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CARRYING ON
IN TIME OF COVID
Leading international payments processing provider projects remittance inflows to still grow, albeit modestly, as migrant workers find ways to ease families’ woes back home.
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By Roderick L. Abad | Contributor
VEN though uncertainty grips the global market with the ongoing Covid-19 crisis impacting various industries, the Philippine remittance sector would still post growth this year, given that financial aid is highly needed on the receivers’ end in these difficult times, according to a top official of an international payments processing provider.
“Usually in the past, remittances have been resilient to economic cycles. We saw that in the financial crisis of 2008, when remittances practically were affected in their growth. But we did not see large downturns in remittances,” UniTeller CEO Alberto Guerra told reporters at a recent webinar for the launch of the second installment of their new report dubbed “Both Sides of the Coin—Side Two, The Sender’s Story.” “Now Covid-19 has been a very particular situation because we’re not only talking about dramatic unemployment in some cases, but also we have seen impact on accessibility to remit-
tance facilities,” he added. The executive contradicted earlier reports about how remittances could respond to the pandemic. He cited, in particular, the World Bank’s expectation that remittances are going to fall by 20 percent this year. “We’re not seeing that at least in the markets that we have. [Based on the origin of remittances from] the United States to Asia, we’re seeing some growth; US to Mexico, we continue to see some positive growth despite the pandemic,” Guerra said. “I do believe that as economies continue to come back to a ‘new normal,’ hopefully, remittances will pick up again because they
[migrant workers] need to support their families continuously. It may have increased because of this pandemic,” he said. Seeing such behavior apparent among their Filipino clients, the CEO of UniTeller agreed with last month’s forecast of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) that remittances inbound to the Philippines will continue to expand amid the ensuing pandemic. “I think that’s a possibility. But we have to monitor and see how things continue to evolve in the upcoming months,” Guerra said. Based on the recently released study of UniTeller, Asian migrant workers, particularly Filipinos,
Indians, Indonesians and Vietnamese, in the US, Hong Kong and Singapore remit their hard-earned money back home 1.6 times on the average per month. “This is a very significant data because people are sending money more than once a month and to continuously support the needs of their families,” he emphasized. Over half of low-income migrant workers are remitting their money to spouses, children and/ or their parents. In Hong Kong, spousal remittances are the highest at 24 percent, followed by 21 percent in Singapore, and 19 percent in the US. Continued on A2
The great diamond glut: Miners stuck with gems worth billions
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N one of the world’s biggest diamond vaults, hidden inside a nondescript office compound on the dusty outskirts of Botswana’s capital, the precious stones just keep piling up.
year, or about one-third of annual rough-diamond production. “They’ve tried to restrict roughdiamond supply to protect the market and protect value,” said Gemdax partner Anish Aggarwal. “The question will be, how does this destocking occur? Can miners destock and keep protecting the market?”
Owner De Beers, which mines and auctions most of its gems in the southern African nation, has barely sold any rough diamonds since February. Neither has Russian rival Alrosa PJSC. Now, as the coronavirus restrictions that froze the global industry for months begin to lift, the unsold diamonds present a dilemma: How to reduce billions of dollars’ worth of stocks without undermining the nascent recovery?
‘Next big test’
Devastation
THE pandemic has devastated the diamond world. Jewelry stores closed their doors, India’s cutting and polishing artisans
were forced to stay home and De Beers had to cancel its March sale because buyers couldn’t travel to view the merchandise. De Beers and Alrosa have moved to defend their market. The miners refused to cut prices, instead allowing buyers unprecedented freedom to renege on contracts to buy stones. They’ve also reduced production in an effort to control stock levels. Yet the diamonds keep piling up. The five biggest producers are probably sitting on excess inventories worth about $3.5 billion, according to Gemdax, a specialist advisory firm. The figure could reach $4.5 billion by the end of the
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 49.9540
AN employee sorts through a collection of rough diamonds at the United Selling Organization of Alrosa PJSC sorting center in Moscow. ANDREY RUDAKOV/BLOOMBERG
AFTER being forced to cancel the March event, De Beers managed to hold a sale in May but didn’t announce the results like it usually does. According to people familiar with the situation, the sale yielded about $35 million. Last year that sale was $416 million. The next big test for the industry comes later this month, with De Beers’s next sale. The company is going out of its way to attract customers, including by allowing diamond viewings outside of Botswana. Buyers will still be allowed to refuse goods they’ve contracted to purchase. Continued on A2
n JAPAN 0.4665 n UK 63.6864 n HK 6.4458 n CHINA 7.0733 n SINGAPORE 36.1279 n AUSTRALIA 34.9378 n EU 56.8377 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.3157
Source: BSP (June 11, 2020)
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Carrying on in time of Covid Continued from A1
On the average, spousal remittances account for 15 percent of senders’ annual salary. Migrant workers from Hong Kong remit almost a fifth, or 19 percent, of their annual wage back home to their loved ones. In Singapore and the US, it’s around 15 percent and 12 percent, respectively. “One of the more concerning issues which we’ve uncovered in our research is the expectation of remittance payments and how it places emotional stress on the family,” said Noel Cristal, head of Asia Business Development, UniTeller. “We found out in our report that one in three senders expressed that remittance payments cause emotional stress.” The highest anxiety reported is from Hong Kong, where 36 percent of senders have experienced emotional stress when sending money to their family; then followed by senders from Singapore, 34 percent, and from the US, 29 percent. “There are many reasons for this. One is that migrant workers endure a long time away from their loved ones and often serve as unsound finances yet have little visibility or control of what they are sending. So they usually don’t know where these funds are being used although they have instructions,” he explained. Another surprising finding of UniTeller, Cristal revealed, is that many senders (75 percent) have
REPATRIATED Filipino workers who have gone through the mandatory 14-day quarantine period and who had tested negative for coronavirus disease 2019 wait at Naia Terminal 2 to board government-provided sweeper flights to their respective provinces. NONIE REYES
been used to living abroad and expressed that they would still consider being away from their home countries even if they didn’t need the money. Financial matters aside, 77 percent would like to stay in the US and Singapore, and 71 percent in Hong Kong. For him, this is reasonable given the context that they usually have better career and salary opportunities in these originating markets.
Permanently away
MEANWHILE, almost a third (32 percent) of migrant workers would also, eventually, prefer to stay permanently away from their home countries. This figure was high for Hong Kong (38 percent) and Singapore (34 percent), yet incidentally the lowest for the US (25 percent). As part of these sacrifices that many of these migrant workers undertake, nearly one-third or 29 percent say that even though they have enough money to get by, they still need to make lifestyle sacri-
‘C
ovid-19 may have an impact on the industry, but remittances have shown to be resilient and will remain as a key driver for many receiving economies. Remittances can alleviate poverty, and will become more efficient when migrant workers and their families are educated on financial inclusion and digital remittance solutions.” —UniTeller CEO Alberto Guerra
fices in order to keep making their remittance payments and ease the financial struggles of their loved ones back home. Receivers’ attitudes toward the digitalization were positive, with 92 percent of overseas Filipino workers’ families expressing that they would consider using a mobile app to electronically receive money transfers from their loved ones abroad. This is much higher for Indians (99 percent), Indonesians (98 percent) and Viet-
namese (97 percent). “Covid-19 may have an impact on the industry, but remittances have shown to be resilient and will remain as a key driver for many receiving economies. The degree of the impact will depend on multiple factors and it is corridor-specific. Remittances can alleviate poverty, and will become more efficient when migrant workers and their families are educated on financial inclusion and digital remittance solutions,” stressed Guerra.
The great diamond glut: Miners stuck with gems worth billions Continued from A1
De Beers’s customers, some of whom had been deeply frustrated with some of the company’s sales methods in recent years, have welcomed its actions so far.
Small players’ game
YET while De Beers and Alrosa have stood firm on pricing—even refusing approaches from customers offering to buy at special terms—smaller diamond producers have dropped their own prices, according to people familiar with the matter. Junior miners, some of which were fighting for survival even before the pandemic, have been offering steep discounts of as much as 25 percent in trading centers such as Antwerp, the people said. That could make it tough for the large companies to convince big buyers to come to the table. Diamond miners face “a double whammy of weak prices and a
sharp decline in sales volumes on a scale reminiscent of the 200809 crisis,” Société Générale analyst Sergey Donskoy said this week.
Difficulty in time of abundance
MANAGING supply has been a constant headache for the diamond industry ever since De Beers ended its monopoly. The company spent the early 2000s running down about $5 billion in stock, and industry inventories ballooned during the global financial crisis and again in 2013. Each time, selling down the stockpiles has caused buildups of polished diamonds, putting huge pressure on the cutters, traders and manufacturers that buy from them. It may be even harder this time around. Those middlemen of the industry were already struggling even before the pandemic, while retail is one of the sectors hardest hit by the virus measures. Alrosa said Friday last week that its diamond inventories could
rise to 30 million carats by the end of the year, roughly the same as its annual production, but didn’t give a value. The company said it wants to cut those stocks to 15 million carats in three years. There are some signs of recovery. Chinese retailers are open again and India has allowed manufacturing to restart in the key Surat polishing hub, albeit at only 50 percent of capacity. The main Indian trading offices are allowed 10 percent of employees on site. Still, manufacturers bought heavily in the first two months of the year in anticipation of a recovery in the market. With cutting centers shut for the past two months, that inventory is expected to last until July or August. That’s left little need to buy now. “At this stage it’s hard to speculate on what the recovery curve will look like,” said Aggarwal. “What we’re not expecting is an immediate jump back in consumer demand.” Bloomberg News
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Go renews push for immediate creation of OFW department
S
en. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go reiterated on Friday the need for the timely passage of his proposed Department of Overseas Filipino Workers (DOFW) bill as the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic continues to negatively impact on the welfare of Filipino migrant workers, some of them losing their jobs abroad and are forced to return home. “Maraming nawalan ng trabaho dala ng Covid-19. Apektado po ang mga empleyado dito sa bansa at pati rin ang mga nagtatrabaho abroad. Mas maisasaayos ang mga programa at serbisyo ng gobyerno para matulungan ang mga apektadong Pilipino kung mayroong sariling departamento na mamamahala sa mga pangangailangan ng mga OFWs [overseas Filipino workers],” Go said. The stressed that there is an urgent need for the creation of this new department because of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. He said that the Department of Labor and Employment needs to concentrate on domestic labor concerns while the DOFW, if created through the passage of the proposed law, can concentrate on OFWs for their full-cycle migration, from departure from the Philippines to working abroad until their eventual reintegration in the country. “Nararapat lamang na may tumutok sa mga pangangailangan ng OFWs lalo na yung mga napilitang bumalik sa bansa. Matagal rin po silang nagsakripisyo at nawalay sa kanilang mga pamilya. Hindi po matutumbasan ang hirap na dinanas nila para lang buhayin ang mga pamilya nilang iniwan dito,” Go explained. “Ngayon na napilitan silang umuwi dahil sa krisis, dapat lang bigyan ng sapat na atensyon ang kanilang mga pangangailangan para matulungan ang ating mga bagong bayani na makabangon muli,” he added.
According to the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the government is expecting around 300,000 OFWs to return to the Philippines as a result of country lockdowns in different parts of the world. As of May 25, 20202, some 27,000 OFWs have already been repatriated, while around 43,000 others are expected to come home this June. Due to the consequences of the pandemic, there is a growing need to provide reintegration programs for OFWs who would like to return and permanently settle in the country. Moreover, there is also a need to improve coordination among all agencies and offices dealing with OFW concerns to improve government service delivery. Go has firmly suggested the need to establish an executive department dealing solely with OFW-related concerns to improve government efficiency and effectiveness in the provision of necessary services from deployment, issues they encounter while in foreign countries, as well as in their reintegration once they return to the Philippines. One of his first legislative measures, Senate Bill 202, or the Department of Overseas Filipinos Act of 2019, seeks to address concerns of overseas Filipinos, such as the need to improve coordination among concerned offices in responding to their needs, particularly of OFWs. The bill proposes for government agencies dealing with OFW matters and concerns be transferred to the new department to be established. T he senator sa id t hat t he DOFW’s reintegration component will ensure that Filipino migrant workers who lost their job abroad are assisted by government programs and other safety nets, a need which has become more apparent as a result of the pandemic.
Maynilad, De Los Santos Medical Center to build ₧15-M virus lab in QC
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P15 -million fac i l it y featur ing t he Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) procedure, the gold standard testing method to detect the Covid-19 virus, will soon rise at the Quezon City grounds of the De Los Santos Medical Center (DLSMC). Maynilad Water Services Inc. (MWSI), the water and sewerage concessionaire for the West Zone of Metro Manila, recently signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the multi-specialty medical center along E. Rodriguez Sr. Boulevard, to fund the construction of the facility. The MOA, with Deed of Donation, was signed by Ramoncito S. Fernandez, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of MWSI, and Raul C. Pagdanganan, president and CEO of DLSMC. MWSI is a company of infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investment Corp. (MPIC). DLSMC is a member hospital of the Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc. (MPHHI), MPIC’s medical arm.
Expanding capacity to fight Covid-19
The Maynilad-DLSMC testing center will boost the capacity of the 30 existing RT-PCR laboratories and five GeneXpert facilities licensed to operate by the Department of Health (DOH) to speed up the processing and release of Covid-19 confirmatory test results in the country.
Alongside frontline health workers like doctors and nurses, laboratory workers in the Philippines are currently grappling with the unprecedented scale of testing for the highly contagious coronavirus, as piling samples overwhelm shorthanded labs. The Maynilad-DLSMC testing center would help ease the load off other laboratories by ensuring that the RT-PCR tests are further expanded for diagnostic purposes. This would give local lab workers much-needed breathing space to run the RT-PCR tests, that have so far hindered mass testing efforts in the country.
RT-PCR detects virus early
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the real-time RT-PCR as the legitimate testing procedure for detecting Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2), the causative agent of Covid-19, due to its sensitivity to detect the early presence of the virus. This enables immediate enforcement of precautionary measures that would curb further transmission in the populace. Under the MOA, MWSI will donate P15 million for the construction of the RT-PCR testing laboratory. DLSMC will build and operate the facility within its hospital complex in Quezon City. The Maynilad-DLSMC RT-PCR testing center is estimated to be completed by November this year.
Saturday, June 13, 2020
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DILG firms up plans to hire coronavirus contact tracers
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By Samuel P. Medenilla
he Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is eyeing to finally start the hiring of contact tracers next month. In an online news briefing on Thursday, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the DILG will initially hire 50,000 contact tracers to help in locating and
identifying people who may have interacted with people who are positive for the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Last month the Department of
Health (DOH) said it is already finalizing the guidelines for the contact tracers to be hired by the government. It said the government will be hiring 95,000 people to complement its existing 38,000 contact tracers. Contact tracers are expected to play a bigger role once more local government units start implementing the zoning scheme to isolate areas within their jurisdiction with high incidents of Covid-19 cases. Under the said scheme, areas that have more than 20 cases will classified as critical zone and will
be placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ ). Locations around critical zones with 1 to 19 Covid cases will be considered containment zones where a modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) will be implemented, while areas without cases but contiguous with containment zones will be classified as buffer zones where a general community quarantine (GCQ) would be enforced. Areas outside the buffer zone without confirmed cases will implement a modified general community quarantine (MGCQ ).
Fourth Filipino mariner dies onboard cruise ship By Recto Mercene
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Filipino female mariner has reportedly committed suicide inside her cabin after her chartered repatriation flight was suspended twice. Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. made the announcement in his official Twitter account saying, “It is my sad duty to report that a 28-year-old female mariner committed suicide in her cabin in the ship where she’s had to stay because repatriation flights back to the Philippines have been suspended again. I know our quarantine facilities are jampacked; just don’t know why.” Earlier, the country’s top envoy said, “RIP. Ms. Mariah Jocson took her life onboard Harmony of the Seas where crew detained awaiting PH repeatedly rescinded repatriation. Second suicide. We are tartly reminded that Filipino resilience is no excuse to stretch them to breaking point. Di sila goma; tao sila [They are humans, not rubber].” Mariah Jocson was a newly hired waitress who died last June 10, 2020, onboard the Harmony of The Seas, a Royal Caribbean Lines cruise ship anchored off Barbados, Bahamas. She, along with thousands of fellow seafarers who remain at sea in various ports abroad, was in the process of being repatriated back to the country, according to the web site cruiselawnews.com.
The web site reported, “There was an ‘A lpha, A lpha, A lpha’ medical emergency broadcast on the ship’s PA [public address] system. Later, the captain publicly announced that the crew member had died. Her family reportedly have been notified. There was no official announcement or explanation regarding her cause of death. She was from Mandaluyong, Philippines.” It was reported there was a prayer tribute by crew members of the Harmony of the Seas for Jocson. Nor way A mbassador Bjør n Jahnsen tweeted Locsin. “This breaks my heart. Norway is a seafaring nation with decades of maritime collaboration with the Philippines, and I join you and the family and loved ones of the deceased in your mourning.” Another netizen, cognizant of the slow medical testing in many cruise ships, including those anchored in Manila Bay, said “Sad sad sad. But how are we to unblock the upstream logjam? Invisible to the harbor pilots in Palace or IATF [Inter Agency Task Force]? Maybe Duterte should unleash a little steam next Cabinet presser. #RIPMariahJocson 2nd seafarer suicide. Prayers” A side f rom Jocson, a second sea fa rer, K i ko Payongayong , a long-ter m employee of C r ys t a l C r u i ses, h a s a l so recent ly d ied , accord i ng to a Go Fu nd Me page c reated by one of t he c rew member ’s f r iend s.
“K iko Payongayong reportedly worked for Crystal Cruises as a waiter from 27 years. He was fifty years old at the time of his death. He left behind a wife and four children,” the web site said. The Harmony of the Seas is currently in Barbados with around 2,000 crew members still aboard waiting to be returned home, including many crew members who transferred from the Vision of the Seas, Majesty of the Seas, and Rhapsody of the Seas. She (Jocson) reportedly previously was on the Rhapsody. The Royal Caribbean “Crew Repatriation Weekly Update” dated June 5, 2020, lists over 20 flights from Barbados to the Philippines in the next three weeks through June 30th. “This has been a difficult six weeks for many crew members who have remained on cruise ships during the period of cruising suspension which is now approaching 90 days. In addition to this incident, there have been eight other crew members who reportedly ended their lives and one employee who attempted to do so since May 1st,” said Jim Walker, who posted his story in Maritime Death. He said a week ago, a longterm employee from the Philippines died suddenly on a Crystal Cruises ship. “There is speculation regarding the crew member’s cause of death. Crystal Cruises has not made an
official statement to date.” Two weeks ago, a Filipino crew member died on the Virgin Voyages’ Scarlet Lady. Shortly before that, a crew member on the Vasco da Gama cruise ship who reportedly jumped from deck 12 of the ship and landed on a cargo container located on the pier of the Tilbury Docks in the UK. The nationality of the crew was not given. It was last reported that the Cruise and Maritime Voyages (CMV) ship employee is in the hospital in London. According to the web site: “Two weeks ago, a Filipino crew member died on the Virgin Voyages’ Scarlet Lady last May 22, 2020 in Miami while a Filipino galley employee on the AIDAblu also died in Hamburg Germany around May 16, 2020.” So far, four Filipinos, out of an estimated 250,000 who were at sea when the coronavirus was first announced have died due to their lengthy stay onboard their cruise ships while waiting repatriation flights to Manila and Clark. Others have died of different causes. The official number of cruise ship, according to the Miami Herald, is 259, or an average of crew members of 300,000. On the other hand, merchant ships have about 150,000 seafarers of various nationalities, according to the International Chamber of Shipping, adding roughly another 150,000 are stuck on shore, waiting to get back to work.
Batangas City emerges as One Planet City Challenge ’19-’20 country winner for PHL By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes
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atangas City has recently emerged as the Philippine winner in the latest edition of the World Wide Fund for Nature’s (WWF) One Planet City Challenge (OPCC), joining the list of national winners from 22 countries worldwide. According to the OPCC jury, the city’s comprehensive climate mitigation and adaptation plan, which includes interventions based on city-specific climate vulnerabilities, impressed the urban sustainability experts from across the globe that belong to the OPCC group. The capital city of Batangas province also reported an ambitious target for carbon neutrality by 2030 and its vision to be the first carbon-neutral city in the Philippines. In a letter from the
Stockholm, Sweden-based OPCC team, the jury acknowledged the city’s aggressive efforts in promoting climate risk assessment. “Batangas City showed particularly strong performance related to its vision. The city scored well across different indicators, especially political action and climate risk assessment and evidence of action, especially related to adaptation.” Together with Batangas City, fellow finalists Muntinlupa and Santa Rosa, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Dipolog, La Carlota, Pasig, San Carlos, Tagum, Malolos, Parañaque, and Quezon City, were included in the country’s roster of qualifiers for OPCC 2019-2020. WWF-Philippines Executive Director Joel Palma commended Batangas City, as well as the other local
qualifiers, for representing the Philippines well. “I would like to commend the Batangas City LGU [local government unit] and all the other LGUs who have taken part in the OPCC. I would like to commend their efforts in finding solutions to ensure that development is made sustainable by putting into the equation the environment and people. The challenges we are facing now, particularly the pandemic, proves that there is a direct link between the health of the environment and the health and well-being of people,” Palma said in a news statement. Nearly 66 percent of the global population has been represented in the year’s OPCC leg, with 255 cities participating from over 53 countries across the globe. Originally launched as the Earth Hour City Challenge,
OPCC kicked off in 2011 as a biennial global challenge where cities are encouraged to share climate mitigation and develop adaptation plans centered in their critical roles of building a sustainable and climate-safe future. Being accountable for 70 percent of carbon emissions globally and generating 80 percent of the total gross domestic product, the political and economic power of cities are considered instrumental in the transition to a more stable climate. Winners of this year’s OPCC are also eligible to participate in We Love Cities, a W WF campaign interwoven with the OPCC, which aims to liaise better communication between city officials and the citizens they represent on climate change and sustainability issues.
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Saturday, June 13, 2020
Study warns of poverty surge to over 1 billion due to virus
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ONDON—Global poverty is set to rise above 1 billion people once again as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, which is reducing the income of the world’s poorest by $500 million a day, according to new research published Friday. The research by King’s College London and the Australian National University points to poverty increasing dramatically in middle-income developing countries, where millions of people live just above the poverty line. Asian countries, such as Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and the Philippines, are considered to be particularly vulnerable to the pandemic’s economic shockwaves with lockdowns severely curtailing activity. “The pandemic is fast becoming an economic crisis for developing countries,” said Andy Sumner, a professor of international development at King’s College London and one of the report’s coauthors. Because millions of people live just above the poverty line, they are in a precarious position as the economic shock of the pandemic plays
out. In a worst-case scenario, the number of people in extreme poverty—defined as earning under $1.90 a day—is forecast to rise from about 700 million to 1.1 billion, according to the report, which was published by the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research. “Without action this crisis could set back progress on reducing global poverty by 20, or even 30 years,” Sumner said. Researchers are calling for “urgent global leadership” to address the crisis. But hopes are low after the Group of Seven meeting of world leaders, which was due to take place June 10-12 at President Donald Trump’s retreat at Camp David, was postponed. Trump now aims to host an expanded meeting in September, also including leaders from Russia, Australia, South
In this May 6 photo, a man begs at a roadside during a lockdown to help to contain a spread of coronavirus in Peshawar, Pakistan. For millions of people who live in poor and troubled regions of the world, the novel coronavirus is only the latest epidemic. They already face a plethora of fatal and crippling infectious diseases: polio, Ebola, cholera, dengue, tuberculosis and malaria, to name a few. The diseases are made worse by chronic poverty that leads to malnutrition and violence that disrupts vaccination campaigns. AP
Korea and India. How much development issues will be addressed at that summit remains an open question. Sumner said three actions need to be prioritized. First, a “rapid response global commission on poverty and Covid-19” needs to be established and led by a prominent global leader to identify the level of financing required and what rich countries can do to help. Second, he said funds should be released quickly by expanding the current debt servicing
standstill that the International Monetary Fund is providing to all developing countries and by freezing World Bank debt repayments at least until the end of 2020, possibly into 2021. He said that once the crisis abates, debt restructuring or outright cancellation of debt for some developing countries “will be needed or even unavoidable.” And thirdly, he said countries benefiting from the standstill should use the money to shore up and expand social safety nets. AP
Hong Kong’s increasing divide portends a tumultuous future
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E I J I NG — P rot e s t e r s i n Hong Kong got its government to withdraw extradition legislation last year, but now they’re getting a more dreaded national security law. And the message from Beijing is: Protest is futile. One year ago Friday, protesters took over streets and blocked the legislature, preventing lawmakers from starting debate on the extradition bill. The youthful crowd clashed with police, who deployed tear gas and pepper spray in a portent of the months of protest that lay ahead. Thousand of rounds of tear gas later, the movement has been quieted—in part by the coronavirus— but the anger has only grown. In its wake, the polarization has deepened between the city’s disenchanted youth and its government. And the resolve of the central government in Beijing to crack down on dissent, as evidenced by the coming national security law for the territory, has hardened. “Emotions are running high because these young protesters see no future,” said Willy Lam, a commentator and adjunct professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “There are no communication channels between the protesters and either the [Hong Kong] government or Beijing. And the protesters see no future for themselves, because they know they can’t change the mind of [Chinese President] Xi Jinping.” The divide signals an uneasy
In this June 4, file photo, Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong, center, holds a candle as he joins others for a vigil to remember the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Protesters in Hong Kong got its government to withdraw extradition legislation last year, but now they’re getting a more dreaded national security law. And the message from Beijing is: Protest is futile. AP
and possibly tumultuous future for the semi-autonomous territory, which is part of China yet has its own laws and greater freedoms than the mainland under a “onecountry, two systems” framework that is supposed to guarantee it a high level of autonomy until 2047. Protests may be smaller this year, analysts said, as police round up more protesters and the impending national security law scares others from coming out. As well, some energy will be diverted to campaigning for legislative elections in September in which the pro-democracy opposition is likely to make gains. Organizers postponed a demonstration planned for Friday to mark the first anniversary of the blocking of the legislature, citing the coronavirus limit of public gatherings to eight people. It has been tentatively rescheduled for June 19, when the emergency rule is due to be lifted. Fundamentally, the two sides are on divergent paths. As protester frustration mounts, the risk is they will become more radicalized, said Joseph Cheng, a political scientist and veteran pro-democracy activist. He notes new slogans at recent protests touting independence for Hong Kong. “These are slogans I won’t use,” he said. A growing movement to leave China would play into the hands of Beijing, which has long broad-
brushed the protesters as violent rioters bent on independence. Maintaining China’s territorial integrity is one of the central tenets of the ruling Communist Party, and secessionist activities are one of the crimes to be covered by the security law. “Maybe that is the key message of this new national security bill,” said Regina Ip, a pro-Beijing lawmaker in Hong Kong. “Not to arrest large numbers of people, but really to send the message that you are part of China and if you want your two systems to continue, you’d better not do anything that could harm the overall well-being of the nation.” The Hong Kong government is required by its mini constitution to enact a national security law, and Ip was secretary for security the only time it tried in 2003. The bill was dropped after major protests, and no administration has tried since because of public opposition. The protests have given the central government, long frustrated by Hong Kong’s inability to adopt such a law, the pretext to bypass Hong Kong’s legislature and the anti-government protesters in the city 2,000 kilometers south of Beijing. China is expected to enact the new national security law, or laws, by the end of the summer and possibly later this month. The specifics remain under wraps, but one
provision that has alarmed some would allow Chinese security agencies to set up in Hong Kong. “I am quite upset at the Chinese Communist Party for what they have done and for what they are going to implement,” Anderson Tseng, a 22-year-old clerk, said after the decision to go forward was ratified by China’s ceremonial legislature last month. “I guess most us are quite frustrated too.” For China, the law is necessary to maintain the “one country” part of the framework that governs Hong Kong. For activists, the law and its imposition by the central government undermine the “two systems,” the semi-autonomy given to the city. Lam, the commentator, said that unlike a few years ago, the central government has given up any pretense of not being directly involved in Hong Kong’s affairs. “Beijing has become upfront,” he said. “It has become very open about the fact that it is interfering in Hong Kong affairs. It wants total control.” He added that Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, is widely seen as doing Beijing’s bidding rather than advocating for the people of Hong Kong and conveying their views to national officials. She withdrew the extradition bill only after three months of protest showed no signs of letting up and has refused to negotiate on the four other demands of the protesters. Beijing officials have publicly backed her hardline position, which has undermined public support for her and is widely expected to work against pro-Beijing candidates in the September elections. But analysts say it is unlikely the pro-democracy opposition will end up with a majority, because only half the legislature’s seats are chosen by popular vote. Fully democratic elections for the legislature and the city’s leader are one of the remaining protest demands. AP
www.businessmirror.com.ph
As lockdowns ease and demand climbs, airlines aim for takeoff
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he skies are clearing up a bit for airlines as states ease lockdown measures and travelers slowly return to airport check-in lines. After a pronounced slump in air travel in the spring, airlines are adding back flights as they hope to salvage some lost revenue during the key summer travel season. As of Monday, investors had driven shares for the major airlines back to their early March levels, before the coronavirus forced the US economy to a standstill. The airline industry has essentially been grounded for months after a plunge in passenger demand forced American Airlines, United Airlines and others to slash flight schedules. They were among the hardesthit companies as the coronavirus abruptly shut down overseas markets and then pushed the US into a pandemic-induced recession. Even with the recent surge in airlines shares, the NYSE Arca Airline index remains well below its 2020 high from mid-February, when restrictions on international travel began to take hold. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway dumped all of its holdings in the major airlines as revenue dried up. Air travel had plummeted to levels unseen since the early years of the commercial jetliner days in the 1950s. The industry took a $25-billion bailout from the US government to help shore up balance sheets as it grounded flights and cut staff. Analysts don’t expect passenger traffic to get back to 2019 levels anytime soon. Last week, American Airlines said that next month it will operate 55 percent of the US flights that it ran in July 2019. United Airlines will run a more modest 30 percent of its schedule compared with a year ago. But for investors, those small signs of recovery were enough to warrant
jumping back into airlines stocks. Shares of American Airlines surged 41 percent the day it announced the additional capacity. Meanwhile, vacation destinations in Florida, the Gulf Coast and mountain states are seeing some of the strongest resurgence in demand. United plans to resume about 130 nonstop routes in July that it had suspended. “While it is unlikely that we are out of the woods on Covid-19, improving passenger flow numbers suggest some consumers’ desire to travel is outweighing Covid-19 concerns,” said Citi analyst Stephen Trent, in a note to investors. But airlines still have a long way to go on their path to a recovery. Even after restoring some of its schedule, Delta Air Lines said Wednesday it expects revenue to plunge 90 percent during the second quarter and it will have to renegotiate credit agreements in order to avoid default. Airlines such as American, United and Delta with significant overseas businesses face an even more difficult recovery as demand remains dismal for international travel. Airlines shares have pulled back this week along with the broader market as investors question the strength of the economic recovery globally and in the US. In a recent report, the trade association Airlines for America pointed out that passenger volumes took three years to recover from the impact of the 9/11 attacks and more than seven years to fully recover from the global financial crisis. Even after passenger demand has recovered, the costs of the crisis will linger. “Once demand has recovered, it will take years for airlines to retire the newly accumulated billions of dollars of debt and to address the sizable associated interest expense, limiting their wherewithal to rehire and reinvest,” according to Airlines for America. AP
Global economy to suffer significant scarring–IMF
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he global economy is recovering more slowly than expected from the coronavirus pandemic and will bear lingering scars from the experience, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF is set to release economic growth projections June 24 that “will be, very likely, worse than what we had” in April, even as there remains “profound uncertainty” around the forecasts, Gita Gopinath, the IMF’s chief economist, said in a video recorded June 4 and released Friday as part of the seventh annual Asian Monetary Policy Forum. “One has to be quite concerned about the path of recovery,” said Gopinath, citing the depth of the crisis, the need for labor reallocation, the onset of bankruptcies and insolvency issues, and changes in consumer behavior. “Many of these variables point to significant scarring effects.” In April the IMF estimated the global economy would shrink by 3 percent this year—the deepest contraction since the Great Depression—and anticipated an even worse outcome if the coronavirus lingers or returns. That analysis saw growth rebounding to 5.8 percent in 2021.
Risks, rewards
The forum, which is usually held live as a series of in-person panels, was cohosted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and National University
of Singapore Business School. Asian economies are further along in their recoveries and generally have done better at containing their virus outbreaks, Gopinath said, noting Taiwan’s success specifically. Asia’s deep integration with the Chinese economy, where “containment has worked very well,” could also provide a “mild positive” for the region, she added. At the same time, the region’s open economies are especially vulnerable to the downturn in global trade, and external financing needs and fiscal vulnerabilities remain for emerging markets even after effective liquidity injections, she said. Geopolitical issues, including US-China tensions and turmoil in Hong Kong, also continue to exacerbate risk in Asia and worldwide, Gopinath said. “All of that has very big implications for global supply chains, the location of production going forward, the risks to globalization and the rise of protectionism,” she said.
Market ructions
Gopinath said a faster improvement in financial markets could be credited to the rapid global policy reaction to the pandemic, which helped ease liquidity problems. Her video was recorded before this week’s whipsaw in financial markets, which included a Wall Street buying surge ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy decision Wednesday and a sharp sell-off Thursday amid worries about a second wave of coronavirus infections. Bloomberg News
Editor: Angel R. Calso
The World BusinessMirror
‘It’s broken’: Fears grow about patchwork U.S. election system
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TLANTA—The chaos that plagued Georgia’s primary this week is raising concerns about a potential broader failure of the nation’s patchwork election system that could undermine the November presidential contest, political leaders and elections experts say. With less than five months to go, fears are mounting that several battleground states are not prepared to administer problem-free elections during the pandemic. The increasingly urgent concerns are both complex and simple: long lines disproportionately affecting voters of color in places like Atlanta with a history of voter suppression; a severe shortage of poll workers scared away by coronavirus concerns; and an emerging consensus that it could take several days after polls close on Election Day to determine a winner as battleground states struggle with an explosion of mail voting. “We want a democracy in the United States we can showcase for the world, and right now it’s broken and on full display,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Officials across the political spectrum have raised concerns, but there is a contrast in the level of urgency by party, and even by race. Democrats want to send billions of dollars to ove r b u rd e n e d s t ate a n d l o ca l e l e c t i o n systems and expand in-person early voting and universal no-excuse mail balloting. Republicans, reluctant to inject the federal government into state elections, have resisted such efforts and instead call on local elections officials, who in urban areas are often Democrats, to fix the problems themselves. President Donald Trump is also fighting states’ plans to expand voting by mail, raising repeated concerns with no evidence about voter fraud. Civil rights activist Al Sharpton said he has lost confidence in the nation’s voting system, particularly across states where federal protections that ensured minority voters weren’t disenfranchised have been swept away. “You’re almost back to the Confederates against the Union,” Sharpton said. He offered a simple message to people of color and those who run elections this fall: “If you do not vote and protect the vote, then you are helping to keep the knee on our necks.” Election officials are expressing optimism as they scramble to address glaring problems. Amid continued pandemic concerns, many don’t have enough poll workers to staff voting sites, the capacity to train new workers in states featuring new equipment or the ability to efficiently process the surge in mail ballots. The challenges have led to extraordinarily long lines, particularly in urban areas. The final Las Vegas voter wasn’t able to cast a ballot until 3 a.m. Wednesday, eight hours after polls were supposed to close. Some Atlanta voters brought lawn chairs to wait in lines that exceeded five hours. Wait times of two hours, or more, were reported in recent weeks across Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Washington, D.C. Beyond lines, the mail voting boom has caused unprecedented reporting delays. Pennsylvania officials were still counting mail ballots from the state’s June 2 election on June 11. Because of a court order, Wisconsin didn’t begin to release results of its April 7 primary until six days after polls closed. Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, said he’s confident in the state’s
voting system and blames any issues on the “incompetence” of municipal election officials. The criticism was in line with that of Georgia’s chief elections officer, a Republican who blamed the election leaders of two Democratic-controlled counties for most of the problems in Tuesday’s primary. That highlights a complicated reality across America. Each state has its own set of complicated ballot-access laws, adopted by the party in power at the statehouse and implemented by local governments with little to no federal oversight. Ohio Secretar y of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, said he’s working to ensure Ohio has adequate poll workers. He’s tweaking a program allowing high-school seniors to be poll workers, encouraging companies to give workers a paid day off and advocating state agencies that don’t already offer days off for poll workers to do so. LaRose condemned those in both parties who have warned of voting challenges. “What worries me is when someone with bad intentions can take a story about elections problems and then use it intentionally to try to cause people to self-disenfranchise, which is about the ugliest thing I can imagine,” he said. In Michigan, absentee voting surged in the March presidential primary following a 2018 constitutional amendment that expanded the option. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, recently drew Trump’s ire by announcing that all 7.3 million registered voters would be mailed absentee ballot applications in the August and November elections. Michigan saw record turnout for local elections in May after a similar move. Benson said there were no plans to consolidate polling locations in November, but she noted that polling sites may only be able to handle half their regular volume because of social distancing and safety requirements. Social distancing rules in metro Atlanta limited the number of people who could be in a polling place at one time, contributing to long lines. The state has reached out to large employers, colleges and sports teams for additional poll workers. In Pennsylvania, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, a Democrat, called on state officials to change rules that block them from beginning to count mail ballots before 7 a.m. on Election Day. She could not promise that Pennsylvania would post its final results the night of the election: “Close races can take a while.” Boockvar was also hopeful that conditions in November would be very different than they were last week, when the state held primary elections during the pandemic. Some Pennsylvania counties used new paper trail machines for the first time; they were dealing with a new state law to allow no-excuse mail-in balloting; and massive protests raged across the state’s largest cities. “The confluence of factors was obviously the biggest challenge here. My expectation is the absence of all those things happening at once will be hugely helpful,” Boockvar said. Others aren’t so sure. Guy Cecil, chairman of Priorities USA, the nation’s most influential pro-Democrat super PAC, questioned “whether or not the richest, most powerful country in the history of humankind can actually get people into a room to check a box and then get out in an expeditious manner.” “Right now,” he said, “on many counts, we’re failing on that.” AP
On summit anniversary, North Korea vows to build up military
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EOUL, South Korea—North Korea on Friday again vowed to build up its military force to counter what it perceives as US threats and said there would be little reason for a personal relationship between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump if Washington persists with sanctions and pressure. On the two-year anniversary of the leaders’ first summit, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Son Gwon said the North would never again gift Trump with high-profile meetings and concessions he could boast as foreign policy achievements unless it gets something substantial in return. “The question is whether there will be a need to keep holding hands shaken in Singapore, as we see that there is nothing of factual improvement to be made in the DPRK-US relations simply by maintaining personal relations between our supreme leadership and the US President,” Ri said in a statement carried by state media, referring to North Korea by its formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “Never again will we provide the US chief executive with another package to be used for [political] achievements without receiving any returns. Nothing is more hypocritical than an empty promise.” In their 2018 summit in Singapore, the first-ever meeting between active leaders of the two countries, Kim and Trump agreed to improve bilateral relations and issued a vague statement on a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula without describing
when and how it would occur. But negotiations faltered after the United States rejected North Korean demands for broad sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of the North’s nuclear capabilities at Kim’s second summit with Trump in Vietnam in February 2019. Trump and Kim met for a third time last June at the inter-Korean border, but a subsequent working-level meeting broke down over what the North Koreans described as the Americans’ “old stance and attitude.” Kim, who unilaterally suspended nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests during talks with Washington and Seoul, entered the new year vowing to bolster his nuclear deterrent. The North in recent months conducted shortrange missile tests while also dialing up pressure on South Korea. Ri said the past two years of diplomacy has only revealed that the United States continues to pursue “regime change” in Pyongyang and threatens the North with the prospects of a preemptive nuclear strike and “isolation and suffocation.” “The secure strategic goal of the DPRK is to build up more reliable force to cope with the long-term military threats from the US,” he said. Nor th Korea has suspended vir tually all cooperation with South Korea in recent months while pressuring Seoul to defy US-led international sanctions and restart inter-Korean economic projects that would breathe life into the North’s struggling economy. AP
Saturday, June 13, 2020
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Adviser: China will honor trade deal, wants better ties with US
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EIJING—Beijing will honor its trade deal with the US and wants to see better ties with Washington, senior Chinese officials said on Thursday.
Zhu Guangyao, a former finance minister and Cabinet adviser, said the two countries should “waste no time” in improving relations to help better coordinate a response to the coronavirus pandemic. He and other officials told reporters in Beijing that the two biggest economies are so closely entwined that they must find a way to work together because a lack of cooperation has come at a “high price.” “The close connection between the Chinese and US economies is the result of four decades of hard work on both sides, and that is also the reflection of the wishes of consumers in China and the United States,” Zhu said. “Such interdependence will not disappear simply because some people clamor for ‘decoupling,’” he said. Zhu said relations with the US were “far from satisfactory” with communications at a “standstill.” “We hope through communications we can enhance our cooperation and mutual trust,” he said.
Tensions have flared over Beijing’s handling of the new coronavirus that first surfaced in central China late last year and over the recent passage of legislation requiring the semi-autonomous territory of Hong Kong to implement a national security law. The law has added to worries that the former British colony is losing the special status Beijing promised it when it took control in 1997. President Donald J. Trump’s administration reacted to the move by announcing that Hong Kong is no longer autonomous and will be stripped of its preferential trade and commercial status. The officials insisted China is following through on promises to buy more US products and other commitments. Progress on an interim trade agreement that has helped smooth friction over trade and technology remains unclear, partly because of disruptions brought on by lockdowns to contain the pandemic.
In this April 4, 2018, file photo, then-Finance Vice Minister Zhu Guangyao speaks during a news conference on Sino-US trade issues at the State Council Information Office in Beijing. Beijing will honor its trade deal with the US and wants to see better ties with Washington, senior Chinese officials said Thursday, June 11, 2020. Zhu said the two countries should “waste no time” in improving relations to help better coordinate a response to the coronavirus pandemic. AP
“Objectively speaking, the epidemic has had an impact on the implementation of this agreement, but in this kind of situation, China emphasizes that we should work hard together to ensure the implementation of the Phase 1 agreement,” Zhu said. The officials said Beijing was well equipped to overcome the economic ills worsened by the pandemic, with ample room for both monetary and fiscal policies. Like the US, China has a huge domestic market that is still rel at ively undeveloped, w it h massive untapped demand, said
Tang Min, an economist and State Council adviser. Although data for May were dismal, they ref lected orders canceled at the height of the pandemic in many countries. And many Chinese consumers have been piling up savings while they stayed home during and after quarantine lockdowns. “In June or July we’ ll see an improvement, in particular the recovery of the domestic market in the latter half of the year, and the Chinese economy will have a ver y strong rebound,” Tang said. AP
Not set in stone: Statues fall as Europe reexamines its past
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Italy
ONDON—From Confederate monuments in the United States to statues of British slave traders, memorials erected in honor of historical figures have become a focus of protests around the world. The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers has sparked a reexamination of rigid injustices and inequalities underpinning many countries’ histories that often were exalted in stone or bronze. A look at some contested monuments across Europe:
INDRO Montanelli—Monuments to Italy’s colonial past in North Africa—including obelisks carted off during the fascist rule of Benito Mussolini that adorn piazzas in Rome—have been largely ignored during protests, but a statue honoring a revered 20th century Italian journalist has attracted calls for its removal. Montanelli, who inspired a generation of Italian reporters, admitted in the late 1960s that he had a 12-year-old Ethiopian bride when he was a soldier during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia. He justified his action by saying it was the local custom. The statue, in a Milan park that bears Montanelli’s name was mentioned during a weekend Black Lives Matter protest, and an antifascist group called the Sentinels of Milan has called for its removal.
Britain
Edward Colston—The toppling of a statue of the 17th-century slave trader in the port city of Bristol on Sunday reignited debate in Britain about who deserves a permanent public memorial. Colston built a fortune transporting more than 80,000 enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean before leaving his money to charity. His name adorns streets and buildings in Bristol, which was once the UK’s biggest port for slave ships. The statue has been pulled out of the harbor where protesters dumped it and will be placed in a museum. Cecil Rhodes—The Victorian imperialist served as prime minister of the Cape Colony in southern Africa and made a fortune from gold and diamond mines where miners labored in brutal conditions. He was an education benefactor whose legac y includes Oxford Universit y ’s Rhodes scholarships for international students. His statue was removed from the University of Cape Town in South Africa in 2015 after students led a “Rhodes Must Fall” campaign. A similar campaign is seeking to remove a statue of Rhodes from Oxford’s Oriel College. Henry Dundas—The late 18th-century Scottish politician was responsible for delaying Britain’s abolition of the slave trade by 15 years until 1807. During that time, more than half a million enslaved Africans were trafficked across the Atlantic. Campaigners want his statue removed from atop its column in Edinburgh’s St. Andrew Square. There are also calls to rename Dundas Street, a major thoroughfare in the Canadian city of Toronto. Robert Milligan—Authorities in London this week removed a statue of Milligan, an 18th-century merchant, who owned two sugar plantations in Jamaica with more than 500 slaves, from its perch in the city’s docklands. Robert Baden-Powell—Officials plan to remove a statue of the founder of the Scouts movement from the quayside in Poole, southern England, out of concern it may be a target for protesters. Like many Englishmen of his time, Baden-Powell held racist views. He also expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler. Authorities in London and many other UK cities have announced plans to review all statues, street names and other monuments to see whether they reflect modern values and the country’s current
The statues on the Confederate monument are covered in graffiti and beheaded after a protest in Portsmouth, Virginia, Wednesday, June 10, 2020. Protesters beheaded and then pulled down four statues that were part of a Confederate monument. The crowd was frustrated by the Portsmouth City Council’s decision to put off moving the monument. AP diversity. This is sure to lead to fiery debate. Some have called for the removal of statues of William Gladstone, the reforming 19th-century prime minister whose father was one of the biggest slave-owners in the British West Indies. Gladstone defended slave owners and sought compensation for them when slavery was abolished. Even national hero Winston Churchill is a contentious figure. Britain’s wartime prime minister is revered by many in the UK as the man who led the country to victory against Nazi Germany. But he was also a staunch defender of the British Empire and expressed racist views.
France
Several statues have been placed under police protection in France amid protests against monuments to historical figures with links to the country’s colonial past and slavery. Jean-Baptiste Colbert—Last week, police blocked protesters in Paris from reaching a statue of Colbert in front of the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament. The 17th-century politician, a prominent minister under King Louis XIV, drafted the “Code Noir” (“Black Code”), which regulated the conditions of slavery in French overseas colonies. Joseph Gallieni—Police in Paris also guarded a statue of French military commander Gallieni. He used brutal methods to quell rebellion of local populations in French colonies. As a late 19th-century governor of Madagascar, he abolished the 350-year-old monarchy on the island. Victor Schoelcher—Even before George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, protesters on the French island of Martinique toppled two statues of 19th-century politician Schoelcher on May 22, the anniversary of the abolition of slavery on the Caribbean island. Schoelcher prepared and wrote the
1848 decree abolishing slavery in France’s colonies. But protesters denounced his colonialist views and argued local abolitionists more worthy of honoring. French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the statues’ removal, tweeting last month that Schoelcher “has made France great” by abolishing slavery.
Spain
C h r istophe r C o lumbus —Statues of the 15th- centur y explorer and the Spanish conquistadors who followed him and colonized much of the Americas have become targets for demonstrators in US cities but not in Spain, the country that sponsored Columbus’s voyages. Although there has been increasing debate in recent years about Columbus’s legacy, his likeness occupies center stage in many Spanish cities. A famous statue showing Columbus with his right arm extended and his finger pointing toward the sea stands tall on a column at the bottom of Barcelona’s Las Ramblas boulevard,. In Madrid, a central square named for him features a prominent Columbus statue surrounded by traffic. In contrast, statues of Columbus in the United States are often vandalized on Columbus Day, which Native American groups have campaigned to rename Indigenous Peoples Day. Columbus memorials have been targeted in the US this week. Gen. Francisco Franco—The legacy of the dictator who ruled Spain for 35 years is still a raw issue that divides the country. Last year, the government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez succeeded in removing Franco’s body from a glorifying mausoleum on the outskirts of Madrid where his remains had laid for more than four decades. The remains were moved to a family chapel in a small public cemetery and have not become a focus of right-wing pilgrimages, as some had feared.
Belgium
King Leopold Ii—The Belgian monarch who ruled Belgium from 1865 to 1909 held Congo as his personal fiefdom, forcing many of its people into slavery to extract resources for his personal profit. His early rule, starting in 1885, was famous for its brutality, which some experts say left as many as 10 million of Congo’s people dead. Statues of Leopold dot towns and cities across Belgium, but a growing movement wants him removed from public view. Statues of Leopold have been defaced in half a dozen cities in the past week. In Antwerp, authorities removed a statue that had been burned and splattered with red paint. It is unclear whether it will be re-erected.
The Netherlands
Jan Pieterszoon Coen—A statue of the Dutch Golden Age trader and brutal colonialist in his hometown of Hoorn, north of Amsterdam, has been the subject of debate for years. Coen was a leading figure in the Dutch East India Company, a 17th-century trading powerhouse, and is credited with founding Batavia, the city now known as Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta. But he also has gone down in history as the “butcher of Banda,” the man who ordered a bloody massacre on the Banda Islands in what is now Indonesia as a way of cornering the lucrative market for nutmeg and mace. A plaque on the statue highlights both sides of his story. The text says Coen was “praised as a vigorous and visionary administrator,” but was also “criticized for the violent means by which he built up trade monopolies in the East Indies.” In 2012, the Westfries Museum that overlooks the statue held an exhibition dedicated to Coen, asking visitors to decide whether the statue should stay or go. Two-thirds of the 3,500 visitor votes were in favor of the statue staying. Museum director Ad Geerdink said if Hoon political leaders decide to take down the statue, the Westfries would be happy to place it in its garden “not to honor Coen, but to put it into context.” AP
ExportUnlimited BusinessMirror
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Food and beverage firms told: Focus on product sustainability A
Taiwan’s smart machinery exports meet global manufacturing demand
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HE Department of Trade and IndustryExport Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB), citing international market intelligence company Mintel trends report, has advised food and drink companies to focus on sustainability as consumers will advocate for companies that pursue the triple bottom line—people, profit and planet. “The DTI-EMB always looks out for trends in products and services to help us steer our exporters to the right direction. Now, we are planning to help exporters be more sustainable in their products and packaging to appeal to the future consumer market,” said DTI-EMB Director Senen M. Perlada. During an online presentation to DTI-EMB recently, Mintel Client Service Insight Director Sophie Lacombre said that successful companies by 2030 will be those that improve the health of the planet and its population, as well as those that make it easy for consumers to do the right thing.
In Mintel’s recent survey of 1,000 Filipino adults, 64 percent agree that sustainability in their food and drink choices are important. Meanwhile, they also surveyed 1,500 Thai adults and 90 percent agree that retailers, or brands, should do more to promote sustainability. Consuming less but better will also be the trend for meat products in 2030. Plant-based food and ethically produced meat will also flourish, as Covid-19 makes consumers more cautious of animal meat. Around 70 percent of new human diseases in
recent history originated from animals, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. “Now more than ever, we see the need to increase halal certified companies in the Philippines since the halal animal slaughtering procedures are more ethical and humane,” said DTI Undersecretary Abdulgani Macatoman. Mintel suggests three ways to help companies prepare for 2030: Take corporate social responsibility seriously. In the next decade, more food, drink, and food service companies will work together and/or join forces with philanthropic organizations and governments to help advance vital concerns, including environmental, ethical, and other significant societal issues. Facilitate conscious consumption. Consumers will take pride in their sustainability efforts and support of companies that make them feel more judicious in their use of packaging and precious resources. Make planetary health diets easy to follow. As the growth of the world’s population stretches the Earth’s resources, consumers will consider the environmental impact of our diets.
One-stop shop online processing system for imported Covid-19 goods launched
Nickel industry group provides P38M to boost govt’s virus response capability
HE Food and Drug Administration (FDA) encourages importers to avail themselves of the Bayanihan One Stop Shop (BOSS) facility to fast-track importation of critical Covid-19 commodities intended for commercial distribution. Dr. Oscar G. Gutierrez Jr., officer in charge director of the FDA’s Policy and Planning Service, said in a recente-forum that an online one-stop shop for securing the license to operate (LTO) to import Covid-19 critical commodities for commercial distribution is already available. The BOSS was created under Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) 1, Series of 2020 issued April 2, 2020. Critical Covid-19 health products include sanitizers/hygiene products (alcohol); personal protection equipment; diagnostic products like the PCR and Antibody/Rapid Test Kit; case management products such as medicines, medical devices, respirators and ventilators; and food products like processed foods, food supplements and raw materials. The BOSS is a single window for online applications for importation of Covid-19 critical commodities for commercial distribution, designed to further streamline and facilitate the procedure for securing the LTO and importing these critical goods. Its implementation involves the FDA, the Bureau of Customs (BOC), and the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), according to Gutierrez. Under normal conditions, importations of Covid-19
EMBERS of the Philippine Nickel Industry Association have collectively disbursed more than P38 million of their Social Development Management Program (SDMP) fund for various Covid-19 relief efforts to benefit frontliners and host communities during the two-month enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) period. PNIA has also been working in solidarity with Act as One, Kalinga Kontra Kovid (KKK) in Quezon City, as well as local and national government authorities in providing assistance to key hospitals in Metro Manila and to more than 66,200 households in Caraga region, Zambales and Palawan. “We try our best to keep our commitment to our host communities especially during these trying times. It’s definitely a challenging time for our business operations but our local communities are our partners throughout the years and saving lives is our priority right now,” said Atty. Dante R. Bravo, PNIA president. Aside from providing 31,800 food packs and sharing over 26,960 sacks of rice to their host communities, mining companies also organized transportation for displaced individuals, set up disinfection tents and facilitated disinfection drives in the area. Other member-companies, likewise, sourced majority of its fresh produce from local farmers and oth-
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critical commodities regulated by the FDA will require the issuance of the relevant LTO to the importer and registration or notification of every health product unless explicitly exempted. The importer will then be required to present this LTO and/or the Certificate of Product Registration (CPR)/ Notification to the BOC for the latter to clear the commodities for entry into the country. This builds bottlenecks and challenges to the importation process, necessitating the creation of BOSS under Republic Act 11469, or the “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.” Through this application facility for LTO, the FDA will be performing a three-step procedure— from submission and evaluation to payment—all done online, said Gutierrez. The LTO “can be processed within the day, or even a matter of hours, while printing of the LTO will be done by the applicants at the convenience of their homes and offices,” he added. In addition, he said, BOC can already view what is happening at the FDA so the bureau can start processing the release of the products. The FDA BOSS application portal may be accessed at http://boss.fda.gov. ph. Gutierrez said that as of May 19, 2020, FDA received 205 applications for LTOs and approved 90. Reasons for denial included misdeclaration of company name or company owner, typo errors, and incorrect document for business name registration.
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er goods from local establishments to stimulate the region’s economy. Due to ECQ restrictions on transportation, these farmers faced the risk of spoilage of their produce—in addition to the challenge of putting food on their own tables. PNIA member-companies donated over 20,300 units of medical supplies including face masks, personal protective equipment (PPEs), digital thermal scanners, vitamins, and other medical and disinfection supplies to local government units and various nongovernment organizations. In addition, PNIA recently donated 5,000 test kits through Act as One to help fast-track rapid testing efforts of local government units in Metro Manila and other selected cities in the country. Over and beyond allocating SDMP funds, PNIA members have also prepared a Covid-19 response fund to support employees and local community stakeholders through salary continuance, and various forms of assistance during the crisis. “We also ensure highest health and safety standards are enforced in our mining operations, during and beyond the ECQ to protect the welfare of our employees, partners, and communities. PNIA members are strictly following quarantine protocols and information campaign efforts to help mitigate transmission of the virus,” Bravo added.
By Roderick L. Abad | Contributor
S the nation began easing lockdowns that allow essential businesses to reopen amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, local industries, particularly manufacturing, need to fast-track their operations to make up for the lost times when the government-imposed community quarantines temporarily grounded them to a halt and, at the same time, prepare to meet the market demand expected to rise once this crisis is over. Homegrown and Philippine-based manufacturers should start investing in modern technologies to be at par with their counterparts abroad. This is because many countries all over the world have realized the need for industry upgrade given the “new normal” brought about by such unprecedented international health emergency. Physical distancing is among the apparent outcomes the pandemic has forced everyone to subscribe to so as to avoid contracting the lethal virus. Hence, human-to-human contact is highly discouraged everywhere. In the current situation, industries grapple with loss of labor due to the alarming spread of the Covid-19. This calls for solutions to counter the absence of human supervision. With machinery being one of the greatest inventions of mankind, there’s no better way to address these concerns than by an intelligent one. Recognizing the impact an epidemic can have on the economy, various businesses have begun to adopt smart machineries so that they may buffer the impact from similar crises in the future. “The Covid-19 pandemic has shown the importance of industry upgrade, automation, and accelerated import-related solutions,” Taiwan External Trade Development Council President and Chief Executive Officer Walter Yeh told industry players and international media during the recent “Taiwan Excellence Smart Machinery” online news conference. This, in turn, has led for the mechanization and application of industry 4.0 as a growing trend in the machinery industry, he added. Smart manufacturing market is expected to increase from $214.7 billion in 2020 to $384.8 billion in 2025, growing at a compounded average growth rate of 12.4 percent, based on “Markets and Markets” study. To help achieve this growth target amid challenging times, Taiwan—being one of the World’s Top 5 machine tool exporting countries capable of delivering outstanding products at competitive prices—leverages on the expertise of its smart machinery industry to augment indigenous capacity and plug the loopholes in manufacturing solutions globally. “Taiwan is home to powerful precision machinery technology and a complete ICT supply chain. This enables us to deliver overall smart manufacturing solutions well-suited to assist businesses carry out industrial upgrades,” said Guann-Jyh Lee, deputy director general, Bureau of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA). The world had witnessed this as the country rapidly and effectively responded to contain Covid-19—thanks to the “National Mask Team” led by the MOEA, with the cooperation of 29 machine tool manufacturers, that completed the herculean task of establishing 92 mask production lines in 40 days, and boosted mask production from 1.88 million pieces a day to more than 19 million pieces a day. Along with demonstrating proficiency, this feat also established Taiwan as one of the best options for reviving the world’s manufacturing industry. “Achieving this mission impossible highlights the fact that Taiwan’s smart machinery industry is not only capable of advanced technology, but also has the flexibly to quickly respond to challenges,” he said. “As we enter the remaining stages of the epidemic, we strongly believe that Taiwan’s smart machinery can play a crucial role in helping any country restore their manufacturing.” To help global buyers present during the virtual forum become familiar with Taiwan’s smart machinery products, eight of the country’s most reputed companies showcased their advanced solutions, including precision components, digitally controlled machine tools, automation equipment and smart controlling systems, in a bid to assist them in managing industry upgrade and mechanization. The brands included iconic names like Chin Fong, FFG (Feeler), Grintimate, HIWIN, Manford, Solomon, She Hong (Hartford) and Tongtai. A new concept, “Taiwan Excellence Smart Machinery Virtual Pavilion,” was also launched at the web conference, which exhibited 60 innovative smart machinery products from 50 Taiwan excellence brands. To add to the experience, virtual reality technology allowed buyers to virtually check products without graphic restrictions. “We have demonstrated how Taiwan’s award-winning companies can assist by providing innovative solutions to meet manufacturing demands in the post-pandemic era. These companies will become reliable partners in the global industry upgrade. Taiwan Excellence will continue to present the best of Taiwanese technologies to the world even during these difficult times,” Yeh stressed.
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Editor: Angel R. Calso • Saturday, June 13, 2020 A7
Senior citizens in Zamboanga to receive P3,000 social pension
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AMBOANGA CITY—The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula) has begun releasing the social pension of the region’s senior citizens.
Ivan Eric Salvador, DSWD9 information officer, said on Wednesday that a total of 195,943 senior citizens in the region are set to receive P3,000 each under the social pension program of the department. Salvador said the cash payout falls under the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, which aims to provide financial assistance
to the elderly amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. He said they have already released the social pension to 400 beneficiaries in Zamboanga Sibugay and 600 in Zamboanga del Norte. Salvador said the release of the cash aid continues through the assistance of the different local
government units. He said the number of beneficiaries in the region is as follows: Zamboanga del Norte, 68,149; Zamboanga del Sur, 64,808; Zamboanga Sibugay, 36,949; Zamboanga City, 21,837; and Isabela City, 4,200. Meanwhile, Salvador disclosed that the release of the second wave of the P5,000 aid under
the social amelioration program would soon start. The distribution, he said, would be done after the liquidation of the first wave. “ T he ot her i nd igent i nd iv idua ls who failed to receive [the aid] in the first wave, but a re qu a l if ied, wou ld now be included as beneficiar ies,” he said. PNA
Retirement communities financed Cool lemonade out of lemons by munis pushed to edge by virus
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HE coronavirus, especially lethal to the elderly, is pushing a growing number of retirement communities into financial turmoil and fueling distress in the municipal bonds that financed them. Henry Ford Village, a 1,040-bed community in Dearborn, Michigan, has incurred “extraordinary expenses,” to contain an outbreak of the new coronavirus, which has killed at least 26 residents. Unable to accept new occupants, the operator is using a stimulus loan to make payroll and drew on a debt service reserve to make a May 15 interest payment. StoryPoint Senior Living has canceled tours at four new facilities in Indiana and Ohio and reported it doesn’t expect occupancy to increase through July. StoryPoint, projecting a $5-million operating loss this year, wants bondholders to forgo interest payments for the next 12 months. “We believe the senior housing industry has a very bright future,” said Brian Stoy, an executive with Common Sail Investment Group and StoryPoint Investments, said in a May 12 call with bondholders. “Short term, however, we are playing defense and for the next 18 months we are in the fight of our lives until there’s a vaccine for Covid-19.”
Signs of distress
SINCE the beginning of March, at least five retirement communities have missed a debt payment, drawn on reserves or violated bond covenants, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. At least one assisted living facility and one nursing home operator have missed debt payments. More than 80 percent of the $42-billion municipal bonds issued for senior housing have financed continuing care retirement communities, which offer independent housing, assisted living and skilled nursing on one campus. Most units at CCRC’s are for seniors who live by themselves and need less care, so the facilities have largely avoided the tens of thousands of deaths at nursing homes and assisted living facilities. But they’re grappling with higher costs to protect patients and unable to generate revenue through new admissions. The facilities rely on a constant flow of entrance fees from new seniors who move into independent units after residents move on to higher levels of care or die. Spending on masks, gowns, overtime and additional screening for staff has soared. Moratoriums on elective surgeries mean patients
By Nick Tayag
MY SIXTY-ZEN’S WORTH
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A SPANISH pensioner rests on a walking stick in Becedas, Spain. ANTONIO HEREDIA
aren’t coming in from hospitals for rehab after hip or knee replacements. Seniors who want to move in can’t because the facilities are locked down to protect current residents, while fear is causing some prospects to put plans on hold.
in the US in 2016, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control. One-third of all coronavirus deaths in the US are nursing home residents or workers, according to a report by the New York Times.
‘Murky’ demand
THE pace of municipal bond offerings for CCRC’s ramped up in the last four years as, operators, betting on a tidal wave of retiring baby boomers took advantage of record demand for higher-yielding securities to finance projects. Even before coronavirus, the CCRC sector was among riskiest in the state and local debt market. Since incoming residents frequently need to sell their homes to move in, the projects are vulnerable to real-estate downturns. Two-thirds of the facilities charge entrance fees, which averaged $335,000, according to a 2018 report by commercial real-estate services firm CBRE Group Inc. Residents also pay service fees of $3,250 per month on average. Since 2010, 80 borrowers in the municipal retirement sector have defaulted, used reserves to cover payments or violated covenants, more than any other sector according to Municipal Market Analytics. Almost half of the $35 billion in CCRC debt outstanding is unrated and almost $3 billion is distressed or in default, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Invesco Ltd. is among the biggest investors in municipal bonds issued for retirement communities, which can carry tax-exempt coupons as high as 10 percent. At the end of March, almost $1.2 billion of Invesco’s $9.4-billion high-yield municipal fund was invested in the sector. Bloomberg News
“THERE’S been a lot of quote unquote headline risk in this space, obviously, given the market’s susceptibility and the relatively high mortality rate,” said Matthew Stephan, head of muni credit research at Columbia Management. “The postCovid senior living demand picture of the next year is murky at best.” To stay afloat, many operators have sought loans through the Payroll Protection Program under the CARES Act. The Trousdale Foundation, which borrowed $165 million in 2018 in part to acquire four communities in Ohio, Florida and Tennessee, received a $7.6million loan, according to a bond filing. Occupancy has declined to 69 percent as of May 12 from 72 percent at the end of March. “Our assisted and independent living census has been disrupted as many potential residents are in fear of moving into any facility in light of the spread of the virus,” Trousdale said in an April 2 bond filing. Trousdale drew $4.3 million from debt service reserve funds to make an April 1 bond payment. These facilities in the US number about 1,900, according to the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care, and about 75 percent are operated by nonprofits. By contrast, assisted living facilities and nursing homes are typically owned by for-profit companies. There were 15,600 nursing homes and 28,900 assisted living facilities
Boomer bet
‘Feisty’ 103-year-old survives Covid-19, celebrates with beer
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ILBRAHAM, Massachusettes—“Feisty” is the way Shelley Gunn describes her 103-year-old grandmother. That quality shone through earlier this month when the Massachusetts woman’s beloved centenarian grandmother, Jennie Stejna, came back from the brink of death to survive a bout with Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus that has ravaged older Americans. “She always had that feisty fighting spirit,” Gunn, who recently
moved to Easton from Washington state, told The Enterprise of Brockton. “She didn’t give up.” Three weeks ago, Stejna was the first person to test positive for the coronavirus at her nursing home, Life Care Center of Wilbraham. The outlook was grim. As Stejna’s condition worsened, Gunn, her husband, Adam, and 4-year-old daughter, Violet, called to say what they thought were their final goodbyes. Gunn thanked Stejna for everything she had done for her. When Adam
Gunn asked if Stejna was ready to go to heaven, she replied, “Hell, yes.” But on May 13, Gunn got the news that Stejna had recovered. “We’re truly very thankful,” Gunn said. To celebrate, Stejna enjoyed an ice-cold beer, something she loved but hadn’t had in a long time, Gunn said. Stejna has two children, three grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren. AP
ISRUPTION is a term that the world of technology appropriated to describe the various new app innovations that are radically changing the way we live and work. Social analysts even touted the term “new normal” to describe the change to happen. Enter Covid-19. The unexpected Great Disruptor of our time. Suddenly everything seems to be in disarray. Many of best-laid plans are on hold and need to be reconsidered. The great buzz phrase new normal is now downgraded to mean social distancing and other health protocols. In its wake, a young entrepreneur I know has lost millions in his new business and faces millions in debt payments. Another friend has invested the future of his business in a million-peso deal that was supposed to be consummated before Covid-19. Now it is about to be aborted. But with every crisis is an opportunity, so goes the cliché. My good friend who was forced to stay home has found the forced lockdown as opportunity to write the story of his life, something he has been planning to do for years. Another senior friend has now all the time to do binge-painting of his favorite subject: his rustic landscapes. Sharing them on social media to provide a distraction and inspiration to friends bored at home, he has been getting unexpected inquiries from strangers who want to acquire the paintings. My friend has turned what was supposed to be a retirement hobby into an income bonanza. Bingeing on documentaries, I saw this piece about a young French artist, Prune Nourry, who was diagnosed with breast cancer who instead of going into depression decided to make an artistic project out of her term of trial. The result is a moving documentary dubbed “Serendipity.” The film does not take on a somber tone, as one would expect. Instead, Nourry opts to infuse her creative explorations with infectious fun that expands the profundity of her works and invites everyone to come along for the ride. Serendipity is defined as “the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.” What a beautiful word, a beautiful idea, so apt for this disruptive pandemic. Like the artist Nourry and my friends I mentioned, we need to find a way to make proverbial lemonade out of lemons, squeezing this lifealtering situation for all the imaginative juice we can muster. We need to be as focused on creation in the face of destruction and to reach out for connection to others. As we pick up and sort the pieces in our now fractured world,
we would do well to move toward serendipitous possibilities. Like I always keep saying the word responsibility is made up of response and ability. It’s not what life does to you. It’s what you do with what life does to you. What do we do with the time and situation given to us? It’s really a matter of attitude. Or a mindset that takes stock of the situation and considers what can we do to make something good out of what is here and now. As I always keep saying, the word responsibility is made up of response and ability. In the face of a long period of uncertainty, how do we respond to what life is giving us, echoing the insight of renowned psychologist Victor Frankl who wrote the book Man’s Search for Meaning based on his experience as a concentration camp internee who faced years of hopelessness and despair during World War II. Frankl urges us to understand, “You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what you will feel and do about what happens to you.” In other words, what matters is not what life does to you. It’s what you do with what life does to you. German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche writes: “My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati: Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it…but love it.” Amor fati. Not just resign or accept everything that happens to you but find a way to love it. It’s another term I picked up from a documentary about the philosophy of Stoicism. You feel that everything happens for a purpose, and that it is up to you to make this purpose something positive and active.” We can choose amor fati, to love our fate by first taking control over our perceptions, and then by turning our new paradigm into action. Ryan Holiday writes, “Once you see the world as it is, for what it is, you must act.” What do we do with the time and the situation given to us now? Let’s turn it around into something good. Consider the famous inventor Thomas Edison who at age 67, saw his laboratory being burned to the ground. Instead of dropping to his knees and crying in despair, he calmly tells his son: “Don’t worry. It’s all right. We’ve just got rid of a lot of rubbish.” In what could be a major setback, Edison chose to love his fate, no matter what. Not only was he not brokenhearted, he was revitalized. Despite losing over $23 million in today’s currency, he went on to do more inventions and reap more than $200 million! As someone said: “If it happened, then it was meant to happen, and I am glad that it did when it did. I am meant to make the best of it.” Remember that sticky note called
Post It Note? It started as a failed experiment to create a super-strong adhesive, but someone found a way to make a lemonade out of a lemon. He promoted it not as an adhesive but a reusable, “press n peel” bookmark, and it clicked, generating awesome profits for the 3M company. Displaced by the great disruptor from our pre-Covid-19 comfort zone, as an artist, as a worker, as a breadwinner, our entrepreneurial mind must kick in. Black swan events, such as economic recessions and pandemics, change the arc of history and cause shifts in governments, economies and businesses. Some of these shifts will continue on, creating a long-term digital disruption that will shape businesses for decades to come. It also becomes quite clear that this pandemic will serve as an accelerant to innovation. This pandemic will surely spawn entirely new categories of businesses. Already, experts are saying that Covid-19 will fuel the Next Wave of Innovation. An inspiring example I stumbled into on social media is this enterprising couple who found a way to transform discarded plastic soft drink bottles into appealing containers that can function as flower pots or seedbed for indoor plants. They hit on the idea upon learning that more and more homebound people are getting into home gardening to make use of their idle time. This inventive couple certainly did not just sit on their butts waiting for the pandemic clock to run out. Since most people have become accustomed to doing transactions online, programming experts may want to invent ways of developing new apps that will make the process friendlier and less intimidating. Where the work force needs to work together remotely, indefinitely, many companies will now be looking to add the human touch digitally to their work place. Consider face masks. Why not rethink the design so it will not only be functional as a health safeguard but also aesthetically appealing, with an array of design choices to reflect one’s individual personality? Why not make the plastic visor serve as walking statement like a t-shirt used to do? In disruption is an opportunity. Those who are relentlessly inventive and creative will thrive. Remember the song: “The fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.” The singer stopped there. If he had amor fati, he would have found a way to love the lemon and turned it into a song about a fresh cool lemonade. So today, some see only the downside and ask “why”? But a few will go and look for that something glowing under the pandemic wreckage and then suddenly shout eureka!
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LOW-COST EMERGENCY VENTILATOR UNVEILED
IBM quits facial recognition, joins call for police reforms
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BY MATT O’BRIEN The Associated Press
BM is getting out of the facial recognition business, saying it’s concerned about how the technology can be used for mass surveillance and racial profiling. Ongoing protests responding to the death of George Floyd have sparked a broader reckoning over racial injustice and a closer look at the use of police technology to track demonstrators and monitor American neighborhoods. IBM is one of several big tech firms that had earlier sought to improve the accuracy of their face-scanning software after research found racial and gender disparities. But its new CEO is now questioning whether it should be used by police at all. “We believe now is the time to begin a national dialogue on whether and how facial recognition technology should be employed by domestic law enforcement agencies,” wrote CEO Arvind Krishna in a letter sent Monday to US lawmakers. IBM’s decision to stop building and selling facial recognition software is unlikely to affect its bottom line, since the tech giant is increasingly focused on cloud computing while an array of lesser-known firms have cornered the market for government facial recognition contracts. “But the symbolic nature of this is important,” said Mutale Nkonde, a research fellow at Harvard and Stanford universities who directs the nonprofit AI For the People. Nkonde said IBM shutting down a business “under the guise of advancing anti-racist
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business practices” shows that it can be done and makes it “socially unacceptable for companies who tweet Black Lives Matter to do so while contracting with the police.” Krishna’s letter was addressed to a group of Democrats who have been working on police reform legislation in Congress fueled by the mass protests over Floyd’s death. The sweeping reform package could include restrictions on police use of facial recognition. The practice of using a form of artificial intelligence to identify individuals in photo databases or video feeds has come under heightened scrutiny after researchers found racial and gender disparities in systems built by companies including IBM, Microsoft and Amazon. IBM had previously tested its facial recognition software with the New York Police Department, although the department has more recently used other vendors. It’s not clear if IBM has existing contracts with other government agencies. Many US law enforcement agencies rely on facial recognition software built by companies less well known to the public, such as Tokyo-based NEC or the European companies Idemia and Cognitec, according to Clare Garvie, a researcher at Georgetown University’s Center on Privacy and Technology. A smaller number have partnered with Amazon, which has attracted the most opposition from privacy advocates since it introduced its Rekognition software in 2016. Krishna’s letter called for police reforms and noted that “IBM firmly opposes and will not condone uses of any technology, including facial recognition
technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling” and human-rights violations. Civil liberties advocates have raised concerns in recent weeks about the use of surveillance technology to monitor protesters or to enforce rules set to curb the coronavirus pandemic. Even before the protests, US senators this year had been scrutinizing New York facial recognition start-up Clearview AI following investigative reports about its practice of harvesting billions of photos from social media and other Internet services to identify people. Joy Buolamwini, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology whose research on facial recognition bias helped spur IBM’s reexamination of the technology, said on Tuesday she commends the congressional police reform package for seeking restrictions on the use of police body cameras to scan people’s faces in real time. But she said lawmakers can go further to protect people from having governments scan their faces on social media posts or in public spaces without their knowledge. “Regardless of the accuracy of these systems, mass surveillance enabled by facial recognition can lead to chilling effects and the silencing of dissent,” Buolamwini wrote in an email sent from Boston’s city hall, where she was testifying in support of a proposed ban on facial recognition use by municipal agencies. San Francisco and several other US cities have enacted similar bans over the past year. ■
FITBIT has recently announced that it has developed a highquality, low-cost, easy-to-use emergency ventilator, Fitbit Flow, which has obtained Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for use during the Covid-19 public health emergency. After seeing the global need for ventilators, Fitbit applied its deep in-house expertise in advanced sensor development and hardware design to quickly create Fitbit Flow, an automatic resuscitator inspired by the MIT E-Vent Design Toolbox and based on specifications for Rapidly Manufactured Ventilation Systems. During development and testing, Fitbit consulted with Oregon Health & Science University emergency medicine clinicians caring for Covid-19 patients at OHSU Hospital and worked with the Mass General Brigham Center for Covid Innovation working group on the design to meet the needs of practitioners. “Covid-19 has challenged all of us to push the boundaries of innovation and creativity, and use everything at our disposal to more rapidly develop products that support patients and the health-care systems caring for them,” said James Park, cofounder and CEO of Fitbit. “We saw an opportunity to rally our expertise in advanced sensor development, manufacturing, and our global supply chain to address the critical and ongoing need for ventilators and help make a difference in the global fight against this virus.” Fitbit Flow builds on standard resuscitator bags, like those used by paramedics, with sophisticated instruments, sensors, and alarms that work together to support automated compressions and patient monitoring. The device is designed to be intuitive and simple to use, potentially helping to reduce the strain on specialized staff who are typically needed to operate a commercial ventilator. Other similar emergency ventilators vary in the combination of features they offer, but Fitbit believes that none delivers all of the attributes of its device at the same lower price range. “Fitbit Flow is a great example of the incredible innovation that emerges when academia and industry employ problembased innovation to respond quickly to an important need,” said David Sheridan,MD, MCR, assistant professor of Pediatric Emergency Medicine and codirector of Emergency Clinical Innovation Oregon Health & Science University. Fitbit aims to leverage the company’s vast infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities that currently produces millions of Fitbit devices per year to produce large volumes of these emergency devices quickly. The goal is to supply these devices to health-care systems around the world that do not have a sufficient number of traditional commercial ventilators. Fitbit Flow is designed to be used only when a traditional commercial ventilator is not available. The device is awaiting FDA clearance and approval.
How news gathering and sharing have changed
IYA VILLANIAARELLANO (from left), Vicky Morales, Mike Enriquez and Mel Tiangco of 24 Oras
AS someone who started her life as a beat reporter, I would probably not survive being a full-time journalist today. I was trained to write my stories objectively, without injecting my opinions into them. In traditional media, that is still how it works. But it’s now 2020 and admittedly, people get their news from other media, not just newspapers and TV news programs. Things have changed and people have changed. In our household, only my mom and I still read the newspaper. When my 23-year-old wants to find out about something, she goes to Twitter. I am only allowed to give my opinions in this space because I am a columnist. If I were writing a feature article, it would be a straightforward narration of events with quotes inserted here and there based on interviews I conducted. I would not be allowed to say
whether the person I interviewed was lying or not. My opinion would not matter. One of the things I have realized is that nothing stays the same. The way the people look for news has changed. So now, journalists gather news in a different way and they deliver the news differently, too. Back in the day, I would wake up early on a weekday and go to my beat (for example, I was once a banking reporter and I had to go to the Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas) and wait for press releases, briefing or the opportunity to ambush our sources. Then, I’d need to write my stories and send them via a fax machine to my editor. These days (particularly in this pandemic), nearly everything is done online. You can interview your sources via e-mail or even iMessage or Viber. No need to physically stake out their offices to “ambush” them, like we used to do. So why am I talking about news
and news-gathering? It’s because I just received word that GMA News continues to be the Philippines’s top online news video publisher. Based on the April 2020 data from social video analytics Tubular Labs, GMA News has set an all-time record with 458.8 million video views on Facebook. On YouTube, GMA News posted 200.8 million video views for the said period. According to a press release from GMA Network, ABS-CBN News had 368 million and 119 million views on Facebook and YouTube, respectively. GMA News got the eighth spot in Tubular Labs’ global leaderboard for Overall Creators in the News and Politics content genre. It even bested international outlets such as Fox News (No. 11), Al Jazeera (No. 13), CNN (No. 16), NBC News (No. 24) and BBC News (No. 29). Meanwhile, GMA News’ flagship program 24 Oras began streaming globally on GMA News’ Facebook page and YouTube channel on May 11. Complementing its wide reach via free TV, 24 Oras has also become the most-viewed local newscast both on Facebook and YouTube. In addition, GMA News and Public Affairs Digital has also been producing online shows amid the Covid-19 crisis. These include the “Need To Know” explainer series and “Quarantined with Howie Severino,” which are available also on GMA News’ Facebook page and YouTube channel.
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Japanese carmaker Honda hit by cyberattack LONDON—Japanese carmaker Honda said on Tuesday that it has been hit by a cyberattack that disrupted its business in several countries, though it expects the overall impact to be contained. The company said in a statement that “a cyberattack has taken place on the Honda network.’’ It said there was no breach of data, but that it is working to “minimize the impact and to restore full functionality of production, sales and
SUPERIOR DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE KEY FACTOR IN ATTRACTING CLIENTS BY RIZAL RAOUL S. REYES IN order to remain competitive and relevant in the digital economy, a business center should be capable of providing excellent technological support and uninterrupted connectivity. Apart from accessibility, Greenfield Development Corp. (GDC) Executive Vice President and General Manager Duane Santos said reliable IT infrastructure and Internet connection are nonnegotiable. “With Internet technology pushing itself as one of the key components in achieving success in business, a superior digital infrastructure should be a priority and prerequisite when considering office spaces,” Santos said in a press statement. To attract blue chip clients, Santos said Greenfield Tower in Mandaluyong has deployed fiber-to-theoffice technology as its digital backbone to meet global standards with its integrated fiber-optic system. He added FTTO gives prospective locators a big advantage for every business from start-ups to conglomerates that rely on higher bandwidth, faster Internet speeds, better signal strength, and consistent network reliability in their day-to-day operations. As a standard-compliant technology, FTTO can be deployed easily and has a decentralized cabling concept for modern office environments. Furthermore, FTTO delivers fast connection as it combines highly efficient fiber-optic technology with the flexibility of twisted pair cabling. Moreover, Santos said Greenfield Tower has been designed to enable tenants to work on a continuous basis even during bad weather. It has a 24/7 support operations owing to its 100 percent backup power from five units of 2000-kilowatt capacity generator sets. Moreover, he said Greenfield Tower stands on one of the highest points of the city at an elevation of 39 meters or roughly 10 building floors higher than Makati, thus making the area still highly accessible amid inclement weather and seasonal typhoons. Santos said Greenfield Tower is currently home to both fledgling start-ups and established companies. Current locators include money transfer company Remitly, medical equipment provider Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, government agency Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, Teletransform, ECCL Singapore PTE Ltd and Goldilocks. Furthermore, Santos said new tenants such as Japanese engineering firm Oriental Consultants Global, internationally acclaimed insurance provider Sun Life Financial, software company Rhipe Philippines, The Asia Foundation, and Fulbright Philippines will move in soon. Aside from Greenfield Tower’s sustainable and tech-ready features, Santos said the airy, verdant landscaped parks and open spaces for its integrated, master-planned urban community serves as a good compliment so tenants and clients as well can achieve a good work-life balance. To lessen the carbon footprint, Santos said building tenants and guests can take an easy five-minute walk from the tower to several lifestyle centers such as The Hub, The Portal, and Pavilion. Greenfield Tower is accessible to both private and public transportation owing to its proximity to major thoroughfares such as Edsa and Shaw Boulevard. Professionals and employees can easily reach their offices through mass transportation systems like buses, jeepneys, mass rail transit (MRT), or taxicabs and transport network vehicle services. “All in all, the Greenfield Tower in Greenfield District makes sure it stands as an establishment that meets global standards while providing a genuinely nurturing environment for its inhabitants,” Santos explained.
development activities.’’ “At this point, we see minimal business impact,’’ the company said. Production in Japan is back to normal, after being disrupted on Monday morning, and it is also expected to resume on Tuesday in North America. Production at Honda’s UK factory in Swindon has been suspended during the Covid-19 lockdown and the attack is not expected to significantly alter its plans to resume operations
this week. Honda Motor Co. makes its popular Civic model at the factory, 115 kilometers (70 miles) west of London, with an output of 150,000 cars per year. The plant will permanently close next year with the loss of 3,500 jobs amid a restructuring aimed at adjusting its operations to reflect stronger demand in Asia and North America. Like other carmakers, Honda has struggled to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic and the efforts to
return to production. It reported deep losses for the fiscal quarter that ended in March, as the damage to the industry from the outbreak hurt sales and crimped production. The attack also comes as automakers face pressure to invest large amounts of money in new technologies such as electric and autonomous cars to meet air pollution limits in Europe and China and fend off competition from tech companies. AP
Facebook removes nearly 200 accounts tied to hate groups
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BY DAVID KLEPPE� The Associated Press
ACEBOOK has removed nearly 200 socialmedia accounts linked to white supremacy groups that planned to encourage members to attend protests over police killings of black people—in some cases with weapons, company officials said on Friday. The accounts on Facebook and Instagram were tied to the Proud Boys and the American Guard, two hate groups already banned on the platforms. Officials were already monitoring the accounts in preparation for removing them when they saw posts attempting to exploit the ongoing protests prompted by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. “We saw that these groups were planning to rally supporters and members to physically go to the protests and in some cases were preparing to go with weapons,” said Brian Fishman, Facebook’s director of counterterrorism and dangerous organizations policy. The company did not divulge details of the account users—such as their specific plans for protests or where in the US they live. It said “approximately” 190 accounts were removed overall. Both the Proud Boys and American Guard had been banned from Facebook for violating rules prohibiting hate speech. Facebook said it will continue to remove new pages, groups or accounts created by users trying to circumvent the ban. Earlier this week, Facebook announced the removal of a “handful” of other accounts created by white supremacists who had been posing on Twitter as members of the far-left antifa movement. Facebook announced two other actions on Friday to root out networks of fake accounts used in attempts to manipulate public opinion in Africa and Iraq: ■ Hundreds of fake Instagram and Facebook accounts created in Tunisia in an alleged effort to influence elections in that country and other Frenchspeaking nations in sub-Saharan Africa. The accounts and related pages were used to impersonate local citizens, politicians and news organizations. More than 3.8 million accounts followed one or more of the pages, and more than
171,000 people had followed one of the fake Instagram accounts. The network of fake accounts and pages was uncovered by the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRL). In their report, researchers at the DFRL said they’ve noticed more and more PR firms dabbling in misinformation and online manipulation.
■ Facebook also deactivated another network of 102 fake Instagram and Facebook accounts used to impersonate local politicians and news organizations in the Kurdish region in northern Iraq. Company officials said the fake accounts, which appeared to target domestic audiences in Kurdistan, were linked to Kurdish intelligence services. ■
Environment, tech leaders assemble for a better planet in global webinar THE challenges in today’s world can be mitigated as tech and environmental leaders from around the world came together in Huawei’s global webinar, titled “Tech for a Better Planet,” providing ways technologies can be utilized to support environmental protection. Eight leaders in tech and the environment shared their expertise, agreeing that utilizing the latest technologies such as big data monitoring, IoT, 5G, and AI are pivotal in saving the environment. “Technology can be a way to scale up nature conservation efforts,” director of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Green List Certification James Hardcastle said. According to Tao Jing Wen, Huawei director of corporate sustainability, “Tech for a better planet is our promise and commitment. Environmental protection is one of our sustainable strategies. Dr. Bisel Jamoussi, chief of the study group of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), said that the union is helping the ICT sector move toward a carbon neutral path through standards like ITU-T SG5, research, raising awareness and promoting collaboration in the industry. Founder and CEO of Rainforest Connection Topher White compared the world’s tech like a blue ocean where the opportunites of saving the environment opens the way to limitless potential. “What we’re seeing now is to get more data in the
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(CLOCKWISE) Topher White, CEO and founder of Rainforest Connection; Prof. Feng Limin, Amour Leopard Monitoring and Research Center-China; James Hardcastle, director of IUCN; Michel Fraisse, Huawei CTO Europe for Digital Power line; Dr. Grethel Aguilar, acting director of IUCN; Roman Eyholer, CEO of Porini Foundation; Dr. Nirmal Jiva Shah, CEO of Nature Seychelles; Dr. Bilel Jamousi-ITU; and Daniel Turner from CDP
field. We see the next world as blockchain and AI. If you look at nature, it’s almost like a blue ocean. There’s a whole new frontier on that,” White said. Acting Director General of IUCN Dr. Grethel
Aguilar summarized the event thusly: “I see this technology as a source of transformational change. I think technology is a future in a big way, and we should embrace it.”
BusinessMirror
A10 Saturday, June 13, 2020
www.businessmirror.com.ph
How messaging technology is helping fuel global protests BY BARBARA O�TUTAY & AMANDA SEITZ The Associated Press
OPPO offers special discounts and prizes GLOBAL smartphone brand OPPO takes a bit of the sting out of the ongoing community quarantine with great deals and exciting prizes. On June 5, entrepreneur and Find X2 Pro brand ambassador Belle Daza and top tech publication Yugatech’s Justine Basco hosted the weekly “ShOPPO” livestream the brand’s Facebook page. Viewers were given insights from the two on how the “new normal” is shaping the digital lifestyle of the Filipino millennials, as well as fresh ideas on how consumers could best to maximize the camera features of the Find X2 Pro. Participating viewers also got the chance to take home OPPO Enco Q1 and OPPO Enco Free. Dubbed “The Big OPPO Sale,” the value offerings continue throughout the month in select OPPO Concept Stores and official dealer partners including e-commerce platform partners Lazada and Shopee. The price drops cover the best-selling OPPO A9 2020, A5s 3G and Reno2. Besides the discounted prices, the latest Reno3 and Reno3 Pro come with a free Rockspace EB60 True Wireless Stereo Earbuds worth P2,499. Meanwhile, the OPPO flagship offering Find X2 Pro comes with a free OPPO Enco Q1 worth P4,990. More information about the ongoing campaign can be found at www.twitter.com/OPPOPhilippines and the brand’s other social-media pages.
GET FREE MOBILE LEGENDS CREDITS ON VIBER FANS of the popular online game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang can now mobilize on Viber (www.viber.com/ en) to share gameplay tips, grow their fan base, and even earn free game credits. The massively successful international game has teamed up with the leading communications app to give Filipino players and followers more ways to enjoy their favorite game as privately and securely as possible. Viber released an exclusive Mobile Legends sticker pack, featuring some of the game’s cute animated characters. Once people download the pack, they will be automatically added to Viber’s local Mobile Legends community group, where they can connect with fellow fans and improve their gameplay experience. Best of all, players who are part of the Mobile Legends Viber community will also get exclusive announcements about how they can get free in-app game credits.
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HEN a friend shared a Facebook post with Michelle Burris inviting her to protest in downtown Washington, D.C., last Saturday, she knew she had to go. So she bought a Black Lives Matter mask from a street vendor before marching the streets of the district with a “No Justice, No Peace” sign. After that march ended, she pulled up details on Instagram for a car caravan demonstration just a few blocks away. “It was extremely powerful, not only Facebook but Instagram,” Burris said. “It was very easy to mobilize.” Protesters are using a variety of technology tools to organize rallies, record police violence and communicate during the marches sweeping the US and other countries following the death of George Floyd. Some of that involves secure messaging services like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram, which can encrypt messages to thwart spies. Those apps, along with others for listening to police scanners and recording video, are enjoying an uptick in popularity. But experts say convenience and reach are key. “Reaching as many people as possible is the number one criterion for which platform someone is going to use,” said Steve Jones, a University of Illinois at Chicago media researcher who studies communication technology. That means Twitter, Facebook and Facebookowned Instagram remain the easiest ways for people to organize and document the mass protests. Facebook’s tools remain popular despite a barrage of criticism over the platform’s inaction after President Donald Trump posted a message that suggested protesters in Minneapolis could be shot. “I don’t want to support or be a part of something that is possibly supporting Trump and his racist, hate filed spew,” said Sarah Wildman, who’s been to three protests in Atlanta and has used Instagram exclusively to locate and to document the demonstrations she attended. But she said she feels that, at this point, “the benefits of Instagram outweigh not using it.” Half a century ago during the civil rights protests, Jones said, it was almost impossible to know what was going on during a protest. “There was a lot of rumor, a lot of hearsay,” he said. “Now you can reach everyone almost instantaneously.” Wildman said she uses Instagram’s “live” function to find out what is happening during protests, especially when protesters in the back might not know what’s happening at the front. At one, she said, people started yelling that police were using tear gas—but it wasn’t true, which she learned by checking Instagram. Organizers are also using Telegram, an app that allows private messages to be sent to thousands of people at once, creating channels for specific cities to give updates on protest times and locations, as well as updates on where police are making arrests or staging. One New York City Telegram channel for the protests grew from just under 300 subscribers on Monday to nearly 2,500 by Friday. During a peaceful rally in Providence, Rhode Island, on Friday, Anjel Newmann, 32, said that
ANJEL NEWMANN, 32, kneels while scanning her phone during a peaceful rally in Providence, Rhode Island, on June 5. Newmann said she’s mostly using Instagram and Facebook to organize protests while people younger than her are using Snapchat. AP
while she’s mostly using Instagram and Facebook to organize, younger people are using Snapchat. The main problem: It’s hard to tell which online flyers are legitimate. “That’s one of the things we haven’t figured out yet,” she said. “There was a flyer going around saying this was canceled today.” The simplicity of shooting and sharing video has also made possible recordings of violence that can spread to millions within moments. A smartphone video of Floyd’s death helped spark the broad outrage that led to the protests. Apps like Signal are seeing an uptick in downloads according to Apptopia, which tracks such data. Signal was downloaded 37,000 times over the weekend in the US, it said, more than at any other point since it launched in 2014. Other private messaging apps, such as Telegram and Wickr, have not seen a similar uptick. One new user is Toby Anderson, 30, who also attended the Providence rally on Friday. Anderson, who is biracial, said he downloaded the encrypted Signal app several days earlier at the request of his mom. “She’s a black woman in America,” he said, worried about his safety and eager to grasp any additional measure of security she could. Meanwhile, apps like Police Scanner and 5-0 Police Scanner, which allow anyone to listen to live police
dispatch chatter—and may be illegal in some states— racked up 213,000 downloads over the weekend, Apptopia said. That is 125 percent more than the weekend before and a record for the category. Citizen, which sends real-time alerts and lets users post live video of protests and crime scenes, was downloaded 49,000 times. On the down side, the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism said in a blog post this week that it has found white nationalists using Telegram to try to wreak havoc during the protests. “Some, especially those in the accelerationist camp, are celebrating the prospect of increased violence, which they hope will lead to a long-promised ‘race war,’” the ADL said Monday. “They are extremely active online, urging other white supremacists to take full advantage of the moment.” In one Telegram channel, the ADL found, participants suggested murdering protesters, then spreading rumors to blame the deaths on police snipers. Others want to further exacerbate racial tensions. “Good time to stroke race relations” and “post black live’s don’t matter stickers,” a user posted—with misspellings—to the Reformthestates Telegram channel, according to the ADL. ■
China’s Huawei launches ad blitz as UK reconsiders its role LONDON—Huawei has launched an advertising campaign in Britain as officials reconsider the Chinese technology company’s role in supplying equipment for the country’s next-generation high speed mobile networks. The company took out full-page ads in British national newspapers outlining its commitment to providing mobile and broadband companies with equipment for fifthgeneration networks, even though
“some now question our role in helping Britain lead the way in 5G.” Huawei is stepping up its efforts to win over public opinion as it faces increasing pressure from a US-led campaign aimed at persuading allies to shun its telecom equipment over fears that Beijing could use it for spying or sabotage—a charge the company has consistently denied. Huawei was granted a limited role in January to build the United Kingdom’s new high-speed 5G
networks. However, last week the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre began a review to examine the impact new US sanctions against Huawei could have on the country’s networks, officials said. The US restrictions on foreign semiconductor makers unveiled last month are aimed at limiting Huawei’s ability to use American technology, escalating a geopolitical battle between Washington and Beijing over industry development and security.
The sanctions “will definitely damage the global supply chain of the semiconductor industry, which lots of industries rely on,” though it’s too soon to draw a conclusion about the impact, Huawei Vice President Victor Zhang told reporters on a conference call. Huawei faced a setback last week in Canada, where two of the three major telecommunication companies decided not to use its equipment for their 5G networks. AP
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Mobile World Congress organizer to cut 20% of global work force
Saturday, June 13, 2020 A11
How Hyun Bin ‘crash landed’ on Smart TVC
BY NATE LANXON Bloomberg News THE mobile technology industry’s trade body is cutting about a fifth of its work force after being forced to cancel a conference that generated most of its revenue. The decision by the GSMA follows the cancellation of February’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona— an early major industry casualty of the Covid-19 pandemic—which accounts for as much as 80 percent of the trade group’s annual revenue. The company has around 1,000 staff. Stephanie Lynch-Habib, the group’s chief marketing officer, confirmed the cuts and work force size reported by Bloomberg earlier on Wednesday, and said those affected had been informed. “We think this is at least a three-year recovery scenario,” she said in an interview, and added that the staff reductions were part of a wider cost-cutting plan. The GSMA has also slashed bonus payouts to eligible individuals and pared budgets and non-staff spending by about 40 percent for the current year.
‘TOUGH SITUATION’
“WE’RE going through an extremely tough situation and it’s not because anyone was doing a bad job,” she said. “We’re really empathetic but it was needed to ensure the health of the GSMA and how it serves the industry.” The removal of MWC Barcelona from the calendar, and later a related Shanghai event, meant telecom heavyweights lost significant opportunities to generate marketing buzz around their latest wares, such as 5G devices and Internet of Things products. The industry’s biggest players often spend tens of millions of dollars to exhibit at the Barcelona show, and smaller ones pay in the hundreds of thousands. In February, Mats Granryd, director general of the GSMA, said the trade body was “looking for solidarity” because it was “a nongovermental organizations and we don’t make a profit.” The following month, the GSMA said it would offer refunds to attendees for the cost of their Barcelona event tickets, which cost €799 ($908) for a basic admissions pass. But to large exhibitors it wanted to give incentives such as discounts on attending the show in future years as an alternative to claiming large refunds. On Wednesday, Lynch-Habib said job cuts and other cost-saving measures had been made to ensure MWC Barcelona and related shows could return in 2021 and beyond, and as in-person events primarily. “I expect it will be a very strong event, but we’re going to have to deal with the reality that some people will still want to participate remotely next year,” she said. “We’re working hard with our CEO to make sure it’s all possible.”
I
T was way back in 2006 when Hyun Bin first caught the fancy of Pinoys via the now-classic Korean drama My Name Is Kim Sam-soon, followed by Secret Garden in 2011, both of which aired on GMA . It would take another eight years before we saw Hyun Bin in another series, but this time it wasn’t a Tagalized version, nor was it shown on any of our local channels. Upon its debut, Crash Landing on You became the No.1 show on global streaming platform Netfilx, perhaps the most popular source of entertainment of this generation next to YouTube. The cross-border romcom about a North Korean military officer, Captain Ri (Hyun Bin), who falls in love with a South Korean heiress Yoon Se-Ri (Son Ye-jin), consistently topped Netflix’s Top 10 list of most-watched content among Filipino subscribers. It premiered in December of 2019, and ended as one of the highest-rated Korean cable dramas in February. So even before the lockdown, Pinoys were already “locked down” on Hyun Bin, and the ECQ just gave fans all the time they needed to watch the show whenever they liked and give in to their #CLOY obsession. TV might have turned Hyun Bin into a household name, but the “Hyun Bin Phenomenon” is pretty much due to digital technology. “Filipinos have developed the craze because they are able to stream his shows, hear the buzz about him online, share their excitement with their friends, and even get to interact with him through social media,” said Smart senior vice president Jane Basas in a digital press conference on June 1 to officially launch the telco’s newest campaign. Technology also made it possible for Smart Communications to get Hyun Bin for its TVC and make him the “captain” of their newest campaign. In Smart’s new ad, Hyun Bin rides a sports car and zooms past the city streets—a fitting reference to the blazing speeds by which Filipinos can enjoy their daily dose of entertainment powered by Smart LTE and Giga promos. The ad strongly concludes with Hyun Bin delivering Smart’s new tagline in Filipino: “Simple. Smart ako.” Ramon R. Isberto, PLDT-Smart First Vice President and Public Affairs Head, then confirmed that they are indeed bringing the South Korean superstar to the Philippines for several appearances. “We still have to deal with Covid-19, but he is definitely coming. When exactly, we’re going to have to work it out.” Fans can also expect exclusive Hyun Bin merchandise to be released in the coming weeks.
THE LEGEND CONTINUES WITH THE REDMI NOTE 9 SERIES
THE midrange market gets even more competitive
as Xiaomi launched the Redmi Note 9 and Redmi Note 9 Pro recently. The Redmi Note series has become legendary for being incredible mid-range smartphones with more than 110 million units sold worldwide. The Redmi Note 9 will start at P7,990 while the Redmi Note 9 Pro will retail starting at P12,490. Photography and videography reign supreme as the Redmi Note 9 brings photography to the forefront with a 48MP main camera and 8MP ultra wide-angle lens. Its 2MP macro lens and 2MP depth sensor complete the quad-camera setup, capturing beautiful images from all angles. A 13MP camera is positioned in-display to allow for maximum frontscreen display size. The Redmi Note 9 Pro, meanwhile, has a 64MP main lens that captures crisp, ultra-high resolution images in all lighting conditions, while its 8MP ultra wide -angle lens enables stunning large group images without compromise. A 5MP macro lens and 2MP depth sensor round out the rear camera, letting users take stunning closeup shots with fantastic bokeh. On the front, the Redmi Note 9 Pro sports a 16MP in-display camera for high-quality selfies as well as “slofies” (slow-motion selfies). Both offer cinematic portraits and a video mode that turns users into directors by capturing content with a 2.39:1 aspect ratio—the same format commonly
used in films. The Redmi Note 9 flaunts an all-new look with the immersive 6.53” DotDisplay protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on the front. The Note 9 Pro has an even bigger, notch-free 6.67” DotDisplay. A sidemounted fingerprint sensor makes the device more conveniently accessible. Under the hood, Redmi Note 9 has a MediaTek Helio G85 processor making it the world’s first smartphone to feature the new chipset. It also consists of a 2x A75 2.0GHz, 6x A55 1.8GHz CPU and an ARM G52 MC2 with roughly 1000MHz and a Manhattan 3.0 GPU at around 25 fps, offering ultra-smooth dayto-day performance. On the other hand the Redmi Note 9 Pro has the all-new Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G processor. Powered by a large 5020mAh (typ) battery, the Redmi Note 9 supports 18W fast charging, while the Redmi Note 9 Pro offers 30W fast charging with an inbox 33W fast charger that can charge up to 57 percent in just 30 minutes. Both the Redmi Note 9 and Redmi Note 9 Pro feature an array of other fan-favorite features, including a 3.5mm headphone jack, an IR blaster and more. These devices also come with the TÜV Rheinland low blue light certification for long-lasting eye comfort, and splash-proof nano coating for accidental spills. ■
DOH volunteer doctors provide video consultation via KonsultaMD CUSTOMERS of telehealth service KonsultaMD may now enjoy unlimited video consultation with any of the 30 telemedicine doctors who have volunteered in the DOH Healthcare Warrior Program. This service is available via KonsultaMD app until June 22. To enjoy the service, customers may download the KonsultaMD app and choose from four affordable KonsultaMD plans which only cost from P15 per week to P150 per month. In return, they can book an appointment with their preferred DOH volunteer doctor and consult for free within the comforts of their own home.
Aside from the DOH volunteers, members may also engage in teleconsultation with a licensed KonsultaMD doctor anytime via voice or video, depending on their chosen subscription. They may also request e-prescription and e-laboratory. “We are glad to be chosen by DOH as one of their platforms to reach out to people who are in need of medical advice. Telemedicine is a viable alternative to face-to-face consultation and is one way of decongesting our hospitals so that the medical staff can focus on critical cases,” said Maridol Ylanan, CEO of Global Telehealth Inc., the company which
operates KonsultaMD. KonsultaMD was also tapped by DOH earlier to provide free telemedicine advice to individuals who need non-emergency medical assistance to alleviate surge and minimize risks posed by unnecessary visits to hospitals. The service ended on May 31. KonsultaMD is equipped with modules and internal protocols in handling different health issues and provides a telephone triage or a means of determining the urgency of the caller’s condition. Its team of doctors can provide general health information, guidance and specific measures,
interim care and self-care recommendations, reading of laboratory and diagnostic results, health coaching and nutrition counseling, and prescribe medication. To subscribe, customers may download the KonsultaMD app for free from the App Store for iOS or Google Play Store for Android, or call 79880 via mobile or (02) 7798-8000 via landline. Calls to the mobile hotline are free for Globe and TM customers. KonsultaMD supports the UN Sustainable Development Goal N0. 3 which promotes good health and wellbeing for all at all ages. More information is available at www.konsulta.md.
Sports BusinessMirror
A12 Saturday, June 13, 2020
mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph / Editor: Jun Lomibao
BOXER FUCHS CLEARED OF DOPING CAUSED BY SEX U
S Olympic team boxer Virginia Fuchs will face no punishment for failing a doping test after the US Anti-Doping Association (USADA) determined the violation had been caused by two substances transmitted by her boyfriend through sex. USADA announced
its ruling Thursday clearing the 32-year-old Fuchs, who intends to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics next year as a flyweight. Fuchs has served as a recent captain of the US Olympic team, which returned to Colorado Springs this week for its first training camp since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Fuchs learned in March that she had tested positive for two banned substances during an out-of-competition test in
THE US’s Virginia Fuchs (left) fights Colombia’s Ingrit Valencia in the women’s flyweight final at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, in August last year. AP
February. While investigating the tests, USADA learned Fuchs’s partner had been taking products that included the two banned substances, and the levels of Fuchs’s violations were consistent with recent exposure through sexual transmission. USADA CEO Travis Tygart said his organization confirmed Fuchs’s violation only because it was required to do so. “While the World AntiDoping Code requires that this no-fault finding be considered a violation and be publicly announced, we strongly believe
this case and others like it, including meat contamination and prescription medication contamination cases, should be considered no violation,” Tygart said. “We will continue to advocate for changes to the World Anti-Doping Code so that where there is no intent to cheat and no performance benefit, an athlete should not face any violation or unnecessary public attention.” Fuchs didn’t immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press. On her Twitter account, she expressed her
AN UNUSUAL FIRST ROUND, BUT IT’S GOLF
Dustin Johnson’s caddie Austin Johnson wipes down a putting green flag pole with a disinfectant wipe along with Bryson DeChambeau’s caddie Tim as a sound technician wears a protective mask during the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge on Thursday. AP
Team Liyab donates P.5M to Philippine Heart Center
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LOBE, via its co-owned eSports team Liyab Esports, rallied professional eSports athletes, streamers and League of Legends fans to raise more than half a million pesos in cash donations for the Philippine Heart Center (PHC) as part of their Covid-19 relief efforts. Dubbed “Starforge,” the online charity streaming event was launched from April 17 to 26 by Liyab and Esports AcadArena, the largest campus eSports initiative in the Philippines. During the two-week campaign, Team Liyab participated in online community team matches, held entertaining podcasts and interacted with fans and the nationwide gaming community. The campaign culminated in a major Starforge event which featured a best-of-three All-Stars Showdown between teams headed by Liyab’s Kang “Kurd” Yeonghwan and the team of Edrian “DoeDoii” Brancia, with Team Kurd dominating the duel. Throughout the duration of the event, Globe donated cash when milestones were met. For every kill of an opposing player, dragon or baron takedown, Globe added P1,000 to the fund. To
further show their support toward the gaming community’s initiative, Globe donated P100,000 in funding upfront. Together with several partners, Globe raised a total of P523,000 for PHC through Starforge. “It gives us great inspiration to know that partners and communities like Globe and the local eSports industry are also supporting us here at PHC, and all medical frontliners in the country who are continuously battling the onslaught of Covid-19,” said Dr. Gerardo Manzo, deputy executive director, Incident Command Post at PHC. “We are grateful to Team Liyab and their fans in leading this unique initiative to ensure our staff’s safety and health so that in turn, we can ensure the health and welfare of the Filipino public,” Manzo added. “More than just bringing together gamers and gaming enthusiasts, we wanted to harness the reach of competitive online gaming toward opportunities to raise awareness and donations to aid Covid-19 frontliners,” Jil Bausa-Go, vice president at Content Business Group of Globe, said.
Mobile Legends pro league books records highest finals viewership
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INESKI Global, in partnership with Moonton Games, concluded the fifth season of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) in the Philippines and Indonesia with all-time-high viewership. MPL-Philippines’s fifth season, which broadcast its playoffs and grand finals last May 31, was the most-viewed in the league’s history in the country and also the most-watched Philippine eSports event ever. It registered a peak online viewer count of 317,330 for the finals match between OnicPH and Sunsparks. The success of the MPL in the Philippines showed the potential of eSports to be a major part of sports entertainment in the new normal in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The same hype was generated around MPL Indonesia, also organized by Mineski Esports. Indonesia’s “El Clasico” match between RRQ and Evos in the playoffs generated 702,689 peak online viewers before topping it off with a peak viewer count of more than 1 million during the grand finals, wherein RRQ claimed the championship. “I’m very proud of our Mineski Esports
Philippines and Indonesia teams for pulling off five seasons of the MPL with flying colors, all while setting records in terms of viewership for eSports tournaments in Southeast Asia,” Mineski Global CEO and founder Ronald Robins said. Mineski Global’s Esports arm has been working closely with Moonton Games since the establishment of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang professional leagues in 2018. The league has produced the best players in the region when it comes to the mobile MOBA genre. “In the recently concluded fifth season of the MPL, MPL Indonesia and Philippines have achieved positive growth and breakthroughs in performance,” said Lucas Mao, Moonton Games’ director for eSports. Sunsparks became the first back-to-back titlist in the Philippine edition of the MPL. The team of Allen Jedric “Greed_” Baloy, Kiel VJ Hernandez “Kielvj” Cruzem, Ashley Marco “Killuash” Cruz, Christian Provido “Rafflesia” Fajura, Jaypee Gonzales “Jaypee” de la Cruz, Renz Errol “Renzio” Salonga Cadua, Rizzi Joy Pardiñas (manager), and Michael Angelo Bocado (coach) won a total of P1,258,000. The MPL will reopen for its sixth season in July.
By Doug Ferguson
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The Associated Press
ORT WORTH, Texas—The start was even more quiet than usual for a Thursday morning on the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour, only the silence never left over the next 12 hours as golf was back to business at the Charles Schwab Challenge. Sung Kang made a hole-in-one on the 13th hole and didn’t realize it until he was 50 yards from the green. “I’m like, ‘Wow, it’s in the hole.’ It wasn’t really crazy. Nobody was really up there, only a few people out there just clapping a little bit,” Kang said. “I still appreciated it, though.” Phil Mickelson made a birdie and instinctively pinched the brim of his cap to acknowledge a crowd that wasn’t there. Ryan Palmer, a Colonial member who raised money for Covid-19 relief efforts during the shutdown, was chosen to hit the first official shot on the PGA Tour in three months. Those gathered around the first tee could barely hear him announced. The starter was wearing a mask, and his voice competed with the hum of a generator behind the ninth green. Quiet as it was, Colonial came to a standstill at 8:46 a.m. when everyone on the course honored a moment of silence for the death of George Floyd and the outrage it has sparked worldwide on racial injustice. It was a most unusual round of golf. But it was golf. “I think just being out here is successful, to be honest with you, getting started,” Palmer said. “I don’t see anything holding us back moving forward. I think today was the biggest day, just getting this first day off. People are going to watch golf back home and be interested to watch it tomorrow, and that’s a great thing.” Justin Rose and Harold Varner shared the
lead at seven-under 63, with Justin Thomas among those a stroke back. Tom Lehman, a 61-year-old former champion at Colonial, got in on the act with a 65. Conditions were ripe for good scores with no cheers. “It kind of feels like a competitive practice round,” said Rose, who won at Colonial two years ago. “But obviously, I think we all know what’s on the line. We all know what we’re playing for. We all know the competition this week especially, the field is incredible. Obviously, we miss the fans. They definitely provide a ton of energy and atmosphere.” Golf is the second major sport in the US, behind motor sports, to resume a schedule shut down by the Covid-19 pandemic. Among the safety measures are coronavirus tests for every player, caddie and essential personnel. Of the 487 tests at Colonial, the results were all negative. “We’re all taking risks playing golf, obviously,” Palmer said. “Being back out
Romero: Sports academy boosts athletes’ spirits
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PORTSMAN Mikee Romero hailed the establishment of the National Sports Academy (NAS) saying the institution would boost the spirits of national athletes and aspiring sports heroes who had to endure training in isolation because of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Finally, after decades of waiting, we now have the new law creating the National Academy of Sports System [NASS] attached to the Department of Education [DepEd],” said Deputy Speaker Romero of 1-Pacman Party-list. “While our athletes wait out the pandemic, the DepEd and collaborators on sports can get the governing board organized and activated, work out
gratitude to USADA. “This has been a huge lesson for me and now that [it’s] over, I’m fully focused on preparing for Tokyo,” Fuchs wrote. Fuchs is taking her third shot at an Olympic appearance this year. She was the US team’s flyweight before the Rio Olympics in 2016, but fell just short of qualification for the games. Fuchs and most of her US teammates still must secure a spot in Tokyo in two qualifying tournaments to be held within the next year. AP
the details, create the systems, design the academic programs, and secure the funding,” said Romero, also a member of the national polo team. President Duterte signed in Davao on Wednesday the law creating the NAS. The NAS will be the country’s first and only dedicated sports institution at the New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac. The Bases Conversion and Development Authority will head the construction of the academy. “By the time everyone who needs to be vaccinated for Covid-19 are inoculated, the NAS
here, everybody leaves the club, they’re going out to dinner and doing things, so everybody is taking that risk to be here. Everybody is pretty confident that we’re going to all be safe. I think everything has been done the right way.” The top 3 players in the world—Rory McIlroy (68), Jon Rahm (69) and Brooks Koepka (68)—played in the same group, and they had the largest following late in the afternoon. There were 14 people outside the ropes behind the 10th green—six involved in the broadcast (radio and TV), four writers, two photographers, one coach and one trainer. The telecast began with an apology. Right when Golf Channel came on the air, Rahm chipped in for birdie on the par-3 eighth and someone—it could have been inside or outside the ropes—was heard to say, “Pretty [expletive] good, there.” “Well, we were hoping for better audio with no fans,” CBS anchor Jim Nantz said. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan gave the opening group a thumbs-up after the
REP. Mikee Romero hails the creation of the National Sports Academy.
players hit their drives, and he returned to the tee box alone at 8:46 a.m. That starting time was listed on the tee sheet without any players. The tour is keeping that empty all four rounds for a moment of silence. It’s a tribute to Floyd, who was handcuffed while a white police officer pressed his knee to the back of the black man’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. Floyd died after pleading for air. Varner is one of four players of black heritage with full PGA Tour status, and he delivered the strongest words last week in a social-media post. He also sat down with Monahan for a 10-minute video on what golf can do. And then he found himself atop the leaderboard with a round so clean he putted for birdie on every hole. “If I’m thinking about winning a golf tournament right now, I’ve probably lost it,” Varner said. “Yeah, I know what’s going on, but when I’m on the golf course, I’m trying to play well. The reason I have a platform is because I’m really good at golf. I just need to focus on that.” For so long, the only sounds came from the click of contact with the golf ball, the squeak of brakes on carts belonging to broadcast crews, course workers and rules official. And then came a strange noise—cheering. A house behind the 16th tee set up a grandstand, while another home erected at two-story hospitality tent with views of a small section of the 15th fairway. They chanted names of players and let out a few roars. Behind the second tee, a few fans watched from behind a chain fence along a public road. Jordan Spieth, who opened with a 65, was reminded of what to expect before he did a shot. “I was pulling in when Mickelson was on 4 tee, and when I didn’t see anybody there—and it was a tournament round day, it wasn’t a practice round day—I’m like, ‘This is certainly weird,’” Spieth said. “I’m just really happy to be playing golf and being able to be competitive again and to be able to finish our season.” It was only one round. Fans will be kept away from the first five tournaments as the tour takes a conservative return to golf, hopeful of no setbacks in the sport from a spike in the new coronavirus. Monahan, asked Thursday morning what would constitute a successful tournament, said, “Getting to next week.” should be able to formally open its doors to welcome its first students,” Romero added. The NAS will give specialization on the education of secondary students who have the potentials to excel in sports. Students will be greeted with world-class facilities as standing huge next to the school are the Athletics Stadium and the Aquatics Center which were used in the 30th Southeast Asian Games. There will also be dormitories and amenities that would meet international standards. The PSC will choose licensed coaches to develop the competitiveness of the students. The DepEd will run the curriculum in close coordination with the Philippine Sports Commission. “The next major piece of the puzzle is a sports state university,” Romero said. “However, if government is unable to establish and operate a sports university soon, I am hoping the private sector can come together to build the country’s first private sports university.”