Businessmirror june 03, 2017

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Saturday, June 3, 2017 Vol. 12 No. 233

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MARAWI SIEGE SEEN AS ISIS’S FIRST ATTEMPT TO FOMENT WAR IN PHL

Isis war in PHL has begun

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By Rene Acosta

here may be logic behind President Duterte’s decision to put Mindanao under martial rule—even as some still see other motives—as reports and developments tend to lend credence to the belief that the raging conflict in Marawi City may just be the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s (Isis) initial battle in a war that it wants to stir in the country.

No less than Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana admitted on Wednesday that the imposition of martial law was not only meant to end the raging operations in Lanao del Sur’s capital, but also to address the rebellion and the Islamic militancy-borne terrorism in the southern part of the country.

“The situation currently being dealt with by state security forces goes beyond Marawi City. President Duterte’s imposition of martial law aims to put an end to the long-running rebellion in various provinces in the South,” a statement released by his office quoted Lorenzana as saying.

The statement also mentioned Lorenzana’s recollection of the

Commander in Chief’s repeated statements that if and when he declares martial law, he would use it to end all security-related problems in the region, including the terrorism posed by “local and foreign terrorist groups”.

Same group

During the first day of the government operations, the defense chief admitted that the conflict in Marawi City was a “Maute Group/Isis” campaign “because they are the same group”, suggesting even that the pictures that have been exhibited by the militants in Mindanao’s city were no different from the photographs of Isis in Iraq.

See “Isis,” A2

A Philippine Marine guards high-powered firearms, including a 50-caliber machine gun, ammunition, uniforms and black ISIS-style flags on Tuesday in Marawi City. AP/Bullit Marquez

Will Tetangco pull the trigger in his last MB meeting?

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By Bianca Cuaresma

mid an anticipated growth in consumer prices in the country, analysts have expressed mixed views as to what the outgoing Central Bank governor will do when he presides over his last monetary-policy meeting this month.

1.1-percent print seen in April 2016 to 3.4 percent in April this year.

Within target range

Earlier this month, Central Bank Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said May inflation is likely to settle between 2.9 percent and 3.7 percent, as the lower prices of domestic oil and the downward adjustment in electricity rates could exert downward influence on inflation. This, however, could be offset by the higher price of rice, which weighs heavily on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket.

PESO exchange rates n US 49.7810

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With inflation on the upward trend in recent months, ING Bank Manila senior economist Joey Cuyegkeng said in his latest assessment of the local economy’s dynamics that inflation is likely to peak in the third quarter of the year.

“Food pressures from tight supply conditions are likely to keep food inflation on an uptrend. Energy prices are also expected to exert some upward pressure,” he said.

Inflation in the country has been steadily and consistently rising since September last year, from the

Thus, Cuyegkeng said inflation is likely to hit between 3.7 percent and 3.8 percent in the third quarter of the year—the forecasted highest point of inflation for 2017—and averaging at 3.4 percent for the same year.

Amid the foreseen significant rise in inflation in the months of July to September this year, the figures are still well within the government’s target range, albeit nearer the ceiling of its 2-percent to 4-percent projection for the year.

Cuyegkeng said these conditions, coupled with the tamer inflation expectations for 2018, could give the Central Bank more room to maintain policy settings, despite earlier forecasts that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will start hiking its rates this year.

“These expectations argue for steady policy settings. External pressures related to Fed tightening may require BSP policy response to steady some price pressures. We continue to review our 2-percent rate hike base case for BSP. The noninflationary See “Tetangco,” A2

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Source: BSP (2 June 2017 )

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A2 Saturday, June 3, 2017

Isis…

Tetangco…

Continued from a1

While the Armed Forces continue to maintain its stance that the war in Mindanao’s key Islamic city—an offshoot of the joint police and military operations to arrest Isnilon Hapilon—was waged by the homegrown Maute terrorist group for domestic atrocities, bigger reasons painted it rather differently.

For one, Maute’s call is for an Islamic caliphate in the South after it has affiliated itself, or has been recognized by the Isis, and its recognized leader is Hapilon, the acknowledged leader of the Isis, not only in the country, but in the whole of Southeast Asia.

Hapilon, the commander of the Basilan-based Abu Sayyaf Group, has bonded together factions from all the three homegrown terrorist groups, which included the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), for a single flag and for a single purpose, both under the Isis.

Foreign jihadists

While the war in Marawi City is being waged and resisted by the predominantly Maute with its local Islamic fighters, the military, however, noted the involvement of foreign jihadists in the fighting, most of them from neighboring Malaysia, Indonesia and

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Singapore, and even other “Arablooking” militants.

The presence of an unusually big number of foreign fighters in the clashes was something that the government has never seen or experienced in its years of dealing with the local terrorist groups in Mindanao, wherein, in some of its previous operations, it has killed one or even maybe two foreign fighters.

At the start of the operations in Marawi City, military Spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said security forces have killed at least six Indonesians and Malaysians, with the possibility that the number could grow, as government forces move to completely clear the city.

“There are certain foreign elements here who have been in the country for a long time aiding these terrorists in skills related to terrorism, primarily bomb making,” Padilla said.

“There are also Malaysians, Singaporeans, and in the fight that has been ongoing in Marawi, we are continuously verifying that there have been a number of them who have been killed…so that confirms the presence of these foreign terrorists,” the military spokesman also said in an earlier statement.

Before the weekend, various

reports in Malaysia claimed that at least 28 Malaysians have joined the Maute Group in the battle against government forces, confirming the statements of Padilla and other government officials about the involvement of foreign militants in the war.

Other than Malaysians, at least 10 Indonesians and Singaporeans, reports said, have joined the Lanao del Sur-based terrorist group.

The Malaysians reportedly arrived in Marawi City days before the fighting broke out, suggesting that the Maute and Southeast Asian jihadists were gearing up for a showdown with the Philippine government, with Marawi City as the scene and their object of conquest.

Heightened regional security

Reports also quoted an alarmed Malaysian Defense Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin as saying he was in communication with Lorenzana, and even with his other counterparts in the region, as the battle in Marawi City unfolds.

All the officials have also agreed to further heighten security within their borders with the Philippines, as they moved to quell the exodus of foreign fighters to Mindanao.

Isis province?

As the presence of foreign fighters in Marawi City alarms the country’s neighbors, Padilla said they were still confirming the number of Malaysians, Indonesians and Singaporeans who were involved in the war, although their presence cannot be denied, as shown by battle casualty reports.

“We cannot confirm it still because they all looked the same.

All the recovered bodies showed the same features and they do not have identification. So we still have to identify them, [a] process [to be undertaken] by the intelligence,” Padilla said.

He emphasized that, while they could not deny the presence and involvement of foreign jihadists in Marawi as shown by the recovered bodies, they, however, need to have proofs to ascertain their so-called presence in big number and the extent of their involvement.

“For Marawi, there could be, but we have to ascertain first because we could not show proof,” Padilla said, adding when the military says the foreign

fighters were in the city, it must be backed by facts. “We cannot show proof, except from the information coming from no less than the network of foreign terrorists that they are there.”

However, a clearer statement on the involvement of foreign fighters in Mindanao had been put up by Solicitor General Jose C. Calida, where he defined the rebellion in Marawi City as an “Isis call”.

He said, “What is happening in Mindanao is no longer a rebellion of Filipino citizens. It has transmogrified into an invasion by foreign fighters,” whose players are Malaysian, Indonesians, Singaporeans and other foreign jihadists.

Calida said foreign Islamic fighters are responding to the call of the Isis to travel to Mindanao and put up a wilayat, or an Isis province.

Base

Notwithstanding the country’s varied positions, security and counterterrorism experts in the region believe the Marawi City operations were part of the grand plan of Southeast Asian jihadists, who have fought with the Isis in Syria and Iraq, to establish a base in the Philippines.

This idea cropped up during the security conference held in April in Singapore by the Milipol, wherein experts advanced the notion that Mindanao was an ideal base for jihadists returning from the Middle East because of its unstable condition and porous border, which could facilitate the easy transport of firearms and war materials.

Rohan Gunaratna, a Singaporean counterterrorism analyst, told the conference that the Isis was already moving to “creating a territory in southern Philippines.”

“The most recent communication issued by Islamic State [IS] has announced that they have formally declared an East Asia division of IS in the southern Philippines,” he said.

On the other hand, Singapore’s Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam declared that with the Philippine government’s difficulty in controlling Mindanao despite its efforts, the country’s southern region can become a sanctuary for returning Isis fighters.

pace of liquidity growth is keeping demand pressures on prices in check for now,” Cuyegkeng said.

‘Pulling the trigger’

With the Fed expected to also normalize its interest rates soon, other economists argue that Tetangco may raise the Philippines’s main policy rate in his last monetary-policy setting on June 22.

In particular, a local analyst said Tetangco may actually pull the trigger in his meeting in June to manage inflation expectations, taking into consideration tighter rice supply and the inflationary effect of tax adjustments pending for approval this year, coupled with the potential Fed rate hike also this year.

Contrary, however, to the stance of local economists, HSBC economist Joseph Incalcaterra said they see the Central Bank maintaining all policy rates on hold for the year despite developments in global monetary policy, as well as in local price movements.

“Market consensus currently suggests that the BSP will hike rates this year to counter the uptrend in inflation. Given the BSP’s history, this appears logical. The Central Bank tends to prefer to keep CPI anchored toward the midpoint of the inflation target, and based on our current estimates, inflation should approach the top bound leading up to August. As such, based on this forecast, the June 22 meeting is likely the only one to be considered live,” Incalcaterra said.

“But we believe the BSP will refrain from hiking rates this year.

After all, this inflation cycle is unlike those in years past. Recent yearon-year price momentum is derived from base effects, the lagged impact of higher energy prices—at least through March to April, and some foreign-exchange depreciation…. As such, barring supply shocks, such as weather-induced agricultural disruption, CPI is likely to peak in August and descend toward the 3-percent midpoint in 2018,” he added.

Seeing the difference

The economist further said that this year is different due to the recent evolution of monetary policy, as seen in the rates in the BSP’s Term Deposit Facility, which have generally edged higher over the past year.

This, according to Incalcaterra, already could account for a so-called under-the-table tightening and could eliminate the need for the BSP to actually tighten its main policy

Continued from a1

rate, which is currently at 3 percent.

As such, HSBC’s stance on the Central Bank’s move for the year is a “no-change” to the policy rates for the entire year.

However, Incalcaterra said they see the BSP even easing some of the settings in the BSP’s toolkit, particularly cutting the banks’ reserve requirement ratio in the second half of the year by 100 basis points.

“We stick to our view that the BSP will allow inflation to come close to 4 percent, given the trajectory mentioned above. Moreover, we believe that once the inflation trajectory is on a descending path, the BSP will cut the RRR by 100 basis points in the second half to complete the interest rate corridor transition,” Incalcaterra said.

“This is not meant to be monetary easing, but the BSP is unlikely to want to confuse markets during a time of increasing inflation, as such it may wait until the second half of the year,” he added.

Upside inflation pressures

In the Central Bank’s last meeting on May 11, the Monetary Board (MB) maintained all its key monetary policy rates unchanged in its third policy-setting meeting of the year, a move widely expected by markets.

Inflation forecasts were also left untouched for this year and the next, as key drivers were said to have “balanced each other out”.

In particular, the rate for the overnight reverse repurchase facility was kept at 3 percent, with the corresponding interest rates on the overnight lending and deposit facilities also kept steady. Reserve requirement ratios were also left unchanged.

The BSP also maintained its inflation forecasts at 3.4 percent for this year and 3 percent for next year, but Tetangco also said the balance of risks surrounding the inflation outlook continues to be tilted toward the upside, driven mainly by the transitory impact of the proposed tax-reform program.

Possible further adjustments in transportation fares and electricity rates also contribute to upside inflation pressures.

May 11’s monetary-policy meeting is the second-to-the-last MB meeting of Tetangco as BSP chief.

His last meeting as BSP governor will be on June 22. He is then scheduled to step down in July.

BSP Deputy Governor for the Supervision and Examination Sector Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. will take over as BSP chief.

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Smoke from fire kills 35 in casino attack

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gunman stormed a crowded Manila casino early on Friday and used gasoline to set gambling tables on fire, creating clouds of smoke that swept through the crowds and killed at least 35 people, the police said. The gunman, who had fled with more than $2 million in stolen casino chips, then forced his way into a room in an adjoining hotel and killed himself.

Authorities suspect the man, who has not yet been identified, was trying to rob the casino at Resorts World Manila, a complex of hotels, restaurants, stores and a sprawling multifloor gambling area.

“Either he lost in the casino and wanted to recoup his losses or he went totally nuts,” Metropolitan Manila Police Chief Oscar Albayalde said. While an Islamic State [IS]linked Filipino said on social media that “lone wolf soldiers” of the IS group were behind the attack, the police noted the man didn’t shoot anyone he encountered. The only gunshot wound was sustained by a guard at the complex.

“He would have shot all the people gambling,” if his goal was terrorism, National Police Chief Director General Ronald M. dela Rosa said. None of the bodies had gunshots, authorities said.

The police saw no connection to nearly two weeks of fighting with Muslim militants aligned with the IS group in the southern city of Marawi.

Dela Rosa said security footage showed the gunman ignoring a guard who tried to question him at the complex’s entrance, then going straight to the casino. He stuffed a backpack with gambling chips, fired his assault rifle at TV screens and set gambling tables on fire by pouring gasoline onto them from a 2-liter bottle he carried, dela Rosa said.

It was not clear how he smuggled the gasoline and rifle into the crowded casino.

The gunman, who dela Rosa described as “white, with a mustache”, about 6 feet tall and English speaking, fled the gambling area and barged into a room on the fifth floor of Maxims Hotel, which is part of the Resorts complex. He laid down on the bed, covered himself with a blanket, doused himself with gasoline and then set himself on fire, Dela Rosa said. He carried no identity documents, the police said.

The bag of high-value gambling chips—with an estimated worth of P113 million to P130 million, or more than $2 million—was found in a toilet.

T he at t ac k sent hu nd red s of people f leeing through the complex and into the night. A South Korean died of a possible

heart attack suffered during the evacuation, the Foreign Ministr y said. More than 70 people suffered mostly minor injuries in the stampede to escape.

Ronald Romualdo, a maintenance worker at Resorts World, said he and his colleagues heard gunshots and saw people smashing the windows on the second and third floors to escape.

“We took out a ladder to save them. We were able to save many of them,” he said. “But one woman I was trying to save fell from the second floor.... I could not carry her.” He said the woman was not moving after she fell, but he didn’t know what happened to her.

About 90 minutes after the attack began, Resorts World Manila said on its Facebook page it was on lockdown following reports of gunfire and it was working to ensure the safety of guests and workers.

An attack victim is treated inside an ambulance as relatives and friends of victims wait outside to receive news of their loved ones at a hotel at the Resorts World Manila complex on Friday. AP

Trump got wrong report

As news of the attack spread, President Donald J. Trump offered America’s thoughts and prayers to the Philippines.

“It is really very sad as to what’s going on throughout the world with terror,” he said from the White House Rose Garden.

Trump said he was “closely monitoring the situation” and would continue to provide updates.

The SITE Intelligence Group, a US terrorism monitor, said an IS-linked Filipino operative who provides daily updates on the clashes in Marawi claimed “lone wolf soldiers” of the IS group were responsible for the attack.

An English message by the operative was distributed across several pro-IS Telegram chat groups, SITE said. According to SITE, he wrote: “The lone wolf soldiers of Khilafah attack the heart of Kufar the city of Manila in Resorts World.”

T he unrest in Maraw i had sparked fears t hat mi l itants might attack elsewhere to divert the focus of thousands of troops trying to quell the siege.

But dela Rosa said, “We cannot attribute this to terrorism without concrete evidence.”

Islamic State

In Marawi 175 people have been killed since fighting broke out on

This image made from closed-circuit television made available by the Philippine National Police on Friday shows the gunman at the Resorts World Manila complex.

May 23, Military Spokesman Restituto Padilla said in a televised briefing on Friday. The clashes began after state enforcers tried to capture Isnilon Hapilon, a commander of the Abu Sayyaf militant group who had pledged allegiance to the IS. Financial markets remained resilient to the casino incident.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index climbed as much as 0.9 percent before trading 0.6 percent higher at the noon break in Manila. The peso was little changed at 49.725 per dollar from 49.75.

“The market is taking it as it has been described in the news, that it is more of a criminal event, rather than a terrorist event which just happened to coincide with what’s happening in Mindanao,” said Alan Cayetano, head of foreign-currency trading at Bank of the Philippine Islands.

“For the most part, the reaction seems to be that it’s not a cause

for concern for the moment.”

Still, shares of casino operators fell. Travellers International Hotel Group Inc., the venture of G e nt i ng Hong K ong Ltd . and Alliance Global Group Inc. that owns the besieged resort, dropped as much as 9.4 percent.

Alliance Global lost 3.5 percent at the midday break. Other casino companies including Bloomberry Resorts Corp. also declined.

More than 50 people were injured and are receiving treatment in nearby hospitals, Resorts World Manila said in a statement on its Twitter account.

“This is a sad day for Resorts World Manila,” it said.

Resorts World Manila officials have assured that assistance will be extended to families of those who d ied of suf focation and those injured when an unidentified man torched gaming tables and himself in the casino hotel early Friday.

“It is with deep sadness that in addition to the 54 injured, there were 35 reported casualties from this tragic incident.

I n it i a l u ncon f i r med re por t s indicate that the deaths were caused by smoke inhalation,” t he m a n a gement of R esor t s World said in a statement.

“We cannot release the information on the identities of the victims at this time as we are awaiting Soco’s final confirmation. We shall be informing their next of kin as soon as the information is officially confirmed and released to us by Soco.”

The company also committed to extend “full support and assistance to the injured and families of the deceased”.

It said a help desk has been set up at the Career Hub 1 at the ground f loor of the NECC building, which can be reached t h rough 0 917- 872- 8 30 0 a nd 0917-872-8756.

“This unexpected violent attack on innocent lives will not break the spirit on which Resorts World Manila was built. We ask for your prayers during these dark hours,” the company said.

‘Not the time to panic’

The Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA), through its president, Marlene Jante, also issued a statement on the incident: “In light of the incident today in Resorts World Manila and the ongoing conf lict in Marawi City, we, in the PTA A, are urging our countr y men to unite behind our government as it addresses

these situations.

“W hat happened today [Friday] in Resorts World, a tourism destination here in Metro Manila and just across Ninoy Aquino International A ir port Terminal 3, is very much unfortunate and will definitely impact our tourism industry.

“The PTAA condoles with the families of those who have lost their lives during this morning’s tragedy along with Resorts World, which has been a strong partner of the association over the years.

“But this is not the time to panic. The Philippines has seen worst situation before and we have risen above them over and over again. Our tourism industry’s foundation is now strong enough for it to continue to grow and remain as one of our country’s sunshine industries despite these incidents.

“What we urge, however, is for everyone to discern the facts from false news and report suspicious activities within their areas. We do not want incidents like the one in Marawi City or what transpired in Resorts World this morning to disrupt our way of life. Filipinos should never live in fear at any given time. “ We a lso urge the gover nment to keep our countr y men infor med at a l l times. T hey have to be transparent enough to let us know what is rea l ly happening around us.

“Let us not put to waste the gains we have achieved over the past several years because of a few isolated incidents.” AP, Bloomberg, PNA

Neda launches PHL Development Plan 2017-2022

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CORPORATE GIVEAWAYS SHOW. World Expos and Concepts Inc. (Worldexco) presented to the media some of the products that would be showcased at the 2017 Corporate Giveaways Expo scheduled from June 13 to 15 at the SMX Mall of Asia in Pasay City. Among those present at the annual expo’s media launch are (from left) Gail Garcia, brand manager of Brandcharger; Chot Ramento, managing director of Brandcharger; Larissa Chavez, marketing and corporate head of CANVAS; Raquel Romero, general manager of GREY; Inaki Garcia, operations manager of Deline; and Bogee Romero, marketing services manager of Worldexco. NONIE REYES

he National Economic and Development Authorit y (Neda) launched the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2017-2022, the blueprint for the country’s development under the Duterte administration, in Pasay City on Friday.

Over 300 people from the public and private sectors attended the event, titled “Aksyon para sa AmBisyon: The Philippine Development Plan Expo”.

The PDP 2017–2022 largely stems from the zero to 10 point Socioeconomic Agenda. It is the first of four medium-term plans that will work toward realizing AmBisyon Natin 2040, the collective vision of Filipinos over the next 25 years.

Now available online, the PDP has 21 chapters aimed at laying a strong foundation for inclusive growth, a high-trust and resilient society, and a globally competitive economy—all of which will enable Filipinos to achieve their aspiration of a matatag, maginhawa at panatag na buhay.

T he said plan is structured along the pillars of malasakit (i.e., enhancing the social fabr ic), pagbabago (i.e., inequa lit y-reducing transfor mation) and patuloy na pag-unlad (i.e., increasing growth potential).

The PDP has set targets that the government aims to achieve.

By 2022, the Philippines will b e a n u p p e r - m id d l e - i nc ome country. The growth rate of GDP

is set at 7 percent to 8 percent in the medium term.

Overall poverty rate is targeted to decline from 21.6 percent in 2015 to 14 percent by 2022. Poverty incidence in rural areas is intended to decrease from 30 percent to 20 percent for the same period.

The unemployment rate will also go down to 3 percent to 5 percent by 2022, from 5.5 percent in 2016.

O t he r t a r g e t s a r e h i g he r trust in the government and society, more resilient individuals and communities and a greater drive for innovation.

Embedded in t he PDP a re bedrock strategies that provide the necessar y env ironment for the plan to work. These include

achiev ing peace and security, accelerating infrastructure development, building resilient communities and ensuring ecological integrity.

“We already have the goal. Now here’s the plan to turn AmBisyon Natin 2040 into reality,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretar y Ernesto M. Pernia said.

Sen. Loren B. Legarda, National Competitiveness Council Chairman Guillermo Luz and Dean Dennis Mapa of UP School of Statistics were present in the expo and spoke on the pillars of the PDP. T he ex po a lso featured booths showcasing the strategies set in the PDP, as well as plans and ongoing programs of government agencies.

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In rejecting popular Paris climate accord, Trump bets on his base W

ASHINGTON—By a ratio of more than 5 to 1, Americans in one recent poll said the United States should participate in the Paris climate change agreement that President Donald J. Trump pulled out of on Thursday. Even a majority of Republicans agreed.

But in Trump’s calculation, withdrawing from the accord will be a political winner.

T he d e c i s ion h i g h l i g ht e d Trump’s broader political gamble as he seeks to build a presidency that can succeed in midterm elections next year and, ultimately, in 2020 when he is up for reelection.

It is a strategy predicated not on attracting new supporters, but on cultivating the narrower conservative base that delivered him to the White House.

Not everyone in the W hite House agrees with this approach.

But when it came to the Paris accord, Trump accepted the argument

advanced by Stephen Bannon, his chief strategist, that he must stick to his nationalist and populist roots or jeopardize his political future. Trump is not going to win over Democrats and most independents, Bannon maintained, so the imperative is to retain the voters who pulled the lever for him last year.

This is a daring and risky strategy for a president whose jobapproval rating remains stuck around 40 percent in many polls.

Most presidents seek to widen their support while in office, reaching out to the center—if not to the other party. Trump, however, is the first president in the history of polling to govern without the support of a majority of the public from the start of his tenure. In effect, Trump is doubling down on presiding as a minority president, betting that when the time comes, his fervent supporters will matter more, especially clustered in key Midwest states.

“There is no question it helps Trump with his base,” said Glen Bolger, a Republican pollster.

“Trump voters believe that the world is out to get us and that we would be the only country to live up to the accords. Therefore, America would lose and the rest of the world would laugh at us.

“Obviously, it makes Clinton voters hate him even more, but from a political calculation standpoint, the White House does not and should not care,” Bolger said.

Other political specialists, including some Republicans, consider that a miscalculation. The same poll showing large majorities supporting Paris, conducted this month by Yale University’s climate-change program, found that even among Trump voters, more supported staying in the accord than not, 47 percent to 28 percent.

“Of all the things he might do to solidify his base, withdrawing from the Paris Agreement is pretty

President Donald J. Trump announces his decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accords, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Thursday.

far down the list in importance, and for a president at 40-percent approval, it is hard to argue that solidifying his die-hards is his most critical need right now,” said Geoffrey Garin, a Democratic pollster who has advised Hillary Clinton, as well as environmental groups.

Garin said the danger for Trump is that he might turn off the college-educated voters who turned to him in the late stages of last year’s election. “These college-educated Trump voters do not want the United States to be isolated in the world,” he said.

Douglas E. Schoen, another longtime political strategist and Fox News contributor, said pulling out of the Paris accord would not produce jobs for Trump’s supporters. “Not good for his base to be further alienated from Europeans, to appear separate, different and out of sync with the world,” Schoen said. But Democrats have long pointed to surveys showing lopsided support for env ironmenta l act ion by government—only to discover that it does not necessarily win elections for them. Americans may favor r u les intended to curb the emissions blamed for climate change and encourage the use of renewable fuels. But

on Election Day, such issues are often not the determining factor in their decisions.

The latest Gallup survey shows that only 2 percent of Americans listed the environment or pollution as the most important problem facing the country today, while 21 percent cited economic issues. And so, as he announced his decision in the Rose Garden on Thursday, Trump cast it as a question of guarding the American economy. By walking away from the pact, he asserted he would save American jobs.

“The first thing the American electorate is looking for is a focus on economic issues,” said David Winston, a Republican pollster.

“They want it discussed. They want a sense that it’s a priority.”

Matt Schlapp, the chair man of the A mer ican Conser vative Un ion , s a id A mer ic a n s genera l ly want to do what they consider the r ight thing and, therefore, tel l sur veyors that the US shou ld combat climate change. But he said it was a meaningless question.

“The follow-up is key,” he said.

“Knowing the solution proposed is to price carbon higher or tax it, are you willing to pay more for your utilities and to fill your tank, or

are you willing to shed US jobs?”

“It becomes a political loser.”

Supporters of the Paris accord argue that the supposed political costs are exaggerated and the benefits are overlooked in the interest of scaring voters. They can point to some polls showing support even among Trump voters for some of the specific policies that have been promoted to curb climate change.

Nonetheless, the White House assumption is that Trump’s supporters care more about seeing him fighting on their behalf.

He won last fall even having denounced climate change as a “ hoax” that is perpetrated alternately by scientists, liberals or China. So withdrawing from the Paris deal should not meaningfully change that political calculus, in this view.

Given the president’s troubles over the investigations into ties with Russia and his firing of the FBI director, Bannon’s wing argued that it was more important than ever to fulfill the campaign promises that energized his core supporters. The notion that Trump should preserve the Paris accord in a misguided effort to curry favor with corporations and environmentally minded liberals was self-defeating, Bannon and his allies contended.

By this reasoning, Trump can afford to lose voters in liberal California or on the East Coast and still eke out another Electoral College victory by focusing intently on what he sees as the needs of battleground states, like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, that put him over the top last year even without the popular vote. What he cannot afford is to lose those who still stand by him.

At least that is the bet. And it is a choice he will continue to face on other issues in the weeks and months to come.

The New York Times News Service

China implored to curtail ever more ‘reckless’ North Korea

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ustralia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull joined the US in imploring China to rein in North Korea, saying the regime was becoming increasingly reckless and must be curtailed.

“China has the greatest leverage over North Korea and with the greatest leverage comes the greatest responsibility,” Turnbull, 62, said in an interview in Canberra with Bloomberg Television on Thursday. “We look to Beijing to bring the pressure to bear on the regime in Pyongyang, to bring it to its senses so that it ceases threatening the peace of the region with its reckless conduct.”

Speaking ahead of his mostanticipated foreign-policy speech since becoming prime minister in September 2015, Turnbull a l so u rged C h i n a to respec t the rule of law as its economic and military might grows. He brushed aside questions about the reliability of President Donald J. Trump as an ally, and said the US-Australia relationship was “ in the best of health ”.

N o r t h K o r e a ’s a g g r e s sive rhetor ic, as wel l as reg ular missile and nuclear tests in defiance of United Nations resolutions, have continued to vex the inter nationa l communit y.

T hat ’s added to pressu re on China, the reg ime’s only major a l ly, to rein in its er rant neighbor. Tr ump has war ned that

all options, including militar y ones, were on the table, adding that the US was prepared to act without China. Susan Thornton, a State Department official helping oversee Asia policy, told reporters last month that clearly China “ has to do more” to curtail the regime.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, on a visit to Berlin, told reporters the parties must get “ back to the negotiating table” and that China opposed all types of nuclear and missile tests by North Korea.

The threat posed by Kim Jong Un’s regime is likely to dominate talks when the region’s top defense and military officials gather for the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore starting on Friday, where Turnbull will give the keynote address.

Earlier in the week, North Korea conducted its ninth ballistic missile test this year as Kim ramps up efforts to deliver a nuclear warhead as far as North America.

Australia on Friday said it was targeting five more North Koreans with travel bans and financial sanctions in response to the missile tests. A key strategic ally of the US in the Asia Pacific, Australia has long sought to find a balance between supporting American interests and engaging with China, its biggest trading partner.

Tu r nbu l l ’s go ve r n me nt i s uneasy about Beijing’s military bui ld-up in the South China

Sea, which contains some of the world’s busiest trading routes.

China has reclaimed thousands of acres of land to build artificial outposts on reefs, adding airstrips, lighthouses and port facilities to better project influence over the waterway.

“It is important that as China rises, as its economic power grows, as its inf luence grows, that it does so peacefully and in a manner that respects the rights of all other countries,” Turnbull said. “It is vitally important that China respects the rule of law and respects the principal that might is not right.”

Like other nations, Australia faces the challenge of adjusting to Trump’s style of leadership and doubts about his commitment to Asia. Australia’s normally steadfast relationship with the US suffered a jolt in January when Trump abruptly ended a phone call with Turnbull, telling the prime minister he had spoken to four other global leaders that day and “this was the worst call by far”. Trump later blasted a refugee resettlement arrangement with Australia, agreed to by former President Barack Obama, calling it a “dumb deal” in a late-night tweet. Meeting with Turnbull in New York last month, Trump tried to brush the spat aside. “We will remain friends for a very long time,” Trump said at a US-Australia event commemorating the Battle of Coral Sea.

“Our alliance is stronger than ever,” Turnbull said on Thursday. “The Australia-US alliance is more important than ever.”

He noted that Australia was increasing its defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product and that “everyone has to pull their weight”.

His comments were in marked contrast to concerns expressed

by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who at the weekend gave her strongest indication yet that Europe and the US were drifting apart under Trump.

“The times when we could fully rely on others are to some extent over,” Merkel told supporters in Munich last Sunday.

Turnbull, whose foreign and defense ministers are scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis in Sydney next week, also said he had utmost confidence in Australia’s intelligence alliance with the US. Last month Trump reportedly revealed sensitive intelligence about an Islamic State plot to use laptop computers as possible weapons aboard commercial aircraft to two senior Russian officials. The UK temporarily suspended intelligence sharing with the US after details about a suicide bomb attack that killed 22 people at a pop concert in Manchester were leaked to American media. Bloomberg News

Sports BusinessMirror

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

Saturday, June 3, 2017

A5

Army grabs semis berth in men’s pvl

GLOBAL-CERES IN SPOTLIGHT

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HE highly anticipated clash between Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup campaigners Global Cebu and Ceres Negros unfurls today in the Philippines Football League (PFL) at the Panaad Park and Stadium in Bacolod City.

The winners of the last three crowns of the now-defunct United Football League—two for Global in 2014 and 2016 and one for Ceres in 2015—take the pitch at 4 p.m.

At at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, FC Meralco Manila tries to tighten its grip of the top spot when it hosts Davao Aguilas at 7 p.m.

The Sparks are unscathed after three games with nine points before they took a two-week break. They are facing a Davao side that has yet to win after a draw and two losses.

Ceres and Global are coming off contrasting AFC Cup Asean Zone semifinals campaigns. The Negros-based squad made history at home when they beat Malaysia’s Johor Darul Ta’zim, 2-1, last Wednesday to become the first Filipino club to make the zone finals.

Global Cebu, on the other hand, is expected to throw all of its frustrations against Ceres Negrosfollowing its 2-3 loss to Singaporean club Home United in the other semifinal of the AFC Cup 2017 last Tuesday at the Jalan Besar Stadium in Singapore. Lance Agcaoili

Albert Pujols is one of the great sluggers in major league history, but his pursuit of 600 homers with the Los Angeles Angels has gone largely unnoticed in recent weeks. AP

By Paul Newberry The Associated Press

M

ORE than any other sport, baseball is a numbers racket.

From 20 wins in a season to 3,000 hits in a career, there are milestones that even the most cursory fan knows are cause for celebration and adoration.

Regrettably, the stat we used to revere above all others no longer gets us in the mood for keeping count.

Home runs.

Albert Pujols is one of the great sluggers in major league history, but his pursuit of 600 homers with the Los Angeles Angels has gone largely unnoticed in recent weeks. Sure, there’s a big countdown sign in center field at the Big A, currently sitting on 599, and many fans broke out their cellphones each time he came to bat Wednesday night in a 2-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves, ready to document history.

That’s about it.

For a reason.

Thanks to the steroids era, guys who can knock the ball over the fence with some regularity are no longer held in such lofty esteem. We treat this generation’s version of Hammerin’ Hank and the Sultan of Swat with a collective shrug and a healthy dose of skepticism, even though the game today is dominated by hard-throwing pitchers and could actually use an offensive boost.

No one, it seems, has forgotten when juiced-up guys made a mockery of the game.

So, when Pujols hits No. 600, there will be a small celebration.

Not much more.

That’s a shame, really.

“It’s incredible, I think, just to put it in the context,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “The guys that hit 300 home runs, that’s like 10 years of hitting 30 home runs. And to double that, it just defines ... the elite players that have been in the batter’s box throughout this game.”

Indeed, Pujols will become just the ninth player in major league history to reach 600 homers and, in all likelihood, be a first-ballot inductee into Cooperstown.

A

AS PUJOLS APPROACH 600 HRs

DOES ANYONE CARE? But it’s worth noting that Pujols will be the sixth member of that exclusive club whose career touched on the steroid era, which runs roughly through the 1990s until the mid-2000s when baseball finally adopted a doping policy that had a little bite to it (though still not nearly enough).

Of the other five, only Ken Griffey Jr. is in the Hall of Fame. The career leader, Barry Bonds with 762, has yet to be voted in because of his links to doping scandals, though the ill feelings against his candidacy seem to be waning. Alex Rodriguez, who copped to doping and served a lengthy suspension near the end of his career, faces an uphill battle when he finally becomes eligible for the Hall consideration despite going deep 696 times. Sammy Sosa has no chance of getting in with 609 homers, his lofty numbers also viewed as highly suspicious by the voters.

Jim Thome (612) will be on the ballot for 2018 and might have a shot as a first-year inductee since he was never suspected of drug use. But just the fact that his candidacy isn’t a no-brainer shows how the stature of the home run has fallen.

It wasn’t this way before the steroids era.

Forget 600 homers. Being a member of the 500 club used to be a sure-fire ticket into the Hall. The first 15 players to reach that landmark were all voted in—12 on their first try. A dozen more players have joined the list in recent years, and eight have been on the Cooperstown ballot.

Of those, only Ken Griffey Jr. (630) and Frank Thomas (521) received enough votes to get in.

Joining Bonds and Sosa on the outside are Mark McGwire (583), Rafael Palmeiro (569), Manny Ramirez (555) and Gary Sheffield (509). McGwire—an acknowledged doper—didn’t come close to receiving the required 75 percent in his 10 years on the ballot. Palmeiro— who was suspended for a failed test—dropped out of consideration after only four years because of a lack of support. Two other tainted players, Ramirez and Sheffield, seem unlikely to get into Cooperstown based on their early voting totals.

Which brings us back to Pujols.

He simply wants to slip in the back door of the 600 club before anyone notices.

“I don’t play here for numbers,” he said. “I’m aware of the history, don’t get me wrong. I respect it. But I think that’s kind of a distraction that I don’t want to bring into the game for me.”

Pujols shouldn’t have to worry.

It’s hard to find anyone making a big deal about the long ball.

‘The Bull’ reigns supreme in national hoopfest final

T

HE Bull Squad beat Team Santa Rosa, 27-20, to emerge champion of the recent Red Bull Reign Finals at the Nagtahan Bridge Court in Manila.

The champion team is composed of FilipinoCanadian Philippine Basketball Association hopefuls Clay Crellin and Glenn Gravengard, Kitt Paolo Balmori and Team Captain Obinna Ezeike.

“The semifinals were the biggest challenge,” Crellin said. “We started at 8:30 in the morning, so the other teams had the advantage because they got to rest.”

Team Santa Rosa and the Bull Squad emerged victorious and advanced to the finals with a total score of 83 and 67, respectively.

Eight teams took part in the tournament— Cove MNL F&B, San Remegio Properties, Team Santa Rosa, Balandra Squad, G3 Apparel, Dabarkads, Bull Squad and Obladi Oblada.

Advancing to the semifinals were Team

THE Bull squad—Obinna Ezeike, Kitt Paolo Balmori, Glenn Gravengard and Cassius Clay Crellin—celebrates its victory.

Santa Rosa, Bull Squad, Balandra Squad and G3 Apparel, which consisted of Eric Tai and previous Red Bull King of the Rock Philippine representative Willie Miller.

Former PBA player Vince Hizon served as director of the tournament. The Bull Squad will see action in the Red Bull Reign World Finals in Washington, D.C., later this year.

RMY clinched the last semifinals berth as the Troopers disposed of Instituto Estetico Manila (IEM), 25-16, 21-25, 25-15, 25-23, in a no-tomorrow playoff match in the men’s division of the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Reinforced Conference on Thursday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

Anthony Arbasto and Romnick Rico scored 17 and 15 points, respectively, for the Troopers, who got the job done in one hour and 28 minutes.

Army will face defending champion Air Force, which topped the eliminations with a 4-1 card, in a best-ofthree semifinals series. The other half of the semifinals pit No. 2 Cignal against No. 3 Santa Elena.

Arbasto and Rico were responsible for 30 kills of Army’s 56 won attack points, numbers that dwarfed IEM’s 35 spikes. The Troopers also had nine blocks and five aces, while the Volley Masters only had three in each department.

Skipper Benjaylo Labide and Jayvee Sumagaysay delivered 11 and 10 hits, respectively, while setter Timothy Tajanlangit made 33 excellent sets with six points.

The Troopers committed 38 errors to the Volley Masters’ 26.

Reigning Most Valuable Player Greg Dolor had 11 points for IEM, which will miss the semifinals for the first time. Lance Agcaoili Creamline’s Alyssa Valdez does what she does best »against Philippine Air Force defenders Jocemer Tapic and Wendy Semana during their Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Reinforced Conference match on Thursday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City. The Cool Smashers won the 59-minute match, 25-16, 26-24, 25-17, to assure themselves of a semifinals berth. NONOY LACZA

A6 Saturday, June 3, 2017 | Editor: Mike Besa

S

Evnroll ER6

Head to Head

We compare the Evnroll ER6 and the Scotty Cameron Futura 5s

I

t’s true the choice of a golfer’s putter is intensely personal. Everyone loves the slim, sleek look of a nice blade putter and why not. Well-made examples from designers like Bettinardi and Scotty Cameron are gorgeous pieces of neo-industrial art with precisely machined lines that flow from face to trailing edge. They are jewelry for the greens.

But blades aren’t the most effective putters. Mishits with your flatstick can wander far offline and will travel far shorter than those hit squarely on the center of percussion. Most amateurs also need as much help as they can get with their alignment, something blade putters can’t physically provide.

On paper and in practice mallets are superior putters for both amateurs and professionals. Mallet putters offer more resistance to twisting (Moment of inertia or MOI). This makes them more forgiving on that slightly off-center strike. They also offer a better sight picture at address. The deep body from back to front offers a longer sight line and thus makes it easier to aim.

Where most golfers balk at the thought of gaming a mallet, are its looks. Some look like a little Starship Enterprise on a stick. Others are huge with proportions that offend rather than enthrall. Whatever it is, mallets are an acquired taste.

They shouldn’t be. Mallets offer real benefits for the golfer in terms of forgiveness and accuracy. Given the amount that this club’s in our hands, any advantage is one worth taking. Both of the mallets we’re evaluating today make that pill a little easier to swallow.

For one thing, they are gorgeous. Sure, they might not have the svelte, sweeping lines of a blade but when you look closely, you’ll appreciate the handiwork on offer here.

Evnroll ER6

Guerin Rife is the man behind Evnroll.

Rife is a bit of a legend in the industry. He is the inventor of face groove technology and founded the Rife Putter Company in 2000.

He later sold the company and started making high-end putters in very limited quantities. Evnroll is his foray back into the thick of the fight.

Evnroll uses Rife’s new groove design. Call it grooves 2.0. His research showed that if he reduced the contact surface in the middle of the putter with narrower grooves and increased the contact surface towards the heel and toe with narrower grooves, then the putter would progressively hit the ball harder as you go away from the center. Because most of the mass is right behind the center, the ball will go the same distance. This is the essence of Evnroll putters.

The other thing that Evnroll’s groove design does is on off-center hits the ball tends to work its way back towards the target. This phenomenon is called the gear effect. We see this on strikes with the longer clubs; balls hit off the toe, start to the right then work their way back to the center.

Conversely, heel-side hits start off to the left then work their way back towards the target. Rife has figured how to achieve the same effect with his groove design.

The putter also features LineAline technology where two small unpainted dots sit on the topline of the putter 1/8 inch either side of the center sightline. This provides a subtle alignment reference for consistent lie angle positioning, as well as helping on breaking putts.

Aligning the ball in front of the toe-side dot on right-to-left putts and in front of the heel-side dot on left-to-right putts will help keep the ball travelling on the high side of the target line as 90% of breaking putts are missed below the hole.

The first thing that jumps out at you is the color. The metallic red hue is arresting, to say the least. The machining on the ER6 (and the rest of the Evnroll line, for that matter) is exquisite. Thin grooves run down the top of the mallet, providing an additional alignment aid for the golfer. A medallion covers the rear weight port and adds even more bling to the package. The grip is a meaty affair that’s tacky and affords loads of purchase. The cover is a premium item and comes with an integrated ball marker. This is a premium product, no doubt.

It performs like one, too. The roll, as the name promises, is even; no bumps or skips.

This makes distance control automatic. Aiming the ER6 is straightforward—the toplines make short work of making sure you’re pointing down your intended line. The feel is soft and sound a bit muted—the ER6 is a very, very good putter.

The ER6 has a port at the back of the clubhead with a weight that accounts for 85% of the ER6’s weight. Having the weight positioned thusly keeps the face stable and more resistant to twisting. This stability makes it easier to find the club’s center of percussion through the stroke.

All well and good but how does all that work in practice?

It works quite well. Slightly off-center hits do seem to work their way back to the target and travel almost exactly the same distance as center hits. Toe hits seem to travel the furthest but only just so. That’s amazing. Center hits, as well as hits about one centimeter towards the toe or heel will all travel the same distance to roughly the same spot. It’s easy to line up, putts very well and has killer looks to boot. At just over nineteen thousand, it’s pricey to be sure but products of this quality usually are.

Scotty Cameron Futura 5s

Scotty Cameron describes the Futura line as “wings and things.” Considering where the line originated, that seems an understatement. The first Futura looked like a twisted horseshoe on a stick. The aluminum face was joined to a stainless steel shaped like a horseshoe for soft feel and high moment of inertia. Frankly, it was hideous but it putted well and is still favored by some diehards.

The new Futura line is much evolved and there is literally something for everyone. You have two more traditional designs matched with the traditional high MOI designs that made the line what it is today. Each model uses Scotty’s latest refinements for the Futura line.

The face and sole are one piece of aircraft aluminum while the top and sides of the putter are stainless steel. All models have nonadjustable weights on the sole located at the extreme ends of the putter. The funky looking 6m has additional weights mounted outboard of the weight wings for additional MOI. The two halves are joined together with a vibration damping elastomer sandwiched in between.

This helps tune the feel to golfers’ liking.

The 5s we sampled is typical of the line.

Scotty Cameron has worked to make the Futura’s looks less offensive. He’s smoothed out all the edges so facets flow one into the

other. On the 5s a back bar completes the mallet shape.

Futura offers an enhanced sight picture at address. The alignment lines are raised to do away with any distortion that curves or relief might introduce. The rest of the lines on the putter subtly work to frame the ball and give the golfer instant feedback when setting the putter behind the ball. Like all mallets of this nature, the Futura 5s is extremely easy to aim.

The feel is what you expect from a Scotty Cameron. It’s soft, delicious but gives detailed feedback on impact. Distance control was automatic but it was interesting at how straight and far the mishits went. We tested the Futura 5s on off-center hits, attempting to contact the ball towards the extreme ends of the putter, where the sightlines are.

On these extreme off-center hits the Futura 5s barely twisted at all. Because of the center shaft configuration, it was difficult to hit the ball on the heel of the putter but when we did, the ball rolled out consistently and the face was most stable. The same results occurred on putts hit out close to the toe. This is a very forgiving putter on mishits.

The ball seems to come off the face a bit hot. This isn’t a bad thing. Just something to keep in the back of your head so you don’t overcook your lag putts. It’s quite easy to get used to and virtually guarantees that you’ll get the ball to the hole.

The center shaft configuration might not appeal to all but there are six other putters in the Futura line that employ the same technologies and vary slightly in design and execution. At a hair under twenty-five thousand Pesos, the Scotty Camerons are pricey but there seems to be no shortage of people willing to pay for this level of quality.

So, the Scotty Cameron 5s lives up to the Titleist hype machine’s claims. It feels soft at impact and provides the highest resistance to twisting with some of the most beautiful aesthetics that you can find on a mallet. It is a beautiful and relentlessly effective tool for getting a golf ball into the cup. It is a putter worth the high price tag it commands.

n Conclusion Comparing the two putters is anything but straight forward. Although similar in intent, they vary greatly in design. The center of mass of the Evnroll ER6 is placed directly behind the ball whereas the Scotty has its mass further away from the center; on the wings and the back bar. This makes the Scotty Cameron Futura 5s more resistant to twisting on off center hits.

Both feel very soft off the clubface but the Futura 5s feels softer and sweeter. That last adjective is subjective and your mileage might vary. The Evenroll comes off a bit firm, especially on off-center hits.

Both perform equally well on the green.

Both roll the ball very smoothly and in real world use, feel equally forgiving. Misses with the Evnroll ER6 finish very close to the hole but the Futura behaves better on severely off-center hits.

If the Scotty Cameron has one downside, it is price. It’s six thousand Pesos more than the Evnroll (neither is a used bin bargain) and for some, that will spell the difference. But whichever one you ultimately choose, you will have a beautiful premium putter that will help you make more putts and that you’ll be proud to carry on the greens. Mike Besa

Scotty Cameron Futura 5s. PHOTOS BY MIKE BESA

Story & photos

by Mike Besa

herwood Hills Golf Club is one of my favorite golf courses. I have said so for years and this is a matter of record. Sherwood Hills Golf Club is very high on my list; easily in my top three. Sherwood Hills is one of three Jack Nicklaus signature golf courses in the country and it is the Golden Bear’s favorite. He has said so himself so this, too, is a matter of record.

It is therefore a shame that more people don’t get to play Sherwood Hills. Traffic more than distance is the culprit here. The distance of the club from the city and the development of the towns in between mean a lengthy trip through some of the busier surface streets of Cavite and that means travel times longer than most of us care to take to play golf.

That Jack did Sherwood Hills at all was happenstance. Nicklaus was in the country doing a site inspection of the construction of the two golf courses at Manila Southwoods Golf and Country Club (both Nicklaus signatures) when Freddy Campos invited him out to Trece Martires, Cavite, to check out another property they were in the midst of developing.

The golf course was to be a 27-hole design with one nine by each of golf’s big three, Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player. But after a tour of what was to become Sherwood Hills Golf Club on the back of a flatbed truck, the Bear made Campos an offer he couldn’t refuse. He offered to do the whole golf course for half of his regular fee.

Sherwood Hills Golf Club is one of the great layouts of Philippine golf and Nicklaus knew it. He could see the course flow naturally from one hole to the next. It was right there in front of him. All he had to do was to shape the fairways and design the bunker and green complexes. Mother Nature had already done the rest.

The resulting golf course is sheer genius.

What makes the Sherwood experience so pleasurable is the fact that the course doesn’t demand you play it a particular way; there are usually several solutions to the problems it poses. It’s set up to allow the bump and run or putting from off the green. High ball hitters will feel at home here, too; the greens are receptive as long as the wind isn’t blowing too hard. The aesthetics are simple but stunning.

The golf course at Sherwood Hills strikes the most delicate balance for a golf course.

That is the balance of keeping the game interesting for golfers of all ability levels.

Beyond the layout of the golf holes, the way that Nickluas set the holes up for play is the real genius here.

Nothing is artificial or contrived. It feels like all they did to build the golf course was cut the grass. It was as if the golf course was just lying there beneath the surface, waiting for someone to come along and discover it.

There isn’t a weak hole in the bunch. I play a lot of golf courses that are compromised because of a golf hole built to fit into a particular part of the property to fill out the eighteen. There is no such hole at Sherwood Hills. Each is an adventure, presenting its own unique challenge to the golfer. The variety on offer is tremendous.

It’s not just about driving and ballstriking; the greens at Sherwood Hills are among the best in the country. They’re always firm and fast and roll as true as you like. They’re not the easiest things to read and that’s what keeps things interesting.

The greens are a major reason that

Sherwood Hill

The be

that y

The first hole of Sherwood Hills Golf Club

Oakley Hosts 5th Golf Cup Oakley continues support for Philippine golfing with bene

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ow on its fifth year, Oakley was once again proud to host the Oakley Golf Cup, with participants comprised of CEOs, celebrities, seasoned players, aspiring athletes, golf enthusiasts, as well as the media who swung their golf clubs for a cause on May 29, at the Sherwood Hills Golf Club.

This annual charity event for the benefit of The Junior Golfers League (TJGL) is presented by Oakley to encourage a thriving competitive golf future for the country by developing the potential of young, talented golfers such as the TJGL, the grassroots development league of the Junior Golf Foundation of the Philippines.

Despite the tough competition, the players enjoyed the 18-hole system 36 game. Skills, patience and their heart for golf were tested, as playing golf is not a walk in the park, but Oakley’s Prizm Lens Technology has brought to the game to a whole new level of clarity.

In the Men’s Division Class A, Jeff Bernaldez emerged as Champion scoring, with 74-06 = 68 and Jeorge Gallent winning 1st and Joey Anclano bagging the 2nd runner-up, scoring 69 and 70, respectively. Meanwhile in the Men’s Division Class B, it was Vandolph Quizon who came out on top with a 92-20 = 72, followed by Rico Tolentino as 1st runner-up, scoring 92-20 = 72 and Jonjon de la Rosa as 2nd runner-up with 92-22 = 72.

In the Men’s Division Class C, the top prize went to Kim Cabatit with a score of 103-31 = 72, with Lorenzo de la Paz coming in as 1st Runner Up scoring, 103-27= 76 and Benedicto Adorable as 2nd runner-up with 104-28=76.

In the Ladies’ Division, Vangie Omlang emerged as Champion scoring 84-13= 71 and Sheila Ward winning 1st and Marissa Vergara winning 2nd runner-up scoring 83-11 = 72 and 87-14 = 73 respectively.

The Junior Golfers also showed their talent for the game—in the 8 & Under Boy’s Division, Patrick Tambalque was named as Champion with

a score of 91 + 92 = 183, while in the 8 & Under Girl’s Division, Celine Abalos came in first with 98 + 92 = 190. For the 9 – 12 year old division, the champions were Sean Granada with a score of 70 + 77 = 147 and Annika Chua with a score of87 + 88 = 175. Finally for the 13 – 18 Division, the top prizes went to Josh Jorge with a score of 76 + 73 = 149 and Trish Lazatin with a score of 97 + 99 = 196.

Special awards were also given to the players with Jorge Gallent winning the Longest Drive award; Alan Canapi for Most Accurate Drive; Longest Putt Hole for Nick Ratuiste; and the Nearest to the pin hole award for Alex Montemayor.

As a brand that has always been known as the pioneer in eyewear and sport specific gear, Oakley is still pushing boundaries through its trailblazing innovations. The brand has revolutionized performance specific eyewear and gear; and The Junior Golfers League of the Philippines is one of the beneficiaries of such innovations.

Since 1975 Oakley has continuously

www.pinoygolfer.com

ls Golf Club

The stunning 10th hole at Sherwood Hills Golf Club.

est course

At 462 yards (428 from the blues), eighteen is not much shorter. It does give you a bit more latitude with the tee shot but the lake fronting the green is in play with the pin in the right or middle sections of the green.

The par fives offer legitimate birdie opportunities. Eight and 15 offer the best chances to score. At 525 yards, eight is the shortest of the par fives and offers the best chance to score. Fifteen is just a hair longer but there’s more pressure on the approach shot here.

The par threes are a fair test and a good mix.

The long 221-yard second hole will challenge the shorter hitter but the others all have generous greens and are of manageable length. Well struck tee shots result in good scoring chances.

Choosing favorite holes here is, well, difficult.

They’re all good. The short holes, seven and ten, are among my favorites. They’re superb risk-reward holes that are dangerous if taken lightly. The 388yard seventh doglegs to the left around a hazard.

The fat part of the landing area is guarded by a huge bunker. The more endowed off the tee can cut the corner of just blow it over the bunker. Fail at either and bogey will be a good score.

Saturday, June 3, 2017 A7

Handog and Dy elected as new leaders of JGFP

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you don’t play Sherwood Hills always figures prominently in any discussion about Philippine golf courses.

Do not expect to be coddled on this golf course.

The opening corner is among the most difficult in Philippine golf. Get through here unscathed and you’ve done very well. Stroke average for the corner is just under double-bogey.

Nicklaus was nothing if not a superb ball striker. This is evident in his design of Sherwood Hills. Of the par fours, just two are under 400 yards. From the blue tees, that number grows to just four. Factor in the stiff Cavite breeze and you could be in for a long day if you don’t play the appropriate set of tees. Interestingly, two of the hardest holes on the golf course are the finishing holes on either nine. Make par at either and you’ve picked up at least a stroke on your friends.

None of the holes will test you like the ninth.

It’s a full 462 yards from the tips (444 yards from the blue tees) with water in play on both off the tee and into the green. The hole plays into the prevailing green and slightly uphill; both factors complicate club selection coming into the green. Best play for bogie here; the hole’s stroke average is 5.9.

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The 366-yard 10th has water in play off the tee and into the green. You can gamble and attempt to drive the green by carrying the bunker complex on the right but the prudent play is to take a shorter club off the tee to get yourself into a good position from which to go for the green.

Seventeen is another beauty. The 447-yard par 4 sweeps left then right again into the green. The hole can be shortened considerably by driving the fairway bunker guarding the meat of the dogleg.

A great golf hole but then the same could be said about all of them.

It’s been a while since I’d been back to Sherwood Hills. I had occasion to play there twice this week and by doing so, rekindled my love affair with the golf course. There is so much on offer here at such a reasonable price.

But Sherwood Hills rewards those that brave the trip with wonderful golf in a marvelous setting. Take your time when you come to play.

Enjoy a very cold beer with the delicious food as you sit on the veranda and watch the long shadows drape the fairway before bidding adieu to the sun.

The golf at Sherwood Hills is well worth the trip.

he Junior Golf Foundation of the Philippines recently elected a new set of board of directors on May 12, 2017 at the Southlinks Golf Club.

Elected to the new board are holdovers Gerry Handog and Ayala Land Inc. President and CEO Bobby Dy, together with current JGFP Executive Director Bobbet Bruce. New blood is represented by Deo Chan, Tiffany Copok, John Gatmaytan, Rommel Hernandez, Nikki Ng and Bobby Pineda.

The board elected Handog and Dy as chairman and vice chairman, respectively, with Bruce stepping in as the new JGFP president and Ng as executive vice president. Copok was appointed as Secretary and Membership Committee head with Gatmayatan as treasurer. Hernandez, Pineda and Chan were tasked to cohead the Tournament, Rules and Awards Committee, while Gatmaytan, Ng and Copok will lead the Ways and Means Committee.

“We have a very strong and diverse team with different backgrounds and skill sets that could contribute to running the JGFP properly. We also represent a wider spectrum of the active clubs in junior golf across all the different age groups and divisions.

They are willing to sacrifice their time and efforts to the board, the JGFP and for our junior golfers. I am very hopeful that we can do well,” Dy said.

The board immediately hunkers down to work with the holding of a two-day minicamp for junior golfers playing in major junior events in the US this summer. The minicamp is primarily aimed at developing sense of team and country pride among its players, parents and even coaches. The activities will include a driving range skills challenge, short game and putting contests, an introduction to sports injury prevention and proper golf fitness, group/team sports psychology sessions, a sports psychology session for parents on parent/athlete-child dynamics and a culminating team scramble event on the last day.

There will also be a group discussion on the practical requirements for traveling and competing in the US to cascade parents’ and players’ experiences with all new members, as well as an introduction to US college golf recruitment.

The JGFP plans to have a year-round tournament calendar for all levels of junior golfers and is aggressively working with the various golf clubs to find ways to lower the cost of playing and competing, as well as developing and implementing a sound fiscal strategy to raise funds from sustainable donors and benefactors.

“Our immediate goal is to provide opportunities to play for all of our members regardless of their objectives in the sport whether they want to be a weekend player, competitive junior level, US college, national team or even as a professional.” according to Hernandez. Gatmaytan added, “Now that we have a good product, it’s time to make the right representations with potential sponsors and supporters. There’s a lot of value in supporting the JGFP, our junior golfers and golf in general, we just need to make a good case of it.”

Other JGFP projects in the pipeline include a comprehensive and sustainable grass roots development program aimed at increasing the player base of junior golfers, building a support system to assist junior golfers to secure golf scholarships in US colleges, an international junior golf tournament and even a college golf tour to provide opportunities to play high-level golf beyond junior golf.

efit game for The Junior Golfers League of the Philippines encouraged and supported aspiring sportsmen to nurture their athletic abilities by providing them not only with innovative gear to enhance their performance, but also by offering opportunities that allow active individuals to hone their skills through friendly competitions, such as the Oakley Golf Cup. Oakley’s products also help athletes of all ages perform even better in their chosen field. PRIZM Sports features various lenses tailor made for specific tasks—the Golf lens improves contrast for better separation of color and gives you more depth cues to gauge distance and grass conditions to predict ball speed. The Road, Trail and Field lenses are best for grimy, dusty and rocky terrains.

Deep Water, Shallow water lenses utilize the Prizm Lens technology to fine tune color for water environments.

And for the everyday grind PRIZM Lifestyle promise enhanced details making everything vivid and vibrant, enhancing detail for an optimized experience.

Oakley’s One Obsession is sports—it has become a lifestyle and lifestyle is about individuals,

Oakley thanked all the committed individuals who participated in the charity event for the future golfers of the nation, for the support and love for the obsession with the sport.

And as the commitment to sports is not

just a hobby, but a lifestyle, Oakley celebrated the fifth year of its golf cup by sharing the Oakley #CantStop Campaign—an invitation for all individuals to wear their commitment to the sport with pride.

Oakley’s products help athletes of all ages perform better in their chosen field.

Oakley expressed its support for The Junior Golfers League with a donation, allowing them to continue to bring Philippine Golf to the world stage and live out their obsession for golf.

Our OurTime Time

A8 Saturday, May 13, 2017 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos A8 Saturday, June 3, 2017 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

BusinessMirror BusinessMirror

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Cavite’ s ‘Masa’ programs benefit nearly 8,000 Makati to distribute midyear cash gift to seniors in June

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RECE MARTIRES CITY, Cavite— The By provincial government of Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco | Cavite disbursed more than P28 OME 77,685burial seniorand citizens of million for medical, various City with 7,772 BLU Cards have assistanceMakati that benefited socially startedKabitenyos, receiving their midyear disadvantaged a first quargift on Junesummary 1, the Elderly Welfare terlycash disbursement report Section the Makati Social Welfare disclosed onof Monday.

Department (MSWD) said.

Correspondent

Provincial Social Welfare DevelopCavite province, which ranks eighth ment OfficeLast (PSWDO) officer in charge among theon country’s 10 high-perDecember City Ordinance gift June 1,top Thursday, will be Ma. Felipa R. Servanez said the disforming provinces has embarked 2016-A-043 has granted an addiheld in barangays Bel-Air,on Kasibursements were in pursuit of annual Cavite cashits “6-17 Challenge” thrusts put up tional P1,000 to the lawan, San Isidro andtoSanta Cruz Governorgift Jesus vari- BLUvital and necessary socialbarangay infrastrucof Crispin the BLURemulla’s Card holders. at their respective halls, ous programs to uplift the60 lives and helpin meet and satisfy Card holders aged to 69 now re-ture toand barangays La the Pazneeds and Vawell-being of Cavite’s children, youth, and requirements of the prospective lenzuela at their respective 6covceive an annual cash gift of P3,000 senior citizens andtopersons with Caviteños each; 70 79 years old,disP4,000;millionered courts.by 2017. abilities (PWDs).

Burial assistance citizensdisand 80 and above, P5,000.

On June 2 for andsenior 3, cash-gift “The provincial government protopped the list of disbursements, The annual cash gift for all age tribution will be done at with the bagrams ‘Mula sa masa-para sa masa’ P2.321 million that benefited Rizal 1,203and groups is given in two equal inrangay hall of Barangay [from thestallments people, forevery the people] are to citizens.

June and Decem-seniorat the covered court of Barangay give backber. to the people service they will ForWest the Rembo. highest number of peoThus, thethe first age group deserve,”receive Provincial Socialthe Welfare Of-group,ple who were afforded the asP1,500; second On June 5 andhelp, 6, beneficiaries ficer IV Darylvy Avila said. sistance for individuals in P2,000; and the third group, P2,500 from barangays Poblacioncrisis and San this June.

Lorenzo can get their cash gifts at For 2017 the city has allocated their respective covered courts.

On June 7 and 8, the cash-gift P326 million for the cash gift and distribution will take place at the centenarian incentive under the covered court of Barangay OlymBLU Card program. pia. On June 7 only, distribution The distribution of the cash

Macao prepares to embrace rapid aging of SM Foundation local population

garnered the highest, with more than 2,500 persons.

PSWDO said under the social-prowill be done at the barangay hall of tection program for displaced fami-of Guadalupe Viejo. Beneficiaries lies,Barangay individuals in crisis South Cemboare canthose claim living in hazardous placescovered or victims their cash gift at their court of fire, delivery of “food to work” for on June 8 only. disaster-related On June 9activities/events. distribution will be This also includes donecategory at the barangay hall of other Pinagdevelopment services or special kaisahan. For Pio del Pilar, cases distrilike bution the abandoned women chilwill be on June 9and (covered dren, or children who have problems court) and June 10 (San Isidro Nawithtional the law.

High School). On June 10 Other “help” include only, BLU Cardprograms holders of Barangay medical assistance in the form of gift cashat Southside can get their cash or medicines and livelihood training in their barangay hall. the food or nonfood categories.

On June 13 and 14, cash-gift disPSWDO provides tributionalso will take place business at the covstart-up kits under its self-empowering ered court of Barangay East Rembo, assistance those who wish to open and atfor the Elderly HealthCare a sari-sari a feasible business Office store at H. or Santos Street for benin their barangay. eficiaries from Barangay Tejeros.

Assistance for childrenof arecash categoThe distribution gift rized based on their rights. on June 15 will be done at the baFor the “survival” category, assisrangay halls of Pitogo, Singkamas tance is in the form of supplemental and Carmona. feeding, food for 16 growth and On June and projects 17, cash-gift nutritious-food parents. distributiontraining will betodone at the The PSWDO first-quarter report covered court of Barangay Pemsaidbo theand development assistance at the barangay hallin-of cludes access support to Alternative Bangkal.

On June 19 and 20, the distribution will resume in Barangays Palanan (covered court) and Cembo (barangay hall). On June 20 only, BLU Card holders from Barangay Northside can get their cash gift

Learning Training System, financial and capability development assistance for out-of-school capability at the Makati Cityyouth, Hall Building II. development child22, development On June for 21 and cash-gift workers and financial for distribution will takeassistance place at the child laborers. covered courts of barangays GuaChildren whoand areSan in Antonio. conflict with dalupe Nuevo On the law are given protection assistance June 22 only, the distribution will and various projects, such as the govbe done at the covered court of Baernor’s “give-a-gift”, children’s month rangay Comembo. eventOn and the children’s congress that June 23 BLU Card holders isfrom held annually. barangays Urdaneta, Forbes PWDs are extended educational Park, Magallanes and Dasmariñas orcan learning “sulong-duclaim advancement their cash gift at their nong” and capability building respective barangay halls.trainings and seminars, not the onlycash for students, but In claiming gift, benalso, their teachers. eficiaries who are unable to come maysend walktheir in anytime in“Applicants person can dulyand per the governor’s directive, these authorized representative, whose various of assistance are open name forms appears at the back of theto allBLU Kabitenyos,” Avila said.Division at Card, to the Cash The amount assistance the third floorofoffinancial Makati City Hall. the applicants can avail themselves The representative should be able oftodepends the evaluation and recpresenton a medical certificate as ommendation of the social worker asproof of the beneficiaries’ condisigned to the case, Avila said. tion, whether bedridden, disabled processing time takes one to orThe confined in a hospital. two weeks, and all financial assistance Authorization forms are availisable distributed en masse at at the Provinat the MSWD office the fifth cial Gym Tuesday, Avila added. floor ofevery Makati City Hall.

Pino/PNA Senior citizens whoGladys are S.out-oftown or abroad during the distribution of the cash gifts are not entitled to claim the benefit, and authorization presented by a representative will not be honored by the Cash Division.

holds medical, Mdental mission for 4Ps beneficiaries

ACAO—Macao’s statistic department on May 6 published the detailed results of 2016 population by census carried out in the special administrative region (SAR), showing an accelerated population growth coupled with

By Liza T. Agoot continued population aging in the Philippines News Agency last five years.

The Statistics and Census Service AGUIO CITY—SM said the population of Macao totaled Foundation has served 650,834 in August 2016, up 1,500 elderly and17.8 child percent patients from 552,503 in the 2011 from underprivileged Population Census, attributable a communities here duringtothe surge in “Gamot nonresident workers living Para Sa Kapwa” outreach in Macaoheld andat a rebound in birth rate.

SM Baguio last Friday.

The average annual-growth rate of The foundation provided Despite his age, farmer Cornelio Sebastian still manages an organic tomato farm right at the border of the the Macao population betweenservices 2011 to complete health-care OceanaGold Sustainable Agro-forestry Inc. central nursery in Tucod Village, Cabarroguis, Quirino. He believes mining and agriculture can coexist. and 2016members reached 3.3 percent, the highof the government’s LEONARDO PERANTE II est in thePantawid past 20 years.

Local populaPamilyang Pilipino tion, excluding nonresident workers Program (4Ps). and foreign students livingwas in Macao, The activity done totaled 537,018, up by 10.7 in cooperation withpercent the compared with 2011. of Social Welfare Department The result showed the SAR popWALKING FOR EXERCISE Lola Emily, at 84 years old, walks the streets of Oslob, Cebu, for her early-morning exercise. MAU VICTA and also Development, Baguio ulation continued to age.

The elderly City Health Office, Philippine population aged 65 older increased Militar y and Academy and the substantially by 48.6 percent from five Department of Health. years ago toKarren 59,383,Nobres, accounting 9.1 ACOOR CITY, Cavite—Bacoor (Osca) Head Bayani de Leon. age and physical disability.

SMfor Baguio percent of the total population, up by City Mayor Lani MercadoThe Rev. Father Erickson Santos She also reiterated her support for recreational and medicinal marivape cases and other pot-related public relations officer, said there EANINE Moss never expect1.9 percentage points.

Revilla led the inauguration of consecrated the new facilities as city them, who are provided funds by the juana in North America hit $6.7 accessories. Soon after, she began were 60 volunteers including ed to get into the cannabis Moreover, the percentage of a new building for senior councilors and beneficiaries city government their free admisbillion in 2016,for a 34-percent rise publishing cannabis-friendly trav10 medical doctors, share 10 dentists, industry.

But citizens that wasand before officials, the elderly population to the youth persons with disabilities (PWDs) on toured the facilities. sion to movies in all theaters in the from the previous year.

Marijuana el guides exclusively for women several nurses and other health her hip-replacement surgery. population under 14 rose by 15.6 perMonday Moss, at the 62, Bacoor Government The two-story one building six ofcity every Daily, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday Business a trade publication, —becoming of a has small, but professionals. of Marina del Ray, centage points 76.3 percent.

PopulaBayanan. quit her job as a mar- ficesgrowing that will attend to various and Thursday. reported in 2015 that women comnumber of olderservices women Thetopatients were provided Center,California, tion agedwith 55 tofree 64 took up 13.5 percent Mercado-Revilla officiated thehad for who the city’s Osca andentrepreneurs.

PWD group’s She said Bacoor City isofthe only prised about 36 percent execuchest X-ray service, are marijuana keting consultant before she (87,583) ECG, of the blood-sugar total. The pacescreening, of popuribbon-cutting rites with the PWD 66,000 members. local government so far that protives in the legal-marijuana indus“What other industry is growher hip done in 2014. As she left lation aging is expected to accelerate group President Jerwin Bautista, who The city mayor also thanked the vides free admission to movie houses try, compared with 22 percent in blood-pressure monitoring, ing so fast there’s the opportunity the hospital, her doctors handed further in the nextconsultation decade. is alsoher the Panapaanbag village and serveMoss in their for the elderly PWDs four days senior roles inand other areas. medical and and lowPWDs cost ofwho entry?” said. a “shopping filled chief, with opi- Osca The by census found the female and Office of Senior Citizens Affairs respective communities despite their a week.

PNA Since the industry is still finddental services.

“Entrenched opportunities already ates”, she said. The drugs made her population outnumbered the male ing its way, there is no “built-in Patients also received have their systems set up. This disoriented and woozy. population.

Femalesand andvitamins males totaled institutional bias against women medicines through hasn’t been created yet.”

So she switched to medical mar336,816 the and“Gamot 314,018, of any age”, said Nancy Whiteman, Pararespectively, sa Kapwa” Her story is typical of the womijuana, which is legal in California accounting for 51.8campaign. percent and 48.2 58, a coowner of Wana Brands of medicine en in their 50s, 60s and 70s who and was familiar to her, having percent of total.said The gender ratio Boulder, Colorado, which sells the Nobres SM have started up businesses in the grown up in the nearby Venice was 93.2,Foundation’s correspondingprogram to 93.2 males LMOST 3 of million in down a veryof high fever.”

But ice baths canby grandchild had negatively their sour gummies, saltedaffected caramels to world pot.

Inspired partly section Los grandparents Angeles. Within per 100 females.

As regarding the local the US are raising their grandchilcause hypothermia. spouse or relationship. and other products laced with care for the sick and the their own use of the drug for pain a week, she had tossed away her population, gender ratio dren, but outdated health practices The study alsocaring revealed Many of the grandparents were intertetrohydrocannibinol, marijuana’s lessthe fortunate has dropped gone relief or by for nearly othersonewho pharmaceuticals. from 92.7 five years ago to 90.2, may be putting some of those quarter of the grandparents didn’t know ested in receiving counseling (43 percent) main psychoactive ingredient. beyond traditional.

“Itand means and mythsAs use it for their own aches, these it turned out, Moss was in the surplus of femalesthe over males was youngsters risk, new research contends. “infants see should be business put to sleep on or joining percent), and “In aasupport lot of group other(61industries, promoting total well-being viable opporgoodatcompany: Many of her friends that women more apparent.

“When step up totothe back, notand on their side”as those without an adequate there are hundreds of support years ofsystem hisof individuals by providing viewstomach their or work weregrandparents also using cannabis man- theirtunities The number of households totaled plate, it can be wonderful for grandchildren, to reduce the risk of sudden infant-death were less likely to report feeling generally tory of who is successful and who them basic health services, therapeutic for their customers. age their ailments. Slightly embar188,723,and an increase 10.5 percent but canrassed also pose challenges in terms of a syndrome. happy (54and percent versus 86 percent). is not, there are glass ceilings most of of all, encouraging “It’s definitely a trend,” said Troy about carrying around compared to five years ago.

The averlifestyle, finances and mental and physical In two related studies surveying nearly “In their questionnaires, fairly“But large to be broken,” Whitemanasaid. them to have a positive Dayton, the CEO and a cofounder drug associated with naughty highage household size was 3.07 persons, health to a somewhat older or elderly co800 grandparents, the same research team sample size of grandparents felt they there’s no norm here. Everyonewere is outlook despite life's many of the Arcview Group, an investschool students, the older women a slight decrease from 3.08 persons in hort,” senior investigator Dr. Andrew Adesfound that one in 10 grandparents raising doing a good acknowledged they figuring it job, outbut together.” challenges.” ment and market research firm that would lament they had nowhere to 2011. Analyzed by the household He istheir chief of developmental and theirfocuses grandchildren have industry. any supdidn’tCannabis have the support they often needed start-ups are partic SM Foundation Inc.,size, SM’s man said. on thedidn’t cannabis stash drugs. three-person households predominatbehavioral“Everyone pediatrics atwas Cohen Children’s anotherhave 12 percent said and that their role could be alienating ularly appealing to older womenin outreach and community“A lot and of women this family pulling baggies port systems, ed, accounting 24.5 percent ofhas thefour Medicalout Center in NewGucci Hyde Park, York. supportor system their most terms their had own peer Adesman servicefororganization, theydidn’t weremeet making a cerof their andNew Louis Vuit- theirrecipe, whoofhave long group,” careers.

They total households, up by 1.3 percentage More than 600 grandparents raising important needs. said in a Northwell Health news release. areas of advocacy: education tain kind of tincture for a loved one ton purses, and I thought, ‘Why are “smart businesswomen who see points from five years earlier. Byand contheir grandchildren completed quesAlso, of those Pediatricians can help grandparents through scholarship who 71 waspercent suffering.

Now grandparthat pot is are we sneaking aroundalike guilty opportunities”, said John Hudak, a trast, thedonations proportion of four-person tionnaire for the study.

Their answers ents said their grandchild responsibilities raise their grandchildren by updating of school houses, legal, they’re like, ‘Wow, that thing teenagers?’” Moss said. senior fellow at the Brookingsthem Inhouseholds fell by 1.6 percentage 44 percent mistakenly berestricted their ability to for socialize with onstitution current health parenting methmall-based outreach points programs, revealed that you were making Grandma In 2015 she started a business whocare hasand written the book to 21.4 percent. lieved “ice baths are a good Nearly said raising their ods, he said. New York Times News Service health Xinhua and community could be aone-third real product.'” called AnnaBis, a way line toofbring aroma- friends.

Marijuana: A Short History. projects.

Dayton said the market for legal controlled handbags, clutches,

New York Times News Service

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GRANDPA’S CONTOUR FARM

Mayor inaugurates new building for senior citizens, PWDs in Bacoor City

Older women and medical marijuana: A new growth industry

BJ

Are grandkids safe when grandparents raise them?

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The ethicalretirement dilemma International migration: Are we of aged care inthere PHLyet?

Marc A. Daubenbuechel

The Age of Eldercare

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We are starting a column Eldercare this week, authored by Marc FTER TV guesting a fewon weeks cide to withdraw from the program.

Daubenbuechel who has been based in the Philippines since 2006. He ago, I received many questions Receiving transparent and preis an expert in elderly care and assists in developing the geriatric sector if the Philippines is a global dictable health-care services is a in the Philippines through international projects. player in the international retirementfor foreign retirees. ExMarc earned a bachelor of arts degreechallenge in international business destination industry.

I have been cept Pacific Cross, there is no other management from the Cologne Business School. He worked for 4 years struggling if I should cover thisan topic insurer offering health-care with the Sozial Betriebe Köln, operator private of nursing homes and homehere not. I have been involved insurance forinretirees the Philipcareor services in Germany, and hasforin-depth experience runninginresmore than eight years in the field of pines.

Hence, medical expenses are taurants, hotels, spa and wellness institutions.

International Retirement Migration paid out of pocket.

Especially for From 2009 to 2016 Marc was the executive director of the Retire(IRM), but have withdrawn from this foreigners, thisChamber can become very ment and Healthcare Coalition, a project of the European of sector two years expensive. Due to the nontransparCommerce of theago.

Philippines. considered thebeen IRMan indusency of health-care providers, I always Since 2015 Marc has independent health-care consultant for there try as a sunrise industry of the Philipis ainlotthe of Philippine room to increase prices and various companies interested to get involved geriatric market and Philippine institutions to learn more gepines.

Due tofor this, I gave up a prom- wanting this happens quiteabout often. riatric care in andthe education Germany. ising career tourisminindustry The nontransparency of health-

and, instead, headed the Retirement care is also a big reason transportCOMMON statement when I bring up the topic of nursing homes, and Healthcare Coalition (RHC) from ability of health-care insurance will home-care or geriatric-care services is “We do for notmany need years to 2008 to 2016.

RHC isservices a nonstock, nonremain impossible any of these facilities or services.

Our tradition is to look after profit organization under the Americome. Hence, many retirees decide our Japanese, own elderly.” can, Korean and European to stay in their country of origin or I have heard the comment different ways few countries hundred times Chambers of Commerce with in the vilooka for withover a more prethe to last 10 years the Philippines. every time, there is asystem. fierce sion market andin develop the Philip-Almostdictable health-care reaction from some people in the crowd when I talk about the necessity pines as a retirement haven.

Many foreign retirees are keen on of nursing homes. This might be due to the fact that I am a foreigner, but For many years, we worked closestaying in retirement villages or comthe same reaction can be seen when fellow Filipinos bring up the same ly with the Department of Tourism munities with other retirees. They topic. So what is leading to this denial?

(DOT) and the Philippine Retirealso expect the availability of medical Why is it okay to have seniors for several months in the most exment Authority (PRA) on achieving and lifestyle in these pensive hospitals of the country (which ruins families services financially for faciliour vision.

Up to this day, I believe ties.

While such places are years)? But the moment you bring up the possibility of transferringbooming the Philippines one of the bestyou areincriticized Panama, Thailand andyour other retireyour parents to isa nursing home, for “giving countries to work, live“disposing and retire in. ment destinations, do not have reparents away”, or for those that loved you all yourwe life”.

Why? Amazing landscapes, a infor the Philippines.

This common perception and judgment oftirement society isvillages the cause many tropical climate, an English-speakAnd until now, it is a “chicken emotional conflicts among families and suffering for the elderly in need or egg” ing population,care. well-educated situation.

The developers are waiting of professional On one hand,Filifamilies are in desperate need for help, pino nurses and doctors, affordthemembers, retirees and the retirees are but on the other, they fearand to seek for help as for family community able of living, are thethem mostfor comfor the andcosts society might blame not beingwaiting able to “love anddevelopers. take care of theirreasons. parents as they are factor supposed to do”. mon The main (that While I believe the key is the Where is geriatric agedup care in the Philippines are the no other country canorkeep with) privateheaded? sector What in developing sertaken to and comehospitability up with services for localand seniors?

Have we ever ismeasures the friendliness vices products, it is the public ourselves why there is a national government agency mandated to ofasked Filipinos. sector that needs to support and attract foreign retirees to the Philippines, but thereupis with no national agencypolicies.

Despite these convincing reacome supporting looking after of Filipino and their families? sons, I left the the IRMwelfare industry in 2015.seniorsOnly through a committed longWe can argue the Department of Social Welfare and Development is Did I stop believing in the potential term working group consisting of mandated to do so.

Yes, but only after the elderly who are “poor, vulnerable of the Philippines as an IRM destithe private and public sector can the and disadvantaged individuals”, seniors and their families who nation?

No. Did I stop believingleaving in shortcomings be addressed. are not “poor, vulnerable and disadvantaged” without anyone to turn to. the readiness of the Philippines as Without the availability of prodTo show the urgent need for action, let us look at the statistics from an IRM destination? Yes. ucts and services for retirees, how Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). The number of senior citizens is If a retiree comes up with a list of can we expect to market the Philipincreasing faster than the growth of the total population in the Philipdestinations for their retirement, all pines as a top international-retirepines. In 2000 there were 4.6 million senior citizens, (6 percent of the oftotal the population). above factors are definitely a ment destination?

This6.9would be By 2010 this grew to 6.5 million seniors, or about positive but retirees likethat marketing to millions percent contributor, of the total population.

Theare PSA projects by 2030,Boracay older people looking much deeper.

Safety, secuof tourists without having more will make up around 16 million, or 11.5 percent of the total population. rity,The reliability, availability, transthan hotelsinand three restauissue of aging previously merited only littletwo attention the counparency and cost of community, there. arrivingto tourists try. For example, it was only since 2014 thatrants Philhealth wasAll mandated lifestyleand citizens. health-care services wouldcoverage be disappointed and look for cover senior Prior to this,are no health-care was available. some the factors always otherdobeach destinations.

Sadly,ofup until now, they mostwill of the private insurers not cover senior citiconsider.

And families very often, wetremendous are not Product and service development zens, putting under financial pressure. able While to liveimprovements up to their expectations. are happening, the speed in which the Philipis of utmost importance prior to runpines is aging demands faster action and more geriatric services to ensurefor interAvailing themselves of a permaning a marketing campaign dignity in growing old.for retirees is nent-resident status national retirees. Hence, my decision visited for abandoned seniors, and I saw the pressure onsector the to deeasyI and theplaces PRA offers a competito return to the private system.

Whatever the reasons—family conflicts, financial constraints, tive visa, the Special Residential Revelop senior residences for the dofear of judgement and “burned out syndromes” among theinternational family mem- market. tirement Visa (SRRV).

However, the mestic and the bers—seniors from all classes of society are being abandoned at a rate agency has shortcomings in deliverI believe if we jointly address it in faster than newservices” facilities can be established.

Other families hide ing “after-sales to foreign a holistic approach, wetheir can develop “difficult” at now, homeno because dementia is still a topic of shame, retirees andseniors up until holistic the Philippines as a topand player for families for do not know who tohas turn to for help. Thankfully, this is still the helpdesk foreign retirees been international-retirement migration. exception, but if you visit or volunteer in a place for the abandoned, you created. Another discouraging factor In the next weeks, I will be presenting can see it with your own eyes. is retires need to deposit $10,000 products and services which, in my Today, nursing homes in the Philippines are associated with the negaon a PRA account. Besides, it takes point of view, are necessary for the tive perception that only seniors “given away” by their families are living many months until foreign retirees Philippines becomehomes a key player in there. Many people do not consider the possibility thattonursing receive if they this Places international industry. can be their happyfunds places.back A home awaydefrom home. where specialized

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geriatric nurses, caregivers and dedicated doctors give their loving care to seniors. Some seniors are entirely alone at home as all members of the family are working. Others are stroke victims, have a form of dementia or just simply need assistance in performing the most basic activities of daily living. In some instances, it is simply not possible to age at home.

Some seniors also prefer to age in a nursing home to keep the “burden” off of their families.

Without a doubt, most of us prefer to grow old in our own homes together with our family. So do I. This is, however, not always possible. Rapid urbanization, increased cost of living, the fact that 10 million Filipinos are living abroad, are proofs of the burden the traditional family systems are under. To make matters worse, cardiovascular diseases, stroke and dementia are on the rapid rise.

We should start to consider that aged-care services in their various forms are a much-needed service and a direct response to the rapid rise of aging of the Philippines.

I do not claim that nursing homes and geriatric-care services are the ultimate solution. Rather, they should be seen as an option for those in need of health-care services for the elderly.

Afterage, all,Josephine we wouldn’t refusestill manages GRANDMA’S LAUNDRY JOB Despite her elderly Dinamling services for our children. much more our seniors? tohealth-care work at the laundry department of DidipioHow Development Corp. to (DiCorp) in Didipio, Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya. The community-based firm handles food catering, road maintenance, transport and laundry services to 1,800 mining employees of OceanaGold (Philippines) Inc. LEONARDO PERANTE II

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The Millennials BusinessMirror

Young love for numbers prompts youthful success

Saturday, June 3, 2017

A9

Revolutionizing the way you get a loan

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HE offers a fresh face of inspiration.

Meredith Hazel C. Cua, 27, has a strong passion for academic excellence since she was young.

She graduated with distinction (8th of the batch) in her high school class at the Immaculate Conception Academy. The drive to stand out continued when she took up her BS Business Administration and Accountancy at the University of the Philippines in Diliman. She was a university scholar (2008-2012) and ranked second out of 84 students of in the dean’s list of the BS BA A Batch 2013.

Furthermore, she did a tour de force performance when she g radu ated m ag na c u m l aude (GWA—1.378).

In an email interview with the BusinessMirror, Cua shares her tips how to develop the love for numbers and nurturing the discipline that can help her fellow millennials achieve success in their career.

How would you describe your current work in BDO?

I am currently an equity analyst in BDO Unibank Inc.’s Trust and Investment’s Group.

My main responsibility is basically financial modelling—arriving at fair values for stocks and identifying both upside and downside risks in investing in them. This helps the fund managers decide whether they should buy or sell (if they have it) the stock or not.

This makes the job exciting since it’s an indirect way of helping out the thousands of people who invest in our UITF [Unit In-

vestment Trust Fund] as well as our direct clients who entrust their funds to us. By giving recommendations, we help deliver some of the returns that our clients enjoy.

This undated photo courtesy of Pawnhero shows the basic tools, as well as products, that can be used for or on the app.

Vernon Velasco

MILLENNIAL UNIVERSE

Is it right to say you are on the right track as far as your career is concerned?

My first job was in COL Financial Group Inc. The company provided me with a good grasp of how to make financial models and arrive at sound valuations.

After staying in COL Financial for 2.5 years, I moved to the Trust Department of BDO Unibank Inc., working still in the same field. I have been with the bank for six months now.

I would say that BDO’s resources coupled with COL’s training have made me grow and become an even better analyst. So yes, I would say I am on the right career track.

How is the feeling of working with numbers? Does it require you a certain degree of rhythm to work harmoniously with numbers and data?

The process of financial modelling is basically taking a company’s story and translating it into numbers—for example, how does Cebu Pacific’s plan expand its fleet to be able to connect the Philippine islands translate to more revenues and consequently, net income? Or how will Metro Pacific’s plan to build more tollways

I

cua

affect its profitability especially now that Metro Manila’s in dire need of roads?

Rather than sifting through lots of data (which is also required in this field of work), what’s more challenging is becoming comfortable with the uncertainty of financial projections. No one can guess with 100-percent certainty what’s going to happen in the future! But with enough discipline and caution, we can be more accurate and more comfortable with our numbers.

Do you still possess the same zeal and enthusiasm you had as a student in your work?

My former and current employer both gave me a chance to balance my personal and work lives. In both companies, I rarely do overtime. I believe this balance

has helped me avoid work burnout and fatigue. I’m still enjoying my work life.

Are you still planning to pursue the CFA certification program?

I’m already enrolled to take the Level-3 exam in June. Hopefully I pass!

As far as you are concerned, what does it take to be good in dealing with math and numbers?

It’s really just discipline and caution. It is quite important to keep your spreadsheets and calculations clean and orderly, distinguishing between actual and forecasted data, doing multiple checks and balances to ensure that all of your assumptions and resulting figures make sense and are internally consistent. It’s a discipline anyone can learn.

N an age where transactions can be done online, there is a copious amount of equivalent mobile app for just about anything.

Aside from the more prominent Uber and Lazada, there’s, say, a period-tracker app, which, well, is very reliable in predicting when your next “Aunt Flow” will be; there’s a ghost-tracker app, which detects the slightest hint of paranormal activity around you; and then there’s PawnHero, an app that allows you to pawn online, thereby cutting away what hassle is entailed when getting a loan.

Emerging in the Philippines in 2015, PawnHero, the first-ever online pawnshop in the country, was originally necessitated by the fact that most Filipinos are still unbanked or underbanked, specifically having no access to an affordable loan. They resort to the lure of either loan sharks or brick-and-mortar pawnshops and borrow money with high interest rates.

Providing consumers with a convenient alternative to traditional pawnshops, PawnHero automates the process and migrates the industry into a purely digital platform (meaning you don’t have to physically be on an establishment to get the deal done), providing, more than a secure transaction and convenience, some of the lowest interest rates and highest appraisals in the country, with much higher valuation and flexible loan terms.

To get a loan from the virtual pawnshop,

you choose what item to pawn and you are given a loan based on the chosen collateral.

PawnHero accepts more than just jewelry and gadgets. You then key in your preferred loan duration and are prompted to schedule a free and fully insured pickup, whereupon an authorized PawnHero personnel will arrive on schedule at your pinned location.

The personnel will deliver your collateral to PawnHero warehouse to appraise the item, and if all is well, the loan proceeds will be deposited to your bank account or other payout method. You get your item back by repaying your loan before the maturity date. It will be delivered back to your preferred address fully insured and for free once the loan is paid. You may also request for a renewal of your loan should you need more time to pay it.

Fully licensed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, PawnHero provides a safe way to transact, owing to its primary security benefits.

“The reputation of pawnshops is something that people don’t think as very safe. It has a stigma in the US and Europe but that is because Westerners have other forms of getting a loan. Whereas in the Philippines, pawnshops are a fixture in every corner,” PawnHero.ph Chairman and Co-founder David Margendorff said.

“Customers’ experience of PawnHero is that it is safer because people don’t have to leave the house to go to a pawnshop to get their items appraised; they don’t have to be exposed to the peril of being on a jeepney and getting robbed. They are fully insured throughout the duration of their loan and their collaterals are stored in a safe location.”

LED bike lights target night riders, ‘burners’ B

ERKELEY, California—When Dan Goldwater first attached kaleidoscopic LED lights to the spokes of his bicycle wheels and rode through the Burning Man festival at night, the crowd was wowed.

And the “burners”—people who flock to the giant late-summer counterculture festival in the Nevada desert—were not the only ones. Back home in Berkeley, “Everywhere that I took it, people would run down the street after me and ask, where could they get this thing?” Goldwater said.

Bicycle equipment companies come and go; mostly they go. Goldwater’s company, Monkeylectric, has been in business for 10 years, convincing night cyclists that front and back lights are inadequate and that they need bright side lighting, too.

Monkeylectric—no one remembers how it got the name—sits at the intersection of safety and art, with an overlay of whimsy. Cyclists pay $25 to $60 for a set of lights to attach to their bicycle wheels.

When the wheels spin, they produce rotating light shows with various designs: rainbows, hearts, a skull-and-crossbones or geometrics.

“My colleagues love them and love recommending them,” said Christopher Kisicki, a cycling associate at the flagship store in Seattle of REI, the sporting goods retailer. “We can’t keep them in stock,” he said.

Monkeylectric lights

MONKEYLECTRIC does $1 million in sales annually. There is the Christmas rush and in summer, the Burning Man bump.

“I hate to say it, but it’s almost mandatory to have them on your bike at Burning Man,” said Jefferson McCarley, manager

of the Mission Bicycle Co., which builds custom bikes in San Francisco.

Monkeylectric’s market is a niche one, but growing: As of 2015, 885,000 people commuted on bicycles in the United States, up from 488,000 in 2000, according to the Census Bureau. And biking in the dusk or dark is clearly very dangerous. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, bicycle deaths occur most often from 6 to 9 p.m.

In an unscientific survey along San Francisco’s Market Street one night last week, most cyclists had front lights and weak red reflectors on the back (as required by law), but no side lights. Few bicycle lights are as eye-catching or noticeable to motorists as Monkeylectric’s lights. They are sold in 500 stores and on Amazon, which offers many similar-looking products for much less money. Goldwater calls many of those products knockoffs. Every year, he said, he saw a half-dozen more companies based in China with look-alike lights that sell for $10 or $15. Goldwater, who holds five patents on bicycle lighting, refers to them as “toys,” although some consumers fail to see the difference.

Cheaper lights, Goldwater said, tend to be dim, not very durable and not waterproof.

Best way

JAMES Hill, a worker owner at Missing Link, a cooperative bicycle shop in downtown Berkeley, who monitors bike lights when he is in his car, recalled being at a stoplight with his wife late one afternoon when they watched a cyclist whip across the road, with “very impressive lights,” he said. “A lot of inventions are terrible,” he said. “A lot of them are great.”

Monkeylectric lights “are arguably the best way to be seen” by motorists, he said.

Janelle Wong, operations manager at the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy group with 10,000 members, has Monkeylectric lights on three of her five bicycles. “It’s an affordable way to light up a bike,” she said.

A few miles away in Emeryville, a company called Revolights also sells LED bicycle lights. It makes bright front-wheel lights that illuminate the road ahead, and red taillights that blink when a cyclist slows down and that can be used as turn signals.

A Bluetooth version gives speed, distance, tracking and weather alerts. Revolights, which sell for $149 to $249, are sold at REI, in bike shops and on the company’s web site.

already one LED bicycle light company, Hokey Spokes. Carole Barnes, who with her husband, Richard, bought the business in 2005, said they had since “lost our enthusiasm.” They sell a few hundred lights a year, she said.

Goldwater started working on his product 12 years ago, when he was an electrical engineer at the MIT Media Lab researching smart paint and self-assembling robots.

He made what he calls “a monumental art piece”—the bicycle with kaleidoscope wheels he rode at Burning Man. For an electrical engineer who cycles, adding LEDs to wheel spokes “is a coming-of-age project,” Goldwater said.

The appeal is obvious: “When you spin, the effect is much greater than when you started,” he said.

Hard sale

THE cofounder of Revolights, Kent Frankovich, a 33-year-old mechanical engineer, began his quest for a better bike light after pedaling into a pothole one night while commuting from Stanford University where, among other things, he helped design a solar-powered freezer. Before entering the bicycle business in 2011, he was a researcher at a biorobotics lab and at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, helping build an instrument that identifies rocks and soil on Mars.

Despite his product’s benefits, Frankovich said, “It’s a hard sale.” Many cyclists are minimalists, reluctant to add anything to their simple mode of transportation.

That a product improves safety is insufficient. It has to be cool, Frankovich said.

“Who in the world doesn’t know a helmet will save your life?” he said. Yet many cyclists reject them because “they think they look dorky.”

Street marketing Dan Goldwater, the founder of Monkeylectric, a maker of safety lights for cyclists, in Berkeley, California, on May 3. Goldwater said he wowed crowds when he first attached kaleidoscopic LED lights to the spokes of his bicycle at the Burning Man festival; now aimed at the safety-conscious as well, his decade-old product is doing $1 million in annual sales. Christie Hemm Klok/The New York Times

At several bike stores contacted for this article, sellers said they liked Revolights, but considered them on the expensive side, particularly for cost-conscious consumers who buy modestly priced bikes.

But that is not a problem at the Mission Bicycle Co., the custom bike shop that builds $999 bicycles. Revolights are “fashion forward, high-tech lights,” said McCarley, the manager. “Our customers appreciate minimalism.”

Years ago, the Mission Bicycle Co. shared a Kickstarter campaign with Revolights, but today, Mission Bikes is developing an

LED wheel light to be built into its bikes.

Art piece

BEFORE Goldwater started Monkeylectric, he considered his art project “a Ferrari.” The market was there, but, he said, “I couldn’t imagine how I could make a commercial project out of it.”

His early work would become a precursor for Monkeylectric’s high-end product that, when spun, shows video clips of, say, a swimming fish or a running dog— for $1,000.

When Goldwater got started, there was

LIGHTS on rotating wheels create what scientists call persistence of vision, which is an illusion. When bicycle wheels with LED lights rotate, our eyes perceive moving light as a continuous image.

Monkeylectric has gone to the Kickstarter well three times. The last time, it raised $248,331, many in preorders for new lights that automatically turn on when rotated in the dark.

Frankovich, the founder of Revolights, holds six patents on bicycle lighting. He has raised funds on “Shark Tank,” Indiegogo and Kickstarter. Both companies have marketed their products on Facebook, Instagram and other sites. But Frankovich said that nothing compared with “street viral marketing”—cyclists pedaling dark streets, with wheeled illumination.

“Every bike is a little billboard for us,” he said. New York Times News Service

BusinessMirror

A10 Saturday, June 3, 2017

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Nest security camera knows who’s home with Google face technology S

AN FRANCISCO—Nest Labs is adding Google’s facialrecognition technology to a high-resolution home-security camera, offering a glimpse of a future in which increasingly intelligent, Internet-connected computers can see and understand what’s going on in people’s homes.

The Nest Cam IQ, unveiled on Wednesday, will be Nest’s first device to draw upon the same human-like skills that Google has been programming into its computers—for instance, to identify people in images via its widely used photo app. Facebook deploys similar technology to automatically recognize and recommend tags of people in photos posted on its social network.

Nest can tap into Google’s expertise in artificial intelligence bec au se bot h compa n ies a re owned by the same parent company, Alphabet Inc. With the new feature, you could program the camera to recognize a child, friend or neighbor, after which it will send you notifications about that person being in the home.

Nest isn’t saying much about other potential uses down the road, though, one can imagine the camera recognizing when grandparents are visiting and notifying Nest’s Internet-connec ted t her most at to adju st the temperature to what they prefer. Or it might be trained to keep a close eye on the kids when they are home after school to monitor their activities and send alerts when they’re doing something besides a list of approved activities.

The cost of facial recognition

THE new camera will begin shipping in late June for almost $300.

You’ll also have to pay $10 a month for a plan that includes facialrecognition technology. The same plan will also include other features, such as alerts generated by particular sounds—barking dogs, say—that occur out of the camera’s visual range.

The camera will only identify people you select through Nest’s app for iPhones and Android devices. It won’t try to recognize anyone that an owner hasn’t tagged.

Even if a Nest Cam IQ video spies a burglar in a home, law enforcement officials will have to identify the suspect through their own investigation and analysis, according to Nest.

Privacy concerns

FACIAL recognition is becoming more common on home-security cameras. Netatmo, for instance, introduced a security camera touting a similar facial-recognition system in 2015. That camera sells for about $200, or $100 less than the Nest Cam IQ. The way that the Nest and Ne t at mo c a me r a s a re b e i n g used doesn’t raise serious privacy concerns because they are only verifying familiar faces, not those of complete strangers,

This photo provided by Nest Labs shows the Nest Cam IQ. AP

said Jennifer Lynch, who specializes in biometrics as a senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital advocacy group.

But Lynch believes privacy issues are bound to crop up as the resolution and zoom capabilities of home security cameras improve, and as engineers develop more sophisticated ways

of identifying people even when an image is moving or only a part of a face is visible. Storing home-security videos in remote data centers also raises security concerns about the imagery being stolen by computer hackers.

“It definitely could become a slippery slope,” Lynch said.

The privacy issues are already thorny enough that Nest decided

against offering the facial-recognition technology in Illinois, where state law forbids the collection and retention of an individual’s biometric information without prior notification and written permission.

Further details

NEST’S $10-a-month subscription includes video storage for

10 days. Video can be stored up to 30 days with an upgrade to a subscription plan costing $30 per month.

The high-end camera supplements lower-resolution indoor and outdoor cameras that Nest will continue to sell for almost $200. Neither of the lower-end cameras is equipped for facial recognition. AP

Lenovo sees mobile, data center biz growing like PC L

ENOVO Corp. held the second position in the shipment of personal computers (PC) during the first quarter, according to the International Data Corp. (IDC). IDC said Lenovo posted a relative modest growth of 1.7 percent globally.

Ivan Cheung, Lenovo executive director and regional general manager of Central Asia Pacific, sat down with the BusinessMirror to discuss the business terrain for Lenovo.

According to IDC, the traditional PC market has recorded its first growth in five years. How does Lenovo view this?

Two things. One is we see that the mature market is “stock-dropping”, and we see that through television and the Internet.

In the past few years, we see in commercial market, the replacement cycle is very long. In the past, maybe three years or four years replacement cycle but in the past few years when we talk to customer, it will increase to five years, six years. We see in commercial market, especially in mature market, the demand is picking up.

That also causes overall PC market to stock-drop. So I think from my perspective, commercial/mature market is one key reason the market is stabilizing in traditional PC market, which is good news for us.

Smartphone market is mostly flat, especially in mature market. It is on the different side compared to traditional PC. Traditional PC, we see mature market is doing better.

We see the replacement cycle is picking up before our smartphone market. Actually, we still see growth from emerging market, and it is more on entry level.

How does Lenovo assess the Central Asia-Pacific (CAP) market and its business?

For CAP, we have 13 countries. We do business in 13 different countries. We first set up CAP in October last year.

To me, the first priority is to make sure that we can align and communicate with all the countries and different business very well because we have 13 different countries, and we’re doing business in commercial PC, consumer PC, data center business, and also corporate. It involves a lot of different team and people.

What we focus on is to make sure that it cannot be the regional (people telling) countries to do something without hearing country feedback on whether or not it is something they want. Or horizontally, they need to make sure the sales and marketing team, services team, finance team—all team can work seamlessly together.

That’s why in the past few months, we changed quite a lot in our internal meetings—who should be inside—and to make sure the right amount of time is spent on alignment. It is also the reason why during the second half of last year (October to March) we see a very good momentum for CAP.

For example, the market is not growing right? But for us, actually, our revenue increased more than 5 percent year-on-year.

So I think it is due to two reason.

One is the communication and alignment between region and country on different teams are better; second is we are much focusing on improving our premium mix that means increasing our unit price, or some more high-end products.

It also helps us increase our revenue, which is actually the most important thing the company needs to do. Because if revenue cannot grow just like human, it cannot grow then the company will have an issue. Alignment is a key success factor and we are doing well in terms of revenue growth year-on-year, in this growth-challenging market.

Lenovo landed on the number two spot in IDC’s list of top 5 vendors, based on worldwide traditional PC shipments. What do you think are factors that affected this slip?

Two factors. One is you may also know the PC component cost is going up, starting from November to December last year. It is very special because in the past 20 years in PC, everyone is just expecting the cost and price to drop. I think last November to December.

It may be the first time the component cost increased very fast in the past

few months. And because of this, actually, Lenovo is taking a faster step to change some strategy in price. Because eventually, as a company, we need to protect our profit.

Because we need to react to the increase in cost, we increase the price earlier than other competition.

Another thing, in the past several years, emerging market including (that in) China, the market would keep growing and the emerging market like in the US and Europe, the market is dropping.

And Lenovo is typically stronger in emerging markets in China before. Our company has higher market share in mature markets. So in the past, emerging market is where we are strong. Actually, our market share can be maintained at high level in No. 1. But when the market is changing, mature market grows faster that country makes change. It affect overall global position.

So these are the main reasons for the slip (from) No. 1: we needed to address the cost of impact earlier than our competitors and the change in mature and emerge market. This year, the company just finished its kick off—our fiscal year starts in April. And everyone in the company is very alive to change the direction from a product-centered company to a more customer-centric company.

We need to see that customer’s needs are addressed at every catch point starting from where they will see our product information, inquiry, go to the store to experience our

products and most importantly, the aftersale services, which are all important in the buying journey of the customer.

We separate our business by consumer—small and medium businesses and large enterprise. Different customers have different needs.

We are very focused on hearing our customer feedback, considering all the catchpoint our customer can feel and experience without Lenovo products. And we all believe it’s the right direction. It should not be: “We have some product, we try to sell to you” but the direction would be “What do you want?”—end-to-end, including the product itself and services.

And we are looking to all the catchpoint to understand the customers‘ needs. We believe that making this change, this direction, eventually, we can continue to be successful in this PC market.

How’s Lenovo Philippines doing?

I think in January, we’re quite happy about our performance in the Philippines because on the one hand, component cost is increasing and the exchange rate is also not favorable to markets like the Philippines, as the the Philippine peso depreciated against the US dollar in the past few months.

We are much more focused on investing in customer service, which is very important, while we are trying to manage our profitability because of cost, exchange rate and improving our services.

From revenue and foundation perspective, we see the whole team is capable of significant change compared to what we did in the past. We do believe in continuing to please our customer.

How does Lenovo address the worries of multinationaltechnology companies about US President Donald J. Trump’s stand on migration and outsourcing?

The Philippine market still looks promising. For our overall company strategy, we mentioned that we are moving towards a customer-centricity strategy. Our company will continue to invest in three pillars.

One (pillar) is core PC business. The market size is still biggest—close to 200 billion—and we are leading in this industry.

So PC is our bread and butter. We are very focused on this business and we are giving two years investment for our mobile-business group and data-center business. We already have some foundation on buying Motorola and IBM. We are still building the team and expertise. And we expect in two or three years, these two business units will contribute significant revenue and profit for our company like PC. That’s why we keep investing in innovation, which is something we believe is very important. And that’s why we have $1.5 billion in investment, every year, putting in R&D (research and development).

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Saturday, June 3, 2017

A11

Symantec raises alarm C in targeted attacks hike C

Chris Papa pumped up with Dell EMC channels

HRIS Papa is part of that rare breed of Filipinos who opt to give his expertise within the country’s border.

He even accepted to step aside and allow his longtime friend Ronnie Latinazo to take the reins of Dell EMC’s Philippines office.

Papa, to note, was the country manager of Dell before the biggest merger in the technology industry occurred.

The BusinessMirror was given an opportunity to sit down with Papa and ask how things are going now with the technology giant.

YBER criminals revealed new levels of ambition in 2016, according to Symantec Corp., citing Volume 22 of its Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR).

“New sophistication and innovation are the nature of the threat landscape, but this year Symantec has identified seismic shifts in motivation and focus,” said Peter Sparkes, Asia Pacific & Japan cyber-security services senior director. “The world saw specific nation states double down on political manipulation and straight sabotage. Meanwhile, cyber criminals caused unprecedented levels of disruption by focusing their exploits on relatively simple IT tools and cloud services.”

Cyber criminals are executing politically devastating attacks in a move to undermine a new class of targets, according to Symantec.

Cyber attacks against the US Democratic Party and the subsequent leak of stolen information reflect a trend toward criminals employing highly publicized, overt campaigns designed to destabilize and disrupt targeted organizations and countries. While cyber attacks involving sabotage have traditionally been quite rare, the perceived success of several campaigns point to a growing trend to criminals attempting to influence politics and sow discord in other countries.

A new breed of attac kers r e vealed major financial ambitions, which may be an exercise to help fund other covert and subversive activities. Today the largest heists are carried out virtually, with billions of dollars stolen by cyber criminals. While some of these attacks are the work of organized criminal gangs, for the first time nation states appear to be involved, as well. Symantec uncovered evidence linking North Korea to attacks on banks in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Ecuador and Poland.

“This was an incredibly audacious hack, as well as the first

Is the lackluster performance of the traditional PC— according to International Data Corp. (IDC)—one of the reasons for growing the channel business? And is this performance a silver lining for storage?

time we observed strong indications of nation state involvement in financial cyber crime,” Sparkes said. “While their sights were set even higher, the attackers stole at least United States $94 million.”

According to Symantec, the growth of cloud computing is no consolation. “A growing reliance on cloud services has left organizations open to attacks,” according to the company.

According to Symantec data, CIOs have lost track of how many cloud apps are used inside their organizations. When asked, most assume their organizations use up to 40 cloud apps when in reality the number nears 1,000.

This disparity can lead to a lack of policies and procedures for how employees access cloud services, which, in turn, makes cloud apps riskier. Oliver Samson

Start-up, backed by big names, finds Wall Street entry difficult

O

N a warm morning early last year, a start-up founder named Matt Burton addressed a group of 175 investors and executives at the sleek glass IAC building in Chelsea. Burton described how his company, Orchard Platform, already a provider of loan data to financial institutions, would soon unveil its own trading platform for loans.

It had all the earmarks of a successful plan. Burton and the other Orchard founders had worked at an online ad exchange called Admeld, sold to Google for $400 million. Venture capital firms and Wall Street heavyweights, including John Mack and Vikram Pandit, have invested in Orchard.

And Lending Club, the leading start-up offering online loans, had not yet been engulfed in scandal.

“We’re launching a full marketplace from scratch,” Burton said a few months later, at Orchard’s Flatiron district office, and we “hope everyone shows up.”

But they didn’t.

More than a year after Burton revealed his big plans, Orchard has completed just a scattering of transactions. Over that time, it burned through more than $5 million in legal fees and other expenses. A regulatory snarl over whether the loans would be treated as securities caused delays. Major lending platforms were reluctant to participate. And the market for loans was thrust into upheaval by a wave of defaults and a scandal that broke in May at Lending Club.

Adding momentum

NEXT month, hoping to add momentum, Orchard plans to unveil a scaled-back version of the platform, eight months later than first planned.

But regardless of the company’s fate, its struggles thus far reveal just how hard it can be for a new entrant—even one with successful founders, a promising service and big-name investors—to break into a highly regulated industry.

In a series of interviews over the last 15 months, Burton and other Orchard employees offered an unusual inside look at a project that has not gone as envisioned,

Standardizing data was daunting because each loan platform had its own legal and data formats, such as different definitions of debt to income, said Ram Ahluwalia, chief executive of PeerIQ, which tracks alternative lending.

Trading platform

Matt Burton, chief executive, and Nadia Gonzalez, head of marketing, at Orchard Platform’s offices in New York on May 26. The financial technology start-up Orchard Platform’s plan to unveil its own trading platform for loans had all the earmarks of a success in the making. Guerin Blask/The New York Times

but that they believe still holds promise—especially in a Trump era of potentially lighter financial regulation.

“In general, it has been a humbling process going through it,” Burton acknowledged last week. “We have definitely learned a ton. When you’re operating in a new space in fintech, it’s hard.”

When Orchard was founded in 2013, marketplace lending was just taking off.

Unlike banks—which take deposits, make loans and hold capital to absorb loan losses— marketplace lenders match investors and borrowers directly, with the investors taking the risk of losses in exchange for higher-interest rates.

Orchard began by offering institutional investors an automated service to analyze the loans and buy them from different online lenders. But its long-term plan always included creation of what Burton calls a “many-to-many” trading platform.

“What got us excited was seeing what happened in online advertising,” said Dan Ciporin, whose Canaan Partners invested in Lending Club and Orchard. In that realm, he said, access to data drove a shift away from ads being sold via “golf-course relationships”. Burton’s pitch: “Why can’t we do the same thing in financial services?”

Standardizing data

BUT building an auction-style exchange for loans proved to be significantly more complex than building a marketplace for online ads.

As Matt Harris, a start-up investor at Bain Capital Ventures, put it, “Building a trading venue and attracting liquidity is somewhere between difficult and impossible.” He still believes Orchard can get there eventually.

Burton, 32, is 6 feet 4 inches, thin and resolutely cheerful. He sometimes takes his miniature Australian shepherd dog, Chico, to the office. At his desk is the 1972 book The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance.

Seeking financial expertise, Orchard recruited a few Wall Street veterans from Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns. In late spring of last year, Burton had more than a dozen road show meetings with executives from the largest loan platforms, including Lending Club, Prosper Marketplace and Social Finance.

He hoped to charge them monthly fees of $2,500 to $5,000 to participate. Orchard also offered them the ability to be its “data partners,” so Orchard could standardize their data for trading purposes—which Burton called “the big heavy lift”.

ORCHARD also enlisted the help of Meredith Cross, a lawyer at WilmerHale and the former head of corporate finance at the Securities and Exchange Commission, as it met with Wall Street regulators.

But in July, SEC officials told Orchard that they would consider loans being traded as securities, potentially imposing a tougher level of oversight. That made some lenders nervous about participating. Some lenders were also concerned about exposing investors they had cultivated to loans from competitors. “We do not have a current need for a trading platform,” said Ryan Rosett, a chief executive of Credibly, which offers smallbusiness loans. “Our capital markets team has the ability to sell our loans directly to a pool of institutional investors.”

By late-July, 10 of the 30 top lenders signaled they could not participate quickly enough to meet a planned October 15 platform debut. Among them was Lending Club, even though its board had three Orchard investors, including Mack and Ciporin.

‘Forward flow’

AS it moves forward, Orchard has played down the regulatory issue, proceeding without an explicit formal SEC ruling on whether the loans are securities. It is a potentially risky move, but one the company believes will work in part because it has dropped its goal of legal standardization, cutting the need for lending platforms to agree on regulation issues. The SEC declined to comment.

In January Orchard X arranged its first sale of about $30 million in loans from an ailing platform, a small-business lender called CAN Capital. The auction took a lengthy four weeks to complete. But Orchard X did receive a fee of 0.5 percent of the sale price. New York Times

In the Philippines, if IDC is the basis, the traditional PC market is still growing. You can also consider strong economic growth.

According to the projection, we are one of the better performing economies.

PCs is a segment that is still growing not just in retail but also in general. And of course we are growing faster than the market.

Also, the way we were structured, when Michael Dell started the company, we’ve always been customer-centric, meaning we develop our products based on our understanding of our customers. If you’re a large enterprise, then this is the right product to be positioned for you. If you’re a mid-sized customer, or MSMB [micro-, small- and medium-sized business], this is the best product. If retail, then this product. We’ve always been customer-centric and we’ve been developing products along that line.

Of course, our go-to market will evolve, as well. So meaning, large enterprises—they have a team covering them directly, plus our partners complementing that, because we have a big portfolio in that segment. Midmarket—a lot of them are with our partners.

Mostly, when it comes to SMBs, it’s really a distribution model or a value-added distribution model for Dell EMC. We want to have more customers, we want to work with them closely, and we intend to do or cover them together with our partners. Even our partner profile is varied. There are distributors, in fact, in distributors, there’s volume. Volume pulls for the PC. There’s also value, when it comes to hyperconverged, or converged infrastructure, it’s a value added distribution model.

We’re putting all the skills sets, putting the systems together, the POCs, investing on units so customers can actually appreciate it. And we have the resellers, buying from the value added distribution model.

Compared to countries in the Asean region, how is the Philippines?

We are one of the countries that is doing well, with stellar performance. For the last eight quarters, we have been growing quarter on quarter.

Last fiscal year we’ve grown by 27 percent overall business in the Philippines alone. That’s double digit growth fiscal year over fiscal year, which is actually very good performance. And it’s a balance of over achievement.

The large enterprise, commercial, retail, distributors, solution partners—all contributed; all have overachieved. Even on the line of businesses perspective, all have contributed. From client, to servers, storage, all of the segments have done well.

So how about if you segmentize it, how large is the business

distribution now? Because EMC, as far as I know, is really growing especially the past three years, two years before it was acquired. How large is it now? In terms of contribution to the business?

I will use IDC numbers for your appreciation because I cannot divulge the exact numbers. According to IDC, the storage business is around $8 million to $10 million quarterly.

Combined Dell EMC will have a share of more than 60 percent. And this is server alone: server, Q4 (fourth quarter), IDC ranking in No. 2. We’re quite close to the number one.

When it comes to client products, we are No. 1. When it comes to commercial space (not including retail), we are also number one.

So you can imagine—we are doing well with client, and we are doing well in servers, storage—that’s how we’ve grown really well fiscal year over fiscal year.

Isn’t the market small now in the Philippines? Manila? Where is the growth coming from?

The majority is coming from Metro Manila, but there are also lots of opportunities outside of Metro Manila.

Part of our channel strategy is to work closer and identify partners who are strong in these locations. We’re not just talking about Cebu or Davao, but also North and South Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. A number of partners that we are working with right now have grown significantly, as well. The others, we don’t know personally, but you’ll be surprised. Some are hybrid, some consumer, some commercial and corporate—they’re buying from a distributor.

Our engagement is more of—we provide programs, we let our distributors work with them closely. That has enabled us to reach out to these partners because we cannot cover this, we cannot just hire people just to sell them to these areas. Why reinvent the wheel when we can just work closely with these partners and let their desired distributors work with them.

Is the boom of business-process outsourcing (BPO) outside of Manila helping in your growth?

Definitely. BPOs are expanding their operations in places like Iloilo, in Mindanao, Davao, etc. One of the signs of positive impact is that we were able to get business in these places. The people working in those areas will have extra money too to buy extra gadgets.

In our case, the positive impact is on retail. We have opened one concept store every quarter and we now have 11 concept stores in the country. Last year we opened one in Iloilo and other provinces. There’s a lot in VisMin—Davao, Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo and Zamboanga. This is consumer, so they carry the Dell branding.

briefs Web hosting firm taps IPC for colocation service

E-COMMERCE service provider Web.com.ph has tapped IP Converge Data Services Inc. (IPC) to colocate their servers in the latter’s data center facilities, IPC said. Originally colocated in the United States, the company fully migrated its servers to the Philippines to address connection, stability, latency and data sovereignty issues, the ePLDT Inc. subsidiary said.

IPC said it will be hosting Web.com.ph’s servers in their data centers and will handle the necessary measures to preserve business continuity, such as power, cooling, bandwidth, physical infrastructure, and data security, among others. Rizal Raoul Reyes

YouAppi expands in Southeast Asia

MOBILE growth marketing platform YouAppi announced on May 16 the expansion of the company’s Indonesia office led by Southeast Asia Country Manager Anna Mareta. Founded in 2011, YouAppi says it enables marketers to find the right mobile users at the right price. “From brand awareness to user acquisition, brand and rewarded video and reengagement of inactive users, all with advanced antifraud functionality, YouAppi provides an all-inclusive mobile growth solution.” Its clients in Southeast Asia include Blanja, Hooq and Tokopedia. Alladin Diega

BusinessMirror

A12 Saturday, June 3, 2017

Epson bullish on PHL market

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L NIDO Resorts, Palawan— EPSON Philippines Corp. executives expressed confidence the products the company is rolling out in the local market would receive warm reception.

According to the Japanese firm’s local executives, Epson dominated the Point-of-Sale (POS) category for seven straight years.

“We have recoded our highest share of 41 percent”, said Thea Austria, product manager for the professional Printers Group of Epson Philippines.

“A healthy pipeline of project and wide network of child partners across the verticals, we grew 57 percent in 2015 and will continue to grow,” Austria told reporters the company flew here. Epson trails HP Inc. and Canon in the top five hardcopy peripherals companies in the Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) in terms of shipment volumes, according to International Data Corp. (IDC) data.

In the first quarter of the year, Epson shipped 1.27 million units, a fraction below the 1.49 million units shipped in the same period by Canon. According to IDC, Epson posted 17.5 percent in market share during the quarter.

Epson executives credit the success of the firm’s growth to innovation.

Epson uses its core technologies to boost innovations on various product categories, including inkjet printers, projectors, POS printers, signage printers and digital textile printers.

Printing

EPSON has rolled out “labelers”, devices in the small printer category, while

for large-format printers, the company said there’s one for printing signage, car wraps, tarpaulin, banners, wallpapers, standees and backlit posters.

“Digital textile printing offers unrivaled creative freedom, reduces time to create new designs that are more sustainable and environmentfriendly,” said Chu Bacsal-Pajarito, product manager for commercial and industrial printers. Bacsal-Pajarito was referring to the firm’s “Dye Sublimation” printer, which allows users to print design directly to the garment.

Visual

ACCORDING to executives, Epson has an overall 55 percent share in the Philippines in the projector category.

This year the company plans to ramp up sales of its laser projector with 25,000 lumens. Executives added the 66-kilogram product targets the rental and staging businesses.

“The future of Epson projectors remains bright, as we continue to refine original microdisplay and projection technologies, and create outstanding visual experiences and a natural visual communications environment for every aspect of business and lifestyles,” said Lyn Lizarondo, product manager for visual imaging systems.

Wearables

THE company is also introducing

This June 1 photo shows Norbert Rea of the BusinessMirror trying out the Epson Moverio BT-300, Epson’s augmented-reality device. Faye Pablo

the Moverio BT-300, a smart eyeglass featuring a silicon-based organic light-emitting diode digital display technology.

Touting it as the lightest seethrough binocular smart glasses on the market, Epson said it is setting the new standard for augmented reality (AR) smart eyewear.

According to Jester Cruz, department head for product management division and product manager for Moverio, the device is best used when playing games like Pokemon Go or watching an action movie. Likewise, Cruz said the device is also useful for those who have video and photography business and uses drone.

“Instead of checking your screen and then checking the drone up there, you can see and check your drone all at the same time using the Epson Moverio,” Cruz added. “There’s no need to look up and down because you can

look up checking your drone up there and seeing what the drone is taking.”

Robotics

EPSON is also rolling out its Scara robot as the firm goes into the robotics market. According to Ng Ngee Khiang, robotics division regional general manager for Epson Southeast Asia, robotics “is already part and parcel of how Epson operates and manufactures.”

Ngee Khiang added the company plans to expand applications that robots support.

“Epson intends to lower t he barriers to automation, ex pand the market and build a competitive advantage,” Ngee Khiang said.

“The long-term goal is to sell robots packaged with software that control robot motion and operations. Such packages will dramatically reduce the amount of time it takes users to install robots.” Faye Pablo

Are smart homes soon to be the new norm?

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MART home features like smart speakers, bulbs, locks, refrigerators and thermostat prove the Internet of Things (IoT) knows no bounds.

The Philippines has consistently been on the list of early adaptors of technology. We’re gaga over gadgets! Already, there is a lot of interest in making full use of the elements of a smart home. Indications in the global market tell us a lot According to a report by the Singapore Business Review, Asia’s smart home market is expected to reach $115 billion by 2030. That’s huge news.

Globally, smart connected air conditioners registered sales amounting USD 42million in 2016, with Taiwan leading the market share in Asia, followed

by Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam demonstrating sizeable growth.

As expected, China, with its exploding middle class and strong manufacturing and tech ecosystem will lead this charge. Japan is the other major player. Not only is it already amongst the world’s top five global markets when it comes to smart home penetration, its aging population will very likely continue to drive growth with the adoption of smart health and wellness solutions.

Aside from these two major markets, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore are expected to contribute significantly to the growth of smart homes given the large proportion of high-income households and the data connectivity in these countries.

Despite the vast potential the smart home industry has, there is still some way to go before the technology truly becomes mainstream. The GfK “Tech Trends 2017 Report on Smart Home” found that the most common smart device found in homes is still the Smart TV. 17.38 million were sold in Europe alone in 2016, up from merely 5.61 million in 2011.

The benefits of a smart home, and the way it will enhance consumers’ lives, need to be clearly communicated, and adapted to the different needs of each part of the market.

“We asked people why they monitored or controlled a smart device in their home, and the responses differed greatly by age group. 62 percent of Boomers chose ‘to save money by reducing utility costs’ as their main consideration. In contrast, Gen X-ers ranked ‘to keep my home safe and secure’ as their top priority,” said Karthik Venkatakrishnan, regional director at GfK Asia.

“Consumers have individual ways of building up commitment, energy and willingness to act. Therefore, the brands that successfully communicate the affordability of the product, ease of use and the value it brings, often see success in facilitating adoption.”

The report on smart home found that older Millennials (Gen Y) are early adopters and leading the charge, with 33 percent globally planning to purchase smart devices in the next two to three years, compared to 28 percent of younger Millennials.

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