BusinessMirror March 07, 2020

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A SECURITY guard covers his face as dust rises while a helicopter takes off beside the site where another crashed in San Pedro, Laguna, March 5, 2020. AP/AARON FAVILA

‘VOLCANO OF INTEREST’

WHILE THE PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT HAS THROWN IN THE BEST INVESTIGATORS TO PROBE THURSDAY’S SHOCK CRASH OF THE PNP CHIEF’S BRAND-NEW CHOPPER, THE POSSIBLE ROLE OF TAAL VOLCANO’S ASHFALL IN THE DOWNING IS EMERGING, A RUDE REMINDER THAT NATURE CANNOT BE FORGOTTEN.

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By Recto L. Mercene

HE Philippine National Police (PNP) has sought the help of all possible government agencies to investigate the crash of its Bell 429 helicopter in San Pedro, Laguna, on Thursday, injuring eight people, including PNP chief Archie Gamboa and three other generals.

POLICEMEN and firemen crowd the crashed helicopter in Barangay San Antonio, San Pedro, Laguna, on Thursday. NONIE REYES

A POLICEMAN looks at the damaged rotor of the helicopter that crashed in San Pedro, Laguna, March 5, 2020. AP/AARON FAVILA

P/LtGen. Guillermo Eleazar, who was tasked as Chief Special Investigation Task Group Bell 429, said this will involve the cooperation of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap), the Philippine Air Force (PAF) and the aviation experts from the PNP “to know what happened that brought the chopper down.”

By Friday, most of the initial investigations had focused on ensuring the integrity of the crash site

evidence, interviewing witnesses and seeking all possible documentation of the accident, especially video footage by the public.

The initial details ferreted out in the interviews that were publicly shared point to the very high possibility that Taal Volcano, which erupted on January 12, had left a deadly legacy that may have been taken for granted as other serious concerns, like the coronavirus disease, consumed

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 50.6040

both the authorities and the public.

The Bell 429 chopper, bought just before then PNP chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa quit to run for the Senate, is generally seen to be in tiptop shape still, as Dela Rosa himself indicated in his first radio interview after the crash.

In fact, the senator took pains to point out, it was Gamboa who headed the PNP bidding panel when the chopper was bought, and, Dela Rosa added, Gamboa was very

strict and meticulous in his job.

That leaves the volcanic dust and ashfall factor—cited for the zero visibility kicked up by the Bell chopper’s ascent from a dusty “helipad”—as the biggest suspect in the investigation. Taal is a “volcano of interest,” in police parlance.

Quiet on Caap front

THE BusinessMirror tried for the last two days to get in touch by telephone with Caap officials,

including their check pilots. However, all their numbers repeat the same refrain: “The number you dialed is not in service.”

This state of affairs has actually been going on for years. The Caap Director General, Jim Sydiongco, cannot be reached by telephone.

Anybody who wishes to interview any of its officials has to first write or get an appointment with its spokesman, Eric Apolonio.

Airport insiders understand

the reason behind this rare access to Caap officials. The Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary, Arthur Tugade, has strict instructions not to say anything related to any investigation that is not first referred to them. Otherwise, the same official refrain is given: “Let us wait for the investigation.”

However, the Caap does not actually release any official findings, long after the investigation is over.

Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4767 n UK 65.6233 n HK 6.5112 n CHINA 7.2950 n SINGAPORE 36.5980 n AUSTRALIA 33.4644 n EU 56.8941 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.4851

Source: BSP (March 6, 2020)

A2 Saturday, March 7, 2020

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‘VOLCANO OF INTEREST’

THE site of the helicopter crash is cordoned off in San Pedro, Laguna, March 5, 2020. NONIE REYES Continued from A1

One example is the crash of Air Xiamen Air flight MF 8667, from Xiamen to Manila, which crashed on the runway in August of 2018.

The Boeing 737-800 B-5498 took several days to be removed from where it slid off Runway 24, causing flight cancellations.

Until now, there is no Caap statement to pinpoint what caused the accident or whether the pilot or air-traffic controller was at fault, so that those mistakes would not be repeated.

While awaiting the results of Eleazar’s inquiry, the BusinessMirror interviewed former Caap air-traffic controllers, who are themselves private pilots, or academic flight instructors, to professionally help determine the initial cause of the accident—based on their review and analysis of the video that made the rounds of social media last Thursday and from their previous assignment and experience with the Rescue Coordinating Center (RCC).

Veteran aviators

CAPT. Alger Ramo, a private pilot and often the source of our interviews, has never been rebuked or corrected by the Caap for giving his informed observation related to local incidents. That also goes for Perry Casapao, a retired Caap airtraffic controller (ATC) and private pilot. Included in this interview is retired ATC Antonio Paglinawan, a ground instructor of 20 years with the Caap Aviation Training Center.

According to Ramo, the helicopter pilot, PLTCol. Zalatar, should have aborted the takeoff when his visibility turned zero from the dust and ashfall created by his rotors and blocking his view.

Ramo said that Zalatar should have told his boss, Gen. Archie Gamboa, that the thick dust is obstructing his view “and there is a need to slow down or cut off the engines and ask the PNP personnel on the compound to spray water on the ground to mitigate the dust storm created by the downward wash of the rotors.”

It was learned from the news that prior to landing, the area was sprayed with water to prevent the dust that would be raised by the rotors’ downward draft. One report said the ground was indeed sprayed, but because of the heat, it had already dried up by the time the Gamboa party was set to fly out.

One notable aspect of the area is that it is an exposed, open ground, without any grass cover to mitigate the spread of dust and ashfall.

Additional information gathered by the BusinessMirror was that the landing area is not an officially sanctioned landing site for helicopters. “Otherwise, it should have been marked with a huge white circular marker with a capital letter H on the center,” Ramo said.

He added that designated chopper landing sites or “helipads” are inspected by Caap experts and, after studying the proper landing and takeoff parameters, are given the official seal of approval. The official pads would indicate the locations of obstacles to be avoided.

Gamboa’s chosen landing site, an impounding area for seized vehicles in San Pedro, Laguna, was used for the first time. He was there to inspect the seized luxury vehicles by the police.

Ramo said the usual procedure when a helipad is used for the first time “is to exit the place by using the same direction when the pilot comes in.” This way, he said, it would be assumed that the route was safe and clear of surrounding obstructions.

Casapao, meanwhile, sticks to his observation that the chopper’s engine had ingested huge amounts of dust and ashfall from Taal’s eruption in January, leading to engine flameout.

“The engine had already ingested dust and ash when it came in,” he said. He added that when the chopper took off, it was using its maximum power to attain vertical speed, go straight up in the air to a certain altitude, then exit the area. “That is why so much dust and ashfall have been disturbed and swirled around the chopper, reducing visibility to zero.”

Casapao explained that ashfall from Taal is considered abrasive and would immediately affect the engines, “and when the pilot took off in the midst of that dust storm, it was like flying through Taal’s plume of ash.”

Antonio Paglinawan Jr., who has spent nine years with the Area Control Center and the RCC, was academic or “ground pilot instructor for 20 years.”

He taught at the Caap Air Transport Academy.

He agreed with the observation of Casapao and Ramo and added that since the rotors had possi-

bly partially “seized” due to engine flameout, the chopper’s rotors had not much power to cut the dangling electric wires “which would have created a huge spark, leading to an explosion.”

Paglinawan added, “My observation is simple. The pilot should have taken off and gained some altitude way clear of all obstructions before he exits the area.”

The nature of volcanic dust

“THE chopper is almost brand new so the condition may not be suspect.

Even if the landing pad had been doused with water, the water cannot penetrate deep into the fine dust if it were Taal ashfall,” he added.

“The high-power revolutions of the rotors will still blow the wet ash away and the dry ash would still be swirling. I agree with the observation that less power was needed during the landing but greater power is required for the takeoff.”

Though the three experts were interviewed separately, they had a similar observation: that purported eyewitnesses may be either confused with the timing of the chopper’s fall, or exaggerated the story that they actually witnessed the chopper going up and hitting the electric wires.

“With the powerful blast of the rotors raising so much dust and ash, the reaction of any observer near the chopper would have been to cover their face with their hands, turn away from the chopper and seek cover.”

“It would have been a fool who would open his eyes in that dust storm to observe a chopper taking off, with the dust and tiny pebbles being flung around like missiles and possibly rendering them blind,” Paglinawan explained.

It was initially thought that the chopper struck a guy wire in the area, where there are lifting cranes, stacks of steel beams and heavy construction materials.

However, there was a brownout in the area in the aftermath of the crash—which was probably when the chopper weighed heavily on the wires after falling from the sky, cutting some of them.

However the inquiry on the downing of the chief’s brand-new chopper may go, for now, it may be good for all those affected by Taal’s January eruption to heed a chilling reminder: the detritus of nature’s tantrums remains very much around.

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

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Saturday, March 7, 2020

A3

PHL laws have ‘no teeth’ to check money laundering, financial crimes–DOF chief

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By Bernadette D. Nicolas

HE country’s existing laws, including the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001 (AMLA), have “no teeth” to check money laundering and other financial crimes, the finance chief said.

A mid the controversy surrounding the influx of foreign currencies into the country, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III admitted that the Department of

Finance (DOF) has been calling attention to these “loopholes” in the financial system for years, describing AMLA as a “weak tool against money laundering and

other unlawful activities.”

“They do this because they can. Our laws have no teeth to investigate and prosecute these activities effectively,” Dominguez said in his speech delivered on Friday following the awarding of ISO 9001:2015 Certification to the Bureau of Local Government Finance and oath-taking of local treasurers in Manila.

On Thursday, Senate Blue Ribbon Committee Chairman Richard J. Gordon said during a hearing that a total of 60 individuals brought in foreign currencies amounting to $633.029 million, or P32.02 billion, from September 2019 until Thursday, March 5, 2020.

The finance chief pointed out that tax evasion and other financial wrongdoings are not among the predicate crimes listed under the law and enable AMLC to examine bank accounts after securing a court order.

“This leaves us powerless in going after tax evaders and other criminals using funds for other illegal activities,” he said.

Aside from the gaps in AMLA, Dominguez recalled the DOF’s efforts in pushing for the lifting of bank secrecy law since 2016 but to no avail.

“In 2016, the Department of Finance has proposed a bold reform in Congress to penetrate the wall

FIRST LOCAL CASE BRINGS CORONAVIRUS TALLY TO 5

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

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W O additional confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (CO V I D - 1 9 ) i n t h e P h i l i p p i n e s were recorded by the Depar tment of Health (DOH) on Friday, bringing the total of cases in the countr y to five.

Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said the fourth confirmed case is a 48-yearold male Filipino with travel history to Japan.

The patient returned to the Philippines last February 25 and experienced chills and fever beginning March 3.

The patient sought medical consultation at a hospital and samples were collected for testing. Results tested positive for COVID-19 on March 5. He is currently in stable condition and admitted at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

The fifth confirmed case is a 62-yearold male Filipino with known hypertension

and diabetes mellitus, who experienced cough with phlegm last February 25.

He sought medical consultation at a hospital in Metro Manila last March 1 and was admitted with severe pneumonia.

Specimen collected on March 4 tested positive for COVID-19 on March 5. He also has no known history of travel outside of the country.

Duque said that the 5th patient frequents the prayer room located inside the shopping center in Greenhills, San Juan City.

Disinfect, sanitize and closure

UPON hearing the news, San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora ordered the local health office, with the assistance of the DOH, to immediately disinfect, sanitize and temporarily close the prayer room.

“The Department of Health and the local government of San Juan are now

conducting contact tracing to determine whom this patient has been in contact with since he displayed symptoms of coronavirus [infection] during the last week of Februar y,” Zamora said in a news statement.

The mayor assured the public that they are also closely working with the DOH and that “we will release pertinent and verified information as we receive them.”

Contact tracing

D U Q U E said that contac t tracing is being under taken for the two cases and samples have already been collec ted from close contac ts.

The DOH is also in close coordination with the concerned local government units for concerted action on identifying persons who had interaction with the confirmed cases and strengthening of infection prevention and control protocols.

The fifth case is known to have regularly visited a Muslim prayer hall in Barangay Greenhills, San Juan City.

Previous visitors to the prayer hall who are presenting with fever and/or respirator y symptoms are encouraged to call the DOH hot line (02)8-6517800 loc 1149-1150 for proper referral to the appropriate health facility. “ These recent developments are significant, but we are prepared to respond to its potential consequences.

Our priority is to protect our health workers and the most vulnerable populations,” the health chief said.

“We can still contain the spread of the virus in the country, which is why we are encouraging the public to practice proper hand washing, social distancing and cough etiquette. We call on the public to be vigilant and continue doing their part in containing the disease,” Duque said.

of confidentiality used to conceal ill-gotten money by lifting bank secrecy laws of suspected criminal cases. However, our legislators decided to table it for later discussion,” he said.

“We tried proposing it again to the tax amnesty bill. We passed the tax amnesty bill in February 14 last year but the president rightfully vetoed the grant of general tax amnesty due to the lack of provisions of lifting the veil of bank secrecy. Offering a general tax amnesty must come with the ability to verify whether those who availed of it, are not,” he added.

While they wait for these “crucial measures” to be enacted,

Dominguez assured the public that they are working with government agencies and the AMLC by utilizing currently available tools to curb tax evasion and other questionable activities, such as the unrestricted influx of foreign currency into the country. “ Now more t h a n e ver, we will readily work with the legislature to advocate again for congressional approval of this crucial measure. We will, likewise, support the swift passage into law of the amendments to the AML A to make sure that the Philippines will not be used as a money-laundering site for any unlawful activity,” he said.

Foreigners with travel history from PHL

during his visit to Metro Manila. The 44-year-old flew back to Thailand last Februar y 28 and experienced cough, shortness of breath, and fever which began on February 29.

The patient consulted at a clinic in Cambodia on March 3 and was referred to a hospital but no tests were done. He flew back to Japan last March 4 and was tested positive for COVID-19. The patient was admitted and is still in isolation at Aichi Prefecture Hospital.

The extensive travel history of the patient suggests possible contraction of the disease in another country.

Duque said that the third case is a female living in Sydney, Australia. The patient attended a wedding in Manila on February 13 and visited Pangasinan.

The patient left the countr y for Sydney on March 2, and was confirmed with COVID-19 by the New South Wales Government on March 3. As for this case, DOH is still verifying information with the International Health Regulation National Focal Point Australia.

THE DOH also reported that had received reports of three confirmed COVID-19 cases among foreign nationals who had a history of travel to the Philippines.

The first case is a 38-year-old Taiwanese male who visited the Philippines from February 28 to March 3. He developed abdominal discomfort and diarrhea on March 2, and experienced sore throat, fever, and malaise on March 3.

The patient consulted an o u t p a t i e n t c l i n i c i n Ta i w a n o n M a rc h 4 , a n d wa s co n f i r m e d p o s i t i ve f o r CO V I D - 1 9 o n M a rc h 5 . Th e o n s e t o f s y m p t o m s o n M a rc h 2 p o i n t s t o p o s s i b l e i n fe c t i o n b e fo re t h e p at i e nt t r ave l e d t o t h e P h i l i p p i n e s.

Meanwhile the second case is a 44-year-old Japanese male who visited the Philippines from Februar y 21 to 28. Prior to visiting the Philippines, he traveled to Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Japan.

He stayed at three different hotels

CBs just starting COVID-19 fight with ‘record-low’ interest rates

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LOBAL central bankers are cutting interest rates beyond their financial crisis-era lows, underscoring the hit to economies from the coronavirus, even as investors question the healing powers of monetary policy.

The average of benchmark borrowing costs set by 38 key monetary authorities has now dropped to a record of around 3 percent, according to a measure compiled

by Banque Pictet & Cie. That follows this week’s actions by the Federal Reserve and Bank of Canada to reduce rates by half a percentage point, and easing by the Reserve Bank of Australia, too.

Such an outcome is a reversal from how most policy-makers envisaged spending 2020, amid expectations that global growth was strengthening. Instead, the virus has roiled markets and risks consigning the world economy to its weakest year since 2009.

Economists see the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), Bank of Japan (BOJ), European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England (BOE) also acting this month, among others. They predict the Fed will move again, too.

Here’s a closer look at what we learned in the past few days.

Central banks are worried GONE is the view of late February that it was premature to tell if the virus would have a lasting global economic impact. Those hopes were dashed by its spread beyond China and sliding stocks.

Originally limiting supply by shuttering Chinese factories and forcing workers to stay home, the disease is now curbing demand worldwide.

The Organisation of the Economic Co-operation and Development this week said an intensive outbreak could

slash global growth to 1.5 percent in 2020. Bloomberg Economics says if the whole world repeats China’s experience its economy would grind to a halt over the year, costing $2.7 trillion in lost output.

Group of Seven finance chiefs pledged to use “all appropriate policy tools” to safeguard economies.

The Fed was so worried, it then acted outside its normal schedule for the first time since 2008 in an effort to shore up confidence, financial conditions, access to credit and demand.

“We need to be mindful that the impact from the outbreak could be big,” said BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda.

The cuts aren’t cutting it HAVING pushed for action, investors were still not happy, as stocks continued falling and the 10-year Treasur y y ield, a benchmark for global borrowing, dipped to a historic low of 0.9043 percent even after the Fed announcement.

The reason: Central banks aren’t omnipotent. They can’t cure a virus, mend supply chains or spur people to shop when there’s a health emergency.

They are also low on ammunition, which perhaps explains the lack of 2008-style coordinated cuts this week.

The Fed’s benchmark is now not far from zero, while those of the ECB and BOJ are already negative.

“When you have limited ammunition you have to conserve it. The Fed has limited ammunition with interest rates so low. Interest rates don’t cure the #coronavirus and interest rates don’t repair supply chains.

—Lawrence H. Summers

The cuts will keep coming BUT central banks will keep acting.

Outgoing BOE Governor Mark Carney

says policy-makers will deliver a “powerful and timely” defense.

China’s economy will shrink in the first quarter on a quarterly basis, and global manufacturing contracted in February by the most since 2009.

Other measures of economic health will soon worsen.

Most central banks were already undershooting their inf lation targets. While some wonder if lower supply will force up prices, the consensus is for inf lation to fade—and that will need offsetting.

“For us, what really matters of course is not the epidemiology, but the risk to the economy,” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said on Tuesday.

“We saw a risk to the outlook for the economy, and chose to act.”

Bloomberg Economics predicts the Fed will cut another 50 basis points in coming months. The US central bank followed its last six emergency reductions with further moves, so could act as soon as its March 17 and18 meeting.

The ECB will reduce its deposit rate by 10 basis points next week, and the BOE will trim its benchmark by a quarter point later this month, according to Bloomberg Economics.

It sees the PBOC dropping the oneyear loan prime rate 40 basis points over the rest of this year, with the next move expected on March 20.

say it is likely to consider a new lending program to help companies.

Previously under attack from banks for negative rates, the ECB could also issue cheaper funding to financial institutions that lend it on to businesses, specifically small ones.

Others have already acted. The PBOC is extending 800 billion yuan ($115 billion) of loans to small companies. The Bank of Korea held rates but raised a cap for cheap loans. Indonesia lowered the amount of money lenders need to hold.

Other tools to be used

The future

WHILE the Fed prefers classic cuts, others may be more inventive. Those with negative rates inflicting side effects on banks may need to use other tools, which they can target at weak spots such as cash-strapped companies.

The BOJ has already boosted buying of equity exchange-traded funds, and people familiar with the matter

THE Fed and ECB are already conducting reviews of how they set monetary policy. Tackling the virus is acccelerating the debate and the Fed should consider committing to easy monetary policy and modifying its inflation target, said David Wilcox of the Peterson Institute for Internatrional Economics.

Governments need to help SHORT of firepower, central bankers want help from governments despite their own debt burdens.

Fiscal policy is also sharper than monetary policy. It can be directed to health care or struggling companies.

Already, China has pledged a “more active” fiscal policy, while South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia are among those crafting stimulus packages. Italy is deploying tax credits and Hong Kong is offering cash handouts.

The US seems more reluctant, although the House passed a $7.8-billion emergency spending bill. But President Donald Trump has balked at pursuing a major fiscal plan, and aides say he is not considering a payroll tax cut or a rollback of tariffs on China.

Ultimately, the virus has highlighted the need for better fiscal and monetary-policy coordination despite the traditional walls between central banks and governments.

“We must act in a coordinated fashion,” the UK’s Bailey said. “We can’t let our notions of independence get in the way of us.”

What Bloomberg’s economist says...

“Central banks and finance ministries face different types and intensities of shock, with differing policy space to react. Containing the spread of the virus has proved hard. Containing the economic fallout won’t be any easier.”

—Tom Orlik, chief economist

ExportUnlimited BusinessMirror

A4 Saturday, March 7, 2020

PHL surpasses sales goal in German food fair Biofach

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By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

HE Philippines has exceeded its sales target at a German food fair to more than $36 million on strong appetite for coconut products and sweeteners.

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The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has disclosed that the Philippine delegation to Biofach generated a total of $36.37 million in sales, tripling the agency’s goal of $10.35 million. The country banked on its coconut and sugar products to boost its performance in the world’s leading platform for organic food items.

Pauline Suaco-Juan, executive director of the DTI’s Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions, bared the best-selling products from the Philippines were refined, bleached and deodorized coconut oil, coconut cream, virgin coconut oil, coconut flour and muscovado.

Firms who formed part of the delegation were the AG Pacific Nutriceuticals Corp.; Brandexports Philippines Inc.; Cardinal Agri Products Inc.; Filipinas Organic Coconut Products Corp.; and Lao Integrated Farms Inc. The Philippines was also represented by See’s International; Raw Brown

Sugar Milling Co. Inc.; and Tongsan Industrial Development Corp.

The DTI will build on the country’s showing in Biofach in its efforts to promote food exports in overseas trade fairs, Suaco-Juan said.

“Our participation in Biofach has been an all-out success. This signals a strong beginning for our export promotion activities in the food sector this 2020, and we are aiming to sustain this momentum in our strategic overseas trade fair participation in other key markets around the world,” Suaco-Juan vowed in a news statement.

After Biofach, the DTI is scheduled to showcase the country’s food products in the Food and Hotel Asia in Singapore, China-Asean Expo and China International Import Expo in China, and Sial Paris in France.

Biofach is considered as the world’s leading food fair for organic products. It set a new record this year on number of exhibitors, display area and international focus.

Transport, supply-chain industries reel from coronavirus impact

Research firm reminds SMBs: Fight malware attacks

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HE global outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 is adversely affecting the Philippine transportation industry, leading to cancellations of hundreds of flights; drops in ship calls; and reduction in cargo volumes, and passenger traffic, for both sea and air. In a February 19, 2020, hearing of the Lower House Committee on Transportation on the effects of COVID-19 on the transportation industry, Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla said airlines are seeing a downtrend in bookings, and a higher percentage of no shows and passengers seeking refunds.

In an interview with PortCalls after the hearing, Arcilla said fewer f lights to China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are cutting cargo volume. The effects of COVID-19 are felt not only in tourism but across various sectors of the economy, including manufacturing and labor, he said.

By Roderick L. Abad Contributor

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NLINE threats are here to stay as research company Gartner projects that most of exploited vulnerabilities in organizations through 2020 will be those that have been already known by security and information-technology (IT) professionals for at least a year.

To solve these risks, small and medium businesses (SMBs) should have an effective tool to protect the different Internet-powered devices of employees.

These include laptops, smartphones and tablets, in addition to the servers, desktops, and software connected to and running on the company’s network, according to ManageEngine Vice President Mathivanan Venkatachalam.

A unified endpoint management (UEM) and security solution, he said, automates tracking routine network tasks, including deploying software, managing assets and software licenses, remote troubleshooting, as well as imaging and deployment of operating systems.

Garment makers see flat revenue growth in 2020

THE FoodPhilippines Pavillion during the recent Biofach food fair in Nuremberg, Germany.

According to its web site, the annual trade show gathered a total of 3,792 exhibitors from 110 countries, in a display area expanding 57,609 square meters during its run from February 12 to 15, at the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg in Germany.

With Biofach occupying two halls more than last year, over

“These solutions also allow businesses to bolster company defenses by installing patches and monitoring usage of software and USB devices.

They also help to enforce corporate security policies on usage of Wifi and VPN; prevent unauthorized access to corporate e-mail; enforce device-level encryption; isolate personal and corporate work spaces; and locate, lock and wipe misplaced devices when appropriate,” he added.

Enterprises of any size, particularly SMBs, have to apply basic security controls to prevent risks and consequences of a security infringement, according to Venkatachalam.

He shared effective ways in protecting their organizations from attacks, while noting that they can be done via a UEM solution.

Unknown software risks, illegal software and unprotected network devices can allow an attacker to sneak in. Based on studies, threats are also posed by shadow IT, which are the systems, software or applications regularly used by employees sans the knowledge of executive leadership, or IT. “Having visibility into network

47,000 visitors from 136 economies went to the food fair not only to buy products, but to learn, as well, about developments, trends and innovations. Making up the top 5 countries by visitor attendance were Germany, Austria, Italy, France and the Netherlands.

The next edition of Biofach is slated on February 17 to 20 in 2021.

software and remote network devices will provide a layer of protection to the network,” Venkatachalam said. “Additionally, creating customized configurations for network hardware and software can help mitigate attacks.”

Since vulnerabilities are everywhere, he said that SMBs must guarantee that all devices are patched and secured.

Meanwhile, the rising number of remote code executions exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities make securing applications a top priority. Given this, he emphasized that companies must also secure network ports by “monitoring and controlling all the traffic moving through them.”

Firms should check account activity on a regular basis and control password policies to remain in control of potential security gaps, noted the top executive. He said: “Too often, expired user accounts are not removed from directories, leaving a gap in a company’s security; or passwords are not set to expire, increasing that account’s vulnerability over time.”

The vice president of ManageEngine reminded companies to shield

The DTI is figuring out ways on how to expand markets for exporters at a time that global trade is facing uncertainties brought about by the coronavirus outbreak and the United States-China trade conflict.

It is, for one, enlisting the Philippines in trade fairs overseas, sending delegations tasked to promote the country’s export items.

themselves from crypto jacking, or the practice of using malware to get other people’s computers to mine for cryptocurrencies, and other browser-based attacks.

He also cited a huge amount of data that f lows into their organizations d a i ly, some of which are held as stale data without a retention policy.

“If that private information is not properly protected, companies can end up paying huge sums in fines as per data protection laws,” he said.

Good thing there are data protection laws globally, like GDPR, that have changed comprehensive data security from merely good business sense to a mandatory investment.

“SMBs can no longer afford to underinvest in cyber security and hope their business won’t be affected. The real questions are whether your organization is protected from the threats that are currently known to the market, and if the organization is equipped to quickly detect network breaches, as the ramifications of a security breach extend all the way to the bottom line,” Venkatachalam stressed.

OCAL garments manufacturers expect their export earnings to be flat, or a measly increase of 1 percent this year amid global uncertainty.

“At present, almost all of our apparel production [are] now halted due to raw materials delayed deliveries from China, Korea, Taiwan, and other Asian countries. Reason being is that Philippines has no local source or back up industries, such as fabric, textile and accessories, etc. as every item is imported,” said Robert Young, trustee for the textile, yarn and fabric sector of the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. and president of the Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines.

The coronavirus disease 2019, which originated in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, has also affected several countries, including Korea, Taiwan and other Asian countries. But Young was optimistic the Philippines would still be in the radar of the foreign buyers, as people continue wearing clothes.

He said industry players are also hoping that new investors of garment factories will come in once the proposed Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Rationalization Act is passed. The second package of the comprehensive tax reform program, Citira seeks to gradually lower the corporate income tax rate from 30 percent to 20 percent over the next 10 years, and rationalize fiscal incentives currently being enjoyed by select firms.

“New factories will come in and then with our advocacy on CSR [corporate social responsibility] and the improvement of the conditions of the factories, I think we will get more orders and, somehow, that can attract more orders for the Philippine garments,” he added.

Young also cited the submission of the Board of Investments of the road map for the garments industry. “Hopefully, that adds to the increase of the garments orders,” he said.

Young said the United States remains their biggest market this year.

“Right now, the GSP [Generalized System of Preferences] is only for the gift wares and all these hard goods.

We are hoping that [in] the new GSP come December 2020, we will include the footwear and garments in the US GSP,” he added.

Under the US GSP program, tariffs are eliminated on about 5,000 tariff lines if beneficiary developing countries meet the eligibility criteria established by US Congress. These criteria include respecting internationally recognized worker rights, providing adequate and effective intellectualproperty protection, and providing the US with equitable and reasonable market access, among others.

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Locsin assures DFA retirees of sustained support for their health, welfare concerns

Editor: Angel R. Calso • Saturday, March 7, 2020 A5

Mainstreaming literary works on prime-time TV

By Nick Tayag

MY SIXTY-ZEN’S WORTH

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FROM left: Philippine Ambassador to South Korea Noe A. Wong; retired Ambassadors Isaias Begonia and Macario Laurel; Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr.; retired Ambassadors Lauro Baja Jr., Zenaida Angara-Collinson, Jaime Yambao and Antonio Villamor

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OREIGN Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. received the officers and members of the Philippine Ambassadors Foundation Inc. and the DFA Retired Personnel Foundation Inc. at the Department

of Foreign Affairs.

During the call, the secretary assured legislative support and assistance to the retirees for their health and welfare.

The two organizations will be organizing the

Secretary of Foreign Affairs Cup Golf Tournament to be held on March 23, 2020, at the Ayala Greenfields Golf Course and Country Club in Calamba, Laguna, for the benefit of the DFA retirees’ health and wellness program.

‘Allies for Freedom:’ US, Filipino heroism in photos

By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora Philippine News Agency

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ANILA—Some iconic and never-before-seen photos of the Philippines and the events during World War II are on display at Fort Santiago in Intramuros for the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Manila.

Titled, Allies for Freedom, the United States Embassy-funded exhibit features photos, the majority of which were taken by US Army photographers when the Japanese Imperial forces attacked Luzon in 1941.

Intramuros Administration chief Guiller Asido said this is the first time for such initiative to be held at the historic American Barracks Ruins inside the walled city.

“This is really the perfect spot for us to focus on the heroism, and resiliency of Filipino and American soldiers during the World War II,” Asido said on Tuesday. “This exhibit is significant because it’s the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Manila. It’s a place that’s really part of the story during the war.”

In a speech, US Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission John Law underscored the exhibit’s importance as proof of Manila and Washington’s “bonds.”

“We remember and pay tribute to the soldiers and the civilians who fought as allies for freedom and forged an unbreakable bond, which joins the hearts of Filipinos and Americans even today.

I have every confidence that with your help, those bonds will continue to grow and flourish for generations to come,” he said.

The exhibit was curated by Merrion and Smith with photographs taken from the US

ONE of the photos on exhibit at Fort Santiago in Intramuros. The photo depicts bayanihan or community spirit even among American soldiers seen guiding civilians to safety and assisting the wounded held captive by the Japanese. PNA/JOYCE ANN ROCAMORA

National Archives and Records Administration, AP Images, Getty Images and the International Center of Photography.

A portion of it reflected bayanihan or community spirit even among American soldiers seen guiding civilians to safety

and assisting the wounded held captive by the Japanese.

The photos, which date back as far as the liberation, also gave a glimpse of how the two countries built a long-standing alliance based on solidarity established during the period. PNA

ONG before Nick Lizaso became CCP president and now NCCA chairman, he often sat down with me simply to shoot the breeze over cups of brewed coffee, and each time our talk would inevitably drift to a dream we shared, which essentially is about mainstreaming the works of our literary greats and masters on primetime TV, the same time slots now occupied by top-rating teleseryes.

The other day, Joe Lad Santos, former chairman of Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino, a Tagalog novelist and a lifelong avid admirer of Philippine literature, casually revealed to me about his project of editing and publishing an anthology of short stories of local writers. My interest was piqued and on a whim told him: “Why not adapt them for TV on a one-hour program so more people will get to learn about them?”

Joe Lad and I were then having lunch in a cafeteria in Intramuros and, a short while later, we found out that the place is being managed by a niece of one of the writers we were just talking about: the late Rogelio Sikat. I took it as an omen that the heavens are with us on this venture.

My proposal is simple: without doing away with the networks’ current fare of teleseryes, which command high ratings, can they possibly collaborate with the CCP or NCCA in the production of adaptations of the works of Filipino literary masters using the teledrama format?

Maybe we can dramatize each story to run for a few weeks or months, but let the program be flexible, basing it on the natural and logical progress of the adapted story.

By employing the elements and storytelling techniques of popular teledramas and casting our present crop of acting talents who have a captive following, we can make these great works appealing, entertaining and accessible to the TV mass audience and break down the reflexive resistance of the ordinary Pinoy to literary works.

The trick, Nick keeps saying to me, is not to present them as literary masterpieces and to be treated with awe and reverence. Rather, let’s focus on the stories. That is the key. Forget for a while they were written by literary masters. Just zero in on the fact that these works have the elements of great and compelling storytelling. Isn’t that what makes any work appealing?

If one patiently peruses through these library-confined literary pieces, one can immediately see that they have all the elements and gamut of emotions that make for highly appealing drama: love, intrigue, social divide, envy, pride, sex, betrayal, loyalty, hatred, revenge, extreme fear and admirable courage, perseverance, hope in the face of suffering and everything that one thinks of as only in the movies and telenovelas.

More important, their works portray

the positives about the Filipino way of life and help create in us a native sense of self.

Filipino televiewers, I am sure, will be entranced by such works as The Pretenders, Villa Magdalena, The Rosales Saga, The Woman Who Had Two Navels, The Bamboo Dancers, Without Seeing The Dawn, Ilaw sa Hilaga, Ang Mundong Ito sa Ibabaw, and Galaw ng Asoge just to mention a few from the unlimited smorgasbord of neglected masterworks. We can even include a selection of classic plays or Palanca and CCP Virgin Labfest award-winning plays.

These works are not contrived on a whim, or kathang hangin or plucked from thin air but wrested from the artist’s heart and mind, mirroring the universal human condition that similarly characterizes the works by Tolstoy, Chekhov, Flaubert, Victor Hugo and other great masters. Hindi lang pang intellectual or academic elite, pang ordinaryong tao din!

And then why stop there? Why confine the airing to just the local TV networks? Why not venture further?

Why not negotiate with Netflix or iflix, or other streaming service providers and pay-per-view platforms so these adaptations can be shown to a global audience? Filipino movie titles are now available on Netflix and iflix. Korean, Turkish, as well as Indian, Egyptian and even Nigerian drama series can be accessed on Netflix. Just recently I watched an anthology of films adapted from stories of Rabindranath Tagore, one of India’s literary masters.

It’s a long shot, some will say. But if there’s any one who can do it and has the will to do it, it’s Nick Lizaso. He didn’t acquire a reputation as a live wire for nothing.

Nick should also know what he’s talking about because he used to be a director of Balintataw with Cecil GuidoteAlvarez. That award-winning drama program used to adapt serious works by literary masters for television.

Decades ago, at ABS-CBN during the old pre-martial law days, Nick directed a program called Obra Maestra, which served as a vehicle for world masterpieces and Filipino literary classics adapted and made accessible to Filipino TV viewers. Among them: Rashomon, Wuthering Heights, The Visit

by Durrenmatt, and Medea. The said program, as he recalls, enjoyed high audience ratings.

I’ve always maintained that the Filipino audience is not intelligencechallenged. It’s time to raise the ante by offering them films and TV dramas that engage them emotionally and intelligently. I am sure with the mainstreaming of these literary works to a wider audience, young audiences may start thinking and making decisions with greater discernment, such as in selecting our future leaders. It could be the key to the enlightened society we’ve all been wishing for.

Once in 4 years: The unique date of former president Quirino’s death

By Severino Samonte Philippine News Agency

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ANILA—President Elpidio Quirino’s death may well be considered as the most unique among the country’s deceased former chief executives, as he passed away on a leap day.

Quirino, the sixth president of the Philippines, succumbed to a heart attack on February 29 in the leap year

of 1956, at his summer residence at the top of a hill overlooking the scenic La Mesa Dam, and reservoir in Barangay Greater Lagro, Novaliches, Quezon City. He was 65.

Succeeding the late President Manuel A. Roxas in his capacity as vice president, Quirino became president from April 17, 1948, to December 31, 1949.

In the November 8, 1949, national elections, Quirino was elected

as the sixth president of the Philippines for a four-year term until the end of 1953.

According to the Kahimyang Project’s compilation of significant daily events, including ancient and recent Philippine history, Quirino’s six-year presidency was marked by notable postwar reconstruction, general economic gains and increased economic aid from the United States.

It was in the realm of diplomacy where he excelled, impressing foreign heads of states and world statesmen from American, European and Asian countries. He negotiated various treaties and agreements with other nations, as well as discussed common problems of peace and security in the Asian region.

His administration’s major objectives included economic reconstruction, focusing on mitigating

the sufferings of indigent families, helping the farmers market their crops to save them from loan sharks, and strengthening the rural banking system of the Philippines to facilitate credit utilities in rural areas.

It was during the Quirino administration when the country’s Central Bank was established.

Quirino, who also served as congressman and senator before his presidency, was also a known mem-

ber of the Philippine independence commission sent to Washington, D.C., which secured the passage of the Tydings-McDuffie Act by the American Congress. He was a member of the convention that wrote the draft of the 1935 Constitution.

After being defeated by Ramon F. Magsaysay in the November 1953 presidential elections, Quirino went back to private life at his then-new home near the La Mesa Dam.

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Saturday, March 7, 2020 | Editor: Mike Besa

ZOYSIA TAKES HOLD VALLEY GOLF CLUB’S MARCH TOWARD SUSTAINABILITY

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Story by Mike Besa

WO thousand nineteen was a year of awakening and realization for the Philippine Golf Industry.

After decades of building golf courses that followed the American model with hybridized turf grasses to give the golfer the ultimate playing experience, reality bit hard.

The reality of the struggle to keep the imported turf grasses alive and healthy in the face of extremely hardy and aggressive endemic grasses wore heavily not just on the golf courses that were in marginal fiscal shape, but even with some golf courses for which money was less of an issue.

Valley Golf Club was just such a golf club. The club struggled to keep their famed South Course in playable condition. Several golf course maintenance contractors had come and gone and still the South Course was no better for it.

Valley’s tree-lined fairways, which is what attract most golfers in the first place, was its own worst enemy.

The extensive amounts of shade provided by the trees prevented the Tifton fairways from achieving optimal health. Most turfgrasses have an insatiable need for sunlight, requiring nearly eight solid hours of the sun’s rays to just grow normally. This was just not possible at Valley without cutting down most of the trees, something the club was just not prepared to do.

Early in 2019, under the watch of Dan Salvador, the club started down the road to address this problem once and for all. The plan was to allow zoysia, the most shade tolerant of turfgrasses and a hardy endemic that was the source of much of the infestation of the club’s fairways, to take over the South Course’s fairways and greens. The plan was sound but due to the slow growing nature of zoysia, time was the enemy.

Cliff Friedman took over management duties at Valley late last year and embraced the project. Friedman is a longtime golf management professional with experience in golf courses all over Asia. He’s had a front row seat in this battle with the environment to provide a better golf course for the likes of you and me and agreed wholeheartedly with the move toward endemic turfgrasses for Valley Golf.

Working with VMJ, the club’s maintenance contractor, Friedman came up with innovative methods to help speed up the process. The polka dotted greens became a source of amusement for the members initially, but as zoysia took hold and the general health of the greens improved, their playability improved immensely. This stuck a chord with the members who developed a real appreciation for what the club was doing with their beloved South Course.

Beyond the greens, the club had significant issues with the conditions of the course’s fairways. Again, shade was the issue. Many of the fairways, such as that of the 11th hole, were receiving much less sun that was ideal for the turf.

Zoysia had the answer but the problem was the amount of time that it would need to effectively take over the fairways.

Friedman and VMJ came up with a solution. After aerating the North Course’s zoysia greens, they spread the plugs on the affected fairways. It took time, but their work and innovation proved effective. The 11th fairway is in the best condition that we’ve ever seen. Most of the bare spots are gone and the hole is more playable that it’s been in the last decade. No more muddy fairways during wet season. This scenario extends to almost every fairway on the golf course.

The different turfgrass is going to change the playing characteristics of the golf course. Zoysia is a thick, sinuous grass which provides a great ground cover and is extremely hardy. It grows slowly but once allowed to grow in, it’s extremely resistant to weeds and the invasion of other species.

The golf ball sits up on zoysia which will facilitate getting your longer clubs, i.e. your fairway woods and hybrids on the ball in a sweeping swing. With the shorter clubs, especially your wedges, where a steeper angle of attack is required, you need to know that zoysia is tough. It’s difficult to drive the clubhead through at impact as zoysia will grab and stop the clubhead in certain situations.

It putts well but is extremely grainy. You will be surprised how quick you can make a zoysia green. Speeds of 10 or greater aren’t a problem. With the right care and preparation,

IMPROVE YOUR PERFORMANCE SKILLS IN PRACTICE

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By David MacKenzie

VERY action you take in practice should be leading to change for the better, whether you see better shots in the practice session or not. Long-term improvement is not about how one day (or practice session) goes—it’s more about the little things that are being learned during each session, which adds up into big improvement over time.

HOW DO WE LEARN NEW SKILLS MOST EFFECTIVELY?

WHETHER it’s learning how to get a golf ball in a hole in less strokes or learning a new language, research show us that there are six conditions which must be met:

n Motivation n Intention n Focus n Challenge and constraints n Feedback n Measurement

MOTIVATION

WHY do you want to improve your golf skills? What purpose does it serve for you to do so? Write this down.

Remind yourself as often as possible why you play. There are going to be plenty of challenges along the way to your future success so your motivation must be high enough for you to get there, or you should consider doing something else.

INTENTION

HOW are you going to approach getting better? Every shot and practice session must have a purpose. What are you trying to change? What is the specific goal of the shot or practice session? What is the problem you are trying to solve and how does that fit into the big picture of overall improvement? Are you just going to “work on your swing” or do you have evidence (in the form of stats) for what you need to change? The research that has been done on high performers shows that most of the time during practice, they are working on their weaknesses (biggest opportunities for growth).

FOCUS

TO improve skills requires high focus on the area you want to change. If you have clear intention for what you are going to work on and why, there shouldn’t be a problem being 100 percent focused and engaged with the task. This is another reason that ball-beating doesn’t work—you lose focus on what you are trying to change because you get lost in the success of hitting the ball well. Shorter reps (of five to 10 shots) are better, with each swing being highly focused on the specific movement you are trying to change.

Slow motion swings can be very effective in changing movement because of the time the brain gets to process the intention and the feel. You can “sandwich” slow-motion swings (with or without the ball) between your normal-speed swings.

Timothy Lee and Richard Schmidt suggest in their research paper “PaR [Plan-act-Review] Golf: Motor Learning Research and Improving Golf Skills” that 20 balls in 20 minutes (a different shot with each ball) makes practice more “deliberate” and allows the

www.pinoygolfer.com | Saturday, March 7, 2020

Equipment lessons from 26 years in the game

THE South Course offers dramatic tee shots; this is the fourth hole

THE 18th is one of the most unique finishing holes in Philippine golf

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the greens will receive an approach shot with a less lofted club readily. But getting to grips with the grain and its effect on your putts will be the key to a good performance on the greens.

The only real downside of zoysia is how slowly it grows.

We last visited in November after the club had completed the plugging work on the greens. Five months later, the plugs are still visible, if a little less so. Realistically, the greens on the South Course are probably another four to six months away from being completely converted over to zoysia.

In the midst of their metamorphosis, the greens on the South Course are very quick. Speeds got up to 12 on the stimpmeter during the Don Celso Tuason Memorial Golf Cup, the club’s big member-guest, giving a taste of what they’ll be like once the new grass fully grows in. The increase in the effect of the grain is also readily apparent. I found that I had to almost double the amount of borrow on some putts that ran across the grain.

As good as the South Course is now, the club still has work to do. The current focus is to aggressively attack the patches of carabao grass that dot the fairways. They need to weaken it sufficiently to allow zoysia to take over. Equally, there is work to do on several of the fairways that stiff feature the club’s former ground cover.

But the most difficult part is behind them and things are looking up for Valley Golf. I mean that in the most literal sense.

The club’s share price is up at around P1.5 million now which has to be the highest it’s been is nigh on two decades. So is the morale of the members and that’s what counts the most.

golfer more time to plan and review each shot (which is plays a more important role in learning that the act of making the swing).

CHALLENGE AND CONSTRAINTS

HOW do we learn most effectively? By being challenged, making mistakes, failing, making refinements and trying again. Developing new skills is not supposed to be easy.

Not to mention, failure and mistakes happen in every round, so you may as well practice dealing with the frustration and developing coping strategies. Make each rep a new challenge, so your brain has to prepare for it, and have consequences for failing (there should be clear success or failure). Learn how to be more comfortable being uncomfortable. I’ve got a sample session for you to do this at the end of the lesson.

FEEDBACK

WHAT are you learning from each shot and how did your practice session go? Were you able to stick to the task/ intention you set for yourself? What is it that you can refine and do differently next time? Most of my students keep a “performance journal” in which they add notes and reflections from their practice sessions to make the next one even better.

VALLEY Golf and Country Club will soon be a poster child for sustainability

MEASUREMENT

HOW do you know if there’s been any growth in skill? For the period that you are working on a specific aspect of your game, there should be regular testing. How else will you know whether you are improving? As part of your practice sessions, you should have some sort of pressurized test, as well as looking at your on-course performance.

SAMPLE PRACTICE SESSION:

n Primary short-term goal: GIR to 58 percent n Technical improvement (20 mins) n 20 balls in 25 minutes n one minute between each shot to review and plan n 100-percent focus on the movement to change n “Sandwich” slow motion swings in between shots n Place balls behind you so you have to walk to retrieve the next ball which forces you to reflect and plan the next shot

PERFORMANCE PRACTICE (45 MINS)

THE shots you pick for the challenge will pertain to the area of your game you need to improve The skill level of the player should determine the constraints for each shot (how difficult it is). Plan these ahead of time and write in your performance journal.

45 mins to complete the challenge

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If you fail at the 3 shots in a level, you return to the beginning of that level and add one minute to the time Go through your full Shot Routine for each shot Different target each time To make it more difficult you can run on the spot between shots to increase heart rate Level 1: PW to X ft of a target 9 iron to within X ft of target 8 iron to within X ft of target Level 2: 7 iron fade to within X ft of the target 7 iron straight to within X ft of the target 7 iron draw to within X ft of the target Level 3: Low trajectory 6 iron to within X ft of target Regular trajectory 5 iron to within X ft of target High trajectory 4 iron to within X ft of target If you’d like further practice drills for how to practice with more focus, intention and challenge, then you’ll certainly benefit from the Golf State of Mind Practice System.

OLF isn’t the easiest sport to break into. When I took up the game 26 years ago in February, it was like joining a secret society.

Instruction was crude by today’s standards. It was exceedingly difficult to find a decent teaching pro without a referral and after a few failed attempts at lessons with some anonymous range pros, I gave up. I relied on my own devices, accumulating instruction books and whatever instruction material I could to school myself in the game.

Equipment was almost akin to sorcery. Fitting was nonexistent beyond Ping’s storied color codes. Trying to decide which clubs fit was a matter of trial and error; you bought said club, you tried it, and if it didn’t work out, you sold it and took the loss on the chin.

This never sat well with me. As a lifelong athlete, I know just what a difference good equipment can make to the athlete and golf is no different to all my other sports. If anything, it should be even more critical in golf as we take 14 clubs with us to the golf course.

So, I made it my mission to help all who seek to better understand the dark art of golf clubs and how you can make them work for you. So, if you’re trying to get a handle on golf equipment, this article is for you.

The driver is the most exciting club in golf. It’s the only club that we carry that doesn’t have a specific distance when we hit it. Think about it—when we pull the driver, we’re not trying to hit it a specific distance.

We’re trying to hit it as far as we possibly can. It’s what differentiates the driver from the rest of the bag—with every other club, we’re trying to hit a specific distance.

Even with the limitations put on drivers by the USGA and R&A, drivers have managed to get longer every year. The gains have become incremental, though. The years of huge distance gains with drivers are over. If you hit drivers of different model years in the center of the clubface, they should hit the ball within a few yards of each other.

The big difference with the driver is now what happens when you don’t find the center of the clubface. Today’s big sticks have become very, very good at not giving up too much distance when you mishit your golf shot. Look for even more incremental gains as manufacturers experiment with exotic alloys to make our big sticks even better.

For 2020, drivers are spinning lower than ever before. We may have reached the point of diminishing returns here; I recently went to a shaft that allowed me to spin the ball a little more and I’m driving the ball better than ever. Low spin might give you your longest drives but that doesn’t necessarily translate into better play on the golf course. You need some spin to keep the golf ball in the air, more still if you like to shape the golf ball. You need spin to play this game.

The rest of your set needs to be fitted as a whole. This is the heart of your toolbox and you’ll need to choose your tools correctly. Distances need to be predictable with gaps of no more than 15 yards between clubs. Pay particular attention to the gap between your shortest wood or hybrid and your longest iron. This is a yardage that is crucial on course, particularly when you get into trouble so make sure whatever your solution is to this problem (lofted fairway wood, hybrid or long iron) that you have utter confidence in the club. You can thank me later.

If you’ve been stubbornly hanging on to that old set of irons because of the belief that the advances in irons aren’t significant, it’s time to ditch your old set. Iron technology is at a level previously unimaginable to the average golfer. The irons in the set are being designed individually to optimize their roles in the set. Lofts are getting stronger, but not just for the sake of jacking the lofts. The optimized centers of gravity and the characteristics of the more elastic alloys used on the clubfaces affect launch angle and trajectory beyond the effects of the stated loft.

Stronger lofts become necessary to keep the ball flying at the height that we expect with a given iron.

A proper fitting is essential to make sure your yardage gaps are predictable. And yes, the technology is here to make sure you can do so. Patience and a qualified fitter will make sure you don’t have any nasty surprises on the golf course. The latest launch monitors will provide your numbers through the set. You just need to put in the time to figure out what they are.

Through the set, golf scientists are working on endowing clubs that look like they should only be played by touring professionals with the ease of use and forgiveness that were once the domain of the largest game improvement clubs. This is a good thing and will blur the line between clubs for both demographics.

Putters have been adversely affected by the firmer multipiece golf balls that we all know and love. The ball spends less time on the clubface at impact, magnifying any errors in path or face angle. This means that some type of insert technology or face milling provides the golfer with a method to regain the control that was lost to the harder ball.

Beyond a variety of sole grinds, raising the center of gravity of our wedges is the new frontier of performance gains with your wedges.

Higher CG means the ball comes out slightly lower even with higher lofts which help to maximize spin. New face coatings pioneered by Ping are catching on with Titleist and other manufacturers to make sure you don’t lose those gains when water and other media come between the wedge and your golf ball. Mike Besa

Sports BusinessMirror

DUTCH HOLDS SWAY A8 Saturday, March 7, 2020

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

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UIDO VAN DER VALK survived another day of floundering finishes on Friday, fending off Clyde Mondilla’s early threat with a pitch-in eagle on No. 8 then holding sway despite a wobbly windup to cling to a two-stroke lead after three rounds of The Country Club (TCC) Invitational in Santa Rosa, Laguna.

The duo matched 75s, which proved to the best in wicked conditions, marred by almost identical three-bogey mishaps in the last eight holes as they kept the 1-2 posts at 220 and 222, respectively, with the Dutchman moving 18 holes away from becoming the third straight nonFilipino to win the Philippine Golf Tour’s flagship championship after back-to-back victories by Koreans Micah Shin and Kim Joo Hyung.

“I think today [Friday] was the hardest with the wind practically blowing in all 18 holes,” said van der Valk, adding that TCC actually needs no wind to be extremely difficult, given its length, the roughs, hazards and the putting surface.

“Just look at the scores, it was that hard and I am happy with this 75.

I actually feel that I played my best round,” he added.

He was just so delighted with his eagle feat on No. 8 when his 7-iron second shot from 210 yards fell 10 yards short of the green but his pitch landed exactly where he had wanted.

But his own version of a 75 also gave Mondilla a clear shot at a second

straight crown at the dreaded TCC layout after the Del Monte star bested a tough international field to win the Solaire Philippine Open last year.

Unlike in his impressive second round 70 where he hit all greens, however, Mondilla, 26, struggled with his short game, saying: “I missed a lot of greens. You’ve got to be consistent with your short game here at TCC, especially in putting.”

He actually pulled to within one with a birdie on the first hole but the early warning hardly shook van der Valk’s confidence as the latter watched the former lose his rhythm and bogey three of the next five holes.

Mondilla broke the spell with a birdie on the par-five No. 8 but van der Valk, who also bogeyed No. 3, eagled it to go 4-up, only to yield strokes in the next two holes on a bogey on the ninth coupled with the Filipino ace’s birdie on the 10th.

But he never got any closer and van der Valk failed to pull away either as Mondilla bogeyed Nos. 11, 12 and 18 and the latter dropped strokes on Nos. 11, 14 and 18, the treacherous par-4 many believe would decide the outcome today.

Petron, F2 Logistics gals target win No. 2 in PSL

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EIGNING champion Petron and F2 Logistics shoot for their second straight win when they tackle separate foes in the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix on Saturday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

Petron tests the mettle of powerhouse Chery Tiggo at 5 p.m. , while the Cargo Movers battle Cignal in the 7 p.m. nightcap.

Sta. Lucia faces dangerous Marinerang Pilipina at 3 p.m.

Although the Cargo Movers will miss Head Coach Ramil de Jesus who will attend to De La Salle University in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, the Cargo Movers are expected to be in fighting form to build momentum early in the tournament.

In their 25-21, 25-15, 25-13 win over PLDT Home Fibr last Tuesday, import Lindsay Stalzer and Kalei Mau led the scoring parade while Majoy Baron, Dawn Macandili and Aby Maraño took care of the defense for the Cargo Movers, who are billed as the heaviest contender this conference.

“We need to have a more organized blocking and we have to improve our floor defense against Cignal,” de Jesus said, knowing that the HD Spikers will be tough nut to cracks with the presence of veterans Rachel Anne Daquis and Jovelyn Gonzaga, as well as

Filipino-Hawaiian setter Alohi Robins-Hardy.

“Let’s see the difference in our game today and we’ll see what these two unbeaten squads can show and adjust in the situation,” he added.

Cignal Head Coach Edgar Barroga will lean on his import in Liannes Simon, who torched for 29 points in their 19-25, 25-28, 25-20, 25-20 win over Generika-Ayala also last Tuesday.

Also expected to draw interest is the battle between Petron and Chery Tiggo.

The new-look Blaze Spikers had a rousing start when they clobbered the Lifesavers last week, 25-22, 25-22, 25-21, sparking speculations that they are still the team to beat despite losing their nucleus of Mika Reyes, Denden Lazaro and Rhea Dimaculangan in the off-season.

Petron Coach Emil Lontoc said their win was such a big boost to their threepeat ambition with the newcomers led by Ging Balse-Pabayo, Angela Nunag, Rebecca Rivera and Lutgarda Malaluan all eager to prove their worth.

“That win was a huge encouragement for our players since many are counting us out this season,” the 70-year-old coach said. “I’m just telling them that we can do this. We have our import in Kat Bell to guide us.”

LEADER Guido van der Valk and Tony Lascuña do their own body English as they make their putts. NONIE REYES

The top 2 players’ shaky finishes likewise kept at least two other veteran campaigners and a former amateur standout in the hunt for the top P1.5-million purse as Jay Bayron moved to solo third at 224 despite a 76 he even spiked with an eagle and Lascuña assembled a 226 despite

slipping to fourth with a birdie-less 78.

Many-time national champion Rupert Zaragosa also gained despite a similar 78 as he joined Lascuña at fourth, six strokes off the pace, a deficit not to big to overcome on a course that continued to test the

poise and mental toughness.

The rest fared worse in another punishing day with the wind blowing from all over with only one player, Rene Menor, matching par 36 for a 79-240, and three submitting 43s, including Ira Alido (87-237), James Ryan Lam (84-244)

and Rico Depilo (81-248).

Keanu Jahns, who shot the tournament-best 69 Thursday, fumbled with a 76 for sixth at 228 while Spain’s Marcos Pastor (77), Jhonnel Ababa (78), Reymon Jaraula (78), Michael Bibat (78) and Albin Engino (79) all pooled 229s.

GREECE GAINS 2-0 LEAD Aquathlon in Imus T G REECE’S Stefanos Tsitsipas gave Filipino fans a dazzling show of world-class tennis as he overwhelmed the Philippines’s AJ Lim, 6-2, 6-1, on Friday to gain the early upper hand in their Davis Cup World Group II playoff tie at the Philippine Columbian Association’s Plaza Dilao courts in Paco, Manila.

Tsitsipas’s younger brother Petros was equally impressive as he mauled the host country’s top bet Jeson Patrombon, 6-2, 6-1, to give the Greeks a 2-0 lead and push them on the cusp of sealing the victory.

But the Filipinos will try to extend the tie a bit longer as Francis Casey Alcantara and Ruben Gonzales shoot for a win against Petros Tsitsipas and Markos Kalovelonis in Saturday’s doubles.

The reverse singles pitting Stefanos and Patrombon, and Petros and Lim are also set on Saturday.

The 6-foot-4 Tsitsipas, ranked No. 6 in the Association of Tennis Professionals rankings, towered above the 5-foot-7 Lim, whom he pummeled with an array of shots—from crisp backhands to powerful volleys—to carve out the win in only 53 minutes.

Tsitsipas showed the same form that gave him a runner-up finish to Novak Djokovic in the Dubai Championship less than a week ago and made life difficult for Lim, the country’s No. 2.

It gave the heavily favored Greeks the headstart while avenging an almost long-forgotten defeat by the 21-year-old Tsitsipas to the 20-year-old Lim in a doubles showdown in their junior days years back.

And what’s more impressive was Tsitsipas’s admission after the game that he struggled adjusting to surface of the court, as well as the heat. “I had a difficult time adjusting to the court it felt like a sauna here, but I still found ways to adjust,” he said.

Lim was just star-struck by how Tsitsipas played.

GREECE’S Stefanos Tsitsipas plays worldclass tennis in Plaza Dilao. ROY DOMINGO

HE world-class Ayala Vermosa Sports Hub in Imus City will launch the Vermosa Aquathlon 1 on Sunday.

The event kicks off the 2020 edition of the Ayala Vermosa Sports Hub Series and the Sun Life Aquathlon Series.

Participants as young as seven and as old as 50 will take on ageappropriate race distances when the gun goes off at 6:30 a.m., beginning with a swim in the Olympic-size pool followed by a run around Vermosa and finish at the track oval.

The longest course is the standard distance composed of a 500-meter swim and the 5-km run. The shortest course is a 100-meter swim and a 600-meter run for kids aged 7 to 10.

At stake are medals for all finishers, trophies and gift packs for the winners in each category.

The awarding ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. at the pool area.

Cycling season in disarray as more races canceled MARCIAL RIPS AUSSIE,

B

RUSSELS—The cycling season was plunged further into disarray after the Strade Bianche men’s and women’s races in Italy were canceled on Thursday because of the virus outbreak.

The races were to be held on Saturday, but following a meeting in the Tuscan city of Siena between the city’s prefect and mayor the decision was taken to cancel Strade Bianche and Strade Bianche Women Elite, race organizer RCS Sport said in a statement.

“RCS Sport will request the UCI, via the Italian Cycling Federation, to allocate a new date on the international cycling calendar,” the statement added.

In recent days, teams had begun withdrawing from the Strade Bianche and other races this month in Italy and France

because of the COVID-19 infection which has affected more than 3,000 people and killed more than 100.

The Ineos team of Tour de France champion Egan Bernal withdrew from all races over the next three weeks, and Astana and AG2R La Mondiale followed on Thursday.

Also, Australian outfit Mitchelton-Scott and US team EF Pro decided to withdraw from racing until March 22, and Dutch team Jumbo-Visma announced it would skip Strade Bianche even before the decision was made.

In a sport involving constant traveling across the world with cyclists very close to spectators on open roads, race organizers have also had to take in the concerns of health authorities.

Doctors from 11 cycling teams have written to race organizers ASO and RCS Sport, and the UCI, requesting the cancellation of upcoming races in Italy and France.

ASO, which also owns the Tour de France, said on Thursday it still planned to go ahead with Paris-Nice starting on Sunday.

The Astana team managed by Alexandre Vinokourov withdrew from races until March 20.

“With this measurement, we have chosen to protect the health of our riders and staff and to take our responsibility for the society in not further spreading the virus,” Vinokourov said.

The French-based AG2R La Mondiale said it was withdrawing from Italian races

the Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo this month.

“I cannot risk the health and integrity of our staff when the health situation is so unstable in Italy, and many legitimate questions have been raised within the team,” General Manager Vincent Lavenu said.

Team Ineos earlier said it notified cycling governing body UCI it was pulling out of all races until the Volta a Catalunya on March 23.

Ineos, the team of former Tour de France winners Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas, said it made the decision in the wake of sports director Nicolas Portal’s death this week, and because of the “very uncertain situation with coronavirus.” AP

ADVANCES TO QUARTERS

M

IDDLEWEIGHT Eumir Felix Marcial stressed his reputation as a formidable boxer on Thursday noon by dominating Australia’s Kirra Ruston, 5-0, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Asia-Oceania Olympic Qualifying Tournament at the Prince Hameh Hall in Amman, Jordan.

“Eumir will be ready for him,” Philippine team foreign consultant Don Abnett said. “This is the best condition I’ve seen Marcial in. The five-week training camp in Thailand prior to this tournament boosted not only his physical state but his mental state as well.”

“The Olympics is my and my father’s wish, I won’t let this opportunity get

away,” said Marcial, a muscular Air Force personnel from Zamboanga.

Marcial will face on Sunday Byamba Erdene-Otgonbaatar of Mongolia, a more experienced boxer who turned professional last year.

James Palicte, however, broke the string of four victories by the Philippine team, bowing to a superior Uzbek boxer, Elnur Abduraimov, a World Championships bronze medalist ,5-0.

The team took a break on Friday.

Irish Magno, Carlo Paalam and Ian Clark Bautista climb the ring on Saturday.

There are 221 boxers from 35 countries hoping to get a slot in the Tokyo Olympics scheduled to start July 24.

BusinessMirror

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

Facebook bans ads with false claims about new virus

BY BARBARA O�TUTAY The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO—Facebook said Wednesday that it is banning ads that make false claims about products tied to the new coronavirus.

The social network said it is removing ads that feature a product and imply a limited supply, seeking create a “sense of urgency” in their mention of coronavirus. Ads that guarantee a cure or prevention are also banned, it said.

For instance, ads for face masks that claim the products are 100 percent guaranteed to prevent the spread of the virus are not allowed, the company said.

The ban went into effect this week. Facebook had previously banned ads, along with regular unpaid posts, that peddle fake cures such as drinking bleach, spread conspiracy theories about the virus, or discourage people from seeking medical treatment.

The ban went into effect as the World Health Organization reported that the number of new cases outside China exceeded the number of new infections inside the country for the first time on Tuesday.

The COVID-19 virus has now spread to at least 39 countries.

/

DELL Mobile Connect

DELL LAUNCHES NEW ERA OF PCS, DISPLAYS

DELL Technologies recently unveiled new products and software across its premium Latitude, XPS and displays portfolios to help people innovate, collaborate and accomplish more in the next decade. Featuring artificial intelligence (AI), 5G and innovative design, the latest Dell PCs and displays make work and play more seamless, intelligent and enjoyable.

“The PC industry has never been more vibrant with builtin AI, 5G and the best design we’ve ever seen, all to help make our lives easier and more fulfilled,” said Sam Burd, president of Dell Client Solutions Group. “What’s exciting to me is that the PC plays a central role in helping people innovate, influence and achieve more.”

Among the new products Dell introduced recently is the Latitude 9510, designed with the finest details in mind to be smaller and thinner than ever before, with a larger display and a superior experience. The Latitude 9510 delivers what business users seek: the longest battery life of any 15-inch business PC with a target of up to 30 hours, 5G-ready design, powerful audio features and intelligent solutions that increase productivity.

The company also introduced the new XPS 13, redesigned to achieve the most premium and superior computing experience with the finest materials, smaller and thinner profile and a larger display. Elegantly crafted with machined aluminum, carbon fiber, woven glass fiber and hardened Corning Gorilla Glass, the XPS 13 has a flawless finish in a durable, lightweight design.

For users that want maximum screen space, Dell is delivering its latest engineering feat—narrow bezels on every side, reducing the XPS 13’s InfinityEdge borders and creating a smaller and thinner form factor than all other XPS predecessors.

Meanwhile, Dell monitors have been No. 1 worldwide for the past six years meeting the varying needs of business users to gaming enthusiasts. Users can collaborate effectively with the new Dell 86 4K Interactive Touch Monitor that is digitizing yesterday’s whiteboard. The UltraSharp 43 4K USB-C Monitor, on the other hand, allows users to view content from up to four connected PCs simultaneously to maximize productivity.

More information about these and other new releases can found at www.delltechnologies.com.

Saturday, March 7, 2020 A9

Branch of the future aims to make transactions more convenient PRIMETIME

DINNA CHAN VASQUEZ @dinnachanvasquez luckydinna@gmail.com

I

GREW up admiring Avon Ladies because I thought their jobs were so cool. Even as a child, I knew that the products they sold did not only help women be more beautiful but also feel good about themselves. These ladies earn money but they work around their schedule.

When I became a journalist and got the chance to meet more Avon Ladies, I was struck by how alike they were in that all of them were motivated by love for family. After I got married, I learned that my husband’s sister was an Avon Lady. She would get her products from Avon’s Taft branch, which is considered the flagship store.

Avon Ladies used to line up to order their merchandise at the Taft branch (and other branches as well) and this would take up a bit of their time.

They can now experience Avon’s world-class showcase at the Taft branch, as the brand moves to become a digital beauty company. The Taft store, located at Victoria de Manila, 1655 Taft Avenue, is called the #AvonBranchOfTheFuture.

“We wanted to create a space for all of our Avon Ladies that will allow them to sample new products, partner with us and reap the benefits from being our top sellers,” says Christine Eugenio, Avon director of channel operations.

The Taft store is also designed to be something like a supermarket for Avon products so that even those who are exploring the brand for the first time will get to try the merchandise with the help of in-store Avon Ladies. The Taft branch has three major areas.

Avon Beauty Studio showcases the brand’s Makeup, Fragrance and Face Care products that can be tested by customers and potential representatives. In the Beauty Studio, there is a specific area for Makeup and Face Care, which has been organized following Avon’s recommended regimen. Avon has also included select intimate apparel and jewelry that customers can try on. The Taft branch also has an exclusive lane for orders of 10 items or less to facilitate easier purchasing.

Avon’s Taft branch also has a supermarket section, where customers can take advantage of top offers. The

store includes Avon’s Body & Toiletries, Fragrance, Accessories, Home, Nutritionals and Clearance offers.

This is also where Avon will be launching their new products. Avon’s Beauty Advisors can also visit the supermarket for exclusive bundles.

Beauty Boutique Owners and Avon’s top sellers have access to the VIP Lounge, where they can conduct bulk purchases in comfort. Avon resellers can also take advantage of the dedicated counters for incentive issuances.

Avon’s new Taft branch is the beginning of Avon’s new way of connecting with its customers in the Philippines.

“We had our customers in mind when we were developing the concept for the new store, and we’re so happy to finally unveil this new store for our customers and resellers,” said Eugenio.

The plan is for all the existing 194 branches nationwide to be well-equipped as they strive to

become a digital beauty company, especially now that it is part of the fourth-largest beauty company.

Brazilian company Natura & Co has acquired Avon Products Inc. to form the world’s fourth-largest pure-play beauty company. The combination of Avon, Natura, The Body Shop and Aesop significantly strengthens the multichannel, multi-brand group that will be “a leader in the direct-to-consumer space, bringing beauty to over 200 million consumers across the world anytime, anywhere, every day through multiple channels, touchpoints and iconic brands,” the company said in a press release.

Natura acquired Aesop in 2013 and The Body Shop in 2017. Brazil is Avon’s biggest market.

Natura’s plan for Avon is to utilize social-media digital tools like Instagram, Whatsapp, YouTube, and Facebook to connect with consumers. So maybe it’s not impossible for Avon Ladies to be social-media influencers someday, right? ■

SweetEscape eyes bigger presence in PHL market

BY RIZAL RAOUL S. REYES AN artificial intelligence (AI)driven global photography service, SweetEscape expressed optimism in the Philippine market as it has received hundreds of monthly bookings from Filipinos.

“SweetEscape has grown continuously, with hundreds of bookings monthly from customers in the Philippines. The Philippines quickly became the second-largest market in Southeast Asia for SweetEscape. This is why it was only natural that it became our first country of choice for global expansion,” SweetEscape Founder and CEO David Soong said in a press statement.

“We want our customers to see SweetEscape as a photography platform for every need, whether for travel, birthday parties, bridal showers, or any special occasion,” added SweetEscape COO and Cofounder Emile Etienne in a

SWEETESCAPE Philippine team

press statement.

Soong said SweetEscape will further expand in 2020 by going to other markets such as Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Korea and Malaysia. He added this expansion will commence in the next few months, which is aligned with the brand’s goal to become a household

name in the photography industry around the world. “All this, while empowering the photographer community by providing an endto-end infrastructure including post-production for photographers to pursue their passion, while addressing the rising demand for quality visual content to consumers and businesses,”

he said.

SweetEscape was founded in 2012

by Soong during a family vacation.

He said he was surprised to find very few pictures that captured their perfect holiday moments. Being a photographer himself, Soong came up with the idea of hand-picking photographers with the right skills and right styles from around the world.

Soon after, SweetEscape was born to cater to travelers who want to come home with amazing pictures.

Initially launched in 2017, SweetEscape now has a network of over 10,000 photographers to serve thousands of travelers in over 500 cities around the world who want to capture those once-in-a-lifetime moments and turn them into beautiful memories.

In the Philippines, with 6 out of 10 Filipinos traveling twice a year for leisure, SweetEscape has conveniently provided a way to book photographers anywhere in the world.

BusinessMirror

A10 Saturday, March 7, 2020

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Huawei makes end-run around US ban by using its own chips /

ONLINE sexual abuse and exploitation of children is a hidden crime, unknown to many but sadly experienced increasingly by the most vulnerable children in the Philippines.

SAFERKIDSPH ADVOCATES TO STOP ONLINE SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN

TODAY, the SaferKidsPH Consortium, consisting of the Asia Foundation, Save the Children Philippines, the Government of Australia, led by Unicef, supports the Government of the Philippines in observing Safer Internet Day. The Safer Internet Day raises awareness on pressing and emerging cases of online sexual exploitation against children.

The Philippines is one of the top global sources of child sex-abuse materials. In 2018 alone, 600,000 sexualized photos of Filipino children were bartered and traded. The Philippine Kids Online Survey found that 90 percent of Filipino children can access the Internet whenever they want or need to, and 59 percent connect to the Internet without supervision. It also revealed that 2 in 10 children are vulnerable to be victims of child online sexual exploitation and abuse.

The SaferKidsPH Consortium aims to support the current efforts of the Philippine government, including the coming together of the Bureau of Immigration, Philippine National Police, and foreign law enforcers through the Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Center that investigates and rescues children victimized by online sexual exploitation.

In observance of the Safer Internet Day in the Philippines, the SaferKidsPH Consortium urges the government for strengthened implementation of the laws to protect children online. One such aspiration is the immediate adoption of the Child Online Safeguarding Policy guaranteed by the Free Wi-Fi in Public Places Act and to be implemented by the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

The COSP is meant to provide protection to children who will access free Wi-Fi in communities because mechanisms and standards, such as blacklisting and warnings, in the captive portals are to be standardized and easily accessible, so that children and their parents will be informed of the risks when navigating cyberspace and how to report when online harm is experienced.

SaferKidsPH is a six-year (2019 to 2025) initiative that aims to create a safer environment for children, and advocates call on the government, NGOs, communities, parents, caregivers and young people to play an active role in: (1) adopting positive behavior toward protection of children from online abuse and exploitation; (2) strengthening investigation, prosecution and adjudication of OSAEC cases consistent with national legislation; and (3) improving service delivery for prevention, and protection, of children against online sexual abuse and exploitation in OSAEC hot spots.

More information about Unicef and its work for children in the Philippines is available at www.unicef.ph.

H

BY IAN KING Bloomberg News

UAWEI Technologies Co., the Chinese technology giant barred from doing business with US suppliers, is finding a way around the strict limits imposed by the Trump administration.

The Commerce department, citing national security concerns, has largely forbidden American companies from selling Huawei the computer chips it needs to make a piece of equipment integral to newly introduced high-speed wireless networks.

In response, China’s largest technology company ramped up its own capabilities to manufacture the gear, which is known as a base station.

In a sign that the self-reliance is working, Huawei in the fourth quarter sold more than 50,000 of these next-generation base stations that were free of US technology, according to Tim Danks, the US-based Huawei executive responsible for partner relations.

That’s only about 8 percent of the total base stations that Huawei’s sold as of February, but the company is quickly ramping up at its secretive HiSilicon division to make more of these American component-free devices, Danks said.

“It’s still our intention to return to using US technology,” he said. The longer Huawei goes without access to US suppliers, the more unlikely it is to be able to return to using them, Danks added.

A base station is a typically suitcase-sized piece of machinery that’s used to help connect wireless phones to fixed-line networks carrying internet traffic, and it’s an essential ingredient in the next, or fifth, generation of mobile networks.

Popular among telecommunications providers, Huawei’s base stations are widely considered among the most reliable for the price.

US officials accuse Huawei of stealing valuable intellectual property and violating a trade embargo with Iran. The Trump administration blacklisted the company last year, saying there’s a risk Huawei could give Beijing access to sensitive data coursing through telecommunications networks that employ its gear.

Huawei has denied the allegations. Critics also said the US government imposed the sanctions to hobble China’s leadership in key aspects of 5G technology.

As of early February, Huawei had shipped about 600,000 5G base stations to mobile phone companies racing to upgrade networks to the new standard, which is designed to deliver data at faster speeds to a broad range of wirelessly connected devices—not

just mobile handsets. Most of these base stations were made using stockpiled chips bought before the ban.

While Huawei doesn’t disclose its suppliers, base stations typically rely on a kind of processor called a field programmable gate array that’s made by Intel Corp., a chip-making colossus based in Santa Clara, California; and Xilinx Inc., in neighboring San Jose.

Those chips provide flexibility that makes it easier to update machines as new standards and features are added. Huawei’s chips are application-specific, meaning they’re tailored to particular functions and it takes more time and money to replace them. That’s a disadvantage at a time when new technology, such as 5G, is in its infancy and still subject to big changes.

The US initially clamped down on all shipments of US supplies to Huawei, which had spent more than $10 billion a year on US products, but later began making some exceptions. Xilinx, and fellow chipmakers Micron Technology Inc. and Broadcom Inc. have all reported falling earnings on reduced or eliminated sales to Huawei.

Attempts by the US to persuade European and other allied countries to ban Huawei equipment have

fallen short, and chipmakers in Asia and Europe continue to supply it.

For their part, American chipmakers have argued that banning the supply of parts that Huawei can get elsewhere is counterproductive, saying that the lost revenue crimps research and development budgets, and the ability to produce the best chips in the future. Huawei’s HiSilicon chip unit designs semiconductors and has them manufactured by industry-leading plants owned by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. But Washington is even now said to be looking into ways to curb the world’s largest contract chipmaker on grounds of national security, and deprive Huawei of its largest semiconductor manufacturing partner.

The Chinese company led the market for base stations with a 28 percent share last year, according to New Street Research.

The investment company predicts demand for that equipment will rise this year with the 5G network buildout. Nokia Oyj and Ericsson AB are its two largest competitors in this market.

WITH ASSISTANCE FROM GAO YUAN

LexMeet launches mobile app to help Filipinos solve legal problems

BY RIZAL RAOUL S. REYES LOTS of Filipinos, especially overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), persons with disabilities (PWDs) and the common folk, often feel helpless as getting a trustworthy lawyer is a luxury they cannot afford.

Making the situation worse is the proliferation of fake attorneys in social media that victimizes clients in dire need of legal service.

At present, approximately 80 percent of legal problems in the Philippines do not receive legal assistance based on the World Justice Project report.

Many Filipinos think it’s inconvenient, expensive and intimidating to deal with legal issues at a lawyer’s office. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that are also in need of legal assistance also lack access to affordable legal help.

In response, LexMeet, the first legal solutions mobile app in the Philippines, aims to address the needs of Filipinos especially those who belong to the lower bracket of the social pyramid. With just a click of the LexMeet app on a smartphone or a computer, LexMeet can give you quick access to legal services that are both competent and affordable.

Atty. Marlon Valderama, founder and president of LexMeet Inc., said in a recent press briefing that LexMeet gives Filipinos online legal service accessibility anytime, anywhere so clients can receive

legal advice, legal documents and legal remedies online, at their own convenience. “LexMeet creates legal tech products that allow clients and lawyers the ability to complete an entire legal case, from assessment to execution of judgment,” he said.

He said LexMeet has launched three new products for their clients. These are iAssist, Consult and Everyday Law. ■ iASSIST—a free legal crowdsourcing platform for initial assessment of a client’s legal problem.

This is where a client could determine if he/she really needs a lawyer, or if he/she really has a case to file in court or not.

■ CONSULT—a prepaid online legal consultation platform using videoconference with lawyer-client matching algorithm. Clients can comfortably request the date and time of the online legal consultation with the lawyer. They meet the selected lawyer faceto-face in LexMeet’s own video chat consultation platform where they could directly ask questions and make clarifications as well as upload additional documents for review. The lawyer chosen is informed in advance of the client’s legal problem with the attached documents. Follow-up legal consultation can be conveniently made by the client, and/or they can easily arrange for another lawyer’s second opinion or advice.

■ EVERYDAY LAW—free legal information and

ATTY. Marlon Valderama, founder and president of LexMeet

knowledge through blogs/vlogs.

Lawyers also benefit from LexMeet because it gives them a chance to reach a larger market and improve their individual standing. As of February 13, 2020, Valderama said Lexmeet had a total number of 29,784 clients served by a pool of 452 lawyers solving a

total number of 26,525 legal problems.

LexMeet Inc. was one of the big winners during the fourth season of The Final Pitch, a business reality show. Valderama “pitched” his idea for a mobile legal app called LexMeet to an esteemed panel of investors who were hoping to own a piece of “the next big idea.”

Mega Global Corp. CEO William Tiu Lim who was a judge/investor for the show, saw the potential of LexMeet and offered to invest in LexMeet Inc. “Lexmeet’s goal to help Filipinos who do not have legal access appealed to us. Mega Global Corp. has always been about nation-building and enriching the lives of every Filipino,” he said in the recent press briefing.

The entry of Mega Global will boost LexMeet’s capability to reach out to more clients, according to Valderama.

“We will be able to make LexMeet known to more people. We will also add more features to our existing products based on the feedback and learnings from our users. Using the fund, we will also start to develop two of our other products, [Lex]Docs, a chatbot legal document assembly; and [Lex]Notary, a prototype electronic notarial system with blockchain component. We’ve also decided to put up a Singaporean holdings company called Lex Prime Holdings Pte. Ltd. in preparation for our possible expansion in Southeast Asia in the near future,” he explained.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

BusinessMirror

Saturday, March 7, 2020 A11

Teens love the video app TikTok. Do they love it too much?

F

BY TALI ARBEL The Associated Press

ROM the perspective of teens, TikTok is a major new outlet for self-expression, one proudly home to the silly, the loud and the weird.

To others, the Chinese-owned online video service is an unnerving black box that could be sharing information with the Chinese government, facilitating espionage, or just promoting videos and songs some parents consider lewd. (TikTok denies the first two concerns and says it’s working on the third.)

Welcome to the bifurcated world of TikTok, an emerging social-media powerhouse that lets users create and share short videos, many no longer than 15 seconds. “That’s where the Gen Z party is,” says Kory Marchisotto, chief marketer for elf Cosmetics. “That’s where they’re all hanging out.”

There’s little doubt that TikTok users find it irresistible. But TikTok is also the subject of a US national-security review and a Pentagon ban. US lawmakers are worried about national security and censorship risks posed by TikTok’s Chinese ownership.

TikTok draws so much attention because it’s the first China-owned social-media service to make serious inroads in the West. It’s a smash in the US and other countries, attracting celebrities and companies eager to reach kids and young adults disconnected from traditional media.

The NFL has an account. So do Chipotle, Reese Witherspoon, and The Washington Post. The US Army previously used it to recruit soldiers.

People have downloaded TikTok 1.65 billion times, the analysis firm Sensor Tower estimates. In 2019, it was the second-most downloaded app in the Apple and Google app stores, trailing only WhatsApp. Research firm eMarketer estimates that TikTok roughly doubled its US user base to 37.2 million in 2019. To many users, what’s special is TikTok’s goofiness and sense of genuine fun. To use, just download the app and start swiping through videos.

You don’t have to friend anyone or search for anything to watch. If you don’t go looking for it, you might not ever come across angry political discussions, much less envy-generating vacation shots from friends.

Instead, you’ll likely to encounter a barrage of funny, meme-y videos from total strangers that TikTok spools up for you, personalizing the feed as you go.

Politics, of course, is still there; so is the socialmedia plague of misinformation. TikTok says it prohibits harmful misinformation.

TikTok makes money from ads, and sometimes the campaigns aren’t readily identifiable as ads.

Companies can start hashtag-based “challenges” that invite users to participate by posting their own videos, often incorporating a particular dance or dance move.

Elf Cosmetics’ “eyeslipsface” campaign, for example, had people wink and purse their lips to go with the lyrics of an original song. Users created 3 million videos, with 4 billion views.

The service has helped launch musical stars like Lil Nas X, whose “Old Town Road” is the longest-running No. 1 song in the history of Billboard’s charts. There are pranksters, funny skits, behind-the-scenes of fastfood operations and “glow-ups”—before-and-after shots of someone making themselves look cuter. Some are more random: Kim Kardashian cooking parodies?

Some users say TikTok is more authentic than

Twitter creates a better, safer cyberspace for all

BY RODERICK L. ABAD Contributor

FROM the perspective of teens flooding onto TikTok, the Chinese-owned online video app is a major new outlet for self-expression, one proudly home to the silly, the loud and the weird. To others, though, the service is an unnerving black box that could be sharing information with the Chinese government, facilitating espionage, or just promoting videos and songs some parents consider lewd. AP

the self-consciously pretty and polished Instagram.

Emilie Richer, a 19-year-old from Simcoe, Ontario, says she uses Instagram for “photos that look nice, or the good things I’m doing” and TikTok to “get loose, make jokes, pull pranks and stuff, dress up weird.” A TikTok video of Richer catching a pickle thrown into her mouth went viral in November.

A Chinese start-up, ByteDance, launched TikTok internationally over two years ago. It then bought Musical.ly, another Chinese video service popular with teens in the US and Europe. ByteDance combined the two, but kept TikTok separate from a twin service called Douyin, which it offers only in China. Until recently, Chinese social-media services, built in a country hemmed in by censorship, have largely been confined to a domestic audience.

TikTok’s rise, fueled in part by ads on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, has in turn shaken those US services. The company behind Snapchat started listing TikTok as a competitor in 2019. Facebook, which famously copies features of its rivals, launched a knockoff called Lasso in 2018 and added TikTok-ian video-editing features to Instagram.

Beyond rivalries, concerns range from the sexual nature of some videos to censorship by China’s communist government.

India and Indonesia temporarily banned TikTok because of worries about children. Anastasia Basil, a Los Angeles writer whose children are 10 and 12, says she was upset by the explicit lyrics in songs and “extremes of sexualized content” she saw.

Her 10-year-old’s best friend loves TikTok, she says; she told the friend’s mother not to let Basil’s daughter use it during sleepovers.

TikTok is working hard to ensure that it’s a “safe and positive environment,” says Kudzi Chikumbu, the company’s head of creator partnerships.

TikTok has fleshed out its community guidelines on what’s allowed. It offers a restricted mode for inappropriate content and limited accounts for under-13 users, although it doesn’t verify ages. Last year, the company agreed to a $5.7 million US fine over collecting personal information from kids under 13. The company says it deletes “wrongly created” accounts, such as those of underage users with fake birthdates, when they’re reported by other users.

But many security experts worry about the information sucked up by the service. People’s social connections, biometric data and interests that would be useful to an advertiser could also assist a hostile government in cultivating spies or tracking dissidents, says John Dermody, a former official with the National Security Council and Department of Homeland Security.

These national-security worries parallel a broader US security crackdown on Chinese companies and President Donald J. Trump’s trade war with China. A US national-security agency is reviewing ByteDance’s Musical.ly deal, while the Army, Navy and Marine Corps recently banned service members and personnel from installing TikTok on governmentissued phones.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has criticized TikTok for allegedly censoring protests. Newsreports have asserted that TikTok has banned videos and topics in line with Beijing’s own censorship rules.

TikTok now insists that it doesn’t do so, nor would it even if the Chinese government asked it to. As for spying, the company denies it and says it stores US user data in the US and Singapore, not China.

Not everyone buys that. The Chinese government “can exert a fair amount of soft pressure” and get what it wants, says Chris Calabrese of the US tech watchdog group Center for Democracy & Technology. ■

Bolt28 excited to bring Sim Racing, competitive world of eSports to next level A REGIONAL sports marketing agency, Bolt28 Communications has a passion for seeing Filipinos perform on the world stage and bringing opportunities right here to the Philippines.

The company aim to grow grassroots programs across a range of sports, from traditional to eSports. Through events and activations, Bolt28 looks to strengthen the marriage of sport and technology to reach a wider audience, and make its sports assets accessible to everyone.

The brand continues to grow and develop relationships with business partners locally and regionally in support of athletes, along with bringing tangible value to partners by leveraging on the vast digital space.

A part of the Bolt28 eSports series is Bolt28 Sim Racing.

With a passion for seeing local athletes rise, the company commits to growing this sport and the community by providing a platform for people to compete, train and grow, with an emphasis on newcomers of all ages to the sport of

sim racing. They kicked off their regional launch with an exciting demo of their premier operation Bolt28 Sim Racing, a high octane no holds bared eSports racing tournament that puts sim racing enthusiast, professionals and gamers headto-head at SM City Clark for a five-day competition of fun and entertainment.

Taking place from April 22 to 26 in SM City Clark, this event is expected to draw crowds of existing gamers and firsttimers to the hyper-real eSport of sim racing. Everyone can experience the fun and community of eSports.

The announcement is sure to excite the world of eSports in the Philippines, and to seal the deal, Bolt28 introduced James Deakin as Bolt28’s official brand ambassador. James brings with him his love for racing and his advocacy for road safety, making him the perfect fit for the brand.

Bolt28 is, however, not all about eSports, as they have set their sights on more traditional sports, such as soccer (football) and golf, with future projects not far on the horizon.

BOLT28 brand ambassador James Deakin

TIMELY to this year’s recent celebration of Safer Internet Day, themed “Together for a Better Internet,” Twitter has implemented a new rule to address synthetic and manipulated media.

Just lately, it started labeling tweets if it is believed the media shared within them have been significantly and deceptively changed or fabricated.

Labels will link to a Twitter moment to give more context from reputable sources on the content in question.

Such initiative is just one of the many substantial strides that Twitter has done in tackling abusive content on its service globally over the past 12 months.

Other key accomplishments included using technology to proactively surface and take action on one in two abusive tweets, rather than relying on reports to Twitter by users. This compares to one in five Tweets in 2018.

A growth of 105 percent has been recorded on accounts that Twitter has taken action on, whether they are locked or suspended for violating its rules.

In November 2019, Twitter kicked off the option for users globally to hide replies to their tweets. At present, anyone can choose to conceal responses to their accounts.

A month after, the social network widened and branched out its Trust and Safety Council that gathers experts and organizations worldwide to help advise on developing products, programs and rules.

Beyond the guidelines for the proper use of Twitter, there are some basic steps to also consider to make the experience safe and empowering.

Turn on login verification or two-factor authentication to make sure that a one-time password, or OTP, is sent to your mobile phone. This provides an additional layer of security since only people who have access to both your password and mobile phone (or a security key) will be able to log in to your account.

Enable the “Protect Your Tweets” in account settings. Doing so will make your Tweets visible only to approved followers and the tweets won’t appear in Google searches.

To avoid trolls and bullies, restrict specific accounts from contacting you, seeing your tweets, and following you by blocking them.

Mute an account to remove its tweets from your timeline even without unfollowing or blocking it.

You can apply it or the advanced mute for specific words, conversations, phrases, usernames, emojis, or hashtags.

Report to Twitter tweets, accounts, lists and direct messages that you find abusive and likely to cause harm to others. That way, you are also doing a favor to the Twitter community as a whole.

Think before you click. Check or read first what you are going to say twice before tweeting. Don’t tweet anything you wouldn’t want others to say about you.

Don’t be a bully yourself.

Avoid sharing too much details on your personal information. Always think that once you have tweeted, it can be seen, retweeted, or shared.

Similarly, location sharing can be risky. Twitter allows you to choose whether to include location on your profile and Tweets, and by default it is switched off. Remember that you may be revealing information on your whereabouts. So better not use the location sharing feature in Twitter.

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

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GOOGLE CANCELS MOST IMPORTANT CONFERENCE ON CORONAVIRUS CONCERN

BY GERRIT DE VYNCK Bloomberg News

C3: Too good to be real(me)?

TECHNIVORE ED UY

whereiseduy@gmail.com

T

HERE’S a saying, “The first time is a fluke; the second a coincidence, but the third one?

It’s tradition.”

No wonder there’s such high expectations for the realme C3.

The brand, which celebrated its first year in the Philippines only last November, has consistently disrupted the market with its value promise of introducing high-tier features to lower price points.

If the realme C1 boldly claimed that it was the “king of entry-level smartphones,” the C2 proved why it was the game-changer brand, urging users to “dare to leap” and experience real value.

But with the market becoming even more competitive, and last-gen midrange phones getting price drops, what can the realme C3 offer to further the brand’s winning streak?

Launched Thursday, March 5, at the brand’s new HQ in BGC, the realme C3 is being dubbed as a triplecamera gaming monster that’s powered by a new MediaTek chipset and a whopping 5000mAh battery.

We got to try the phone a few days before it launched, to see if the third time is indeed a charm for realme.

DESIGN AND BUILD

THE realme C3 comes in its trademark bright yellow box that contains a wall adapter, a microUSB cable, sim card tool, screen protector and paper documents.

It doesn’t come with a plastic case, but I’m pretty sure you’d be able to easily find one on Lazada or Shoppee.

The unit we got is the Blazing Red variant, but it also comes in Frozen Blue. Both colors equally look good and you can’t go wrong with either one.

I just chose the red one because it’s not your usual smartphone color.

Realme has been doing a good job with respect to its smartphone designs, making their phones look more premium than their price tags. This time, the realme C3 swaps out the diamond-cut design of the C2 with a new, more interesting Sunrise Design.

As its name suggests, the back of the phone reflects light in a way that makes it seem as if there are rays emanating from the camera module. According to the brand, the design is meant to inspire with the power and hope brought by the first rays of the sun. I do like the new anti-fingerprint surface that makes it easier to hold and prevents unwanted scratches and smudges.

The volume rocker sits to the left of the phone, just below the triple-card tray (Dual sim+microSD card).

On the right side is the power button, while the 3.5mm headphone jack, speaker grill, and (sadly) microUSB

port are placed at the bottom.

It has a 6.5-inch screen, with a redesigned waterdrop notch that houses the 5MP front camera.

The display size is great for media consumption, and the quality itself is quite good for watching movies or playing games. Sitting just above the camera is the earpiece that does a good job with phone calls. The smartphone is splash-resistant as it has been designed with a port-sealing plastic cover, but I wouldn’t suggest dipping it in the pool.

GOOD CAMERAS, BETTER CHIPSET

THE realme C3 boasts of an AI Triple Rear Camera setup composed of a 12MP main camera + 2MP portrait and 2MP macro camera. The setup supports bokeh shots, portrait mode and panoselfie, and the results are quite good compared to other phones from the same price point. I actually keep the Chromaboost option on because it makes the photos look more vivid. The C3 is the first phone to be powered by the MediaTek Helio G70 processor. The G70 is an octacore processor that’s based on a 12nm manufacturing process, and since its part of the Helio G series, the chipset is aimed to please gamers, and it will more than delight gamers with its performance. It has recorded Antutu benchmark scores of over 193,000, which is even better than some higher-priced smartphones.

Whether it’s “Asphalt 9,” “Call of Duty” or “Mobile Legends,” the realme C3 can surprisingly handle all those demanding games. Now I’m not saying it is flawless, because remember, it is still an entry-level phone, but unless you are downgrading from a highend phone, there won’t be much to complain about.

This is as good as you can get from this price segment with respect to gaming.

Last, the realme C3 houses a massive 5,000mAh battery, a significant step up from the C2’s 4,230mAh battery. The battery size is almost the same as the C3’s price and you don’t have to worry about your battery dying while you are in the middle of a gaming session or movie/series binge. It also supports reverse charge, so the realme C3 can even become your battery life saver.

Other features worth noting are: the new realme UI is way better than ColorOS (it even has icon customization); ultra-fast fingerprint unlocking (0.27 second) and facial recognition; Dual Mode Music Share that allows two users to enjoy the same video or song at the same time from the same device by connecting a pair of wireless earbuds and a wired earphone simultaneously; and Focus Mode which helps you concentrate or relax by turning on Do Not Disturb mode to prevent notifications while playing some tunes to soothe your nerves. For fans of Dark Mode, you’d be happy to know that it is beautifully integrated in realme UI and optimized to work with more third-party apps.

Realme has another winner in the C3, and it is a worthy upgrade from the C2. The design and specs make it an easy recommendation for those looking for a budget phone. It stays true to its promise of providing a great gaming experience thanks to its big screen and snappy processor, and the battery life will not disappoint. The cameras are just okay, and the only thing that I really didn’t like is the microUSB port

instead of a Type-C. The realme C3 is now available with a price of P5,990, at both online and offline stores.

GRAB-A-LAWYER

DID you know that the most common legal problem of Pinoys is usually about property/real estate?

According to LexMeet, an app that instantly connects legally distressed Pinoys to hundreds of lawyers, 40 percent of the cases they handle involve property titling, questions about condo ownership or transfer of real estate; 20 percent about debt and contracts, and the rest about annulment, child support and inquiries about start-up incorporation.

Since it first launched a few years ago, LexMeet has culled a total of 29,784 clients served by a pool of 452 lawyers solving a total number of 26,525 legal problems.

LexMeet Inc. was one of the big winners in the fourth season of The Final Pitch, a business reality show. Atty. Marlon Valderama, founder and president of LexMeet Inc., “pitched” his idea for a mobile legal app, called LexMeet, to an esteemed panel of investors who were hoping to own a piece of “the next big idea.”

Mega Global Corp. CEO William Tiu Lim, who was a judge/investor on the show, saw the potential of LexMeet and offered to invest in LexMeet Inc. Tiu said LexMeet’s goal of helping Filipinos who do not have legal access appealed to them, as Mega Global Corp. has always been about nation-building and enriching the lives of every Filipino.

Legal problems that are not readily resolved usually end up being bigger problems. But many Filipinos who need legal help often feel helpless as getting a trustworthy lawyer is a luxury they cannot afford. Approximately 80 percent of legal problems in the Philippines do not receive legal assistance based on the World Justice Project Report. Filipinos, especially OFWs and PWDs, find it extremely troublesome to deal with legal issues in the Philippines because they think it’s inconvenient, expensive and intimidating to deal with legal issues at a lawyer’s office. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that are also in need of legal assistance also lack access to affordable legal help.

LexMeet is the first legal solutions mobile app in the Philippines that aims to bridge the gap between clients and lawyers. With just a click of the LexMeet app on a smartphone or a computer, the platform can give you quick access to legal services that are both competent and affordable.

Lawyers also benefit from LexMeet because it gives them a chance to reach a larger market and improve their individual standing through client reviews. With LexMeet, legal help is now just a click away. More information is available at www.lexmeet. com.

With Mega Global Corp.’s investment, Valderama believes they will be able to introduce LexMeet to more people and allow them to add more features to their existing products based on the feedback and learnings from users. Using the fund, he says they will also start developing two new products, (Lex)Docs, a chatbot legal document assembly, and (Lex)Notary, a prototype electronic notarial system with blockchain component. ■

GOOGLE called off its flagship conference, the latest event cancellation as concern about the coronavirus grows among businesses.

The May event, called I/O, brings together thousands of people from around the world who partner with or build apps and web sites for Google’s digital services. The company will refund participants and look for ways to hold sessions digitally instead, according to an e-mail sent to participants that Bloomberg viewed. On Monday, Google made the same decision for its Cloud Next conference.

Conferences are particularly important in the technology industry, where companies must keep developers and users engaged on their platforms.

The virus is undermining these efforts this year as travel plans are scrapped and companies increase protections for employees.

Facebook Inc. has already canceled its major developer conference, F8. Microsoft Corp. called off a smaller gathering, too. Tech industry conferences like the Game Developers Conference and Mobile World Congress were also scrapped. Apple Inc.’s major conference, WWDC, is typically held in June, but the company has yet to announce the event this year.

On Monday, Alphabet Inc.’s Google banned all business travel except in “critical” situations, according to a memo sent by Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat that was seen by Bloomberg. The memo called for employees currently traveling abroad to return home as soon as they can.

IBM cancels 30,000-person event in May over coronavirus risks

BY OLIVIA CA�VILLE Bloomberg News CONCERNS over the coronavirus are putting an end to some of the biggest business conferences of the year. International Business Machines Corp. is the latest to cancel its main annual event, which was scheduled to draw some 30,000 people to San Francisco in May. IBM said Wednesday it will instead stream video and other online content in place of the in-person convention for IBM Think 2020. The company also said it’s adopting stricter travel requirements for employees. That includes the suspension of all domestic travel for internal meetings, a ban on attending external events with more than 1,000 attendees through the end of this month and a twoweek self-quarantine for those traveling to at-risk countries.

Companies are choosing to call off events that attract people from all over the world and minimize business travel over fears that the virus could spread.

Google and Facebook Inc. each canceled its flagship conference in the last week. Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, two other massive gatherings for the technology industry, were also scrapped. On Monday, Twitter Inc. and Square Inc., two companies run by Jack Dorsey, advised their global employees to work from home.

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In the ad material of Notice of filing of application for Alien Employment Permits published on December 06, 2019, the position of Mr. Cheng, Ben under INTERCOMP LINK SOLUTIONS INC. should have been read as Customer Service Representative (CSR) and not as published. In the ad material published on December 10, 2019, the Mr. Nguyen Tanh Cuong under SOMI UNLIMITED SOLUTIONS INC. should have been read as Mr. Nguyen Thanh Cuong and not as published.

Any person in the Philippines who is competent, able and willing to perform the services for which the foreign national is desired may file an objection at DOLE NCR Regional Office located at 967 Maligaya St., Malate, Manila, within 30 days after its publication.

Please inform DOLE NCR if you have any information on criminal offense committed by the foreign nationals.

ATTY. SARAH BUENA S. MIRASOL REGIONAL DIRECTOR