-megapixel camera that took on the likes of the iPhone 4 and the Google Nexus One. Its successor, the Galaxy S II arrived in February 2011, during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The S II had a bigger 4.3-inch screen, an 8-megapixel camera, and ran Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It was also the one of the first to introduce NFC. The following year, the Samsung Galaxy S III introduced an assistant called S-Voice. The screen continued to grow bigger at 4.8 inches, an upgraded 720x1280-pixel resolution, and 8-megapixel camera. A few months later the company also released the Galaxy S III Mini. The Samsung Galaxy S4 was the first in the series to ditch the Roman numerals in favor of the standard numerical digits. It had a 5-inch screen at 1920x1080 resolution, an improved 13-megapixel camera, and Smart extras—Smart Pause, Smart Rotation, Smart Scroll, Air View, Air Gesture, and more which proved to be gimmicks than useful features. I couldn’t forget the Galaxy S5, which I lost to a pickpocket at the MRT because it was the first waterresistant smartphone offering IP67 protection and the first one with a fingerprint reader. The screen size was upped to 5.1 inches, had a 16-megapixel rear camera and the last to have a removable battery. I got the S5 from my postpaid subscription, and I thought losing it would mean waiting for another couple of years before I could afford another Galaxy S phone. Fortunately, I won an S6 at a raffle. But it would also be my last Galaxy phone. The S6 was the first to launch with an “Edge” model alongside it. The standard model had a 5.1-inch, 2560x1440 screen and a 16MP camera, while the Edge Plus upped it to 5.7 inches. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 launched the following year, it brought back a couple of missing features from the S6 like expandable storage, as well

as water- and dust-proofing. It’s 12MP cameras were also one of its main highlights. The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus got rid of the bezels and introduced Samsung’s Infinity Display concept. The S8 had a 5.8-inch screen while the S8 Plus version had a 6.2-inch display. It retained the 12MP camera but was criticized for its placement of the fingerprint sensor. Finally, we have the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus, which featured an upgraded camera system, and a better positioning of the fingerprint scanner plus its own version of the animoji.

GALAXY S10e, S10, S10+ FOLLOWING weeks of leaks, there was very little surprise when the new Galaxy S10 line launched last Wednesday in San Francisco. Engineered to meet the distinct needs of today’s smartphone market, the three unique devices deliver the next-generation mobile innovation in the categories consumers care about most: groundbreaking innovations in display, camera and performance. Galaxy S10 is made with Samsung’s best screen yet, the world’s first Dynamic AMOLED display. As the first HDR10+-certified smartphone, the display delivers vivid digital content, and with dynamic tone mapping, you’ll see a wider range of color for a brilliant, realistic picture. Galaxy S10’s Dynamic AMOLED display is also VDE-certified for vibrant bright colors and the industry’s best contrast ratio on a mobile device for even deeper blacks and brighter whites. Verified by DisplayMate, it boasts of the world’s most accurate colors on a mobile device—even in harsh sunlight. What’s more, the Dynamic AMOLED display also reduces blue light through its TÜV Rheinland-certified Eye Comfort display without compromising picture quality or adding a filter. The Galaxy S10’s unique Infinity-O Display packs an array of sensors and camera technology into a holein display—so you can maximize your screen real estate without any distractions. Galaxy S10’s Dynamic AMOLED display also includes the first-ever embedded Ultrasonic Fingerprint Scanner that reads the 3D contours of your physical thumbprint—not a 2D image of it—for improved anti-spoofing. With the world’s first FIDO Alliance Biometric Component certification, this next generation biometrics authentication offers vault-like security to keep your device safe. Building on Samsung’s camera leadership of Dual Pixel and Dual Aperture firsts, Galaxy S10 introduces new camera technology and advanced intelligence that makes it easy to take epic shots and videos, such as an Ultra-Wide Lens for capturing those impressive landscape shots; Super Steady and High-Quality Video Recording and, in an industry first, the rear camera gives you the flexibility to record in HDR10+. Other notable camera features include improved AI Scene Optimizer and Shot Suggestion that offers automatic composition recommendations so you can frame your photo better than ever. The Galaxy S10 line will be available in the Philippines beginning March 8 with prices starting at P39,990 for the Galaxy S10e, P49,990 for the Galaxy S10, and P55,990 for Galaxy S10+. A limited-edition Galaxy S10+ Ceramic Black (1TB) model will only be available via pre-order at P89,990. Consumers who pre-order the new Galaxy S10 smartphones can receive freebies worth up to P28,500.

FARMER TV LAST month, I got to sit down with revolutionary agriculturist Dex Villamin, head of DV Boer Farm International Corp., as they launched the second season of Magsasaka TV, a program that aims to empower the cause and livelihood of farmers in the Philippines. When I first heard about it, I must admit it made me question the viability of such a themed show. After all, the only other agriculture-related show I could remember was Ating Alamin. Which is really quite ironic, as we live in an agricultural country and once in our history, we were ahead in Asia with regards to agriculture and students from different countries came here to study agriculture and its technology.

But instead of “cultivating” this sector, our agricultural lands are now being developed into industrial areas, shopping malls and subdivisions. The agriculture industry has not progressed in ages and our farmers are getting old with no one looking to replace them. Through Magsasaka TV, Villamin and his team of dedicated professionals take televiewers and radio listeners to various places and faces in the vast farmlands all over the country, serving as a vehicle in sharing and showing the developments taking place in a modern farming corporation such as DV Boer Farm International. Magsasaka TV began as a result of Villamin’s hope of reaching more Filipinos to educate them further on the great potential of farming for self-

sustaining communities, providing livelihood to alleviate poverty among the underprivileged, and empowering overseas Filipino workers and all individuals with entrepreneurial spirit regarding the fundamentals and several benefits of farming. It is the culmination of his journey from a high-school dropout with innate abilities to excel, to becoming a pastry chef hailed by hotels here and in Thailand where he became a celebrity pastry chef, and to modernizing farming in the country through corporate-savvy policies and results-oriented processes. “Season 1 was about my story, but this season we want to tell the inspiring stories of our hardworking farmers all over the country,” Villamin said. Magsasaka TV is now airing on dzMM Teleradyo Sunday mornings at 5 am. ■

GOOGLE’S NEST HUB HAS A MICROPHONE IT FORGOT TO MENTION BY RACHEL LERMAN The Associated Press GOOGLE said on Wednesday it forgot to mention that it included a microphone in its Nest Secure home alarm system, the latest privacy flub by one of the tech industry’s leading collectors of personal information. The company said earlier this month that its voiceassistant feature would be available on the system’s Nest Guard, which controls home alarm sensors. But Google hadn’t told consumers about the device’s built-in microphone when it began selling the hubs in the fall of 2017. As recently as January, the product specs for the device made no mention of a microphone. Google said in a statement that the omission was a mistake. “The on-device microphone was never

intended to be a secret and should have been listed in the tech specs,” it said. The microphone hasn’t been active since launch, and people have to specifically enable it going forward, Google said. Business Insider first reported the microphone had been missing from the product’s description. Google and other Internet companies are facing increasing scrutiny over their data collection practices. The forgotten microphone is not Google’s first run-in with user privacy concerns. An AP investigation last year found the company was tracking users’ location information through its apps and search services, even if users turned the feature off. And in 2010, Google admitted it had accidentally collected some Internet activity from open Wi-Fi networks using its Street View cars.

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