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GOVT IMPLEMENTS MEASURES TO KEEP PHL BIRD FLU-FREE

Expect higher prices of chicken products

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

he national government has intensified its monitoring of the spread of the avian influenza after it reached the United States, which could exert pressure on global poultry supply, resulting in stiffer competition and a price spike of processed goods.

Tight supply

Meat Importers and Traders Association President Jesus C. Cham told the BusinessMirror the price of MDM in the international market rose by at least 40 percent due to tightness in supply caused by the bird-flu outbreak in some European countries.

“Price has gone up 40 percent and still climbing, which is almost 50 percent higher now,” Cham said in an e-mail on Thursday.

Cham urged the government to align the imposition of importation bans on countries with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) guidelines, as the banning of the totality of countries could worsen the global market competition.

“The DA [Department of Agriculture] should not overreact by banning entire [EU] countries or [US] states, as this will result in tighter supply and higher price.

Instead, it should abide by OIE international guidelines and ban 10-kilometer zones around any outbreak,” Cham said.

“The BAI policy is not consistent with OIE international guidelines. They should abide by the OIE so the situation will not be exacerbated,” he added.

Amurao said some of the major sources of MDM of the local meat-processing industry

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The Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) said it is cautious in imposing a total import ban from certain states in the US, or the entire country, noting that such a move could greatly affect the local meat-processing industry, which sources much of its raw materials from the US.

“One of the countries lately banned by the government is the US. A part of the US, a county in the state of Tennessee, has reported an outbreak of avian influenza.

Because the state is too big, what we usually do is that we ban the county first, and whenever the bird flue spreads to three others, then that’s the time we ban the whole state,” BAI Assistant Director Dr. Simeon S. Amurao Jr. told the BusinessMirror.

“The biggest effect really of this is on the raw materials used by our local meat processors, which is the mechanically deboned meat [MDM] of chicken,” he added.

Amurao said he has received reports that the price of MDM of chicken in the global market has spiked due to the decrease in the number of importation sources.

“That’s the biggest effect of the ban. The main source of MDM of our meat processors comes from Europe. I was told that, because of the scarcity of supply due to banning of the European countries, the price of the raw material for processors increased,” Amurao said.

See “Chicken,” A2

BSP: Entry of foreign banks spurs efficiency in local banking system

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By Bianca Cuaresma

Since the full liberalization of the local banking sector to foreign players in July 2014, foreign banks, particularly those coming from the region, have been coming to the Philippines either to set up branches or to come in as stakeholders to existing local banks.

In particular, the Central Bank has already granted nine foreign banks licenses to operate in the local banking system since

July 2014 with the passage of Republic Act 10641.

Earlier, the Central Bank said more foreign banks are to enter the Philippines this year; about six more, in particular, have expressed their intent on establishing and operating in the Philippines.

BSP Deputy Governor for the Supervision and Examination Sector Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. said the See “BSP,” A2

PESO exchange rates n US 50.3770

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he Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is seen to welcome more foreign players into the local banking system, as the Philippines’s financial industry remains a prime destination for international banks. Foreign banks also seem to make local banks “work harder” to improve their services, a Central Bank senior official said.

“The Philippines is an attractive market, because we are one of the fastest-growing economies, relatively big domestic market, young and upwardly mobile, and relatively underbanked. We also have large financing needs for infrastructure and other investments.”— Espenilla

n japan 0.4384 n UK 61.3038 n HK 6.4883 n CHINA 7.2936 n singapore 35.4943 n australia 38.8180 n EU 53.3190 n SAUDI arabia 13.4368

Source: BSP (10 March 2017 )

News

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A2 Saturday, March 11, 2017

Chicken…

are Germany, the Netherlands, England, France, Poland, Belgium, Denmark, the US, Canada, Australia and Brazil. Of the identified major sources, four—the Netherlands, England, France and Poland—have been banned by the government to export poultry and poultry products to the country.

“At present, our local poultry industry is very much secured and, as a matter of fact, we’re imposing a very strict banning measures. Under the OIE guidelines, banning of importation shall only cover the affected province, but we are banning the whole country now,” Amurao said.

“That applies to the European countries because in the US, we are only banning at the moment the affected counties in identified states,” Amurao added.

Pathogenic

BSP…

Continued from a1

Early this month the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has reported to the World Organization for Animal Health that there were avian influenza outbreaks in some counties of Tennessee and Wisconsin.

Last week the USDA reported the detection of highly pathogenic H7 bird flu in chicken breeder flock in a Tennessee-based farm contracted by US food giant Tyson Foods Inc.

After the detection of the outbreak, the USDA reported the discovery of a strain of low pathogenic H5N2 avian flu affecting a flock of 84,000 turkeys in Barron County, Wisconsin state.

As opposed to highly pathogenic strains that can cause high mortality rates in poultry, low pathogenic ones typically cause few or no clinical signs in birds.

The outbreaks discovered by the USDA has prompted Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan to limit imports of US poultry meat and poultry products.

As a preventive measure, the DA imposed a temporary ban on the importation of poultry and poultry products from countries that reported cases of avian influenza, upon the recommendation of the BAI.

The BAI regulates the importation of meat and meat products in the country by issuing sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances (SPS-IC) to qualified importers.

With the ban in place, Manila has suspended the processing, evaluation of the application and issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance of domestic

and wild birds and poultry products from the identified countries.

Bird flu-free

The DA warned that it will confiscate all shipments of the banned commodities originating from HPAI-affected areas in the four European countries. The ban does not cover heat-treated products.

Currently, the Philippines is one of the few countries in Southeast Asia that remains free from the dreaded avian influenza virus.

The virus, which resurfaced in Asia in 2003, crippled poultry industries in neighboring Asian countries, like Vietnam.

Amurao said the BAI has been implementing stricter measures to prevent the entry of bird flu in the Philippines, which is transmittable to humans and could even cause death.

“The instruction to our quarantine officers at the port, especially in the national and sea ports, is to have stricter surveillance of all incoming products. Usually, the European country will not export their products without SPS-IC from the Philippine government,” he said.

The BAI assistant director also said they are immediately deploying quarantine teams when they receive reports of unusual spike in mortality of local poultry flock in the country.

“The avian infuenza has been under the continuous surveillance of the BAI. In fact, we closely monitor the population of the livestock.

[In any case of] any increase in mortality, we immediately send a special team to do a differential diagnosis to make sure what specific disease affected the flock,” Amurao said.

“Because a lot of diseases could be linked to the higher mortality. You cannot just say that when there’s a higher poultry mortality it’s directly caused by avian flu [alone],” he added.

Amurao said the government will only lift its importation ban on concerned countries if they would report to the OIE that there has been no incidence of avian influenza within 90 days after they disinfected the affected farms.

Price hikes

If the bans will persist in the next months, Cham said this could translate in increase of the price of goods, such as corned beef and hot dogs, that benefit from importation of MDM.

“The importers are securing their raw materials at higher and higher prices. For now, the pres-

sure to raise prices has come from exchange rates. Three months later, the high cost of raw materials will be felt,” Cham said.

Since the start of 2017, the DA has temporarily banned the importation of poultry and poultry products in the following countries: England, France, Poland and the Netherlands, Israel, Cambodia, Macedonia, India, Kuwait, South Korea and Czech Republic.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged all countries to intensify their measures against the spread of HPAI virus, as nearly 40 countries have reported outbreaks in their respective poultry sectors.

“The rapidly expanding geographical distribution of these outbreaks and the number of virus strains currently circulating have put WHO on high alert. For example, the H5N6 virus causing severe outbreaks in Asia is a new strain created by gene-swapping among four different viruses,” WHO Director General Margaret Chan said during the 140th Session of the WHO Executive Board last month.

“The latest epidemic, which began in late-September 2016, started earlier than usual, and since December has shown a sudden and steep increase in cases. In the most recent two clusters, the WHO could not rule out limited human-to-human transmission, though no sustained transmission has been detected to date,” Chan added.

Capitalizing on the country’s status as bird flu-free, Amurao disclosed that they are now awaiting the reply of South Korea regarding the Philippines’s intent to export poultry and poultry products to the East Asian nation. South Korea has culled more than 22.5 million birds since the country has suffered the worst avian influenza outbreak in more than a decade.

“The quarantine department of South Korea gave us a set of questionnaire which we have already accomplished, and we are just waiting their evaluation. If they approve the application then we will subject the farms, which would export to Korea to further inspection,” Amurao said.

Earlier, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol pronounced that the DA is keen on exporting chicken meat and other poultry products to South Korea. Piñol said South Korea has allowed the entry of Philippine dressed chicken after his meeting with South Korean Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Kim Jae-soo.

Continued from a1

Central Bank expects the Philippines to continue to attract a lot of foreign banks, despite global volatilities this year—as the local scene comes from a position of strength and opportunity.

PHL’s lure

“The Philippines is an attractive market, because we are one of the fastest-growing economies, relatively big domestic market, young and upwardly mobile, and relatively underbanked. We also have large financing needs for infrastructure and other investments,” Espenilla replied to the BusinessMirror’s query.

Earlier this year international credit watcher Fitch Ratings lauded the Philippines for taking the “biggest steps” toward banking integration in the region, setting the country apart from the rather “slow and uneven” progress the region is making toward a unified financial sector.

The credit watcher noted the Philippines’s steps toward banking-sector liberalization, saying the country has one of the largest strides toward the Asean banking integration framework (ABIF)—or the initiative which envisions qualified Asean banks to eventually be allowed to operate freely in the region.

Fitch particularly noted the Philippines’s legislative move to allow full entry of foreign banks to the local sector through the removal of the cap on foreign ownership of banks, as signed by former President Benigno S. Aquino III.

Local benefits

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The entry of foreign players in the country proved to bode well thus far to local players, easing earlier concerns that bigger regional banking giants will crowd out local financial institutions once they set up their operations on shore.

In Fitch’s most recent report of the Philippine banking sector, the credit rating agency said the influx of more banks would help improve the overall system of the banking industry in the Philippines.

“We believe the entry of well-managed foreign banks expands the system’s capacity to fund growing trade and investment needs, and enables potential knowledge transfer in areas such as risk management, project finance and systems,” Fitch Ratings said.

Espenilla added: “These resources are not just funding, but also managerial, technology, product innovations and market connections. These help a lot because the country remains underbanked.”

“The new players also bring healthy competition that makes our incumbent domestic banks work harder, innovate, improve their services and lower prices,” he said.

FDI

The deputy governor also said the entry of foreign banks promotes more foreign direct investments (FDI), in addition to their own investments, by attracting their business customers at home to come and do business in the Philippines. The new foreign players also bring in additional resources that expand and improve the capability of the banking system.

Latest data from the Central Bank shows FDI growing by about 25.4 percent from January to November 2016 to reach $6.97 billion in the first 11 months of last year.

This is a leap from the $5.56-billion FDI seen in the same 11-month period in 2015.

The BSP said the rise in FDI was buoyed by investors’ confidence in the economy on the back of sound macroeconomic fundamentals and sustained growth potential.

In 2015 the Philippines had the lowest volume of FDI as compared to its counterparts in the Asean-5 bloc—with Singapore leading at $65.33 billion FDI of the year. This is followed by Indonesia with $20.22 billion, Malaysia with $10.96 billion and Thailand with $9 billion.

The Philippines’s FDI total in 2015 was at $5.84 billion.

While the Philippines is lauded for being one of the front-runners toward full Asean banking integration, the rest of the region,

according to Fitch, remains slow in development.

‘Distant goal’

In particular, Fitch said full financial integration looks like a “very distant goal”, as initiatives from different jurisdictions in the bloc have been uneven and slow, with further moves projected to remain at a gradual pace.

“Bilateral deals have been slow to get off the ground. Malaysia and Indonesia have signed an ABIF agreement and others are being negotiated, but the bigger moves toward regional financial liberalization will be happening outside of the ABIF framework,” the credit watcher said.

For the Philippines, meanwhile, the BSP has already signed bilateral agreements with the central bank of Malaysia, marking one of the first bilateral agreements to be signed under the ABIF. This particular agreement, according to Fitch, will allow for three new qualified Asean banks (QABs) to enter and operate in the local economy.

QABs are strong and wellmanaged banks, headquartered in Asean and majority owned by Asean nationals. Banks that apply for QAB status must be endorsed by the home country regulator and may be accepted by the host country regulator based on their bilateral agreement.

The Central Bank earlier said it is on its way to inking two more bilateral agreements with neighboring countries with regard to the guidelines allowing the entry of regional banks into the local industry.

The BSP, in particular, bared that it is about to initiate formal discussions with the Bank of Thailand and with the Otoritas Jasa Keuangan, or OJK, of Indonesia under the same ABIF guidelines as that of the country’s bilateral agreement with Malaysia.

Ceza clarifies role in online gaming T he Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza), operator of Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport, has clarified its role in online-gaming operations in the country.

In a statement, Ceza said it did not license, accredit nor authorize Jack Lam or any other online-gaming operator or support company to operate within the Clark Freeport Zone. “Ceza is not authorized to issue licenses and/or accreditations to companies that intend to operate within the Clark Freeport,” Ceza said.

Ceza issued the statement after the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) claimed that “the government has been losing at least P6 billion annually from unregulated online-gaming franchises granted by Ceza, such as the shuttered operations of fugitive Jack Lam.”

“The supposed P6-billion annual revenue is exaggerated. If we are to check our facts, a research made by H2 Gambling Capital revealed that the whole Asian and Middle East market for online gaming in 2015 was just P136 billion. The market share of Ceza in this industry was just 55 percent, which amounts to P74.8 billion.

From this amount, Ceza charges a hosting fee of 2 percent, which, based on this figure, would amount to P1.496 billion,” Ceza said.

Ceza charges a 2-percent hosting fee based on gross wins from foreign companies that tap its gaming support services for local operators.

“The claim of P6-billion supposed revenue annually would not be viable in a 10-year span,” it said.

Ceza also disputed Pagcor’s claim that the government “should have collected roughly P60 billion in revenues from 84 licensees of

Ceza in the last 10 years and that “Pagcor would have charged triple what Ceza had collected from its franchisees that wanted to evade paying higher taxes.”

Ceza said it started with six offshore companies under this industry in 2005, a number that increased to 80 offshore companies in 2014, 102 in 2015 and 91 in 2016. “P60 billion is too big an amount, even for Ceza, which is the pioneering online gaming jurisdiction,” it said.

“Unlike Pagcor’s land-based casino and e-gaming operations, there are no actual bets or gaming transactions that enter the Philippines under Ceza’s local gaming support service locators,” it added.

Ceza said from a losing corporation in 2004, it has turned into an earning and even a self-sufficient government entity. “In the last five years, Ceza has become a consistent top taxpayer in Region 2 and a consistent dividends remitter. A big percentage of the multibillion-peso revenue that Ceza has remitted to the national coffer came from the 2-percent hosting fee that Ceza has collected from the online-gaming industry,” it said.

It said from 2005 to 2016, Ceza earned around P4 billion, and half of the amount was remitted to the government. “At present, there are about 500 illegal online-gaming operators in the country. If Pagcor will regulate the online-gaming operations not covered by Ceza and the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority, this industry will generate more revenues for the government,” Ceza said.

“These government entities, including Ceza, are meant to work together, not to compete against each other, to generate billions of revenues from the online-gaming industry,” Ceza said.

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Saturday, March 11, 2017

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First in history: Leader is ousted in South Korea

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South Korean court removed the president on Friday, a first in the nation’s history, rattling the delicate balance of relationships across Asia at a particularly tense time.

Her removal capped months of turmoil, as hundreds of thousands of South Koreans took to the streets, week after week, to protest a sprawling corruption scandal that shook the top echelons of business and government.

Park Geun-hye, the nation’s first female president and the daughter of Cold War military dictator Park Chung-hee, had been an icon of the conservative establishment that joined Washington in pressing for a hard line against North Korea’s nuclear provocations.

Now, her downfall is expected to shift South Korean politics to the opposition, whose leaders want more engagement with North Korea and are wary of a major confrontation in the region. They say they will reexamine the country’s joint strategy on North Korea with the United States and defuse tensions with China, which has sounded alarms about the growing US

military footprint in Asia.

Park’s powers were suspended last December after a legislative impeachment vote, although she continued to live in the presidential Blue House, largely alone and hidden from public view, while awaiting the decision by the Constitutional Court. The house had been her childhood home: She first moved in at the age of 9 and left it nearly two decades later after her mother and father were assassinated in separate episodes.

Eight justices of the Constitutional Court unanimously decided to unseat Park for committing “acts that violated the constitution and laws” throughout her time in office, Acting Chief Justice Lee Jung-mi said in a ruling that was nationally broadcast. Park’s acts “betrayed the trust of the people and were of the kind that cannot be tolerated for the sake

Protesters open a bottle of champagne to celebrate during a rally calling for impeachment of President Park Geun-hye near the Constitutional Court in Seoul, South Korea, on Friday. In a historic ruling, South Korea’s Constitutional Court formally removed the impeached president from office over a corruption scandal that has plunged the country into political turmoil, worsened an already-serious national divide and led to calls for sweeping reforms. AP of protecting the constitution,” Lee said.

As the verdict was announced, crowds watching it on large television screens near the courthouse broke out in cheers. In central Seoul, some people danced to celebrate their victorious revolt against an unpopular leader, with loudspeakers blaring, “All the power of the Republic of Korea comes from the people!”

With the immunity conferred by her office now gone, Park, 65, faces prosecutors seeking to charge her with bribery, extortion and abuse of power in connection with allegations of conspiring with a confidante, childhood friend Choi Soon-sil, to collect tens of millions of dollars in bribes from big businesses, like Samsung.

By law, the country must elect a new president within 60 days. The acting president, Hwang Kyo-ahn, an ally of Park’s, will remain in office in the interim. The Trump administration is rushing a missile-defense system to South Korea so that it can be in place before the election. The last time a South Korean leader was removed from office under popular pressure was in 1960, when the police fired on crowds calling for President Syngman Rhee to step down. (Rhee, a dictator, fled into exile in Hawaii and died there.)

In a sign of how far South Korea’s young democracy has evolved, Park was removed without violence, after large, peaceful protests in recent months demanding that she step down. In addition to the swell of popular anger, the legislature and the judiciary— two institutions that have been weaker than the presidency historically—were crucial to the outcome.

“This is a miracle, a new milestone in the strengthening and institutionalizing of democracy in South Korea,” said Kang Won-taek, a political scientist at Seoul National University.

When crowds took to the streets, they were not just seeking to remove a leader who had one year left in office. They were also rebelling against a political order that had held South Korea together for decades but is fracturing under pressures both at home and abroad, analysts said.

Park’s father ruled South Korea from 1961 to 1979. He founded its economic growth model, which transformed the nation into an export powerhouse and allowed the emergence of family-controlled conglomerates, known as chaebol, that benefited from tax cuts, anti-labor policies and other favorable treatment from the government.

Park Geun-hye was elected in 2012 with the support of older conservative South Koreans who revered her father for the country’s breakneck economic growth.

But the nexus of industry and political power gave rise to collusive ties, highlighted by the scandal that led to Park’s impeachment. The scandal also swept up the de facto head of Samsung, Lee Jae-yong, who was indicted on charges of bribing Park and her confidante, Choi. Samsung, the nation’s largest conglomerate, has been tainted by corruption before. But the company has been considered too important to the economy for any of its top leaders to spend time behind bars—until now.

The jailing of Lee, who is facing trial, is another potent sign that the old order is not holding.

In the wake of the Park scandal, all political parties have vowed to curtail presidential power to pardon chaebol tycoons convicted of white-collar crimes. They also promised to stop chaebol chairmen from helping their children amass fortunes through dubious means, like forcing their companies to do exclusive business with the children’s businesses.

With the conservatives discredited—and no leading conservative candidate to succeed Park—the left could take power for the first time in a decade.

The dominant campaign issues will probably be North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and South Korea’s relations with the US and China.

If the opposition takes power, it may try to revive its “sunshine policy” of building ties with North Korea through aid and exchanges, an approach favored by China.

That would complicate Washington’s efforts to isolate the North at a time other Asian nations, like the Philippines, are gravitating toward Beijing.

Moon Jae-in, the Democratic Party leader who is leading in opinion surveys, has said a decade of applying sanctions on North Korea had failed to stop its nuclear-weapons programs. He has said sanctions are necessary but that “their goal should be to draw North Korea back to the negotiating table.”

He believes that Park’s decision to allow the deployment of the US missile-defense system—known as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD—has dragged the country into the dangerous and growing rivalry between Washington and Beijing; China has called the system a threat to its own security and taken steps to punish South Korea economically for accepting it.

Conservative South Koreans see the deployment of the antimissile system not only as a guard against the North but also as a symbolic reaffirmation of the all-important alliance with the US. Moon’s party demands that the deployment, which began this week, be suspended immediately. If it takes power, it says, it will review the deployment of the antimissile system to determine if it is in South Korea’s best interest.

As South Korea has learned in painful fashion, it cannot always keep Washington and Beijing happy at the same time, as in the case of the country’s decision to accept the US missile defenses.

Yet, Park ’s impeachment was also a pushback against “Cold War conservatives” like her father, who seized on Communist threats from North Korea to hide their corruption and silence political opponents, said Kim Dong-choon, a sociologist at Sungkonghoe University in Seoul.

Park’s father tortured and even executed dissidents, framing them with spying charges. Now, his daughter faces charges that her government blacklisted thousands of unfriendly artists and writers, branding them pro-North Korean, and denied them access to government support programs.

The New York Times News Service

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

Sports

BusinessMirror

Saturday, March 11, 2017 A5

DURANT PROGRESSING IN REHAB O

AKLAND, California—Kevin Durant is riding a stationary bike as part of his rehabilitation from the injured knee and leg and doing well, yet Golden State Coach Steve Kerr said it still could be close to a month before the superstar forward is reevaluated to determine his status.

Durant returned to the Bay Area from the Warriors’ East Coast road trip after getting hurt in a loss at Washington. He hyperextended his knee early in the 112108 defeat on February 28 and later underwent an MRI exam, which revealed a Grade 2—or moderate—sprain in the knee, as well as a bruised tibia.

“It could have been a lot worse,” Durant said, noting he briefly received a diagnosis it was far more serious. “I hurt my knee. A lot of guys go through this throughout a season, a lot of injuries. It’s nothing for anybody to be concerned about. I got a boo boo playing basketball. It is what it is, man. So I’m OK. My spirits are good, my family’s good, I’m doing what I love to do every single day.”

Kerr checked in by text message regularly with Durant, then spoke to him by phone on Tuesday once the team returned to Oakland.

The Warriors were only home briefly, however, playing on Wednesday night against Boston before heading back out of town for games at Minnesota on Friday and at San Antonio on Saturday.

“I just talked to him, he was on the bike breaking a sweat,” Kerr said before the game. “He says he feels good.

It’s only been, I guess, less than a week, so not really anything to report because it’s a good month before reevaluate. So, he’s doing, as well as possible.”

Last week the team said Durant would be reevaluated four weeks after the injury, so if he were fully healthy then it would leave about two weeks remaining in the regular season. Kerr’s timeline on Wednesday made it sound like it could be for the final week before the playoffs if all goes smoothly in Durant’s recovery.

Durant isn’t putting a timetable on when he could be healthy.

“I’m not even thinking about that right now. I know that’s what everybody wants to know or are wondering,” he said.

“Whenever my body tells me I’ll be ready to play, that’s when I’ll be ready to play. I’m not really thinking too far down the line, I’m just worried about having a great day today and I look forward to having a good one tomorrow.”

Durant was leading the team in scoring and rebounding with 25.3 points and 8.2 boards along with 4.8 assists in his first season with Golden State.

“I think everybody is touching base with him hoping that his spirits are good, and they seem to be,” Kerr said.

“Really in the grand scheme of things, as I told him, six weeks goes by pretty quick. He’s got a long life ahead of him. It’d be great if we could get him back the last week of the regular season or so. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

The Warriors, who began the night at 52-11 and with the National Basketball Association’s best record, spent the early stretch of the season adjusting to Durant’s big presence on both ends—and now they are figuring out how to keep in a groove without him.

“We know what he

brings to the table every night,” Stephen Curry said at shootaround earlier in the day.

“He had only missed one game up until his injury, so different rotations, a couple different play calls that we don’t run now because they’re catered to kind of just getting him to a scoring spot. For the most part our identity it is what it is and it’s always been that way.”

Durant has been watching games from his couch and yelling at the TV on occasion.

He sets daily goals in his recovery, such as last week’s chore of straightening out his leg to gain range of motion. Strengthening will come along slowly, too.

Seeing his teammates and being at Oracle Arena on Wednesday night was a nice boost, because “I didn’t feel like an NBA player this last week.”

“Mentally I’m good, I’m in a good place,” he said. “I’m not playing right now, which is tough because I love to play, but I’m getting better day by day and I’ll be out there as soon as I’m ready to play.” AP

ATENEO GALS EYE VICTORY NO. 7

National U booters nip Tigers, 1-0

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TENEO de Manila tries to keep its hold of the lead when the Lady Eagles open their second-round campaign against struggling University of the Philippines (UP) today in Season 79 University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) women’s volleyball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The second round “Battle of Katipunan” between the Lady Eagles and Lady Maroons is set at 4 p.m. University of Santo Tomas (UST), meanwhile, eyes its fourth straight win and the share of third place in its 2 p.m. clash with University of the East (UE), which is coming off a morale-boosting first victory of the season.

The Tigresses, bannered by the trio of EJ Laure, Cherry Rondina and Mary Pacres, recovered from a 1-3 start and improved to a 4-3 win-loss record to join the wild top four race at the end of the first round.

It won’t be a walk in the park, however, for UST, which is facing the inspired Lady Warriors who ended a six-game slump by beating Adamson University last week.

The Lady Eagles have been proving that they are still a championship-caliber team even without their most recognizable player and three-time UAAP Most Valuable Player Alyssa Valdez.

Ateneo is coming off a 26-24, 26-24, 21-25, 25-17 victory—its fourth straight—over

ATIONAL University (NU) capped its impressive first-round campaign in University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 79 men’s football tournament with a 1-0 victory over University of Santo Tomas (UST) on Thursday at Ateneo’s Moro Lorenzo Field.

Mike Arbela scored on a pass from Elmer Sampaga for the match’s lone goal in the 55th minute that pushed the Bulldogs to their third straight win.

Far Eastern University, meanwhile, foiled Ateneo’s first-round sweep bid with a goalless draw.

Despite the draw, the Blue Eagles remained on top of the table with 19 points, four ahead of the Tamaraws, who now have 15 points at solo second place.

After a slow start, NU finally showed its character and moved up to fourth spot with 10 points.

The Growling Tigers stayed in fifth place with seven points, three off the Bulldogs.

The second round will start on Sunday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

ARELLANO UNIVERSITY CHIEFSQUAD PREVAILS The Arellano University Chiefsquad pulls off a shocker by winning the 92nd National Collegiate Athletic Association cheerleading title at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City on Thursday. The Chiefsquad 218 points to clinch the crown, their second since snatching the title from the Perpetual Help Perps Squad, last year’s titlists, two years ago. Perpetual Help finished second with 199.5 points, followed by Mapua (191), San Beda (191) and Emilio Aguinaldo College (175).

Phoenix Open unwraps THE ninth Phoenix Open Golf Tournament tees off today at the Rancho Palos Verdes Golf and Country Club in Davao City.

Grand hole-in-one prizes will be given away, such as P1 million in cash, a Mercedes-Benz A180, Tata Motors Xenon 4x4 Premium, Omega Speedmaster and P100,000 worth of Phoenix fuel cards.

Lucky players also get a chance to bring home major raffle prizes, such as Macbook Air, iPhone, GoPro Hero 5 camera, LED TVs, home-theater appliances and other latest gadgets.

KEVIN DURANT hyperextends his knee early in the 112-108 defeat on February 28 and later underwent an MRI exam, which revealed a Grade 2—or moderate—sprain in the knee, as well as a bruised tibia. AP

Tournament winners will all receive Royal Selangor pewter plates and Phoenix fuel cards. All champions will receive Phoenix signature bags.

Pledges for the tournament will go to the Phoenix Philippines Foundation to support its four main advocacies in education, environment, health and uutreach programs.

The tournament is supported by Pioneer Insurance, FF Cruz and Co. Inc., Brenton Engineered Products Corp., Mechatrend Contractors Corp., Mercedes-Benz and Tata Motors.

AUSSIE SUPPORT

Australian Ambassador Amanda Gorely (second from left) and Deputy Head of Mission Mat Kimberley hand over a replica of a P1-million check to Rose Lanticse, senior development officer of the Philippine Rugby Football Union, SecretaryGeneral Ada Milby and Director Mat Cullen at the Australian Embassy on Thursday. The check is the Australian government’s support—through its Direct Aid Program—for the establishment of a touch rugby team with equal male-female participation from more than 16,000 boys and girls in 340 public elementary and highschools in Davao City.

Stephanie Tumampos

defending champion De La Salle that gave them the solo lead with a 6-1 record after the first round of eliminations.

“We had a pretty impressive first round. I hope that we could continue the run this second round and I hope the team continues to peak,” Ateneo Assistant Coach Sherwin Meneses said.

Ateneo skipper Jia Morado will have another day in the office in providing unpredictable plays to her talented spikers Michelle Morente, Kat Tolentino, Bea de Leon and Jho Maraguinot.

The Lady Eagles are hoping to duplicate their 25-14, 26-24, 25-16 first-round victory that stopped UP’s 4-0 start this season.

The Lady Maroons never recovered from that loss to the Lady Eagles and fell to 4-3 for a share of fourth spot with UST. UP lost fifth year defensive specialist Princess Gaiser to injury, Gaiser suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury after trying to cover the attack of teammate Diana Carlos in the first set of their loss to National University last week.

Libero Justine Dorog will have to step up for UP, as well as attackers Isa Molde, Diana Carlos, Marian Buitre, Nicole Tiamzon and Kathy Bersola.

In men’s play, UE (0-7) shoots for its first win against Adamson University (2-5) at 8 a.m., while NU (6-1) tries to cement its hold of second spot against UST (3-4) at 10 a.m. Lance Agcaoili

BusinessMi

A6 Saturday, March 11, 2017 | Editor: Jun Lomibao

MAKE WAY FOR ‘DYNAMIC DUOS’ T

HE Tandem Time Trial was a thoroughly British affair at the recent International Cycling Union Paracycling Track World Championships in Los Angeles.

Members of Team GB put five of their duos on the podium, sweeping it entirely in the Women’s class and going one-two in the men’s class.

After their victory in the Pursuit, Sophie Thornhill and pilot Corrine Hall claimed another World title. World champion in the Kilo event in 2014 and 2015, Thornhill had to settle for silver at the 2016 Worlds.

“After the first day, we knew that we were in good shape to do well. It’s quite an achievement to win gold in the Kilo, after having lost it last year,” the two-time medalist from the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games said.

The duo’s time of one minute and 9.552 seconds put them ahead of teammates Lora Fachie and Hazel MacLeod, silver medalists.

Alison Patrick, at her paracycling debut but already a Paralympic bronze medalist in triathlon, grabbed the bronze medal, alongside pilot Helen Scott.

In men’s racing, James Ball and pilot Matt Rotherham were crowned world champions.

Even though the pair has only been working together for a few short months, the riders hit the top of the podium, thanks to a time of one minute and 00.727 seconds.

Reigning World champion Neil Fachie and pilot Craig MacLean (one minute and 2.039 seconds) settled for silver. Rounding out the podium was the Australian duo Kieran Murphy and Lachlan Glasspool.

THE DYNAMIC DUOS

TWO wheels—but also two seats and four pedals. Riding tandem may provide twice as much power, but the rear-seated cyclist must have “blind” confidence in the athlete in front. Yet, that confidence is aptly named in this case, because the Tandem Division in paracycling is reserved for visually impaired athletes and their pilots.

It wasn’t only yesterday that cyclists rode in twos. Even though tandem had its glory days at the start of the 20th century, this riding style has always been around. The tandem event was held at the able-bodied UCI Track Cycling World Championships from the 1960s until the middle of the 1990s.

In para-cycling, whether for road or track events, athletes with a visual impairment can compete on tandem bikes steered by a sighted teammate (provided that teammate is not a professional cyclist in a team registered with the UCI).

Tandem road races were officially introduced

at the Seoul 1988 Paralympic Games, while tandem races on the track made their debut at the Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Games. Twentyone years later, the best paracycling track athletes from around the world had a date in Los Angeles for the UCI Paracycling Track World Championships.

Among those who registered for the UCI World Championships was young Greek paracyclist Eleni Kalatzi, who, at 16 years of age, made her international debut.

The only female tandem paracyclist in Greece, she earned special permission from the UCI Paracycling Commission to be allowed to take part despite her young age.

“This was my first big trip abroad, and I’m thrilled at the prospect of meeting athletes from all over the world,” Kalatzi enthused about the championships, which she hopes will lead her to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

A fresh new face in paracycling, Kalatzi proudly accepts her position as a role model.

“It’s really important, because in this way I can show that everything is possible for a young person, provided that you have the will and the passion to chase what you love,” she said. “Of course, I’d love it for young disabled people, at my age, not to be afraid to try out a sport. I believe we can all chase our dreams,” comments the young para-athlete who prior to cycling also skied, did athletics, dancing and karate.

“I have enjoyed cycling since I was a young girl, but I was not able to cycle free and alone on the road or go for a bike ride with my friends. I was invited to try tandem cycling and I immediately realized that it is a sport that expresses me and fulfills me.”

MARELLA SALAMAT and teammates Avegail Rombaon, Irish Yang Wong and Genesis Maraña strike a pose while waiting for their flight to Vietnam.

Salamat starts paving way toward KL SEA Games

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LITE cyclist Marella Vania Salamat did not make the podium at the Bahrain Asian Cycling Championships last month but definitely earned the experience she needs for the Kuala Lumpur 29th Southeast Asian Games last August.

The individual time-trial winner in the Singapore Sea Games two years ago found the opposition in Bahrain too tough to crack and finished the road race at 25th place and the time trial at eighth position.

The 23-year-old pride of Bugallon in Pangasinan finished four minutes and 12 seconds behind gold medalist Qianyu Yang of Hong Kong in the 89.6-kilometer course.

Qianyu clocked two hours, 32

minutes and 50 seconds to win gold, beating South Korea’s Na Ahreum and Japan’s Miho Yoshikawa, who submitted the same time in the race. The field was composed of 31 cyclists.

It wasn’t a total frustration for Salamat, who was the country’s lone rider in the road event.

“It was a challenge racing on the technical course with tough headwind, heat combined with a bit of cold, and being alone fighting for the country in the elite category, it was a challenge to keep up,” Salamat said.

Salamat was in the thick

UCI News

RIDING tandem may provide twice as much power, but the rear-seated cyclist must have “blind” confidence in the athlete in front.

Team Sky acknowledges ‘mistakes’

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ANCHESTER, England—Team Sky acknowledged on Tuesday that “mistakes were made” around the delivery of a mystery medical package to Bradley Wiggins, which is the center of a British antidoping inquiry.

However, team principal Dave Brailsford said “there is a fundamental difference between process failures and wrongdoing,” and Team Sky Chairman Graham McWilliam said on Twitter that the board

was “100-percent behind” the team and Brailsford.

Team Sky has come under criticism after an investigation by the country’s antidoping agency and a parliamentary committee showed there were no medical records to back up the team’s claim that Wiggins was given a legal decongestant at the 2011 Criterium du Dauphine in France.

Team Sky published on Tuesday a letter and supporting documents sent by Brailsford to the parliamentary committee, in which Brailsford

reiterated his belief that the team was not guilty of breaching antidoping rules and showed how the team has strengthened its antidoping and governance processes.

“Self-evidently, the events of recent months have highlighted areas, where mistakes were made by Team Sky,” Brailsford said. “Some members of staff did not comply fully with the policies and procedures that existed, at that time.”

“Our commitment to antidoping has been

a core principle of Team Sky since its inception,” Brailsford added. “Our mission is to race and win clean, and we have done so for eight years.”

UK Anti-Doping Chief Executive Nicole Sapstead told the parliamentary committee hearing last week that the agency is investigating whether the product delivered to Wiggins was a banned corticosteroid called triamcinolone.

Wiggins and Chris Froome have won the Tour de France riding for Team Sky. AP

Young British team sets out for Track World Championships

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he 20-rider British team for April’s Track World Championships will feature 10 debutants with the noticeable absence of Laura and Jason Kenny.

Olympic champions Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker, Steven Burke and Callum Skinner have been named in the squad, with British Cycling looking to give youth a chance to shine in a post-Olympic Worlds.

“The team is made up of a good mix of

experienced and developing riders across all the disciplines,” Head Coach Iain Dyer said.

“Throughout the earlier world cups and at the UEC European Track Championships last year, there was a good opportunity to bring some new riders into the front line.”

“They gave a really good account of themselves, and that’s reflected in the selections we’ve made today. I’m looking forward to seeing them step up into world championship level competition.”

At last year’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the British squad won six gold medals on the track having also dominated March’s Worlds on home soil in London, winning five golds. While the team is aiming for similar success in Hong Kong, Dyer explained the Worlds would also allow particular riders to focus on non-Olympic events.

“It’s also great to have some of our Olympians in the squad. This year’s Worlds will allow them to race different events, which were

not possible in previous years due to the focus on the Olympic events,” he said.

“This is particularly true for the endurance riders who can broaden their experience in the new format omnium plus the madison, which both have the potential to feature in the Tokyo 2020 track cycling program. It’s a great experience for our younger riders to make their debut performances alongside such established athletes, and I’m sure they will learn a lot from this opportunity.”

of the race in the early going and joined a seven-cyclist breakaway with three more laps to go. It was at that point when Qianyu bolted in front, towing Na and Yoshikawa, a lead they kept to the finish.

Salamat booked a modest performance in the time trial that drew 14 participants. She was close to four minutes off Hongtu Liang of China, who clocked 36 minutes and 48 seconds in the 25.6-kilometer race.

Salamat was the fastest among Southeast Asian riders in the time trial, beating by more than one minute Malaysia’s Grace Phang, Singapore’s Ethel Lin Zhiyun and Thailand’s Supaksom Nunthana.

Hong Kong dominated the championship with six gold, three silver and four bronze medals, followed by China, with 5-2-2, and South Korea, with 4-9-5.

Salamat is currently leading the national team’s campaign in the Biwasi Cup in Vietnam. Joining her are Avegail Rombaon, Irish Yang Wong and Batang Pinoy standout Genesis Maraña, and Coach Cesar Lobramonte and mechanic Edwin Niyo.

The race covers 830 km and has lured eight foreign teams, which are competing against 10 domestic squads. A pot prize of $18,000 is at stake.

Salamat will see action only in the road race in Kuala Lumpur after organizers scrapped the women’s time trial from the program.

Ramon Rafael Bonilla

T

MARCELO FELIPE negotiates a downhill curve and later steps on the stage to champion Philippine cycling in Malaysia.

7-ELEVEN ROADBIKE

FELIPE M

ARCELO FELIPE stirred a mini-storm at the Le Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia, drawing attention from the super elite field that competed in the International Cycling Union 2.Hors Category event that ran its 21st edition last month.

The 27-year-old Novo Ecijano from the town of llanera who started riding as a pro only in 2013, was the third best Asian rider behind Japanese Hideto Nakane of Nippo-Vini Fantini and Kazakh Dmitriy Lukyanov of Vino Astana Motors in Langkawi, earning a podium finish that put Philippine cycling on the world map.

“It was the best individual performance for a Filipino rider in the race. We have to praise Felipe’s determination to secure a good position in the standings,” 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippines Ric Rodriguez said of Felipe.

Marcelo indeed racked up the numbers worthy of a world-class rider.

He finished fourth in the mountain classification and 20th in the general classification—six rungs better than last year—behind cyclists who ply their trade in the World Tour.

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Wada studying ban o

HE World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) is studying a ban on corticosteroid drugs in the wake of months of controversy over their use by Olympic Games gold medalist and Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins.

Olivier Niggli, the director general of Wada, spoke at the “Tackling Doping in Sport” conference, where he revealed that a study group has been established to examine the status of triamcinolone and other similar drugs, according to the Telegraph.

Corticosteroid drugs are used to treat numerous medical conditions, from poison ivy to asthma, and can come in several different forms. Some products, like nasal spray or tropical creams, are allowed in competition, while others, such as pills or intramuscular injections, are banned in competition, and require a Therapuetic Use Exemption (TUE).

Following a leak of TUE data by supposed Russian hackers after the Rio Olympic Games last summer, Wiggins confirmed he had used injectable triamcinolone (Kenalog) to combat seasonal allergies.

He received TUEs for injections before his unsuccessful 2011 Tour de France bid, his 2012 Tour de France victory and his 2013 attempt of the Giro d’Italia.

Wiggins was adamant he did not use the drug to gain an unfair advantage. However, Kenalog has a history of being abused by cyclists for performanceenhancement benefits, and it is impossible to differentiate between prohibited uses and allowed uses in a laboratory test.

“It is an unsatisfactory situation, we all agree with that. And we have set up a group to try to come up with better proposal to how we can do it,” Niggli said, according to the Telegraph.

“The hope has been for a number of years that

research would bring us a detection method that would distinguish the route of administration. Reality is that it doesn’t seem that easy to come up with a method to allow us to do that distinction.

“We are now at a stage where we needed to have a number of discussions about how we deal with that.

In my view, I agree the system as it is now is not good.

“In fact, only those who are being honest about what they have been doing get caught. Otherwise, you always say, ‘It was a cream’, and you get away with it.”

Niggli sad the study group will also evaluate which medical conditions would be valid for a TUE application for triamcinolone.

UK Anti-Doping CEO Nicole Sapstead said she supported a ban.

“If they were to introduce an outright ban then great,” Sapstead said. “Our view is that they [corticosteroids] aren’t always being administered in a way that’s reflective of an individual’s actual medical needs and that can’t be right when somebody doesn’t actually have a medical problem that warrants that use, because it then has some additional effects that they can benefit from.”

Chris Froome, meanwhile, has refused to offer his backing to Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford, according to reports in the Telegraph and Daily Mail, which say the three-time Tour de France winner refused to add his name to a statement of support that all riders were asked to sign.

Cyclingnews broke the news that some Sky riders had discussed asking Brailsford to resign and, while many riders took to Twitter to simultaneously voice their support for their boss, Froome spoke volumes by remaining silent.

The Telegraph and Mail reports add weight to the

irror CYCLING

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph | Saturday, March 11, 2017 A7

INQUIRY ON FOR WHEEL FAILURES S

HIMANO has said that it is investigating how as many as three of its wheels failed dramatically during the team time trial on the opening stage of Tirreno-Adriatico.

The incidents saw Team Sky lose time, and essentially drop out of the general classification battle. BMC’s winning time was over 58 kilometer per hour for the 22.7-kilometer course.

Gianni Moscon’s spectacular crash, following a front-wheel failure, was one of the more memorable moments of Stage One. In the incident, the tubular tire became separated from the wheel, and various pieces of carbon seemed to splinter off before total failure caused Moscon to come off of his bike.

It was reported that the team had hit a

series of potholes prior to the incident on the fast stage.

Following the stage, where Team Sky conceded 1:42 to BMC Racing, Geraint Thomas was reported as saying three of his teammates’ wheels collapsed during the stage, although there is only footage of Moscon’s front wheel failure.

BMC Racing used the same PRO wheels during the stage, so it is suspected that the incident is isolated, but Cyclingnews will update the investigation from Shimano as it continues.

In the full statement from Shimano, whose component wing of the business, PRO, produced the three-spoke Textreme tubular wheel, Shimano said the

wheels had passed rigorous testing and emphasised its “flawless record”.

“PRO is continuing its investigation into the issue we saw with Team Sky at the team time trial of Tirreno-Adriatico. We are continuing to look closely into all factors that could cause the incident,” the statement read.

“During production the three-spoke wheel passed PRO’s extremely high-internal quality control and ISO/UCI standards. PRO’s threespoke wheel was introduced in 2014 and has a flawless record, achieving countless time-trial victories since, including BMC’s team time-trial win in the same stage. In the meantime, we wish Gianni Moscon the best of luck in the remaining stages of Tirreno-Adriatico.”

Cyclingnews

DISC BRAKE DEBUTS IN TIME TRIAL

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PHILIPPINES RIDER IMPRESSES IN LE TOUR DE LANGKAWI

PE MAKES MARK

Felipe’s aggressiveness and determination, not to mention his nerves and legs of steel, helped propel the Philippines’ only continental team to No. 5 in the Asian Classification and 13th in the general classification.

7 Eleven Roadbike Philippines finished ahead of teams from Thailand, China and Japan— including over Malaysia’s national team which wound up in 14th place.

The impressive performance in Malaysia was a fitting followup to the Felipe and co.’s debut in the Herald Sun Tour last January in Australia, where the Filipinos also wrote on the wall what Philippine cycling is made of.

Felipe led the 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippines team composed of Dominic Perez, Bonjoe Martin and Nelson Martin and Australians Josh Berry and Jesse Ewart in the eight-stage race that covered 1,222.2 kilometer around the Malaysian peninsula.

Vino Astana Motors of Kazakhstan won the team classification with Ryan Gibbons of Dimension Data hoisting the individual classification trophy.

Felipe’s performance earned for him praises

and respect from some of the big guns in Langkawi—a compliment the world’s elite riders seldom give away.

“The Filipino [Marcelo] is a good rider who brought much to the competition,” King of the Mountain winner John Ebsen told Sports Radio’s Judith Carigal on the final day of the race.

“Marcelo doesnt need any advice, he is on the tight track , he maybe in real competition for the KOM jersey next year,” Felipe actually started his campaign in Langkawi on a dull note, finishing at 51st spot after he crashed with the peloton in Stage One. But his determination pushed him to 31st on the general classificationon the second day following a 15th-place finish in Stage Two. The steep ascent to the Cameron Highlands in the fourth stage offered Marcelo the opportunity to prove his worth—he rose to 24th in and was ninth in the Mmountain classification—fifth on the Best Asian Rider list.

With his teammates providing support, Marcelo was able to float with the contenders in their daily grind where speeds bordered from 55 and 60 kph.

on corticosteroids suspicion that the 31-year-old has lost faith in the embattled Brailsford, who has found himself under increasing pressure as damaging details about the team’s medical practices continue to emerge from the investigation into the medical package—alleged to contain triamcinolone—delivered to team doctor Richard Freeman at the 2011 Criterium du Dauphine and administered to Wiggins on the team bus.

Doubts over Froome’s support for Brailsford surfaced in January, shortly after the boss had claimed the package contained the legal decongestant fluimucil—a claim that no one has yet been able to substantiate. At a press gathering in Monaco, Froome was repeatedly asked if he still had faith in Brailsford’s ability to champion the team’s credibility, to which he replied, “That’s not really for me to say”, before switching the focus to his own personal credibility.

He was one of 10 riders from Team Sky’s roster of 28 not to voice his support for Brailsford in the wake of the Cyclingnews story, which came on the back of a damaging week for the team. Further details of the medical practices emerged at a parliamentary committee, where the Chairman Damian Collins MP described the credibility of Team Sky and British Cycling as being “in tatters”.

While a flurry of tweets appeared affirming “100 percent” faith in Brailsford, Froome only tweeted about his latest dinner in South Africa, where he has been training.

“The ultimate objective was to issue a statement signed by all the riders but Sky bosses could not go through with the plan, knowing that Froome’s omission would be a further source of embarrassment for Brailsford, who, by his own admission, has handled the crisis badly,” wrote Matt Lawton, who originally broke the “jiffy bag” story, in the Mail. Cyclingnews

Marcelo became a marked man and was heavily guarded in Stages Five and Six, but he managed to keep his rivals at bay and kept himself in the hunt.

There is an unwritten rule in cycling where top cyclists, backed up by their managers, bully the other riders not to attack unless “told to do so.”

Not for Marcelo and the Filipino cyclists, who refused to be cowed and threatened the field as they initiated breaks in the final two stages, thus earning the ire of their rivals.

Felipe looked unstoppable even in the eighth and final stage in Putrajaya, where he topped the first KOM finish, an amazing ride that etched in the minds of the participants.

In the end, the soft-spoken Marcelo could only smile and conceal the strength has in his legs.

“It’s all about determination, the heart to compete against everybody else,” Marcelo said.

“But I could not have ridden any better if not for my team.”

The team is resting for a month before competing in the Tour of Thailand starting on April 1. Ramon Rafael Bonilla

HE Cannondale-Drapac team used disc brake-equipped time-trial bikes for the opening team time trial at Tirreno-Adriatico, becoming the first major team to use the braking technology in time trials.

It is unlikely that the disc brakes gave any kind of advantage on the fast 22.7-kilometer out-and-back course, with riders probably only touching the brakes before four corners at the turning point of the race.

However, International Cycling Union rules for the disc-brake trial include time-trial bikes, so Cannondale-Drapac opted to debut the new braking technology on the new Cannondale Super Slice time-trial bike.

The team did not enjoy a great day, however, finishing 16th of the 22 teams, 1:17 slower than winner BMC Racing.

Cannondale did not release any details on the bike, and team staff was unable to offer any information. However, Cyclingnews was allowed to take a gallery of photos and have a quick look at the bike and the brakes.

The Super Slice is the latest evolution of Cannondale’s time-trial bike and clearly has a more evolved aerodynamic design. The head tube and the bottom bracket area are oversized to improve aerodynamics and rigidity. Wheel clearances were tight, with the rear stays tucked in low on the seat tube. The frame design and tubes shapes mean the seat post sits almost vertically into the frame, with an aero clamping system in the tube.

The handlebars are clamped to the frame via an aero unit to reduce drag, with bottle bosses on both the top tube and low on the down tube.

The down tube has a slight flattening to help smooth the airflow around the bottle, much like the new Pinarello F10 and a few other models.

The rather bulky disc brakes are cable-actuated and from TRP, with 160 millimeter rotors. The edges of the disc rotors are flattened as per UCI requirements, while the hubs have thru-axels front and back. The cable to the front brake enters the fork just above the wheel and emerges on the

THE Cannondale-Drapac team becomes the first major team to use the braking technology in time trials.

inside of the fork near the disc brake.

The bikes are equipped with Mavic wheels. The deep-section front wheel seems to be some kind of prototype, while the rear is a standard Mavic disc wheel. The US-registered team also uses Mavic tyres.

The aerobars are from Vision, gears are by Shimano, while the chainset is from Cannondale and fitted with an FSA aero chainring and combined with an SRM power meter. Cannondale-Drapac use fi’zi:k saddles.

Cyclingnews

UCI holds talent-identification camp in Switzerland

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OUNG road cyclists from all over Europe are being put through their paces at the International Cycling Union World Cycling Centre (UCI WCC) in a recent Talent Identification camp.

At the beginning of a new Olympic cycle, the UCI WCC is on the lookout for athletes who could potentially qualify for Tokyo 2020.

A request to Europe’s national federations to put forward the names of their best young male and female road cyclists was followed by a selection process that resulted in 37 junior men and women from 17 countries traveling to Aigle, Switzerland.

After one week under the watchful eye of the center’s professional coaches, some of the athletes will be invited back to the UCI WCC this summer to prepare for the UCI Road World Championships in Bergen,

Norway, in September.

“Looking ahead to the 2020 Olympic Games, the aim is that these athletes will form our Elite group in the next few years,” UCI WCC High-Performance Manager Belinda Tarling said.

Tarling added that other talentidentification initiatives would be carried out in different regions and for all the Olympic cycling disciplines.

The UCI WCC coaches are looking not only at the athletes’ current form but at their potential to improve, their mental attitude and physiological tendencies. The young cyclists are training on the road, the track, in the gym and on the center’s stationary Wattbikes. Their week in Switzerland also includes theory sessions focusing on technical issues, tactics and antidoping.

Some of the Junior riders had not trained over winter before arriving in Aigle, as it was too cold in their own countries.

Despite a difference in the athletes’ current fitness levels, the coaches have got a good idea of their potential, thanks to specific testing on the Wattbikes.

“It is a large group, so it is difficult to get to know them all individually in just a week. But we can get a good idea of which athletes would benefit from a longer stay with us to prepare for the UCI Road World Championships,” UCI WCC Coach JeanJacques Henry said.

He added that the young riders were motivated and eager to progress. Despite their large number and language barriers, they had become friends in just a few days of training together. UCI News

A REQUEST to Europe’s national federations to put forward the names of their best young male and female road cyclists was followed by a selection process that resulted in 37 junior men and women from 17 countries traveling to Aigle, Switzerland.

OurTime BusinessMirror

A8 Saturday, March 11, 2017 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Tacloban expands coverage of social pension for senior citizen

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By Elmer V. Recuerdo | Correspondent

ACLOBAN CITY—More senior citizens of this city are expected to receive a monthly social pension after the qualifying age was lowered from 77 years old to 60.

City Social Welfare and Development Officer Remedios Buna said the number of elderly who are qualified for the monthly social pension will also increase from the current 1,950 beneficiaries to 4,810. She said the expansion of coverage is due to the increased allocation provided by the Department of Social Welfare and Development under this program.

The social pension for senior citizens is mandated under Republic Act 9994, or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010. The program provides a monthly pension of P500 for poor seniors to augment their daily subsistence, including their medical needs. It seeks to improve the living condition of eligible indigent-senior

citizens and to protect them from neglect and deprivation.

The target beneficiaries are seniors aged 60 years old and older who are frail, sickly or with disability, with no regular income or support from family and relatives, and without pension from private or government institutions.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is targeting 2.8 million indigent senior citizens as its recipient this year, more than double compared to the total target beneficiaries of the program in 2016, which is more than 1.3 million.

The approved budget allocation for the program’s implementation this year amounts to P17,940,258,000, higher than the

TACLOBAN Mayor Cristina G. Romualdez greets senior citizens lining up for free medical checkup during a recent Caring Giving and Reaching Out barangayan activity. Romualdez ordered the City Social Welfare and Development Office to include medical and burial assistance among its services for senior citizens. ELMER RECUERDO

P8,711,203,000 allocated last year.

Buna, however, said criteria for

choosing the recipients remain the same: Filipino citizens, sickly,

disabled, no income or any other means of livelihood, no pension

from private and government pension bodies and no regular support from relatives. But many senior citizens are not familiar with this program and have not availed themselves of this, even when it meets all the set qualification.

For Consolacion Monteroso, 77 years old who is taking care of an 11-year-old grandchild who was orphaned by Supertyphoon Yolanda, the money could have been a big help, especially since they only rely on the income of a small store for their daily needs.

“I am not aware of this pension for senior citizens. Nobody in the barangay has ever told us about it,” she said.

Recently, the city government started releasing the stipend of P3,000 for the payout covering the first and second quarters of 2016.

The payout is currently being facilitated by the City Treasurer’s Office, while succeeding releases for this year will be coursed through the Veterans Bank, Buna said.

Tacloban City Mayor Cristina Romualdez has ordered CSWDO to include medical and burial assistance to the city’s senior citizens among its available services on top of the monthly pension.

Many of the world’s wealthiest people DSWD releases P2.2M to indigent senior citizens in Davao del Sur town are getting older–and plotting what’s next

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ORENZO Servitje Sendra was the oldest person on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index when he died last month with a $4.2-billion fortune.

Thinking ahead, the Mexican billionaire had already transferred his stake in Grupo Bimbo, the world’s largest breadmaker, to his heirs, enabling them to sidestep what amounts to a $2.1-trillion headache for the wealthy. That’s the total net worth—roughly equal to the GDP of India—controlled by the 218 billionaires over age 70 on the Bloomberg index, a daily ranking of the world’s 500 richest people.

“By far the biggest handover ever to the next generation is about to happen,” PWC and UBS noted in a 2016 report on billionaires.

“Without careful planning, many of today’s fortunes will suffer substantial erosion.”

The problem is most acute in the US and Europe, where about a quarter of the billionaires on the index are age 80 or older, compared to 20 percent in Asia.

In mainland China, where only chemical maker Xu Chuanhua has reached that milestone, just 3 percent of the wealth is in the hands of the elderly, with about 40 percent held by billionaires under age 50.

Russians have their own version of the headache, with private wealth controlled mostly by a generation of businessmen who profited from the chaotic post-Soviet economy. For those billionaires, passing the business on isn’t an option when so much of the value is tightly woven into personal connections at the Kremlin.

In the US, Sumner Redstone’s $3. 8 -bi l l ion for t u ne bec a me embroiled in a bitter and public feud when the 93-year-old’s frail health sparked a legal battle between his daughter Shari Redstone and Viacom Inc.’s former CEO Philippe Dauman, hobbling the media company’s efforts to make deals to stream programs on the Internet.

Swedish billionaire Ingvar Kamprad and Germany’s Dieter Schwarz side-stepped that risk through elaborate, tax-friendly holding structures they created to control assets when they’re gone.

Italian billionaire Leonardo del Vecchio, 81, sold Luxottica Group SpA, the eyewear business that makes up the bulk of his $18-billion fortune, to Essilor International SA in January. That was to prevent a tug-of-war among his children for control of Luxottica as Del Vecchio looks to transfer his wealth to the next generation. Bloomberg News

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AGSAYSAY, Davao del Sur— The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Region 11 completed on Friday the release of P2,292,000 for 1,528 indigent senior citizens.

The cash release was made this early, even as it should cover the first quarter of 2017 or from January to March.

The Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office and the Municipal Treasurer’s Office here divided the 22 barangays (villages) into three for the three-day release of the pension starting last Wednesday.

Every indigent senior citizen aged 65 years old and above is entitled to receive 500 monthly pension. The age qualification eligible to receive a social pension was lowered from 77 to 65 years old. It was approved under the General Appropriations Act for CY 2015.

With the lower age requirement, more economically disadvantaged senior citizens can have additional cash to spend for their basic needs, such as medicines and nutritious food, to support their well-being.

Those who will qualify to receive the P500 monthly stipend are senior citizens who are frail, sickly, or have disabilities; are not receiving pension from Social Security System (SSS), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), or Veterans Pension; and do not have a permanent source of income or regular support from relatives. PNA

GRANNY’S ABODE As one of the recipients of the “Adopt a Home Program” of the local government of San Mateo, Isabela, this grandmother finds her new renovated home more comfortable than before. LEONARDO PERANTE II

UN assesses ILOCOS NORTE SUMMER human-rights TOURISM PROGRAM TO situation of ACCEPT SENIOR CITIZENS elderly in Namibia

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STILL WORKING Despite being older, these two carpenters still find a job at the San Mateo, Isabela, town hall as they install a knob on one of the office doors. Their carpentry skills keep them employed by the local government. LEONARDO PERANTE II

INDHOEK—United Nations human-rights expert Rosa Kornfeld-Matte is currently on an official visit to assess the human-rights situation of older persons in Namibia.

A statement from the UN’s Information Center in Windhoek on Monday said the expert’s visit started on March 2 and will end on March 13.

The visit is an important opportunity to identify both best practices and gaps in the implementation of existing laws related to the promotion and protection of the rights of the elderly, the statement said.

“I am particularly interested in learning more about Namibia’s extensive social protection system, including the universal noncontributory pension, which helped to significantly reduce poverty levels, as well as the advanced technology introduced in the mid-1990s to manage the payment system,” Kornfeld-Matte said.

The expert will present her findings and recommendations of her visit to Namibia in a report to the UN Human Rights Council in September 2017. PNA/Xinhua

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AOAG CITY—Senior citizens and retirees who are still capable to work are most welcome to apply for the Ilocos Norte summer tourism program of the provincial government.

Senior citizens are highly regarded for their rich knowledge and experience in history. Hence, they may serve as effective story tellers in heritage museums and churches being promoted to visitors in the province.

Interested applicants may start submitting their biodata to the Provincial Tourism Office-Capitol, La Tabacalera Tourist Center located in front of Museo Ilocos Norte or at the Taoid Museum on or before March 16. Other pertinent documents, such as barangay clearance, community tax certificate and 2x2 ID picture are also required.

“We have once again opened our Summer Tourism Program!

Lahat po ay imbitado na sumali at makiisa sa Kapitolyo, kabilang din ang mga senior citizen!” a public announcement of the Ilocos Norte Tourism Office (Into) said.

Aside from senior citizens, the Into is also in need of tourism ambassador, utility personnel and registered nurses to serve as first-aid personnel to assist in various tourism destinations of the province. The first wave of tourist-aide deployment will be from March 27 to April 27. PNA

news.businessmirror@gmail.com

The Millennials BusinessMirror

Saturday, March 11, 2017

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young nurse bares love for cycling J the market and cook them for dinner at their host. Fellow cyclists host them in Cavite, Laguna and Quezon among other places.

One of the clubs he’s a member of had already pedalled all the way to Pampanga and back. He said he’s preparing for a group ride to Baquio this year.

The country scene is one of the delights of these long rides, Tutaan said.

By Oliver Samson | Correspondent

OHN Johnine Tutaan knows the hubs and spokes of daily travel: he bikes to work.

Tutaan, a nurse at a hospital in Makati City, also pedals home to Mandaluyong City.

Cycling is good for the cardiovascular system and keeps the body fit, Tutaan said.

“It’s also a fellowship of different ages,” he said. “There’s a lot fun when [a] group goes biking.”

Tutaan’s love for the manual 2-wheel drive was brought by the congested roads of Buendia Avenue and the blue collar workers on bicycles escaping the traffic jam.

The latter were the first images that caught his eyes after stepping out from the hospital at the end of his shift.

Tutaan’s eyes followed the bicycle riders who skilfully and easily passed through narrow gaps between the sidewalk and a long line of crawling cars and sweat-smelling passenger jeepneys.

After breaking some legs at work, the bicycle riders were burning more calories to reach their destination, he thought. Those legs would hit home much earlier than his that were just slightly moving inside a public utility jeepney (PUJ) caught in a traffic jam.

He had had it. Inside the PUJ one day last year another bicycle rider was born.

Muscle memory

TUTAAN, the son of a retired Philippine Army officer, had just two problems as he resolved to use a bicycle to transport him to and from work.

First, the roads he rode on on a bicycle when he was young were inside a village and scarcely used by cars. Second, he doesn’t own a bike.

I used to bike when I was younger, Tutaan, who also aspires to be a professional rapper, said. But it was just a small one that anyone could use to jump unto and glide around the neighborhood, he added.

“Biking on a commuter lane is different,” Tutaan told the BusinessMirror. “You have to observe traffic rules so that you do not disrupt the traffic. You have to deal with speeding motorists.”

He admitted he was afraid of biking on the road with speeding cars. Some motorists are bullies, Tutaan said.

But as he advanced to become a skilled biker, he overcame his fear.

The 24-year-old Tutaan settled for a bigger bicycle, owned by a friend who loaned him one.

I used that to refresh myself on basic biking skills, he said adding he pedalled inside parks.

Two months later, in March last

Wellness roots

John Johnine Tutaan

year, Tutaan bought his own bike.

We never make that much money but we “put enough [cash] on our bicycles.” Yes, wage earners spend money for their bicycle out of deeply entrenched passion for this manual transport machine, he said.

On the road

CYCLISTS do not get penalized for a traffic violation—a traffic enforcer can only shout when one breaches a road rule, according to Tutaan.

“We can counter the traffic flow but [most of us] choose to be professional,” he said. “We follow traffic rules. But I will go counter to the flow if I have a compelling reason.

And for sure that will be rare.”

This time the bike he had in mind was a stronger and more powerful and useful one—a kind his legs would drive tens of kilometers, in and out

of Metro Manila, on plane and steep roads, for leisure as well as for the wellness of body and mind.

“I practised around Mandaluyong, applying biking video tips from [a user-generated online video portal],” he said. “The videos include the proper body mechanics for climbing and going down a road.”

Group rides

TUTAAN joined several bicycle riders clubs for group rides, the first of which was to Cainta, Rizal.

One of the clubs, he said, has a member as young as Grade 6 and as old as 70.

Sometimes members of a club would ride bicycles to satisfy their palate. We sometimes rode to Antipolo just for mami (noodles).

When the ride is overnight, the group picks some fresh stuff from

TUTAAN graduated from Nursing at the Rizal Technological University (RTU) in 2014.

“I took up Nursing to give my life direction and to grant my mother her wish,” he said. His mother is a retired nurse who was a supervisor at the National Center for Mental Health.

Tutaan is the youngest of four boys.

His first job was as a field researcher—later on field supervisor—for the Ateneo De Manila University School of Government. The work required him to help evaluate health services of local government units.

He also worked for the Unicef in a joint project with PhilHealth Corp. on HIV/AIDS research and data collection as field supervisor, covering six hospitals in the National Capital Region and the Jose B. Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital in Pampanga.

Currently, Tutaan attends to patients seeking medical care at a public health center in Mandaluyong.

Pedal rules

ACCORDING to Tutaan, a bicycle rider must also learn how to follow rules. One of his clubs mandate not

to leave a bicyclist behind, especially during group rides.

When a member loses his way, the group makes it a rule for everyone to return to the last intersection taken and message or call the group.

According to Tutaan, he follows personal rules when riding his bicycle.

When the body is good condition, it’s better to go biking for a short distance, more or less 30 minutes, without taking breakfast, he explained.

Faster will fats burn.

“That’s when you had a good dinner and enough sleep.”

He advises beginners to not ride a bicycle if the body is not in good shape. He cited as example a biker who died from hypertension upon reaching Cainta, Rizal. He was drunk the night prior the long drive in the morning, Tutaan said.

“Sometimes peer pressure and our ego can harm us,” he said. “Do not force yourself or be forced by others if you are in no good condition.

Stay within your limit. Don’t let ego overcome you.”

According to him, cycling builds patience.

“Some motorists are bullies. They intentionally run too close to the biker,” Tutaan said. “It takes a lot of patience to deal with such motorists.”

He hopes employers would set up secured parks for employees who report to work on bicycles. He goes to work and a recording studio on a mountain bike.

“Cyclists are eco-friendly. They decongest traffic,” Tutaan said. “By going to work on bikes, they save money for the future.”

Group shares Hijab experience to women Millennials think about work too much T HESE young Muslims went out of their comfort zones last month.

For the first time, the Chosen Youth for Change (CYC) held the World Hijab Day (WHB) at a nonMuslim area.

“I really, really, enjoyed this day,” CYC President Nursophier Ingoh said. “It is our first time to celebrate it outside [our comfort zone and] especially here in a non-Muslim area.”

The WHD is an annual event founded in 2013 by Nazma Khan, a New York resident who was renowned for her advocacy of fostering religious tolerance. The event takes place on February 1 each year in 140 countries, majority Islamic nations, worldwide.

The event seeks to encourage women of all religion and background to wear and experience the hijab, or headscarf.

The WHD “gives empowerment to all women around the world, especially those being oppressed,” Is-

nihaya Binumbaran said on WHD, which marks the first day of February. “But they [should realize] they are not oppressed at all. They [women] are free to voice out whatever they want.”

Binumbaran was one of the officers of CYC who led the 3-hour celebration of the WHD at a ritzy park in the heart of Makati City’s commercial and business district.

Opportunity

LAST February 1, CYC members and students of the Al-Mustafa Institute of Islamic Education (AIIE) grouped themselves into three and given specific tasks.

The first group interviewed nonMuslim encouraged women to wear a hijab (headscarf) or abaya. The latter is a long robe or cloak that covers the entire body of a woman and usually worn over casual clothing.

The second group distributed fliers while the third group designed the venue at the Legazpi Active Park

in San Lorenzo Street, Makati City.

According to AIIE Assistant Finance Manager Abduljal Aradani, he was surprised to see the young Muslims.

“I think this is a great opportunity for the Muslim Ummah to spread Islam in a proper way, especially with this situation around the world, particularly in America where there are lots of problems with the Muslims there,” Aradani said. “This is an opportunity for Muslim Filipinos to spread Islam in a positive way and to educate people of our way of life.”

Impressed

ARADANI added he was impressed with the young Muslims who were able to hold such an activity at “an excellent park in Metro Manila.”

“I’m so impressed because [you were able to propagate] Islam to nonMuslims in this kind of city where different kinds of people reside here and those ladies who want to wear

hijab who welcomed you warmly.”

Another CYC officer, Baimot Lakman, said she was happy because non-Muslim women “responded to us positively and they participated in this affair.”

She said they welcomed the feedback and comments as these “also inspired us to do this activity again and again to establish unity among Muslims and non-Muslims.”

CYC officials credit the low turnout to the absence of individuals directly involved in the event. These key people were still having their respective classes at the IIE that day.

On other hand, Lakman said the low turnout may also be because “it’s unusual for [people] to see Muslims conducting activities in such a kind of place.”

Despite the low turnout, CYC officials deemed the WHD celebration a success. They credit such success to the support of the AIIE Administration and the Makati Commercial Estate Association Inc.

The New York Times Syndicate

By Ran Zilca

Harvard Business School Publishing Corp.

Welcome to your office: A stranger’s living room P

By Danica Kirka

The Associated Press

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ONDON—Claire Brynteson had a house, a job and a dining table that was empty once she got her three children out the door every morning.

When she received a flyer telling her she could make money by renting seats at the table to people looking for short-term office space, she jumped at the chance to list its virtues on the Spacehop website—where Airbnb meets the laptop entrepreneur.

“I wondered why perhaps it had taken so long since Airbnb has been running for so long,” Brynteson said at her home in south London. “People have for a long time been making money out of their home with guests staying over the night and paying to be there. This is a little less intrusive.”

The rise of self-employment

and soaring office costs are fueling demand for shared office space in metropolitan areas, with a handful of firms renting workspace by the hour, similar to the way Airbnb offers overnight stays. Vrumi, founded in 2015, says it has 5,000 registered users and 120,000 square feet of rentable workspace across the UK London-based Spacehop joined the market last year, as did Breather, a four-year-old company that also operates in the US and Canada.

Final frontier

IT’S the latest development of the socalled sharing economy, where those looking for extra cash are generating income any way they can with the help of the internet and smartphone apps. Space itself has become a commodity, with people renting their driveways to commuters searching for parking, attics to apartment

dwellers in need of storage and garden plots to those who want to grow their own tomatoes. Boxful in Hong Kong promises to declutter your life by collecting and storing unneeded belongings. In Spain, LetMeSpace provides a marketplace to rent out anything from parking spaces to unused storage. Pubs are renting out space in the morning to people looking for peace to work, said Catherine Cottney, manager of trends at business research firm Mintel.

“It’s the final frontier,” Cottney said. “People are recognizing the worth of space and they’re looking to maximize that.” With an abundance of investors and a computer-literate entrepreneurial population, the UK is driving the trend in Europe. In Britain, platform revenues more than tripled to 850 million pounds ($1.1 billion) in the three years through 2015, according to a study by PwC.

Peer-to-peer accommodation, which includes shared office space as well as overnight stays like Airbnb, accounted for 27 percent of that total.

Globally, PwC estimates that revenues in the sharing economy were about $15 billion in 2015.

Millennials’ demand

THE move toward new workspaces dovetails with changes in the workplace itself.

Cary Cooper, an expert on workplace issues at Alliance Manchester Business School, said he’s surprised the Airbnb model didn’t come to office space sooner, and he believes it will grow as millennials seek flexibility and others seek to make a living.

Recent figures from the Resolution Foundation think tank found that self-employment accounts for 45 percent of the growth in employment in Britain since 2008.

EOPLE in their 20s and early 30s are in a relatively negative state of mind. This age group experiences the most negative thoughts and the least positive emotions of all age groups. What’s causing millennials so much angst?

By studying a data set of writing activities completed by over 250,000 Happify users, we found that millennials are obsessed with their jobs, don’t socialize much and don’t seem to set much store in developing a spiritual life.

1

Gratitude. In our study, the topics for which millennials specifically expressed the most gratitude were “positive interactions with colleagues,” “having a low-stress commute,” “getting a new job,” “being satisfied with an existing job,” “sleeping” and “relaxing in bed.” Four out of these six topics were careerrelated and had to do with the process of finding a job or with daily work experiences.

2

Long-term goals. The long-term goals that were typical of millennials seem to target the commonly held objectives of reducing stress and worry and exercising more. We also find that millennials are the group with the lowest interest in goals related to faith and worship.

3

Short-term goals. We found that common topics were related to doing work tasks and being able to feel happy even in the face of discouragements. This suggests millennials are stressed and worried (and aware of it) and are occupied with getting a great job.

A happiness prescription for Millennials?

Looking at these differences between millennials and other age groups, one cannot help wondering if spiritual life and social life are not the missing ingredients that could make millennials happier. Perhaps being happy also involves being occupied with fundamental and spiritual human questions and having a network of deep, close relationships with family and friends.

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HE Department of Transportation (DOTr) announced on Wednesday it will gather Filipino developers, information technology (IT) and digital media talents, and road safety enthusiasts in a national RoadSafety Idea Hack.

“The Road Safety Idea Hack welcomes people from diverse backgrounds, whether in app development, digital media, social science, data sciences, road-safety advocacy and all who are excited and interested to learn more about open data and road-safety,” a statement by the DOTr said.

A ccord i n g to t he go ve r n ment’s transportation management agency, interested participants will form teams to produce ideas, analyses, methodologies, digital media, advocacy campaigns and application (app) prototypes to improve road safety in the Philippines. Participants are

By Claire Cain Miller

a policy think tank, is free online prep courses for people who have been out of school too long to remember high-school basics.

Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson, founders of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Initiative on the Digital Economy, suggest federally guaranteed student loans for nontraditional programs like online certificates or coding boot camps.

Perh aps most ef fec t ive i s reaching students as early as elementar y school. Educators should focus on teaching technical skills, like coding and statistics, and skills that still give humans an edge over machines, like creativity and collaboration, experts say. And since no one knows which jobs will be automated later, it may be most important to learn flexibility and how to learn new things.

New York Times News Service

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AYBE the automation of jobs will eventually create new, better jobs.

Maybe it will put us all out of work.

But as we argue about this, work is changing.

Today’s jobs—white collar, blue collar or no collar—require more education and interpersonal skills than those in the past. And many of the people whose jobs have already been automated can’t find new ones. Technology leads to economic growth, but the benefits aren’t being parceled out equally.

Policymakers have the challenge of helping workers share the gains.

That will take at least some government effort, just as it did when the United States moved from an agricultural economy to an industrial one, with policies like high school for all or workers’ rights.

Whether there’s political will for big changes remains to be seen, but here are some policies that economists and policy experts think could help now.

More education

A broad area of agreement: People need to learn new skills to work in the new economy.

“The best response is to increase the skills of the labor force,” said Gregory Mankiw, an economist at Harvard.

The most valuable thing could be to increase college enrollment and graduation rates. A growing number of jobs require a degree; the unemployment rate among people 25 to 34 with college degrees is just 2 percent, versus 8 percent for those who stopped their education after high school.

But that goal seems far-fetched at a time when only about onethird of Americans have bachelor’s degrees. For many more who lack the time, money or drive, what’s already happening is more vocational training, at community colleges or through apprenticeships. This provides a way for people to learn on the job, but the problem is that many of those jobs are probably next in line to be automated.

People who lose their job midcareer don’t necessarily have the skills to do another one. But government retraining programs are confusing and often ineffective, and many companies aren’t willing to invest in training workers only to have them poached by a rival. “It’s bipartisan judgment that doesn’t work,” said Tyler Cowen, an economist at George Mason University. “People are not that malleable.”

More successful, he said, is training that workers seek themselves. One idea from Third Way,

Create new and better jobs

THE problem, at least for now, is not that there isn’t enough work— there is, but it is very different from the kind of work technology is displacing. Manufacturing and warehousing jobs are shrinking, while jobs that provide services (health care, child care, elder care, education, food) are growing.

“We are far from the end of work, but face a big challenge redeploying people toward addressing our society’s very real needs,” Brynjolfsson said.

One idea is for the government to subsidize private employment or even volunteer jobs.

“If the private market isn’t creating the jobs people need, then the public sector should engage in direct job creation,” said Jared Bernstein, senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, who was chief economist for Vice President Joe Biden. He said the technique “ has a better track record than people think.”

A recent study by the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality examined 40 programs over 40 years, and found they were successful at things like improving workers’ skills and reducing their dependence on public benefits.

Economists largely agree that manufacturing jobs aren’t coming back, but the United States could slow the losses by attracting more advanced manufacturing, especially in green energy, Bernstein said.

“Some smart country is going to dominate the market for battery storage, for example,” he said.

“That should be us.”

People who lose their jobs often don’t have the money to pick up and move to where jobs and training are, so he suggests the government help people move.

BusinessMirror

expected to use the OpenTraffic data provided by Grab, the roadcrash data aggregated by the DOTr and other datasets, such as jeepney routes and school locations. The DOTr explained entries will be judged according to expected impact, creativity, feasibility and presentation.

Road safety is a critical issue affecting the lives of millions of Filipinos, and through the Philippine Road Safety Action Plan (2011 to 2020), the DOTr is committed to reduce road c ra shes by 50 percent.

W hile crashes can be mitigated with targeted policy and infrastructure inter ventions, these inter ventions need to be wellinformed by evidence.

Hence, the DOTr is enlisting the support of the public to use its new open data sets to find

solutions that will help meet this target.

“Through this initiative, we plan to tap the country’s ICT [information and communications technology]talents and road-safety community to develop innovative solutions,” DOTr Assistant Secretary for Land Transport and Infrastructure Mark de Leon said.

The DOTr will also be launching a new platform called Data for Road Incident Visua l ization Evaluation and Reporting or “Driver”, a Web-based and open-source nationa l system for geo-spatially recording and analyzing road crashes.

The Road Safety Idea Hack will also feature workshops using traffic and road-safety data sets at the Crowne Plaza, Ortigas Avenue, Quezon City, on March 13 and 18. Rizal Raoul Reyes

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K A M A I Tec h nolog ies Inc. sa id its recent “State of the Internet” report revealed that all key g loba l broad ba nd adopt ion metrics see double-digit gains year-over-year ( YoY ).

“Internet connection speeds cont inued to show posit ive long-term trends around the world, with particularly strong [YoY] increases across all broadband adoption metrics,” said David Belson, editor of the report.

According to Belson, when Akamai first published the report in 2008, it defined “high broadband” as 5 Megabytes per second (Mbps) and above, which nine years ago had an adoption rate of 16 percent globally.

“We’re now seeing a 15-Mbps adoption rate of 25 percent worldwide,” Belson said. “The upward trends are encouraging as businesses create and deliver

S

Duc Tran, an automation engineer, observes the fully autonomous robotic truckloader during a test at the Wynright Robotics facility in Arlington, Texas, on July 18, 2012. Brandon Thibodeaux/The New York Times

But it’s not just about money— many people don’t want to upend their lives.

Bolster the safety net

THERE seems to be bipartisan support for expanding the earnedincome tax credit, which rewards low-income people for working.

Much more fanciful, at least in the United States, is a universal basic income—in which the government gives everyone a guaranteed amount of money. But that idea is gaining with thinkers across the ideological spectrum.

Critics say it would discourage people from working; proponents say it would free them to go back to school or to do work they’re passionate about. “ The key response must initially be to expand the earnedincome tax credit and then ultimately have a universal basic income ensuring at least subsistence,” said Robert Reich, public policy professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who was labor secretary under President Bill Clinton.

More realistically, the Obama administration proposed wage insurance to make up the difference for people who move to lower-paying jobs. For instance, machinists, in a shrinking occupation, earn a median hourly wage of $19.50, while home health-care aides, in a growing occupation, earn $10.50.

Change the way work is done

MOST people have skills to earn money, so why not make it easier to do so without an employer?

Freelance and contract workers could get portable benefits.

They wouldn’t have to be tied to a job to get health insurance, for example, (though the drama over health care makes the expansion of other benefits seem unlikely).

Similar and more feasible ideas include easing regulations for companies to hire contract workers (which is happening more, though not necessarily to the benefit of workers), and building coworking spaces so that people get the camaraderie of an office.

Governments could also make it easier to start small businesses.

Third Way proposes borrowing an idea from Silicon Valley and creating venture capital funds, seeded by the federal government, for states to invest in local entrepreneurs. “People in the rest of the country have good jobs-producing ideas, too,” said Jim Kessler, senior vice president for policy at Third Way. Machines may take so many jobs that there aren’t enough left for humans. T hat would sug gest pol icies l i ke cutt ing hours instead of employees. The United States has had a 40-hour workweek only since 1940. W hy not shorten the workweek to three or four days, or institute job sharing, which has been successful in Germany? “ That’s the realm of science fiction,” Cowen said. “It’s not an America we would recognize.”

Give workers more of the profits

THE earnings from automation have been shared unequally, with business owners getting a much larger share than workers.

“Technology creates phenomenal wealth but concentrates it beyond any acceptable level, and so we will have to agree on some sort of redistribution,” said Sam A ltman, president of Y Combinator, a tech start-up incubator.

But there’s no agreement on how to solve the problem.

Libera ls want to raise the m i n i mu m wage, wh i le m a ny conser vatives want to keep it low so that human labor is less e x pen sive t h a n robot l abor.

Third Way proposes a minimum wage that varies with the cost of living—$9.35 in Killeen, Texas; $11 in Scranton, Pennsylvania; and $12.60 in San Francisco.

“How to make the forces of technolog y and globa lization work for people and not against them is the biggest public policy challenge in America,” Kessler said. “The rise of populism, both on the left and the right, is because middle-income voters feel that their elected leaders don’t have the answer to this question.”

ATELLITE communication (satcom) in the cockpit has saved airlines more than $3 billion, thanks to safety and efficienc y benefits, according to a study released on March 7 by Helios Under w r iting Plc. and Inmarsat Plc. Satcom is the use of voice and data ser vices via satellite to communicate with aircraft outside the range of conventional ground radar and Ver y High Frequency (VHF) stations, such as over oceanic regions. It is ty pically used for air-traffic control (ATC) and airline operations. The inaugural study, conducted by Helios, valued the benefit of satcom to airlines between 2001 and 2016.

T he study found t hat one single ATC benefit mechanism— reducing “separation minima”, which allows aircraft to f ly closer together safely—was responsible for savings of $890 million alone, according to Inmarsat.

“Thanks to satcom, planes can now fly within 30 nautical miles of each other because of safe, reliable communication and tracking,” Inmarsat said. The global mobile satellite communications provider explained that, previously, aircraft were required to maintain a separation of 100 nautical miles. This allows aircraft to fly closer together and means more planes can fly in a given airspace, which is particularly beneficial over the busy skies of the North Atlantic.

If an aircraft is not equipped with satellite communication capability, it must maintain the 100 nautical mile separation and is not permitted to fly in certain areas.

B

OSCH Secur it y Systems (BSS) Ltd. and Sony Corp. will now focus on strengthening their collaboration that was first announced in November last year, BSS said.

In a statement, BSS said the focus comes after the official approval of the antitrust authorities of the business partnership of the two firms in the field of video security solutions became effective by February 1. In China the partnership will start on April 1, BSS said.

T he pa r t nersh ip ent a i l s a both sales and marketing cooperation, as well as a technical collaboration, the company added. As part of the sales and

even richer experiences for bigger audiences across the Internet, but accentuate the need for organizations to optimize those experiences for the myriad connected devices their customers are using.”

Released on March 9, A kama i ’s Fou r t h Qu a r ter 2016 “State of the Internet Report” revealed that global average connect ion speed increased 12 percent to 7.0 Mbps in the fou r t h qu a r ter, wh ic h i s a 26 -percent increase YoY. South Korea again had the h ighest average connect ion speed globa l ly at 26.1 Mbps in the fourth quarter, the content deliver y network ser vices prov ider said. T he report noted that globa l 4 -, 10 -, 15 - and 25-Mbps broadband adoption rates increased 15 percent, 31 percent, 37 percent and 45 percent YoY, respectively.

Rizal Raoul Reyes

Increasing airspace capacity also leads to more aircraft being able to choose optimum flight levels, saving time and fuel.

According to Inmarsat, the $890-million saving is a major part of the $1.1-billion total ATC saving identified by the study.

A further $1.9 billion is saved, thanks to the ability of aircraft to communicate with their Airline Operations Centre (AOC). AOC applications use real-time information to help airlines improve flight safety or provide a more efficient service at a lower cost.

Delay management and scheduling is improved, fleets and flight crew can be better managed, maintenance can be taken care of and turnaround time on the ground is reduced.

Traditionally, AOC communication is provided by the exchange of simple text messages between the pilot and the controller. As satcom bandwidth c apac it y i nc rea ses, br i ng i ng broadband connectivity to the cockpit, there will be an explosion of IP-based AOC applications, allowing airlines to further optimize flight operations and fleet management. For example, an aircraft’s health can be constantly monitored, and any maintenance issue signaled ahead to the ground crew so parts and maintenance staff are ready as soon as the aircraft lands.

Until now, most maintenance information was delivered upon landing, with potential for delaying speedy resolution of an issue.

Broadband connectivity will also help with urgent ATC demands, as our skies see ever more traffic. Rizal Raoul Reyes

marketing partnership, Sony’s video security sales and marketing associates joined a newly formed dedicated team within the BSS organization. Sony’s video security customers, in all markets except Japan, will be served and supported by this sales and marketing team.

“We are moving forward with this partnership, which will feature jointly developed products that fully leverage our industryleading expertise in video image quality and performance,” Sony’s Toru Katsumoto was quoted in a statement as saying. According to BSS, it expects the first jointly developed products to be launched next year. Rizal Raoul Reyes

BusinessMirror

Saturday, March 11, 2017

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briefs

Intl Airlines Group taps Inmarsat EAN

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INMARSAT Plc. announced on March 9 the International Airlines Group (IAG) tapped the firm as launch customer for its European Aviation Network (EAN) high-speed in-flight broadband service, which Inmarsat will jointly operate with Deutsche Telekom. This contract is a flagship achievement in Inmarsat’s strategy to revolutionize the onboard experience for airline passengers with purposebuilt next-generation connectivity solutions. EAN allows European passengers to use their personal devices for Internet browsing, video streaming, gaming and other online services. IAG plans to equip in excess of 300 aircraft with EAN and aims to have 90 percent of its short-haul fleet complete by early 2019, Inmarsat said. Rizal Raoul Reyes

By Mae Anderson, | The Associated Press

EW YORK—With three kids and constant travel for work, John Hussey jumped at the chance to play an open-world adventure game like “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” anywhere, anytime.

After he heard about the Nintendo Switch, a hybrid-game machine that works as both a console at home and a tablet on the go, Hussey ordered one in January even though it wouldn’t arrive until Friday, when Nintendo’s latest game-machine debuts.

Nintendo will need lots of traditional gamers like Hussey to redeem itself as a console maker, after being eclipsed by Microsoft and Sony in the game-console wars. But Nintendo will also need lots of casual gamers who are satisfied with playing on a smartphone and would never have dreamed of buying a $300 game machine.

And in trying to appeal to many audiences, Nintendo risks not being the best at serving anyone.

Three lives

THE Switch is like three machines in one. Wireless controllers attach to a game tablet for hand held gaming. Take the tablet to a gathering with friends, and you can rest it on a table with a kickstand and detach the controllers for use as stand-alone devices. Back home, slide the tablet into a docking station and snap the controllers into a grip accessory and you have a traditional-game console attached to a TV. With each switch—get it?— you can pick up where you left off.

“Knowing I could get the Zelda game both at home and on the road, at this stage in my life that’s essential,” said Hussey, a sales rep from Bloomington, Indiana. “I can’t sit around at home and play a 70-hour

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new report published by Allied Market Research reveals that the socialmed i a a n a ly t ics m a rket wa s valued at $1.269 billion in 2014, and is projected to reach $9.383 billion by 2022, growing at a compounded annual growth rate (C AGR) of 29.2 percent from 2016 to 2022.

The report, titled “Global Social Media Analytics Market byApplication, End-User, and Geography-Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecasts, 20142022”, revealed the retail sector segment dominated the total end-user market in 2014.

Asia Pacific is estimated to grow at the fastest rate due to increase in the adoption of social-media analytics industr y and extensive growth rate in China, Japan, the Philippines and India pertaining to the increase in number of social media users and flourishing retail sector.

The retail sector dominated the global social-media analytics market in 2014 due to various advantages of social-media analytics, such as increase in brand awareness, better connection with audiences, creating hype around products, reduced gaps in the sales cycle.

Social-media analytics is used to evaluate data traces, which enables insights for social and business uses. Many enterprises are

game, but if I’m on airplanes or hotels, it’s perfect for me.”

The new Zelda game is the biggest available at launch, though Nintendo is also pushing a collection of casual party games called “1-2-Switch”. Nintendo says more than 80 titles are in development, including “Super Mario Odyssey” and the action-puzzle game “Snipperclips: Cut it Out, Together”.

Game over...Try again

NINTENDO’S Wii in 2006 introduced motion control to gaming and was a massive success, forcing Microsoft and Sony to respond with their own motion controls.

But the Wii’s successor in 2012, the Wii U, proved disappointing.

People thought it was too expensive at $300, especially when it had few must-have games.

Since then, the Japanese video-game maker has faced other hiccups. Its NES Classic retro module was a “ hot” holiday gift, but it was difficult to find during the holidays. It fared better with the monster-chasing “Pokémon Go” sensation on phones, but that wasn’t developed in-house.

The iPhone game “Super Mario Run” garnered buzz, but some balked at the $10 price. It’s also not available on Android until later this month.

The Switch represents a new hope. Nintendo is forecasting sales of 2 million units in the first month. IDC analyst Lewis Ward estimates Nintendo will ship 8 million within a year—better than

yet to discover its true potential.

With a huge chunk of socialmedia content exploding every second, social-media analytics may become one of the most important tools for companies to make strategies and implement short-term plans.

Increase in number of socialmedia users, rise in expenditure on a na ly t ics, a nd g row t h in market strategies and competitive intelligence are expected to drive the growth of the global soc i a l- me d i a a n a ly t ic s m a r ket. In addition, factors such as increase in cloud adoption and high rate of deployment in small and medium enter prises are expected to provide lucrative opportunity for the market growth. However, lack of skilled expertise and complexities in a n a ly t ic a l work f low h a mper the growth of the social media analytics market.

In 2014 customer behavioralanalysis segment accounted for the maximum revenue share in the overall applications of social media analytics market. This is due to the increase in rivalry paired with the need for effective brand promotion, which drives the requirement of customer behavioral analysis. In addition, marketing management segment is expected to witness the fastest growth at CAGR of 30.9 percent during the forecast period.

Europeans get more digital, but continent still divided

Shoppers wait outside retail store Bic Camera to buy Nintendo’s newest computer game “Switch” in central Tokyo on March 3. AP

the Wii U, though not as much as the Wii.

Multiplayer

WITH the Switch, Nintendo is hoping “to reach gamers, families and we even hope to reach people who haven’t played video games before,” Nintendo managing executive director Shinya Takahashi said. “Really the goal with the Nintendo Switch is to reach as broad an audience as possible.”

Part of that involves changing the nature of game play. Nintendo developed the minigames in ‘1-2-Switch’ so players look at their opponents—not screens—as they draw guns or milk cows.

Nintendo Switch developer Yoshiaki Koizumi said he wanted the game to reflect Nintendo’s roots as a playing card company in the 1880s. Nintendo wants to bring people together, and “one of the best ways to do that is giving them the opportunity to be able to see each other’s expression,” much like when you’re playing cards, he said.

Andrew Maher, a cook in Columbia, Missouri, looks forward to playing with his girlfriend, something they couldn’t do together on phones. He said the Switch “seems like a fun group experience”.

But Nintendo doesn’t want to give up on traditional gamers either—thus, the docking station for playing on the big screen.

Press start

THE be-all approach comes with compromises. As a game console, the Switch doesn’t have the range of games available on Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One. As a tablet, it lacks traditional features such as a web browser and streaming video apps like Netf lix (even rival game consoles have these).

Euromonitor analyst Matthew Hudak said Nintendo needs a way to be different from rivals, and “the smartest play for them is to tr y to be this all-pur pose console for socia l, casua l or dedicated needs”.

But if Nintendo fails to persuade casual gamers to spend $300 on something that does less than their phones, the Switch could wind up on the trash heap like the Wii U. “For the average consumer seeking a new console, they want to be able to spend the least money, be able to keep up with all the biggest releases and play the same games as their friends, none of which they can currently do with Nintendo Switch,” said Joshua Clay, a video-game programmer in Derby, United Kingdom, who doesn’t plan to switch from his PlayStation 4.

IDC’s Ward is more optimistic.

While hardcore gamers might stick with the Xbox One or PlayStation 4 because they’re more powerful and support more multiplayer online games, he said the Switch’s portability and easy-to-use controllers will appeal to first-time gamers.

“I’m predicting Nintendo is going to be viewed in retrospect at the end of the year as ‘Back in the game,’” he said.

BRUSSELS—The European Union (EU) says Europeans’ online connections and skills are improving, but there’s still too large a gap between the Nordic frontrunners and laggards in the continent’s south and east. The EU’s Digital Economy and Society Index, released on Friday, showed Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands leading a survey that measures countries’ performance in areas including connectivity, digital skills and the digitization of businesses and public services. Romania finished last, followed

by Bulgaria, Greece and Italy. The EU’s Executive Commission said 79 percent of Europeans go online at least once per week, three percentage points higher than last year. AP

Samsung Electronics brings Facebook for TV

SAMSUNG Electronics announced last month that the new Facebook video app for TV is available on Samsung Smart TVs, including its 2017 QLED TV lineup. The Korean firm said on February 27 the app will be available on all of its 2015, 2016, 2017 Smart TV models. Further solidifying its role as the global leader in TV, Samsung is the only TV manufacturer that will support the app at its launch.

The new Facebook video app for TV is a new way to watch Facebook videos on a bigger screen, the company said.

Rizal Raoul Reyes

Your MD says added telemedicine partners

D-Link International Pte. Ltd.

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INGA POR E -headquartered D -L i n k I nter n ational Pte. Ltd. announced recently the rollout locally of its high-definition wide-angle Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-fi) camera.

T he ne t w or k i n g pro du c t s supplier said in a statement the camera is the first in its family of “HomeKit-enabled ” devices.

In a statement, the firm said the camera “provides an easy way for users to monitor their home”.

The HomeKit integration allows users to be “always home,” and includes advanced security

features w ith end-to-end encryption and authentication between the camera and an iPhone or iPad, D-Link said.

“W hen activity is detected, users will receive a rich notification on their lock screen, delivered via the Apple Home app, showing a live feed from the camera,” the company said.

“Users can even access their Omna [camera] remotely to see what’s happening in their home in real time.”

According to D-Link, the camera offers a 180-degree view. Its

video bitrate continuously adjusts to ensure optimal performance given the available bandwidth. Users can also listen and speak using the camera’s built-in microphone and speaker.

“So even when users are not at home, they can still make their presence known,” D-Link said.

The camera also has a nightvision capability and motion detection. While the camera is only currently available in Singapore, D-Link said it will soon sell the product in the Philippines.

Rizal Raoul Reyes

BRITISH firm Your.MD Ltd., the creator of the first Artificial Intelligence (AI)powered Health Assistant, announced on March 2 it has added two new international telemedicine partners to its platform, the first personalized AI recommendation solution for professional and trustworthy health services and products.

The firm said the partners would allow it to provide a range of “Call a Doctor” services to over 60 percent of the world’s population.

Population statistics pertain to 2013 across 42 countries.

The news comes as Your.MD soared to the top position in the US iOS App Store in the Medical category on February 8. Rizal Raoul Reyes

BusinessMirror

A12 Saturday, March 11, 2017

Kaspersky cautions PHL industries on critical infrastructures threats

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WikiLeaks: CIA has targeted everyday gadgets for snooping

Story & photo By Oliver Samson | Correspondent

ASPERSKY Lab ZAO executives cautioned the country’s industrial sector on the growing threats to Industrial Control Systems (ICS) and critical infrastructures, urging for cyber-security measures.

The disruption to the operations can bring massive losses to the industry, Kaspersky executive Vikram Kalkat said in a news briefing in Manila.

According to Kalkat, attackers might assault critical industries like in energy, food manufacturing, oil and gas, transportation, finance and health.

“A minute an industry is down may cost $5 million of losses,” said Kalkat, Kaspersky Lab global business development senior key account manager. The attacks on ICS and critical infrastructures could sabotage a state’s economic as well as national security, the Russian cybersecurity firm said in a statement.

Angel T. Redoble, one the country’s cybersecurity specialist, agreed.

In a recent interview, Redoble, founder and president of the Philippine Institute of Cyber Security

Professionals (PICSPro), the country’s economic and national security would be compromised when its critical industries would be assaulted.

One of the attackers assaulting industrial and critical facilities is the Equation Group (EG), Kaspersky Lab said adding the EG, detected in 2015, exploits Advanced Persistent Threat (APT). Since 2001, the EG has been targeting infrastructure networks belonging to telecommunications, energy, nuclear research, oil and gas, military, nanotechnology and transportation in over 30 countries, the firm said.

In December of the same year, some 230,000 inhabitants in Ukraine also suffered from hours of power outage after a massive cyberattack, Kaspersky Lab said.

The BlackEnergy malware (malicious software) was responsible in the attack on power in Ukraine, the

Vikram Kalkat (from left), Kaspersky Lab KICKS Global Business Development Senior Key Account Manager, and Vineet Kumar Gupta, Kaspersky Lab Presales Manager for the Asia Pacific pose during a news briefing on the cybersecurity threats to Philippine industry.

firm added.

“The BlackEnergy APT has been actively trying to control ICS, energy, government and media in Ukraine as well as ICS/SCADA companies and energy companies worldwide,” Kaspersky Lab said.

The attackers took down the call center of the electric utility with telephone denial-of-service (TDoS) attack to prevent power consumers from reporting the situation.

“As more critical and industrial facilities are being automated and connected to the Internet, government and private sectors should also

pay attention to the cybersecurity of these vital infrastructures,” said Sylvia Ng, Kaspersky Lab Southeast Asia General Manager. “These networks require tougher defences as successful attacks against them can result to virtual and physical harm.”

Industrial cybersecurity is the new challenge, Kalkat noted.

“Operation technology of the critical infrastructure should focus on infrastructure availability of automated systems rather than only date confidentiality,” he said. “There is an urgent need for specialized solutions to combat this threat.”

SEA organizations struggle with cyber security–Intel

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NTEL Corp. said on March 7 the growing complexity of risks lets organizations in Southeast Asia struggle with cybersecurity.

Citing findings of its study that looks at organizations’ outlook towards the current state of cybersecurity management among others, Intel said about 1 in 3 respondents from Thailand and almost 1 in 2 respondents from Singapore felt that managing cybersecurity had become more complex. “In fact, in Singapore, only 20 percent of respondents believe that it had become less complex,” Intel said in a statement. “About 44 percent of respondents from Philippines, the country reported to be the least ‘cyber mature’ in Southeast Asia, also felt managing cybersecurity had become more complex.”

In contrast, respondents from Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam felt managing cybersecurity had become less complex at 31 percent, 34 percent and 41 percent respectively, according to Intel. The chip manufacturer’s cybersecurity division said 32 percent and 37 percent of respondents from Malaysia and Vietnam respectively believed that their organizations were less prepared to tackle cybersecurity now than they were 12 months before.

Intel said its study gathered opinions of over 2,000 IT professionals across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. When asked about whether their organizations would work with more cybersecurity vendors, 46 percent of all respondents stated that their organizations would be working with more cybersecurity vendors.

“With the digital economy in Southeast Asia set to hit $200 billion by 20252, there is plenty of allure for cybercriminals looking for a lucrative payday,” David Allott, Intel Asia Pacific director of cyber defense, was quoted in a statement as saying.

“Powerful, emerging technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence can help fight cybercriminals, who also are constantly innovating.” Oliver Samson

This April 13, 2016, file photo shows the seal of the Central Intelligence Agency at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. An alleged CIA surveillance program disclosed by WikiLeaks on March 7 purportedly targeted security weaknesses in smart TVs, smartphones, personal computers and even cars, and enabled snooping that could circumvent encryption on communications apps such as Facebook’s WhatsApp. AP

By Anick Jesdanun The Associated Press

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EW YORK—Maybe the CIA is spying on you through your television set after all.

Documents released by WikiLeaks allege a CIA surveillance program that targets everyday gadgets ranging from smart TVs to smartphones to cars. Such snooping, WikiLeaks said, could turn some of these devices into recorders of everyday conversations—and could also circumvent data-scrambling encryption on communications apps such as Facebook’s WhatsApp. WikiLeaks is, for now, withholding details on the specific hacks used “until a consensus emerges” on the nature of the CIA’s program and how the methods should be “analyzed, disarmed and published.” But WikiLeaks—a nonprofit that routinely publishes confidential documents, frequently from government sources—claims that the data and documents it obtained reveal a broad program to bypass security measures on everyday products.

More privacy clashes

IF true, the disclosure could spark new privacy tensions between the government and the technology industry. Relations have been fraught since 2013, when former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden disclosed secret NSA surveillance of phone and digital communications.

Just last year, the two sides feuded over the FBI’s calls for Apple to rewrite its operating system so that agents could break into the locked iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino attackers. The FBI ultimately broke into the phone with the help of an outside party; the agency has neither disclosed the party nor the nature of the vulnerability, preventing Apple from fixing it.

According to WikiLeaks, much of the CIA program centered on dozens of vulnerabilities it discovered but didn’t disclose to the gadget makers.

Common practice calls for government agencies to disclose such flaws to companies privately, so that they could fix them.

Instead, WikiLeaks claims, the CIA held on to the knowledge in order to conduct a variety of attacks. As a result, tech companies such as Apple, Google and Microsoft haven’t been able to make the necessary fixes.

“Serious vulnerabilities not disclosed to the manufacturers places huge swathes of the population and critical infrastructure at risk to foreign intelligence or cyber criminals who independently discover or hear rumors of the vulnerability,” WikiLeaks wrote in a press release. “If the CIA can discover such vulnerabilities so can others.”

A big yawn to some

NOT everyone is worried, though.

Alan Paller, director of research for the cybersecurity training outfit SANS Institute, said the case boils

down to “spies who use their tools to do what they are paid to do.” He said criminals already have similar tools—and he’s more worried about that.

Rich Mogull, CEO of the security research firm Securosis, said that agencies gathering intelligence on other organizations and governments need, by definition, technical exploits that aren’t public.

If they’re authentic, the leaked CIA documents frame a stark reality: It may be that no digital conversation, photo or other slice of life can be shielded from spies and other intruders prying into smartphones, personal computers, tablets or just about device connected to the internet. “It’s getting to the point where anything you say, write or electronically transmit on a phone, you have to assume that it is going to be compromised in some way,” said Robert Cattanach, a former US Department of Justice attorney who now specializes in cybersecurity and privacy for the law firm Dorsey & Whitney.

Sidestepping encryption

WIKILEAKS claims the hacks allowed the CIA to collect audio and other messages from data-scrambling communication apps such as WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram and Confide by intercepting data before it is encrypted or after it’s decoded.

The CIA didn’t appear to compromise the apps themselves, but rather the phone’s underlying operating system. WikiLeaks says the CIA had separate teams looking for vulnerabilities in iPhones and Android phones and also targeted tablets such as iPads. According to WikiLeaks, the vulnerabilities were discovered by the CIA itself or obtained from other government agencies and cyberweapon contractors.

Cars, trucks and TVs

WIKILEAKS also claims that the CIA worked with UK intelligence officials to turn microphones in Samsung smart TVs into listening devices. The microphones are normally there for viewers to make voice commands, such as requests for movie recommendations. If the TV is off, there’s no listening being done. But WikiLeaks claims that a CIA hack makes the target TV appear to be off when it’s actually on—and listening. WikiLeaks says the audio goes to a covert CIA server rather than a party authorized

by Samsung. In such cases, audio isn’t limited to TV commands but could include everyday conversations.

Other tools in the CIA’s arsenal target PCs running Microsoft’s Windows system, according to WikiLeaks, which says many of the attacks are in the form of viruses designed to spread through CDs and USB drives.

WikiLeaks also says the CIA was also targeting control systems used by cars and trucks. Although WikiLeaks didn’t have details on how that might be used, it said the capability might allow the CIA to “engage in nearly undetectable assassinations.” AP