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PHL’s ‘ease of doing business’ ranking shows red tape still a tough nut to crack

By Catherine N. Pillas

espite years of competitivenessenhancement programs to cut bureaucratic red tape spanning three administrations, doing business— even just starting one—is still a complex and time-consuming process for most business owners in the country.

For the National Competitiveness Council (NCC), the public-private body tasked to improve the Philippines’s competitiveness standing on various aspects—such as innovation, logistics, corruption perception and ease of doing business (to name a few)—easing doing business in the country is a long campaign that is improving, albeit slowly.

The country even slipped in the International Finance Corp.’s (IFC) Ease of Doing Business (EODB) Report 2016 edition, landing in the 103rd spot out of 189 economies— a drop from the previous year’s 95th place.

In the most recent edition of

the report, the country fared better, getting the 99th spot, but still far from the target of barging into the top third of the competitiveness index.

NCC private sector cochairman Guillermo M. Luz admits the goal of getting into the top third in the IFC’s EODB, as well as in the 11 other reports the NCC tracks, remains a puzzle that they are solving little by little to get into that elusive spot.

President Duterte wants it done fast, putting the fight against red tape on top of his priorities when he assumed his post, and often mentioning it in his policy pronouncements. Just like in his anti-illegal drugs war, the President doesn’t mind taking shortcuts to cut red tape immediately. And this made the work of the NCC more daunting.

In the IFC’s EODB, there are 10 processes in running a business being tracked: Starting a Business; Dealing with Construction Permits; Getting Electricity; Registering Property; Getting Credit; Protecting Minority Investors; Paying Taxes; Trading Across Border; Enforcing

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DOT bats for better port facilities to attract more cruise passengers

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo Special to the BusinessMirror

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IN this April 8, 2015, file photo, a Lite Ferries ship, which ferries passengers to and from Cebu, Siquijor, Bohol and Leyte, passes

by Bohol Island. Goetzphilippinen | Dreamstime.com

PESO exchange rates n US 49.8130

HE Department of Tourism (DOT) is firming up a new strategy to attract more cruise ships to key Philippine destinations, anchored on better port facilities, faster entry-exit measures, and an improved marketing program.

This developed as the DOT said there will be 105 port calls in 2017, carrying an estimated 117,000 passengers. In a text message to the BusinessMirror, DOT Director for Public Affairs and Advocacy Czarina Zara-Loyola said, “The big increase in port calls is attributed to the 15-week cruise call of Star Cruises’ Superstar Virgo to Manila and Laoag from March 19 to May 29, 2017.”

In 2016 there were 72 cruise ships that made port calls in the country, with an estimated 72,350 passengers. This was higher than

the 52 port calls made in 2015, with ships that carried some 66,000 passengers.

Separately, in a news statement, Tourism Undersecretary for Tourism Development Planning Benito C. Bengzon Jr. said the 72 port calls in the country last year was relatively small compared to the top Asian ports of Singapore, with 374 port calls in 2014; Jeju Island in South Korea, with 217; and Hong Kong, with 200.

“As a key element of our strategy, we are determined to build new dedicated cruise facilities, most especially in Manila,” stressed Bengzon, who also heads the Cruise Development Committee for the Philippines. “A superior cruise port and terminal in the capital, with its extensive airlift and ground facilities, will create a compelling reason for large ships to spend time in the Philippines. Once here, they can achieve outstanding port density with efficient cruising speeds.”

He added, “Future growth in cruise tourism is guaranteed with strong support from the government and the private sector, a highly professional and experienced network of port agents and tour operators, plus growing awareness from major cruise lines of all the Philippine archipelago has to offer.”

Under the National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) for 2016-2022, the DOT aims to increase port calls in the country to 402 with 456,164 passengers by 2022. The target markets for cruise passengers are China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia.

The DOT recently concluded a four-day workshop, which brought together key personnel from government infrastructure agencies, to lay down the various aspects of the cruise-tourism strategy for the country.

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n japan 0.4251 n UK 60.8715 n HK 6.4212 n CHINA 7.1612 n singapore 34.3538 n australia 35.7757 n EU 51.8404 n SAUDI arabia 13.2806

Source: BSP (29 December 2016 )

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DOT bats for better port facilities to attract more cruise passengers

Thomas E. Blamey, principal of CHART Management Consultants, points out identified areas as potential ports to strengthen the country’s appeal as a cruise destination. DOT TOURISM Undersecretary for Tourism Development Benito C. Bengzon Jr. stresses the importance of convergence to effectively implement the cruise tourism strategy. DOT Continued from A1

Cruise tourism is one of the nine product portfolios identified in the NTDP, a road map of products, programs and strategies aimed at increasing international tourist arrivals to 12 million, and domestic travelers to 89.2 million by 2022.

The other products are naturebased tourism; cultural; health, wellness and retirement; sun and beach; MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions); lei-

sure and entertainment; diving and marine sports; and education tourism.

The cruise-tourism strategy identified the “Turquoise Triangle”, which links the popular tourist destinations of Manila, Boracay in Aklan, and Puerto Princesa in Palawan; and the “North Triangle” (Currimao/Salomague-CagayanBatanes) as major destinations for cruise ships.

The NTDP also calls for the improvement of ports in Romblon,

Coron, El Nido, Bohol, Leyte and Iloilo, and the upgrade of ferry services between Cebu and Bohol, Batangas-Mindoro and Misamis Oriental-Camiguin.

In a previous interview, Bengzon said a turnaround cruise ship carrying 2,000 passengers will be able to generate tourism receipts of some $1.2 million.

“What we want is for cruise passengers from long-haul destinations to fly into Manila, board the ship here, sail in Southeast

The MDG on Cruise Tourism makes an inspection visit of Poro Point in San Fernando, La Union, as potential homeport. Eliza Maconocido (right), manager for business development of Poro Point Management Corp., a subsidiary of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, briefs the group about the site development plan of the Poro Point Freeport Zone. DOT

Asian waters and fly out in another destinations if it’s an open jaw itinerary,” he added.

For her part, Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo emphasized: “Once completed, the cruise strategy will pave the way for definitive actions and investments into infrastructure, facilities and services. Clearly, our job is to set up the enabling environment for businesses to thrive. These include en-

hancement of ship access through the development of port and shoreside infrastructure, facilitation of business entry and offering exciting tour packages, among others. Only then can we draw in the much-needed foreign direct investments to pump-prime the industry. We must surge ahead to build this multimillion-dollar travel sector and disperse the economic benefits to the countryside.”

The draft strategy was presented by CHART Management Consulting, which was commissioned by the United States Agency for Development and the DOT. The consultants will be undertaking extensive field work, interviews, analysis and direction. This jumpstarts the series of consultative workshops aimed at formulating action plans to implement the strategy.

PHL’s ‘ease of doing business’ ranking shows red tape still a tough nut to crack Continued from A1

Contracts; and Resolving Insolvency.

Starting a business itself involves six steps and around eight days, Luz said, already an improvement from the previous 16 steps and 28 days for just starting operations of a business.

In the most recent EODB report, the first step does appear to be the hardest: the country got a rank of 171 out of 180 countries in the “Starting a Business” process, a drop of seven spots from the year before.

This is significant for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which consider time spent away from running a business as money wasted. Securing permits from the local government unit alone means a lot of opportunity lost.

Business name registration may now be automated through the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) online Business Name Registration for sole proprietorship and can be paid via credit card. Still, entrepreneurs often go through a prolonged process when their business name conflicts with another’s—a factor that isn’t detected by the online system.

Moreover, the registration of the business name still involves submitting the filled-out form printed from the site to a DTI sat-

ellite office, then having DTI personnel checking manually in their database if the name violates the DTI’s business-name law.

This lack in efficiency at the DTI’s frontline services in business name registration may mean at least a week just getting a business name approved.

At the local government unit level, getting a mayor’s permit involves a myriad of steps and different requirements depending on the nature of the business.

Ryan, a young restaurateur operating in Quezon City, said it took him seven months to register his food business. And despite that long period, he still failed to secure his electrical permit—prohibiting him to use airconditioning in his restaurant.

“We started setting up the business in October 2013, and just opened in May 2014. We never got the electrical permit,” he said.

Despite the setbacks, the NCC and the DTI are still setting ambitious targets, including putting a numerical value on time and productivity wasted in going through all the processes.

“There’s a standard cost model being used by Britain and Australia; we have a technical assistance grant from the British government to send over consultants to train us on how to use this model. We can

compute the cost of compliance.

We’re going to put a figure on it,” Luz said.

With the aim to disseminate the cost-computation model to government agencies by February, the NCC hopes to show how much savings the government can have by cutting down on bureaucratic red tape.

According to Luz, the aggressive EODB work plan for 2017 also includes streaming an automation system and a national database of businesses designed by the Department of Information Communication and Technology (DICT).

Together with this, the NCC is looking at the partial implementation of the unified-form system for business name renewals in 2017, hoping to make this nationwide by 2018 in all LGUs. “For business permits, we had DTI, DICT and DILG to sign a memorandum of agreement to cut it down to two days or less for renewals starting January 2017.

Along with that, we’re moving to have an automation system and a national database of businesses and use one form for all,” Luz said.

With these reforms ahead, there may be hope yet for the Philippines to achieve the global benchmark of three steps in just starting a business, Luz added, and spur the growth of MSMEs in the country.

The World BusinessMirror

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Sunday, January 1, 2017

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Benefits of Indian cash overhaul still elusive N

EW DELHI—Fifty days ago, India yanked most of its currency from circulation without warning, jolting the economy and leaving most citizens scrambling for cash. As the deadline for exchanging the devalued 500- and 1,000-rupee notes for new ones hits on Friday, many Indians are still stuck waiting in long bank lines.

Empty automated teller machines (ATMs) and ever-changing rules are preventing people from withdrawing money, and many small, cash-reliant businesses from cinemas to neighborhood grocery stores are suffering huge losses or going under.

Despite those problems, Prime Minister Narendra Modi says his November 8 demonetization decree has succeeded in uncovering tax evasion and cracking down on graft. The Indian government is urging patience, insisting it’s playing a long game that will eventually modernize Indian society and benefit the poor. So far, despite the widespread inconvenience and costs, most of the country’s 1.25 billion citizens appear to be taking Modi’s word for it.

Here are a few things to know about India’s massive cash overhaul:

Hardship for the poor

Modi’s announcement that 500 and 1,000 rupee bills—making up 86 percent of India’s currency—were no longer legal tender has posed an enormous hardship for millions of people who use cash for everything from salaries to cell-phone charges.

Almost immediately, serpentine lines appeared at banks and ATMs as people waited hours to deposit or exchange old currency notes for new bills. Since authorities only began printing the new bills after the policy was announced, demand vastly exceeds supply and cash machines often run dry.

Daily commerce in essentials, including food, medicine and transportation, screeched almost to a halt.

Worst affected were the country’s hundreds of millions of farmers, produce vendors, small shop owners and daily-wage laborers who usually are paid in cash at the end of a day’s work. Many lost their jobs as small businesses shut down, compounding their poverty.

Pankaj Aggarwal, owner of a clothing shop in the Old Delhi neighborhood of Chandni Chowk, says his sales crashed by 70 percent.

“You can imagine what our business is like now. It will be some time before our sales normalize,” he said. Modi appears to have succeeded in promoting the cash overhaul as a “pro-poor” policy, tapping into deep anger among the have-nots toward wealthy elites.

“The first two months have been so bad for us, we don’t even have enough money to buy food,” said daily wage laborer Neeraj Mishra, 35. “Overall, I think Modi has done some good.

People with a lot of money are the ones who have been troubled. I don’t have enough cash for it to bother me much.”

Political scientist Sreeram Chaulia, dean of the Jindal School of International Affairs in New Delhi, describes the strategy as “classic populism.”

“Some people are outraged, but are hesitant to come out and say it because they don’t want to be branded as antinational or self-centered,” he said.

a bruised economy

The wide impact of the demonetization won’t be known until the government issues its next quarterly GDP figures in February, but the Reserve Bank of India already has shaved half a percent from this year’s GDP growth forecast, to 7.1 percent.

Since domestic commerce drives most economic activity, analysts have expressed alarm over the scale of economic and social disruption and are warning a contraction is likely in coming quarters. “The countless unpredictable consequences that will continue to show in the coming weeks and months mean that it is, in effect, a huge gamble,” said Jan Zalewski, an Asia expert

with the Britain-based risk assessment firm Verisk Maplecroft. “Inflicting such huge costs for what is an uncertain outcome is problematic.”

Real estate, tourism, transportation and gold and gems have been hit the hardest, along with informal sectors that rely mostly on cash.

Prices are forecast to rise since the cash crunch is pinching supplies of all sorts of goods.

The country’s banks, however, are seeing banner business. The central bank said old notes worth 13 trillion rupees ($191 billion) had been deposited as of December 10, with many more expected by Friday’s deadline.

That should improve bank liquidity and in turn encourage more lending to boost economic growth.

Mixed messages, chaotic rules

The Finance Ministry and central bank have issued at least 60 different directives, some of them contradictory, about such issues as how much money can be withdrawn from bank accounts and which documents are needed for depositing old cash. The mixed messages have compounded the overall chaos and shaken investors’ confidence.

“There appears to be less trust in many institutions, including the Reserve Bank and other banks. That is one important behavioral change that has been ushered in,” said Mihir Sharma, senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi based think tank.

Financial experts are baffled about how to evaluate the move.

“One of the major problems with the demonetization move is that success is so difficult to measure,” Zalewski said. “In and of itself, it can’t end black money, stop terrorism funding and the counterfeiting of notes.”

New bills, old habits

The idea that swapping old currency notes for new ones would wipe out tax evasion has already been proven naive. Over the last seven weeks, Indian income-tax authorities uncovered more than 32 billion rupees ($477 million) in undeclared wealth held in new notes, foreign currency, gold and other commodities.

The Finance Ministry found enormous stashes of new currency bills secreted away by corrupt bank managers. Axis Bank CEO Shikha Sharma said she was “embarrassed and upset” after it was found managers at the bank had used the stolen funds to fake accounts and launder customers’ untaxed savings for a premium.

a global trend?

A month after Modi scrapped the highdenomination notes, Venezuela’s president announced that the 100-bolivar notes that account for more than three-quarters of the country’s cash would be taken out of circulation. Skyrocketing inflation had taken the value of the Venezuelan notes to 2 US cents from 10 cents in the past year.

But while India’s cash overhaul has been relatively peaceful, Venezuela’s was not.

When no new bolivar notes appeared to replace the old ones, riots and looting erupted in towns across Venezuela, whose economy was already in shambles. Hundreds of grocery stores were damaged or destroyed. Ultimately, the government extended use of the old 100-bolivar notes until January 2, 2017.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared the abrupt cash overhaul an economic triumph, claiming people were racing to deposit the old notes into banks. He did not say how much was deposited.

In Pakistan opposition lawmakers passed a resolution last week calling for the withdrawal of the country’s highestdenomination note from circulation. The government rejected that move, saying there was no need to discontinue the country’s 5,000-rupee note, worth about $48.

“The very notion of cancellation of such convenience in transactions is preposterous and unequivocally denied,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement. AP

Indians wait in a queue outside a bank to withdraw cash in Mumbai, India, on December1. The government’s sudden decision to withdraw large-denomination currency from circulation has caused enormous hardship to millions of people in the country’s predominantly cash-based economy. Nearly three weeks ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that 500- and 1,000-rupee notes, worth about $7.50 and $15, would become worthless overnight and would be replaced by new currency in a bid to stamp out corruption and tax evasion. AP/Rajanish Kakade

Workers are busy on the assembly line at the Huajian shoe factory in Dongguan, China, where heels are produced for Ivanka Trump’s line of shoes. If President-elect Donald J. Trump makes good on the promise of punishing overseas companies, he will take aim at his own brand, and his daughter’s, as well. Gilles Sabrie/The New York Times

Uncertainty over new Chinese law rattles foreign nonprofits

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EIJING—The hotline rings, but nobody answers. China’s Ministry of Public Security opened the line last month to answer questions about the new law regulating foreign nonprofit organizations, which takes effect on Sunday.

But this week and last, calls went unanswered, exemplifying the uncertainty that surrounds the law, raising concern among thousands of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) about their ability to continue their work in the new year.

The law, which places a raft of new requirements on foreign nonprofits operating in China, is another building block in President Xi Jinping’s fortification of one-party rule, which he sees as threatened by foreign influence and unfettered civil society. Under the law, foreign nonprofits, such as foundations, charities and many business associations, must register with the police, persuade state agencies and organizations to act as their sponsors, and submit regular, detailed reports on their activities.

According to an official estimate, there are 7,000 foreign NGOs in China. They range from well-known institutions, like the Ford Foundation and Oxfam, to groups of a few people working on issues, like rural education, nature conservation and health care.

But groups working on politically sensitive issues, like human rights, legal reform and the rule of law, or those concerning ethnic minorities, are seen as most at risk.

Some foreign organizations have pulled back. The American Bar Association, which has a program providing training and support to strengthen the rule of law, recently closed its Beijing office until it could gain formal approval for its work.

Elizabeth Andersen, the association’s associate executive director, cited the “heightened scrutiny of foreign organizations working in China and the uncertainties and lack of information surrounding how the new law will be implemented.”

But the uncertainty has also unsettled groups far removed from political concerns. Numerous aspects of the law remain opaque, and many groups are anxious about the vagueness and expense of the new requirements,

while some fear their work will be curtailed or even banned. “Nothing’s clear,” said Corinne Richeux Hua, executive director of Stepping Stones, a locally registered charity in Shanghai that organizes English teachers for children from the countryside. “We’ve got vague directives and guidelines.”

Local police, with whom her group must now register, had been helpful, but “they are still figuring it,” she said. “The rules haven’t been made completely clear to them yet.”

Ambiguity about how the law will be enforced is likely to make foreign groups extra cautious, and the Ministry of Public Security, which administers the law, “ has every incentive to maintain uncertainty,” said Jessica C. Teets, a political scientist at Middlebury College in Vermont who studies NGOs in China.

“This will mean that the government is able to more closely monitor the foreign NGOs and, more important, the Chinese citizens working and interacting with them, while allowing them to continue the work that the government deems beneficial,” Teets said by e-mail. “The NGOs have every right to fear the closing off of space for advocacy and programs, but I think the impact will be really differentiated.”

Indeed, a Ministry of Public Security official told diplomats in Shanghai last month that “the Chinese government will continue welcoming and supporting foreign non-governmental organizations coming to China.”

After Deng Xiaoping opened up China in the 1980s, foreign foundations, associations and charities became important channels for sharing money, ideas and inspiration. Officials often welcomed their help, especially in poorer parts of the country, even though the rules governing their status were murky.

But certain kinds of organizations, especially those that work in law and contentious social issues,

have garnered distrust. Through the new law, the government wants to narrow permissible activities of foreign groups and monitor their work much more thoroughly.

A list of permitted categories of assistance issued last week suggested that foreign groups offering technical help on environmental, health and other relatively uncontroversial issues had strong chances of gaining approval.

Those working on legal issues will have a much narrower foothold. “Human rights”, for example, is not on the list of permitted issues.

“Rather than seeing foreign NGOs as potential partners who can help aid in economic, social and legal development in China, instead, they see a latent threat that needs to be controlled,” said Thomas Kellogg, East Asia director of the Open Society Foundations, which has financed some work in China. “People on the international side are definitely worried.

And well they should be. I think it will be difficult for many foreign NGOs working on legal reform to register. For those that are able to register, the law will likely restrict what they are able to do.”

Even before the new law, combative rights lawyers and advocates, feminists and labor activists have come under Xi’s heavy grip.

Peter Dahlin, a Swedish citizen in Beijing, was arrested, forced to apologize on television and expelled from China early this year for working for an unregistered group that did low-key advocacy for legal rights.

The party sees groups like his as potential Trojan horses of political subversion. A propaganda video promoted by public security agencies this month warned that antiparty forces were “using foreign non-governmental organizations to nurture ‘proxies’ and to establish a social basis” for insurrection.

The groups’ worries have been compounded by confusion about many requirements, the belated release of crucial rules, and signs that public security bureaus are poorly prepared for their new role.

But it is not just activists and charities who are concerned. The opaque rules mean that organizations, such as business groups, universities and education programs, which seemingly pose no political threat, are also unclear whether they must register for some of their activities. “Business and trade associations, civil society, environmental groups and educational institutions that are concerned about how their

operations in China may be affected” have met with US diplomats to discuss the law, said Mary Beth Polley, a spokesman for the US Embassy in Beijing.

“We remain deeply concerned about the uncertainties and potentially hostile environment for foreign nonprofit, non-governmental organizations and their Chinese partners that this law creates,” she said. Foreign organizations working in China have long had to seek out domestic agencies or organizations to act as their sponsors. But the new law narrows the list of permissible sponsors, and those permitted may be reluctant to take on the risk of vouching for foreign groups, or feel they do not have the personnel available for the task.

“Who wants to assume this burden?” asks Lester Ross, a partner in the Beijing office of the WilmerHale law firm who has been advising companies and organizations on the new law. “I think there’s a real issue of capacity. The NGO community serves as an important ballast for relationships, and if this is mishandled, it won’t help.”

While some foreign organizations are resigned to months of uncertainty, some said they would keep working full time in the country, confident that public security offices will let them stay open while the registration is ironed out. Several US trade associations said they thought they would be allowed to stay, and some groups said they looked forward to gaining official status under the new rules.

“We see these new regulations as a pretty positive thing for us,” said Steve Blake, acting chief representative in Beijing of WildAid, which works with the Chinese government to fight illegal trading in wildlife. “We have a big presence here, but we’ve never been completely officially on the books.”

But organizations work ing on legal issues or social problems said they were unsure of their futures and may face hard choices. Registration may mean sacrificing autonomy, but the alternative may be abandoning people in China who need their help, said Kellogg of the Open Society Foundations.

“I would urge foreign NGOs to adopt a wait-and-see attitude before they make any final decisions about either registering or pulling out of China,” he said. “Once there is more clarity about how the law will be enforced, it will be at least a bit easier to come up with mitigation strategies.” NYTNS

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The World BusinessMirror

Sunday, January 1, 2017

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

How Russia recruited elite hackers for its cyber war

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OSCOW—Aleksandr B. Vyarya thought his job was to defend people from cyber attacks until, he says, his government approached him with a request to do the opposite.

Vyarya, 33, a bearded, bespectacled computer programmer who thwarted hackers, said he was suddenly being asked to join a sweeping overhaul of the Russian military last year.

Under a new doctrine, the nation’s generals were redefining war as more than a contest of steel and gunpowder, making cyber warfare a central tenet in expanding the Kremlin’s interests.

“Sorry, I can’t,” Vyarya said he told an executive at a Russian military contracting firm who had offered him the hacking job.

But Vyarya was worried about the consequences of his refusal, so he abruptly fled to Finland last year, he and his former employer said.

It was a rare example of a Russian who sought asylum in the face of the country’s push to recruit hackers.

“This is against my principles— and illegal,” he said of the Russian military’s hacking effort.

Elite team of computer hackers

While much about Russia’s cyberwarfare program is shrouded in secrecy, details of the government’s effort to recruit programmers in recent years—whether professionals like Vyarya, college students or even criminals—are shedding some light on the Kremlin’s plan to create elite teams of computer hackers.

US intelligence agencies say that a team of Russian hackers stole data from the Democratic National Committee during the presidential campaign.

On Thursday the Obama administration imposed sanctions against Russia for interfering in the election, the bedrock of the US political system.

The sanctions take aim at Russia’s main intelligence agencies and specific individuals, striking at one part of a sprawling cyber-espionage operation that also includes the military, military contractors and teams of civilian recruits.

‘Science squadrons’

For more than three years, rather than rely on military officers working out of isolated bunkers, Russian government recruiters have scouted a wide range of programmers, placing prominent ads on social-media sites, offering jobs to college students and professional coders, and even speaking openly about looking in Russia’s criminal underworld for potential talent.

Those recruits were intended to cycle through military contracting companies and newly formed units called “science squadrons,” established on military bases around the country.

As early as 2013, Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defense minister, told university rectors at a meeting in Moscow that he was on a “head hunt in the positive meaning of the word” for coders.

Recruitment through advertisement

The Defense Ministry bought advertising on Vkontakte, Russia’s most popular social network. One video shows a man clanging a military rifle on a table beside a laptop computer, then starting to type.

“If you graduated from college, if you are a technical specialist, if you are ready to use your knowledge, we give you an opportunity,” the ad intoned. Members of the science squadrons, the video said, live in “comfortable accommodation,” shown as an apartment furnished with a washing machine.

University students subject to

mandatory conscription in the nation’s armed forces, but who wanted to avoid brutal stints as enlistees, could opt instead to join a science squadron. A government questionnaire asks draftees about their knowledge of programming languages.

Cyber criminals

The ministry posted openings on job forums, according to an investigation by Meduza, a Russian news site based in Riga, Latvia, that first disclosed the recruitment effort.

One post from 2014 advertised for a computer scientist with knowledge of “patches, vulnerabilities and exploits,” which refers to sabotage used to alter a computer.

Given the size of Russia’s cybercrime underworld, it was not long before the military considered recruiting those it delicately described as “hackers who have problems with the law.”

In an article titled “Enlisted Hacker” in Rossiiskaya Gazeta, the government newspaper, a deputy minister of defense, Gen. Oleg Ostapenko, said the science squadrons might include hackers with criminal histories. “From the point of view of using scientific potential, this is a matter for discussion,” he was quoted as saying in 2013.

Experts say the strategy was more than just talk.

“There have been cases where cybercriminals are arrested but never ended up in prison,” said Dmitri Alperovitch, the cofounder and chief technology officer of CrowdStrike, the cyber-security company that first identified the group known as Fancy Bear as the perpetrator of the Democratic National Committee hacking.

The estate of George DuPont Pratt, also known as the Killenworth, which was purchased by the Soviet Union for its UN diplomats, in Glen Cove, New York. The Obama administration struck back at Russia for its efforts to influence the 2016 election, ejecting 35 Russian intelligence operatives from the United States and imposing sanctions on Russia’s two leading intelligence services. Vic DeLucia/The New York Times

DDoS attack

Vyarya, the programmer who turned down the government’s job offer, was an attractive recruit from the opposite end of the spectrum: someone with a career protecting people against hackers.

Specifically, he had experience shielding web sites from a maneuver called a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, in which the sites are overwhelmed and disabled by a torrent of fake traffic. Among his clients were Vedomosti, an independent newspaper; TV Rain, an oppositionleaning television station; and the web site of Aleksei Navalny, the opposition leader.

Vyarya said that in 2015 he was invited to accompany Vasily Brovko, an executive at the military contracting company Rostec, on a trip to Sofia, Bulgaria. But he said it turned out to be a demonstration of a new software suite capable of staging DDoS attacks.

The Bulgarian firm demonstrating the software briefly crashed the web site of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and Slon.ru, a Russian news web site, Vyarya said. Slon has confirmed its site went down inexplicably for abouttwo minutes that day, February 5, 2015.

After the demonstration, Vyarya said Brovko asked him how the program might be improved. Then, according to Vyarya, Brovko offered him a job running the DDoS software, which he said the Russians planned to buy from the Bulgarians for about $1 million.

Surveillance

V yarya said his problems began when he turned down the offer: He was surveilled, and an acquaintance in law enforcement

Dmitri Artimovich, who says he was offered a chance to work as a hacker for the Russian government while awaiting trial, is shown here in Moscow on December 23. To build its cyber-warfare program, Russian government recruiters have scouted civilian programmers, placed online ads and even spoken openly about probing Russia’s criminal underworld for potential talent. James Hill/The New York Times

advised him to flee the country.

He left in August 2015 for Finland to seek asylum, he and his former employer said. The Finnish government, citing safety and privacy concerns, would not comment on the asylum application.

“As soon as we saw what was on the table, Sasha was given direct instructions to return to his hotel and stop all contacts,” said his former boss, Aleksandr V. Lyamin of Qrator, a cyber-defense company in Moscow, using Vyarya’s Russian nickname. But the overtures from the military contractor persisted, Lyamin said, and Vyarya fled.

Rostec strongly denied Vyarya’s account. Brovko did travel to Bulgaria with Vyarya, the company said, but to evaluate software for defensive, not offensive, cyber systems. A spokesman for Brovko called the account of crashing sites in a product demonstration the imagination of a “mentally unstable” man.

Military’s cyber warfare

The military’s push into cyberwarfare had intensified in 2012, with the appointment of a new minister of defense, Shoigu. The next year, a senior defense official, Gen. Valery Gerasimov published what became known as the Gerasimov Doctrine.

It posited that in the world today, the lines between war and peace had blurred and that covert tactics, such as working through proxies or otherwise in the shadows, would rise in importance.

He called it “nonlinear war”.

His critics called it “guerrilla geopolitics”.

But Russia is certainly not alone.

“Almost all developed countries in the world, unfortunately, are creating offensive capabilities, and many have confirmed this,” said Anton M. Shingarev, a vice president at Kaspersky, a Russian antivirus company.

Recruitment by Russia’s military should be expected, he said.

“You or I might be angry about it, but, unfortunately, it’s just reality.

Many countries are doing it. This is the reality.”

US intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency, have for decades recruited on college campuses. In 2015 the NSA offered a free summer camp to 1,400 high-school and middleschool students, where they were taught the basics of hacking, cracking and cyber defense.

Spams through advertisements

In Russia recr uiters have looked well beyond the nation’s school system.

In 2013, as Russia’s recruitment drive was picking up, Dmitry A. Artimovich, a soft-spoken physicist, was awaiting trial in a Moscow jail for designing a computer program that spammed email users with advertisements for male sexual enhancement products. One day a cellmate, convicted of selling narcotics online, sidled up to him with some news. The cellmate said that people incarcerated for cybercrimes could get out before trial, in exchange for working for the government. Another inmate had already taken a deal, he said.

“It was an offer to cooperate,” Artimovich said.

“Why else would you work for the government?” he added. “The salaries are tiny. But if you do something illegal, and go to prison for eight or nine years, the FSB can help you,” he said, using a Russian abbreviation for the Federal Security Service.

Artimovich said he decided to take his chances at trial, and served a year in a penal colony.

Surveillance, hacking software

As Russia ramped up its abilities, government agencies were also in the market for surveillance and hacking software, including some from legal suppliers in the West.

In 2014 a Russian company called Advanced Monitoring that has a license to work with the FSB, the agency that succeeded the KGB after the fall of the Soviet Union, bought iPhone hacking software from an Italian company called Hacking Team, according to invoices published by WikiLeaks.

Hacking Team has since lost its export license.

Western cyber-security analysts believe they have identified the one responsible for the breaching the Democratic National Committee: a group nicknamed Fancy Bear. First known as Advanced Persistent Threat 28, the group has been active since 2007 but its abilities evolved to emphasize attacks, rather than gather intelligence, after the military placed a priority on cyberwarfare.

It stepped up “faketivist” actions that released stolen data through contrived online personalities like Guccifer 2 and web sites like DCLeaks, according to Kyle Ehmke, a senior intelligence researcher at T hreatConnect, a cyber-security company. The group had been called Pawn Storm, named for a chess maneuver. It was nicknamed Fancy Bear in 2014.

This year the group appropr iated the nickname for its ow n use, setting up the web site fancybear.net and publishing hacked data from the World A nt i - D o p i n g A g e n c y, w h i c h showed that many US athletes, including the tennis star Serena Williams had medical exemptions to take banned substances. The hack was apparently in retaliation for revelations of Russian doping in sports.

President Vladimir Putin has said repeatedly, most recently at his annual year-end news conference, that the information released in the recent Democratic National Committee hacks was more important than who was behind them.

“The main thing, to my mind, is the information the hackers provided,” Putin said of this summer’s cyber attack.

Democratic Party members and the Obama administration should not look abroad for someone to blame for losing the election, Putin said. “You need to learn how to lose gracefully,” he said. NYTNS

Biodiversity Sunday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Sunday, January 1, 2017

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

A5

Due to high social cost

Duterte urged: Stop tide-embankment project

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By Elmer V. Recuerdo | Correspondent

ACLOBAN CITY— Environmental groups and social-development advocates are asking President Duterte to stop a multibillion-pesos infrastructure project not only because of the danger that it poses, but also of the high social cost.

The Center for Environmental Concerns (CEC) said the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) submitted for the construction of the P7.9-billion tide-embankment project failed to consider env ironmenta l hazards, such as liquefaction, inland flooding and the destruction of about 97 hectares of mangroves.

T he groups likened the tide embankment to the P1.4 -billion antilahar megadike project constr ucted in Pampanga, where par ts were sa id to be cr umbling , ex posing thousands of residents to danger.

Residents affected by the tideembankment project—a P7.9 billion storm-surge adaptation project of the Depar tment of P ubl ic Work s a nd H ig hw ay s (DPW H), r unning 27.3 kilometers from Tanauan to Tacloban C it y—h ave been pet it ion i ng to cancel the implementation.

Over 20,000 families are expected to be displaced when this project is completed.

“It is plain hypocrisy to prioritize the construction of this project over the needs of disas-

20k The estimated number of families expected to be displaced when the tideembankment project is completed

ter sur vivors. It is hy pocrisy that this huge project is being implemented in haste, all in the name of securing our lives, while our right to housing is sold by no less than our own government,” said Christopher Durana, an officer of Baskug Han Katawhan ha mga Komunidad nga No Build Zone (Bakhawan), an organization among residents of a coastal community in Tacloban.

“It is a big joke for the DPWH to pronounce that public consultations have been held, when we see here thousands protesting against

Some 3,000 residents who will be displaced by the construction of the tide embankment recently held a rally in front of DPWH regional office in Palo, Leyte, demanding to stop the project. They also criticized the poor quality of houses built the by the National Housing Authority for people living in declared high-risk areas. Elmer Recuerdo

the project. It is hypocrisy to sell this project in the altar of safety, when it actually brings more harm than relief,” he said.

“We are demanding President Duterte to stop the tide-embankment project the soonest possible time. If he is truly pro-poor, he must listen to our dissent and realign the billion-peso-worth budget to the more pressing needs of us [Supertyphoon] Yolanda survivors,” Owen Migraso of CEC said.

The CEC led an environmental investigative mission (EIM) to look into the impacts of the tide embankment on the environment and the socioeconomic situation of affected communities.

“This is a total waste of people’s money. This does not only give us a false sense of security against storm surges but makes us more vulnerable to other disasters,” said Prof. Pascualito Ilagan, a social science professor at the Eastern Visayas State University and head of Freedom from Debt Coalition, a member of non-governmental group of Coalition of Yolanda Survivors and Partners (CYSP).

Ilagan cited an earlier study of Dr. Kelvin Rodolfo, a renowned earth and environmental scientist, where it mentioned that the 4-meter-high wall would be ineffective against a storm surge.

“The storm surge during Super-

typhoon Yolanda went as high as 8 meters. This tide embankment can only cause flooding because it will block water from going to the sea,” he said.

Ilagan also said an infrastructure, like a tide embankment, is also ineffective, because the whole stretch of the coastal area where the project will be constructed is prone to liquefaction, which even a sturdier structure may not be able to withstand. In a statement, the CYSP, a broad coa lition of groups opposing the construction of the tideembankment project, said there was no real consultation made before it was implemented.

“The Aquino administration approved and started the implementation of this project, despite the lack of consultation with affected residents and contrary to scientific studies that the project might even enhance the risks posed to communities,” CYSP said in the statement.

More than 15,000 families living along the eastern coast of Tacloban and two other municipalities are expected to be removed from their homes to give way to this project.

Tacloban is already relocating thousands of families and resettled them in permanent shelters in the northern barangays of the city.

Clean-water services for healthier Philippines pushed

By Stephanie Tumampos

Special to the BusinessMirror

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he Philippines, through its Philippine Water Supply Sector Roadmap created by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), has aimed to hit the universal water-access target by 2025. Yet, as hopeful as it seems, this goal requires bigger responsibilities.

In order to reach this goal, the World Bank Group reports in its 2015 Service Delivery Assessment of the Water Supply and Sanitation in the Philippines: Turning Finance into Services for the Future that the Philippines would need an average of $803 million per year to be spent on water supply to reach the universal water-access target in 2025 and $619 million per year to meet goals on sanitation by 2028. An additional $210 million per year for maintenance and operation for water-access infrastructure and $132 million per year for sanitation.

The monetary figures are overwhelming, as the country also addresses problems in many sectors.

As per the World Bank Group, the international body says these national goals can only be met if there is a strong political will to mobilize these investments. But beyond these monetary figures, a strong grassroots approach, specifically the movement of people and the demand for clean water, is needed to further push these goals to reality.

There are a number of organizations that strive to push clean water, sanitation and hygiene to local communities, but unlike any other group, A Single Drop for Safe Water (ASDSW) steps up the game

by utilizing the government as the main focal point driving the demand force, hence creating supply of clean water.

The need for safe and clean water is a basic right, yet, many are deprived in undeserved rural areas all over the country. Only 5 percent of the current population in the Philippines has proper connections to sewerage systems; over 8 million Filipinos have no access to clean water; and more than 30 million of the population have no access to sanitary toilets.

This inspired Kevin Lee, an American brought up and educated in New Zealand and arrived in the Philippines as a Peace Corps volunteer assigned to water and sanitation projects in 2004, to establish the ASDSW in 2006, an organization that aims to strengthen water sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) governance, and collaborate technical capacities with various partners.

Never left

Lee had a good life in New Zealand. He was born in South Africa

by American parents and moved to New Zealand, where he was raised and educated the Kiwi way. Lee then got his mechanical engineering degree and worked in the steel industry before working in the pollution-control industry.

“I joined Peace Cor ps just for a change and came here in Februar y of 2004, and was in Baguio and Nueva Vizcaya for their water and santitation programs,” Lee said in an exclusive inter view with the BusinessMirror. The work Lee had in the Philippines, for him, an eye opener. Coming from a heav yindustry background, there was a complete c hange of ca reer

when he arrived in the countr y, and Lee had the opportunity to ser ve in a ver y different field.

“W hen I was working here [in the Philippines], I was starting to understand some of the issues that were impacting water and, santiation development and, then, I was trying to figure out what to do,” he explained.

From there, he met Gemma Bulos, a Filipino-American musician and teacher who also aimed for a clean water and proper sanitation.

The two worked together to create ASDSW, with Lee giving talks and doing some trainings for the biosand filters.

“It wasn’t a real conscious decision to say I’m in the Philippines for a certain reason, but opportunity was there and there was no reason to leave. The investment in the Philippines came after we started a single drop there was work, and there was more opportunity,” Lee explained. “Most of all, there’s a challenge in what we started. We started something really cool, and I like the people that I work with, and I like the progress that we made and see it happening.”

And it was evident enough that progress happened just a year after ASDSW was established. In 2007 one of the major programs Lee did with the ASDSW was their project in the Administrative Region in Muslim Mindanao, where they worked with 31 municipalities with seven non-governmental organizations. The project has benefited over 35,000 people in the area. It’s about the people... and the demand “It’s never the technolog y, it’s about the poeple,” Lee said during the interview with the BusinessMirror, citing the importance of understanding the

current situation and problem of the community.

In one of their projects in Nueva Vizcaya, the community already has springwater developments and distribution systems, but locals were still tapping water from undeveloped springs. “We have to build the capacity to design things correctly, implement things correctly; but we also have to take responsibility for maintaining it and operating it,” Lee said. And overtime, the organization discovered that, while it is important to create solutions, it also has to create the demand for water and sanitation services to keep the clean water running.

“The issue that people always say is that water is important, but when you implement and you ask people to pay for it they say, ‘walang pera’ [no money],” Lee lamented. “We have to make people understand that water and sanitation are important and should be a priority by our lives and the government.” ASDSW pushed locals and even the local governments that it worked with to understand the importance of prioritizing clean water and sanitation by investing in it and changing the behavior of the people. “You change your behavior the way you go to the toilet; you change your behavior to wash your hands,” Lee said.

Working with the government provides challenges along the way.

Lee had to provide a good example on how clean water and sanitation services can have good effects on the economy. “We discovered that for the most vulnerable families, the cost [for clean water and sanitation services] is equivalent to their 13th-month pay, and so

the money that they would lose on medical cost, they won’t lose anymore,” Lee explained to the BusinessMirror. “And their lost opportunity cost to earn money is increased, and so this creates wealth,” he added.

Aside from the economic impact, Lee explained that good water services increase a child’s good health. “Within the first five years is where you have the biggest impact of the learning capacity of the children, so by raising that awareness and creating demand, then people start investing and changing their behaviors.”

These reasons can actually start people to think and demand improved WaSH services from the government, as well as demanding responsibility from water-service providers.

Behavior change

Lee comes from a country where water, sanitation and hygiene services exceed not just a basic human right but also a privilege. He emphasized that the key component in any program is to create demand.

In most vulnerable communities in the Philippines, demand for these kind of services is low.

The understanding of prevention of waterbor ne d iseases, malnutrition and proper livelihood stems from proper WaSH services. This kind of mind-set leads to poverty alleviation.

“We have to identify areas with sanitation problems, and the local government units must be the focal point,” Lee said. The importance of having the cooperation and collaboration in the municipal level is that community participation can be pushed. “If the LGU has the knowledge and the push, demand, supply and good governance in-

tersect, and success is achieved.”

Hence, a strategic plan-resource mobilization is needed.

Behavior change is needed, particularly when it comes to sanitation, which relates to health and economic impact. “Many people in most vulnerable communities have very limited amount of money, and they have to decide on what they should invest and without understanding the economic impact of not having a toilet, they chose to spend it on other things,” Lee said.

Beyond the social issues, Lee, through ASDSW, also sees that people would not only address proper WaSH services but also take pride in that having a proper toilet, which goes a long way in terms of people’s confidence and pride in their homes.

“We want to be proud of where we live,” Lee said to the BusinessMirror. He added, “It’s not about shame but we want to be proud of where we live, and we want to be healthy.”

The future for ASDSW

As Lee stays in the Philippines, the work for ASDSW continues.

The organization itself has come a long way since 2006. In 2009 ASDSW partnered with Oxfam and other local organizations, where it entered the humanitarian response industry. In 2011, right after Ty phoon Sendong devastating the city of Cagayan de Oro, ASDSW included highprof i le Wa SH i nter vent ions, such as designing, building and operating sludge disposal plants.

Lee said, “There is always a return of investment when we invest in clean water and sanitation services and that kind of investment starts in our mindset change that having these kind of services can go a long way for long term effects.”

Faith A6

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Sunday

Editor: Lyn B. Resurreccion

The 12 Days of Christmas

Customers buy toys to give as gifts during Christmas in downtown Manila.

Christmas is one of the most important holidays in this predominantly Roman Catholic nation. AP/Aaron Favila

Moses Breaking the Tablets of the Law (1659) by Rembrandt. Wikimedia Commons

‘If you can’t give gifts, give yourself’

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ACLOBAN CITY—The season of Christmas is not all about gifts but all about self-giving.

This was the message of Fr. Lito Maraya, rector of the Saint John the Evangelist School of Theology in this city, in his Christmas Eve homily.

In this time when not everyone can afford to buy gifts for others, the priest urged the people to instead give themselves as a gift to others by doing good deeds.

“As the song says, ‘Take time to be kind to one and all.’ You take time to share your joy, your talent, your patience, your peace, your forgiveness, especially to those who hurt you; take time to share your friendship,” Maraya said.

“When we share our smile, our patience, our forgiveness, then Christ is truly with us,” he said.

Maraya, likewise, emphasized the spirit of Christmas embodied by gift-giving, which he described as a Christian tradition.

China: Open to Vatican talks but Catholics must be patriots

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EIJING—China’s head of religious affairs said Beijing is willing to have constructive dialogue with the Vatican but stressed that Catholics should “hold up high the flag of patriotism” and adapt Catholicism to Chinese society.

Wang Zuo’an, the director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs, made the remarks on Tuesday at a meeting of China’s official Catholic Church, which includes bishops, priests and lay Catholics, state media reported.

Beijing insists that the party-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association has the authority to appoint Chinese bishops, a decision the Holy See says belongs to the pope alone. This dispute over bishop nominations is the most vexing stumbling block preventing the reestablishment of diplomatic relations.

China severed relations with the Holy See in 1951 after the Communists took over, and the officially atheistic government closed churches and imprisoned priests, some for decades. Worship is officially allowed only in state-authorized churches outside the pope’s authority, although many of China’s estimated 12 million Catholics are thought to attend underground churches.

Wang said the Chinese government hoped that the Vatican could adopt a flexible and pragmatic attitude, and take concrete actions to create favorable conditions for improving relations, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. No details were given of what actions Beijing expects.

The ruling Communist Party has long feared that opposition to its rule could be spread by religious and other civic groups outside its control. In May last year, President Xi Jinping called for religions to adapt to Chinese society, which he termed the “sinicization of religion”. AP

“Why do we give gifts during Christmas? Is it because we are rich? Is it because we are generous? Probably, but not to all. Is it because we are good persons? I believe, yes,” he said.

Maraya explained that in the nine days prior to Christmas, churchgoers had been hearing about Mary, Joseph, Zachariah and Elizabeth, who were filled with God once they received Jesus.

“If we have received Jesus, we don’t need anything but to share what we have received,” he exhorted. “ We g ive g if ts, because it is presumed that we a lready have received t he L ord; t hat is why t he joy of C hr ist mas is basica l ly rel ig ious, spir it u a l a nd not mater i a l,” Ma raya sa id.

“The joy of Christmas is in the Lord. And once we have received

Christ, then we have everything because He is the best gift we have received,” he added.

What to do when you don’t get what you hope for

What do you do when expectations or carefully crafted plans change? Throw a pity party? Sulk?

According to Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, you should continue to cling on to hope.

The prelate said when plans or hopes do not turn out as expected, everyone is called to “be open to God’s ways of fulfilling our hopes.”

“That’s the very nature of hope, to be open,” added Tagle, who spoke to thousands attending Jesuit Communications’ annual Advent recollection on December 12 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

‘God can do wonders’

“When [something] can be dictated upon, it’s already closed.

There’s no more hope, because you already know,” he said in Filipino.

Tagle said everyone has hopes, but when things do not turn out

as expected, one’s hope in God should go on.

“Hoping is not the certainty of my human sight…. That is the lesson that John the Baptist is telling us. We hope intensely, we hope for people, especially the youth…. God can do wonders.

Keep on hoping,” Tagle said, basing his entire reflection on the Gospel passage that shows John the Baptist’s apparent doubts that Jesus was the Messiah.

Trusting in Jesus

Far from being passive, Tagle said, to hope is a function of active faith in Jesus.

“We need to participate in hope… Keep on hoping and believing that God will accomplish it…

The center of the faith is Jesus.”

“Hoping is not that easy. Like John the Baptist, I continue hoping even when I do not see. But I am assured that something good will happen not so much becaue of the results, but because in God I put my hope,” the prelate explained.

Eileen Nazareno-Ballesteros and Nirva’ana Ella Delacruz/CBCPNews

Relics of Saints Louis and Zélie, parents of Saint Thérèse, to visit PHL

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he relics of Saints Louis a nd Z é l ie M a r t i n , t he parents of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, will arrive in the Philippines on January 1 and tour around the country until February 28.

The welcome Mass for them will be on January 2 at 12 noon at the Shrine of Saint Thérèse in Villamor, Pasay City. It will be presided by Most Rev. Leopoldo

Tumulak, DD. Veneration of the relics will follow after the Mass.

January 2 is also the 144th birthday of Saint Thérèse, also known as The Little Flower of Jesus.

The Martin couple were canonized on October 18, 2015. They were the first-ever spouses to be proposed for canonization as a couple and the first to be canonized together. It should be noted that besides having a daughter as

a saint in Saint Thérèse, the Martin couple-saints have four other daughters who are nuns. Saint Thérèse and three of her sister nuns are Carmelites.

The other daughter, Léonie Martin, who entered the Monastery of the Visitation at Caen, is also a candidate for sainthood.

Below is the schedule of itinerary of the relics of Saints Louis and Zélie.

By Corazon Damo-Santiago Conclusion

Gifts of the Holy Spirit

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he Holy Spirit is one of the persons of the Holy Trinity, equal with God the Father and God the Son. It is the Holy Spirit that sanctifies man, works in many ways “to build up the whole Body in charity,” according to Ephesians 4:6.

The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.

Beatitudes

The Beatitudes are the basic qualities of Christian holiness, which are pleasing to God and which w il l be generously rewarded. They were Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, addressed to the disciples and the crowd. n Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; n Blessed are they who mourn for they will be comforted; n Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the land; n Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied; n Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy; n Blessed are the clean of heart for they shall see God; n Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God; n Blessed are they who are persecuted for t he sa ke of r ighteousness for theirs is the k ingdom of heaven; n Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you because of me.

Rejoice and be glad for your reward will be great in heaven, Matthew 5, 3-12 said.

The Beatitudes exalt those who put their confidence in God despite lack of material possessions.

Too, those who are with clean and humble heart and live in conformity with God’s will.

Fruits of the Holy Spirit

The nine fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

These fruits are perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in Christians as the first fruits of eternal glory, according to Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1832. Spiritual writers consider virtues as stable dispositions of the will and intellect that govern acts of man. Seemingly interrelated, these moral values “can be grouped into four cardinal virtues: penance, justice, fortitude and temperance,” CCC 1834 said.

The tradition of the Church lists 12. The three virtues that were not included are generosity, modesty and chastity.

Ten Commandments

To deserve eternal life is to keep

the Decalogue, which literally is the Ten Commandments.

It was proclaimed by God to an assembly of people, led by Moses, amid fire, cloud and thick darkness on Mount Sinai.

God wrote them in two stone tablets and gave them to Moses.

A covenant between God and His people, the two tables are considered as Tables of Testimony to be deposited in the Ark or Sanctuary, which will be built for the Lord.

The first three commandments specify man’s relationship with God, and the rest are how man should relate with other people.

Apostles of the Lord

“ Now it h appened i n t hose d ays t hat He went up on t he mountain to pray, and He spent t he whole night in prayer to God. W hen d ay ca me, He su mmoned His disciples and picked out 12 of them. He ca l led them apostles—Simon whom he ca l led Peter, a nd h is brot her A nd re w, Ja mes, Joh n , Ph i li p, B a r t h o l o m e w, M a t t h e w, T homas, Ja mes son of A lphaeus, Simon ca l led t he Zea lot, Jud as son of James, and Jud as Isca r iot, who beca me a t ra itor,” according to Luke 6:12-16.

Because Judas Iscariot betrayed the Lord, he did not help build the Catholic Church as the 11 apostles did.

The word apostle means one who is sent. The 11 apostles were the prime witnesses to Christ’s resurrection from the dead on Easter Sunday.

They knew Him and loved Him, and were assigned roles in building Christian communities.

According to Catholic teaching, Christ ordained them priests during the Last Supper and commissioned them to preach the Gospel, Matthew 28: 19-20 said.

Doctrines of the Apostles Creed

The Apostles Creed is the faithful summar y of the apostles’ faith. From the Latin word credo, the 12 principal truths of Christian faith are the fundamental reference for catechesis.

The ancient tradition of the Church as attested by Saint Ambrose reckon with 12 articles of the Creed, which symbolize the fullness of apostolic faith by the number of the apostles, CCC 191 said.

T he Creed is d iv ided into three parts: God the Father and His wonderful work of creation; God the Son, His birth, death, resurrection from the dead; and the mystery of Redemption, and the Holy Spirit, the origin and source of man’s sanctification.

The Creed ends with Amen, a Hebrew word that is derived from the word “ believe”.

n Santiago is a former regional director of the Department of Education National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptor is College in Calauan, Laguna.

Tourism& Entertainment BusinessMirror

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Sunday, January 1, 2017

A7

Providing Light, Giving Hope Outdoor enthusiast group climbs for a cause

Local tourists enjoy themselves with countless photo ops

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Story & photos by Euden Valdez

onsidered as the country with the longest Christmas celebration, holiday in the Philippines is just about to end this January.

Definitely, streets, establishments and even households are still bedecked with decorations, simple or grand, but always glowing from Christmas lights and lanterns. But while dazzling and dancing lights are a common sight to Filipinos living in urban areas during Yuletide, a single electric lamp is still a rarity— often a scarcity—to indigenous peoples (IPs) residing in remote communities. Take for example members of the Dumagat tribe settled at Sitio Manggahan of

Barangay Daraitan in the municipality of Tanay in Rizal. To this day, they live without access to electricity, their huts engulfed in total darkness at night.

In the season’s spirit of selflessness, a group of outdoor enthusiasts slash volunteers addressed the IP’s right to a basic need. On December 17, Random Act of Kindness (RAK) donated eight solar lamps to eight Dumagat families.

The recipients hail from Purok Paydas, the remotest settlement that is surrounded by Daraitan River.

RAK, or Random Act of Kindness, as a group of outdoor enthusiasts, who, despite coming from different backgrounds and professions, share the love for trekking or hiking.

For the first time, these families welcomed Christmas and New Year Eves with lights above their heads.

Fund-raising climbs

Formed in 2012, RAK started as a group of outdoor enthusiasts, who, despite coming from different backgrounds and professions, shared the love for trekking or hiking. In every immersion to a mountain, the members got to know its rightful dwellers, be them locals or IPs, whom they also discovered are in need of help to improve their ways of life.

As such, RAK made its mission to give back to their fellow Filipinos dwelling in remote, mountainous communities. So in every climb it organized, profits earned from participants are turned into funds for outreach programs. The very first took place in Sitio San Ysiro in Barangay San Jose, Antipolo City.

“We at RAK are held together by a common goal: to impart charity in whatever we do and make a difference in what we do. Our passion

for the outdoors has led to the desire to help the most vulnerable,” shared RAK cofounding member Frederick Laping to this author.

For 2016, the group has had about 15 climbs for a cause, the last of which was “Give Light and Pasko Fiesta” at Mount Daraitan, the ancestral domain of m any Dumagat tribes in Tanay, Rizal.

“Mount Daraitan is classified at level 4, a minor hike. The trail that we took to the summit is an assault with rock formations and forest cover,” described Laping who has been a mountaineer for two decades already. “It stands at about 739 meters above sea level.”

At the summit, as the group of 10 participants rested after a tiring hike, Laping stood by the edge of a cliff and pointed down to where RAK’s last outreach program for 2016 would be held the following weekend.

Giving Light

With bad weather forecasted over Calabarzon region for December 17, RAK decided to push

The Dumagat elders of Purok Paydas have to cross the river just to reach Sitio Manggahan.

through with its outreach program for the Dumagat families of Purok Paydas. However, the rains caused changes in the original plan, which was for RAK members and volunteers to cross the river and camp out with the beneficiaries at their small settlement. Instead, the Dumagat elders were the ones who crossed the river to go to the outreach venue, an abandoned stone house along Sitio Manggahan’s undeveloped road.

Nevertheless, Dumagat Chieftain Eufemia Enciso of Sitio Manggahan greatly appreciated RAK’s effort for not postponing the donation, unlike two private organizations.

“Nagpapasalamat ako at nagpatuloy pa rin ang Random Act Kindness sa pag-aabot ng mga donasyon, damit, pagkain, laruan para sa mga bata. At higit sa lahat, ang solar lamps dahil hanggang ngayon, wala pa rin kaming kuryente [I am grateful because RAK continued its donation of clothes, food and toys for the kids. Most important, the

solar lamps, because we still don’t have electricity],” expressed Enciso, who chose the eight rightful recipients of solar lamps.

Also crucial to the Give Light donation was SolarSolutions Inc., a social enterprise which promotes the use of sustainable, clean energy, like solar power. Through RAK’s partnership with SolarSolutions—where Laping also serves as community engagement manager—innovative, effective and safe solar lamps were provided.

Discounted at P2,700 each, the eight solar lamps were bought using RAK’s funds gathered throughout the year.

Besides the Dumagat beneficiaries, about a hundred adults and children of Sitio Manggahan were also given in-kind donations during the Pasko Fiesta activity. Parents chose secondhand clothes, while kids enjoyed games.

“We hope that this simple gesture of kindness will become our contribution for the betterment of our community and the environment,” Laping concluded.

Niccolo & Marco Polo Hotels Win D.O.T. ends year with new targets Big at The Hotelier Awards 2016 T

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iccolo & Marco Polo Hotels swept up the most awards of the night by any single hotel group, with five big wins at the industry’s most prestigious occasion, The BMW Hotelier Awards 2016.

Dr. Jennifer Cronin, president of Niccolo & Marco Polo Hotels, was awarded The Asia Pacific Corporate Hotelier of the Year for the Hong Kong-based international hotel group.

Taking the awards by storm, the expanding hospitality group attended the impressive event recognizing the industry’s finest talent and achievements.

In the Greater China region, accolades were awarded to Sales Hotelier of the Year, Simon Wang , director of Sales and Marketing for Niccolo Chengdu; CSR Hotelier of the Year, Rolf Jaeggi, group executive chef of Marco Polo Hotels, and owner representative of the Year, Norma Yan, owner representative and deputy general manager of Marco Polo Shenzhen.

Leading the Asean region in the category of General Manager of the Year, Frank Reichenbach, general manager of Marco Polo Ortigas Manila, took home the coveted award recognizing his efforts in hospitality excellence. On receiving the award, Cronin acknowledged the event’s comasterminds, Stephane de Montgros and Benoit Thebaut for their vision in establishing these awards, now in their third year. She also said, “The Awards have set a very high benchmark and they showcase the passion and professionalism of this vibrant industry”. She also encouraged the gathering of hospitality leaders to help each other grow and develop and never stop learning, so that we make the industry even greater for the next generation.

The BMW Hotelier Awards 2016 Winners

The Apac Corporate Hotelier of the Year Dr. Jennifer Cronin, president, Niccolo & Marco Polo Hotels

Cronin was appointed president of Niccolo & Marco Polo Hotels in February 2016, after 30 years in the hospitality industry. A doctorate of philosophy graduate of Bond University, her admirable passion and strive for excellence allowed her to recently complete her PhD. Her sense of entrepreneurship and approach toward

Frank Reichenbach (second from right) as general manager of the Year in the Asean region.

thought leadership has continuously driven her dedication to her profession. Within her achievements, Cronin launched new luxury brand, Niccolo Hotels in 2015 in Chengdu, and is tasked to open four new Niccolo hotels in the next 24 months, including Chongqing, Changsha, Suzhou and the group’s new flagship, The Murray, a Niccolo Hotel in Hong Kong, next year.

Greater China: Sales Hotelier of the Year Simon Wang, director of sales and marketing, Niccolo Chengdu

Through Wang’s solid client relationships and continuous team support, Wang has strongly positioned Niccolo Chengdu in the luxury market segment for the rapidly growing destination. Driving rooms business alongside events, restaurants and bars, he has explored new channels and built his network to promote the luxury hotel’s dining venues and drive sales for the region, while positioning the hotel as the epicentre for the city’s events.

Greater China: CSR Hotelier of the Year Rolf Jaeggi, group executive chef, Marco Polo Hotels

Chef Jaeggi began his culinary path in a small restaurant kitchen at the age of 7 Since then, his commitment to developing talent has forged projects, such as the first Young Chef Culinary Competition for kitchen associates. Chef Jaeggi leads the group’s CSR “Project We Can”, Marco Polo Hotels’s flagship business-in-community

initiative, aimed at providing disadvantaged students with resources and care, to empower them to pursue promising careers

Greater China: Owner Representative of the Year Norma Yan, owner representative and deputy General manager, Marco Polo Shenzhen

Yan has dedicated her career to drive business for over 30 years, including increasing the annual revenue by RMB 13.2 million for her hotel’s Japanese restaurant and significantly improving service standards and the restaurant’s reputation. Numerous accolades have been won under her leadership and recently completed a research paperon Young Generations in the Hotel Industry.

Asean: General Manager of the Year Frank Reichenbach, general manager, Marco Polo Ortigas Manila

Reichenbach, a seasoned hotelier with a career spanning over four decades, has continued to exceed expectations in operations for the group’s flagship hotel in the Philippines, leading it to have achieved multiple prestigious awards since opening in 2014. Under his leadership, the hotel increased its communication and media coverage fivefold while improving both standards and service at the hotel, resulting in a 17-percent increase in RevPAR and 9 percent in food-and-beverage covers.

The hotel is currently ranked as the top of 18 hotels in Pasig city, on TripAdvisor.

he 65th edition of Miss Universe pageant activities kicked off with the rousing visit of beauty titlists from 12 countries recently, who, altogether, provided a fitting climax to this year’s Philippine tourism program.

“It gave a sneak-peek of the Philippines’sbestkept secrets as a world-class tourist destination, an ideal and safe haven for international visitors,” Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo was quoted as saying. The country’s hosting of the prestigious beauty contest in January 2017 has been the focus of the Department of Tourism (DOT) under Teo as part of her plans to boost visitor arrivals to the country since assuming office in July. The Miss Universe candidates’ trip to Oslob, Cebu, for one, defied a travel advisory against visits to Southern Cebu. Despite the warnings against visiting the Philippines, tourist arrival figures have risen as the country hits its target of 6 million tourist arrivals this year, based on data gathered at international airports.

Teo said, with already 4.7 million arrivals logged as of September, the country stands to surpass last year’s total of 5.4 million international visitors. “More tourists will come next year because the Miss Universe event has placed us on

the world map. After the President Duterte’s state visit, China lifted the travel advisory and Chinese arrivals have increased,” Teo said.

The DOT chief said she also expects up to 3 million Chinese tourists to visit the country in 2017 after her successful to Beijing, China, in October, during which, a memorandum of agreement on Tourism Cooperation between the Philippines and China was signed, which will give the tourism department a better opportunity to market the Philippines to potential Chinese travelers.

To enhance air connectivity, several direct flights to the different regions of the country were launched this year. Since November, Laoag has been welcoming around 400 Chinese tourists per week through China Eastern Airlines’ Guangzhou-Laoag chartered flights.

Philippine Airlines (PAL) also took its maiden flight from the Changi International Airport to Cebu in December. PAL inaugurated its daily Cebu-Caticlan and Cebu-Clark (via Caticlan) flights, bringing the total of domestic destinations it flies to and from Cebu to 10. It also launched its first direct flight between Cebu and Singapore, its sixth international destination served from the Visayan gateway city. The Philippines is

also preparing to welcome more tourists from Cambodia, as the DOT and the Ministry of Tourism of the Kingdom of Cambodia just recently signed an agreement that will start a series of programs that aims to revitalize tourism relations between the two countries.

To better position the country’s tourism industry, which lags behind those of East Asian neighbors, the DOT has raised its target annual visitor arrivals over six years until the end of the Duterte administration’s term in 2022.

And to sustain the momentum gained in staging the Miss Universe Pageant, the DOT has also sealed the deal to host Madrid Fusion Manila, a culinary festival that will draw the world’s best chefs to the country. This early, the DOT is already preparing for the country’s hosting of the 50th Asean Summit. The tourism chief also committed active involvement in hosting highlevel conferences of the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

With continuing partnerships, massive marketing campaigns, and increase awareness on different Philippines destinations, the tourism department has just concluded another great year for the industry.

Surf, sea and spring E

mbraced by the Pacific Ocean and the West Philippine Sea, the Philippine archipelago is a surfing haven. Depending on the season, both seaboards offer exhilarating rides on the ocean waves.

Lanuza town in Surigao del Sur is one of the less heralded surf sites on the Pacific side, which can spring up a pleasant surprise to surfers in the hunt for new water playgrounds. Lanuza Surfing Festival was born more than a decade ago, when the municipal government decided to bring the spotlight to its challenging surfs, as well as its tourism assets. According to Lanuza Mayor Salvacion Azarcon, the sporting event aims to position Doot Poktoy, the town’s surf site, as the surfing paradise of mainland Caraga region. She said the tourney is an avenue to promote the town’s natural and cultural attractions, such as Magkawas Falls, Campamento Cave, Silop Cold Spring and the Herrera Ancestral House, which make Lanuza a consummate eco-tourism getaway.

Spicing up the sporting event are musical nights, which starred big names in the entertainment world, such as Abra, Akihiro Blanco, Nikki Gonzalez of Girl Trend, Nairud sa Wabad

and Apekz. There were also evening parties led by DJ Buddha and DJ Inan Ratilla of Surigao City, which rocked the sleepy coastal town till the wee hours of the morning. For a dash of pomp and pageantry, the festival also named Marla Alforque of Mandaue City as the ambassadress of goodwill and tourism in the search for Miss Surfing Lanuza. In the main event, homegrown veteran wave rider Nexyol Ruina topped the Longboard Men’s Open, with La Union’s Jay-R Esquivel, Jefferson Basquina de la Torre and Allan Bunani copping runners-up awards.

Perennial winner Piso Alcala of Siargao topped the Men’s Shortboard for the third consecutive year, as fellow Siargaonon champ John Mark Tokong captured second place.

Meanwhile, Urbiztondo surfers Carlito Nogalo and Jay- REsquivel settled for runners-up honors. Siargao lady waveriders Nilbie Blancada dominated the Women’s Shortboard category, with Ana Mae Alipayo, Manette Alcala and Susan Escamillia rounding up the winning circle.

Daisy Valdez of La Union emerged champ of the Wahine class, edging Ikit Agudo, Manette Alcala and Nilbie Blancada of Siargao.

It was a shutout in the Grommet, or the

MAGKAWAS falls

under-16 Division, of Siargao bagged all the awards with Gabriel Antipasado as champ, and John Jabi Noguerra, Benjomar Cañon and Benladen Arjona as runners-up. Now on its 14th year, the surfing fest also included an agri-aqua trade fair, coastal cleanups, a street dancing tilt and surfing clinics.

The event is supported by the provincial government of Surigao del Sur, the Department of Tourism-Caraga region, the Congressional Office of the Second District and the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority.

Sports BusinessMirror

COMMISSIONER Tony Boy Liao says it’s a marketing strategy.

unday, January 1, 2017 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

V-LEAGUE TAKES ON NEW LOOK IN 2017

By Lance Agcaoili

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A8 | S

FTER 13 seasons, the Shakey’s V-League will sport a new look this 2017—primarily with a new name: the Philippine V-League (PVL).

But Shakey’s Pizza Parlor—the title sponsor of the league that boasts of the title as “having started” the volleyball craze in the country—won’t be leaving the V-League.

Instead, according to Tournament Commisioner Tony Boy Liao, Shakey’s would remain as presentor or major sponsor, a move that would open doors for a more active promotion of the league organized

by Sports Vision.

“Without Shakey’s, we won’t make it this far,” Liao told the BusinessMirror. “We [Sports Vision] and Shakey’s tried it first for one year, and it was very successful. That made Shakey’s happy with our partnership and they trusted us through the years.”

Sports Vision also tinkered with its schedule in its 14th season. The importlaced Reinforced Conference would no longer close the year, but it will kick off the season in March.

The Open Conference will be moved to the midseason tournament to add emphasis to the culminating Collegiate Conference, which will serve as a preseason tournament for teams in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines and National Collegiate Athletic Association.

The men’s tournament, Spikers’ Turf, will adopt a similar format as the women’s meet when it enters its third season in 2017.

“We try to make some changes because if we keep on doing the

same thing every year, the fans might get sick and tired about it,” Liao said.

“We’d like to keep the V-League going, in fact, we’d like to strengthen the commercial tournaments,” Sports Vision President Ricky Palou said.

“We’d like to have longer tournaments.

We’re also really into how to improve the Spikers’ Turf. We’re studying all this things and

I think in the near future, we’ll be able to make it more palatable to the fans,” Palou added.

The V-League’s 13th season experienced success in terms of television viewership after Sports Vision partnered with ABS-CBN Sports + Action Channel 23. The league enjoyed marked improvement in television and livestream ratings and drew enthusiastic crowds to its venues—PhilSports Arena in Pasig City

Alyja Daphne “Jaja” Santiago will have her hands full in Season 79.

and Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan City.

The inaugural All-Star, whose proceeds went to victims of Typhoon Lawin, was also a success, according to Palou.

“For us, it’s good because we feel that volleyball fans have accepted us for the last 13 years and we’re still going strong, so we’re very happy about this and it will continue to grow through the years,” Palou said.

JAJA ON A MISSION E

YES will be on Alyja Daphne “Jaja” Santiago as she tries to bring National University (NU) to its first women’s volleyball crown when Season 79 University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) action resumes on February 4.

The 6-foot-4 Santiago will have her hands full for the Lady Bulldogs, who, despite a reputation as one of the teams to beat in the UAAP with its formidable lineup, have to significantly recover from last season where they finished fifth with seven wins and as many losses.

And the Cavitena said she is more excited than ever.

“I’m more excited now for the UAAP because it is really a different level,” Santiago said. “I think I got a lot of experience throughout this year that makes me more ready in leading NU this season.”

Santiago was always in the mix in 2016, winning championships and hoisting the Most Valuable Player (MVP) trophies in the Philippine Superliga (PSL) and Shakey’s V-League.

The 20-year-old Santiago also invited attention with her impressive stints in international club tournaments on the Asian and world stage.

But Santiago said all her personal accomplishments would go for naught if NU—which lost utility player and silent operator Myra Pablo to graduation—does not win the crown.

Santiago played a key role when NU and her club team, Foton, won the Shakey’s V-League Season 13 Collegiate Conference and PSL Grand Prix titles, respectively.

With her height and skills, noted international coaches and players pointed to Santiago as a rising Philippine star.

Santiago played in the 2016 Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Asian Women’s Club

Championship with Foton-Pilipinas and International Volleyball Federation Women’s Club World Championship with PSL-F2 Logistics Manila.

“The experience is a big boost and gives me momentum for the UAAP,” said Santiago, also a member of the national team in last year’s Singapore Southeast Asian Games and 2015 AVC under-23 tournament.

Foton’s Serbian Head Coach Moro Branislav noted Santiago’s potential as a utility spiker from her present position as middle spiker. But her head coach at NU said she would keep her present position in the UAAP. “We need a solid player in that position [middle blocker],” Lady Bulldogs Head Coach Roger Gorayeb said.

Santiago will have a strong supporting cast at NU for Season

79. They are Jasmine Nabor, Risa Sato, Roma Doromal, Aiko Urdas and Jorelle Singh.

De La Salle is the defending champion, having beaten Ateneo in three games last season.

Lance Agcaoili

JASON DAY finishes 2016 as No. 1.

ENTERTAINING YEAR IN GOLF J ASON DAY ends the year at No. 1 in the world ranking, another indicator of how much and for how long Tiger Woods dominated golf.

This is the eighth straight year that a different player was at No. 1 in the final world ranking—Woods in 2009, Lee Westwood in 2010, Luke Donald in 2011, Rory McIlroy in 2012, Woods in 2013, McIlroy in 2014, Jordan Spieth in 2015.

Dating to 1998, Woods was at No. 1 in the final ranking in 11 out of 12 years.

Woods ends this year at No. 652, because he didn’t play for 15 months until the Hero World Challenge in December. What happens next year?

“He’s got to go play,” Jack Nicklaus said.

“If he plays, he’ll find out if he can come back or not.”

In the meantime, there still was plenty of action without him, and an endless supply of entertainment. From inside and outside the ropes, here is this year’s collection of “Tales from the Tour” before moving on to another year.

BUSINESS AND GOLF Tiger Woods turns 41 on Friday, and while he didn’t play much this year, he kept busy reorganizing his business interests under one brand he called “TGR.” Woods referred to it as setting up “phase two” of his life.

Business and golf is nothing new with prominent players. In fact, Jack Nicklaus believes it helped his golf more than it was any type of distraction. Nicklaus left IMG and Mark McCormack in 1970 to set up his own business, and it never got in the way of competing or preparing for majors.

“I always did what I had to do,” Nicklaus said. “If my day was filled up with golf, it would be a boring day for me. I needed more stimulation. I think business and my family and some things I did on the outside created my away time, so that when I came back to play golf, then I really focused on it. If golf was

all I had, I would have gotten lazy with it. I tried to be very efficient.”

MASTERS FIELD Twelve more players were added to the field for the 2017 Masters by finishing in the top 50 in the final world ranking of the year.

Thongchai Jaidee was not among them.

Needing a victory in the Boonchu Ruangkit Championship—an Asian Development Tour event in Thailand—to finish the year in the top 50, he missed out on a playoff by two shots and actually dropped two spots to No. 54.

Alex Noren, a four-time winner in Europe this year, started the year at No. 96 and ended it at No. 9 to earn his first Masters invitation.

The others who made it through the world ranking published on Monday were Tyrrell Hatton, Louis Oosthuizen, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Francesco Molinari, Yuta Ikeda, Chris Wood, Bernd Wiesberger, Bill Haas, Andy Sullivan, Byeong An and Thomas Pieters.

That puts the field at 82 players going into the start of 2017. The only way to get to Augusta National the next three months is to win a Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour event (except for the Puerto Rico Open) or to be in the top 50 in the world ranking published March 27.

MAJOR CONTEXT Jordan Spieth was talking about how the majors unfolded this year when in the middle of his answer, he realized the difference between a snapshot and a panoramic view of golf.

At the end of last year, the top 3 players in the world (Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day) had combined to win five of the previous six majors. With first-time winners at all four majors this year, eight players have won the last 10 majors, and first-timers have captured the last five.

“It’s just funny how it’s phrased because that makes it look completely different now than it did last year,” he said.

GAP WIDENS The European Tour is introducing the Rolex Series this year, which starts in late-May with the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and ends in late-November with the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

The other events that make up the Rolex Series are Irish Open and Scottish Open in successive weeks ahead of the British Open, Italian Open in October and Turkish Airlines Open and Nedbank Challenge in South Africa leading into the finale in Dubai.

European Tour chief Keith Pelley said one goal was to create a product that “provides a strong financial offering for our young players so they don’t have to go to the United States.”

All the tournaments will have a minimum $7 million purse.

While 2017 is the inaugural year of the Rolex Series and Pelley expects it to expand, he should get an early indication of its traction. AP

MOST NERVOUS MOMENT Brazilian football star Neymar says the most nervous moment of his life was taking the last penalty of the shootout against Germany to give Brazil its first ever Olympic gold in August in Rio de Janeiro.

The Barcelona striker is at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday for a charity game organized by former great Zico and says a return to the historic venue evokes memories of the Olympic final that ended 1-1 in regular time and 5-4 to the hosts on penalties. AP

THOMAS COVILLE sets a new sailing record. AP

Frenchman takes 49 days to sail around the world

P

ARIS—A little over 49 days—that’s all it took Frenchman Thomas Coville to sail around the world alone, to set what French officials say is a new world record.

Coville sailed into the Brittany port of Brest on Monday on his Sodebo trimaran. He rejoined his family, weeping with joy, thanked his support crews and showered the seas with champagne.

His round-the-world journey, starting from an island in the English Channel, took 49 days, three hours, seven minutes and 38 seconds, according to his web site.

It was Coville’s third attempt to beat the previous record of 57 days held by Frenchman Francis Joyon since 2008. The record before that, of 71 days, had been held

by British sailor Ellen MacArthur.

Joyon, in a statement, was among those congratulating Coville. AP