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DUTERTE’S DREAM SECURITY TRIUMVIRATE WITH CHINA, RUSSIA COMING TO FRUITION?

In the bosom of Mother Russia B

By Rene Acosta

Y the time the Russian Navy’s submarine hunter Admiral Tributs and its oiler leave the Philippines after a five-day goodwill visit, President Duterte’s dream of steering the country toward the East, away from its traditional Western allies, has also sailed.

RUSSIAN Rear Adm. Eduard Mikhailov (center), deputy commander of the Flotilla of Pacific Fleet of Russia, walks beside Russian Ambassador to the Philippines Igor A. Khovaev (right) and Philippine Navy Capt. Alberto Carlos during wreath-laying rites at the monument of National Hero Jose Rizal in Manila on Thursday. AP/AARON FAVILA

It had steamed toward a leftist alliance with Beijing and Moscow under the guise of what the Commander in Chief has termed as an “independent foreign policy,” but which security observers and political pundits called as nothing but diplomatic “hypocrisy”. Tributs’s exit from Manila’s waters was something to be re-

membered for its officers and personnel, as it was accorded by the Philippine Navy with a passing exercise courtesy of one of its aging vessels, the BRP Rajah Humabon, in a rare display of exiting honors. Tributs, the first Russian warship to visit the country in four years and even under a first socialist Continued on A2

THE Monument to Minin and Pozharsky on Red Square in Moscow, Russia, in front of Saint Basil’s Cathedral. GALINA BARSKAYA | DREAMSTIME.COM

Lopez not keen on approving new Minahang Bayan sites this year

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

HE government is not keen on approving any application for Minahang Bayan, the centralized program for processing of minerals within a specific area—where the government can better monitor gold production—this year, as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) steps up the campaign against irresponsible mining operations. An environmental advocate, Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez said in a text message that if she would have it her way, she would rather see small-scale miners having alternative sources of income and livelihood to protect and conserve the environment, and promote sustainable development based on ecologically sound economic ac-

tivities—such as agri-forestry and ecotourism. Small-scale miners, particularly in Mindanao, are appealing to Lopez to help boost the sector and to legalize small-scale mining, starting with the establishment of Minahang Bayan, where they can extract and process gold. Bert Buniales, president of the Philippine National Coalition for Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (PNCASM), said Lopez’s proposal to tap small-scale miners as the DENR’s National Greening Program partners would be a big boost to the livelihood of artisanal and small-scale miners. However, the group is not keen on veering away from small-scale mining. Buniales, founder of the Mindanao Federation of Small-scale Miners, said, in fact, artisanal and small-scale miners want to seek an

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 49.5310

audience with the DENR chief to personally appeal for her help. Established only last year, the PNCASM had asked President Duterte and Lopez in July 2016 to hear out the concerns of the artisanal and small-scale mining sector. The group assists the sector that has been gripped by pressing issues, including poverty and human rights, and wants the Duterte administration to address its demand to legalize artisanal and small-scale mining, promote occupational health and minimize environmental impact. Buniales maintained that the 15 artisanal and small-scale mining core group leaders from six major provinces in the Philippines belonging to PNCASM are ready and willing to cooperate with the Duterte administration in realizing common goals.

Neglected

“WE are hoping that Secretary Lopez will approve our request for a dialogue to talk about the future of artisanal and small-scale mining because we want to be part of the DENR’s programs,” he said, adding that tree-planting activities are, in fact, part of their group’s advocacy to help promote a healthy ecology. The PNCASM said artisanal and small-scale mining has often been neglected by the government. “We want the sector to be legalized, so that we can also pay taxes and help contribute to the economy,” he said. While the DENR estimates that roughly 300,000 people are engaged in artisanal and smallscale mining, Buniales placed the number of people directly benefiting from artisanal and smallscale mining to 500,000. Includ-

ing members of the family of an artisanal and small-scale miners, the number of people employed by the sector could easily reach at least a million.

Earning enough

“ARTISANAL and small-scale miners are earning enough. That is why we really want to work with the government to legalize our operation,” he said. Artisanal and small-scale mining communities, particularly indigenous peoples, women and children, frequently lack valuable support from the government, said the group Ban Toxics, which helps PNCASM. Small-scale mining contributes nearly half of the country’s annual gold output. In 1997 smallscale miners produced 14,062 See “Minahang Bayan,” A2

300,000

The number of people engaged in artisanal and small-scale mining in the country, according to DENR estimates

n JAPAN 0.4286 n UK 61.5225 n HK 6.3874 n CHINA 7.1961 n SINGAPORE 34.6759 n AUSTRALIA 36.3310 n EU 52.5128 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.2055

Source: BSP (6 January 2017 )

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A2 Sunday, January 8, 2017

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In the bosom of Mother Russia Continued from A1

President, was also accorded with welcoming rites, courtesy again of BRP Humabon and its crew. In between these naval rites, two Japanese Navy vessels also moored in the country out of its antipiracy operations in the Gulf of Aden in the Arabian Sea, but less of the welcoming exercise by the Philippine Navy.

New security bloc in the region

TRIBUTS’S visit to Manila has initialized the grand wish of Duterte of seeing a Sino-Russian-Philippine defense alliance or, at the least, a stronger security relations, despite the unsettled issues surrounding the South China Sea territorial dispute with Beijing. Duterte was seen toying around with the security cooperation against the country’s traditional allies in the region that is led by the United States, factoring not even the country’s sovereignty and territorial issues with China. The President has recently said he was keen on setting aside the decision against China on the South China Sea dispute due to “changing politics in the region.” Manila is set to receive next year more than P700 million worth of firearms, night-vision goggles and other military equipment from China in the form of a grant, with the Chinese government promising to give even a bigger amount in the

form of a soft loan should Manila still needs additional equipment. The government is also eyeing to acquire sniper rifles and even drones from Russia, which has expressed its readiness to sell Manila with a submarine. Duterte’s spin toward China and Russia has prompted other Asian military powerhouses to reexamine their postures, with Australia sealing an agreement with Indonesia for a joint patrol and Japan giving Malaysia with patrol boats.

Bilateral, multilateral war games

RUSSIA wanted to maximize its revived defense and security relations with Manila by pushing for military exercises between the Russian military and the Armed Forces of the Philippines. “For sure, in the future, we’ll have exercises and [conduct] exercises with the Philippines,” said Rear Adm. Eduard Mikhailov, the deputy commander of the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet who had headed the officers and men of Tributs during its visit. “Our government will be discussing…the possibilities of our maritime exercises…maybe just only maneuvering or, maybe, use of combat systems and so on,” the Russian Navy official said. According to Mikhailov, Moscow wanted to duplicate the exercises it has been holding with the other countries in the region.

RUSSIAN Ambassador to the Philippines Igor A. Khovaev (seated left) answers questions from reporters beside Russian Rear Adm. Eduard Mikhailov, deputy commander of the Flotilla of Pacific Fleet of Russia, during a news conference onboard the Russian Navy vessel Admiral Tributs, a large antisubmarine ship, at Manila’s pier on Wednesday. AP/AARON FAVILA

His statement comes in the aftermath of Manila’s recent decision of scaling down its military exercises with the US, except in the areas of

terrorism and humanitarian assistance and disaster response. “We will do our best from our side to help you,” Mikhailov said. The Russian official went further by proposing for a multilateral war games with the countries involved in the South China Sea dispute joining together. “We [intend to put all major players together and] play big, be [a] part and play [with all the] participants. For example, not only Russia and the Philippines, but Russia, the Philippines, China and maybe Malaysia together, because the main task is the safety in this region,” Mikhailov said, speaking through an interpreter.

Low morale

THE swift and drastic shift toward the East or the brazenness by which the Commander in Chief was pushing the soldiers toward Chinese and Russian leanings has bear down on the morale of the members of the military, especially those assigned in the field. The spin from Western-inspired military doctrine into proleftist stance has caused low morale among the soldiers, rattled by the direction of the military and exacerbated by the absence of official guidance and explanations from senior officers. However, military public

Minahang Bayan... kilograms of gold compared to the 17,137 kg total gold output of large-scale mining during the same period, according to a report entitled “Health and Environmental Impact of Mercury in Small-scale Gold Mining in the Philippines,” presented during the United Nations Environmental Programme and DENR Forum on Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in December 2010.

Risks

IN the processing of gold by smallscale miners, gold extraction by amalgamation, which makes use of mercury during gold smelting, was highlighted. During gold smelting, an estimated 26 tons of mercury are dumped annually into bodies of water in Mindanao alone, posing serious environmental and health risks to people. Under RA 7076, or the People’s Small-scale Mining Act of 1991, the state is mandated to promote, develop, protect and rationalize viable small-scale mining activities to generate more employment opportunities and provide an equitable sharing of the nation’s wealth and natural resources. The law defines small-scale mining as mining activities that rely on manual labor using simple implement and methods and do not use explosives or heavy mining equipment normally used in largescale mining or mineral extraction. On the other hand, Executive Order 79, or the Measures to Improve Small-scale Mining Activities, mandates that small-scale mining operations shall be undertaken only within the declared People’s Small-scale Mining Areas, or Minahang Bayan. Small-scale mining activities are also limited to extraction of

Continued from A1

gold, silver and chromite as provided for in RA 7076, and the use of mercury is strictly prohibited. The government is also mandated to provide training and capacity-building measures in the form of technical assistance for small-scale mining cooperatives and associations.

‘Selective leniency’

MINING’S big players criticize Lopez for being lenient against smallscale mining, which also causes massive environmental degradation, including pollution of water bodies with the use of toxic heavy chemicals. While there are around 300,000 small-scale miners operating in various parts of the country, there are only five declared Minahang Bayan. These include two that were approved in December 2015 for Banaybanay, Davao Oriental, and Lorente, Eastern Samar. The other three existing Minahang Bayan are in Buenavista, Quezon, Dinagat Island and in Agusan del Sur. Last year the target was to establish 16 more Minahang Bayan, or at least one per region. Asked of the chances of approving Minahang Bayan applications this year, Lopez said she “seriously doubt” it will happen under her watch.

Crackdown

affairs office chief Col. Edgard Arevalo said these changing developments were being explained to the soldiers in the field, with unit commanders talking to their men. Arevalo believed that the multidimensional and ever-increasing defense and security relations of the Philippines with other countries will be good for the military in the long run, depending what these states are. He said training and cooperation with these countries “will widen the horizon” and beef up the knowledge and capabilities of the soldiers.

THE DENR chief has been visiting mining communities to talk to people affected by mining. Under her watch, Lopez had caused the suspension of 10 large-scale mining operations and issued showcause orders to 20 mining companies for various offense based on an audit criteria that includes social, environmental and biodiversity considerations.

Just last December, Lopez ordered the cancellation of existing environmental compliance certificates of six mining projects and a housing project within the La Mesa Watershed. Lopez said almost all areas she visited so far gave her the impression that the community would have been much better off without mining. She admitted that, partially, the government is at fault in allowing small-scale mining to happen. “The fault is with the government,” Lopez said, adding that she will address the problem as chief steward of the country’s environment and natural resources. “Mining kills the ecology. In this country of islands and rivers and streams and corals, open pits doom the community for life. There are better ways I want to show in the DENR while I am here,” Lopez said. Lopez, who is strongly against open-pit mining methods, said she is concerned of the pollution brought about by small-scale mining to rivers and other bodies of water, as well. The DENR chief said through various programs and projects, the DENR will help provide alternative sources of income and livelihood for people who depend on mining. She wants miners, who stand to lose their jobs because of her campaign to weed out irresponsible mining, to become DENR partners for development through the Enhanced National Greening Program. This year the DENR will embark on the massive rehabilitation of mangroves and establishment of bamboo plantations. “My commitment is to get out people from poverty,” she said.

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Fuel-storage tanks sit at a dispatch terminal of Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), Mexico’s state-owned oil company, in the port of Veracruz, Mexico on December 30, 2016, days before the 2017 price deregulation goes into effect. Pemex executive Carlos Murriet said in recent days that the country currently has six days’ worth in storage. AP/Felix Marquez

Oil rises as Saudi complies with Opec output cuts in Jan

il rose as Saudi Arabia was said to meet its pledged output cut this month and US stockpiles fell the most in almost four months.

The kingdom is going for full compliance with Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) cuts so other countries do the same, said a person familiar with Saudi policy who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Saud i A r abi a a n nou nced higher pr ices for A sian customers next month, as it prepares for lower exports. A government report showed US fuel stockpiles surged last week as refineries boosted operating rates and crude supplies tumbled. Oil last year capped its biggest annual gain since 2009 as the Opec and 11 nations from outside the group agreed on a plan to reduce supply. W hile producers, including Kuwait, Iraq and Oman, say they’ve begun to curtail output, an

increase in volumes from countries such as Libya— spa red f rom c uts— cou ld put pressure on others. “ T he market continues to key on Opec and what action they are taking to follow through with their promised cuts,” John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital Llc., a New York-based hedge fund that focuses on energy, said by telephone. “The Saudis are the most important member and appear to be taking the lead.” West Texas Intermediate for February delivery rose 50 cents, or 0.9 percent, to settle at $53.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Total volume traded was 20 percent below the 100-day average at 2:51 p.m. Brent for March settlement climbed 43 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $56.89 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures

Europe exchange. It closed at a $2.21 premium to March WTI. Saudi Arabia agreed to cut crude production by 486,000 barrels a day from October le ve l s to 10.058 m i l l ion starting January 1. Saudi output slipped by 50,000 barrels a day to 10.48 million in December, according to a Bloomberg survey. State-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known as Saudi Aramco, increased prices for February oil sales to Asia and for light grades to the US as it prepares to reduce output. Gasoline stockpiles rose 8.31 mi l lion bar rels last week, the most in a year, according to the Energy Information Administration. Inventories of distillate fuel, a category that includes diesel and heating oil, jumped 10.1 million. A gauge of total US fuel demand tumbled to the lowest level since June 2013. “This was a bearish report on the whole, with total inventories up,” Kyle Cooper, director of research with IAF Advisors in Houston, said by telephone. “Demand dropped a lot—which could be due to the holidays—while crude production started to edge higher again. Depending on

where we close today, we could soon test the $50 area again.” C r ude i nventor ies n ationwide fell by 7.05 million barrels to 479 million, while stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI, rose to 67.5 million, the highest since May. Crude imports tumbled by 984,000 barrels a day to an average 7.18 million, the lowest in two months, while fuel exports sank the most since October. The Houston Ship Channel was shut for parts of last week due to fog, which may have interrupted shipments in and out of the refining center. “Refinery utilization is up as they try to maximize production before they go into seasonal maintenance,” Brian Kessens, a managing director and portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital Advisors Llc. in Leawood, Kansas, who helps manage $15 billion in energy assets, said by telephone. Refineries boosted operating rates by 1 percentage point to 92 percent of capacity, the highest level since September. Plants usually operate at a high level in December as they prepare to meet winter-fuel demand. Bloomberg News

A tough challenge for Trump: Getting men back to work

ASHINGTON—If Presidentelect Donald J. Trump is going to meet his pledge to energize the US economy, there’s a simple yet tough way to do so: Put more men to work. The proportion of men in their prime working years who either have a job or are looking for one has been dropping for decades—and limiting economic growth in the process. The full brunt of the 60-year decline burst into view during the 2016 election. Trump triumphed in part by vowing to restore jobs at steel mills, auto plants and coal mines—the types of work that had once employed legions of men who lacked a college education. Bringing more non- college educated men into the workforce is a Herculean challenge that has long bedeviled economists. Among the root causes: n Automation. Factory robots and computer software have eliminated the need for many workers, wiping out an array of jobs that once provided a middle class lifestyle. n Global competition. US workers have been competing for jobs with cheaper foreign workers, a trend that’s led to some offshoring of jobs and curbed pay in some industries. n Criminal records. Stricter criminal laws have left over 20 million

Americans with felony convictions and prison records—a fourfold increase from 30 years earlier. That background has made it hard for them to get hired. n Prescription drug use. Nearly half of jobless men who are no longer looking for work are on pain medication, research has found. Still, Trump appears to endorse a straightforward fix: Bump up economic growth, and workers will land good jobs at decent wages. “Many are dropping out of the labor force because they cannot find goodpaying jobs in an economy operating near stall-speed,” the Trump campaign said before the election. To chart the problem and any progress Trump might achieve over the next four years, his team has pointed to an obscure gauge called the “labor force participation rate.” This is the proportion of people who are either working or looking for work. It excludes anyone who’s stopped searching for a job. In the government’s monthly jobs report being released on Friday, it’s a number that draws secondary billing after the unemployment rate and job creation. But beneath the sunny 4.6 percent jobless rate is the troubling shadow cast by the millions of men ages 25 to 54 who have dropped out of the work force. For this group, labor-force participation has sunk

to 88.5 percent from a 1954 peak of 97.9 percent. Most of that loss h a s o cc u r re d a m o n g m e n w h o have a high-school degree or less, according to a repor t this year by t h e O b a m a a d m i n i s t rat i o n . (Women’s participation rate has declined less dramatically.) The Trump team argues that it can lift the overall participation rate by reducing taxes and regulation, which it says would speed economic growth. But economists say increasing men’s participation is difficult. The underlying causes are long-standing and go beyond the tax, trade and regulatory policies that Trump has attacked as the main hindrances. For one thing, there has been a d i s a p p e a r a n c e o f “r o u t i n e” manual jobs that required little education or high-tech skills—from machine operators to assembly line workers. These occupations have been displaced by such trends as automation and, to a lesser extent, outsourcing to lower-wage countries. The number of factory jobs has dropped 37 percent from the 1979 high to 12.3 million. Routine manual jobs accounted for 23 percent of work in 1979, a share that fell to 15 percent by 2014, according to research by the economists Guido Matias Cortes,

Henry Siu and Nir Jaimovich. They found that the loss of these jobs led many people to stop working. Those who did remain often accepted lowerpaying work. Faster economic growth might not raise the participation rate, said Siu, an economics professor at the University of British Columbia. If growth is fueled by greater use of technology, it could result in even fewer routine jobs and further depress labor force participation, he said. On the other hand, if stronger e c o n o m i c g ro w t h c a m e f ro m improved worker skills and higher college graduation rates, labor force participation might rise. One obstacle is that many men are unwilling to accept service sector jobs that are viewed as lower-paying women’s work—from cooks to home health aides—said Betsey Stevenson, an economist at the University of Michigan who worked in the Obama administration. “We are adding lots of jobs in the service sector, and the goods sector is shrinking,” Stevenson said. “Trump can’t really fix that because the magnitude of the decline is so big. He might keep some factory jobs for now. But technological change will prevent him from making that a true engine of job growth.” AP

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No doubt Russia interfered in polls, US intel chief says

ASHINGTON— Brushing aside Donald J. Trump’s dismissiveness, the nation’s intelligence chief insisted on Thursday that US agencies are more confident than ever that Russia interfered in America’s recent presidential election. And he called the former Cold War foe an “existential threat” to the nation.

Did Russian hack ing sway t he resu lt s? T here’s no w ay for US agencies to know, said James Clapper, the director of national intelligence. Asked about the possible effect of the disclosure of private i nfor m at ion stolen by h ac kers, Clapper said, “The intelligence community can’t gauge the impact it had on the choices the electorate made.” But he did say Russian hacking “did not change any vote tallies.” Clapper’s testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee was short on concrete evidence of Russian activities, but it raised the stakes in the intelligence community’s standoff with Trump. Clapper indicated the agencies he leads would not back down in their assessment, even if that threatens a prolonged crisis of confidence with their next commander in chief. That puts the pressure back on Trump, who has raised the possibility of more positive relations with Russia and has repeatedly disparaged the US intelligence agencies. He will be briefed on Friday on the classified evidence concerning Russian interference. Shortly after Thursday’s hear-

ing, news leaked that Trump would soon name former Republican Sen. Dan Coats of Indiana to replace Clapper after the new president takes office. The intelligence agencies’ classified report, which was shared with President Barack Obama on Thursday, identifies multiple motives for Russia’s interference, Clapper said, but he did not provide details. In a joint report that roiled the presidential campaign last fall, the Homeland Security Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said the US was confident about foreign meddling, including Russian government hacking of Democratic e-mails. “We stand actually more resolutely on the strength of that statement,” Clapper said on Thursday. He declined to discuss whether Russia’s interference was aimed at helping Trump win. A n unclassified version of the report will be released next week, Clapper said. That version, expected to be a fraction of the length of the classified one, is not likely to answer all the questions about Russia’s actions. Exactly how the US monitors its adversaries in

Clapper

cyberspace is a closely guarded secret, since revealing such details could help foreign governments further obscure their activities. “I think the public should know as much about this as possible,” Clapper told the senators. “And so we’ll be as forthcoming as we can, but there are some sensitive and fragile sources and methods here.” Clapper was less shy about declaring Russia “an existential threat to the United States.” That’s strong rhetoric that harkens back to the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union, language Obama has avoided. For his part, Trump has embraced the possibility of warmer US-Russian ties. Republican John McCain of Arizona, chairman of the Senate panel, pressed Clapper as to whether Russia’s actions constituted an “act of war.” The intelligence director said that was “a very heavy policy call,” more appropriate for others in the government to decide. Obama announced sanctions against Russia late last year, a move Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said was akin to throwing a pebble. “I’m ready to throw a rock,” Graham said. The GOP is divided over how

to deal with Russia. Once Trump takes office, he is certain to face opposition from Democrats as well as some in his own party regarding his posture toward Russia. Trump has criticized US intelligence findings, even citing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s contention that Russia did not provide him with hacked Democratic emails. But in new tweets early Thursday, he backed away and blamed the “dishonest media” for portraying him as agreeing with Assange, whose organization has been under criminal investigation for its role in classified information leaks. “The media lies to make it look like I am against ‘Intelligence’ when in fact I am a big fan!” Trump wrote. In fact, Trump has been skeptical to the point of dismissive about the certainty of the assessment of Russian hacking, bringing up past failures, specifically intelligence reporting the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in the leadup to the war there. Trump has derided the intelligence community on Twitter, his comments widely reported by The Associated Press and other news organizations. AP

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Astronomers trace brief radio signals to a faraway galaxy

stronomers have traced a series of brief, enigmatic bursts of radio waves to a galaxy far, far away and indeed a long time ago—some 3 billion years or so. But as much as you might be hoping or dreading it to be true, this is probably not ET. “We’ve joked about spaceship battles and death stars blowing up, but we think we can explain it with ordinary physics,” said Shami Chatterjee, a Cornell University astronomer. Chatterjee is the lead author of a paper published in Nature on Wednesday that details the search for the source of the radio waves known as “fast radio bursts,” intense pulses of radiation from the sky lasting only a few milliseconds. He also spoke at a news conference sponsored by the American Astronomical Society in Grapevine, Texas. These have been disappointing times for those yearning for some alien direction from Out There. Last summer, Russian astronomers reported that they had recorded a promisingsounding signal from a star in the Hercules constellation, but they dismissed it when it became public as a freak bit of random radio noise, the astrophysical equivalent of a cosmic butt dial. More recently, searches for radio signals from a set of stars with anomalous spectral features and another star known as Tabby’s Star that has shown suspicious variations in its light seem to have come up empty. So at least for now, the skies appear to be bereft of intelligence. But the new results from the fast radio burster, known as 121102—after November 2, 2012, the date it was first observed—need not discourage any aficionados of cosmic mystery. Most likely, Chatterjee said in a telephone interview, the bursts could be caused by weird reactions between a neutron star—the dense spinning magnet left behind by a supernova explosion—and the debris from that explosion. Or perhaps from some unexpected quirk of a supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy, a dwarf assemblage of stars some 3 billion light-years away in the constellation Auriga. There are problems with both explanations, however, he added. Fast radio bursts have led astronomers on a merry chase ever since they were discovered in 2007 in data recorded earlier by the Parkes radio telescope in Australia. Because they are so short and until recently have never been seen to repeat, these phantoms have been hard for astronomers to study. Usually, astronomers notice them after the fact. Moreover, radio telescopes have poor

angular resolution, making it impossible to determine exactly what star or distant galaxy they came from. The radio emissions themselves, Chatterjee said, resemble the blasts from pulsars—the spinning neutron stars that emit clocklike pulses of radiation and whose discovery in 1968 did, indeed, elicit speculation about little green men. But the radio waves arrive on Earth dispersed or spread out in time by wavelength, which implies that they have traveled from far outside our galaxy. That great distance also implies that they are enormously more powerful than pulsars in our galaxy, adding to the mystery of what they are and raising the question of why they are not seen within our own galaxy, the Milky Way. In all, 18 of the fast bursters have been spotted since they were first recognized in 2007—a small number. If extrapolated to the whole sky, that means 5,000 to 10,000 of these flashes should happen every day. Where are they? Lacking much evidence to the contrary, astronomers theorized that the bursts resulted from apocalyptic events like collisions of neutron stars. At one point, Chatterjee said, there were more theoretical models of the bursts than observed bursts. “Many things go bang,” he explained. The big break came in 2012 when the burst known as 121102 repeated itself. Subsequent observing campaigns with the Very Large Array of telescopes in New Mexico and the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico recorded a total of nine bursts over 83 hours of observing time and a terabyte of data during a six-month period in 2016. That meant that whatever was causing 121102, at least, was not destroying it. “We definitely know, for this one case anyway, the radio burst is not cataclysmic,” Chatterjee said. In addition, papers also have been submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Letters by two other groups led by Shriharsh Tendulkar of McGill University and by Benito Marcote of the Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe, in Dwingeloo, the Netherlands. Following up on the Ver y Large Array observations, Marcote’s team on the European VLBI network was able to pinpoint the location of the burst to a faint dwarf galaxy in the Auriga constellation. Tendulkar and his colleagues then used the 8-meter Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii to observe the galaxy and measure its distance. New York Times News Service

Israel harnesses sunshine with tallest solar tower A

SHALIM, Israel—In sunny Israel, solar energy supplies only a small percentage of the nation’s power needs, leaving it far behind countries with cloudier and colder climates. Now the fledgling solar industry is trying to make a leap forward with a large-scale project boasting the world ’s tallest solar tower, as a symbol of Israel ’s renewed energy ambitions. With Israel traditionally running its economy on fossil fuels, renewable energy has long been hobbled by bureaucracy and a lack of incentives. But the country is starting to make an effort, setting a goal of generating 10 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, up from the current 2.5 percent. The Ashalim project, deep in the Negev desert, is made up of three plots, with a fourth planned for the future, each with a different solar technology. Together, the fields will be Israel’s largest renewable energy project when completed by 2018. They are set to generate some 310 megawatts of power, about 1.6 percent of the country’s energy needs—enough for about 130,000 households, or roughly 5 percent of Israel’s population, according to Israel’s Electricity Authority. “ It ’s t he most sig n i f ic a nt single building block in Israel ’s commitment to CO 2 reduction a nd rene w able energ y,” sa id Eran Gartner, chief executive of Megalim Solar Power Ltd., which is building one part of the project. The center piece is a solar

In this December 22, 2016, photo, 50,000 mirrors, known as heliostats, encircle the solar tower in the Negev desert, near Ashelim, southern Israel. In sunny Israel, solar energy supplies just a small percentage of the nation’s power needs, leaving it trailing far behind countries with cloudier and colder climates. Now it is trying to turn that around with a large-scale project, highlighted by the world’s tallest solar tower that could mark a giant leap for the country’s fledgling renewable-energy industry. AP

tower that will be the world ’s tallest at 820 feet. Solar towers use a method differing from the more common photovoltaic solar panels, which convert sunlight directly into electricity. Instead, towers use a solar-thermal method: Thousands of mirrors focus the sun’s rays onto the tower, heating a boiler that creates steam to spin a turbine and generate electricity. Encircling the Ashalim tower are 50,000 mirrors, known as heliostats, in a shimmering blanket

of glass over the desert. The tower is so tall because the panels were squeezed together to maximize use of the land—and the closer the panels are the taller the tower must be, Gartner explained. Another solar-thermal plot at Ashalim will be able to store energy even when the sun goes down. A third plot will use photovoltaic solar technology to produce energy. Yaron Szilas, CEO of Shikun & Binui Renewable Energy, the lead developer of the second solar-thermal plot, said combining

the three technologies was a wise move because each has its own advantage. The amount of electricity it produces will be comparable to large-scale solar fields in California and Chile. T here are around a dozen solar tower fields around the world, t he l a rgest being t he Ivanpah plant in California with some 170,000 heliostats around three 460 -foot towers. Israel has developed some of the world’s most advanced solar energ y equipment and enjoys

a nearly endless supply of sunshine. But Israeli solar companies, frustrated by government bureaucracy, have mostly taken their expertise abroad. Countries with cooler climates have outpaced Israel. Germany, for example, gets nearly 30 percent of its energy from renewable sources. “Israel has a potential to be a sunshine super power,” said Leehee Goldenberg, director of the department of economy and environment at the Israel Union for Environmental Defense, a

non- gover n ment a l orga n i z ation. Despite some steps in the right direction, “Israel’s government hasn’t really been pushing to reach its small goals regarding solar energy.” Israel has often been reluctant to hand out huge parcels of land, a necessity for large-scale solar power production, Gartner said. Large projects also demand access to state-owned infrastructure like gas, water and electricity, and connecting to those utilities out in remote plants in the Negev desert often takes time. Israel’s Finance Ministry said the price of generating solar power in Israel has come down, and the ministry has pushed new laws to promote the industry. Recent legislation has also provided incentives and cut down some of the bureaucracy for Israelis wanting to install solar panels on their roofs. The ministry said if Ashalim is successful, it will aim for more such facilities. A fter the discover y of major natura l-gas deposits offshore, Israel now gets 70 percent of its energ y from cleaner-bur ning gas. T hat discover y was welcome, Szilas said, but it has a lso delayed the impetus for promoting renewable energ y. The developers in the Ashalim project say they want Israel to step up its renewable energy goals. “With all the sun that we have and how progressed we are in technology, these goals are very, very, very modest,” Szilas said. “But these are the goals that were set, and we are working toward it.” AP

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Philippine Eagle rescued in Sarangani

By Manuel T. Cayon | Mindanao Bureau Chief

AVAO CITY—A Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) was rescued this week from what appears to be another attempt at hunting the bird despite the stringent law prohibiting it. Beth N. Ramos, information officer-designate at the Maitum municipal government in Sarangani province, said a farmer in Barangay Batian, about 19 kilometers from the town center, found the bird on Monday near his farm, standing still. Surprised that it did not fly when he tried to approach the bird, resident Gibson Badal, 26, took the bird for safekeeping. According to Badal, he saw the bird standing about a meter tall and appeared weak. The bird has blue-gray eyes, he added. Ramos said her cousin, Alver Caasi, who happened to visit Batian on Monday, was told by residents they were selling the bird “but he [Caasi] advised them not to”. “I told them they will face the full force of the law if they do that,” Ramos quoted Caasi as telling the residents. Caasi took photographs of the bird from his

114,144 ha The area covered by Mount Busa, which was declared a key biodiversity area and an important bird area in 2001 mobile phone and sent it to Ramos, who also informed the municipal government. He fed the Philippine Eagle with live chicken, which consumed half of it and the other half on the following day. Some staff from the Maitum local government and personnel of the Davao City-based Philippine Eagle Center (PEC) brought the raptor to the PEC on Tuesday night, Ramos said. Edgar Calderon, park maintenance foreman of the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office, said the eagle could be 1 year old, with a nest probably

Farmer Gibson Badal rescued a Philippine Eagle near his farm in Maitum, Sarangani province. Maitum Information Office

within a 5-kilometer radius from where it was found. Initially, the first team to reach the place found the bird with no injury but still took extra care in transporting the bird to the town center and to Davao City. An x-ray at the hospital in Calinan, Davao City—the next barangay to the PEC—indicated, however, that the bird sustained an injury, pellet was embedded at its left groin. Veterinarians

said the incident might have happened earlier because the wound may have healed. The bird was sent to the eagle center in Malagos and appeared to be recovering, Ramos said. Camp authorities informed the Maitum town officials that it would release the eagle back to Barangay Batian when it would fully recover. Ramos said the camp authorities would not remove the pellet, saying it might endanger

the eagle that was not known to adapt to surgery. “I am thankful with the rescue of the juvenile Philippine Eagle. T his only proves that Maitum has still thick forest that we ought to preser ve and protect,” Mayor A lexander Br yan Reganit said in a statement issued later by its municipal information office. “I will do my best to protect the endangered species of Maitum as our legacy

to the future generations.” Dennis Joseph Salvador, executive director at Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF), told the Maitum authorities that the bird was a Philippine Eagle, based on the photographs sent to him. He also said the PEF has confirmed the presence of a pair of Philippine Eagles when its conservation director then, Jayson Ibanez, visited Batian in 1996. The Maitum information office said Barangay Batian is within Mount Busa complex, a priority conservation and protection biodiversity-study area. It is one of the remaining forests in the province. Mount Busa has an area of 114,144 hectares and was declared as a key biodiversity area (KBA 116) and an important bird area (IBA PH0105) in 2001. It harbors critically endangered, threatened, vulnerable and rare bird species and connects several conservation priorities, it added. The Environmental Conservation and Protection Center (ECPC) of the provincial government has reported sightings of tarsier, wild deer, pigs, monkeys, bats, civets and endangered species of birds at the foot of Mount Busa. However, Mount Busa, which straddles the towns of Maitum, Kiamba and Maasim in Sarangani province, “is threatened by conversion to farmland, kaingin or slash-and-burn, wildlife hunting, illegal logging and mining,” according to ECPC.

Hunters become conservators of endangered turtles Y

ADUA ISLAND, Fiji—Pita Qarau pulled his boat next to a turtle, which was trying desperately to flee the buzz of the boat’s noisy engine. The turtle, a female hawksbill, was surprisingly fast, capable of a top speed of about 15 miles per hour. But Qarau knew he could win the sprint. He lost the turtle momentarily, then circled back. Finally, as the turtle slowed down, he positioned the boat near the fatigued animal. He threw his engine into neutral and dived into the water. Seconds later, he reemerged, holding on to a chaotic mess of flapping flippers. Not long ago, a catch like this would have meant turtle for dinner, but Qarau would let this one go. He checked the turtle’s health, but he was unable to tag it, as he had intended, because he had run out of tags.

Moratorium on harvesting turtles

Fiji has imposed a moratorium on harvesting turtles, and while the ban has been observed inconsistently around the island-nation, some people like Qarau have weaned themselves from eating turtle, which is considered a delicacy, and instead have dedicated themselves to conservation. “The number of turtles were dropping and the size, you can’t see any big ones, only small,” he said later in the day. “That is why I change myself.” Qarau, 53, a native of Yadua, a small, remote island in Fiji’s north, is a volunteer participating in a program by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) that has helped replenish the turtle population after decades of decline. The skills for hunting turtles, passed down through the generations in Fiji, come in handy for tracking and protecting them from illegal harvesting. Monitors like Qarau are known in Fijian as Dau ni Vonu, or guardians of turtles.

Traditionally eaten

Life in Yadua is simple and closeknit. The island’s only village,

Denimanu, has about 200 people, almost entirely related by blood or marriage. Most residents’ income is from catching and selling fish. A hot shower is accomplished with a few cans of water left in the afternoon sun. In Fiji, a South Pacific nation of more than 300 islands, communities play a central role in managing their immediate waters. As a result, community-based programs that try to increase awareness of declining turtle stocks and to expand monitoring efforts “are those with the highest probability of success,” said Dr. Susanna Piovano, a senior lecturer at the School of Marine Studies at the University of the South Pacific. Traditionally, turtles were eaten at major events, like a wedding or a chief ’s funeral. As traditions eroded in recent decades, some people began to think of turtles and their eggs as an everyday food to catch and sell.

Climate change

Climate change and habitat loss have also placed pressure on the turtle population. The conservation status of the turtles common to Fiji’s waters—green, olive ridley, leatherback, hawksbill and loggerhead—ranges from vulnerable to critically endangered, according to the Red List of Endangered Species published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The Fiji government imposed a temporary ban on turtle harvesting in 1995 to halt the decline. The 10-year moratorium is scheduled to expire next year. Still, the moratoriums have not stopped many communities from continuing to harvest turtles. Yadua was one of them—at least until the island experienced something of a road-to-Damascus conversion. In 2010 two organizations—the WWF and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, an intergovernmental group—organized a workshop on the island. They presented a somber vision of the

Pita Qarau catches a hawksbill turtle to monitor its health on the Fijian Island of Yadua. A moratorium on harvesting turtles and a World Wildlife Fund program have helped replenish Fiji’s turtle population after decades of decline. Lam Yik Fei/The New York Times

29 The number of turtle nests on Yadua Island in 2010 from only six four years ago

turtles’ potential extinction and discussed ways to prevent that. It was there that Qarau realized future generations might never see or taste a turtle if harvesting continued. He said he was not thinking of himself when he decided to give up hunting turtles. “I am thinking about the future generations,” he said.

Island chief’s decision

The island ’s chief, Ratu Jone Cakautavatava, decided that Yad-

ua’s residents should no longer consume turtles, and people began to wean themselves off what many considered a favorite food. “It was really hard to stop,”he said, “ but I follow the law.” Cakautavatava described the old days of hunting turtles in a fiberglass boat and spearing them through the shell. Gesturing to the harpoon in his hand, Cakautavatava said, “I keep the spear until the government says, ‘Yes, we can kill turtles.’”

Search for tracks

Qarau’s commitment to replenishing the turtle stock involves monitoring them twice a week. He walks the beaches searching for turtle tracks, which could indicate a nest. He and others are trained to dig into nests and record their contents: hatched eggs versus duds. Counting turtles is best done at night when turtles sleep under the coral, he said, or during the day when they feed at high tide on a shallow reef. A minute into a monitoring round on a recent

morning, the shadowy shapes of six turtles jetted across a reef. “You won’t see that sight anywhere else in Fiji,” said Laitia Tamata, a coastal fisheries officer for the WWF who manages the monitoring program. When the program began in Yadua in 2010, only six turtles nested on its beaches. Four years later there were 29 nests. At a monitoring site in Kavewa Island, no turtle nests were found in 2010; almost 70 were identified four years later.

Dead turtles

Not every Fiji community shares Yadua’s commitment to conservation. Barry Hill, 27, a Yadua monitor, recently came across divers heading away from the island with two dead turtles in their boat. An argument turned into a brawl, he said. “I tell them it is not allowed, but they can’t control themselves,” Hill said. “They want to eat turtles every day.” Even though the ban was first imposed more than 20 years ago,

it has been enforced only sporadically, and few, if any, violators have been fined or sent to prison, according to Kiji Vukikomoala, a lawyer at the Environmental Law Association. “The general feeling is these are low-priority cases because the penalties are so low,” Vukikomoala said. Someone convicted of killing a turtle faces a maximum fine of about $240 and up to three months in jail. The endorsement of a chief is often crucial to involving communities in conservation, said Michael Donoghue, an adviser on threatened and migratory species at the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme. “If communities don’t want to do it, it doesn’t matter what the law says,” Donoghue said. “Especially in remote areas, it is unlikely to happen.” The World Wildlife Fund plans to press for an extension of the 10-year moratorium when it runs out next year.

Sustainable harvest

Conservation efforts in Yadua and other islands have demonstrated that turtle populations can expand significantly if the moratorium is observed. But in 2014 the monitoring program ran out of financing, as the WWF put those funds toward saving species in greater danger of extinction. And so, while participants used to get reimbursed for expenses, like boat fuel and phone calls to report their data, now the monitors themselves have to absorb these expenses. “I guess that is what makes it successful,” Tamata of the WWF said. “It is from the heart rather than for money.” Qarau hopes that his conservation work will create a sustainable harvest, enabling Fijians to eat turtles again. He said he wanted future generations to see turtles and be able to taste them. “When they grow up,” he said, “they will see the number of turtles is still good in the village.” New York Times News Service

Faith A6

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Sunday

Editor: Lyn B. Resurreccion

Galileo Galilei now in glee By Corazon Damo-Santiago

Devotees attend the Mass at the Shrine of Saint Thérese of the Child Jesus to welcome the relics of Saints Louis and Zélie Martin during their first Philippine visit. Alysa Salen

Pilgrim relics of Saints Louis, Zélie Martin welcomed in Mass

HE first Philippine visit of the relics of the couple Saints Louis and Zélie Martin were welcomed through a Mass at the Shrine of Saint Thérese of the Child Jesus in Villamor, Pasay City. It was held on January 2, the 144th birth anniversary of their daughter Saint Thérese, who is also known as the Little Flower of Jesus.

Military men place the relics of Saints Louis and Zélie Martin at the altar of Shrine of Saint Thérese of the Child Jesus in Pasay City before the Mass to welcome them. Saints Louis and Zélie are the parents of Saint Thérese. Alysa Salen

ntil his death on January 8, 1642, the Church considered Galileo a heretic. In 1992 Pope John Paul II expressed regret on how the Galileo case was handled. He issued a formal apology, acknowledging the error of Catholic judges. Galileo Galilei, an astronomer and physicist, was forbidden from holding and defending his beliefs in a verdict on April 12, 1633. Chief Inquisitor Fr. Vicenzo Maculano da Firenzuola read t he verd ict: “ We pronou nce, judge and declare that you have rendered yourself vehemently suspected by the Holy Office of heresy, that is of having believed and held the doctrine, which is false and contrary to the holy and Divine Scriptures that the sun is the center of the world and it does not move from East to West, and that the Earth does move and is not the center of the world,” the verdict says.

Earth is center of the universe

The Earth is the center of the universe and all heavenly bodies revolve around it—was Aristotle’s geocentric view, which the Catholic Church and Christians believed. This belief was supported by biblical citations, among them: Psalm 96:10: “Tremble before God, all the Earth; say among the nations: The Lord is king. The world will surely stand fast never to be moved.” 1 Chronicle 16:30: “Tremble before Him all the Earth; He has made the world firm, not to be moved.” Ecclesiastes 1:5: “And the sun rises and sets and returns to its place.”

Heretic philosopher

A nun kisses while other devotees hold the cage of the relics of Saints Louis and Zélie Martin at the Shrine of Saint Thérese of Child Jesus in Pasay City. Alysa Salen

The concelebrated Mass was led by Military Ordinariate of the Philippines Bishop Leopoldo Tumulak, DD, and Bishop of Antipolo Francisco de Leon, DD. Priests and nuns from the Carmelite and other orders also attended the Mass. Meg Ramos, national president of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites (OCDS), led the OCDS members from Makati, Manila, Parañaque and Alabang in joining the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Fre nc h A m b a s s a d or T h ie r r y M at hou a nd l ay d e v ot e e s a l s o at t e nd e d . Starting on January 3, the pilgrim relics were brought to churches in different parts of the country until they are returned to France on February 28.

Louis Martin, born on August 22, 1823, wanted to be a priest since he was young. He devoted his life to God in the monastery of Great Saint Bernard. But his difficulty in mastering Latin made him give up his desire to become a priest, according to a pamphlet from the Shrine of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus. Martin maintained his deep relationship with God through m e d it at i o n . He r e s o r t e d t o clock making and opened a jewelr y and clock shop in A lençon, France, in 1850. The former Zélie Guerin was born on December 23, 1831. She also wanted to be consecrated to God and went to the Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. However, she was refused entr y because of

Military Ordinariate of the Philippines Bishop Leopoldo Tumulak, DD, (center) kisses the cage of the relics of Saints Louis and Zélie Martin during its first Philippine visit. On the right is Bishop of Antipolo Francisco de Leon, DD. Alysa Salen

poor health. She suffered from severe headaches and respiratory problems in her childhood. Accepting her fate, Zélie prayed to the Virgin Mary for guidance. She then learned lace making and set up her office at her parents’ house in Alençon. The relationship of Louis and Zélie, then 26, started when they chanced upon each other on the Sarthe Bridge in Alençon. A few months after, they got married on July 12, 1858, at 10 p.m. at the town of Alençon, and at midnight at Notre Dame Basilica. The couple “continued their lives humanity and of spiritual growth leading them to holiness,” the pamphlet said. The Martin couple had nine children, but only five survived.

T he sur v iv ing children—Marie, Pauline, Léonie, Celine and Thérese—all became nuns. Saint Thérese and three of her sisters joined the Carmelite Order. Léonie, who entered the Monastery of the Visitation at Caen, is also a candidate for sainthood. Zélie died of breast cancer on August 28, 1877, at the age of 45. Louis suffered from stroke later and died after a heart attack on July 29, 1894. The Martin couple was beatified on October 19, 2008, by Cardinal Saraiva Martins, Legate of Pope Benedict XVI. They were canonized by Pope Francis during the Synod of Family on October 18, 2015—the first couple to be canonized together in the history of the Catholic Church. Lyn Resurreccion

Galileo was born in Pisa, Italy, on February 15, 1564. The first of six children, he appreciated music like his father Vincenzo, a music theorist, composer and lute player. When he was 8 years old, the family moved to Florence, where he studied in Camaldolese Monastery of Vallombrosa. He seriously considered to be a priest but his father wanted him to pursue a medical degree in the University of Pisa. After attending a lecture in Geometry, he pleaded to his father that he be allowed to study Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. So he shifted his specialization. He was appointed lifetime philosophy and mathematics professor in the University of Padua after graduation. His “scepticism for estab lished authority” and awareness of quantified experimentations led him to invent the early thermometer and military compass, improve the telescope of Hans Lippershey, write a manual for

calculating compass, and construct the hydrostatic balance for measuring small objects. He, likewise, refined the theories on motion and falling objects. He confirmed the phases of Venus, discovered the four largest satellites of Jupiter, called the Galilean moons, observed and analyzed sunspots. But his interest centered on Ptolemy, an astronomer in the 2nd century that positions the Earth as the center of the solar system. A friend of the church, he was allowed to pursue his scientific and astronomical interests. His friends, Pope Paul V (1605-1621) and Pope Urban VIII (1623-1644), allowed him to “investigate Copernicus’s ideas as long as he didn’t hold or defend them.” His book Dialogue Concerning the Chief World System in 1632 was considered as “attack on Aristotelian geocentrism and defence of the Copernician theory.” He retorted: “Explanations do not contradict biblical passages.” But he was “threatened with torture if he did not admit this truth” he espoused in his book. He maintained his denial, but was disregarded. After the verdict declaring him a heretic, he was sentenced to imprisonment on June 22, 1633, for the rest of his life.

Epilogue

Sentenced to imprisonment, Archbishop Ascario Piccolomini of Sienna requested for his house arrest, which was granted. Galileo was allowed to return to his villa in Arcentri near Florence on 1634. He was, likewise, barred from seeing friends and publishing books. He managed to smuggle the manuscripts of “Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Concerning Two New Science (Physics and Mechanics)”. After the completion of his book, he became totally blind and died on January 8, 1642, at the age of 77. His book on Physics and Mechanics was published in Holland in 1638. It received high praises from Albert Einstein, which earned Galileo the title Father of Modern Physics besides Father of Scientific Method. In 1758 the Catholic Church supported the Copernican Theory that the sun is the center of the universe. After 337 years of silence, Pope John Paul II in 1979, initiated an investigation on the condemnation of Galileo. And after 350 years, Pope John Paul I in 1992, acknowledged that Galileo has played a major role in scientific revolution—man’s understanding of the universe. Santiago is a former regional director of the Department of Education National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptoris College in Calauan, Laguna.

Priest gives New Year tip: Start 2017 with ‘AFP’

ACLOBA N CI T Y— Sta r t the year w ith “A FP ”, not the A r med Forces of the Philippines, but w ith “r ight attitude, r ight foundation and r ight protector.” This was the exhortation of Fr. Noel Lao, a parochial vicar of Santo Niño Church in this city, during a New Year’s Eve Mass. “A saying states, ‘A good beginning has a good ending,’” stressed the priest.

Right foundation

A person who starts his day with

the wrong attitude, he explained, usually ends up quarrelling with other people—even to the point of using foul language with them. Lao, likewise, encouraged the faithful to begin the New Year with the right foundation, which is the Lord. “As Thomas Aquinas said, ‘If you have God, you have everything,’” he said. Quoting an excerpt from the first reading for January 1, he told the faithful: “The Lord will bless you and let His face shine upon you.” The people should also have the right protector, Lao added, citing

Mary, who never abandoned Christ, standing at the foot of the cross on Calvary until His last breath. Lao also underscored the need to believe and uphold the principle of nonviolence espoused by Pope Francis, particularly beginning in the family. “It is important that we promote peace, especially in our family because pezzzzzace begins in the family,” he stressed.

Mary’s ‘yes’

He reminded the congregation of Pope John Paul II’s exhortation,

“Learn from the lesson of the past, face the present with courage and be hopeful for the future.” Lao, likewise, stressed the significance of celebrating the first day of the civil calendar with the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. He said there would not have been Christmas and Easter without Mary who said “yes” to God’s call and gave birth to Christ. “Through Mary, God’s plan for salvation will be fulfilled, just as in all mothers, God’s plan for humankind is fulfilled,” he explained. Eileen Nazareno-Ballesteros/CBCP News

Portrait of Galileo Galilei (1636) by Justus Sustermans Wikimedia Commons

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Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

TWO DAYS IN SHANGHAI

Sunday, January 8, 2017

D.O.T. leads Miss Universe interagency team

Tourism Secretary Wanda T. Teo (center) speaks during the meeting attended by organizers and other government agencies. Also in photo are (from left) DOT Media Director Czarina Zara Loyola, Undersecretary Katherine de Castro, Office of the Secretary's Chief of Staff Atty. Arlene Mancao and Assistant Secretary Frederick M. Alegre.

Despite the high-rise buildings, trees abound within the city.

AERIAL view of Shanghai City

Story & photos by Henrylito D. Tacio

hat do these Hollywood movies have in common: Empire of the Sun, The White Countess, Ultraviolet, Code 46, Fearless, Mission Impossible 3, The Last Tycoon, Looper, Skyfall, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ?

Huangpu River cruise is a must in Shanghai.

If you can’t guess, then you either don’t watch Hollywood films or you find geography very boring. All the above motion pictures were filmed partly in Shanghai. The first Hollywood movie shot in Shanghai was aptly titled, Shanghai Express starring Marlene Dietrich (1932). Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury was also filmed in Shanghai. With more than 24 million people, Shanghai is not only the most populous city in China, but it is also the world’s most populous city proper. It is also a global financial center and a transport hub with the world’s busiest container port. I had the opportunity of visiting this city that sits on the south edge of the mouth of Yangtze River along with fellow journalists from Davao City and three media personalities from Manila. “Shanghai is China’s outstanding tourist city, a well-known city in history and culture, and the financial, trade and shopping center,” the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration describes the city, which earned the nickname “Paris of the East.” “City Sightseeing,” “City Culture” and “City Commerce,” are some of the descriptions used to attract people from all over the world to come to Shanghai.

“If Beijing is China’s classroom, Shanghai is the playground,” our guide, Yan Xu Dong, told us. Since we had only two days, we made the best of it. And it was good that our guide had already prepared which places to go in those two short days. In fact, we didn’t check in at the hotel when we arrived. We immediately started our tour. To think, we had traveled all the way from Ningbo City via Hangzhou Bay Bridge by bus for more than two hours. Our first stopover was the Yu Garden—also known as Yuyuan Garden—an extensive Chinese garden beside the City God Temple. It is already more than 400 years since it was first built in 1559 during the Ming Dynasty as “comfort” of Pan Yunduan for his father, the minister Pan En. The garden occupies 2 hectares and is divided into six general areas. Each area is separated from the others by “dragon walls” with undulating gray tiled ridges, each terminating in a dragon’s head. But what makes the garden unique is that its design perfectly blends decorative halls, elaborate pavilions, glittering pools, zigzag bridges, pagodas, archways and impressive rockeries. Despite the warm weather, we still managed to enjoy the sceneries of the garden. Perspired but

Shanghai World Financial Center

inspired, we checked in at the Jin Jiang Hotel, a high-rise luxury hotel just a five-minute walk from Huaihai Road shopping district. It used to be a modern British Gotchi style high-rise apartment with metal windows in good order, artificial stone coating outside the windows. After eating our dinner, we rushed to The Bund in Zhonghan Road, a famous waterfront and regarded as the symbol of Shanghai for hundreds of years. But since it was already dark, we didn’t have the time to tour around the place. Instead, we opted to do the Huangpu River Cruise. When the sun sets, the river is veiled in the glittery neon lights on its banks. The Huangpu River is touted to the “mother river of Shanghai.” It stretches for 113 kilometers with an average width of 400 meters and a depth of 9 meters. It is also the source of the city’s drinking water—after the water goes through a purification process, of course. “You have never been to Shanghai if you have not done cruising the Huangpu River,” said our guide, who is better known by his English name, Ryan. “This is our important traditional tourist item.” Cruise ships come in different sizes, decorations and amenities. Generally, they depart from the Bund, sail to Huangpu Bridge then turn and head toward Wusongkou and return to the Bund. During the cruise, you get a glimpse of the city’s scenic sights on the banks. On the eastern bank, you get to see huge building, such as the Peace Hotel, with its unique pyramid roof in blazing green; and the Customs House, with its large clock tower. On the western bank, you will marvel at the towering buildings, like Jinmao Tower, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and the Shanghai World Financial Center. And, yes, you get a closer look at the buildings where Mission Impossible 3 was filmed. After the river cruise, we went to our hotel to take the muchneeded rest. If the first day was tiring, the second day was exhausting. We gathered at the hotel’s lobby and then went straight

to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center, a six-story building at the People’s Square. The centerpiece of the exhibition is a huge scale model of the city, showing all existing and approved buildings. But what really mesmerized us was the small theater room housing a 360-degree screen (yes, you read it right). While watching, you get to feel as if you are moving, walking and even flying. Our next stopover was not for the faint-hearted: the Shanghai World Financial Center. In 2009, the Guinness Book of World Records singled out its observatory as the highest observation deck. To get to the top, you have to ride an elevator whose speed is 8 meters per second. You have to stop at the 97th floor before proceeding to the skywalk located at the 100th floor. Spanning 55 meters and located 474 meters above ground, you walk on the transparent glassfloor walkway. You get to feel that Shanghai lies at your feet. At first, I didn’t notice that I was walking in a glass floor. But when someone pointed it out, I immediately shuddered since I have fear of heights. Still, we managed to have some photos taken during our visit there. From there, we went to the Shanghai French Concession. Developed in 1849 by Charles de Montigny, the French consul to Shanghai, it has retained a distinct character despite redevelopment over the years. Although high-rise buildings line the street, many street front buildings have been preserved. In Jules Verne’s novel, Tribulations of a Chinaman in China, the French Concession played a big part. It is also mentioned in Adeline Yen Mah’s autobiography, Chinese Cinderella. Likewise, it was highlighted in Lisa See’s novel, Shanghai Girls and Dreams of Joy. Although it was not part of the itinerary, we discovered the site of the building where the First National Congress of Communist Party of China was held. It was said that Mao Zedong, He Shuheng and others, altogether 13 delegates from different places in the country, attended the meeting. Talking about dining in Shanghai, well, it’s a different story compared to those being served in Beijing. If you like oily and sweet, then Shanghai is your place but if you prefer hot and spicy, then go to Beijing. The good thing about our tour in Shanghai was they were done during the weekend when the traffic was not horrendous. The hitch, however: too many people queueing in the places we visited. Should I visit Shanghai again? Sure, I will!

ourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo assured that concerns about security, vehicular traffic, airport and immigration procedures, transport and accommodations have been addressed by the Miss Universe hosting secretariat in continuous preparations to welcome 87 delegates of the prestigious pageant from across the globe. “Everything is in place, we just had a successful meeting,” said Teo in a press briefing after the interagency meeting at the Department of Tourism (DOT) main office. Major government agencies, led by the departments of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Transportation (DOTr) and Health (DOH), attended the interagency meeting to ensure the successful holding of the event. Memorandum Circular 13, signed by President Duterte, mandates all departments, agencies, bureaus and all government offices to support the DOT in hosting the 65th edition of the Miss Universe. DILG Undersecretary Emily Padilla said that Philippine National Police (PNP), the local government units concerned and other lawenforcement agencies will ensure security and public safety during the international event. Police Senior Supt. Emmanuel Licup, on his end, said special task forces have been organized in every host province. The PNP official also assured that “no threat” has been detected

anywhere in the country three weeks before the Miss Universe pageant. “In support of the DOT, we have activated our task force; we conducted a lot of meetings already, coordinated with other law-enforcement agencies, including the Interpol,” Licup stressed. Meanwhile, DOTr Assistant Secretary Cherie Mercado-Santos reiterated that during the event, no roads will be closed and that efforts will be done to avoid causing discomfort to the riding public. “We are doing the proper coordination with the DOT, MIAA, and Caap to ensure the comfort of both the contestants and the riding public, we are confident that everything will be in order. There will be no road closures or traffic rerouting in Metro Manila and in the host provinces,” she said. Other agencies present in the interagency meeting include the Bureau of Immigration, the Food and Drugs Administration, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA). The DOT is the lead agency in the Philippines’s hosting of the world’s most prestigious international pageant as approved by Duterte in August last year upon the proposal of the Miss Universe Organization and private sponsor Luis Chavit Singson Group of Companies.

Hilton Signs Agreement with BRG Group to Manage 610-Room Dual-Branded Hotel in Vietnam

ilton announced the signing of a management agreement with Victory Hotel Joint Stock Co., which is part of the BRG Group, for a 610-room dual-branded hotel. Owned by BRG Group, and to be managed by Hilton, the dual-branded property will feature Hilton Hanoi West Lake, with 240 rooms and suites, as well as 50 serviced residences and DoubleTree by Hilton Hanoi West Lake, with 320 rooms and suites. Both Hilton Hanoi West Lake and DoubleTree by Hilton Hanoi West Lake are scheduled to open in 2020 and are located on Hanoi’s iconic West Lake, on the fringe of the central business district. Together, they will also offer a total of 2,993 square meters of meeting space. “We are pleased to mark DoubleTree by Hilton’s entry into Hanoi,” said Dianna Vaughan, senior vice president and global head, DoubleTree by Hilton. “DoubleTree by Hilton offers a strong value proposition to Hanoi’s MICE market, business and leisure travelers who appreciate contemporary accommodations, full-service facilities, and our unique approach to service, which focuses on CARE—Creating a Rewarding Experience—for our guests.” “DoubleTree by Hilton Hanoi West Lake and Hilton Hanoi West Lake offer complementary accommodation options that enable Hilton to broaden its reach and deliver exceptional experiences to a wider spectrum of segments,” said Sean Wooden, vice president, brand management, Asia Pacific, Hilton. “In addition to catering to short-stay guests, we will be able to cater to long-stay guests with Hilton Hanoi West Lake’s serviced residences. At the same time, the combined 610-room inventory makes us the top choice for large groups and major events.” This dual-brand hotel is Hilton’s third project with BRG Group in Hanoi, which has business interests in banking, goods production and trading, golf-course development and operation, and real-estate development. BRG Group owns Hilton Hanoi Opera and Hilton Garden Inn Hanoi. “Building on our successful alliance with BRG Group and its affiliates, we are strength-

Nguyen Thi Nga, chairman of BRG Group, and William Costley, vice president of operations, South East Asia & India, Hilton, at the signing ceremony of Hilton Hanoi West Lake and DoubleTree by Hilton Hanoi West Lake

ening our presence in Vietnam, particularly in Hanoi,” said Guy Philips, senior vice president, development, Asia & Australasia, Hilton. “We are committed to delivering exceptional returns to our owners and look forward to working with BRG Group on even more projects across the country.” Nguyen Thi Nga, chairman of BRG Group, said, “We made the decision to partner with a leading global hospitality company and have never looked back. Following the success of Hilton Hanoi Opera and Hilton Garden Inn Hanoi, we know that our new dual-branded hotel project is in great hands. We are confident that the Hilton team will continue to exceed our expectations.” With the signing of this latest partnership with BRG Group, Hilton will now have six hotels in the pipeline across Vietnam, including Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang. As part of the Hilton portfolio, Hilton Hanoi West Lake and DoubleTree by Hilton Hanoi West Lake will participate in Hilton HHonors, the award-winning guest-loyalty program for Hilton’s 13 distinct hotel brands. Hilton HHonors members always get an exclusive member rate, along with HHonors Points, free standard Wi-fi, digital check-in and no booking fees only when they book directly through Hilton.

Clark-Incheon flight opens PAL’s 2017 calendar

PAL Incheon flight arrival at Clark

hilippine Airlines (PAL) opened 2017 with the launch of a new route, Clark to Incheon (South Korea), that began on January 1st. The daily service using the 199-seater Airbus A321 jet will allow passengers from Central and Northern Luzon to fly to Incheon without passing through Manila. Last December 16 PAL started operating out of Clark Interna-

tional Airport in Pampanga with the Clark-Caticlan service using the Q400 turboprop aircraft. Clark-Incheon will be PAL’s first international route out of Clark. Travelers from Incheon, upon arriving at Clark, can visit interesting attractions in Central and Northern Luzon, or connect on PAL’s direct flight to Caticlan, gateway to Boracay. From Caticlan, PAL can also take Incheon visitors direct

to Cebu, host to a variety of world-class tourist spots, and the jump-off point to other international PAL destinations, such as Los Angeles, Singapore, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and also back to Incheon. The flag carrier will, likewise, operate Clark-Davao very soon. “We will operate more flights outside of Manila not just to decongest the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, but mainly to

offer convenience to passengers who need not travel to Manila for their desired flights,” PAL President Jaime J. Bautista said. The flight to Incheon departs Clark at 4:45 p.m. and arrives at Incheon at 9:40 p.m. The return flight leaves Incheon at 10:50 p.m., and lands at Clark 1:55 a.m. the following day. The flag carrier will launch international flights out of Kalibo within the first quarter of 2017.

A8 Sunday, January 8, 2017

By Jon Gambrell The Associated Press

UBAI, United Arab Emirates—The decorative clock bearing the name of America’s incoming 45th president has yet to start at the Trump International Golf Club in Dubai, but the developers behind the project already are counting the money they’ve made. The 18-hole course is likely to be the first Trump-connected property to open after his January 20 inauguration as president, joining his organization’s projects stretching from Bali to Panama. It also encapsulates the host of worries of possible conflicts of interest circulating around a president who is very different from America’s past leaders. While the Oval Office has always been home to the wealthy, Donald J. Trump represents the first franchise president. Could foreign governments pressure or please Trump through his international businesses? Should projects bearing his name receive additional security? And how close should his ties remain to business executives operating in areas with far different opinions about human rights and justice? “There has never been anything remotely like this—not even close,” said Robert W. Gordon, a legal historian and ethics expert who teaches at Stanford University. “Trump himself tends to treat his businesses and his public policy as sort of extensions of himself. He seems to be completely unembarrassed about scrambling up and conflating his business enterprise, and the actions and policies of the US government.” The Trump International Golf Club in Dubai—the sheikhdom in the UAE home to a futuristic skyline crowned by the world’s tallest building—is due to open in February and be managed by Trump Organization employees. The course sits along a road that begins near the sail-shaped Burj al-Arab luxury hotel and passes by a mall with its own artificial ski slope. The luxury continues onto the par-71 Trump course, designed by American golf architect Gil Hanse, where wrinkled fairways lead to putting greens made smooth with silica sand brushed in between microblades of grass. It is set inside Akoya, a massive housing development of 2,600 villas and 7,000 apartments developed by Dubai-based luxury real estate Damac Properties. Another Trump-managed golf course is planned for another even larger Damac project under

BusinessMirror

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

GOLF CLUB SHOWS TRUMP PITFALLS

THE Trump International Golf Club in Dubai is due to open in February and be managed by Trump Organization employees. AP

development further down the road. Billionaire Hussain Sajwani, who founded Damac Properties in 2002, met Trump some 10 years ago and the two men hit it off over their real-estate experiences, said Niall McLoughlin, a senior vice president for communications and marketing at the firm. “When we approached them in 2013 about the golf course, he of course knew who Damac was,” McLoughlin told The Associated Press on a recent trip to the golf course. “They subsequently cemented the family relationship as well.... A lot of our dealings have been with Eric, a lot of our dealings have been with Ivanka. They have traveled here—and Donald Jr.” Sajwani and his family also attended a New Year’s Eve party at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, with the incoming president describing them from on stage as “the most beautiful people from Dubai.” Trump received between $1 million and $5 million from Damac, according to a Federal Election Committee report submitted in May. It’s unclear how much the contract will be worth once the golf course opens and starts operating.

HAWAIIAN Angela Lee stakes her atomweight title in Bangkok on March 11.

Lee defends MMA title

ANGKOK—Hawaiian Angela Lee will defend her women’s atomweight title against Taiwan’s Jenny Huang, when One Championship hosts its second mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion in Thailand on March 11. The 20-year-old Canadian-born Lee improved her perfect career record to six wins when she won the title in a unanimous decision against Mei Yamaguchi in May last year. The fight in Bangkok will be her first defense. “I had back to back fights leading up to the title fight, and after I won the belt, I took some time off,” Lee said. “The goal for 2017 is to be an active champion and to stay busy. “Since my last fight, I’ve been training extremely hard, improving my skill set, and I can’t wait to show everyone.” Huang also has a perfect record, winning her fifth fight against April Osenio by submission last month. Five years older than Lee, Huang was later to start her MMA career than her upcoming opponent. “I have been working so hard to come to this point in my career, and now that I’m finally here it all feels very surreal to me,” Huang said. “Inside the cage I only have one goal, and that’s to win this bout at any cost. She better be prepared for what I bring to the table, because I will go to battle with my full arsenal.” The event in Bangkok will be ONE’s second promotion in Thailand, after the inaugural event in May last year. ONE has an expanded schedule this year, including five fight nights in China and a first in Vietnam. The first event of the year will be in Jakarta this month. Marcin Prachnio has withdrawn from the middleweight title fight against Vitaly Bigdash due to injury and will be replaced by Aung La N Sang of Myanmar. Russia’s Bigdash will be making the first defense of the title he won back in 2015. AP

Sports

WO Olympic decathlon gold medals. Rewriting the world record not once but twice. Ashton Eaton really can’t envision accomplishing much more in an event that comes with the label of world’s greatest athlete. So, he’s stepping away less than three weeks shy of his 29th birthday. Eaton and heptathlete Brianne Theisen-Eaton announced their retirements on Wednesday in side-by-side essays on their web site. Considered the first family of multievents, Ashton and Brianne met at the University of Oregon as teenagers and married in July 2013. Their coach, Harry Marra, officiated the wedding. Ashton hinted he might be moving on to other things soon after defending his title at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics last August. He leaves with his world record standing at 9,045 points, which he achieved at the 2015 world championships in Beijing. It was six points better than his previous record set during dreary weather in front of a hometown crowd in Eugene, Oregon, at the 2012 US Olympic trials. “Frankly there isn’t much more I want to do in [the] sport,” Ashton wrote. “I gave the most physically robust years of my life to the discovery and pursuit of my limits in this domain. Did I reach them? Truthfully, I’m not sure anyone really does. “It seems like we tend to run out of time or

McLoughlin declined to offer specific figures. It is the first Trump venture in the Arab world. His first proposed project in Dubai, a 62-story tower with state-backed developer Nakheel, became a victim of the sheikhdom’s 2009 financial crisis. By 2014, Trump knocked a golf ball down the fairway of what would become the golf course at Akoya. Sajwani called Trump a “great man” during the tour, and Damac later designed some 100 Trumpbranded villas at the property, selling from 5 million dirhams ($1.3 million) to over 15 million dirhams ($4 million). With Trump set to be sworn in as president, security analysts have suggested properties bearing his name could be targets. His campaign pledge calling for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the US, followed by his proposal to conduct “extreme vetting” of immigrants, also sparked regional anger. The Trump logos on the golf course even came down for a short time. Still, the UAE, a staunch US ally in the war against the Islamic State group and host to some 5,000 American military personnel, remains a peaceful corner of the Middle East.

EATONS RETIRING will before we run out of potential. That makes humanity limitless then, as far as I’m concerned. And I think that’s inspiring.” Some of Ashton’s top rivals were already weighing in on Twitter. Fellow American Trey Hardee , who finished with silver at the 2012 London Games, posted a tribute to Ashton that ended with: “He carried the legacy flag of American decathlon champions and stuck it in the ground atop Everest.” Hardee also referred to Ashton as “GOAT”— Greatest Of All Time. That’s high praise in a long line of distinguished American decathletes, which includes Jim Thorpe, Bob Mathias, Bill Toomey, Rafer Johnson, Bruce Jenner, Dan O’Brien and Bryan Clay, to name just a few. Ashton’s biggest influence may have actually been Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic—the decathlete who inadvertently inspired him and whose colossal world record Ashton would eventually break. Here’s how the story goes, as recounted by Ashton: As a kid, he happened upon a newspaper with a headline along the lines of “Galactic Olympics” or “Interstellar Olympics,” with the article wondering who would represent Earth should one take place. The opinion was Sebrle. “I considered myself knowledgeable about sports. But out of all the athletes in the world we were choosing this man I had never

seen doing something I’d never heard of; the decathlon,” Ashton wrote. “I left to go about my day and forgot about that experience until five years later when I heard that word again: ‘decathlon’. This time, I was being asked if I’d consider trying it. I said ‘sure.’” Since then, he’s ruled the sport. His departure comes before the expected retirement of another big name from the world of track and field. Nine-time

Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt of Jamaica indicated that 2017 would be his final season of sprinting. “I don’t know if we’ll ever have another Usain Bolt or another Ashton Eaton,” Hardee said in a phone interview. “But there are kids coming up...and it’s going to be great to watch who fills those gaps.” Through the years, Ashton’s constant training partner has been Brianne. They’re highly supportive each other, with Ashton sitting in the Rio stands while wearing a

“Dubai is one of the safest cities in the world,” McLoughlin said. “Dubai has proved itself to be safe. We have no extra concerns about this golf course.” Dubai police did not respond to a request for comment about security at the property. Financial matters raise other questions. Damac, a private company, purchased the property for Akoya from Dubai’s government in 2012 for around $350 million. Dubai’s government ultimately answers to the emirate’s hereditary ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who also is the UAE’s vice president and prime minister. All services to the property—electricity, water, roads—come at the discretion of the government. The club’s bar will need government approvals to serve alcohol, not to mention other regulatory issues. That could raise concerns about the so-called emoluments clause of the US constitution, which bars public officials from accepting gifts or payments from foreign governments and companies controlled by them without the consent of Congress. Any negotiations involving the Trump

Canadian cap to root for his wife. The 28-year-old Brianne, who represents Canada, won the bronze medal in Rio. She wrote in her essay how she usually got nervous before her final event. AP

brand at the least could create the appearance of impropriety, legal experts warn. “He has so many properties that his business interests become an obvious target for both bribes and threats,” said Gordon, the Stanford law professor. “The dangers really come in two directions: One is that foreign powers will try to use Trump’s interests as a way of bribing him into public policies in a way that are friendly to them or use them put pressure on him.” Trump has said he will step away from managing his business empire while in office, but has offered few details other than to say his executives “will run it with my children.” Erik Jensen, a law professor emeritus at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, said that alone could pose problems. “Turning over control to the kids just doesn’t do it. They clearly are going to be having holiday meals together, talking on the telephone,” Jensen said. “There’s going to be a lot of contact there.” Even putting assets in a blind trust, like other presidents have, likely wouldn’t work since, for example, he would know the trust holds a golf course in Dubai. “You can put it in the trust, but the adjective ‘blind’ wouldn’t apply in that situation,” Jensen said. Also, Damac’s Sajwani has had dealings with the US government. He credits some of his fortune to contracting work his companies did in supplying US forces during the 1991 Gulf War that expelled Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Over the past decade, his companies have been awarded at least $1 million in contracting work, according to US government records reviewed by the AP. McLoughlin did not respond to a query regarding whether Damac would continue to seek US government contracts. Damac stock traded after the election at near a yearlong low of 2.02 dirhams (55 cents) a share, in part due to the company announcing an 11.7 percent fall in third-quarter profits as Dubai’s housing market has slowed in 2016. Stock then rebounded, reaching 2.53 dirhams (69 cents) just before New Year’s Eve, as the company began handing over properties at Akoya. Sajwani’s business dealings have drawn international scrutiny in the past. After Egypt’s 2011 Arab Spring protests, a local court sentenced him to five years in prison and a $40.5 million fine over a 2006 land deal. Egypt and Damac later reached an undisclosed settlement in international arbitration and Sajwani never served prison time. Damac, which competes against largely state-backed developers in Dubai, focuses on flashy projects, like offering homes built around luxury Bugatti sports cars. But when it comes to building the projects, it like other companies relies heavily on subcontractors who largely employ lowpaid laborers from Asian countries like India and Pakistan. There have been no formal complaints by workers alleging the Trump golf course or the larger Damac project mistreats laborers. However, that alone shouldn’t be taken as a sign that everything is fine, said James Lynch, who focuses on Gulf labor issues for Amnesty International. The Emirati government and local businesses remain sensitive about their image in regards to the millions of workers employed in the country, something Lynch knows all too well as he was barred from entering the UAE in 2015 to discuss laborers’ rights.

Brianne Theisen-Eaton and husband Ashton Eaton announce their retirements in side-by-side essays on their web site. AP