BusinessMirror March 12, 2023

broader look at today’s business

THE GHOST OF HANJIN PAST

The former Hanjin shipyard in Subic is haunted by hopes discarded from its original development vision

By Henry Empeño

CASTILLEJOS, Zambales—Waving placards expressing their disgust over eviction and asserting their right to lawful use of housing units at a village here, former employees at the Hanjin shipyard in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone picketed the municipal hall here on Monday, March 6, to seek help from local government officials.

the map as the world’s fifth largest shipbuilder, declared bankruptcy.

and couldn’t access them anymore upon return.

Now the labor group and the homeowners association are asking pointed questions: What gives Fiesta Communities the right to evict them when [1] the lot where the housing units were built was donated by Hanjin to the workers, and [2] the fund used in constructing the houses came from Pag-IBIG which is a government agency?

Hope and hype

THE housing woes besetting former Hanjin workers could be just one bitter fallout from the meteoric rise and fall of the Hanjin shipyard in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, as well as the hype that followed when a white knight finally arrived to save the shipyard in distress.

The protest stemmed from an almost-forgotten agreement governing their stay at the Hanjin Village, a community purposely built by the South Korean shipbuilding firm for thousands of its workers and their families in the heyday of its ship production.

A joint statement from the Samahan ng mga Manggagawa sa Hanjin (Samahan), a labor group of shipyard workers that withstood the demise of the Hanjin project in 2019, and the Hanjin Village Neighborhood Association (HVNA), an organization of residents at the Nagbunga housing site here, recalled that the Hanjin Village was built under a publicprivate-partnership (PPP) scheme with a P1.5-billion start-up fund from Hanjin.

The 30-hectare area where the village is located was donated by Hanjin to its workers under its corporate social responsibility program and registered under Transfer Certificate of Title 0442013001646, the Samahan and HVNA statement said.

Meanwhile, the government’s Pag-IBIG Fund provided money to build housing units for qualified worker-members, and private developer Fiesta Communities, one of the pioneers in building low-cost housing in the country, was tapped for construction.

Since the project was inaugurated by company officials in 2013, a total of 2,775 housing units sprang up in the Hanjin Village: 1,730 units in Phase 1, and 1,045 in Phase 2. Depending on their capac-

ity to pay and personal preference, Hanjin workers could opt for any of three housing types: one-bedroom, two-bedroom duplex, or three-bedroom single detached unit.

On top of this, Hanjin Village residents enjoyed community facilities like multipurpose hall, transport terminal, school and

other function centers that were provided by the company for free.

Housing woes

THE ideal work-life situation for Hanjin workers, however, suddenly plunged into chaos in January 2019 when the South Korean investor, which had placed Subic on

The Samahan and HVNA recalled that at this time—and because Hanjin had been laying off workers since late 2018 allegedly due to a slump in the world shipbuilding sector—only 46 homeowners out of the total 1,643 were now able to pay for the amortization of their housing units.

The immediate solution was a moratorium on Pag-IBIG payments brokered by then Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III. This took effect in March 2019 and was understood by homeowners to continue being effective as the Covid-19 pandemic took a worldwide economic toll since that month.

However, starting October 2022, a lot of homeowners have been evicted by Fiesta Communities under its buy-back scheme, wherein those who missed payments were asked to surrender their units to Fiesta for re-sale to other parties, Samahan and HVNA said. Some residents also complained that their units were padlocked when they were out of town

Established by the Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction (HHIC) of South Korea in February 2006, HHIC-Phil Inc. rose to the industry’s rockstar prominence when it conducted steel-cutting for its first vessel order just one year after breaking ground for shipyard construction and delivering the Argolikos, the first container ship to be built in the Philippines, another year thereafter.

HHIC-Phil Inc. initially pumped $1.7 billion into its 300-hectare shipyard at the Redondo Peninsula in Subic, Zambales. But putting in more facilities and equipment to increase its capacity brought the shipbuilder’s foreign direct investment in 2016 to $2.3 billion, the biggest in Subic since the free port was established in 1992.

In terms of employment, Hanjin also became the single biggest employer in the Subic Bay Freeport as of August 2015, with some 30,000 workers at its shipbuilding facility making up 36 percent of the total Subic workforce.

The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), which manages the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, also credited Hanjin with being among the major growth contributors in the Subic Freeport, as the firm set out in 2015 to complete at least 17 ships worth over $1.6 billion.

PHILIPPINE Navy warships are docked at the quays of the former Hanjin Subic shipyard, taking over a place previously occupied by newly built container vessels.

CONFETTI rains down from the CMA CGM Antoine de Saint Exupery during the launch of the first Subic-made 20,600 TEU-class container vessel in January 2018 in the heyday of Hanjin ship production. HENRY EMPEÑO

FORMER Hanjin workers and their families assert the right to stay in housing units at a village built by the defunct shipbuilding company. HANJIN VILLAGE NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

THE GHOST OF HANJIN PAST

Hanjin capped its achievements in January 2018 with the delivery of the CMA CGM Antoine de Saint Exupery, the first Subicmade 20,600 TEU-class container vessel, which Hanjin said, “represented a breakthrough in global shipbuilding.”

In that launching ceremony, then HHIC-Phil President Gwang Suk Chung said: “This newly built 20,600-TEU vessel proves, among others, the strength and capability of our Subic shipyard to manufacture in a timely manner mega-ships of much higher quality tonnage that are now shaping the shipping landscape around the world.”

Apparently, HHIC-Phil has become a giant in its own eyes and in the eyes of the world. And before the shipbuilder would file for bankruptcy exactly a year after making what Chung described as a historic breakthrough, Hanjin would nevertheless deliver 123 vessels from its Subic shipyard—a feat that helped place the Philippines just behind China, South Korea, Japan and Germany as top shipbuilder in terms of orderbook by August 2016.

Hero’s welcome IT would take more than two years before a white knight would arrive to wipe away some $400 million that HHIC-Phil owed in outstanding loans from Philippine banks on top of another $900 million in debt with lenders in South Korea.

A nd like that for Hanjin, a hero’s welcome would accompany the arrival of the new hope—Cerberus

20,600

Frontier, a private equity firm in the United States that was touted to bring in a partner to undertake actual shipbuilding work.

In a statement issued by the Department of Finance on April

24, 2022, following the signing that day of the shipyard takeover agreement, then Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III described the Cerberus deal as a “win-win” for all stakeholders.

He said it will: [1] allow five of the country’s biggest banks to book profit from their written-off loans with Hanjin; [2] give the SBMA a better tenant; and [3] give the Philippine Navy a naval base for its rapidly expanding fleet facing the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

The Cerberus takeover will also allow the rehiring of many displaced shipyard workers and create additional jobs averaging 300 per year, thus catalyzing growth in Central Luzon and the rest of the country, he added.

“ With this development beneficial to all stakeholders, we look forward to a robust shipbuilding and ship-repair facility to serve not only our military and coast guard requirements but also the requirements of the private sector,” Dominguez said in cheering the Cerberus agreement.

The SBMA could not help but follow suit. Even after the original plan for Cerberus to partner with Austal, an Australian global shipbuilding firm and prime defense contractor, apparently fell through.

A fter SBMA Chairman and Administrator Rolen C. Paulino inspected the former Hanjin shipyard in May last year, the SBMA issued a media statement saying that the former Hanjin facility, which it said was now called Agila Subic Shipyard, will have two (major) tenants: Vectrus, which it described as a global service solutions provider to the United States government, and the Philippine Navy.

Vectrus will occupy most of the shipbuilding area, including quays, it said, while the Philippine Navy will use the former Hanjin administrative office, mess hall, and barracks.

With this, former Hanjin workers who have been skillstrained will be hired by Vectrus, “since it will require skilled workers who are adept in ship repair,” the SBMA said.

Olongapo City Mayor Lenj Paulino, the son of the SBMA CEO, was also quoted as saying that the city government plans to provide skills training to residents in face of a “boom in employment in the ship repair industry in the area.”

The SBMA also reported in May last year that the Department of Finance has approved tax incentives endorsed by the SBMA for the rehabilitation of the ageing shipyard. These perks included special corporate income tax (SCIT), value-added tax (VAT) exemption from importation, VAT zero-rating on local purchases, and duty exemption on importation.

Huge investments

AS of late, four Dutch-controlled

According to SBMA records, HHIC-Phil as of end 2015, had 21 contractor-companies that employed a total of 31,191 workers. This further increased to 35,104 in 2016.

Th en, as a slump in the shipbuilding industry set in, employment figures went down to 28,784 workers for 23 contractors in 2017; 13,289 for 21 contractors in 2018; then down to two contractors and 421 employees in 2019, when Hanjin declared bankruptcy; and finally, a total of 351 among the two remaining contractors in 2020.

Still, the lowest Hanjin employment record would readily beat the current figure at the shipyard under Cerberus, former Hanjin workers noted.

According to Ed dela Cruz, coordinator of the labor group Workers and People’s Forum (WPF) based in Subic, Zambales, Cerberus has thus far employed only 43 workers since it came to town.

“ These are former Hanjin workers, too, and they were hired as maintenance workers to supply things like power and water to the Philippine Navy ships that dock at the shipyard,” Dela Cruz said.

companies that now serve as af -

filiates under Cerberus have taken out leases in the second quarter of 2022 for the redevelopment and operation of the former Hanjin facilities in Subic, now called Agila Subic Shipyard.

These leases cover the Redondo Peninsula shipyard, a training center at the Subic Techno Park, a jetty at Cubi Point, and the Hanjin residential apartments at Subic’s naval magazine area.

The Dutch investments, which are combined under the Agila Subic banner, total P18.45 billion. The biggest of these is that of Agila South Inc., which pledged P10.74 billion for the development, operation and subleasing of the Subic shipyard.

Th e other Agila firms also made huge investment commitments: P6.28 billion by Agila NY Naval Inc., also for development, operation and subleasing activity; P1.11 billion by Agila Subic Compass Inc. for maintenance and management of real property; and P313.13 million by Agila Subic TC Inc. to acquire and manage subleases of housing units, among others.

A s outlined in its proposal, Cerberus will lease the northern yard of Agila Subic Shipyard to the Philippine Navy; Drydock No. 5 for shipbuilding and repair; Areas A & B to Vectrus for warehousing; and Drydock No. 6 for other incoming offers.

The Cerberus commercial deal may appear more advantageous on the surface over the Hanjin arrangement.

According to the SBMA Business and Investment Group, Cerberus has made an offer of $319,000 for annual leased rate, compared to HHIC-Phil’s annual lease payment of just $170,863. It will also pay administrative and CUSA (common use service area) fees of $95,635 with 1-percent escalation per annum, compared to an average payment of $74,364 by HHIC-Phil.

In terms of potential economic opportunities, the Cerberus deal was touted to produce investments of up to $350 million from the first to fifth year, and up to $5 million annually from the sixth year onwards.

Employment, meanwhile, was projected to be up to 4,000 to 7,000 employees.

Hard truths

THE reality on the ground, however, has yet to match the optimism on paper, especially when it comes to job generation, an important contribution by HHIC-Phil to the local economy.

A side from these, Cerberus also hired some 100 workers in July to December last year and some up to last January to scrap all metals left over from previous shipbuilding operations.

Aside from these, there has been no more movement in the labor front as far as we can tell,” Dela Cruz said. He added that the WPF can monitor movements in the shipyard through the workers on site.

Jenzen Mauricio, treasurer of the Samahan ng mga Manggagawa sa Hanjin, said that they can only hope that Cerberus and its affiliates, as well as future facility locators, would hire local workers to help boost local employment.

There are still some 5,000 former Hanjin workers living at the Cawag area near the shipyard, according to him. “They are still waiting for jobs.”

Mauricio said that a lot of former Hanjin workers have already returned to their provinces since the shipyard had shut down, with only a few hundreds finding other jobs among other business locators in the Subic Bay Freeport.

He added that the Department of Labor had initiated talks with prospective companies in 2019, but these stopped soon, without much positive result for former Hanjin workers.

Dela Cruz and Mauricio also told the BusinessMirror that upon the arrival of Cerberus in Subic, the shipyard had started to be reconfigured.

They have already removed the moving shelters and other facilities used for shipbuilding,” Mauricio pointed out. “So, our guess is that there will be a shift in operations—if ever it won’t be the heavy stuff that Hanjin used to do.”

Mauricio, who worked as pipefitter during the Hanjin days, explained that the moving shelters used to be where ship parts were manufactured or assembled before being installed together in a ship’s hull.

When you reconfigure the system, it means you’ll be doing a different kind of work,” he explained.

Dela Cruz hazarded a guess: the Subic shipyard will simply be turned into a repair facility, what with the reported possibility of Hyundai coming in.

The South Korean company, which built the warships newly acquired by the Philippine Navy, had reportedly expressed interest in locating to Subic for the repair of the Navy ships that it manufactured. But whatever may finally be decided by the new tenant, the Subic shipyard will no longer be as we knew it,” Dela Cruz mused. “The activities, the workers, the volume of work will be different. The purpose and the situation for workers will no longer be the same.”

HANJIN workers celebrate the launch of CMA CGM Antoine de Saint Exupery, the first Subic-made

TEU-class container vessel, in January 2018. HENRY EMPEÑO

AN ANTIQUATED 40mm anti-air gun points towards

Taiwan suspects Chinese ships cut islands’ Internet cables

By Huizhong Wu & Johnson Lai

The Associated Press

NANGAN, Taiwan—In the past month, bed and breakfast owner Chen Yu-lin had to tell his guests he couldn’t provide them with the Internet.

Others living on Matsu, one of Taiwan’s outlying islands closer to neighboring China, had to struggle with paying electricity bills, making a doctor’s appointment or receiving a package.

For connecting to the outside world, Matsu’s 14,000 residents rely on two submarine Internet cables leading to Taiwan’s main island. The first cable was severed by a Chinese fishing vessel some 50 kilometers (31 miles) out at sea. Six days later, on February 8, a Chinese cargo ship cut the second, according to Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan’s largest service provider and owner of the cables.

The islanders in the meantime were forced to hook up to a limited Internet via microwave radio transmission, a more mature technology, as backup. It means one could wait hours to send a text. Calls would drop, and videos were unwatchable.

“A lot of tourists would cancel their booking because there’s no Internet. Nowadays, the Internet plays a very large role in people’s lives,” said Chen, who lives in Beigan, one of Matsu’s main residential islands.

Apart from disrupting lives, the loss of the Internet cables, seemingly innocuous, has huge implications for national security.

As the full-scale invasion of Ukraine has shown, Russia has made taking out Internet infrastructure one of the key parts of its strategy. Some experts suspect China may have cut the cables deliberately as part of its harassment of the self-ruled island it considers part of its territory, to be reunited by force if necessary.

China regularly sends warplanes and navy ships toward Taiwan as part of tactics to intimidate the island’s democratic government. Concerns about China’s invasion, and Taiwan’s preparedness to withstand it, have increased since the war in Ukraine.

The cables had been cut a total of 27 times in the past five years, according to Chunghwa Telecom.

Taiwan’s coast guard gave chase to the fishing vessel that cut the first cable on February 2, but it went back to Chinese waters, according to a person who was briefed on the incident and was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

So far, the Taiwanese government has not pointed a direct finger at Beijing.

“We can’t rule out that China destroyed these on purpose,” said Su Tzu-yun, a defense expert at the government think tank, Institute for National Defense and Security Research, citing a research that only China and Russia had the technical capabilities to do this. “Taiwan needs to invest more resources in repairing and protecting the cables.”

Internet cables, which can be anywhere between 20 millimeters to 30 millimeters (0.79 inches to 1.18 inches) wide, are encased in steel armor in shallow waters where they’re more likely to run into ships. Despite the protection, cables can get cut quite easily by ships and their anchors, or fishing boats using steel nets. Even so, “this level of breakage is highly unusual for a cable, even in the shallow waters of the Taiwan Strait,” said Geoff Huston, chief scientist at Asia Pacific Network Information Centre, a non-profit that manages and distributes Internet resources like IP addresses for the region.

Without a stable Internet, coffee shop owner Chiu Sih-chi said seeing the doctor for his toddler son’s cold became a hassle because first they had to visit the hospital to just get an appointment.

A breakfast shop owner said she lost thousands of dollars in the past few weeks because she usually takes online orders.

Customers would come to her stall expecting the food to be ready when she hadn’t even seen their messages.

Global mystery: What’s known about Nord Stream explosions

By Matthew Lee AP Diplomatic Writer

Faced with unusual difficulties, Matsu residents came up with all sorts of ways to organize their lives.

One couple planned to deal with the coming peak season by having one person stay in Taiwan to access their reservation system and passing the information on to the other via text messages. Wife Lin Hsian-wen extended her vacation in Taiwan during the off-season when she heard the Internet back home wasn’t working and is returning to Matsu later in the week.

Some enterprising residents went across to the other shore to buy SIM cards from Chinese telecoms, though those only work well in the spots closer to the Chinese coast, which is only 10 kilometers (6.21 miles) away at its closest point.

Others, like the bed and breakfast owner Tsao Li-yu, would go to Chunghwa Telecom’s office to use a Wi-Fi hot spot the company had set up for locals to use in the meantime.

“I was going to work at (Chunghwa Telecom),” Tsao joked.

Chunghwa had set up microwave transmission as backup for the residents.

Broadcast from Yangmingshan, a mountain just outside of Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, the relay beams the signals some 200 kilometers (124 miles) across to Matsu. Since Sunday, speeds were noticeably faster, residents said.

Wang Chung Ming, the head of Lienchiang County, as the Matsu islands are officially called, said he and the legislator from Matsu went to Taipei shortly after the Internet broke down to ask for help, and was told they would get priority in any future Internet backup plans.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs publicly asked for bids from low-Earth orbit satellite operators to provide the Internet in a backup plan, after seeing Russia’s cyberattacks in the invasion of Ukraine, the head of the ministry, Audrey Tang, told The Washington Post last fall. Yet, the plan remains stalled, as a law in Taiwan requires the providers to be at least 51 percent owned by a domestic shareholder.

A spokesperson for the Digital Ministry directed questions about the progress of backup plans to the National Communications Commission. NCC said it will install a surveillance system for the undersea cables, while relying on microwave transmission as a backup option.

Many Pacific island nations, before they started using Internet cables, depended on satellites—and some still do—as backup, said Jonathan Brewer, a telecommunications consultant from New Zealand who works across Asia and the Pacific.

There’s also the question of cost. Repairing the cables is expensive, with an early estimate of $30 million New Taiwan Dollars ($1 million) for the work of the ships alone.

“The Chinese boats that damaged the cables should be held accountable and pay compensation for the highly expensive repairs,” said Wen Lii, the head of the Matsu chapter of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

Wang, the head of Lienchiang County, said he had mentioned the cables on a recent visit to China, where he had met an executive from China Mobile. They offered to send technicians to help. But compensation, he said, will require providing hard proof on who did it.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not respond to a faxed request for comment.

For now, the only thing residents can do is wait. The earliest cable-laying ships can come is April 20, because there are a limited number of vessels that can do the job.

A month without functional Internet has its upsides too. Chen Yu-lin, the bed and breakfast owner, has felt more at peace. It was hard in the first week, but Chen quickly got used to it. “From a life perspective, I think it’s much more comfortable because you get fewer calls,” he said, adding he was spending more time with his son, who usually is playing games online.

The answer has broad implications for European energy security but could also threaten Western unity over backing Ukraine in defending itself from Russia’s invasion. Or, it might shatter Russian and Chinese attempts to fix the blame on a hypocritical West.

Yet, nearly six months after the sabotage on the Russia-toGermany pipelines, there is no accepted explanation. And a series of unconfirmed reports variously accusing Russia, the United States and Ukraine are filling an information vacuum as investigations into the blasts continue.

A look at the pipelines and what’s known about the explosions.

What are the Nord Stream pipelines?

THE pipelines, known as Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, are majority-owned by Russia’s staterun energy giant Gazprom and used to transport natural gas from Russia to Europe under the Baltic to their termini in Germany.

Nord Stream 1 was completed and came online in 2011. Nord Stream 2 was not finished until the fall of 2021 but never became operational due to the launch of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Why are they controversial?

BOTH pipelines bypass existing routes that go through Ukraine, meaning not only that Ukraine loses income from transit fees but also is unable to directly use the gas they carry.

Of perhaps greater concern to the West, the pipelines were seen as a move by Russia to gain further, if not almost complete, control over Europe’s energy supplies. Many in the West fear that Russia will use energy as a political weapon against

European countries as it has done in the past with former Soviet states.

Despite those concerns and over the objections of the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations, the German government under former Chancellor Angela Merkel moved ahead with the construction of the Nord Stream 2 project. The Biden administration waived sanctions against German entities involved in Nord Stream 2 after securing a pledge from Germany that it would allow backflows of gas into Ukraine and would act to shut the pipeline down should Russia try to use it to force political concessions.

After Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Germany withdrew permission for Nord Stream 2, which had not yet come online.

What happened to the pipelines?

FIRST, Gazprom halted gas flows through Nord Stream 1 on Sept. 2, 2022, citing issues related to European sanctions imposed against Russia over the war in Ukraine.

Three weeks later, both Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 were hit by explosions that rendered them inoperable and caused significant leaks of gas that was idle in the pipelines. Some have said the blasts caused the worst release of methane in history, although the full extent of the environmental damage remains unclear.

The depth of the pipeline and the complexity of using underwater explosives lent credence to the idea that only a state actor with the expertise to handle such an operation could be responsible. But no one claimed responsibility.

In the immediate aftermath of the explosions, US officials suggested Russia may have been to blame while Russia accused the

United States and Britain of being behind them. Investigations by European nations, including Denmark, through whose waters the pipeline travels, and Germany have yet to yield conclusive results.

What theories have been reported?

AFTER months of few developments in the probes, American investigative journalist Seymour Hersch, known for past exposes of US government malfeasance, self-published a lengthy report in February alleging that President Joe Biden had ordered the sabotage, which Hersch said was carried out by the CIA with Norwegian assistance.

That report, based on a single, unidentified source, has been flatly denied by the White House, the CIA and the State Department, and no other news organization has been able to corroborate it. Russia, followed by China, however, leaped on Hersch’s reporting, saying it was grounds for a new and impartial investigation conducted by the United Nations.

On Tuesday, though, The New York Times, The Washington Post and German media published stories citing US and other officials as saying there was evidence Ukraine, or at least Ukrainians, may have been responsible. The Ukrainian government has denied involvement.

Germany’s Die Zeit newspaper and German public broadcasters ARD and SWR reported that investigators believed that five men

and a woman used a yacht hired by a Ukrainian-owned company in Poland to carry out the attack. German federal prosecutors confirmed that a boat was searched in January but have not confirmed the reported findings.

What are the consequences for those found responsible?

THE implications of a determination that Ukraine was behind the explosions are not entirely clear. It’s unlikely it would result in an immediate loss of Western support for Ukraine in the war with Russia, but it might dampen enthusiasm for future assistance if it was found that Ukraine or its agents carried out such an operation in European waters.

A determination that the United States or a proxy was responsible would give Russia and China additional leverage to go after the US and its allies as hypocrites in their demands for the rule of the law, sovereignty and territorial integrity to be respected.

A finding that Russia was behind the explosions would lend weight to Western claims that Moscow is in flagrant breach of international law and willing to use energy as a weapon against Europe.

There is no indication of when the European investigations will be complete—and it seems improbable, given the animosity and mistrust surrounding the Ukraine conflict, that its findings will be universally accepted.

Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed

Inflatable tanks, missiles: Czech firm makes decoy armaments

among the billions of dollars in Western military aid that has helped Ukraine’s war effort since Russia launched its invasion just over a year ago.

Inflatech Chief Executive Vojtech Fresser won’t say if his decoys are used by Ukrainian forces battling Russian invaders, but he said Monday that his business was up by more than 30 percent last year. He expects growth to keep rising in double figures for at least another three to five years.

to a number of unspecified countries, and all such exports have to be approved by the government of the NATO member.

The company uses light materials, such as artificial silk, so the total weight of a fake tank is up to 100 kilograms. It takes four soldiers to operate a decoy, with 10 minutes being enough to unwrap and inflate a fake piece of military hardware.

The decoys can contribute to victory by fooling enemy forces. The trick is to deceive cameras, thermo-cameras and radars to make them believe they have pinpointed a valuable target and use expensive missiles to destroy it.

PRAGUE—The war in Ukraine has created a surge in demand for weapons—and, apparently, also for inflatable fake armaments that can be deployed as decoys. A Czech company, Inflat -

ech, is producing more than 30 different inflatable military decoys ranging from tanks and armored vehicles to aircraft and howitzers. They also offer decoy versions of US-made HIMARS rocket systems, which were

While he won’t directly comment on support for Ukraine, he said: “I can imagine that if we want to support a partner country which is in trouble, we would send them inflatable decoys. Or it already has them, and if not, it will have them, for sure.”

Inflatech, based in the northern town of Decin, currently produces up to 50 decoys a month. They are sold

WASHINGTON—It’s a major international mystery with global consequences: Who was behind the explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year in the Baltic Sea?

PIPES at the landfall facilities of the ‘Nord Stream 2’ gas pipeline are pictured in Lubmin, northern Germany on February 15, 2022. Russia clashed with the United States and other Western nations on

2023 over the Kremlin’s call for

sea at the observation deck on Beigan, part of Matsu Islands, Taiwan on Sunday, March 5, 2023. Just 10-km away from mainland China at its closest, Matsu became a fortress and frontline of defense for the Nationalists who had retreated to Taiwan in 1949 after losing to the Communist Party in a civil war. AP/JOHNSON LAI

AN inflatable decoy of High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) is presented to media in Decin, Czech Republic, Monday, March 6, 2023. The war in Ukraine meant a boom for the weapons industry, for real arms but also their replicas. Czech company, Inflatech, has made a wide range of replicas of heavy arms, be it tanks, armored vehicles, aircraft or artillery, including US-made HIMARS rocket system, the weapons that were among the billions of dollars in Western military aid that has helped Ukraine fight off the Russians since the February 24 invasion. AP/PETR DAVID JOSEK

The World

Heavily indebted consumers confront a painful margin call

By Ari Altstedter

AT the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, with his job as a delivery driver bringing plenty of overtime and the cost to borrow at record lows, James Kebe went on a spending spree. He leased a boat and an all-terrain vehicle, and when his bank offered him a bigger line of credit, he maxed it out. Then interest rates started rising at their fastest pace in generations. And because Kebe’s line of credit had a floating rate, his monthly payments soared, too. The cost of his debt has now outpaced his take-home pay by C$900 ($660) a month, leaving him with little choice but to enter a form of creditor protection that will see his toys repossessed and keep him on a tight budget for the foreseeable future. “I’ve always been able to squeak by until now,” he said by phone from his home in West Kelowna, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Now when he’s at the store, Kebe says his new mantra is: “Do I need this? No I don’t.”

The refrain is becoming more common across Canada as the hangover from the country’s pandemic-era borrowing binge starts to take hold. Canada’s steep rise in interest rates is akin to a national margin call, especially among homebuyers who took advantage of rock-bottom rates offered by adjustable mortgages.

Canadian consumers suddenly must come up with more money for their abruptly higher monthly payments, either by tightening their belts or liquidating assets. How they fare could offer clues to whether the rapid-fire interest rate hikes by central banks globally have further to go, or if they’ve already gone too far.

Last March, with inflation unexpectedly roaring to a fourdecade high, the Bank of Canada became one of the first major central banks off the mark in a global campaign of interest rate hikes enacted at near unprecedented speed. It raised its benchmark rate from the pandemic low of 0.25 percent all the way to 4.5 percent in less than 11 months.

The Bank of Canada was also among the first to take a break from rate increases, signaling after January’s hike that a pause is warranted now that inflation seems to be easing. The US Federal

Reserve and other central banks, meanwhile, say they’re still not done. “We should be a bellwether,” said Tony Stillo, a Torontobased economist with Oxford Economics who forecasts consumer spending in Canada will drop 1.8 percent from its pandemic-era peak, tipping the economy into a recession that will be steeper than in other countries. “One of the reasons the Bank of Canada did pause before others is because those vulnerabilities are a little more acute.”

Canadians for decades have been among the developed world’s most indebted people, and the low interest rates the central bank deployed to help the economy through the pandemic drove their borrowing to new heights. The country’s debt-to-income ratio reached a record 185 percent by the end of 2021, the highest in the Group of Seven countries. By comparison, the ratio is 101 percent in the US and 148 percent in the UK.

Consumers are starting to show signs of stress. The latest insolvencies data shows a 33 percent jump in January filings from the year before. The share of indebted households behind on their interest payments also climbed to 2.07 percent in the quarter ending September 2022, the latest reading, from 1.86 percent in the 2021 quarter.

Though the increase in both these stats is from very low levels, and still leaves them well below historic norms, anecdotal evidence suggests the strain has increased since.

“What we’re seeing is consumers are stressed and insolvency rates are starting to climb up to pre-pandemic levels, which is alarming,” said Stacy Yanchuk Oleksy, the chief executive officer of Credit Counselling Canada, a national association and accrediting body for nonprofit credit counselors. “The folks that are struggling are going to cut back, and so I think consumer spending will slow down with them.”

That’s already starting to appear in sales of discretionary purchases like luxury cars and all-terrain vehicles. But a main source of stress, and of economic weakness, could turn out to be the housing market.

Similar to many other countries, the largest portion of Canadians’ pandemic debt binge went

to finance home purchases, fueling a huge run-up in real estate values. But as prices climbed, a record number of people turned to the lower interest rates offered by variable-rate mortgages, with interest payments that track the Bank of Canada’s benchmark rate.

Adjustable mortgages now account for about 30 percent of all outstanding home loans, according to calculations from National Bank of Canada. That leaves Canadians more vulnerable than homeowners in the US, where only about 5 percent of mortgages have floating rates.

Though the majority of Canadians’ adjustable mortgages are fixed payment, meaning the increased interest is taken out of monthly principal repayments first, rates have risen so quickly that at least 73 percent of new borrowers in that category aren’t repaying any principal at all. That means they will have to increase their monthly payments or cut a check to their bank to get the balance down, according to National Bank.

There’s also a double-whammy effect: As rates increased, home prices have also declined, resulting in less equity for some homeowners, which makes it harder for them to sell or refinance, similar to what happened in the US in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis.

“There is a risk that this might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” Stefane Marion, an economist with National Bank, said of the latest interest rate hike in January. “This increase will have some impact on the economy.” Already, there are early indications that some borrowers are in trouble.

In Toronto, Canada’s largest city, the number of homes whose owners had fallen behind on their mortgage payments, allowing them to be seized and sold by the lender, hit 35 in February. There were no such “power of sale” listings three years ago, according to data compiled by Daniel Foch, a Toronto-based real estate broker and researcher.

Foch said he’s handling some of these listings himself, and most seem to be cases where a variablerate mortgage was used to finance an investment property whose interest payments are now greater than what can be charged in rent, forcing the borrower into default. In major Canadian markets like

the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia, investors account for about a third of the housing stock, and they became more active in the market nationally through the pandemic buying frenzy.

“It’s just going to continue until rates start coming down,” Foch said of the distressed sales.

“People have to pay their mortgages once a month, so every month that goes by that rates are high is more time under tension, and more people that can’t afford to debt service their investment properties or pay their mortgages on their primary residences.” With benchmark home prices already down more than 15 percent nationwide, such distressed sales could continue to weigh on the market, though a recent bump up in prices in Toronto might suggest the worst of the price declines may be over.

But with the pandemic boom helping drive real estate and related activities to a record share of the total economy in that time— think construction and renovation as well as buying and selling—the industrywide pullback now playing out will likely have knock-on effects as everyone from contractors to developers see less work.

A Bloomberg survey of economists suggests Canada may already be near a recession.

“We’re just being a lot more frugal and on top of our finances,” said Peter Esper, a mortgage broker in the Toronto area who was hit hard by interest-rate increases after relying on variable-rate mortgages to finance his own real estate investments. The payments on the home he shares with his wife and two kids went up by nearly C$3,000 a month, while the difference between mortgage costs and what he was charging in rent on the four condos he owned as investment properties ballooned to a collective C$4,000 a month in negative cash flow.

Now he’s sold two of those condos and plans to list the third, while also canceling his cable TV package and opting to brew coffee at home rather than buying it at Tim Hortons for the foreseeable future. “Everyone’s just cutting back, watching what they’re spending,” Esper said. “People aren’t going away as much, they’re not eating out as much. I think it’s been a big shock, considering how quickly it happened.” Bloomberg News

As bourbon booms, thirst for rare, fine brands breeds skullduggery

By Andrew Selsky & Damian Dovarganes The Associated Press

SALEM, Oregon—Buttery, smooth, oaky.

These are characteristics of the best bourbons, and a growing cult of aficionados is willing to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars to get their hands on scarce American spirits—and even bend or break laws.

The first challenge is figuring out which liquor stores have these premium bottles on their shelves—and that’s where inside knowledge can give bourbon hunters a leg up, and potentially get them into legal trouble.

In Oregon, several high-ranking officials at the state’s liquor regulating agency are under criminal investigation after an internal probe found they used their influence to obtain scarce bourbons.

That included the holy grail for bourbon fanatics: Pappy Van Winkle 23-year-old, which can sell for tens of thousands of dollars on resale markets. Top-end bourbons have found themselves at the center of criminal investigations in at least three other states, from Virginia to Pennsylvania to Kentucky.

Premium spirits were always expensive and

Japanese women find rare parity in prosecutors’ office

By Yuri Kageyama The Associated Press

TOKYO—At the prosecutors’ office in Tokyo, everyone makes their own copies and tea—tasks often relegated to women in a country that’s been criticized for its lack of gender equality.

Twenty years ago, only about 8 percent of Japanese prosecutors were women. By 2018, that number rose to nearly a third of newly hired prosecutors. This year, the male-female ratio reached 50-50, according to the Tokyo District Prosecutors Office.

Japan ranks among the worst in gender equality for developed nations despite being No. 1 in equal access to education for women and men. So how are women finding equal footing in the esteemed field?

Prosecutor Rina Ito is quick to acknowledge that luck played a role, though her accomplishments didn’t hurt.

Ito graduated from the prestigious Keio University, whose founder Yukichi Fukuzawa was a proponent of women’s rights and where women make up nearly half of attendance. She then passed the national bar, the stringent test required of all Japanese prosecutors. Now she’s on her 10th year on the job.

“When you think about who has the task of pursuing the truth, among judges, defense lawyers and prosecutors, it’s the prosecutors,” Ito said in a February interview with The Associated Press. “Prosecutors can go after the truth. That’s why I set my heart on becoming a prosecutor.”

fair evaluation. That may help even out the score in Japan, which ranks 116th in gender equality in a list topped by Iceland and Finland, according to the latest data compiled by the World Economic Forum. The United States is No. 27.

Some men are also helping to even the playing field. Male prosecutors say they make a point to treat female colleagues equally.

“I have never viewed the women prosecutors as women,” Tokyo District Deputy Chief Prosecutor Hiroshi Morimoto said.

Prosecutors are taking paternity leave in growing numbers, easing the gap between men and women like prosecutor Tomoko Suzuki, who took maternity leave for a combined several years to have two sons and is back full-time at her job.

Parental leave—particularly paternity—is often frowned upon in Japan. Although both men and women have such privileges under Japanese law, men make up only about 14 percent of those taking parental leave, in contrast to 85 percent for women, according to government data. Informally, men say people are surprised and puzzled when they take time off work to be fathers.

Suzuki acknowledged juggling being a mother, wife and prosecutor is a serious challenge. She has relied on her parents, older sister and babysitters for help. Her husband, who works in shipping, is based in Singapore. She puts her sons on a plane during school vacations. Her children are learning to make friends with flight attendants and enjoying Singapore’s diverse culture.

sought-after, but interest is surging. Distillers have upped production to try to meet increased demand, but before the whiskey reaches stores and bars, it must age for years and even decades.

Each state gets a limited amount of Pappy Van Winkle 23-year-old, produced by Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery of Frankfort, Kentucky.

In 2022, Oregon received just 33 bottles.

“The average person cannot get good bottles,” said Cody Walding, a bourbon fan from Houston. He believes he’s years away from finding Buffalo Trace Distillery’s five-bottle Antique Collection, despite making connections with liquor store managers.

“Like, to be able to get Pappy Van Winkle or Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, unless you’re basically best friends with a store manager, I don’t even think it’s possible to get those,” he said. In a Los Angeles bar that Walding visited last week, one shot of Pappy 23-year cost $200.

Six officials from the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission—including thenExecutive Director Steve Marks—have acknowledged they had Pappy or another hard-to-get bourbon, Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel, routed to liquor stores for their own purchase. All six denied they resold the bourbons. Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery’s suggested

retail price of Pappy 23-year is $299.99. Because of its extreme scarcity, it can go for a lot more on the resale market.

In December, a single bottle sold at Sotheby’s for a record $52,500. Two other bottles were auctioned for $47,500 apiece. All three were originally released in 2008.

The Oregon agency’s internal investigation determined the employees violated a statute that says public officials cannot use confidential information for personal gain. Gov. Tina Kotek sought Marks’ resignation in February, and he quit. The other five are on paid temporary leave. An investigation by the state Department of Justice’s Criminal Division is ongoing.

Marks did not immediately respond to messages Wednesday seeking comment. In his replies to the commission investigator, Marks denied he had violated ethics laws and state policy. However, he acknowledged that he had received preferential treatment “to some extent” in obtaining the whiskey as a commission employee.

The practice was allegedly going on for many years and involved not only state employees but also members of the Oregon Legislature, the investigator was told.

Five bottles of Oregon’s allotment of Pappy

23-year-old went to “chance to purchase,” a lottery started in 2018. The odds of winning Pappy 23-year were 1 in 4,150.

Utah, Virginia and Pennsylvania are among other states with lotteries for coveted liquor.

Two men in Pennsylvania each bought a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle after winning the liquor lottery in different years. They tried to sell their bottles on Craigslist, but undercover officers posing as buyers nailed them for selling liquor without a license.

In Virginia, an employee of the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority downloaded confidential information about which state-run liquor shops would be receiving rare bourbons. An accomplice then sold the intel to Facebook groups of bourbon fans. The now-former employee pleaded guilty to felony computer trespass in September, received a suspended prison sentence and a fine, and was banned from all Virginia liquor stores.

In Kentucky, an employee of Buffalo Trace Distillery was arrested in 2015 for stealing bourbon, including Pappy, over several years and selling it. The caper became part of “Heist,” a Netflix miniseries, in 2021.

DovarganesreportedfromLosAngeles

Tokyo District Prosecutors are Japan’s top-brass upholders of justice, notorious for going after corruption in the highest places: the Lockheed scandal of the 1970s that unseated a prime minister, the Recruit company insider trading debacle of the 1980s, and, more recently, bribery and bid-rigging related to the Tokyo Olympics.

Reaching gender parity, as in Ito’s occupation, is rare in Japan. Women tend to be over-represented in the service sector and among clerical workers, while being fewer in manufacturing, security personnel and management, according to Statista data. Only about 5 percent of listed companies’ board members are women, according to the Gender Equality Bureau in the Japanese Cabinet Office.

Ito’s mother was a full-time homemaker, and her father a “salaryman,” but neither has discouraged her from pursuing a career. Her husband cooks and helps take care of their 2-year-old daughter.

She also notes that prosecutors, male or female, get moved around a lot—as quickly as every year or two—to various regional offices throughout the nation. The shuffling makes it almost impossible to curry favor with bosses, or develop personal relationships that could affect advancement prospects and

“Yes, it’s stressful and tough to live apart from my husband. But there are positives, too,” Suzuki said.

When they do get to meet, it’s like falling in love again. And he gets paid in Singapore dollars—a plus with Japanese yen declining recently.

“You can think that married couples must live together, which means I can’t be happy. Or you can think we are blessed with more varied experiences,” she said.

Suzuki, a Keio graduate like Ito, is now in management, overseeing younger prosecutors.

A prosecutor’s success isn’t measured by the number of guilty verdicts won, as in other countries. The conviction rate in Japan is higher than 99 percent, a statistic that’s been slammed by human rights advocates as “hostage justice.” Japan has had several high-profile cases in which innocent people were forced into false confessions.

Suzuki says the conviction rate has been taken out of context.

“The fact is that we don’t prosecute many of the cases. We don’t bring to trial those cases that aren’t likely to produce guilty verdicts,” said Suzuki, who has some 20 years’ experience in the field. “That’s why the conviction rate is 99 percent.”

PROSECUTORS Tomoko Suzuki, left, and Rina Ito pose for a photo during an interview at Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on February 27, 2023, in Tokyo. Twenty years ago, only about 8 percent of Japanese prosecutors were women. By 2018, that number rose to nearly a third of newly hired prosecutors. This year, the male-female ratio reached 50-50, according to the Tokyo District Prosecutors Office. AP/EUGENE HOSHIKO

Intelligent Systems Lab seen to cater to GenSan, Soccsksargen growth needs

Story & photos by Manuel T. Cayon

GENERAL SANTOS CITY—

Inside the ordinary-looking room at the College of Engineering of the General Santos City campus of the Mindanao State University (MSU) is a gallery of gadgets that now places the city in the roadmap of artificial intelligence (AI).

In it is the P5-million Intelligence Systems Laboratory (ISL), the only one of its nature among the academe-based special laboratories assisted by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

The lab was intended to provide the scientific assistance and science-based data analytics for major policy-decisions by local political leaders.

With the ISL, the supposed growth region that the rich rice plains of the Cotabato provinces was envisioned to be in the 1990s, would likely get another push forward, as MSU-GSC officials are assuring of the laboratory’s open and willing assistance to the city.

The laboratory

ON March 1, the DOST and MSUGSC inaugurated the P5-million ISL housed in the university.

Inside the room are stateof-the-art research equipment, including simulation software, programmable logic controllers, 3D printers and robotic systems.

For in-house purpose, the laboratory’s facilities “will enable students and faculty to conduct cutting-edge research in the field of intelligent systems and artificial intelligence and prepare students to be industry-ready,”

said Dr. Cristina P. Dadula of

the College of Engineering and the project leader of ISL.

“The laboratory research hub will promote and improve research activities in the College of Engineering, encourage collaborations, and facilitate research activities in artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation,” she added.

NRCP exec: Public-private sector link can fund R&D

By Rizal Raoul Reyes

AS the country‘s research and development (R&D) program is beleaguered constantly with a dearth of financial resources, the best option is to collaborate with the private sector.

Dr. Bernardo Sepeda, executive director of the National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP) on March 3 said working together with corporations can boost the R&D programs of the government as the business sector has the resources to fund the projects.

“I  encourage partnership with the private sector to keep our research projects,” said Sepeda on the sidelines of the pre-event news conference of the 2023 Annual Science Conference and 90th NRCP General Membership Assembly held in Quezon City.

“By working with the private sector, our research projects on climate change, alternative energy, reforestation, food security, cultural heritage presentation, among others [could push through],“ he added.

Sepeda said the Philippines consistently plays a catch up game with its Asean neighbors in terms of expenditure on R&D. Since 2020, the Philippines’s R&D) expenditure has been stuck at 0.16 percent of its GDP.

Moreover, he said the DOST has the unenviable position of lobbying for a bigger budget every year with major government units such as the Departments of Public Works and Highways, National

Defense and of Education.

He added that the current priorities in education, infrastructure and defence modernization have made it more difficult for the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to request for a higher budget.

He pointed out that the DOST is vigorously working together with the corporate world as it is aware that the private sector will possibly need the technologies being developed by government scientists and researchers for their future operations and expansion programs.

“With the additional resources coming from the private sector, our researchers and engineers can now have a bigger elbow room to continue working on their R&D projects,” he said.

Further, the DOST formed the  Industry Level Cradle or i-Cradle Program  to “boost  the benefits of university-industry collaboration in increasing competitiveness of Philippine industries.”

Through the program, industry stakeholders identify industrywide problems or needs and researchers from the R&D Institutes (RDIs) are asked to address them.

Sepeda said  five companies are currently working  and collaborating with RDIs.

According to Sepeda, the 2023 conference to be held on March 13 emphasizes on “how science and evidence-based research can lead to action plans and policies that are visionary, understandable, clear, agile and diversely executed with the aid of digital technologies.”

In the pipeline of undergraduate research are audio-based projects, abnormal events protection and an anti-spooking application to counter the spooking of a facedetection and recognition attendance system already applied in the university.

“We will see how this will be effective to stop this spooking activities,” she said.

For outside relevance, Dadula said one proposal would be a program monitoring on Lake Sebu, the biggest source of fresh water fishes, as well as a project to develop parameters on fish kill “to forecast its occurrence.”

Dr. Noel S. Gunay, dean of the College of Engineering, said the research unit of the college has a current collaboration with the city government on two projects: the Intelligent Traffic Watcher and the Intelligent Transportation System for General Santos City.

The two projects with the city government were already underway before the ISL was inaugurated, but he said these projects

should be incorporated into the ISL system.

He said the ISL will “provide us a system where we can utilize electronics and information and communication technology and perhaps data analytics to provide our policy-makers, our leaders with the data on how to best manage our current challenges in development in the city or in the region.”

Gunay pointed out that the ISL is capable of developing “what we call precision farming.”

“Using these gadgets and putting up sensors in the farm, we can determine how much is needed, or lacking in the application of fertilizer and of what type of fertilizer, for instance,” he said.

Developing regional laboratory system

GUNAY said the MSU-GSC ISL would function as part of the DOST consortium and its extent of relevance to the community would be largely determined by the information coming from

the members.

“These devices and instruments and systems sensors that are developed in this laboratory can be actually used in monitoring, surveillance and getting data, to the many problems of our city. This is one of our institutional projects, and we are looking to subsequent projects to make use of the facilities and the equipment so that these will be fully utilized,” he added.

Dadulay said the ISL is the first project with the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development of the DOST (DOST-PCIEERD).

“The [ISL] provides an opportunity for students and faculty to develop relevant solutions for realworld problems using advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence, robotics and other related fields,” Dadula said.

Dr. Usman D. Aragasi, MSU-GSC Acting Chancellor, expressed his gratitude to the DOST-PCIEERD and said the ISL funding would

elevate the university’s research capabilities and contribute to the development of the province’s S&T and technopreneurship sector.

“The ISL is actually one of the support facilities of the TBI [Technology Business Incubator], and I want to thank you for supporting our application for the regional TBI,” he said.

DOST-PCIEERD Executive Director Enrico Paringit told BusinessMirror he wanted to see how the network of university-based laboratories would develop into a more integrated system.

The MSU may provide a good vantage point on this, he said, being a system of universities spread across Mindanao.

The main campus in Marawi City has its own laboratory on devices on semiconductor; the MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology has its laboratory on microintegrated circuits; and the MSUGSC has this ISL.

“We want to see how the MSU system would develop a systemwide laboratory to cater the needs of Mindanao,” Paringit said.

“Or, we want to know how the other laboratories in one particular region, or perhaps, all the regions would develop themselves into one or multiple integrated laboratory systems to cater to the various needs of the industries and communities across most parts of Mindanao,” he said.

“The Council remains committed to expanding our reach to universities and colleges and establish more laboratories and facilities in the regions to develop and upskill the Philippines’s human resource in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics),” he added.

Quake monitoring firm Usher bags BCYF Innovation Awards 2023

THE multi-awarded Usher Technologies Inc., a system that monitors the structural integrity of infrastructures, added another feather on its cap. This time, in February, it bagged the 2023 Benita and Catalino Yap Foundation (BCYF) Innovation Award.

The Universal Structural Health Evaluation and Recording System (Usher) also went home with P1million in cash with the award that it could use for its business upgrades, additions, expansion, or any other steps in order to elevate its innovation.

Led by its Founder and CVO Dr. Francis Aldrine Uy, also the dean of Civil Engineering of Mapua University, Usher helps in raising earthquake information awareness, assisting stakeholders with building code compliance and instigating preparedness, BCYF said in a statement announcing the award.

“In many parts of the world, a strong earthquake is imminent. It’s not a matter of if but when,” Uy told the BusinessMirror in a Messenger interview

The global annual cost of damage due to earthquake is $36 billion dollars, he said.

“Imagine how much we can save and do with Usher. We are now monitoring 24/7 almost 60 buildings all over the country,” Uy added.

The technology addresses disaster-risk reduction, specially in urban cities in order to reduce economic and human loss.

It can be installed in buildings, bridges and other critical structures, allowing engineers and managers to monitor the structural integrity and performance under seismic events

Its monitoring platforms

include an advanced accelerograph, a web portal system and mobile application.

It is aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the company’s web site said.

Uy said Usher has a very inspiring story to tell in successfully bringing a research and development (R&D) product from a university lab to the industry and communities to ensure infrastructure safety and resilience.

Usher began as a R&D project at Mapua University that was supported by the Department of Science and Technology. The only Filipino-made structural health monitoring technology was launched just in September 2019.

“A BCYF recognition will further confirm the various recognitions we received, and its reward will help us pursue our CSRs [corporate social responsibilities] and R&D initiatives to promote safety and resilience in the country,” Uy said in thanking BCYF for the award. “Let us all Usher a safer and more resilient world.”

Among the 60 clients Usher

system is monitoring are the buildings The Malayan Plaza in Ortigas Center, Pasig; Prima Residences, Ortigas Center Pasig; Mandarin Square Condominium, Binondo, Manila; Mapua Univ, Intramuros, Ali Mall, Cubao, QC; St. Luke’s Medical Center, Taguig City; De la Salle St Benilde, Antipolo.

Rizal Park Hotel, Ermita, Manila; One Premier Cityland, Las Piñas City; AT Yuchengco Centre, Taguig City; Ayala Iloilo Technohub, Iloilo City; Ebloc3 and Ebloc4, Cebu City; Malayan High School of Science; Pandacan, Maynila.

MIT-Makati; San Pedro Laguna LGU; Cabuyao LGU, Laguna; Carranglan Municipal Hall, Nueva Ecija; Cityscapes Tower Uptown, Cebu City; Globe GTIT Cebu, Cebu City; Mesaverte Tower 1, 2 and 3, Cagayan de Oro City; Mezzo Hotel, Cebu City; One Taft Residences, Manila; Philippine Science High School, Quezon City; Valero Grand Suites, Makati; Zadia Tower 2, Sta. Rosa, Laguna; Export Bank Plaza, Sta. Rosa, Laguna; Manila City Hall building; DPWH BRS and head

office, Quezon City; Philippine Normal University, Manila; East Avenue Medical Center, Quezon City; and the Technological University of the Philippines, Manila.

It is also monitoring the bridges of Aurora-Katipunan Flyover, Quezon City; Vitas Bridge, Manila; Vargas Bridge, Pasig City; EdsaRoxas Blvd. Flyover, Pasay City; and Don Galo-La Huerta Bridge, Parañaque City.

The BCYF held the award to further encourage innovators in the country, it said in a previous news release. It aimed to recognize individuals, teams or organizations who have initiated or developed an innovation that have measurable and tangible results in improving their operations or their areas of concern.

It was held in partnership with the Shell LiveWIRE Program, the global flagship enterprise program of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. that promotes entrepreneurship, innovation and meaningful employment.

Usher’s technology was recognized with several awards, among which were the Newton-Agham Grant 2018, DOST-PCIEERD Outstanding R&D Award 2018, Asean Outstanding Engineering Achievement Award 2019, Man of Innovation, The Philippines’s Elite Awards 2019, 2020 Kabalikat Research Award, DOST Gregorio Zara Award for Best Technology Commercialization 2021, DOSTPCIEERD Outstanding Technology Commercialization Award 2021, Technology Company of the Year Grand Winner in Asia CEO Awards 2022, and the DOST 64th Anniversary 2022 Technology and Marketing Validation Award. Lyn Resurreccion

DR . Noel S. Gunay, dean of MSU College of Engineering, inside the ISL

to MSU General Santos City.

DR . Francis Aldrine Uy (fourth from left), founder and CVO of Usher Technologies Inc., receives the BCYF Innovation Awards 2023 on February 24. With him are (from left) Errold Serrano, director, BCYF Administration Directorate; Antonio S. Yap, founder and chairman BCYF; Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr., president and CEO of Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc.; Sebastian C. Quiniones Jr., executive director, Pilipinas Shell Foundation Inc.; Jonathan Juan Moreno, president & CEO of AF Payments Inc., chairman, BIA Final Judging Panel. USHER TECHNOLOGIES PHOTO

‘Protect Verde Island Passage from oil spill’

AFAITH-BASED coalition that seeks to protect the Verde Island Passage (VIP) is calling for accountability and deeper look into the oil spill that wreaked havoc in the waters of Oriental Mindoro.

The Protect VIP campaign network said the incident must serve as an “eye opener” to the neglect the Verde Island Passage has long suffered despite its socioeconomic and ecological significance.

VIP is a strait that separates the islands of Luzon and Mindoro, connecting the South China Sea with the Tayabas and the Sibuyan Sea beyond.

The devastating oil spill occurred after MT Princess Empress capsized on February 28, bringing down 800,000 liters of industrial oil.

“We call on the Philippine government for the most urgent action to contain the spill, assess the severity of damage, and prioritize the welfare of impacted communities who must receive livelihood support and protection from health impacts,” said Fr. Edwin Gariguez, lead convenor of Protect VIP.

“We also demand accountability from the owner of MT Princess Empress, RDC Reield Marines Services and the fuel supply it contains,” he said.

The oil spill has put at risk more than 30 of Oriental Mindoro’s marine-protected areas, and has affected other provinces like Antique in West -

ern Visayas.

The province of Oriental Mindoro has placed at least 76 coastal villages across nine out of its 14 towns have been placed under the state of calamity.

The faith-based group said at least 18,000 fisherfolk in Oriental Mindoro alone have been robbed of their livelihood as fishing activities are put on hold.

Residents, it added, are also robbed of their seafood supply—“a heavy blow for a province in which over 50 percent of households already suffer various levels of food insecurity”.

“We, thus, join local residents in lamenting what would be a prolonged suffering of the local fishing industry—valued at P11.80 billion across the five provinces of VIP in 2021—as impacts of the oil spill are expected to be felt for years to come,” said Gariguez, who is also the former executive secretary of Caritas Philippines, a relief, development and social service organization of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

He also stressed the need for the government to take into account the bigger picture and what is at stake in the oil spill incident in biodiversityrich VIP.

The group has been raising alarm on the issue of having more heavy industry development around the VIP

area—especially fossil fuel power plants and liquefied natural gas terminals, which would receive shipped cargoes of LNG.

“More plans for LNG terminals means more shipping vessels passing through the marine corridor. This increases the possibility of a similar situation happening in the future,” Gariguez said.

“The Verde Island Passage must be afforded no less than the greatest protection due to a global treasure for marine biodiversity,” Gariguez pointed out.

At the same time, Gariguez said Caritas Philippines would extend assistance to 250 families.

“Caritas Philippines has committed

to support 250 affected families with food packs that will be made available to the unreached and most needy affected coastal communities,” Gariguez said in a statement on Thursday.

He added that the Diocesan Social Action Center, which Gariguez heads, and the affected parishes would have a meeting at St. Augustine Parish in the town of Pinamalayan on March 14 to determine the beneficiaries of the assistance.

The Lipa Archdiocesan Social Action Commission and the Center for Energy, Ecology and Development (CEED) will also provide food items and emergency assistance.

“The relief goods will be temporarily stored in the available space in

St. Francis of Assisi Quasi Parish for distribution once the beneficiaries’ list has been finalized and operation plan has been set up by next week,” the priest said.

The church is also in contact with the concerned local government units and the provincial government of Oriental Mindoro for continuous response to the needs of the most affected communities.

The towns of Naujan, Pinamalayan, Gloria, Bansud, Bongabong, Roxas, Mansalay and Bulalacao have been placed under a state of calamity due to the damage of the oil spill, and in order to help those concerned the communities affected by the disaster.

A state of calamity was also declared in the town of Caluya, Antique due to the oil spill.

Meanwhile, PresidentMarcos Jr. has ordered the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to speed up the oil spill cleanup in the affected areas in Oriental Mindoro.

In response, the DENR is looking into the possibility of tapping the participants of this year’s Balikatan exercises for the cleanup along the shores affected by the oil spill.

Environment Secretary Antonia Loyzaga said Japan and South Korea have expressed their willingness to help contain the oil spill.

The DENR, Loyzaga said, is also

coordinating with the provincial local government units, the vessel owner and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) as a potential additional source of funds for the cash-for-work program as assistance to the affected residents.

Social Work Secretary Rex Gatchalian said areas to be given the temporary means of livelihood include the affected towns in Oriental Mindoro; Caluya in Antique; and Agutaya in Palawan.

Loyzaga noted that about P60 million has been set aside for the cash-for-work program of the Department of Labor and Employment called the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers.

She said the vessel owner’s insurance provider has offered to bring in a ship from China to plug the leak in the vessel.

The DENR chief cited the latest reports indicating that the oil spill has reached the Cuyo Island group.

She said the oil spill in Antique and Semirara Island is continuing to spread, estimating the rate of discharge of oil from the sunken vessel at 35,000 to 50,000 liters a day.

According to the models of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Naujan and Pola in Oriental Mindoro would be the hardest hit.  CBCP News and PNA

Military diocese supports dismantling of private armies

THE country’s military Catholic diocese supported the call of President Marcos Jr. to “dismantle private armies” following the string of attacks against local officials.

Fr. Harley Flores, spokesman of the Military Ordinariate of the Philippines, said that private

Catholic educators: Hazing is against Gospel values

THE country’s Catholic educators condemned the continued prevalence of hazing in educational institutions following the death of a Catholic university student.

The Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) said that hazing has no place in society, especially in Catholic learning communities.

“We believe these acts have no place in our educational institutions and do not represent the Gospel values of Catholic education,” said CEAP president Sr. Ma. Marissa Viri, RVM.

“Such heinous acts not only endanger the lives of our students but also go against our mission of promoting solidarity and transformative Catholic education for our learners,” she said.

The CEAP was reacting to the death of alleged hazing victim John Matthew Salilig, a student of Adamson University in Manila.

The 24-year-old chemical engineering student died after allegedly undergoing a Tau Gamma Phi fraternity initiation rite in the nearby province of Laguna.

Salilig, who had been reported missing since February 18, was found dead—and buried—in Imus, Cavite, on February 28.

Authorities have arrested and charged at least six among the 14 fraternity members tagged

in the death of Salilig, who was laid to rest in Zamboanga City on March 4.

The CEAP called on its member-schools to continue to promote a “culture of respect, compassion, inclusivity and Christcenteredness where all students can feel safe and supported.”

It also urged all parties involved to cooperate with authorities in the investigation of the incident and to ensure that justice is served.

“May this tragedy serve as a sobering reminder of the need for continued vigilance against all forms of violence and abuse in our schools,” Sr. Viri said.

“We call on our brothers and sisters in the CEAP community to continue offering prayers to the victim, the bereaved family, and the entire Adamson University community,” she added.

Adamson University earlier assured cooperation with the authorities as it conducts its own investigation into the case.

“Rest assured, we will not allow anything to come amiss,” it said.

“Adamson University has always been a familiar space for all of its students, teachers, personnel, alumni, friends and visitors.

This is your safe place along San Marcelino. We will ensure that it remains that way,” it said. CBCP News

armies “only serve to promote lawlessness and instability”.

“They threaten the peace and security of the communities they operate in,” Flores said.

“It is, therefore, the responsibility of the government to take strong action to dismantle these groups and confiscate

their weapons,” he said.

Marcos has earlier ordered for a crackdown of private armies and identify hotspots where local officials are being attacked.

The diocese also joined in condemning the murder of Gov. Roel Degamo of Negros Oriental and eight others at the governor’s

residence in Pamplona town on March 4.

Flores said that all the perpetrators must be brought to justice.

“These violent acts have no place in a civilized society governing a responsible citizenry under just laws,” the priest added. CBCP News

BYU-Hawaii, Bicol University ink pact for PHL professionals

UNIVERSITY Presidents

John S.K. Kauwe III and Arnulfo D. Mascarinas signed an agreement to launch a joint initiative between their respective educational institution, Brigham Young University-Hawaii (BYUH) and Bicol University (BU), on February 14, said Elise Mitchell of BYU–Hawaii University News.

BYUH is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Founded on a shared desire to create professional leaders in the Philippines, BU will provide preferred admission for BYUH graduates in psychology, accountancy, social work and education to BU’s post-baccalaureate programs, where they can complete additional courses and training that are required for licensure in the Philippines, Mitchell said.

Among those welcoming the representatives from Bicol University was Kenneth Kalama, Career Services Manager.

Of the new partnership, Kalama shared, that “once students com -

plete the licensure requirements through the programs provided at Bicol University, the students/ alumni will be able to apply their BYU-Hawaii education with this license in the Philippines. They

now have an avenue to complete the needed requirements at home while they network and meet professionals in these programs through a highly reputable and well-connected university in the Philippines.”

Students from the Philippines make up a large percentage of the international student body at BYU-Hawaii. This initiative will provide additional support and opportunities for students pursuing careers in mentioned industries in the Philippines, Mitchell said.

Kalama said: “We are excited about the opportunities and doors this new partnership will open for our Filipino students and alumni. This is another way that BYUHawaii is showing our support for our Filipino students’ continued education and professional development.”

POLISH TV REPORT: JOHN PAUL II KNEW OF ABUSE AS ARCHBISHOP

WARSAW, Poland—Pope St. John

Paul II knew about sexual abuse of children by priests under his authority and sought to conceal it when he was an archbishop in his native Poland, according to a television news report.

In a story that aired late Monday, Polish channel TVN24 named three priests whom the future pope, then known as Archbishop Karol Wojtyla, had moved among parishes or sent to a cloister during the 1970s, including one who was sent to Austria, after they were accused of abusing minors.

Two of the priests, Eugeniusz Surgent and Jozef Loranc, eventually served short prison terms for the abuse, TVN24 said its investigation found.

Wojtyla served as archbishop of Krakow from 1964 to 1978, when he became Pope John Paul II. He died in 2005 and was

declared a saint in 2014 following a fasttracked process.

TVN24 quoted from documents of Poland’s communist-era secret security services, which sought to discredit the Catholic Church and had informers there.

Journalist Marcin Gutowski also spoke with a number of victims and to a man who said he informed Wojtyla during the 1970s about the abuse by Surgent. None of the priests was defrocked.

The TV channel also quoted from a letter that Wojtyla wrote to the archbishop of Vienna at the time, Franz Koenig, recommending a priest to his care.

Wojtyla did not say in the letter that Boleslaw Sadus had abused young boys, and he was made a parish priest in Austria.

TVN24’s investigation concluded that there was no doubt Wojtyla knew about

abuse by priests in his archdiocese and sought to conceal it.

The broadcast featured a journalist who has written about cases of priestly abuse in Krakow and who argued that Wojtyla reacted in line with Catholic Church procedures of the time.

But a philosopher who knew Wojtyla and visited him at the Vatican after he became pope said it would be hard for Poles in general to accept these new facts about him.

The channel’s investigation has unleashed heated reactions in Poland, with some observers deriding it as an attempt by left-wing forces to destroy the memory of John Paul II, and others demanding for the Catholic Church to reveal the truth.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, a Catholic, tweeted a photo of John Paul II greeting a crowd in Poland and added the late pope’s motto “Do not be afraid,”

without any comment.

A Polish Jesuit priest, Krzysztof Madel, wrote on Twitter that that the focus should be on the victims, who need the truth to be told.

An official at the Ministry of Education, Radoslaw Brzozka, said on Twitter that John Paul II’s reputation was under attack from people who want to eliminate Catholicism from Poland’s national identity.

The choice of Wojtyla for pope in 1978 energized Poland’s predominantly Catholic population to openly oppose the nation’s communist system and eventually topple it.

Until recently, the Catholic Church in Poland has played a significant role in the country’s public life. Revelations about pedophile priests and the church’s close ties with the current right-wing government have depreciated its standing. Onika Scislowska/ Associated Press

VOLUNTEERS

John

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Leveling up PHL eagle conservation breeding

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

AT the foot of Mount Apo in Barangay Malagos, Baguio District, Davao City, sits the Philippine Eagle Center (PEC), an 8.4-hectare facility adjacent to the Malagos Watershed that is being run and operated by the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF).

In partnership with the local government of Davao City, the PEF is now developing another facility to relocate the breeding pairs at the PEC. It is a preventive measure in case of an outbreak of zoonotic diseases that can wipe out the entire Philippine eagle population at the center.

At the same time, the PEF is leveling up its conservation breeding program by attempting, for the first time, a captive breeding that will hopefully boost the chances of survival of the eagles bred in captivity upon release to their natural habitats.

“While we are constructing a new facility, the fortification of PEC is continuing,” said Jayson Ibanez, director for Research and Conservation at the PEF, told the BusinessMirror in an interview on February 27.

“Recently we completed a solid perimeter wall around the pre-existing facility. This coming Arbor Day, we will plant trees as buffer along its perimeter,” Ibanez added.

Rescue and rehabilitation center

THE PEC has served as home for rescued Philippine eagle, a critically endangered species that is endemic to the Philippines, and other endangered birds of prey, including wild animals, for 35 years now.

The PEC currently houses 32 Philippine eagles—either rescued or bred in captivity—which number has significantly increased since the conservation breeding program started in the early 1990s.

So far, the PEC has produced a total of 29 Philippine eagles, half of its number are still alive.

Besides the Philippine eagle, the Pinsker’s hawk eagle is also being bred in the facility, with 10 of this unique species have been bred in captivity.

Previously thought to be a common hawk eagle, the Pinsker’s hawk eagle is now viewed as a distinct species. It is endemic to Mindanao and could be distinguished because of its crownlike feathers on the head.

Wild animal sanctuary

WHILE it is primarily dedicated to the conservation breeding and rehabilitation of eagles, the PEC also serves as a conservation education and tourist destination in Davao City.

Besides raptors, the PEC serves as home to other wildlife, such as the Brahminy kite.

Other unique birds found in the PEC are the white-bellied sea eagle, Philippine serpent eagle and the giant scops owl.

The PEC is also a sanctuary for the Philippine warty pig, Philippine brown deer, Asian palm civet, a crocodile that is older than the facility itself, and other wild animals.

Tender loving care

ALL the wild animals found at the PEC are rescued after they were shot or severely injured, confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade, or hatched for breeding purposes, Ibanez said.

“All of the eagles and other species here are provided the tender loving care they deserved. While they can no longer be released back into the wild, we make sure that their stay at the center is pleasant,” he said.

Ibanez pointed out that “they are well protected, well fed and they serve very important purposes, like for information and education or breeding.”

Tourist destination

THE PEC is not a tourist magnet because of the wild animals alone. It is also a small park in its own right.

The PEC Trail, divided into different areas, are learning opportunities with the help of a PEC tour guide.

Visitors learn about different wildlife through the Raptor Road, Talon Alley, Macaque Island, Eagle Duplex Enclosure, Hawk Walk, Rainforest Walk, Pairing Dome, Brown deer, Crocodile enclosures and audio visual

presentations.

The Flight zone within the PEC, meanwhile, is an open area—a hub for the rescued birds’ enrichment activities.

It is used for flight demonstrations and socialization with their keepers and guests. It gives the birds a creative outlet for the physical facility, as well as a mental exercise.

The enrichment activities, the PEC said, gives sanctuary animals options on how else to spend their time.

The PEC Arboretum and Nursery were put up recently in partnership with the Energy Development Corp.

While still in its initial phase, the Arboretum ensures the perpetuation of endemic and even rare floral species in the center for public viewing.

It also serves as a library of trees, as well as a source of wildlings for future nursery establishment and eventually, tree-planting.

Breeding sanctuary

THE soon-to-be constructed Philippine Eagle Conservation Breeding Sanctuary (PECBS), a 13-hectare forest in Barangay Eden, Davao City, will be better and bigger, devoid of threats that are already looming at the PEC.

At the recent soft launching of the PECBS, Ibanez said the facility within a 105-hectare reservation in Davao City will house seven breeding cages and six duplex cages for a total of 26 Philippine eagles.

Only breeding pairs of the Philippine eagle will be brought to the new breeding facility once they are ready, Ibanez said.

The target date for moving in is on April 22, Earth Day, with three eagle pairs as its first residents.

Identified for first batch of transfer are pairs Pangyan and Agsamon, Ariela and MVP Matatag, and Hiyas and Magiting, Ibanez said.

“This is in response to the increasing threat to the Philippine eagle at our current facility in Barangay Malagos in Davao City. The establishment of a new breeding sanctuary that is isolated, away from human communities, major roads and potential sources of disturbances is part of our initiative to further protect our captive eagles,” he explained.

Ideal breeding ground

ACCORDING to Ibanez, the cages that will be built at the new facility will be designed for natural breeding and incubation, as well as natural rearing.

“There will be a nest platform, a feeding platform, but there will be a back door at the nest platform that we can open just in case we need to intervene to retrieve an egg or eaglet,” he explained.

“We will level up Philippine eagle conservation breeding through this approach. Doing so also imprints captive-bred eaglets to its kind, and this can make our future releases back to the wildly successful,” Ibanez said.

Dominic Tadena, senior animal keeper and manager of the Conservation Breeding Program at PEC, said the new facility will be better with the humidity in the area and isolation from human activities, will allow natural breeding.

PEC has two methods of eagle

breeding. The eggs are produced through natural pairing and artificial insemination.

Its personnel are in charge of rearing the eaglet upon hatching around two months after being placed in an incubator.

“There are birds who do not accept the same species, which is why artificial insemination is also used. When the male is in heat, we take semen and inject it into the female to produce the egg,” Ibanez said.

He said the humidity at the new facility is ideal for natural breeding.

He said this will be the first time the PEF will attempt to allow natural breeding. Meaning after natural pairing, the eagle pairs will be the ones to incubate the egg. Upon successful hatching, the parent eagles will be allowed do the natural rearing, unlike at the PEC wherein puppets are used by PEF personnel to feed the chicks.

“With this new method, if successful, we will have better chances of eagles surviving in the wild upon their release,” Ibanez added.

Pride of Davao City

DAVAO City considers the Philippine eagle and hosting the PEF facility as its pride and honor.

I nterviewed by the BusinessMirror , Councilor Tek Ocampo, chairman of the Environment Committee of the Davao City Council, said Mayor Sebastian Duterte is very supportive of the relocation of the Philippine eagle to help the PEF protect and conserve the country’s national bird.

“We, at the government, are supporting the project of the PEF. This

is important because this will ensure the safety of the eagles. We, at the City Council, of course, support this. For us, the Philippine eagle is our pride. Because the Philippine eagle is our national bird,” Ocampo said. He said the Eden Nature Reserve is the perfect place to erect the sanctuary.

Protected against threats

UNLIKE in Barangay Malagos, the would-be breeding facility in Barangay Eden will be “off limits” to poultry and gamefowl farms.

Lt. Rey Vallejo (Ret.), of the Public Safety Office and Security Command Center assigned at the nature reserve in Barangay Eden, said 13 personnel will be conducting regular patrols in the area to prevent illegal settlers and prevent destructive human activities, including the construction of buildings in the area.

“There will be regular patrolling, including the Bantay Gubat [Forest Guards]. To prevent human encroachment and construction of buildings or any infrastructure in this area,” Vallejo said.

Engineer Mildred Martinez, a consultant at the Eden Task Force, said the city government plans to develop the 105-hectare reserve into a nature resort, but assured the 13-hectare of the PEF will be “off-limits” to such a development project.

“We will develop this area for ecotourism, to generate revenue and help sustain the operation. Of course, the PEF facility will be spared from the development that will take place here,” she assured.

US HOSTS CSO SUMMIT TO PROTECT PHL MARINE RESOURCES, BIODIVERSITY

THE United States government, in partnership with more than 60 civil society organizations (CSOs), convened the first-ever CSO Summit in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, on March 3, said the US Embassy in Manila in a news release.

The event aimed to coordinate action for marine biodiversity conservation and protection in the coastal areas of Northern Luzon, Mindoro, and Palawan that face the South China Sea. Ryan Washburn, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) mission director, led the CSO Summit. It highlighted the US government’s continued commitment to supporting local stakeholders in conserving biodiversity and protecting marine resources from illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities of domestic and foreign fleets, the US Embassy said.

“As an enduring friend, partner and ally, the United States will continue to collaborate with local stakeholders in the western Philippines to support sustainable fishing practices, strengthen food security and advance the conservation of marine ecosystems as we work toward achieving our shared goal of inclusive growth and a free,

prosperous, and secure Indo-Pacific region,” Washburn said.

Palawan Third District Rep. Edward Hagedorn, USAID Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility

(DEIA) Senior Adviser Kathryn Booker-Veloz, and representatives from academia, women’s groups and indigenous peoples living along the seaboard attended the Summit.

“We know that the protection and preservation of the West Philippine Sea is a herculean task that requires collective, whole-of-nation action,” Hagedorn said in his remarks.

“We thank the USAID Fish Right Program for leading this summit and bringing together representatives from universities, NGOs [nongovernment organizations], municipal

fisherfolk peoples’ organizations, commercial fishers’ associations, the private sector, co-ops, and alliances to prepare a common agenda and action plan protecting West Philippine Sea resources and addressing food security and livelihood issues.”

The CSO Summit was organized as a follow-up to the visit of US Vice President Kamala Harris to Palawan in November 2022

where she underscored the importance of the US-Philippines partnership in creating economic opportunities and protecting coastal ecosystems throughout the region, the US Embassy said.

While in Puerto Princesa City, Washburn and Booker-Veloz handed over freezers and other fish drying materials valued at P00,000 ($5,460) to women associations in the fishing

village of Tagburos. This donation will help the local fishing community reduce postharvest losses, the US Embassy added.

The two USAID officials also joined partners from the Gerry Roxas Foundation to award environment grants valued at P64 million ($1.2 million) to four local organizations: Nagkakaisang Tribu ng Palawan, Palawan Biodiversity Conservation Advocates, World Wide Fund for Nature, and Community-Centered Conservation. Through the grants, the CSOs will implement Palawan-based projects on biodiversity conservation, wildlife protection, natural resource management, and local climate actions.

Currently, USAID is implementing three biodiversity conservation projects covering the Philippine waters in the South China Sea: Fish Right, the Sustainable Interventions for Biodiversity, Oceans and Landscapes, and Investing in Sustainability and Partnerships for Inclusive Growth and Regenerative Ecosystems, the US Embassy pointed out. The three projects have a combined value of P4.3 billion ($78.2 million) in development assistance from the US government.

DOMINIC TADENA with a captive-bred female Pinsker’s hawk eagle. PEC PHOTO

A SALTWATER crocodile, one of the wildlife kept at the PEC, is older than the facility itself. It was rescued 38 years ago and was the first inhabitant of the facility before it became the rescue center for the Philippine eagle and other raptors. PEC PHOTO

USAID Philippines Mission Director Ryan Washburn and Palawan Third District Rep. Edward Hagedorn join participants at the first-ever CSO Summit in Palawan on March 3. USAID PHOTO

USAID Philippines Mission Director Ryan Washburn (second from right) and USAID DEIA Senior Adviser Kathryn Booker-Veloz (right) turn over three fish-dryers and freezers to the women of the Tagburos fishing village in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan. USAID PHOTO

Detroit boxing scene fighting to make return to relevance

DETROIT—Inside the MotorCity Casino one recent night, there were roars from the crowd as boxer after boxer was knocked out. A few laughs, too, when a fighter’s vomit stopped one bout and another was delayed because a competitor failed to put on a protective cup.

Watching from a front-row seat was Thomas Hearns, the revered fighter known as “The Hitman.” Now 64, he was hailed by the approximately 2,000 fans when hightlights were shown of his career that included titles in five weight classes.

I like what I’m seeing,” Hearns told The Associated Press between fights on an 11-bout card. “Fighters are getting more action.”

The bad news for the event, and for Detroit’s once-fabled boxing scene in general, was that Hearns was easily the biggest name on hand. The best active boxer from Detroit is fighting this weekend on the other side of the world because his hometown does not host big-time bouts these days.

Former champion Tony Harrison (29-3-1, 21 KOs) is fighting Australian Tim Tszyu (21-0, 15-0 KOs) on Sunday in Sydney for the vacant WBO 154-pound title. Showtime will air the fight in the US on Saturday night.

The 32-year-old Harrison, who was managed early in his career by famed trainer Emanuel Steward, had his fourth fight at the MotorCity Casino. His last fight in Detroit, though, was nearly a decade ago in the Cobo Center Ballroom.

L ittle Caesars Arena, home of the Red Wings and Pistons, has not had a boxing event and doesn’t have one on the calendar any time soon.

There’s no support for fighters no more,” Harris told AP from Australia, wearing a Detroit Tigers baseball cap. “It should be the highest support for fighting because people from Detroit, they know how to do one thing and that’s fight. Inside the ring. Outside the ring. Fighting paycheck to paycheck, rent to rent.”

W hile Harrison has trained in Detroit at his own gym, he has been forced to go from coast to coast and other countries to compete. The fighter known as Superbad, a nickanme Steward gave him, handed Jermell Charlo his only loss and took his 154-pound title in New York in 2018, then lost the championship in Canada a year later in an 11-round rematch.

“It’s so sad that Tony doesn’t have opportunities here because he’s an accomplished fighter,” said Jackie Kallen, who was Hearns’ publicist and managed former champion and Michigan native James Toney. “Hopefully, he will win this weekend to help put him on the map with more people.”

Joe Louis, a famed boxer who moved to the Motor City as a child, Sugar Ray Robinson and Hearns represented the city as world champions and are regarded as all-time greats. Fighters from around the world, including former heavyweight champions Joe Frazier and Wladimir Klitschko, were schooled by Detroit-based trainers Eddie Futch and Steward.

W hen Louis started his career in the late 1930s and boxed for more than a decade, Detroit had more than 1.5 million residents and was the fourth or fifth-largest city in the United States, a foundational cradle of the nation’s automaking industry.

The fights at Olympia Stadium and Cobo Arena, where the Red Wings and Pistons once played, were legendary for decades. AP

all stoppage time added in blowouts

GENEVA—Fifa wants full stoppage time added even in blowouts though its refereeing chief said Thursday a “mercy rule” that baseball uses at some levels could be debated in the future to end games at 90 minutes.

L iverpool’s 7-0 rout of Manchester United on Sunday had only three minutes added at the end despite six-second-half goals, Fifa head of refereeing Pierluigi Collina told reporters in a briefing.

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar showcased a push by Fifa and Collina to give fans more entertainment by having referees add accurate amounts for stoppages such as goal celebrations, substitutions, injuries and time-wasting.

It led to so-called 100-minute games and meant Spain’s 7-0 rout of Costa Rica in the group stage had eight minutes of added time, Collina said. It let Álvaro Morata score the seventh goal. Though Morata’s goal was not crucial in the final Group E standings, Spain did advance ahead of Germany on the tiebreaker of goal difference. In some competitions the goal difference in the entire competition may be decisive at the end for the ranking,” Collina said. “So even one goal scored or not scored could make the difference.”

LAS VEGAS—The competitors stand rigidly upright with their hands behind their backs, waiting to absorb a brutal slap to the face.

W hen the open-handed blow is delivered, there’s a sharp report and the reaction can be dramatic. Some fighters barely move, while others stumble backward or fall to the floor. Some are knocked out.

U FC President Dana White is selling slap fighting as the next big thing in combat sports, putting his money and the resources of one of the world’s foremost mixed martial arts organizations behind the Power Slap League. The Nevada Athletic Commission has sanctioned the league for competitions in Las Vegas.

It’s a home run,” said White, who is among several UFC officials involved in the league.

Some slap-fighting beatdowns have gone viral, including a video from eastern Europe showing a man who continues to compete even as half of his face swells to seemingly twice its size. Such exposure has led to questions about the safety of slap fighting, particularly the risk of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative brain disease believed to be caused by repeated blows to the head. A former chairman of the commission, which regulates combat sports in Nevada, says approving the league was a mistake.

C hris Nowinski, cofounder and CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, agrees, calling slap fighting “one of the stupidest things you can do.”

There’s nothing fun, there’s nothing interesting and there’s nothing sporting,” Nowinski said. “They’re trying to dress up a really stupid activity to try to make money.”

W hite and the competitors remain unfazed, comparing commentary on slapping to the negative reaction the UFC faced in its infancy more than 20 years ago.

I think it’s definitely overblown with the topics of CTE and the

SLAP FIGHTING: ALL STUPIDITY?

damage that we’re taking,” said Ryan Phillips, a Power Slap League fighter. “I think a lot of people still just don’t understand that it’s still a slap.”

Concerns about concussions leading to CTE, which can cause violent mood swings, depression and memory loss, aren’t confined to combat sports. The disease has shown up in the brains of former rugby players, and the National Football League ( NFL) and college football have taken steps to cut down on blows to the head by changing rules regarding tackling and other hits. CTE can only be detected during an autopsy.

Despite the naysayers, White said he believes slap fighting will follow a similar trajectory to mixed martial arts, which the late Sen. John McCain referred to as “human cockfighting” in 1996, when the UFC didn’t have weight classes or many rules. McCain’s criticism helped force the organization to become more structured, leading to its widespread acceptance.

W hite said the ratings of the TBS reality show “Power Slap: Road to the Title” bear out the early popularity of what to many is still a curiosity.

W hite said he realized there could be a market for the sport in the US when he clocked the millions of YouTube views of slap fighting videos from eastern Europe in 2017 and 2018. The videos were often poorly produced, the slap matches unregulated. White became convinced that fights with written rules and shot with professional video equipment could convert many

internet viewers into dedicated, paying fans.

The Nevada commission gave slap fighting some much needed legitimacy when it unanimously sanctioned the sport in October and a month later awarded White a license to promote it.

But White’s enterprise was hampered when he was captured on video slapping his wife on New Year’s Eve. White apologized , but has acknowledged it damaged efforts to get the league off the ground. White is no newcomer to controversy:

Former UFC fighters Kajan Johnson and Clarence Dollaway filed a lawsuit in 2021 against Endeavor, the organization’s parent company, alleging that UFC takes an inordinate share of the profits.

But White is charging ahead.

Th ree qualifying events have taken place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, ahead of the March 11 telecast on the streaming platform Rumble in which champions will be crowned in four weight classes.

Power Slap fights are typically three to five rounds. The fighters take turns hitting each other in the face with an open hand, and those on the receiving end stand with their hands behind their backs. A fighter has up to 60 seconds to recover and respond after receiving a blow. Fighters can earn up to 10 points based on the effectiveness of the slap and the defender’s reaction.

F ights can end in a decision, knockout, technical knockout or disqualification, such as for an illegal slap. All slaps are subject to video review. Each event has two referees and three judges.

A lso present are a supervising doctor and a physician or physician’s assistant, plus three EMTs and three ambulances. White has touted the safety record of the UFC, but has not talked specifically about injuries in the Power Slap League.

W hite says slap fighting is safer than boxing or mixed martial arts because each contestant usually takes only three blows per bout. In boxing, White said, that number could be 400 or more, and that doesn’t include the shots taken during sparring. There is no sparring in slap fighting, he noted.

Nowinski of the concussion foundation said while there may

be no sparring in practice sessions, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen elsewhere. He said comparing boxing to power slapping is misleading because slap fighters take a full blow each time.

“ You can slip (boxing) punches,”

Nowinski said. But in slap fighting “you’re taking out everything that’s interesting to watch and everything sporting (from boxing) and just doing the brain damage part.”

Nowinski said slap fighters don’t make enough money to justify the risk. The Power Slap League wouldn’t disclose how much it pays fighters, but said in a statement that participants are compensated for every match and can also earn “appearance fees” and “additional discretionary bonuses.”

Stephen J. Cloobeck, who was chairman of the state commission when it sanctioned slap fighting, said White and former UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta sold him on the legitimacy of the sport.

I made a mistake,” Cloobeck said. “I’m not happy about it.”

The commission recently approved amended rules to better define what constitutes a legal slap in an effort to minimize serious injuries.

“ The No. 1 thing is the health and safety of the fighter,” commission Chairman Anthony Marnell III said at a Feb 15 meeting. “Always has been, always will be.”

But he went on to say: “It seems like there is a market for this, whether you like it or not.” Phillips, the slap

fighter, said participants can defend themselves without losing points, such as rolling away before the hand makes impact.

A nd the fighters know if they lose the coin toss and get slapped first, it will hurt.

“ I know what’s coming,” fighter Vernon Cathey said. “I’m tensing up. There’s a lot of stuff I can do to protect myself.” AP

I n 1989, Arsenal won the English league title over Liverpool on the tiebreaker of goals scored with the teams’ goal difference identical. The teams met in the last game of the season and Arsenal’s 2-0 win at Liverpool was sealed by a goal in second-half stoppage time.

Collina acknowledged that lengthy added time in games such as Liverpool’s lopsided win last weekend could be viewed as “something not really understandable,” though he suggested consistency was key.

At the World Cup people knew what to expect,” said the former top match official, who refereed the 2002 final. “Where there is consistency on the field of play every decision is better.”

Fifa and soccer’s rule-making panel known as IFAB want World Cup-style timekeeping to be adopted globally next season so 100-minute games should become routine in domestic leagues.

Still, Collina did suggest soccer could one day look for inspiration from baseball to control the length of games.

Baseball’s “mercy rule,” used at international tournaments and at some US collegiate levels, ends a game when one team builds a big lead after a certain number of innings.

Maybe in the future we may consider within the laws of the game to say that additional time has not to be given at the end of the match if there is a difference of ‘x’ goals between the teams,” Collina said.

“At a certain stage we need to consider what is common sense or what is not.” AP

REFEREE Danny Makkelie of the Netherlands calls a penalty for Chelsea after consulting VAR during the Champions League round of 16 second leg match between Chelsea FC and Borussia Dortmund at Stamford Bridge, London, Tuesday. AP

AZAEL RODRIGUEZ slaps Jesus Gaspar at a Power Slap event in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, on November 30, 2022. AP

Women’s

Day events highlight major gaps in genDer equality

‘MUSIC IS MY LIFE’

Aussie

sensation Keenan

By Patrick V. Miguel

Te on his ‘therapeutic’ songwriting

“I loved music ever since before I could even talk,” Keenan said in a recent interview with SoundStrip and other media. “I’ve been singing as long as I could remember and it’s always been my dream career to be a musician, to be a singer.”

Keenan recounts how much he dedicated most of his time in music. He counted 12 years of piano lessons, six years of guitar lessons, and five years of guitar lessons—to an extent that some of these lessons overlapped.

“I’ve been working really really hard and I’m really perfecting my craft,” the 22-year-old singer/songwriter explained. “You don’t see the years and years of preparations that comes before, [compared to] what you see on social media now.”

Keenan Te is popular on TikTok with 2 million followers, the same social media platform where he gained popularity. He currently has over 100 million since in the past 12 months.

“I’m just so grateful that I’m in a position where I can call it (music) my career now,” he reflects.

But everything comes at a cost, and Keenan is not an exception. At 22, he shared that he has been through a lot of difficult times, which mainly were his inspiration in writing music.

He said, “I feel like I experienced a lot of difficult things and song writing is really therapeutic for me and it’s the way that I express my emotions, it’s the way that It’s like my outlet about all my stuff.”

And like his previous releases, “Scars” is among his music inspired by his life experiences. “Scars” expresses one’s recognition that it is okay to love again, despite being hurt in the past. It is about letting one’s guard down and being vulnerable and open enough to gamble in love once again.

“It’s been amazing to see my fans from all around the world to be able to relate to my story and my songs, and especially with ‘Scars,’ like I wrote it about our romantic relationship,” Keenan said.

“Scars” was released last month, on February 17. As of writing, the single has 4 million streams on Spotify. His success allowed him to visit places outside his home country Australia, landing in the Philippines to perform. According to Keenan, this is his first time visiting the Philippines.

“It’s my first time here in the Philippines… so I’m very new to this whole career but it’s been amazing to see the amount of support coming from Southeast Asia to my music and to me as well,” he enthused.

Since being recognized on TikTok in early 2020, Keenan did not expect that his career would grow this fast. He said, “I’ve always dreamt about this but I never thought that it would happen this quick and it still feels so surreal to me that I have millions of people that care about me as a person and my music.”

“Scars” is available on all musicstreaming platforms. (With interview by Edwin P. Sallan)

BORN into a musical family, music was Keenan Te’s first language. The Australian singer-songwrirter claimed that even before he could speak, he had always loved music. And throughout, his love for music never faded, no matter how it has been tested multiple times before. He explained that it is because music is always something he wanted to pursue—nothing more.

KEENAN Te

SoundSampler

by Tony M. Maghirang

Soundtracks of Summer 2023

GLOC-9 - “Buhat” The second to the last instalment of Gloc-9’s upcoming ‘Pilak ’ album, “Buhat” focuses on love’s resilience amidst all difficulties. The song is an ode to “Love conquers all;” true love that transcends race, color, religion, and even physical features.

Our Paboritong Makata wasted no time crafting yet another unique sound along with his outstanding flows and wordplays. Like his other tracks from the said forthcoming album, “Buhat” is arranged, mixed, and mastered by none other than Thyro Alfaro. It follows the release last November of “Bahay Yugyugan,” Gloc9’s recent collaboration with Flow G which became a trending video on YouTube

ACE BANZUELO - “Tadhana”

IN this track, the prolific singer-songwriter/producer returns with a catchy, upbeat track that should keep listeners basking in summer’s eternal glow. Providing R&B-inspired vocals atop new wave beats and disco elements, Banzuelo tips its hat to the pure joy of bringing the past and the future together bound by another pulsating bop.

According to Banzuelo, “ Tadhana” deals with romantic connection and destiny, and explores losing one’s inhibitions for something that could be fulfilling in the long run. He added, “It feels dreamy yet groovy at the same time. All of these things contribute to my vision and how I just really want to be myself. I’m definitely back making music that makes people move.”

ROB EQUIZA – “Zealots”

IN conversation with SoundStrip, singer-songwriter

Rob Equiza called “Zealots” to be the most memorable track off his debut album titled “Refugees” The Calbayog City, Samar-based musician said, “Musically, “Zealots” sort of channels one of my favorite bands Soundgarden. I wrote it around the time of the groups’ songwriter/ frontman Chris Cornell’s died. I also strongly relate to their common themes of isolation and alienation brought on, in my case, by the judging eyes of many people around me.”

He added, “Lyrically, it’s an attack on political fanatics and religious fundamentalists based on my personal experiences with such people and my observation on the effects of their actions on society and to themselves.”

SAMBAHAN PROJECT - “Manlilikhari”

THE first single comes off “Sambahan,” a 10- worship song compilation from grassroots church-based songwriters who connected and collaborated through the synergetic fellowship called KONEKOLAB. The track is a portmanteau of two words, which interestingly allude to that one Being who assumes both roles of a Manlilikha (Creator) and a Hari (King).

As Waterwalk Records A&R Jungee Marcelo puts it, “Manlilikhari ” qualifies God’s sovereignty “over all creation, over everything, over you and me. Who better to create these original worship songs than the very

church people in the community? The hope is for each of these songs to become a staple in the church music line-up as well as in personal times of devotion and prayer.”

NICHIMI – “Tanong=Sagot”

THIS Tagalog R&B track features acoustic guitar and heavy trap drums. It’s a hopelessly romantic song about someone who expects to be loved back but is afraid to show it to the significant other

he’d known for a long time. Nichimi advises that waiting for an answer before even asking a question will never work, and the response will always make you nervous.

Nicholas Cioco professionally known as Nichimi, is a singer/songwriter, and producer from Cavite. His best known Filipino digital singles are “Crush“, “Langit “, and “Unang Kabanata“. The success of these singles led him to the release his new album titled “Young Love“

RICO BLANCO-“Palibot libot”

ACCLAIMED singer-songwriter/producer Rico Blanco explores sci-fi themes in the music video of his current single “Palibot libot”. The song, which reflects on the uncertainty that thrives between friendship and relationship, was inspired by one of the characters in a series that Blanco filmed in La Union last year. With its storytelling anchored precariously on someone’s steadfast devotion albeit a one-sided one, Palibot libot” minces no words about the reality of love: It comes with complications, but that’s the beauty of it.

Helmed by Cris Escolano and Rico Blanco himself, the visuals present a story of humanity in a world completely engulfed by hopelessness. The MV stars Rico Blanco, model Tuti Pon, and “The Entity,” a robotic figure created by Richard Somes. Palibot libot” will be part of Ri co Blanco’s fourth studio album to be released later this year.

Paco Park Presents National Women’s Month

By Tristan Dyln Tano

PACO Park Presents celebrates National Women’s Month througha musical fete of classical music composed and sung by Filipinas.

To bring and channel the greatness of Filipino women, and to pay homage to our patriotic roots, Paco Park Presents will be featuring the decorated soprano from the University of Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music, Ms. Nerrisa De Juan. Ms. De Juan is a Benavides Outstanding Achievement awardee, and has been a part of the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. She recently bagged the first prize award in the 2021 National Music Competitions for Young Artists (NAMCYA) in the Senior Voice Category. Performing alongside her is pianist Raki Gendrano.

The classic songs ‘Sampaguita’ by Dolores

Paterno, ‘Larawan ng Isang Babae’ by Rosalina Abejo, and Jovita Fuentes’ ‘Ay! Kalisud’ will be among the songs that will be performed during the concert.

Hosted by Ms. Viviene Bigornia, the program will start at 6:00 p.m. at the historic Paco Park.

Women’s Day events highlight major gaps in gender equality

By ciarán Giles & Mari Yamaguchi The Associated Press

last year and many states adopted restrictions on abortion.

The United Nations recognized International Women’s Day in 1977, but the occasion has its roots in labor movements of the early 20th century. The day is commemorated in different ways and to varying degrees in places around the world.

The United Nations identified Afghanistan as the most repressive country in the world for women and girls since the Taliban takeover in 2021. The UN mission said Afghanistan’s new rulers were “imposing rules that leave most women and girls effectively trapped in their homes.”

They have banned girls’ education beyond sixth grade, and barred women from public spaces such as parks and gyms. Women must cover themselves from head to toe, and are also barred from working at national and international nongovernmental organizations.

their own names.

In the Philippines, hundreds of protesters from various women’s groups rallied in m a nila for higher wages and decent jobs.

“We are seeing the widest gender pay gap,” protest leader Joms Salvador said. “We are seeing an unprecedented increase in the number of women workers who are in informal work without any protection.”

The first female leader of Tanzania, President Samia Suluhu Hassan, said during an International Women’s Day rally organized by an opposition party that she has brought a new level of political tolerance to the East African nation. Hassan has been accused of continuing her predecessor John magufuli’s anti-democratic policies, but she lifted a 6-year-old ban on opposition rallies in January.

“The opposition is lucky that it is a woman president in charge because if a misun-

new transgender rights law that took effect last week, and allows anyone 16 and older to change their gender on official documents without medical certification.

Elsewhere in Europe, tens of thousands of people marched in Paris and other French cities, brandishing posters with the messages: “Equal Pay, Now” and “Solidarity with the world’s women.” The rallies focused on protesting proposed changes to the pension system, which women’s groups say are unfair to working mothers.

The protest came hours after President Emmanuel macron’s government presented a new gender equity plan, which would prohibit companies that do not not publish a gender equality index or have a poor rating from getting public contracts. Women’s salaries in France are on average 15.8 percent below men’s.

Despite global protests every year, In-

While activists in some places celebrated political and legal advances, observances also pointed to repression in countries such as Afghanistan and Iran, and the large numbers of women and girls who experience sexual assaults and domestic violence globally.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres noted this week that women’s rights were “abused, threatened and violated” around the world—and gender equality won’t be achieved for 300 years given the current pace of change.

Progress won over decades is vanishing because “the patriarchy is fighting back,” Guterres said.

‘The most repressive country in the world for women and girls’ Ev EN in countries where women have considerable freedom, there have been recent setbacks. This was the first International Women’s Day since the US Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion

The

Afghan women’s rights campaigner Zubaida Akbar told the UN Security Council that women and girls in the country are facing “the worst crisis for women’s rights in the world.”

“The Taliban have sought not only to erase women from public life, but to extinguish our basic humanity,” said Zubaida, “There is one term that appropriately describes the situation of Afghan woman today: Gender Apartheid.”

Women gathered in Pakistan’s major cities to march amid tight security. Organizers said the demonstrations were aimed at seeking rights guaranteed by the constitution. Some conservative groups last year threatened to stop similar marches by force.

Global movement

WOmEN ’S rights activists in Japan held a small rally to renew their demand for the government to allow married couples to keep using different surnames. Under the 1898 civil code, a couple must adopt “the surname of the husband or wife” at the time of marriage. Surveys show majority support for both men and women keeping

derstanding occurs, I will stand for peace and make the men settle their egos,” the president said.

In Spain alone, hundreds of thousands of women—with expectations taking the total over 1 million as in previous years— attended evening demonstrations in mad rid, Barcelona and other cities.

Although Spain has for years produced one of the world’s biggest turnouts on m a rch 8, this year’s marches are marked by a division within its own left-wing government over a sexual liberty law that has inadvertently led to the reduction of sentences for hundreds of sexual offenders.

Feminists in Spain are also split over a

Antonio

ternational Women’s Day has not been widely observed in the US.

“For most of its history, Women’s Day was associated with socialism,” said Kristen Ghodsee, a professor of Russian and East European studies at the University of Pennsylvania. “I’m sure you can imagine that was not very popular in the United States.”

The day has been a nod to many events where women have stood up for their rights as workers, Ghodsee said. “They’re not just trying to get the right to vote—they’re trying to promote a progressive cause with the entire working class.”

Cover photo by olia danilevich/pexels.com

pandemic exposed gender inequality: Let’s seize the opportunity to remedy it

THIS year, we commemorated International Women’s Day alongside the three-year anniversary of the Covid-19 pandemic. While Covid-19 affected everyone, it did not affect everyone equally.

The pandemic exposed many aspects of inequality, including socioeconomic inequality, accessibility and gender inequality. The pandemic destroyed the momentum towards more emancipatory gender relations by disproportionately harming women and gender diverse people, according to the United Nations and Canadian Human Rights Commission. As the world reopens after the global catastrophe, the urgent call to reset “normal” in a more emancipatory way rings louder. There is an opportunity to capitalize on the potential offered by the pandemic to rebuild our professional, business and personal lives.

Potential for change

A S the lockdowns progressed, businesses and governments began to acknowledge the unpaid care labor done largely by women in unprecedented ways.

The Canadian government, for example, has announced a plan to bring $10-a-day child care to every province and territory by 2026.

The pandemic also demonstrated how changeable and contingent things are: we stopped doing many normal activities, creating space for possibility and changing the future of how certain things, like work, are done.

Although hybrid work has become widely practiced around the world, there has been little or no change to the accommodations offered in relation to unpaid work. Hybrid work, while beneficial, is no panacea for those with caregiving roles

whose care work can be made invisible by hybrid work itself.

Resetting normal

A S we mark International Women’s Day, we remain in a limitless space of possibility resulting from the pandemic, but we won’t remain here for long.

While we are still re-establishing norms, we need to work within businesses, governments, and our own personal lives to reset—not replicate—gender relations, building gender equality into our new normal.

We must undertake policy actions to subsidize childcare, ensure flexible work schedules, identify opportunities to promote equitable health care, close gender wage gaps, normalize male parental leave, and provide mental health

support for employees.

As gender consultants Stephenie Foster and Susan markham wrote of gender equity and the pandemic:

“We can use this as an opportunity to reimagine a different future, one that values gender equality, women’s participation and women’s leadership. Women must be part of COVID-19 response and recovery planning and decision making. We must value the unseen work done by women.”

The radical shifts that result from crises like the pandemic invite us not to just restore old patterns when the calamity has passed, but to learn from them and move meaningfully forward. We urgently need to make meaningful change now, before the potential for us to learn from the lessons offered by the pandemic disappears. The Conversation

MaDrID—From demands for constitutional rights in Islamabad to calls for economic parity in Manila, Paris and Madrid, International Women’s Day demonstrations in cities around the world Wednesday highlighted the unfinished work of providing equity for half of the planet’s population.

United Nations Secretary-General

Guterres noted that women’s rights were “abused, threatened and violated” around the world—and gender equality won’t be achieved for 300 years given the current pace of change.