BusinessMirror February 24, 2019

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Sunday, February 24, 2019 Vol. 14 No. 137

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GOVT REVISITS 16-YEAR-OLD RORO PROGRAM—ASSESSING TRAFFIC AND DEMAND, REVIEWING COSTS AND PITCHING NEW ROUTES TO INTERESTED PRIVATE OPERATORS

THE MV Starlite Reliance, a passenger/Roro cargo ship owned by Batangasbased shipping firm Starlite Ferries Inc., is seen at Caticlan jetty port on November 17, 2017. YOORAN PARK | DREAMSTIME.COM

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By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

ITH airports and seaports congested and the state of land traffic still in a sorry mess, lawmakers and regulators are moving to revive and expand the roll-on, rolloff (Roro) transport system, hoping the initiative—launched with much fanfare 16 years ago but subsequently trumped by politics—can spur countryside development, speed up commerce and lower the prices of goods in the country.

Former President and now Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo launched the Roro system during her presidency in 2003, which connected the three main islands of the Philippines, to speed up travel and increase trading among provinces.

It was not surprising, then,

that she personally gave the matter her personal attention—and known fastidiousness for detail— when a House committee began an inquiry into the state of the Roro network and why, despite its best intentions, it was resulting in even higher logistics costs for business.

THE MV Lite Ferry 10, owned by Cebu City-based Lite Shipping Corp., is seen off the coast of Bohol on April 8, 2015. GOETZ KOHLBERG | DREAMSTIME.COM

The Roro was developed pursuant to Executive Order 170. It was developed to connect Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao to reduce the high cost of transporting people, goods and services through an integrated national highway system.

Arroyo recently said the government should revitalize and expand the Roro to further spur growth in the regions.

According to Arroyo, the Roro system has helped reduce the poverty level in the country.

She added it was one of her administration’s priority programs to ensure fast and economical movement of goods and people, and to boost domestic tourism and trade.

“When I assumed the presidency, the survey said 39 percent of all Filipinos were very poor. I believe that the RRTS [Road Roro terminal system] has helped a lot to lift up some of the very poor from extreme poverty, as they were able to find jobs and now have some money to buy food and other necessities,” she said.

Continued on A2

97-year-old Macau tycoon’s kids race to revive his casino empire

By Daniela Wei and Blake Schmidt

I

in a single branch of the family, backed by the heft of another Chinese empire, could boost business as they seek permission to keep operating in Macau’s $38-billion-ayear gaming industry.

Bloomberg News

N Macau, the world’s biggest gambling hub, few family business dynasties are as powerful as the clan led by patriarch Stanley Ho. Or as complex: The tycoon, 97, has fathered 17 children with four women he calls his wives.

Now, one branch of that sprawling family is consolidating control just as its SJM Holdings Ltd. prepares to rebid for its casino license and faces a serious challenge from Las Vegas rivals, who’ve built glitzier resorts in Macau.

Dramatic rise

HO’S rise in the gaming enclave is one of the more dramatic stories in Chinese business. He built the Chinese city’s first casino in 1962,

and became a billionaire from his 40-year monopoly there. Over the decades, the Ho family drama has been rife with plot twists that have made running SJM—and planning succession—a tricky business.

In recent weeks, the children from wife No. 2, Lucina Laam, forged an alliance with another group of shareholders—Hong Kong’s influential Fok family—to gain voting control of the board.

Now the concentration of power

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 52.0560

Vast interests

THE stakes are high: SJM is one of Asia’s oldest gambling businesses and it still controls the largest number of casinos in Macau.

“The shareholders in the alliance all possess irreplaceable goodwill, accumulated through prolonged understanding and exposure in various industry sectors in Macau and mainland China,” Daisy Ho, SJM’s chairman and one of Laam’s daughters, said in her first interview since the pact was announced on January 23.

Members of the alliance have interests in retail, hospitality, conferences and travel services, she said. “Together with Timothy Fok, PANSY HO, Stanley Ho’s eldest daughter from second wife Lucina Laam. ANTHONY KWAN/BLOOMBERG

See “Macau Tycoon,” 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 )

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, February 24, 2019

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SELLING SAILING Continued from A1

However, the succeeding Aquino administration canceled most of the Roro projects approved during Arroyo’s time.

Arroyo said it was good the administration of President Duterte had decided to revitalize the Roro system, citing its importance to trade and tourism.

“We built many Roro ports all over the country but mostly in the Visayas, and I was so sad to hear a few years ago that the administration after mine discontinued the rest of the Roro port projects,” she said.

“I am happy that the Roro system is being revitalized because of the positive impact it has [made] on the lives of the people,” Arroyo added.

Moreover, there is a need to expand the Roro system in the country since airports and ports have already become congested, the Speaker pointed out.

Noting the Roro system’s proven importance in travel and trade and tourism, Arroyo recently convened an Oversight Committee on the Roro in the House of Representatives to determine the status of the country’s ports and how to improve them.

Incentives

DURING the 17th Congress’s inspection of the Roro system, Committee on Transportation Chairman Cesar Sarmiento said his committee has already recommended to the Maritime Industry

Authority (Marina) to incentivize or encourage the operators to modernize their fleet and promote vessels that are suitable to the country’s water terrain and weather conditions.

“We also recommended to the Philippine Ports Authority [PPA] to coordinate with Marina in clearly delineating their roles and actions in the development of the Roro system,” he said.

Lawmakers observed some gaps in the vessel route-port scheme, i.e., there are routes which must be served but are not, because of inexistent or underdeveloped ports to receive such vessels.

“We found out that, though the whole system is strong and intact, there are various issues relating to connectivity, adequacy of passenger lounges and parking areas, conditions of the Roro vessels and efficiency of port operations, facilities and traffic flow,” he said.

Based on such information, Sarmiento said House Resolution 940 was filed to strongly urge the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to rationalize routes that will end at and connect to the ports and ensure local transportation connectivity for passengers.

“For Marina, we reiterated the need for seaworthy and passengerconvenient vessels and for a more time-efficient system of ship arrival and departure schedules,” he added.

“The PPA should address the lack of facilities in our ports, in-

cluding ensuing future designs of terminal to take into consideration the safety and convenience of the passengers,” said Sarmiento.

According to Sarmiento, the House also urged the Department of Finance, Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs to resolve the delay in the processing of documentation and benefits for new Roro vessels covered by the Domestic Shipping Act.

New routes

MEANWHILE, Arroyo asked the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to revise its proposed development of the Roro transport system after most of the new routes being pushed were found to be already existing or are being serviced by shipping lines in nearby ports.

Arroyo said most of the 30 proposed new Roro routes under the DOTr’s Maritime Industry Development Plan (MIDP) have already existing ports or are being serviced by other shipping lines.

Missionary routes

HAVING launched the system in 2003, Arroyo went over each of the 30 proposed new routes to determine why 16 years later, the new routes remain unserved by the system.

However, going through them one by one, she said it was established that most of them are already being served by shipping lines in nearby ports or there are already existing port facilities.

Arroyo also suggested that for

ports that are unserved because of lack of operators, the DOTr should give missionary routes to shipping lines. A missionary route is an incentive given to a shipping line to service a new route exclusively for five years.

For the missionary routes, Arroyo said, “I don’t think you need an executive order for that. You know, when I was President, not everything was done by executive order. The departments had a lot of leeway because you don’t want to clog Malacañang with executive orders.”

She recalled: “Nobody wanted to take it so we just forced someone to take it and now they have a trip every hour. The incentive we gave for them to take it was it was a missionary route, so they were given the privilege of being the sole operator for five years, so it worked because since then there is a trip every hour on that route.”

Nautical highway

THE Road Roro Transport System was designed to carry rolling stock cargo that does not require cranes for loading. The system was part of the 919-kilometer Strong Republic Nautical Highway that connected the major islands of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao through an integrated network of highway and vehicular ferry routes.

The Asian Development Bank, which proposed the project, had said the Roro system cut the cost of the transport system and travel time in the Philippines.

In all, the Arroyo administration laid out 49 Roro routes from Luzon to Mindanao. Today, there are a total 140 Roro routes all over the country—cutting travel time, promoting tourism and increasing trade.

According to Transportation Undersecretary Fernando Juan Perez, from 2003 to 2010, there were 49 Roro operators but during the period 2010 to 2016, there were no new Roro operators.

From 2016 to the present, there were new 18 operators, bringing the total of Roro operators to 67, he said.

The Roro system has three routes: the Western Nautical Highway, Eastern Nautical Highway and Central Nautical Highway. These cover the provinces and cities of Tagaytay and Batangas City of Region 4A, Marinduque, Romblon and Oriental Mindoro in Luzon.

Also covered are Aklan, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Siquijor, Cebu and Bohol in the Visayas. There is also a route from Luzon going to Palawan. Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental, Lanao del Norte and Zamboanga del Norte in Mindanao are also part of the route.

Marina: 21 routes open to operators

BESIDES the oversight committee, the House Committee on Transportation created a technical working group (TWG) to assess the status of Roro Port System missionary routes.

The TWG, to be chaired by Arroyo, shall oversee the Marina, as it acts on the committee’s suggestion to sell to the private sector the Roro routes that are not being plied.

Marina OIC Administrator Vice Adm. Narciso Vingson Jr. told lawmakers that the agency has identified 21 missionary Roro routes that may be sold to private operators.

He assured the House that Marina will issue an advisory to

Macau tycoon…

who is cochairman of SJM, we can leverage and apply these resources to further develop SJM’s competitiveness to pursue the new gaming concession.”

Almost complete control

IN the 1960s, Stanley was a Hong Kong entrepreneur with a reputation as a charismatic power broker.

He and a group of businessmen won the first license to set up a casino in Macau, a ferry ride from Hong Kong.

Among his partners was Henry Fok, Timothy’s father. The city was still a Portuguese colony, and prostitution and gang wars were common on the streets. But as the Chinese economy opened up and its population grew wealthier, gamblers playing for high stakes came pouring in.

The Ho empire controlled Macau’s economy almost completely for decades, and its founding families went on to gain tremendous clout. Stanley became one of Hong Kong’s richest men. When Henry Fok died in 2006, China’s official Xinhua News Agency called him “a close friend of the Communist Party.” Timothy, 73, has been a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body in China.

Macau’s market opened in 2002, soon after the city was handed back to China after more than 400 years of Portuguese rule. Licenses—called concessions—were given out by the local government. Of the six big companies operating there, SJM and MGM China Holdings Ltd.’s concessions expire in March 2020. Those of Sands China Ltd., Wynn Macau Ltd., Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd., and Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd. run out in June 2022.

More to gain

THE new entrants built palatial resorts, offering entertainment shows and gourmet food. In recent years, they’ve focused on Cotai, a

patch of reclaimed land between two nearby islands which has since become Macau’s version of the Las Vegas strip. With no Cotai properties, SJM lost customers. It now has only a 14 percent share of the market, no longer even among the top three, according to Bloomberg Intelligence data.

Analysts say the new alliance will help SJM’s business prospects, and that will likely help the company regain a license after expiration.

“The reintegration of the alliance’s resources with SJM will reinvigorate the gaming operator with the gravity it needs to move the needle on nongaming investments, and will undoubtedly assist it in gaining a new concession,” said Ben Lee, a Macaubased managing partner at Asian gaming consultancy IGamiX.

Doubts

SOME are less certain, however, that Ho’s children can return his empire to its glory days.

“I have questions about the extent to which the successors are able to maintain the social and political connections their father had,as that’s the bread and butter of the gaming business,” said Joseph Fan, a professor at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The patriarch stepped back in 2010 after a lengthy hospital stay. The family has occasionally released photographs that show him in a wheelchair. He no longer speaks in public, or to media.

In 2011, after a public feud over his wealth, almost all his holdings in SJM were distributed among various family members.

Then earlier this year, Shun Tak Holdings Ltd., a property developer whose largest shareholder is Pansy Ho, the eldest daughter from the second wife, announced that she and her siblings would team up with the Fok Foundation to elect the board members of

the private sector to inform them of the availability of the routes.

The panel also continued its evaluation of the Marina 10-Year Maritime Industry Development Plan (MIDP), which covers the period of 2019 to 2028.

Arroyo said the TWG will conduct a case study on the effects of shipping costs on the prices of goods.

House Transportation panel chief Sarmiento said the briefing on the status of the Roro system aims to determine its status and the ways to improve, expand or revive the same.

“This is in accordance with the directive of leadership of the lower chamber who promoted the Strong Republic Nautical Highway project since 2003 that led to lower cost of freight and passenger transport, shorter travel time, and the introduction of new inter-island connections,” Sarmiento said.

Marina’s presentation of its 10-Year Maritime Industry Development Program showed there are remaining 30 routes that are still unserved and are part of the MIDP to be covered and developed.

After the presentation, the Speaker asked Marina to go back to the 10-year plan to see what ports are involved.

The Speaker, meanwhile, also recommended the exclusion from the list of unserved ports for reasons such as 1) the operation of another nearby port; 2) there is no vessel and it is more convenient for motorists to go by land; and 3) because of environmental factors like the presence of butanding in the case of Pilar, Sorsogon, among others.

She told Marina that there is no need to include these routes so as to lessen the expenditure.

Continued from A1

STDM, the main holding company which controls SJM. The alliance now jointly controls 53 percent of STDM, according to the exchange filing.

STDM, in turn, holds about 54 percent of SJM.

The major players

OPTIMISM about the alliance has driven SJM’s stock up about 15 percent this year. Yet, questions continue to linger, particularly around the role of Angela Leong, the fourth wife. A former dance instructor and a billionaire through vast real-estate holdings, Leong is also a co-chairman on SJM’s board.

She also holds powerful positions, including as a Macau legislator. So far the family hasn’t publicly commented on what role she will play in the company the coming years, and Leong didn’t respond to requests for comment.

“The other parties involved, Angela Leong in particular, also have a lot of interests and a lot of influences in Macau,” said Vitaly Umansky, a Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst. “My biggest concern is that does this create a situation at the company and at the board that leads to a lot of in-fighting and that leads to things being delayed and operations of the business not performing as they should?”

Daisy sought to tamp down such speculation, saying the board would work collaboratively. “Although the alliance is the ultimate controlling shareholder of SJM, no one should make isolated decisions,” she said. “My job is to conduct robust board discussions and deliberations.”

Ultimately, the power of the Stanley Ho legacy may lie in the influence his family has in Macau, even beyond SJM. Daughter Pansy holds a 22.5 percent stake in MGM China, the Macau subsidiary of MGM Resorts.

The World BusinessMirror

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TRUMP-KIM SUMMIT HOST VIETNAM IS MODEL FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH

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ANGKOK—Vietnam, the location of President Donald Trump’s next meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has come a long way since America abandoned its war against communist North Vietnam in the 1970s.

North and South united into a youthful nation that now has 95 million people, and in the mid-1980s the country embraced global trade, starting its rise as a production base for South Korea’s Samsung and many other manufacturing giants. The “Doi Moi” reforms adopted by its communist rulers, modeled largely on China’s transformation into the world’s factory floor, could be a model for North Korea.

Going for growth: The Vietnamese economy expanded at an estimated annual rate of just above 7 percent in 2018, fueled by a double-digit increase in manufacturing output. At 5.54 quadrillion Vietnamese dong ($238 billion in 2017), its GDP ranks in the world’s top 50 economies. As the economy has grown, poverty rates have fallen and life expectancy has risen, to 76 years.

Samsung factor: Heavy investment

by South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, the world’s biggest maker of computer chips and cell phones, led commitments by other big global manufacturers like Microsoft and Intel. Samsung opened Vietnam’s first mobile-phone plant in 2009 and now employs more than 100,000 people in its factories there. In 2017, the company accounted for more than a quarter of Vietnam’s total exports. Samsung had no comment on speculation that Kim might visit one of its factories outside the capital, Hanoi, where he is to meet with Trump.

Export bonanza: By joining the World

Trade Organization and regional groupings including the Pacific Rim accord called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Vietnam has leapfrogged its neighbors in taking advantage of lowered tariffs, and its exports have soared. In the meantime, manufacturers from South Korea, Japan and China have crowded in to take advantage of lower costs and other incentives. Exports surged to $214 billion in 2017, up by more than a fifth from the year before. The US is Vietnam’s largest export market, at nearly $42 billion in 2017. It’s not all cell phones: Vietnam’s main exports also include electronics, shoes and apparel.

Challenges: Having just barely reached middle-income status, Vietnam is struggling to raise productivity—the key to ensuring living standards will continue to improve.

Economists say the country’s productivity is only about a third of China’s and much lower than in affluent countries. Heavy reliance on export-led growth leaves the country vulnerable to global downturns. Vietnamese leaders also have emulated China in keeping a tight grip on the media, political dissent and other freedoms.

Rural poverty, pollution and corruption are serious concerns, and like its huge neighbor to the north, Vietnam is struggling to revamp state-dominated industries that are a legacy of the earlier era of central planning.

The outlook: After years of absorbing large flows of foreign investment, Vietnam could see that flow taper off along with global cutbacks. To sustain growth and remain competitive, the country needs to give a freer rein to private businesses, the World Bank and other experts say, and encourage adoption of more advanced technologies. AP

Sunday, February 24, 2019

A3

Trump challenges US companies to speed up work on 5G networks

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RESIDENT Donald J. Trump challenged US telecommunications companies on Thursday to boost their efforts to build advanced networks and said leadership should come from competition, not by blocking competitors.

“American companies must step up their efforts, or get left behind,” Trump said in the first of two morning tweets. “There is no reason that we should be lagging behind on something that is so obviously the future.”

The worldwide mobile industry is racing to deploy advanced 5G networks that promise faster connections, allowing uses such as autonomous vehicles and remote surgery. China has a narrow lead over the US and South Korea, according to research commissioned

by CTIA, a Washington-based trade group for mobile carriers.

“I want the United States to win through competition, not

by blocking out currently more advanced technologies,” Trump said in morning tweets.

The tweets suggest Trump won’t immediately sign an expected executive order to block US companies from purchasing Chinese telecommunications equipment, Paul Triolo, who leads global technology studies at the Eurasia Group consultancy, said in a note.

The order is “in limbo” as the two countries engage in trade talks, Triolo said in the note.

“Trump’s tweets today about 5G suggest that he is not going to sign the directive during the trade negotiations, and he may decide not to issue it at all if there

is a deal,” Triolo said.

Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies Co. is pushing to take a global leadership position in 5G, but many American officials suspect the company’s products could be used by Beijing to spy on Western governments and companies.

The Trump administration is pressuring allies to keep Huawei gear out of their telecommunications networks, and Congress barred government agencies from buying the provider’s gear.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for more information.

Trump’s tweets came hours after Fox Business Network aired an interview with Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, in which host Maria Bartiromo pressed the top US diplomat on whether the administration wants to restrict the use of equipment from Huawei.

“They are creating a real risk for these countries and their systems—the security of their people,” Pompeo told Bartiromo.

“Europeans care deeply about their privacy. The risk to privacy from this technology is very, very real, and we’re out sharing this information.”

Pompeo went on to say that a

government’s reliance on Huawei’s 5G technology could mean the US will reconsider having an embassy or military outpost in the country, saying it’s possible “we won’t be able to work alongside them.”

Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, in an interview with CBS News on Thursday, says the US is wrong to treat 5G as “an atomic bomb” and said his company will be rolling out “new equipment that is suitable for the United States.”

Nevertheless, the Trump administration is said to be preparing an executive order that could significantly restrict Chinese state-owned telecom companies such as Huawei from operating in the US over national security concerns. “ We sh a re t he president ’s com m it me nt to le a d i n g t he world in nex t-generation 5G wireless,” the trade group CTIA said in an e-mailed statement ob Thursday. “With the administration’s continued backing, the US wireless industr y can bring more robust 5G networks to more communities faster.”

CTIA represents companies including AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. Bloomberg News

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Sunday, February 24, 2019

The World BusinessMirror

Worry about US-S. Korea alliance grows before Trump-Kim summit B

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General who wants to topple Netanyahu expands rival bloc

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EOUL, South Korea—As President Donald J. Trump seeks a nuclear deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this week in Vietnam, some in Seoul are wondering if the fate of Washington’s decadeslong military alliance with South Korea could be at stake.

Much of this worry is linked to Trump’s repeated assertions that the US military deployment in South Korea is too costly, and to his surprise suspension of some US military exercises with South Korea—including a major summertime drill—as a concession to Kim after their first summit in Singapore last year.

Added to this concern are policies by South Korea’s liberal President Moon Jae-in that critics say favor engagement with North Korea at the expense of the alliance with Washington.

The broader US-South Korean alliance, sealed during the bloodshed of the 1950 to 1953 Korean War, won’t be on the negotiating table during the summit in Hanoi on February 27 and 28. But some observers say its long-term future could be in doubt and that Trump may eventually withdraw some of the 28,500 US troops deployed in South Korea.

“The Korea-US alliance is seriously ill now,” Kim Taewoo, the former head of the governmentfunded Korea Institute for National Unification in South Korea, said in a recent speech.

US and South Korean officials maintain that everything is fine.

After agreeing to increase its contribution to the cost of the US military presence this year, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said last week that Washington insists it has no plans to adjust troop levels. During a phone call with Moon on Tuesday, Trump also said that US-South Korea relations are better than ever, according to Moon’s office.

Trump said earlier this month that he had no plans to withdraw troops, but he has previously threatened to pull them from South Korea and Japan if those

nations refused to pay more. After the Singapore summit, Trump also told reporters: “I want to bring our soldiers [in South Korea] back home.” While announcing the suspension of a major summertime military drill, Trump called the exercises “very provocative” and “tremendously expensive.”

US defense officials are not planning any troop reductions but some have indicated that they would not be surprised if Trump puts reductions on the table as part of his negotiations with Kim. Other possibilities that worry many in Seoul include that Trump will suspend or drastically downsize another major set of military drills this spring, or that he’ll settle for a deal where the North abandons its long-range missile program aimed at the US while not addressing the North’s shorter-range missiles targeting Seoul and Tokyo.

An extended stoppage of comprehensive training between the allies could weaken the militaries’ fighting capacity, especially since many US soldiers rotate out of South Korea after less than a year of service, some experts say.

“Soldiers’ fighting power comes from training. If there aren’t any [big] joint drills for one year, we’ll have [US] soldiers who have never experienced such drills,” said Moon Seong-mook, an analyst for the Seoul-based Korea Research Institute for National Strategy.

North Korea, on the other hand, which has described the drills as preparation for invasion and responded with its own costly exercises, would likely benefit. North Korea has said it was forced to develop nuclear weapons to cope with what it calls American hostility.

During the Singapore summit, Kim said he was committed to the “complete denuclearization

IN this December 10, 2015, file photo, US and South Korean army soldiers pose on a floating bridge on the Hantan River after a river-crossing operation, part of an annual joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States in Yeoncheon, south of the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas, South Korea. Ahead of the second summit between US President Donald J. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, some observers say there is an uncertainty over the future of the decades-long military alliance between Washington and Seoul. AP

of the Korean Peninsula,” which has previously meant the North would only denuclearize when the United States withdraws all its troops from South Korea and stops military drills with the South. In December, North Korea’s state media said it would never unilaterally abandon its nuclear program unless Washington first removes its nuclear threat.

Some are also concerned about reports that Trump may agree to declare the end of the Korean War, which ended with an armistice, as a security guarantee for the North.

Such a declaration, considered as a preliminary step before signing a peace treaty to formally end the war, could provide the North with a basis to step up its calls for a US troop pullout.

“If our security is shaken, foreign investments will be driven out of the country and stock prices will plummet,” said the analyst Moon, a retired brigadier general who took part in numerous military talks with North Korea. Part of the debate in South Korea reflects a deep historical division over the US military.

For some, the US military rescued South Korea from the surprise North Korean invasion that started the Korean War. Others blame the United States for the 1945 division of the Korean Peninsula. Rallies that focus on the United States, both pro and anti, routinely take place in Seoul, but surveys show a majority of South Koreans support the US troop deployment.

On Wednesday in a central Seoul neighborhood, placards that read “Let’s protect the Korea-US alliance, our lifeline, with our lives!” could be seen along with about 20 US and South Korean flags. Nearby, about a dozen people rallied behind a banner calling for

Washington not to threaten peace on the Korean Peninsula. “Are we America’s colony?” one participant shouted.

Since the war, the US has stationed tens of thousands of troops in South Korea to guard against North Korean attack.

Meanwhi le, South Korea has g row n i nto a n econom ic a l ly prosperous, faithful ally that has taken part in US-led wars in Vietnam, Iraq and elsewhere.

US troop numbers have gradually fallen over the decades.

After then-President Richard Nixon withdrew about one-third of the 60,000 US troops in South Korea in 1971, South Korean President Park Chung-hee ordered officials to covertly pursue a nuclear weapons program, which was later scrapped because of fear of US sanctions.

Former President Jimmy Carter, a critic of Park’s suppression of human rights, sought to implement a campaign promise to bring back all 40,000 troops from South Korea. But he was opposed by many advisers and ended up bringing back about 3,000.

The departure of even several thousand US troops could weaken the situation militarily because of the loss of both the soldiers and their weapons and equipment.

But it could also hurt the US militar y’s efforts to counter a rising China.

“If [Trump] pulls back some of troops because of money issues... he’d have more to lose than he’d gain,” said analyst Kim Dongyeop at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul. “Under the viewpoint of a US-China security framework, I wonder if [Trump’s troop drawdown comments] are anything more than just rhetoric.” AP

Six people fall into extreme poverty in oil-rich Nigeria every minute

‘I

EAT anything I see,” says Abdul Edosa, 30, as he sits under the bridge in the sprawling Nigerian commercial metropolis of Lagos, where he sleeps. “I beg money from people— anything they give me, I eat.”

Edosa’s is a familiar voice in the country with the world’s largest number of extremely poor, which the United Nations defines as living on less than $1.90 a day. The estimated figure now is 87 million people, or almost half the population of Africa’s biggest oil producer, and unless something dramatic happens, it’s going to get much bigger.

While poverty in India is declining, the number of destitute in Nigeria is believed to be growing by six people every minute, according to a recent paper from The Brookings Institution. The UN expects its population to double to 410 million by 2050, potentially swelling the ranks of the poor.

Edosa usually passes his nights with a handful of men and women on makeshift wooden beds under the bridge in Ikeja, the capital of Lagos state.

Police trying to chase them away are a constant menace. A high-school dropout who did a stint as a television-repair apprentice, he now heads off each morning to look for odd jobs at building sites or hits the streets to beg.

He won’t be casting a ballot in the elections scheduled for Saturday, when President Muhammadu Buhari hopes to win reelection

against multimillionaire Atiku Abubakar, and never registered to vote.

“I never see food chop na to go vote for person I go do,” he says in pidgin English, meaning, “I haven’t seen food to eat, is voting going to be my priority?”

Poverty started to deepen in Nigeria at the time of the 1970s oil-price boom that propelled it into the ranks of Africa’s wealthiest countries.

As the elite grew richer through patronage networks in the petroleum industry, successive military and civilian governments neglected agriculture, manufacturing and education.

A study prepared for the UK Department for International Development showed real annual per-capita income fell from $264 to $250 between 1970 and 1999 despite an estimated $230 billion in oil revenue.

The West African nation ranks 144 out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s 2018 corruption perceptions index.

“As soon as Nigeria discovered oil, its society and structure of governance has never been optimized to produce good leadership,” said Michael Famoroti, an economist and partner at Stears, a Lagos-based research and analytics firm. “The discovery of oil during the military era essentially made Nigerian leadership lazy.

And we are still suffering from that legacy.”

Today, Nigeria ranks 157 out of 189 countries in the UN Human Development Index,

which measures indicators such as health and inequality. Life expectancy is still only 54 years, although that’s an improvement from 46 years in 1999. About 80 percent of people who earn an income are active in the informal sector or have what the UN calls “vulnerable employment,” work that lacks social security or guarantees any kind of rights.

Since assuming office in what marked the first democratic transition of power from one political party to another in 2015, Buhari has made some effort to raise living standards.

His government created a HouseholdUplifting Program that hands destitute people 5,000 naira ($14) a month. At the same time, he’s been criticized for an exchange-rate policy that reduced the value of Nigeria’s currency and drove food prices up nationwide.

“Buhari came in with good intentions, but his initial economic policies worsened the problems he found on the ground,” said Nigerian economist Zuhumnan Dapel. That, and the relatively small number of people—less than 1 million—that benefits from the program, means that relief is still a long way off for most.

Alkassim Ibrahim, a 45-year-old homeless man in the northern city of Kano, isn’t covered in the program. He worked as a motorcycle-taxi driver until he had his leg amputated after a road accident 10 years ago and today his only possessions are his crutches, a thin blanket and

a bag of clothes he uses as a pillow.

Forced to leave school after the death of his father, Ibrahim turned to menial jobs when he was still a boy. Now, he survives by begging.

“Due to my health challenge, being a cripple, I don’t have any means of earning a living but to depend on members of the public,” Ibrahim said as he sat on the tiled floor of a shop where he is sometimes allowed to sleep.“I can’t tell how many times I pass the night without eating food. I want to see me get married, settle in my own house with my children playing with me, but only God can offer that to me.”

Between 72 and 91 percent of Nigeria’s poor are at risk of never improving their living standards significantly, according to Dapel.

That’s the situation Fatima Ali, 23, finds herself in. She’s stuck in a partly demolished slum outside the Aboki Estate in Lagos, making $1.40 a day selling roasted peanuts in front of the corrugated-iron shack she calls home.

In the evening, she spends a fifth of her income on a jerrycan of fresh water to bathe her two young children. Breakfast consists of bread and tea; she rarely eats more than twice a day.

“I feel bad because some countries, even if they don’t have money, they use it to help their poor people,” Ali said as her baby girl played on her lap. “Here, they don’t join their heads together to help poor people. That’s Nigerian life.” Bloomberg News

ENJAMIN NETANYAHU is facing his most formidable election challenge yet after his top rival teamed with another large opposition party to run together in Israel’s April 9 vote.

Former military chief Benny Gantz’s new Israel Resilience party and former Finance Minister Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid announced their alliance early Thursday after marathon talks, saying they were “motivated by national responsibility.” The unity move paved the way for a third ex-military chief, Gabi Ashkenazi, to join the list in addition to Moshe Ya’alon, strengthening its security credentials—an all-important issue in Israeli elections.

Under the agreement, Gantz and Lapid would rotate as prime minister if their alliance forms the next government. Gantz, whose party has been polling strongest after Netanyahu’s Likud, would serve first, for two and a half years.

“Everything is fluid,” said Abraham Diskin, a professor emeritus of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “I think we are going into a very exciting election and there are too many parameters that are going to be decided at the very last moment.”

Polls have shown Likud best poised to form the next government, with the support of religious and nationalist partners, and it’s not clear whether the new alliance will change an election picture already clouded by multiple corruption allegations against Netanyahu. Polls have been divided and preceded consolidation in the prime minister’s right-wing bloc.

Two religious nationalist parties joined forces on Wednesday, and some politicians called for further tie-ups before the deadline for submitting election slates later on Thursday.

Corruption allegations

THE Gantz-Lapid alliance, while significant, would be eclipsed if

Attorney General Avihai Mandelblit announces before the balloting whether he intends to put the prime minister on trial.

Polls show that the investigations haven’t eroded Netanyahu’s popularity within his base, and he says he’s the victim of a left-wing witch-hunt designed to overthrow his nationalist government. But voter sentiment may change if Mandelblit decides against him, and it might also affect prospective coalition partners’ willingness to sit in his government. Israeli media have reported that a decision is expected within the next few weeks.

Another wild card is the fate of some of the smaller parties that are currently in parliament but may not win enough votes to return to the legislature. Their “lost” votes could make the difference between a nationalist bloc led by Netanyahu or a center-left government led by Gantz and Lapid.

Stark choice

LIKUD has been trying to paint Gantz, whose security positions hew close to Netanyahu’s, as a reckless leftist whose government would have to depend on the support of Arab parties. In a statement following his alliance with Lapid it said: “The choice is clear. Either a leftist Lapid-Gantz government backed by a blocking majority of Arab parties or a right-wing government led by Netanyahu.”

The new alliance prompted calls for further consolidation of Israel’s fragmented political landscape. The leader of the socialist Meretz party asked the Labor party to negotiate a tieup, and Education Minister Naftali Bennett, chairman of the nationalist New Right party, called on Netanyahu to team with Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu Party and former Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu, the Ynet news web site reported. Bloomberg News

Japan’s Akihito seen as devoted to duties, open to new ideas

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OKYO—Japan’s Emperor Akihito has devoted his 30-year reign to making amends for a war fought in his father’s name, while adapting the 1,500-year-old monarchy to draw the Imperial Family closer to the public.

Whether kneeling beside Empress Michiko to speak intimately with disaster victims, or reciting his own poetry, Akihito has won deep affection among his people.

The 85-year-old emperor’s true feelings are impossible to know, but his nuanced public comments and insights from his classmates show him to be a determined man open to new ideas and keenly aware of his duties.

Kazuo Oda, a retired trading house executive and longtime tennis buddy of Akihito’s, describes his friend as “extremely earnest.”

“I think he has learned how to put himself into other people’s shoes, and that’s where his activities as emperor, such as his trips to pray for the war dead and visits to disaster victims, are coming from,” Oda said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

“He would never do anything irresponsible, and at the same time he is so considerate to other people.”

Akihito’s Heisei era will end when he abdicates on April 30 in favor of his elder son, 58-year-old Crown Prince Naruhito, beginning a new, as yet unnamed era.

The emperor cited his deteriorating health as his reason for stepping aside. While his official duties have been scaled back somewhat, he still receives visiting dignitaries, attends ceremonies and makes official visits. Inside the palace, he also performs private rituals of Shintoism, the indigenous religion intertwined with Japan’s imperial family.

At his advanced age, Akihito no longer plays tennis as often as he once did. He last played with Oda two years ago. To keep fit, Akihito

reads a book while sitting straight, with his legs tucked beneath him in traditional seiza style, for an hour daily, Oda said.

Akihito assumed the throne in January 1989 after the death of his father Hirohito, the longserving emperor whose reign spanned World War II and Japan’s postwar economic recovery.

At the time Hirohito was born, he was still considered a deity, though he renounced that status with Japan’s surrender.

Akihito has enjoyed widespread respect and sympathy as a politically neutral figurehead. But his frequent expressions of hope that Japan has taken to heart lessons from World War II have been seen by many Japanese as a form of subtle resistance toward efforts by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s hawkish government to expand the country’s military role.

Oda first met the emperor when, as a junior high school student some 70 years ago, he tagged along with his elder brother to play tennis with Akihito on the palace grounds. Oda had never played, and mostly just watched the others. When a palace driver came to pick them up afterward, Akihito insisted that Oda sit on his lap so all five of the boys could fit in the car.

“That day I wrote in my diary that an unforgettable thing had happened. I went to have tea sitting on the crown prince’s lap,” Oda said. “He was like ‘Let’s go!’ and very down-to-earth.”

“The emperor likes to socialize with people, though not in a glamorous way.... He wants to really get to know people and learn from them.

He doesn’t act like a typical monarch at all,” Oda said. “To me, he is more like a big brother.”

At the time Akihito was a bit chubby and tanned from swimming and other outdoor activities and his classmates affectionately called him Chabu, short for the cute, pig-shaped ceramic containers used to burn mosquito coils, Oda said. AP

Faith

Sunday

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

Sunday, February 24, 2019

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The demands of love Vatican’s legal procedures for of God and neighbor handling sex abuse, explained 7TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME: ‘LUKE 6:27-38’

MSGR. JOSEFINO S. RAMIREZ SUNDAY GOSPEL IN OUR LIFE

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HE demands of Christian char it y are spel led out clearly in today’s gospel.

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you” (Luke 6:27).

And Christ insisted, “If you love those who love you, what merit have you? For even sinners love those who love them” (Luke 6:32).

This shows us that the love which Christ requires of his follower is not just a feeling of benevolence or companionship. It has to be strongly based on supernatural considerations in order to overcome our natural tendency to despise those who may harm us.

“Love” is perhaps one of the most abused words in our days.

If we were to base our concept of love on what we see in the movies and what we hear in songs, we could end up with a very deformed idea of love.

Love is not the f leeting emotion or infatuation that people may feel. T h is k ind of “ love” is what of ten g ives r ise to t he worse k inds of self ishness and egoism. People who are car r ied away by t heir lower passions do not rea l ly love t he ot her person; t hey just wa nt t heir persona l g rat if icat ion.

Love resides in the spiritual faculty of man called the will.

Through the will, we do things.

Therefore, the real test of love is in what we do.

A man may confess his love u si ng a l l t he beaut i f u l sonnets of Browning, but if he is unfaithful and does not really tr y to please his beloved, that is not real love.

Genuine love can coexist without physical attraction. There is love if there is the desire to seek the good for one’s love.

The love of God is also based on the will. We do not necessarily love God just because we occasionally have feelings of benevolence.

A person may have ecstasies and visions. But if this does not lead him to seek the will of God and to act accordingly, he does not really love God. That is why the love of God is incompatible with serious or mortal sin. How can someone say that he loves God, and at the same time, go against the will of God knowingly and freely, in a serious matter?

“If you love me, keep my commandments” Therefore, the first step for a person to really love God and neighbor is to undertake a serious struggle against his own sins. We should try never to offend God. We can do this by keeping his commandments.

That is the minimum. But even that is not enough. We should fulfill the commandments in a spirit of love. That is why it is very strange for a Christian to be making a kind of “balancing act,” to figure out “up to what extent I can break a commandment” without falling into mortal sin.

With that approach, because it obviously lacks love, he will probably not even be able to keep all the commandments.

Someone put it this way: “Nobody ever got to heaven just by trying to avoid hell.”

SAINT MARGARET OF CORTONA, PENITENT

By Corazon Damo-Santiago

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ARGARET was alarmed when Arsenio of Montepulciano did not come home from his visit to one of his estates. Her anxiety worsened when his dog arrived the next day, alone, and tugged her to follow.

The dog led her to a forest, scratched leaves at the foot of an oak tree. The assassinated body of her lover was found, narrated by Joan Carroll Cruz in Secular Saints.

Her life of 23 years of penance commenced in fulfilment of Jesus’ message: “I have made you to be a mirror for sinners, you are the way for those in despair; the most hardened will learn from you how willing I always am to show mercy and save them,” said A.J.M. Mausolfe and J.K. Mausolfe in Saint Companions for Each Day.

New life

THE death of Arsenio sparked Margaret sudden feelings of guilt and fear on the state of his soul. Immediately, she surrendered all worldly possessions to his lover’s relatives.

With her little son, she left the castle of her lover. It was a determined goodbye, too, to her beautiful horse and the luxuries she flaunted as the mistress of the one who gave her love and luxury, but never marriage, in nine years of togetherness.

Dressed in the robe of a penitent, she returned to Laviano in Salerno, Italy, but was rejected because of her stepmother’s influence on her father.

Two noble ladies, Marinana and Raneria, took pity on her and introduced her to friar minors, Frs. Giovanni de Castiglione and Giunta Bevegnati, who guided her spiritually because of her experiences of despair and exaltation, and of her desire to do penance for nine years of scandal.

One Sunday, she went to Laviano to hear Mass, with a cord around her neck, she asked pardon to the congregation for the scandal she caused. She wanted as well to do the same in Montepulciano, but Bevegnati forbade it and called it spiritual pride.

She left the home of Marinana and Raniera, and lived on alms which she shared with the needy.

When her son left to join the Franciscan Order in Arezzo, she joined the Third Order of Saint Francis.

Converted hardened sinners

IN 1286 the bishop granted approval for her

to work permanently with sick people. Her friends in the Franciscan Tertiary Order helped in the chores.

The City Council built the hospital Spedale de Santa Maria della Miserecordia. She organized Our Lady of Mercy to help support the apostolate.

Eventually, Poverelle Congregation was recognized with the tertiaries of the Franciscan Order as members.

Margaret was the model for others. She barely slept to care for the patients. She fasted with little bread and a few herbs. She mortified, with the bare ground as her bed and a block of stone for her pillow.

Her life was described in one word—penance.

Despite her life of austere simplicity and sacrifice, false rumors spread doubting her “sincerity and validity of conversion.” She was maligned because of her association with Franciscan friars, especially with Bevegnati.

By “divine command” she retired in a house far from the Friars. Labelled as “mad and hypocrite,” she bore the trials meekly and lived a life of prayer.

But during the last years of her life, she was commanded by the Lord to lead an active life converting sinners.

“Show now that you are converted. Cry out and call others to repentance. The graces I have bestowed on you were not meant for you alone.”

In Life of Margaret, Bevegnati wrote that her eagerness to bring sinners to repentance spread.

Hardened sinners in Italy, France and Spain listened, were converted and healed. The priest described some of her healings, and ecstasies in Legend, the Saints Vita.

She died after receiving the sacraments from Bevegnati on February 22, 1297, at the age of 50.

The people of Cortona in Tuscani, Italy, publicly acclaimed her a saint on the day of her death. A church was built to honor her, and a yearly festival was held even before she was declared a saint.

Canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1728, her incorrupt body is enshrined in the Basilica of Saint Margaret in Cortona.

Damo-Santiago is a former regional director of the Department of Education-National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptoris Collegium in Calauan, Laguna, and of Mater Redemptoris College in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija.

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ATICAN CITY—For centuries, the Vatican’s canon law system busied itself with banning books and dispensing punishments that included burnings at the stake for heretics.

These days, the Vatican office that eventually replaced the Roman Catholic Inquisition is knee-deep in processing clergy sex-abuse cases.

The procedures of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was on display last week as high-ranking bishops, summoned by Pope Francis, attended an unprecedented four-day tutorial on preventing sex abuse and prosecuting pedophile priests.

Here is a primer on the Catholic Church ’s regulations for investigating both priests accused of molesting children and superiors who have been accused of covering up those crimes.

Are police called in suspected sex-abuse cases?

IN countries where clergy are required to report child abuse, bishops and superiors of religious orders are supposed to notify police when someone alleges that a priest molested a child, and they are supposed to cooperate with any investigations.

However, the policy is nonbinding and only was articulated publicly in 2010 when the Vatican posted it on its web site. Prior to that, the Vatican long sought to prevent public law-enforcement agencies from learning about abusers in the clergy.

Irish bishops who considered adopting a mandatory reporting policy in 1997 received a letter from the Vatican warning that their in-house church investigations could be compromised if they referred cases to Irish police.

Nowadays the Vatican justifies not having a binding policy that requires all sex crimes to be reported to the police by arguing that accused clergy could be unfairly persecuted in places where Catholics are a threatened minority.

an allegation of abuse by one of his priests, he is supposed to conduct a preliminary investigation. If the claim has a “semblance of truth,” he sends the case to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) for review.

The superior often will remove t he pr iest f rom publ ic ministry pending the outcome of the investigation.

The CDF, as the congregation is known, has a staff of 17 canon lawyers who process the cases.

There has long been a case backlog, however, and at one point Francis acknowledged it had topped 2,000, with cases taking years to reach a verdict.

Usually, the CDF sends the case back to the bishop to investigate more fully, either through a full canonical trial or via an expedited administrative process.

If the evidence is overwhelming and serious, the CDF can send the case straight to the pope to decide the priest’s fate.

What are the penalties for sex abusers?

PENALTIES can range from the mild—a temporary suspension from publicly celebrating the sacraments or exercising ministry—to the more serious, such as defrocking, which is removing a cleric from the priesthood.

Elderly priest abusers often have been spared defrockings, even for heinous cr imes. Instead, they were given a lifetime of “penance and prayer.”

Just last week, though, Francis defrocked 88-year-old Theodore McCarrick, the once-prominent American cardinal who was convicted by the Vatican’s canon law tribunal of sexually abusing minors and adults.

How many priests have been defrocked for sex abuse?

THE Vatican told a United Nations committee that 848 priests had been defrocked and another 2,572 were given lesser sanctions from 2004 to 2014.

Since then, the Vatican has not released any more data on defrockings, evidence that such transparency was not universally welcomed in the Holy See. There is a fierce debate within the Catholic hierarchy about whether priests should be defrocked for sex abuse or given lesser sanctions.

Many powerful cardinals close

to Francis, aghast at the thinning of clerical ranks from so many defrockings, favor a more “merciful” approach.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna, who enforced a tough line on abusers when he was the Vatican’s lead sex crimes prosecutor from 2002 to 2012, has recently returned to a position of power at the CDF. He said last week he would support releasing new defrocking statistics.

What about abuse cover-ups?

WHILE the Vatican under Pope Benedict XVI cracked down on abusive priests, the bishops who shielded them largely got a pass.

In 2015, with demands for accountability growing, Francis agreed to create a tribunal section within the CDF to handle cases accusing bishops of negligence. But a year later, he scrapped the plan.

Instead, the pope outlined procedures to investigate bishops and punish them, making clear they could be removed from office if they were found to have been negligent in handling abuse cases of their clergy.

In addition, the Vatican office that vets new bishops in soliciting comments about potential candidates, now includes an “explicit question on how the candidate has dealt with sexual-abuse issues and whether he has been criticized for not doing the right thing,” Scicluna said. AP

MEMBERS of Ending of Clergy Abuse organization and survivors of clergy sex abuse pose for photographers outside Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican last week. Organizers of Pope Francis’s summit on preventing clergy sex abuse met with a dozen survivor-activists who have come to Rome to protest the Catholic Church’s response to date and demand an end to decades of cover-up by church leaders. AP/GREGORIO BORGIA

What’s the canonical procedure?

ONCE a bishop or superior receives

LENTEN, EASTER PILGRIMAGES SET IN BICOL, BATANES

BASILICA Minore of Our Lady of Peñafrancia ARVIN DAVID

O

N its eighth year as a nonprofit pilgrimage apostolate, Green Faith Travels brings its pilgrims to Bicol and Batanes for its twin pilgrimages this year.

Pilgrims will visit and pray in 15 heritage churches in Albay and Camarines Sur in Bicol, including the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Peñafrancia, where the patroness of the province is enshrined for its Lenten pilgrimage of faith and heritage from March 22 to 24.

In Albay, they will pray at Saint Gregory the Great Cathedral in Legazpi City, Saint

Lawrence the Martyr Parish in Tiwi, Saints Joachim and Anne Parish in Malinao, Saint Joseph the Baptist in Tabaco City, Saint Dominic in Santo Domingo, Saint Padre Pio Shrine, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Nuestra Señora De La Porteria after a visit to the Cagsawa Ruins.

In Camarines Sur, among the churches they will visit are Saint Anthony de Padua, Holy Parish, Saint Raphael the Archangel Parish, San Francisco, Saint John the Evangelist Cathedral in Naga and Peñafrancia Parish.

MOUNT Carmel Chapel RICHARD EUSEBIO

On its 2019 Easter pilgrimage in Batanes from May 24 to 28, besides visiting the most breathtaking and scenic spots on the islands, pilgrims will pray at some of the most picturesque churches in the country, including the Immaculate Conception Cathedral (Basco Cathedral), Our Lady of Mount Carmel Chapel (Tukon Chapel), San Vicente Ferrer Church (Sabtang Church), Santa Rosa de Lima Chapel, San Jose de Ivana Church (San Jose El Obrero), Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel, San Carlos Borromeo Church, San Antonino de Florencia Church, Our Lady of the Miraculous

Medal Church and San Lorenzo Ruiz Chapel.

Pilgrimage fees include round-trip land and airfare, meals and snacks, tours and entrance fees, pilgrim’s kit and tokens, and donations to churches.

Meanwhile, Green Faith Travels will also visit Lucban, Quezon, to celebrate Pahiyas Festival and the feast of San Isidro Labrador on May 15.

For inquiries, please contact 09266152596, greenfaithtravels@gmail.com and greenfaithtravels@yahoo.com, or visit Green Faith Travels on Facebook.

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Science

Sunday, February 24, 2019

BusinessMirror

Sunday

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

PHL in record-breaking streak in intl math, science contests

1,469 students bag science excellence award in 2018

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round 700 young achievers in science and mathematics were feted in the annual Youth Excellence in Science (YES) Award at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City last week.

Now on its 11th year, the YES Award has been showing a steady increase in the total number of awardees each year.

From 70 student-medalists on its first year, 2018’s total number of awardees were 1,469 (from 332 schools)—the highest in YES history, and a huge 23-percent increase from the previous year’s 1,195.

During the ceremony, 730 students from 120 schools in the National Capital Region were given the Secretar y’s Medal, which signifies DOST’s high regard for

excellence and competitiveness.

Organized by the Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI), the event celebrated the momentous wins of elementary pupils and high-school students in international science and math competitions, such as the International Mathematical Olympiad and the Singapore International Mathematics Olympiad Challenge.

In her welcome remarks, DOSTSEI Director Josette T. Biyo thanked the awardees for reminding the world of the excellence and

2018 Youth Excellence in Science (YES) awardees pose in a group photo with Science Secretary Fortunato de la Peña (center) and DOST officials during the awarding ceremony at the PICC.

hard work of Filipinos.

“We hope you can be our scholars and be with the people as you reach your dreams,” Biyo said.

The DOST-SEI spearheads the

country’s premier science scholarship program.

Biyo also lauded the parents, teachers, school officials and national organizers of science

China to build 1st power station in space

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hina’s space ambitions are shifting into a higher orbit.

Following its successful and world-beating trip to the far side of the moon, China is preparing to build a solar-power station in space, as the world’s No. 2 economy strives to burnish its superpower credentials.

With an $8 billion annual budget for its space program, second only to the United States, China is seeking to compete with its rival for economic, military and technological dominance.

Scientists have already started construction of an experimental base in the western Chinese city Chongqing. Initially, they plan to develop a smaller power station in the stratosphere between 2021 and 2025, a 1 megawatt-level solar facility in space by 2030, and eventually larger generators, according to the state-backed Science and Technology Daily.

Here’s what China’s been doing in space:

Moon exploration

The nation’s space scientists successfully landed a lunar probe on the far side of the moon on January 3, capping a series of missions and giving a boost to China’s ambitions.

Landing on the unexplored region will enable Chang’e-4, the rover named after the mythical Moon Goddess, to better study the moon because of the lack of electromagnetic interference from Earth.

The vehicle is equipped with a low-frequency radio spectrometer to help scientists understand “how the earliest stars were ignited and

companies with dreams of challenging companies, such as Elon Musk ’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic.

The start-ups are receiving funding from China-based venture capitalists and private equity investors, and can also rely on the expertise of rocket scientists from China’s space program.

Tortoise feared extinct found on remote Galapagos island

GPS challenger

A mock up of the Crew Dragon spacecraft at the Space Exploration Technologies Corp. headquarters. Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg

how our cosmos emerged from darkness after the Big Bang,” according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency.

Green shoots

Reminiscent of the 2015 science fiction film The Martian starring Matt Damon, China’s lunar mission is also testing if the barren moon can support life.

P i c t u r e s s e nt b a c k f r o m Chang’e-4 last month showed the first green leaf from cotton seeds nine days after the experiment was initiated, according to Chongqing University, which led the biological project. The test load on the mission carried cotton, canola, potato, yeast and fruit fly.

More missions

China has more such missions in the pipeline. Four more versions of the Chang’e probe are in the offing, with at least two of them planned for a landing on the moon’s south pole, according

to Wu Yanhua, vice administrator of the China National Space Administration.

The agency will also explore setting up a research base on the moon. A Mars probe is likely by the end of this decade.

Space station

China aims to build its own space station around 2022. Dubbed Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace, it will have a core module and two other modules for experiments, altogether weighing 66 tons and able to carry three people, with a designed life cycle of at least 10 years.

The facility would be used for scientific research in a dozen areas, including biology, physics and material sciences.

Private rockets

President Xi Jinping has loosened the government’s monopoly on space launches, fueling the for mation of sma l l domestic

Taking its rivalry with the US to the heavens, China is spending at least $9 billion to build a navigation system, and cut its dependence on the American-owned GPS—whose satellites beam location data used by smartphones, car navigation systems, the microchip in your dog’s neck and guided missiles.

And, all those satellites are controlled by the US Air Force, making the Chinese government uncomfortable. So, it has developed an alternative called the Beidou Navigation System, which eventually will provide positioning accuracies of 1 meter or less with use of a ground support system.

Space junk

The Asian power is developing sophisticated space capabilities, such as “satellite inspection and repair” and clearing up orbiting junk—“at least some of which could also function” as weapons against US satellites, the US Defense Intelligence Agency said this month.

China’s Foreign Ministry has said the US a llegations were “groundless.” Bloomberg News

Human-caused climate change causes first extinction of a mammal

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limate change officially killed off its first mammalian species earlier this week, when Australia’s environment minister moved a small coast-dwelling rodent from the endangered to the extinct list.

The Bramble Cay melomys, or Bramble Cay mosaic-tailed rat, made its home on an island in the Torres Strait between Australia and Papua New Guinea. Both sea levels and water temperatures in the region are rising faster than many species are comfortable with.

Extinction is a process, rather than a singular event. It takes time for science to demonstrate that something that was once there no longer exists.

The Bramble Cay melomys was first declared endangered by Queensland in 1992 and by the Commonwealth in 1999. The state determined

a nd m at h compet it ions who wholeheartedly supported the students.

Science Secretary Fortunato de la Peña led the awarding. He was

assisted by top DOST officials, including Undersecretary Carol M. Yorobe, DOST-SEI Deputy Director Albert Mariño, DOST-National Capital Region Director Jose Patalinjug III and Biyo.

Students from the other regions will receive their medals in special ceremonies conducted by the DOST regional offices.

De la Peña emphasized that the increasing trend is more than an upsurge in numbers.

“What we are more interested in is the quality that we elicit among our students, as well as the values we taught them during training, during the actual competitions and after reaching the goal,” he added.

YES awardee Emmanuel Osbert Cajayon of Emilio Aguinaldo College-Cavite expressed gratitude to the DOST, and shared his experiences and ref lections in his student’s response speech.

The IMO bronze medalist reminded his fellow awardees to focus on their passion for their chosen field and not just on achievements. S&T Media Service

the rodent was extinct in 2016 and further investigation led the Commonwealth on Monday to agree.

In its finding three years ago, University of Queensland researchers and the state government concluded that human-induced climate change was “the root cause of the loss

of the Bramble Cay melomys.”

The Torres Strait is an area of concern among residents, researchers and the governments of both Queensland and the Australia.

In its most recent comprehensive assessment of global threats, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change included a passage

about indigenous people who live in the area and face “disproportionate climate change vulnerability” that includes heat stress, exposure to extreme weather events, increased disease and subsequent economic impacts.

Extinction is an extreme and rare impact, but Australians are coping with the effects of climate change daily. Warmer waters have caused widespread losses in the Great Barrier Reef, which an April 2018 study in the journal Nature called “a harbinger of further radical shifts in the condition and dynamics of all ecosystems.”

January was the country’s hottest month on record, exposing Australians to “a series of heat waves unprecedented in their scale and duration,” according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Bloomberg News

A Chelonoidis phantasticus tortoise at the Galapagos National Park in Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, is shown on February 20. Park rangers and the Galapagos Conservancy found the tortoise, a species that was thought to have become extinct 100 years ago. Galapagos National Park via AP

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IMA, Peru—A living member of species of tortoise not seen in more than 110 years and feared to be extinct has been found in a remote part of the Galapagos island of Fernandina.

An adult female Chelonoidis phantasticus, also known as the Fernandina Giant Tortoise, was spotted last week by a joint expedition of the Galapagos National Park and the US-based Galapagos Conservancy, Ecuador’s Environment Ministry said in a statement.

Investigators think there may be more members of the species on the island because of tracks and scat they found.

The team took the tortoise, likely more than 100 years old, to a breeding center for giant tortoises on Santa Cruz Island where it will stay in a specially designed pen.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has the Fernandina Giant Tortoise listed as critically endangered and possibly extinct.

The only other living member of the species was found in 1906, the group said. Since then, expeditions have encountered tortoise scat and bite marks on cacti, and there was a possible unconfirmed sighting in 2009.

But the discovery

was the first confirmed sighting and together with the possibility of finding more members of the species has raised the possibility of breeding. “ They will need more than one, but females may store sperm for a long time,” said Stuart Pimm, a professor of conservation ecology at Duke University. “ There may be hope.”

Fernandina is the third largest Galapagos island and features the La Cumbre volcano, one of the most active in the world.

The archipelago lies in the Pacific Ocean about 1,000 kilometers off Ecuador’s mainland.

In listing the Fernandina tortoise as possibly extinct, the conser vation group said on its web site that the species may have succumbed to “the frequent volcanic lava f lows that nearly cover the island.”

The Galapagos archipelago hosts unique species and wildlife whose characteristics helped Charles Darwin develop his theory of evolution. It was declared a United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage site in 1979.

The Environment Ministry said the expedition was financed by Animal Planet for its series “Extinct or Alive.” AP

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Sunday, February 24, 2019 A7

A COLOR BLAST LIKE NO OTHER AT ‘CEBU’S MOST INSTAGRAMABLE BEACH’

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By Jt Nisay

ACING the glittering cerulean waters of the Hilutungan Channel, rows and rows of “millennial pink” pillow chairs and beach umbrellas pop up on this bright day against a canvass of fine white sand.

Behind the vibrant lounge spots are even more colors, equally alive, that are splashed on just about everywhere, from bright, rubber cutout coconut trees to all the furniture and walls.

Everything the sun hits on this new travel destination at Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu is a space coated in bright hue and high energy. Joy, laughter and all things positivity, after all, are what this resort demonstrably called The Happy Beach Cebu is built on and aims to radiate.

“We want to be the first in every aspect that we’re building,” said Lawrence Li Tan, Chief Operating Officer of AquaBosses, Inc., the group behind The Happy Beach Cebu, along with other eccentric attractions such as The Inflatable Island in Subic and The Dessert Museum in Pasay City. “What we have right here in Cebu is a millennial concept; the first one in Asia.”

That concept, at least according to the group’s interpretation, means a lot of spirited colors, where pink is not just pink, but specifically “millennial pink,” with running lines that

zig and zag on walls and on tiles, through the sun and sand, plus flamingoes of all sizes and trees natural or otherwise. All of which are carefully crafted to translate into the most important element: Youthful zest.

Also, in focusing on the young generation that includes 20-year-olds, the group zoomed in on most millennials’ snap-and-share behavior on social media. The 16-room boutique resort is heavily curated with the idea of being “Cebu’s Most Instagrammable Beach,” which explains its quirky aesthetic.

Every nook and cranny of The Happy Beach Cebu, according to Tan, is an Instagram post waiting to happen.

Color pops abound to give scratch to the shutter-itchy fingers of millennials and socalled “feel-enials.” Whereas people make do with posing in front of rolled down steel shutters or, say, a corner plant, the resort is packed with over a hundred thought-out “instagrammable” corners, including the millennial pink-

ness of the Bali-inspired, beach-facing lounge area, the orange daybeds and the turquoise doors of the rooms, to name a few.

Catering to the needs of this particular market, however, does present a set of unique challenges, primarily the generation’s general fickleness. What good is all that paint if the viewer eventually grows tired of looking, or a new color pops onto the scene? According to Tan, it’s something their group has already prepared for.

“We know that the millennial market is actually difficult to handle, as they are always looking for attractions, on what’s next,” the executive said. “We know what we have right now will appeal to them for about 6 to 8 months, then iba naman gusto nila. That’s why

we’re preparing for the next season. If now we’re mostly pink, next up is a different color.

Plus, majority of our stuff are moveable.”

Another draw of The Happy Beach Cebu aside from its photographic appeal is the activities. Top of which is the signature attraction, the Inflatable Island, which originated from the group’s Subic branch.

Parked on the waters of the property is the “Unicorn Island” that lets adventurous guests take on challenging inflatable obstacles.

These include the “Wrecking Ball”, “Leap of Faith” and “The Big One” for unparalleled thrills of slides, jumps, flips and tumbles. At 4,500 sqm., Happy Beach Cebu’s Inflatable Island is about the size of 12 basketball courts, which is

even bigger than the one in Subic that’s about the size of eight.

Tan said the goal for the attraction is to become the biggest of its kind in the world.

Other sets of inflatables are also afloat on the dreamy pink pool of the Happy Jungle and as part of the Floating Zoo. Hundreds of cup-holding inflatable flamingoes swim around the pink pool and beneath the rainbow trees, capturing the imagination of everyone from kids to adults.

Meanwhile, the Floating Zoo has “animal cabanas,” or huge floatables that can host up to six people who want to throw their legs up and sit back with a drink on hand while basking in some sea and sun.

Speaking of drinks, Tan emphasized that The Happy Beach Cebu is a place where the party starts early. Several promotions will go live from the moment gates open at 7am. One of which is the random banging of a bell that signals free drinks for everyone.

“It’s a happy place,” Tan said. “You pay, but we will give you lots of surprises.”

The message of happiness in the resort is also relayed by the staff, who always smile and sometimes sing and dance to delight the guests. A choreographed number of the resort’s theme song is performed every day, and it’s as much fun to the staff as it is to the guests, according to Tan, adding that the performances have become a way for their employees to bond and have a good time.

The executive said that employment has been part of their advocacy with the property, as they remain keen on helping the less fortunate. Around 80% of the staff didn’t finish college, while 20% come from the islands.

Tan said some employees from the islands used to earn as little as P60/day. When they got hired to The Happy Beach, they cried at the sight of a legitimate work contract and at the chance of earning enough money that could afford them three meals a day.

“They’re our lucky charms,” Tan said.

The Happy Beach Cebu (happybeach.ph) is about half an hour away from Mactan International Aiport. Previously dogged by right of way issues, the property can now be accessed by road through the help of Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza.

The Happy Beach Cebu now offers “Happy Ticket” that starts at P699, inclusive of road access to Tambuli and whole day access to the other amenities such as Mactan Beach, Pink Pool, Pink Bali Lounge, Floating Zoo, Animal Cabanas, Water Babies Show and the Fire Dancing Show.

For inquiries and reservations, email hello@happybeach.ph.

Sports COLOMBIAN CRISIS

A8 Sunday, February 24, 2019

By Anne M. Peterson

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WO players for the Colombian women’s national team are speaking out on social media about what they say are substandard conditions and discriminatory treatment by the federation.

Isabella Echeverri and Melissa Ortiz say they hope to raise awareness in Colombia and improve the national team for future generations.

“We feel threatened. They do not pay us,” they said in a video posted to Instagram.

“There’s no international flights. The uniforms are old. The federation has cut off players for speaking up.”

They added: “We’re not afraid anymore. We’re here to speak up.”

The federation did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the

‘SCRAP ALL-STAR GAME!’ M

IAMI—Jeff Van Gundy has an idea on how to fix the National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game.

His plan: Eliminate it.

Van Gundy, the former NBA coach and now longtime television commentator for ABC and ESPN, said what he’s seeing now from the game is embarrassing and “a bastardization of the game that is beautiful to watch.” The teams picked by captains LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo combined to attempt a record 167 three-pointers in Sunday night’s game— and 96 of the 134 field goals in the game came off either threes or dunks.

“You can be a Division III player like myself and be All-Star MVP,” Van Gundy said. “All you have to do is drive in and shoot a lay-up.”

Van Gundy coached in the 2000 All-Star game, his Eastern Conference team falling to Phil Jackson and the Western Conference, 137-126.

There was no shortage of alley-oops tried in that game, though Tim Duncan, Alonzo Mourning and Shaquille O’Neal spent plenty of time defending the rim against those lobs, as well.

“I would name All-Stars, I would have All-Star weekend, they have all these things, introduce them...the players are great, they should be applauded,” Van Gundy said this week, while preparing to coach USA Basketball’s team picked for the final two games of qualifying for this summer’s Fiba World Cup in China. “But to take this game and shoot 160 threes, it’s an embarrassment. It’s an embarrassment.”

The Associated Press

JEFF VAN GUNDY says what he’s seeing now from the All-Star game is embarrassing. AP

Van Gundy said he doesn’t need to see a game with Game Seven, playoff-level intensity.

He just wants to see some effort.

“The equivalent would be like Major League Baseball, a guy hits the ball, you throw it to him at 70 mph because you’re not trying,” Van Gundy said. “And then you hit it and no one chases it and you just let a guy circle and score and you have unlimited runs. You’ve got to try.”

Players, including James and NBA President Chris Paul, along with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver all said after the 192-182 game two years ago that the All-Star

accusations. Colombia’s national team did not make the field for the Women’s World Cup this year.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Ortiz said she and Echeverri realize that the consequences of speaking out mean they likely won’t rejoin the national team in the future.

“I think all of us have always wanted to say something. Personally I have, and Isabella, too.

But we’ve always been scared because God forbid

game had to be more competitive.

“Let’s just say it: They don’t want to play,” Van Gundy said. “Adam said, ‘It’s got to be fixed.’

There’s nothing fixed.”

Last year went down to the wire, a 148-145 game that was well received. This year’s 178-164 game was won by James’s Team LeBron, which trailed by 20 points in the second half before rallying—largely behind the three-pointer.

James’s team took 65 shots in the second half, and 49 of those were three-point tries.

And players this year didn’t seem to mind the way the game unfolded. AP

BusinessMirror

you say something, you’re going to be crossed off the World Cup or Olympic roster,” Ortiz said.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t say anything when we had the platform and the attention on us, like when we were in the World Cup. But it came to a point with us where it was, ‘If not us, who?’ and ‘If not now, when?’”

Ortiz, 28, played her last match for the national team in 2016 and she was an alternate for the team at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. She essentially walked away from the team last year.

Ortiz and Echeverri want to reduce the long periods between each season and be paid enough to live off their wages.

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

“We have been inspired by a whole bunch of different things that had a snowball effect and made us want to speak out,” Ortiz told the AP. She said the two chose social media because of its reach.

“This is just a small example of how other national teams that are fighting the same fight

Ortiz said that the team went without matches or training camp for over 700 days following the 2012 London Olympics, and more than 400 days following the Rio Games.

Ortiz said the team also cut off payments for players in camp and no longer paid for the flights to get the players to and from training in Colombia.

Players previously made the equivalent of $20 a day in camp.

After the team fared poorly in a tournament last summer, the two players explored taking action. And now, a few months away from the Pan American Games, the team has no coach, Ortiz said.

but can’t find their voice, this is a way we want to show there is a way to have a voice,” she said.

“But you have to be very brave in making the decision to do it.”

Some advances in women’s soccer have been attempted by Colombia in recent years. The nation has even expressed interest in hosting the 2023 Women’s World Cup. In 2017, the federation and professional league Dimayor started a women’s pro league in Colombia that is set to play its third season this year.

Millonarios and Sergio Arboleda University are starting a women’s team next season. The players who join the new club will have stipends, but wages will still be low.

But there have also been setbacks.

Last month the owner of Deportes Tolima, Gabriel Camargo, said women’s soccer in Colombia is a “breeding ground for lesbianism” and accused female players of not behaving professionally and drinking too much alcohol.

Camargo later apologized.

“I told [Ortiz] that things can get even worse,” Echeverri said, “and that it’s time that somebody stood up and told the truth about the women’s national team in Colombia.”

Japan baseball officials debate on pitch limits

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COLOMBIA’S Isabella Echeverri (5) battles for the ball against United States’s Crystal Dunn (16) during the first half of their international friendly in Pennsylvania in April 2016. AP

Financial woes bug 2 of F1’s 3 events in North America

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USTIN, Texas—Two of Formula One’s (F1) three races in North America are facing financial issues that are raising concern about their future.

Organizers of the US Grand Prix won’t be reimbursed at least $20 million from the state of Texas for the 2018 race after missing a paperwork deadline set by law. And new questions lurk about the future of the Mexican Grand Prix after the country’s new president suggested the government may not spend on the race like it has the last four years.

Both races have been popular with drivers and fans, and enjoy key dates on the F1 calendar. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton clinched season championships in Texas in 2015 and in Mexico City in 2017 and 2018.

Officials in F1 and at the Circuit of the Americas, host of the US Grand Prix, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

Both races get huge government financial support.

The US Grand Prix has reaped about $150 million since 2012 from Texas’s Major Events Reimbursement Program, which is controlled

by Gov. Greg Abbott’s office. That money has been considered critical to paying F1’s annual rights fee to host the race. In 2015, track President Bobby Epstein said a $5-million reduction that year could have jeopardized the future of the race, but it has survived.

Officials at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin have known for months the 2018 money wasn’t coming. Track officials were informed in an October 8 letter—11 days before the US Grand Prix—that race organizers would not get money from the fund because they had missed a statemandated deadline to submit an anti-human trafficking plan 30 days before the event.

That plan wasn’t submitted until October 3 and a previous letter of temporary approval was rescinded.

Two months later, track President Bobby Epstein contributed $50,000 to Gov. Greg Abbott, who had just won reelection.

The state requires major events that apply to the fund to have anti-human trafficking plans in part to help combat spikes in prostitution. The missed deadline and lost money were first reported

on Wednesday by the Austin AmericanStatesman. Abbott’s office provided a copy of the letter to the AP. Epstein didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment. Abbott Spokesman John Wittman said the state had no choice but to withhold the money.

Any future damage to the US Grand Prix is yet to be measured and could still be mitigated.

Wittman said the state is already working with race organizers to plan for the 2019 race. F1 has it on the calendar for November 3 with no suggestion it could be wiped out. The F1 season starts on March 17 at the Australian Grand Prix.

“The State of Texas and COTA have a productive partnership that has had a tremendous economic impact on the city of Austin and the state as a whole, and our office is already working with COTA on next year’s race,” Wittman said.

The 2019 Mexican Grand Prix will be the final race in a five-year contract, with the Mexican government providing about $213 million in the five years. F1 returned to Mexico City after a 23-year absence and the race has drawn huge crowds each of the past four years and twice crowned Hamilton as champion.

But Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said this week that government financial support for the race could be reduced or vanish as money is directed to other projects, such as a 1,000-mile railway. AP

OKYO—Amateur baseball officials in Japan are debating the

introduction of pitch limits aimed at preventing injuries to high-school players.

Marathon pitching performances have long been a trademark of the National Summer High School Baseball Championship which is held every August and is arguably the country’s most popular sporting event.

“They have pitch limits in US amateur baseball but not here,” outfielder Yoshitomo Tsutsugo of the Yokohama BayStars said at a recent media conference. “If you don’t think about protecting children there is no point in making baseball more popular. We need to think about the real value of sports, not just winning.”

As a teenager, Daisuke Matsuzaka threw 250 pitches in 17 innings in the quarterfinals of the 1998 summer tournament, one day after a 148-pitch complete game shutout.

He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2011 while with the Boston Red Sox. Kosei Yoshida threw 881 pitches over six games in last year’s tournament and Yuki Saito threw a record 948 pitches in one tournament.

Both Yoshida and Saito now play for the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan’s Pacific League.

The Niigata baseball association had planned to introduce a limit of pitches starting in prefectural tournaments this spring.

But the Japan High School Baseball Federation pushed back on Wednesday, asking the Niigata association to reconsider its plan so that a national debate can take place.

Even in Japan’s pro leagues, pitch counts are not strictly adhered to and pitching a complete game is highly valued. Pitchers often thrown on the sidelines when their team is batting, something Matsuzaka couldn’t do in the majors.

The Japan high-school federation has taken several steps to protect players during the summer tournament which is often played in sweltering heat. In 2000, it capped the number of extra innings to 15, down from 18. In 2013, it introduced a rest day after the quarterfinals. AP

WILLIAMS driver Robert Kubica steers his car with aero rakes during a preseason testing session in Barcelona. AP

YOORAN PARK | DREAMSTIME.COM

‘Diversity and inclusion’ in workplace?

It can be done, says Capital One exec

By Rizal Raoul Reyes Contributor

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HE current workplace calls for openness and tolerance to promote diversity. By adopting an open environment where views, sexual orientation and cultural beliefs are accepted, people become more tolerant and respectful to their colleagues, according to Rob Nunnally, the assistant general manager of Capital One Philippines Support Services Corp.

Nunnally would know, as he played a key role in enhancing diversity in Capital One Philippines.

Moreover, he provides valuable support to the general manager in helping the organization and its associates achieve their goals. With extensive experience as human resources director, he has contributed largely to promoting diversity in the workplace.

Nunnally shared with the BusinessMirror in a recent e-mail interview the roots, the gains and the process the company underwent in crafting programs to entice millennials in participating in growing the company.

BUSINESSMIRROR (BM): How did your program on diversity start? Please trace its roots.

ROB NUNNALLY (RN): Diversity and inclusion have been at the heart of Capital One Philippines since we set foot in 2013.

We believe that people thrive in a workplace where everyone is valued for their talent regardless of age, gender, race, economic status or sexual orientation and gender identity.

This is what influenced our former Assistant General Manager Julie Trevey to initiate the launch of a women’s Business Resource Group (BRG) in Alabang in 2015, [and which we call] as EmpowHER. Since women make up 60 percent of Capital One Philippines, this made a huge impact. Our female and female-identified associates were empowered to embrace their individuality, achieve their full potential and contribute to diversity. Her [Trevey’s] leadership and example in promoting this advocacy were key to making better decisions for team collaboration.

Coming in as assistant general manager, former human resources director, and an openly gay man, I was inspired to further push the envelope of [our] “Diversity and Inclusion” [philosophy] in Alabang by launching the Philippine chapter of our BRG for members of the LGBTQ+ community, OutFront Philippines.

Our goal is to raise awareness about the issues faced by our LGBTQ+ associates and to encourage open communication with the leadership team. We believe it is important to promote a better understanding of gender identity in the Philippines.

BM: What is the foundation and core of the program?

RN: The concept of malasakit is the core of everything we do in Capital One Philippines. This compassion is what inspires us to continually serve our associates, customers and communities.

Our Diversity and Inclusion philosophy, specifically our OutFront Philippines and EmpowHER BRGs, fit perfectly into this commitment.

We believe that our associates, including our LGBTQ+ family, deserve a support system that will inspire them to be their authentic selves at work and help them achieve personal and career growth. In an environment like this, our associates are able to relate with our diverse customers and serve their needs better. The compassion they receive within the company also motivates them to pay it forward and serve

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our communities.

BM: How did you cascade the program to the staff?

RN: Since we consider Diversity and Inclusion as a philosophy, we promoted it not only through our internal communications platforms but, more important, through a series of activities. We wanted to walk the talk—to show our associates that we are genuinely committed to supporting them.

To launch OutFront and EmpowHER, we had sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or Sogie, seminars, monthly coffee chats with senior leaders, job-fair participation, HIV [human immunodeficiency virus] awareness sessions, Pride March participation, women empowerment talks and community engagement activities, among others.

We also give our associates different venues to express themselves through interest groups like basketball, volleyball, badminton, football, jiujitsu, table tennis, travel and photography, music, culinary, yoga, indoor gaming, creative arts, and CrossFit [training].

BM: What is the role of senior leadership in promoting workplace diversity?

RN: Diversity and Inclusion is not just a program—it is part of the values we embrace as leaders. I am lucky to be serving side by side with Peter Hayden, our general manager, in making sure that Capital One Philippines is a place where associates can

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

grow and feel a true sense of belonging.

The senior leadership team makes it a point to be involved in our Diversity and Inclusion events and activities. We also find time to get to know all our associates, hear out their concerns, and understand the challenges that they go through so we know how to best support them.

BM: What were the challenges in the implementation of OutFront Philippines?

RN: When we initially had the idea of establishing an LGBTQ+ BRG, we were excited to bring it to life. We were so eager to have it done that it was a challenge to take our time in identifying our key focus areas to make sure that OutFront would really make an impact in the personal and professional lives of our associates. The core team and I really took time to think through the framework, answering the questions: What would it stand for? What do we want to achieve? How do we align it with the goals of the company?

BM: Please cite the gains of the program, especially to the millennial work force?

RN: Our commitment to Diversity and Inclusion has allowed our community of OutFront and EmpowHER self-identified members and allies to grow quickly in number. Our Diversity and Inclusion events have been having a great turnout as well, and we are glad that they feel so empowered.

Continued on page 7

BusinessMirror

MUSIC

RAKRAKAN '19 All set to roll out

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FEBRUARY 24, 2019 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

MUS

RAKRAKAN FESTIVAL ROCKIN’, RARIN’ TO GO

by Leony R. Garcia

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ITNESS 120 of your favorite artists as they rock out on not just one, but six awesome stages, at the Rakrakan Festival 2019: Two Days of Peace, Love and Music happening at Circuit Makati on March 1 and 2.

Touted as the “biggest, loudest, and most exciting” music festival in the country, Rakrakan has been around since 2013. Its success is

a celebration of everything that relates to OPM: its culture, talents and even its future.

Speaking of the stages, which would actually carry various themes, Day 1 will feature “Move,” “Center” and “Indie,” while Day 2 will have “Mosh,” “Slam” and “Groove.”

If those aren’t enough, there are other attractions such as a skateboarding competition, a street art contest, carnival rides, a merchandize bazaar, and other

amazing activities—all in one, big event!

Collection of artists

THE event had its press conference on February 19, led

by Rakista Radio CEO Harold P. Solomon, Rakista Radio Social Media Analyst Franz Santiago, and Banda ni Kleggy vocalist Kleggy Abaya, among others, who discussed with the media the exciting elements on tab in this year’s “Rakrakan.”

Members of Banda Ni Kleggy, Daniel Paringit of Better Days, Rakrakan first-timer Isabelle de Leon, Soupstar Music Inc.’s Darwin Hernandez, Patricia Leuterio and Wuds drummer Aji Adriano gave sample performances, while representatives from nongovernment organizationpartner Virlanie also graced the gathering.

Speaking of Banda ni Kleggy, the group has always been present in Rakrakan since the festival started. According to its members, that’s because they found joy in performing and jamming around with fellow performing artists.

Meanwhile, De Leon said it’s a great opportunity for her to be included in the festival.

The talented beauty, who first rose to fame as a TV personality, admitted that she

honed her performing talents while growing up during an “awkward stage.” The female guitarist will be performing two songs popularized by the late Pepe Smith, as well as a revival of You’ve Got a Friend (which is doing well on Spotify).

Multiple genres

ACCORDING to festival organizers, Rakrakan became a two-day engagement, as they wanted to try a different approach. Since it was possible in other countries, they also believe it could also find success in the Philippines.

With the inclusion of hip hop and RnB, the festival seeks to touch base with different genres, as organizers believe that a true “rakista” will always support OPM, regardless of the genre.

Speaking of Pepe Smith, would there be a tribute to the Pinoy rock and roll legend?

Solomon said they are still working it out with the family of the late rocker, but “everything is possible” for the big event.

The Rakrakan Festival 2019: Peace, Love, and Music is powered by Rakista Radio. For ticket inquiries, call 470-2222. To keep posted on band updates, follow Rakrakan Festival on Facebook, or checkout www.

RakrakanFestival.com for more details.

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soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | FEBRUARY 24, 2019

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SIC ON PRINT

Spanish hardcore band sinks its teeth into Manila

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by Rick Olivares

HE hype sticker on Spanish hardcore band Teething’s first full-length album “We Will Regret This Someday” says: “Spain’s Most Obnoxious Cratediggers.”

So much so for promoting a song... Let it be

known that Teething has not lost its collective sense of humor. Yet, it is both a nod to hip hop DJs who coined the term “cratediggers,” and Teething members’ mania digging for vinyl in shops everywhere.

And the band has been rather prolific, releasing 11 different extended-play records in

the past seven years. And later this 2019, when Teething hits Manila, Filipino fans will get their first taste of this band’s brand of pummeling and crunching hardcore/ grindcore/power violence.

Furthermore, it will be a triumphant homecoming for the quartet’s vocalist Luis.

“My mother, who is not with us anymore, is Filipino, and my father is Spanish,” he disclosed. “I was born in Manila and lived here for a bit, then briefly stayed in Taiwan. Eventually we moved to Madrid. But I try to visit as often as possible, especially since I have a lot of family here, whom I dearly love.”

Luis discovered the music of Metallica, Soundgarden, Korn and Corrosion of Conformity from an older brother. When he was 15, he discovered hardcore punk and all its subgenres.

“There was no turning back for me at that point,” the vocalist said of his musical epiphany.

‘Stupid name’

LUIS formed Teething along with guitarist Antonio, drummer Alvaro and bassist David who all had similar interests, goals, and tastes in music.

“We knew each other from our previous hardcore bands, so we [are aware] we could play our instruments hard. That’s how we got started,” related the frontman of Teething’s origins.

“Teething is actually a stupid name,” admitted the Fil-Spanish vocalist, who also designs the band’s album artwork and merchandise. The band’s album art and merchandise—done old school cut-and-paste—are an integral part of its identity.

“We needed a name quick, as we had our first show booked three months in. The whole visual aspect of the band— our mascot Ralph (who is like British heavy metal band Iron Maiden’s rotting corpse mascot, Eddie—author) with rotting teeth—was born after choosing the name. It was like an accident waiting to happen.”

However, it was no accident that the band’s songs feature a lot of references to the Philippines and make use of Filipino words.

“All Teething songs are 100-percent autobiographical,” noted Luis. “The tunes are listed as ‘regrets’ instead of tracks, because I like to walk on thin ice with my lyrics. I speak my thoughts, which actually have gotten me into to trouble before.

I make a conscious effort to always leave the studio thinking: ‘Maybe, I shouldn’t have said that.’”

Touring and homecoming

TO date, Teething has toured Europe five times. The upcoming tour of Southeast Asia is being planned along with local promotions outfit Sleeping Boy Collective.

Summed up an excited Luis: “We have toured outside Spain. It’s time to finally go to Southeast Asia. This is in the works as we speak.”

When that homecoming finally happens, Luis says his family—aunts and uncles in tow—will join the mayhem in the mosh pit.

It will definitely be a heck of a homecoming.

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FEBRUARY 24, 2019 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

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MUSIC ON PRINT

Ogie Alcasid performs for benefit concert T

by Leony R. Garcia

HE Center for Possibilities Foundation, a nongovernment organization dedicated specifically to address the plight of indigent children with special needs, will be staging “Love Inclusively,” a benefit concert which will feature the Manila Symphony Orchestra, with performances from exceptional individuals Henry Munarriz, Samantha Kaspar and Juno Santos.

One of the concert’s highlights will be the special participation of Ogie Alcasid, who has graciously offered his time and talent to the cause.

The concert aims to raise funds for the special education of indigent children with special needs at the foundation’s special education center in Sagada, Mountain Province, and another one soon to open in Norzagaray, Bulacan.

The Center for Possibilities is also in the process of putting up schools in the most isolated cor-

ners of Sorsogon and Leyte.

According to the foundation, the education of differentially abled individuals is a greatly under-addressed need in developing countries, including the Philippines, and even more so in far-flung rural areas and remote provinces.

Proceeds of the concert will be used to fund neuropsychological evaluations (P15,000 per child), assessments by developmental professionals (P10,000 per child) and therapy sessions for exceptional individuals that may include physical, occupational and speech therapy (P2,000 per session). According to the center, sending a single child to school for a month costs P20,000, and day-to-day operations of each center amount to P50,000 per month.

Meanwhile, preceding the concert will be an art exhibit entitled “Art Exceptional,” a collection of never-before seen works of Santos, Kaspar and Vico Cham. Kaspar will also launch her personally designed fragrances: “Aware,” “In-

spire” and “Embrace.”

Speaking of Alcasid, the OPM singer recently starred in a Cinemalaya film entitled “Kuya Wes,” which showcased his dramatic prowess. It was Alcasid’s 38th film, which happened to be his first foray into the indie scene, and his breakthrough as a producer. The film is a collaboration with the singer’s own A-Team Productions with Awkward Penguin and Spring Films. The movie will start screening on March 13.

The special concert happens on March 2 at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium of the RCBC Plaza. Donations will be accepted at the entrance.

J-pop anime singing contest ends on high note

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EN participants battled it out in the Grand Finals of the 2019 J-pop Anime Singing Contest on February 16 at the SM Cinema Centerstage, SM Mall of Asia. In order of stage appearance, they were Tensai, Franz Uy, Marjorie Gocela, Nicx, PatYam, Julius Matthews, Zaine Gabarda, Racianne Castro Elorde, Shiela Faye Labadan, and Mayden.

Outshining other competitors who emerged as winners were Labadan (first place), Elorde (second place) and Matthews (third place).

They won special pri zes and goodie bags from sponsors, including a four-day trip to Japan for Labadan as grandprize winner, courtesy of the All Nippon Airways and Universal Holidays, Inc. G o c e l a , Ma y d e n , Pa tYa m , a n d G a b a rd a g o t a c k n ow l e d g e d a s B a n d a i Na m c o’s

B e s t , w h i l e t wo o t h e r s — Te n s a i a n d N i c x— we re a wa rd e d a s To e i ’s Fa vo r i t e .

T h e y re c e i ve d e xc l u s i ve m e rc h a n d i s e f ro m B a n d a i Na m c o a n d To e i A n i m a t i o n , re s p e c t i ve l y .

Mo re t h a n 5 0 0 p e o p l e a t t e n d e d t h e eve n t , w h i c h a l s o fe a t u re d s p e c i a l p e rfo r m a n c e s f ro m Ya k u l t m a s c o t s , t h e 2 0 1 8 J- p o p Anime Singing Contest G ra n d C h a m p i o n Jo h a n n i e Ve l a s c o , P i k a c h u f ro m T h e Po k é m o n C o m p a n y , a n d m e m b e r s o f t h e Ph i l i p p i n e i d o l g ro u p M N L 4 8 .

Manila 16th best city for millennials

By Dennis D. Estopace Editor, Y2Z

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F 19 cities polled

by Value Champion, a consumer research firm, Manila ranked 16th overall as best for millennials.

The poll, which “analyzed a wide range of economic, financial and social data,” ranked major cities in Asia Pacific in terms of their appeal to millennials and young adults. The list is topped by Singapore—which ranked first in terms of employment prospects and quality of life, and seventh in cost of living. Employment prospects, cost of living and quality of life were the categories created by Value Champion that it based on publicly available data from sources such as the World Bank, The Economist and Deutsche Bank.

“According to publicly available data, Singapore is the best city for millennials seeking to build a career and enjoy a great quality of life,” Value Champion said on its web site.

“Our analysis indicates that Singapore’s

thriving economy provides strong job opportunities for young people. For example, the city had the highest GDP [gross domestic product] per capita [S$79,000] and the second-lowest unemployment rates [2.2 percent total, 3.96 percent for youth] of the 20 cities we studied, which suggests that individuals living in Singapore may find it relatively easier to find good-paying jobs.

Furthermore, Singapore had the lowest

gender wage gap. Additionally, Singapore’s low levels of pollution (4th) and high safety ratings (2nd) make it a great place for anyone to call home.

Tokyo, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Melbourne were the second, third, fourth and fifth best cities, respectively, for millennials, according to Value Champion’s analysis it released on February 5.

Manila ranked 7th in terms of employment prospects, but was 14th in terms of quality of life, and 16th for cost of living.

Three cities of India—Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi—ended the list at 18th with the latter two tied at 19th.

Bangkok was deemed better than Manila at 11th place, with Thailand deemed also posting the lowest unemployment rate at 1 percent. The Philippines’s, at 5.1 percent, was the third-highest following Indonesia (5.3 percent) and India (7.4 percent).

In measuring cost of living, Value Champion used a pint of beer as one measurement, with the lowest being in Ho Chi Minh City at S$1.18. Manila’s S$2.06 (about P79.35) is just S$0.02 higher than

the price of pint of beer in Beijing (S$2.04).

A pint of beer is most expensive in Hong Kong (S$12.19) followed by Singapore (S$11.37).

In terms of Pollution Index, Value Champion ranked Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City at 94.60, followed by Beijing (91.90) and Manila (91.03). Singapore garnered a 33.94 index score; Melbourne had the lowest at 27.79.

Value Champions said it considered key factors in its analysis.

“For example, key factors that we considered for job prospects included GDP growth rates, GDP per capita, youth [15 to 24 years old] and total unemployment rates and the World Economic Forum’s Wage Equality Score for Similar Work. For the Cost of Living category, we considered average monthly rent for 39 square meters [or one-bedroom] of unfurnished living space, as well as the price of a pint of beer in each city,” Value Champion said. “We considered each of these costs in terms of GDP per capita in order to adjust for varying salaries in each city.”

‘Diversity and inclusion’ in workplace?

It can be done, says Capital One exec Continued from page 2

Overall, we have a highly engaged work force in Alabang, proving that diversity and inclusion is truly valuable to them.

BM: Is it right to say the program was millennial-centric?

RN: While our activities and programs are not specifically developed for a particular age group, we recognize that a large group of associates in our site are millennials. And so we do our best to provide venues and activities that would pique their interest and allow them to be their authentic selves.

Many of these millennials are still young and living with their families. In case they are not comfortable expressing themselves at home, we want them to feel that their workplace is their second home, a safe space where they can be authentic. With this environment, where every voice is heard and every perspective matters, our associates will be able to unleash their full potential, both personally and professionally.

BM: Being a predominantly Catholic and conservative country, did the establishment of OutFront Philippines face challenges and resistance among the stake-

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holders? How did you overcome these challenges?

RN: The OutFront Philippines business resource group (BRG) was well received by our associates, and there was not any form of resistance or challenge during its launch.

In fact, a significant number of the BRG’s membership are allies—associates who are non-self-identified LGBTQ+ but are staunch advocates, such as our executive sponsor and General Manager Peter Hayden. This shows that gender diversity is celebrated in Capital One Philippines on all fronts.

BM: How do Capital One Philippines’s ini-

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

tiatives on Diversity and Inclusion affect millennials?

RN: As mentioned, our activities and programs are not specifically developed for a particular age group. However, we recognize that a large group of associates in our site are millennials, and we see how it significantly improves their engagement in the company.

These observations can be backed up by the Deloitte University Leadership Center for Inclusion, reporting that 83 percent of millennials are actively engaged when they believe that the organization they are in fosters an inclusive culture.

From Bogart to millennials: Italian hatmaker tries new look

A PILE of hats is seen in Borsalino's hat factory, in Spinetta Marengo, near Alessandria, Italy, on January 17, 2019. Borsalino's prized felt hats are handmade by 80 workers in its Piemonte factory, many who have worked there for decades, with original machinery that use hot water and steam to transform rabbit fur into highly prized felt, that is formed into clochards, dyed and molded by hand to create the latest styles. AP/ANTONIO CALANNI

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PINETTA MARENGO, Italy—Hats off, Bogie. The traditional Italian hatmaker Borsalino, whose fedora has defined the rough-and-tumble images of Robert Redford, Frank Sinatra and Humphrey Bogart, has a plan to appeal more to women and millennials by pushing into high-end fashion, streetwear and even sportswear.

The recent troubles of the company, which has been rescued financially by a private equity fund, underline the difficulties facing Italian companies—not only fashion brands—seeking scale to stay competitive and grow in the age of globalization.

Entering new markets, targeting new demographics and expanding retail presence all require cash. And even the best-laid business plan can be complicated by a company’s bad baggage, and Borsalino came with plenty of that.

The 162-year-old hatmaker, arguably Italy’s oldest fashion brand, was founded in the northwestern Italian city of Alessandria by Giuseppe Borsalino, whose family sold control decades ago. By the time the Swiss-Italian private equity firm Haeres Equita was approached about investing in

2015, the company had been mismanaged and bled dry by the previous owner.

“What surprised me at the time is that Borsalino was profitable,” said Philippe Camperio, Haeres Equita’s principal. “It was very small. I thought there would be a much bigger company in terms of revenues, given the power of the brand.”

The company was making €12 million ($13.5 million) in revenues, with profits of between €600,000 and €800,000. But it had fallen out of many of the world’s bigname department stores, supplying mostly hatmaking shops and not keeping pace with fashion trends.

Camperio’s first step was to take over the historic factory and submit a business plan to bankruptcy court. In his first year, 2016, revenues increased 20 percent and

8 BusinessMirror

profits doubled.

Still, the business plan was rejected more than once as the courts sought better deals for creditors. The last time it was rejected, in December 2017, the judge put Borsalino into bankruptcy, and false reports spread around the world that the maker of the Bogart fedora was no more.

“Eventually we settled,” said Camperio.

“We have the intention of relaunching this brand.”

Haeres Equity, which also owns the Fogal brand of Swiss hosiery, is looking for other investments in Italian fashion, if possible another “sleeping beauty like Borsalino,” Camperio said.

In recent months, several fashion companies have turned to outside investors to expand. Versace has been bought by Michael Kors’s Capri Holdings Limited as the cornerstone of a new fashion group, while Missoni, Cavalli and Trussardi all recently did deals with private equity investors to get cash infusions.

Camperio expects a few possible targets to be up for sale soon as the owners who founded them in Italy’s postwar boom look to secure the companies’ future. That can include handing the companies over to the family’s next generation or selling them to foreigners, as Versace did.

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

The marketing power for many of these brands is the Made in Italy tag, viewed as a guarantee of quality in the fashion world.

Borsalino’s hats are handmade by 80 workers, many of whom have worked at the factory for decades. Giuseppe Borsalino’s original machinery uses hot water and steam to transform rabbit fur into highly prized felt that is then dyed and molded. A felt fedora can take weeks to finish.

To relaunch Borsalino, Camperio has brought in a team of fashion experts, including former Gucci CEO Giacomo Santucci. The expansion plan foresees selling more in the United States and Asia, and developing new collections to appeal to younger generations and to women, two key growth markets.

Borsalino’s new looks include corduroy baseball caps with the Borsalino logo prominently displayed, or felt travel hats that roll up neatly.

The goal is to increase annual production from 150,000 hats to 500,000 in five years—still far from the 2 million Borsalino churned out every year during its postwar heyday, when men regularly wore hats.

“Borsalino should be the leader of the hat business,” Santucci said. “The power of the brand is going to stay forever.” AP