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The Filipinos’ ‘green’ scare G

By Roderick L. Abad | Contributor

REEN building experts urged the 10 Asean member-states, especially calamity-prone Philippines, to continue to adopt sustainability practices and not to be complacent with the extent of progress they have achieved in promoting environment-friendly construction.

Guerrero: “In theory, we should be very green by now. But look around, unfortunately, it’s not the case. We’re still using a lot of energy, not exactly green, so to speak, as what we want to be.”

This is in the face of the Filipinos’ reluctance to shift to “green” options because of concerns over the up-front costs and perceived inability to adapt to complex technologies that go with the campaign for sustainable construction.

“[The] Philippines is among the most vulnerable countries to climate change due to its long coastline and reliance on agriculture. We need to continue inspiring the community to increase their adoption of sustainability practices in their projects,” World Bank environmental education ad-

vocate and former Philippine government Climate Change Secretary Lucille L. Sering said at the recent news briefing for the 10th Build Eco Expo (BEX) Asia at a hotel in Makati City.

Because of its growing commercial industry, the region’s economic development has shown rapid increase in its energy consumption, which amounted to almost a quarter of the total energy produced.

The relative hike in the cost of electricity has been felt by all stakeholders—government, build-

ing owners and tenants. This is so apparent in the Philippines, which currently charges the highest rate among its neighbors.

Studies revealed that significant reduction in the exploitation of resources could be achieved with green building, which refers to the quality design, construction, maintenance and education of professionals and consumers for a sustainable and efficient living.

Based on a study of Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED), green developments Continued on A2

FAO, DA draw rehab blueprint for agriculture lands in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

he Department of Agriculture (DA) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are now preparing a joint rehabilitation program for conflictstricken Marawi City and Lanao del Sur. PESO exchange rates n US 50.6350

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol, who is currently in Rome, Italy, to chair the FAO Conference’s 40th session, said he has met with officials of the UN-attached agency to discuss the joint rehabilitation effort for Marawi City.

“Six days after Director General José Graziano da Silva of the FAO issued a commitment to support the Philippine government

in the rehabilitation of conflictstricken Marawi City and Lanao del Sur, senior officials of the organization met with the Philippine delegation to prepare the rehabilitation program for the area,” he said.

“Among the issues discussed were the synchronization of efforts between the Department of Agriculture [DA] and the FAO Continued on A2

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he director general assured me and our government that the FAO will come in and support our government in the rehabilitation of the conflict areas of the country, specifically where there is an ongoing battle between our government and ISIS extremists, which literally devastated agricultural areas.”— Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol

n japan 0.4473 n UK 65.6888 n HK 6.4834 n CHINA 7.4425 n singapore 36.6389 n australia 38.4066 n EU 57.8454 n SAUDI arabia 13.5030

Source: BSP (7 July 2017 )

Kwest19 | Dreamstime.com

COST, TECHNOLOGY CONCERNS HAMPER PHL’S SHIFT TO SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, July 9, 2017

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The Filipinos’ ‘green’ scare Continued from A1

can cause energy use to go down from 50 percent to 24 percent and carbon-dioxide emissions from 39 percent to 33 percent. Water consumption will decrease 40 percent and solid waste will go down 70 percent, according to a 2003 California study.

While these data amplified the call for sustainable construction and green buildings across Asean, Architect Miguel Guerrero, chairman and founder of Green Architecture Advocacy Philippines (GreenAP), noted that the Philippines is not moving fast enough with the green initiative, though sustainable building is gaining ground in the country.

“In theory, we should be very green by now. But look around, unfortunately, it’s not the case. We’re still using a lot of energy, not exactly green, so to speak, as what we want to be,” Guerrero said, while citing the challenges as cost, complex, and change.

The 3 Cs

THE Philippines’s bumpy ride to green building, according to Guerrero, could be blamed on the socalled three Cs.

First is complexity, which, he said, pertains to the public notion of it as complicated as technologies, such as solar panels and wind turbines, among others. “Most people on the streets, [the] public, understand ‘green’ as tech-driven.” he said, noting that it’s not always the case to be pro-environment when building a house or any kind of establishment.

The complexity of the problem is, likewise, partly due to the green building rating system, set by the government and nonprofit organizations. These include the LEED of the US Green Council Rating System, as well as two local green rating building systems, Building for Ecologically Responsive Design Excellence (Berde), which is put up by the Philippine Green Building Council; and the Geared for Resiliency and Energy Efficiency for the Environment (grEEEn) by the Philippine Green Building Initiative Inc.

Cost is another hurdle because they view it as expensive, mainly due to the technology that comes with it. This way of thinking “sort of scare some” to go green, Guerrero said.

Sharing the same idea with him, G-Energy Global Director of Business and Operations Choong Chow Neng stressed how it does not merely revolve around new technologies, but it can also be applied efficiently through green building constructions.

“Going green should not [only] be tech-driven but should [also] be value engineering because by implementing more efficiently we can actually generate more in the long run,” he said.

The last “C” is change, which Guerrero referred to as part of the Filipino culture also. He said the local mind-set should be changed first to have a bigger impact, adding that it should be addressed by educating Filipinos that going green need not cost a lot.

“Let’s encourage people to go green in simple way first,” he said.

“For example, the orientation of

the buildings.”

Guerrero cited the placement of house windows must be facing north and south to capture the amihan and habagat breeze. He added having a more open home that can capture natural light.

“If they save and they realize they could save money, then we’ll end up having what is known as a win-win solution—they’re saving money, at the same time saving the world. In that way, more and more people will start going green, from the small sectors to the big projects,” he said.

While the innate attribute of Filipinos being resilient is positive, the top executive of GreenAP also pointed out the downside of it.

“We have typhoons every year, we have earthquakes, [but] it happens after the typhoon, we’re cool.

That is a challenge also for us,” he explained. “We build exactly the same structure knowing that maybe a few years later, it’s going to get destroyed again by another typhoon.”

Transformation

THE recent years have been transformative for the Philippines in terms of green building initiatives.

Even if it trails behind its neighbors when it comes to adopting sustainable construction, the outlook is seemingly just as promising this year and beyond.

In fact, the current state of the Philippine real estate that is growing, with building constructions and transport systems popping up not only in urbanized Manila but also in provinces, is indicative of the country’s journey in this field, Guerrero commented.

“If I look at it in the perspective of an architect, the design part, I think the industry is booming, we’re doing well, and I would assume since they’re building, there must be buyers, which means at the end of the day, real-estate sectors are doing well,” he told the BusinessMirror.

In the past few years, the green building sector in the Philippines showed promising growth.

About 61 of the 245 new projects in the market have earned LEED certifications.

The Citadines Salcedo Makati and Ascott Bonifacio Global City are two certified Green Mark projects that originated from Singapore.

Green buildings usually have

20 percent to 25 percent energy use intensity (EUI). A study conducted by Arcadis shows an average EUI of 136 kilowatt-hour per meter square for LEED-certified office buildings in the country.

This translates to about a 32-percent reduction to the Berde baseline, or reductions of P92.9 million in electricity bills, 33,000 gigajoules in energy consumption and 6.53 million metric tons of carbon-dioxide emissions (equal to 167,000 new trees planted).

The country’s improving green architecture and construction landscape is a very timely backdrop, as BEX Asia will hold the International Green Building Conference from September 12 to 14 at the Ma-

rina Bay Sands, Singapore.

The water and energy exhibition will be a platform for international environment advocates and thought leaders to share ideas for more buildings to be green in our environment.

“We really want to reach out to regions beyond Singapore, and the Philippines is a very important market for us here. We want to really engage the building community to share what we have achieved so far in terms of sustainability.

We can collaborate between the Philippines, the community, as well as the regions,” shared Sering, who is also the owner and president of Greenwarehouse.

With Verna Mae Barrozo

FAO, DA draw rehab blueprint for agriculture lands in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur Continued from A1

in implementing the rehabilitation program for agriculture and fisheries in Marawi City and Lanao del Sur,” he added.

Piñol, together with Agriculture Undersecretary Segfredo Serrano; Rep. Jose T. Panganiban Jr., chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture; and Agriculture Attache Lupiño Lazaro, met with Kundavi Kadiresan and Dominique Burgeon of the FAO.

Kadiresan and Burgeon were directly involved in the rehabilitation and assistance efforts of the FAO to the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) and are also familiar with the situation in Mindanao, according to Piñol.

Piñol said the joint rehabilitation program would include the identification of farmers and fishermen who will benefit from the program. It also included the geo-tagging of their respective farmers and fishing grounds in Lake Lanao, the provision of seeds and farm inputs and support funds for livelihood programs, Piñol added.

“Also discussed…was the implementation of Project Basil, or Balik Sigla sa Ilog at Lawa, which involves the seeding of the 35,000-hectare Lake Lanao with fingerlings of indigenous and noninvasive fish species so that

by November to December this year, Maranaw fishermen could start harvesting the fish,” he said.

“Fiberglass fishing boats will also be provided to the fishermen of the lake, while women will be taught on how to process and pack the fish catch to generate added value,” he added.

Piñol also said the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC), an attached agency of the DA, has prepared a survival and recovery loan program for Lanao del Sur-based farmers and fishermen affected by the war.

The agriculture chief added the master plan for the rehabilitation of Marawi City and Lanao del Sur will be finalized when he returns to the Philippines next week.

“Copies of the Master Plan for Agriculture and Fisheries Rehabilitation will be submitted to President Rody Duterte to update him on the work of the DA and support organizations in ensuring that the people of Marawi City and Lanao del Sur will be able to recover immediately,” Piñol said.

He also disclosed that it was during a recent conversation with da Silva when the FAO pledged to extend assistance to the Philippines in rehabilitating conflict-torn areas in Mindanao, particularly agricultural ones.

“During the conversation the director-general assured me and our government that the FAO will come in and support our government in the rehabilitation of the conflict areas of the country, specifically where there is

A resident looks at a burning structure during early-morning air strikes by government forces in the continuing fight for Marawi City by Muslim militants on June 23. AP/Linus Guardian Escandor II

an ongoing battle between our government and ISIS extremists, which literally devastated agricultural areas,” Piñol said.

“I really appreciate this support for my country, for the Philippines. And I assured him I will immediately relay to my president, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, the offer of the FAO to assist in the rehabilitation of the conflict areas in the country,” Piñol added.

Earlier Piñol said he is “expecting” a positive growth for the farm sector in the second quarter on the back of the declaration of martial law in the Mindanao region.

Piñol said Mindanaoan farmers have started to go back to their farms, as they feel more secure with the presence of the Army in the area, protecting them from threats of the New People’s Army (NPA).

“I told the President that we are expecting a growth in agriculture due to the marial-law declaration.

I based my projection on the NPA’s movements, which used to attack big agricultural companies or even small farmers, from whom they extort money in context of revolutionary tax, have been stopped due to martial law,” he said.

“Farmers have started to go back [to planting] and the big agricultural companies, like pineapple and banana, are not anymore complaning of NPA harassment. I believe there will be a positive growth for agriculture,” Piñol added.

Piñol said the declaration of martial law in the Mindanao region would give agricultural stakeholders in the area a sense and assurance of security for their investments and business operations.

“Because of the presence of the military right now, it will have a long-term effect. Even if the martial law is lifted after 60 days, the military will not be easily pulled out from the area,” he said.

“The long-term effect of that action is that the military has become visible in Mindanao. It will

actually give more assurance of security to agricultural stakeholders,” he added.

The DA chief pointed out that the attacks of NPA on agricultural companies, such as those producing bananas, have resulted in reduced exports of the commodity.

“Davao, Cotabato and Bukidnon, these are the areas where the big agriculture companies—like Del Monte, Dole and Sumifru—are located,” Piñol said.

Lanao del Sur is part of the 10 identified priority provinces per year that will receive livelihood programs and other related support from the DA, amounting to at least P100 million.

Meanwhile, the National Food Authority (NFA) said it has already released a total of 9,917 50-kilogram bags of rice to various relief-giving agencies for distribution to victims of the conflict in Marawi City.

“From May 23 to June 28, the NFA released 6,067 bags of rice to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, with 600 bags withdrawn from NFA Misamis Oriental; 1,867 bags from General Santos City; 2,400 bags from Cotabato City and 1,200 bags from Maguindanao,” the NFA said.

“A total of 2,100 bags were issued to the local government unit of Lanao del Norte, while 1,000 bags were withdrawn by the Office of Civil Defense in Lanao del Norte [700 bags] and Region 14 or ARMM [300 bags]. Among other entities that bought NFA rice for their relief operations are the Office of the Vice President and the Office of the Legislators with a total of 750 bags,” the NFA added.

NFA Administrator Jason Laureano Y. Aquino said the agency has enough food-security stocks in the region and that the NFA is always ready to release rice anytime they are needed to feed the thousands of families and individuals displaced by the war against terrorists in Marawi.

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The World BusinessMirror

Sunday, July 9, 2017

Trade rebounds as Trump H protectionist threat lingers D

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Volvo goes electric, ditches cars powered solely by gasoline

onald J. Trump’S election as US president sparked warnings of damaging trade wars and an end to globalization as we know it.

So far, those predictions haven’t played out. International trade is having its best performance in years as global growth enjoys its strongest synchronized upswing since 2010.

Globalization is showing signs of resilience to Trump’s America First agenda. Ford Motor Co. last month canceled plans to build the Focus in Mexico and announced it would assemble the car in China instead, underscoring the ability of multinational firms to circumvent trade threats in a world of global supply chains. The model—the first made-in-China vehicle for American buyers—may become the Asian nation’s biggest automotive export ever to the US. Tesla Inc. also has its eyes on China.

The maker of electric cars is close to an agreement with the city of Shanghai to make vehicles in China for the

first time, Bloomberg News reported.

The better mood is a key reason central banks are adopting a more hawkish tone, or at least a more upbeat one, after years of pumping cheap money into their economies.

At the European Central Bank, pol ic y-m a kers h ave e x pressed confidence the global recovery is increasingly supporting trade and euro-area exports, underpinning an upswing that has so far been largely driven by domestic forces.

Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz, who is expected to raise interest rates next week, has been citing the synchronized nature of global growth as a major positive for the recovery.

British manufacturers are enjoying what Bank of England Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent has called a “sweet spot”, in which firms still

have access to the European Union’s single market until Brexit is complete while already enjoying a boost in competitiveness because of the weaker pound.

“At the beginning of the year, we thought there would be much greater trade-related risks,” said Helen Qiao, Bank of America Merrill Lynch chief economist for Greater China. “That has largely died down.”

Still, fears of a damaging trade spat between the world’s two biggest economies haven’t gone away. Fresh tensions are emerging between the US and China. President Xi Jinping has complained of a negative turn in relations ahead of a planned meeting with Trump on the sidelines of a Group of 20 (G20) summit in Germany this week.

For his part, the US president has repeatedly accused key trading partners, including China, of unfair trade. His administration is weighing whether to impose sweeping tariffs on steel imports, according to people familiar with the matter.

Criticism of globalization is fueled by the fact that while the trade rebound has inf lated corporate profits, it hasn’t translated into

substantial wage gains, said Stephen Roach, senior fellow at Yale University and former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia.

“We can’t underestimate the political power of the hollowing out of middle-class wage structure in developed economies like the US,” Roach said. “That has created a significant backlash against trade, correctly or not.”

Politics aren’t the only factor that could upend the trade recovery. Weakening commodity and energy prices will hurt emerging economies in particular. So will the fading impact from a cycle of smartphone upgrades that has driven demand for Chinese purchases of electronics components. “ The best is likely behind us,” said Santitarn Sathiratha, head of emerging Asia economics for Credit Suisse.

Still, the picture is relatively robust for now. Trends in global trade remain strong, especially in Asia, where exports are growing at the fastest pace since 2011.

South Korean shipments abroad, a useful indicator of global demand, expanded almost 14 percent in

June from a year earlier, an eighth straight month of gains.

Many countries are forging ahead with trade deals. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, which the US withdrew from in January, could still be resurrected by the end of this year even without America’s involvement, New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English said in a speech last month.

The EU and Japan have overcome differences on farm and car exports to clear the way for a free-trade agreement between two partners that make up more than a quarter of the world’s economic output.

The degree of connectivity between global supply chains, companies and customers also makes it more unlikely political tensions will derail world growth. “Our strong hunch is that international trade volumes will continue to expand,” Mickey Lev y, chief US and Asia economist at Berenberg Capital Markets wrote in a note.

“Any new barriers that are actually erected as a consequence of the populist thrusts toward nationalism will get a lot of attention but have only minor macro impacts.”

Bloomberg News

ELSINKI—Volvo plans to build only electric and hybrid vehicles starting in 2019, making it the first major automaker to abandon cars and sport-utility vehicles powered solely by the internal combustion engine. CEO Hakan Samuelsson said the move was dictated by customer demand. It means that in two years, all new Volvo vehicles will have some form of electric propulsion.

The announcement comes as the global auto industry slowly moves toward electric-powered vehicles after more than a century of using engines that burn only fossil fuels. Even though sales are a fraction of conventional autos, companies must sell them to meet fuel economy and emissions regulations. In some markets, electric vehicles are seeing increased demand.

Yet, the transition to fully electric vehicles will take years. Although Tesla Inc. has announced a $35,000 electric car for the masses and General Motors Co. is selling the all-electric Chevy Bolt for a similar price, less-expensive hybrids are likely to sell more at least in the short run.

Still, other automakers are likely to follow Volvo’s announcement in a few years, said Sam Abuelsamid, senior analyst for Navigant Research, with luxury automakers leading the way. “I think we’ll probably see most of the premium brands do the same thing in roughly the same time frame,” he said. “More high-volume mainstream brands will be a little slower.”

In order to meet government fuel e co n o my re q u i re m e nt s wo r l d w i d e, automakers are developing more hybrid systems. Many are 48-volt “mild hybrids” that assist a gas engine to move a car to make it more efficient, improving gas mileage by 10 percent or 15 percent, Abuelsamid said. AP

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Sunday, July 9, 2017

Saudi bloc slams Qatar but stops short of imposing new sanctions

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he four-nation alliance that severed ties with Qatar rejected its response to their conditions for ending their monthlong showdown, yet stopped short of announcing new penalties, a reflection of the constraints they face in trying to dictate changes to its foreign policy.

Doha’s response to the 13-point list of demands “evinced complacency” and failed to recognize the gravity of the situation, the alliance said on Wednesday as the deadline it gave Qatar to comply with its demands expired. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said the allies— Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain—wouldn’t make “hasty” decisions and would continue strategy talks in Bahrain on an unspecified date.

The lack of a plan highlighted the delicate position the alliance is in as both sides dig into their positions.

While the isolation is taking its toll on Qatar—Moody’s Investors Service cut its credit rating to negative and its stock market has dropped 10 percent since the boycott took effect on June 5—the country has received support from Turkey and Iran, and has said it’s ready and able to wait out the embargo for as long as it takes.

The four-nation bloc has to tread a fine line between pressuring Qatar without alienating an international community with no appetite for further conflict in the region, said Graham Griffiths, an analyst at global risk consultancy Control Risks in Dubai.

“They are constrained in what escalation measures they can take and they’re facing an international community that prefers some kind of negotiated settlement, which they’re not really interested in,’’ Griffiths said. They need “more time to figure out measures that would increase the pressure on Qatar without violating international law or engendering a negative response from the international community’’.

Qatar dismisses the bloc’s allegations that it sponsors terrorism and is too close to Iran, and has characterized its demands as designed to be unacceptable. The conditions include severing ties with the Muslim brotherhood, scaling back relations with Iran,

Saudi Arabia’s rival for regional hegemony; shutting the government-funded Al Jazeera television station, which has been critical of other autocratic governments in the region; and end Turkey’s military presence in Qatar.

On Wednesday Qatar’s foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, told a Chatham House event that Saudi Arabia and its allies see Qatar as “punching above its weight” and want to silence an alternative voice.

The Saudi-led alliance has “plenty of cards to play”, including more financial sanctions, but none of the options are “painless things to do”, said David Andrew Weinberg, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

“The fact that these four countries couldn’t even decide when they’re going to have their next meeting in Bahrain suggests that there is not yet consensus over where they’d like to go next,” he added.

No forgiveness

Shoukry said the alliance “can no longer forgive Qatar’s disruptive role”.

His Saudi counterpart, Adel Al-Jubeir, said the alliance would weigh additional measures against Qatar and that it reserved the right to take action when appropriate.

Kuwait’s emir is working to mediate the dispute, and US President Donald J. Trump, in a call with Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, urged “all parties to negotiate constructively to resolve the dispute”, the White House said in a statement.

Trump stressed the need for nations to follow through on their commitment at a meeting in the Saudi capital in May to “stop terrorist financing and discredit extremist ideology”.

“While additional punitive measures are likely if Qatar maintains its current policy, the anti-Doha coalition appears sensitive to the narrative of the dispute and the need to appear flexible and patient,” said Ayham Kamel, director of the Middle East and North Africa at Eurasia Group in London. Trump’s call “probably convinced the alliance to maintain a degree of flexibility to avoid immediate escalation of the crisis”. Bloomberg News

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US-China gap on Nokor policy widening as interests diverge

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By Christopher Bodeen | The Associated Press

EIJING—President Donald J. Trump’s hopes for China’s help with restraining North Korea appear to have gone nowhere, with the sides growing further apart as their approaches and concerns diverge.

C h ina shows no sig n of caving to US pressu re to t ighten the screws on Pyong yang, wh i le t he Nor t h ’s recent m issi le tests have done l it t le to rat t le Beijing , in cont rast to t he a n x iet y spa rked in Washi ng ton. C h i n a’s bot tom l i ne cont inues to hold fast: No to a ny measu res t hat m ight top ple K im Jong Un’s ha rd-l ine commu nist reg ime. “ T here’s been a lot of w ishf u l t h in k ing on t he US side t hat China was coming around i n it s ap pro ac h ,” s a id Joh n Delu r y, a professor at Yonsei Un i v e r s it y i n S e ou l . Tr u mp seemed to t h i n k he’ d fou nd a pa r t ner on Nor t h Korea in C h inese President X i Jinping fol low ing t heir Apr i l su mm it in F lor id a. Yet, Nor t h Korea cont inued to test m issi les a nd China continued to keep open, a nd e ve n e x pa nd , e conom ic c ha nnels w it h P yong ya ng. By t h is week , t he bloom was wel l a nd t r u ly of f t he rose.

“Perhaps, China w il l put a heav y move on Nor t h Korea a nd end t h is nonsense once and for a l l!” Tr ump t weeted on Tuesday, as if stil l holding out for a Hail Mar y from Beijing. T he next day, he seemed requited to the facts: “ Trade bet ween China and Nor th Korea grew a lmost 40 percetn in

the first quar ter. So much for China working with us—but we had to g ive it a tr y.”

W h e r e p e r s u a s i o n h a s n’t worked, Tr ump’s administrat ion h a s t u r ne d to t h re at s.

Washington’s UN A mbassador Nikki Haley warned on Wednesday that China’s trade w ith the US cou ld suffer if it didn’t help out follow ing Pyong yang’s successful launch of an intercontinenta l ba l listic missile. Ha ley said that “much of the burden of enforcing UN sanctions rests w it h China”, which accounts for 90 percent of trade w ith Nor th Korea.

T he US has a l ready bl ac kl isted one C h i nese ba n k acc used of i l l ic it dea l ings w it h Nor t h Korea a nd is pena l i zing a C h inese sh ipping compa ny a nd t wo C h inese ind iv idu a ls acc used of fac i l it at ing i l lega l ac t iv it ies b y t he Nor t h . US of f ic i a ls say t hey pl a n to look at ot her C h inese ent it ies as possible t a rgets of so - ca l led second a r y sa nct ions.

A lready on Monday X i appeared to respond to the dow nturn in ties, warning in a phone

c a l l w it h Tr u mp t h at “some negative factors” were hur ting the relationship.

A lthough Beijing is far from happy w ith the cur rent situation, and relations bet ween Beijing and Pyong yang are getting “colder and colder”, China w i l l remain resistant to any approach to P yong yang other than a mu ltilatera l one, espec i a l ly one t h at involved t he UN, said Niu Jun, an ex per t at Pek ing Universit y in Beijing.

North Korea’s missile tests, meanwhile, aren’t seen as such a concern because China itself doesn’t feel t hreatened, Niu said. “For China, it’s a question of regional imbalance, of contradictions between the sides,” Niu added.

In keeping with that sense of threat level, China has counseled a calm approach centered on negotiations and bilateral give and take. That is seen most prominently in what has become known as the “dual suspension” proposal whereby North Korea suspends its nuclear and missile tests in return for the US and South Korea suspending largesca le mi litar y exercises that Pyongyang sees as rehearsal for an invasion.

That idea, which originated with Pyongyang, has been rejected by the US and some experts see it as a ploy by Beijing to avoid committing itself. “It requires nothing on China’s part, so it’s easy for them to make such a proposal,” Delury said.

Meanwhile, a fundamental disagreement over the utility of sanctions remains a major obstacle to further cooperation,

China still doesn’t understand the American logic.”—Tong

said Tong Zhao, an associate at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, a think tank in Beijing.

The US seems to believe that sanctions must be so tough as to threaten the survival of the P yong yang reg ime and force them to end their programs.

Yet, by leaving Kim feeling even more under threat, ending their programs might be the last thing Pyongyang does, Tong said. “China still doesn’t understand the American logic,” he said.

Despite poor relations between X i and K im, China remains heavily invested in the North Korean regime. It acts as a buffer with the South and t he 30,0 0 0 A mer ica n troops stationed there, and remains a reliable, if isolated communist ally. Chinese companies benefit from a lack of competition in the North and worries over the K im regime distract from China’s own controversial actions in the South China Sea and elsewhere.

The collapse of the regime, on the other hand, would bring a set of unknowns—civil war, loose nukes, refugees flowing across the Chinese border and US and South Korean troops on the Yalu River—none of which are particularly appetizing to Beijing.

That China sees relatively little reason to act on North Korea is born out also in its concerns that events on the peninsula are overshadowing other aspects of the US-China relationship. “ You c a n’t s ay t h at t he y ’re com i n g c lo s e r on Nor t h K o rea , but not e ver y t h i ng h a s to d o w it h t h at ,” s a id S h i Y i n hon g , a profe s s or of i nt e r n a t ion a l re l at ion s at B e iji n g ’s R e n m i n Un i v e r s it y.

“It’s not good to have everything else crushed under the issue of North Korea,” he added.

Trump cites Russian election meddling, but blames others too

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resident Donald J. Trump said he believes Russia meddled in the 2016 election but maintained that the US may never know for sure, likening the matter to intelligence that incorrectly said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

“I think it was Russia, but I think it was probably other people and/or countries,” Trump told reporters on Thursday at a news conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw, a day ahead of his first in-person meeting as president with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Nobody really knows.

Nobody really knows for sure.”

Trump’s remarks—and his attempt to cast blame for the hacks wider than the Russians—made it seem unlikely he’ll take a tough line on the issue when he meets with Putin. Trump didn’t say whether he intends to raise the subject, and the White House has refused to comment. In the news conference, Trump also said the real question was why former President

Barack Obama didn’t do anything to stop the meddling after he was informed about it last year.

“He did nothing. The reason is, he thought Hillary was going to win,” Trump said, referring to his 2016 presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton. “And if he thought I was going to win, he would have done plenty about it.”

Leading to a mess

Trump also cast doubt on the conclusion of the US intelligence community, saying that only three or four agencies found Russia culpable-not 17, as has been widely reported. Trump said the intelligence officials have been wrong in the past.

“I remember when I was sitting back listening about Iraq—weapons of mass destruction,” Trump said. “How everybody was 100 percent sure that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Guess what? That led to one big mess. They were wrong and it led to a mess.”

Several US officials have said publicly that the Russian government ordered an influence campaign to help Trump during the 2016 election. The matter is being investigated by two congressional committees, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a special counsel.

Asked about Trump’s statement that Russia could have been behind the hacking - something Moscow has repeatedly denied—Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Trump had highlighted “equally the possibility that it could have been other countries.

Please note the nuances.”

Trump’s bilateral meeting with Putin, expected to last about 30 minutes, may shape the tone for the next four years of US-Russia relations. Issues between the nations include Russian sanctions, halting North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs and managing frictions over Syria and Iran.

Bloomberg News

American researchers reveal secret of ancient Roman marine concrete

S

AN FRANCISCO—While modern marine concrete structures crumble within decades, 2,000-year-old Roman piers and breakwaters endure to this day, and are stronger now than when they were first constructed.

The secret behind the ancient concrete, according to University of Utah geologist Marie Jackson and her colleagues, is that seawater filtering through the concrete leads to the growth of interlocking minerals that lend the concrete added cohesion.

I n a paper published this week in American Mineralogist, the researchers report that Romans made marine concrete by mixing volcanic ash with lime and seawater to make a mortar, and then incorporating into that mortar chunks of volcanic rock,

the “aggregate” in the concrete.

The combination of ash, water and quicklime produces what is called a pozzolanic reaction, named after the city of Pozzuoli in the Bay of Naples. The Romans may have gotten the idea for this mixture from naturally cemented volcanic ash deposits called tuff that are common in the area, as Roman author Pliny the Elder described around AD 79 in his Naturalis Historia.

One factor that made architectural concrete in Rome so resilient, Jackson was quoted as saying in a news statement, is that the mineral intergrowths b e t we e n t h e a g gre g ate a n d the mortar prevent cracks from lengthening, while the surfaces of nonreactive aggregates in modern Portland cement only

help cracks propagate farther.

Portland cement concrete also uses rock aggregate, but with an important difference: the sand and gravel particles are intended to be inert. Any reaction with the cement paste could form gels that expand and crack the concrete.

Roman concrete takes time to develop strength from seawater, and features less compressive strength than typical Portland cement. For those reasons, it’s unlikely that Roman concrete could become widespread. However, “the recipe was completely lost”, Jackson acknowledged.

She has extensively studied ancient Roman texts, but hasn’t yet uncovered the precise methods for mixing the marine mortar, to fully recreate the concrete.

PNA/Xinhua

Science

BusinessMirror

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

NAST to recognize eight outstanding young scientists Story & photos

by Stephanie Tumampos

Special to the BusinessMirror

Yñiguez

The Ocean Protector. Yñiguez is currently doing a research on marine biology and fisheries. According to the NAST, “Dr. Yñiguez led the development of the first integrated biophysical models for sardine fisheries and harmful algal-bloom management in the Philippines.”

This means she has focused her work on the computational models to further strengthen the sardinefisheries industry in the Philippines. She also made significant contribution to the first Philippine early warning system for harmful algal blooms or red tides.

Yñiguez has already led and conducted yearly seminars on climate-change and marine-science summer camps in coordination with the Department of Sciend and Technology Science Education Institute Philippine Science High Schools and other public national high schools.

perez

The Faultfinder. In the field of geolog y, Perez has excelled in his research on being one of the “ faultfinders” in the countr y.

“I’m actually one of the faultfinders,” Perez said during the news conference.

He added h is work is not focused on predicting earthquakes simply because earthquakes, can never be predicted.

Instead, what he does is understa nd fau lt d istr ibut ion a nd segmentation and earthquakegeneration potential.

“The [6.7-magnitude] earthquake that occurred on February 12 [off the coast of Surigao del Norte] this year, we have already identified that fault since 2007,” Perez said. He added that Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology has already pinpointed the Surigao fault and alerted the people living nearby. “The bridge transected by the fault fell down during the earthquake.

Sunday, July 9, 2017

A5

An industry-backed study seeks answers

Is alcohol good for you?

I

E

ight young Filipino scientists will be recognized as the 2017 National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) Outstanding Young Scientists (OYS) awardees during the twoday NAST 39th Annual Scientific Meeting that starts on July 12.

Three of these OYS Awardees—Nathaniel Hermosa II, Jeffrey Perez and Aletta Concepcion Yñiguez—were presented to the media during a news conference on July 6 in Quezon City.

The awardees

Sunday

t may be the most palatable advice you will ever get from a doctor: Have a glass of wine, a beer or a cocktail every day, and you just might prevent a heart attack and live longer.

Hermosa

The Light Shaper. Hermosa, a physicist, is working on light and its applications at the National Institute of Physics of the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman.

The most fundamental part of his research is in fiber technology.

“Our current fiber communication is binar y,” Her mosa said, meaning there are only two ways where light can move in a f iber connection—hor izonta l and vertical. “If you can shape light, it can have almost infinite shapes, and infinite shapes means infinite information.”

Her mosa e x pla ined t hat through infinite shapes of light, one can send infinite amount of information at the same time.

“This is what my research is focused on—how we can send a lot of information in one light.”

Recognizing young scientists

Other OYS awardees for 2017 are Phillip Aviola for his wildlife studies at the UP Los Baños; Dr. Lanndon Ocampo from the University of San Carlos, on industrial engineering; Mario Antonio Jiz II on medical sciences at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine; Jayeel Cornelio on the sociological sciences at Ateneo de Manila University; Krista Danielle Yu on economics at De La Salle University.

According to Luningning Samarita-Domingo, NAST director, in an interview with the BusinessMirror, the purpose of OYS is “to give due recognition to our scientists who are working hard and staying in the Philippines despite offers abroad where it is more lucrative”.

She added since these OYS awardees are young, “students can have their role model”.

The awardees are 41 years old and below and have made significant contribution to the science and technology in the country.

“Students can relate to these young scientists and, eventually, inspire them to be scientists, too, and they can be given recog nition,” Samar ita-Domingo said, adding that these scientists earn a living while they are doing science in the country.

The OYS award has been given by the NAST annually for 40 years now. To become one, a scientist must be nominated by heads of institutions and organizations.

Samarita-Domino added the OYS awardees are traditionally recognized twice—during the National Science and Technology Week, which opens on July 11 this year, and on July 13 at the NAST meeting.

“We are contributing to the development of the Philippine economy with our role, [which is] giving recognition to our young scientists and contributing to the human-resource development of the country,” SamaritaDomingo said.

On the role of the NAST, Samarita-Domingo added: “We are harnessing top scientists so they can give advice…like on the issues of the environment, we give to the concerned agency of the government.”

But the mantra that moderate drinking is good for the heart has never been put to a rigorous scientific test, and new research has linked even modest alcohol consumption to increases in breast cancer and changes in the brain.

That has not stopped the alcoholic-beverage industry from promoting the alcohol-is-goodfor-you message by supporting scientific meetings and nurturing budding researchers in the field.

Now, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is starting a $100-million clinical trial to test, for the first time, whether a drink a day really does prevent heart attacks. And guess who is picking up most of the tab?

Five companies that are among the world’s largest alcoholic-beverage manufacturers—AnheuserBusch InBev, Heineken, Diageo, Pernod Ricard and Carlsberg— have so far pledged $67.7 million to a foundation that raises money for the NIH, said Margaret Murray, the director of the Global Alcohol Research Program at the National Institute on A lcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, which will oversee the study.

The decision to let the alcohol industry pay the bulk of the cost has raised concern among researchers who track influence peddling in science.

“Research shows that industry-sponsored research almost invariably favors the interests of the industry sponsor, even when investigators believe they are immune from such inf luence,” said Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition and food studies at New York University (NYU) who is the author of several books on the topic, including Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health.

The international effort to study the benefits and risks of alcohol will recruit nearly 8,000 volunteers age of 50 or older at 16 sites around the world, starting at medical centers in the US, Europe, Africa and South America.

Participants will be randomly assigned to quit alcohol altogether or to drink a single alcoholic beverage of their choice every day.

The trial will follow them for six years to see which group— the moderate drinkers or the abstainers—has more heart attacks, strokes and deaths. The study organizers conceded that it would be a challenge to recruit volunteers, who will not know in advance whether they will be assigned to abstain or be required to drink.

Those in the drinking group will be partly reimbursed for the cost of the alcohol.

George F. Koob, the director of the alcohol institute, said the trial will be immune from industry influence and will be an unbiased test of whether alcohol “in moderation” protects against heart disease.

“This study could completely backfire on the alcoholic beverage industry, and they’re going to have to live with it,” Koob added.

“The money from the Foundation for the NIH has no strings attached. Whoever donates to that fund has no leverage whatsoever—no contribution to the study, no input to the study, no say whatsoever.”

But Koob, like many of the re-

$100M

The National Institutes of Health’s planned fund for the clinical trial to test, for the first time, whether a drink a day really does prevent heart attacks

searchers and academic institutions playing pivotal roles in the trial, has had close ties to the alcoholic-beverage industry.

From 1999 to 2003 Koob served on the medical-advisory council of the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation, now called the Foundation for Alcohol Research, an industry group that also provided him research grants of up to $40,000 a year between 1990 and 1994, said John Bowersox, a spokesman for the NIH’s alcohol institute.

Indeed, many of those involved in the study have financia l l ink s— eit her persona l ly or through an institution—to alcohol-industry money.

Scientists first floated the hypothesis that moderate alcohol consumption is good for one’s hea lth nearly 100 years ago, when a Johns Hopkins scientist published a graph showing that modest drinkers lived longer than not only heavy drinkers, but also abstainers.

Critics of the alcohol hypothesis say moderate drinking may just be something that healthy people tend to do, not something that makes people healthy.

Despite the heart-healthy hypothesis, plenty of studies have linked moderate drinking to more health problems.

One study found an increased rate of atrial fibrillation among moderate drinkers. And a 2017 report on breast cancer from the American Institute for Cancer Research determined there is strong evidence tying consumption of a single serving of alcohol a day to an increased risk of both pre and post menopausal breast cancer.

Proponents of the moderatealcohol hypothesis, on the other hand, pointed to alcohol ’s anticlotting effects and its apparent ability to raise the level of good cholesterol to help explain its benefits.

The new trial defines moderate drinking as one serving a day, defined as 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits.

The definition is significantly lower than what has typically been considered a moderate level of drinking for men, which has long been defined as up to two servings a day. Moderate drinking for women has been defined as one serving a day.

The recruits will be men and women 50 or older, all of whom either have cardiovascular disease or are at high risk for developing it.

Problem drinkers and indiv idua ls who have never consumed alcohol will be ineligible, as will be certain women at high risk for breast cancer and people with certain medical conditions.

Investigators have not determined how they will verify that

Jesus Christ is making wine from water in The Marriage at Cana, a 14th-century fresco from the Visoki Dečani monastery. Wikimedia Commons

participants are sticking to their regimens of one drink a day or no alcohol at all.

The study has several limitations. Adverse events related to alcohol, including car accidents, major falls, heart conditions, alcohol abuse and new cancer diagnoses will be tracked, but the study is not large enough or long enough to detect an increase in breast cancer.

And while the investigators’ goal is to recruit an equal number of men and women, and analyze results by gender, Mukamal said the trial most likely would not be able to detect gender differences unless they are pronounced.

The lack of focus on gender differences related to alcohol consumption has drawn criticism.

It is already known that women metabolize alcohol more slowly than men, and that heart disease in women is different from it is in men. Women respond differently than men to many medications because of differences in body fat, size, liver metabolism and kidney function.

In addition to the higher risk of breast cancer linked to alcohol, studies have shown women are more susceptible than men to

the toxic effects of alcohol on the liver for any given dose.

As currently planned, the alcohol trial “makes the assumption that men and women are the same biologically, and that’s not true,” said Dr. Anne McTiernan, a physician and researcher at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, who was one of the authors of the American Institute for Cancer Research review on breast cancer. “This sort of thing has been a problem in some NIH studies for a long time.”

Art Caplan, the director of medical ethics at the NYU School of Medicine, said the role of the industr y should be disclosed when t he resu lt s e vent u a l ly are disseminated to the public.

“People will react differently if it says the study is ‘sponsored by NIH’ or ‘sponsored by AnheuserBusch’,” he added.

The concern, he said, is that any findings supporting the benefits of alcohol could easily be misinterpreted. “If there is some health benefit for people over 50 from one drink a day, many people will just hear that alcohol is good for you, and some will say, ‘I can drink all the beer I want,’” he added.

New York Times News Service

Faith A6 Sunday, July 9, 2017

Sunday

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

Condemning killings is not enough–Cardinal Tagle

T

he head of Manila’s Roman Catholic Church said the flurry of attacks against the spate of drug-related killings has to stop, and not just with mere words.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle speaks during a news conference about the upcoming Philippine Conference on New Evangelization in Manila Roy Lagarde/CBCP

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle said to save more lives and address social problems like drug addiction, condemnation alone is not enough.

He added the Church must be more “proactive” in dealing with the problem by coming up with concrete actions to protect life.

“As we say ‘do not kill’, let us promote life and save lives,” Tagle said. “It’s not enough to just say ‘this is forbidden’ or ‘this is bad’, but instead act together,” he added.

Reacting on the seeming lack of public outcry against summary executions, the cardinal said that many Filipinos still believe that life is sacred and killing is wrong.

He added he interviewed some people on the issue and found out that they seem to accept killings “out of despair”.

“You know, their answer is not about opposing the teachings [that life is sacred]. They really know the teachings. But they seem to be coming from a kind of helplessness,” Tagle said.

“And I pity them because there comes a conflict within. A part of them says life is sacred, it should not really be destroyed. But part

of them also feels they’ve been so disadvantaged.”

“The institution, the system, is not moving so for them, [killing] is maybe the solution. So I believe that many people still respect life,” he added.

The Manila archbishop also said the issue on drug-related killings would certainly be discussed during the coming fourth Philippine Conference on New Evangelization (PCNE).

The July 28 to 30 event at the University of Santo Tomas would feature various topics, including social-justice, family, youth, environment, new media and interreligious dialogue and education.

“It’s one issue that will surely come out because we have the social-justice track in the PCNE. Maybe what the PCNE can help is how to strengthen the faith and not to lose hope,” he added.

“So there will maybe some new approaches or new ways to save lives,” Tagle said.

‘Unite against extremism’

at the same time, Tagle called on t he cou nt r y ’s C h r i st i a n s and Muslims to stand together against extremism.

Sharing his thoughts about the ongoing siege in Marawi City, he said people, whatever religion they practice, must work together against those whose only desire is to destroy.

The cardinal added stories of Muslims and Christians helping each other could be a strong foundation toward recovery for those affected by the conflict.

“Whoever planned to divide the Christians and Muslims is probably pissed off now. They were unsuccessful. Instead, [what] we have witnessed is a communion,” Tagle said.

“This is what gives us real hope.

This affirms that we belong to one human family,” he added.

The prelate also called on Filipinos to be “attentive” to the “signs of love, hope and light” amid violence in Mindanao.

The Manila archbishop said decency and humanity must continue to unify all Filipinos.

“Peace can only be achieved by truth, justice and love. Without these foundations, there can be no peace,” he added.

The Catholic Church in Iligan, meanwhile, continues to attend to the needs of the thousands of families displaced by the clash between government troops and the Maute terrorist group.

The Diocese of Iligan’s Social Action Center said that besides relief goods, clothing and medicine, they have distributed a number of water filters. But the diocese said more assistance, particularly hygiene kits, blankets, folding beds and kitchenware, are needed, as the crisis entered its second month.

It said coloring, writing and art materials would also be a big help to children traumatized by war.

The Caritas Manila is sending another P500,000 to the diocese for rice, food and water.

The social-action arm of the

I believe many people still respect life.”—Tagle

Manila archdiocese had earlier sent P500,000 and 100 cavans of rice as initial aid to the residents affected by the crisis in Marawi City.

CBCP plenary assembly

Meanwhile, the nation’s Catholic bishops are gathering in Manila this weekend for their biannual plenary assembly to deliberate on some Church agendas and to elect a new set of officers that will lead them in the next two years.

Members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) will elect, among others, their new president to replace Archbishop Socrates Villegas who is stepping down this year.

Villegas is currently in his final term as CBCP head, a vital post he held for four successive years.

CBCP officials have a two-year tenure in office, or a total of four including the second term.

A ny bishop can be elected as Villegas’s replacement, except past CBCP presidents who ser ved two terms already and retired bishops.

“Everybody is a candidate. Only those who have been president for two terms are disqualified,” Villegas said. “So all the others are qualified to be president.”

The CBCP is currently composed of 131 members—83 of them are active, five are administrators and 43 are retired from 86 ecclesiastical jurisdictions.

Other elective posts to be filled up are the vice president and eight regional representatives or members of the of the CBCP Permanent Council.

Like Villegas, Archbishop Romulo Valles of Davao is also in his second and last term as vice president, which makes him among the potential front-runners in the race to the presidency.

This new set of officers, who will formally assume their posts on December 1, will set the pace and the agenda of the CBCP for at least the next two years.

“We don’t campaign. We are just given a ballot, and we write while the meeting continues. We don’t even wait for it to be counted. We just ask the young bishops to do the counting on the side,” Villegas said. Roy Lagarde/CBCPNews

Vatican acknowledges past problems at ‘pope’s hospital’

V

ATICAN CITY—The Vatican secretary of state acknowledged last Tuesday that there were problems at “the pope’s hospital” for children in the past, but said the new administration is making a “serious effort to resolve them”.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin said some of the problems identified by current and former Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital staff in 2014 were “truly unfounded”. But for problems that were verified, “there was an attempt, and there is currently an attempt and serious effort to resolve them”, he added.

Parolin was responding to an Associated Press (AP) investigation that found that, under its previous 2008-2015 administration, the mission of the children’s hospital had shifted to focus more on profits than on its young patients. A Vatican-commissioned report reached that conclusion in 2014 after a threemonth investigation into staff complaints that corners were being cut, safety protocols ignored and children put at risk because of pressure to produce.

The report, authored by an Italian cardiologist who interviewed dozens of current and former employees, cited breaches of accepted medical protocols.

The problems included overcrowding that caused increased infection risk, the reuse of disposable equipment, early awakening from surgery, unsupervised experimental procedures and facilities that didn’t meet

medical standards. But a second, three-day Vatican probe in January 2015 found the hospital was, in many ways, “best in class”.

That team, headed by an American healthcare expert, added it had “disproved” the findings of the first review and added the Vatican should be proud of its hospital for the quality of care it provided, the staff’s devotion to children and their families and employees’ sense of pride at working there.

Hospital President Mariella Enoc said she found it impossible to believe such problems occurred, but conceded she wasn’t at the hospital at the time. She added AP did its job and that she respected its work, and blamed disgruntled employees for what she called “untrue” reports.

“I can say that the climate today is more serene, and I urge everyone when there is a problem...that we talk and talk and not keep it inside and then have it explode,” she said.

“We can’t always say ‘yes’, unfortunately, but we can communicate.”

Parolin and Enoc made their comments last Tuesday after Bambino Gesu issued its annual report at the Vatican.

The hospital boasted in the report of being the only pediatric hospital in Europe that can perform all types of transplants. It said it performed 339 procedures, most of them bone-marrow transplants, in 2016.

The hospital reported it had reduced the number of “inappropriate” hospital stays,

from 26 percent of admissions in 2012 to 7 percent last year, by increasing the number of outpatient surgeries that were less stressful for children and cheaper for both the hospital and Italy’s national health system.

At the presentation, Italy’s health minister, Beatrice Lorenzin, praised Bambino Gesu as a leading pediatric research center that made Italy and Rome proud.

“I have met your little patients, some of whom come from around the world, who are treated with great love and great competence,” she said. The AP corroborated many of the first report’s findings through interviews with more than a dozen current and former Bambino Gesu employees, as well as patients, their families and health officials.

The AP reviewed medical records, civil court rulings, hospital and Vatican e-mails, and five years of union complaints.

In a statement, the hospital called the AP’s report a “hoax” that “contained false, dated and gravely defamatory accusations and conjectures that had been denied” by the second investigation. It threatened legal action. Both the Vatican and Bambino Gesu pointed to the second report as evidence that all of the allegations—except one involving space constraints—were “unfounded”.

The head of the first investigation, however, fully stood by the report he delivered to Parolin in April 2014. At the time, he told the hospital employees who

worked with him on the investigation that it would be used as a guide for reform by the hospital’s board.

“What we wrote in that report was the exact truth,” Dr. Steven Masotti said in a June 2 telephone interview. “Now, things are completely different,” he added. “You have kind of a revolution in the hospital. Literally no one is in there anymore of the old guard....

And they’re trying to fix those problems, based on a number of reports, including our report.”

The leader of the second investigation, Sister Carol Keehan, said in an e-mail that she was disappointed by the AP story, saying it distorted, “misrepresented and trivialized the significant review the clinical team and I did”.

She added some of AP’s statements were factually incorrect, though she didn’t say which ones. “My worry is not for me or the pope. It is for the parents who will be frightened by your distorted picture of the Bambino, and parents have enough to worry about when their children are sick,” Keehan said. “I also worry for the staff who will feel so disparaged by your portrayal of the work they try so hard to do each day.”

A third report, a 2014 external audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers, also found that the original mission of the hospital to care for poor children “had been modified in the last few years” to focus on expansion and commercial activities, without sufficient governance controls. AP

Image of Saint Felicitas and her seven sons, from the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493) Wikimedia Commons

Saint Felicity: Martyred 8 times “Your holy martyr Felicitas, O Lord. Through her sufferings has received an incorruptible crown from You, our God. For having Your strength, she laid low her adversaries, and shattered the powerless boldness of demons. Through her intercession, save our souls!”

— Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

By Corazon Damo-Santiago

T

he “Acts” that cites Felicity and her seven sons, who were declared martyrs, were included by Pope Saint Gregory I in his Homilies Evangelia Book 1.

Woman of faith

Felicity is derived from the Latin word Felicitas, which means “good luck”. So the word means great and intense happiness. More than happiness, her life is a life of serenity, freed from anxiety sustained by perfect peace of soul.

A noble R om a n C h r i st i a n widow, she had seven sons, all involved in prayer and works of mercy. With their faith, they inspired Gentiles to convert from idol worshipers to believe in Christ as true God. Pagan priests who believed that their Gods who protected the empire were displeased and plotted to stop Felicity and her sons’ good works. They complained to Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who demanded that Felicity and her sons offer sacrifices to appease the Roman Gods.

Felicity was brought before Publius, the Prefect of Rome.

Her sons were individually called by the prefect, advising them of the bright future ahead if they denounce their faith.

Felicity prayed, begging the Lord that her sons remain faithful to the faith. She likewise prayed that she live to encourage and guide them to rise above the sufferings that await them.

Publ ius ad monished her: “Unhappy woman, if you wish to die; die, but do not destroy your children. Take pity on them.

They are in the bloom of youth and may aspire to the greatest honors and preferments.”

Felicity, in response, retorted that they will live forever if they die for God. “Your piety is really impiety, and the compassion to which you exhort me would make me the cruellest of all mothers.”

Seven judges for seven sons

Sent individually to each judge, the sons exemplified per fect confidence and trust in God. Felicity was forced to witness her sons’ death. After every execution, she was asked if she would denounce God, who could not save them. Her answer was always vehement—“No.” Ja nu a r ius, t he eldest, was scourged to death and told his tormentors, “What you advise me to

do is contrary to reason. Jesus, the Savior, will preserve me.”

Felix and Philip were clubbed to death. Felix boldly said: “There is only one God, and it is to Him that we must offer the sacrifice of our hearts. Use all artifices, every refinement of cruelty, and you will not make us betray our faith.”

Sylvanus was flung down from a steep precipice, while Alexander, Vitalis and Martiales were beheaded.

Martiales, speaking for the three of them, said: “All those who do not confess that Jesus Christ is true God will be cast into a fire, which will never be extinguished.”

After four months, on November 23, 165, Felicity was beheaded.

She was buried in Maximus Cemetery, Via Salaria. Her relics are in the Capuchin Church at Montefiascone, Tuscany and Santa Susana in Rome.

She is invoked by parents who have lost a child in death, widows and women who want to have male children. The feast day of Saint Felicity and her sons is July 10.

Faith lived

Why do bad things happen to good people? How can man live through miseries and keep believing in a loving and merciful God? Only those who refuse to carry the crosses of life pose these questions, for God Himself did not promise a blissful life.

Crisis develops and enhances c h a r ac ter. T he y test a nd strengthen faith. Peter, to Christian communities, declared: “So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. These trials are only to test your faith; to show that it is strong and pure.”

In “He Leadeth Me”, which he later said should have been titled “God ’s Will, Servant of God ”, Joseph Ciszek, SJ, emphasized that the will of God in one’s life is never an abstract idea but “24 hours each day…the people…the places, the circumstances before us…God knows what is important to Him and to us.”

Faith that is lived opens the heart of the mind that “God is in all things, sustains all things, directs all things.”

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

Sports BusinessMirror

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

IS Rory McIlroy “bored” of playing golf because he had plenty of money in the bank? AP

P

Sunday, July 9, 2017

A7

RORY TAKES A BREAK FROM SOCIAL MEDIA

ORTSTEWART, Northern Ireland—Rory McIlroy is taking a break from social media after getting embroiled in a Twitter spat with fellow golfer Steve Elkington.

After McIlroy missed the cut by four shots at the US Open last month, Elkington, a former US Professional Golfers Association (PGA) champion, tweeted that the Northern Irishman was “bored” of playing golf because he had plenty of money in the bank.

Four-time major winner

McIlroy sent a tweet in response to Elkington, before posting a screenshot of his Wikipedia entry, which lists some of his achievements in the game.

“I sort of regret sending it at the end,” McIlroy said on Wednesday, “but I actually gave my wife Erica my phone and my Twitter and told her, ‘Change my password to something else and don’t tell me what it is.’

“So as of the time being, I’m off social media just because of that reason. I don’t need to read it. It’s stuff that shouldn’t get to you and sometimes it does.”

Speaking ahead of the Irish Open at Portstewart Golf Club, an event which benefits his own foundation, McIlroy said he would have ignored the criticism if it had come from a member of the public or the media.

“But a former player that has won a major and been successful, that’s sort of why it got to me,” McIlroy said, “and that’s why I sort of retaliated a little bit.”

McIlroy hasn’t won—or seriously contended at—a major since capturing the 2014 US PGA Championship. The British Open takes place at Royal Birkdale from July 20 to

23, and he played there last week. McIlroy is fit again after an injury-hit 2017 so far.

“I’m close,” said McIlroy, ranked No. 4.

“I’ve got two big opportunities coming up this summer. Birkdale is a golf course I feel I can do well at. And then Quail Hollow for the PGA, I’ve won there two times, my first win on the PGA Tour and last time I won by seven.

“I think they are two opportunities for me to get back on the major ladder.”

McIlroy won the Irish Open last year.

He plays alongside Jon Rahm and Hideki Matsuyama in the first two rounds. AP

LAST SHOTS AT DREAM JOB

By Tim Reynolds

O

THE Detroit Pistons’ Derek Willis (right) tries to shake off the Charlotte Hornets’ Anthony Gill their summer league game in Orlando, Florida. AP

The Associated Press

RLANDO, Florida—Trey McKinney Jones is still grinding.

He’ll be 27 next month, so he’s not a wishful kid anymore. The beard is real. So are the bills, and so is the responsibility that comes with having a daughter who will be turning 2 in October.

Summer League might be his last shot at the dream job. Or in his case, last shots.

“I’m giving the National Basketball Association [NBA] one more shot, while I’m still young, I guess you could say,” McKinney Jones said.

Most players in summer league spend their time with one franchise. McKinney Jones is among a handful of players lucky enough to hook up with two teams for summer games this season. He’s been with Indiana for the Orlando Pro Summer League that ends on Thursday, then flies to Las Vegas to connect with San Antonio’s entry in the NBA Summer League that starts on Friday.

The way he sees it, doubling up this summer doubles his chance of a training-camp invite this fall—the next step, he hopes, toward reaching the NBA for real.

“Experience is very important,” the 6-foot-5 McKinney Jones said. “I feel like my first summer was such a blur. It’s hard to even remember a lot of the games. Now things have slowed down. Everything kind of comes to you slower, you can control the game better, you have more control over yourself. I think some guys are different, but for me, that first summer everything was moving 1,000 miles per hour.”

Plenty of guys are playing in two summer leagues, heading to Las Vegas this week after participating in either Orlando or Salt Lake City. But most of those will stay with one team that whole time. McKinney Jones is among the few who will play for two teams, as will Dylan Ennis—who signed with Oklahoma City (OKC) for Orlando, then will meet up with Golden State for Las Vegas.

“Being around both organizations, it’s great for me,” Ennis said. “OKC, they’ve shown me a great time already. They’ve taught me a lot of things already that I can take going forward. And I’m sure Golden State will do the same.”

Naz Mitrou-Long is another player planning to double-up this summer: He’s been with Indiana this week, and will play for Sacramento in Las Vegas.

“I know it’s a big opportunity,” said MitrouLong, a 6-4 guard undrafted out of Iowa State last month. “I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback from the Pacers. I worked out for them before

the draft and I think they liked how I did.”

There will be others on the two-team list by the time play gets done in Las Vegas; inevitably one team will pluck someone from another, like how Willie Reed started playing for Miami in 2015 and then got signed to a $650,000, one-year NBA contract by Brooklyn.

Reed then played with the Heat last season and is a free agent again this summer.

And every team is studying every other team during the summer anyway, looking for that hidden gem who has been overlooked and might be a potential training-camp invite or a possibility to fill an NBA G League roster—where he could earn about $30,000.

But McKinney Jones knows these are critical auditions with the teams whose jerseys he will wear.

“You want to show them you can make the right plays, take the open shot, really grind on defense,” McKinney Jones said. “You try to make a statement on that front, make the right play, make the right reads and you’ve got to make the little plays. I think that’s what teams are really looking for in this summer situation.”

McKinney Jones has been around the block a few times in his basketball life.

He was barely recruited out of high school and started his college career at MissouriKansas City before transferring to Miami— where he helped the Hurricanes win an Atlantic Coast Conference title. He appeared in two NBA preseason games with his hometown Milwaukee Bucks in 2013, spent the summer of 2014 with Miami and San Antonio, returned to summer league with Atlanta in 2015 and is back this year with the Pacers and Spurs.

He’s won titles in what was then called the NBA Development League and in the Hungarian League. He moved to Israel and played for a while, moved to France and played there for a while. If no camp invite—or chance to even be on one of the league’s new two-way contracts— comes this time, he’ll likely go back overseas and play there instead of trying to get by on a meager G League salary.

“I feel like I get my foot in the door, I’m the kind of player where if I do all the little stuff well enough I can stick,” McKinney Jones said. “So that’s what I’m looking for now, just a chance to stick my foot in the door. That’s what I want out of this summer. I’ve got a family now to worry about. It’s time.”

Valdez, Cool Smashers take on Air Force gals

C

REAMLINE tries to tighten its hold of the solo lead when it squares off with Hair Fairy-Air Force today in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Open Conference at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

The Cool Smashers seek their third consecutive victory against the Jet Spikers, who are eyeing their second win, in their 6:30 p.m. battle.

Perlas-BanKo, meanwhile, tries to recover from a 0-2 hole when it faces Akari-Adamson University at 4 p.m.

The Perlas Spikers lost to Air Force, 23-25, 25-9, 20-25, 20-25, and Pocari Sweat, 21-25, 25-22, 19-25, 25-27, to find themselves at the bottom of the standings.

The Lady Falcons, like the Perlas Spikers, have yet to make the win column. They absorbed a 17-25, 25-18, 15-25, 22-25 setback to Creamline in their last outing.

Alyssa Valdez has been hot for Creamline, posting her second career best of 39 points, against BaliPure last week. Jia Morado was also instrumental in the victory with 71 excellent sets in the 25-20, 28-30, 25-19, 3129 victory.

Valdez, however, would be playing one more match with Creamline after today’s game. She is joining the national team’s training camp in Japan.

“That’s why we need to win as many games as we can,” said Valdez, a four-time Most Valuable Player.

Also leading the Cool Smashers’ charge are Rose Marie Vargas, Rizza Mandapat, Pau Soriano, Coleen Bravo and Francesca Racraquin.

In the men’s division, Megabuilders take on Gamboa Coffee at 10 a.m., and Air Force battles Army at 1 p.m. Lance Agcaoili

FOOTBALL MATCHES

G

LOBAL Cebu and Kaya Makati try to solidify their grip of third and fourth places, respectively, when they tackle separate foes today in the Philippines Football League (PFL).

Global hosts Stallion Laguna at 4 p.m. at the University of San Carlos Stadium, while Kaya Makati visits the Davao Aguilas at 7 p.m. at the Davao Del Norte Sports Complex in Tagum City.

Kaya and Global are coming from big wins last Wednesday. Global Cebu scored a gutsy 1-0 victory over Visayas rival Ceres Negros in its first home game in Cebu, which took months to renovate.

Kaya, on the other hand, snapped out of a three-match slump with a 3-1 triumph over Stallion Laguna to move to fourth place with 14 points.

Stallion Laguna and Davao Aguilas are languishing in sixth and seventh place, respectively. The Aguilas has four points on four losses and four draws, while Stallion only has three points after drawing three matches and losing six outings.

Lance Agcaoili

Messi to extend contract with Barcelona until 2021 B

ARCELONA—Lionel Messi will play out the best remaining years of his trophy-rich career at Barcelona.

The Spanish club said on Wednesday that Messi had agreed a three-year contract extension that will keep him at the club through the 2020-2021 season.

By then, Barcelona’s all-time leading scorer will be 34 years old and finishing his 17th season with the club.

Barcelona announced that Messi will sign a new deal “in the coming weeks” that will run through June 30, 2021.

“This is a message that the union between Messi and Barca will continue until the end of his career,” Barcelona President Josep Bartomeu said.

The contract extension comes as no surprise.

Messi has repeatedly said he wanted to play the best years of his career at Barcelona, before

perhaps making a return to his native Argentina that he left at 13 years old to come to Barcelona’s famed La Masia training academy.

But with his current contract set to expire at the end of the upcoming 2017-2018 season, the club’s board, players, fans and new Coach Ernesto Valverde can all breathe easier this summer knowing their star is staying put.

Barcelona released a statement in English calling Messi “the best player in history, who has played his full professional career at Barca and has led the team to an era of extraordinary success, the likes of which has never been seen in world football”.

Since making his debut with Barcelona’s first team at age 17 in 2004, Messi has established himself as one of the best to ever play the game.

He has won the Fifa world player of the year five

times, and has become the Spanish league’s alltime leading scorer.

Messi, who turned 30 last month, has scored a club record 507 goals in 583 matches. His honors with the club include four Champions League trophies, eight Spanish league titles and five Copa del Rey titles.

The announcement comes five days after Messi married his childhood sweetheart Antonella Roccuzzo, mother of their two sons.

Messi will now be expected to again lead a Barcelona side that has been eclipsed for the first time in more than a decade by fierce rival Real Madrid, which won both the Champions League and La Liga titles last season.

“We have our objectives, and with Messi, they will be easier to achieve,” Bartomeu said. “Leo wants to keep making history with us and we are

convinced that he will be here for many years to come.”

Real Madrid has signed a six-year deal with French defender Theo Hernandez after securing

his transfer from rival Atletico Madrid.

The 19-year-old Hernandez impressed last season while playing on loan from Atletico to fellow Spanish league club Alaves. The left back had been linked to a move to Real Madrid for several months. AP

BARCELONA announces that Lionel Messi will sign a new deal “in the coming weeks” that will run through June 30, 2021. AP

A8

Sunday, July 9, 2017

www.businessmirror.com.ph

SONS AND FATHERS

By Albert B. Casuga

A

1.

re you ready for your morning stroll, Mr. T? In a minute, he bristled unable to get his arm into his heavy cardigan.

It’s not that cold, you know, the Filipina caregiver reminded the harrumphing octogenarian.

He was in the process of making a 180-degree turn, trying to fix the pictures atop his credenza while he struggled with his sweater.

Did anybody move these pictures around, Luisa? Er, Maria, is it?

Dolly, Mr. T, she introduced herself as she does every morning now, her conches-like eyes widening in a bit of apprehension; he did not particularly like these pictures rearranged.

That would ruin his day. He would have to be re-oriented to the east-west-north-south co-ordinates of his room. He was a “topgun” fighter pilot in WWII in the Pacific war, in Corregeedoor.

You know, in your country. He never tires of reminding her or any of her Filipina compatriots who work at Erin Mills Lodge for Seniors.

I particularly like the picture of my late wife on this spot, Luisa, uh, Maria, or whatever you called yourself—sorry—It points me to where I get my underwear. You know—undies? He tried to smile the scowl from his face away.

She’s just taken over. The nurse from Trinidad just upped and went complaining loudly that she’s sick and tired of being groped by demented perverts who should stop hoping they could still do it.

Dolly, Mr. T. And by the way, your walking partner, Mr. Alex, called while you were in the washroom. Said he will wait for you at the lobby. He said the sooner you get out today, the more sunshine you both would get. You’d have to get back quickly for a late breakfast.

Thanks for letting me know, Luisa. He must have something going for that name Luisa, she figured. But always a gentleman, he would say thanks for anything helpful coming his way. After a fashion, though. This is a community of civilized old farts, he would say.

Alex is always late anyway. His cane trips him up when I tell him to walk a bit faster. Between us we’ve got six feet, you know. Four crumbling ones and two wooden ones. Get it?

She laughed, relieved that he had been distracted away from the misplaced picture. She’s pretty, she remarked, by way of thanking him for not exploding. My son says, I use it to scare the mice away, he giggled.

At the lobby, that morning, his buddy and next door neighbour, and fellow three-legger, waited with a pained look on his face.

Got boils on your derriere while waiting, Alex? What’s with the face?

Don’t even go there, Teague, the bent, scowling man sprawled on the lobby steps snapped.

It can’t be that bad, old chap.

My son did not pop up again. He’s got this wife problem, my daughter says. It’s been two months now. He’s still in the Philippines, you know. Teaching at that protestant university in the southern Philippines. Dumaguete.

He could pronounce Philippine words better than his buddy—he’s been there, too, in Corregidor, in Bataan, the last stand of General MacArthur. They were GI soldiers from Mich-

igan. Both immigrated to Canada after WWII (so that their sons would not have to go to war—Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and all that s....)

Yeah? I have a son there, too. Teaching fine arts, painting, you know.

Of course, he got my son in there, too. Reverse brain drain.

Canadians teaching the little brown people. Remember? Oh, no, you don’t. It figures.

Let’s walk. Oh, wait. Here’s the slow mailman. Doesn’t he look like Robert De Niro?

The ambling postie greeted the gentlemen with canes, and said he’s got only one letter for youse, gents. For you, Mr. Teague, sir. Urgent. Express Post. From the Philippines. The last syllable pronounced like “pines”. Paayns.

Teague knew it must have come from his son, the painter in the Silliman University school of fine arts. He cracked it open. He fell silent.

I’m going upstairs, he said.

What about our walk?

I’m going to my room.

Wait up, Teague. What’s wrong?

Dolly was still there when he got back. Please leave me alone, Luisa.

What’s wrong, Mr. T?

He sobbed into his pillow as his panting partner ambled into his room.

Did we have to take separate elevators, Teague?

He showed the half-crumpled letter.

God, no! Alex grimaced and fell silent. I’m going back to my room, Teague. You don’t need me here now.

B

2.

oth men stayed up that night. They did not answer calls.

The following day, at the breakfast table, they exchanged envelopes.

Read it before your nap, they almost simultaneously prescribed.

When Alex opened his envelope, he read: Mr. Teague of Siquijor Teague’s sandbox at Lo-oc beach spills over to the slopes of Siquijor – a kind of walking out on infancy or bright courage, the carcass marching nude to humour a carrion God astride Siquijor’s dark mountain loins.

“O, when will the lad get out of his sandbox to walk towards the mountain slopes?”

By the way, Dad. This is goodbye. I wanted to end the poem this way, but what the hell. I did not want to end things this way, either. But what the hell. Again.

“By the way, Teague’s body was fished out of Lo-oc the other day, near Siquijor.”

But just read the news from the PI. I am a bit of an art celebrity here. Am friends with the likes of Imelda, art patron, and Sionil Jose, National Artist. Yes, my obituary will be full of their praising shit.

Love,

Little Teague

Sunday, July 9, 2017 A9

www.businessmirror.com.ph

And they do grow and go away, And you’d be left sitting on a chair Wondering why they have flown Like swallows, and hope would care To come back and perch at sundown.

I wrote it to remember a girlfriend by. She was 90 when I would pass by her house on Robin Drive on my 30-minute constitutionals. I also knew a little girl who would wave at me whenever I pass by before noontime. Then my nonagenarian babushka (my daughter told me she was Ukrainian) would await her turn to say hello. Just smiles. Didn’t even know her name. But she told me how old she was. Did not want to be seen like I was lusting after her, you know. Boy, at 77, I am still all right. What about you? You must never be too busy to do it, and do not forget the pillow talk. Mary says you seem to be getting older, and your wife getting younger. What gives?

Dang! I am suddenly sleepy. Must be the wine. Teague brought out his 300-dollar bottle finally. He got really drunk tonight. It’s Father’s Day this Sunday, and it makes me furious how it has been commercialized. It’s all what Dads want today from Walmart and Marks and Spencers. Nothing is sacred anymore. I remember Father. He would write those Spanish poems. I love to recite them to entertain guests. He wrote a poem for his Mother whom he had not seen for the longest time, because she did not want to migrate to Barcelona. He missed her. You know, just like your Mom did not want to live in the PI when you asked her to go back there while you taught at that Southern Philippines university. It is just as well. Your wife might not have liked her around. Oh yeah, the poem. You translate it yourself. Don’t write me for one. You remember the language still, eh?

Mrallen | Dreamstime.com

EL NIDO DESOLADO

It is a poem and a note from my son. Teague signed his single-sentence note.

In his room, Teague used a magnifying glass to read Alex’s note. A former CanLit professor, his partner wrote:

The Habit of Mountains: A Dirge It was his grief pursued the habit of mountains: It moved the world with quietness. Quietness moved them.

No dearer madness there is than which he died for: A will to perish in time and manner he chose.

It could not have been any kinder than this falling, A manner of bargaining one’s way Into a choice between a kind of dying and feeling dead--No option for us who learn, too early perhaps, That death prorogues a dream of fancy Or a prayer of willing our pain stay The ramrod poised to rend out days descending Foglike upon us decreeing silence for our bed.

Earlier that day, Alex received a call from his son in the Philippines, a colleague of Teague’s son at the Silliman University. Dad, Teague Junior committed suicide the other day.

Why? Asked his buddy that evening. There was just the two of them like crumpled shadows beneath the dining room light.

He could not abide his being different. He went away, as far away as he could from me. He was gay, Alex. He promised he was going to see me here before accepting that teaching job in Mexico. He said he will exhibit his paintings here at the Lodge.

Nuts.

He fell in love with one of his male students. There was a case filed against him. Corruption of a minor. Not one of his big friends wanted to be around him since then.

They don’t have same sex marriages in the Philippines, do they?

Nope.

A

3.

lex postponed taking his painkillers that night. It made him drowsy quickly. He fished out his Reminder Note from his hip pocket: Write Junior. Check his e-mail address. Last time he wrote was eons ago, I don’t know if I saved it. I hope Mary has them just in case. He mumbled to himself. He started whacking away on the keyboard, and even imagined he was still desking at the United Press International newsroom in Manila.

Dear Junior,

Teague was a wreck today. Could not even complete our walk. Little Teague killed himself over another guy? Was he gay, too? The guy? Hey, there’s talk here that Teague himself is like that. Now, I get a lot of ribbing because he is my best buddy. I wrote you about our routine here. You did not write me back. Mary visits me every time she could escape from his over-sexed husband. He is still trying to get her pregnant. No grand kid here. Which reminds me. How’s Chloe? How tall has she become? Is she in high school yet?

I will be off my rocker if I lose Teague over this. Nobody visits him. He is 83, you know. I know that he is doesn’t have all his marbles in his nut. But I can talk to him. About poetry

even. The last time I lost a friend was when Cao Tran left the lodge to live with a daughter on Robin Drive. Nguyen Bao died; you know his little wife; just snored aloud one night and died in her sleep. 75. I wrote a poem for Cao Tran, you know. Got it published in Walrus last year. Did you read that? Here it is anyway, just in case it will be worth big money some day. Dad is going to be famous yet, eh wot? Nuts, Chloe thought I had so many big words, and your wife thought they were million-dollar words worth a pittance. How is she anyway? What’s this I hear that you are splitting up. About a man? About a woman? What?

Been there, done that. Not good for Chloe, son. I never ever want to see tears in those lindisima eyes. Oh yeah, the poem.

CUP ON THE BENCH “Favorite spot,” Nguyen Cao Tran pointed To the bench on Lincoln Green before He waved me bonjour the Montreal way.

“Favorite spot for wife and me…drink Tim Horton Coffee from across,” he winked, Now unafraid his accent might betray A Viet Minh rasp from Saigon days, A shrapnel buried on his nape: “Still smoke Camel sticks from GI Joe friend in Frisco.”

He looked away when I remembered to ask About Nguyen Bao. “Isn’t she walking With you this morning? It’s spring, mon vieux!

He mumbled: “She gone…far away now,” And shuffled away, his knapsack slung Like a rifle crooked on his flaccid hand.

A single cup of Roll-up-the-Rim teetered On the bench the next day while I waited.

No cups on the ground, the bench was naked.

I miss Chloe. When are you folks going to visit me here at the Lodge? You know, I am part of the socials committee here. I have Friday readings. Poetry and fiction. I don’t know if these zombies here understand what the heck I am intoning ala Dylan Thomas or even Richard Burton (remember Nono in “The Night of the Iguana”?) There was that poem I wrote last week which got Teague and some of our old fart residents here crying.

Want it? Could be another winner, you know. Here it is. (By the way, and I refuse to write BTW), do you still read anything literary? What do you teach there? Oh, yeah, the poem:

WINDOW GAZERS Sitting on her Florentine chair Atop the red-tiled stairs, the sirocco Breeze playing with her ivory hair, She awaits her turn to say hello: A caudillo-like half-raised wave And a schoolmarm’s smile on her Waxen face, a smirk at times to save Her some chagrin falling off a chair While she wags childlike to say: Blow a kiss to your window-waving Girl, say au revoir for now, and pray That as they grow, won’t stop loving,

(Para mi Madre) Los pajaritos están dejando su nido; el invierno de su vida ha venido tan muy temprano!

Mira! Mira! Madre mía.

Tan fuerte ahora, sus pájaros

están volando a puertas desconocidas; están volando tan lejos para que nunca jamás devolver y quedar en la casa de corazón triste, ahora casa abandonada, nida desolada, madre mía.

O mi madre querida!

Do you think he was better in these darn things, poetry, than I? If you think so, I will concede that. That will be my Father’s Day gift for him. Wherever he has landed. Do you think St. Peter will want to drink a pint with me when I kick the bucket?

Write me, Junior. Off to sleep. Missing your Mother.

Omni Soli Semper. (Enrol Chloe in some Latin classes, will you?)

Con amor duradero, DAD, Papa, Pops, Dada, Old Man, Mon Vieux, or whatever you want to call me these days. Kiss Chloe for me. Lots.

4.

Teague roused Alex, the next day.

I owe you a stroll, old chap.

How are you feeling, Teague?

Okey-dokey, I think.

Who’s sending Little Teague’s body here? No relatives in the Philippines to take care of that, are there?

What body? What relatives? What’s the story, this time, yarn spinner?

Oh, Teague.

Alex sat on the foyer bench, fumbled through his pocket, and fished out a poem for the Saturday Review.

Here. Read it later.

Who’s Lucy, Alex? Why does it say: “Lucy Does Not Live Here Anymore?”

Nobody you know, Teague. Let’s walk.

Alex kicked an empty Tim Horton coffee cup on their way out of the Lodge. n

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

A10 Sunday, July 9, 2017

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

‘You haven’t lived if you have not experienced the Philippines’

UNWTO Ministerial Tour of Palawan

By Leony R. Garcia

P

Photos by Teddy Pelaez

alawan, home to two United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) World Heritage sites, the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park (also called the Underground River) and Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park both in Puerto Princesa, was one of the sites for United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO)‚ officials visit in the Philippines.

The sixth UNWTO International Conference on Tourism Statistics was held from June 21 to 23, with some 700 foreign and local delegates from over 60 countries tackling policy initiatives on developing measurement and benchmarks for sustainable tourism.

The UNWTO is the UN’s agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.

The UNWTO’s membership includes 157 countries, six associate members and 500 affiliate members representing the private sector, educational institutions, tourism associations and local tourism authorities.

As the leading international organization in the field of tourism, the UNWTO promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability, and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.

Held ever y five years in different member-countr ies, this year’s gather ing is a “ homecoming” and a milestone, since Manila last hosted the W TO conference in 1980.

2017: International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development

Sustainable tourism is increasingly relevant in national agendas for its role in fostering economic growth, social inclusiveness and the protection of cultural and natural assets. This is now

also recognized at the highest international level, with the UN General Assembly having adopted several resolutions acknowledging the role of tourism in sustainable development, including the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Manila conference was a landmark opportunity to discuss methodological advances, explore emerging issues and learn from pioneering countrys experiences in this area of measurement. The UNWTO recognizes that, apart from being a technical exercise, the development and implementation of a statistical framework for sustainable tourism is very much a strategic endeavor that will require stakeholder engagement, interinstitutional coordination and political leadership.

In the context of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017, the conference gathered ministers, statistical chiefs, policy experts and statisticians dedicated to sustainable development, environment and tourism. Indeed, the spotlight was on the Philippines once again as Manila hosted the UNWTO event measuring sustainable tourism and its impact on economies and communities.

According to the UNWTO, over a billion tourists traveled in 2016, with the Asia-Pacific region, the Philippines included, yielding 25 percent of the total number.

The figures are projected to rise to 1.8 billion by 2030, adding that the tourism sector—if

Relaxing scene at the Sheridan Organic Farm and Eco Village

Sheridan cultivates organic black rice and vegetables.

The Karst Mountain Elephant Cave will soon be open to tourists.

Palawan’s underground river attracts tourists onboard bancas.

well managed—can foster inclusive economic growth, social inclusiveness and the protection of cultural and natural assets.

Tourism’s economic contribution to the Philippines’s 2016 GDP has been recorded at 10.6 percent, wh i le t he cou nt r y ’s “sunshine industry” has contributed 10.3 percent to the total employment share.

With martial law still in effect in Mindanao, and the Marawi conflict still unresolved, UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai found the Philippines a safe tourism destination that the world’s people must go and visit at one time or another.

“You haven’t lived if you have not experienced the Philippines.

The world is lucky to have the Philippines. Culture, nature, upbeat people give the country so much life. The Philippines is a country to travel and respect, and its greatest gift is its people,” Rifai told the media covering the UNWTO’s ministerial visit in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, including the BusinessMirror.

Underground River day trip

The Manila Media team took the early morning flight to Palawan.

From the newly opened Puerto Princesa City International Airport (it started operation in April this year), we traveled by land to Sabang Wharf for about two

hours, passing by the breathtaking view of a vast stretch of virgin forests that carpet Palawan’s chain of mountain ranges, including the Karst Mountain and Mount Cleopatra’s Needle with the highest peak rising to 6,843 feet at Mount Mantalingahan. We arrived at the wharf at around 10 a.m. and boarded a pump boat to the mouth of the cave. The place is home to monitor lizards, monkeys, snakes and other forms of wildlife. After a short walk we rode on a paddle boat with our boatman-cum-tour guide expertly navigating the 8.2-kilometer river. Stalactites pillars, rock formations, domed amphitheaters, and cathedrals adorned the cave which is home to bats and willow birds.

Sheridan Organic Farm and Eco Village

The 50-hectare property is being managed by former newsman Nonoy Angeles, who has finally found his place under the sun being an agriculture graduate himself.

Committed to farming sustainability, Sheridan is one the largest organic growers of black rice and vegetables in Puerto Princesa. It also has livestock, fish pond, forest area and flower garden. Naturally, our group feasted on organic vegetables, fish and duck raised in the farm. The farm offers mountainside villas and a dorm for guests

who wish to stay at the farm and experience countryside living.

Finally, we had the chance to rest our tired bodies at Hotel Centro.

Puerto Pricesa City tour

UNWTO Ministerial Tour of Palawan

From Barangay Cabayugan, the group proceeded to city proper for a tour of the city. First stop is the newest craze especially among the millennials, the Palawan International Circuit for Karting, a 1,300-km permanent circuit in Santa Monica. Built in 2015, it features 15 turns that run in clockwise direction both for go carts and motorcycles.

We also dropped by the Plaza Cuartel, a former site of a Japanese garrison where 143 prisoners of war, mostly Americans soldiers, were burned inside the tunnel during World War II. Located a few yards from the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, the plaza was turned into a memorial park in honor of the heroes of Puerto Princesa and the American soldiers.

Next stop was Palawan’s famous brewery, Palaweño Brewery, founded in 2012 by Barbara “Ayah” Javier.

Guests wouldn’t want to miss Ayahay Craft Beers from the First Craft Beer Brewers in the Philippines.

We capped the day with a sumptuous dinner at Ai World, a newly constructed Water and Flower Farm at Barangay Bacungan, some 30-minutes ride from the city. The amiable Operations Manager Bong Romero welcomed us and joined us for a French cuisine dinner.

We are up at 5 a.m. the following day for the coverage of UNWTO Ministerial Tour of Pawalan. We were at the city’s international airport by 8 a.m. to welcome Rafai and his team, together with Tourism Secretary Wanda T. Teo and her team. After a warm welcome of traditional Palaweño dances, we proceeded to the Mangrove paddle tour area for the UNWTO ministers and Department of Tourism officials meeting with the indigenous communities who work hand in hand to preserve and develop the mangrove community they all work and earn from.

Lunch was served at the nearby Daluyon beach resort, Palawan’s surfing site. From there, the group proceeded to Robinson’s Mall for the launch of World’s Best Island Travel Expo 2017. This is to continuously promote Palawan as the World’s Best Island as cited

by Travel and Leisure Magazine (2013 and 2016) and top Island in the World by Conde Nast Travel magazine (2014 and 2015).

We capped the day w ith a mouthful of Palawan’s famous halo-halo at Noci Nocs. And after a leisurely walk at the city’s clean bay walk, we proceeded to the airport for our 8 p.m. flight to Manila.

Korea takes first place in UIA Global Meetings ranking Swiss-Belhotel International

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outh Korea now ranks in the No. 1 spot worldwide for global congresses hosted the previous year, according to the most recent International Meetings Statistics Report released by the Union of International Associations (UIA). The result is a ref lection of strong growth by established South Korean meeting cities, such as Seoul, as well as rising destinations, like Busan, Jeju and Incheon, contributing to the country’s increasingly diverse business events portfolio.

The findings show South Korea as a countr y rising from 891 meetings in 2015 to 997 in 2016, ref lecting an 11.89-percent increase over the previous year.

Making up the national equation, Seoul, which maintained its t h i rd- pl ace c it y ra n k ing , hosted 526 meetings in 2016, up from 494 in 2015 (up 4.97 percent), whi le now ra n k ing in 14th place, the port city of Busan hosted 152 meetings in 2016 (increase of 1.33 percent) and Jeju, which increased its

ranking from 19th to 17th place, held 116 meetings in 2016, four more than 2015, ref lecting an increase of 3.57 percent.

“The UIA’s latest findings are a strong reflection of Korea’s broad growth not only across the country’s meetings section, but across the country itself,” said Korea Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) Bureau Executive Director Kapsoo Kim. “Established event destinations, like Seoul, are continuing to show

their prowess, while an increasing number of regional capitals are giving global meetings planners an increasing variety of options, and so boosting Korea’s appeal for congresses” he added.

Nat ionw ide inf rast r uct ure growth continues to bolster Korea’s industry competitiveness, including new facilities, such as the Paradise City, integrated resort next to Incheon International Airport (itself due to open a second passenger terminal later

in the year) and expansions to existing facilities, such as Songdo Convensia, which are expected to finish in 2018. South Korea’s tallest building, the new 555-metertall Lotte World Tower, recently opened in Seoul; the tower is also home to the luxury-brand 235-guest room Signiel Hotel. A raft of new boutique hotels are also opening up across Korea, boosting budget accommodation options for business visitors.

Meanwhile, operational services are growing in new regional hotspots, such as convention bureau established for Cheong song i n Gye ong s a ngbu k- do Prov ince, a nd est abl ishment of t he Ga ng won Convent ion Bureau in response to the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, set to take place from Februar y 9 to 25 next year. Event planners have also been able to enjoy an expanded range of ser vices and support for locally hosted events from the Korea MICE Bureau, the nation’s officially government-sponsored agency for business events.

returns to the Philippines

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trengthening its position as a major hospitality brand in Southeast Asia, Swiss-Belhotel International has returned to the Philippines with the launch of Valero Grand Suites by Swiss-Belhotel in the capital’s financial and business hub.

The four-star Valero Grand Suites by Swiss-Belhotel offers a sophisticated experience for leisure and business travelers, as well as those seeking long-stay accommodations. The property features a range of premium facilities including a gym and spa, restaurants and coffee shops, a rooftop swimming pool and a choice of well-equipped function rooms.

Gavin M. Faull, chairman and president of Swiss-Belhotel International, said, “The Philippines represents an important step in our multibrand growth strategy for Southeast Asia. We are excited by the unique and varied opportunities the destination offers and we are committed to building a successful longterm presence in the country.”

Valero Grand Suites by Swiss-Belhotel offers 271 spacious, comfortable rooms ranging from 36-square-meter Premier Twin Rooms to 123-sq-m Three Bedroom Balcony Suites. With a simple yet bold

design and premium amenities, including complementary Wi-fi access, Bluetooth speakers, work tables and LCD televisions with cable channels, the rooms are tailor-made to suit the needs of modern “Bleisure” guests.

Located in Salcedo Village, the city’s hip business and urban residential enclave just 30 minutes from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and 15 minutes to Bonifacio Global City, the property is ideally situated for business and leisure travelers. It offers close proximity and convenient access to some of the city’s best attractions and shopping areas, such as the Ayala Triangle, Greenbelt and Ayala museum.

Following the launch its first property i n t h e P h i l i p p i n e s, Sw i s s - B e l h o te l International has new opening schedules in Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia.

“Southeast Asia is rapidly becoming one of the most important and successful regions in our portfolio, and we will continue to invest in promising destinations throughout the region,” Faull added.

Valero Grand Suites by Swiss-Belhotel is offering an introductory rate of P3,888 net per night, including AirAsia BIG points. This promotion is valid until August 31.